Chapter Text
"Guess who's moving in!" Akko did not phrase her response as a question as she kicked the door of the Green Team's dorm in, flinging several dusty old suitcases filled with Chariot merch and the few bits of actual magic equipment she had picked up over time.
None of the green team even looked up when Akko barged through the door, Amanda barely giving an upward glance, before raising a smug eyebrow. "When you said you were going to swap teams, I didn't think they'd actually let you do it. Teams are supposed to have three members, don't you know that?"
"Well I've never been one to do things traditionally, and Sucy and Lotte don't want me back on the Red Team, so I thought I'd save them the trouble and make a formal request to Holbrooke for a swap." Akko slammed the door behind her, the sound hardly noticeable from over the noise of Constanze's whirring gadgets and Jasminka's chewing.
"Wait, they actually kicked you out?" Amanda sat up, a somewhat shocked expression on her face. "I know you screwed up with those two, but if your letters to them were anything like the letters you left us, your apologies were pretty damn genuine."
Akko shrugged like it didn't bother her, though the twitching of one of her eyes told a different story. "Eh, I did my best. They made fun of me and Chariot the whole time I knew them, mostly Sucy, but Lotte would usually side with her. We just don't get each other." While Akko sounded cold and unshaken, she didn't truly believe the words coming out of her own mouth. She had ruined things with the people she thought were her best friends because she was selfish, and this time, she wasn't able to fix it. So, instead she'd have to move on. "So when I thought about who I did get along with, I thought of you three! We made a great team on the parade, and we got into plenty of trouble without any of you calling me names for it!"
This time, Jasminka spoke, pausing from her current donut binge. "We prefer to stick together when we cause trouble, instead of pointing fingers."
Amanda chortled at Jasminka's response, eyeing the door Akko had slammed. "So, Akko. You really think you're up to join Team Washout? Expect weekly detentions, a lot of staring, and being an accomplice for a lot more than sleeping in class."
"I already get enough detention and staring as is, I'm used to that stuff!" Akko saluted like she was a new recruit in the army. "Proud to be a member of Team Washout!"
"Excellent!" Amanda, Jasminka and Constanze all gave Akko a thumbs up, which Akko mirrored back with a grin. "Though if our Squad is going to be a quartet, we need a more badass name."
Akko was not focused on the naming schemes that the Green Team were trying to come up with, as she was trying to find a spot to sleep, as it was already fairly late, and the Green Team's dorm only had three beds. "Hmm..." While she was walking across the room to try finding an empty spot to roll out a sleeping bag, she heard a crunch below her, and looked down to see she had accidentally stepped on a pile of scrap metal near where Constanze was tinkering. "Eek! Sorry Constanze!"
The short tinkerer looked up at Akko with a flat expression like always, but something in their eyes made Akko wither under their glare. Standing up, Constanze marched up close to Akko, before kicking Akko right in the shins and returning to their seat.
Akko nearly crumpled right then and there from the sheer force of the kick, and Amanda laughed unashamedly at the interaction. "Rule number one of the Green team, don't touch Constanze's stuff. They've got one hell of a kick, I'll tell ya that much."
"A-Are there a-any other rules?" Akko ground out as she sat on the floor, nursing her bruised leg.
"Uhh..." Amanda didn't seem to be able to think of anything, before Jasminka spoke instead.
"Don't let mischief interrupt meal time." Jasminka nodded sagely as she spoke.
"Yeah, that! Was right on the tip of my tongue." Amanda played off like she had been seconds away from saying it herself, not showing any sign of stopping the bravado, even as all three other occupants of the room looked at her with disbelief.
"Those seem easy enough to remember." Akko decided, before also coming to the conclusion that her quest to find a spot on the floor to sleep on was fruitless. "Is there anywhere I could sleep? This place is pretty cramped."
Constanze pointed at their own bed, causing Akko some slight confusion. "I can't use your bed, Constanze! Where would you sleep?"
"Oh, Conz has a secret lab under our dorm, they probably mean that they can sleep in the lab, and you can stay up here."
Akko brightened visibly at that. "Woah! That's so cool! Can I see it?"
Constanze shook their head.
"Oh..." A week ago, Akko would have kept asking to be let inside, maybe try to sneak in or investigate, but she had now learned first hand how quickly that can ruin a friendship that you thought you understood, so instead, she just nodded. "Alright! As long as you're okay with me using your bed, I won't complain."
And that was that. Akko fit in to the Green Team like she was the missing piece of a four piece puzzle. She didn't know them all too well yet, but after a week of using Constanze's bed and learning to sleep despite the constant snoring, chewing and tinkering that her three roommates caused basically 24/7, Akko began to feel like this could be home. Her Chariot posters and merch had been hung up on the wall or piled on her nightstand, while she stored her books and school supplies at the foot of the bed, out of reach of Constanze's trapdoor.
Akko woke up early every morning. While back at the Red Team, she was an early riser, it was somewhat ridiculous how early Akko's body was telling her to open her eyes recently. Akko would start her day at around 5 AM, and get ready for classes quietly, before spending the rest of the time before her roommates woke up just... watching them.
