Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I’ve only been to two funerals in my life, the first being my grandma’s, and the second being today for my friends boyfriend, Mark Louise. My friend in particular, Marizal Rose, was sitting next to me trying to hold back tears as they laid his body down. We sat there in silence until she got out a jar, walking up to the people who were shoveling the hole back, she asked them if she could have some of the dirt. They obliged and gave her a big enough scoop to fill the jar, she thanked them and walked back to me.

I wish I could say I felt sympathy for Marizal, but just like her boyfriend, I barely knew her. I came upon this funeral because she asked me if I would like to go, and being the nice guy I said yes, because no one would ever let someone else suffer the pain alone. So when she got to me I pat her on the shoulder and nodded, she nodded back and we walked back to her place in silence. We were half way there when I decided to ask her. “How did he die?” She sniffed, getting out a piece of tissue and wiping her nose. “He OD'd on heroin.” “Did you know he was doing it?” She froze, but nodded.

I think about asking her, “Why didn’t you stop him?”, or, “So you chose to say nothing?”, but I take a kinder approach. “Did you try to stop him?” She nodded, now wiping her eyes, showing on the tissue that she was wiping her mascara too. “Yeah, but he wouldn’t listen. He said that if I ever told anyone he would end our relationship.” “But wouldn’t it still help him even if you had to?” She shook her head. “I could never do that, I loved him too much. I still love him now.” We reached the door to her house and said farewell, walking back home I think to myself how it must feel like to lose someone you love, how you could love them so much that you’re willing to let them do whatever they want so as just to not break up the relationship.

But I could never know. Even then, I should have at least some sympathy for the girl, she lost the one she loved. She loved him so much she wouldn’t stop talking about him whenever we talked, it was evident how much she cared for him, but he didn’t seem to give a damn. But I wouldn’t judge their relationship, even now I wouldn’t. Though, if there’s anything I could relate with her, it’s my loneliness at the moment. The only friend I ever had over here in Japan had gone over to the States about a week ago to deal with some hero work, so I’m here by myself not really sure what to do with my life.

She’s a Pro hero, her hero name is Rapunzel since her quirk allows her to grow her hair and change it to different sizes. It can change into weapons, mostly like a hammer or a wrecking ball, it’s pretty cool. “I miss her.” I say to myself, walking up the stairs to my apartment and taking my key out, unlocking it I go in and end the night.

   Two weeks later I walk ahead, making a right turn I go up the stairs to this house. It’s definitely different from the other houses on the block with its bright yellow exterior and round structure, but it’s a house no less. I knock on the door when I reach it, hearing heavy footsteps on the other side getting closer. When the door opens I’m greeted with a very round man with a wife beater on and some shorts, his blonde hair falling slightly on his face.

The first thing that comes into my mind is how cute he is, his round structure reminding me of some toy I may have once had. The guy at the door looks at me curiously, but gives me a warm smile as he scratches his head, he asks. “Hello, how can I help ya?” I hold up a piece of paper to him. “Um, I’m here from the hero program, I’m your roommate?” He takes the paper from me and reads it, smiling he steps aside. “Oh yeah, well in ya come!” I nod and go in.

   Going in to the house I find it gorgeous then how it was from the outside, the interior was painted a light yellow, almost close to the color white with nice carpet and neat furniture. It’s kind of pleasing to the eyes, the guy sits down on a chair across from the living room. “Welcome to my home! I’m Taishiro Toyomitsu, but I’m the BMI Hero FatGum, pleasure to meet you.” He holds his hand out, I take it and shake. “I’m Bubba Wallop.” “Nice name.” He comments, letting go and stretching his arms out. “So Bubba, for the next year you’ll be under my watch! And I hope from this that you’ll learn from me.”

I nod, he lays one of his arms on the chair. “But before you do anything, let’s establish some ground rules. There all on the paper, but I like to talk about it just in case, you know.” “I understand.” He looks at me and laughs. “Geez pal, you don’t need to be so formal, get comfortable! You’re gonna be here for awhile anyways.” I hold my arm with my spare hand, walking over to the table with him and taking a seat across, putting down my stuff. “Sorry, this is kinda new to me. I don’t want to act disrespectful, especially to a pro.”

     He waves his hand. “Naw, you’re good. I kinda understand your position too, but I promise I’m just here to do good.” I nod, he turns in his chair towards me and clasps his hands together. “Alright,let’s do this. Rule number 1. If you want to go out you have to tell me or someone down at the office if I’m out.” He thinks. “Oh! I’ll take you down to the office later.” I nod. “Rule 2. I don’t mind if you have any friends over, but tell me beforehand. Also, if anyone comes to the door if I’m not around, I advise not to open it.” “What if it’s another hero?” “Ask them for their ID, if they don’t show it don’t open it. Just call me.”

“Rule 3. Whenever I go out on hero duty you have to come with me, even if you’re doing something.” “What? But what if I have classes? A test?” “You gotta drop em’, sorry to tell you. I’m all for you learning, trust me, but the rules state this program is for you to learn about heroes. In order for that to happen you have to drop everything, just like heroes now-a-days.” I deflate easily, putting my face in my hands. “Sorry bud, but them’s the breaks.” He gives me a genuine smile that says ‘sorry for the inconvenience’ written all over it. “It’s okay, I guess I should expect more from the association.”

   “Yeah, but let’s keep going. Rule 4. Nobody can no about this unless they’re a fellow hero, this is some sorta secret stuff here. If people knew about this talks would start. Lucky for you my house is in a gated area, but we still need to be careful.” I nod again, having a few questions go through my mind. For example: How old is he? Is he into guys? How much would it take for him to go out with me? I shake my head. “Rule 5. No dating. Now you know with being a hero there are a lotta threats and measures that surround it. Not all of them are good, so if you’re dating someone you’re gonna have to dial it down so as to not put them in danger.” I agree. “This includes heroes, no dating!” He wags his finger from side to side. “I’ve wanted to date back then, but there’s no time! So definitely if you’re the type to hang out with your bae all the time, this isn’t the occupation for you.”

  He scratches the back of his head. “You dating’ anyone at the moment?” “No, too busy to.” I let my head fall down some, but it’s not a lie. I’ve been trying to get at this point for years, I’m just too busy to start a relationship, but I’ve always wanted one. My friend even said that if I could give myself a break I could probably find a guy to lay down with. Even so I know now it’s pointless. “Yeah, I feel ya. But don’t let that get ya down, your friends will keep ya busy!” “If only I had any.” I accidentally say out loud, I look up to him to see his smile gone in place of shock. He puts it back on and scratches the side of his nose. “Well, I’ll be your friend, so don’t sweat it.”

I don’t say anything, but I smile. “Aw shoot, that’s the first smile you’ve put on since gettin’ here! Keep it on, you look good with it.” I nod. “So the final rule, Rule 6. Have fun!” He raises his arms high into the air while leaning back. “Despite how serious the hero business is, you’re still young so I don’t wanna push you to a point it drives ya mad, so just chill and lay back.” He puts his hands behind his head to emphasize. “If you wanna hang out I’ll be here, need anything just ask, and all you gotta do is not make a mess. This is my house after all.” I smile again, nodding. “Oh, there’s that smile again! I must be on a roll today.” He gets up, pushing his chair in. “Now for the first order of business, let’s head to the office! Get dressed, I’ll see you out front in a few.”

 With that he goes down the hall and points to a closed door across from another. “This’ll be your room!” He enters his, I pick up my stuff and go into the room. When I close the door behind me I look ahead to see the color blue, the bed in front of me and see the covers match the wall. The dresser to the right of me with a mirror, and to the right I see a bathroom. I put my suitcase near the bed and my duffle bag on the bed, pulling out some regular clothes.

Later me and Fat are walking to the office, instead of wearing his usual hoodie, he wears a blue one with black shorts. Some of his hair peeks out on the top and I can’t help but find it adorable. “So, another thing I forgot to mention, if there is something bad going down when I’m not around go ahead and take care of it, but if I find you’re not able to for any reason I have to pull you out.” “What if it was a minor villain?” He thinks about it. “No, they may be minor but you don’t know if they have anything up their sleeves.”

 “What happens if I don’t follow the rules.” “The maximum number is 3, if you break the rules three times you’ll be kicked out of the program. I like ya, so don’t do that okay?” “I won’t.” “Good, we’re almost there, so do you have any questions so far?” I think about it. “What if you were in danger and there was no way to contact anyone?” His eyes widen. “That’s a good one, hm. Well, I would ask you to run away, but if I know you can handle it I’ll tell ya to take em’ on.” I smile, he smiles too. “Ok, how about if I were in danger and I can’t contact you.” He freezes on the spot, but takes some time to think about it. “Well, geez, I hope it doesn’t come to that.” He looks down, eyes full of curiosity as he tries to find a solution. He snaps his fingers, a smile plastered back on his face. “Right! I’ll give you this watch one of my colleagues made, it shows when there’s extra movement going on, I’ll call you and if you don’t answer I’ll go to your location.”

 “It tracks your location?” “Yeah, in cases like that. So when we get there I’ll give it to ya.” We walk in silence after, no more questions come to mind. After a few more minutes of walking in the square, Fat points to his office. The outside being shaped just like his face, we enter to see a group of people walking around and sitting at desks, some turn toward the door and greet Fat Gum. He greets them back going further in until we enter his office, he goes behind his desks and pushes a button on his desk phone. “Hey Rachel, can you come in my office for a minute, bring the watch too.” “Yes sir!” He let’s go, searching his desks for something when the door opens.

 “Sir, I brought the- oh hello!” She stops mid way and greets me, reaching her hand out to me, I grab and shake. “Hello?” “Rachel, this is Bubba. He’s apart of the hero program so he needs the watch, explain it to him for me?” “Of course, here.” She reaches into her pocket, pulling out a pink watch. She helps me put it on my wrist. “This watch is very durable, it charges by using solar energy and can withstand explosions, water, heat, and lightning. It works as a normal wrist watch with time, and can track your heartbeat, steps, and blood pressure just in case. Once in awhile it will beep, it’s only to track your location, if it gets annoying you can turn it off.”

   She opens it for me, showing me the different apps and letting me see the settings. “It has a call feature and an emergency contact button that will only stop if you say ‘stop’, we have to set it up.” She goes to the settings with the voice command and puts the watch close to me. “Stop.” I say, I do it a few more times until it’s done. “You can message and shop, but not until FatGum verifies you.” “He can do it.” Fat says, nodding in approval. “Alright, I’ll verify you as soon as tomorrow.” She says. “But that’s all for your watch, any questions?” I take a minute to absorb the information, she speaks so fast it’s hard to keep track of what she said.

Looking at her I ask. “Does it sync with my phone?” “Yes, just go to the settings and put in your account you have for your phone.” I nod, I look at the watch and nod again. “I’m good.” “Excellent!” She claps her hands. “If there’s any other questions please ask me, if something happens with the watch bring it to me and I’ll check it out. If that’s all I’ll take my leave.” She nods her head and exits the office, I turn to Fat Gum for an answer only to see a smirk on his face. “She’s the best in the whole office, our tech supervisor. How’s the watch?” “Pretty neat.”

“Really? Is the pink too much for ya?” “Not exactly, just all the information-” “She does talk fast, but you’ll get used to it after awhile.”

   He steps from behind his desk with some paperwork. “Now that you got your tech, let’s head out to eat. What you feel like eating?” Fat walks over to the door, opening it for me to get out and following behind. “I don’t know, what do you usually eat?” “Oh don’t ask! I love food. There is no in between with me, all food is amazing. But I guess takoyaki is my favorite, but that’s more like a snack.” He debated with himself as we exited the office. Walking outside we decided to eat whatever we thought was good, FatGum got takoyaki at the end as I got a burger. It was a little too big for me but I managed to finish half when FatGum offered me some of his food.

