[𝕐 + 𝕐]

VRRRROOOOMMMM.

The rumbling growl of a motorcycle engine cuts through the quaint bustle of the city streets, catching brief glances from sidewalk passersby as the culprit decelerates, going from a tear to a prowl and finally rolling to a stop just outside a local pet store as its rider cuts the engine. The motorcycle itself is an ancient model, albeit customized — an electric Hayama from a hundred years ago, refurbished in black and purple and restored with months of painstaking hard work and care on her owner’s part. Even the engraving on the side of the tank glints like new: Tsukuyomi, in bold, metallic silver lettering.

(Like new, because, well… it is. This marks the end of Tsukuyomi’s re-maiden voyage, and the first time the refurbished Hayama has blessed Tokyo’s streets since she was discovered and brought in for restoration.)

The rider kicks down the kickstand and leans back on the seat to unbuckle their helmet. The sleek black polycarbonate cradles a tinted visor that hides its wearer’s features from view; at least until the helmet is pulled up and off to reveal: first, a tumbling waterfall of glossy ink-dark hair interspersed with an underside of vibrant purple. And second: an award-worthy resting bitch face that would send shivers down the spine of even a seasoned war veteran or two.

Steely milk-light lavender eyes sweep across the crowd, searching, until they finally land on exactly what (more specifically, who) they’d been surveying the throng of people for. That stone cold visage melts instantly. The furrowed brow softens, the narrowed eyes brighten, and pursed lips spread into a delighted grin—

Yaoyao lifts a hand high, waves, and projects her voice to be heard over top of the bustling people filling the city sidewalk.

“Yo, baobao! There you are — hope we didn’t keep you waitin’ too long!”

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

It only took a number of cute images that reached the hundreds, several articles and detailed instructions on how to care for an animal and nearly three years of easing Kei into the idea but Yaoyao had finally done the impossible.

She convinced him that they should get a bird.

It wasn't like Kei didn't like animals. If anything it was the opposite. He loved how cute dogs and cats were and would pet them at every opportunity. Penguins were his favourite animal, outlined by how often his girlfriend would add them to his lunch somehow.

It's just that he didn't have a pet before. His family never had the time nor resources to care for one, so the idea of it when it was first brought up was overwhelming. Hours dedicated to looking after the critter, whatever it may be, costs of visits to the vet should it get sick, the amount of money they'd have to spend on food, furniture, cleaning supplies, toys - it all seemed so much to manage just to have one little guy in your life.

But in the end the pros outweighed the cons and they did have some more time now that university's class hours were more flexible than high school. Yaoyao's involvement in the care for their future pet also soothed him immensely.

Which was ironic because he wasn't walking with her right now.

Kei was taking the bus to the pet store alone, as Yaoyao apparently had a surprise so she'll meet him there. He had no idea what it could be as he assumed they would just buy everything they needed once they got to the store. Maybe she had a list of different bird species they could look at? Why would that warrant a surprise though?

It wasn't until he turned after he heard his pet name that he noticed his girlfriend waving at him while atop her - wait was that a motorcycle?

His smile was bright as he made his way towards her, nearly bumping into pedestrians on his way there but for once he didn't care, not enough to do more than throw sorry's out as an afterthought. The height difference would force him to lean on the bike to tiptoe and give her a peck on the cheek. "Hi Yaoyao! Hey Lili- I wasn't waitin' long at all, I just got off the bus a few minutes ago."

Once his footing was stable again, he walked around Yaoyao's ride, eyes practically sparkling with how mesmerized he was by its craftsmanship. "Wow, this looks amazin'- where did you get this?"

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

The helmet she stayed late at the garage polishing? Propped loosely on the handlebar. The motorcycle she’s poured her soul into for the past several months? Never heard of her. Kei Hada makes a bee-line for her, and the rest of the world may as well not exist for all the attention that Yaoyao cares to spare it the second her baobao is within her sights.

(But then again, what else is new?)

Yaoyao smiles, slow and pleased, the way she always does when Kei reaches for her first. “Hey, birdie.” Then, because she remains a menace at her core, she turns her head just before contact — transforming the intended cheek kiss into one that lands instead against her smiling lips. She keeps it chaste, of course, since 1) her baobao can get anxious about his public image and 2) they’ve got things to do today. Can’t be getting too distracted.

