#Momo Making Machine

[chefsshops]

Efficient Momo Production with the Latest Momo Making Machines

In the bustling world of culinary arts, efficiency and precision are key to maintaining quality and meeting high demand. For establishments specializing in momos, the introduction of advanced momo-making machines has revolutionized production processes. These machines not only enhance productivity but also ensure consistency and quality in every batch. Among the latest advancements, the Momo Making Machine, Momo Sheeter Machine, and Dumpling Wrapper Maker have become indispensable tools in modern kitchens.

Streamlining Momo Production

The demand for momos, whether at street stalls or high-end restaurants, has surged, prompting the need for more efficient production methods. The Momo Making Machine is at the forefront of this transformation. Designed to automate the dumpling-making process, this machine can produce hundreds of momos per hour, significantly reducing manual labor and production time. Its efficiency lies in its ability to consistently measure, mix, and fold dough with minimal human intervention.

Moreover, the Momo Making Machine ensures uniformity in size and shape, which is crucial for maintaining the quality of the final product. The precise control over dough thickness and filling placement results in perfectly crafted momos that are appealing and delicious. This level of consistency is challenging to achieve with manual methods, making the Momo Making Machine a valuable investment for any momo-centric business.

The Role of the Momo Sheeter Machine

Another crucial component in modern momo production is the Momo Sheeter Machine. This machine is designed to flatten dough into even sheets, which are then used to wrap the momo filling. The Momo Sheeter Machine offers several advantages, including adjustable thickness settings and high-speed operation. By ensuring that the dough is uniformly spread, the Momo Sheeter Machine eliminates inconsistencies that can occur with hand-rolling techniques.

In addition to improving the appearance and texture of the momos, the Momo Sheeter Machine also enhances overall production efficiency. It allows for quicker preparation of dough sheets, enabling businesses to meet high demand without compromising on quality. For establishments that produce large quantities of momos, incorporating a Momo Sheeter Machine can lead to significant time and labor savings.

Benefits of the Dumpling Wrapper Maker

The Dumpling Wrapper Maker complements the Momo Making Machine and Momo Sheeter Machine by focusing on the creation of perfect dumpling wrappers. This machine simplifies the process of making wrappers, which are essential for encasing the momo filling. With its ability to produce wrappers of consistent size and thickness, the Dumpling Wrapper Maker ensures that each momo is uniformly wrapped, which enhances the overall eating experience.

The Dumpling Wrapper Maker is particularly useful for businesses that need to produce a high volume of wrappers quickly. It reduces the manual effort involved in making wrappers by hand and helps maintain a consistent quality across all products. This machine is an excellent addition to any kitchen where efficiency and quality are top priorities.

Chefs Shop: Your Partner in Modern Momo Production

When it comes to sourcing high-quality momo-making equipment, Chefs Shop stands out as a trusted provider. They offer a range of top-of-the-line machines, including the Momo Making Machine, Momo Sheeter Machine, and Dumpling Wrapper Maker. Their commitment to quality and customer satisfaction makes them a reliable partner for businesses looking to enhance their momo production capabilities.

Chefs Shop's products are designed with the latest technology to meet the demands of modern kitchens. Their equipment is not only efficient but also durable, ensuring long-term performance and reliability. By choosing Chefs Shop, businesses can equip themselves with the tools needed to streamline their momo production process and achieve exceptional results.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the latest momo-making machines, including the Momo Making Machine, Momo Sheeter Machine, and Dumpling Wrapper Maker, play a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency of momo production. These advanced tools streamline the preparation process, ensuring consistency and quality in every batch. For businesses aiming to elevate their production capabilities, investing in these machines is a step towards achieving operational excellence. For further assistance in selecting the best equipment for your needs, consider reaching out to Chefs Shop, a leader in providing top-notch commercial kitchen equipment.

[tailored-muffin]

I started making shitposty stamps! Here is my epic collection of win!

[agustd3]

Hip-Hop Dancing MO-chine! ‧₊˚ ✩

[fisheito]

Okay if we go by starfish logic for the dick drop Yakumo saga, the dropped dick could grow a FULL NEW YAKUMO from itself. You thought the Eidencest was getting out of hand, but you haven't seen ANYTHING yet!! Not only that but I think the amount of soup that would produce would solve world hunger in Klein, so that's an added bonus I guess.

you have brought up an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT POSSIBILITY THAT I HAVE NOT CONSIDERED. imagine being a lowly lifeform such as those who start as anuses or mouths, and grow from there. THEN imagine the NEW lifeform of starting as a dick. equally lowly, but considerably funnier because of its novelty. if a maid sees a dropped yakudick in the foyer , they will simply pick it up (with tongs, if feeling squeamish) and bring it to a safe place where it can regenerate .

[automatic-momo-making-machine]

In Our company Healthy Enviro Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Automatic Momo making Machine used as advance technology for production of Momos in bulk. It is a best dedicated machine with the options of producing momos in various sizes and different sheet thickness. It comes with variable frequency drives. The Machine has humanized design and control panel for easy adjustment of stuffing and sizes of momos. It is suitable for Momos suppliers, quick frozen dumpling manufactures. We are the answer of Best Automatic Momo Making Machine Supplier distributor and Manufacturer of India. 

We are providing our best possible Automatic Noodles Making Machine Installation service to all over India. We are leading Automatic Momo Making Machine Dealer Supplier and service provider at Bhubaneswar, Khurda, Odisha, Kolkata, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Nepal etc. 

[just-jordie-things]

try to understand - inumaki toge

word count: 15k warnings: swearing, canon typical violence, some canon divergence (toge still has one arm, most characters are a teacher at jujutsu tech) unedited leave me alone maybe i'll do it later summary: being misunderstood isn't new for inumaki toge. but when the girl he'd had a crush on since he was a teenager makes a reappearance in his life, he realizes he'd really, really like for her to understand him. more info: miscommunication trope bcuz it's toge... he's just a pining romantic !! strangers -> slight enemies -> reluctant friends -> lovers. reader is a feelings-blind, emotionally constipated lil idiot <3

⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆｡⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆

The Jujutsu Tech Exchange Event was stress inducing enough.  Being evaluated by the higher ups and pitted against peers in a test of cursed ability and strength put a lot of pressure on those who participated.  

Not that participation was ever a choice.

And to be honest, if it was a volunteer event, (y/n) would have some serious thinking to do.

It wasn’t that she doubted her abilities as a sorcerer.  She had all the confidence in the world with her mastered ability, but sometimes the weight of being a jujutsu sorcerer was so heavy she couldn’t even be sure it was the right path for her.

But it had to be, right? With her skill being more akin to raw talent, sorcery coming as natural to her as breathing, it must be what she was meant for, it just made sense like that.

So most days, she woke up, shook off the empty feeling of longing on her mind, and got right to work.  Whether it was training, studying, or a bright and early assignment, she stayed on top of things.  She couldn’t let a feeling slow her down, and she didn’t.

Still, she wished she could feel what her peers do.  Because whatever it was, Mai and Todo made it look pretty exhilarating.

Miwa, Mechamaru, Momo, and Noritoshi didn’t seem as interested in antagonizing the Tokyo students either, but they were content hanging out with the snacks they’d gotten from the vending machines without picking any fights.  (y/n) sat with them, slowly sipping on the fruity drink she’d gotten for herself in the hopes that it would gear her up for the event.

“Looks like things are heating up” Miwa says, her neck craning to get a better glimpse at what was going on between the noisy students.  It didn’t take a genius to know exactly what was going on, though.

Mai and Todo being their usual selves, that is.  (y/n) didn’t bother trying to watch the scene unfold.  Instead she just slumped further down into the grass.  If only she could sink underneath it, too.

“Should we intervene?” Momo asks, but she doesn’t seem any more interested in (y/n).  Laid back on her broom with her hands behind her head, she was the image of disinterest.

There wasn’t a chance (y/n) was getting involved in any of this.  The only thing she had her sights set on was a solid nap after today’s event was over.

The event itself was the same as last year… and every year before that.  A bunch of egotistical sorcerers running around in the woods, eac trying to exorcize more curses than the last.  Of course, these last couple of times had more of an edge to them than usual.  With Mai always gunning for her sister- literally- there was an added layer of bloodlust.  And god forbid Todo found any of his opponents boring.  He’d take all the ‘friendly’ out of friendly competition.

Perched in a spot she wouldn’t call great for hiding but she didn’t necessarily care, (y/n) had her chin in her hand to keep her head up.  She’d fall asleep right there if she could.  A part of her wished that Tokyo’s Special Grade Okkotsu Yuuta would show up, just to put this whole silly thing to an end as quickly as he did last year.  Her peers weren’t so happy about him, or Rika, being involved in the Exchange Event, but that day he was (y/n’s) hero.

Lazily, her eyes swept over the area below her.  No one had ventured this way since she’d climbed this tree, and if she was lucky, she might be able to sit here until the whole thing was over.  She could only dream.

But all good things must come to an end, and soon enough the unmistakable sound of footsteps came running towards her tree.  She perked up, just a little, and only because it was a surprise that whoever was rushing into her neck of the woods clearly wasn’t doing so with the intention of going unnoticed.

Swinging her legs a bit, (y/n) peeked down below her, trying to catch a good look at who it was.  Surely not one of her peers, they had to be a Tokyo student.

Sure enough, an unfamiliar head of blonde hair came bounding into the clearing just below her tree.  Of the Tokyo students she was familiar with- Maki, Panda, Fushiguro, and she supposed Yuuta- this wasn’t one of them.  So she played it safe by remaining silent.

It crosses her mind that any of her fellow sorcerers would’ve taken this chance to go head to head with their abilities. They’d probably think she was wasting an opportunity by letting this boy run by without a fight.  The thought doesn’t linger long.  She’s not bothered much by what others might think of her.  She knows that if she wanted to, she could take any sorcerer on in a fight.  She just… didn’t care much to use her cursed technique where it wasn’t necessary.

At first all she can see is the blonde hair.  He seems to hesitate once in the clearing, doing a quick sweep to make sure there wasn’t another sorcerer hiding amongst the brush.  (y/n) holds her breath, but not once does he lift his head to check amongst the trees.  She’s in the clear.

From the little bit that he looks around himself, she notices that his uniform includes a tall black collar which covers the bottom half of his face.

It doesn’t take much else to put two and two together.  This was the Cursed Speech user she’d been warned about.  From the Inumaki Clan.  She holds her breath once more.

Mai had told her long winded and horrific things about the Inumaki Clan.  Stories similar scary tales told around the campfire.  Except they were all cramped up in the car that brought them to Tokyo.  If it was a scare tactic to keep everyone away from Tokyo’s Cursed Speech user, (y/n) couldn’t say it was all that fear inducing.

That doesn’t mean she didn’t have her curiosities.

“Jump down” 

It was an experience like no other.  Any thought on her mind was erased.  Her held breath was expelled just as quickly as she was releasing her secure hold on the branch, and before she knew it she was leaping right off, without a care for being noticed.  Had she been less experienced in acrobatics, she might’ve sprained an ankle from the ten foot drop.  Lucky her that a lifetime of training meant she landed as gracefully as she would’ve had she jumped on her own volition.

And it was quick too- just as soon as she’d realized the hold that Cursed Speech had on her, she was already free of it’s effects and was level headed again.  At least enough to take a step backwards to put some distance between herself and the Tokyo student who’d caught her red handed.

However she quickly noticed that the Inumaki boy wasn’t in an offensive stance.  He wasn’t really in any stance at all- he just stood there, watching her with seemingly the same amount of curiosity as she watched him.

(y/n) doesn’t mean any offense, but it’s hard not to stare.  With a collar hiding the lower half of his face, his eyes felt all the more piercing.  As if he had full access to her mind whether he spoke or not.

Using her own cursed technique crosses her mind, but it’s a distant thought, as if the competition at play isn’t happening at all.

She’s not sure she’s ever met anyone with such deep violet eyes before.

It’s ridiculous to wait for him to say something.  But she stands there with more impatience than she’s ever felt before.

“Aren’t you going to knock me out or something?” She asks when she realizes he’s still just going to stand there.

Inumaki blinks, mabe pondering it for a moment, before he shrugs.  (y/n) hardly knows what to do with that, and despite knowing he’s not going to give her any proper explanation, she still seems to wait for something more than a shrug.

So with a careful eye she steps back a little further, just to see if he’d make any move on removing her from the game.  But no matter how many small steps she took, Inumaki didn’t move.  He barely seemed to care.  Didn’t he know he had the unbeatable technique? If he wanted to, he could put her to sleep right now.

With one last glance, (y/n) finally turned and booked it towards the thickest bundle of trees with the most coverage.  It was clear that he wasn’t going to attack her, and it shouldn’t have surprised her that he didn’t seem to be following after her either.  What was his deal? What was Tokyo’s strategy if it wasn’t wiping out the competition? She couldn’t make any sense of it, so for now she’d just have to find a new spot to hide out until the event was over.  Or became more interesting.

It never really crossed her mind that she hadn’t tried to attack him, either.

The event did get more interesting.  Although it wasn’t an exciting turn, (y/n) did find herself suddenly thrown into engaging herself.

How curses and curse users managed to get through the barrier around Jujutsu Tech, she didn’t understand.  Critical thinking however was out the window as soon as that Special Grade Tree showed up.

With a less than formal introduction to Itadori, she found herself wrapped up with him and Todo.  Perhaps the last place she wanted to be- she hated the dizzying effect of his cursed technique- but it was where she found herself.  So she gave it her all, even when the turn for the worst took a detour towards chaos.

It was a strange feeling though, in the thick of the fight and expecting the worst, there was finally a spark within her.  Something buzzing like static electricity was starting to take form.  A small zap at first, an eagerness to play on the offense, and it seemed the more she chased that electric buzz, the more it grew.  There was no denying that something had changed in her demeanor- the others could see it in the way she stopped pulling her punches.  That’s not to mention the grin on her face growing more unhinged like a snarl with every move she made.

That little buzz had ignited into an all out fire, and soon she grew blind to everything but the fight.

Was this passion? Was this finally her eye opening moment to the pleasure of knowing and loving what she’s meant to do? The thoughts were muddled amongst the overwhelming urge to finish this off, to exorcize, to win.  She’s never felt a desire this strong, never sought out a victory quite like this, and it was just barely out of reach, right at the tips of her fingers- 

“Run away!” 

And just as (y/n’s)cursed energy began to materialize around her hands, it was disappearing.  Her body swiveled on it’s own accord, facing her in the other direction and pumping her legs into the motion of running all before she could process that this wasn’t her own doing.  It was cursed speech.  Again.

Her deranged grin fell into a sour grimace as she found herself full sprinting towards the other side of campus, other sorcerers in tow feeling just as useless as they were forced away from the fight.

What was once a burning passion turned into a bitter cold resentment.  All she could think as she ran away from the fight was how dare Inumaki dismiss her? The bitterness in her mood only festered the more she grew to blame him for sending her away.

The next time their paths cross, she’d make sure to give him a piece of her mind.

⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆｡⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆ 5 YEARS LATER  ⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆｡⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆

Coming back to Jujutsu Tech Tokyo wasn’t exactly a choice (y/n) would have made for herself, she could admit that.

She’d never wanted to become a teacher.  The idea of continuing the cycle of turning young people into jujutsu sorcerers made her stomach knot.  So no matter how persistent the Kyoto and Tokyo branches were- she wanted nothing to do with it.  She’d continue her own work- privately- exorcizing curses for a living, but she swore she’d bite the curb before getting involved any further than that.

Curb, meet (y/n).

Standing outside the grand double doors that was the main entrance to the Tokyo school, she couldn’t help but let her shoulders sink.  Since graduating a few years ago and entering the real world as an adult, (y/n) had spent most of her time alone.  Living alone, working alone- she’d quickly learned it was the only way to be when you’re a jujutsu sorcerer.  Letting people in was a risk, getting attached to someone was a risk, it felt like it was just easier to function as a singular unit.  No one to look out for but herself.

The doors opened before she could even knock.  Before she even gave turning around and disappearing a second thought.

“(y/l/n)!” 

Itadori Yuji was just as she remembered him.  So outgoing it would be inappropriate if he wasn’t completely genuine.  With a large grin he ushered her inside, his mouth running a hundred miles a minute, going on about how long it had been, how she was doing, how he was doing, how happy he was to see her in Tokyo.

“I mean, it’s been what, five years? You look great! Here follow me, the others are waiting just down here…” 

It’s only then that she finally finds her voice and cuts off his eager rambling.

“Others?” She repeats the word her mind had caught onto.  “I thought this was a quick in and out sort of thing” 

Yuji could be dense at times, but he didn’t miss the way her eyes narrowed on him with an accusatory glare behind them.  So with a smile that seemed more sheepish than reassuring, he waved his hand in a dismissive manner and blew a raspberry.  (y/n’s) expression didn’t waver.

“In and out, two weeks, it’s all relative, right?” He joked, and now she’s gaping at him with widened eyes that seemed all the more upset.

“Two weeks?” Her voice raises just a little, not enough to yell, but enough that her exasperation was evident.  “Itadori, you said you just needed a bit of a fill in, two weeks is not a fill in!” 

He’s walking faster down the hall, not that it was difficult for (y/n) to keep up with him.  Two pairs of loafers clicking loudly and quickly against the tile, they almost looked like they were playing a game of chase.

“My hands are tied here, it’s really not up to-” 

Just as Itadori lifts his hands in mock surrender, he’s frozen in place, a familiar energy coursing through his body that keeps him stuck like a statue.

(y/n) finally gets in front of him, with her hands encased in cursed energy and a scowl on her face.

“You’re being dodgy,” She states, eyeing the way he clearly tries to fight her cursed technique to no avail.  “Why do you really need me here for two weeks?” 

When she’d gotten a call from an unknown number a few days ago, she hadn’t expected to hear Itadori Yuji.  She also hadn’t expected to hear him reaching out for help, backup as he called it.  “It’ll be so quick, in and out!” He’d promised.  “And then you can go home and I won’t bother you again!” 

Why she’d actually agreed to fly out to Tokyo for this mystery backup, she wasn’t sure.  Something must have clouded her judgment at that moment.  Now she just feels like facepalming.  How ridiculous was she for not asking more questions?

“Okay, okay,” Yuji huffs, clearly fighting hard against the stun of her cursed energy.  He’d seen it in action once or twice, but that would have happened years ago, and he certainly never felt it’s effect on himself before.

Paralyze was an interesting technique, with the ability to stun anything she pleases, (y/n) could render her enemies frozen and helpless with a slight wave of her hand.  Of course, it’s effects only last as long as she’s capable of holding them still.  The stronger the opponent, the weaker her technique.  So it doesn’t take long before Yuji’s squirming out of it’s hold, and soon (y/n) drops her technique completely.

“In case you haven’t noticed… we’re low on sorcerers around here,” He admits defeatedly.  (y/n) stays quiet, she didn’t need to say that she’d obviously noticed the empty halls and echo of every noise they made.  “Fushiguro’s busy with Zen’in politics, and ropes Maki into it more than she cares to be involved.  Okkotsu’s never free from assignments, Kugisaki and I take everything he can’t… we’re stretched thin, you know?” 

(y/n) nods in understanding, but she’s still waiting for him to explain the part where she comes in.

“And you need me to…? Take some exorcisms off your plate?” She tries to fill in the blank, but judging by the half wince Yuji gives her, she supposes her guess is wrong.

“Well… we actually need someone to help with the training aspect of-” 

“Not teaching” Her voice is monotone as she hopes he’s not about to tell her she’s been called here to chaperone a bunch of kids.

“Teaching…” Yuji finishes slowly, drawing out the word as if it will make the blow less painful.  It only makes it more painfully awkward.

“Itadori-!” Just as she starts to scold him, upset that she’s been lured out here under false pretenses, only to be asked to do the one thing she’d sworn she’d never do, they’re greeted by the rest of their company.

“(y/l/n)-san! Long time no see!” 

Panda is as warm of a presence as ever, though (y/n) had only met him a handful of times, he greets her as if they were long time friends being reunited.  For a brief moment, she actually relaxes.

And then she sees him.

Inumaki Toge somehow looks exactly the same, and like a completely different person from the last time she’d seen him.  His hair was a little shaggier, still covering his forehead and just barely sweeping over the deep violet eyes that feel more familiar than they should.  He still wears a collar with his uniform, a soft looking gray material that sits above the crisp black jacket that matches hers.

The more noticeable change, however, is his lack of a right arm.  (y/n) tries not to stare directly at the space where his bicep ends and his forearm was supposed to begin, but she’s sure he notices the way her eyes dart to and from the missing limb, quickly looking back at his face again.

She’s not too thrilled about looking at him at all, so she directs her attention back towards Panda, clearing her throat of the lump that seemed to form in the matter of seconds.

“Hi,” She greets him, and only him it seems, before going right into the matter at hand.  “Look, it’s not that I don’t want to help you out here-” 

“I’m so glad you came!” Panda cheers like she’s doing him the favor of the century.  “We really need all the help we can get, but I just want the best of the best!” 

(y/n) swallows thickly before another lump can form.

“And I knew you’d help out.  Besides, we can finally catch up! It’s been a long time” Panda continues chatting despite the clear discomfort on (y/n’s) face.  She wonders if he’s trying to guilt her, or if he’s just so delusional in thinking this was some special reunion.  She really hardly knew the Tokyo students back then.

