~New Melodies~ MHA

Ch. 3

~Jodey's perspective~

I was following the blond girl down the hall, awkwardly fiddling with my hands. I had to say it. It was really getting to me, and I needed to let her know. Whether or not she'd listen or care I had no clue, but worth a shot.

        "I-I'm n-n-not a g-girl" I stutter out. She turns to me curiously.

        "Oh? I'm sorry then, what pronouns do you go by?" She giggled, asking. I did NOT expect her to take it this well so far.

        "I-I-I'm a t-they, t-t-them..." I tried saying. She nodded and smiled at me. She continued skipping forward, and I continued to follow. We walked into a room with the black-haired man, the bluish-gray-haired man, and a few people I hadn't seen yet. We appeared to be at an abandoned bar. I guess the girl's name is Toga, skipped over to the two men I recognized from before and whispered something to them. They nodded in response. 

        "So, first things first: Introductions," The black-haired man clapped. The... well, what appeared to be purple fire guy behind the counter slightly flinched at the sudden sound, and so did I. 

        "I'm Tomura Shigaraki, and this-" The gray-blue-haired man motioned to the black-haired man, "Is dumbass one. Your standing by, dumbass two."

        "My name is Dabi, thank you very much. Anyways, the purple bitch is Kurogiri, the dumbass lizard is Spinner, and the fucking vampire is Toga," The black-haired man corrected. "Compress is out right now, but the attention-craving fucker will introduce himself when he gets here," Dabi continues. 

        "L-lovely t-to m-m-m," I start out, trying to form the sentence. I feel my confidence drain with all the people in the room looking at me. I look at the floor, and my voice becomes hardly a whisper. "m-meet y-you all."

        "What's your name?" The smoke, which I guess is Kurogiri, asked. He hadn't looked away from the dishes he was doing. It was a slight comfort that not everybody in the room was looking at me. 

         "J-J-Jodey," I mutter. The room had been quiet, so my voice felt like it boomed throughout it. I peak up slightly, and almost everyone is no longer paying full attention except for Shigaraki. His red-eyed stare never left me. 

        "So, Jodey, why were you not scared to run through the portal? Anybody else in your situation would have run, but you didn't," Shigaraki asked. 

        "I-I d-d-" I didn't know how to answer. My breathing quickened, and I felt guilt overtake me. Suddenly, all eyes were on me again. My lungs felt like they were squeezed shut. It hurt. Tears filled my eyes. I stumbled back, and I couldn't breathe. Black started flooding my vision, and I still couldn't breathe.  My eyes squeeze shut and tears fall down my cheeks. 

        "Jodey? Jodey are you ok?" Kurogiri asked. Toga wrapped her arms around me and I completely stiffened. I shook my head no and tried to pry from Toga's grasp. She luckily got the message and let go of me.

        "Hey Shiggy, don't we have that spare room?" Toga asked. Even though she'd stopped hugging me, she was gently rubbing my arm. Shigaraki responded but I couldn't hear it. I couldn't hear or see anything. I felt myself being lifted, then being placed on a soft surface. I struggled to breathe, but I heard a door shut.

        "There's nobody else here but us," A voice said. "And you can have as long as you need to work yourself down" For some reason, this helped. I sucked in a breathe, feeling my lungs ache. A few breaths more, and I felt more stable. My breath was still shakey, and my lungs ached deeply. I sobbed, now being able to register everything. I curled into a ball, my eyes still squeezed shut. "Breathe"

        "I-I'm s-s-s-sor-rry" I whispered through my sobs. "Y-y-you d-don't h-h-half t-to w-watch over m-me," I stuttered trying to calm myself down. I sucked in a breath. My heart felt as if it was pounding out of my chest.

        "Look, I can't exactly throw you out on the streets. You know where our base is, and I personally would like to know why you were hanging out with our million-dollar ransom," The voice continued.

        "O-Oh." I sniffled. Regardless of what he just said, I felt a finger gently trace random shapes on my arm. I let my eyes open slightly, and wiped the tears from my eyes. It turned out it was Shigaraki who was in the room with me. And he was right, we were in a room that looked more like a dusty old storage cupboard than a bedroom. I took a deep breath and calmed down. "H-H-Hazel's m-my- I mean- s-she w-was... I-" I tried saying, not sure what words I was trying to form.  

        "Here, if it's hard to say you can just write it down," Shigaraki said as he pulled open one of the dusty crates nearby. He found a semi-dead marker and an old receipt, handing it to me. I smile slightly. I shook the marker before writing.  Hazel's been my best friend for as long as I can remember. When my family stopped letting me come home, her family took me in. When we were in our first years at high school we starting composing music together. I'm her lyric writer. I handed the receipt to him. He read over it briefly, before shaking his head. 

        "Doesn't she write her own music? It's the reason so many people like her" I shook my head no. For as long as I'd known her she'd never once written her own lyric. That was my job. I never knew what she saw in my songs though. At first, she gave compliments on how unique the lyrics were, how they flowed on their own. But soon she started giving me pointers. She made my music something everyone, except myself, liked. "Ok, so how old are you?" He asked, handing the receipt back. 19. I handed it back to him, and he nodded. I heard explosions from the other room as well as loud thuds, and Shigaraki put his arm in front of me defensively. BOOM