#GUESS WHO HAD TO DEAL WITH SHITTY PARENTS LAST WEEK?

[atlantis-just-drowned]

A/N: "Who asked for 1k of Pluto x reader hurt/comfort featuring parental issues?" you might ask. Well, the answer is: no one. But sometimes, a man must take it upon himself to create the very thing he wishes to see in the world. And I've been dealing with some nasty business lately, so you guys get some good ol' projection. But I'm fine now (for the most part)! I didn't really re-read this so I'd appreciate feedback to know whether or not this is shit. Anyway. gn!Reader is in an established relationship with Pluto in this one. TW for well... parental issues. And also financial issues because it wouldn't have been funny otherwise.

"You can always count on me"

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Masterlist

You looked at the desk in front of you, littered with tons and tons of envelopes, disorganized letters, bill sheets. There’s so many things you barely even knew where to start. It was all too much, overwhelming you with the pressure of all the problems that had recently exploded in your face and you were left having to deal with on your own.

It’s not fair, you thought, covering your face with your palms and letting out a sigh.

You couldn't even think straight anymore, and you hadn’t been able to have a full conversation in the whole day. You were easily irritated, and grumpy, and you spent most of your time looking into the void rather than actually doing anything.

You’re at your limit. You knew that. You couldn’t take it anymore.

You haven’t even opened all of the letters from your parents yet, let alone reply to a single one of them. You already knew what they were all saying: always the same speech, the same excuses, the same accusations. The same threats. The same half-assed apologies. Every. Single. Time.

Telling you the exact same things, each time more aggressively, in a logic that kept getting more and more distorted into something horrifying and hateful. You didn’t want to read those letters anymore, you wished they could all just disappear. You’d been thinking about contacting a social worker to help you with this, but you hadn’t found the time. Or the motivation. Even taking care of the modest apartment had been too big of a task recently.

Then there’s the bills, they weren’t going to pay themselves. You’d already picked from your savings to finish the month without starving, and your paycheck wouldn’t arrive before a few more days. You couldn’t do anything, except wait. And hope that what you’d gained would be enough to pay rent, and electricity, and feed yourself for the whole month to come.

It was all such bullshit. You thought you’d probably cry, if you weren’t so utterly exhausted.

Sinking your head between your arms, you closed your eyes to stop the world from swirling around, and tried to concentrate on your breathing. One of your friends had told you it was important. Breathing exercises. “To relax”, or whatever. You weren’t feeling like relaxing. There was way too much to do, and your future was way too uncertain for you to simply lay back and relax. Your helplessness was terrifying.

The fact that you had no control over your own life weighted you down, the obvious state of rapid deterioration in the relationship between you and your parents made you feel so broken. They had never been good to you or your sibling in the first place, but to know they might completely disappear from your life was a horrible idea. You weren’t ready for this.

You were so caught up in the spiral that you didn’t even deign lifting your head up to greet the new comer when you heard the front door open.

Pluto wasn’t exactly living here. You wouldn’t say that he wasn’t not living here either. It just wasn’t exactly official. He simply spent the majority of his time at your place – not that you were complaining. His presence was more than welcome. It was soothing to know someone was here with you, at times.

You heard his footsteps getting closer to where you were hunched on your chair, face hidden in your arms. You didn’t say a word. He stopped next to you, his eye glossing over the scattered pieces of paper all over the desk.

Extending an arm, he picked up one of the unopened letters. It was from the same persons as all of the others: your last name preceded by the mention “Mr. and Mrs.” made the identity of the sender quite clear. You knew if you looked up, you’d probably see your boyfriend squinting to read the address.

After a moment, the letter was replaced on the desk with a pained sigh, and his gaze fell on you.

You felt his fingers threading through your hair, his other hand coming to hold one of yours, thumb caressing your palm. He was so gentle with you it almost hurt. You felt so lost, and worn out, and lonely. Your family was tearing itself apart, and you couldn’t do anything else but watch in horror and scramble for a semblance of warmth. It was debilitating, this constant fog of negativity covering your thoughts.

“Sweetheart.” you heard him say, his tone gentle and loving. It was enough to shake you out of the spiral you had started to fall back into.

Pluto usually wasn’t one to use cheesy nicknames for you. He preferred your name, or a shortened version of it at best – which was the closest thing to a nickname he used most of the time, and a privilege in itself, given that he called even his closest friends by their full names. No, the corny, classic couples nicknames were only for the rare occasions where he was trying to reassure you, because he was genuinely worried for you.

You knew all of this of course, and that’s partly why you finally decided to lift your head up toward him.

Immediately, the hand that was in your hair went to cradle your face instead, and he took a step closer to you.

The expression in his eye was tender as he looked at you, detailing your features with the slightest trace of concern. He frowned. It pained him to see you in such a state, overwhelmed by all of your problems piling up on top of one another.

Slowly, he caressed your cheek with his thumb as he spoke barely above a whisper, serious and yet understanding. “Let’s sit on the couch alright? You’ll be more comfortable than hunched on your desk chair.”

He gave a squeeze to your hand with his, before gripping it firmer and pulling you up. You followed his direction half-heartedly, ending up almost flushed against him when you actually stood up.

Neither of you two acknowledge this fact, however. Quite frankly, you weren’t in the mood to acknowledge anything else than your seemingly imminent doom.

Looking down to the floor, you let Pluto guide you slowly to your own couch, before sitting down on it and pulling on both of your arms. Without a word you sat down, splayed across his laps, and buried your face in the crook of his neck.

You arms went around his waist to hold him tight against you, basking in his presence, and you felt one of his hands going in your hair while the other rested on the small of your back.

You were safe.

Cared for.

Protected.

For the first time in the whole day, it was like you weren’t alone anymore.

Pluto had never been a man of many words, and even now, he simply chose to hold you in silence. But it was enough to you. You knew he understood what you were going through, and you knew he’d always be with you to hold you through it. That was more than you could have asked for, and you cherished his comforting embrace more than anything else in this world.

You focused on his calm breathing, trying to keep the negative thoughts at bay, and relishing in the feeling of his fingers caressing your head. The two of you stayed this way for a while, in silence, until the dark-haired man took a deep breath, and confessed gently:

“I know you feel scared. And deceived. And… maybe lost, too.” He paused. You knew all of this was more familiar to him than you both wished for. “But I promise you, you won’t be on your own through it all. I’ll be here for you.”

You felt him move just enough to kiss the crown of your head, and he kept his face buried there as he added. “Trust me, I know how it feels,” his voice was soft, almost a whisper, and your name on his lips sounded like the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard. “You can always count on me. No matter what, I’ll help you get through this.”

He pressed another kiss to your head, caressing up and down your back gently, and you realized how much your eyelids had started to get heavy. Closing your eyes, you left a trail of small kisses from down his neck, to his jaw, his cheek, and finally, you lifted your head from the crook of his neck to press a gentle kiss on his lips.

He kissed you back almost instantly, his arms squeezing you tighter as you went back to lay your head on his shoulder, and whispered a small “Thank you.”

The exhaustion was starting to get to you, and you couldn’t say much more for now, because you were unable to put into words how much this meant to you. But as you laid here against him and started to doze off into a dreamless slumber, you couldn’t be more grateful to have him in your life, as your partner.

[paceprompting]

Need a Ride?

written for ‘snowfall’ wc: 1000 # | steddie | rated: g | cw: non archive warnings apply | tags: alternate first meeting, pre-season four, feat. steve harrington's beemer

@steddieholidaydrabbles

He was sending his van right to the dump this time. He meant it.

Stupid engine he’d had to drop all his profits on for the third time crapping out right in the middle of the road. Leaving him to hoof it back to the gas station and hope that Wayne was home from his shift to get the call.

And of course, the snow season had to start today.

Head ducked against the wind, with only his battle vest and leather jacket against the bracing cold and snowflakes that stung his cheeks and nose where it wasn’t covered by his hair. He was just glad that there were streetlights so he wasn’t veering off into nowhere in the dark.

He could barely feel his fingers in his pockets by the time he made it to the station. He was still shivering, so he wasn’t quite at the point of hypothermia, but even dialing the numbers on the pay phone was a bit of a feat in itself.

Eddie put his back to the wind as the phone rang. And rang. Eventually, it rang out.

Wayne must have picked up a double shift. Not unusual, especially this time of year. Honestly, Eddie should have guessed that in the first place and called the plant instead of the trailer.

And he didn’t have enough change for another call. Guess he shouldn’t have stopped to buy that pack of cigarettes. That he’d already opened and smoked one from before his shitty van broke down.

“Fuck,” Eddie hissed, smacking the receiver into the hook.

He could trudge back to the van and settle in for the night. But without heat, he’d be just as well off trying to walk home in the wind and snow. And he wasn’t going to be getting sympathy with how he was dressed for spare change, much less did he have anything to deal to someone who would give him the time of day.

If he didn’t figure this out quick, he was going to get arrested for loitering.

Although…

“Munson?”

He perked up despite himself, recognizing the voice. Even if it wasn’t exactly someone he was elated to have run into at a pretty low point in his day.

Standing there under cover from the wind, the snow fell gently onto Steve Harrington. Of course it did. Settled on his hair and his jacket like powdered sugar on an overly-sweet dessert.

He wasn’t getting gas, pulled over and stood with the driver’s door open. One hand braced on the door and the other on the hood of his car, Steve stared curiously at Eddie. He was actually dressed for the weather, a puffy white and pale blue-striped monstrosity with fur around the hood.

Steve glanced at the rest of the gas station, noticing that his was the only car around.

“What are you doing here?”

Eddie stayed beside the payphone, in the wind and snow, but the farthest he could be from Steve. He’d dealt to him a few times, just weed, really, and only knew Steve by reputation. Last he’d heard, Steve had just dumped his two lackeys, Tommy and Carol and had slung ice cream at the Starcourt Mall until it burst into flames.

Why Harrington could care about him, Eddie had no idea.

“Van broke down,” he answered shortly, shoving his hands in his pockets even though the leather was nearly as cold as the wind. He gave a strained smile. “Stuck here.”

“Phone busted?”

“Out of money.” Eddie cocked his head, feeling bold. “Got fifty cents?”

It’d be enough for another call to the trailer and one to Wayne’s work for safety.

Steve raised both brows, and Eddie blanched. He and Steve were practically strangers, and he’d immediately hit Steve up for money. Even if he was known as the rich kid with parties every week because his parents were never home—Eddie was so far off his radar, he might as well have been gum under his shoe.

“I could give you a ride,” Steve said instead. “Forest Hills, right?”

A ride in the Steve Harrington’s Beemer. Sleek and maroon and drool-worthy.

The girls at school that would have literally slit his throat to be in Eddie’s place.

Eddie’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head, but he managed to find words and point back at the payphone with his thumb.

“I really just need to call my uncle. He’ll come get me.”

Steve leveled a gaze at him. “And you’ll spend an hour in the snow waiting. I’m not going to leave you out here to freeze.”

Eddie sucked his teeth, staring Steve down. He hated to give Steve the point of being right, but he was starting to lose feeling in his hands and his cheeks were stinging from the wind across his face.

He sighed, wetting his bottom lip. Or tried to, since the wet from his tongue only made his face freeze more.

“Fine,” he said, ducking his head as he trudged toward the Beemer. He didn’t dare stop to double-check with Steve, wincing as he pulled his hand from his pocket to open the door and slide inside.

The inside was immediately ten times warmer, blasting from the fans and Eddie nearly moaned. Until Steve’s door slammed closed and suddenly Eddie was inside Steve Harrington’s car. With Steve Harrington.

“You good, Munson?”

He was staring, he realized only after Steve spoke. If Steve wasn’t apprehensive about letting the school freak into his car, he was sure to be when Eddie acted as though he’d been raised far from civilization.

He forced a hard swallow. “Just surprised this isn’t all some trick. My type doesn’t exactly mesh with your type.”

Steve gave this chuckle, like an inside joke only he had any idea of.

“Right,” he said softly, and Eddie definitely felt as though he was way out of the loop on a new kind of Steve Harrington.

A kind he had a single car ride to figure out.

Part Two

[wolfspurr]

Please. Please tell me more about A Dog Called Derek

Around two years ago someone (I think @thotpuppy?) shared a screenshot of this tweet with me as a prompt, and I immediately got to work.

My parents have never met my dog, and wrongly assumed that Bobby was my boyfriend. I've let them believe the lie for 6 months now and I'm panicking because we've both been invited to my cousin's wedding and now I need a dog sitter and a fake boyfriend.

It then got put on the back burner for way too long whilst I worked on other things with looming deadlines. I'm totally going to finish it at some point. Hopefully sooner rather than later!

Snippet? Yeah, go on then ;)

“Hey man, how’s it going?” Stiles breezes into the back room of the vet’s surgery with the confident air of someone who is definitely supposed to be there, despite the ‘staff only’ sign hung prominently on the door and the fact that Stiles is very much not a member of staff. Scott has been lacking in time for bro hangouts, though, so Stiles will take his company where he can get it. If that means it’s while Scott is busy expressing the anal glands of an unenthusiastic beagle, so be it. “Yeah,” Scott says as Stiles situates himself decisively at the head end of the dog. “Ricky here is about to be feeling a whole lot better, aren’t you buddy?” “You have my full support and sympathy, Ricky.” Stiles grimaces, reaching out to scratch behind the beagle’s ears as Scott pulls on a pair of gloves. “I don’t suppose you can hang after work today? There’s a new Thai place near mine that I’ve been wanting to try. Ally can come too?” “Sorry bro, dinner with the in-laws tonight. You can go and chill in the dog room whilst I deal with Ricky if you want? We’ve got a newcomer who might want some company, and I’m not sure we want a repeat performance of the last time you thought you could keep composure around bodily fluids.” Stiles shudders, thinking back to last week’s incident with Walter the French bulldog. Scott may have a point. There had been no dignity left in that room; Stiles might never quite look at a French bulldog the same way again. “Yeah, that might not be a bad plan. Sorry, Ricky. Please know I’ll be supporting you from the other room where things are less disgusting. You’ve got this, dog-bro!” Stiles pats Ricky on the head and makes his way briskly out of the room before he witnesses or smells anything that really doesn't need to be experienced. He closes the door quickly behind him, breathing a sigh of relief that he’s escaped without any trauma for the day. The dog room is the best room at the vet’s surgery, and Stiles spends more of his free time in it than he really cares to admit. There’s nothing quite like cuddling with puppies to improve a shitty day, and Stiles finds himself in here even at times when Scott isn’t actually working. Kira, one of the veterinary nurses, is already in there, fussing over a puppy that looks more like a little white cloud than an actual dog. “Hey Kira, I thought I’d give Ricky a bit of privacy. Scotty says there’s a new best friend waiting for me in here.” “Hey Stiles, good to see you! I’m guessing he’s talking about this guy.” Kira shuts the cage door on the ball of fluff, smiling cheerfully at Stiles as she beckons him over to a cage in the corner. “Want to come and meet him?” “Of all the stupid questions, Kira.” Stiles hurries himself over, crouching down so he can see the inhabitant, all black fur and mournful brown eyes. The dog perks up as soon as Stiles appears, assessing him with a careful stare and nosing forward to give Stiles’ fingers a tentative lick where he’s poking them through the wire of the cage door. Stiles is in love.

[quaddmgd]

Fuck it, life update.

I can finally say that I'm done with my job. I was stuck there for an entire year, dealing with shitty coworkers and even shittier higher-ups, with each month bringing even more things to worry about without any rise in pay. My back problems (and arguably my eyesight) worsened a lot over this year, I was being overworked, often working six days a week, guilt-tripped into taking unreported overtime and all I got is a workplace injury that put me out of work for a month and a half and... hormones!

So basically, I'm trans. I kinda suggested it a few times in the past, but since I'm on HRT, feeling much better in my own body, I'm much more open and proud about it. I live in a country where informed consent isn't enough and I had to spend a lot of money and time to get hormones.

I started working on getting hormones in october and due to it requiring multiple meetings with specialists, some bureaucracy and some mistakes made by my psychologist, I only started HRT on July 1st.

That's how long it took me and I only really started earning money after January because of how costly the procedures are (and how little they paid me I guess).

So, after January it was "working until I get hormones", with the start of July it was "working for as long as I have the strength and no boobs".

Funny thing is, a few days after starting HRT I suffered that workplace injury that put me out of work for a month and a half - partially because of our shitty healthcare, but who am I to complain?

Technically it was a broken finger, but I'm reality it was just a crushed tip. I could do all I wanted in my free time, just had to have it splinted. I got to rest after almost a year of working with no days off, all the hell I went through, all the transphobic assholes I was working with. Most importantly, I got to experience some of the first hormonal changes in the safety of my home.

Funnily enough, my boobs started developing about two weeks after starting HRT (much sooner than I thought they would) and by the time I went back to work they were already visible (and bouncing when going down the stairs uwu).

Getting changed with a group of transphobic boys could soon end up being dangerous so I knew it's time to give them a quit notice. Oh and my employers pissed me off by guilt-tripping me for getting injured, I guess, and trying to cancel my scheduled week off.

It was already decided - the moment I come back, they're getting a quit notice. And they did. They didn't even ask why I'm quitting and tried to put me on forced overtime once again. This time instead of coming to work, I went to a local pride event <3 (the way they do overtime is illegal where I live and they can't force me to do shit).

I finished my last night shift on a Saturday morning and now I'm looking for a new, less physical job, ideally not requiring getting changed with other people. Even though I'm lucky to look quite feminine, you can only get so feminine living your life on testosterone and I'm going to have to continue boymoding for some time.

I'm not really going to list all the things that happened at work since it's not a place for that. Along with a few coworkers we were considering reporting them to a labor inspectorate but no one wanted to take action with me. No one really wants any change. And I just want to forget about all of it. I just want to focus on my transition and on getting a more comfortable job.

It's been hell of a year. I lost my parents and most of the family after coming out, I heard a few transphobic jokes at work (thankfully not directed at me... i don't think anybody suspected anything), I lost so much money and went through so much to get these stupid pills.

But I'm so much happier. And quitting the job is only a small part of it. Since I started emotionally changing on hormones, I finally see things a bit clearer, I understand my emotions, I can finally cry when I feel the need to, I'm so much more creative, I'm feeling so delicate and I even find myself more attractive, I feel more in my own body, even though most changes probably haven't even started... and much more (just some things I'm going to keep to myself :3). I underestimated how good the emotional changes on hormones must feel. I would never want to go back.

It feels so good to finally be on estrogen and be out to my friends. I'm feeling much better.

Wish this was written better but I'm still kinda hungover from the last few weeks and I didn't feel like splitting the job and transition into separate posts. But I'm for sure going to continue talking about the latter because it makes me so happy.

[critical-quoter]

Reviews from Last Week

Failure to Thrive - Elle Rivers ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ���� This was such a frustrating read to me. The writing is great. I really like Elle Rivers's way of portraying characters and, as far as what I've read from her, her writing style just pleases me. The problem here came to the way Riley was treated by everyone around her. I had an addict parent, I've been around alcoholics for most of my life. Riley was not an alcoholic. She held a job, she kept an apartment, she didn't drive drunk. She stopped drinking, cold-turkey with only a minor headache. Did she drink heavily when she was unable to deal with things that upset her? Yes, and that's not a great coping mechanism. But my god, her mother and sister were the worst harpies to be around. I'd drink to excess too if I had to deal with them. And Oliver constantly questioning her sobriety was maddening. This man entrusted her with his 4-year-old, but he's still going to second guess everything she does? Either recognize that she's not a drunk or don't have her around your kid. 

Regardless, it has a HFN ending and there's apparently a follow-up novella to give them their HEA, but I'm just not in to it. I wanted to like this more but the characters just didn't do it for me.

Wretched Love - Anne Malcom ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🏍️ This was a bit of a mess to read. As with many books that have a FMC that suffered through domestic violence, the apparent cure to it is BDSM. It's frustrating to read because frankly, therapy is rarely mentioned in books like this. Kate was beat for 18 years before she finally escaped. She was away from her abusive husband for a month and all of a sudden she's jumping into a relationship with a "alpha male biker" who can only get off by choking the life out of the woman he's sleeping with. It's just unrealistic. 

The sexual chemistry was off the charts but I felt like the actual relationship wasn't really all that well built. It was just insta-lust and then basically insta-love. And the insta-love is excused because these guys live dangerous lives so they just know immediately who they're gonna love forever. Okay, weird flex. 

Anyway, Anne Malcom is kind of a hit or miss author for me. I think this would have been better if the relationship was built upon, if we got me POV from Swiss, and if he actually grovelled for the shitty behavior he put out. It is what it is.

