Work Text:
When Nobara awoke, it was with pain razing across the left side of her face, with half of her sight gone, with something raw and hungry inside her stomach, roaring for a rematch.
Last thing she remembered seeing was Itadori’s terrified face, pale as death itself, her own blood spurting into the air like a grizzly fountain. And then nothing but red. And then nothing but black.
She had let her guard down.
Man, it really didn’t get any more embarrassing than that.
Aside from her eye, nothing else seemed terribly hurt, though her head felt fuzzy and stuffed with cotton and her remaining vision swayed unclearly. An eye was one thing but if that gross, stitched up curse actually managed to get some brain damage in, oh they will have such a score to settle. Hopefully that wasn’t the case, she could see clearly enough to recognize the room around her as Shoko’s intensive care and if she trusted anyone to patch her back together correctly, it was Shoko.
Which meant the biggest problem here was…
He fingers trailed up to her face. Bandaged, of course it was, her face felt so raw with pain that she had neglected to notice the feeling of fabric against it. She wormed one of her fingers under the bandage, just enough to feel the minced skin underneath, just enough to confirm what she already knew.
The next time she saw that curse, she would break it in half over her knee like a twig, life threatening technique notwithstanding. Who on earth did it think it was, messing up her face like this. Her blood boiled and her muscles ached with restless need to get up and get going. She was never the type to sit tightly while incapacitated and having so much she needed to take revenge for certainly didn’t help. She thought of Itadori again, he must have gotten out of it okay, right? At least he always managed to land on his feet. How about Fushiguro? She didn’t even see him there, but he was probably holding up alright, that guy was crazier then he let on. What about-
“You’re awake.”
The door opened and there stood Maki, with her hair cut short, angry, red burn scars licking up her face, her own right eye bandaged. Her voice was serious, but Nobara knew her well enough to see the worry buried deep in her eyes. It wrenched against something wounded in her heart. She hated to be seen like this, she hated to be this. She wasn’t made to be a patient and she didn’t need people worrying about her or her injuries. Especially Maki, she didn’t want that worry to settle on her face, didn’t want to make her feel like Nobara’s safety was something she needed to fret over.
So she sighed loudly, throwing all of those nights spent watching Itadori’s stupid impressions into one dramatic swoon that would have made him very proud. “Oh noooo.”
“What, what is it?” and there was that worry sneaking into Maki’s voice as she rushed to Nobara’s side and reached for her bandages.
“You’re too hot now.”
Maki’s hand stopped in the air, her eyebrows furrowing.
“I can’t believe you got hotter, I didn’t think that was allowed.”
“Is that-” And there was that smile, cut into the corners of Maki’s lips like a knife's edge as she rolled her eyes, “Is that really the first thing you’ll say to me.”
“Your hair, Maki, your hair.”
“Yeah, it kinda had to go.”
“The cape’s so hot too.”
“It’s not a cape.”
Nobara made a dismissive motion with her hand as Maki pulled up a chair to her bedside. She would rather have Maki smiling with exasperation then sit there and watch that worry press deep lines into her face. Besides, she wasn’t lying. Maki looked different now, her survival cut into every fold of her scarring, into the dark pools of her eyes and the strict line of her shoulders. She always looked like she was ready to tear through death if it challenged her and now she had the scars to prove her victory inevitable.
Maki reached out, gently smoothing down the bandages Nobara disturbed when checking her skin. Her lips were pressed in a firm line, but she only said, “Sorry about your eye.”
“What, this?” Nobara flicked herself on the side of her face, which was a bad decision and the rest of her sentence came a bit strained from the shock of pain, “This is nothing. You know, I hear eyepatches are coming into the season anyway. Give me some rhinestone and some glue and this time next month everybody will be wearing one. Besides-” she flicked a finger gun in Maki’s direction, “-now we match.”
Maki’s shoulders shook as she suppressed her laughter, hand coming up on instinct to touch her own bandaged before she caught herself and reached down for Nobara’s hand instead. “Suppose we do. Now we look like a proper pair.” She said and squeezed Nobara’s hand.
Nobara grinned but her throat ached with the suppressive silence. There was something so stifling about waking up in a hospital bed. It made her feel uneasy, on the edge. She hated it ever since she was little, the fuss and the worry and the expectation that she should lay still and rest. Nobara had always been the kind of person to walk off a broken leg. Maki was the same. That was what attracted Nobara to her in the first place. She could see the same fire that burned in her veins reflected in Maki’s eyes and they were like two flames feeding off of each other, two untamed beasts uniting for a hunt.
It didn’t sit good with them, this kind of thing. This kind of pain and silence. There was defeat hanging in the air above their heads, loss bitter on Nobara’s tongue. Restlessness thrummed through her blood and Maki’s shoulders were tense with unease and they were not made to exist in moments like these.
Better to just bite the bullet then let them stew in it any longer.
“You can tell me that we got the worst of it now.”
“We kinde of did, actually,” Maki snorted, leaning back in her chair but not letting go of Nobara’s hand, “Fushiguro was here a bit ago, he seemed fine. Checked in on you and then went to check on his sister. Said he’ll look for Itadori after that.”
Nobara shouldn’t have felt as relieved as she did to hear that. When she first met Fushiguro and Itadori they struck her as the sort of guys she could never get along with. But somewhere along the line they had wormed their way under her skin and into her heart. She used to be able to count the people she cared about on half of her hand, but now those people made a small army, a tight little family she could trust with her life.
