#I know my kids can handle it and it's more fun to watch Natsu do it plus he'd throw a fit if he didn't get to do it

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 301: All My Todorokis

Previously on BnHA: We learned that when a bunch of superpowered villains are suddenly set loose with nobody around to stop them, things get fucked pretty quickly. Old Man Samurai and a bunch of other useless people decided to make “I pretend I do not see it” their new mantra, and resigned. Endeavor had a moment of despair on account of being crushed by the guilt of having ruined the lives of himself, his family, and basically everyone else in the entire world. For various reasons the heretical notion of “person who has done bad things feels sorry for doing them” sent fandom spiraling into a meltdown, so that was fun. The chapter ended with the entire Todoroki clan descending upon Enji’s hospital room to have a dramatic chat about Touya and All That General Fuckery.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “here’s the story of how Baby Touya slowly went insane trying to win his father’s love.” It’s a tale full of subverted expectations and heartbreaking inevitability, and also like twenty panels of the cutest fucking kids who ever existed on planet earth, who are so fucking cute that I can’t stop thinking about their cuteness even with all of the horrifying family tragedy unfolding around them. It is absolutely ridiculous how cute they are. Touya is out here pushing his tiny body past its limits because he inherited the same obsession as his dad and neither of them can put it aside even though it’s destroying them, and yet all I can think about is Baby Shouto’s (。･o･｡) face. Anyways what a chapter.

so I have to confess that even though I managed to avoid being caught off-guard by the early leaks, the number of people reblogging my Endeavor posts from earlier this week and using the tag “bnha 301” kind of gave me an inkling that this chapter will include more Tododrama lol. that said, I don’t know anything else about it, so we’re still good spoiler-wise

AHHHHH FLAHSBAKC AHHHH. omg I know I typoed the shit out of that, but I’m just going to leave it lol I think it’s fitting

holy shit holy fuck. so this is Rei and Enji’s first meeting, then??

yepppp, oh shit

so wait, I know this is not even the slightest bit important, but are they meeting at Enji’s home or Rei’s? because I always figured that Enji was the one with the super-Japanese aesthetic, but maybe that was Rei’s side of the family all along

(ETA: from what I found during my very brief google search, omiai meetings are often held at fancy hotels or restaurants, so maybe that’s what this is.)

there’s such a period drama feel to this setting. like it’s so outrageously formal fff how can anyone stand this kind of atmosphere though seriously

OH THANK GOD

I mean they’re still stiff af but at least they’re not rigidly sitting in seiza and staring at each other unblinkingly anymore lol. Enji’s actually got his hands in his pockets now. why is this somehow almost cute

oh damn it’s the flowers

Rei seems so subdued and it’s so hard to get any idea of what she’s actually thinking. I want to see her side of this dammit

but anyway, so at least from Enji’s perspective it seems like even though the marriage was arranged and he picked her because of her quirk, he still loved his wife and wanted to do right by her. the fact that he was watching her and noticed that she liked the flowers, and remembered that detail for all these years -- there’s a reason why Horikoshi’s showing us this. we know what’s going to happen later on; we know how much fear and violence and breaking of trust is coming up ahead, and while it may seem like this scene is serving to soften Enji’s character further -- which to be fair it is -- it also helps drive home the full impact of his abuse. that it’s so terrible not only because of the trauma of the abuse itself, but also because of the way it retroactively destroys all of the good things as well. this could have potentially been such a sweet scene, but it’s inescapably tainted by the knowledge of what’s to come, at least for me. and that’s just brutal

anyways, shit. is the whole chapter going to be like this?? feel free to toss in something I can actually make a joke about sometime, Horikoshi

oop, back to the present

omfg lol

“are you all right” “NO I’M NOT ALL RIGHT WHAT THE FUCK.” “oh, right, because of all the stuff that’s happened with me abusing you and you having a mental breakdown and being hospitalized for ten years and then our son coming back to life and killing thirty people, right, right. I almost forgot.” whoops

omfg you guys I’m loving this new and improved steely-eyed Rei. I’m loving her a lot

and what do you mean “part one” fkjds how long is this going to be. TOO MUCH DRAMA FOR ONE CHAPTER TO HANDLE

oh, hello

yeah I’ll say you did. didn’t seem to bother you much at the time, though

HMMMMMMMMMMMM

Dabi Is A Noumu intensifies even further. anyways though would you fucking look at this boy lounging on this moth-eaten couch doing his best DRAW ME LIKE YOUR FRENCH GIRLS impression wtf

Dabi what if you actually had killed him??? what would you feel?? satisfaction?? regret?? anything at all?? tell me your secrets goddammit

who are you talking to buddy

Fuyumi-chan, Natsu-kun (is it common for brothers to address each other as -kun?? can’t recall seeing that in many other anime, but hey), and “dot dot dot,,,,,, SHOUTO” lol thank you so much for this bountiful heaping of Tododrama Horikoshi we are blessed

AH, WHAT DID I SAY THE OTHER DAY

ULTIMATE MELODRAMATIC THEATER CHILD. “I’M JUST GOING TO LIE ON THIS COUCH SHIRTLESS AND ALONE AND MAKE SPEECHES TO MY FAMILY MEMBERS WHO AREN’T THERE AND SAY THINGS LIKE ‘WATCH ME IN THE PITS OF HELL’ WITH A STRAIGHT FACE BECAUSE NO ONE’S THERE TO JUDGE ME.” WELL JOKE’S ON YOU MISTER CHATTERBOX BECAUSE I AM IN FACT JUDGING THE SHIT OUT OF YOU LOL

(ETA: and on a more serious note, it’s interesting to see that “look at me”/”watch me” theme being used again though, because we see that same sentiment uttered repeatedly by the younger Touya in the flashback. well kid, you definitely got your wish at last. don’t know what else to say.)

OKAY HORIKOSHI HAS DECIDED THAT’S ENOUGH FUN, TIME FOR MORE FLASHBACKS

oh my sweet precious lord

just as cute as we left him. giving us a child this cute when we all know full well what’s going to happen to him is just unspeakably cruel though

HOMG

I’m fucking speechless. you broke me, congratulations. what am I even supposed to do with this

I can’t get over this. moving forward my life will be split into two distinct parts, B.P. (Before the Pout) and A.P. (After the Pout)

and meanwhile there’s ALL THIS BACKGROUND ANGST BUILDING UP, AND I CAN’T EVEN FOCUS ON IT. Touya’s arm and cheek are covered in bandages (I’m guessing this is shortly after that “ouch!” panel we got some chapters back), and Enji is deliberately avoiding training with him because he doesn’t want him to hurt himself further. I can’t fucking get over the irony that all this time everyone thought Touya had died because Enji pushed him too far in his training, and it turns out that it’s the opposite -- the tragedy ultimately happened because he didn’t want to push him. but I’m jumping ahead of myself though I guess

by the way,

remember this?? just wanted to remind you that it exists just in case you forgot

so now someone is talking and basically saying that Touya is the exact opposite of what Enji was hoping for when he decided to start playing with quirk genetics

-- okay hold up

...lol no, never mind. for a second I thought “holy shit he looks kind of familiar WHAT IF IT’S UJIKO OMG” before I remembered that Enji would have recognized him during the hospital capture mission if that was the case. so NEVER MIND, PROCEED

IMAGINE THAT, ENJI DOESN’T QUITE SEEM SATISFIED WITH THIS SUGGESTION OF QUITTING NOW

(ETA: how the fuck did this man go around saving 62 towns in a single day what even is All Might.)

[clicks tongue several times] trouble a’brewin’

MEANWHILE BABY TOUYA HAS UNFORTUNATELY INHERITED HIS DAD’S STUBBORN STREAK

KLDIHWOEIJFL:KSDJ

!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my god. oh my god. what is this chapter. WHAT IS IT

so now Touya is all “YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND MY MANLY DESIRE TO BURN MYSELF ALIVE” well you got her there champ

THEY’RE TOO CUTE. OH MY GOD. HIS FURIOUS LITTLE TEARS. HER CHUBBY LIL FACE. HIS STUBBY LIL FISTS. SOMEONE HELP ME

also are they just home alone lol or what. “hey Touya, you’re what, like six now?? do us a favor and look after your baby sister for a couple hours for us would you? make sure not to set yourself on fire or anything.” WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!!

now it’s nighttime and Enji and Rei are arguing, presumably about his decision not to train Touya anymore

whew. okay. so, a couple of things here

1. first of all I think this conclusively shows that Enji really was trying to do the best he could for Touya. he stopped training him as soon as he realized it was hurting him, but Touya was still determined so he tried to make it work anyway, and even visited doctors to try and figure out if there was anything they could do. then, once they were absolutely sure that it wasn’t going to work, he tried multiple times to explain to Touya why they had to stop. he didn’t just abandon him out of the blue, which is really important to note. “no matter how much I tried telling him...”

so yeah, that debunks another common fandom accusation. so by the time he finally makes this decision, which we all know is going to turn out horribly, it’s basically because he’s already tried everything else he could think of. which, by the way, still doesn’t mean he handled this right. but at the very least he was taking Touya’s feelings into account and he was trying, and he didn’t just abruptly toss his son aside (at least not yet)

2. buuuut, then there’s this panel right below all that

which is the other side of it. if he’d just quit like the doctor person advised him to, that would have been the end of it. Touya would still have been upset, but he would have eventually gotten over it and the family would have moved on and possibly even been happy. but what happens next happens because Enji can’t let go. he still has this maddening urge to surpass All Might, and so he and Rei keep having more children, and then Shouto is born, and Enji finally has a kid he can start projecting all of his hysterical ambitions onto once again, and everything starts spiraling out of control soon after

though p.s. none of that is Shouto’s fault though!! he’s one of the few good things to come out of this whole mess and I’m very happy that he exists. the tragedy is that his dad fucking lost his mind over his quirk and fucked everything up. but that’s on him, not Touya or Shouto

anyways, SLKFJLSHGLKJL

I CAN’T FUCKING TAKE THIS YOU GUYS??? LOOK AT THAT LIL BUTTON OF A NOSE??? I’M LOSING IT HERE???

AND TOUYA JUST SEEMS DEVASTATED OMG

because children aren’t stupid, after all. he understands that his dad is still looking to surpass All Might. and so he feels like a failure, and feels like his dad is trying to replace him because he wasn’t good enough. and even now, isn’t that what the adult Touya is trying to prove?? that he was good enough after all?? “I’ll show you what happens when you give up on me, dad”?? “I’ll show you what I can do”?? fuck my life fuck everything

AND YOU CAN SEE THE TOLL THAT IT’S ALL TAKING ON REI GETTING WORSE AND WORSE AS WELL OH GOD

really nice touch here with the panel outlines becoming all shimmery from the heat of Endeavor’s flames (and/or becoming more unstable as the family gets closer and closer to their breaking point). but man, Horikoshi I can’t handle this, please show us more cute kids or something I can’t

GKELKWFJLDKSHFLKL

WITTLE BABE. BEEB. BUBS. SMOL. lkj; oh ouch a piece of my heart just detached and latched onto him huh look at that

TODOROKI “I’M SO SMALL AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT’S GOING ON AND I DIDN’T ASK TO BE HERE” SHOUTO AHHHHH

crazy how they all just seem to know right off the bat lol. kid doesn’t even have object permanence yet, let alone a quirk. but do they care?? IT’S THE HAIR, RIGHT. WE’RE ALL THINKING IT, I’M JUST GONNA COME OUT AND SAY IT. they knew the minute they looked at him lol

AND MEANWHILE TOUYA IS OFF HAVING UNSUPERVISED TRAINING/CRYING SESSIONS IN THE MOUNTAINS OR WHATEVER, AND, UH OH

are those blue flames yet?? they seem pretty close

(ETA: this is one of the few cases where the manga being in black and white is infuriating lol.)

OH MY GOD AND STILL

so it’s not like he was so disinterested that he didn’t notice what was happening, and he was still trying to stop it and get through to him. trying to reassure him that it wasn’t the end of the world and there were other things he could do with his life, but this one particular thing just wasn’t going to happen

fucking hell. it’s agonizing seeing how close they actually were to fixing it. if he’d only said the right words, or if he’d realized at this point how destructive his obsession could be to his kids, and backed off from putting that same pressure on Shouto. we came so close to possibly having a happy ending

AND ALSO THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING BUT PLEASE LOOK AT HOW TOUYA IS LIKE THREE AND A HALF FEET TALL AND HIS DAD IS LIKE NINE AND A HALF FEET. Touya barely comes past his knees flkjlkg. the Todoroki household must have been so filled with like plastic stepstools to reach the bathroom sink and all the little baby toothbrushes, and baby gates to keep the kiddos out of the important grown-up rooms and stuff. and also days-old half-empty cups of water and stale crackers and hot wheels and my little ponies strewn everywhere

“BUT EVERYONE AT SCHOOL SAYS THEY’RE GONNA BE HEROES” a wild Deku parallel appears?? how bout that

I know this is like a pivotal moment in the Todo Tragedy and all, but fucking look at this lil dumpling

“sup bro, it’s me, the manifestation of your fears of inadequacy and lack of fatherly affections. a GAAA. ba-baAA-baa [gurgling baby sounds]”

OHHHHH IT’S THE SOUND OF MY HEART BREAKING OH NO

HE WANTS TO BE LIKE YOU ENJI. good lord somebody please just get this family some therapy

“DAD YOU IGNITED IT IN ME” flkjslkj nope, nope. not ready for this pain here

baby Shouto, would you like to weigh in on this affair? “DA!! ba-ga-daaa, [pacifier chewing noises]” oh my, you don’t say. so insightful for one so young

OH MY GODDDDDD

IT’S SO DRAMATIC BUT ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT ARE THE SHOUNEN WOOSH LINES SURROUNDING FOUR-MONTH-OLD SHOUTO LOL HE WAS LIKE THIS FROM BIRTH OH MY GOD I AM DYING HELP

SHOUTO YOU’RE RUINING THIS ENTIRE CHAPTER!?!?!

“yo, the fuck kind of family was I fucking born into” oh, son. if you only knew. IF YOU ONLY KNEW!!

(ETA: lmao I got so distracted by the ridiculous cuteness that I glossed over the fact that Baby Touya seems to possibly be aiming at him?? it’s hard to tell because he’s also super out of it from heatstroke and may just be losing control in his attempt to show off his upgrade.)

ANYWAY THAT’S THE END EXCEPT WHAT’S THIS LAST LINE OMG

ffffff. and we’re in for ANOTHER chapter of this next week?? MORE drama?? MORE BABIES?? MORE OF EIGHT-YEAR-OLD TOUYA’S SLOW DESCENT INTO MADNESS. MY HEART CAN’T TAKE IT, BUT ALSO YES PLEASE SIGN ME UP

[jekde04]

Hide and Seek

For Gruvia Week 2021: Day 3 - Discovery

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 4

Pairing: Gruvia (Gray Fullbuster & Juvia Lockser) Fandom: Fairy Tail Genre: Romance/Humor Word Count: 4,424 words Summary: It was safe to say that this wasn't the way Gray envisioned revealing their relationship to anyone. You may also read it on FanFiction.net and AO3! Check out my master list for other Gruvia fics.

The smell of curry wafted through his bedroom before he heard her call his name.

"Gray-sama! Lunch is ready!"

Really, he would have been happy with a couple of caramade franks delivered to his doorstep. But Juvia would hear none of it, saying he ought to eat healthier homecooked meals whenever he could—an indirect way of telling him that she would cook for him every chance she got. And even though Gray protested that Juvia was unnecessarily tiring herself out, she was the type of person who would go through all the trouble to make him happy. Even if that meant cooking a full meal of his favorite food the day after she just got back from a week-long mission.

Clad only in his boxers, Gray got up from his bed and made his way to his apartment's dining area. It wasn't much, just a square wooden table large enough to seat two people (or four, if you cramp them in). He watched as Juvia—wearing only his shirt that looked too large on her delicate frame—prepared the table, making sure to put extra curry sauce over his rice like she knew he loved.

Juvia moved her chair to the corner of the table so that she was sitting next to him, their arms and knees touching.

"Tsk! Why are you sitting so far from me?" Gray grumbled, pretending to be annoyed.

Juvia glanced at him, confusion evident on her face. "What is Gray-sama talking about? Juvia is almost on your lap." Even so, she moved closer to him so that they were almost squished together.

"But you're not."

With a mischievous smile playing on his lips, Gray picked Juvia up like a plushie and sat her on his lap. She shrieked and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Now that's better," he grinned, one arm around her waist and another across her lap, his fingers palming her exposed guild mark.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia scolded him, a healthy shade of pink blooming on her pale cheeks. "Juvia and Gray-sama should be eating. We already skipped breakfast!"

"So?" He ignored her weak protests as he tightened his hold on her waist and buried his head at the crook of her neck, leaving a wet kiss just below her ear. He could feel her fingers gripping the hair on his nape as he trailed kisses down her neck.

"Gray-sama..."

It was supposed to be a plea to let her go, but it came out huskier than Juvia intended, causing a tightness in Gray's boxers. With all the energy she could muster, Juvia pushed him away and cradled his head between her hands so that she could look him in the eyes.

"Gray-sama needs to eat so he can have more energy—" she kissed him on the lips—"to satisfy Juvia." She sported a sweet, innocent smile, but there was an unmistakably playful glint in her eyes.

Gray smirked. "Am I not satisfying you, huh?" He kissed her hard before she could even answer, and Juvia tried her best not to melt into a puddle right then and there.

"You are," Juvia said between kisses. "But Gray-sama and Juvia need to eat. Our last meal was last night."

"But I only want to eat you," Gray whispered as he nibbled at her ear, his hand sliding dangerously between her legs. Juvia tried to protest, but her voice came out so weak as Gray trailed kisses on her cheek and covered her mouth with his.

A couple of knocks made both of them jump.

"Are you expecting someone, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked, finally getting a chance to pull away, but not enough to completely escape.

"No," Gray mumbled. He couldn't care less as he continued planting wet kisses on Juvia's cheeks, down to her jaws and neck. If he ignored whoever was at the door, that person would surely go away.

A louder set of knocks pounded on his door.

Collecting as much willpower as she could possibly get (given that Gray was practically lapping her up like a cold popsicle on a blazing hot day), Juvia hopped off Gray's lap and straightened herself.

"Gray-sama should answer that."

"C'mon, Juvs," Gray whined, hating how she was suddenly out of his reach. He tried grabbing her wrist, but she quickly pulled her hands to her chest and pointed towards the door. He felt the urge to punch whoever was on the other side.

That bastard won't even know what's coming.

Sighing, Gray started to make his way towards the door when a barrage of knocks once again threatened to take his door off the hinges. It was followed by a voice that sent a chill down his spine.

"Open up, Fullbuster!"

It only took a second for Juvia to recognize the familiar voice and cover her mouth with her hands.

"Erza-san? What's she doing here?"

"How would I know? I told her I was sick!" Gray said, careful not to raise his voice. Not only did he lie to Erza and his whole team so that he could skip their mission—he did it so he could spend time with Juvia, his secret girlfriend for about a month now. After all, she just got back from a mission herself, and they had barely spent three full days with each other since they got together as they were whisked away to mission after mission—he with Team Natsu and she with Gajeel and Lily.

For goodness' sake, they deserved their 'alone time' together. And by that, he meant getting away from the prying eyes of his guildmates.

It wasn't like anyone would be disappointed to learn that he and Juvia were going out. In fact, he was quite sure he would have to endure merciless teasing from pretty much everyone in the guild for at least a couple of weeks when they found out about them.

It was just that with Juvia right here—in his home, wearing only his shirt and her skimpy lacy panties that barely covered her bum—it was safe to say that this wasn't the way he envisioned revealing their relationship to anyone.

"Gray! We brought food." It was Lucy this time.

He took a deep breath. Okay, you just have to show them you're fine and they'll leave you alone. Turning to Juvia, he said, "Hide. In my room. Now."

Juvia nodded and noiselessly scurried off to Gray's room. Though hiding their relationship for the meantime was more of Gray's idea than hers, she definitely didn't want to reveal it by getting caught half-naked in his apartment.

Another series of pounding brought Gray's attention back to his front door. "Gray, I swear if you don't open this right now, I will—"

Gray opened the door and came face to face with a worried Lucy and a frowning Erza, both carrying huge brown paper bags brimming with snacks and fruits.

"Thanks for visiting, but I'm fine. You can go," Gray said in a flat tone. Well, if he wanted to continue his make-out session with his girlfriend, he better get down to business right away and cut his friends' visit as short as possible.

"Hello to you, too," Erza answered the cranky ice mage. Without being invited in, she sidestepped Gray and walked straight to the kitchen, setting down the paper bag she was carrying. Lucy followed, muttering, "Geez, thanks for the warm welcome," and started taking out the food they brought with them.

"Seriously, what are you two doing here?" he asked as he followed them into the kitchen.

"We're being good friends, dummy," Lucy answered him. "You're sick, so we thought we'd make sure you're okay."

"Well, I'm okay. You didn't have to go out of your way for this."

"And just let you starve to death?" Erza asked. Everyone knew Gray couldn't cook an egg to save his life. She found a box of medicines in the grocery bag and tossed it to Gray.

"That doesn't seem to be the case, though," Lucy quipped, her hand holding a barely eaten bowl of curry. "Someone must have already stopped over to cook for Gray."

Gray gulped and tried his best to keep a straight face.

"You know, this tastes like the curry Juvia cooks for us in Fairy Hills," Erza remarked after tasting the dish, a crease forming on her brows.

Oh no, Gray thought. How did Juvia's name come up all of a sudden? And how the hell would he steer the conversation around? His mind drew up a blank, fixated on the fact that Juvia was just a few feet away from being found and he couldn't do a single thing about it.

"Did Juvia drop by this morning to bring you food, Gray?" Lucy asked in a teasing tone, a naughty glint in her eyes.

"Y-yes! Yes, that's what she did!" Gray answered, a little too eagerly. "And then she left right away. For a mission. For three days. Yeah, that's it. She won't be back for three days." Mentally, he thanked Lucy for giving him that perfectly plausible scenario.

"Really? I'm surprised she didn't insist on taking care of you," Erza said. Gray smirked as he remembered all the ways Juvia took care of him since last night.

"Yeah, that's so unlike Juvia, isn't it?" Lucy said, her hand cradling her chin like she was deep in thought. Her eyes shot up to Gray, making beads of sweat form on his forehead. "Are you sure you're not hiding her in your apartment?"

"W-what?!" A furious blush adorned Gray's cheeks. "Why would you think that?!"

He must have looked so exasperated as both girls broke into a fit of laughs.

"I'm just kidding, Gray. You're so fun to tease," Lucy said, while Erza placed her hand on his forehead and said, "I think your fever shot up again."

"Sh-shut up," Gray said, swatting Erza's hand and reverting to his usual poker face. He took a seat and grabbed one of the plates, taking a mouthful of rice in his mouth. Now that Juvia wasn't within arm's reach, he was starting to feel hungry. After all, it had been more than 12 hours since he last ate.

And Juvia, too.

"Look, I'm grateful for all your help, but I'd really like to be alone and rest," he said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "I can totally handle myself."

"Aww, don't be like that! We were just teasing you," Lucy said as she sat next to him. She took the other plate of curry and started eating. "This is really good! I haven't tasted Juvia's curry before."

Noticing that Lucy was eating Juvia's share, Gray blurted, "Don't eat that!"

Lucy just rolled her eyes. "Chill lover boy, there's more than enough here for everyone."

"Can't believe you're not just overprotective of Juvia. You're also super protective of her food," Erza taunted as she got her own plate and started putting food on it.

Gray sighed. What should I do to make these two leave?

"Yeah, you're all protective but you're not doing anything about it. Juvia is a patient girl, but you never know when she'd get tired of waiting for you."

"Might be soon." Gray glowered at Erza, but she ignored him and added, "Mira saw her giggling and blushing at her lacrima several times while we were on a mission."

"Come to think of it, you're sick, yet she left on a three-day mission?" Lucy surmised and Erza nodded. "Perhaps she already found someone who would actually appreciate her."

Gray balled his fists under the table. Even though his friends had no idea that he was actually the one Juvia was talking to via lacrima during their mission, he couldn't help but feel a bit mad that they would think Juvia's affections would sway that easily.

"Juvia would never betray me," he snapped before he could even think.

"Betray you?" Lucy raised her eyebrows.

"Why would you call it betrayal? Is she your girlfriend?" Erza narrowed her eyes at him.

"Juvia's not my girlfriend! I don't care about her!" Gray blurted.

It was really more out of impulse than anything else, but he immediately regretted his words when he heard a loud crash from his bedroom.

"What was that?" Erza asked, a sword suddenly materializing in her hand. Lucy grabbed her keys, and both girls stood up and went to the direction of Gray's bedroom.

Oh, fuck.

Gray jumped in front of the two girls with outstretched arms, blocking their way. "Calm down! I'll go check it."

"No, you stay here," Erza said in that no-nonsense tone that would have normally made Gray freeze on the spot, if Juvia's life (and their secret relationship) weren't on the line. He grabbed her arm.

"That's my bedroom, okay? I'll check and you'll both stay here."

It all happened so fast. One moment he was holding onto Erza's arm, and the next thing he knew, she had escaped from his grasp and was heading towards his bedroom just as Lucy turned the knob...

"Stop!"

"Gotcha!" Lucy yelled as she barged into Gray's bedroom, the requip mage right behind her. Erza's eyes darted from the bed to the closet to the tightly shut windows, like a predator looking for its prey. Lucy pulled back his messy sheets and opened his cabinet with a vigor that he seldom saw in the woman. Why does she look so excited?

There was no trace of any living creature anywhere.

A wave of relief washed over Gray when the two women stopped rummaging around his room. Still, he couldn't shake off his worry as he thought of his girlfriend. Did she just manage to hide so well? Or was she attacked? Just the thought of someone laying a hand on Juvia made his stomach turn to knots.

"How could this fall for no reason?" Lucy wondered aloud as she picked up the intact plastic lamp on the floor right beside the bed. She also sneaked a peek under the bed, making Gray's heart thump loudly. But the frown on her face as she got up made it clear that she didn't find anyone there, either.

Sighing loudly, Gray said, "Alright, show's over. No one's here, so get out of my room and let me fix some stuff here." Erza and Lucy exchanged quick glances but didn't resist when Gray pushed them out of his room and slammed the door.

Alone at last, his eyes swept across his disheveled room. "Juvia, where are you?"

"In here, Gray-sama."

A small puddle leaked from under his bed, materializing into Juvia's body. She's safe. He pulled her up towards him.

"Great thinking. I really thought they're gonna catch us. Are you hurt?" Gray asked as he inspected her body. She didn't seem hurt or anything.

"Juvia's okay. She was just caught off guard so she accidentally toppled your bedside lamp." She smiled, but one look at her despondent eyes showed that it wasn't as simple as that. Something was bothering her.

"Was it... because of what I said?"

Honestly, Gray didn't mean anything by it. Saying that Juvia wasn't his girlfriend and that he didn't care for her that way had always been his default defense whenever he was being teased about her. And now it became a habit that wasn't easy to shake off.

When she didn't answer, he sighed. "Come on, you know what I said wasn't true. I just said those things to get them off my back." He captured her hands in his. "I'm sorry."

Smiling at him, she replied, "Juvia understands. Gray-sama should go outside, or Erza-san and Lucy-san would get suspicious."

She still had that forlorn look on her face, which reminded him of how much convincing he had to do when he first bared his feelings for her.

"Juvia's sorry for doubting you, Gray-sama. It's just that he has denied Juvia's love for so long that she finds this all hard to believe. What if she wakes up one day and realizes this isn't real?"

That was when he realized that even though Juvia took his rejections in stride, his words still cut her. He then promised himself to treat her better, not just in actions but also in words.

Even if she was the only one who heard it. She was the only one that mattered, anyway.

Gray moved his hands to her cheeks, cradling her face as they locked eyes. "Hey, you know me, right? You know how I really feel about you?"

Juvia nodded, but he knew the doubts still lingered.

"I love you, Juvia."

And even though he had lost count of how many times he already told her that, her eyes still shone with the same sparkle they had back when she heard those words for the first time.

"Juvia loves you too, Gray-sama."

He gave her a gentle kiss, which would have been perfect and magical were it not for a low grumble coming from Juvia's stomach. She giggled. "Sorry. Juvia's starving."

Gray opened his drawer and handed her a couple of candies. "It's the only edible thing I have here now, but I promise I'll make them leave right away so we can eat together, alright? Just stay quiet." He stole another quick kiss from his girl before he left, careful not to open the door too much.

He found Erza and Lucy huddled together on his couch, keeping their voices low as they talked. When the celestial mage noticed him approaching, she cleared her throat and said, "Hey Gray, are you feeling better already?" She walked towards him and caught his face between her hands, turning his head whichever way and inspecting his body as if looking for some wound or scratch or something.

That was weird alright, but he decided to shrug it off and just focus on the task at hand: kick his annoying friends out of his house.

"I'm good. Get off me," he answered, swatting her hands away. Moving right between the two girls, he draped his arms over their shoulders. "You know, I really appreciate your concern over me, but I can handle myself." He started pushing them towards the door. "I really, really, really want to rest a bit more though—" just a few more steps and he could already reach his front door—"so please leave."

