#I’m tempted to call them to check haha

[skelly-bean]

We went past a golf course and this person was already golfing? It looked like he was in the middle of a course or something, just not the beginning haha.

Why was he there so early?? It was like 10 minutes at most past the sunrise

[crow-stars]

❝HEAR IT FROM ME❞

❦ summary; a person's voice, so unique and custom to them and only them. it's familiar to those who know it and sought after to those who love it.

♪the characters in this story; cater diamond, gn!reader

✎word count; 822

☛the author's notes; nothing to note...

☪look at the catalogue?

The phone rang once, no answer. Twice, no answer. Three times, and the call was picked up.

“H... Hello?”

He smiled at the sound of your voice and answered quickly. “Morning cutie! Did you sleep well?”

Cater hears you groan into the phone, probably dragging a hand down your face to try and wake yourself up a bit more.

“Cater, it is five am where I am right now. You could’ve at least texted me.”

He chuckles a bit at your tired voice, but is still smiling regardless. “Oh, I know, but I’m excited to hear your voice! I’m-”

You’re quick to interrupt him. “‘Coming back today and can’t wait to see you.’ I know Cay, you’ve been calling me almost everyday since you got the notice.” There’s a small little affectionate chuckle from you and it makes Cater melt.

Cater was a senior now, with you not being a senior. As a senior, Cater had to go off campus to get some real world experience and get some internships. Fortunately, he had gotten a few offers that he was happy to accept but, unfortunately, the ones he wanted were all quite a bit away from NRC and Sage’s Island. That also meant being away from you.

He whined and despaired about this, and Cater was very tempted to take some of the closer options. But you, ever the angel, persuaded him to take the ones that he wanted. You told him you’d be fine without him and that it was only a year, that the two of you could always call and text one another.

While not the most preferred situation, Cater did do his best to keep in contact with you, calling more than texting, despite you telling him to just text you and not do a minute call talking about his lunch. He still insisted on calling though, and he was thankful that you put up with him for so long.

“Anyway, how’s class these days?”

He hears shuffling on the other end and a small sigh before your answer.

“Could be better, could be worse. Trying to get better grades in Crewel’s classes.”

Cater giggles lightly. “If you want, I could help.”

He hears you laugh now and it makes Cater smile wide.

“Sweet, but no. I’ll be fine, Cay.”

“Aww. Oh well then.”

“How long until you get here?”

Cater pulls the phone away from his ear and checks the time. It’s 5:17 am and, from how fast his transport is going, he estimated a good hour or so, if he’s lucky.

“I’ll probably get here at maybe six, six twenty.”

You smile and chuckle lightly. “That’s good. This means I have an hour to sleep. Night night.”

Your words make Cater panic, and he doesn’t want you to hang up on him. “Wait, wait, wait! Don’t hang up, please!”

“What?”

His cheeks flush red and he grips the phone a bit tighter. Seven, that was embarrassing to say out loud and your confused what doesn’t help a lot either.

Cater hears more shuffling, more movement and you sound much more awake now. “Why don’t you want me to hang up, Cater?”

“Haha it’s just... y’know...” His voice got quieter and quieter, this wasn’t like him at all and he wished that you could read minds so he wouldn’t say all this aloud. Maybe he should’ve just texted you, to avoid this.

“No Cay, I don’t know.” Your voice, it’s gentle, soft and caring. It makes Cater’s chest fill with emotions that he wants to bask in. “You can tell me, I won’t judge.”

The words are there in his chest, ready to slip past his lips, and he just wants to screw his lips shut. But he doesn’t want to say no to you, to lie to you.

“I like your voice...”

There’s a pause, he hears you suck in a sharp breath and he waits for your answer, fingers curling in a tight fist. He dreads anything negative that may come from your lips, but he just wants to hear you say something, just anything.

“You...” Another pause, you suck in a breath. “You like my voice.”

Cater makes an affirming noise. You let out a breathy laugh and he hopes that it’s a good thing.

“Cater.” He hears you giggle and his heart soars at the sound. “Cater, you are one interesting person, you know.”

“Cay-Cay knows it best, cutie!”

You laugh and he smiles, happy that you didn’t berate him or call him odd. You only keep accepting and accepting him. All of him.

“Alright, I guess I can stay on call for a bit longer, since I’m already awake.”

Cater grins, humming happily. “Yay! Thank you~” As the two of you continue talking, he grips the small little bouquet of flowers in his hands. As cheesy as it is, he just hopes you’ll accept it as you keep doing with him.

[weirdraccoon]

Yay! That’ll be a great way to end my day😁 I’m looking forward to reading it and thank you again so so much!

My two free hours became my boss's free hours (first coaching and gossiping and then more gossiping and scolding haha xd)

Anyway, as promised, a fic ready by the end of the day: crack treated seriously I guess. Fig catching MC and Sebastian in her bed.

Eleazar hummed as he made his way into his flat. It was small and cozy, perfect for him and Miriam while she was alive. They’d planned on moving to a bigger apartment or even a house in a magical community once they had children but, alas, between their different researches and experiments, they never got around to it.

At least not while Miriam was alive. Eleazar was one hundred percent sure she would have loved the little rascal he took in right after she passed on.

That, or she would’ve been able to keep the reckless Gryffindor in check.

Emilia Seabaugh, or Em-Sea for short, was as Gryffindor as they come: stubborn, brave, reckless, and a complete troublemaker. Eleazar didn’t know if he had as many white hairs before meeting her or if she was the reason for most of them.

Even tho, he had to admit he was so very proud of her. Refusing to absorb the power of the repository, claiming she’d tell her friends once she felt everyone was ready and they’d look for a way to destroy it. He had feared, at first, that she had been tempted, however, she only used it to heal him of his most serious injuries before sealing it and calling for help. Good thing the rest of the teachers were nearby, he didn’t know if he could’ve lived with himself if he had died in her arms.

He entered the apartment to be greeted by the clear sounds of intimacy coming from her hallway.

“Maybe I should’ve died after all,” he muttered to himself,

He sent a longing look to his own room before marching down the short hallway to her door.

“Not even a muffling charm,” he tsked, then knocked loudly on the door. “Em-Sea! I hope you used an alohomora ward 'cause I’m about to push this door open!”

“Shit,” Em-Sea’s voice echoed from inside. “Wait!”

Eleazar didn’t wait. He pushed the door open and had to close his eyes for a second to gather his wits. He took a deep breath. They were old enough to know what they were doing and old enough to use the necessary precautions that needed to be used.

“Mr. Sallow,” he greeted, opening his eyes, glad that they had the mind to pull the covers to hide themselves. “Nice to see you survived a week after graduation.”

“Professor Fig,” Sebastian stammered with a high-pitched voice. “Hi.”

“Eli!” Em-Sea exclaimed. “Weren’t you coming back next week? How was Godric’s Hollow?”

Eleazar stared her down. The Gryffindor girl stared back, although she did blush a little.

“I’ll wait in the living room, al right? You have one minute to come out,” he stated and walked out, leaving the door open.

“He’s going to kill me,” he heard Sebastian’s voice say. “Oh my god, I’m dead. I can’t believe I only made it one week out of the castle!”

“Shush, Sebastian,” Em-Sea used the tone she usually used when rolling her eyes. “He’s not going to kill you. Not here at least.”

“Forty seconds!” He called and he could hear them fumbling out of the bed and into some clothes. “So, they can follow instructions.”

Both young adults came out looking sheepish and still a little flushed on the face. Eleazar only smirked. His girl might be a grown-up now but he was still his responsibility and the wizarding world would be exposed before he let her (or the boy currently hiding behind her) fool around without making sure they were prepared for consequences.

Like getting caught by a parental figure and then threatened. He couldn’t wait to show Aesop the memory in a pensive.

"Mr. Sallow, do you know how to brew a contraceptive potion?" Eleazar asked as soon as they were in the living area.

"Yes, sir, of course," Sebastian nodded.

"I know how to brew it, too," Em-Sea rolled her eyes.

"I know you know, cupcake," Eleazar offered a shit-eating grin when he saw her face. Oh, how she hated it when he called her pet names. Was she like that when Sallow called her pet names too? "Anyway, could I have a few words with Mr. Sallow? Go get his backpack, I saw it at the feet of your bed."

Sebastian sent her a puppy-eyed look, begging her to stay, asking to stay, who knew? Eleazar was tired and was in no mood for sleepovers.

"Sebastian, Sebastian," Eleazar paced in front of the young man. "You know I love Em-Sea like my own child, right? We have a bond, Sebastian, one that makes me want to protect her from the world itself," Sebastian only nodded. "However, I know I can't protect her from the world, especially seeing how she looks for trouble in every corner," Sebastian wasn't fast enough to hide the smirk that formed on his face. Eleazar stepped closed, voice lower, and magic crackling around them. "What I can do, though, is protect her from boys like you. If she ends up hurt, injured, or even pregnant before she planned it, I will have your head and the Headless Hunt will gain a new member."

Sebastian gulped, wide-eyed and a little pale.

"I understand, sir," he said. "I swear on my magic I won't ever hurt her on purpose and I will be careful- we will be careful."

Eleazar glared into brown eyes for a second, simply enjoying the thrill of shovel-talking someone. Then he nodded and took a step back.

"See that you do," he said. "And I'm sorry but the flat is not big enough to hold sleepovers. I'm sure you'll find somewhere to stay."

"Will you?" Em-Sea asked worriedly, returning with Sebastian's bag.

"Yeah, I'll just crash with Ominis," he smiled. "Talk later?"

"Yeah," Em-Sea promised and she and Eleazar saw him leave through the front door before apparating away. "You suck."

"From what I saw, you suck," Eleazar chuckled, shaking his head.

"Ugh!" Em-Sea turned on her heel and proceeded to her room.

"If you show me a month's worth of the potion and a good wand work of the spell I promise I won't tease you," Eleazar called, "too much," he added.

"I'm moving out!" She replied dramatically. "You'll never see me again!"

"I certainly hope so!" Eleazar laughed, holding back laughing tears. "I already saw too much of you, Em-Sea! Way more than I expected to see. And of Sallow too. I'm so glad you're not my students anymore. Classes would've been so awkward!"

Em-Sea slammed the door shut, but Eleazar could hear her snort before the door closed behind her. She was not really mad. She was probably finishing business in there.

Still laughing, Eleazar turned to his room. He kinda missed being that age.

[apri-apri-no-mi]

I went to an OPLA pop up event in Tokyo - again! Haha! This time I checked out the so called One Piece Shibuya Grand Line Store! She’s a fancy one wow!

The store is actually called Toy Sapiens and the flagship store of Hot Toys, which currently has a lots of OPLA merch! Hence, the store is OPLA themed until October 15th!

Actually, I didn’t know they have anything displayed besides the merch they’re selling. But turns out, they had some decorations and a display window with the costumes of Gold Roger, Morgan, Buggy, Mihawk, Arlong and Alvida. And gosh, I love to look at the costumes!

Those were actually a lot more detailed that the ones of the main cast I saw at the other OPLA event a few weeks ago. It felt like they allowed a lot more creative freedom for the roles beside the main cast.

There was also a photo spot! Because what’s better advertisement than people posting cool pictures of themselves haha! You could write you name with magnet letters on a bounty poster and pose in the picture frame of the poster! How cool! And wow, we’re worth as much as East Blue Luffy! Since I was alone the staff took pictures of me. So nice! Look at me being so cringe it’s almost cute!

Tbh, I only bought some stickers. But I was tempted to buy one of the shirts. The quality was so good! And the Going Merry one looked soooo cool! But I guessed I wouldn’t wear the color and it would only end up hanging in my closet. Please don’t tell anyone you can buy them online as well. Because maybe I’ll do that later. No, I shouldn’t! And btw, how many more OPLA stickers can one have?!

I said it already and dare to repeat it: Japan does pop up events so well! And this was actually "just" a decorated store!! I took more pictures this time. But some videos too, so yeah I’m planning of making a little short video as well. But who knows if this will ever get published.

[butcherlarry]

Exercise Fic Rec 10

This is my tenth week doing this!  And still going strong!  I though as a special treat, I would rec some of my favorite fics from the first fandom I got into, Hannibal.  But first, exercise fic recs!  I finished up my reread of “the cost of being a good dad” but then a *new* Superbat fic by Mawiiish was dropped.  I was Very Excited.  In the new fic, both Bruce and Clark are so dumb about their feelings.  So, so dumb.  It was great!  The third fic “end of the line” was written in the point of view of a drunk person who tried to get in a fight with Clark Kent.  Bruce is there to try to sooth things out.  Shenanigans ensue.  The next two fics are still in progress, but the updates were fun to read as I was exercising!

the cost of being a good dad by Mawiiish

Sure Thing by Mawiiish

end of the line by TheResurrectionist

Patroclus by LilyFlowerBat

Just A Little Bit... by HaleHathNoFury

Like I mentioned above, Hannibal was the first fandom I got into and started reading fan fics.  I remember reading the books as a teen and enjoyed them (I was a weird kid, don’t judge me), so when I heard there was a TV show, I was intrigued.  I think I watched the first couple episodes then stopped, but I kept on seeing gif sets, fan art, and memes on Tumblr, so I started watching again.  Then I started reading all the fan fic people were recommending on Tumblr.  It soon went all downhill from there for me, lol.

As someone with a meat science background, I always found the Hannibal books and TV show so interesting.  I remember when Hannibal and Will were discussing meat tasting “frightened”, and my meat sci brain perked up.  Short-term stress in hogs can cause a meat quality issue called PSE (pale, soft, and exudative (watery)).  Long-term stress can cause another meat quality issue in hogs and cattle called DFD (dark, firm, and dry).  I feel like if Hannibal was going to run into meat quality issues with his uhhh, preferred protein, it would probably be PSE, since what he’s hunting is undergoing short term stress.  Well, unless he decides to play with his food for a few days, then maybe he would get DFD meat.  If I remember correctly, he does reference a “metallic taste”, and that’s more prevalent in DFD meat.  PSE meat would be so dry and tough to eat, and not have a nice reddish-pink color.  He would probably have to grind and mix it with other proteins to make something tasty.  

All of these fics are Hannigram, except for “He Who Pours Out Vengeance”, but you can read that one as Hannigram (I think the second story in the series is slash, but it’s uncompleted).  Not going to lie, after going through my old bookmarks to find these, I’m really tempted to reread a few (and by few, I mean all, haha).

