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a-forgotten-spirit · 4 years

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Love Isn’t An Illusion (3)

Pairing: Todoroki x Bakugou, Todoroki x Reader x Bakugou, VERY SLOW BUILD

Summary: Picking your hero agency, training and going on patrol. Hospitals times and talking to the one and only Hero Killer Stain.

Words: +-6600

Warnings: Being a sidekick, bad parenting, parents yelling, parent tried to hit you, agencies trying to take you, training, hero costumes, going on patrol, fighting Nomus, Hero Killer Stain, saving Hero Killer Stains life, going to a hospital, video of you helping, talking to Stain.

Tagged: @kittycatspervertedheart @lemorrite @gwendlynn @marleps @thicctati2 @saitamastamaticsoup @succulent-momma @aurorahoneybuns @imjusttireddudes @misconceptualised @ochabby @katsukisuwus @gayverlinq @star-witchs-blog

A/N: I wrote this for the fans. I do not own My Hero academia or the characters, I don’t own most of the plot for this story, I had watched the show and re-written the dialogue and plot as if the reader was the main character. Everything is centred around the reader. Please comment, makes me happy. Ask if you wish to be tagged. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAKUGOU

Masterlist

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

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Chapter 3

The ride home was short and quick when inside the house, no one was home. Perfect for what had to be done. Making my way to my room I placed my bags down and looked through the paper, twenty-three numbers could fit my needs.

Rubbing my eyes in exhaustion “Sorry I will not be used as a tool, thank you” I quickly hung up and sighed. I was glad I had placed my phone on private. The extent some of these people will go to get me to be an intern. I threw my phone onto my desk, my head falling back. My spirit had been lowered but with a slap to my cheeks and a smile. I looked at the rest of the names, a few I knew I wouldn't fit not liking what they focused on.

Then I saw Snipe. The teacher who was in the lounge with Aizawa. He had been highlighted, I sighed but called nonetheless. “Hello, this is Snipe Agency” I let out a silent breath.

“I think you’re expecting my call” I smiled, I wanted to make the conversation light-hearted. I could hear noise around him, then a shuffle, a bell and finally nothing. He must have been out “Look I'll get to the point. I’ve turned down over 4000 people and yelled at fifteen Pro heroes in the past hour for trying to bribe me. You heard my terms in the room. Make your choice, I have a lot more people to call” I know I was being rude but this was my future. This was who I wanted to be. I wasn’t going to be taken lightly.

“Y/N I would be honoured to have you as my sidekick for a week. I am situated in the city, I will take you from school to my agency and get you started immediately” his offer was all I had been waiting for. I kinda wished he had just asked me in the room I was glad I made those phone calls, now every hero knows what I'm like. “If you would like to be my sidekick” he finished and I noticed his voice wasn’t the strange one it usually was.

“I’ll turn in my paperwork tomorrow. I won’t let you down Snipe” I promised, a few more words and the conversation was over. I saved his number. Taking my phone off private I smiled and then threw my arms into the air. “I’m training with a real Pro and they called me their sidekick” I screamed and jumped up feeling more energised than ever.

Over the coming days, I handed in my paperwork and smiled at Snipe whenever I saw him at the campus. I was beyond excited, Monday couldn’t come fast enough. All I wanted to do was to be worth something to society. I knew this was meant to be a time where I trained and things but I could train while on the job. I had my costume change slightly to be a bit more suitable and then at the weekend. The weekend was long and a lot of fights broke out.

“What do you mean you aren’t coming to this interview” my mother shrieked hair and makeup flawless, clothing expensive and ironed. Even if I did go, it wasn’t about her anyway. I doubted she even be let into the interview. She had been yelling at me for over half an hour now.

“I already said, I can’t it's against school rules. It’s not my fault you don’t listen to me” I answered as my father looked just as mad at me. I was trying to get ready for Monday, I was excited. They were ruining my mood, I wasn't impressed.

“How dare you take that tone with me” she yelled stepping forward and my eyes narrowed in anger and hate. I wasn’t going to allow her to yell at me for doing something I didn’t want to do. She did not own me. “Answer me this second” she yelled and her hand came out, it stopped in mid-air. She looked scared as my eyes moved to her own.

“Don’t touch me” I threw her hand at her she rubbed her wrist though I knew I hadn’t hurt her or I should say the illusion didn’t. Her hair was moving now, strands wild. I hated her quirk, it brought a lot of unwanted memories. “Go use your quirk, wouldn’t be the first time” I grit my teeth and then I smiled “I don’t want to talk to you anymore” with that I disappeared and began to walk up the stairs.

“Y/N get back here this second” I heard a yell and then slammed my bedroom door making sure to turn the lock. She was always self-centred. We didn’t talk for the rest of the weekend and when I said I'd be gone for a week she waved me off. Good, I didn’t want to see you either.

“Everyone has their costumes right,” Aizawa asked as we all stood in front of him. My backpack laid heavy on my back but I smiled nonetheless. I was so excited. This is the first day of a new me. “Remember you don’t have permission to wear them out in public yet. Don’t lose them or anything” I was so excited. I gripped my case tighter and nodded frantically. With a happy yell from Ashido, Aizawa sighed “Speak properly, it’s yes Sir. Ashido” she followed his instructions and I watched and Snipe walked out from a room. My heart raced. I was so close to being in the field. “Make sure you mind your manners to other heroes during your internship, now get to it” a chorus of yes’ and I walked walking ahead.

“Y/N” I turned seeing the class “Who did you pick,” Kaminari asked. Everyone was listening in and I smiled widely. “You had so many, so I'm quite interested” a few nodded and I squared my shoulders and puffed my chest.

“Snipe” I smiled and I saw a few jaws drop as he came up next to me and nodded a humming sound being heard. I could see impressed and amazed faces.

“Wow getting an internship with Snipe. You’re so lucky” Ashido jumped around smiling. She always had so much energy, I wondered where she got it from. I had apologised to her over the last few days and she said it was fine just a shock was all which I was grateful for.

“In Y/N’s case is not an internship” everyone went silent and I could even see Aizawa lean towards the conversation “She made it clear she didn’t want to sit on the sidelines for the next week and possibly more. She’s my sidekick” that’s when I heard the screaming.

“Omg that's so cool”

“Only she could do that”

“I’m so jealous”

“And with Snipe, that’s amazing”

“And friend” he added with what I heard to be a smile. I nodded and held my case tighter. “We will be off. Come on” as he turned I waved to my class and I was off. Getting into his car I placed my things in the back and sighed out.

The car ride would be a least a few hours but Snipe didn’t like to travel by train which I had to agree with. I hated public transport. “Snipe,” I asked out of the blue, he hummed. “Thank you for allowing me this chance to prove myself”

“No worries kid, I should be thanking you. For the next week, I have some help” he laughed and I did too “You did amazing in the festival and what you said to Aizawa” he nodded to himself “You’ve got guts. I’ve had a few calls of agencies begging me to stop by with you so they can try and get you on their team” people wanted me that bad, happiness blossomed in my heart for that little second. “For the next week I will call you Illusionist in front of people and in the field and we will be training and patrolling the city, together” I was going to go on patrol, this was a dream come true.

“I have to tell you something about my quirk” his head turned me for a moment and he nodded “And no one can know, not even Aizawa, not All Might not even Principal Nezu” at the red light he looked over and he took his mask off looking at me. He was quite handsome, different than what I expected but he put the mask down.

“I am your partner, if it need be I will take the information to my grave” his cowboyish nature shone through without the mask, accent thick and his eyes showed honesty. “That is a promise” he nodded.

“My quirk allows illusions but it also allows illusions of the mind, I can make something appear in someone’s head if I try hard enough but with my physical attacks there is a catch” we were driving again the light has changed. I had to tell him, we had to have ultimate trust in each other.

“Go on” he whispered and turned on his indicator changing lanes before sparing a look at my face. He was interested, good. I wanted this to be an open friendship. I was placing my life in his hands, I was still in school. Even though I knew I had a lot of training to do he had to look out for me.

“I need a name. Physical attacks only work on people if I know a name. It can be first name, last name, nickname whatever I need to be able to put a name to a face otherwise the illusions will phase through them” My big secret he seemed very impressed as he turned eyes wide and mouth open. “I have an amazing memory, it takes me a moment but I can remember names quite easily. There are only two other people who know about that part of my quirks limitations. Todoroki and Bakugou in my class. I would like to keep it that way” I said seriously and it felt like the car was getting very intense.

“Your secret is safe with me. I will get you files of everyone in my agency, and villains in the area” I nodded and we continued to talk about work. I felt like a real hero and during the ride he thanked me for telling him such vital information.

When the car ride was over I grabbed my things and I was shown through his building, I was given a badge. I was allowed anywhere I wished, I was his sidekick was the answer when someone asked. I felt special and important. I took everything from my bag I could need and then moved on with him to a training room. From there we practised and I showed him how my quirk looked, felt and came across. He was impressed. I had gotten into a more comfortable outfit and we were sparing. Quick and easy, he was using rubber bullets the worst they would leave was a small bruise.

I created multiple of me and then walked along the side of the room “My quirk can become sound cancelling if I wish” I called out the voice coming from every direction “It’s difficult to know where to shoot or attack when you have no idea where they are” the copies fell into mist as he shot them. Until I came up behind him, grabbing his wrist and throwing away the gun. I flipped him onto the floor and the illusion died. “I win” I smiled.

Helping him up, I breathed out “You will make an amazing hero” he began and I smiled wide. Praise, praise from a real, well-known Pro hero. This was a dream come true. It was too much for my heart to take. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had your own agency” he added. I had gotten used to the accent and didn’t mind it too much.

A knock came to the door and a woman walked in “I apologise Sir. Other agencies are here for the girl” she looked at me apologetically. Snipe sighed and I shook my head to him.

“I can deal with this” the confidence from being myself coming back. When I was picking my hero name I was in a state of panic, I didn’t want people looking at me but pride and adrenaline running through my system I stomped from the room following the woman through the maze of hallways. I came to the front of the building, not only seeing Pros but paparazzi trying to take photos. As I walked over sweat clinging to my skin and a blank face.

People began to talk and I could see people trying to interview me through the window trying to get it to the building, they were being held back. I put my hand up and everyone went quiet “As flattering as it is you all came here. I am on duty and don’t appreciate my time being wasted with this when I could be training. Not to mention you are disrupting everyone in this building and my partner and I” I called out as everyone seemed to stand in silence. I felt Snipe come up next to me, more photos, videoing and offers. “I have picked my place, if you wish for an interview, please call my school” with that I smiled and then turned to walk away with Snipe as people were pushed out the doors. “A fallback of being a hero” scratching my neck I sighed.

“You still handled it well. Back to training now” walking back to the room. I quickly got a drink and then nodded at Snipe. We spared for a while more, I hadn’t been shot once and I had won more than my fair share. I allowed Snipe to bring in someone as I had a conversation with them but in reality, I stood with Snipe.

“My quirk requires a lot of thinking. If I make one wrong move the illusion will fail and I will be found out. So while I talk to you another part of my brain is having a conversation with that guy” I smiled and Snipes’ eyes quickly darted over to seeing my illusion talking and seeming to have a really important conversation. “My quirk is all logic and stamina even though it may not look like it” with that the illusion fell in mist and the guy looked over as I waved.

“Your quirk is utterly amazing and the thinking behind it. I can see why you’re coming first in class” Pride, so much pride ran through my body. I was so happy, someone who was treating me like a real partner. This is all I could have asked for.

Dinner and then more training. He was on patrol within the next few days and I was beyond excited. Moving across the road to the hotel, we got our keys and made our way up. Going into our separate rooms, I saw my bags and walked over. Opening my costume box I looked at my new outfit and silently screamed. How exciting, I had to put it away otherwise my body would wish to wear the fabric. I couldn’t, not yet. Maybe tomorrow or the day after. Another day, soon. Smiling I closed the box and grabbed my sleeping wear then moved to the bathroom. I wanted to shower, I had been training since the morning and I wanted to not smell. The shower was nice, hot and had good pressure. When I was done, I placed my phone on charge, it was well into the night by this time. Nothing posted in the class chat not that I minded. The bed was overly comfortable and the blankets were soft and I could sleep in here forever. Late into the night and I was staring at the ceiling having clicked the button to turn the lights off, I had to get up early tomorrow.

Another day of training, working on precision. Snipes’ quirk was entirely on precision. I worked on attacking and speed. Sure my illusions were fast but my real body still mattered. I had a lot to work on. Pushing my body to the absolute limit during our training. I was getting faster, the illusions helping to shield and work. I could create physical walls around me as they were being used for me. A loophole of my quirk if I didn’t know the name of the person.

“We’re going out tonight” Snipe breathed when we stopped to get a drink. I was breathing heavily, chest moving in rhythm and my hands resting perched on my knees. I was still trying to get all the oxygen back into my lungs. He was fast, far too fast for me right now. “We’re going on patrol” my head whipped up and he nodded. “Go shower, eat something and meet back at the building in an hour. Costume on” I was gone within seconds.

Just as I had been told I showered then shovelled food into my mouth quickly. An hour, only an hour then I was on the streets. While eating I was looking through the files of villains, creating a picture. If I needed it, I could bring up the illusion of the files and know their names. Anyone in the spotlight loved their names being featured. Easier for me at least. The main villain right now was called ‘Hero Killer Stain’ that was a scary name. Seeming to be a mass killer all over Japan. How disgusting.

Once I had finished eating I opened my costume box and smiled holding it up. I saw a note under the main fabric and picked it up “Dear Illusionist” that was me, they used my hero name. “We made all the adjustments you require but we changed the fabric to fit your needs. If you ever need anything make sure to drop by” I whispered and smiled.

I was wearing a one-piece suit. The only part it didn’t cover was my face had come up my neck. It was skin-tight, just what I needed. The feet non-tearable, so I could run and not worry. I asked them to make it that wherever I needed to go the fabric would get thicker or thinner. Micro holes to allow illusions on my body if I needed them. The fabric was strong and I looked down smiling. Leaning forward to pick up my mask, I placed it against my face, sticking comfortably. The mask looked to be made of mist, if you looked close enough it seemed to move. Smoke rising into the air at the corners. I got the inspiration from Endeavor and Bakugous’ masks. I moved to the mirror and smiled in happiness. It was a black costume, with a very slight holographic look, deception. Giving off the illusion of different colours. This was all I need. The costume zipped up as the back but on the side of the thigh, my phone could sit. Slipping it in was easy and it looked like the pocket simply disappeared. The holes in the suit would lock up of coming into contact with water, nothing would be damaged, a temperature suit to not allow my body to get overheated or freeze. I couldn’t ask for a better suit.

Making my way down through the hotel, I was getting some looks but everyone seemed impressed. I crossed the street and Snipe was talking to someone. Noticing me their eyes opened and Snipe turned the conversation ends.

“I’m ready” I nodded and stood tall, my hands resting on my hips. He looked the costume up and down as did his associate and he nodded. I was going to be a real hero. I was going to show the world just what the name Illusionist meant.

“That costume looks good, very fitting for your quirk” I thanked him and then we were off. Walking down the street and watching people. “The crime and villain rate has been low but because of the Hero Killer Stain. We make sure to have someone patrolling at all times” he explained and I took in every single word.

A few waves from fans and a couple of sneaky photos from them I was smiling ear to ear. I felt like a Pro, this is what I had waited all my life to do. This was my calling, this was me. I walked beside Snipe making our way through the city. It was peaceful, the sun was setting and people were out with friends or family. Couples holding hands, would I be able to date? I put all my effort into becoming a hero I hadn’t thought about having a personal life. My home life wasn’t the best and I put all my effort into becoming a hero.

Then screaming was heard, loud deafening. I came back to reality as a building was on fire. I was running with Snipe immediately. “Get people to safety” Pros were yelling and within seconds. I could see fire and that big thing, the Nomus’. There were two, why was there two. They were different from the one at USJ one I had seen being put into a van. I had been teleported into a room that day, I felt useless but I had captured so many villains that day.

“Illusionist” I heard the yell of Snipe. “I need you to use your quirk. I want to see it all, I’ll be moving people. Be a hero” he yelled and I nodded sprinting towards the fire. They were names Nomu, I could use physical attacks. A-Pro was about to be stomped on, with a pull from my hand they were pulled out of the way as I jumped up spinning and kicking the creature in the jaw. I landed and flipped backward to dodge from a hit.

I was letting out so many eyes, thinking of everyone in danger, I was putting up blocks and dodging. Pulling Pros out of the way and trying to hold down the Nomu’s. That had insane power from what I had heard, I was flipping and running trying to keep it under control. I didn’t have time to think. One was flying, holding someone. I couldn’t grab the person but I could get the Nomu. Throwing my arms forward I grabbed the Nomu with chains then wrapped it around my arms and dug my feet into the ground.

I was holding the creature, for now. Placing up a wall to stop from the other one hitting my body. They were so strong, there were three of them. Where did they come from? Where is the league of villains, would they come now. I put a wall around the other two. It was a lot of power but not so much I wouldn’t be able to do this. Wrapping the chain around my arm again I pulled the Nomu down as the creature crashed into the ground.

I had all three under my control, for now. Three of them. I had all three of them “Get people to safety” I yelled and turned to place all of the Nomus’ in thick walls, they wouldn’t break. When they tried to argue I turned and yelled “I said to get people to safety. I have them, there’s no point if the people aren't safe. Do your job” I yelled and they were off.

I moved to the ground placing my hands down and feeling the Nomu’s they weren’t happy. Banging and desperately trying to get out. I sighed out and then stood to put my hands into fists and the walls grew stronger. I moved the three of them into my field of vision. The person who was held by the flying one had gotten to safety. Having been dropped, prying his body from the beast before I flung him into the ground. They were all being held, I could do this. I had to hold them until more Pros’ arrived. But from what I had heard even All Might had problems fighting one of them.

Each hit almost brought me to my knees. A lot was going on, they were so strong. I looked around, there wasn’t anyone near me and the civilians had been moved to safety. There were Pros’ near.

“I can’t hold them for much longer” I yelled and turned around seeing maybe seven Pros. They got into position, knees bent and they nodded. I turned back and then within a second I let the walls drop but they couldn’t see. They were confused and groaning. “I’ve placed them into an illusion they can’t hear or see” with that information Pro’s ran in, desperately trying to lay hits. I kept them in the illusion until a hit came to my shoulder, the flying one was now off into the sky. It was minuscule but I held the other two. Looking down my outfit has repaired, just as I asked. Snipe was somewhere but he trusted me. “I can keep them in the illusion. I’ll go after the other” I yelled and then I was sprinting off. Throwing a chain at the creature I was now being dragged through the sky.

I was keeping the others in the illusion, I had never tested distance but from what I knew, as long as I thought of them I could do this. I began to climb the chain sending another one down into the ground to hold the creature. I held the creature though it never tried to attack. I was then bringing myself down to the ground. Throwing the beast into another illusion as to not cause mass amounts of damage. Once I landed falling into my illusion I came face to face with the creature.

