We Can Share My Mood [Closed to Tadashi]

[ghost_bait]

Who| Miku & Tadashi
What| A reunion that may or mayn't include real(tm) Shoujo Bubbles
Where| Observation Deck, Legion World
When| After this here.
Warnings/Notes|


Miku's chest felt equally tight and full to bursting. She was glad that, despite the time had passed, despite everything, some things here hadn't changed a bit. Miku hadn't heard from Pidge, or Gwen, and that was a little worrying, but she knew it was probably fine.

Wherever her friends were, they would be OK.

What wasn't OK was trying to find her way back to the Observation Deck. It wasn't a place Miku visited often, between bouts of panicking and trying to find a way to integrate herself and seem Normal. She would've given her eyeteeth to deal with that instead of what had awaited her in her dreams-that-weren't-dreams.

Still, shortly after she promised she'd come to him, Miku arrived at the Observation Deck, smoothing out an imaginary wrinkle in her skirt and making sure her hair pin hadn't come loose as she hurried through the halls. Tadashi hadn't gotten taller, and she hadn't gotten (that much) older, but things still felt like they'd changed.

"Tadashi?" Miku hesitated, then swallowed and put her best foot forward, approaching him. "It's so good to see you again."

Comments

[the_civilian]

The Observation deck was one of Tadashi's favorite places on Legion World. It was a good place to go when he needed some time for quiet reflection, and the view of Earth was stunning.

He'd developed a tendency to perch on the bars of the viewing platform, in a manner that would have been unsafe if not for his flight ring, but he'd hopped down when Miku had told him that she was on her way. It would have put their conversation at an awkward angle even if it didn't worry her.

He runs a hand through his hair and resettles his baseball cap, then looked up at the sound of her voice and smiled.

"It's good to see you too," he said. "How've you been? Besides the mysterious Things."

[ghost_bait]

"Good. I'd like to say I've managed to grow a few more centimeters, but..." she shrugged, "That didn't happen." His travel-sized sometimes mission partner was still small. Her heart thumped in her chest as she continued to make her way towards him. "And the Things weren't mysterious so much as Extremely Scary."

Miku joined him at the edge of the viewing platform, looking down for just a moment before looking back at him. "What about you? Have you been well?" She flicked the bill of his hat, trying to feel more confident than she felt. "Eating properly? Not spending days on end holed up in a laboratory?"

[the_civilian]

"Whoa, casual physical contact?" Tadashi said with a laugh, resettling his cap again and nudging her with his elbow. "Who are you and what have you done with Miku Hinasaki?

"I've been well," he said in answer to her actual question. "I haven't blown up the lab even a little bit, and I know enough about the long-term effects of a poor diet that I've been behaving on that front too. Nobody else from my home has shown up, sadly, but I did get to swap out my fire powers for healing powers for a few days." He tapped idly at his suppression gauntlet.

"Sorry you had to deal with Extremely Scary things back home," he added. "That must have been awful."

[ghost_bait]

"I read it in a magazine..." Miku sputtered and turned red to her ears. There was a dull thud somewhere behind them as a dozen pancakes shot out of somewhere at a blinding fast speed and splattered against the ground.

Once she collected herself, Miku tried to laugh it off and pointedly ignored the still-warm pancakes. "Ah, how was it? The healing powers? That seems fitting for you."

"And it... could have been worse? The Extremely Scary things, that is. I had a tattoo for a little while. Or a bruise... I guess you could call it a curse mark? It wasn't fun."

[the_civilian]

"...I don't mind, I'm just teasing you," Tadashi reassured her, staring in confusion at the surprise pancakes. "I'm glad you feel comfortable enough with me to poke at me."

He tore his gaze away from the pancakes and shook his head. "I definitely liked them better than the fire powers. Unfortunately, it was temporary, and a result of something causing chaos everywhere else on Legion World. I did get to patch up a lot of minor bumps and bruises and scratches, and fortunately no one got hurt bad enough to really need my powers. But it was nice."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Sometimes I think it always could have been worse," he said. "I'm glad you got rid of your cursed tattoo-bruise, though. Do you want to talk about it?"

[ghost_bait]

For her part, Miku was hard ignoring the pancakes. Everything is fine. "I do, I think after everything we went through on that mission, it's fine to admit that."

She nodded. "I... don't know if it even makes sense, really. It's all... urban legends that aren't urban legends at all, and..." Miku rested her chin in her hands, leaning on the railing with her elbows. "Sad, too, I think." Miku glanced up at Tadashi and then back to the Earth."So, if I tell you something that will certainly make you sad, you'll have to counter it with something happy, OK?"