King - S.J. Tilly (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👑 This series is so off the walls unhinged. It's so hard to take seriously just based on the MMC's POV. The amount of times King is panting after Savannah's tits or ass is laughable. This isn't a literary masterpiece, but gotdamn, I love it. The men in this series are absolute simps, from the very start. King and Savannah had such great chemistry. The banter between the two was so good and Savannah gave as good as she got throughout all of it. They just worked so well together. Both of them unhinged and feral for each other.

Savannah is my least favorite FMC in this series. The focus on her weight and the whining that she does constantly were exhausting. But man, I love the writing.

I am not a fan of Jack Calihan (the MMC narrator for the audiobook). I know this is a personal preference but at times he sounds like Willem Dafoe and it just really takes me out of the book. 4 stars for the story. 3 stars for the audio.

When He Reads to Me - T.L. Smith ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 📚 I feel like I read a different book from everyone else that recommended this. So much of this didn't add up and I felt like most of the dialogue was half completed and not thought out. Conversations didn't seem to flow in a realistic way, and a lot of the time, it seemed like there were things that weren't said but mad eout like the reader should know.

The plot itself was also all over the place. There was worry for the sister, but we aren't really given any details on what had happened other than the police officer sister used to be a major drug addict and the husband had blackmail material on her. That material was used to basically pimp out our FMC, Lissie. And Milo, our MMC, has been obsessed with Lissie since school but the husband has warned him away for years. Whatever. None of it made sense. This wasn't even an issue of showing, not telling, this was an issue of neither showing or telling but expecting the reader to figure it out. I may not be the brightest but I don't think anyone should have to do mental gymnastics for a romance book that's under 300 pages, or any romance book for that matter.

The pacing and timeline were weirdly disjointed and it made the book feel rushed and incomplete. Overall, this was just not it for me. I like some of the other books by T.L. Smith but this wasn't one of them.

All Your Pucking Secrets - A. Rivers ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🏒 I found it so hard to get behind this book. I wanted to like it. It had the set up to be liked. But in my heart of hearts, I could not bring myself to forgive Tyler for his past choices. It just didn't seem believable. There was just so much that he did to destroy the relationship in the past that I truly could not look past it, despite his groveling and celibacy.

Echo deserved better and the fact that she was so back and forth with him throughout his chase was also so annoying. She'd start to warm up, find out one of Tyler's lies, get pissed off again. Rinse and repeat. It was just exhausting to read, especially for a book under 300 pages.

Poison Heart - Mae Pierce ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☠️ I really, really enjoyed this. The fact that Romeo was so stupid for so much of this was fantastic. How many times does your wife need to poison and/or bite you before you realize that she might not be that sweet of a woman?

Romeo's groveling was so good. Anita made him metaphorically crawl to make up for his male idiocy and it was good. They had pretty decent chemistry and the legitimate enemy to lover transformation that Anita went through was so good.

I would rate this closer to 3.5 stars. There was just something missing, or maybe something too much there. The addition of Romeo's mother's mystery seemed kind out of left field and almost just useless filler. It didn't really seem to add much to the story except far too many pages in an almost 40 page epilogue. And apart from that mystery, the epilogue was so good. It wrapped up Anita and Romeo so well.

Mother Maker - Jenni Bara ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⚾️ This series is just so good. I could not stop giggling, either over the banter, the pranks, or just the swoon-worthy moments that Cortney kept throwing out. And this is what I want in a book with an accidental pregnancy trope. I want a simp that's all in from the start. Cortney was head over heels for Dylan right off the bat and the pregnancy just sealed it for him. They had perfect chemistry, Cortney fit in with the rest of the charracters, and we got so many cameos of Beckett and the other women and kids. It was just so good. 

This was cozy, no angst, no ow/om drama. Just a chill fun time with plenty of funny moments.

Married With Malice - Cora Brent ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💍 Sometimes the miscommunication trope just slaps. Sometimes it just sits so good and you can just revel in grown adults not knowing how to talk to one another. And boy, do these two not know how to talk to each other. I think 90% of the issues with their relationship would have been solved if they just sat down and had an honest conversation, but no, that's not how romance books work. And thankfully, at least for someone who appreciates a good miscommunication, it worked here. Especially considering the external issues in the relationship as well.

I really liked Luca and Annalisa. I think it's important to recognize that they had more sexual chemistry than they did anything else, at least in the beginning and the middle, but they worked for me. This definitely has some Wattpad vibes, but like decently written Wattpad. And you know what, I can dig it.

No Pucking Way - C.R. Jane & May Dawson (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⛸️ No Pucking Way is just one of the most seriously un-serious books/duets ever. It's so angsty and filled with drama, and danger, and big tough men. I just love this so much. C.R. Jane's over the top dark hockey romances just get me. 

The men (all 4 of them) are obsessive and over the top. Their circumstances don't really make sense. But man, I just love it. This is a silly goofy good time. It's not meant to be a masterpiece (at least I hope that wasn't Jane's intention) and it's just meant to be enjoyed for its ridiculousness.

Where else are you going to get a dark, reverse harem, hockey romance that's mafia ajacent? No where that's this good.

Nine Month Contrract - Amy Daws ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🐖 This was pretty cute. But to be honest, I don't think think the surrogacy trope is for me, particularly when it changes weirdly into a breeding kink. I liked Wyatt as a character. I am a sucker for a broody silent type, but Trista was a walking ick for me. Her constantly calling herself fat, saying that she's happy with her body but then blaming it for the reason men don't date her or why Wyatt supposedly wouldn't be interested in her. And then her constantly referring to herself as a cow. I know that is done so she won't get attached, but couple it with the fat comments and it just feels like a fatphobic attack. 

Overall, the tone is pretty lighthearted, and there's some comedy. But with the fatphobia, the seriousness of surrogacy, and the childhood trauma, it just wasn't for me. The comedy fell flat overall just because of those aspects.

Level Up, Love - Bethany Joy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🎮 Honestly? Pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It was such a fast and cozy read. Even with the added suspense of a stalker, it didn't feel like it was high stakes. I absolutely loved Sage as a character. Is it because I, too, find myself living as basically a hermit in my home, only venturing out when I postively cannot avoid it? Probably. But she was just so unabashedly nerdy and comfortable in her nerdiness despite Leo being a complete prick about it.

Leo. . . Leo was not my favorite. He was a dick in high school. Frankly, the "prank" that he pulled on Sage because she smelled like cigarettes and essential oils (all due to her mother being a piece of shit) and being a little weird (she was new and not popular) was unforgiveable. I have grudges from high school that I will take to my grave and they weren't born from anything remotely as heinous as Leo's act. There also didn't seem to be a lot of character development on his part. He was still a health nut that judged Sage for her choices on food, activity level, and job. He didn't really ever admit that what she did was actually work. It just irritated me that he spent the entirety of the book basically thinking like he did in high school and being shocked that Sage didn't accept his half-assed apology. I'm more shocked when she did finally forgive him.

Anyway, the pacing was perfection. I flew threw this in a single sitting. The writing is a bit amateur. But I'm here for a good time, not a long time. And since I enjoyed the story overall, a 4 star review it shall receive.

War - Brittanée Nicole ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🩰 Tyler "War" Warren is the standard. He is the perfect man, a living, breathing treasure. Honestly, I have loved this series so far, but anyone who claims that there is a better MMC than Tyler is lying. This was just such a good story. Just enough angst to keep the struggle interesting, plenty of chemistry to make the relationship believable, and characters that came alive on the page. 

Apart from Tyler's perfection, we also have out wonderful FMC, Ava. She was just so good and fiesty when it came to dealing with Tyler's fuckery. She gave as good as she got with him and it made the decision to get married for Josie all the sweeter. I mean, she absolutely despised this man but even she couldn't deny that he was an amazing dad. 

I just loved it. I flew through this. The pacing was fantastic. There weren't any dragging points throughout the book. I cannot wait for Daniel's story up next.

A Simple Twist of Fate - April Asher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🐉 ARC review posted separately

Ashes of You - Catherine Cowles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🚔 Listen, Catherine Cowles is just one of those authors that writes basically the same story in a slightly different font. And I eat it up every time. There hasn't been a miss for me. The suspense is just enough to keep the background plot moving while the relationship builds at a wonderfully steady pace. 

And boy, is the relationship between Hallie and Lawson so sweet. There wasn't much as far as push and pull. Lawson didn't jump right in, mostly due to his trust issues from his ex, but he wasn't overly mean about pulling away the few times that he did. He was kind and Hallie was sweet. The entire family unit just worked so well together between the adults and the 3 boys as well.

I love this. Everything about it, especially the cameo of Anson from Fragile Sanctuary. This is just such a good series and this is a fantastic installment of it.

Our Pucking Way - C.R. Jane & May Dawson (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🩸 It's ridiculous. It's full of plot holes. It's hilariously Wattpad-esque. But damnit, I love this duet. It cannot be meant to be anything but an over the top, hilariously unrealistic romance. I mean, it's a dark hockey/mafia romance. What can you expect?

I love it. I really have nothing more to say than that. This is just one of those books that you need to read it knowing that it's not that serious.

Mrs Rosie and the Priest - Giovanni Boccaccio ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👗 For being 4 short stories, slammed into 54 pages, this was surprisingly pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the first 3 stories. The 4th,��Patient Griselda was not great. Honestly, it was just a story about a husband humiliating and abusing his wife for 13 years to prove that she's a good wife before he reverses everything he did and proclaims "Wow, you are a good wife so let me just take back all the horrible stuff I did!" 

Otherwise, pretty good palatte cleanser from my typical reads.

Always You - J. Morales ⭐️ 📸 Oof, this really read like a first novel. We can start with the dialogue. It's so exaggerated and reads like a soap opera script with a plethora of 'bro" thrown into every line when the male characters are speaking to each other. The amount of times that an exclamation point is used, or the speech is described as some form of yelling was just way too much. People don't speak like that. Not everything is that animated. 

Then we move our focus to the characters themselves. Dom is so possessive that it was instant ick. He's possessive over Mila while actively engaged to another woman. He cheats on other woman with Mila (dubious consent when he corners Mila near a restaurant bathroom and mauls her to the point of leaving a hickey.) Mila turns him down, because he's an asshole and still engaged to another woman so he runs over to the woman's house and fingers her and gets a blow job while thinking about Mila. Dom is not a good dude. But let's not put all the blame on him, Mila is just as grossly toxic. Her jealousy over any woman that makes any kind of contact with Dom is so devastatingly obnoxious. You took him back without any real groveling or proving that he's not a sack of shit, do you really have the right to be jealous? By the way, Dante, the son, is so fucking annoying. 

Also, this is basically a horror story of a couple trying to survive against a "Boy Mom." And they aren't doing well at it. This was just not good. I'd like to think there's potential in the author's writing, but it doesn't show with this book.

[foster-the-world]

Why do I get my hopes up

Remember how I thought they found a special ed provider? Well I was wrong. I signed the authorization form but now there is no start date. Lots of emails, phone calls, no response except "I emailed and haven't heard from them."

Now I have to do the due process hearing tomorrow. I'm glad I had the foresight not to cancel. But I would have prepared a great deal more. Dreading every second of it. Taking unpaid leave off work since I haven't earned leave, yet. Which adds insult to injury.

Also, baby boy had a big outburst yesterday. Knocking over chairs, not listening, etc. He's high energy but this is not normal. He's been doing well in school. Had his parent teacher conference last week- nothing like that mentioned at all. All good reports on his benchmarks - letters, etc. Teacher said "she loved him." A week back she told my husband intelligence wise he's "#1 in the class." Probably not appropriate to say but not bad to hear. Last night we made a big deal out of his bad behavior. Not much we can do but talk to him but we talked a lot. Today we got our first call home about the same bad behavior. He was climbing on the book shelf, running out of the class, threw a milk bottle down. He hasn't done this all year. Nothing at all has changed at home. It's daylight savings time but he still got his normal 12 hours of sleep last night. At a loss for what to do. I told the teacher I could come get him but I'm afraid it would make him do it again. He likes school but his preference is always to be with me. She said they didn't want that. Tonight we tried not mentioning the bad behavior at all. We are wondering if making a big deal out of it somehow perversely makes him do it again. Talking about it certainly didn't help. Not saying its a good idea we just don't know what else to do. He was an angel at home and the playground. Sharing his toys, making new friends, etc, etc.

Emailed the school assistant principal, counselor, teacher, etc. Said we would love to work together to come up with a solution. Cc'd the special ed lady who is supposed to find him providers. Explained in the email they haven't found him providers and hoped that she would provide insight. No response so far. Blah.

If he keeps acting like that at school we will have to pull him out. Its a public school so they can't kick him out (or at least not easily) but we aren't going to let him make his teachers/classmates miserable. They deserve a safe, calm classroom. I guess we would try to find a daytime sitter. We have a few options.

Before that we are thinking we will pay the crazy, insane amount of money for a special ed provider out of pocket if the hearing does not go our way tomorrow. Ten hours per week will cost roughly the same as my take home pay as a full-time nurse. We had talked about paying for four hours - which was more manageable in our budget. But with this kind of behavior that won't be enough. In theory, it will only be for three months.

If I had a really stressful job I would be considering giving it up, if this behavior continues. It seems like a full time job trying to get these services and he could stay home with me until we figure it out. Financially, we could afford for me to stay home another yearish based off the money we made selling our home. However, this job will eventually be a really good job as a parent. There will always be time for me to do some family logistic stuff during the day. At some point I can work from home two days a week. Once sick leave/PTO kicks in I'll have a lot. FMLA benefits are generous. I have a union. In the long run I'm sure I could negotiate time off to figure out his needs if it so requires. Its just a shitty time for all of this to be going down because I only started six weeks ago. Not to mention I want to work. I went to nursing school for a reason. So far, I really like the work. I started trying to get him services last May. How in the world does he still only have a half hour out of the 13 hours he is assigned? Its all so depressing.

[nagdabbit]

don't forget to block the tag

how my week has been

- my brother gunnar practically raised me from the age of like. nine to seventeen, when my parents just didn't feel like doing it anymore. and he was shit at it

- several months ago, my brother thought it would be funny to send siobhan and i into rural missouri to watch his kids while he went and got divorced. which was fine. except that he asked us because it would piss off his ex wife, siobhan being trans and all. his shitty, catholic ex wife with a great big gun totting family. and i *know* he'd never put our bother in the cross hairs, so i can't fucking fathom why he'd do that to my wife. that was when i went no contact

- he had a massive heart attack last week. doctors said he was lucky to be alive but was ultimately doing okay and was out of the woods

- had another massive heart attack, coma, braindead. fun shit. he gave me power of attorney forever ago, cuz im the closest sibling. guess who got to make the call

- aside from my brothers, everyone has been calling me a murderer. which is neat. even my nieces and nephews who i was literally raised alongside

- he also named me executor. so like. still gotta stick the fuck around and parse his fucking shit and figure out who gets the kids, cuz he didn't name a guardian, but he sure got full custody in the divorce

- even if id wanted to, the priest won't let me speak at the funeral, or hell refuse to let us have the damn thing at his stupid, stinky fuckin hovel of a fuckin church. which i feel like he shouldn't be allowed to do, but who fuckin knows with catholics

- my brother still left me shit in his will, and honestly id have loved if he took me out of it when i took him out of my life, cuz this feels. weird and wrong and bad and i don't like it. and everyone is acting like i fucking wanted this

- i am very tired and lonely because i refused to let either siobhan or todd come with me, cuz i don't want siobhan to be in danger—which she absolutely fucking would be—and i didn't want todd to endure the distant family and gunnar's farmer friends saying shit about how im Fixed Now (straight)

- despite the fact that all my brothers were here anyway, helping out with the kids after that first heart attack, and we were all together and talked to the doctors together and came to an agreement together, they kinda. haven't been standing up for my amidst all this. which might be the worst part. inge has a little, when he hears is, but he doesn't know the extent, which fuckin sucks. and i know he's frazzled, cuz he's like me and didnt bring oisin out here, either. and thor has his own shit to deal with, being the one of us in the most danger from the ex in-laws and their transphobia and gun-philia. it's real fuckin lonely

so anyway. that's where that's what's been going on.

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

@ckfemslashnetwork

COBRA KAI SAPPHIC SUMMER WEEK 1 GOLDEN

***

HEY YALL

So uh. Remember that 10-minute All Too Well YasMoon fic that I’ve been teasing for well over a year now ???

WELL

LO AND BEHOLD!!! A few months ago, I started writing more than just lil ficlets and started creating this bad boy in FULL!!! So for cksapphicsummer, I’m posting a proper preview because a) fall color is a big thing here and it kinda accidentally fits the “Golden” prompt perfectly and b) god. I’m so proud of this funky little snippet. I’ve had so much fun working on this angstfic and I HAD to share my progress with someone. Writing the out-of-order slow burn of Moon becoming a simp who’s in way over her head has been fantastic tbh.

Also she only gets a mention here, but I had WAY too much fun creating Rosalie, Yasmine’s older (and to most everyone’s mind much cooler) influencer sister. Actually might end up including her in unrelated YasMoon fics too, because god, am I a sucker for sibling character foils :O Also it’s not fair that only Sam gets to have a sibling!!! Like give the other kids siblings!!!

…ironically, despite how spoiled she seems to be, Yasmine is one of the few Cobra Kai kids who doesn’t give off huge Only Child vibes XD Like idk. Idk. So much of Her Whole Deal strikes me as Bratty Overcompensating Younger Sister behavior XD

@karatecaulfield BIG pspsps, here’s a preview from A Big Fic coming up!!!

Preview under the cut!!! Enjoy :3

CW for some pretty crude language, and a character shouting a slur basically for shock value. But it’s one that applies to said character, so…I guess it’s reclaiming?

***

“You can travel the world But nothing comes close to the golden coast”

They were belting the lyrics as Yasmine swerved down mountain roads, rounding bends at what couldn’t possibly be a safe speed. It was times like these she thought she was invincible—away from the suffocating smog, under an endless blue sky, surrounded by fresh mountain air, free from the rest of the world’s expectations. Moon couldn’t tame her if she tried.

“Once you party with us, you’ll be falling in love…”

Moon glanced at Yasmine, and the words melted in her mouth. She burst out laughing.

Yasmine was never that unperturbed. She was all confidence and composure and power, holding onto her throne with tooth and manicured nail. Now she was just a silly, dancing teenager, shimmying back and forth and rocking her head from side to side like some kind of puzzled bird. One arm flailing about like the tube men outside of car dealerships while the other drifted on and off the steering wheel to lazily make turns.

She was grinning like she left all her inhibitions in LA.

“California girls, we’re unforgettable Daisy dukes, bikinis on top Sunkist skin so hot we’ll melt your popsicle”

Yasmine affectionately jabbed Moon’s tanned arm. Moon took a moment to be grateful the very ever-present spray-tan responsible was probably also hiding her blush.

“California girls, we’re undeniable Fine, fresh, fierce, we’ve got it on lock West Coast represent, now put your hands up!”

Yasmine did exactly that, whooping for several seconds. Moon worried they were going to hit the guardrail.

West Valley High’s queen bee self-corrected at the last possible moment, just like always. She grabbed the wheel and they made the turn.

There was something so exhilarating about her when she was like this. When she wasn’t projecting an image that didn’t match what was inside. Her voice was off-key and her movements were the opposite of graceful and every bit of control she usually gripped onto with iron strength flew out the window and into the alpine air.

And somehow, it felt like it used to when Moon finally came home after a long, shitty day of middle school, surrounded by stuck-up classmates and scornful, apathetic teachers. It felt like relief.

The song ended, and an ad came on from that annoying kick-the-competition auto dealer guy. As Yasmine complained for the seventh time about her parents not getting Spotify Premium, Moon looked out the window.

The road to Big Bear had more fall color than she’d ever seen. Only 20 miles outside of LA, and it was a whole different world—cherry reds and fiery oranges and sunset golds mixed into the deep green of impossibly tall pine trees.

It was all so foreign to her, always immersed in year-round flowers and greenery and subtropics. It seemed like something out of a Sunday morning dream, or a good shrooms trip. Strange—unnatural, perhaps—but tranquil all the same.

The aspen trees quaked in a sudden breeze. Several golden leaves peeled off their branches, glinting blindingly in the sunlight as they drifted to the ground.

Moon couldn’t quite explain it, but something felt just right. The energy…it was somehow perfectly aligned, all the stars and moons and planets in position for her to be driving off on a wilderness adventure with Yasmine Pyne.

The universe itself was humming in concord, like everything else that came before and after revolved around that moment.

Like it was the beginning of something too immense to see.

“What’re you gawking at?” Yasmine’s voice had a teasing snicker in it. “Have you never been to the mountains before?”

Moon shrugged. “Not since I was little. We only ever drove up here in the summer, though.”

“God, you should see your face.” There was a note of derision in Yasmine’s voice, but Moon barely noticed. “You look like you popped an E tablet or something.”

