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Kaina had been to nightclubs before. They were good places to assassinate people because they were so dark, noisy and crowded, and her targets had often been too intoxicated to fight back – not that they’d ever realized she had been there in the first place. They rarely had a chance.
Going to a nightclub to assassinate someone? Easy. Going to a nightclub to socialize? Kaina wasn’t sure she’d survive, especially in this ridiculous dress Nemuri had picked out for her. The top was much too fitted, almost skintight, and it was something called a ‘halter,’ so it showed off way too much shoulder, her whole upper back and even a hint of the sides of her breasts. All her burn scars were on display, although Nemuri had assured her any other wlws in the club would find them sexy. It was also impractically loose and billowy from the waist down – how could she be expected to fight in something like this, if anything were to happen?
Nemuri, on the other hand, looked like she was ready for anything. She outshone everybody around her in her perfectly applied makeup and an outfit that somehow was both a tuxedo and a dress. Even her scar – courtesy of being hit with a giant piece of decompressed rubble during the Gigantomachia battle last year – had somehow turned out dashing, curving from above her left eyebrow, down over her eye, and across the side of her head to just behind her ear. She had elected to show the whole scar off proudly with an undercut on that side, her mane of black hair spilling majestically over on the other and reaching all the way down to her waist.
The club was just as dark, noisy and crowded as Kaina feared. Her heart pounded in her chest and her ears started to ring, and the shadowy, seething crowd of figures all seemed to look like any number of the assassins All For One had sent after her, once she’d failed to kill Deku and defected.
“Nemuri, wait,” Kaina said, gently taking Nemuri’s wrist and slowing down so they dropped back from the group of loosely female-aligned heroes they’d come here with. “I’m very grateful that you included me, and I appreciate you buying me the dress, but I’m not sure this is such a good idea...” she babbled, hoping she didn’t sound as hysterical as she felt.
“Shh, hey, Kaina. Look at me.” She cupped Kaina’s face, squishing her cheeks together and forcing her to make eye contact. “You’re under no obligation whatsoever to stay if you feel uncomfortable. You can leave whenever you like, and I’ll get you home and take care of you, if that’s what you need.”
Kaina nodded. Nemuri’s unfaltering eye contact (and, strangely, the fact that she was six inches taller in heels) was already starting to calm her down.
“All For One is dead. The Hero Commission is history,” Nemuri continued in the same soothing, low voice, “You’re surrounded by people who care for you – many of whom, including me, are badass heroes.” She winked, and that actually got a chuckle out of Kaina.
“Alright. I’ll be okay.” Kaina took a deep breath and let it out long and slow. She squeezed Nemuri’s hand and smiled gratefully at her. “Thank you.”
“Okay, let’s go. And if you need to get out of here, or need some help calming down, just let me know. K’?” With that, Nemuri took Kaina’s hand and towed her into the club.
She mingled. All Might was being incredibly kind and friendly, as always, and introduced Kaina to her girlfriend Inko. They made a very cute couple. Kaina was finding it very difficult to hear over the noise – everybody had to shout a lot, and Kaina had to rely on her left ear a lot. Darn quirk couldn’t have given her a built-in ear plug? On the side with the freaking gun?
There were drinks, and apparently she was a lightweight, which caused the others much hilarity.
She tried dancing, but it hadn’t really clicked just yet. Maybe she needed more practice.
She got hit on! A few of the girls were kind of cute, but between the difficulty carrying on conversations, and her ineptitude at dancing, the girls seemed to lose interest pretty quickly.
Around 1 a.m., Kaina had had enough, even though she understood that this was still early by club standards. It was like there was a wary part of herself she just couldn’t turn off. Or maybe she was overthinking it – maybe clubbing just wasn’t her thing.
But she had tried it, and she was still alive. That was good, right?
She found Nemuri, which wasn’t hard – she had been making a very visible effort to stay close in case Kaina needed her, and seemed to know Kaina wanted to leave before Kaina had even said anything. She said quick goodbyes to anyone in hearing distance, then hooked her arm through Kaina’s and guided her towards the exit.
They collected their coats and headed out into the street to get taxis home. The chill made Kaina realize she was probably more drunk than she had realized. That and the fact that she couldn’t seem to walk in a straight line.
