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gingerlee-holds · 1 year

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Chapter Two: Rest Assured

Here's the second chapter of my ongoing fic titled 'Wake Up, Keidima!', a MHA alternate universe where an OC of mine ends up in Class 1-A. If you'll allow me to winge a bit - in the dub (which I watch), the names of all the students have been flipped. You see, Japanese naming conventions go like (Family Name) (Given Name), whereas in the West, it's the opposite. In the dub of MHA, they flipped the names to make it make sense for a Western Audience™ (Iida Tenya became Tenya Iida, for instance). This is very enfuriating, because I've named my OC Eivi Keidima (Family name Given name), while all the other characters are (Given name, Family name) as in the show. This really bugs me but whatever. Just keep that in mind going forward, alright? Keidima's name is the Japanese version (it's too late to change it now) and everyone else has the English version. Okay? Okay, now onto the fic:

Word Count: 6239

"You... did what?" the old man grumbled, adjusting his hearing aid.

Jodonaki cleared his throat and spoke up for his sister. "She got into UA, Grandpa!"

"Oh, UA! I'm so proud of you, sweetie! Mazel Tov!" Grandpa Eivi Gadazi furrowed his brow and stared into the middle distance. "What's UA again?"

The twins sighed, smiling. "All Might's alma mater," Keidima said. After getting the letter, the siblings ran to tell their only legal guardian as fast as possible.

"Oh, All Might! That newbie-" Grandpa Gadazi scowled and spat, "I used to be a pro hero, y'know! They don't make heroes like they used to! Why, in my day, I'd be able to defeat All Might in combat with my pinkie finger!"

By that point, the twins were giggling behind their hands. "I-Ihi'm sure you could, Grandpa!" Jodonaki managed to say.

Grandpa Gadazi was a short man and ancient by all accounts. His bald head, once full of curly orange hair, was covered in liver spots, and his whole face sagged with wrinkles. Despite this, he was quick with a witty retort and had an endearing proclivity to wax nostalgic about the 'Good Ole Days' where he was one of the top ten Pro Heroes (the number would change every time he told the story, however). Nevertheless, the money he made as a hero kept the lights on. He wore a white button-up shirt and a pair of brown pants secured way too high on his torso with a black belt. His shoes had been custom-made for one to be higher off the ground than the other because he had gotten into a fight with a villain a few decades prior, necessitating an emergency hip surgery, making one leg permanently longer. He couldn't possibly care for himself, needing his grandson to ensure he was adequately fed and dressed.

As it turns out, Jodonaki never bothered applying to a high school. He had said it was because he already knew how to use his quirk and knew everything he needed to know about the world, but Keidima understood that he needed to stay home to take care of Grandpa Gadazi's failing health. She also understood, using that premonition all twins develop toward each other, that he was deeply disappointed with his lot in life, but he hid it from his sister.

"Y'know, your grandmother had an incredible quirk," the old man leaned back in his rocking chair, smiling into the middle distance. The twins looked at each other, and Jodonaki smiled as he got up.

"I'm gonna make him some soup," he whispered as he left the room.

"She always beat me in a fight, the old bobcat! And believe you me, my pride was on the line, so I wasn't going easy on her!" Grandpa Gadazi's eyes came back into focus. "I always knew you'd follow in her footsteps. She had chutzpah. Have I ever told you how much you look like her?"

"Only all the time, Grandpa."

"Hm, yes, I must have told you before. Sorry, Keidi-cat, my memory isn't as it used to be."

"I know, Grandpa," she said with a smirk.

Gadazi huffed and leaned forward, looking Keidima dead in the eyes. "Being a hero is serious business, young lady. Your grandmother died saving my life, leaving me to raise your father alone. He was a hero, too, as was your mother. They never even survived long enough to go on their honeymoon!"

Keidima winced and looked down at the ground, and Grandpa Gadazi leaned back in his chair again.

"I'm not telling you all this to scare you, Keidi-cat. I need you to understand what's at stake when you go out there to fight villainy. You not only endanger yourself but also your friends and your loved ones. Whole future generations will be affected by the choices you make today." He looked over at the rocking chair next to his, which was always empty, and with a shaking hand, gently rubbed its armrest. "Don't forget who you're fighting for, alright, young lady?"

Keidima looked up into his face and saw the old man tearing up. She extended a hand to his knee and nodded with determination. "I won't, Grandpa. I promise."

Jodonaki returned with a bowl of ramen and a pair of Gadazi's favorite chopsticks. "Sorry, it seems like someone-" he glared at Keidima playfully, "has eaten all the soup! So I just made you some ramen, Grandpa."

"Oh, splendid! Spectacular day!" The old man's countenance instantly lit up as he gratefully took the bowl and chopsticks, and Jodonaki retook his spot on the carpet next to his sister. "So, Keidima! What kind of hero do you want to be?"

"What do you mean?"

Grandpa Gadazi was shoveling noodles into his gumless mouth as if he hadn't eaten a meal since '75. "I mean," more loud slurping, "do you wanna be a hero that goes in guns blazing? Do you wanna be like your old man here?" He thumped his chest proudly before choking on a noodle. Jodonaki jumped up and began hitting his back as Keidima looked down at the carpet, thinking about her answer.

"Wehell? Don't keep me waiting, Keidi-cat. I'm on the edge of my seat here!" Grandpa Gadazi coughed up the noodle but wasted no time in continuing to eat. Instead of sitting down again, Jodonaki decided it'd be better to stay standing in case anything else happened, and he looked down at his sister curiously.

"I just want to be a hero that people feel safe around. I want to be strong and fearless, but more than anything, I want to be a presence that people are comforted by. I want to be like a warm blanket, protecting people from the biting cold of a hostile world and bringing peace to the hearts of those I defend. Villains have gotten more insidious as time goes on, which leads to heroes needing to resort to more drastic measures to maintain justice in our society. The world is harsh and scary, and I want to comfort those who trust me." Keidima looked up and smiled at her two listeners. "Like you!"

Jodonaki smiled as Grandpa Gadazi clapped enthusiastically. "Bravo, Keidi-cat! What a speech!" He leaned forward with a chuckle. "Just be sure not to use that quirk of yours to get out of family gatherings, eh?"

The trio giggled, and the old man handed his empty bowl to his grandson. "Delicious, as usual!" Gadazi exclaimed, and Jodonaki patted his grandfather on the head as he left the room again to do the dishes. His expression quickly changed as he began getting up from his chair, fishing for his cane on the floor, which Keidima handed him. Grandpa Gadazi motioned for her to follow him, and he walked over to his bureau, pulling out a drawer and opening a secret compartment within. He drew a small wooden box out of this compartment and blew the dust off it.

"Here, sit down, Grandpa." Keidima patted the bed, and Grandpa Gadazi grunted in agreement. They sat together, and the young girl looked eagerly at the box as her grandfather slowly opened it, revealing a small, steel wristband. He smiled wide and tried to pick it up but yelped and pulled his hand back suddenly upon touching it. "Woah, are you okay, Grandpa?"

"Yes, yes, Keidi-cat, I'm alright. This wristband belonged to your grandmother. She had a fire-based quirk, you know. Here, feel."

Keidima laid her hand on the metal, gasping and shuddering. "I-it's warm!"

"For you? That's interesting. It's always been scalding whenever I hold it. Feels like I'm touching a steam iron. But you say it's warm..." Grandpa Gadazi hummed in thought and finally handed her the box. "Here, put it on."

The young girl picked up the band and clipped it around her right wrist. The metal was warm, but it reminded her of sitting next to a roaring fireplace, soothing and cozy.

"How does it feel?"

"Comforting."

"Then..." Grandpa Gadazi smiled and stroked a lock of bright red hair out of Keidima's face, "I believe you were meant to have it. You carry her with you now." He looked deep into his granddaughter's face. "You look... so much like her, you know."

Keidima smiled wide and held the bracelet, feeling its warmth. "Thank you, Grandpa. I'll make her proud."

"I believe you already have, young lady." Suddenly, the old man winced and put a hand over his abdomen. "I just... hope I'll still be here to see you become a top hero, just like your grandmother."

"And you?"

"Yeah, yeah, me as well. But I know you'll be so much better than me. I see it in your eyes. It's the same fire that your grandmother had."

"Thank you, Grandpa. I know I won't fail you."

"Oh, so do I!" Grandpa Gadazi laid back on the bed, making all sorts of grunting noises as he arranged himself. He didn't need Keidima's quirk to instantly fall asleep, snoring loudly.

Keidima patted his head as she stood. Looking down at her wrist, the bright, shiny steel made her smile. "I won't let you down. None of you."

"Costumes!"

Keidima let out a yelp, jarring her from her daydreaming. She refused to admit she had almost fallen asleep at the kitchen table. "W-whahat about costumes?" she asked.

Jodonaki gave her a funny look. "Uh, you need one, obviously! A hero costume! See, I went to the Town Hall and got you some paperwork for it."

"A hero costume? I hadn't thought about it..."

She scratched her head. "Honestly, I wasn't planning on having a hero costume."

"What! Nonsense! You need a costume, Bedhead!"

"Fine, fine, if it'll make you happy." Keidima pulled the small stack of papers towards her side of the table and began to fill out her basic information. "How tall am I now?"

Jodonaki studied her a bit. "Few inches taller than me, so... 5'10"? Ballpark?"

"Sure, we'll go with that, Jodo," she yawned.

Her brother was practically bouncing in his seat. "I can't believe it! It's really happening. You're becoming a hero, and you're getting a costume!"

"You're right. It is certainly hard to believe..." She chuckled at Jodonaki's enthusiasm. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little excited."

Finally, they turned the page and got to the design section.

She hummed in thought as she nibbled the end of her pencil. "Let's see... Are there any special concerns we need to consider for this?"

"Well, to activate your quirk, you just have to focus on something really hard, right?"

"Yeah, but visual and tactile contact help a bunch."

"How about a mask that looks like a sleep mask? I think it'd match the aesthetic."

"Then I'd need holes cut into them, maybe glass put in. Not a bad idea." Keidima began writing down their ideas, sketching the mask. "Okay, what else?"

"Gloves, maybe?"

"They'd have to be fingerless, but yes, good idea." They looked at everything they had so far. Then, Keidima began writing something down.

Jodonaki looked up at his sister. "Wait, you're not planning on going into battle in pajamas, are you?"

"It fits the theme! They'll be green, soft, and fuzzy, with little pockets for hiding snacks. Maybe we'll add a fuzzy pink sleeping cap. Yehes!" Keidima wrote faster and faster, giggling a little as it came together. "Ahahand! Ahahand dohohon't fohohorget-!! Dohon't forget the tactical combat bunny slippers!!" Keidima squealed with delight as she laughed at the situation, almost falling off her chair.

"No, don't write that down!"

"I'm writing it down!" She laughed all the harder as she wrote down the idea.

"You're gonna look ridiculous!"

"Maybe that's my strategy, hmmmmm? I wanna throw them off their rhythm!"

"Bedhead!" Jodo exclaimed before falling into another coughing fit. He yanked out his inhaler and breathed deeply.

"Fine, no bunny slippers - I'll write down a pair of combat sneakers. I don't want anything flashy because that's just not what my quirk is like."

"Okay, but I need to insist on at least some level of protection. Some armor, at least some padding."

"Good idea, but we'll keep it minimal." She underlined that word twice on the form. "I want to focus on mobility and dodging, dragging out the fight as much as possible. The longer I make a fight go on, the more likely my quirk will win out. Knee pads, elbow pads, shin guards, and padding in the gloves but all concealed under the outer pajamas. If some mean bastard comes running at me, I want to be able to dodge without hurting myself."

"Also, remember to put your hair up in a ponytail during fights so it doesn't obstruct your vision," Jodonaki said, pointing at the drawn mask. "But what is your signature piece?" he asked.

"My what?"

"Y'know, the thing that every hero has that's unique. It brings the costume together."

Keidima leaned back in her chair. "I have no idea. Maybe a stuffed animal?"

"No, you can't make that a viable tool in combat."

"Not with that attitude."

Jodonaki suppressed the giggle that wanted to come out and said, "What about a capturing weapon? Like Eraserhead uses?"

"Who's that?"

"Never mind, just focus on this. What if you used a blanket like a grappling hook?"

Keidima looked at her brother, thinking it over. "Is there a material that'd be that strong? And I'd have to learn how to use it... But... it'd be better to learn how to use it and have it with me during a fight. I don't exactly have a very combat-oriented quirk. Yeah... yeah, good idea." She drew the blanket, sketching a bright pink crescent moon in the middle. "What do you think?" she asked, handing the form to Jodonaki.

He stared at it before nodding his head. "I think it looks good. Besides, the form says you can alter your costume later." Jodonaki stood, picking up the form and his handbag, gesturing for Keidima to come up. "Let's drop off these forms, then we can get some last-minute back-to-school shopping done!"

Keidima smiled, nodding as she got up. "I also need a refill on my prescription. No way in hell am I going into my first week of UA without them."

The last days of March flew by like a fleeting dream. The beginning of April came quickly, and with it, her first day of school at UA High.

Keidima was ready to go, but Jodonaki insisted on doing his usual series of 'pre-flight checks.'

"Did you take your meds?"

"Yes."

"Did you put on clean socks?"

"Of course I did."

"Did you pack your backpack?"

"No."

"Bedhead."

"Yeah, I packed it. Last night, remember?"

Jodonaki sighed with a smirk as he looked at her hair. "Maybe we should have it be just a little neater."

"Jodo, my boy, you're gonna make the hero-in-training late!" Grandpa Gadazi called from the couch, making her brother grumble.

"I'm just... worried about you, Keidima." He looked at her earnestly, smiling a little. "But, all the same, I need you to know how proud of you I am." His eyes welled up with tears, and Keidima hugged him tightly.

"Save it for when I become a Pro Hero, alright, Jodo?"

He sniffled softly and grinned. "Will do. Now go learn how to save the world!"

"I will!" With that, Keidima turned and ran to UA as fast as she could.

She had found her locker rather quickly and looked down at her information card, then over at her map, trying not to bump into any students. "Class 1-A should be right around... here!"

She looked up right as she bumped into another student. "Sorry, I- Mina? We've gotta stop meeting like this, bestie!"

Mina turned and gasped, hugging Keidima tightly as she pulled her friend into the classroom. "You got in! I'm so friggin proud of you!"

"Same goes for you! I'm so glad I won't be starting with no friends. I have you!"

"And me, I'd hope." From behind Ashido stepped a certain smirking red-haired boy.

"Eijiro!!! I was hoping I'd see you!" Keidima practically jumped at Eijiro Kirishima, hugging him like a koala, which made him yelp as he gently set her down.

"Please go to your seats! The teacher is bound to appear at any moment!" a loud and stiff voice came from behind them. Turning, Keidima saw a tall, thin boy with dark blue hair and square glasses.

She chuckled and nodded, making a little bow. "Yes sir, mister sir!"

"It's Tenya Iida to you!"

She giggled softly as she went to seat #19 in the back of class, much to her delight. "Maybe I could catch some Z's back here without the teacher noticing." Little did she know that she was followed the whole way to her desk by the uptight chatterbox.

"And you don't have your hair brushed! Don't you know what kind of school we're attending? Your tie is crooked! How will this class succeed if we can't properly tie a tie? Look at your posture! You're slouching! And you, will you get your feet off the desk?" Tenya turned and walked over to an ash-blonde boy with his legs crossed over the table.

"Oh, thank goodness he left me alone. That's the same boy I saw from the entrance exam, with all the explosions. At least he's taking up that guy's attention."

Keidima must have looked somewhat shell-shocked after the confrontation and looked over at a tall girl beside her, who had a concerned expression. "Are you alright?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Nothing I haven't heard before," Keidima giggled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck.

The girl extended a hand. "Momo Yaoyorozu."

"Eivi Keidima." She shook the hand gladly and looked up to the door to see the green-haired boy talking with the gravity girl.

"Have you seen the teacher for this class?" Keidima asked.

Momo replied softly, "No, I haven't. Have you?"

"No, I..." Her focus was drawn to a man suddenly appearing in a big, yellow sleeping bag at the doorway.

"Hello, I'm Shota Aizawa. Your teacher."

"You're the man I spoke to on the street the other day when we did the entrance exam!" Keidima couldn't stop herself from blurting out, shooting to her feet. She heard a snicker from her right and saw the blonde-haired boy from before (Denki Kaminari, she soon learned) mouth the words, "he certainly looks like he's been on the street," to Eijiro, eliciting a muffled giggle.

Mr. Aizawa's eyes focused on hers. "Yes, we interacted briefly. Don't speak out of turn, Miss Eivi."

With a squeak, Keidima sat back down at her desk, pursing her lips, and got another empathetic look from Momo. The sleepy girl held onto her bracelet, comforting herself with its warmth.

"Right, let's get to it. Put these on and head outside." Mr. Aizawa held out gym uniforms for them.

"My size is wrong, again." Keidima huffed as she pulled down on her uniform. "This is ridiculous."

Momo and Mina giggled behind their hands as they walked to the grounds together. As the students walked, Keidima made it a goal to know the names of as many others as possible so that she'd be better able to fit in.

Arriving on the field, the students gathered in a crowd before Mr. Aizawa. "Today, you will be undergoing a quirk assessment test."

"What? A quirk assessment test?" the students asked in disbelief.

Uraraka spoke up, saying, "But orientation! We're gonna miss it!" Keidima mumbled in agreement.

"If you really wanna make the big leagues, you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies." Aizawa looked at them all like children, almost scornfully. Keidima gasped softly. She had been a little excited about orientation. "Here at UA, we're not tethered to traditions. That means I get to run my class however I see fit." Keidima gulped. "You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives. But you never got to use your Quirks in physical exams before. The country's still trying to pretend we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's not rational. One day, the Ministry of Education will learn."

Keidima looked down. "What a hard-ass... and he seemed so friendly before."

"Bakugo," Mr. Aizawa began again, looking at the ash-blonde boy. "You managed to get the most points on the entrance exam. What was your farthest distance throw with a softball in Junior High?"

Katsuki thought momentarily, then said, "Sixty-four meters, I think."

"Not a bad throw at all. I think I could throw seventy, but that's only because I played softball in middle school."

Mr. Aizawa motioned him to come forward. "Right. Try doing it with your quirk."

Katsuki stepped forward into a circle drawn on the dirt, taking the softball from Mr. Aizawa's hand.

"Anything goes, just stay in the circle. Go on. You're wasting our time."

"All right, man, you asked for it." Katsuki rubbed his shoulder a bit, and suddenly, a massive explosion rang out as he threw the ball as hard as he could. Keidima let out a yelp and clamped a hand over her mouth.

Aizawa didn't even flinch. "All of you need to know your maximum capabilities. It's the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero." He held up the tracker in his hand, showing the class what it read: '705.2 meters.'

Keidima gasped and nudged Mina. "That's amazing! This'll be fun, using our quirks like this," she whispered, to which her pink friend nodded enthusiastically. All around her, students were saying something similar.

Mr. Aizawa stared at them all disapprovingly. "So this looks fun, huh? You have three years here to become a hero. You think it's all gonna be games and playtime? Idiots," he hissed. "What did he just call me-?" Keidima indignantly thought as she stood up straight. "Today, you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none and will be expelled immediately."

"Huh?" Keidima's eyes bulged out of her head in shock. The other students didn't take it well either.

"Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs. Understand? If that's a problem, you can head home right now." Mr. Aizawa looked around at each student, silently judging their expressions.

"Great... How the hell can I use my quirk to give myself an advantage here? It'd be rude of me to make the others sleepy so that I do better by comparison. I'm just gonna have to rely on my physical abilities... which are lacking."

Ochaco again spoke up. "You can't send one of us home! I mean, we just got here! Even if it wasn't the first day, that isn't fair!" Keidima nodded in agreement.

"Oh, and you think natural disasters are?" Mr. Aizawa asked, making the sleepy hero-in-training tilt her head in confusion. "Or power‐hungry villains? Hm? Or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No, the world is full of unfairness. It's a hero's job to try to combat that unfairness. To be a pro, you must push yourself to the brink. For the next three years, UA will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So, go beyond. Plus Ultra‐style. Show me it's no mistake that you're here."

"I just have to keep up. I'm already pretty spry. I have to land in the middle of the pack. Some of these other kids have quirks that won't help much here, like me. With any luck, I'll end up with some wiggle room."

"Now then. We're just wasting time by talking. Let the games begin."

A fifty-meter dash.

Keidima crouched on the start line and looked over to her left, seeing what appeared to be an empty gym uniform floating in the air. "Hey! Toru Hagakure, right? Or a ghost, maybe?"

The invisible girl giggled. "And you're Keidima, right? What's your quirk again?"

Mr. Aizawa cleared his throat. "Quit wasting time. On your marks..."

"Best of luck, Toru," Keidima prepared to sprint as fast as possible.

"Get set."

"Yeah, you as well! Chat later," Toru said quickly.

A whistle sounded, and both girls flung themselves forward, running as fast as they could, Keidima pulling ahead by a meter. "It's just running two bases. Take first, take second. The ball's in the outfield, but I don't have time to spare. I've run this distance countless times!" With one final push, Keidima sped across the finish line, quickly followed by Toru.

"6.46 seconds! 6.91 seconds!" A cheerful robotic voice said.

Gasping for breath, Keidima skidded to a halt and turned to the invisible girl with a smile. "Not a bad time at all! You're pretty fast!"

"Whew! I wasn't at all ready to be doing this sort of thing today-!" The two girls walked to the side to clear the way for the next pair. "I should be training with you!"

"No, that'd be a terrible idea. I'd just put you to sleep."

"Aw, I'm sure you're not that boring!" She felt Toru give her a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"No, I- never mind," Keidima giggled.

Grip strength.

"What does this have to do with your athletic ability?" Mina asked nobody in particular.

Keidima held onto the machine as tight as possible, but to her dismay, it read '48.4 kg,' making the girl sigh in exasperation. "At some point, spite must become a factor when they make these tests."

Standing long jump.

"You ever done one of these, Keidima?" Denki asked, looking behind him in line. Keidima shook her head. "Ah, it's nothin' scary. Just jump!"

"Thanks. I'll try to remember that." Keidima chuckled as she watched the boy jump as far as possible at the whistle. She stepped forward as Denki got off the sand, and when she heard the whistle, she clenched her teeth and jumped.

"195 centimeters!" the peppy bot announced. She quickly got out of the way and felt a gentle elbow in her ribs, making her squeak. Keidima looked up as Eijiro smiled.

"Not a bad distance."

"Compared with everyone else here, it's not great either."

Repeated side steps.

Mr. Aizawa reset the stopwatch. "Go ahead, Miss Eivi."

Keidima grinned, forcing her mind to think optimistically. "This is easy. It's just back and forth but a lot and really quickly."

She ended up tripping at the end, falling onto her face.

The softball throw.

Keidima walked into the circle and clenched the softball hard in her hand. She leaned back, threw it with all the strength she could muster, and immediately leaned back upon hearing something in her shoulder pop. "Ouch. That sucked."

"Little under seventy meters." Mr. Aizawa sounded almost bored.

"Damn. I gotta get back into shape." Keidima continued rubbing her shoulder as she walked back to the other students. After her, the boy with the green hair stepped up.

"If Midoriya doesn't shape up soon, he's the one going home," Tenya observed.

"Huh? Of course, he is. He's a Quirkless loser." Katsuki spat. Keidima looked over at him with one eyebrow raised. "Not only is he mean, he's also wrong. There's no way a kid could get into the hero course without a quirk."

Tenya spoke up for her. "He has a Quirk. Did you not hear about what he did in the entrance exam?"

Izuku stepped forward, held the ball close, and with a face that registered pure determination, he threw the ball as hard as he could.

"Forty-six meters!" the mechanical voice spoke. The boy stood there, frozen.

"Oh no, poor guy..." Keidima mumbled.

Izuku looked at his hands. "What gives? I was trying to use it just now."

"I erased your Quirk." All eyes turned to Mr. Aizawa, whose hair was standing on end. "The judges for this exam were not rational enough. Someone like you should never be allowed to enroll at this school."

"What?" Keidima was about to step forward, but Momo gently squeezed her shoulder, holding her back. Mr. Aizawa paid her no mind.

"Ah! Those goggles. I know you!" Izuku shouted suddenly. "You can look at someone and cancel out their powers. The Erasure Hero. Eraserhead!"

Keidima looked down at the dirt. "Where have I heard that name before...? It's familiar."

Mr. Aizawa's scarf suddenly shot out, latching around Izuku and pulling him close to his teacher. He began talking with the green-headed boy in a low tone but harshly. Keidima couldn't make out what he was saying but could read Izuku's face well enough to know none was kind.

"I've returned your impractical quirk. Take your final throw. Hurry and get it over with." Mr. Aizawa's hair went down again, and his scarf released Izuku.

"I wonder if our teacher gave him some advice," Tenya said softly.

"I hope so." Keidima looked at Izuku, hoping beyond hope that the poor boy wasn't about to be sent home.

Izuku stepped into the circle and threw the ball again. Instead of the wimpy throw like last time, the boy shouted with all his might, and the ball shot away faster than a bullet, making Keidima squeak and jump into Momo.

"Mr. Aizawa... You see?" Izuku clenched his fist, showing a wholly broken finger. "I'm still standing!"

"705.3 meters!" the robot said.

"His finger appears to be broken now. Just like in the exam. This quirk is very odd." Tenya looked deep in thought.

"Maybe it transfers his body into energy? Like using up all the possible energy in his cells?" Keidima asked.

"No, even if that were the case, there shouldn't be a way he could throw a ball that far," Tenya mumbled, furrowing his brow.

Suddenly, next to them, Katsuki ran towards Izuku, screaming, "Deku, you bastard! Tell me how you did that, or you're dead!"

"He's gonna kill him-!" Keidima extended an arm, activating her quirk and focusing as hard as possible. However, Mr. Aizawa's scarf was faster and wrapped around Katsuki in a flash.

"What? Why the hell is your damn scarf so strong?" Katsuki growled.

"Because it's a capture weapon made of carbon fiber and a special metal alloy. Stand down." Mr. Aizawa glared at the boy. "Jodo said that earlier. That's where I remember the name Eraserhead from!" Keidima thought. "It'd be wise to avoid making me use my quirk so much. It gives me serious dry eye," the teacher said. Finally, he released his scarf, but Katsuki slowly sank to the ground, unconscious.

Mr. Aizawa gasped in shock before quickly looking over at Keidima in realization. Her arm was still extended, stretched stiff, and her eyes hadn't blinked or moved from Katsuki.

"Miss Eivi, please, the situation is handled. You're gonna put him in a coma."

Keidima felt a hand on her shoulder and snapped out of her haze. Turning, she saw Mina's nod and slowly lowered her arm, rubbing her eyes and groaning.

"So that's her quirk. I was wondering..." someone off to her right said softly. Mr. Aizawa walked forward and carried the explosive boy back to the group.

"Ribbet, is he dead-?" someone else murmured.

"H-he'll be fine. He's just taking a power nap-!" Keidima stammered, reassuring her classmates. "We all need to take a little rest sometimes." She giggled softly behind her hand, and some of the other students chuckled along with her.

Katsuki let out a little groan as someone nudged him awake. "What-?"

Mr. Aizawa mumbled something to him, and he nodded, rubbing his head. A twinge of fear went through Keidima as she realized he wouldn't be pleased with her for humiliating him in front of his classmates. Then, the teacher stood up and walked to his observation area again.

"You're wasting my time now. Whoever's next can step up."

Izuku ran back into the crowd, and for some reason, Katsuki seemed focused on him and not Keidima. "I wonder why he doesn't seem angry at me? He doesn't seem like the put-together type."

"That's a pretty powerful quirk," Tenya said, looking impressed.

Keidima looked at him but yawned. "No, not yet, it isn't. Lotta drawbacks."

Mr. Aizawa looked at his tablet. "All right, time to give you your results. I've ranked you all from best to worst. You should probably have a good idea of your standing already. I'll pull up the whole list. It's not worth going over each individual's score."

Mina squeezed Keidima's hand gently as they looked at the screen, simultaneously comforting her nerves and keeping her awake. Using her quirk on Katsuki had drained her a lot, and it was all she could do to stay awake for the final three tests. If it weren't for Mina slapping her calves during the sit-up test, she would have passed out. "Isn't my fault it's a good sleeping position."

"Keidima! Look, you got 11th!" Mina shook her, and Keidima jumped up and down in delight.

"Woo! Average!" She hugged her friend tightly and looked back up at the board. "You got ninth!"

"You definitely would have beaten me if you hadn't used your quirk earlier."

"I couldn't help it. My body acted before my brain did."

"And I bet your body was pretty upset with itself after that long-distance run!"

Keidima groaned. "Oh, goodness, don't even talk to me about that." She had thrown up.

Mina pointed back up at the board. "Look, Izuku's last."

Sure enough, in 20th place was Izuku Midoriya. "Oh no, poor kid... He was so determined to do well." Keidima looked at the boy, who seemed to be looking at the ground, close to tears. She wanted to scoop him up in a hug but decided against it.

"And I was lying, no one's going home. That was a rational deception to ensure you gave it your all in the tests."

The whole class gasped, and if Keidima weren't also shocked into disbelief, she would have laughed at their silly expressions.

"That's it. We're done for the day. Pick up a syllabus in the classroom. Read it over before tomorrow morning." Mr. Aizawa walked to Izuku and handed him a slip, saying something to him in a low tone.

Keidima jogged forward and tapped Mr. Aizawa on the shoulder as he walked off. "Sir?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"I'm sorry for using my quirk earlier. It wasn't polite of me to do. I should have trusted you."

