Work Text:
The two young women were sprawled out on the couch. The green haired girl sat upright; her hands tangled in the hair of her girlfriend whose head rested upon her lap. She used her fingertips to grab sections of her girlfriend’s long purple hair, and she’d gently comb through starting at the ends. Her girlfriend had been in an odd mood today, but nothing unbearable. She decided to wait for her to initiate the conversation rather than prying, that usually got her better results anyways, considering her girlfriend had the tendency to be a bit irritable. The two sat in silence, the only sound to be heard was a clock ticking on the wall. The spectacled girl finally shifted to be looking up at her lover from her lap.
“Do you think I should quit w-working at Future Foundation?” She asked.
“What?”
“Should I-I quit?”
“Well… I don’t think you should quit Toko, why?”
“I don’t know…”
The silence picked up where it left off, but Toko was facing her girlfriend still. Her eyes would shift though, never quite looking right into Komaru’s. This wasn’t uncommon though, Toko was never keen on eye contact. Her girlfriend could tell she had more to say though, the way she held her breath after she spoke showed that there was more on her mind, now she just had to wait to see what else she had to say, but until then, the clock ticking was the only sound in the room again.
“I just d-don’t feel like I’m really doing anything sp-spectacular anymore. Syo and I… Sure we can fight Monokumas, but so can all the new employees now. They don’t really need us like they used to. Most of the time I just sit a-around at my desk now.”
“Well… a lot of those new employees look up to you and Syo, y’know? They all think you guys are incredible!”
Toko sighed, pushing up her glasses to rub at her tired eyes. She let out an exhausted chuckle.
“I don’t think they l-like us all that much.”
“What? Why would you think that? Did Byakuya say something rude to you again?”
“Not r-really.”
Silence again. The clock continued ticking. It was odd, but in times like this, Komaru really appreciated how much Toko had grown since they first met. She used to hold it all in until she’d finally lash out, always starting some sort of argument, shooting insults, hurting feelings. Now they could just lay on the couch, Komaru could comb Toko’s hair, and Toko could finally feel safe to think about her words, their impact, what it was exactly that she wanted to say. Komaru knew she herself had grown too. She used to be confused at Toko’s ways of communication. Komaru had always been the type of person to work on the problem quickly and never dwell over the small emotions and details, she always used to think Toko was overexaggerating. She understood Toko now though, she was focused on every detail, something Komaru had to learn how to do to keep up.
“I was eating lunch in the c-cafeteria. Some people w-were at a table across from me… They’d look at me, then l-look at each other and whisper, then they’d all start to laugh… I felt like I was in fucking middle school being gawked at again.”
“Toki, I doubt they were laughing at you.”
“I know th-they were! Because Syo told m-me that one of them had said something w-weird to her earlier.”
“What’d they say to Syo?”
“They wouldn’t stop calling her my n-name, and told her something about taking antipsychotics o-or some stupid shit like that.”
“Oh… I’m sorry that happened to you guys.”
Komaru always struggled to see how outsiders could be so cruel to Toko and Syo. Even if they came off odd at first, once you got to know them, they were wonderful. That’s what Komaru believed anyways. It hurt her that people still picked on them, that was the last thing they deserved after everything they had been through. Toko shifted to be laying on her side again, now facing away from Komaru. Toko was ashamed of herself. It was annoying to always be ashamed. She mentally kicked herself, she had been looking through rose-tinted glasses for a while. She was finally in love, had a stable job and home, but that could never change how the world saw her and Syo. The world saw them as the freaks Toko had internalized them to be so long ago.
“Well… even if they are making fun of you two… I can bet they aren’t nearly as amazing as you guys! They didn’t survive Hope’s Peak, or write tons of best-selling novels, or come up with some of the coolest scissor skills the world has ever seen!”
Toko blushed a bit. It was sappy. She never saw herself as a words of affirmation type of person, but here she was, taking it all in. Even though Komaru’s compliments soothed her, she couldn’t help but be reminded of the issue at hand.
“I’ve been thinking a-about quitting and going back t-to writing full time again.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Would that make you happier?”
“I… I think so.”
“What about Syo?”
“We were g-gonna see if they’d let her keep some sort o-of part time thing there. She k-keeps talking to me about wanting to do b-battle training for new employees. I think she’d be decent at it. We’d have t-to talk to your brother and the others about all the logistics and shit though, because a-as soon as I start fronting I won’t be able to instruct anything good and it’d just be really awkward… If that doesn’t work, we were going t-to go check the gyms around here and see if she c-could do like karate or self-defense cl-classes or something.”
“You guys have really thought this out, huh?”
“Yeah…”
Komaru sighed. It seemed as if their minds were already made at this point, this conversation was more to break the news to her than ask how she felt about it. Of course, she didn’t mind her girlfriends quitting, she always knew that they wouldn’t be at Future Foundation forever, all the socialization and physical work drained the life out of them. Komaru was going to miss them though. She was going to miss their shared lunches, their gossip sessions in the breakrooms, watching Syo see how many pens she could steal from their friend’s desks before they noticed, all the small things.
“Well, you know I love you both no matter what, right?”
“Mhm…”
“Who am I gonna eat lunch with if you go?”
Komaru asked with a playful grin. Toko sighed.
“Your dumbass brother, that’s who! Every d-day you whine! “Toko I wanna eat lunch with Makoto! Toko c-can we go sit at m-my brother’s table? Toko look at Makoto a-and Kyoko they’re so cute we should s-sit there!” You can finally live out all of your s-stupid brother complex dreams!” Toko ranted. She and Komaru both knew it was playful banter though. Komaru faked a shocked gasp.
“Wow… I see how it is Toki… That’s just messed up…”
Komaru sighed, biting back a smile. Toko let out a breathy chuckle from Komaru’s lap.
“Y-You’re so stupid. I always w-wonder how I managed to get the stupidest g-girlfriend in the world.”
“But you love me!”
“Sadly, I d-do.”