… Okay, maybe they can spare a couple minutes for her to preen. And preen she does, folding her arms atop the refurbished Hayama’s matte black handlebars as Kei circles the electric speed demon his girlfriend has proudly and (mostly) single-handedly given a second lease on life. “You like? Found the bones of her in a junkyard, rusting away like a forgotten dream. Her model went out of production over half a century ago, and plenty of modern machinery’s gotten to the point where old electric bikes like her ran on engines too obsolete to keep up. Was a pain and a half making one work, but you know me, I love a challenge."

And here she reaches a hand out to snag her boy by one of the loops of his jeans, lightly tugging him in closer with a mischievous glimmer in her eye: "'N I do love to work for it. Every once in a while, that is.”

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

He should've seen the head turn coming. He knew she wouldn't be satisfied with just a kiss on the cheek - not that that was a flaw, everyone's allowed their preferences after all. But feeling soft lips on his own instead of the skin he expected still caused him to laugh in surprise. She'll feel his own smile nonetheless though. "You're so silly," he'd murmur against her lips before separating from her to make his inspection.

And inspect he did. Kei let his fingers hover over the frame of the vehicle as his girlfriend explained, admiring its sheen all the while. "Very much! God, over fifty years old but she looks brand new, you did such an incredible job on her." He almost wanted to ask if he could help improve it further but he refrained. The motorcycle was her project after all, and she didn't let him know about it until now, which meant she wanted to take it on herself. He could respect that.

Such thoughts flew from his mind anyway when he felt a tug by his waist and he was pulled towards her.

Another laugh escaped him, accompanied by the red face of someone who understood the implications of her words and a click of his tongue at the obvious teasing. But you know, he's gotten better at retaliating in their time together.

Said reaction came in the form of two hands on either side of Yaoyao's face as he pulled her down to kiss her again, this time aiming for her lips on purpose. It lasted longer than the first, to the point it could no longer be described as chaste but short enough so they weren't just making out in the middle of the street.

They had things to do after all.

Once he was satisfied, he parted from her and moved his hands to her wrist to gently tug her hand off his pants so they could intertwine their fingers. Then he was tugging her arm to coax her off her bike, acting as if what he'd done had never happened. "Yaoyaooo come on! We're here to get a bird today remember?"

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

This is Yaoyao. Yaoyao likes her boyfriend very much. Yaoyao is currently kissing her boyfriend, which she also likes very much, as luck would have it. In fact, she leans into him just a little, safe in the arms of maybe the only person in the world that she’s ever trusted to catch her if she were to fall.

Unfortunately for Yaoyao, right after that kiss (which is, as they most often are, a damn good kiss in her opinion) comes chaos.

Actually, absolute pandemonium might be more accurate. Squawks, squeaks, honks, barks, hisses, yowls, and just about every other ‘domestic animal in distress’ noise imaginable erupts from the open windows of the quaint little pet shop nearby - the very pet store they were meant to be entering right about now.

Holy crap. Yaoyao whistles to herself and slowly turns to look back at Kei. And alright, animals have never exactly liked her much nor been Yaoyao’s biggest fans by any stretch of the imagination, but all of this? From all the way over here?

“Whatever you’re thinking,” Yaoyao starts, putting a hand over her heart, “I swear that I have nothing to do with this. It wasn’t me. … Probably.”

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

His own attempt at teasing seemed to have failed, with Yaoyao having been too distracted by the kiss itself to realize what he was doing. Which, fair, kisses would do that. Though the more apparent cause of her lack of focus might've been the noise coming from the store.

In an instance he moved into the girl's space, eyes set on the shop in search of the cause. But other than the cats that usually sunbathed by the window now being up with their hairs standing on their ends, he couldn't see what the commotion was. Not from outside the place at least.

Kei let out a laugh at Yaoyao's words, three parts scared and, to her credit, a not-zero part knowing that she indeed wouldn't be the one responsible for the distressed animals. The laugh simmered down to a sigh as he resigned himself to their fate. "We should probably check on that huh."

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

Her baobao is nervous. That’s not news - he’s usually some kinda nervous, except for those beautiful moments when she’s got him in her hands, in her arms, and he gets all warm and butter-soft and sweet. Thing is, cute as he is when she gets him nervous (and there’s little in this world that she likes better, mind you) — when external influences are responsible? When it’s not silly, playful, for fun, meant to lower his defenses and wind him up safely so she can soothe him down? Anything less than that, she likes a whole lot less.

“Nah.” She squeezes his side a little, reassuring, a reminder of their proximity. When Kei is with Yaoyao, he’s safe. When Kei is with Yaoyao, she’ll raze a city block to the ground before she lets him get hurt. “Technically, we don’t have to do shit. But if you want, I can go in there, check it out. Or we can just reschedule, if they’re uh-“

Another squawk, CLANG, and yowl ring out from inside the shop. Yaoyao raises an eyebrow, amused despite herself.

