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champagnetvstes · 1 year ago

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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐: 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐲𝐦𝐢𝐚

⚘. playlist: Creep by Radiohead (acoustic version)

"A wave of heat rose through her chest. It spread across her cheeks, burning her with the shame and disgust she felt. Heroes don't need to be controlled. Yet, here she was, stained by darkness."

cw | emotional and psychological distress, Thanatos being hell on Earth, Minori's inability to trust (even herself) | 2.6k

M.LIST | ᗢᘏᓚ | TAGLIST | ᓚᘏᗢ. III

Minori tugged at the hem of her blue U.A. gym uniform. Its fabric dimmed against the vibrant and elaborate hero costumes surrounding her. She shifted her weight from foot to foot. Her eyes darted to the ground as her classmates adjusted their gear. Their excited chatter and bursts of laughter felt distant, as if she was an intruder in this realm of heroes. She took a deep breath and glanced down at her sneakers. It was her first day, and she already wanted to run out of the door.

"All right, let the Battle Trials begin!" All Might appeared in his glory, towering over every single person in the room. Minori’s eyes widened at the number one hero. His hair was much brighter than it appeared on the TV they provided in the rec room at Thanatos. "Most of the time, fighting villains takes place outside. But if you look at the total numbers, atrocious villains appear indoors at a higher rate. Imprisonment and house arrest are common. There are also backroom deals. Heroes fill this society. But, truly intelligent villains hide in the shadows! For this class, you will be divided into villains and heroes and engage in 2-on-2 indoor battles.”

Minori scanned the room, her eyes flickering from one aspiring hero to another. Amidst the sea of faces, she finally found a familiar pair of deep blue eyes that belonged to Sora. She stood beside Aizawa across the room with a smile and sent Minori a double thumbs-up. They were close enough to keep an eye on her but far enough for All Might to lead the class.

“Now, listen here,” All Might announced. "The villains have hidden a nuclear weapon in their hideout. The heroes are trying to dispose of it. They need to catch the villains or get the nuclear weapon back within the allowed time. The villains need to protect the nuclear weapon for the whole time or catch the heroes."

Drawing lots determined all the teams. Minori's team included her and Koda Koji. He was a tall, peach-colored boy with an uneven, rock-shaped head. Their opponents were Aoyama Yuga, a blonde boy with a sparkly cape, and Ashido Mina, the pink alien girl.

"The first battle is between teams A and D. A will be the heroes, and D will be the villains. Everyone else heads into the monitoring room," All Might said.

Along with her class, Minori watched the battle unfold in front of her eyes from screens. Each fight had a fifteen-minute time limit. The spiky-haired, ash-blonde started with a surprise attack from the start. A collection of smoke had appeared from the blonde's preemptive strike. He clawed at the air to make himself visible. His sharp, crimson eyes glared ruthlessly down at the boy in the bunny-eared hero suit.

Even from where Minori stood, she could see the vein on the blonde's forehead. It was ready to burst from their yelling match. Although no one could hear what they were saying, the emotions between them were palpable. With bated breath, Minori watched as the blonde lunged toward the greenette. It felt almost intrusive to witness such an intense brawl between the two boys. It was clear to tell that the blonde's intention was to blow the other into dust. His talent and obvious distraught kept propelling his merciless attacks.

"This really doesn't feel manly, guys. It feels like Bakugou's gonna kill Midoriya!" someone whispered. Minori turned toward the redhead who spoke out with a quizzical look. So that's what their names are. Her mind still lingered on the scene of Bakugou's ferocity.

"Ribbit. He has a villainous expression."

"His personality is like the furthest thing from a hero I can think of..."

Minori frowned as her class criticized Bakugou’s actions. Her eyes never left the screen as she watched the battle. The blonde was a mystery to her, but he was definitely an intriguing character. She had never seen anyone fight with such ferocity. It didn't seem fair to dismiss him like the rest of the class did. Sure, his tactics were overzealous, but to label him as a villain struck a chord deep within her.

