#also rip mr goggles you will be missed

[queercontrarian]

my first azris fanfic ehehe

feels like it was just hours ago i told @iftheshoef1tz about this idea (because it was literally hours ago and i just wanted to contribute something to romance week. i know it's not technically meetcute day, but it's whatever day so i can do what i want). anyways, have the unedited first chapter of my modern azris agegap au snippet bundle - that's a lot of words. i'll shut up now. enjoy.

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Azriel is already in pain when he wakes up, which is usually a bad omen. His knee feels tender, and he hasn’t even gotten out of bed yet. It doesn’t bode well for the day he has planned, and he wonders if he should just call Cassian and cancel their hike for today. 

With a sigh he forces himself to throw the warm blanket to the side and at least get his feet on the ground. One small step towards starting this day. A coffee would be nice, he thinks, but Nesta has been on his ass to limit his consumption, which is ironic because his sister-in-law drinks much more coffee than he ever has, but if he has one now he won’t allow himself to have one at Cassian’s house later, and he definitely needs that one to make it through the afternoon and the evening without prematurely passing out on his couch. 

With nothing else to do, Azriel stands and slowly makes his way to the kitchen, and yes, the knee is definitely going to cause problems. Once again he curses himself for deciding to walk home in the dark after getting shitfaced at Cassian’s and Nesta’s party, for not seeing that dumb root sticking from the ground and for getting his foot stuck under it. Most of all for having gotten to an age where the pain in his joints doesn’t disappear after a maximum of two days. He knows that he’s not twenty-five anymore, but it’s been more than a month since the party, and he can still feel it. Maybe someone should just shoot him, like a lame horse. 

Standing in the kitchen he stares at the coffee pot on the stove, a fancy little espresso maker Rhys got him for his fifty-third birthday, along with a trip to Italy. He realises he hasn’t left these woods since that trip, except for his weekly trip to get groceries at the town’s supermarket, and visiting Rhys and Cassian at their homes located around that same forest he lives in. He’s been moving around, contained to that twenty-five mile radius, for two years. 

On second thought, maybe he will have a coffee. While he reaches for the espresso box - another expensive gift from his friends - and both his knee and his shoulder pop this time, he remembers that he went to Greece for Feyre and Rhys’ wedding. That was last year, so he can still count that towards his “recently been active” list. Hanging out with family, travelling overseas. Suck on that, Cassian, he thinks. I’m going places, I’m not rotting away all alone in my cabin. I don’t need to “get out more”. I don’t need to “meet new people”. I’m perfectly fine where I am. 

Granted, he is alone right now - he takes his eyes off the stove to look towards the window where Mr. Goggles used to sit. The cat had already been old - and named, as Az always feels the need to stress - when Feyre had given him into Azriel’s care because there was no space for him in Rhysand’s house. It wasn’t that they didn’t have the room - Rhysand’s mansion has more rooms than the two of them can possibly know what to do with - Rhys is just very allergic to cats. So Az had taken the grumpy old furball in and they had lived together for nearly three years. Now Mr. Goggles sleeps in the earth below his favourite window sill, under a small bush of white pansies that Elain says remind her of the fur pattern on his face. Azriel wonders what flowers she’ll put on his grave when he dies. Will they bury him next to the window behind his favourite armchair too? He wants to be cremated, but he’d be fine with a cardboard urn like Mr. Goggles’ casket.

The whistling and clattering of the espresso maker pulls him out of his thoughts. It’s not all that bad. Sure, maybe retiring so early was a mistake - he doesn’t need the money, he just misses having something to do - but when Cassian and Rhys left he hadn’t felt like being the only one to stay behind. Maybe he underestimated just how empty his cabin would feel once he spent more than just the nights and weekends there, with his brothers spending the majority of their time with their wives, ten miles through the forest in the homes they’d built for themselves. He’s not lonely, he doesn’t need or want anyone else in his house, or his life for that matter. The area feels crowded enough with just Old Man Schmidt down the street. Maybe he’ll get another cat. Nesta has mentioned occasionally seeing one roaming about where her office is.

While he sips his coffee he’s still debating whether to call the hike off - his body tells him yes but his brain says if he mentions it to Cassian he’ll come to his house to inspect the old injury himself, and he hasn’t even told him he fell in the first place, and he will undoubtedly notice the pathetic state of Azriel’s house. Everything is reasonably tidy, but it’s painfully obvious no other human being has stepped through the door in months, maybe even a year. The last time he had people over was for Mr. Goggles’ funeral, for Christ’s sake. Azriel shifts his weight onto the damaged knee and immediately regrets it. He bites back a pained groan, letting his head fall back against the cabinet.

Cass would tell him to see a physician. Az hates going to the doctor, and not only for the usual reasons - he hadn’t gotten the memo that it was a bad idea to sleep with, have a messy entanglement and then ditch the only medical professional for nearly 200 miles. He’s not gotten a check-up in almost four years. Neither of his brothers knows that though, and he would rather die than tell them, both about the problem and the reason behind it. Fifty-five feels like the worst age to come out to your life-long best friends. 

Summer is already fading, but the sun is still warm on Azriel’s skin. He tilts his face up to the sky as he walks, before he quickly remembers he doesn’t want to sustain another injury and he concentrates on the dirt road under his feet again. He grits his teeth through the strain on his leg and keeps walking. 

The quickest path to Cassian’s house leads him from the treeline where his cabin is straight through the clearing past Old Man Schmidt’s property and through the woods. He’s walked this path a thousand times, but something is off today. Old Man Schmidt never has guests over, but this morning there’s a new car in his driveway. When Azriel crosses the street he realises it’s not just the new car, there’s a moving van as well, and parts of the garden are ripped open from construction, old furniture and materials, tools and workers all over the lawn. Az has always been curious, and he’s a little perturbed that he hasn’t noticed what has apparently been going on for a few days already. Has he really been that disconnected from his surroundings? He wanders off the path and up to the fence, leaning against the gate. He tells himself it looks at least a little cool but really he’s just trying to take the weight off his knee. He doesn’t recognise the licence plate on the car, and he tries to look around for Schmidt but he’s nowhere to be found. The last time they spoke he hadn’t mentioned anything about wanting to sell his house. Then again, the last time they spoke was six months ago. Maybe things have changed. 

“Can I help you?” Azriel turns his head so fast it almost gives him whiplash, his carefully combed hair immediately falling into his face, obstructing his view. He was so immersed in his snooping that he hadn't noticed the man stepping up to the fence. 

“Um, yeah. I’m looking for Schmidt? Boris Schmidt, he lives here,” he manages to say, buying himself a minimal amount of valuable time as he sizes the other man up. He seems to be in his late twenties or early thirties, tall and muscular with silky short hair that is so red Azriel wonders if it’s dyed. None of Feyre’s attempts to colour her hair have turned out this perfect though, so he thinks it just might be real, or done by a very, very pricey stylist. Everything about the stranger screams expensive, from his hair to his crisp white shirt and leather boots. He even smells like it, and Azriel is suddenly very aware that out of all the things he has on, only the shirt and the underwear have been washed in the last three days, and he can’t even remember the last time he put on cologne. 

“Mr. Schmidt doesn’t live here anymore. Hasn’t for over a month,” the stranger explains, and his voice is deep and smooth, feels like it wraps itself around Azriel, sliding through his ears and into his brain, muddling his thoughts.

“Oh,” is all he can get out. There’s a short pause where the stranger only stares at Az with his amber eyes, waiting for him to say something more.

Then he asks “Are you the neighbour?”

“Yes.” He clears his throat. “Yes I am. Are you moving in?” The stranger smiles, and good Lord above he is beautiful. Azriel swallows hard around the feeling suddenly bubbling up in his chest, through his throat and spilling into his mouth. He is too old to be reacting like this over a pretty boy.

“I am. Eris Vanserra,” the stranger introduces himself, reaching his hand over the gate. Azriel shakes it.

“Azriel,” he answers, then quickly adds, “Azriel Kantor.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Azriel nearly wishes Eris would stop talking because it is incredibly hard for him to concentrate on coming up with answers when his hand is burning where the man’s skin has touched his, and this is getting ridiculous. Just because he hasn’t gotten laid in one and a half years?

“The pleasure’s all mine,” he says, and means it for once. “I, uh, I live right down there. Can’t miss it.” He vaguely gestures behind himself with the burned hand, trying to shake that feeling off. 

“Not like there’s many other houses around,” Eris replies smoothly, a faint smirk still on his lips, and Azriel has to pinch his arm to stop himself from staring. 

“Yes. Only me. But my friends live south from here right through the forest. I’m actually going to visit them-” He trails off, and unfortunately the other man picks it up right where he left it.

“Azriel,” he says, embarrassingly breathless from forcing out that one word. Way too late he realises that maybe it was intentional, maybe Eris would prefer not calling him by his first name, and not having Azriel call him by his in turn. He’s being awfully presumptuous. But Vanserra only hesitates for a moment before giving him another smile.

“Well, I don’t want to keep you." Eris is already stepping away from the fence. "I guess I’ll see you around, Mr. Kantor.”

“Azriel,” he repeats, slowly, savouring every letter. “Lovely to make your acquaintance.” He lets a few seconds pass by silently where neither of them move. Then he turns and leaves him standing at the gate, glued to the spot like an idiot.

“You too,” Az calls dumbly after him, too late and too slow. Eris doesn’t look back, only lifts his hand with the smallest hint of a wave, and Azriel quickly looks away and returns to the dirt path, hands buried in the pockets of his pants. 

Miles and hours later he can still hear the echo of his name from Eris’ lips in his mind when he raises his hand to ring Cassian’s doorbell. 

Maybe he’ll walk back later instead of having Cassian drop him off at home after the hike. His knee doesn’t seem that bad anymore.

[skyward-floored]

Dawn part 4 analysis, here we go! At it again with my ramblings.

Starting off with THE GLORIOUS RETURN OF THE MAILMAN! The moment I saw the flag I was like :O HE’S BACK!!!

(I also got the blue’s clues mail song stuck in my head)

Hey look, it’s Warriors’ money! And the inkeeper who’s happily admiring the ridiculous amount of rupees Warriors now does not own!

Rip Warriors’ money. It will be dearly missed.

Also no vacancy?? I mean, it’s possible there’s other people staying there, or it’s just a small inn, but... it kinda looks like Warriors literally bought every available room there was. Mad lad.

I (like everybody else lol) took a crack at figuring out who’s signature was who’s, based on their respective game’s Hylian texts/scripts, order of when they got there, and the OG tags on the comic. So here’s my best guesses—

1. Time is first, which makes sense based on him being the one to take Twilight to the inn

2. Hyrule appears to be next— his games don’t have a written script, but the hylian here is close to Legend’s, so I’m assuming it’s his, based on the fact that he was part of the next group to get to the inn.

3. Four is who I’m least sure about I’ll admit, but seeing as how he came with Hyrule, (and he’s the only Link left I couldn’t identify at all), I’m assuming it’s his.

4. Warriors we know for sure, since the tags say this signature is his. He gets a shout out for being the only Link who can actually write in the lines.

5. Wind seems to be next, as his hylian is very close to what’s here (his signature partially obscures Warriors’ XD)

6. Legend is who I’m going with for this one, but I’ll admit it could be Wild’s since their script is pretty darn close. But once again, based on when they all got to the inn, Legend would make the most sense to be here.

7. Sky is definitely here. His hylian is very unique compared to the others (I think it’s my favorite)

8. Wild is probably next, but same case as Legend, they could be swapped. But once again, probably not, since Wild was the last to get inside.

9. Twilight bringing up the rear! His hylian is unmistakable, and it makes sense that he’d mark his name last. I don’t think he could handle it until he woke up that morning, though I do wonder which arm he wrote it with...

(Rip Mr. Mailman in trying to figure all this out)

Moving on!

It’s gotta be close to mid-morning by now based on the light, but Sky obviously does not handle waking up at dawn well. It’ll be interesting to see if he stays sleepy during the rest of this arc, or if he'll wake up a bit.

(Side note, Sky looks so soft and fluffy here, I want to hug him)

Sky is so relatable in this update, he’s got some serious “I have no idea what’s going on” vibes. That first one he's got such a deer in the headlights look XD

The mailman is just like “you! I’ve been looking for you! Great to see you!” and Sky’s just “I have never met this man in my life” (probably forgot he actually did see him once (because he’s sleepy))

Four letters, all different languages and dialects... I’m guessing at least one Zelda based on the seal on that blue letter (it seems fancier to me), but I don’t know about the rest. I would guess Malon for one, and maybe another Zelda? Warriors or Wild or Four’s Zelda maybe? Maybe Twilight got a letter from someone in Ordon, or the Resistance!

Only thing I do know is that there’s probably not one for Sky, since he wasn’t immediately like “letter for me! :D”

Four trying to do something nice and fix Wild’s sword and this guy just laughs at him, rude 😤 At least he didn’t make a short joke, which was honestly what I was expecting. I mean I get knowing that your equipment won’t be enough for the job, but sheesh.

(Also the blacksmith’s goggles look a bit like Gondo’s in skyward sword’s, plus the ones the rescue knights wear, thought that was interesting).

(Cool pose mode: engaged)

I love this panel!! They all decided to follow Four and help him out just like they did last time, fix the sword and get Wild a good, reliable weapon.

I’ve also never noticed how similar these guy’s hair looks before, especially Warriors and Hyrule’s— if Rulie’s hair was a little shorter and blonde, it would be pretty near identical. Very interesting...

(Plus Wind has the funniest expression, he's so cute)

We interrupt this rambly analysis to bring you a brief moment of me yelling about Warriors' smile ABHDGFSFKHSBBG LOOK AT HIM that stupid cocky grin and the way he's rolling up his sleeve I'm *swoon*

Four absolutely losing it over Warriors’ jab about teamwork is SO funny, Captain you have no idea how good your joke was. (also Four, bud, you good? Little hysterical there pal)

Also he looks so happy!!! Compare that to any of the faces he was making the night before, he's doing so much better. I’m so glad he’s happy and smiling now, even if it was just at a dumb joke :)

I don’t even have anything to say about this panel. Just look at it. Glorious.

And one last thing...

MULTILINGUAL WARRIORS HOLY CROW that's such a cool trait to give him, I am in love with it now that's awesome.

An amazing update as always, it was fantastic all around <3

[fantasticstoryteller]

New Amsterdam 43

“Sorry!” Peter said to Beth as he rushed to the back office. “I know I’m late—I’m sorry!” he said as he danced around the new guy in the office and slipped into the office panting. The exertion wasn’t enough to make him out of breath, but it should have been. “Sorry I’m late Mr. Jamison!”

For one solid minute the only sound in the office was that of crunching candy. “Parker. Your submission.”

Peter winced. It was never good when Jamison used short sentences. He quickly pulled the folder out of his bag, ignoring Eddie’s raised brow at the glossy cartoon on it, and handed it over. Jamison slowly opened it—and his thick bushy brows flew up so fast they practically melted into his hair.

“No! Really?” he looked at Peter, candy crunching at a furious pace.

Peter nodded grimly. “The proof is under it.”

Jamison reached out, pulled some more of the large, round spheres from his candy jar before popping them in his mouth and then began sorting through the information in the folder. The candy crunching furiously was the only sound in the room.

Peter had felt both horror at his discoveries and a small sense of vicious satisfaction. Maybe this would be enough to get the street children some real help. Probably not, but he could hope.

“Robbie!” screamed Jamison. Peter ducked aside as the door slammed open to admit the new guy. He waved in what he hoped was a friendly manner, and the man smiled and nodded at him before turning to Jamison. Jamison took the papers that had already been on his desk (probably Eddie’s submission) and handed both them and the folder to Robbie. “This one,” he said tapping Eddie’s Paper, “Front page second article. This one,” he said tapping the folder, “front page main article.” Robbie nodded and left.

Eddie looked enraged. “Hey!” he demanded.

The candy crunched as Jamison spoke. “Parker got information that Runaways Unite is using their access to street children for trafficking purposes,” he explained.

Peter was just glad that he’d been with Deadpool when they’d found it. He’d been able to get the information on past “sales” off the servers, and Wade had said that he knew a guy who could use it track down and rescue all the children. More importantly, Wade had argued, the guy would be invested in finding them—whatever that meant.

Wade had also been firm about escorting Peter straight to his apartment after their discoveries and making him promise that he wouldn't leave until morning. Peter had retaliated, making him promise not to kill everyone involved. It had been a battle.

Peter glanced up at Eddie—and cringed away at the raw hatred in the man’s eyes. “And how did Peter,” demanded the larger man, “learn about this?”

“Don’t know,” said Jamison, candy crunching with each bite. “Don’t care. Parker.”

“I—I’ve got to get to SI,” Peter stammered before fleeing. He didn’t just want to escape the Bugle—he also wanted to see what was going on with Dr. Banner’s work. For the first time in far too long, his steps felt light as he ran.

“Mr. Parker!”

And the good feeling crashed. He swerved mid-step and ran into the alley the kid was calling him into. “What happened?” he asked warily.

The kid looked up at him with wide, tear-filled eyes. “They took Ellie!” it whispered.

“Who?” demanded Peter. He was going to have to save the child; he needed to know where.

“The—the big ones,” the child said, clearly frightened. “The ones with—” The kid looked around quickly and then allowed a tiny spark to shoot from a finger.

The X-Men. The X-Men had taken Ellie off the streets and to their home. “All right. I’ll do what I can,” he said grimly before running off. Thanks to Wade buying him so much food, he actually had a little money stored away. He had been planning to keep it for emergencies (or maybe a Christmas gift for Aunt May), but this was an emergency. And it was just enough to rent a car (because Peter Parker couldn’t exactly swing into the Manor and demand they release the clearly abandoned child they probably believed they had rescued.

And they might have. Peter wasn’t certain that he was doing the right thing; Ellie was probably safer at the Manor than on the streets (especially with the Snipers still at large). Still—he had to try and get her back. He knew that while she may have lived on the streets she’d made a home. She was family with the other children. And he knew what having family ripped away felt like.

He firmly kept that in mind as he drove up the long, winding drive to the Manor. He kept it in mind as he parked the car (insured, because not insuring a rental car in New Amsterdam was financial suicide), and walked up the tall, carved stone steps of the manor.

The first noise that greeted Peter when he opened the doors was that of children laughing. Footsteps running down the halls. He danced out of the way as a small herd (some in animal form) of healthy, happy children stampeded past him.

Did he have the right to take Ellie away from here, when he knew she was just going to end up on the streets again? Wouldn’t it be better for her if she just—got used to living here? If she spent the rest of her childhood here?

Unbidden in his mind voices rose up.

“He’ll do better in the city.”

“He’s better off in the country.”

“Doesn’t it seem like he belongs here?”

No. He would talk to Ellie, ask what she wanted, but he would not make that decision for the child. Ellie had a right to decide where to live.

He took a step in and was stopped by a beautiful redheaded woman. She looked similar, but was different in a very clear way from MJ. Although they were about the same height, MJ had a more open feel to her, more friendly. This woman was clearly separating herself from him an authoritative and dignified air. “Professor Xavier would like to see you,” she told him firmly.

Of course he would. Professor Xavier was the most powerful telepath in the world; he’d probably heard Peter’s frantically churning thoughts before he even hit the property line. Peter winced; he hoped he hadn’t accidentally given the man a headache—he wouldn't like to have to eavesdrop on his own chaotic thoughts. “Th—thank you,” he said as apologetically as possible.

Her dark green eyes were unreadable. “This way,” she ordered. He meekly followed her through the ostentatious halls and took great comfort in the hand drawn murals that graced the bottom half of most of the walls. There were scratches on the doors, height markers on walls, and every few feet were toys discarded on the floor.

In short; the Manor looked exactly like what it was; an ostentatious manor built by Old Money that became a school and home for children. Looking around Peter could see that the children were well cared for. Even the few adults he saw (his guide aside) seemed relatively happy. She led him to a scarred wooden door. He wasn’t an expert, by any stretch of the imagination—but those looked like sword marks in the wood.

“Good eye,” called a voice from inside as his guide opened the door. Inside the office was a desk that Xavier was (of course) sitting at, and standing next to it was a tall man with brown hair and goggles that covered his eyes from edge to edge. “Thank you Jean. I believe the children in the basketball court are considering blowing it up again.”

“That is not a basketball court!” growled Jean as she turned and stalked off.

“Please, have a seat, Mr. Parker,” Xavier said as he gestured to the chairs.

“Never start a negotiation on lesser footing.”

Words from back when Peter actually liked Norman, and looked up to the man. “Thank you, but I’ll stand,” he said softly.

The man leaning against the wall snorted. “If you insist.”

“Scott,” Xavier said with warning before he turned to look at Peter again. “You came for Ellie.”

There was no reason to deny it. “I did, yes.”

“Are you here to take her?” The words were mild; the eyes watching him were not. Peter got the impression those dark eyes didn’t miss much, and not nearly as much of what they saw was as due to the telepathy as people thought.

“I’m here to see if she wants to leave,” said Peter firmly.

Scott, not moving from his position, scoffed again. “She was living on the streets,” the other man said.

“A lot of children are,” Peter said firmly. He viewed the man warily. “A lot of them call the streets ‘home.’ Do you have the right to take a child away from home, against its will?”

“It? Mr. Parker.” Peter’s attention shifted back to Xavier and waited for the man to finish. To his surprise, the man abandoned the previous protest. “The streets are dangerous, Mr. Parker.”

“Yes.”

“Children die on them every day.”

“They do.” Peter had seen them. Seen them broken, bloody—having gotten there too late to help.

“And it seems that they have been going missing, as well.”

Of course they were. He felt certain that Runaways Unite was responsible for a huge number of them. But they were about to get exposed.

“So, she really would be safer here.”

Peter met the man’s gaze firmly. “And does she believe this?” he asked.

“What does that matter?” demanded Scott. The voice of all those who believed children shouldn't be heard.

“It matters,” Peter said angrily, “because that child is a person.” He glared at the man.

“The one who loses his cool first during a negotiation loses.”

Another lesson. Another time. Still valid. He took a slow, deep breath before he began again. “There are a lot of children who live on the streets.”

“We know that,” said Scott dismissively.

“And most of those children have powers.”

Now he had the other man’s attention. “You will never find all of them if they associate you with other children disappearing.”

“So you think we should just put her on the streets?” demanded Scott.

Xavier raised a hand and Scott subsided into murmurs. “The fact of the matter is that Ellie must be trained,” he said simply. “She needs to learn how to control her powers, before SHIELD finds out about them.”

Peter nodded. He had his own issues with SHIELD, after all. “She could be a day student,” he said, “or stay here during the week and leave on the weekends—if,” and Peter stressed the word firmly, “she wants to.”

The door opened. “I got her. Damn it, Chuck, this talking in my head thing is really freaky.” The short, hairy man came in with a shrieking bundle under one arm and unceremoniously dropped her to the floor.

“Logan,” sighed Xavier.

The child jumped up, then saw Peter. Her face crumpled. “Mr. Parker!” she cried as she flung herself into his arms—much as he’d done to Wade before. He held her gently as she sobbed.

“It’s okay,” he soothed as he gently rubbed her back. “It’s okay.”

“I—I wa—want to go ho—home!” she sobbed.

“All right.” Peter picked her up.

“And Mr. Parker?” said Xavier as Peter headed towards the door. “Thank you.”

He knows. A second after that realization, he will never tell. Charles Xavier had just as many reasons to be wary as Peter Parker did—more, if the school was included. Peter nodded and stepped away.

Only to run into a hairy arm. “Parker?” asked the short, hairy man. “As in ‘Peter Parker’?” he asked.

Peter blinked. “Yes,” he said hesitantly.

“Are you really dating Deadpool?”

[zrtranscripts]

Season 9, Mission 5: Sandstorm

Summer Holiday

~

[ship horn honks, waves crash on shore]

PETER LYNNE: Listen, all I'm saying is he could have dropped us off a little bit nearer.

JANINE DE LUCA: Our captain was clear from the outset, Peter. Our information on Tunisia is limited. He did not wish to deliver us to a port which might present unknown dangers. Or docking fees. Hence the empty stretch of coast we've landed on.

SAM YAO: Oh, it's nice though, isn't it? The sandy cliffs, the crystal blue sea, the rocky beach. Way better than that tiny ship's hold. Not that I didn't enjoy helping Janine tick “win 1,000 consecutive games of chess” off her bucket list. Oh, oh hey, careful how you carry the briefcase, Five. Remember, it's got Veronica inside. [shouts] You okay in there, Veronica?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Sam, for the last time, this case contains hardware running a full copy of my personality connected to a full suite of sensor systems, including auditory. You do not need to shout. Janine, Amelia gave me a message to play upon our arrival in Tunisia. Stand by.

AMELIA SPENS: Hello, Tunisia team. Let's make this super clear: you are not over there sightseeing. You're infiltrating a secret base codenamed Red Scorpion at the behest of General Bakari. He's directed you to a city near Red Scorpion called New Agadir. Until you reach New Agadir, where you must impersonate the mercenary group Death's Hand, you should pretend to be independent UK traders.

This is a covert mission, so if things go badly, I can't help you. Remember, the red fungus endangers the whole world. If it's in Red Scorpion, we need to know. Don't mess this up. Amelia out.

PETER LYNNE: Right, right, right. So just-just to make sure I've got this right, we're in another country with no support and we left our only doctor on the boat. Fantastic!

VERONICA MCSHELL: It's fortunate Maxine was present to identify the measles outbreak on the ship. If we hadn't left her to take care of it, it might have become a pandemic, Maintaining herd immunity via vaccination has proven almost impossible since the apocalypse.

JANINE DE LUCA: I see a road atop the hill heading west. Miss Spens’ preliminary scouting identified settlements on the Tunisian coast. That road leads to an outpost called Kalaat El-Amal. From there, we can arrange transport south towards New Agadir. Miss Spens also provided me details of a contact she's established in New Agadir who can assist us, a man by the name of Mohammed Boujettif. We must find him there.

Aside from anything else, we may need him to take Dr. Myers’s place in Death's Hand, although if he has no medical experience, that could prove difficult. The alias of the team member Dr. Myers was to impersonate is Doctor Death.

International subterfuge... it has been some time. Remember people, we do not know how the apocalypse landed here or what dangers await. Watch out for each other and keep your wits. Up the hill to the road, run!

~

SAM YAO: Oh, I thought the going would get easier once we reached the top of the hill, but now the road's covered in sand!

PETER LYNNE: Well, there's not much to stop it blowing in from the desert. As far as local scenery goes, you've got potholed roads and sand dunes and that's basically all you're going to get.

SAM YAO: So I get that we're pretending to be traders for now, then when we reach New Agadir we'll be impersonating Death's Hand, but what do we do if the actual Death’s Hand show up? I mean, my briefing said my cover is someone called Sven “Psycho” Mountback, who I don't exactly want to meet.