“Sorry, it’s just…” Moon smiled, shaking her head. “The trees are so beautiful. They’re reminding me of the healing crystals I still need to buy.”

“Um, what? Where is the connection there?”

Moon turned. The bridge of Yasmine’s nose was scrunched against her eyebrows, the way it always did when she was completely perplexed.

 “The colors, Yas.” Moon couldn’t help but laugh. “The leaves look like citrine. Or…” Her gaze strayed back out the window. “Empowering jasper. Or harmonizing tiger’s eye. Or vitality ruby. There’s so many hues!”

“You are so weird, girl.”

Yasmine laughed, but there was no disdain in it this time. It was an affectionate kind of amused—amusement at Moon’s expense, perhaps, but with an underlying fondness that caught her off-guard.

Moon looked at the autumn trees zipping by, fiery shades gleaming almost as brightly as gemstones in the alpine sun. She started to shift them in her mind, imagining clusters of leaves as giant, glimmering jewels instead. A whole forest of ruby and citrine and jasper and tiger’s eye and topaz and carnelian, polished stones budding from the ends of delicate white branches. A beautiful, serene place, quiet and peaceful. A place of healing. No sound save birdsong and babbling creeks.

She wondered how much more vivid the image would be with caps.

“I’d actually love to trip out here,” she admitted. “It’d be like…the most spiritual thing ever. I feel like there’s a certain kind of ‘oneness with the universe’ around these trees, you know?”

“What, and then wander off the side of a cliff because you’ve convinced yourself you can fly? No thanks.”

Moon sniggered. Yasmine couldn’t sugarcoat something if she tried.

She didn’t pull punches when it came to teasing out the worst-case scenario and she never hesitated when deciding that’s what would inevitably happen.

A wooden sign post flitted past. Moon pressed her palm into the window glass, eyes widening.

A trailhead.

“Let’s go for a hike!”

The words spouted from Moon before she could stop them. She blinked, wholly unsure where the sudden determination came from.

Yasmine spluttered, uncharacteristically lost for words.

“Please,” Moon added plaintively. “Just a short one?”

“Why?” Yasmine demanded, finally finding her voice.

Moon bit her lip, staring at the dashboard.

“I’ve never been.”

“You’ve never been hiking in Big Bear.”

Yasmine scoffed, punctuating the statement with a smack to the steering wheel.

“Nope.” Moon chuckled nervously, hoping this wasn’t something Yasmine decided was worthy of giving her shit about.

Her friend only snorted in disbelief. “You haven’t been hiking up here,” she said again. “Aren’t your parents like…tree-hugging mega-hippies or something? Seems like they’d be all about that meditative outdoorsy shit.”

Moon laughed, shaking her head. “Well, they’re more like…smoke-a-bunch-of-stuff-in-a-sweat-lodge-and-see-the-entire-pagan-pantheon kind of hippies. Not really the one-with-nature kind of hippies.”

“But you are, huh?”

Yasmine raised her eyebrows, and Moon’s cheeks grew hot.

“I don’t know. I guess so. Nature calms me down when I’m stressed. Helps unblock my root chakra when it gets a little clogged.”

They passed a particularly beautiful grove of red maple trees, and Moon sucked in her breath.

“If we could just…stop and take a little walk somewhere…”

“Mooooon.” Yasmine dragged her name into a whine. “I’m wearing designer boots. If I get too much dirt on them, my mom will skin me alive and use my eviscerated corpse to make another pair.”

“Oh my god.” Moon snickered. “Don’t be so dramatic. Your mom is nice! She’s not going to flip out over a little dust.”

“You don’t know her,” Yasmine grumbled.

“I’ll take the blame if she gets mad. Promise.” Moon gave her friend her most pleading look. “I’ll say…I don’t know. I got you really high and we ran around in the dirt or something. But mountain trails aren’t usually that dirty! At least I don’t think.”

Yasmine whimpered, glancing from the car clock out the window and back again.

At the next trailhead, Yasmine slammed the brakes. Moon yelped, lurching forward as the range rover screeched to a stop in a pullover surrounded by soaring pines and gold-tinged scrub bushes.

“Oh, fuck it. Rosalie’s not expecting us until 4 anyways.”

Moon smiled at her lap. She got the feeling Yasmine could have fought her harder.

***

“Tell me a secret.”

“What?” Moon’s sandals dug into the trail, grinding her to a halt.

“Tell me a secret.” Yasmine turned, hair backlit by mountain sunshine. “Come on. If you’re going to insist we trek out into the middle of buttfuck nowhere, you’d better have some juicy gossip for where absolutely no one can hear us.”

She leaped onto a nearby boulder with surprising grace, boots deftly clinging to the gaps in a way that suggested she hadn’t always been as averse to physical exertion as she was now.

“DICK AND BALLS!” Moon was completely unprepared for her friend to cup her mouth and shout at the top of her lungs. “MOTHERFUCKING COCKSUCKING SHITHEADS! GODDAMN PUSSY-EATING DYKES! I’LL PISS IN YOUR MOUTH!”

The forest only answered Yasmine’s abundance of profanity with wind, songbird calls, and one or two annoyed crows. Not another human soul to be heard.

“See?” Yasmine turned, her grin conniving. “No one’s going to hear any of this shit besides us. You can literally say anything you want out here. It’d be a waste not to spill some tea.”

She spread her arms, and for a moment, she looked like a bird. An elegant, dainty little yellow warbler, about to take flight or break into song.

“No one can fuck with us out here!” she crowed. For a moment, Moon felt almost as free as her.

Moon laughed, shaking her head. She hadn’t known what to expect from the blonde girl in the yellow designer sundress, making snide comments in her math class, but these unrestrained dramatics were definitely not it.

“So come on, then.” Yasmine scaled down the rock as easily as she’d climbed it. “Tell me something scandalous, Moon.”

Moon frowned, quickening her pace to catch up. “Why?”

“Because. Maybe I want to get to know the girl I’m hauling up into the mountains to see my sister, huh?”

“We don’t need deep, dark secrets for that, do we?”

“Not technically, but I’m bored of all the other shit.” Yasmine groaned. “‘Where’d you go to middle school, did you grow up here, do you have any brothers or sisters,’ blah blah blah. We covered all the small talk crap when we ditched for brunch. I want something more interesting.”

Moon’s cheeks grow hot. “I don’t know if I’m hiding anything that interesting.”

“Oh, bullshit.” Yasmine turned, gray-green eyes boring into Moon. The blonde started walking backwards just in front of her friend, maintaining very intense and very judgmental eye contact the entire time. “Everyone’s got a little dirt on them, Moon. You just have to scrape it up.”

Feeling a sudden rush of bravery (perhaps the empowering jasper-colored leaves were to blame), Moon crossed her arms and returned Yasmine’s smirk. “And why should I give you my dirt?”

“Because.” Those stormy irises had a cunning gleam in them. “What’s a few secrets between best friends?”

“Best friends!” Moon laughed in surprise. “We barely know each other. And I’m your—well, I mean.” She found herself stumbling over her words. “What about everyone else at the table? Your middle school crew?”

“Oh, well.” Yasmine rolled her eyes dismissively. “Jenna, Harper, Aubrey—they’re all fake as fuck. Dumb sluts are using me to get a taste of what it’s like at the top. I know the knives come out whenever my back’s turned.” Her lips curled into a sneer. “It’s whatever, honestly. I’d just as soon get rid of them as soon as they stop making us look good. But you…”

For the first time in a while, the scornful look dropped completely.

“You’re different, Moon. You’re…real. Not basic and boring like every other bitch that follows me around.”

If Moon’s cheeks weren’t on fire before, they certainly were now.

“You really mean that?”

“Yeah, duh. I wouldn’t take you out here if you weren’t worlds better than all the other losers at our trash-ass school. Now…”

The genuine look that briefly shone through morphed into a smirk. Mood wondered if she’d imagined it.

Yasmine leaned forward, smirk widening. Without warning she grabbed both of Moon’s hands, tangling their fingers together as she continued to effortlessly saunter backwards. “Tell me a secret, Moon.”

“I…”

Moon could feel what was hovering just behind her lips. The words threatening to tangle with the mountain air and wash over Yasmine like a cold breeze, causing her hands to jerk away and her face to twist in that oh-so-familiar disgust.

I’m not normal.

It was something in the way that all through elementary school—and all through the turbulent tides of middle school, too—her eyes weren’t only drawn by soccer players showing off at recess, or the track stars who could run more gym class laps than anyone. Boys who dripped confidence like sweat and gleamed like fresh-minted coins, the names inside the hearts every girl doodled.

Just as often she found herself drawn to the ballet dancers and the child beauty pageant winners and the sirenlike voices of the girls in choir. Often as not, her mind was on billowing hair and purple nails and the scent of fruit shampoo as much as the testosterone and cologne of the ever-boisterous boys.

And it was a fascination that went beyond friendship. Moon knew that much.

She was able to join in with the other girls, gushing about the guys they liked and making bets on who would ask who to the next dance. But there was always half of it left unsaid.

She’d never told a soul. Not her easygoing parents. Not her middle school gang. No one. It was an anomaly that belonged to her and her alone.

And Moon wasn’t about to drive away her newest friend, in all her power and mystique and sheer magnetic energy.

Yasmine must’ve seen the gears turning behind her eyes. She groaned, yanking especially hard on Moon’s hands with an exaggerated eyeroll.

“Oh, fine. I’ll go first if you’re not gonna spill.”

Moon raised her eyebrows. “That was an option?”

Yasmine scoffed. “I mean, if you’re just going to stand there looking constipated…”

Moon couldn’t find a response.

Which probably made her look even more constipated.

“I don’t actually wake up like this.” Yasmine grinned mischievously, giving those flawless yellow locks of hers a graceful flip. “And it’s not Maybelline, either. I have to wake up at 5 fucking o’clock every morning to straighten this bitch. But better that than go to school looking like a fucking hobo.”

Moon laughed.

“So you don’t wake up with perfect hair? That’s not very scandalous.” Yasmine gasped, sounding half offended. “It is if you’re someone with my rep!”

“Well, if it’s that important to you…” Moon sniggered. “I won’t tell anyone. But for what it’s worth, I think the other kids would be impressed you put so much time into looking perfect.”

“Oh, no way. They need to think it’s like…an inherent part of my personality that I’m flawless and untouchable. Otherwise they might start getting ideas about replacing me if they style their hair for long enough.”

She had to laugh again.

“I don’t think you need to worry. The entire school knows they could never hold a torch to you.”

For a moment, uncertainty flickered through those stormcloud eyes.

Like the fear of being dethroned was greater than Yasmine let on.

“Damn right,” she said, smug expression returning. She tugged Moon’s hands again, bringing the girls close enough that Moon could smell traces of the strawberry-and-nutella crepes she had for breakfast.

“Your turn,” she purred.

“Um…”

Moon paused, pushing thoughts of her unspoken strangeness away. Yasmine didn’t need to know that.

“I’m worried that people think I’m kind of stupid,” she said instead.

Yasmine looked genuinely thrown off for a moment.

“What do you mean?”

Her expression turned…not serious exactly, but more thoughtful and curious than Moon was used to. None of its usual smugness.

“My friends from middle school, they—they all went to these private Ivy League prep schools. I, uh…I think some of their parents bribed their way in, but some of them were genuinely just that smart. Either way, my parents weren’t willing to pull strings to get me in. They’re really, um…‘go with the flow’ in a way that they, like, don’t like to exert a lot of effort on anything they don’t need to. Which includes keeping me with my friends, I guess.”

Moon took a breath, almost hoping Yasmine would interrupt.

Yasmine didn’t. Only waited with uncharacteristic patience for her to finish.

“I told them at 8th grade continuation I didn’t make it into Harvard-Westlake. They, um…they looked at me like I was some kind of reject. And they started talking about all the things they were gonna do in high school.” Moon winced at the memory. “Kelsey was gonna learn Latin. Rachel was gonna get into Hollywood. Tess was gonna figure out how to become like…some political diplomat or something. And I guess it was just like…we’d been together through the thick and thin of everything, and suddenly I was some dumb bimbo who wasn’t even worthy of licking the dirt they stepped on. And after that night, I never heard from any of them again.”

Yasmine’s only response was a curled lip. “Ew.”

Moon’s stomach sank. “You think I’m also…?”

Yasmine’s scowl deepened. “No, your stupid friends. They sound like a load of self-righteous bitches.” She scoffed. “Girl, you’re well-rid of them. You stuck around and they’d try to make you into a fucking lame loser nerd just like them. Who the fuck uses Latin in their day-to-day existence, anyways?!”

Moon found herself laughing.

“Yeah, I guess Kelsey was always kind of prissy that way.”

“Half the shit they teach in high school doesn’t matter in the real world, anyways.” Yasmine rolled her eyes. “And yeah, even at prep schools, too. Take all the acting classes and political science you want, but if you don’t know someone important in the industry, you’re not getting shit. The world runs on nepotism, so…your old bitches are going to get fucked over so bad.”

Something about Yasmine’s overconfident scorn soothed her. No one who spoke that surely could be wrong…right?

Moon chuckled. “Is it bad that I kind of hope they do?”

“Nah. Would serve the dumb fucks right.” Yasmine’s smirk returned—bigger than any she’d worn all afternoon. “I should be thanking them, really. They ditched by far the coolest person in their group, and now I get you all to myself.”

Moon only hoped Yasmine didn’t see how red her own cheeks were turning.

“For the record, though…”

Yasmine seemed to search her face, expression suddenly unreadable.

“I don’t think you’re stupid. I mean…not that it matters anyways, because pretty people get jobs more than smart people do, but being good at the crap they teach in school doesn’t mean anything. Being able to read people, knowing who you can open up to and who’s a damn snake, figuring out how to talk people into giving you what you want…that’s what matters. And you’ve got more intuition than anyone I’ve met in a long time.”

Well, if having intuition was what mattered…

Moon only hoped she was reading Yasmine right.

***

Some random author’s notes, in no particular order:

Love that Yasmine is canonically a terrible driver. Like she accidentally kick-started the entire plot because her dumb ass was texting and driving and rammed right tf into Johnny Lawrence’s car. I have every reason to believe she’s this bad of a driver in every situation 💛 Absolute trash queen 👑

Writing S1 Yasmine is so much fun because she’s SO unapologetically shitty, like. You can have her say the most deranged shit and it’s completely in character??? Delightfully challenging to figure out how fucking anyone could fall inconsolably head-over-heels for her, especially someone as naturally good-natured as Moon!!! Like she was simping—I know it in my soul—but how the FUCK did that happen???

Also no I absolutely do not count Demetri’s “feelings” as falling inconsolably head-over-heels for her—mans was faking being straight to get Miguel not to abandon him and then felt he had to Commit To The Bit. I WILL die on this hill btw.

On a related note, though!!! I’ve probably watched the S1 Yasmine scenes DOZENS of times for this fic (not a single fucking one without her girlfriend btw), and after a while you start to pick up on some like…unexpected softness you didn’t notice before? Like she seems genuinely pleased Sam is enjoying throwing her party! She plays wingwoman and sets Sam up with Kyler! (Granted, there could have been ulterior motives here—namely distracting Sam so she doesn’t notice That Gay Shit going on between her two new best friends—but the act in of itself didn’t seem malicious.) She’s a tad overprotective of Moon when she believes Sam has been talking crap, and tells Sam to get the hell out of Moon’s car!!! She genuinely looks hurt when Moon chooses Hawk and Co. over her!!! Like it’s few and far between, but she definitely seems to care about her friends on some level, even at her worst. With that in mind, it’s a lot easier to write Moon getting smitten with her!

Adding onto this—rewatching the S1 Yasmine clips, it’s kind of striking how often she refers to herself and Moon as a unit, especially during the 1x05 car scene with Sam. “Kyler told us what you said.” “You think you’re better than us.” “We know what went down.” She says “Moon, let’s go” when about to ditch the beach party instead of just storming off because of course she’s not leaving without Moon (who she chose to stay with over going with Kyler btw!). She doesn’t even consider it a possibility until Moon outright says it. Not only is this a cool parallel to a thing S1 Demetri also does (I.e. frequently uses “we” to speak for both him and Eli from a place of misguided-ish overprotectiveness and the confidence that “I know what’s best for both of us as a unit”), but this is something a lot of long-term couples I know irl tend to do!!! When I talk about movies with my roommate, he tends to say “we (I.e. him and his fiancé) did/didn’t like it.” When my married friend thanked me for catsitting, he said “we really appreciate it.” Point being that even at her absolute worst, Yasmine is never actually just thinking about herself—she’s thinking about herself and Moon, right up until Moon chooses to ditch her! Anyways yeah these girls were a Thing sorry. If they have a tendency that immediately calls to mind my married and engaged friends, that’s. A little gay???

Also worth noting that Yasmine only really breaks from Moon in 1x09, and then as SOON as she appears again in S3, she’s once again glued to Moon’s hip. Girl literally cannot stay away from Moon akfssrfuhbi

But all that aside!!! S1 Yasmine genuinely sucks so bad. Like GIRL. You fat-shamed a girl for no fucking reason. You verbally eviscerated an ugly sweater kid just minding his business and probably jump-started his Evil Journey tbh. You slut-shamed your ex-friend all over the internet after she almost got sexually assaulted. You cut off your closest friend and fuck buddy because she dared to ask you to stop being horrid. What in the actual hell is wrong with you. I am horrified and fascinated. I want to study Yasmine like a bug.

And I am, via this fic!!! God, am I having a blast with it. Fully intend to continue delving into why she’s the actual fucking worst and giving her the nuance the showrunners never bothered with 💛

I spent like 3 hours researching “prep schools” in the San Fernando Valley, and watched a whole-ass tour video for Harvard-Westlake to determine what Moon’s shitty (or shittier) ex-friends went off to study that made her feel inadequate. Please be proud of me for doing a deep dive into this weird niche topic to make my weird niche pairing fic feel authentic XD

Deadass role-playing as an Uber-wealthy Encino parent looking for a good, respectable high school for their spoiled 8th grader was. An incredibly bizarre experience. I do not want kids, I could not afford them even if I did, and I do not have anything anywhere close to a rich suburban husband to discuss a kid’s school options with. I guess this is the essence of trying to explore lived experiences that will never belong to you???

I legitimately do think Moon is smarter than she comes off as (Demetri wouldn’t fuck with her otherwise!) and is somewhat insecure about being seen as “dumb” because she’s bubbly, hyperfemme, conflict-averse, and in touch with her spirituality. I don’t think she likes admitting this, though—she doesn’t like “burdening” others with her own demons!

Considering Yasmine’s “natural” hairstyle in S3 appears to be more wavy, girl probably spent an ungodly amount of time and effort straightening her hair in season 1. Like yeah, she was mean at, but can you blame her??? Bitch was probably running on like 4 hours of sleep a night!

Jenna, Harper, and Aubrey are some of the extras at the Rich Girls Table! I’ve mentioned in other posts, but I’ve always kind of wondered about them, and What Their Deal Was that they’re only sometimes worthy of hanging out with Yasmine XD Git hyped to see more of them in this and other planned YasMoon fics!!!

Continuing to love looking into crystals/spirituality/incense/other kinds of Wiccan-adjacent things I think Moon would be into! As a woman of science, I’m not sure if I buy into that, but I do think it’s genuinely fascinating and fun to explore and research! There’s a lot of pretty cool and interesting belief systems out there to explore when you go in without obsessing over whether something’s 100% true or false and whatnot.

Yes, Californians really do get that hyped about seasons. I would know—I moved there after growing up in the Midwest, and seeing Californians get hyped about seeing snow or massive amounts of fall foliage for the first time is just about the most pure thing ever ;_____; But it’s definitely not out of the question for Moon to get that pumped about fall color aksssdtchh

I kind of love the idea of Moon always knowing she was bisexual, but not building the confidence to proudly tell it to the world until Piper helped her to 💗💜💙

Bitches be holding other bitches’ hands on an isolated hiking trail and think that’s a Straight and Normal thing to do. Like come on. We all know what you are, Yasmine.

Can’t give y’all an exact posting estimate for the whole fic, but I’m not giving up on it anytime soon (having WAY too much fun with this angst to do that!!!) and will try to get the rest of it done as soon as I can!!! Hoping ideally by sometime this coming winter :3

[xnchxntmxnt]

5 Moments Kagami Taiga Realized How Much He Liked You, and the One He Finally Did Something About It

Fandom: Kuroko’s Basketball

Character: Kagami Taiga

Warnings: cursing, several food mentions, it’s assumed that reader isn’t a basketball player but knows a little, minor injury mentioned, plz dont listen to the fic ur not actually supposed to use hydrogen peroxide on cuts but i didnt know that till i googled it after i read this just use cool water to clean it,

Notes: wrote the ending when i was sick so its shitty however this is officially the longest fic I've written and posted on here. beat the last one by like 20 words or something. congrats to me

gn!reader!

