#and just to be clear team sunny here lol

[backfromtwitterforw]

Just my opinion but I think it's funny for us viewers to pick sides in rp dramas, the only thing not fun though is when instead of saying stuff like "I support this person rights and wrongs", viewers get violent with the one they choose as antagonist or get personnal by attacking unrelated things or even admin or cc.

But I looove picking side, rooting for my fav and feeling their every wins and loss, and I don't think we should all stay neutral. I mean we can, but I don't feel like we have to just to avoid drama. I hope we're all clever enough to stay full rp and fairplay in our comments. Clearly, I trust too much in humanity I guess...

[lesbianslovebts]

Can I ask why you love hobi specifically? Was he always your bias?

Of course you may ask! I'm honestly not sure if Hobi was my original bias. I got into BTS in 2015 or 2016, when I was either a first or second year in college. I was just introduced to Kpop as a whole and started to get into a bunch of different groups like SHINee, EXO, VIXX, GOT7, B.A.P, and many more. It took a while for BTS to become my favorite group (and the only one I continued to keep up with), and it seemed to take even longer for me to find My Guy, you know?

Back then, I still thought I was bi and couldn't even pick who I was most attracted to based on looks alone lol. It took me a while to realize that they are attractive, but I am not attracted to them (or any other men for that matter). So, I continued to learn about their personalities and talents through Run BTS, interviews, music shows, etc., but I still wasn't sure, I guess?

I'm autistic, and BTS became a special interest of mine, so I infodumped about them to my mom and gramma all the time. They had no choice but to become fans by proxy. 😅 I think my mom said something at some point like, "You really like your Hobi, don't you?" And I was like, "...Yeah. 🥺" That helped me recognize how happy Hobi makes me, and that was that. Hobi is my ultimate bias, and 3J are my bias line.

So now here is me gushing about Hobi:

Jung Hoseok is a dedicated man who puts everything into his craft. He started off as a dancer despite his family's reservations and committed to showing not only them but also himself that he can and will make it. His talent is admirable in and of itself, but what's more is that he's always taken it upon himself to help the others when it comes to their performances. His absence at practice is sorely felt by the others, as we have seen them express time and again. They have all praised his leadership, and we know he has been an indispensable asset to the team, from even before debut.

My understanding is that prior to joining Big Hit, Hobi didn't really know how to rap or make music. In all honesty, he could have made do with just his dancing, but he chose to continue developing himself in different areas. He's credited on well over 100 songs at this point. His solo debut was a massive success despite the lackluster promotion from Hybe, which shows that he can stand on his own. And from what we saw behind the scenes, it was clear that he took that step not with arrogance but with vulnerability.

And hope. For all these years, Hoseok has downplayed his own struggles and emotions to embody the persona that is J-Hope. The bubbly, extroverted, sunny personality he showcases in public might not be his natural state, as he's admitted to us before, but it is no less a part of him precisely because that is who he chose to be for the fans. He has sacrificed parts of himself to be a bright, positive influence on his fans. Me included! His silly antics make me happy, but I know there's so much more to him than that. At the same time I respect him for his commitment to his name, I feel for him. As an autistic person, I know how hard it is to wear a mask.

And there's just so much more to love about him. He takes a million photos to document precious memories with his friends, made his first solo song for his mama, loves his elderly dog, is a scaredy cat, has a contagious laugh, can be a mother hen to the younger members as well as their co-conspirator, cannot hold his liquor very well, is the coolest guy around, carries little purses and paints his nails, loves shopping and fashion, and speaks with a southern twang...I could go on forever, but I will stop here.

[hangezoeenthusiast]

God(hcs)

c!multiple x god!reader

notes: the reader will be the god of death to make it a little bit more spicy :). c!punz’s pronouns are he/they, i’m not sure about the others, but i know theirs. also why does ranboo take away my gender? /j

word count: 1,672

warnings: arson, violence, cursing, yelling, mention of death, voices in technos part, spoilers for wilbur if you haven’t watch tommy’s lore stream, revival for wilbur, making a religion, time travel, egg, prison, stealing, anarchy, playful name calling

Sapnap

so obviously y’all would be a great match :)

you have creative mode, so when sap would ask you to give him a lighter and tnt, you would GLADLY give it

also, can we talk about him being a nether hybrid

fire squared

like fires left and right, hide your mom and your children in your house lol /j

but besides the whole arson thing, you favor him above anyone else on the server

like if he asks for diamond blocks, well here’s a whole inventory of it, also, here’s some ancient debris and some netherite

if someone asked, you would probably grant them with poison and curses, just because you can’t be “unloyal” to snapchat 

wouldn’t be lonely anymore

Dreamwastaken

this duo is less chaotic, but chaotic enough where people avoid you

he still asks you for stuff, but most of the time, you don’t give him it because he annoys you too much about giving stuff

“hey y/n/n, can i pretty please get some emerald blocks.”

“nope bitch, get it yourself.”

but sometimes, you grant him some op shit, when it’s your good day

“because i’m being nice, here’s some diamond, now, don’t ask me again you little piss baby.”

“shut your trap y/n.”

“or what homeless teletubby, what are you going to do to a god like me?”

“you hang out with technoblade to much.”

Georgenotfound

maybe the least chaotic duo

you guys keep on relaxing and relaxing until the point where you don’t do anything

he barely asks you for anything, but only when it’s really really important, like a house or build

especially when he was building his little cottagecore house, he needed your godly presence to help

“y/n, what should the roof be made of?”

“i suggest brick, it makes it more aestheticy if that makes any sense.”

also barely any drama or tea with you guys

never arguing and never betraying each other is a must

Tubbo

also another least chaotic duo

literally help him with his bee farm, he will (platonically) love you forever

gotta be close to ranboo, that’s the rule

gives him SO much stuff, he’s a precious boi 🙄

also gotta be close to tommy, but not as much unfortunately

you help him pick out things for builds, like what material clashes with another, etc

“do you think that the wool and the netherite blocks look good together y/n?”

“nah, what i suggest is the wool with the gold, it looks perfect.”

sometiems, gotta put him in check because he gets a little ego built up

you definitely yank his horn a little too hard because of your IMMENSE STRENGTH

“OW, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT Y/N.”

“calm down sunny, you were just getting a bit over your head a little.”

Tommyinnit

chaotic duo like sapnap

snaps at anyone who annoys you and vice versa

you give him EVERYTHING, obviously except op and creative

he tries to persuade you to do something, but dreamxd wouldn’t allow it, since he is the main boss

“come on y/n, give me op.”

“no tommy, xd will kick my ass.”

“pweaseee.”

“no.”

you would DEFINITELY help him with the Big Innit Hotel, making the whole layout and color palette.

both of you have an intense hatred for ranboo, since he “stole” tubbo away from tommy

Ranboo

least involved in everything

just stay in the tundra and drink some tea, and you’re good for all of your life

helps him get netherite all the time so your boii can get the good stuff 😬

when he mines to get diamonds, he literally prays to you

“y/n, if you’re listening, please give me a 6 vein, i desperately need it for my collection of diamond blocks.”

and THERE IT IS

more than a 6 vein actually, a 12 vein

guess he needs to pray to you more

daily tea sessions, to talk about the good stuff, and NO, and i repeat NO skipping

threatening to flick water on him check ✅

Wilbur Soot

literally you spoil him

not to be angsty, but when he died and lost his last canon life, you revived him instead of Dream

now he’s practically at your knees

like he’s thinks that he owes you, but actually that’s the opposite

he was revived because you were lonely, and wanted your best friend back :(

prays to you when he goes to bed

“hey y/n, hope you’re having a great day, (platonically) love you.”

“love you too mortal.”

sometimes, to be at the peak of godness, you shower upon wilbur as gold to symbolize blessings, like zeus did before

“omg y/n, what are you doing?”

“i’m trying to bless you, shut up bitch.”

just saying, he would make a religion about you :/

Karl Jacobs

omg don’t get me started on this

first, you wouldn’t codone him going back in time

he would definitely forget your name a lot, so that’s why you hated it

“hey karl, how are you doing?”

“i’m sorry, but do i know you?”

ANGST IS TOO MUCH FOR ME

you were definitely the one to push him towards sapnap and quackity

this is also another spoiled boi

give him the entire world while you’re at it pwease

he wants a few diamonds, nope, give him a chest full of them

Quackity

why are there so much chaotic duos in here?

literally chaos times infinity

energy to the max

literally, did you take an energy drink

grants him every wish he can randomly think off

“can i get a bucket with lava and a fish in it?”

“weird choice, but ok man.”

gotta be close to sap and karl or he isn’t your friend anymore /j

helps with las nevadas a lot, and definitely tries to rig the machines so you get money

“hey big q, i got 10,000 dollars.”

“that’s impossible... y/n, did you cheat?”

“nooo 😊”

help him preen his wings, and he goes “I LOVE YOU, MWAH MWAH.” obviously in his mind 🙄

Awesamdude

definitely helps him maintain the prison

you both love setting up red stone contraptions and pistons and all that giz

“hey sam, do you know where the redstone torches are?”

“yeah, there behind the pistons in the back.”

also you helped build the prison, since he could do that by himself

“are you sure that lava wall will work y/n, your calculations seem inaccurate.”

“i’m sure sam, this will add some more security to this goddamn server.”

nerd squared lol

BadBoyHalo

wouldn’t condone the egg

you warned him multiple times to get away from its grasp, but most of the times he’ll decline

“i won’t y/n, the egg is the future.”

he still, even after all the advancements, even after everything, he tries to ask you to join the eggpire

“come on y/n, you’ll like being with us.”

“i don’t wanna be on a stupid egg side, like let me crack the egg, i wanna eat it and turn it into a omelette.”

he doesn’t like that joke :(

but before he discovered the egg, both of you were joint at the hip

sight seeing was a must

languages being thrown around everywhere, since you were the little language muffin

Punz

steals stuff from everyone

hide your stuff, because the punzo-y/n team is unstoppable

definitely they can be really stubborn and indecisive

like one day, he will be like, “i need gold blocks.” and the next, “nevermind, i need netherite actually.”

like hon, stop switching

also anarchy buddies

burning down forests and buildings are your guys’s specialty

when you give him gold when they doesn’t ask, his heart goes brrr and his brain goes, “pog pog, they’re so cool, lets hug them.”

Technoblade

now this is the most deadly duo in the entire Dream Smp

better not piss you guys off 😐

he’s the Blood God, and you’re the God/Goddess/God being of Death

so if some occasion where you need to battle someone, like Techno’s enemies, *clears throat and murmurs Quackity*, you will obviously back your boy up :)

help him with enchanting and potions and he’s set for life

also you got have to be close to the great Philza Minecraft since him and Techno are buddy buddy

anarchy squared

helps with the voices since you have some of your own

“so what you’re saying is that i need to pay attention to them?”

“yeah, when i first learned that the voices were in my head, i tried to ignore them, but that sucked. so what i did was try to distract myself with various tasks, and that sucked.”

“so what do i do, you’re saying that i should listen to them, but how do i do that when they literally shout at me.”

“just embrace it, obviously when they do their little chant of blood for the blood god, you have to ignore them.”

“you suck at advice.”

Philza Minecraft

so since both of you resemble death, him being the Angel of Death and you being the God/Goddess/God being of Death, y’all are fucking best friends, platonic soulmates if you will

death squared

watch out, because if you piss them off, prepare to d-

gotta be close to Ranboo and Techno, and obviously others who he platonically likes

he doesn’t need to ask you for stuff, he’s the fricking Angel of Death, but he will ask you to preen his wings :D

“ow, not there y/n.”

“oh shut up grandpa, let me do it.”

“I’M NOT OLD DUMBASS.”

Dream XD

two gods at once, damn there is so much chaos

left and right, you guys are noticed by everyone, like purrrr

y’all would be in some fancy shit, to show your power

you would get jealous of him hanging out with george

“why are you jealous y/n?”

“you’re hanging out with george to much, hang out with me please :(.”

gifts are a must, even though both of you have access to creative

[sunnysviolin]

au where kel shatters (i use shatter instead of snap bc snap implies anger) and just. stops trying. like completely fading into the background, giving up on everything except his visits to sunny and maybe basketball. - ⚜️

A wild nonnie appeared! Hahaha lol my stupid jokes only make me laugh. BUT! Welcome to the club fleur de lis <3 I saw you and immediately gasped and began to work on this. I saved it and scheduled this to go out after Mari’s birthday so uhhh Happy Tuesday! I’ve gotta catch em all LMAO. Also what an ask to start off with I love it so much! I feel bad because it’s clear who my favorite characters are and which ones I neglect, but alas. People who say they don’t have favorite children….liars...all of em. Anyways here take some headcanons for this nonnie. 