PETER LYNNE: Well, Amelia is recruiting the mercenaries now for a job in the UK. That's a trap that'll keep them out of our way. And they mostly work in the shadows, so their faces aren't well-known. So in theory at least, we should be able to pass for them. And Bakari swears he can get them - by which I mean us - onto the base.

JANINE DE LUCA: Gamma 1 insertion protocols, as Tom would have said.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: (in the distance) Guys, it's me!

SAM YAO: Does anyone hear that? Look, behind us. There's someone coming up the road dressed like a deckhand from the ship, waving.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Guys, it's Frances!

PETER LYNNE: Oh, you've got to be kidding me!

JANINE DE LUCA: Miss Dempsey, what are you doing here?

FRANCES DEMPSEY: I, uh, stowed away on the ship. Hid in a storage crate, swam to shore when I'd heard you'd landed. Bribed a sailor to tell me when you did. A bit wet from the swim. I know you didn't want me to come, but I swear I'll be useful.

JANINE DE LUCA: Miss Dempsey, this is unacceptable! You were expressly forbidden...

SAM YAO: Uh, Janine? Usually you don't drift off when you're berating people.

JANINE DE LUCA: The sky, it's turned white. Winds are rising. If my memories of Algeria hold true, this indicates an incoming dust storm. We must get to cover quickly.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Does that mean I can come?

JANINE DE LUCA: It means, Miss Dempsey, that since there is no way to get you back to the UK, you are unfortunately in danger with the rest of us. There, gleaming structures on the horizon. Kalaat El-Amal. All of you, in that direction. Run!

~

[wind blows]

SAM YAO: The outpost is ahead. Yeah, I think I see an outer wall. It's hard to make out in this sand. [spits] It really gets in your teeth, doesn't it, Five?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Changing global weather patterns, likely brought on by a large increase in methane emissions from decaying flesh, have left this region more prone to dust storms. My sensors should have alerted us to the stormfront. And I failed to predict Frances's arrival.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Um, quick question. Why is the suitcase talking?

PETER LYNNE: That's our... computer expert, Veronica. She's our expert... who is also a computer.

SAM YAO: Guys, look behind you. There's-there's like a solid wall of sand looping towards us.

JANINE DE LUCA: We're on the storm's periphery, but the eye is approaching fast and the dust already feels cutting in these winds. Everybody switch to comms, cover your mouths. You should have desert goggles and masks in your packs. Miss Dempsey, take mine. I will use my shirt.

PETER LYNNE: Wait, wait, wait. Janine, that's ridiculous. She can have my mask.

JANINE DE LUCA: It is done, Peter, there is no time to argue. I see no rocks large enough for shelter. Our only hope is reaching Kalaat El-Amal before we're subsumed. Run!

~

[wind whistles]

FRANCES DEMSPEY: God, it's like being in a blender full of dust! Getting hard to balance in the wind. Five, grab my arm so we don't get separated.

JANINE DE LUCA: I do not see the road! Does anyone have a visual?

VERONICA MCSHELL: Janine, I have run estimates on the wind speed and density of the storm. There is less than a 3% chance of our surviving.

PETER LYNNE: Oh, fantastic! Thank you, Veronica. Helpful as always.

VERONICA MCSHELL: If I'd warned you of the storm sooner, you might have been able to shelter near the cliffs. I'm sorry.

PETER LYNNE: Janine, not to seem overprotective, but obviously you should take my mask. I'm literally indestructible!

JANINE DE LUCA: You have an anti-P-type bomb in your body, Peter. Inhaling sand might damage it. We cannot risk that. I appreciate you're afraid of losing me after the Hebrides. I let you join this mission because I trust you, but I'm as worried for you as you are for me. Do not disobey my orders!

[zombie shrieks]

SAM YAO: What was that?

PETER LYNNE: Look, those are human shapes being whirled about in the wall of sand behind us. Some are missing limbs or torn in half. They're all thrashing about. Yep, they're zombies.

JANINE DE LUCA: We cannot let them catch us. We have no idea if the zombie virus has variants here. Even if we survive the storm with our cure stocks intact, they might not be effective. Likewise Mr. Yao's immunity. We can't let them catch us. Go!

~

[wind whistles]

SAM YAO: Five! Five, is that you? If you can see me, I'm waving.

FRANCES DEMSPEY: Sam, we see you! Five and I are to your left. Keep moving through the dust.

SAM YAO: Oh, thank God. I can barely make out your outlines. I was worried you were zoms. Have you seen the others? We were trying to keep hold of each other, but the winds kept knocking us down. Storm's interfering with comms beyond point blank range.

FRANCES DEMSPEY: Everyone's been scattered, visibility's practically zero.

VERONICA MCSHELL: I'm trying to calculate everyone's probable vectors, but there are too many variables. At home, I would have more processing power, but this portable me can only handle so much.

During our voyage, I heard Peter talk about Frances's desire to join the mission, but my limited resources did not allow me to model her probable behavior. I was also unable to perceive the worsening weather because my capacity was devoted to reviewing mission files. My limitations have undermined my usefulness.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Not as much as this sand will if any of it gets in your circuits. We've got to get you inside, Veronica. Janine shouldn't have given me her mask. What if she chokes? She's the most important person to the mission.

SAM YAO: Don't think like that, Frances. We just got here. We're not losing people already, not like the Hebrides. I promised Sara we'd come home safe, that we'd bring her fun travel stories.

JANINE DE LUCA: [static] Repeat. [garbled audio] Repeat.

SAM YAO: Janine!

VERONICA MCSHELL: I am detecting faint electromagnetic activity. It may be the outpost.

[zombie growls]

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Sam, behind you!

SAM YAO: Oh God, that whirling wall of zoms is almost on us. Five, speed up! They're just gristle and bone, the flesh is torn right off them. The wind’s tossing zoms straight at us. Run, everyone! Head south... gah! That way, I think. Just run!

~

[wind whistles]

SAM YAO: That's it, Five, keep holding my hand. I've got Frances, we're in a chain.

[zombies growl]

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Everybody duck! Oh God, did you see that? A flayed zombie torso, ripped to shreds by the sand. It flew right over our heads in the wind. I'm sorry, Sam, I shouldn't have come.

SAM YAO: Frances, it's okay.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Peter warned me it was dangerous. I just, I really thought I could help. But I know you're all scared of losing people after the Hebrides, but you're all at risk here and I'm making it worse.

JANINE DE LUCA: Mr. Yao, Runner Five, this is Colonel De Luca. Mr. Lynne and I have made it into Kalaat El-Amal. Can you hear? They have equipment monitoring your approach. They're boosting our comms. They're sealing the entrance against the weather and activating a signal beacon on the outer wall.

SAM YAO: There! Hard to tell in this suit, but those look like... yes, flashing yellow lights ahead.

JANINE DE LUCA: The gate is in front of you, but it is closing fast. If you don't hurry, you'll be trapped outside. Sensors indicate torn zombie flesh has made that swirling storm wall infectious. You cannot risk being engulfed. You must get inside. Run!

~

[alarm blares, gate creaks and slams shut]

SAM YAO: That's it, Five, we're in. Made it through that gate by inches. Don't see anyone around, just a big metal room with big metal doors. Gate must be automatic. First bit of wider world we've seen since Z-Day, Five, give or take Finland. I wonder how people here are doing.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Guess we're about to find out. We're okay, everyone's okay. We all made it.

VERONICA MCSHELL: And my estimations of Kalaat El-Amal's location were accurate. It will take me time to get used to operating at this capacity, but I will persevere. I am confident I can keep the team safe. After analyzing the Hebrides files, I know how much difficulty you all have without me.

[door rattles open]

SAM YAO: Janine, Peter!

JANINE DE LUCA: It's good to see you all intact, including you, Miss Dempsey. It seems you've left me no choice now but to consider you one of the team. The locals were rather shocked to see us approaching through the storm.

SAM YAO: But they let you in, so they're friendly, right?

PETER LYNNE: Oh, they are very friendly, and very worried. You see, apparently the last few foreign traders to visit Kalaat El-Amal carried serious diseases. Measles, flu, multiple poxes. So they're putting us under quarantine until we're vetted, for a period of no less than three months. That means if we can't find another way out of here, the whole mission is over.

~

[self-proclaimed-chaotic-good]

The Governess and the Doctor’s Hunt for the Copper Beeches 1/4 | Sherlock x Reader

Prompt: Eight

Fandom: BBC Sherlock

Words: 1836

A/N: Just an idea that popped into my head years ago since BBC Sherlock hadn’t introduced Violet Hunter from the Copper Beeches story, so I wanted to write my own version. Also, I wanted a story with Molly more involved in a dynamic with the reader similar to Sherlock and John’s.

Edit: I’m reposting this since tumblr still hasn’t sorted itself out about the tagging system because apparently it wasn’t showing under any of the tags

-

It had been eight hours since John’s last text. He had been nervous taking up cases with Sherlock again, even with a new babysitter looking after Rosie. You didn’t mind his frequent check-ins. Rosie had been a well-behaved baby, only crying when she needed changing or needed food. Other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing.

Eight hours was too long, though, even for a case like this. Another black market trail had been found and Sherlock was asked to look into it. You brought up your concerns with Mrs. Hudson, but she dismissed it, saying that this happened a lot and they always come back.

That night, you tucked Rosie in after her dinner, read her a story, and stayed in 221B. Thankfully, after weeks of working as Rosie’s babysitter, Mrs. Hudson mentioned that it would be easier if you lived close by, preferably in the vacant apartment room in the building. Sherlock reminded her what had happened in that room a couple of years prior, but the rent was cheap, a rarity in London, so you took the offer.

They did not come back the next day. You called Lestrade, who had not heard from them as well. You even asked Mycroft and he was firstly bewildered on how you managed to obtain his private number before saying that he had not heard from his little brother since the day he spoke of the case.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Molly assured you as she adjusted the microscope.

You sat on a metal stool across from her, chin resting in the palm of your hand as you sighed. You had Mrs. Hudson watched Rosie for a while, which she had not minded at all, before you went to see the one person that Sherlock confided in the most.

“Yeah?” you muttered.

“Yeah,” she said without confidence. She cleared her throat and continued to look through the lens. “They always manage to find their way out of dangerous situations. You know how they are. Sherlock would make things complicated, John would try to organize his thoughts, then Sherlock would have an epiphany. Then they come back with the case solved, Sherlock gloats at his brother, then they return to 221B, drinking tea with biscuits given by Mrs. Hudson.”

You hummed. “Okay. I’m just worried when Rosie realizes that her dad hasn't come home yet.”

Molly leaned away from the microscope and gave you a reassuring smile. “If you want, I can come over and help a bit.”

“Aren’t you busy?”

Molly shrugged. “It’s fine. Really.”

_

It had been eight days since the boys went missing. Rosie started to cry more frequently after not seeing her dad and uncle in a week. Molly had been helping you and Mrs. Hudson whenever she could and offered to ask Lestrade if he should look into their case. You declined her offer, knowing that Lestrade would consider doing it, but you didn’t want to use their resources. Instead, you looked through John’s notes. While Sherlock occasionally commented on John writing down their cases and adventures, you knew that he enjoyed it a bit.  It helped them get more attention and cases after all.

The black market had ties with many of London’s rich art collectors and none of them were going to risk being exposed. You brought your findings to Molly, listing off your theories as she worked. You had asked once if your visits ever bothered her, but she never minded. She liked the company, since it was only her in the lab with human parts.

After almost two weeks of the boys being missing, Lestrade had spared a small team to look into it and offered any more help he could. As you were walking back to Baker Street with Rosie in a stroller, a small boy in grubby clothes bumped into you, stumbling slightly and waved over his shoulder in apology. You grimaced, then quickly checked your pockets. All of your things were still there, but… there was a folded piece of paper that wasn’t there before. You looked around before hurrying inside, making Rosie a bottle of milk before setting her down in her crib.

With a cup of tea from Mrs. Hudson in front of you, you sat down on the desk that you were able to organize now that the boys were gone, and took out the note. The top edge of the paper was unevenly ripped, possibly from a notepad. The writing was in pen, the grooves deep with a few punctures through the paper at the end of some of the letters. The surface that the person was writing on was not solid, not suitable for writing. Hastily written as well, so they were rushing.

You frowned, sorting through John’s papers and dragged out one from the stack with a decent amount of his handwriting. The slant and the cross of the T were similar, as was the angle of the As. how he dotted the Is. Those small details were what made you believe that the note was most likely from John.

You took out another piece of paper and placed them side by side. The words were passages paired by numbers. Sherlock must’ve been the one telling John what to write. Luckily, he allowed you free reign of his messy book collections, so you were familiar with most of the passages or at least had an idea of which book they were from. You scanned each passage and quickly scrambled to grab the books, plonking them onto the table.

The boys were trying to tell you something and Sherlock knew that you’d be able to figure it out.

“Clever girl,” he’d say before awkwardly patting you on the head.

People outside of your circle saw your friendship with the consulting detective as odd, mainly because even after all this time, they still thought that he was odd. Being friends with Sherlock Holmes meant that you were free to express your interests in crime and mystery, in science and random bits of trivia, and were able to exchange knowledge, especially on things that Sherlock had deleted from his mind palace. You two grew close, and you’d be lying if you said that you did not harbor a crush on him. You had to lie, though. Your best friend was in love with him before and you had a feeling she still does.

After decoding the message, you found that it was an address followed by the word “Start”. You leaned back in your chair, raking your brain to figure out what that meant. After a quick google search, you found the address to be in Birmingham, almost two hours by train. You had a bad feeling that it wasn’t going to be that easy. First of all, you would need to get there, then find out where exactly they are, if they are even there. It was unlikely that the case would be solved by the time you’ve found them, so you would have to help wrap that up before taking the boys back to Baker Street. You didn’t want to be away from Rosie too long and bother Mrs. Hudson, but you don’t want to waste Lestrade’s resources. You knew Sally gets irritated when Sherlock would call for help on the simplest of things during the times where he doesn’t feel all that bothered to do it himself. Plus, what would a nanny like you know where to start…

“Start”... of course, you thought, there must be a trail of clues. Maybe something to help trace back to the boys. You couldn’t do this alone and you knew, if the person was free and willing, just the right person to call.

“Morning, dear Molly,” you said, strolling through the lab door with the papers in your hand.

Molly looked up through goggles from a dish with a brain in it. “Uh oh, sounds like you’re up to something,” she teased before going back to your work.

“When are you free?” you asked, leaning against the counter across from her.

“Well, when I’m done with this examination, I should be free for a couple of days. Why?”

You hummed. “Perfect.”

“Why?” she asked again, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, nothing,” you said nonchalantly, placing the papers onto the counter. You folded your hands in front of you and smiled innocently at her.

Molly rolled her eyes. “You know, you’re hanging around Sherlock too much. He does that when he needs something but wants the other person to bring it up. What’s that?” She nodded over to the papers.

“A message…,” you said, “That I believe are from our boys.”

She paused her movements. “Are you sure?”

“It matches John’s handwriting and the words used could only come from Sherlock, I just know it,” you said.

“Why aren’t you going to Lestrade for this?”

You sighed. “Because… Lestrade’s busy and I don’t want to waste his time on something like this.” Molly shot you a worried look. “It’s fine. If things get serious, we can always call him. Besides, I believe that there are more than one message.”

Molly frowned. “I don’t know… I’ll see once I’m done with this,” she said.

“Okay,” you said, leaving the papers on the counter, “I’ll see you later, then. Text me first if you’re going to stop by. I’m planning to go to the shops later today.”

She nodded. “Alright, see you.”

You walked out of the lab and sighed. You would have to check this one out by yourself. No better way to prove a theory. That would also mean that you would have to leave Rosie.

“Oh, don’t worry, dearie, I’ve got it,” Mrs. Hudson said once you told her you had to take a trip. You didn’t tell her what it was for. Nothing was confirmed yet.

You packed lightly and got a train ticket to Birmingham. It had been years since you’d rode the train and you’d never done it alone before. How do you know you’re getting onto the right one? What if you’re late? You must’ve driven the station attendants mad that morning with your questions.

They kindly steered you towards the right train, notifying you when it was boarding. You stood at the platform, watching the tracks rattle as the train neared. There was momentary chaos as people boarded the train and you managed to find a seat by the window.

You busied yourself with looking up the address and the fastest route from the station to your destination. You hoped that the boys weren’t in a dire situation where time was of the essence. You didn’t have a developed mind palace like Sherlock had, you were still working on it. That would mean that with each clue, you’d have to go back and reference every book that you could think of that was in Sherlock’s messy bookshelves.

As London faded from view, you sighed, slumping back in your seat. What did the boys get into this time?

[kinglazrus]

The Haunting of Danny Fenton

Chapter Two: Unusual Clients

Word count: 2403 | [ffn] [ao3] | [previous] [next]

Tucker guides Valerie to a viewing gallery that overlooks the floor two storeys below. The door clunks and hisses as it closes behind them, sealed tight. Glass encases the gallery. The windows are angled outward so you can peer down without sticking your cheek to the glass. There's a slight distortion to it. Not much, but enough that Valerie knows the windows are thick and strong, built to take damage.

Tucker beckons her over to a door in the gallery's short wall, holding it open for her. It leads out onto an open balcony with a bulky safety rail along the edge, curving along the wall, only to dip into a set of stairs that winds all the way down to the bottom floor.

A loud bang startles Valerie. Instinctively, she lashes out, the dark bracer on her wrist expanding into an armoured glove. A compact gun pops out of the top, a bright red light building inside the barrel as it whines.

Tucker holds up his hands. "Whoa. A little jumpy, aren't you?"

Valerie huffs, masking her embarrassment with annoyance, and lowers her arm. The glove retracts, slithering over her arm, condensing back into a bracer. "I need to have good reaction times in my line of work."

"You and everyone else in Amity Park." Tucker leans over the balcony rail and calls out, "You all good down there?"

"Just dandy, kiddo! Thanks for asking!" Valerie immediately recognizes Jack Fenton's booming voice. He is, by far, the most vocal of all the Fentons.

"Let's go. I want to see what blew up."

As they walk down the stairs, Valerie scans the bottom floor. Two figures occupy the middle of the room: Jack Fenton, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit as neon as the sign outside, and Maddie Fenton, who boasts a much subtler, more pleasing blue. Along with their jumpsuits, they wear protective goggles, gloves, and boots. A smoking crater stretches between them.

Maddie pushes her goggles up and sighs in dismay. "Looks like another no good batch, honey."

"Damn. I'll pack it away with the others." Jack bends down to an open metal case at his feet. Nine glowing green vials rest inside, embedded in protective foam padding. The tenth slot is empty. Jack closes the case and tromps over to a rack against the wall, sliding it into an empty space next to dozens of identical cases.

When Tucker and Valerie reach the ground floor, the first thing she notices is a wide metal door tucked underneath the stairs, lurking in the corner of her eye. "Why did we take an elevator up and stairs down when there's a door right there?" Valerie glares at Tucker.

"Safety procedures. If the Boom Room is occupied, you have to enter through the top door," Tucker explains.

"Boom Room?" Valerie asks. The receptionist, Octavia, called the room the same thing.

"It's where we test our more volatile inventions." Maddie drags down her hood, shaking out her short auburn hair, and smiles at Valerie. "You must be the Red Huntress. I'm Maddie Fenton, but Maddie is fine." She holds out her hand.

Valerie takes it, giving it a firm squeeze and a shake. "You can just call me Valerie. Why do you test in here?"

"Well, it's not called the Boom Room for nothing!" Jack bounds over. Without even shaking Valerie's hand, or introducing himself first, he grabs her shoulder and turns her bodily toward the heavy doors. "All doors into the room are blast resistant. We only have these babies down here for hauling in the big buns, or when we're testing out ecto-powered engines. Can't exactly fit those through that tiny thing up there." Jack jerks his thumb over his shoulder, pointing back up the stairs. "But that's not the only thing! You see, when we built this place, we–"

"Jack, dear. Could you start the unlocking procedure? I think we've done enough testing for today," Maddie interrupts, gently touching Jack's shoulder.

"You got it, Mads!" He scampers toward the doors without a second thought. Valerie watched him go, her eyebrows knitting together as she puzzled over the sudden dismissal.

"Good call, Mrs. F," Tucker, hovering at Valerie's shoulder, says. "I don't want to miss dinner again. It's pot roast tonight." That only makes Valerie more confused.

"Sorry about that, dear. If you let Jack get going, he won't stop lecturing for anything." Maddie smiles softly. "As much as I love hearing my husband talk, I know not all people do."

"Oh, uh. No, it's fine. I actually am curious about the room." Valerie gives the metal panels stretching twenty feet up the wall a pointed look.

Valerie's statement ignites and eager glean in Maddie's gaze. "Oh! Isn't that just fantastic? In that case," she points over Valerie's shoulder, "do you see those vents on the wall behind you?"

Valerie turns and looks up. The first three vents rest inches above the metal panels. From there to the ceiling, a new row of vents digs into the wall at five-foot intervals, all the way to the top.

"Everything below those first vents is blast-proof, even the stairs. It keeps the rest of the building safe. To prevent the other walls from blowing out, those vents lead directly outside, into a courtyard in the middle of the facility. Up there," Maddie points to the ceiling, which is a wide skylight, "the windows can be opened using a control pad by the door. If a big enough explosion goes off, it gets directed up and out rather than through the rest of the building."

Valerie is impressed. Very impressed. She also thinks the Fentons are insane. "What are you making that could cause that big of an explosion?"

"Nothing, usually." Maddie's charming smile feels very out of place in this situation. "But right now we're working on an ectoplasm based strength enhancer."

Valerie wrinkles her nose. "You want to make ghosts stronger?"

Maddie laughs. "Don't be silly! This is for humans. We're just having trouble making a batch that won't explode when agitated." She gestures to the rack of briefcases. "There's no way to safely dispose of them, yet, so we keep it all here for now."

Thinking about it all, Valerie feels lightheaded. They're in the middle of the city. If all those cases explode at once, it will blow up half the block. Suddenly, she isn't so eager to explore Fenton Works anymore. In fact, she would like very much to leave the building now, thank you. But Jack's not finished with the doors. With few other options, Valerie pushes on

"You want to make... some kind of super-soldier serum?" she asks.

"Oh, dear, no. It's not for anything like that." Valerie waits for Maddie to elaborate, but all she gets is that same pleasant smile. It's sweet. Too sweet for how much pain she sees in Maddie's eyes. Valerie wants to ask more about the project, but that severe smile beats her curiosity back.

A loud siren rips through the room, one long shriek, accompanied by a flash of red light. Startled, Valerie whirls around, although she manages to keep her weapons at bay this time. At the doors, Jack has his hand on a biometric scanner. Something within the door clunks, the sound followed by a low hiss.

Valerie shuffles her feet as the door swings wide, edging away from Maddie and closer to Tucker. Nudging him, she grabs his attention and subtly tilts her head toward Maddie.

"It's a sore spot," Tucker whispers under his breath.

Valerie nods.

"I think it's about time we head home. Danny should be waiting for us, and I'm sure you want to know the details of the job," Maddie says.

Valerie nods again, too nervous to say anything. The Fentons aren't like any client she's had before. She's used to her richer clients being stuffy snobs, spoiled kids who heard something go bump in the night and got spooked. Sometimes there are genuine concerns. Malevolent ghosts that won't leave them alone. Lost souls lingering in places they shouldn’t be. It's always a humbling experience for her clients. Ghosts don't care how much money you have; they do whatever they want. And if Valerie wasn't there to save their asses, well... they're lucky she's there.

But the most glaring difference between the Fentons and any past jobs is skill. The Fentons are ghost hunters by trade. They dedicate themselves to outfitting people with personal ghost protection, be it basic defences or actual weaponry. They make guns and vehicles. They teach classes about ghosts. They're at the forefront of Ghost Zone exploration. Anything Valerie can do, the Fentons already do better.

Which is why she doesn't understand what they need her for. Surely whatever is going on with their son, they can protect him far better than she can.

—

Sitting in the living room of the original Fenton Works building, Valerie marvels at how homey it is. For fifteen years, this place housed what is now a world-famous company. Not even the whole building, but the basement. The rest of it looks like any other house—which makes sense because it is their house. But knowing that scientific history was made in the room below her feet makes Valerie giddy.

She bounces her knee and resists the urge to get up and pace. Right now, more than anything, she wants to go downstairs and see the original lab. Science had never been her forte in high school, and she barely understands that side of ghost hunting, but it fascinates her to no end.

A loud creak down the hall has her head snapping up. She starts to rise, then sits back down, driving her fist into her knee to keep her leg still. She wants to look professional and courteous, although by this point that image is already ruined. Tucker shattered all formal pretenses when he picked her up. Still, Valerie wants to try. So she sits up straight, setting her shoulders and raising her chin, and watches the corner expectantly.

Maddie and Jack step into view, but only them.

"Danny will be along in a moment. Things have been rough for him, recently," Maddie explains. She and Jack move to the opposite side of the room, stopping on either side of a comfortable looking armchair.

"While we're waiting for him, can I ask what exactly the job is? Your request was vague." Not just vague, it had been devoid of all useful information. Two days ago, Valerie got a call inquiring about her services, how much she charges, and how long she would be available. The voice on the other end hadn't been Maddie's or Jack's. Now that she thinks about it, it was probably Octavia calling on their behalf.

"For a few months now, Danny has been experiencing a minor haunting," Maddie states bluntly.

Valerie's blood runs cold. "A haunting?"

Jack nods, his expression grave.

"For months?" Valerie continues. "But that's..." Completely unprecedented. The longest haunting on record is thirty-four days. In Valerie's two years of official work, and her four years of unofficial experience before that, she only witnessed two hauntings. The first victim lasted a week before they were possessed. The second barely lasted a day.

"We've got good defences here, but they're designed for more tangible ghosts," Maddie says, an ironic twist in her grim smile. "Haunting Shades are much harder to keep out."

"And you can't drive it off?" Valerie asks. "You of all people should be able to. If you can just find the Shade the next time it visits–"

Jack silences her with a cold look. "You think we haven't tried that?"

Right. World famous-ghost hunters. Anything she can do, they have already done better. She's confident in her skills, worked hard to get where she is today, and, from time to time, deserves a little of the arrogance she feels. Sometimes, however, that means she forgets some people have worked much harder and gone much farther than her.

Maddie and Jack Fenton are two of those people

"Sorry," Valerie says quietly. Who is she, who has never been able to fight off a Shade before, to shame the Fentons for the same fault?

"No need to apologize. We've all got our moments." Jack beams. Valerie almost has whiplash from the complete three-sixty in personality. "This Shade's a slippery one. Even when it's here, we can't find it."

Maddie takes over for her husband. "We've got people working on that. Before Danny's haunting started, we were already working on a new ghost deterrent aimed at Shades. A business partner of ours has been heading the project. That's why we need you."

"For what, exactly?" Valerie asks.

"There's a week-long conference Jack and I need to attend. If all goes well, we could make a breakthrough in the anti-Shade project. But we can't bring Danny with us. Long trips aggravate his condition."