"Don't worry about it. I told Mr. Bakugo that he had pinched a nerve struggling against my capturing weapon and passed out. He doesn't expect that you did anything."

"Oh, thank goodness. I was worried I would get my head blown off," Keidima chuckled nervously.

"No, you'll be fine. Just be sure not to use it if you can afford to. It has a pretty big drawback."

"Yeah, I know. Thank you, sir." Keidima looked at the ground, rubbing her arm.

"Oh, and I saw you had asked for a capturing weapon on your hero form. I could teach you how to use it."

Keidima gasped softly as she looked up. "Yes, that'd be amazing!"

Mr. Aizawa grunted, nodded, and walked off.

The young girl turned, seeing Izuku coming toward her. "H-hey, Keidima, right?"

"Mhm! That's me!" she giggled, making Izuku blush. "Oh, he's gonna be so much fun."

The boy rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I just wanted to thank you for, y'know, saving me earlier!"

"Huh? Oh, I didn't save you. Mr. Aizawa did. I just helped." Keidima smiled softly. "But I'm glad I could help."

Izuku blushed deeper at her smile and nodded.

"By the way, I'm relieved you're not being expelled! I was rooting for you the whole time! I'm a sucker for underdogs," she giggled again, making it a personal competition to see how deep the boy's blush could go.

"T-Thank you! Anyways, I gotta go to the nurse now. Bye!" he said quickly, avoiding her eyes as he walked past.

"Izuku!" she called after him, and he turned momentarily. "You're not getting enough sleep!" He chuckled and turned again, walking off.

Keidima went with the rest of the class back to the classroom to change and collect their syllabus. She sighed as she changed out of her gym uniform, hoping that her hero costume, at least, would be the correct size.

She grabbed a syllabus and stuck it in her bag, then began walking out the door if it weren't for a tap on the shoulder. Tenya pulled her aside and bowed stiffly. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior this morning. You have more than proved your worth and did not deserve to be treated so harshly."

"I- thank you, Tenya." Keidima smiled at the kind gesture and gently lifted him out of his bow. "It means a lot."

"Of course. Hopefully, we can be on a good footing from here on out."

"I hope so, too! I'll see you, Tenya!"

Walking out the main doors and down the steps, Keidima grinned as she approached a familiar duo. Mina and Eijiro turned and waved at her as she approached. "We live in about the same part of town. Why don't we walk home together?"

"I don't see why not!"

"Wait!" She turned and saw Denki running up to them. "Don't forget me!"

"We couldn't forget you, bro! C'mon, let's get home."

The four walked home, proud that they had finished their first day with relatively no problems, although Mina had to keep Keidima awake the whole way home. Still, Keidima was glad to have reconnected with old friends and even made some new ones.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And there you have it! Chapter 2, done! Lemme know what you think!

Also wowie I wrote so much more for these 1.5 episodes than the first four. Maybe that's because most of the first episodes were focusing on Izuku. No clue. Anyways, there's no way in hell I'll be able to keep this pace up, especially with me going back to school soon, so expect much spottier uploads.

Lemme read Chapter 1! Lemme read Chapter 3! Lemme start at the beginning!

#wake up keidima #kayde wrote something woah #my hero academia #mha #boku no hero academia #bnha #fanfiction #oc story #original character #heroes #quirks #ua high #fanfic #anime #manga

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ontowanderlust · 4 years

Text

Animanga

Jujutsu Kaisen

❅ Rewritten Fate : Platonic!Junpei & OC; First Year!Junpei Yoshino

What would’ve happened if the events that night changed? What if an anomaly showed up just when he needed it and completely rewrote his fate?

Sword Art Online

❅ Let’s rewrite history, shall we? : Eugeo/OC

Eugeo Headcanons no one asked for. That may or may not be a story later on. So what happens if Eugeo’s already an established character from the start?

❅ A Forewarning : Eugeo/OC

Second part of Eugeo headcanons where he and Kirito meets the guild, and a potential ally...

Imagines

Robbie Kay

❅ Smile, for me?

POTC Co-stars!AU. Can you describe your perfect guy?

Shawn Mendes

❅ 2 AM

Two insomniacs going for an adventure of their own

❅ I Love You

How does one try to confess without the person ever knowing it?

❅ Let’s play a game!

“You’ll pretend you don’t know how I feel, and I’ll pretend I’m not breaking inside.”

❅ Only a Moment

You say you’ve already moved on from him but why does he still have this effect on you?

Tom Holland

❅ Hogwarts AU

Remind me, whose fault was it why we’re not talking anymore?

Ian Nelson

Supernatural School Series

The idea behind this story sprouted from my daydreams after reading this story. However, this series focuses more on the relationship between Ian Nelson (The guy who played young Derek Hale in Teen Wolf) and the reader where they happened to be co-stars and Ian had always harbored a crush on the Reader. This series may also known as the Party Games series.

❅ Two Truths and a Lie ❅ Twenty Questions ❅ Would you Rather?

Marvel

Loki Laufeyson

❅ Loki Dictionary

Loki Laufeyson., n.

Prince of Asgard., Rightful ruler of Jötunheim., Master Magician., Sorcerer., Trickster., Silvertongue., Agent of Chaos., god of mischief., god of lies

But there’s so much more to him than what meets the eye, isn’t there?

❅ 1 AM

Established!Loki x Reader where Reader is an Enhanced whose ability is to foresee and experience a stranger’s death

❅ I can’t lose you

Sometimes, you need to know when to step back or walk away

❅ Is this what [love] feels like?

Because of a misunderstanding, Loki expects his relationship to burn down in flames but Reader kept on surprising him

Peter Parker

❅ 5 Times Peter thought Tony was hugging him and that one time he actually did

Based on this fanart, fanfiction about Tony Stark and Peter Parker’s relationship

Musicals

Newsies

❅ Spring time : Jojo Dela Guerrera/Reader

Spring time madness for our lil ray of sunshine

❅ Party Games Series : Racetrack Higgins/Reader

How do you admit to yourself that you’ve fallen for someone? Through party games, of course. ❅ Truth or Dare

Otome Games

Mr. Love Queen’s Choice/ Mr. Love Dream Date

❅ MLQC Dictionary

It is after all, a love story in the form of dictionary, with entries from dialogue to epistolary, from aberrant to zenith, only a handful of which are longer than a page.

Mystic Messenger

❅ Bright like you

A Luciel entry for @/gureishi’s June event for the Choi twins: #More than words 2021. There are more than enough meaning for your name but I think this one is the best meaning out of all...

❅ Give me the stars

Another Saeyoung entry for @/gureishi’s June event for the Choi twins: #More than words 2021. He loves her... and that scares him the most.

Potterverse

Felix Rosier

❅ Soulmate AU

Felix week ‘18 entry. Inspired by a friend’s dream where one bears a burden while the other bears hope.

❅ HPHM MC

A little background of Lillian Sanguine, a character in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

❅ HPHM Veela!MC

Headcanons about MC being a veela

❅ HPHM Jacob

Hogwarts Mystery Event Day 5. MC’s dear old missing brother.

❅ HPHM Actor! AU

A little fun idea between writers

❅ HPHM Angst! AU

What’s life without little angsts?

❅ Centerfold

Coffee shop AU for Felix week ‘18. A single photo can convey what the heart can’t say.

❅ E correi

5 instances Felix called you those words and the one time he meant it.

Sibling!Jacob

❅ See you again

This isn’t an illusion isn’t it? This isn’t a dream of a dream where your brother is right there, right within your reach, is it?

TV Series

Once Upon A Time

❅ Fascination : Peter Pan/Reader

“Why can’t I read you?”

❅ The Boy who could’ve been : Peter Pan/Reader

“Is this who you’ll be?”

❅ What is Happiness? : Henry Mills/Reader

“How do you define happiness?”

❅ Scars : Emma Swan/Reader

Established Relationship! Where Emma asks for the meaning behind the scars

❅ It’s a mad, mad world : Peter Pan/Reader

Cursed!AU where Reader and Peter can’t stand each other

❅ Goodbye means : Peter Pan/Reader

Hero!AU where Peter Pan is one of the good guys and Reader sees the world in grey who happens to like Peter but does he like you as well?

❅ Jealousy Series : Peter Pan/Reader

Cursed!Peter Pan x Reader where Peter learns that there are different types of jealousy existed...

❅ The First Type: “I’m jealous but I’ll live,”

❅ Seven Kisses Series : Peter Pan/Reader

Cursed!AU where Reader and Peter Pan was swept by the curse just like everyone else. Reader is the princess of the Underworld whose True Love happen to be the Prince of Lost Boys.

❅ First Kiss (On the back of her hand) ❅ Second Kiss (On her knees) ❅ Third Kiss (On the nose) ❅ Fourth Kiss (On the forehead) ❅ Fifth Kiss (On the cheek) ❅ Sixth Kiss (On the neck) ❅ Seventh Kiss (On the lips)

The Flash

❅ Even if it hurts? : Barry Allen/Caitlin Snow

“You pause for a minute and two then try again”

The Umbrella Academy

❅ 7 times he confessed and the 1 time she accepted his confession : Five Hargreeves/Reader

For all it’s worth, he just want to confess his feelings, dammit!

❅ When he’s drunk ❅ When he’s overwhelmed ❅ When he’s trying to apologize ❅ When there’s only one bed ❅ When they’re dancing ❅

Original Works

❅ 5 Stages

The rollercoaster of emotion called love

❅ 12:12

‘Tis a story of a guy trying to slip through the cracks of a broken girl

❅ I grew up

At what cost?

❅ I wonder

It’s all fairytales and stories until...

❅ That Kind of love

It’s not unrequited love, but it isn’t a requited love either...

Inner Musings

❅ Rain ❅ Writers ❅ Comfort ❅ Notebook ❅ Hands ❅ Affection ❅ Play Pretend ❅ Tell me ❅ How’s it like? ❅

Poetry

❅ Don’t tell me ❅ Vulnerable ❅ What I truly mean ❅ I only love three things ❅ Melody ❅

❅ None yet ❅

❅ Forget the Past Series

An original story of mine created back in high school which depict the story of five girls who experienced the same heartbreak, created a band to forget what they’ve been through while doing so, they had forgotten what it really means to live their lives....

❅ Fall

“What’s gonna make you fall?”

❅ If Only

“Should I let my heart keep listening?”

❅ The 72nd Hunger Games Series

Before Katniss Everdeen volunteered for her sister’s place in the 74th Hunger Games and eventually igniting the flame of rebellion, there had already been several unfortunate children who had been fighting for their own little sparks.

❅ District 1 Female: Reaping Story

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gizkasparadise · 3 years

Text

Fic Writer Review tag game

Nice! Thanks @recurring-polynya for the tag :D

1. How many fics on AO3?

131, with i think around 5 that i’ve let go/orphaned over the years

2. Total AO3 word count?

1,073,709... good lord that sure is two commas

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

okay i went and counted on ao3: 35. bulk of it is star wars and game of thrones/a song of ice and fire, with some video game, kdrama, and niche fandoms thrown in

4. Top Five by Kudos?

the fury (got)

satellites (star wars)

start a war (grisha)

in tandem (star wars)

left for dead (got)

5. Do you respond to comments, why/why not?

i try to! i definitely read them all (and reread...and reread...look im a girl with a love letter from her crush when it comes to comments). sometimes i fall behind and then i get anxious about being behind in commenting, which makes me feel bad, so then i procrastinate, and get more behind-er, and then....it continues..... i definitely need to be better about it, because i love talking to readers

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

hm. i write a lot of angst but the endings tend to be kind of mild. i guess i’d say in a big picture sort of way, there’s something inherently kind of sad about start a war, in that these two are sort of doomed to always being at war and being the only ones who survive it

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

yeah! it’s been awhile, though. i think my last one was a kylo ren & daenerys targaryen interaction fic

8. Have you received hate on a fic?

yup! anon messages, bad reviews, one time i even got sporked, if y’all remember that.

9. Do you write smut?

Unfortunately. <-- sorry, friends

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not a direct copy/paste, but lines, elements, and OCs yes.

11. Ever had a fic translated?

yes! i’ve been very fortunate to have fic translated into russian, korean, chinese, and i believe portuguese! (and i apologize so much if i’m forgetting one, it’s late where im at). a few fics have been transformed into podfics or audiobooks too, which is super awesome :D

12. Ever co-written a fic before?

yeah & i love co-writing! @starforged is my usual partner in crime, but i’m always down to co-author something if someone ever wants to/has an idea

13. All-time favourite ship?

I think it’s actually renji/rukia from bleach in terms of longevity and actual OTP-ness (as in, i dont ship either with anyone else)

14. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

i think the ones i currently want to finish (the fury, satellites, fret, a lot like never, and give way to better/the mandalorian wars duology) will get done. when is the interesting question

15. What are your writing strengths?

im a heavy outliner and i’d like to think that shows--hopefully it feels like the plot’s thought out and the world building’s established, and that plot twists when they happen are foreshadowed/built up to appropriately. humor’s really subjective/i know mine’s not for everyone, but one of the best things i like to hear as a writer is that i was able to make someone laugh :D

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

tenses, lord tenses. commas. getting too in the minutia/stuff a reader doesn’t care about to the extent that the story suffers for it. smut. certain character types i really struggle with writing (rey from star wars, for instance)

17. What are your thoughts of writing dialogue in other languages?

when i first started writing, i followed whatever the fandom conventions were (at the time, my main fandom was Naruto). i’ve since tried to become more mindful. i know i’ve made the mistake in the past of incorporating other languages incorrectly into fic (Start A War comes to mind, and readers were thankfully gracious about it). i do my best, and do research, but ultimately i now stick to the rule that if i don’t know it, i try not to write it. and if im corrected, i listen and adjust accordingly

18. First fandom you wrote for?

Pirates of Caribbean! it was a 2nd gen fic and really, really bad. but my grandma printed it out for me lol bless her

19. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

this probably changes every time i answer it. right now im feeling i loved rome more

tagging! @starforged and anyone else who’s feeling it!

#fanfic #meme #long post #text post

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agustdef · 4 years

Text

Knuckleheads - Part 1

Pairing: Yoongi x OC [From Here & Now]

Genre: Idol!AU; Some fluff; Angst

Word Count: 12.6k

Warning: Angst. Some Language. Medical emergency. Unhealthy habits. (Not eating. Not sleeping. Just not taking care of one self in favor of working too much.)

Rating: PG15

Banner Marker: @shadowsremedy

Lovely Beta Reader: @shadowsremedy

Author’s Note: So, this is part of a two-shot for the Bangtan Scenery ‘April Showers Bring May Flowers’ collab. So this month you get the angst and next month comes the fluff. I promise I won’t just leave people hanging with this ending.

P.S. The creator of this lovely banner is also my posting twin and is giving us some angst with a Jungkook x Reader story here.

Summary: When you refuse to take care of yourself, you’re accepting that the consequences may vary. Or Kendall and Yoongi can’t seem to find a balance within their work and it’s doing more damage than they think.

Kendall's fingers flew across the keyboard, her eyes focused solely on the open document in front of her. She was almost at the end and could feel it or at least that's what she tricked herself into believing. In truth she still had a few more chapters to write, but the end of chapter goal was what kept her going.

Lying to herself was the way to get stuff done.

And after twenty minutes of typing away, the chapter was finished. Kendall then took a short break to drink some water and flex her fingers, but it wasn't long before she was on the next chapter. There were deadlines she needed to meet and getting ahead was her only goal for the day.

Even if that meant she was glued to her chair for twenty-four hours.

Time passed quickly as she wrote, especially since she'd gotten lost into the world she was weaving. Before she knew it, it was midnight and she was writing the final words of her last chapter of the day. She'd breezed through writing two of them and pushed for three more, even though her eyes were begging for a break.

Just as she typed the last word, she heard an aggressive vibration coming from the drawer in her desk. Confused, she opened it up to see her phone squirming around, which made no sense since she'd told everyone to leave her be for the day.

Kendall pulled the phone out of the drawer and flipped it over just as the vibrations stopped. And when she saw the screen her eyes nearly fell out of her head.

There were twelve missed calls from Yoongi.

She'd completely forgotten that they were supposed to have a facetime that night.

He was going to be pissed.

Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the phone and called him back. As she waited and was forced to see the reflection of herself, she realized she'd forgotten to do all her skincare that morning. Her face was beyond dry, but she didn't have time to remedy that because Yoongi was answering her call.

The expression on his face was blank, but she could see the annoyance in his eyes and the way his jaw was rigid.

"Hi Yoon," she said.

Being calm was her best option, because if she tried to play innocent or too sweet, he'd be even more annoyed with her than he was. And she honestly felt bad so that was the last thing she wanted.

A minute went by and he just stared at her, his eyes almost never blinking. It made the silent treatment even more uncomfortable.

Kendall sighed. "I'm sorry, Yoongi. I really am. I've been writing nonstop all day and time just got away from me. I seriously didn't mean to forget. I even set an alarm on my desktop, but it didn't notify me."

Though her words seemed to soften his expression it only lasted for a moment, because then he was leaning closer to his phone with an obvious frown.

"Nonstop? You've been writing nonstop all day?"

Kendall cursed herself for that slip up. Of course, that would make him even more annoyed with her.

Not knowing what else to say she nodded.

Yoongi ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath before his full attention turned back to her. For a moment he still looked miffed, but soon enough his entire expression shifted to one of worry.

"Why?" he asked.

Knowing she'd already ended up on his bad side she took a moment to gather her thoughts. Articulating her reasons clearly would lead to less confusion and annoyance for him if she accidentally said something in a way she didn't mean it.

"You know I'm on deadline for this rewrite and I wanted to knock out as much as possible. And I know, I know it's a bit further away and I have time, but I have all these other things to do that I wanted to get a head start. Give myself time to breathe later on since I know I'm going to have to start that outline for the one duology that Ara and I have been talking about. Plus, I don't want to spend all my time while I'm in Korea writing. So, I didn't think that a goal of ten chapters today would hurt anything," she rambled.

"Ten?" he shouted.

Again, Kendall nodded.

There was a series of sighs that he let out before he spoke again.

"Were you wearing your wrist braces?"

"Yes."

"Did you take Tylenol before you started and then again a few hours later?"

"Yes."

"Did you move around some?"

"Kind of."

Another sigh.

"Did you eat?"

Kendall knew she was screwed, but she wasn't going to lie to him.

"I had a pop tart throughout the day, but nothing else," she said.

If his glare could kill, Kendall would've died the moment he looked at her. And she understood why. It hadn't been her intention not to eat. Not eating was never her intention, but when she was focused on something else and didn't feel any biological urges, she'd forget. Even if she did get hungry it wasn't long before it slipped her mind.

After another stare down he broke again, though that time the anger didn't leave his face; it merely softened a bit.

"My day was a late start so I'm having a late lunch. It's on the way. Order something and we'll eat together. And it better be something filling. I don't care about how late it is; you need to eat."

"I can do that," Kendall said.

Not wanting him to glare at her anymore she sprang into action. Propping the phone against the monitor she went to her browser and looked at the places she had bookmarked. She wasn't craving anything specific, so she went with a Chinese restaurant not too far from her. Quickly her order of chicken with broccoli and vegetable fried rice was placed. She even flipped her camera and raised the phone so he could see her do it.

"It says fifteen minutes," she said once it sent.

He grunted. "Mine should be here around that time too."

Even though he was more at ease because she got her life together he didn't look at her. He'd sat the phone against something, and his eyes were focused on the screen in front of him. Though she wanted a little more interaction with him she couldn't help but enjoy watching him focused on work.

After a few minutes she broke the silence.

"Did you get the samples I sent you?"

Yoongi nodded and said nothing, but then directed his gaze to the camera.

"But you didn't put that one cello piece in there. That and the synth drum track," he said.

Kendall's brows furrowed and she sat the phone back down to focus on her own screen. After going into her email, she saw that it was indeed missing something and huffed.

"I'll send the synth drum and this other thing I meant to give you, but you have to wait on the cello piece. I wanted to redo it. Something sounded off," she muttered.

Despite not looking at her phone she knew he was rolling his eyes at her.

"It sounded great. You're just being a perfectionist," he said.

Kendall scoffed. "Says the man who played me Clair de Lune so flawlessly that I cried and then had the nerve to say it didn't flow well enough."

Yoongi smacked his lips, but Kendall could see a small smile form. No matter how much he pushed it back down it flared up again.

After pressing send Kendall watched him closely and said nothing. Not even when he confirmed he got the tracks did she speak a word. She just watched him with a weird smile on her face.

When Yoongi looked her way, he was taken aback by how focused on him she was, but he didn't mind it one bit.

"What?" he asked.

Without thinking she said, "I love you."

Yoongi rolled his eyes but smiled wide at her words. "I love you too, idiot. You just need to do better at taking care of yourself. This shit isn't healthy."

Kendall nodded and continued to stare at him with love in her eyes. Yoongi stared back with the same intense feeling.

They remained like that until her food arrived, then they spent the rest of the night eating and watching Sailor Moon Crystal together until Kendall fell asleep.

Kendall tried not to be annoyed, she really did, but it just wasn't feasible. And it was beyond clear to Kihyun as he drove her from the airport to Yoongi's apartment.

"I'm sorry. I called him and Namjoon, but got no answer from either of them," he said.

That made Kendall sigh. Not because she was pissy, which she was, but because he'd apologized a million times since picking her up. He apologized more than Jungkook that time he thought he'd deleted the track she was working on. In neither instance was it their fault, but both men seemed insistent on quelling her agitation.

She turned her head and stared at Kihyun; whose eyes remained on the road.

"Ki, we've been over this already. You have nothing to apologize for, so stop it. I'm not mad at you. Hell, I'm not mad at all. Just annoyed. I promise."

Kihyun glanced at her as they came to a stop light. Though he appeared skeptical after a few seconds he nodded, and she watched his body physically relax. In turn she relaxed because she hated making people feel uncomfortable when they had done nothing to warrant her mood. She could save her agitation for later.

After about half an hour and some small talk they arrived at the entrance of the building. Kihyun got out to help her with her bags and after a hi-five she made her way inside. The guard on duty was one she was familiar with and he waved at her, a smile on his face. She returned it before heading into the elevator.

As she stood and watched the floor number change it was easy to settle back into her agitated state. Pulling her phone from her pocket she checked to see if there were any messages from the hour she hadn't looked at it. The only things were from her mom responding to her landing text, some emails, and social media notification. Not one message from any of the boys.

When the doors of the elevator finally parted, she practically stormed out, dragging her luggage behind her. She punched in the code into the keypad and just as she stepped into the apartment, she saw the reason Yoongi wasn't answering. On the small table next to the door sat his phone.

Rolling her eyes Kendall kicked off her shoes and fully entered the apartment, ensuring that the door locked behind her. Since she knew he wasn't home she went about her business. That meant taking her luggage and unpacking it and then going into the kitchen to make her a quick lunch. Which was reheated kimchi stew from the fridge and some rice.

By the time Kendall finished her food a wave of tired coursed through her. She'd slept well on the plane, but that didn't make her completely void of jet lag. Staying up was the goal, but after ten minutes of sitting and fighting sleep she realized a nap wouldn't hurt. It was only three in the afternoon anyway, so it wouldn't mess with her sleep that night.

Before she slept, she checked her phone one last time, but again there was nothing from any of the people she needed messages from. Sighing, she texted the group chat and all the boys separately asking why no one was answering. She didn't bother to try and wait for a response though, merely setting an alarm and passing out on the bed.

Her dreams were filled with normal everyday things, so it was a peaceful sleep. Once she'd woken up her body still felt that linger of tiredness, but it was mostly energized. Which was a miracle for a nap. Though once she tapped the screen of her phone, she realized it was because she'd been knocked out for six hours.

None of her alarms had woken her up.

"Damnit," she groaned.

After throwing a small fit she carefully rose from the bed and stretched out. She wondered if Yoongi had appeared, though since he wasn't in the bed with her or hadn't woken her up, she was sure he hadn't. And after a quick look around the apartment, including his studio, she was proven right.

Checking her phone, she went to every single chat and there was nothing, not even a read message. And she knew they kept those things on so they could drag each other when they didn't get a prompt response. Hell, she knew that half the time Jimin went to the bathroom was to check his phone where he wouldn't get scolded and yet nothing.

Tired of it she finally texted Sejin.

Kendall: Hey, Sejin. Is everyone alive? No one is answering my texts or calls.

She went to put down her phone after that, but there was a notification before she could.

Sejin: Today's just been a bit busy with practice and things. Is there something that you need? Something wrong? Do I need to get Yoongi? I know he accidentally left his phone at home.

All the questions made her laugh. Of course, he'd think something was wrong.

Kendall: Nothings wrong. And I know he left his phone. I saw it when I got in a few hours ago

The three dots came almost instantly and then stopped. It went on like that for a minute solid and Kendall had no clue what he could possibly be typing. Finally, it came in.

Sejin: That was today???

So, Yoongi wasn't the only one who'd forgotten about her. It didn't hurt her feelings any because while it was partially Sejin's job to remember it also wasn't. He wasn't the one who was supposed to come get her. Nor was he the one who left her sitting in the airport for almost two hours.

Kendall: Yes

Again, the dots, but he didn't take as long.

Sejin: I'm so sorry, Kendall. I had it down somewhere and it slipped my mind. How did no one get back to you? Yoongi didn't contact you? That punk. I'll let them no to get back to you. We just finished and everyone should be heading home now.

That didn't really warrant much of a response, so she said ok and thank you before throwing the phone on the couch. Them getting back to her was no longer a worry of hers, so she'd just continue with her evening.

Feeling disgusting she grabbed some stuff and went off to take a shower. The moment the hot water hit her skin was like a cleansing for her mind. Was her annoyance gone? No, but she felt calmer and much more relaxed. Well, at least until she remembered she'd gotten in without a shower cap on and scrambled away from the water. Thankfully, there was one already in there from when she'd been in Korea months before.

Refreshed, she hopped out the shower and got dressed. Settling on some short shorts and a tank top for her sleep attire. And after twisting her hair in large sections in order to put on her bonnet, she snagged one of Yoongi's hoodies to walk around in.

Hunger struck her again, so she found her phone and ordered from a place that had pho. It would take some time to get there and she was set on ignoring the messages from the boys that sat in her inbox. So, she went about straightening and cleaning things. She'd done the kitchen and the living room by the time she was notified the food was there. Slipping on her shoes she went down to get it, once back in the apartment she practically inhaled it.

She watched some random show while she ate, but once she was done the urge to be productive hit her. Grabbing her laptop from the bedroom she planned to work from the couch, but then her eyes drifted towards the hall where the studio was. Being fully immersed in her work sounded better to her, and she'd wanted to work on a track, so it made sense.

Kendall grabbed some water and a pop tart before heading into the studio.

It only took her a minute to set everything up. Even booting the computer up under her log in. Everything was just like she wanted it, thankfully. Sometimes when Yoongi typed in his password wrong too many times he used her log in and ended up altering how she liked to set up her software. It was a pain in the ass to fix.

He was a pain in the ass.

Not allowing herself to get worked up Kendall focused on the computer. Slipping on some headphones she played the track a few times before tweaking it. The goal was reggae trap, but it wasn't coming out that way at all, so she just went wherever it took her.

But twenty minutes in her phone wouldn't stop vibrating, so she was forced to deal with it. It was a series of messages from the boys. They'd all sent apologies separately, but also blew up the group chat. Scrolling through and reading them all took a solid two minutes.

She wasn't that upset with them. Much like Sejin they were supposed to remember, but weren't the ones with any real responsibility. It wasn't necessarily their job. Kendall was just being petty when she ignored their messages before.

Sighing, she realized that if she didn't reply they'd keep messaging her nonstop or start thinking she was pissed at them or something.

Kendall: It's fine. I'm annoyed and hate that I had to call Kihyun to come get me, but it's fine. I'm not mad at any of you. But I'm also trying to work, so maybe tone down the spamming

There was an overall okay in response to her and she went to set her phone down only for it to go off again. That time it was just Namjoon.

Namjoon: Did Yoongi call or text?

Kendall checked her phone for a message from someone other than Joon and there was none.

Kendall: No

Namjoon: Taehyung gave him his phone so he should get to you soon. And I swear that he feels like shit for forgetting.

Though she believed him, something in her questioned why he felt the need to emphasize that. And why Yoongi didn't just head home instead of using Tae's phone to contact her, but she chose not to ask Joon a million questions.

Kendall: Ok, thanks for letting me know

With that she got back to work but sat the phone on her thigh, so she'd feel when it went off. Enough time passed that she'd been so into her work that the vibrating almost went unnoticed. But when she realized it, she took off the headphones and answered the call from Tae's phone, though she did take note that it was over an hour later.

"Hello?" she said.

There was silence and then a gruff voice came through. "Hi, baby."

"Yes?" she wasn't going to play that game with him.

"I know I fucked up," he said.

"Accurate."

He laughed at that but kept going. "But I really need a favor from you and then I'll be on the way home. Where I will apologize thoroughly."

Of course, he needed something from her first. That explained her weird feeling about how bad he truly felt.

"What is it?" she asked.

A sigh of relief came through the phone. "There are some things in the folder labeled Jin and I need you to send it to me."

"Fine."

"Thank you so much. I love you."

In return all she did was grunt. Saving her own project, she logged out and logged into his. Within a minute or two she'd found the folder and sent it to him.

"It should be there," she said.

"Thank you. I swear I'll be home in forty-five minutes or less."

Kendall rolled her eyes. "Sure."

Right as he tried to say bye, she stopped him though, there was something else she needed to say.