ALSO Honestly this isn’t even really an AU, It’s like a soft sort of canon shift that butterfly effects outward. I’m also going with the suicide ending where both Basil and Sunny end up dying so trigger/spoiler warning. Usually I put this kind of thing under a read more if I put a trigger warning, but I don’t think I will because it’s not like explicitly discussed here. I will put it in the tags though…. Haha I lied! I’m putting this under a read more because it got long as fuck and also it’s actually really sad….geez

I think that there’s a lot in canon that supports this au idea. Honestly it’s crazy to think that somehow he held onto his positivity and that’s what saved everyone. If Kel hadn’t continued to reach out to Sunny for all of those years and continued to treat all of his friends with love and determination...they might’ve all ended up being consumed by their grief

So what if….he didn’t continue to reach out

After Mari dies Kel does his best to try and hold together a rapidly sinking ship. He does his best to be there for Hero, to check on Sunny, to defend Basil from Aubrey even though Basil is increasingly pulling away.

It’s hard work and he has no support system, but he knows that his people need him. He still has his optimism and it gives him strength

But what would be enough to shatter that? What would be enough to push Kel into giving up?

Hero

Hero was able to make a shift after the night that he and Kel argued. In canon he says terrible things to Kel, but almost immediately apologizes and comes back into being himself somewhat. His parents tried to take him away, but Hero persevered past that and probably saved himself and Kel that night.

Everyone was alone after Mari died, but after that night Hero and Kel at least somewhat had each other. I think it’s because of that that Kel is able to keep up his hope in canon. 

So this is the one shift in this AU. Hero lets his parents take him away. He didn't come back that night. Kel was left alone after their argument. 

That night is Kel’s formative experience. His brother and his parents leaving him and letting him be all by himself drowning in his grief and his pain. It’s a terrible night, but he’s still alive the next day. Still alive, but he’s different now. Hero still makes him breakfast and still apologizes, but the damage is already done. 

Kel takes the plate and picks at the food, but he doesn’t tell his brother it’s okay. He doesn’t forgive him. Hero thinks that Kel is angry with him and needs time, but Kel isn’t angry. Kel is just tired and he has given in to what the rest of them already gave into

Kel goes to school that day and he doesn’t look to see if Basil came today. When Aubrey and her group try to provoke him, Kel doesn’t take the bait. After school he goes to the park and plays basketball by himself. He doesn’t go home until late in the night. Practicing basketball is the first thing that has felt good to him in a long time. Sinking shots is a simple motion that brings success over and over. 

He gets home after dark, long past curfew.

Hero was worried sick and his parents are angry, and Kel just...doesn’t care. His brother is shaking him and his parents are yelling, and all of it just bounces off of Kel. He isn’t scared by their reactions, isn’t annoyed or irritated. He’s just...mute. 

And that’s how it continues. Hero keeps trying to reach him, but Kel won’t be reached. He heard exactly what Hero thought of him that night, and he’s done with trying. It’s not even a spiteful or angry thing. He just doesn’t have any hope that things will get better anymore. 

Kel stops knocking on Sunny’s door everyday afterschool. He stops looking for Basil in the halls. Aubrey’s insults and taunts roll off of him and she slowly stops trying to get his attention. Kel focuses in on the few things he knows he still understands. The feeling of dribbling a ball. The faint heart race of running across a court. 

Kel makes it onto the varsity team when he’s 14. Freshman normally don’t, but he’s good. He’s really good, but there’s one key thing that holds him from being the best. Kel is not a team player. It’s not that he hogs the ball or has some negative energy, he just has no interest in bonding with the rest of the team. 

((He had people. He had people and he lost people. Kel doesn’t want any new people))

There is only one thing that gives him a tiny amount of hope. When he’s 16, he finds out Sunny is moving. He takes the last meagre amount of will he has and knocks on Sunny’s door. For the first time...Sunny answers. 

Those three days bring Kel back to who he used to be. Running around town with Sunny, solving problems, even fighting feels good. It’s like a dream. First he gets Sunny back, then Hero, and then even Aubrey. Falling asleep in Basil’s house that last night is the first time Kel sleeps soundly. Everything is going to be okay now, he’s sure of it. 

Then he wakes up in the middle of the night. 

He hears someone crying. His heart drops. He moves out of the living room and sees Aubrey collapsed on the floor and Hero standing in the doorway of Basil’s room. Kel peeks around him. 

Basil is dead in his room. Kel looked inside, and he had to go into the bathroom and throw up afterward. That night is long, but the morning is worse. Kel and Hero walk back home together, and as they round the corner to their house, they see a familiar sight

Ambulances and police cars surround the house next to theirs. When Mari died they created a blue and red halo around the house. The same halo is around it now. Hero goes to talk to one of the officers milling about, but Kel goes into the house. He doesn’t need any confirmation to know Sunny killed himself. Of course Sunny killed himself. 

After that any part of Kel that still had hope is permanently snuffed out.

[undercover-trio]

Gender Neutral Reader x Team RWBY

De request

Hi! Could I request HCs for Team RWBY (separate) with a GN Reader s/o who seemingly dies in the Fall of Beacon only to turn up again later (you can choose when) to save them from a sticky situation. I need a little angst fluff in my life lol.

———————————————————

Yus, you can, and honestly who doesn't, if you don’t need de angst and de fluff then I don’t know you.

And if I do

I don’t

-Mod Pengie

Italics-Flashback

[Brackets]-Scroll/TV

*Asterisk*-Action

Another repeat of the intro, I just love copying and pasting

（｀ー´）

——————

Yang

——————-

Yang couldn’t remember much of how you died, she was groggy, it was cold yet your body was very warm

Yang could feel the blood flowing from her arm, her eyes were closed and she had a multitude of bruises. Yet she felt safe, her head leaning into your warm chest which provided a good source of physical and emotional comfort. She felt you place something in her hand as you spoke.

“It’ll be okay Yang, just rest, I’ll keep you safe.”

Those were the last words she remembered coming from your mouth before she woke up.

It was lonely.

She had gotten the news from Qrow, literally, he didn’t tell her. Merely showed her your report and handed her your small folding knife while giving her a side hug.

Yang had been pretty quiet since she woke up, yet here she was, staring blankly at a paper. Her lilac eyes picked up on 4 major points. Her hand gripped your pocket knife so hard that her aura started to flicker as she read.

Y/N L/N….reportedly killed...blood...Adam Taurus

Not even a moment later her eyes widened as Qrow quickly guided her to the bathroom. He would only listen in pity as he heard his niece heave and cry.

Of course the Sunny Dragon is never one to stay down, she learns and grows. Albeit with trauma.

Yang calmly stared at the foldable knife, rubbing her thumb against your initials, ignoring the doofus who was trying to talk to her. At least she was until this moron decided to attempt to touch her hair.

“You have really pretty hair y’know?”

“Yup! Trust me, these beautiful locks aren’t easy to maintain-“ Yang bragged with a puffed up chest and smug grin, her grin turned into a smile when you snorted.

Gently you grasped a lock, you were given the extremely rare privilege of touching her hair.

“Well I can say on behalf of everyone that you certainly do have the most beautiful hair.” You complimented, making her slightly blush, before she could tease you for your cheesiness you let her hair go and walked ahead.

“Also just a heads up, I saw Nora putting syrup in your conditioner and pink hair dye in your shampoo.”

Yang paused for a second, registering what you said.

“What!?”

She slammed her fist into the dirty bandit’s face, taking out a tooth as he flew back. Her eyes were blood red as he made eye contact.

“Don’t touch the hair”

Yang’s rage would certainly get her in trouble, yet you kept your word. You kept her safe.

Yang was shaking with uncomfortable rage, she felt the heat from inside her body. In front of her was no other than Adam Taurus, the person she despised the most.

Yang was crouched, she didn’t properly pace herself throughout the fight. She was too filled with anger to do anything, she could barely hear anything as her vision tunneled, all she could see was Adam walking closer to end her.

She didn’t even hear Blake gasp in surprise, she prepared her aura to take a hit. Yet her vision cleared as she saw Adam quickly turn and block a bullet.

Her lilac eyes widened as she saw your figure, sure there were most definitely scars, a small that cut through your left eyebrow. A horizontal one on your cheek, and many more on your body.

But you were alive

She couldn’t stay still as you were battling Adam yourself, neither could Blake. So while you went against him in close range they shot at him from long/mid range. Barely managing to shatter his aura.

Eventually she got up and flicked open your signature knife, with a final yell she stabbed him in the spinal area while you put your weapon through his chest. You both then let him fall down to the water.

She would seem upset at first yet eventually show that she’s just glad you’re alive

The both of you were in an inn room, sitting on beds and facing each other. Her eyes weren’t red but it was quite easy to tell she was upset.

Steeling up your nerves you attempted to talk.

“Yang-“

“Where were you?” She asked, but it was stated as a demand. Immediately zipping your lips the moment she spoke you sorrowfully smiled.

“I managed to escape Adam after holding him off long enough for Blake to evacuate you. But I did almost die in the process-“ you paused as you noticed her lips purse, with a nod she beckoned you to continue.

“I fainted in the street, yet when I woke up I found out that this kind shopkeeper provided me shelter in his shop and provided basic first aid.” Yang nodded.

“I was in and out of consciousness for a while, but when I was finally able to stay up I repaid him and immediately started looking for you.” You couldn’t see her eyes tearing up and walked over to her then sat and gave her a side hug as she leaned on you.

“Only to find out you went on a journey.” You chuckled, Yang softly smiled.

She wrapped you up in a bear hug as she shed happy tears.

“I’m so glad you’re alive.”

“I love you Yang.”

“I love you too.”

————————————————————

Hnnnnnnnn, I’m sorry it took so long but for some reason my fingers were dumb and like-

“Aye y’know wut, let’s not stick to the headcanon format.”

There’s also the fact that I was sobbing on my lover- my bed- about what they did to my baby Penny.

It’s just-

OFBWORNRODNEODB

Pennnnnyyyyyyyyyyy

。゜(｀Д´)゜。

Other than that as usual I hope you enjoyed my angsty vanilla HC my dear ✨Anonymous✨ friend

（・｀ω´・)

Ima go cry some more then work on my next request

Also don’t lie to me, shopkeeper is best character

Oof, 3.5k words, I’m proud

- Past Mod Pengie

^

Y’see that was me before this whole splitting fiasco

I guess today was a day I was just destined to be salty, there was just too much sugar from these HCs

Mkay enough of me being snappy, hope you enjoyed and I’ll start working on my next request!

-Mod Pengie

Above is you watching my rant

[vro0m]

vro0m’s rewatch - 27/288

2008 German GP

Recap + gifs

First we get Lewis celebrating the British GP (that woman stroking his cheeks is my queen)

He got pole! It’s sunny, but the clouds are coming in. And once again, some teams expect there might be heavy rain.

There was crosswind during quali and it made it difficult. Heikki is 3rd. McLaren is really doing very well at the moment. But Massa managed to get 2nd so we’ll see.

Now we have a look back at the British GP, they talk it through with Lewis. He says he doesn’t know how he does what he does, he just does it but he also explains he tried different lines during practice to find what worked and then you have to put it together like puzzle pieces to do that one good lap and then do it again, and again, and again. He says he was surprised that nobody else did what he did, they all drove like it was dry. McLaren told him in the beginning he didn’t need to overtake Heikki and to stay out of the spray, but he says he was in the zone thinking if he got him he got him and if he didn’t he didn’t.

(Hum hello, the way he touched his arm? The wink?)

Ahhhh Sebastian Vettel is leaving Toro Rosso for RedBull next year. Can’t wait to see what Seb’s RedBull era is all about.

They’re now interviewing Michael Schumacher, who says the one who will win the championship is the one who is the most consistent. He says Lewis is undoubtedly talented and the new generation is really skilled.

Oh jesus christ, they’re doing a segment about how they’re British in Germany and don’t understand the culture. They ask a random fan if he can explain why Germans are obsessed with David Hasselhof and he answers “no.” Jenson Buttons says he finds German people very loud. Heidfeld says he can’t tell a German joke because there is no such thing (lol). HAHAHA Vettel says they shouldn’t criticise German food because as British they aren’t exactly known for their good cuisine either.

Anyway, we’re on the grid now. Mika Hakkinen is there and he says he’s lost all his trophies in a fire but McLaren will help him get them back. Martin Brundle says at least the tortoise made it and Mika says no. I’m horrified lol.

Formation lap.

And they’re racing !

Lewis is already ahead! At the end of the first lap, he leads by 1.8 seconds. 10 laps in it’s 6.5. I sense a good ol’ boring race lol.

He pits on lap 18, with an 11 second lead. He’s 3rd behind Trulli and trying to overtake him rather than wait for him to stop. All the talk about him at the moment is that like all the greats he has to learn when to push and when to lift instead of overdriving. This might be one of these moments.