It was probably creepy, but Akko couldn't help herself. She didn't understand people, that much had been made clear to her. She didn't understand what Sucy or Lotte had expected her to do or say, and she lost them over it. So this time, she wouldn't mess up. She'd understand Amanda, Jasminka and Constanze, and she'd make sure she didn't ruin her friendships again.
While Professor Finnelan had given some brief explanations about why the Green Team was considered to be trouble, during the week that they had stayed together, she found out the extent of their talents.
Amanda was a cat burglar, a thief, a pickpocket, whatever you wanted to call her. She had a box hidden in the floorboards under her bed filled with all kinds of loose items, some of which seemed useless, while others Akko didn't even want to imagine the value of. Amanda had a few tells before she slipped off to make something hers. Namely, she always seemed to be watching her surroundings, hypervigilant of things to claim. When she did spot something, she would stick her hands in her pockets, glance around the room a few more times, and start walking faster, trying to look completely casual while also making herself as small and fast as possible. Once she reached her destination, the item that Amanda wanted was already gone before Akko could even tell how Amanda had stolen it, and the red haired American would likely spend the rest of the night admiring her trophy and talking the rest of her team's ears off about how cool it was and how good she is at snatching things.
Constanze was a supergenius tech dealer. Akko knew Constanze was absurdly smart from the moment she had met the short witch, but the extent to which their craft reached only became apparent when they started sharing a room. Constanze spent most of their free time in the secret lab, but when they came up to go to classes, or to tinker in the presence of their friends, they always had a new project that made Akko's head hurt just looking at it. Every few days, there would be a certain knock on the Green Team's door. One long knock, two short knocks, then two more long knocks. When that happened, like clockwork, Amanda or Jasminka would call Constanze to come up to the dorm, and the German would rise up their secret exit carrying a cardboard box filled with anything from phones to DVD players to what seemed to be a laser rifle. Whatever student was on the other side of the door would then pass back a wad of money in exchange for the box, and then things would go back to normal as if the exchange hadn't even happened.
Jasminka was the most surprising of the three to Akko. Finnelan had just said that Jasminka was a troublemaker for smuggling food into classes, and Akko had assumed that that was all, and that Jasminka was somewhat tame compared to the rest of the group, maybe just getting in most of her trouble by proxy of the other two borderline criminals she was friends with. As it turns out, that was the only thing Finnelan said about Jasminka because that was the only thing Finnelan had ever caught Jasminka doing. The cheerful looking witch was a top notch smuggler, and was the reason that Amanda's stealth gear and Constanze's scrap metal ever got inside Luna Nova. She could get anything through security and into a spot not even the best locator spells could detect. When questioned about why she was so often caught with smuggled food, Jasminka answered Akko with a kind smile, and a somewhat intimidating line. "If they think they know everything about you, they never think to look deeper."
After a week of living with the three, Akko came to one conclusion. She was distinctly less badass than any of them. Compared to Amanda the thief, Constanze the tech dealer and Jasminka the smuggler, 'Akko the loudmouth' was a lot less cool sounding.
"I did it!" Akko shouted one morning, loud enough to awaken even the heavy sleepers of the Green Team. Amanda and Jasminka sat up in bed as Constanze poked their head out from under their trapdoor. "Yayy!"
"Eh?" Amanda groaned as she rolled out of her bed, landing on the floor in a heap. "Nghh, that hurts." Clutching the back of her head, Amanda sat up from the floor. "What is it that you did, Akko?"
Akko held up a paper banner in her hand with the crudely drawn images of all four members of the Green Team's faces on it. Akko, Amanda and Jasminka's drawings were all smiling brightly, while Constanze's representation bore a small smile. In the middle of the banner, in huge green bubble letters was a title that the group had yet to be called by before.
"The Delinquent Squad?" Amanda muttered with a confused expression. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You said we should have a cooler name, so I stayed up all night to come up with a totally epic team name that'll match our rebellious spirits!" Akko smugly gestured at the banner, absurdly proud of herself.
Jasminka put a hand over her mouth to conceal her giggling, causing Akko to deflate slightly. The pink haired witch quickly corrected herself upon seeing the novice witch's reaction. "I'm sorry, Akko. I didn't mean to laugh. It's just cute!"
Amanda jumped to her feet, inspecting the banner with a grin. "Looks great, Akko! You really captured our likeness! We're real tough guys now!"
"Thank you Amanda!" Akko turned around to admire her drawing, and Amanda took that moment to lean in close to Jasminka and Consanze.
"Conz. Jas. We take it to our grave that this looks terrible." The other two simply nodded silently, before returning to the encouraging looks that they were giving Akko beforehand. "So, Akko... You've been in our dorm for a little over a week now..."
"Yeah?" Akko refocused her attention on Amanda, cocking her head silently. Internally, she was ever so slightly worried she'd be told to leave.
Amanda put on her trademark cool grin as she grabbed her broom from by her bed. "Well, we gave you quite some time to settle in, but its about time we get back to how we normally do things. Especially now that we have a title, I'd say the Delinquent Squad needs to prove that we deserve such a name! What say we have a little heist, eh?"