Switches & Spices

Chapter Twenty One

TW: Lemonade, Forced Bodily Decision

Fucking Princess...

The party carried on for a little while longer, everyone thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere and food. It was incredibly comfortable, even if I felt some extra tension here and there from Eijiro and Tamaki; soft kisses turning deeper, gentle touches turning firmer. An odd shivery breath or two here and there from more sensual movements, all three of us having to reign ourselves in.

Possibly Mana and Bakugou as well, I caught a heated glance shared between them a few times. I swore I caught a flash of pain on her face after the twerking lesson, but she stifled it down, waving me off after I reached out. She might just be tired from overworking herself; if she required healing, she knew to come ask me. I pushed a soft reminder to the link if she wanted any help, I'd be here when she needed me.

Tai pushed up after another hour, thoroughly stuffed and a bit of his fat returned, giving everyone a tired grin. Saying that he needed to get home. He was exhausted from the night; he'd have to start walking back. Bakugou took initiative, casting a glance to me and nodding faintly, bringing Mana with him as well to drive Tai home, the BMI Hero almost crying in gratitude. I'm sure he enjoyed car rides in his smaller form, the larger one must have made it near impossible. Same with Eijiro.

Ooh, right, I could go look in the logbook, make sure a day was set aside without massages so I could cover for her. Eijiro left with them, saying that he was going to go and grab something more comfortable to sleep in for him and Tamaki from his place. I told him to bring multiple changes of clothes just in case they wanted to stay over more, we could wash them here. Trying to think ahead. The kiss he gave stole my breath away, leaving me entirely flustered before he ran out after Softygou and locked up behind them.

When I finally snapped out of it, I took to glancing over the logbook, Tamaki taking care of cleaning up the remains of the food left over. There really wasn't much left, everyone had eaten so much, and Tai had been sent off with a large steamer tray full of the more solid stuff so that he could work on getting more of his fat back before he came in tomorrow. He took favor to some panda-shaped onigiri, so we made sure that he had at least a couple dozen to bring back with him.

Mana must've been hiding in her massage and chiropractic work the past week, seeing the detailed notes after every session written in her familiar shorthand. Was she seriously using her Quirk with each one? I knew she was damn good with her Quirk control; it must be nice to finally utilize it in a positive way. I hadn't cared to do anything further than writing appointments down before for her in my haze, and I sighed, stopping on the day before yesterday's logs.

No Quirk use. Not a single mention of any bodily systems slowed or heightened to assist the client, her shorthand almost shaky. There was a scratch here and there out of place, a sharp line drawn through an evaluation at the last appointment of the day, completely different information written down instead. Like she had forgotten or something. I turned back the page to the prior day, seeing the difference in her writing.

I pressed a hand to my shoulder, glancing ahead, turning to yesterday's logs. Three massages, that was it? She had done more the former day... Again, no Quirk use. I squeezed my shoulder anxiously and took a slow breath, forcing myself to turn the pages ahead to find an available day. Today... Huh. The next day, too. Did she not have any appointments set up at all? The day after that had one. One.

I anxiously flipped through the pages, eyes darting over the entries, seeing her schedule pick back up about a week from now with five massages and a chiropractic exam. A week... Did Bakugou know? Was that why he was being careful with her, staying so close? Was that why she was still so tired? Had I just imagined her looking better rested?