"If your version of telling me your sorry involves sex, you're going to want to rethink your plan. It's not happening."

And with that she hung up.

Locking her phone, she threw it on the desk and refocused on her music. She wasn't going to let him derail what she was doing.

By the time thirty minutes passed Kendall was okay with where she was in terms of progress and knew she'd need to come back to it with fresh eyes. But she played it aloud a few times to see if she genuinely liked it.

Kendall was so immersed in listening she didn't realize that by the third playthrough she was no longer alone. Not until Yoongi's hands were on her shoulders. It caused her to jump, but when she registered his fingers she calmed down.

She then stopped the music and turned around to face him. He was looking all sweet and innocent, but she knew better than to give in to that.

"Go ahead," she said.

Yoongi immediately dropped the act and sighed. Then after staring at her for thirty seconds he moved closer and pushed her legs together. Before she could question that both of his knees were on either side of her thighs and he was sitting in her lap, his arms wrapping around her neck.

"Baby."

"Don't baby me mister."

Yoongi rolled his eyes but didn't retort.

"Kendall. I'm sorry I forgot about you today, I really am. I told myself last night, but then today was crazier than we thought it would be. It didn't help that I was up late working on this thing for Kook. Which meant I rushed out of the house forgetting my phone and then I was so wrapped up in work that nothing else crossed my mind," he rambled.

Kendall's eyes narrowed. "Pause. A thing for Kook? As in the thing you said you stopped working on and would pick up today when you had the chance. Because you'd already pulled three all-nighters this week and you needed the rest."

With each word Kendall became more annoyed and Yoongi realized he'd messed up.

She watched as he scrambled for something, but then finally gave up.

"Look, I know. I should've slept, especially since it takes me so much more energy to fake that I have energy in order to get through work. But inspiration hit and I just started working. Next thing I knew it was early in the morning and I needed to get ready for the day. I fucked up and I'll do better about it. I promise."

His words were sincere, and he wasn't the only one prone to doing that, so she couldn't be too upset with him.

"I get it. We both suck at taking better care of ourselves. We'll both do better," she said.

Yoongi nodded, removing one arm from around her neck so he could hold out his pinky. Smiling she linked her own with it.

"We'll do better," he said.

Kendall nodded and with that Yoongi got off her.

"I showered and ate dinner already, so how about we go to bed?" he asked.

A sarcastic laugh escaped Kendall and she shook her head.

"I said sex isn't happening."

Yoongi scoffed. "I just want to cuddle you, not sleep with you. Goodness, woman."

Though she didn't believe him Kendall shut everything down and allowed him to lead her out of the studio to the bedroom. There they snuggled up and watched TV. Yoongi copped several feels, especially on her butt, which he insisted was an accident.

But the truth was, they didn't do better. In fact, they got worse.

Comeback preparation came at them harder than usual and they had to dive into the chaos. Of course, it wasn't their first time handling it, but that didn't make things easier for either of them.

Yoongi was fully submerged in it, along with one or two projects outside of the group. Kendall wasn't essential for the album, but she still worked on it nearly every day. Plus, there were other groups she worked with that were preparing to comeback, along with all the writing she needed to get done. It was a blessing that projects in the western world were off limits to her during prep or the stress would've tripled.

To their credit they did try to keep things from getting out of hand, but it only took a week before they slipped into unhealthy habits. Their focus was so on getting things done so they were out of the way, that there was no thought about taking a moment to breathe. A moment to take a walk and not think about all the things that needed to be done.

If a thing they planned wasn't mandatory it wasn't going to happen. There were countless outings with friends that they flaked on. A cancelled lunch here, a trip to Lotte World there, jam sessions that were only meant for some fun and stress relief. Kendall nearly missed a friend's engagement party because she'd brushed off the reminder and twenty minutes before someone called to ask her when she was getting there.

At some point people stopped inviting them places and neither of them even noticed.

And that didn't even account for them flaking on each other. Date nights or plans to do even the grocery shopping were put off or forgotten about. Not that either of them ever brought it up, because even if they were aware enough to remember themselves something always caught their attention, so they forgot it even happened. Well, didn't happen.

It even reached the point where spending time together was sitting in Yoongi's studio and working on different things. Kendall preferred her studio for producing so she'd just bring her laptop in and write. Yoongi was usually the one to invite her, but he didn't stop staring at his screen or talking to one of the guys about a track long enough to say anything but hi.

It was getting out of control, but of the two Yoongi was the one dealing with all the stress and work better. He was pushing too hard and not taking proper care of himself, but sometimes logic would prevail. A snack would get eaten or he'd walk to a secluded park to write lyrics because he needed a change of scenery.

But even with his brief moments within reality, he was blind to the fact that Kendall was descending farther than he'd ever reached. He always had faith that she would be fine because she was strong enough to know when things truly needed to slow down, but she wasn't doing that. And right under his nose she was on a downward spiral.

For over a month he remained blind to that, everyone did. Or at least they weren't saying anything to him about it. Not that he listened much to what anyone told him when he was focused on something else.

However, at some point someone got fed up with the bullshit.

Kendall was on Yoongi's couch typing away on her laptop with music blasting through her headphones, while Yoongi sat at his desk writing lyrics. They'd started working on a song the night before that he needed help tweaking. Hours past rapidly as they brainstormed and worked through it. When that was figured out, she decided to write while he finished up.

Both neglected to notice that by the time Kendall's butt hit the couch it was seven in the morning. And they stayed like that until nine rolled around and Jin was bursting through the doors with bags in hand.

The suddenness startled them both and they stopped what they were doing to focus on him. They were met with an incredibly angry Jin and a smirking Taehyung who stood behind him watching the show.

"What time is it?" Jin asked.

"Uh..." Kendall shrugged, eyes flitting down to the bottom right of her computer screen.

When she saw the time, her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. There was a curse from Yoongi which indicated that he'd also checked.

"Mhm, and when were you supposed to leave?" he asked.

"No later than one," Yoongi mumbled.

"And why is that?"

"Because we've already been pushing it, so the rule has been imposed for everyone so not to overwork ourselves," Kendall said.

Jin nodded. "And yet, here you two are. Up for over twenty-four hours. Plus, you haven't eaten since who knows when. So, you're going home and today is an off day."

Yoongi opened his mouth to speak, but Jin just reiterated his point.

"You're both going to eat all of that. Only then will you be allowed to leave and when you leave, you're going to go home and rest. Don't make me have to come over and watch you do it either. I will know if you don't."

The way he glared at them meant there was no room for argument and Yoongi wasn't going to, but Kendall had something to say.

"Actually, I have a meeting at one that's like an hour away and then I have a session at four. So..."

That made Jin glare at her, but he didn't have anything else to say. Of course, arguing it was an option, but work was work and there was no way around that. Yoongi even had it in him to look displeased by the news.

Without saying anything Jin moved farther into the studio and shooed Yoongi out of his chair and onto the couch. From there he took a seat and started pulling things out of the bag he'd brought with him. Before they knew it, containers of steaming food were in each of their laps and Taehyung was handing them drinks.

Once they had the food, he stared them down and waited, but Yoongi was the only one who started eating right away. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kendall playing with the food.

"Look, Jin we didn't mean too..."

"Just eat," Jin said, clearly not in the mood for an explanation.

After that nothing else was said and they both just sat there and ate their food. Every drop of food was consumed too because no matter how much they told him they were full he just stared at them until they continued.

It was like they were children.

When all the food was gone Jin directed to shut everything down and gather their stuff. Jin supervised every movement. It didn't stop there though. He got into the van that took them home and glared the entire drive there. Then he went up with them and watched as they both got ready for different things.

Yoongi prepared for bed and Kendall for her meetings. In half an hour of arrival she was out the door and Yoongi was down for the count.

But his sleep was only temporary.

After about twenty minutes he was up again, and his body didn't want to go back down. He gave up and dragged his feet out into the living room, where Jin was still present.

"Are you not leaving?" Yoongi asked, his voice gruff.

Jin was startled by him and jumped a little, but quickly collected himself and went back to the scowl that seemed permanent.

"Not until you've been out for a few hours. And maybe not until Ken gets back," Jin said.

Yoongi chuckled at that. "I can't sleep, and she might not be back for a while so you're going to get bored fast."

There was a moment or two of silence before Jin's expression shifted to something more distressed, a sigh escaping him.

"Yeah, I know."

That response through Yoongi off. Obviously, Jin would be tired of their antics but something about him read more than that. Yoongi couldn't pinpoint what else could be plaguing the oldest member, but he would find out. He hated seeing any of his brothers down and out.

Moving toward the couch he laid out a few feet from Jin and watched him closely.

"Something wrong? You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Yoongi asked.

That made Jin sigh again, but it was accompanied by a humorless laugh. After a second or so Jin nodded and turned to face Yoongi.

"Not when you're like this I can't."

Yoongi scoffed. "Of course, you can. I know I've been a little too focused lately, but you know I'm always here for you. You don't need to worry about that."

"You're the one I'm least worried about," he mumbled.

"Huh?"

For a moment Jin appeared conflicted, but then his expression turned serious. He turned his body so he was facing Yoongi full on and stared at him for a few seconds.

"Have you really not noticed Kendall's behavior?" Jin asked.

That made Yoongi frown. He'd been caught up in work, but he liked to think if something was wrong, he'd noticed it. There was nothing that came to mind though. All he was met with was memories of her being as engulfed in her work as him, which wasn't a great thing, but it wasn't that bad. She had a lot of work.

Though part of him felt like that line of thinking was stupid since he was on her constantly about taking care of herself. But of course, he shook it off, they were in a high-pressure time and sometimes things needed all their attention.

"She's been working a lot, but that's it. Did something happen?" he asked.

Jin groaned and wiped a hand over his face.

"You've both been working a lot, but she's taking it to an almost extreme level. Have you seriously not seen that she's almost always working on something or going somewhere to do more work? I'm not even sure that she gets much sleep at this point. Let alone eats enough. I'm sure this morning was the biggest meal she had in a few weeks."

That made Yoongi even more confused. "But I almost always see her when you guys force a group lunch. She eats then."

Jin pursed his lips. "Have you actually seen her eat or just pick at the food while typing away at her phone and basically running away when everyone else finishes?"

Yoongi tried to think back to all the times they'd eaten together, and he remembered eating at least half his meal, but never actually seeing Kendall eat. His attention always focused on his screen or notebook. And when he'd go to put the leftovers in the fridge or trash Kendall's containers would be beside her in the exact spot it was placed. But of course, she just happened to sit it back down there or ate out of it from that position. She wouldn't forgo food for long, so she had to be eating.

"Of course, she..." Yoongi started, but then he recalls seeing her walk down the hall one afternoon and having to lean against the wall for a moment with her eyes closed. That could've been a one time thing though. Couldn't it?

It reached a point where he just laid there with his mind going over every interaction they'd had since the prep began. He was finding all types of things that seemed normal at the time, but in hindsight didn't make any sense if she was taking proper care of herself.

"Listen," Jin said, regaining his attention. "You just need to talk to her. We've all tried, but she plays it off or has something else she needs to do. Jimin almost got her to listen, but she just went back into the habit a few hours later. You're the only one who can call her out on it. You both need to be called out, but I know you'll be fine. I'm scared she's going down a dangerous path."

At that Yoongi nodded, but he was still a bit lost in his own head. He couldn't believe that he'd missed so many signs. There was just no way.

Jin confronting him the week before had woken Yoongi up from what he was doing to himself. The way he'd slimmed down a bit and how no amount of skincare could save his face; the undereye bags were going strong. It wasn't good and so he made changes in order to be healthier. Even having the younger members enforce him taking breaks multiple times a day. It was easier to see how things were going down a bad path for him and he was eternally grateful for Jin helping pull him back as he always did.

However, with his newfound clarity and self-awareness he finally saw what was going on with Kendall. Finally, he was paying attention. He watched her for a week and could see that he'd missed everything. Even the biggest flag of them all, which was how she never left her studio if she didn't need to. He hadn't been looking for that before, so it got by him, but every day until who knows when she was in that room by herself working. Food set outside would go ignored and he was sure she never even peed.

How he'd been so far gone that none of those things caught his attention was still a major question, but he couldn't focus on that. His attention needed to be on figuring out how to handle Kendall. If someone didn't get her to snap out of it, she'd lose steam completely and enter a creative block. And she didn't need to do that when all her jobs were creative. Yoongi cared more about her health than her hitting a roadblock, but he knew that when she did that it was much worse for her mentally. She put too much pressure on herself.

So, he needed to be strategic about it. Coming straight at her would do no good and if he was too nice or tried too hard to get her to forgo something to do something else, she'd suspect him. The only choice was for her lone plan for the day to be cancelled to create a slot where she was free. It would be hard for her to turn him down then, so he did what he had to.

Yoongi pulled out his phone and called Kihyun. His friend answered after a few rings.

"Hello."

"Hey, Kihyun. I have a question," Yoongi said.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Is the thing that you're working with Ken on something urgent? Can it be postponed or something?"

"Yes. Yes, it can!" Kihyun shouted.

It shocked Yoongi. "Uh, okay..."

A throat cleared and then Kihyun was speaking at a normal level. "Sorry. It's just the last time she came to work on the song she looked so tired. And even though she was working as well as usual there seemed to be a lack of her normal spark. I asked her about it, and she brushed me off, but I've been worrying about it. So, it can definitely be put on hold so she can rest or whatever you have in mind."

Everyone, but Yoongi had been paying attention it seemed.

"Yeah, I want to get her to rest. But listen, I need you to make up a reason why it's pushed to another day. She cannot know that I'm the reason that this was cancelled. Getting her to stop depends on her not knowing."

"Okay, I can do that. I'll text her now and then text you when it's done," Kihyun said.

"Thanks man."

"No problem."

With that they hung up and Yoongi shut down everything and prepared to head out. But he couldn't just stroll into her office after she got the news, so he played on his phone for half an hour after getting the confirmation text. After that he just casually made his way to her studio, knocking before letting himself in.

What he was met with was her sitting on the couch and staring at her table with a pen in hand. She was making edits, which made his appearance even better time wise. If she was doing it then that meant she was ahead of her schedule in some way and was even less likely to turn him down.

"Hey, baby. I was going to head out for some food. You want to come?" Yoongi asked.

For a moment or two she didn't say anything, but that was unsurprising since he'd asked as she started to write on the screen. Once she was done with the task at hand her attention became his and he truly saw the tired in her face. The bags under her eyes were prominent and her usually plump cheeks weren't as chubby. It made him feel even worse for not noticing it before.

"Uh. I'm not really hungry." she said, her voice softer than usual.

"But you were gone before breakfast. Come eat with me. Unless you have something else planned?"

That made her sigh and deflate a little. Yoongi almost felt bad for messing with her schedule, but it needed to be done.

"No. Ki said that something in his schedule changed so he'd need to meet with me another day."

Yoongi tried his best to seem chill about it. "Damn, that sucks. I hope they aren't overworking him over there as per usual. Okay, then you can come eat with me since your meeting fell through."

Again, he was met with no response for several seconds, but then she nodded her head and carefully rose from the couch. It was clear that it disoriented her a little, but Yoongi couldn't react to it. He had to let her move at her own pace and get her where he wanted her to be.

As she packed up her stuff, he kept a close eye on her.

"Is there anything you want to get in particular?" she asked.

Yoongi shook his head. "Nah, not really. I was thinking something close by, but then I also remembered that Jin put some kimchi stew in the fridge so we could just eat that."

Kendall froze and that worried Yoongi, he did not need to be found out so early. But when she turned around, she smiled at him.

"That sounds really good."

He returned the smile. "Great. I already had one of the vans waiting out front for me, so we can just tell them where we're going."

Kendall nodded and then motioned for Yoongi to lead the way. When he turned around, he released a deep breath and led them out of the building and into the awaiting van. Once they were on the road it was silent between them, but he didn't mind. He needed to ensure that he didn't say something too soon and if they got talking, he would slip up.

Once they arrived home, he led her upstairs with a hand wrapped around her waist, which wasn't something unusual. It appeared like affection to her and everyone else, but it was mostly him trying to keep her stable enough that she didn't sway or stumble. If that happened, she'd get defensive when he asked if she was okay.

They got into the apartment without issue and Yoongi got to work reheating the food so they could eat. Kendall took a seat at the dining room table and began editing again. It wasn't too intensive, so he let it be, but the moment the stew was ready, and he had some side dishes he had her put it away.

Again, they sat in silence, though that time he turned on the TV and put Brooklyn Nine-Nine on in the background. It drew in some of her attention and that's what he wanted. He needed her calm and comfortable. If she got a filling lunch and was somewhat immersed in the show some of her walls would be down. It also helped that he genuinely enjoyed the series and she knew that, so it didn't appear that he was trying anything.

But despite Yoongi's careful steps Kendall saw through him. After he'd taken the dishes to the kitchen, he returned to find her waiting for him with her arms crossed.

"What?" he asked.

"You're up to something."

That made his heart rate spike, but he'd perfected a steady expression over the years so of course that didn't show.

"What are you talking about?"

"We haven't spent real time together in a while and now you're actively seeking me out. Plus, you've been watching me a lot over the last two days. It's weird and sudden. So, what are you up to?" she asked.

"I'm not allowed to show interest and want to spend time with you now? That's suddenly... actually, no. I'm not going to do this. We'll go back and forth for forever and I'm just going to get to the point. I've stopped being so caught up in work that I noticed that you're too caught up in it. You're not taking care of yourself and I'm worried about you. Many people are worried about you. I thought we could spend some time together and that means you would rest."

Kendall's expression went from suspicious to annoyed. One of her brows raised and she rose from her seat, though she didn't move closer to Yoongi. In fact, he saw her take the smallest step back.

"So, what? You were going to try to get me to bend to your will by using things I like to lull me into a sense of comfort? Thought that would be enough to get me to forget about all the work I have to do?"

"No, I..."

"And then what? Get me to sleep? Make sure I stay in bed until tomorrow? Or were you planning on trying to get me to not work the rest of the week? Something that would put me back severely since I have things to do. Something that..."

"Stop!" he shouted. "Yes, I wanted you to take a break. And I would've loved if it was for the rest of the day. I would love for you to just sit down for a moment and relax. To sleep more than you do. To eat more than you do. I'd love for things to not be how they are now. But I wasn't and don't plan to commit some grand conspiracy against you, Kendall. I just want you to slow down and breathe."

There was silence and then Kendall scoffed. "When you're doing it it's fine, but when it's me there is suddenly this major problem. I'm fine. I'm stressed and working a lot, but I'm fine. This isn't anything that I can't handle. I've had more to do, so it's not a problem. But a problem occurs when everyone seems to think they need to insert themselves into my life for one reason or the other. I don't need to be watched like a child who can't function on her own. I'm more than capable."

Yoongi sighed and ran a hand over his face. Of course, things were taking a turn. She reacted much like him when backed into a corner when they swore, they were okay when in truth it felt like life was drowning them.

"No one is saying you're not capable, Kendall. We just want you healthy and not pushing yourself so much. You're losing weight and you look so drained of energy all the time. Even Kihyun said something was off during your last session. That you had your same work ethic, but your usual energy was gone," Yoongi said gently.

He hoped that his words would change something within her, and they did, but she was angry which wasn't the goal.

Kendall took a deep breath; her fists clenched and unclenched a few times before she glanced at Yoongi.

"Kihyun? Is that why he canceled? Because I don't seem well enough? Great."

Yoongi took a step forward, but she took two steps back.

"Everyone seems to have these grand ideas about what I should be doing and making decisions on my behalf. So, I'm going to let you all do what you want to do. But I won't be around to let you do it. I have things to get done today and Kihyun canceling means I have more time. So, if you need me for my job then let me know. Other than that, back the hell off."

With that she grabbed her stuff and was headed towards the door. Yoongi went after her, but after she slipped on her shoes she whipped around and held her hand up to stop him.

"I'll be sleeping somewhere else tonight. Don't wait up or come looking for me to make sure that I'm sleeping up to your standards."

And with that she was gone. Yoongi was left cursing himself and wishing he'd handled things differently. Maybe if he had she'd be still in the apartment. If he'd only caught on sooner maybe the evening would've been spent cuddled together on the couch or in bed. Honestly, anything was better than what happened.

Yoongi couldn't help but feel like he'd messed everything up.

Despite wanting to fix things as soon as they happened Yoongi waited it out. He knew that coming at Kendall again would just yield another argument and he didn't want that. Especially because he was likely to lose his cool and things would become worse.

So, he sat back and let her do what she wanted for a few days. Every time he ate, he grabbed her food, sat it near the door and walked away. Sometimes it would be gone when he went by again, but more often than not it was still sitting there. It was frustrating, but he didn't let up and just kept doing it. There were even little notes where he left her with encouraging messages or that relayed how much he loved her. He hoped it would help soften her and that she'd see his true intentions.

And when they worked together, he was his usual self. There was no pressure to eat, drink, or rest. Kendall had already taken to avoiding him, so he didn't want her to just completely ignore his existence. He only got such brief time with her to make sure she was okay, and he refused to risk it.

The method was honestly great for the first few days, but then after two days in a row with food untouched and her barely leaving the office he'd had enough. The boys could see it too, they watched as he was pushed over the edge.

They stood in the middle of the practice room discussing the choreography they went over a few times. It was the early stages, they were more worried about everyone getting it than it being in sync, so the topic of discussion was one move that almost everyone was struggling with.

But it was during Namjoon explaining that maybe they could alter the instrumental a little to fit that shit hit the fan.

"I could talk to Kendall about it. Of course, making changes is a bit much but it would be kind of cool. None of us are doing it as smoothly as needed and we were discussing adding more of that slightly disjointed sound to the chorus. It wouldn't take much time at all," Namjoon said.

Hoseok pursed his lips and nodded. "But when can she do it? Of course, we can practice it with that in mind, but we need to hear it and get approval before we make that choice. And she said she had a lot to do today. Something about having a new project to work on and needing to prepar..."

When Yoongi heard she took on another project his head snapped up, his eyes focused on Hoseok. The younger male was startled by the attention, especially since Yoongi was glaring at him.

"She has another what?" Yoongi said, practically shouting the words.

No one said a thing, but then after they all were the focus of his glare Jungkook said something.

"Yeah, she took on this thing for some artist she really likes. They're an American one, but she wanted it more than she cared about sticking to her rule during comeback prep."

The rage that filled Yoongi was swift and before anyone could utter another word, he was storming out of the practice room. He didn't stop until he reached the elevators, but as he waited for the doors to open, he could feel his emotions intensify. It was time to put an end to the situation and he didn't care about her being upset with him.

"Where are you going?" Namjoon called out as he caught up with Yoongi.

"To stop this shit."

"Yoongi, you can't just come at her all pissed off. She doesn't respond well to that, you know this," Joon tried to reason.

"I'm not going to her."

Just as he said that the doors opened, and he stepped through. Namjoon stood and watched him, conflict clear in his expression. Yoongi waited a second, but when he didn't make a move, he pressed the floor number. Just before the doors closed Namjoon slid in after him.

The elevator ride was tense and quiet. Yoongi was trying to control his anger so that he wouldn't lash out at anyone. No one was at fault for this and there was no need for them to have to deal with his issues. Even if they were all willing, he'd hate if he'd made anyone too uncomfortable once everything was over.

When the doors opened, they walked out and the secretary simply nodded and pointed towards their destination. After knocking and being granted entrance they walked into Bang's office.

Their boss looked prepared for their arrival and Yoongi was sure one of the boys put two and two together and warned him. He didn't mind though; it was easier to handle it if he didn't have to just show up and lay it all out when he least expected it.

"Is there something I can help you with, Yoongi?" Bang asked.

Taking a deep breath Yoongi collected himself and then nodded. "Yes, there is. Kendall has been a little, well a lot overwhelmed the last few months. She's working more than she needs to and not taking care of herself properly. Obviously, some of this stuff is out of your domain, but a lot of it is work on producing and writing. It's reached a point where she won't listen and even when things fall through, she finds a million other things to do in its place. I know that her main focus is on the girl group debut and you wanted her to take full control of that, but they won't even be announced for a few months and she's way ahead of schedule. So, what I'm asking for is her taking a break. She'll have more than enough time to come back to it and have them ready. But right now, she needs to step back. I need her to step back before things get worse."

Yoongi hadn't meant to be long winded, but once he started talking it all came out. And that included the distress he was feeling. His voice went up a few octaves and he was pleading with Bang to agree with him. He needed for him to give the go ahead.

It was silent for a moment, but then Bang nodded. "I've noticed that she's been working a lot, but I didn't know to what extent. She's farther ahead then what we talked about. Practically finished the album. So, we can put a hold on any more work until she's had proper rest. If that needs to start today, then it can. I'll send the email and make the call."

After nodding and giving a brief thank you Yoongi was out the door and back in the elevator with Namjoon hot on his heels.

"What are you going to do?" Namjoon asked.

"We're going home."

"And if she doesn't choose to go? You know she's not just going to agree. So, what are you going to do?"

For a while Yoongi didn't say anything, but the moment he stepped off the elevator he turned to face Joon.

"I'm going to tell her too much time has gone."

Namjoon's eyes widened at that, but Yoongi could see on his face he understood. That phrase - too much time has gone - was used when there was something serious they needed to talk about. Something where one of them needed to be heard out and it invoked the urge to listen better with the other. Kendall wouldn't be able to refuse and would have to see how concerned he was.

He hated using it because it always left him on edge when she used it and he would assume the worst, so he knew she had to feel it too when he did it.

"Call or text me after. Okay?" Namjoon said.

Yoongi nodded and then turned to walk down the hall. He made a quick stop in the practice room to grab his stuff and then did the same in his office. Once packed up he headed towards her studio. As he went, he prepared himself for a shit show and he really wished it didn't need to be, but he'd accept that if it meant she'd be okay.

When he walked up to the door the bag of food he'd left earlier was gone and that helped calm him. At least she ate something. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door but got nothing. Several knocks and doorbell rings later he put in the passcode and entered the studio. Instead of finding Kendall immersed in her work he was met with darkness, which was weird because she didn't have any outside work.

Yoongi flipped the switch and found everything was shut down, but something on her desk caught his eye. He moved closer and saw the bag of food, which was still untouched, but before he could focus on that his eyes drifted to the note on the desk. It was the one he left, and it read: You're doing a great job, baby. I got your favorite. I love you.

The paper was wet unlike it had been when he dropped it off and it only took a second to realize that it was from tears. Even the space around it had a few drops here and there.

His first thoughts were about if she was okay and the next were hoping that maybe they'd just been from him finally breaking through to her. Either way she needed to be found.

Yoongi sprinted out of the room and slammed into SlowRabbit who looked at him confused, but then noticed where he was coming from.

"Ken went home. Said she needed to do something," SlowRabbit said.

Muttering a quick thank you Yoongi was running again. He needed to get home fast. Thankfully once he got to the lobby Joon was waiting there with one of the drivers, once they saw him the driver headed to a car out front and Yoongi moved after him.

The drive to the apartment was tense. There was a giddiness inside of him as he clung to the idea that she'd finally seen the light, but there was also a deep-rooted fear of what could happen if she wasn't coming back to reality. It left him all over the place and sweating more than he had during dance practice.

Once in his building he felt his anxiety diminish, but for some reason he walked very slowly through the lobby and to the elevators. Like he was stalling for time trying to come up with something, but in truth his mind was completely blank. Even as the elevator indicated he was getting closer to his floor his mind remained emptied.

It was weird.

As the doors opened, he started to think again, but that quickly came to a halt. At the end of the hall there was a person collapsed onto the floor. Panic filled him and he sprinted out to them, dropping to his knees to make sure they were okay.

"Excuse me? Hey. Hey. Wake up." He chanted as he carefully rolled them over.

When he saw the face, he stopped breathing. For some reason it didn't register in his head that the person was on his floor and in front of his door. It didn't register that the person could be Kendall. Until he saw her face.

"Kendall! Kendall! Baby!"

He shook her gently, one of his hands going to cup her face. She wasn't responding or even moving and that panicked him more. His mind raced and he continued trying to get her to wake up. Screaming her name and shaking her to get some sort of response.

It took a minute or so before it clicked with him that he needed to act. That there was no time to waste.

He placed his fingers under her nose and waited, after a few seconds he was sure that she was still breathing. It wasn't strong, but it was something. He then fumbled in his pocket for his phone and when it was finally in his clutches, he dialed emergency services. His eyes never left Kendall's face and his finger remained under her nose.

When they answered he had a response ready, but instead of words a sob broke free. The tears came soon after and he was finding it hard to say anything.

"Hello? Hello? I can hear you crying, dear. Please tell me what's wrong," a soft voice said on the other end.

Yoongi took a breath and reminded himself what was at stake.

"My... my girlfriend collapsed, and I don't know how long she's been out. I found her in the hallway of our apartment building. Her breathing... her... her breathing isn't as strong as it should be. And neither is her... pul... pulse." He finally managed to choke out.

"Okay. I'm glad that you checked all those things out. If she's still breathing, there's a chance she's fine. Can you give me the location?"

He mumbled off the address and what floor they were on. As he spoke more, he calmed, but the tears never stopped and at any given moment he was hit with an intense wave of distress.

Yoongi's eyes never left Kendall, even as the dispatcher kept him talking so he wouldn't freak out too much. He couldn't take his eyes off her. The last time he'd done that led him to the pain he was enduring in that moment.

Kendall's body felt too hot and she needed to cool off but no matter how much she adjusted there was no escape. At some point she was forced to wake up and try to free herself, but the moment that her eyes opened she felt disoriented.