Anyway, here are some of my favorite Hannibal Fics!

Ladders series by emungere

What Dreams series by emungere

Blackbird by emungere

Page Six by ThisBeautifulDrowning

Pattern Break by ThisBeautifulDrowning

He Who Pours Out Vengeance by Underground

Shark Tank by xzombiexkittenx

Overcoming by purefoysgirl (I may or may not have this one in book form when the author published it. (I totally do.  They hold a special place on my book shelf))

There are plenty more favorites that I have, but these are just a few.  My AO3 page has all of my fan fic bookmarks, just sort for Hannibal if you want to check them out 😄

My obligatory coffee and pastry photo:

Spring is showing up at the arboretum! 

I just really like this tree that was along the river:

The moss along the path was kinda neat:

This is my favorite spot along the path and I always take pictures here:

A nice picture of a white-breasted nuthatch:

I also stopped by the local plant nursery and got some more flowers to feed my plant addiction.  I almost got a citrus tree, but I was strong and resisted (No I wasn’t, the only reason why I didn’t buy one because they were 60 dollars 😔)

[airi-p4]

JATP AU: Everlasting musical connection - Chapter 4

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Epilogue … 

Julie and the Phantoms x Lukanette AU

(Sorry for the incoming little rant)

I'm a bit mad tbh because I wrote this before we had any leaks or information about S5 and now it looks like the 'red moon' and Felix are a canon reference when they're NOT. But I guess it's partly my fault for not posting this earlier... *sigh*

Anyway- This story will be finished! Idk when but it will! Thank you for your patience.

_______________________________

TW: check AO3 for the tags ( !!! )

Chapter summary:

Marinette refuses to accept the Phantoms imminent crossing over, and decides to face the only one who may know a way to help them: the magician ghost Felix- their enemy.

___________________________________________

AO3

___________________________________________

CHAPTER 4

While the ghosts were busy at the cemetery, Marinette snuck out of high school to go to Paris' Ghost club. She had only heard about the exclusive club from the Phantoms and rumors, and she had no idea how to find it… but the Internet tricks Alya taught her some time ago did the rest of the job.

Felix wasn't lying when he said the doors would be exceptionally opened for her anytime. She would have never imagined going straight to the enemy's headquarters and exposing herself to such danger.

The girl had already confronted the centuries old magician ghost once and knew too well how dangerous he was. She had to be cautious- he knew a great amount of tricks. She stepped in, carefully at first, but soon brought her courage afloat after remembering her mission had a time limit.

Just a few more hours.

She had no time to lose.

“Felix! Show yourself! I know you’re here!” she called loudly.

“Oh, my my… look who's here: Marinette Dupain-Cheng…” a voice said from the shadows. The teenager got shivers, but remained courageous, standing tall. “To think you would visit me… Aren’t you scared I may possess your body like I did with your blond pathetic friend?”

“I know how to kick you out now! I’m not scared of you!” she yelled, and his evil laugh interrupted. Within a blink, he appeared in front of her and she gasped. “I’m- I’m not scared of you!” she repeated.

“Yet you’re here, trembling like a newborn puppy…” Felix laughed, amused by her fears. The sound of his slow steps walking in circles around her was keeping her alert. “How desperate you must be for your ‘Phantoms’ if you’ve come to me in order to save them…”

“Shut up!" She recomposed at the mention of her friends "I know there has to be a way! A way so they don’t have to cross over! Or maybe that they can come back to life!”

“Oh, innocent child… Don’t you think I’d have already done that myself if there was a way?”  His laugh echoed in the club, giving her goosebumps.

“I know you keep secrets. And I know you’re good at hiding them. But your powers are not only for evil. And music! Music has to be the reason you’re still aliv- well, not completely dead.”

“Haha… Very funny…" A few claps followed ironically. "You did well figuring out this much… Hmmm... What would you say if I told you there’s a way for them to come back to life?” he tempted her in a hum.

“Is there!?"

“Oh, so you’re interested, huh?” He smirked evilly and Marinette remembered he wasn't going to give her what she wanted for free. She knew him.

“What’s the deal?” she demanded, looking straight in his eyes.

“An exchange." He paused in front of her, close. "Your soul. Your life for theirs. How does that sound?”

She paused for a second, out of the shock, and before her voice left her throat she was interrupted by three newcomers.

“NEVER!" they yelled. Marinette's eyes opened big.

“Luka! Guys! Why are you here!?”

“Oh, c’mon Marinette, we know you. We’ve been together for a while now.” Juleka winked. "You can't fool us."

“We’ve actually followed you here and eavesdropped a bit…” Ivan innocently confessed.

“Don’t tell her, Ivan! I was trying to act cool and steal the show!”

“Oops, my bad-”

“Anyway- No one is taking away Marinette’s life. That’s out of the question. We’ll cross over and Marinette will be an amazing singer on her own- or with her new band or whatever she chooses to do with her outstanding talent.” Luka stepped in between Marinette and Felix, pushing him and raising a protective arm in front of her. Marinette's eyes glowed and teared up at him.

“Are you sure you want to cross over while I’m still around? I could try to harm her anytime… Try to figure out her connection with spirits… Or maybe a fatal accident could bring her talent here, to me. Maybe she would agree to remain in my club for all eternity, unlike you...”

“Don’t you dare!” Felix's threat enraged Luka. "Touch her and I'm killing you!"

“Luka…” Marinette blushed, moved.

“Yeah. It seems our last warning wasn’t enough... Let’s kill this ghost.” Juleka jumped closer, fists clenched.

“I wish so too, but guys: we can’t kill him. He’s already dead!” Ivan pointed out and Felix's smile widened.

“You’re not helping, Ivan!” The bassist glared. “And I'm not giving up just like that! There has to be a way to stop him for good!” Her nails sank deeper in her palms.

“There might be a way,” a familiar voice that sounded weak and sweet interrupted, appearing from upstairs.

“Rose!? You were ok!?” Juleka ran towards her beloved ghost, holding her hands tenderly.

“I heard your voice, Juleka, and I rushed here despite the jolts of Felix’s attachment spell." She smiled weakly and it brought Juleka to the verge of tears.

“You fool! I’m so happy to see you…” She hugged her.

“Me, too.” Rose pulled her closer, enjoying the warmth.

“Oh, what a sweet moment…" Felix hummed. "Too bad it won't last long…" His eyes turned red and the blond girl gasped. "Rose. I own your soul and you disobeyed me. You’re going to disappear now-” His fingers were about to snap, but Juleka jumped between Rose and Felix.

“No! I won’t let you harm her!”

The next second, Rose pushed Juleka behind her, making her fall to the floor. Felix's destructive thunder followed its path towards the two ghosts and everyone gasped when the blond ghost was hit.

“ROSE! NO!” Juleka cried, crawling to hold her falling body in her arms.

“Juleka, guys, listen…" Rose coughed. "I’m going to disappear soon, but… there’s a way… There’s a way you can stay here. Love and music... The red moon… Join your powers together... Your bond is special- strong. You can do it… you can make a miracle happen...”

"Rose! No!" Juleka cried.

"As for Felix… Take my curse and cast it to him… hurry up… before I disappear… Do it and he'll remain trapped here forever…" Rose whispered to Juleka. She knew the Phantoms were close enough to hear her, too. "Ivan. Do it, please. Only you can. Hold my wrist and take it. Hurry!"

"I- ok!" Ivan did as Rose told him, and a mark appeared on his wrist.

"Good…" She smiled in relief. “Now you have to say the words: ‘Resistance’, pass the curse to his wrist and say ‘Gift.’. The spell will activate then. Will you do it?” Ivan nodded, uncertain. Rose’s voice became weaker. “Thank you… Now I can leave at peace…"

“No, Rose… Don’t leave me…” Juleka begged in tears.

“I’m very happy to have met you, Juleka." Rose smiled weakly at her. "I love you.”

“Rose… I love you… I love you, too…” Some of Juleka's tears fell on Rose's cheeks. The rest fell on the floor through her disappearing skin.

"Don’t hurry up to join me on the other side, ok? Make a miracle happen. I’ll wait for you. Forever…”

"Rose, no!" Juleka cried. "Rose!!'

"Goodbye…" Rose smiled as she turned into hundreds of flying shining golden lights. On the floor, only her unicorn hairpin remained. Juleka picked it up, kissed it, and put it in her hair. Her long bangs now stuck in place, not covering her deathly glaring eyes anymore. Then she took a deep breath and cleaned her tears as she confidently recovered. Her eyes soon glared at Felix with all her wrath.

“Guys- That’s it. I’m killing this man! Are you with me?”

“Juleka, don’t be reckless, you could end up harmed too!” Luka warned, terrified for his sister, Ivan, and Marinette's safety.

“I don’t care! He just killed Rose! I can NEVER forgive him!”

“Juleka!”

Juleka's fierce voice turned into a loud roar, and it made the whole club tremble. Luka tried to hold Marinette, but she lost her balance when she fell through Luka's spiritual arm. Felix's eyes opened wide and before he could even blink, Juleka charged against him, punching his face with all her power. Felix fell on the floor with a face of not believing what was happening.

“What!?” Her bandmates gasped, in awe.

It took Felix a second to react. He touched his face where the punch had landed and checked his fingers; there was blood at the corner of his lip. “How- how is this possible!? You-- injured ME?”

Juleka roared loud, jumped, and tackled Felix, immobilizing him with Ivan's help. “Guys. We can do this.” Juleka's fist clenched again, more confident, ready to attack once more. Some stripes, resembling a tiger, appeared over her skin, on her face and arms.

“You…" Felix looked as if he couldn’t believe it, but seeing how her fist raised he changed his attitude to a self-protective one. “I see… So that’s how it is…” he mumbled. He tilted his head down and half-covered his smile with his hand.

Enraged, Juleka raised her fist and prepared to punch him again. "What's so funny, huh!?" Felix didn't answer.

"Do it now, Ivan! The curse!" Luka yelled.

Ivan took the chance while Felix was immobilized under Juleka to pass him the curse. "Wait. Is that Rose's curse? As if this was going to work…” He smirked. But his smile didn’t last long- wiped off his face when Ivan said the words he learnt from Rose: “Resistance.”. His eyes opened wide, as in realization. “No… No! No please!" He begged, but the mark had already appeared on his wrist. "No…!"

“Gift,” Ivan finished the spell, and the mark blended with his ghost skin. The Phantoms looked at the mark's shine spreading over all his body. A jolt followed and it was proof enough the spell seemed to work. They exchanged relieved looks while Felix curled his body in pain.

"Good. You can't leave this hotel ever again, Felix. Now Marinette will finally be safe," Luka said, looking fondly at Marinette.

"And now… To ensure it even further… I'm going to kill you!" Juleka raised her fist one more time, and Felix's face changed to one of fear.

"No, wait- wait please! I'll tell you what you want to know! There is a way to survive! Just don’t kill me!” the magician begged, coughing from the jolts.

Juleka wasn't stopping. "We’re not falling for this again, Felix!”

“The red moon!" he yelled when Juleka's fist almost touched him. "Tonight! It grants special powers to the spirits! Rose is right! With the right spell, a miracle could happen under the moon!"

“Really?” Marinette stepped closer.

Luka looked at her hopeful eyes in worry. “I’m sorry, Marinette, but I don’t trust him. I don’t think we should risk it…" he said, and Marinette looked back at him in sadness.

“But what if he’s right? What if it’s possible for you to come back to life? Or to stay as you are? Rose said it, too! We have nothing to lose! Let’s try it! Let’s go under the red moonlight and-” the girl insisted, desperate.

“Wait.”

“Juleka?”

The purple-haired ghost roared as she punched the floor just beside the magician's face. He gulped in fear.

“Tell us what’s the spell. If you don’t then…” Her fist rose again and he covered his face with his arms.

“Fine! I’ll tell you!” he finally gave in. “Tonight, under the red moonlight, at 2AM exactly, you have to repeat the magic words, three times: ‘kwamis, release the magic.’ If my theory and Rose’s suspicions are correct, you’ll be able to ask for a wish- a miracle.”

“And how do we know you’re telling us the truth?” Ivan asked.

Felix smirked. “You can’t know, truly. But I have no reason to give you a fake spell. I can’t cast it on my own anyway, since moonlight is needed and I’m now trapped here forever…” He suffered again from the spell.

“Tricking us for revenge sounds like a good reason for lying to me…” Marinette glared.

“Revenge? Against you pitiful souls? Don’t make me laugh.” He smirked evilly, still coughing. “You’re worthless. As pathetic as Rose was…” He touched Rose’s unicorn hairpin for a second and Juleka grabbed his shirt collar.

“DON’T YOU DARE MENTION ROSE EVER AGAIN!” Juleka threatened.

“Hmph- Whatever.” Felix's smirk widened. “You can try the spell or not. But isn’t this your only chance? No one knows if it really works anyway, but you won’t know unless you try. You know what not trying means anyway…”

Juleka growled at him and he shrugged, his fear seemingly gone despite the electric jolts striking again.

“Let him go, Juleka. He’s right,” Luka said, to Marinette’s surprise. “We don’t have much time left, and he’s trapped here forever, whether he's telling the truth or not, our fate is sealed. I can rest in peace knowing he won't be able to harm Marinette.”

“But-” Marinette and Juleka protested.

“We have a concert to go to, right? Let’s forget about Felix and enjoy the last hours we have together.” Luka shrugged with a weak smile. Marinette and Juleka weren’t happy, but ended up following Luka’s lead.

"It's time for you to pay for your sins." Juleka stood up and looked down in absolute disgust at Felix. “Enjoy your solitude for eternity.”

_________________________

The ghosts escorted Marinette out of the hotel and they sighed in relief when they reunited outside. Once outside, Luka turned to speak to Marinette.

"Don't you ever do that again, Marinette. Don't expose yourself to danger like that. Especially not for us, when we're already…" The guitarist had an urge to hug her, but he knew he couldn't even touch her. His body language was obvious to his ghost bandmates, though, who smiled sadly at them.

“I'm sorry… I wanted to-" she stopped, not wanting to be scolded again when the count on their wrists kept going down. "You’re the best friends I could ever have,” Marinette thanked them.

“You’re our treasure, Marinette.” Luka gave her his sweetest smile and she blushed.

If he wasn't a ghost, he would have probably leaned down to kiss her, had she allowed him, of course. But he knew better. Both of them knew better. They belonged to different worlds, despite their connection being so real...