Halfway through the race, he’s back in the lead and 11 seconds clear again. I don’t have anything to write about. I’m just sitting here listening to the vroom vroom.

Oh no, big crash for Glock! Oh god, that car is DESTROYED and smoking. It was a suspension failure, he spun 180° on the track then heavily hit the barriers with the rear and got bumped all the way across the track. Lots of debris. Yeah, Safety Car is out. Oh... Most of the teams are gonna pit now. I count at least 10 cars coming in, but not Lewis. Both Ferraris do pit. Mmmmh. Now Webber’s car is smoking ominously. Yep. He’s stopping. DNF. 40 laps in, the Safety Car is leaving the track.

Here we go, Lewis has to pull away enough to pit later and stay ahead of Massa who’s currently 4th. We still haven’t heard how Glock is doing. Supposedly Lewis has enough fuel to go another 10 laps but it seems risky. He’s almost 10 seconds ahead however so he might just make it?

Coulthard and Barrichello made contact, Barrichello has to retire. Lewis pits, with 18 laps to go. Oh no, it’s not gonna be enough, he’s only got 15 seconds on Massa. The stop is quite quick, 6.6 seconds, but it’s not sufficient. Yep. He’s 4th, behind Kovalainen.

He clears Heikki quickly. It seems McLaren told him to get out of the way. Next is Massa. 15 laps to go. Heidfeld pits from the lead, so Lewis is now 3rd. He’s 2.5 seconds behind Massa, come on. He’s so much faster than him! Almost there! 12 laps to go! Ooooof, he overtakes him by pushing him out of the track and then a second time as Massa fights back. The only one left in front is Piquet, in the Renault.

On the replay, the first pass was a bit aggressive but the second one really was on Massa. Anyway, it’s all good. 10 laps to go. Alonso, in the other Renault, spins from 10th while his rookie teammate leads. Come on it’s time. Lewis is right on his tail. IT’S DONE! Beautiful. He’s back in the lead. Sexy af. And now he’s flying away and there’s no catching him. Amazing.

In the last laps, we hear Glock has been taken away in an ambulance but he has no visible injuries.

It’s the end of the race!

Lewis wins his 10th GP and leads the WDC again!

The journalist starts the press conference by thanking Lewis on behalf of all racing fans for not coming in during the Safety Car and making it difficult for himself, turning this into an exciting afternoon.

Lewis says he pushed all he could to make that gap but it was pretty much impossible. Heikki was a great teammate and didn’t put up a huge fight. He’s very giddy lol! “I guess if it was exciting for you, it was exciting for me still!”

“I take it there was not much discussion between you and the team on the radio about that decision?”

“Not really, no.” But he says the car is as good as it is thanks to the team so it really doesn’t matter.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space orcs, “Not the Hero

Alright guys, here is the ending to all the angst, everything after this is recovery, so you may rest easy. You should thank @heerojiro for the comment they posted earlier today b/c I was thinking about posting something else and making you guys wait for the end of this arc. In fact, I had most of that other idea written. 

However apparently  I have been causing a tiny bit of anxiety for some of you lol. So I have decided to end your pain today. hope you enjoy, and look forward to having a little more fun tomorrow. 

Also, sorry for the pacing. It was very hard to write this scene in two hours.

“Any movement?”

“No, except for those drones anyway, those suckers have been flying around for the last few days, almost nonstop.’

“Well that’s the first thing we’re going to have to deal with then.”

“Yeah, I was thinking we have our pilots feign an air strike, head in from the left and right and draw away their drones, then get in behind them with another group to cover our advance. I want to start up with trucks going straight down the middle, but send the real attack team in from the side. We have enough of those hand-held energy shields we could probably break through their line on the inside, toss a bunch of grenades to clear them out, and then use the light machine guns to mow down the rest. There are so many of them jammed in there that it shouldn’t be a problem, be like shooting at the broad side of a barn.”

“What did the commander say he wanted?”

“He wanted the Delta units light machine guns, or paired with someone with a light machine gun. The delta units will carry the gunner to the barrier and then set them up with a perimeter once inside.”

“How the hell do we plan on destroying their ship, a little C4 isn’t going to matter.”

“Yes, but a little C4 in their open engine compartment might.”

“That would kill everyone inside.”

“Which is why we will pull out before that happens. The explosion of their energy core will be contained inside their shields protecting the rest of us from what is going on inside.

“That…. Sounds good enough, I guess.”

Sunny listened only halfheartedly as the two officers planned their attack. Of course the Commander had given his orders, though at the moment he wasn’t capable of thinking past more than a few sentences. Though the nerve block was designed to stop pain, the Steel eye suit was apparently capable of partially overriding the block and sending nerve signals into the brain.

He couldn’t move, but was also in pain, though only marginally in comparison to what he could be under at that moment. She glanced over her shoulder towards the tent which had been erected for his privacy, and found that a lot of other people were staring too. Operation steel eye had been a largely publicized moved by the UNSC during the Drev war, a lot of people had heard about it though no one had actually seen one of the suits in combat, accept for a very special few, and even then they had only been witness to a few moments before the suits vanished into the ash.

The steel eye soldiers were to fast and too strong for your average soldier, and so generally tended to leave them in the dust.

Everyone was curious.

And now, it was almost time.

The delta units, other Drev, were gathering at the edge of the camp. They had come from all across the galaxy to participate in battle, and Sunny was glad to have them. They were a strange bunch in comparison to those in her childhood, carrying weapons and equipment that would have been considered heretical during the more traditional days.

It wasn’t every day you would have seen a Nine foot tall Drev carrying a belt fed light machine gun , but these were new times.

“We ready?”

She nodded her head, “Send of the pilots to draw away their fire….. I will get the commander.”

They nodded calling in on their radios for the jets to begin their flight, and Sunny turned walking towards the small tent her footsteps growing heavier with each moment she approached.”

She pushed aside the tent flap with one of her upper arms stepping into the dark interior of the tent. Light from above was filtered somewhat through the green canvas, and paired with the somewhat hot, humid nature of the little enclosure, it almost felt tropical.

Commander Vir lay on his back on a cot in the center of the room, his eyes closed, his face screwed up into an expression of immense pain and anguish. 

It made her sick to see.

His body trembled lightly against the pain despite the spinal block.

She walked over kneeling next to him, taking one of his cold clammy hands in hers.

His skin was cold, though the metal of the steel-eye exo suit was warm with humidity.

“Adam….. It’s almost time.”

His eyes opened after a moment. The mechanical eye adjusted almost immediately,followed more slowly by his real eye which glistened with an unshed layer of water.

His lips trembled.

She squeezed his hand tight.

The tent flap opened behind her, and she turned around to find the ex admiral standing over them. He paused hesitantly as if not entirely sure he should be here, though when no one said anything he stepped forward, “I understand that I can’t make you stop but….. At least save yourself some pain.”

He offered something out to them, and sunny looked down to find a small black box proffered in his palm. 

She recognized it almost immediately.

The box meant to be plugged into the drug port 

“No-”

“I know you said no drugs, but commander…. I at least take it with you. Just in case.” There was a long silence, but Adam didn’t protest and Sunny grudgingly let the man through to clip the box to the waist belt where it would easily be in reach.

The door opened again, and one of the officers stepped inside.

“It’s time, Commander.”

Adam didn’t acknowledge verbally,  but turned his eyes to look up at Sunny.

She hated this.

She hated this more than anything she had ever done, but she reached out and disengaged the nerve block.

The response was almost immediate. Adam gasped in pain curled over teeth gritted and groaned hissing and whimpering through his teeth in agony. The cries that broke through his lips were like that of a wounded animal. 

Sunny found herself panicking unsure of what to do.

Everyone around the tent was quiet, and even the voices outside the tent had gone still.

Eventually the cries died away, and he sat up body shaking.

They watched in silence as he threw one leg off the cot and then the other, standing slowly.

The machine hissed and chatted with his movements, ready for battle.

He took one step, and then another, and then another forcing his back straight forcing his body to relax as he threw open the tent flap and walked into daylight, his movements accompanied by the hydraulic hiss and click of a machine.

The entire camp turned to look eyes wide as it fell on him inside his armor, a dark god  preparing to lay waste on their enemy. Rays of light bounded across the metal skeleton rolling in waves up and down lengths of parasitic metal.

His mechanical green eye opened opened wide against the sun, black aperture clicking open.

Everyone stared silently.

He held out his hands to either side, and the ex admiral hurried forward, placing the rest of the attachments onto the limbs,, blades for close quarters combat, a helmet to protect his head, and a few more pieces to protect his torso leaving him mostly covered.

The longer he stood still, the more his legs shook.

“LET’S MOVE!” he barked, voice raspy and ragged from screaming.

Sunny took up her spear.

She turned to look at him, seeing as a memory coalesced from the back of her mind resolving itself into a dark shape of power and anger emerging from the ash painted orange with the blood of a dying Drev Clan.

***

He hurt so much.

The pain was debilitating, maddening. The kind of pain that is visceral within the stomach, where all you can do is lay down and rock back and forth because the more still you are the more the pain consumes you.

He had to move, had to keep going, or risk the pain catching up with him, and consuming him from the inside working out.

As his legs thundered over the ground he wished for nothing more than to lay down and die. To fall into the sweet grip of blackness and be silenced from the pain. As if that weren’t enough, memories filled his head coming unbidden to the front of his mind, memories of battles, memories of brutal executions by his own hand, memories of the rocks painted orange, memories of crawling through inches of ash face first as his body began to shut down. And when that wasn’t enough it came with mocking laughter, agner, hopelessness.

And a horrible sense of loneliness he once though he had forgotten, but now remembered.

Tears streamed openly and quietly down his face as he ran, there was no point in hiding them.

He wasn’t strong enough to keep them at bay either.

Overhead jets roared and drones hissed in that way they had.

He could hear the sound of missiles, gunshots.

His feet pounded against the dirt rattling him to his core as the Drev clans followed after him, their spears held at the ready, their weapons polished to a shine.

On their backs, the human gunners waited.

And next to him, she ran, the cool electric blue of her armor the only soothing thing in a landscape of pain and misery.

The only thing, accept for that box on his belt

NO! He couldn't think of that.

A set of armored trucks rolled past in the distance, drawing fire from the open amber dome as the burg swarmed outwards to respond.

Machine guns rattled, and burg bodies jerked falling to the ground. An energy weapons caught one of the trucks disrupting the engine and sending it into a jackknifing somersault through the air.

He was one fire.

They continued to run, and with the thumb of one hand he engaged the delicate purple energy shield just as they were approaching the outer rim.

He was running through a fog of horrendous pain, but the power through his limbs spurred him on.

He broke into the first line of burg warriors sweeping them into the air with a bat of his energy shield. Bones and carapace shattered and cracked with the power of the blow. The mechanical suit screeched in glee.

Guns rattled behind him.

He dropped the shield for a moment bringing up his own weapon to fire into the churning mass. There was really no point in aiming. It would be impossible not to hit something.

The shield went up again, absorbing and pulsing as an energy bolt surged through it.

He crashed through another line, mechanical assistance whirring, pushing his body past the limits of his humanity, turning him into something more, something greater.

Bodies flew.

He was a machine.

A god.

A burg roared up at him from nowhere its pincers out, ready to dig into his flesh.

But like a spitting cobra, he reacted on the instant sending the creature hissing back screaming and clutching at its face as the human saliva burned it horrifically.

More screaming.

At the head of a pack of Drev they sunk into the burg line annihilating everything that came into their path.

Blue blood coated the ground, mingling with red and orange.

He practically broke through the line himself slaying the Burg who was attempting to close the breach.

The gunners leaped form the back of their Drev companions, posting up on the doors and fiering inward the continued report of their weapons no more than continuous background thunder.

He fell back so as not to get in their way.

His vision was graying around the edges leaning toward black as the roaring pain ripped through his body.

His head was light and he felt as if he was about to tip over.

How long had he been fighting?

It felt like it had only been seconds, though his implant was telling hi they had been at it for almost an hour now.

His stomach churned, and he fell to his hands and knees vomiting violently, mouth filling with bile.

He continued to wretch, though there was nothing left in his stomach. 

Something grabbed him by the shoulder, and he was hauled to his feet, just as the inner line broke and the gunners were stepping inwards.

THe trucks had stopped behind them and jets roared overhead.

He turned to his companion only to find sunny standing with him, her spear coated in blue sludge, her already blue carapace tinted with the enemy’s blood.

She urged him onward and he followed, and together they broke through the forward line and out into the amber light of the Burg dome.

The interior of the space echoed with a deafening sound. Gunfire was absolutely deafening.