Everything was fuzzy and her head felt swimmy. It was as if she wasn't grounded and she didn't know why. Of course, she wanted to fight for some clarity, but she knew she'd needed to just let it pass first. So, she waited until her vision cleared and she felt settled before trying to figure anything else out.

Who knows how much time passed before she could make out her surroundings, but when she could confusion filled her. She wasn't in the apartment or in her studio, but what looked like a hospital room. But for the life of her she couldn't figure out why she'd be there.

Kendall searched her memory for something, but it was as clouded as her vision had been. She didn't let that stop her though, she focused on what she could last remember until snippets of her day came up. They were so short that she couldn't make anything out of them though. It was frustrating, but she needed answers and she was alone so there was no one to give them.

At least she thought she was alone.

As Kendall took in her surroundings and then herself, she finally noticed that she wasn't the only one in the hospital bed. Next to her lay Yoongi. He was asleep and looked so peaceful that she momentarily forgot what she was doing. It had been so long since she'd seen him like that and she wanted to savor it, but before she could even get comfortable with the idea it all came rushing back to her.

She'd been working on a track that was proving difficult for her. The idea she had in her head wouldn't translate into the actual work. Nothing she tried was working and she was close to screaming about it. Instead she decided to take a step back and finish some things on a different track for a friend. It would give her a break and the chance to get some more work done.

Halfway through that hunger struck her and she'd peeked out to see if Yoongi left any food for her like he had been. Kendall was still upset with him for actively trying to hinder her work, but she appreciated the gesture because she often forgot to eat. It wasn't that big a deal, but not having to search for food when she finally decided to eat was a good thing.

She'd grabbed the food and brought it in, but as she opened the bag there was a post-it on top. It wasn't surprising since he left them with every meal and she'd planned to sit it aside, but then she read the words. For some reason something in her finally snapped and she felt her body droop and tears fall from her eyes.

Yoongi was being so caring and loving, even after she lashed out at him. He was making sure that she at least ate and reminding her constantly that she was doing great and was enough. She'd been so caught up in doing everything that she'd let those things slip away from her. Let herself reach a point where she was so tired all the time and barely functioning mentally but using the excuse of needing to stay ahead as a reason to keep going. As a reason to not take a moment to breathe.

Kendall ran herself into the ground. And instead of giving into him and taking in what he tried to tell her she'd pushed herself further to prove a point.

But she was tired of proving that point.

So, after crying she packed her stuff and planned to head home. Yoongi was practicing so she didn't want to disturb him. She'd planned to text him after she got home and showered, it would be enough time for the boys to be taking a break. After telling Slow Rabbit she was leaving, a van took her to the apartment and she was eager to finally stop being so hardheaded so she could rest. However, as she got onto the elevator, she felt weird, but couldn't pinpoint why. She brushed it off as being tired and thought maybe she should nap and then shower.

But as she got off the elevator and walked towards the door everything around her shifted. It was like a kaleidoscope was right in front of her eyes and before she knew it her body was falling in slow motion. After that everything was blank.

The moment her brain caught up she felt herself tear up; she'd fucked up. Not only had she done damage to her body, but she couldn't imagine how Yoongi felt. Had he been the one to find her? Was he notified as he tried to live out his day? She hoped she hadn't scared him too much.

As the tears fell her hand moved to caress his cheek. At her touch he shifted but didn't wake up. Leaning down she pressed a kiss to his forehead. It was soft and lingered for several seconds. When she pulled away though, his eyes were wide open, and he was staring at her. The sadness was clear, but there was also some relief.

"Baby," he whispered.

Kendall didn't get the chance to say anything though, because he was kissing all over her face in seconds. After he pulled her tight, burying his face in her neck.

"You scared the shit out of me, Kendall. You can't keep doing this shit, okay? It needs to stop," he mumbled.

"I know. I'm sorry," she said.

It was all she could think to say. She wanted to explain herself, but it didn't feel like the right time, so she let it be.

They spent the rest of the day like that. Even when the doctors came in Yoongi didn't stray too far from her, he always had to be touching her. If he couldn't be in the bed with her then he was holding her hand and if she left to use the bathroom, he would snatch it up the moment she was out.

It hurt her heart to see him like that. To watch him look at her as if she were going to slip through his fingers and disappear.

"I'm sorry," she started. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I should've listened to all of you and stopped letting work take over, but I just pushed myself harder. And when it finally clicked, when your note put me back into reality, I was going to take a break. I'd gone home to shower and rest. I was going to message you after to not be a disturbance and because I knew we were going to need to talk, but I didn't get the chance. I didn't mean for it to get this far."

Yoongi just watched her as she spoke, nodding along to show that he was listening. When she finished, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her lips. He murmured about how it would be okay, and they would deal with it later. Kendall didn't think that wise, but then the boys showed up to pay her a visit and lightly scold her, so the moment was lost.

After her explanation Yoongi still remained close by, but she noticed a shift in him. His relief faded and he relaxed more, but something else rose to the surface. He was clearly annoyed and though she wanted to ask if he was okay, she knew it was best not to. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know why he was upset. Kendall expected his rage to surface at some point, but she wished it made him more vocal.

Instead of scolding her or just straight up yelling he remained silent. They didn't speak much and any conversations she tried to start fizzled within seconds. It left things tense all the time and despite the guilt it grew tiresome.

Thankfully, they only kept her for a day after she'd woken up so she could rest at home. That meant that she wasn't confined in one room with him watching her with his underlying anger, but it didn't make her feel any less uncomfortable. Yoongi still made sure she rested, took her medication, and ate. He worked outside of the home studio to keep an eye on her but kept his distance. And his silence remained. He'd even mastered answering her questions without saying a single word and after three days Kendall was over it.

She'd come home from the hospital still quite drained, but with eating regularly and resting her energy returned to her. Which meant she could risk exerting herself a bit to push the issue. And after he'd blatantly ignored a question she asked it was hard not to snap.

"Can you just fucking yell at me already? I get you have some stuff to work through and are probably trying to figure out how you want to address this, but please just do it. Just say what you want to say. Yell. Cuss. Tell me you hate me. I don't care. Just please say something!" she blurted out.

That made him pause and turn around to face her. His expression was one that he wore when he was pissed off and though it made her stomach drop it's what she wanted. What she needed.

Yoongi laughed after a few seconds. One of those humorless ones, that were so loud and obnoxious that they seemed fake. It lasted for a moment and then he abruptly stopped, taking a few steps forward so they were only two feet apart.

"Okay. I'll talk. We both went off the deep in and got too caught up in things. You more than me, but we're both guilty of it. But I was so off in my own damn world that I didn't notice you were taking it a step too far. I had to be told by Jin, who saw it from the start and tried to help. I had to be told to take a closer look at my girlfriend who I saw often, and thought was okay. I fucked up and part of this is on me. No matter what you say I'm sticking to that because I know how far you can go, and I wasn't seeing the signs. Hell, I even encouraged it with my own behavior.

"But then you have to be so damn stubborn about things. You have to think because there are no obvious effects on you that you're doing okay and that everyone else is seeing things. You push yourself too hard, Kendall. No matter how overwhelmed you are, you push so hard as if you can't take a breath. As if you couldn't half ass it and still come out with some great work. And you let yourself get so in your head that you fucking forgot that and neglected yourself. Barely ate. Barely slept. Barely did anything besides work, even when there shouldn't have been any work to do. And that shit ended with me fucking finding you passed out on the ground in front of our home. Of me fearing that you weren't going to be... be... that you weren't going to be okay. This entire situation is fucked up and I need some time, okay?

So, let me have my time to fucking think. Let me have the chance to stop being mad at you and me, so we can try to move the hell forward after this shit show."

With that he turned on his heel and walked away. He went into the bedroom and slammed the door behind him. It left Kendall alone in the living room feeling worse than she had when she woke up in the hospital. She knew she had no valid reason to cry since she'd brought this on herself, but it felt like her heart was ripped out of her chest.

It felt like she'd fucked her entire relationship up.

38 notes · View notes

mostlycompetentwriter · 5 years

Text

I Am You: Chapter 10

Pairing: OC x Bang Chan x Jisung x Changbin (Stray Kids)

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

Warnings: Smut at the end

Previous Chapters: (chapter 1), (chapter 2), (chapter 3), (chapter 4), (chapter 5), (chapter 6), (chapter 7), (chapter 8), (chapter 9)

Note: This series is rapidly coming to a close! I have two more chapters and an epilogue planned.

When I was still in high school, a group of jealous omega girls started openly targeting me as the primary recipient of their endless bullying. Apparently, the idea of having three alpha mates was incredibly taboo in our pack, especially given how young we were. Sure, there were plenty of instances of omegas mating with one or two alphas in other packs, but three? And it was impossible to forget how rare my situation was when our classmates enjoyed reminding me.

In actuality, I should have known that they were hurting me out of jealousy as opposed to some sort of personal vendetta against an omega who had already mated three alphas. For example, the leader of this group of petty female nuances happened to be the same girl Changbin abandoned the night he mated me. And two of her friends had previously spent their heats with Jisung before I was even in the picture. But whatever the reason, I was always deeply offended when they would taunt me in the hallways or leave behind some sort of reminder that they despised my circumstances.

Like those horrible notes they left in my locker

I carefully unfolded the pristine white square, smoothing out the creases. “The school’s biggest slut,” I read aloud while trying to ignore the way my wolf bristled at the insinuation.

“At least you’ve acknowledged it,” a reckless female voice mocked from next to me. I glanced up wearily as she joined her friends at the lockers behind mine.

I looked back down at the note despite the fact that the words had started swimming together in front of me. It was difficult to make out the letters and I felt absolutely horrible as I picked up their whispered insults. It was all too much for me to handle because I had never faced this level of derision before, especially from those who were supposedly my pack members.

“Angel.”

I quickly folded the note and stuffed it inside of a textbook before Changbin could see the harsh words. I turned around, hoping I looked more put together than I felt, unresisting when Changbin pulled me closer by the hips. “You smell good,” he remarked, leaning in closer.

From over his shoulder, I spotted the young group of girls frowning in our direction. “I thought you were busy.”

“I’m never too busy for you,” he purred cheesily. “You shouldn’t be at school this close to your heat, angel. How can we take care of you here?”

I could hear their giggles in the background. “You never want to help,” I said bitterly, ignoring the way Changbin’s expression fell.

“Angel,” Changbin continued delicately, “are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I muttered. “I can’t be late for class.”

“But if you aren’t feeling well...”

“I promise I’m okay,” I dismissed his concerns.

“Let me take you to class.”

“I can walk by myself,” I retorted, reaching back to slam my locker door shut.

I knew I had hurt Changbin, but I couldn’t stop thinking about those filthy notes or the taunting insults and dirty looks my classmates gave me in the hallways. Those omega girls had no idea how wrong they were in turning everyone against me. They only cared about getting a reaction, and I wasn’t strong enough to deny them.

“Angel,” Changbin tried again, but I was already walking in the opposite direction.

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I ate lunch alone because I was tired of dealing with the rest of my classmates, and I knew that nobody wanted to deal with me. It had become a tentative arrangement, an unspoken agreement that they would leave me alone if I sat as far away from civilization as possible. Normally, I would refuse to sit alone, but I didn’t have the desire to continue fighting when I was the only enemy.

I glanced out the window, watching the way the rain fell against the glass. My wolf longed to escape the oppressive atmosphere of our school life, and I had never wanted the shift more. I could practically feel my muscles aching, desiring nothing more than to let my wolf take control and run us back home where I felt safe.

I suddenly raised my head when I detected a familiar scent. It was graciously soothing...

“Hello, princess!”

Jisung’s voice was charming as he sat next to me. “I switched lunch periods. Changbin said you weren’t feeling well.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s exaggerating.”

“Well,” Jisung started, tossing down his tray, “I still worry.”

“I don’t want you to worry about me,” I said, sighing as I slowly started the process of dividing my vegetables into the remaining compartments of my lunch tray.

Jisung watched me carefully. “How was class?”

“Boring,” I told him honestly, wincing when my spoon scratched against the metal underside.

“I thought you liked your art class?”

“The teacher put on a film today,” I explained. “I was seconds away from falling asleep.”

“Is that why you look so down?” Jisung asked, shuffling in closer to me.

I could feel his familiar warmth.

Jisung grabbed my spoon, filling it with the school’s flimsy excuse for nutrition. “Princess,” Jisung continued, holding out a spoonful of vegetables.

A nearby duo of alphas had started observing our exchanges. The look in their eyes was one of silent judgment. “I’m not hungry,” I insisted, ignoring his offering.

Jisung frowned, lowering the food. “What’s wrong, princess?”

“I have a lot to do,” I said. “I need to talk to my teachers since I’ll be out for my heat.”

“That’s right,” Jisung said, eyes brightening. “When do you want me to come over?”

“I’ll let you know,” I said, suddenly feeling the desire to escape the dining room before the two of us attracted more attention. Yet, while attempting to stand up from the table, I was unprepared for the sudden headrush, stumbling to the side.

An unfortunate side effect of my impending heat hormones.

But Jisung was there to hold me close, scenting me gently while my vision slowly stabilized. Nevertheless, I still heard the whispers from the surrounding tables. Why was everyone being so infuriating?

“Jisung,” I hissed, stepping out of his embrace. The alphas sitting next to our table snickered as they watched the two of us.

“Did I hurt you, princess?” Jisung fretted, hands anxiously wandering down my arms.

“No,” I fidgeted, taking another step back. “I just don’t feel good.”

“Are you cramping?” Jisung questioned and my face heated because he had said it so loudly. It felt like every pair of eyes in the dining room were looking in our direction.

“Don’t say that,” I urged him.

“Is it that bad?” Jisung asked, voice quieter. “Do you want me to take you home, princess?”

“It’s nothing,” I insisted, reaching down for my textbook.

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No,” I said quickly, perhaps with more spite than I intended. Jisung was so easily breakable and I knew my words would hurt him. Which is why I didn’t stick around to make things worse than they already were.

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Since our bond was still relatively fresh, I usually sought after Chan at various points throughout the day. Even if it was for just a brief moment, the two of us would scent one another between classes to appease our demanding wolves. Usually, it was me who often cornered Chan and sought his attention. Today, however, it was Chan who found me, grabbing my hand and pulling me inside an empty classroom.

Chan studied me for a brief moment, blue eyes searching. Then, he cautiously bared his neck, and I took the time to ensure that we were truly alone before I scented him enough to feel the bond settle back down into place. But that wasn’t enough for Chan.

“Something’s wrong,” Chan said, an observation as opposed to a question. “Changbin and Jisung said you weren’t feeling well.”

“I told them I was fine,” I snapped.

Chan raised one brow in question. “I don’t think you are.”

“It’s just my heat,” I insisted, jerking back when he attempted to fit his palm against my forehead.

Chan frowned. “You’re not acting like yourself.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m not usually close to heat.”

“I don’t think that’s why,” Chan reasoned and I cursed his intuitiveness. The alpha knew me better than most after a lifetime of close friendship.

“Don’t make me tell you,” I begged and Chan startled at the raw vulnerability I allowed in my tone.

“Now I’m worried,” Chan said, reaching out for my hand which I allowed him to take.

“I’ll figure it out,” I offered vaguely. “There’s nothing you can to do help.”

“Not if you don’t ask,” Chan countered, resting his forehead against mine.

“I can’t this time,” I said. “I have to be the one to fix this.”

“You know I don’t like that, Myah,” he said. “If I can’t help you as a mate, then I’m breaking my promise.”

“You can’t know,” I trembled.

“Why?”

“Because you’d be furious and irrational,” I said, startling when Chan abruptly pulled away.

“This sounds bad.”

“It really isn’t the worst thing that could happen,” I said. “You should focus on building the new pack. The four of us graduate soon.”

“Will you be out for your heat tomorrow?” Chan asked. “Your scent is spiking.”

“I’ll come to school one more day.”

“Can it be fixed before your heat?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “But I promise I’ll be okay. Please just worry about the new pack.”

“You’re my first priority,” Chan reminded me gently, thumbing across my lips.

“Not this time,” I said, brushing my fingers across his cheek. “Let me handle this problem.”

I held the alpha’s demanding gaze, but it was always difficult to convince Chan to submit.

“Okay,” Chan reluctantly agreed. “But if you keep acting like this, then you have to tell me.”

“I promise,” I said even as the lie weighed heavily over my heart.

The next morning, I arrived at school early feeling absolutely horrible. It was a terrible mistake to come to school that day. I was feverish and sickly, sweat dotting my forehead in an unappealing way, and I knew my heat was right on the precipice. I could barely sleep, bombarded by vivid dreams of my three mates, salivating at the image of their thick knots.

I shook myself from my headspace, hurrying to my locker to exchange textbooks. I was quickly growing more and more assured that I had made a bad decision about leaving my house. Thankfully, I knew that I could likely convince Jisung to take me home after lunch since we shared a class.

Reassured by this development, I opened my locker door, immediately noticing the folded note waiting on top of my math textbook. I let out a sigh as I opened the paper, reading the sentences carefully. And each subsequent line slowly broke my resolve the more I read my classmates’ spiteful comments.

“There you are!”

I ignored him at first, too swept away by the note. My wolf howled in outrage, demanding she take control and show those girls why they should mind their own business. But I couldn’t let her go because I would lose complete independence so close to my heat.

I grimaced at the note’s message, ignoring the way Jisung lingered, confusion evident in his expression. “Princess?”

I took off down the hallway without another word.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to do something about it, meet us during lunch in the gym.

I was shaking, rage overcoming every action as I stormed down the hallway. My fever was out of control and my entire body felt overheated. Yet, I didn’t hesitate at the opportunity to confront those omega girls. I had promised Chan I’d try to take care of the problem and this was my chance.

I easily spotted the five omega girls waiting inside the gym. My vision was narrowed, focusing only on the girls who had made my life so unbearable recently. But I didn’t want to be miserable anymore, I would end things once and for all.

“You came,” one of the girls remarked as if she was genuinely shocked to see me.

I held up the note to remind her. “You invited me.”

“We didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to show up,” the leader teased, starting slowly in my direction. “Where are your little guards?”

“Maybe she let them off their leashes,” the first girl giggled.

“What a slut,” the leader smirked. “Do you just spread your legs so that they can take their turn with you?”

“Or maybe she has a preference,” another added. “I know Changbin likes it rough.”

My chest heaved as I took a deep breath. “How are you gonna keep them satisfied?”

“Eventually, they’ll get tired of sharing,” the first omega said. “You’ll be left alone and nobody will want a slut.”

For some reason, now that I was here, my entire demeanor had shifted. I no longer felt angry, my wolf was unusually quiet, and my heat symptoms had settled. But I had also lost my fire, my drive to control the five girls and now I couldn’t find the right words. Instead, I was silent, allowing them to insult me while I no longer felt the urge to do anything about it.

I allowed the five of them to corner me against the wall, wedged between hard concrete and an angry aggregation of omega females. The leader took a step closer, eyeing the mark on my neck. “Everyone knows Changbin only marked you because he was in a rut.”

Her friends laughed at the comment.

“What should we do, ladies?” the leader continued. “How do we make the little slut pay?”

“I don’t know,” one of the others contributed. “She must have a high tolerance for pain if she can take three knots.”

More snickering. “Should we test it?”

The first slap was jarring, snapping my neck to the side. I could feel the reminder, stinging the raw skin of my right cheek. “Pathetic,” the leader snarled. “How much more can you take?”

“I think you might want to reconsider,” a dangerous voice growled.

The lead omega let go of me so fast that it was almost imperceptible. Suddenly, there were familiar scents overtaking the nasty smell of those horrible girls. I opened my eyes, watching the omega leader whine submissively as Chan bared his teeth.

A warning.

“Do you think you can do this?” Chan continued. “What gives you the right?”

“Chan,” the leader tried, “we didn’t mean anything by it!”

“You tried to hurt my mate,” Chan snapped. “That means you tried to hurt us too.”

“And you put your hands on her?” Changbin added while his eyes darkened considerably.

“You’re the ones who deserve to feel pain,” Jisung inserted, and I was taken aback by the hostility in my mate’s words. I had never heard Jisung sound so confrontational before. His threat was frightening and I could feel its authenticity which prompted me into action.

I carefully reached for Jisung, wrapping my hand around his bicep. His expression shifted, shoulders relaxing. “Just let them go.”

Jisung turned to look at me. “Let them go?”

“Not after what they did,” Changbin insisted, fully prepared to follow through on their words.

Thankfully, Chan seemed more aware of what I wanted. “Get out of here,” he said coldly, watching me even while his dismissive tone was addressed to the five omega girls who hesitated as their leader froze.

But Changbin’s resounding growl sent the girls scampering in the other direction.

Meanwhile, Chan’s hand settled on my shoulder, urging me to come closer. My head thudded hard against Chan’s powerful chest, tears ruining the fabric of his t-shirt. I was shaking, hands clenched together while I swallowed painfully.

I could feel Changbin and Jisung’s presence, anxiously worried as they felt the full force of my frustration. “You should have told me,” Chan said, holding me close. “You didn’t deserve any of that.”

“Those girls,” Changbin started, voice thick with anger, “they’re the sluts.”

“How long?” Chan inquired, fingers lovely as they sorted through the strands of my hair.

“A while,” I offered vaguely, more concerned with the deliciously familiar scent of my alpha mate as I nosed along his collarbone. I could feel Changbin behind me, hands familiar on my hips.

“I’m sorry, angel.”

Jisung’s lips brushed across my temple. “You can’t keep these things from us.”

However, above everything else, Chan’s voice was distinct and clear, reassuring and familiar.

“We’ll always keep you safe, Myah.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Present

I wanted to be brave, but I had never quite felt this helpless before.

It had only been a day since I had abandoned my pack, but I was already miserable. Sadly, there was nobody around to support me this time. I was the outsider here while the other omega girls scampered around their rogue pack members. In fact, two of them were begging for Jaemin’s attention, submitting easily to their desires as he flirted. It was strange to watch the exchange considering the harsh way Jaemin had talked down to me.

I was brought back to reality by Jeno’s unwanted touch.

He traced the outline of Changbin’s mating mark. “These will have to go,” he said dismissively.

I trembled despite the close proximity of the fire.

“Fuck her good, Jeno,” Jaemin sneered, holding his two omegas close.

“She won’t be able to walk when I’m done with her,” Jeno promised, nipping at my ear.

“Do it soon because they might be able to track her,” Rejun suddenly inserted, gaze cautious as he glanced around our unorthodox camp set-up.

“They won’t have a claim when I’m done,” Jeno said. “You don’t need those alphas anyway, omega.”

He was wrong, but I couldn’t say anything. After all, I had willingly compromised with the intimidating alpha for the safety of my pack. And while I still believed in my decision, I also couldn’t help but long for the familiarity of home and my three mates.

“Take her now,” Renjun urged, nodding towards one of the tents. “Do it fast before they become a problem.”

I didn’t wince when Jeno roughly grabbed me, forcing me up while he practically drug me into his tent. I landed roughly on the mattress, whimpering despite my attempts to remain strong against the alpha. He was over me in the next second, baring his teeth to intimidate my wolf. I could feel her inside me, bowing her head shamefully as the fight slowly left my body.

“You’ll just take it,” Jeno growled approvingly, leaning down to mouth at my scent gland. “Like a good little bitch.”

I was forced onto my stomach, whining loudly as the alpha jerked off my pants. “And you can take my knot tonight,” he continued, “and I’ll claim you for myself.”

In moments like this, I wish I could simply pretend that everything was okay. It seemed obvious to try and imagine myself in a better situation, that maybe I could pretend it was Jisung or Changbin or Chan with me instead of Jeno. But I guess I didn't have enough experience with that so I was stuck dealing with the consequences.

“You have good sense,” Jeno said, fingers rough and messy. “You’ll be quiet, won’t you? Just let me do what I want.”

I growled out a warning but didn’t fight back when I heard the sound of his belt. His body was too warm over mine, hands wrong when they touched my hips to adjust my position, and my senses were assaulted with his appalling musky scent. My wolf was bristling, pacing anxiously because she knew what was about to happen but had no idea how we could stop it from happening.

“Jeno,” a tentative voice suddenly interrupted.

I sighed in relief when Jeno pulled back, growling in frustration. “What is it?”

The rogue wolf didn’t even react despite my compromising position with the alpha. “Jeno,” he said, “a patrol spotted wolves not far from the campsite.”

“Is it her pack?” Jeno asked, glaring down at me.

“We think it is.”

Jeno sighed audibly. “Tell Jaemin and Renjun to gather some wolves together to check out the report. The rest of us will stay behind to pack up the camp, we’ll have to leave tonight as a precaution.”

“Yes sir,” the wolf agreed, retreating quietly from the tent.

“You got lucky this time,” Jeno snapped in my ear and I was graciously left alone to deal with the stray tears that had fallen.

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ktheist · 4 years

Note

Okay, I have been a bad reader and not giving you enough feedback as I should a now I feel bad. So now buckle up bc I’m going to write this long ass text for you. 💗Let’s start with “take my whole life too”, I fucking loved it so much like you don’t have an idea, I really loved how the arranged marriage trope was used but with a twist, since it’s always the guy being a dick to the sweet oc but this time jk was the sweet one (can I even call him that when he wanted his dick wet 24/7) (1/?)

and I just don’t know, really loved how you made so natural the development of oc feelings for him, they are one of my favorite couple tbh. Now let’s go with “2prettybestfrens”, this fic was just wow, it feel like a friend was just narrating how they met the love of their life. Really liked how they had this whole dynamic of the love square (is there such a thing) and jk just appeared and started simping for oc, something that I also really liked (2/?)

was how we kinda got closure with all the characters. The next one “exclusives only”, this one didn’t appeared in the tags but I discovered when I entered your profile and I’m so glad I did bc I really liked it, it was soooo good. Like how her relationship with koo was just so different to how she presented herself to the rest of her friends which I think it was the cause of a lot miscommunication and well resulted in koo fucking up and kinda running oc reputation :(( (3/?)

but I’m glad that even if he fucked up he was still there for her and show her how real he was about his feelings. And now to the big boy “show me yours & I’ll show you mine”, a fic where seokjin it’s the main character and there is kinda a big age gap? Sign me up!!! I really love this series and how oc dynamic with Jin is bc they are just acting as if the most normal thing to do sexual thing with each other in the same roof as Tae, (4/?)

like that is having some balls lol but the cliffhanger of this last chapter damn I just want to know how their friendship it’s going to be affected by this :((( I’m so excited for a new chapter Okay, this is the end of my long ass rant, sorry for not giving you feedback before, all your fics are amazing, even your drabbles are. Please always share your beautiful writing with us (if you want to of course) love you and take care bubs!! (5/5)

aaaa mar please don’t feel bad!! or don’t ever feel like you “should” give feedback (though i’m immensely happy to receive it <3). it’s hard to explain ( i can’t speak for other writers, only myself) but i write for me first and having you and my other readers say you enjoy my writing just as much is a wonderful surprise but it’s completely understandable if you don’t because reading, writing and giving feedback is supposed to be something we do out of our free will. and doing something because you feel bad means it’s not out of free will ): i’m sorry if my posts/words made you feel guilty. i’m probably not making sense but there’s this thing therapist tiktok taught me: you’re not responsible for what others feel and if you feel bad / like you need to fix/make someone feel better, then that means you do feel responsible.

i’ve had a few instances where i do things because i felt like i’m responsible for what others feel too so i’m sorry if i’m reading too much into this. but yeah, moving forward, i hope you and my all my readers, as well as myself, are able to do things freely and not have to do it because of guilt. and this goes for not just giving feedback but other things in life as well.

that was long, but i hope it made sense.

now onto my crying because of your sweet words-

for take my whole life too, it was a lowkey twist wasn’t it?? hahahahhaha i’m honored that you like the couple and their development!! when i first started it, i had the idea of a horny!jk who gets paired with a lowkey horny partner bc would they be having that much sex if oc wasn’t a lowkey fr e ak herself?? 🙈 🙈 🙈

2prettybestfriends was really fun to write! it’s more character-focused than oc-jk focused, i just felt like it’d be so empty not to give all the characters closure esp after focusing on each one at some points of the fic hahahaha i’m glad you liked it!!

omg tumblr really be messing w the friend in me/ exclusive only series it doesn’t even show up in search but it’s kinda special in a way that those who were meant to find it, found it like how you did i’m - <3

HAHAAHAHA pls show me yours & i’ll show you mine ends me every time someone talks about it bc that’s probably the nastiest fic i’ve written (notwithstanding the nastinest standards in the writing cumminity (; ) lowkey wanna bury myself bc you’ll know me as that kind of fic writer or maybe im just being self consious sdajksdhak but oc and seokjin are 5-6 yrs apart and not to mention she’s his cute lil bro’s bff oops!

thank you for this long ass text i really enjoyed reading it and i’m sorry i couldn’t reply the moment i saw it because i was busy w work and i wanna write my response properly without having to rush it out. again, don’t feel bad about not giving feedback, you just keep doing you b, having you on my notif when you reblog my fics is heartwarming as it is bc one doesn’t simply reblog a fic if they don’t like it! still, thank you very much for coming and writing this long feedback on multiple of my fics. it made my whole week <3 i hope yours will be just as wonderful <3 and you take care too!!

#kirbykook #fic: show me yours and i'll show you mine #fic: 2prettybestfrens #fic: take my whole life too #fic: exclusives only #fic: friend in me #cara to ask

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glitchkilldelphinixdj · 4 years

Text

Mild Discourse: Of All the Things (Thesis of Anger)

Foreward: This is usually to point out discrepancies of what some things were called out to me by a different individual whose name shall not be stated upon this. This was nearly a month ago when this shit ass "barring" happened to me on three places on a famous app which I will never mention also. I had cried in frustration upon after this shit issue.