Just when he was about to open the door, the redhead spun around and glared at him. "Hold it. Why are you so anxious to kick us out of your house?"

He froze. "W-well, I told you I'm okay already..."

"Are you sure?" Lucy said, facing him as well. She placed her hand on his forehead and pulled back immediately. "You're burning up!"

"No, I'm not."

He couldn't understand why they kept walking closer and closer to him with an excited look in their eyes. Taking huge steps back until he was almost right outside his bedroom door, he felt like a small kitty getting cornered by two hyenas.

Two crazy, vicious hyenas.

"Perhaps we could give you a sponge bath?" Lucy purred.

"Oh yes, just like when we were kids. I'm sure it'll make you feel all better," Erza added.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?!"

Before Gray could make a run for it, his bedroom door slammed open and a furious Juvia swooshed past him, pinning the two women to the opposite wall.

"LOVE RIVALS!"

But instead of getting scared by the dark aura coming from the water mage, Lucy clapped her hands and let out a delighted squeal. Erza, on the other hand, looked like she had saucers for eyes as she stared right back at the girl glaring daggers at them.

"I knew it!" Lucy yelled. She pointed to Juvia, then Gray. "You two..."

"So, the rumors are true..." Erza muttered to herself, still not believing what she was seeing.

Gray sighed. There was no use hiding things now. And he better do something before his girlfriend water slices two of his best friends.

"Alright, fine." He walked towards them and pried Juvia away from the two girls. "Juvia and I, we're together. Happy?"

That seemed to snap Juvia out of her jealous rage as her head whipped towards Gray. "Gray-sama?"

Lucy let out another squeal, cheeks pink with giddiness. "It's about time! But—" She punched Gray's bare arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"You didn't ask! It's not like I can just blurt it out in the middle of a conversation!"

"Of course you can!" Another punch. "How can you hide this huge thing from us? If Natsu hadn't told us, we wouldn't even know!"

"Natsu-san?" Juvia asked. "Did Gray-sama tell Natsu-san about us? Gray-sama told Juvia not to tell Gajeel-kun," she pouted.

"I didn't tell him, I swear! Why the hell would I tell that idiot about us?"

"Natsu overheard you talking to Juvia on your lacrima," Erza explained as she straightened her blouse and skirt. "Believe it or not, he was able to put two and two together and figure out that you two were dating."

She then narrowed her eyes at Gray. "And of course, it helped that he heard everything, Gray."

Juvia turned a bright tomato red, her hands flying to cover her mouth. Gray blushed, remembering the nights he spent during their last mission sneaking out of his and Natsu's tent, calling Juvia in secret just to ask her how she was doing. His flush deepened as he also remembered the not-so-innocent conversations he shared with Juvia when he thought everyone was asleep.

Damn that dragon slayer's hearing!

"There's just one thing I want to know," Erza said in her serious tone, which made both Gray and Juvia straighten. She cleared her throat. "Juvia... Gray didn't... forcefully take your flower, right?"

Gray, Juvia, and Lucy all turned as red as Erza's hair. Even Erza looked like she wanted to withdraw her very suggestive question as she couldn't stop the blood rushing to her face.

"Do you really have to ask, Erza?" Lucy whispered, her eyes fixed intently on the floor, finding it interesting all of a sudden. "I mean, just look at them..."

Gray gave out an indignant "Hey!" while Juvia literally had steam come out of her ears as she tried to cover her burning face with her hands. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to wear Gray's boxers before storming out of his room, although Gray wasn't sure that the sight of them—him wearing only his boxers and Juvia wearing his clothes and not hers—could salvage their situation.

"W-well, o-of course I had to ask!" Erza reasoned amid her embarrassment. "I know I taught Gray how to respect women, but if he took advantage of Juvia in any way, I would—"

"Calm down, Erza-san," Juvia said, regaining her composure as she touched the requip mage's arm to try to diffuse the sinister aura starting to emanate from her. "Juvia swears that Gray-sama has been nothing but a gentleman to Juvia."

"Yeah, how could you even think I would take advantage of Juvia?" Gray asked, slightly offended. "We're both consenting adults and we know what we're doing!"

"And I am glad to know that." Erza firmly patted Gray's back, and he thought he was going to cough up blood from the impact.

"So..." Lucy teased, poking Juvia's cheek and smirking. "You two are doing it, huh? You owe us details on our next sleepover, Juvia!"

"Lucy-san!" an embarrassed Juvia exclaimed, once again burying her scarlet face in her hands. Lucy laughed, mumbling something about finally not being falsely accused of being a love rival anymore.

Now that everything was out in the open, Gray cleared his throat and hollered, "Okay, now that we're all good, can you leave us alone now?" He escorted the two girls towards the door once again, and this time, they complied without any protests, finally leaving the couple to their much-awaited alone time.

Gray slumped on his couch. "I'm sorry about all that, Juvia."

"It's not your fault, Gray-sama," Juvia said as she sat beside him and rested her head on his outstretched arms, Gray instinctively pulling her closer. "The whole guild would most likely know about Gray-sama and Juvia before this day ends."

"Yeah."

Juvia sneaked a peek at Gray. "Is Gray-sama okay with that?"

"Well, it's bound to come out sooner or later, right?" Gray answered nonchalantly.

"Juvia is sorry."

Gray looked at his girlfriend, surprised to see her looking a bit down, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "Why?"

He barely caught what she whispered. "Juvia knows Gray-sama doesn't want anyone to know."

And then, it hit him.

Taking her hand in his, he lifted her chin with his other hand so that she could look at him. "Did you seriously think I'd keep you a secret forever?"

When she didn't reply, he continued. "It's not that I didn't want anyone to know. I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it, announcing it and everything. I thought it would come out naturally, like people would just notice. And I certainly didn't want them to find out this way," he said as he gestured towards their half-naked forms.

Juvia giggled. "Gray-sama probably should not have called Juvia during his mission."

"As if you won't call me," he smirked.

"Juvia just didn't want Gray-sama to miss her too much," Juvia said as she nuzzled closer to him.

"Is that so? But I clearly remember a certain someone jumping into my arms the moment she saw me and telling me how much she missed me."

"And she definitely heard a certain someone say that he missed her, too," Juvia retorted, eyes gleaming at him. "He couldn't even get his hands off Juvia..."

"Hey—"

Juvia shut him up by pressing her lips on his for a long, loving kiss. When they finally went up for air, Gray whispered, "How about we continue where we left off earlier?"

"You mean our late lunch?" Juvia asked innocently.

"Not hungry." But just as Gray said that, his stomach grumbled.

"Oh, really?" Juvia cocked her eyebrows. "Come on, Juvia's hungry, too." With that, she dragged him towards the kitchen, leaving no room for complaints.

Gray let Juvia lead the way, watching her hair flowing down her back like soft ocean waves, all the way down to her long, flawless legs. He smiled.

"Alright. But I'm having you for dessert."

A/N: This came out WAY later than I expected. It was one of those stories that started out really good in my head, but the actual writing process turned out to be a pain in the neck. Now I'm just embarrassed to tag this as Gruvia Week 2021 because I'm more than a month late, lol. But I still would because I'm shameless like that, haha.

[genesisrose74]

Christmas With the Karasuno Boys (HC’s)!!

Part 2: Kageyama, Hinata, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Kinoshita, & Narita

Part 1 (Daichi, Suga, Asahi, Nishinoya, Tanaka, & Ennoshita) here!

A/n: Tumblr said my word count was too much so I’m splitting this bad boi up into two parts :p Enjoy!!

*****

Kageyama

This boy has a secret soft side for Christmas istg

He HATES showing it to other people on his team and shit

But holy bejeezus he is mesmerized by the holiday in every way possible

Lights, sweets, snow, just like,,, the general magic of December is the most awe-inspiring thing to him

Since he is still a sporty and pretty active mofo, you decided to fuel that on your holiday-themed date as Kags had noted that he’d never gone sledding before

Your jaw was on the FLOOR when he first told you because he would 10000% enjoy the hell out of it

And so you dragged him out to this popular sledding hill that you frequented as a child and taught him what to do

Not gonna lie, he was kind of nervous

“Well you’re experienced at it. I don’t wanna mess up”

🥺🥺🥺 bubby

“You won’t, Tobio! I can already tell you’re gonna be a sledding pro”

Feels a little better after that, but he asks you to help him out for his first run down the hill

He sits behind you with his arms secured snugly around your waist and his head nestled on top of your shoulder

Which would probably seem really funny to passerby because this boy is tol and intimidating in most other situations

As soon as the sled started down, Kags tightened his grip and made this cute little yelp of surprise

But you were laughing insanely hard at the combination of going really fast downhill whilst also having your boyfriend cling to you for dear life

And then when the sled stopped safely at the bottom he started to chuckle

FULL ON, GENUINE SOUND OF ENJOYMENT

That shit is rare

Y’all stayed at that hill for half the day because it was so fun

You got him a new, very high quality athletic roller for Christmas because his old one was just not cutting it anymore

And you also gave him this really cute bracelet with a volleyball, his jersey number, and a little strawberry milk set of charms attached to it

It matched this really pretty and subtle chain he’d bought for your birthday

His blueberry eyes got all wide with affection dfjdskfjsdk—

Got super blushy and couldn’t get a handle on his speech for a fat minute

He thinks you’re the coolest person ever no I do not take criticism

Geez you’re both adorable together, ideal “stoic boy becomes warmer during the holidays around his love” movie plot and I love it

Hinata

He is all in on Christmas. Not a chance this boy doesn’t get excited as hell

Will openly go into holiday mode as soon as November is over

Was secretly already listening to his Christmas playlist before then

He is one of the sweetest gift givers, that is FACTUAL

If you want something really badly, he will take notice and get it as your present immediately

He’ll also gift you an extra thing that’s handmade 🥺

Like some pastries that his mom helped him make, or a specially made basket of soaps with your favorite scents in it

It’s absolutely adorable and you cherish those ones especially

Is happy if you simply get him something; mans doesn’t care what it is

New practice volleyball? A brand new sweatshirt? Elated either way

You had seen an advertisement for a friendly match between Japan and Poland’s men’s volleyball teams, so you waited online on the ticket sales website until the minute it opened

Spoiler alert: you got some banger seats 😌✨

Shoyo may or may not have tackled you when he read the ticket details, letting out his excited giggle (you know the one)

“I can’t believe you got these, angel! You’re coming with me, right? You’ve gotta! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Gives you sweet little kisses between each individual ‘thank you’

“Of course I’ll go with you, Sho! I’m really glad you like it!”

He will give you the brightest smile of all time — that shit makes Christmas lights pale in comparison

“Have I told you how much I love you?”

RIGHT BACK AT YOU BBY

Hold his hands to warm up together when temperatures drop pls :)))

It’s become a weekly December tradition to watch a Christmas movie with Natsu at the Hinata household

She’ll sit in your lap while the three of you are cuddled under a blanket together, and Shoyo will lace his fingers with yours all discreetly

In conclusion, I am a sucker for holiday Hinata 🥺🥺🥺

Tsukishima

His room is decorated to the very minimum simply because his mom and brother had insisted on him being festive

You know those holiday instrumentals that are really calming and jazzy and stuff? Yeah, that’s the only Christmas music he will tolerate in his house

While he’s still got his usual icy demeanor, this blond bitch does get slightly less snippy with the Karasuno boys

Is always on the nose with getting you the exact thing you wanted for a present

Like,,, TO THE SMALLEST DETAIL

You don’t even have to bring that shit up beforehand, he just KNOWS

“Tsukki, how did you—?”

“It’s pretty obvious, with the way that one ad kept showing up on your phone.”

b r u h

How does he pay such good attention without even letting on??

As for his own present, you’ll usually get him two: one gag gift and one more serious gift

His dino plush collection size is partly due to the former’s contributions this time of year

Yes the dinos have names

You exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve with all the team (you made him go) and he saved your more serious one for last

It was a scarf that you’d gotten custom made, which had a Spotify code knitted into the fabric

Scanning the code opened the app to a playlist you’d created especially for him

He got pretty quiet when figuring it out and scrolling through the playlist

Would let out a certified Tsukki Nose Exhale™ when he came across certain songs

The more subdued reaction was expected because it’s Tsukishima

His little chuckles and warmer eyes were enough of a giveaway to tell you he very much enjoyed your gift

But on the walk home, he took the scarf and wrapped it around you both, and then brought his arm around your waist

“Thank you.”

You deadass almost combusted because it was so unexpected??

“You’re welcome. Merry Christmas, Kei”

Way to respond calm and collected 😌👍

But on the inside your body was in freak out mode

He wears the scarf all the time jdfsklfjdsk

Yamaguchi

Take the most tooth rotting fluff you could imagine

And then double that and put a fucking cherry on top

That’s the equivalent of what Christmas is like with Yama Yama

Y’all are like kids in a candy store — literally

For your Christmas dates it’s all about sweets and shared giggles, so frequent trips to the candy and baking isles of the grocery store is a must

Making gingerbread houses, peppermint tasting (mostly trying those different and wild ass candy cane flavors), you name it and it’s there

Stomach aches? I don’t know her

Yeah you do but they go away with enough butterfly kisses 🥰

Tadashi is exceptionally good at decorating gingerbread houses for whatever reason

He put a poll on his instagram between yours and his final products and he won by a landslide

It’s not like yours was necessarily bad, more like he’s just an icing master

You also might have eaten too many gumdrops which left your rooftop lacking in ✨spice✨

But it’s okay because Tadashi donated some of his leftovers to you

He’s such a sweetheart uwu

Please for the love of everything get him something heartfelt as his present

You know those long distance bracelets for couples?

Basically if your s/o taps the icon on the bracelet it’ll send a little vibration to the other person’s as a notice that you’re thinking about them

This boy seeks constant reassurance, and you love to give him his deserved love and validation, so it was the perfect present

It takes a second for him to figure out what it is, but after reading the directions and testing it out, the most adorable smile erupted on his face

And then since you already had yours on, he tapped the little icon again with a giggle

“Hey there”

It becomes common habit to tap it at least once every couple hours

GOD HE IS SO CUTE

He is just so soft this time of year, give him all the love and he will return it tenfold ☺️

Kinoshita

This boy is absolutely an awkward cutie and an avid romantic

Give him the cliches and he will eat em up, no doubt

It naturally gets more apparent around the holidays

He’ll take you on pretty winter walks, give you lots of little gifts (while blushing a hell of a lot), and is just a professional at stumbling upon some mistletoe

Wow wonder how it got there, Hisashi

He’s quite a bit more confident when simply alone with you than in a crowded space

And that definitely shows when he takes you out on a secluded sleigh ride around town

Yeah you heard me

A fuckin’ sleigh ride

Horses and blankets and everything

Don’t even ask how he managed to pull it off, because he loves watching the cogs turn in your head and simply will not give you a straight answer

Of course there’s the nice driver guy who’s there, but in the back alone Kinoshita’s confidence goes 📈📈

Lots of flirting, tons of skimmed touches and shared giggles throughout the ride

I legitimately simp really hard for him

Anyways it was a gorgeous ride through town and super fun

On Christmas Eve you both exchange gifts together and tbh whatever you got him will leave him happy and flustered regardless

But when he opens the wrapping paper to find an entire set of vintage VHS tapes, he’s stunned

He owns a VHS (actually canon!) and honestly loves it to death, and the fact that you’d get him tapes of pretty high quality for his collection meant a lot

Gosh he’s so underrated but a definite sweetheart, give him all the holiday love

Narita

Another underrated bby 🥺

He’s so chill and is pretty open to anything during the holidays, so long as he gets to spend ample time with you, his friends, and his family

Definitely more of an indoor person despite being accepting of most situations

Hence why you thought a cute little indoor winter picnic would be right up his alley

Which it absolutely was 😌✨ nice work

You’d made plans while in secret communications with his family members about the whole thing

He’d been pretty stressed lately with trying to handle his schoolwork, while also helping out others with theirs

Despite being a wonderful tutor, it was clearly becoming a bit overwhelming as he tried to grapple with so much at once

So when he came home one day to find a pristine house with you settled on a blanket in his living room, he was quite surprised

There’s a cheese plate, soda cans in a cute ice box, sandwiches, snacks, a presparked fireplace — you and his family went all out

Really adorable I cannot lie

“I thought you said you were going gift shopping today?”

“I might have maybe lied :P”

So he gives the sweetest little smile and sits across from you

Y’all stay there and talk for hours

After finally getting through everything previously laid out on the blanket spread, you slid him a little rectangular box that he looked at curiously

“Already? I haven’t wrapped yours yet!”

“Mine can wait a bit! Just open yours”

And so he does, and you watch with a face-splitting grin as he looks down in awe

You got tickets to see his favorite rock band in concert while they were on tour

He sprung onto you and pulled you into the tightest hug ever

“Holy shit you’re the best I love you so much how do you get even more loveable every day—!?!l”

It’s a jumble of words but you’re able to put it together and it makes you giggle

He deadass sprints upstairs to go get your gift and make sure that you feel as equally appreciated as he does

In simple words: wholesome holiday sweetness 🥰

[fairiesnova]

Fun in the Sun

Late entry for the Gratsu Summer Solstice Event run by @fuckyeahgratsu for the prompt: fun in the sun

Note: The kids in this fic are apart of my Erzajane Home is Where They Are series but this fic can be read as a stand alone. 

Read on Ao3

“Are you sure you can handle this?” Erza asked shifting from one foot to the other. It was a nervous tick. One that years of staring down enemy after enemy should have gotten rid of. But Erza did not stand before him as guild master of Fairy Tail. No, Erza stood before him as a nervous parent hesitating at the thought of separating from her children despite them both knowing she needed the break. The tell-tale signs of pure exhaustion were written all over Erza’s face weighing down her body. It wasn’t too obvious of course, this was Erza, she still keep that level of grace in her movements and a blank stare to ward off any prying questions. But he knew Erza and so did Gray.

Natsu looks over to his husband to find him staring worriedly at Erza. Gray’s teeth sunk into his lower lip in a way that made Natsu’s eye linger before traveling up to the eyebrow scrunched high on his face. He too could see what Natsu saw and knew they needed to do this.

With practiced ease, Natsu called a wide cocky grin onto his face. “Oh, come on Erza, we’ve babysitter for you a bunch of times remember?”

But as Gray and Natsu could see though Erza’s facade, she could see through theirs. She narrowed her eyes at them. “Rhea. You babysat Rhea alone. I’m warning you now that this is not the same. Rhea has always been self-sufficient even when she was younger. Andre can be…difficult sometimes. Toddlers are a lot of work.”

Gray interrupted this time moving closer to the mother. “Stop trying to scare us off Erza, you know that only gets us fired up.” Natsu’s grin turns into a smirk as he redirects his attention to Gray. “Stealing my lines now Snowflake.” Gray gives him a challenging stare back but says nothing. The two just smirk at each other like idiots in the Scarlet-Strauss yard speaking a thousand words without a sound. Erza always held strong for their guild, for Gray and Natsu, no matter the cost to her. That type of behavior had led to her self-destruction more than once, and each time the boys were there catch her before she fit the ground.

There was no way they were going to leave without the kids.

At that moment, the door opened again, and Rhea walked out. Heading their instructions, she brought along with her a bathing suit and towel carried on her cake-shaped backpack. The eleven-year old looks between her two rowdy uncles and her tired mom. Secretly, she had noticed that both her mothers had looked more down the last few weeks. Between issues at the guild and Andre tearing through whatever he could get his hands and/or teeth on, her mothers were always fixing problem after problem. Rhea tried to make up for it by being extra good. She cleaned up after herself and did her chores without her mother’s asking. She even tried to talk to Andre about being good too, but he just stared and giggled at her as if she were telling a joke. Rhea wasn’t anymore immune to that cute giggly face than her parents and ended up on the floor reading him stories.

Still. She was going to keep being good for her uncles as well. Especially since they seemed blissfully unaware how much of a little terror her brother has been for the past few weeks.

Mirajane smiled at Gray and Natsu and so did the little person slobbering on her dress. Andre giggled as Gray made silly faces and went willingly into his arms. Her turned to shoot a I-told-you-we-could-handle-it look at Erza only to be stopped by the same look of hesitance that flashed over Mirajane’s face.

At this rate, they’d never leave. Gray and Natsu exchanged looks again and subtly nodded to each other. It’s game time.

Gray started down the pathway with Andre in his arms and Rhea following right behind them. Natsu waited for them to move further down the road before stepping forward to grasp both women’s shoulders. “Listen, you two deserve this break. We all know how hard you’ve been working both at the guild and at home. Me and Gray handle the kids for a few days, just trust us alright?” Without waiting for an answer, he kissed both women on the cheeks and grabbed the baby bag Mirajane had brought along with her. With another reassuring grin, he headed to meet his lover.

“Natsu wait-” He turned to see Mirajane and Erza’s hands intertwined. A look of sincerity on their faces as they whispered, “thank you.”

 This time, the smile that came onto his lips was genuine.

~

He and Gray had spent hours arguing over where the best place to spend a week with little kids was. They had come to a standstill glaring from opposite sides of their kitchen table when Happy’s fish went sailing through the room and ended up dropping between them. When Natsu turned to yell what the hell was that for! Gray’s eyes had lit up in the mesmerizing way.

Now here they were in a 5-way race across the beach. Happy won of course, the cheater, but Natsu gladly headbutted Gray out of the way allowing for Rhea to race past him. In retaliation, Gray picked Natsu up off the ground and swung him around under the eyes of a giggling Andre. Andre had given up on trying to race on his short unsteady legs pretty early and instead seemed content to run his fingers through the sand and watch his uncles wrestle. Rhea was celebrating her victory with Happy by trying to bob for fish underwater. At the sound of a scuffle, she raises her head and turns to the fighting men fight men on the beach. She jolts up out of the water when recognizes her uncles. “Are they okay?!” She askes Happy worried. The blue cat just rolled his eyes. “Yeah they’re fine. That’s just their version of fun. Come on, the fish aren’t going to catch themselves!” Rhea hesitates, but as she looks back she could see the little details she missed before. The light tone in their voices as they called insults back and forth, the smiles they exchanged when one managed to pin the other, the way the hands lingered and caressed the other in between moves. In that moment, they reminded Rhea so much of her own mothers when they bickered back and forth just to have an excuse to get closer to each other. With a smile she decided that Happy was right and they continued their dives.

The rest of the day passed by in a splash.

Natsu tried to teach Rhea how to swim while Gray wadded around the shallow end with Andre on his hip. Then they broke for lunch and devoured the triangle sandwiches Mirajane had packed. Shortly after eating, Andre fell asleep on Natsu’s chest while the rest of the gang built sandcastles. They spent some more time in the water until the sun started to set and both kids movements began to slow. They were in the process of packing up their stuff when Gray placed his hand gently over Natsu’s, “so, kids hun?”

Natsu squeezed his hand back. He didn’t need to respond to the question verbally. The look exchanged between the two lovers spoke a thousand words.

[chocochar]

ᴍɪꜱꜱᴇᴅ ᴍᴇ? | ᴅᴀʙɪ/ᴛᴏᴜʏᴀ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ | ᴘᴀʀᴛ 4: ʙᴏɴᴅɪɴɢ

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 5 | Valentine’s Special | Part 6: TBA

(AN: So part 4, yay! I'm going to be 100% honest, didn't think this was going to even reach this point, like if it wasn't for the lovely readers and comments I don't think it would've been continued, so I'm happy, thank you readers (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄ 

This one may not be as long as the previous parts since it's going to have some father son bonding, kind of fluff with Dabi and Kaoru but part 5 will be longer with what's planned. Also the writing I feel will be kinda weird at first, since it'll be through Kaoru's POV so I was trying to have the mindset of a 10 year old, kinda?? (〃￣ω￣〃)ゞ 

So let's hop in, yeah?)

[Kaoru's POV]

        I was really surprised when I woke up early this morning and went out to get breakfast. Mom was already awake and getting ready in her room to go to work, and since I have the day off I decided to make breakfast for us both, which I do when I'm off but she still has to go in. After last night I've been worried, well, actually since I saw dad the day before, but seeing mom cry I didn't know what to do. I just stood in place and it felt like my legs got really heavy. I don't like to see mom cry or get stressed, so I wanna do my best to be good and help her!

        Heading to the living room I almost missed dad sleeping on the couch, until I heard the blankets shift and his black hair sticking out which looked even more messy. I froze, eyes wide; trying to be quiet I tip toed over to him and peeked over the arm of the couch. The blanket covered most of him and was raised up to his chin, his eyes were still closed and he didn't look ready to wake up yet. I was still shocked, thinking,'Mom let him stay the night?! Sh-Should I wake him up and see if he's hungry? Or would he be mad if I did that?' 

        I stood there for a few minutes deciding on what to do before shakily making my decision by poking his cheek. Nothing. With a little more confidence I did it again, this time dad sniffs and shifts, my hand pulling back when I jump. 'He's not that scary... Well, he is... C'mon Kaoru, just wake him up and ask him if he wants breakfast!!'

        After the small pep talk in my head I look down to poke him again before freezing up, his eyes open and looking tiredly up at me. I can't tell if he's annoyed or not (dangit, I should've just left him alone!) but his voice doesn't sound like it when he asks,"What is it, Kaoru?"

        "Uh, well, sorry about waking you up so early, but I was wondering if, um, you'd like some breakfast? I was gonna start on omurice for me and mom, want some too?" I ask, fidgeting with my shirt. He blinks, before picking up his phone to check the time I think, before shrugging as he starts to get up.

        "Sure," is all he says, sitting up and scratching his head still looking at his phone. Nodding I hurry to the kitchen to start on food.

        Luckily I finish mom's as she comes out of her room in uniform and I hand her her plate and fork along with a glass of juice.

        "Ah Kaoru, you know you don't have to do this," she smiles, glancing at dad who's looking up from his phone at her. "Good morning," she says, smiling at him.

        "Morning," he yawns, stretching. I catch the way her cheeks turn pink and she steps around me to go eat in the kitchen.

        "I don't want you going to work on an empty stomach, that's not good for an officer," I say, checking dad's which is just about done. Dishing his up I start on mine and watch as mom gulps hers down once she sees the time. She's done faster than I expected and I follow her out to the living room where she stops to talk to dad before she goes.

        "I've got to work today, otherwise... Anyways, are you planning to leave after breakfast or...?" She asks, dad shrugging after locking his phone. It looked like he was texting someone, but I wouldn't know who.

        "Looking to kick me out, already? Even though you offered me the couch last night?" He turns to look at her, I think teasing her, and mom shakes her head with a sigh.

        "No, I was just wondering because... Well, while I'm at work I was going to ask if you'd like to stay and hang out with Kaoru," she says, crossing her arms. My eyes light up although I'm surprised too, but dad looks at me before back to mom and nods. He's really, uh... nonchalant? I think it's kind of cool.

        "Beats my plans today, plus I've gotta get to know my 'mini me' right?" he replies, his nickname for me sounding better than the 'chibi' one Natsu-oji and Rina-oba call me. I hate that one, but I don't try to stop them when they call me it. When he looks at me again I smile and nod eagerly, but I try to reel it in. Gotta be cool like dad! I can't seem too excited, so I nod more slowly. I don't know if he caught it or not, but he turns back to mom.

        "Okay, well, good, I'll be back around 4 then," she replies, getting ready to leave.

        "Okay, go play hero," he says, and mom narrows her eyes at him before she walks back over to him and pinches the good skin on dad's cheek. He looks at her with his eyes widening slightly touching his cheek, while I watch both not expecting mom to do that and dad to look so surprised. 

        "Next time I'll go for the ear," she tells him with a smile, I think she's teasing him, but dad returns to his nonchalant attitude and turns away from her, checking his phone again. He seems annoyed, I think, but not mad at least. "Bye boys," mom says before she leaves. I stand there staring at the door before I gasp and hurry back to the kitchen, forgetting about the food!

        I wound up having to remake mine but dad and me now sit on the couch, the TV on but neither of us really knowing what to watch. We wound up settling on the news, and it's talking about the heroes again; hen they bring grandpa on I cock my head but I flinch when dad suddenly stands and goes to the kitchen. It was really abrupt, and I could see he looked... really mad. It was hard to tell, but his eyes looked scarier than usual. Remembering how he's got the burn scars I look at the TV again and a question comes to mind: How did dad... get his scars? Mom mentioned he... cremated himself? I want to ask what that means but not right now. I think it would probably be best to avoid talking about that stuff until dad doesn't seem as upset.

[Dabi's POV]

                Bastard. That's all I can think whenever I see that mug of his. The smug air around him because he finally got to that #1 hero spot. Even if he won't admit it I'm pretty sure it kills him knowing it wasn't from all the training and work he put in to surpass All Might. But he still got to that top pedestal. Probably regrets all his imperfect breeding and sees it as a waste of time, failures he doesn't need around. Or at least that's probably how he viewed me. Fuyumi and Natsuo got lucky, he didn't try to train them or let them starve if they didn't do well enough in a training session.

        My hands grip the sink tightly and for a brief moment I nearly forget where I am as my flames start to lick at me arms and face. Whether he's only knocked off his throne, or killed, it doesn't matter to me. One way or another karma will bite him in the ass.