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#1 - Los Angeles

Kagami smiled at his phone. It was only a few more days until he’d be back home in Japan after spending some time with his family and Alex. It was nice to see his young cousins (who, he found out, idolized him) and parents, plus playing a little street ball like he used to was always fun. 

But he missed Japan. 

He missed his friends. His team. 

He missed you, too. 

And that’s why it was four in the morning and he was still up talking to you. Because as much as Alex teased him about it, he really did miss you. 

“Ah, young love,” Alex teased, laughing at the basketball that flew next to her head from him. “You’re impossible, y’know, Taiga. If you don’t fess up soon, you might lose your chance.”

“There’s nothing to fess up!” he argued, like he had been for the last several hours on and off. She was impossible. 

She rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair. “You’re not stupid, although you act it. I know you can figure out just how wrong that sentence is.”

And she was right. He was wrong, at first. Because you don’t non-stop think about kissing someone you’re just friends with, or get sickening butterflies, or anything else he’d been dealing with. 

He yawned while you were in the middle of talking about something—he’d been ready to sleep for houts, but he needed to stay up to spend time with you. Even if it was over the phone. 

“And then Koganei said—” you paused. “Kagami, what time is it there?” 

He checked the clock. “Uh…4:17, why?”

“Please tell me its 4:17 in the afternoon.”

“No…?”

“Go to bed!” you half-yelled at him. “You have to be up and awake in the morning, please get some sleep.”

“I like talking to you, though.”

Maybe it was how tired he was, but that was too cheesy. 

You paused again, then he heard you laugh at his comment. “I like talking to you too, Kagami, but you have to sleep. Please.”

He yawned again and nodded. “Yeah, yeah…I guess. I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Night, Kagami.”

“Night.”

He hung up and sighed—you had no idea what you did to him, did you? He could fall asleep listening to your voice because it was so soothing, but at the same time he never wanted to miss a word of what you said. You made him smile easier than anything, and he was starting to think you were up there with basketball on his list of things he cared about. 

Now the question was what to do about these feelings…

#2 - Homework

After returning home, he realized he had a lot of work to catch up on—a week off of school and practice was fun (even though he wasn’t exactly not practicing), but it meant a lot of homework for him to work on. Luckily, you offered to help him through it and study. 

The two of you took a break to cook and eat dinner, during which you lounged on the couch and watched a basketball game. It was the same routine he had every night, but for some reason it was better with you. When he first sat down to eat, he threatened to sit on your ankles if you didn’t make room for him, too. He got kicked in the arm when he did, actually, sit on your legs when you didn’t move, but he got his spot on the couch back so he didn’t mind.

“Oh, that was shit,” he cursed at the TV, sitting forward to yell at it. “That wasn’t even his fault! He was—”

He paused when he heard laughter next to him. Why were you laughing at him? He was right! The ref was being stupid! What else was new, though—

“They can’t hear you,” you teased through your laughter. 

Once your words sunk in, he rolled his eyes and shoved your leg. “Shuddup, I know that!”

“Then why are you yelling at them?”

“Because I can!”

You laughed more, as did he. It was always the little things that made you laugh, he noticed. Even if you were laughing at him being stupid, you were still laughing, he figured. His smile softened a little when he looked at you, but he quickly averted his eyes when you looked back at him. 

“Oh no, Kagami, you’re thinking about something. Tell me.”

“I’m not thinkin’ about anything!” 

“What else is new,” you teased. “What was that look for, then?”

“What look?”

You scoffed at him. “You looked like you wanted to kiss me for a minute there.”

Maybe because he did. But he wouldn’t tell you that. 

“Wh—no, gross,” he said, coming up with any negative words he could to deny that. He definitely didn’t want to do that. Definitely. “Like I’d ever do that.”

You kicked him again, making him complain again. “What, don’t think I’m cute enough? Or would you rather be kissing Kuroko?”

He laughed again. “You’re…I dont even know where you come up with this shit,”  he siad, standing up from the couch. “Don’t jump in my spot, jerk. Want more?”

“I’m good, thank you. You cook well, though. Dinner’s great.”

“Thanks.”

He could freak out about that comment to Alex later. Yeah, he knew he could cook, but you complimenting him on it was different than someone else. Especially if it was his team barging in and suddenly he was cooking for eleven hungry teenagers. 

He could get used to dinners with you, though. 

#3 - Sunny Days, Popsicles, and Basketball

There was nothing better than playing basketball on the weekend with friends, Kagami had decided way back in middle school. And it was even better with his current team. 

He and the Seirin boys were bored and decided to get together for some streetball. Fukuda was busy, leaving uneven teams, so he decided to call you. Ever since Kuroko dropped that he had a crush last week at practice, they hadn’t stopped bothering him about it and wouldn’t get off his case about it until he called to see if you were busy. 

He’d taught you a thing or two about basketball not long ago, and while you were no pro, he was proud of how well you played for a rookie. Then again, he always went easy when you two played a game. 

The scrimmage went over as well as expected—with him and Kuroko on the same team, they easily won, but no one was keeping track of points after the first twenty minutes. They were too busy having fun and running around for the hell of it. 

They decided to call it for the afternoon—they’d been playing for at least an hour and it was sunny and hot. It was the perfect day for popsicles, which everyone volunteered you and Kagami to go buy. Based on Furihata and Tsuchida’s cheeky smiles, he knew they planned that. Kuroko looked clueless as usual. 

It was a good thing the convenience store was less than a fifteen-minute walk there and back. He might not have lasted much longer in the silence if not. 

To be fair, it wasn’t awkward silence. He was just tense. He was always tense around you, lately—trying to be the most impressive he could, trying to figure out if you liked him back…it was an internal struggle daily. But he wanted to spend all the time he could with you despite the butterflies. 

“What’s up with you lately?” you asked, turning the corner so you were in sights of the court. “You’re…weird. I dunno. But you’ve been different, lately.”

“What? No, I’m not different.”

“Yes you are.” You sighed, looking over at him. “Did I do something? You can tell me if you’re upset with me, Kagami.”

No! No, no, no, no, no, no! That’s not at all what he wanted! Just the opposite! He wanted you to know how much he liked you! He was too much of a wimp to say anything about it, though…

“Nothing’s wrong,” he confirmed, trying his best to smile and be convincing. Nothing was wrong, nothing was different. Just two really good friends hanging out, and not him almost getting hit in the head with the ball because he was too busy watching you during the game. “You didn’t do anything. Don’t, ah…don’t worry about it.”

There was no more time to argue that since Furihata saw the two of you, cheered, and got the other three boy’s attention. 

Crisis averted, he guessed, but how long would it be before you started thinking something was really wrong?

#4 - Patch-Up

He wasn’t exactly a saint when it came to cursing, but he usually tried to hold his tongue more than he was right now. 

He let out a string of curse words, yet again, as you poured a bit of hydrogen peroxide over the scrape on his knee. Kagami sucked air through his teeth, trying to pretend it didn’t hut as bad as it did. “Aren’t you done with that, yet?” he complained. 

“If you’d quit moving your leg every time I tried to put the peroxide on it, I wouldn’t keep missing.”

“You aren’t!”

“Yeah, but I haven’t gotten the whole thing yet, so hold still!”

You smacked the side of his calf and continued on. Serves him right for trying to pull off some skateboarding trick he saw his cousin do in America. It didn’t look that hard, he thought. Apparently they weren’t exaggerating on taking them three months to learn it.

Finally, you put the bandaid on his knee and helped him off the couch. He poked at the scrape and winced, receiving a slap on the arm for it. 

“Hey! What was that for?”

“If it hurts don’t do it, stupid.”

He rolled his eyes, sitting back down. “Thank you, though. For doing that.”

“Who would have thought Taiga Kagami had such a low pain tolerance?” you teased, sitting down with him. That time, he shoved you. 

“Its not low pain tolerance, that shit just hurts!”

“Mhmm. Whatever you say.”

He shoved your arm, which you shoved back, so he shoved back harder. This pattern went back and forth until all of a sudden you were beating him with a throw pillow. He was trying to find any sort of ammo to use against you, when he realized, he had all he needed there. The next time you hit him with the pillow, he snatched it from your hands, threw it to the side, and began to tickle you. 

It was a minute or so of laugher and breathless complaining from you, when you suddenly kicked out at him and made his arm that he was putting most of his weight on give under him. 

This knocked him down till his face was inches above yours. 

Shit. 

He stared wordlessly for what felt like an eternity, trying to figure out what to do. Should he kiss you? Would that make it weird? Would it be awkward? What were you thinking? Was he too close?

You opened your mouth like you were going to say something, but nothing came out. Instead he sat up, blushing like a mad man, and helped you up as well. 

“Sorry about that—”

“Oh you dont have to apologize—”

“Still, I—”

It was eerily quiet and awkward after that. The tension in the room was thickenough to cut with a knife and he hated it. He never had that kind of tension with you. Things were always easy when he was with you. But not right now…

After a few minutes of this, you made some excuse about needing to get homework done so you had to get home, but he knew it was an excuse. You told him Friday you’d gotten all your homework done so your whole weekend was free to hang out. 

Damn, he’d really screwed up, hadn’t he?

#5 - Lunchtime

“Yo, what’s dumbass moping about?” Kagami asked, sitting down at the lunch table across from Kuroko. Next to him was you, who was face down and groaning about who knows what. 

“Don’t call me dumbass, asshole…” you complained, sitting up straighter. “And, for your information, Kagami, I’m hungry. And forgot my lunch. And money.”

He scoffed, opening his lunchbox and shoving a box toward you. “How’d I know you were gonna forget?”

He watched you open the box slowly and rolled his eyes. “Nothing in there is gonna kill you, y’know? You’ve had my cooking before.”

“I wasn’t sure if it was a prank.”

“With food? Never, that's a waste.”

You scoffed, digging into the lunch he made for you. He wasn’t sure how he knew that morning, but something in the back of his head told him to bring extra food. Maybe he thought he’d be extra hungry after practice or something, but he was glad he did. 

The three of you chatted for a while, mostly him talking about basketball and Kuroko chiming in every once in a while. Most of it, he was pretty sure he’d mentioned before, but anytime he was talking you made sure he knew you were paying attention. 

Shortly after the lunch bell rang, the three of you parted ways for your next classes. He was planning on dropping his crap in his locker, grabbing his crap for math, and leaving, but those plans flipped on him when he felt someone grab his shoulders and use him to jump in the air. 

“What the hell?!” he asked, flipping around to see who it was. He couldn’t stay pissed off for too long, though, because it was you. He half-expected Koganei or one of the other boys from the team. He rolled his eyes, grumbling about how you shouldn’t scare him like that. 

“Oh, shuddup, Kagami.” You elbowed him in the arm, matching his pace as he kept walking. “I came to give you your box back. Realized I had it when I left.’

“Surprised you found me.”

“Dude, you’re a giant and you’re the only kid here who’s got BRIGHT red hair. Wasn’t hard.”

“True.” He laughed, taking the box back. “Thanks. For this, I mean.”

“I should be thanking you, Kagami, that stuff was amazing. Every time I have your cooking I can’t believe you cook that well.”

“Hey!” 

He shoved your shoulder, and you shoved him back in retaliation. “It wasn’t an insult, stupid, it was a compliment!”

“Sounded like an insult.”

“Maybe you just sound like an idiot.”

He made a face that made you laugh. There you go, making him think about all those dumb feelings again. He loved seeing you happy, though, even if it was at the expense of a little of his dignity. 

You smiled at him, pausing in the (now mostly empty) hallway. “I gotta get going, but I’ll see you later, right?” 

“You bet.”

You waved and ran off—he simply stood there, thinking about how incredibly adorable you were when you were excited about something. He hoped his face wasn’t too red. 

This was getting ridiculous—or at least Alex thought so. And the rest of the team who knew how embarrassed he got when they brought you up. He was down bad, and he knew it. For days, everyone had been telling him to say something about it, but what if it didn’t go how he wanted it to? Would that screw up your friendship? He didn’t want anything to change, but if it changed for the better, that wouldn’t be a bad thing…

The bell rang, and he cursed under his breath. Now he was late and a mess. This was going to be a fun rest of the day. 

#1 - The Winter Cup

He still couldn’t believe it. 

After all that work over the summer, and all the work during the game, they’d won. 

It was no easy feat, going up against Touou. And they had more (no doubt, harder) games coming. But for now, the entire team was buzzing with the excitement of victory and looked like they were ready to pass out from exhaustion. 

They were on their way out of the arena and heading home when Kagami heard his name called from behind him. 

He looked up and turned to see who it was, and there you were, running towards him and his teammates. He looked to Riko for permission to leave them and go talk to you, which she didn’t even give before she and Hyuuga were shoving him along. 

Kagami broke into a run towards you at the same time, only slowing down when he got closer to you. You didn’t, however, and ran straight into him, jumping and pulling him into a tight hug. 

“You did it!” you cheered in his ear, somehow squeezing him tighter. “You really did it, Kagami!”

He held you that tight, too, only letting loose a little on your waist when you pulled your head back to look at him. “What, did you doubt we wouldn’t?” he teased.

You laughed. “I always believed in you. You’re just���incredible, Kagami.”

I always believed in you. 

You’re incredible. 

Those words hung heavy in his mind, unable to speak once they sunk in. He was certain there were some things he could do most people couldn’t, but it meant so much more coming from you. 

He stared in disbelief for a moment, only breaking out of his thoughts when you ruffled his hair. “Earth to Kagami,” you teased. 

The words left his mouth before he could stop them. “I really like you, (Y/N).”

You stared. He’d screwed up. No, no, this was bad. He was caught up in the excitement, and now he was screwed. He wanted to eat his words, but there was no taking back what he said. 

Kagami opened his mouth to apologize, starting to pull away. You hugged him again, making it unable to let you go. 

“You idiot,” you said into his shoulder. “About time.”

He (gently) shoved you off, holding you at arms length away. “What do you mean, about time? You mean this isn’t going to be super awkward now?”

“I like you too, stupid! Took you long enough to say something!”

“Why didn’t you then??” 

“Because I wasn’t certain if you liked me, too!” 

“But I do!” 

“Now I know that!” 

“Captain told me to tell you to kiss or something so we can get going.”

The both of you jumped, not realizing Kuroko was standing right next to you. After the initial shock, you both started laughing, and he walked back towards the group (most of which who were watching the two of you). Kiyoshi flashed you a smile and a thumbs up, and Hyuuga smacked him for it. 

“If you kiss me, you can tell your captain over there to man up and get himself a girlfriend. Ask your coach out, finally.”

He made a face in confusion. “What are you talking about…?”

“Oblivious. You’re actually oblivious.”

Any remark he could muster out fell silent against your lips. He smiled, trying to ignore how loudly Koganei yelled “get it, Kagami!” from far enough away anyone else outside would have heard him. It was hard to ignore, however, and soon the both of you parted, too busy laughing. 

“I’m gonna kill him one of these days.”

“Make sure it’s after the finals.”

“Finals, huh?”

“Like I said. I believe in your guys—in you, Kagami. You’re gonna make it.”

Even if he wasn’t already, he was pretty inclined to believe that now.

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[storiesofsvu]

incoming personal rant about family bullshit, minor work bullshit and holiday bullshit. you're more than welcome to read/reply, you're also more than welcome to scroll on by, feel free to ignore my venting, i just need to get it out

so, as y'all know already, xmas is an extremely stressful and busy time, esp at work and in the industry. we have extra shifts, longer shifts, more complicated functions, everyone's tired, everyone's cold, everyone's sick of the entitled guests. we had group in on tuesday that had a $4500.00 bill and they didn't want to tip the service staff....

2 weeks ago i finally picked up when my mother called because i was finally #1: awake when she called, and #2: not at work and #3: had the mental energy to DEAL with the conversation. she said that my aunt was going out to sask to see my one cousin and we were invited, i declined (and already had) because it's like a fucking 18hr drive, and i didn't want to fly (and that wouldn't have helped, like, look at the airports). she asked if i thought i would come up there (for reference, it's important to know that i do not drive). i said no, i had a bunch of extra shifts, i only had three days off and wanted to spend them doing nothing, relaxing etc. she asks if i want her to come down here, i say no, that i only have three days off and already have plans with the girls from work who also aren't going home to have drinks, order pizza and watch shitty hallmark movies (not a lie).

I FIND OUT TODAY THAT SHE'S FUCKING COMING DOWN TO "SURPRISE" ME FUCKING TOMORROW. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS??!!!

She didn't ask, she didn't tell, she's assuming she can stay with me, and i don't know how long she's planning on staying for. Thanks to numbers at work and cuts I managed to get a full 8 days off and I planned on doing NOTHING but catching up on writing and reading, drinking, watching my tv shows and relaxing, ALONE in my empty house cause the roomate would be gone home to family for xmas.

Not only that but i was supposed to be working tonight, i just got cut because i was the third bartender in and theres only 70 ppl. So i would have been out until like, 3, 4 am, up untl probably 5/6 or later, and sleeping until 5pm. THERE IS NO FUCKING BUFFER IN THERE BETWEEN WORK AND BEING FOCED TO HOST SOMEONE WHO I DO NOT WANT IN MY FUCKING HOUSE ESPECIALLY RIGHT NOW.

not to mention i do NOT have anywhere for her to sleep. i'm not giving up my room, i'm not giving her parker's room (technically i own the bed, but like, it's parker's space, you don't get to sleep there or even look in there). there was a futon in the house last year because sam owned it. like, if she thinks she's sleeping on the couch? girl. i couldn't do more than 2 nights on your couch at 30, i doubt you'll enjoy this shitty couch for sleeping at 73... ALSO, last year she went creepign down the hall all "i'm just gonna snoop into your bedrooms" like.. FUCK YOU, NO! Like, MAYBE you deserve to be able to look into my room cause i'm your daughter, but guess what, you have NO right to look at my roomates space?? esp cause both rooms were dirty and the mess from the rest of the house was shoved in there, like, fuck you, you're so fucking invasive.

I have been battling burnout, being sick, and other work bullshit for over a month now. Thanks to having tonight off I at least have time to try and process her coming, and now i get to spend my one buffer day riddled with anxiety, panic cleaning the house and all that shit rather than ENJOYING my fucking holiday?!!?? like FFS. i no longer get to enjoy even my first day off?

she has no clue what my schedule is, she has no idea what my plans are, like i could be out of town with the besties, i could already be planning to spend xmas with someone else's family, or friends, parker and i could be hosting a giant "orphans christmas", yet you think you have the right to just fucking show up on my doorstep and barge into my fucking life when i told you not to just because you're my parent!???

spoiler alert: you don't have that right.

there's a reason i moved away. there is a reason i no longer go home for holidays, there is a reason i rarely talk to anyone from my family. and shit like this? is *just* going to make it fucking worse.

tl;dr: i'm fucking livid and wanted to spend the next week getting as much writing done but apparently imma have to play host even though i didn't ask for it.

and please don't you fucking dare come into my inbox or the replies all "awwe but you should be happy that she cares, you should be happy that she wants to spendtime with you, you should be..." no... you don't know shit about our relationship and if you'd like to hear why i dislike my family so much i will gladly give you some examples.

[made-ofmemories]

When Life Tears You Asunder, But You’re Not Alone

(Chapter 10/17)

General Warnings/tags: Found family, implied Wayne/Susan in future chapters, Max & Eddie have a sibling like relationship, fluff, hurt/comfort

Chapter specific warnings/tags: Christmas, The rest of the gang make an appearance, fruity four + Jonathan shenanigans, A hint of steddie, and a touch of lumax but not as much as previous chapters

Word count: 4290

Summary: Billy was a pretty shitty brother, there was no denying it, but Max still finds herself mourning for the sibling relationship they never got to have. With him gone she thinks so are her chances of ever having the big brother figure she’s always wanted. Then in a turn of events that she never saw coming, Eddie Munson waltzes into her life. Or more like, almost runs her over.

Notes: Co-written with the wonderful @ladydorian05 and crossposted on AO3. Updates every Friday.

The last of the Christmas themed chapters and our longest to date. Happy holidays!

Series Masterlist ——-

Eddie and Max are the last to arrive at Steve’s. They knock, unlike Dustin at Halloween. Steve and Eddie became friends after what happened in March, but perhaps not walk into each other's houses unannounced friends, not yet. It still felt strange to him some days that Steve was someone he could even call a friend, if there was one thing high school had made abundantly clear it was that people like Steve ‘the king’ Harrington and Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson weren’t meant to be friends. Then again, Eddie had never been one to pay attention to the social constructs of high school.