The creature was angry and immediately tried to kill me. I let the other two go, this was more important. Sorry to the other Pros. I was staring right at it, I didn’t have time for this. Sending out many of myself I began to attack the beast. Hits coming forth in a flurry of speed and precision. I was going to take this thing on. It was still up and moving, I had to go more. I sent more, ropes holding him to the floor and then holding him down. I sighed out. I wasn’t focusing on the Pro’s watching me stand there my hands moving to tighten the ropes. I had to take care of this one. There was barely anyone in this street. His wing flew out and cut along my cheek. I let him go and he was off again.

“Get back here” I yelled and then I was sprinting again. Sending power into my legs and latching onto his leg once more. I was then flying through the air, high and swinging around. I held tighter even though I knew I couldn’t fall, the chain was connected. But then we were descending and quickly. I let go looking down I saw the creature grab Midoriya. Once it was flying again I grabbed hold sending my feet into the ground as I landed. “Hold on” I yelled and tried to pull the thing towards me. Wind and dirt flying around only then it slowly started to fall. Midoriya, forcing the creature to pry its claws from Midoriya I had to be faster, running. Then with a wave of my hand, I caught him, gently placing him on the ground.

I felt someone behind me but before I could see it, it was the Hero Killer. I held Midoriya to me, sending him behind me. I was clutching his arm and standing in front of him. The creature had been killed, so easily. This Hero Killer. He turned to Midoriya and me.

“Endeavor” he was looking past us, eyes wild and enraged. I had never seen anything like this. Something so evil and murderous. He hadn’t even paused to kill that Nomu. Midoriya looked hurt, blood falling from him. I made two of myself holding him up. Hero Killer’s mask fell and I froze “False Hero” he yelled out. He looked so, there were no words to describe it. Utterly insane, there was nothing else “I’ll make this right” he stepped forward and I stepped back. “These streets must run red with the blood of hypocrites” his voice was raspy and deep. His eyes seemed to shine red, he loathed Endeavor from the look of it “Hero. I will reclaim that word” I stood in complete stillness, I couldn’t move, frozen. I wanted too, I could chain him down or something but my body wouldn’t move. “Come on just try and stop me you fake. There is only one man I'll let kill me” his eyes were moving to quickly I thought they would fall from his skull. His smile could put the Nomus’ to shame, wide and crazed, just like his eyes. “He is a true hero. All Might is worthy” he screamed, body tense and hands ready to fight. My heart sped up and I could feel Midoriya shaking behind me.

Just as I thought he was going to kill me or someone behind me he froze, eyes blank and smile slightly lowered but still wide enough to be a sense of discomfort. Then he fell, I rushed forward a scream behind me to not move. I ripped his shirt placing my ear to his chest and waited, waiting for a beat, something, anything. He may be a villain, a killer but he was still a person. He had punctured a lung, a physical illusion in his lung to stop the bleeding.

I was told without me, he would have died. That was a lot for my mind to handle. He had woken up before the Paramedics and thanked me, Hero Killer Stain thanked me. He said I was a true hero, worthy. I was thanked by the paramedics and then moved on. I was checked out but I didn’t speak. I had saved so many people but I also was praised by a serial killer though I knew he wouldn’t have lived if I didn’t do anything and that I was the reason he was still breathing.

Snipe had found me not too long after and I couldn’t help but bring him into my arms, I wasn’t crying but I needed something to ground me. He hugged back and sighed, he spoke of Pros saying what I had done and that without me many would have died. I was taken to the hospital with the boys for an examination and they wanted to help with the mental side of my night.

Waking up the next morning I was in a room with the boys though I hadn’t slept, could I call it waking up? All I could think about was if I let him die, he was going to prison so he couldn’t hurt anyone and to him, I was worthy of being a Hero. It didn’t matter if he was still a person. I was across from Midoriya in the hospital. He had bandages on his arm and leg, Iida his arms and Todoroki his arm as well. They were talking about their fight with the Hero Killer and I listened in, not talking. Midoriya had profusely thanked me the previous night for helping him. I answered that’s what a hero is.

“Oh so the injured youngins are awake” Gran Torino walked in, he was quite short I had noticed but he did make a good hero when he was a Pro full time. From the smile on Midoriya’s face, they knew each other. I sat in silence. “Idiot I can yell at you for hours right now,” the man stomped over to a scared-looking green-haired boy. “Before I do, you’ve got a visitor” in walked the chief of police, tall and proud.

Both Todoroki and Iida stood, I didn’t and Midoriya scrambled to get up “No no, stay seated. Woof” he barked out head held high as I turned to listen in. “So you’re the UA students who brought down the Hero Killer, huh. Stain had some serious injuries, severe burns and several broken bones, right now he’s in the hospital under strict guard. Here’s a lesson you should have already learned when quirks became the norm, the police force tried to keep the status quo. We decided we wouldn’t use quirks as weapons that’s when heroes came in, they could do what we couldn’t with a licence of course” he continued to go on about how this and how that. I was getting angrier by the second. Sure I didn’t have a license but Aizawa and Snipe trusted me to help. “None of you have the authority to harm the villain” I was gripping my hands in silence. He spoke of everyone and their superiors being punished.

“Now wait a minute, if Iida had not stepped in Native would have been murdered and if not for Midoriya both of them would have been dead. No one else even realised the Hero Killer was in Hosu. Are you saying we should have stood by and watched people die” I had never seen Todoroki with so much passion and emotion? It was a lot to take it, I felt like I was seeing something forbidden and unseen. Like an extinct animal coming back. Something so new and strange, my heart clenched.

“So it’s ok to break the law as long as it goes your way” The chief countered as Midoriya tried to coax Todoroki to calm down. There was a light fight and I stood up head down and body slightly swaying.

“This is bullshit” I whispered out and heard the gasp of the chief. I looked up and shook my head “I was asked to help. I kept Heroes alive. I was the reason the Nomu were caught. I saved Midoriya and kept Hero Killer Stain alive and now I'm being punished. I may not have a licence but I did a lot more than some Pros last night” my hands were shaking, I was on a roll. Snipe would not be punished, he trusted me, had faith in me. I kept people alive, I saved people. I was a hero last night.

“You are different” he started and my eyes narrowed “You have already gotten the press, online articles and Pros thanking you all over the net. Videos have been posted so there isn’t much I can do. You don’t have your license but you also didn’t hurt anyone, woof” he added and sighed his shoulders falling. “We can pretend the rest of you weren’t involved, thankfully there weren’t too many witnesses, woof. This could be the last you heard of any punishments, though it would mean no one would know about you though. It’s too late for Illusionist but as for the rest of you the choice is yours, I don’t want to damage any promising young careers”

Iida apologised and got a little scolding as well as Todoroki but I didn’t apologize. I never would, but then they were thanked for their work. I was thanked for helping and I had to say I saw nothing. Endeavour got the credit and I was getting coverage but I was mad and didn’t comment. Snipe met up with us and I apologised to him but I was ignored and then thanked.

“You were a hero” he praised. All I could think about was Hero Killer Stain. I had gotten a few messages from my class about seeing me on TV. Iida might have permanent damage to his left hand and the doctors ran more psychological damage, the thing that angered me was that they did the test in front of the boys. It wasn’t my proudest moment.

I apologised to them all that I got coverage and they didn’t. I had gone online and it was viral, though Todoroki had made a joke which lightened the mood exponentially. I began to pack my things, fixing my bed and then going back to my phone. My parents hadn’t even messaged me but then again I didn’t doubt they had no idea who Illusionist was. The news expected that the League was with Hero Killer.

When a doctor walked passed I stopped him “Where is Hero Killer Stain” everyone in the hallway went silent, it was only doctors and a few guards. “I need to see him” I begged and then a few more doctors and a guard walked over. “I’m the one that kept him alive,” I told them my breathing heavy.

“Give me a moment” then the doctor ran off and I stayed in the doorway my head lowered and breathing laboured. I couldn’t even think at this point. I had to see him. I had seen that video, the video of his little show. I was standing in front of him and then when he fell the video continued as I ran forward and began to help him. It continued to get deleted then re-uploaded. I had to see him.

After a fight with a few doctors and Snipe interjecting, I was allowed. Five minutes. I needed to know what he meant, I needed to know. His words were eating me alive. I left the room with the boys and was taken to where he was staying, he had woken up and wasn’t happy.

“You will be accompanied by three guards” I was told, he wouldn’t speak if someone else was there, that much I knew. I needed to do this. Alone. I needed to know what he meant, why had he said that knowing it might have been his last words.

“No” I shook my head in front of the door. “I need to do this. He is strapped to a bed, I have a quirk that could easily immobilise him. You aren’t following” with those words I pushed the doors open and Snipe held the guards back as I walked in. “Stain” I called out and his head turned eyes wide when he saw me.

“You’re the girl who saved me” he licked his lips. His eyes didn’t hold the same vigour I saw back then, it was only two days ago but it was too much for me. “Why are you here?” his voice held something dark and twisted and I felt a shiver run down my spine.

“What did you mean when you said I was worthy,” I asked, a smile coming to his features. I watched him roll his shoulders as I let out a breath, “I don’t understand” I added and walked forward. They said I wasn’t allowed within five meters. I was less than one right now.

“The fact you’ve come in here alone should be enough proof” I tilted my head in confusion and gripped my hands tighter, I was scared but I wasn’t leaving until I had a real answer. “You aren’t fake. You want to help people. You helped someone who has murdered your kind” he was speaking so softly I didn’t recognise it was the same person, my shoulders relaxed and I nodded for him to continue. “You are worthy of being a true hero” he finished. That’s what I thought he had meant but I had to make sure. I had to hear it from him, my mind wasn’t enough and now having my answer I went to turn around. “You’ll make a great hero Illusionist” he whispered but I could hear the smirk.

“I hope you get well soon” I whispered and walked from the room, people were standing there and watching as I walked passed them my shoulders back and head held high. My heart was racing, Snipe caught up to me “Let’s go train” I asked, I was met with a nod.

________________________________________________________________

Chapter 4

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dulce-pjm · 3 years

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tag game !

tagged by @jtrbluv !! ty love, i’ve seen this one going around and it looked fun !!

1. what fandoms have you written for (but do not currently)?

i only started writing fanfiction this year, so bts is the one and only lol

2. what fandoms are you currently writing for?

bts !! i think i’ll be sticking to just bts x reader fics during my time here :) (but i am def a big fan of other groups and post about them sometimes !! my other interests can be found through the navi and i’m down to chat/fangirl anytime)

3. how long have you been writing?

like five or six years? i used to write original stories on wattpad in middle school but i have unfortunately forgotten both the username and password to that account and just realized those monstrosities might still be floating around on there oof

4. on which platforms do you post your stories?

just tumblr !! i’m the process of making an ao3 in case something happens to my account, but i probably won’t crosspost unless i have to, just kinda depends

5. what is your favourite genre to write?

def fluff and comedy !!! i enjoy angst but i’m a bit of a method actor in that i deeply feel whatever i’m writing so i normally don’t make it far writing angst lol but i will try one day !!

6. are you a pantser or a planner?

planner for sure !! i have def written fics that weren’t planned, but i tend to feel way better about the ones that i plan out. they flow better when i plan them and when you know where your story is going it’s easier to foreshadow and actually build tension towards the climax and ending !!!

7. one shot or multi-chapter?

it really just depends on the story !!! it’s all in how i envision it tbh. if i see the scenes more as episodic and almost separately working towards the ending, then it’ll probably end up fitting into chapters. but if the scenes and arcs all really rely on each other and flow as a group, then yeah it’s a big one shot !! as a reader, i tend to binge anyway so it doesn’t matter to me lol

8. what is the perfect chapter length in your opinion?

lol again it depends on what suits the story !! and i think it’s fun sometimes for there to be a variety of chapter lengths

9. what is your longest published story? is it complete?

stepsisters and squires at 11.0k, and yes it’s complete !! although my current biggest project is probably going to end up around 15k and if i had to guess, part two will probably be a bit shorter than that

10. which story did you enjoy working on the most?

hmmmm for sure @alpacaparkaseok’s request case closed!! i was being very silly writing it and had a grand time, but takes two to tango is a close second behind !!!

11. favourite request you've have written and why (if any?)

oh well there we go it’s case closed !!! i love some good silly ridiculous romance and i feel like i did an okay job achieving that lol

12. are there reoccurring themes in your stories?

awkward people finding love ???? LOL and lots of overthinking only to realize things aren’t quite as big as they first appeared wait omg yeah that’s it that’s the one lmao. scrolled through my masterlist and it seems that the central conflict is always the main character versus their own mind which is basically my day-to-day life so makes sense i guess

also i’ve accidentally written people talking over each other and then said something like “timing’s funny” right after in two separate fics and needless to say i’m disappointed in myself LOL how did i do that ??? tsk tsk

13. current number of wips?

ahhh i’m not really sure how to count them but i’m like actively writing around four or five, i tend to bounce around and then suddenly binge write an entire one

14. three things you have noticed about your own writing?

hmmm well 1) we’ve learned my characters are too caught up in their own heads (like me muhahaha), 2) i tend to write pretty colloquially even though i have the vocabulary to be more descriptive lol, and 3) even when i don’t mean to i tend to end up writing based off of things i’ve experienced before

15. a quote you like from a published story

lol this isn’t particularly well written or anything i just think it’s funny and i really enjoyed writing this scene. it’s from stepsisters and squires !

“Maybe you can trick the witch!” You suggest, words muffled by the dessert you’re chewing on as you blatantly talk with your mouth open. All manners have been abandoned as Taehyung is eating two eclairs at once, equally focused on the matter at hand. “Well, no, maybe trying to trick a magical scary lady is a bad idea.”

i’m very attached to tae’s character despite him making a very minor appearance and i love his and the oc’s chaotic energy together haha !! i’d like to write him his own spin-off sometime based on their interaction

16. a quote from an unpublished story

hehe imma keep teasing the tae twoshot in the hopes that it makes me ACTUALLY FINISH IT FJKDLSHGLSDKJF anyway ~~~

“Your singing, on the other hand, is just fantastic,” he adds, smirking as he side-eyes you. He suppresses a laugh when he sees your mortified expression. You’re quick to cover it, crossing your arms and feigning pride.

“I know. You guys are lucky I’m not participating in the battle of the bands. I’d crush you.” Taehyung full on giggles then and you don’t hate it all that much. It’s a little squeaky though. But then his eyes light up and he’s grabbing you by the shoulders, a desperate look in his eye.

“Wait, would you wanna join? Because we could really use a mezzo voice, it’d completely change the sound—”

hopefully an official teaser will be dropped soon we’ll see !!!

17. space for you to say something to your readers

thank you guys for being so patient and supportive :( i know i’ve been very sporadic about posting and really haven’t posted at all in like a month and a half. it was very much my intention to write a bunch and then release things on a schedule (and it still is!!) but things have been difficult recently and prevented that from happening. to get to the point, you guys are so great and every piece of feedback and every like and every follow absolutely makes my heart soar. you guys remind me that i’m still capable of writing even when i really don’t feel like it and i appreciate you !! much love <333

tagging @softbobamilktae and @hyungieyoongi my go-to’s lol (sorry if you’ve already done it !!!)

#tag game #jtrbluv

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rasoir-national · 4 years

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5 male characters I love

So I got tagged by @antirococoreaction to name 5 male characters I love, and as always I asked myself the immortal question : do I pick characters I love as characters, as in, characters I love for how interesting they are, or do I pick characters I love as people ? And for once, I decided to go with the narrowest of the two, the second one, for two reasons.

First, because there’s this latent belief in media that bad is more interesting than good, leading to the pernicious trope that characters who are “good people” are boring. That’s patently false : just as it’s difficult to be a good person, and I think we should highlight characters who demonstrate that.

Second, because there’s this tendency, in tumblr culture, from which I am not at all exempt, to avoid giving focus to masculinity in a positive manner, because mainstream media would do that already. But you could argue that mainstream media is much more focused on toxic masculinity and masculinity as a “default” than on exploring masculinity in its richness and uniqueness. So I want to do that too : to highlight characters whose masculinity is a inherent and essential part of who they are and why I love them. Let’s roll.

Dionysus/Umar from The Wicked+The Divine (Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie)

He is such a good person. That’s what you think the first time you meet him, and that’s what you’ll continue to think, even as the comic goes on and adds nuance upon nuance on every character. The god of wine and parties reincarnated as a young man with rave/hivemind and ecstasy-like powers. And also a kind friend, a sensitive listener, someone who is keenly aware of the limits of what you can do for other people yet will give all he has so people can have at least that, be it one good night amidst sorrow and depression, or a shoulder to cry on. Dio is good to a fault, as in, his goodness is arguably his flaw. He gives himself so completely, to everyone, that it endangers his own sanity, and make other people’s selfishness and entitlement come out. He is a perfect illustration of why putting yourself first is not just a flaw when done in excess, it is at its core a survival skill : if you do not put barriers between you and the others, you will crumble. Dio is a study in true altruism that not many stories have the courage to make. He is also canonically asexual, and strongly implied to be biromantic, although that’s almost incidental in Wicdiv, in which almost every single character is lgbtqia+ and treated with respect. Seriously, read Wicdiv guys.

Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho (Yoshihiro Togashi)

YYH is one of the most insidious yet brilliant deconstructions of the shoûnen tropes out there. While some of its material, while groundbreaking at the time (starting with a fleshed-out, sympathetic gay character coming with a critique of japanese homophobia), has aged with the strides made in matters of representation, its commentary on masculinity and especially how it’s usually handled in the typical shoûnen holds up extremely well in my opinion. And one of its centers is Kurama. Created to be a riff on the classic “bishounen” character (to the point that one of the running gags of the manga is Kurama getting increasingly annoyed with the attitude of female side characters around him), Kurama is my favourite kind of good person, the one who is deeply aware that he is capable of horrible things. He is the rare character who begins the story at the tail end of his redemption arc, having already decided to change ; his arc in the manga is about trying to figure out what that means. And the manga does not pull punches with him : he has to reckon with what he’s done, to try and navigate his new moral compass in a world that’s just waiting to use it against him. And it gets... cruel. Kurama is a perfect example of how quickly and often certain traits can toe the line between making you a terrible person or a good one. Everytime he fights, Kurama has to make the choice to do good, over and over. And it’s not easy. It’s not supposed to be easy. And if YYH has one message, it’s that everyone who tells you otherwise is lying.