 “Sure.” I open my mouth, he seems shocked but puts the takoyaki in my mouth, I close around it as he pulls the stick away. I start chewing as I nod my head. “Holy shit that’s good.” “Right? That’s my favorite stand, I always go there even if I’m busy.” He looks far away in front of him, probably thinking about something. “Even when it’s late in the night.” I take that moment to take another bite, he comes back and looks at me. “But not gonna lie, those burgers are good.” I nod, too busy chewing to answer. “...Can I have a bite?” Without a second thought I lift the burger to his face, he leans down to bite it. When I pull the burger back to me I’m shocked, swallowing my food I ask.

  “Did you just eat half of my burger?” I look up to him, he’s chewing while looking at me. Gulping down the burger he responds. “Sorry, but that’s amazing!” He wipes his mouth. “That’s the barbecue bacon one yeah?” “Yeah, this is the best burger I’ve had in awhile.” “Oh, if you think that’s good you need to try the one on this corner.” That whole evening we spent time talking about food and places we could try out, already on the first day we had plans to go to this ice cream parlor he recommended to me. We get back to the house, laughing while sitting down in the living room. Since It's so big he takes up the left side of the couch as I sit on the right.

“Man, that was a fun day!” “Yeah, I didn’t know I could have that much fun.” I say, resting on the arm rest while trying to breath. Fat pats my back. “Don’t overwork yourself now.” We sit in silence for a couple minutes trying to catch our breath, I look at Fat, watching him with his eyes closed breathing heavily. I find it mesmerizing, almost finding the will within me to kiss him on the cheek. He opens his eyes and looks at me, we stare at each other. “Well, it’s time to hit the hay. You going’ in the shower?” He sits up fast, I look down at my knees. “No, I like to take em’ in the morning.” “Alright, well I’ll go. Goodnight.” I nod, not looking up at him. “Don’t stay up too late either ok?” “Yeah.” He stays there probably looking at me, but moves to go. When I hear the door to his room close I sit back on the couch, sighing.

“Way to fuck that up Bubba.” I tell myself, hearing a bleep I get a message on my watch. “What’s up Bub!” It was Rapunzel, I try to text on my watch. Giving up I give a simple ‘what’s up’ instead of ‘nothing, how about you?’

“Doing good! The States are beautiful!”

She sends me a picture of an afternoon sky, I smile while something squeezes at my heart.

‘It looks beautiful.’

“Right?!?! I wish it could last alllllll day!”

I shake my head, imagining her saying those words. I hear another bleep.

“I wish you were here, I miss you :’(“

I stare at that message, the feeling tightening more. I reply.

‘I miss you too, a lot’s happened’

“Really? Tell me!”

‘I’ll tell you later, i’m going to bed’

“Aww, alright. Goodnight! I love you”

‘Goodnight’

I get up from the couch, walking down the hall I hear another bleep, then another, then another. I look.

“Say you love me!!!”

“Say it!”

“If you don’t i’ll keep texting you!”

I hear a door open and see Fat come out with a towel hanging on his shoulder with boxers on, he looks at me curiously. “You good?” “Yeah, my friend keeps texting me.” “Oh, about what?” He smiles, walking closer and leaning to see the message. “She wants me to say I love her, I might as well.” Fat doesn’t say anything but nods.

‘I love you’

“See, was that hard to say?? Good night!!!”

“Isn’t that sweet.” Fat says, leaning back up. “Well I’m takin’ a shower, night’.” He walks past me and enters the bathroom, I continue heading to my room and shut the door behind me. I take off my shirt and pants, only wearing my socks and shorts, diving into the bed. Before I doze off I remember to put my phone on the charger, and take off my watch as to not break it when I sleep. The last thing I remember is looking at the ceiling and still feeling that tight feeling in my chest when I think about Rapunzel.

Chapter Text

It’s been a week since I moved in with the BMI Hero, Fat Gum. Not much has happened, but Fat reassured me that the time would come soon enough. I shut the book I was reading and sigh, putting it down on the dresser when I got up. “Man, that’s 3 days I’ll never get back.” The book wasn’t anything special, something about the different situations that heroes go through and how to deal with them, just a plain old book. I walk over and open the door, planning on watching some Tv when I see Fat Gum on the other side. We stare at each other until Fat steps back.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were-” “It’s good it’s good.” “Yeah,” He scratches his nose. “So, I’m going to head for the office, and I remembered that we haven’t done a quirk analysis on ya. You wanna come?” Thinking about it I haven’t actually had an analysis check since 4 years ago, and a lots changed since then. “Sure, we’re goin’ now?” “Hell yeah, got some paperwork to submit.” “Was it the ones from last week?” I put on some jeans and a white shirt. “Yeah, just some minor things for the office, but still important.” “Must be boring though yeah?” I put on some socks, putting my shoes on as I look his way. “Definitely boring, but keeps the office goin’, you ready?”

Getting up I test my shoes, feeling enough space to move I nod. “Yeah, will we see Rachel there?” As we walk down the hall Fat shakes his head. “Nah, I don’t think so. She’s been working her butt off, this is her day off.” I nod, unlocking the door and walking through it. “Alright.” “Why, is somethin’ wrong with the watch?” “No, I just wanted to know.” A ding is heard from my watch, I look down at it. “Hey bub, how’s it going today?”

‘Good, you?’

“Awesome! We just heard back from our superior, he said we could come back next month!”

‘Really? That’s great!’

“Right!?! I can’t wait to see you!~”

“That your girlfriend?” Fat leans over my shoulder, towering over me to actually see my text. “Yeah it was her, but she’s not my girlfriend.” I walk ahead, hearing Fat’s footsteps follow behind. “Ay, your honest with me right? Remember the rules.” “She’s not, besides, I couldn’t score a date with her even if I tried. I’m too ugly.” I hear a snort, followed by a hand slapped on my shoulder, I try and succeed in keeping my balance. “Now that’s not true, you’re a fine young man. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t like guys in the pink hair variety.” He starts lifting the ends of my hair.

The feeling reminds me of when I was a kid, my friends would play with my hair. They would go as far as to even brade it, my mom would pull it out when I got back home, I smile just thinking about it. “Naw, if anything she loves my hair. I wanted to dye it brown when I was in high school, but she begged me not to.” Fat let’s go of my hair, walking beside me as we head to the side door. “How old are you again?” “21.” “Oh! So you’re fresh out?” “Yeah, why?” “You look like you’re in college, where the heck does the homework come from?” “It’s a side thing, just to get more experience. It’s something I’ve signed up for on the online.” Fat looks ahead. “Is the site called ‘Hero training’?” “Yeah, you know it?” “Know it? That sites a scam, you bought any books from it?” “No, I’ve bought my own so far.” Fat rubs his chin. “Good, they trick people by getting their money, they don’t give the books either.”

“So it’s fake?” “Pretty much, how long you’ve been on it?” “For awhile, like 2 months?” “Yeah, might wanna stop going there.” I sigh, looking around. “Hey, how did we get here so quickly?” We were already out in the streets, people walking about and talking, the office just in sight. “You didn’t notice, we were jogging a few miles back.” “Damn, times flies when you’re having fun. But I guess ‘i'll have to cut off from them.” “Good, wouldn’t want my fellow hero to get bad information. That’s why you’re in this program.” As we walk closer to the office I get a message from my watch.

[Hey, this is Rachel! I want to inform you that I can’t make it to the office today, so I’ve decided to give you my number. If you have any questions while I’m not around, please forward them to this number!]

“Rachel texted me.” “Really?” Fat opens the door, I go through as he follows. “Yeah, how though? I didn’t give her my number.” “Oh, she did create the watch, she probably found a way to get it.” “That’s, concerning.” “Don’t worry, she’s good at heart, she wouldn’t do something like that if she knew it was bad.” I nod, still feeling uneasy as we head for his office. Once we enter I take a seat on his couch, he takes the seat behind his desk. “Don’t be shy, get a chair scoot up to the desk.” I do as he said, he pulls out a form and clicks open a pen.

“So Mr. Wallop, when did you first manifest your quirk?” He says in a professional way, I play along, putting my hand under my chin to look like I’m thinking. “Hm, I think when I was 4 it started. I got ganged up on by these kids. When I got home my mom went to go buy some band-aids, I looked to the sky and liked how sunny it was. I closed my eyes so I could feel the sun, next thing I know I looked down at my arms and the scars are gone.” Fat nods his head, writing something down. “Alright, well, at least you’re okay.” “Yeah.” “So how does it work?” I lean back in the seat. “My body mainly absorbs energy from the sun, it also uses the moon’s energy. If i’m not using it I can store it for later, but I can’t store much.”

“It’s a healing type quirk?” “Yeah, it can also be used for fighting, but that’s the other aspect I can’t control.” “You haven’t trained it?” “Never had the time, it’s also the lesser of both that I use.” He nods, jotting something down again. “What is the maximum and minimum you can do?” “I can heal a little scratch, but also big enough to a full on scar, even when it’s fresh.” “For your fighting powers?” “I, don’t know. I guess the shortest thing is a punch, but I can go as big as an explosion.” Fat doesn’t write anything, he puts the pen down. “You wanna see how far it can go?” I think, it wouldn’t hurt to try. “Sure, when?” “How about after this? I got nothin’ to do today, perfect opportunity.”

“Alright, you sure it’s okay?” “Hell yeah, the point of this program is to help future heroes so i’m basically doing my part.” He shrugs his shoulders, picking the pen up and writing on the paper. “Now let’s get through this so we can get to the training ground and bounce!” He raises his arms, I do the same. “This is the last question, what do you plan on doing in the future with these powers?” “Obviously, I want to save people. I want to help others in their time of need.” “Anything else?” I shrug. “Get a date.” Fat shakes his head, but a smile spreading across his face. “You are somethin’ else.” I close my eyes. “I just want a date man, someone to cuddle with at night you know?” “Hey,” Fat leans over his desk. “I know what you mean, but being a hero means you have to give up what you want.”

“I know.” I sigh. Fat puts the paper in a folder, his chair squeaking against the floor when he scoots back. “Now that that’s done, I know a good place where we can train, somewhere up in the mountains.” “That far?” “It’ll be worth it I promise, I know a couple of people that’ll let us use it.” He walks around the desk, walking toward the door and opening it. “After you.” “Thanks.” I get out the chair and head out.

“Here it is!” Fat spread his arms, showing the vastness of the forest area that was in front of us. No wildlife was here, only the trees. I look off into the distance. “Wow, what a view.” “Yeah, that’s what I said the first time I came here.” “Your friends is actually alright with this?” “Of course, he owes me a couple of favors so this is the least he can do.” Fat walks ahead, turning toward me. “Here’s how it’ll go down, I’m gonna hide somewhere here and you come and find me when you feel the time’s right. If I feel you can’t find me, I’mma find you.” He points at me for emphasis, I nod earnestly. “Okay, I’m gonna go now.”

Like a sprinter he jumps away at an alarming rate, disappearing in the thick greenery. I do as he says and wait for a while, taking the opportunity to absorb the energy of the sun, and thinking strategically. I know I won’t be able to use a lot of energy since the trees will cover the sun, but I can probably drag Fat out so I can use the sun to my advantage. “Yeah.” I nod, feeling that it was time to get going I run down the hill.

Running deeper I stay on alert, slowing down to get a good look at my surroundings. I stop, hearing something move to my right. I look just in time to see Fat come rolling down, I dodge in a split second, showing when I land and feel a burn mark on my arm. “Damn! That speed.” I see Fat roll around until opening up in a fighting stance. “Yup, so you better be light on your feet!” He gets back in a ball and rolls toward me, this is when I put my first ability to use. I imagine the energy going to my feet, feeling a pulse I act and jump high in the air.

I take the time to heal my arm, knowing it would need more time. I decide my next move as I fall down, deciding to do a ground punch I flip my body to face the ground, doing the same thing I did when I jumped and feeling the ground connect with my fist. The ground erupts in every direction, I look up to see Fat Gum jump away at the last second, cursing. “Damn it!” I pull my hand out from the ground, turning around and heading for the mountain side. “Hey, where you think you’re goin’!” I don’t turn around, just running until I lose my balance from the ground shaking. Falling right on my face and rolling on, I get up quickly to make a run for it. “Oh no ya don’t!” A hand settles on my head, to throw me back to where I made the impact. Looking around I notice my body hurting, feeling it pull out the reserve to heal as many wounds as possible.