Valerie barely resists the urge to ask about said condition. She will see his condition for herself in a few minutes, but she can't help it. Danny doesn't photograph well, and the few pictures of him post-accident reveal very little about his person. The same morbid curiosity that grabs hold of you when you see the aftermath of disaster takes her now. She's not proud of it, but she feels it, nonetheless.

"We want you here as insurance. We don't think anything will happen, but we'd rather not leave Danny alone with everything that's going on," Maddie finishes.

Distantly, the stairs creak.

Valerie nods slowly. "Okay. I understand. I'll take the job."

"It'll be like a vacation for you! Our Danny's a lot stronger than some ghost. He's putting up a hell of a fight." Jack punches the air. There's a familiar glint in his eye, the same look Valerie gets from her father whenever he talks about how far she's come. Seeing it makes her smile.

"What does Danny–" Someone clears their throat, interrupting Valerie. Her head snaps toward the noise, her eyes finding the newcomer immediately. Pallid skin, sunken eyes, slouched against Tucker, Danny Fenton stares back at her.

"Hey. Valerie, right?" His voice is faint and hoarse.

Doubt pools in Valerie's gut. The smile vanishes from her face. Whatever confidence Jack has in his son, she doesn't share it. Forget surviving the week, she doesn't think he'll live through the night.

[ciestessde]

NOT My Hero Academia: Part 1 – Ch.8

Iida manged to change direction at the last second, and Dark Shadow was out and between them and Bakugo now, ready to block an attack or push Team Uraraka into the air.

"OHHHHH?! IS LEAVING YOUR UNIT REALLY ALLOWED?!" Sero's tape came and saved Bakugo before he could touch the ground. "It is here, on a technicality!!" Midnight replied to Present Mic, "As long as your feet don't touch the ground!"

While Teams Bakugo and Uraraka squared off, Present Mic's commentary washed over the auditorium, "BOTH THE DOGGEDLY PURSUED FIRST PLACE TEAM… AND ITS DETERMINED PURSUERS ARE NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT! LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE CURRENT POINT SPREAD…" The screen updated to show the team rankings and their points. Izuku -- and All For One, through his cameras -- noticed another team pass behind Bakugo's. A hand reached out… "HOW ARE OUR TEAMS DOING AFTER SEVEN MINUTES OF PLAY? ...OHH?!

"NOW WAIT JUST A SECOND…! BESIDES URARAKA, CLASS A'S NOT LOOKING SO HOT… WHAT HAPPENED TO BAKUGO…?!" "Too simple, really. Class A," said the owner of the hand. Bakugo spun, "Give that back! I'll freaking kill you!!" "He got us!" cried Mina. "When Midnight announced the first event, it didn't take a genius to realize they wouldn't be thinning our numbers that much in a preliminary."

The rider who'd grabbed the headband smirked and glared condescendingly at Bakugo and his team. "It wasn't much of a stretch to imagine they'd be letting a good number of us advance to the next event. Forty or so seemed reasonable." A rumble came from behind team Bakugo. It was another Class B team! "It was the perfect chance to hang back and observe our soon-to-be rivals' quirks and tendencies. So it's only fair that we ended up placing more modestly."

"The whole class was in on it…?" said Kirishima. "Well, not everyone, but that wouldn't have been a bad idea… Instead of aiming for some fleeting first place, like a horse going for a dangling carrot." Bakugo's otherwise stony face twitched. "Ah, but you're already a celebrity, aren't you? The victim of that sludge incident! I'll have to ask you sometime. How does it feel to be known as the kid who needed saving?"

"Kirishima… plan's changed." Bakugo was radiating doom. "Before we go for Deku… I've gotta murder every last one of them…!!"

.

'Class B… They threw the qualifiers and planned for the long game!' Izuku thought, impressed. 'They want to prove Class B's supremacy. But from that, I can guess that they're not necessarily dead set on targeting me…!! Maybe this won't be too hard to evade-!' But at almost that same moment, as Present Mic announced they'd reached the halfway mark-

-Team Uraraka was approached by multiple opponents. 'Or maybe… it won't be quite that easy. We've stayed still too long!'

"Looks like this won't end without a fight…" Tokoyami said, "They're really gunning for us, Midoriya." "No. We're halfway through. We've just gotta keep moving!"

Todoroki gave orders as his team approached their target. "Yaoyorozu, prepare our defense. The insulator too." "Right!" "Kaminari. You…" "Yeah, I got it! Just stay alert!" Kaminari warned.

At that, Kaminari screamed, announcing his special attack for the audience of Pro Heroes, "Indiscriminate shock. 1.3 million volts!!"

All the teams nearby were stopped by the sudden shock, Dark Shadow useless against the bright attack. Todoroki took advantage of that. "Less than six minutes left. No turning back now." He lowered a staff of ice to the ground. "Sorry. Just hang in there." All of the frozen teams' feet were now literally frozen to the ground! As they passed, Todoroki grabbed another team's headband, "I'll be taking this."

"Tokoyami, Iida, get us out of here!" Izuku cried. When Dark Shadow managed to break the ice around their feet, Todoroki tried to freeze them again. But Iida was too fast. Todoroki then tried to block their escape, creating an arena of ice, but Dark Shadow launched them over the wall, higher than anyone had thought they could go.

.

Kurogiri joined All For One in front of the screens. "He's doing well so far." All For One nodded, agreeing, "Although nothing spectacular, it will keep him in first place. His team will run, other teams will close in, and they'll run again." Hesitantly, Kurogiri commented, "You seem… dissatisfied." "On the contrary. I'm simply eager to see further results."

As the competition went on, Todoroki's team was particularly persistent in chasing Team Uraraka. Already holding one of the top spots, they seemed determined to come in first. And getting the ten million point headband was the only way of doing that…

.

After being humiliated by the Class B team, "Team Monoma," and glued in place by yet another team -- Bakugo was looking for revenge. Before they could make it to the offenders, however, the score board updated, and Present Mic's commentary blasted through the auditorium again. "WITH JUST ONE MINUTE LEFT, TODOROKI'S GOT THREE HEADBANDS, BUT URARAKA'S TEAM STILL HOLDS FIRST PLACE!! TEAM URARAKA'S MANAGED TO EVADE TODOROKI, NO MATTER WHAT THEY'VE THROWN AT THEM!! HAVE WE FOUND OUR TOP FOUR TEAMS FOR THIS EVENT?!"

Bakugo looked at the score board. Deku's team were still in the lead. Good -- he could take their points himself! That stupid pebble… How was he making it this far?!

… He would fix that.

Below them was Team Monoma, the bastards, with 1360 points. Then Todoroki with 990, and Tetsutetsu in fourth with 940. His team had 0 points. But not for long.

"Second place, huh? Seems too good to be true," Monoma was saying, "Let's focus on keeping what we've got." "Wait just one stinkin' minute!" Bakugo shouted. Monoma looked over his shoulder at them. "Persistent, aren't you. That sort of tenacity is…"

"Get back here, Bakugooooo!!" Kirishima shouted. Bakugo had launched himself through the air again. "Tsuburaba! Guard!" Monoma yelled. "Got it!"

One of the guys holding Monoma up took a deep breath and blew out. Bakugo came to a stop in midair. "Ha ha! How d'ya like that? It's an invisible wall!" said Tsuburaba. Bakugo just pulled his arm back -- and smashed through it, grabbing at their headbands. "He got two of them!" yelled Monoma.

"TEAM BAKUGO'S STOLEN TWO, PUTTING THEM IN FOURTH PLACE!!" Sero pulled Bakugo back to them, as Todoroki moved up to second place on the score board. "A LATE SHAKE-UP IN THE RANKINGS! THAT'S THE SPIRIT OF YOUTH FOR YA!!"

"Damn… DAMMIT!" Monoma cursed. "Alright… It's fine. We're in fifth! And Kendo's not going anywhere, frozen like that…" He adjusted their remaining headband. "Right! Just have to guard this one with our lives…"

"Give us some warning before you jump!!" Sero chided Bakugo when he'd landed back on their horse. "But now we're guaranteed to move on…" said Kirishima.

"I AIN'T DONE YET!!" "Huh?!" Sero gaped at him.

"I'm not settling for some half-assed first place!!" Bakugo, more energized than ever, was banging on Kirishima's hardened head. "I couldn't brace myself going at it alone. So move!!" They sped up; Bakugo's excitement was contagious. "WE'RE TAKING OUR POINTS BACK. AND THEN THE TEN MILLION!!" 'I'll make that useless Deku realize he's just a PEBBLE in my path to Number One IF IT KILLS ME!'

"Soy Sauce Face! Tape, now!!" Bakugo lifted his left leg out of the way. "My name's Sero!!" Even as he said it, he taped the ground near Team Monoma's feet, already knowing what Bakugo had in mind. "You missed," Monoma stated smugly. "Raccoon eyes!" Bakugo lifted his right leg out of the way now. "Melt a path for us with that liquid!" "It's Mina. Mina Ashido!" She sprayed the ground beneath Sero's tape.

Sero reeled them in and, as they sped passed- "BAKUGO!! ABSOLUTELY MERCILESS!!" -Bakugo ripped the last headband from around Monoma's neck!

"WHAT A PERFECTIONIST! ANYTHING WORTH DOING IS WORTH DOING RIGHT!! WE'RE NEARING THE END OF THE GAME, NOW!!"

Switching gears immediately, Bakugo turned in search of his main target, "Next up! Deku and Todoroki!!" "TIME'S ALMOST UP. LET'S COUNT DOWN. HEY, EVERYBODY SAY… 10! 9! 8!" Bakugo spotted Team Uraraka with only 6 seconds left. He launched into the air without hesitation.

But… "-TIME'S UP!"

.

All the teams stopped moving, and Bakugo went crashing to the ground.

"LET'S SEE WHO THE TOP FOUR TEAMS ARE RIGHT NOW! "IN FIRST PLACE, TEAM URARAKA!!" 'I almost can't believe how well things are going so far,' Izuku thought to himself, as Uraraka hugged him, 'Although, I'm actually… even more scared of the final event because of it!'

"IN SECOND, TEAM BAKUGO!!" Bakugo cursed and screamed.

"IN THIRD, TEAM TODO… HUH?! WHOA!! TEAM SHINSO?!" Izuku looked around, then spotted that purple-haired guy who was talking to goggles-girl earlier.

.

It was just after he'd finished forming his team for the Cavalry Battle…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Heh heh heh… Yes, you're in first place. You sure do stand out!" Izuku heard someone say from behind him. He turned- "-Team up with me, Mr. First Place!!" "Whoa, too close!!" 'The girl with the hover boots?!'

"I'm Mei Hatsume, from the support course! I don't know you, but I could be useful to someone like you." She blabbed, heedless of anyone around her aside from her target. "Joining with you means I'll inevitably be right in the spotlight!! And then, inevitably, my supercute babies… will be seen by the industry big shots. They'll have to take notice of me and my babies!!" As she talked, she just seemed to get more and more enthusiastic.

"But wait -- there's more. This could also be advantageous for you." She pulled out some gadgets. "In the support course, we develop equipment to make heroes' quirks easier to use! I've got plenty of my babies here, and I'm sure you'll find one or two that-" Izuku spoke loudly, raising his hands to cut her off, "-Sorry, but I already formed my team!" She froze. "Ah! But…" He wanted to say something nice -- she had actually WANTED to team up with him. Even if it was just for his points… "I thought those hover boots you used back in the race were awesome! It's just…" She smiled, seeming to take the rejection surprisingly well. "I get it. You wanna work with your friends."

She got up close to his face again. Izuku stepped back. "But mark my words. Someday, you're gonna need my babies. And you'll come crawling, begging me to build you the most awesome equipment anyone's ever seen!" Her tone wasn't hostile, just filled with certainty and determination. "Mr. Quirkless Wonder!"

She turned and walked away. Izuku saw a purple-haired guy approach her and heard him say, "Wow, those gadgets of yours are awesome! Can I see one?" "Sure-!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"WHO SAW THAT TURNAROUND COMING? WHO EVEN SAW IT HAPPEN?!" 'Yeah… When did that happen…?' Izuku had been keeping an interested eye on the score board. 'But I was distracted in those last few seconds… Must've been then. Wish I'd seen that, though!'

"… IN FOURTH, TEAM TODOROKI!!" "No surprise there," said Uraraka, now sitting on the ground, exhausted.

.

"THESE FOUR TEAMS WILL PROCEED… TO THE FINAL EVENT!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Beginning]

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Read my original book, Crossroad of Infinity for free right here on Tumblr, on my website, or on AO3!

[awesome-fandom-reference]

Partners

ReaderXaizawa

Warnings: violence, fighting, blood, cursing, sexual content.

Chapter 1

There you were on a nightly crime watch guard. You couldn’t sleep knowing you start your new teaching job the next day, so rather than toss & turn all night, you decided to gear up & put in practice what you’ll be teaching.

You preferred working at night, most of the civilians were asleep & a lot less pressure of having people who have nothing to do with a scene making it their business.

You sat on a fire escape keeping watch as you saw two people running through the alleyway carrying many electronics with them.

“A common robbery, no biggie” you thought to yourself.

You jumped into action to stop the thieves, & as they noticed you, one of them stretched out his hand at you, shooting bullets from his fingers.

You quickly activated your quirk turning your arm into a blade & deflecting the bullet.

The thief fired again but to his surprise nothing came out of his fingers.

“These were my criminals to catch.” A raspy voice said from the shadows.

A silhouette swung out of the darkness & tied up the two men.

“Well clearly you weren’t doing a good job. They were getting away.” You answered back.

“My stealth plan was working just fine until you intervened, letting the entire block know you were here with how unsubtle you were.” He said back seriously.

“Are they caught or not?” You snapped back annoyed.

The long haired hero made a growl as he bound the men with a special gadget & wrapped his scarf back around his neck again.

“Here take ‘em in. I don’t need the extra attention.” He said to you gesturing towards the bound criminals.

“& have to fill out all that paper work for you? I’ll pass.” You replied As you climbed onto to the ledge of a building & made your way back to your apartment. Leaving the long haired vigilant smirking at your response.

Chapter 2

You did everything you could to hide the fact that you didn’t get good sleep the night before, it was your first day & you wanted to make a good impression, unfortunately you have never been good at hiding your tired face.

You were at UA high, starting a new job as a teacher in offense & defense strategy’s.

You made your way to meet up with their principal. You didn’t know if it was your tiredness or the feeling of being a part of UA that distracted you, causing you to not watch were you were going & trip in the hall. You turned as you laid on the ground to see what caused you such a fall.

“Who the hell leaves a fucking ugly sleeping bag in the middle of the hall?” You said to yourself, at the sight of the bright yellow bag.

No time to waste with trivial things, you got up & went on your way, just glad that no one was around to witness your embarrassing moment.

You met up with the principal, an adorable little creature with a soft voice, who pointed you to the room in which you were to teach.

The day went on & you taught various classes, with a mix of theory & practical. All in all you had a good time & the first day jitters quickly subsided, & before you knew it the school day was over.

You began to pack up your things when you heard the door to your class open.

“Hello, I would like to hear a general report on how my class did with your subject.”

“oh, of course. Which class?” You said as you turned around to find the Jet black haired man with the scarf you had captured criminals with the night before, standing in front of you.

“Class 1A”

Chapter 3

Recognizing the man in front of you, you couldn’t help but point it out.

“Hey, you’re...”

“The fucking ugly sleeping bag.” He said, not letting you finish your sentence.

“Huh? You saw that?” You said confused.

“I was that.” He said monotone.

You could feel your cheeks flush red in embarrassment as you put together what had happened earlier.

“Sorry, I didn’t notice... I didn’t mean it like... wait, why were you laying in the hall?”

“A profession like ours doesn’t leave a lot of time for a nights sleep, as you know. Now please, I don’t have time for small talk; tell me the report on my class.”

“I don’t have time for small talk.”

You said & walked out of the class.

Chapter 4

“What an ass hole.” You thought you yourself as you stormed off.

“Entitled prick. Oh I’m too busy for small talk. We’re all pro heroes, we all got things to do. Tired ass looking motherfucker.”

You marched off to your apartment & let your anger out by practicing your knife throwing skills.

The next day you woke up not sure if you were slightly more rested or fueled by pure spite & rage. It felt like a good day to teach offense techniques in a practical way.

Your first class that day just so happened to be 1A.

“Of course it would be.” You thought to yourself.

The class walked into the practical training area, & you were shocked to notice the audacity of the tired looking teacher to show up behind them.

“I can see we have a surprise visitor joining the class.” You said in a low voice as he walked in.

“You didn’t have time to give me a general report, so I figured I would just see how my students are doing myself.”

“Oh I didn’t know I would be evaluated today.” You said sarcastically.

“Don’t be silly, I’m sure you’re perfectly capable of teaching, that’s why UA has you on their faculty. I’m here to evaluate my students.”

“Fair enough.”

You turned & proceeded to start the class.

“Okay kids, gather around. Today we are going to be learning offense moves. As you know, my name is (YN), also known as (Your hero name), & my quirk is blades; I can turn my appendages into blades on command. I also like to enhance that by practicing knife & sword training.”

You went on to explain & demonstrate different attacks & how they would be useful for fieldwork in battle.

“Any questions?”

A boy with dark green hair who had been intensely taking notes raised his hand.

“Is there anyway you could show us this in a realistic example? I just want to understand clearly how these moves could be used realistically when someone has a good defense up.”

“I’m sure you guys will get the hang of it once you practice one on one with each other.” You said.

“But we won’t really have a good idea on how to practice it with each other unless we see how it’s done with someone else.” Said a student with yellow hair with a black lightning bolt going through it.”

“You do have a point there. Iida, right? Why don’t you come up here and I can demonstrate.”

“But miss, we are just students. Surely our defense skills won’t be up to par with your offense, thus not giving a realistic expectation of what we are to face as pro hero’s.” He said with a knife hand motion.

“Oh I know! You can show us with MR. Aizawa!” Said a pink girl.

“Well, if it’s for the good of the students education.” Aizawa said with a grin.

“You’re on.” You said back.

Chapter 5

Aizawa walked up to you, he didn’t take his eyes off you & you didn’t take your eyes off him.

“Ready?” He asked smiling cockily & putting on his goggles.

“Been waiting for this.” You replied with a half smirk.

The alarm went off letting you know the fight had started.

You reached your arm forward in an attempt to strike him, but him jumped away & dogged it. He was now watching from a ledge he had pulled himself toward with his scarf.

You took a couples of knives out & threw it where he was posted. He jumped away again, but this time swinging toward you.

You waited for him, ready to strike when he came your way, but as soon as he did your baldes failed you, causing the impact of him kicking your arm to push you down.

You were on the floor & he managed to land on you, pinning you down & immobilizing you with his scarf.

Your blades were failing, you were stuck. You kept trying helplessly anyway, then suddenly the sharpness of your arm ripped you free. Your blades were back as you managed to not only rip your binds, but cut his right arm, making him unstable & allowing you to jump on top to begin your offense; but suddenly your blades were gone.

“His eyes, they’re glowing red.” You thought to yourself as you managed to notice up close.

In a split of a second you grabbed a knife and threw it at him. Your aim being compromised cause suddenly your blade was back.

“The red glow was gone. He blinked... I get it.” You thought.

You stopped trying to use your quirk. You threw three knives at him at different intervals as you jumped behind him.

Out of his line of vision you leaned in with a kick, turning your leg into a blade, cutting at his ankle & pushing him down. You were now keeping his limbs down with your legs & one arm at his wrists.

You took out of special pocket knife, & held it at his neck. The excitement of gore gleaming in your eyes, only to be dimmed out but the feeling of aizawa striking at your face with his head, & elbowing your neck. Before you landed against the ground, he threw many spikes to where you would fall.

As you fell back you managed fling your special pocket knife at him, giving you a blinking second to activate your quirk & turn all your limbs into blades.

You were cut up all over your torso & face but you managed to minimize the damage to your limbs by falling on their flat side.

You jumped up, blood dripping down you face. The one thing you could tell for sure, this guy sure isn’t going to go easy on you.

You chuckled cynically to yourself. “Finally, just like I’ve always wanted.” You growled as you wiped the blood steaming down your temple.

He came running towards you.

“Let’s get even.” You said.

You shattered some glass towards his directions He jumped away but still got a few cuts.

You jumped towards him engaging in hand to hand combat. He blinked, letting your blades come out, you cut away a chunk of his hair.

He tried to jump away but you pulled at his scarf, then you tugged at the ends, choking him.

He kicked you off, but you managed to keep your balance. Spitting blood you smiled. You hadn’t had competition this intense in a while, & you loved it; the trill of being on your toes, not being able to predict what comes next, the confrontation of blood running through your veins, & above all the challenge.

You smashed a piece of concrete, & threw it at him. He jumped out of the way, but turned around to find you next to him, you took you finger as a blade, cut his goggles off & sliced at his eyes.

“Try erasing my quirk now.”

Tears of blood coming down from his face, he fell to the ground. You felt a sense of victory.

You turned around to explain the lesson to class 1A, but to your surprise they were not there anymore.

You felt a tangling at your legs & then you fell to the ground.

Aizawa pounced on top of you & held a throwing star to your neck, blood shot eyes staring intensely at you.

“Never assume victory, & never ever turn your back!” He growled.

“You mean as you have now.” A booming voice said.

Aizawa was pulled off of you, & you were carried off the ground.

“I think this lesson has gone far enough.” The booming voice said as he carried you both.

“All might.” You said.

Chapter 6

All Might took you both to the nurses office where Recovery girl healed you up.

“Look at you too! What have you gotten into?! This is going to take a while.”

She kissed you both, yet you still had to be bandaged up & lie in bed for a couple of hours to rest up.

Luckily the being together after beating the shit out of each other wasn’t as awkward as it could’ve been, since aizawa fell asleep almost instantly. You on the other hand were worried.

This was your second day at UA & were caught having a petty fight. Surely this wouldn’t be without consequences. Finally your dream job & you blew it.

Eventually your resting time was up when all might came in to inform you that there would be a faculty meeting.

You were nervous out of your mind, but aizawa seem so calm. Maybe it was cause he had more years of teaching backing him up & a good history, YOU on the other hand were new & this is the impression you give?! You were screwed.

You walked in to a room full of teachers sitting around a table & principle nezu in the middle.

“Welcome in.” Said the soft voice of the principal.

You and aizawa walked in and sat next to each other. The room was quiet for a second, then the principal began to speak.

“As you all may know, we are gathered to discuss the incident between YN & mr. Aizawa. All might, if you could please inform everyone your involvement.” Nezu said.

“Right. Well I was on my lunch brake in the teachers lounge when Midoriya ran in & explained to me what was going on. As I went to see for myself, I saw the rest of the class outside the teachers lounge looking concerned. They told me that they were getting a demonstration that seemed to have gone too far & were worried for the well being of the teachers. By the time I went in you both seemed very beat up & frankly at each other’s throats.” Toshinori said, without sounding accusatory & careful to not step on anyone’s toes.

“As faculty members we should be leading examples of self control & responsibility when it comes to our quirks.” Said cementos.

“It does worry me what impression this situation is giving the students.” Nezu said calmly.

“It’s unacceptable that the students were acting more responsibly than the teachers who are in charge of the class!” Said Kan.

“If you’ll all excuse us, but there was nothing irresponsible about the events that happened.” Aizawa suddenly spoke up.

“Miss YN is an exemplary teacher who had the situation under control. Her subject is about teaching techniques in offense & defense that are required as basic for a pro hero in field work. As you all know, miss YN did not hold back as neither did I, & that just goes to show the quality education she will add to UA.”

You started wide eyed at Aizawa, in disbelief in the way he was talking about you in front of the staff. Could it just be to save his own skin? It couldn’t be, he could do that without saying how good you are for UA.

“Eraser head, what are you talking about?” Kan said upset.

“Miss YN gave a true demonstration of what is to be expected as pro hero’s & what they should train to live up to. If the students can’t handle what that looks like, then frankly they should rethink their career.

I plan to have a stern talk with my class, since they left class & were not dismissed. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.” Aizawa said sternly.

“Well that clears things up. I have full trust in Aizawa’s word as he has always proved to have things under control & never fails to educate exemplary students. Plus I too understand what it’s like to get carried away with a demonstration.” Nezu said giving a quick sip to his tea letting out a small cynical laugh.

“This meeting has been quite fruitful. Everyone can return to their activities.” The principal said.

Chapter 7

Everyone got up from their chairs & left to resume their activities. Aizawa seemed quite stoic as he got up & walked away with a stern posture. You were still in disbelief & taking in what had just happened. When you realized almost nobody was still there, you snapped yourself out of it & quickly got up from your chair & quickened your pace to catch up to shouta.

“Mr. Aizawa!” You say catching up to him.

He stopped his pace and turned around “hmm?” He mumbled.

“I just wanted to thank you, for what you said back there in the meeting.”

“It wasn’t any favor, any teacher who is willing to teach their students the reality of a situation no matter the cost, shouldn’t be punished.” He said, & then continued to walk.

“I know, but still thank you, I know you didn’t have to do that.” You said catching up to him.

“Like I said, it wasn’t any favor. You earned that yourself.” He said stopping briefly & then continued his way.

You were left there pensive. “Maybe this guy is actually okay? Or nice even?” You thought to yourself, puzzled.

That night in your apartment you sat on your window sill, looking at the glow of the city as you sharpened your blades.

You had mixed emotions you were trying to straighten out.

“He was such a jerk when we met; but maybe his just one of those stubborn people. He came to my class uninvited; but maybe he genuinely just wanted to see how his class was doing. He literally fought me in front of everyone; but he never underestameted me. Was it all for himself? The students? Me? All three?” You thought to yourself.

“Ughhh this is confusing.” You said our loud giving an extra strong sharpen to one of your knives.

“I guess I still have a lot to learn about him.” You thought.

You put the knife & looked at the view outside your window. Recovery girl had told you to avoid hero activity for a bit, so you stayed in that night.

“I’m glad there are other hero’s to keep this place safe.” You said as you heard sirens from a distance & saw the lights of vehicles in motion.

“Other pro hero’s...” You thought.

You quickly got out your phone & remembering Aizawa’s hero name, you searched him up.

“Huh, there’s not really a lot on him.” There went your attempt to try to learn more about him.

You browsed through only to find very limited official pictures of him, & a few of sightings of him in action at night. You read how he avoids the public eye, & different opinions on why; but in the end all those were just speculations & opinions, no better than your own at the moment.

“I guess the only way to truly understand him is to get to know him.” You thought.

You kept looking outside your window, wondering if he was resting as recovery girl said, or out somewhere in shadows of the city. You couldn’t help but feel a strange fascinating towards him.

For the next chapters click here:

[typinggently]

While scrolling through the tag I’ve seen your post about the casting choices for The Batman , where you said you hope they won’t downplay the costumes (particularly the riddlers) and now I’m curious what your opinion on them is now that we’ve seen a trailer? Cause on the one hand it’s clearly not the classic costumes but on the other ‚riddler and catwoman but they’re on a budget‘ is kind of. A choice.

