I Was A Teenage Vigilante

The Single-Family House of Love

Yuga Aoyama never expected that he could find someone who shone as much as him, but here he was, with his host, a teenager his age with shiny star-shaped freckles. And it seemed like his personality was comparably starry.

As he had expected, Edwin took him to the student parking lot where an old white Honda Civic with the license plate "AREA 51" was parked. The back was covered in stickers and magnets pertaining to aliens and science fiction properties. Most notably, the silver Starfleet insignia from Star Trek was plastered next to the car's name.

"This is my car, or as I like to call it, Rogue One." Edwin said, proudly giving the car a gentle pat on its roof.

"You appear to be as much of a science fiction nerd as Uraraka, mon ami."

"Is... Uraraka that Instagram user 'zero.gravity.girl'?"

"Indeed she is. She is an avid lover of all things interstellar. You two would get along nicely."

Edwin smiled. The thought of one of his Instagram mutuals being his friend in real life was exciting to him. The two teens got into the car and started off towards Edwin's house.

It took a short amount of time to get there, but Aoyama was still fairly shaken up from all of the hills the car had to climb on the way. The fact that the car never slid down a hill once was intriguing to him. Were all San Franciscans able to navigate these hills, or was this just Edwin's expert driving? Whatever it was, they were home. "Home" in their case was an average-sized family home. It looked somewhat ordinary to Aoyama, but this was San Francisco. Not everyone could afford a painted lady.

The two entered the house, and... it was pretty plain. Not much to look at. Still, there were portraits of people he recognized from his friends (mainly Uraraka) forcing him to watch sci-fi movies on the weekly 2A movie nights, namely Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, William Adama from Battlestar Galactica, and several people from Star Trek. A small grey tabby cat was rubbed up against Edwin's leg. He picked up the cat and gave it a warm greeting.

"Well, hello, Major Tom!" he cooed. "Aoyama, this is the family cat, Major Tom."

Aoyama let out a happy gasp. "You... you like David Bowie too?"

"Who doesn't? The man's an icon in every sense of the word!"

"Edwin, mon ami, I believe that you and I will be good friends," Aoyama said, giving Major Tom a pat on the head whilst maintaining eye contact with his housemate. "Still, I do have one more question."

"Shoot," Edwin said, setting Major Tom back on the ground.

"No offense, but... how much of a nerd are you?" Aoyama asked, the smile never fading from his face.

"It's not just me. My entire family is full of sci-fi nerds. I like to say that I was raised by Star Wars."

"Mon Dieu, you are more of a nerd than I thought," Aoyama said, although it wasn't disdainful. It was more playful and teasing.

"If you think that's bad, you should see my bedroom. It's like Nerd Heaven in there," Edwin joked.

Aoyama was eager to see Edwin's room, as he had only seen it in Instagram posts. Indeed, it shone as much in person as he assumed it did online. The sun through the windows reflected off of some CDs stuck to the walls, creating rainbows all around the room. Plastic models of the planets were hung from the ceiling from fishing wire that looked invisible in a certain light. And of course, glow-in-the-dark stars were stuck to the ceiling above the unmade bed.

"I never expected your room to be this... magnifique in person!"

"You like it? It's an aspiring astronomer's paradise. Complete with a star map, telescope, and constant updates from all of NASA's socials," Edwin bragged, gesturing to the computer monitor on the desk.

"It sparkles so much... it reminds me of my own bedroom."

"Just wait until sundown. The sun hits the CDs and plastic at the perfect angle and lights everything up so perfectly," Edwin said, putting his hands up for dramatic effect. "But enough about my room. Yours is upstairs."

Edwin led Aoyama to the attic. Expecting the worst (or possibly the best), Aoyama followed. Fortunately, his worry was for nothing. The only nerdy thing in the room was a plastic replica of the Millenium Falcon from the Star Wars franchise. The rest was somewhat plain. There was a comfortable-looking club chair in the corner of the room and a white shag carpet at the foot of the bed. This certainly wouldn't do for the notoriously flashy Yuga Aoyama.

"Quick question, mon ami."

"What's up, doc?"

"Am I allowed to decorate in here?"

"Uh... I'm gonna have to consult my moms about that. I'll be sure to ask when they get home," Edwin said, putting his hand on his chin. "What were you thinking about decorating with?"

"Do you have any excess lights you aren't using?"

"I mean, I have some battery-powered ones in my desk drawer. You can go get them if you want."

"Merci beaucoup," Aoyama said, leaving the room.

"Hold up! Bottom drawer! The big one that says 'Ed's Drawer 'O Junk' on it! They're in there!" Edwin yelled. Aoyama gave him a thumbs-up to show that he heard.

Edwin let out a sigh and sat down in the chair. All day, he had been trying to build up the confidence to do something. Something he never thought he'd do until he had to get a job. First, he messaged Andreas.

⭐eddie stardust
who haven't we called yet

🌀andy dandy o
already called izuku
i called charlie after school and he passed it on to viv
you wanna call thena?

⭐eddie stardust
i guess

🌀andy dandy o
you got this eddie
i believe in you

Now that that was over with, Edwin went to his phone app. If it were a physical phone, it would be covered in dust and cobwebs from decades of never being used. He scrolled through his contacts until he found "🦉athena the hooty one". He shakily tapped on her contact while the phone rang on her end. After about two rings, Athena picked up.

"H-hey, Thena."