‘I’m running out of energy.’ I think, I push myself up, still feeling my wounds getting healed. Far away I see Fat walking slowly, his smile seeming sinister. I try to think of a plan, the only thing coming to mind is facing him head on. But something pops up, I get out the crater and head the opposite of Fat. I hear footsteps getting closer, making sure to time this right or it’s all over. Feeling the energy go to my feet, I use my right foot and push forward, making cover more ground then I had before. I chance a glance behind me to see Fat flying backwards, making me smile to know I succeeded in making distance between me and Fat. I run to the open, my body taking the chance to take in the sun. The energy going through me like a given.

I turn around immediately, expecting Fat to come at me full force, but see nobody. I take the opportunity, almost relaxing until I hear an explosion in the distance, seeing a bright green ball go up in the air. He says something but he’s too far away to hear, but when it looks like he throws something I get hit fast. I lay on the ground, my healing ability already going to work faster than before. In the corner of my eye Fat falls to the ground, turning into a ball before he disappeared.

“This time, I’m gonna go full out!” I stand up, going in a full on sprint toward him. I imagine the energy going to my fist, but I start to panic. ‘A panic attack’, It came out of nowhere, the energy from my hand going to my waist instead, a ring forming around it. I look at Fat, the smile on his face widening, I try to warn him. “Fat stop this-!” “Don’t stop now Bubba, let’s go!” Before I could stop Fat he touches the ring, all I could see is Fat flying away, I get shot in the other direction. Hitting a tree, I fall flat on my face with my vision going white. I go unconscious shortly after.

“Yes! He’s awake!” I hear a whisper, opening my eyes I get blinded by a bright light, I raise my hand to my face to block it. “Ouch.” “Sorry buddy, can’t adjust the lights.” Fat’s voice rings, I move my head to the side to see him sitting next to me on some bed. I try to adjust my body, but Fat pushes me back down. “Don’t exert yourself, I’ll help ya.” He pulls my body to an upright position so my back lays on the pillow. “Man, where are we?” “At a nearby hospital, man you shoulda seen yourself a couple ah hours ago.” “What went down after the fight, I remember getting pushed back in a tree.”

Fat shakes his head. “You have no idea, I got pushed all the way to the forest!” I smile, knowing that I at least caught him off guard. “But after that I tried getting to ya, you were laying on the ground, the blood pooling from your head. I thought you were dead kid, that scared me half ta death.” He moves a little in the chair. “After I found a pulse I rushed ya to the hospital, when we got there I noticed your head had stopped bleedin’, but I still wanted to make sure you were okay.” He looks up at me, opening his hands that were clasped in his lap. “And that’s how we go here.”

“Story of my life huh?” I say, Fat doesn’t smile. “I guess, but that was a powerful move kid, definitely some repercussions need to be put in.” “They have, it’s all in my hero costume. It has these pads that stop my impact.” He nods, sitting back in the chair. “Listen kid, until we find a way to get a handicap or somethin’ for that quirk of yours, you can’t fight anymore.” “What? Over a little incident?” “That wasn’t little kid, I’m not just doin’ this for you. That quirk of your cut down trees in the area, imagine what it would be like if you used that in a city with people around. That stuff would cause casualties in second.” I look down at my lap, my hands clenching.

Fat was right, I couldn’t let that happen when we’re in a city, but it was a little discouraging. It was an accident, I didn’t mean for that to happen, but I start to think of all those people who could be too shocked to run. Without a word I nod, Fat sighs. “I’m sorry kid, I believe you can control your quirk with a little practice, but from now on, I call the shots when were fighting.” “I thought you already did.” “Yeah, well now it’s for your powers. Only use your healing quirk.” I nod again, Fat gets up, a smile returning to his face. “Now, the doctor said he’ll let you out early when he gives you one last check, I can’t be there for it but do good buddy.” He slaps a hand on my shoulder. “Alright.” “Alright, see you downstairs.” With that he takes his leave, walking out the door after giving me a wave.

I spoke to the doctor, he gave me a once over and before I knew it I was riding on the elevator, walking out when I see my floor. I walk around to look for Fat Gum but find that it wasn’t that difficult with the big crowd outside, I see him signing a photo. I was about to yell his name but remember the rules. “No one can know.” I compose myself, making sure to send a quick message using my watch before walking to the side of the main entrance.

I go out the back exit, sitting on the curb and watching a few people walk by. I talked to one of the nurses here, they seemed to like their job, she said she needed to go thought and we said a quick goodbye. I check my watch for the third time when I hear heavy footsteps, I look over to see Fat jogging and waving to me. “Hurry, I got them distracted enough to slip away! Let’s go!” I get up, jogging ahead, but slow enough to be by his side. I was on the other side of him to where no one would see me near the hospital.

“Sorry for the wait, that crowd was vicious.” “The most vicious?” He fiercely shook his head. “Not even close, that was tame compared to the ones I’ve had in the past.” We jog until we’re far enough from the hospital, blending into a nice walk. “So what did the doctor say?” “He said I have a few fractures, but they should heal up in a couple of hours.” “Good, if it weren’t for that healing factor you would be in intensive care.” “I don’t disagree.” There were plenty of times in my childhood that I’ve gotten injuries too severe, that without my healing factor I would likely have died. Funny enough, most of my injuries came from my fighting quirk factor. I hold my arm, looking at the ground.

“I’m sorry Fat, I swear I didn’t mean to do that back there.” “Well, what happened?” He moves his hands around, looking honestly curious. “I had a panic attack, I lost control of my powers. It came out of nowhere.” Fat drops his hands, his look going from curious and crazy to calm and soft, his body relaxes. “Oh.” He straightens himself out. “That still doesn’t excuse anything.” “I know.” We walk in silence, I start to get uncomfortable so I start up another conversation. “You think we’ll make the next train?” Fat nods. “Yeah, maybe another 20 minute walk from here, but yeah we’ll make it.” I nod, feeling the air get intense.

“How long has it been happening?” I look up to him. “What?” “How long’s your panic attacks been happening?” I nod, looking off in the sky. The sun about to set. “Ever since I learned about my fighting quirk.” I stop, hearing Fat stop beside me. “Hey, remember I told you about those kids and how I got my healing factor?” I didn’t get a response, so I continue. “Well, those same kids are the ones I used my fighting quirk on. They all came at me at once after school, I got so scared. The ring you saw was the same ring I used when I found out about it.” “What happened to the kids?” “They were okay, my powers were very weak back then. But it was enough to wade them off.”

Fat nods, something swells in my chest, similar to how I felt when Rapunzel said she missed me. I go off the sidewalk, walking in the field until I find a clear spot, sitting down. Fat stands still, looking to me, to the sun and back. He follows though, sitting right by me. We sit there in silence, looking at the setting sun. “...Was it wrong for me to do that?” I ask, looking up to Fat Gum for an answer. He looks down at me. “No, you were only protecting yourself. That was just self defense.” I nod, looking ahead. “Yeah, I guess.” I feel a tear slide down my face, more follow but I don’t wipe them away immediately.

Fat puts a hand on my back. “You wanna talk about it?” I shake my head. “No, not now.” We sat there, Fat rubbing circles in my back. “We should catch that train now.” “You go ahead, I wanna stay here tonight.” “Nu uh, not happenin. Where I go you go.” “I can’t go back right now.” Fat stops rubbing my back, looking off to the last light of the sun setting. “Okay, I’ll get us a hotel room for the night. But don’t think I’ll let this slide again.” I nod. “Thank you, I’m sorry for this.” “I don’t mind much, if it helps you with the water works.” He smiles, getting up to call a hotel. I smile too, looking as the sun disappears over the horizon.

Once Fat got a room it was a walk away, it wasn’t the best room but definitely good enough. I slept close to the bed with the window, slipping my shoes and pants off before going into bed. I don’t say anything to Fat instead of thanks, he says no problem. I tell him goodnight before going to bed, falling asleep easily.

Chapter Text

As I feel the sun hitting me behind my eyelids I wake up, turning around to get away from it I come face to face with FatGum. I almost gasp, but hold it in. Thinking back to the events from yesterday I remember that we were in a hotel, all because I got emotional. I shake my head, hiding it in the blankets. “I’m a fool.” Putting my head back out I look between us to see that the bed was actually two beds pushed together. I give a quizzical expression when I remember going to sleep in my own bed. ‘Did Fat push them together?’

Just as I think that Fat Gum moves, pushing his face deeper into his pillow and putting his hand under his chin, his expression was soft. I stare at him, not knowing what to do or make of this. I decide to get up slowly as to not wake him, then look around the room. It was average, a Tv in front of the bed, a bathroom near the door, and a balcony just behind me. My first thought is the balcony, thinking about my old apartment as I walk over and pull the door open, thankful that it didn’t squeak.

My old apartment had a big veranda that I would go on whenever I had a tough day, sometimes I would go out there to study or listen to music. But most times I’d go out there when I woke up really early before my alarm, absorbing the early rays of the sun. It would be blissful, I smile as I sit on the table outside and close my eyes, imagining my old apartment through my eyelids. Missing the old times, I feel something sink in my chest. Shaking my head I take a deep breath, then release. Deep breath, then release. I do this for awhile, noticing the sun going up slowly but surely, wondering why I haven’t heard Fat Gum getting up yet.

Turning around I get my answer, he was standing in the door leaning on the wall, the sun making his smile look gorgeous. “Good mornin’.” “G-Good morning, how long were-” “For awhile, this view looks amazing.” He looks at the sun, I nod. “It is.” “How long have you been out here?” I try to estimate a time. “Maybe 2 hours?” Fat’s smile goes down. “Really? I thought you just got up, sorry for the wait.” “It’s good, I needed this.” We sit there, it would feel like time had stopped if it wasn’t for the sun going up. Feeling like this would be the time my alarm would ring I push off the table. “Alright, you ready?” “Been ready kid.” Fat yawns, walking over to the door. I walk over to the bed, sitting to put on my pants and shoes.

“Hey Fat, were the beds always together?” I ask, standing up and going through the door before him. “Um, nah, they were separate. I pushed them together ‘cause I saw you shaking real bad, I couldn’t lay with you so I pushed them together.” “Oh, thanks.” I say, mostly cause I never knew I was that shaken up and had nothing else to say. “It’s good, just being there for a fellow hero.” He pats me on the head, pushing past the stairwell case and walking down. “Did you sleep well?” “Yeah, felt like I was in Narnia.” I move my hands mystically, Fat smiles. “Good, I couldn’t get none for some reason.” He yawns again, pushing the door to the first floor so I can go ahead.

“By the way, why do you hold the door open for me?” Fat looks at me with a sheepish smile. “Well, there’s been one too many occasions where I get stuck in a door, so I let people get in front of me so i don’t hold them up.” I smile, almost laughing as I imagine Fat getting stuck in a door. “Wow, how many times has that happened?” “Too many.” Fat shivers thinking about it, it only makes me smile more. He gives me a sad glare, making me hunch over. “I’m sorry Fat, that’s just too funny. I can’t stop thinking about it.” I hear him sigh. “I guess if it makes you better, I’ll allow it.” I hear a chuckle, making me rise back up. We check out and head for the train, last time we were on we got to sit in the seats, but because it was during work hours the seats were taken. I try to reach the bars but can’t because of my height. Fat offered me his arm and I reluctantly agree. Just as I was gonna tell him something I almost collapse, feeling an empty pit in my stomach..