“Jesus, Harrington, it looks like Christmas threw up in here,” Eddie comments as soon as Steve opens the door and steps back to let them in. 

The Harrington house is decked out in more Christmas decorations than Eddie thinks he’s ever seen in his life. There’s a tree by the front door, lights hanging from every available surface, another tree indoors, and garish foil streamers hanging from the ceilings in most rooms. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” If he had to guess Eddie would say he’s not the first one to have pointed it out, “Blame my parents, they sent some decoration team again last weekend, just like they did for Halloween, I think it makes them feel less guilty about never being around.” Eddie nods in understanding, he’s no stranger to absent parents. 

They find the rest of the gang in the living room, already grabbing some of the wrapped gifts from beneath the tree. Will and Mike are sitting side by side on the floor shaking a box covered in red and green wrapping paper, no doubt trying to figure out what’s inside. Jonathan and Nancy, home from college on winter break, are seated on the couch behind them with Robin. 

Max heads off, gift bag in hand. After leaving her gift beneath the tree she joins Lucas, Dustin, and El who are steadily demolishing the plate of cookies located on the coffee table in the center of the room. 

“Come on,” Steve says, using his elbow to nudge Eddie's arm as he nods in the direction of the empty loveseat. Eddie trails behind him, glad to not be crammed onto a too-small couch with a pair of candy-stealing teenagers this time. 

"I must admit that, even if I am against capitalistic celebrations, I have a soft spot for Christmas… and Halloween. Especially Halloween.”

“Of course, you would love Halloween.”

“How could I not, Steve? Costumes, horror movies, and free candy. What’s not to love?”

“Well, what about the other festivities? Like, like, Valentine’s day!”

“Okay. First of all, I’m of the belief that if you love someone you should let them know you appreciate them all year round, not just a single day in February.” Despite popular belief, Wayne had raised him right, “And secondly, I’ve never had anyone to make that day a big deal of. The only thing it brings into my life is discount chocolate the week after.”

 “But if you had someone to celebrate it with?”

Eddie shrugs, but he doesn’t get a chance to answer before Mike and Dustin are barreling over toward the pair of them. Apparently, they had been quick to grow impatient once the excitement of Max and Eddie’s arrival had worn off and the cookies were almost gone. They wait for the go-ahead from Steve to begin opening presents and Eddie can’t help but smile when he overhears the grumbled “since when do any of you little shits listen to me anyway?” 

Eddie finds his first, a small box wrapped in gold foil paper. He’s about to return to his spot on the loveseat when he notices Steve holding up one of the bags, gift tag so close it’s almost touching his nose as he strains to read the small handwritten message. 

They’ve all noticed him squinting at the tv during movie nights, struggling to read the small text on labels or food joint menus. Steve knows they’ve noticed, but the one and only time it had been brought up he’d shut it down just as quickly. Since then the conversations on the topic had been limited to the times when Steve wasn’t around to hear them.

Robin had been one of the first to notice it, unsurprising given the amount of time the two spent together, she had also been the one to point out how much worse it had gotten after their run-in with the Russians. There’s no doubt from any of them that he needs to seek an optometrist but until they figure out a way to bring up that conversation the silent agreement remains not to say anything. As much as they loved to tease him, some things were off-limits, even for Dustin.

“Here.” Eddie says, offering Steve a red and green gift bag. It hadn’t taken him long to find it amongst the pile of gifts, he’d been there when Max had picked it out, “It’s from Max.” He adds, leaning a little closer so he can be heard over the excited chatter of the others without raising his voice.

Steve takes the gift with a nod, grateful to Eddie for noticing and not making a big deal out of the situation whilst still looking somewhat embarrassed as they head back to their seats.

It doesn’t take long for the room to be turned into a sea of discarded wrapping paper and full of excited voices as everyone begins to unwrap their gifts. Lucas gets Max some tools for skateboard repairs to replace the ones lost in the move from Cherry Lane after her mom's divorce and she thanks him with a hug.

“And he only had to hand over his favorite issue of X-men to Dustin for the paper with your name on it.” Erica teases as she tears open the wrapping paper to reveal the new D&D miniatures Will got her.

Max whips her attention from Erica to Lucas with amusement written across her features, “You cheated?” She asks, one eyebrow cocked. Lucas stutters, he never has been good at lying to her, “Dustin is this true?” She asks, attempting a different tactic to get to the bottom of it.

“Technically it was 2 copies,” Dustin confirms.

“2?” Max repeats, turning back to Lucas with an exaggerated open-mouthed expression of shock, “Wow you must have been really desperate.”

“I already had your gift! But I couldn’t find the right moment to give it to you, and then Dustin asked me what to give you so I just offered an exchange.” Lucas explains. Once Max seems satisfied with his response he turns to Dustin and swats at the lip of his blue and white cap so it falls down over his eyes, “Not cool, man! You were sworn to secrecy!” He hisses.

“Hey! Erica brought it up, why are you complaining to me?!”

“Because you could have told her it wasn’t true.” 

“Friends don’t lie, Lucas, it’s our sacred creed,” Dustin says feigning innocence as he rights his cap.

“It doesn’t apply to this! This is plain treason.” Lucas shakes his head. Eddie is sure they would’ve continued with their little discussion and eventually dragged the other kids into it, if it wasn’t for Steve’s interruption.

“Ha ha, very funny Max.” Steve’s holding a coffee mug with the words ‘#1 Mom ’ and a heart right beside the word Mom. He’s trying to look annoyed, but the twitching of his mouth betrays his intentions of suppressing a smile.

“You’re welcome Steve. Or should I say mom!?” Eddie leans forward, to high-five Max who is still seated on the floor with Dustin, Erica, and Lucas. The others are occupied by opening their own gifts and still giggling about Steve’s mug when Eddie tears open the wrapping paper on the small box he had found under the tree. 

It’s a watch, similar to the one that had been drowned in lovers lake, only this one is brand new and a much nicer model than the one before it. It can’t have been cheap. He checks the tag on the gift bag again, and sure enough, there’s the same message scrawled in messy handwriting staring back at him.

‘To Eddie,

Merry Christmas.

From Steve’

“I uh, have the receipt if you don’t like it.” Steve says from beside him. He’s running one of his hands through his hair, looking uncertain as if he thinks Eddie might actually turn around and say he hates it.

“You kidding!? This is great!” He takes the watch from the box and proceeds to put it on his left wrist. “Thank you very much, Stevie!” he says leaning into Steve’s personal space with a big smile.

“Just- just make sure to take it off before you go for another swim.” No way, is Steve blushing? Nah, must be the lights. Don’t get your hopes up, Munson.

“Will do.”

“Oh my god! Eddie! Thank you so much!” They’re interrupted by Will jumping from his place on the floor to the free space on Eddie’s other side, holding a pack of oil paint tubes and a box of high-quality colored pencils in each hand. “Can I hug you?!”

“Get over here.” He opens his arms and huffs as the weight of the teen falls on him. “Get ready, I might even commission a painting for the next campaign.”

“Really?”

“Of course,” Eddie assures and he’s met with another bright smile.

Will moves to go back to his friends shortly after, already showing off his gift and discussing with Dustin and Max what he plans to create. Eddie turns to say something to Steve only to find he’s gone from his spot by his side, his eyes instead landing on Nancy hovering halfway between the entryway to the living room and the kitchen. She waves him over once she realizes she’s got his attention, he goes without hesitation, curiosity getting the better of him.

“Wheeler!” He beams once he’s in earshot. They haven’t had much of a chance to catch up since she returned for winter break which had disappointed him more than he ever would have expected. She offers a smile in return for his greeting, “How’s college treating you?” He asks with a gesture to her Emerson sweatshirt. 

“Great! Well except for this one professor, I don’t know if he’s acting like an asshole to ‘prepare us for the real world’” she says making air quotes, “or if that’s just him.”

“Where are your bets?” he asks, raising an eyebrow as he leans on the pillar opposite her.

“That he’s just an asshole.” She answers with a smirk.

“Ha, well, if Nancy Wheeler says so, it’s probably true.”

She looks down and shakes her head slightly at his words, hiding a bashful smile, “What about you?” She questions, a clear attempt to steer the conversation away from herself, “What have you been up to?”

“Well, miraculously I got a job.“

“The record store?”

“Sadly not. Do you know the garage over on Oak?” He waits for Nancy’s nod before he continues, “They hired me. Not what I had in mind, but I’m sure the pay is much better than anything I’d get selling tapes all day. Plus my boss doesn’t think I’m a murderer, so that’s a bonus. He actually thinks it was something supernatural, if only he knew.”

“If only he knew indeed.”

“How’s it going with Jonny boy? How’s the whole long-distance thing going?”

“Well, it’s not going anymore for starters.”

“Oh. Damn, what happened?”

“I think being in a  place bigger than small-town Hawkins made me realize some stuff about myself.” Eddie follows her gaze and notices that she’s looking at Robin as she speaks, whether consciously or not he’s not quite sure. But, he wasn’t about to comment on that, not now at least. Though he definitely files the information away to bring up at a later date, “Plus the long distance was taking a toll on us, we just decided to end it. But we’re still friends, so we didn’t lose each other in that sense.”

“I, I seriously don’t know what to say. What does one say in this situation ‘Congratulations for breaking up and saving your friendship? Do companies make cards for that?”

“Shut up Munson.” She says, shoving him lightly. They share a laugh before Steve calls them over to join the others in the kitchen.

“I see you guys have your very own party going on in here.” Eddie comments. Jonathan is sitting on a stool chatting and sharing a bag of chips with Robin, who is perched on the counter beside him. Steve has his back to them, setting a timer for whatever is in the oven. 

“Jonathan!” Eddie says in a booming voice that’s a little too loud for the quiet room they’re in. He lets his hands drop onto Jonathan’s shoulders, the combination of the unexpected touch and loud voice startling him. They’d met a few times now, but unlike the others, Eddie’s larger-than-life personality still took him by surprise on occasion, “How’s NYU?” 

 "It's amazing, man. I'm so glad they still had space in the program, for a moment I seriously thought I wouldn't make it."

“And to think you almost didn’t send the application.” Robin chimes in, popping another chip into her mouth.

“Okay,” Steve appears from the other side of the kitchen, a bottle in each hand, “so you know about the ‘no strong stuff while the kids are around’ rule, but we do have cider or sparkling apple juice,” He says, placing the bottles on the kitchen island where Robin and Jonathan are sitting, “Nance, could you get the glasses? They’re-.”

“I know.” She replies, already moving from the spot next to Robin where she had been standing.

“Right,” Steve says sheepishly whilst running a hand through his hair, a habit Eddie has noticed a lot recently.

“Hey, Rob.” Eddie says quietly, moving to occupy the empty space left behind by Nancy, “Why don’t you give Nancy a hand?” He suggests. There’s 5 of them, plus the glasses are in the top cabinet and Robin is taller. It makes perfect sense that Nancy might need some help and has absolutely nothing to do with Eddie’s meddling.

“Okay,” She gives him a strange look, one that clearly says she knows he’s up to something but she doesn’t seem to have figured out exactly what yet. She wipes her hands on her pants to clear away the residue from the chip flavoring and hands the bag to Jonathan before jumping off the counter.

You can thank me later Wheeler. He thinks watching Robin approach Nancy from behind making her jump and almost drop a glass. They smile at each other. Robin ends up being the one who takes down the remaining glasses from the cupboard and together they bring them to the others. 

“Alright, what’s your poison?” Steve asks once he’s popped open both bottles.

“You can’t call this poison, dingus. It’s barely alcohol.” Robin complains as Steve fills her glass with cider, already knowing what she would choose without having to wait for a response.

“Well, it’s just as strong as a can of beer,” Steve argues.

“Don’t lie, Steve, I saw the bottle, a beer is 5% this thing is like 3 or 4 %.”

“The kids are here so be happy you have any at all, Jesus!.” Steve shakes his head. The others watch on with amusement, they all know Robin is just arguing for the sake of giving Steve a hard time, it’s kind of their thing, “Cider or juice, Eds?”

“Oh. Ummm, juice.” He decides, “I don’t really like cider.”

“I get it.” Steve says, grabbing the other bottle and filling two empty glasses, “If you think about it, it’s just a step away from becoming vinegar.” 

“Exactly!”

“I don’t think they use the same process guys.” Nancy adds, sounding more than a little skeptical of their claims. 

“I don’t know Nance, they might be onto something. One year my mom got a bottle for new year’s eve but we didn’t finish it and forgot all about it. A week later I accidentally spilled it on the floor and the whole kitchen ended up smelling like stale vinegar for a while.” Jonathan piped up.

“Wait, can vinegar go bad?” Robin asks

Nancy sighs, pressing the palm of her hand against her face. Eddie has no doubt that she’s missed this, despite her exasperation. 

It’s easy to lose track of the overlapping chatter and after a couple of minutes, no one seems sure of what they were even talking about in the first place. The timer Steve had set is what finally brings them out of their little bubble.

“Cookies are ready!” Steve announces as he pulls the tray from the oven. 

“Hold on, Stevie, you made those cookies that the munchkins were devouring earlier!?” Eddie asks in disbelief.

“Yeah, I’ve done this every year since ‘84 I think. It’s my Nana’s recipe. The kids like them and by now I know to make enough dough and then some since our group just keeps on getting bigger.”

Well damn, Nancy wasn’t the only one full of surprises. Steve was a man of many talents so it seemed. 

Eddie tries to grab one from the tray only for his hand to be smacked away by Steve’s still oven glove-clad hand. “What was that for?”

“Are you kidding me? Eddie, you just watched me take them out of the oven. They’re hot!” Steve says moving in front of Eddie in an attempt to block the tray with his body. 

“Yeah, so? They taste better when they’re hot!” Eddie argues, making an attempt to step around Steve and steal a cookie from the tray. 

“Eddie, no!” Steve protests, hooking an arm around Eddie’s middle and intercepting his cookie stealing attempts, “Warm cookies taste good, but these just came out of the oven, you’ll burn yourself.” The warning doesn’t deter him and Eddie pushes forward against the arm Steve is attempting to hold him back with, “Guy’s a little help here, please.”

“I don’t know, seems to me like Eddie really wants that cookie.” Robin says betweeen laughter.

“You’re on your own, man.” Jonathan chuckles.

“Nance, please, be the voice of reason.” Steve pleads, swatting at Eddie’s hand as he continues to wrestle him away from the tray. 

“Let him learn the hard way.” Nancy says, a smile tugging at her lips. 

“Bunch of traitors.”

“Come on, just one!!” Eddie complains, still refusing to give up.

“Seriously, you’re worse than Henderson!”

“Whoa, what did I do? I just wanted more soda.” Both Steve and Eddie stop their struggle to turn to Dustin who is standing by the doorway of the kitchen, an empty can of soda in hand.

Eddie takes advantage of Steve’s distraction to get his hand on a cookie, only to drop it immediately after. “Hot! Hot! Fuck that’s hot!”

“I told you!”

“Guys, Steve made more cookies!” Dustin yells to the others who had stayed behind in the living room. 

“Before any of you get any ideas, they’re still hot and no you can’t get any until they cool off!” Steve shouts. “Just get your drink, I’ll bring the cookies over later, Herderson. You too Max, I can see you peeking over Dustin’s shoulder.”

They listen, but not without some grumbling first and Steve places the tray by a cracked open window whilst the others argue about who’s going to order pizza.

They re-join the younger teens, who have already started with the board games, in the living room with the cookies once the pizzas arrives deciding to call it a night only when Mike and Erica get into a heated argument over a game of monopoly.

---------

The drive from Steve’s house to the trailer park isn’t a long one. Still, something about the night sky and a dark road illuminated only by the headlights of the van makes it feel as if time is standing still. 

“Nice watch,” Max says over the music playing quietly on the stereo which Eddie had long since drowned out with his thoughts. 

“Hm?” He hums drawing himself back to reality with a fleeting glance at his wrist where the watch in question sits securely wrapped around his wrist. He hadn’t had a chance to show her during the chaos of the gift exchange, “Oh, yeah. Who would’ve thought Harrington actually has good taste.”

“All those polo’s never gave it away?” She jokes in a familiar sarcastic tone, “And he wonders why he can’t find a girlfriend.”

He snorts out a half laugh and a smile lingers on his face even after the conversation has fizzled out again. On anyone else he might’ve agreed, but with Steve he was starting to think the guy could walk around wearing a paper bag and still somehow manage to look good.

“Hey, you still awake over there?” He asks, grabbing Max’s attention which had drifted to the blurred scenery visible from the passenger side window, she lets out a noise that sounds vaguely like ‘yeah’ in acknowledgment letting him know she’s listening, “There’s something I want to tell you.”

“Ok,” Max replies, drawing out the last syllable. 

“I’m not really sure how to say this so uh-” He hesitates, shifting his grip on the wheel. Eddie has never been ashamed to be himself, even when society has told him not to be and he’s gotten a few busted noses over the years to prove that, but this conversation always makes his throat run dry, “You know I’m… I’m not like Steve.” 

“Yeah, no shit.” She lets out an amused breath, not quite a chuckle. 

Ok maybe that wasn’t the best way to put it. 

“What I mean is, you know how Steve is a chick magnet, how he caters to the female eye and how they flock to him and how I don’t. And it’s not only because of my highschool reputation, if I wanted to I bet I could get some attention too but that, that’s the thing, I don’t want to. Or I want to, but not in the same way, can’t really afford to put myself out there really-”

“Eddie! What’s your point?”

“Okay, yeah.” He takes a deep breath before just saying it. “Max. I’m gay. I don’t like girls, I like guys.” he waits in nervous silence for Max’s reaction and then Max laughs and it's Eddie’s turn to be confused. That was not the reaction he had expected.

“I know, Eddie.”

“What? How?”

“Where do you want me to start?” She’s grinning and he frowns at the road in front of him in response, “You could’ve just told me you have a crush on Steve y’know.”

“I do not.” He definitely does. He needs to remind himself more often that the bunch of kids he hangs out with are freaking geniuses in more ways than one. 

“Yeah, right, whatever. Keep lying to yourself.”

“You’re a little shit you know that?” He asks as they take the final turn into the trailer park.

“Yup.” Max replies, sounding much prouder than she should. 

Like always he parks the van in front of her trailer first.

“Hey, Max.” He calls her attention, unbuckling his seatbelt to turn on his seat to rummage in the back pocket behind his seat until he finds what he was looking for, “Here, I got you something.”

He hands her a badly wrapped bundle.

“What’s this?” 

“Well, you gotta open it to find out, Red.” He’s practically vibrating with excitement as he watches her tear open the wrapping paper to reveal a denim jacket. “Ta-da! I can teach you how to turn it into your very own battle vest if you want? We can go together to the mall to look for some patches for it.”

He's still waiting for some kind of reaction to the gift he got her when suddenly she's taking a smaller bundle of wrinkled wrapping paper from the pocket of her coat and throwing it to him.

"Whoa, and this?" He asks, fumbling to catch it.

"Well, you gotta open it, dimwit." She says, mocking his earlier words.

He tears the paper to find a guitar strap with the words 'Corroded Coffin' painted over it.

“Will helped with the painting.” She explains, "I wanted to get you strings for your guitar, but I didn't have enough money so I got that and a bottle of fabric paint."

"Shit, Red. This, this is, I love it!"

"Oh shut up, don't get emotional with me." She teases and goes to open the door to step out of the van, but stops midway, "Just for the record, I don't mind that you like guys, you're still my brother… And thank you for the jacket." She adds before she gets out in a hurry, leaving Eddie behind.

He’s parked the van and is already halfway up the steps to the trailer when the snowball collides with his back, exploding against the leather of his jacket. He whips around just in time to see Max launching another which he manages to dodge, it hits the front door of the trailer instead.

"I expect you to take me to the mall for those patches soon!" She calls, voice raised so he can hear her from across the street.

“Stop throwing things at me and I’ll consider it.” He yells back.

She doesn’t hesitate to launch another ball of snow in his direction before she waves to him and heads inside her trailer. He returns her wave and also heads inside, going straight to his room to fit the new strap to his Warlock.

[redpandaramblings]

Like Caramel For Chocolate- An Omega Bakugou x Alpha f!Reader fic. Part 2.

Part 1- Here

Next- Here

Content Warning: Negative headspace, omegaverse, self deprecation, depressive thoughts, pushy parental figures, ambiguous omegaverse reproduction, unhealthy relationships, relationship that could be easily fixed if idiots would use their words and communicate

Where we left off-

You twisted the hem of your shirt, silence growing as you thought. Your mother wasn’t saying anything new. On your lonelier days, like today, the words sounded eerily similar to your own thoughts. If this conversation had happened on any other day, you knew how forceful your ‘No!’ would be. But today was today.

