#also notice how the only black man in the story (that’s from Japan) is also on the field with spinner

[bicheetopuff]

So I made a post some months back. It was my most popular post for a while, not sure why but, it was. But in light of the new chapter I wanted to bring it back up.

At the time, this post had shippy connotations and still does but, I want to talk about the bigger part of the post. I’m sure we can all agree that the picture that chapter 370 is painting is far more important than any possible canonicity of a fanon pairing. I got a lot of reblogs on this post talking what I put in tags so I’d like to extend my point.

I saw people talking about how this chapter is boring and not important and I felt disappointed… but I realized why they feel like that. Because this part of the story isn’t relatable to everyone. It’s the same reason people call Deku a bad MC. The same reason most of the western audience reduces Uraraka to just a love interest. The reason why people find it hard to empathize with and understand Touya or Bakugou. They can’t relate and are only here for the fight scenes. Which is fine. We’re all products of our environments and experiences so yea it’s okay to not find a certain plot line relatable but to say that it’s boring and “not important to the story” is saying that you’re unable to make out the bigger meaning and you’re kinda invalidating the real people that have actually experienced persecution.

The biggest conflict in mha arguably is the way people of authority treat others based on their looks, quirks, and talent. And we can take Bakugou and Hawks as examples for why mindless praise and ego strokes at such a young age can be just as bad as being looked down upon and bullied. They’re different experiences but both resulted in toxic mindsets about themselves and changed the mindsets of the people around them as well (the hero commission seeing hawks’ talent and training him to be a warrior essentially [like nagant but her experience started much older], bakugous friends and teachers praising him to the point where his ego inflated and causing the people around him, including his parents, to believe that he’s an untouchable force that never and shouldn’t need help [minus deku, which is where their conflict came from]).

The mutant rebellion is just a more obvious way of telling what’s been going on for the entire story. Which goes back to the tag in my original post:

I think the morals of the story is why it’s [mha] is more attractive towards POC, the lgbt community, those that have been looked down upon for being different, or people that have experienced having expectations they couldn’t reach being thrown on their shoulders…

What’s being explained in this chapter isn’t just some plot device. It’s a moral that’s applicable to real life and you saying it’s not important makes you look like a prick. And it’s not just an issue amongst individuals, it’s an issue highly influenced by celebrities and government officials. Making it a systemic and societal issue, just like it’s being portrayed in mha.

tl;dr

If you can’t relate to anything that’s going on or being said in the recent chapter and you don’t like it, shut the hell up and skip the chapter. Let the people who can relate gain a little bit more respect for Horikoshi for even thinking about addressing an issue this blatantly.

[liyawritesss]

ʟᴏᴠɪɴɢ ᴋᴇɴᴊɪ ꜱᴀᴛᴏ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɪɴᴄʟᴜᴅᴇ...

-> synopsis: what would life be like to love the worlds baseball darling and secret superhero Ultraman, Kenji Sato?

-> pairing: kenji sato + black!gn!reader

-> from: ultraman: rising

-> contains: pure fluff, gender neutral, mentions of emiko and emi, 2nd person ('you', 'your', 'yours')

-> a/n: these animators need to stop making these kid movies with fine ass main characters bc whyyyyyyy is he so cute??? why do i wanna baby him in my arms and tell him everything will be okay? LET THIS MAN KNOW PEACE PLEASE!!!

-> join my taglist!

-> tags: @badass-dora-milaje @uranometrias @lees-chaotic-brain @jacuzziwaters

Kenji Sato who loves loves loooooovveeesss those subliminal couples pictures. The ‘private but not secret’ ones. They’re so aesthetically pleasing to him and they allow him to show you off to the world while still maintaining an air of privacy that he cherishes deeply from the media. Kenji is proud to call you his, and wants to show that in all ways possible.

Kenji Sato who is heavy on the couples jewelry. He’s already got a couple of notable pieces in his collection beforehand, and they only expand when you come into his life. In fact, the speculations of his love life come from the fact that people were noticing that he was wearing pieces from brands that were specifically designed for couples. Of course, when asked about it, he never goes into depth about it, and just recites how he thinks they look nice on him…and on someone else.

Kenji Sato who introduces you to his mom only after he’s sure that he wants to be serious with you. I have a feeling Emiko is the type of mom to get attached to their child’s partner in the sense of already viewing them as part of the family very early on, and Kenji wouldn’t want to get her hopes up if something were to happen - he can’t stand to see his mom upset. But when he does introduce you to his mom, you two become the best of friends! So definitely expect to be sent on girls day adventures by Kenji, cuz he’ll definitely be treating the two most important women in his life like royalty.

Kenji Sato who requires a lot of patience to deal - I mean, the man has a lot going on. Being the number one baseball player in the world, saving Japan from threats as Ultraman, and caring for the large kaiju baby Emi is more than a lot on anyone's plate. Kenji’s gonna need someone to understand that his schedule is never solid, and plans may fall through from time to time, and thats not because he’s not trying, but it’s because spontaneity runs his life and things can change at the drop of a hat, out of his control. It’s not the life he asked for, but it’s one he must take on.

Kenji Sato who doesn't exactly know how to bring up the topic of him being Ultraman, much less about Emi, early on in the relationship. I mean, how often do you tell someone that you're Japan's legendary hundred-foot tall superhero or that you're the surrogate parent to a twenty foot tall baby dragon kaiju? As much planning that he does on telling you, it ultimately happens in the worse way possible - you end up finding him mid-transition with Emi in tow...now that's gonna be an interesting story to tell. Spoiler: you stay with him, but now he's subjected to jokes about how is ego isn't the only thing that blows up to an enormous degree.

Kenji Sato who appreciates a partner that can not only deal with spontaneity, but is also rather spontaneous themselves. Surprise dates, random gifts, adventurous propositions out of the blue, I think those kind of things are right up his alley. He’s learned to live life in the moment and to the fullest, because it can be taken from you within an instant, and he wants to cherish every moment he has with you.

Kenji Sato who would spend his money on you religiously. He’ll sit in the dressing room with you as you try on armfuls of clothes, only to hand you his credit card at the end of the haul with a kiss to your temple, encouraging you to buy it all if you desire. And don't let you look at something too long in a display window, because he will have it shipped to your address in two business days. Endless trips post-baseball season in secluded locations so that the two of you can optimize the privacy you desperately crave.

Kenji Sato who’s a little bashful and nervous in the beginning, but eases into the relationship as time goes on. He doesn’t wanna mess up something so good that he has going on. Opening up takes some time, as he’s got some high walls that are hard to climb, but once you do get him to open up and bare his heart to you, don’t take it for granted. He doesn't do this to everyone, only the people he feels will truly return the care and compassion he has - so don’t prove him wrong.

Kenji Sato who seeks your comfort in the middle of the night when sleep evades him, leaving him restless and anxious. Most times, its about his mom and her disappearance, a mystery that's never left his mind. If you don't wake up to find him sitting up in bed deep in thought, or trying to tire himself out in a simulation, he finds comfort in just cuddling you, admiring your sleeping form, and talks about the most random things until the sun begins to peak over the horizon.

Kenji Sato who’s sort of in between the serious lover and the playful lover - he’s maturing in his emotions and how to deal with his past, learning how to communicate better and express himself healthily. Simultaneously, he’s a goofball and a jokester reliving a bit of his childhood in his love with you. Playful banter, jokes and teasing are equally as present as the late night talks and the deep conversations the two of you share.

Kenji Sato who tucks the chain that has his promise ring on it close to his chest, and on game days, rubs his thumb over the gold band for comfort and assurance before he heads up to bat. During championships, he'll ask you to kiss it for good luck, and when he wins, he of course accredits it to you being his 'good luck charm'.

Kenji Sato who loves deeply and fervently, with compassion and the entirety of his heart, who will do his duty and love you unconditionally an proudly while shielding you from the cruel and prying eyes of the public, letting you know time and time again that it will always be you he chooses, no matter what.

If you enjoyed, please leave a like, comment, and reblog for others to see! And don’t be shy to send in a request!

[klaustozier]

the truth ; nijiro murakami

SUMMARY: you and nijiro have been dating for almost a year, all his fans and your friends make jokes about how fun your sex life must be, but you never did anything, because of a secret of yours.

warnings: nijiro x virgin!fem!reader, he's cute :c and will teach you stuff, fluff, dirty talk, soft sex, big cock!nijiro, never mentioned this before but I think it's good: ALWAYS wear a condom, that said: no condom will be used, breeding kink

that was a request so here it is, i hope the anon that asked liked it!

word count: 2.4k

english is not my first language, so i'm sorry for any mistakes

enjoy!

Nijiro kissed you gently. They were both in bed in his room, they were supposed to be just watching a movie, but things were getting more and more intimate and when they noticed they were already kissing.

When Nijiro's hand began to seep into your blouse, your breathing hitched and anxiety consumed you. Pushing him away, you took a deep breath looking up, your breathing uneven.

You were supposed to tell him the truth, but it had been so long, you were nervous about his reaction even though he was always a dream and extremely patient and understanding. You remembered a tweet from a Nijiro fan commenting on Twitter with a photo of them together something like "if this woman doesn't ride this man at least three times a day, she needs therapy", little did they know that the two never go to fucking.

Once, after a friend's birthday party, Nijiro masturbated you, while kissing you in his car when they were still in the garage of their friend's apartment building. Another time, they disappeared at a party and went to the bathroom, where you jerked him off while making out. And it was only those two times that they had been sexually intimate.

Their friends were always mocking them, if by chance they didn't find them at parties, they would make fun of them, because one of them had caught them leaving the place together.

And there you were, pushing him away again, out of insecurity, "Sorry, Niji… I'm really sorry…"

"No need to apologize, baby…", he smiled and ran his thumb across your cheek, "If you don't feel like it, that's okay."

"It's not that I don't want to", you commented softly, sighing, "It's just that there's another problem."

He frowned, "What is it?"

"It's so stupid", you covered your face with your hands.

He smiled softly, taking your hands away from your face, seeing your face turning red with embarrassment, "Nothing that comes from you is stupid… tell me what's wrong, baby girl."

You sighed, "I'm a virgin", you whispered, so quietly he didn't hear.

"What?"

You sighed more deeply, clearing your throat, "I'm a virgin."

His eyebrows shot up, "Really?", you nodded, "I thought you already had sex… one guy even ended up in the hospital…"

You laughed, thanking him for wanting to lighten the mood, "He went to the hospital before anything happened."

The story was that you were going to have sex with a guy and he, also inexperienced, got tangled up in the blankets trying to stay upright on the bed, fell to the floor and hit his head. You didn't even have sex, at least he was still wearing pants.

"Oh", he nodded, "why didn't you talk to me? You didn't have to hide it from me."

"I was ashamed", you confessed, "I feel old to still be a virgin…"

"You're two years younger than me", he commented.

"Yeah! And you already fucked up half of Japan."

"Hey, hey, hey, what's that?", he laughed, "Maybe a little less than half, it's not all that."

"Dumbass", you whispered, giving him a peck.

"You don't have to be ashamed of me", whispered Nijiro, "We can have new experiences together…", he paused for a second and took a deep breath, running his hand through his long black hair, "So when touched you in my car, it was the first time someone jerked you off?"

"It was…"

"Oh", his gaze darkened, "I'll remember that when I think about that day again."

You raised your eyebrows, your hair being stroked, "When you say 'think about that day', what do you mean?"

He smiled, leaning in to kiss you, "I mean that I'm going to be thinking about you whimpering over me while I fucked you with my fingers in my car when I jerk off."

"You can't talk like that", you whispered.

"Why not, princess?", he smiled, feigning innocence.

"You know why…"

"Oh… because it makes your little pussy throb, doesn't it?"

"Niji… I've never done that…"

"But do you want to do it?", he asked softly, his thumb trailing down your bottom lip, "I can teach you."

You just kissed him, climbing into his lap, your hands running through his dark hair, your tongue and his tangling together. Something inside you heated up when you heard him say he would teach you.

You shouldn't have hidden the truth for so long, but you were so ashamed, even more so with so many people talking everywhere that they were basically two rabbits in heat. Nijiro always laughed politely, but never reinforced when his friends made these jokes or denied it, saying they didn't have sex, he didn't want to pressure you.

Nijiro took your pajama top off, throwing it on the bed, seeing the cute simple black bra you wore. He sighed, he loved your breasts, he always told you that when you wore cleavage or bikinis, but he had never seen your breasts, only touched them.

His fingers trailed down to your breasts as he removed your bra. You sighed, watched him take a deep breath and put his face between your breasts and pressed them against his face, distributing kisses along one of them until he reached your nipple, giving a little kiss raising your eyes to yours.

"You're so hot", whispered the brunette grabbing your breast, his tongue sliding over the delicate nipple.

Your body arched against his lips, "Nijiro", you whispered, your fingers stroking his hair as he licked and sucked your nipples, paying due attention to both, alternating when he felt it was necessary, "Fuck", you whispered, rubbing your hips against his.

When you had masturbated him at that party, you were slightly drunk, so you didn't remember how big he was. You could feel it pulsing against your pussy, thick against the football shorts he was wearing, you loved seeing him in those shorts, just imagining the volume, your pussy was throbbing.

Nijiro stopped sucking your breasts only to kiss you, his tongue licking yours and his fingers pinching your nipples, "You're so pretty", he whispered.

"You are so pretty", you whispered back, making him smile as you took his shirt off, "Niji…?"

"Yes, my baby girl", he whispered.

"Can I…?", your hand touched the elastic of his shorts, wanting to indicate what you wanted to do.

"Of course, you can do whatever you want, kitten", Nijiro smiled and sighed when you got off him and took off his shorts, leaving him naked, making you raise an eyebrow because he was without his underwear, "I'm glad I I chose not to wear underwear today", he joked making you laugh.

"Dumbass", you said, laughing and shaking your head.

You finally paid attention to his cock, your eyes widened a little. His body was laid bare and relaxed against the headboard, the thick cock, resting on his belly, pulsing, slightly reddened, the bulging veins lining the entire length, the tip glistening softly with a bit of precum.

You took the cock and sighed when you felt it hard in your hand, the sigh he gave made you tremble, "I don't know what to do…", you commented, being honest, "I've never done that…"

"Done what?", he asked, wanting to tease.

Your little eyes widened and your cheeks heated up, "You know…"

"Kawaii", he whispered, "I don't know", he smiled, "Tell me…", he whispered, his eyes dark, "What have you never done?"

"I never gave a blowjob…", you said very softly, despite the embarrassment, you felt so excited to hear him talk like that, he never talked to you like that, it was so good.

"Oh…", he nodded, "I got it, baby girl", and smiled, "Want me to teach you?"

"Please, Niji."

Nijiro took your hand and brought your index finger close to his mouth, "It's quite simple… you have to be careful with your teeth, okay?", you nodded paying all the attention in the world to him, "You can start licking", and his tongue slid along the base of your finger, "The tip is very delicate so you can give it a lot of attention too", he looked into your eyes as you watched his lips sucking the tip of your finger and rolling his tongue around it, your breath was almost hitched, "Since you've never done something like this, be careful when you suck, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay", you replied automatically.

"And you don't have to be afraid of saliva, make it all wet", he explained, opening his lips and sucking your finger, being gentle, his tongue wrapped around it, rubbing against the skin.

"Can I try?"

"You can do anything you want, my pretty little kitten", you breathed and leaned towards him, your legs folded over the mattress, "Oh, fuck", whispered the brunette.

With the position you were in, he could see your ass in the small mirror he had in the corner of the dresser under the TV, he even adjusted your hips before letting you get to work so he could see better. Your pajama shorts were tight against the skin of your ass, marking perfectly.

His eyes closed as you took hold of his cock and licked up and down, spit sliding across the skin. First, you paid attention to the tip, sucking and licking, salty pre-cum slicking your tongue. With one hand, you began to move up and down the length of the cock while your mouth followed.

"Fuck", he purred, stroking your hair.

His moans were so sweet, soft little whimpers, his hands stroked your hair, his toes curled whenever you paid attention to his balls, especially when you used your index finger and thumb to massage the tip of his cock.

You couldn't go as deep as you wanted, your jaw hurted too much, you stopped sucking him and lifted your head to talk to him, one of your hands stroking his balls the other masturbating him. Poor Nijiro looked lost.

"How do I swallow everything?", you asked softly.

"You have to practice", said the brunette smiling, "and luckily, I'm here to be your little practice toy… anytime, anywhere, just tell me you want to practice and I'll drop my pants", he joked. him making you laugh, relaxing you, he didn't want you to be nervous about your first time so he wanted to make you laugh.

"Fine, I'll keep that in mind."

"Fine", Nijiro smiled and ran his thumb across your cheek, "Now, lie down on the bed."

You nodded and complied, your head lying back against the pillows. Your shorts were removed and he took a moment to look down at your panties, the black cloth glistening with your pleasure.

"Fucking shit", he cursed, his thumb digging into your pussy though the panties, "You're all wet… look at that… all excited from blowing me."

"Don't talk like that, Nijiro", you asked, "You make me feel ashamed."

The brunette laughed, "Are you ashamed of being hot now?", and clicked his tongue three times, shaking his head, "What nonsense."

Your panties were removed and he looked at you completely naked on his bed. He slid his tongue across your pussy, earning a startled little whimper from you as he purred from the pleasure he was having from licking you.

"You taste so good", he whispered, licking once more as he lay on top of you, "Taste it", and kissed you, the taste of you being shared between them. You didn't think you could get any wetter, but Nijiro was trying hard.

And that's when you first felt what it was like to be eaten out. Nijiro hugged your thigh with one arm, hand in hand with you, his other hand caressing the inside of your thigh as he licked and sucked your clit, his tongue moving up and down.

"Nijiro", you moaned, your back arching when you felt a finger slowly penetrating you.

His eyes crossed yours, low and dark, his mouth and finger never stopped, you moaned louder when another finger joined the first and after a little while, another was inserted.

Your free hand was in his hair, stroking and holding it, pushing it out of the way as he made a mess of it. It didn't take long for you to cum, calling for your boyfriend, begging him to give you more of that pleasure.

He leaned over to the bedside table and grabbed a condom from the drawer, "No", you whispered, "you don't have to."

"No?", he repeated.

You shook your head, "No, I need to feel you inside me…"

Nijiro nodded, letting the condom fall back into the drawer and got back on top of you, kissing you as your hand guided your cock inside her.

His movement was slow, very carefully he penetrated your pussy, staying still from time to time so you could get used to it until he was all inside. Once he was all the way inside you, he stood there just kissing you and kissing and sucking on your neck.

"Nijiro", you whimpered, "please, move… I can't take it anymore."

"Of course, my princess."

Nijiro kissed you and began to move, his hips first thrusting calmly, being gentle, however, as your moans became more desperate, the faster he began to thrust.

You held his shoulders, scratching gently, as he tightened the sheets as he kissed you, his hips working nonstop.

"So tight", whispered Nijiro, biting your bottom lip, "You're only mine…"

"Only yours, Niji", you agreed.

It didn't take long for both of them to be cumming. Your eyes rolled back as the orgasm pressed into your belly before you finally came on his cock. Nijiro came right after, his cum filling you, making you purr.

"I love you", whispered Nijiro, smiling.

"And I love you too", you whispered back, being kissed with all your love.

"Do you want a little water and something to eat?", he asked, softly.

"Please", you agreed.

"Wait for a bit, I'll get something for us to eat."

Nijiro got back twenty minutes later, still naked, with a tray filled with food, there were two bananas and a half papaya, a glass of orange juice and a glass of water, a little plat had waffles freshly made with honey, strawberries and whipped cream, and a little grilled cheese for them to split, and also silverware for them to eat.

He was so caring.

"You didn't have to do this much", you said.

"Yeah, I did."

"I'm sorry for not talking to you earlier."

"I'm just happy you've told me", he smiled and sat down, putting the tray on top of your legs, "Now let's eat."

"Okay", you agreed, softly, both of you eating together, starting the movie once again because you both stopped paying attention ten minutes after it had started.

…

tags: @klouise12345 @tofunabia @chishiyasdarling @smiley-roos @crybabyyzey222 @sistine124 @kaeuromii @scaramouchestiddies @conny1111 @julie03 @celery-o @ocean-minho

please reblog and leave a like if you enjoyed it! and leave a comment with your thoughts, i would love to know!

see ya next time.

(´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

♡masterlist♡

[amphitriteswife]

💸🎰Love💞casino 💸🎰

Excuse the bad writing alr

♠️♦️♣️♥️

A story where a certain ocean god goes to a Casino only to find a special surprise…

Pussydon the nutbuster’s pov:

The gods decided to have a boy’s night. Ofcourse Zeus brought up the idea to go to a casino. Hades had declined and said that he would rather go do something fun with his wife. Poseidon and Adamas decided to go with Zeus’ idea. They decided to go to Japan since Zeus had heard that there was a special underground casino in Osaka. So off they went.

When they entered the building it looked like a rather normal work place. A man with slicked black hair and glasses led them underground. When they entered they immediately noticed that there were a lot of people. Zeus immediately tried to get with one of the waitresses but they politely declined . He didn’t think much of it and tried the other waitresses but they also declined his offer as they think that he’s a old creep. This made him very humiliated and frustrated. ‘Why won’t have a night with me! Let me speak to the person in charge of this casino!’ Zeus said a bit annoyed considering that waitresses in most casinos usually did what the customer wanted. ‘You’re making a ruckus.’ Poseidon said catching the attention of the beautiful carps who were in an aquarium placed in the walls. The man who led them underground said that they would need to go to the back if they wanted to speak to the person who was in charge, after Zeus had his ramble Adamas decided to drag him and Poseidon along who was still interested in the fishes.

‘How may i help you today?’ A lady in a dark red suit asked, wearing a kabuki mask. ‘What is this nonsense!’ Zeus asked her showing her his frustration. The lady simply smiled and asked him what he was referring to. ‘Why did those waitresses reject me?!’ Zeus asked not used to people saying no to him. ‘My staff is allowed to choose who they spend the night with. They don’t have to do so simply because the customer wants a night with them.’ The lady answered still smiling. ‘Then you’ll lose costumers.’ Poseidon chimed in. ‘Are you referring to yourselves? I really don’t care if you leave. All these people in the building are my regular customers. I won’t feel sad if a few people who refuse to follow my rules threaten to leave.’ The lady answered laughing at Poseidon. ‘Then let’s make a deal.’ Poseidon suggested getting annoyed by the lady. ‘A deal? Why would I do that?. We are not business managers. We are gamblers.’ The lady said signaling that they should follow her.

When they entered the room they all looked around. The room was full of games. They had a pool table, mahjong, cards, a roulette, board games, even video games and many more. ‘Who would like to go first?’ The lady asked confidently. ‘I’ll go.’ Poseidon answered. This lady was getting on his nerves. ‘Do you have a preference?’ The lady asked him. ‘No, you may choose.’ Poseidon said giving her the advantage of choosing a game. He’ll win no matter what game she’ll choose. ‘Then…..How about Cho-han?’ The lady asked Poseidon still smiling at him mischievously as her mask only covered her eyes. ‘Alright.’ Poseidon answered. ‘We’ll need a dealer though’ the lady said. ‘I will ask a waiter to be our dealer.’ She replied walking to the door. ‘You will not.’ Poseidon said sternly grabbing her wrist. ‘Please refrain from touching me.’ The lady said immediately dropping her smile and glaring at Poseidon from out her mask. Poseidon released her wrist with a hint of annoyance. ‘I suggest that one of my brothers will be our dealer.’ Poseidon said. ‘I disagree. How about we let someone we both know be our dealer?’ The lady suggested. ‘What do you mean?’ Poseidon asked confused. He had never seen this lady before. How could she possibly suggest that when they both don’t even know each other. Just when Poseidon was about to disagree a person walked in wearing also wearing a kabuki mask. ‘And you say we both know the dealer.’ Poseidon said crossing his arms. ‘Please sit down.’ The dealer asked as they both sat down. ‘Please remove your mask for us.’ The lady asked the dealer. The man removed his mask and put it on the table. All the three brothers where shocked to see who it was. ‘What are you doing here?…’ Adamas asked. ‘Hey! Let us win alright!’ Zeus said with a smile.’ ‘You said you would spend time with your wife…Hades.’ Poseidon said furrowing his brows. ‘My wife works works her…and so do I, little brother.’ Hades smirked as he turned his head to look at the lady.