Maki was probably the only one she’d be all that comfortable with, and she was nowhere to be found.

(y/n) shifted her weight back and forth, trying to find the right thing to say that would get her out of here as fast as possible.

“We can have some tea and chat about what your role will look like for the time being-” 

“I can’t” She blurts out.  Wrong thing to say.  The hallway feels even more empty now, her short words echoing off the high ceilings, leaving no room for misinterpretation between the other three sorcerers.

“Huh?” Panda hums, his head tilted to the side in his confusion.  “You can’t stay?”

“Look, I’m sorry and all, but when you called me I thought you needed help with a curse, okay? Not…” Her hands wave around vaguely gesturing to the space around them.  “Playing teacher” 

Inumaki snorts, and her eyes flicker towards him almost challengingly, as if asking what she’d said so wrong, but there was nothing but amusement in the part of his expression she could see, and she turns back towards Panda.

“I’m no use for that, alright?” She sighs.  “I would’ve told you, had I known, but this one-” Her finger points towards Itadori, who suddenly looks like he’s been caught red handed, “Decided to be cryptic. So,  Sorry, but no” 

“I see,” Panda replied, sounding like some of his energy had been drained by her rejection.  “Well, we could still have that tea?” 

She should’ve turned down that offer as well, because tea led to chatting, and chatting led to bonding, and it wasn’t long before Panda was pushing his offer again.

“It’s just… the kids could really use some help with their training…” He says as he stares into the near empty cup in his paw.  Somehow it looks even smaller when held by him.  “They’re good kids, you know? Respectful, kind… it would be so simple… monitoring some cursed technique use, maybe going on some Grade Four assignments…” 

(y/n) stares boredly at him as he goes on, describing the job like it’s the simplest position in the world.  As if she couldn’t remember watching the stress of it affect her own teacher back in the day.  Utahime’s frown lines were irreversible now.  Although that could partially be due to her Tokyo counterpart…

Her tired gaze shifts towards Yuji, who’s holding his mug in both hands and grinning from ear to ear.  Too hopeful for his own good.  The corners of her lips twitch, an undeniable urge to reciprocate his boundless joy.  She has to look away from him.

Inumaki appears less interested in the whole scheme.  He’d leaned away from the table as soon as he’d finished his tea.  With his hand planted behind him to keep him propped up, he’s the image of disinterest.  He’s not even watching Panda’s attempts at swaying (y/n’s) opinion, his eyes wandering the common room’s wall.  (y/n) finds herself also checking out the wall, trying to find whatever could hold his attention more than his friend’s useless rambling.  Besides a few picture frames and worn wallpaper, she can’t find anything worth her attention.

But when she turns away from it, Inumaki must have also lost interest, because he was looking directly at her.  She freezes up for a moment, a feeling eerily similar to her own cursed technique, before it creeps away and she finds herself averting her gaze as rapidly as she’s able.

Which lands her looking right back at Panda, who’s watching her with an open mouthed grin, clearly awaiting an answer to a question she hadn’t heard.

Shit, she hadn’t been listening?

“What did you say?” She asked, her eyebrows raising with a small hum at the end of her question.

“I’ll make sure that you aren’t bothered like this again,” Panda repeats his earlier statement.  “If we weren’t at the end of our rope, I wouldn’t be asking like this now… but it seems this is just the position we’ve found ourselves in,” He sighs, furry shoulders slumping.  “I’m just trying to do what I can to provide the best resources for these youngsters but I’m only one panda, and the world will always need sorcerers out there to-” 

“Alright then” 

In an instant, three pairs of eyes land on her, shock evident in all of them.  She can’t pretend to be surprised by their astonishment, as she’d been pretty stubborn prior to now.  She could say that she had a change of heart, that he swayed her with his kind words and positive outlook on guiding the students in his care.  

But truthfully? She didn’t think she’d forgive herself if she made Panda cry.

“You- you mean it?” Panda asks, disbelief evident in his tone, and in the way his mouth stayed hanging open.

“Yes,” She can’t help a short laugh escaping through her exhale.  “On the condition you don’t ask me any more favors” She adds, her finger in the air as she awaited Panda’s confirmation.

“Heard! Deal!” He hollered, his gape turning into a grin as his paw snatched up her hand and shook it wildly.  “You don’t understand how much this means, (y/l/n)-san!” 

“Oh, I’m starting to” She says with a wince of a smile as she pulls her hand away, flexing her sore fingers.

“I’ll show you where you’ll be staying!” Yuji leaps up from the ground and is at the door before (y/n) could even stand.  “And I’ll let someone know you’ll need a few changes in uniform, too” He adds as an afterthought, noticing her already wrinkled jacket from the last hour of sitting hunched over on the ground for tea.

Briefly glancing between Panda and Inumaki, she realizes she’s left with no choice but to get up and follow after Yuji, who seemed to be treating the whole ordeal like it was Christmas day.

Whether or not she could feel Inumaki’s gaze following her as she stood and left, she didn’t make clear.  Nonetheless his eyes lingered at the door even once she’d gone.

It’s not until Panda lets out a full belly laugh that the cursed speech user is pulled back into reality, and he furrows his brows at his old friend.

“Bonito flakes” He mutters with a shake of his head, before getting up and stretching his arm.  Leaning all of his weight on it for a while had it feeling tender, but the scowl on his face was completely due to Panda.

“What?” Panda asks, his voice hitting a higher octave, knowing exactly why his friend was being snarky.  “You stared at her the whole time, I’m not even sure you blinked!” 

Toge rolls his eyes just as he rolls his shoulder to work out the soreness.  So full of shit, he thinks, but he can’t help the growing smile behind his collar, as he can’t exactly deny the accusation.

But what can he say? He’d only met the girl for a short time, years ago, and it was enough to leave a lasting impression.  At least enough that he was eager to meet her again- even if she didn’t share the thrill of her visit.  He’d just have to find a way to help her enjoy her time here.

“Good luck getting her to actually enjoy it here,” Panda huffs, reading his mind as always.  Toge gives him a curious look, waiting for any bright ideas.  Unfortunately, Panda wasn’t exactly optimistic about (y/n’s) time here.  “Maki calls her the off grid sorcerer for a reason,” 

Toge wants to call him out on that, because sometimes Maki does saki bombs and likes to gossip, but for some reason, the words fail him.

“She’s dodged every request to teach, or even show up at any events held at the schools,” Panda explains.  “Maki says she hates jujutsu sorcery” 

That earns another eye roll from Toge.  It just didn’t make sense, who could she hate jujutsu sorcery, when she was actively still a jujutsu sorcerer?

“Ikura” Toge dismisses him with a lame wave of his hand.  It was stupid, and he wasn’t going to get into a stupid argument.  Maybe it was silly to feel this defensive over a high school crush that probably barely remembered him, but if Panda was going to be this childish, then so could he.

“Fine, do your best,” Panda says, standing to follow his friend out of the room.  “But I’d be impressed if you found a way to make her feel otherwise” 

Challenge accepted, Toge thinks to himself as he meanders back towards his own quarters.  

Step one would be getting to know her, properly, like he’d wanted to years ago.  And step two would be finding a way to make her stay.

That couldn’t be too hard, could it? 

⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆｡⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆

(y/n) never forgot the revenge she swore she’d take on Inumaki had she ever seen his face again.  She can’t ignore the small spike of bitterness in her chest whenever she sees him.

But she’s not sure what to do with that feeling now.

She’s standing in the classroom that supposedly belonged to Maki when she was around.  It was empty, too early for any students to arrive just yet, but she’d wanted to get there early.  That way she’d be settled in and ready for whatever this day was going to be.  She’d been mulling over what she was supposed to do when the students got here for so long that she’s not sure when she’d wandered to the window and began to watch the scene below.

Outside, Inumaki is standing on the steps with three students- probably his students- and he’s making various rapid hand movements.  Wait, was that sign language? She was on the second story, so even if she’d opened the window she probably wouldn’t have heard what they were talking about, but even without listening in, it seemed that the students understood their teacher perfectly.

She was certain he hadn’t used any sign language yesterday, she tried to recall the events of the day, but it was so fast paced and confusing from start to finish that she just couldn’t remember any communications from Inumaki’s end.

Besides a sarcastic chuckle.

“Are you (y/l/n)-senpai?” 

She almost jumps as she turns around, not having heard the footsteps approaching the classroom.

There stood two students, a boy and a girl, each wearing the same uniform.  The familiar black jackets and crisp slacks had her stomach knotting up with the realization of what she was doing here.

“Just (y/l/n),” She corrects, her voice sounding a bit strained.  She clears her throat before any more weird sounds could be made.  “I’m not your teacher, I’m just… filling in” 

“So… like a substitute teacher?” The boy deadpans.

Great.  He’s got an attitude.  If only she were Mai, she’d have that snark smacked out of his tone with one, well, smack.

“Hardly.  More of a supervisor,” (y/n) replies with a tight lipped smile.  “So… what is it you’re working on right now?” 

“Cursed techniques” The girl replies.  Her voice is much softer than her snarky little friend.  There’s a politeness in it that (y/n’s) grateful for.  She’s not really looking for these kids to respect her, but if they were nice it’d definitely make the next couple weeks go by smoothly.

“Easy enough,” (y/n) shrugs.  “Why don’t you explain your techniques to me and we’ll go from there” 

As she should have expected, it was not easy enough.  All those two did was argue, and when they weren’t arguing, they were struggling through their cursed techniques like a five year old getting their training wheels taken off.  If that five year old was blind and toppled off the bike and broke both legs in the process.  (y/n) found herself ready for a beer by lunchtime, and she wasn’t even sure if there was any alcohol on campus.  She’d have to do a grocery run later for some necessities.  If every day was going to be like this, she’d need a twenty-four pack.

She’d come out to the lawn for her lunch break, a blank notebook and pen in hand with the hopes of drawing up some kind of lesson plan.  A grocery list seemed more like the pressing matter now, though.

It must just be a spacey day for her, because when Inumaki Toge approaches the table, she realizes she hadn’t noticed him until he was standing right there before her.  His hand is in his pocket, and despite his face being half covered, she can tell he’s wearing a kind look.

Not knowing how she felt about him yet, she shifts in her seat on the bench.  She’s sure it’s rude to stare, and it’s dumb to expect him to explain what he wanted, but she’s not sure what to say either.

“Mustard leaf?” 

Huh?

Her confusion must’ve been evident, because Inumaki pulls his hand out of his pocket and points at her notebook and pen.

“Oh,” She mumbles absentmindedly, before passing the pen and paper to him.  “Is that how you ask for things?” 

She cringes at her own question, and if she wasn’t already embarrassed she would have smacked her hand to her head, too.  Inumaki doesn’t seem bothered though, as he just nods his head and begins to write in her notebook.

When he hands it back to her he keeps hold of her pen.  Was this his way of trying to have a conversation? This time she’s not stupid enough to actually ask that, but her curiosity gets the best of her as she grabs the notebook to read what he wrote quickly.

Hi.

Her eyes flicker between the page and him a few times, disbelief turning her lips into a small smile.

“Hi…” She replies, quieter than intended.

Inumaki chuckles, and beckons her to pass the notebook back to him.  (y/n) has a feeling the rest of her lunch hour would look like this.  This time she watches him as he scrawls on the page again, and this time it seems he’s writing more than two letters.

With his attention on his writing, she doesn’t feel so worried about staring at his bright violet eyes.  The last time she’d really gotten a good look at them was five years ago, and she was sure she’d never seen anyone with eyes quite like his.  That still holds true.

Inumaki passes the notebook back again.

Are you having a good first day? 

She snorts, and Inumaki takes that to mean it wasn’t a great start.

“I couldn’t have been more clear that I wasn’t meant to be a teacher,” (y/n) shakes her head, and leans back a bit into the bench.  Inumaki’s eyes shift to the space next to her, and she finds herself shifting to make room for him to sit.  He doesn’t need a verbal offer in order to sit beside her.  “I don’t understand how anyone could enjoy this”

Inumaki holds his hand out for the notebook once more, and (y/n) passes it to him.  She wonders if he ever got tired of communicating like this.  But just as the question passes her mind, she’s sure he’s grown used to the exhaustion of living this way long ago.  So she begins to wonder when he began to accept it.  As he writes, she realizes she actually has a lot of curiosities surrounding him.

The old bitterness begins to chip away the more she lets her mind wander.  Maybe that bitterness was childish and stupid, anyways.  Or, maybe it was just that she was a child when that grudge had taken form.

Toge passes her the notebook again.  She can’t see that he’s smiling, but there’s crinkles at the corners of his eyes that tell her he must be.

Have you tried drinking on the job? 

(y/n) glances between the note and Toge, who seems to be barely holding it together behind his mask.  It’s not until she lets out the faintest of laughs that he begins to cackle, shaking his head asif to say ‘I’m just kidding!’ as though she couldn’t have put that together.

Maybe Inumaki Toge wasn’t at all who she thought he was.  

It sort of turned out that she hadn’t known him at all.

⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆｡⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆

It didn’t take long for a little routine to be established.  It seemed to have happened without anyone’s say in it.  (y/n) would find a spot for lunch and Inumaki just seemed to gravitate towards that spot.  They’d eat their lunches and grade papers together while passing a notebook back and forth for communication, and it just seemed to… work.  

Some days (y/n) would even write her responses underneath his own written words.  Sometimes it just seemed like the fair thing to do, but she couldn’t deny, the peace and quiet could be nice.

Toge has to tap the end of his pencil against the table a few times to get (y/n) to snap out of her brain fog and finally notice the note he’d written her.  She gives him an apologetic look once consciousness had brightened her eyes again, before directing her attention to the notebook.

Toge smiles to himself, already going back to the paper he was grading.

I’ve got an assignment in Yokohama later.  Just a Grade Two though.  Want to come with? :)

(y/n’s) brow lifts in his direction, but he’s too busy reading one of his students’ work to notice.  Her eyes only liner for a few extra seconds before she makes a hum to get his attention.  He mimics the hum.

“All this work aging you faster? Is that what you’re telling me?” She asks.  Her finer absentmindedly taps at his neat handwriting.  “Can’t handle assignments alone anymore?” 

Inumaki scoffs, his eyes briefly flickering away from his work, just long enough to show his lack of amusement with her dry form of teasing.  He doesn’t get much more done before he’s bringing their talking notebook back to his side of the table and writing in it again.  (y/n) doesn’t bother to go back to her own work.  After five days of this little routine she’s come to realize this block of time in her day wasn’t meant for getting work done.  It was meant for… 

She gets the feeling Inumaki’s smiling to himself under his collar.

… whatever this was.

He looks up at her when he’s finished, catching her eyes already on him, and he’s sure that she blushes just a little bit, but any trace of it is gone when she reaches over for the notebook and lifts it to read.  A strategic choice to cover the lower half of her face.  Toge tries not to feel too defeated, it’s only fair after all.

I meant to hang out, dummy.  I don’t mean to brag you’d only slow me down out there.  But I do know a great tea shop.

She’s glad that the notebook hides her face, because she can’t have him seeing how quickly a few words can make her smile.  Only of course because she doesn’t want him getting the wrong idea.

There’s been a few occurrences of that feeling in the past couple days of spending her lunch breaks with Inumaki.  An odd feeling, like there’s a lump in her throat, but her heartbeat starts to get ahead of itself.  It’s like adrenaline, but seemingly without a cause.  So far she’d been able to brush the feeling off, trying not to think too much of it.

“You would be grateful if you had a partner like me out there,” She says matter of factly, before dropping the notebook back on the table.  “Sending you on a Grade Two mission, you almost have to wonder if the higher ups think you’re slow enough on your own?”

That earns her another scoff, this time accompanied by an even longer blank stare.  She has to bite back her smile before it can grow too wide, but she can’t help a little laugh at his uninterested expression.  For as much of a jokester as Inumaki was, he sure didn’t react when he was the one being teased.

“Yeah yeah, I hear you,” (y/n) huffs, finally looking back at her stack of papers that she should’ve graded by now.  “Tea does sound good.  Let me know when you’re headed out later” 

Again, she ignores the fluttery feeling when they swap phones to exchange numbers so they could form a plan later.  It was unrelated, she’s sure.  But she’s still not so sure what that feeling was all about to begin with.

⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆｡⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆

There was a skip to Inumaki’s step that couldn’t go unnoticed, especially not by his colleagues, who happened to watch him heading out to the courtyard and decided to involve themselves without even a single word shared.

“I’ve never seen you off to a mission so jazzed!” Itadori practically sings, his grin wide, his eyebrows dancing, oh, he’s so onto him.

“Bonito flakes” 

“So you didn’t brush your hair before going on an assignment?” Panda accuses, but his paw gets swatted away before he can run his hand through the luscious blonde locks of perfectly clean and dried hair.  

No one showers before an assignment.  What’s the point?

“Bonito flakes!” Toge repeats himself a little louder this time, his eyes darting around the area to be sure no one else was around to hear this interaction.

This doesn’t go unseen by his friends- who seem extra persistent on bothering him today.

“Oh wow! So it’s like a… date assignment?” Itadori asks.  He makes the extra effort to also ensure no one else was lingering around, his grin only growing as he checks over both shoulders before lowering his voice.  “That sounds hot, good for you man” 

Toge rolls his eyes, then shakes his head.

“What are you up to then?” Panda asks.

“It’s not a date?” Itadori’s grin falls into a frown.

Toge’s hand moves in a swift motion, from a fist with his thumb jutted out to his palm up so quick if you’d blink you would’ve missed it.  Somehow he’d managed to pour as much attitude into his signed question of ‘how?’ in one little hand movement as possible.  It’s clear it works too, because Panda winces and Itadori begins to scratch the back of his neck.

Sure, Inumaki had been excited to spend some time with (y/n) away from the school.  Maybe he had taken a shower before his assignment, so what? It was normal to want to be presentable right? He just wanted to be decent company…

“Oh, you’ve got it bad!” Panda hollers, not seeming to care that his voice booms and echos off the high ceiling, likely bouncing down all the corridors for anyone to hear.

Today, Toge is grateful that jujutsu society is dying.

“Bonito flakes!” He hisses, smacking his bear friend as hard as he could.  It wasn’t hard enough, as the belting laughter was even louder than his voice.

“Not too hard to find you guys, huh?” 

Toge doesn’t hide the fact that he nearly leaps out of his skin as he swivels around to see (y/n) standing there, an amused look on her face as she eyes the laughing pair, before turning towards the cursed speech user with a more curious expression.  Being a sorcerer of his caliber, she was surprised she was able to startle him at all.  But it’s clear when his eyes first land on her, it’s as if he’s seen a ghost.

He’s quick to calm down, relaxation returning to his shoulders and the only tension remaining in his body coming from the worry that his so called friends were going to say something stupid like- 

“Wow you’re in uniform! Haven’t seen Toge take up a partner in a while.  Unless Yuuta’s around,” Panda says, and (y/n) merely shrugs, looking over her usual attire.  “You’re probably a better date than Yuuta, though” 

“Ikura” Toge hisses, side eyeing his oldest friend with a look in his eye warning him that his next words wouldn’t be rice ball ingredients.

“I think Yuuta would be a good date” Yuji said thoughtfully, eyes wandering about as though he were really considering the date-ability of the older sorcerer.

It does the trick in moving the group’s attention away from the previous awkward thing, this one being far more enticing to latch onto, and while normally Toge would participate in the goofing off, at the moment he can only feel relief that (y/n) hadn’t seemed to dwell on the ‘date’ comment.

“He’d be a good date if he could sit down for long enough to actually date” Panda replies, and it’s not long before he and Yuji have launched themselves into an argument about it.

In the heat of the fight, (y/n’s) eyes catch Toge’s, and it only takes one motion of her head before they’re both speeding out of there.

“I didn’t realize they were crushing on Okkotsu so hard,” She’s the first to speak, once they’re far enough away there’s no chance of anyone overhearing.  “If I knew him better I would’ve given my two cents” She added in a near mutter, clearly meant for her own amusement under her breath, but Toge heard and asked about it anyways.

“Mustard leaf?” 

“Like I said, I don’t really know the guy-” She started to protest, but Toge clearly had invested an interest in her opinion.

“Mustard leaf mustard leaf mustard leaf-” 

“Alright!” She has to shout over his incessant pestering.  “He seems like a good guy and all but he’s not… my preference in company.  Is that good enough?” 

His collar is zipped up as per usual, but his cheeky grin seems to permeate through it anyways.  (y/n) has to roll her eyes to remind him just how ridiculous of a conversation this was.  Reiterating the fact that she’d barely met Okkotsu Yuuta once didn’t seem to do the trick in explaining that she couldn’t exactly form an opinion on him when they hadn’t even been introduced to one another, merely crossed paths back in the day when the end of the world seemed to closing in.

“Salmon cod roe” 

But the world hadn’t ended.  And now somehow, she found herself here.  Teaching in Tokyo, and keeping the company of a cursed speech user from the notorious Inumaki Clan.  And… she enjoyed herself.