[the_civilian]

"Just let me know if you're going to have a heart attack if I poke you back, that's all I ask."

Tadashi folded his arms on the railing.

"I think I can agree to that," he said. "Spill, with whatever you're comfortable sharing."

[ghost_bait]

"No promises," she said immediately. The tension in her shoulders relaxed just slightly as she thought of a good place to begin. "My friend," because they were now, after that traumatizing event, "lost her fiancé in a car accident." Miku began, and started to relay what had happened in the time between. How Rei had thrown herself into work, and Miku had followed along after her. The stories they were researching.

The dreams of the House, forever coated in snow, and its doomed, cursed residents. Of Mafuyu's ghost, leading her along. "I almost went with him. I thought it would be fine, if I only got to see him, one last time."

Miku paused and fluffed her bangs nervously. "I... didn't. I thought of you, and Kubo... Pidge and Gwen. And I thought it would be worse, if I never got to see any of you again, either. So I turned back and went to leave, only..." She smiled sheepishly. "I got caught by the ghost. So Rei was the one who ended up breaking the curse."

[the_civilian]

Tadashi had known that Miku came from a world where the risk of angry ghosts coming after you was more possible than (he hoped) in his world. But this story was...

Wow.

"I'm glad you survived," Tadashi said. "And I'm glad you decided to stick around before that. That sounds...really rough. I don't know that I could handle it." He smiled wryly. "I'm sure your brother was pleased though, too. I know I'd knock Hiro over the head and toss him back out the door before I let him follow me into the afterlife."

[ghost_bait]

"It was not fun, not at all." Miku breathed out, and let a nervous little chuckle escape her lips. "You and Mafuyu would have been very well within your rights as older brothers. Sometimes grief is terrible."

Miku gently elbowed him, "Now, it is your turn; something good that has happened while I've been gone."

[the_civilian]

"I'm not saying that it's easy to be the one left behind, but it's better than the alternative," Tadashi agreed. He tilted his head back and thought for a moment.

"All right, I'm going to tell you something I walked in on that, as far as I know, no one else knows about. It's hilarious, but you'll have to keep it under your hat, okay?"

[ghost_bait]

Miku put her finger to her lips, "Your secret is safe with me."

[the_civilian]

Tadashi glances around theatrically to make sure no one's listening in, then leans in to tell his story.

"Not too long after you went home, I hit the lab early one morning, only to hear Brainiac 5 laughing so hard I thought he might actually hurt himself. I mean, he is howling. So I go and take a look to see if he's okay, and he's just collapsed into a chair while Invisible Kid is standing there, bright red in the face and sputtering incoherently.

"I don't know exactly what was said, but I worked out from the conversation after that Invisible Kid had been freaking out about how to help co-parent Brainy's kid and had finally gotten his head together so that he was emotionally prepared to go all-in...except he'd never asked Brainy if he wanted his help co-parenting. He'd just assumed he was going to be helping out and had no idea how to react to Brainy laughing at him."

Tadashi shook his head. "It was pretty cute. I don't know how it shook out, exactly, since it occurred to me that spying on a guy who could turn invisible was probably a bad life choice, but I did see Invisible Kid towing Brainy's kid around a few times after that."

[ghost_bait]

Miku looked mildly horrified at the notion of the very person who scared rational thought from her (though he'd never needed to even raise his voice I her direction), had a child. In fact the notion made her head ache. "He has a baby?! How? Who? What??"

[the_civilian]

Oh yeah, context.

"Uh, genetic engineering?" Tadashi said. "Basically, Colu's government had some of Brainy's DNA handy and decided to combine it with other DNA to make a kid. Who we rescued. This was right after you left, I think."

Maybe this story hadn't been the best choice. Though it had definitely seemed to distract her.

[ghost_bait]

"Well, I'm glad the baby -- is it a baby? Or is it bigger? -- is alright," Miku said after a moment of trying to reconcile her image of Brainiac with a more domestic filter.

"Do they need a baby gift?" Well, Tadashi was right, it had really distracted Miku.

[the_civilian]

"He's a toddler," Tadashi said. "His name is Merl, you'll probably see him around -- he and Cub seem to be hitting it off pretty well."

He scratches the back of his neck. "I'm not sure what baby gift would be appropriate for a toddler smarter than everyone I know back home combined, but we could ask around and see if anyone has any ideas."

[ghost_bait]

"I think that I would like that," Miku nodded and smiled at Tadashi. "It would be expected, because we're technically co-workers..." She trailed off and elbowed him, "But that is nice. I'm glad for Brainiac."

A pause, "What else?"