Chapter 23: Friendly Faces

Two Shy. Two Sweet.

Fuku was trembling as she stood in front of her door.

Come on Fuku! If you don't ask Izuku for food then you'll starve! Fuku tried to gather up all her courage as her hand hovered over the button to open the door. You can do it Fuku! Be brave! For food!

She held her breath, and pressed the button, causing the door to slide open.

And reveal Eri on the other side.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Fuku immediately jumped backwards into her bed and screamed.

"AH!" Eri let out a much quieter surprised scream and jumped back a more reasonable distance.

Fuku covered herself in her blankets in a poor attempt to hide herself. "P-Please don't kill me!"

"K-kill you?" Eri stuttered. "I-I don't want to kill you! I promise!"

"So you want to torture me!" Fuku accused. "Beat me until my skin turns black and blue! Break my bones! And turn me into a bloody pulp!"

"What? No!" Tears started forming in Eri's eyes. "I-I just wanted to give you a candy apple!"

"...Huh?" Fuku peeked her head out of the covers.

In front of her was Eri, close to crying and with two candy apples in her hand.

Eri sniffed as she tried to hold in the tears. "I-I'm sorry."

Immediately guilt stabbed Fuku right in the heart and she started to panic.

"Oh god, I'm sorry!" Fuku apologized. "Please don't cry!"

After a couple minutes the two of them managed to calm themselves down to a...well, not a reasonable level but to the point where they could talk without crying.

"I wanted to give you this." Eri held out the candy apple to Fuku.

"An apple?" Fuku took the treat. "Why does it look weird? Is it poison!?"

"No!" Eri shook her head. "It's a candy apple. They look different from normal apples. They're sweet."

"Candy? I've never had candy before." Fuku admitted. "Da-that man never let me have any. He said it'd make me get fat and unhealthy."

"Izuku says that only happens if you eat too many," Eri said. "He said it's okay to have some but not too much."

Fuku looked at the apple, and then at Eri. She said it's not poison. But what if she's lying? But she might get upset if I don't eat it! Oh god, she might stab me with that horn!

Concerned with offending the girl, Fuku took a hesitant bite.

And that's when her entire world changed.

Fuku's eyes widened and her pupils dilated as the sweetness made its way to her tongue and made her brain go crazy! And in that moment, only one thought dominated her mind. Only one word.

More.

She immediately took a much bigger bite of the apple, stuffing her face and getting some on her cheeks.

"Is Gwood!" Fuku said with her mouth full.

"Y-yeah." Eri gave a very slight smile, relieved that the other girl was enjoying the treat.

Eri didn't even have time to start eating her apple before Fuku finished hers.

"Mhmm! Mhmm!" Fuku finished swallowing the candy. "That was the best thing I've ever eaten!"

Eri nodded. "It's my favorite. I thought you might like it."

"I did! Thank you!" Fuku said, her eyes shining. "Thank you...uh...sorry I never asked your name! You gave me candy and I never even asked you your name I'm so sorry!"

"It's ok. My name's Eri." Eri introduced herself.

"Thank you, Eri," Fuku told her.

For a while, the two of them just stood(or sat in Fuku's case) in silence. However, Eri noticed that Fuku wasn't really looking at her, but rather at her candy apple.

Eri brought the apple towards Fuku, offering it to her.

"F-for me?!" Fuku asked, shocked by her generosity.

Eri nodded, bringing the apple closer to her.

"But-but I can't!" Fuku shook her hands in front of her to deny her offer. "I already had one and I didn't! I can't take your apple from you!"

"It's ok," Eri reassured her. "I've had a lot ever since I met Izuku. But that was your first. I think it's more fair if I give you two."

"I mean, I guess that makes sense." Fuku was still unsure. "But are you sure? D-didn't you say that it was your favorite?"

Eri nodded. "I love it but...I want you to smile more."

Fuku felt something. Something deep inside her. She felt...touched.

"N-no one's ever said that to me before," Fuku whispered.