“Okay.” Your whisper seemed more like a shout into the quiet. “I’ll do it. I’ll go.”

“You will? Oh Y/N! How wonderful! Since I already said yes, of course. You’ll need to come home right away, the omiai is the day after tomorrow, and we need to get you a proper outfit!”

“So soon?” Your mind raced. Bakugou was still in heat. What would you do? There was no way… Your thoughts slowed. But there was a way. Plenty of ways. Katsuki had many friends that could look after him. Friends he was actually comfortable letting into his apartment. You knew he’d let Kirishima take care of him. Mina absolutely could convince him to eat and drink, no matter how grumpy he was. There was a pain in your chest as a familiar thought wound through your brain. Katsuki didn’t need you. He never had. As if in a fog, you heard yourself saying, “I’ll need a little bit to take care of some things here; but I can be home tonight. See you soon.” You heard your mother happily continue rambling even as you hung up. You stared at the wall for a few minutes, unseeing. You were really doing this, huh? Pushing yourself up, you rummaged around your kitchen; finding bags and filling them with snacks and drinks. Before you could think better of it, you dialed Kirishima. He answered on the fourth ring. “Hey dude! What’s up?” “Kiri, I need your help. Can you come over now? I’ll explain when you get here.” “Yeah man, I’ll be right over. Hang tight.” A few short minutes later, there was a knock on your door. You opened it to see a tall, concerned looking redhead. You ushered him inside as you went back to the kitchen, continuing to make up care packs. “Hey, now what is it, Y/n? It sounded serious.” “It is and it isn’t,” you say; looking over at him as you shove gatorade into bags. “There’s a… family emergency. I need to go home right away for a few days.” “Ouch, that’s rough man! It’s Bakubro having his heat right now?” “Exactly. That’s why I need your help. Can you bring one of these bags to him each day? Make sure he eats and drinks at least? I know he trusts you.”

Kirishima nodded enthusiastically. “Of course man! Anything to help!” He looked over the supplies, inconspicuously checking what you’d already packed. “You want to scent some stuff for him before you go too?” You shook your head, forcing yourself not to wince as you lied to your friend yet again. “I’d better not. I don’t want to give him a bag of stuff soaked in distressed alpha scent. Besides, I scented some stuff for him this morning; that should be enough.”

Kirishima frowned but nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Have you told him yet?”

You shake your head. “No. No reason to stress him out until I know for sure what I’m dealing with, and call when I have a better idea. Might not even take a full day if I’m lucky.” “Yeah, hopefully. It’s really shit timing, isn’t it.” You nod as you place the last of the bags on the counter, satisfied with your work. “It is. But I trust you to take care of him. You’re a great alpha like that.” Kirishima chuckled and preened at the praise. “I am great, aren’t I? I’ll do my best, but I’m no match for you.” You give a small, tight smile as you walk to your junk drawer, rummaging until you find one of your spare keys. You chuck it at your friend, who catches it easily. “Here. This way you can let yourself in and just grab a bag each day.”

“Can do, Dudette! Anything else?”

You considered as you retrieved a duffle bag, making a mental list of what you’d need to pack. “Not really? I haven’t told anybody else that I’m going yet. Wasn’t sure if I should ask Mina or some of the others to check in too. You know how Bakugou can be with his heats, and I want to make sure he’s comfortable.”

“Oh yeah, that makes sense. I’ll probably wait til tomorrow and see what he wants to do.” Kiri watched you as you paced around. “Need any help packing?”

You nodded with half a smile. “Yeah. Thanks, Kiri.”

In a few short hours you were packed with enough supplies for a few days, and on a train headed home. Your mother had agreed to meet you at the station. The scenery rushed by a window in a blur. Your eyes were unfocused as you watched the view whip by. You were really doing this. For the first time in years, you were leaving your omega… No. You were leaving Katsuki alone for his heat. You were leaving him alone so you could go to a marriage date. To meet an omega theoretically with the intention of bonding. Guilt weighed heavily on you as you exited the train hours later. You saw your mother waving to you from across the station. This was it. No turning back now.

~~~

Bakugou growled as the morning light streamed in his window, smacking him across the eyes. He wished he could just sleep until the whole fucking heat was over. He hated everything about it. He hated the itching of his skin, the hazy fog affecting his brain, the slimy slick that oozed out of him steadily. He hated the burning need to fuck and breed and to have his alpha close. Bakugou snarled to himself. He refused to be a slave to his weak ass biology. He wasn’t some weak, pitiful, flower. He was a top ten hero! He was going to be number one! And the next bastard who told him he should be home tending to his pups and letting an alpha take care of him was going to get an explosion up the ass. As if he needed some knotted headed alpha. Bakugou glanced at his clock, frowning when he saw the time. Usually his alpha would be here by now to drop off his care bag. He scratched at the swollen, irritated scent glands on his neck. It’s not like he fucking cared if Y/N was late. Just, he couldn’t remember the last time she had been. And maybe he was getting antsy because the strength of his heat scent was already starting to overpower the scented blanket he had woven into his nest, close to his pillows.

A knock sounded from the door, and with a relieved huff Bakugou rushed to answer it. He took a deep breath in to calm himself, before flinging the door open.

“About fucking time you showed up, shitty…” He trailed off as his brain registered the tall, red-headed man standing in front of him was very much not his alpha. “What the fuck are you doing here, shitty hair?”

Kirishima rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish. “Hey man, sorry not to call beforehand, but I told Y/N I wouldn’t.” Confused, Bakugou looks Kirishima up and down again, this time spotting the familiar bag the redhead was holding. “What the fuck are you doing with my stuff? Where’s my shitty alpha?” Kiri frowned and held up the bag. “Don’t call Y/N shitty. She asked me to bring this over. Look, man, can I just come in and explain what’s going on?”

Reluctantly, Bakugou stood aside holding the door open as his friend came in. The blond stuck his head into the hallway, half looking for his alpha. His inner omega growing restless when there was no sign of you. With a grumble, he slammed the door, turning to where his friend had thrown himself onto the sofa. “So what the fuck, Kirishima? Where’s Y/N? Why didn’t she come here herself?”

Kiri tilted his head back, looking at the ceiling. “She had some sort of family emergency and had to go home for a bit. She didn’t want to worry you because she didn’t know how serious it was or how long it would take. She said she’d call and update us when she’s able to.”

Bakugou’s omega whimpered in his chest. His alpha was gone? His alpha had left him alone when he couldn’t follow to make sure they were alright? He knew how much your family stressed you out normally, let alone in an emergency. A traitorous part of his brain whispered to him, asking if this wasn’t exactly what he had wanted? Hadn’t he growled at his mate, wanting to be left alone? Bakugou hadn’t realized there was a plaintive whine escaping his throat until Kirishima wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Hey, bro, it’s okay. I know it’s rough, but I’m here. And I can call Mina and Sero if you want company. Been a while since we’ve had a pack get together. Y/N might not be here right now, but she wanted to make sure you’re as comfortable as possible.”

Bakugou nodded stiffly as he went to go paw through the bag Kirishima had brought.

Jerky, drinks, chocolate- Bakugou frowned. “Was this the only bag?”

“I mean, there’s a bag for each day for about a week’s worth; so I just grabbed one. Why man, something missing? Need me to go get you something?”

Katsuki shook his head. He wasn’t going to ask Kirishima of all people where his usual bag of scented items was. If Y/N was in a rush, that would explain it. Bakugou hoped that was the case, and he wouldn’t have to actually ask you to scent things for him again. He’d rather be kidnapped by villains again than admit to how much your rich chocolate scent soothed him and helped him sleep peacefully. There was no way the items you had left yesterday would last him through the rest of his heat.

“Actually, shitty hair, could you go get me some Yakult? Been craving it this heat.” Kiri jumped up with a grin. “Sure, bro! No problem! Be right back!” The omega gave a lazy wave as Kiri jogged out the door. As soon as the door shut, he bolted to the bathroom and applied as much scent blocker as he could stand. It wouldn’t hold up long against his heat pheromones, but should work for what he intended to do. Bakugou grabbed his keyring from the hook by the door, rushed down the hallway to the stairway, and started climbing upward; taking the stairs three at a time. In less than a minute, he was standing outside the door to your apartment.

It felt strange, Katsuki thought as he flipped through his keys until he found yours. It was strange that in all your years of dating he had only been inside your apartment a handful of times. He unlocked the door, pushing it open and stepping inside. As the wall of scent that was uniquely you smacked him in the face, he felt the tension in his shoulders ease. Maybe the strangest thing was that you lived three floors apart instead of sharing a space together. Because then he wouldn’t be here, doing this; he thought as he made a beeline to your bedroom. He knew exactly what he was after. Recently scented items lost their smell fairly quickly. But something you used daily, with your scent glands brushing against it every time? That would last him a month, if not longer. Besides. You were his alpha. He wouldn’t have to come in and steal your pillow if you had just scented more stuff for him in the first place. He buried his face in your pillow and inhaled deeply. He whimpered as your rich scent filled his nose, causing his slick to increase. Reluctantly he made his way to the door with his prize, even as every instinct told him to build a nest on the soft bed and wait for his mate to come home to him.

~~~~~

You sighed, adjusting the cuffs of the outfit your mother had picked and shoved you into. Today was the day. The day you met your perspective “bride.” You snorted at the old fashioned ideology. At times like these you felt like you understood Bakugou better. Omegas deserved to be treated as more than just their dynamic. Luckily, most of society agreed nowadays; with omegas able to hold any job and no one being forced to marry. Unluckily, the omiai remained one of the last extremely traditional accepted ceremonies. Your parents were in another room, exchanging your scented handkerchief with one from whoever the poor omega was. According to tradition, if you both went into heat and rut upon scenting each other; you would both be married and mated that same day. What happened more often, you thought cynically, is as long as you didn’t gag at each other’s scent, you’d meet in person to see if you found each other compatible.

You were broken out of your ruminations by the sound of a door opening. Your mother practically skipped toward you, holding out the paper wrapped package with the hanky inside. You tuned out her nattering about how good this match could be as you unwrapped the paper and brought the cloth to your nose. Your brow furrowed. You inhaled deeply, just to make sure. The sharp tang of citrus hit your nose. You knew this scent from somewhere. “Hey mom,” you spoke softly. “I think I’d like to see them now.”

“Oh!” Your mother blinked in surprise. “Of course, of course! This way!”

Your mother led you into an elegant private room. You settled onto a cushion as your parents went to see if the omega had agreed to meet. Glancing about the room, you wondered exactly how many times you’d see the inside of this teahouse if you kept agreeing to these meetings. It didn’t feel right, you thought with a frown. But if you gave up on Bakugou, this was your destiny. Awkward meeting after awkward meeting until you clicked enough with someone to risk settling down.

You glanced up at the sound of the door. In came your parents, then the Yokomadas. You did a double take as the final person, the omega you were here to meet, entered the room. They looked equally as startled as your eyes locked.

“Y/N?”

“Denki?!”

That's it for part 2! Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for part 3! If anyone has any questions regarding the fic or how this particular omegaverse operates, please feel free to shoot me an ask.

Taglist- @yzviea, @not-a-pushover, @thelilypieforever, @kumihayu, @aomi04 Also, please note that @snuggleyourredpandas is my main account, so it you see a message reply from them, that's me!

[thessalian]

OC Interview

Honestly, anyone who wants to do this, but tradition dictates that I tag @hyperewok1 specifically. And we’re gonna go with Alisaie for this one.

name ➔ Alisaie. Last name is Featherwind, these days.

are you single ➔ So, so very much, very happily not single.

are you happy ➔ Overall, most of the time, sure!

are you angry ➔ Given the wyvern-shit we’re having to deal with at the moment, and what it’s done to good people? That too, yeah.

are your parents still married ➔ That’s ... a philosophical point, I think. I mean, there’s that whole thing about “‘til death us do part” in some vows but death only parted them for about forty-five seconds as far as I know, so ... maybe? I'd say I’ll ask them if I ever end up in hell, but I’ll probably just end up trying to kill them harder.

NINE FACTS

birthplace ➔ Belarys, in a ratty-ass house on what some pun-criminal once called ‘the high street’ because a lot of drugs get sold there and the pun just kept going for eighty-some years and counting now.

hair colour ➔ I want to say ‘blonde’? But honestly, as pretentious as it sounds, ‘white gold’ is closer.

eye colour ➔ Blue

birthday ➔ Ah. That. Yeaaaaaaaah, my parents didn’t really do that. The People tagged it ‘somewhere in early spring’ but I don’t think ‘when the first new frost onion shoots start sprouting’ is specific enough for this.

mood ➔ What, right now? Bewildered as to why you’re asking me about my mood right now. Or did you mean a general mood sort of deal? Because that changes depending on circumstance and circumstance right now is “Oh, fuck, these questions should be easy but I guess not”. I guess that’s a mood.

gender ➔ Female

summer or winter ➔ Either works, for various reasons, but my wife’s not much for snow no matter how much I love it, so I’ll go with summer for her.

morning or afternoon ➔ Once again, I’ll take either, but my wife isn’t the fondest of early mornings, so I get my best Ree-time in the afternoon.

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE

are you in love ➔ Have you met my wife? How could I not be in love with that?

do you believe in love at first sight ➔ Eeeeeeh ... Lust at first sight, love at first encounter. Real love - friend, lover, whatever - comes from who they are, and most people don’t show the whole of themselves in their physicality.

who ended your last relationship ➔ I didn’t really have relationships before Ree. The People’s packs don’t usually work that way; think “extended polycule” rather than just “a bunch of people hunting together”. So I guess you could say ‘fate’, because I got told by our soothsayers to ‘seek the sun’ and left the pack to do so.

have you ever broken someone’s heart ➔ I mean, maybe? No one’s said if I did, anyway. Well, Legolas, probably, but he’s a dire moose, and his heart mended real fast when I came back for him.

are you afraid of commitments ➔ I was the one who proposed, so no.

have you hugged someone within the last week? ➔ If I haven’t hugged or at least just half-hugged someone over the course of a day, something is wrong. So definitely yes.

have you ever had a secret admirer ➔ Did ... you miss the ‘secret’ part of that? If I have, they’re really good at keeping secrets, because I don’t know about it.

have you ever broken your own heart? ➔ Yeah, once. Worked out for the best, though.

SIX CHOICES

love or lust ➔ Love if I have to choose. It encompasses so many more things.

lemonade or iced tea ➔ That depends entirely on mood. Lemonade right now, but could change in the next five minutes. Also depends on how good both things are. I’d rather have great iced tea than shitty lemonade, and vice versa.

cats or dogs ➔ I mean ... right now, dire moose? But eventually dog.

a few best friends or many regular friends ➔ See, the clue there is in the word ‘best’. Why would I settle for regular anything when I could have the best?

wild night out or romantic night in ➔ What is it with you people and trying to make people choose between two apparently disparate things? I can have both. I will have both, depending on mood. Stronger people than you have tried to stop me, and failed miserably.

day or night ➔ ...Okay, that’s just circumstantial as fuck. For what? What would I be doing? Some activities work better at night; others work better in the daytime! This is stupid.

FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS

been caught sneaking out ➔ Not so much sneaking out of the house (I snuck out a lot; just never got caught), but I did nearly get caught sneaking out of someone else’s house with a few random valuables once.

fallen down/up the stairs ➔ Nope, and I think it’d be a little hard to now. *extends wings*

wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ➔ I don’t think so. Why would wanting something hurt?

wanted to disappear ➔ *loooooooooong thinking* Right. After careful consideration ... what the hell are you smoking? Of course not! I like me.

FOUR PREFERENCES

smile or eyes ➔ Smile. Okay, mostly because that encompasses the eyes as well as the mouth. I am allowed to cheat.

shorter or taller ➔ I like the little dark butch ones. See also: my wife.

intelligence or attractive ➔ Those two words are so fucking vague. Like, there are different kinds of intelligence, and different ways of being attractive. So ... neither; my preference is heart.

hook-up or relationship ➔ Used to be the former, kind of, but ... you know, the fact that I’m married now might give you a clue as to my current preference.

FAMILY

do you and your family get along ➔ My parents were criminals. My father threw me off an airship tower (and if I wasn’t what I am, I would have been dead a long time ago). Both of them went and joined an apocalypse cult and tried to corrupt an entire city. I beheaded my father; my mother banished me to a weird-ass demiplane briefly, and all I could say to the dragonborn who cracked her skull (once I got back, obviously) was “thanks”. So ... I would say ... not really?

would you say you have had a “messed up life” ➔ It had some messed-up bits early on, but mostly it was fine.

have you ever run away from home ➔ Not exactly; probably would have if I hadn’t been very forcibly disowned first.

have you ever gotten kicked out ➔ Again. AIRSHIP TOWER. THROWN OFF OF. I think that qualifies.

FRIENDS

do you secretly hate one of your friends ➔ Why would I be friends with them if I hated them? What kind of societal norms are we dealing with here? My friends might get a little annoying sometimes, but I love them anyway. Not in spite of; almost because of.

do you consider all of your friends good friends ➔ The things they’ve done for me, sacrificed for me, and got past to have me in their lives? I could not ask for better friends, and wouldn’t dare try.

who is your best friend ➔ Now, generally speaking I would not play favourites with my friends; they are all unique and precious and can’t be quantified enough for that. However, I hold the belief that if your pair-bond is not your best friend, you are doing something wrong. So that makes it easy - my best friend is my wife.

[kusagrasskusa]

Michael Myers X Murderer! Reader - Headcannons - "Death Card"

Also, thank you (Wattpad Person) for requesting this :) I know your the last request I got, so I prolly should have done someone else's request first, but your's was just easiest to find. (Also, I have it bad for Michael so )

Have fun reading this! I'm writing this on my laptop instead of computer so sorry if the formatting turns out worse than usual :/

Also...someone made fun of me for putting, "eight," and, "11," in the same sentence. I guess not many people know this, but anything under ten is supposed to be written out unless their fractions or decimals.

By the way, these basically aren't headcannons lol. It's just me wanting to write out a story but not being good enough to so I just write it down in simpler terms.

Enjoy~

Not only is Y/N just another famous murder who casually takes the lives of people, but she's amazing at hiding

..........until-

Y/N was an abusive home after her parents died when she was a toddler. Her aunt and uncle neglected her but karma came back at them when their car fell off a bridge, causing the pair to drown. The downside for the young Y/N was that she was put into a foster institution. And we all know by now that foster care are full of fights, drugs, weed, alcohol, and shitty employees.

As a young girl entering such a bad place, she was always a target. You know that sense of fear, worthlessness, and loneliness fucked with her head to where she felt lashing out felt great.

She would be unable to stop herself as she plunged a sharp object in and out of this prick that held her down for so long. But once she heard voices from other kids, she ran.

The story made headlines as the next big attack from yet another child. That's right, next. There was someone who inspired her to do what she did.

Of course, she always had that memory in the back of her head. That boy's violent actions filled her with immeasurable awe when she saw the news. However, she always had something more important to think about.

With so much dissatisfaction with her past, she could only fill herself up with adding things on to her in the present, and more in the future.

Y/N would steal Poker cards from people and always use the Ace of Spades to mark her kills by sliding the card into a wound. After all, betting games were the highlight of her day in the foster institution. She was always so good at it that it became her pride.

All these headlines and stories about how evil she is became such a big deal in her head. Such an overwhelming feeling of adrenaline every time she heard the name people would call her.

"The Death Card," is another name for Ace of Spades in most English countries. It was the perfect fit for Y/N.

(Ya'll, I feel like a fucking genius for coming up with that lol)

She was so good at hiding, truly. Kill someone in Kentucky, then move to Missouri. Killing someone there and move to Georgia, and so on.

Only in her hometown was she caught.

Michael was the one who started it all for her, as their same age and hometown made her feel connected to him, and finally where he got caught would be the same place she did.

14 years of hiding and killing led her to meeting him

Michael spent these 14 years sitting in complete silence. No talking, no humming, no singing, nothing. It's like he was always in his own world of thought, too busy in his imagination to interact with the real world.

Of course, there was times when he did pay attention to what's around him.

The news was the only thing he'd really pay close attention to. After all, what if something happens to Haddonfield while's he's stuck in there, and that causes plenty of people he once knew to move away?

But per usual, there was nothing about it

But there was something that caught his attention even by a little

"After 14 years, the notorious Death Card or Card of Death has finally been caught," says the Haddonfield Police Department. "While we're unsure of her motives thus far, we have been able to learn of who she is. Y/N L/N made the headlines once in 1980 at the age of eight as one of America's biggest crime cases with children as the culprit, having brutally stabbed a 15 year old boy. This happened just two years after the Michael Myers case, when a six year old boy stabbed his older sister in 1978. All else the HPD are saying is that her frantic behavior may lead her to a mental institution rather than letting her make legal decisions in court."