“—preoccupied by… technical difficulties or somethin’.” ‘Sides, there are a lot of things she’d prefer to do before she leads her boy into a little shop of chaos full of animals that are freaking out over who knows what. Panicking animals are unpredictable. Panicking and trapped animals are desperate. Desperate animals - desperate animals are dangerous.

If anyone’d know that, it’d be her.

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

Kei smiled at the squeeze, finding comfort in the pressure on his side coming from his partner. He knew she wouldn't let him get hurt if she could help it. She was protective; reassuring. Even now she was trying to soothe the tension in him which he truly appreciated.

But the laugh he gave was still wheezy, aimed at the possible issue the store could be having. "Or somethin'." It certainly was nothing tech related, that was for sure. Not when he grimaced at every screech that was beginning to border on just plain unnatural. Unless the tech issue was causing the animals to act that way- but what could possibly be giving such a rise to their stress?

Kei wandered closer to the display window, his hold on Yaoyao's hand loose in case she didn't want to join him. Using his other hand to block the glare of the sun, he looked in to try to spot the cause of the commotion. "I dunno, I feel bad leavin' the place like this. What if they're really in danger?" He turned back to his girlfriend, his face easing from nerves to show his concern, this time not over his own safety but the safety of those inside. He'd always been expressive. "Can we at least check if nothin' bad's goin' on?"

Bad could mean a lot of things here, but he hoped she could get the kind he was referring to was one where their intervention was needed. The noise could be a normal occurrence for all he knew.

Man, he's giving his condolences to the employees if it was though.

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

Yaoyao leans into Kei slightly as he moves away to look at the situation up close. She’s no coward — at least not by any stretch of her own imagination (she’s self aware enough to admit that she’s a competitive bastard and hates rolling over in front of a nice, engaging challenge) — but the prospect of confronting the source of whatever is causing all that chaos is definitely not what she signed up for on a nice Sunday afternoon. Especially with her beloved baobao in tow.

It’s tempting to ignore it. To shrug and walk away, or just stay put where it’s safe.

Not an option.

Her baobao, it seems, can never help but feel for people. Put himself in other people’s shoes. It makes him not want to say no when they ask him for help (even if it’s stupid shit they could EASILY do themselves), makes him… want to walk into pet stores full of screaming animals to make sure everything’s okay. And when he’s that way, what else is a girl who’s stupidly in love to do but be almost magnetically compelled to follow?

What, you think I’m gonna let you go in there all on your precious honor and not have your heroic little back?” She presses a kiss to the side of his head. Can’t help but be fond of him, all the time, no matter what. ”Nah, I’ll come with. Let’s just… take a peek, see what’s what.”

She knows what it isn’t: there’s no fire, no flood, and no broken cages. A cursory glance through the window is good for that much. Still, as she pushes the door open, she keeps in front of Kei, body angled between him and any finicky little creature that could happen to escape its enclosure and come barreling their way in a panic. There’s only so much damage something the size of the things in this store could do, but still. Better safe than sorry where Kei’s wellbeing is concerned.

A frazzled employee pokes her head up from where she’s trying in vain to soothe a group of frantic parakeets. “Uh - sorry, now’s not a good time, can you give us a-“ Across the small store is another employee in front of a wall of little dogs and cats - or puppies and kittens? Some of them are probably just young - going absolutely batshit in their cages. Barking and howling, some even trying to ram against the walls and doors of their tiny ‘enclosures’.

The size of the cages immediately makes her skin feel tight. Even if the animals within are small enough to fit, the cages can’t be… what, more than a foot and a half across, at most? And now that she thinks about it- there’s no way all of these animals are young enough to be that small. There’s at least two dozen of them.

The employees are saying something, but the words don’t register for a good second before she shakes her head, forces herself to snap out of it. (If her hold on Kei’s hand tightens a little, that’s between the two of them.)

Is the place smaller than it looked in the photos, or is that just her?

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

Part of him - the negative part that could never go away no matter who he's with - thought Yaoyao would refuse. That whatever was going on inside the shop wasn't worth the effort of checking. She'd always been respectful of her own time; refusing to waste it on things she deemed unimportant. He wished he could have that mindset sometimes. He'd be stuck on those unimportant things a lot less often if he did.