The burg shouted and cried out in panic as they were systematically gunned down. Their small group of Drev and Gunmen advanced into the space covered by other soldiers pouring into the gap.

A burg ran at hi, and for a moment they were overwhelmed with bodies.

Energy fire rattled against his shield which only glowed brighter. Sunny held at his back with another energy shield, and together they plowed through the line.

He watched her spear two burg with one thrust, one through the neck and the other through the mouth before withdrawing her weapon and brutally smashing another set to the ground.

He ground his heel into the head of another burg as another bout of gunfire tore up the crowd just to his right.

A human body lay on the ground just to the right.

A marine with their eyes glazed over in death.

He thought he was going to be sick.

The fire in his bones was building. His body was screaming with an absolute horrendous and madding pain, the blackness at the edge of his vision was encroaching inward. The roaring in his ears was absolutely deafening.

In his pain, one of the burg caught onto his upper arm, and bit down hard.

He screamed, grabbed the creature with both hands.

And ripped it apart.

The moment was so explosive that bits of the creature were hurled many feet to the side, all the soldiers that saw it backed away in fear and terror screaming. 

But for hi, it was the last straw, his vision went white, he felt himself drop to his knees as pain thundered through him. He was going to pass out.

He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t move.

All around him, the Drev soldiers were filling his place in the line swarming around to cover him as he trembled and moaned at the center of the battle.

He couldn’t move.

Tears rolled down his face and into the dust.

He didn’t even have the energy to heave….. He just, couldn't, move.

It was as if his body was filled with fire reaching upwards threatening to engulf him.

And then a cold hand one his face. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to stave off the fire and bring his vision back from the brink of collapse, his heart hammered weakly in his chest as his eyes lifted upwards. 

Green met gold.

The world around him went dull and dim muffled accept for a bubble five feet by five feet.

Sunny knelt in front of him, her gold eyes calm and cool against the raging of battle, familiar and safe. Two of her hands rested on either of his arms, one hand rested on his shoulder and the other hand was cool on his cheek.

She forced him to keep eye contact with her as the blackness receded from his vision.

“I can’t do it sunny.” He whispered, “I ca-” His voice choked off

His body quaked with horrific pain.

She leaned forward a little until he felt like he would fall into deep pools of gold, soothing and warm.

“It will be over soon.” 

Her voice came to him, though very far away.

She leaned in resting her forehead against his four hands gripping him even as one of his hands held onto her arm.

“It will all be over soon, you just have to fight with me one, last time.” 

If it had been simply her words and his will, he would have been able to get up. He would have hauled himself to his feet, and he did, a little.

But his body failed him.

He sunk back to the ground in a well of mental misery as bad as the pain of his flesh.

He wanted to get up so bad.

But he wasn’t special, he wasn’t a hero, and simple words weren’t going to be enough to get him to his feet, no matter how badly he wanted it. This wasn’t a moment of cinema, but this was reality, a true story of the failing of the human body and the human mind. 

He couldn't not make himself get up. 

But he knew something that could.

The battle roared around him as he reached downwards and plucked the little black box from his belt. He saw sunny reaching out a hand to stop him, but she was too late as he slammed the little box home.

It clicked, and after only a few seconds of agony, his body was flooded with relief and a high so intense that the pain didn’t matter anyway.

He roared to his feet.

The world around him was a cloud of white and distant noise, but he was untouchable.

No pain could stop him now.

No exhaustion even hinted at bringing itself forward, and together he and Sunny broke a line through the burg ranks.

Their artillery was useless in this space for fear of killing their own. Their ships weapons were likewise but only worse, leaving the burg with their simple weapons packed together at close quarters with a raging machine and the drev, Ares and the Spartans, as they came to lay waste. They were destroying angels, and the burg were mandated by god to perish here.

Neither he nor sunny were the ones to finally place the charges in the burg engine.

They were too busy holding off wave after wave.

He had to be screamed at on multiple occasions to fall back. 

There were at times where he thought they were dead, though internally he didn’t really care, but somehow they always managed to break through partially because of their weapons and partially because the burg morale had been shattered. They were being physically ripped apart, pulled in half, and many of their comrades lay writhing on the ground hands clutching at their faces slowly being dissolved by human venom.

He tripped over a body and had to be dragged through the open port, the last one out as the shield was locked shut.

And one of the marines detonated the button.

The explosion on the interior of the shield would have leveled the city if not contained as the burg ship’s engine combusted with a wave powerful enough to atomize everything inside.. The first wave turned everything within the dome to dust and fused everything after that into glass. The shield itself was the most powerful piece of equipment the burg had ever made, and if they had just managed to close it off, the humans would never have gotten through.

And now it was their tomb.

Off to the side Adam was having trouble breathing. His chest hurt, and his body shivered with cold that shouldn’t have been there.

People were trying to talk to him, but the glorious high from earlier was gone leaving him with chest pain, difficulty breathing, and the slow creeping of agony back into his limbs. 

He was so cold.

The world around him grew white.

And he collapsed to the ground.

Finally allowed to sleep. 

[writing-the-end]

LoL Chapter 14: Chimaera’s Championship

Masterpost

A Wizard Hermits tale (AU belongs to @theguardiansofredland )

Someone within the Council is a dark wizard. The hermits know it, but need proof. How can they infiltrate Milliara and the capitol without immediately being arrested? 

The olympics, of course.

__________________________________________________

“They know what we look like, we can’t walk up and go searching for dark magic. We shouldn’t even be seen together.” Xisuma whispers, leaning over his mug of tea. TFC brushes his lip over his beard, thinking. 

“Do you really think Magistrate Dolios wouldn’t want to know about this? About one of his own Council members breaking their own laws?” Mumbo glances at the others around the table. It’s not everyone, not by a long shot, but they have to go over this.

“I think he’d be more concerned about us breaking his law.” Cleo hisses, running a whetstone down her saber. “But we can’t just sit here and wait to be attacked. Last week’s assault was personal.” 

The whole group murmurs in agreement. “Galena warned us that the government was being complicit, and that there could be secret dungeons beneath the capitol. And now with this,” TFC raises the white and gold sash, “We know that someone in the Council is involved. That must be why Dolios wasn’t able to get legal help. Why he turned to us.” 

“And then turned on us.” Joe takes down notes, biting his lip. “There're six guildmasters in the Council. Six guildmasters that could be a dark wizard. How can we even get into Milliara without raising suspicions, much less get close to any of the council members and see if they’re the one who attacked us? And after that, we’d have to convince the entire council- nay, the entire kingdom- that they’re practicing dark magic.” 

“We need more proof.” TFC hisses. 

“Are we really getting into this?” Mumbo isn’t sure if he’s ready. This is...big. Bigger than just himself, bigger than his guild, his home. This is about the entire kingdom. 

And that’s why they have to. “We need a way into Milliara without being noticed.” 

“Not entirely easy when we’re an unlicensed guild that’s already drawn the ire of the arcane guard once.” Xisuma glances down the hill. It’s their day off, and most of the hermits have gone to the mainland for a supplies run. “Not to mention we have some pretty… conspicuous members of our guild.” Namely Doc. The ex-criminal and half automaton really sticks out. Grian as the only sky angel in existence also draws attention. 

“Mumbo!” The entire group snaps upright, and Mumbo splutters his tea all over his sleeves and shirt. It’s a good thing it’s not white. 

Scar and Grian run up the steps, out of breath as they enter the open-air guild hall. Both wizard’s eyes are sparkling with excitement, and Scar is clutching a paper. He slams down the parchment, revealing it to the others. The group leans in, confusion spreading across each face. Cleo speaks up first. “The Chimaera’s Championship? What about it?” 

“They’re letting teams join that aren’t established guilds!” Scar squeals. He’s always wanted to take part in the Chimaera’s Championship. He remembers watching it as a kid, amazed by the strength, the finesse, the pageantry of the competition. He always wanted to take part in the creative event, use his terraforming skills to make something beautiful.

“Are you serious?” TFC questions. It’s been a decade since they’ve allowed non-guilds to join. 

“It says right there, next to the Council seal.” Grian points, looking at the others. “We could crush it, we’re the best team out there!”

“We could get into Milliara without raising suspicion.” Doc adds, watching as everyone turns to him with his mismatched eyes. 

“Doc is right.” Xisuma whispers. “We could enter the Championship, and they’d have to let us in as a team. They couldn’t try to disband us, at least not as long as we’re competing.” 

“Of course I’m right. Even better, we can use the championship as a coverup.” Doc smirks. “While the Council is busy running and judging the tournament, and the arcane guard is looking after the crowds and whatnot, we can easily get into the capitol and see who is the dark mage.”

“Doc, you criminal mastermind.” Joe grins, jotting down notes in his book. “This is why we welcomed you here.” 

“This is also why I went to jail, but you know that story.” Doc leans back, grabbing his mug and taking a long sip of his beer. 

“So...does this mean we’re going to sign up?” Scar questions, trying not to be hopeful. But the way his voice rises betrays him. Everyone turns to TFC, waiting for him to make the final decision. 

TFC chuckles. “Let’s show Lairyon what the Order of Hermits can really do. But I think we need to do more training, as well as plot our...” He clears his throat, looking at Doc. “Our heist.”  

Grian and Scar aren’t listening. It’s a dream come true for both, becoming contestants for the championship. “Oh, I can fly in the aerial agility! Mumbo, you can do the tech event they introduced this year!” 

“Tech event?” Mumbo blinks, leaning over to get a good look at the flyer. True enough, an event in honor of Echol, the god of technology, was introduced this year. “I mean...I guess I can attempt. But you know how iffy my magic can be.” 

“Everyone will get to enter into an event, I’m sure everyone will have a place.” TFC reassures. He can already think of Stress in the pageant, as well as the strength event. Joe would excel in the riddles, seeing as he already speaks like one. “But we also need an infiltration team to do the heist. Doc, I’m putting you in charge of selecting the team. You know what will be needed best, who’s magic will be most beneficial.” TFC stands, patting Grian on the back. Hard, almost hard enough to send him tumbling head over heels. “Good find, kid.” 

Grian glows with pride, getting such a compliment not just from his guildmaster, but from his father figure. Scar and him had gone to the mainland, to the town closest to the Ashioll sea. Most of the other hermits were still there, enjoying their day off with what Cleo often calls ‘shoreleave’. Hermits that didn’t leave Eremita were enjoying a warm, sunny day on the beach, or catching up on well deserved sleep. 

Scar noticed the flyers first, plastered all along main street. They had just split off from the ZIT trio, who were busy looking for supplies to rebuild Zedaph’s barn. He promised he’d help them with construction, but he gets easily distracted. Especially when it’s about the Chimaera’s Championship. 

He’s dreamed of one day entering the event. He remembers sitting in the audience, bouncing on his mother’s lap and cheering on the Higharrows, a long gone guild. They were his favorite team, and he would spend evenings after watching the events trying to mimic what he saw in the family’s garden. His parents hated how he was always playing in mud, yelling at him that a wealthy merchant’s son shouldn’t roll around in dirt. But it didn’t matter to him, he didn’t want to be a merchant. He wanted to be a champion. And now he finally gets the chance. 

“Hey Grian, why won’t we go work on our magic? I want to work on my creative skills for the championship.”

[afaithy]

Takari Headcanons: Silly Fluff Part I

Ok, so I did say I would eventually write all my silly Headcanons here and since I am a big bag of Takari headcanons (and spam) I figure I would start with them.

Please take in consideration that all of this HC are valid inside my DW-2020 Project Universe, which is a fic I am currently working on 🤩. I love fangirling about it so if you wish to talk about it I am always open or you can DM and join our Discord server for access to the beta 😜 Still, some of this HC can still apply to the normal canon (I think)

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

🌸 Takeru and Hikari become a formal couple during second year of highschool 💗, however they keep the relationship secret from the rest of the world. They make a bet to see who among their friends will be the first to find out about it, but since they have been inseparable for years, no one really seem to suspect anything about them being a little more clingy than usual.

🌸 Takeru is a popular guy among the girls at school due to his outgoing and flirty nature, which often causes girls to misread his kindness. But the very first time they met, Hikari actually glared at him, finding the the ruckus the other girls were making really annoying(note: specifically applies to the FIC since in my universe they meet later in their lives, during middle school). Takeru is the one who pursuits the friendship, and later on that makes him earn the affective nickname of Stalker from Hikari.

🌸 Takeru is thought to be the "sportsy type", being in the basketball team, but in fact he is a total book nerd who reads all kinds of literature from classic such the Illiad to more modern authors such as Murakami. He has no particular prejudice with literature, and will try anything as long as it catches his attention. He has large collection of quotes that he will often randomly text to Hikari when he sees something that reminds him of her.