She hoped it didn’t show too much, keeping her expression neutral on the ride to Yokohama as Toge scrolled through the case file of his assignment.  Occasionally he’d tilt his phone in her direction so she could read up on it as well, sometimes she’d give him her thoughts on it, but the few words that came out were nothing compared to the calculations she was making behind her eyes.  He could tell just from the look in her eyes that she had more plots in her mind than the small things she shared.

Toge wondered if she was always silent when she schemed, or if this was her attempt at not overstepping a non-existent boundary.  Truthfully, he would’ve loved to hear her thoughts on how best to exorcize this curse.  He would have found a way to ask her, but he didn’t want all of their conversation tonight to revolve around work.  Jujutsu, curses, and everything in between was on the back burner for now.  Or at least, once he wrapped up this assignment.

And as expected, the assignment took less time than the time they spent traveling.  (y/n) barely got a good look at the Grade Two before it was told to drop dead and- well, it dropped dead.  She didn’t exactly expect Inumaki to need any assistance, he’d made it pretty clear that her company wasn’t needed on the assignment.  However, seeing him in action up close was…

It’s just that she’d somehow let herself forget just how powerful the Inumaki Clan was.  Maybe she’d separated Toge from the rest of the clan in her mind, but watching him exorcize a curse and then zip up his collar again in the matter of a minute and a half was…

She has to clear her throat and make herself appear busy checking the content of her purse as they leave the site.  The heart of Yokohama, and the tea shop, was a little bit of a walk.  Luckily Inumaki was busy gulping down two- no, three- bottles of cough medicine.  By the time the third is gulped down, (y/n) finds her voice.  Her thoughts, however, are still a bit muddled.

“Do you want to stop for another?” She asks, gesturing to the empty mini bottle he’d just shoved into his pocket.  “Looks like there’s a convenience store right here” 

His eyes follow her gaze, but there’s an uncertainty in them as he seemingly ignores the offer.

“What?” (y/n) frowns as they grow nearer to the store without planning on stopping in.  “Clearly your throat hurts, since you’re throwing back that medicine like it’s tequila” 

That earns her a curious look, a raised eyebrow questioning her choice of drink.  But this time, it’s her turn to ignore him.

“C’mon, we’ll be quick” She says, turning to head into the store with or without him.

Toge huffs, but finds his feet dragging behind her path anyways.

(y/n) hovers around as Toge picks up two more bottles of cough syrup.  She makes a face when he chooses bubblegum, her nose wrinkling at the all-too childish choice.  Toge’s question of her disgust doesn’t need to be voiced with a rice ball ingredient.

“Bubblegum?” She asked, eyes locking on the medicine in his hand before looking up at him again.  “Are you five?” 

His eyes roll, but it’s quick enough that he’s still able to catch the smile she’s trying to bite back.

She might not have his little language perfectly translated in her mind, but she has a pretty good feeling that he’s cursing her out with a few muttered ikuras under his breath.  She barely hides her laughter as she follows him to the counter.

It’s hard not to notice the way the clerk stares.  She knows they’re not trying to be rude, they are an odd pair at the counter.  In matching black uniforms and three arms between them- not to mention Toge’s in a collar that makes him look like he could be casing the joint- but still, something unsettles her the longer the girl on the other side of the counter stares.

Knowing that saying something about the staring would make things worse, she decides to keep her mouth shut as Toge exchanges the money for his medicine.  But that doesn’t mean she’s not making a perfectly clear point by staring down the cashier with an intensity she’s only ever felt while staring a curse straight in it’s soulless eyes.  She gets a much more pleasing reaction from the non-sorcerer though.  As soon as their eyes cross paths, they’re much quicker in retrieving Toge’s change and receipt.  (y/n) can’t help the smug smile on her face once they’re able to turn and leave the store, the clerk barely able to mumble out a ‘have a good night’.

Toge may have had a small bit of tunnel vision opening up his medicine and chugging down the relieving, bubblegum tasting fluid.  But he was a trained jujutsu sorcerer, he could tell when there was suspicious activity in his peripherals.  And (y/n’s) fixed gaze on the corner store’s window was rather odd.

He gives her a look, but she’s more focused than he had been, and it takes a small nudge to her elbow to disconnect her hunter’s glare.

“What?” She asks, innocent and curious.

With his collar unzipped from his earlier medicine-chugging, she can see the awkward smile he wears as he questions her silently.  She knows what he’s trying to ask, but she feigns confusion and tries to brush off the moment.  Inumaki lets her, but only on the condition that she seems to give him the attention she’d previously fixed on the store.

With his throat feeling healed and the pleasantness of bubblegum replacing the metallic taste of blood on his tongue, Toge continues on their walk towards the tea shop he’d been looking forward to all day.  One cup of tea from there would do better work than five bottles of cough syrup- no matter the delicious pink flavor.

(y/n) tries to put the experience at the corner store behind her as they walk in a comfortable silence.  It wasn’t her place to take offense from the staring anyways, she’s sure Inumaki’s been on the receiving end of odd looks and lingering eyes his whole life.

Still, it makes her uneasy to think about him being treated differently than anyone else.  It wasn’t fair.

Wanting to put an end to their silence, Inumaki pulls out his phone and starts typing.

[inumaki toge]: the least you could do is be the chatty one btw

(y/n) feels the buzz of a notification in her pocket, but she pays it no mind at all.  It takes a laugh and a nudge from Inumaki for her to realize he’s the one texting her, and she laughs awkwardly with him as she pulls her phone out.

They continue to text rapidly back and forth as they walk.

[y/n]: it’s rude to text when you have company btw 

[inumaki toge]: would u rather i just curse u then

[y/n]: would U rather i just DIE then ?? 

[inumaki toge]: ur just grouchy that u didn’t get to exorcize that curse :p

She looks up at him then, fixing him a glare that just couldn’t have been conveyed the same way from an emoji.  He stares back at her for a minute, a smile that was a little too cocky on his face.  Her hard set eyes wander his face for a moment, she’d still never gotten used to seeing those markings on display, but the furrow in her brow remained.

He turns away to type again, and seconds later her phone vibrates in her hands.

[inumaki toge]: i looked pretty cool tho didn’t i? was i impressive? i’m thinking about being the first jujutsu influencer.

She barks out a laugh so unexpected that they both share the same look of surprise on their faces.  A softer, more bashful laugh comes out at her as she nods her head in confirmation.

“Yeah, Inumaki.  You looked very cool” Even the word comes out like it’s an immature compliment, but a compliment nonetheless.  He beams back at her.

[inumaki toge]: just toge.

“Okay” (y/n) nods at her phone, her lips moving like she’s going to call him by his preferred name, but no sound comes out, and she finds herself closing her mouth just as quickly.

[inumaki toge]: otherwise i’ll feel like ur teacher.  and that’s weird.

“Well, to be fair, you’re sort of my teacher,” She says, turning away from her phone to speak directly to him.  “You know, you’ve taught me how to teach,” She clarifies.  With an absent mind she tucks her phone back into her pocket.  “I know I agreed to it and all, but I probably would’ve walked out a few days ago if it weren’t for you.  I definitely don’t have the patience for this job- or any qualifications, actually,” 

Toge snorts and shakes his head with his disbelief in her.  She might not have sought out this job, but she didn’t have to be so hard on herself.

“Seriously, I think my students would have killed each other if it weren’t for your guidance.  Now they actually… almost tolerate each other.  It’s a miracle, really” 

Inumaki types on his phone again.

[inumaki toge]: don’t give us too much credit.  that would’ve happened eventually

“You think?” (y/n) scoffs, recalling how her pair of students were at each other’s throats when she met them.

[inumaki toge]: ofc.  they’re crazy about each other XD

“What!?” (y/n) shrieks as her eyes scan over his text a few more times before turning to him.  “Did you get cursed back there or something?” She accuses, a wild look in her eye and a grin of disbelief on her lips.  But a smile nonetheless, Toge returns it.  “They can’t stand each other!” 

He shrugs a shoulder, his smile softening with his gaze as he watches her struggle to understand where he was coming from.

“You know I don’t let them spar with each other right? They’re too rough! They’ll hurt each other more than they could get hurt out on an assignment” 

Toge chuckles, his teeth showing through his grin as he shakes his head at her before sending another message.  His amusement practically glowed through his features, so much so (y/n) couldn’t tear her eyes away from him while he was texting.

[inumaki toge]: sounds like rising tension to me~ 

[inumaki toge]: fr tho they had a thing for each other before you took over for fushiguro.  they’re at each other’s throats 24hrs a day but only cuz they got it bad.

“Got it bad?” (y/n) repeats in a mumble to herself.  She gives him a deadpan look, silently telling him she thought he was an insane person, but Toge only grins back at her.

“Salmon cod roe” He shrugs again, but before the conversation could go any further, he’s pointing to their destination and they’re crossing the street.  

As they enter the tea shop, (y/n) makes a mental note not to forget what he’d said.  Maybe she would feel differently when she saw her students tomorrow.  Inumaki- Toge- had known them longer than her, maybe he was onto something.

It’s pretty quiet inside, only a few other people sitting around the small cafe.  Some with company, talking quietly so as not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere for the others dining alone, accompanied only by a book or their studies.  The quietness, surprisingly, isn’t unsettling to (y/n).  She actually smiles contentedly as they find a two-seated table near the window.  There’s menus already placed at the table, although small, their detailing is adorable.  (y/n’s) compelled to pick one up and scan over it, despite having known exactly what she was going to order before walking in.

Toge lifts the other menu off the table, just enough to appear as though he was giving it a glance, but anyone paying attention would have seen that he hadn’t taken his eyes off of his company since they’d sat down.

“I think I’ll just get what I- what?” 

(y/n) starts to speak, but when she lifts her gaze from the paper she finds Toge staring at her so blatantly she can’t be bothered to finish her thought.  Her voice softens upon catching his eyes, suddenly nervous, although she can’t explain why, perhaps she’d just worried that she’d disturbed the quiet peace of the shop.

Toge shakes his head, assuring her there was nothing on his mind, and while she relaxes some knowing that he wasn’t trying to silently warn her about some unknown rule of speaking, her heart had yet to stop skipping every other beat as she waits for the rest of the explanation as to why he’d been staring.

He opens his mouth, and for a second the both of them almost forget.  Forget that he’s not going to say something of substance, something real.  They both wait for that split second for him to say what’s on his mind.  And they share a sheepish smile when he closes his mouth again, biting his lip before the smile could do a 180 and kill the vibe.

(y/n) winces for him when his eyes return to the menu, and she watches his hand reach for the zipper to his collar.  She’s compelled to tell him to leave it open- although she doesn’t find the courage for such words before a waitress strolls by for their order.

Toge points to the tea he wants on the menu, and she finds herself following suit when it’s her turn to order.  She can feel his eyes on her, wide with surprise as she wordlessly places her order, but once the waitress disappears, it’s silent between them again.

She struggles to look at him, not because she doesn’t want to, but because she can’t help herself from doing so.  He’d closed his collar only halfway, barely enough to cover the markings on his face, and yet enough to reveal whenever he smiled or winced or frowned.  Her eyes keep wandering around the room before going back to him, again and again, each time looking somewhere new.  The smallest peek of black ink near his mouth, the wisps of blonde hair that fell at the tips of his ears, the violet eyes that seemed to hold all the words his mouth couldn’t say.  Maybe that’s why it was so hard to look at him- it was the intensity.

“You’re being really quiet” She says after a few minutes of looking and looking away.  Toge’s stunned for a moment, before a laugh bursts through at the odd comment.  

The corner of her lips twitch momentarily, proud of her attempt to make him laugh working.

He pulls his phone out, laying it on the table to type easier with one hand, poking about on the screen like a child learning how to use a keyboard.  (y/n) pulls her own phone out as she awaits his message, but she keeps her attention on him as she does.  With his focus on the screen, there’s less of an intensity for her to stare into.

[inumaki toge]: found this place on an assignment here last year.  the tea is magic.  better than rct

“That so?” (y/n) hums as she’s typing back a response.  Toge hums in confirmation.  She doesn’t realize that as she types, he keeps his attention on her, just as she’d done for him.

[y/n]: i’ve ordered the same thing since i was a kid, so hopefully it doesn’t disappoint 

[inumaki toge]: that’s a lot of pressure to put on tea

[y/n]: no, the pressure is all on you 

[inumaki toge]: so it’s my fault if you don’t like the same cup of tea you’ve had all your life? 

“Mhm” (y/n) hums, lifting her head from the screen to catch his reaction, only again to find him already staring at her.  

The amused smirk she’d been wearing as they texted back and forth faltered, replaced by a soft surprise that Toge grew quite fond of seeing on her, even for a moment.  He doesn’t think about how his gaze is so obviously focused on her lips, because he doesn’t really think about anything at all.  With a blank mind he’s able to better appreciate her beauty.

(y/n’s) not sure what the look on his face means, she’s not able to read it as well as she’s typically able, and the realization makes her nervous again.  She can feel warmth spreading in her cheeks, and a similar feeling spiking in her chest.  What was that? 

Toge’s eyes shift up to hers, and he lets himself enjoy the way she sits there with her own eyes so wide he knows she’s waiting for him to explain the long silent stare.  Momentarily, he’s grateful for an ability such as his.  He doesn’t have to deliver an explanation in a timely manner, if at all.  He could keep on staring, and try his best to communicate his train of thought with his eyes alone.

“So… how much sign language do you know?” (y/n) asked, her voice quieter than she intended it to be.  

It can’t be explained, but everything suddenly feels more intimate now.  Like if she were to speak in a volume above a whisper, the rest of the world would come back into view.  But the rest of the world remains a watercolor background, and all she knows is sitting at this table.

Toge flattens his hand and shakes it back and forth, indicating a little, before he quickly types at his phone.

[inumaki toge]: learning a little here and there.  for the kids really.  panda is trying too.

(y/n) nods.  “Is there anything worth teaching?” 

Toge smiles, and for a few minutes he shows her a few motions for her to repeat before he texts her their meaning.  She gets the basics down pretty easy, such as introductions and greetings.  He doesn’t know how much he should teach her, but soon enough the waitress is returning with their tea and the topic moves on to something new again anyways.

He waits to take a sip of his, too curious to watch (y/n’s) first reaction to her own drink.

There’s something so plainly pretty about the picture before him that if it wouldn’t be odd, he would raise his phone and snap the picture to retain it’s memory in a physical form.  The way she captivates his entire attention has him feeling like he’s seventeen again.  Some of it might have to do with the warm lighting, the quiet atmosphere, but his thoughts are on such a simple track of adoration that he doesn’t think too much about how pretty her hands look gently wrapped around the mug- just that they are pretty.  

She’s pretty.  

And he’s… a goner.

She’s smiling when she lowers her drink after a sip, and Toge releases a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“It’s good,” She voices her opinion after a moment, her hands still wrapped around the mug even as she rests it on the table.  “Definitely worth the trip out here.  Even if I didn’t get to have any of the fun” 

The movement of Toge’s hand is quick, as he gestures downward before tapping his nose and repeating the same motion.  He does it a second time just for the emphasis of trying to communicate something to her.  It takes her a moment to understand, but despite having a very minimal understanding of sign language, she comes to her conclusion quicker than he would have thought.

“Fun,” She repeats the motion he’d made, two fingers tapping her nose before bringing her hand downwards towards the table.  Toge nods in affirmation, a smile breaking across his face at her quick wit.  “This is fun?” She makes her guess at what he’d said, and his smile only widens as he nods again.  “This is fun,” The second time she repeated it was to reaffirm the motion in her mind, hoping a mental note would help her remember the small bit of signing for later.  

Then, for a third time, she quietly repeats “This is fun”, and Toge seems to understand that she was agreeing with his statement.  This is fun.  They’re having fun.  Together.  Like this.

It’s quiet between them as they sip their tea, but it’s not an awkward silence.  It’s comfortable, sitting together in the quaint shop and enjoying their warm drinks.  Time seems to fly by even without conversation, and they find themselves paying and leaving before they know it.

There seems to be no rush on their walk to the train station.  Neither of them even bother to check the schedule on the way.  Tokyo would be there no matter what time they returned, they were sure.

The silence lingers for a bit longer, but eventually Toge can’t help but pull out his phone and strike up a conversation.

[inumaki toge]: maybe next time i’ll let you do the exorcizing 

(y/n) shoots him a look when she reads his text, her brow raised but the rest of her face so expressionless it’s hard for him to get a read on what she’s thinking.  He’s starting to get the feeling that she likes it that way.

[y/n]: next time? 

He doesn’t need to text her when he can just nod his head.  Her lips twitch, but she manages to keep them in a straight enough line that he still can’t tell what she’s thinking about.  Nonetheless, he beams back at her, and he holds her stare for a moment longer than he should have before he’s texting her again.

[inumaki toge]: you seem thrilled

(y/n) lets out a dry laugh at the equally dry message.

“I’m only around a couple more days,” She replies, and the disappointment Toge feels is immediate and obvious in the way he deflates.  Still, she continues to explain, “Tokyo might have a curse issue, but it can’t be so bad they have to send their best and brightest every night, hm?” 

There’s hesitation in his eyes as he thinks about what he should type out next.  (y/n’s) grown rather patient with the way he communicates, so she doesn’t seem to realize that his silence isn’t due to the limitations of Cursed Speech.

Even once he begins typing, his thumb is slow.

[inumaki toge]: you’d be surprised.  tokyo might need a little extra help

He glances over at her as she reads his message, and his thumb begins to type out a second message before she could reply first.

[inumaki toge]: you could always stay a little longer

Again, he watches her as she watches her screen.  Where her thumbs had previously hovered over her keyboard, she moves them away now.  Leaving no intention of texting back a response.  Toge feels the pace of his heart begin to slow as the organ plummets to his stomach.  Suddenly filled with dread, he fixates his stare on the station ahead of them.  He thinks if he were to look at her now, when she’s so clearly rejected the idea, that she would see the disappointment on his face.

Without a word or text shared, the pair get inside and track down the evening schedule.  Toge’s pretty sure that there’s a faster pace to her steps than before.  The dread only worsens at the thought that suddenly she’s in a rush just to wait for a train.

Once they’re stopped again, (y/n) lets out a sigh and turns towards him.  He waits for her to begin her explanation, her rejection, but it takes a few more seconds before she actually voices her thoughts.

“It’s not a surprise… right?” Is the first thing she slowly says, and Toge can’t say he understands what she means.  He can’t really say anything, but this is different.  “I mean, I agreed to two weeks, you were there,” 

His brows furrowed into a bored look, and she winced.

“And I told you I wasn’t cut out for the whole teaching thing, I’ve barely been getting by- and I might hate it sometimes but I do miss assignments you know” 

In a stressed, jerky movement, Toge raises his phone and shakes it, reminding her of the offer he’d just given her.  (y/n) frowns, and he groans as he types a quick text.

[inumaki toge]: if you really wanted, you could take assignments here

He can tell it doesn’t make a difference when her face doesn’t change upon reading it.  He huffs again, a muttered “Ikura” under his breath, which she hears and bristles up to right away.

“Hey,” The offense in her tone is clear, and Toge’s partially surprised she even understood what he meant.  “I don’t understand why you’re getting upset, I’ve been clear from the minute I got here that I’d be leaving when the time was up.  And time’s up” 

With a glare that he can’t help, Toge texts her again.

[inumaki toge]: you’re not leaving.  you’re running away

“I am not!” She argues, her voice raising more than she wanted it to.  A few other people waiting for the train send the pair a dirty look for disrupting the peace and quiet of an empty train station, but she pays them no mind as she continues arguing.  “I’m going home.  I don’t live here and I don’t want to live here- I didn’t want to be here to begin with, remember?” 

[inumaki toge]: but then things changed.

“No, they didn’t” (y/n) replies, focusing on her screen.

[inumaki toge]: yes they did and you know it

“That doesn’t even matter.  I was never going to stay” 

[inumaki toge]: it does matter.  it matters because you don’t really want to leave, and i really don’t want you to go.

Her head darts upward and she stares at him now, the weight of the confession hitting her harder than either of them would have thought.  Her typical neutral expression is washed away by something else- something serious, and almost concerned.  Her brows are knitted together as she stares at him as if she’s waiting for him to speak.  Eyes round and lips parted around words that aren’t coming to her fast enough, they stand silently and stare at each other.

Before the right thing to say could come to her, the ring signaling the train was pulling in began to go off, and shortly after the train entered the station.  The expected chaos of it all- the screech of metal on metal, the sudden gust of air whipping around hair and clothes- it feels nonexistent as they stand there together.

Nothing happens.  The train comes to a stop, the doors open, and Toge tilts his head to beckon her to follow him onto the car.  (y/n) follows a few paces behind.  An indescribable but momentary paralyzing sensation buzzing through her legs as she forces them to move.

They take their seats, phones in hand but no messages being typed between them.  (y/n’s) leg begins to bounce the longer Toge stares out the window without a thought to share.

She hates the anxious feeling that settles under her skin the longer they sit like this.

“You know…” Her voice is a mumble when she finds the courage to speak, ten minutes into their ride.  “It’s not like I hated my time here,” 

It does the trick in getting him to look at her, at least.  But he makes no effort to text, or sign.  Instead, he just stares blankly, telling her that it wasn’t good enough.  She frowns, holding his stare.

“And it’s not like I’d never come back” 

This time he scoffs, an unamused smile on his face as he shakes his head.  The bitterness wafting off of him is almost as strong as his cursed energy.  Without words, text, or movement, he’s able to say you’re not coming back, as clear as day.

