Chapter Text
Freedom took the form of a government job and a phone with a middlingly competent translation software.
“Better than the standard ones you’d get here in the States,” Hughie admitted, when he had set the thing up for her. “It’s actually Japanese! That’s why it’s so cute!” He seemed excited by that, the little cartoon chicken dancing at the bottom corner of the screen. She didn’t have much of an opinion about cartoon chickens, but she liked how Hughie sputtered unsure of how she’d react. “I guess. That’s weird, huh? Yeah, that was weird, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean. Yeah.”
She smiled and rolled her eyes, and tested out her new found freedom. “It’s okay. It’s cute.” She typed in Japanese, and the phone produced the text in English, accompanied by a soft, feminine, lightly British voice. It was odd at first to think that this was going to be her voice to the world beyond herself and Kenji (and now, Frenchie too). But it would do the job, at least until she could figure out writing and signing in English more confidently.
She could think about how weird it was later.
For now, she enjoyed her visit with her friend.
He’d stopped by the new offices Mallory had set them up with, to visit with all of them (his office was just a couple blocks away apparently), and to drop by with this device, a request from Mallory herself.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner, I’m sorry,” Hughie had started off his explanation of the phone with an apology.
“Hard to get international apps on burners,” Frenchie shrugged, carefully watching her for her reaction. When she was pleased, and hugged Hughie, Frenchie was ecstatic, and kissed him. Hughie hadn’t really expected either reaction, but he took it in a surprising amount of stride.
M.M. smiled, holding out a hand for the phone, and she handed it over, curious to see what he would do. “So can you talk into it and it translates, or you text it?”
“Either,” Hughie shrugged.
M.M. smiled, big and a little mischievous, and first said into the phone, “Hello, Kimiko. It’s nice to officially meet you. I’m Marvin.”
The translation was a little formal, but the words came out, again in that odd even toned feminine voice, this time in Japanese. She beamed, and he handed the phone back so she could respond, and typed, “Hello Marvin. I like your name. Nice to meet you too. ”
He laughed, and Kimiko was warmed by the thought that they were all laughing more these days. He gestured for the phone back, and she obliged, chuckling to herself when his next typed sentence came out in Japanese, “Kare wa anata ni koiwoshiteiru .”
Frenchie looked at her, his eyes alight with a bright smile all his own, not even asking what they were laughing about or saying, just happy that they were sharing this moment together. She wasn’t sure if M.M.’s assessment was right. Crush felt like much too small a concept for whatever she felt towards him, and how he looked at her. But she liked that M.M. was willing to tease them kindly, especially as he winked at her, and handed the phone back, like they had a secret.
Things moved on from there, M.M. saying he wanted to talk to Hughie a little later, but Mallory needed him and Frenchie for a thing real quick about the office set up. Another quick kiss, Frenchie practically leaping at poor Hughie to plant it on his cheek, and she and Hughie were left alone.
The space that would one day be their team’s headquarters was still bare, they’d only just been cleared of all charges for a week. Already, Kimiko had found a little space to claim as her own, far enough from the windows to be safe, but not too far as to not enjoy the light streaming in. The corner she’d found had a plant left behind by whoever occupied this space before, and she’d taken to watering it while the others planned and talked and organized. Hughie leaned against the wall next to it, touching the leaves on the fern idly before coughing, and leaning in to show her something on the phone again.
“Yeah, yeah, I hope you like it. Or that it helps. I just think, you know…,” he shrugged, and she watched his face as he blinked, and scrolled through the settings, not even really changing anything, just showing them off to her, making sure she knew how to customize it to her liking. “It’s kinda shitty that we can’t, you know. We should try to learn how to speak to you, you shouldn’t have to be the only one to accommodate us, but. This is the next best thing, I hope. Maybe.”
Her throat tightened, feeling halfway between beginning a really long laugh or a really long cry. As much as they had been thrown together, a makeshift, haphazard little… Family? Friend group? Team? Associates? No word was quite adequate for how sudden they’d come together, nor how much they did mean to her, but as kind and weird and wonderful as they all were, she was still constantly surprised. Frenchie, they had their connection. And even then, the earnestness with which he’d wanted to learn how to speak to her--she didn’t trust it, until finally, she could see that really, all he wanted was to talk to her. To hear her in her own words, and listen.
The idea that others would want that too... It was hard to come to terms with.
Gently, she took back her phone, and the little chicken did seem a lot cuter as she typed, “I’m learning American Sign Language. We could learn together? ” She could teach them all her sign, she would one day. But she wanted Frenchie to know first. This, like Hughie said, was the next best thing.
Hughie, sweet, silly, good Hughie, smiled that big lopsided smile of his, “That’d be so great! Yeah! Let’s do it!”
She hugged him. Tight, and her face barely came to his shoulders, but she wanted him to know that this was a perfect gift, and she couldn’t thank him enough.
He hugged back, laughing brightly, “This is really cool, this is gonna be so great! Wait, wait!”
He pulled away, only for a moment, to speak into his own phone.
Another even toned voice, this one masculine, spoke out in Japanese, “Watashi wa anata to issho ni manabu koto ni totemo kōfun shite imasu! ” He paused, and bit his lip, “Was that a little bit right? I never… I kinda checked Spanish, and the reviews, but I dunno…”
She smiled, and hugged him again, then typed her response, “It’s perfect! Thank you so much! ” It wasn’t necessarily perfect linguistically, but it was perfect for them. For her.