“You did wonderfully,” Nemuri said, kissing Kaina on the cheek and making her blush. “Did you have fun?”
Kaina’s thoughts seemed to be moving very slowly indeed, so it took her awhile to get the words formed and out of her mouth. They walked down the crowded street, arm in arm, while Nemuri tried to get a taxi on her phone. “Yes, but I don’t know if I want to do it that often.”
“That’s perfectly understandable.” Nemuri leaned closer and waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “See anyone you like in there? I noticed you had quite a few admirers.”
“Oh, uh, they’re weren’t really my type...”
“That’s a shame – for them, at least,” Nemuri said, although she did look a little pleased, if Kaina wasn’t mistaken. “So what exactly is your type, Kaina?”
“I don’t… I don’t actually know,” she admitted, not wanting to look Nemuri in the eye. “I kind of went through the awkward gender transition – assassin – prison pipeline, so I never had time for that sort of thing.” They both laughed, Nemuri genuinely, Kaina humorlessly. “I’m in my thirties and I haven’t been in a relationship. I haven’t had sex. I’ve never even been kissed.”
Kaina covered her face with her hands and the loss of vision made it even harder to balance. “Will somebody please stop me? I must be way drunker than I thought.”
Nemuri put her phone away, gently drew Kaina’s hands away from her face and clasped them in hers – prompting some grumbling as pedestrians were forced to walk around them on the sidewalk. Her eyes were full of sympathy and understanding. “Believe it or not, you’re not that unusual. A lot of people are struggling with this, for one reason or another. You have plenty of time to figure things out, and to find out what your type is!”
“Sometimes I think it’s too late for me.” Kaina sniffled, and Nemuri whipped a handkerchief out of her breast pocket and dabbed at her tears.
“It’s never too late.” Nemuri tucked her handkerchief away, cupped the back of Kaina’s neck and drew her into an embrace, burying her face in Kaina’s hair. Kaina’s head tucked neatly beneath her chin, so she could nuzzle against the warm hollow of Nemuri’s neck. She smelled of cologne, the slightly sweet scent of her quirk and the slightly musky scent of her skin.
“If it helps, I’m pretty still fucked up from last year.” Nemuri said brightly. “Wanna hear about it?”
“Sure.”
“I still don’t know how I survived,” Nemuri said in an incongruously cheerful voice. “I was surrounded by the entire Paranormal Liberation Front. It was the most terrifying time of my life – running, hiding, for months. And when I finally made it back, everyone had thought I was dead! I almost thought I really was dead, and that I was imagining everything. It was surreal.”
“That sounds awful.”
“The thing they found looked like a version of me mangled beyond recognition. In the wake of that horrible battle there was no time for forensics. Is it strange that I felt insulted that everybody had written me off?”
Kaina knew that she should be paying attention. However, as Nemuri was speaking her hands were tracing patterns over the bare skin of Kaina’s arms, shoulders and upper back. Tracing over the lattice of burn scars All For One’s explosive trap quirk had left on her, even after Recovery Girl’s healing.
It was extremely distracting.
“N-Nemuri...” Kaina whispered, her hands trembling on Nemuri’s waist, caught between pushing her away and pulling her closer.
“Hmm?”
“Not to be rude and interrupt your story or anything, but I really want to kiss you.”
“Oh thank goodness,” Nemuri sighed with relief, “I was starting to feel awfully gloomy.”
She tilted her face up to look at Nemuri and tightened her hands on her waist.
Nemuri paused, cupping Kaina’s cheek. Giving her plenty of time to pull away, to say no. She didn’t.
Kaina had seen people kiss in movies; watched them kiss, and wondered what it felt like and how it worked. As Nemuri’s lips touched hers, she started to panic. What if she was a bad kisser? What if she got it wrong and Nemuri pulled away? She didn’t think she could stand the shame.
But her anxieties faded as Nemuri took the lead, moving her lips gently against Kaina’s, and – Kaina had no idea, no idea at all, that it could feel this good to be kissed. Nemuri’s lips were so soft and so gentle. Everything seemed to disappear apart from Nemuri’s lips; their bodies pressed together; Nemuri’s hands tightening needily on Kaina’s shoulders, holding her close.