“You alright kid?” Fat reaches out to me, I push his hand away. “I’m fine, just feeling weak.” My stomach growled fiercely, making me remember that yesterday I refused to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The only thing keeping me upright was the sun's energy giving me food, but without water the energy was useless. “Yeah, guess I’m hungry too. But we’re almost there, hang on a lil longer.” He assures me, staying by my side until the train stops, he helps me off. “I thought you said you weren’t hungry yesterday?” “I wasn’t, but I haven’t drunken any water so it’s hitting me hard.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” I try to straighten myself up to look at him, people watching us. “My body works like a plant, I don’t need to eat since my body feeds off sunlight, but I also need water to use that energy.” He nods, not really listening as he sits me down on a bench. “Stay right here, I’ll get us somethin’. If anything happens text me.” He points at my watch as he jogs off in another direction, looking back once in awhile until he’s completely gone.

I’m left there thinking how I should’ve brought a water bottle with me, letting my body absorb the sun. “It’s almost the afternoon.” I say, feeling bad that I might’ve been a burden to Fat, he must have a lot of work to get to. “The first thing I’m gonna do is apologize to him, man i’m so hot.” I close my eyes, barely keeping them open, feeling somewhat tired. “Really? I don’t feel anything.” I open my eyes at the voice, looking to the side to see Mark, sitting comfortably next to me in a cross legged position. “...Mark?” I ask curiously, he leans his head to the side with a cocky smile. “You know it.” It takes me sometime to put the pieces together, remembering how I was at his funeral when he was getting buried, how his girlfriend was going through some hard times because of him, how he shouldn’t be here.

My tiredness was leaving me all together. “What, never seen a dead guy before?” Mark smiles, I want to scream and move away, but since my body is too exhausted, i slump back instead. “Hey Bubba!” I hear Fat’s voice, looking over to him then back to where Mark was to see the spot empty. Fat jogs next to me, looking at the spot where I was looking, then back to me. “You good?” He asks, his breath shaking. I don’t respond. “Here, I got you some water and an some fruit.” He goes into a bag and brings out a bottle of water and an orange, I sit up and immediately take the water, unscrewing the cap and downing it.

I feel the water spill on the side of my mouth, but don’t really care. I drink the bottle clean, gasping for air when I’m done and seeing my skin shining, wincing at the brightness. It settles down, I sigh in relief and look at Fat. “Thank you so much, I needed that. And I’m sorry for the inconvenience this has been.” He stares at me, but blinks out of it. “Uh, yeah no sweat, just remember to take better care of yourself from now on yeah? You can’t help others if you can’t help yourself.” He had a point, because I neglected myself the entire yesterday we ended up staying away from the office. “Your right, i’m sorry.” “Like I said don’t sweat it, just tell me if anythings wrong.” He smiles, handing me the orange that I take with thankfulness.

I start to peel it when I get a call, looking at my watch it was Rachel. I answer. “Hello?” “Bubba, are you okay?!” She says in a panic, I sit up on the bench. “Yeah, what’s wrong? Is something happening?” I hear a sigh of relief on the other line. “Never mind I see your signs coming up on the screen, nearly gave me a heart attack.” “What’s wrong?” “Nothing now, I saw your vital signs were getting low, and Fat Gum didn’t respond to the message i sent.” “Oh shoot.” Fat Gum lifts his arm, pushing his arm sleeve and showing off his watch, I’m surprised since I didn’t know he had a watch. “My bad, I was too busy getting supplies.” “You bet it was! I will not let a minor die on my watch, especially after yesterdays charades. Where are you guys at anyways, the watch says you’re away from the office.”

“We had a little sleep over, but we’re on our way back.” Fat said, getting a banana out of the bag and peeling. “Alright, I want to check both your watches so come by the office when you’ve settled in.” I nod, giving a grunt from a sudden dizziness. “But hey, how come you didn’t call me yesterday?” I ask. “Aside from the incident at the training ground, I didn’t receive any other weird signs.” I shrug, letting it go. “Alright, see you back at HQ.” “Roger that, goodbye.” She hangs up. Leaving me with Fat Gum finishing a banana and throwing the peel in a nearby trash can. He dust off his hands as he says, “So you ready to go back to the house? I need a shower.” I stand up slowly, testing my legs. “Yup, what else you got in that bag?” I ask as I finish peeling my orange, eating a slice.

“Tons of fruit, I wanted to get stuff with the season but I was rushing to get back to you.” He goes through the bag with me, showing off kiwis and strawberries, and tells me the type of fruits that are in season so that I could get it cheap. He even tells me about how he knows so much about food, his family is big on cooking so he grew up knowing a lot about it, even telling me about how one of his sisters was enrolling in a program in the U.K. I guess that he tells me so as to make me feel better about yesterday, it was working.

The look in Fat’s eyes when talking about his family was something of admiration, I almost envied that. “-Oh, you should see my family, they’re so kind and amazing, I have sooo many siblings you won’t believe it. I’ll probably take you to see them one day.” “Cool, where do they live?” “Far in the States, get a call from them every so often.” “That’s nice.” I say, silence falling between us. “You have any siblings?” I look ahead, seeing the gate to where the house lies behind. “No, only my Mom and Dad.”

“Oh, my bad. Still, that does sound nice.” “How?” “Well,” Fat unlocked the gate with his card, opening the door. “You are an only child, so you don’t have to fight for your parents affection.” I shrug. “I guess.” “And, you get all the food to yourself, instead of sharing all the time.” “Yeah.” I chuckle, shaking my head as I wait for Fat to unlock the door to the house. “You get a lot of opportunities, most of my family is in Culinary schools all over the place! Back then I just wanted to get away from them, so I joined a police academy, but now I miss em’ with a passion.” He goes through the door first, walking into his room I assumed the conversation ended. “Do you miss your parents?” He yells out, I grimace. “Kinda, when I got my own place at 18 they moved somewhere else, I call them sometimes.”

“Why don’t you try to now? Seems like the perfect time!” He shouts. “I don’t know, maybe they’re busy.” “Oh please,” Fat walks out his room with a towel thrown over his shoulder, fanning his hand at me. “If I were your parents I would clear everything just to talk to you, especially if you’re my only child.” He says, going into the bathroom and closing the door. I stand awkwardly, thinking if I should call them, Rapunzel would want me to. She always tells me to talk to my family, calling them up herself and passing the phone. I decide to do it, going into my room and sit down to get my phone off the charger and look at the contacts of my Mom.

I tap the call button unconsciously and wait, noticing the noise of the shower. I thankfully get the answering machine, but leave a message. “Hey Mom, it’s Bubbora,” I freeze there, thinking of something to say in a panic. “Haven’t talked to you in awhile, thought I might check up on you.” I think of how stupid I must sound, shaking my head. “Sorry for being gone, just been busy.” It was true. “So, call me back when you have the time.” I hang up, laying back on the bed. “That was lame.” I don’t turn my head to know it was Fat. “I know, but what else do you say when you haven’t seen your family in years?” “Maybe a, ‘Let’s meet up when I’m free’, or ‘hey tell me what’s been going on when ya have the time’.” Fat says in a somewhat imitation of my voice, I look toward him.

He was now in a short sleeved white shirt, black boxers and a green hat. A little crazy but seeming to look good for him, I sit up. “My family’s not like that, they have too much on their plate to talk to me.” I get up and head for the front door, Fat following. “If you say so, you don’t wanna shower?” “Do I smell?” I lift my arm to him, he hesitantly sniffs. “No, how though?” “I work like a plant, I don’t smell.” I open the door, walking back out with Fat following. “Hey wait a minute, don’t trees smell funny?”

“This should do it.” Rachel nods, setting her tools to the side. I pull my hand back to check the watch out. “What did you do?’ “I tweaked it for you, I added a new function so it might help you.” I look around on the watch to find a new app. “You got me a facetime option?” “Yes, so when you’re in trouble, or something has come up that proves assistance, you can use it.” I stare at the app. “Cool.” She gets up from her chair and walks over to Fat Gum, leaning against a table while reading the newspaper. “I also added something to your watch Mr. Fat.”

“Really now?” He says while flipping a page. “Yes, I installed a caloric intake app that tracks the food you eat.” Fat puts the paper down to show a frown. “Why?” “So you don’t collapse from diabetes, you eat too much.” He folds the paper and lays it down. “Not possible, you get diabetes from not checkin’ your habits, I check em’.” Rachel flips her hair. “Yeah yeah, but aside from that I need to ask you something important: What happened at the training grounds?”

“A little tussle got out of hand, I told you about it yesterday.” Fat said. “I know, but what happened exactly?” She looks at me for an answer. “I don’t know, I was knocked out for the most of it.” Fat nodded. “Yeah, we were rough housing and it turned out serious, I was gonna give em’ a whammy when the kid started pulling this huge stop and sent us flying!” He expands his arms. “I get up and run over to him, I notice the bleeding and that’s when you called. I got him to a hospital, we checked him out.” “Then why did you stay over there?” Fat gives me a glance, I shake my head. “We decided to have a sleepover, by the time he was checked out the train was on its last run.”

Rachel nods, packing her tools up. “Alright, I’ll take my leave, if anything else happens please don’t be afraid to call me.” She looks at me when she says it, I nod. “I will, thanks for the upgrade.” “No problem.” She starts heading out the door but stops midway. “Also, we need to put you into the agency system so you can do some work, remember that Mr. Fat. I’ll send you the documents.” With that she leaves. “Duly noted!” Fat shouts, pushing off the desk and walking toward me to lean over. “How’s the watch?”

I nod, putting my wrist down. “What does yours look like?” “Ah, nothin’ much.” He lifts his sleeve to reveal a big watch, black with a silver rim and a red button on the side. “Looks cool, what does the button do?” He pulls his sleeve down. “It’s an emergency button, if somethin’ wrong is going down that needs more pro hero assistance then I push it.” “Do other hero’s have this watch?” “Yeah, we’re just a lil late on the upgrade. Especially mine, since my wrist are so big I had to get a custom.” He starts chuckling. “But if you think I’m worse I need to introduce you to one of my interns, he’s not in the same program as you but he’s already gone through 4 watches.”

I quirk an eyebrow. “Really?” “Yeah, that’s why Rach is so hard pressed with these watches, but I think she’s doin’ great, yeah?” “Yeah, she deserves some recognition.” Fat nods, he motions for me to get up and opens the door. “Exactly, and I got something in mind for her, but in the meantime let’s grab a bite. Those fruits didn’t do shit for me.” I chuckle and get up, walking out the door.

When Fat unlocks the door to the house we immediately head for the couch, I sit near the door as he sits near the wall somehow dealing with the stomach ache better than I am. I lean over to try to breath but burp instead. “UHhh.” “You good?” I lay back. “I feel like I’m about to have a baby.” “Congrats, boy or girl.” I fake a laugh, groaning next when my watch gives a sound. I lift my wrist up and read the message.

“Hey Bub! I can finally come and see you next week! Can I stay at your place???”

I lay my head against the couch. “Hey Fat, can my friend stay over for awhile?” He puts his hands on the back of his head. “Sure, just make sure they don’t cause no trouble.” “Alright.” I text back, noting how Fat was staring.

‘Sure, I’ll send you the address when you get here.’

“Alright! Thank you sooo much! I can’t wait to see you!!!”

I smile, thinking about how much we could catch up on. Fat gets up next to me. “Well, I’m hittin’ the sac, you going too?” “Naw, I’ll sleep later.” “Alright, don’t stay up too late.” I nod, Fat starts walking to the hall, but does a 180 and walks back toward me. “Before that, can I talk to ya? Just for awhile.” I look up skeptically, wondering what we could talk about. “Uh sure, what’s the prob?” He sits back down, with it I notice his face. It was a little dark since it was night but I could see how serious he was. “The prob is your powers, haven’t you talked about it with someone?”

I shake my head. “No, my mom always told me to not hurt people so I kinda went with it. I barely use it so what would be the point of talking about it?” He nods. “Yeah, but don’t you think that if you wanted to be in the hero biz you at least know how to control it?” He gestured at me, thinking about it it was a good point. “Well, I originally wanted to be a healing hero, since my quirk can help people heal.” “So a medic hero?” “Pretty much.” Fat puts his hand to his mouth. “Then what are you doing living with me? The more suitable one would be Recovery Girl, was there a mix up?” “No!”