        "Dad?"

        My flames immediately disperse hearing Kaoru's voice. Turning around I look at him and he looks worried, my mind settling again as I ask,"So what did you want to do today? I've got a free schedule so whatever you're in the mood for we'll see what happens." 

        This doesn't seem to fully push away his concern, but he doesn't try to push the matter, instead answering my question,"Um... Well I don't mind what we do. We could play video games, or go out and do something, there's a movie theater and park nearby, I'm okay with anything."

        I rub my neck knowing if I even stepped one foot out of this place in daytime I'd be found out, so I can't exactly risk that until I think of something that would make it possible. So looking back down at Kaoru I say,"Let's hang out in here for the time being, I can't exactly go outside, don't want to scare people, y'know?" I point at my face with one corner of my mouth lifting, 'mini me' seeming to understand since he nods and doesn't really seem disappointed. To be honest I've been pretty surprised by the way he's been handling all of this; either he has no idea who 'Dabi' is, or he doesn't care. Like when he first saw me, he looked scared for a second but then that changed to what I'm guessing was amazement maybe? Or intrigue. Anyways, he's pretty calm, I could tell he was eager for me to stay today.

        I follow him to the living room and when he suggests video games I admit,"I'm not really the kind of guy who plays video games, so don't expect me to play well."

        "That's okay! Mom is okay, but it's still fun to play," he smiles, getting the system set up as well as two controllers. I watch him getting it all ready, getting lost in thought.

        It's weird, this whole situation, 10 years living on the streets and becoming who I am today I'm not sure how to feel about this whole 'dad' thing. I still have no idea why I came after (F/n) and him, I don't know what my goal was, if I even had one. I just saw the kid, then her... And before I knew it I followed them home and even broke in, twice. Did I miss (F/n) since I'd seen her all those years ago? Yeah, can't really deny I did. Back then she was the only thing I really had that kept me from breaking down or let me vent all my frustrations about home, while she sat and listened. She once nearly stormed to my house to rip my dad a new one, but luckily Fuyumi and I stopped her. Being able to see her again and talk is nostalgic, even if we're now on different sides of the law. And seeing Kaoru I got remembering everything with him. My own childhood, where I didn't really have a father, more like a tyrant. Something about not only the thought of Kaoru missing a dad along with having that bastard to look up to... That was a huge push for me to confront (F/n) and reveal myself.

        Granted, it was a pretty stupid plan knowing her job. At least it went smoothly, for the most part.

        I blink out of my thoughts when Kaoru hands me a controller and I look it over as he sits next to me and gets the game started. 

[X][X][X]

        "Are you sure you didn't lie to me? I bet you have played this game before!" Kaoru exclaims, pointing at me accusingly as I beat him, again. We've been playing a few hours, it's already noon now, and I briefly think about (F/n). I'll stay around until she gets home, and see if we can talk about the situation more before I go so the League doesn't think I'm skipping out on meetings.

        Smirking I say,"Nope, never in my life, just happened to watch some of my teammates play it but I doubt that's enough for me to catch on. Guess your dad is just that good." He gives a pout, which immediately makes me think of how much it matches his mom's, before he gets up to switch out the games.

        It's quiet for a minute or two while he does this, but he breaks it when he asks,"Dad... Is it true you're a bad guy?"

        I don't respond at first. So he does know.

        "Technically, yeah," I reply, scratching the back of my head as he looks back at me. He looks surprised, probably because I didn't deny it.

        "Why?"

        I take a minute to think about how to respond, staring at the floor a few moments before meeting his eyes again and saying,"It's a lot to explain, but I'm trying to... 'clean up' the hero society, well, society as a whole. There are a lot of heroes out there who aren't as 'good' as they try to pass themselves off as, and I'm trying to get rid of them or show their true colors."

        He stares at me taken back but also confused, looking down and I'm guessing trying to understand. 

        "So, like that one 'hero killer' kind of?" He asks, which I wasn't expecting. I didn't consider he knew about Stain but it saves me the time trying to explain more. 

        "Yeah, kind of."

        He hums, mumbling,"Grandpa is kind of like that, he's really scary but he's a big hero... Mom doesn't like him." Good to know, (F/n) still can't stand him.

        "You're mom is right in not liking him, kid, Endeavor is one of the worst out there," I tell him, my eyes narrowing. Kaoru turns his head back up to look at me before standing and facing me.

        "Is it true, th-that you had trouble controlling your quirk?" He asks out of nowhere. I cock a brow and nod, lifting my hand and turning it over, letting a small blue blaze dance on my palm. He stares at it almost mesmerized as it flickers but doesn't grow or go stray as I control it.

        "I've got better control now, but yeah, used to burn myself a lot growing up," I explain, moving the flame around my hand before it rests in my palm again and I close my fingers into a fist, the flame disappearing. I take notice on how much he's fidgeting, so I proceed to ask,"Are you struggling using yours or something?"

        He scratches the back of his before he nods, explaining,"Y-Yeah, it's getting really bad and I don't know how to stop it from getting out of control... I can do force fields like mom, but they, um, they have blue fire on the outside of them, so when I use them I panic... And they get big and the fire gets worse." He looks ready to show but shaking his head decides not to and instead continues with,"Mom is having Shouto-oji help me this Saturday, b-but I'm nervous..."

        I narrow my eyes hearing this; Shouto is training Karou? It's not a bad idea, I guess, won't deny the brat's learned pretty well how to use his quirk, but something about him being the one training Kaoru bothers me. I don't have a clue why it irks me, but my mouth moves faster than my brain this time.

        "What about me training you?" I ask, and Kaoru's eyes widen at the suggestion and I rest my elbow on my knee and my chin on my palm gauging his reaction. It's probably not a good idea, but too late to take it back now. "Unless you'd prefer someone like Shouto, I doubt I'd be the easier teacher-"

        "N-No, I'd like that!" He cuts me off, my eyes slightly widening. He looks embarrassed, and tries to hide it by acting nonchalant, continuing,"I mean, uh, you've been in my shoes, so I, um, think you'd be the better choice. Plus I'd get to see my dad, which would be pretty cool." He's definitely not convincing me with his aloof act, but I smile and chuckle, finding it kind of cute. 

        "Then I'll talk to your mom when she gets home, okay?"

[X][X][X]

[(F/n)'s POV]

        When I get home I'm fairly surprised Tou- Dabi is still there, and he and Kaoru look like they're playing a board game; the winner is pretty clear, by Kaoru's pout and Dabi's smirk. They both look at me when I walk in and I ask,"Hey boys, did you two have fun today?" It's still a weird feeling that Dabi is here, and it feels normal. Well as normal as it can be.

        "Yeah, but dad's a cheater..." Kaoru huffs, arms crossed glaring at the game.

        "I told you I'm not cheating or lying about playing these games before, you're dad is just that good." Dabi teases. He turns his attention back to me and stands, walking up to me and putting his hands in his pockets. I look up, meeting his cerulean gaze as he speaks,"I was looking to talk to you about something." Puzzled I tilt my head and nod, letting him continue. I still can't read his face, but it at least doesn't seem serious.

        "Kaoru told me about how you were planning to have Shouto train him, which I guess isn't a bad idea," he shrugs, although I'm not sure why he's bringing this up. "But I got a better one: me training him."

        I blink a few times, not sure what to say to this suggestion. It's not outlandish, but it is a little odd. It could give them more time to see each other, I suppose. Although he and I will see each other quite a bit more too... Which has my heart thumping harder than expected.

        "It was going to be Shouto and his friend, but you... Want to train him, instead of Shouto?" I ask, repeating his suggestion. 

        "Yeah. I used to be in his footsteps, remember? I'd know better than Shouto how to help him learn some control. Just let me know when and where and I'll meet you there," he tells me, while I'm still surprised he's offering. But glancing at Kaoru I meet Dabi's eyes again, and with a nod I agree, a little hesitation there.

        "Alright, I guess it won't hurt. We'll have the first training day Saturday, around 2 PM. It's in a training area a friend of mine owns, I'll give you the address," I tell him. My face heats up slightly when he flashes a lazy grin, his eyes never leaving mine.

        "Fine, sounds like a plan, little miss cop."

(AN: So like I'll be honest, this chapter was fun to write buuuut it might not be the most exciting since there isn't much Dabi x (F/n) (〃￣ω￣〃)ゞ But next chapter will have more (F/n) come in since it'll be the beginning of Kaoru's training.

I hope you guys enjoy, let me know if you are? (i feel like i'm makin dabi too soft when it comes to kaoru, if i am i am sorry)

(ps I've got another fic series in mind for Shouto fangirls, it should be started within a few days so keep an eye out (˵¯͒⌄¯͒˵) ))

[phoneboxfairy]

No More Interruptions! Nalu smutfic

ao3 link - https://archiveofourown.org/works/23605495

Many wizards didn't have days off very frequently. Earning a living through jobs took high priority, especially when rent was due. So when more well known wizards, like a certain dragon slayer and celestial mage, actually did have a free weekend, you can bet they took full advantage of it.

...or at least they tried to, anyway.

Team Natsu had been running almost nonstop for weeks now. Lucy's rent and bills were paid and her fridge was full of food. And honestly, they were all feeling pretty worn out.

So when Erza suggested that they take a few days off before getting back to the grind, nobody complained. In fact, Natsu was quick to whisk his girl off to her apartment for some much needed private time.

"Brace yourself, babygirl. We ain't leavin' this bed much all weekend." He purred once they were cuddled together with the door locked behind them.

Lucy had no objections. As they worked on peeling one another's clothes off they shared kisses with steadily increasing heat. They made slow, sweet love until the waves of passion claimed them, then kissed and cuddled in the cool summer evening air.

After such energetic activity sleep came easily for both. The promise of more fun lingered.

Natsu woke up first, fairly early for a Saturday morning. He was quite content with stroking his girl's hair and skin as she dozed.

At least he was until he heard her let out a moan and felt her grind against his leg. He got an idea, a naughty idea he knew she would love.

Slow, careful, he slipped his hand down between her thighs. His fingers roamed over and past her blonde curls then stroked over clit and slit.

She moaned, shuddered.

Good sign. She always loved getting fingered, loved his teasing almost as much as when they fucked.

He parted her lips, breathing in her most intimate scent. That sweet musk... so tantalizing, so appealing.

Fuck, she's so wet...

Two fingers stroked over her slit then delved into her depths.

She whimpered, arched her back.

"Ohhh...oh na...Natsu..."

She's awake. Good. A wicked smile lit up his face. He slipped his free hand down and started rubbing her clit while he worked on fucking her with his other fingers.

The whole thing was driving her wild. She bucked her hips in time with his strokes and deliberately let her ass rub against his cock.

That's where Natsu got sneaky. He slowed down then pulled his fingers out. Lucy made a rather irate sound, but he ignored it. Making her edge was another fun bit of teasing he had just about mastered.

"Natsuuuu..." Pleading.

"Shhh, not like we're goin' anywhere today..." Chuckle. He kissed her neck, squeezed her breasts, and rubbed against her ass.

Lucy made another sound, this time a breathy moan that sent a not-unpleasant tingle down his spine.

Then...a rapping sound on the window.

Knock knock knock

"Hey Natsu!" Damn that cat!

In the space of a heartbeat the lovebirds were covered up in blankets. Natsu even had his hands on Lucy's chest. You know, added protection...that's what he would claim anyway.

"What is it, buddy?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go get breakfast at the hall but I see you've got your hands full!" Happy snickered...at least until Natsu glared at him.

"Yeah, we're good. See ya later on." He waved the exceed away then pulled the curtain closed. "Freaking interruptions!"

"It's okay, Natsu. We have all weekend to play." Her voice was a sensual purr. She reached over, delicate fingers tracing his forearm. "Would a Lucy Sundae make you feel better? I have some chocolate sauce in the fridge..."

"Yes please."

"Go on, silly." Airy giggle as she gestured toward her kitchen. He obeyed, bolted to the kitchen and back in record time with the bottle of sauce in hand.

Natsu would never turn down a blowjob, lived for the sensation of Lucy's soft lips and tongue savoring his cock. Yet he enjoyed lavishing oral pleasure on her just as much. Watching and hearing her reactions, tasting chocolate on her already sweet little pussy...now that was a special treat.

So he settled down with his head between her thighs. He parted her lips with reverent fingers, exposing her exquisite pink folds.

"Damn, Lucy..."

"Don't be shy now, Natsu. Anh...!" He flicked his tongue against her, swirled around her clit.

That was just the warm up. He loved taking his time with her. He opened the bottle and let a few drops fall onto her skin. She shivered at the sensation of cool chocolate against warm skin.

And she downright shuddered when he lapped up the slick evidence of her arousal.

"Na...Natsu? Is...is it okay if I play with your hair?"

"Duh. But only if I can squeeze your boobies."

"Do it..."

"As you wish, princess." He slipped both hands upward, caressed over her tummy, tickled her ribs. She giggled...at least until those very capable hands found her breasts. She tangled her own hands into his hair, mewling at the onslaught of sensation.

He squeezed, kneaded, pinched, and caressed all while taking his sweet time to taste every inch of her.

So soft, so squishy, so fun to play with. And the way she smelled and tasted...mmm.

"Lucy, baby, you taste like heaven. I wanna eat you until you come, then take you and ravish you like the goddess you are..." Her blush deepened. "Natsu have you been sneaking my dirty books again?" "Maaaaybe." Unrepentant chuckle. "Sounds good, though, right?"

"Sounds perfect. Less talk, more action, though...ahn...mmm, just like that..."

"Like this?" Warm tongue stiffened and rubbed over her clit. Her breath quickened, and she seemed to melt at the contact.

"yes..."

"Louder, baby." More rubbing. Lucy shuddered again and writhed against him. He watched her trembling, felt her hands tug his hair, tasted her getting wetter and wetter.

"Nat...Natsuuuuuu..yes....YESSSS!" Oh yeah. That was plenty loud enough for his liking. He smirked, then scraped his fang against her swollen little nub.

That did it.

The sounds Lucy was making, paired with the sight of her body writhing in the height of pleasure, was damn near enough to make Natsu lose it...if not for knowing damn well he wanted to bury himself deep inside her first...

Well, soon enough.

He cradled her in his arms, held her close and kissed her as those shudders subsided.

Slowly but surely their kisses went from soft and tender to deep and lustful. "Already?" Her stamina always surprised him. Not that he had any cause to object. "Yep. As delicious as that mouth of yours is, I'm kinda craving something...mmm, bigger." "Alright. I'm happy to satisfy that craving." A shared giggle and a particularly amorous kiss. Natsu reached down, worked on unzipping his pants, craving the sweet release only his woman could provide...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "Natsu! There's trouble! A dark guild is threatening to start a war!" "You've gotta be FUCKING KIDDING ME." He was furious. So fucking pissed, Lucy was surprised smoke wasn't coming from his ears. She wrapped herself in a sheet, squeezed his shoulder in an effort to make him calm down...at least as calm as he could get in this situation. "It's alright, Natsu. Let me get dressed and we'll take care of this." "No. You stay here. I'll handle it." She knew that growl, knew he meant some serious business. Best not to argue. She leaned over and kissed him. "Alright. Just don't take too long..." His posture softened a bit, and Lucy knew her kiss had tamed the dragon... at least a little. He nodded, pulled his scarf and sandals on, and bolted out the door.

She adjusted her sheet then stuck her head out the window, keeping an eye on a potentially interesting situation.

Natsu went barreling in, screaming at the enemy troops about how rude it was to interrupt someone who just wanted to have sex with their "smoking hot girlfriend, dammit!" Lucy blushed at that and slipped her head back in the window, peering out from the curtains for the sake of invisibility.

His entire body was ablaze, and being interrupted only spiked his temper. So it didn't take long for him to knock half the dark wizards out and send the other half screaming in terror with a well aimed Wing Attack.

Triumphant, he sauntered back to Lucy's apartment. He smelled like smoke, that campfire scent she found oddly irresistible.

And his eyes were smoldering.

She took one look at him, gazed right into his eyes, and let the sheet slip off her body. Then she wiggled her finger in a "come here" gesture. Pants, shoes, and scarf were all tossed aside.

He pounced and treated her to a passionate kiss that set the mood and made her heart race.

She expected aggression, expected to be pinned to the bed and treated to some rather rough dicking. But he grinned and pulled her close so they were face to face lying on their sides.

"Lift your leg here." He instructed in one of his low growls, gesturing towards his thigh, a little higher than where she usually rested her legs in such situations. She obeyed, wrapped both legs around him, then mewled as he slipped into her.

"You like this?"

"Yes. So deep, so...unh, so good..."

"Good." Deep kiss. Natsu nibbled Lucy's lip and started to move. Somehow it felt different, incredible as ever in a new way. Maybe it was the position. If so, both were keen on using it as often as possible. She clung to him while he moved, letting his hands wander downwards to squeeze her beautiful boobs and eventually stroke her clit.

That was when she started trembling, the way she did when she was really getting into it.

"Don't stop, Natsu. Please."

"Wasn't plannin' on it, Luce." He shifted a little, nibbled her neck as he went faster. "You know I love making my girl come. So...mmmmn, so hot watchin' ya get close to the edge, knowin' I got ya there..." "Only you, Nat...Natsuuuuuu~..." Not quite there, not yet, despite those delicious moans. "You love it when I fill you up, don't ya..." "Ye...Y...yesss.." "Then scream for me." Devilish smile. He pinned her down and fucked her even faster than before. Her pussy clenched around him, so warm and wet. He knew she was close, knew she would be in the throes of a delicious orgasm any moment now.

"Oh...nah...nnh.. NATSUUUUUUUUUUU!"

“Perfect…” He claimed her mouth with his own, a motion that was surprisingly tender. He came, shuddering, whispering her name over and over again against her lips. “Lucy...my Lucy..holy shit I love ya…”

“Love you too, Natsu. More than the moon loves the stars.”

“That’s a lot.” Goofy grin.

“Yeah, it is.” She grinned right back at him, then pulled him into a gentle kiss. “Hungry?”

“Nah. Not yet. I’m cool with layin’ here holdin’ you for a while first.”

“Me too.” One more gentle smooch as he pulled up the blankets then wrapped his arms around her. Both dozed off fairly quickly. They hadn’t planned on napping, not really, but neither could say they minded.

Weekends off were for resting and relaxing, after all. And where better to relax than in bed and in the arms of the one you loved?

~Fin

[promptmaker]

Prompt Left Overs

Below the reading line is a list of prompts from 2019 that are still available. There is no time limit and you can switch out characters if you prefer (they must be consenting adults or aged up).       As always if you pick one, please let me know and I will cross it out.    

1. My Hero Academia. Future AU. (Shoto/Momo):   Pro heros Momo and Shoto have broke the top 10 Hero rankings for the first time and are celebrating with their former classmates with a party at their home. After everybody leaves and they are finally alone, Momo and Shoto can finally celebrate in their own way.

2. Fairy Tail City Hero (NaLu):  Natsu and Lucy are stranded on the side of the road outside of town when their Patrol Car breaks down. Natsu quickly gets bored and entices Lucy into some sexy time until help arrives.  Either inside or outside of the patrol car.  (Optional: They accidentally give a show to the dash cam)

 3. Fairy Tail (NaLu) Canon or AU:   Natsu and Lucy have been together for a couple of months now and can’t keep their hands off each other it gets so bad that Lucy’s friends need to drag her away for some girl time at a spa/onsen. NaLu secretly keep in touch via text and facetime through out Lucy’s trip but things escalate when a drunken and flirty Lucy starts sending Natsu risque pics and texts throughout her time there.   Their escapades end with a video chat session that turns steamy.

4. Fairy Tail (NaLu) Modern AU:  Lucy goes to Mardi Gras in New Orleans with her lady friends as a way to let loose from work and College.  The girls enjoy all the festivities Mardi Gras has to offer and Cana even leads them through a wild time on Bourbon Street. During the days of partying, Lucy befriends a local named Natsu who shows them the best places to go during their visit. Natsu and Lucy flirt the whole time and get a chance to hang out alone together for a day before Lucy has to go. Things escalate and they both show each other a wild time.   (DISCLAIMER: I have never been to Mardi Gras or New Orleans)

5. Fullmetal Alchemist (EdWin): Ed and Winry (married/together) rent a car during a trip to central but when it breaks down and Winry goes into full mechanic mode trying to fix it, Ed decides that he has never been more turned on.

 6. Fairy Tail (Mira/Lucy/Natsu):  Mira is a little depressed after the end of a long term relationship.  Not liking seeing their friend so down and wanting to repay her for all she has done for them and the guild, Natsu and Lucy invite her to their place for some no-strings-attached fun to help her get her mind of things. Mira, graciously accepts.      (Or any extra female of your choosing. It doesn’t have to be Mira)

 7. Fullmetal Alchemist (Roy/Riza) Riza helps Roy with their firearm re-certification. When he fails to take the tests seriously, Riza offers “incentives”  for doing well with the test.      Also works with Rebecca/Havoc.

8. Fairy Tail (NaLu) Canon or AU:   Natsu and Lucy have been together for a couple of months now and can’t keep their hands off each other it gets so bad that Lucy’s friends need to drag her away for some girl time at a spa/onsen. NaLu secretly keep in touch via text and face-time through out Lucy’s trip but things escalate when a drunken and flirty Lucy starts sending Natsu risque pics and texts throughout her time there.   Their escapades end with a video chat session that turns steamy.

 9. Fairy Tail Gruvia: Possibly a sequel to (https://archiveofourown.org/works/10425108/chapters/42895043). An unexpected storm delays Nalu from returning home.  They contact Gruvia through lacrima to check their home for any damages, but remembering what Nalu did in his favorite chair, Gray decides to get revenge.  He entices Juvia into helping to leave their scent all over the house, from the living room to the bedroom....  When Natsu gets home a few days later, he knows what happened before he even opened the door and races off to find Gray.

10. Fairy Tail NaLu (or any couple really) AU: Lucy and Natsu are athletes in the Olympics. They are from different countries but they meet early on and become friendly.  During a rare grace period where neither of them have event to be at, the two get drinks at a bar in the. They quickly discover that the rumors about down time in the Olympic Village are true, sex between athletes is abundant and constant. Be it out in the open or in the privacy of their rooms.  The two decide that since they may go their separate ways after the games, they might as well join in the fun.   TL;DR AU Athlete Natsu and Lucy has some adventurous sex in the Olympic Village.

11. Fairy Tail NaLu: Lucy is having renovations done to her apartment, so Erza graciously lets her stay in her room(s) at Fairy Hills while she is away on a mission. Her boyfriend Natsu comes to visit her in her new accommodations and to complain that she chose to stay there instead of his place (she didn’t want to deal with the mess and Fairy Hills is closer to FT). Lucy seductively promises to “make it up to him”. Natsu is hesitant to do anything in Erza’s room but then Lucy makes the mistake of teasingly asking if he is scared. Which leads her being dragged to Erza’s bed.  Are they caught by Erza or do they get away with it?      TL;DR: NaLu risk having sex in Erza’s bedroom.

12. Fullmetal Alchemist EdWin: Ed and Winry visit Xing for their wedding anniversary. Ling sets them up in a fancy room at his palace with its own private hotspring. After some drinks with the Emperor, the couple heads back to their room and a frisky Winry decides they need to test out the hotspring and have some extra fun in it.    TL;DR EdWin fuck in a private hotspring.   

13. SFW.  Fairy Tail NaLu. Modern. AU: Natsu is a pyrotechnician and he thinks showing Lucy how he sets up a fireworks display for 4th of July makes for a good (first?) date.     

 14. SFW. My Hero Academia: After hearing All-Might mention it, Eri becomes fascinated by the concept. Especially the fireworks, having never seen any before. Class 1A decides to give her a fireworks display of their own and go overboard.         

15 SFW.  Fullmetal Alchemist. EdWin:  Ed tries to show his kids the science behind Sparklers and they seem more interested in trying to set him on fire.

16. SFW. MCU canon divergent, Steve/Natasha: Steve and Nat have been together for a year now. After having a big birthday  party for Steve, thrown by Tony at Avengers HQ, Nat/Steve sneak off to the roof to enjoy Tony’s elaborate firework show.     NSFW  optional: they get side tracked from the fire works and decide to make there own right there on the roof.

17. NSFW. Fairy Tail. College AU. NaLu: Lucy is dragged to a college 4th of July party by her friends. She tries to make her escape from said party until Natsu shows up. She has several classes with him and the sexual tension between them is palpable. He makes the party fun for her and when the party starts to wind down the two sneak off into a spare bedroom for some fun.

18. Fairy Tail Nalu and Nack/Lucia (A couple of  years after 100 year quest): Fairy Nail has come to Fiore, doing an international tour of  their show.  Natsu, Lucy and other guild members are hired as security during the tour.  NaLu are assigned to Nack and Lucia specifically and after only a week guarding them, they are becoming very annoyed by the lewd behavior the other two display. Having to pry them off each other often. While staying at a hotel, Nack and Lucia’s antics keep NaLu up all night, them having their room right next door and all. So NaLu decide to give Nack and Lucia a taste of their own medicine and try to keep the other two awake all night with their own antics. It turns into the couples trying to outdo each other through the night                                                The same prompt as above EXCEPT, instead of separate rooms the couples are in separate beds. In the same room.      TL;DR:  NaLu and Nack/Lucia try to out fuck each other

19. Fullmetal Alchemist EdWin: Ed takes Winry shopping in Central for her birthday. He bemoans being dragged to clothing stores until she has him come into the dressing rooms with her. Ed enjoys watching try on clothes for awhile but soon can no longer contain himself and they go at it in the dressing room and have some fun with its mirror.      (optional: Ed seeing her in skinny jeans and a tight top is what triggers it. Said jeans end up at her knees)       TL;DR: Ed and Winry have sex in a changing room

20. Fairy Tail NaLu:  Brandish is in town on a mission. Natsu and Lucy run into her and offer her to join them for drinks. She reluctantly agrees to join them.  A few drinks later and Brandish has had a drunken mood shift. She switches between being overly friendly and apologetic about her past actions towards the two. Before returning home for the night Brandish drunkenly offers them a “gift” for being nice to her and to make up for what happened during the war. Not knowing what what she means, the confused couple accepts.  So Brandish uses her magic to increase the size of Lucy’s breasts and Natsu’s dick (nothing to major. Like a cup size/inch or two). Brandish tells them they will be normal by morning and to have fun with it before leaving the flustered couple. NaLu aren’t sure how to handle it at first but decide to  make the best of it. So when they get home, the two have some fun with their temporary new proportions.     TL;DR Brandish makes the dick and breasts size of NaLu slightly bigger and they have fun with it. 

21. Fairy Tail (NaLu Tattoo Artist AU): Lucy has a few tattoos and is looking into getting a back tattoo. She is told that local artist Natsu Dragneel, from the new tattoo place is the best and most affordable option in getting one. She goes to him to go over the design she has in mind and the two hit it off immediately. For about a month Lucy goes to Natsu for various tattoos (fairy tail symbol on hand, Aquarus one on breasts, ect.) and to flirt with him. When the back tattoo is done she is worried that their sessions have come to an end. But when Natsu suggests she come back after it heals so he can take a picture for his wall, Lucy decides to use the opportunity to seduce him and they go at it right there in the parlor.    TL;DR: Tattoo enthusiast Lucy flirts with her Tattoo Artist Natsu until they can’t take it anymore and fuck each other.

22. Fullmetal Alchemist (EdWin):  When Ed losses a bet with Winry, he must where a military uniform on their date night. Ed hates it of course but seeing him in Uniform is having an unexpected reaction from Winry to the point where she starts messing with him under the table and eventually drags him to the bathroom for a quickie.  TL;DR: Ed has to wear a military uniform and it unexpectedly turns Winry on to the point that she jumps him at a restaurant. 

23. Fullmetal Alchemist (Royai): Roy and Riza are visiting Xing and are given their own private train car on the way to the palace to see Ling. The car is like a fancy hotel room but when Roy starts getting bored of the sights, he turns his attention to Riza and convinces her to try some train ride fun.  (Could also be EdWin)        TL;DR: Roy and Riza take advantage of alone time in their VIP train car. 

24. My Hero Academia Future AU (TodoMomo):  Todoroki and Momo have finally returned home from a long mission/investigation. When Momo mentions her back hurts from the long hours of being awake, Todoroki offers to give her one of his “famous” massages. Momo eagerly accepts and Todo has her strip down so he can work his magic. He uses the heat and cold from his quirk to work wonders on her sore muscles. Once done she sees her moaning and excitement from the massage has gotten Todoroki worked up as well. So she makes use of the massage oil and gives him a rub down of his own.    TL;DR an innocent massage leads to sexy fun with between Todoroki and Momo.

25. Fairy Tail NaLu+Female: Lucy wants to surprise Natsu with a threesome for his birthday!  It is something they have considered for awhile and one of the potential female partners they have discussed it with says they are ready, so her and Lucy plan to give Natsu a night he won’t forget.  (Suggestion: Natsu is blind-folded at the start).      The extra female from the FT series is the  writer's choice.            TL;DR: NaLu have an MFF threesome for Natsu’s birthday. 

