Chapter Text
Part 1 - Scars
Momo
As besties with such different hobbies and interests, we would often take turns in treating each other to our favorite restaurants. Just the two of us.
Today it‘s Jirous turn to show me one of hers again and even though she mentioned it will be a very special place, that’s not what feels different or better said odd right now. Normally she is always already waiting at our meeting points. No matter if it was her idea or mine, I‘m always the one arriving last. This time I‘m even a bit late because I forgot my purse in my room. Still she isn’t here yet. Did she already leave because I was late? No, we would have seen each other on the way…
Minutes gone by and I caught myself watching my clock nearly every 3 seconds now. There must be something wrong.
Another 10 minutes went by, but this time whenever I saw someone, I asked them if they had seen Jirou. It wasn‘t exactly quiet down here and some people came by 3 times in these 10 minutes. No one had seen her. Maybe I should check her room, there is nowhere else she could be. On my way up I passed Mina, this was the 4th time I saw her now, but she only shook her head. I could see her getting more and more worried too.
It‘s only 5 minutes to Jirou‘s room, but it felt so much longer with all those questions going through my head. The light for the whole floor activates automatically through motion sensors once someone comes up the stairs. I remember how we all woke up every second night at the beginning because Toru tripped again on her way to the toilet.
When the light turned on, it took quite some time to get bright and that’s why I could spot a dim light coming from below Jirou’s door. So she was in her room, or she forgot to turn off one of her smaller lamps. I knocked on the door softly but no response… a second time… a third time…
What‘s going on? I should try if… yeah, the door isn‘t locked. Slowly I open the door whispering her name.
„Jirou? Are you here…?“
The door opens so silently, but you would expect that from someone with especially good hearing. Well-oiled doors are a must.
The room is mostly dark, only a small mirror with some built-in LEDs on her desk lit up parts of the room. A bit of relief fills me as I spot Jirous silhouette lying with her head on her desk. She must have fallen asleep. After all, we had a hard training today, so I don‘t blame her. Even though she insisted on going out today anyway directly after, I guess the exhaustion got the better of her.
I should wake her up and tell her to go to bed anyway, don‘t want to risk a sore neck tomorrow.
Moving towards her was accompanied by a crunchy noise, followed by a different kind of crunch. It definitely felt and sounded like stepping on broken glass, but what was the other? My eyes widened as I spotted broken parts of her prosthetic ear cover and jack in between the broken glass. There seems to be dried blood on the prosthetic but not the glass. *clack clack* of course the light doesn‘t work, that’s probably where the glass is coming from…
My heart racing I get to her desk as fast as I can and then calm down in relief for now. She really is just asleep but why did she throw her prosthetic into her light, breaking both in the process? Next to her, there are lots of different make-up colors and brushes, did she fall asleep doing her make-up? That’s so unlike her…
A look into her face reveals she was already done with her make-up. Literally „Was“, because she ruined it again afterward… on her cheeks and below her eyes are colors smeared and washed away by her tears. Oh no, what happened? I got a very bad feeling about this…
When my hands pushed her strands of hair a bit to the side, it revealed her scared left ear. Or better said, the little bit that’s left of it. She has never shown anyone this after the war and during the war it was far too chaotic for anyone to notice. The training today must have opened up the old wound again. She told me the Doctor said it‘s normal and not dangerous, but also there will be times it just opens up again on its own. The blood is still wet and mixed with a skin-colored powder. Now I notice that there is also some blood in her hair and on the make-up brushes.
Did she try to do this for me? Because of that one guy, at the last Restaurant that wouldn‘t let us in because he thought those were headphones and she didn‘t want to take them off? She seemed so depressed and constantly apologized for it.
„You picked such a nice and fancy restaurant for us and they would kick us out because I‘m a freak.“
She said that with a snarky grin, so I thought she made a joke. But apparently it wasn‘t…
„You little dummy, let‘s get you to bed…“
I whispered this somewhat relieved but with still lingering worry. After getting rid of the broken parts so no one gets hurt and carrying her into her bed, I make myself at home and spawn my own little mattress right before her bed. I clean and free up her ear so it can close overnight again and not cause any trouble. Before laying down as well, I tug her in safely and cozy.
I should have noticed how much you hurt from that comment and I will make up for it tomorrow…
Jirou
Jawning I open my eyes, or at least I try to. Awwwh shit, I hate this feeling when your eyes won‘t open simply because the eyelids are stuck to each other…
„Good morning little sleepyhead.“
It was probably nothing but I wouldn‘t be surprised if you could hear the crust breaking with the speed my eyes ripped open.