I stand up waving my hands. “No, I wanted to be in this department. I want to test my powers, to see what I could bring to the table, yeah I agree it wasn’t really smart to come in not prepared, but I thought I could give it a try.” Fat looks at me, probably wondering what I was thinking, but nods. “Alright, though this does kinda bring the whole teaching plan I had to a stand still, I understand. You want to use your powers despite never doin’ so? Well that requires training, and I guess I can teach ya about fightin’ if you’re up to the challenge?”

I look on astonished, how could Fat Gum be giving me such a chance after what happened? “You’d do that for me?” Fat lays an arm on his knee. “Kid, I’ve-” “I’m 21.” “Dude, I’ve got an entire year with you, that means we have a lot of time for you to get your quirk in order before you fly the coop.” He wiggles his fingers while raising his hand. “Besides, your my student, it’s kind of what I have to do.” I smile, shrugging. “I guess, but thanks.” “Don’t mention it, but now I'm exhausted, let’s really his the sac.”

I nod, walking behind him and stopping at the entrance of my door. “Somethin’ wrong?” Fat says, I turn back around and lean on the frame, him doing the same. “I’m sorry about yesterday, I was a little careless and I should’ve told you about my powers being, iffy.” I shake my hand side to side, Fat waves his hand. “Naw you’re all good, you’re not the first kid I’ve taught that has quirk problems. And that’s in the past, let’s focus on the future, ‘kay?” I nod, standing up. “Alright, night Fat Gum.” “Night Bubba.” We close our doors at the same time, I head to the bed as I finally feel exhaustion come over me. Without removing my clothes I hop in the bed and fall fast asleep.

Chapter Text

   I imagine the day is long and the sun is high in the sky, if I were in a park I could probably hear the kids playing around and the parents chatting away. I think of how good the sun must feel, but immediately slump on the table when the A/C of the house cuts on. “Why the hell am I doing this?” I ask myself already knowing the answer, Fat Gum had assigned me some homework to keep me busy and to make up for the website I was almost scammed by. He had to give it to me on short notice because something came up at his job, I could’ve come along but I was banned from using my quirk.

Not only that, but he said he would be gone for most of the week so I had to do everything myself. By his words exactly, “I bet you can take care of yourself, I promise it won’t take long but it is important so I’m counting on you to look after the house. There’s plenty a food in the fridge, the card to the gate is on your nightstand, and when your friend comes over tell her she can sleep in my room for the time bein’ until I can get things sorted out.” I nod, he walks by the couch and ruffles my hair before opening the door. “See ya later!” He jogs out, looking out the window I could see him jogging down the sidewalk.

 I sit back up again, I could just save the homework for later, but I told myself I would at least finish the first page of the packet. It was kind of hard since my mind was too preoccupied, with Liz (She told me to call her that as to not out her in public with Rapunzel) coming over and Fat leaving for something important it kind of left me confused. I already sent Liz the address for the house so I’m waiting for her response when she gets here to go to the gate.

While waiting my mind went off to something else, I look back at my watch to see the message.

[If you need anything, please don’t be afraid to ask. When you’re done with your homework please turn it in to me.]

So Rachel was in charge of my homework, I trusted her to not give me anything hard, but what Fat gave me really gave my head a spin. “‘There are 4 children on the rooftop of the building, an teenager on the 5th floor, and an ambulance at the ground floor. The building will collapse. Which order do you save them?’ What?” I sit back in my seat, trying to think. The teenager would be easier to get to, but what about the ambulance? And how can you get the kids?? I pull the strand of hair on my head. “This shit is hard.”

 I debate rather I should just guess and get on to better things. My watch vibrates and I read the message.

“I’m outside, you never told me you moved?!”

I smile, hopping out of my seat and walking to the door, the thought of getting away from the work and talking to my friend was relief in itself. I open the door and walk to the gate. As I walk closer I can see her; hair in a ponytail, white shirt, shorts, and long socks. Two suitcases stood behind her, I can tell she sees me when she starts waving her hands in the air. “Bubba! Baby boy!” I start jogging closer until I’m right behind the gate door. “What’s up Liz.” She smiles brightly. “I’m sooo happy! I can not wait to spend some time with you, it’s been too long!” “Yeah, almost a month.” I pull out the card and hold it to the censor, the light turns green and the gate opens. I walk over and grab one of her suitcases, we walk together to the house.

  “You didn’t answer my question, when did you move?” “I didn’t move per se, I’m staying here temporarily with someone.” “Who, is he cute?” She giggles when I feel heat creep on my cheeks, I punch her arm. “Anyway, I’m living with him for a year for some hero training, it’s a little secret so don’t tell anyone.” She nods, putting a finger to her lips. “I think I’ve heard about something like that at one of the meetings, I think it was called the hero program, a lot of hero's had participated.” “Really?” “Yeah, I wanted to join but my work was getting busy at the time. Who are you staying with?”

 “Fat Gum.” “Fat Gum, you mean the BMI hero? I love him!” “You know him?” We made it to the house, I open the door and walk to the side to let her in. “Well duh, he’s a pro, you’d have to live under a rock to- Woah!” She looked around the house astonished, staring in awe. “This is his house? It’s so cool!” I nod, hauling her luggage to Fat’s room. “Yeah, and this is his room, you’ll sleep here until we can figure something out.” “I can sleep in his room?!” I nod again, opening the door to get a look, noticing that this was my first time stepping foot in his room.

I go in and see that it was an orange yellow, the bed in the center and a Tv in front of it. A lamp was on the nightstand, a big window on the other side of the wall. But what surprised me the most is the bed, it was double the size of mine and taller then what I expected, it left me flabbergasted even when Liz came by and checked it out too. “Damn his room’s big!” She walks by me, leaving her bag by the bed and flopped on the it, putting her arms under her head.

   “Awwm I could fall asleep.” She laid there, almost immovable until she starts to move again. “Hey you know where the remote is?” “No, it should be on the bed.” It would be an obvious place to look, she checks and finds it under one of the pillows. She stuffs her face in the pillow and I hear something loud like a sniff. Her face pops up. “Oh my goodness this pillow smells like food!” She takes the other pillow and puts her face in it, the noise comes back again. Her face comes back up. “Hey Bubba you wanna try this?” “No I’m good, but I got some homework to do.” She sits up on the bed. “Oh, you want me to help?” “Not now, maybe check it out for me later, you need to sleep.”

She smiles. “You right, I got some mean whiplash.” She grabs the remote again and turns the Tv on. “You at least wanna watch with me, we can Netflix and Chill!” “Nah I’m good, maybe later though.” I wink at her, she laughs as I walk back and sit at the table, going back to the problem. I go with my earlier thought and guess on most of them, after I get it done I decide to sleep for awhile. Putting my head in my arms I close my eyes.

“Bubbbaaaa.” I hear Liz’s voice, slowly rising I feel somewhat groggy. “Hey baby boy, want some food?” I nod. “Yeah, want me to make you something?” I look up to see her face surprised. “You can cook?” “Of course, I live with Fat Gum. Come on I’ll make something.” I get up, pushing my chair in and walking into the kitchen, Liz follows me reluctantly. “So, when civilians get caught by a villain with a burning quirk you decide to fight the villain by yourself?” I look back at her to see the packet in her hand, leaning on the table and reading the paper intently. “Oh, I guessed on that one.” “But still, the right thing to do is wait for backup and distract the villain until help arrives, unless you got a water quirk probably.”

    She goes in deep thought, I nod while reaching for the rice in the cupboards and some sausage in the fridge. “What you makin’?” “Some sausage and rice. Want some juice?” I get a cup from the cupboards and fish some juice from the fridge. I pour the juice in the cup, handing it over. “Is this fruit punch? From my favorite brand?” “You know it.” I start to get to work with the food, getting a chopping board to cut the sausage. “If you want to help you can make the rice.” “Yes chef.” She grabs the rice, following the instructions as I put the sausage in a pan.

“And another thing, if you’re in dire need of assistance you don’t just walk off to find help, you need to call for help and stay where you are.” “What if you can’t call anyone?” She starts to talk, then looks back at the paper. “Oh.” “Watch the rice please.” I look in the corner of my eye and see the pan boiling. “Right right!” She starts to stir and puts the lid on, she leans against the counter. We go back and forth with questions from the packet while cooking, Liz thankfully giving me a wider range of options in different situations. We go back to cooking when she asks me something.

“Soooo, what have you been up to with Fat Gum? Tryna get into his pants?” “You know damn well I could never do that, especially to a pro hero.” She laughs, I check the sausage and see it’s ready, I add it to the rice and turn the heat down. “You really couldn’t, but he is cute yeah?” I don’t respond, my face red enough to answer for me. She chuckles. “Yeah I love those chubby cheeks, he’s really nice too.” She goes on. “I remember talking to him for a bit when we were at that meeting I mentioned, he was talking about how great an opportunity the program was for upcoming heroes and how close they could get with their idols.”

   I nod, leaning against the counter. Liz sat on the table in the center of the kitchen. “I listened to him, he was really passionate about it. I wish I could go into detail but it was really something how he sounded when he talked, he’s a really nice guy. I admire that.” She looks off somewhat. I nod, knowing what she means. Fat was really great, I can still see the look on his face when he was talking about his family. He truly was a really great guy.

“When you start staying together?” “Two weeks after you left.” “That quick?!” “What you mean?” “I thought it was recent, you guys best buddies now, you abandoning me?” She says in mock sadness. “I would never abandon you, but we are good friends.” She gives an ah noise. “Alright, now let me ask you a secret.” She looks around then leans forward. “What food recommendations does he have?”

I almost scoff. “You have no idea, whenever we eat out it’s a new place everyday. I can barely keep up, it’s all really good though.” “I bet, hey, when he comes back you think he’ll take us somewhere tomorrow?” I sigh, remembering the news Fat gave earlier today. “He’s on a mission, won’t be back until next week.” “Aww.” She frowns. “Yeah, but I can take you to the places we’ve been, they’re amazing.” I sniff. “Speaking of food, dinners done.”

   I grab two bowls and set them on the counter, grabbing a spoon to fill each bowl. I grab one and hand it to her, grabbing mine I walk to the table and start to eat. “Bubba, you know we have to pray.” “I don’t pray.” “Well I’m a guest, so you have to.” She grabs my hand with her hair, wrapping around it softly but tight enough to feel it. Despite I was against it she had a point, I squeeze her hair and close my eyes. We sit there for sometime until she says amen. “Now let’s eat, this looks really good.” She takes a big scoop and shoves it in her mouth. “This is really good.” “Please chew with your mouth closed.” She nods, chewing then swallowing. “But you did a good job Bubba, last time we met you couldn’t even cook grilled cheese.” I grimace. “I told you I was distracted, you were the one that suggested that we could play games while they were cooking.” “I didn’t know you had the heat on that high!”

Despite our bickering we laughed it off, enjoying the food in silence. After dinner we watched a movie on Tv, but we weren’t really watching as much as we were talking and catching up. She tells me about what she was doing over at the States, trying to help a team find out who was connecting bank robberies at the same time. They were able to capture the villain, but they still had to find the money which lead into another couple of weeks trying to find out where. “Turns out it was under a couch in their uncles basement.” “He just told you?” “No, it was more like his uncle called him and asked him why there was money under his couch. You should have seen the look on his face, he was so pissed.”

 “You would think the uncle would have taken some of the money.” She slapped my arm playfully. “Right?! So we went to his house and found out he had spent some of it on a watch, he knew all about it but didn’t tell the villain.” I shake my head. “Can’t trust nobody with money.” “Yeah, but speaking of money, where’s that 10 you owe me.” “Actually,” I sit up on the couch, looking at the Tv in the corner of my eye to see a sex scene but ignore it. “You owe me money, I gave you twenty so you owe me ten.” She turns her attention towards the Tv. “Wow would you look at that they’re really getting it on.” I then turn my full attention toward the Tv now, and I would have to give her credit that it was getting hot.