‘Shall we begin?’ Hades asked. ‘The rules are simple. I will put 2 dices in this cup and shake. The moment i put the cup down faced on the table you will say Cho ( even) or Han (odd). The person who has guessed 3 right is the winner. ‘Are you ready?’ Hades asked already putting the dices in the cup. ‘What will you bet?’ The woman asked Poseidon. ‘ 3 thousand.’ Poseidon answered wanting to play already and get this over with. ‘5million.’ The woman said. ‘What?!’ Poseidon said standing up from his seat. How could she bet so much on this childish game?!. ‘Poseidon….please sit down.’ Hades asked his little brother. ‘Don’t worry Poseidon, you got this! Adamas said showing his support. ‘Ofcourse i got this!’ poseidon replied arrogantly. ‘Yeah! Besides we came here to spend money so don’t worry!’ Zeus said cheering on him. ‘10 million.’ Poseidon said. The woman smiled in response. ‘Alright then…’ Hades smirked abs then shook the cup. ‘Round 1!’ Hades said putting the cup down faced on the table. ‘Even or odd?’ Hades asked both of the players. ‘Odd.’ Poseidon replied not breaking eye contact with the woman in front of him. ‘Even.’ The woman said also not breaking eye contact while still remaining her signature smirk which Poseidon found familiar. Hades lifted the cup. The dices both landed on 6. ‘Even. This round goes to our Lady.’ Hades said in amusement. ‘ Round 2.’ Hades said shaking the cup again and placing it down faced on the table again. ‘Even or odd?’ Hades asked again. ‘Odd’ poseidon answered. ‘Even.’ The woman said leaning back on her chair. Hades lifted the cup. ‘7. Odd wins.’ Hades said chuckling. ‘Thats right! Just one more Poseidon! You’re gonna win this.’ Adamas and Zeus cheered. By the time the cheering calmed down Hades had already shook the cup and placed it on the table. ‘Even or odd?’ Hades asked once again. ‘Even.’ Poseidon answered. ‘Odd.’ The woman answered smirking while still looking at Poseidon. Hades lifted the cup once again. ‘4. Lady in red won.’ Hades answered smirking as he found this very amusing. ‘You cheated!’ Zeus said not pleased with the outcome. ‘Let’s do it again!’ Zeus said now wanting to play pool with her to prove that they can beat her. ‘Our game isn’t finishes yet.’ The lady said to him not appreciating her game getting interrupted. Hades nodded at her as she sighed and turnes to him. ‘Alright then.’ The woman answered.

They had played almost every game there was and she beat almost all of them. ‘You owe me 45 million.’ The woman said to them. All the three brothers knew they didn’t have that kind of money. ‘We can’t pay you…’ Poseidon admitted. ‘That’s strange.’ The woman replied looking Zeus deep in the eyes. ‘Because you’re little brother here also owes me 23 million from all my other casinos.’ The woman said now looking at Poseidon. ‘You own more casinos? Adamas asked. ‘Yes. Two in Japan, one in Korea and another one in Italy.’ The woman replied dropping her smile and now glaring at the brothers. ‘Hey….go easy on them.’ Hades said feeling a bit conflicted now as he still didn’t want anything bad to happen to them. ‘I know that you’re trying to safe them Hades, but this isn’t the first time this has happened.’ The woman replied looking back at Hades and then turning her gaze to Poseidon. ‘You.’ The woman said pointing at Poseidon. ‘You look like you would be worth a bunch. If you can’t pay me I’ll gladly have him.’ The woman said looking into Poseidon’s eyes. ‘I’m not for sale.’ Poseidon said trough his teeth. ‘Oh but you are. You can’t pay me. You’re in my dept. I practically own you.’ The woman said to poseidon a bit flirty. ‘You wench! Do you know who you’re talking to?!’ Poseidon said absolute furious. ‘Ofcourse i know who i’m talking to, King of the seas.’ The woman said calmly while her smirk grew. ‘I’m a God! And you’re just some stupid mortal!’ Poseidon said through gritted teeth. ‘This would work when if we were in the seas. But right now we aren’t in your world Poseidon, but in mine.’ The woman said pridefully as she still had her signature smirk on her face, a smirk Poseidon knew yet remained on the tip of his tongue. ‘Take it off.’ Poseidon spat the woman. ‘Why would I?’ She questioned him making him even more angry. Poseidon snatched the mask and to his utter shock he couldn’t believe his eyes. ‘Even if we were in the seas…I would have equal rights as you, my King.’ The woman took her wig off revealing her wavy, watery hair. ‘Amphitrite?…’ Poseidon said, voice low and soft from the surprise. ‘All of you can go.’ You said dismissing them and turning your attention to Poseidon. ‘Not you, you’ll stay.’ You said smirking as what you would to to him.

Shit was in my draft since last year cuh💀 ignore the bad ahh writing

Tag list: @miss-seanymph-pani @tinyy-tea-cup @vilereign @viostar2095 @nicasdreamer @monstertreden

[furinana]

The downplayed significance of Nanashi's family dynamic with Boss and Asahi

Before we start, let's cut the main root of concern for many people: The concept of Nanashi and Asahi being a possible romance option. Would it be taboo in Japan?

From a legal viewpoint: No. According to Article 734, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Code, marriage is legally recognized for non-blood adoptive siblings.

[Panel from Neko no Otera no Chion-san]

For historical background, here's a translated excerpt from Oshiete (Q&A Japanese website):

"[...] Before the war, it seems that there were many cases where daughters were adopted by families with the intention of becoming their sons' wives in the future. Also, if a girl was born as a biological child after a boy was adopted, there were inheritance issues, so the two would often be set off to marry. Nowadays, parents are no longer allowed to decide to whom a child will marry, but they cannot stop their children from wanting to get married as well".

Asahi and Nanashi are basically in a gray zone where they ''could'' be called siblings by social definition but nobody-cares-or-thinks-it's-a-big-deal if they decide to marry, specially given their circumstances of growing in a devastated Tokyo.

[Puppy love... everything goes back to Asahi being a Pascal reference.]

They don't call each other or are referred to in any way by words synonymous to brother and sister. Despite the elephant in the room that Boss took care of both, nobody raises a brow because they aren't blood-related. The best you could say is that they're technically an example of this trope.

Gender roles be damned, one could go as far as think that Boss's constantly telling Nanashi to look after Asahi (repeating it even in his last breath) enforces the incredibly narrow line between adoptive father and father-in-law...

[Three different instances prior to the unseal of Krishna where the same dynamic plays. In the first one, Nanashi complies to what Boss asks of him in both options; from then on, the option box doesn't show anymore, with the third instance being the most indicative that Nanashi being obedient to his father's figure (thus contrasting with Asahi's impulsiveness) is an established fact.]

Now, if we were to comment on Nanashi's individual relationship with Boss through the clues we were given... Nanashi certainly felt distant given that he only referred to the man that raised him as "Asahi's dad" and moved on rather quickly compared to Asahi (or that's how the world he lives in expects him to).

Hallelujah is the only character that was able to sense that Nanashi might hide unsolved feelings underneath his composed persona, and it says a lot considering how Hallelujah would often be in awe of how reassuring his peer felt compared to himself.

Hallelujah's friendship with both Nanashi and Asahi is earnestly felt through the story but it's particularly intimate in this part.

That being said... while Boss would be shown as more protective of Asahi, an attentive player would notice the few glimpses where he also displayed fatherly feelings towards Nanashi.

The most subtle and yet telling example is Nanashi's design itself. What would come first to someone's mind over Nanashi's punk attires and fondness for those lyrics from a John Lennon song would be that they come from his own preferences alone. But then one of the relic descriptions reveals this:

And yet, Boss was also the guy that lacked self-awareness regarding his partiality towards his own daughter compared to the unnamed orphan he took care of... well, it's complicated. Certainly not a black-or-white relationship.

[Similarly to Asahi, Boss reacts in a more positive tone if Nanashi decides to stay 'nameless' as he's been since birth. Manabu and the rest of the cast are impartial to what Nanashi chooses]

It's ironic that the people Nanashi felt the closest to were the ones that grew attached to his lack of name. We have seen fair reasons for Nanashi to be read as a protagonist that perceived a clear distinction between him and Asahi but hints of family affection from Boss are felt nonetheless.

Am I insecure and have attachment issues from being an orphan? Despite everything, was I still a child blessed with love from those around me? This is the turmoil inside our protagonist's mind where it's our role as the player to figure out which answer he would give. And just like the middle ground tends to be the biased view for the SMT4 duology instead of relying on extremes, you could conclude that both statements can be applied for Nanashi's background.

But the rather understated yet possibly most important element from this discussion is the "untold" consequence of the act of Nanashi sticking with his placeholder name behind the themes of the main antagonist of the game. As YHVH's power is amplified through his followers' fear of pronouncing his name (thus staying unreachable and not be at risk of being distorted as other deities), the parallel in the Massacre ending becomes intrinsic as the one who snatches YHVH's throne for himself is none other than our John Doe Protagonist, going from an anonymous human to an anonymous God.

Perhaps Nanashi unintentionally turned out to be the ultimate form of protection a father could give to his neglected adopted son.

[ga-yuu]

Things we learn about Rikka...

These are all the facts I learned from reading his past story with Tamamo and 1st chap of Ibuki and Kurama sequel. Rikka route isn't out yet btw. I'll keep releasing new facts and cute moments as I read the next chaps of Kurama and Ibuki's sequel.

Rikka and Tamamo were best friends. Their friendship started even before they were known as some of the strongest demons of Japan. Tamamo knew Rikka since he was a kid. So it looks like Rikka is younger than Tamamo.

Rikka is from the Yukijoro clan. There are basically different clans within the Otherworld/Demon world. There is the Fox clan, Oni Clan, Tengu clan (which doesn't exist now) and now the Yukijoro clan consisting of Yuki-onnas.

Rikka is basically the male equivalent of Yuki-onna. In the Yukijoro clan, it's all women. These Yuki-onnas, go to human village, find a man to have sex with, gets pregnant, gives birth to a baby girl and comes back to their clan. Sometimes, some of these Yuki-onnas would even kill the men they had sex with by freezing them to death.

Within the Yukijoro clan, like I said consists of only females, but every 100 or 1000 years, a baby boy could be born. There is no guaranteed, but a chance. That's how Rikka was born. Rikka doesn't seem outcasted by his clan, he's more of a loner and an introvert. Also unlike Yuki-onnas who's only mission is to trap men, have sex with them and get pregnant, Rikka's mission is something else. We don't yet know what it is.

Tamamo only knows very little about Rikka. He only knows what Rikka tells him and nothing more. Tamamo also doesn't want to look into Rikka's business because Rikka has a habit of disappearing without giving a word. So he fears that Rikka might disappear on him forever if he were to look into Rikka's business.

Tamamo was also feeling exhausted and wanted leave his clan. So he asked Rikka if he wanted to run away with him so they can be with each other forever. Rikka, at that time, rejected the idea because he cannot seem to let go of his duties and missions unlike Tamamo. I didn't get this part!

When Rikka tries to say goodbye, meaning that this will be the last time they meet, Tamamo held him back saying that he didn't want Rikka to say 'goodbye'.

After meeting with Tamamo, when Rikka returns to his clan, which is on the north most side of the Otherworld map, one Yuki-onna, who was hired to keep an eye on Rikka saw Rikka meeting Tamamo. When confronted, the Yuki-onna suggested that they must team up to kill Tamamo, Rikka threatens her with a smile - "Try it, I dare you. If anything happens to Tamamo, I'll freeze the whole world." (I think Rikka really loves Tamamo. I think he's bisexual)

In the sequel prologue, we see Yoshino run towards the Shogunate because there is a meeting among the SHogunate members, the Rebel members and the Imperial Court trio. While running, suddenly from the corner of her eye, she noticed something black in the dark alleyway. She noticed a man sitting with his head down. Thinking that he might be sick she approached the man to help him. That man was Rikka. Yoshino was stunned by his beautiful face and Rikka touched her with his cold fingertips. Rikka was sitting in the shade because he couldn't handle the summer heat. Rikka thought that Yoshino approached him to have sex with him and Yoshino denied it immediately. After making sure he's all right, she walks away quickly.

Rikka on the other hand, remained in that alleyway and smiled while watching her go. The rest of the prologue is not changed.

Later in Kurama and Ibuki's sequel chap 1, after the whole meet and greet with the hentai monster and getting hero's might, the whole gang were walking through the forest towards the Shogunate to plan out their next move. Suddenly the surroundings became all foggy and Yoshino gets separated from the rest. Ofc guess who catches her? It's Rikka.

Rikka hugs her without her permission and Yoshino's body was feeling all cold. Because Rikka is cold. Rikka apparently doesn't know what 'giving someone some space' means because he was touching her cheeks and was checking her out.

On the other hand, the male leads realised that Yoshino was mission and Ibuki sensed a demon's presence. Soon they all started feeling cold and Tamamo feels a snowflake on his cheek. The fog starts to disappear and the male leads found Yoshino walking towards them with a man hugging her from behind. lol

Tamamo recognised Rikka and Rikka also recognised Tamamo. Tamamo thought Rikka was dead, but apparently Rikka went into lockdown for 100s of years and he came out because he missed Tamamo. So he came all the way to the human world despite the heat and found Yoshino in the streets. He realised that she had Tamamo's scent on her, so he followed her and found Tamamo.

Rikka was quiet jealous that Tamamo made many friends while he was in lockdown.

Tamamo explained everything that's happening and Rikka asked if Tamamo really wanted to help humans? Tamamo said yes, because he thinks the other male leads as his friends. Hearing that Rikka decides to join them and give them a helping hand. We don't know what are his intention behind this.

Everyone was suspicious about Rikka but since he was Tamamo's friend and keeping a demon under a close eye is better than having him do whatever he wants somewhere else, everyone agreed to bring him to the OKURA PALACE HOUSING COMPLEX, rent-free.

As soon as Rikka entered the Shogunate, he rushed to the shadiest corner of the meeting hall because he feels hot and sits there. Tamamo also joins him happily and everyone decided to leave Rikka in Tamamo's care because Tamamo knows him better.

Rikka is cute man!

[crying-fantasies]

Heaven Events

Synopsis: He was supposed to have a way more peaceful life in that little town, not crossing paths with a war dog, but you had interesting stories inked in your skin, so he couldn't stop himself.

Warnings: Rohan being Rohan, blood, memories of battles and deaths, Reader has some serious problems, description of old injuries.

When he heard about an acquaintance of Jotaro coming to the town he was excited, he wanted so badly to see and read about the man's previous adventures but trying to read him with his stand was clearly impossible if he still wanted to live.

Knowing that this person would provide him with that same information sounded more useful, and less like a suicide.

That is, but when he saw you...

Rohan really felt like he was in front of a warrior that got into many battles and lived to tell the tale.

He was... expecting something else, he already meet your younger sibling and the teenager looked way more normal than any other in the town, and that's a lot to say even when they had those strange birthmarks on the face, he expected that you also looked normal.

But what is normal in this town? So he just did what's best for him and approached you either way.

You were... not quite like he expected you to be.

He expected the strongest voice of someone that has seen the death in the eyes and returned alive, he didn't have a solid idea of what you lived or why you looked like that to begin with, he took you by surprise the first time, he can recall how you almost jumped in your place, it was like you were ready to attack back if he even said something bad to you.

"Um..." he was stuttering, wasn't he? How inappropriate, he needed to recompose himself, you could be a resourceful friend if possible, he was feeling excited of only thinking of all the things that you have seen in all this time! "My name is Kishibe Rohan, I'm a mangaka and I really would appreciate if you could answer some questions" he was direct, maybe too much.

Okay, yes, way too much, you were too close, what was your goal? Did he say something wrong? No, no! He will stay where he is and if you wanted to fight then he was ready for-

You only took his hand, shaking hands, that's what you were doing and he felt like an idiot, of course you would do that! You were practically a tourist and he was the one that already traveled to so many places, he should have noticed your struggles, "It's a pleasure, Mister Rohan" oh, wow, first name basis, that was fast, "did I say it correctly?" You asked to yourself, he noticed that and was about to tell you that you did, even when you called him for his first name the first chance that you had and how disrespectful that could be in Japan but, he didn't mind, so he just let you be.

"You did" kindness is difficult to express for him, but he noticed your relived posture when he talked in english and not in japanese, and he is also relieved, and a little bored, to see that you are not a brick wall of solitude like Jotaro.

Talking about what happened in the past is obviously painful to you, changing the subject constantly when you get to certain parts, the best parts he could say! And he was growing anxious, you could be telling a great adventure and then, nothing, just a painful expression while looking to the nothing, remembering something that you didn't want to ever live again.

But he wanted to! So badly! He was about to break the expensive pen on his hand everytime that you stopped in the best part.

"I'm sorry" you could say in a funny voice, your japanese really needed improvement, "could you do your thing?" You extended your arm to him and it took him a moment to realize what you wanted.

And then it hit him.

Who told you? Was it that group of stupid teenagers? Except Koichi-kun and your weird sibling, of course.

So he, with a gentle touch that he didn't knew that he had with other human individuals, started to approach your arm, he had a drawing of Heaven's door ready on his sketchbook for dire circumstances, but if you really wanted then-

What the hell was that?

In your hand a red book that he was sure wasn't there before just appeared, you opened it but he noticed the index and the large, incredibly large, list of names on it before you found one with the title of your name on it before handing it to him.

"You can read it, I really don't know how to tell you the things that you want to know" you just took a better position on his sofa, almost like you wanted to sleep there, when Rohan touched the red book he noticed, this was a stand, no doubt, was this your stand? And you would let him touch it like this? So simple? He didn't even need to ask!

And he was thankful for everything, for your existence, for your stand and it's incredible data! Almost more than 20 years of your life were read by the go of one week, he got attached to it so fast, he didn't even care that you stayed on his house if he could read for as long as he wanted, he didn't care if you two ended up eating together while he kept reading the book, in other occasions he could have just closed the book and eat like a decent person, but he was just in the part of how you started to use Hamon, and that only got more questions in him, asking you right away when you were doing breakfast as a thanks for letting you stay there, for some reason you didn't like to stay in the luxurious hotel in town, but that was fine for him! He got you 24hrs near to ask you about everything.

"It's a force of the sun used to fight" you did a little movement and spark like energy surrounded your fingers, Rohan had seen some unbelievable shit in his research hunting, but this was indeed something that he didn't expect to exist, quite interesting from a stand user, he was taken back when with your hands full of the strange energy you took his, taking a big inhale of air, the strange energy now flowing on his body, he couldn't express how he felt, how intense but tender it was, how close you two were in that moment, just to have you going back on your things while saying that you noticed his hands were stiff due to his continuous work on his manga, now that he moved his fingers he noticed, he didn't feel any problem with them.

"Wait, it is also used to heal?!" Rohan started to run after you with your book secured between his arms and chest, he didn't care if you were laughing at him and saying how fast he focused on only one thing.

And of course he didn't care when he saw how you also used that sun energy thing in the stupid group, except for Koichi-kun, his poor friend really got injured in all that mess.

Maybe things got out of hand way faster than he expected, it wasn't common for him to stop his reading at some important point in a good book, but in this moment he really needed it after learning what happened to you.

To such a young you, in the middle of the desert, with a monster behind you and blood of dear ones blended with your own that was still bleeding from your wounds.

Said wounds were now scars, so many, so visible, and yet you were still sane.

"Josuke Higashikata, what were you thinking?!"

"Ugh, don't say my name like that, you sound like my mom!"

"You should have called me to fight the enemy!"

Okay, maybe not exactly sane, but you weren't a lunatic.

Rohan noticed, of course he did, even when he was so focused, of how your arrival to his life changed a bit his way of researching data, now if he ever got the intention of going out you would go with him.

"Why, thought?"

"You have my book, I can't be away from it" your explanation, firm and simple, was enough, "you can give it to me if you want to go out"

But he couldn't let go of it, it was evident by how he protected the book with his body when the idea of you taking the book was almost real or when he really almost lost it when his "research hunting", like you called it, got out of hand, it always got out of hand, forcing you to help him more than once to scape an almost certain death.

"What do we say now?"

"Um... Thank you-"

"No! You won't ever do this again!"

Of course it happened again, and again, and again, almost all your time in Morioh was spent with him, he got to know more, way more, than he expected thanks to the book, and now that he had read it past the nightmare in the desert, well...

Rohan finally understood why you and Jotaro-san, despite having survived such a thing together, were now almost like two strangers, and you noticed, of course you did, even while carrying baby Shizuka in your arms and watching her closely you noticed how Rohan was thinking about something.

"It was nothing"

"I didn't say anything"

"I can feel you fuming, stop it, it's bad for the baby"

Why were you taking care of that baby to begin with? He wanted to ask you that, but couldn't say it at the end.

Romantic topics weren't his usual field, that's why his manga was a shonen, not a shoujo, he wanted to ask, of course, he couldn't the last thing that he wanted was to intrude more in your life, he knew that he could get a little selfish, but it was with the good intentions of improving his story, so when he finally got to the end of your chapter he noticed how it was still been writing, he could feel your beating heart when he touched the new words that were being put there, maybe you could feel it, because you now took the book from his hands, he didn't even notice you, or when you arrived, not even the baby in your arms made a sound!

You looked at the book, then at him, and he was so sure that you chuckled in that moment before you returned the book to him, but in a different chapter that wasn't yours.

"Don't put such a sad face" you told him while going to his living room, leaving him with the chapter that talked about your late grandmother who recently passed away.

Rohan wanted to ask you about you and Jotaro, but his interest was catched in the new life that you showed him in less than a few seconds, you laughed, this time he was sure, you laughed and for a moment it sounded strange for him, it was maybe the first time that you did it freely.

Does that mean that you felt more familiar with him? It was a possibility, he didn't want to think deeply about it.

Then, when everything is going fine with his life, Josuke Higashikata has to present yet again in his life, and for what? To try and take some money from him and burning his house.

The times with you in there were now totally lost, alongside your book of course, given that now you couldn't stay in his house and now you returned to the hotel, and just in the best part of your grandmother's story!

So he took his car between days to go visit you to Morioh Gran Hotel in order to keep reading the book, often seeing you with the baby or with a gloomy face, quite similar to the one that you had when he first meet you, at first he didn't get it, specially because you weren't like this, it's not like he knew you of all his life, it was you, but also not you, not entirely.

He got his answer to your weird behavior, and that was the very same Kujo Jotaro.

But what was he supposed to do? He didn't have idea, he did read all your history with Jotaro, but he didn't had any desire to be entangled in your romantic mess, much less when he read that the man was married and with a child somewhere, so he did what always turned well for him (that was a lie) and go to do some researching.

Which ended bad, because he crossed ways with the killer, but then you appeared to stop him from dying (again, but none of you would ever know that) and Rohan finally noticed that the red book wasn't your stand (well, it was, but not at the same time) and he got enamoured by the way that All Love looked like.

Nature's natural talent, he didn't care how stupid that may sound, was something that keeps amazing him even now, when your stand showed him once again that the nature of it amazed him even more

And so, when all the mess was finally over, his own stand showed him that he got you in a different light.

Especially when he saw you yet again with your new officer uniform, just when you caught him taking some experience to his manga.

"Why are you stealing?"

"I'm not!"

Ugh, now he had to deal with you.

[epickiya722]

REACTIONS TO EPISODE 12 - THREADS OF HOPE

We're halfway there, folks!

The usual, jokes, guesses, pictures, fangirling over characters.

LAST EPISODE'S REACTIONS

Getting a recap, huh? You know since it is the halfway mark of the season!

Oooh, but why did they have to remind me about Crust?

Izuku sits like me. That has nothing to do with anything, but I sit just like that... has he ever actually criss-cross applesauce? Like, he sits like that a lot.

I'm sorry, I just be noticing things...

Okay, Best Jeanist! Man's coming from the plane with the fibers!! Let's go!!

Imagine being Dabi. Like you just told Japan that Hawks killed Best Jeanist and then not even an hour after the video has been up, you see Best Jeanist coming at you. You unintentionally got proven to be lying about some details. You know how mad I would be?

"I just told everybody..." and see? You should just spilled your own damn business. You should have just expose Endeavor. It would have had the same effect... maybe... I don't know!

Present Mic coming in with the quirk narration! He got a lot of roles in this story...

Aw, Bakugou does care!

"That body was real." You know what, and I thought about this a lot, has anyone in this story realizes that because of how evolved the world has become that anything is possible? Like... it didn't occur to Dabi that maybe Best Jeanist's death could have been faked?

Oooh, love the fire!!

I'M SORRY, the fact that Spinner thought to BITE Tomura to wake him will always be funny to me. 🤣🤣🤣 Especially, when Nejire comes and it's "NO, NO, CRAP! AYO WAKE UP!!"

