Dragon's Progeny [Worm/ABB OC]

[Kylia Quilor]

This version of Lung is halfway intelligent. I'm surprised. But I suppose having a kid would change anyone.

 

[Sadguychet]

"I'm just saying, there's no way that your little fried dough balls have anything on a good chicken parm." Tammi said insistently.

"Octopus dough balls. You're forgetting the most essential ingredient." I shot right back at the girl, defending one of my favorite snacks, "And it's called Takoyaki."

It was currently day two of my week long break from the ABB and Tammi and I had decided to prowl around the streets of Boston, looking for something to do and generally just having fun talking to one another.

Somehow our conversation had shifted to our respective favorite foods and it was from there that this little pseudo-argument had come from. Tammi had insisted that Italian food was quite 'the best food in the world' and I had sincerely disagreed, thus leading to this.

"Well I'm not eating octopus." Tammi shivered, clearly not comfortable with eating the tentacled sea creature.

"I guess you'll just have to live with being wrong and not knowing why then." I said, somewhat smugly.

Tammi went to respond but cut herself off as she caught sight of something off to the side, "Ooh, hey, you wanna check that one out?" She said, pointing towards what she had seen.

I looked in the indicated direction to find what looked to be a rundown clothing shop. In the window was an outfit that I would consider goth, with far too many spikes and chains for my liking.

What I could see of the inside of the store also looked particularly dirty, though that may have just been the decor. Either way, I wanted nothing to do with it.

"I'm not sure I'm properly covered for an excursion inside there." I finally said, "I don't want to catch some sort of disease if I touch something I shouldn't."

Tami snorted but shrugged at my answer, "Wimp. Alright, let's keep walking then. I'm sure we'll find something both of us are interested in."

As we continued walking, I couldn't keep my eyes from straying towards the girl's right arm and the clearly homemade cast that was wrapped around it. She hadn't mentioned it on the ride to Boston and still had yet to mention it now, but I couldn't resist finally bringing it up.

"So why are you wearing a cast, Tammi?" I broached the subject, "Did you have an accident."

To my confusion, Tammi froze as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have, looking back at me somewhat guiltily.

"I-uh, I guess you could say that." She said clearly uncomfortable and I frowned at the tone of her voice, "I did something really stupid the other day with a few buddies and this is the result."

"Have you gone to a hospital?" I asked, nodding towards her cast, "That doesn't look like one they'd give you. Did you make it at home? If you need money to pay for the visit, I can-"

"No!" Tammi interrupted, startling me. She saw this and gave me an apologetic look, "Sorry. Look, my aunt's a doctor. She knows all about this sort of stuff and she's the one who made the cast. No hospital needed."

I frowned at her shift tone. Something wasn't quite right with this situation, "But wouldn't it be easier to just go to the hospital? Even if your aunt is a doctor, I doubt she has access to the necessary equipment to actually diagnose the break or fracture."

Tammi sighed, "Look, to tell you the truth, this is my aunt's way of punishing me. The bitch."

My eyes widened, "What? What do you mean she's punishing you!?"

Tammi shrugged like this was a normal thing, "It's like I said, I did something stupid and my aunt's not happy with me for it. Her way of punishing me is not taking me to the hospital because she knows they'd give me painkillers or something even though it doesn't even hurt that much. That's just how she is."

I just stared at my friend for a long moment, utterly surprised and somewhat horrified by what I was hearing. I knew that some parents could be harsh when punishing their children, but withholding medical attention? That was bordering on abuse!

Tammi must have seen the horror in my eyes because she immediately moved to reassure me. She placed a hand on my shoulder, giving me one of her signature lopsided grins, "Hey, look, I'm used to it. And my arm doesn't even really hurt that much!"

I bit my lip to stop myself from shouting at the girl that that didn't make it any better, "If you're sure…"

"I am. I appreciate the concern, Yuko but I'm fine. Promise." Tammi removed her hand from my shoulder, "Now c'mon. I think that there's another strip mall up here that might have some cool stores in it."