The guy was nailing the girl, so much so that the only noises were slapping and yelling from the girl. I grimace. “Why did you put this on?” “I didn’t, it was the last thing you watched.” I turn to her. “I haven’t watched Netflix in years.” She looks at me looking confused but her expression shifts to a cat-ish smirk. “So Fat Gum watched this? At the part when the sex would go down right after?” I connect the dots and shake my head. “No way, no way.” “Aw come on Bubs, a man can get his rocks off every once in awhile yeah?” “Of course, but, it’s just hard to hear.” “But not hard to imagine huh?” She winks and nudges my arm, almost instantly when my thoughts go into a not so clear territory I get a message on my watch, I sigh in relief and look at it.

  { Hey Bubba, how’s it goin’?}

 I blink, almost frozen when I see the message. Liz looks over my shoulder. “Oooh, that’s the big boss.” I ignore her and type back, my heart somewhat beating fast.

‘Hey what’s up?’

{Nothin’ much, we’re sleeping over for the night, everything good over there?}

‘Yeah, my friend and I are watching a movie.’

{Really, awesome! Hey you mind if I video chat with you?}

“OOH, going for the kill.” She says, I notice how close she was to me and push her away. I respond back.

‘Yeah, i’ll use my phone’

 “Hey could you pause that movie?” “You tryna watch it later?” She asks, wiggling her eyebrows. “No, it’s making me uncomfortable.” “Fair enough.” I hear it stop as I head into the hallway. Going into my room, grabbing my phone from my nightstand. I freeze, looking back to my mirror. “I guess it was just me.” I thought I saw something red in the mirror, I ignore it and go back to my phone. I decide to take my watch off and give the shine back to my phone, the feeling of it off makes my wrist feel weird but I ignore it too. I walk back to the living room, I sit and wait for the call. “You nervous?” “A little, I haven’t done video chat in a couple of years.” I say honestly, the last time I used video chat was with my parents for Christmas. “Yeah, but just act natural it won’t be weird.” I nod, my phone rings later and I answer the call.

  Fat’s face comes up on the screen, wearing a white shirt. His hair was in a messy bun. “Hey Bubba, sorry for the awkward angle.” The camera showed Fat a little bit but only because of the light coming from our living room, in the video it was completely dark. “Most of everyone is kinda asleep so I can’t make too much noise, but I want you to meet my interns I’ve been telling ya about.” His face seemed relaxed, dark circles under his eyes from what I could see. Fat moves the phone to show the hero's Red Riot and Sun Eater, I gasp.

“Heya, nice to meet you!” Red Riot said, waving at the phone. “Hey say hi Amajiki!” His voice was a little too loud, someone shushing in the background and someone else saying ‘Yo turn the brightness down’. “Hey…” “Hello.” I nod, Liz hold her hands to her mouth from shock, I can relate. “It’s very nice to meet you both, I hope I can meet you when you come back and talk more.” “Ah, very respectful, that’s manly right there!” Red Riot laughs, this time Fat Gum shushes him. “Your being loud Kirishima, lower your voice.” A tiny sorry comes from him, a sheepish grin coming to his face.

“Put it on mute.” Liz says, I look at her quizzically but do it. She immediately grabs my arms and shakes me, squealing. “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe we get to talk to Red Riot and Sun Eater and Fat Gum, I am soooo happy~!” She shakes me harder making me drop my phone, because of that I try to get out of her grip. “Liz chill you made me drop the phone!” When she hears this she stops, letting me go to instead roll in a ball and squeal into herself. I get myself together before I pick my phone up again, this time instead of Red Riot and Sun Eater on the phone it was Fat Gum. I push the mute button again. “Hey is everything alright over there?” “Yeah, my friend’s just too excited right now.” It was the truth, a sigh comes over the speaker. “Good, I thought you got attacked.” “I could fend them off.”

   He chuckles. “Yeah, if you don’t blow the house up while you’re at it.” I frown, passing the phone to Liz. “Liz you wanna talk?” She uncurls and snatches the phone from me, smiling from ear to ear. “Hey!!! Remember me, Rapunzel from the last meeting? It was like two months ago but remember?!” It was silent when a small huh was heard. “I remember you, we were talking about the program, and you couldn’t do it.” “Yeah, I was busy at the time though, but I could do it now!” “You definitely should, it’s pretty neat. I can speak from experience too, Bubba’s been cooperative so far. The only problem I’ve had is with his quirk, but since I know you’re there can you give him some tips?”

“You’re having problems with your quirk Bub?” “It was an accident, I got nervous.” She nods. “I see, I’ll see what I can do.” “Hey Fat let me talk!” The phone shifts over to Red Riot again, but he’s holding the phone. “Woah, is that you Bubba? You changed quick!” “I’m not Bubba, I’m Liz!” The conversation went from there, going back and forth. Liz gave me the phone and we got to talk with Red Riot and Sun Eater, well mostly Red Riot since Sun Eater didn’t seem talkative and fell asleep after. When it was time to go to bed, around 12:00, Fat took the phone. “Sorry to cut this short but we’ve gotta go to bed, we got a big day tomorrow and I would love to pick this up some other time. You should go to sleep too.” “I will, goodnight Fat.” I end the call, slouching on the couch. Liz slouching with me. “He does have a point about going to bed.” She gets up and walks to the hallway. “So let’s wrap it up, see you tomorrow.” “See ya.” I hear the door close, making that my call to go to bed too.

I walk to the room, closing my door and taking my pants off. Just as I was about to go to sleep I see something red go across my vision, I think it was just an illusion and doze off.

 It’s been three weeks, the last time I talked to Fat Gum was last week about my training with Liz who really has helped me out. He’s given her instructions to do certain fighting positions with me until the ban is up on my fighting quirk, he said that I should be banned for one more week just to be safe. He told me it would be the last time we’d talk since they were going to finally carry out the mission, I understood but that didn’t mean I wasn’t worried. Liz’s been trying to distract me from it by training me the whole time, going from easy to difficult in our latest matches. It would be difficult if it wasn’t for Fat putting in a word for us to use the training grounds again, in return we had to clean some of the bark up.

We were at the office now, Rachel going over the homework she was in charge of assigning me. She got done quickly and gave me another paper, thankfully just one piece. Rachel was working on the watches again, Liz asked her why. “Me and others at some agencies have decided to go into this competition that would give us a cash prize and some street cred.” She smirked. “I’ve got the most electronic skill in this entire department, so I’m bringing home gold.” “That’s the spirit.” Liz said, raising her hand and receiving an high five. “I need to use the can, brb.” She walked off, Rachel scooted a seat out. “Sit here for a minute Bubba, I have to talk to you.”

  I sit down. “What about?” “Well, Mr. Fat told me about why you two really stayed the night neat the training grounds.” I rolled my eyes, leave it to Fat Gum to be an honest person. “Really.” “Yes, and he has pressing concerns for you. I want to know if you’re alright with him being gone.” “Of course, I have a lot of faith in Fat Gum. He’ll come back a-okay.” She smiled. “Good to know, i’m happy you’re not as emotionally weak as I thought.” “I guess that’s good to hear, you know when Fat’s coming back?” She nodded. “He said this week they’ll pull off the mission, I don’t know how they’ll get back but this week should be the last.” I nod, Liz gets back from the restrooms so the conversation ends there.

She waved to us as we left. “Be careful, don’t be a stranger.” We walk out, seeing kids run down the sidewalk with action figures in their hands. “So what do you wanna do now?” Liz asks me. “Don’t know Liz, how about going to that restaurant we passed two days ago?” “Awesome plan Stan.” She walks ahead. “But when we’re done we’re immediately doing that homework.” I sigh. “Yes Mom.”

 The entire day was filled with eating and doing homework, nothing entirely interesting. It was late too, around 6 when we started heading back home, when Liz asked if I wanted to come in I declined, wanting to stay outside for a little longer. I sit on the stairway, breathing in the air and exhaling. When I open my eyes I see someones legs, looking up forward I see a body and a face. It takes some time but I start scrambling back, questions going through my mind. The red figure just floats there, staring at me.

I finally ask. “How did you get here?” He looked peeved, rolling his eyes at me. “I can float through stuff, duh.” I scrunch my face. “How- Why do you follow me?” “I don’t follow you, I do other shit besides following some slow ass wannabe hero.” I get some courage and stand up, I step up a little. “Okay, then why do I always see you? Why do you talk to me?” He goes silent, looking kind of nervous. “You’re kinda the only person I can talk to.” “What?” I then get a flashback, all the way to when I was on the bench. His face comes to me. “Wait, Mark? You were with me at the bench.” He looks neutral. “Yeah, and?” “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” He looks at himself, lifting his arms. “Aren’t I?” “Well, yeah. But I mean, you should’ve gone to he- heaven, or something.” He shrugs.

“Your guess to why I’m still here is as good as mine.” I look at him quizzically, not sure what to say. Something else comes to mind though, the red image I three weeks ago. “Hey, do you watch me while I sleep?” His face scrunches up next. “Hell no, you’re not my type, and I’m definitely not into guys.” “Then why were you in my room three weeks ago.” He folded his arms. “I wasn’t checkin’ you out, I was checkin’ your friend.” I grimace, what should he want with Liz? “Don’t you have a girlfriend? She’s pretty worried about you.” He shrugs. “Not really, your friends got a better bod then Mari’s.” I was about to give him a piece of my mind when Liz opens the door, shock written on her face.

“Bubba, you-” I turn around, noticing the situation was kind of awkward. “Who are you talking to?” She asks, I turn around but find an empty space. “I could’ve-” “Whatever, this is really important.” She grabs my arm and pulls me in, I follow when she stops me in front of the living room TV. “-The BMI pro hero is currently in the hospital, we have no know records if he is severely injured or not. Others have been found injured like the interns Red Riot and Sun Eater, along with Rock Lock, Sir Nighteye, and a couple of others we can not name at the time. More news about this incident tonight.”

     The lady reporter stops, the other reporter talking. I freeze, not sure what to say or feel. I was happy that Fat Gum was back in town, but I was worried that he might be severely hurt. “This just came on, I thought it would be good for you to see.” I nod, my mood for the afternoon becoming sour after this. The rest of the night was silent, Liz letting me know that it wasn’t that bad from what she saw so he should be fine, I only gave a nod. After dinner we went to bed, I was somehow restless, staring up at the ceiling until I was able to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

“Glad you guys could come and visit, I was gettin' tired of the paparazzi banging on our door.” Fat chuckled on his bed, his skinny frame jumping up and down. I was sitting near the window, Rachel was next to me tweeking her watch as Liz was sitting between Red Riot (Kirishima I remembered) and Sun Eater (Amajiki). Fat layed back down. “So, how did you guys get here? I know it must’ve been a trip with the pap covering the entrance.” Rachel looked up, adjusting her glasses. “Not really, the walk here was alright and the crowd was no issue, we went through a side entrance.”

  “Really? The pap wasn’t surrounded there?”  “No, the police were amped up after the whole news thing, I was surprised that we weren’t spotted when we went around.” She looks back to her watch. “On another note, I think you’ll be glad to hear that Bubba has passed with flying colors on the homework I’ve assigned in your absence.” “Oh yeah!” Liz shouted across the room. “He’s getting better with his powers too! Although I still got a concussion from one instance last week.”

Fat nodded, looking to her then me. “Was it the same like last time?” I nod. “Yeah, except I didn’t crash into a tree.” “Well.” Liz messed around with the blanket Kirishima had. “You did go flying into 4 trees though.” I grimace. “Why did you have to bring that up?” “I mean, we were being honest so.” Fat started sitting up, laughing his ass off. Kirishima was laughing too, and I thought I heard a chuckle from Amijiki. “Okay okay, I can’t fight a pro hero, laugh it off.” “Don’t be like that Bubby, it’s all in fun and games” He says while stifling a laugh. “Well that’s- wait, Bubby?” With that he finally stopped, a red hue coming to his face. This time I laugh, Liz joining me.

