Chapter Text
Yuèliang Yú was a simple woman; a quiet one, who appreciated silence over conversation in almost any situation. This appreciation, however, directly conflicted with Yue's chosen career.
In the early hours of evening, with a kidnapping and robbery at the docks was thwarted, in the chaos of police arriving at the scene and other pro heroes trying to keep civilians away from the area until the apprehended criminals were safely taken away, Yuèliang was pulled into an impromptu interview by various reporters, a few yelling their questions out in hopes she'd answer them without waiting for so much as a greeting from her; having no police statement and no other available pro-heroes, it at least made sense to Yue how she found herself in this situation. She blinked a couple times in response to the flashing camera lights, the jellyfish bell that acted as her hair doing nothing to shield her eyes from the visual assault, nor muffle the clamor before it reached her ears.
"Irukandji!" One man yelled, notepad in hand and cameraman at his side, "What can you tell us about what happened here today?"
"Well, I-"
A different reporter interrupted her, a warmly-dressed woman with bear ears on her head and microphone in hand; "Can you tell us about your companions? Is a new team in the works for the aquatic heroes?"
"Not that I could-"
"Rumor says you and Megalodon have something together behind the scenes, what do you have to say about that?'
Yue only had to withstand the constant change of voices and bombardment of questions for a couple of seconds before someone else came to join the crowd, a large hand on her shoulder pulling her from the metaphorical waves she'd been drowning in to take a breath of fresh air. Her savior, and the owner of the hand, was a large woman known to the world as Megalodon, but to Yue as Ikatteiru Same; Ika flashed a quick, shark-toothed smile to the reporters, ever so slightly edging in front of Yue. Her presence seemed to both unnerve and interest the crowd at the same time, being taller than even Yue was, but she quickly jumped in to give the news what they wanted.
"Let's all play nice, now; one at a time-" Ika answered questions quickly, being polite but firm; she flexed here and there when the topic came to her, and slowly but surely Yue was left out of the questioning, everyone focused on the finned giant who all but soaked up the attention.
To Yue, this was a quirk in and of itself; Yuèliang was no media darling, she knew that- she'd never be, even if she tried, -but Ikatteiru managed to handle people with ease. It almost made Yue jealous, the way her friend was multitalented.
Ika flexed again, showing off, and glanced behind her long enough to give Yue a wink and cheesy grin, which Yue only shook her head at, the tiniest of smiles creeping across her face. She slipped from the crowd, scanning the docks to see what she'd missed; the two other heroes that had lent a hand were talking to a couple of cops, but the criminals she'd helped apprehended and a large majority of the police that had shown up were already gone. Without anything left to do, no loose ends to tie, all that was left for Yue was to continue her day's agenda; she needed to go to the store, and she needed to go home and feed her cats.
An exciting life, she thought to herself.
The walk home gave her time to think- unlike some other heroes, Yuèliang couldn't take off her costume and stop being Irukandji. Hell, she hadn't even been in her costume this time. The clear mesoglea, the jellyfish bell that surrounded her face and head, ensured that. The peachy tentacles and oral arms that she had tied back in day-to-day life required a lot of attention to ensure they didn't 'sting' anyone; she didn't have it bad, by any means, but it wasn't an easy quirk to live with at times.
The walk to the store was muscle memory at this point, she enjoyed wandering it when she had nothing else to do; the stray cat that lived near the garbage that Yue was trying to befriend, the children that were always outside that wanted to play with her 'hair', the setting sun's light filtering through her bell and the warmth of it on her skin, all things she took a moment to enjoy, instead of thinking about her quirk and whatever issues she might've had with it; she'd had years and years to adjust, but sometimes it felt like she was a teen again, still learning not to touch people without her gloves.
The minimarket she liked to go to was usually a little more expensive than larger chains, but it was often fairly unpopulated, and the people that worked there knew her family- she was essentially obligated to shop there at least once in a while; it was only upon reaching the market however that she realized she'd dropped her bag somewhere when fighting, severely limiting her ability to go actual grocery shopping. She'd have to pick up dinner for now and come back later, which was annoying in the moment, but it wasn't like she hadn't planned on coming back, anyways.
The isles barely reached her eyes as she glanced over them, hoping something would jump out at her and she wouldn't have to do a lot of work; just eat and waste time until tomorrow, rinse and repeat- she briefly waved to the staff sweeping the floors, before moving to the frozen section, and finally, ultimately falling back on the tried-and-true choice of chicken noodle soup.
Yue grabbed a few cans, just in case, and barely paid any mind to the other two people in the same isle, a tall blonde man and the kid next to him, though she found herself feeling like the kid looked a little familiar, and maneuvered around them to look at the tea section. The owners sometimes ordered special blends just because they knew she liked them, bless their hearts, and she felt bad leaving without at least checking it out. A moment of perusing, and with no new flavors that struck a chord, she settled on ginger and honey; it seemed like tonight was a night for comfort items, she might as well break out the childhood movies while she's at it, at this point.
She reached for the box, the last currently stocked, but as she pulled back, another hand landed on her gloved one, scaring both her and the owner of said limb; the blond man tried to apologize, but started coughing, and Yue wasn't sure exactly what to do; the green-haired teen next to him looked mostly unconcerned, so she followed suit.
"I'm sorry," Yue offered the box towards him, assuming he was sick. "I wasn't paying attention.'
"Oh, no, it's quite alright-" He tried to say, recovering from the fit and refusing the box.
"I insist," Yue interrupted, already grabbing another kind of tea, "See? Problem fixed," She attempted what she hoped was a convincing smile, though it was probably closer to a grimace."
He lightly took the box from her hands, giving her a wide- if tired, -grin in response.
"If I cannot persuade you otherwise. Thank you."
She gave a mock salute, two fingers briefly tapped against her bell before meeting air, and wished them a pleasant day before promptly turning and stiffly walking away to check out, already dying on the inside from the embarrassment. Yue knew that it likely wouldn't be memorable, but in the moment, the mortification burned her cheeks.
"That was Irukandji!" She could hear as she walked, clearly the green-haired kid the man had previously been talking to, "The jellyfish hero!" There was mumbling after that, and a warm laugh, presumably from the man. There was a small swell of pride in her chest, and she relaxed a little- if he was still awed, then maybe they would think nothing of the encounter. She stayed out of the limelight on purpose, but it was still nice every once in a while to have someone think she was cool; it boosted her mood more than she would likely ever admit.