Chapter Text
Preening
It’s one lazy Friday night that they’re both on the couch, watching a rather boring rom-com when it first happens. They were both exhausted, to say the least, the spike in crime rates had put all heroes on high alert and they needed all the help they could get. Luckily they had the next day off, so they decided to celebrate by cuddling on the couch.
Fumikage was resting his head on her shoulder, resisting the urge to fall asleep right there. He would hate it if she said it out loud, but Tsuyu thought he was adorable when he cuddled her like that. She leaned her head on his feathered one, feeling the softness of it and the scent of his special shampoo, she didn’t even notice when she fell asleep.
Though it was a bit later that she would wake up to a certain tugging sensation on her head, specifically, it felt like someone was pulling her hair, not strong enough to hurt, but just strong enough that she could feel it. Opening her eyes, she looked down to find Fumikage doing something very strange. He was putting her hair in his beak and running his teeth down the length of it, like some strange hair straightener. His eyes were half-lidded, almost as if he was in some sort of trance.
“Um… What are you doing Fumi, ribbit?” she said in a hushed tone, realizing just how late it was. Upon hearing her, Fumikage stopped for a second, his sleep-addled brain needing a moment to process what was going on before his eyes shot open wide like dinner plates and he scrambled away from her and into the other side of the couch.
“Oh my god, Tsu! I-I’m so sorry I don’t know what came over me, I was just w-well…” He said in a broken stutter, his hand covering his beak making it a little hard to make out what he was saying. “C-Can we just pretend that this didn’t happen? Please? Let’s just not talk about this ever again” despite the black feathers that covered his face, Tsuyu could see that he was blushing pretty hard.
Tsuyu didn’t quite know what to do, she didn’t even know what he was doing that had him avoiding her gaze, was it something… bad?
“Could you tell me what you were doing first, though, ribbit? If it’s something embarrassing, I’m not going to make fun of you” she decided that it was best to reassure him, while it was a bit strange, him biting her hair wasn’t nearly as weird as some of the things he tolerated from Tsuyu herself. Fumikage seemed a bit… lost on what to do, his hand was still covering his beak and his eyes were darting between her and the door. “Um, a-alright.” he finally said, he must’ve concluded that she wouldn’t just forget what just happened if he stood still for a while.
Taking his hand away from his beak, Fumikage took a breath to steady himself, unintentionally sending a green strand of hair that was in his mouth flying out. “Ah, well I was…um… preening…you?” for some reason that was worded like a question “It’s something birds sometimes do, especially when they’re really close to someone. Um, I usually wouldn’t do something like this, so I understand if it makes you… uncomfortable”
Once again, he fell silent. He was waiting for her to respond, she could see him blushing through his feathers again. “Why does it embarrass you so much, ribbit? It’s a little strange, but I don’t think it’s that bad”
“Because it’s a little… animalistic, in a really intimate way” After hearing that, Tsuyu decided to look down at his trousers…
…oh
That somehow managed to make him even more flustered, his feathers puffing up around his cheeks. “I’m sorry Tsuyu, you were asleep and I-Ah, I wasn’t thinking straight” he was looking away in shame.
For a moment, they both sat on opposite sides of the couch in complete silence, the only sound being the cars passing by in the distance. Eventually, Tsuyu decided to put him out of his misery.
“...You can do it again, if you’d like, ribbit. Just make sure I’m awake next time, okay?” now it was her turn to blush.
Fumikage was a bit incredulous at her response “You…don’t think it’s weird?”.
She played with the lock of hair that was in his mouth, it was surprisingly dry despite everything “Out of everyone, I’m the last person in this world who would think that is weird, ribbit” she looked at him in the eye, even when he looked so shocked, she still thought he was cute. Tsuyu extended her arms, inviting him in for a hug. Fumikage was reluctant to move for a moment, before scooting over to her and embracing her back.
“If…If I ever do something that you don’t like, you’d tell me, right? I don’t want you to suck it up just because it’s me” Fumikage said in a hushed tone.
Tsuyu nodded “I promise”.
He relaxed into her touch, both of them not realizing how tired they were until that moment.
“...Fumi?”
“Hmm?”
“It’s poking me, by the way.”
Night Vision
Despite being a creature of the dark, Fumikage’s night vision sadly leaves a lot to be desired. According to his mother, it’s quite normal for people with his mutation to have a harder time seeing in the dark than even ‘regular’ humans. If it wasn’t so embarrassing for him to fumble around when he’s supposed to be at his strongest, maybe he would’ve taken it in stride. Fate had simply dealt him a cursed hand, he supposed.
It was quite ironic then that as someone with frog powers, Tsuyu had amazing night vision. Something he, unfortunately, found out after going for a glass of water in the middle of the night, dropping it in shock after spotting two glowing green eyes staring at him from across the living room and having to be rushed to the hospital after stepping on the glass shards with his bare feet. She wouldn’t stop tearfully apologizing before and after the doctor had to remove the shards from his foot, in his mind he could still hear Dark Shadow’s cackling at his expense.
After promising to turn on the lights whenever he had to get up in the middle of the night from that point onwards, Fumikage, with his foot (and his ego) still recovering, decided that life was simply unfair sometimes.