   “Not gonna lie that’s a good name.” “Yeah.” I agree, trying to catch my breath. “From now on call me Bubby.” “Oh, I remember that name, it was the whale from FlapJack right?” Kirishima said, he tried to turn, succeeding alright. A flashback comes to mind. “Aw yeah, the Misadventures of Flapjack, man that was a boot ago.” “I sat in front of my Tv and thought why Captain Knuckles was so blue.” Liz said, Kirishima turned to her. “So did I! I thought the captain was so manly, he would go on dangerous journey’s with FlapJack.” “Though he was a scaredy cat.” Amajiki said, Liz nodded. “He kinda was, but Bubby was the whale, a mother to FlapJack. So you’re the mother Bubba?”

I shrugged, smiling at the thought. “I guess.” A loud bang came from outside, I jump up and get into a battle position. “Calm down Bubba, it’s the thunder.” Rachel clarified, the proof with the rain hitting against the window. I stand up. “You don’t know, that could’ve been a bomb.” “I see you using the training moves.” She nods in approval. “Yeah, I guess you guys did do a lotta training while I was away.” He said, his smile seeming solemn. “I’m glad, but I need to put it to the test. Once I’m good and ready to go we’re gonna brawl like before.” “I’m good with that.” I agree, sitting back down. “But damn, I didn’t bring an umbrella.” “It’s good, we’ll leave later in the evening.” The others start talking to each other, Liz was talking with Kirishima and Amijiki, Rachel was chatting with Fat. I decide to stay at the side, watching everything go on.

    I sit back more comfortably in the seat, sliding into a quiet sleep. I wake up a few times when Liz puts a blanket on me, I say thank you and quickly go back. I wake up later, looking down at my phone it’s been 3 hours. I look up to see Rachel and Liz sleeping on the couch across the room, looking around more I see that Kirishima and Amajiki were sleeping too. But looking to Fat he was staring at the ceiling, a seat still near his bed. I get up, making sure I take the blanket with me, and sit down in the seat. Fat looks over to me, smiling as he sits up. “Hey Bubba, what’re you doin’ up?” “Just got up, feel refreshed. You get some sleep?” His smile goes down some. “Naw, too busy thinkin’.” “Tell me.” I lay my head on the bed, Fat looking surprised. He shook his head.

“Naw, it’s too complicated.” “Try me.” He makes a straight face, seeming confused. “Alright, well,” He lays back. “We were raiding this building, I wish I could tell ya why but it’s classified.” I nod. “But yeah, we raided the place. We went in and tried to stop this guy, we ran into some trouble and had to get sidetracked, SunEater did, so did me and Red Riot.” I nod, closing my eyes. “We get pushed into this room by some guy with a quirk that controls the environment, then had to go up against these guys who were really good, I mean, one of em’ turned me into this.”  I open my eyes as he gestures his body, his form skinny and fit. Definitely a contrast to his usually fluffy and round form.

 “Really?” “Yeah, I was almost toast until Kirishima got in the way and took the blows, he sometimes talks about manliness, but at that momnet I saw him as a man. He coulda died, but he still did it for us.” He smiled, pride evident. “Because of that, I was able to give the guy a good whoppin’, but one of em survived through it. Now here’s the part that’s bitin’ me in the ass’.” He says, sitting up more then before. “I was exhausted, all my fat burned from my body and if I took another hit it would be game over, even Kirishima was knocked out. But the guy, instead of finishin’ the job, he helped us.” I nod. “He showed us an infirmary, I got to wrap Red as best I could, I asked the guy later why he was helpin’ us. I thought it was a trap. But he said it was because of the fight in em’, we were possibly the only guys that could last so long in a fight with him.”

   I nod again, he slouches. “He said he wanted another fight, but he got locked up later and here we are.” He stopped, I sat up. “So what?” Fat gives me an questioning stare. “You don’t think that’s weird? That’s doesn’t make you think something's wrong?” I shrug, not entirely sure what to think. “Maybe he did it out of respect, I remember fighting this one guy, tried to take my phone. I showed him a lil’ what I could do, and he stopped and gave me my phone, even said he would wait while I called the cops. I asked why but all he said was, ‘I couldn’t just walk away from that.’” Fat nodded, a look of struggle in his expression. “I guess, but this was different, he knew he had the upper hand. But he wanted us to heal so we could fight again.” “He wanted a fair fight.” I said, scooting closer to the bed.

“I mean, if I found some potential in a fight like he might have I would wanna see what full potential was there too.” Fat stared, I stared right back, smiling. “It’s not that bad Fat, just let it go if the guy’s in jail.” “I know I should, but, god I shouldn’t be puttin all this on ya.” “I’m fine with it, I like hearin’ about what people think about somethin’, really makes you think about their person.” “I guess.” Fat nods, he looks away but looks at me again. He puts a hand on my shoulder. “Thanks for lettin’ me get this off my chest, I’ve been thinkin’ about it for awhile now but I thought it woulda been wrong to put this on someone.” “There’s nothing wrong with talking it out, you gotta help yourself before you can help others.” I touched the hand on my shoulder, his thumb rubbing up and down. He smiles as I smile, I see something red in the corner of my eye and turn.

“Oh great, I knew you were fruity but I didn’t think you’d be fruity for a pro hero, are you that thirsty?” Mark shook his head, looking in disgust. I reel back my head. “Shut up, you’re the one going after girls despite your’s is out there mourning you.” Mark waved his hand in the air, dismissing me. “Whatever, I’m dead so she’s technically not my girl anymore.” “And you’re an asshole for not caring.” “Bubba, who’re you talking too?” Fat asks, I look to him, confused. “Oh, that’s Mark, he’s being a dick though.” I hear a tch, I ignore it. “Alright, but where is he?” Fat asks slowly, a look of worry coming over him. I tilt my head. “He’s right there, floatin’ and all.” I turn back, he was still there. I turn back and see Fat look horrified and somewhat scared.

    “Listen Bubba, I won’t judge you for what you do, but I don’t see anyone there.” I get annoyed, looking between Fat and Mark. “What?” Mark sighs. “Listen Pinky, I told you before already.” I look back at him. “What?” “I can only talk to you, you are the only one who can see me and talk to me. He can’t see me.” I sit still, confused. Mark slumps. “Here, I’ll show ya.” He floats toward Fat, getting right next to his ear. “YOUR A BITCH!! I’M GLAD YOU LOST A COUPLE POUNDS FATTY!!” I get agitated quickly, about to get up to say something when I see Fat’s expression. He was quiet but still confused, not even turning in Mark’s direction, my anger fades and blends into surprise.

I stare at Fat, somewhat guessing what craziness this must be. I think of a plan, touching my head. “I don’t feel so good.” I lay my head on the bed, thankful that Fat bought into the plan I came up with when he pats me on my back, rubbing it in circles. “It’s okay Bub, just rest. I guess all that homeworks gone to your head, I’ll make sure I give you somethin’ easier.” I nod, I hear Fat lay back down. After awhile I peek up to see his eyes closed, looking around Mark left as well. I take the opportunity to go back to sleep, moving in a more comfortable position and fall asleep.

Later we had to go, visiting hours were almost up and Rachel wanted to finish her project. We decided to have a quick eat so I took out my packed lunch, not really hungry and shared some with Fat. “Aren’t you hungry?” “Do you like the food here?” “...Good point.” I brought a plain turkey sandwich, somet chips, carrots, a cookie, and an orange. Fat said he wanted me to eat most of it, still bringing up the stay near the training ground, so I did. He ate half the sandwich, half the cookie, and almost all of the carrots, saving me four out of 18 I packed. He said he wanted me to eat all the orange before we got going, but I gave him half since I wasn’t feeling up to eating it all. Rachel and Liz shared their lunches too, Fat telling me how the turkey in Rachel’s sandwich would possibly give Amajiki a beak, but instead got him a big tail.

  The rain was only drizzling so it was easy to walk out, Rachel telling us on our way back to the office that we would be back when they checked out. Liz talk about how everyone seemed tired after I fell asleep, Amajiki being the first to snooze out. Rachel said she was worried about how Fat seemed restless before she snoozed off too, but soon forgot them when she woke up to Fat fast asleep. I decided against telling her about our talk since I don’t think Fat would want anyone to worry as he said, we stopped at the office and said goodbye to Rachel before walking back home. “Man, Kirishima is one funny guy. He sees a lot of things as manly.” “Maybe he wants to be the manliest man out there.” She shrugged, putting her hands in her pocket. “Probably, he thinks pink is a manly color.” “What’s wrong with pink?” I say, she giggles.

“Nothin’ Bubby, nothin’. I think pink is definitely a manly color.” “Damn straight it is.” I nod, we get to the gate and I put the card to the sensor, I open it and let Liz through first. “Anyways, what do you wanna do tomorrow?” “I think we should just lay down, Fat Gum’s alright, and he’ll be back before you know it.” I nod, this time Rachel opens the door to the house with the key, I go in before her. “Not gonna lie, a nap sounds spectacular.” “Yeah, that nap at the hospital did not do me justice. I’m hitting the hay now so see you tonight.” She walks off to her room, I decided that a change of scenery would be nice so I flop on the couch. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought it was and find myself drifting.

Chapter Text

Almost another week past, despite Rachel said that we would be visiting them when they check out she never told us when they would check out. The day after we visited the hospital I went again to see when they would leave, the idea of waiting for Fat Gum to get out making me a little antsy. I spoke to the doctors, they said their healing process was going great so they should be released next week, I was relieved. Since I was there I thought I’d visit them again, Fat saying I might have missed him and Kirishima being happy at my return.

   We talked for awhile, I told them about some of my childhood memories. Like the time I caught a fish with my dad, and helped my mom knit a scarf, but instead made a sock. I laughed at the first time I ice skated, spraining my ankle on the ice. My mom helped me off the ice and taught me how to use the healing part of my quirk to fix my ankle, it took some time but I healed it alright. I didn’t get to go on the ice again, but that was one of the happiest memories I can remember where me and my Mom actually bonded. When I got done I looked at Fat, he looked at me almost… caringly? I looked away, some reason the look making me feel warm.

When all was said and done Kirishima asked me why I wanted to be a hero. “I didn’t really know, I honestly didn’t know what to do with my life before I found out about this program, but before I left home I had a strong sense of helping others. I met Rapunzel when she was getting pushed around by her friends, I thought it was wrong and stepped in, I got my ass kicked but I was happy to help her. I guess with that feeling I thought it wouldn’t be bad to help others.” I shrug, I didn’t know what to do when I got out of college, this was just one of the options that faith had given to me.

    I think what could have been different if I actually had plans for my future, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to be a disciple under Fat Gum, meeting Kirishima and Amajiki, and be anywhere close to harnessing my quirk. Kirishima put me back to reality. “Well, I’m glad you decided! There’s no such thing as too many heroes.” “Right! I think there aren’t enough.” Fat Gum agrees, I’m surprised since this was the first time I got support in awhile. My parents never wanted me to be a hero, and I understood the reasons too. But Liz encouraged me, since she knew I was as lost with my life then I used to be.

“Thanks, what about you Fat, how did you become a hero?” Fat sat up, putting a hand on his stomach while the other was behind his head. Surprisingly most of the bandages were off of him since his fat was building up again, Kirishima has the bandages off his face and arms too. “Well, I mostly did it to get out of the house. But after doing it for awhile I was actually happy to help others, so I turned it into a full thing, helping the police, helping the elderly. That kinda thing.” “So that’s why you started your own office?” “Kinda, but also to keep things easier, have kids getting the chance to shine, like Amajiki. Despite his pussy attitude he’s an amazing kid, and when he ignores the crowd he’s actually really great!” Fat expands his arms, I nod. “Yeah, really grand.” “Exactly! These two aren’t the only ones, but they’re definitely on their way to being great heroes.”

Listening to that I smile, the passion he has for his kids is honestly remarkable. The room is in an peaceful silence. When a knock is heard at the door I look up, the doctor coming to check up on them. I watched as he used his quirk to show me how they were healing up, most of their fractures have been healed up and bruises are easily fading away. I say I’m thankful, my watch starts to go off after the doctor leaves. I put my headphones on. “Hello?” “Bubba?! Where are you? Are you okay?!” “Yeah, sorry I’m at the hospital, thought I’d go check up with the guys.” “And you didn’t tell me??” “I left a note on the fridge.” Footsteps are heard on the other line. “Oh.” “Anyways I’m on my way back.” “Alright, tell your mentor I said hi, and tell Red that I want to fight him!” “Can do.” I end the call, taking the headphones off.