“I would come back,” (y/n) argues quietly, and his violet eyes drift back to her with the realization that she seemed to understand exactly what he was thinking.  If only she would extend the same ability to him, so he wouldn’t have to decipher all the layers of bullshit she uses to cover what she really thinks.  “I would” She says it again, a certainty in her eyes that tells him she’s being sincere.

Toge huffs in defeat, unlocking his phone.

[inumaki toge]: what is it that you’re so insistent to go back to?

He doesn’t mean for it to be a harsh message, but that doesn’t make the blow to her ego any easier.  But she knows he’s not wrong, either.  There’s no family she’s in contact with.  Her work leaves her no time for friendships, either.  She doesn’t even have a pet.  All she has is an undecorated apartment with a fridge that has one box of leftovers that would need to be thrown out upon her return and a perfectly made bed that hasn’t been slept on in weeks- even before she left.

There’s fundamentally nothing for her to go home to.

Her lower lip wobbles, but she’s quick to bite down on it before it could go noticed.  Toge’s pretty sure he knows what he saw, though.

Setting his phone on his leg, he reaches his hand out to her.  His touch is gentle, but apprehensive as he sets his hand on her wrist.  It speaks volumes, though.  She can see, and feel, all of the sympathy he’s trying to communicate.  With a short squeeze, he pulled his hand away again, much too soon, but he’d said exactly what he needed to say with that movement alone.

Why can’t you stay?

Her mouth opens, “of course I can’t stay!” sitting right at the tip of her tongue, but this time she’s the one with the Cursed Speech, and she couldn’t possibly say it out loud.  But it’s there, they both know it’s there, they can practically see it.

(y/n) shuts her mouth, wobbly lips forming into a frown upon seeing Toge’s disappointment in her silence.

She’s known him all of two weeks, and his disapproval wrecks her.

“I…” It’s broken, hardly a word, hardly a syllable, but it’s a start.  “What would that say?” 

His brows twitch, then draw together.  Confusion, maybe concern, is written all over him as his eyes wander her features, doing their best to understand her.  She doesn’t make it any easier on him.

With a slight shake of his head, he gives in and asks her what she means.

“If I stayed, just cause- just- just on a whim, for no reason other than-” 

She’s stammering, hardly making sense, and she’s just barely managed to keep her voice down so as not to draw attention from the other passengers scattered around.  But even she has to cut herself off before she could say something that could embarrass herself.  Although, if she were honest with herself, that ship had sailed.

Toge tilts his head, prompting her to finish her thought, but the longer he sits, and stares, and waits, the more (y/n) seems to withdraw.  Her mouth shuts, her brows seem to fall, and he worries that means she’ll be keeping the rest of her thoughts to herself.  He frowns at her, his curious look turning pointed to voice his irritation.

(y/n) figures she could either find another way to explain herself, or she could be grateful that the train was pulling into their station now and she could let the conversation die within this car when she hops out.

The screeching halt followed by the squeak and cry of the doors sliding open is rough on the ears but (y/n) couldn’t have been more relieved as she shoots up from the seat and rushes out of them.

The unsaid words aren’t forgotten, they couldn’t be when they’re tethered to the both of them, following them off the train and through the station.  It doesn’t matter how her stride races past his, the invisible chain still lingers.

She’s not winded from how quick she’s walking- of course not she’s a trained sorcerer- but somehow she’s not taking in air fast enough and she finds her chest rising and falling with short gasps of breath barely relieving her for a second at a time before she’s struggling to gulp down another.

Toge lets her storm off for a few paces.  Whether it’s because he wants her to get it out of her system, or if he needed his own train of thought to catch up with his actions, he couldn’t be sure.  But at some point following after her wasn’t enough.

(y/n) chokes mid breath when she’s halted from speed walking any further.  A hand latches around her wrist, and she has the audacity to look shocked when she’s whirled around.

“Toge!” She shouts, and they both seem to wince at the realization that it’s the first time she’s called him by his first name.

His brows are drawn together, and his eyes shift between hers and the arm he’s holding a few times before he lets her go.  He expected her to huff and take off again.  Maybe she’d speed walk all the way back to Jujutsu Tech, pack her bags, and disappear before the sunrise.

Her hand falls limply back to her side, a visible weight resting on her shoulders as she seems to shrink before him.  It’s odd to see her this way, but he doesn’t know how to communicate it at the moment.

“You barely know me” Her voice isn’t a whisper, but it’s too quiet for Toge’s liking.  He fights the urge to roll his eyes by taking a slow blink.

His hand gestures towards his chest, then taps his head before pointing towards her.  Her lips drop open, but Toge’s quick to repeat the action.  One sharp gesture towards himself, a jerky point at his skull, and then an even more exaggerated point towards her.  His finger stays in her direction until she shuts her mouth again, and he knows she won’t try to argue again.

Did he know everything about her? No.  But right now, it’s what he wanted more than anything.  And if he couldn’t get her to understand that, then he might go crazy.

“I don’t- I don’t understand,” She starts, and Toge groans, his head hanging back as he silently curses the clouds.  “No,” She steps forward, reaching towards his arm only to hesitate once she’s close to grabbing him.  “I meant… I meant I don’t understand why” She clarifies.

There’s nothing but softness behind his eyes as he gazes down at her, but the intensity of the violet still has a hitch forming in her throat.  The way he looks at her, as if she hadn’t just tried to storm out on him, positively makes her knees weak in a way that she can no longer ignore.  

That feeling she’s been pushing away, the stuttering heartbeat, the rush of adrenaline, she couldn’t ignore it now if she wanted to.  Not with it reflecting in Toge’s eyes looking directly back at her.

Her own eyes stretch as round as saucers, realization draining her face of color before coming back in a creeping pink blush.  

“And I- I barely know you,” She stammers over her words, but there’s something different in her tone now.  As if she’s trying to convince herself, rather than him.  Toge nods his head from side to side- he can’t argue, but he doesn’t think she wants him to anyways.  “It would just be- ridiculous to stay, out of nowhere, just- just pack up my life and start all over here- I- I’m not even that familiar with Tokyo,” 

He chuckles, amusement flickering in his eyes as he watches her grasp at straws.  A last ditch effort at explaining away the feeling.

“And I’m a shit teacher… those kids will eat me alive if I can’t get my shit together…” Her voice goes quieter as she trails off, glancing away as her eyes search around the empty street for some sort of solution.  “I can’t just uproot my life for you, you know” 

And then (y/n’s) head snaps forward again, noticing much too late the implication of her words.  Toge’s already raising a brow at her choice of words, a shit eating grin splitting his face.

He points his finger to his chest with an attitude that would make her glare at him if she could will the muscles in her face to do so.  But her lips are working on a mind of their own, twitching into a nervous smile.  She has to shake her head to combat the stupid dopey smile on her own face.  It only seems to further Toge’s amusement.

“Don’t- don’t look at me like that!” She’s shouting again, but it’s useless.  She’s already spoken those previously unsaid words, breaking their tether and letting them free for him to have and hold onto.

And hold onto them, he did.

“Salmon~” He sing-songs the riceball ingredient in a knowing, teasing tone.  He enjoys it far too much when her nervous smile makes an attempt at frowning, only for the corners of her lips to wobble and tilt upwards at him again- as if smiling at him came naturally to them.

A breathless, humorless laugh escapes her.  She pushes her fingers against her temples, as if it could bring some sort of peace to her chaotic mind.  She must be going crazy to actually be caving, right?

“I’ve lost my mind” She mumbles out.

Toge rolls his eyes at her dramatics, unable to help it this time.  He brings his hand out to brush his fingers under her chin, just enough to pull her attention back towards him- and returns color to her cheeks once more- before he reaches for one of her hands and pulls it towards him.  Mindlessly, she takes a half step forward.

It’s quiet for a moment.  And it should be uncomfortable, standing in silence in the middle of a sidewalk.  The sun had set a while ago, leaving only the street lamps to illuminate the surrounding area.  There are a few people still out and about, some rushing home late, others strolling casually, but even as people awkwardly sidestep the two of them, it’s hard to really give it much notice.

Not too unexpected, (y/n) breaks the silence first.

“There must be a rice ball ingredient that would tell me what you’re thinking,” She sighs, her nervous smile growing softer, fonder, more sure of itself.

Toge chuckles, and she can’t help but watch his lips tilt into a smile.  The slight dip of skin where his markings are, where a dimple is almost perfectly centered by ink.  Her gaze is as soft as her smile- just as fond, just as sure of herself.

“You know… you’re nothing like I thought you’d be when I first met you” 

“Hm?” Toge hums, his head tilting just slightly.  He already knows that he’s doomed to have a terrible first impression when people meet him.

(y/n) nods, her eyes haven’t torn away from his lips and the markings that frame them yet.

“I thought you were… I dunno, different,” Her own voice lowers to a near hum, something curious lighting up in her eyes.  “I don’t know if you remember, but that exchange event, when we were still students, you made me run away from a fight,” 

Toge nods, recalling the day just fine.  Finally, her eyes flicker back up to meet his.

“I kind of hated you for that you know,” 

It’s not funny, but he’s laughing quietly.  (y/n) doesn’t understand it.  He just shrugs impishly.

“I don’t like being told to walk away from a fight,” She says, a seriousness in her tone that stood out in the otherwise tranquil moment.  “Actually, I don’t really like being told what to do at all,” She adds, almost as an afterthought.

Her eyes shift a few times back to his mouth, she does nothing to hide her glances.

Inumaki’s expression is knowing, she’d made it abundantly clear that she didn’t take direction from others very well, she didn’t have to tell him.  It took him, like, three tries just to get her to go out for tea.

“But…” She sighs through a long exhale, trying to release her pent up nerves.  “If you told me to stay, I wouldn’t really have another choice…” Her words are slow, careful, just like her eyes as she peeks up at him properly.  “Literally” She tacks on at the end with the tiniest of smiles.

Inumaki raises his eyebrows, unable to help the way his lips tilt into a smirk at the idea.  She’s not wrong, if he really wanted her to stay, he had just the right cursed technique to make that happen.  His eyes shift between hers, if only to appreciate the way her impatience becomes her, no matter how hard she’s trying to mask it.

He opens his mouth, takes a breath, and leans down to her height.  (y/n’s) eyes don’t blink once as she’s rendered breathless from anticipation.

Just as it looks like he’s going to say something, she does blink, and she nearly misses it.  Toge’s quick, leaning in swiftly to brush his lips over her cheek in a chaste kiss.  Her eyes are flying open to stare at him in shock when he pulls away just as fast as he’d leaned in.

She opens her mouth to say something- probably some sort of protest out of shock, but no words come out, and there’s no denying that she’s starting to grin.

Toge’s already smiling ear to ear, seemingly proud of himself.  He doesn’t give her any extra time to think of some witty thing to say, either.  Just holds his arm open to drape around her shoulders so that when they continued their walk, she was right next to him.  Still shell shocked, (y/n) finds herself blindly going along with him.  She doesn’t brush off his arm, or speed away, she keeps her pace purposefully in sync with his.  And after a few strides, she’s even closer to him than before.

Their walk is quiet for a while, each too preoccupied by their heads from that one little kiss.

(y/n) was practically derailing- had he really reduced her to this simple state from a kiss on the cheek? Was she actually making a mental checklist for moving preparations? Would she always feel a burst of electricity inside of her when he was close? 

It would take a business day or two for her to regain her composure and open her eyes to what she really wanted.  But Toge was happy to wait, especially when it meant he’d be the one right there when she was ready to admit how she felt.

Speaking off- Toge couldn’t wipe the grin off his face the whole journey back to Jujutsu Tech.  It wasn’t a long walk, but it felt like an eternity when he had the girl of his dreams under his arm, still blushing from one little kiss.

What an excitement it would be to get to do it again, and have her understand him.

[cherry-romper]

Loving You Sounds Like a Song

Playlist

+ Midoriya, Bakugou, Todoroki, Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, Iida, Momo, Jirou, Mina, Ochaco, Asui, Mirio, Amajiki, Aizawa, Hawks, All Might, Dabi, Twice, Compress, Shiguraki

Midoriya; Head over Heels - Tears For Fears

I wanted to be with you alone

I'm lost in admiration, could I need you this much?

Something happens and I'm head over heels

One little boy, one little man - funny how time flies

Bakugou; Everlong - Foo Fighters

I've waited here for you, Everlong

Come down, And waste away with me

Breathe out, So I can breathe you in

And I wonder...if everything could ever feel this real forever.

You gotta promise not to stop when I say when.

Todoroki; Say Yes to Heaven - Lana Del Rey

Give peace a chance, Let the fear you have fall away

Say yes to heaven, Say yes to me

If you go, I'll stay, You come back, I'll be right here

And if you fight, I'll fight

I've got my mind on you

Kirishima; Lover - Taylor Swift

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?

I've loved you three summers now, honey, but I want 'em all

I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover

All's well that ends well to end up with you

Kaminari; NEON - DPR LIVE

Your kisses make it go neon

Neon, I want to know you

Neon, lose the night with you

Girl, I'm liking your body, but more than that I love your, uh

Colourful smile, you make me wonder what's under, uh

The way you make the light go blurry

Sero; Coast - Hailee Steinfeld

You the wave upon my ocean, pounding rhythm and motion

Just relax and let the riptide pull you close

Baby, all I wanna do is coast, with you

The starts come down, you drown 'em out

I'm sinking deeper into you

Iida; This Charming Man - The Smiths

Will nature make a man of me?

Why pamper life's complexity, When the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat?

This man said, "It's gruesome that someone so handsome should care"

A jumped up pantry boy, Who never knew his place

Momo; You've Got The Love - Florence + The Machine

I know I can count on you

But you've got the love I need to see me through

When my food is gone you are my daily meal

When friends are gone I know my saviour's love is real

Jirou; Wait a Minute! - WILLOW

I'm here right now, with you

I'll run my hands through you hair

You wanna run your fingers through mine

You left your diary at my house, And I read those pages, Do you really love me, baby?

Mina; DESERT EAGAL - Beyonce

Soft to the touch, let you hold somethin'

Soft kisses on some fat lips

Put on a show and make it nasty, Desert Eagle in the backseat

Oh, I keep it classy, let you love me like a lady, yeah

Ochaco; Strawberry Skies - Kid Travis

Girl you brighten up my world

Cant you tell I want you by my side?

We're gone with the wind, Hair in your face, Put my hand on your waist

Strawberry skies, all on your lips, 'cause I love how it taste

Hope that you catch me when I fall

Asui; Honey - Kehlani

I like my girls just like I like my honey, sweet, A little selfish

'Cause I'm a beautiful wreck, A colourful mess, but I'm funny

All the pretty girls in the world, But I'm in this space with you

Don't walk away, or would you wait for me?

Isn't love all we need? Is it love?

Mirio; I can't Help Myself - Four Tops

You know that I love you, I cant help myself

I love you and nobody else

Leaving just your picture behind, And I kissed it a thousand times

When you snap your figure or wink your eye, I come running too you

But every time I see your face, I get choked up inside.

Amajiki; Halley's Comet - Billie Eilish

But in my dreams I seem to be more honest, And I must admit, you've been in quite a few

But you're all it takes for me to break a promise

Silly me to fall in love with you

Midnight for me is 3AM for you

I was good at feeling nothing, now I'm hopeless

Aizawa; Adore You - Harry Styles

I get so lost inside your eyes, Would you believe it?

You don't have to say you love me

You don't have to say nothing

You don't have to say you're mine

I'd walk through fire for you, Just let me adore you

Hawks; Where u Goin' Tonight? - Mac Ayres

Just don't stand so close to me... Unless tonight, you'll be my only

All of the things I tried to keep low, Feeling like I been changing

Tell me where you goin' tonight? I'll meet you there if that's alright

Could I be the one to do the things that you like?

Burnt all my bridges, baby, But at least I'm staying warm

I been working on forgiveness, Said I don't think its catching on

All Might; I Was Made For Lovin' You - KISS

Tonight I wanna give it all to you

'Cause girl, I was made for you, And girl, you were made for me

Can you get enough of me?

Feel the magic, there's something that drives me wild

Dabi; LET THE WORLD BURN - Chris Grey

It's dangerous 'cause I want it all, And I don't think I care what it costs

I shouldn't have fallen in love, Look what it made me become

And I know you think you can run

But I just cant let you go

I'd let the world burn, Let the world burn for you

This is how it always had to end, If I cant have you then no one can

Twice; Caraphernelia - Pierce The Veil

There ain't a think that you can do that's going to ruin my night

This dizzy dreamer and her bleeding little blue boy

Hold my heart, it's beating for you anyway

Ill burn your name into my throat

What's so good about picking up the pieces?

Mr. Compress; Never Ever Getting Rid of me - From Waitress

I will never let you let me leave, I promise I'm not lying

I'm gonna do this right, Show you I'm not moving, Wherever you go, I won't be far to follow

I'm gonna love you so, You'll learn what I already know, I love you means you're never, ever, ever getting rid of me

Shigaraki; No Mercy - DeathByRomy

My boy hates everybody but me

He's sinister, but to me, he's sweet

In love with a monster, Daddy thinks I've lost it

My boy's a bullet in your brain, I show no mercy

Your nightmare is the man of my dreams

It turns me on when he makes you bleed

[mammalsofaction]

Imagine human!Perry getting hit with the molecular separator. Set during the events of 'Split Personality'

-That morning when Candace was wrestling with the separator and accidentally separates herself, the machine smashes into a rock and begins to malfunction. She doesn't notice, what with suddenly being two people with wildly contradicting priorities and all.

-But when Perry steps out into the backyard to head into his hideout, stepping onto the very same rock-a trigger for his lair, the machine descends down with him. Perry lands in his seat, but the machine activates upon impact to the floor and hits him with it before it sputters out and dies. Monogram is greeted with two distinct Perrys; Agent P, professional hardass and lone wolf dedicated in the pursuit of justice and fighting evil (specifically Doof); and Uncle Perry, a mellow headed novelist who sleeps a lot and really doesn't do much, but loves the kids with all his heart.

-If both men get caught in public and outs OWCA, it could decimate Perry's cover and invite all sort of legal and coverup catastrophes. Monogram demands Carl chase them and fix it.

-Instead of the Look-Away Inator, it's a Vanessa week and Doof has cooked up another harebrained scheme to take over the Tri State Area, but first! Buying parts at the mall with his daughter :3 Bonding time.

-So Agent P storms to the Mall to defeat Evil and Uncle Perry goes to the mall because all his kids (Phineas, Ferb, Candace, Vanessa) are there!

-Cue four part musical number with Romantic Candace, Busting Candace, Agent P and Uncle Perry while PnF and Carl are trying to chase Candace and Perry around the mall, while Linda and Doof remain perfectly oblivious.

-At one point Vanessa separates from her dad to go look at some new knee high goth stomping boots, and Agent P gets to her first. He gets all up in her face, interrogating her on her father and where he's going and what he's planning, and Vanessa-miffed-goes "What is going ON with you today" and Agent P is like "That's none of your business, Doofenshmirtz." Spitting out her last name like it's something disgusting. He's never referred to her like that before: Perry has ALWAYS made a point to separate her from her father, and emphasize that she was her own person. Agent P storms off and leaves her behind feeling hurt and confused and 40% sure that was NOT the Perry she knows and loves.

-Barely a moment after he leaves Uncle Perry stumbles inside the shop, looking winded and worried before he spots her and breathes this huge sigh of relief. He notes that Vanessa looks spooked, and Vanessa is making that math calculation meme look as Perry checks her up and looks her over until she convinces him that she's fine and she hadn't been hurt. She knows Perry was a softy on the inside, but she's getting whiplash from the sheer difference between him NOW and the him that just spit in her face 5 minutes ago. Not to mention they're dressed COMPLETELY different, and she's never seen him dressed like THIS before. An old battered denim jacket with old band patches over a slightly washed out ducky momo tshirt, khaki shorts and crocs. Hes wearing glasses, and his hair uncombed and unruly. If she was any measure as face blind as her father, they would be two completely different people despite the teal hair, and she wouldn't have recognised him at all.

-She's beginning to suspect they ARE different people. Sthg smells FISHY.

-She off handedly mentions that her father is making a SUPER evil contraption that could completely isolate her uncle. He's on his way home right now.

-Ducky Momo Perry just looks at her with this confused, slightly amused "ok, and?" Look like he's not sure what to do with this information, and just asks if she needs a ride home? If she can just wait until he collects the rest of his kids (he has kids?????) he can drop her off at her father's. They could even get slushy dog otw out maybe?

-She asks if he doesn't want to stop her father's evildoing maybe, and Perry's like no???? Im just a novelist, I dont do much. I dont go out busting evil, that's Other Me's job, and Vanessa's Something Is Off senses just goes BLARING like What Does He Mean.

-Perry checks something on his phone though, and notes with concern it is so LATE, and he needs to make Lunch, oh the kids must be starving he HAS to look for them, and takes off with a kiss to Vanessa's cheek requesting her to meet her at Slushy Dog so he can take her home.