She looked down at the apple, and, very slowly, she took it from Eri's hand.

Fuku took a single, small bite of the apple. And chewed it.

After she swallowed it, she just sat there looking at it for a couple minutes. Making Eri concerned.

However eventually Fuku broke the silence.

"Why did you bring this to me?" She asked Eri, looking away from the girl with shame in their eyes. "Why are you being so nice to me? Fuku doesn't deserve it. I'm stupid and ugly and my quirk is...it's terrible! It's more like a curse than a quirk!"

In that moment, Eri got a very bad flashback to when she first met Izuku.

Back when she was just like Fuku.

Eri climbed onto the bed, startling Fuku.

"What are you-" Before Fuku could finish her sentence, she was suddenly wrapped in a hug from Eri. "Huh!?"

"Don't ever say that," Eri whispered, holding Fuku tightly. "You're not a monster. And your quirk is not cursed."

"Wha-but I-" Fuku wasn't used to hugs. Wasn't used to the warmth that came from hugging. Wasn't used to the strange fluffy feeling that came from being given affection.

So she started crying.

And then Eri started crying.

"D-did someone hurt you?" Eri asked her.

"H-hurt me?" Fuku sniffled.

"Did your parents hate you too?" Eri asked her. "You were trapped in a place where everyone hated you? And a bad man hurt you over and over. Did he call you bad things too? Did he call your quirk a curse too?"

Fuku struggled out of Eri's grasp and looked at her fearfully. "H-how did you know?"

"Because Izuku said that you're like me," Eri said.

"L-like you?" Fuku said with a small amount of disbelief.

Eri nodded. "Be-before I met Izuku, I was in a bad place. O-O-O...a bad man kept me there and hurt me a lot. He called me mean things and said my quirk was a curse. That I was a cursed child who could only hurt people."

"That happened to me too!" Fuku eagerness lasted only a few seconds before she got gloomy from remembering her past.

"Y-you can talk about it." Eri urged her. "I heard about you from Izuku, and everyone said you were too scared to leave your room. I-I wanted to tell you that it was safe here. S-so if you want to talk you can. No one's going to get mad. I promise."

"Pinky promise?" Fuku held out her pinky.

Eri didn't know but that was but she just went along with it, wrapping her pinky around Fuku's pinky. "Pinky promise."

There was a small pause before Fuku started to talk.

"Father wanted me to be a boy before I was born. But when I was born a girl he was angry. He named me, ``child of misfortune." Fuku explained. "He said that he wanted me to be the perfect bride so that he could marry me to a rich family. He forced me to learn a lot of things like cooking and cleaning and sewing. And every time I failed he would hit me and call me a failure. He'd tie me to a chair and challenge me to keep still. And when my quirk came everything got worse! He said that I was unmarriable! A complete failure! After that, he locked me in my room so I didn't hurt anyone with my quirk. Until the men in suits took us away."

Fuku has started crying at some point during her explanation.

Eri didn't really understand all the complicated parts like why her father wanted a boy, or why she had to be a bride and marry a rich family. But she did understand that someone had hurt Fuku, and that's all she really needed to understand right now.

"He was a bad man," Eri said. "Like Overhaul. People like them lie and hurt people because they're selfish. Y-you shouldn't listen to them."

Eri was doing her best. Telling her everything that Izuku told her.

She just wanted to be there for her.

"Y-you really think Fuku isn't bad?" Fuku sniffled.

Eri nodded. "If you're bad, then that means I'm bad. And Izuku says I'm not bad, so you're not bad either."

It was simple, childish logic. But they were simply children. So it did succeed in making Fuku feel better.

"Y-your a g-good person Eri." Fuku wasn't sure she was ready to fully trust Eri, but she did trust her more than anyone else right now.

"There are a lot of good people here," Eri said. "They're different from us. Some are loud. Some are weird. Some are scary. But they're really nice. Y-you should meet them...if you want."