I will only mention what the discrepancies are, since I have been noticing after screenshotting of the reasons I saw, were either a bit correct at some parts or incorrect. I'm not gonna show the screenshot either since it's best to not get any criticism. I will point out my own truth in reaction to the statements seen in the screenshot privately. Each one quoted sentence is of the said problematic thing about me, and the paragraph is how I am actually answering and reacting to the said problem as honest and fair as possible.

1 "My family is on the spectrum and doesn't act like you."

That's one thing that infuriated me the most because I am a high func autie with ADHD, but each individual with autism with and/or without comorbidities has a different personality and family background, depending on where they're from. I came from a family who had a military background, specifically the Greek Navy from my dad, plus my maternal grandfather worked as a naval CB in Korea during the Cold War for the United States, prior to his death in Janurary 2019. This sometimes explain my rough, coarse, militaristic personality (henceforth why Heavenly/Monster Triangle Sciences exist and Hellspire Sciences exist, two different military factions) a bit. Plus, being in a rural community in the Southeast United States, there's not much opportunity to socialize in real life, so I pretty much veer to the Internet for socialization since there's not many local individuals who I trust.

2 "You are self-serving and arrogant"

The only times I get into self-reliance is when stuff goes into dire situations. The arrogance is from all the bullies I had encountered in the past in school times when I was a kid. I had tried to play nice with others at least and try to thicken the plot of the HTS and HSS factions during my times here, henceforth a little of the militaristic behavior I have involving order. I also pretty much had faked some of my happiness or empathy because I am trying not to put in any facade of sadness within. I somehow come up obnoxious and rude at times because I'm trying to be nice, but it goes the opposite direction of what is intended.

3 "You need to see a therapist."

Not when the 'Rona is around. The only last time I ever saw a therapist was in Georgetown of last year in Spring once over to see what I have: Autism with ADHD and some instances of paranoia. Only people who have very serious problems would usually seek therapeutic help and interventions to improve themselves and I am not one of those individuals. I've only been to speech and occupational therapy in school as a kid until I was 12, so don't assume things out of the blue that I haven't even been to a therapist. I've taken Adderall to relieve of my ADHD issues before in school, but it made my mentality so fucked up and losing my creativity, so post-school, I had to find ways to regain my creativity where I lost it in school. That's why I made a lot more OCs than what others usually made because my creativity levels amped up after I graduated from high school, away from the bad chaos, some of them were remakes of my old OCs I did in middle school (Jamine being one of my bare examples), but the Adderall overtook me of my creativity.

4 "Why would a couple of characters do self-harm on a budding f/f relationship?" (trigger warning)

Do you mean that budding m/m relationship of two different male characters, the self destructive behavior clinged by it involving with the use my two female OCs, Munphine and Jamine (pronounced Juh-mine, Jamie for short)? Listen here, I already had pretty much stopped that shit a few weeks prior to the barring and several weeks after the barring cos it was getting a bit too boring and a bit out of context, so that shit is quitted out. Both these characters had bits of dark backgrounds, pretty much involving both of their families (Jamie, involved with the death of her father and also her mother Ryuke being buried alive in a metal coffin, Munphine, whose parents whose faces were beautiful had shamed her for having an ugly facial appearance and kicked her from her town, so to cover her mouth from others to see, she uses bandages to cope that.), in general. Or do you mean the one involving my stable B8 Ghost Variant Yellow Missingno OC, Vesparada, and some other female character a few months ago? If it's already stopped weeks and/or months ago, it's already stopped. Period.

5 "You bragged about treatment of a physical problem I had."

What I was meant to say was that a medicine is suppose to help the problem, not actually treat it altogether, though with some side effects. It was an unintentionally misspoken statement, because my mind was in dire thought mode and accidentally typed too fast. I shouldn't have stated about a said medicine in the first place. I wished I thought and knew better about that. I'll leave that behind.

6 "You had guilt tripped in someone's place multiple times."

Most of the guilt tripping was unintentional at most because it's either me trying to come up with at least a statement/sentence and/or if it was a dire situation involving a decision. Some auties, like me, do have some problems making decisions, and at times, I unintentionally chose the wrong decision without thinking twice, though I do mostly think twice before I speak at some non-dire times. Sometimes I usually am impatient to my peers because I'm just excited over certain fun things coming up within my sight. I mostly never intentionally guilt tripped, lest if it's anyone I hate to be fair. I do have occasional preconditions that sometimes come in also.

7 "You had shrugged shoulders on a relationship with two different individuals."

This is me after being told at to stop and the mild shrugging of my shoulders is usually saying a way of, "Okay, I will stop digging into the nitty gritty of a certain relationship and let them do their thing." , as per se. By the words of ebony and ivory, that means I drop my guard of thought and accept it. It's been hard and rough for me to have at least a bit of attention during an RP story. I know that was nearly a couple months ago and it's best not to bring that up, since that is just an old thing. I'm a person whom does go by the cross a bit, being Greek Orthodox and all, but I'm trying my best not to scare anyone from advancing their creativity.

8 "You have been playing around with a victim."

Could you at least please elaborate this said victim and who it was? I didn't know I ever even played around with a victim nor I would recall it. It would be better for me to acknowledge who it is. I cannot fully understand certain things sometimes, lest if it's fully elaborated and stated to me. Who was this victim and how long? That's one thing that I am asking of.

Conclusion: Here on out, after the barring, I have been playing about in my garden, taking care of my own pets and whatnot to live my fullest life. It's been a bit of zen away of what happened. At least I am honestly covering what had been said and stated to me why have I been nixed from these places to others, and telling my actual side to what they had said with my utmost, undivided attention. I pretty much rest my case what I am telling my side of the actual allegations against me. There is no cover-ups or lies whatsoever of what had I said. I am literally straight-up speaking this in my own words. This ends the conclusion.

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thebiasrekkers · 5 years

Text

Make It Right [BTS Mafia!AU]

Plot: “It’s always darkest before the dawn…” It’s a dog-eat-dog world in Seoul, South Korea. One has to dwell in the shadows in order to reach for the light. What are you willing to sacrifice in order to feel the sunlight on your face? What will it take to drag you back into darkness? How long will the journey be to make it right?

Rating: NC-17 // NSFW

Genre: Series | Mafia!AU | Crime!AU | Angst | Romance/Fluff

Pairings: Jin x OC | Taehyung/Hoseok x OC | Yoongi/Jungkook x OC

Warnings: Graphic Violence, Heavy Language, Angst, Slow Burn, Smut

Previous Chapters: Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Links: FAQ || BTS Masterlist || Admin E’s AO3 || Admin E’s WP || [ REQUESTS ARE OPEN ]

Word Count: 3,342

Chapter 22: Her

"Maybe I’m your love and hate. Maybe I’m your enemy and friend."

© thebiasrekkers (Admin E). All rights reserved. Reposting/modifying our work is prohibited. Translations are not allowed. Plagiarism/stealing is not tolerated by any means. Legal action will be taken in instances of theft.

“…Yoongi Hyung? I need you to find Jungkook…whatever it takes.”

“I will, Hoseok-ah,” Yoongi replied gently, his grip on the phone increasing for a split second before ending the call.

Slipping the phone into his pocket, he lifted his head to gaze at the tall building – his eyes focusing on the rooftop. The wind whipped across his body, his hair flying in every direction as the tails of his trench coat flapped behind him. Yoongi felt a lump forming in his throat as he tried to swallow it down, wondering if he should even be standing there. If he had any right to be standing there.

It had been a week since his altercation with Eden that night, when all his skeletons came tumbling out of the closet. Yoongi could still feel the sting of her slap on his cheek and remembered the tears that slid down her face. He’d never seen Eden cry in all the years he’d known her. She’d shed a tear or two over a drama or a movie they decided to watch together, but those were tears she shed without shame. Tears of outrage; of pain? He didn’t think she was even capable of it.

He’d believed her to be so strong. Yoongi thought she could take on anything; that she could stare the Reaper in his face and tell him to take a long walk off a short pier.

I made a mistake, he thought, furrowing his brows as he made his way toward the steps leading up the side of the building, I should have just been honest from the start.

Yoongi’s pace was slow, methodical; he was in no hurry. He knew it was Eden’s day off and she would be home. She was usually catching up on dramas she’d missed during the week or playing video games. She wasn’t a very social creature by nature. Not unless she was forced. Yoongi grimaced when he thought about how their dates usually went. He probably hadn’t helped things with how he kept her away from prying eyes all the time.

Had he made her even more of a recluse?

When he reached the rooftop, he looked around and saw the long wooden table and a few chairs near the edge of the roof. She usually liked to read by sunlight during the summer and Yoongi couldn’t help smirking when he thought of the times they would eat watermelon while sitting on the table, staring at the stars during those hot summer nights. She hated doing laundry and he often teased her about it, saying that it was supposed to be therapeutic while she complained about it being a colossal waste of time; bitching about not having her own washing machine.

He remembered kicking cold water on her when they were stomping around in the water basin, cleaning one of her summer blankets on an early Saturday morning. She hosed him down and they were both utterly soaked, stripping down naked while he grabbed a few large towels from the line to wrap them both in. His face twisted into a painful expression when he remembered drying her off, admiring every single inch of her body until he couldn’t resist himself; claiming her in her bed and wearing her out completely.

Yoongi paused in front of the laundry line, seeing the clothes that were hanging out to dry. They would freeze in this cold. She must have gotten busy with something since the laundry basket was still outside, left abandoned under the line. Sighing, he began to pull clothes, sheets, and towels off the line. He folded them and placed them into the basket, lost in his own thoughts.

How could he have ruined it all?

Friends? What the hell was I even thinking? Yoongi chastised himself, folding the last of the towels and dropping it into the basket. It’s all just one giant fucking excuse…

Yoongi lifted the basket into his arms with minimal effort before strolling forward to the front door. He resisted the urge to use the spare key to simply let himself in. For a moment, he just stood in front of the door and remained silent. He did nothing. He probably looked like a fool standing there and holding a basket full of clean laundry, but at that moment, Yoongi didn’t care.

He wasn’t ready for another altercation with Eden. He thought he was, but in reality, he knew he wasn’t. Yoongi didn’t think he could handle her enraged expression directed toward him. Sure, they fought and cussed and fussed at each other when they were together, but it wasn’t anything like what he saw that night. He knew she wasn’t a pushover and he’d even seen her tussle with some thugs when they were both still living in America. She had no problem stabbing someone. She had no problem spilling blood when it came to defending herself.

But she’d never turned her knife on him before. Yoongi wasn’t sure if he was more shocked or riled up at the idea that she came at him with everything that she had. He had scars of his own, sure, but the ones that littered her body showed the hard road she had been forced to travel for most of her life. Yoongi admired her strength and determination to continue living even as the world turned its back on her.

Even as he turned his back on her.

“Oh, goddammit,” he heard from the other side of the door, causing his thoughts to come crashing back to the present, “I forgot to get the laundry.”

Yoongi’s grip tightened on the basket and he considered just leaving it there. He could just leave it there, away from the door so she wouldn’t accidentally trip over it, and go. Running into her now would just cause a fight. He knew her well enough to bet money on it.

“I can get it later,” came another voice from inside.

Yoongi’s heart stopped for a moment and he nearly dropped the laundry basket. He felt his face grow hot and the heavy thrum of his heart roared in his ears. His eyes narrowed harshly at the frosted glass of the door.

It was Jungkook’s voice.

He heard Eden scoff from inside the apartment, her silhouette appearing before the door as he saw her moving around to grab a pair of shoes.

“What? So you can get fever sick again or break your neck because you can barely walk, then blame me for it? Fuck that. I got it.”

He knew he should leave. Yoongi still had time to leave and pretend he didn’t hear anything. Pretend he didn’t know that Jungkook was there.

Two things stopped him, keeping him rooted in his spot. Hoseok’s request, his pleading to find Jungkook, and Yoongi’s own jealous anger.

Yes, he was jealous.

Yes, it was unfair.

Yes, it was unreasonable.

He didn’t care.

So when Eden pulled the door open, almost barreling into him, he could only cut his eyes at her as she gasped just seconds before impact. She stumbled back, catching her balance as she clung to the doorknob, and let out a yell that sounded like a mixture of fright and outrage. Eden clutched at her chest, catching her breath as she glared up at him.

“You scared the fuck outta me!” she yelled, scratching at the side of her wild curls that flared out like a lion’s mane. “What are you doing standing there like some kinda fuckin’ ghost!? You trynna kill me?!”

Yoongi didn’t say anything. He continued to hold the laundry basket, gripping onto it like it was a tether preventing him from falling into a black hole. The vein near his temple throbbed as he bit the inside of his jaw.

“Noona?” called Jungkook from inside and Yoongi’s gaze lifted from hers to look over her shoulder. He was still out of sight which meant that he was in the main area of the apartment. “Everything okay?”

He looked back at Eden and saw realization wipe over her face. She pushed on the basket that Yoongi was holding, shoving him back a couple of steps. He was crowding the doorway and she wanted to get out and there was a petty part of him that wanted to keep her trapped in the entryway.

“Everything’s fine, Jungkook-ah,” she said through clenched teeth, glaring at Yoongi; daring him to say otherwise, “it’s just a stupid cat.”

Yoongi’s brows raised as he looked down at her, watching the smirk forming on her face. Cat?

“I didn’t know you had a cat,” Jungkook said, a distinct explosion coming from the television.

“He’s not mine. He just likes to show up whenever he wants to cause me grief.” Yoongi narrowed his eyes at her and she continued to smile, though her irritation was still evident. “Isn’t that right, Lil Meow Meow?”

“Lil Me—” He started to protest but Eden slapped her hand over his mouth and all but shoved him out of the way.

“I’ll be back. Stay there and keep that ice pack on your legs.” Then she closed the door behind her before rounding on Yoongi. “What in the hell are you doing here?” Her voice was a harsh whisper and she pointed toward the large table that was far away from the door.

He set the basket down by the door and turned, making his way toward the table and plopped down on it. There was no point trying to raise a stink in front of her door. Eden’s temper was merciless and while it lasted only a little while, it left destruction around her like a tornado. He wouldn’t risk her getting into trouble with her neighbors this late at night.

He was choosing to not be selfish this time.

Eden stood in front of him, arms folded across her chest. “Well? Why are you here? I thought I made it clear that I didn’t want to see you.”

Yoongi flashed a dark smirk as he looked up at her through his fringe. “Did you? I must have missed that part.”

“Min Yoongi,” Eden half snarled, “don’t make me hurt you.”

He laughed despite how serious he knew she was being.

“You’ve already hurt me.”

“Excuse me?”

Yoongi shook his head, pressing a hand to his forehead. “…nothing. I’m taking Jungkook home.”

She scoffed, raising a brow at him. “Says who?”

“I do,” he growled out, “that’s who.”

He saw Eden look away from him. “Forget it.” Her tone was solid. “He overextended his muscles and he’s still having trouble walking.”

“Then I’ll carry him.”

This time she laughed, turning her head to look back at him. “Who says that he even wants to go home?”

“Eden, don’t—”

“Don’t what? Butt in?” He saw her narrow her eyes at him. “Too late.”

Yoongi shot up from the table, taking a step toward her but she reflexively took a step back. He wasn’t sure if that action hurt him more or if her words were what was getting to him.

“Why do you care anyway?” he snapped.

She smirked. “What’s it to you?”

He took a breath, attempting to collect himself, before looking back at her. “Look,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady, “if this is about me, about getting back at me, then there’s no need for that.”

For a long moment, all Eden could do was look at him – eyes wide and unblinking. Then, a handful of seconds later, she burst into a very loud laughing fit. This caught him off guard and now he was the one taking a step back. It was clear that what he’d said wasn’t funny. Not one bit. He knew what kind of laugh this was.

It was an angry laugh.

After a short minute, Eden managed to collect herself. “Are you fuckin’ shitting me right now?” She straightened to her full height, taking a step toward him and jamming her finger into his chest. “Ya, Min Yoongi-ssi, who the hell do you think you are, huh?”

The honorific threw him. She’d never used it with him for as long as he’d known her. Not in the States and definitely not here. For her to add that polite title to his name made him feel like he’d been kicked in the gut by a mule.

“Do you think I’m holding Jungkook hostage? You think I’m doing this to get back at you for hurting me? Just who in the fuck do you take me for?”

Yoongi swallowed, the lump in his throat swelling as his mouth grew dry. He’d fucked up. Royally. Eden wasn’t the petty sort of person he knew himself to be capable of. She was a straight shooter when it came to showing people whether she liked or disliked a person. She wasn’t the kind of person to play mind games or get revenge on people. He remembered her once telling him that type of thinking was a waste of time for everyone involved.

She poked him again; harder this time and he winced.

“Maybe if you guys kept your fuckin’ house in order, then I wouldn’t have people showin’ up on my fuckin’ doorstep sick and half dead from runnin’ themselves into the fuckin’ ground.”

And again, Eden dug her finger into his chest.

“You all are gettin’ on my goddamn nerves, you know that? But I’m not gonna toss him out on his ass when he doesn’t want to leave. Not in his current condition.”

This time, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and shook him – looking more terrifying than the night she tried to stab him.

“Got it?”

Suddenly, the door to her apartment swung open. Both Yoongi and Eden turned to see Jungkook bracing himself on the frame. He had a pained look on his face, as if it was a struggle for him to maintain his balance. Jungkook tried to wipe the pain away with a smile, but it looked more like a half grimace and he steadied himself while stepping out of the apartment. Yoongi watched his legs wobble, like he was a baby deer taking its first steps in life.

“Ya, Jeon Jungkook,” Eden called to him, releasing the hold she had on Yoongi’s shirt, “what do you think you’re doing?”

“It’s okay,” he said, sweat clinging to his brow as he took another step forward, “I’ll go back with Hyung.”

When he took another step, Jungkook lost his footing and started to fall forward. Eden left Yoongi’s side, rushing at Jungkook to catch him. All Yoongi could do was stare as she held him aloft, trying to keep as much of his weight up with her smaller frame. He felt his hands clutching into fists at his sides, the look of genuine concern spreading over Eden’s face.

What happened in that short amount of time? What was different between them now?

“Yoongi Hyung.”

Jungkook’s voice cut through Yoongi’s thoughts and he felt his hands loosen as he looked at him.

“You don’t have to carry me, but I’ll need your help getting down the stairs.”

Yoongi nodded, stepping toward them. He saw Eden’s hands tighten around Jungkook’s arm and he stopped.

“Jungkook-ah,” she said softly, her eyes not leaving Jungkook’s as he, in turn, looked back at her, “are you sure you’ll be alright?”

He smiled at her. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Besides…” Jungkook looked back at Yoongi. “…there’s something I need to talk to Hyung about.”

Eden sighed, lifting herself up so that Jungkook could stand on his own. “Fine. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t.”

“Do you have everything?”

“Yeah, I grabbed my keys too.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Text me so I know you made it back safely.”

“I will,” Jungkook said with a laugh, “I promise.”

Yoongi could only silently watch the exchange and he wasn’t sure what he was seeing. Was it two friends? Something more? Eden was known to show care and compassion for even her friends, so it wasn’t far-fetched for her to act this way with Jungkook if they were, in fact, friends.

…but is it more than that?

“Hyung?” He met Jungkook’s gaze, the smile gone from his face. “I’m ready.”

Yoongi crossed the small space between them, draping Jungkook’s arm over his shoulder and held him steady against him at the waist. They took slow steps towards the stairs and he fully expected Eden to retreat inside of her apartment. But as Yoongi helped Jungkook take the first step down, he chanced a glance at her and saw she was watching them intently.

“…Yoongi-ah,” she said, forcing Yoongi to come to a halt, “let me know when you get back, too.”

He didn’t say anything. He just nodded and then continued to help Jungkook ease down the steps. He wasn’t sure if it was his heart or Jungkook’s heart drumming against him, but nothing was said between them. Even when they hit the final step and Yoongi called a cab to pick them up, he continued to hold Jungkook up with his own body.

It wasn’t until the cab arrived and Yoongi made sure Jungkook was safely inside did his muscles finally relax. He told the driver their destination and the two men sat beside each other – each gazing out of their respective passenger windows. Neither of them said a word.

When it looked like they were stuck in a miniature traffic jam did Jungkook finally speak up.

“It really was Noona you were with for all those years, wasn’t it, Hyung?”

Yoongi craned his neck to look at Jungkook who was still staring out the window. He didn’t know if he could give an answer, or if he even should. What reason would he need to since it was clear that Jungkook already seemed to know the answer.

He sighed, instead looking back out the window.

“Why’d you do that? Why would you…how could you just lie to her?”

Yoongi closed his eyes.

“Of all the things, why lie to her about who you really are?”

He wasn’t sure if now was the time to get into this conversation. Or if he even wanted to.

“Hyung!”

Yoongi rounded on Jungkook who was now looking at him – no, glaring at him.

“What do you want from me, Jungkook-ah? Huh? What?!”

“I want to know why you would tell me to be honest with the person I care about when you couldn’t even do the same! Why would you do that?”

“Because I didn’t want her to get mixed up in our business, Jungkook-ah,” he snapped, “she’s been through enough and piling our shit on top of it all, especially back then, would have been too much!”

Jungkook gave him a dark look. “You don’t know that!”

“You’re right! I don’t. I didn’t know but I did what I thought was the best thing for everyone involved. Did I fuck up? Yes.” He reached out and snatched Jungkook by the collar of his shirt. “But let’s get one thing straight: I don’t take it back, you hear me?”

“Hyung!”

“If I could go back to that time, I’d make the same choice all over again. Easy. I’d keep her as far away from this shit as I could.” Yoongi’s expression hardened as Jungkook’s eyes narrowed even further. “My only regret is that I got caught in the first place.”

He saw something flicker in Jungkook’s eyes. It wasn’t anger – no, that was still sitting at the surface of his younger brother’s gaze. Was it…pity?

He felt Jungkook’s hands touch Yoongi’s, gently pulling them down – forcing him to release his hold on his shirt. Then he turned away from him to look back out the window.

“…you’re a moron, Hyung.”

Yoongi smirked, watching the multi-colored lights flash over Jungkook’s face. He craned his neck to look out his own window.

“I guess I am.”

And he was.

Min Yoongi was the worst kind of pretender.

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tamrinetamomille · 5 years

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FFXIVWrite 2019 Masterpost

A big list of all my entries for the FFxivWrite 2019 challenge, with a quick summary of each one, on top of a characters’ list, and some personal commentary and musing at the end.

ENTRIES

#1 - Voracious (Healing) - About Tamrine dealing with her alcohol trauma.

#2 Bargain(ing with a Keeper) - Tan’rhyne meets a traveling merchant from Eorzae and gets from ehr the inspiration to travel outside of Thavnair.

#3 - Lost (for the First time) - Tamrine has to reconsider after losing a battle for the very first time.

#4 - Shifting Blame (on the Youngest) - About some of the difficulties Tan’rhyne faced in their childhood.

#5 - Vault (of Souvenirs) - Tamrine considers retiring as an adventurer after the events of Stormblood.

#6 - First Steps (into the Light of Eorzea) - Tamrine experiencing a change upon setting foot in Eorzea for the first time.

#7 - Forgiven (Urianger) - About the trust between Tamrine and Urianger, and how they overcome grief together.

#8 - A Mother’s Love - Rhyne - Introduction of Rhyne

#9 - (Don’t) Hesitate (to Dance) - Tamrine dealing with anxieties from childhood.

#10 - Foster (Family) - About Tamrine being accepted in the Fortemps family.

#11 - Snuff(ling around in his bed) - A cozy NSFW story about Tamrine relationship with Haurchefant.

#12 - Fingers Crossed (for their First Time) - A NSFW story about Tan’rhyne’s first sexual encounter.

#13 - Wax(ing poetics and memoirs) - About Tamrine writing about her journey.

#14 - Scour(ing the land with one breath) - About how Tan’rhyne perceives the world around them through their senses.

#15 - A Mage’s Power - Rhyne - About how Rhyne uses magic to create monsters.

#16 - Jitter(ing at her first magic) - Tamrine realizes that she can now use magic properly after the events of Shadowbringers.

#17 - Obeisant (to the Fae King) - A suggestively NSFW tale about Tamrine polyamorous and BDSM dynamics post-Shadowbringers. References another NSFW fanfic of mine.

#18 - Wilt(ing before them) - Alternate History - A what-if scenario where Tamrine becomes Titania.

#19 - Radiant (Forgivan Sacrifice) - Alternate History - A what-if scenario of Tamrine as a Lightwarden.

#20 - Bisected (Toy) - Very NSFW story involving magical shenanigans.

#21 - Crunch(ing and munching) - Tamrine experiencing Hingashi’s culture through its cuisine.

#22 - An Heir’s Lover - About Rhyne’s daily life, and introduction of Sae’huji

#23 - Parched (for Mana) - Reinterpretation of how Astral Fire and Umbral Ice work.

#24 - Unctuous (Girl Cream) - About some of the details of Tamrine’s gender transition

#25 - (Do you) Trust (Me?) - Eight Calamity adventure and introduction of To’ahana.

#26 - (Encounters made) Slosh(ing around hot in water) - Various NSFW adventures taking place in hot springs.

#27 - (Chanting) Palaver(s) - How to learn magic like a bard would.

#28 - Attune (to the Flow) - Tamrine’s feelings about teleportation, and a representation of her intense hotheadedness.

#29 - A Past Echo - Rhyne - A revelation concerning Rhyne, and the differences between her and her child.

#30 - Darkness - Esteem’s Tenth - Reinterpretation of the level 50 Dark Knight job quest.

ORIGINAL CHARACTERS LIST:

Tamrine Fortemps Tamomille / Tan’rhyne Taamomi: (They, then She / non-binary). The Warrior of Light, a Keeper of the Moon from Thavnair.

Sylvie: (She / female). A traveling merchant who meets a young Tamrine and inspires her to travel to Eorzea.

Rhyne Taamomi: (She / female). Tamrine’s biological mother. A powerful mage.

Sae’huji Tano: (They / non-binary). Tamrine’s other biological parent. A cool-headed lancer.

Ahana: (She / female). The mother of Tamrine’s first child.

To’ahana: (They / non-binary). Child of Tamrine and Ahana. In the Eight Calamity timeline, they seek to learn more about Tamrine and look for her secret journals, before later meeting with Cid & co, and giving them a hand.

Unnamed Miqo’te girl: (She / female). Daughter of a retainer who worked for Tamrine and kept one of her secret journal, before passing the duty to her daugther. Once she meets with To’ahana, the girl gives the journal to them and joins them on their journey.

Brie: (She / female). An experimented thaumaturge and a ring leader of Ul’dah’s sex industry and kink circles.

A big thanks to @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast for hosting this challenge!

While it’s hard to write every day, this was a great experience writing so much about Tamrine and developing her character so extensively, by both putting to ink a lot of ideas that had been in my head while playing the MSQ, but also by coming up with a lot of new ones as I went.

Every single secondary character was invented on the spot, and while I’m happy with my writing, I think it kinda shows, like for instance with how Sylvie never reappeared because I created her to fill one specific role and then I had no need for her anymore. Also, almost every single character fits one of two boxes: either they are an amab non-binary person who goes by “they”, or they are a cis woman who goes by “she”. (Only Tamrine breaks this specific mold, and barely at that). I should add some variety to this cast some day =‘D (but I guess fanfiction is all about self-indulgence).

And while I had the idea for Tamrine’s backstory for quite a while, I also committed to it at the last moment (another idea was for her to be from the Shroud, which I almost went with instead!). Writing about her pre-game backstory was pretty tiring at first because I had to create all the foundations by myself, but hey, I got to write my own lore, so that’s fun! And if the game ever visits Thavnair in an expansion, that will definitely be super interesting for me (and hopefully not conflict super badly with what I wrote =‘D).

Tamrine’s birth name, Tan’rhyne, was also created on the spot (thank you to @mirkemenagerie for all the easily-accessible lore) and is a retcon! It also involved bending the lore a little bit by having the Taamomi place the suffixes like “Tan” at the beginning of the name instead of at the end to make it work. Also, I twisted the canon naming conventions further by having the Taamomi number their assigned-male children differently, because it’s just impossible for one person to give birth to ten assigned-male children, especially in a race where only 1 in 10 individual is assigned-male... Statistically, that person would need to birth a hundred children!!!

Anyway, if anyone has actually read the entries I wrote, or gave any care about my OC, then I thank you deeply.

#ffxivwrite2019 #fanfics

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out-of-this-dimension · 6 years

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The Star Fox Adventures Game Manual -- Analysis

So, you may remember a few months back, I received a lot of hate mail on AO3 and FF.net for a fic that I posted that I’ve since taken down in hopes of redoing someday. The hate was largely from people who don’t like Panther (the fic was Krystal x Panther) but a lot of their arguments were attempts to debunk how “canon” my fic is. With a lot of my fics, I don’t stray too far from canon, but I do fill in “gaps” with my own headcanons. I feel like the SF series is a comfortable enough blank slate to do that. Mild spoilers for future fics, but one of these headcanons is that Panther is Cerinian. I’ve actually covered this headcanon previously on my blog but I’m too lazy to look up the link.

One of the arguments my “secret admirer” tried to make about how my fic “contradicts canon” is that “Well, Panther can’t be Cerinian because the Star Fox Adventures manual says that Krystal is the sole survivor.” (and then they made a hate fic about how my headcanon of Panther being Cerinian couldn’t possibly work, but that’s a story for another time).