🌸 Hikari often teases Takeru, saying that he gets his girls by giving them ramnatic quotes, but he brushes it off saying that the only person with whom that might work would be with her, since the rest of the girls would rather see him playing basketball shirtless.

🌸 Takeru keeps track of Hikari's period cycles to know when he should be particularly sensitive. He would pop up randomly with sweets, heat packs or anything she might need during "those days". This HC can be expanded lol, but I won't do it here.

🌸 During the second year of middle school, Hikari becomes the honorary Manager of the basketball club. She is particularly caring with Takeru, which causes the jealousy of the rest of the team member except from Takeru's BFF who obviously shipped them since the start of the story lol

🌸 Hikari becomes Takeru's muse for his first attempt of a novel/short story. He based the protagonist on her. Eventually Hikari becomes her creative advisor and they spend hours chatting different scenarios and posibilities at every possible moment (Hey that pretty much us in discord!)

🌸 Hikari never really dated anyone, mostly because she never had any interest in boys. Takeru would often go on casual dates with other girls just to avoid girls picking on Hikari. The truth is, he ends up taking the girls to places he knows Hikari likes; buys food he knows Hikari prefers and gets so disappointed when the girls don't share her tastes that pretty much drops the date before there's chance for a second one.

🌸 In relation to the HC above, Hikari actually has a very singular taste in constrast with other girls in their class. She likes horror movies because she find amusing how they protray ghosts and she likes very odd combinations of foods.

🌸 Hikari loves rainy days because she finds the sound of raindrops very soothing. Takeru prefers sunny days with clear, blue skies. They often bicker about which season is the best due to this, but at the end they just agree that the best days are those in which there's enough rain and sun to make a rainbow

🌸 At some point during his college days, Takeru gets a scholarship to do an internship in UK and Hikari is studying nursing. They have to deal with the long distance relationship, but they manage and when Hikari goes to visit during one summer before she start her hospital practice, Takeru accidentally blurts out a proposal, to which she automatically agrees 💗

🌸 Takeru and Hikari are the first of the group to settle down as a family. They eventually move to Shimane where they lived in the his grandmother's inherited house. Takeru works on his novels and book in his writing room while Hikari works in the local hospital with Jou (who was given a medical chief position there) 💗

To Be Continued

[thejudgingtrash]

My unpopular opinion: Chiron is a horrible teacher, protector, whatever. He’s as bad dumbledor. He often manipulates children and put them in danger? Also is RR really trying to tell me not one single demigod from before percy’s generation made it to adulthood? Not even demigods of minor gods? If not then why haven’t we heard from them, why weren’t they called to fight in the war so that literal children didn’t have to? I have more but I’m not brave enough to post them lol

Fuck, I gotta check my asks more often. Too much stuff laying around and oh please people! Send your stuff in! Don’t be shy! It’s so interesting to see what’s on your mind! Let’s have that conversation and ask me!! :D I mean a bunch of people agreed and disagreed with my stances (Part 1/Part 2), let’s see how I feel about yours!

Anyway HERE WE GO BOYS! LET’S GO LESBIANS LET’S GO! 

LET’S HAVE THAT WHOLE DAMN ESSAY!

Chiron is clearly a self insert from Riordan. I mean come on…

That’s a solid Chiron if I see one. Which is pretty ironic as Chiron’s the shitty teacher who we all know and love. Got something to admit, Riordan? You as a former teacher? HMM?

Hiding incompetence under the disguise of the gentle old wise teacher is definitely something that Dumbledore and Chiron share. Chiron is the old centaur who lived for aeons and helped out the most famous heroes of their times, so shouldn’t modern times be considered to be an easier job for him? He’s barely present, highkey vague and has absolutely no problems with tossing children literally out into the open across the entire fucking US and A to clean the gods’ bathroom messes.

Had the heroes been in their 20s like in the original myths (or even older) it would’ve made more sense to let them find their own ways. It would be rude,  but somewhat okay. You could expect adults to find the way and connect the dots. But this is just messing with a bunch of 12 year olds because you can at this point.

Chiron is that supposed sweet teacher that just fucks up. We all had one, you know the one. Seems gentle and nice and but has clearly chosen the wrong job. Don’t know if that’s the trauma of living that long and/or seeing kids dying constantly that’s hitting him in the back of the head.

I have the feeling that people are projecting their teacher fantasies on to him just like step-father fantasies that include Paul. Because we want a guide who is trustworthy, we want an authoritative figure that we can share our concerns with and who guides us to solid solutions without betraying our trust.

But like I said, he’s essentially sending out kids to deathly missions and encouraging deep traumas. Yes, we can partially blame Chiron, but most of the blame goes to the gods who enable and encourage this weird dynamic. Would all of them straight up cut the bullshit and mostly resolve their own issues without using their children as pawns, it would’ve been easier for everyone involved. Additionally, there are many kids in camp to keep busy, look after and care for. I don’t know how many there were pre-TLO but I’d assume the number was in the hundreds? Of course, in larger cabins are camp counsellors that help out and guide next to camp schedules. But since Percy’s the only kid in the Poseidon cabin I guess that thought went south? Percy being the special kid would actually mean that there should be a focus on him unless you’re going for the “I’m neutral” spiel. Chiron knew from day one that Percy was walking Poseidon seed, come on.

Also like I somewhat implied, seeing people die left and right might have impacted Chiron to make him feel indifferent/despressed (could also be a stretch, who knows). Which isn’t an excuse, but might explain some takes. Explaining the same stuff for millennia in its essentials is probably getting tiring.

I think this is the third time that I mentioned it on my blog but showing and telling are the most powerful story telling concepts/fundamentals and you see Rowling and Riordan constantly failing at that which is concerning. Instead of Chiron (or Dumbledore) just simply getting down to the point and telling and explaining stuff briefly, he only eludes, vaguely formulates and it is simply confusing especially for a child in a brand new environment who just lost his mother (if we’re speaking about TLT). This does nothing but add more stress in such a fragile situation especially when a new and bigger threat makes its way.

There’s also the discussion on how much of Greek myth Percy actually gets. He has the basic/ obvious knowledge which many tend to forget. He doesn’t come in with no knowledge. He had Latin classes back at the academy, he studies with Annabeth, he knows some of the monsters. What he simply doesn’t know, is the magic of it all. That is the most confusing part for him.

The actual magic is not explained, which it doesn’t have to be in all of its entirety, but needs to be addressed somehow and gradually.

Percy asking a simple question like how the camp stays sunny and covered 24/7 and how the wardens work and Chiron casually sitting here like you a stoopid one

doesn’t help.

What many people forget: Magic doesn’t erase logic. Even in a magical setting, unless clearly stated, there has to be some kind of logic to connect the dots. It doesn’t need to be a clear cut A to B, but it should be comprehensible for both the readers and the characters in a particular situation. And that’s just not happening for Percy as the character. This also sets up the premise of Percy being ”stupid” which he isn’t. He is surrounded by incompetent teachers and staff that don’t bother telling him how things work and assume that he’ll just manage.

Yeah. Both Dumbledore and Chiron are awfulness in a sweet calm disguise.

Onto part two of the ask. I have had so many talks with people on that exact problem. It simply boils down to one issue:

Rick Riordan‘s inconsistency in world building and setting. The story telling doesn’t make any sense.

So kids are dying like flies before 18 but many are also super famous and in powerful positions? Many are historical figures that made it well over 18? Make that make sense. Also was WW2 supposed to be kicked off by some 12 year olds with that logic? The biggest man made catastrophe of the modern era boiled down to a bunch of fighting kids? No. We all know it. Just simply no. I actually don’t mind the WW2 background but Riordan should’ve given it another thought and be a bit more sensitive…? Like the whole fascist gang being team Hades? Uhh… sure…. nope.

Also the same logic applies to Civil War? You’re telling me a bunch of kids were supposed to have started this stance? Who was for and who was against slavery then? What in the actual fuck? Using children as child soldiers to stand in for these large complex historical issues that stretch over years and show many of humanity’s horrifying sides is just….eh.

No. This whole thing about campers dying as soon as they reach the magic number of 18 are either bedtime stories to scare the kids or toughen them up orrrr my guess, Riordan actually managed yet again to fuck up his own lore.

It’s the same logic with New Rome. You have a whole city full of adults but have a few kids run that bitch? You did your ten years of service as a child soldier and then do one of these?

As if adults magically exit this world. Like is that the reason why Percy’s been 17 for a whole damn decade? Because otherwise he gotta hand riptide in and all of the boys scout medals he has collected so far? Adults would’ve had the experience and expertise to win those fights but it would break the magic and charm of the books that a bunch of kids are saving the world for the younger demographic. Let’s do not forget that the targeted audience of the books are middle schoolers. Makes somewhat sense with PJO but with HOO Riordan really shot himself in the leg. He should’ve matured the OG characters at least.

(Also speaking about the actual myths again. A good chunk of them died in their 20s/30s/40s. Odysseus guided as an old man. The heroes weren’t twelve and dipping by the age of 16. The Trojan war went on for 10 years for example. So whereas the real Perseus lived a longer life and had a somewhat happy ending in comparison to his peers, he wasn’t the only one that made it into adulthood.)

Riordan mixing up his own lore is just a shame. Yes, it’s human and he already gets a lot of flag for other stuff. I also get it as a writer with my fanfic where I really have to scroll up to search tiny details that I’ve embedded and not noted down. Perhaps it’s my inner capitalist speaking, but for I’m way more forgiving towards a free product, a gift like a fanfic, rather than something I’ve paid actual money for when it comes to this. The process of publishing a book is large. You mean to tell me that there was no editor at Disney that bothered to fact check? Riordan got a check from us all and doesn’t even bother looking up his own stuff. A little bit more effort, Ricardo. Please. You have an entire damn wiki you could use to check for free if you’re too lazy to read your own books/don’t use authors softwares. Like what?

It’s stupid. You know it, I know it. And as you can see, I fully agree with you.

[rant4hsmtmts]

Caswell cousins

I thought of writing this ages ago but forgot to finish it- so here is a small story about Ej and Ashlyns childhood.

Sorry this is kinda a mess and jumps all over the place lol. Anyway enjoy!

@uglyballerina @beese-is-cheese-for-bees

“I’m proud to call you my sister”

“-close enough”

Both being the only child in their families, the Caswell cousins were quite close. Ej’s parents worked a lot. They were people of high profile jobs, taking any opportunity to just drop their son around the corner to Dennis and Debbie’s house. Ashlyn was happy to see her cousin, but she could see it was kinda hard on him that he never got to spend time with his parents. He spent a lot of time at her house as a child, to the point he could walk around blindfolded (which he did do once to prove a point).

She was always there for him, and he was always there for her. He would always wait for her clubs to be finished to walk home from school together and they always shared what happened that day. You’d expect such a popular guy to complete disown his cousin, but it was more the other way around... Ej was terrified that he would eventually do something so stupid that Ashlyn would disown him. Even after some of the things he had already done, it as a wonder to him that she still hung out with him.

Growing up Ej was the first person she went to for advice. He was an intense people pleaser, but once he got comfortable he had no problems being very blunt. It meant she could always rely on him for truthful advice, of which her shy jazz musician and quiet writer parents usually were too nice to give.

So when she wrote her first song- he was the first to hear it. His loud thunderous applause made Ashlyn feel like she had written the greatest song in the world. Along with his encouragement, he suggested it needed an instrumental solo, his idea was to add a harmonica solo (something that was joked about for years to come). In the end, she added a beautiful piano solo in the middle, all jokes aside Ej knew that Ashlyn really had a gift for songwriting.

Something that was really a great way for her to express herself. Ej never really found his own expression til much later.

They grew up on the edge of new technology, seeing the ipod and ipad come through but they were nothing compared to the very first gadget they both owned, the Nintendo DS. As their parents worked through the day, leaving the two to their own devices, the Caswell cousins would often play pictochat hide and seek. Though they could only draw and type to each other they would spend hours trying to find the best spot that would leave the seeker scrambling.

The overall winner was Ej (or so he claims) because he once had the ‘genius’ idea of hiding in his parents car. It was the only time that Ashlyn had to actually accept defeat as the sun had set and their dinner was ice cold on the table.

His competitive spirit was clear from childhood. Ash knew when he said he played to win he wasn’t kidding.

Ashlyn had just finished fourth grade when they officially banned Caswell game nights in the house, after a night that went down in history as the 2013 Monopoly disaster. Ej wouldn’t speak to Ashlyn for over a week due his bruised pride (and that was even after flipping the table just before landing on Parklane). After that Debbie, Dennis, Carolyn and Adam all decided that it was probably better (and safer) to just have family dinners on Thursday nights.

As they grew older Ej and Ashlyn’s hobbies started to grow apart. Ashlyn had her clubs, her songs and Ej had his team but musical theatre was something they still shared.