DABI, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO NEJIRE-CHAN?! WHY?! FIGHT ME!!

Okay, but clap it up for that scream! Yuki Kaji, always serving with his voice acting!

Also Hiro Shimono for Dabi's laughter!! King!!

Looking like some fire demon...

Aw shit, he's waking up.

WAIT!! BURNIN CAN ALSO MAKE WEAPONS LIKE THAT OUT OF HER HAIR?! OMG!!

OH! OH! HE'S COMING!! I KNOW WHO IS MAKING A COMEBACK AND...

HE'S HERE!!! AAAAAAHHH!!! THE ONE, THE ONLY, LEMILLION!!!! 💛💛💛💛

Isn't that that worm from Men in Black 2?

As much as Dabi can hate Endeavor, which is justified, him putting his siblings in danger is just... maybe because I am an eldest sibling that I feel this way. I can hate my parents all I want but using my siblings who are innocent and victims just like me to hurt my parents? Could not be me.

"I don't feel a thing anymore." You. Are. A. Liar!!! Because if you didn't you wouldn't have cared about Twice dying and so on! Nice try!

AND ENDEAVOR JUST STANDING THERE!!

THANK YOU, LEMILLION FOR COMING IN CLUTCH!!! BEST BOY!!! 💛💛💛🌟🌟🌟

I'M SO GLAD BEST JEANIST & LEMILLION GOT IT THIS TIME! THEY DESERVE IT FOR THIS EPISODE!

Mirio is like "nah, fam, six months is too long for me, I'm going to help and you will not stop me".

Aaaw, Eri! And her little cute determined face! Wanting to help out big bro Mirio! Making that my wallpaper!

"That is the reason I started training." Y'all, I am crying! How can someone be so precious?!

OKAY, MY BOY BAKUGOU!!! COMING IN WITH THE NEW SPARKS!!!

HE'S GONNA SAY IT!! HE'S GONNA SAY IT!!

"GREAT EXPLOSION MURDER GOD DYNAMIGHT!!!" HE SAID IT!!!!

Spinner and Mr. Compress, I know you're not calling his name cringy. One, that is a child. Two, one of you decided POLKA DOTS was a fabulous idea of a villain outfit and the other decided to wear a top hat. Also, kinda of responsible for Midnight, so... shush! SHUSH IT!!! I like you both, but shush it, damn it!

That exchange between Bakugou and Mirio. Ha, never change, boys. 😆

I know that's his big brother, but I would not let him hug me after he had made it aware he wants to kill me.

"You're the pitiful one." That is just like a younger sibling. I would know.

BLACKWHIP: FROPPY STYLE!!

"Stay out of our family affair." This is the same guy who just blasted his family business on air. That is hilarious! 🤣

Actually, you know what, Izuku was already in the family business because of Shoto. That is also funny. Like Dabi, my guy, too late. He's already on the Christmas card.

"Todoroki is a precious friend!" STOP PLUCKING AT MY HEARTSTRINGS!! 💚

IT'S DANGER SENSE!!!

FINALLY HE DOES SOMETHING!!

FINALLY HE PASSES OUT!!! SEE, THE SEDATIVE DID WORK!! THANK YOU, HERO STUDENTS!! AND MT. LADY!

*shows Miruko* 😭😭😭😫😫😫 Like that? I don't wanna see it again...

Did she have a splinter in her... now who drew that?

DID THEY HAVE TO SHOW MIDNIGHT?!

I love that Iida calls Bakugou by his full hero name. That's the class rep... THAT WE LOVE!!

"How could you get yourself defeated?" I mean, man's got jumped.

THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO PUT THAT SPINNER FACE!

OH, IT'S MR. COMPRESS' TIME TO SHINE NEXT EPISODE?! LET'S GO!

Okay, but let's applaud Best Jeanist for coming in because the guy was really holding up while missing... I forgot which organ, so no wonder he was bleeding out!

[setagaya-division]

"Music is the thousandth of a millisecond between one note and another; how you get from one to the other - that's where the music is." -Issac Stern

Introduction

Yorii Sakuma is the third member of the Setagaya Division rap battle team, ENIGMA. He is known by his MC Name, Sireen. A beautiful and charismatic young man with a beautiful and angelic voice, Yorii, despite his young age, is regarded as one of the "Greatest Japanese Singers of All Time". Despite his pleasant personality, however, this young high school student has more than his fair share of secrets regarding Chuohku...

Yorii is a handsome young man with an adorable child-like face, almost like that of an angel. He has golden blonde hair that goes past his neck. It looks frazzled, but is strangely styled right. His eyes are bright blue and his skin is fair. His most interest feature, though he hides it underneath his shirt is that there are slash marks on his neck where his throat his, as if someone tried to cut him open.

When he is stressed, Yorii's appearance changes drastically. His once blonde hair now turns pink, and his once blue angelic eyes are now slanted and blood-red, almost demonic like. Plus, his voice takes a sudden drop, making him seem older.

For his attire, he typically wears his school uniform, which consists of a white short-sleeved dress shirt with a black tie, a pair of blue dress pants and a pair of black dress shoes with matching-colored dress socks.

Name Meaning

Yorii (頼) - A variation of the name 'Yori', meaning "rely" or other kanji that are pronounced the same way.

Sakuma (佐久間) - 佐 meaning "assistant", "help"./ 久 meaning "long time", "old story"./ 間 meaning "interval", "space".

Aliases

Yorii-san - Elliot

"One of Japan's Greatest Singers"

"Clone #5"

"Project Siren"

Biographical Info

Gender - Male

Age - 15

Birthday - March 14

Ethnicity - Japanese

Hair Color - Golden Blonde (Becomes Pink when he is stressed)

Eye Color - Sky Blue (Becomes blood-red when he is stressed)

Height - 155 cm/5'1"

Weight - 49 kg/109 lb.

Piercings - N/A

Markings - A scar in front of his neck and multiple injection points on his neck and arms. He also has recent puncture marks on his neck.

Family

Adopted Older Brother

Adopted Older Sister

Adopted Mom (???)

Voiced By - Amatsuki (Singing)

Fun Facts

MC Name - Sireen

Occupation - High School Student/Singer

Division - Setagaya

Position - Third Member

Favorite Food - Chocolate Cake

Least Favorite Food - Red Peppers

Likes - Sweets, singing, cute girls, beautiful clothes, karaage, eating contests, experimenting with music, his siblings, cats

Dislikes - Headaches, his lack of memories, people drawing notice to the scar on his neck, when he has nothing to wear, music critics, being insulted, Chuohku

Hypnosis Microphone

Yorii's Microphone takes the form of a pink wireless headset with cat ears at the top. The cups of his headset are decorated with neon lights that light up when Yorii starts rapping.

His Speaker takes the form of three women with wings as arms. They do not hold speakers, but instead, form a triangle which, somehow, forms a speaker out of pure energy.

His rap ability, Siren Song, allows Yorii to, whenever an opponent is about to make a move or activate their ability, intercept them using his own ability. He sings an enchanting melody, making his opponent lose their focus and forget what they were originally doing, essentially causing them to skip their turn. He can only use this move three times per battle.

Yorii's rap themes are centered around the "good life". Much like easy R of Shibuya, he often raps about going on dates with cute girls, eating tons of sweets, and essentially just being happy and not worrying about things. He can be serious, however, and sometimes, he will rap about wanting to know more about himself, his reason for being created, and the love he has for his friends and family.

Personality

A flamboyant and open kind of person, Yorii gives the impression of being cheerful, flashy, and childish due to his mannerisms. Unlike his older siblings, he is not easily depressed or sullen, preferring to enjoy life to the fullest. He is also tremendously cheery, possessing a bubbly demeanor. Both Mina and Elliot have found it difficult to be upset or sad when their younger sibling is around since his natural charisma makes all smile in his presence.

Besides that, Yorii has also been shown to be very supportive, as he constantly tries to help Elliot overcome his shyness so that he can ask the girl he likes out on a date. He doesn't judge his brother for his lack of social skills, but instead does all he can to help him get better. Though the process is slow, Yorii still isn't worried since he knows his brother will overcome his fears one day, showing the amount of love and trust he has in him.

Despite these characteristics, that's not to say Yorii doesn't have his share of demons. When he is stressed, feels he has been insulted or someone threatens his loved ones, he adopts a much darker persona. His eyes turn blood-red, his hair turns pink, and his voice becomes much lower, speaking with an almost otherworldly tone to it. He then turns towards the target of his aggression and threatens to inflict serious psychological torture onto them, making them feel pain that no human being should ever feel. Only after they apologize or have been taught a lesson does Yorii revert to his friendly, normal persona.

Like his siblings, Yorii also stresses about the fact that most of his life is shrouded in mystery and shadow. He doesn't know much about himself, save for the fact that he has encountered a number of individuals who look strangely like him, and he doesn't know why. Every time he tries to find out more, something in the back of his mind always pulls him back, as if warning him that these questions he wants to be answered will only bring him pain and misery, which only makes him want to find out more.

Aside from that, Yorii is a normal, young man. He shot to fame only a year ago when he somehow or other burst onto the music scene. Since then, he has become a local celebrity due to his beautiful voice and looks. Though he enjoys singing and making music, he often wonders how he got so good. Was he blessed with a good voice? Or did someone give it to him... artificially? And if they did, would that explain the scar on the front of his neck which he tries his best to hide? Who can say...

Background

*Coming soon*

Trivia

As the most musically-gifted of the trio, he writes the majority of the group's songs.

His body, for some reason, heals fairly quickly when he is damaged. It's for this reason he lets Mina "feed" on him when she is hungry.

Much like the Sirens of Greek mythology, his voice possesses a hypnotic effect that affects all but the most strong-willed. It's believed his voice can also █████████, but this has yet to be proven...

Though he flirts with girls often, he openly has admitted that he has a crush on a certain redhead girl who is the only person who has tied with him in an eating contest. It's believed his affection happened when she beat up a bunch of hoodlums who were bothering him (though Yorii insists he had it handled).

Though he has entered the D.R.B. to support his friends, he actually has two agendas for entering. The first: he wants to ██████████████████. And the second: to ██████████████████.

[aikoiya]

MHA AU - Civilian Reform

I kinda wanna see an au of MHA where at the beginning of the show something happens to send ripples through the public consciousness.

Something that causes something to occur to the general public.

That Pro Heroes are not faultless gods, they are just people. Essentially, they are suped up police or soldiers.

Meaning that they are just people & to expect them to be anything more than that is absolute folly.

Of course, there would be raging on some people's parts, but at the same time, a surprisingly large amount of people become very concerned for the well-being of heroes. Especially All Might, who now that they realize that he's just a man, they register that it isn't fair to him to be the only symbol of peace.

Suddenly, there are efforts to help take some of the weight of heroes' shoulders. They go out of their ways to show just how gratefull they are for their help. Wish them well & ask that they be careful out there. They are treated much like servicemen & women rather than celebrities & servants.

Programs like Wounded Warrior, but for Heroes come about.

When they notice that a hero it being overworked, they demand that they are given mandatory days off for health.

It becomes where, yes, heroes protect civilians, but you know what, many civilians protect their heroes just as fiercely.

Not all heroes, obviously, but definitely the ones that are obviously doing their best & love people.

As a result, the Commission begins to get demands to let Hawks have more days off. And when it's learned that he was basically strong-armed into signing a one-sided contract & then groomed as a child soldier. All hell breaks loose.

Not to mention how Endeavor's ranking begins to fall over time as a result of his attitude.

When it's learned that he's abusive & engaged in a quirk marriage, people begin to demand justice.

And it turns out that there are far fewer quirkist bastards in this world than it's been implied. Like in the real world, prejudice & tragedy are inflated by the media.

It all starts with a young YouTuber from Ybor City, Florida, intent on changing society in a positive way, she starts off making videos talking about such issues, then moves on to volunteer work, outreach, advocacy, equality for the Quirkless & those with villainous or weak quirks. She also makes friends that help her to put these things into the public sight. Things that the media don't bring attention to because it doesn't fit their agenda. Details on cases of violence that weren't brought up, yet change the entire story. Such as in when a black man is killed by a police officer & the media make it out to have been a hate crime.

However, they gloss over the fact that the man had been harboring drugs, refused to cooperate with the police, & he'd attacked people with a knife. Not the mention the fact that the police officer was a latina woman who'd told him to stand down & surrender repeatedly.

Without those details, it looks like a hate crime, but with them, the one in the wrong was the black man.

However, many times the media leaves things out in order to drive the narrative.

The same happens in a quirked society, but instead of racism, it's quirkistness & the belief that the quirkless are useless & that some quirks are superior, & this YouTuber, Ciela Vitale, brings these facts to light.

However much or little, this changes the reactions of the public in the anime/manga. Especially when her movement comes to Japan. America had always been much more lax with their quirk regulation. You're allowed to use them in public, but not to commit crime. You need a license to use your quirk for work, but it's both easier & harder to get said license than in Japan.

For one, you need to have a psyche evaluation & prove your proficiency & control with said quirk.

Police & soldiers are required to have a quirk license in order to work if they have one. They are also required to have special training in the use of their quirk in order to defend themselves & others.

Having a quirk license is one of the things that employers look for in an employee. Especially in the cases of service men & women.

Because of this, the hero industry isn't nearly as bloated in America as it is in Japan. This allows for higher quality heroes.

Japan has some of the strictest quirk regulation laws on Earth & many outside of Japan don't like the idea of going there because of this because you're liable to get arrested just for using your quirk to defend yourself.

[sunfish-studies]

Acceptance

✄・・・ Feathery Ink [Karasuno Manager Series]

➜ Pairing: Karasuno x Manager! Reader

➜ Warning: none

➜ Notes: This is a separate series from Crisp Leaves. Similar to Crisp Leaves, manager in this story will be portrayed as a girl. She will be tall, around 170.5 cm (along 5’7’’). This is just my appreciation towards tall girls, you guys are amazing!

Previous:  ‹ Worth › | Next:  ‹ Greed ›

↷ SUMMARY ↶

Acceptance; that’s what you’re searching for this whole time.

“OOOH!”

You stopped on your steps, immediately stiffened from the sudden loud voice–resulting someone bumping into you quite hard. Stumbling on your feet, the person immediately had their grip onto your arm–preventing you to kiss the ground face first.

“Sorry, you okay?” looking over your shoulder rather stiffly, eyes resting on the figure towering over your figure (still, the top of your head reached his cheek bone, but he’s tall alright). That and he had a rather… unique black, spiky hair.

“T-thank you,” you replied meekly.

“Sorry about him, he means no harm,” the taller boy apologized for his friend over there who… cried and kneeled on the ground? Is this having something to do with your existence!? Your height!? Anything!?

“There’re three girls now! Now they’ve got a pretty one, a cute one, and a model-like one!”

“Is he okay, though…?” you questioned, feeling the taller boy letting go of your hand and proceeded to pat your head lightly–which kind of reminds you of Daichi’s gesture.

“Yes, sadly.” He sighed in resignation. “Oh, by the way, I’m Kuroo Tetsurou. Third year, Nekoma’s captain, and this is the first time I see you around, along with that girl over there.”

The boy, Kuroo, pointed to Yachi’s figure who’s escorted by Kiyoko–you thought she somehow forgot about you, but you instantly erased the thought from your mind when noticing her not so subtle glare directed towards Kuroo.

“Ah, I just became an official manager yesterday,” you said, finding talking to Kuroo comfortable–he did kind of intimidating for his height, still standing taller over you. Maybe he’s almost 190 cm. However, he exudes this comforting aura much like Daichi as a captain. “My name is Otohaku [Name] and the girl you mentioned before is Yachi Hitoka, she’s my classmate.”

“That explains a lot.” Kuroo hummed. “And I have to say, this is the first time I’ve seen a girl as tall as you. At least Yamamoto is right about the model-like part.”

Instantly, you found your face hot as if it was engulfed with fire–stealing a laugh from him and earning another hair ruffle for you.

“I’m happy you’re getting along with our manager and all,” Daichi soon interrupted by pushing his way in between you and Kuroo while removing the captain’s hand from your head. He smiled, but his smile was far than nice–which made you swallowed thickly even though it’s not directed towards you. “But, not too close, would you?”

.

.

“They screamed powerhouses already,” you muttered, watching teams practicing. “Especially the dark blue ones.”

“You have good eyes,” Coach Ukai suddenly said, making you turn to face him. “That’s Fukurodani Academy.”

“Fukurodani…?” your eyes slowly widened in disbelief, trying process the extremely familiar name in your brain. “The Fukurodani Academy? One of the top players in Japan is in that school.”

“Just like Ushiwaka, he’s one of the top five aces heading to nationals.” Takeda-sensei continued.

“Bokuto Kotaro.” Somehow you couldn’t control your inner monologue and just plain blurted it, earning a surprised look from the older men and your girls. Also magically, the person you just mentioned immediately snapped his head to look over his shoulder and looking straight at you. He immediately grinned and you tried to reply back with a nervous smile and a wave.

“[Name]-chan, how did you know that!?” Yachi asked.

“Well, my big brother hasn’t shut up about him, so,”

“Your brother is a player, Otohaku?” Coach Ukai asked. “That’s why your last name sounded familiar for a reason.”

“Does Otohaku Hisahito sounded familiar to you?”

“I’ve seen him in the volley magazine,” Coach Ukai nodded in understanding. “He’s a candidate for one of the top middle blockers for around three years. He’s sure has an impact in plays.”

“To think [Name]-chan has connection with a very famous person,” Shimizu chuckled.

.

.

“Hey, hey, hey!” There’re so many unexpected things happened in one day and you wondered on how your heart could keep up with it. One of them would be this–being approached by one of the top five aces in the country. “You’re from Karasuno, right? The assistant coach!”

“Bokuto-san, don’t decide their position on your own. You’re being rude.”

“But she looks like one!”

“I’m sorry for his poor introduction skills.” The black-haired boy with calm atmosphere apologized–he has a really contrast personality with Bokuto. “My name is Akaashi Keiji, and this is Bokuto Kotaro-san. The captain of Fukurodani team.”

“Uhm, nice to meet you. I’m Karasuno’s manager, first year. Otohaku [Name].” you bowed slightly to show your respect.

“What!? You’re a manager!? And a first year!?” maybe it’s instinct or his outgoing personality much like Hinata, he didn’t hesitate to close the gap and stood only a few centimeters away from you. “You’re so tall, though! It’s awesome! Man, first years this time are really something!”

“Bokuto-san, you’re being too close.” Akaashi interrupted and slightly tugged on the captain’s shirt, preventing him from taking another step forward and ended up scaring you away.

“But, Akaashi look at her!” Bokuto didn’t even hesitate to point at you enthusiastically. “She’s only a little bit shorter than me!”

Getting away from Akaashi’s grip, he threw an arm around you and plainly pressed his cheek on top of your head–where your height stopped. It all happened too fast to the point your brain short-circuited. “See!”

Akaashi’s brow twitched. “Bokuto-san, you’re making her uncomfortable.”

“Excuse me,” Sugawara interrupted with a smile, however, the smile was far from friendly–dark auras looming behind him menacingly, which made Bokuto stiffened. Why? Because it was directed to him. “Could we have our dearest manager back, please?”

“Of course, we apologize if we took her time,” Akaashi said and pulled on Bokuto’s shirt to drag him away, essentially saving him from Sugawara’s wrath.

.

.

“Wuaah, it’s finally nice to meet you!” Ubugawa’s manager, Miyanoshita Eri, didn’t think twice to tackle you into a hug–sending you two sprawling onto the laid futon. You yelped in surprise as your back hit the fluffy material. “Sorry, you’re just so pretty!”

“Yeah, you have to know that Bokuto hasn’t shut up about you for even a second!” one of Fukurodani’s manager, Shirofuku Yukie, commented.

“Our boys are also getting rather distracted!” Shinzen’s manager, Otaki Mako, nodded and smiled. “Well, I wouldn’t judge them because I’m distracted too! Who’s not when they see a pretty lady not far away?”

“I guess [Name]-chan has her own charms between the boys,” Shimizu giggled, enjoying seeing you flustered.

“Riiight?” Suzumeda Kaori grinned widely. “Everyone’s more fired up than before.”

“By the way, how do you have this kind of height?” Eri questioned, loosening her arms around your shoulders. “Do you do intense sports or workout?”

“It’s genes, actually,” you answered, rubbing the back of your neck nervously. “My dad’s around 190 cm and my mom’s around 180 cm. Both of them are athletes.”

“That explains a lot,” Yukie hummed in understanding. “Just like Nekoma’s really tall first-year. He’s half Russian I guess.”

“H-half? That’s amazing,” Yachi stuttered.

“I could just imagine [Name]-chan being flaunted on in school!” Mako hugged her pillow close to her chest. “Ah, a goddess among mortals-“

“People… don’t like my height,” it’s rude for cutting her off, but you couldn’t help it. Not when it tasted extremely bitter upon your tongue. “The boys said I’m too tall and girls are supposed to be petite. The girls don’t want to get too close because I’m a giant, they’re intimidated. I… kind of wish I was smaller…”

“WHAT!? WHO SAID THAT!?” Yukie shrieked full of disgust. “How dare they judge you by appearance!?

“[Name]-chan, I need names! Names!” Kaori demanded, placing firm hands upon your shoulders and shook. “And I will strangle their neck tomorrow!”

“Please don’t murder anyone!” you raised your hands in front of your chest instinctively.

“Who do we have to kill tomorrow, girls?” Eri smiled darkly.

“Anyway, don’t listen to them, okay!?” Mako added. “You’re absolutely gorgeous!”

“Y-you have our backs, [Name]-chan!” Yachi followed. “W-we’ll fight them!”

“We and besides, if the boys somehow heard about this, there will be homicide.” Shimizu smirked.

Their support and full acceptance were alien to you.

“Thank you.”

Alien but you couldn’t help to feel warmth blooming in your chest–because this was something you’re looking for a long time.

[zellerysworld]

『 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 』

Sukuna x GN!Reader

WC: 6.7k

Tags: Angst, murder, reincarnation, heavy violence, language, suggestive themes, heavy trauma, mentions of genocide, origin story, slight soft sukuna

I rewrote this bitch three times trying to perfect it- and I’m still not 100% happy with it because there’s so many ways I wanted to write this. Plus I didn’t get the promotion at work so I just got depressed. anyways I wrote the story but @cqcophobiq requested a gender neutral reader. <3

A/N: Readers abilities are touching people to make them sleep, transfer memories, and see past (for those with DID, talk to the souls within the persons mind). They serves as a informant by going inside victims heads to look in their pasts for curses that were around them; informing teammates of location and grade level. They can also gain powers from whomever they touch for a short period of time.

Ex: Sukuna can give Malevolent Shrine to them for battle, but after one use/within five minutes, it vanishes. If they use powers that are harsh on the body, (domain expansions or strong cursed manipulation) they faint/get nose bleeds. *Reader only has abilities in modern times*

⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈

Around 1000 years ago, you ventured out into the woods seeking to kill a god. 1000 years later, you are reincarnated so you may meet this god once again.

⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈

Fear: that is all you felt while you watched the mass murderer known as Ryomen Sukuna walk throughout the same forest you were in. It took so long to hunt him down, and now the moment has finally come. You have trained for years to defeat the villain of your story, but his presence was more intimidating than you had anticipated.

He stopped to bend down, putting out a hand to stroke a sleeping fox. Surrounding the regular-looking male was a meadow filled to the brim with tall grass and flowers, hidden away by bamboo and birch trees. Everything looked so peaceful around Sukuna, as if he was a Dryad. ‘How could he look so peaceful?’ You thought to yourself. It also felt as if you were lied to, since most people told you he had facial marks and four arms, which he did not have.

It looked as if he were another human; that was until you flimsily attempted to move forward. Having been hiding within a large bush, you couldn’t see what was beneath you. And just like, a cracking sound emitted from the twig below you. You closed your eyes and rolled your shoulders back, whispering to yourself, “Oh fu-.”

Now, how exactly did you get yourself into this situation? And why were you in the middle of an uncharted forest trying to stalk Ryomen Sukuna? Well, it is a rather gruesome story for you to look back upon.

The Heian Age is at its peak in Japan, while Jujutsu sorcery is also at its peak as a ripple effect. (Many young children in this period began to claim they have “seen” curses.) Ryomen Sukuna was a young sorcerer, having attended the very school you attended. While amid his fourth and final year, and in your first year, he burned down almost every inch of the school alongside slaughtering over half of the staff and students.