She continued down the street leaving me staring after her with concern. My gaze strayed to her cast, an idea forming in my mind.

…I could fix her arm. Quite easily too. Already my mind came up with at least seven different creatures whose abilities included the regeneration of others, and at least three of them were currently available to me.

But that would mean revealing my status as a cape and likely my identity as Yosei in the process, no doubt endangering Tammi's life when she inevitably wanted to get involved, being the headstrong girl that she was.

After a bit of debating, I ultimately decided against it. If what Tammi said was true and the break really wasn't bothering her, it was best to leave the situation alone and not risk anything unnecessary.

I would certainly be keeping an eye on her for any signs of potential abuse though. The way she had spoken about her aunt, so casual in the face of the clear cruelty, had set of more than just a few red flags in my mind

Perhaps her suspicion of my father came from a place of experience.

"Hey, Yuko! There's a store up here with a shitload of art stuff!"

I looked up as Tammi called out to me, pointing at a store only a few feet away with excitement, "Come on! I wanna grab a few things too!"

I put my earlier thoughts aside in favor of a grin as I followed the girl towards the store, "Oh? You want to buy something here? I thought you said drawing was too boring and took too long." I poked her in the shoulder teasingly.

Tammi flushed slightly, glancing away from me in a flustered manner, "Well your art is really good and I've been thinking about trying it myself so I was kinda gonna ask if you'd help me. Y'know, getting started and all that."

I stared at her in surprise, before a grin came to my face unbidden and my chest clenched with an emotion I couldn't identify, "I'd love to help!" I said eagerly.

I grabbed Tammi by the hand, pulling her in the direction of the store with haste, "We could start you off with some simple stuff, maybe stick to pencils so you can work on sketching before moving up to colored pencils. I know a really good brand that sticks to paper really well and the colors are so vibrant, I know you'll love them. Ooh, and we could grab some paint brushes as well as some canvas. I already have a ton of paint at my place so if you want to try that you can just borrow mine!