2014 just starting year 7, Ej started to play waterpolo, he was always quite a strong swimmer- never fast enough for the big leagues but had the perfect upper body strength from basketball. He loved it, although his competitive nature definitely got the better of him a lot.

Waterpolo has one major risk of injury, well whether you can call it injury is subjective, but one major risk of the water sport....sunburn. Ej’s play to win attitude always court him out in one way or another, Ashlyn knew this quite well.

However it had never been so evident until he rocked up for Friday night family dinner with every visible area of skin a rich red lobster colour that could made him hiss every time he had to move. After finishing dinner the two went to the living room, as their parents started an in depth discussion about whatever drama or crisis they were facing. Both Caswell kids were quite oblivious to this at the time, but EJ knew the looks that his parents would give each other meant there was something going on. Anyway, the two went on the night playing some version of ‘New Super Mario Bros’ on the Wii. They had done this for years- it was a constant they could always count on. As Ej got older and stopped openly talking about what he was going through, Ashlyn knew a couple rounds of the Mario/ Luigi power team would help him settle down and let it out.

Due to his parents lack of attention, Ashlyn knew that her cousin had always craved positive praise and interest from other people. He used his insta ‘fame’ to try and fill the void but she knew empty likes and followers would never fix something like that. After a disappointing Waterpolo game, he lost the game, his parents didn’t come and the team had a go at him, the cousins started their trek back home down Pakington Road. Ash suggested that they have a look at the Pet Shelter and she knew cuddling all the animals could get anyone out of a bad, self deprecating mood.

After spending a little while playing with all the tiny kittens Ashlyn looked up to see Ej in the corner slumped against the wall patting a small Labrador puppy. The lop sided grin Ej made as the puppy wagged his tail, Ashlyn knew that the little dog had captured his heart already. Preceding a long argument with his parents, he finally convinced them to let him adopt the puppy.

Practically prancing down to the shelter, Ej adopted Remy, and made sure that the little puppy would never feel rejected again.

Having Remy around had confirmed one thing for Ash, although she loved the dog, she was definitely a cat person.

Since Ej got Remy, and managed to look after him by himself, it was a lot easier to convince her parents that she could have a pet. If Ej could do it… she could definitely do it.

Ash knew the moment she saw her curled up in the shelter that she couldn’t leave without her. Soft spoken meows, cautious, it was such a contrast to the brash energy that Remy had. Scarlett was the smallest of the litter, she was a gorgeous little Burmese cat.

Scarlett was always there for Ash, listening to her practice lines, watching her bake cakes, looking unimpressed when Ej would tell Ashlyn all the dumb things he managed to get up to, and being the very first fan of all her songs (as she would always make a little meow at the end).

Unfortunately, Ashlyn is the only person Ej trusts to look after Remy when he’s not home. Safe to say, Scarlett is not impressed. Remy and Scarlett tried, well at least Remy did, bouncing around the small cat wanting to play a game. Scarlett was very displeased with the notion of having to entertain the dog, so she found a loving sunny spot near the windowsill and decided to have a siesta for the arvo.

They have been there for each other through thick and thin, including discovering and having a rough lesson in heartbreak.

The very first girl Ej Caswell ever really liked was Anna Madden. It was freshman year and Ashlyn had seen the way his eyes would light up every time she was mentioned or how whenever she would call he couldn’t help but smile. But the problem with Ejs love life is he would fall hard, and fast. Saying ‘I love you’ way too early or something just as scary to a freshman who doesn’t understand commitment. After Anna dumped him for Justin, the captain of the Basketball team, Ej shut down for a while. He didn’t express his emotions as openly as his former self, he felt the rejection of his childhood once again.

Ej didn’t know why he was such an a**hole after that. He always tried to do the right thing, but at the end of the day, his lack of regard for the consequences of his actions would always come back to bite him. He really did want to have a relationship, be a good boyfriend but he was terrified of reliving the rejection, so he just had causal flings. Winked at all the girls, hanging out but at a far enough distance so that he didn't get too involved.

So when Ashlyn heard that he told Nini that he loved her- Ashlyn knew that she was different. She knew her cousin had messed up, and so did he, but she tried to plead with Nini... knowing that the girl had unlocked a part of Ej that Ashlyn thought was long gone.

Their personalities were really quite different.

Although somewhat quiet at school, Ashlyn was quite a loud person a home. She was a chatterbox that would spend every dinner retelling the details of her day with great dramatic hand gestures. Like the time she was in fifth grade, and people started a riot outside the canteen because raised the price of cookies from 50 cents to a dollar. She never really had this confidence at school but Ej knew the bright dramatic personality that hid in the shy school girl.

Ej however was rather the opposite. It was almost like his outside life he was constantly trying to entertain everyone and make them happy, while painting himself as a cool, smart and all around good guy. His constant façade was rather tiring for a guy that liked to go home and spend an hour reading the works of William Shakespeare every night.

But through all their differences (and all of Ejs stupid choices) the Caswell cousins were always there for each other. Advice, a laugh, a dangerously competitive game- they would always have each other’s backs.

[travellvogue]

Meant To Be

CHAPTER 8- By Your Side

(was listening to Survivor- Destiny’s Child when writing this and felt like a bad ass bitch lol)

What was he doing here?

-

You weren’t even aware of the fact that he was home from Dubai. Wishing he would just stay there forever so you’d never have to see him again. His smug little grin as he walks in making you want to throw up the bacon you’d just eaten. He was tanned, something you always envied about him, his ability to catch the sun after 20 minutes outside was the polar opposite to your skin, but it was something you no longer admired, you didn’t admire anything about that man anymore. Praying your evil stare would make him turn around and leave the building. Jesse Lingard, even the sound of his voice made you feel physically ill. 

And if you didn’t feel sick enough, your ears pricked at the sound of heels following his footsteps, large chunky black stilettos following him in, who the fuck wears heels to a cafe, the two of their hands interlocked as you watched them strut in together. It hurt the most that he was bringing his blonde bimbo to where the two of you had your first date, only to mirror that day with the person he’d cheated on you with. You examined her intently as Trent’s eye-line followed your own, resting on the fake blonde, black roots in desperate need of a dye, lips plumped up so much they could burst at any second, eyes barely able to stay open from the weight of her excessive lash extensions. “Fuck” Trent whispers under his breath, knowing no part of this could end well, looking back at you as he examines your expression, nostrils flaring as you lips sit in a tight line, and if looks could kill the two of them would be dead.

“Why the fuck is he here?” you hiss, another sip of your orange juice swallowed as you push your plate forward, not being able to eat anything since the wicked witch of Manchester decided to swoop in with his new toy to play with. “Don’t let it get to you” Trent whispers softly, in all honestly he had no clue what to say, when he invited you out to get some food the last thing he expected to happen is for Jesse and his whore to come waltzing in. He wished he could turn back time and change what restaurant you ate at, or even spin the clock hands backwards so he could actually tell you he loves you on that sunny Thursday when you bumped into him on your way to pick Jesse up from National Team Training. He revised that day as if it was a diary entry, he remembered what you were wearing, the smile you gave him, the light was still in your eyes back then, a light that flickered away with the reduced amount of contact between the two of you. He knew it was Jesse getting jealous, he’d made sly comments towards him about “stealing my missus” which he and Marcus found hilarious. Maybe if you never fell for Jesse’s charm this would be a regular occurrence, eating together at your favourite cafe as a date, he’d treat you like a princess, and secretly he was aware of the fact that you knew that as well. 

“Fuck he’s seen us” his day dream is interrupted by your rushed tone as you fiddle with a strand of hair around your pointer finger, acting as if you weren’t sending daggers with your eyes towards Jesse and Miss No-Name. A slight panic running through Trent’s body, Jesse had always been possessive of you, especially when it came to the two of you hanging out, so this situation isn’t one he particularly wanted to get caught up in. “It’ll be alright, you’ll be alright, I’m here for ya- right by your side” he smiles, a simple smile settling your nerves as you realise you could deal with any shit that Jesse brought your way. And talking about shit coming your way, along came Jesse. Feet dragging along the floor until he reached the end of your booth, a dominant stance as he placed his hands on the table, distance between the two of them as his shoulders hunched over- covering his neck when he leaned forward.

“Y/N” he nods at you, charming, ignoring Trent through the process of looking you up and down, you never knew a look could be manipulative, but he proved you wrong. “Jesse” you reply back with a matching cold tone, not letting his greeting have an effect on your confidence. “And this is?” you continued, nodding towards his little friend that had followed him to your table like a lost puppy. There’s an awkward silence before Jesse clears his throat and introduces you to his new lady-friend. “Uh, this is Lola“  his smug, powerful tone had left, now a nervous state as his fingers tapped against the wooden table, a habit he picked up when he was nervous, you’d learnt that over the past two years. “Thought you’d be with me eating your favourite” you almost laugh in disbelief at his comment, eyebrows raising in complete shock. How could someone be so blind to the heartbreak they’ve caused. “We’re not together Jesse”. Simple, yet effective. A statement that was only true but left him somehow confused, expecting you to crawl back to him after he treated you? Absolutely not. “Since when did we finish baby?” What the actual fuck?! Is he actually serious? You look to Trent, only to be greeted with an equally confused expression. “Since you met that” you point to Lola, she goes to defend herself but Jesse holds up his hand to silence her, an action he’d done to you before, which you had tolerated, now seeing it from an outsiders point of view made you want to cry for the person you once were.  “A real man ends a relationship before he starts looking for another one” Trent spoke his first words, shocking Jesse a little, not expecting him to take your side. A scoff coming from Jesse’s mouth as he mastered up a poor comeback. “A real man doesn’t take someone else’s girlfriend for a date to where they first met” “Good job she’s not your girlfriend then” you smile at Trent’s reply, a small smile from him directed towards you as Jesse grows more and more angry. “Listen here Trent” Jesse’s fists slammed against the table making your cutlery shake, body jolting at the sudden intrusion. Trent stands from his seat at the threat of Jesse’s voice, heart rate increasing as you watch the anger grow in Jesse’s eyes, taking a threatening stance, trying to make himself a level height with Trent but failing to do so. “Enjoy her whilst it lasts… she’s shit in bed anyway” Jesse’s voice was loud enough to draw the attention of the other people in the cafe, his finger poking at Trent’s chest. Studying Trent’s reaction, his eyebrows knitting together as he breathed heavily out his nose, licking his teeth, feet in a position that suggested he was ready to launch himself at Jesse.

“Not here” you interrupt, quickly trying to calm the two of them, desperately not wanting to do this in public, the paparazzi already gathering outside the small cafe. “Then where Y/N? I don’t want you to talk to this cunt ever again” Trent speaks, voice angry but his anger not aimed at you, he could control his emotions and aim them towards the deserving person, unlike Jesse. The two men stood face to face, your arm reaching between their bodies as you pushed Trent away, giving him a soft look, silently begging him to remove himself from the situation, “don’t lower yourself to him” you whisper to him quietly making him nod. The two of you backing up away from Jesse and Lola, feet only taking you a few steps away from him as you jolt to a stop, Jesse’s tight grip on your wrist stopping you in your movements as you spin to face him, inspecting his face as you follow to where he’s looking. Fingers tracing the bracelet he’d gifted you. You don’t know why you still had it on, a good part of you wanted to burn it and post him the ashes. “Still wearing it, knew you still loved me” his self-approving grin was repulsive, power surging through your body as you ripped your wrist from his grip, yanking the bracelet off your body- shattering the clasp- and throwing it towards Lola, something that was clearly meant for her in the first place. It didn’t take an idiot to realise that the ‘L’ charm stood for ‘Lola’. “Here, you have that” you spat, bracelet hitting her chest and then falling down to the ground. “And you-” you pointed at Jesse, “have that” your sentence was finished with a splash of orange juice, unfinished glass of liquid flung across his Gucci jumper, drenching his poor excuse of a beard. Bewildered expression on both of their faces as he stares in dismay. And for once you thought he was left speechless, but once more he proves to be more of a twat then you thought he ever was. “Run off with that cunt that loves you” Jesse spits, index finger pointing at Trent, “at least one of us loves her” Trent replies back, you’re anger now ignored, a proud smirk growing on your face as you look at Trent and wink, the two of you strutting out of the cafe hand-in-hand, leaving Jesse and his whore behind.

[sporadic-writer]

Like Nobody’s Watching

Sebastian Stan x Reader

Warnings: swearing that’s mainly it

Summary: in a city of millions, someone is always watching you be yourself (that sounds creepy, sorry I can’t think of a better phrasing)

-----------------------------

It's classic NYC gridlock. Luckily, it was Thursday evening so it wasn't horrible. Plus, you and your friend driving have some of your favorite songs BLASTING with the windows down so it wasn’t too bad. It was one of the first pleasantly warm nights of the year and of course you had the windows and sunroof open. In New York, a million people pass by and see a million things a day, but pay no mind. It’s the perfect place to act like nobody is watching because in the end no one is really watching. Besides, no one pays much mind to two girls singing screaming along to the AUX. 