*cof cof*

The pair turned to Juleka and realized they had been staring at each other's eyes for too long. Ivan looked away, slightly blushing, and Marinette panicked a bit. Luka smiled at her cuteness before taking the lead again.

“Ok, let’s go! We can't be late to our last concert tonight!”

“Hell yeah! I’m on fire!” Juleka exclaimed.

"Have you decided yet which song we're performing?" Ivan asked, stretching his wrists.

"I have," Marinette interrupted. "I know exactly which one song we should perform." She grinned and the Phantoms smiled back at her.

"Ok, let's do it!"

____________________

"We're 'Marinette and the Phantoms,' and today was our last concert. Please enjoy our last song: ‘everlasting musical connection’!"

There was evident shock, sadness, and devastated fans at the French Orpheum, but it was soon replaced by the feelings that resonated through the music with the frantic audience.

Their last concert was short, but moreover, it was unforgettable. Epic. Outstanding.

Legendary.

Those were the adjectives the specialized press was already calling it online.

[thebigshotman]

It took a miracle for it to happen, but I finally caught up with everything!! Woo hoo 🥳🥳 Seriously I am so excited that I finally had time and the energy to get to everything. Thank you to everyone for your massive patience. I’d say now I’m here to stay, but with the summer who knows 😅 But hopefully there’s no more month long hiatuses!

Unfortunately I don’t have the time for any other shenanigans, as it is getting late here. But before I go for the night, I present to you something extremely confusing that somewhat involves the funny Big Shot guy that I saw a day or two ago that somehow gave me the energy to come back?? You may or may not see why

Ok, so I’m a fan of the Fate Stay Night series, problems and all. I think the overall concepts and story are really fun and engaging, and that the mobile game (which I play frequently) is very very good, it’s just that…what it chooses to do with those concepts can be…interesting lol. Anyway, on a forum called Beast’s Lair I discovered a Servant-the thing that protagonists in the series summon that are actually famous historical and fiction figures in disguise-creating contest thingie and immediately checked it out from the most recent stuff down.

Now, most people will go for completely original concepts with this thing, with only the FCs being anime references or references to specific characters usually. However, occasionally a figure’s entire personality and skillset is themed around an already existing fictional character that has been molded over them. A good example is someone taking the Norse God Thys, molding him into Columbo, just Columbo, and somehow making it work.

…But then, holy crap I am not making this up. One time a few months back the theme was biblical figures, which is already a touchy subject to make anime characters out of. Some mad lad/cursed dude who probably did not think before posting…made Spamton out of the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve. Just…what??? No disrespect towards the creator of the sheet, but…what????

The justification is this is the form and voice he is taking for “misleading humanity into eternal torment”, so says the sheet, y’know as punishment. And when I take a step back, molding THE serpent that tempted Adam and Eve into a sleazy salesman type is not a bad idea. But why specifically Spamton…? Why not Saul Goodman or someone else? He could be a literal snake oil salesman but nope! Gotta stuff the funny meme man in there.

The best part is NO ONE acknowledged the sheet. Not discussions, not in the voting. It was like it never existed. The contest was happening not even half a year after Chapter 2 came out, too, so it’s not like people wouldn’t recognize the gimmick. People just…thought it was cursed 🤣 And I for one agree lol

So what does this have to do with bringing Spaul back? The moral of the story, guys gals and non binary pals, is that sometimes people’s bad ideas based around a character inspire you to try and do better. No matter how weird my Spamton is at least he’s not that. So! One cursed serpent thing later I am back and am hopefully not going to disappear for a month again.

Anyway on that note 😅 I am signing off for the night! Not sure if I’ll be around tomorrow cause it’s Father’s Day, but we’ll see! Hope you enjoyed story time haha. Have a good night and I’ll see you all soon!

Edit: Someone else also did a thingie for Pinnochio and made Spamton his FC but at least that’s that extent of it

[scary-senpai]

Salty ask 13 about Saitama?

Hello, Wonderful Mutual! 🥰Thank you so much for dropping this in my ask box… and apologies for the delay. I needed to roll this around in my head a bit—Saitama’s had a rough couple of chapters, and I didn’t wanna get too rough on the poor guy.

Anyway, I have two takes. They are not entirely Saitama-specific, but they are probably the two saltiest takes I have. Which is not that salty. There is enough bitterness on the internet already. Let’s call them “affectionately seasoned.”

Saitama isn’t meant to be read as a hero, he’s just meant to be read as Saitama—or, Saitama first, hero (or whatever else) second. Same goes for all other characters, but. You know. Saitama is the titular hero; whatever that means.

IMHO, One Punch Man is more about challenging tropes than channeling them, and if we could all agree on what a hero was, we wouldn’t need these sorts of stories. Saitama’s imperfections are what make him interesting. The only thing more boring that ultimate strength is a perfect hero. And this last chapter could certainly be considered an interesting take on the hero’s journey—Garou and Saitama saved a world (while ruining a good chunk of it), they gave everything —their lives, up to and including the lessons they were meant to learn. Which is… a brainfuck of a meta, if you think about it.

My friend John accidentally put it brilliantly, when offhandedly arguing about characters: “he’s just a collection of life experiences, goals and impulses like anybody else.” John was talking about Garou (well, mostly he was teasing me), but actually this was a lightbulb moment for me—I can argue up and down about what “being a hero” means, but at the end of the day that’s not something I can define for you. We might share a common language but you’ve got your own little dictionary in your brain—just like I do—but they’re unique. Better to talk about whether or not the blue curtains bring the room together or if they’re too loud compared to the yellow wallpaper, as opposed to pretending that “drapery” means the same thing to everyone, I think.

The second salty take is that Saitama (or any other characters, for that matter) can’t lose their humanity. He can become a worse human, but he’s still a human.

Humanity, by definition, is anything that humans can do. Carrying your lover’s core to a distant moon of Jupiter is as human as causing mass casualties in a moment of anger, I think. There’s a reason that, for most of history, humans have been anti-unrivaled power and pro checks-and-balances. Mostly. With notable exceptions.

In any case, it’s always easier to believe we know who the real monsters are. But we don’t, usually.

“But Ca-Chan!” you tell me. “There are literal monsters in this universe!” To which I say, hooo boy. Consider how badly we have botched our current classification system (domain this, phylum that, King Philip Came Over for Good Soup and whatnot, taxonomic hierarchy or whatever)…and keep in mind that these are all the sentient creatures that are neutral towards us. When it comes to power , political systems, etc, if there isn’t a monster, we’ll make one if the narrative demands it. Actually I’m a little curious to know why they’re so focused on separating by biology as opposed to intent—if a “monster” has no rights in your society, why wouldn’t they antagonize you? They gain nothing by being a team player…

That’s why humans are so scary—when it comes to large-scale cruelty, the call is very much coming from inside the house. You don’t see penguins out there imprisoning and torturing other penguins—I feel like that narrative theme always lingering in the background of the OPM-verse, but we’ll see about that I guess. We humans think very highly of ourselves, but really because there’s nobody else around to argue. (That is a bonus salty on humans in general, haha).

I’m tempted to get into more of a digression, but I won’t—I’ll mention my standard disclaimer, which is that majoring in Feelings Social Work / Psychology totally ruined my ability to not overthink things—specifically, breaking down every crapshoot universe, however fictional, in terms of the preceding public health crisis.

No soapboxes for now, though. I will simply meditate on the peaceful, grocery shopping gorilla that punched out Armored Gorilla and try to imagine what his life is like; if he went to public school, if he has a bank account, if he pays taxes and if he can vote, and if Zombieman is doing okay or if he works at the HA because as a clone he has shaky legal standing.

[rubywithin]

Who to Trust? 3

Once again I woke up having a relatively relaxing rest, I checked under my bed just to make sure the cue was still there. Hmm I suddenly noticed a letter on a desk....I felt tempted to open but part of me suspected that doll would take issue. -Beep- huh? some sort of monitor turned on and there he was, (Hedgy) “Now the last sleepyhead has woken up feel free to open your letters. -Tear- huh its a picture of Yuri...what is this about? (Hedgy) “Now you should all be looking at a picture, the person you see is the one most likely to kill you”. Part of me wanted to believe it was just mind games....but I had my suspicions. (Hedgy) “Consider this your first motive and remember if you can kill and not get caught you get a one way ticket out of this place hehehehe”. This is bad it looks like things are going to get even more tense, I made my way over to the living room!

We all signed our names again but a lot of people were shaking, I decided to put my hand on Ellie’s shoulder to try and help her relax. (Sora) “I um propose that we all share our pictures....maybe we can...” (Kyoya) “Look whoever is apparently most likely to kill us probably doesn’t know its them. If we share the info we will just be giving each other ideas!” (Sora) “Yes but not knowing is just going to cause us to doubt each other....”. (Ein) “I agree with Kyoya we just need to try and ignore these dumb pictures and focus on finding another way out of here!”. (???) “That’s easy for you to say plenty of people probably hold grudges against you including that mob...”. Hearing those words stung...father why did I have too.... (Ellie) “Hey leave Ein alone Marie he is just trying to help us all to stay calm and get out of here”. Once again we all went out separate ways, I told Ellie to go with Sora....I had to talk to Yuri!

I walked over to the pool where he seemed to be just be sitting there, (Yuri) “May I ask why you are here?”. (Ein) “I know what I said back there but I was given a picture of you....and I wonder how much you saw yesterday?” (Yuri) “Oh you mean how you got yourself a weapon hehehe, I’m use to people being scared of me”. (Ein) “This is not about being scared....its about wanting to know the truth I just want to understand why its you...” (Yuri) “Honestly I don’t know, personally I thought Kyoya would be the one I would go for since he seems like the type who judged me. Although I recall my uncle being a mobster you got arrested so maybe the host thinks I hold a grudge”. (Ein) “I see thank you for sharing Yuri, I’m sorry for doubting you I’m just a more cautious person!”. I suddenly heard the door close....(Yuri) “Hahaha I can tell with that response, don’t worry maybe it was one of the girls not expecting us to be here”. Haha he is a lot friendlier when he isn’t talking with his puppet.

After reading some more I went to the midnight meeting....no one seemed to be talking so we signed our names and wanted to call it a night. However Yuga wanted to talk to me for some reason, (Ellie) “Can I stay too?” he looked nervous, (Ein) “Sorry Ellie but I think its personal for him” she understood and left but I made sure to thank her for the support earlier. (Yuga) “I’m sorry....I overheard you talking to Yuri so I want to know why are you the one I was sent a picture of?”. I took a deep breath and looked around.....(Ein) “I...I wanted to become a painter but my father expected me to follow in his footsteps as a detective. And due to circumstances....I followed I did follow his career in the end. I imagine the host believes I’m jealous of you for earning the title of Ultimate artist”. (Yuga) “I see I’m sorry you didn’t commit to painting but hey maybe you can take it up as a hobby again if we get out of here”. (Ein) “Yeah that sounds like a good idea” we talked for a bit before returning to our rooms and calling it a night.

[loveislarryislove]

2022 Writing Goals: Halfway Home Check-in

We are halfway through 2022, so I wanted to take a moment to check in on the goals I set at the start of this year -- see what I’ve accomplished, what I’d still like to do, if I’m on trajectory for the longer-term ones, maybe even set a few additional goals! You can see the original post here, if you want the full commentary.

Numeric goals

Minimum goal: 5 fics and 50,000 words over the year

Aim goal: 12 fics (ideally at least 1 per month) and 80,000 words over the year

Ludicrous goal: 15 fics and 100,000 words over the year 

So far this year, I’ve posted 5 fics totaling 34k, and I have another 13k for 2 fics that are almost finished. That means I’m almost to my Minimum Goal already -- and the Aim Goal feels plausibly reachable, if I keep up the pace! I don’t know if it’s likely, but it’s definitely possible. Even the Ludicrous Goal isn’t totally out of reach, though it would be a stretch.

Total hits: 150,000

Total kudos: 10,000

Done! I was pretty close to those thresholds already, so I was pretty sure that would be a slam dunk, but I still wanted to encourage myself to acknowledge and celebrate them -- because WOW that’s a lot of numbers! Eight years really adds up! Interestingly, only around a third of my Hits this year have been on fics I wrote this year, so the oldies are still getting quite a bit of traffic :)

Write for at least 4 fandoms (including at least one new fandom)

Done! Thanks, Troped! For the new fandom, I wrote a fic for The Old Guard, which was a lot of fun. I fucking love that movie -- I hear they’re filming a sequel and I need it.

Write at least one self-motivated fic, that isn’t for a challenge or exchange or fest, just a story I want to tell

I... have not done this lol. Maybe eventually. Maybe not. External motivation is super helpful for me, and that’s valid haha. But I do want to post more of my Sorcery & Cynicism series for Critical Role

Non-fic/fic-adjacent goals

Write at least one poem -- not done lol

Write at least one song (this could be a fandom song) -- I did this! The song “Would You Come Home” that Alex Manes sings on the show Roswell, New Mexico absolutely destroys me, and since Michael is also musically inclined I wanted to write kind of an answering song. One of the first lines I came up with was “I thought love was a weapon / til you put it in my hands” and I just expanded from there, about feeling alone and afraid and pushing people away before they can hurt you... until someone won’t let you push them away, someone stays when no one else did, someone finally persuades you that happiness is possible. 

Submit writing to at least three publications/competitions -- I’ve definitely submitted (and been accepted!) to one place, the Healing Verse Poetry Line. I’m also tempted to count the post I made to Pantsuit Nation about Stories Cut Short, the Facebook group I run for victims of US gun violence (shameless plug, check it out here if you’re interested in supporting my work). 1 or 2 out of 3 ain’t bad!

Track my writing because I love data and spreadsheets and graphs -- I’ve been doing this pretty consistently, and it’s been super fun and motivating! 

Beta read more -- I’ve worked with a couple people this year, but definitely interested in doing more! Feel free to reach out if you’re looking for someone :)

Read more fic -- mmm I’ve been medium on this. Probably reading more than last year, but still not a lot. Definitely not the once a week I initially suggested to myself. And very little long fic, if any.

Reply to all comments I receive on my fics (stretch goal: reply to all past comments) -- I don’t think I’m 100% on this year’s comments, but I’m pretty darn close! I’d call that a success, honestly. I haven’t replied to past comments, but maybe I’ll do a spree sometime. 