26. Fairy Tail (NaLu+Male): It is now Lucy’s birthday thanks to an arrangement between her and Natsu, since he got a threesome with an extra female for his birthday, Lucy can now pick and extra  male for hers. So, looking for a one night stand type deal, they go bar hopping, searching for someone that is compatible and easy going. When they find who they are looking for, they head back to their place for some fun.  This could be a sequel to number 1 on this list or it can stand on its own.   (Suggestion: Lucy starts with the Male first then Natsu joins)        The extra male from the FT series is the writer’s choice.        TL;DR:NaLu have a MMF threesome for Lucy’s birthday.

 27. Fullmetal Alchemist EdWin: EdWin visit Rush Valley for Winry’s birthday. She doesn't know that her colleagues and customers are throwing a surprise party for her at Garfiel’s shop and Ed has been tasked with keeping her occupied until then. When she starts to get suspicious of Ed’s motives he tells her that his leg needs another oil rub down and Winry is happy to help with the new wax she just got.  But once Ed’s pants comes off she is distracted by something else entirely and Ed seduces her.  They are going to be late to the party...      TL;DR: Ed must distract Winry while her surprise party is set up and they both end up side-tracked by sex.

28. Fullmetal Alchemist (EdWin+Rose):  EdWin have a small gathering of friends at their home to celebrate Ed’s birthday. Afterward, when everybody leaves, it is just EdWin and Rose, who is staying with them until she leaves in a few days. They have a few drinks together and a tispy Rose mentions that she has been kinda lonely lately and admits having a thing for both Ed and Winry at one point. Winry surprisingly take this comment in stride and suggests Rose join her and Ed for the night. This would allow Rose to resolve her feelings for Ed and EdWin gets to try a threesome that they have discussed attempting for awhile.       TL;DR: EdWin asks Rose to join them in a threesome to settle her unresolved feelings.

29. Fullmetal Alchemist (Royai+ Rebecca) College AU:  Rebecca, Roy, and Riza are in their final year of college. The 3 friends are celebrating Riza’s birthday at a restaurant. Roy and Riza have been flirting all night and Rebecca has been trying to push the two together. But then a drunken Rebecca accidently reveals that her and Riza once had a threesome with her ex, Jean, in their earlier years of college before they met Roy. But instead of being mad about the revelation, Roy asks for details of that night and Rebecca replies that they can just show him instead. Riza surprisingly is on board with this and thinks it would make a great birthday present.          TL;DR: Rebecca tempts Roy and Riza into a threesome with her in her attempts to get the two of them together.

30. Fullmetal Alchemist Roy/Rebecca + Havoc) Modern AU: Havoc and Rebecca are in an open relationship and for his birthday, Havoc asks Rebecca if he can watch her have sex with his friend Roy, from work. She and Roy agree to this and give Havoc quite the show.  (Havoc joining in is also optional.)  TL;DR: Havoc watches as Roy and Rebecca go at it for his birthday.

31. Fairy Tail (Any ship): Character A attempts to make their spouse/partner a cake for their birthday but fails miserably. Character B is more than happy to lick specific cake ingredients (Whip cream, strawberry, whatever the writer wants) instead as compensation.    TL;DR: One character licks off the cake/dessert off of another.

32. Fireplace (NSFW): A tender moment in front of the fireplace in their new home turns steamy.

33. Hot Cocoa: Natsu give shows Lucy how he makes his “famous” hot Cocoa.

34. Sledding: Natsu and Lucy race each other down a mountain and use magic to their advantage.  (Wendy cast Troia on Natsu for his motion sickness before hand).

35. Perfect Christmas tree hunt: NaLu explore the woods around Natsu’s house looking to cut down  their first Christmas tree.

36. Mistletoe: Lucy shows Natsu the benefits of hanging multiple mistletoe around the house.

37. Stocking Stuffer (SFW): Natsu doesn’t quite grasp the concept of stocking stuffers so he just puts random things from around the house into Lucy’s stocking.

38. Stocking Stuffer (NSFW): Lucy wear Christmas themed stockings with a lingerie set as part of Natsu’s Christmas gift this year.

39. Gift Exchange: Lucy gets Natsu a proper “Nin Nin”  outfit  for missions (along with a matching one of her own).  Natsu gets her a new key holder.

40. Gift Exchange (NSFWish?) Natsu and Lucy get each other racy underwear (at the suggestion of Erza). 

41. Scrooge: A grumpy Natsu is not thrilled that Happy is spending the holidays with Carla instead of him so Lucy tries to cheer him up.

42. Gingerbread: Natsu shows Lucy how he and Happy build gingerbread houses every year (and promptly destroy them)

43. Caroling: Lucy drags Natsu caroling with her and her spirits. He is reluctant at first but becomes impressed with them.

44. Shicca (Edens Zero). Ice Skating: Rebecca uses her new Ether gear for Ice Skating while also teaching Shika how to skate.

45. Royai (FMA). White Elephant: Roy and his crew have a White Elephant gift exchange. Roy and Riza end up with a gift from the other.

46. TodoMomo (Boku My Hero Academia) Ornaments: It has become a yearly tradition that Momo and Shoto think of new ornaments for their tree. Momo will then create them.

47. GaJevy (Fairy Tail) First Christmas Together: It is Gajeel and Levy’s first Christmas together since she announced her pregnancy. The are excited/nervous of the fact that the next Christmas will be with a baby.

48. All Fairy Tail Ships. Guild Master’s game (NSFWish): The FT couples have a Christmas party together that devolves into a other Guild Master’s game. Though the dares become more intimate now that they are couples.

49. Havoc/Rebecca (Fullmetal Alchemist) Snowball Fight: A standard patrol turns into a snowball fight between a bored Rebecca and Havoc as they are temporarily stationed at Briggs together.

50. Royai (Fullmetal Alchemist) Decorating: Roy and Riza attempt to decorate the office for once with mixed reactions from the rest of the team.

51. EdWin (Fullmetal Alchemist) Jacket Sharing/snuggling: During a particularly chilly day at home, Winry puts on Ed’s old red jacket to keep warm. Ed insists body heat would keep her warmer so they both snuggle under said jacket.

52. Gruvia (Fairy Tail) Christmas cookies: Juvia’s attempt at making Christmas cookies end in failure but Gray shows her how Ur used to make them when he was young.

53. Jerza (Fairy Tail) Snowboarding/Skiing: A race down a mountain between Erza and Jellal gets out of hand when the two start using magic to try to win.

54. Invisibility: Lucy and Natsu have left over Invisibility potion from a mission. What starts as an attempt to prank Natsu turns into something else when Lucy decides pleasuring him when he can’t see her is way more fun.   

55. Invisibility (2):  NaLu are taking a bath together when Natsu introduces a new bath ointment  that he was sold by a shady merchant. Lucy recognizes what it is but it is too late, once it is in the water it turns both of them invisible.    Natsu uses his new invisibility to mess with some guild mates but when he gets bored with that, he and Lucy discover their are other benefits to not being seen. They can now do it anywhere in the guild they want. Will they get caught?      Or they could just do it in the bath.

56. Transform: NaLu are at home practicing transformation magic for a mission. Once they get the hang of it they start having some fun with it. But once one (or both) of them find a transformation that the other finds to desirable for the other to ignore, the real fun can begin. (Bunny or Cat girl Lucy? Dragon Lord Natsu?  Whatever the writer wants!)

57. Clones (2)  When Lucy makes the mistake of asking Cana what to get Natsu for his birthday, Cana crudely reveals that she has a new multiply card that can multiply (x3) anyone she touches with it and she convinces Lucy it would be a great bedroom surprise for Natsu.

58. Pleasure: NaLu are exposed to a “Pleasure” spell from a dark mage during a mission. They are forced to leave the dark mage in the care of their teammates as they scurry off to find a secluded area where they can work off the spell.   (Pleasure spell like Laracade’s, that sends a person into a heightened pleasured state until they reach completion with someone.)

59. It’s finally time for Natsu to move out of his cabin and into a new home with Lucy. Before they pack everything up, NaLu remembers all the fun (and sexy) times they’ve had in the place.

60. NaLu gets a little to drunk during a FT party and when they get home, have unprotected sex that leads to a pregnant Lucy. They will love the kid regardless.

61. NaLu are put in charge of making Erza’s Strawberry Cake for her birthday. Things go wrong when playful banter turns into them getting heated in the Kitchen and them getting covered in what is left of Erza’s cake. Does Erza find out?...

62. When Lucy gets back into their room after her morning shower, she finds a nude Natsu snoozing in bed right where she left him except the blanket has been kicked down to his ankles. Lucy takes the time to admire the view and appreciates that he is all hers. So she decides to give him a special wake up call.

63. When Lucy begins to feel self conscious after having kids, Natsu reminds her she is perfect just the way she is and proves it by giving her a special rub down/massage. 

64. When Lucy tells Natsu he can pick their next date location she knew she was asking for trouble and he confirms her fears by taking her to a nude beach. When she realizes he picked the location specifically to fluster her she decides two can play at that game and the two tease each other the entire time they are there. They of course get carried away and sneak somewhere hidden to go at it before they get caught.   Afterward Lucy realizes that she really had fun there and is open to returning.  Also works under the Secret prompt.

65. AU: Natsu works at the fancy Heartfilia Hotel. He enjoys working there but doesn't really get along with the boss Jude Heartfillia since he forbade Natsu to hang around his daughter Lucy. Little did he know that Natsu and Lucy are already dating and use their free time to “defile” various areas of his hotel.

66. Lucy is pregnant and is looking for the best way to tell/surprise Natsu with the news so she has been keeping it a secret until she figures it out.  Or that was the idea until she just blurts it out during the afterglow of sex.

67. NaLu have been married for a few months and they experience their first time spent away from  each other when Lucy goes on a “girls only” mission for a week. When Lucy gets back she finds that Natsu was not handling the separation well since his dragon instincts are not used to her absence.  When she reunites with him they become inseparable and told to get a room before they go at it right in the guild hall.

68. Natsu and Lucy dated in High School but were forced to go their separate ways. Now, at their High School reunion years later, the two re-connect and fall for each other all over again. The two then sneak away from the party to further “catch up” (in a classroom, office, locker room, or wherever the writer wants).     Suggestion: When they hook-up again, they admire how much better they are at it then when they were awkward teenagers.

69. FT City Hero: Officers Lucy and Natsu indulge in a fantasy of theirs by doing it in the interrogation room. That part of the building is closed for renovation so they think they are safe from prying eyes. They get so into it that they don’t think to check the other side of the one-way mirror in the room or they would have seen one of their co-workers enjoying a quiet lunch (or drink if its Cana) and accidentally getting a free show.     (Optional: NaLu are pressed right up to the mirror at one point)

70. Do to some comments from guild mates about them being insatiable, NaLu make a bet about how long one can resist the other. The one that caves first loses. So for almost a week there is a back and forth between Natsu and Lucy of them trying to seduce each other and trying to resist (via sexy clothing, innuendos, ect.).  Who gives into their cravings first?

71. SFW- Haru,Shiki,Elie, and Rebecca visit NaLu at Fairy Tail. The boys have a drinking contest that escalates into a bar fight. The girls attempt to break it up but just end up joining in.

72. SFW- The three couples rent a house together and decide how to distribute bills/chores via contests. (Video Games, billiards, darts, wrestling, ect.)

73. NSFW- The couples have a weekly game night and tonight they are playing poker (or whatever game the writer wants). Natsu, wants to up the stakes so a game of strip poker is started.

74. SFW-The guys and girls go out to a karaoke club and chaos ensues.

75. SFW or NSFW- The couples treat themselves to a trip to an Onsen/Spa. They enjoy various activities like couples massages, ping pong, enjoying a private mixed bath, and the dangers of a drunken Lucy.

76. NSFW- The guys and the girls go out clubbing to blow off steam. It soon becomes a game to seduce and tease their significant other from the other group  This could include alluring outfits, dirty dancing, body shots, ect.   Eventually, each couple sneaks off for some alone time.

77. SFW- Lucy invites Elie and Rebecca on a mission with her. Ellie and Rebecca are interested in Lucy’s keys so she lets them use a key/star dress of their choice for the mission. (Lucy uses a spell that lets them borrow her magic). Lucy could in turn give their weapons a shot.

78. SFW- Haru lets Natsu and Shiki try out his sword with varying results.

79. Girls night. SFW- Rebecca,Lucy, and Elie have a sleepover. Throughout the night they discuss their various adventures, crazy friends, and their boyfriends.   

80. Girls night out  NSFW-  The girls are enjoying a bachelorette party. The topic of sex is brought up (possibly thanks to alcohol), and the 3 recount some of their wildest and sweetest sex stories with their current significant other. 

81. Boys night out SFW- The boys are catching up at their favorite bar and go over new life developments (marriage, kids, ect) with their significant other.

82. SFW - What starts out as a simple volleyball game between the Guys and the Ladies, quickly goes over the top as both sides will do anything to win!

83. NSFW- The Guys and Girls have a simple volleyball game but are willing to use dirty tactics and distractions to win. Winning team gets to do whatever they want to their significant other on the losing team.

84. NSFW- The group are on a vacation at a resort. When they hear of a secret beach near the resort they go check it out. Only to learn when they get there that it is a (optionally)  nude beach. The group decides to be adventurous and gives it a shot. One couple, decides to get a little too adventurous and end up getting them kicked out.

85. SFW- NaLu,Haru, and Elie take a trip on the Edens Zero. Shki and Rebecca give them a tour and introduce them to the crew. Elie and Lucy would be drawn to the bath/massage area. Haru could want to fly the ship, while Natsu deals with his zero gravity motion sickness

86. NSFW. Haru/Elie or NaLu are visiting the Shiki and Rebecca on the Edens Zero. They take the opportunity to cross “sex on a space ship” off the bucket list. They of course are constantly interrupted by the nosey EZ crew.

87. SFW- (Famous): Lucy is Ellie and or Rebecca’s favorite writer and they meet her for the first time and become fast friends.

88. SFW- (Proposal): One of the guys plans on proposing. The other two give their unsolicited advice on how to do  in the most extravagant ways possible.

90. NSFW- (Noise Complaint) Modern AU: Couple A (writers choice) has moved into a new apartment. They really like their new home but there is one major problem, their neighbors, Couple B,  are very vocal during their nightly activities. The bedrooms sharing the same wall only makes it worse. Any attempts to keep Couple B quiet have failed so Couple A decides to fight fire with fire and starts making some noise of their own. It quickly becomes a back a forth between the two couples trying to outdo each other.

91. NSFW- (Swingers) The three couples are good friends with families of their own. But secretly, once every few months, they get together and swap partners.  They meet up at one of their houses or a hotel and they either pick names randomly or play a game to see who is paired up with who. The decided pairs would go off to seperate rooms for the night. Match ups are up to the writer but my suggestions are Natsu/Rebecca, Shiki/Elie, and Haru/Lucy.  Each pair could compare/contrast their current partner with their regular one. Lucy is with someone less hyper than Natsu, Rebecca is similar to Lucy but with subtle differences, Elie likes to take charge, Haru is methodical,  ect. How they act and what they wear could also be a factor. Lucy wears lingerie, Shiki and Rebecca cosplay, ect. Could end with each couple leaving after everyone is finished or group sex in the living room.    

[kuroopaisen]

haikyuu matchups: i'm an enfp. i stand at four foot eight. i'm lowkey (read: highkey) insecure about it. i aspire to be a preschool teacher at this moment in time. i'm into guys but i will run away from them because i find men scary. i'm awkward around strangers but loud around friends. i'm clingy with my loved ones. i talk to myself a lot. i like to stay at home. i love watching documentaries especially ones about nature or historic events like world war two. i’m a sucker for romantic comedies.

aaa this was really fun to do!! i had a bit of trouble picking between five guys, but i got there in the end

that being said, i match you with…

hinata shouyou!! 

✧ okay first of all, hinata loves that you’re shorter than him. he’s not going to poke at your insecurities or anything like that; he’s just happy that he can comfortably sling an arm around your shoulders or press a kiss to your forehead easily. 

✧ hinata’s so friendly and talkative that even the most awkward of people have an easy time getting along with him. hell, he probably wouldn’t even notice that you were awkward at first; as with (almost) everyone, his immediate opinion of you is overwhelmingly positive. 

✧ honestly?? hinata doesn’t even notice that you’re scared of him. it’s a running trend with him and shy people; and it works, every time. you can’t really run away from him because he’s just going to chase after you in a panic, trying to work out what’s wrong

✧ but finding out that you’re actually loud?? it makes him unreasonably happy. hinata needs to be with someone who can match his energy, and i get the feeling you fit the bill (esp. since hinata’s an exfp himself). being able to match his energy means you’ll probably have an easier time handling it, too. 

✧ while he’s not the most intellectual person, hinata strikes me as pretty open-minded, and therefore it’d be quite easy to rope him into watching documentaries with you. he’s pretty easily impressed, too. you know those wwii documentaries that are in full colour?? that sort of stuff blows his mind 

✧ i also see him as the type to get super invested in media, regardless of what it is. so, whenever you crack out a romantic comedy, you can bet hinata’s probably shed some tears by the end. and he unironically tries to replicate scenes and gestures from them, to varying levels of success. it’s cheesy, and yet, sweet in its earnestness 

✧ you may have a hard time keeping him at home, though; he’s always out doing something (though, let’s be honest – it’s usually volleyball practice). but, when he finally does get home, you’ll have his undivided attention.

✧ idk why exactly, but i feel like hinata would be really good with kids?? he’s got a temperament that’d mess well with them imo, especially those of preschool age. so, he’s really supportive of your goals; and he’s very popular with the kids when he comes to pick you up from work after the day’s over 

✧ he loves seeing how well you get along with his little sister!! he loves getting you to help babysit with him, and you’re always finding fun things to do together. of course, in hinata’s mind, a lot of that centers around volleyball; but, a solid team-up of you and natsu can probably convince him to stay home for a movie marathon (natsu also has a fondness for romantic comedies) or even a games night (which end up just as disastrous as you’d expect)

✧ you two would just be so cute and wholesome?? i ended up liking this match more and more as i wrote it, if that says anything,,, but yeah, please love my good sunshine son, because he’d absolutely adore you!! 

other possible matches 

✧ nishinoya yuu: i’d pick him for pretty similar reasons to hinata, tbh. you’d match his energy pretty well once you’d gotten to know each other, and similarly to hinata, he wouldn’t really process that he’d frightened you in the first place (which i think can just,,, help facilitate a friendship?? but literally only hinata and noya could pull it off). i think noya would love having a clingy partner, because it’d just make him feel really good about himself; like “yeah!! they’re with ME and they love ME and they wanna spend time with ME.” noya’s probably going to tease you for talking to yourself, just because he can be so,,, blunt. but, it’s all well-meaning. 

✧ bokuto koutarou: okay, as much as i love the concept of this couple, bokuto may have a hard time getting to know you. because, let’s be honest, he’s such a chaotic force of nature that would be terrifying to have charging at you. that aside, i think you and bokuto would get along really well once you’d gotten to know each other; you’re both loud, and he also strikes me as quite clingy (and like noya, i think having a clingy partner would really boost his ego hhh). and your aspirations to become a preschool teacher means that you’d be able to handle his antics (i’m mostly joking). oh, but bokuto?? also great with kids. thinking about it makes me emotional– 

[tokusashi]

For real

invincibleHello guys, please her me out.

(My english is kinda bad but I’m trying my best. Also I DON’T WANT TO OFFEND ANYONE, if some words were poorly used then I’m sorry. But please, let me know)

Lately, reading posts about bnha spoilers, I’ve noticed that people are making a little mistake. I’m talking about blaming OP as the main source of the anime/manga falldown. At least- shounen m/a.

Well, let me say this- not really.

As examples, I’ll use three titles, “Fairy Tail”, “Bleach” and “Naruto”.

So, let’s start with the first one, shall we?

(about the Boku no hero Academia I’ll write at the end)

1. FAIRY TAIL - Hiro Mashima, creator of the FT had once said, that he’s not good with creating a big plots. And we could see that. When stories were short, it was funny, clever even and nice to read and watch. But when the whole Zeref problem was on the picture and whole DRAMA? Wellll... 

Biggest problems of FT were:

a) many, many characters that meant nothing

- Fairy Tail is an title with so many characters, that people can’t remember half of their names, but not only because of their number, but because of their lack of existence. Yeah, sure, they are there, but they don’t do ANYTHING important, mainly just waiting for the main hero (or his crew) to rescue them.

They’re just there for to be there and this is really not good. You know that Lisanna won’t do a thing, she’s just there for being pretty. You know that Evergreen won’t be a hero of the day, because there will be bigger shark, like Laxus or Natsu, to bite the enemy.

Even Levy was supposed to be the intelligent one, but in the end she was just a plot device as a damsel in distress and Gajeel’s lover.

b) main character without character development

- Natsu. Just... Natsu. He haven’t changed ALMOST at all. (I’m not saying completly).  Through the whole series, he always was just a loud idiot who liked to fight with strong oponnents and with those who have hurted his friends. I mean, it had it’s charm, but it was leading to nowhere. A breakthrough moment for him was the one, when Gildarts taught him, that he won’t always win. But we never ever see it again. Yeah, was this one time when he decided to leave Sebertooth members alone to be sure that Happy’s ok, but it wasn’t situation about win or lose. Natsu, all alone, was interesting with his problem about dragon and demon seed in him buuut... It get only worse.

c) almost lack of any training of the characters, they were always stronger because plot demanded it

- Like when they were with Spirits in Spirit world, and then learned that “Oh sh*t, we lost our all time for training”, and there was DEUS EX MACHINA, Ultear with “Sure, I can make it up guys”. And BAM! Done! Now we have super powered fairy tail members!

And it was just ugh. Like, no training arc or anything. Yeah, sure, when they were fightiung they were learning and “gaining lvl”, but not drastically.

And then we had power up “because”.

And then time-skip to explain why everyone are super powerfull right now.

And that’s kinda meh.

d) every villain who had tits was on list “to forgive everything what she had done” 

- Do I have to even explain it? Like Minerva. the biggest sadistic jerk of the females in Fairy Tail, who tortured Lucy, had FUN with it and so on. Buuuut why won’t we turn her into and lovely sheep and adopt her, because of her bewbs.

And sad story written on an knee.

e) lack of consequences around choices that main heores have made

- Again, Natsu. People were kinda worried, what’s gonna happen to him! Will he turn into a dragon?! Or a demon?! Or a mix of both?! And what have killed it all?

Igneel: Are you dragon or demon

Natsu: I’m human

WELL DONE, END OF THE PLOT.

Also Zeref had literally fu*ked a kid. Like, the body of Mavis was the one of a little girl. BUT WHO CARES.

Also, many many times characters did something, but it had no meaning whatsoever. Even the big plots, and that’s really nono.

d) Erza as a very bad written OP character

- Erza is an perfect exaple of op character, that is terribly bad written. Like, she’ll always win. She’ll be always the strongest, she’ll have armor for EVERYTHING, she’ll do the thing. I’m surprised that she had no fight with zeref 1v1, she could end the whole series a lot sooner.

Like, seriously, there’s no other character like Erza. She’s just there to win, that her whole plot. And it wasn’t suddenly. She was OP since the beginning till the last fight, and it wasn’t interesting at all. Hiro Mashima had no knowledge about “how to handle an op character”.

SUMMARY:

It wasn’t OP that destroyed Fairy Tail. Those were character, that Mashima-sensei didn’t know how to use, plot devices he had used poorly and lack of consequences and feeling of the real danger. Sure, Erza as OP was also a problem, but not the main source.

SO, NEXT’S BLEACH:

a)  Tite Kubo had continued the series after Karakura Arc.

- It was really good! The end with Ichigo who had lost his powers? Great!  Final Getsuga Tenshou! Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo merged! Very nice!

And then... yeah. Continuation. We’ve seen that Kubo-sensei had no heart to this anymore. Next Arc after another was worse and worse. 

b) potential of whole Gotei destroyed

- To be honest, whole Gotei was not even as half interesting as Hollows.

Even worse, we had seen whole Gotei from the very bad view for more than a half of the series. Also captains (after KArakura arc) had almost no real meaning. They were just meh.

c) getting tangled up in his[Kubo-sensei] own mistakes

- Like making a hybrid of shinigami-hollow-quincy-human main character, just because shinigami with hollow powers was not enough for the audience.

Or creating a third crowd with bows in white out of nowhere, just for the plot.

Or making Ishida the Sasuke of this series with even more drama than before.

Or creating fullbring just to throw the arc away.

Or just Yhwach. Kubo made him so powerfull, that he had the same problem as Masashi Kishimoto. Had no idea how to kill it. Also, the whole Zangetsu-Yhwach thing was kinda out of... yeah. Just, there were a lot of things that had no sense or were just simply stupid, and that hurts. 

d) problems of Tite Kubo

- As I’ve said before. Tite Kubo had his own problems with Shounen Jump. It became the source of the flaws that Kubo-sensei had made, and we all know it.

SUMMARY:

Actually all of the main flaws are coming from continuation, because really- If Tite Kubo could end the series after Ichigo had lost his powers, then it would be a really great shounen! Buuuut we can see how it went. The biggest problem here was not an OP, the biggest problem was the fact, that Kubo-sensei had the toys, but had no fun with plaing with them, and it’s clearly visible. He drew because he drew, because people had pulled him by the ears

AND THE THIRD ONE, NARUTO:

a) no meaning of side characters

- DON’T BITE ME, I’m not sayin “completly”! there are those like Might Guy, but when we’ll look at Kiba, Temari, Kankuro, Ino and many, many others. They were not as bad written as the ones from Fairy Tail, but also not perfect. They had almost no effect on the “final bosses”, and were out of league, when we look at the golden trio- Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, who were almost like a gods at the end in comparison to the others.

b) ninjutsu was forgotten

- At first it was amazing. Techniques! Elements! Limited chakra! Kunais were deadly, and bombs and everything that ninja used.

And then they just forgot about all of it, and Made Dragon Naruto Ball Z. There were big effective blasts, and power flowing out of characters, giant beasts who made every shinobi not important [at all] and so on. I’m really glad that Naruto had won with the final boss because of the sexy no jutsu, becase, AT LEAST, it was a jutsu.

c) Madara Uchiha and what to do with it

- As I’ve had written above abour Bleach, I have to repeat myself. Uchiha Madara was the problem, that Kishimoto-sensei had no idea how to solve.

When he was stronger, Naruto had been stronger, and Sasuke to, but there he was even mooooore powerfull, so they also had to and, yeah.

He was just a poorly used plot device.

d) Love out of nowhere

- Let’s talk about Sakura. she did loved Sasuke only because he was cool, and then he tried to kill her, he betrayed the whole village, her and naruto over and over, had treated her as she was a nuisance etc. so what she did at the end? She walked after him so long till he made her pregnant and they’ve got married. Best romance ever. Except it’s not.

Also, Naruto and Hinata. Hinata is a great character, don’t get me wrong, but while she ALWAYS loved Naruto, Naruto never really payed attention to her, and it all was created very rougly and quickly at the end. He was always more focused on Sasuke, and there was also problem with that, because Kishimoto-sensei didn’t knoiw how to show devotion to someone, that’s not as romantic as Naruto’s toward Sasuke. And it’s obvious that it WASN’T INTENTIONALL, it just looks like it looks.

Also, the only one relationship that was builded was the one between Temari and Shikamaru (we can also say about Asuma and Kurenai but it was a really short one). 

And then the final chapter, everyone are married and with kids out of nowhere. Good for them, just, it was really weird.

f) who needs Akatsuki

- Akatsuki was an organization that was purely great as long as it was in the shadow. People were scared of it. It was a really BIG DEAL, and members of it were dangerous. And then in manga, and in shippuuden anime, when they started to show themselves, they... well, died pretty quickly. Also the whole thing about the chief of Acatsuki, Pain, who was in fact only a puppet of Madara... I mean, suddenly Akatsuki became nothing, and it was kinda unnerving.

g) Friendly Tailed Beasts

- Demons. Pet demons. Plushies who need to be understood.

Like, Tailed Beasts were a really interesting creatures, but obiously Friendship no Jutsu of Naruto worked also on them so here it is. Naruto’s Zoo.

Killed potential. There was a chance to show something with power and brutality, but nah, why we should have that? Demons can’t be evil obviously.

SUMMARY:

- “Naruto” is not a bad series. Just have it bigs flaws. But also here, like in Bleach or Fairy Tail, the OP’ness wasn’t the main source of the failure. It was lack of the proportion between main characters and side characters, and Kishimoto-sensei clearly had no idea what to do with his own villains and had really strong problems with creating a relationships. But in the end it wan’t about ninjas anymore, it was Dragon Ball with guy in a tracksuit, and that was the worst one.

SO, DID THE OP-THING DESTROYED THOSE THREE TITLES?

My answer is: nope.

OP characters are totally ok, as long as creator KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THEM. Kuchiki Byakuya from Bleach was an OP character, but still great, Hatake Kakashi from Naruto was an OP character, but also- still great.

Also I want to say, that I don’t hate Fairy Tail, Naruto or Bleach.

I don’t like FT, but with Naruto and Bleach I’m pretty ok. I’m just a person who understand flaws of the title she reads.