Sweetheart! Thank you for your question!! Honestly, I’m just buzzing about this whole topic and it was a delight to sit down and force myself to put my thoughts into words.

I have to admit that I usually avoid trailers because I always fear that they’ll give away the scenes and I won’t be as excited when the film rolls around but this time I simply couldn’t help myself, I had to watch it 🦇♥️ Also I get super swept up in the action when it comes to those things. Things go “boom” and “flash” and I go “ahh” and “wow”, I’m very easy. Didn’t even recognise Colin Farrell.

But all that aside - I rewatched it just now and Catwoman definitely looks great. The whole “I hope they keep the costumes from the comics” concept doesn’t really apply to female characters in the same way, anyways, I just thought to myself after revisiting that thought. Their original costumes are usually just sexualising, sometimes to a ridiculous degree. I have no problme with that being toned down a little for a more “realistic” feel. (And since catwoman’s costume isn’t particularly flashy and kitschy to begin with, I feel like it’s rather easy to not miss the mark completely, if that makes sense?)

But with men, there’s this whole “we can’t have any fun” vibe. Or, alternatively, “we can only do the joker”. (By the way? I actually really liked how completely off the shits the L*to-Joker costumes were. That was so fun imo, it was completely ridiculous.)

Regarding Riddler - I mean, I do get that they’re going for a more “realistic” look but I have to say, I feel like it might work really nicely. I’m still sad we apparently don’t get any green :( But also, I could imagine that they have to avoid the Joker-isms, and thus decided to go for a look (and maybe a general vibe) that isn’t as clowny-hysterical. Thus no skintight suits and big questionmarks. I didn’t really consider that when I made that first post, I think. And also - they do probably feel the need to set themselves apart from the Jim Carrey Riddler, too. So it all makes sense from a costumee director’s standpoint, I completely get it. And from the little hints we did see, we might not have lost all of the funkiness. I love his handwriting. I love the card.

In the end, I feel like it all comes down to vibes. How well composed is the universe, how do the different elements fit together. Which sounds so abstract but basically, I just judge things by how exciting the world they present is. And in this context, I do like his costume, because it has such a gothic, pseudo-realistic vibe to it? It’s the same with Bruce (I could scream) - the eyeliner?? But also - the cape really did it for me to be honest. It seems to be light fabric, which for some reason has me out of my mind. The contrast of his chunky boots and the light fluttery, useless cape has the same vibe to me as Riddler’s “realistic” get up with the coat and gloves topped off with? is he wearing those diver’s goggles?! what is that? Realism but make it slightly grimy and off the shits?! I have to say I could definitely get excited for it. Rip to my dreams of funky green outfits, but if this is a Noir Batman (in contrast to, like, the polished-functional, high-tech Nolan Batman), I could 100% get excited about it. Which is to say, I’m already excited.

Also can I just say that Mr Little Miss Sunshine seems to be so nice for that role? I’m really buying it, just based on the trailer. I’m excited for it, his voice is so nice.

Really, now I’m even more excited? Who knows what the actual film will be like, but I’m 100% willing to just let it do its thing and give it a chance. Let it play out as a spectacle, that’s all it really is in the end <3 🦇

(also please feel free to tell me what you think!!!! I'm always scared I'll soundlike an instagram influencer begging for engagement by asking questions but I’m genuinely curious <3)

[fatandnerdy30]

The Itsy Bitsy Spider 13

WOOHOO!!! Another chapter is done! I don't know where this story is going, but I want it to have some more cute small Peter fluff in it, so I'm probably going to deviate from the plot line a little bit, also to get more chapters in hopefully lol. As always, don't forget to comment because I love hearing from you guys!! Later!

Helen Cho stared at the boy for a moment, before she took action. "I'll need an X-ray of the his entire body!" The medical team nodded and burst into action. She directed Tony to one of the beds. "Put him there," she said. "Easy," she whispered as Tony transferred the boy from his hand onto the mattress just below the pillow. "Mommy! Daddy!" Morgan cried out from where she was being treated, trying to push the doctors away. "Hold still, sweetheart," the man treating Morgan said patiently, but the girl wasn't having it. "No! I need to see Peter!" the girl shouted. "And you will, honey. But, we need to clean your hands a little, okay? We need to make sure there's no rocks or glass in your cuts." He smiled at the girl and waited patiently. "You want to sit next to Peter?" Pepper asked with a soft smile.Morgan nodded at this, sliding off the bed that she was on and stood in between her parents. "Is he gonna be okay?" she asked. Tony nodded. "Yeah, Morguna. He'll be fine." "Okay. You know, he's like my little big brother," she said, shocking the two adults. "I really like him. I wish he could stay with us, but I know he can't. He told me about his aunt, and how much he missed her the day we played hide and seek." Pepper looked at Tony and the man nodded. "Well, when all of this is over, and he's able to go home, he'll be able to visit whenever he wants." Morgan's face lit up. "Really?" she asked, and her father nodded. One man brought a cleaning solution and two chairs over to Morgan and her parents. Pepper placed her daughter on her lap and watched as the nurse that was treating Morgan before was back with a warm smile on his face as he dipped the girl's hands into the warm solution. Another person brought the portable scanner and held it over Peter's body, snapping a few pictures of the boy's bones before handing it to Helen, who expanded it into a holographic form to get a better look. And she wished she hadn't. She hadn't seen someone this bad since Tony had battled the Hulk. One thing that caught her attention was that his ankle was already trying to repair itself, mending the bones where they were. That was not good. "Peter," she crouched down to see the boy on his level. "Your bones are already healing, but they're healing incorrectly, which is dangerous. I'm sorry, but we'll have to re-break the ankle and set it properly." Plus, she would have to figure out how the boy was already healing. "Without knowing your weight and height, we can't put you to sleep for this, but we can give you something to numb the pain if we have time." "Height is approximately three inches, weight is five point two ounces," Friday told them. Shit that was small. Tony didn't realize how small the kid was. "Okay, okay, we can deal with that.." he whispered. The boy shook his head with a groan. "Won't work," he ground out as a wave of pain hit him. "Scientists tried all sorts of drugs to put me to sleep, poison me, you name it. But I burned through everything too fast." Helen's eyes widened. What the hell had happened to this boy? "Okay, so we can't do pain pills. It will be over in a minute, Peter. Just bear with me, I'll try and be as gentle as I can. But, I'm going to have to cut the clothes you have on, though." She moved and towered over the boy, snipping what she had to of the clothing that was left, then, with her hands poised over the broken bone, she stopped. How was she supposed to fix this? She had never worked with such a small patient before and was afraid she would hurt him even more. But, she had to. So, steeling herself, the doctor moved the magnifying lens over the boy and gripped the small leg, feeling the small bones against her fingertips. Then she tried gripping the boy's foot, but it was too small. Someone then handed her a pair of forceps and she looked up to see Mr. Stark staring at her, his eyes clearly said he was worried.Steadily she took Peter's foot into the metal grips and flicked the tool a bit, hearing a 'snap' and the boy cried out and went limp a second later. Quickly she moved the bones into place. "Friday, give me an analysis," she ordered shakily. "All bones are connected," the AI said. "Heart beat and blood pressure is elevated, breathing is shallow but even." Doctor Cho breathed and went to setting the unbelievably small ankle into place, using two small blunt pins she was handed as a splint, then wrapped the entire leg in gauze. She repeated the process on Peter's wrist. "The shoulder will be tricky. Mr. Stark, hold him down for a minute." Tony nodded and placed a hand over the boy gently. "It'll be alright, kid," he whispered to the unconscious teen. Helen pushed on the boy's shoulder as much as she could, and the joint popped back into place, Peter let out a whimper in his passed out state, then quieted. Morgan, who had watched the whole thing, wanted nothing more than to comfort her friend, but her hands were being wrapped as well, so she just cried for him as the nurses started treating the smaller things that could wait and cleaned his bloody feet. "It's all over," the nurse told Morgan, his voice patient and kind. "It's all done. He's safe now." He smiled at her. Morgan glanced over at her friend on the bed, reaching for her father's hand, which gripped hers carefully over the bandages. "He'll be fine," Tony said, more as a mantra to himself. "He'll be fine.." Morgan looked at the boy's ripped and cut clothes when she remembered the gift she made for Peter. "Daddy," she whimpered when she reached into her pocket. "I..I made this for Peter..." She brought out the small cloth bag and with a wince, pulled out what looked like what the boy was wearing when they first found him. Tony gently took the outfit and turned it between his thumb and pointer, seeing the duct tape holding the legs together, the blue and red material evenly distributed through the arms and legs and the silver Hydra sigil gone. "This...this looks so good, Morguna. I'm sure Peter will love it." Morgan smiled. "I can't use needles, so maybe you or mommy can sew it." Pepper hugged her daughter tighter. "I will, baby. Come on, let's go get something to drink. We'll come back later when Peter's awake.. And thank you, whoever fixed Morgan's hands." The nurses and doctors smiled and nodded, watching them go. ~~~~~~~ Helen waited until Morgan was out of the room before turning on Tony. "Mr. Stark, who and what is this boy?" Her voice was angry, hateful. Tony shook his head, running his hand over his face. "I don't know what to tell you. He kind of...fell into my grasp one day. Little accident." He didn't want to go into detail with Helen. He trusted her medical judgement, but she answered to Fury. And he didn't want that man anywhere near Peter. At least not yet. "No, I will not tolerate that answer. Did you do this to him?" "No, definitely not," he denied vehemently. "I would never hurt a kid, you should know that." he said lowly. The doctor studied him with narrowed eyes before nodding. "Alright. We'll keep an eye on him overnight. You're welcome to stay with him, if you need to, but I will be in the room if you do." The man nodded, pulling his chair over and sitting. "Yes, I need to. You," he pointed to a male nurse. "You do Starbucks runs, right?" "My staff are not your personal errand boys," Helen snapped. "I pay them, so I get to order them to do what I want. He's not busy, are you?" The man shook his head. "See? It's fine. Friday will send you what to order." He set his eyes on the man, raising his brows. "Well? Go on, go, shoo." he waggled his fingers at the nurse and he practically ran from the room. "See what happens when you're above everybody's pay grade?" Helen shook her head and walked out, a frown on her face. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hammer was angry. No, he was more than that. He was absolutely livid. He'd gotten the best droids he could get with Hydra's help, had them boosted with his own weaponry, and they still lost! What was worse, one of the droid's also had the thing in its grasp! Adrian turned to look at the man as soon as Hammer walked into the garage. Toomes had anger  written on his face, a tool in his hands. "A kid?" he asked in a demanding tone. "Hydra wants us to steal back a kid from the Avengers, after Hydra did who knows what to him!?" The man had seen what the bot was after, the screen in his goggles, and he was still in shock, which had gotten his wings broken. "He's just a fucking child! I would say he's in better hands with the Avengers!" Justin just stared at him, giving a confused smile. "Are you saying you're out of the deal? Because, if so.." he pulled out his phone, slowly bringing it to his ear. "NO!" Toomes screamed, making Herman and Phineas jump. "I'm going to keep my family safe, so that means I'm not backing out. I'll go along with your plans...but this time, I'll be acting alone. NO help from you, you got it? You almost killed that kid, today. I won't have that blood on my hands." Hammer nodded and sat. "Okay, okay, I hear you. Hydra never said they wanted him back alive, but I think they would appreciate that he were living." Toomes glared at him. "I'll keep a watch on him and see when I can grab him. You stay out of it. Me and my guys will handle everything from this point on." He was going to get his family back, then live with the money he'd made and get out of this business. He had to if this is what it brought for them all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter woke to not so subtle pangs of pain and the boy's brows furrowed as he opened his eyes, rolling his head to the side. He winced from the bright light, hand going in front of his face. He felt the soft mattress shift and dip a lot. "May?" he asked, hope lighting his voice. "Sorry, kiddo," Mr. Stark's voice was closer than normal and Peter turned to see the man leaning his head on the bed, massive eyes focused on the boy closer than they'd ever been. "I can call Natasha in if you need an Aunt Hottie," he joked. "Ha ha," the boy groaned when he tried to sit up, holding his middle when his ribs protested, so he laid back down. "Where are we?" He looked at everything, taking it in and studying everything he could. "Med bay. You got pretty banged up out there." Suddenly Peter's eyes went wide and he tried to sit up again, struggling against Mr. Stark's finger that kept him down. "Morgan," he gasped. "How is Morgan?" "She's fine, bud. Just a few scrapes and bruises." They were lucky nothing worse happened to her. "That's good." He moved his shoulders and hissed when they burned. "Note to self, do not lift a child until I'm back to normal," he joked. "Oh yeah, I was wondering about that." Mr. Stark's head popped up and his finger moved from Peter's chest to his face, pulling his chin to look at him gently. "How in the hell were you able to lift a five year old, who is clearly at least one thousand times your weight?" The teen's nerves took over at the look the man gave him, then it hit him. Mr. Stark was busy with the droids to see what had happened. He couldn't really explain it either, actually. "I-I don't know," he answered shakily. "I really don't, Mr. Stark..." he shook his head, wincing when it caused him some pain. "All I knew was that she was in danger, and I had to do something." She was like his little sister, and he couldn't let the girl just fall to her death. "Hmm....I'm starting to agree with Steve and his 'tests', of the non sciency variety." "Does that mean I get to train with the Avengers?" the boy asked, excitement making his face glow bright. "Well, not exactly." Mr. Stark finally removed his finger when it looked like Peter was going to stay down.  "And, I know this is gonna suck, but you have to stay in bed for at least three days, just to monitor you before you're allowed to move on your own. The good news is you're allowed to be in your own room." Peter tried to argue that he was fine, but Tony wouldn't have it. "Not my call. Be mad at Dr. Cho, whom I agree with totally." He sighed. "But, all kidding aside....I want to thank ou for what you did. You saved my whole world back there." And, what he didn't want to admit to the kid, he'd almost lost a piece under asphalt. "And for that, I know you've been feeling cooped up, and I'm to blame for most of it. But, I think we can have a little leeway for you. Only upstairs in my suite, and in Bruce's lab, are you allowed on the floor to walk around. We will have a talk with Morgan, too. But, I think I can remember to look down through the night, and I'll have a reason to use those floor lamps I installed. I already built and installed a tiny bathroom in your room on your nightstand, as well as put one of the Avenger's tubs you liked so much there, too." Peter blushed at the mention of that. "Thank you," he mumbled, meaning it. It was amazing that he was finally going to get to walk around by himself without being carried, although he was sure Mr. Stark enjoyed it. He jumped and winced when the man clapped and stood. "Okay, let's get you settled and I'll let Morgan know you're in your room, okay? And I'm pretty sure Pepper wants to see you, too. Probably give you a big sloppy kiss. Lucky." He winked at the bandaged boy who gagged.

@letsbeinspiredby @sparrowrider @carttorchdeatth @6inchicon @ixlovexirondad

[readyplayerhobi]

Insert Quippy Title Here!!

; Deadpool!Jimin x Reader

; Genre: Smutty smut smut smu- okay there’s some fluff and crack too

; Word Count: Long..like my di- (8.5k)

; Warnings: Everything bab- (WOULD YOU LET ME SPEAK?!) oral sex (hola senor blowjob), masturbation (sweet baby grapes yes), anal play ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  crude language (what are you 12?), unprotected sex (stay safe kids!), spanking

; Synopsis: There is no synopsis. It’s just you...me...and a real good time sweet cheeks.

; A/N: This just came about because I talked about it with @yminie. Probably not as funny as I thought it was...there’s a plot if you squint somewhere. Supposed to be a drabble. Evidently not.

-

The living room is quiet until suddenly a figure jumps up from behind the couch, jolting in surprise as he turns round and catches sight of the reader. A black gloved hand presses against the red leather that covers his chest while the white eye circles of his face mask become overly exaggerated.

“Oh...you scared me there. I was just...cleaning...for dust bunnies. Behind the couch. Definitely not playing with tiny unicorn toys. No way. You’re dead wrong. And if you tell my girlfriend. I will call you a liar. A big...beautiful liar.” He moves around the couch in tiny, awkward movements before his hand flicks quickly as he throws something away.

The toy unicorns hit the ground with tiny plastic thumps but he lets out a high pitched giggle that distracts attention. “So...you may recognise me. I’m kind of a big deal. At least, I think I’m a big deal. You may recognise me from that super awesome comic series, or even the really, hugely successful films that have come out starring the incredibly handsome Ryan Reynolds. What a face, am I right?”

He sits down, grumbling slightly when one of the swords on his back catches the couch pillow before he throws it to the side and leans backwards, spreading both arms while crossing a leg over his knee.

“So...my story. I have many...many different stories. And this is a...a little one. A short one. Just for you guys. My sweet, beautiful, loyal people.” A kiss is blown. “My name is Park Jimin, and I’m one handsome motherfucker if I do say so myself.” His head tilts to the side before shrugging.

“A few things to make clear before we move on with this ‘totally-not-fanfiction’ story. Number one, if you’re questioning where the extra four inches went compared to Ryan Reynolds,” He shifts slightly and strokes his ass. “Prime Park ass, right here. Perfect.” Bringing his fingers together, he blows another kiss.

“Secondly, I cannot be held accountable if you fall in love with me. I’m sorry my darlings, but it just can’t be. Fourthly, I was born in Busan first - wait I’m not supposed to know that yet. Fifthly...is that a word? Wait...did I miss a number? Did I? Whatever. What was I going to say?” Everything starts to go black and he jerks around, complaining loudly.

“Wait, no! STOP IT! You come back here camera! DON’T TAKE ME AWAY FROM THE-wait I have to go so the story starts? Oh...okay, capiche.” He finger guns to the side before saluting. “Enjoy table fuckers. I LOVE YOU SPIDER-MAN!” He screams before everything stops.

-

The first time you’d ever met Park Jimin, he’d been regaling the room with a story about a fuzzy unicorn that had come into his room and given him a blowjob in the middle of the night. He’d been high at the time of course, but you’d come to learn that Jimin’s mind genuinely worked that way sometimes.

The scarred yet incredibly handsome man had an infectious personality that both exasperated and amused you, pulling you in while simultaneously making you want to push him away. He’d been a complete enigma to you, still was sometimes, and you often wondered if he was actually okay.

Yet despite the foul mouth he had on him, he’d proven to be a loyal friend to you once he’d let you inside those high walls. It had taken two years of friendship, with him scurrying off at random points and blurting out the most obscene comments, before you finally asked him on a date.

At the time, he’d been incredulous, pointing to himself frequently and asking if you were aware who you were asking out. He was loud mouthed and occasionally offensive, but he had a heart of gold and a little bit of insecurity to go along with it. How could you not fall in love with him?

Honestly, he probably only dated you for the first few months to see if you’d actually stay around or if he was going to find out that it was some big, elaborate prank. It hadn’t been, as you’d genuinely found him attractive and his personality infectious, despite the concerns from your friends and family.

And yet...once he’d realised that you were staying with him because of him and not some dumb bet you’d made with Yoongi, he’d lowered his guard with you. Maybe too much actually. He had odd habits. Like some weird overgrown cat, he’d started to leave you presents in your home. Teddy bears, gummy sweets...even a hosepipe, which had been bizarre until he had simply shrugged and said they were on sale at Home Depot.

You didn’t even have anywhere to use a hosepipe. You lived in an apartment in the city, which he knew about.

If anything, you often got the impression that Jimin didn’t really have many real interactions with people who weren’t his best friend. In fact, it was a constant surprise to you that Taehyung was friends with Jimin...because he was as normal as apple pie.

And yet the feeling that there was something special about Jimin had gone on unabated, He would vanish at the weirdest times, say the oddest things on the phone sometimes and he also had the most unreal skills when it came to games or anything sports like - even if he did whine like a soccer mom at a PTA meeting.

His distinctly odd behaviour, which says a lot given how unusual he behaves anyway, had meant that the revelation of his alter ego had been anti-climatic. Like getting excited to go for a meal at your friends house and then finding out you have to eat a salad, not exactly nutritious and about as filling as the dick you’d had on prom night.

Honestly, he was a bit of an idiot sometimes. You’d been dating six months when you found out, walking into his apartment with a box of pizza in your arms only to discover your frequently ebullient boyfriend half naked.

That, was not the unusual bit. He liked to walk around in his tight Spider-Man briefs, pointing out the cute cartoon face on them frequently before asking if you’d like to touch his dick. Or his Spider-Man toys. So no, being half naked was not the bit that had made you raise your eyebrows, even if your boyfriend was insanely ripped for a ‘delivery boy’.

No, it had been the red and black leather suit that he’d been tugging on, one arm already inserted before he’d frozen in place. Your jaw had dropped at the sight, eyes going almost comically wide as he stood awkwardly, the famous mask with two black areas under the white eyes staring up at you from the couch.

“Listen, let’s be honest. This is not the weirdest thing you’ve caught me doing.” He’d stated bluntly, his tone very calm for someone whose girlfriend was finding out his super-alter ego. You’d gone to argue with him, placing the box of pepperoni pizza on the side table and stepping closer before stopping when he raised his hand.

“Remember that time I got so high I tried to smoke a cat’s tail? Or the time you caught me eating Play-Doh because Taehyung swore to me that it was edible candy? Which it wasn’t, the fucker. I had the worst shits for a week. Or that time you found me trying to suck my own di-” You’d held your own hand up then, eyes goggling before you’d simply sat on the couch and opened the box.

“No, you know what? You’re right. This is definitely not the strangest thing I’ve ever found you doing. Carry on Mr Superhero. I can’t guarantee there’ll be pizza waiting whenever you’re done.” You’d mumbled around a slice, moaning softly at the delicious taste of rich cheese combining with smokey pepperoni.

Jimin had stood at the door, his mask grasped in a tightly fisted black leather gloved hand while a look of childish petulance had taken over at the sight of you eating the pizza. “Not fair. You know I love the pepperoni from Jimmy’s! This is unjust torture. This is illegal. I’m calling the United Nations!”

He’d stormed out then before running back in and grabbing a slice, shouting out loudly that he loved you like Trump loved money and disappearing. You’d been in bed when he’d come back, neither of you commenting on his earlier antics.

As such, you’d slid into a strangely comfortable relationship that was open and honest. Your only requirement was that he a) not die, which apparently was like impossible for him or something, and b) not kill people in front of you. He’d bitched about it like a weak ass celebrity rapper in a feud looking for attention but accepted it.

He was still possibly the oddest person you’d ever met, but over the last 2 years of dating you’d gotten used to it. Which was why you were only mildly exasperated at his current antics in the middle of the restaurant you’d brought him to for your twice monthly date.

“Jimin, we’re supposed to be like...on a date. With each other. So like...why are you staring at those pictures of Spider-Man?” You ask, frowning as he sits frozen in place with his gaze firmly centered on the magazine. In it, there’s a double spread picture of Spider-Man in all his glory, his firm and toned body stretched out as he swoops through New York City.

Where he’d even pulled that from, you didn’t know, but he’d found it all the same. And Spider-Man was like catnip to Jimin.

“Have you ever...have you ever seen such beauty? It’s like...he’s like...if Chris Hemsworth had a baby with Chadwick Boseman and then that guy had a baby with Chris Evans and then that guy had a baby with Lupita Nyong’o and then THAT girl had a baby with Ji Chang Wook and then-” You cut him off with a raised hand.

“I get it. It’s like a lot of beautiful people improbably had babies with each other to produce the most beautiful person in the world. You do realise, you have no idea who Spider-Man is right? He might be the ugliest person in the world for all you know.” You reason with him, running a finger along the printed image of Spider-Man’s stomach.

He looks at you with wide eyes before pointing at his own scarred face, causing you to scoff and roll your eyes at his self-deprecation. “Look at his thighs though. I wish I was in the Avengers. I mean...my god. Those thighs are like...works of art. It’s like...Michelangelo and Raphael had a baby and-” Reaching forward, you press your hand to his mouth firmly.

“If you fucking say the word baby one more time, I will stab you in the dick with a fork.” Beneath your hand, you can feel his lips pulling into a grin while his brows wiggle. Leaning back, you cross your arms over your chest and wait to hear what he’s thinking.

“Baby...I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing. Let’s swing by the grocery store after this and pick up a cutlery set. What’s your thoughts about egg cups?” Lips twitching, you look away as your head shakes exasperatedly. Honestly, you wonder how on earth he always has a quip for everything.

“Seriously though. Those thighs. I mean...he can jump as high as a building so they’re packing some punch. What I wouldn’t give to get my ribcage smashed in by him. He looks like he could like...crush a mountain between those big and juicy thighs. I want to be that mountain. I want him to crack me like an egg and then do it all over again.” He looks up at you with eyes that are wide, his pupils blown out and you bite your lip to stop laughing.

“Are you hard?” You ask, your voice almost flat with expectation and zero surprise. Jimin looks down at his own lap and rubs a hand over his crotch slowly, brow raised.

“My penis is erect. Yes. I can’t help it. He just...turns me on so much. I can use it on you if you’d like? Forget about fork play. What’s your thoughts on role play? In particular...have you ever considered wearing a Spider-Man cosplay outfit? Because...I think you could work it. And you know that I have a strap-on that you can use. On me. Obviously. Please. It’s my one fantasy.” He begs, crossing his fingers together as he begs you from across the table.

Your brow raises as you watch him in amusement. “I thought your fantasy was to fuck on the wings of an airplane when it’s at full height?” He had very strange fantasies.

He pauses with plump lips wide open and those brown irises becoming more visible as his excitement deflates. “That’s one of them. But it’s kind of hard to fulfill you know. People generally need oxygen at that level and it’s really cold. I’m into some kinky shit but...dead people is a step too far. Even for me baby doll.”

Sighing deeply, you pinch your nose with your fingers as you breath out slowly afterwards. Centering yourself, you look back up at him with a fond smile as you reach across and take his hand, squeezing tightly.

“I’m not Spider-Man, and I’m not into stabbing you with cutlery. Nor can I fuck you on a plane. But I can give you a really good blow job and hopefully mind numbing sex back at mine if you’d like? A little vanilla but...oh well.” His own dark brow raise up and he runs a hand through his dark hair.

“What about a little anal play?” He lifts his fingers and moves them to give an inch gap, his pink tongue poking through his lips. You raise a brow and poke at your cheek with your own tongue.

“Not really in the mood for that tonight babe.” Jimin rolls his eyes at that and mimics you exaggeratedly, causing your eyes to narrow. He catches it and holds his hands up placatingly.

“Not you. Me. Just...give me a little something-something you know? Please.” Sighing, you gesture to the waiter for the bill as you take a final sip of your water, smiling at him as you lean forward.

“Fine.” Jimin dances in his seat excitedly, his bright smile taking over his face and you laugh quietly. Paying the bill, you’d both agreed a while ago to alternate between paying which was why you’d chosen something particularly cheap today, you stand up and take his hand when he gives it.

