Bakugo
24 years ago
"Tell me, c'mon," Headset begs, poking my arm over and over.
We're playing a game and she's an impatient thing. She'd rather lose with an answer than win without it.
Walking through the streets of the city, her and I take the routes we used to know as first years. She doesn't remember them, but neither do I. It's like we're both walking through deja vu and for once I'm completely okay with it.
"Fine, fine," I say. "The day we met you said my boobs were bigger than yours after falling on top of me in the hallway."
Headset lets loose a snorty sort of laughter- the kind I adore.
Our game is a pleasant one that friends can share. She names a month, any month at all from the year she forgot. And I give her a day. The day we met. The day she passed her practical. The camp days, the training days, the sometimes not so pleasant days. And then, she asks a question. Any question. What did I wear? What did I see? What did I do? And if she can answer the question herself she wins. If I have to tell her I win.
I've always loved winning. More than anything. But god, it's never felt better to just play.
"Were you nice to me?" Headset laughs, nudging my shoulder with hers, teasing me. "That first day we met?"
"No." She laughs even harder and it makes me smile. I roll my eyes to suppress it, tuck my hands into my pockets, and follow her down the ways.
"What did we talk about then? Your tits the whole time?"
"My what?"
"You do have boobs. I'm surprised you don't need extra support."
"You're fuckin ridiculous."
"Bet you liked me being ridiculous if you're still hanging out with me now."
Hanging out. Like we're friends. Best friends even. Because it's been more than a year since Yin woke up in that hospital room and remembered that she's my Headset. Although maybe 'my' isn't the right word.
Because we are just friends. We've been just friends for fourteen months.
"We just had fun with each other," I say, shrugging my shoulders once. " We challenged each other, argued a bunch."
"So we were friends right away then?" she asks sarcastically, looking back at me. Her smile's full of mischief. Toothy.
I don't answer her question. Because when she asks I almost take her hand. I almost kiss her temple and hold her closer. I almost wrap my arm around her even though summer's near and it's too hot to hug. I almost let myself forget that she isn't mine. Not anymore.
Almost can't happen. Not when I look at the back of her head and she looks wondrously at the city.
Best Jeanist's agency is just around the corner. That hotel ingrained in my memory still stands. It has the same rooms, probably the same furniture. I wonder if they fixed that knick in the wall she made moving around furniture like a crazy person. I wonder if the beds we shared, awkward and too quiet are still there. The walls look the same. The building itself feels like the memory. Gone and nostalgic yet here and just within reach. It feels like how I feel about Headset.
"This place looks familiar too," Yin says. I look up at her and she looks at the bookstore next to the building. She turns to me, her hair now the length of her shoulders, only black at the ends like burnt metal, swooshes around her. "Can we go in?"