SO, ABOUT IZUKU MIDORIYA’S “OP’ness”:

Many have doubts how it’ll turn out, but what I want to say is that Izuku is supposed to defeat All for One, and to become the greatest hero. He have to become powerfull and have more than one trick, so for me 6-7 quirks works.

Also just look at chapter 215. Everyone cried that he can use “black whip” so suddenly, but the price for using it is STRONG PAIN and reduction of One For All limit, that is possible to use (20%). So now, add 5 more an every each with it’s own restriction. Yeah.

Izuku have a lot of strenght, but Todoroki or Bakugou are controlling their powers FAR BETTER than him. Tokoyami too! He still have to catch up, ant to learn a lot of things.

Also, how many quirks does All for One have? Is he invincible? Ofc not.

Also summing my babling:

Izuku’s “op’ness” won’t destroy a thing. Horikoshi-sensei (for now) know how to handle and OP characters.

If there will be a downfall of the series, then there will be a lot of another flaws, not just one to kill it all, so don’t be afraid. Have a faith.

[backtodc]

As fun as it is to throw salt at Gosho I think this could be a good time to talk about some good DC cases. So, which are your top ten cases so far?

Hmmm, this took some thought–presented chronologically because I couldn’t pick preferential order XP

Billion Yen Robbery (013-016): Even disregarding its long-term impact on the plot, this case on its own had a good twist in how Akemi disguised herself and the lies she told to track down her robbery partners. I’m always a fan of people, rather than going for big heavy-duty disguises, just using little details of makeup and presentation to completely change their appearance. Ran’s big heart was evident in this case and how strongly she felt about “Masami”‘s safety after just meeting her twice, and this one also what is still one of my favourite ninja-Ran moments to date. Potential kidnapper/murderer across the street? Maybe we should call the police, or run down the stairs OR I GUESS WE COULD JUMP OUT OF A FIRST FLOOR WINDOW AND CHASE HIM ACROSS THE STREET AND DO A FLYING KICK TO DESTROY HIS CAR WINDOW AND ALSO HIS NOSE

Akemi’s death opens up a shitton of plot, and, despite how it gets slightly overused later on (not quite to “did you know Bruce Wayne’s parents got murdered” levels but definitely a biiiiit overused) it’s still one of the most genuinely tragic deaths, especially since Shinichi admitted his real name to her to try and offer her some comfort as she died. TEARS Q_Q

A Haunted Mansion Murder Case (017-019): The case that introduced the Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta. I always think of this one quite fondly. It had a genuinely creepy atmosphere–the “haunted” mansion looks the right side of cliche-creepy, especially once it turns out there’s actually someone around, and honestly I can forgive the incidents of the kids wandering off alone and vanishing because they’re six, of course they’re gonna do silly shit like wander off alone in a haunted mansion. And the truth of the matter is something that’s vanishingly rare in Detective Conan, something I wish we saw more often: a crime of passion. 

There’s no clever trick to the murder: the son, Akio, just loses the rag under a torrent of verbal abuse and smashes his father’s head in with a candlestick. There’s no clever trick to the cover-up, either; his mother messed with the crime scene a bit and reported it as a robbery, and given that the family’s obviously very wealthy, money probably changed hands if any investigating officer did think to suspect anything other than a robbery. All she’s thinking about is protecting her son from the consequences of his crime; all he can think about is his guilt and horror over the murder he committed. The case goes from genuinely creepy to honestly tragic. It’s a proper emotional story, and at no point do any six-year-olds have to witness a human corpse, which I’m always in favour of. And I like Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi and I’m glad they were introduced shut the fuck up

The Hatamoto Family Case (020-025): This was another case with good creepy atmosphere, a solid closed circle situation, classic big fucked-up family situation but at the heart of it, Natsue and Takeshi are a genuinely sweet couple who really don’t deserve all this bullshit and you spend the case really hoping for them to be safe and things to turn out okay for them, the traumatic deaths of several close relatives aside. The murderer is pretty sad, though I feel like Gosho intended him to be more sympathetic than he actually was–he certainly could’ve done with less abuse from his grandfather and been allowed to emotionally invest in his art more, but the cousins thing aside, murdering multiple people over a girl you’ve never even approached marrying somebody else with whom she’s had an actual relationship and is in love with is… not sympathetic. But I’m also glad that the nice chef uncle came out alright too, and that all three of the sympathetic family members reappeared in later cases since they were all very likeable characters. 

Moonlight Sonata (062-067): This one sticks in a lot of people’s minds, and I think it’s for the same reason that the haunted mansion case sticks in mine; atmosphere. This is another one with a good, genuinely creepy atmosphere from the immediate sense of “small town with a dark secret” we get as soon as the Mouri Detective Agency arrives on the island. Gosho was very good at building these atmospheres once upon a time, I would’ve liked to see him write a horror manga. The case is deeply tragic from start to finish, from the murders of the Asoh family, to the fact that Seiji/Narumi got the idea for the “curse” from playing a funeral song for a man who’d just had a heart attack after admitting to murdering their family, to the complex nature of Dr Asai’s grief and guilt that they felt the need to avenge their family but simultaneously called for a detective in the hopes that they’d be stopped, to their suicide at the end because they can’t live with what they felt obligated to do. There are Gosho’s usual… issues… with gender, and given the bigotry that became obvious later he probably had no clue at all what he was doing with Dr Asai’s gender, but I feel like they weren’t handled unkindly for an AMAB character living as a woman? I could be wrong and I wanna open this one up to the trans folk in the audience because I’ve never found a trans fan’s commentary on Dr Asai and how they think they were handled, but goddamn I still cry thinking of their suicide at the end and I appreciate that this was a one-off case that had a visible long-term emotional impact on Conan.

Magic Lovers’ Murder Case (192-196): As well as being an interesting murder involving some quite sympathetic characters, this is a really good case for seeing what Kaitou Kid’s like under the mask (or was like; I feel like he’s lost depth since this?) as expressed through Katsuki Doito. He came along to investigate suspicious user activity, but he joined the magic-lovers’ forum because he is a nerd for stage magic and stage magicians and enjoys nerding out about stage magic and stage magicians. He gets to unapologetically fanboy over his late father with other magicians, with is pretty goddamn cute imo. He also gets to show off knowledge and fondness for other magicians, and his knowledge of magic tricks is useful in solving the case, even though, by his own admission, he’s no detective, and it led to tragedy. We don’t really see how Kid felt about being unable to prevent that murder, since he was still being played as pretty mysterious at the time, but it was a good choice for his second appearance in DC imo since it cemented him as Not A Bad Dude. Also, Conan gets to be one of Those Shonen Protagonists by running across a burning bridge, which, y’know, is always cheesy, but also always kinda cool (the artwork was particularly effective imo)

Twilight Mansion (299-302): I genuinely enjoyed the gathering of the knock-off famous detectives and was pleasantly surprised by Hakuba’s appearance (back when I still held out hope that that kind of thing meant that Kid would get more involved in the plot). The mansion itself is actually quite gorgeously designed and rendered, especially at the end when the exterior crumbles, and again, DAT CREEPY ATMOSPHERE. I guess it’s officially plot-important now, too, which I just wanna say, I officially called nine years ago, but also I was hardly the only one calling BO involvement with Karasuma. 

Most of all, in general, I just really like watching and reading things involving skilled people being very competent at what they do, so the fact that ALL of the gathered detectives (save that one dead one) figured out what was up and were able to communicate and come up with a plan without revealing themselves to the brilliant detective BEHIND the whole thing, and the execution of that plan, were all very, very good and I liked it. I might reread this one right now, actually, while I’m thinking about it, I really do enjoy it top to bottom.

Golden Apple Case (350-354): PEAK interesting backstory on the part of Vermouth and Yukiko, a reasonably interesting murder, Yukiko’s RAD driving scene, and one of my favourite Ran moments ever. The confrontation with the serial killer/Vermouth is tense as hell, and the fact that Ran reacts instinctively to save his life and just can’t bring herself to drop him and let him die, to be responsible for a death, no matter whose, is a very powerful statement on the integrity of her character. She’s just to her core, and Shinichi does steal the moment a bit by helping her pull the serial killer up and getting the really good “you might need a reason to kill, but you don’t need a reason to save a life” line, but this still feels entirely like a Ran moment for me. We find out later that this incident had a profound effect on Vermouth, too, and is possibly the entire reason she’s hiding Shinichi’s secret from the BO and explicitly the reason she doesn’t want Ran to come to harm. Shame we haven’t had much Vermouth character development in a while because this stuff was JUICY.

Two Cases Under One Moon (429-434): An ICONICALLY good Bo-fightin’ case where everybody involved is putting in Maximum Effort. Heiji puts on an extremely good show as a fake Shinichi (the boy’s an extreme drama queen and Heiji does that very well), Yukiko’s disguise skills are valuable and well-used, we finally get the revelation that Vermouth has been Dr Araide for a while AND that she’s maybe immortal (…not… that we’ve gotten ANYTHING on that since..) AND we get the VERY interesting nature of her feelings concerning Shinichi and Ran. Also, we get Ran so concerned about Ai’s wellbeing that she hides in a car boot and then jumps into gunfire in order to protect her, GOD that’s SUCH a good Ran moment. Shinichi, Jodie and Akai all also get to be very brave and very smart and very badass, and ugh really I just wanna go back to everything about Vermouth in this case and explore more of that forever. Please. Also more Jodie, whose backstory we finally got in this case after revealing that she’s not Vermouth. What is it with interesting women disappearing as soon as their backstory is out MOVING ALONG 

Clash of Red and Black (595-609): This case is a cracking case. This one was long and complicated and many-layered and everybody involved was on their highest gears and it was great. Akai and Conan work as a fantastic team and Conan gets free reign to do some very good detective work for the FBI (I still believe he told Akai who he was during this case, it would make sense and undercuts how concerned I am with all of these grown adults letting a six-year-old run all around an active incident). We get a good look at the incredible power and cruelty of the Black Organization when they cause immense collateral damage just to flush the FBI out. We get the story on both Akemi and Akai’s relationship AND the Hondo family, and OH BOY THE HONDO FAMILY.

It’s also one of the most interesting Eisuke cases, imo, where not only does he do some solid investigation to find Mizunashi Rena, we get a glimpse of some real deep trauma over losing his last family member that’s driven him to be willing to attack Rena with scissors out of desperation to get answers about what happened to his father and sister. I mean, I am most definitely not advocating stabbing coma patients, but for Eisuke a lot of the trauma of your whole beloved family dying or disappearing was just implied and not explored, and then he got booted from the series immediately after things got interesting with him, so bleh. We also barely see Hidemi after this, and ?????????? because she’s a CIA agent who’s in DEEP to the BO after surviving a HORRIFYING situation where she has to proudly boast of murdering a man who was secretly her FATHER, who SACRIFICED HIS LIFE TO PROTECT HER… why are we dicking around so much with Mystery Family instead of exploring this one??? This case is kind of the last hurrah for anything interesting happening with the Hondos so I love it for that.

And I love the complicated counter-bluff involved in delivering Kir back to the Black Organization without looking like they were delivering her. Again, this was apparently in exchange for her assisting the FBI and she barely appears after this…? Nope this isn’t about salting at Gosho moving on

The Life-Threatening Broadcast of Love (804-808): I love this one solely and 300% for the part where Miwako Sato jumps out of a helicopter, shoots a noose off of her boyfriend’s neck, grabs him, wraps her coat around him to protect them and knocks both of them out of the range of a bomb blast at the last second, like the goddamn action hero that she is.

So in no particular order, those are my top ten: how about the rest of you?

[arkus-rhapsode]

I was wondering if you were planning on doing EZ reviews. I personally think if you get past the Erza clone and the similarities in looks with some characters that the story is very well and actually has a better plot than FT did.

So I’m going to give my surface level response on this and I will be fair on my stance like I usually try to. In the most general term, I don’t really review a series I don’t care about. If you notice I haven’t done a review of Black Clover in a while, its mainly cause this current arc is something I don’t really care about and it would feel like a drain on both me and my audience to here that each week. I’m sure my audience and EZ fans probably don’t wanna hear me belly ache about the series week to week.

This series really does show me that its made for people who like Hiro Mashima’s work. And if you do, more power to you, but your probably not going to enjoy my usually dissecting review style.

So right here I’m going to give my thoughts on the series to this point, and I wanna start positively. I do agree that the plot to Eden’s Zero is much better structured than FT’s once you get past the Elsie stuff. The four star shine robots plot to get to Mother actually seems like a good plotting out of how to take this story. It really reminds me of finding the four rave’s.

I also think I’ve mentioned this back in my former reviews, but the setting to is also interesting too, and forces world building. Though, I’d like them to experience the world rather than Witch just read of a synopsis of the world. Yeah having an internet in the world does kinda kill the sense of adventure.

And I will also say that I’m happy that most the cast has motivation unlike most of FT.

And with that we lead into my problems with the  story. First as I mentioned, the the plot does have better structure once you get past the Elsie stuff, the problem is that before that the pacing and plot seems really really slow, very confused, and then introduces such a high concept like time being eaten and going to other worlds in the past. While I do appreciate Hiro trying for a slower pace in the beginning, he’s doesn’t use it interestingly. He could take this time to explain the government or how these cosmos work? Is there king of space? Could the cosmos be cut up like the blues in One Piece? Or how about my biggest question, WHAT THE FUCK IS ETHER GEAR?! No we need more time travel and friendship!

Then there’s the first arc with this whole sister stuff. I will give credit that Rogue Out as villains aren’t too bad. Jin is obviously the best because he might heel turn, the sumo looking guy isn’t overtly evil, which was nice, and I could kinda get into Sister’s whole thing of just doing what she is paid to do as a motivation. But all villains except them are the usual Hiro Mashima bland weirdos with no characterization.

This Illega guy, I was expecting maybe a twist with him and why he has a collection of girls was maybe something subversive. Maybe he is trying to bring back tourism to his planet and by kidnapping B-cubers he was going to make them make the planet more entertaining, I mean Rebecca had a whole chapter praising them as coming up with fun things to do. Maybe he has a child who has an ether gear that made them look human and left him after the planet got closed off saying they’ll become a B-cuber, so he’s kid napping B-cubers to see if that one is her and that stuff that makes them stone should make his child reveal her true form.

No, he’s just a creep who likes turning women into furniture. Because… And that guy Wise’s intro arc who is just a common thug with his leg fetish brothers.

So I can’t call that story well done. If it takes till the Elsie arc to actually get to the plot actually moving forward and that this current arc is this bland and boring arc with everything being in the morally black, its not interesting.

How about the characters? Well, Shiki I’ll at least be fair, is actually gotten better than Natsu mainly cause he’s trying to be proactive. I’ll even give his gravity power at least seems to have more creativity than the generic fire dragon magic. But he’s such a confused and bland character. I mentioned this in my review chapter 1, Shiki’s strongest aspect is his social awkwardness and how that related to being raised around machines in a fantasy park. But he wants Shiki to be like your usual big damn hero whenever the time comes for him to look cool.

I recently watched an interesting piece on how My Hero’s Deku and Black Clover’s Asta represented two different types of shounen protagonists and ways to take a story. With Deku being a representation of the protagonist who needs to grow physically and emotionally into the pillar of his world that can inspire and fufil his dream, while Asta already is the pillar of his world who already can inspire and needs to earn recognition. Both of these types of protagonist are fine, but Shiki is trying to be both of them and it results in none of them. He seemingly needs to grow into a person who can actually get a ton of friends, but he also is apparently the kid who will rock the universe. It just results in a confused character, why does he act like such an idiot when he’s completely competent in action scenes?

And what makes him endearing? Say robots have a heart? Dude all the robots in this series have shown the ability to make expression and have emotion. We saw an android walk the street in chapter 2! Why do machines act like Shiki just told them the word of god after he says they have a heart, they all emote. Look at Pino and especially Witch, they’re displaying a range of emotion. Its not like they look like a cyberman who talks mechanically.

He’s just confused and unfortunately falls always back into that friendship shit as his only motivator instead of possibly addressing the trauma or adding a layer on how he won’t lose other people and what that feels like for him. The only time it really felt like he was living up to that emotionally stunned guy, was when he was beating the shit out of Illega to the point that Pino needed to shut him off, because I’m sure this kid can’t handle the emotion of anger quite yet in this situation.

Rebecca I think is worse though. I don’t know why people like her other than her design. Her personality is essentially jelly that can be morphed into whatever you want to fit the situation. She’s perverted in some scenes, but then doesn’t like perversion? I mean, she gets two guns in her hands and looks like a moron shooting randomly. Like is that badass? Is this what a female character has to do to be considered cool now?

I don’t consider her a rip off of Lucy, because Lucy actually had a character. Had a personality. No she is more a rip off of Elie from Rave, right down to the shooting shit up part. Only Elie made sense cause she was actually really unhinged thanks to the fact that she had no memories. But she got over it! She developed. Outside of her one past flashback with Happy, nothing about her is that interesting. I’ll also give her that she now just gets ether gear and its something she clearly can’t control yet, so there is room for improvement.

Wise, is actually an okay character. He’s got a cool concept of a guy from the past who is an inventor living in the future. I think his only weakness is that his ether gear is stupidly OP.

Pino is… Just and ornament that looks cute. You want your daughteru character to latch onto Shiki, here. Hell, I have bet going with a friend of mine that Pino will get some upgrade and she’ll have the body of a hot teenage girl. Its not that I hate here idea of having her memory erased, but the more I see of her and to more I hear about this robots have a heart makes me wish Michael came along.

Yeah, missed opportunity, cause Michael is not only a foil to Shiki and his adoptive brother, but he also doesn’t have a humanoid face. Meaning he doesn’t get convey true emotion so he actually seems like a robot. He actually seems like he’d have a character arc about discovering wanting to be more and more human. People would call Shiki weird calling a robot his “brother” and Michael never thought about it and we know there are multiple models of Michael. Imagine how fucking devastating it would be to see yourself mass produced. Imagine he actually gets to the point that he wants a humanoid face, because he wants to emote.

No we get Pino, who basically is Carla, but lacks any of thee enjoyable sass. Because we didn’t have enough sidekicks on this cast. Also we learn EMP is how to shut off ether gear, great, this is like if Usopp just had sea-prism stone on him at all times.

Then there’s Homura, she’s awful too. I’ll at least give Rebecca that she’s likable, but Homura she is personalitiy-less and has the worse character gimmick I think I’ve seen. Its not funny, its dumb. She can also use this ether gear too, and its a sword that was apparently passed down-its fucking 10 commandments. She also just walked into this story, like wha…? I’d be fine if she was like hunting the Eden’s Zero ship and watched it take off on Bluegarden, but no, Homura just came along cause she conveniently met Wise.

I’ll give her credit that the sword fighting looks cool, and I understand why people might like her cause that actually seems like something badass, but as a character she just feels tacked on.

Then there’s witch who is basically just the older sister character.

Elsie is not awful actually. She actually is a lot different from Erza and I actually would like to follow the space pirates more than I would want these random travelers. Also quick question, why do they still have the Eden’s Zero looking like a pirate ship? I mean, it looks cool, but these fuckers are not pirates, not even close. Oh wait, I know! We needed to rip off captain Harlock some more.

I’m not going to even talk about the potential love square with Shiki, Rebecca and Lavilla/Labilla, possibly Esie and Homura (?) cause one credit to FT was it wasn’t a harem, and Rave used a character like Celia and Beruka to more add an extra layer to the relationship of Elie and Haru. SO hoping Hiro avoids that.

So yeah if this rant has probably showed you, I don’t think EZ is all that great. But if you like it, fine I get that. I just have no interest in really talking about it week to week as even though I got down on FT, the beginning of the series was still something I enjoyed and I wanted to talk about how the current stuff had turned out. But EZ has no, beginning I liked. So I just don’t feel like I should be talking about it week to week.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 249: Todoroki Taco Night

Previously on BnHA: Nothing happened at all, because the manga was on break last week! Fortunately the anime had finally resumed after a billion years (estimation; exact length of time may be slightly off), so we had that to take the edge off in the meantime. Except we didn’t, because the anime also ended up going on break due to a rugby game or some shit. So that was nice. On a related note, when I die I’d like the Basement arc to lower me into my grave, so it can let me down one last time.

Anyway, Endeavor did some mentoring and gave Shouto and Kacchan a power-up assignment and told Deku to work on Air Force to help him master the fine control he needs for the Bloop. Then Fuyu called a week later and was all “HEY DAD, DINNER, OUR PLACE, TONIGHT, BRING THE KIDS.” And then as previously mentioned, we waited two whole fucking weeks and MY GOD, my body is ready, on to the new chapter we go!

Today on BnHA: Shouto, Katsuki, and Deku are cordially invited to Todosmith Farms for an evening of food and fun! They make it approximately six minutes into dinner before Natsu loses it and exits with more theatrics than a spurned reality TV show contestant. Baku and Deku spend the next hour being all “!!!” at each other back and forth, and whispering about how fucking dramatic the Todorokis are, which fully kills me and is my favorite thing ever to happen in the world. Deku then begins to guide Shouto through his personal healing process like fucking Mufasa booming at Simba from the heavens, and meanwhile Endeavor listens in while quietly kneeling before HIS DEAD SON’S PHOTOGRAPH, IN THE SHRINE THEY BUILT FOR SAID DEAD SON IN HIS BEDROOM, and sorrowfully wishing he could do more for his family. Anyways so I’m in ruins now, but otherwise fine. How are you?

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

well it’s Thursday morning, and I have just seen the picture of baby white-haired Touya because no one in this fandom knows how to fucking spoiler tag (and that’s on me too for browsing the BnHA tag on a Thursday; I know better, but I was just curious how this new group chat thing was working out), so here are my immediate thoughts

we never actually confirmed that the hair color correlates to their powers, huh. we just assumed. but come to think, there’s no reason why someone couldn’t have mom’s hair but dad’s quirk. it’s all Shouto’s fault for being a perfect 50/50 split and thus making everyone assume that THAT’S JUST HOW IT WORKS. damn you Shouto and your dramatic character design

anyways I tried not to look at the pic for too long -- once I realized what I was looking at, I averted my eyes -- but he does look like Dabi, I think. oh shit guys. it’s really fucking happening

and I also didn’t get a good enough look to determine whether this was a photo of Touya (that Deku or whoever happened to spot while visiting the Todochester Mystery House for the much-hyped dinner) or a flashback image (in which he is just standing really fucking still for some reason and staring directly at the camera), so I guess we’ll see. but anyways, Deku and Kacchan didn’t come all the way down to Todoroki taco night to not have their evening peppered with intricate family drama and reopened wounds and hysterical conspiracy theories, so you had better keep them goddamn entertained! lord knows the Todorokis don’t do small talk. this is literally their only way of spicing things up so their guests don’t die of sheer awkwardness while Endeavor sits in stony silence and Shouto just stuffs his face with soba all night

also aren’t we due some popularity poll results soon? just getting in all my random thoughts now before we dive in. anyways Horikoshi, so you know what I want to see now and you better deliver

aaaand now it’s Friday! so Happy Birthday Aizawa, and LET’S GET TO THAT CHAPTER

and we’re opening with Endeavor’s Redemption Arc: The Page. omg

holy fucking shit BnHA. you sure do have a way of making me wait WITH BATED BREATH!! FOR TWO WEEKS!!! ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT!!!! for the new fucking chapter only to have me immediately suck in a deep breath through my teeth and seriously reconsider whether I am in any way emotionally prepared to handle this. “you think you know what you want?!” Horikoshi demands. “YOU HAVE NO IDEA.” sob it’s trueeee

okay. okay. we can do this. hell, if we made it through Tomura’s flashbacks then this should be child’s play. so all right, let’s go

-- oh wait, but before I click to the next page, I just want to note that Endeavor isn’t the only one who’s nowhere to be found in this pic, though! boy you have three sons. uno dos tres

“the hellish Todoroki residence” lmao this legitimately sounds like the title of a Buzzfeed Unsolved episode

ARE YOU TELLING ME ENDEAVOR PROVIDES LUXURY APARTMENTS FOR ALL HIS FUCKING EMPLOYEES OMFG

SO MY THREE SONS HAVE ALL BEEN ROOMING TOGETHER UNDER ENDEAVOR’S ROOF!? THE FANFIC ENDEAVOR AGENCY RESIDENCES?! WHAT KIND OF OT3 SHENANIGANS HAVE BEEN ABOUNDING THIS PAST WEEK OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS LIKE A DREAM

OH MY GOD

okay I have like... ten different notes I want to make about Katsuki and I don’t know where to start SO I’LL JUST START SOMEWHERE!

I’ve legit wanted to see how he would look with his mask pushed up into his hair like a headband for the longest fucking time (I don’t know why! I just wanted to see it!) so this. is. Christmas for me omg. if only he wasn’t making one of his (◣д◢) faces and was instead making a normal face. but that’s probably too much to ask of him at THE CRACK OF DAWN, which brings me to my next point,

I thought he was a morning person?? [furiously checking headcanon notes] kid you go to bed at 8pm. you have your full eight hours by four in the fucking morning. and the full nine and a half hours that GROWING BOYS ACTUALLY NEED by 5:30am, which is when I always assumed you typically woke up in order to get in your morning workout and BEAST IT UP IN THE PIT or whatever gym people do. yet here you are, half dead, while Deku and Burnin’ are raring to go. were you just burning the midnight oil and that’s why you’re grumpy? WAS IT THE FANFIC AGENCY RESIDENCES SHENANIGANS, OH MY GOD I CAN’T

lastly, look at that unzipped collar. why is it that the more disheveled he looks the more I want to pile him up in a headlock and give him noogies. I love him so fucking much, this is ridiculous, he was only gone for two weeks but it felt like SEVENTEEN YEARS anyway

so Burnin’ is all “catch any villains faster than Endeavor yet, LOL, LIKE THAT COULD EVER HAPPEN!!” and they’ve been putting up with this trolling for a fucking week now huh. no wonder Katsuki’s ready to pack it in and sleep for the next year

motherfucker holy shit

sure thing coach. Todoroki Shouto out here ready for the morning huddle. BRING IT IN! ONE TWO THREE PLUS ULTRA

meanwhile Katsuki better keep his hair like that for the rest of the arc now. the collar too. I am living for this

what is Shouto doing with his hands

are you blowing a kiss. or beckoning toward her like Neo in the Matrix. are you channeling your inner Iida. wtf is this

this one panel perfectly encapsulates everything I love about this OT3 dynamic oh my god

Katsuki screaming at Todoroki that he’s better than him (based on impeccable, flawless logic). Shouto completely disregarding this and calmly continuing to have a normal conversation at a normal person volume. and Deku ignoring them both while sending the chipperest, most positive energy in the world out toward this other person because he loves everyone!!

and now there’s three closeups of the boys showing how worn out they are

they’ve been working so hard I’m so proud of them and also they totally deserve a night off to go gorge themselves on soba at Toderly Manor

and then there’s a whole nother page continuing to establish that it has been a week! and they’re working hard! and YES, WE KNOW, though

yep yep yep we get it now WHAT ABOUT THAT DINNER oh my god. it’s been four pages! and if we’re only getting thirteen again then this is precious real estate we’re just wasting here, come onnnnn

so Endeavor is continuing to show off how great he is while the kids look on in frustration

heh but I like this panel because LOOK AT THEM

ALL THREE OF THEM CAN FLY (basically). I love it. yes. just let them be airborne for the rest of the series

meanwhile Endeavor’s thinking agitated thoughts about how Fuyu wants him to try and CONNECT TO THE CHILDREN ON AN ACTUAL EMOTIONAL LEVEL, like what do you think he is?? a human being??!

lol he’s got that look like “WHY DON’T YOU JUST KILL ME NOW AND BE DONE WITH IT.” things he would rather do than have a family dinner with his kids and his two new apprentices: literally. anything. else. ah, but Endeavor. no one said the path of Not Being A Bastard would be easy

he’s thinking about how happy Fuyu sounded on the phone, though. “the thought of us finally becoming a real family...” c’mon Enji you can’t just let your only daughter down like that

and also me. you better not fucking let me down. I was promised dinner at Todoton Abbey and DAMN IT THIS IS HAPPENING

lol he’s getting all fired up and the kids are just mindlessly yelling back like “FUCK YEAH”

even the guy in the background’s like “YEAHHHHHHH LET’S DO ITTT.” the best part is how not a single one of them has any clue what they are loudly agreeing to

OH MY GOD

TODOLAND RANCH, AT LONG LAST. YESSSSS

lmao Kacchan

“it’s not too late!” he is so desperate, bless him. all he wanted was to curl up in his room with a bowl of spicy ramen after a long day and watch old All Might clips on Youtube while blissfully not interacting with a single other soul. and now instead they’ve dragged him to fucking Todo-a-Lago for dinner with his boss, his two best friends who he hates, and SOMEONE’S SISTER. what a nightmare

FUYUMIIIIII

worst part is, I don’t think Kacchan will be able to resist Fuyu’s Kind Elementary School Teacher Energy at all. he’s totally screwed. -- OH MY GOD, IS HE HIDING

like, I know this is the Todoroki drama chapter and that’s where my focus should be, and I’M SORRY, but you guys all know what you signed up for by this point, right? you can read a million other Todo hot takes on tumblr today, but this will forever be the blog that spends paragraphs and paragraphs obsessing over Kacchan hiding behind the door frame and sulking and asking “why though?” in increasingly petulant tones like a four-year-old because SOMEONE DRAGGED HIM TO A SOCIAL EVENT and this is his personal hell! Fuyu’s gonna end up having to manually feed him chicken like Satou did at the party

meanwhile now that I’m actually READING THE REST OF THE PANEL LIKE A NORMAL PERSON, I have to pause for a moment to let my heart break over Deku saying that he hardly ever gets invited over by friends. hey Deku come here for a moment, I just have to give you a dozen hugs real quick and then you can continue as you were

anyway so guys I literally owe Todoroki Fuyumi my life and I want to send her flowers with a “THANKS FOR SAVING THE MANGA” card but it’ll have to wait until the chapter is done. let’s continue

NATSU’S HERE TOO, SHOUTO SAW HIS SHOES, OH M Y GO D

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: shout out to Natsu for wearing the greatest shirt of all time and taking Deku’s rookie-tier gags to THE NEXT LEVEL!)

