I heard a thump in the next room and a groan in pain; I rushed over to my guest room to see Aizawa dropped a box on his foot. I couldn't help but burst into laughter. Mic, Vlad, and Midnight came rushing in to see the commotion and were confused to see me dying of laughter while Aizawa sat on the floor holding his foot.
"What happened?" Vlad asked.
Midnight took joy in seeing me laugh at Aizawa, "Clearly someone is a sadist. Mai is laughing at Aizawa's pain."
I wiped my eyes and held my stomach, "It's not my fault. I told him not to handle heavy things because he barely recovered. He didn't listen, and now he got hurt." Once I composed myself, I grabbed the box he dropped and moved to unpack it, "Nemuri, I have ice packs in my freezer. Can you grab Aizawa one?"
Nemuri left to the kitchen while the two men were still standing dumbfounded. Aizawa glared at them, "You guys can go back to hanging stuff on the walls. We're fine." Mic threw his hands up while Vlad huffed. I couldn't help but grin a little. Aizawa scooched over next to me to help me get the stuff out of the box while trying to figure out where to put everything. Nemuri came back in and gave him the ice pack not without kissing his cheek and leaving to go back to my room and organize my desk area. "This whole box is just books. Why did you bring all of this if you knew it was only going to be a year?"
"Because I didn't trust my cousin with my books. I've collected them since before I started school. They're my babies." I hugged the books I had in my hands and slightly cradled them.
Aizawa just shook his head at me while taking more books out. "I'm almost positive you haven't read all of them."
"Yes, I have.... Okay, maybe at least more than half of them." I pouted. "I've been busy." Aizawa simply huffed and nodded in response. "I am going to go check in on Vlad and Mic. I'll send you a picture of how I had my bookshelf back at home." I heard a scoff come out from him as I walked out and texted him the photo. I simply ignored it.
Walking into my living room, I see Vlad adjusting a large frame with a picture of our graduating class, all while Mic was sitting on the couch. "Do you think I should move more to the left or the right?" Vlad called out.
"Honestly, I feel like the spot is okay. You just have it crooked." Mic sat comfortably with his feet on the couch and a bottle in his hand.
I glided off the ground to go and help Vlad readjust the frame marking where the corners met the wall as Vlad went to grab the hammer and nails. He snuck a quick kiss on my forehead as he hammered away, "Thanks, Mai. I'm happy to have help."
I giggled slightly and lightly slapped his shoulder, "You're the one helping me out here. I should be thanking you." I almost instinctively went in to kiss his cheek but was interrupted by a slight grumble coming from the blond laying on my couch. I turned over to Mic and pursed my lips, "Yes, Mr. Yamada?"
He took a swig of his beer, "Don't call me that. But anyhoo, please refrain from being all cutesy in front of me. I didn't even know you guys were a thing."
"Who's a thing?" Midnight walked in with an empty box.
"Mai and Vlad. I just saw them making out." Mic cringed.
"I highly doubt they were doing that. They're very reserved. But that's cute that you guys are together. I'm happy for you."
I slowly went back to the ground and was a blushing mess, "Well, uh... "
"We haven't made it official; we just been on one date, really. It's mainly just us flirty back and forth. We thought that with the extra time from work and the students this week. We could squeeze a few more dates." He draped his arm around me and smiled excitedly.
"That is, if nothing happens with any of the students during their work-study, I'm responsible for them if things occur because I am their counselor." I shrugged. I motioned Kayama to come outside with me to show her where to put the empty boxes. I felt Mic's eyes on me. It felt like I was doing something wrong. The judgment seeped through my skin.
I set the box on top of a stack of other boxes in the storage unit behind the building, "Don't worry about Yamada. You know he gets protective of you." Nemuri reassured me.
"I know, but it feels like it's a different kind of negative aura. Almost like he was annoyed by the idea of Vlad and me. It's barely anything like Vlad said. He doesn't need to get so crabby." I shrugged and hung my head low.
"He's probably madder about Aizawa than about you." Nemuri let out a small grin. Her hand reached over to rub my back. Nemuri was always like a big sister figure for all of us in the group, so I guess it's just natural to play things off like it's nothing because she's seen it all before.
"Why would he mad at Aizawa? This has nothing to do with him." I looked up at her like a confused child looking at an older adult.
"Oh, just Aizawa pissed him off about something, so he's just a little annoyed, is all." She brushed off, but I could tell she was holding something in. "But honestly, it's good to see you see someone romantically for once. Even if it isn't much right now, things like relationships grow anyways." I simply nodded.
"I feel a little weird about it, to be honest," I admitted. I liked the attention Vlad was giving me but it kind of felt off because of my circumstances. I only ever dated two people briefly, and the rest were casual hookups because I never really felt like I could be committed to someone. Between my hero work and then my own personal issues, it's hard to believe someone would even want something serious with me.
"Why?"
"With what happened to Lily, and, you know, me planning to leave at the end of the year. I just don't feel like it's appropriate to start dating someone. Even if it just happened and I'm actually pretty happy with it." I switched my gaze to the view of campus, "I feel like it's not a good idea to be dating."
"Then maybe communicate that with Vlad. He's a very logical and understanding person."
"I guess you're right..." Beep. Beep. Beep. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and saw a call coming from an unknown number. I decided it was best to ignore it. Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Maybe you should answer that." Nemuri giggled.
"I don't know the number." I sighed and answered the call, "Hello?"
"Mai?" An all too familiar voice rang through my ear. A voice that I shouldn't hear from at all.