You took it upon yourself to track him down with the intent to kill for revenge. Teachers that survived had entrusted you with information about him after learning of your plans. Granted most told you not to do it, but the ones that supported it told you information of his appearance, how he secretly practiced sacred and forbidden jujutsu techniques, and his unwavering strength. With every day that passes, Sukuna grows stronger at rates nobody can foretell.

So here you are, three years after the incident. The reason for why he did it is still unknown; But you trained to your breaking point for this moment to happen- having bled, cried, screamed, and thrown up countless times. Your classmates called you insane for thinking you could beat Sukuna, but none of their words mattered to you. Sukuna stole people from your life that you could never get back.

Now, back to your current situation. Sukuna shot his head up to the sound, his lips curving to reveal blades for teeth, “Myyyyyy Myyyyy!!! Do I have a challenger?” His voice stunned you, fear engulfing your mind as his body morphed into a four armed and nearly 8 foot tall being with black markings wrapped around his body. Although barely visible, Sukuna first saw your eyes that had such a curious wonder that was tinted with rage.

Before you could even take your bandages off to fight, he was behind you and holding your neck, “A jujutsu sorcerer, huh?”

Air left your lungs faster than anticipated, causing you to slightly panic. You closed your eyes, then leaned your neck over in an attempt to play dead, which worked but to only half of its extent. When your neck rolled to the side, Sukuna slightly loosened his grip. This gave you room to breathe before catching him off guard with a back-kick to his ribs.

The unexpected hit made his brows furrow, anger stirring in his stomach at your cleverness. When your clogs hit the ground, you took off running as if an army of samurai were in pursuit behind. And although you were fast, Sukuna was faster. The sound of his footsteps gave the warning that he was gaining up to you.

Logs and fallen tree branches were dodged by your legs as your jumped over them, Sukuna following behind. The sound of crunching grass as the demon-like man pursued you made the experience even more terrifying, knowing that with every step you took, he took two. There were so many sounds, making it harder to think with the already small amount of time given to you.

You made the judgement call to stop, believing that you could backhand him from behind by catching him off guard. However, it became apparent that you made a grave mistake the second two muscular elbows hit the left side of your waist. The feeling of your ribs cracking on both of sides of your waist when you slammed against the tree made you scream out in pain. Your eyes widened at having never witnessed strength such as his nor pain such as this.

Out of response to the pain, tears formed at the edges of your squinting eyes as your back slid against the tree. Sukuna approached you, cracking his fingers in excitement of killing another jujutsu sorcerer such as yourself. However, you had a trump card that was now in play.

You bit down on a piece of cloth that held the bandages on your left hand together. Ripping the bandages off with your teeth, Sukuna let out a menacing laugh, “You really think jujutsu can help you now?”

His left hand strangled your neck, pulling you upwards to be eye level with him. When Sukuna noticed that your orbs showed no fear, his brows furrowed in curiosity. Just seconds before he was going to snap your neck, both of your hands latched onto his arm. You forced a nerve connection, sending sounds of people screaming, children crying, and raging fires into his head.

The sudden sounds caused Sukuna to release you from his grip, “What-what Is this…?” He looked around, trying to see where the sound was coming from. You leaned against the tree while holding your left side, “How could you forget?” He looked down to you, his eyes widening at the realization of where the sounds came from.

“Those are the sounds of the people you killed!”

Sukuna froze, realizing that you were not just an ordinary jujutsu user. Catching him while he was still confounded, you put all your force into an aggressive headbutt. He stumbled back a few feet before growling at the dripping blood from his scalp. When he looked up, a smirked was smeared across his blood-stained face, “You’ll die here.”

His hands joined, making the symbol for a domain expansion spell. However, you temporary gained his powers after touching his arm a few moments ago. As he opened his mouth, you cut him off while bringing your hands together, “Domain Expansion!”

“What?”

Your eyes rolled back, “Malevolent shrine!”

The domain built around him, fear striking Sukuna’s mind at the sight of seeing you mimic his powers. His technique was too powerful for your body to handle though, causing you to stumble. You blinked twice before coughing up blood into your hands. Sukuna walked forward as the domain fell apart, his interest being piqued at how your powers work.

Looking up at Sukuna, blood fell from the crevices of your lips before you fell onto the ground. His powers completely defeated you from within, being too harsh on your body. When you hit the ground, all that was in your tunnel of vision was black. It felt like it was just a few minutes that you had been knocked out, but when you opened your eyes, the forest surrounding you was nearly pitch black.

“You snore.”

Hearing Sukuna’s voice, your body snapped up from the ground beneath you to find him sitting against an oak log. When you tried to use your hands to fight him, you quickly became aware that they were tied up. You huffed at the feeling of the rope while noticing the black kimono you wore had been taken off to reveal your white Cossack.

Sukuna’s lids opened to reveal crimson-colored eyes. In his current state, he was back to being inkless and having two arms. He glared at you with a sense of sternness, “Tell me how you did that.”

“Did what?” You snapped back, having no respect for him.

“Listen,” he stood and walked over to you, bending his knees down so his face would be in yours, “Only reason you are alive right now is because I say so. So, either tell me how you did it, or I’ll cut your hands off with my fingernails.” He sat down in front of you, crossing his legs and arms.

To be honest, death seemed better than having to deal with this situation. Before replying to him, you had to think if you really wanted to explain your powers. Either way around, you were going to die so it didn’t matter. Talking about your powers only delays your inevitable future. And it’s obviously been hours, so if help would have come, they were either killed by Sukuna or never came.

You sighed, leaning your head back before making eye contact with him. “My technique was used by ancient sorcerers; They call it ‘Somnium Nexum’.”

“I know all of the jujutsu techniques; how come I have never heard of yours?”

“Well, if you would shut the fuck up then I could explain.”

Sukuna rolled his eyes at your disrespect, “Why do the generations become more disrespectful with each passing year?”

“Do you really have room to talk about disrespect?” You huffed, continuing, “My technique hasn’t been seen for hundreds of years now. It went extinct, until I was born that is. My hands… I use them to transfer memories to people, see memories of people, and temporarily steal people’s powers. That’s how I did it.”

“Those sounds were the people I killed. You were there that day?”

“Of course I was!” You shouted, anger filling your voice as tears formed at the edges of your eyes, “You killed people I loved! You ruined peoples lives…. WHY?! WHAT DID YOU GAIN?”

“I gained revenge.”

Silence fell between the two of you. The moon’s reflected light shined against your eyes as tears rolled down your flustered cheeks. Your lips parted to speak, but there were no words. Revenge? It didn’t make sense to you. What did all those people do to cause an anger such as his to exist?

Sukuna broke the silence, “If you run, I’ll kill you.” He leaned forward and reached a hand behind you, his lips being uncomfortably close to yours. Your thoughts closed at hearing a ripping sound, his hand pulling back.

“Look into my memories, and whatever questions you have will be answered. But then you’ll answer mine.”

You hesitated to move your hands, feeling fear in the back of your mind at how calm he was. Just a few hours ago, this man was trying to murder you in cold blood, but now he is acting… soft? It didn’t settle in your gut too well, but you had no other choice than to do what he says. Complying to his request, you raised your hand to rest the palm of it on his lower check and jawline.

“Close your eyes.” You commanded while closing yours.

He obediently closed them, letting the connection into his nervous system open into yours. The tears that were made at the thought of your dead classmates shifted towards tears of pain upon seeing Sukuna’s memories.

You watched from the background as jujutsu sorcerers stormed his childhood village and burned everything to the ground, both curses and humans alike. A young Sukuna was in the middle of it all, screaming for his mother as the fire surrounded him. From the fires, a sorcerer ran through and picked him up.

Sukuna screamed and kicked at the masked sorcerer. You noticed though, that the very badge that was embroidered onto your shirt was the same badge of the sorcerer carrying him.

When you turned to see where he was being carried, you noticed only the children were spared. You covered your mouth in disgust, seeing crying kids from ages of newborns to 5-year-olds being carried away. You watched a young Sukuna let out a loud screeching sound, black markings appearing on his face as his eyes turned red.

He sunk his teeth into the sorcerers’ shoulder and killed them, trying to run away before being caught by two other sorcerers who put him to sleep. One said through his mask, “This one is strong with cursed energy, he needs to be cleansed.”

You watched them carry him away. When you turned back around, you saw another memory of Sukuna at a slightly older age being tortured on a table as an instruction screamed out, “YOU ARE A DISGRACE!” Another memory appeared, the child being much older now as he sat in his room and communicated with a curse in its own language.

Memories upon memories flashed before your eyes of him training, talking to curses, and being tortured by humans. Then the memory that stained your mind of blood had appeared. The boy used his malevolent shrine against students and teachers alike, causing chaos with curses following behind him wherever he stepped.

Squinting to notice, you saw a pained look within his eyes as he killed the students that tried to fight him. He bent down to one and closed their eyes, “Humans have become the virus of this world. Jujutsu scholars are the creators of the virus.”

You came out of the link, speechless at everything you had just seen. Taking a deep breath, you looked into Sukuna’s eyes, “Why did they burn your village?”

He turned his neck to look away from your eyes, not wanting to be the person that breaks the truth to you. Although Sukuna didn’t know your name, he still felt an aching sensation at the bottom of his heart for you. There was finally someone else that he could tell of his secrets, but they were too painful. Yet he knew if he didn’t tell you, and instead killed you or forced you to go back, that you would never have a normal life anyways.

“Tell me, what’s your name?”

“Y/n L/n- but my name is not important. Tell me why they did that…”

“Y/n, do you know who your parents are?”

“Of course not. They sent me to the school when I was…”

“When you were what?”

Excruciating amounts of pain began to fill your heart. You saw the point he was making, and it stung your heart in an abundance of different ways. Everything around you seemed to disappear as you tried to remember who you were before attending this school. All that was found was blankness.

The early morning sky that beamed with stars of different shades seemed to become brighter as everything began to click. Nature surrounded you in this moment of harsh realization. It was comforting knowing that possibly a forest god was watching over you in the greens of their garden, but nonetheless painful.

You whispered with a cracking voice, “Why… Why did they tell us our parents sent us here…?”

“It was a coverup. Japan has become innovative these past two centuries, meaning out with the old and in with the new. Jujutsu sorcerers were falling behind, meaning they would eventually die out. So, they resorted to pillaging children. Although our fight was short, I can see that you have great strength and intelligence with your powers. You must have been a newborn when you were taken; otherwise, you’d remember.”

So many emotions ran through your mind all at once. Sorrow, pain, anger, rage, weakness, all of it. You hesitated, “So... -So, I never even had a chance?”

Sukuna looked into your eyes, “No.”

You gasped, feeling as if your lungs were collapsing while your breathing grew erratic. Everything you ever knew was a lie, and everything you were ever told was a lie. Any relationships you ever had with teachers was a lie, while any relationship you ever had with your classmates was fake. Sukuna saw how you struggled to take this information in, but he didn’t know how to make it easier for you.

‘Is there even an easy way out of this information?’ He thought to himself. Sukuna always knew everything around him was not real, so he couldn’t imagine the things you were feeling.

“Why didn’t… why didn’t you tell anyone? Why didn’t you try to find a way out and save everyone?”

Sukuna snapped back, “All of those kids are brainwashed beyond oblivion. Did you forget what you tried to do to me a few hours ago? If I were a normal person, you would have killed with that thing you did with your hands; And If I tried to tell people everything they ever knew was a lie, I would be dead.”

You slowly crawled backwards as he moved forward, “Do you think I caused all of that destruction alone? No. I had the help of curses, who are the only damn things that see humans for the shit they are! Over the years I have been out here alone, training and preparing myself for when I can defeat even the strongest of sorcerers.”

When he realized how uncomfortable you had become by his advancing, Sukuna moved back. “There was no helping them. The only reason I told you was because you would be forced to believe me.”

He was right. As much as you didn’t want to admit it, Sukuna was right. They would all try to kill him if he told them what had known on all along. Humanity’s biggest fault will always be the fact that they are afraid of the unknown, and when someone tries to show them the truth of the unknown, they freak out in fear. The only reason you were not freaking out was because there was no unknown; you saw it all with your own eyes through his memories.

“Tell me, what are you going to do now?” He asked, slicing your thoughts in half.

That was a loaded question for the current situation, but it was a question that needed an answer. You cannot go back now, otherwise they would find out you know more than you should with how bad of a liar you are. For all they know, you are most likely dead right now and not worth looking for. You were just another slave to the elders’ horrific commands.

“I don’t know… Run away maybe? Get out the country while I can? But even then, sorcerers are all around the world. I would get caught and be killed eventually. Do the rest of the sorcerers around the world know about Japan’s doings?”

Sukuna scratched at his head, “I don’t know. I never tried to leave, but I was never bothered until now either.”

The sun began to rise, cracks of its light seeping through the forest trees as the night faded to the back of the forest. You bowed your head with a loud sigh, not knowing what your next move will be. Confusion filled your mind while the rising sun’s warmth worked to comfort you in this state of despair. With your emotions being thrown around like a tossed salad, the silence sounded so loud right now.

Sukuna broke the silence by hesitantly suggesting, “Stay here with me, y/n. Just for another day or two. I want to know more of these powers of yours. Maybe by then you’ll figure something out.”

You looked at him with such curious eyes, seeing him totally shift from the manic demon he was yesterday to this calm man who had a vengeful heart filled with pain. Crossing your arms, you asked with a sarcastic tone, “Where do you even live?”

“Are you suggesting I sleep in the woods like an animal?”

“Perhaps.”

He rolled his eyes while clicking his tongue, “Farther up in the mountains. I live by a hidden spring.”

You tried to stand up with Sukuna, leaning on the tree for support. He forgot that a rib or two of yours had been broken upon contact when fighting with each other earlier, making him cringe at remembering how quick he was to become defensive. “Here.” He turned around, getting on his knees. Sukuna motioned for you to get on his back, it being easier on your ribs for him to carry you this way.

Click here for a nice theme song. <3

Sukuna carried you to a log cabin he had built in the time he spent out here. For a few days, your aching body rested there as you thought of your next move. However, those thoughts eventually fled your mind. Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months turned to years. Time passed on as you stayed hidden away deep within the forest with Sukuna. Over time, his vengeance was forgotten with you at his side. All both of you wanted was to enjoy the peace of solitude together.

Everything had been so peaceful over the years. Sometimes you and Sukuna would bicker as lovers do, especially since you two were the only ones you talked to besides curses, but ultimately both of you were happy. That was until the world decided peace was never a real option for anyone in this violently terrifying world.

Morning dew clung onto the windows of the cabin you shared with your husband. It was the break of dawn as you awoke next to a sleeping Sukuna. He lowly grumbled at your movements, pulling you back into the bed by your waist. “What are you doing?” He quietly asked with a scruffy morning voice while hovering over you. Loose strains of hair covered your eyes, Sukuna moving them so he could have a better look at you.

You held onto the back of his neck with your bandaged hands, “I’m going to the springs for a quick wash.”

The shirtless man lightly kissed at your cheek, moving lower to your neck as he gripped onto your hips to keep you below him. As tempting as it was to stay in bed with him and enjoy some morning affairs, your bones ached from the hunting that was done the day before. With a roll of your eyes, you pushed the built man from your body as if he was a feather.

He let out a loud groan while moaning, “I should have never trained you to become that strong.”

“Oh shush, I’ll be back soon you whiney child.”

You put on a long, white yukata before heading outside to greet the horses you and Sukuna had tamed. “Good morning Ryko,” you sang while petting the horse’s neck before mounting her. You rode just a few minutes upwards towards the east, where the hidden springs lied. Winter was beginning to fade as spring slowly made its way into season, so hunting is hard for you and Sukuna.

Usually in the winter months is when your back and sides ache from your fight all those years ago with him. The best way for you to sooth your pains is to relax in the warm springs that nature provided in the mornings or late afternoons.

Upon reaching the springs, you jumped off Ryko and led her towards a tree to keep her tied at. However, you began to feel uneasy at how Ryko kept neighing and trying to back away from the tree. “Shhh, girl. Nobody is here.”

The sound of other horses made you eat your words. Your eyes widened as you turned, jumping out of the way at the sound of a metal mechanism clicking and firing. Ryko was shot in the head, her body falling over and bleeding out in the snow. Panic filled your body, being caught completely off guard. What were they shooting with and why was it so fast? When you looked up, you noticed the people on the horses had the same symbol of your previous school.

“Son of a bitch…,” you spoke, furrowing your brows at the sight of them. You had no weapons on you, forgetting to bring your bow and arrow for long distance defense. From the bottom of your lungs, you screamed out, “SUKUNA!!”

As soon as you said the name, the sorcerers began to panic, “She said his name!”

“Quick, kill her before he comes! She must be a witch!”

“What if he kills us?!”

“JUST DO IT!”

You were already on your feet, taking off as fast as you possibly could. As much as you wanted to fight with the physical strength you had gained over the years, you knew the helplessness of your abilities. Even if you could outsmart them and bruise their physical appearance, you were no match for 5 sorcerers with guns all at once with your jujutsu technique. You may be a powerful jujutsu sorcerer alongside Sukuna, but long-range fighting was never an option with your technique.

Speeding into the distance with all you had, the freezing temperature of the snow against bare human feet was only making it worse for you. You had hope that you could run into the woods just in time, but there is no shift in what a speeding bullet does to a human body.

While a few minutes away, the first shot had Sukuna on his feet. His eyes flung open, the nerve-wracking sound of a weapon he didn’t recognize that is not too far caused him to panic. His tattoos appeared as he walked out into the snow barefoot with only palazzos on. He began running into the direction of the sound, knowing he would be faster on foot than on horseback.

From the distance, Sukuna heard his name being screamed out by your voice, which struck fear into his heart. The scream was followed by another shot not even 30 seconds later. He picked up his speed, tears forming at the edges of his rageful crimson eyes.

When he appeared from the branches, the sorcerers were taking off. As much as he wanted to pursue them, he needed to find you first. Before he could even see you, the stench of blood coming from his left filled his nose. He turned, and everything seemed to go into slow motion. He ran at your side, seeing you struggle to breathe from the bullet wound in your chest.

“Y/N, Y/N SAY SOMETHING!” He screamed out, falling onto the ground next to you. He held you up, putting his hands over the wound to try to stop the bleeding, “Come on, come on stay with me. It’s okay, it’s fine-“

“Ry-Suk…I…,” you struggled to breathe, blood flowing out of your chest faster than Sukuna could react too. His tears fell onto your cheeks as his hands became covered in your blood. The white Yukata you were wearing was turning an awful shade of red.

He pulled your hand up to his lower cheek, closing his eyes so you can start a link between him and you. When it started, you transferred everything you had seen to his memories so he would know what happened without you having to speak. When he opened his eyes, your hand fell from his cheek as your body quickly lost energy.

Sukuna held you in his now bloodied arms, rocking you back and forth while whispering, “It’s alright, you’re fine. Look at me, I’m right here.” He watched as you slowly lost consciousness, your eyes losing the spark of curiosity in them that he adored.

You blinked a few times, each time your eyes getting heavier and harder to keep open. You gave him a meek smile and croaked out, “When the sun rises again, will you find me?”

Rapid tears fell from both your eyes and his as he leaned his head into your chest, “I’ll find you.”

You looked into the sky with lazy eyes before shutting them for the final time. Your neck fell backwards, and your breathing stopped; Sukuna felt your heart’s final beat. Feeling your soul leave your body, he let out a loud scream into your chest that could be heard from miles away.

He sobbed into your cold body, only to lift his head with a newfound rage that has set his body on fire. His tearstained face spoke millions of words, all of them meaning the same thing: destruction. He laid your body against Ryko, kissing your forehead and whispering, “I’ll be back.”

Standing up with your blood staining his hands and torso, he morphed into his full form. His lips spread into a devilish smile as he ran his hands through his hair. His speed was almost at light, taking off into the forest while chasing the horse tracks in the snow.

The sorcerers rode at a fast pace, but it wasn’t fast enough. Sukuna passed them up, turning on his heels to face the oncoming horses. When they got close enough, he raised both of his hands and grabbed onto the horses’ heads, pushing them down into the ground. Both the horses and sorcerers riding them died from the impact, striking fear into the other sorcerers following behind them.

“TURN, NOW!” One yelled out before their head was ripped from their body by Sukuna’s hands. He called out with a demonic look in his eyes, “Don’t be afraid to come out my friends!” Curses of all grades came out from behind trees, sending everyone into a panic.

“SPREAD OUT!” A female sorcerer yelled out, making Sukuna turn. He ran into the horse, sending her and the horse flying into a tree. She let out a loud scream of pain as the horse landed on her legs, rendering her powerless. Sukuna approached her, bending down to be eye level with her as she panicked.

He tilted his head, “The person you happened to kill was my partner. And a partner is a man’s peace, but when they are taken, they become a man’s rage.” He grabbed her hair, ripping her body in half. “If they cannot live, nobody can! Women, children, and men alike! IT’S GOING TO BE A MASSACRE!”

Curses killed the sorcerers left and right, slaughtering both them and their horses. Ryomen Sukuna has died, but the king of curses has been born. Curses obeyed his every command in fear of his jujutsu techniques and inhumane abilities. The beginning of his world domination had just begun…

Over a thousand years has passed since that day, which brings Sukuna to the present. Yuji was in conversation with Megumi and Nobara, while Sukuna was off wondering around in Yuji’s head. However, a certain name caught his attention.

“Yeah! I heard they use an ancient technique called ‘Somnium Nexium’, it’s only been seen a handful of times in the last few hundred years.” Nobara chanted while walking with her friends.

Sukuna turned his head at the sound, awakening on Yuji’s face, “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“Sukuna, go back!” Yuji yelled, groaning at the annoying curse.

He snapped back, “Oh shut the hell up. I heard Somnium Nexium.”

Megumi spoke, “There’s a new student. They use that power.”

“I bet your old ass has seen it before,” Nobara laughed.

Sukuna growled, “Matter of fact I have, and this brat could probably kill all of you with just one hand.”

Nobara’s shoulders shot up at his words, while Megumi cringed at the fact he’s most likely right. Yuji was just interested in getting to see them like the others though. However, the day was near its end, and everyone was heading into their rooms for the night. Yuji might have slept like a baby, but Sukuna stayed up in his mind all night.

He wanted to believe there was a possibility that it could be you, but from what the kids said, other people have been seen using the same ability. Wanting to dismiss the idea, Sukuna tried to not think on it and instead walk around Yuji’s head to annoy him, but that failed.

Night faded into day as the stars kissed the sky good morning. Another day began, and nothing was out of the usual. Just Sukuna being pissed he’s still in Yuji’s body after all of this time and training per usual.

Yuji made his way out of the dormitories after getting dressed, heading outside to see where Megumi was. He was also hoping to run into the new student so he could get to brag to Nobara that he meant them first. While walking down the outside corridor, Yuji pulled out his phone to text the group chat. In the midst of typing, he bumped into a student wearing a navy Hakama with a black kimono, the traditional sword training outfit for students.

For those who enjoy some theme music.(again hehe)

“Oh sor- Wait a second, you must be the new student! I’m Yuji Itadori.” He quickly bowed, giving you a large smile. Sukuna snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing Yuji’s thoughts when running into you; He hastily said within his mind, “Enchain!”

The sun took its place a tad higher in the sky to where it beamed against you. Your skin had a warm tone to it as the sun reflected into your eyes to create a small glint. Bowing your head as Sukuna took over Yuji’s body, you raised your head with closed eyes and smiled, “I’m Y/n L/n.”

When you opened your eyes, Yuji’s body had switched into Sukuna’s. It startled you before remembering that he was Sukuna’s vessel; yet it also felt as if you have meant Sukuna before. “You must be Sukuna. I feel honored that the king of curses took over Yuji just to see me,” you said with tremendous amounts of sarcasm.

Sukuna was speechless, his breathing going shaky at the sight of you. “Is it really you?”

You raised a brow while crossing your arms, “What are you talking about?”

He walked forward, wanting to get a closer look at your facial features. However, him walking closer caused you to back up out of discomfort. Your back hit against the railing of the wooden pathway, making you nervous. You snapped with a serious tone while ungloving your hands behind your back, “What do you want?!”

There was no response, just wide eyes, and a wide mouth. “Hey!” You yelled, but there was no response. Out of fear, you pulled your hand out and tried to grab his wrist to show something to scare him, but he already knew your move. Sukuna caught you by the wrist, then examined it to see if it was the same hand you had before.

Your eyes widened at how he knew what you were going to do, making fear begin to take over your body. “Don’t be afraid,” he spoke while moving your hand to his lower cheek. “Just… try to remember me.” So many questions ran throughout your mind, such as how did he know that people’s faces are what she touches? Either way, you were too afraid to decline what he was implying, so you closed your eyes at the same time as him.