Admittingly, I hadn’t looked at the manual in most of a decade, so that little tidbit escaped my memory. But honestly, with Cerinian OCs flying around left and right in the fandom, I thought it was an odd piece of info to nitpick about. Regardless, it sparked some intrigue, so I decided to poke around the internet and lo and behold, I found a PDF copy of the manual. Since it’s been a long while since the last time I read the manual, I decided to do an analysis on it. Analysis with pictures under the cut!

This is the “prologue” of Star Fox Adventures and while it’s all good and dandy, I want to point out three very important things-- 1. Peppy retired at this point, not after Krystal showed up. I mean, this is relatively minor but I thought it was noteworthy that our Barrel-Roll Loving Team Dad was already going to be retired before the “next SF game”-- whatever that would have been, though I’m fairly certain Assault’s development launched right at the heels of Adventures, if not while Adventures was in late development still. 2. Slippy apparently traded in his pilot’s wings to become a mechanic, which is... blatantly ignored in both Assault and Command because while he does mechanic-like stuff (playing off of his role as the “team smartie pants”), he still very much is a pilot. 3. Falco left because he was bored is only a rumor. I know “Farewell Beloved Falco” tackles this to a degree. I want to also note that this inspired me to re-read Farewell Beloved Falco on Monday and there’s no real point in the manga that says Falco left because he was bored (I have my own speculation as to why he left but I’ll save that for later). I find it really odd that the manual says Falco “simply disappeared”, when he very clearly left with great bravado at the end of the manga. He didn’t vanish into the night or anything, like this would imply. He said he was going to go solo for a bit and flew off after the Titania Incident. It... feels like maybe there was a miscommunication here between who was giving the person writing the manual details.

This is the Character Bio page, which, to my secret admirer’s glee, does contain the info that Krystal is the only survivor of Cerinia. It also name drops Cornerian Weapons R&D, which has also never been heard of before or since this manual. I actually searched excessively for more mentions about this and yielded no results. Curious. I had never noticed that and assumed Slippy had just been tinkering on stuff for fun. Also oof, my heart at ROB being considered a full-fledged SF member.

I’m going to skip over the parts I don’t have any commentary on.

So it’s pretty clear from the final product that Rareware had no idea what they were doing with the SpellStones. They clearly absorb magic from the planet to keep the planet from falling apart (which says to me that this is not the planet’s natural state but I’ve talked about that before so I’ll spare you the ramble). But what was going on with them is really unclear. I understand that Dinosaur Planet gives a better explanation of the SpellStones but that purpose does not seem to be canon any longer.

The text here implies that Scales has every single SpellStone in his possession (the Queen EarthWalker ALSO states he removed the SpellStones himself). Yet, when you make it into the game...

(Special note: I found this pic on Google and the file was called “Asshole”, which, tbh isn’t inaccurate but it gave me a chuckle so I thought I’d share it.)

Scales doesn’t possess all of the SpellStones. Drakor, a mutant in Scales’s army, guards the one at Dragon Rock-- we can assume Scales is responsible for that. The King RedEye has been fitted with one in his head-- we can assume Scales is responsible for that. But past that? We find Scales in the CloudRunner Fortress treasury with the first Ocean SpellStone, which he has clearly just found. And the entire point of DarkIce Mines, the entire reason the SnowHorn are enslaved, is because Scales is looking for the SpellStone. Which says to me that the SpellStone wasn’t even removed by him. He wouldn’t have had to enslave the entire tribe to go digging for it otherwise. He wouldn’t have had to lay siege to CloudRunner Fortress either.

So this entire plot point is absolutely inconsistent to what’s in the manual and even... in the game. What is the reasoning behind this? Probably the innumerable plot changes during SFAdv’s development.

With the fortunate release of the Dinosaur Planet ROM and the creation of the Warlock Engine by Hugo Peters, a lot has been uncovered in terms of how Dinosaur Planet would have originally looked like. Dark Ice Mines, for instance, was actually meant to connect via the SnowHorn Wastes (or, Northern Wastes) via a small cave entrance on the other side of the river near where one finds Garunda Te. The cave still exists in the finalized version of the game but leads to no where.

However, with Star Fox being added in, I think Rare felt the need to add in things that made the game feel a bit more in line with the Star Fox series. The planet pieces being torn apart was a way to shove in Arwing sections of the game. And the devs needed a reason for the change in the planet’s state... and what’s a better throwaway reason than “it’s just magic, bruh”? So the SpellStones, being focal points in the game’s story, were changed to being part of the reason for the planet falling to pieces. That led to DarkIce Mines, despite having a basically completed map, getting yoinked from the planet’s surface and tossed into space, meaning the entrance was sealed. The reason for all of this was handwaved into “Oh, Scales did this because he removed the stones” without... the game actually reflecting much of that at all because most of it had been made with a different story in mind.

I think Rare did this hoping that no one would look at the plot too closely but uh oh, that didn’t happen. And if you need further proof that this was all a bit of an “oopsie” on Rare’s part, you need not look much further than DarkIce Mines once more. Belina Te has a small throwaway line about how her father hid the SpellStone in the mines. She says something to the effect of “He didn’t say where he hid it, only that it was somewhere safe” which is code for “Yeah lol I stuck this important object crafted by the gods into the claws of a giant monstrosity but it’s w/e”. Maybe he was hoping that Galdon would protect it from Scales. I mean, it’s not a bad thought, really...

But the fact that the game seems to imply Scales has all the stones is still technically wrong. Now, because I think about these things a little TOO much, here’s my theory as to how this could have technically worked: All the SpellStones are placed in the same spot, you just traverse different routes (The Force Point Temples) to reach that spot. The only way I could see Scales making out with 2 out of 4 SpellStones is that there was a battle between the SharpClaw and the other dinosaurs at the central point where the SpellStones are located and General Scales was only partially successful. Which could very well be the case, but, unfortunately, the manual and game seem to not act as though this is the case...

tl;dr for that section: This literally makes no sense no matter how you slice it and sure, you can come up for reasons that things ended up this way but ultimately, the game is conflicting with itself about its own story. But let’s move on.

Apparently atmospheric conditions are so powerful on Sauria that it can interrupt communications, which I thought was a neat lore tidbit.

So I got 2 things from this tidbit about Saurian.

1. This language is called “relatively new”, even though it’s existed for thousands of years, which feels like a contradiction? A quick Google search estimates English has been around for 1400 years, to put that into perspective and I think English is considered to be fairly new compared to other languages, but I’m honestly not too terribly learned on that. Of course, that’s only viewing this through the lens of someone who lives on Earth. Having a language around in the Lylat System only for “a few thousand years” makes me wonder how long the older languages have existed? It’s quite possible that a few thousand years isn’t a long lifespan for a language in this universe.

2. Who were these off-worlders? And boy do I have theories.

Theory 1. The Krazoa. They are seemingly the gods to the dinosaurs and speak the same language. This could mean that they taught the dinosaurs this new language. It would fit the bill for their portrayal in this game. They are godlike entities, the dinosaurs do revere them... it makes sense.

Theory 2. The ones who taught the dinosaurs how to talk were the Cerinians. There is mild evidence for this with Krystal understanding Dino Speak without a translator despite being new to the planet (evidenced by the fact the CloudRunner had to explain the Krazoa to her/some dialogue bits about her learning of General Scales/the brief exposition we get about her searching the Lylat System for answers). You could argue this is due to her telepathy - she could just simply be talking in a way that the dinosaurs can understand but I don’t think Krystal’s telepathy had been firmly established as part of her character at this point (she had the ability to leave telepathic messages onto her staff and she could channel magic into Andross, but her true telepathy powers weren’t really shown until Assault). Krystal’s staff also seems strangely in-tune with Sauria, which I’ve theorized about previously. I’m mostly thinking on the Magic Caves that are conveniently scattered on Sauria. It could be that Cerinians had built the shrines within the Magic Caves to help their descendants out if they ever showed up to Sauria. So, I guess the tl;dr version is “Maybe the Cerinians had previously been on Sauria and had established the Magic Caves and had taught the dinosaurs their native language?”

To summarize my thoughts, the manual is a reflection of SFAdv itself- riddled with weird plot inconsistencies that you can almost fudge reasons/logic to cover but some of it feels like stretches for the sake of making plot make sense. There’s some contradictions in the lore/story but despite that, there’s still interesting tidbits to be found.

If anything, this booklet kind of validates my feelings from the post I made about canon awhile back. Not all of the canon makes sense when you nitpick it to death. When the source material conflicts with itself, you’re not going to win a “this is canon because x and y, etc” because... well... the story itself doesn’t even seem to know what’s canon.

Additionally, canon is something derived partially from people’s own experiences. Two people can consume the same media and come to different conclusions and that’s fine. We don’t need to have these tired debates about whose interpretation of canon is better. We just need people to understand that while their interpretation may fit them but it may not fit everyone. And that’s why, as I have begun doing Fanon Hot Take posts, I keep that disclaimer up. I don’t wanna say “My opinion of how to interpret canon/fanon is the best opinion” because that’s stupid. There is no definitive “best” because it’s all subjective. But people get into their own feelings so much about their interpretations and that’s when we have these debates of “well, my idea is better than yours”. Then people try to dismantle each other instead of just appreciating the different ideas being brought to the table. And it’s exhausting.

Frankly, I don’t ever think Panther being Cerinian will be canon. But Nintendo has not, as of this date, said he’s not. But that’s my interpretation of his character until Nintendo gives us more to go off of. And if my interpretation bothers someone enough that they decide to send me harassment over it, then that’s on them. I will not be apologizing for my interpretations, even if they do go against the grain. It’s a pity people like that exist, that would rather tear at others than try to just enjoy the content that appeals directly to him but alas, they are not the first person to be like that and they will not be the last.

On a lighter note, while I am still bothered by this person going out of their way to be so spiteful, I want to thank them for inspiring me to look at the text. It validated my feelings further and it made me realize how stupid the canon debate is. I actually had a blast going back over this book and re-reading everything. I hadn’t gotten to lay eyes on this booklet in years! I really hope I get to do this for other SF games because a lot of these manuals have such hidden gems.

Thank you for reading this ramble/analysis!

#star fox adventures #dinosaur planet #speculation #theory #analysis #long post #falco lombardi #the spellstones #farewell beloved falco #plot inconsistencies #continuity errors #starfox adventures #cerinia #sauria #dino language #the krazoa #lore #star fox #starfox

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lavender-hemlock · 5 years

Note

the be honest meme. - ALL OF THEM! -From ya know who.

Breathes. I am going to kill you. Everything of the honesty meme is under the cut you absolute fruitcake @kazexvoss .

1. What would prevent you from following someone?

Possibly if that person isnotoriously opinionated and hateful towards any opinion that opposes theirs.That’s about the only preventive thing. Just unbearable and toxic people.

2. Are aesthetics important to you? If they are, why?

Sure, I think aesthetics aregreat outlets to demonstrating outside of screenshots and prompts what yourcharacter is about in an array of colors, art, or examples. It’s beautiful.

3. What current rp trend do you hate? Taken.

4. How do you explain rp to someone in the real world?

Hahah- I don’t, but I would probably compare it to my lovefor literature and writing if I had to. I’m writing stories and adventures.

5. Do you prefer interacting with male muses or female more? Why?

I don’t have a preference!

6. Do you prefer writing male muses or female more? Why?

I write female muses because it is simply easier for me to put myshoes in the shoes of a female muse. For obvious reasons I should hope. However,I have written with a male oc in the past. I want to, just haven’t found theright dynamic yet for ffxiv. I had a male Au Ra by the name of Xathun- but nowhe is simply my retainer that brings me stuff he deems is shiny.

I love himeven if he brings me level 5 rocks.

7. What’s your opinion on call-out posts?

I think they are both useful topoint out harmful individuals who have harmful or greedy intentions – andharmful because some call-out posts I believe are just posts to continue a potstir off the platform itself or off the drama seeping from another dms. Thereis a time and place for all things.

8. Name any three things about the rpc that bother you. Taken.

9. What is your opinion on exclusivity? Do you practice it? Why / why not?

I think exclusivity iscompletely up to those who choose to practice it. I only practice it on whetherI am comfortable. Very few people can make me feel uncomfortable- but my guthas yet to fail me in this. I will not RP with anyone who makes meuncomfortable or if they are just looking for ERP. I’m not about it.

10. Have you everhad a bad experience with commissions? As either someone who makes them or assomeone who buys them?

I have not had a bad experiencewith commissions. I really need to seek out one.

11. What do youknow now about rp that you wish you knew when you first started? Taken.

12. Have you beeninvolved in drama? Do you regret it?

In this community, I have onlybeen involved in one instance. It was during my first few months joining FFXIV,super early on. A RPer tried to guilt trip me for not responding to them forone day. One day caused a lot of drama from someone else’s greed and possessivenature.

I don’t regret it. It just demonstrated another example for me to be wary of everyone’s intentions. Unfortunately. It isthat split-second decision that you want to think the best in everyone that brings the failure. Oops.

13. Have you everthought about leaving rp? What caused it? What changed your mind?

I probably considered leavingRP when I was leaving a forum base that I had invested eleven or so years of mylife into. I had grown so much through it and watched as it died out bit by bitonly for trolls to really remain. None of the inspiration was there and noone truly seemed passionate about anything but bars. Taverns.

I changed my mind when I joinedFFXIV. At first I played the game because it was something to do. I wasbored and things were dying down for me. I have loved the FF series for such along time, so I thought, why not? Screw the pay wall. I just played through AtRealm Reborn and focused that down in a binge. Over time I got the itch Iwanted to write, and that had propelled me right into the RP crew in Siren.Then that branched onto the Tumblr. Creating my blog has led me to meet such wonderful people along the way.

14. Do you think rphas had a positive or negative affect on your life or you as a person?

Positive for sure. RP helped meduring the years I was unsure who I wanted to be, what I wanted to express, andhelped me communicate more when I said so little. I was so much moreintroverted, and the writing RP brought was so uplifting.

The character, Haine, I madeyears ago is a force in my life that influenced my traits as a role model. She’llalways have a special place in my heart.

15. How has rpchanged you personally?

I suppose this builds on thelast question, huh?

Without finding RP as anoutlet, I don’t think I would have been ready to embrace what I could be.Things could have been far worse in my life, and I like to think some of thetraits I had crafted Haine to be throughout the years helped me remain true towho I should be rather than what everyone wanted me to be- or knock me down tobe.

16. If you couldchange one thing about rp on tumblr, what would it be? Why?

I don’t think I want to changeanything- I would just want to encourage others to write and express themselvesmore in their outlets. Which can be writing, drawing, aesthetics. You do you.The passion is my favorite thing to see in others.

17. Have you eversent a message to yourself on anon? Why?

No. Why would anyone do that?

18. Have you eversent hate to yourself on anon? Why?

Why… would anyone do that? Arethey okay?

19. Do you deleteanon hate or post and address it? Why?

I am content to say I havenever received anon hate. Yet.

20. Have you everfelt pressured to write something you weren’t comfortable with?

No. I refuse to put myself inthat position.

21. Have you everfollowed someone because you felt like you had to, not because you wanted to? Taken.

22. What would makeyou block someone?

I try to avoid blocking becauseI believe most things can be recovered- because if I put you on that block list,I am never looking at it. You’re gone. You must be very toxic to get put there-or annoying. There was that one guy…

23. Have you everstolen something from someone else?

Does luck count? Because Iswear I stole someone’s luck once and it was the funniest thing I had everwitnessed.

24. Have you everhad something stolen from you? If so, how did you handle it?

Yes. I’ve had the alias Hainefor over ten years. I carried that name from my old RP community and thisperson that I used to call a good friend disappeared. She came back under a newname, and then I went on a hiatus. I come back, she’s going as the name “Haine.”She pretended she was just an anonymous person and not the friend I always knewbut playing stupid never was her skill.

I was… indifferent at first.Yet, it felt like a part of me was being violated. I knew her. It hurt. I hadmade Haine as this love child of my creativity. I tried to be reasonable butthen this person began to start discourse so it would go. “Did Haine do this?” “Whydid Haine do that?” It was confusing to always say “It was the other one.” Whenoften duplicate alias’ were not typical.

It was upsetting to say theleast, and after a while, as above it as I like to be- I started getting prettyangry. It was never pretty. I can regret a bit of it.

25. Are you open toduplicates? Why / why not?

As in duplicates acrossservers? I do that! I had stared on Siren originally before I made a characteron Balmung before world visit opened up. I think duplicates are helpful in caseyou want to keep your strong attachments in both data centers.

26. How do you feelabout vague posting?

Vague… posting?

27. Do you followpeople even if they don’t follow you back?

Of course! Someone I followdoes not have to follow me back. I love their content and I want to stay tuned!That is the entire point! If they follow back, it is just equally delighting.

28. Do you readpeople’s rules before following or interacting?

If they have rules, yes. Ithink it is very important to have OOC communication to express what you willallow or what you find inappropriate.

29. What is youropinion on “reblog karma” and do you practice it?

I don’t.. understand.

30. How have youresponded to popular slang used on tumblr? Do you use it in every day life? Doyou use it at all?

I don’t follow tumblr trends enough toknow?

31. Is theresomething you don’t know the meaning of but you haven’t asked anyone becauseyou think it’s supposed to be general knowledge? Was there ever something youhad to ask someone to explain?

OH! I think I did this once. Beingnew on Tumblr awhile back, I did not understand a lot of things. So some of theterms was lost on me. I think I remember asking what on earth a “mun” was. Itwas lost on me.

32. Have you everexperienced discrimination?

Yeah.

33. How do you feelabout personal blogs following your rp blog?

The more the merrier! I thinkthat makes it more flattering to see. It makes me think that something on myblog had to be nice for someone to want to keep up on their personal blog.

34. Have you evercried while writing a reply?

Oh go- Yes. Recently. The plot lines that make me feel things are the best kind. Happy, excited, nervous, bittersweet, thrilled. I love it.

35. Do you readother people’s threads or do you only read your own?

I read other people’s threads,and my own. I read mine several times because I figure it can be better. I love reading thewriting of others.

36. What’s onething that other people seem to hate that doesn’t bother you? Taken.

37. How do you feelabout tagging triggers? Do you tag them? How do you determine what istriggering content and what isn’t?

I don’t feel anything for themor tag them.

38. What advicewould you give to someone new to rp?

Embrace what you want to be and do not divert from what youare comfortable with. Feel free to go to public places and watch others work.If I know the person who is new to RP I would usually offer to be their partnerto get them into the cadence.

This exhausted me. I felt things throughout this journey of asks, and through it all I give to you-

#honesty meme #TAPROMPTS #hell

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theregoesjodariel · 5 years

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Supergem: Writer’s Notes, Chapters 1-10

Hey gang! It’s a long time coming, but I finally got off my ass and finished the full notes for chapters 1-10 of Supergem, my big huge SU fic. I’m just about to finally get to work on the next batch of chapters, so I figured now would be a great time to look back on what I’ve done so far and provide some hopefully interesting commentary. Read on for that stuff!

Chapters 1-5

Right off the bat, chapter 1's title is a reference to the now-famous single-page retelling of Superman's origin story from All-Star Superman #1. There, "kindly couple" was used to summarize Clark Kent's crashlanding on Earth and discovery by the Kents.

Chapter 2 features what I feel would be the natural result of trying to fire bullets at a Gem: absolutely nothing. While Gems are obviously made of hard light and have been shown to be capable of being hurt by conventional means-- see Peridot getting Wile E. Coyote'd by the corrupted Gem in Beta-- I like to imagine that bullets are simply so small and so high-velocity that they'd pass through Gem bodies harmlessly. The science is probably wrong, but let me have my Rule of Cool.

Aside from sporting the amalgamated personalities of Lapis and Peridot, the two superheroes Turquoise takes the most inspiration from are Superman and Spider-Man. She shows at least some compassion for all people, even bad guys, like Superman, and she throws plenty of quips, especially when getting it handed to her, like Spidey.

As stated in the notes, I do not have a set design in mind for Turquoise, but I DID end up canonizing elements of a couple of designs I really like within the story. She sports the unique five-pointed hairstyle and orange suspenders of ahhween's design, as well as the cool cyan color scheme and water cape of cheerkitty1410's. Those two are just fantastic.

Axinite is a Gem OC of mine, a gladiatrix who fights in arenas on Homeworld, which function as the world's equivalent of recreational sports. A lot of the lore I have for her is regurgitated in the narration.

There are, of course, a couple of lines from "Stronger Than You" in chapter 4. There's the title, plus Turquoise correcting Val that the fight is one-on-two.

When I created the character, I actually completely failed to notice Val's considerable resemblance to Jasper, both in appearance (big, bulky and orange) and personality (haughty, judgmental). Naturally, when it hit me, I wrote in a nod to it in chapter 4.

Chapter 4 sees Turquoise and Val's fight spill into a mall, the very same one from Pearls' Night Out, currently my only other multi-chapter work. Rhiannon and Diane, both OCs from there, also make cameos (Rhiannon is the employee who points Turquoise in Val's direction, Diane is the journalist who interviews her on the street).

Pearl and Jasper handle city planning like military tacticians, because, well, they are military tacticians. They're also very overdramatic about it, natch.

Amazonite is a close friend of mine's gemsona, a former Crystal Gem who retired to become a seamstress after the corrupted Gems were all cured.

A couple of things involving Jasper take inspiration from the excellent Back to Beta. Pearl acts as Jasper's parole officer of sorts, rewarding her with Pearl Points for doing a good job and Jasper has an attachment to Earth music for its ability to say what cannot be said through simple speech, just like in there. Go read Back to Beta if you haven't, it's outstanding (it's also Jaspearl-- look at me go).

In one of many instances of Jodi Doing Too Much Research Into Things That Don't Matter, I actually broke out my copy of SU: Art & Origins to study its map of Beach City to determine just how nitpicky Pearl and Jasper were being.

Why do the Nephrites want to talk to Pearl? Maybe we'll find out....

Garnet "borrowed" Andy's plane to go to Empire City. That's a step up from "finding" a phone, don't you think?

I like to imagine that Bismuth has been rooting for Lapis and Peri to get together since the moment she met them. Her gaydar is just that good.

Believe it or not, I genuinely considered having Turquoise adopt a secret identity at one point during planning. I call myself out on it through Steven in chapter 5.

I knew I just couldn't do this story without Jasper since she is, in a way, the villain (or at least a villain) in Turquoise's origin story. As an abuse survivor, showing the ramifications of her and Lapis' time as Malachite as best I could was tantamount to the main storyline.

Chapters 6-10

The foreshadowing in chapter 6's identity should make Ms. Knight's identity a no-brainer for seasoned SU fans. No one spoil it if you figure it out, though!

Ronaldo is absolutely, positively, 100%, one of the guys who doesn't shower before the convention. That's so him it hurts.

The generally meta premise of chapters 6-9 were the result of me drafting them right after I got home from my city's local big convention, which I had a wonderful time at. I did my first ever cosplay (I was Pearl!) there and managed to hold decent conversations with Zach Callison, Deedee Magno Hall, Michaela Dietz, and Estelle. The layout of DelmarvaCon is even copied from the layout of that convention center.

In one of many moments of narrative intersecting with reality, I did some sleuthing and found that Paulette was, in her very brief on-screen appearance, voiced by Deedee Magno Hall, Pearl's voice actress. As said above, I met Deedee at the con I went to. You know how everyone on and off set never stops talking about how nice she is? They're not exaggerating, she's a fantastic person. Kim Tan is fully based on her, taking her name from a couple of Hall's other roles (Kim in Miss Saigon and a bit character named Lori Tan from an episode of Third Watch) and Lapis and Peridot's encounter with her is based on my own; while she didn't usher us ahead of the line to meet her, she did take pictures of my friend and I's cosplays for free when she was supposed to be charging for them. Seriously, nicest celebrity I've ever met.

Chapter 7 has Peridot riff that she can "observe 800 moving objects and compute their direction of travel," a phrase long used to describe Prowl in the Transformers franchise. It has no character significance here, I was on a Transformers kick at the time of writing.

The uncomfortable pulling sensation mentioned in chapter 7 is called an "itch," a callback to The Itch, the oneshot serving as prelude to this fic. There, "the itch" is used to refer to the deeply unsettling feeling a Gem gets when fitted with limb enhancers-- think the feeling you have or would have felt from a dentist fitting you with those awful rubber bands to help with the braces process, it's that kind of feeling. The feeling being given off by Ronaldo's control device is similar, "adding" to a Gem when nothing need be added.

The long opening narration in chapters 8 and 9 were inspired by the writing style of comic book writer Scott Snyder, who has a tendency to start, end, or intersperse his comics with long, expositional comparative musings on seemingly simple or mundane things (seriously, count the number of times one of his Batman comics opens with narration explaining the philosophical meaning behind the rocks used to make buildings in Gotham City).

The cost of Connie's sword is, as stated in the story proper, a rough estimate borne from around half an hour of research. While there are other pink stones that could've been used, I picked pezzotaite because of its extreme rarity, just to drive home how absurdly all-out Bismuth went on it.

Give Jasper a metal-style song in Season 6, Crewniverse!

I like to think Jasper and Greg would be good friends. Think about it: you've just found out your former moral enemies were not only led by, but had close relationships with, the person you spent your whole life idolizing. Who do you talk to about it? Why not the person who knew her more intimately than anyone else?

At the end of the Turquoise and Steven segment in chapter 10, the two sit down to watch Crying Breakfast Friends' extra-length season finale, in which a number of characters get new outfits. Now what could that be referencing?

The narration of Jasper's thoughts makes reference to the exiled Hessonite, antagonist of Steven Universe: Save the Light and a criminally underrated character.

I'd like to preface this point with a content warning for abuse, as I'll be discussing that a bit here.

So, as I mentioned briefly in the 1-5 notes, I'm an abuse survivor; I broke up with my abuser, who I had been with for just about 3 months, in February of this year. An acquaintance of mine has since drafted a document exhaustively detailing all of the bad shit they did for which receipts could be found, and my abuser has reacted with avoidance, victim blaming, and a refusal to apologize. I wasn't yet aware of just how in denial of her own mistakes they were when I wrote chapter 10, so I tried to write Pearl and Jasper's conversation as how I wished the conversation my abuser had with themselves would go, in a perfect world.

To get reflective for a moment, writing that has taught me, in a way I hadn't seen before, how Steven Universe's real, heartfelt redemption arcs, as fantastically-written and just generally good as they are, don't always apply in real-world scenarios. My shitty ex is not Jasper and they never will be.

#imadethis #intel files #su #lapidot

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lycorogue · 5 years

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Who Wants to Meet My OCs? (Part 3a – Glitches Originals)

Look at me, following my plan and actually having the next part of this series posted on a Sunday! Whoot!

As I have mentioned before, I've wanted to do this series since November, so I'm excited I'm able to actually follow through with it finally. If you're just getting into this series, the long-and-short of it is that I want to introduce you fine people with all of my main OCs. They will each get their own Sunday bio post to introduce them individually, but in the meantime, I wanted to give insight on how I came up with them.

In Part 1, I had given a broad overview of the whole Meet My OCs series, as well as some generic IRL background to the inspiration and creation of my two main worlds:

Gyateara

Glitches

In Part 2, I talked specifically about the IRL inspiration for my main Gyateara OCs:

Amara Yori

Natalie [Last Name TBD]

Connor [Last Name TBD]

Jolene Crisslebalm

Now, in this third part for the series, it's time to talk about my IRL inspiration and creation for my Glitches OCs. This list of characters is MUCH longer than what I have for Gyateara, so this may take a bit. In fact, there were so many characters - this post was 9 pages in Word - I had to split up this part into two more parts. So this first part (3a) focuses mostly on the Original Characters that are characters from the role play game X-Future. The next part (3b) - which will be published in a few minutes - will focus on the characters that started off as X-Men canonical characters, and how I reworked them into originals.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, feel free to keep reading below the break. If you'd rather just skip on ahead to the character bios themselves, my first one should be up next Sunday.

First, I should probably explain how characters are supposed to be formed in the game that birthed Glitches. As I mentioned in Part 1, Glitches started its life as an X-Men role play on a message board/internet forum in a Play-By-Post style. The role play game is called X-Future, and I loved the story we were telling so much that I wanted to re-tell it to the world. However, the more I build Glitches, and the more I try to make the story an original work, the more I realize that only a small portion of the characters and overall role played plot can truly transition over.

Regardless, the way characters are created for X-Future is as follows:

My husband has a lineage chart set up on the forum. There are two lists of available X-Men comic book canonical characters: list of usually male and usually female characters. I say “usually” because there are characters like Mystique, who is usually recognized as a female character, but is technically gender fluid, and has had long canonical runs as a male character.

The players get to choose ONE of the listed characters; therefore choosing either their character's father or mother. This allows the players to have a connection to at least one canonical character of their choice, and/or the potential for a power set they'd like to have for their character.

Hubby then rolls on the other chart to determine the other parent. Therefore, if a player chooses a female character for their parent, Hubby rolls on the male list to find the OC's father. There is also a “Sinister Shenanigans” option where the X-Men character Mr. Sinister created you as a clone of two mutants, in which case your “parents” could be both male or both female as well as the standard “a male and a female.” There is also a chance – again using Mystique as an example – for your character to have “same-sex” parents biologically, since Mystique could also be someone's “father.”