Fuku paused. "I-I don't think I'm ready for that. Fuku's too much of a coward...but-but maybe one-day I-I can go and-and meet them. I-I-I don't think I can do it alone though."

"I'll help!" Eri immediately volunteered.

And she would. She'd be there for her. Just like Izuku and the others would be there for her.

Knock Knock.

Fuku was currently doing her new favorite activity.

Enjoying some sweats and tea in the comfort of her room while watching some romance anime.

"No! Confess! If you don't she's gonna leave for America!" Fuku shouted at the T.V. screen.

Knock Knock

"EAP!" Fuku jumped in her seat, before scrambling for the remote and turning off the T.V.

"Fukunoko?" Kei called from the other side of the door. "Can I come in?"

"Ah! Who are you!? How do you know my name?!" Fuku panicked.

"My name's Kei! I'm one of the other kids here. I asked dad for your name." Kei explained.

"O-oh." Fuku breathed a sigh of relief, it didn't seem like the girl was an assassin out to kill her, but then again, she didn't know that for sure.

"Can I come in?" Kei asked. "I want to-snake your hand!"

"H-huh?" Fuku got confused for a moment. "D-do you mean shake? Or...don't tell me! You're gonna have a snake bite my hand!"

"Wha-no!" Kei immediately denied. "I have snakes for hair so I was making a snake pun!"

"You have snakes for hair?" Fuku asked, surprisingly this didn't freak her out further.

"Yeah. They are really nice, want to pet them?" Kei asked, Fuku could hear Kei's snakes hiss.

Fuku thought about it for a second before realizing she would have to let Kei in to do that and shaking her head. "N-no! P-please, go!"

"Huh? But I want to meet you!" Kei whined. "I came here so we could have fun!"

"I'm having fun! Lots of fun! Inside my room!" Fuku said.

"But aren't you lonely in there by yourself?" Kei asked her with a somewhat sad tone.

There was a small pause before Fuku responded. "N-no?"

"Hmmm, I don't believe you," Kei said. "Come on! Please! We can do whatever you want!"

"Whatever I want?" Fuku asked.

"Whatever you want!" Kei repeated.

There was another pause until Fuku responded with "C-can we do something with the door still closed?"

It sounded ridiculous. To anyone who wasn't there they might have thought it was just a rude, sarcastic way of telling the snake girl to leave.

But her hopeful, yet somewhat desperate tone said otherwise.

There was yet another long, awkward pause as Fuku got more and more nervous.

"I-I'm sorry! It was a stupid question!" Fuku broke down and apologized. "There's no way you could do something with this door between-"

Knock Knock.

"Knock knock," Kei said after knocking on the door.

"H-huh?" Fuku stopped her crying and apologizing.

"Knock knock," Kei repeated.

Fuku paused for a moment out of confusion, before realizing what this was.

It was a knock-knock joke.

Out of curiosity, Fuku responded. "W-who's there?"

"Nobel," Kei responded.

"Nobel who?" Fuku asked.

"Nobel that's why I knocked." Kei giggled.

Fuku thought about it for a while, not really getting the joke at first.

Nobel...nobell...no bell. Ohhhhh! She finally got it. That's funny.

She didn't laugh. Or smile. But she was amused.

"No laugh. Darn." Kei said. "Your turn."

"Wh-what!?" Fuku asked.

"You wanted to do something with the door between us. So let's play a game." Kei explained. "We'll tell knock-knock jokes until one of us laughs! The first one to laugh wins...but you have to laugh at the other person's joke! My laugh earlier didn't count."

"But-but I'm terrible at jokes!" Fuku objected.

"Everyone says I'm pretty bad at it too. So we're even!" Kei explained.

Fuku's mouth opened and closed as she tried to figure out what to say.

Sh-she can't do anything to me from behind the door, right? Wait! Everyone here has dangerous quirks! What if she's just trying to make me feel safe before breaking down my door and killing me!? Fuku thought. But...why wouldn't she just do that from the beginning? Does she want to make me feel safe so my death hurts emotionally too?!