The connection opened, allowing you to go into his memories. You walked around his mind, seeing yourself from his eyes whenever you first meant him over 1000 years ago. The memories flashed before your eyes, not understanding why you see yourself and how that was possible. Every bitter, sweet, intimate, aggressive, happy, and sad moment he ever had with you flashed before your eyes.

Colors you had never even seen before flashed past your eyes, showing you every detail of every moment you ever experienced with Sukuna. You saw a memory of yourself holding a bow and arrow, aiming it at a deer from far in the forest. When you took the shot, it struck the deer into the side.

You relaxed your shoulders, sighing in relief at making the hit. Sukuna watched with his arms crossed, “There’s so many ways that I love you, but by far my favorite way to love you is to watch you.”

With the roll of your eyes and a small smirk, you blushed and playfully punched his shoulder, “Let’s go get our dinner.”

Sukuna “loved” you? The sensations your body felt were foreign, making you feel nervous. There were moments where he held onto your hand while taking a walk through the forest, followed by other moments of him training with you in meadows. The moments you would hug his bare torso would turn into moments of intimacy, while moments of petty arguments would turn into moments of him holding you.

Love was the only thing you could feel from these memories. It was love that drove him to commit his crimes, and it was love when he would sit alone and ponder on what he’d do if he ever saw you again. He imagined that he would hug you tighter than he ever did before, destroy the world with you, and tell you everything he didn’t get to tell you before.

A squeezing sensation pained your heart, making you become so overwhelmed that you ripped away from the link. Sukuna looked into your eyes, seeing that curious look he saw in your eyes all those centuries ago when you first meant him in the forest. Shaking with anxiety, you moved forward to slowly wrap your arms over his body. He followed into the embrace, squeezing your back with his muscular arms while crying into your shoulder.

It felt unreasonable to fall into being the person you were in a past life, but you felt all the things he felt for you back then. Seeing his memories opened so many things in your life, when all along you thought you were just some regular jujutsu sorcerer who is the new kid at this school. In truth, you were never normal; seeing his memories just proves that. You grew up having dreams as a child that were always too blurry to see anything, but looking back you now understand that those weren’t dreams; They were your past.

When you closed your eyes, everything in your mind went blank. Upon opening them, they looked the same but had a slight change of hue that was barely noticeable. You pushed Sukuna away from you, starting to feel your old memories flood back in. He looked at you with a confused expression, not understanding what you were doing until you grabbed his face.

Your hands held his cheeks as you examined his eyes, “Sukuna? Is it really you?” You moved his face to see all the angles of his structure, trying to see if this was him. “Oh…,” There was hesitation in your eyes before tears began to fall from them, “You found me…” Sukuna pulled you back into the tight embrace of each other’s arms, holding onto one another like the world is falling apart around you.

From behind the corner, Megumi and Nobara watched with worried looks painted across their face. She whispered, “I feel like something bad just happened.”

There was rage within you, feeling your insides ache at the memory of how you died coming back to you. You were still the same person before gaining your memories back, but now enlightened of who you really were. Sukuna pulled back from the hug, looking beyond your eyes and into your soul. He could see the hungry look of vengeance within you.

Sukuna felt his time nearing its end as Yuji was fighting to come back in. He quickly held onto your shoulders with a crazed look in his crimson eyes, “Y/n, in due time we will take our revenge. Me and you, we will destroy the world.”

The next time the sun rises for Sukuna will be the last time it rises for the world.

⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈⥈

[xsugarysweetsx]

hehe the way I smiled when I saw that your requests r open!!Thank you😗

May I request Cherry X Reader where they r in an arranged marriage. Like maybe the reader is from a traditional family and she agrees to it anyway since she loves her parents but is low-key scared of being his wife/a mother. They have a rocky start but end up falling in love. Maybe one day cherry takes her to S to see him race and meet the gang and she loves it. You can make it spicy at the end if you like 👀

idk why but I always think about this when I see him and also braiding his hair coz it's so much prettier than mine 😒💖

A/N:I don’t understand how a man can be so beautiful// much longer than I expected it to be....

Please enjoy~🍰

Warnings; Some mention of smut; Nothing too detailed, but it’s there

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“Come here your kimono isn’t tight enough“ your mother said as she went behind you to tighten it even more than before 

“Mom! I can’t breath if it’s this tight!“ you said almost wheezing for air.

“You have to make sure your waist looks small and appealing” she said, even though, looks are not everything in a relationship. As much as you didn’t want to, you had to look your best today, it was important. You were going to meet the man you were to marry. You were part of an important family in Japan, and of course your family was very traditional. This only meant you were already expecting an arranged marriage.  

 Today you were meeting with him for the first time. From what you heard, he was a successful calligrapher, and popular with women. You didn't quite know how to feel with that, but this was your future. Most people wouldn't agree with arranged marriages but, you love your parents and this is what they wanted.

They told you that he was a gentleman, and very respectful. Well your hopes were up now, hopefully you’re not disappointed. Could you possibly end up in a good marriage? walking into the home you were greeted not by someone work there, but by a voice.

“Welcome, master Kaoru is waiting for you in the meeting room.“ for someone who is traditional he sure had a good AI system. Walking off to the right your father opens the sliding door and there he was. A young man with long pink hair and glasses, he wore traditional clothing and seemed very proper.

“Mr & Mrs Y/L/N, welcome please take a seat.” Not a hint of emotion on his face.

He was stoic but not cold. He poured you all some tea and your parents begin to discuss the marriage. Now that you say there and listened to everything, it really started sinking in. You were getting married to a complete stranger. You didn’t know the first thing about marriage! Or being a wife! Oh gods.....what if they expected children??

A million things were flooding your mind, you felt so lost. In all honesty, you were scared of what was to come..

“Y/N..” you were brought out of your thoughts by your mother gently shaking your shoulder “are you alright? You look sick”

“O-oh, yes I’m fine!“ you assure her swallowing the lump in your throat

“If you say so, we need you and Mr.Sakurayashiki to sign the papers as well. In 2 weeks time there will be a wedding ceremony but for now, we must fill out the papers.“ you watch Kaoru take the pen read the line and signs his name next was your turn.

He hands you the paper and pen, you bite your bottom lip as you read ‘spouse sign here’. You let out a shaky breath as the ink forms your name on the paper. After some more discussions on the wedding it was your time to leave. You all thanked him for tea and his time. Before you walked out the door he asked t speak with you for a moment, making your heart drop. You parents wait outside as you have a word with the pink haired man.

“Y/N, I just want you to relax, I noticed you were nervous before and you should know I won’t mistreat you and will try to be a proper spouse“ 

“Oh, uhm thank you Mr-“

He interrupts you “Please call me Kaoru“

<><><><>

Just as planned the wedding happened 2 weeks from then. You couldn’t stop blushing that day, from anxiety, to shyness, to even Kaoru. He looked very handsome that day, and he was just as much as gentleman. The ceremony was calm and heartfelt, friends and family gathered to witness your union. He saw you were very nervous that day so, instead of a general kiss he gave you a quick peck.

Only for you to duck you flustered face, he found it quite cute actually. He thought you looked beautiful that day in traditional wedding attire. He took mental note son how you were as a person. Although you seemed somewhat intimidated, you were considerate and kind. You helped people who needed it, and you put others before yourself. He just hoped this marriage will have a good outcome.

———

“We don’t have to do this” he simply said beginning to disrobe

“But-“ usually it was on the first night of the wedding when. It should happen

“If we get to that stage in our relationship, then you can tell me. You don’t have to force yourself. I can leave the room until you’re done getting changed” he left the room so that you can change. You take a moment to assess the situation, and you smile to yourself

“How considerate...“ you think to yourself. after changing, you both ordered room service and have dinner for the night. He was nice to talk to, it had some interesting topics to share with you. Even his calligraphy job seemed interesting. He offered to take a different room while you slept in this one's may be comfortable, but you said it was okay and you were fine with sharing a bed.

he's not like most men I hear about an arranged marriages. He's not forcing you to do anything, he's asking if I'm comfortable with everything. All the stories really kind of scared me into this, maybe it won't be so bad....maybe....

<><><><>

“Y/N, get dressed we’re going out tonight“ he says coming to you and kisses your cheek. It has been about 11 months, almost a year, since you married and it has been better than you thought. of course you had fears of Nami and expectations of a “good wife”. He made sure to tell you how much of a good job you were doing, even if you didn't do much. He thought you were perfect the way you are. He also believe that he could trust you enough to share secret with you--he was taking you to “S”

Usually you both go to events together, especially ones that associated with his work. But tonight was different he had different attire on. He wore his hair in a ponytail, no glasses and a mask covering the bottom portion of his face.

“Where are we going? A costume party?“ you joke 

“After seeing one person you mat think that“ he said but was still serious about you getting ready ““make sure you dress comfortably you don't need to wear kimono for this.” he gave you more detail “Now listen to me, where we are going you cannot speak of after. Not to me, nor to your parents or anyone else if they know about it.“

“Huh? Are we joining some secret society?“ you giggle coming back out in some jeans and a t shirt with a sweater. 

“In a way, let’s go.“ if you thought tonight was strange you only got stranger, you would expect a person like him to have a motorcycle. Or to be carrying a skateboard for that matter, just who was this person and was he really your husband. Holding on to him you take off into the dead of night. eventually make it to the gate where he showed an s-shaped sticker and was granted entry. There multiple women started to scream 

“Cherry!!”  “Master Cherry!!” Were they referring to Kaoru?

“Yo Cherry, ya made it- and you finally brought a girl with ya. It’s about time” a tall muscular man with green hair said patting Kaoru on the back roughly. Next came a man with dramatic makeup and a cape. Two boys who seemed to ebe in high school, one with red hair and the other with blue. Finally a much younger looking boy with a cat hoodie. Huh, interesting crowd...

“Get off me!“ he said kicking him in the ass “This is Y/N, she’s my wife“ he said standing next to you and all their jaws drop

“Cherry is married?!“

“Huh, she’s pretty quiet compared to these girls...it’s kinda nice“

“Damn, and to think you could have gotten anyone but got married.“ Kaoru seemed very annoyed at this point 

“Yes I am married, she’s better than the screaming women here, and I will not toy with women like you do!!“ he answered all their questions in one go “Y/N, this is a place where skateboarders come to race, it’s called ‘S’, these are JOE, MIYA, Reki, Langa, and SHADOW“

“H-hello..“ you wave to the small group and they waved back 

“Y/N, do you mind stay here with Reki and Langa? I need to race and I’ll be back“ he asked laying hand to the top of your head and you nod. He leans down and places his covered lips to your forehead. He then picked up his board, it was black with some purple lining and goes to the start. 

There he and JOE get ready to race as a traffic light counts their start. After it turns green they were off like rockets. It was still a lot to swallow...how he kind of had a double life and you were just now finding out about it. It was a bit overwhelming when you really watched him go. The way he picked up speed and rounded corners, made you hold your breath and gasp with each trick he did. 

When they approach the finish line he had won and the crowd was chanting his name. They both made their way back bickering about who was the best skater, when they were both equally amazing. Crowds joined around them but you just stayed behind still processing everything. It wasn’t a bad thing, but you were just wondering so many thing. Cherry pushes his way through the crowd and to your side lifting your head without warning captures your lips in a kiss. 

This was the most intimate you had been with him, and in public! The crowd went quiet and some of the girls there complained or whined about not being in your place. After he pulls away he whispered to you

“Let’s go home...“ and you were on your way back to the comfort of your home. That night he had made love to you for the first time ever. It was passionate, and steamy, and full of love. He was your first ever so he made sure to go slow for you. Everything about it just felt so good, the way he held and kissed you. He handled you like glass but did not fail to meet your pleasure.

That night was when you opened up about your fears of being his wife

“..and seeing how amazing you were tonight only made me more aware of who you were. I just...hope I can live up to your standards as a wife, and don’t get me started on children. Imagine having a plain mother“ you vented to him as he held you close 

“Don’t say that,“ he snapped back “You’re an incredible wife and you’d be an even better mother one day. When I heard about the arrangement I was honestly nervous. And the day I saw you only raised my anxiety, I thought you were stunning, and your shyness only made you cuter“ he admits with a chuckle 

“I guess....we’re both nervous wrecks who married each other then?“ you giggle looking up at him as your head lays on his chest 

“You’re my nervous wreck“ he said poking your nose with his finger “...I have something else to tell you...“

“What’s that?“ you ask. He cranes his head down toward you 

“...I love you“ he whispered as he catches you lips in a kiss

*******************************************************

I hope this was okay!❤️

[ladyeliot]

Fragile [1/3]

Part Two

Based on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: Who would have thought that fate would bring you face to face with your father's killer? 13 years old, an orphan girl who was taken under the protection of the United States, who was educated to serve the nation and who was now assigned by the CIA to guard what was once one of the most dangerous men in the world.

Warnings: Mentions of murder, psychological problems, violence.

Word count: 2463

A/N: Post Endgame. Sorry for my spelling and grammatical mistakes, English is not my native language, I am learning.

You are waiting for a plane, a plane that will take you far away. You know where you want to go, where you need to go, but you really have no idea where that plane will take you. But it doesn't really matter now, nothing matters because you've lost everything, you have nothing left. Whatever fate throws at you you are willing to accept it, after all you leave nothing behind. That's what you told yourself when in 2009, at the age of thirteen, you boarded that plane that took you out of Iran, when your nuclear engineer father was brutally murdered by someone you could never put a name or a face to. It was not until much later that you discovered the truth of that moment that marked your life forever.

Call it fate, call it chance, but that plane paved your future path. Your destination was the United States, specifically the city of Washington. At the age of 13, when you were a minor, you were detained by the government, assigned to a foster family, preparing you for your future, which already seemed to be written. At 18, the CIA had your position waiting for you, you had been educated and trained for the job, you never had a different opportunity in front of you, but you didn't really want it either.

Your first years within the Central Intelligence Agency you had to learn and live with all the events that that group, called the Avengers, dropped on the nation and the whole world. However, you were not a part of it until it was all over, for like the vast majority of humanity your body vanished from the face of the earth and did not return until years later. That's when it all began. When your superior assigned you a case, his case, to be the shadow of James Buchanaham Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier, who was going to rejoin society after being pardoned by the government. You didn't know what that meant, what that entailed.

Your move to New York was sudden, the neighbourhood the man had selected to live in was in Sunset Park, a New York borough of Brooklyn, one of the best known ethnic Chinese enclaves. It was really nice, but the building was far less comfortable than the neighbourhood. When you arrived with barely any hot water, you figured that assuming the building looked like it might collapse at the drop of a hat, the plumbing would be no less so. But at least your CIA team had been able to provide you with comfortable furniture and the necessary equipment to do your job.

You had a plan, the plan, you had been analysing Bucky Barnes, his exits from the building, the places he frequented, which were pretty scarce apart from the therapy sessions and the restaurant across the street, and his social relations, which were even scarcer, however he had forged a small friendship with a neighbour in the same building, Yori Nakajima originally from Japan. You didn't have to work out your first meeting, any self-respecting neighbour would help a newcomer to the building during the move.

A dozen cardboard boxes were scattered around the hall of the building, you looked at them with a thoughtful gesture while biting your nails waiting for your dear neighbour to arrive from the laundry next door. You had kept track of the time, and just as you predicted, he came in through the front door with a basket of clean clothes. You continued to look at the boxes, took a breath and exaggerated your gesture of concern, just as he focused his gaze on you.

"Do you need help?" he asked, putting down the laundry basket and approaching you.

You turned your face, still biting your nails, but pretended to be surprised to find him there.

"Oh, don't worry, I only just realised that this building is so green it barely has a lift," you said with a smile, causing Bucky to grin.

"Yes, we like to do our bit for the environment," he said, putting his hand behind his head and then offering it to you in greeting. "Bucky."

"Susan," you smiled and shook his hand, then returned your gaze to the stacked boxes. Evidently that wasn't your real name, it was the name of the person you had invented yourself.

"Come on, let me help you," abandoning his laundry basket he approached your belongings and with barely a reproach he picked up two stacked boxes.

"Oh, God, don't you think you should...?" you began worriedly as you looked at the weight he had taken into his arms.

"Don't worry," he added. "Do you think you could take my clothes?"

That was how it all began. Maybe it could have started some other way, perhaps a chance encounter at the laundromat next door, or when you came out of your government-assigned therapy, or maybe a night at the Japanese restaurant, but no, it was that way. You had no idea how things were going to develop, you had no idea why you were assigned to the case, you were so innocent that you thought it was because of your positive attitude, your willingness to do something relevant, but there was too much hidden behind it that you had hardly a clue. You and that young man were connected, a blood-soaked red thread linked you, but it wasn't until some time later that you discovered it.

Before you knew it, the boxes had gone from being stacked in the hall of the building to being in your small living room. You barely had to feign the surprise you felt as the young man had climbed all four floors in record time.

"OK, who are you? You don't work for a moving company do you?" you laughed and headed towards the small kitchen that was connected to the living room. "If so leave me your card because you'll be the one I call."

"No, not really," he put his hand behind his neck and looked away, he seemed nervous as you tried to start a conversation with him.

"A beer? It's the least I can do," you said, opening the fridge. "Well, and it's the only thing I have apparently."

"Better another time," he commented looking at the basket of clean clothes you had left in the middle of your living room and approaching it to pick it up.

It was at that moment that you noticed the black leather gloves covering his hands, you guessed the fact, surely they were to cover his left hand which complemented his vibranium arm.

"Oh, of course," you closed the fridge the same way you had opened it and leaned against the kitchen island to watch him in the middle of the room with the laundry basket offering you an awkward smile. "Then it only remains for me to thank you again."

"It's been a pleasure," he said without moving from the spot, which made you bite your lip smiling at his awkwardness. "Uh... welcome."

"Thank you," you added, watching him clumsily walk out the door and close it behind him.

The image of Bucky Barnes you had formed in your mind collapsed as soon as you met him. Everything you had seen, read, heard about the man had nothing to do with what you found that morning. Who was this person and what had he done with the Winter Soldier? As soon as you closed the door you opened the box marked 'FRAGILE' and extracted all the archival material that the CIA had compiled for you, and opening your laptop you began to generate your first report on Bucky Barnes, totally contrary to what you had expected to do.

The following days you took it upon yourself to generate spontaneous encounters in the most common places the two of you might frequent. The laundromat or the supermarket were the best selected, you discovered that his lifestyle could be that of any ordinary New Yorker, there was nothing strange, nothing out of the ordinary. You had explained to him the story you had created for Susan, a young immigrant girl who had been adopted at the age of 5 by an American family and had left her small town in the state of Ohio to come to New York looking to live the New York dream. Bucky didn't really talk much, but he was a really good listener. He tended to be quite expressive with his face and as we met, it wasn't so often that he looked away from you, only when you stared at him, which was quite common as his blue eyes tended to evade you too much.

Two months later you received the desired psychological analysis that the therapist had been working on during her sessions with Bucky. Throughout your years of life you had been trained not to engage in any kind of emotional relationship with the cases you were assigned at the CIA, you didn't realise it at first, but it was too big for you. When you opened the envelope, sat down on the couch and began to read each of the reports you felt it, a slight sigh propitiated what was happening, you had felt compassion for him. But who couldn't feel compassion reading that? Session after session, talking about the numerous nightmares that kept him awake, endless lists of his victims he had killed, the tortures HYDRA put him through... it all made your insides churn.

You dropped the papers on the table and thoughtfully paced around the room biting your nails. You had been longing for a case like this for a long time, you had practically begged for it, and now that you were inside it you didn't know if you would be able to face it with a cool head. It was a difficult two weeks, where every conversation with Bucky provoked associations with what you read in the therapist's reports and that made you think too much about what you were doing.

But something happened, one Saturday like any other, your doorbell rang while you were preparing a report to send to your superior, you closed everything running and approached the entrance. As you opened the door the figure of Bucky stood in front of you, while behind him loomed the small body of Yori Nakajima.

"Hey..."

"Come on we don't have all day!" exclaimed Yori tapping Bucky's back with his particular cane.

"I'm coming..." chided Bucky turning his face towards his friend and neighbour.

"Come on!" exclaimed Yori again.

The situation was quite peculiar even for you, who were used to encountering all sorts of situations in your work. Your eyebrows were arched as you leaned against the doorframe waiting for what Bucky was supposed to say. Your two neighbours made a comical but endearing pair. Bucky seemed hesitant to speak, being rather nervous as he fiddled with his gloves, so Yori tapped him again with the cane to push him aside.

"What he wants to tell you is to go on a date with him," Yori said bluntly, to which Bucky exasperatedly sighed and put his hand to his face.

"A date?" you asked arching your eyebrows even more and blinking rapidly.

"Well, it's not exactly that..." began Bucky but again he received another blow from Yori's cane, "Hey! Stop it," he refocused his blue eyes on yours. "I'm sorry..."

"For what, needing help asking me out on a date?" you asked smiling slightly, causing him to do so as well. "Had you come up with any concrete plans or did Yori have to find it for you?"

Your question caused Yori to laugh and leave the place alluding that his work had already been done. You continued to watch Bucky with your arms crossed as you slumped against the door frame. The whole situation was getting too out of hand without you even realising it. You lied to yourself that it could be good for your mission, but none of it was good. At that moment you were just a young girl getting carried away, being asked out on a date by a guy you found really attractive.

"Maybe... tomorrow at eight o'clock? If not..." she asked, putting her hand behind her neck, causing her white t-shirt to ride up and reveal part of her naked lower body.

"Why tomorrow? Why not tonight?" you asked showing complete confidence in your voice.

"Or... sure, tonight," she rectified, nodding.

"All right," you said, smiling, and closed the door, leaving Bucky standing there.

In the back of your mind you were trying to convince yourself that this would be helpful to the investigation, that what the CIA really wanted was for you to maintain contact with him, that he was under your control, that he wouldn't do anything that the government would regret offering a pardon for, and apparently he was. What you didn't know is that it was you who was falling under his control.

Your love life is not what you could call it, you were not someone of long realizations, someone who opened her heart easily, you had never really opened it to anyone, apparently at the age of 13 your heart was broken and of that loving and shy girl there was hardly anything left. Relationships, yes, you had had them, but they were based only on physical contact, no feelings, no emotions, only physical contact. You were stubborn, obstinate and sometimes a little presumptuous, a trump card you played with Bucky, but the innocence was still inside you even if you could hardly notice it.

But believe it or not, those months you were spending in that practically ruined building in the middle of that Brooklyn neighbourhood were changing the course of your destiny, they were connecting you with the loving girl you had once been. Something inside you prevented you from writing reports providing the information the CIA was asking for, it seemed really absurd, but for the last two weeks you had offered details of the conversations you had with Bucky, you were just giving ordinary data, useless to the government, who expected you to relay everything the former Winter Soldier said or did. You would never have thought that anything, or anyone, would have limited your ability to tackle an investigation, but there it was, Bucky had done it in just a few months. You felt so empty, it was easy to connect with someone as empty as you, him.

To be continue...

Taglist Open (DM)

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[dokoni-mo]

Nights Like These || All for One x F!Reader

Summary: You were his favorite.

SFW // not fluff but not angst

Word Count: 2802

WARNINGS: obsessive behavior, toxic behavior/mindsets, manipulation, possessive behavior, all for one is evil as usual, fear tactics, some sensual touching, kisses, mentions of death if you squint, swearing, age gap relationship of you squint, but reader is depicted to be in their late 20s, also the fact I also didn't proofread this one lmao (pls forgive me I was working on this at like 3 am).

A/N: This takes place before AFO became the potato man. This is my take on how he would be like in a "relationship". If you want some PRIME AFO content, however, AND ARE THE AGE OF 18 OR OVER, go check out @nonobadcat 's story A Hypnotic Nightmare. It's one of my favs atm (also, badcat, if you're reading this, i haven't forgotten about the fanart! i've just had a lot on my plate bc of the end of school. im terribly sorry if it seemed like i left you hanging).

~~

You hated armored black vans.

Ever since meeting him you knew exactly what they meant.

They would come to you when you least expected it, and often when you really didn't want them to. You could be anywhere in the world, and one would always find a way to roll up next to you. If you tried to outwalk them, they would just drive faster. If you pretended to ignore them, they would cut you off in your tracks.

Persistent little shits.

Just like him.

This time, it was late into the night when one rolled up next to you. You hadn't seen one in some days beforehand, and was relishing in that fact when the dread-vehicle rumbled up next to you. You had just gotten done doing some late-night grocery shopping for yourself, looking decent but in no way perfect. Sighing through your nose, you gave the tinted windows of the van the glare of your life, trying in vain attempt to get it to just piss off.

