[Zipper]

Zipper stormed into Kei’s room, slamming the door behind her. At this point in their relationship — one-sided and impromptu — she was making herself too comfortable. If it wasn’t for publicly humiliating herself as a lesbian, word of which by the way traveled so fast, then people might have thought her trying to steal him from the girlfriend Kei fabricated.

She throws herself onto his pillows and stuffs her face into his pillows. Let’s ignore the red flags that were in his room. If this were the interior of his mind, then she had a lot of work to do. Convincing him to switch courses was hard enough as is, but even harder was getting him to admit he wanted to be a hero. A tall task riddled with cope and cowardice on his end.

But today was about something different.

“Kei,” Zipper's voice was muffled from Kei's pillow. “Why are women so friggin' beautiful?”

---

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

Kei didn't know how he ended up here.

He was just, you know, minding his own business. Doing his assignments like a good student. Studying for his next test like a good student. Overall just, like, staying in his own lane like a good student.

But then news of his fire rescue got out and all of a sudden this one management major barged her way into his life and declared him her client. Since he needed a manager as a - god - future hero? She even made a fan club for him and everything, which he had not heard about until he looked at Jun's text hours after she sent it.

So he was here now, nearly falling from his seat with a yell as Zipper once again barged into his life - that being his room. "Could you please stop doing that? One day I'm actually gonna get a heart attack!"

It was when he turned to look at his not-by-choice manager that he realized where she parked herself. His eyes went wide, not even registering her words. "Hey wait-"

Zipper

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

In most cases, she’d have been fully conscious the second she heard footsteps coming toward the door, sleeping or not. That’s the unfortunate downside of taking naps in her boyfriend’s room: she feels safe. Hypervigilance or whatever Lili’s old therapist called it? Out the window. It’s been long enough that sometimes she even dares sleep with her back turned toward the entrance as long as he’s in the same room.

Not today, though. Today she’s under several stuffed animals and a plush red bearded vulture, having piled them on top of herself for the sheer sensory comfort of being a little bit buried, half curled up, on her side towards the door, fast asleep.

Or she was.

Yaoyao?

Mmmfgghf.

There’s a, um… you might want to wake up.

Mmgfhfffffghhhhh.

I know, but… I mean, it’s really - you should really—

BANG!

The door slams shut and she is wide the f-ck awake in the span of a single instant.

There’s only one person who’s allowed to slam that door, but never does. She knows, because that person is her, and she’d never slam baobao’s door because he hates that shit and it’d give him a heart attack and a half. It’s a rule. A Yaoyao rule. No slamming Kei Hada’s door.

Who the f-ck just slammed Kei Hada’s door?

Her bleary eyes take a beat and a half to readjust to the sudden light. A beat too long - there’s footsteps heading for the bed (who the hell is has made the mistake of being confident (read: stupid) enough to make an open beeline for HER BOYFRIEND’S BED?) and. And suddenly a tiny person occupying half her space(?). Talking into her boob like it’s a pillow(??). Muttering some gibberish about attractive women(???).

Their mistake.

Her nails are sharp on a good day, but with shadows swallowing up her hands they’re more talons than anything else, sharp and wicked - as she looks down, takes a fistful of the runt-sized stranger’s shirt black hair right at the roots, and lifts. She doesn’t even bother looking at the kid, though, nah. She looks at Kei instead, and gives her little hostage a minor shake.

“Curb?”

Yaoyao, please, you can’t just grab people by the hair like—

They barged in on MY nap. I’ll grab whatever the hell I damn please.

Kei Hada + Zipper

[Zipper]

“These pillows are so weird, by the way,” Zipper had never felt a woman before. For most of her life, she had been reserved about who touched her. Couple that with men taking any excuse to touch you — as if they somehow need to feel your waist as they pass by — and she’s put off by the notion. But after Kioko everything changed. She discovered an affinity for curvaceous figures that had been buried deep within her psyche. Zipper thought she was jealous of those women for having a body she didn’t. It only dawned on her recently she was jealous she couldn’t have those bodies in a different, more naked way.

Hands grabbed her clothes and hair and before she had the wherewithal to cover her mouth, a soft “Nnhg-uh…” escaped her lips. She slammed her hands against her mouth so loudly it sounded like a slap. It hurt like one, too.

Eyeing this beauty, Zipper realized what she had been resting her face on and immediately wanted a second eternity in her bosom. Without thinking — as if she’s ever had a thought when in the presence of a tall, hot goth — she uncovered her mouth.

“Kei, please leave the room,” Then, unintentionally whispering loud enough for Kei to hear. “I’m ready to become a woman…”

---

Kei Hada 𝕐 + 𝕐

[Kei Hada]

Okay. So Kei expected half of what actually went down to happen.

He knew Yaoyao well. She hated strangers who forced themselves in her space - who wouldn't really - so he knew her first reaction was to throw the intruder straight out of the room. The fact that she didn't, and instead asked Kei whether the stranger deserved to get rocked made him smile. He was always touched by the courtesy.

What he didn't expect was Zipper's reaction.

The sound that escaped her made him freeze in place. He pursed his lips. That was not the kind of thing he wanted to hear from anyone for any reason, let alone as a reaction to his girlfriend pulling her hair.

Then came the request for him to leave his own room, and that's what prompted the next words to leave him in a higher pitch. "Yeah that's enough of that-" because he knew Yaoyao was going to punch Zipper in the face if he didn't do something, and as much as he kinda felt like doing the same he had to be rational here. Zipper was obviously going through something right now. She's not in her right mind.

So before anyone did anything else they'd regret later, Kei placed his hand on the shadow gripping Zipper's hair. Once Yaoyao let go - she always did for him - he'd pull Zipper by the arm off the bed and stand her next to his desk.