Their battle trial ended in the heroes' victory. The building smoldered from their fight, and a giant hole writhed with smoke billowing out of it. Midoriya's attack nearly ripped the building in half and shattered all the windows. He directed a full swing through the roof, allowing his teammate the opportunity to retrieve the weapon.

Bakugou walked with the rest of the group back into the observation room. Once back, he sat in the very back, not raising his head to look at anyone. His head slumped forward, his eyes trailing listlessly across the ground. Minori observed his shallow, uneven breaths. His crimson eyes were so subdued and vacant that they didn't look like his own. He looked so completely and utterly broken.

His haunted expression mirrored the way she had felt at Thanatos. After the Hecate Massacre, teachers, guards, and students all bullied her. She could never forget the way they looked at her—like she was a monster—the same look Bakugou was getting now.

Minori tore her gaze away. Her battle trial was up next, and she needed to focus. Forced out the door with Koda, Aoyama, and Ashido, Minori spared one last glance toward Bakugou. She tilted her head as a redhead offered Bakugou a curt nod and sat next to him.

A snicker broke out nearby. "Isn't it ironic that Ki is playing a villain," someone remarked. Minori huffed in annoyance. Her heart was racing from the nerves, and she tried to push the snarky comments out of her mind. She had never used her Quirk in front of others before—let alone in a fight. It was frightening enough. But the thought of hurting another human being was even more terrifying.

The objective was simple. The role of villains was assigned to Minori and Koda. The heroes, Aoyama and Mina, had to either defeat them or save the nuclear weapon. Koda was chewing at his fingernails and she wondered if he had similar fears. He didn't seem like the fighting type. His Quirk, Anivoice, allowed him to speak to animals, but that was hardly an offensive power.

The two entered Ground Beta. All Might announced the beginning of the battle trial. The two had five minutes to prepare before the heroes entered the building.

"We have to defend the bomb, right? Do you have a plan?" Minori asked.

Koda turned toward her with wide, frightened eyes. He looked like a deer in the headlights, and Minori almost pitied him.

"You're not the fighting type, are you?"

He shook his head, his face growing paler by the second.

"Okay," Minori nodded to herself. She didn't have the best understanding of her Quirk, especially since it was strictly prohibited to use in Thanatos. If authorities caught anyone using their Quirk, they would face severe consequences. Before Sora arrived in Thanatos as a troubled youth counselor, Minori never even considered using her Quirk. It was dangerous. She was dangerous. She could cause chaos and destruction as her mother did. That thought alone sent shivers down her spine. But Sora convinced her that there was a chance for her in society. A chance to rewrite her own story and be a hero, unlike her mother. She was in a reformation school after all; she was meant to have a second chance at life.

At Thanatos, she practiced her Quirk in secret. She did so in her cell at night or outside during recreation time. Fortunately, she could discreetly use her Quirk because air always surrounded her. She trained herself to feel the molecules in her environment, the movement of the wind, and the density of the air. Now, at 17, she had developed a heightened sensitivity within her Quirk, allowing her to perceive subtle shifts in her surroundings.

"Alright then, Koda, here's the plan: you cover the weapon while I cover you, okay? All we have to do is hold them off for fifteen minutes."

Koda gave her a nervous thumbs-up. They got into position as they waited for their enemies. They both covered the weapon and watched the door where the two would come in from.

Minori got low to the ground, feeling every particle around her lighten as she relaxed her limbs. The air around her started to shift, and the particles grew heavier. She felt the pressure in the room begin to fluctuate. Minori took a deep breath.

They're near.

Particles around her quivered; her hair stood on end. Footsteps thudded unevenly outside the door.

They were here.

"Here comes the sparkles!" Aoyama barged into the room with a shot from his large, blue, sparkly laser belt. It only lasted a second, though, before he stopped and grabbed his stomach. Ashido followed behind.

"We made it!" Ashido pumped her fists. Aoyama's cape swished behind him dramatically. He carefully avoided his partner's acidic trail. Minori's mouth hung open at the comic-like appearance. Then, she noticed Ashido's acid was slowly eating the floor.