Even though that tactic never worked before, it would never stop you from trying.

The van pulled up to the curb next to you and slowed to a stop. Seeing as there was no way you could run or try to ignore it now, you stopped in your tracks, clenching your plastic grocery bags tighter. A moment later, the van rolled it's driver's side window down, revealing the driver to you. You didn't recognize this one; it wasn't one in his normal rotation.

You wondered if he killed one of the other ones, and this one was the replacement.

Looking into the eyes of the driver, you shot him another glare, your face morphing into a frown. This didn't seem to phase the man, however, since he just stared back at you with a blank expression.

You knew you weren't that threatening, but, come on. At least show something.

"What is it?" you questioned the man, your voice firm and serious. Although you already knew the answer to that, you prayed to whoever was listening that it would be a different answer this time.

"He wants to see you."

No dice.

You let out another sigh through your nose, this time more frustrated and annoyed than the last one.

"I just saw him the other day," you tried to bargain, "and I have ice cream in here. Can it wait until tomorrow?"

The driver shook his head, "Sorry, miss. He wants you now."

Your face assumed a deeper frown. It wasn't often that these drivers made it known to you how persistent he was being in seeing you. This made a lump form in the bottom of your stomach. What did he want this time? Another date? Quality time? Or just to remind you of who you belonged to?

You hoped it was one of the former two.

Looking from side to side nervously, you swallowed the lump in your throat before speaking again, "Can I at least put my groceries in my apartment first?"

The driver shook his head, "We can get someone to do it for you, miss. But we need to leave. Now."

Damn, this driver really meant business.

Finally admitting defeat, you slowly took a few steps towards the van, watching as the large, jet-black doors rolled itself open for you. Leaning down, you set your bags on the clean, vacuumed floor of the van, ducking down and pushing yourself inside next. The driver watched you in the rear-view mirror, making sure that you sat down and buckled your seatbelt. Once you were safe in the backseat, he shut the door to the van and pulled out into the street again, driving noticeably careful.

A soft sense of dread washing over you, you leaned up against the van door and planted your elbow on the armrest, resting your chin in your palm. Not feeling up for friendly chat with the man driving you, you fixated your gaze out the window, watching as the neon lights of Japan rushed by you.

You wondered which location you would be at today.

He seemed to have spots everywhere across the world.

You hoped it was the Tokyo one. That one had your favorite food and view.

Hugging yourself closer to the door, you tried to ignore the dread winding up in your stomach. You tried your best to just focus on how pretty the lights looked at night, but couldn't help but have your mind linger back to the racing thoughts that plagued your head.

You wished your friend had never introduced you to his stupid fucking cult. He would deny over and over that it was a cult, but it was a cult. You had been quirkless for so long, and content being so all your life. But, when your friend told you about the man she met that could give you your very own quirk, you would be lying if you said you weren't intrigued.

Biggest mistake of your entire fucking life.

~~

Alas to you, the driver didn't take you to the Tokyo location. It ended up being the Osaka location. You felt rather disappointed by this.

The driver was at least nice enough to help you out of the car and escort you into the hands of your body guards for the night. The guards quickly surrounded you, almost suffocating you by how close they were. After relaying the message that you had arrived, the guards practically drug you into the tall, looming building.

You wondered when the next time you could go outside would be.

Going through the doors, you were greeted with the familiar sight of clean, shiny marble floors, your feet clacking against them as they always did. Everything about the building was ornate but simple, reminding you of some fancy hotel.

It was so fucking obnoxious.

Only one dude and occasionally yourself lived here. And not even full time.

It make you frown.

Eventually, the guards and yourself made your way to the elevators. When one eventually came down (it didn't take long because you were most likely some of the only people in the building), all of you packed in the elevator like a fucking clown car. You were shoulder-to-shoulder with the much taller guards, suffocating on their cologne.

The dead silence in the elevator made you wanna puke.

~~

The guards left you once you were at the door.

You were now all alone in the hallway, the tall, dark, looming door before you. Your fingertips were trembling, yet you didn't know if it was out of fear or anticipation.

He probably already knew you were here. Why did you even have to go through this step? Just for his sick kicks?

Most likely.

You didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

You swallowed and closed your eyes, taking a few deep breaths in and out of your nose. You had to give yourself a pep talk before you could lift up your hand, curling your knuckles to knock on the door.

You stopped before you could knock even once. If there was any time to run, this is it. If you could just-

No. It's impossible.

God how you knew it was impossible.

No matter where you went, no matter what you did, he seemed to always know.

You've seen him angry before. It ran shivers down your spine and made you contemplate whether or not there was an afterlife or not.

You didn't want to know how he was like when he was pissed off. Especially if it was directed towards you.

And, you knew, trying to get away from him was a sure as fuck way to royally piss him off.

Taking in one last deep breath, you put on your brave face and knocked on the door, feeling your dread become almost overwhelming in your gut.

You wet your lips before you spoke.

"It's me."

...

Silence.

Your head perked up at the nothingness that greeted you back. Was he not here anymore? Did he leave for a different place without telling you?

You opened your mouth to say something again, but quickly shut it again.

Could you... leave? Go home?

This was definitely a first.

As soon as your excitement welled up, however, you were quickly shot down again from the deep voice behind the door.

"Come in."

Fuck.

Squaring your shoulders and putting on your bravest face, you gingerly opened the door and stepped through, leaning your back against the wood as you shut it again.

Why did you do this to yourself? So willingly walk into the lion's den?

It didn't take you long to remember.

Fear.

Looking inside the room, the lighting was moody to say the least. Barely anything was turned on, and it was so deafeningly quiet, sans the sounds of the city below and the hum of the AC.

Scanning the room with your eyes, you felt your stomach do a flip when you landed on the man of the hour.

The man who had taken over your life for the past three years.

Him.

Shigaraki. Or, as he was known by everyone who wasn't you, All for One.

Probably the most feared man in Japan. Hell, the world even.

Christ on a fucking bike.

He was seated on the couch that faced the door, his usual sly smirk on his face. One of his legs was crossed over the other, and he seemed to had shed his black coat long ago. His crimson eyes bore right into the very fiber of your being, right into your very soul. His presence was so fucking overwhelming it made you feel like you couldn't breathe. The amount of power that dripped off that man was uncanny.

It always made you wonder what he wanted with quirkless little you.

Unable to maintain eye contact with him for any longer, you dropped your gaze to the floor, your back still pressed against the door. Even though you couldn't see him anymore, you could feel his eyes on you, raking up and down your body.

You prayed that this night went by quickly.

"You're late, little one." He said to you, making your shoulders tense up.

"I..." you began, your nervousness painfully obvious as you brushed your hair behind your ear, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be."

All for One let out a hum, and you could practically fucking feel his smirk grow bigger from across the room.

You wondered if he knew that you were only half telling the truth, or if he was just that delusional.

After a moment, he spoke again.

"Come into the light, darling. Let me get a good look at you."

Swallowing the lump in your throat, you hesitated for a brief second, your fingertips twitching against the wood of the door. Seeing no possible way out, you decided it was best to just do what he said. Pushing yourself off the door, you took small, timid steps into the light, keeping your gaze down on the floor. Awkwardly trying to figure out what you should do with your hands, you decided on clasping them in front of you, picking at the skin around your nails.

You could really feel his eyes on you now.

He looked you over for what felt like an eternity before he said something else, making your eyes flicker back up to him.

"There's no need to be shy, my dear," he said, sensing how nervous you were, "There's nothing to be concerned about. You know I would never harm you."

You wanted to snort out a laugh, but decided against it. Yes, he had never hurt you before, but you doubted it was out of his realm of capability.

Not knowing what to respond with, you simply just nodded, turning your attention back to your hands.

Shigaraki continued to stare at you for a good long while, his red eyes lingering on your cute face and nervous eyes.

Fucking hell you were just too adorable.

After a good second, All for One lifted up his hand, making you look up at him. He was holding his palm out to you, his usual smirk on his face.

"Come here." He said.

Shit, he was getting serious tonight.

Your cheeks tinting a faint pink, you forced your feet to raise up and make you walk across the room. Once you were close enough, you put your hand into his, watching it as it was nearly swallowed by the sheer size of his palm. Knowing exactly what he wanted, you slipped yourself in between his long, thick legs and sat back into his lap. Your side was nuzzled into the crook of his armpit, his strong arm wrapping itself around your waist to keep you in place. Just like he liked, you rested your head against All for One's shoulder, gently lying your hands across his broad chest. This seemed to please him greatly, since he put his other hand on your lower thigh, gently rubbing circles into the side of your knee with his thumb.

You must really be fucking insane.

Gently, Shigaraki pressed a gentle kiss into your hair, mumbling out a quiet good girl in the process.

You couldn't stop the pink dust from spreading across your cheeks.

"How was your day today, darling?" He asked you, the rumble of his voice in his chest loud in your ears.

You hummed before speaking.

"It was okay..." you said, feeling the hand on your side gently stroking up and down.

"You had a lot to do, didn't you?" He asked, making you glance up at him.

Of course he fucking knew about your goddamned errands and job.

"Yeah..." you said, "I was expecting to go back home and chill the rest of the night, but..."

Shigaraki let out a chuckle at this. You didn't have to finish your thought for him to know what you meant.

"Oh, I'm sorry, little one." He said, pressing another kiss to your temple, "I know you must be tired."

You nodded in response, maybe a bit too eagerly.

"I just couldn't bear another second without you, darling." He continued, tracing circles on your thigh this his pointer and middle finger, "I just had to have my special girl with me tonight."

You shifted your weight in his lap, looking up at him, "Did something happen?"

Shigaraki chuckled at this, reaching up and brushing the hair out of your face, "Let's just say I had some... family issues tonight, my dear."

Family?

Shigaraki had family?

This was definitely a first.

You couldn't help but to be nosy.

"Family?" you asked.

"Oh, nothing for you to be concerned about, my sweet girl." He said, leaning down to press a kiss to your forehead.

"You never told me you had family." You pressed, not wanting to let the subject go.

"You never needed to know, small one. Besides, it would be too dangerous for you to meet them anyhow."

"Dangerous?"

"There's a possibly they would try to take you from me."

"I highly doubt you would let that happen."

He chuckled, "As clever as always, my darling."

"What are their names?"

"Let's move on from his, my love."

"But I-"

"Are you hungry, dear? I can have someone fetch you something."

"Shigaraki, I just-"

"I said no."

A shiver went down your spine and you were quick to shut your mouth. You knew what that tone meant. It meant shut up or you get a punishment.

You always just chose to shut up.

Seemingly pleased at your compliance, Shigaraki assumed his usual smirk again and planted a kiss on your cheek, rubbing more small circles into your side.

"Have I told you how radiant you look tonight, my dear?" He asked you.

Not feeling in the mood to talk anymore, you just shook your head no.

"You always look gorgeous to me, my dear. Every single piece of you."

Pulling you closer to his chest, he lifted up your chin and looked deep into your eyes.

"My special girl. My favorite."

Closing the distance between the two of you, All for One pressed his lips to yours, stealing your breath away. His kisses were always just like him: strong, confident, and dominating.

Kissing Shigaraki always filled you with a whirling of emotions. Perhaps it was because you were tired that night, or perhaps it was because of the air, but you allowed yourself to fully enjoy his kiss. The feeling of his hands on you, the feeling of how small he made you feel, the feeling of his power radiating off his skin...

He always had this affect on you. When you were apart from him, you found it hard to love him.

But, when you were together...

you found it hard to stop.

[hoe-doroki]

Siberia

minors do not interact

warnings: 18+, drunk sex, marking, biting, love scratches, sloooow burn

pairing: Shouto x fem!reader

genre: pining/angst, smut, fluff

wc: 13.8k

summary: On the field, you and Todoroki are rising stars amongst hero pairings. Off the field…you’re kind of in love with him. After a successful capture, you’re boss brings you in to let you know you’re being sent on assignment in foreign country…alone. Before you leave, you have to act. You’re not partners anymore, after all. And with a little liquid courage you do. Then, the next morning, you still have to leave.

a/n: Thanks so much to @some-kindofgnome​, @mindninjax​, and @linestrider​ for helping me out with this beast! Ya’ll are such dears, hyping me up when I was feeling really uncertain about this story. FYI, this story is kind of the prequel to a short fluff fic that will be posted (for bnhabookclub’s secret santa) on Christmas, so stay tuned for that!

edit: I no longer write x reader but here’s my old masterlist - mobile | desktop

September

Shards of ice and concrete flew. Ears ringing, you faced away, keeping your uncovered cheeks and hands from the debris. You’d have to turn back into it soon to keep an eye on the villain soon, though. He wasn’t exactly subtle, firing off explosions every few minutes, but he did have plumes of smoke and heaps of destruction on the city street to hide behind. Todoroki had been shooting walls of ice up to protect the buildings, but the road was shredded.

“You okay?” Todoroki shouted, also facing away from the blast.

“Yeah, you?”

“Yeah.”

You turned back with a dry, scratched hand in front of your eyes as you squinted into the wind, streaks of both freezing and hot air blowing past you. You had to consciously keep from grinding your teeth in frustration as the villain cackled at you.

Todoroki and you had a near-perfect capture rate. Usually, the two of you could manipulate his ice to capture any villain, but ice didn’t work so well against a villain with exploding spines on his back. Each attempt to restrain him ended with ice shattering, blown away from the villain’s body in one go. There wasn’t much that Todoroki’s fire could do against a guy like that either.

“Shouto,” you shouted, making your way closer to him. “Make me a big block of ice and then distract him. Be ready to run back and use your fire.”

You saw the question in his eyes for a split second, but he’d stopped asking questions of you early on in your three-year partnership. Questions and explanation took time that couldn’t be spared in battles against villains, so you just had to trust each other.

You hadn’t failed yet.

With a sweep of his arm, you had an iceberg the size of a school bus at your disposal. Todoroki ran at the guy, fire in his hand in order to distract with some close combat—neither of your specialty.

You worked quickly to manipulate the ice into four walls. They didn’t have to be straight or pretty, just sound and close enough in size to line up. Luckily, Todoroki’s ice was the easiest thing you’d ever worked with; it was free of impurities and even in temperature. From there, you could mold it however you wanted.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw another one of the spikes on the man’s back explode. Todoroki was able to counter the blast with a wash of fire, but it still knocked him back and set your heart pounding. You needed to end this before either of you ended up hurt with more than the light burns and scrapes you were sporting now.

You took the last bit of ice and lifted it overhead, letting it expand into something soft and irregular—nothing more than densely packed snow. Then, another shout of Todoroki’s hero name had him running back, and you used all your focus to shove the four ice blocks around the villain and fuse them at the corners, sealing them to the irregular ruble on the street.

“Haven’t you learned that ice can’t keep me down?” the villain shouted over your frozen terrarium.

You had learned that, but you’d also learned that he was slowing. He only had a few spires on his back—less than ten—and each one he used had to be regrown. He was regenerating them much quicker than you might have hoped, but it wasn’t as fast as at the beginning of the battle. However the explosions worked, whatever they did to his body, they must have been taking a toll. That gave you a window. A small one, but hopefully enough.

“Fire!” you shouted at Todoroki, pointing to the tall pile of snow you were controlling, moving to just above the ice box.

Todoroki loosed a thin tongue of fire, letting it hit the snow but dissipate before it turned the solid straight to a gas. He knew that what you needed now. The only thing that would bring you both victory, was liquid.

A shelf of water dumped into the room of ice you’d contained the villain in and you returned your focus back to its makeup. You held the ice strong, not letting the new water—warm in places, still nearly frozen in others—melt the walls. Then you shifted some of it to create a roof, leaving only enough room for the man to be able to poke his head out, and some air holes to allow in oxygen. You didn’t need him poking his back out of the water and creating another explosion.

You used your finest degree of control, your tightest concentration to clarify some of the ice, providing a window into your new aquarium. The villain was holding his arms, obviously cold, but he wasn’t using his quirk. Seemed that his explosions didn’t work underwater.

“God,” you said, letting out a relieved sigh as your shoulders slumped, though you didn’t relax your hold on the walls. They wanted to melt against the heated concrete, but you didn’t let them.

Todoroki came over to you, breathing heavily himself. “He won’t be able to stay in there long.”

“I know,” you said, watching the man’s movements closely for signs of hypothermia. You weren’t too worried, since Todoroki could create heat at a moment’s notice, but you still didn’t like this method. It was the best you’d been able to come up with, though.

“Great work, Snow,” he said, a thin smile curving on his lips.

The thing about Todoroki’s smiles, rare though they were, was that they were contagious. They were always earned, always a surprise, and you couldn’t ever help but return one when it was given to you. So, you smiled back, heat blossoming in your chest as your gazes lingered, panting in matching breaths.

It was easy to restrain yourself during battle. In combat, you and Todoroki were partners whose quirks worked well together, whose minds and styles had grown to be one with each other. But as soon as the battle was over and your breath was allowed to slow, the adrenaline able to recede, things felt different. You wanted to take his cheek in your hand and wipe the ash off his face. You wanted to take a washcloth and clean the blood away. You wanted to hold him in your arms and whisper that he was whole and okay and you’d both done your job well.

But all that you could offer was a hand raised in partnership. He took it and you touched from fingertip to elbow. Your tight grip on his equally cold hand held for just a moment, just one squeeze. And then you parted.

“Excellent work today, Snow.”

You were standing in front of your boss, freshly showered and out of your thermal costume, back in clothing that was a little more appropriate for a temperate fall in Japan. Nevertheless, the office felt warm, kept that way to make your manager’s day of sitting in pencil skirts at her oak desk comfortable.

“Thank you, ma’am,” you said, bowing and doing your best to read her face. “It was a team effort.”

It was unusual that someone was called to the boss’ office for good news, but, at the same time, you couldn’t read any dissatisfaction on your boss’ face. Your capture today had gone well. Yeah, there had been damage to the street, but very little to the buildings—save for the guy’s hideout, which had been ruined—and the police apprehended the man before he’d gotten frostbite. All in all, a neat wrap-up to a villain you and Todoroki had been chasing for weeks.

“Yes, it was. You and Todoroki are one of the star partnerships on the field nowadays,” she said, her gaze breaking down to some paperwork on the table.

You narrowed your eyes, able to hear the but that was coming.

“We’ve seen a lot of growth in your quirk. You used it really fantastically today when you were in a tight spot, and we’d like to send you on a covert operation.”

You cocked your head, feeling a disconnect between the different statements she was making. “…With Todoroki?”

She shook her head, looking grim. “Only one was requested for this mission, and you’re the one best suited to the job. Your ability to freeze and manipulate ice at will is really unique. If all goes well, it won’t be for long.”

“How long?”

She shrugged and your heart dropped. “Maybe a few weeks? It depends on how it goes. I’m emailing you the briefing now.”

A shrug and a maybe. She obviously had no idea.

“Okay, well, where is it?”

She looked up at you, a slight cringe wrinkling her brow and the bridge of her nose. This, she did have the answer to.

And she knew you wouldn’t want to hear it.

You’d somehow managed to drag Todoroki to a bar, you hadn’t been choosy about which. The light was dim, the décor mostly dark wood with black accents, and the atmosphere nearly morose with the lack of patrons. It matched your mood. He was nursing a gin martini and you a vodka to give yourself an ironic little laugh. Or maybe it was preparation. Either way, it was helping to steel your nerves.

“You seem upset,” Todoroki said before you were halfway through the drink. You’d been through congratulations on the day’s capture, but it had been hard to keep up the merriment. You weren’t entirely shocked that he’d picked up on it so quickly, though. The two of you were only kept alive by how attuned you were to each other, after all.

“It’s annoying that your job is being perceptive,” you said, knocking back a bit more of the drink.

“It’s yours too,” he said plainly. “What’s on your mind?”

You sighed, plucking the olive out of your drink to chew on it. Your mouth filled with brine, each taste bud standing on end at the sharp taste of pure salt. You had to take another sip to wash it down. “Boss lady didn’t tell you I’m going on assignment?”

You knew she hadn’t otherwise he would have asked you immediately. Todoroki wasn’t the kind to beat around the bush.

“Oh?” Todoroki asked, sipping more of his own drink. “By yourself? For how long?”

You ran your finger over the condensation on your glass. It was cold, though not as cold as you were used to. You liked your drinks frosty so you froze the condensation and gave the glass a swirl. “I don’t know. A month?”

You’d saddled Todoroki with the day’s villain paperwork while you’d read over the mission’s briefing. It had been short, which was your first hint that the team didn’t have as much information as they needed. They were pulling from an outside agency, after all, which always smelled of desperation to you.

“Where are you going?”

You looked down at your vermouth-mixed vodka and said, “Siberia.”

A rare bald reaction showed on Todoroki’s face. His eyes went wide and his chin jutted toward you. “Siberia?”

You held your hand out and pulled at the particles of water in the air, freezing just enough to make a few snowflakes to dance above your hand, drawing Todoroki’s gaze. “Siberia.”

It was your quirk that matched you to this assignment. You would thrive in an environment surrounded by snow. You’d be able to manipulate the whole terrain and freezing would be easy. You’d be at full power.

Todoroki took your ice-filled hand in his warm one and you felt heat flow rapidly into you as he melted the snow to water and then back into vapors barely catching the bar’s yellow light before slipping in and amongst the smell of liquor and hops.

“Wow,” Todoroki said, a word that always sounded stunted through his dull monotone, almost oxymoronic. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” you said, though receiving the compliment felt disingenuous. Being chosen for this was a testament to your strength, but it didn’t feel like an achievement—it felt like a disruption. Months away from the job that you loved and the partner you…

You swigged the rest of the martini and ordered another one. If you were going to have to go to Russia tomorrow, you’d do well to invite a piece of it to you tonight. Microdosing or something.

Todoroki ordered a second, too, as he was nearly to the bottom of his own drink. He stirred the last dribbles of it and said, “Siberia isn’t that far from Japan.”

“Just one time zone behind,” you said. You’d done some googling after memorizing your notes. You weren’t sure how much you’d be moving about the region, but the location you were being sent to tomorrow was set.

The energy between you was stiff. Battling together today had been so easy, the two of you essentially extensions of one another. Todoroki created ice that you could manipulate as though it had come from your own body. Sure, you could create ice out of the water that was around, but Todoroki could so easily give you exactly what you needed. And then his fire could clean it all away. It was a perfect pairing.

Usually that chemistry followed you off the battlefield, but now you were trapped in small talk. Stuck with you apparently one foot out the door, unable to face him fully. Your elbows fell to the black marble bar, hands pushed into the roots of your hair. “God, this sucks!”

“They can’t force you to go if you don’t want to.”

He was right, but how would that look? Heroes didn’t turn down cases without good reason; that wasn’t how the job worked. You were expected to take jobs that were difficult, dangerous, and unpleasant—that was simply the field. The only reasons to turn one down were if you felt you couldn’t fulfill it.

“I can’t exactly tell them that I’ll miss my partner too much to go,” you said, eyes flickering towards his for a moment before starting on your second drink. “Then they’ll just think I’m too stupid and they’ll fire me.”

“I’ll miss being your partner too,” Todoroki said.

Your stomach squeezed. This. This was what made it impossible to spend time around Todoroki without getting the wrong idea. He just said things, so simply and genuinely that your mind would always jump to the next thing, when really, he just said what he meant and nothing more. There was no subtext, no matter how you tried to find it. And the search made your heart ache.

“So this isn’t a celebration so much as a farewell,” Todoroki mused, finishing his first drink and joining you on the second.

You were beginning to feel a bit of a buzz. Your emotions were a bit more liquid, sloshing from one state to another with more ease than usual. The sadness was transmuting into longing. The longing transmuting to desire.

“I wish I had known,” Todoroki continued, your eyes slipping back over to him. “I might have ordered something stronger.”

“Hah,” you said, the huff coming out humorless. You might have also, if you didn’t want to avoid being hungover on the plane. “Wanna drown my memory, Todoroki?”

“No.”

He didn’t look like he had more to say. Damn, sometimes you needed just a little more—subtext or actual text—out of him.

But he didn’t give it to you, so you just looked at him. His bangs were covering his eyes from you as he looked down into his drink, but you thought you could see the sadness. His shoulders were hunched, head hanging heavy off his neck. He would miss you. Maybe not as much as you would miss him, and maybe not in the same way, but you knew he valued your partnership. Your friendship. That, at the very least, meant something to him.

Tonight, however, you weren’t thinking about the very least. You didn’t want the lowest common denominator between you—your professional partnership—to be the last image you held of your relationship before heading to one of the most desolate places on Earth.

