acatalepsy_rpg

I guess not. I could just ask if... they wanna hang out.

...

Hank and Sumo, do you want to hang out with me?!

[Hank smiles to himself.]

sure thing man. where r u?

Really?!

I mean, I'm just hanging out in the lounge.

no i actually get my kicks out of hangin w ppl i secretly dont like jk yes rlly omw

[He’s on his way as soon as he types it. He’s pretty much got the ship’s layout memorized so getting there doesn’t take long and soon he’s wandering in, scratching a hand absently through Sumo’s fur as he looks around. All the shit that would have made him avoid meeting up with the kid has passed, more or less, so aside from the bags under his eyes and the same general level of stink they’ve all got Hank almost looks like a presentable adult type figure. This is what his best looks like right now. It’s fine.]

[Izuku had woken up from an attempted nap that he wished had been much longer before he'd decided to ask the network the question that had been haunting him for the past few weeks.

He's... doing alright. He's a little pale, has lost a little weight, looks like he could probably use more sleep and there are bruises on his knuckles from his door punching adventures. His right hand has graphite smears on it from writing in a notebook sitting at his feet at the couch he's currently resting on.

When he sees Hank, he smiles and throws the blanket off his legs and goes over to meet him.]

Thanks for coming. Sorry to have bothered you.

Hi, Sumo!

[He kneels down to pet the dog.]

Stop apologizing kid, I should be thanking you.

[Hank wanders over to the couch and sits, watching Sumo stand there. Sumo looks happy enough, in his way - that’s probably the one good part of not being in Detroit anymore, Sumo gets to be as social as he used to be.]

What’s in the notebook? Unless it’s some kind of secret.

Me? Why's that?

[He drops back onto the couch, letting Sumo drop his head into Izuku's lap as Izuku alternates between petting the dogs head and scratching behind his ears.

Then he glances over.]

Oh, that's my Hero Notebook. I use it to keep notes on all of the heroes I meet. And I've also stared adding people here. Just things like what their powers are and potential ways they could win fights or lose. I was just... updating Kacchan's page. Trying to make sure that I remember everything.

[Hank nods, taking that in. It's a little weird, but he's not going to give Izuku shit for that just now. Later, maybe, once they're not talking about his friend anymore.]

Wanna tell me about it? All the stuff you're writing about him? Or is that private?

And, uh- [He grimaces, not thrilled about the answer to the kid's question, and shrugs a shoulder, trying to hide whatever hints of real emotion might be visible in that answer behind the casual gesture.] I ought to be thanking you because you're giving me something to do other than sit there and think. Sumo's great but he's not real big on making conversation, you know?

Mmmm, yeah.

[Sumo tries to lick his face and he leans away to glance over at Hank with a grin.]

You can ask for me to hang out with you too, you know? Anytime. I definitely don't have any... hot... dates...

[Or any date. He's never been on a date.

He glances down at the notebook and runs his hands across the pages damaged from being lit on fire and then tossed into a pond. His classmates had gotten used to him carrying his notebooks and his obsessive note-taking awhile ago but...]

It's not private it's just... Ummm. It's kinda... embarrassing... People think I'm weird.

You know, I don't think I met a single person here who's not weird.

[Hank leans forward over his knees, revising his schedule on when to give Izuku shit about the notebook thing. Time to move that from 'later' to 'never'. He lets Izuku's suggestion go, too - there's no way to say 'I'm not so far gone that I'm going to make a kid help me out with my bullshit emotional issues' without coming off like an asshole. Izuku can ask Hank to help him be less lonely and that's fine. The reverse, though, is probably not going to happen.]

What kinda notes do you take? Figuring out stuff in case you have to fight one of your hero buddies, or just general practice making observations about shit?

Even "observes people and writes about them in a notebook" sort of weird?

[He asks with a shy smile as if giving Hank one last chance to get the hell outta dodge. Most people don't ask about his notebook. Even his friends at school view it as being a weird lower-case 'q' quirk of his that it was best to just let him go off on. At least they weren't so weirded out by it anymore.