New goals

Since I hit the kudos and hits goals, I’d like to set a few more! I know there’s more to fic than getting attention but like... I also like attention XD

Total hits: 175,000

Total kudos: 12,000

2022 hits: 10,000

2022 kudos: 750

And then since I’ve hit a lot of the non-fic/fic-adjacent goals or made good progress on them, let’s throw in a few wildcards -- I might not accomplish them, but I’d like to put them on my radar as I think they would be fun!

Make a fic rec of some of my favourite fics. I don’t read enough to do regular recs or probably like themed ones, but I think it would be fun to do a round up and share some love and appreciation for stories that have left such an impression on me. 

Make a cover or song or podfic or some kind of creative work inspired by another person’s fic. 

Make a cover or post for one of my old fics (or more than one!) that doesn’t have one

Write a crossover fic. idk, this is random, but it just feels like it would be neat. Maybe for Wordplay!

Write a sequel or timestamp for a fic I’ve written before. 

Tagging a few people who I think did goals posts to see if they’d like to check in as well! @larry-hiatus @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed @larrysballetslippers @alwaysxlarrie @jacaranda-bloom @fallinglikethis

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

[Note]: The calls and moments accompany Victor’s Heart’s Content Date. It’s recommended to read the date first! ♡

⌚ This post contains detailed spoilers for contents that are yet to be released in the global server! ⌚

┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈

—

✧ [MOMENTS] ✧

Victor’s Post: I didn’t expect that a certain someone will carry a needle and thread kit with herself. So it can be considered as “making up for one’s faults by doing good deeds.”

–

⊳  OPTION A:

MC: In order to express my apologies, I’m going to buy you a new shirt!

Victor: Remember to buy ones that don’t get ripped too easily.

–

⊳  OPTION B:

MC: I promise there won’t be a similar situation next time!

Victor: Mm. Even the best quality of clothes can’t withstand your repeated tossing.

–

⊳  OPTION C:

MC: ….why don’t you say it’s the quality of your shirt that is not good, and that the button falls off at a gentle tug!

Victor: Just a gentle tug?

—

–

✧ [First Call] ✧

Victor: Care to explain why I have received your schedule for the next month?

MC: Of course it’s because—— in this way a certain someone will know right away when I’m free.

MC: When you miss me one day, and want to give me a call…. but you’re afraid I might be busy and trying to dispel the thought of——

MC: Just pull out this schedule and check it! How’s that? Aren’t I very considerate?

Victor: ….how come I didn’t know I had such a necessity?

MC: That’s why it can be counted as a considerate service. Just in case, you know~

Victor: In that case, I’m making an early reservation for the time slot from 7 pm this Friday to 7 pm on Sunday.

Victor: And, the time slot from 8 pm to 10 pm on next Monday has to be reserved for me as well.

MC: As expected of CEO Victor. You’ve actually pinpointed all of my non-working hours.

MC: Don’t tell me…. you “miss” me that much after a few days of not seeing me?

Victor: Indeed. If I don’t take up these hours, it’s no surprise that you’ll choose to continue working overtime.

Victor: Rather than letting you continue working without restraints, it’d be better to give you a little guidance on what’s known as necessary rest time.

MC: That seems to make a little sense. So, have you given any thoughts on what I should do during this “necessary rest time”~

Victor: [chuckles softly]  The refrigerator at home is just about fully stocked. Whatever you want to eat, it can satisfy your requirements.

MC: Sounds really tempting. Is there more?

Victor: Hadn’t you been yelling before that the quilt was too heavy? The bedroom has also been replaced with a new comforter.

Victor: You don’t need me to tell you this. You should know too that the most effective way to rest is to sleep.

MC: HAHA~ Looks like I’ll be able to catch up on my sleep properly over the weekend.

MC: But if I just eat and sleep, I think the rest may have a limited effect. After all, after a busy week, what I need the most above everything else is….

Victor: Go on. I’m listening.

Victor: The dummy is so thick-skinned, what else is there that you won’t dare to ask?

MC: CEO Victor, you’re so smart! I have some requests that I don’t have to bring up myself. You’ll know about them as well.

Victor: In that case, focus on your work first. Don’t think about other things.

Victor: We are now a few days away from the break you’ve been waiting for.

Victor: But I can promise you up front. About what you want, you can look forward to it.

—

–

✧ [Second Call] ✧

Starts at – 1:51

–

Victor: Still busy?

MC: Mm, but I’ll be done in a minute. What about you? Are you home yet?

Victor: Me? I’m sitting in the car, waiting to pick up a certain dummy to take home with me.

MC: What? Are you nearby?

Victor: ….don’t look in all directions on your tiptoes. Look behind you!

MC: Oops, that was close. I almost hit the props teacher.

MC: But where on earth are you? There are so many cars parked here at night. I can’t see you at all….

Victor: [chuckles softly] Do you see me now?

MC: I SEE YOU! Double flash!

MC: But Victor…. you rushed over without even informing me beforehand. Is it because you miss me too much?

Victor: Put away your silly grin. Even if I can’t see your face clearly, I can guess what expression you’re wearing right now.

MC: Since you didn’t answer directly, I’ll take that as a yes.

MC: But thinking back, you’ve been taking the time to pick me up from work for these last two weeks….

MC: When I’m done for the time being, I’m going to make up for it properly.

Victor: I’ve received the dummy’s feelings. But there’s nothing you need to make up for.

Victor: When I’m busy, don’t you do the same thing for me?

Victor: From a certain point of view, we’re both in the same frame of mind.

MC: That’s also…. Victor, they’re calling me to the studio now.

Victor: Go on, work in peace. I’ll wait for you here.

MC: But won’t it be boring for you to wait here alone?

Victor: It won’t be. After all, a certain someone is just a several hundred meters ahead. I don’t feel like I’m alone.

Victor: While I’m waiting for you, I can do something else too.

Victor: For example, take the time to survey if the results of your busy schedule are as good as the expectations.

MC: I’ll go on then! You wait for me for a moment. I— will—— I will work at full speed and get things done as soon as I can!

Victor: Okay. I’ll be right here waiting for you.

—

┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈┈ ◍♡◍ ┈┈

[mrsbrekkers]

Hi! How are you?

Could I get a Kaz Brekker imagine where he opens up to the reader after a job about his past and the next day he tells her it was a mistake and a lapse of judgement, quite harshly. And then the reader gets hurt after a heist and he realises how much he actually needs her.

Thank you <3

i’m doing pretty good! first kaz fic tehe, i’ve been waiting to do kaz brekker one-shots since i read the books. he is v much a comfort character. i understand his aversion to physical touch ( i have panic attacks at times because of so ), his humor, and inner dialogue so he is v dear and near to my heart yeeee

i switched up the next day bit and did it as the same time since it made more sense to me?? i’m not sure how to explain it haha

pairings! kaz x reader / jesper x wylan + nina x matthias ( with inej third wheeling because she’d so do so. ) 

reader is female in this, but i can make it non-gender specific if one would like me too! just let me know i’m very flexible in my writing!

warnings! talking about jordie, ptsd, trauma, talk of death, loss of a brother + mother, swear words, kaz being sad, panic attacks, blood, near death experience, pekka a-hole rollins,

word count; 2610 ( proud again haha )

one-shot under cut!

COMPANIONABLE SILENCE

The Slat had become uncharacteristically quiet. A successful heist on part of the Crows made for easy celebration amongst the Dregs. Most sat gambling at the Crow Club, drinking the night away. Jesper had been having a weirdly lucky night, the money in front of him displaying such. Wylan had been on Jesper’s leg the entire night, and the occasional ‘This is my lucky charm’ could be heard from Jesper. Inej and Nina sat drinking together, Matthias looking like an unwilling bystander to the girls' fun. And yet, Y/N found herself back at the Slat after the long day. Her back screamed at her to call it a night, but instead, she found herself in front of Kaz’s door.

It was a routine the two had when they were the only ones at the Slat. Y/N would sit on the bed, head in a book, and Kaz would sit quietly at his desk planning whatever it was Kaz Brekker decided to plan. It seemed the same tonight, with Y/N quietly reading, until her head lifted to see Kaz rubbing his eyes.

“You need to get more sleep. The amount you manage is minimal. I’m surprised you’re not dead yet,” Y/N commented, her book falling into her lap, the page she’d left off on now folded at the corner. It surprised her how Kaz managed to live off of his, if lucky, two hours of sleep. She’d never understand it. Granted, she slept less than the suggested as well, but she always made up for it with at least a nap during the day.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” 

That might be sooner than you think at this rate. But Y/N wouldn’t take that for an answer. She wasn’t usually a pushy person, especially with Kaz Brekker. She’d learned being pushy with him was never a good idea, considering the amount of people who did were left with a ruined reputation and nothing to live with.

“Sleeping when you’re dead isn’t an option in Ketterdam. Even when you’re dead here, you’re really not. Especially when people know of you. And last time I checked, the entire city knows you, and half of it wants your head on a silver platter. I’m actually sure people outside of the city know you, and may want the same,” Y/N said, standing and moving over to the wooden desk, sitting across from Kaz. Her eyes landed on the work Kaz worked on, seeing another heist plan he was drawing out.

Kaz wasn’t going to give in easily, anyone who knew him knew he was stubborn. One of the most stubborn people who lived in Ketterdam, but he knew what Y/N was saying held some truth in it. One was never truly dead in Ketterdam. He suspected people would dig up his body to hand over to Pekka Rollins - no, he wouldn’t die before Pekka Rollins did, that was a promise he’d made himself after Jordie. Brick by Brick. He couldn’t pull Rollins apart if he was dead. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t dead yet: his vigor to destroy the man who’d killed his brother. But he did suspect that when he, Kaz Brekker, was dead, he’d never truly be dead.

“Even so, I have things to do, plans to make-”

“At 1 in the morning? I’m sure such plans aren’t going to disappear overnight.” Being cut off, Kaz casted Y/N a glare, eyes narrowing. Why she had such influence over him, he’d never know. Or, maybe he did know and wasn’t going to express why. Because why would he? Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason after all. He always had reasons though.

Finally, Y/N sighed. “I don’t expect you to listen to me, but I’m not going to let you rot away from the lack of sleep you get, Kaz. I am just as stubborn as you, and if I must? I will sit here and bug you about your lack of sleep until sunrise. Or until I inevitably fall asleep.” The smallest glimpse of a smile reached Kaz’s lips, an instinct to roll his eyes almost playfully too. Stubborn about the well-being of her friends was a Y/N special. Kaz had simply thought he’d have time before she got on his ass about his own health.

She’d already gotten on Wylan about his self-destructive habits. His tendency to blame himself for not being good enough. Y/N had practically choked him out once when he’d gone on a rant about how he was a problem for the Crows. A burden. Kaz himself had been somewhat frightened. She’d found ways to help Jesper and his gambling addiction, which usually included them gambling, but in ways that didn’t involve money. She’d gotten on Matthias for his excuses to not kiss Nina.

If Kaz remembered correctly, she’d called it ‘redirecting the issue’.

“You’re avoiding something,” Y/N then spoke, crossing her arms. Weren’t they all avoiding something? Kaz thought, huffing as he sat back into his seat. This was Ketterdam after all. If you weren’t running from some rich merchant, then you were running from their son. Wylan had simply been a lucky break in that usual streak.

“You say that as if we all aren’t running from something,” Kaz finally said out loud, his eyes casted downwards.

“Avoiding, Kaz. Not running, and something tells me the thing you’re avoiding isn’t something, but someone.” Y/N knew the look Kaz had on. She’d worn it herself dozens of times.

“I had a brother.” Kaz couldn���t bring himself to look directly at Y/N. It would make talking about this all too real. Too much. Was this a lapse in his judgement? Why was he telling her this? Had she managed to get so under his skin? 

“We moved to Ketterdam after my father died. My brother . . . Jordie-'' the name came out with a small crack in his voice. He hadn’t said that name out loud since he’d laid on his sick brother’s chest. “Was hopeful about what the city would bring, and it brought peace for some time. We worked with a man for some time, and my brother was in on a deal. One that seemed too good to be true,” Kaz scowled now, his anger seeming to rise as he spoke.

Y/N sighed, knowing where this was going now. “When an offer is too good to be true-”

“It usually is. That man went by a different name then. One to scam people for their money to rise through the ranks of the Barrel.” Kaz finally lifted his eyes, seeing the realization rush over Y/N’s face.

“Pekka Rollins.”

“Pekka Rollins is the reason my brother is dead.”

The room fell silent for a few moments, Y/N contemplating what to say. She had a feeling she was among the few who knew Kaz’s story. She was tempted to ask how Joride died, but she could infer. She’d been around Ketterdam during the time firepox had plagued the city. Her mother had been taken from the disease. She’d been the same age as Kaz. It began clicking in her head too.

“I’m sorry,” Y/N murmured. “I know you probably don’t want my pity, but really, I’m sorry.” It made sense why Kaz felt like he needed to best Pekka Rollins. He wanted revenge. He wanted Rollins to be just as down as him and his brother had been.

Kaz sucked in a deep breath, standing and running a hand through his hair. His regret for telling the woman before him began to consume him. This was a mistake. Why had he told her? A harsh look fell over his face, looking down at the plans he had laid out. “I need to finish these plans, and I’m sure you need some sleep,” his tone was harsh, but it was clear there was hurt underlying it. He wasn’t going to be an outright asshole, but he needed his space now.

“You need sleep too, and I doubt you’re in the right headspace to try and make plans-”

“Y/N, leave.” He internally was begging. And Kaz Brekker never begged . . . but Kaz Rietveld would, and that’s who was begging. 

“Kaz-”

“Leave.” Anger washed over his features, his eyes directing Y/N to the door.

Y/N sighed, walking towards the door. Before she turned the knob, she stopped. “You know being open about your past doesn’t make you weak, right?” But Kaz said nothing, afraid his voice would fail him. With no words spoken for a beat, Y/N opened the door, shutting it as she paced down the steps.

Her book still lied on the bed, the folded paper to the chapter she was on prominent. Kaz took one look at it before sighing and sitting in the chair, one tear making its way down his face.

---

It was supposed to be in and out. Another job. Another however much Kruge. Where is she? Kaz thought. Y/N was never one for being late. Sure she was working with Jesper, who was notoriously late, but she should’ve been out before Jesper was, and she wasn’t.

It’d been a week of no speaking. Kaz couldn’t speak to her after revealing so much. He feared it would become all too real. A common fear he had. Stealing, picking locks, it was all real to him, yes, but he never experienced reality when he was on a job. It was his way of ‘avoiding’ as Y/N would put it. But now, he couldn’t avoid the reality of this job.