The other part helpfully reminded him that this was Yaoyao they were talking about. Would do anything for him Yaoyao; perhaps did too much sometimes for him Yaoyao. Compared to everything else she'd done, looking inside a pet store was child's play. That reminder was firmly cemented when he felt a soft pressure on his head that would result in a small smile from the boy. Kei nodded, glad she agreed on going in with him. "Okay."

Even though it was his idea to check in, he was still the second to enter the store, hidden safely behind his taller partner as he usually was when they were in anything precarious together. She was as protective as always, which was all good for him since he really wasn't much of a fighter. He was, however, curious. Which of course meant he would expose his face by peeking over Yaoyao's shoulder to look around.

What he saw was a sad sight.

Other than the fact the animals were scared out of their wits - the screeches and barks were only louder inside the shop - but they were just- crammed in their temporary homes. Way too small compared to their size; it couldn't have been healthy for them to live there. From the way Yaoyao's hand tightened around his own, she must've noticed it too.

And yet, that probably wasn't the issue. It was one but limited space could very well be just the norm for the poor creatures. It couldn't be the reason why they were all so agitated currently.

Kei flinched and had to peel his eyes away from a dog that rammed at its cage, brows furrowed in concern as he looked at the poor store clerk instead. "Uh- excuse me." He swallowed a lump that formed in his throat, and out came the magic words that would likely get them stuck in this fiasco for a while.

"Do you need help?"

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

The employee is talking. Yaoyao knows that. Can hear it, sort of, like a murmur in the background of a rushing waterfall. The employee is spouting platitudes, empty reassurances, trying not to look hopelessly out of her depth here while simultaneously doing her best to keep the parakeets from ramming the door open - and okay, that’s not normal. There’s no fucking way that’s normal, even for a weirdly distressed animal, no way it’d be actively injuring itself - the employee shrieks, a quickly bitten back noise, as one especially ruthless slam against the birdcage bars nearly sends the whole thing crashing onto its side.

Shadowy arms manifest, righting the cage before it has a chance to topple completely. Weird: Yaoyao didn’t do that. Weirder still: their color is a lot closer to purple than her usual ink-black tendrils of darkness. Weirdest of all: instead of freaking out harder, the way small animals tend to whenever Yaoyao gets within spitting distance, the parakeets… stop freaking out.

It takes a ridiculously long three seconds - three seconds of watching those shadowy hands gently phase through the cage bars and pet soothingly at the frazzled birds inside - before Yaoyao realizes what’s happening. Before she places the blanket of gentle calm encircling her mind, that hushing the sirens roaring inside her brain.

Yaoyao forces herself to breathe. To speak.

“What set this shitshow off in the first place? Are there any animals missing, an injury, or what?”

Easy, Yaoyao… Lili’s presence is a balm, a soothing cool washing over all the ringing sirens going off inside her- their head. Soft, gentle, soothing.

Huh. How the turntables.

Yaoyao takes a breath. Tries to make the second attempt come out gentler.

“I mean. Do you… have any idea what might’ve made ‘em freak out like this?”

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

The longer they remained in the store, the more Kei wondered whether it really was worth it to come in. There were a lot of animals in there, agitated for reasons they didn't know about yet, with no hopes of calming down if the poor shop clerk's attempts were anything to go by. If anything, it was possibly the pets were stressing each other out, which only compounded the effect and made it even more unlikely to solve the issue. At least with just the three of them.

Three physically, his mind supplied once ethereal limbs appeared to remind him of a fourth in spirit.

Lili's effect on the parakeets was amazing to watch really- she just petted them with shadowy fingers and already they were soothed. There was a scolding in his head regarding Quirk laws and how her manifesting probably wasn't allowed, but surely this counted as a hairy situation right? Quirks can be used in self-defense. They're protecting themselves from scared animals.

The clerk was openly staring, awed by just how quickly the birds she was keeping in calmed down. Kei should probably not let her register the possible violation. He reiterated Yaoyao's question. "Uh- miss? Do you know why they're like this?"

The woman blinked and turned back to the couple. "Oh right, sorry! I don't know why they're acting like this. Ever since the pipe started rattling-"

Kei furrowed his brow. Eyed his girlfriend in confusion as he spoke. "Pipe started rattling?"

She nodded in response. "Yes- over there." The clerk gestured to the back of the store. "There was rattling in one of the pipes. I tried to shake it so whatever got stuck would fall out but no luck, and then the pets just started freaking out! I'm running out of options and I'd hate to keep you here- but could you help me?"

The support student eyed Yaoyao again, speaking that silent question of we probably should right?