-After he leaves, Vanessa walks out with her mind going A Mile A Minute and spots the Carl The Intern that Monty had once introduced her to. She waves him over, and he asks, nervously, if she had seen "Agent P" around. It's child's play to pressure him into telling her that Agent Perry the Platypus had accidentally been molecularly separated into individually embodying each side of his double life. One where he is known as Uncle Perry of the Flynn Fletcher household, and Secret Agent P the enactor of Justice.

-They had to put the two of them together, else OWCA could risk Perry's cover to be blown, and he would have to be relocated.

-She doesn't want this! She tells Carl that she had already told Agent P that her father had gone home to enact his Evil Plan so she's sure he's going to be at DEI, and she's going to persuade Uncle Perry to send her up. Carl will have to meet them there with the repaired separator and blast them back together.

-She finds Uncle Perry at Slushy Dog, talking to that blonde kid behind the counter that she's pretty sure is Candace Flynn's boyfriend and Perry introduces him as Jeremy Johnson, who had told him Phineas, Ferb and Candace had gone home with their mother. Jeremy seems to vaguely recognise her, at least. Perry introduces her as his "Partner's daughter, Vanessa." Which, okay, they are so pressed for time to unpack that right this second. The implications don't seem to miss Jeremy, either; he looks too stunned to speak. She doubts Jeremy had known Perry was dating anybody. Heck, she didn't know until right that second either. She is SOOOOO bringing this back up once Perry was back to normal.

-She tells Perry that her dad was making her favourite doonkelberry pie for lunch and he just called her and said Perry was invited so won't he please send her home? Perry blushes a little, most likely at the thought of her dad inviting him over to lunch, Jeremy looks arrested and wide eyed like he's piecing things together in his head and Vanessa is only a little bit sorry about the mess Normal Perry is going to have to come home to when he reports home to his mother.

-As Uncle Perry drives her home, Vanessa implicitly understands Carl and Monogram's concerns for the Agency's cover and OWCA's secrecy, because Uncle Perry has NO FILTER. She learns more about him in the half hour car ride (a battered Honda Accord) over than she ever has in the last 5 years she had known him. In a relaxed state, Perry talks in odd accent amalgam that he explains had been due to being raised in Australia, before moving to England with his sister when she married Lawrence, Ferb's dad. They were otherwise orphans who were integrated by OWCA at an incredibly young age, so the Fletchers became like family, and he had stayed even when his sister passed from an OWCA related incident (the one thing he seems hesitant to elaborate on) to help Lawrence Fletcher raise Ferb. He explains to her that prior to his nemesis-ship to her father, OWCA had demanded him work odd hours which weren't very kid friendly, which made him apply for a more stable schedule. Major Monogram got in contact and persuaded him to take up a nemesis-ship with his father in Danville, and when he moved, Lawrence and Ferb moved with him.

-Lawrence met Linda Flynn in Danville, who was a single mother of Candace and Phineas Flynn, and the rest was history.

-Vanessa had an inkling there was so much more lore she could uncover from that brief yet eye opening wealth of information, but she got distracted just learning more about Perry as a person and-apparently-how much more open he is about his adoration of her father without his concerns of professionalism as an OWCA agent. She knows he thinks her dad's cute, seems exasperated but fond and awed of his inventions, angry and sad about his childhood and past. Perry says he feels like he owes Heinz for so much, not least for getting to care about another brilliant kid, a point he emphasizes with a noogie to Vanessa's head. She feels all mushy and warm inside, but all too soon they have arrived at her father's penthouse doorstep, from which originated the sounds of cartoonish violence.

-Perry notes that her father must be busy, and Vanessa is abruptly reminded of her Mission. She reiterates her father's invitation to lunch, and practically drags Perry inside, praying that Carl had beat them there or was at least primed and aimed the Separator whatsit with a clear shot.

-Inside, Agent P is posed over her father, straddling his chest and he lies on his back on floor squirming and wriggling and noting that Perry the Platypus is being strangely intense today. Agent P is sporting a good few scrapes of his own, implying that her father had given as good as he got, but even with his scowl and a fist pulled back, it's a awkward configuration to catch her dad in. It's not even the first time it happens, but it's SO weird to see every time. Her dad never seems to notice the kind of picture it paints.

-Vanessa doesn't even need to do anything to shove the two halves of Perry together, because Uncle Perry had stormed forward with a beet red face pulling Agent P off of his Heinz, demanding to know what it is that he's doing. It seems to set them both like nothing else, because they are suddenly in a full blown fight with each other (Agent P accusing his other half that he was Consorting With The Enemy, and Uncle Perry hissing about he could've seriously hurt them Heinz and Vanessa BOTH, and this was why they never have any friends or nice things.)

-As Vanessa pulls her father away, she briefly worries that she had blown Perry's cover, until she notes that her dad's got two black eyes and muttering dizzily about seeing double. It's easy to coax him out to an adjacent room as she sees Carl the Intern sneaking inside the house through the still open front door with a machine that looks a like a camera. They give each other a thumbs up as the arguing increases to a fever pitch, one wrong word away before coming to blows, and Carl fires up the reverse of the Separator.

-The abrupt silence throughout the penthouse makes Vanessa's ears ring, but seeing only one dazed figure in the middle of the lab is such a wonderful relief. She watches him take note of his surroundings, a thoroughly defeated Heinz Doofenshmirtz and a thwarted Inator before reaching his own conclusions, and practically overlooks Carl, who takes the opportunity to slink back out the apartment with a visible echoed sigh of relief.

-Vanessa watches as he darts over first to her wrecked and injured dad, hissing as he carefully assesses the injuries and bruises he had inflicted on the man himself that reminds her of the way his Uncle Perry Aspect had looked over HER in the mall-the visible care and concern Agent P disavows himself of. He's avoiding her gaze, and Vanessa figures out that he's embarrassed.

-She doesn't get the opportunity to say anything though, bc her dad comes to somewhat and realizes that Perry is by his side. Despite his wounds being inflicted Perry himself, he seems to tell that Perry's worried anyway, and requests that the agent carry him to his room to take a nap. Vanessa feels a little like she's interrupting, seeing the gentle way her dad takes Perry's hand, the softness in Perry's expression, the easy acquiescence as he heaves her father up in a bridal carry. Her dad is still mumbling nonsense, she hopes Perry will look him over for a concussion, but Perry catches her eye to nonverbally indicate-importantly-that they need to have a talk.

[str4wbberri]

current fav in game mods ૮ ․ ․ ྀིა

cas background : https://milkbnny.tumblr.com/post/770661525811838976/coquette-bedroom-cas-background-hello-people-i

cas background :

https://www.tumblr.com/freesims4customcontent/774261733308203008 font replacement: https://www.patreon.com/posts/ts4-font-pixel-93665161 build/buy override tool: https://www.tumblr.com/gua-cc/764143239562477568/202410-buildbuy-tool-override cute cursor override: https://www.patreon.com/posts/123076453?pr=true ui replacement : https://afdian.com/item/8cdaae66979b11ef84a852540025c377 cute loading screens: https://www.patreon.com/posts/kawaii-pinterest-113011819 my sweet piano plumbbob override (lots of cute game override mods to get by this creator!) : https://www.patreon.com/posts/my-sweet-piano-113438900 fishcake plumbbob override: https://www.patreon.com/posts/115824253?epik=dj0yJnU9MzJWVDNyQVREajhxRXpUOFpVc01lamlMSmVMLVRMX0gmcD0wJm49LVd4T2lCYTFVc0hrWFNjbW5rMWdlZyZ0PUFBQUFBR2ZDVFhJ cute opening screens: https://www.patreon.com/posts/kawaii-opening-3-120661369 cas stand still mod(lots of cute game override mods to get by this creator!) : https://www.patreon.com/posts/stand-still-in-4-120429044 computer override(lots of cute game override mods to get by this creator!) : https://gloomiee.tumblr.com/post/771153707568152577/pc-game-override%E0%B1%A8%E0%A7%8E more columns mod: https://www.patreon.com/posts/more-columns-in-27751117 cleaning sponge and dish override: https://www.patreon.com/posts/masaka-self-dish-123226332?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link dance dance revolution machine for in game! (functional): https://www.patreon.com/posts/77871457?utm_campaign=postshare_fan cake override: https://www.tumblr.com/momo-cc/775503110120554496/momo-cc-functional-cake-override?source=share glass override: https://www.patreon.com/posts/111986758?utm_campaign=postshare_fan game builds(rlly cute buidls to get here ^_^): https://www.patreon.com/collection/1298046?view=expanded *note* these are just mods that came to mind, i plan on making a more expanded list soon but these are the mods that i love dearly and that make my game even more cute! enjoy ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

[aakeysmash]

Roommate or boss?

part 1, part 3, part 4

Pairing: f!reader x Katsuki Bakugou.

Warnings: cursing, maybe a little bit of suggestive language.

Word count: 2079 words.

Having Katsuki as a roommate proved to be not that bad. He was almost never home apart from most evenings, and when he was home, he minded his own business.

It’s not like he didn’t acknowledge you to be under his same roof, he was a decent guy, even if he swore a lot.

After sleeping in the guest room for a month, he painted it like he said he would at the beginning, and it took him 3 days. He had to sleep on the couch to not inhale the fumes, and you heard him cursing every morning.

“Can you keep it down? Jeez, it’s 7 am” you say coming out of your room, having heard the commotion in the living room.

“You have to change this shit of a couch. My back hurts so fucking much. My feet don’t even fucking stay on the couch while I sleep ‘cause of how fucking small it is” he barks at you.

“Not my fault you’re big” you say yawning, while rubbing your eyes and going straight towards the coffee machine. You hated having early lectures.

He scoffs. You widen your eyes, shooting him a mean look.

“I meant to say you’re tall” you add.

“Huh? And what would even be the other meaning? Freak” he says flipping you off and sitting himself at the table.

“Whatever” you mumble, putting your coffee in a cup.

“Give me some” he says stretching his hand.

“Make it yourself, big guy” you reply, sticking your tongue out and going towards your own room.

“OI! And here I was about to make you breakfast in exchange” he loudly says.

You turn around and smile at him sweetly. “Roomieeee you didn’t have toooo” you say, trying to hug him.

You know he hates physical contact. He told you so after you accidentally touched his hand passing him the salt one day at dinner. He jumped out of his chair like he was burned by your touch.

“GET OFF OF ME YOU GREMLIN!”.

Meanwhile, things at work could be going better. Your manager came back the day after your talk with Kirishima, and saying that she was pissed off and nervous at the same time would be an understatement.

For the weeks after, she was nicer than she ever was with the clients, but meaner with you and your colleagues. Bitch.

One day you’re cleaning the milk machine when Momo comes behind you.

“I heard the boss came to know about her little escapades and he wasn’t happy” she whispers in your ear.

You throw her a sneaky look before admitting “it might be my fault”.

Momo gasps. “What? Why haven’t you told me anything?” she whisper yells now.

“Shh! It happened last month. You know the guy with the spikey red hair?” you ask her, and she nods.

“Apparently, he’s the boss’s right hand. He told me the boss needed her and I told him she left” you calmly explain.

“I hope she doesn’t come to know it was you who told him that. She’s already making our life a living hell” she sighs.

“Whatever” you say rolling your eyes. “I’m clocking out, see you tomorrow?”.

“As always, babe”.

While you’re going out, you shoot a text to your new roommate. You’re feeling lazy, but you don’t want to feel lazy alone.

You: ordering takeout right now. Do you want something?

Katsuki (roommate): who dis

You: Katsuki are you for real?

You: I’m your roommate

You: you didn’t even save my number?

Katsuki (roommate): wtv

Katsuki (roommate): get me wings

Katsuki (roommate): extra spicy

You: sorry, who’s this???

Katsuki (roommate): petty bitch

Katsuki (roommate): im locking the door

You: I’m calling the firefighters down the street and you’re gonna pay for the new door then

Katsuki (roommate): just get me fkn wings woman

You roll your eyes. This man is insufferable.

“What are you doing Saturday night?” you say while munching on your chips on the couch.

Katsuki is cooking dinner for the both of you. He’s been living with you for the past 4 months now. You’ve grown accustomed to his antics, and he’s done the same with yours. For example, he knew how you tended to overcook his eggs. And since he hated that, he cooked them himself, just like he was doing right now.

“Hopefully not seeing your ugly face” he grumbles. He watches you over his shoulder and puckers his lips. “Why are you so fucking disgusting? I always find crumbs of everything on that fucking couch”.

You roll your eyes. “Just answer the question, Bakugou”.

“Not gonna be home. I have to run errands at work. You bringing some scum over? I’m not cleaning stains on top of your shitty crumbs on that couch”.

He’s not paying attention to what you do anymore, cutting up vegetables.

“And I’m the disgusting one? Ew” you cringe. “Ochaco and I wanted to have girl’s night. It’s been a while since we’ve done that, but her roommates are at home”.

“Short girl, brown hair, round face?” He asks.

“Yeah”. You’re surprised he remembers, but it’s true that you’re basically always calling her.

“Don’t mind. When’s your next shift? You’re next on the “cleaning the bathroom” list”. He adds.

You barely ever talk about work: he said that he’s some type of accountant and he knows you’re some kind of barista. After all, you both don’t care about what the other does if you both still pay rent on time.

You like these little moments you have with him. They don’t happen that often, but it’s like you’re bonding over time. He doesn’t look like he thinks the same, though. Most of the time he voices that you’re “pissing him the fuck off with all your stupid fucking questions”.

“Tomorrow morning, and then on Sunday. It’s weird now that my ex-manager isn’t around anymore, our schedules are much more organised. I wonder why she got fired” you say thoughtful.

Katsuki stiffens up. Your manager has been fired the same week he fired Camie? Must be a coincidence, a lot of extras are shitty workers anyways. He shrugs it off.

He turns abruptly to face you and he scares you so bad you throw the chips in the bowl lying on your lap on your face. He laughs like a maniac.

“Why did you do that?! I get it, you’re a clean freak! Okay! I’ll clean the damn bathroom!” You angrily say.

“Curry is ready, rat” he says, wiping his tears.

“Great, now I’m a rat too?”. Katsuki has this bad habit of always forgetting names and just giving everyone mean nicknames.

“With all those cheese chips on your face? Yes, dumbass” and he starts laughing again.

“It’s all your fault!” you whine, and then help him set the table. You might be annoyed, but you know his curry is bomb.

You’re so happy to be free from Camie’s claws that you and Ochaco drink more than you normally do on Saturday night.

You’re both lying lazily on your bed when she’s telling you about her new boyfriend. He’s the same guy from that one physics assignment (which, by the way, you didn’t fail), and she calls him Deku.

“I swear you’d like him Y/N. He’s so shy, but his arms are so biteable” she dreamily sighs.

You look up at the ceiling before answering “and what’s the correlation between any of the statements you just made?”.

She throws you a punch. “Why are you lucid still? Just… blabber!” she complains.

You chuckle. “I’m so getting an aspirin for tomorrow morning, for both me and you. Just go under the covers and sleep while I’m gone, okay?”.

She nods and you stand up, wobbling towards your kitchen.

“You know, you still haven’t delved into how good or bad things are going with your new roommate” she suddenly says. “You know I need the details”.

You lean on the wall next to your door for some stability before thinking about it.

“He’s good, I guess. We talk here and there when we’re both home, he told me he’s enrolled in economy. He seems rough but he knows how to cook some bomb ass curry, so I’ll keep him” you sluggishly reply. Damn, you really drank too much.

“Yeah Y/N you’ve told me this much. But do you find him hot? Did any of you just enter the bathroom not knowing the other was in it?” your best friend mumbles.

“He locks the door before doing anything” you roll your eyes, then wince because it has hurt your head.

“He’s mean, but he takes the time to be a good roommate I guess? I’d like to know him more than he lets others know, yeah, but he’s not very talkative. To be honest, I think that he’s scared to let people in. I’m probably too invasive for him” you ramble on.

“Did you even hear what I said?” you ask after the silence stretches too long, but the only things replying to your question are your best friend’s snores.

You sigh, then continue going to your kitchen.

It takes a while for you to find the medicine, and when you do, you hear your front door being opened.

With your mind still hazy, you recognise Katsuki’s figure.

“Hi” you tell him.

“Hello? God, you reek. You’re becoming a rat more and more each day” he roughly says while getting his coat off and on the hanger.

“How was work?” you continue, ignoring his comment.

He looks you up and down. He thinks you look kinda cute with your cheeks tinted pink and your hair ruffled, but he’s really tired. “Good, mind your fucking business though. I’m gonna sleep”.

You look hurt for a second, then relax your features. He always answers this way.

You take a good look at him. The light that enters from the window behind your couch makes his face barely visible; with the moonlight as your only aid, you take a moment longer than usual to just stare at him. Broad, blonde, big shoulders, a light scowl on his face, red eyes that seem to follow your every move. Maybe, in his next life, he could be a hero.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re, like, really pretty?” you stumble out.

He looks at you like you’ve just said the dumbest thing ever.

“What the fuck are you saying? Just let me go to sleep and go do whatever the fuck you were doing before”.

“I said you look really fucking hot, Katsuki” you repeat, kind of annoyed. “It’s not like I asked you to cut your hand and offer your blood for a sacrifice, fuck. Why do you have to be so rude?” you spit out.

He’s surprised. “That’s not the words you used the first time. Pretty and hot don’t mean the same thing” he says, faking that he hasn’t heard your outburst, while stepping closer to you.

“Whatever” you mumble.

He stops in front of you. Maybe he’s been kind of rude lately because the situation at work hasn’t been the best. He fired Camie because he repeatedly heard she wasn’t capable of doing anything good on top of being mean to her colleagues, but finding another manager was stressing him out. He wanted to fire her as soon as he came to know her behaviour the first time, but Kirishima said neither of them had enough time to deal with her father. As much as this infuriated him, he was right. They were in their last year, and university wasn’t gonna finish itself.

You’re looking up at him with a scowl. “Let’s both go to sleep, m’kay? You don’t know what you’re saying” he says, nicer than any other time he talked to you. In the back of your mind, you notice he isn’t cursing anymore.

You keep on mumbling something and almost trip on your feet trying to get to your room.

You’re about to fall when he picks you up bridal style and goes to get you in your room himself.

Just before you fall asleep in his arms (how strong is he? He’s not even straining) you put your head on his shoulder.

“Thanks, sorry, I’m really drunk. I didn’t want to invade your privacy” you say.

He just shushes you up before telling you to sleep.

And just before you pass out, you notice he smells faintly like coffee.

[chefsshops]

Efficient Momo Sheeter Machine for High-Volume Production

Boost your kitchen's efficiency with our advanced Momo Sheeter Machine. Designed for high-volume production, this commercial-grade equipment ensures uniform dough sheets every time, optimizing your momo-making process. Ideal for restaurants and catering services looking to enhance productivity and consistency.

[laxmienterprises]

Mom Making Machine

[cry4mina]

Take Me Back to Eden - Euclid - Part 7

Take Me Back to Eden Series Page

Angst/Fluffy Moments

Word Count: 12k

Summary: After the events of the last chapter, reader finds themselves in a spiral of self hatred as they wait for their beloved to wake up, unbeknownst to them - someone is lurking in the shadows.

TW: Hospitals, spiraling, big sads, talks of death, some happy moments!, knives, talks of guns, talks of abusive relationships, broken glass, aaaaaaand talks of drinking and cheating. I think that's everything?

AN: Two more parts after this one and the story will be complete! I feel like I say this all the time but I never really thought this story would evolve into the series that it is now and I'm so grateful for all your support and kind words along the way! <3 <3 I truly hope you all have a lovely evening! I'd love to hear your predictions on what you all think is going to happen next!

A sharp jolt crackling through your chest wakes you violently, like lightning crawling through every vein cardiovascular system, forcing your eyes open. The fluorescent lights shine down on you, the beeping of machines, someone crying, and the rocking movement overwhelm your senses.

“We got her back! Okay, Y/n! You need to stay with me now, okay?” concern laced in the voice as that spoke to you.

Your vision is still blurred, eyes barely opening when you use as much energy as you can to keep yourself from passing out again. A familiar voice breaks through the machine’s whirring.

“Is she going to be okay?!” Momo is frantically barking at the EMT, seemingly trying to get information from him but unable to hold back the panic in these circumstances.

The rocking of the larger vehicle wakes you up just a little more but not enough to be full cognizant, bringing nausea along with it. Body unmoving as your eyes fight to keep the sliver of sight they have when your brain flashes the last few memories you had before you passed out…

Nayeon, with a smoking gun in her hand pointed past you.

Mina with crimson running down her torso and going pale…

“Mina?” croaked out between heavy breaths from the oxygen machine placed on your face.

“Wait!” Momo snaps at everyone who’s speaking around her, you hear silence again.

“Y/n?” her hand fills yours, feeling her lean into you to make sure she can hear what you’re saying. It must be pretty bad if she’s reacting this way.

“Where…is…Mina?” gravelly and with everything you could muster.

Momo sniffles, you can feel her head down and it on your arm. She sighs heavily before bringing her head back up, aware that she might not have time to fully explain what’s happening. The unanswered question haunts you for a moment.

“She’s on her way to the hospital. You both lost a lot of blood…they don’t know….they don’t know if she’s going to make it, Y/n. She was…shot in a pretty severe place…” tears spilling from her, sobbing at the information she had.