The traffic wasn’t horrible. It was very slow moving, but luckily wasn’t too long. Some passed by and were entertained, or sang a long a little bit. Plus, your turn was a few blocks away and seemed to be where the slow down stops. Wanting to break the bored feeling growing in your mind, you decided to unbuckle and stand up out the sunroof. The song continued on with the traffic and you continued to throw your arms out and feel the breeze. It was a perfect night and you looked around at the beautiful city around you.

The song got quiet as it changed and you looked down to your friend in the driver’s seat. “Ah to be a twenty-something in the Big Apple. It’s perfect.” The next song began and your friend cranked it. She looked up to you and you smirked. “Sing it bitch! AM I MORE THAN YOU BARGAINED FOR YET? I’VE BEEN DYING TO TELL YOU ANYTHING YOU WANNA HEAR! CAUSE THAT’S JUST WHO I AM THIS WEEK!” Some people crossing the street laughed at the both of you.

"Y/N some old couple crossing the street didn’t appreciate our show very much. They glared and shook their heads hahah!” She continued to bop along while you smiled and leaned on the roof of the car. A breeze went by again and you smiled at the warm weather.

“Screw em! If they can’t enjoy a free concert that’s on them. Now let’s fucking go, the next chorus is coming. Drop a heart, break a name. We’re always sleeping in, sleeping for the wrong team! WE’RE GOIN’ DOWN, DOWN IN AN EARLIER ROUND. AND SUGAR WE’RE GOING DOWN SWINGING!” You stopped and let her take the rest of it. At the street corner you heard some girls singing as well, just as loud. When you turned to the area of them, smiling, they danced a little and you went along with them. After they kept walking you felt a tap on your leg.

As you looked down, Y/F/N, looked up at you and turned the music down a little. “They aren’t the only ones amused by our antics. That cute guy behind them in the blue hoodie as been watching and laughing since we started.” She pointed back at that direction and you smirked as your gaze followed. Upon realizing who she meant, you froze. 

As you dropped into your seat she looked at you as if you were nuts. “Do you know who that guy is? That is Sebastian Stan. Oh God how could I not notice one of my favorite actors watching me make an ass out of myself. Fate is cruel.”

“Oh come on. He seems cool.” She turned to him and waved. She waved as if it was the most casual thing in the world. And he waved back! “See he wouldn’t wave if he knew you were a freak.”

“I’m gonna ignore how you said ‘knew’ and not ‘thought’ in regards to me being a freak. Still oh dear Lord why. Stop laughing I’m humiliated!” Soon The Anthem by Good Charlotte began and the volume was back up. Both of you sang along again and next thing you knew the car moved closer to your street. 

“It’s not like we were actually screaming. We are just being loud and a tad obnoxious. So a normal Thursday night for us. Seriously relax.” You looked back into the crowd of people walking on the streets. Pretty sure you saw him up ahead, you long forgotten, and you calmed a bit. As the music played the car drove in front of your place.

Walking in, you plopped on the couch and opened your finsta. Then you typed up a post. “Ignore the smiles in this pic. Im ded. Sorry to @(his insta name idk off the top of my head) for witnessing that little concert of me and @friend in the streets of New York. Refunds for the show and therapy can be provided.” Laughing a little you hit post.

“Me my ass. That show was all you. Cute pic though! But come on Y/N he didn’t care. He’s a celeb he has probs seen much weirder. The fact that we even saw someone famous in the first place is cool alone.” You nodded in agreement. Wanting to forget it, you grabbed some nerds turned on Sunny in Philadelphia.

After about 3 episodes in, Y/F/N went to pee so you paused the show and grabbed your phone. What you saw seemed too unbelievable. You called out her name.

“What now?” You shoved your phone in her hands. “What am I looking at? All I see are you instagram notifications.”

“Bitch look closer!” You pointed to the DM notification. “HE messaged me! I’m done.”

“Are you serious? Well let’s open this bad boy. Don’t fight it. Stop! Ok ok. It says, agh fine here take it.” You snatched your phone back and read the message.

Him: No need to apologize. I quite liked it actually. Not everyday you see someone being free like that these days.

You just sat there, soaking everything in. “Why aren’t you replying! Don’t be rude and leave him on read.” You rolled your eyes and typed something up.

You: well to be fair i didnt think anyone was actually watching... my real self isnt quite THAT dorky.. im still sorry you witnessed it

“Happy? I replied.” Almost instantly your phone lit up in his reply. “Damn boy.”

Him: I wouldn’t say dorky. More like cute. Although it was clear you thought no one was genuinely watching lol

“Holy shit. He’s flirting. I repeat he is flirting with ME! At least I think he is.. Is this flirting? This has to be a prank.” You tossed your phone to your friend. Sunny long forgotten on the TV. “Wait what are you saying? Don’t reply yet!”

“Relax. I made it sound like you. Well you but with some balls.” The phone got tossed and you caught it smoothly.

“How did he get in my DMs anyway? My finsta isn’t public. Oh wait never mind he found my real one some how. Oof what is going on right now?”

You: i find it hard to believe an attractive celeb is flirting with me lol how do ik its really you? this seems too good to be true

Him: Doesn’t seem like I’m the only one flirting here. But to be fair this is my personal account. And it’s not everyday I DM a girl I see singing Fall Out Boy out of a car sunroof downtown NYC. How about we meet up Friday evening? Let me prove it’s me.

“Oh my goodness. Y/N got a date with a celebrity! I’m jealous.” You got another message.

Him: Too forward? Or do I just sound creepy?

You: no not at all. and sure why the hell not!

You: wait that may sound rude! I would love to meet up haha this way i can ensure this isnt a prank or learn not to trust social media if it is

Him: You have little trust in the world darling! But awesome, meet me at 7 at the corner you put on your lovely show. Near the Roselight Cafe and Howard’s Personal Fitness. 

You: ha so thats how you stay in such good shape! But alright that works for me

Him: No no that is all me. But you’re witty, I like that. See you then ;)

“Holy shit you have a date with a movie star.” You both sat with wide eyes in slight shock. 

You let out an ironic chuckle. “I have a date with a movie star.” You looked to her and laughed in disbelief some more. “All because I acted like a moron out of your car sunroof.”

-----------------------------

Hope you enjoyed! Like, reblog, and comment my dudes!

[thecloserkin]

fic rec: We Are All We Have by inkstainedwretch

fandom: A Series of Unfortunate Events

pairing: Violet Baudelaire/Klaus Baudelaire

word count: 10k, oneshot

Is it canon: Yes

Is it explicit: Yes

Is it endgame: Yes

Bottom Line: stunning, beautiful, perfect, cleared my skin & watered my crops

It starts back in the attic of Olaf’s house, where Violet begs Klaus to kiss her so Count Olaf won’t be her first kiss. I have no shame when it come to the “I want my brother to be my first” trope— let the record reflect that I think it should be mandatory to include it in every single incest fic. She wants to counter the nonconsensual vileness of Olaf’s touch with the memory of someone she loves holding her, and there isn’t anyone she loves or trusts as much as Klaus.

Her tears, to her unbearable shame, were not for the plight of her poor sister Sunny, tied up and hanging in a cage that looked structurally unsound and incredibly drafty. They were not for Klaus … They were, in fact, for herself.

If this isn’t Peak Violet lol noticing the cage is structurally unsound. She actually feels guilty that she’s crying for herself—can you imagine? She berates herself for being selfish, for agonizing only 50% over her siblings’ mortal peril and the other 50% over how her first kiss—the thing that every girl fantasizes about from the age of, like, four—is going to be with a serial murderer who if you read between the lines is clearly depicted as sexually repulsive?? (Neil Patrick Harris playing Count Olaf in the Netflix series kind of throws a wrench in the “sexually repulsive” part of the equation, however.) So that’s how it starts, Klaus kisses her to help a sister out. Only problem is, FEELINGS are precipitated. Klaus does what he does best, which is rationalize. It’s all hormones, he decides:

There were very few people he came into regular contact with, at least now, that he found pleasing to look at. Nevertheless, he felt a bit sick, sometimes, because Violet would catch him looking, and their eyes would meet for one terrifying moment, and then she would look away first.

Klaus and Violet are such a seamless team that they can exchange thoughts with a glance, which means it’s not like he can hide it when he’s checking out her slammin’ body. This is the part where they’re obviously hot for each other and repressing it. God how do these kids even manage to function when there is SO. MUCH. UST. Here is when it hits him like a thunderclap that he’s in love with her—Klaus being Klaus, of course he frames it as the difference between “children’s cartoons” vs. “encyclopedia entries that begin with the letter I”

He didn’t dare think about how long it had been since he’d truly walked on solid ground.

Because if he loves Violet that way, the wrongdirtybad way, then he has to reevaluate everything he believes in. Meanwhile the two of them have been co-parenting for so long that:

Klaus wondered if Sunny would remember their parents, when she was older. Some base, sinful part of his mind wondered if she would remember no mother but Violet, no father but himself.

He jerks awake from a nightmare and she’s immediately there to comfort him, and he’s pressing kisses into her hair and then they’re kissing for real OH MY GOD i’m shrieking incoherently. You know what else I am 1000% here for? MASTURBATING IN THE DARK WHEN YOU THINK THE OTHER PERSON IS ASLEEP. Wow this fic actually makes Klaus’s near-sightedness germane to the plot, insomuch as he wishes he could see Violet’s face better as she’s having an orgasm. You know when else Klaus’s nearsightedness was germane to the plot? The Miserable Mill, which is possibly the shippiest of the 13 books. Here, I dare you to read this passage and tell me it does not deadass nail Lemony Snicket’s authorial tone, at once confiding and sardonic:

The elephant in question is nearly always a figurative one, and usually takes the form of something visual, such as a person with a very bad haircut or a cast around one leg. The elephant is not talked about out of politeness, or perhaps out of concern for the cast-wearing person’s feelings. Klaus and Violet, however, were dealing with a very different elephant, one that was not made of a single thing, a single event. In fact, it would be better to say that they were not forgetting a single elephant in the room, but a whole herd of smaller, miniature elephants, that ran and trumpeted and played fun, tiny elephant games all across the room. The elephants, in this case, were having a great deal more fun than Klaus and Violet were. They were made of thoughts, feelings, and strongest of all, memories. One for the warmth in Violet’s chest each time Klaus smiled at her, one for each time Klaus had awoken from a nightmare to find Violet at his bedside, one for how well they fit together in the trundle bed that had been wheeled into the closet, Sunny tucked between them.

Jesus Christ if they would just bone already everything would be hunky dory. Jk it wouldn’t. The three of them are currently living in Justice Strauss’s closet while the paperwork goes through for Violet’s emancipation.

Before all of this (though what “all of this” was, he wasn’t sure), she hadn’t ever hesitated to sit close to him, to rest a hand on his leg from time to time, lean on his shoulder as they read a book together. She was hesitating now because the meaning behind the action would be different, now. She was afraid to be too close to him, because now it was wrong, and if they tried to make it normal, it meant they were wrong.

“I don’t,” he took another deep, deep breath, “I don’t think this is going to go away.”

“I love you,” she said, sighed it despondently against his shoulder, as though she were confessing some terrible crime.

After all the shit the universe has put these two cinnamon rolls through, it’s plain enough that their love is the purest thing about them!!! It’s the world that’s broken, not Violet and Klaus. Also, how poignant is that line “I don’t think this is going to go away”? Because you can be sure they’ve tried everything to make it go away, and have been singularly unsuccessful.

“I’m so glad it’s you,” she sighed, and then she gave a surprised cry that turned into a soft, almost pleading moan.

Yessss they finally have sex. Plus, Count Olaf dies offstage:

He’d been dead for a while – “A harpoon gun, really?”, and Jacquelyn had pictures that Klaus didn’t look at but Violet did, because she had to know, and Klaus trusted her eyes.