“Let’s go fuck my ass!” He says out loud, causing the rest of the patrons of the restaurant to stare with wide eyes. Cheeks heating up at his loud comment, you groan and push him to the exit as quickly as possible.

“Do you have no shame?!”

“Does Tony Stark have too much money? Hell no! On that note, don’t you think it’s unfair that we don’t get paid for like...saving the world? I mean...it’s a public service you know. In fact, they even tried to charge me for breaking a store window. Excuse me! But if it wasn’t for me...they’d be dead!” Jimin continues on down the street, causing you to sigh good naturedly.

You spot a shortcut that would cut out at least ten or fifteen minutes of your journey between two buildings while he rants and gently tug him towards it. The closer you got, the more he slowed down until it felt like you were trying to drag a toddler.

Actually you were lucky, there had been occasions when Jimin had just gotten onto the floor and whined. You’d, literally, had to drag a grown man across the floor.

Looking down the grim alley with a grimace, Jimin hesitates slightly before looking back at you. His eyes widen almost comically before he pulls an overly exaggerated grimace, whining and stamping his feet.

“Do we have to go down the dark and scary alley with a completely unarmed and untrained woman on my arm? Or can we just go to the well lit street and get a taxi back home?” He asks deadpan, causing you to raise a brow.

“It’s just an alley Jimin, calm down. Besides, you have like...crazy superpowers. If we’re attacked, just fight them. And you can’t die either.” He scoffs at that as he follows you, kicking at an empty can petulantly as his thumbs hook onto his belt loop.

“Yeah, okay. I’m just going to say that though I can’t die, it fucking hurts. Imagine your neck being snapped and then having to re-snap it back into place! Sweet baby Jesus and all the disciples, it’s like a pain you’ve never known. And you never will, because it will kill you. And we’re not testing that okay?” He mutters, causing to chuckle lightly at him as you wrap your arms around one well built arm.

“Is someone scared of the scary alley?” You pout to him, sticking your lower lip out almost comically. He gasps theatrically and places a hand on his chest daintily, leaning back to give it maximum effect.

“Moi? Scared of a creepy alley that is obviously going to be filled with enemies that I have to defeat because that’s how stories with superheroes go? Don’t be silly. I’m just annoyed at the poor plot choice here. That plot hole is so big, I can almost fit my dick in it. It’s almost like this story is being written by an amateur fanfiction writer.” He glares at some unseen figure in the sky, causing your brows to crease together.

“I’m going to elect to ignore that bizarre comment.” You mumble, tugging him forward when you can see the end of the alley.

Sudden movement from behind a dumpster has you freezing and you watch as a guy stands up, holding a knife out at you both. Jimin lets out quite possibly the world’s loudest groan at the sight, throwing his hands in the air.

“Fucking really? Really? This is...ridiculous. Come on General Fucknugget, just...lay off it tonight. I’m on a date with my girl and I’m going home for banging sex. No, you’re not invited.” He rolls his eyes, shifting his weight onto one leg as he eyes the man grumpily.

The guy sneers in response, waving the knife between you both as he grunts out. “Gimme your valuables. All of it. And your money.” Jimin mutters to himself softly, something about lame plots and superhero origin stories.

“Dude, you’re totally lucky I’m not in my suit right now. Or you’d realise this is a bad idea.” Your boyfriend tries to placate him, admirably holding onto his snark and temper given that he’s in the presence of you. But the guy ignores him and lunges forward, shaking the knife even more violently.

“Give it to me, or I’ll cut you!” At that, Jimin pauses and snorts out loud before eyeing the guy.

“Wow...scary. Did your mom write that? I mean...I doubt it...she was being a lot more creative when my dick was in her last night.” He sneers, baring his teeth at the mugger while his fingers curl up into fists.

At that, the guy gives a snarl of his own and jerks forward once more. “I’m gonna cut those pretty eyes right out of your fucking head while your girlfriend watches, then fuck her too.” You watch with wide eyes, gripping onto Jimin’s shirt to hold back before your boyfriend bursts into laughter suddenly.

“Oh geez. Oh man, so dark. You must be from the DC Universe! Tell me, is Henry Cavill still Superman or has he really left? I mean...after that performance in Mission Impossible, he should have just shaved off his moustache for that weird scene. Christ, it was not worth keeping that facial hair.” Both you and the guy pause, looking at each other almost comically in confusion before Jimin suddenly lashes out with a hard push that has the guy rocking back a few steps.

“Hey! Asshole!” The mugger shouts out, spitting on the ground to add to the waste that’s already littering it. Your nose wrinkles at the sight, until you notice another guy slowly coming forward from further down the alley. He too has a knife in his hand and you feel Jimin sigh.

“Oh look, it’s the weekly Dumbass Anonymous meeting. Fun. If your General Fucknugget, then is this Captain Cheese Dick? If I had my swords then you guys would be fucked!” He threatens, perhaps a little empty given he’s just waving his arms around now. The threat is obviously useless as they just laugh, eyeing the fact that he has no obvious weapons.

“Babe...do something already!” You whisper furiously, fully aware that Jimin could take out these two guys in only a few seconds. Compared to what he normally deals with, this is nothing! He turns around at that, ignoring the two and looks at you incredulously.

“Seriously? With what? Interpretative fucking dance? This isn’t Guardians of the Galaxy, I can’t win with a dance off. They have knives! And I have nothing but my dashing good looks and sharp quips.” He jerks his head at that, running a hand through his hair almost model-esque and you refrain from rolling your eyes. You’d only get eye strain from how many times you have to do it.

“I don’t know! A brick? There’s lot of them!” You say, pointing to the chipped bricks that litter the ground. He eyes them with disdain at first before those orbs light up with a sudden idea. Grinning, he wraps his arms around you tightly and spins you around before dropping you back down.

“Genius babe! It worked in the second film, so it’ll work now. Damn, who knew you were meta too?” You have no idea what he’s talking about but he picks up a brick and throws it in the air, catching it with ease. “Say hello...to my bricky friend.”

At that, he launches the brick at the first guys stomach and you shuffle backwards as you watch the guy bend over, wheezing as he holds his abdomen in pain. Jimin ignores him however and launches himself at the other guy, sprinting forward before suddenly sliding underneath him in a slick, impressive move. He spins around with his leg outstretched and the other guy falls over with a yelp as his own legs are knocked out from under him, the knife clattering to the ground.

With lightning fast moves, Jimin grabs the knife and slams the handle into the guys head, knocking him out cold on the floor before he’s up and moving once more. The first mugger is standing gingerly, with his knife held out in front of him as he tracks Jimin’s movements warily.

The corner of Jimin’s mouth ticks up and you can almost see the pleasure he gets out of this as he teases the guy, jerking his body one way before moving the other in rapid movements. After a few of those, he jumps forward and grabs hold of the guys arm, holding it out straight as he slams his body into outstretched part.

He’s moved in the direction the arm doesn’t bend and there’s a sickening crunch that ricochets in the alley, followed quickly by the guys sharp scream. Letting the guys arm go, Jimin pivots in place and performs the most perfect roundhouse kick to the head, leg straight and muscles straining from the effort, sending the guy crashing to the ground.

Picking up the fallen knife, Jimin drops down to straddle the guy and lifts it high in the air. “This is for threatening my girlfriend you ass. And for doing crime. Crime is bad! Did you never go to school? Or even watch a police chase programme? Or listen to Captain America?”

You rush forward at that, grabbing Jimin’s arm and making him drop the knife. He looks at you exasperated as you shake your head. “No killing when I’m here remember!” You hiss at him. He stares for a moment before groaning and letting his head fall back.

“You’re so lucky Mr Crime Man, that Batman over here doesn’t approve of me killing dudes around her. Each person I kill gets me a one week sex ban. So...in the name of my hard on, you are free to live another day.” He leans forward suddenly until he’s nose to nose with the mugger, whose eyes go wide as he cradles his arm tenderly. “But if you do anything again, I’m gonna make you get real acquainted with my swords. Remember the name, Martha and Stewart. Because they’ll be the last things you ever se-”

You interrupt him suddenly. “Really? You named your swords Martha Stewart? Oh my god. I’m dating a fucking nerd. I thought you called them Scarlett Johansson?” The words are said with just a tiny, read - a lot, of sarcasm and Jimin grits his teeth as he glares at you.

“Babe. I’m trying to be scary here. Can you criticise my sword name choice later? And they were, but I got the feeling you didn’t like them being named after someone so beautiful so I changed it. Anyway, not important!” He hisses before going back to the mugger.

“Right yeah. Blah, blah. Scary threat. Tell all your friends that Deadpool is watching for you. Dick ass.” He stands up at that, bringing up two fingers to his eyes before gesturing them back to the guy menacingly as you both walk down the whole alley.

You pull his hand away as you sigh. “Stop doing that. What are you? Ten?”

Jimin snorts as he wraps his arm around your waist comfortably, pulling you flush to his side as he wiggles his brows. “Inches yes. All the more to please you with baby. Kim Taehyung has got nothing on this Big Dick Energy.”

You don’t even both to answer him as you walk down the street to your apartment, just happy he didn’t kill a man in front of you. He always complained that your apartment was in a crappy area, but you often just pointed out that he lived in an abandoned warehouse in the middle of drug dealing gangs.

Your place at least had a bunch of stores nearby, so there were perks to that. Which he’d conceded to, acknowledging that the Korean store nearby had the best pre-packaged kimchi outside of Korea itself.

Probably a lie, but whatever.

Shoulder barging the door open, you let him into your place before closing the door and locking all four locks carefully. He watches with a raised brow, flicking the plywood door with a sneer. “I could break this with my pinky finger babe. It’d take nothing for someone to get in here, and then it’s welcome to Deadtown, population...you. And I’ll be unhappy if you die, just FYI. I may even go full on Celine Dion like in the film.”

Frowning at him, you move past him before going into the bedroom. He follows behind you, still complaining about your apartment and you turn around midway through stripping off, shirt thrown into the clothes bin.

“Do you want to get laid or would you rather keep sucking your own dick? Sounds like you’re doing a good job of it right now.” You state plainly, turning around as you unbutton your jeans. The sound of fabric moving from behind you tells you that he’s stripping off too, neither of you feeling the need to be too sexy right now.

“Maybe I wouldn’t suck my own dick if I didn’t do it so well.” He mutters and you spin around, crossing your arms over chest. It immediately pushes your breasts up and he pauses halfway through unzipping his jeans to stare.

“You have nice tits. Have I told you that before? Real...real nice. Come here sweet thing, let me suck on them. I know you like that.” He grins, pretty smile taking over. You wish he wasn’t so beautiful, it’d be easier to stay mad at him sometimes.

Rolling your eyes, you move over to him and let him wrap his arms around your shoulders, kissing your hair as his hands slide down your body to cup your hips. Slipping his fingers underneath the waistband of your panties, he pulls them back and lets the elastic snap against your hips.

The slight pain makes you hiss as you glare up at him, digging your own fingers into the firm meat of his hips. Immediately he’s grinning and pressing against your ass, pushing you into his crotch where you feel his hard erection already ready.

“I like that baby doll. How about you tie me up, slap me and call me Mandy?” He whispers into your ear, licking along the edge of your ear lobe before sucking it into his lips seductively. The feeling makes you shudder, eyelids fluttering shut before you register his words and pull back with narrowing eyes.

“Are you serious?” You can never tell sometimes with him.

“No, I’m Mandy. I just said.” Staring at him, you groan and pull out of his arms, shoving your underwear down your legs and stepping out of them before heading over to the bed. Sitting on the edge you point at him as he tugs off his own jeans and underwear, thick cock bouncing in the air once released.

You eye it for a moment with desire, thighs clenching at the sight of him ready and let out a soft sigh of excitement. He’s an oddjob, but Jimin has yet to fail you in the bedroom. Even if he did have the most ridiculous tastes in kinks and fetishes. And he had the most unbelievably hot body, toned and muscular in all the right places.

“I’m not calling you Mandy. Sweet Delilah, can we just fuck?” The words are sighed from you and you watch exasperatedly as his eyes light up at your words. Walking over to you with that seductive swagger, he stands in front of you and places his hands on his hips, cock waving proudly in the air while a drop of pearlescent pre-cum beads at the tip.

“Oh yeah, call me Delilah baby.” Groaning loudly, you shuffle backwards onto the bed and move onto your knees, reaching between your thighs and rubbing at your aching clit with experienced fingers. He watches for a moment, his eyes focused firmly at the centre of your body as you dip your fingers into your entrance, coating them in your slickness before toying with the excited bundle of nerves.

“I’m not calling you any names.” You glare, moving forward to grab the bottle of lube out of the cupboard. Reaching over, you grab his dick and ever so gently coax him forward before coating him in the clear lubricant.

Leaning forward, you lick along the hard ridge of the underside of his cock, the shaft jerking under your touch and he grunts quietly. Sucking the tip of him into your mouth, you take as much of him as you can in one go before slowly pulling back, hollowing out your cheeks to give him a crazy amount of pressure.

His hand grips at your hair tightly and you can tell he’s into it by the way his hips rock in tiny movements, his desire to go harder warring with his need to not hurt you. Moving off him, you gasp lightly for breath as you admire the string of saliva that drips off the end of his penis, smirking slightly before licking the sensitive skin of his frenulum.

“How about you just fuck me tonight? No weirdness.” You whisper, moving away and getting onto your hands and knees. Lifting the hand you’d lubed him up with, you rub at your needy clit in slow circles, coating yourself in more wetness while exciting him in turn.

His eyes are dark, the deep brown of his irises almost swallowed whole by the blackness of his pupils. A wet, pink tongue flicks out to lick at his plush lips and his decision is made, climbing onto the bed and positioning himself behind you.

“God, you have the tightest fucking ass. You know that? It’s like...like a fucking peach. Like I’m just...fucking a fruit. Not that I’ve ever done that. And if Taehyung ever tells you that I fucked a watermelon, he’s lying. It was a cantaloupe. And it kind of hurt.” He goes off on some weird tangent, somehow still hard despite the way his mind is thinking about distinctly unsexy things.

You’re about to complain at him before he slaps your ass hard, the distinct crack of flesh upon flesh heard before you feel the sting of the pain. Hissing, you bite your lip as a moan leaves you at the sensation and he chuckles.

“Good thing you don’t bruise like a peach though. I don’t like you bruised.” He mutters, stroking at the smarting skin gently. You feel his cock stroke up through your slippery folds, the tip of him rubbing against your clit in a pleasing manner before he’s moving himself upwards, letting the length of his cock rest between your ass cheeks as he thrusts slowly.

“I know you said no weird stuff, but what about if you finger my ass?” Jimin asks suddenly, sliding himself into you in one quick and hard thrust. The breath leaves you instantly as he does so and you choke on a moan, fists clenching the sheets beneath you as he begins to move in short and sharp thrusts.

“I can’t...reach your ass...idiot.” You whisper, each breath ending on a whimpering moan. He lets out a sigh that has absolutely nothing to do with the pleasure he’s feeling and you almost want to reach back and pinch him.

“Damn, it’s not fun when I do it. What about if you let me finger your ass?” He runs his finger along your ass crack as he says this, stroking the area where he’s sliding in and out to coat his finger in slickness before moving it back up to play with the puckered rim of muscle above it.

Rolling your eyes, you nod your head as let yourself fall to your elbows. Jimin lets out a whoop of joy, grabbing the bottle of lube from where you’d dropped it and coating two fingers liberally before letting some dribble down onto your ass.

“Oh baby cakes, we’re going to have some fun. Or I am. Hopefully you will too. If it hurts, tell me.” He says sternly and you know that he’ll stop if you ask. Jimin always does.

His thrusts slow as he wiggles a finger into you, coaxing your tight muscles to relax before he slips inside to the first knuckle. He makes sure to lean round, playing with your clit with his other hand as his hips move in shallow movements, ensuring you get as much pleasure as possible as he slowly works his finger inside.

Once you’re moaning and pushing your hips back against him, he lets out a chuckle and slowly begins to insert a second, stretching the muscles and causing the slightest burning pain. Your breath leaves you in a hiss from between your teeth and you close your eyes, keeping yourself as relaxed as you possibly can.

“That’s it baby girl. Oh...you’re taking daddy’s fingers so well aren’t you? Look at that tight ass, reminds me of that time I fucked Tae-” You jerk your hips backwards in a forcible movement, clenching as tightly as you can around his cock until he’s choking out a breath.

There’s a lot you’ll accept with him, but talking about another man or woman in bed while he’s balls deep in you is not one of them. “Message acknowledged. Don’t talk about other folk when fucking you. Sorry.” He doesn’t even bother to be funny, his cock twitching inside you while his breathing quickens.

The entire time, he’s been stroking at the engorged centre of pleasure between your thighs and you can feel yourself quivering from the combined stimulation of his fingers on your clit, in your ass and the constant pounding of his cock against your g-spot.

“Oh fuck, Jimin.” You whisper, the sound strained as your entire body jerks from the pleasure. He grins even though you can’t see him and murmurs soft encouragements until it’s all too much and he’s got you on the brink of falling over the precipice of pleasure into the pit of orgasm.

“If you want to cum...you know what to call me.” He whispers into your ear, biting at your shoulder seductively before licking along the sensitive flesh. Your mind is almost whiting out and you want to complain at him, but if you do he’ll just stop.

It takes half a lucid moment to remember what he’d said earlier and you groan in annoyance, the tight ball of pleasure in your stomach demanding the release that is so close. “Fuck me, please let me cum…Mandy.” You practically choke on the words.

“Oh sweet dimple crumpets, yes!” He yells out and the effect is immediate with his hips almost pistoning into you, everything suddenly amplified from the movement and the extra sensations cause you to orgasm almost immediately. The muscles in your body tighten and your inner walls convulse around him tightly, the combination of you engaging in his weird kink and your orgasm causing him to judder as he empties himself into you.

By the time you both finish, you lay on the bed tiredly and feel him cuddle up behind you. Muttering out a complaint, you push his hand away and point at the bathroom lazily, causing him to chuckle.

He gets up and walks away, turning round suddenly to blow a kiss to you with his non-lubed up hand. “I love you my sweet, beautiful girlfriend. My pumpkin pie. The love of my life.”

You don’t even bother to respond as he carries on, eyes closing as you doze off slowly.

-

It’s a week later when the highlight of Jimin’s entire life happens. You wish that you could say that it would be the day that you get married, but honestly it would probably still be today. Because today is the day that Jimin met his fantasy person.

You’d both been out in the city, going on a very casual date together when a sudden group of super villains had run riot in the main park. Why they’d chosen that park, and why that day, you had no idea.

But Jimin had made you hide out in a store nearby while he’d run off to go change into his suit. You’d pointed out many times that it was impractical to keep on underneath his clothes, to which he’d whined intensely about it being harder to get into a superhero suit that it was for a rich, white person to get sent to prison.

Either way, he’d gone running past five minutes later in his full outfit, the swords on his back and you’d had a moment to wonder where the fuck he’d kept them. His prison wallet?

It was only when the sound of explosions began ten minutes later that you’d run out of the cafe to the park, the unreasonable panic you’d had at the prospect of your boyfriend being hurt spurring you on.

The logical part of your mind had been telling you that it was fine. Your boyfriend literally had regenerative powers, and he’d discovered that it was nigh on impossible for him to die. But love and all that.

What you’d found however, was Jimin spinning and dancing around in a flurry of astonishingly beautiful kicks and leaps. He’d looked almost elegant, and you’d noted with surprise that he wasn’t actually killing anyone. Instead, he was using the butt of his swords to knock out the bad guys.

A particularly beautiful movement was when he’d ran straight up a tree, leaping off halfway up and twisting his body round as he flew over the head of his assailant. He’d slammed his sword down on the guys head firmly before landing on one foot. In a show of almost sensual flexibility, Jimin had leaned his weight so that he spun on his foot as soon as he landed, producing a hard kick that sent the guy flying ten feet before he lay there, unmoving.

It was only at this point that you realised the fight was over and you’d watched with eyes like plates as a few of the famous Avengers had all come to a stop close to Jimin. The metal suit of Iron Man whirred and clanked as he walked towards Jimin, but it was the red and blue blur that had you feeling giddy on behalf of your boyfriend.

Spider-Man dropped down from the trees, spinning fluidly as he webbed the guy who was down on the ground. Turning around, he let out a yelp as Jimin was suddenly in front of him, reaching forward tentatively.

“Oh my god. Oh my Betty White. Oh sweet Sandra Bullock. It’s you! It’s really you! Can I touch you? Not inappropriately, unless you want that. I’m down for that. My girlfriend knows. You’re my one cheat. You know, that one person you’re allowed to cheat with? You’re mine. She’ll be fine with it.” He mumbles out, his words almost gibberish in his excitement.

The superhero stares at him and even through the mask you can tell that he’s confused. A slow nod is all he does and immediately Jimin is on his knees, hugging the red and blue superheros legs as tightly as he can.

“Ji-What are you doing?” You call out to your boyfriend, watching as everyone suddenly looks up at you. Shrinking slightly, you wince at the intense stares of so many powerful people before moving towards Jimin slowly and carefully, stroking along his arm to let him know you were there.

“You know this guy?” Iron Man asks, his visor opening up and revealing the infamous face of the billionaire tech genius Kim Namjoon. He was beautiful, and beautifully loaded. Maybe you’d change your one cheat to be this guy. Jimin would appreciate the extra money for sure.

Stuttering, your hand moves to Jimin’s head and the feel of his mask confuses you for a moment. Biting your lip, you cough quietly before giving a slow smile to them all. Jimin would kill you if you blew this for him.

“I do. He’s my boyfriend.” At that, you note Hawkeye’s brows raise up in surprise, causing you to scowl. “Don’t look like that Robin Hood. He’s a good guy okay? Odd, but good.” You say defensively, causing him to hold his hands up.

“Oh well...thanks. I guess. We had it under control but...we appreciate your...help.” Doctor Strange states, walking up behind everyone while his red robe flutters dramatically in the non-existent breeze. You watch with fascination as he draws a few symbols that glow orange and crackle in the air before the ground beneath the bad guy nearby opens up, his body vanishing through.

Wow...maybe you might change your one cheat to this guy. He was Hot. With a capital H. Perfectly styled black hair that pushed up off a smooth forehead, a pixie-esque nose and a jawline to rival Jimin’s. Jimin always joked about this guy but...he was hot.

“Can I get between your thighs and you squeeze real hard? It’s always been a fantasy of mine.” Jimin says, his voice almost dreamy as he strokes along Spider-Man’s thigh. You’d be worried that the superhero feels uncomfortable, but he surprisingly doesn’t move away or discourage your boyfriend.

Still, you lean forward and give a slight embarrassed smile. “I’m sorry...if he’s being awkward. If you feel uncomfortable, feel free to push him away. He’ll listen, I swear.” You say.

The superhero shakes his head and gestures to him with a laugh. “No, it’s fine. Amusing actually. It’s a great story that I can tell others I guess. How many other people get Deadpool on his knees?” He teases and you laugh back, rolling your eyes.

“You’d be surprised. Or if you actually knew him, you wouldn’t be surprised at all.” The both of you ignore Jimin’s childlike gasp of wonder as he whispers about the fact Spider-Man knows his name.

Iron Man steps forward and gestures for Spider-Man to step back, which he does slowly and almost reluctantly. You’re half wondering if there’s a real chance that you could lose your boyfriend here, but Jimin surprisingly stands up and moves back, taking hold of your hand without any prompting.

“So...does this mean I can join the Avengers?” Jimin asks bluntly. “I mean...I’m kinda awesome and will probably outlive you all. Except Captain America. And Thor. And a few others. But still. I helped out right?”

Iron Man lets out an awkward chuckle, his lips curving up and revealing a beautiful set of deep dimples. Running his fingers through his hair, he sighs deeply. “I’m sorry, but we can’t let you do that. Despite the fact you’ve sent us like...three hundred postcards asking to be let in. You should stop that by the way, it’s just costing you money.”

Jimin stares in shock at the blunt statement and you run a hand along his biceps to try and calm him down. He barely even notices though and you can tell he’s pouting underneath the mask. "Whaddya mean I can't join the Avengers? Why not?! Is it ‘cos I’m not in the MCU too?" Namjoon looks confused before giving a placating smile and you wince slightly, fully aware that it’s probably just annoying Jimin even more. You don’t know why he’s bothering, the both of you know that there’s no way in hell he’d be allowed to join the Avengers. "Okay like...you're good...impressive. Very impressive The while not dying thing even if you’re cut into pieces? I will concede that is kind of cool and useful. But you kill people. Not cool." Jimin stares blankly at the superhero, before a brow raises slowly. "I'ma just point out your flaw here, RoboCop. How many people do you guys kill on the regular?" "None, that's the point." Hawkeye scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest. Your eyes note his incredibly built biceps for a moment and you take in his blonde hair, noting that he’s an extraordinarily beautiful man. Like wow. There’s no way Jimin hasn’t noticed that. But Jimin doesn’t react how you’d expect and instead simply glares at him before pointing. "Firstly, if you're gonna claim non-harmful methods than fucking Katniss Everdeen over here needs a new weapon and to chill with the murder sticks he fires. Secondly...how many buildings have you destroyed in your fights? Or cars? Or bridges? Or literally anything else. You literally have a freaking spy assassin, assassin!” He points over at Black Widow who makes an understanding face and shrugs.

Accepting the acknowledgement, Jimin turns back to the others and shifts his weight onto one leg, his hip sticking out while he rests a hand on it. “I fight mano a mano and I ONLY kill bad guys. No civilians. You guys...are murderers. Mur. Der. Ers." He turns to Spider-Man and takes his hand gently, stroking along the suited man’s hand while whispering. "Not you Spider-Man baby, you're an angel and you've never done anything wrong in your life, my sweet cupcake."

Spider-Man stares at him before slowing nodding, not even bothering to move Jimin’s hand. Which you find mildly amusing. Honestly, if Jimin managed to convince the guy for a threesome then you wouldn’t say no.

“Wait...that’s not...no we don’t. We aren’t.” Namjoon says, his plush lips pouting and you note the endearing dimples appearing. Sighing, he lifts a hand to rub at his eyes and you note the way his suit seems to melt away, leaving only tanned skin behind.

“Just...no. Thank you...for your help. Truly. But...no.” Jimin’s about to complain more but suddenly, the suited man’s visor flips down and the boosters on his hands and feet activate, jettisoning him up into the air.

The rest of the Avengers all follow suit in various ways, leaving Jimin clinging onto Spider-Man’s hand. “Spidey...baby...please don’t leave me. I’ll treat you good. I’ll treat you real good!” He screams as the hero awkwardly waves bye and webs away.

Your boyfriend stands for a moment, hands on both hips as he watches before he’s stamping his feet like a child. “Whatever assholes! Half of you die in the movie anyway.” He grumbles, kicking at the floor petulantly.

Sighing, you move over to him and rub at his back soothingly. “It’s okay baby, it’s okay. You can make your own Avengers. Only...with killing allowed I guess. As long as I’m not there.” Tugging his mask off, he gives you an incredulous look.