Tears roll down your face, reviving the crystalized blood coating your skin from the circumstances you were just in, dripping and reigniting it’s liquid form as it spills down around you.

If Mina…doesn’t survive…

The dread consumes you instantly. Would it be your fault if she didn’t make it? You were the one who was with her, you were the one who was supposed to protect her, but was it enough? Trying got you here…trying got you in this ambulance with both you and her getting rushed to the emergency room.

How could you stomach losing Mina like this? At the hands of one of her best friends and over…you?

“Nayeon…” whispered through the sadness and the anxiety filled thoughts that consumed every cell in your body.

The silence between her sniffling tells a lot, but not enough.

“Momo…do the police have Nayeon?” a little more aggression out of you, even in this state. You want to make sure that she can’t touch you or Mina ever again.

“Where is she?!” hissed out in an anger that Momo has never seen from you, even in the state of hurt you were in, the rage permeated the vessel you were trapped in.

The only two things you could feel in this moment: Fear and Fury. They walk hand in hand through your mind while patiently waiting for someone to answer your question.

Machines around you start furiously beeping again. Eyes still fighting to stay open but you’re so exhausted that staying awake feels impossible with the frames of darkness around your vision.

“Ma’am, I understand that you want to speak with her but we need to make sure she stays awake.” the EMT started putting needles in your arms.

“Get the crash cart ready! We might lose her again!”

Again?

Momo is in hysterics, understandably so. Wondering how much she witnessed, it would be hard for anyone to see someone they cared about in the position you were in. Imagining the lasting impact of finding the mess of the room that it all happened in, you sigh as the tears keep flowing.

All of this is too much. Too much on everyone around you.

Too much on Mina.

Too much on you.

You're slowly drifting into a dream-like state when what little blood you have runs absolutely cold, the ice that froze hell over ransacks your veins expeditiously. Eyes flying open as your heart pumps faster and faster, a chemically impersonated panic attack brought on to keep you awake.

“Y/n, listen to me. We are on the way to the hospital and it’s imperative you stay awake. I gave you an adrenaline shot so your heart might race. This is normal. Okay?” his voice is fading in and out of your range of hearing.

“So…tired…” breathlessly escapes you.

“Y/n, we are almost there, just please listen and stay awake.” Momo’s sobbing sounds physically painful and drenched in fear.

Fighting as much as you can, you try to count the lights to stay awake, forcing yourself to focus on anything that wasn’t the weight of your eyes or the pounding in your chest.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Suddenly, you’re pulled feet first out of the vehicle, continuing to try and count things as your eyes fight you.

Vision goes as black as the night sky above you while you’re being pushed through the hospital, feeling the gurney bumps over the tracks of the automatic doors you hear glide open.

“We need 2 liters of O negative, stat!” shouted from your right hand side.

Your hearing is fading, replaced by the ringing that you got familiar with when the gun went off. A wave of panic swings through you, hands going up to reach for anything you could grab. This takes all of your energy and you fall into a deep calm sleep.

—

Void. Darkness. Silence.

Familiarity seeps in through your pores as your eyes calibrate to the surroundings, deja vu reflecting what once was in your mind, yet again. The same small metal table, the same figures sitting around it.

Sighing, unable to hear the huff of your wit’s end, you start to walk. Knowing exactly who the figures are before you even approach the table. Cautiously walking towards the shadows sat, almost waiting for something. Maybe, someone?

Both turning their head at you, the faces exactly who you expected, Mina and Nayeon. Mina smiles at you, the glow of her illuminating the endless ether. You have to stop moving to fully take in the essence of her.

Long dark wavy hair that frames her face and torso, welcoming eyes that melt you in the warmth she radiates, that small smile she is giving to you, and the way she gracefully reaches her hand towards you…peace.

The calm washes over you, just like the last time, as you approach her. The other figure at the table shows itself again to be Nayeon, eyes black, the smell of sulfur, the rage emitting off of her skin and the possessiveness that she always carried try to overshadow the care that was brought by Mina.

“Oh, Y/n, it’s great of you to join us.” ethereally leaves Mina’s lips.

“Yes, isn’t it pleasant to have my personal whore here?” hiss between Nayeon’s razor sharp teeth, contorted voice layered in anger and hatred.

“Don’t.” stern and powerful as it leaves the angel's lips.

A bright stream of light beams down from the nothingness, penetrating Nayeon’s chest cavity. She wails out into the void, breathing heavily.

“Do you think you can just take her from me? She’s my favorite piece of meat!” arms lengthening, mouth largening as Nayeon’s body contorts into a tall, lanky, sharp looking demon. Horns growing and snapping into shape, hooves clomping down into the cement harshly as she stakes her claim.

Mina is unaffected by this gesture of power, sending another few beams of light through Nayeon, setting what they touch on fire. Nayeon screams, loud enough to shake the table and it’s settings, rumbling them onto the floor.

Bloodied barbed wire shoots up from the floor, alive in its movements as it wraps around Nayeon’s wrists, slamming her into the ground and tightening with every second. More barbs shoot up and fix themselves around her torso, pulling her even further into the floor.

A demonic shriek can be heard through the hellfire and brimstone, Nayeon crumbles into stone before you, leaving nothing you coated in this dust and ash.

Mina is calm, cool, and collected. Standing up and yanking on your hand, you swing around and land chest first against Mina.

It starts drizzling pure clean water, Mina just holding you close while you look up to observe the rain falling from nothing. It starts picking up, washing the dust off your body.

Both of you soaking wet, standing in this mysterious rain after the monster has been slayed - there’s only one thing left to do in this fairy tale.

Boldly grabbing the sides of her face and bringing her lips to yours. Her eyes were surprised at this gesture but reciprocated the moment of passion before pulling back.

“Wake up” barely over a whisper and in a voice that isn’t hers.

“Please, Y/n, wake up!” Momo?

“WAKE! UP!”

“Don’t worry.” in her own voice, echoing against the walls of your brain before the light around Mina shines its brightest, consuming both of you.

—

Blinking ferociously, your eyes open to bright fluorescence hanging above you.

“Oh thank GOD” Momo throws herself on you before you can even understand what is happening, you wince at the weight of her unsure of what your wounds were.

“Sorry, Sorry!” She hugs you tightly before removing herself from you. Dahyun is seated, allowing you time to get your bearings before coming over to you and placing her hand in yours.

“We are so happy to see you’re awake!” smiled lightly, eyed red and swollen.

She has been crying…

“Where…is…Mina?” croaked out through dry lips and barely any energy as the worry for her consumes you.

“She’s in surgery…” Momo sniffles at the words she spoke.

There was an uneasiness about the way her voice wavered.

“…what did the doctors say?”

“The bullet penetrated her lung…they’re going in to remove it…She lost a lot of blood, Y/nnie…There’s a good chance that she might not…make it.” choking on the last few words as she forced them out.

The droplets fall from your eyes when you register what she’s said…Mina might not make it?

Thinking about the ambulance, thinking about how Momo gave this information to you there as well but it didn’t really connect in your brain until now…This event of Mina getting injured was avoidable…If you just kept your distance from her when Nayeon went crazy, maybe she wouldn’t be where she is….Maybe Mina would’ve been safe from her…

The pit of your stomach flips, all the stress of what happened has come back full force and is slamming all of your fear back into your chest, making friends with the pounding of the headache you have.

“Nayeon?” puffed out of your weak body, wondering if shew as far away and in police custody.

“Is she awake?” an all too familiar voice breaks the moment.

You look up to see who it was, a bouquet of lotus flowers covering the face of the person. They are placed down on the small table at the foot of the bed and the person steps out from behind the display, revealing herself to be Ms. Park Jihyo.

Tensing immediately, you struggle to lift yourself up higher in a move of defense. Momo sees this and puts her hand on your shoulder.

“Just hear her out, you might be surprised at what she says.” smiling and nodding before heading out of the room with Dahyun.

Jihyo stands in the room, looking at the ground before she grabs one of the uncomfortable foldable chairs from the walls of the room and scoots it closer to you.

You try to keep a straight face in her presence but can’t help but shed a few tears as this human who knowingly hurt you sits in front of you, elbows on her knees and hands together as she tries to plead her case.

“I’m sorry, Y/n…I know that this is a lot and has been since everything came out but I think I need to tell you what happened the night that rock flew through your window.” she makes eye contact with you, showing a serious demeanor as she shifts back into her seat trying to find some sense of comfort in the discomfort of this situation.

“Nayeon was…violently upset when we ran into you and Mina at the cafe. She was punching the dashboard of my car the entire way to your apartment…she still had your location. I didn’t like that she did that but honestly…” Jihyo’s voice cracked, eyes reflecting something you had never seen in her before back to you as she forced herself to make eye contact through the discomfort that sat on her chest.

“…I have always kind of…been scared of her, you know? Like she has this intensity that’s just really hard to say no too and when she was raging about seeing you and Mina together…I just didn’t know what to do so I listened to what she said. We went to your apartment and we watched you and Mina walk in together…Nayeon got…quiet and told me to leave so I did.”

Fear, her eyes were reflecting fear.

Jihyo is visibly shaken and remorseful through reliving the events as she spoke them to you, rubbing her hands up and down her face aggressively to smear the intensity of the conversation off.

“We went back to the apartment you both lived in together…I tried to calm her down by massaging her shoulders but she…got angry when I called her “baby”...she told me I would never be you and then she pushed me to the floor…a-a-ggressively.” Shuttering through the dread that was weighing her down.

“After that…Nayeon just got up and left.” Choking on her words as the spilt from her lips.

Jihyo was practically sobbing while sharing the trauma she had endured that you were unaware of. Knowing full and well that Nayeon was an abuser to you, the only moment you really thought she could be a monster to Jihyo as at the cafe…when Jihyo was crying behind her as she tried to seduce you again…in front of her.

She had been affected by this situation just as much as you had. Her eyes hold similar pain that yours did when you and Nayeon first split. It was hard to see, even on someone you were upset with.

“When she came home…things happened…and the cops showed up. She fake cried and told them that I made her go with her, that I was violent and controlling of her. She said that I was the one who had the idea…I tried to tell them it wasn’t me, but they didn’t listen because she was hysterically bawling her eyes out and acting like I had threatened her. They took me to jail after that…she called me after I got bailed out and told me that she was breaking up with me because she was going to exterminate the problem…so she could be with you.” completely serious in her tone, even through the trembling of her voice.

“So you called the police?” still raspy in the way you asked, the puzzle pieces have finally found their place.

“Yes. I called the police and Momo to tell them what was going on…I tried to call you and Mina but neither of you answered…Y/n, I’m so sorry. I really am. I truly loved the friendship we had and I don’t know if we can ever get back to that but I'm very willing to try to fix this…that time we spent at the park, everything I said, I meant. I never wanted to hurt you in this. I just felt so stuck.” sobbing as she makes her apology, genuinely distraught about all of this.

“Hyo…I need to know how this actually started. How did you and her end up…together?” a small ache in your chest reminds you of the confrontation in the elevator. The anger and hatred you felt then was still present to some degree.

“The drunk one night stand part was true…but it was before she met you.” her eyes down at the ground, a semblance of a smile lingers on her face at the nickname you called her.

“She told me when you met and said that she had no intention of it being serious with you. We went on tour and Nayeon couldn’t put her phone down, always texting you and calling you on Facetime… I knew that it was something serious then but when we got back and had that party, it was just different.” making eye contact with you again, voice quivering while she’s holding back even more tears.

“That’s why I called you that night…because I thought you were who she wanted and not me. I just wanted her to be happy. But when we were out of town…she would purposefully ask to be roomed with me. We would get drunk, it would happen again and we would just pretend like it didn’t.”

“My feelings got involved pretty early on and I told her but she was insistent on being with you and I respected that. She would tell me that you broke up and then when we got back, she would say you were together again.”

“Jihyo, this is the first and only time we ever broke up…” whispered to her in the smallest breath, hoping she wouldn’t hear you or at least wishing you didn’t have to tell her the whole truth.

It was hard to see her like this, baring her soul for you to see, dripping in guilt and anger.

“I know that now. I know that she was using me for when you weren’t around. But you can see why I had a hard time getting away from her…and she wasn’t ever as violent as she was the night that we saw you at the cafe…I think that’s when it truly clicked for me that she was dangerous.” Jihyo’s breathing is picking up, she’s on the verge of a panic attack when you see the blood under her nails and knuckles that were bruised.

“Jihyo…what happened to your hands?” whispered in fear of the answer.

“I came to the banquet…when I heard that first shot and saw everyone rushing out of the building, I saw Momo trying to get the members out a side door. We saw each other and I pointed to the room. She ran over and we went in together.” her voice is trembling as she tells you more of what happened.

“When I saw you passed out in Mina’s arms…and what Nayeon did to Mina, I got so angry.” She’s in hysterics now, trying to steady her own breathing and self regulate so she can tell you the information you were owed.

“I tried so hard to get her to stop…and put the gun down…I don’t even know where she got that fucking gun. I punched her to try and get her to stop but she just kept going…I got the gun from her, and was trying to fight her off but she tackled me to the floor. She got on top of me and choked me…I couldn’t get her off me, Y/n.”

Jihyo is now sobbing, trembling and looking very nauseous. Completely drowning in herself when she finally releases the memory that is burnt in her brain for the rest of her life.

“Y/n…I shot her.”

“What?”

“I…shot Nayeon…”

“…Jihyo, you shot Nayeon?”

“It was the only way I could stop her…she would’ve killed me if I didn’t…I feel so guilty. I feel so fucking guilty.”

Jihyo’s face falls into her hands, violently sobbing at the fact that she killed someone she loved, even if that love wasn’t returned.

The sting of this information was something incomprehensible, a grief blending inside your torso, the gut wrenching twist of your stomach, ruining the home where the butterflies once lived and flourished for Im Nayeon.

Your ex-girlfriend of three years.

The girl you thought you’d spend the rest of your life with.

She’s just…gone.

Even with everything that happened between you and Nayeon, you are having a hard time wrapping your thoughts around her being dead. Barely only finding out about how crazy she actually was, the version of her that was sweet and loving still saturates the predatory acts and violent tendencies she exposed to everyone in the end.

Shifting up in your seat weakly, you rotate your legs off the side of the bed. Bare toes touching the cool ground as you try to stand up. Feeling every single bruise and wound left in the altercation. Jihyo stands with you, putting her arms out so she can help you balance yourself.

Without hesitation, you pull her in for the hug you both needed. Crying in each others arms as you both try to process the death of your abuser.

“I’m so sorry Y/n. I’m so fucking sorry.” wept into your shoulder.

“I am too, Jihyo. I am too.” sniffling while you release all irritation you had with Jihyo. She was a victim of Nayeon, just like you. Maybe there was hope for that trust had, to be built again.

Maybe.

“Y/n? Can we come in?”

Both of you turn to look at her, when the entirety of Twice minus Nayeon and Mina walk in with sorrow in their eyes and more flowers in their hands. Worry being on the forefront of their minds. We are all grieving this loss, we are all fearful of the future.

“Jihyo…”

“Yes, Y/n?”

“Thank you.”

Momo is smiling behind the crowd, holding Dahyun’s hand and watching as the girls come in and sit scattered around the room. Jihyo still in the chair near the bed you crawled back in, Sana sitting at the end of that bed across from her, Chae in the big comfortable chair by the window, Jeongyeon is standing and looking a little anxious and Tzuyu pulls up a seat next to Jihyo.

“How long was I asleep?” not knowing what day it is, or what time it was. The sun seems to be either rising or setting and you can’t tell which.

“About 12 hours.” Momo chimes in from the doorway, checking her phone to see the time. She’s got a weird air about her, something is off.

“Momo, what’s wrong?” knowing she’d normally be as close to you as possible in this situation.

“I’m waiting for a phone call.” anxiously blurted across the room.

Everyone is silent with their heads down, whatever this was putting Momo on edge was eating at everyone in the room.

“The police don’t speak Japanese here…so I had to call Mina’s parents…” another piece of your heart breaks off for every syllable of the sentence.

Her parents…her brother…

Dread sinks your heart down to your stomach, weighing like cement in your gut. Skin prickling into a million stipples, remembering the last moment you saw Mina.

Tears rolling down her cheeks.

Blood spilling from her chest.

Then darkness.

Unable to help yourself, you start sobbing uncontrollably.

This was all so overwhelming, trying to process everything that had happened. Nayeon with the gun pointed at you, the person you were with for so long had not only threatened your life, but wounded you beyond what you thought possible.

Weeping as you think about what she had put Mina through. Mina just wanted to be there for you and you found some safety, Nayeon tried to take that away and might’ve been successful…

The doctor walks into the room, looks around and sees all these people around you crying with you and his eyes widen, intimidated by the 8 people who peered up at him as he entered.

“Uh…I can come back later…if you’d prefer.” raising the clipboard by the side of his head, pointing it back towards the door nervously.

“No no, it’s okay. You can come in.” waving him into the room so he can say what he needs to.

“Is it okay if I talk about your medical diagnosis in front of…uhm…” gesturing to the girls scattered around the room.

“Yes, that’s completely fine.” assuring him that he could continue.

“Okay, Ms. Y/n…so we are looking at a concussion, you’ve got 16 stiches on your scalp, 3 broken ribs, and a few lacerations and bruises. I suspect you’ll be sore for a while but you should make a full recovery. You should thank whoever kept the pressure on the back of you head…you had an artery grazed in the…incident and that pressure saved your life.“ The Doctor hesitates as he reads off the clipboard, it looks like he’s wondering if that was the right thing to say.

“I’ve written a few prescriptions for the pain and swelling, but you should be good to be released within the next few hours. Do you have any questions for me?” clicking his pen and putting his clipboard down by his side.

That’s a lot of information to digest.

“I do but I don’t think you’ll be able to tell me…” softly stated back to him.

“I take it it’s about your friend? The one you came in with?”

Nodding your head as the tears fall again, you’re too worried about Mina to not try to get some information out of him.

“I can’t really tell you anything specific without permission, I would need permission from the emergency contact to do so.” the Doctor sighs,

“You have my permission.” Momo raises her hand from across the room, nodding to him, respectfully.

The Doctor nods his head back, his body language shifts into something less pleasant.

“Ms. Mina is out of surgery and the surgeon over seeing her said that it went very well.” He moves his weight to the other leg, crossing his arms and looking at the floor.

“She lost a lot of blood…even with a blood transfusion she wasn’t very stable, we revived her a few times on the table.”

Everyone is frozen at this news, breath held and the whirring and beeping of the machines around you is the only thing keeping all of you present.

“She had a punctured lung from the bullet wound in her chest. We did manage to remove the bullet and patch her up just fine, but with her being unstable…we had to put her in a medically induced coma.”

Everyone gasps in unison, the worry behind everyone’s eyes reflects the deep love of a friend and loved one, who is now in a state of deep sleep for an unknown amount of time.

Jihyo takes over now, directing the conversation and asking what we all wanted to know.

“When will she wake up?”

“Well, that depends…we have her on a 24 hour watch to make sure she can stabilize on her own. She’s on a ventilator to insure proper oxygen intake. Once she stabilizes, we can wake her.”

The Doctor looks around the room and sees many sets of distraught eyes looking back at him.

“I know this is a lot of information, but rest assured we are doing everything we can. I’ll give you some space, but Miss Y/n, I’ll have the nurse bring in your release paperwork soon.” He turns out of the room, swiftly walking to where his next patient was.

It’s silent, everyone can’t seem to wrap their heads around what is happening, yourself included. Everything that happened to Mina would’ve never taken place if you hadn’t hung out with her. If Nayeon hadn’t seen you together she would be okay…

Sobbing quietly to yourself, the girls look at you with saddened eyes, Momo knowing exactly what’s going through your head. Walking up to you and sitting down, she wraps an arm around you, letting you cry openly on her shoulder.

Everyone follows suite, walking up and wrapping their arms around everyone to create a group hug that all of you desperately needed.

“Please, let me have some space.” quietly said into Momo’s neck.

“What do you mean, Y/n? We are all here for you.” confusion in her words, cocking her brow at you to try and understand what you meant.

“This is all my fault.” whispered through the cascade of bitter hatred for yourself that spilled from your eyes.

“No, it isn’t your fault Y/n! This is Nayeon’s fault.” Sana insists, mad that you would even think that you had anything to do with the outcome of this.

Believing that was something you would never do.

“Y/n, it’s so obvious that you care about Mina…You would never intentionally put her in harms way.” Jihyo rubs your shoulder trying to ease you of the mind set that was turning your brain into a web of connections that was weaved in hatred for yourself and Nayeon.

“If you and Nayeon had never seen us at this cafe, it would’ve never happened…I should’ve just ordered in that night. I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” choking on your tears, coughing, and wincing at the searing pain that erupted from the contractions of your muscles around your broken ribs.

The feeling accumulated from everything that happened poured out of you like steaming lava, burning and aching your chest as the rage of another thing you care about possibly being ripped out from underneath you catches fire under your heart.

Momo is holding you against her, rocking you and trying to comfort you as Dahyun ushers the other girls out into the hallway to let you have this moment.

“Hey, hey. Look at me…” Trying to catch your eyes as they drift to the floor.

“…I said look at me, Y/nnie!” Momo grabs your faces and forces you to look at her, tears heavily coating your cheeks as your eyes blur at the pressure you’re putting on yourself to hold yourself accountable for nothing done wrong.