Father Marcus Keane (Ben Daniels) from The Exorcist series

Memory functions best by association, so reading @antirococoreaction‘s list immediately got me thinking about The Exorcist and Father Marcus. Just like Cardinal Gutierrez, he is both a man of faith and a mlm. And while his orientation is not the focus of the show, it’s present, layered and realistic in all of it - credit to openly gay actor Ben Daniels who portrays him. It’s especially present in his relationship with the other lead, portrayed by Alfonso Herrera as a young, charismatic priest whom the Church sees as a political pawn, whom I could also have chosen for this list. Just like I could have chosen John Cho as the single foster father of adopted “problem” children who has to cope with the death of his wife. See, what’s extraordinary about The Exorcist series is exactly what I was talking about in the intro : whatever masculinity means, it doesn’t take it for granted. Which is why the second season manages to have three male leads that are all incredible characters, incredibly good people, while vastly different from one another. Marcus is probably the most “morally grey” of the three, but in what that term sholuld mean rather than what mainstream media tends to make of it. Marcus in an unquestionably good person in a world where doing good often means making excrutiating choices. Marcus is someone devastated by these choices, who has to try and find hope again, guided in part by the young Father Tomas. While Marcus roughly fits the “jadded brooding lead” archetype, but in every detail of his character and portrayal he is imbued by a depth that’s rare in the horror genre. I will never forgive Fox for cancelling this gem of a series right as both the plot and the main characters were coming at a turning point. My advice if you want to watch it : don’t read anything, just go in blind.

Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg from the Adamsberg novels (Fred Vargas)

Adamsberg is a cop. I know that’s a dealbreaker for some people, and I respect that. But his profession seems almost incidental to the character. Adamsberg shouldn’t be a cop, Adamsberg is that guy you see in the street who stops all of the sudden, fascinated by something, and it drives you crazy that you don’t see what. Adamsberg is a dreamer, he feels things rather that he knows them, and yet somehow is always right in the end. He’s like a magician. He’s not always kind. He can be violent. He’s not always clever. In fact, sometimes he acts downright stupid. Yet there is always this kindness, this intelligence around him, about the way people are and the way people should be. When I was a kid, the Adamsberg series was the first I read in which, hearing another man using a degrading language to talk about women, the main character immediately shut him down. As I grew up, I came to think of Adamsberg as the way women wished men were, though they weren’t. In reality, there is a lot in Adamsberg that’s exactly how men are, both good and bad. He’s a character who shouldn’t feel real yet does in the strange, poetic world created by Fred Vargas for what is one of the strangest crime series I’ve ever read. If the Doctor was the protagonist of a crime series, they would be Adamsberg. Growing up afab, Adamsberg was one of the few male protagonists I didn’t feel actively disrespected by as I was reading. The first four books of the series, The Chalk Circle Man, Seeking whom he may devour, Have mercy on us all and Wash this blood clean from my hand, are absolute classics I heartily recommend. It’s some of the smartest, weirdest crime novels out there.

Zeno Ligre from The Abyss (Marguerite Yourcenar)

I... God, what do you even say about what may well be your favourite character in all of literature, in what may well be your favourite book ? I fell in love in Zeno when I was fifteen, fell as hard as you could for someone who didn’t exist. Zeno starts the story as a young adult and ends it as an old man. You follow his entire life, from his childhood as the bastard child in a rich belgian family in the 16th Century, to becoming a respected yet feared and misunderstood alchemist, all through the turmoil of religious and political wars and plagues. Zeno is the best representation of what it was truly like to be a man ahead of his time in a time of intolerance and obscurantism. As an isolated high schooler who felt like I had nothing in common with my peers, you can imagine how I could relate. The Abyss is a strange, dense book which I probably read too soon, but which absolutely enthralled me to the point that I refused to even open another book weeks after finishing it because I simply couldn’t bear the thought not to be still reading The Abyss. It made History and Philosophy realer than any of my classes. And front and center of it is Zeno, Zeno you see grow and age, with whom you discover and fear, who utterly captures you with how grand a man can truly be, how extraordinary life itself, from beginning to end, is. Zeno is a man trying to shine a light on the world, trying to live by the precepts of philosophers, and once again is faced by what being a good man means, and whether it even matters to be one in a world such as the Middle Ages. I don’t know what to say except read it, and you’ll see why I’m at such a loss for words. Oh, and you might cry a lot. I know I did, not necessarily because it was sad, but simply because it was over, and I couldn’t read it for the first time again.

Here you have it. Wow, that was way too long.

And of course there’s almost no one left for me to tag, because we’re like 15 people talking in a circle.

#tag game

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project-nightshade · 5 years

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11/11/11 - Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @ofinkblotsandscript !! :)

Rules: answer 11 questions, ask 11 questions of 11 people

——

1. What is your favourite genre to write?

Fantasy probably, especially high fantasy! It’s just so fun to build a fantasy world from scratch!

2. Who is your favourite OC and why?

I change favourites all the time but currently it’s Corinth because I’m so satisfied with his (planned) character arc!

3. Who is your least favourite OC and why?

I don’t really have a least favourite OC, but I do have several neglected ones haha

4. Do you ever find yourself self-inserting in your writing?

No, not really. But I do have something to say about self-inserts that is not actually related to the question.

This is going to sound controversial but I think the writing community is overly-critical of self-insert characters.

The main issue many may have with self-insert characters, is not so much the fact that it’s a self-insert, but that the writer can be too biased towards their self-insert character to a point where the writing becomes illogical. But if self-insert characters are given the same treatment and same amount of complexities as any other character, they can actually work really well!

For example, in Dazai Osamu’s iconic literary work ‘No Longer Human’, Dazai wrote himself into the protangonist of the story, and the character worked so well that I find myself crying at climatic parts of the story!

There are many other of such classic literary work, where the story is essentially a fictional autobiography of the authors themselves, like W. Somerset Maugham’s ‘Of Human Bondage’. And sometimes the author may write themselves into side characters of their story, like when Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote himself as the father in ‘The Brothers Karamazov’.

Heck, ‘Diary of a Young Girl’ was literally Anne Frank’s personal diary, and it resonated with so many readers worwide!

My point is made, it’s time to debunk the myth that self-insert characters are inherently bad, when they can in fact be written well when given the same amount of complexity as any other character.

5. Are you hoping to publish your work? If so will you submit your work or self-publish?

I actually don’t know. For Project Nightshade, I have the world, the character and the plot planned out, but I haven’t given much thought to publishing yet. Right now I’m inclining towards making it a visual novel, so I’m thinking maybe tapas? Idk I really don’t know yet, I might write instead if my art skills are not good enough :”

6. What is your favourite book and why?

Oh no it’s so hard to pick a favourite because I have so many! But if I have to, it’s got to be one is Jimmy Liao’s (幾米） book ‘Wo De Shi Jie Dou Shi Ni’ （我的世界都是你), which roughly translates to ‘My World is You’.

Jimmy writes short illustrated books, but he has such a unique storytelling style that it had struck a chord with me since I was very young (maybe 7 or so). His sentence structure and choice of words are very simple, such that even a child can understand it, yet the simplicity and authenticity of his words made them beautifully poetic. His accompanying illustrations are whimsical and beautifully composed, and lends his book such an iconic look, that it becomes immediately recognisable to his readers! I have so much admiration for him as both an author and an artist!

I adore all of his works, but his book ‘My World is You’ takes the cake for me. The book is about a little girl dealing with the loss of her mother (as represented by her puppy ragdoll), where each night she visits a different entity in a room and learns a different lesson about loss. The story is told from the little girl’s perspective and dealt with such a heavy topic in such a profound and astoundingly poetic way, that I find myself clinging tightly to every single word. The story is such a simple story, yet is so emotional that I still find myself crying my eyes out every time even though I’ve probably read it over twenty times already. The book is cleverly written, because while it appeals to children through its beautiful illustrations, it also grapples with mature themes like loss in a sophisticated manner, such that it can help children learn about loss in a healthy way. At the same time, his book also appeals to adults, who can relate with the little girl’s struggle with loss, and is also more capable of interpreting complex meanings hidden in the narrative.

Jimmy Liao is seriously underrated and I hope that someday his works can be translated so that they can reach a wider international audience. I had fallen in love with his writing (and drawing) at age 7 and even now I still absolutely adore his work, and if anything I learnt to appreciate them more! In other words, his writing is really one that ages well along with his readers, and his books will always have a special place in my heart.

7. Do you set yourself goals in your writing? If so what is your current goal?

Not really, I just work on my wip whenever I have free time. Right now I’m just focusing on polishing the worldbuilding as well as the outline :”

8. Do you like to handwrite your drafts or type them up?

Definitely type. It’s just so much easier to edit :”

9. What do you think is the hardest thing about being a writer?

Personally it’s writing in general, like finding the right turn of phrases, or appropriate metaphors. I only picked up English when I was like 10, and I wasn’t fluent in it until like 12 or something. Even now I’m still quite insecure about my English (especially pronounciation but I guess that falls outside of writing), but I am slowly gaining more confidence in my linguistic skills, and I hope one day I can reach a level that I can be proud of!

10. Do you plan out your projects or just start writing?

Plan, plan, and plan! I personally can’t dive into something without excessive planning, but I really respect those who can! I tried writing something spontaneously before but it was a trainwreck so I told myself never again haha :”

11. Do you like to stick to one project or have multiple ones at once?

One project. I can’t imagine juggling multiple projects at once, I’d be too overwhelmed! Heck, this entire blog is dedicated to just one wip! Mad respect to all of you out there with two or more wips. Wow!

——

Here are my 11 questions:

1. Tell us about yourself!

2. Tell us about your current wip(s)!

3. Tell us about the protangonist in your wip(s)! (Who are they? What are they like? What are their goals/motivations?)

4. What got you into writing? What was the first time you ever wrote?

5. What are some of your inspirations? (It can be a book, movie, tv show, anything!)

6. Is there a particular author you look up to? Who is it and why?

7. Have you ever experienced a writing block? How did you deal with it?

8. Do you outline your wip(s) or just go with the flow?

9. Is there a particular character archetype or trope that you are fond of writing? What is it and why?

10. Tell us how you name your OCs!

11. Tell us a random fact about either your OCs or your wip(s)!

——

Tagging: @hyba @sheabutterskyes @ofimber @amiable-cherry @royalbounties @nerdvanauniverse @the-real-rg @winonapeaks @coffeeandpurplepens @awritinglen @thelostandforgottenageha

Anyone else is welcome to answer the 11 questions too! Thanks for reading :)

#tag game #writeblr #writeblr community #writers of tumblr #writing stuff

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clefaiiiry · 7 years

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i’ve been listening to self-inflicted achromatic on repeat for like an hour now time to post a fic

Companion to this.

Title: Distortion

Fandom: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions

Word Count: 2,031

Characters: Akagi | Cyrus, Shirona | Cynthia, Hikari | Dawn, Saturn (Pokemon), Dr. Nanakamado | Professor Rowan

Additional Tags: Friendship, recovery process, Japanese Names as Surnames, Suicidal Thoughts, Selectively Mute Dawn, (Not referenced in this particular fic but it's there), Implied Gingashipping, I guess????????????????????, not really???????????, onesided at the very most???????

AO3 Version

Distant shrieks of Seagull and the repetitive lull of the sea was all that permeated the silence. Late evening in Sunnyshore was always heavy, even in winter when the air grew drier and the sky was rarely seen in all its glory. Stargazing was impossible unless you went out to Route 222.

It wasn’t like he could leave the city this late at night. He shouldn’t have even been outside. If father found out...

He tried not to think about it.

Cyrus just focused on the sound of the waves, watching for any signs of Pokémon beneath the surface. The docks were old, no one would think twice if some kid fell in while playing around where he shouldn’t be.

He’d debated it a few times. It wouldn’t be too hard; the currents were brutal, and he wasn’t a strong swimmer. But he stayed put, going no further than dipping his toe in.

Sometimes he wished he had jumped.

The first week in the hospital was a blur. Any time he was awake, everything was so harsh and unbearable that the staff would increase his dosage until he went out again.

On rare occasion, Cynthia would be there when he woke up. She helped him breath, to steady himself in consciousness. It would never last long. Something would set him off again and she would have no choice but to call in the doctors.

He was never aware of what he was saying in those times. He rambled and babbled in a manner unbefitting of a man who convinced hundred to follow his every order. Disgust and humiliation pooled in his gut when Cynthia looked over him with pity.

He wasn’t sure when things started becoming more solid, but it must’ve had something to do with Cynthia increasing her visits. It was the only explanation he could provide.

One day, he finally woke up without the hefty nausea and migraine that had become commonplace over his time in the too white room. The scent of stale air and disinfectant was displeasing, but not overwhelming.

The bed complained as he pushed himself up, too fast, made his head swim for a few long seconds. Cynthia almost fell out of her seat, her Holo Caster barely being saved from the unsympathetic, hard floor.

“Cyrus, are you with me?” she asked, her voice oddly soft for a woman of her status.

All he could do was nod as she helped him adjust the bed so he could sit up properly. Cynthia’s expression was indiscernible.

“How much do you remember from the last few days?”

He shook his head. Cynthia sighed.

“You’re in Veilstone. Barry found you and Dawn in Turnback Cave.”

At the mention of the girl’s name, his eyes went wild and muscles tensed. “Where is-”

Soothing hands rested on his. “She’s fine. Dawn has a different room and Barry’s been taking care of her. I promise you she’s fine.”

Cyrus felt the pressure melt from his form. “That... that is good.”

“Not like you to be so worried about someone.” Cynthia’s tone was ice, her gaze hard.

He couldn’t meet her eyes. Why did the air feel so close all of a sudden? His breathing was getting uneven and his chest ached.

Cynthia was still talking but he’d stopped processing her words. It was only when she stopped that he realised he was shaking. How did that happen?

A shape descended on him and for a moment he was back in the other world. He tried to push back but it caught him and pulled him in. He thrashed, about to cry out when Cynthia’s voice brought him back down.

“It’s okay,” She said as she wrapped him in a hug, “You’re gonna be okay, Cyrus.”

When did he start crying?

Without Cynthia, his time in the pure white room would’ve destroyed him, that much he was certain of.

In the few hours a week she managed to steal between her Champion duties, she managed to keep him updated on the outside world and, more importantly, Dawn’s condition.

“Will they seriously not tell you anything?” She asked.

He shook his head, trying to adjust himself to allow Weavile to curl up on his lap. It hadn’t taken much for the hospital staff to allow him to keep his Pokémon, anything to stop him shooting awake in hysterical panic at two am was welcomed.

“Assholes...” Cynthia muttered, folding her arms across her chest.

Weavile chirped, nuzzling further into his trainer’s lap. Cynthia chuckled.

“Whenever I tried to feed them,” she started, reaching out to pet the Pokémon’s head, “they would get all pouty and stubborn until I told them you were okay.”

Cyrus blinked. “Really?”

That took her by surprise, needing a second to recover. “Of course! Pokémon always care, even if they’re trainer...”

She trailed off, but he could guess what she was going to say. Cyrus gave Weavile a small scratch behind it’s crown.

“I do not... understand...”

Cynthia sighed. “Well, you never beat them up or anything. I think they were just worried about you...”

Cyrus looked down to the snoozing Pokémon and felt his chest ache. Not in the suffocating way he was used to but... soft and warm.

He never wanted it to go.

The worst part of the hospital was the boredom. Unless Cynthia brought something in, there was little he could do to pass the time.

He’d stopped keeping track of days. Didn’t see the point. If anything of note happened, it would make its way to him eventually.

Any attempts made by the resident psychiatrists to get him to open up rarely ended well. They would try their best to tread around the most sensitive areas, but something would always manage to set him off.

He was thoroughly convinced they had given up on him.

The window was easy enough to open, a simple latch, then it slid upwards. It was a three-storey fall, but it didn’t bother him as much as it should’ve.

“If you wanted fresh air that bad, I might be able to convince them to let us in the courtyard.”

The soft voice behind him wasn’t Cynthia.

Weavile hopped off the bed, claws clicking across the floor as it ran over to greet the visitor.

Dawn crouched to offer pets. “Hey, wanna see what I got?” she asked the Pokémon. He chirped, pawing at her sleeve as she reached into the paper bag and took out a poffin. Weavile excitedly scoffed it down before she could say anything.

She laughed, straightening up as she crossed the room. “Want one? Lucas made them.”

Cyrus shook his head. She shrugged.

“More for me and Weavile,” she said as she offered another to the weasel Pokémon.

“Are you even allowed to be here?” Cyrus asked slowly. Dawn grinned.

“Shush, I snuck out. Couldn’t stand being in that room any longer so I asked Cynthia which room was your’s.”

Silence hung between them for a few moments before she started playing with her hair.

“Okay, I lied, Cynthia said you were feeling more down than usual so I wanted to keep you company for a while.”

Cyrus realised how hard he’d been gripping the windowsill and flinched slightly as he loosened his hands. Dawn frowned, but said nothing.

“What were you thinking?” She asked quietly, testing the waters. There was no point in trying to lie to her, she could always tell.

“Would this height be enough to end your life?”

Dawn was not nearly as disturbed than he expected her to be.

“I don’t think so, but you’d really hurt your legs. Not worth it unless you’re really desperate to stay here any longer.”

“I would prefer not to.”

She gave a gentle laugh. “I can’t wait to eat real food again,” she said as she crouched to shower Weavile with affection, “Remind me to show you this café in Eterna when we get out, I think you’ll like it.”

There was that warm ache in his chest again. He found himself smiling for the first time in years.

In retrospect, he supposed he should have made more of an effort to resume contact with Team Galactic... Or what was left of it. Cynthia and Rowan had told him that the organisation almost fell apart before the old commanders turned it into an energy company.

He wasn’t surprised to hear Saturn was leading the new Galactic. The young man had a knack for the humanitarian side of business. What he was surprised about, however, was how fast he’d been able to flip the image of Team Galactic into something the people of Sinnoh would be willing to trust.

“Devon helped them a lot, gave them a chance and they proved themselves to be valuable business partners,” Rowan had explained when Cyrus had brought it up, “there were rumours that the Hoenn Champion had arranged for it, but that has yet to be proved.”

Outside of the occasional worker passing on the street, he was unable to experience anything from the new Galactic first hand. Apparently Saturn had sent Dawn some flowers. She mentioned that they looked expensive but said nothing more on the topic.

Some part of him felt betrayed, but he quickly quelled the foolish notion. It wasn’t like they owed him anything.

Which was why he was even more confused with Saturn showed up unannounced. He hovered in the doorway and likely wouldn’t have ever entered if Cynthia hadn’t been there to shove him in.

After initially sweeping the room for an escape route, Saturn finally sighed and settled into a seat.

“There’s... no way to make this not awkward.”

Cyrus just hummed.

“You’re not making this any easier.”

“It was not my intention.”

Saturn scowled, letting out a huff. He started bouncing his knee.

After an eternity, he finally asked, “Can I punch you in the face?”

The sheer absurdity of the question caught him off guard. “I... Excuse me?”

Saturn cleared his throat and sat up straight. “Never mind, that was completely out of order-”

“If it makes you feel better.”

“What?”

“You can punch me in the face.”

For a long moment, Cyrus was certain that he had broken him. Saturn finally seemed to process the words and nodded slowly.

“Okay, right...”

Saturn flexed his fingers for a moment before curling one hand into a fist. Cyrus didn’t even see him wind back. Pain exploded in his jaw, instinctively reaching up to check for any serious damage.

“Good swing...” he muttered.

“Huh? Oh, thanks...” Saturn looked down at his hand and frowned. “I, urh... I’m sorry.”

Cyrus just shrugged. “It is the least I deserve.”

Words seemed to fail Saturn for the briefest of moments. “I mean... Yeah, honestly.” He let out a shaky laugh.

