Chapter Text
He lay on the floor, breathing evening out as his wheezing subsides. He slowly processes the feeling of a repeated whack of some kind of weapon against him… the body pillow? Aubrey was hitting Hero with as much force as her body would allow.
His mouth felt dry, and his head was pounding. Superficial, this will go away in no time, just like every other injury . He sat up, only vaguely aware of the fact he's speaking right now.
He properly looked at his friends, Aubrey looked livid , Kel looked disappointed (And by the stars did that hurt), and Omori… Omori was looking at him like some kind of hunting animal.
“What… happened?” He finally managed to say, not taking his eyes off of Omori. He only looked away when he followed Aubrey as she stormed off.
Hero looked up at Kel again, who helped him up with a sigh “...I'll uh. I'll talk to you about this later. Mari's gonna wanna hear about this too.” He doesn't quite understand the gesture Kel does, but he nods anyway. He stands there as his brother walks off, taking in the office he's standing in.
He notices something, brightly colored, tucked underneath the desk. It almost looks like a nerf gun, but not nearly as bulky. He shrugs, feeling the weight, figuring he can either sell it or use it as a blunt force weapon later, considering nerf darts or water, depending on what this is, don't do all that much damage.
He tucks it into his jacket- a nice suit jacket, he processes after a moment. Must've cost a fortune, with how well made and comfortable it is.
He vaguely saw his reflection in the window, looking out into dark waters, showing… him, but different. He kinda liked it, the slightly pointed ears, ice blue eyes and tail. It felt right . He did think for a moment how confused Mari would be, and distantly processed he doesn't know how this happened either.
Hero had to take the elevator down alone to catch up with his friends, meeting them back at the secondary elevator. He only got distracted a couple more times by clams on the floor some poor gator guy dropped, tucking them in his pockets.
He tried to ignore the look Omori was giving him, one that made him feel like a mouse left in the open, with a cat less than two feet away waiting to pounce.
He only notices Kel staring at him when he speaks up “Hero? You feeling alright?” he tilts his head as a silent what do you mean? “You're smiling, but it's like. Painful.” He takes a few seconds to process the statement, before realizing that, despite the rest of his expression having adjusted to fit his anxiety, he's continued to smile
“Oh, I… guess I just haven't noticed” He fidgets with the hair at the base of his neck, running his fingers through the couple-months grown out hair. He stops smiling as much as he can, letting the smile settle more as a nervous grin rather than the wide, manic looking smile he had before.
They return to the elevator Mari had set up her picnic in, and she gets up to greet them, giving Omori and Aubrey a hug each, Kel a gentle hair ruffle and when she got to Hero… She stared.
“Uh- Hi?” He offers, expression still nervous. She gently takes his face in her hands, and he can’t help but melt into the contact, closing his eyes.
“I like the new look, Hero. Very sharp.” She gives a soft little laugh, one that makes his chest feel lighter. He smiles a little wider, opening his eyes and taking in the affectionate smile on her face. The nervous tightness in his chest returns as she finally asks “What happened, though?”
“He got promoted to boss and tried making us work for him!!” Aubrey speaks up, still audibly angry at him “And when we didn't want to, he fought us!” His expression drops, feeling like his chest is being gripped with a massive hand, which only eases slightly when Kel speaks up.
“ We suggested he use his bossman powers, and it went to his head a little.” Kel shrugs a little, “ I don't think he meant to hurt us, I think all that was just too much. Like uhhh… a water balloon! Too much of everything all at once just-” he snaps his fingers slightly “boom.”
Hero stares at Kel for a long moment, processing what he just heard, his head pounding as he just stands there. He tries to find the right words for what he's feeling about Kel's statement, before settling on “...Huh.”
Mari seems to consider, before nodding, gently poking his face, before carefully moving one of his lips to see his teeth “Whatever caused this really went hard with the Shark details, then.”
He couldn't say much about it since she still had her hands a little too close to his mouth for comfort, which he did express after a moment of her looking at his teeth by gently grabbing her wrists and lowering her hands “Maybe. It feels right though, so I can't complain.”
Mari gives him an affectionate smile again, causing the hand gripping his chest to finally release him, and he lets out a soft, relaxed little sigh and leans his head against her.
The moment passes as Aubrey hits him again with the body pillow, receiving a look from both Mari and Hero- a motherly type of disapproval from Mari and the most pathetic, wet cat type look from Hero.
After a picnic with Mari, the group sets off again, out of Last Resort. Omori opted to lead the group away from the Toll Gaters, despite Hero's insistence on being able to pay them off, though every time he brought it up Omori looked at him, that invisible hand seemed to grip his chest again, preventing him from arguing further.
Kel, to his credit, did notice the anxiety radiating off of Hero, and stuck next to him occasionally holding his hand, which garnered him teasing from Aubrey. He ignored the teasing, for the most part, save for just sticking his tongue out at her.
Hero made sure to give Mari an extra quick hug before they headed down into the deeper well. She didn't seem to question it, either due to his lurking anxiety or because she saw the look Omori was giving him. He didn't know, and didn't want to bring it up in front of him .
…. Am I really this unsettled by him ? He's my friend. Right?
He tried to shake off the feeling, but the headache- the whole body soreness- hasn't gone away. He wonders if Omori has something to do with it, even as they head down into the darkness.