“You didn’t do anything. Nothing. Not a single thing to deserve any of this. None of this is your fault. Not even close.” pulling you back in immediately for another hug that sucks the life out of you.

Mourning the memory of a Nayeon that never existed and mourning what Mina is going through just from being too close to you…It was too much for you to handle in the state you were in. Physical and emotional wounds compounding into a broken person being held up by those around you.

Just as you’re about to speak, Momo’s phone rings. She let’s go of your hug in a panic to look to see who it is.

“Shit, I have to take this. I’ll be right back.” jumping up off the bed to step out of the room, her eyes brimming with tears as she answers and steps away.

Alone with your thoughts, you think back to how safe Mina made you feel and how unsafe she was when she was with you. How could you have allowed this to happen? Why weren’t you shot instead of her?

A nurse walks in while you’re lost in these thoughts.

“Alright Ms. Y/n, will you please sign these release papers? I’ve brought your medications in this bag so you should be all good to go home. The doctor suggests plenty of rest until your ribs heal in 2-6 weeks.” cheerfully beaming at you like you hadn’t just been through the most traumatic event of your life.

How could someone be so…sunshine at a time like this?

Signing the documents she brought you quickly, she points to a bag that hung off the side of one of the folding chairs.

“Your friend, Ms. Minatozaki, brought you a change of clothes…what you wore to the event is considered evidence now…You are free to change and go home.” The nurse triple checks your paperwork and walks out of the room, closing the door behind her, leaving you to get changed.

Standing up, wobbling as you gain your balance and wincing at your weight of your own body. Gripping the chair that Jihyo left next to your bed, you grab the bag and tug out the clothes that she brought for you.

Knowing that Momo was the only one with a spare key to your apartment, you knew that Sana would have gone and done exactly what she said to do. Your favorite pair of sweatpants and a hoodie that looked unfamiliar…it’s not one you recall.

Picking it up, you pull the arms to the side and take a good look at the sweater.

“A catholic school in Japan?” confused at the lettering on the sweater, you lay it on the chair and slip on the pair of sweats.

Reaching down slowly to grab the hoodie, you lift your arms up - trying not to cause further damage to yourself and cautiously let it glide down into you.

As the fabric passes over your face, you take in the smell and instantly know who it belongs to.

Mina.

Lifting the neck of the sweater, you take a long inhale of her scent and a calm washes over you that you had become accustom to.

“I wish you were awake.” softly spoken to yourself, wiping a tear from your cheeks with the sleeve.

Momo comes through the door again, her eyes wide when she sees the sweater.

“That must have been Sana’s doing…” a small chuckle as she sees you’re dressed.

“Are you ready to go home?”

“I’m not going home.” pushing past her to get to the hallway.

“Y/n, you need to rest.” concern lays thick in the words as she cocks her head at you, seemingly frustrated at your lack of cooperation.

“She didn’t leave me…I’m not leaving her.” taking a slow step to not lose your footing.

Momo watches as you slug down the hallway to sit with the other girls who are patiently waiting for Mina to wake up. Sana smiles up at you when you sit next to her, instinctively putting her arm around you to support some of your weight.

“Thank you for this.” tugging on the front of Mina’s hoodie, trying to smile up at her but you end up biting your lip to hold in the tears.

“Sana…”

“Yeah, Y/nnie?”

“I’m scared.” the breathed statement is so quiet that’s it’s a miracle she heard it.

Leaning in to hug you, she tightens as much as she can without hurting you. Both of you have tears dripping down you face - sharing the moment of fear with each other and some how strengthening the bond that was already in place.

—

Days pass like it’s nothing. Sitting still in that same hospital chair while the world goes on around you. No sleeping, no eating…simply waiting for the doctors to say anything about Mina and her state.

Food is offered to you at every meal, you decline it. The nausea of the unknown clouds your stomach and the idea of any flavor makes you sick. You can only focus on Mina.

Momo walks up and sits down next to you, she rubs your back and you snap out of the dissociative state you sat in for days on end. The trance breaking leaves you realizing how much time had gone by and how much you had been neglecting yourself.

“Hey, come with me?” offering her hand to you and leading you to the room where Mina was.

Two older people, seemingly her parents are sitting in the room across from the bed where Mina sleeps, with tears streaming down their faces.

The man looks up at you, standing and then bowing to you - you return the bow as best as you can, before he starts saying something in Japanese to Momo and then looking at you.

“He wants you to know that he’s seen you sitting outside…he wants you to sit in with him and Mrs. Myoui from now on.” Dr. Myoui says something else to Momo and she translates the same.

“He knows about you and Nayeon, he is really sorry that this happened to you and wants you to know that he doesn’t blame you. “ Momo’s voice cracks as he begins speaking again, he seems to get teary eyed as he continues on, sniffling and clearing his throat as he tries to stay strong.

“He says that Mina had spoken about you…and that she really cares for you. Judging the state you are in, injuries and all, it seems that you really care about her too…and he wants you to be here with them because it’s what she would’ve wanted.”

Stepping up to Dr. Myoui, your jaw quivers trying to hold the tears inside but you can’t help it. He leans in and hugs you gently, all you can do is weep in his arms.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so so-sorry!”

Momo translates it and he offers reassurance that Momo translates for you.

“Please go home and eat, get some sleep and when you come back we will be waiting for you here, okay? If anything happens, I’ll call you.” Half translated and half just an instruction from Momo.

“Thank you.” Releasing from the hug, Mina’s mom stands to offer you a hug, you accept the warm gesture happily.

Mrs. Myoui holds you tightly before pulling back from the hug and rubbing your upper arms.

Catching your eye contact before your head could fall to the floor, she wipes the tears off your cheeks- even with her own falling. A wordless exchange of affection that was a sign of acceptance and care, even her parents were amazing. You can see where she gets it from.

Momo puts her hand on your back, guiding you out of the room.

“Can we go to you and Dahyun’s house instead? I really don’t want to go to that apartment right now…” looking down at the ground while you walk as fast as your body would allow.

“Of course.” patting your back lightly and leading you to the exit from the hospital.

—

When you get to the house, the dogs scramble to greet you. Boo and Dobby come toppling over each other to get their love and affection. Momo goes into the kitchen and you go to the guest bathroom to take a shower.

Being anywhere but at the hospital leaves you feeling guilty, unable to cope with the idea of Mina waking up before you could get back. It makes you nauseous.

The one who accentuated your sense of self after all the trauma Nayeon left behind…she meant so much to you in such a short amount of time - how could you feel anything but shame and guilt?

Showering in your condition was difficult. Physically, mentally, emotionally…it was almost unbearable. Watching as the water as it revives the dried blood from your scalp and carrying down the drain, you relive the silent scene of Mina getting shot by Nayeon over and over again.

Standing in the hot shower and letting the water rinse you, you can’t imagine what would happen if you closed your eyes. What horrific scenes would play on your eyelids while you tried to rest? That and the anticipation of new about Mina kept you from resting in anyway, not even able to relax your body and unclench your back.

Stepping out of the shower now feeling better as you were clean, putting on a pair of jeans and Mina’s hoodie after toweling off, you are consumed with guilt and riddled with shame at the fact that you were here with Momo and Dahyun…and Mina was still in that same bed sleeping against her will just to fight to stay alive.

Walking out into the kitchen, you see that Momo had made you a plate of your favorite food. Her and Dahyun sit at the table and wait for you to come sit with them.

Eating in silence, there’s nothing really to say. All of you are worried about Mina…though they are also worried about you.

You haven’t eaten in days and you were just playing with your food, rolling the array of delicacies around and barely tasting any of it.

“Y/n…I know there is a lot going on right now, but you need to eat something so you can heal properly and fuel yourself.” Dahyun breaks the silence with a slice of care, unintentionally adding to the remorse.

“We care about you and so does Mina…she would want you to eat…”

Jaw tensing, you zone out at the sound of her name, triggering the events to play back through your mind like a film reel that would never stop spinning. Looping over it’s self in complete silence.

“Y/n?” nudging your shoulder, Momo sees your eyes focus back on her.

“It should have been me…” softly before standing up and walking right out the front door, leaving your phone and everything you were truly feeling on the table.

Hearing Momo and Dahyun yelling your name, you just keep walking down the street towards the hospital.

—

Overcast skies drear over your head as you walk towards downtown towards the hospital. There wasn’t much movement on the streets even in the evening.

Unaware of how time is passing, one foot in front of the other takes you far. Without your phone you had no clue what time it was or if anyone was trying to get ahold of you. Regret pangs your stomach when you realize that Mina might have woken up in this time…you should’ve brought your phone with you, but it’s too late to turn back now.

It had to be early afternoon, assumptions made from the light that seeped through the fluffed up grays that block the suns view - the outside grey matching the grey that was alive in your chest, molting into a virus that would infect the rest of you as time goes on - until your own ray of sunshine woke up.

Thoughts of Mina cloud your every waking moment, reminiscing about the last few days spent together and how she made you feel. The stark contrast between what she is and what Nayeon turned out to be made your shattered heart sting as the pieces dug into your chest, piercing your flesh in the sharpest way.

Tears brim in your eyes, threatening to spill over as you cross the street. A car comes out of no where, pulling up to you. The back window rolls down and a familiar voice shouts at you.

“Y/n!”

Turning around, you see Chaeyoung hanging out of the back of the car waving you down.

“Are you going to the hospital?”

Nodding your head gently, the energy that you would normally bring was long sucked out by this traumatic event and there was no will to make anymore.

Chae pops the door open from the inside and slides over to the other seat, waving you into the car.

Hopping in to the back, the driver continues on his path.

The silence is calming, even if it does spark the cyclical thoughts - the agonizing overlay that led you to having to go to the hospital to begin with. You can feel Chaeyoung looking at you as your eyes unfocused.

“It’s not your fault.” Cracking through the walls of the theater playing the film of the banquet in your mind, Chae scoots into the middle seat, wrapping her arm around you and trying to comfort you.

“She would be so pissed if she knew that you were blaming yourself for this, you know?” Eyebrows cocked at you.

She’s right.

“She’s a fighter, Y/n. Mina will be awake soon, she’s not going anywhere.” Hugging you tightly for reassurance.

“Thank you.” meekly spoken to her as she rubs your back.

“I think I’d like to walk the rest of the way, it helps me clear my head. It’s only a few blocks, right?” the misery in your eyes is alarming to her, the look on her face says it all.

“It is, I’ll see you there…right?” A warm smile following, making sure you were agreeing. It was very apparent that everyone was worried about you.

The car comes to a halt, opening the car door, you make your promise to Chaeyoung.

“I’ll see you in a little while.” Sliding out of the car carefully, not to agitate your bruising further.

Just as you’re about to close the door, you hear Chae call you by name.

“Y/n?”

Cocking your head up, you see her eyes blur.

“Please be safe…she’s going to want you when she wakes up.”

Biting the inside of your lip, tears welling up as you close the door to the car and it drives off in the direction of the hospital.

Blinking a few times, you see your liquid grief blends into the rain that was starting to fall. The heavy drops couldn’t compare to the destress that weighed down your skin.

Almost as if you’re walking in slow motion, you trudge through the sky’s sporadic droplets and make your way down the road. Taking the time to really try and process what had happened to you over the past few months.

Revisiting the memories of what had happened was like swallowing a branding iron. Nayeon not being anywhere near who she said she was, ruining everything you had built with her. Jihyo playing a part in it but being a victim in Nayeon’s wrath.

And Mina…the innocent bystander that just wanted to make you feel safe and cared for.

How could you ever forgive yourself for what happened with her? It was a miracle no one was blaming you when the gun was pointed at you…maybe if you would’ve heard Nayeon out at the apartment the evening before then none of this would’ve happened…

The sky opens up, releasing a torrential downpour onto you and your thoughts, weighing your clothes down but it was hard to notice considering the heft of the emotions you were carrying.

The constant silent replay of the bullet that put Mina where she is and Nayeon with the smoking gun before it all just fades to black…

A loud clap of thunder snaps you out of your own mind, you can see the hospital from where you are. Focusing on the doors, you take your slow steps towards the building, eager to be in the room where Mina sleeps so when she wakes up, she knows that you’re there for her, like she was for you.

—

The doors slide open, revealing the fluorescent lights that you had woken up under a few days prior. Dripping rainwater onto the tile, the soft thwaps give you something to focus on while you make your way to the elevator.

The external sounds help to drown out the misery and anxiety that saturates your soul. The digging of the elevator, the click of the button, the tapping of the rain on the windows around you, the sliding of the doors and the people around you creating the white noise that scream over your thoughts as you try to keep yourself from violently shaking.

Everyone is here, Momo and Dahyun must’ve drove here knowing this is where you’d end up. Chae arrived safely and Jihyo, Jeongyeon, Tzuyu and Sana were already present.

Walking to the group, you notice Mina’s parents are out of the room and everyone is sobbing…

Running up to them and wincing at every step, the panic overrides the pain of your injuries.

“What happened? Is Mina okay?” choking on your words.

No one answers.

Your heart sinks, anxiety coursing through your veins brings a need to get inside that room. Mina’s father puts his hand on your shoulder, trying to comfort you words that are out of your realm of understanding as the girls try to compose themselves so they can explain.

Reaching for the door immediately, you try to push it open to find it locked.

Having no patience in this moment, you slam your hands on the door - shaking the it inside the frame and trying to get whoever was in the room to let you in.

“One moment, please!” an unfamiliar male voice chimes through the door seemingly frustrated.

“I don’t have a moment! Open the fucking door!” the panic in your voice is so eminent that everyone around you freezes and looks over at you. It’s the first time they’ve seen you this way, aside from the banquet but even then, your anxiety did not show itself this way.

“Y/n…let them do their job.” whispered by Momo, grabbing your shoulder and pulling you away from the room, putting space between you and the answers you craved.

“But…Mina, I-”

The door opens and the unfamiliar voice reveals himself to be the doctor. He steps to the side of the frame and goes to speak with Momo so she can translate for Mina’s parents, everyone else just looks at you and waits to see what you do.

You face the door and take a deep breath.

The unknown of behind the frame scares you, terrified of what was going to be on the other side of it. The gloom sits on your chest as you attempt to take another deep breath, eyes stinging as they try to create more tears but you had cried so much already that you seemingly had run out of them.

Taking a step into the room, you can’t bring yourself to look at the hospital bed. The machines are beeping so that’s a good sign but you’re so worried about what you were going to see that you needed to do this in steps.

Step 1: Walk in the room.

Step 2: take a deep breath.

Step 3: Turn to look at Mi-

“Y/n?” the smallest, most angelic hoarse whisper cuts through your list of what to do next, pushing you into the 3rd step before you could say it to yourself in your head.

“Mina?!” whipping around to the bed, you see Mina awake, looking exhausted and smiling at you with tears falling from her beautiful eyes, streaming down her perfectly porcelain cheeks.

“Mina!” forget the injuries, forget then soaked sweater, forget everything. Nothing else matters but this human in front of you who was finally awake.

Running to the right side of her bed, you shed her sweater and crawl on top of the sheets to lay next to her. Burying your face into her neck, wrapping your arms gently around her and sobbing into her.

“I th-th-thought I l-lost y-you. I’m so s-s-sorry for everything.” sniffling and trying to compose yourself so you can talk to her, holding her face as you wipe the tears off it.

“I sh-should’ve never p-put you in that s-situation, you deserve s-so m-much more than this, I’m so fucking sorry.” falling apart completely in her arms as you held each other.

“I thought I lost you too, Y/n. I’m so happy to see you.” pulling you in closer to her, you can feel the reverberation of her weeping through her body as you just take the moment to hold each other.

“None of this is your fault! You couldn’t have known that Nayeon was going to go off the rails like that. Do not blame yourself for anything that happened…it wasn’t you, it was her. Okay?” kissing the palm of your hand gently as she cradled you.

“Sit up for me.” Mina coos.

You comply immediately, keeping a hand on her while fixing yourself to the upright position.

Mina cups your face, turning it to the side to see your healing bruises, her lower jaw quivers as she attempts to hold back more tears, trying to get an idea of how bad your wounds were. Tilting your head down to see the stitches on your scalp - she loses the will to keep it together.

Mina is in full hysteria, sobbing as she runs her thumb over your bruised cheeks. You wipe the tears from hers again, grabbing her forearms and gripping them lightly as you go to reassure her that you’re fine.

“Wh-what else?” her raspy voice choking out, sighing and trying to regulate but interrupting you before you can get the sentence out.

“3 broken ribs, 16 stitches on my scalp and a few bruises to my face and stomach. The doctor told me that had you not held the back of my head, I would have died…So thank you for saving my life, Mina…what did they say…about you?” fearing the worst as to what could be…what Nayeon inflicted on her after you fainted.

“Punctured lung and a few cracked ribs. They told me to take it easy for the next few months and that I might get winded easily until my lungs heal. I can’t lift this arm until the muscles heal either but…I would do it again.” sniffling as she calms, realizing you both are okay, she removes her hand from your face and holds a few of your fingers instead.

“You would do it again?” confused in what she meant.

“Y/n, I have admired you from a distance for so long. I watched her take the light from your eyes and I was blessed to see it return. I would take that bullet a million times over if it meant keeping you safe and keeping the glow you have alive.” reaching up to cup your face again, pulling you towards her and placing her lips on yours gently.

Solar systems collide with the energy exchange that was this moment, your lips meeting after all the worry you both experienced for each other. It’s like all the trauma that you both endured melted off your bones, dripping into pure lilac care and comfort for one another, allowing both of you to forget about everything you endured together, even if it’s just for a moment.

Her heart monitor beeps uncontrollably as her heart races, prompting everyone to run in anxiously when they hear the sound of the chirps from the machine.

Separating for only a moment, you both look over at everyone and share a giggle together. Everyone is smiling at you, just happy to see the light between the two of you again.

“Sorry for the scare, everyone…” Mina’s face beams red in the embarrassment from making everyone worry, but that doesn’t stop her from doing what she wanted.

Pulling you back to her, she kisses you in front of Twice and her parents. It was soft and sweet and it contained every comfort you craved in the last few days of living in the unknown, even if the action did surprise you.

It was a welcomed and lovely surprise.

—

After a few hours of talking and sitting together, the Twice members leave to change and get some rest but not before Momo can give you your phone. Wanting Mina to spend some time with her parents, you try to stand and go with Momo to give her some space, but Mina wouldn’t let go of your hand.

“Please stay. I want you next to me.” gripping you tighter and tugging you back to her.

Climbing back onto the bed, you lay with her while she speaks to her family. Unable to join the conversation because of the language barrier, you simply lay next to her and keep her hand in yours.

The sound of her voice brings is a calm to you that you feel like you’ve been missing for years. Body relaxing next to hers, you face her on your side and slowly drift into a peaceful sleep you hadn’t known for days.

—

A buzzing wakes you, jolting you out of your sleep and immediately causing a disgruntle energy to settle in your body. Reaching over to the table next to Mina’s hospital bed, you admire her calmness for a moment, sleeping so peacefully, and your heart soars.

Realizing it was just you and Mina in the room, her parents must’ve gone back to their hotel to get some rest, you grab the phone and look to see an unfamiliar number on the screen.

Swiping to answer, you groggily say your greeting to be met by something unexpected.

“Hello?”

“Good Morning, This is the sheriff’s office and we are looking for Y/n L/n.” the thick southern accent familiar in the way it speaks, this must be the officer from the other day.

“This is she.”

“Well, Ms. L/n, I wish we were calling for better circumstances but unfortunately, that is not the case. Your apartment was broken into and torn apart. Are you currently available to come down and see if anything is missing?”

“What?!” your voice wakes Mina up, she quickly realizes that something is wrong and she’s sitting up next to you.

Putting the phone on speaker, you wait to hear what the officer has to say.

“It looks like they broke in through the window in the kitchen, it also looks like every room has been trashed…I suggest you get down here as soon as you can.” the officer is not aware of the events that had happened just a few days prior.

“I’m currently in the hospital waiting for my girlfriend to be discharged.” Mina perks up at the statement, turning red and blushing.

“We both were in a bit of a targeted situation and are a bit beat up. How long will you be down there?” inquired so you can cooperate in the situation.

“Targeted situation? Does this have to do with that rock with the note from before?” the officer seems to be concerned, realizing that this is way bigger than he realized.

“Yes. Im Nayeon tried to kill us at a friends banquet a few days ago. She was shot…and is…uhm…” realizing that Mina didn’t know about what happened with Nayeon yet.

“Well, she’s dead, sir.”

“What?” Mina gasps at this information, tears welling up as the processes what you’ve just said.

“I’m going to pull the reports for this incident, give me one moment.” the officer says, hearing typing on the other end of the line.

“It looks like she’s very much alive. There are reports that she was taken to the hospital across town and was in police custody but she escaped two days ago and her whereabouts are unknown.” the words ricocheted off your skull and down into your chest.

“What did you just say?” looking over at Mina, who is wide eyed and shivering as she tries to cope with how overwhelming this situation is.

“You should probably get here, Ms. Y/n. We will wait for you.” as he hung up the phone.

Looking over at Mina, you are both in shock.

“I saw Jihyo shoot Nayeon before I passed out…I remember that…but…why did she want to hurt us? Why did she hurt me? ” Mina’s eyes shift back and forth as she recalls what happened that night, the trauma settling in her brain from the betrayal of someone who once was her sister.