“Are you fucking kidding? Did you not watch the second movie? Hell no, I’m not making a team. Mommy didn’t raise no idiot. Someone with low sexual morals? Yes. Someone with a dubious sense of right and wrong? Maybe. An idiot? No.” You lean back from him and your own brows raise, causing him to sigh quietly.

“Not all the time. I don’t want another word about that stupid fucking IKEA bookcase. Why do I have to build things myself? I’m a mercenary, not Jesus!” Rolling your eyes, you walk away from him and head out of the park to go to the cafe and wait while he changes back so you can continue on your date.

He follows like expected, carrying on as if you hadn’t just ignored him and walked straight past him. “Get it? Jesus? ‘Cos he was a carpenter? No? I’ll work on it. What about Harrison Ford? He was a carpenter too, you know!”

“Go find your clothes wherever you threw them Jimin.”

“John Carpenter?”

“That’s his name, not his job.”

“Oh really? Damn. Do you think I can change my name to my job too?”

“I don’t think that’s what he did, and what would that be anyway? Mercenary Jimin?”

“Super Awesome Amazing Mercenary With A Handsome Face and Sharp One Liners Jimin.”

“...seriously?”

“You’re right, it’s not everything I do. Damn. I don’t think my passport can hold this much information.”

“That’s not what I...you know what. Nevermind.”

[red-river-rocknroll-request-line]

Braindead: A Fan’s Dissection

When I first saw this film a good number of years ago I was left dumbfounded. How could anything possibly be this good?? How could humanity top this film?? I wore it like a badge of honor: “I saw Braindead. You know it’s been rated as the goriest film of all time.” And all my friends in school were like “yeah, whatever.” I would come home from school, grab myself a Dr. Pepper, and sit down and watch it again. This obsession lasted for weeks—maybe months. It’s been so long I can’t really remember.

Point is: I adored this film the first time I saw it and I adore it even more now. This film is everything. It is—dare I say—Perfect.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Braindead (or Dead Alive), I urge you to find it and watch it immediately before continuing to read my break down of it. I’m going to spoil a lot of it in this review.

Is this a review? It’s really just me gushing about it. It’s off-the-rails, hilarious, super gory, and a total blast. However, I hope you have a strong stomach, cos it’s really disgusting too.

Anyway, let’s take off, shall we?

Let’s start with our main character: Lionel Cosgrove. He’s played by actor Timothy Balme in his first ever role. Lionel is a rather well-off young man who lives with his mother, Vera (Elizabeth Moody). He’s an awkward and shy boy; the first glimpse we get of him is him fumbling with a fruit display in a shop. Very soon after this, he spills a box of black licorice and pens all over the counter. Then very soon after that, he backs into a streetcar, nearly getting run over.

He’s super emotive/expressive and the perfect protagonist for this movie.

Now that I’m thinking about it, Braindead is really a coming-of-age film for Lionel.

Let’s dive a little bit into his backstory. He has a memory of nearly drowning at the beach and his father diving in to save him. Then, before his father could get out of the water, a “freak wave” comes along and pulls him out to sea, causing him to drown. Lionel is haunted by this memory, and very clearly feels partially responsible for his father’s death. His mother uses this guilt to get him to bend to her every whim.

Lionel’s mother, Vera, is extremely manipulative. The first scene with her she’s waving a carving knife around. In many ways she is like Margaret White from “Carrie.” Overbearing, mildly threatening, etc. She keeps Lionel at her beck and call.

At the end of the film, when Lionel finds out the truth about what really happened to his father, he stands up and confronts his mother. For probably the first time in his entire life, he stands up to her! Good for you, Lionel! See? That’s why it’s a coming-of-age film!

I want to switch over now to Paquita, who is played by Diana Peñalver. Paquita is actually the first of the main cast we’re introduced to in the film. She works in a small corner store with her family—we only ever see her father and grandmother, but Lionel mentions at one point in the film that she has a brother. Paquita is a young woman determined to find the love of her life. She is very outgoing and independent. She kicks ass in this movie.

One of the great things about Paquita is that she has a strong will. I feel like the stereotypical way her character could’ve been written (love interest) would be for her to be the damsel in distress. However, since our main character Lionel is such an awkward guy who doesn’t really act without reason, we need someone to prompt him to action. This is fulfilled mostly by Paquita throughout the film.

There’s a scene I like where Paquita comes over to Lionel’s house to return his jacket. Lionel, nervous as heck because “Mum” is just down the hall, tries to tell her that he can’t see her anymore. Brokenhearted, Paquita offers him a red rose before turning away. I like how the stereotypical roles are reversed here: she sneaks up to his window and she gives him a flower. It’s refreshing. It also shows how much of a go-getter Paquita is.

I guess I should back up a bit and clarify why Paquita is so interested in a punching bag like Lionel. Paquita’s grandmother does a tarot spread to see who the man of Paquita’s future is. Initially Paquita is disappointed that it’s not the delivery man that she’s been flirting with. However, after her grandmother reads that Paquita will have one romance that will last forever, Paquita becomes interested again. Her grandmother says she will recognize the man of her future by the “Symbol of the Star.” Soon after, Lionel comes through the door, spills the licorice and pens which fall into the shape of the star. After seeing this, Paquita starts pursuing Lionel, believing he is the man of her future.

Let’s get back on track with why Paquita is so cool.

When the movies kicks itself into 12th gear and the bloodbath starts, Lionel and Paquita get separated and Paquita has to defend herself. She hides in a pantry with a large knife and when tapped on the shoulder, she wildly stabs at whoever did it. Finding out it’s one of the partygoers, Paquita immediately tries to comfort and protect her.

I just think it’s great that there’s a good chunk of the movie where Paquita and a character named Rita are by themselves, barricading themselves in the kitchen and taking care of each other. Well, it’s mostly Paquita taking care of Rita, but still. It’s just two girls kicking ass together. Then later they tear Void’s legs in half and start batting away zombies with the legs. THEN later still when Lionel is in the lobby during the famous lawnmower scene, Paquita takes the body parts that come flying her way and grinds them up in a food processor. She kicks ass! She doesn’t need prompting, she doesn’t need saving… she’s a girl who knows what she wants and knows how to handle herself.

Also I love it when she spits in Uncle Les’ face when she rips his spine off and then smashes his head on the counter. Nice!

Speaking of smashing heads, I want to talk about how people are seemingly made of jell-o in this movie. Especially when people become zombies. Limbs can get ripped off easily, two heads colliding can make one explode, a whole body falling off a banister can cause it to explode in blood and guts when it hits the floor. It’s outstanding. And so cartoonish!

This whole movie is basically a really gory, really violent cartoon. The huge glass bottles labeled “Tranquilizer” and “Poison” with a skull and cross bones but uh-oh! It was actually Animal Stimulant! Ooooops! Lionel’s facial expressions throughout the whole movie, all the physical comedy… even the meat grinder in the kitchen is labeled ACME. Everything in this movie is about 30 miles over the top. It’s a love story, a coming of age story, a splatterfest, and a comedy all rolled into one.

I could keep going on and on about how this move is the holy grail of horror/splatter comedies, but I think I’ve gushed enough for now. And really, if you still haven’t seen it (I know it’s kind of difficult to get a hold of) after reading this review or whatever this is, you’re missing out. It’s so disgusting and fun! On top of that, it’s got a sweet little love story in it. ♥

Thanks for reading! Stay gory, stay fun!

EXCELLENT MOMENTS

- Gluing Vera’s cheek back on. I just love how she says: “Oh.” So benign. The scene of Lionel gluing her cheek back on her face looks so painful and it’s just like what?? That’s the best solution you had? Absolute gold.

- “Damn fine custard!” Euugh oh my god. The scene of Mr. Matheson taking a heaping spoonful of custard contaminated with Vera’s bloody puss into his mouth is scarring. In that scene, we, the audience, ARE Nora Matheson. Her eyes bulge and she covers her mouth to stifle a gag. Then she looks over in horror as Vera eats her own ear with a spoonful of custard. Poor Nora has to leave the room before she vomits. Some of the audience might want to vomit as well.

- Lionel coming down to the basement wearing like hockey goalie armor or whatever that is as well as a helmet, goggles, rubber boots, and gloves in hopes of protecting himself from “Mum” and Nurse McTavish. Of course Lionel falls all over the place and most of his armor comes off while fighting against the two zombies, but he lives somehow.

- Continuing with Lionel, I love love love all the scenes where he’s all unshaven and greasy as he tries to figure out what to do with the zombies in his basement. I love in the graveyard when he tranquilizes Void and just sits down with his head in his hands like “Ah Jesus, could this get any worse?” Like, he’s too stupid (or soft I guess) to just hack the zombies to pieces and be done with it. If he were to do that, this whole mess could’ve been avoided.

- “I kick ass for the LORD!” This was the scene that I saw on youtube and then immediately decided that I needed this movie in my life. It’s so out of the blue, it’s so silly. The benign and somewhat irritable priest at Vera’s funeral is SO READY for the rapture or whatever that when he sees zombies in the graveyard he jumps down on them and kicks the shit out of them (before tragically getting bit in the neck by the zombie’s head that he had kicked up in the air and then running and drop-kicking so hard that he goes flying and gets speared by a grave marker statue). Bless you, Father McGruder.

- Uncle Les’ murder spree. Honestly, as shitty of a guy Uncle Les is, he really knows how to handle himself in a zombie outbreak. He’s a sadistic wack-job for sure, but if it wasn’t for him, Paquita and Lionel would probably have twice the amount of zombies to contend with. Uncle Les hacks up dozens of them in the kitchen and then lights himself a cigarette.

- Lionel dangling upside-down in the lobby. There’s so much chaos going on in the house, and I love that it gets tied together in a sense when Lionel falls from the attic but is caught by some electrical wiring which, over in the kitchen, yanks Mandy and her lit-up head back into the wall. I love Lionel dangling uselessly in the lobby for a small portion of the movie. Paquita runs up to him and kisses his cheek, Void’s intestines in the attic try to pull him back into the ceiling, Uncle Les shoves him out of the way causing him to start swinging around… I love the chaos of it. I love it. I can’t get enough.

- “Party’s over.” Of course. The bloodbath. The holy grail of bloodbaths. Lionel throws the doors open holding a lawnmower in front of him. He revs it up and starts plowing through the zombies in the lobby. The scene is set to a waltz number as Lionel grinds bodies seemingly made of jell-o to a bloody mess. Limbs and blood and guts are flying everywhere. It’s amazing. I also love the scene where Lionel flips the portrait of the Queen around before he let’s out a battle cry and continues to puree the zombies.

Feel free to add your favorite moments too!

[silly-nonny-fics-are-for-fandoms]

Ski trips

Bakukami week, Day 8 (Part one) : Snow @officialbakukamiweek Summary: Class 1-A is invited on a winter trip to a ski lodge when Kaminari and Bakugo get trapped in a cave due to a small avalanche, and the class searches desperately to find them. Meanwhile, the pair are forced to talk about their feelings to get along without damage, and finding ways to keep warm together. Read on AO3 Small note: If you’ve been following my Bakukami week entries, you’ll know I like to post them close together. Bc today has 11 fics I can’t without being at risk for being marked as a spam blog so there will be larger gaps. Also 6k+

Skiing wasn't something the class of 1-A usually would associate with hero training if everyone had been entirely honest. Other than forcing them to use their quirks in the snow, which they could do at home thank you very much, there wasn't a point. Even Aizawa admitted as such.

"We're going on this trip because the principal is sending us, no other reasons. It's privately owned by UA, so you can't find it on a map, and don't bring your costumes. Some of you have been approved to bring some gear, but that is all." He'd explained, after telling them about the trip. They'd be going to a hot spring resort in the mountains and would need to take a plane to get there. Not a bus. He'd also told them there'd be a hot spring bath they could soak in and games in the rooms, which would be assigned the day before departure. No swapping roommates, under any circumstances. For some, this was an easy rule to follow, but for others, things wouldn't be so easy.

Such is the fate of Kaminari Denki, a useless bisexual with a heart filled with dreams of a Shakespearean romance. No, not that one, more like As you Like it, A Midsummer Night's Dream or his favorite, Much Ado About Nothing. A hopeless romantic at heart, he could sing about it in sonnets with expressive iambic pentameter. If he could attain such a love in which to express properly, of course.  

If only the person whom he crushed heaviest on didn't hate everything about romance, from Valentine's cards to things like cuddling and holding hands. In fact, he'd once heard Bakugo during a classic lit class assignment tell him how absolutely stupid romance books were. Still, a guy could hope, right?

Maybe this trip would be a good experience, a chance for them to get closer, especially if they were going to possibly be roommates!

"Oh no, Denki's got his thinking face on!" Ashido chimed, once they had returned to the dorms after school.

"Don't break yourself," Jirou shrugged, immediately on her way to her dorm room for some quality jamming sessions. Too much time with idiots.

Kaminari didn't say anything, truly, too lost in his thoughts to do so. What would he need for the trip? Well, that depended on who he was rooming with. The list would be in the common room, or so Aizawa said, and most of the class had already crammed around it. Some were cheering, like Midoriya about being with Shinsou, Sato with Kouda and Iida smiling with his pairing of Shoji. Others were already grouping, such as Aoyama and Tokoyami, who's personalities bounced off of one another as well as their quirks. Kaminari didn't have the heart to go over and see who he was rooming with, too deep in thought as he made a list of what he would need, missing Bakugo walking over to him with a scowl.

"Oi, you're with Shitty Hair. Don't infect him with your idiocy." He growled, snapping Kaminari out of his thoughts.

"O-oh? Am I with Kirishima? What about you, who are you rooming with?" Kaminari asked, his face red as he stumbled over his words. What? When the object of your current stupid crush is in front of you, looking as hot as Bakugo does all the time, then anyone would react the same way!

"I'm with Soy Sauce. Got a problem?" Bakugo glared at the other blonde, who shook his head indignantly. When Bakugo left, Kaminari running up to Kirishima; the only other person who knew--Who are we kidding everyone except Bakugo knew--About his crush.

"Eiji-" Kaminari said, holding onto the redhead's sleeve to help ground himself. Kirishima raised an eyebrow, wanting to laugh at his antics, yet also knowing the common room wasn't the place to do so.

"C'mon, let's go to your room to talk." Kirishima chuckled, Kaminari nodding with a bright red face. They made their way to the third floor, the electric blonde jumping onto his bed and covering himself with the blankets, hiding his face in the pillow.

"He's so hot- Oh my god he's so hot and he actually cares- Wait he called me an idiot what am I saying- But oh man the look on his face!"

Kirishima took his seat at the desk, letting the excitement and energy wear off. "Mind if I change, man? You snatched one of my shirts, so-" He said, seeing a thumbs up emerge from the blanket roll.

"Oh my god, what am I going to do, Eiji? He's gonna notice eventually, or I'm gonna burst!" Kaminari whined, his voice muffled by the pillow.

"What are you going to do? Man, you're gonna tell him! Pull yourself together and tell him! Fight your feelings! Win! Come out on top!"

"You sound like a movie character- But yeah! I'll just tell him! One problem, how the heck do I do that?!"

"You just do it, dude! Tell him straight out, 'Hey, Bakugo, I like you!' How hard is that?"

"Eiji, my dude, I love you but-"

"I'm but a humble, somewhat functional gay and you are a disaster, useless bisexual. I'm aware."

"I was gonna say you've got experience and I am a blithering idiot, but that works too."

Kirishima bust out laughing, his t-shirt in hand as Kaminari emerged from the blanket burrito he'd made, locking eyes with a grin. "Wanna go do some pre-trip shopping? I need a new jacket before we leave,"

"Yeah, some gloves wouldn't hurt either. Mine kept ripping." Kirishima smiled, his dazzling smile blinding the blonde, who blocked his eyes with his arms.

"Nooooo, it's too bright! Too hot! I'm melting!"

"C'mon, bro, you don't melt. Bakugo would've melted you a long time ago." Kirishima snickered, blocking the pillow thrown at his face.

Honestly, being seated next to Bakugo on the ride up could have been worse. Kaminari had been approved to bring his communicator in case of an emergency, and Bakugo was allowed his gloves and jacket from his costume. Those were the only equipment passes he knew of, but he hadn't bothered to ask. They spent their time, mostly, listening to their own music and ignoring each other, with Kaminari chatting with Kirishima and Ashido in front of him, and Sero and Jirou behind. As much as it pained him to admit, Bakugo didn't seem interested in things, watching instead as the fall leaves of Musutafu turned to light snowfall of the mountains. The air had chilled, Tsuyu only awake by the layers and layers of warm clothes she wore and Todoroki next to her.

Things were quiet with the class, Kirishima leaning over and whispering, "Did'ya do it yet? Did you tell him?" with a grin.

"No, not. Uh. Not yet." He responded, sitting back with a blush, glancing at Bakugo who wasn't paying attention.

"C'mon, man, you gotta tell him before the trip is over! Plus ultra, yeah?" Kirishima lowered his voice, knowing that if anyone overheard him uttering the last sentence it would amount in yelling which Aizawa would now be able to handle. Not today, not with the three day weekend they had ahead.

"You can't honestly believe this isn't training too, right?" Kaminari raised an eyebrow, "There's not gonna be any free time if Mr. Aizawa has his way."

"Can he do that?" Ashido whined, interrupting their conversation.

"Anything can be a training experience," Sero sighed, his grin shaking a bit at the thought.

"Well, we can stay positive and try not to think about it! Right Bakugo?" Kirishima grinned at the way Kaminari's face bloomed red, Bakugo only looking away from the window to glare and scoff at them. Honestly, Kaminari wasn't sure he was going to survive the trip, because hello aloof Bakugo, meet the love-struck Kaminari.

The mountain was really, really tall. Okay, maybe that's why it was called a mountain, from the Vulgar Latin 'montanea', but why did the word come from that? Why montanea? Why?

Kaminari had to stop his train of thought before it went off the deep end because there was a hot guy next to him who tried to talk to him and he was thinking about mountains. Well, the origin of the word-- No! Not again!

He frantically shook his head to attempt to stay focused, tapping on his leg in assistance. His fidget toy had, unfortunately, been left on his bed at the dorms. He'd been thinking about skiing and snowboarding, and the idea to bring the thing which helped him focus wasn't once which struck him.

"Oi, dumbass!" Bakugo yelled, snapping his gloved fingers twice in front of Kaminari's face.

"I'm here!" Kaminari said, the cold nipping at his exposed face and nose. They'd only been at the resort for a few hours, and most of the class had decided it was too late to go out to the slopes at this hour. At the time, Kaminari was about to agree, until Bakugo got up and announced he was heading to the slopes to snowboard a bit before bed. The look on Kirishima's face had been priceless, even as Aizawa warned them to stick to the trails and make sure they had their phones on them in case of an emergency and stick together in pairs of at least two or more.

Of course, only a few others joined them. Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami, Todoroki, and Uraraka. Everyone else, wisely, stayed inside. The wind was picking up, snow blustering around them.

"Right, like fuck you are. Everyone else has already started heading down, let's go!" Bakugo glared defensively, and Kaminari nodded. They put their goggles on, the path illuminated by the lampposts along the treeline.

With Kaminari's lack of experience in skiing and his diminishing vision in the snow, it wasn't likely that he would make it down as fast as Bakugo, nor with as much precision. After all, Bakugo was the best at everything. He managed to make wearing a helmet look cool, even.

It felt faster than they were actually going, instead of the realistic twenty or thirty it felt like sixty or a hundred, wind slamming against their faces and snow barreling down upon them. The tail end of Bakugo's run, flurries coming from his bright orange snowboard, continued to block Kaminari's vision so he had to stop, leaning to the right to pull a full halt, veering off the path without realizing and yelling as he tumbled to the ground, back crashing against the packed snow. His legs pulled in towards his chest as pain crashed through him, arms coming up to protect his face.

He wasn't supposed to let either of those things happen, he knew, but he couldn't think at the moment as he came to a stop, thoughts garbled and head spinning.

Distantly, someone called out to him, gruff and annoyed, but he couldn't figure out who said it and what had happened. All Kaminari knew was that it was cold, dark, and he wanted nothing more than to lay there and get his breath back.

"Oi, wake up! Don't fucking die on me!" The voice called, and Kaminari looked up from the snow he'd faceplanted in to see Bakugo standing next to him, having unclipped one of his boots from the lock for stability in the snow. His arms were crossed, the scratchy sounding fabric of his black and orange jacket and snow pants the only thing which let him know which direction to look. He must have tumbled far away, considering how the light from the slope was distant.

"I'm not dead..." Kaminari said, pushing himself up from the snow with a wince. His wrists tingled, nothing too bad but enough to let him know something was wrong if he'd paid attention. Now in a kneeling position, he sunk into the cold whiteness, Bakugo staring him down.

"Right. C'mon, unclip, we're walking back to the stupid path." Bakugo said with a hiss, Kaminari's bright smile a perfect opposite response as he followed directions, unclipping one of his snowboard boots-- He should be able to feel his toes, right?

"Do you have any idea how fucking lucky you are, dunce face?" Bakugo hissed, staring beyond the other blonde.

"I didn't break anything or hit a tree, so I'd say I'm pretty lucky!" Kaminari chuckled, his words slightly slurred.

"Turn around! Fucking idiot!"

Behind him, ten or so feet away, was a cliff of dark nothingness. Kaminari gulped, nodding and hurrying to unclip himself.

As soon as one of his feet was free, a rumbling came from behind them, and the ground shook, Bakugo taking action before Kaminari even realized what was going on. He unclipped his other boot quickly, telling the other blonde to do the same before grabbing him, a forceful wave of snow plummeting them down the chasm, off the cliff.

"Hey, has anyone seen Kaminari and Bakugo?" Kirishima asked, sometime around midnight, "Kaminari never came to bed, man." He looked out around the room where Sero, Uraraka, Todoroki, and Midoriya were playing cards, though it looked as if Midoriya was about to fall asleep on Todoroki's left. They glanced up at him, and Uraraka seemed contemplative.

"I've been out here the whole time, dude, I wouldn't know if they came back." Sero shrugged.

"Now that you mention it, Kirishima, Bakugo did say that he wanted to do a few runs before coming back. I'm sure everything's fine!" Uraraka cheered, putting a card down and saying something about hearts having been broken.

"Kacchan is always in bed early," Midoriya mumbled, sleepily nuzzling against Todoroki. Was he even playing cards?

"I never saw them reach the bottom," Todoroki said, seeing Sero having played the ace of spades and playing the queen of spades, to Sero's extreme anguish.

Four pairs of eyes set themselves upon the candy cane haired teenager.

"You never saw them reach the bottom!?" Kirishima exclaimed in tandem with a now very much awake Midoriya.

"Shou, that's the kind of thing you tell people!"

"Uh, we should probably tell Mr. Aizawa..." Sero suggested, looking nervously around the table. "They could've gotten into an accident or something."

"But Kaminari has his communicator, and they have their phones!"

Todoroki pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialing Kaminari quickly and receiving an immediate voice mail.

"Don't call Denki; for someone with an electrical quirk, his phone is never charged." Sero sighed, patting Kirishima's back to keep him from hyperventilating. Last time something like this happened, well, was back with Kamino.

"Oh my god villains might've- We gotta find them!!" Kirishima said, eyes wide and panic flooding his body.

"Call Bakugo first, Kiri, we have to stay calm," Sero said, patting the de-spiked red hair of his friend. Midoriya and Uraraka were attempting to explain why someone not coming down a hill when they were supposed to be was something to report to an oblivious Todoroki. Normally, this would be something amusing, yet it only served to heighten their anxiety as Kirishima shakily pulled out his phone and dialed Bakugo.

One ring.

Two.

Three.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep... "You've reached Bakugo Katsuki. Fuck off or call back some other time."

"Get Aizawa. Now."

Waking up in darkness was never the best thing in Kaminari's mind. It meant that it was too early for the sun to be out and therefore he shouldn't be either. Really, how hard is that to understand? So, when he woke up and everything was dark, despite the stinging of his wrists, back, and legs, he tried to go right back to sleep. The bitter cold nipped at his face and wet clothes, his pulse quickening, and Kaminari had a hard time keeping himself from sparking. Cold tended to cause electricity to go berzerk.

"Kaminari," Bakugo said to the other shivering teen, the space in the cave not allowing for much room away.

Golden eyes opened again to see him, palm lightly sparkling and allowing light to fill the space again.

"Yeah...? Where are we..?"

"We're in a cave at the bottom of the cliff. I dragged your ass here, the storm picked up."

Ah, that's why he was soaked. The avalanche.

"Right..." Kaminari sighed, sitting up and shivering as a wind blustered into their space.

"Both our phones are fucked, where's your transmitter?" Bakugo asked, crossing his legs and leaning forward, keeping up the low light.

"It's my earmuffs," Kaminari reached up to his hat, hissing with the movement of his wrist. He mostly ignored it, pressing his numb, gloved hand to the electronic device, but it wouldn't turn on. Kaminari made a confused noise, trying to activate his quirk properly but for some reason, couldn't discharge.

"Something up?"

"Yeah, I can't... My quirk isn't working right."

"Fucking great. Probably 'cause of the shitty cold."

Kaminari couldn't argue, keeping to his side of the cave. He was alone, with his crush, and Bakugo knew better than to explode in this situation. How the hell is he gonna function through this without confessing?

"Hey, Bakugo?" Kaminari said, "How long do you think you can keep the light up?"

"A few hours, in the cold. The gloves help, but it's not great."

"I can take over the light if you need a break?"

"Fuck off!"

"Do you think they're looking for us?"

"They probably haven't even noticed we're not there. Get your damn quirk in order." Kaminari scootched closer, Bakugo glaring at him. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"It's cold..." Kaminari pouted, his gloved hands reaching out to the other teen.

"That's what happens when it snows, why are you touching me?"

"Because it's really tight in here, so if I move, I touch you."

"Why..." Bakugo growled, the light increasing from his hand as it twitched, crackling becoming louder and heat radiating off of it.

"Why what?" Kaminari didn't fall back, even daring to get closer to his crush with a bright red face.

"Why are you so fucking nice?! Why do you want to be near me?! What the hell do you gain from it?!" Bakugo exclaimed, ferocity lacing his words in every sense. Kaminari blinked twice, head tilted as another gust of wind blew into the cave, freezing him to his core with a shiver.

"I don't g-gain anything..." He said, "Just a... uh... A friend."

"And why in the ever loving fuck would you want to be my friend?!"

Kaminari grinned, a heart-stopping smile which made Bakugo twitch, red rising to his cheeks and a large boom emanating from his hand.

"Because you're not as scary as everyone thinks. You're actually nice, kind funny, passionate about everything you do and say. It's. Uh." Suddenly, Kaminari's face got redder, and he fell back to cover his face, static causing his hair to fly up on end. It was pretty cute, or so Bakugo thought, but it wasn't the point.

"It's what?! God, speak up!"

Kaminari mumbled, shaking his head.

"Fucking- Kaminari!"