That wasn't good. They'd have to finish this soon before the whole floor collapsed.

"Stop Villain! We've come to—" Minori's eyes widened, and moved her hands out of reflex. She waved her arms in a circular motion and threw a gust of wind toward Aoyama, cutting him off. Aoyama staggered and fell backward onto the acidic floor that Mina had created. "Oh no, my sparkles!" Aoyama whined as his cape disintegrated before them.

"Sorry!" Ashido apologized, rubbing her hands together.

Minori repeated her last motion and threw another gust of air in the direction of the distracted two heroes. The heroes lost their footing and fell into an acid-induced hole in the ground, ending the battle.

"Villain Team Wins!" All Might announced. Minori let her body relax, and the tension in the air dissipated. "Good work, everyone. We didn't have any major injuries, other than young Midoriya, either! You all did a good job for your first training."

All Might escorted everyone outside to the observation room. He congratulated the winning teams on their victories, but he also acknowledged the losers for their efforts.

"There is a lot of merit in each of your performances today," All Might praised. "You can't always expect a clear-cut win, especially when your opponents have skills or abilities that you didn't expect. That's why these training exercises are so important. They help you learn how to react to your opponent and use your strengths against them."

Minori's attention waned as the hero lectured her classmates about the importance of being prepared. She didn't mean to tune him out, but she couldn't stop thinking about her battle trial. When Aoyama shot his laser, her reaction was instantaneous. It was like her body had taken over her mind. She protected the weapon. She won. She was a successful villain.

Minori bit her lip. Her trembling fingers brushed the scar under her elbow. She had played the "villain" with such ease. Her actions gnawed at her conscience. They were like creeping vines in her soul. Was this her destiny, to become a mirror image of the darkness that enveloped her mother?

She peered down at her arm. The violet mark left by Sora's Quirk seemed larger. The ragged edges and sickly hue deepened, spreading like an ugly bruise across her skin. A wave of heat rose through her chest. It spread across her cheeks, burning her with the shame and disgust she felt. Heroes don't need to be controlled. Yet, here she was, stained by darkness. Minori scoffed to herself. How could she even think she was worthy of being a hero? She wasn't a hero. She was the villain everyone expected her to be. It was only a matter of time before Sora would have to stop her. Like mother like daughter.

"That was incredible, Ki!" Minori's heart leapt to her throat, and her shoulders jerked. She whipped around, and met the bright yellow eyes of the alien girl. The pink skin of her cheeks stretched to her earlobes as her toothy grin widened. Her smile was like a ray of sunshine beaming from a cloudless sky. "Your Quirk is so cool! I mean, we were so surprised when you made that gust of wind, and then you went all boom, pow!" Ashido's hands waved wildly in front of her as she attempted to describe her powers. "So awesome!"

Minori blinked and took a step back, her eyes wide with confusion. This didn't make sense. No one at Thanatos had ever praised her Quirk. Why was this girl—someone she had defeated as a villain—complimenting her monstrous Quirk? Minori frowned and furrowed her brows. It had to be a trick, a cruel prank.

She glared at Ashido. Yes, that was it. She should have seen through it sooner. This was a familiar tactic, one she had endured countless times at Thanatos. Lure her in with false kindness and so-called friendship, only to shatter her trust in the end.

Minori remembered the times when her fellow inmates at Thanatos had feigned friendship. They would invite her into secluded areas under the guise of friendship. But, then they would turn on her viciously. Locked rooms became traps. She found herself surrounded and cornered by mocking faces and cruel laughter. They mocked her Quirk, her heritage, and her dreams of redemption, and left her with bruises that would never fully heal.

Ashido's smile faltered. "Hey, did I say something wrong?"

"Are you playing a joke on me?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"My Quirk." Ashido’s brow wrinkled, and her face scrunched up. She snapped before she could stop herself. "What are you trying to say? That I'm just a freak with a dangerous Quirk?" She let out a dry laugh, "Or is it 'cause the world's shittiest fucking person ever is in the same class as you heroes?”