And they went quiet again. While the silence would’ve been simpler, Cyrus felt as though Saturn would faint if it lasted any longer.

“I... I am sorry,” he said, the words feeling alien on his tongue, “for everything. I am aware that a mere apology is not enough to excuse all that I have done, but it is all I can offer you for the time being.”

Saturn stared at him as if he’d grown three heads. Then he started laughing. Cyrus failed to find the humour.

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just...” Saturn’s eyes started to grow puffy, his breathing hitching in his throat. “I never thought I’d...”

The words melted away as the young man fought back against his emotions.

Acting completely on instinct, Cyrus reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s... It’s okay, you’ll be okay.”

Saturn blinked once, twice, then burst into full, ugly sobbing.

“This-” he hiccupped, “this is so unprofessional.”

“As you said, there is no way to make this... ‘not awkward.’”

Saturn hugged him. No hesitation, no second thoughts, just went straight for it. It felt... strange. More because it was unfamiliar than uncomfortable. Cyrus hummed, stiffly moving his arms to pat his back.

“Is... Is this just something people do for no reason?”

A dry laugh came from Saturn, though he didn’t look up. “Pretty much.”

“I see... This will take some getting used to.”

#fanfiction #pokemon #pokemon dppt #team galactic #team galactic leader cyrus #champion cynthia #saturn (pokemon)#dawn (pokemon)#my writing

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aghostlydeer · 7 years

Text

The Unfinished Cut of Project: Crimson (very First draft)

Rating: General (since this never got too deep into any serious topic)

Relationships: Jason Todd/OC

Tags: First Person, Unfinished, First Draft, Old Writing, Out of Character Jason

Notes: This was the very first draft of my long in progressed fan fiction, Project: Crimson. This is about Jason meeting a young boy named Morgan Kingsley and it focuses on their story together, becoming friends, facing their mental, and daily struggles. Over time they end up falling in love with each other but I wanted the main focus of this story was understanding the both of the characters.

I wrote this many, MANY years ago. Mind you, I just sort of started taking writing more seriously at the age of creating this… But I do not think it is all that great. Though I remind myself that we all start somewhere and this is not that bad.

In fact, at the age that I wrote this I think it is pretty decent and there are some things that I wish I kept using for writing. I think that some parts I took more seriously in writing whereas other parts it is easily shown that I felt tired of writing this story.

I gave an annoyed sigh. I tapped at the notebook I was writing in because I had no idea of what I was supposed to say. Or to write for that matter. What was there to say? Sometimes I wondered why I wrote whenever I was upset. It faltered everything I was working for. With yet another sigh, I shoved my notebook into my backpack and walked on. I had no idea of where I was or where I had planned on going but as far away from home as possible.

I was tired of everything at home as well as all of the people within my household. Which was just my father. And honestly, he never did anything wrong. He was right in our fight but I at that point I was young and I over reacted to such a fight. I was childish and had cried because he took away my art supplies (which looking back on that, I noticed that I was indeed quite a fool at the time), he told me that I had to work for my art much like he had to work for many things in his life. As if it was not the only thing keeping my life in tact. I sometimes never understood why taking such important things away from your child was a good idea, but my father strongly believed that it would help so I did not fight back. I was never a trouble maker in the first place so it almost never happened. Though what had caused such a fight was yet another fight that happened at school. I was getting insulted by some other male over a stupid thing, I don’t recall what he was saying really but it made me so upset that I punched him and broke his nose. Of course I was sent to the office and I had a wonderful talk with the principle. He told me that he was going to call my father and I begged him not to do so because he would happen to be at work at during this time of day. He called anyway. With me sitting in the chair. Sitting helplessly, awaiting my fate for what he was about to say to me. I had to be sent home early that day and awaited for my dad to come home. He always came late, around ten at night which is an hour before I went to bed every night except on weekends because I stayed by late during that time. This time I went to bed early only to be woken up by him shaking my shoulder and asking me what happened to make me react in such manners. I hated being woken up, I gave him a scoffed answer which made him upset at me. He admitted to me that he was proud of the fact that I fought back with the insults. Then he commented on how it was not the best idea to punch the boy in the face. I nodded, but felt like crap after words for how I structured my answer towards him. In fact; I felt pretty sick about for everything that I had said. Things were pretty normal until I started to draw more than work on my missing homework. My father was pretty mad at this and he grounded me from drawing. Really, I do not blame him for what he did, but I was mad. I was so very angry and it was silly. I thought in the fit of my rage that would have been a good idea to run away and to never come back. It was stupid, but I remembered that I saved fifty dollars just in case something like this would happen. I packed my things (like clothes, a notebook, art pencils, my iPod, you know, things that we need to live with) into my violin case and backpack. I felt smart at the moment despite something in my head would scream in my ear that I would regret what I was about to do. When I was done packing my things, I opened my window and left my house in a haste. It took awhile to have someone who was willing to walk me to the subway but after ten minutes of asking someone did so. When I got on there, I just decided to go as far as I could without really leaving the state of New York. I had some money, though I knew it was not enough and I had plenty of clothes. Maybe I could not eat for a few days and buy a water bottle. I did not think this through and I was being stupid, but this was normal for a teenager. The night rolled by and I found that the subway was stopping at a city named Gotham. I found that I was sleeping when the announcer said had told the passengers this. Sounded like no one was getting out so I walked out of the subway (it was getting too crowded for me anyways). Once I got out of there, I soon regretted it. You could taste the pollution is the air. I found myself wanting to throw up from such toxins in the air. How could anyone live like this? I thought my city was bad with that sort of thing, but here it was worse. Maybe I should have left New York, or the rural area. Maybe I should have left for a smaller town that was calm and nice? I highly doubted that I could have though. I didn’t know if they subway could go that far. Truth be told, I had never ever rode on one before that day. It was always too loud and for someone like me, I did not need that. I kept walking into the streets, tapping my cane all over the place, no one talked to me, which was nice. I thought that someone surely would have walked up to me and try and mug me, but the people most likely did not see the point in doing that to me. After all, I had nothing worth of much value aside from what I thought was important to me. Maybe this was just a wealthy city and they thought of as some sort of street rat. Oh well! As long as nothing happened to me, I was fine! Things were going to be fine, I reminded myself. If I was smart and kept my distance from anything that seems strange or odd, then I’ll be safe! It seemed so easy if I thought about it. I began to wonder to myself why I could not do this in a quicker time. That is, until I bumped into someone. I mean, really bumped into. I fell on my ass because the person, felt like a man, that I bumped into must have been heavy. Or well fitted into the ground. I could have bumped into a statue. Tisking myself, and rubbing my hand quickly on my back because I did not want to rub my rump in front of the public eye, I quickly said that I was sorry to the person and tried to walk on. I patted myself down when I realised that there was a bit of dust on myself, only now noticing that my mind made little to no sense when I monolog things, but it is my head, I could help it. I felt like if I stayed around for much longer I would have been killed or something of the sort, but a hand (it felt rough it had quite a grip) grabbed my shoulder. I froze, thinking to myself that this is not what I needed that I would die. Why was I so stupid? “Kid, you all right? You fell pretty hard.” The voice asked, I was right about it being a male. I did not turn my head to make it look like I was facing him. “Yes, I am fine. Great to be honest. Now please let me go. I have to go else where.” I answered quickly, trying my best to avert his voice from my head. There was a moment of silence, then the man spoke up again. “You’re blind, aren’t you? Well shit, now I feel guilty and I don’t even know why!” “Don’t worry about it too much, okay?” I swatted his hand from my shoulder in a polite manner. “It happens all of the time and it’s my fault every single time that it does occur.” “Christ sake, it was not! You didn’t even notice I was there, the street is- Wait, what is up with the violin case you’re holding?” His tone seemed to have some worry to it, but why would he care? “It’s just a violin, I don’t even know you, so let me on-” “Yeah, I call bulshit to that statement. Listen; this isn’t really a safe place and it is past curfew for your time so I think you should go back to wherever you came from, or whatever. I don’t know, maybe you’re like me and like to li-” “Mister, I think it’s best that I be on my way.” I muttered under my breath, trying my best to avoid much more of this topic. “As I was sa-” “Who are you?” I asked, becoming rather annoyed this man would not leave me alone. “Right, should’ve introduced ourselves before hand, right? Jason’s the name. What’s yours?” Jason answered. He sounded like a Jason. “Morgan.” I answered quickly. It was not my birth name, but I went by it. Besides, nobody would go looking for a Morgan Kingsley Stephens in New York, so I was pretty safe at the moment. “I’m Morgan and my violin case is fine. Now can you please leave me alone? I-” “Kid, are you running away? From here?” He asked. The question stung a little. I had hoped that no one would ask me, so I shrugged. “Does it matter in the first place? Why do you care?” “Don’t know. Maybe because you’re blind and it would suck if you were to get mugged and all of the crap. Now to the big question, you running away?” I didn’t answer for a moment. Finding it odd that this whole time we were talking we kept walking on. I had no idea where I had planned on going, but I was getting further and further away from home. Maybe this man knew of a safe place to where I could go? I didn’t want to ask because it would be strange to do so. “I guess you can say that. In reality I am trying to teach him a lesson.” “Uh-huh... What lesson might that be?” “I’m trying to teach him that grounding me for no reason at all is a pointless thing to do because I will always get out of it in some way.” “Stepfather?” “No. Real father.” Things were quiet for a moment before Jason spoke again. “Listen; I’m not good with kids and all, but I know that you shouldn’t run away from whatever happened between you and your dad. Unless he happened to be abusing you. Then you call the police for that, though there are times where they don’t really help out with things.” He was speaking too fast for my to care what he was saying, I just kept walking. “We had a fight, I told you this already! Nothing much to it aside from that. I mean, he is a good dad! For me that is. I am not really a people’s person, really he is the only person I could handle for many hours of the day. He works a lot though, so I’m never really to have long talks with him.” Now I was speaking far more than I should have. I highly doubted that this stranger cared at this point too. “How long have you been away from your home then?” “I don’t even have a clue.” “A few hours?” “Might be. What time is it now?” “I don’t carry a watch around me at all times! Geez, I’m guessing it’s early in the morn-” “WHAT?!” I yelped out. I could hear that this startled the man by the sudden speed of his heart pounding, but in slowed down a little bit afterwards. “Yeah. Kind of doing this night patrol thing until you bumped into me... Hey, you hungry? ‘Cause I’m starving!” “Uh, no, not really-” I stopped myself, when would I get the time to have free food like this again during this? “You know what, I kind of am!” “Great.” He grabbed my hand, again the grip was far too tight for my liking. He began to walk faster to the point where I knew he was in front of me. I almost tripped on my feet. Which was strange to me because I thought that I was pretty good on my feet. “Have you ever had back alley way food?” He asked quickly. Why was he holding my hand? Oh well, might’ve thought that was better than just telling me where to go. “My father never took me out for food, so I had to learn how to make things myself, besides restaurants never had the appeal to me in the first place.” I answered. “You taught yourself how to cook? How can a blind person cook without sight? I mean, doesn’t that equal out to cutting your fingers a lot?” “It does. I have the scars to prove it too!” I was quite proud of them to be honest. They reminded me that I never gave up a fight when I was determined to win or learn something. “Whoa. That was way too happy! Do you need help?” Jason laughed softly while he said this. “I don’t know, I have worse cuts on my body. I am proud of all of them if I were to be honest.” I answered underneath my breath. “Okay then... As I was saying, I know this pretty cheap pizza place that is pretty good, I am kind of craving that at the moment and since you’re here I thought I should do my one good deed of the day and treat you to some.” He told me, his grip on my hand getting tighter which made me feel really uncomfortable. “Thank you for that, it is awfully kind of you to do this, but I am kind of a vegan. Do they only sell pizza?” I questioned. I didn’t know why I said I was vegan, but the idea of hot greasy food setting foot into my mouth just made me feel sick. “They have a salad bar, but I’m not into that kind of stuff right now.” He answered. “Tell you the truth; I’m never into it.” I chuckled when he said that. I heard a door open and smelt the food that overwhelmed the area. It was indeed an area that made pizza their life, I really felt like I should’ve thrown up. I told myself not to. I didn’t really hear a lot of voices but I also smelt alcohol in the air. I did not want to cause attention on the man who happened to be buying me food so I did not say to him that I was only seventeen. “Jason Peter Todd!” I heard a man call out. “Long night, huh?” He asked, he sounded like he was far away and his voice was scruffy, but it seemed nice. “Been all right, pretty boring day to be honest. I really wanted to have a fight or something tonight! But I guess something in the air has made everyone pretty calm or whatever.” Jason answered, getting closer to the scruffy voiced man. He was still holding my hand which at this point made me want to squirm out of it. He reached the counter and sat on one of the chairs at last letting go of my hand. “Hey, Morgan, sit down.” He commanded to me. Shocked by his tone of vice, I sat down. “Who’s this?” The man asked him politely. “He looks a little too young to be on the streets.” “Oh? He’s is a runaway. His name’s Morgan, or at least that’s what he told me. He’s pretty nice, I guess.” He answered, nudging his elbow on my arm. At least he was telling the truth. I guess. Though I didn’t like him talking about me like I was not there. “You know, I’m right here.” I said under my breath. “Right, right. Why’d you run away from home, kiddo?” The man asked.

“A stupid fight with my dad. Nothing that bad, but I was an idiot and thought that I was smarter than him and left in a hurry.” I answered, I was picking at my scabs that were on my fingers. “Sounds like a teenage thing to do.” Jason laughed out. I could hear the smile of his face. “Indeed. In fact, it seems like something you would do. If you didn’t beat your dad up before running off.” The man said with a low chuckle. He turned his back and handed the other man that was sitting next to me a glass. “That’s low, don’t bring my dad into this.” Jason said after he was done taking a sig of his drink from his glass, he coughing a little from it. “Right, forgot. So, what are you here for?” “I’m hungry and so is this kid. Do you have any vegan food for him?” “Not really, aside from the salad bar. By the way, you’re being awfully nice to this kid.” The man leaned on the counter, whispering something into Jason’s ear, I was sure of it. He might of thought that I couldn’t hear him if he were to whisper ?something, but I did hear what he had to say. “Is it because he is a red head?” I knew this nearly made the other man jump. “No, that’s not my thing!” He said a little too quickly for comfort for my taste. The room was awkwardly silent for a minute, for the moment it was best to be quiet. I remember being told that talking without being told to do so was never a good idea. I couldn’t help it though, I let out a giggle and waited for someone to tell me that I shouldn’t have done that, but Jason sat down again and told the man at the counter to give him his order. “You sure you’re really vegan? You could just set aside those beliefs or whatever for the night. I won’t tell anyone.” He was teasing me, I knew this, but I shrugged. “Maybe one night, as long as the pizza doesn’t have meat on it.” I told him with a slight smile. “Sweet. Order for two cheese pizzas then. Sounds fair to me.” “You’re not buying me a whole pizza! There’s no fucking way I’m-” I clamped my mouth shut tight when I shouted this. I had no place in shouting. Jason laughed loudly at this, he may have been either drunk or he must’ve thought that was stupidly funny. Something lame like that. “Dude, don’t worry about swearing! I ain't judging you.” “It’s just not something I do. It’s a waste of breath.” I quickly explained which made him chuckle. “Are you dying?” He asked playfully. “No. I’m not dying, I just do not want to waste my breath in case I do die someday. So I can have all of my unwasted breath to waste when that day comes.” I explained to him. It was difficult to say why I wanted that because I was sure that if it were to happen, I would be okay with death coming into my life. “Wow. That’s some deep thinking right there. I give you cheers on that.” He told me. Once the glass of whatever he had been drinking was finished, he slammed it on the counter. When we got the pizza, we ate it in silence, but when that was over with, we talked for awhile. We were just messing around, telling each other jokes but anytime I asked him a question he would avoid it and ask me tons of questions. It was somewhat tiring answering all of these questions. Do you live with both parents? No. I’ve lived with only my dad my whole life. I don’t know my mother that well, but in all honesty I do not mind that. How old are you? That is nothing that you should be worried about. It’s of my right to do so if I took you into a bar. Seventeen. No way! I thought you were older than, well, really, you look younger than seventeen. I’ll act like I’m surprised by how young you are though. Okay, so tell me, what is your house life like living with a single father and being blind? Uh, it’s pretty normal. As normal as it can be I guess. He’s busy with work often and we rarely find the time to talk, but when we do we usually get along. After a few more questions, we went back to joking around. It was refreshing to have someone that I could relate to in some way. It was nice to have someone to talk to really. That wasn’t so sad about life and talked about only that. He had me wheezing at one point from laughter, I don’t recall what he said that had me laughing so hard, but it was silly. That is when he brought up something about this guy called Batman. I had no idea who that was, so I just thought it was a man’s head on this body of a bat. I said this out loud which made him laugh because he imagined how that looked like. He began to explain what it would have been like if Manbat came in and took this Batman’s place. Then he started to laugh out about this giant bat flying around, making these annoying bat sounds. Jason would laugh hard at how this was playing out in his head, he would keep going about the whole topic at hand though. “He just flies around the city, cawing because he’s so confused as to what he is, just... Flying around! And..” He giggled out, “I can’t even think of the mes he would make! I mean, he would just shit everywhere!” I choked back a laugh as well as a little pizza, I could not believe that he would go into the direction in topic over something that really did not need to be discussed. “Ah, I can just see this. Officer Gordon looking up in the sky while the police clean up the piles of shit that was left behind by him. He cleanses his fist, a tear drains from his left eye as he whispers ‘Such a mighty hero!’. I can just see that and then Manbat caws again and shits on his face!” I must have had a horrified expression because he stopped discussing this. “You have a strange sense of humour...” I said to him.

He let out a giggle then we went back to talking. He told me about his brothers and a little bit about his father. A wealthy man that went by the name of Bruce Wayne. Jason seemed to sound a little bittersweet while he talked about this Wayne figure, so I tried not to speak of him. It seemed rude if I kept doing so. He began to ask things about my father, I answered all of them with much truth, but sometimes they became a little odd. Is he a good caretaker? Yes. He is. He is perfect for me. Then why would you run away from such a great parent if you love them so much?