Once parentage is figured out – and Hubby posts the second biological parent on the boards – he then rolls on another chart to determine the character's power set. He does this because it keeps the players on their toes, evolution is weird, and real life is random, so why can't games be? Options he uses for a character's powers include: --> Character inherits powers from both parents in equal amounts --> Character inherits powers from both parents, but favors the father's powers with only hints of the mother's powers --> Character inherits powers from both parents, but favors the mother's powers with only hints of the father's powers --> Character inherits a variant of both parents' powers --> Character's powers are a mesh of both parents' powers (for instance, a fire manipulator and a rock manipulator could produce a lava manipulator) --> Character inherits father's powers --> Character inherits mother's powers --> Character inherits a variant of father's powers --> Character inherits a variant of mother's powers --> Character inherits neither parents' powers, and instead forms their own powers (I think that's all of the options he uses...)

Once Hubby figures out the mutation the character has, he posts it on the boards. After that, the player then gets (mostly) free rein to create their character. Some other restrictions include the starting age of the character being high-school-age unless special permission was given, the backstory of the character must not counter other character's backstories or the already established history of our Marvel continuity, the character has to be an Xavier Institute student or Brotherhood of Mutants member, and Hubby needs to double check character profiles for any potential issues before they can be posted. (It's rare that Hubby doesn't approve of the profile)

So, those are the basic 5-easy-steps to creating an X-Future character, which comes into play with 2 of the characters I'll introduce today. Speaking of, let’s get to them, huh?

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Chayse LeBeau [Last Name to be Changed]

Ironically, I'm going to start off with a character that isn't mine. Chayse is my husband's character, but he gave me full permission to use him in Glitches. Mostly because he trusts my treatment of his character – most of my Miraculous Ladybug readers will tell you I'm very good at keeping characters True-to-Canon – and because Hubby knows that I'll probably talk about nearly every single one of Chayse's lines and actions with him, just to make sure I'm keeping him in character.

Chayse, being my husband's character, was the first character ever made for X-Future. Hubby's favorite X-Men of all time is Remy “Gambit” LeBeau, so naturally Hubby chose him as Chayse's father. When Hubby rolled onto Kitty “Shadowcat” Pryde as Chayse's mother, we had to do some quick continuity work to figure out HOW that relationship happened. We are HARD CORE Gambit/Rogue shippers. They are by FAR our OTP (with Shadowcat/Colossus as a close second). If Gambit was with anyone other than Rogue, we needed a reason for Rogue to not be in the picture; not a possibility at all. Hubby created an event called The Reaping where Professor Charles Xavier, Jean Grey, Magneto, Mastermind, and Rogue all die in battle. There may have been some other casualties, but those are the main ones I remember...

Anyway, once we realized Rogue had to be dead for Gambit to be with anyone else significantly enough to have a kid with them, we then went back to “X-Men: Evolution”; the show that inspired Hubby to create X-Future. In the TV series, Kitty and Rogue were besties, and so Hubby and I decided that Kitty and Gambit were comforting each other in their grief over losing Rogue. That grew into a tight friendship, and eventually a romance blossomed. The two got married, and Chayse was born.

Chayse is basically my husband without the anxiety and terrible knees. If Hubby could be as athletic and outgoing as he wished he could be, he'd be Chayse.

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Amelia “Lia” Mordeaux [Last Name Still Workshopping]

Lia was my first-ever character for X-Future. Since Rogue is clearly my favorite X-Men – I mean... check the handle and icon – I really wanted to chose her as my character's parent. However, after Hubby and I jointly determined that Rogue had been dead for nearly two decades, I struggled to figure out who else to choose. So many different power sets and great characters. However, in the end I ended up going with Amara “Magma” Aquilla. I am a bit of a fire freak – something that will come up later – so the idea of my character being able to manipulate magma seemed fun to try. In truth, though, the deciding factor – aside from how adorable Magma was in “X-Men: Evolution” - is the fact that her name is Amara.... like my Gyateara character; my oldest OC.

Rolling on the chart, Hubby landed on Jamie “Multiple Man” Madrox. Based on the personality we saw in “X-Men: Evolution,” and ignoring that poor Jamie was only about 12 or 13 when depicted on the show, I lamented at how “lame” Lia's father was going to be. In the end, I did sprinkle in a touch of the badassness Jamie showcases in the comics, as well as whenever he's shown – usually as a villain *sigh* - in the cartoons. However, he's still LARGELY a nerd still for X-Future, and became a bit of a neurotic helicopter parent.

Lia ended up with her mother's powers exactly. The only difference is that instead of just a magma form, Lia encases herself within obsidian skin. I even designed her to look like Amara did in Evolution, with the straight brown hair and Brazilian skin. (It was easier for Evolution to just have Amara be Brazilian than trying to explain the existence of Neo Roma within the Brazilian rain forest so she could remain White with blonde hair and blue eyes) Lia being basically a carbon-copy of her mother – something I headcanon as Jamie's duplication DNA accidentally turning Amara's egg into a clone of her – meant my next struggle was trying to figure out why Lia was at the Xavier Institute. I didn't want her to have been raised there, but why couldn't Amara just train her daughter on how to control identical powers?

In the end, I decided that Amara has to go. Hubby and I came up with a mission where Amara went MIA. She is perceived dead, but isn't confirmed dead, along with Storm, who went missing on a similar mission a few years prior. Without his wife to help train their daughter, and having NO CLUE how to handle a 14yo blowing up his yard with geysers, Jamie sent Lia to the Institute, and promptly signed up as a faculty member so he could still be close to and keep an eye on his daughter: the last family he has left, and a reminder of his wife.

For Glitches, I did end up shifting Lia's race to Hawaiian (Polynesian? Should I specify?). Having her be part Native Hawaiian just felt more fitting with the lava-focused powers. Yes, there are volcanoes in Brazil, there is also one in Washington state. Still, you wouldn't necessarily equate Washington state with lava as much as you would equate lava with Hawaii.

Lia was SUPPOSED to be my naive rebel; a 14yo who was getting her first taste of freedom at the Institute. She was going to wear less-conservative outfits, be flirty, and maybe break a few rules: curfew, being in the guys' wing of the dorms, skipping a class or two, etc. She even started off like that... for about a game session or two. She instantly fell into her main personality though: reserved, shy, maternal, and unsure of herself. While I do love this character and who she is, she also wasn't who I initially wanted to play. Enter: Willow.

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Willow Driver

Originally, we had about a dozen players, which was fantastic. However, Hubby still wanted to “fill out” the school. He wanted a few NPC students the players could interact with when the other players weren't available. He had a small list of NPCs, some of which will make their way to Glitches as background characters. On this list was Willow. Hubby actually created her, designed her, and was all set to role play as her. Then we got to talking about how I loved Lia, but was a bit disappointed that she didn't turn out the character I was aiming for. Hubby knew that Willow was indeed much more like who I wanted to play, so he passed her over to me.

Soon enough, Willow went from an NPC I ran to my secondary character. Since she was the character I wanted to play the whole time, she quickly surpassed poor Lia as my preferred character. In fact, a lot of my “companion stories” that I have written for X-Future center around Willow. Specifically, Willow and my friend Ronoxym's character Devon. They have a.... complicated relationship. Willow is just a much more fun character to write. She's playful, manipulative, unsure, confident, loyal... she's just a walking ball of contradictions as she's trying to figure herself out.

If Chayse is who Hubby wishes he could be, then Willow is me with virtually no inhibitions. She's my playfulness, my confidence, my lust, my impulsiveness, my spontaneity, and the athletic prowess I wish I had.

In contrast, Lia is basically everything keeping me from being Willow: my caution, my fear of disappointing my parents (both the one who passed and the one who raised me), my maternal instincts, my reservations, my critical thinking, my constant knowledge of potential consequences, and my insecurity that I'm ever going to be the best version of myself.

There's one more side of me though. That's where Trish comes in.

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Patricia “Trish” Morrison

Trish did NOT turn out remotely close to who she was in my head. Heck, she even refused to be properly formed while I still was picturing her in her first incarnation. Trish truly did create herself.

Remember my friend Ronoxym's character Devon I mentioned a few paragraphs up? Well, he's the son of two Brotherhood of Mutants characters. In other words, he's the son of villains. He was orphaned as an infant, and when he was a teen at the Xavier Institute he ran into his father Pyro. The man suspected that Devon could be his long-lost son, and hinted that if Devon joined the Brotherhood then Pyro could help Devon figure out who he was. Devon eventually took the bait, and left to join the Brotherhood and discover who his parents were.

At the time, The Brotherhood was just made up of the Marvel canon characters; no one there for Ron to role play against aside from NPCs. I decided to create Trish so he would have a player character to role play off of. Originally, Trish was supposed to be a potential love interest for him.

Trish.... was not a fan. I actually had mental images of Trish gagging at the thought of her destined romance with Devon. Even when I tried picturing her flirting with Devon for the sole purpose of getting close enough to stab him or slit his throat: a sort of Black Widow character. She still gagged and REFUSED to let me have her show Devon anything other than disdain. He became her number 1 rival; her arch nemesis. She was actually in love with Pyro, and hated that Pyro's attention was now torn between her and his long-lost son. Her goal in life, aside from making Pyro fall in love with her; age be damned, was to murder Devon.

She then became more psychotic the more I wrote her. She has the power to create fire, and is completely fireproof herself. She loved playing with her fire, and became a pyrophile; getting highly aroused around flame. She had the stereotypical serial killer childhood of fulfilling her early bloodlust by torturing and killing animals. When she got caught by her twin sister, and her parents threatened to call the Mutant Police to collect her, Trish burnt everyone alive in their family home. She then lived on the streets, killing anyone who got in her way of survival. Eventually, she got taken in by The Brotherhood and Pyro, where her murderous tendencies were aimed at anti-mutant groups like The Purifiers.

If each of my main X-Future/Glitches characters (jointly named simply My Girls) is a part of my personality, then Trish is my anger, my love of fire, my dark desire to be an arson (ya know, if it didn't cause terrible destruction and harm), my ability to hold grudges, and my aggression. I wanted her to be fairly on-par with Azula from “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” but with her manic end-game personality making more of an appearance. I wanted her to be like Minatsuki Takami from “Deadman Wonderland”, or Tanya Degurechaff from “The Saga of Tanya the Evil.” In other words: tiny and unassuming, but terrifying and intimidating if her true self is ever seen.

I don't know if I never played her correctly, or if Ron just couldn't picture a character I run as THAT intimidating, because Devon was always quite unfazed by Trish and her threats...

EDIT: Holy smokes! How did I completely forget that Trish has theme music!? The main reason Trish is yet ANOTHER fire user, when we already have so many in X-Future, is because of her theme song. See, I was fairly obsessed with Fall Out Boy’s song “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)” when it first came out. I would spend days just listening to it and “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons on repeat.

One day I was rocking out to MSKWYDITD for probably the 4th time in a row or something, and I lamented Lia being so mild mannered. I would have loved to have had a chaotic fire user that would follow the destructive high energy I felt whenever I heard that song. Someone who would as much fun as those women in the music video. I mean, just watch them. I wanted a character with their energy and vibe:

youtube

I wanted another fire user, and Devon had JUST defected to The Brotherhood on X-Future, so I figured it would be perfect to make that more chaotic fire user as a Brotherhood member. THAT was when I figured “She could be a good foil for Devon; two fire users, one more chaotic than the other”... and THAT was when Trish went “Fire yes; Devon fuck no!”

I haven’t been able to control her since...

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So, there you have it, the truly original characters that make up the core cast of Glitches. Next up, as in a few minutes, will be the adult cast of my story: the characters reworked from their X-Men canonical origins. Stay tuned!

#writing #LycoRogue writing #OCs #Meet My OCs #character creation #IRL character inspiration #writing process #long post #Glitches #Chayse #Lia #Willow Driver #Trish Morrison #series post #3 of ?#LycoRogue original

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poorvioletdraws · 5 years

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Tom vs. The Underworld

*I decided to write a fanfic based specifically around Tom from SVTFOE and my oc, Raya as practice for a bigger project I want to do one day since I haven’t written any kind of story in years. It takes place mainly in the Underworld around season 4 and later post-Cleaved. This is the first chapter. Hope you like it and happy reading!

---

Chapter 1: Someday I Suppose

I had been passing the time in between deliveries for my eldest sister, Rochelle, by playing an old favorite of mine on my Sintendo 66 gaming console in the backroom of her feed and bait store. Being the youngest of seven from the infamous Stone Demon family, the Belmontes, I constantly had a lot of pressure on me to turn out just like my siblings whenever my last name was mentioned. All of my brothers wanted to be great builders like Dad. All of my sisters wanted to create magnificent swords and weaponry just like Mom. Then there was me. I wasn’t very good at building or creating anything really. Except when it came to music.

Music was always a passion of mine to forget about the normalcy of my reality, and having a game like “The Legend of Lilith: Fiddle of Time” to consume myself with really highlighted that vehement urge for escape. I often times would play the many medleys and songs for hours on my saxophone after such sessions. My family and friends knew this ritual of mine all too well and would admonish that I can get lost in the music and forget reality if I’m not careful, though I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend my day honestly.

It wasn’t until the third time of Rochelle’s abrupt entry--swinging the door open and shaking the room with her shouting--that I had to tear away from my fantasy and get started on that invoice in order to not incite her wrath any further. I idly examined the statement and retrieved each item, all the while as my older sister berated my slothlike behavior and questioned aloud why I even decided to help out at her store knowing my history of “slackerdom”. The address was a recurring one whose proprietor always paid in advance so this would be a quick delivery. They also preferred to be left anonymous yet they religiously requested the delivery of the same bulk products every few weeks--Hydraworms, Tears of the Harpy, Leviathan Leeches, spool of Acromantula web, skeleton horse hay and grass (not to be confused with flesh horse hay and grass), and a few boxes of “Underworld’s Best Bunny Pellets” just to name a few on the list. I knew it all like the basic fingerings of my sax.

As soon as I packed the last of the order into my Golem--the only thing I created with my elemental abilities that was actually exceptional according to my Dad--I was off and heading out to Lava Lake. My eagerness of getting back to my game and becoming further engrossed in a fantasy of excitement gradually subsided as I gazed across the bubbling body of lava. There were demons swiftly surfing across the molten rock waves of the beach while others were challenging each other to an intense game of Skull Ball. A group of Monster tourists were fishing off the Dock of Unending Torment at the same time another group was setting sail on their ghost ship rental. Small demon children were joyfully building sand coffins and burying each other in the dark gray grainy substance, their laughter becoming an accompaniment with the rest of the enjoyment on the beach. Although playing games and creating music were fun hobbies of mine, it was seeing crowds of people having fun themselves and getting lost in their excitement that was something else I would never get tired of. Everyone seemed to be so happy as they relished in the atmosphere. And witnessing such happiness made me happy for them as well.

This part of the beach was the busiest; a prime location for my sister’s shop. Our mom suggested she learn how to run a smaller business before taking on the huge responsibility that is the family trade, and like the obedient daughter she is, my sister followed through without hesitation. Plus, Rochelle was able to practice forging smaller items like fishing knives and hooks when she wasn’t spending her free time bossing me around. She would rush me if I couldn’t ring a customer up fast enough and belittle me when I accidentally spilled something (multiple things) and didn’t clean it up right away--which is why she has tasked me with deliveries. I can’t destroy the shop if I’m not in the shop, I guess. And it was only one time where I accidentally let loose that swarm of piranhaflies in the store; in my defense, I didn’t know you sell the whole container of the creature to a customer instead of just one individually.

I know she assumes I purposefully don’t work at my full potential, but I really am trying to. I may be slow and clumsy, but I genuinely want to do the best I can to help my sister achieve her goal, even if my own hasn’t really been figured out yet. I like observing her work. She knows how to answer every question a customer has and can find the best solution to their problem. I like how she includes me in things that interest her too. She shows me the best bait to use to catch a Flaming Crococricket and how to break open the shell of an Ember Berry to use the juice for medicinal purposes. But most of all, I like seeing how happy helping others makes her feel. Sometimes, while we are sitting out on the beach together and watching the waves calm at the end of the day, I glance over and admire the contentment of Rochelle. She is truly happy with her existence and extends that aspect towards others, something I secretly yearn for. She inspires me to be that kind of beacon in someone else’s life one day. But with my reputation of being a “lazy” and “procrastinating” demon lacking the expertise to carry on the Belmonte name, I highly doubt such a day would come anytime soon.

Being lost in my train of thought, I didn’t realize that dark maroon and coal black clouds were forming overhead. And then without warning, a thunderous boom filled the sky, shocking me as I clutched onto my Golem. The wind began to shoot passed me furiously and the clouds burst open, spitting down violent flames as the red waves crashed wildly on the barren land.

“Where’d this storm come from all of a sudden!” I shouted to myself, jumping from my Golem and placing my hand on its base. It began breaking down from its previous walking form and into a makeshift stone shelter. Now covered from the onslaught of the fiery squall, I looked around at my surroundings.

I had already wandered into the secluded area of the beach where the crowd had vanished from sight. This was definitely part of my usual route but the storm was definitely not. Fire really couldn’t harm me with my skin being partly covered with stone and all, but I was wearing my favorite outfit today and didn’t want it getting singed. I guess I’ll wait it out.

I thought how mad my sister will be, knowing I’ve taken longer than I needed to. She probably thinks I am messing around this very minute. How was I to know a flash firestorm was going to occur? I then began to think of my friends back home in Chernabog City, the largest demon metropolis in the heart of Prickly Plains. The six of us would be hanging out at the arcade right around this time, maybe deciding if we wanted to go do karaoke before or after we ate at our favorite burger place, Grimdonald’s. We also formed a band together. Even though we are amateurs, we have a lot of fun just playing together regardless if we don’t always sound good. We don’t have a singer yet however. I haven’t had much time to hang out with my friends or look for a singer now that I help out my sister. She had told me that this busy season will be slowing down soon, which will be a pretty good thing. Not that I’m complaining, but I would like to focus more on our music we had been creating together lately.

All of a sudden and as quickly as it started, the storm died down, leaving no trace of its presence at all. A bright rainbow shown through in its place off the horizon. I looked around quickly for a sign of familiarity. Off to the far side of my Golem structure, there was a wooden post near some large rocks that read “Private Property”. I gave a sigh of relief, knowing I was almost to my destination. I transformed my Golem back into its riding form and continued on. Aside from the bipolarity of the weather, it had been just another typical day in the Underworld. Instances such as that one do not happen out of the ordinary too often. Guess that was my bit of excitement for the day. Or so I thought.

A spacious beach-side home--not too extravagant but still containing the right amount of grotesque appeal demons like--was positioned comfortably near the lake of fire, separating the rocky terrain from the burning abyss before it. A large cone shaped tower with a beaming eye atop it sat adjacent to the home. Having stopped by the carport where a blue vehicle was parked, I hopped off my Golem and retrieved the boxes to be delivered from its carriage. Carrying so many in one trip wouldn’t be too hard of a task for me, though if my sister were present she would comment how I’m just being too lazy to want to make multiple trips. I staggered over to the door with the mountain of goods and was able to extend one of my fingers just enough to press the doorbell without dropping the load. I turned to the side so my head wasn’t blocked by the packages and could greet the usual patron that came to answer.

However, instead of being greeted by the high pitch voice of the little red winged demon that would confirm the address and flap away with the order just as fast as he came to the door, a teenage demon boy with pale lilac skin and salmon-colored hair answered it.

“Hey.” he said calmly.

Still taken aback by the fresh face, I mumbled, “Um… Uh--Hi. delivery for this address from Styx & Stones.”

The demon boy looked puzzled at first but when I mentioned the name of the store he quickly caught on and said, “Oh yea, my Dad placed the order not too long ago. For the Lucitors, right?”

“Well… it always comes in as Anony—Wait, Lucitor?” I uttered the last name again.

“Yeeea…?” he shrugged coolly..

“As in THE Lucitors?!” I gasped alarmingly.

“Uh huh, yep.” he repeated his affirmation without hesitation.

“As in KING and QUEEN Lucitor!” I blurted out, my eyes were probably as wide as saucers at this point.

“Yea, well, they are my parents so…” He chuckled a bit as he averted his eyes to the side and itched at his cheek.

“Eh! So you’re Prince Lucitor?!” I squealed, feeling an overwhelming rush of anxiety take over me.

“Uh, you can just call me—“

“I’m so sorry for my rudeness!” My body began to tremble and my voice was shaking as I panicked, “P-Please forgive me, Your Highness!” I instantly hung my head down, my red hair falling in my face. But because I had hastily bowed to the demon prince, I did not realize I had dropped the entire order to the ground in the process. My hands clutched at the sides of my face in horror. “Ah! I dropped all of your stuff, I’m so sorry!” I fell on my knees and started to frantically collect the pile of items around me. “Sorry for my incompetence, I’ll make sure you don’t get charged if anything is messed up! I’m so very sorry, Your Highness sir!”

“Uhh..” he couldn’t find his words; probably because he is too busy considering various ways to discipline me for my insolence, no doubt. Even worse, he will probably go get King and Queen Lucitor and tell them what I have done!

I bent down even further, slamming my forehead to the floor with my knees in my chest. If it weren’t for me being a Stone Demon, such an action would knock out anybody else. Although, I do wish I were unconscious right now instead of feeling like such an idiot in the presence of our prince. I wish I could just bury myself in the sand and disappear. Now it made sense why the order was always left anonymous. The royal Lucitor family owns this home! How could I have spoken to royalty--our prince of the Underworld--in such a casual tone. Once my family finds out about how I have shamed them, I’ll be banished, I’m sure! Just the thought of such impending ostracization had me sweating bullets and my yellow eyes filling with tears. I needed to find redemption with him somehow.

So, while still being extremely embarrassed, I was able to meekly cry out, “I didn’t know your family was staying here, I deserve whatever punishment you see fit for my blatant disrespect, Your Highness!”

Silence.

I didn’t dare look up from the ground but when I saw the shadow of his hand raise, I knew it was coming. I held my breath as my own hands clenched at the floor beneath me and my body stiffened in anticipation of his chosen judgement. But instead of a rage-filled strike, my shoulder was met with his touch in a comforting way. I slowly brought my head up to look in his direction, casting my hair to the side and finally out of my face.

He gave a half-smile, “Ok, look. I know I’ve been a bit of a… of a jerk before in the past with my subjects--and believe me, I get how some of you may still think of me as this angry, spoiled guy--but I have changed SO much now. And thanks to a lot of people close to me, I am working on my temper so I can be a better prince for the future of the Underworld.”

Still nervous, I murmured, “Your Highness, n-no… I wasn’t calling you a--”

“And all that Your Highness stuff, psshh, you can just call me Tom. It is my name after all.” He removed his hand from my shoulder and began reaching for a box.

I began to worry again, “No, Your Highness, please, you shouldn’t do that, it’s my fault you--”

“Hyuh!” He called out as he shot his hand upward. In an instant, all of the items in disarray on the floor suddenly floated in the air. He motioned his hand towards his front door and everything that had been levitating proceeded to quickly fly inside his beach house.

I was at a loss for words. His telekinetic ability was amazing, but I didn’t expect less of a feat from such a high-born child whose family rules over the Underworld.

“Well, there we go.” He turned back in my direction with his hands on his hips and all three of his red eyes now fixed on me. “So, you uh, going to get off of the ground, or something?”

I jumped to my feet, feeling some of the debilitating anxiety slowly release its hold on me. I tried to calm myself but my words still came out in a panic, “I-I-I-m so sorry you had to do that, Your High--”

“Hey, I told you. You can call me Tom, all my friends do.” he gave a genuine smile.

My mouth was slightly agape but I didn’t really care how I looked right now. I was still in awe of being able to stand in front of one of the Lucitors of the Underworld. I clutched my hands together tightly to my chest, something I always tend to do when I am unsure how to read the situation. I have never met anyone of royalty before, let alone seen anyone of such stature before either. How I imagined the prince to be was not the same person I am seeing before me. My friends and I thought of him and his family to be the most despicable and aggressive of creatures, ready to obliterate any one of us lesser demons who even dare cough in the same room as them. This demon boy was nothing like that. He wasn’t terrifying or vile. He looked just like us. He dressed like us. He smiled. And not in a deceptive way. An actual sincere smile. Looking into his eyes and observing that smiling face, I felt my guard beginning to slip a little. I was about to muster up enough courage to reply to him when--

“Tom! Your Dad got the board drawn for Sand Darts and you’re up first, handsome!” a cheery and youthful female voice called from inside the home.

“Oh ho, It’s on! Coming, Star!” The demon prince turned away and was about to close the door behind him when he paused. He glanced back at me and said, “Oh, I never got your name.”

I began to blush nervously as I stared at my feet. I took a breath and was able to mumble out, “Uhm.. It’s… Raya… Your Hi--Uhm... Prince Tom…”

“Cool, nice to meet you, Raya. Well, see-ya around. Heh heh.” He pointed his hand at me like a finger gun and winked all in one motion before shutting the door behind him, getting a laugh at his play on words with my name.

And just like that, I was alone again. I don’t remember how long I stood there staring at the now closed door, or when I finally returned to my Golem to take the trek back to my sister’s store. I never really felt like this before. Everything seemed so unreal and as if my head was in a haze. I can’t believe I met the prince of the Underworld. He wasn’t what I expected at all, which was kind of a good thing really. He was very welcoming, kind of dorky, and, most importantly, he was happy. Just like my sister, Rochelle. He has the kind of happiness in him that is unbreakable. Which is to be expected, being a prince and all.

Coming from royalty, his life must have always been easy and perfect; with a future decided for him, he probably doesn’t have a care in the world. His royal parents must really love him and that female voice, a princess girlfriend perhaps, loves him too. He probably can have anything he could ever want and do whatever he wanted to. His reality is that of a most coveted fantasy by many. But, despite all that, his happiness is still pure and the kind I admire. The kind I wouldn’t mind being around more in hopes of taking in some of that for myself, if that were even possible. Random encounters such as this don’t happen everyday. How many of us common demon folk even get to say we met Prince Lucitor? … Prince Tom… His friends call him Tom… I wonder what it's like being friends with someone like him…

Secretly I hope one day I’ll know. Someday, I suppose...

Read on:

#svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #fanfic #tom lucitor #oc #starvstheforcesofevil #oc fanfiction #the underworld #TomVSTheUnderworldFanfic #TVTU

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neruran · 6 years

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Kippou

Series: Boku no/My Hero Academia Rating: T (for language mostly) Genre: Fluff Relationships: Bakugou/Kirishima/Uraraka [Kirikacchako] Characters: Uraraka Ochako, Bakugou Katsuki, Kirishima Eijirou, Bakugou Masaru, Bakugou Mitsuki, Uraraka Ochako’s Parents, Kirishima Eijirou’s Parents, OCs, minor characters created for the story Other Tags: Established Relationship, Polyamory, Future Fic, Pregnancy, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, probably a little OOC Summary: Informed that all is well and healthy so far, Ochako, Eijirou, and Katsuki decide to tell their parents the happy news; that they'll all be grandparents in a few months.

Check notes for AO3 link, because this hellsite has a vendetta against links within posts and I hate the link post format, so I gotta make a workaround.

(Title means "good news" in Japanese)

Remember when I said “famous last words” regarding not writing a continuation to Tsuwari? Yeah I was right. I also told myself when I started writing this “oh this’ll be short, just a couple snippets from different points along the timeline of Ochako's pregnancy and their forays into parenting” - you know, like a fool - then 2k later and I still hadn’t gotten to the main point of this so-called snippet, and I finally accepted that this was going to be its own oneshot. Sometimes I hate being so rambly. I admittedly struggled with this more than Tsuwari for various reasons, and I've also done further research and found a couple minor things in Tsuwari aren't quite correct, largely with how Japan deals with pregnancy and childbirth, but it's ultimately relatively minor stuff so I'm not arsed to correct it. It's actually been a little fascinating reading up on the official (as in government-related stuff such as paperwork and healthcare) and social/cultural differences between Japan and North America, so I tried to incorporate hints to some of what I learned, and if I can wrangle my focus and inspiration to write more about Kirikacchako's adventures into parenthood, I'll try to show the differences in those fics/snippets as well.

Once again I have footnotes, which are not really necessary to read to enjoy the story but add flavour, you could say.

As always, comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated, but likes, kudos, and bookmarks are nice too! Hope you enjoy!

The day after her little discovery, Ochako books an appointment for that week with her ob/gyn. When she goes in a couple days later and relays the story to Dr. Houkou, they laugh heartily for a good five minutes, much to Ochako's embarrassment. [1]

"I'm terribly sorry for laughing, it really is a little amazing you didn't put the pieces together until now,” they say once they've calmed down, dabbing their eyes with a tissue.

"You can't entirely blame me," Ochako mumbles, hiding her red face. She knows Dr. Houkou doesn't mean any insult, and honestly it is a little funny, but still, she can't help but feel embarrassed for herself.

"That's true, and to tell you the truth, this is not the biggest case of lack of observation; I've heard stories of people who didn't realize they were pregnant until they went to the hospital complaining of stomach pains, when it turned out they were in labour!" [2]

"Oh gosh, I hope I would've noticed long before then!" Uneasily, she rubs her belly. "If not me, one or both of my partners.”

"I'm sure you would; from what I know of those instances, there were certain factors that led the parent-to-be to not recognize the signs, or made the signs less than obvious, which while that's evidently somewhat applicable to you, those situations were more...extreme, I suppose you could say?"

"I'm just glad the worst that's happened to me is this broken wrist," Ochako says, lifting her cast. "I forgot to ask at the hospital, but will this affect the baby at all?"

"No, it should be fine. At worst, it'll be a little slow to heal as most of your body's resources are focused on what's in your womb rather than healing your injuries, but I'm sure the extra downtime will be good for you. Oh don't pull that face, you workaholic," Dr. Houkou scolds, rolling their eyes at the poorly concealed pout Ochako has. "I know you're a busy hero, but it's important you take time to recover, especially now it's not just yourself that you need to look out for.”

