Controlee

43. Brother Glow

Rule 13: No fists, too easy to break.

"What have I told you since you were seven?"

Otsuka scowled at him, dragging up the energy to swallow back whatever irritated response he could see trying to break out. He'd really put her through her paces tonight, even TT was tired and he wasn't a hero student doing training during the day. She'd said she had a tough but successful spar against her class' supposed best sparrer (and oh, she'd been excited to share that news with him, tapping her hands against his shoulder just to do something with the delighted energy telling him brought on), and then had a more gruelling catch up session with another teacher. With this on top of all that, it was no wonder her legs were shaking under her.

And, of course, it wasn't like she was top of her game at the moment anyway. The shadow of her grief hung under her eyes, the same way it did whenever TT saw his own reflection. Everything just seemed harder at the moment and it showed.

They both needed a nap. Or in Otsuka's words, they both needed to 'find a hole, curl up in it, and  stop existing for a week or two'. It certainly sounded like a great idea to him. There had to be a quirk out there that could get it done for them, surely.

At least TT could get away with acting a little more grouchy, get people to back off when they were draining him too much. That kind of behaviour was expected among villains. Otsuka was stuck with a bunch of hero high-schoolers, she couldn't just say, "Piss off," when she needed a break. No, he'd bet she was tanking all her reserves by spending the day acting as normally as she could which, for her, meant smiles and friendly, stuttery conversation.

He should call this session to a close soon. She needed the rest.

And a shower too, preferably. There was enough dirt on her to start a farm, and probably enough sweat to water it too. Hopefully she'd be able to sneak a shower before sleeping without drawing any attention from her guardians.

"No fists, I know," she grumbled out, leaving her fists right where they were. "Get to it."

He let his hands drop. "Take this seriously Emi, I'm trying-"

She leapt at him while his guard was down which, in all honesty, he should've seen coming. Again, they both needed some sleep.

Lucky for him, she was kind enough to cradle his head rather than let it collide with concrete. One knee and one hand pinned his arms either side of him and the crackle of her quirk in her free hand (once she'd pulled it out from under his head) was enough of a threat to end the match. That was her first and only win of the night. She smirked, all too smug as she said, "Distraction."

"Bad distraction," he replied as she slumped off him, happy to lie on the cold ground next to him.

"Worked, didn't it?" She huffed out a long sigh that only barely wasn't a groan. Yeah, TT thought to himself, definitely bedtime for little heroes. "But hey, I know my strengths. Hard and fast, it's all I'm good for."

TT winced at the bitter words. "I said that, didn't I? I could be such a prick." He tilted his head up to check his long coat was still where he left it. He'd taken it off earlier to make sparring a little easier, putting his faith in the dark night to hide his features if anyone saw him. 

"Could?" Otsuka returned.

"Oi." He flopped a heavy hand onto her side in retaliation, but he was smiling, lying there beside her. Otsuka's skills weren't perfect, but she was improving— admittedly, she hadn't been her best today, but she'd been half-asleep when they'd started so he didn't blame her. A villain wouldn't care if she was off her game though so, as much as he'd wanted to give her the night off, he couldn't.