I guess I needed some space from him. You rarely get to talk to him though. I understand this, but I feel as if he or I will grow tired of each other if we spend too much time with one another. That’s really weird to think about. I’m sorry, but how does that mind set even work? You love each other, you do not spend enough- You are nothing to me in my life aside from a stranger, mister Jason! I stood up out of anger, my face hot from this sudden person in my life wanting to know so much about me. It made me more than upset. “You have no right to get into my mind like you knew me for years! I do not even know who You are! So stop it! Please!” There was an awkward, I felt stupid. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” “You meant every word of it. Don’t feel bad about it.” He chuckled, then he grabbed my wrist for me to sit back down. I suppose I was causing a scene, which made my face even more hotter than it should’ve been. “Try not to worry so much about such a simple thing, all right? Not your fault. I just have bad trust issues. Like you. Hell, they might be worse than yours.” He said to me while bumping my shoulder. I frowned. I felt like I really was just being a little twat to him. “Still, I’m sorry for yelling at you. I shouldn’t have. I mean, here you are, wanting to talk to me, wanting to know about me, buying pizza for me! It’s all rather nice and this is something I would expect out of a date, but I’m not that kind of guy. I mean, I may like guys but you can not just get into my pants because you did all of this for me!” I heard him make a small gasp, but I kept going, I needed to say this. “Maybe one day we can be a couple, or maybe we are friends, or maybe you’ll always be a stranger to me! I don’t know, I can’t see the futu-” “You can’t see anything at all.” He corrected me. “Fuck off. Let me finish what I have to say. It is nice that you’re doing this. You are pretty fun to be around as well, but if you’re only doing this to sleep with me or to only have a one night stand with me then you have another thing coming! I am free. I am myself. I know what is best for me and everyone else around me! I have my r-” “I promise I’m not trying to sleep with you.” “Welllllll...” I dragged out saying. “...If that is the case, then thank you for doing all of this for me.” There was an awkward silence between he and I until he spoke again. “What happened to you to make you react that way?” “What? What way?” “That way. All yelly, getting up and stomping your foot down. I was afraid that you were going to run out because... I don’t know! I don’t think I said anything wrong!” “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m not just some spoiled brat from a lawyer who never pays attention to me, all right? I understand why he can’t. He’s busy with a lot of things, but I am bitter over how that panned out with our relationship.” I became quiet, but I knew Jason wanted to hear more of what of what I had to say. I gave him a sigh. “Things happen, odd stuff. It has made me become not so sweet anymore. Everyday I feel my innocence slip away from me. I feel like I am not even able to fully be there for my friends. Which makes me feel horrible. It’s more of the fact that I’m not going with speaking towards people.” I thought of what I should say next, but I muttered under my breath, “It’s hard just finding the courage to wake up in the morning when you can’t even see the light of a new day...” He muttered something under his breath when I finished what I had to say. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

(AN: I normally hate putting these in, but I found these stories in sets of emails given to my boyfriend, so I am missing some parts, and I also changed things up- So, I am very sorry if it gets confusing and weird. From the looks of it, it seems to go into more detail about what is going on with Morgan and Jason..? Aga)

“Do I look like I carry a watch around at all times?” He asked defensively. I heard a slap and a long groan.

“I wouldn’t- Wait a second, was that a blind joke?” I asked, getting close to him now, I was pointing an accusing finger but I didn’t know where I was pointing it at.

He pushed my hand away and said, “No, I wasn’t. It just came out that way, I swear.” He replied kind of in a shy manner. Odd. “I don’t know... Last time I checked it was already midnight and I’m guessing it’s about a few hours later now...?”

“WHAT?!” I choked a little. Then coughed. “What did you say?” I inquired quickly, massaging my Adam’s apple from that unexpected gagging. I shook my head a little and frowned. Did that much time really pass or was I not paying any attention? Such foolishness on my part!

“Hey, uh... Morgan, calm down! Nothing bad, it’s nothing bad!” Jason attempted but failed in calming me down but I couldn’t help it, I was sweating and close to screaming.

How could I do that?! How could I be so possibly foolish?! I was close to screaming, but that would not be wise and I did not want to look more witless than I already had so far that day.

“What’re you even worried about in the first place? If you were running away from home most people would be happy that it took them this many hours to get that far away! Unless that wasn’t your plan at all and you came here by mistake.” He seem to be off in a rambling fit which didn’t ease my mind. I almost felt faint in a way.

I wanted to tell him to stop talking or to shut up, but I stopped myself from doing so. I wasn’t into being upset. That was something I just do not do. Expect I was very close to it. The closet I have been to doing it in a long time. “Kid, you okay?”

I didn’t even know I had my arms close to me, shaking a little. No, I was trembling. I must have looked stupid doing that, but none of the less I was worried that I did something wrong.

“Are you alright?” He asked more sternly.

“I..I honestly do not know if I can be fine...” I replied.

“Hey, listen to me: Everything will be okay. You did what you wanted and you got far. You’re doing a great job!” I could hear him smiling. It wasn’t something cruel, a true smile but it was not something I wanted to have someone do for me.

“B-but I... I don’t even know this city!” I almost felt like I was about to cry but that would have been silly. Definitely overreacting.

“Aha! So I was right!” Jason sounded like he was some sort of champion of a big prize.

“Yes, you were! Happy now?”

“Ah, kid, don’t be so upset...” He trailed off for a moment. “Are you hungry? ‘Cause I am starving!”

“Uh...” I was so hungry, but I still didn’t know if I could trust him or not.

“Come on, it’s on the house and I can even let you stay at my place.”

“UH...” Was the only way I could respond with. Maybe he was being kind towards me... Maybe I can trust him. Plus, here was a man offering me free food and shelter! When was that even going to happen again? “Yes, I am very ravenous and I appreciate you offering your home to me and I will gladly take that. Thank you.”

“Not only are you welcome, you are pretty smart too.” He chuckled a little.

“How so?” I asked, very confused.

“First you showed that you didn’t trust me, then you started to think-- I could just hear your head working like clockwork! Then you started to really think about it ‘Free food, free house?’ and then you agreed to it because you wo-”

“Can you read minds or something?” I asked yet again.

He laughed more loudly. Almost wheezing. “No, I can’t do that! Wish I could thought ‘cause I could stop asking so many questions! Buuuut at the same time I’m happy I can’t ‘cause it would suck having to hearing everyone all at the same time.”

I almost ran into a pole, I reached my hand out and climbed of the stump it was on, I spun around on it because why the hell not and got back down to the street. “I understand what you mean, it would indeed stink if a person would have to hear everything. What would their child be like while going to school? That would have been horrible.”

“No doubt ‘bout that. School was already hell for me when I was in it.” He patted my shoulder which made me jump a little.

“Same here.” I hated school. It was difficult to handle all of those different smells and the voices were too much. People bumping into me and vise-versa. It was a pain in the ass to say the least. Going into detail, school was one of the places I never wanted to go into.

“Aren’t you still in school?”

“I was expelled.”

“Oh...”

“A few days ago in fact.”

“Damn, what did you do to make school kick you out?”

“I sort of beat the living hell out of this one guy that wouldn’t leave me alone.” I explained, kind of rubbing the back of my neck while explaining.

“Was he putting you in the corner?”

“A little.” I was feeling kind of odd... This man really wanted to know me.

I now remember that the reason why I did that to that man was because he stole my journal and began to make fun of the things I wrote down in it. It got out of line at one point and I at first punched his jaw and then the next thing I knew I was on top of him, punching his face, I can still remember the smell of the blood that was on the floor and on my hands. I was growling and I didn’t know I was able to do that!

And that is when everything else happened. That is how I got suspended and that is what made my father ground me and that is when I ran away from home.

“How about when we get to where we’re gonna eat you can tell me why. How about that?” He asked me, he brushed his elbow to my side and that made me smile wide. Then I jumped over the touch. I wasn’t expecting that until it was too late.

“Not too touchy.” It was more of a realization than a question.

“Yeah... I just- I am not into people touching.” I assured him. Truth is: I loved touching people but it just stopped suddenly when I was pretty young. I am not quite sure what made it stop but suddenly, like a drop of a hat, even the slightest touch made me jump. I guess that was normal to people because most understood right off the bat.

I was never not into touching people like my father or having my siblings touch me either-- Goodness, that sounded a lot worse than it really is!

“Understood. Sucks though, you might have to get used to that again.”

A strange feeling crept through me. What was he implying? “How about this...” I brushed my hands together, biting my bottom lip. It felt plumbed today, kind of puffy, “...We have that meal together and I’ll decide if I will stay with you, sounds fair?”

“Yeah, it does. Honestly I was a little surprised that you agreed to stay with me so quickly.”

“Yet you understood why...” Something kept screaming at me to run, get away from this man but I felt as if he was... He was safe. I felt connected in a way. “Either way I am happy you are going out of your way for me. To help me that is.”

He touched my shoulder gently. “No problem, kiddo.”

I flinched a little. Maybe it was because we barely knew each other or maybe because I.. I missed having people touch me without pulling back. Or maybe.. Maybe it was because when he did touch me, I felt something. Something that was tingling and it was nice.

“Sorry, I forgot!” He lifted his hand up.

“No, it’s fine!” I really like the way that feels.

Darn it head. I curse the sun that gives you life!

“Ohoho, is it now? What changed- Ahh, here we go!” Jason took my wrist and opened the door to some place. “Have you ever had back alley food?” He asked me while we got inside the area.

I could smell pizza being made in ovens, burgers being fried and alcohol. Was this a pub? Was I in a Pub?!

“My dad was never into eating out so he taught me how to cook by myself along with him.” I explained, rubbing my hands together frantically. That was something I did if I was becoming too worried.

“Consider this a beginning step to the first chapter of your life then!” He squeezed my shoulders a little.

He leaned on me suddenly, I could feel his breath, it was hot and a little wet but it wasn’t unpleasant. “I should’ve asked a little earlier but how old are you anyways?” He was whispering now.

“Seventeen.” I answered just as softly.

“Wow!” He spoke up a little more. “What?” I turn my head to face his.

“I thought you were twelve, oh thank God you are not!” He clapped his hands together and I heard a sounds like he was rubbing the together. “You just look so much younger than you are. Might take me awhile to believe that you are your age but still.”

“I know for a damn well fact I am the age I claim to be.” I assured him which made him laugh softly.

“Either way we have to convince the people that you are older than that.”

“Yeah, I know.” I sort of pushed him off of me. So this was a pub that he brought me into? Some way to start a ‘New Life’ with.

“Don’t be so upset with me! Lets just have fun with this, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll try my best.”

I could swear I heard him murmur ‘Good boy’ to me. We sat at a table and waited for something to give our menus to us. When a voice of a young woman came in, I heard her voice.

“Evening to you boys, here’s your menus and drinks-” She began with what I guess was her routine lines that she gave to people who came here until Jason interrupted her.

“Sorry Hope, but this love guy can’t read what’s on there.” He corrected her.

“Oh, sorry for the confusion! Um... Well we don’t have those kinds of menus but you would willing to read him what’s on there, right?” She asked Jason. With the way her tone was, it almost sounded she was flirting with him.

“I was planning on it.” He told her, he sounded a little annoyed.

Maybe it was because this woman was asking him something despite him knowing he was going to do it, may have been for other reasons, I didn’t want to know at all. Something in the back of my mind told me that he didn’t like to be told what to do (I kind of respected that) or to have his intelligence be questioned.

I understood that.

“Thank you for getting it out in the first place, dear.” I told her anyways.

“Okay, I’ll be coming back in a few when you’re ready to make your orders!” She told us and I heard a ‘Bye’ that was soft. Ugh, lord tell me she isn’t flirting with either of us.

“Sorry ‘bout that. I don’t even know her but she knows me somehow.” He explained.

“Oh, so you have a creepy fangirl stalker without your clue..” I wiggled in my seat, smiling, close to laughing a little.

“Don’t even remind me of it, it happens almost all of the time.” He was chuckling a little and I could tell that he was shrugging and that he wore a smile on his face while shaking his head. “Do you have anything preferences with any kind of food?”

“I am a vegetarian.”

“What?! That’s insane? How could someone not eat meat? Man, I can’t think of giving that up. I eat it all of the time. Soo good!”

“I just do not like it compared to other types of food. There’s better types other than meat. I mean- at least I’m not vegan.”

“Hnn. That’s true, if you were that be a pain in the fucking ass.”

“Oh, tell me about it. My older brother is one and he is such a little- We should get to the orders, shouldn’t we?”

“Right, right. Okay, so I’m guessing you would like to have a salad, cheese pizza and... Wow... I forgot how much this place relies on meat...” Jason muttered to himself after that.

Maybe that was one of the reasons my dad never took me out. My whole family was vegetarian. He also thought that homemade food is always better than even food from a five star restaurant. I believe that before he became a lawyer, he wanted to become a chef. He cooks the best food, I swear.

“Guess I brought you to the wrong place, but the desserts look like they might be up your alley! Unless you’re also not into sweets. If that’s the case, what is wrong with you?” He was teasing me, I knew it.

“Just to let you know, I love sweets. I love it to the point where I would only eat that all day if I could.”

“Mm, good taste. Would you like to just do it then or would you like some pizza before then?”

“I’ve...” I trailed off a little. “...I’ve never had pizza before quite frankly.”

“You’ve never lived then, this place has some pretty nice pizza let me tell you.”

“I hear that pizza is pretty good, I just don’t like how it smells.” I went quiet for a moment. I wasn’t quite sure what else to say other than I thought they smelt gross and greasy.

“You’ve never smelt good pizza then, kid.”

“Is that so?” I asked, gaining yet another smile. I didn’t understand what was so charming about him but he kept making me smile and it was really nice. I wasn’t really someone who smiled too often.

“Yeah! Trust me, once you have some you will be addicted to it. I might have to send you to rehab because you will become so addicted to it!”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I whispered.

“Was staying up late to find something to do when I came across you. Plus I need to do my one good deed for today. So why not help you out? Hope that helps you out.”

I had to give this question chance. “Were you following me when I walked out of the subway station?”

“What...?”

“Ah, it’s nothing, ignore what I had asked.”

“No, I am not going to. Why would you ask that? Were you being followed?”

“I don’t know.”

I felt rattling coming from my pocket where the bottle of pills were. God I hope he didn’t hear that. “I don’t think I was. I am just a very paranoid person, trust me.”

“Hnn, I can understand that. I guess I am too.”

It must have been awhile because the woman came back (I’m going to call her ‘Hope’ from now on), I could smell her over dosage of perfume, it made me cough a little. “Hello again, what would you boys like to order?” I swear I could just hear a smile on her face.

“I’ll have a large steak, medium rare. No sauce and I’m in the mood for Ginger Ale tonight.”

“No drinks? Wow, that’s the first, Jay! Are you on a d-”

“I just don’t want any tonight.”

“Oh, okay... And what would you like?” She sounded more hopeful when she asked me that.

“I would like a medium sized cheese pizza with a glass of ice water, please.”

“Can do!” She clicked her pen, tearing the paper she must have been writing on right off. There was the sound of her heels tap as she walked away from the table we were sitting.

There was a long silence.

“Where are you from?” He asked, he was tapping his fingers on the table.

I didn’t know how to answer this question so instead, I took some paper napkins out of it’s dispenser and started to fold them. Once they were folded in the way I liked it, I started to rip the napkins apart.

“I’m from Blüdhaven.” I answered slowly. Before I entered into the subway, I felt the imprint of the name so it is better to say I was from there.

“Awfully close to here but you don’t seem like you have ever heard of this place.”

“Well I am from there.” Is all I could muster up and say with confidence. “Then at the age of ten, I moved to North Ireland to live with my family. At the age of fifteen I moved to Queens, New York.” The last part is true though.

“Mhm... You were sent to live in North Ireland with your family? Where were you living before then?”

“You wanna know something? You sure ask a lot more questions then you need to know, Jason.”

“Sorry..” He sighed a little and seemed like he was pulling his bangs while talking. “Something I do, besides wouldn’t you ask a lot of questions to some wandering kid on the streets?”

“Admittedly, I am someone who takes great pride in asking questions to people but I highly doubt that you are not in the mood to have things turned around. Besides, I am going to be your roommate. In a way I suppose so it is best if you get to know me before you regret anything in the end.” I did want to know more about Jason, but that becking in my head kept telling me that it would be best that I knew the least about the young man.

He snapped his fingers. “You’re pretty clever when it comes to this, have you done this more than once?”

More than I would like to admit. “I wouldn’t say that I have...”

Hope came back to us with our drinks. Once she set mine on the table, I chugged it down quickly. She giggled at that and walked away.

“Right... Can you just tell me if I get into a touchy subject?”

“I think you already have, dear.” I cracked my knuckles and took my glasses off, massaging the bridge of my nose after all of that.

“Have I? Dude, I’m so sorry. I just like to ask questions because of things that have happened to me in the past.” He explained suddenly.

“I get it, I understand. You have nothing to worry over. I just would like to ask you things later on- Don’t you dare tell me that you’re someone who ask questions and avoids the other parties. That’s just not a fair game, Jason.”

“I don’t play fair.”

“You’ll have to grow used to doing that for me then for so h-” Hope brought us our food. Damn, Jason was right. I never was given a chance to have smell good pizza. It was literally making me drool, oh, I was drooling, I whipped my mouth and dug right in when Hope left.

“Pretty good, right?”

I nodded quickly and kept on eating. “So good!” I sang out once I swallowed my third bite.

“Wow, how long has been since you last ate, geez!”

“I have no idea, but I am happy I have been given the chance to eat this.”

I kept on eating every little bit. Once I was done I was listening to him eat his meal. From the sounds, he was a messy eater. I almost expected him to start talking with his mouth full. No, he would not be that untamed. I waited for him to be done for ten minutes. Then it hit me- He was watching me eat. Why? Wouldn’t that be considered creepy? Maybe it was how he did things. I was in no mood to call him out on it. He devoured it quickly. Almost as if he waited too long or something.

“Did you enjoy your meal?” I asked, when I laid my chin on my knuckles while I leaned closer onto the table.

“Could have had more, but I did. How about you?” He placed his utensils on his plate and popped his fingers.

“You were right, it was fucking- Sorry, it was so good!” I admitted when I covered my mouth when I cursed. My voice was muffled which I anticipated.

“Kid, if there is anyone you should be comfortable with cussing along to, that’s me.” He leaned on the table. I could smell his breath again. It was... Comforting in a way. Despite the smell of cigarettes and meat.

“I get it that many people do it, but I just find it a waste of breath and when I am on my death bed, I want to waste the breath I didn’t when I was young. Ah, it’s pointless to even explain why I don’t do it.” I sighed out.

“You’re one strange guy.” Jason commented.

“I do not mind it that I am.” I shrugged a little and smiled shyly at him.

Hope walked up to us yet again. “Are you wanting the bill or you both in the mood for dessert?”

“Well?” Jason asked me.

“Yes!” I chirped. There was a bit of a silence when I made that sound.

“All right, give us a surprise.”

“Are you sure, Jay?”

“Alright, give him a sunday and give me a surprise.”

“Can do!”

I laid my cheek on the cool table, feeling slightly troubled for no reason. I started to pick at the scars on my fingers from the times I accidently slash them while I was chopping some vegetables up for main platters that was intended to be given to during dinner for my family and I. It’s happened many times before.

“Where are you from?” I asked him.

“I’m from this hell hole, but it’s home. Kinda hard to leave...” He trailed off for a few seconds. “Don’t like thinking ‘bout the past.”

“Oh. Well now. That’s fine.” I crossed my arms after I was picking at my fingers. “I’m not into thinking about the past myself.”

“I highly doubt you’ve been through that much.”

“You don’t know me, for all you know, I could have been a slave.” I stuck my nose up in the air a little, more to smell around. There wasn’t many people around but there was this thick... Straining sort of aroma that suddenly came in. “I wasn’t though and that wasn’t even funny to think of, I just kind of spoke without reflecting of my actions.”