The reality was: He’d ignored Y/N for a week in fear, and now she wasn’t at the rondevu point.

She’s Y/N, she isn’t dead. But that may not be true. She could indeed be dead. She could be, She could be, She could be.... Dozens of potential outcomes came to mind.

The world seemed to spin as he paced. Nina and Matthias had already tried to calm him. Nina had even tried to calm his heart rate down. Wylan seemed to be just as worried as Kaz as well, Jesper still out there alongside Y/N and all. Inej was calm, but it was clear she was worried too. They all were, but Kaz was being unusually emotional. 

“At this rate, you’re going to have a heart attack Kaz,” Nina had said.

And if he did, then that’d be a first for the Bastard of The Barrel. 

“And you’re not close to having one?” Wylan asked, shooting a glare over at Nina.

Kaz mentally thanked Wylan. At least he wasn’t the only one close to breaking down. Get in and out. In and out. What had gone wrong?

But then he heard the sound of boots running across the muddy ground, his eyes shooting up to see Jesper carrying a bleeding Y/N.

She’s bleeding. Who had hurt her? Kaz wasn’t sure, but anger filled him. That was until he fully internalized that Y/N was bleeding.

“Jesper, what happened?”

Jesper helped Y/N into the safe house, his breathing heavy as he helped her onto the bed of one of the rooms. “Rollins. He got word of the job. We became overwhelmed and Y/N here took a bullet to the shoulder.” Then Wylan was practically engulfing Jesper in a hug.

How? Was Kaz’s initial thought, but with a huff, he closed his eyes. Moving over to follow Jesper, he took off his coat. Upon entering the room Y/N was sitting in, he nodded towards her good arm, silently asking for her to take off the sleeve of the arm that was hit.

“I thought we weren’t speaking?” Y/N asked, groaning as she pulled the sleeve of her bad shoulder off with some help from Inej who pushed everyone else out of the room. Inej left as well, but gave Kaz a nod to let her know when he would need help.

Kaz didn’t lift his eyes to look at Y/N, his eyes steady on the bullet lodged in her shoulder. He pulled out the medical kit under the bed. Always prepared, Y/N thought.

“How did Rollins find out?” Y/N asked, watching Kaz pick up tweezers from the small medical kit.

“I’m not sure, but I plan on figuring it out. Stay still.” And Y/N did, knowing this was hard enough as it was for Kaz, she didn’t want to make it any harder. Squeezing her eyes shut as she prepared for the pain. She gripped onto the bed, seething as Kaz took the bullet out with the tweezers.

“I hope you know, I didn’t mean any harm last week.” Kaz knew what Y/N was referring too, and he simply nodded for the moment. Picking up the bandages from the kit, Y/N shook her head.

“Get Inej to do it, you’ve already pushed yourself enough.”

“It’s fine,” Kaz spoke, his voice firm.

“Kaz, don’t-”

“I want too.” His eyes lifted to finally look up at Y/N. She looked down as well, silently nodding. She understood Kaz enough to know this was his apology for ignoring her the past week.

“My mother, she died from firepox,” Y/N spoke quietly. She didn’t know how Kaz would take her bringing it up, but she felt that if she didn’t, they’d build up all this anger again. They’d ignore one another again. Kaz stalled. Flashes of Jordie and Reapers Barge consumed him for a few moments. Y/N’s skin turned cold, icy and raw. He flinched away from the feeling.

Then he heard it - Y/N’s heartbeat. She was living. She wasn’t a corpse. The heartbeat and blood were testament to that. She isn’t dead. 

“I never told you how he died,” Kaz spoke quietly. He wasn’t used to talking about such subjects with anyone. It was the reason he’d taken on a different surname. That way he could cut ties with his past.

But for some reason, Y/N was able to make him feel . . . though begrudgingly, open with his past.

“I can infer, Kaz,” Y/N said with a small hiss as Kaz finished with the bandage, his hands shaky. “Now, you can continue ignoring me if you wish, I imagine you enjoy avoiding me.”

“I don’t enjoy it.” Kaz now had someone he connected with on a level he wasn’t used to. He wasn’t going to enjoy being apart from that.

“I know, I was simply making sure,” Y/N teased, her lips quirking in a small smile.

Kaz gave a small shake of his head, his lips pulling into a smile as well for just a moment. Then he picked up his coat he’d taken off. “I imagine you’re cold, here,” he spoke then, watching as Y/N took it and wrapped it around herself.

Then the door swung open, Nina rushing over to give Y/N a hug. “Kaz here almost had a heart attack. Wylan almost did. Jeez, never do that again,” she said, laughing a bit.

“Ouch, ouch, Nina,” Y/N spoke, referencing the still open wound on her shoulder.

“Sorry, sorry. We made food for you,” Nina said, smiling before handing Y/N a tray of food.

Kaz exited the room, allowing the others some time to talk to Y/N. Inej followed him, her arms crossed as she leaned against one of the walls.

“What information do you want me to get on Rollins?”

“Whatever you can find.” You’re not taking her from me Rollins, and you’d better be ready when I do come for you. Brick by Brick.

[sugurizz]

The house is yours

Pairing : Zeke yeager x reader

Rating : explicit

Word count : 2,5k words

Summary : as a broke student, finding an apartment is not easy. But the cute owner decides to help you with it, in a way that you both get to benefit.

Warnings : soft dom! Zeke x sub!fem! reader, oral sex (fem receiving), fingering, nipple play, slight spit play, vaginal sex, slight breeding kink, daddy kink

(Credits to the owner. I don't own the fanart)

After months of looking through ads, websites and even newspapers. finding a decent, comfortable and cosy appartment near the university was a dream coming true. After calling the owner and fixing a date to meet toghether and check the place, your roommate wasn't able to make it to the appointment so you had to go there on my own.

Being already anxious for the meeting, you put a pair of black jeans, a grey t-shirt, a hoodie and your white sneakers before taking your backbag and going there.

After ten minutes or so, you were at the spot you agreed to meet at. You couldn't see anyone particular so you got your phone out of your pocket, ready to call the owner again in order to spot him.

It was then when you saw a tall, broad and handsome man- probably in his late twenties- picking his ringing phone from the pocket of his elegant beige trench coat.

A black turtleneck hugging his visibly muscular chest and arms left your mouth nearly open. That's definitely him - you thought to yourself - feeling your face already heating up, you swallowed hardly, prayed that you weren't really blushing,  took your courage and crossed the road walking towards the little coffee shop he was standing next to.

Standing directly in front of him didn't help at all. You were so overwehlmed by him. and to be frank, you didn't really know where to look. His whole presence was doing things to you, is it His charming glance? his icy grey eyes, ornamented with a set of thick blonde lashes shinig softly in the feeble sunlight? Or is it those silky soft blonde locks, joined in a nice haircut making his enchanting appearence even more perfect and complete?

"Hello, I assume you're the new renter. Very nice to meet you. I'm zeke yeager ."

"Likewise, pleased to meet you mr yeager. I'm y/n ".

You tried your best to keep calm and professional by greeting him. But the trembling handshake you gave him was showing the complete opposite.

"Shall we go see the appartment ? This way please."

Were you too infatuated by such grace? Or is he really such a sweet, soft and courteous gentleman? You couldn't really tell.

You took a quick glance at his gorgeous profile side. And you completely wished you could take a screenshot with your eyes. His prominent cheekbones added to his manly features. And his fine silver glasses gave him that elegant intellectual aura.

The silence was broken by a deep, gentle :" so.. you're both students.. right?"

" yes. good thing the house is around 10 minutes from the university. That should save us plenty of time ."

" glad to hear that, I actually studied there for more than 6 years, that was before I finally graduated and decided to move to (city name) ."

" I see. May I ask.. why did you move? " you demanded.

" haha don't worry. It hasn't to do with the apartment. It's just that.. You can say I'm an adventurous man." He answered with a bright smile.

" right. I guess it's always tempting to move and see something new..."

You never thought a conversation with a total stranger could be this smooth, warm and relaxing. It unexpectedly didn't feel like a forced out, awkward smalltalk at all. But more like a nice and slow getting to know each other.

"We're finally here." He opened the building's door, Letting you inside and pressed the elevator button.

" I see you like the place already.." He affirmed, a soft smile graced his features, leaving you bewitched.

"Y-yes .. it's pretty welcoming." You added.

Getting out of the elevator, the cute owner took the apartement keys out, opening the door and letting you in.

After checking all the house's functionalities and facilities and discussing the period of your rent. You were ready to pay the first month of the stay until you got surprised by the deposit price. You were so shocked that you had to pay around two thousand five hundrend dollars along with the actual rent.

" I'm not sure we can actually afford that.. " I said, feeling somehow disappointed and lost.

" I know, a lot of people complain about the deposit price. I wish I could make an exeption but the price is fixed by the building's owner. He has the majority of control over that."

" and.. I guess it can't be payed in installments. can it ?"

" i'm afraid not." He retorted, quite concerned by your defeated aura.

" that's really infortunate. I was looking forward to settle here. But anyway, it was good getting to know you mr Yeager."

Hiding your frustration, you were ready to leave when his calm, reassuring voice stopped you . " maybe , we can help each other out after all..."

You turned back, looking for a further explanation when he carried on :" I can get to pay the deposit for you. And you'll have to give me a service in return.."

"okay.. and the service is ...? " you asked, being both curious and excited.

The blonde walked to the door and locked it, his silver eyes never leaving yours.

"Mr yeager..."

" Oh can we stop with the formalities now little one. If we finally agree to make a deal we should get more familiar to each other. Shouldn't we ?" He let out in a deep virile voice, causing your heart to throb numerous times.

Walking closer towards you, he stood and leaned over, whispering in your ear : " If I said I'm feeling sad and lonely today, Would you agree to entertain me ?"

He was so close you could barely register his request. Close enough to notice his irises fixed on yours, staring at your soul and then travelling a little downwards, presumably staring at your lips. You were ready to explode when his big hand landed on your chin, long slender fingers carressing it and driving you so crazy you started babbling some nearly inaudible nonsense.

" i mean.. I.I could ... I don't know.. I-"

" shh, no need to get confused, I'm here with you". a calloused thumb landed on your lips, caressing them with a gentle yet insisting motion.

Your mind shut down, leaving you comptelely blank. God, you got lost in his eyes again. You kept staring like an idiot, letting his thumb make its way through your lips and next thing you knew you were feeling his finger on your sensitive tongue. You never did this before. But why did it feel so natural with him ? Why didn't you resist at all ? How did you agree to this ?  Questions kept bringing on other questions inside your crushed mind. The betraying heat kept rising to your cheeks by the minute, and you couldn't control your intense breathing anymore.

You felt like a fragile leaf caught in a storm. Your consciousness stopped reacting when his face started closing up to yours.

" I believe we got ourselves a deal then? "

" i.. I mean-"

The blonde's delicious lips crushed on yours in a swift motion, his huge hands left to pull you closer pushing you against his large warm chest and making you feel so small and helpless.

It didn't take long for you to feel his soft warm tongue playing with yours. His refreshing minty breath was mixed with a faint hint of cigarette. You couldn't help but enlace your arms around his neck, trying to regain some balance. The sloppy wet kiss  you shared ended with your mouths parting in a wet noise, a glistening string of saliva connecting his dark red tongue to yours, Leaving you breathless.

"You're rather shy and blushy princess... I like it." Zeke leaned close to your sensitive neck, started peppering kisses from your cheeks down your neck and all around your clavicle . His warm breath on your exposed chest made you shiver, feeling your wetness already pooling between your legs. You started rubbing your thighs toghether in a search for some relief. The sudden thought of the rent crossed your mind again.

" Zeke .."

" yes sweetheart, say my name "

" what about the rent ... what should I do now ?"

"little pumpkin is still afraid." You trembled when he leaned over to lick your earlobe before carrying " consider this house yours, princess " .

You couldn't hide your relief after hearing his words. You looked back at him, the perfect pale skin of his cheeks turned into a lovely shade of pink. His cute ears were so red you thought they were about to blow off. His glasses were threatening to fall off the cute tip of his sharp nose. And you felt so proud seeing the mess you left at his golden strands. Some of them falling sexily on his eyes.

" I need this off" he tugged at your shirt , raising your arms gently and sliding it up your shivering body. It was so embarrassing you instantly hid your face. Letting out some insatisfied whines.

"gorgeous" he lets out, eyes contemplating your breasts, still hidden behind your bra. Still closing your eyes, you felt yourself being lifted in a bridal style. Zeke's strong arms placed you on the comfy couch of the living room. He stood up and took of his coat, throwing it away. His black pullover was next, revealing his toned chest, shredded abs and prominent V line . You wished you could keep this addictive view in yout mind forever. His godly body hovered around you like a shield. You leaned back , staring at the enchanting male before you, unbuckling his belt.

You were probabely too distracted by his beauty to notice the huge tent that was forming in his pants. His hand reached beneath his boxers, freeing his massive cock from it's confinements.

" like what you see ?" He winked at you, leaving you speaking gibberish again.

" zeke...it- it's not gonna .."

He cut you out, taking off your jeans in a quick move, leaving you in your black laced panties. " already soaked aren't we? What kind of a slut gets her pussy that wet just from a damn kiss?"

He rubbed his fingers against your clothed cunt before swiping your panties to the side. your clit was swollen and flushed, desperate for attention. The handsome male leaned until he faced your pussy. He spread your legs even wider, adding to your growing embarassment.

" goshh, look at how much slick is between your pussy lips,..filthy.." he slid his fingers between them.

Never leaving your innocent eyes, he puckered his lips, opened his mouth and spat on your naked pussy. You nearly passed out when he started french kissing it. Looking at it with such hunger and lust, he slid his longue tongue in your fluttering hole, driving his index and middle fingers in the process. His thick and now wet beard felt so good stinging your plush thighs.

" zeke ahhh, wait... omg zeke it feels.. Ahhhh " your moans started getting louder and louder. 

"Whine for me baby.."

His experienced fingers massaged your spongey insides, hitting spots you never knew your pussy had. You were drooling like a dumb baby, eyes rolling to the back of your head and breath hitching in your breast.

"Zeeeeke.. uh- i'm ahh i'm gonna cum, it feels so good... so good i'm cumming .."

"Yes baby, cream on my fucking tongue."