Besides, as of this afternoon he wasn’t your partner anymore. Not for the moment, at least.

“Shouto?”

Your voice was timid, unfamiliar with using his name in this setting. It was his hero name, but that wasn’t what you were saying here, and you knew it. He knew it too, by the way his eyes jerked up to yours, a question creasing between his eyebrows.

You didn’t answer, though. Maybe he had the right idea, leaving things unsaid.

You put two fingers to his jawline, drawing his face up, lifting his whole posture off the bar with nothing but a gentle touch. His brows furrowed deeper and then they relaxed, his eyes open and at ease.

For a moment, you did nothing more than breathe each other’s air. A moment of hesitation or of resolve, you didn’t know—it didn’t last long enough to figure it out. Then your mouth brushed against his, the bitter taste of alcohol on both your lips.

It wasn’t a good idea. But you’d regret it too much if you didn’t, and you had just enough courage to make it happen. As you twisted more to the side, slanting so you could feel the smoothness of his shaved cheek, you soared. Maybe he’d wanted this too. Maybe even as long as you had, though you’d lost track of exactly what that was.

Then he pulled away. Not for breath, but for distance.

“We can’t,” he said, feeling for his wallet and pulling it out. He placed a few bills on the bar, paying for both your drinks and his. Your heart hadn’t even finished breaking by the time he was taking your hand and dragging you out of there.

He hailed a cab in record time, everything moving just a bit too fast for you to keep up with. He was ushering you into the cab without a word and then you were seated side by side, hands still clasped tight.

“Todoroki, I—”

Todoroki caught your eye and shook his head, and you stopped immediately. Just like in combat, you didn’t ask questions. You did as he said, quiet for the whole car ride to his apartment.

Luckily, it wasn’t far. Half the reason you’d been able to drag him to the bar was its proximity to his apartment. It was fully within walking distance. But it seemed he’d decided he was in a hurry.

Your hands finally split from one another as you exited the cab and you followed him through his building, still quiet. You’d been there before, visited him when he’d been sick or injured, or occasionally to talk shop—though usually that easily dissolved into something more casual with food being ordered, knees touching as you sat crisscrossed around a low table.

The moment you made it through his front door, you automatically toed off your shoes on the tatami mats. Then the light were flicked on and his lips were back on yours, catching you off guard. Hadn’t he just rejected you? Hadn’t he pulled away from you and spoken his dissent?

You fell into the push and pull of his lips against yours, both a little too dry from the constant cold and heat you put them through, but that didn’t matter. You’d dreamt of kissing this man for so long, and here he was. You allowed yourself to revel in it for just a moment more before pulling back, just as he’d done earlier.

“What’s happening?” you asked. “I thought—”

“Not in public,” he said, “That’s not how I want to do this.”

“Oh,” you said, unable to believe you’d disregarded that. Even if the bar you’d been in hadn’t been that populated, that didn’t mean that you were invisible. And, like it or not, you and Todoroki were both public figures, well known for your partnership. The two of you kissing, no matter how innocent, would be news if it went public. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Todoroki said immediately, taking your hand in his warm one. “Don’t be.”

And then he was kissing you again, this one more passionate than either of the last two. The first had been hesitant, feeling each other out, the second quick and needy. This one was full, in no rush while making sweet use of the time you did have. His other hand came up to grip your waist and you moved to grip his shoulder, feeling the swollen muscle beneath his shirt.

You were drawn to his warmth, as you always were, and your body couldn’t help but press against his, thigh to thigh, chest to chest. You’d always tried so hard to keep a professional distance that as soon as the boundary was taken away, you couldn’t seem to get close enough. Making up for lost time, as it were.

Making up for the time that was about to be taken.

You felt yourself being dragged out of the entryway, and you eagerly let it happen. In the past times you’d been to his apartment, you’d never seen his bedroom, but you knew where it was. Todoroki led you there, his lips barely leaving yours for breath, fingertips pressing in wherever they could reach.

The next thing you knew, your knees were hitting the back of a bed and you allowed yourself to be pushed back. You landed on a soft comforter atop a neatly made bed, and were met with Todoroki’s hard body crawling on top of yours. You continued to make out and you thought that if this was how you spent your last night before leaving Japan, you’d be happy. You were already happier than you’d been in ages.

Todoroki was panting when he pulled away from you, kneeling over you so that he looked powerful in a way that you didn’t usually acknowledge. You were intimately aware of Todoroki’s strength, but usually it was matched with yours, used to compliment and support you and vice versa. But now it was ­­­­suspended over you and it sent a thrill through your core. This was a side of him that you’d always wanted to see, always imagined, but never believed would be yours.

“Y/N,” he said, brushing a soft hand down your arm, the light touch making you shiver. “What do you want?”

“What do you want?” you asked, pressing up, entangling your legs.

Now both of his hands were on your arms and you loved the touch, warm on one hand, chilled on the other, but both making you equally heated.

“I want to be with you,” he said, the rare euphemism coming out as assuredly as any blunt word ever had from him. “I want to have you.”

“Me too,” you said, pushing on your knees to catch his lips again.

Then there was no stopping you. Todoroki’s hands moved down to the hem of your sweater—too cold for outside, too hot in the bar, and utterly unneeded here—and ripped it over your head before starting on the buttons of his shirt.

In the meantime, you pressed your way into his lap, riding his thighs a little as you kissed him, making your way down his neck and leaving the softest kisses, reveling in the shiver it sent down his spine as you did.

“Sensitive?” you whispered in his ear.

“Mhmm,” he murmured. Then his own shirt was off, and a quick flick of his fingers behind your back sent your bra following.

Then you were pushed back on the bed, his lips now giving your neck the same treatment. You felt him lingering in one spot halfway between your jaw and your collarbone, his teeth just barely grazing the soft skin. Before you knew what you were asking for, you whispered, “Do it,” and felt his lips latch and give a good suck.

You were going to Siberia. A scarf would never leave your neck. You’d be clothed head to toe every moment you were there, you were sure. He could mark up your whole body and no one would ever know.

What was more—you wanted him to.

You wanted to dress in the morning, clean yourself and see the footprints of his presence on your body. Little reminders that this wasn’t a dream, one of the many fantasies that had eaten at you, feeling good until they left you hollow. This was as real as the familiar smell of his detergent on his navy blue bedding. The poster of All Might you couldn’t really be surprised to see.

A moan escaped your lips as you felt the spot on your neck go hot with his ministrations, and you knew the bruise would linger for days. You grew wet at the thought of it.

“More.”

Obediently, Todoroki trailed down your neck to your chest, taking in the sight of your upper half bare to him. You’d seen him topless before, usually when the two of you exercised together, his body glistening with sweat, rippling as various muscle groups enjoyed his focus. But he’d never seen you. He looked up at you, eyes almost too soft to bear, and said, “You’re beautiful.”

You bit your lip and your head fell against his pillow as his mouth descended onto your breast, not the nipple but just above. He sucked a new spot, this one even more private than the previous. You arched your back into his mouth, wanting him to know how much you wanted it, how much you needed it. He could read you as well as ever, sucking the spot until the pain was sharp, then releasing and laving his tongue over it. Then he sunk his teeth into your nipple.

“Ah,” you gasped, gripping his hair and tugging. That pulled the smallest moan, almost a grunt out of him, and you realized that you needed more. You needed more, fast.

“Shouto,” you breathed, reaching down his waist towards his pants, but arms not quite long enough to make it there. Still, he looked into your eyes and understood, giving a smile that bloomed one of your own and pushed his jeans down, leaving him in nothing but tight boxers.

You could see his bulge straining against the fabric and your heart knocked against your chest. This was your partner, the man who held your life in his hands on the daily and his in yours. The man you sat up with doing paperwork, and who worked missions with you when you were both dead on your feet, starving, and snippy.

How did that add up to where you were now? You didn’t know, but when he unbuttoned your pants and looped his fingers around the hem, you lifted your hips. Your panties when halfway down with them, leaving half your ass against the comforter and the tops of your pubes frizzing out, but what did it matter?

You didn’t wait for Todoroki and pushed your panties the rest of the way down yourself. You immediately felt the slickness at your center begin to dribble down your thighs, sticking them together. Todoroki took the invitation and removed his boxers as well, revealing himself in his full glory to you. He was pale along the shaft and red at the tip—the same colors that you associated with him. You blushed at the thought, unable to miss the subtle dual-tone of his pubic hair, more muted in color than the hair on his head. You’d never be able to look at his split color the same way again.

Your hand was on the back of his neck, bringing him to you before you could overthink things any further. His dick pressed against the crease of your inner thigh as you tasted his tongue, the flavor of the martinis all but gone at this point and replaced with nothing but him and you.

“Y/N,” he managed, his voice coming out rough as he grinded against you, the whole of his length making it from your crosswise crease to your belly button, leaving sticky pre on your stomach. “I feel I should tell you…it’s been a while for me.”

“Me too,” you answered quickly, lifting your hips into his, pulling a groan from him.

When was there time to be meeting people—much less people who weren’t influenced by your being a mid-tier celebrity—when you were a pro hero? Not that there was any point in trying. You’d barely been able to look at other men as you spent your days fighting off a growing crush on your partner.

“I’m just saying,” he said as you went to press your lips against his neck again, “this might be over quickly.”

That affected you, causing you to bite down high on his shoulder, where the tall neck of his hero costume would more than cover.

You didn’t care about how long he would last. The base of his length had moved between your lips and was grinding soundly against your clit, ensuring that your own orgasm wouldn’t be far off either. But while you weren’t particular about how long it lasted you didn’t want it to be over. You wanted to stay in this forever.

“Nothing to prove,” you said, returning to his lips and taking them in yours. “Just need you.”

“Me too,” he said, voice low and throaty. Your heart flipped before you forced yourself not to read into it. There was no subtext. Never any subtext.

He reached away from you, pulling at a drawer next to his bed to pull out a pack of condoms. He picked a square from it and tossed the rest aside before ripping it open. He rolled the rubber down himself and you took in his size again.

It would be a lie to say that you’d never thought about what Shouto was packing before. You’d seen his costume in ribbons after a particularly grueling battle, leaving little to the imagination. You saw the thickness of his thighs, the jut of his hipbones. You’d wondered what else was there.

He didn’t disappoint. The condom left a good inch or two at the base of his cock uncovered, and he wasn’t narrow either. He’d be a stretch, a delicious elongation for you to make room for.

His hand left his dick and went to your center and you spread your legs automatically. He reached with two fingers and spread your wetness up and down your pussy. You groaned at the feeling, arching your hips up to encourage him further. Hesitantly, he began to press one finger into you and then another.

“Damn, you’re tight,” he said. “You weren’t kidding.”

You just squirmed beneath him, all of his movements far too slow to stoke anything but the smoldering coals within you. But you needed Shouto’s fire.

“Sho,” you whined. “Don’t tease.”

“I just don’t want to hurt you,” he said, his voice not carrying an ounce of the smugness that another man’s would.

“You’d never hurt me,” you said, lifting your arms up and encouraging him toward you. He indulged, giving a couple more pumps of his fingers, scissoring them just a couple times and then pulling out. Without hesitation, he slipped them into his mouth and sucked them clean.

Your face went hot. The pure nonchalance of his gesture didn’t even seem to register, as his hand dropped to the bedspread, his lips back down to yours. You tasted the tinny flavor of yourself on his lips and only felt more aroused.

“Ready?” he asked, his voice soft and hot in your ear.

You grinned. “Impatient.”

He chuckled as his knuckles brushed against your thigh, guiding his dick to your core. And then he was pressing in, stretching you wide despite the prep that he’d done. Your body ached, wanting to pull away from the discomfort, but also yearning to feel whole, feel full. But he was filling you up so slowly.

“There you are, princess.”

You felt the head of his cock kiss your cervix, and when you looked down, you saw that he wasn’t even all the way in. A good inch still hung out, keeping his hips from being flush with yours, keeping you from being as close as possible.

But you felt it, that heat that started in your groin and moved up through your stomach and your chest as you squeezed your walls around him, feeling every bit that you could. Sex wasn’t love, you knew that, but then why did having him so close make your heart flutter in a way that it didn’t when he was gone?

“Can I move, sweetheart?”

You were gone. The tone of his voice, the words on his lips made anything possible. You would take whatever he would give you and hold it with both hands.

“Please.”

He started with a gentle rocking, barely leaving you, and you were grateful for that. You were so warm when he was deep inside you, his swollen cock pressing against the nerves of your clit, even from inside. He took one hand and pressed it against the base of your belly and every sensation turned hot, searing. Every drag of his cock was magnified, and you could see the light ripple of your belly every time he plunged into your depths.

You gasped and wrapped your arms around his back, nails finding the skin under his shoulder blades and digging in. “Oh, fuck,” you whined as he upped his pace, sweat making your skin stick to each other.

“What do you need?” he grunted, his words knocking you out of your daze just enough to hone in on his sentiment.

“Fingers,” you breathed.

Todoroki rotated his hand so that the heel of his palm pressed right above your pubic bone, and the tips of his fingers began toying with your clit. After that, it wasn’t long. Your hands clawed at his back, knees rose all on their own and clung to his sides.

“Shouto,” you cried desperately. “Shouto…!”

“I’ve got you, baby, I’ve got you.”

“I—” Your voice broke as the heat spread from your core and your chest to all through your body. Even your extremities, always cold from your quirk, became flush with warmth, your cheeks hot, lashes wet as Todoroki only seemed to move quicker. “I’m—Shouto!”

Your breath left you as your orgasm tore out of you. It seemed that was all Todoroki needed, as he pushed a few more desperate ruts into you, half your name passing his lips before he stuttered to a halt, only managing a few more rough passes of his cock before he collapsed on top of you.

You panted as the heat left your body, save for all the corners at which Todoroki was still pressed against you. Those were hot, hot as any touch from him had ever been. You felt him adjust his hips as he pulled out of you, but you didn’t loosen your hold across his back, not wanting to break apart.

“Y/N,” Shouto said after a minute. “We have to clean up.”

Always so logical. Always so sensible. Your brows furrowed above your closed eyes as you tried to wish it away. You wanted to stay here. As long as you stayed put, it felt like time was paused in this moment for you. That you could live in afterglow forever.

“I know,” you said, but you made no sign to move.

Todoroki seemed to think this was because he was on top of you and rolled to the side, peeling of the condom as he did so.

You shivered immediately, your combined sweat on your chest cooling and leaving your skin tacky and raised with goosebumps.

“C’mon,” Todoroki said, placing a hand over yours. “We’ll take a shower.”

He helped you up, your body heavy, though you didn’t know if it was from pleasure or denial, and led you to the bathroom, flicking on the shower.

Under the hot spray, you leaned into the touches of Todoroki treating your skin with soap, pressing his hand gently between your legs to clean you of evidence of your activities. When he faced away from you, you gasped at the lines of red you’d left down his back, pairs of stripes marking either side of his spine. The spot you’d left on his neck was already purple, as were the two he’d left on you.

“I’m so sorry, Shouto,” you said, rubbing light fingertips over the raised spots.

“I don’t mind,” he said, turning around and taking your hand in his. “Don’t worry.”

He passed his thumb over the bruise on your breast and, despite the warm water, the soft touch had you shivering again. The intimacy was surprising. Weren’t you supposed to rebuild your walls after your time in bed was over? Was this a one night stand?

It had to be. Because you were leaving.

With that thought on your mind, you wrapped your arms around him and hid your face in his shoulder as the water poured over you. You couldn’t face him.

But you surely couldn’t let him go either.

“Stay.”

You felt Todoroki’s chest rumble around your hands, his words carrying into your bones. You weren’t certain whether he was talking about tonight, or asking you not to go to Russia. But, either way, tonight, you could do. It was all you could do.

The vibration of your phone was faint, but pulled you from slumber as the sensation rattled up your arm. Somehow you’d managed to keep your phone clenched in your sleep and you fumbled as quickly as you could in your haze to turn off the alarm. Your motions were imprecise as sleep and the last vestiges of alcohol coated a thin film over your senses.

You blinked at your phone. 4am. It was early, but that didn’t mean you had time to spare. As you tried to peel through the murky layers in your mind, you became aware of the sensation of something thick and warm across your middle.

The next breath you took squeezed your chest, seeming to inflate your heart instead of your lungs, bolstering the dual weight of joy and heartache. Todoroki’s touch was always one that you craved, his left side so warm to your constant chill while his right side never shivered at your own cold touch. You wanted to curl in closer, scoot back to deny the few inches that were separating most of the lines of your bodies.

But you couldn’t. The arm was enough of a problem.

As slowly as you could, you scooted out from under his hold, hoping that the alcohol—or the sex—had rendered Todoroki out cold. This was the first time you’d seen him in repose, so you weren’t sure of your luck. He’d never told you if he was a heavy sleeper or not.

So you could only hope for the best as you slid to the ground, recovering the clothes you hadn’t put back on after your shower and gathered them in your arm. You just had to leave the bedroom without waking him up.

But that didn’t mean you couldn’t look back.

Todoroki’s room was dark, each piece of furniture nothing more but a rectangular shadow in the sparse space. But Todoroki’s hair, pure white on his right side, caught just enough light to draw focus to the bits of him that poked out of his blanket. His cheek pressed against the same pillow you’d used, the second one behind him resting untouched. You let yourself study him, memorize him like this, and then brought a hand to your lips and blew him a kiss, relieved you hadn’t woken him.

You didn’t know what you’d do if you had to say goodbye.

The good thing was that you could feel that you weren’t hungover. You and Todoroki had both gulped big glasses of water before bed and it seemed it had paid off. Of course now you had to pee, but that would just have to wait. You couldn’t risk making the noise.

You called a car to Todoroki’s building. You were all packed back at your place, and then you’d have to dash to the airport to make the flight that had been arranged for you. It seemed this was all happening so quickly to keep you from even being able to consider making a decision. Your next steps were handed to you quicker than you could plan for. Your agreement was expected. Assured.

You shuffled back into your clothes at the front door, not wanting the pull of your sweater against your skin or the zip of your jeans to alert Todoroki to your sudden departure. Then you slipped on your shoes and pushed yourself out the door before your car was even ten minutes away. Once you closed Todoroki’s door, there was no way back in—an automatic lock. No turning back.

As you passed through the bright corridors of the apartment complex and then to the sheet of darkness outdoors, you felt the stillness of the world at 4am. Your sluggishness from both the remaining alcohol in your system and the paltry three or so hours of sleep you’d gotten feeling endemic to the atmosphere. It was a lull, providing you just enough awareness to gently guide you through the motions, but not enough to truly have to think about them.

The cold curled around you as you waited on the car, making you shiver through your sweater despite your high tolerance. You wished that Todoroki was back beside you, making you warm with either his quirk or just his presence. But now, every move you made was taking you one step further from him for who knew how long.

Time crept by before your car finally approached. You sent it in the direction of your own apartment, dark and empty, and told the guy to wait once you got there. You’d be right back down.

And then it was off to the airport to catch a redeye due north.

Shouto felt cold.

Not from his quirk. No, he’d just finished his first solo patrol in months, and there wasn’t a villain to be seen, so he hadn’t had to use either his right side or his left.

Now that he was back at the agency, he felt sluggish. Pulling his boots off, unzipping his uniform was a chore. He placed them on the wooden bench mechanically, wondering if this was what the next month or so would be like since you had left his apartment this morning.

The thought of it was bittersweet. He’d been so happy yesterday, and then had woken up to find nothing but bunched up covers in front of him when he’d woken up. Your smell had barely even lingered, since you’d showered using his soap. He’d been left alone with little more than the memory that you’d been there at all, the whole thing barely feeling real at that point.

He’d been cold ever since.

It took Shouto only five minutes to fill out his no-incident log, and then there was nothing to do but go home. But the last time he’d gone home had been with you by his side, the promise of kisses in the air between you. He was loath to replace that memory by schlepping home with loneliness as his new partner.

He closed his locker door with a slam, frustration feeding his emotions. He needed to snap out of it. You were his partner, dammit, and you were away on hero work. That shouldn’t have left him feeling so empty.

Worse, he didn’t know what to make of last night. You both had been tipsy, but not drunk—he was sure of that. You’d been to enough company holiday parties, galas, and celebrations to know each other’s spectrums of drunkenness pretty well. So that meant there should be no regret, right? He didn’t regret it.

But you’d left without saying goodbye. Had you just been upset about having to leave and had got caught up in the moment? Had you been trying to communicate something he wasn’t getting?

Shouto ran an irritated hand through his hair and left the locker room, marching for the elevator. When he made it to the boss’s door, he gave three good raps of his knuckles and waited, his nerves more on edge than they’d been for his entire shift. He touched the bruise at the base of his neck through the turtleneck he had on now. It was probably good he’d been in the locker room alone. This morning, he’d gotten a good look at the scratches you’d put on his back, flashing immediately back to the moments before your orgasm when you’d clung to him so tightly, seeming to need him more than you ever had in combat.

“Come in.” Shouto walked in to see the agency’s manager smiling up at him as she lowered her laptop screen. “Oh good, I was hoping to speak to you, “Shouto.”

She gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk, plush green ones with rounded upholstered backs. Shouto sat down and eyed her wordlessly.

“We haven’t worked out the details completely, so that’s why I hadn’t called you in yet, but it’s just as well that you’re here,” she began, intertwining her fingers and resting her chin on them. She was casual in a way that Shouto didn’t quite think was professional, but that you always said you appreciated. “We’ve been speaking with Deku’s manager and think that it’s a great opportunity while Snow is gone for a little PR between the two of you. It’ll look good, the two of you, high school friends, crossing agencies to do a little partner work to make up for the fact that Snow isn’t here.”

“That sounds fine.”

He wouldn’t mind working with Deku—they didn’t get to see each other often enough as it was now that they were both pros. Their quirks didn’t work as well together as yours and his did, but he did know Deku’s style well enough to be able to work seamlessly. It would do in the interim.

“Of course, it’s too bad to lose her while you two are going up in the rankings, but we’ll just have to make the best of it.”

“Right,” Shouto said, his hands going clammy. “Have you heard from her? Do you know if she’s landed?”

“The flight has landed,” she said. “But I have not heard from Snow. There won’t be any internet or cell service there.”

Shouto’s eyes widened, posture falling forward. “What?”

“That’s right,” she said, looking only the slightest bit apologetic. Not nearly enough. “I’ll probably get occasional updates about the course of the operation, but we can’t expect anything more than that.”

“So we just won’t hear from her for a month,” he stated, voice tumbling out quick with disbelief.

“Maybe less, maybe more.”

Shouto stared, able to see his reflection in his boss’s perfectly polished glasses. His jaw worked as he finally looked down, hands pushing against the seat of his chair, ready to push up and out of there. “Are we finished?”

“You’re dismissed.”

Shouto swept out of there, feeling the tension of a slowly ticking clock following him.

November

“Three, two, one.”

The man beside you put his hands on the wall and you felt the telltale vibration that the snow around your feet never seemed to dampen. A round hole dug through the thick concrete wall of the building you were back against as you held a pile of snow taken from the ground aloft, ready to turn it into spikes or a dense shield or sword at a moment’s notice.

As soon as the wall was dug through, you charged in first, masses of snow floating on either side of you. You ran fast, perhaps a bit quicker than was strategic. The nondescript hallways of the concrete building blurred past you, mixing in a blur of beige as you kept your senses alert. All you could pick up on, though, were your own echoing footsteps and those of the team behind you.

When the path split, so did your group, different people going down different hallways as you continued straight, barreling forward. There had to be something this time. Some clue, some person. Or, gods willing, maybe the whole operation would fall into your lap. Rarely did you hope for battle when on patrol, but you were. Eight weeks and yet to actually interact with any of the big bads you’d read about had you itching for a fight. Hungry for it.

Anything to get this over with.

But you already knew there was nothing. Nothing more than the dank smell of mold from melted snow traveling from the grimy corners of rooms and hallways into the air. The wireless communicator in your ear was silent and you didn’t see anything to hint at any signs of human life. No footprints—nothing.

You let go of some of the snow you were holding, turning it to ice slabs and sticking it to the rough texture of the cement walls. You weren’t going to waste your energy on villains who weren’t here.

You barely felt yourself slowing to a stop, nearly causing the person behind you to smack into you. “Sorry,” you said, before gathering the strength to at least keep walking.

A clean sweep would have to be done before this building was rendered a lost cause like all the rest. And then you’d go back home.

Well, not home. Not even close.

“Why don’t you go outside?”