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

Man. If they weren’t just gonna leave ‘em to it before, they definitely couldn’t do it now. Baobao had that look in his eye again— the come on, Yaoyao, we should do something look. It was just one of many looks she couldn’t say no to, and he had to know it. She met that look with one of her own — a You’re so lucky you’re cute look — and started heading for the back of the store. Any frenzied animals they passed freaked out worse as she got closer, only to calm like angels the second soft and wispy lavender shadow-hands reached out to soothe their fears.

(Typical.)

It was hard to hear over the panicked clusterfuck of noise coming from every other animal in this too tight space, but the closer she got, the clearer the sound became: the pipe wasn’t just rattling, but clanking up a storm. And it was all coming from the biggest pipe in the place — wide enough around that it could rival a tree, wider even than the circumference of Yaoyao’s own waist… just what the hell could be stuck in a pipe that big?

A wary-looking male employee stood off to the side, staring at her as if she was about to make off with a pack of dog treats or something if he didn’t keep a close enough eye on her. She clicked her tongue at him, and he jumped (hah). Now she’d got his attention and not just his unease — “Oi. You. Where’s this go to?”

“Uh, I think that might be the water pipe?”

“… You need a pipe this big for water.”

“We have to bathe a lot of animals,” he said defensively. “It’s a lot more work than you think! Hosing down the tanks, too-“

“Sure, whatever. Shut up now, I’m focusing.” She felt along the pipe, trying to pinpoint the source of the shaking. “Baobao, how much of a mess is it gonna make if I break this thing open?”

“You’re going to WHAT?”

“Man, I know I told you to shut up.”

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

Yaoyao would be rewarded with a relieved smile and a squeeze of her hand, happy that she, once again, humoured his quiet request. He always knew there was a good person under the no-nonsense personality- and he was glad she had proven time and again that he was right.

Kei let himself be pulled to the back alongside his girlfriend, eyeing the strangely wide pipe with a perplexed look while curling his fingers because wow were things getting loud here even with Lili playing mother hen. He even plugged one of his ears as Yaoyao separated from him to inspect the pipe. "Uh- if it's just water it won't be too bad if the water main's shut off." He turned to the man. "You can shut it off right?"

The employee grimaced. "Well, yeah but-"

Kei cut him off. "Can you do that please? If whatever's inside really is stuck in there, we likely need to cut the pipe open, and it wouldn't be good if we flood the store because the water was runnin'." He may not be good at confrontation, but gears were always turning in his head when a problem needed to be solved. Which really just meant it was more likely for him to spit out his thoughts rather than hesitate with them.

He still felt bad about stopping the man mid-sentence though. "Sorry."

The employee looked between Kei and Yaoyao before letting out a groan. "Yeah, I'll shut it off. But no funny business okay?" He pointed two fingers to his eyes and swung it around to them in that universal I'm watching you gesture before turning to step through a door labelled 'Employees Only'.

Kei's face scrunched in confusion as he mouthed funny business...?, unaware of what that meant.

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

There’s a pit in her stomach growing by the second. Even as she tries to ignore the too-small dimensions of the place, the cacophony of squeaks and squeals and screeches that seems somehow louder for all that Lili’s successfully quieting them one by one — she can’t escape the feeling that the walls were pressing in on her, somehow. Closer and closer, but by bit, crushing inwards — except they’re not. She knows they’re not, because Baobao isn’t reacting, so it’s got to be all in her head. Has to be. He’d have said something if it isn’t, he wouldn’t just let her think she’s crazy. But fuck if everything inside these four walls isn’t driving her crazy.

Even that employee’s stupid, sneering expression, something that usually would be a waste of her energy to even pay attention to — even that nothing annoyance is grating on her, but she reels her temper in. Breathes through it like a big girl. Can’t go flying off the handle now— just a few more minutes, probably, to solve whatever’s going on and then they can be outta here.

She can’t wait to be outta here.

Baobao’s looking confused - not about the walls, though. What- oh. “He thinks ‘m gonna steal something.” She doesn’t bother lowering her voice; she hasn’t done anything wrong. So she delivers the explanation in the same matter of fact tone she’d use to read out the weather forecast. It’s no surprise to her. She knows what she looks like, bad news dressed up in black and leather and fishnets, topped with dyed hair and enough metal in her ears and face to set an airport security checkpoint screaming. But she’s used to it. People have their prejudices. “Don’t sweat it, baobao. Just stand back. If this pipe does something stupid when I break it, I don’t want it hitting you.”

Kei Hada