Another shake, more shivering.

"Denki Kaminari, answer me!"

"It's one of the reasons I like you, you- You ass!" Kaminari pulled his hands off his face, tears brimming amber eyes, and Bakugo's heart cracked. His quirk stopped. The light faded, and they were left in darkness and the sound of the wind.

"Alright, everyone!" Aizawa yelled, "Split up into groups, don't go anywhere dangerous without a teacher and keep your cell phones on! We're search and rescuing; once you find them, alert those nearby! Do not act on your own under any circumstances and keep your lights on!"

The class, as a whole, agreed and set off in their different assigned directions.  

"I hope they're okay," Kirishima worried, his red skis a stark contrast against the white powder.

"They'll be fine, Kiri." Ashido soothed, her smile brighter than it had a usual right to be. She was great at making people around her happy, even in perilous situations. "Besides, wasn't Kami kinda right?"

"Huh?"

"It did turn into training!" Sero interrupted, his smile and positive attitude a balm for anxiety. Kirishima couldn't help but laugh through his worries.

"If you're calling this training, then pay attention!!" Aizawa zoomed past them, faster than they had ever seen, expertly making his way through the treelines.

"Uh."

"Yeah, let's... Let's go..."

"That's what I've been trying to do!"

"Kirishima don't go jumping towards any cliffs!"

"Sero, grab him!"

"On it!"

"Our friends are in danger!!"

"We're kind of a mess, aren't we?"

"I mean we've known this since day one but yeah, we're a mess,"

"Let me go!"

"Holy shit Sero- He's actually dragging you like a dogsled!"

"We gotta chill out and keep rational heads, Kiri!"

"You really just said that to Kirishima of all people?"

If anyone had been around to witness such acts, they might have assumed this was the result of being without Bakugo, but no. No. These actions perfectly recreated the Bakusquad, especially as they planned to cuddle the crap out of the two once they found them.

"You... Like me?" Bakugo said, his voice a mere whisper above the roaring wind.

"Y... Yeah, I do. I-I have for a while, now." Kaminari's breath came in puffs, wavering as he lost feeling in his hands and trust in his vision, shaking and pulling in on himself to stay warm. Unlike his partner, his jacket didn't work as well as an insulator and at keeping him warm.

"I don't fucking get it- Why would you like me?!" Bakugo growled into the darkness, which slowly became illuminated by the electricity bouncing off of Kaminari. He couldn't focus it, instead, it spread around him and flowed freely, faster than ever because of the cold. It licked at the walls, buzzing and dropping the temperature around the shaking blonde.

"You... I..." Kaminari's vision blurred, slowly and he swayed, attempting to focus in on the other. "I just do." He whispered, lost to the winds as he fell forward, shaking wildly and losing feeling.

Bakugo's cracked heart shattered.

He reached forward to pull Kaminari against himself, the cold penetrating the generated heat by the jacket. "Holy shit, you're frozen..." Bakugo said, wrapping his arms around the shivering teen's form to assist in keeping him warm. Kaminari was barely present, curling up into a fetal position, clinging to Bakugo's jacket. Everything about him was warm, a blessing against the night air.

"You're going to be okay, Sparky," Bakugo grumbled, one of his hands finding a place against Kaminari's head, stroking through his hair. They'd probably be stuck for a while, but at least they could stay decently warm. "Keep talking."

"A... Ab-abo-about?" Kaminari's teeth chattered, all feeling in his hands, feet, and face being lost.

"Why the fuck do you like me? There are people like Kirishima who fit you better."

"Beca-because. Y-you're... you. You're l-loud, g-g-good-d, the. The best. Hot. Fun-funny-y, honest-t..." Bakugo hummed, the rumbling enough to keep Kaminari focused on the moment. "I'm- Surprised... You haven't. Reje-rejected me."

Bakugo shrugged, "Don't fucking feel like it. Don't shut up."

"Why...?"

"When you talk, you're less likely to pass out. Keep talking."

But Kaminari didn't say anything, his face bright red from both the cod and embarrassment. "I'm here..."

"You can ramble on and on any other time, but not now? That's a load of shit."

A small, weak chuckle pulled from Kaminari's lungs, coming out in small visible puffs as his electricity swarmed around them.

"I. I can. Try contacting..?"

"Do it."

"I can't f-feel my hands..."

Bakugo tightened his grip on Kaminari, only to let go a moment later and start unzipping the smaller blonde's jacket, much to his embarrassment. "Wh-Wha-?!" Kaminari blushed, attempting to shove him off, but the soaking wet clothing was quickly shed, set off to the side. Kaminari's shivering increased, mumbling something about actually trying to kill him until he saw Bakugo also unzipping his own jacket in the dim light.

Once more he was yanked against Bakugo's chest, this time the only thing separating his face from the skin being a black turtleneck. Warmth enveloped him, the rather large coat now being shared between the two. Kaminari felt his brain frying itself, too embarrassed to think properly. What was he supposed to do?

"Warm up; we're not dying here. I've got questions for you, shitface." Bakugo growled, but Kaminari could feel his rapid heartbeat against his face. Holy shit, this is heaven. He was in heaven. Cold heaven, but nonetheless. Tingling spread across his fingers, feeling returning as his temperature evened out. Of course, he still couldn't feel his toes, but it was better than nothing. Everything was warm, fuzzy even, between the blondes. Bakugo was calm under pressure, could make a quick judgment and be one hundred percent sure it was the right choice, and Kaminari found himself falling for him all over again. Stupid heart, this was life or death!

He carefully reached up to his transmitter, biting his lip slightly. There's not a lot of steps in calling someone with it, he'd programmed all his classmate's numbers into the device, but what they needed was a pro or someone with a quirk related to heat.

"Who do I call?" Kaminari asked, unable to look up at Bakugo due to the collar of the coat.

"Either Half-n-half or Aizawa, they're our best bet. We're snowed in, so make the most  of it." Bakugo's voice was more gentle than he could ever recall it being, which sent a wave of warmth spreading throughout his cold body.

Kaminari focused on sending power to his electronic, static filling his ears before the sound of ringing.

"Calling Mr. Aizawa..." He mumbled, hoping the cave wouldn't interfere too much. He could feel Bakugo getting colder, the jacket being meant for one person and not two.

Their teacher picked up immediately, wind whipping in the distance.

"Kaminari? Where are you two?" Aizawa said, his voice calm and even despite the storm.

"At the bottom of the cliff, off of... Uh..."

"Delta," Bakugo provided the name of the slope, Kaminari repeating for clarity.

"Alright; any wounds?"

"N-No, sir. It's just really cold..."

"Stay on the line, Kaminari. Bakugo's jacket can keep you both warm, according to its specs, so huddle up together so no one catches hypothermia."

"Already doing that, sir... We're in a cave, it's snowed in."

"We'll be there soon- Todoroki! You're with me!" Aizawa called to their fellow student, and Kaminari focused on keeping the line open and active.

"How's Bakugo?" Aizawa asked, and despite the increased heart rate, Bakugo seemed fine. Burning like a furnace, yes, but fine.

"I think he's alright. He's warm," Bakugo's grumbling was minute, a gust of wind chilling the two again before the heater activated again.

"Right... Okay, it's going to be-"

The line cut out, Kaminari groaning. Why now?

"Call ended..." Kaminari said, Bakugo doing his best to keep them both warm. Kaminari was still wet, his shirt and pants having soaked through in the initial fall even with the layers, which wasn't conducive to having to spend time in the frozen night air. Kaminari could feel sleep calling him, but the cold kept him awake forcefully.

"Don't you dare fall asleep on me," Bakugo whispered, his voice shaking with the new chill. He couldn't keep them both warm, and the snow was piling up in the darkness. Nothing could be seen, only felt in this cramped space. If he blew open the snow barrier, then Aizawa could find them easier, but it would expose them to the brunt of the wind's force and bitterness. He couldn't risk it. A mumble came from the smaller teen, shaking and shivering again, and before he knew it Bakugo found himself curling around Kaminari, attempting to wrap him in as much warmth as he could. He could stay warm on his own, his temperature naturally ran a little high, but Kaminari couldn't. Not only was he smaller, but he was less accustomed to the cold.

The only thing they could hope was that they'd be found before it became too late.

Getting to the bottom of the cliff wasn't the issue, really. The issue with finding them was Kaminari's signal had been cut off, and his idiotic friend group had followed Todoroki once called by their teacher.

Why he allowed them to go, he didn't understand, nor did he attempt to. His class worked how it wanted to work, no more and no less.

"Be careful going down. Kirishima, you can't jump off the cliff to save time." Aizawa sighed, the path they had to make it down a slightly difficult one, but one he knew they could handle since they'd traded in Skis and Snowboards for snowshoes. He'd already sent out a mass text to the class, telling them to head back to the lodge and wait for further instructions. Their lord and savior, All Might, only knew if they'd actually obeyed.

"Yessir!" Kirishima said, tape hanging off of his arms from Sero's forcefully holding him back.

"Alright, we're going down carefully. Todoroki, you take the lead, and I'll go down last. Single file, children."

Honestly, Aizawa had planned on a calm, relaxing trip. But there was an old adage he'd heard, which seemed to follow his life perfectly. 'Tell God your plans, and hear Him laugh.' Why? His class was filled with problem children, of course.

He watched as Todoroki lit their way down, slowly making their way through the trees and snow, which crunched beneath them louder than it had any right to be.

"How are you not cold, Todoroki?" Ashido asked, her eyes trained on the fire coming from the other teen's hand.

"Dude, his quirk is part ice!" Sero grinned, Kirishima nodding despite his worried expression. He really wanted to run in ahead, but he'd learned it would accomplish nothing to go in on his own.

"I guess I'm just used to it. Aren't you all cold?" Todoroki offered, his monotone voice smooth as ever. He certainly earned his place of the ice queen of class 1-A.

"Not really," Kirishima shrugged.

"Kinda?" Ashido glanced around, "It's spooky, so chills, but not that cold."

"I think you broke my ability to feel the cold back at the sports festival." Sero awkwardly chuckled.

"I'd say that was a nice try at humor," Todoroki said, face deadpan as ever, "But it's actually just sad."

"OHHHHHH HE'S GOT JOKES!" Ashido laughed, and even Kirishima couldn't help but chuckle. Sero, however, was not amused. He stared ahead their path as they got closer and closer to the bottom, unsure of how exactly to feel about the situation.

Aizawa wondered why he couldn't find a moment of peace in his life and had to interrupt their raucous merriment.

"When we get to the bottom, you're all going to spread out to cover more ground, understand?"

They looked up at him, and though he knew this wasn't as urgent as it should be treated due to the lack of proper authority around, he could see their urge to run ahead. The four nodded, and Aizawa sighed.

"Once you find them, Todoroki's going to melt the snow so we can get them back up to the lodge. Afterward, leave them alone and Delta will be off limits."

"B-Bakugo?" Kaminari said, shaking and scared after losing feeling in his legs.

"What?" The ashy blonde hissed, his hands trembling as he held onto the freezing teen.

"Let me g-go. Your jacket isn't meant to heat tw-two people... Hah..." If he cried, the tears would freeze along the snowflakes stuck to his eyelashes.

"No way in hell, S-Sparky."

"You'll lose-"

"Fucking hell, it... It isn't... If you..."

As the cold settled into their bodies, thinking got harder and harder. Kaminari was used to the idea of not thinking, only acting, and slipped out of the jacket and started zipping it back up to help preserve some of Bakugo's heat despite his protests.

"I'll be okay," Kaminari whispered with chapped lips, not leaving the hold Bakugo had on him. He knew he was lying, and his self-preservation be damned, but he found himself whispering, "Wh-when in love, you do... stupid things, ye-yeah?"

The only thing lighting up their dark space was the electricity coming off of him, but it was enough for him to properly do up the covering buttons on the hero's jacket. Bakugo was more important to be alright.

"Fuck you-" Bakugo chattered out, pulling Kaminari as close as he could and rubbing his gloved hands over the shivering teen's body to create friction, helping to keep them warm. Would they make it? The temperature was dropping by the second and Kaminari's vision was blurring as his quirk weakened. Dark spots, which appeared in his vision before his jacket had been stripped from him, grew steadily bigger the more time passed. Everything was fuzzy, unsure and blurry in shadows.

A warmth washed over him, from the inside out, as something was whispered amongst the cave. He didn't know what had been said, nor what was held behind it, yet it warmed every inch of his being.  

As if he were underwater, he heard Bakugo yelling something and felt the warmth of his hand leave, a bright light to his left and muffled explosions. He couldn't even shiver any more, the electricity in his body shutting down like a dead body. Kaminari felt warm arms wrap around him once more, a red light coming into their dark cave and plummeted into nothingness.

Something heavy and warm surrounded him. Soft, too. Fingers carded through his hair, brushing heatedly against his scalp.

"I can tell you're awake, idiot." A gruff voice said, but Kaminari snuggled into the blankets with a whine and wiggled slightly to ignore it. He could finally feel his feet again, let him be. "C'mon, you've gotta be hungry." The voice said again, and the hand on his head left to shake his shoulder.

"Mnnn... No. It's warm..." He said, and there was a new voice.

"You're awake! Man, we didn't know how long you'd be out!" It called, and a new weight piled on top of him, forcing the air out of his lungs.

"Oi, Kirishima, don't fucking kill him!"

Kaminari peeked open his eyes to find Kirishima sprawled out overtop of him and Bakugo sitting next to him, once more running his fingers through the black and blonde bangs of Kaminari's hair.

"Hey," Kaminari said, voice scratchy and tired. Honestly, he felt like a million bricks had crashed onto him. Kirishima got up, grinning with tears in his eyes.

"You both are not allowed to leave our sight on trips anymore! Something always happens to Bakugo and this time he dragged Kaminari too!"

"And who the fuck are you to decide this shit?!" Bakugo glared, and Kaminari winced slightly. Everything was still slightly chilly, now that he was out of the blankets.

"Your manly best friend!" Kirishima chuckled, Bakugo smirking in a near laugh before kicking him out of the recovery room.

"You doing alright?" Kaminari asked, attempting to pull himself into a sitting position but finding his arms too weak. Bakugo stopped running his fingers through Kaminari's hair to help him, and pull him once more to his chest. 'Third time's the charm,' a small voice echoed in the back of the stupefied blonde.

"I'm fine, now it's warmer."

"H... How long have we been back?"

"Well, it's two in the afternoon, dumbass, so do the math."

Kaminari blinked twice, hearing and feeling as Bakugo's pulse picked up.

"You're embarrassed," He pointed out, looking up at the other blonde with a confused smile.

"Fuck off!"

"If this is your way of rejecting me now that we're not in peril, it's a really weird way of doing it."

Bakugo's pulse skyrocketed, hands twitched and he looked away from him. "I'm not rejecting you, Sparky..."

Kaminari wasn't the smartest person in the world, but he was pretty sure being told he wasn't being rejected meant his feelings were either accepted or reciprocated. Could it be true? Possibly?

"I don't understand why someone as fucking cute- Like you or- Holy shit this is fucking hard to say. Look, Sparky." Bakugo sighed, taking a minute to keep himself from exploding as he looked anywhere but Kaminari's face, "Someone like you, and someone like me, we don't work together. You could have anyone in our damn school with a smile, and you pick me? Why? But why the fuck does seeing you with someone else makes me wanna punch the wall in? I don't get it!!" He yelled out, his temper getting the better of him.

"When you said you fucking- That you liked me," He spat out the word as if it were disgusting, "I don't even know what I fucking felt. Since the fucking licensing exam, every time I see you, the only thing I can think to do is push you against a wall! What the hell does that even mean?! Argh!" The grip on the back of Kaminari's blue sweater tightened, "Mother of fuck! And last night. Last fucking night. It just all came out! Holy fuck I actually... Don't fucking laugh, you idiot blonde, stupid lightning bug-"

"Lightning bug? Aww, it's a bit early for pet names-"

"FUCK YOU!!!" Bakugo screeched, his emotions having bubbled up and boiled over long ago.

"D-do you wanna?" Kaminari asked, face red in embarrassment. The situation was only slowly sinking in for him. Bakugo liked him back? Or, at least, if he didn't like him, had feelings of lust and jealousy. He could work with that.

"Not at the moment-!"

Kaminari squirmed, trying to escape the hold Bakugo had on him but his body was still weak from the exposure time to the snow. "Lemme go-" He mumbled, summoning a small amount of electricity to force Bakugo to let him go with a hiss. He fell back, shakily supporting himself as Bakugo stared down at him with angry and confused red eyes.

"I don't know what you're feeling, exactly..." Kaminari swallowed, nervously looking around the room, "But. I know that I like you. And last night was kinda romantic? In a Shakespearean kinda way? So, uh, even. Even if you don't wanna be with-"

"Fucking fuck, Sparky!" Bakugo interrupted, his voice a mere growl above actually speaking, "Whatever this is, it's not stopping me from becoming the number one. Got it? We can do shit, call it whatever the fuck you want, but if it comes down to advancing or you, I'm leaving you behind; so keep up."

Kaminari knew that was as close to a proper confession, and to being asked out, as Bakugo got so he surged forward with an unknown strength and kissed him.

Outside, yelling could be heard, and the remaining members of the Bakusquad sat in relative silence, pondering one single question.

"Since when is nearly dying romantic?" They whispered simultaneously, questioning how much damage the snow had done to their friends' sanity.

[gyromitra-esculenta]

Synchronicity 16

Notes: After hitting brick wall, restructure! So, that one’s a bit of Frankenstein’s Monster. Introducing: Remnant, references to past happenings that were supposed to be referenced much, much later, and morally (VERY) questionable actions (if you get the reference). Jack’s still high on morphine.

Previous parts under this one link: gyromitra-esculenta(.)tumblr(.)com/post/173374189022/synchronicity-15

Jack grimaces when from behind the APC a figure shambles out, a man in a stained dress shirt with a suitcase held in his right hand. Something unsettling in how strangely his neck twists to the left.

"I wonder, Sunshine," the Beast teases, "fight or flight?"

***

(…) And all I see is war path ahead of me Each and every step I welcome readily And if my lack of fear bring the death of me Let the spirits of my ancestors envelop me (…)

His fingers still grip the rifle, the knuckles white on the dark surface of the gun, and he still stares into dark crimson eyes. The last words reverberate between them – him and the Beast – the talk of ashes and charred bones left in their collective wake somehow does not sound like merely a pretty metaphor anymore. Jack swallows back another question and slowly lifts himself off the floor.

The walker is gone in the minutes that had trickled by and he tries somehow to justify its lack of awareness of his own position – was he shielded by the structure or was a single signature not worth the hassle, or, maybe, the interference had messed with the mech’s systems?

There is also a different possibility, one that now is not as far-fetched as one would imagine otherwise, and he knows it’s the morphine talking as he glances back to the Beast.

"I’m dead, aren’t I?"

"Now, what makes you say such a thing, Sunshine?" The Beast tilts its maw to the side, playfully contrarian – yet under the light timbre something darker lurks with the intensity of razor-sharp fangs biting into the nape of his neck.

"This is limbo. Tartarus. The ceaseless punishment," Jack shakes his head, picks up the pace.

"Do tell me, Sunshine, how does one escape from such a predicament?" The Beast now keeps his stride slinking forward at his side, the words simultaneously mocking and paternalistic.

"One doesn’t."

"One doesn’t unless one has their own guide," the Beast chortles.

"I don’t remember ever being so goddamn fucking vague."

"You’re learning yet, Sunshine. You're learning yet."

"Goddamn fucking morphine," Jack murmurs. His vision is focused and swimming at the same time. His breath coils around his tongue with a taste of rusted iron. "If you're my guide, I'm fucking lost."

"Oh, Sunshine, did I ever aspire to such a title?" The barbwire lull of the laughter pierces his ears together with the roar of the fire, and the smell of burning plastic and artificial fabrics suddenly becomes dominant. The plane.

One wing is broken off and missing, the other is buried deep in a collapsed building. The fuselage is smashed into three neat pieces - the tail rests sideways on the street.

The inside of the craft is still on fire and the asphalt is soaked by fuel. No bodies. No blood. The luggage is strewn around. No body parts. Nothing. There's a ripped in half pink suitcase in front of him with a small plastic hand sticking out of the bundled clothes.

"Who's there? Please!" A woman. Jack turns towards the voice and a greenish silhouette swivels there with its hands outstretched as if fumbling in the darkness. A child cries. "Please, say something!"

"They're all dead," Jack whispers taking a step back.

"Yes, they are, and it was us who killed them, Sunshine, or did you so conveniently forget?" The Beast seethes with smug satisfaction. "Only ash and charred bones, no evidence and no witnesses," it hisses as it focuses the glare of its crimson eyes on him, like he is a mere insect under its scrutiny, "this is what remains in our wake. This is," it bares its fangs in a feral growl as it punctuates every word, "what we are, what we were, and what we are to become yet again."

"No," Jack backs further, a stumbling step after a stumbling step, away from the encroaching darkness that swallows him only to spit him out in a green-lit hell. "No."

His fingers move over the panel covered with a delicate synthetic mesh designed to evaporate on blast. A child cries. The explosive arms without a sound. The goggles give him fleeting vertigo with a split-second delay of the processed image.

"Please, say something!" The woman moves in his direction, slightly off to the side, and Jack evades her. The carpet muffles his steps. "I know someone's here!"

The child is still crying. A man screams in anger somewhere down the corridor.

"One. Two. Three. Boom," the Beast intones with a static of bad reception raising in the background - its voice morphs into that of a newscaster, "...that Mehdi Benjelloun has just claimed the responsibility for the bombing for..."

White noise. Everything drowns in white noise. The clock is ticking. The hands do not move, do not even strain, and the room is white.

"Mr. Morrison," the psychiatrist whose name he cannot recall smiles, the kind of impersonal smile one could expect from a professional detached from the situation. "Did the change in the prescription have any adversarial effects? Any notable differences you have experienced regarding your frame of mind?"

The Beast stings behind his teeth, scrapes the sides of his throat, looks through his eyes.

"No. Can’t think of any. Can’t…" Jack turns his gaze to the tree in the painting hanging above the vibrant ficus to his left, to the maelstrom of the painted sky behind it. The rapid strokes of the brush give it an illusion of a slow deliberate motion. "Felt worse for the first week but I don’t think I really thought about killing myself since then."

"That’s good to hear," the man types something on the keyboard.

"You redecorated."

"Excuse me?"

"This picture, it’s new. It’s different from the one before."

The doctor looks at him quizzically, maybe even slightly alarmed. The Beast whispers of danger, a hissing kind of murmur seeping into his thoughts.

"And what do you see in the picture, Mr. Morrison?"

"Morbid landscape with a tree," Jack swallows, eyes darting to the other side, searching for a route of escape from some undefined peril that now sits heavy on his shoulders. Its claws dig deep enough below his collarbone to draw blood that seeps through and stains the fabric.

"Visual hallucinations. This merits additional evaluation." The man extends his hand under the desk and the Beast roars in fury, it roars as everything is white noise again.

The white room. The chair is covered in dark rust, no - not rust - old dried blood, cracking and flaking off. The infernal ticking thunders louder and louder until he wants to scream just to drown it away.

"Getting lost in your own head again, Sunshine? We can't have that, not yet," the Beast whispers. "Inhale." Inhale. "Count." Count to five. Count against the ticking. Don't lose focus. "Exhale." He exhales, slowly pushes the air out of his lungs. "Remember..."

"Remember my training," Jack repeats opening his eyes - when had he closed them? The plane is yet again in front of him but in the meantime, he must have passed it. The cockpit looks almost intact - if not for the missing panes of glass and something still sparking inside.

He's hunched behind a concrete barrier - it seems the street had been closed off to the traffic before. Jack leans to the side to observe the plaza. There are several cars and a bus, one unmarked APC lying on its side. Recreational area primarily. He can see a bright red restaurant umbrella halfway thrown through a display window. A lot of bodies on the ground he can safely identify as Blackwatch personnel.  

Jack grimaces when from behind the APC a figure shambles out, a man in a stained dress shirt with a suitcase held in his right hand. Something unsettling in how strangely his neck twists to the left.

"I wonder, Sunshine," the Beast teases, "fight or flight?"

The man turns away and Jack mentally reconstructs the area mapping the best route. He licks his lips, runs his tongue over the chapped skin. Changes the grip on the Patten and moves hunched - eyes darting between the man and the ground - trying to find safe footing. Seconds he measures in breaths trickle by as he makes his way towards an overturned cart painted with happy pastels now greyed with settled ash.  

Jack stops to take another look at his surroundings. Crumbled building blocks the nearest street - he could climb over the rubble but the prospect is risky especially if he wants to avoid meeting the civilian or whatever else the man with the suitcase actually is.

Slowly, as the figure disappears behind the APC, Jack raises. Maybe he can circle him. A blink, and the man stands before him in a cloud of swirling black ash. No. Not a man anymore. Something that used to be human. The lower jaw is missing, the eyes are white, the broiled skin sloughs off the meat.

The creature shrieks with an unearthly tone; the wave of sound hits with a multitude of stabs and knocks the breath out of him. Jack falters and almost drops the rifle, scrambles to regain his composure.

Twisting tendrils of purplish light lash out but not towards him, no, to the side, and with growing dread he sees a body dragged upwards with the entrails flopping from under the vest, and limbs swinging in disjointed tugs like a ragdoll shaken erratically by attached strings. It raises the gun and turns towards him. Jack ducks behind the collapsed decorative gazebo. Bullets thunder against the cement.

A shriek again, his vision darkness for a second, and another body joins in the puppet dance. Shots spray wildly in a wide swipe rising clusters of dust where they hit.

Jack emerges quickly from the side and aims at the closest enemy. Two shots send the helmet flying, the third one shatters the brow, and the glowing tethers snap as the body hits the ground.

It’s not enough, the strings spring out from the creature anew and latch onto the fallen cadaver, sink and dig into the flesh, and bring it upright again.

"A resourceful abomination, isn’t she?" The Beast rumbles with glee, its presence growing, enveloping him, and mucous darkness shifting against his skin. The taste of mildew and rot steals into his mouth. "She tests our patience. We will kill her."

"We will kill her," Jack echoes as yet another puppet joins the fray.

"We will grind down her bones between our teeth," the Beast purrs. Claws rest over his hands, and then he runs between the bullets sailing with deadly grace through the air.

The Beast keeps his pace; the loud empty thumps explode in the sudden eerie silence as its paws hit against the pavement rising up clouds of ash. It bares its fangs, its maw low to the ground, and then it jumps through the motionless air swamped in the iridescent afterglow.

The Beast’s jaws close around the creature’s neck with a nauseating crunch. It turns and twists thrashing its head from side to side until meat, tendons, and bones separate. Mutilated head rips off and freezes midflight in the air.

With a snap, the movement resumes. Hunks of meat hit the ground with wet squelches, the violet tendrils dissipate, and the risen corpses fall over once again.

The Beast roars triumphantly, and Jack, with his hands buried to the elbows in the creature’s clawed apart chest smiles mirroring its expression: all teeth and savagery.