The Mole’s eyes were on your leg, which was bouncing up and down as you sat in a rocking chair, trying and failing to read. You turned to him, eyes cold. He had the strange snout of a star-nosed mole, though it had nothing to do with his quirk. Neither did his name, which you always thought made it sound like he was some sort of spy. No, his quirk was tunneling, which was handy for powering through old cement prisons, seeing if they had hidden basements but made for quite the nightmare from a hero branding standpoint. You’d gone simple. Ice quirk. Snow.

“Fine,” you said, standing up, feeling the heat you’d created in your leg from the anxious bouncing.

It took five minutes to bundle up. Thick socks over your thermal leggings and snow pants over those. Gloves then jacket, scarf then coat. Hat and waterproof boots. All that and when you stepped outside, you still felt the cold biting into you. Still, outside might have been cold, but inside was stifling. After two months you had cabin fever bad.

It turned out that Siberia had its own League of Villains much like the one Todoroki had interacted so much with during his high school days. Siberia housed a lot of prisons that had been dealing with high profile escapes for months. Then people with matching quirks descriptions were showing up in groups, wreaking havoc only to recruit more members.

But they were slick. Siberia was so vast that so long as the villains made it in and out quickly, hunting them down was a wild goose chase. By now, you were afraid that they had one or more teleportation quirks in their ranks, able to send them hither and yon without so much as a scent to follow.

Thinking about it too hard grated on your nerves, though, so you walked over to the garden. This was the real reason why you’d been sent to Siberia alone, without room for even just one other person to join you. Your group of heroes was off the grid with as little contact with the outside as possible. That meant growing your own food.

In the arctic.

You approached a woman who simply went by Dell—you didn’t know if it was her real name or a hero title—who had bare fingers to the soil, coaxing life out of a potato sprout. You crouched behind her, back naturally curling to match her premature hunch, making her look older than she was—and she did look old. There’d been no snowfall today, so the only snow that had to be cleared was that that had been blown by the wind. Light stuff, easy to move as breath itself—easier, actually. In this cold, every breath felt like it tore at your nostrils, then your lungs. You’d thought you were used to the cold, but it turned out you didn’t truly know it.

You easily moved the snow that had strayed into the garden, compacting it into a snowball and dropping it in your hand to toss it off into the pine trees. That brought you a smile, at least. Then you began the harder work of picking the frost out of the soil. You’d grown spoiled, manipulating little ice other than Todoroki’s for three years now. What he created was perfectly pure, exactly what your quirk liked best. This stuff was tiny, stuck in dirt and warped with atoms besides hydrogen and oxygen. It was good practice, but it made you miss the ease with which you interacted with Todoroki’s quirk. Like it was an extension of your own.

Dell’s eyes were closed, and if you didn’t know better, you’d think that she was totally unaware of your presence, her focus solely on the plants. They were growing, just barely perceptively—almost a trick of the eyes. If you stared long enough, though, you could see a leaf’s edge move past one wrinkle on her knuckle to another, a mark of the growth.

Her quirk allowed for her to steer nutrients from the earth into plants. So long as they had sunlight and water, they could grow more rapidly. She could protect them somewhat from the cold as well, but your quirk was also intended to help with that. While you couldn’t heat the soil, you could keep the frost off of it, keep the leaves bare and pointing up to the sun.

“Bad nerves?”

You looked at Dell, her eyes still closed. You couldn’t even say what color they were, you’d so rarely seen them open. When they were, she was walking from one plot to the next, eyes cast down. Humans got her ears and her mouth, plants got her eyes and her touch. As for smell—it was hard to smell anything in this cold, much less through the scarves everyone had bundled up to their eyes.

“No,” you said, perhaps a bit petulantly. One didn’t get to be a hero with bad nerves. You had to be cool and calm under pressure. Steady.

“They sent you out again.”

It had become a habit of the group, the dozen or so members who had access to this remote cabin. A location only to be found with coordinates of latitude and longitude, as there were no other landmarks for miles. Just snow, trees, and Dell’s small garden. When the few weeks your boss had promised you turned to the month you’d promised Todoroki, then turned to five weeks and even six, you’d become more and more ornery. At least you always had Dell to talk to when you were kicked out, the comfort of the snow around you feeling both familiar and allowing you to feel powerful.

No one had mentioned that you’d have no internet access. No cell phone. No courier service. The detectives in the group had some internet access, but it was strictly for professional use. Not a single private email was to be sent.

“Not a lot of patience for fidgeters,” you mumbled. “Gotta do something to stay warm.”

“The fireplace makes me sweat,” Dell commented, shifting to the next plant over.

It did for you too—you’d just been making an excuse. It was so hard to get a neutral temperature in this place. This was the land of extremes. Blizzard or drought, heat or frostbite. Yet people continued to survive and have the propensity to commit crimes.

“Something is on your mind.”

Todoroki.

On your flight north, you’d let the warm feelings of your night together linger over you, kindling into hope. He hadn’t said anything, but Todoroki wasn’t foolish enough to jeopardize a years’ old partnership for the sake of carnal passion. No, if he was going to sleep with you, it was going to be for a reason. Just like you.

Since then, you’d been in two months’ worth of circles.

“I didn’t tell anyone goodbye,” you said, just one of the many things that had been on your mind. “I didn’t get to tell anyone.”

You’d put every effort into not waking him. You hadn’t left a note. You hadn’t stolen one last kiss or even a touch of his hand. You’d thought you’d be able to talk again. Soon.

What was the point of being one time zone away if you couldn’t make contact?

“You’re missing someone,” Dell surmised, pulling a potato the size of her fist from the ground you’d just cleared of frost. Without you, it would have taken a shovel to do that. The frozen ground here was as hard as asphalt.

“Yeah,” you said. It wasn’t that you didn’t miss everyone else, but at least you knew what you’d be coming back to with anyone else in your life. You relationships were stable. But Todoroki…

“You’re in love.”

You’d been staring at the dirt, your eyes practically frozen over. You blinked up to find Dell’s eyes staring at you. They were a murky brown—or maybe a murky blue. They were right in that land of in between.

“Can you really be in love if you’re not in a relationship?” you asked. “If you’re not in it with someone else, really testing out what your compatibility is like? Isn’t it just a crush otherwise?”

You didn’t know why you were asking her. You were the only person you ever saw speaking with Dell—the others seemed to think that her plants were enough for her, that she had all the conversation that she needed with them. Maybe that was true. You had no idea what she knew of love.

“Is dating the only way to know those things?” she asked. “Is dating the only relationship of meaning?”

“Of course not,” you answered. It sounded stupid the way she said it. You and Todoroki were partners—had been. You had no idea if you’d been replaced. Certainly temporarily, if not permanently. But you knew how the two of you worked. Perfectly in tandem. As each other’s other half.

The wry laugh that followed didn’t come out as anything more than a breath, muffled in our scarf.

“So you love them,” she said, a smile quirking her lips as she pulled another potato. “But they don’t know.”

“I thought he might,” you said, the cold from both the air and your quirk leeching out any heat that that cabin had brought you.

“But now?”

You had no clue.

December

As The Mole tunneled into this building, you could tell it was different right away. Rather, you could hear it.

Human noises. Voices. Multiple of them. You ran in first, taking your place as the muscle of the group as you carried as much snow and ice in with you as you could without inhibiting your peers’ vision. You stuck patches of it to the wall, where it wouldn’t be in the way, but would be available for you to call on. Then you readied a staff of ice, compact with no air pockets so that they wouldn’t snap as soon as a fist or weapon came at them.

You began knocking people down indiscriminately, thwacking them with your staff and then sending slicks of ice to their feet, sending people sprawling. You created handcuffs and restraints watching to see who had a quirk that would let them crack out of them, only for you to trap them in something bigger.

Three months. Three months of isolation with no one but a handful of colleagues to keep you company, nothing but the case and the garden to give you purpose. Now, all of that impatience, all that frustration came walloping out on these villains, descriptions matching the text that had burned into the back of your eyes.

A screech came through the hallway, making your fingers go numb almost too quickly to counter for. But these villains didn’t know who they were dealing with.

You formed hunks of ice in your ears, freezing one of the only parts of your body that still felt the warm pulse of your blood, but silencing out some of the noise. You clenched your staff, ignoring the tingles of the villain attack and headed back into battle, deafened, looking for a mouth to fill with ice.

It was easy to spot the one making the soundwaves. It was a quirk similar to Present Mic’s, except the pitch was always high and, rather than just being painfully loud, it was at such a frequency that it messed with the nervous system. You jabbed some snow into his mouth, feeling it form around the nooks and crannies of his teeth, pressing it up against his soft palate, and turned it from compact snow to hard ice, hoping he got brain freeze.

You weren’t usually so coldhearted. But you’d been in Siberia for three months. You wouldn’t allow anyone to get frostbite. You’d cuddle any villain you gave hypothermia to if you had to. But your nerves were raw as your throat was with every frozen breath you took. It had taken three days through the tundra to reach this place.

Your patience was at its end. You’d been brought on to be the brute force.

So you were brutal.

You continued plowing through the crew in the windowless hallway, catching more of the quirks you’d read about in the mission’s write ups. Fortunately, most people could be stopped by ice—it just depended how much ice would be needed. The next thing you knew, a hole was burst through in the ceiling. You raised a shield of ice over your head, saving you from the dust and plaster that rained down on you, though it did little to help your vision.

You were unsure if the move had been done by your side or theirs, an accident or not. But it was to the villains’ detriment, as you were now able to reach your pull out of the building and drag in heaps of snow through the new hole. Now you could cage people completely if you needed to; you could freeze the whole room.

Although, suddenly, it became much harder to do that. Your ice wanted to melt. You had to focus on all that you’d already molded, keeping it solid and strong as you felt the temperature in the room steadily rising. You were sweating, both from the exertion of the fight and then the heat you first felt on the exposed skin of your face and then at your extremities, tingling from the temperature change now that the previous numbness had dissipated. Something was coming. Something hot.

Then you saw it, a bright orange flecked with streaks of yellow and red, fluid and coming at you. Reflexively, you brought your ice up to shield you. It held long enough to turn the incandescent source from orange to black in an instant. Then what was once liquid was suddenly solid, sending it crashing through your ice and to your skull.

You didn’t even remember falling.

You woke up to a pounding headache, exacerbated by the constant rumbling underneath you. You opened your eyes and found yourself already sitting up, strapped in the backseat of a car.

Panic shot through your veins immediately. You’d been caught. The villains were taking you somewhere. The feeling only lasted a second, though, as your wits returned. You were bound by nothing more than a seatbelt, limbs loose and free to unbuckle at an instant.

“What’s happening?” you asked, your voice dry.

The teammate beside you handed you a water bottle as The Mole began to speak from the driver’s seat. “Mission’s over, kid,” he said, “I tunneled the lava quirk into the ground and when he used his quirk to ride back up, we were able to capture him.”

“But what about all the other villains?” you asked

You had no idea how many had been there. Your shots had been fired indiscriminately at anyone who wasn’t one of the few people you’d spent the last three months holed up with. Everyone else had gotten your ice—until that lava villain had melted it.

“Your ice held even when you were unconscious,” he said, glittering eyes catching yours in the rearview mirror. “You’ve got a strong grip, kid.”

You furrowed your brow, drawing your attention back to the throbbing at the side of your head. You were definitely concussed, but that was nothing you couldn’t push through.

What The Mole was describing shouldn’t have been possible. Certainly, the ice couldn’t have been that strong to have withheld the heat that villain brought into the room. Unless you were holding it in place. Which you always had to put thought into. Thought that wasn’t possible when you were knocked out.

You froze a bit of the water in the bottle that was in your hand, playing with the ice as you shifted the fractals from snow to ice, changing the shapes like you were twisting the base of a monochrome kaleidoscope.

Your quirk had gotten stronger here. All the snow you’d worked with—the vast amounts, the uncontrollable impurities, not to mention your hours of detail work in the garden—it had refined your craft. Outside of the minimal hero work you’d been able to pull off—until the hurrah at the end, of course—the last three months had been an intensive in using your quirk. In living up to your hero name as you were thrust into the stuff it was made of. Without Todoroki to rely on.

“Are we going home?” you asked suddenly. The Mole had said that the mission was over, but…

“Yeah, we’re all going home,” he said, and you could hear the grin on his face.

Home, you thought in relief, your head falling gently to the headrest. Then you froze.

Home.

Shouto.

“Shouto?”

Midoriya was right in front of Shouto, eyebrows raised in concern. Shouto leaned back reflexively—he hadn’t even noticed Midoriya approaching him on the sidewalk. His training shouldn’t have allowed for that to happen, but he’d been distracted.

“Something on your phone?”

Shouto was suddenly aware that he’d been staring at his phone entirely too long. He’d barely noticed the snow landing and melting on the screen. He wiped it against his pants.

In the three months that he and Midoriya had been partnering—offset with many solo shifts and shifts with their various sidekicks—Shouto had been pushing himself. He’d been overcompensating because you’d become inextricable from his battling style over the years. And now that you were gone, he had to be on top of his game.

But, aside from that—he wasn’t mad about having to further hone his skills, after all—he and Midoriya had needed to be on their best behavior. There’d been more citizens and fans to interact with, more autographs to sign, more selfies to pose for. Midoriya had taken on your usual role of speaking with charm to the crowd, and Shouto was thankful. Thanks to him, PR had been right; Shouto’s public perception had gone up.

However, staring enraptured by his cell phone while on the job didn’t look good.

“She’s coming back,” Shouto said, unable to quite have it in him to put away the phone, still open to the email he’d just received. He had a special alert for work messages and he’d almost skipped this one when he’d heard the notification. They’d done nothing but disappoint him for weeks now—months.

“Snow?” Midoriya asked, his grin bright and genuine as ever. “Wow, that’s amazing! When?”

“Should be today,” Shouto said, staring back at the little box of black and white text on his screen. “Soon.”

His heart started pounding, and suddenly all the warmth that he’d been missing for months was pooling back in his belly, in his cheeks, in his sweaty palms.

“Shouto, are you okay?” Midoriya asked, cocking his head as he brought his hands up to the phone and lowered it.

“I’m not sure,” Shouto said, putting his phone back in his pocket to find his hands tingly, his fingertips feeling flush and warm. He took a step in the light dusting of snow, continuing the route of their patrol while Midoriya followed. “I feel very…anticipatory.”

“Anticipatory?” Midoriya echoed. “You mean excited? I know you’ve been eager for her to come back.”

“Yes, but…” Shouto let out a sigh, brushing both sweaty hands through his hair. “I don’t know.”

Midoriya smiled, eyes wide with mirth. “You’re nervous. What do you have to be nervous about?”

Shouto had been playing over the events of the last time he saw you for three months now to the point that word you’d said, every sound you’d breathed when you’d been underneath him was branded in his mind. But in between all of it, there’d never been any promises, any statements that he could glean your intentions from.

“We slept together. The night before she left.”

Midoriya nearly choked, doubling over coughing while Shouto cocked his head and patted the man’s back. He’d probably swallowed some spit.

“Midoriya,” Shouto continued, grateful that the snow was keeping people off the streets, and they could speak for a moment without hordes of fans approaching them for once, “do you think that one can make love to someone if it’s onesided?”

When he could stand straight again, Midoriya’s face was red, so Shouto waited for him to get his breath back under him as they began walking again.

“Um, wow, sorry, you just surprised me,” Midoriya said. “Can we backtrack for a second?”

“But nothing was happening back—”

“No, I mean,” Midoriya pinched the bridge of his nose and Shouto paused, allowing him to gather his thoughts, “was that the, uh, first time?”

“Yes.”

“And, er, nothing like that had ever happened before?”

“No.”

“And you’re in love with her?”

Shouto became aware of his heartbeat again, now moving up to his throat. He could see your face in his mind’s eye and wondered if your hair was longer or if you’d had it cut while you were away? Had being up north paled your skin since you’d been here in the fall, or would it have the same hue as when you’d left? It had been so long since he’d seen you; would he even notice?

“I’m not certain,” Shouto said. “But…”

Shouto put two fingers to the pulse point at the base of his neck. The mark you’d left there was long since gone, as were the marks on his back, but he could still feel the ghost of them. Your touch had hardly left his mind in the three long months of autumn turning over to endless winter.

“My heart races when I think of her.”

“Aw,” Deku said, his mouth turning down in one of those smiles that radiated out even when it curved the wrong way. “You do. But wait, you asked if you could, uh, make love if it’s onesided. Why do you think it’s onesided?”

“Because she didn’t say anything,” he reasoned. “And her actions could have meant a lot of different things.”

“Shouto,” Midoriya put a hand on Shouto’s shoulder, “obviously I don’t know the whole situation, but do you really think that her actions would mean anything other than her liking you?”

“I just…” Shouto made a block of ice in his hand, thinking of the fine control you had over your quirk. You could take this crude creation of his and turn it into something utilitarian, whimsical, beautiful. Then he took it in his other hand and melted it away. “I always thought I would be a solo hero. But I really don’t want to have to keep doing this without her.”

“So go,” Midoriya said. “You said she’ll be back soon, right? Go to her then. I can handle,” Midoriya gestured to the light flurries around them, “all this.”

Beyond the flurries there were only a few pedestrians, clad with umbrellas. There was a fairly steady parade of slow-moving cars on the city block, but no one seemed to be in a rush today. The snow made everything quiet.

“But I still don’t know—”

“You know, Shouto,” Midoriya said, an assured smile on his face. “So go do what you need to do.”

Upon getting to the airport, you’d had access to the internet for the first time since you’d left, and the first thing you’d done was google Todoroki’s name. You had to make sure that he was alive and uninjured. In doing so, you’d stumbled across heaps of articles with photos of him and Hero Deku, a few of which mentioned your absence and yours and Todoroki’s esteemed partnership.

Was there a partnership to come back to? Or had it been dissolved in your absence and you’d have to become a solo hero or settle for sidekicks until a new partner came along.

You weren’t sure that you’d ever be able to partner with someone else after working with Todoroki.

You’d become much stronger in your time abroad—you knew that now—but you wanted to bring that back to Todoroki. You wanted to show him what you’d learned, wanted to feel that power in a battle alongside him.

On the airplane, you tried to push all that aside and focused on Japan. You’d packed so sparely for the trip that the few pairs of socks you’d brought were threadbare, your costume in need of a replacement. You thought of the warmer weather, the longer days, the familiar faces, and your own warm bed. 

By the time you landed, you’d almost convinced yourself. You hailed a car, enjoying in the easy Japanese you exchanged with the driver rather than the broken English you’d brought with you to Russia.

All you needed was Japan. You could worry about everything else later

You had the car drop you off on the corner of the street from your apartment building. The snow was coming down, but it was different than it had been up north. It was only just starting to stick, each step leaving a bald spot on the sidewalk that would be filled again in a few minutes. The chill wasn’t bitter, the air no longer biting. For a moment, you reveled in the snow. It would likely be melted by noon tomorrow and, despite all the snow you’d just left, you’d still miss it when it was gone.

When you approached your building, you noticed a silhouette loitering outside through the dimming light of the afternoon. The sun set only an hour later than it did in Siberia—still not nearly enough daylight. No one knew that you were returning today, so this person couldn’t be waiting for you, but you still used your quirk to sweep away the snow to leave your vision unobscured between yourself and the figure.

You recognized the hair immediately. The last thing you’d seen before you’d left.

“Shouto?” you called, your pace increasing as you released the snow and it flurried back to fill the void you’d created. “What are you doing here?”

That rare smile tugged at his face and then he was coming your way, arms outstretched.

“I missed you so much.”

You felt his hands coming to clutch your arms first. Then, not a moment later, his lips slanted over yours and your suitcase toppled to the ground.

His lips were cold. The cheek your hand came up to touch was cold. But his tongue was hot, and you could feel the heat spreading throughout you as wildfire on kindling kept too dry and too isolated.

He pulled away too soon, your mouth taking in a breath of frozen air when it had expected another touch of his lips.

“I’m sorry, I should have asked,” he said, taking a step back.

“No, it’s okay!” you reassured him, feet creeping half a step forward, feeling the crunch of snow under your boot. “It’s just…we’re in public.”

You remembered last time, when Shouto’d had the foresight to save any physical affection for the privacy of his home. A good call, as it seemed that any knowledge of your stolen kiss at the bar hadn’t leaked.

“And it seems a lot of people have been enjoying taking your picture lately,” you said, referencing all the photos you’d seen with him and Deku.

He smiled again—maybe they weren’t so rare after all. “I don’t care. I mean, if you do that’s fine, but I want people to see us together. Because…I want to be together. If you do.”

He took your hands in his and you wished neither of you were wearing gloves. You wished all the bundled layers between you would fall away—you’d been in cold worse than this.

“I do,” you said, and you leaned in to kiss him to prove your point. If he was okay with people seeing, you didn’t care either. Your boss could take it up with you later. “I really do.”

“Good,” he said, and his hands slipped up your arms before wrapping behind you, pressing you against him. You clung to him, fists clutching the fluffy material of his coat. “I know that maybe it’s too early to call this a relationship or anything—”

“I don’t think so.”

Todoroki fell silent at your interruption, waiting for you to continue. But, for a moment, you contented yourself in breathing in his scent, before pulling your face away to look into his eyes, pupils wide from the dimming light.

“A friend told me that a relationship isn’t the only way to have a partnership with someone. That it wasn’t the only circumstance around which to have true feelings for someone,” you explained, thinking of Dell.

“You were thinking about this while you were away?”

“Every day.”

He kissed your forehead, and then his eyes urged you to continue. “What did you think about?”

“Well,” you started, feeling flush from the gesture, “the way I see it, things usually go crush, partnership, sex. Or, I guess if you’re feeling impatient, crush, then sex, then partnership. But we kind of did: partnership, crush, sex. We have all the right pieces, they were just out of order.”

“That’s not so bad,” he murmured, low voice sounding deep and rumbly so close to you. If you didn’t have the soft layers of your overcoats between you, you’d be able to feel the vibrations under your skin.

“So the only thing we really need to catch up on…is dating.”

Your eyes met his shyly, a question hidden in your words. Todoroki wasn’t always good at reading between the lines, but you were good at reading his face. You saw the understanding in his eyes.

“Well,” Todoroki said, looking around. “I understand if you’re sick of the snow, but it’s not that late yet. Maybe we could go for a walk and see where it takes us?”

“I’m never sick of the snow,” you said with a grin, taking one hand off Todoroki’s back so that you could pull all the flakes that had fallen on his person at once and swirl them in your hand, just like you’d done in the bar so many months ago. One of your favorite tricks since you were a kid. Then you dropped them to the ground with their brethren. “I even got pretty good with it.”

“Impressive,” Todoroki said. His voice was deadpan, but the brightness in his eyes hinted at his intrigue.

“I learned some tricks while I was away.”

“I can’t wait to see them,” he said. “And, you know, I don’t mind a little snow either.”

A snowflake landed on your cheek and before it melted, Todoroki leaned in and kissed it, replacing the cold with his heated touch. When you left the embrace, you remembered your suitcase flat on the ground, handle outstretched. Todoroki saw your gaze and reached for it, but you did him one better. You grabbed the thing and pushed it into a hedge outside your building, totally obscured in the low evening light. Todoroki raised a brow at you, but you just smiled, summoning snow and turning it to ice. You wrapped it around your suitcase, sticking it to the ground, and giving it a coating too troublesome for a thief to bother with hacking through with a pick.

“It’ll melt,” Shouto said. “We can just take it up to your room or leave it in your lobby.”

“No,” you said easily, looking up at the falling snow. “I don’t want to miss a moment of this. And besides, it won’t melt. I told you I’ve learned some tricks.”

And, just like always, he didn’t question you. He simply offered his hand to you and you took it as though it was ordinary. As though the many times you’d been side by side over the years had always been linked with a hand, not just trust.

Then, without a destination, you took off strolling. The night wasn’t nearly as dark as it had been in your little cabin in Siberia, what with all the city lights. The air was still below freezing, but you’d never felt warmer.

“Can I ask you something?” you said, before the air fully settled and left you in a lull of silent contentment. “Why did you bring me home with you? Back then. Did you like me and just didn’t say anything or…?”

Todoroki was quiet for a moment, the night air filled with the drone of slow-moving cars and the beeping of city crosswalks.

“It was nothing I had thought about before,” he admitted. “But when you kissed me, I wanted to kiss you back…because it was you.”

That didn’t really tell you anything. Nothing about what he’d felt before or after, nothing about how that had led him to waiting out of your building to kiss you again. But, at the same time, it told you everything. Because, after all, it was the same reason you’d kissed him. That you’d liked him at all. Because he was your partner, your best friend, the person you trusted with your life over anyone else.

Because…it was him.