Michael paid attention to all the details of the report. For this report to be made about Haddonfield, chances are they'll be meeting each other soon.

The Death Card was a violent killer Michael heard of plenty of times however he never paid close attention to.

(Holy shit these are just headcannons so why am I writing long paragraphs)

He had to say, hearing about her violent stabbings were the highlight of his week. Even if he never felt strong about hearing other people having fun with their lives like she was, he couldn't help but almost feel pushed to do what she is. Living freely and ending those who cross his path...

Saying he was jealous or inspired would be a stretch though

He would spend his days painting paper mache masks while thinking of doing what she was for sure but he hated how she would show off by using those cards as if she didn't have a goal in mind, which was annoying to him. If you have nothing to live for, then kill yourself was his mindset.

Michael watched as Y/N stepped into court. He know hundreds- no thousands- of people watched as this woman of pure evil stepped into the courtroom. Her H/C hair flowed as she walked passed everyone, glaring at them with her cold E/C eyes.

A look of slight intrigue replaced his normal dull expression as he watched the girl stand up before the judge, smiling sassily at the cameras as to tell them to fuck off. Michael can recognize that look of intrusion on her face as she was practically interrogated. Clearly, she hated it there.

He watched contently as all the mystery surrounding the Card of Death was revealed to everyone in this world. Days went by of this court case before finally, she pled insanity. After all, she was known to have some underlying mental conditions as she remained so calm when talking about the varies of ways she would kill.

It's easy to see that many felt bad for the girl. Such trauma growing up led to the creation of this unfortunate human. But Michael? He didn't feel bad at all.

He never was sad or truly sympathetic however...he did feel pity. Somewhere in his soulless eyes held pity for this sad, sad girl he was soon to meet. Not exactly sympathy, but simply pity. And with that came respect.

The day that Y/N stepped foot into those doors was the day the two would meet for the very first times. Over 63 counts of first degree murder in 14 years led to the meeting of these two serial killers. At the time, they were both only 20.

Tables were scattered across the room with people talking or simply sitting alone by themselves on them. There was TV in a few different places around the room and board games in a couple of shelves. In the back of the large room was windows that showed the outside that felt so out of reach forever.

As the metal doors slammed behind her, she felt eyes on her immediately. Y/N slowly scanned the room as she gulped back the intense fear gathering in her stomach. Her lips parted open as she began to breath heavily and press her back on those metal doors.

She was so trapped and scared when she first entered that foster institution. She couldn't help but think of karma when her aunt would hurt her so badly for those five years before she died. But 63 murders are so much worse, so what could karma do to her to balance her evil deeds with punishment?

Laughter and giggled filled her ears as she shut her eyes tightly and covered her face with her arms. Her vision was going blurry; she was having a panic attack. Tears fell from her eyes as she whimpered quietly to herself.

She may be the Card of Death however she never had to be in a large group of people in so long.

Her body jerked as she was suddenly pulled away from those metal doors. She cried out when she saw a large man, around 6'7 (204cm), pull her away.

In just a few seconds, she was pulled to a metal table and forced to sit as the large man stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

Her body tensed unimaginably as they remained still for a few seconds, quiet aside from the occasional sobs of Y/N.

Then suddenly, the pressure on her shoulders disappeared. She heard nothing until the sound of creaking from the seat in front of her interrupted.

Y/N felt eyes on her. They were so intense over her.

A minute passed before her own eyes fluttered open, meeting the man's eyes in front of her.

A shiver ran down her spine when she came face to face with stone cold blue eyes that seemed to hold nothing within them. No light, no soul, and no sympathy. Not only that, but a orange mask made of paper mache covered the rest of his face as well.

The man tilted his head before lifting his hand onto the table, sliding something over to her. Y/N looked down at what he gave her.

"Don't speak. Write."

Michael had given her a paper with these words. His handwriting was hard to read considering he nearly never wrote anything so it took a moment before Y/N got the message. When she did, she looked back up at the man and nodded just a little so it was barely recognizable.

Obviously this conversation was to be secretive so she knew to barely show signs of interactions. The camera couldn't pick up on such a small nod to what evidence is there of them even interacting?

Michael slid the paper back to him and brought a pencil to the paper after erasing the original text. When he slid it back to her, it read, "Don't let anyone know what we say Y/N. They watch everything." When Y/N looked back up at him, she saw him dart his eyes from something behind her to something on the wall between them. She turned her head slightly to the side, noticing a camera on the wall. So she understood.

Michael had dropped on the pencil on the table, meaning it was her turn to reply. She erased the previous text before writing down, "Who are you? How do you know me?" When she slid it back, Michael took the pencil in his hand again.

"Michael Myers. I was a well known case two years before you. We heard a lot about you on TV."

"As in the boy who killed his sister at the age of six?"

"Yes. You know me?"

Y/N's eyes widened slightly as she frantically wrote down a reply. Without even noticing, the knot in her stomach had completely disappeared without a trace.

"I remember seeing your case. I thought about everyday."

Michael didn't reply immediately after reading. Instead, he waited a few minutes and stared down at the table. A look of confusion remained on Y/N's features as she impatiently waited. Then suddenly, Michael erased what was on the paper and simply drew a masked person looking somewhat like himself with a knife in his hand. He drew dead stick figures around it with blood splattering everywhere.

Michael knew that this picture would cover up all the eraser marks and writings that were still slightly visible. So when the guard that walked up behind Y/N without her knowing popped up, he didn't see any text.

Of course, this did lead to the paper being taken away. Then minutes after that, both of the pair was taken away.

If there's one thing as scary as analyzing The Shape and caring for him, it's that person who cares and analyzes him finding him interacting with someone else for the first time.

Whenever Y/N got sat down in her cell, she knew what was about to happen. She was sat down in her bed as a man she'd never seen before sat down in the chair that came with her little desk in her cell with a guard next to him.

Have you ever spoken to Michael? Are you related to him? How do you know him? How does he know you? Have you ever met his family? Why did he interact to you? Why was he drawing things for you? Does he like you? Does he hate you? Did he write to you? Did you hear him talk?

So many questions were asked by this Dr Loomis in such short amount of time. "No, no, I don't, no, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, no, no," and mostly these were your responses. No matter how many times Loomis asked, you dully replied.

You simply said he sat you down and you began to draw together, both filling in a piece of the drawing together.

And eventually, you got out.

Another day went by of "talking" to Michael.

And another.

And another.

The talks were nice and casual. What goes on in the asylum? What goes on in the outside? Who should I avoid? What's the reputation of the HPD?

Do you want to escape?

But it was only a matter of time before finally the two were friends.

Y/N was kinda just in her cell one night in bed. Then she just gasped and widened her eyes. Wait, are we friends? We're friends, right!

Michael already knew of their friendship like two weeks before she did. It felt so...wrong for him. He had always been alone and silent. How could someone like her even be so likeable to him? He didn't really understand it but he knew he hated it.

One day, the two were writing to each other per usual. Michael unintentionally added a pun in one of his comments, causing Y/N to giggle. Michael cocked his head to the side in confusion, strangely feeling heat rise his face and his heart speed up. It was air conditioned so he suspected he may have gotten sick.

Whenever the two had to go back to their cells, that feeling suddenly disappeared. Then it hit him. Oh fuck-

Hell, only a week later did Y/N feel herself experiencing the same symptoms. Michael notices that Y/N would shake and fidget a lot when they interacted, making him wonder of she was cold. As a friend, it was only right for him to sit next to her and hold her close to keep her warm, right? Y/N's face went red and damn that was embarrassing. But of course, that didn't mean Y/N wouldn't hug him back.

Eventually the two were basically cuddling. The two hugging each other warmly as Y/N rested her head on his chest, struggling to stay awake as they got more comfortable by the second.

But of course, Dr Loomis caught eye of that.

The doctor had been looking deep into al the interactions these two evil beings have had. They act so casual, so normal with each other, surely more than just drawing is happening between them, right?

The doctor had pulled them into his office separately to interrogate them. While Y/N bluntly answered his questions to make him just shut up as quickly as possible, she couldn't help but think to herself. She knows that she and Michael are mentally ill, but he should definitely be fixed by now. He's smart and creative and can casually talk to people, so it's like the only thing keeping him here is that the doctors are so ill-equipped that they can't make the necessary breakthrough to save him.

Of course, just a month later, another incident happened like this. Y/N was having a bad migraine so Michael got her to just sit down and wait for him during lunch. He brought over two trays of food for them and was sure to trade with Y/N so she can eat the things she likes and he could have the things she dislikes.

Another time, a bipolar guy ran into Michael and shoved him as if it was his fault. Michael shoved him back instinctively, causing a fight to disperse between the two. As security guards took notice, Y/N was quick to push Michael away softly and ball a fist to punch the fuck out of that guy- like a, "YO WHATCHU SAY ABOUT MY MAN?" type shit. Y/N did this to seem like she was hitting back and that Michael hadn't done anything wrong.

And when each other's birthday's rolled around, they had their own celebration. Y/N was given her own paper mache mask as a gift and a small cupcake from the cafe. Michael was given stolen art supplies that were taken from other guests and also a cupcake.

Y/N slowly stopped having panic attacks, but she definitely had her moments. Of course, Michael sat with her through it.

Dr Loomis recorded all this shit so he can gather data on Michael. Then the question hit him: How would Michael react if Y/N was gone for a few days? Does he truly care about her or is he just using her?

If you think Michael hated Loomis before, wait til he pieced together the disappearance of girlfriend and the extensive eyesight on him from security guards. For the hell he raised about it, he had to get sterilized and put into a cell without being able to get out for a few days.

Y/N remained bored in her cell for days. So what better could she do than annoy the guard watching her? She would just talk nonstop for what felt like hours and hours. The dude watching her was just getting more pissed off by the second.

"Would you shut up? Crazy bitch," he hissed, hitting the cell door. Y/N giggled cockily, shaking her head. Even if she deserved to be yelled at for continuing to talk, the Card of Death refused to back down. But when the guard went inside her cell and locked the door behind him, she got a bit worried.

Y/N got off her bed and threatened him cockily, to which he responded with physical force.

Of course, Smith's Groove is ill-equipped so even with proof of being hit and tazed, Y/N couldn't do anything to get the guard fired. But Michael?

A full month without seeing each other was like a slow suicide. But when they finally got to see each other again, the two was sure to write so much about their time alone as if they were teenage friends discussing their fun weekends. However, things turned dark whenever Y/N brought up the guard.

Michael didn't show any emotions at all, no matter what happens. But Y/N learned to guess how he's feeling depending on how long he takes to respond. Slowed blinking as if he was in thought, and slower reading as got analyze her writing closer were typically bad signs.

About a year had passed since they met at this time. A year to plan to escape. By now, the two were both 21 and fully prepared to leave once and for all.

Whenever that security guard had walked passed Michael's cell one night, Michael had knocked on the door to signal him. Michael slipped a paper through the doorslot, as he was given paper since he doesn't talk, saying he found a dead mouse in his cell. The guard just huffed and let himself inside. Michael pointed to where the mouse supposedly was; and that was a mistake for the guard.

Right as that guard went to look, Michael got behind and covered his mouth before stabbing him in the neck with a paint brush that's but carved into a small blade. Within moments, the guard dropped dead onto the floor.

Taking the keys from the guard, Michael was able to let out nearly every single prisoner to this hell out of their cells. Including Y/N.

The world sister was the only thing left of the pair as it was engraved into the door of Michael's cell. And just like that, the two were gone.

How they got there so fast doesn't matter but eventually Y/N and Michael found an abandoned house to station at until the search around the area disappeared and they could move around quicker.

"I can't fucking believe it," Y/N cheered as she felt tears run down her face from happiness. She swayed across the room, taking in the smell of dust and air. Even something dirty felt so new to her that couldn't help but love it at the moment.

Michael would watch her as he sat down in an old wooden chair, cocking his head. His body was in complete shock as the realization of all that's happened in the past years came crashing down on him. This was the real world? This is what dust smells like? This is what shattered glass and broken wood looks like? This is what trees look like up close? This is what things look like without glass tinting the color?

This is what it feels like to celebrate with someone you love? Michael reminded himself that the girl in front of him changed his life so much. His urge to harm all around him was always so strong, but the thought of her being hurt felt a bad taste in his mouth.

He stood up from the chair, walking towards the ecstatic girl as she cried happily to herself and picked up random things to remind herself of what they feel like and all she takes for granted. She turned her head to him, smiling, "Michael, look, I found a-"

Y/N gasped as Michael gripped his mask and slowly moved it. Y/N watched in awe as for the first time, she saw her only friend in this world's real face. That pale skin and soulless eyes that she grew familiar with became so new to her again.

"Michael..." she whispered, stepping closer to him. Her face heated up as she felt the weight his eyes staring down at her. She lightly bit her lip, a shiver going down her spine.

He took a few steps closer as well, making the two remain inches away from each other. Now at this point, Y/N is questioning if Michael is gonna kill her or is gonna kiss her as he awkwardly put his hand to her cheek, brushing her hair away. She leaned her head into his hand, keeping eye contact with him the whole time.

In just a matter of moments, the two came together in a soft kiss. The moment was quiet as the two did their best to remain calm and together as this moment that was little way's overdue continued.

When the two pulled away, Y/N was quick to wrap her arms around him. Now she wasn't going to cry about it, but damn was that contact she needed so badly. The Death Card and The Shape were basically Yin and Yang with how one is emotional and the other in emotionless but their need for pain and each other is what kept it healthy.

Just imagine how much suffering families went through since the two got out.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 302: As the Todoroki Turns

Previously on BnHA: 

Today on BnHA: We have a very fun chapter in which (1) Shouto grows up lonely on account of his parents being worried that his siblings will literally try to kill him, (2) Natsu and Fuyu grow up neglected on account of not being special and/or self-destructive enough to attract attention, (3) we get to revisit all of that exciting spousal abuse from chapter 39, and (4) Touya burns to death right on cue, pretty much exactly like we expected it to happen. Thankfully since this is a shounen manga, Horikoshi finds some hope in all this misery as the Todoroki family rallies together, with Shouto getting his long-overdue credit for being a perfect sweet angel who put up with all of this shit for sixteen years and somehow came out of it strong and kind and empathetic and determined. Anyway, so that flashback was a barrel of laughs. But now that it’s over, we can put all of that angst behind us, and move on to... well I guess, probably, more angst. Look, we’re short on variety at the moment. Bear with it.

ouch. we knew this was coming, but still

A+ parenting move there. “ho boy, our eldest just tried to murder our youngest, now what? hmm how about we isolate our youngest from all human contact”

though in their defense, we probably shouldn’t have expected this rabidly strength-obsessed fire man and his wife who was groomed since childhood to obey her family’s whims to have any idea of how to raise stable, well-adjusted offspring

SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS

this is a perfect example of Enji’s tragically self-revolving viewpoint right here. just because being a hero is your entire world doesn’t mean you can just excuse yourself from anything outside of that and act like it’s out of your control. “alas, all I care about is hero stuff and my son can’t be a hero, we are doomed to inhabit two different worlds” no you jackass, it’s called having more than one hobby?? figuring out how to spend some time with your son that doesn’t involve training?? the same exact thing you were telling him to do last week, while ignoring that you’ve never done that yourself in your life??

that said, yet again we have that complexity though because it’s obvious that Enji at least on some level is aware of his own flaws, even though he seems unwilling or unable to confront them. honestly, from what we’ve seen so far, Enji’s obsession with surpassing All Might might be more accurately called an addiction. he literally can’t let go of it even though he’s fully aware of how it’s slowly destroying his life. and so in the same way that a lifelong smoker or alcoholic might tell their child to stay away from cigarettes and booze, Enji tells Touya not to follow down the same path as him, even though he himself doesn’t know how to leave that path. so yes, it’s hypocritical as fuck, but there’s also an element of helplessness there as well because Enji literally doesn’t know how not to be like this

though all the same he sure could stand to put in more than just a token effort. but it is what it is, and we already know how much he’ll come to regret it

and meanwhile Baby Shouto has frozen his sleep bubble with his quirk lmao. so I guess his quirk did come in early. that’s a recipe for chaos right there

once again Shouto is ruining every single dramatic panel in this flashback

this was so dark and intense... and then I spotted the lil bubs in the corner. Horikoshi please control yourself

“some hero you are, running away” and then all of a sudden, “FIVE YEARS LATER” lol what. OKAY THEN

(ETA: love the confirmation that eight-year-old Natsu comes from the Iida school of puberty and is basically a fully grown man, and meanwhile Touya comes from the hobbit school of puberty and has been perpetually eight for the past five years.)

“HEY BIG BRO WANNA COME RECREATE AN ICONIC FLASHBACK SCENE WITH US. WE’VE GOT THE SOCCER BALL RIGHT HERE, BUT HURRY UP OR WE’LL BE TOO LATE FOR SHOUTO TO WALK ON BY AND STOP TO LOOK”

lol and that’s literally the next three panels. but Horikoshi did add this extra bit after Endeavor starts to drag Shouto away

seriously Enji what the hell did you expect was going to happen here. “Touya went nuts and tried to kill his little brother out of jealousy, so let’s make it clearer than ever that Shouto is the important child and all the other children are just rejects. this will definitely not make the problem 100x worse, and will surely lead to Touya giving up and living a happy life, having been emotionally abandoned by the person he admired more than anyone.” good for you pal you figured it all out. no need for that plan b, “we all just go to therapy”

anyway so he’s telling Shouto he can’t play because he needs more endurance training. and meanwhile Touya’s patented Todoroki Drama Genes are going through puberty as well

definitely the face of a happy, emotionally stable child who’s not still plotting to murder his younger brother in his sleep

“WELL ACTUALLY MAKESTE” lol I stand corrected??

apparently during the five year interim Touya actually stopped blaming Shouto and realized Enji was the one at fault. good for him! a bit inconsistent, given what we know happens later, but I assume we’ll get to that in good time

anyway. “yeah man I agree that dad sucks, but it’s the middle of the night and I’m only eight and you’ve been monologuing for the past two hours bro”

LMAO

the manga is making my jokes for me, only better. fine then

looks like someone’s still miffed about that disagreement he had with his baby sister back when she was like four

“Fuyu doesn’t get properly riled up like I want her to so ranting to her is annoying.” okay but having been in Fuyu’s shoes, it really is just a different way of coping, and I can guarantee she’s not as fine with the whole situation as Touya might think. but making your peace with something is often a decision that’s made for emotional self-preservation reasons. and I sure as hell don’t fault her for trying to shut out a situation that she had no control over, and trying to make the best of it, and scrape together as normal a childhood as she could manage

and now in Touya’s defense as well, that is of course easier said than done, and I’m sure if there was a “push this button and instantly get over all of the trauma in your life” switch readily available for Touya then he would have pushed it too. unfortunately it’s not always that simple

so now Rei is pleading with Touya not to go train up on his little emo hill again, but it doesn’t seem like much has changed since he was eight

I don’t think he gives two figs about being a hero; he just wants his father to look at him again with pride. fucking hell, stop doing this to me you damn Todorokis

guh, they keep telling him the same thing over and over again

even if we hadn’t already known he was gonna go melt his jawbone off soon, I wouldn’t have expected a line like that to go over well

yep. fuck

that Todoroki puberty angst, though. nothing else quite like it

“you have a part in this too, Mom” ooooooh man

okay but look, he’s not entirely wrong. like, I’m not saying any of this is Rei’s fault at all! she’s in an impossible situation where she’s afraid to stand up to Enji (who by this point has shown that he’s willing to physically attack her if things get too heated, which is terrifying), and doesn’t really have anywhere to turn for support. her parents aren’t helping much if at all, and Japan in general is just a terrible country to be in when you’re in a domestic abuse situation. everyone’s expected to put on a brave face and deal with their problems all on their own in private. Rei is basically completely isolated at this point, and she doesn’t know what else to do, and so she’s just trying to keep the situation as stable as possible for the kids

but on the other hand, “for the kids” is also where that argument starts to break down a bit, because at this point Shouto is also being physically abused by his father, and the other kids are continuing to be neglected (emotionally if not physically), as they have been for years. so the situation really isn’t stable at all for them. and as a kid, what you end up learning in that type of situation is that you can’t rely on either parent. not the abusive one, certainly, but also not the other one who can’t protect you from any of it. even if they love you and they’re trying, they’re just as helpless as you. Rei is struggling to deal with all of this with one hand tied behind her back, and I get it, and I’m not blaming her at all. but all the same, particularly given that she’s (understandably) putting almost all her focus on Shouto, the end result is that the other kids have basically been left to fend for themselves

so yeah! a shitty situation all around. and one of those cases where it’s not really anyone’s fault (aside from Enji’s), but I can understand the resentment Touya is feeling all the same. and I’m so glad Horikoshi is acknowledging this, because it’s something I probably would have been too uncomfortable to bring up otherwise. as it is it’s still an incredibly heavy subject, and one that I probably have too many personal feelings about

anyway, so once again the whole “we’ll try talking to him and then just shrug our shoulders when it doesn’t work” parenting strategy doesn’t really pan out for the Todoroki fam

sob this boy is Anakin Skywalkering before our very eyes. all that’s missing is AFO to come and start whispering in his ear. any minute now...