I LOVE EVERYTHING. I’M SOBBING. BLESS YOU HORIKOSHI. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

holy shit Deku

Alton fucking Brown over here. chill my dude

NATSU BRINGING THAT DRAMA YESSSS

and look how oblivious Deku is to the general vibe settling in here

what the fuck do you see. you just literally had no idea how else to respond to that, huh

oh my god oh my fucking god

(ETA: I’m laughing so hard and I’ll explain in the tags. sob.)

guys let me just break down these two panels for you

1. Fuyu is all “NATSU YOU COOKED TOO”

2. Shouto is all “WTF, I ATE NATSU FOOD AND NO ONE FUCKING TOLD ME”

3. Natsu is all “YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T BECAUSE... THAT MAN PROBABLY WOULDN’T ALLOW IT”

how the fuck is there drama brewing over the fucking cooking. this fucking family. and Shouto’s face is two seconds away from being my new icon omg

LMAO

SO YOU TWO FINALLY FUCKING CONNED ON TO THE DANGEROUS SITUATION YOU’VE FOUND YOURSELVES IN, HUH. that’s right bitches. welcome to Todo’s Landing

and now Fuyu has finally made a FATAL ERROR IN JUDGEMENT oh no. that error being trying to fall back on Shouto of all people to ease the awkward tension. that boy literally is made up of awkward tension. right down to his atoms. Fuyu what were you thinking??

FUYUMI: [SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE] “SHOUTO WHAT KIND OF FOOD DO YOU EAT AT SCHOOL!!!!”

SHOUTO: [LEAPING TO HIS FEET] “AT THE CAFETERIA!!!!”

someone help me I’m fucking dying. actually, you know what, help them

“yo Deku, do you wanna get the fuck out of here right now.” “yes, yes I do.” turns out, they didn’t really need that internship anyway. maybe they can still convince the centipede man to take them instead

holy shit

like, I feel so bad for him, but also Fuyu looks so fucking sad and I can’t?? this is too much, and things haven’t even gotten spicy yet. this arc is going to leave me a wreck

DSFKSLDFJLK

“it’s okay,” Horikoshi says comfortingly, “here’s a panel of your two good boys helping clean up.” WELL THANK YOU, EXCUSE ME FOR A MOMENT, I’M GOING TO GO SIT. and think about Katsuki being a fucking gentleman whose momma raised him right and who helps clean up the dishes after being invited over for dinner. never mind that he didn’t even help clean up the Christmas party. but he saw Fuyu being sad and immediately went MY GOD, I’VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP THIS STUPIDLY NICE LADY

anyway so are you two going to ask Endeavor why his kids hate him so fucking much. or just ignore it because you pretty much know the gist already because Shouto can’t keep a lid closed on anything

OH MY GOD THEY’RE HAVING A SECRET CONVERSATION ABOUT IT

FFFFFFFdfsLK -- “YOU GUYS WERE TALKING ABOUT IT RIGHT NEXT TO ME, ON ACCOUNT OF I WAS STANDING RIGHT THERE, IN THE SHADOWS, BECAUSE I WAS EAVESDROPPING, SHUT UP”

anyways so did you guys know that Deku and Kacchan having whispered conversations about how dramatic the fucking Todorokis are is my all-time aesthetic. I didn’t know either actually. but it is

Fuyu why are you apologizing to Shouto for making him help clean up

AND WHY ARE YOU PERSISTING IN MAKING THAT FACE. SON OF A BITCH. GIRL I’M BRINGING YOU SOME ICE CREAM AND SOME DVDS. WE’RE GONNA HAVE A SLEEPOVER AND FORGET ALL ABOUT THIS SHIT. PLEASE FEEL BETTER. I’M SORRY YOUR TWIN BROTHER IS DEAD AND YOUR WISH TO HAVE A NORMAL FAMILY IS NEVER GOING TO FUCKING COME TRUE BECAUSE WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS OMG

oh my god she’s having a heart to heart with Shouto about how he feels about Endeavor. oh my god I see Horikoshi aiming a bow right at my fucking heart. he’s notching the fucking arrow, this is it, it’s been real you guys

that look in his one visible eye. god. there it is. oh god. hurts

(ETA: do you suppose all of the Todorokis have secretly had that exact same dream. we know Fuyu has, and Rei as well based on her letter. I’m starting to think that Shouto has too. it only makes sense that a boy who was denied a real childhood for the first fifteen years of his life is going to have some part of him that secretly longs to just have a normal family. in related news, Shouto had better get some fucking hugs in this arc!)

-- ARE YOU SERIOUS

WHAT IS IT WITH HORIKOSHI LATELY AND BEING DONE WITH JUST IMPLYING THINGS AND NOW VERY INTO SHOWING THEM IN EXPLICIT HORRIFYING DETAIL. HERE’S A DEAD DOG! HERE’S A DYING CHILD! HERE’S A SIX-YEAR-OLD WHOSE MOM JUST POURED SCALDING WATER ON HIS FUCKING FACE AND SHE DIDN’T MEAN TO BUT IT’S TOO LATE AND NOW THEY’RE BOTH TRAUMATIZED. AND SHE’S USING HER QUIRK TO HEAL HIM AND HELLO, THIS ONE PANEL IS ABOUT TO MAKE ME START CRYING. KATSUKI YOU WERE RIGHT. WHY, THOUGH

(ETA: yeah this does not bode well for an upcoming flashback in which a child was presumably burned the fuck alive. feels like Horikoshi was testing the waters to see how much he could get away with. we may be in for some brutal shit pretty shortly.)

OH MY GOD A LETTER

they’re going to discharge her soon!?? IMMINENT FEELINGS INBOUND. I HAVE NO MORE SPACE TO PUT THEM!! MY HOUSE IS PACKED WITH FUCKING FEELINGS ALREADY, PLEASE

ahhhh he says he doesn’t know

this is the most realistic fucking thing I’ve read in this manga to this date. not knowing how you feel about the abusive parent who did so much harm but is now trying to change. boyyyyy howdy I feel that in my fucking bones. Horikoshi is out there delivering the real shit. goddamn

KATSUKI MY HERO

it’s as though Horikoshi placed his hands on his shoulders and said “listen up sonny boy, I’ve got an important job that only you can do. defuse this tension. in any way you can.” and Katsuki looked him dead in the eye and said “I got this”

meanwhile Deku’s hoping he can spontaneously develop another new quirk which will open up a hole in the ground to swallow him up

DEKU: “I HAD PERMISSION!!!” KACCHAN: “I DIDN’T HAVE SHIT!!”

HE IS BITCHING LIKE A DISGRUNTLED HOUSEWIFE HOLY SHIT I’M LOSING MY MIND

“A NORMAL, PLEASANT EVENING!!” yes of course, that’s why you spent the entire ride over here clinging to Todoroki’s shirt and repeating “WHY” ad infinitum. anyways as usual this child is a nightmare whose fickle tirades absolutely no one deserves to be subjected to, god bless him and I adore him so

and Deku is again apologizing for him like they’re fucking married. this chapter is filled with so many highs and lows for me, it’s wild

this, to be clear, is one of the highs. god I love it

oh shit it looks like Deku’s getting ready to say something! SOMETHING WISE, I BET

YESSSSSSS

IS HE?? sometimes this kid can just peer into other people’s souls with perfect clarity, it’s uncanny

oh my god Shouto’s face

genuine shock. he doesn’t even know how he feels, but somehow Deku is able to cut right to the heart of it

oh my god Katsuki’s there to chime right in too and say “but if you feel like he doesn’t deserve forgiveness that’s fucking fine too”

this is actually incredibly fucking supportive? anyway so guys have I mentioned within the last five seconds how much I love Bakugou fucking Katsuki. I have? well that’s okay I’ll just say it again anyway. and also I love Deku and Shouto too oh my god. bless this chapter

oh lol nevermind that still Deku talking while Katsuki is just making faces. well he’s doing his best. anyways so like I said I love Midoriya fucking Izuku

(ETA: [chinhands] do you guys think. that perhaps. Midoriya Izuku might be harboring some unresolved feelings regarding his own absent daddo. maybe. ??? why does this chapter have so many layers??)

ah I see, Katsuki spied Natsu just STANDING THERE LISTENING IN THE DARK, as one does, and that’s why the face

and also YES, Shouto is like the kindest fucking person in the whole series possibly. thank you for acknowledging that?? I’m in the process of arranging all of these new feels into a comfy little pile now, so maybe I can curl up in them. if Horikoshi insists on delivering more and more

SLDKFJSLDKFLSHGLKJKLJSLGKJSDLFKSDLFKJLSDKJFLKSL

“THE OTHER CHILD WHO’S NO LONGER THERE” RED ALERT, RED FUCKING ALERT, IT’S REALLY HAPPENING, HOLY FUCKING SHIT. REMINDER TO SELF, NEXT THURSDAY I’M GONNA HAVE TO GO ON A SELF-IMPOSED INTERNET HIATUS FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS BECAUSE FANDOM’S GOING TO LOSE THEIR FUCKING SHIT WITH THE SPOILERS NEXT WEEK AND I’M NOT EVEN MAD

sdfhk. oh my god. and so it was a photograph! but one which appears to be a segue into a flashback! and the law of escalating tragic flashbacks states that Touya’s is somehow going to be even more horrific than our last flashback, in which, let me just think back for a sec, oh yes, an entire family was massacred and torn into bloody chunks including a six-year-old girl and a dog, and the surviving child was then adopted by a psychopath who adorned him with severed hands and was all “NEVER FORGET HOW FUCKED UP YOU FEEL ABOUT ALL THIS” and then the child murdered some people to feel better about himself. so this is somehow going to be worse than that. well that’s just. ...I don’t even know. I literally can’t think of a lighthearted way to end that train of thought lmao. WE ARE FUCKING SCREWED. get ready to burn, baby

but meanwhile, parting thoughts

so they really do believe he’s dead. that’s confirmed. and he died (or, well, “died”) young, too, based on this picture and on the toys on that shelf. fffff

Endeavor kneeling at a family shrine to pay respects to his dead son and miserably wishing he was still alive is just. repeated stabbings of my already mutilated heart. thanks. thanks for that

he heard EVERYTHING and he’s saying nothing, because what can he say?? I meanwhile have already said “oh my god” about 1600 times in this recap, but I’ll go ahead and say it again anyway one last time because oh my god, the fucking Todofam AND THEIR FUCKING DRAMA!!!

what can I do for my family at this stage? the last plea of a desperate man struggling to make amends and piece together something he’s already shattered into a million pieces. he keeps dreaming of them being happy together, even if he’s not in the dream. he wants to do right by them, finally. but he doesn’t know how. anyways so people have been saying and saying that this arc so far has been death flag after death flag for this old coot, and you know what, they’re fucking right. this does not have a happy ending. this is going to be fucking devastating. and here I am, fully obsessed with it. fuck me

anyways I guess that’s finally everything I can think of to say. this recap is already a million fucking words so that’s fine lol. why though

[bijuewled]

Charmed: Chapter 8

A/N: And here’s another chapter! I hope you guys enjoy Natsu and Lucy’s encounter in the Fairy Tail annual battle of the sexes! The results of the games will be at the end of this chapter. Who do you think will win? And who has the flag? All will be answered at the end of this chapter! Enjoy the nalu!

Note: The area where Gray and Juvia had their face off is down the road from where Natsu is in this chapter, like a mile down the road by the river, hope that helps give some perspective!

And there’s a scene with Gray and Juvia in this chapter that happens as Natsu finds Lucy!

Read all parts here

You can also read it here on ff.net

Word Count: 11,689

Rating: M (language and themes)

Summary: As the days grew older, they grew closer; closer than they could’ve ever imagined. And as an innate power forces itself upon Lucy, she becomes a piece of a destiny that would be beyond her control; for the one who bears the mark of gold is charmed with the power to destroy everything..and to begin everything anew.

                                        Chapter Eight: Down and Dirty

                                                           o-o-o

“I know you’re here.”

Natsu’s eyes narrowed as if he were solving a math equation, staring down the numbers before waiting for the answer to jump out at him, not because he didn’t know how to solve said equation, but because he needed to see the bigger picture before he could submit his answer. Then again, he’d never taken a math test in his life, let alone written anything down on a piece of paper. Igneel had learned that Natsu’s tactile approach on everyday demeanors also applied to teaching the kid math through pebbles and twigs, and sometimes even berries he’d pluck off of bushes and pop right into Natsu’s mouth as a reward. Even Makarov never sat Natsu down and made him take written tests like the others, knowing he’d just get bored and set his paper on fire.

No, he prefered a more hands on approach to handling the problems that faced him, or rather, the problems that currently hid from him.

Natsu grinned as he stared as the restless body of water in front of him. His eyes traced the waves enthusiastically as adrenaline pumped through his veins. Never in his life had Natsu been so genuinely excited about water.

“Ne, Natsu?” Happy chirped next to him, frowning down at the water, cautiously keeping his paws away from the parts of the cobblestone path that were a dark gray shade from being damp. “We’ve been here for a while now...don’t you think that we would’ve found Lucy by now?”

Natsu looked down at his blue partner beside his feet before bending down and scratching him softly between his ears. “If it were anyone but Lucy, I’d agree with you Buddy.” Natsu told him, his eyes scanning the water slowly.

Everything had clicked when he ran into Bixslow and Freed, of course it wasn’t Juvia who soaked them to the brim with a giant wave. That wasn’t true to her style anyway, and if it were her, she would’ve sent the two swimming into the next town, not purposely of course. He knew just as well that Lucy had the capacity to do the same, but she wouldn’t do that to anyone in Fairy Tail, other than himself maybe. And it was absolutely uncanny of the blonde to help out a teammate in need, like helping Lisanna escape from Natsu’s teammates so that they could keep one of their own in the game.

“I know you’re here Lucy!” Natsu grinned, raising his right arm and swiftly brushing his fingers through his spiky pink locks, the heat of the dying sun locked onto his hair and spreading across his palm.

The water released a metallic smell that filled Natsu’s nose, leaving an unappealing taste on his tongue. He’d always resented walking next to this part of the river, and he could put all the blame on the smell alone; the perfect spot for many to throw jewel coins into the river and make useless wishes for future love or more money, which seemed so counterproductive to Natsu since the dummies were throwing money away to wish for more money. He couldn’t fathom what sense that made to anyone, with all the money that was glittering below the slow rushing water he could buy himself an exotic pet, like a lizard that breathed fire or even a five course meal that could satisfy him for days. Lucy, however, had scoffed at his statements of the wasteful money at first, believing in the fun of making wishes and throwing the coins in the water when the two of them had stopped for a snack at the bakery near the famous money wasting spot once after a job. Natsu wasn’t a huge sweet tooth, but the owner of the bakery enjoyed whenever Natsu came by ever since he’d scared off a man trying to rob the place once upon a time. He was so appreciative that he’d even developed a special recipe for cake that involved hot sauce mixed into the butter cream frosting and hot tamale candies baked into the batter. Natsu had told her she was nuts, nuttier than the chunks of almonds that were baked into the slice of cake that sat on her plate. She’d rolled her eyes at him, and looked out towards a couple holding hands and throwing multiple coins in the river. Natsu openly smirked at her when her eyes soon began to narrow, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance as another couple began to throw multiple coins into the water, followed by one small child taking an entire coin purse and turning it over so that her coins fell into the water with a giant splash, exclaiming to her mother that she’d have extra luck in making her wish come true if she used more coins. Lucy swallowed harshly, closing her eyes and reaching for her cup of tea.

Later that night, Natsu had knocked on her window and the two exchanged silent eye contact through the glass for a good ten seconds, before Lucy reached down to open it for him.

“I’ll get my coat.”

They hadn’t stopped sifting through the dirt caked on the bottom of the river until they’d picked out every coin they could find. Lucy had contracted a bad cold after their night of coin diving, but she’d treated herself by buying a new sweater with the jewel she’d acquired.

Natsu smirked at the memory, glancing down at the new coins that shone beneath the water as he walked by. They’d have to have another dive session soon.

Natsu stopped in his tracks, the thought of the water rushing through his mind and turning the wheels in his head. He bit down on his cheek inside his mouth, tasting even more of the scents of the coins before an idea burned brightly into his mind, a grin spreading across his face slowly.

“Happy,” Natsu began kneeling down onto the ground and looking to his partner “I’m gonna need ya to fly up high for me.”

The Exceed frowned at the Dragon Slayer “Huh?” he chirped “What for?”

Natsu laughed, stretching his right hand over the water next to him as he felt the fabric of his pants near his knee dampen. Images of a soaking wet Freed and Bixslow swam through his mind as his fingers inched closer to the water below. The liquid danced teasingly beneath his palm as Lucy’s face sparkled its way into his psyche next, making him grin mischievously as he felt the blood in his veins begin to simmer, shooting down into his hand. A slight steam began to rise up from the top of the water, tickling his skin as it left small drops of water to cling onto his muscles.

The dragonslayer grinned. “It’s gonna get hot.”

Happy sprouted his wings and let himself levitate a few feet above the water, eagerly waiting for Natsu to give him the signal to increase his height.

If Lucy wasn’t gonna come out of her watery hiding spot, he’d just have to make her. Plain and simple.

But then again, it was never that way with the two of them.

“Na-” Happy could barely exclaim before water spurted out from the river at lightning speed, directly at the Exceed. Natsu’s ears were filled with mixed sounds of rushing water and Happy’s cry of surprise as he watched his blue friend be launched across the golden sky, his little voice growing fainter and fainter as the jet of water rained down upon Natsu, dampening his hair and making it stick down flat to his temples.

“Happy!” Natsu exclaimed, motioning to hop up from his kneeling position before something cold and wet wrapped itself around his right arm, slamming him back onto the cobblestones, a sharp pain shooting up his knee. He gritted his teeth as he saw the water wrap around his arm like a vice, squeezing his arm tightly and leaving it numb. His eyes widened as he felt it pull him more and more into the river, the force immensely strong, as if a weight were on the other side. He growled a low growl of frustration, as the water had made its way up and above his elbow and clamped down onto his shoulder. He fought the liquid, pressing his feet onto the cobblestones and straining to stand up straight.

“Damn it!” he cursed to himself as he struggled to make a fist with his submerged hand. He felt the muscles in his arm strain as he saw small bubbles beginning to fill the water around his arm. He gritted his teeth even harder as steam began to rise from his arm, sweat dripping down his temple as he struggled to figure out why the water hadn’t evaporated away.

However, he didn’t have much time to dwindle on that fact, as his ears picked up on the sound of another jet of water shooting out of the river and this time, wrapping itself around his torso and neck. He coughed violently as the water hardened around him like a vice, and before he could even blink, he was swept off of the cobblestones and was dragged into the cold water, bubbles rushing into his vision and filling his ears. He grimaced as he tasted the metallic undertones of the water, a few coins lightly slapping his calves as he opened his blazing eyes to see nothing but dark blue depth up ahead.

Not bad he thought to himself briefly before his lungs suddenly were able to take in oxygen, his head breaking the surface of the water. He panted slightly as he felt his arms stiffen against his sides, the water around him feeling sort of like the jelly Mira spread on his toast at the guild.

“Sorry for the roughness.” a familiar voice apologized to him as he swiftly directed his attention towards it, eyes blurred and irritated from the water. “But I can’t have you evaporating the river on me like that.”

Lucy always had a certain way of showing everybody up, and he couldn’t understand how she did it each and every time. Whether it was opening the front doors of the guild and swinging her hips slightly as she walked in or even when she brushed her hair behind her shoulders as she doused a piece of paper with words from her pen, she always managed to stand out.  

And seeing her in that moment was no exception.

She was like a fairy, balancing atop the rushing water as if it were solid ground, small droplets of water floating around her arms and legs. Her peach skin was almost tinted a darker orange with the sunset, making her blonde hair appear extra gold; it swished behind her shoulders in the wind, the red tie in her hair moving along with it.

She looked out into the distance with an embarrassed grin. “I’ll have to get Happy some really delicious fish after this. I didn’t mean to send him flying to the next town.”

Natsu spit some water out of his mouth and grinned at her. “What? And I don’t get an apology?”

Lucy’s eyes met his, and her sheepish grin turned into a confident one. She had a familiar twinkle in her eyes. “You’ve had this coming to you for a while now.”

“Tsk.” he shook his head. “I’m hurt.”

Natsu looked her up and down, her attire completely changed from the similar uniform look the girls’ team had donned. It wasn’t like he’d never seen her like this before, in fact it was the same outfit she’d produced in his memory of refilling the lake at the park. His eyes traced the long black zig-zagged line across her chest, the yellow and green straps of her bikini top overlapping them on her collarbone. The only difference that he could spot in her appearance was the suspicious red flag tucked into the side of her skirt. But yet, he felt that there was something else he was missing, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“You’re not getting this from me.” she locked eyes with him as he looked up at her, her fingertips brushing the fabric lightly. “Not if I, nor the sun, has anything to say about it.”

She took a step towards him, ripples of water spreading out in lethargic circles as her slow gait brought her closer and closer to Natsu. He narrowed his eyes as she looked down on him with the utmost satisfaction. It added a small blush to her cheeks, brightening up her complexion a little, almost the same shade as the small amounts of pink painted across the sherbert sky. Hell, it even made her eyes more pronounced, bringing out that exciting spark that ignited her pupils whenever she was determined to do something.

He’d secretly always liked that spark. It reminded him of why she was his partner, why they picked each other.

He felt his mouth curl upwards in a smirk, and she stopped in her footsteps, frowning skeptically as he felt the water pressure around him tighten. This only made him chuckle softly, watching as his partner stared him down with a sour suspicion painted all over her face.

“It’s a good thing that I don’t give a crap about what the sun has to say.” he told her as-a-matter-of-factly.

He felt a delicious and familiar power boil through his veins, rushing down into his toes and fingertips. When he felt the bubbles begin to pop on his skin, his smirk transformed into a wide grin as he watched Lucy’s eyes widen in horror.

“Now I’m really fired up.”

And in just a flash, the river would be as well.

o-o-o

Lucy felt the heat on her face before she could even process what was about to happen. Her lips parted slightly, though her voice would not yield to her desire to use it as she watched the bubbles form rapidly around Natsu, popping like popcorn. The water around them began to stir uneasily, splashing against her feet and hitting her exposed skin where her sandals didn’t cover her completely. Her stomach dropped when she realized that the water was extremely warm, almost hot.

She looked into Natsu’s mischevous eyes, and her stomach dropped to her feet.

She’d wasted too much time.

A sudden roaring of boiling water filled her ears as hot steam blew all around her, stinging her eyes and making them water, making her gasp in surprise. Losing her footing, she fell backwards onto her butt, her Aquarius Stardress allowing her to remain above the water rather than falling into it. It took only a few more seconds before she felt herself sinking into the mud and stones that lingered below the once full river. She watched in horror as the steam continued to billow around her, frizzing up the ends of her hair and making sweat drip down her temples. She bit down on the inside of her cheek in frustration. What else did she expect from Natsu? He’d pulled a stunt like this before afterall, so she didn’t understand what logic in her brain told her that she would be able to hold him with her constricting currents. She glanced upwards at the sky, squinting through the steam. She could at least be relieved that Happy was out of the picture for the moment, the poor exceed probably draped over a tree branch with the wind knocked out of him, she’d make sure to give her apologies to the cat the next time she saw him.

The mud beneath her began to suction her more securely into its surface, and she grunted as she plunged her feet into the ground and clenched her fists, pushing herself up out of the mud, her fingers brushing against some coins as she did so. She let out an annoyed tsk as she wiped the mud off of her hands and onto her legs, shuddering as she tried to convince herself that she was at that spa in Bellea and the mud was just a moisturizing mask that would make her skin glisten.

She gritted her teeth and swiped off a piece of mud from her cheek and she looked ahead of her, the steam still billowing around her, shielding Natsu from her vision, and her from Natsu’s she soon came to realize.

This might be my only chance to turn things around she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and let her Stardress fade from her body with a swift flash of glitter. She reached upwards and tightened her ponytail, paying no mind to the small bits of mudd she felt caked onto her hair, it was the least of her worries.

Her fingers brushed against the sturdy keys attached to her hip, and she swiftly drew one from the keyring, her eyes quickly sweeping over the symbol on the top of it, confirming to herself that it was the key she needed.

She held it out in front of her, and poured her magic into the metal, the satisfactional feeling of a connection being made filling her body.

“Open.” she whispered.

This was her last shot, and there was no way she’d mess this up.

o-o-o

Natsu grinned to himself as the steam around him rose up towards the sky, the wind blowing the vapor away from the river that once existed around him. He laughed to himself, patting himself on the back for wiping out the water around him as if it were a mere puddle. He’d have to ask Lucy and Juvia to refill the river once the game was over, a favor to the winner from the losing team.

Natsu ran his hand through his ruffled-up hair, and grinned once he began to see a female silhouette begin to form up ahead, the curves all too familiar to him.

“And I thought you knew me by now!” Natsu called out to her in a taunting matter, his left hand clenched into a fist and resting on his hip, his other hand up hear his face, his thumb pointed at himself, the rest of his fingers in a fist. “Water can’t stop this dragon slayer!”

The steam was almost fully cleared, and Natsu finally caught a glimpse of his opponent.

She’d gone through another outfit change, her bikini top and skirt had been exchanged for a bodysuit and half sleeve look, coattails jutting out from her curved hips. She stood with her legs planted firmly on the ground-in the mud no less-her long, blonde ponytail draped over her right shoulder, and right below the tip of her hair was the infamous piece of red fabric he sought after.

“You may be right.” he heard her speak clearly, smirking as she lazily flipped her hair over her shoulder. “So maybe it’s time I leveled the playing field.”

It was then that Natsu realized that she wasn’t alone, another shadow stood right next to her at attention, ready to attack. Natsu zoned in on the pointed ears and long neck, and he immediately knew who was next to Lucy.

He watched as she held out her hand, and with a small flash, a bow and arrow materialized into the air and landed perfectly into her outstretched hand, her fingers wrapping around the weapon confidently. As swiftly as the weapon arrived, she pointed it towards him, her fingers wrapped around the tail of the arrow and string, completely in charge.

Natsu grinned at her, huffing in satisfaction. “It’s been a while, Sagittarius!”

“Moshimoshi!” the spirit beside the blonde nodded to the dragon slayer. “Natsu-dono.”

He held a similar stance to his master’s, bow aimed and ready to fire. The sight of the two of them almost set him on edge, sending excited chills down his spine as Lucy flashed him with a confident grin.

“A little too muddy don’t you think?” Natsu asked aloud, directing his question towards Lucy, looking her up and down. “Wouldn’t want someone’s hooves to slip out from under them.”

“You just worry about your own hooves, ‘kay?” Lucy fired back at him, shooting a nod towards the horse next to her. “We’ve gotten pretty steady on our feet.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Natsu nodded, grinning as he clenched his hands into fists, orange sparks of baby flames flying out from his skin, the warmth of the fire egging him on and increasing his adrenaline, the battle before him sure to be an exciting and thrilling one.

They stared each other down for a solid three seconds before the sparks ignited.

“Bring it on.” he taunted, his leg muscles twitching.

She smiled at him and aligned her arrow with her target, her fingers steady.

“Oh, I intend to.”

And she sent her arrow flying.

o-o-o

In the duration of his whole life, there was only one time that Elfman had ever felt an immense amount of fear. It was years ago, after he’d regained consciousness from the beast magic invading his brain seeing his little sister bleeding and dying on the ground, the rocks around her bright red and wet from the rain. The fear that he had killed his sister, that his innocent little Lisanna was dying because of his actions pounded through his body. And to make matters worse, this had all been too painfully true. Which is why ever since she’d returned to them, he swore he’d never let fear overtake him ever again, swearing to himself that he’d push away the fear and take control.

And it was because of this promise to himself that he now stood outside of the bakery with a pained look on his face, walking down the steps in a lethargic manner with a piece of cake sitting perfectly on a plate.

He kept his eyes on the manly pink frosting as he felt the blazing stare of his teammates on him. He didn’t dare look up from his dessert.

“She...gave me cake.” was all he said to them, to which they groaned collectively.