“It gets the best of us, I suppose.” He told me with a shuffle of his clothing.

“Bet you’ve met the best of people. How old are you?” I asked with a smile along my face as I leaned further on the table. Something began to burn, which was a strange to feel when it wasn’t me that was burning up.

“25.” He claimed too quickly. I bet he was darting his eyes away so he wouldn’t have to keep looking right at me.

Odd that he was worried about telling me his age. I didn’t find it that big of a deal. I was happy that he was older than me. I don’t know why, I just have always felt more like myself around older people. Maybe it was because I felt like I didn’t have to live up to anything with them unlike kids my own age that I never got along with in the first place.

I never understood why talking with one’s peers makes them out to be better with life or jobs and such when reality most people are going to meet someone younger or older than them. I like kids, but adults make me feel safe. Just like little kids feel towards adults. Though I guess it is an odd comparison.

“Why be so worried that you’re eight years older than I? It’s not like you were trying to sleep with me, yes?” I laughed with my hand covering my mouth.

“Noooo, no, No. Morgan. You see... I’m not into that kind of shit. By that I mean, I am not into fucking minors because I think a stud or some shit like that- just no. I just wanna help you out.” He began to drink out of his glass of Ginger Ale, slurping it loudly.

“Where’s our next order?” He asked loudly.

“It’s coming right up, boys! Don’t worry about it too much.” Hope called out.

There is a moment of silence again. I tapped my fingers on the table. Jason kept on drinking his soda.

“What’s the rest of your family li-”

“Crossing the bonds, Jason.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

“But I do have six siblings. I’m the youngest of them and a little bit of the rut of the litter as well.” I thought that I might as well tell him a little bit about my family life. It was only fair. “I had a mom but she died of an illness.”

Things began to settle down after awhile when I told him that, he seemed really upset about what I had told him. “Don’t worry about it... I barely even knew her.” I tried to reassure him. “Yeah, but everyone should have a mom..” He might have been raised by a single mother so I could understand that claim. I left it at that. I didn’t want to worry him any further. Soon we began to eat our desserts and we talked a little more then. About nothing for the most part, I asked him what Gotham is like and he responded with, ‘It has it’s charm but for the most part it’s a hell hole.’ I, of course, laughed at that. I highly doubted that a place could be that bad. I even said that out loud but he kept telling me that it was that awful. Awful. He called the place in other words, dreadful. I asked why he keeps staying here and he admitted that he still doesn’t know why. “I have traveled around the world though. I guess I can’t get away... I have this thing in my head that keeps telling me that I am needed. Even if I’m not. I keep telling myself that I mean something- if not to the world then maybe here. I don’t know though, I might be dulated.” He confessed to me. “No, no. I can understand what you mean. It’s hard to find a name anywhere, but but you think that if you can be somebody, it would have to be here, right?” “Guess so.” We talked even more. Where he has been, what his favourite place was. It was an interesting topic and I enjoyed talking about the different ideals of culture with him. He was pretty smart, but also a slippery person. He wasn’t the type to answer anyone for what they ask to him often. Unless one were to bend the question around, he would say that he didn’t like the topic choice and he would not talk about it any longer- More so, he wouldn’t talk to you if you asked something rude about him. He was shockingly a sensitive guy. It was pretty nice to know that he was because that was rather rare to find in a person. Though it was shockingly considering some of the things he was said to me. Sometimes he was coming across as a crazy guy, but I didn’t think he was. He was just different. We all are different and if we happened to all be alike, that would just be a boring parade. “So, do you wanna live with me for a bit?” He asked softly. I had to think about it. I really did. “Yes.” I answered. * “Hope you don’t mind the tiny space, since I’m living on my own, I just thought it would save money...” Jason begun while he unlocked his front door. Turns out that he lived in a studio apartment that was in the central area of the city. He kept telling me that it wasn’t the most prettiest looking place and it might smell but it was a nice fit for him and he felt at home every time he entered into the place. “...Guess that’s gotta change now!” He began to mutter things to himself about going back to see his father and that he wasn’t in the mood for that shit. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.” I reassured him. “I mean, where I lived, it was really large because my parents were raising a lot of kids at that point before me so when they all moved out and my mother was... No longer there this huge house was-” “You’ve never lived in a small place?” He asked, seeming to be impressed. “Uh... No.” I answered, a little surprised that this was shocking. “Huh. Well, you have a small place now.” He opened the door now. “I have a shit load of locks to be safe.” He explained, might have been because of the time it was taking to open it. “Understood... Seems like a place where one would need that sort of thing.” There was some shuffling, I guess it was from him walking in and taking his jacket off. “Are you coming in or are you going to take a second chance and run away from me?” I was take aback, yet again by this man. I nodded and entered into his small loft. Despite the fact that he kept calming it was small, the living area was pretty decently sized from the time I walked around it. To shoot from the hip, it was large. In fact, it was a little too spacious even without extra rooms within the building. “You know, it’s actually pretty b-” I felt a rush below the calf of my legs, as if something was moving and the sudden sound of woofing. I put my back against the wall, afraid that something was going to jump out at me and eat me alive! “Aye, it’s Taco!” Jason called out from the distance. “It’s what?” I croaked. “How’s my baby girl? How’s she? Didja miss your daddy? Aww, come ‘ere girl!” Jason sounded like he was smiling ear to ear while giggling to this ‘Taco’ creature. “Taco’s my pet pitbull. She’s the best one there is! Aren’t ‘ja girl?” “Ah... Okay.” Of course she was a dog. There would be no way in the world he was a cat person. “I got her from the shelter. She isn’t the prettiest, but she’s pretty good and well tamed and I just knew no one was going to want her because she’s a pitbull and...” He suddenly went quiet. “...She’s not all that pretty and you know how people are assholes!” He spoke up once more. “They care more ‘bout outer-beauty when it’s what’s in the heart that counts, right girl?” “Right...” I murmured while I took my backpack off, placed it on the floor as well as my violin case. “Lemme give you a tour of the house after I feed my dog, okay?” “Okay.” He got up and walked passed me and into what was the kitchen (I assume). I heard bits of hard dog food it a metallic bowel. Once he was done pouring it, he laid the bowel on the floor to have (holy shit that sounded like a big dog) eat it. He then turned on the water faucet and there was a sound of yet another came from the same type of bowel being put under it. Water bowel, got it. “This lady, I’m sure you’ll meet her one day, her name’s Selina, anyways, she kept daring me to work at the animal shelter for weeks on end and so I gave up the long, tragic, epic battle and went to work there as community service and I just kept coming back ‘cause I sort of liked it there!” I walked over to have a more clear sound of his voice. I leaned on the counter to his kitchen... Is it called an island? I have no idea. He placed the bowel on the floor and there came loud chugging. “It was about a month later of me working there as a volunteer when Taco came into my life. She was used as this fight dog and came in with her ear nearly bitten off and her leg broken beyond belief. Her right front leg. She needed to go to the vet. When she came back, getting all better- she came in almost dying- And I just thought those big brown eyes were meant for me.. I just fell in love at first sight!”

#Jason Todd #Jason Todd/Original Character #Jason Todd/OC #Old Unfinished Work #Out of Character Jason #Sorry...#Fan Fic #My Writing

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singwhenyoucantspeak · 7 years

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So, @lenaluthordefensesquad sent this post to me and asked for my thoughts on the comments. Now this petty back and forth between supercorp and sanvers is something I have been aware of and seen but have purposefully tried to avoid as much as possible and not engage with. However, Meadow asked me to make a post because apparently I said some things worthwhile. So here’s the thing. I ship both supercorp and sanvers (although I still tag it detective danvers because I am a little petty myself but i’m not gonna talk about that here it’s irrelevant). So keep that in mind because I might sound harsh towards sanvers here. Basically, my problem with the comments on that post are that they are trying to blame something that they perceive as a problem on the existence of a non canon ship. So, my response to seeing the post is this: First of all, to say that in general Supercorp gets more screentime than Sanvers gets is just untrue. Lena has only been in a handful of episodes, most of which she had very little screentime. The fact that we finally got a Lena centric episode does not mean that supercorp is suddenly getting more screentime than sanvers. The other issue is that, the writers of the show are not putting scenes with Kara and Lena in with the non canon ship in mind. Lena and Kara’s friendship in and of itself, without the existence of the ship is IMPORTANT to the show. The show is called supergirl, and while yes Kara and Alex are equal Lead characters, the main storyline is not about the romances and it shouldn’t be. Sanvers has always been a side plot for this reason and will probably continue to be. Lena’s episode relates to the larger action portion of the plot that the show has always focused on where Kara and the DEO are fighting bad guys, in this case Cadmus (idk if i spelled that right, but I don’t care). Also, it is important that Kara have friends on the show who are not just the boys that fall in love with her. In season one she had Cat as a friend and Alex as her sister. In season 2 if Lena was not allowed to develop this relationship with Kara, Kara would be down to NO female friends, and Alex being the only other woman she really interacts with often. So Lena and Kara’s relationship, even without the existence of supercorp is integral to Kara as a character and as the lead character.

If Sanvers shippers truly want to complain about them not getting much screentime, there is a whole host of other things that are more responsible for that, that would be legitimate to criticize. Mon-El becoming more of a lead character and getting the screentime of a lead character is one of them. But I think we need to remember that this is an ensemble show, and it is not the Sanvers show. Sanvers has had and will continue to get some centric episodes where they get a lot of screentime, but because of the size of the cast that is not going to happen every episode. I also have a HUGE problem with the superiority complex shippers of canon ships seem to have. I honest to god always thought it was just a hetero shipper issue. But it looks like in the microcosm of fandom we are having a similar thing happen with the relationship between canon and non canon f/f shipping that has happened between say, white cis gay men and the rest of the LGBTQ+ community. It’s like once they finally get to be part of the elite canon group who has the power of writer validation behind them, they want to shit all over the people who don’t have that luxury. This is something I really truly do not understand. It used to be that ALL f/f ships were noncanon because we did not GET to be canon. and it is fantastic that we now once in a while get canon ships, but fandom was created and developed for the specific reason to transform the canon text into something new, to explore things within the story that do not get explored by the actual writers. This is our history. Please do not forget that. Fan works exist to take a story places that the mainstream media and the writers of the show won’t go. So to come in and hijack a post made by a supercorp shipper as a JOKE based on the fact that Katie McGrath has played many gay characters in the past and seems to have ridiculous chemistry with other women, melissa included, is uncalled for and rude and not actually justified. Supercorp is not canon. We know that. We KNOW that Alex and Maggie are in fact more gay than Lena because the show acknowledges their gayness, but we are allowed to joke about the chemistry and how flirty Katie McGrath is without have a horde of petty sanvers shippers jumping on us.

And I have even more so a problem with this type of fan who would comment on posts in this way, because they seem to be the same kind of people who joined the fandom ONLY because they heard there was a canon f/f ship in the show, but instead of joining the fandom and appreciated supergirl as a whole and respecting the fandom environment and works created previously, they came in and shit on everyone in the existing fandom. They disregard season one and it’s importance, and many of them came in and shit on the General Danvers shippers for shipping a ship that has existed since the beginning of the show because it wasn’t the current canon ship and astra is “Evil and dead”. Which btw, General Danvers was my only ship on supergirl for quite a long time. And in that same vein, Supercorp actually existed as a ship long before Sanvers existed, and even longer before Sanvers became canon, so to suddenly feel that Lena and Kara’s relationship, which has been developing since the very first episode of this season, shouldn’t get screentime because sanvers is the canon ship is just petty. You want them to give more screentime to their canon f/f ship, you feel that they hype it up to much for the amount of follow through you get? fine, critique that about the writers, but do not blame supercorp and it’s existence and do not go hijacking supercorp shippers posts to be petty. I am not here for ship wars between f/f ships. The only ship wars I can at all justify are the ones where it is a non canon f/f ship pointing out the how a canon f/m ship is heteronormative or fans who happen to ship an f/f pairing critiquing an f/m ship because it is written in a sexist manner or a harmful manner. And even then, I do not support post hijacking or message spamming to the shippers of those ships. Otherwise, there is absolutely no reason that ships should be fighting and jumping on eachothers posts just to be petty, especially not between to f/f ships. So, that’s it. That’s my opinion on the “discourse”. This ended up being a hell of a lot longer than I expected, but I think everything I said was important and relevant. Please be respectful to one another. Other f/f ships are not the enemy here.

#supergirl #supercorp #sanvers #detective danvers

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hibisha · 7 years

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The Ace

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: K (Anime)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Relationships: Akiyama Himori/Hidaka Akira

Characters: Akiyama Himori, Hidaka Akira, Benzai Yuujirou, Awashima Seri, Gotou Ren

Additional Tags: Crime, AU, Murder Mystery, Romance

Series: Part 2 of

Dire Needs

The Ace

External mirrors:

1.) Fanfiction

2.) AO3

BAU, PSIA headquarters, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

04th July, Monday.

[8:30 AM]

Mondays were just one of those things that made for a very tedious existence.

The observation was made by a young man staggering through the main entrance of the bureau and collapsing in his work space, glaring at the pile of case files in front of him that needed reviewing and debriefing. Benzai Yujiro had sworn to himself that he would never look at another piece of report for a month but then again, that’s what he swore to himself each weekend as he stuffed some paperwork in his bag to take home with him. Next to him, Kamo Ryuho was sipping coffee and was already flipping through a case, not batting an eye at the gruesome display of bodies before him.

"I can't believe it's Monday already." Both of them turned to look at their newest recruit, a young red head, drag himself into the room and throw himself into his own chair. "I can't keep doing this every week, my body can't handle the stress." Doumyoji Andy was so far the youngest person in their department and Benzai knew for a fact that Kamo had taken quite the shine to him – the only reason why he offered him a smile instead of a scathing remark with a complimentary eye roll as Benzai was about to do.

Speaking of new recruits...

"Weren't we going to get two new members transferring in today?" He mused out loud, thinking back on what the Captain had told them before the weekend. Both his colleagues were about to respond when a sharp click of heels against the marble floor of the place made them all turn around.

Awashima Seri, the young blonde woman who had replaced Gen Shiotsu as the communication liaison around a week ago, marched straight out of her office and made her way over to them.

"Gentlemen." Her tone was brusque, eyes going over their desks, disapprovingly taking in all the unfinished files and paperwork. "Has anyone seen Akiyama kun arrive since this morning?" Benzai and Andy, both who had clocked in only moments ago, turned to look at Kamo, who presumably had been there since six am, only because he didn't have any other obligations. The dark haired man shrugged.

"I haven't seen him, sorry." Awashima nodded, her blue eyes glancing at the large clock hanging on the wall before she turned to Benzai and gave him an almost pleading look.

"Could you call him and ask him where he is? He was supposed to bring the two new comers from the airport -" Andy let out a small noise and they all turned to look at him as he ducked his head low, face turning a bit pink, "- and he hasn't been picking up any of my calls." Awashima finished, still eyeing Andy suspiciously, the later having dropped a pen and having to dive under his desk to retrieve it. Benzai on his part, kept a straight face until she had left only to have Andy break out into a fit of giggles and even Kamo was trying to hide his amusement behind his hand.

"Okay you two, knock it off."

"Akiyama-san. She sent Akiyama san to get the two newbies. From the airport. She sent Akiyama-san to drive them back here from the airport." Andy couldn't even seem to breathe and Benzai almost wished he'd choke on behalf of his best friend. He was about to snap back at them when another soft laugh joined Andy's explosive ones and Benzai looked up to see Fuse approaching them with Enomoto tagging along behind, both holding steaming mugs of coffee and wearing matching grins.

"Akiyama-san's driving? Alone?" Benzai sighed.

"I'm sure it's not that bad..." He mumbled, pulling out his phone. Dialing his oldest friend's number, he waited for the line to connect as all the others listened in, showing various levels of interest and amusement.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Click.

"I'm not lost."

That's when Andy truly couldn't control himself. The red head bent over, laughing soundly as Fuse joined him and even Enomoto and Kamo let out a small chuckle. "Why are you all laughing, I said I'm not lost!" Akiyama's tone sounded too peeved for Benzai to take those words in account though. "…I just took a wrong turn."

"Enomoto kun..." The bespectacled man nodded at Benzai, and pulled out his laptop, setting to work on tracing Akiyama's cellphone coordinates. "Akiyama, take a left."

"...okay but I just want to confirm everyone knows that I'm not lost."

"Of course you're not lost. How are the two with you?" Benzai added hastily, coughing to drown out the noise of everyone snickering in the background. There was a derisive snort heard from the other end that was so unlike Akiyama that Benzai had to pause and blink for a while before confirming that yes, this was still his best friend's voice. "Akiyama?"

"One of them had the bright idea for me to let him drive."

"Alright?" Keeping an eye on the red dot on Enomoto's screen, he quickly added before Akiyama could respond, "Take a right and then just drive straight – you'll get on familiar roads soon."

"Why is the headquarters so far away?" The other man complained, "Anyways, like I was saying, the car broke down. Twice." Benzai raised his eyebrow, even though the other couldn't see it.

"Oh?"

"Yes. It was weird. It just stopped and wouldn't move forward and … it was odd."

"Okay, just be careful and make it back in one piece alright?"

"Yes but for the record-"

"Yes Akiyama, we get it - you weren't lost."

BAU, PSIA headquarters, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

04th July, Monday.

[9:42 AM]

"Hidaka Akira and Gotou Ren." The young brunette looked up with bleary eyes as a tall man approached them, "Sorry for the inconvenience. We were unaware of the troubles that could have happened." The fact that the man did not look even the slightest bit sorry – if not anything, he looked a bit amused – made Hidaka almost snipe back. The other man had dark hair, deep violet eyes framed by the delicate frames of his glasses. He wasn't taller than Hidaka yet his presence alone made Hidaka feel smaller. "I'm the section chief and SSA, Munakata Reisi, you must be the two new recruits from Kyoto?"

Both of them nodded. Munakata san smiled, eyes twinkling behind the lenses.

"Well the, I'm glad to welcome you to the team. Rest assured, Awashima kun will show you around but for now, why don’t you two just rest. After all, I heard it was quite a taxing ride."

"It was alright – wasn't it Hidaka san." Gotou smiled at him in his usual demure manner and all the frustration and annoyance that had been building up inside him was calmed down – a bit.

Gotou was no miracle worker after all.

"Yeah." He mumbled, "We'll get over it." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a certain green haired man walking towards the coffee pot and he almost marched straight up to him to tell him exactly why he shouldn't be allowed on roads if he couldn't even follow a GPS map on his phone.

"Excellent!" Munakata said, clapping his hands together. "Why don't you take some time to familiarize yourself with the place – we haven't had a case today so it’s a slow day."

"Alright sir." Both of them nodded and in a blink of an eye, Hidaka was in hot pursuit of the short directionally challenged man who had escorted him to the HQ - if you called it an escort.

What was his name again? Akiyama Himori right? The man had been so focused on getting them back to the bureau that introductions had gone sailing out of the window.