Fuku's paranoid thoughts continued to dominate her mind for the next several seconds, however, despite everything in her mind telling her not to do this, her trembling little hand reached for the door.

Knock knock.

"K-knock knock," Fuku whispered.

Kei smiled on the other side of the door. "Who's there?"

"Uh…" Fuku blushed with embarrassment, she forgot to actually think of a joke first. "...C-cows go?"

"Cows go who?" Kei asked.

"No. Cows go moo!" Fuku responded.

Fuku gave an awkward, forced laugh. Oh my god, that was so bad she's going to hate me now!

There was yet another pause before Fuku eventually heard Kei snort. And then giggle. And then laugh.

Kei started just laughing out loud. "Hahahaha! Darn it! That was so good!"

"W-what?" Fuku was confused. "D-did I just...win?"

"Yup," Kei said, still giggling at the pun. "Want to play again?"

Fuku still hasn't gotten over the fact that she actually won something. "I...I won? But-but I can't win! Fuku's no good! Fuku's the worst at everything!"

"That's not true!" Kei objected. "You're the best at being you!"

"The best at...being Fuku?" Fuku questioned. "But that doesn't mean anything! Fuku's the worst at everything so being the best at being Fuku means being the worst at everything!"

"But you can't be the worst at everything if you are the best at being yourself!" Kei argued.

"That…uh...huh?" You could almost see the steam coming out of Fuku's head as her brain tried to figure out and counter Kei's logic(or lack thereof).

After a few moments of speechlessness, Kei repeated her question. "You want to play again?"

Dazed from her overthinking, Fuku just said. "S-sure?"

"Okay. Knock knock!" Kei knocked on the door.

"W-who's th-there," Fuku asked.

"Annie!" Kei said.

"Annie who?" Fuku asked.

"Annie thing I can do you can do too!" Kei snickered.

"Huh? Oh, I get it!" Fuku got the joke much quicker this time. "That's...not true. But it was funny. I guess."

"Your turn!" Kei told her.

"O-ok." Fuku knocked on the door. "Knock knock."

"Who's there?" Kei asked.

"To," Fuku said quickly coming up with something.

"To who?" Kei asked.

"Actually it's to whom." Fuku smiled nervously.

There was a small pause before Kei said. "I don't get it."

"Oh, uh. When you say to who, grammatically the correct way to say it is ``to whom." Fuku explained. "It was a...bad grammar joke. Sorry."

"Oh! I didn't know that! Your smart Fukunoko!" Kei praised.

"S-stop praising me so much!" Fuku's face was beat red.

"But you are." Kei insisted.

"Stop! It's your turn, just go!" Fuku told her.

"Okay, Knock knock." Kei knocked on the door.

"Who's there?" Fuku asked.

"Etch," Kei said.

"Etch who?" Fuku asked.

"Bless you." Kei giggled.

Once again it took Fuku a second for her to get it.

But when she did, she actually smiled a little, and giggled, very slightly.

"Ah! You laughed!" Kei pointed out.

"Huh? I did!?" Fuku just realized what happened and her eyes went wide. "Oh, I did! Stupid Fuku! I didn't even try to hold it in!"

"Hey don't be sad! You won the first game so we're tied!" Kei said. "Besides, dad says that losing isn't a bad thing, as long as you have fun?"

Fuku thought about the question. She laughed. She can't remember the last time someone made her laugh. She liked laughing. It made her feel...good. In a way hard for her to describe.

"I-I guess," Fuku admitted. "D-do you want to play again?"

"Okay!" Kei knocked on the door. "Knock knock!"

"Who's there?" Fuku asked.

"Olive." Kei was already giggling.

"Olive who?" Fuku asked.

"Olive you!" Kei burst out laughing, with the biggest smile on her face.

Olive you? Olive. O live? Oh, live? I live? I love? I love yo-

Fuku's face erupted in a bright red blush. And she got so flustered that she accidentally activated her quirk and gas filled the room!