They had a long way to go.

o-o-o

Natsu’s eyes widened as he watched Lucy switch the trajectory of her aim within a second’s notice, her response to him lunging at her all of a sudden. Natsu was able to catch a glimpse of her fired up eyes before his vision suddenly turned dark. A cold and damp substance smacked him right in the face, the feeling travelling across his arms and legs and permeating throughout his neck. He tasted earth and grime on his tongue, his face scrunching up with the metallic taste. He brought his arm up and swiped it across his face, clearing his vision for only a few seconds before he watched Sagittarius release his arrow, pointed at the ground like Lucy had moments before. He released the arrow, and Natsu’s vision was once again darkened by damp and cold black.

Lucy certainly knew how to use her surroundings to her advantage. Natsu silently praised her for using the mud around them, it almost made him smile as he thought back to the person he once thought Lucy was, back when they went on their first mission together. Back then, she complained over a snowstorm and hid in that Grandfather Clock looking spirit of hers. And now looking at her-well with what vision he had through the mud-she was getting down and dirty with the elements. It excited him, amusing him even.

His sharp hearing heard Lucy pull back on her bow once more, and he swiftly jumped backwards as he wiped the mud away from his eyes once more. The wet earth splattered onto his legs but he’d managed to dodge the brunt force of it.

Gotta stop her from shooting he thought to himself. He glanced down at the section of ground he was about to land on, and with a snap of his fingers he sent his fire blazing down on to the ground. The mudd succumbed to his flames, and turned hard and cracked. He landed atop of it smoothly, the dried pieces of mudd breaking off and hitting his ankles. With no extra second to spare, he launched himself towards Lucy.

Surprise filled her eyes as she took a half a step backwards as Natsu’s hand reached out towards her, adrenaline filling his body with the anticipation of victory.

However, that spirit completely left his body when he felt a hand grab onto his ankle and pull him down. He gasped in surprise as his stomach hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of him as he gritted his teeth.

“What in the hell-” he said aloud before he turned towards the hand, meeting a pair of sapphire blue eyes piercing into his.

“Nice, Virgo!” Lucy exclaimed confidently, triggering a nod from the celestial being.

She was covered in mud, her pink hair matted up with the stuff, her usually neat dress adorned with the wet earth. She was in a similar position as Natsu, sprawled out on her stomach drenched in mud.

“Thank you, Princess.” the maid saidly plainly.

Natsu smirked at his partner, watching as she smiled back at him mockingly, swiping a piece of mud off of her cheek. “So we’re playing dirty now, huh?”

Lucy crossed her muddy arms. “Nothing dirty about it. It’s my magic, and last time I was concerned you’re the one who decided to play dirty.” she told him, gesturing towards the muddy ground around him. “I was looking forward to a mud bath from the spa, but this isn’t what I had in mind.”

Lucy watched Natsu as he laughed, propping himself up onto his elbows. “Sorry to say you won’t be making it to the spa. But the guys and I will be sure to tell you all about it!” he laughed. “This is the closest you’ll get to a mud bath.” his eyes swept around them, talking about the mud before he returned his look to the blonde.

Lucy closed her eyes in annoyance and huffed. “You boys are too dense to fully appreciate that spa. And this?” she gentured around her. “You call this a treatment?”

“I call this a pleasurable punishment.” Virgo chimed in, making Lucy sigh in exasperation. “Though it seems that Natsu-san wishes to get down and dirty with you.”

Natsu choked, coughing up the rough air in his lungs as Virgo’s words reached his ears. His throat felt dry as his eyes widened, to which he awkwardly glanced off to the side. Virgo had said some racy stuff in the past, that’s for sure, but her choice of words this time around made the fire in Natsu’s body heat up his face to a light pink. He glanced back at Virgo slowly, sweat beading on his temples as she looked right back at him innocently.

“Well, is it not true?” she asked him, looking from Natsu to Lucy.

“V-Virgo!” Lucy stuttered, her face glowing bright red. Her fingers around her bow shook uncomfortably.

“Is there not mud around us?”

Natsu and Lucy exhaled shakily, both of them releasing the uncomfortable stiffness to their bodies. Sure, that was his intention after all, in a matter of terms. He purposely didn’t dry up the ground below the water all the way completely, hoping he could use the mudd to his advantage to make it harder to move for Lucy, though he had no idea that she’d turn the tables on him and use the mud to her own advantage instead. Not to say that he didn’t think that there was a possibility that Lucy would have a plan up her sleeve, she wouldn’t be the person he knew if this were the case. She was smart, unyielding.

Natsu glanced up at the sky. He gritted his teeth as he realized that his time was almost up.

“You’re right,” he began, bringing his palms together. His words caught Lucy’s full attention, she tightened her grip on her bow, bracing herself for Natsu’s next move. His eyes swept down to the mud beneath him, then back at Lucy. He saw her eyes widen, and he knew that she knew what he was about to do.

“So, let’s change that.”

Screw the mud. Time to make things work in his favor.

His hands ignited, and he shoved them into the ground.

o-o-o

Juvia and Gray stopped in their tracks, halting their conversation as they watched the water in the river beside them begin to sizzle, steam billowing upwards to the sky. It reminded Gray of a hot tub, though hot tubs usually didn’t lose water as they heated up.

Juvia’s hair began to frizz up as she and Gray exchanged puzzled looks. Gray felt his face heat up from the steam, making him extremely uncomfortable as sweat pooled around his temples.

“What on earthland…” Juvia said as she watched the last of the water bubble down into the ground, creating streaks of mud in between the old cobblestones beneath the river. “What could be-”

She cut herself off as Gray shot her a look, and she immediately knew the answer.

“Natsu.” They both repeated in unison.

o-o-o

“Virgo!” Lucy shouted, throwing her bow out before her as it vanished with a flash.

“Understood!”

Natsu felt Virgo’s grip on him vanish. His ears picked up the sound of digging, and Virgo’s scent was suddenly dulled from his senses. No matter, he had work to do.

His flames worked almost immediately, spreading across the ground at a rapid pace and drying up the sticky mud, turning it into crust. He pushed against the ground and sprung upwards, running after his flames towards Lucy.

“Time to end this!” he exclaimed, giving everything he had in his stride. He watched as Lucy jumped backwards a little, her eyes darting to the ground and the fire that raced towards her.

The ground began to shake slightly, which Natsu picked up almost instantly. And with a sudden crack, he watched as a muddy figure popped out of the soft ground, an area his fire had not yet touched.

“Now!” Lucy exclaimed as she dashed forwards, leaping a few feet up off of the ground. Natsu’s eyes widened as the muddy figure, who he had quickly realized was Virgo, knelt down to the ground and held out her cupped palms. Her hands caught Lucy’s foot, and she sent the blonde flying up into the air. Natsu stopped in his tracks as Virgo winked in his direction and disappeared with a sparkling flash, right before his fire swept over the ground where she was standing.

Another flash of light caught Natsu’s attention, and he looked up to watch Lucy’s body engulfed in glitter.  He watched as the tails of her top melted away and when the light faded, she was wearing a new black and red outfit. She almost looked like a ninja.

“Sand Barrage!” she called out, throwing her palms together. A huge burst of sand spun in the air from her efforts, creating a sort of twister. The twister broke apart into four parts, and they shot out all around her, slamming into Natsu’s flames and effectively putting them out.

She landed atop of her hand, a little unsteadily Natsu noticed, her feet sinking into the huge layer of sand ungracefully. She grunted softly, but didn’t have time to focus on the ground as Natsu used his fire in his palms to shoot himself towards Lucy. She whirled around with wide eyes as she watched Natsu’s hand approach her waist, his fingertips inches from tagging her. She cried out in surprise, and Natsu was yet again met with darkness. He felt the sand invade his eyes and hair, falling into his eyelashes as he shook his head.

“No fair!” he exclaimed. “Ya don’t see me trying to shoot fire in your face!”

“That’s because if you ever did, you would never see the sun again!” she exclaimed furiously.

Natsu shook the sand away from his eyes only to see Lucy engulfed in light once more, changing back into her Aquarius Stardress. Without skipping a beat, she threw her hands down onto the ground and shot a heavy stream of water everywhere, dampening the sand. She heard Natsu’s advance, and her head shot upwards as she dodged his hand once more.

The two continued this dance of theirs for the next few minutes, Lucy dodging Natsu’s tag attempts and Natsu bending backwards to avoid Lucy’s lips, the mage trying her best to plant a kiss on him.

The ground around them had become nothing short of a disaster. Lucy’s water attack had made the ground soggy and almost impossible to walk or run smoothly on. Their scuffling hadn’t helped the situation either, mixing the wet sand with the dry dirt, which was mud again.

The final time that Natsu dodged her mouth, Lucy glared at him, angry fire brewing in her eyes.

“Get over here already!” she exclaimed, lunging for him once more, only slipping on her own feet and landing face first into the sandy-mud mixture.

Natsu burst into laughter as Lucy raised her head to glare at him, nothing but her eyes visible from under the tan and brown sludge. Her glare made him laugh even harder, making his muscles ache.

“You TOTALLY deserved that!” he exclaimed with glee, his laughter growing as Lucy’s attempt to scramble to her feet ended in her slipping back onto the ground. The agitated look on her face amused him as he made his way over to her to end the game, still laughing at an obnoxious volume.

That is, until he himself slipped in the mud and sand.

He fell face-first for the second time that day, and this time he heard Lucy’s laughter ring in the air.

“Karma!” She exclaimed “Doesn’t feel so hot, does it?!”

“Yeah, Yeah.” Natsu rolled his eyes. “Hilarious.” He propped himself up onto his elbows once more that day, and balanced on one of them to point at his partner. “I’m getting that flag from you! Even if I-”

He halted his speech, his lips parted from his unfinished speech. He stared at Lucy long and hard, making sure that his eyes weren’t tricking him. This made Lucy frown at him with confusion, obviously not seeing what he was currently observing.

“What?” she asked him, blinking slowly. “Is there something in my hair?” she patted her head worryingly, eyes darting around frantically.

“Where’s the flag?”

“Huh?” she frowned at him, her brown eyes big and naive. “What are you talking about?”

Natsu grunted as he hoisted himself up off of the ground onto his knees. “Your flag is gone.”

Lucy blinked at him slowly, and Natsu stared right back at her evenly, unwavering. She was leaning on her side, her left side of her body supporting her weight in the mud. Her key holder was exposed, some of her keys poking through prominently.  

Her face slowly melted into an annoyed one, eyes narrowing.

“Nice try.” she said dryly. “You want me to look away so that I won’t see you coming towards me. That’s the oldest trick in the book, bud.”

“Luce, I’m dead serious.” Natsu countered, his eyes sweeping around them frantically, searching for any sign of something red. “Where is it?”

“Natsu, stop.” Lucy rolled her eyes, reaching for her hip. “I know for a fact that it’s right-”

She stopped talking as her fingertips only touched the green silk of her skirt. Her eyes widened as she slowly glanced down to find that Natsu was right. The flag was gone.

“What?!” Lucy exclaimed, releasing her magic and transforming back into her original outfit of her red t-shirt and black shorts. She patted her side down frantically, lifting her red shirt to see if it had sunk beneath the fabric.

“Hmph.” Natsu huffed. “I’d say I told you so but-”

“Oh shut it!” Lucy fired back, panic rising in her features as she hoisted herself up onto her knees, digging her hands into the earth around her. She threw clumps of sand and mud around her, digging till she reached stone. “No, No, NO!” she cried out.

“This is all your fault!” Natsu exclaimed as he copied her action, digging with all his might.

“My fault?!” Lucy exclaimed, grabbing a handful of mud and launching it in Natsu’s direction. “You’re the one who came at me like a mad man!” The mud ball hit Natsu square in the chest, which did not please him in the least bit. “And furthermore-”

Lucy’s eyes widened as she focused on something behind Natsu, a glimmer of something he couldn’t identify at first sparking in her eyes for the briefest moment. He frowned at her, until it dawned on him to turn around and follow her gaze.

There it was, sticking out of the ground like a newly grown flower. The red poked out of the ground ever so slightly, teasing the two of them.

Natsu looked back at Lucy, who met his gaze with her horrified one.

He smirked mischievously, and he took off running, laughing like a crazy person.

“No!” he heard Lucy exclaim, her breath heavy as she stumbled to her feet, slipping a few times before she dashed after Natsu, head outstretched.

The sky turned darker, signaling that the sun was ready to set.

Natsu cursed as he slipped once more, twisting his leg slightly. This sent him down back into the mud and sand. His scarf was heavy and wet against his neck, sticking onto his lips.

His ears picked up Lucy’s footsteps, and a competitive anger rose in his body.

The orange of the sky began to fade to black.

Enough was enough.

His eyes blazed with determination, and just seconds before the sunset was swallowed up by the dark of night, he launched himself up from the ground and wrapped his arms around Lucy’s waist, making her emit a startled shriek. They landed roughly in the mud, Natsu rolling on top if her and grabbing her wrists, pinning her tightly to the ground.

She stared up at him with her widened brown eyes, her chest rising and falling in perfect sync with his own. His drenched scarf fell halfway onto her chest, her ponytail sprawled out below him.  He looked down at her, studying her face while he caught his breath, grinning from ear to ear at his late-coming victory. His breath made her baby hairs shake, and her own tickled the tip of his nose, which sent exciting chills down his cold back.

“I.” he breathed out “win.” he said with a final breath.

Lucy continued to stare up at him, saying nothing.

Natsu grinned cockily down at his partner as she sank further down into the wet earth. “Too shocked to speak? I get it. But I did warn you that I’d win didn’t I?”

Then, she began to giggle softly, throwing Natsu off guard completely. Her eyes closed, a happy blush dusting her cheeks.

Natsu frowned down at her. Had losing made her lose it? Had the mud gotten to her brain or something?

“What are you-GAH!” he began to ask her, until he let out a surprised yelp.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, sending confused shock directly to his beating heart.

Her familiar brown eyes were gone, and in their place were a pair of beady black ones with stark white pupils. Her lips curled upwards into a startling smile.

“Piri Piri!”

Natsu’s eyes widened in shock, his mouth hanging open as the girl beneath him flashed him one last smile before he was surrounded in a puff of smoke, his hands sinking back into the earth where he once held her wrists.

The smoke faded, and Gemini blinked up at Natsu innocently.

“Y-You…” he started to say, stammering off into silence.

“Good job, Gemini.” he heard a familiar voice praise the spirit. Her feet sloshed in the earth near him, and he felt her standing above him. “You’re free to go.”

“Piri Piri!” Gemini chanted once more before vanishing in a glittery veil. Natsu continued to stare down at the earth for a few more seconds before he turned his head to look up at the real Lucy, who was flashing him a victorious smile.

o-o-o

Lucy was concerned that she had thrown Natsu into a bad state of shock, watching as he glanced up at her, down at the ground, then back up at her. The charade continued for a couple of minutes before he finally spoke. She had to choke down several fits of laughter.

“When did you…” he asked her, pointing down at the ground to gesture to the Lucy imposter who he had pinned down just seconds ago. His brow furrowed in confusion, looking up at Lucy for the answer that wouldn’t come. She just stared at him, inspecting his face until she saw that it finally dawned on him.

“The steam.” he said aloud, clarification ringing through his voice.

Lucy nodded. “Have to admit that without you drying up the river, you probably would’ve won.” she told him, looking down at the red flag in her hands. “It’s a handy technique really, it’s helped me so much in the past year.”

Natsu remained on the ground, which unsettled Lucy a little. Was he really that discouraged that he didn’t tag her on time? If anything, neither of them had achieved their goal really. She hadn’t even gotten close to plating a kiss on his cheek, she felt like a lovestruck pre-schooler chasing after a boy who believed that every female on the planet had cooties. She frowned down at his back, reaching out to lay her palm on him to offer comfort.

“We should probably-”

Natsu suddenly lunged himself at her, grabbing her waist like he’d done to Gemini, and pulling her down onto the ground, Lucy squeaking in surprise. She felt the mud around her cushion the blow of her landing, the stuff tangling up in her hair. Her back became ten degrees cooler as the sand and mud pressed against her back. She even felt some splashes of the stuff against her cheeks and thighs.

The boy above her had a different aura than the one she had tried to comfort just seconds ago. This Natsu was smiling down at her brightly, laughing with amusement. She’d never been more confused in her life.

“What are you-”

“That was amazing!” he exclaimed excitedly as she looked up at him in shock. “I mean, wow! I never even realized what was going on! Using your spirits to fling you up in the air, and even using those fancy Star Dress things of yours all by yourself!”

A faint blush began to invade her cheeks, cancelling out the cold mud against her skin. The stars had began to come out now, and they twinkled around Natsu’s head in a cosmic dance. She watched the stars and her partner with awe, her heart beating to an unfamiliar tred. His features were lit so brightly, his exciting words almost blending into the beauty of the night sky as she just let him hover over her body, being okay with not being able to move for the moment.

Something shifted in Natsu’s face, and while she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, she realized in that moment that she didn’t want to look away.

“You...really are amazing, Lucy.”

He said it as if it were the most simple thing in the world.

Lucy’s heart pounded in her chest as the words repeated in her head, the sounds turning into ink-blotted text that swam tauntingly before her eyes, text she’d written herself from her novel.

You’re amazing

Breaking the silence between the two of them, Lucy dug her fingers into the mud and swiftly swatched it all upon Natsu’s cheek. She smirked as he glared down at her, bits and pieces of the mud dripping onto Lucy’s chest.

“This look becomes you.”

“Shut up.”

o-o-o

Happy sat perched on Natsu’s muddy shoulder as he and Lucy made their trek back to the guild. Natsu absentmindedly scratched the exceed in between his ears, the poor thing still wet from Lucy’s water attack. There weren’t any hard feelings between the two of them of course, after Lucy promptly told Happy that she’d make him a fish dinner the moment she saw him.

Everyone had slowly made their way back to the guild once the sun had set for good. However, Natsu could easily say that Lucy and himself looked the most messed up out of everyone else. Sure, there was mussed up hair with leaves caught in it, and sweat gleaming on skin, but when the two of them approached everyone else, the stares that they’d received made Natsu feel as though he were naked. Lucy huffed beside him, running her fingers through her ponytail to loosen the dried up mud.

Then again, he might’ve reconsidered him and Lucy’s appearance after catching a glimpse of Levy and Gajeel coming into view. He saw their matted up hair and sweaty faces, which he paid no mind to until he noticed that Gajeel’s belt was wrapped around his waist inside out, his stomach peeking out from his wrinkled up shirt. Levy hadn’t looked much better, with her headband almost falling off of her head and her shirt also rolled up, Natsu slowly began to piece the picture together.

His nose caught a strange scent, and he only had to glance over towards Wendy to figure out the source of the scent. Her eyes were wide and her face was pale, looking absolutely flustered as her stare fell down to the ground.

Natsu grinned. He’d have to confirm something with Gajeel later on.

Natsu and Lucy approached Gray and Juvia, who looked them up and down slowly. Gray raised his eyebrows at Natsu, while Juvia silently giggled to herself.

“Do I wanna know?” Gray asked, lifting up a styrofoam cup to his lips to gulp down the sloshing water inside of it, glistening with ice cubes that he undoubtedly created himself.

Natsu smirked, wrapping his arm around Lucy and pulling her into his side embrace, making her emit a surprised yelp. “We know how to rough it up in a competition!” he exclaimed. He glanced at the wet tips of Gray’s hair. “And what, you two just got your hair a little wet and did some slip and slide?”

Juvia immediately looked off to the side, her face glowing bright red. Gray coughed on his water, hacking up the liquid as Natsu and Lucy looked at each other with confused looks on their faces.

“What’s gotten you two so-” Natsu began before Juvia lunged forward and grabbed Lucy’s arm, prying her free from Natsu’s hold.

“Wh-Juvia?” Lucy asked in surprise before the water mage tugged her off to the right.

“C-Come with me Lucy-san!” Juvia exclaimed awkwardly as the girls left Natsu and Gray by themselves, watching them run over to Lisanna and Erza. The girls gathered in a tight circle, their faces hidden from any nosy eavesdroppers. Faint chatter erupted from the small crowd, but Natsu honestly wasn’t the least bit interested in what they had to say, for the most part anyway.

Girls were too weird.

“Alright, kids!” a booming voice rang out over everyone, who immediately ceased their conversations to turn towards the voice with excitement in their eyes, while some members looked sullen, knowing all too well that their defeat was to be announced.

Everyone made space for Makarov to walk, pooling around the guild master and making him the center of attention. “As usual, these games always bring dear joy to my heart. Nothing beats watching everyone do their absolute best to win!” He took a pregnant pause, allowing everyone to absorb his words before he grinned from ear to ear. “That, and gloating rights.”

Collective laughter and eyerolls spread among the guild members, signaling the desire for their master to get down to business, to which he didn’t disappoint.

“Now, I want both teams to line up single file, girls and boys.”

The circle around Makarov dispersed, teammates joining up with teammates shoulder to shoulder. The effort only took about a minute or so, and then the girls were facing the boys, all of them in a neat and parallel line.

Mira began to giggle to herself, and leaned over to whisper something in Erza’s ear. Contrary to last time, Natsu tuned in his ears to catch what she had said to Erza, who had smirked and nodded her head after listening to Mira’s words.

“We already know that our team won. Why drag it out and give the boys some false hope, huh?”

Natsu heard Gajeel grunt in annoyance beside him, Natsu realizing that he wasn’t the only one snooping on the girls’ conversation.

Makarov cleared his throat. “Now then,” he began, looking to his right towards the female team. “I would like all the female members who have been tagged before sundown to please get out of line and stand off to the side.”

Natsu and the guys watched as Kinana, Laki, Mira, Wendy, Evergreen, Bisca, and Cana all left their places in line to obey Makarov’s order. The girls left in line moved closer together to fill the gaps made by their teammates.

“And likewise gentlemen.” Makarov nodded to the men. “If you’ve been kissed by one of the girls before sunset, please leave the line and join this group over here.”

Now it was the girls’ turn to watch the line of guys shrink. Jet, Droy, Romeo, Bixslow, Freed, Elfman, and even Gajeel left the line. Gajeel had a visible storm cloud over his head, slightly sulking as he joined the group off to the side.

Natsu immediately pointed at the Iron Dragon Slayer and burst out in mocking laughter. “This is too good!” he exclaimed, laughing even harder “Way to go Levy!”

“Shut it!” Gajeel yelled back at Natsu, steam rising out of his head as he muttered something under his breath, which of course Natsu was able to pick up on.

“Still worth it.” he’d said, and quickly took a glance at Levy before adjusting his belt slightly. Natsu followed his gaze to find that Levy’s face began to glow bright red as she grabbed fistfulls of her shirt.

“Levy-chan?” Lucy had whispered to her friend, who began to awkwardly laugh it off and told her it was nothing.

Natsu looked back at Gajeel, a mischievous gleam in his eye.

Alright Gajeel, now I definitely see what’s going on.

“Now everyone!’ Makarov exclaimed, looking left and right at the members who still stood in the untouched line. “Congratulate yourselves on a job well done! You all were able to shine today, living up to the Fairy Tail name!”

On the girl’s side stood Lucy, Levy, Juvia, Erza, Lisanna, and Charle. They all met eyes with the boys across from them. Natsu, Gray, Laxus, Alzack, Happy, Loke, and Lily all equally stared back at them.

“If only I were able to tag Charle!” Happy said aloud. “Or even better, that she would have kissed me to get me out of the game!”

Charle rolled her eyes. “Seems it wasn’t meant to be, Tom Cat.”

Gray smirked. “Nothing I didn’t expect from the girls.”

“Absolutely.” Natsu agreed, crossing his arms. “Even though we totally dominated over them today.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “As if.”

Erza nodded, agreeing with the blonde. “Try the other way around boys.”

Makarov held his hand up for silence to ensue once more.

“Now for the results!” he announced as his eyes landed on each of the winning members on both teams standing before him before he continued. “If I understand correctly, the correct flag has not yet been confiscated, at least to my knowledge.” he turned to the boys. “Can I assume that this fact is correct.”

Natsu swallowed dry air as he and his teammates exchanged questionable glances, each of them looking hopelessly at the flags still tucked into the winner’s hips. The proud looks on the girls’ faces didn’t help their case either.

“...No.” Loke was the one to speak first. “At least, I haven’t captured it.” he looked at his teammates with a hopeless grin. “I think we’ve screwed up in that department.”

“Way to rub salt in the wound.” Gray muttered under his breath.

“I see.” Makarov replied. He glanced over all the faces of the men for a few seconds before sighing to himself. “I tell you kids all the time that chasing after a woman who doesn’t wish to be chased is frowned upon, and yet the one time it’s acceptable, you don’t pull through.”

A collective amount of groans spread throughout the crowd.

Makarov waited for everyone to silence themselves before he spoke once more. “Tell you what,” he began, taking a quick glance at the girls, who then began to frown to each other. “I’ll make you all a deal.”

The chatter began once more, softly this time, waiting for Makarov to say his peace.

He sighed as he extended his arm towards the girls. “Well, since these girls are the only ones who haven’t gotten tagged, it’s obvious that the flag is with one of them. If you boys can correctly pick who has the real flag, then I’ll make sure all of us get a nice trip to the spa!”

“What?!” everyone exclaimed, some more jubilent than others.

Makarov shrugged. “Eh, I’m feeling generous.”

The winning team of men began to laugh with joy, Natsu’s excitement rising from his core as he saw the sour faces that the girls put on, rolling their eyes at each other and taking swift glances towards the boys while whispering in each other’s ears. The horrified look on Lucy’s face amused Natsu to the highest degree. “Oh, it’s over now!” he exclaimed, high fiving his teammates. “We’ve got this down!”

The girls all looked into the eyes of the boys before them, their arms crossed defiantly.

It was Erza who spoke next.

“Let them try.” she said, glancing at her girls with a confident smile on her face. She flipped her scarlet hair over her shoulders and glanced over at the boys with a condescending smile. “They still won’t win.”

“Oh?” Laxus sneered. “Wanna bet?”

“Absolutely!” Mira exclaimed from the sidelines. She flashed a thumbs up. “There’s no way that they can win!”

Natsu and the others were too caught up in their glee to listen to anything the girls were saying to bring them down. This was it, this was their chance to win once and for all.

“You only get one chance.” Makarov informed them. “So choose wisely. It has to be a unanimous decision from the whole team, so all of you over there can join your team to decide on your choice.”

The boy’s team all gathered together before their options, muttering to each other in a low volume as to not let the girls hear their conversation.

“Well?” Loke asked the guys around him, glancing over to their competition. “Who are we going with?”

“It’s not Juvia.” Gray informed them. “She showed me her flag when our sparring was over and done with.”

“Not Levy either.” Gajeel said, nodding his head confidently. “Her flag’s blank. Didn’t see our crest on it when she tied it o-”

He cut himself off as everyone immediately began to stare immensely at Gajeel, who began to choke on his words, coughing as if to deflect the words that he was about to spew. His eyes cautiously darted around his teammates, and with a low growl of aggression, he hastily finished his sentence “It ain’t her. Moving on.”

Natsu grinned. Oh, he was so gonna have some fun with this.

“Okay, well, what about the rest of them?” Loke asked everyone, his strategically calm voice filling their ears. “Do we have any solid proof or any suggestions as to who could have it?” Loke turned to Natsu. “You were the one to find Lucy. Did you happen to see anything?”

Natsu frowned before shaking his head. “The flag got lost in the mud around us for a few minutes, but I wasn’t able to tag her before the sun set. Besides, when she went to pick up her flag it was covered in mud. I didn’t see the Fairy Tail Crest.”

Loke nodded. “Alright. Anyone else?”

Freed and Bixslow frowned to each other. “We saw the flag on Lisanna’s hip before we were ambushed.”

“Erza...bakery…” Elfman muttered in shame.

“We’re going about this wrong.” Laxus said gruffly, catching everyone’s attention. “We can’t fully go off of what our eyes did or didn’t see. We gotta get into their heads, think like them a little.”

The boys digested Laxus’s words for a minute, each of them deep in their own thoughts trying to solve the riddle before them.

“Well? Any ideas?” Laxus asked them, frowning to himself.

“It can’t be Charle.”

Everyone turned their attention to Happy. He held his paws together calmly, a look of concentration on his face. “My beloved is smart, and she can dodge attacks pretty quickly.” He glanced over towards the white feline and his eyes stopped on the red piece of fabric tied at the end of her tail. “But she wouldn’t take on that responsibility.”

“What makes you say that?” Gray asked him.

Natsu felt something touch his calf, and he looked down to see Happy looking up at him confidently, his paw touching Natsu’s skin. “She had someone she wanted to look after.” Happy said, obviously referring to Charle and Wendy’s partnership.

Natsu smiled and ruffled Happy’s fur affectionately. “Damn right, Little Buddy.”

“Alright, So Juvia, Levy, and Charle are definitely out.” Gray reported. “So that means it’s between Lucy, Lisanna, and Erza.”

A small bit of laughter filled the air, and everyone turned their heads to the source.

Their choices of females stood calmly before them, their faces looking all too smug as they smiled at the boys haughtily, copying Erza’s confidence in that they thought they couldn’t outsmart them.

The girls who’d been tagged were giggling softly, covering their mouths to try to muffle their laughter.