“We thought she was…gone. We all thought that she was…” cut off by the hinges of the door squeaking.

Watching as the door to the room opens and the nurse who did your discharge paperwork steps in with a clipboard for Mina.

“I’ll let you do the paperwork, I’m going to step outside and call Momo to let her know what’s going on.” Standing up with a sense of urgency and rushing past the nurse.

“Please hurry back.” Mina chimes as the nurse fills her in on care she would need.

The phone chirps back to you as you wait for Momo to answer. It’s early so you know you’re waking her and Dahyun up but this was an emergency.

“Hello? Y/n? Is everything okay?” Dahyun answers Momo’s phone, worried about you and Mina.

“No. Nayeon’s alive and not in police custody. I think she broke into my apartment and trashed it but Mina is signing her paperwork for discharge now and we are going to head over there.” Giving her the information that was given to you.

“What?! I’ll wake Momo, we can meet you there.” Already hearing Momo grumbling in the background.

“Let me take care of the apartment stuff. We will get a hotel somewhere and call you from there to meet us. I fear we won’t be safe until she’s caught.” Voice shaky as the fear penetrates you.

“Okay, just call us when you can.”

“I will call you soon, I promise.”

Hanging up the phone and spinning around to see Mina standing and struggling to change her clothes, not being able to lift her arm was hindering her mobility.

It breaks your heart into tiny pieces, watching her try to do something so basic by herself but hindered by the wound Nayeon inflicted.

Walking back in, you shut the door behind you and help her get dressed. Being her arm for her, slipping her pants on and finagling her sleeves of her sweater so she can slip the arm that she can’t lift through it and be somewhat comfortable.

“What aftercare did the nurse give you?” Grabbing the bag of her things and her hand before leading her out of the room to the door.

Both of you taking it slowly despite the mess at your apartment and the imminent threat of Nayeon, she could be anywhere. The most important things were safe, you and Mina. Everything else is replaceable.

“Just changing bandages and making sure it’s sterile. Stuff my Dad taught me, very easy.” reassuring you that she had it handled.

“Teach me how to do it once we get somewhere safe?” Offering to help care for her as she did for you when you needed her.

Protect her and care for her, that’s all you wanted.

“Of course, baby.” Leaning in to kiss your cheeks as you walk out of the hospital, just happy to be with each other again.

“To your apartment?” Looking up at you as you hail down a cab.

“To the apartment. Can you call your parents and make sure they’re somewhere safe? I don’t want anyone else hurt in this…” worrying about their safety, you can’t handle anymore hurt to loved ones especially after the kindness they showed you.

“I’ll call them on the way.” pulling her phone out of her pocket and scrolling through her contacts.

“Also, your girlfriend, huh?” Making eyes at you and smirking before looking back at her phone and clicking on her Mom’s contact ID.

“I- well I-…uhm.” Stammering and embarrassed, you hadn’t exactly asked her to be your girlfriend yet…

“I like the way that sounds, can I keep that title?” Winking at you, she lifts her phone to her ear to speak with her family about what comes next.

“Please do.” giving her the biggest smile you’ve shown in days.

—

Arriving at the apartment, you see the crime scene tape and the sheriff outside. You and Mina thank the cab driver before getting out and walking up to the officer.

“Ms. Y/n! Thank you for coming so quickly, will you please walk through the apartment and let us know if anything is missing?” Ushering you inside with Mina, he seems to be in a hurry.

All the windows are broken, the couch has been sliced up with a knife, the TV is shattered and the game consoles you had purchased were in pieces in the living room floor. Sighing at the sight of this, you knew it would only get worse further into the house.

The kitchen was covered in shattered dining ware, all your new plates and cups in ruins on the floor. The sink missing chunks of the tub of it and the water spraying everywhere, creating puddles on the floor.

Thinking back to when Mina cleaned the floor after the window shattered and bandaged up your foot on the island that now was coated in broken ceramics…you were just starting to make happy memories here, why would someone ruin this?

Everything is broken tossed around like it was nothing…the only thing left untouched was the black mug that you had matching with her…

Gasping at each room you went into, you made your way to the bedroom to see what else she could’ve done. It’s astonishing to you that someone who was just beaten and shot could do this much damage to a property.

The bed is in shreds, just like the couch. Headboard broken and falling off the frame. Clothes everywhere, thrown around and in pieces just like the rest of your belongings.

Mina grips your hand tighter, refusing to let go of it as you realize that everything you owned was completely dismantled at what you assumed to be Nayeon’s hands and a very sharp knife.

“We can replace it all, I’m not worried about any of this.” Kicking around the fabrics of what were once your favorite shirts and shoes.

“Y/n?” Mina’s voice quivers as she points to the wall.

Heavy red spray paint spelling out, “Sorry she’s gone but you’re mine.”

“What the fuck…” a chill runs through your spine, you knew it was Nayeon the minute you walked in but this…this felt like such a threat, making you nauseous and fearful of how much farther she would take this.

“We need to get out of here.” Turning around to leave and pulling Mina with you, when you feel a vibration in your pocket.

Pulling your phone out, it’s an unknown number…

Waving over the officer to show him the phone, he hands you a device that clicks into the charging port of the phone, explaining that it would track her location via cell towers and then encourages you to answer the call on speaker.

“Hello?”

“Did you like my art on your walls, my love?” Giggling manically at herself, you sit in silence.

“What do you fucking want, Nayeon? Haven’t you done enough already?!” Seethed through clenched teeth as you watch the sheriff signal you to keep her talking.

“Awh baby, are you mad at me? Sorry about your little girlfriend…she was just collateral damage, a pawn in a bigger game. So is your apartment but don’t worry, you can still come home. I miss our showers together, don’t you?” somewhere between manic and seductive, her strange attempt to get you back to your old home was threatening and violent.

You’re unsure how far she’s going to take this and you don’t want to find out what the last resort is after what she’s already done.

“I told you I don’t want anything to do with you.” Trying to keep calm when in reality the storm brewing in your chest could’ve blown the roof off the apartment, ruining it further.

“Look…she’s dead. Gone. I shot her where it counted, so just come home where you belong. With me. Don’t you want to come home to me again, baby? I broke up with Jihyo…it’s over between us. It’s only you, my love. Only you and me.” trying to conceal her tears from you, but you can see and hear right through them.

This was always about control.

The cops puts his hand up, signaling that they had her location.

“You either show up here in the next few hours or else.” The grit in her voice scares you more than you’d ever admit out loud.

“Like what, Nayeon? What else could you possibly hurt me with?” snarky in your response, knowing that you had the upper hand and she wasn’t aware of that.

“Well…don’t forget I know where Momo and Dahyun live. You have 2 hours to get here. No cops. Just you. I love you.” The phone beeps, indicating she’s hung up on you.

Mina has a look of horror on her face, leaning in to hug you. Feeling her shake in fear sparks a rage in you that you cannot explain.

“Is she actually at the old apartment?” The officer nods his head yes.

“I’m going over there. Follow behind me and come inside 15 minutes after I do, do you want me to wear a wire?” to the sheriff, he nods his head again.

Mina is hasty in her protest, practically slamming her fist down on the counter as she spits her argument at you.

“Don’t you fucking dare put yourself in harm’s way again! I thought I lost you the first time and I don’t want to even imagine what losing you would feel like, please…just let them handle it.” Holding back her sobs, she’s distraught and almost inconsolable.

Hugging her as tightly as you can without sparking pain in both of you, you rub her back in reassurance and kiss the top of her head. Holding you so tightly, she refuses to let you go at all, keeping you in her arms, where she would argue you belong. To that you had no rebuttal.

“I’ll be safe, I promise. And you are safe because she thinks…” the words get caught in your throat.

“…she thinks she killed you…I can’t let her go after Momo and Dahyun, I won’t let her go after them.” kissing her forehead and then reminding her of the one key part of this plan of you going to your old home.

“Besides…I’m just a distraction.”

[saijspellhart]

Things I liked about the Netflix ATLA and some critiques:

Before you read. Please go watch the series, take off your blinders and keep an open mind. It’s surprisingly good. This review has spoilers.

They reordered some scenes so that emotional moments would have a larger pay off. Like getting to see and experience Aang’s relationship with Monk Gyatsu, and seeing his tribe before it was destroyed. So when he has his breakdown in the air temple with Sokka and Katara later, you really feel and understand his agony.

Azula is introduced earlier, with a story running simultaneously with the Aang’s journey but not involved with his. So she has a chance to be more fleshed out and explored before she becomes a major threat. Only time will tell if this more complicated Azula comes close to the animated one. Big shoes to fill, but not a bad start.

Fire Lord Ozai plays a more sinister and oppressive role. Not a faceless boogeyman anymore. You get to see his machinations and the cruel games he’s playing with his family, and see the emotional abuse that warps them.

Appa is adorable as fuck, and so is Momo. So well animated, such gorgeous care put into them.

Kyoshi, Kuruk, and Roku make more of an appearance. With Kyoshi narrating the prologue. And if you loved the novels you’ll see they incorporated more of Kyoshi and Kuruk’s backstory from the novels than what we saw in the animated cartoon.

The acting was competent, even if a little wonky at times. I found Sokka very endearing, I loved the kid they cast as Aang and you can tell they really tried to find a balance between serious and playful. They didn’t always hit it, but the effort was there.

Zuko was great. I think they nailed him and he had great chemistry with the actor playing Iroh.

King Bumi was great, I love how they made his internal struggles more complex. He wasn’t just a crazy old man anymore. He was a crazy old man who was weary and worn down by the horrors of loss and war. A crazy old man who struggled to reconcile that the best friend he lost is the avatar and wasn’t there for him.

I loved the costume and set design. It was like stepping into the actual world of ATLA. Cities were complex and well constructed. Every setting was incredible and the attention to detail was intense.

Zuko’s boat is full of artifacts he pilfered from the Air Nomads while hunting for the avatar.

They changed how Aang got the bison whistle so it makes more sense and fits more seamlessly into the story. It never made sense why a random peddler would be selling a bison whistle if air nomads and bison have been gone for 100 years. Not impossible for a peddler to do, but not probable. The Netflix series actually gave more meaning for the artifact and changed how Aang received it.

Emotional points in the show are now more intense and brought me to tears.

Commander Zhao is more competent and conniving, and his presence felt more dangerous and less comedic.

Sokka’s outright sexism was changed from putting girls down, to just manly machismo, talking himself up. Not gone, but not degrading. They decided to let the sexism message shine more prominently with the northern water tribe, rather than tackle it twice with Sokka too. (Sokka’s sexism being solved in one episode was never well written to begin with. And the animated series quickly forgot about it and moved on to him tackling more important issues, like his being a non bender inadequacy, his leadership journey, his physical combat journey, and him finding himself as more than just the funny sarcastic guy.) For time constraints, it was better the Netflix series did not to tackle the same problem twice, especially when you might not have the resources to give both sexism issues the gravity it deserves. By focusing the sexism problem to the northern water tribe they were able to give Katara more attention.

We got to see Katara’s water-bending go from being ultra sloppy and weak to badass. It feels like they are spending more time focusing on her developing into a warrior rather than being the mom of the group. I’m honestly not sad about it. She’s still the hope ridden, emotional glue, but now it feels like she explores that warrior side a little deeper. It felt so earned when she got the title of master at the northern water tribe finale.

The actor playing uncle Iroh nailed the role. I couldn’t think of a better live action adaptation of Iroh. I love him so much.

The shirshu looks fucking phemonal.

Koh was scary as fuck and I love it. They really nailed his horror elements. Even if I’m a little sad that they changed some things about his face stealing. (He eats faces now to steal them, rather than stealing when someone shows emotion.)

The three actresses who play Mei, Azula and Tailee actually look appropriate for their age. Since they are introduced earlier, they are clearly younger, and since this show is intended to get more seasons, the casting choice made sense as we are intended to watch these girls grow up over the course of the entire show. These actors will get older, and the characters will get more menacing and sharper. It’s great. It’s thoughtful. I love it.

We get to see Zuko’s dynamics with his crew more. And find out that he did more than just speak out against his father at that meeting. His outburst at that meeting saved an entire squad of soldiers, and they don’t even know it. Zuko feels such disdain and bitterness because of the situation, and his crew doesn’t even know why. It’s so complex, you can see how the abuse Zuko endured causes him to take out his anger on his crew, and in turn they are bitter back. And it’s this cycle, that festers. But the crew also grows with Zuko, they change and evolve as he evolves. And it’s such a delight to watch.

They could have cut the Secret Tunnel minstrels altogether, given the time constraints and that the episode was mostly fluff in season two. A fun romp, but not necessary. But the creators knew people loved the minstrels so they found a way to use them anyway. Because they knew they were special. I am thankful for that, even if they show up waaay earlier than they should.

I was honestly more sold on Sokka and Suki’s relationship in the live action. It’s was so adorkable. Do I wish it had more time to develop? Yeah, of course I love a good slow burn. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t fun as hell watching the two flirt so badly with each other. Sokka being a buffoon, and Suki overstepping and being too rough, before realizing she was being too hard.

Some Critiques:

They reordered some episode storylines to happen at the same time, and while it does bloat some episodes. it’s understandable due the episode and budget limitations. In the cartoon, during the inventor episode Katara didn’t have a lot to do, and during the freedom fighters episode Sokka didn’t have a lot to do. So they ended up combining both stories into one hour long episode in the live action, so that both Katara and Sokka would be involved in something. Is it the best? No. But it makes sense. I get it.

Katara starts off bland in the first episode and it takes a bit for her to grow into the character.

The past avatars can be a bit strong with the doom and gloom, and I wish they’d toned that back.

Koh and Heibei (I dunno how to spell the panda spirit’s name) got combined to the same episode, and Koh stole Heibei’s spotlight. Again, I understand why these got combined, but I think it could have been handled a little better and Heibei should have gotten more closure.

There should have been a ninth episode, placed between the two episode Koh storyline, and the Northern Water Tribe storyline. Why? Because the Koh storyline was really heavy and intense. And it leads right into the season finale. An extra ninth episode should have been added with a more lighthearted tone. Something to ease the tension between the two very intense storylines.

Aang should have been using a glider to flit about the temples in the first episode. But it’s not something that ruins the whole show. It was a dumb that only happens in a single episode in the season.

I really missed Momo and Appa’s presence. They appeared atleast once in every episode, but it was still sad they weren’t more of a presence. Again I understand why. They were so beautifully animated that everytime they were on screen it (without a doubt) cost the production thousands of dollars. They were generous including as many of the unique animals and creatures as they had.

I still don’t think Sokka had enough time to develop a relationship with Yue at the northern water tribe. It was rushed and contrived in the animated version, and it was rushed and contrived in this Netflix version. There also wasn’t any of the chemistry like Sokka had with Suki to make the whirlwind romance work. I never liked the romance from the original, and I wasn’t a fan of it here. But that’s ok, because it’s such a small and insignificant thing.

In conclusion most of the changes I can see made were due to budget, and episode limitations. The creators were clearly trying to bring theater-cinematic quality to what was essentially an eight hour long film. And you cannot deny that this show is stunning. Absolutely breathtaking. Most of the episodes cut were filler, and while hilarious and mostly loved by fans, were stories not as necessary in the grand scope. You could feel the love and appreciation the creators included in this series. It wasn’t soulless, it wasn’t a heartless cash grab, it wasn’t a shot for shot (thank god) but it also didn’t butcher the source material.

I understand that the animated show creators had creative differences with the live action Netflix adaptation creators. But that doesn’t mean that the Netflix series completely failed. As every fanfic writer out there knows, the original authors are not going to love what you create based on their works. Tolkien hated every adaptation of his works, HATED them. But no one is going about saying that the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies were hot garbage. A creator doesn’t have to endorse a project for it to be good.

Netflix ATLA is good, it’s not perfect. And it never was going to be perfect. The cartoon it was based on wasn’t perfect either. But the ATLA cartoon was definitely some huge shoes to fill that set a bar very high. Any adaptation was going to struggle to be just as good.

I think the Netflix adaptation was a treat and a pleasure to watch. I think people should go into it with an open mind and see that it’s not trying to replace the cartoon. It’s a love letter to the cartoon.

PS: According to behind the scenes commentary on the Nickelodeon ATLA cartoon, the reason we didn’t get a season 4 was because the creators wanted a live action film. Nickelodeon offered the original cartoon creators the option to make season 4 or to spend the budget meant for season four on a live action ATLA film. The original creators chose the live action film directed by M. Night Shamalan. They wanted a live action for their show over a 4th season. They had no idea M. night would butcher their baby with his pathetic film all those years ago.

This show was a second chance after the M. night abomination. And you know what? It’s a pretty decent adaptation. And guess what? With a resurgence of interest in the series, we are getting more animated content for the original animated series. There’s definitely something for everyone on the horizon if this succeeds.

[gallusrostromegalus]

all the captains and lieutenants accidentally get slipped some of ukitake's fucked up gigaweed edibles, what happens

First of all, it's not an accident, they straight-up plan a Friday-Night-Of-A-Three-Day-Weekend event of this. Everyone is curious, and Ukitake thinks it will be a funny way to celebrate his Birthday. He is correct: Yamamoto: Veteran of The Dank Arts, gets real high but not unpleasantly so. Would do it again next time he has a long weekend to enjoy it!

Sasakibe: Claims Ludwig Wittgenstein makes PERFECT sense now, attempts to write this philosophical revelation down but is thwarted by the jammed machinations of a clicky pen.

Soi Fon: Gives herself a hernia laughing at one (1) bad pun.

Yoruichi: Used to Urahara's Megaweed Edibles, so approaches the Gigaweed with undue confidence, declares This Edible Ain't Shit five minutes in and eats a second one. She has to be coaxed down from the top of the fridge where she's hiding from The Hatmen by bribing her with a can of Tuna. (Ukitake keeps the $21-a-can Good Shit in the house)

Omaeda: Creates a God-teir marinara Sauce, AND has the good sense to have Nemu pause her Game of Go and come into the kitchen to write down what he did.

Rose: Writes a magnificent new symphony, it's his best work ever, it's life alteringly beautiful, it's effervescent- When he sobers up, it's half a piccolo solo that barely qualifies as a ringtone.

Izuru: In the kitchen crying while eating an inadvisable amount of Omaeda's Spaghetti Marinara.

Retsu: Category Five Mukbang Incident

Isane: Thinks she's filming the Mukbang Incident, actually has her phone open to the calculator app.

Shinji: refuses to touch the Gigaweed because he "Owes The Hatmen Money" and nobody can tell if he's joking or not (he's not).

Momo: Literally Everything is HILARIOUS

Hiyori: Did not know it was possible to have a bigger, gayer crush on Momo, but she somehow opened up a new level of lesbianics. She calls it Gay 2.

Byakuya: Couchlocked for 24 hours straight.

Renji: Couchlocked right there with him, but able to text Izuru to bring them Spaghetti.

Komamura: Can't. Canine Weed Toxicity. (Relieved, offers to spend the weekend watching Toshiro and Yachiru so he has an excuse to go winter camping over the weekend)

Iba: Got High as FUCK. Found out later that the thing he actually ate was a Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie.

Shunsui: his alcohol tolerance actually makes his weed tolerance terrible so he's on the floor from jokingly licking the wrapper.

Nanao: Challenging people to knife fights (Romantic Intent).

Tousen: Immediately passes out because he managed to get his blood pressure down to normal levels, sleeps for 26 hours straight and wakes up feeling genuinely well-rested and in a good mood for the first time in two centuries.

Kensei: Gets his hand bitten at the Category 5 Mukbang Incident because he thought it would be funny to try to snitch off Retsu's plate.

Shuuhei: Attempting to refinance Shinji's debt with The Hatmen. Possibly succeeding?

Mashiro: Said "This Edible Ain't Shit", took a second, and appears to be unaffected. Playing Go with Nemu and winning.

Matsumoto: Makes the Hernia-inducing Pun. Will not STOP making Puns.

Hitsugaya: Being babysat by Komamura, would be madder about this if he wasn't also having a blast doing wintertime camping.

Kenpachi: Attempts to fight his own shadow, loses.

Yachiru: Also on the Wintertime Mountain Expedition, trying to talk Toshiro into joining her and Komamura on an Elk Hunt.

Ikkaku: Has done weed before, but only smoked it, but has a naturally suspicious nature and waits to see how Yoruichi does on her second edible, and avoids running afoul of The Hatmen.

Yumichika: Stays sober to collect blackmail on everyone. Actually films the Mukbang Incident for Isane

Mayuri: This is NOTHING compared to the Quantum Formaldymeth shit he's been on for the last century.

Urahara: from a prominent weed-growing family and lifetime connoisseur of The Herb. Takes one bite and realizes he's in deep shit, lies down on the floor next to Shuuhei and gives him terrible financial advice.

Nemu: Not chemically effected by The Edible but she loves A Group Social Activity so she's a little crunk on Social Recognition Euphoria and it's interfering with her game.

Ukitake, peeling his lieutenant off the floor: Y'all are wimps.

Rukia: has to be peeled off the floor, is affectionately dumped in the laps of Renji and Byakuya, where she forces them to have an emotionally honest and borderline normal conversation.