Ashido’s jaw dropped. "No! I wasn't, I just... I thought you were really strong—"

"Stop it," Minori spat. Her fingers dug into her arms, and she gritted her teeth. "You're lying! That's the way it is, isn't it? You're just like everyone else. That's why you're trying to mess with my head, right?"

"No, Ki..." Ashido reached out her hand.

"Don't touch me," Minori snarled. Ashido's lips quivered and pressed into a tight line. The image burned into Minori's mind. She squeezed her eyes shut. She was better off alone. No one would want her around. They all feared her. That was her fate. That was who she was. A monster.

“Just leave me alone. I don't need you speaking to me. I don't need any of you guys."

"Minori?" Sora asked, looking between the two girls with a slight frown. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing,” Minori bit out. “Everything’s fine.” Sora's shoulders slumped, and she exhaled a slow, heavy sigh. Minori spun on her heel and stalked away, her heart pounding against her ribcage. The weight of Sora’s disappointment and Ashido’s pained eyes bore down on her. Her steps quickened. She felt her classmates' stares. Their eyes dug into her back as she left the Beta Grounds and went toward the locker rooms. It was suffocating. She clenched her jaw and pressed her nails into her palm. The sharp sting a welcome distraction from the ache in her chest. She had to get out of there. She couldn't afford to let it in. Not now. Not ever. She couldn't trust anyone. Her mind replayed every betrayal, every false promise of friendship that had led to locked rooms and cruel ambushes. Her pulse raced. She forced herself to focus on the rhythm of her steps. Each one a mantra: don't trust them, you can't even trust yourself. She was better off alone. Safer.

M.LIST | ᗢᘏᓚ | TAGLIST | ᓚᘏᗢ. III

♡tagged♡ @yogurtsdayout

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champagnetvstes · 1 year ago

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sixteen — what happened

mess it up — gojo x reader & sukuna x reader

⁀➴ when i told you i’m fine, you were lied to. when the love of your life falls for someone else, you decide to move on—by pretending to date your best friend, the campus fuckboy.

previous — masterlist — next

word count. 2.1k content. profanity, mentions of alcohol consumption, break up scene

Satoru swears that he must’ve missed the signs. He was always so good at reading you, at figuring out your next move, at trying to piece together what the next step was for the two of you. He was always alert, always aware. So he doesn’t know how he missed the signs, how he couldn’t see what must’ve been happening right before his eyes.

He remembers waking up the morning after one of Yuji’s infamous ragers, the ones that always sent people stumbling home at six in the morning, passing out in the classes that they were unlucky to have the next day. He remembers touching the space in his bed where you were supposed to be, eyes closed but certain that his fingers would eventually brush against the skin of your shoulder, the warmth of your neck.

He remembers opening his eyes then when all he was met with was the cold sheets of his bed. You had left your imprint on his mattress, but you were nowhere to be found.

He got out of bed, barely awake, but already intent on one goal: Finding you.

You couldn’t have wandered too far, but you weren’t in the bathroom down the hall—the one he shared with Yuta and Suguru—and you weren’t on the landing before the second floor, the one with a bay window that you often spent your time looking through with a cup of coffee in your hands.

Satoru nearly fell as he stumbled down the stairs, bare feet loud against the wooden steps. Where could you have gone? Where would he find you?

Eventually, he found his way to the dining room, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw you sitting at the table, eyes low as you nursed a glass of water in your hands.

He remembers how you looked at him then. Not with your usual bright smile. Not even your lazily hungover grin. You looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights, like you were somehow guilty of something he didn’t exactly know.

“Hey, princess,” he greeted, walking over to plant a kiss on your forehead. When his lips touched your skin, he noticed the way you flinched. It was small, a slight movement that could’ve been passed off as you simply moving against his touch. But he knew it was something else. He didn’t know how, but he could tell.

He pulled back, worry painted across his features. “You okay?”

You weren’t even looking at him, you had your eyes glued to the glass in your hands. You hummed, a strained sound, like you were trying to make it sound normal and you were failing horribly. “I’m good, ‘Toru,” you told him. “All good.”