Eggs
"Yours look kinda stupid", Dark Shadow said from across the dinner table "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to add more color to them".
His familiar said so, pointing at his batch of freshly painted eggs.
Having Easter weekend all to themselves, Tsuye decided it would be fun to make an Easter egg hunt. She had taken their son out to distract him while they painted the eggs, this was their first time doing something like this and they wanted it to be a surprise. Of course, that left him with the task of painting the eggs they would hide the next day and with some persuasion, he'd managed to get Dark Shadow to help him.
Sadly, neither of them had the artistic ability to paint anything decent.
Fumikage's eggs were mostly black and gray, some with red or blue markings that were rather uneven. While he appreciated the dark richness of the colors, he also had to admit that maybe they'd be too hard to find for a five-year-old.
Dark Shadow's eggs, while certainly very colorful, were also just splattered on with paint. Mostly greens and blues, though some bright yellow was also in there somewhere. The table was covered in paint and egg yolk from the times the beast had broken them accidentally with his claws. While it had been funny to watch, Fumikage knew it would be a pain to clean.
"I think she's going to like mine better. See? I painted this one to look like her" Dark Shadow said with some pride while holding a pure green egg with a crooked smiley face drawn on it. Fumikage chuckled "If you show her that, she might just be offended".
Dark Shadow huffed at his joke "Y'know, just for that, I’m gonna make the next one look like you" then the creature reached for a black egg and some yellow paint.
Now it was Fumikage’s turn to roll his eyes, he picked an egg, a sky blue one, and began painting black dots over it. Dark Shadow eyed him while he worked, a small smirk formed on his face "...Actually, I'm pretty sure that's the one she's going to like the best". Fumikage raised an eyebrow (though he didn't have any eyebrows to raise) at that, that was a rather sudden shift in tone "Okay, I'll bite. Why is she going to like this one best?" he asked.
Dark Shadow cackled before answering "Because now you've made that one look like a crow's egg, dumbass!".
Predators
Fumikage stared at the creature in front of him, dark as a moonless night, it regarded him back, directly staring through him, laying his blighted soul bare. It yawned, fangs in full display, was it bored or merely pretending to be so it could catch him off guard? Fumikage shivered in the presence of this dark being, a deep primal fear in the back of his mind begged him to run away and hide from it, but he needed to be strong, he needed to confront the beast.
He gazed to his left to his faithful companion, Tsuyu Asui, his partner and most trusted confidant (though don’t tell Dark Shadow that), she bore a look of concern as she stood next to him with a powerful flashlight in her hands, ready to put an end to things if he became too agitated. Fumikage nodded his head to her, assuring her that he was still alright.
He braced himself, gathering whatever remaining courage he had left and with a shaky hand, he reached into the void. Fumikage felt a cold rush of air through his fingers as the monster sniffed his hand, having it so close to its maw made Dark Shadow coil in his ribcage, his fear was strengthening him too much. Suddenly, it decided to put its head under his hand and Fumkage had to fight the urge to pull his hand away as his feathers stood on end.
For a moment he stood there petrified, the animal's fur under him felt silky and warm. It writhed for a moment under his fingers, looking for affection. “I-I did it!” He exclaimed, maybe a bit too loudly, then he laughed in relief as he pet the black cat in front of him. He was still shaking like a leaf, the fear not entirely gone, just diminished as the cat relished in the attention.
“Congrats Fumi, ribbit, this is the most progress you’ve done so far” Tsuyu, who had now put a supportive hand on his shoulder, said to him “I guess exposure therapy does work”.
“Hah, hah - I felt like my heart might’ve just given up for a moment, but I did it” he pulled his hand away, clutching it in his other hand like it had been changed in the experience. Tsuyu hugged him from the side and he relaxed into her touch, behind him he could hear the click of a pen as his therapist wrote something down.
“Don’t wear yourself thin, alright?” he hears the gruff voice say behind him as he hugged his girlfriend back “You’ve made good progress, but Ailurophobia as severe as yours isn’t overcome in just one go”. Fumikage was aware of that of course, but his victory today made the challenge seem so much more possible to triumph over.
Bonus Story: Rooftops
Shizuka Midoriya always ate lunch on the Sei Ai Academy rooftop, not because no one wanted to sit with her at the lunch table, but quite the opposite, it was because the rooftop was one of the few places she could be alone with her thoughts. Today was a bit special, however, because she had a visitor.
Kaito Tokoyami was standing on the ledge, it had stopped raining a bit before the bell rang so the whole place was still slick with rainwater. He was wearing the hero suit she designed for him, basically a glorified raincoat, but it looked nice on his slender body. He’d brought an umbrella with him and was leaning on it like he was James Gatzby or some shit.
She certainly didn’t read that book.
Upon hearing her he turned around, green feathers on full display, he threw her a sincere smile. “Nice to see you again, I hope you didn’t forget to bring me something to eat too this time”, he told her as he jumped down. Closing the distance between them and leaving her lunchbox on the floor, she embraced him in a hug. He was so tall and skinny like a green q-tip (something she always told him to make fun of him, much to his dismay), but she loved him all the same. “You might just disappear if I don’t feed you, then who would I pester to kill spiders for me?” she said into his chest “I’ve missed you”.
He rested his long orange beak on top of her head, “I’ve missed you too”