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 2X14 - Manhattan

I don’t have a pun for this time, but I wanted to say that this is probably one of the episodes that I was the most excited to cover for this rewatch for a few reasons. First, I haven’t watched it since my initial watch of the series so apart from the broad strokes of the story, I’ve forgotten a great deal of it. Second, it’s one of the biggest and best received episodes of the season from a General Audiences standpoint from what I understand. Third, I’ve never had a real opinion on Neal because I binged Seasons 2 and 3, so this episode will provide me the opportunity to do just that! Finally, it takes place in New York and who doesn’t love New York!

...Don’t answer that! Anyway, I hope you’ll read my review of this episode which is just under the cut, so I’ll CUT to the chase. Ha! Turns out I did have a pun in me! Okay! Let’s get started!

Press Release While Mr. Gold, Emma and Henry go in search of Gold’s son Bae in New York, Cora, Regina and Hook attempt to track down one of Rumplestiltskin’s most treasured possessions. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Rumplestiltskin realizes his destiny while fighting in the Ogres War. General Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness Past We gotta talk about the forking Seer and how she relates to Rumple. First, on a strictly aesthetic level, look at the way that the Seer moves her hands as she asks for water! It looks a bit like how Rumple moves his hands when he gets the Seer’s powers. Also, even her voice is sing-songy in the scene as per the captions, matching Rumple’s. Second, on a more narrative level, it’s really interesting to examine just how much of the Seer ended up becoming part of Rumple. When we see Rumple first become the Dark One, while manipulative at times, because said manipulation happens with Bae as a child, it’s played as more of manipulation that any authority figure could conceivably do cranked up to 11. And when he’s not with Bae and he’s dealing with others, he’s blunter, not as cunning as he grows to be later. But the Seer, like him in later flashbacks, picks upon more vulnerable parts of Rumple’s psyche, like how she brings up Milah and Rumple’s fears of his past and cowardice.

So I know that there are some complaints about Rumple’s discussed reasoning for turning back from the Ogres Wars was changed to being about Bae to about Rumple’s cowardice, and I actually couldn’t disagree more. This entire flashback’s setup isn’t about Rumple’s excitement to be a father, but about how he is more scared than he realizes of fighting and dying in the war. That’s how, as I mentioned before, the Seer initially gets him: by mentioning his father’s cowardice and his desire to stray away from that path. In the next flashback scene, Rumple shows much more explicit fear at those harmed in the war and one of the most poignant lines from that scene is about praying for a quick death and the final words he says to what he thinks is the Seer is “and I’m gonna die.” I honestly feel like this was a revelation that was always supposed to come out. It doesn’t lessen Rumple’s love for Bae or that that loves is any less powerful, for he wants to live for Bae, but from a story perspective, the main throttle of Rumple’s decision to harm himself does lean more towards cowardice. Hell, even Milah hits the ball on the head: “You left because you were AFRAID.”

“It will require a curse -- a curse powerful enough to rip everyone from this land.” Note that the Seer says this as Rumple’s asking for the truth about him finding his son to be revealed. I feel like people forget about this line and how it pertains to Rumple’s journey back to Bae. Many in the fandom (Myself included) mock Rumple for needing a curse to traverse realms while there are many other ways to travel them as revealed over the course of the series. Now, I get that yeah, to an extent, that’s true. New magical MacGuffins are introduced so that new characters can be introduced and so that we can see our current cast battle the fairytale elements with their modern mindsets and emotional problems (I personally find it more annoying when it’s mocked to the point where it’s used as an actual story critique, forking Cinema Sins and the mentality they’ve introduced for many who criticise films over minute details rather than how the work functions as a story -- this is why you will never see me take a point off for a plot hole). But back on topic, Rumple was told by both the Blue Fairy and now the Seer that he’d need a curse to get back to Bae, and so he kept that in mind. Present I know that a major point of contention is Emma not telling Neal about Henry when he brought up the idea of something good coming of their relationship, and I think it’s more of a complicated situation, one akin to both her initial lie to Henry in “True North” and her decisions in “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree,” where to say that something is objectively right or wrong is missing the point. Yes, Emma shouldn’t have lied and the episode is very explicit with how that was the wrong decision. However, look at what she’s dealing with. A vulnerable time in her life is now being further bastardized with the knowledge that it was all a conspiracy and while I like Neal, he didn’t exactly broach the subject with tactful bedside manner, instead trying to rationalize something so personal and painful to her. Also, I want to point out how Emma on some level knows this. That’s why she calls Mary Margaret in the very next present scene. But she doesn’t do the right thing. Look, this isn’t the easiest episode to be an Emma fan during, and I know that well. And I swear, I’m doing my best to keep my fan goggles off, but I’m not going to pretend that it’s not a nuanced situation when it is. And finally, Emma is chewed out for her decision. Henry gives her a “Reason You Suck Speech,” calling her just as bad as Regina, a line that hurts but is justified and given with an appropriate level of painfulness from an eleven year old. And even her initial apology isn’t enough.

So, that first confrontation between Rumple and Neal. Wow. What I like about Neal as he pertains to Rumple is that he immediately gives Rumple no leniency. I talked about this briefly during my review of “The Return,” but this is such an important distinction to Rumple’s other biggest loved one, Belle, who has somewhat looser parameters. From the second Neal sees Rumple again, he’s blunt about his intentions and exactly what he thinks about what Rumple’s capable of. I don’t want to say that there’s no love there, but it is pushed back in terms of Neal’s priorities, buried under decades of bitterness. And at the same time, while full of love, Rumple is still using his old tricks to get Neal to talk to him. He leverages his deal with Emma for more time to talk to him and while it works, it only serves to get more ire out of Neal. Rumple’s apology is likewise undeniably sincere, but the manner in which it is both gotten and attempted to be implemented completely miss the point that the anger produced can’t be healed so easily. I mean, just look at Neal’s face when he says that there’s magic in Storybrooke. Every benefit of every doubt is abandoned like the Stiltskin boys across portals. That having been said, with three minutes of time for an apology, I feel like we almost got more out of Rumple’s apology to August in “The Return” than we did here. Where are the tears? Why isn’t Rumple saying as much as he possibly can? It’s not enough to take points off or anything, but this meeting is partially what the first season and a half were building towards, and I kind of wanted more umph to it. That also having been said, I get that because Neal is a different person from August’s rendition of him entirely, of course the reactions are going to be different, and Neal’s speech after he’s done talking blows the conversation away. Credit to Michael Raymond James because in this scene, he completely kept up with Robert Carlyle, and that’s not always an easy feat, especially in such an emotionally charged scene. Insights - Stream of Consciousness -It is so bizarre to see Rumple and Milah happy. It’s a great contrast to how bad things got between them and is a great show of how Rumple’s cowardice really affected Milah, turning her from someone who looked so content into the miserable woman from the flashback in “The Crocodile.” All throughout the scene, they’re so dopey-eyed and in-sync towards the end. I honestly would love to read a fic where they managed to come to terms with their past and maybe be able to forgive each other, and I know I’m alone in this, but there is a story there. -”My weaving days are over.” *thinks about how in roughly 250 years, he goes by Weaver* Suuuuuure, Rumple. -Okay, seeing an adorably excited non-Dark One non-present timeline Rumple is just the best. Robert Caryle really shows Rumple’s youth here, excited, bouncy, full of music and light. It’s an honest job and plays against the cowardly spinster we see in “Desperate Souls,” the blunter Mr. Gold and the silly, but frightening Dark One version of Rumple, it makes for such a unique contrast! -Milah also gets such a unique contrast in another respect, being the more cautious half of the relationship compared to how she is after Rumple arrives home. -”But to the world?” So, when in the series finale, the idea of “the Rumplestiltskin the world will remember” came up and kept being echoed like it was this important thing, I felt that it kind of came out of nowhere because I hadn’t ever seen Rumple concerned with his legacy beyond the more isolated well being of his children, grand and great-grandchildren, and wife. However, as I hear this line, it makes a bit more sense to me, especially because this is the same episode that discussed the Henry prophecy, which was also touched upon in the series finale. -So, Rumple does that bug-eyed thing that I complained about in the last episode, but here, because the confrontation between Rumple and Bae is impending and is isolated as the main reason for his concern, it works sooo well! -Killian, thank you for breaking up that horrible mother/daughter moment! -”Names are what I traffic in, but sadly, no.” This line cracked me up! XD -”I’m not answering anything until you tell me the truth.” That’s a pretty solid rule of thumb, Emma. Neal’s definitely no villain, but just going forward, that’s a good mindset to have! -”I am the only one allowed to be angry here!” She’s got a point, Neal. You’re not really explaining yourself in a way that you’d be justified in being angry. -I love spotting bloopers as they’re happening. It’s like the OUAT version of finding Hidden Mickeys! -”My son’s been running away for a long time now.” When?! He ran away ONCE and he wasn’t even trying to run from you. He was trying to take you with him, in fact! Did you forget that?! -Henry and Rumple get a great scene! -I know you’re Baelfire.” Fun fact, last year at NJ con, I got this question wrong in the true/false game. But now I know the truth, and I’m coming for you again, Jersey! -Gotta give all the credit in the world to Jennifer Morrison here. There’s so much pain in her voice as Neal’s revealing the truth to Emma and Jen just captures how Emma’s barely holding her shirt together because now even more of her life has been shown to be a lie, and this time, a more vulnerable memory has been made even worse because of this new knowledge. -”To remind myself never to trust someone again.” That is such a tragic line. Even as Storybrooke has done a major job of changing Emma’s mindset in that regard, you do still see bits of that distrust in her personality. That’s why I like the concept of Emma’s walls being a constant in the series. -”You’ll never have to see me again.” Neal, you do know that your father is clearly still chasing you, right? You think he’s gonna give up so soon? -I like how as Rumple agreeing to watch the Seer, you can already see that his face has fallen and that he’s grown more haggard, showing some of that fear already striking him now that some of the initial adrenaline has worn off and the reality of the war is settling in. -”Who are you?” Jeez Belle, why not say “hi” like a decent person? -Regina, you know, instead of playing The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, it could be easier to, you know, look in her bag instead. -David, Thanksgiving with your family would be the best thing EVER! -Apparently, Bae learned to be a locksmith from Rumple. Neat! -Another great use of the weather from OUAT! The snow really helps to accentuate the dire straits of the war and is just adds a nice bit of texture to the scene so that it’s not just dirt against a night sky. -On the opposite end, Rumple hurting himself, especially as someone who is overcoming some serious orthopedic issues right now, is so uncomfortable to watch. Rumple’s screams actually gave me shudders. -As if I didn’t have enough reasons to praise the living daylights out of Robert Carlyle, just look at the moments when he enters Neal’s apartment. It’s the first glimpse that he gets of everything his son went through as a result of his actions and it’s subtly heartbreaking. -To add to this Robert Carlyle acting chain, his eyes as he screams “tell me” is forking hysterical! -Rumple’s splint makes me so uncomfortable. Go see a better doctor! -”A strong name!” Rumple straight up indignation as he says that cracks me the fork up! -I like Milah’s buildup of frustration as Rumple arrives home. At first, she’s almost smiling as she tells Rumple Bae’s name, but as she quickly confronts him and learns the facts, she gets angrier until we see the beginnings of the misery that sets off “The Crocodile.” I also want to note that Milah’s anger is for Bae’s sake, not for her own like in “The Crocodile,” and I think that is such an important distinction. A lot of people condemn Milah for her choice to leave Bae and my degree of agreement with that statement varies if you’re asking me to view it in terms of her choice as an individual vs comparisons with other characters, but I think it’s important to show that love for Bae. -forking hell. Die, Cora! -I think I do enough of a job complimenting the effects team to be able to laugh at the New York backdrop during Emma and Henry’s conversation. -I ADORE the design of the Seer, by the way. The stitched up face and the eyeballs on her hands is just so cool! -It’s interesting to note that the last scene of the flashback happens after the events of “The Crocodile’s” flashback, as Rumple states that his wife ran away, and not “died.” -Rumple, to quote a magnificent show of great quality, “If you could gaze into the future, you’d think that life would be a breeze, seeing trouble from a distance, but it’s not that easy. I try to save the situation, then I end up misbehaving. Oh-oh-o-o-o-oh!” (I’ll write a ficlet for the first person to tell me what I’m referencing). -”Okay. I get it. We’re all messed up.” *Takes a deep breath* Ookay, Neal. You sent Emma to jail, and while it may have helped break the curse, it also put her through some serious shirt. You don’t get to make light of that. -”In time, you will work it all out.” Yeah, about 250 years, but he does get there, and it’s pretty freakin’ awesome when he does! Arcs - How are These Storylines Progressing? Rumple finding his son - I probably should’ve listed this as an arc long ago, but I forgot. In any case, Rumple finally found him! The journey from the start of the series here was a fantastically well done one! I feel like it never dragged or took any longer or shorter than the season and a half that it ended up lasting. And now, it kind of gets a second life. Rumple is now physically with his son, but emotionally couldn’t be further from him, and we get to see Rumple trying to bridge that gap. I don’t remember liking this part of it, but on concept alone, it’s so fascinating to see that next step. Emma lying to Henry - I like that Emma gets to have a flawed moment with Henry and that Henry actually reacts to it so negatively. For a season and a half now, Emma’s been Henry’s hero so of course when she not only lies, but to such an extent, he’s going to have a bad reaction because he’s put her on a pedestal. Not only is it an interesting character moment for Henry, but as I mentioned before, it’s a good job on the narrative’s part in punishing Emma for her lie. Favorite Dynamic Rumple and Henry. To be honest, Neal and Rumple should absolutely go here, but their entire conversation is more story based, and I talked about them ad nauseum up in that category, so why not highlight another dynamic? Rumple and Henry are so supportive and kind to each other here, and it feels like both good foreshadowing of their familial relationship, a show of the progress both characters had made thus far when it comes to how they treat their loved ones, and a tragic setup for not only the let down they both get from their respective loved ones, but also of the prophecy. For the latter one, for most of he episode, it felt a little weird seeing Rumple talk to Henry so softly despite knowing the prophecy. It felt a bit like him raising a pig for slaughter. However, the end of the episode makes it clear that Rumple was just now remembering the prophecy as he watched Neal and Henry bond, and it works well enough for me. Their time together in the episode is just so gentle and in an episode that’s more or less full of harsh moments (those gentle moments included in hindsight), the break that Henry and Rumple give is desperately needed. Writer Adam and Eddy are really good at writing intricate storylines. When you look at their other episode like the “Pilot,” “A Land Without Magic,” and “The Queen of Hearts,” you notice that the situation the characters are put into are never so simple. Just like someone can’t or shouldn’t be expected to straight-up hate Regina in the “Pilot,” one can’t or shouldn’t be expected to hate Emma, Neal, Henry, or Rumple here (Except Cora. We can hate Cora allllll we want), no matter who you’re a fan of. That’s because they’re careful with their framing and character work as to never let one forget their full picture. And I think that holds especially true in “Manhattan.” Culture In my intro, I said I was excited to finally get an impression of Neal for myself. When you’re in a certain shipping camp like I am (Captain Swan), Neal tends to be thrown through the ringer. Hell, even my best friend in the fandom hates him. However, when you’re as anti-salt as I am, you tend to take a lot of the shirt thrown at him with a grain of...well, salt. This is part of the reason why this rewatch appealed to me so much. I always found Neal to be pretty average in my book. I remember liking him, but not having much of a reaction to either his actions or his death in Season 3 (I also feel like I should disclose the fact that I wasn’t in either of the shipping camps throughout Neal’s entire present existence on the show), and I feel like I’d be remiss not to talk about him a bit now, especially as this is his debut present episode and affords him the most perspective.

So here goes.

I like Neal. I don’t love him. If you asked me to line up every character in the show, he’d probably end up near August, and I like August too, though not as much as major characters like Rumple, Regina, and Emma.

What’s appealing to me about Neal is his non-exaggerated blunt personality. The way he curb stomps Rumple’s apology is so in-your-face, as if to scream to an audience that already finds sympathy for Rumple that his pain matters too and it will be paid attention to. This works by keeping him a sympathetic character, but also giving him a compelling dynamic. As for Emma, that bluntness also helps, but in a way that makes Emma more sympathetic. I mentioned before that Neal’s exposition about his part in the conspiracy of sending Emma to jail was less than ideal, and it’s part of what contributes to her decision to lie about finding him. Neal is a bit of a jerk, obviously not devoid of either the heroism or love of his former selves, but it’s a character quality all the same and a good one, especially because to my memory, it stays around and is pretty organic. It paints the trauma that he’s had at the hands of the world since his abandonment as it’s such a stark contrast to his Enchanted Forest self.

Rating Golden Apple. What a great episode! It goes in with the promise of payoff for quite a few major story elements and does exactly that. It’s unwaveringly harsh in many respects, but that’s why it works as well as it does. Neal’s addition to the main cast shakes things up and provides new opportunities for characters, for as harsh as it is to watch, seeing Emma lie about Neal and be punished for it was a good narrative choice, and the flashback was utterly fantastic in its storytelling! Flip My Ship - Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness” Swan Fire - Listen to that vulnerability as Emma says Neal’s name and that happiness that Neal just can’t keep out of his voice as he says Emma’s! That’s just fantastic! Also, he keeps the dreamcatcher! Also also, that “leave her alone” was romantic as all hell! Captain Floor - I’m very pissed at myself for not mentioning the best ship ever at any point before this. Like, Killian and the Floor just belong together, and to not acknowledge that was a callous mistake on my part! My sincerest apologies to my reader base, and I beg for you not to think I’m at all an anti! ()()()()()()()()() It feels so good to give this season a high grade again!!!! Woohoo!! Thank you for reading and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales for putting this project together!

Next time...someone DIES!!!

...I’m saying that like we all don’t know who it is that dies… ...Please come back…I’m so lonely...

Season 2 Tally (124/220) Writer Tally for Season 2: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis: (39/60) Jane Espenson (25/50) Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (24/50) David Goodman (16/30) Robert Hull (16/30) Christine Boylan (17/30) Kalinda Vazquez (20/30) Daniel Thomsen (10/20)

Operation Rewatch Archives

[drazzilder]

A Hellish Encounter

Br Drazzilder

Chapter 10: Being A Hero

Enji wakes up before you feeling a pressure on his chest. Looking down, he sees that during the night he got on his back and you ended on top of him; your head resting on the center of his chest. He just lays there quietly watching you move up and down with his breathing. One quick look at the alarm clock tells him it’s about to go off so he takes his hand and runs it through your short hair. The gentle pets slowly waking you up. You slowly open your eyes as you look at him smiling at you.

“Good morning.” You say in a groggy voice as you kiss him lightly on the cheek.

“Good morning. I know you want to stay here but we got to get going. We don’t want to miss your first day of being my sidekick.”

“Really?!” You say with a sarcastic tone as you go face down into his chest.

“Really, now get up!” This time he begins to move, shifting you off of him.

You both get ready, eat some breakfast and you put on your hero suit as you look at yourself in the mirror. “Today’s the big day!” Zaheer says to you in the mirror. His excitement couldn’t be contained with that big goofy grin of his.

“Are you ready Zaheer?” Enji asks after placing a hand on your shoulder.

“Yes, but I worry about the boy’s nerves.”

“Hey! I’ll be fine. I have been training for this for a year. Come on, let’s go!”

“That’s what I like to see.”

Teleporting to the agency, you fill out some paperwork then your off on your first day of patrol. Endeavor leads the way for patrol. The day starts off slow but you get your first chance to help when you see a woman about to get hit by a truck and you teleport her to safety. You happen to be outside of a jewelry store when a robbery starts and you stop the men until the police come. Not much else happens by the time you and Endeavor have lunch, this time your new favorite: sushi! Because of the therapy, cold food no longer bothers you.

“So, how do you think your first day is going?”

“Overall, I’m happy with how everything is going. I’m happy just helping people right now.”

“Hurry up and eat, I’m getting hungry over here!”

“Calm down Zaheer, Hellboy will eat at his own pace. Is this what you deal with every day?”

“Yea, he is sometimes just a voice in the back of my mind other times he is more forward with his opinions.”

Your left hand quickly smacks you across the face.

“Zaheer! Don’t you dare hurt Hellboy!”

“Oops… must have slipped.”

You laugh “Alright, both of you calm down, we still have half the day to go. Don’t worry about it Endeavor, he is just being silly. Sometimes he just gets bored.”

“You’re fine, I would never hit you hard enough to hurt you.”

"See, everything is fine. Now let’s finish up and get going. Where to next Endeavor?”

He is about to answer as his phone rings.

“There is an 8-alarm fire in the Shinjuku district. All available heroes report immediately!”

“You heard her, let’s go.”

You quickly leave money on the table and you’re off running down the street approaching the fire. No one could miss where the fire is, a full under construction skyscraper is up in flames. Flames jumping off the building and dense smoke billowing all around. Heroes are coming from all over. Water being sprayed on the building but it’s futile. Other heroes try to help but the flames are too powerful anyone to overcome.

“Hellboy, I need you to check if there is anyone in the left inside and teleport them out.”

“Those flames are awfully strong, you going to need to make an opening for us.”

“Planning on it.” As he approaches the flames and starts to manipulate them. The fire start to open up, creating an opening for you to enter. As you enter, you feel the intense heat, the dense smoke making it hard to breath, and debris everywhere. You can hardly see anything but you can hear voices.

“Zaheer, how many do you sense, I’m getting 4.”

“Yes, 4. I would complement you but no time.”

You find the first woman under makeshift table. The flames are about to reach her as she screams in pain from the heat. You manage to reach her quickly. Placing a hand on her, she is moved to safety outside. After a few more teleports inside the creaking structure, you find a man on the ground passed out. You make sure he is alive before quickly teleporting him out to safety. Higher up you find another man near some equipment. He is trying to cover himself with a tarp but you hear him coughing severely. You run to him and manage to get him out in time. You’re trying to locate the last survivor when building starts to shake. Endeavor suddenly comes in over your headpiece.

“Hellboy, get out of there, the building is going to collapse!”

“There is just one more survivor, give me a little time.”

“Damn it! Hellboy, don’t…”

You cut the call short as you continue your search. The final person must be close to death because it’s hard to sense them over all the fire. The blaze is starting to grow larger by the second as it consumes the building. It’s getting hotter the longer you’re in there and the smoke is starting to get to you.

“You need to hurry; you can’t keep this up. You almost at your limit.”

You finally reach the last person who is unconscious. You hesitate for a moment trying to find a good way to reach him through the fire. That’s when the building starts to collapse all around you. The sounds of metal creaking and falling alerts you but it’s too late. You are hit in the back with a beam and pinned under it, the fire burning your suit.

“I’m getting us out of here!”

“Wait, I can save him!”

You crawl and claw your way to just be able to touch the man, using all your will power to not pass-out from the pain and smoke. It takes a few moments to finally reach him but when you finally do, you teleport him as fast as you can.  More of the building starts coming down as Zaheer teleports you to safety. You’re in daily light as the building completely falls down, sitting on the ground coughing from the smoke.

“Hellboy! Are you alright!” Endeavor says running to your side.

“I’ll be fine *cough* I just need some oxygen *cough cough*.”

Endeavor motions an EMT over and hands you a mask. After a few deep breaths you start feeling better, your lungs finally getting the fresh air it needs. Then you feel a sharp pain on the side of your head. Endeavor flicked you.

“You were reckless Hellboy. You could have been seriously injured or even killed! What were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking of saving everyone, and really, flicking me on the head in public.” You say still holding the oxygen mask to your face.

“I told you to leave but you were able to save the man. That still doesn’t mean what you did was right, you disobeyed a direct order!” The man growled.

A woman comes to as another hero tries to stop her. “Are you the hero that saved my husband?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you for saving him. I know you risked your own life. Thank you.”

“It’s part of the job. Glad to help.”

The hero escorts her away as you are moved to the back of an ambulance to continue being checked out. She takes your vitals and asked you questions to make sure you didn’t get a concussion from falling debris. They give you some medicine for the pain and bandage the cut on your head. It takes a few minutes to receive the all clear. Afterwards, you search for Endeavor. It only takes a minute and you walk over Endeavor who is talking to the police and press.

“…we will have to investigate the start of the fire but it seems to be an accident at this point of time.”

“Mr. Endeavor, who is the hero that got the people out of the building?”

“That would be my new sidekick, Hellboy.”

“How come we have never heard of him before.”

“Today is his first day.”

“And he just ran right into a burning building on his first day! What a story, a sidekick’s first day and he goes head first into a burning building. Is that him?”

You‘re now standing next to Endeavor. Your hero costume is ripped and burned in several places. Your goggles are cracked and you smell of smoke.

“Hello. I’m Hellboy, nice you meet you.”

“Mr. Hellboy, today is your first day, what was it like saving people from the burning building?”

“Um…. I just did what came naturally. I didn’t want anyone to die so I just took action, with the lead of Endeavor of course.”

“Great, do you have anything more to say.”

“Umm….”

“Actually, we need to be going. After what happened to Hellboy today, we will be heading back to the agency.” Endeavor interrupts

“Always busy with hero work, thank you for the interview.”

He places a hand on your shoulder as you walk away. “Thank you Endeavor, I’m not good in front of cameras.”

“I could tell you’re nervous. Also, since when are you fireproof?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m looking at the back of your hero costume, it was burned bad enough that there is a foot wide whole on your back yet your skin is fine.” You feel his hand touch your bare skin. That must have been from the beam falling on you. You didn’t notice the opening before.

“I guess it depends on what’s happening because I have been burned before. Zaheer, do you have any idea about this?”

“Demons are inherently fire proof. We even take long baths in lava. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for that ability to transfer to you.”

“That makes sense but why now? Hellboy has been burned before.”

“I guess the moment was right for it to be needed and your body just used it when it was in a dire situation. He couldn’t teleport right away so it wouldn’t be out of the question for this quirk to be delayed as well.”

“Makes sense to me. Now with that of the way, can we go back to the agency so I can change.” You say with your eye glowing bright.

In the locker room at the agency, you look at yourself in the mirror after a shower. You’re scanning your body all over to see if anything looks new. You don’t see any burns on your body after all of that. You sigh and begin to put you clothing back on. Zaheer appears in the mirror shortly after.

“You can’t hide this forever.” He motions to your right eye.

“I’m going to have to, I just need to be more careful.”

“I just worry about you; I don’t want to hurt you or you to hurt anyone.”

“I appreciate that but I want to do this.”

“You know the more to use my powers the more demon you become.”

"You don’t need to remind me; I know what’s happening.”

“I’ll never take over your body but the demonic energy in me will, just slow down, ok?”

“I will”

You finish up in the locker room and meet Enji in the hallway.

“Ready to go home?” He says looking at you with a light smile.

“Yea, I’m getting tired.”

“You did good on your first day, you still need improvements but overall good.”

“Thanks.” You hug him making sure no I’m was around. Then you two vanish in a flash of light.

Next Chapter