He opened his mouth to ask you if you were sure. If you meant what you were saying. But he knew better than to question you.

You slipped out of your chair and started puttering about the kitchen, putting away bowls on the drying rack, placing slices of bread in the toaster, making a batch of fresh coffee. You were just trying to help out, you told him when he asked you why you were doing all that. Satoru couldn’t bring himself to press, to ask what was wrong, to ask why you were acting so strange.

When you left the house, you only gave him a peck on the cheek before you were rushing out the door. It was as if you couldn’t get out of there fast enough. You couldn’t stand to be around him any longer.

“She leave?” Naoya asked, stepping out of his bedroom. He yawned, stretching his arms behind his back as he did.

Satoru nodded, a frown on his lips. “Yeah,” he said. “She was… weird.”

His housemate chuckled. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Satoru said, because he truly had no clue what that was all about. “It was like she was avoiding me the whole time.”

“Ah, well, she’s a girl,” Naoya told him. “Girls are weird sometimes.”

Satoru couldn’t seem to argue with him. As much as he wanted to, the whole interaction with you had rendered him depleted, unable to think about anything other than the fact that you had been so distant. So cold.

Naoya patted him on the back on his way to the kitchen. “She’ll come around,” he said. “You gonna eat this toast?”

Your boyfriend shook his head. “You can have it,” he murmured. “I’ll be in my room.”

“Okay, big guy,” his housemate said. As Satoru started up the stairs, Naoya called after him, peering up at him when he stopped in his tracks. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Maybe she just needs some space.”

Satoru nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe.”

The next few days didn’t prove to be any better. Satoru tried continuing the little routines the two of you had built in your time together. Picking you up from training. Meeting with after your classes. Having dinner on nights when the two of you were free.

Everything seemed normal on the surface. A happy girlfriend with her devoted boyfriend. You played the roles well, but that was all it felt like—roles that the two of you were fulfilling for no other rhyme or reason aside from the fact that you were supposed to be a couple.

The change had happened seemingly overnight. Before that morning in the kitchen, Satoru hadn’t noticed a change in your behavior. The two of you were fine. Perfect even.

At Yuji’s party just the night before, you had been your regular sparkling self. You filled the room with endless conversation, mindless drunken chatter. At some point, you had even looked up from a conversation with Suguru to smile at your boyfriend when you realized that he was looking at you.

Satoru realized that was the last time you smiled at him that way.

It had been building up when it finally happened. When you decided to put the final nail in the coffin.

“I don’t think this is working,” you told him that afternoon on the steps of the science building. “I think we should break up.”

Even then, Satoru found himself caught completely off-guard. He had seen this coming and yet that didn’t seem to be enough. Because he didn’t know why it had come in the first place, he had no clue.

“But why?” he asked. He tried to reach for your hand, but you were already stepping back, already pulling away. You wouldn’t even look him in the eye. “You can’t just do this to us.”

You gnawed at your lower lip, playing with the hem of your shirt as you continued to avoid his gaze. “It’s not working,” you told him again, like it was the only thing you knew to say. “You’ve felt it too, haven’t you?”

“Tell me why.”

“Satoru, I don’t want to hurt you.”

The sound he let out was the most desperate one he’d ever made in his life. It was somewhere between a wail and a gasp, somewhere between pain and shock. “You’re already hurting me,” he told you. “At least have the decency to tell me why.”

“Because,” you said uselessly. You finally found it in yourself to look up at him, to meet his eyes, all wet now with tears. “‘Toru, please don’t cry.”

“Then don’t break up with me,” he insisted. “Princess, baby, please.”

But you were resolved. He could tell from the way you looked at him, your eyes full of tears, but also full of certainty. This wasn’t something he could argue his way out of. He could never argue with you. It was a winless fight.

What you said before you left would haunt him for the time thereafter. It would leave him with so many questions. So much confusion. So many sleepless nights, just trying to figure out what you meant. What possessed you to say such a thing.

