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Hand
When Rei stepped into the room for the meeting, it felt like everyone stopped talking and just stared .
There were four people in the room. All of them were Pro Heroes, that much was obvious from their suits. She could recognize them from Shouto’s descriptions—Eraserhead, Present Mic, Midnight, and Ectoplasm.
“Good afternoon,” she said after a heartbeat. She stepped closer and took a seat by Eraserhead.
There was no response.
It was the first time she’d shown up in three years, what had she been thinking?
Then, from the chair on her other side, Present Mic laughed. He took Rei’s hand in one of his and kissed her fingers dramatically. “Good afternoon.”
It worked.
The mood lightened immediately.
Eraserhead sighed, looking ever so slightly like he wanted to strangle him. “Are you done?”
“Hell yeah!”
“Perfect,” Eraserhead deadpanned. “Could we move on to discussing Todoroki’s performance on the recent exams?”
Rei nodded.
Nose
Her first date with Kayama was out in the cold.
Rei had been hesitant to even say yes— she could barely think of herself as being in a position to date. Sure, her divorce had been finalized, but that didn’t mean she was ready .
Something about Kayama’s eyes when she’d asked had basically ripped the yes from her.
So here they were, walking around the local night market. Well, Rei was waiting for her date to be out of a ridiculously long dessert line.
Just as she wanted to call her to check in, Kayama came back, carrying no less than three shopping bags.
She was so visibly excited about what she’d found, and Rei couldn’t wait to hear all about it. Then, she held out one of the bags. “Here, I got you some chocolate.”
A peek inside confirmed that it was white chocolate molded into little medalions. Her favourite.
“Thank you.” Rei smiled and tucked the gift away into her purse. She’d enjoy it more later, when she was craving something sweet and the memory of her date.
“You blush so much redder on your nose,” Kayama said. “Your cheeks are barely even pink.”
“I don’t think so,” Rei responded.
“Yeah, you do!” She looked so passionate about this one detail of Rei’s appearance of all things. The butterflies came back stronger.
“See, you just—”
Kayama smirked and stopped herself from continuing.
She took Rei’s face in both her hands. They were cold, and she wasn’t used to that but she welcomed it.
Then Kayama leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose. Her lips smelled like rose butter. She pulled back and smiled, the skin around her eyes pulling together in adorable crow’s feet. “Yeah, you do. It got pinker now, you know.”
Rei smiled and said, in her most prim and proper voice, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Cheek
Natsuo had invited everyone in his family to his graduation—with one obvious exception.
The ceremony had been a blur for Rei with how much she’s cried.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, it was over, and she was waiting by the entrance of the school. Then, the sea of green gowns parted in front of her.
There stood her son, tall, all grown up, still wearing his cap slightly crooked on his head. Shouto held out his hand, awkwardly presenting his brother with a bouquet of flowers, but Natsuo wasn’t paying attention.
He snapped out of his reverie and started running toward Rei with a bright twinkle in his eyes.
She reciprocated and, when they met, he picked her up and twirled her, then kissed both her cheeks. “I’m glad you’re here,” he whispered.
“Congratulations,” she said when he put her down.
“Mom—” He blushed, turning away.
“None of that.” She smiled and reached up to turn his face back toward them. “You worked so hard for this. Today’s all about you.”
“Thank you,” he said, voice choked up.
Lips
Rei’s first kiss with Kayama was uneventful, in the grand scheme of things.
She’d gotten back into cooking after she’d moved out of the house. It gave her something to do, and the rhythm of it calmed down her mind.
So when her girlfriend had a rough day, of course Rei decided to cook for her to help.
When she entered her agency’s office, bento box in hand, Kayama looked exhausted.
“Hi,” Rei said, feeling too much like a stumbling teenager for her age. “I knew you had a rough few days here, so—”
She held out her hand.
Kayama took the bento box, put it on the desk and pulled Rei in for a kiss like she didn’t even think twice of it. Like it was the natural response to being cared about like that. Maybe it was. What did Rei know?
Her first— maybe less than coherent— thought was that Kayama tasted like roses, just like she’d thought.
Her second was Oh . This was how it was supposed to feel.
Her third wasn’t a thought at all, just a need to pull her girlfriend closer.