It wasn't long until you released all over his hand, his tongue was painted with cum. He shamelessly swallowed it, licking his fingers passionately as if he was tasting an elixir. He leaned to kiss you again, cum and drool still running down his messy beard. Its cute hairs tickling your cheeks and chin made you chuckle.

He took your dripping panties away, threw them somewhere across the room and slid his hands below your back, unclasping your bra.

" I need to take it off, but I really do like the cute ribbons though..." he complimented your cute bra.

" t-thank youu.." the shyness creeped inside you again. But it was replaced with surprise when he buried his head deep between your breasts like a starving baby. growling and grunting, the vibrations sent shivers down your spine. He kept lapping at them, looking at you with burning lust, taking a nipple between his teeth and flicking the other under his fingerpads.

"Are you ready, sweet pie? Wanna take my cock for me ?"

"Y-yes"

"Yes who ?"

"Yes daddy ."

"It's daddy from now on, little one"

Feeling yourself , yu bent over for him, giving him a perfect view of your bare cunt.

" hurry daddy, I can't wait anymore..."

"As you wish, princess"

Within seconds, you felt his hands settling on your hips, his firm cock sliding slowly past your hungry hole.

" it hurtss, daddy .. it hurts..."

" shh, it's ok princess, you're too tense.. relax for daddy.."

The pain suddenly turned into a pure bliss as he bottomed down, making you moan his name like a lullaby.

"I'm going to move baby.." he said, cupping your cheek in his soft palms. 

His cock was ramming inside you so deliciously you felt your drool dribbling again, his strong silhouette leaning on you, hugging you with one arm and caressing your stomach with the other. Seeing his bulge through your tummy, you felt so full and loved by him.

" look baby, look how deep i'm inside you"

" please cum inside me daddy, I want it pumping in my stomach ."

your words sent him to the edge; hitched breath, loud growls and harsh slaps landing on your ass. It felt so good your tears started gushing along your face.

" hnnghhh wanna take ... fuck ahhh .. take daddy's seed inside you ? Tell me slut " he squeezed your face between his large fingers, earning a whine from you.

" mmhmmm ... ahhhh"

" use your words when you talk to me"

" I want your cum deep inside me, daddy"

His thrusts became hysteric, making you shake. both of you moaning loudly, not caring about anybody hearing.

"Ahhhnghhh shiiiit , fuck yeaaah" the golden daddy came in thick white strings inside you. Shoving it all up your womb. You give up, letting your orgasm wash over you in a shameless moan. All your juices mixed with his sticky huge load, starting to spill from your greedy cunt.

Unable to move anymore, you collapsed on the couch. Trembling and breathing heavily. Zeke doing the same, he went to catch his neglected coat and wrapped it around your naked body, along with his strong arms around you, nuzzling his head in your neck.

" I guess having an expensive rent has its perks after all". He teased, laying a soft gentle kiss on your forehead.

" yup, you get to have a daddy for free". You whispered.

Note : I would really appreciate the feedback on my work so feel free to comment down.

[namjoon-koya]

This is a funny one, I got this from Tiktok! So y/n wanted to give her bf a kiss as he took a nap since he looked so cute, however he’s been touchstarved for a minute so he basically pulls her down to him and traps her in his arms as he slept. She can’t move at all! It feels nice but her legs are going numb 💀 and when she tries to move he says “mine” while his eyes are shut and she’s like “I know but...eh” *tries to move three more times as he says “mine” those three times and his grip is strong asf* she just gets exhausted and is like “God dammit 😭”. When her friends finally comes in, she tells them “I’ve been trapped for 3 hours, help me. I need to make dinner.”

I’d love to see the clingy bois in question be Hawks, Bakugo, Shinsou, and Dabi.

You couldn’t help it honestly Bakugo looked so peaceful when he was asleep. You stopped by his room to drop off a few notes that he had let you borrowed when you walked in you saw him asleep in his bed (you took a picture of him lol)

You just wanted to give a kiss just a tiny one! Carefully you loomed over him and gently kissed his cheek so you wouldn’t wake him up. You were about to pull away until you felt Bakugo’s arm reach over and pulled you into his chest.

You let out a surprised squeak. You tried wiggling out of his arms UNTIL he tightens his arms around your waist preventing you from moving at first you thought it was cute.. until 30 minutes passed by.

You tried shaking him awake, but HE WOULDN’T WAKE UP! “B-Bakugo please my legs they’re falling numb..” he didn’t respond. You tried again to wiggle yourself free from him, but he slightly stirs you hoped that he would wake up.. he didn’t.

“Mine.. all mine..” he mumbled. Goddamit he was talking in his sleep.. it’s cute, but you were in charge of making dinner for the class! You couldn’t let Uraraka do it alone!

You moved “mine.” You moved again “mine.” You moved one last time “mine.”

You gave up and accepted your defeat.

Uraraka, Mina and Midoriya were looking everywhere for you they hadn’t seen you or Bakugo for the last three hours and they started to get worried. They visited your room first and didn’t find you, then they tried Bakugo’s room and lord behold they found you.

“Y-Y/N are you alright?” Midoriya asked.

“Well you see ive been here for I don’t know how long-“ “three hours.” “Three hours, I can’t feel my legs and I need to make dinner so if you could please help me Id be thankful.”

When you saw Dabi passed out asleep you felt your heart explode. You’ve never seen him so.. peaceful! He looked so cute and relaxed! Usually he had that “cool” attitude so you never got to see him like this.

You smiled you quietly crawled onto the bed and gave Dabi a kiss on his cheek (you saw him smile in his sleep! You really wished you could’ve taken a picture) you were about to crawl away until you felt Dabi’s hand grab onto your waist and pull you against his chest.

You quietly gasped at his actions you didn’t expect Dabi to be strong in his sleep too.. at first you decided to let him hold onto you it was a nice feeling and it made you feel safe in his arms, but as a few minutes passed by your legs were getting numb you tried gently wiggling from his arms, but he tightened his grip around you.

“D-Dabi please wake up..” nothing. You tried wiggling again “Mine..” he mumbled burying his face into your chest.

You blushed at his actions. It was cute that he was holding into you like this like a baby koala bear, BUT YOU WANTED HIM TO LET GO ALREADY!

You tried wiggling against “Mine!” Dabi growls. You sighed you had to accept that Dabi wasn’t going to let you go anytime soon until he wakes up.. wait.. if he does wake up and sees you in this position with him he won’t let you leave! You tried wiggling more, but nothing worked you had to accept you lost.

Shigaraki and Toga were looking for you for THREE hours! The three of you were suppose to go on patrol to recruit new villains! Shigaraki was already annoyed he knew where you were at. Toga happily following behind him as he opened Dabi’s door he almost brusted out laughing when he saw Dabi holding onto you as he slept.

“I was going to come in to yell at you, but THIS is fucking hilarious.” Shigaraki said crossing his arms “haha very funny now help me.” You said to him “Na I’ll let you two have alone time together let’s go Toga.” Shigaraki said leaving you.

“Toga don’t leave me!” But she only laughed “have a fun time with Dabi Y/N!”

I feel like hawks would be half awake through things, but “pretend” to be asleep lol.

Keigo had just come back from a LONG day of patrolling and all he did was take a shower and then BAM take a nap. You came back home from work and saw him asleep in bed you smiled you quietly walked over to him and placed a kiss on his cheek.

He mumbled something, but didn’t wake up. You were about to leave the room to go make dinner UNTIL you felt him grab onto your wrist and pull you into bed. You thought it was cute at first until you started to realize he wasn’t waking up.. or letting go.

You tried shaking him awake, but he didn’t wake up. sHit and you needed to make dinner! You tried wiggling out of his arms hoping that would work, but he only tightened his hold on you.

“Keigo please wake up..” nothing he was really asleep at this point. You tried wiggling out of his arms until he mumbled “mine.” and used his wings to hold you against him as well. GoDdamit!

You weren’t about to give up though! You tried and tried again, but even in his sleep Keigo was strong as fUck! You sighed and accepted that you couldn’t escape his hold on you. A few hours passed by and you heard your phone ring thankfully Keigo let his wings relax making you able to reach over and grab it.

“Y/N have you seen hawks? I’ve tried calling him a bunch of times and he hasn’t answered me.” ENDEAVOR! He could probably help you with Keigo!

“Y-yeah he’s asleep uhm endeavor can you help me with something?” The end went silent for a bit “okay?” “So.. hawks fell asleep right? and I came to check up on him and I was trying to leave to go make dinner, but hawks sorta trapped me and now I can’t get him to let go of me.. can you help me?” You heard him sigh.

“Of course that idiot would I’m on my way.” You sighed in relief. You were happy he was coming.. you needed to use the bathroom.

Aizawa asked you to go check up on Shinso since he wasn’t answering his text messages. So when you got to his room you saw him asleep on his bed with one arm on his stomach at first you were just going to leave and tell Aizawa that he had fallen asleep.. but then you got tempted to kiss him.

Carefully not to wake him up you walked over to him and gently kissed his cheek “sleep well.” You mumbled Shinso stired a bit, but didn’t wake up. You were about to leave until you felt Shinso’s hand grab your wrist and pull you into his bed.

At first you thought he was fake being asleep, but saw that his eyes were still closed and his breathing was still soft.. was he almost like sleepwalking? You smiled “I’m happy you still think of me when you sleep Shinso.. but I gotta report back to Aizawa Sensei.” You tried wiggling out of his arms gently.

Shinso then held onto you tighter.. oh no. You tried waking Shinso up, but he was definitely a heavy sleeper. You tried waking him up; but nothing was working! You tried wiggling out of his arms again “mine.. only mine..” Shinso mumbled as he rested his chin on your shoulder. You shivered feeling his breath on your neck “Aizawa sensei is going to kill me if I don’t report back Shinso let goo.”

He wouldn’t though you tried everything by shaking him, wiggling out of his arms and even trying to talk to him, but he still continued to sleep! At this point you don’t know how many minutes passed by Sensei could already be on his way to kill you for not reporting back.. sigh.. at least you’d be safe in Shinso’s room.

Three hours passed by and Aizawa got WORRIED he asked your classmates if they had seen you and they said no. Aizawa asked the students form 1B if they had seen Shinso or you and one of the students told him Shinso was asleep in his room.

Aizawa went over to Shinso’s room and almosted yelled when he saw Shinso cuddling you “Y/N! Where have you been?” Aizawa asked not trying to wake up Shinso in the process.

“Here! I was going to report back to until Shinso cuddled me into his chest and wouldn’t let go!” Aizawa almost laughed. Almost.

At first Aizawa was planning on leaving you until he heard you say “I need to use the bathroom!” Now he was trying to help you.

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

The Glitch

I get the Broken Reality au is a haha funny joke but there’s been some legit great art for it and since Butterfly is over and I haven’t gotten into the groove of my other projects yet, I decided to try some flash fiction of my interpretations. Note that this is very small and informal; I used whatever idea came into my head over the course of an hour or so instead of the weeks of planning that go into my usual fics. This was an experiment for fun. But if people enjoy the concept, I may be tempted to expand on it.

Credit to @lollitree @moonpaw @gentrychild​ @owlf45​ and @cyber-phobia​ (I’m sorry if I missed someone I lost track of how many people were involved in this mess).

Content working for reference to infant death.

Please enjoy!

The city shut down for a typhoon warning.  Thunder rumbled in the distance.  Dark clouds blocked the sun so much that by mid-morning it still looked like it never bothered coming up.  And yet the humidity made it too hot for coffee.  Inko didn’t know how to feel.  Work would have been a good distraction.  But she didn’t want any coworkers or clients to see if today got to be too much.  And it was already shaping up to be.  She caught herself making two plates of food for breakfast.  

Inko sat alone in the kitchen.  She couldn’t bring herself to finish her own plate.  Sickness set in fast.  The food had been cold for a long time before she summoned the strength to get up and throw it away.  Then she stood over the open trash can a while, debating whether to try and hold it together, or just throw up and get it over with.  She eventually managed to keep her stomach steady enough to go back to her bedroom.  There was another trashcan in there anyway.

A sound stopped her.  From her office.  The distinct sound of something heavy falling onto the carpet.  Right as she walked past the door.

Please not this again…

She opened the door with her eyes closed.  Her mind conjured a familiar image.  A bedroom full of books and hero posters.  Bright colors and personal touches.  A child’s room.  Inko opened her eyes to her drab home office.  Some of the older case file binders slipped off the pile again.  She really needed to sort those into storage. Not today though.  She didn’t bother to pick it up.

Inko walked faster than normal the rest of the way to her room.  She doesn’t want to face the temptation to search for old toys she remembers storing in the empty closet.  Or search the walls for scuff marks from action figures tossed into them she could always see even after the walls were painted. She hid her planner on a tall shelf and put the ladder away to make it that much harder to go through it over and over looking for doctors’ appointments and school events she knew were coming up.  Finally reaching her bed brought no comfort.

Of course she knew today’s date by heart.  She hadn’t put it on a calendar in the fourteen years since she used to look at it every day.  Inko stuck her head under her pillows, as if they could block out the silent noise of her memories.  Memories of before, the time even when she was by herself, she was never alone.

Fifteen years now, today.  With a shuddering gasp, the tears finally came.  Thunder crashed outside.  It’s not fair!  Why is it still this hard after this long?  Phantom kicks in her belly joined the growing ice there.

The hardest part was she still felt like that sometimes.  Like she wasn’t really alone.  Inko didn’t believe in ghosts, but the lost of what could have been was more than haunting enough.  She felt it watching her.  Judging her. Waiting just long enough for her to settle down into a peaceful, content existence before it reared up to plague her heart all over again.  Cliché hauntings like spooky faces in the mirror or blood coming out of the drains would have been preferable.  Those would be generic enough not to remind her directly.

Rain started outside.  Her phone lit up with a notification she ignored in time with a thunderclap.  The storm was getting closer.

Maybe I should call Hisashi, the thought crossed her mind.  Maybe he’s going through this too.  She bit her lip bloody.  Her frustrated memories weren’t in question like the others.  Probably not though.  I don’t want to talk to him anyway.

Hisashi had been stuck in the denial stage of grief, which often came off as him acting like he didn’t take hers seriously.  Not a year, not even half a year looking back, after they came home from the hospital, he wanted to try again.  

“We can’t let mourning hold us up forever,” he said.  “And it’s not like we lost a once in a lifetime opportunity!  We’ve got at least another twenty years to keep trying!”