“anyway so then he got taller and his fire changed from red to blue”

guess we’re getting pretty close then huh. this is the part of the flashback that I really don’t want to see, but also unfortunately the part that I’m most curious about :/

oh for fuck’s --

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IGNORING HIM FOR FIVE YEARS DIDN’T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM” sob. back to the drawing board I guess

I thought he got taller, why is he still only like a third of Enji’s height here

oh fuck me these are armor-piercing feels. this is the heavy artillery right here

ENJI I’M BEGGING YOU PLEASE STOP AND THINK FOR ONE MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE BEFORE DOING SOMETHING YOU’LL REGRET FOR THE REST OF ALL TIME. your child just told you that he still thinks beating All Might is the only thing you care about, and that he believes his existence is a mistake unless he finds some way of doing that for you. please stop for a moment to contemplate that and choose your next words with care and grace and oh who the hell am I kidding

-- OR WE COULD JUST BLAME REI

go on and blame everyone but yourself then!! that’s a great solution!! jesus christ man I know this is Endeavor at his literal worst but still this is fucking hard to watch

POOR BABY SHOUTO IS YELLING AT HIS DAD NOT TO HIT HIS MOMMY THIS LITTLE BRAVE BOY NEEDS SO MANY HUGS OH MY GOD

AND MEANWHILE THE OTHERS ARE HUDDLED IN THE NEXT ROOM TRYING NOT TO CRY AH FUCK

(ETA: Fuyu covering Natsu’s ears cuts RIGHT TO THE CORE OF ME. Horikoshi if you’re really not gonna get these kids some therapy then at least consider giving your readers some. what is this.)

you know it’s bad when you’re starting to think the part where the kid burns to death might actually be a less traumatic thing to cut to right now

holy shit, actual Rei thoughts

“I was the one who ultimately made that choice” well there we go, wonder if that’ll put that whole argument to bed at last. I doubt it, but you never know. actually who am I kidding it’s not gonna settle jack shit lol

oh thank god, they decided it was getting too intense and cut away back to the present to narrate this next (final?) part

get ready to cue up that Alicia Keys. THIS BOY IS ON FIREEEEEEE

yeah I think that’s one thing we can mostly all agree on. neither of them had any clue what the fuck they were doing pretty much at any point. though I will say that the hypocrisy of him being all “WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM” followed by him IMMEDIATELY DOING THE EXACT SAME THING is a bit rich

(ETA: and he still has this problem, doesn’t he? he froze up when Ending snatched Natsuo, and again when Dabi was attacking Shouto. he’s so afraid of doing the wrong thing that he ends up not doing anything, which of course is exactly what led to Touya’s death. damn Enji I guess you’ve still got some additional character development to unlock.)

and of course neither of them could possibly have known how badly it was going to turn out. like, the consequences here were WAY disproportionate even for the shittiest of parenting. no one expects “I didn’t know how to talk to my son” to snowball into “my son burned to death and then somehow came back as a villain and murdered thirty people”

ohhhhhhhh fuck me

LITERALLY INCINERATED THE ENTIRE HILLSIDE. fuck. and I am so not ready for the scene of Enji finding the remains of his jawbone afterwards. at least we were spared anything super-graphic (for now at least)

I feel like the timeline here is off, btw?? wasn’t Touya’s death supposed to happen after Rei got hospitalized? this might be the first actual retcon of the entire flashback. although I think it makes more sense this way tbh

I do appreciate that ten years later Enji is finally reflecting on the fact that if he’d just given up his stupid obsession he could have stopped his family from crumbling apart. that probably sounds sarcastic as fuck, but it’s not. there are countless jerks out there who would have still managed to find a way to blame literally everyone and everything under the sun except for themselves. at least he finally figured out how to take responsibility, even if it came too late to stop his son from dying and being radicalized into a villain terrorist organization

and speaking of, it seems to me we’re missing a third and final part to this little tale of woe, and one which only Touya himself will be able to shed any light on. so we’ll see how that goes

oh man seeing the other kids blaming themselves even though none of it was their fault hits hard af. Rei wasn’t kidding when she said they’d been bearing that burden of guilt far longer than Enji

SHOUTO I SWEAR TO GOD IF THE NEXT PANEL IS YOU APOLOGIZING FOR BEING BORN, I WILL... WELL I’LL BE VERY SAD, I GUESS. SO DON’T DO IT

oh good he’s just being quiet. good. it absolutely is not your fault lil bean. it’s not theirs either, but feeling guilty about things that aren’t your fault is a time-honored shounen tradition

goddammit I braced myself for the angsty Shouto panel a page too early. gotta do it all over again now lol. okay here goes

;_;

well well well would you look at that

imagine that. talking things out with your child before they make a rash decision. looks like the Todorokis’ parenting skills are finally leveling up

OH MY GOD

holy shit. this is the most quintessential moment of father/son Todoroki bonding in the entire series. for me it even tops the “nice scar” scene lol. Enji sobbing at the fact that he still has a chance to set things right. and Shouto offering his hand in what is actually the most mature and selfless gesture I’ve ever seen, and being all “we’ll stop him together” to his dad who he hates, but also doesn’t really entirely hate anymore. and all of that is incredibly moving... BUT ALSO HE STILL REFUSES TO MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM AND HE WOULD LIKE HIM TO STOP BEING SO FUCKING DRAMATIC ALREADY IF YOU DON’T MIND. “WHEN YOU’RE DONE CRYING...” fkjldsk

OH MY FUCKING LORD

(ETA: wouldn’t be a Todoroki drama fest if there wasn’t somebody listening in on the whole thing in secret just around the corner lmao.)

“you think we should have waited somewhere else?” “yeah, probably.” “are you feeling a lot of secondhand embarrassment too?” “god, you have no idea.” STFU HAWKS IT’S NOT EMBARASSING TO BE MOVED TO TEARS BY YOUR FAMILY ALL COMING TOGETHER IN YOUR DARKEST HOUR TO GIVE YOU HOPE THAT YOU PROBABLY DON’T DESERVE BUT ARE NONETHELESS INDESCRIBABLY GRATEFUL FOR

and anyway you chose these guys as your found family, bucko. too late to back out now. next time go get yourself adopted by the Iidas then

AND MEANWHILE NO WORD ON THE WHOLE “HOW DID A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD SURVIVE A FIRE THAT COVERED HIS BODY WITH HORRIFIC SCARS AND MELTED HIS JAW OFF, AND HOW DID HE SOMEHOW THEN MANAGE TO GO INTO HIDING FOR TEN WHOLE YEARS, AND WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT INTERIM TO CHANGE HIS GOAL FROM ‘SURPASS ALL MIGHT TO IMPRESS MY DAD’ TO ‘KILL ALL HEROES TO MAKE MY DAD SUFFER’.” as if we don’t know the answer to that. but still, would it kill Horikoshi to just confirm AFO’s involvement in all of this already. at this point it’s basically just a formality

so here’s hoping next week we’ll either get that, or more Hawks action, or (DARE I EVEN SUGGEST, I’M AFRAID TO JINX IT) finally cut back to Bakugou and Deku and All Might omg. either way I’m hyped

[hood-ex]

This is a fic written for @stxleslyds! The prompt was: a fic with Dick, Roy and Lian spending time together in the Outsiders era. Thanks for the donation, Tati 💙.

Important: This fic takes place a week after the events of Outsiders (2003) #19.

“We could use you here,” Roy says. Even with his voice coming directly through the comm, Dick almost doesn’t hear him say, “I need you here.”

A soft wind blows through Blüdhaven, ruffling through Dick’s sweat-matted hair. What a filthy night it is for a Friday. Thunder rumbling in the distance with hot, humid air filling Dick’s lungs. It’s the kind of air that isn’t natural for a place like the ‘Haven. It’s here for whatever reason, and it’s no better now that the sun has been replaced by pink and purple neon lights flashing across the strip. It’s nights like these that Dick can admit to missing his red tunic and green shorts. It was shit to wear them in the winter but an absolute godsend in the summer.

Dick sighs deeply, moving away from the ledge of the building and away from his view of the herds of drunk people whose laughter echoes between the bars and casinos. There’s a tall HVAC unit in the middle of the building that he walks over to and sits against. The fabric of his suit rubs against it, and he squirms a little at the uncomfortable position. He bears it because this is a conversation that requires a little support.

“Dick.”

“I know,” Dick mutters.

He should be under the streets of Brooklyn the same as all the other Outsiders should be. Considering the circumstances, it’s no surprise that some of them have deserted the ship for the time being. Licking their wounds in private so to speak. Dick’s not proud of it. He tacks it onto his mental bulletin board of shame where it sits up there all torn and ugly like the rest of his deplorable moments.

“I’d feel better if you were here to watch Lian when I step out of the room,” Roy says in Japanese. Dick’s brow furrows. Either Lian is in the same room as Roy and he doesn’t want her to know they’re talking about her or there’s an Outsider nearby that he doesn’t want listening in on his personal issues. “She hasn’t started therapy yet and her separation anxiety is still high.”

“High for both of you,” Dick points out. He thinks back to a few days ago when Roy had called him in a panic because he’d left all of his groceries in the middle of the store after his paranoia got the best of him and had him running back to the base to check on Lian.

“Tell me about it,” Roy laughs dryly. “I feel like I’m going fuckin’ nuts, dude.” The strain in his voice sends a full body shiver down Dick’s spine. “All I can think about is whether she’s okay and if the base is protected enough, and if I can really trust everyone here. You and Kory are the only ones I feel okay leaving her with.”

You shouldn’t trust me like that, Dick thinks bitterly. Lilith and Donna trusted me with their lives and look where they are now.

“Everyone else is… I trust them as teammates. I trust them with my life. But I can’t—"

“Trust them with Lian’s,” Dick says, knowing how much this whole situation has fucked with Roy's ability to trust anyone and everyone. Except him and Kory, apparently. Probably Ollie and the rest of Roy's family too.

He thunks his head against the HVAC unit and stares up at the dark sky. Not a single star up there, he thinks, and something like guilt burns in his chest. You took them all with you, didn’t you, Donna? Put them in your pockets and faded away. “She might not be comfortable with me there,” he says after a moment.

It pains him to think that Lian could be scared of him. Scared of him because he looks similar to one of the blue-eyed, dark-haired kidnappers who murdered her babysitter and then branded her like cattle. That type of trauma association doesn’t go away after a week.

“Kory told Lian you might stop by, and you know what Lian asked her?”

Terrible things flash through Dick’s head. Things like words born of fear or disgust. He hugs his arms around his knees and squeezes them tight.

“No, what did she say?”

“She asked, ‘Is Uncle Nightwing gonna bring Blue’s Clues with him?’”

A smile tugs at the corner of Dick’s lips and his eyes start to sting. He can’t believe that’s the first thing she thought of. It only seems like yesterday that he was watching Blue’s Clues with her in Titans Tower. Sometimes he would pause the show and ask Lian questions about each of the clues just to hear what kind of outlandish answers her kid brain could come up with. Other times the detective in him couldn’t help but steer her towards a logical answer. Roy used to always roll his eyes and tell him to stop trying to turn her into a mini Nightwing.

“That doesn’t mean she’ll be okay seeing me in person and you know it,” Dick reminds him.

Roy’s sigh is soft and muffled in his ear. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Dick’s not one to wait around.

“Let’s cross it now.”

“You’re coming over?” Roy asks, and even though he mostly sounds neutral, Dick can hear the disbelief hidden under it all.

If there was an award for the world's most shitty friend, Dick would probably be in the lead to receive it. Here Roy is dealing with the fact that his daughter was abducted and almost trafficked, and what’s Dick been doing for the last few days instead of sticking by his side? Working himself to the bone in Blüdhaven, that’s what. Hiding away from the fact that he almost lost another important person to him. Trying to avoid the crushing weight of failure that clings to him like a second skin.

Pathetic. Some safety net he is.

“Yeah, give me an hour,” Dick says.

The commute from Blüdhaven to Brooklyn isn’t bad at this time of night. Most of the traffic is packed downtown where all the bars are lined up. Dick takes the highway to avoid the worst of it.

The roar of the city dies off once he goes underground. Down here the HQ looms over him in all its steel glory. Dick’s always thought of it like one giant elevator. It’s all hard angles and sleek, silver walls. Hardly a place one would describe as homey, but it was home to a few people nevertheless.

Dick goes inside after getting his eye and hand scanned by the computer. He heads down the hallway, keeping his footsteps light and quiet out of habit. So far there’s no sign of Jade, Indigo, or Rex in any of the rooms he passes. They’re the most likely to be here around this time. From what Kory told him the other day, Grace has been spending most of her time clubbing, and Anissa has been staying with her dad. He hates to admit it but it’s almost a relief that he doesn’t have to worry about running into either of them.

He ends up finding Roy and Lian in the rec room. Lian is sitting on the leather couch in the middle of the room. She must have had a shower not too long ago because her hair is a little damp and she’s wearing a pair of purple pajamas with unicorns on them. A Cinderella blanket is strewn across her lap and a stuffed rabbit sits discarded on the floor by her feet.

Roy looks small squatting in front of her. His pants are the only sign of his Arsenal gear, and it makes Dick feel slightly out of place since he’s still decked out in full mask and suit. It’s the first time Dick’s seen Roy in person since they brought down Tanner’s operations a week ago. He looks how Dick would expect any parent to look after being targeted by a major sex trafficker: stressed and exhausted.

Those tired eyes of his shift to the doorway where Dick stands, and Dick can see the way Roy looks him over from head to toe, assessing Dick’s condition. He can look as hard as he wants, but he won’t find anything. Dick keeps his face blank and unreadable.

“It still hurts,” Lian whimpers, and both Dick and Roy's attention immediately snaps back to her.

She wraps her arms around her stomach and bends over her lap like she’s going to throw up all over the floor. Roy doesn’t move to try and avoid any possible bouts of vomit. Nothing happens as the seconds tick by. No retching or anything. There’s only the sound of Roy’s hand rubbing up and down Lian’s arm.

“Me and your Uncle Nightwing are gonna get you feeling better soon,” Roy assures her in a gentle voice. “And guess what?”

Lian makes a questioning sound in the back of her throat.

The look Roy shoots Dick is somewhere between caution and amusement. “He’s been playing quiet mouse behind you this whole time.”

Dick braces himself as Lian shoots back up like a rocket. “He’s behind me?” she asks, twisting around in her seat. Dick’s heart starts jackrabbiting because what if she’s scared of him? What if he accidentally triggers her PTSD? What if— “Uncle Nightwing!” Lian shrieks.

Relief shudders through him because she sounds happy to see him. Not scared or angry or disgusted like he feared. She’s looking at him like he just told her he brought her a bag of candy, and that revelation is enough to make him take a breath and finally enter the room.

“Hey, kiddo,” Dick says, hurrying over to the couch so that she doesn’t have to get up. “I missed you.”

Lian reaches for his hand and holds on to it. It’s not like the hug Dick usually gets from her and maybe that’s because she doesn’t want anyone touching her back after the incident. Dick will take anything he can get. His much larger hand closes over her own and he swings them back and forth lightly.

“Me too,” Lian says. She squeezes his hand three times. “Why do you still have your gloves on?”

“My hands are cold,” Dick lies. “Why were you bent over like an accordion just a minute ago?”

“Her tummy’s been hurting,” Roy says with a frown.

“It’s because tigers used to try and eat people,” Lian tells him matter-of-factly. Roy looks like he’s about to correct her but she quickly hurries on. “My brain says there’s danger and it makes my tummy stop working.”

A lightbulb goes off in Dick’s head as he realizes that she’s describing anxiety. A simplified explanation of how the digestive system shuts down and sends blood to other parts of the body when there’s danger.

“My tummy does that too,” Dick says after a pause. “I get a lot of anxiety sometimes. Do you want me to show you how I try to make it go away?”

Lian scrunches her nose. “Do we have to take medicine?”

“Nope. All we need to do is sit up straight and breathe. Breathing really deep helps our brains calm down and makes our tummies feel more relaxed,” Dick explains. He sinks down on the plush couch and demonstrates how she should be sitting. “Now move back until you’re sitting like me.”

Lian does as she’s told and scoots back until she’s resting against the back of the couch. Dick only remembers how short she is when he notices how her feet stick out straight in front of her instead of dangling over the edge of the couch.

“Now tell your daddy to get in position.”

“Daddy,” Lian slaps the free cushion beside her, “sit next to me.”

“Magic word?” Roy prompts.

“Please,” Lian pouts.

“That’s better.” Roy’s knees pop when he shifts out of his crouched position. The whole couch rocks when he falls back against it. “What’s the strat here, Wing? We need to close our eyes or what?”

Dick wants to ask him why he’s acting like he’s never done this before but the playful words stick in his mouth like glue.

“We’ll close our eyes in a second. Lian, I want you to watch how your daddy and I take really deep breaths, okay? Then we’re all going to do it together.”

“I can take really big breaths!” Lian insists. She scrambles out of her pose and gets on her knees. Her little fingers wrap around Dick’s bicep as she leans in close to him. “I can take one million breaths as big as an elephant!”

The tired and apathetic part of him tells him to ignore her kid logic and to get back on track. The uncle part of him is another story. It wants him to be fun and helpful. To distract Lian from the worries and fears she has.

In the end, he does what he always does best: puts on a performance.

“Oh yeah?” Dick challenges with a grin that hopefully doesn’t look as strained as it feels. “I can take five billion breaths as big as a planet.”

“Elephants are bigger than planets,” she says.

“I think maybe the elephants are only bigger in your dreams.”

“Yeah, they are,” Lian agrees because she’s a typical kid who will support anything that proves she’s right in some capacity.

Roy looks amused when he puts his hands on Lian’s shoulders and steers her to sit back on her bottom. “Alright little missy, no more talking. We’re gonna do what Uncle Nightwing says now, okay?”

“Okay,” Lian agrees, looking over at Dick expectantly.

Coaching Lian through the exercise is easy. The most important part is making sure she’s taking breaths that are deep enough to make her stomach expand like a balloon. Dick has her place her hands on top of her stomach so he can see them rise when she inhales.

Roy follows along and Dick can tell that he’s taking advantage of the exercises for his own benefit. His face looks peaceful and relaxed as he follows along with Dick’s instructions to suck in a breath on the count of one and exhale up until the count of ten.

“Keep focusing on counting,” Dick tells them while they exhale. “We don’t want any other thoughts in our heads. No bad thoughts or funny thoughts. Only think about counting to ten.”

They run through a few more cycles. Dick’s pleased when he hears both Lian and Roy’s stomachs grumbling as they exhale. It’s a good sign that the deep breaths are massaging their organs and decreasing any kind of stomach pain.

“That’s it,” Dick says. “We’re all done.” He opens his eyes and sees Lian slumped against the back of the couch. Her hands are still resting on her stomach, but she looks languid instead of tense like she was when he first saw her.

“I’m tired now,” Roy says. His movements are slow as molasses when he slides forward to the edge of the couch and bends over to rest his arms on his thighs. He looks at Lian. “How about you, princess? You feeling any better?”

“Mhmm. My tummy doesn’t feel really uh…”

“Tight?” Dick offers.

“Yeah, it’s not so tight anymore.”

Roy pushes a strand of hair behind her ear. “Good. Mine feels a little better too.”

“Can we do Uncle Nightwing’s breathing thing again tomorrow?” she asks through a yawn.

“Sure thing,” Roy nods. His attention shifts to Dick. “Are you gonna still be here to lead us through it?”

This isn’t some kind of test but it feels like one. It feels like if he says no then he’s only proving that he’s a bad friend. That he can’t be relied on. He doesn’t want to give Roy that impression because it’s not true. Roy can rely on him the same way Dick relies on Roy. He hopes showing up here tonight is proof of that.

“That’s the plan,” he says, voice soft.

Roy leans over the couch and squeezes Dick’s knee gently. “You sure?” he asks, and his eyes roam over Dick’s face like he’s trying to find evidence that Dick is lying.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He pats Roy’s hand reassuringly in the same way Alfred's done for him and Bruce a hundred times. It's only now that he realizes it's a habit he's picked up.

Lian suddenly leans into Dick’s side and presses her weight against his arm. She pats both his and Roy’s hands.

“I’m sure too,” she says, and this time Dick can’t help but smile.