Kei clasped his hands together once he returned to his partner's side. "Okay, cool! Yaoyao, this is Zipper. My manager." He tried not to put air quotes around manager but the twitch of his fingers made it a close thing. "And Zipper, meet Yaoyao. My girlfriend. That you didn't believe I had." His eye might be twitching. The stress was getting to him.

𝕐 + 𝕐 Zipper

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

So that’s who this is.

Kei knows his girlfriend so well. Because yeah - the second Zipper’s words processed in Yaoyao’s brain, her immediate instinct was to fling the kid off her and straight through the drywall. Probably would’ve broken a few bones. For the best, though, seeing as she’s already gotten in trouble once this semester for breaking the bones of some new blood. (The earful she got from the staff. All because she “broke someone’s ARM, Yaoyao” and “needs to learn restraint, Yaoyao” and “can’t be that reckless in university sanctioned sparring matches, Yaoyao.” Boo. They’re bones, they heal.)

Point is: if Kei hadn’t stepped in, there’d probably be a Zipper-shaped hole in the window, wall, or door right about now. Or a fist-shaped hole in Zipper’s face.

Tragic.

“Oh, okay. You’re the crazy fangirl. The one who’s been puttin’ those posters everywhere.” The posters had been funny, actually. The fan club, nothing to complain about. Who shouldn’t admire her birdie? He’s amazing. But this - this is a lot less funny. Yaoyao sits up, blankets sinking away and stuffed animals tumbling aside as she stands and cracks her neck from side to side. “Taking some liberties, though, aren’tcha, midget? Barging into his room like you own the place. Onto his bed like you’ve got any right to it.”

If the idiot ended up doing something that would make Yaoyao lunge with claws out, Kei was in one of the best positions he could be to stop her from making contact. Usually when someone grabs at Yaoyao and Kei isn’t close enough to stop her, it doesn’t tend to end well. It’s the knee-jerk reaction of someone predisposed to violently defending her own space — she doesn’t make the decision to start a fight. The unlucky idiot’s jaw is just already in her hand.

Kei Hada + Zipper

[Zipper]

Everything Zipper knew had been reflected on her like a twisted mirror. She thought Kei delusional, pining over some fabricated girl that represented an unrequited love within his adolescence. But now, sobered by the revelation that these two are dating (and both aware of the fact), Zipper had to come to grips with the idea that this was another love lost. She thought back to the giantess at the grave and her red, flush face quickly paled as the creeping sting of rejection compounded upon itself.

Maybe she should’ve stayed het.

As if that’s a choice.

Her mood comes down and her grip weakens just enough to stave off the pain. Zipper thought herself unworthy of such luxuries.

“Not a fangirl,” Her voice is weak, raspy. The rebound from the high manifests in a zombie-like state. But instead of rotting flesh and incoherent grunts, you can see death in her eyes from another love lost. “I thought that’s what friends did.” Yaoyao could snap her neck and she’d let it happen. But, this time, she didn’t fabricate a universe where she writhed in pleasure. Instead, she saw it as an end to the heartbreak.

“Kei, I’m sorry for not believing you have a super hot, goth girlfriend.” Zipper was depressed but her words betrayed her tone. A single instance of rejection was hard enough, but the second multiplied infinitely. She wasn’t strong enough. “And I’m sorry for thinking you were a super hot, dream babe and not a real person, in a real bed, with real feelings.”

Zipper knew what good PR was. And for a moment, she kept things coherent enough to say something passable. But it was only for a moment as the depression spilled out of her and she confided in Kei — the one friend she’d made since being here.

“After the Kioko thing I…” Zipper finally made eye contact with Yaoyao and fell in love all over again. She bit her tongue, unsure how to process the whiplash of emotions. If she could give away her heart, too. If she could stomp away the feelings, she’d settle for that. Zipper was no stranger to feeling alone in a room, but it was the first time she looked at Kei with envy. “It doesn’t matter.”

Not only was she a bad manager, she was a bad friend, too.

---

Kei Hada 𝕐 + 𝕐

[Kei Hada]

And now Yaoyao was up, wholly alert to the situation at hand and giving her piece. And the thing was he wouldn't even argue against her because she said things he'd be thinking in his head. Zipper was crazy. She had been taking a lot of liberties. Yaoyao just had a knack for speaking what he'd never say out loud. Kei held on to her arm and rubbed his thumb against it, not to hold her back but to calm her down. He could imagine the headache she'd be getting right now.

Zipper's admittance made him frown in confusion though. When did they become friends? That was news to him. As far as he knew she just inserted herself in his routine and didn't leave even though he was loud annoying an idiot himself.

But like... friends were nice.

So Kei might've been more open to her apology. Laughed a little at how she described Yaoyao because he agreed, she was super hot. He sighed. "It's fine, just... It'd be nice if you believed me more maybe? And knock instead of barge in my room? I don't do well with surprises." He couldn't even make himself say he hated them. Maybe one day.

His brows rose at the name she mentioned. "Kioko?" Oh, god. The last time he met Kioko was in the tech expo, where she drilled him on the exhibit he was looking after. Not drilled even, she was just asking questions as any attendee would, but he knew her history and came face to face with her demeanour. She was just as scary as how the rumours described her.

But who knows? Zipper could be talking about a different Kioko for all he knew. "Hey, it is," was his response to her trying to wave away the issue. "That's why you came here right? You wanted to talk to me about it?" He squeezed Yaoyao's arm in silent apology. She called him out on being too forgiving before, but what was he gonna do, throw his newly discovered friend out?

"What happened with Kioko?"

𝕐 + 𝕐 Zipper