Gemini. "What do you want, Brandon?" Nemuri looked a little concerned, but I quickly shook my hand to let her know everything was fine.
"How's Japan?" Is he serious right now?
"It's fine, you do know you, and I aren't allowed to be speaking during my suspension, right? Or did Captain Celebrity give you too many concussions that you forgot?" I rolled my eyes, trying to conceal the annoyance in my voice but failing miserably.
"Oh no, I am very well aware. I just had to know how my little poppy flower is doing? No suspension can prevent me from wondering." I heard the evil smirk running across his voice. "Missing me? Or are you still pretending to act like a victim?"
"I'm hanging up. Go fuck yourself, Brandon. You're better off by yourself and away from other people."
"Now, that's not very nice, Poppy. I just wanted to let you know that I can't wait to have you back at work under me..." I hung up my phone and decided to text Nezu about getting a new phone number. Not even a stupid suspension and judge sentence can get that man off my back.
Nemuri gently grabbed my hand. "Mai, you're shaking. What did he say to you?"
"It's nothing. I'm just annoyed that I have to change my number again." I gave her a reassuring smile. "Let's just go back inside and finish up my apartment; please, I have a lot of emails to go through from teachers and parents." Nemuri simply nodded but kept her hands in mine as we walked back into the apartment.
We walked in as Aizawa stormed out and shoving Nemuri and me into the door. We both turned over to look at Mic. He hesitantly spoke, trying to figure out how to explain what happened. I knew better to know that he was trying to find a way to cover for his best friend. "Um, apparently he needed to help with a case, and you know he's not injured, so he's a little excited to be working again." He let out a nervous smile.
I let out a groan and ran out to catch up to Aizawa, "Recovery Girl told him that he still needed time before he did patrols; why is he like this?" Too bad, the man quickly vanished. "Idiot. I swear if he ends up injured again, I'm not taking care of him again."
I made my way back inside with awaiting eyes watching me. I simply huffed and shrugged, indicating to them that I couldn't find him. Mic approached me as I went into the kitchen to grab a water bottle. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, "He was fine until I mentioned you and Vlad we sort of a thing."
I met with the emerald eyes that were peering into me, "Yeah, I kind of figured it wasn't actually patrolling. He even said during lunch today that he wasn't going to be patrolling any time soon. That he was going to take the week off from teaching the class to build up his strength."
Mic huffed, "So you and he weren't having any weird hang-ups? I can't think of any reason why you and Vlad would piss him off."
I took a sip of my water and shrugged, "Beats me. I don't know everything about him."
"Don't you two have some unspoken connection?" Mic pursed his lips in genuine confusion.
"No, we don't. If anything, he's just grumpy to see Vlad happy. Remember, they have a weird competitive colleague relationship going on." I tried my best not to sound so irritated. But I wasn't in the mood to be dealing with Aizawa's shenanigans after my little call from Gemini. "I thought you guys knew everything about each other."
"Well, we kind of do, meaning I know about your little panic attack after the festival. And you know the almost kiss..." He raised an eyebrow at me condescendingly. As if I was a child being ratted out for misbehaving. "So, why are you dating Vlad instead of Aizawa?"
"Because I like Vlad and that almost kiss? It was just a reaction due to emotional stress and old feelings. Nothing too serious to focus on. Nothing happened after that. Plus, Vlad is nice to me."
"Bullshit, what about this morning?" This morning? "In the nurse's office? Longing pause between you both, you in his arms, the slow leaning in with the undying urge to mold into one another? Doesn't ring any bells?"
I scowled at him, "That was nothing. You weren't even there. How did you even know about that?"
"If it's nothing, why are you mad that I know anything. Face it. You guys still have feelings towards each other." He grinned like a mad man, "And if you guys do, then that's good. I always felt that you guys were the closest thing to soulmates."
"Soulmates, my ass. The guy ditched me in third year and then never wanted to keep in contact with me for fourteen years." I couldn't help but laugh in annoyance at Mic. "Stop trying to paint Aizawa out to be a nice person. He still did all of that and never fully apologized for it. If you were my friend, you would be happy that I'm starting something with someone that has only treated me well." I stared into his eyes with nothing but sternness. "I get that Shota is a good person, with a lot of baggage. But so does everyone else. I'm sorry that I can't look past that he's treated me wrongly because of the few times he's treated me like a human being since I've been back." My eyes were slightly stinging at this point, "If I forgave so easily and didn't hold it against people for what they did wrong to me, then I would be like all the other female pros in the U.S. being used and abused. And I'm tired of all of that. I'm tired of having to be the bigger person. If he has a problem with me being with someone else, that's his own problem, not mine."
Hizashi's face fell in concern as he moved to wipe the tear falling from my eyes, "Okay. I get it. But maybe you shouldn't be falling for the first person that does treat you the way you want to be treated too. You are worth more than that." It's hard for me even to believe that I am even worth anything at this point. I can't wait to have you back at work under me...
"Vlad isn't the first. And it's new, so don't act like it's so serious." I took a breath and wiped my face.
"And maybe you shouldn't be dating with that mindset either; that's not fair to Vlad. But if you're having fun and enjoying yourself with his company, I guess that's all that matters. Just please stop leading on Sho."
"I'm not the one leading anyone on," I grumbled.
"Well, I don't know about that. You are a natural flirt. You never know when you have someone falling for you." Hizashi moved a few pieces of hair out of my face and kissed my forehead.
You are a natural flirt. You never know when you have someone falling for you. That's not really something I needed to hear right now.