And if Hank doesn't seem to show any resistance, he smiles more widely and scoots closer so Hank can look at the book and Sumo can jump on the couch if he so wishes.]

All sorts of notes. It started way back when I was younger, when I was Quirkless, I'd observe all of the Pros, trying to imagine how I could use their powers if I was them. But even now that I have a Quirk of my own, I still want to learn about all of the amazing things people can do with their Quirks. The possibilities are just amazing-

[It's not hard to see why he has a reputation for being weird. But he's also got the pure and unfiltered joy of a kid with a new toy at christmas as he talks about his notes and sketches.]

I was just starting a new page for Kacchan though. Mostly about the powers he has here. ...Had here. Just so I don't forget.

[He flips through the pages. On each there's a little sketch and some notes ranging from signature moves to possible weaknesses. As he goes further in the book. There are even the names and drawings of some circle members noting their Astoria granted powers. Konoha can create food, but only raw food, it notes. Shiro can turn into a metal lion but loses his humanity if he's in there too long and so on. Hank probably has his own entry too.

Finally, he stops on a page blank except for the drawing of a young man, about Izuku's age, with spikey hair, narrowed eyes, and a cocksure grin. It might not seem flattering at first, but there's clear affection in every line.

[Of course Hank wants to know about the page with him on it - if he catches a glimpse of it he'll lean forward just a little more, for a second - but he stays on task.]

That's him? What kinds of things are you trying to remember about him?

[Hank's page (which is titled Mister Lieutenant Hank Anderson) notes that he is a police officer from America and that he has an "empath power" with attributes such as range and duration being listed as "unknown". It also mentions in a quickly scribbled note "Hank reminds me a little of All Might and Aizawa Sensei sometimes".

For a second, Izuku doesn't answer. Instead he just focuses on carefully adding more spikes to Kacchan's hair.]

Just some of the things he said here. I know I said we were childhood friends, and we are, but for a long time... things were pretty bad between us. We couldn't speak without yelling or fighting. But here... things were different. It was better between us, finally.

[Hank waits a second, making sure he's not going to interrupt if the kid has anything to add. Then he nods.]

That's why you asked if people remembered what happened here when they got back. You finally made things right with him.

[He says it carefully, just making an observation, his eyes moving from Izuku's drawing to his face.]

Yeah. It's what I've been wanting badly for so many years. I was so happy that we could finally just work together and be friends like we used to.

[He raises a hand to his face and scrubs at his eyes with a sniffle. He's cried over this, of course, he cries over most things but he knows he shouldn't. Kacchan wouldn't want him to cry on his behalf. In fact, he'd probably hate that he did.]

I don't want him to forget it.

[Hank raises a hand instinctively, wanting to put it on the kid's back. But he doesn't. His hand pauses, he sighs quietly, then he curls his fingers against his palm and taps his hand against his thigh a few times. He'll have to settle for paying attention to his tone instead, keeping that careful, deliberate tone that's maybe the closest Hank's going to be able to get to comforting him.]

You did it once, though. You did make things right with him. Don't you think you could do it again?

Maybe.

But here we both lost our Quirks and had new powers that we didn't understand and had to try and master. It sort of made all of the past stuff between us irrelevant and we finally stood on equal ground.

[He sniffs again and wipes his nose on his sleeve before dropping his hands to his lap and staring down at them.]

I'll still try though. No matter what. I owe him that much.

[Hank reaches over to pat the couch, looking at Sumo, and that’s enough to get him to hop up next to Izuku and settle in. At least one of them doesn’t have to worry about making things worse by touching the kid.]

And now you know he’s willing to make things work too, right? That’s not nothing. What makes you say you owe him?

[Izuku smiles at Sumo, who is probably drooling all over his lap, but that's fine. He just lowers his forehead to rest it against Sumo's soft fur before mumbling his answer.]

Cuz he's my friend and he's trying too.

Right.