“Who was that, Rachel?” “Nah, Liz. She got worried I left, she told me to say hi to you and wants a fight with Red.” “Tell her after I’ve gotten warmed up!” He smiles, but Fat looks irked. “Why didn’t you tell her, what if you got kidnapped when you left?” “I left a note, I thought I’d check you guys and be back before she woke up. I gotta go anyways, so see you guys later.” “See ya, be safe!” Kirishima yells. “You too.” I said my goodbyes and walked out the door. The walk back was okay, not as good as it use to be. Something in me feels empty when I try to find out what exactly was missing, the first thought being Fat Gum, I shake my head. I opened the door to the house, finding Liz sitting on the couch watching The Golden Girls.

She looks back at me, a pout on her lips. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” “I thought I’d be back quickly. I’m sorry.” She smiles. “It’s all good, just warn me next time.” I nod, going off to my bedroom. “Hey, you wanna talk?” I look back. “Do I have to?” She pats the space beside her on the couch, I go ahead and sit down since I don’t have a choice. “Sooooo, tell me what’s wrong. You’ve seemed out of it for awhile.” “I have?” “Yeah! It’s like you’re spacin’ out, what’s up?” “Nothin’ really, just tired.” She stares at me, covering her mouth. “Is it cause you miss Fat?” I shrug. “I guess.” “What do you miss about him?” She asks, hand still over her mouth. “I don’t know, I guess his smile?” She doesn’t say anything so I assume I should go on. “His face? His laugh? His...body?” I say, meaning how his stomach was big. She stares on, making me frustrated.

   “Everything, I miss everything about him! Is that what you wanna hear?” She removes her hand, a smile on her face. “Oh my God Bubba, do you like Fat Gum?” I think about it, and it seems to hold water. I did like him when I first got to the house, his chubby appearance made him look cute, his smile seemed bright, and his acceptance of me was honestly reassuring. I nod. “Yeah, I think I do?” “I think you know you do.” She nods, smiling wider. “Aw Bubby, you have a crush! This is amazing, I can see it now!” She holds my hand. “You guys cuddling together, holding hands, trying to hug each other but he’s too tall so you climb him!” I give her a questioning glance, she sees and snaps out of it. “I’m sorry, but this is a first! You’ve never had a crush before!”

 “I have, I just didn’t act on it.” “Well you gotta act on this one! This is a pro hero we’re talking about, this needs to happen.” “Even if I wanted to it’s against the rules.” “What rules?” “He told me if I wanted to get into a relationship I have to put it on the back burner, I can’t have a relationship with a hero either, that’d be too much chaos.” Liz folds her arms. “But there are plenty of heroes in relationships, look at Surf’s up and Back wave! They’ve been together for 3 years!” “That’s because they’re pros, I’m not even out there yet! It’s too crazy.” Liz thinks, making a face. “Alright, we need to change that!” She gets up. “Tomorrow we’re gonna order your costume in, then I’m gonna change up our fighting technique.” She pats my head. “If you wanna be a pro, I’m gonna train you like a pro.” She walks into her room. “But I don’t want to.”

Later on she ordered my costume in, it took 2 days to come in but it was worth the wait. When I put the design choices in it was pretty simple, a thick shirt with some pants, thick gloves and goggles. But when Liz heard I was putting in my costume ideas, she came over my old apartment years ago and helped me with the designs, it’s been awhile since I put on my costume but I loved how the designs came out. Liz pulled the costume out of the box when we got to Fat Gum’s office, Rachel was in too and thankfully brought the costume in for us. I saw it for the first time in two years, the green bodysuit and white belt bringing back memories. I sighed. “Damn.” “Right? It’s been years.” Liz hands it to me, along with the goggles and gloves, and shoves me into Fat’s office to change. Once I’m done, the feeling of when I first wore it came back like a tidal wave.

   The feeling of being exposed and cold weren’t anything new, the eyes I feel all around me coming back. I hug myself, I haven’t even stepped out of the room and I feel embarrassed. I push through it though, putting my gloves and goggles on before stepping out. Liz and Rachel looking toward me, Liz the first to speak. “I forgot how cute you looked in your costume.” I looked in a nearby mirror at myself, the green bodysuit being modified to let the sun in more easily but keeping me cool, the belt stores any energy being accidentally released and gets stored in the belt buckle so I could press it to give me an area attack. Last but not least my gloves and boots help me balance my energy in those areas, the goggles are just for show.

  Looking at it all, I didn’t feel like a real hero. It made me look like a freak. “It looks good on you.” Rachel said, I can see her smiling in the mirror. “Really?” “Yeah, matches your quirk really well.” I take the compliment. “Thanks.” “Awesome, now I gotta change into mine, wait for me~.” She grabs her bag and walks in, closing the door behind her. “I gotta complete some paperwork, meet me at the front when you’re done.” She leaves, leaving me to my mind. “Wow, you look weird.” I don’t have to look back to know it’s Mark, but I do anyways. “What do you want?” Since last time I know what to do now, I can’t speak too loudly or people might hear. I’m the only one who can see Mark.

“Can’t I stop by? Barely have anything to do.” He leans back with his arms behind his head. “So what’s up with the get up, going trick-or-treating?” “No, I’m trying on my hero costume. I’m waiting for someone.” “I know, your friend in there has a nice bod.” I almost raise my voice, deciding to hold it back down. “Don’t you dare touch her, or I’ll kill you again.” “Not like I can, I can only touch objects.” He gives me a glimpse by picking up shoes off the floor, he throws them back down. “Waste of an opportunity really.” I grimace, I never knew Mark well, but just because he’s dead doesn’t mean I have to be buddy buddy with him. Liz came out, her outfit looking great as always. The pink and yellow coming together from her bodysuit and gloves, she had goggles that on the sides turned in to scrunchies that were made specifically for her.

She walks out and poses, I roll my eyes. “Alright Rapunzel, what do we do now?” “We’re gonna patrol, since Fat Gum’s out we have to go in for him.” I nod, it has been awhile. Usually Fat Gum patrols three times a week, I never got to patrol with him since I’ve been prohibited since. It makes sense that the few heroes available wouldn’t be able to patrol the same area every time, from behind I hear a whistle. “Looks good.” I ignore it for now, not wanting to seem crazy in front of Liz. We walk to the front and talk to Rachel, she gives us instructions on the easiest path to go since I’m a rookie. When she sends us the route on our watches we go on our way, and just like always Mark disappears without a word.

 The whole day was full of walking and people staring, the feeling coming back, but after awhile it stopped bothering me. We stop at a few stands and eat but walk nonetheless. We stopped a few petty criminals here and there, one trying to steal a lady’s purse, another trying to rob a store, I helped somewhat by catching one of the purportraitors. It was an eventful day for me, kids coming up and asking me what I did, taking pictures with me too, I answered them without hesitation. I never knew what my hero name would be when I first go into the hero business, but I picked one that I thought was cool, Omuni no hana. It reflects my powers, Liz thought it was neat. When we got done patrolling we trekked back to the office, it was a peaceful night with people walking around and talking about.

Then a loud boom was heard from behind, we look back to see a huge red guy running towards us, almost running like a gorilla. Liz got in front of me. “Stay back.” I do as she says, seeing her hair turn into fist. The guy came closer till he stopped in front of her, breathing hard, something weird turned in my stomach that I didn’t know was fear or anticipation. When he raised a fist she put her arms together, making her hair block the attack. I was standing back, wanting to help but remembering what Fat Gum said. ‘You can’t fight.’ I grunted, looking up toward the sky the moon was out, the clouds getting in the way some. I decide to take the opportunity help the people around me.

    The fight stirs up, I can tell she won’t hold out much longer and most of the civilians are gone, I think about fighting with her when I remember something. ‘When in a situation that two people are the ones that can’t handle the threat, what should you do?’ “Call for help.” I mentally hit myself in the head, ringing up Rachel immediately. “Rachel, we have a problem! A guy came around and we need back up!” “I can see, I’ve sent some back up immediately, hang on okay?!” “Yeah.” “And don’t fight .” She hangs up.

   I do as told once again, watching as Liz tries her best to beat the guy but trying to not cause any building damage. Looking at her face I knew she couldn’t hold on anymore. I hear something behind me and see two heroes coming, I smile, glad Liz didn’t have to fight alone. The villain must have seen too, he grabs her hair and tosses her toward the others. I’m so stunned at how fast it happened that I didn’t look back to see him snatch me up, I try moving around to break free. I look to see Liz jump in the air, using her quirk to free me. The villain grabs her and smashes her head into the building closeby. “Liz!” The villain lets her go and runs off with me in tow, the heroes try to chase after him, and it could’ve worked if the villain didn’t jump high in the air to get enough distance from them. I hear Liz call my name. From how high we were in the air and the impact I took, I passed out.

I look at the guy getting away, knowing that I could follow him if I tried but I don’t know if it’s a trap. I stop running, the other heroes doing the same. Guilt riding in my stomach knowing that I just let my friend get taken, knowing he was depending on me to protect him. I almost throw up, tears welling in my eyes. One of the heroes coming up to me. “You okay?” “No, I just, I just let my friend-” I shake my head. A call comes from all of our watches, one of them answers. “Hello?” “Hey, has the situation cleared up?” “Yes, but we lost a hero.” “I’m sorry.” I say. “He didn’t fight but I tried to protect him.” “I know, it’s alright. He still has his watch, I can track where he is.” “Can we get him?” I ask, knowing the answer already. “No, we’ll wait tomorrow. Until then, come back to the base for now.” She signs off.

   The rest of that night, I cry at the office. Rachel telling me he’s fine, I think to tell Fat Gum, feeling he deserves to know what happened. “We can’t tell Fat.” I look up from the desk I was crying on. “But I lost his disciple, he deserves to-” “If we tell him he’ll take it into his own hands, you don’t think he’ll break out of that hospital and go find him?” I think and nod, he would do that. Out of all the heroes I know, I know Fat Gum is the type to fight for his fellow heroes. He would be furious, but worried, and those are things that should never mix. She sighs. “I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough to call help, but I know that he’ll be fine. From what Fat told me he can carry his own, have faith in him.”

“I do! I’m just worried, actually, I’m disappointed. In myself for letting this happen.” “It was out of your-” “No! He trusted me I should have paid more attention instead of trying to make sure the buildings were fucking okay.” I put my head back down. Rachel doesn’t say anything, patting my back to sooth me. “I just hope he’s okay.” I say through tears. “Me too.” She says, she stayed with me for awhile until she had to leave for something else. I went home and fell asleep on the couch.

Chapter Text

Hi! I'm very sorry for not updating this story for years. Much has happened throughout the years and I've been in a neverending battle with what direction I want to take this story. As I was writing it I felt unsatisfied in a bunch of ways: The fast progression in the story, the handling of the program, the characters, and their relationship to each other. Even the main protag's powers didn't feel right to me whenever I wrote about it.

So with a heavy heart, I intend to do a whole re-write. This means that I will abandon this work and not come back to it. It didn't get much traction, but I still appreciate anyone who read it and liked it.

It's even worse to do this when I ended the story on a kidnapping (whoops, my bad), but I really want to do better now that I have a firmer grasp on where I want to take this story. Even if you're not interested in my new work, thank you for reading this, and have a wonderful New Year!

If you're interested in what the next one might be, I'm planning on calling it 'Stick to me'. The story will focus more on the main protagonist and their journey to move on from the past and try to find their ambition again. It will be the same characters and somewhat follow the same beats as this story but expect a lot more 'realism' and slow progression than before.

For those interested in reading it, I'm planning on uploading the first chapter next month. So, thank you so much for reading this and I'll see you in the first chapter!