“So he thinks Itadori is alive too?” she asked, running her finger over Maki’s palm.
“It’s Itadori we are talking about, he’s tougher to kill than a cockroach.”
“I’ll tell him you said that.” Nobara grinned, her smile only growing brighter when Maki mirrored it back.
“Make sure you do.”
“How about others?”
“Panda is fine. I heard Toge lost an arm, but they won’t let me see him yet.”
“Yikes.” Nobara hissed out, her own wounds throbbing in sympathy.
“Tell me about it, I think Yuuta almost cried when he heard.”
“Wait, Yuuta?”
“Yeah, he came back yesterday and-“
“That fucker that ruined a free Kyoto trip?”
“Is that really what you remember him by?” Maki grinned in that way that showed all her teeth and Nobara squeezed her hand. How she wished there wasn’t all that exhaustion tucked in the edges of those smiles.
“Maki?”
“Yeah?”
“We lost, huh?”
Maki’s lips pressed tightly together again, her grip on Nobara’s hand strong enough to hurt, not that Nobara was planning on pulling away.
“Yeah, we lost pretty bad. Satoru, that idiot, he got sealed and now the whole country is going to shit.”
That was pretty much what Nobara assumed. Maki was strong, stronger than anyone Nobara had ever met. If there was so much tiredness in her shoulders, if her usually sharp smiles now dripped with uncertainty, then it was pretty easy to tell that all of them were very screwed.
“Well, that’s that I guess,” Nobara rolled her shoulders, trying for her usual breezy tone even though dread was pooling in her own gut, “You win some, you lose some. We just gotta make sure we hit them twice as hard the next time. Make ‘em regret even thinking of messing with us.”
She pushed herself into a sitting position. She still felt woozy, but most of the pain was centered on her face which, while a damn shame, wasn’t really essential to moving. Fighting with one eye would be something she’d have to get used to, but she was a quick study and her blood was boiling hard enough that she was sure she would be able to aim her nails on pure instinct.
“What are you doing?” Maki said, but she didn’t stop her, just stared at her with that tough but tired look that left Nobara feeling bitter to the marrow of her bones.
“Well, I’m not much use just laying around here right? If the situation is that bad we need all hands on deck.”
“Not you.”
“What do you mean, not me, you got injured way worse and you are up and about.”
Maki’s lips pinched together and she clenched Nobara’s hand hard again. Nobara squeezed back, but didn’t lay back down. Their eyes met and electricity surged up Nobara’s spine, the fire burning brighter in the hidden chambers of her heart.
“You almost died, you know?”
“I bet you almost did too.”
Death wasn’t something that scared her. Sure, she remembered the pinch in her heart the moment she realized that the patchwork curse had gotten a hold of her, the sick lurch of her stomach as the faces of all the people she cared about flashed before her eyes. Knowing she would be leaving them behind. She remembered the sick twist of regret that fluttered in her lungs and the bitter feeling of resentment that rested behind her teeth. She remembered the icy jolt of pure fear that frosted the last smile she gave to Itadori. Death had hooked its claws under her skin and pulled her in, nails scraping uselessly against the bloody floor. But she was awake still. She was breathing still.
What use was to fear something you had already bested.
Maki had as well, it was obvious from the severity of her scars. If she was walking around it meant Shoko’s healing worked, but if she was looking like this, it meant it was a close call. Both of them were touched by death. Both of them came out of it with their hearts intact, even if their bodies had suffered.
She held on to Maki’s gaze, her nails leaving half-moon imprints on her palms. Maki looked tired and in pain, but her eyes were still as clear and as sharp as ever. Two fires, feeding off of each other. Both of them restless, both of them hungry for more. Both of them ready to get their hands dirtied and bloodied to gain exactly what they decided belonged to them.
When Maki opened her mouth again, it was to smile with that ferocity that made her seem like she was pulling out knives, not just showing her teeth.
“Ah, well I told Shoko you wouldn’t listen even if I told you.”
“Aww, did she make you try?”
“Was convinced you’d give in if I batted my eyes just right.”
“That doesn’t sound like me at all.”
“I know right.” Maki laughed and it was a rough, bristly sound.
She drew closer, until their faces were just inches away from each other, still hand in hand, teeth bared at each other like beasts who’d found their match.
“Stay put for just a few more days, alright? I’m meeting Yuuta and Fushiguro soon and then we’ll figure this whole mess out.”
“Not without me.”
“Not without you, I can’t clean up after them all on my own.”
“Make sure to tell Yuji I died, that bastard deserves it after what he pulled.”
“So cruel.”
“It’s just a little prank, he’ll get over it.”
Their lips met over Maki’s laugh, a perfect synchrony of teeth and tongue. Both of them were worse for wear, damaged and torn apart. Both of them were clawing their way out of their respective funeral pyres. Because it was all they knew how to do. Survive and claw for more, for what they wanted, for what they needed, selfish and greedy no matter what they were told. It wasn’t a kind world they were born in; it wasn’t a grateful one they’d chosen to fight for. It was a cruel world that had torn them to pieces and that would undoubtedly do so again at the very next opportunity. It was a world that required claws to survive and there was nobody that had sharper claws than the two of them.