Written for the Choco Box Challenge with a Femslash February flavour
Prompt: Conquering Fears
Title: Bubblewrap Blues
Ship: Raindropshipping | Aqua/Miyu
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains
Rating: T
Word Count: 1,160
Tags: Canon Divergence, Parental Abuse, Swearing, Dialogue Heavy
“Nope, no way, not happening.” Miyu’s objections came very quickly out of her mouth.
Even with the brain of a supercomputer, Aqua was dumbfounded, needing to take several, actual human seconds to process Miyu’s protest. She blinked, the glimmer of her eyes pressing in as Aqua deepened her thought. This was Miyu, her Miyu, and she had such sparklingly clear recollections of just how brave her Miyu was so see her cower in terror like this… That was concerning.
“Your Mother scares you that much?” Aqua inquired, her tone dripping with sympathy.
Miyu nodded her head.
She pulled her knees in under her chin as she sat, like an egg, against the headboard of her hospital bed. She hugged herself tight and her expression turned to utter misery.
“Mum’s a bit… protective, is all.” Miyu explained - or at least began to explain, tried to explain. “Like the Incident really, seriously messed her up. It’d mess up anyone’s parents, probably. Having their kid taken and forced to duel for food. That is messed up.”
Aqua was quiet. She sat next to Miyu, all but lost in the covers of her hospital bed but her expression was grim. She remembered how brave Miyu was, even when her precious hairbands snapped and she couldn’t get to tie up her hair again the fashion of her lucky charm. She remembered Miyu’s grit and determination.
To finally meet Miyu and she was being kept under lock and key in the expensive and sterile cage of the hospital room, it was cruel. Miyu could have been discharged months ago but her Mother refused to believe she could get better from her coma like that and wanted her under observation. That had been months ago and by now, the nurses and doctors were complaining that Miyu was taking up valuable space in their hospital but her Mother insisted.
“She’s doing her best, you know?” Miyu made excuses, shrugging. “Like the divorce was rough on her as well. Every single thing was a threat to me and my safety so to meet you? The reason I was taken? It would blow her mind - and not in a good way.”
“Yes, I suppose you're right.” Aqua reluctantly agreed.
Her fingers curled in against her palm. Guilt began to emanate off her, dimmed the light in her eyes and even how her pigtails floated. She was the reason Miyu had been kidnapped, Aqua knew she owed her existence, at all, to Miyu’s suffering - and, in a way, Aoi’s.
“L-Like I’m scared to mention Aoi around my Mum. Let alone you.” Miyu’s voice began to shake. “I was kidnapped because I went looking for Aoi so I could apologise. I-I remember telling Mum that after I was rescued. She, um, hit me. She said it's because she loved me but… Parents who really, truly love their parents don’t hit their kids. Like. I’m dumb but I’m not that dumb.”
“Oh, Miyu, I’m so sorry.” Aqua quibbled.
Miyu shrugged, “She’s never hit me since, though. Instead just. Swaddled me in bubble wrap. I wonder if that’s for better or worse.”
Aqua didn’t comment. She had no idea either way.
“Anyways, I, um, really love you Aqua and that’s why you need to hide. You can’t be with me.” Miyu began to get broken up, her shoulders shuddered as she cried these tears. These big tears that hotly welled up in her tear ducts and slid down her face.
“I understand, I promise.” Aqua consoled her.
Aqua shifted into her other form. She felt too tiny and too inconsequential to try to comfort Miyu as her natural, base self. Her tentacles unfurled and she embraced Miyu tight. Miyu nuzzled against her breast, now painted with her face whilst Aqua lowered her head, maw and all, against Miyu.
“But…” Miyu cried into Aqua’s body. “I think it's unfair to you. You… you came all this way. For me. I shouldn’t deny you the catharsis of existing.”
Aqua pulled back her head, “What are you saying, Miyu?” Her tentacles did not slip from around Miyu’s body, however.
“Fuck my Mum. That’s what I’m saying.” Miyu hiccuped soapily. She smiled this funny, lopsided smile that was cheeky and riddled with her tears. “I love you, Aqua, I mean it. You were made from me, my soul, we’ve just met but I know that’s true. We have a connection and you are a part of me. Y-You died for me and you came back. That’s true love.”
“I-I, um, suppose.” Aqua agreed, embarrassed.
She had had such little say in the matter for if she lived again or not. She was thankful for it but the onus of the burden, it had been taken up by Yusaku, all on his lonesome.
The pieces of her had been picked up by Ai and his partner. Put back together again, but yes, for the sake of Aqua and allowing her to finally meet her Origin properly. It was under such sad circumstances that Aqua had finally gotten to meet Miyu, in the flesh and code. It had been in this very same room but Miyu had been deep, deep asleep, under Lightning’s virus.She had looked so serene and troubled all the same, her eyes closed but she was fighting that blinding, all-consuming light that haunted her.
Aqua had broken her heart to visit and to know she was remembered at all from that tiny, little incident that meant the world to her. That should have been enough. Yet it wasn’t. A shame for this circumstance was not much better a first meeting than their previous, truth be told but she was right. The bond between Ignis and Origin. It was enigmatic. All powerful, all consuming. Look where it led Ai and Yusaku or even Jin and Lightning.
“And my Mum is just gonna have to deal with that.” Miyu proclaimed, her hands shook. “I want out of this hospital and I want my Mum to reckon with the Incident. I am sixteen years old and I am strong. I’m not some little kid who needs to be protected, I am perfectly capable of standing on my own two feet. I survived the Hanoi Project and I can survive telling off my Mum that that Incident… made me who I am.”
The fire in Miyu’s voice gave way to something softer, as did the fire in her eyes. She smiled and she caressed the side of Aqua’s face. She looked deep into Aqua’s pink, crescent eye and kissed the top of her maw.
“And it made you. Sure. The Incident sucked balls, no one is going to deny that but because of it, I met - I made - you and I wouldn’t trade that for the world. And you can quote me on that.” Miyu proclaimed.
Aqua giggled demurely, “Thank you, Miyu.”
“C’mon, partner, let’s do it.” Miyu said.
“Yes, let’s.” Aqua agreed with an affirmative nod of her head that made Miyu laugh.
Coffee and Spice
Have some post Handle with Care Edgeberry. Bubblewrap Blues will be my next project after This Way Up concludes. Though I am planning on a different format than daily drabbles. I was thinking weekly 1k word installments. Though this was /supposed/ to be a oneshot idea. Sorta like how HwC was supposed to be like 100 chapters.
Installment 8 of the Undergram series, as suggested by @silverryu25 who wanted to see if Blue had any pics of Edge on his phone. I mean, Edge is the coolest customer ever. Always orders the same thing. Doesn't talk much. And he just...maybe...makes his Soul skip a beat when he walks in. It's not professional but...
Sooo I have one question when is HWC going to end ?
When I’m done with it I suppose. ^_^
This Way Up is near-ish the end? It may end up being 250 chapters like HwC, but it may also be a little shorter.
Moving Day is expansion and spin-offs within the universe, so it doesn’t really have an end? It’s just a one-shot series for when I have an idea and run with it.
And when This Way Up is over, there will be a sequel in Bubblewrap Blues, which will follow Edge and a certain barista at his favorite coffee shop named Blue.