"Akiya-!" The rest of the words got drowned in his mouth as he saw the look of utter despair and resignation on the other man's face. There was a phone lodged between his ear and shoulder and he was talking very vehemently, the hand that was not holding the coffee mug, was making all sorts of gestures, clearly indicating the other man was highly agitated.

"-on't do something you'll regret... You know what, fine. Have it your way! We're done!" Grabbing his phone, he angrily cut the call and whirled around only to come face to face with Hidaka who had enough sense of mind to realize he might have witnessed a breakup.

A rather abrupt and depressing one.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation." Akiyama sniffled out, his hair swept across his face, covering his right eye, making him look rather...adorable for lack of other words. "I don't know where you've transferred in fro-"

"Oh no, I wasn't eavesdropping! I was here to -" Yes, telling him off about his atrocious navigation skills was really not going to help the other right now so he began searching his mind for an excuse. "-ask you where I could get some coffee!" Akiyama looked at him and then pointedly at the coffee machine that sat right next to Hidaka, innocently doing what it was meant to do – brewing coffee.

The sudden low chuckle that escaped the other's mouth made him almost cry with relief because really, what the actual fuck. Coffee? Really?

Thank you brain.

"It's alright, I wasn't exactly somewhere private or secluded enough to have this conversation." Jamming his hands in his pocket, Hidaka shot him a sympathetic look.

"Tough day?"

"You have no idea."

"Want to talk about it?" A single green eye blinked at him as if he hadn't expected this before a small smile crossed his features, turning them softer and making them look much more meek and mellower than before.

"It's alright...Hidaka san?" Hidaka grinned.

"Yup! That's me! Hidaka Akira! I suppose I'm your junior right now!" The small smile on the other's face grew wider and even thought he could still blatantly see the other's misery reflected on his face, he didn't push his luck in trying to make him laugh even more.

"Well Hidaka san, I hope we get along." Hidaka watched as the shorter of the two made his way to a work bench where he got comfortable and was immediately joined by a group of people, all who were slapping him on his back.

He also noted how there was now a smile plastered on the man's face.

BAU, PSIA headquarters, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

11th August, Monday.

[8:45 AM]

"Right guys, since we're all here I'll get started right away." Awashima announced as soon as she waltzed into the conference room. Over the past month, Hidaka had gotten used to the fact that while the curvaceous body looked like it had been in every man's dreams at least once, the woman also possessed quite the sharp tongue that could quite possibly rip you into two if you stared at her chest for longer than absolute necessary - 0.01 seconds to be precise.

That and she had a boyfriend, who was equally just as terrifying as her.

Next to him, Gotou merely smiled into his cup of tea.

Gotou Ren had turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Hidaka. When the young man was looking for an apartment to live in after being randomly evicted from the one he was staying in on his second day because of a very bizarre reason - "You're too tall, you scare our children. We're sorry but could you please find somewhere else to go?" - Gotou had offered him to come live with him in an apartment that his family had owned in the area.

He also found out that no, Gotou did not smoke pot every morning, he was relatively this calm by nature.

A tap on his head made him turn to the right just to stare into the disapproving face of Akiyama san, who was staring at him steadily with the one eye that wasn't covered by the mess of his hair.

"Pay attention." he chided, "Hidaka san, you're going to get yourself into trouble if you keep zoning out like that."

"Sorry Akiyama san..."

"It’s alright, just don't make a habit of it. Also, you've been tapping that pen against the desk for a while now, it's getting a bit distracting - could you please stop?"

Akiyama Himori, Hidaka had discovered, liked everything to be in perfect order. He was always smiling and was the person you went to for advice.

"Alright Akiyama san, I'll stop distracting you."

"You'll need to stop existing for that to happen Hidaka san."

He was also the person who, and here's the part Hidaka didn't understand quite how it had happened, seemed to have started a sort of fake relationship with him where both of them pretended that they were dating.

As if his life wasn't odd as it was.

He supposed his constant flirting had been to blame too.

But he really hadn't expected quiet and shy Akiyama Himori to respond to his subtle remarks with even more highly inappropriate things – all in subtext of course because Akiyama san was going to be inappropriate, that would be improper - that made him think that maybe he was dreaming up the whole thing.

"Guys!" Benzai admonished them from where he sat, giving them an exasperated look. Akiyama immediately gave him a sweet smile and returned his focus back to the case.

"Right, we have a series of women abduction cases in Itabashi - so far seven women have gone missing over the past month and two of them just turned up dead - Maki Mamoru and Reiko Masashi. Both strangled, with their hands and feet showing signs of being bound to something."

"Any signs of sexual assault?" Benzai asked, looking at the file in front of him. Awashima shook her head.

"None but if you see here around their necks, you'll realize-"

"The marks come from collars."

Everyone turned to look at Akiyama, who in turn had gone very pink in the face and mumbled something along the lines of "know from a friend..." Hidaka wondered what kind of company Akiyama liked to keep.

"Are we sure it's the same guy who kidnapped all seven?" Benzai interrupted, raising his eyebrow, "I mean, it could be possible that some of them aren't related to the case."

"That's what I thought too except this guy likes to throw a calling card." The screen behind Awashima lit up, revealing an image of a playing card.

"The Ace of spades?" Hidaka asked, giving a small smile. "How..."

"Original." Benzai deadpanned from across him. "I'm guessing that's what the media has started calling him."

"You know, in legend and folklore, it is also known as the death card." Gotou added a bit dreamily. Awashima nodded and sighed.

"With the captain and half the squad away on a business trip in LA, we're kind of short staffed as well."

"Don't worry Awashima san." Akiyama said, smiling politely, "I'm sure we can handle it." The blonde woman nodded, her eyes flashing with determination.

"Indeed we have to, seeing as we don't have a choice. Alright squad let's move out!"

"Yes!"

Middle of nowhere, Tokyo, Japan.

11th August, Monday.

[ 09:18 AM]

"Akiyama san, why did you not listen to me when I asked you to let me drive?"

"I'm. Not. Lost."

"You're right. We're lost. Both of us." Hidaka couldn't believe his luck. Of all the people who could have driven on the one day he fell asleep in the van, it just had to be Akiyama. The rest had gone ahead in another vehicle and Benzai had explicitly warned him not to let Akiyama take charge.

And he'd fallen asleep.

"I didn't want to wake you up! You looked so cute just sleeping there." Flirting aside, the man did look very apologetic and remorseful, so Hidaka supposed he could overlook it.

"Okay okay, but where are we?"

"I don't know but-"

"Okay yes you're not lost I get it. We get it. The world gets it. But that's not going to help us right now." Akiyama pouted and Hidaka felt his heart skip a beat. Or several. "Oth-other than that – we're not getting any cellphone reception here either." Akiyama looked away, looking the absolute picture of misery.

"I know what you’re thinking and yes, this is why I'm not allowed to drive by myself."

"...Okay, let's just keep driving till we find some cell phone signals?"

"You think I'm incapable of driving without a guide."

"Akiyama san – we are currently in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception, no cars within sight – yes I think you are an extremely incapable driver." Seeing the other man opening his mouth looking affronted, he held up a hand, stopping him before he could say anything. "Still, I don't mind being stuck here with you. But we need to find a way back to the others okay?" Akiyama didn't respond or even meet his eyes, opting to tap his fingers against the steering wheel.

"What?" Hidaka was suddenly filled with realization that just maybe his words could have been taken as a tad bit offensive and he suddenly began to splutter out an explanation. "No, that's not what I meant – I think you're a great driver -"

"I don’t' mind being stuck with Hidaka san either." The words were mumbled out as if Akiyama wished Hidaka wouldn't hear them. The tall brunette started, a slow and easy grin creeping along his face. Slinging an arm around the other, he poked him in the cheek.

"Aww Akiyama san is so cute."

"Remove your arm lest I remove it off for you - permanently." But even as he said it, Hidaka noticed the small smile on the man's face. "Alright, let's start driving, you keep focused on looking for a signal okay?" Hidaka nodded and offered the man a mock salute before the car was revved up began to move down the road.

Police Department, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan.

11th August, Monday.

[10:45 AM]

"So how does he get to the girls?" Benzai stared at the whiteboard in front of him, frowning. All of them had arrived about half an hour ago and had just received a message that Akiyama and Hidaka were on their way, after taking a small detour. By detour obviously they meant Akiyama had gotten "not lost" again. Seriously...

And he had warned the other man to not let Akiyama take charge.

Benzai loved his best friend but even with him closing his eyes to all his faults, there was just this one thing that he couldn't let go off mostly because he was sure it would end up putting Akiyama in danger one day.

"Well we figured out that all seven of them had no places they'd ever come across each other except for this one bar." The local head of the PD, Chitose Yo said, reaching out to tap the map pinned on the board. "This place is the only bar around here for miles that offers a single ladies night once a week. Now according to the locals and regulars of the bar, they had seen each of the missing ladies at least once there."

"So the unsub scopes out single women at the bar and then what?" Gotou asked, cocking his head to the side thoughtfully. "It's not like he can just grab a woman in front of everyone and drag her away."

"He?" Chitose asked, looking startled, "I assumed it would be a female seeing as the killer manages to watch his victims at a ladies' night." Awashima shook her head, her blonder hair pulled back in a bun.

"That's what we would have thought too except the woman he abducted last - Haruka Maki was an all-star athlete. It would take a very large person to subdue her."

"Unless the killer had a gun." Benzai pointed out, "Guns usually make the strongest fall and become compliant. So we’re not ruling it out entirely."

"It could also be a really tall woman." Relief flooded Benzai's system as he whirled in his seat to stare Akiyama who came striding in with Hidaka on his heels. "Haruka san is strong but what's saying it couldn't be a stronger woman?" Awashima looked thoughtful.

"Well yes, I suppose that could be it."

"So we're back to square one.”

"Let's look at the victimology." Gotou pipped up, "All young women, dark haired, around their late twenties. All of them single and just out to have a good time."

"Something happens in that party that triggers off our unsub." Awashima added, "And next thing you know, we've got ourselves a new victim." Her blue eyes darkened, forehead wrinkling with worry. "That's all fine and good but why keep them for so long and then kill them? The bodies showed no signs of torture - no defensive wounds or anything. Just the marks on their hands and feet. They were well fed and no signs of being starved or being unkempt. They even had their toenails all trimmed and proper."

"So the unsub keeps them prisoner, takes care of them and then what? He just kills them?" Hidaka asked, raising his eyebrow. Benzai drummed his fingers against the table absent mindedly.

"No, something isn't quite right here. We're missing something. We need to go talk to the families and see what they say before we make any deductions." Akiyama suggested from where he was perched on a counter, "There has got to be something that links these women more than just their build and appearances." Awashima nodded.

"Okay, everyone pick a family and go talk to them. We'll meet back here and discuss what we've found out alright?" Nodding, all of them got to their feet. Benzai made his way to Akiyama.

"So - what happened?"

"Well, I took a wrong turn or two. Not my fault, you see, the signs were all very faded and it was hard to decipher one arrow from the other."

"And Hidaka san?"

"Oh he fell asleep. But he does look cute when he's snoring so I let him stay pressed up against the window, drooling." Benzai snorted. Akiyama smiled brightly. "I even took pictures!" Benzai just shook his head and reached out to ruffle the already messy hair before him.

"Don't make me worry like that again."

"I'm a grown adult-"

"-with no sense of direction."

"Still. I can take care of myself and you know it." Benzai snorted again, remembering their training days together in the academy. Akiyama had been known as some sort of silent holy terror. 'His bite is definitely worse than his bark' - the rumor that had drawn him towards the otherwise very silent and sweet looking individual.

"Well yes, I have no doubt that you can take care of yourself."

"See? You have nothing to worry about." The smile Akiyama gave him made him not even a little less worried about him.

"I'm still going to be the one to drop you off where you want to go right now."

"That is such -"

"Hidaka san can pick you up."

"- such a nice idea." Akiyama grinned. His eyes were twinkling mischievously - or eye. The only one he could see anyways. Benzai groaned.

"You know, you could stop pretending you don't have a crush on him and outright instead."

"Now where would be the fun in that? Besides, it's not like he ever takes any of my comments seriously..."

"Well maybe you should openly tell him instead of making a game out of it."

"He started it! We're just joking around Benzai." The two of them were making their way to where one of the cars they were supposed to be using was parked and Benzai slid into the driver's seat, Akiyama climbing in next to him.

"Well actually, I think he flirted with you genuinely and now he's confused..."

"He flirts with everyone!" Akiyama did have a fair point. Hidaka did flirt with everyone - or used to. Except everyone else had just given up while Akiyama had responded and Benzai knew when his best friend had a crush from a mile away. Akiyama on the other hand, was still in denial about the whole thing. Factoring in the last relationship that he had, which had ended rather sourly, it was understandable why Akiyama wouldn’t want to get into another one – his boyfriend had just up and realized one day that he wasn’t gay, something that Benzai couldn’t understand because how on earth do you just, after being in relationship with a man for almost a year, just suddenly realize you weren’t gay? But apparently that was a thing that happened. Which made this all such a huge pointless drama that Benzai wouldn't be surprised it was written by some young college student who liked creating nonexistent complicated messes.

"Okay look, if by the end of this case you don't tell him, I'm going to do it for you. He may turn you down but then at least you'll know?" Akiyama pouted.

"Well true enough I suppose. Alright, when we're done with this case, I'll tell him." Benzai smiled as he pulled out of the driveway.

"That's the Akiyama Himori I know."

Mamoru household, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan.

11th August, Monday.

[11:30 AM]

"Good afternoon Yuki Mamoru san, may I come in?" The short brown haired woman nodded and stepped aside to let in Awashima as she flashed her credentials. The blonde woman entered the house and looked around, seeing what you'd find in a normal everyday household. Framed pictures on the walls, a small living room with an attached kitchen and some doors which she assumed were the bedrooms.

"Ah thank you for speaking with me Yuki-san." she said, bowing her head a bit, "I wanted to ask you a few questions regarding your daughter?" The woman let out a small sniffle but apart from that managed to hold herself together and give her a tiny nod.

"Okay, did Maki have any enemies? Anyone who'd want to do this to her?" Yuki shook her head aggressively, eyes shining with unshed tears.

"No, not that I can think of. Maki was an outgoing child - a bit rambunctious but over all a nice kid. She wouldn't hurt a fly and wasn’t bad at heart. I know – I know what everyone says, that Maki – my Maki, probably did something stupid and reckless – and that she d-d-deserv-" Awashima reached out and put a gentle hand on her arm and gave a firm look.

“Yuki-san, I know this is hard but know that no one blames Maki or thinks she deserved any of this. We will find whoever did this and we will bring him to justice. But I need you to be strong and answer my questions. Can you do that for me?” Yuki nodded, wiping her eyes on her apron. Awashima gave her an encouraging nod. "Alright, you told the police that when Maki didn't return home for a day, you didn't think too much about it until it crossed was about three days later?" Yuki let out a sob and shook her head.

"You - you probably think I'm a bad mother but I didn't - she would usually spend nights at her boyfriend's house so I didn't - she never listened to me anyways." At this the woman dissolved into tears and Awashima awkwardly reached out to pat her back. The woman finally took a deep breath and managed to calm herself down.

"She recently just broke up with him too - I should have known. But I thought they made up - they always do. Always." At this she just broke down once more, not even attempting to pull herself together. Awashima, sensing that she was not going to get any more answers out of the woman, got up and bid her farewell. The woman just looked up and gave her a hard stare.

"Find this person. Find them - save those other girls." Awashima nodded and exited the house. Pulling out her cellphone, she put all of the squad on a conference call.

"All right Maki Mamoru was a bit of a rough edged girl but she didn't have any enemies. She was recently going through a breakup -"

"With an on again off again boyfriend?" Benzai interrupted. Awashima blinked.

"Yes that's exactly-"

"I think I know what this is all about." came a clipped reply. “Everyone gather at the PD's conference room." Hearing all the others agree and drop the call, the bewildered blonde woman was left wondering what on earth was going on.

Police Department, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan.

11th August, Monday.

[01:14 PM]

"He's targeting women who're single - but not just single. Recent breakups." Benzai pointed out. "Women who are all together with some on again off again romance and by the looks of it, he's telling them that he wants to tie them down - in other words, they should settle down once and for all."

"Why the girls though?" Hidaka asked, "They aren't the ones who initiated most of these breakups." Awashima frowned.

“He’s also taking care of them.” She argued, “Doesn’t seem like something a man would do if they were just discipline his victims.”

“Unless he thinks he’s saving them from that way of life.” Akiyama supplied. “Tie them down and enforce them to not go back – stay with him who treats them so kindly?”

"Maybe something to do with his own past?" Gotou pipped up from where he was sitting, "Either way, I think I have a plan on how to catch this guy."

"How?" Chitose asked, looking confused. Gotou smiled mysteriously.

"All we need, is some insider's information."

Raven’s Heart, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan.

12th August, Tuesday.

[9:45 PM]

“I still say this is a highly bad idea.” Hidaka muttered under his breath as the two slipped into the bar, wearing tuxedos. Akiyama shrugged, looking around cautiously. Zeroing in on Dewa Masaomi from a distance, he nodded to Hidaka.

“There.” Hidaka turned to look at the quiet dark haired man, just sitting there quietly, sipping vodka and scoffed.

“You have got to be kidding me – that’s our informant?” Akiyama shrugged. It appeared he was a close friend of the local PD head so what was the point on commenting. Not that Akiyama was going to deny that the man looked way too different to be a friend of what Akiyama had established on first sight, a very flashy police officer.

“Well, he’s our best lead. He’s going to be the one who helps us identify who’s a regular here and who’s not.”

“And we’re looking for a regular?”

“Yes, because the unsub needs to visit a lot to know everything about the victims as he did.” Akiyama signaled the informant with his head and the man gave them a long hard look before very subtly pointing in the direction of the bar, where a small group of women were hanging off the arm of a dark suited man, giggling and batting their eyelashes. Next to him, Hidaka whistled softly.

“Check out that girl’s ra-oof!” a sharp elbow in his side made the rest of his words die in his throat as he found at the end of a highly disapproving glare. As the other was apologizing profusely, Akiyama began to recall the plan in his head.

Grab a drink and go make small talk.

How hard could it be? Smiling, he picked up two glasses of cheap wine off a passing waiter and handed it to Hidaka. It was going to be as simple as baking a cake.

Swank Motel, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan.

13th August, Wednesday.

[3:55 AM]

"You have got to be kidding me." Hidaka stared at the dress in absolute horror and then at the man holding it up, smiling rather smugly.

"No Akiyama san, I can't-"

"But you promised." Hidaka swore internally - Akiyama seemed to have discovered some internal weakness of his which was basically making the worst sad puppy dog face you could manage to pull off. And he was getting too good at them. Or he was always good at them - fuck.

"I was drunk!"

"Promised." The man in front of him wasn’t giving up though. The plan, the night before, had gone horribly wrong. The two of them had been doing a stake out in a bar, like they had been originally assigned to do, all the while keeping close to one of the only suspects they had. While he had ordered more drinks with the suspect so they could all drink, Akiyama had severely overestimated Hidaka’s ability to hold liquor. Two drinks in and he was blabbering nonsense and Akiyama had to hurry him away in case he accidentally blew their cover. Amidst all that, at one point there had been a conversation that Hidaka could only vaguely recall.