"I know, it's just going to be tough," sighs Ochako. "I love helping people! After being in this field for so many years, I feel restless at the idea of not doing anything more than paperwork or small tasks, but I'll have to get used to it for the next while."

"Don't worry, before you know it, you'll be having your baby and jumping back into the fray. Now, let's figure out that due date."

~~~

"We're home!"

"Welcome back!" Ochako calls back, peeking her head over the back of the couch to smile at her partners as they make their way into their apartment. "How was work today?"

"Nothing super exciting on my end, just broke up a scuffle between a couple of rowdy yankii while out on patrols," Eijirou reports.

Katsuki huffs, evidently jealous. "Boring as shit."

"Oh calm down, you got to stop a robbery last week."

"Doesn't make this week any less boring."

Rolling his eyes, Eijirou picks up a meowing Hotaru, placing her on his shoulder as he plops down beside Ochako. He peers curiously at the various booklets and pamphlets she has scattered around her. "How about you? How'd your appointment go?"

"Well, besides giving them a good laugh when I told them how I hadn't noticed I was pregnant"—she shoots a pouty glare towards the kitchen when Katsuki snickers, but he ignores her as he starts on dinner, so she continues—"they confirmed everything's going well and that I'm probably on the tail end of twelve weeks, and we worked out my due date."

"Oh, that's awesome! When is it?"

"February 20th!"

"February, huh," Eijirou muses aloud. "We're just at the beginning of August; February seems so far away...The due date's just a guesstimate, right? So it could be born on a different day. Think it'll be a Valentine's baby?"

"I fucking hope not," Katsuki gripes. "People would probably only give them chocolate and Valentine shit for their birthday, I sure as fuck don't want our kid subjected to that."

"Hey Eiji, you think we'll have to implement a swear jar when the baby's born?" Ochako says teasingly. "Or do you think Katsuki'll manage to get his language under control before then?"

"Shut up, my language is fine."

"Sure, sure, I'm sure all of our mothers would appreciate it when one day while babysitting, our kid says ‘fuck' out of nowhere, and I'm sure it would not be much of a mystery as to who they learned that word from," Eijirou replies. [3]

The noise of Katsuki preparing dinner pauses for a moment. Ochako and Eijirou exchange knowing looks.

"...I'll work on it."

"Wary of what Mitsuki would say?"

"Hell no, that old hag can nag all she wants, she's not much better. It's your mom's disapproval I'd rather avoid," Katsuki answers, pointing at Eijirou.

"Mine? Do you mean Mom or Mama?"

"Ikane."

"Really?" Ochako questions, giving a little laugh in disbelief. "But she's such a sweetheart like Eijirou here." She reaches up to ruffle Eijirou's hair, earning a half-hearted complaint about his drooping hair spikes being messed up.

Eijirou chuckles as he gently swats her hand away from his head, petting Hotaru when she meows at him. "You haven't seen her in full mom mode. Once when I was in middle school, I said something crass without realizing while Mama was babysitting some neighbour kids, and the look she gave me could've pierced right through my Unbreakable state. Not to mention the ear twisting I got shortly after." Absently he rubs his ear, recalling the pain.

"I...suppose I can see that. If it's anything like the expression you make at villains that make you angry, it must be something."

Katsuki mutters a "you have no idea" unnoticed. For the best; he doesn't care to explain to Ochako the incident that lead to him earning Ikane's ire, however brief it was.

"Mama does like to say I inherited her passion instead of her quirk," Eijirou says with humour. "Though, speaking of; do we want to start telling people we're expecting? I mean, I know some people wait until the end of the first trimester anyway since the chances of miscarriage are pretty low after that point, so then it's pretty set in stone that a baby's on the way."

Ochako hums thoughtfully, drumming her fingers absently on Eijirou's knee. "I think I'd like to tell my parents first, but I'd prefer to do it in person or on video call. It seems impersonal to give them the news any other way."

"I wanna tell my moms right away; I just know Mama's gonna love hearing that she'll be a grandma. But I'm also excited to tell all our friends.”

"Why don't we just conference call all our parents and tell them all at once?" Katsuki proposes, scraping some vegetables he just cut up into a pot. "I know the hag'll complain if she's one of the last informed, so if we do it that way, it gets it all out of the way at the same time and I don't get my ear nagged off."

"That's...not a bad idea," Ochako says, blinking in mild surprise.

"Of course it's not, I came up with it. You make it sound like I come up with bad ideas on the regular basis."

Eijirou smirks slyly. "You mean ideas like putting too much hot sauce in your food just to prove you can take it, only to get hit by the consequences later in the bathroom, Kacchan?"

"Shut up, at least I can take it!"

"Now, now, your unfortunate dietary decisions aside, I didn't mean to imply you don't have good ideas," Ochako interrupts. Katsuki grumbles, but puts up no further argument. "I was just surprised I hadn't considered it. Since I have the next couple days off to give my wrist a little more rest, why don't I contact everyone and coordinate it?"

"Sounds like a plan! And then we can start telling all our friends and stuff!" Eijirou giddily hops in his seat, which of course disturbs the cat on his shoulder. She lets out a growl and bats at his head. "Ow, yeah, sorry Hotaru, I deserved that." He sets her down, letting her stalk off to cuddle up with Kyou who's laying in her doggie bed in the corner, touching his ear to check that she didn't scratch him.

Ochako giggles at him. "You think everyone will assume we're adopting another cat at first?"

"I mean, they might, but we only did that once with Hotaru and it was funny! I think in this instance though, I'd prefer to tell some people face-to-face first before announcing it on our social media. Mostly I wanna see Denki, Mina, and Hanta's faces when they hear the news.”

"Yeah, Dunce Face will probably flip his shit, it'll be hilarious."

"I'm excited to tell Tsuyu-chan, Tenya-kun, and Deku-kun. Oh, stop making that face, Katsuki."

"What face? I'm not making any face," Katsuki replies petulantly. "I'm not even facing you."

"Yeah, but I know you and I know you're pulling a face at the idea of involving Deku-kun, because you always do even though you two are friends now," she says, rolling her eyes. Eijirou snickers to himself.

"We are not friends, I just tolerate the stupid nerd enough to work with him on occasion."

Once again, Eijirou and Ochako exchange looks then simultaneously roll their eyes affectionately, fully aware that whatever bad blood the two had as children has long been resolved enough that they frequently trade spots on the hero rankings and collaborate on missions, all the while throwing harmless barbs and challenges back and forth. The relationship is complicated, as "friends" doesn't quite describe them, but "rivals" or "frenemies" doesn't seem right either. They're just "Deku and Kacchan", a category of their own.

"Point is," Ochako continues. "Deku-kun is my friend, and I'm looking forward to sharing the news with him. I know he's going to be very happy for all of us."

"Think he'll cry?" Eijirou asks.

"Definitely," Ochako and Katsuki answer simultaneously.

Eijirou laughs, leaning into Ochako. "You're right, dumb question. He may be better than when we were first-years, but I should know better than to underestimate the secret Midoriya secondary quirk. Now, what's all this you got here, Chako?"

Lighting up, Ochako eagerly explains the various pamphlets that cover things like her recommended diet, the baby's development, and what sort of information she needs to submit to the Health Office. Eijirou just as eagerly listens, nodding his head and asking questions, and though he's busy making dinner, she knows Katsuki has an ear on the conversation so she makes sure to talk loud enough for him to hear as well.

~~~

Coordinating the conference call with their parents ends up being a more difficult task than Ochako expects; each set of parents has different schedules and events, not to mention there's Eijirou and Katsuki's schedules to consider, so it actually takes several phone calls and emails to figure out a day and time that works for everyone. The entire time Ochako also finds herself dodging the question for why this is so important, merely explaining that their triad had some good news for them and wanted to announce it to them all at the same time. She admittedly flushes when Mitsuki teases that perhaps one of them proposed to the other two or vice versa—the idea of getting married to Eijirou and Katsuki flustering her even if they're already expecting a child—but clumsily acts coy to keep her from guessing the actual news.

After two days of back-and-forth, they finally all agree that the upcoming Friday after dinner will work for everyone, barring any emergencies. Which gives Ochako several days time to build up her excitement, but also her anxiousness. What if any of their parents don't approve? Her own parents had been rather apprehensive about her being in a poly relationship back when she first told them, but now that it's been several years with only a couple hiccups, they're happy for Ochako's happiness, but what if this changes their minds again? Sure she's a grown adult capable of making her own decisions in life, but she's always been close with her parents so she'd hate to lose that relationship over this. Mitsuki's reaction also worries her a bit, as while she does like the woman, she can be rather brash and critical like Katsuki at the most unpredictable of times.

She quietly admits this to Katsuki as they're snuggled up on the couch waiting for Eijirou to get home from a late-running patrol shift; he gruffly assures her that both his mom and dad will be ecstatic at the news, so her parents will surely feel the same, which means she has nothing to worry about. In return, he confesses feeling a little apprehensive himself regarding her and Eijirou's parents reaction to him being involved, but Ochako's quick to tell him that if she's fine, then he's fine as well because their parents all know what a good person he is and seen how wonderful and loving a partner he's been, so they should have no qualms.

Eijirou, on the other hand, seems to vibrate with anticipation with each passing day, as if the information that they're expecting is waiting to burst out of him like an explosion from Katsuki's palms. It even seeps into his aura while out doing hero work, enough that one of Ochako's sidekicks happens to take notice.

"Red Riot-san was more energetic than usual when I happened to pass by him doing patrols on my way home yesterday," Subspacer muses when Ochako stops by the office to pick up more work to do from home. "When I asked him if something good had happened on patrol, he grinned and said no, but he did get some news that made him really happy recently, but didn't elaborate further." They turn to her, head tilted curiously. "Any idea what that's about?" [4]

Ochako gives a chuckle that she hopes isn't as nervous-sounding as she feels. "Oh, I wouldn't think on it too hard...You've seen him in casual work settings, he gets excited over the smallest stuff." She does her best to maintain a smiling poker face as they eye her a moment, before they let whatever it is they're thinking go, going on to fill her in on what's happened at the office in her absence. Ochako knows they're suspicious, but mentally thanks them for not pressing the matter.

The days pass and Friday arrives without much fanfare. All three of them are antsy in their own ways during dinner; Eijirou can't seem to sit still at all, Katsuki's foot bounces restlessly, and Ochako frequently slips into her natural Kansai accent as she talks, excitement and anxiousness starting to come to a head as the promised time ticks closer. Soon enough, their dinner is eaten and cleaned up, their pets are fed, and then they're sitting on their couch with Eijirou's laptop opened up on Ochako's lap.</p>

On her right, Katsuki's phone makes a little ‘boom' noise to indicate he has a new message. "My old man says he and the hag are ready when we are," Katsuki says after checking.

Eijirou's phone dings to her left a moment later. "My moms are good to go!"

Sure enough, hers buzzes less than a minute after, and a quick glance tells her that her parents are also ready. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she smiles at both her partners, then clicks the button to start the conference call.

Eijirou's mothers are the first to pick up, but her parents and Katsuki's follow suit seconds after. It's almost overwhelming seeing six faces on the screen, but besides the big news she intends to drop during this call, this is something they've all done before in lieu of separate phone calls and emails. Besides, it's been weeks since she's seen any of them through anything besides social media, so it's nice to be able to talk to their families face-to-face, even if there's a screen separating them. Smiling brighter, she gives a little wave, Eijirou doing the same. "Hello everyone!" she greets. A chorus of greetings echoes back from their parents. "I'm glad this worked out, it's been so long since we've been able to do a group call like this!"

"The woes of adulthood and having busy jobs, right hon?" Mitsuki turns to Masaru, who nods in agreement.

"How is that new line coming along, Masaru-san? I recall Mitsuki-san mentioning before you two had a deadline this week," asks Karuko. [5]

"I've finished everything that's within my control, so now it's just a matter of waiting for the samples to see if there's anything that needs adjusting before going into full production." [6]

"That's good to hear! Considering your other work, I'm sure it'll be a success."

"Not that I don't want to hear how the rest of you are doing," Tomoe interrupts, blunt but not unkind. "I think I'd like to hear from our children, since it's often so hard to get a hold of them with their unpredictable jobs." Ikane smiles a little, apologetic for her partner's abruptness. [7]

"Aw, but we wanna hear what you're up to too, Mom!" Eijirou jokingly complains, grinning.

"She does have a point though," Saburou says. "Ochako, how's your arm? I hope you're getting proper rest so it heals properly."

Katsuki snorts. "As if either of us would let her do anything reckless on our watch."

Ochako shoots him a sharp look hidden behind a smile that says “be glad you're sitting on my injured side, because I would be giving you such a pinch right now if I could”; Katsuki simply smirks back at her. Huffing, she turns back to their families. "I promise I'm getting plenty of rest; all I've been doing the past week is paperwork, which I'm glad I can do on my laptop because it's difficult writing left-handed! I feel so antsy sitting around barely doing anything though, so at my next check-up I'll ask if it's okay to go out for runs or something."

"I understand feeling restless, but please be careful, Ochako," her mother chides worriedly. "We wouldn't want you to get hurt further."

"Agreed!" Ikane cheerfully pipes in. "As amazing as that takedown was, it wouldn't do if you were out of commission for months instead of weeks."

The trio shares a glance at that, which doesn't go unnoticed by Mitsuki. "Now what's that look for? Is that related to whatever news you had to share with us?"

"Oh that's right, you did mention having some sort of good news. Did one of you go up in rank?"

"Did you get new sidekicks?"

"Are you being recruited for another overseas assignment?"

"New sponsors?"

"Whoa, whoa, one at a time," Eijirou laughs, holding up his hands. Once their parents settle a bit, he continues, "It's not anything related to our jobs, though it will kinda affect them."

"Particularly for Ochako here," Katsuki adds, nodding to her.

Confused and curious faces stare at them, bringing Ochako's nerves back, but she steels herself; after all, what do any of them have to be unhappy about? "So, when I had told you that they didn't have anyone with a healing quirk on staff at the hospital to heal my wrist, I wasn't being honest with you. Truthfully, they did have someone there, but because of some tests they ran, they were hesitant to use the quirk on me as they weren't sure how my body would react."

In the corner of her eye, Eijirou's grin gets steadily wider, his hand gripping hers as he tries to contain himself from bouncing in his seat. With a roll of his eyes, Katsuki reaches behind her and gives his arm a gentle swat, but it does nothing to hinder Eijirou's energy. On the screen, Tomoe's eyeing them intensely, to the point that if Ochako wasn't absolutely sure her quirk doesn't work through screens or cameras, she'd almost think that she's reading their auras to try and get a bead on whatever it is they're building up to. Not for the first time, she finds herself glad she's never considered going into business law, as she'd hate to be stared down by Tomoe during negotiations or prosecutions.

"Why is that, Ochako-san?" Masaru inquires. "What did they find?"

"Well, turns out that I—"

"You're going to be grandparents!" Eijirou blurts excitedly, unable to hold himself back any longer. When Ochako and Katsuki both turn to him with fondly exasperated expressions, he at least has enough awareness to look sheepish at his outburst. "Sorry, I just couldn't wait any longer."

All their parents are quiet, faces in various levels of stunned and surprised. It's Saburou that speaks up first. "Pardon me, what?"

Shaking her head at Eijirou, Ochako turns back to the laptop. "Turns out I'm pregnant, nearly fourteen weeks now. We're having a baby!"

"Wait, really?" Mitsuki exclaims, and it seems the Urarakas are about to speak as well, but everyone's interrupted by a joyous scream that makes them all jolt.

On the Kirishima-Keshiki part of the screen, Ikane's leapt from her seat and started hopping around, still squealing happily. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, I'm going to be a grandma! Tomoe we're gonna be grandmas! Oh my god!"

"You really did get your passion from her," Katsuki observes dryly, earning a giggle from Ochako.

"She's going to be like this for a minute or two, so I'm going to mute us until she calms down so the rest of you can talk," Tomoe says, rolling her eyes fondly before Ikane's happy screams go silent, though she's still jumping around on screen.

"Your mother really does love children, doesn't she, Eijirou-kun?" teases Mitsuki.

"Oh you didn't see his reaction when Ochako told us the news, he did pretty much the exact same thing as Ikane."

"Katsukiiiii, they didn't have to know that!" Eijirou complains, flushing a bit.

"You literally just shamelessly blurted out the surprise, you have no right to be embarrassed now!"

"Boys, play nice," Ochako chides playfully, patting them both on the leg.

"While I am happy at this news," Karuko butts in, expression stuck between elated and concerned. "You said you're close to fourteen weeks along, right? That means you've been doing all that strenuous and stressful hero work. Are you sure everything is okay?"

Ochako nods, turning her gaze down and placing her uninjured hand on the bump that's become a little more prominent in the past week but is still easily hidden by her clothing. "I was really worried when I first heard the results for that exact reason, but I got a check-up at the hospital and have had two appointments with my doctor since then, and they've said I've got a healthy and hardy baby growing despite all the factors that could have made it otherwise."

Sound returns to the Kirishima-Keshiki feed, with Tomoe and Ikane settled back in their seats. "Whew, I'm sorry for my outburst, everyone," Ikane says, looking a little out-of-sorts and somewhat teary-eyed, but still positively glowing from joy. "I got a bit overzealous. But still, I'm so happy and proud of you three! To have a baby that's managed to hold on and stay healthy without you being careful means it must be fate for you to have it. Do you have an idea on which of you is the father?"

"No," Ochako's quick to answer before either of her partners could. "And I don't think we'll really know until it's born, but to be completely honest, if possible I don't think I want to know at all, because even if only one of them will be related by blood, both Katsuki and Eijirou will be raising them with me together, and I think that counts just as much if not more than whoever contributed chromosomes." She looks up again, and her eye strays over to Tomoe. There's a subtle expression of understanding and gratitude on her face, and her hand's wandered to grasp Ikane's, and Ochako knows that she sees her point more than any of the other parents on this call. "No matter what, they'll both this baby's father. No ‘real' father or bullshit like that."

Everyone's silent for a moment, stunned by the sudden conviction and seriousness in her words. She knows her partners are both staring at her, but she stays looking at the screen so that she doesn't lose her nerve. It's only when she hears a quiet sniffle beside her that her concentration breaks, but before she can turn to see what's wrong, Eijirou's got his arm around her and pulling her close, face buried in her hair.

"That was so manly," he whispers, voice a little choked up, and he presses a soft kiss to her head. "You're the best, I love you so, so much."

On her other side, Katsuki all but shoves his face into the space between her neck and shoulder, his hand gripping her bicep. He murmurs something, but she doesn't really catch what it is. While she appreciates the sudden affection, she's a bit embarrassed that it's happening with their parents right there, and she's not really sure what's brought it on. "I— Uh— What—" she stammers, stuck between looking for help from their onlookers and avoiding eye contact with them. On screen, her parents and Masaru have politely chosen to turn their attention elsewhere while Mitsuki grins, unbothered by the PDA and in fact looking oddly proud. [8]

"You're right." Ochako turns her attention to Ikane and Tomoe's feed, where Tomoe seems to be holding back giggles at Ochako's predicament but also looking away politely. Ikane, on the other hand, is watching their triad with fondness, gaze soft. "That was rude of me to say, especially when I'm fully aware that love and family aren't defined purely by blood." Her hand finds Tomoe's, and she gives it a gentle squeeze in apology. "You're going to be a wonderful mother, Ochako-chan, and I'm glad my son has such loving partners in you and Katsuki-kun."

Eijirou whines, ears turning pink as he hides his face further. "Mama, don't say things like that, I'm gonna cry more! And then Ochako will start crying because hormones, and I'll feel bad for making her cry, and then Mom might get involved—"

"Hey now."

"—and maybe Katsuki will get overwhelmed—"

"Oi, don't just assume things—!"

"Nothing wrong with some manly happy tears, Ei-chan; I know we taught you that!"

"I know, but it's still a bit embarrassing to do it in front of everyone!"

"Says one of the two currently clinging to me without shame..." Ochako mumbles.

Both Eijirou and Katsuki stiffen, realizing that yes, they're practically smothering Ochako while their parents are watching; Ochako can't move her head much in this position, but she's sure they're both starting to flush. After a moment, the two finally pull away, their heads turned to avoid eye contact with everyone.

Eijirou lets out a sheepish chuckle, ruffling his hair. "S-Sorry about that, I guess we got a bit overwhelmed and forgot about our company."

"No harm, no foul," Saburou assures gently, waving off the apology.

"Besides, it was kind of cute. It's not often I get to see my Katsuki get so emotional," Mitsuki teases.

"Shut the fuck up, old hag," Katsuki grumbles, flushing more and sinking a bit into the couch.

Masaru puts a hand on Mitsuki's shoulder when it seems like she's about to scold their son. "Be nice, you two," he chides, waiting until Mitsuki's hackles lower before looking to Ochako. "Really, we're delighted at this news, and we're happy that you've shared it with us all. I'm sure all of us parents can agree that it's not always an easy road, but we're all here for you if there's anything you should need along the way."

"Of course!" Karuko pipes up. "We'd be happy to give you advice and help whenever you need it. Now, tell us more about everything, like when are you due?"

From there, the conversation flows smoothly, starting at talks about Ochako's pregnancy and what the three of them are to expect in the future before eventually moving on to general life updates such as new projects at work or what their neighbours are up to. As the group call edges towards the two hour mark, everyone notes with amusement that Ochako's eyes have begun to droop. Ochako tries to insist she's fine when Saburou points this out, but before long her head is leaning against Katsuki's shoulder, barely able to stay up. The families all say their goodbyes, promising once again that the three of them are welcome to come to them for anything and kindly demanding to keep updated, then the call ends. Eijirou reaches over to close the laptop, taking it from Ochako's lap as he stands and chuckling when Ochako shifts to sleepily cuddle with Katsuki now that she's free to move.

Katsuki, on the other hand, rolls his eyes, though it does nothing to diminish his affectionate smirk at Ochako's drowsiness. "C'mon Ochako, let's get your ass to bed."

"Nooooo..." Ochako tiredly protests. "'m fine, yer just"—she yawns—"just warm and cozy..."

He snorts. "It was fucking thirty degrees outside today and it's not even that cold in here with aircon, why the hell do you want to be warm?"

"Shhhhh..."

"Alright then." Despite her protesting, he stands, scoops her into his arms with no more than a quiet grunt, then saunters off towards their bedroom even as she half-heartedly wiggles about. "If you behave and go to bed, you can cuddle me all you want."

"But I dun wanna go to sleeeeeeep," Ochako whines, pawing at his chest in a lazy effort to get away.

"Oi, if you don't stop wriggling around, I'm gonna drop you and it'll be completely on purpose," he warns.

"No you won', 'cause 'm pregnant, injured, 'nd cute, 'nd I know ya love me too much to drop me..."

As they enter the room, Katsuki hears Eijirou—who's getting changed into his sleepwear off to the side—laugh at Ochako's sleepy retort, so he levels a frown that says "don't encourage her" at him, even though he knows that she's completely right in that statement. He would maybe consider dropping her on her butt just to show that he won't put up with her being a little shit if she wasn't pregnant, but circumstances are not in his favour, so instead he unceremoniously deposits her on the bed, earning a squeak.

"Uncalled for..." she grumbles, pouting petulantly as she rolls to the side and hugs her pillow. "What if I hurt my wrist more?"

"I know you're not that fragile, Round Face, so don't try to guilt me."

"Eiiiijiiiii, Kacchan's bein' mean to meeee..." Rolling his eyes again, Katsuki goes to change into his own sleeping clothes.

"There, there, if you really don't wanna sleep, you can cuddle with me and watch me play some Street Fighter," Eijirou says as he slides into bed, handheld console in hand. "Do a bit of backseat gaming. How's that sound?" [9]

Ochako hums, her tired brain considering the offer. "...'Kay..."

"But first, you're getting changed out of your day clothes," Katsuki announces, tossing a set of her pyjamas on the bed. When Ochako makes no move to do so, he huffs, then reaches over and pulls her towards him, tugging gently but forcibly at her clothes. "C'mon, you're not going to be comfortable sleeping in those shorts, let alone your bra."

"Whoa, getting frisky, are we?" Eijirou teases, waggling his eyebrows with a sly grin. Katsuki responds by throwing a pillow at Eijirou, who cackles even as it hits him in the face.

Before long, Ochako's changed into her pyjamas and curled into Eijirou's side, her head resting on his chest so she can watch the screen, her cast wrist pillowed carefully. Katsuki slips in on her other side after finishing his nightly routine; instead of cuddling, however, he chooses to sit up against the headboard, reading glasses perched on his nose and a book open on his lap. Eijirou's game and the occasional turning page are the only noises in the room, until barely half an hour later, both boys glance up at a quiet snore, smiling upon seeing Ochako out cold as predicted. Eijirou lets her continue sleeping on him for a little while longer, then carefully shifts her to sleep on her proper pillow, kissing her brow softly. Katsuki sets his book and reading glasses aside as Eijirou gets up to finish his own nightly routine, shuffling down under the covers and putting an arm around Ochako, who shifts closer to his warmth in her sleep. When Eijirou returns to the room ten minutes later, he's greeted with the sight of Katsuki spooned protectively against Ochako and just as asleep as her. While not a new sight, it's one that Eijirou can never get tired of, and he can only imagine how much better it will get as Ochako's belly grows, and then when their new addition comes into the world. Quietly, he takes a picture to appreciate later, then goes to join them on the bed, leaning over Ochako to peck Katsuki on the cheek before turning off the bedside light and settling in to sleep himself.

Footnotes: [1] - This time the doctor is not named for their profession, but still named for their quirk; I had a thought a little while ago that went something along the lines of “you know people probably take on jobs that have nothing to do with their quirk all the time, why don’t we see more of that in the HeroAca world”, and so we have Dr. Houkou. Their quirk basically makes them a human GPS; their name is made up of the kanji for “direction” and “navigation”.

[2] - This is apparently a thing that has happened to some people, believe it or not. Not something that happens often, mind you, but it happens. Factors for why the pregnancies go unnoticed include the person’s weight, the size and position of the baby, and things like spotting being mistaken for light periods. Which is why if you thought I was stretching the truth too much by having Ochako not notice for three months, surprise! Reality is weirder than you think.

[3] - Me: You know Bakugou’s language in Japanese isn’t really full of swearing, it’s just very blunt and rude because Japanese doesn’t have the same equivalents to curse words so the likelihood of a child imitating his speech is unlikely.

Also me: Meh who cares, gonna write it like that anyway, it’s funnier to think about it this way.

[4] - Unlike the doctors I’ve named in this story and Tsuwari, Subspacer is a full-fledged OC of mine! I’ve given careful thought into their quirk, name, and personality, though I’ve been undecided on their age and professional status for a while. I decided to add them in as one of Ochako’s sidekicks for giggles, but if I do get around to writing more of this storyline, you’ll likely be seeing more mention of them!

[5] - Since Ochako’s parents don’t have names (truly a travesty; they’re an important part of her motivation, but they have yet to get profiles like the Bakugous or Jirous? I call unfairness), I decided to give them names. Following Horikoshi’s current naming conventions for parents—which involves separating the kanji in the children’s names and giving at least one to each parent as part of their names (i.e. Katsuki “勝己” separates to get Masaru “勝” and Mitsuki “光己”), the only exception so far being the Midoriyas as Izuku “出久” only shares kanji with his yet-to-be-seen father Hisashi “久”—I took the “茶” and “子” from Ochako’s name and searched through various kanji readings and meanings to get Saburou “茶奉郎” and Karuko “軽子”. The sa in Saburou means “tea” and an alternate reading of the kanji, while bu means “offer, dedicate” and rou means “son” (this same kanji is in Eijirou’s name; it’s a relatively common kanji for boy names). Karu means “light (opposite of heavy)” which is supposed to reference what I can only assume is the family quirk (again, we have no idea what her parents’ quirks are; I DEMAND TO KNOW HORIKOSHI), and then ko means “child” and—similar to rou being common for boy names—is pretty common for girl names.

[6] - I will admit I have no idea how the production of fashion lines work, and unlike many other things, I’m not arsed to research it for a single line of dialogue (I do that enough as it is...I’m very easily distracted) so if I’m horrendously wrong on how fashion designers work in a company, please ignore it.

[7] - I actually have come up with entire profiles for Eijirou’s mothers, but I do not have the room in the notes to go into complete detail on them on here, so feel free to read about them here instead. I unfortunately don’t draw so they don’t have ‘official’ appearances, but I’ve tried to describe them as I see them in my head as best I can.

[8] - I think it’s relatively well-known that PDA in Japan tends to get the side-eye if it’s anything more than holding hands, and while Japan as a culture does seem to be slowly getting laxer about it and this fic is set in the hypothetical future, I doubt there would be significant change, plus I’m sure they’ll still think PDA in front of one’s parents is pretty taboo. Personally I’d feel a bit shy about hugging/cuddling with my S/O in front of my family, but I’m also aroace af so what do I know, hahaha.

[9] - Just imagine the gaming console Eijirou’s using is similar to the Switch, but like...a future version. Maybe it’s not even a Nintendo product, who the heck knows what game technology is gonna be like.

I considered also writing about the trio telling their friends the same week in-universe, but all the ideas I have for that are kinda vague and I’m not really sure how to write the scenes out without seeming repetitious, or how to keep them interesting to read, so I nixed that in favour of ending at this point, especially since I’ve struggled so much to get here. Maybe that’ll be an actual snippet, but no promises, hahaha.

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #kirikacchako #katsuki bakugou #kirishima eijirou #uraraka ochako #kiribakuraka #nerufic #once again this is queued up to post during the day

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