"Yuko, slow down! I'm gonna trip!"

~~~

After calming down and shopping like a reasonable person, Tammi and I exited the store several minutes later with our pockets lighter and our arms far heavier.

Tammi was carrying two bags chock full of art supplies while I myself had gotten some stuff that I had been running low on.

"So when do you think we can start practicing?" Tammi asked as she adjusted the bags on her hands.

"We can start as soon as we get back home if you want." I said, "I'm free to do what I want for the rest of the week unless someone specific calls me in."

"Awesome." Tammi grinned, causing me to smile as well at her happiness.

I went to continue but stopped dead in my tracks as I spied something out of the corner of my eye. The longer I studied it, the more my eyes widened. This was just too good!

"Hey, Tammi. Look at this." I said eagerly, pointing to a nearby poster and grinning as Tammi walked up beside me curiously, "You think we should go?"

The poster that I had indicated was advertising a meet-and-greet with the local Wards team set just a few minutes from now.. The idea of a member and heir to a notorious gang getting the signatures of several heroes was absolutely hilarious to me.

Maybe I could hang them on my bedroom wall. Or in my father's office. I was sure he'd find humor in it.

To my surprise, Tammi didn't look all that interested in going to the event. In fact, she gave the poster a particularly odd look, like she had swallowed something gross, before shaking her head in denial.

"Nah, let's not. I don't really feel like waiting in line for just a few words and a signature." She said nonchalantly, but I could tell that she really didn't care for the idea of going.

I was a little confused but decided not to push the matter, "Oh. Alright then, let's keep looking around then I guess."

"Sounds good."

As we continued on our way down the streets once again, searching for anything that caught our eye, I couldn't help but wonder why Tammi had been so nervous about the prospect of going to the event.

The heroes in Brockton Bay were… somewhat competent. Truthfully with everything they had to deal with, from the amount of villains in the city to the size of the city itself, it was a wonder that a team of less than two dozen heroes were able to do anything at all. I imagined if they were stationed in nearly any other city, their effectiveness would skyrocket.

But they weren't on any other city, they were on Brockton Bay, home to one of the largest, and most dangerous, cape populations in the entire country. There were bound to be things they missed and when they inevitably did, people had a habit of jumping on them.

Maybe Tammi had developed a dislike for heroics from something in her youth?

As I thought, Tammi turned towards me to say something just to break the silence when her eyes widened and she nearly jumped out of the way of an oncoming teenager on a skateboard who nearly ran into her, dropping her bags in the process.

She turned as the teen laughed, practically shaking with anger, "Hey! Watch where you're going, jackass! Do you not have the brain-cells to rub together to realize you should give someone a heads-up when you pass them!?"

The teen turned back to say something in return, only for him to get blindsided by a car door suddenly opening in his path. He slammed into it startling the driver who closed it almost immediately afterwards, before falling to the ground in a daze.

Tammi laughed uproariously at the sight, actually bending in half with her laughter, "Hahahaha! Of that's so fucking funny! That's what you get you stupid piece of shit! Haha!"

The teen got back to his feet with a bright red blush of embarrassment covering his face. He practically jogged away from us, barely pausing to grab his skateboard on the way as Tammi's laughter followed him out.

I wasn't paying attention to him though. Instead I watched, somewhat entranced as Tammi laughed with her whole heart at the inconsiderate teen's misfortune, taking in the way her eyes crinkled with the force of her laughter and the way that her hair fell around her face as she struggled for breath amidst her humor.

That feeling in my chest from earlier was back, only this time I managed to put a name to it.

Attraction. Somehow, without even realizing it, I had developed a crush on my best friend. That was… unexpected but in hindsight, not really that surprising. Tammi was rather good looking and a good friend to me besides that, always there when I really needed her despite not really knowing one another that long. Given my sexual preferences, it was only natural that my feelings would evolve this way.

As I process my sudden realization, Tammi recovered from her laughing fit. She straightened from her hunched position, wiping her eyes free of the tears that her laughter had caused.

"Oh that was hilarious." She sighed, slowly calming down from her outburst, "I don't think I've ever seen karma work in real time. Serves that asshole right."

She turned to me only to raise a brow in confusion, "What's that look for? Do I have something on my face or something?" She asked, running her hand along the side of her cheek.

That startled me out of my reverie, and I blinked feeling slightly embarrassed to have been caught staring, "No. I was just… lost in thought." I said quietly.

Tammi snorted as she leaned over to pick up her fallen bag, "Well try not to hurt yourself. I know you're one of those deep thinkers."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it." She gave me a grin at my unconvinced stare, before looking around at the area we were in, "I'm hungry. Wanna grab something to eat?"

I let the matter drop, feeling a bit peckish myself, "I suppose I could eat. What did you have in mind?"

Instead of answering my question, Tammi pointed over my shoulder. I followed her fingers, only to feel my expression flatten at what I saw, "Really Tammi?"

"What? We have Loui's back in the Bay so we know it'll be good!" She defended her choice.

"You just want to eat there because it's an Italian restaurant." I accused.

Tammi grinned unrepentantly, not even bothering to respond to my guess. I sighed, "Alright. But you're paying for appetizers."

"Deal!

I shook my head fondly as Tammi raced ahead, clearly more than a little eager to get something in her stomach.

I'd deal with my little revelation later in a much more private location. For now, I had to catch up with my friend before she ordered the entire menu before I even stepped foot inside the building.

---

Next five chapters available at Sadguychet | Patreon

 

[Izurukuma]

Good chapter one of transition our protagonist realized her feelings for her friend who has a cast on her arm a few days after Rune received a blow there

I don't see how this can go wrong

Now seriously I wonder how they both became friends and it's funny Tammi thought that Lung abused her daughter and now it's the protagonist who thinks that Tammi is abused