„Mo… Momo…??? What are you doing here?“
Confused I look at her with the already prepared breakfast in my room. I could feel the blood rushing into my cheeks and was about to think ‚what a nice surprise‘. This embarrassing but somewhat nice feeling soon shifted to something worse, when I caught a glance of my broken prosthetic on my desk. The confusion slowly washed away when I remembered what happened last night and how I fucked up once again.
Before Momo could even respond, my heart began racing, my lower lip trembled and my eyes filled with tears. The hand I instinctively used to cover my ear, was now needed to bury my ugly crying face in. What do I do now? I tried to make it right, but I couldn‘t… When her arm reached around my shoulder, I flinch a little, but I should have seen this coming. She is always there to console me when I messed up again.
„Momo, I wanted to make… I didn’t want you seeing me like… I… I…“
It‘s no use, I can‘t even form the sentences anymore. I‘m too messed up right now.
„Let’s calm down a bit. God, look at how much you are shaking…“
It‘s probably only minutes, but feels like hours of crying in Momo‘s arms. Last night I cried myself to sleep out of desperation and frustration. This time, Momo‘s presence seemed to help to calm me down a bit and when she noticed my uncontrollable sobbing toned down, she gently pushed my hands out of my face and looked into my teary eyes. I barely notice it because I never go out without my prosthetic, but my hand instinctively covers my missing ear again. She is sitting on my left side so she probably saw it already, but I don‘t want to bother her by having to look at it any longer.
„You don‘t need to do that. You know, I allowed myself to clean the wound up a bit yesterday. You made a real mess before falling asleep and I didn‘t want it to cause an infection.“
Her voice is calm but also clearly worried. With a little nod, my hand slowly lowers to join with the other one on my lap. I‘ve calmed down a bit, even though I‘m constantly fighting not to break out in tears again.
„Let me guess, you were trying to hide your scars with makeup so we could go to the Restaurant from last time. Was it because I said it used to be my favorite restaurant of all time?“
I nodded as she absolutely nailed it, there was more to it but that was exactly the reason. I saved for month because that place is so expensive and Momo was so excited to go. I wanted to make this a special evening for her and maybe I could have even get brave enough to ask her about… It doesn’t matter because then the wound opened up again, there was blood and it really hurt. Wait a moment…
„Did you just say it used to be your favorite restaurant? As in past tense…“
My voice still trembles and is interrupted by my sniffling. Her agreeing nod widens my eyes. Why… what happened…?
„Do you really think I would even consider going to a restaurant, that rejected you so rudely, again? I wanted to say sorry I didn…“
She interrupts her sentence to hug me when she sees I‘m tearing up again. Those tears are different though, they are happy tears.
„I should have said something sooner, I‘m so sorry I didn‘t notice how much you hurt from having to wear this thing. I didn‘t notice because it didn‘t change a thing in how I view you.“
She pulled back a little to look into my shocked face with teary eyes. Then continues with a warm smile:
„With or without the scar and prosthetic, you are the cute and beautiful little punk girl I love.“
This came out of nowhere and left me staring with an open mouth. In shock but happy I didn‘t even know how to react. Only when she pressed her lips on mine, I realize this was what I always wanted and was trying to find.
Responding with my own lips I try to communicate
I love you too!!!
Epilogue
2 hours later my light and prosthetic are fixed and we are eating the prepared breakfast. For the first time since I had it, I’m not wearing the prosthetic while with someone. It’s a nice freeing feeling.
“How did you make breakfast if you stayed here all night to watch over me btw.? It’s pretty good but also not the stuff you usually make.”
Momo is known for her exquisite taste and this breakfast seems almost too normal for her. Besides the one homemade fortune cookie. I wonder why there is only one when there are at least two of everything else…
“When I waited for you yesterday, I was worried and asked some others if they had seen you. I bumped into Mina four times and she seemed super worried too in the end. So she came early today when you were still asleep and asked if you were okay. She also brought the breakfast and said she made a fortune cookie for both of us. Should we open it?”
While Momo still was curious, this wasn’t even a question for me. Of course, we have to open it. We both grab a corner and break it apart. There is a note inside that’s clearly Minas handwriting:
“I knew it, congratulations to my favorite ship. So happy for both of you. XD”