But we did lose him! she had wanted to scream.  Still did, years later.  Why didn’t he understand?  He was your loss too!  Inko wanted for the next roll of thunder, then shouted.  

“I don’t just want any baby!  I want Izuku!”

The lights went out.  The temperature rose five degrees instantly when the ceiling fan stopped going.  The rain stopped.

Power outage.  Inko sat up with a sniffle.  Turns out the notification was a warning about roving blackouts.  Of course.  Oh well. I wasn’t really in the mood to cook tonight any-

Thunder boomed even louder than before, making her jump.  Then another.  Lightning flashed outside at the same time.  It was right on top of her.

What?  I thought the typhoon wasn’t supposed to make landfall until later toni-

Another crash.  It vibrated through her bones.  Then another. The lightning lit up her whole room. Except for a shadow on the wall. Inko jolted to look, holding her breath, and found only her own shadow in the next flash.

“I’m such an idiot…”  She went for her phone again.  For peace of mind, she decided to use her data to check if an evacuation order went out. Or any updates at all really, since the weather came so much faster than the news said.  “Nothing,” she sighed annoyed.  “I hate being alone for weather like this…”

A new notification pinged.

[Mom]

Inko blinked rapidly.  The message remained.  All of her insides turned inside out in an instant, and she started crying again. Was this someone’s idea of a sick joke? No one ever got a chance to call her that.  She touched the note to open it, but nothing happened.  No app or source was displayed.  Nor did it go away after a few seconds like normal.  

“Wha- What’s going on?” she wept.  In a mix of sorrow and rage, she wound up to chunk the device across the room.  But she froze.

Outside her window, floating against the pitch-black sky, were two small orbs.  Perfectly circular and glowing.  Watching her. She didn’t dare move.  

Another ping.  She looked without moving.

[I’m sorry]

“…  What?”

For a moment, all the sounds in the world dropped out.  They all came back at ounce.

Lights flickered.  Both the ones inside and the lightning going outside.  Multiple strikes laid on top of one another.  No relief.  Thunder pounded over and over like a drum solo.  It shook the whole building.  Inko ran into the closet away from the window.  She slammed her hands over her eyes but it didn’t help.  Her terrified cried were whispers to the screams of the storm.

A child’s scream.  She heard it. Each flash of light came with a cry. The distinct sound of a little boy calling out in pain blended with unyielding nature.  It came from every direction.  Every hair on Inko’s arms stood up in fear.  She felt the charge in the air.  But she had to go out.  Her baby was crying for help.

She burst from the closet into the living room.  All the lights and appliances turned themselves on and off.  The TV showed only static between its flashes. Something drew her too it.  The storm was deafening.  It pounded through her head like a heartbeat.  The beats got faster.  The static flashes started to look like a face.  Her usual caution was abandoned as she fell to her knees and touched the screen.  The snow cleared for a single instant.  Just long enough to look like the blank eyes from the window.  She felt the heartbeat there too.

Then it stopped.  All of it. The noise and lights all went quiet and dark.  The TV went completely cold in an instant.  Inko, stunned, palmed over it looking for something.  Anything.  The pulse. Warmth.  A burnt fuse or faulty wire.  But nothing.  The rain started again.

She pulled her hands back to her lap.  Her heart was still racing and tears kept flowing down under her chin. She looked around.  Everything in the living room and kitchen looked the same. No sign of the earthquake-like convolutions the whole appartement experienced only minutes ago.  Inko combed the entire space for evidence.  An object knocked off the shelf.  A picture frame fallen from the wall.  The notifications.  Toys in the closet or scuffs in the wall.  Still not a sign.  She even stepped outside her door to check the sky.  Only light rain and shattered thunder, just like the news said the day before.

There was only one thing out of place.  Back in her bedroom, the bottom drawer of her nightstand hung open.  Inko had to steal herself before approaching it. There were only two things in there: a little green blanket, and a picture of the ultrasound.  The most recent one from her last appointment. The doctor said he was doing fine.

“Izuku…” she whispered to it in her hand.

She remembered the squealing little bundling being put in her arms for the first time.  The first time he smiled at her.  Teaching him to walk, then immediately launching into play.  Him coming home with bruises and scrapes after the kids at school were mean to him, and crying in her arms.  Then, him coming home with his first real friends in a long time. She made them all dinner. Katsudon.  That was Izuku’s favorite.

Only she didn’t remember.  The same way she didn’t really remember the toys and scuffs.  Those were fantasies.  Daydreams of what could have been.  She just thought about them so often they felt like memories. Especially today.  It was his birthday after all.  They’d fade back into vague dreams by tomorrow.  They always did.  

And she would be left with reality.  The silence.  The cold, still little hand between her fingers.  Soft cheeks without blush.  Eyes that never opened.  Clutching him too tight to her chest, knowing the second she let go he would be gone for real and it would all be over.  

But it was never over.  Inko went through this same torturous song and dance every year for fifteen now.  All the guilt and dread would subside slowly over the next one, until it all came back at once.  Just like this.

At least it’s done for now, she tried to reassure herself, climbing back into bed. It still wasn’t even noon yet.  Plenty of time for another breakdown.  Hopefully the next one won’t be, feel, as loud.  She sighed heavily into her sheets.  This sort of thing can’t be normal.  I should really try therapy again.

Against her better judgement, she kept the blanket out, and clutched it to her chest.  Static electricity pricked her fingers.  With her other hand, she reached across the bed, and tried to imagine someone else there. Not Hisashi, never him anymore.  Izuku.  He was fifteen and happy, but the storm was making him nervous so he came to lay beside her.  She remembered it like it was now.  If she closed her eyes, she could feel his warm, soft skin, with a healthy, if a little anxious heartbeat just underneath.  The mattress warped as he sighed.

“We’ll be okay.  It’s just a little rough weather,” she promised.

“Okay, Mom,” Izuku answered quietly.  “…  I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”  I’ll start trying to get myself together tomorrow.  For now, let me have this.

Izuku didn’t respond for a while.  “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.  Happy birthday.”

[ultimatetrashyfanfic]

Non-despair AU! And ever since I watched that thirty minute anime clip with Nagito’s perspective on things, I’ve really liked the idea of him being buds with Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko. And Nagito openly talks about his past trauma on a plane so… what better way to bond than bonding over trauma? Anyway, I love these three so much. Also Komahina because I love them - Circle

(Also forgot to add this, sorry, but it’s on AO3 too) https://archiveofourown.org/works/33483538

Warning: descriptions of panic attacks, nausea, motion sickness, very mild vomiting (like barely any).

Fuyuhiko always thought Nagito was spouting a whole load of bullshit when he lamented about his talent being useless; he would’ve loved having Ultimate Luck right now.

“Haha! You got the short straw, Fuyuhiko!” Akane crowed. “Tough luck!”

“Wait, no! Can’t we do a best of three?”

“Somebody has to sit with them, man,” Nekomaru said. “You guys are already friends, it’ll be a great bonding experience.”

“I don’t want to bond with them in that situation. Because you all know it’ll be a shit show. That’s why we’re fucking doing this,” Fuyuhiko growled, glaring at each of his classmates in turn. Only two were missing, the pair who’d triggered this whole unfortunate drawing of straws in the first place.

“Why can’t you sit with them, Hajime? Nagito is always hanging off you anyway. And Kazuichi is your friend too,” Fuyuhiko said.

“I’m afraid I can’t, Fuyuhiko.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because I didn’t draw the short straw.”

“Go fuck yourself.” Fuyuhiko stomped away, his classmates’ laughter echoing behind him. This class trip was already more trouble than it was worth and it hadn’t even started. He was almost tempted to skip the plane journey with the rest of them and hop on a different flight to Novoselic, just to show them. It wasn’t like he needed Sonia to pay his way. But she’d been so enthusiastic about taking her friends to see her home country, and Fuyuhiko couldn’t think of any way to tell her without causing offence. He couldn’t really say he just didn’t want to be stuck babysitting Kazuichi and Nagito on a flight.

It wasn’t that Fuyuhiko didn’t like Kazuichi and Nagito. Sure, Kazuichi could be a real pain in the ass sometimes, and Nagito would go all weird and self-deprecating if you didn’t watch out, but Fuyuhiko still considered them close friends. But the flight to Novoselic was long. Kazuichi could get motion sickness on a fucking bicycle, and Nagito hadn’t set foot on a plane since his parents died on one right in front of his eyes. There was no way it could possibly go well. Fuyuhiko pictured hour after hour of Kazuichi puking and complaining and Nagito… well, he wasn’t sure what the hell Nagito would do. He’d never seen Nagito get flustered before. Hell, that was much more terrifying. He had to get out of this.

In the days before the trip, Fuyuhiko kept trying to convince his kinder classmates to take responsibility for at least one of the other men. “It’s gonna be impossible to help them both,” Fuyuhiko said. “It’ll be better for them if you help me.”

“You could sit between them,” Mahiru said. “And I’ve already promised Hiyoko I’ll sit with her. Sorry.”

Asking Twogami was a no-go too. “It’ll be more considerate to the other passengers if they’re both in one area,” he said. “To limit the disturbance if they become distressed.”

“I’m the one who’ll be feeling fucking distressed,” Fuyuhiko snapped.

Peko overheard, and came over at once. “I’ll take your burden, young master.”

“No, not you!” Fuyuhiko hated the whine in his tone - and he hated the smirk on Twogami’s face too. “You don’t have to do it. You sit with Gundham and pet his hamsters or something. I… I want you to be happy,” he mumbled, blushing fiercely.

Damn it. He could be as bad as Kazuichi sometimes.

There was no way to wriggle out of it. The morning of the trip dawned bright and sunny, and Fuyuhiko’s ticket set him directly between Kazuichi and Nagito. Fantastic.

At least check-in and security went by reasonably peacefully, the walk to their gate quiet. Only Akane and Nekomaru seemed to be properly awake this early in the day, and they stuck with each other. Fuyuhiko glanced at his two friends. Kazuichi still seemed half-asleep, curled on one of the uncomfortable chairs by the gate, watching the planes take off and land in the distance through the huge windows. Nagito was much more concerning. He was smiling brightly… but he didn’t look happy at all.

“Hey, Fuyuhiko, want to know how a plane engine works?” Kazuichi asked.

“No,” he said, but he sat down with a sigh as Kazuichi started talking anyway. He tuned out after a second, though Nagito looked like he was listening.

“Seeing you talk about your ultimate talent is so inspiring, Kazuichi,” Nagito said - and smiled. That weird smile again, desperate and strained.

“It’s nothing. I just think planes are interesting. From an engineering point of view. I really wish I didn’t have to fucking ride one,” Kazuichi groaned.

“Aha, I can’t help feeling apprehensive too. The last time I was on a flight, both my parents died.” Nagito spoke emotionlessly, as if reciting a shopping list, but that smile was still fixed on his face. “But it’s okay. That bad luck brought me a lot of good luck later on. You just have to have hope that things will work out.”

Kazuichi stared at him, mouth open. “Um. Okay. Sorry.” He caught Fuyuhiko’s eye and mouthed what the fuck? Fuyuhiko wasn’t sure if Kazuichi was just now hearing the story or if he was confused by Nagito’s weird behaviour. He shrugged helplessly.

There wasn’t much conversation after that. You couldn’t really carry on your casual chit-chat right after somebody brought up their dead parents. Fuyuhiko kept an eye on Nagito. He was bolt upright in his seat, his eyes staring straight ahead, hands clasped so tight in his lap his knuckles bleached white. With his pale hair and ashen face, he looked like all the blood had drained out of him completely.

Their flight number was called far too soon, and Fuyuhiko dragged his motley crew to the right aisle, pondering where to put everyone. Kazuichi should probably be on the end if he’d be passing vomit bags to some poor stewardess. Fuyuhiko needed to be in the middle, so that left Nagito by the window. He’d have to keep the shutter pulled down.

Hajime passed them on the way to his own seat, and stopped short when he saw Nagito’s face. He leaned right over Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko, ignoring their complaints and curses, and took Nagito’s hand. “Are you alright? You look… off.”

“Don’t worry about me, Hajime.”

“Your hands are clammy.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. How disgusting for you,” Nagito said, smiling. Always smiling.

“That’s not what I meant… Look, do you want to sit with me?”

“Can we move it along please?” somebody called irritably down the aisle.

“You’re holding up the line, Hajime. Don’t worry about me,” Nagito repeated. Hajime looked like he was worrying dreadfully, but he was forced to move along. Nagito clasped his hands again and fixed his gaze on the seat in front, smiling smiling smiling. It was freaking Fuyuhiko out. He looked like he was wearing a mask and his eyes were the only real part of him, swirling with turmoil.

“Hey.” Kazuichi nudged Fuyuhiko’s shoulder and whispered in his ear. “Are Hajime and Nagito… you know. A thing?”

“Mate, you told me you’ve seen them leave Hajime’s cabin together in the mornings.”

“They could just be having a sleepover. As bros.”

“I don’t think it’s that, Kazuichi.”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause I don’t want Hajime to get a new best friend,” Kazuichi said.

Fuyuhiko sighed. “I think you’re safe.”

There was a pause. Then another shoulder nudge a second later. “So Hajime and Nagito? Seriously? Am I the only person on my own in this class?” Kazuichi muttered.

Fuyuhiko was spared from responding by the flight attendants starting the safety briefing, demonstrating how to use the oxygen masks and the life jackets in case of emergency. He had to admit, it was pretty eerie to think that you could, however unlikely it may be, crash into the ocean or need extra oxygen to live long enough to get to land. He glanced over at Nagito nervously. His arms were now curled across his chest, hands gripping his elbows. His head was bent, a cloud of puffy hair hiding his face. Maybe that was for the best.

“Can you try not to puke as long as possible?” Fuyuhiko whispered to Kazuichi. “I feel like I might have a situation to deal with.”

“I’m never trying to puke,” Kazuichi said, but he seemed worried too, glancing past Fuyuhiko. “Hey, Nagito, you doing alright?”

“Don’t worry about me, Kazuichi,” Nagito said, eerily calmly.

“That’s not the same thing as saying you’re fine, is it?” Kazuichi whispered to Fuyuhiko.

“He’s clearly not fucking fine,” Fuyuhiko snapped.

“Should I ask Hajime to swap?” Kazuichi asked.