“Maybe the next one will be the one for you,” you told him, offering him a smile that he was certain that he would remember for the rest of his life. Your lips quivered as you gave him one last look, one last pitiful goodbye, before you left, completely slipping out of his life.

She doesn’t know how to bring this up. It isn’t the kind of thing you can just casually mention in a conversation. Not the kind of thing you can just ask someone about without having to face the repercussions.

She’s spent the past few minutes trying to figure out what the right plan of action is. She gives up. Propriety be damned, she thinks as she marches over to the bed.

“Satoru, what is this?” Kimi asks, letting the thing fall from her hands and onto the duvet beside the spot where Satoru sits.

He put his towel down, caught in the middle of drying his hair. He raises his brow at her before looking down at the thing she’s just dropped. His eyes grow wide. Fuck.

“I, uh, that’s just—fuck—I don’t—why were you going through my things?”

Kimi frowns, crossing her arms over her chest. “I wasn’t going through your things,” she tells him. “I asked to borrow a shirt, remember? It was in your drawer.”

Satoru stares at the box on his bed. Small, just enough to fit in the palm of his hand, covered in the tell-tale velvet that these kinds of boxes come in. He doesn’t need to open it to know what’s inside. He already knows. It can only be one thing.

He offers his girlfriend a sheepish grin. ��Right,” he says. “I did tell you to look in there.”

She looks at him expectantly. “So? Can you tell me what that is?”

Satoru picks the box up, holds it in his hand with a tenderness it doesn’t deserve. “Don’t make me say it.”

Kimi sighs and sits down on the bed beside him. She watches as he turns the box over, studying each of its edges, the groves at the spot where the box opens. She may not love Satoru, but she’s been around him enough to care about him. To not want him to hurt as badly as he does.

“Was that for her?” she asks.

He hums, unable to say the words out loud.

Kimi pulls her legs up on the bed and holds her knees to her chest, swaying side to side and allowing her shoulder to gently bump against his. “I know you don’t wanna talk about it,” she says. “But I think I deserve to know a few things. With me being your girlfriend and all.”

Satoru turns to look at her, smiling softly as he presses a kiss to her temple. “Yeah, I know,” he says. “What do you wanna know?”

“What happened to the two of you?”

“Damn, coming at me with the big guns, huh?”

She lets out a little laugh. “It’s really the only question I have.”

Satoru purses his lips and shrugs. “I don’t know,” he tells her. “I really don’t know.”

“Did you ask her?”

“I tried. When she ended things.”

Kimi stops swaying and reaches over to place a hand on Satoru’s thigh. “I’m sorry.”

His hand moves to cup hers. “Thanks.”

“What was she like before she broke up with you though?”

“What do you mean?”

“I dunno,” Kimi says, pulling her hand away and placing it on her lap. “It’s just that relationships don’t usually go from perfect to dead without something happening. Did you get in a fight?”

Satoru shakes his head. “No, not a fight,” he says. “But I did notice she was acting weird before that. I don’t know.” He looks at Kimi like a sad puppy, pouting. “You’re a girl, you probably have more insight than me. What do you think happened?”

“Well, I don’t know her that well,” Kimi says. “Or you for that matter. But…”

“But?”

“When someone breaks up with you out of nowhere, there was probably a trigger,” she tells him. “Maybe she did something. Or maybe you did. Or maybe something happened in her life that had something to do with your relationship. Or maybe someone said something to her, got in her head, you know. Could be a bunch of things, but it was probably something.”

It’s not a lot, but hearing her say it just confirms what Satoru’s been thinking this whole time. Something must have happened for you to change so drastically, for you to want out of the relationship just like that.

He looks at the box in his hand. Inside is the ring that he—admittedly stupidly—picked out way before either of you were actually ready to get married. He had a lot of hope in the two of you, and he knows that for the longest time, you did too.

He doesn’t know what happened. He doesn’t know if he ever will.

notes. needed to give my boy gojo some screen time 😌 we’re also getting closer and closer to what caused the break up and it’s getting more and more confusing 🫣

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