"Akiyama san is really pretty."

"What?"

"Like lots an' lots of pretty. Bet you'd look even more pretty in a dress."

"Hidaka san you're starting to go incoherent and you clearly cannot think straight."

"Can't ever think straight around you."

After that was a huge gap in his memory and he remembered nothing except when he woke up, Akiyama was grinning at him and telling him he had promised to wear a dress - for him. Hidaka was willing to bet his life on the fact he hadn't promised any such thing but Akiyama was persistent and so here they were.

"Look, if I promise to wear the dress, can we just leave?"

“You already promised to wear a dress. And yes, you can leave wearing the dress."

Really, why was it always Hidaka's job to deal with this?

"Okay, but I'm not entering the hotel in those clothes - just till we reach the police station then I'm changing in the back of the van. Got it?" The green eyes in front of him blinked.

"Alright, whatever Hidaka-san feels comfortable with."

"I feel comfortable in my own clothes." Hidaka couldn't help but put in a tad bit desperately.

"Not that comfortable." Really, Akiyama Himori was a demon.

Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan.

13th August, Wednesday.

[5:30 AM]

"I see, thank you Awashima san." Disconnecting the call, Hidaka turned to look at Akiyama, who was keeping his one eye focused on the road. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Hidaka wondered if that was the reason why he was always getting lost but discarded it. Sitting there in a sparkly pink dress, with his hair done up in a clump of pony tail, he hardly was in any position to say anything.

"You make a lovely woman Hidaka san." The corner of Akiyama’s lips was twitching and Hidaka had the painful urge to punch him straight in the mouth.

“Why thank you, I really work hard on this body.”

“Lets put it up on display next time in the conference room alright?”

"Shut up, Awashima-san said we should meet her at the bar so you’re going to have to turn around. I'll go change in the back." He looked around him to see if his original clothes were there but he was unable to spot them and figured they were probably in the back.

"Isn't in convenient we took the van?"

"...I don't know how but you planned this somehow."

“I did not.”

“Where did you even find the dress?”

“I bought it while you were knocked out. Two drinks might I add – just how weak are you? Can’t keep going for more than two rounds.”

“I am not in the mood for this right now.”

"I don't know what you’re talking about.” Really, it would be so much easier to believe him if only he hadn’t been smirking when he said that. As Akiyama turned the van around, Hidaka clambered behind to the back and began to look for his clothes.

“Akiyama san, where did you keep my clothes?”

“Oh, they’re in the black bag.” The other man said, trying to keep his mind on where they were going.

“What black bag?” That got him a response. Akiyama turned to give him an incredulous look, before immediately facing the front again.

“The one I told you to pick up on from the bed!” The small note of panic in Akiyama’s voice filled Hidaka with dread. The man was serious…

They had left his fucking clothes at the fucking motel!

“Let’s not panic.” Akiyama finally managed to voice out and Hidaka wanted so badly to snap at him that no, he was going to panic because Akiyama wasn’t the one in the dress. He wasn’t the one everyone would see in the dress and the ridiculous makeup and hairdo. Akiyama san wouldn’t be the one going to get off the van looking like some trashy version of a one night stand from a nightmare in hell. Angrily, he was about to turn and tell off the man when he saw the dazed look on his face.

No. He had only taken his eyes off for 15 minutes. Surely…

“Hidaka san..." His tone was fearful.

"Yes?" So was Hidaka's if he was completely honest.

"Don't get angry - we’re not lost but-“ Hidaka just closed his eyes and moaned.

"Fucking hell Akiyama san, just keep driving, we'll find some place -"

"And we're also out of gas," The car stopped.

"Okay look, I'll go and look for help, why don't you stay in this van and I'll return with some clothes too?" His soothing tone of voice did nothing to placate Hidaka's anger but the idea was appealing so he nodded. Akiyama smiled, looking a bit relieved that Hidaka was at last talking to him now. Well, nodding at him – he still wasn't talking

"Okay, I'll just walk straight and hopefully someone will pick me up and then we can go back okay?" Hidaka nodded again, still too busy sulking to care about what was going on. Watching Akiyama's disappearing back, he was suddenly struck with a horrible thought.

"Oh fuck, did I really just send Akiyama san out alone?"

Yeah he was most definitely screwed.

An hour.

It had been an hour since Akiyama left and now Hidaka was sure he was hopelessly lost –Hidaka could just see him muttering "I'm not lost" over and over again and the thought would have been funny had the situation not been so dire. Not only was he stranded, Akiyama had taken the keys with him so he didn't have much of a choice but to stay put. Looking out of the van miserably, he was just about to fuck it all and go to sleep, when he saw a sleek black jeep pull in next to him.

A raven haired head poked out and Hidaka felt his breath get knocked out at the sight of the beautiful woman.

"Hey girl, you lost?"

Girl. She thought Hidaka was a girl. Hidaka wondered if this was a good or a bad thing – he certainly wouldn't mind anyone's help right now but-

"I'm waiting for my uuhh boyfriend to come back – he kind of went to get help."

And now I need to find a way to get us both help.

"Oh – do you need a ride?" The woman smiled gently, tilting her head. "We can leave a note here, get you somewhere safe and have your boyfriend comeback and pick you up later." That was actually a very good idea. Hidaka smiled.

"Thank you uuuh..."

"Maria. Mari Yubikiri."

Police Department, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan.

14th August, Thursday.

[1:32 PM]

"I shouldn't have left him there."

“Akiyama san, it isn’t your fault.” Gotou said, casting a worried look towards Awashima who shook her head a bit, indicating she did not know how to calm the man down. Hidaka had been missing for well over twenty-four hours and counting. Akiyama had returned to find the van empty with just a note saying Hidaka had found a ride and was getting help and that Akiyama should stay next to the car. Except Akiyama had already found help and had returned with Benzai but Hidaka never came back.

And there, in the seat, was the card.

The Ace of spades.

“Akiyama, I know you think you didn’t see anything. But you have got to think hard. You probably do remember things but we both know how panic makes someone over look things that are usually very important.” Akiyama frowned.

“Girl.”

“What?”

“Hidaka was dressed up like a girl.” Ignoring the shocked looks of various faces, he jumped to his feet, pacing back and forth. “While me and Benzai were on our way back, I saw a black jeep drive past. I didn’t think much about it but – that road is kind of not used at all isn’t it? On top of that, Hidaka wouldn’t be so stupid that he’d just climb into the car with some random man. A woman on the other hand...” He turned to face Benzai. “It has to be woman who took him.”

“That fits our earlier profile too.” Awashima added, looking thoughtful. “And it also makes sense why she would target women who were in and out of relationships. Taking care of them until something happens to trigger her off.”

“She’s asking them to stop returning to their boyfriends.” This came from Gotou, who was frowning slightly, “That’s what the chain and binding are for – keep them from going back."

"Ace of spades." Akiyama said, his eyes getting brighter and brighter, body shaking a bit. "Not King. Not Queen. Ace. A King represents a male role that she doesn’t want to assume and the Queen is usually signified in the game as of less value than the King. She doesn’t want that title either. An Ace on the other hand – it beats them both. The Ace of spades is traditionally the highest card in the deck of playing cards.”

“That would also explain the lack of sexual assault and the way she kept them healthy and well taken care of. She probably had some bad relationship in the past and never got over it. So she’s helping women who she feels are in similar situations as her. Forces them into accepting that they don't need the men in their lives.” Benzai added softly. A sudden thought made them all freeze and Chitose was the one to voice it out.

“So what happens when she finds out Hidaka’s a guy?”

Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan.

14th August, Thursday.

[07:55 PM]

This was a bad situation.

A very very bad situation.

In retrospect, Hidaka knew he couldn’t really blame Akiyama san but it was really much easier blaming him than having to think about anything else in this situation. After he had gotten into the vehicle with Maria – if that was truly her real name – she had blitz attacked him and injected him with something that had made him unconscious till he had come round to see himself bound to a bed. Next to him was a row of beds, each containing a quiet terrified looking woman. Five to be exact.

The missing women. Something inside him swelled in relief at seeing all of them unharmed if not looking terrified and teary. But they were alright. All of them were fine.

Him on the other hand…

He looked down at his feet which were bound to the bed by a single long rope. Looking up, he could detect collars around the necks of the other prisoners, which were chained to their respective bedding.

Hence, the bad situation. Maria had come in minutes ago to tell them all it was time for all of them to get ready for bed. Hidaka didn’t know how long he had been knocked out for but it was already the whole of the next day had passed and it was night time again and he had a sinking suspicion that no one really knew what had happened to him.

Shit this was a really really bad situation.

He should really consider himself lucky that she hadn’t decided to change his clothes while he slept or else she might have murdered him in his sleep.

“You, come with me.” He looked up to see Maria smiling at him. Gulping, he got to his feet and wondered how hard it would be to overpower a woman. But then he remembered the athlete and the fact that this woman had single handedly carried him up here and groaned. Of course, the one time he got caught, it had to be some woman with near inhuman strength. Maria knelt down and undid the rope and even then Hidaka knew making a run for it would be bad. For one, he didn’t even know if she had a gun or not.

Following her out of the room, he found himself facing an empty changing room.

“Here.” Looking down, he was startled to have some clothes suddenly pushed onto him. “Wear these.” Looking at the clothes then at the smiling woman, he could feel realization dawning upon him. Slowly, bits and pieces of the story were coming together and he finally could make out the bigger picture.

So that’s what’s going on…

“Why thank you,” he managed to keep his voice high enough to pass off as a gruff woman, “I didn’t know what I’d be sleeping in.” If he could just keep her believing he was a woman till –

Till what?

It wasn’t as if anyone knew where he was.

Thus no one was coming to save him – he was on his own.

Maria must have read the depression on his face a bit differently because she rested her hand on his cheek and lowered it a bit to stare into his eyes.

“It’s alright – you don’t have to go back to him. He’s only going to hurt you. Just stay here until you know how to be your own person again.” Hidaka’s mind was whirling with a thousand questions but he chose to stay quiet. Mostly because he knew this wasn’t going to help him. The woman’s razor sharp nails cut him a bit on his cheek and he watched as she smiled at the sight.

Fucking psycho.

“Go wash your face – then I’ll take you to your bed. You’ll stay here where it’s safe.” She urged and Hidaka shook his head. Take off the hideous make up? The only thing that was keeping him from being exposed? For one thing, he couldn’t believe Maria still thought he was a woman. Mostly because no matter how you’d look at it, Hidaka wasn’t in any form or shape feminine. Now Akiyama on the other hand-

Okay that’s too much think about Akiyama and less thinking about how to get out of there. Looking around, he spotted a small window in the corner of the room. Analyzing it in his head, he mentally made a few calculations. It would be a tight squeeze but maybe he could just-

No, it wasn’t possible.

Miserably, he turned to look back at her. Maria smiles sweetly and he felt a trill of danger run through him.

“I don’t like taking my makeup off, it completes me.” He had seen some girl use this line in a TV drama once, whatever it meant. He must have said the right thing because Maria smiled at him, shaking her head softly but not exactly forcing him either. Leaving him alone, she shut the door behind her to give him – her? – privacy to change. In a flash, he was next to the window, trying to open it. If not anything he could always yell out for help.

It wasn’t like he had any other options.

“What are you doing.” It wasn’t a question. She knew exactly what he was doing. Turning around, he all but shook with fear as she stood there in the doorway, holding long rope. “This is truly disheartening – and here I thought we could have been friends… You men only lie. Lying, deceitful little creatures you are.” The blood in his veins froze. She knew. Maria let out a small laugh. "Oh what? You thought I would see past your pathetic disguise?" Hidaka shook his head. Well, if he was going to die, might as well not give her the satisfaction of knowing she frightened him – even if she did just a bit.

“We’re not friends. You’re just a psychopath who likes to abduct people and kill them under the pretense of looking out for them.” Something in him made him keep speaking even though it was very ill advised in his current situation. “You cover your own guilt by saying you’re keeping them safe but you’re not – you’re just like every other guy who kept them prisoner – no you’re worse. They just did it emotionally; you’re doing it physically. You’re nothing but hypocrite Maria Yubikiri!”

The woman let out a snarl and pounced on him. Hidaka struggled against her, but discovered soon, that her petite frame was only a misleading cover to a ferociously strong body. As she pinned him to the ground, he stared at the ceiling.

Huh. So this is how it ends then.

Really, he had so much left to do. He hadn’t even called him mum in a long while now. What had it been – a month? Two?

The hands round his neck tightened and dark spots began dancing in his field of vision. His chest heaved trying to get some oxygen in as he scratched at her hands hoping to get her to let go.

If only-

“Let go of my boyfriend, you crazy bitch!” The last thing he saw before he blacked out was tiny blur of green yank the body off of him and with a smile, Hidaka’s consciousness faded to black.

BAU, PSIA headquarters, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

16th August, Saturday.

[8:30 PM]

“So how did you guys even find me?” Hidaka asked, rubbing his throat a bit. The marks were still there, scars where her nails had bit into his skin and made him bleed. The darkening bruise across his tanned skin would take days to heal but Hidaka knew it would disappear sooner than later and this whole business would be behind them. Benzai coughed.

“Well once we realized it was a woman with a black jeep, the rest was easy. We just looked up every woman in the area who owned one and fit the description of the victims. Maria Yubikiri lit up like a beacon. Her own relationship had gone south and she had killed her ex-boyfriend but the charges against her were dropped since the boyfriend was such a douche. She had been in and out of therapy. She was such a cluster fuck of problems that you could just tell from a mile away were trouble.” Hidaka nodded. They had all just returned to the headquarters, him being finally released from the hospital after many threats and angry outbursts.

Really, he hadn’t even been in that bad a shape.

To top it all off –

His eyes found themselves fixed on a certain figure that was discreetly trying to leave in the background. A small push made him stumble forward and he barely manage to catch himself, turning to look at Benzai, confused.

“Just go ask him out properly, you both are giving the entire team a head ache with your constant tip toeing around each other." Behind him Gotou nodded savagely while even Awashima made a shrugging motion with her shoulders. Hidaka turned to look back at the figure only to realize it was gone. He quickly bid the other goodbye before sprinting out after the other man.

Really, they were going to see each other the next day – he shouldn't really make such an effort right now. But something inside him told him it was either now or never.

Spotting his desired company walking ahead, he smirked and grabbed him by the shoulder-

And found himself lying on his back, his body screaming in agony and stars floating in front of his eyes.

"Oh my God, Hidaka san!" Akiyama's horrified voice pulled him back into the world of the coherent and Akiyama helped him sit up. "I thought someone was attacking me so I just -"

"I always knew you were the ones who could make me see stars in their eyes."

"You really do have a concussion don't you, wait, I'll go get help. I should probably call the ambulance – you need to go back to the hospital."

"NO!" Hidaka's body jerked in an upright position. Akiyama blinked.

"Alright then, I'll just leave you here to die then See if I care." He huffed, getting to his feet. Hidaka followed suit even thought he was sure he had dislocated some of his vertebrae. Groaning, he held up a hand, silently asking the other man to stop which he thankfully did. Hidaka inwardly rejoiced because he really didn't think he could run after someone right now.

Fucking hurts like bloody murder.

"Okay no, I needed to ask you something." Akiyama paused, a bit of pink dusting his cheeks. Before Hidaka could get even two words in, the man was rambling on, not paying attention to what the brunette wanted to say.

"If this is about that boyfriend comment, I acted without thinking – I was in a panic -"

"Akiyama san..."

"So you can't actually blame me -"

"Akiyama san."

"Besides, do you realize how worried you had made all of us -"

"Akiyama san."

"Always doing careless things. I mean, who just -"

Hidaka just kissed him to get him to shut up. Which did work – until he pulled away because then Akiyama was all up in his face.

"What was that?"

"Well I'm not sure what they call this in your home planet – but here it's called a kiss Akiyama san."

"Why?"

"Well you kept talking and not listening -"

"Oh so you did kiss me only to make me quiet."

"What? No, That's not -"

"I'm sorry." Hidaka blinked. His mind couldn't keep up with the conversation and he vaguely wondered if there had been a bit of a time skip here.

"Excuse you?"

"I'm sorry." Akiyama repeated, looking away. "That day – it was my fault." Hidaka's eyes widened comically and he raised his hands, waving them frantically in front of him.

"No no, it wasn't your fault. Really."

"No it's – Hidaka san made no such promise." The low mumble made Hidaka stop and stare, a bit bewildered by the small confession. Confession to what exactly, he did not know.

"What?" Again, there was probably something he skipped - he was missing something majorly important, he was sure of it -

"Hidaka san never promised to wear a dress - I made that up." Hidaka stared. And stared, He opened his mouth to say something but really, nothing came out.

"Ah."

What else could he say? Anything he wanted to say was highly wrong in the current atmosphere.

You're here to tell him you love him. You're here to tell him you love him. You're here to tell him you love him.

"Please don't be mad, I thought you'd look really cute." Hidaka stared at the other man, incredulity spreading across his face.

"Akiyama san?"

"Yes?" The words were a tiny squeak as if he expected Hidaka to yell at him. He didn't though.

"It's a good thing I love you otherwise I might have just murdered you right now." Akiyama's eyes widened only for a fraction before Hidaka found himself being on the receiving end of a very long – and possibly bone crushing – hug.

Yup definitely slipped a backbone or two. he thought wincing slightly. But it was worth it though. Akiyama pulled away and began to dig around in his bag.

"I planned on giving you this tomorrow, as an apology, but here." Hidaka stared at the wooden box in surprise and blinked, looking at Akiyama then at the box and then back again. Akiyama nudged him. "Well, don't leave me standing here like an idiot. Just take it." Hidaka nodded. Opening the box he stared at the contents in surprise.

"Ah." Once again rendered speechless, he held up the wooden pen in the light, admiring the way the light reflected off the polished surface and the intricate pattern carved in. Akiyama shrugged.

"I really didn't know what else to get, I'm not good with-"

"Thank you Akiyama san." Hidaka cut in, placing his gift back in the box, "It looks really nice." Akiyama blushed again. Hidaka came to the conclusion he liked seeing Akiyama blush.

"Yes well, you did get kidnapped and all so I suppose it's the least I could do." He ducked his head and Hidaka grinned.

"You can also go out for dinner with me." Akiyama looked at him blankly then at his wrist watch.

"Well, I guess it's not that late." He finally receded. Hidaka grinned.

"Great, I just recently found this amazing diner-"

"A diner? On our first date? I would have at least expected a gourmet meal."

"It was a very last minute thing Akiyama san, I'm sorry I couldn't arrange for the flowers."

"That's no excuse, I want my flowers."

“Well if you want those flowers so badly, maybe you should ask me out on a date.”

“Why would I do that? Then I’d have to buy you flowers.”

“Akiyama san…”

#...I'm done #this got very out of hand I did not plan on making it this long #AkiHida #k project au #k project #fic

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