Fuyuhiko nodded, but before Kazuichi could even undo his seatbelt, the plane jerked and started reversing out of the gate. Fuyuhiko heard Nagito draw in his breath sharply - then he was the one fumbling for his seatbelt, standing unsteadily.

“What the fuck are you doing, man?” Fuyuhiko yelled, catching onto the back of Nagito’s coat as he tried to clamber over the seats. “Sit down!”

“I’m afraid I need to get off,” Nagito said, voice still calm despite his frantic movements.

“It’s already moving, for God’s sake! Sit down before a flight attendant sees you!” It wasn’t hard to force Nagito back into his seat - he seemed light enough for a strong gust of wind to knock him over - and Souda hastily got the belt fastened again just as the plane rolled onto the runway.

“Okay. It’s fine. You’re fine,” Fuyuhiko gabbled, trying hard not to shout or swear or scream at all his classmates for making him deal with this. “Just sit still and… I dunno, plug your ears. The takeoff part is the worst.”

There was a cacophony of whirring as the engines roared to life and Fuyuhiko would be very grateful for all that noise in a second, because Nagito started to laugh. Dry, hysterical laughter, his eyes over-bright and manic, lips bared in that grisly parody of a smile.

“Has he lost his fucking mind?” Kazuichi asked, sounding genuinely frightened.

“You must really hate me, Fuyuhiko,” Nagito gasped. “To restrain me here… You must despise me.”

“I’m not restraining you!”

“Then let me off.” He locked eyes with Fuyuhiko and for a second the manic grin faded. “Please…”

The engines roared to a crescendo and the plane shot forward so quickly everyone was pinned to their seats with the force, zooming on and on until they could feel the entire structure lurch into the air. Kazuichi groaned softly, shutting his eyes, but Fuyuhiko was far more focused on Nagito. He had his eyes squeezed shut too, but his hand clamped hard onto Fuyuhiko’s arm. Really fucking hard. Shit, maybe Nagito wasn’t as weak as he looked. Fuyuhiko cursed as his terrified companion started digging his nails into his skin, actually drawing blood. The pain prompted Fuyuhiko to try prying the hand loose a little, but Nagito clamped on harder, carving several new scratches. Fuyuhiko didn’t dare attempt again; he’d get his arm cut to ribbons.

When the plane was flying high and the swirling, disoriented feeling had eased, Fuyuhiko checked on both men. Kazuichi had his head in his hands, but he gave a shaky thumbs up when Fuyuhiko prodded him.

“‘M okay,” he mumbled. “Got through takeoff. Gets better when it’s levelling out.”

“Right, good. Try to stay that way, yeah? I’ve got a lot to handle right now,” Fuyuhiko sighed. Nagito was still shredding his arm up, but he could feel one finger tapping for attention.

“What? What do you need? Please, no bullshit, Nagito. I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do,” Fuyuhiko said. He was practically yelling in his panic, and the people across the aisle turned to glare.

It was several seconds before Nagito could gather enough breath to speak. Fuyuhiko saw that awful smile stretch across his face again, like somebody had twisted his frown the wrong way round. “Aha, I’m sorry to trouble you, Fuyuhiko, but I think I might be having a panic attack.”

“What?” Fuyuhiko felt like he was going to have a panic attack too. “Why? What’s going on?”

“I can’t seem to catch my breath. And the cabin has been spinning for several minutes.”

“Jesus Christ! Why didn’t you say anything?” Fuyuhiko hurriedly pushed Nagito’s head down as far as it would go before it bumped the seat in front. “Fucking… think of things you can see or something? Shit, I don’t remember.”

“Five things you can see,” Kazuichi chimed in. “Is he really gonna pass out? Hajime is gonna kill us.”

“I’m gonna fucking kill him for leaving this shit to us! How stupid can you get?”

“Ahh, I’m such a nuisance. If I’d known I’d react in such a shameful way, I’d have been sure to take a seat away from all the Ultimates. Why are you taking care of someone like me?”

“Nagito, shut up, this isn’t your fault,” Fuyuhiko said shortly. “Stop babbling on about ultimates and do the panic attack thing. Listen to Kazuichi, he knows how to do it.”

Nagito did as he was told, working through the grounding techniques with Kazuichi while Fuyuhiko held onto his shoulders feeling helpless. Nagito was shaking so hard it was difficult not to drop him altogether. He didn’t pass out, but even after the grounding Nagito looked far from what you’d consider calm. He was grey-white when Fuyuhiko carefully hauled him back upright.

“Are you okay..?”

The smile came back, though it seemed a lot more tired than manic this time. “Ah… I don’t think so, Fuyuhiko.”

“Well. At least you’re honest. Can you tell me how you’re feeling? Physically, I mean. Clearly I see you’re fucked mentally. And please stop smiling like that, you’re creeping me out,” Fuyuhiko said.

Nagito finally released his grip on Fuyuhiko’s arm, his nails coated with blood. He bent forward slowly, carefully, like he was terrified any sudden movements would send him spiralling again, and let his elbows rest on his knees. “I still feel slightly lightheaded. And nauseous. I’d still like to get off.”

Fuyuhiko examined the long scratches on his arm, sighing and mopping the blood with his sleeve. “Well, you’d have a long drop if you tried to get off now. You should cut your damn fingernails too. I’m going to get Hajime.” He turned to Kazuichi. “Watch him for a minute, okay? I don’t fucking care about drawing the short straw anymore, I can’t handle this.” Fuyuhiko scrambled over Kazuichi’s lap into the aisle, ignoring the flight attendant yelling for him to remain in his seat until the seatbelt signs went off.

“Hey! What did you mean drawing the short straw?” Kazuichi called behind him. Fuyuhiko didn’t look back.

“Hajime!” Fuyuhiko yelled when he was still more than six aisles away from the startled man. “You’re swapping with me!” He lowered his voice when he reached Hajime’s seat, but only marginally. “I can’t handle this. I don’t know how you expected Komeada to react to this shit, but whatever you thought, it’s worse. Way fucking worse. And I can’t help him. So go fucking do it yourself.”

“Well, I was going to swap as soon as the seatbelt signs were off,” Hajime said pointedly.

“I don’t give a shit. Look at my arm! Your fucking boyfriend nearly ripped it off at the elbow.” Fuyuhiko brandished his scratched, bloodied arm, and Hajime looked genuinely shocked.

“Oh my God…” He stood up hastily, clinging to the seats in front as the plane was still slightly off-balance. “I’m sorry, Fuyuhiko. I didn’t expect him to panic so much. He never said anything much about it when I asked.”

“Yeah, well, no offence, Hajime, but you can be as thick as three short planks sometimes. So if he implied anything, I don’t doubt you missed it,” Fuyuhiko snapped, taking Hajime’s empty seat - next to Chiaki, thank goodness. She hadn’t even looked up from her Switch this whole time. Perfect.

“I have taken some offence…” Hajime mumbled, then turned to go back down the aisle, trying hard not to catch the eyes of the other passengers staring like they were all part of a circus act. He was pretty sure the whole class was going to get banned from this airline. Gundham had been in trouble already for taking his hamsters out of their little travelling cage - several times. He was insulted by the insistence of the staff that all pets had to be contained, both by their labelling of his hamsters as mere pets and from their implication that his dark devas could ever be contained.

Hajime followed the sounds of more disgruntled passengers to Nagito’s seat. He was in the middle now, hunched over one of those white sick bags, while Kazuichi awkwardly patted his back. He looked relieved to see Hajime, beckoning frantically. “Come help me! I think he’s gonna spew. Weird that it’s not me for once.”

Hajime sighed, struggling to shuffle past his friends to get to Nagito’s other side, squashed by the window. Nagito didn’t acknowledge him. Hajime could see he had his eyes closed, his face strangely calm and smooth, though his breathing was erratic.

“Hey, Nagito? You hearing me?” Hajime called, tapping the other man’s pale cheek.

“Did I drive Fuyuhiko away?” Nagito said, voice strained. “I’m not surprised. To bother the Ultimates with the problems of an insignificant nobody like me.”

“Dude, shut up,” Kazuichi groaned. “Nobody thinks that. Stop being so weird. Fuyuhiko just doesn’t know how to look after people.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit up? I doubt you’ll throw up, you wouldn’t eat anything this morning,” Hajime said.

At that exact moment, almost as if to pointedly prove him wrong, Nagito made a choked retching sound and ducked his head down further, cringing.

“Oookay. Or not. Um. You’re okay,” Hajime muttered, placing a wary hand on Nagito’s hair to keep it out of the way. It was strange hair; soft yet thick at the same time, and it poofed up determinedly no matter how many times Ibuki tried him out with different hairstyles.

The seatbelt signs were now off, so Kazuichi stood up hastily, trying to shield Nagito from the people hurrying up the aisle to the bathrooms. Hajime was grateful, but part of him wished he could switch places with Souda. He didn’t think he’d be having to coach Nagito through something so strangely intimate so soon into their… relationship? They’d never come out and actually said they were boyfriends, not even to each other, but their classmates seemed to think they were a couple.

As Nagito really hadn’t eaten much of anything all day, the actual vomiting didn’t last too long, but the dry heaving continued for several agonising minutes, and the nausea remained indefinitely. But Nagito felt safe to lift him head, his pale cheeks dusted with pink. He smiled shakily at Hajime. “How embarrassing. I caused a scene in front of all these people. You must be lamenting the day you set eyes on me.”

“Stop,” Hajime sighed, taking the soiled bag and handing it to Kazuichi.

“Hajime!” Souda squealed, hastily handing it off to a flight attendant, who offered a bottle of water for Nagito in response. Her smile didn’t slip once. Hajime was impressed by her poker face.

“Drink,” Hajime prompted, forcing the bottle into Nagito’s hands. “I want you to try eating something later too. You’re going to pass out.”

Kazuichi sat down again, glancing at Nagito. “You feeling… okay now? Like as okay as you can?”

Nagito took a long drink of water, eyes blank. Then he smiled again, that strange, forced smile. “I really am pathetic, aren’t I? Causing such a dramatic spectacle over something that happened years ago. I don’t deserve such attention from the Ultim-“

“Stop!” Hajime took Nagito’s face in his hands, forcing him to meet his eyes. Hajime thought he saw something flicker in them, some semblance of an honest emotion. “Nagito, can you please stop trying to act like you don’t have feelings. I know you’re scared. And you know what? It’s okay. It’s completely fucking normal to feel like this right now. I shouldn’t have left you. That was me being dense, and I’m sorry. But you can stop pretending. It’s just me here - and Kazuichi, but he’ll understand too. He’s scared of everything.”

“I am not!” Kazuichi cried, outraged.

Hajime didn’t break eye contact with Nagito, both breathing heavily. Nagito glared back at first, his face twisting into a scowl, but Hajime didn’t falter.

“Let me in,” Hajime muttered. “I know you, for God’s sake. You’re not gonna scare me off. It’s okay to need help. Please.”

Another silence for several long, tense seconds. Then - finally, amazingly - Nagito made a soft frustrated noise, lunged forwards and wound his arms around Hajime’s neck so tightly that for a second Hajime thought he’d messed up so badly Nagito was trying to throttle him.

“Hey, careful,” Hajime said, but his voice was gentle and he didn’t try to pry Nagito off. Nagito let his forehead rest on Hajime’s shoulder, his hair falling to shield his face completely. Hajime snaked his own arms awkwardly around Nagito’s slender waist. He could feel Nagito shaking, feel the warm puff of his breathing against his shoulder. The shaking never eased, but as time passed the breathing seemed to calm slightly.

Nagito didn’t speak as he clung to Hajime for dear life. Not a single word. But Hajime hadn’t really expected him to. This was already a degree of vulnerability that Nagito was completely unaccustomed to showing anyone, let alone his almost-boyfriend, his classmates and an entire plane full of strangers. It was a good place to start.

Kazuichi watched them slightly bitterly. “It’s alright for some. I wouldn’t mind someone to cuddle up to,” he muttered.

“That’s your other talent. Ultimate Third Wheel,” Hajime quipped.

Their row of seats was reasonably peaceful after that, though Hajime could hear the laughter and yelling from their classmates further back. He hoped the sensible members of the group could stop them causing too much trouble. Hajime couldn’t go tell them to knock it off himself; whenever he moved at all Nagito would tighten his grip.

He sat there, hour after hour, until he had to pry Nagito off him for a bathroom break. It wasn’t easy. Nagito fought him and clung on as much as he could, though Hajime explained he’d be back in five minutes.

“Look, cling onto Kazuichi while I go pee,” Hajime suggested. Kazuichi didn’t look overly enthusiastic about that idea, but he didn’t protest.

Nagito sighed. He slowly drew back his arms, and whispered three breathy little words into Hajime’s shirt before he went, perhaps the most raw, vulnerable words Hajime had ever heard Nagito say: “Please come back.”

“I will. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured.

Nagito shifted shakily in his seat, turned to Kazuichi and lunged at him too, wrapping his arms around his neck. Kazuichi squealed and whined that he was being strangled, but he didn’t shove Nagito away. Hajime almost felt like they were new parents, passing their newborn between them: “I’ll hold him for a bit, you go to the loo.”

There was a queue for the tiny airplane bathrooms. Hajime stood impatiently, wriggling his cramped shoulders and rocking back on his heels; he was glad Nagito seemed to be trusting him more, but he was pretty stiff after sitting in the same position for hours.

Two women ahead of Hajime in the queue seemed to be having an animated discussion about something, and when Hajime caught the word “school” he started to listen properly.

“I don’t know what sort of school they come from, but they’re a strange bunch,” one lady hissed. “There’s an odd boy in the row ahead of me, one of that lot, who has a collections of rodents, all free from their cage! Running all over the seat trays! Well, that’s not very hygienic, is it? But when I told him as much, he gave me the most incredibly rude answer.”

“Young people have such foul mouths these days,” the other lady agreed.

“No, he wasn’t swearing. It was ever so strange, almost as if he was… well, you’ll think I sound silly. But it was like he was cursing me.”

It was a good job for Hajime that the toilet became available and the lady rushed inside, because he was biting his cheeks to contain his laughter. When he’d used the loo himself and gone back to release Kazuichi from Nagito’s vice grip, he recited the story for both of them.

Kazuichi laughed, poking Nagito gently. “There you are, Nagito. No need to worry. No matter how weird we are, we can always count on Gundham to be weirder.”

Nagito didn’t respond, but Hajime saw a hint of a smile - a real smile - on his lips before he buried his face in Hajime’s neck again.