Natsu made eye contact with Lucy, and in response, she smiled coyly at him. Her eyes swam with a secretive glitter, and it set Natsu’s spine on a competitive edge.

She was mocking him.

o-o-o

Lucy’s stomach danced with butterflies as she smiled cockily at Natsu, the glare he shot back at her making her giddy with competition.

The flag was still safe and sound, there was no way they’d figure it out.

She watched as the crowd of boys broke apart, their faces serious and bodies stiff. Lucy took a swift glance to her left and right, her teammates confidently standing their ground like she was.

“Well then, have you made your decision?” Makarov asked, to which the boys nodded slowly.

It was Loke who stepped forward, raised his right arm, and pointed at their choice.

o-o-o

Natsu had an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

Their choice...it was too easy.

She blinked at Loke slowly, frowning in the direction of his finger.

“Oh?” Makarov questioned. “What’s the logic behind this choice?”

Loke adjusted his sunglasses cooly. “It seemed like the obvious choice.”

The pit refused to leave Natsu’s stomach as he was convinced that they’d made the wrong choice. It had seemed so perfect at the moment, even he himself had been so convinced at the time that they’d made the right choice.

And as soon as Loke pointed to one of the girls, Natsu knew that they screwed up.

“She’s the only one that none of us would’ve gone for.”

“She’s stealthy enough to not give up anything.”

“She looked too proud eating that piece of cake!”

“It’s her!”

“It has to be!”

She smiled at them through her scarlet hair, and with another smug grin, she whipped her flag off of her hip and held it out in front of her in all its glory.

It was blank.

The boy’s jaws dropped to the ground in astonishment as the girls cheered and laughed, celebrating their victory.

Erza walked over to Loke, who stood there in a stunned silence as she flung her flag playfully over his face.

“Better luck in the next games.” she told him sweetly. “We told you that we’d outsmarted you.”

“But…” Gray frowned, pointed at Erza and then directed his attention to the gleeful group of girls who still held unopened flags on her hips. “Who has the right flag then?”

The girls laughed once more, making Gajeel burst out in an annoyed grunt, telling them to quit their act.

“Yeah!” Elfman exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips. “Stop laughing and man up!”

Erza’s gaze went from Loke to Elfman, who instantly took a step backwards, still shaken up from their encounter in the bakery.

“Man up?”

Everyone turned to a pouting Levy, who rolled her eyes and untied her flag from her hip. She held it up for the guild to see, the blank red square shining in the moonlight.

“Let’s get something straight here.” she began, her pout turning into a sly smile. “Manning up isn’t something that we plan on doing. Ever.”

It was then that Juvia stepped forward next to Levy, and held her blank flag up with her right arm.

“You see, why would Juvia and her teammates have to man up when we’re fine being the strong women that we are?” She said proudly, as Lucy stepped up next to her. The blonde flashed everyone a confident smile as she untied her flag and held it out in front of her.

“We’ve managed to take all of you down with just a small piece of fabric.” she told them proudly.

Her flag was also blank.

“So why would we man up when our womanly vibes were enough to win?” Lisanna chirped, flashing her blank flag in the air.

Everyone was silent, their eyes wide as they digested the girls’ words.

“Th-Then that means…”

All eyes went down to Charle, Happy’s eyes bulging out of his head.

But, she turned her nose up at all of them, bringing her tail down towards her front paws to swiftly pull off the red tie on her tail. “Hmph.” she closed her eyes, unfolding her flag and holding it out for everyone to see. “As if we’d resort to stooping to become a bunch of tomcats.”

The blank surface was blinding against the moonlight.

“What?!” multiple voices exclaimed, pointing at the blank flags that the girls proudly held out before them, frustration filling their voices and bodies.

“Cheaters!” Bixslow exclaimed, putting his hands on his head as if he were about to fall over. “How in the hell is this a fair win when none of ya don’t even have the right flag?!”

“Cheaters! Cheaters!” his babies chanted angrily above his head.

“That’s a new low, even for you guys!” Gray exclaimed, crossing his arms. “What gives?!”

“How dare you accuse Juvia of cheating!” The water mage exclaimed. “Juvia and her team would never cheat!”

“Get your facts straight!” Erza retorted. “It’s so obvious the sun has gotten to all of your brains!”

Everyone began to yell at everyone, bickering loudly.

Makarov’s voice boomed out loudly, telling everyone to cease their yelling at once.

Makarov looked at each of the members a second at a time before sighing to himself, calming down his voice.

Natsu, however, remained oddly silent.

He usually was the first one to jump into a tiff like the one that happened moments ago, however there was still something eating at him. His eyes danced on the flags in each of the girls’ hands, trying to figure out what it was exactly that they were missing.

A certain puzzle piece that wouldn’t fit...a math equation that was missing a variable….an optical illusion….

“The girls have not committed any cheating of any sort.”

He looked over each girl quickly, his eyes scanning their bodies until they landed on something that he’d previously overlooked, something that he didn’t even think to consider.

An illusion…

Natsu’s eyes widened suddenly, drowning the accusations of his teammates and the proud laughter of the girls as he suddenly put his mind to work.

It wasn’t that they were missing a piece of the puzzle, but that they were just looking at it from a different angle, paying more attention to certain pieces than others.

Paying no mind to the piece that really mattered.

“How?” Gray asked aloud to which more laughter erupted from the girls as the sound of footsteps filled Natsu’s ears.

“It’s because you’re unable to think like a woman.”

Everyone turned towards the person who decided to walk forward into the blank space between both teams. Her blonde ponytail swished gracefully behind her as she smiled to herself softly.

Natsu watched as she tucked in her muddy flag into the side of her shorts.

His stomach sank to his feet as he watched her hands slowly move from her hip and raise themselves up to her ponytail, grabbing onto her blonde locks as if to tighten the red tie that held her hair together.

She made eye contact with Natsu once more, and when his eyes widened in understanding, she flashed him a cocky smile.

“It’s time that you all…”

Her hands grabbed onto the red tie in her hair and she swiftly undid the knot, setting her hair free to fall and cascade over her shoulders in a blonde waterfall. The wind picked up as she did so, making her hair sweep over her brown eyes. Her intoxicating scent filled Natsu’s senses and she slowly unrolled her red hair tie, releasing it from its roll and holding it up for everyone to see.

The Fairy Tail Guild Crest shone brightly in the moonlight, every male member into a stunned stupor.

And with relish, she finished her sentence.

“...opened your eyes.”

Nobody spoke.

That is, until somebody did.

“Are you FUCKIN’ KIDDIN’ ME?!”

[impracticaldemon]

Pride Goeth Before a Party ~ Graylu Holiday Fic Exchange

by Impracticaldemon for @condacending

Words: ~ 2100 | FFnet | AO3  @graylusecretsiblings @fic-writer-appreciation @graylu-fanfictions

Author's Note:

Unfortunately, this story was both delayed and shortened due to me being sick over the holidays and beyond. I hope to publish an epilogue shortly.  I was offered the perfect wishlist (matching my own preferences just about exactly). Here are Condacending's notes:

Characters portrayed as rational / down to earth who connect on a personal level

Witty, comfortable conversation between them and their friends

Dependable, emotionally there for each other

Moments of normalcy in their life

Canon compliant but enjoys AU spins on canon

~ Impracticaldemon

Pride Goeth Before a Party, or We All Make Mistakes A Holiday Graylu Fic for Condacending

Gray stood at the front window of Lucy's apartment watching the snow fall, arms crossed, shoulders tense, stance closer to defensive than appropriate for a comfortable night in with a much-cherished girlfriend. He managed to keep his tone reasonably even, at least.

"I thought it was just going to be the team. Natsu, Erza, Wendy, the cats… maybe one or two others."

From her seat on the couch, Lucy studied the way Gray's muscles moved under his soft navy t-shirt and concluded that things were more serious than she'd realized. They'd done pretty well in the four months since becoming a couple: disagreements had been few, tempers had been held in check with the patience granted by new romantic love, and each of them had been carefully considerate of any known bruised spots or raw places in the other. Tonight wasn't going nearly as smoothly as usual.

"Well… I thought that since it was a New Year celebration, we should try to kind of reconnect to past friendships"—and other important relationships—"and go a bit beyond the usual"—for once. Gray had always been slightly introverted, but he'd generally had fun at guild parties, and hadn't seemed to mind hanging out and having drinks with various guild members. Lucy wondered why she hadn't noticed sooner that between missions with the team, and time alone together, neither of them had been seeing their wider circle of friends much, and—

"Look, Luce, I appreciate the sentiment, but we didn't decide to invite Lyon. Or Ultear. Not that they've accepted yet or anything, but… I dunno, I just wished you'd asked for my input first. We were doing this thing together, right? And does Erza know you've invited Jellal? Seems to me they've got a complicated kind of relationship—something that isn't exactly 'kiss under the mistletoe and it's all good now'. Again—not that anyone's accepted the invitations, but if they do then what? And I have no idea where Meredy's at, but she's had a rough time of it, and we don't know what the dynamics are between her and Jellal and Ultear. Plus, aren't they all, you know, wanted criminals?"

Hearing the sarcasm edging into his tone, Gray drew a deep breath while Lucy processed his comments. Then he turned from the window, determined to do things right. That included not shutting himself away, or using words or worse to push others—Lucy—away.

Lucy did her best to stop frowning, with mixed success. Although she knew it would probably be better to keep listening right now, she felt impelled to defend herself a little.

"I'm sorry I upset you," she said carefully. "I guess I was hoping we could bring people together a little—and I kind of had the impression that you were getting along okay with Lyon these days and—"

Gray dropped onto the floor in front of Lucy, eyes fixed on hers.

"It seems like you're trying to turn our little New Year's party into something different. Are you sure you weren't just looking for a chance to get me to talk to certain people you think I should be closer to? We know each other pretty well by now, right? And I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me or for selfish reasons, unless"—he broke off, suddenly wary of saying the wrong thing. Sometimes he used jokes to keep people at a distance.

Fortunately, Lucy reached down and poked him lightly on the forehead, saying:

"Unless it involves my rent, I know, I know, sheesh!"

Since she appeared to be genuinely amused, Gray let out a puff of laughter; it was a standing joke with their team that Lucy's scruples inevitably went out the window when her rent was on the line. The mood between them lightened.

"Okay, let me ask straight out, Luce: did you invite Lyon, and Ultear and Meredy, because they're connected to me?"

Lucy chewed her lower lip and then nodded slowly. "I guess that's a big part of it. I have a much better appreciation now for how complicated it is—since Tenrou especially—and since things seem a little more settled these days, I wanted to give you an opportunity to reach out a little. Ultear and Lyon are like family to you and… I know what it's like to realize too late that you could have done something to... to make things better... and didn't."

Gray pulled Lucy's forehead against his. For some reason, touching always helped when they were talking about the hard things.

"I'm sorry about your dad, Lucy. Really, really sorry. And I can see why not getting to see him again—especially the way things were between you—made you think of me and my totally crazy sort-of-family. Ur was deceived, and Ultear was deceived, abused, and manipulated…" He trailed off, unable to continue. It had gotten a lot better since he had finally met and fought Ultear, and learned so much more of the truth. He'd begun to make his peace with her, and even with losing Ur. There was still some way to go, however. He and Ultear weren't exactly in touch.

He heard a faint sigh from Lucy, and then she pressed an apologetic kiss to his temple. She cared about him too much to ignore his pain or her own mistakes. It gave him the strength to wonder whether her basic idea was all that wrong.

"I absolutely shouldn't have invited people—especially those people—without asking you first, Gray. I'm sorry, my bad."

"You wanted to surprise me?"

Lucy looked away, cheeks turning pink.

"Yes… But seriously, given the twinge of concern that made me ruin the surprise and tell you about the invitations after all, I should have known—admitted—that there was a problem. Right?"

Gray shrugged. He wasn't one to need big apologies once something was sorted out—although it helped that he knew Lucy honestly regretted what she'd done. "You'll tell me what you're thinking next time, right? So we're good. At some point I have to stop reacting so much every time you want me to face my past and try to make something good come out of it."

"Thanks… I wish I hadn't—"

"It wasn't a totally bad idea, though."

"Such a compliment!" Lucy was smiling, despite her words.

"Yeah, I could've put that better," Gray muttered. "How about I say that upon consideration, adding some outsiders to our team party seems like a good plan?"

"We could send a quick note to Lyon asking him to invite Chelia as well? Wendy would like that."

"Okay, good thought. Besides, that way I can pretend—he and I can both pretend—that we're being polite for the sake of the girls." His mouth quirked up at the corners, as he contemplated the idea of trying to get along with Lyon in a way that wouldn't total Lucy's apartment. Mind you, Flame-brain would be there too, so there were no guarantees…

Lucy couldn't resist running her fingers through Gray's soft dark hair. Gray could get a little inwardly-focussed at times, but he was also sincere about taking his friends' feelings into account, especially hers.

"I don't know about Jellal and Ultear, though," Lucy said hesitantly. "I mean, they probably won't accept anyway—and no, I hadn't forgotten the whole 'criminal charges' thing, I just wasn't too worried about it."

"Aw, what the hell," Gray replied. Lucy could see that he was now in his "I'll take'em all on" mood, where the challenge of the situation suddenly made him want to prove to everyone (mostly himself, in this case) that he could handle it.

"But—"

"Come on, Luce, don't back down now! Besides, I don't see any graceful way out of it unless you figure I'm fast enough to silence the messenger somehow." He gave Lucy what was no doubt intended to be a murderous leer, and she had to laugh.

"Okay, then. How about: we're just trying to show how good we are at being magnanimous in victory?"

"Of course. Also, it'll play out on their side as doing something nice for Jellal and Erza—maybe. I still don't know exactly what the deal is between those two. I'm guessing that Ultear will want to give Meredy a chance to see people other than their own oh-so-fun-former-evil-doers group."

Lucy squeezed Gray's hand, and he looked up with a rueful smile.

"Yes, I do feel badly for Meredy. I think she got a raw deal. I mean, we both lost our homes and our parents the same way, but I found Ur, whereas she ended up devoted to the person who had caused all of her grief and loss in the first place. Poor kid."

"So it's actually a good thing to invite Meredy, right?"

"Right." Gray hesitated for a moment, then let go of his last desire to add "although you still should have told me first."

Lucy slid off the couch to sit beside him, silently acknowledging his forbearance, but he drew her into his lap instead. He hugged her close, and she laid her head against his shoulder.

"Thanks for not being mad, Gray. At least, not anymore."

"Thank you for giving me a chance to exercise my talent for almost-convincing excuses."

Lucy lifted her head and smiled at him. He smiled back, happy that they were in synch again. A few moments passed in enjoying each other's warmth and a few heartfelt kisses.

"So we're inviting Lyon and Chelia—mostly for Wendy's sake, as well as to avoid some of the more common Team Natsu dynamics—"

"I'll be so torn between thumping Natsu and thumping Lyon I'll be on my best behaviour," murmured Gray.

"—And we're inviting Jellal because I think he and Erza might enjoy having some time together when the world isn't being threatened with disaster—"

"Right, the happy matchmaker approach—how on earth will you keep Mirajane away?"

"—And we're inviting Ultear and Meredy because I think Meredy would appreciate a chance to get to know you better and we both think she deserves to have some fun and meet people who haven't engaged in, um, terrible acts—"

"Have you seen the way Natsu eats?"

"Yes, and you aren't all that different." Lucy tried to look contrite when Gray glared at her and the temperature suddenly dropped a few degrees, but it came out as more of a smirk. "Sorry, sorry, I concede that your manners are generally better than his!"

"Hmph." Gray drew a little icicle heart in the frosty air, although he then had no idea what to do with it.

"C-c-cold, Gray!"

The air warmed up again and Gray's little creation vanished.

"There's a metaphor in there somewhere," he grumbled, as the icicle heart disappeared. "Or do I mean a simile? I'm not sure that Ur was any clearer on that stuff than I was."

Lucy ignored his rambling.

"So we're inviting Ultear in part because we're inviting Jellal and Meredy, and in part because I think she could stand to see that a lot of us don't hate her."

"And because you think it will help me deal with things better too."

Lucy's expression became serious again. "I think she's like family to you, and vice versa. And since you are important to me, I want to do whatever I can for both of you."

"Alright, Lucy, fair enough. Just remember—"

"I will. This isn't a book, and I can't make people just do what I want, or make things turn out the way I want." The solemn expression left her face as she added: "Although, to be honest, it's much harder to make my characters do what I want than you'd think! I mean, I know it's a little ridiculous, but they can be completely stubborn about things..."

[END]

A/Note: Epilogue is intended to follow. I didn't want my Graylu sibling to have to wait any longer for this, however!

All comments and reviews are appreciated. If you see typos or other little glitches, please send me a PM through your platform of choice. \(^u^)/

Tags:  @shell-senji @eliz1369  @hakuyamazakisensei @hidetheremote @miss-zei  @lockandk3yfiction @sassyhazelowl @gsut

[fairiesnova]

Recharge

For my partner in crime and dear friend @gaymirajane. I wanted to celebrate erzajane’s milestone with a bang. Hope you like it Mollie <33

Note: this is apart of my erzajane Home is Where They Are series. This takes place during the same time as Fun in the Sun. Warning under the cut for non-explicit sexual content

Read on ao3

Mirajane stood strong and tall next to her wife despite the wariness sinking more and more into her bones the further Gray walked away with their little boy. She watched as Rhea glanced back at them with a reassuring smile before quickly following behind. She felt more than saw Erza’s hand twitch and start to raise, could tell her body was going to move forward and call the girl back. Mirajane reached over to grab that hand before the movement became noticeable. Her wife turned to look at her and Mirajane met her stare head on. She could tell by the small quirk in Erza’s lips and the way her head bowed that the women understood what she was trying to say. With their hands intertwined, they both whispered a thank you to Natsu watching as his smile grew as bright as the sun.

Gray and Natsu had left with their kids over 5 minutes ago, yet neither women dares to move a muscle. It’s ridiculous really, they were long gone by now off on whatever adventure the two men had conjured up. They would be safe with them, Gray and Natsu would defend their kids with their lives no matter what. Their kids were safe and happy.

So why can’ t they move?

A squeeze on her hand drew Mirajane’s attention back to the woman still standing beside her. Erza’s jaw was clenched in a sign of obvious tension but her eyes were soft as they met Mira’s own. Gosh, sometimes she forgot about the passage of time until she really looks at the woman in front of her. The face she had come to know so well changed much over the years maturing as age and battle molded her into the figure she is today. Mirajane was blessed enough to see her love in the different phases of her life as both a rival pushes her to be her very best and a lover to be there when she’s not. Erza squeezes her hand again and this time Mirajane squeezes back. Together they turn and walk back into their home.

As the front door shuts behind them, the silence from outside feels suffocating in the walls of their open home. No babbling or toys been scattered everywhere. No music loud enough to be heard over headphones or out of pitch humming. No pads of little feet following slightly bigger ones following Erza or Mira’s around the house. Not even the crying that had become staple for the past two weeks.

Nothing.

“What do we do now?” Erza asked in a tiny voice. Her wife looked lost as she glanced around the home rapidly as if waiting for the answer to jump out at her. Mira understood her confusion. It was strange to go from constant movement to none at all.

The past two weeks had been rough to put it lightly. Problem after problem arose at the guild, and as master, Erza was expected to deal with all of them. As co-master, Mirajane was ready to tackle the issues along with her despite having her own mess to deal with concerning the parents of students in her magic classes. Days were filled with the two running nonstop around the guild trying to find people to cover open jobs and patching things up with feuding team members and irate parents. Usually hard days were made better by afternoons snuggling with their children, but their stress only heightened when dealing with a wild toddler. Andre was going through a phase where he explored the world through his teeth sinking the few sharp teeth he had into everything he came across, including his mothers and sister. He also didn’t handle discipline well, either ignoring them completely or throwing a crying fit when he felt they were truly upset with him. Mirajane understood that Andre was very sensitive to rejection due past trauma no child should had to face and was fearful of losing them whenever they were stern with him, but it became hard to remember that late at night when both she and Erza were up till 3am trying to soothe the crying child.

Needless to say, they were both exhausted.

And though she would always miss her children whenever they separated, she sent a silent thank you once again to Natsu and Gray for knowing when the two women needed a break. They had an entire week to recharge.

Reaching out, Mirajane ran her fingers softly down Erza’s cheek loving the way her wife’s attention immediately focused solely on her. She pressed their lips together in a gentle embrace once then twice reacquainted herself to her love’s taste. Finally, they pulled away and she whispers against her lips, “let’s take a bath.”

Erza grimaces as her fingers graze the drool spots left on Mirajane’s sundress as she pulls it down over her shoulders. Mira pretends not to notice her wiping her hands off on a towel as she steps out of the fabric ditching her bra and underwear as well hanging them on a nearby rod. She stood bare in the light of their dark red bathroom. The steam rose from their hot bath and licked up the back of her legs traveling up her thighs and ass in a smoldering embrace. She arches her back into it wanting nothing more than to surrender to its call and dip into the water. Instead she watches as her wife pulls of her blouse and panties tossing them onto the floor. A scoff left her lips before she could stop it, “you’re still such a slob Erza.” Unlike Mira, Erza didn’t bother to hid her rolling her eyes. Mirajane opened her mouth to continue her tirade over how messy Erza is when her wife bent all the way over to pick up her clothing off the floor. The breath Mirajane sucked in left her mouth in a gasp.

Erza had given up on bra’s a long time ago hating how tight they were and itched. She was used to seeing the redhead walk around their home topless until they adopted Rhea. Now the sight was reserved for the rare occasions they had the house to themselves. Mirajane always found just something so undeniably sexy about her wife being so comfortable and open in their home. As she watches the steam curl around that plump ass making the skin pinker by the second, she remembers why she enjoyed the sight so much.

Mirajane moved quickly but silently across the bathroom tile reaching her wife just in time for the woman to stand up completely. A soft exhale left the redhead’s lips as Mirajane’s hands crept over the round skin. She gently bit her ear and whispered hotly, “you did that on purpose.”

She couldn’t see the smirk on Erza’s face, but she knew without a doubt it was there. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Mirajane huffed and bit her again relishing in the answering moan. “Just get in the bath.”

They stepped in carefully. Mirajane sat first with Erza in front of her. Mira’s hands rested on wife’s breasts and squeezed them both to the tune of another moan. The water heated both their skins easing the tension in legs and lower back due to the weeks of stress. “Oh, we needed this” she sighed slinking deeper in the water.

Erza pressed back grinding her ass over Mira’s crouch, “we should take bath’s more often.” Turning her body as sideways as she could in the cramped tub, Erza tilted her head up she captures her wife’s lips in hers.

A hand traveled over Mira’s shoulders and down her chest stopping to pinch a nipple before traveling lower and lower. She moans encouragingly as Erza puts pressure on the place she needs her most. And it was a need one that had been building throughout the weeks of going through struggle after struggle with her wife always at her side. Luckily, they had the entire week and an empty house.

[pyropsychiccollector]

NaMiZa Drabble - Pre-Marital Counseling

Counselor: *cough* M-Mr. Dragneel? Y-You may come in now... You ladies as well. ^^;

Natsu: I still don't see the point of this... >.>

Erza: Yes. I'm certain we can sort out any issues on our own.

Mira: C'mon, guys. We kinda need to do this - not just for us, but for the Guild as well. We're all in this for the long haul, right~? n___n

Natsu: ... Yeah.

Erza: Yes... >.>

Counselor: *as the three sit on the love seat across from him; it's a tight fit, and Mira winds up sitting on the armrest on Natsu's left* S-So... I WAS reading your appointment correctly... The... three... of you are getting married...

Mira: Well, it's more like Erza and I are marrying Natsu, rather than each other, but that's more or less correct~. n___n

Counselor: *coughs awkwardly* I-I see... Well, let's get started with an easy question: What attracted you to your partner initially? And what do you hope your partner will help you become?

Natsu: Well, Mira was a bit mean at first, but I got to know her more, and she really loves her siblings. Oh. And she's an awesome cook~. And Erza... I always admired how strong she was, and how she looked out for everyone in Fairy Tail. Um... What was that second one?

Counselor: What do you hope your partner will help you become?

Natsu: I dunno! I just wanna protect 'em. But... I guess it'd be cool if they helped me become a dad. n___n

Counselor: o.o'

Erza: You won't see me complaining.

Mira: We settled on a dozen kids, right~?

Erza: THAT IS FAR TOO MANY!

Mira: But you'd help make it happen if that's what Natsu wants~

Erza: ......

Counselor: Back on topic...

~*~

Counselor: What size house is important, and what is your ideal neighborhood?

Mira: Oooh, the house would have to be VERY big for our many children. n___n

Erza: And we're kind of in agreement that we'll be living out in the woods, not a residential area...

Counselor: Does this have to do with your... future promiscuity? >___>

Erza: Not just that, but our training as well.

Counselor: *latches onto that* Training? *leans forward*

Mira: We're combat mages, of course, but the most important training will be happening in bed~

Counselor: ......

~*~

Counselor: How long does your partner need to spend time with friends separately, and how much time do you need to spend with each other?

Natsu: Um-

Erza: It is fine if Natsu spends times with Gray and the guys. That is perfectly acceptable whenever.

Mira: Well, except for anniversaries and when we arrange a date in advance. n___n

Natsu: ...

Counselor: I... see... And what of girl friends?

Erza: He better not have any others. >.>

Mira: Well, Natsu? Do you have other girlfriends? >:3

Natsu: N-N-No... *nervously shrinks in on himself*

Mira: And there's your answer. n___n

Counselor: ... And how much time do you expect to spend together?

Erza and Mira: Lots and lots~.

~*~

Counselor: How do you plan to live together?

Natsu: In the same house, duh.

Erza: *smacks him on the back of the head 'lightly', making him facefault... off the couch...* We'll be sharing a bed, of course.

Mira: We've already tested it out lots and lots~

Counselor: *cough* And how about daily routine?

Natsu: *takes his seat again* Well, Mira will be doin' the cookin'.

Mira: And Erza will be doing the cleaning~

Erza: And Natsu will be my heater. >.> *hugs him possessively*

Mira: *tries to wrestle him from Erza's grasp; turns into tug-of-war* OUR heater. >.>

Counselor: Alright, alright, break it up! Now, Natsu, will you be the spouse who works, while your... wives... stay at home?

Natsu: Pfft. No.

Counselor: Excuse me?

Natsu: Erza and Mira? Stay-at-home wives? They'd never let that happen. We'll all be goin' on S-Class Quests together~.

Erza and Mira: *their faces smushed against his, nod*

Counselor: -___- Okaaay...

~*~

Counselor: Since you all explained you have adoptive parental figures, how do you each intend to shape your children's values?

Natsu: I want 'em to be kickass and protect their nakama! :D

Erza: I want them to be refined, behaved, and I also want them to treasure their nakama.

Mira: I want 'em to cut loose like Natsu and always have fun~. n___n

Erza: What was that. >___>

Mira: You heard me.

Natsu: Um...

Erza and Mira: Shush, Natsu. Big girls are talking.

Natsu: Okay...

Counselor: I'm starting to see a trend here... Okay. How about punishment for your children?

Erza: If they do something wrong, they will receive acceptable Punishment.

Mira: And when she's not around, I'll be sure to ease up on that capital-P Punishment. 'Cause I will love my children. :3

Natsu: ... Um... What Mira said?

Erza: >______>

Natsu: ... Too troublesome to make separate accounts. Plus, we'll have more money pool together~.

~*~

Counselor: ... Seeing as how you three have talked quite freely about your sex lives, I think we can skip the section on "erotic moments"...

Erza and Mira: NO FAIR!

~*~

Counselor: How about conflict resolution?

Natsu: *deadpan* If I'm bein' a dumbass, Erza'll be sure to "correct" me.

Erza: *chiding tone* Now, now. That may happen a lot, but you always bounce back.

Natsu: Just because I take the beatings, doesn't mean I like 'em. :P

Mira: Right~. Because Erza's the masochist~. n___n

Erza: HEY!

Counselor: So, there are no big fights you haven't resolved?

Natsu: Blueberry used to be somethin' I was upset about, but then Erza moved on~. n___n

Erza: And Natsu used to have a grudge against Jellal, but now it's not so much of a problem... >___>

Mira: *not-so-subtle aside to the counselor* Jellal's the biggest skeleton in their closet~ n___n

Natsu and Erza: Miraaa... >___>

~*~

Counselor: This is just for clarity's sake. But extramarital affairs-

Mira and Erza: There will be none.

Natsu: *at their expectant gazes* Y-Yeah... there will be none. ^^;

Counselor: ... Is this your husband, or your pet...?

Erza: He can't be both?

Mira: *pulls Natsu's head into her bosom and pets his hair* Natsu's a good dragon~

Natsu: *growls* Just remember, you two can't have anyone else, either! :P

Mira: Of course not~. You're the only man that can handle me. n___n

Erza: ... *at their expectant gaze* Jellal's not an issue anymore, alright?! I won't do anything *intimate* with him!!

Natsu: *nods grudgingly*

Mira: Just making sure you're really past him~. I'd hate to have Natsu's wife count go down by one... Oh, wait. No I wouldn't.

Erza: Succubus... >.>

Counselor: ... I wish you three the best of luck. You're going to need it.