[For a second Hank feels like he said something wrong, but - no. Izuku just misses his friend, Hank’s not going to make that go away with a couple questions. He leans back in the couch, ready to just sit here with the kid for a while. It’s still better sitting somewhere by himself thinking about his own shit.]

[Finally, he raises his head and sniffles loudly, wiping his runny nose on one sleeve and cleaning the fur that he got wet on Sumo's head with the other.

Being without Kacchan hurts and not knowing what its going to be like when they see each other again is scary but... he'll figure it out. The two of them somehow, no matter what, always seem to keep heading further up and closer together.

But for now, he's here and he has to think about how he's going to live here until he can get home. Until they all can.

He rubs at his face before he speaks.]

Mist- Hank. I know we come from different worlds. And I know that, as a kid, there's probably a lot of things adults deal with that I can't really understand. And so maybe, I can't understand everything that you're going through but... you've helped me twice now! And I know you'll say that I don't owe you anything, and I know that's true. But if there's something I can do for you then... please let me help!

[He gives a crooked little smile and then looks away, sucking at his teeth as he tries to think over how loud his brain's yelling about the one thing it really, really wants, a liquid way to kill off all the brain cells he spent that first horrible week on this ship growing back. If Izuku happened to have something to drink on him not asking for it might be a little harder. But he doesn't, so it's not.

The second thing Hank thinks of is a no-go, too; chances are pretty good, he thinks, that if he asked the kid to toss him over the edge of that big dumb hole in the ship, Izuku probably wouldn't laugh. If that kind of humor's secretly Izuku's thing, Hank would be really goddamn surprised.

God, okay, think of something normal. Something Izuku can do that'll make him feel like he's helping. He likes that, helping people, and it's not his fault there's not a single thing anyone but Hank can actually do for Hank.]

You can- uh, play with my dog? Or, he's been walking a lot, so- you can nap with him? I don't know, if I do try to get in those stupid spacepod beds he tries to get up with me and it's the saddest fucking thing. I think he misses hanging out with someone who's actually going to sleep once in a while and, you know, sleeping on something he can fit on. So. I mean there's that.

[Technically neither of those things is actually helping Hank. But helping Sumo is doing a favor for Hank, so that works. It totally works.]

[Izuku watches him closely.

He's a nosy kid by nature. He always wants to know the details, to go deeper, to find the truth. He couldn't mind his own business if his life depended on it. And he can feel like Hank is hiding something: he's not lying but he's not telling the whole truth.

But Izuku can't seem to figure what he should do to figure it out. His innocence walls him out from really understanding what's going on. So he frowns for a bit and then nods, petting Sumo thoughtfully.]

I can do that. I've been using my power a lot so I take a lot of naps in order to get my energy back.

...Will you be alright? You won't be lonely?

[The question surprises Hank, and he gives the kid an uncomfortable little smile. There's only one way to answer a question like that.]

Nah, I'm fine. Lots of shit to keep me busy around here, right?

[That was probably a little much. There's not a lot of shit to keep him busy. Lots of shit to stare at, not a lot to do with any of it. Not a lot to do but sit around and think.]

Maybe I'll hang out here and try to play some of these games, now that the power's back on. I mean, I don't have a notebook to write in or anything, but I do okay. What've you been using your whole power thing with? I thought you said that made you sick, right?

Right.

[He agrees but there's uncertainty in his voice. He wants to do more for Hank but he just has no idea what that is and it's frustrating. He feels like he should know what to do but he's clueless.

But now Hank is putting him on blast so he flushes and scratches behind his ear.]

It does, but... there's a lot of doors to take down! And if I use my power I can greatly reduce the amount of time it takes break through one.

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Mister Lieutenant

Mister Lieutenant!!

mister lieutenant sir

sir mister lieutenant sir!!

that’s about 3.5 more titles than he’s actually earned

now he has 3 more responsibilities

the worst possible fate

sorry hank fate is never kind

this is his terrible and inevitable destiny

embrace your dark fate

he already has. what do you think the whiskey's for

touche