So as soon as Jacquelyn and Justice Strauss wander away from the dinner table Sunny casually asks her siblings when they’re planning to get married. Dead silence. Sunny is a perceptive child, and the after-sex glow must have lit Violet and Klaus up like beacons. The two of them are stammering nonsense like “it’s illegal” and Sunny’s rejoinder is along the lines of, “Olaf’s machinations were perfectly legal so maybe we shouldn’t repose too much confidence in what is clearly a rotten edifice.” PREACH SUNNY. This is exactly how I headcanon Sunny would react to her siblings consummating their relationship tbh: eminently sensibly. Her #1 priority is not losing either one of them. Klaus/Violet being romantically involved would accomplish that objective admirably. Anyway Justice Strauss comes through with the paperwork and Klaus reads it three times to ensure it’s all right and tight, legally speaking, which it is. Man it’s nice to see an adult not let them down for once in their lives. Now they’re free to move to a new town where no one knows they’re related, where they can start over as a family. Their only regret (other than saying goodbye to their friends) is having to bury all their burning questions about their parents’ past:

Klaus wants so, so badly to uncover the secrets of the spyglass, of VFD and everything their parents never told them, but Violet looks at him with sad, sad eyes and says, “I don’t think this is going to go away”.

[igumdrop]

:OO WELCOME EVERYONE!!

okay okay, I know what you guys are thinking -- Jaime, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?! HOW CAN YOU MAKE THE SUB-BLOG GO PUBLIC?!?! WHAT HAPPENED TO *THAT* LIST... THE *YOU KNOW WHAT* LIST... 

and my response is... I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never had such a list. 

okay, real talk though, I decided to let my sub-blog go public for multiple reasons: 

♡ no one wants to enter a password that I change constantly

♡ most of what I say I would love to share with my regular viewers who can’t afford to sub, and this is my main source of updating you guys on a more personal basis for those who follow me more on social media and not my stream

♡ I’m incorporating a lot more sub-only things into the community, so I figured I could let one go! 

we’ll see how it goes and if it does start to feel uncomfortable, we can always bring it back :) but there’s little to nothing that I can think of that would make this weird because I don’t overshare that much... I think... HAHA we’ll see

ANYWAYS, REALLY GOOD NEWS! for the past few months I’ve had a little team of subs working on our community Minecraft server! (SO MUCH THANKS TO GOLDEYE, WATTEHMS, MATTY, MAXWELL, BRADLEY, JOSTER <3) I’ll try to log on everyday and just have a habit of keeping it online. I think it’d be cute to be able to log onto something and see everyone in the same world! 

if you’re a sub, please fill out the form that I linked in the discord! it’s also the same form you use to join the gummie gang stream team, and also for me to know what your discord usernames are (a lot of times when you guys message me, your discord username is different from your twitch and I have no idea LOL) there’s also a little response section where you can give me any suggestions you want! (stream ideas, sub emotes, etc) ~ HAVE FUN! 

AND EVEENNNN MORE GOOD NEWS!!!  

WE’LL BE ON FRONT PAGE OF TWITCH THIS THURSDAY!! WEEE!! 

I’ll probably be doing a sit-down cooking stream into a mukbang :) TIME IS TO BE ANNOUNCED BUT IT SHOULD BE AROUND THE TIME FRAME OF 12PM - 2PM OR 2PM - 4PM! I’ll let you guys know as soon as possible on discord. I’ll also be streaming tomorrow/Tuesday and Wednesday so I’ll let you guys know on stream too! 

OK THAT’S IT FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS!~ here are my own personal lil updates

BENJI HAS GROWN SOOO MUCH! okay not gonna lie, he was kinda dying for a bit during the winter, I don’t think he really did well in the cold... his leaves would fall off sometimes and yellow at the ends. I was getting really scared and to be honest I’m so attached to this god damn plant that it was taking a sad mental toll on me. LMFAO. WHY AM I LIKE THIS. anyway, I gave him some fertilizer and stayed consistent with him, watered him whenever I needed to and tried to keep him in warm yet sunny areas of my house. and YAY, SPRING ROLLS AROUND AND HE’S GROWN BIGGER THAN I HAVE EVER SEEN HIM GROW!!! 

before (when I first got him) and now! I’m so proud... only I can write a paragraph raving about my pet plant... jeez it’ll be crazy once I get an actual cat or something... 

there was a really busy week in march where I spent all my leftover time planning Aria’s birthday. it was honestly the cutest thing ever seeing all her friends get together and work on stuff for her. I remember being insanely tired during it but once I saw her reaction for her surprise party, my heart melted and I just told myself wow that was soooo worth it LOL. here’s some pictures from my end <3

we got these GIANT balloons that spelled out ARIA and it took forever to get into the car and out LMAO... excuse my janky no makeup face but it was so funny seeing us struggle so hard with the balloons T_T LOL

we spent hours late at night working on her scrapbook and baking stuff for her. I was working on strawberry cheesecake shoots and I remember cutting 10+ strawberries and thinking, “wow, it would suck if I dropped these,” and then guess what happened... 

I dropped them lmao 

anyways it turned out so wholesome and cute <3 

I found the airbnb on this website called peerspace and when I saw it, it SCREAMED ARIA...

you’re welcome for me blessing your eyes

we seriously worked our *aesthetic* muscle for this because we knew aria would appreciate the heck out of it 

OKAY ANYWAYS MOVING ON!! yesterday I went to h-mart and got a shit ton of groceries. and I realized it’s STRAWBERRY SEASON!!! there’s still a lot of stuff that I want to buy that isn’t available here though, so my mom tries to send me all that she can :D 

I love her so much I miss her so much wahhh I can’t even talk about my parents because I’ll just start crying because I miss them so much ... ok also I was supposed to stream yesterday but I took a nap... and... didn’t... haha... jaimewhatswrongwithyou.exe.... here’s a post-nap selfie though... 

I looked heckin janky but snow saved my ass 

ANYWAY I spent the rest of the night just reading and I finished my monthly book read! here are my two recommendations for you guys :) 

I absolutely love love love this book! it will really help if you’re an overthinker like me. tl;dr, it talks about the inside voice in your head that constantly battles with itself and refers to it as an “annoying roommate.” with consistent reading (a chapter or two before sleeping at night) it really helped me clear my mind and become super aware of how the voice in my head could be more harmful than helfpul. if you’re new to reading it is quite a bit to read though so if you want something easier then I suggest this: 

gosh, my life became so simple when I read this book consistently. it basically shares four simple agreements that you should always be conscious of in life. this book just really helped me not take things as personally, to not make assumptions, and it just gave me a much more simple and clear perspective on things and issues. SUPER SUPER EASY TO READ!!! downfall is, it kinda talks about religion a lot at the end, which might make it uncomfortable for some of you guys. I couldn’t really enjoy the last bits of it that much because of that sole reason but it’s still a great read and taught me lots of fundamentals I never knew I needed for my own mindset :) 

I went to LCS the day before yesterday and it was really fun because I brought a portable cut-out of scarra LMAOOOOOO the thread is really funny so you guys should go read it: https://twitter.com/iGumdrop/status/1114687260434124801

I also did my taxes yesterday (well I finished up what was left of it) during the games LOL and then I went to annie’s place afterwards because her mom is an accountant and she helped me file them. I’m soooo happy I got them over with because I feel so free now! 

hm ok ending these are always hard because it always seem so abrupt, mainly because even my 200 WPM fingers get tired of typing. I guess all I have to say is, hello new readers of my sub-blog, I hope you enjoy your time here! and thank you so much to everybody who supports me. it really means the world to me and I never go one day without insanely appreciating you guys. this month I’ma hit you guys with that dudududuududud GOOD CONTENT! <3

and alas, a few of my favorite cute lil drawings this month from chibird~ 

(+ my community) 

WELL, FAREWELL FRIENDS! TILL NEXT TIME <3 

[nobeliumoxygenoxygen]

Class 1A || The annual UA Hunt

For the BNHA Gen Secret Santa exchange at @bnhagensecretsanta. My secret santa was @mymusicismylife77. It was nice meeting you (if talking to you on anon counts...) and I hope you enjoy this!!! 

SUMMARY:

THE ANNUAL UA HUNT IS HERE!

FIRST YEARS - YOU’LL BE SPENDING 12 HOURS IN USJ FINDING CANDY CANES AND BAUBLES AND OTHER ASSIGNED ITEMS! YOUR TEACHERS WILL BE OUT AND ABOUT READY TO ELIMINATE YOU! MAKE IT TO THE END AND YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO THE SURPRISE ACTIVITY!

GOOD LUCK AND PLUS ULTRA!

WORDS: 16k (It got a bit long)

NOTE: You might need to pay attention to the times. Nothing really important but I jump around a bit and have really long time skips whoops. (And I’m so sorry I’m late!! (It’s the 24th where I am)) (pls excuse the mistakes I’m going to come back to edit more properly lol)

DECEMBER 1 | 5:55AM | 5 MINUTES UNTIL THE HUNT

The snow piled on top of the dome. On a sunny day, they would have been able to see past the glass to the sky, but now, all they saw was the white nothingness. Though even if there had been no snow, it was too early in the morning for the sun to shine. 

It was unsettling, to say the least. Especially when the students of class 1A felt quite alone in their designated areas. Though they stood with their team, the silence was almost unbearable. The fact that the teachers were supposedly somewhere near them did not help their nerves.

The timers on their watches beeped.

30...

Uraraka Ochako rechecked her suit, fighting off shivers and chills. Asui Tsuyu gave her an encouraging nod, mentally fighting off the cold. Iida Tenya and Midoriya Izuku shared a quick, soft smile. Todoroki Shouto scanned their area, the landslide looking exceptionally dangerous. It may have been early, but Team Christmas Tree was ready for the Hunt.

22...

Hagakure Tooru bounced on her toes, the movements of her gloves and boots giving her away. She refused to think about the cold, refused to think about how much she hated her “hero suit” at this moment, as she lifted a gloved hand. Her teammates, Ojirou Mashirao and Sato Rikido high-fived her.

18...

Jirou Kyouka leaned away as Aoyama Yuuga twirled around her and Yaoyorozu Momo. He was literally creating sparkles from his laser; from nerves or excitement or plain “Aoyama Yuuga”-ness, Jirou couldn’t tell. As impromptu her team had been, she was confident they’d be able to adapt to each other quickly enough, especially with Yaomomo in their team.

12...

Kouda Kouji whispered to the small ant on his hand, his initial fear of the insect subsiding as he spoke with it. Tokoyami Fumikage and Shouji Mezou watched as their friend let down the insect and as it crawled out and away from them. Kouda straightened, a shy smile on his face as he nodded; it was done.

6...

Bakugou Katsuki nudged Kaminari Denki and Ashido Mina, giving them a fierce glare as they jolted awake. They yawned loudly, the silence around them enhancing any noise. Sero Hanta shuffled away from some falling gravel, grabbing Kirishima Eijirou, sweating as he realised just how precarious the structure they were in was. It was too bad they’d been sent to the Ruins zone--with Bakugou’s quirk, it was all too easy to imagine everything crumbling down.

1...

In unison, class 1A tensed as their timers counted to zero.

Their watches beeped, signalling they were allowed to move.

An announcement poured into their ears, the familiar yell of Present Mic over the intercom. 

“FIRST YEAR CLASS ONE AAAAAAAA! YOUR HUNT HAS BEGUNNNNNNNNNNNN!”

And as one, class 1A jumped into action.

Their Hunt had begun.

NOVEMBER 20 | BEFORE THE HUNT

“Sensei! What do you mean it’s only twelve hours? The poster said it was twenty-five!” 

Aizawa Shouta stifled a sigh. It’s okay, he told himself, they just want to know. It’s not their fault they didn’t wait for you to explain. He paused. Oh wait, it is.

He intensified his stare, silencing the mumbling going around the class, Ashido slowly sliding lower into her seat.

“For the first years, your Hunt is only twelve hours. Next year, it will be eighteen. And in your third year--if you make it, that is,” He couldn’t help but add, enjoying the way some of them blanched too much. None of them had forgotten Mineta, though his expulsion had been a relief. And a reality-check. “Your Hunt will be twenty-five hours long. It’s to prepare you, slowly but surely.” 

Another hand shot up. 

“Yes, Kaminari?” He called tiredly. How many questions could they possibly have? Everything should have been explained in the posters damnit. All he was meant to do was explain the date, time, and the short paragraph he’d been given to read out. 

“Why is it twenty-five hours?”

Bakugou scoffed, causing Kaminari to look at him.

“What? It’s a good question!” 

“Like hell it is. Why do you need to ask? It’s Yuuei. They’re not gonna stop at two or twenty four hours. They have to go that extra fucking mile.”

“Plus Ultra, and all!” Sero added.

Aizawa nodded, already feeling his eyelids droop. He shouldn’t have stayed up so late with Hizashi making those stupid posters. Actually, Hizashi shouldn’t have left those damn posters so late in the first place. Actually, he should have just left him to deal with it on his own; Nemuri was right, he had a soft heart. “I’ll answer any further questions after I tell you this.” He cleared his throat, looking at the paragraph Nedzu had written. It was far too short to be informative, but the principal did have a knack for surprises--and he definitely wanted to surprise the first years.

Aizawa opened his mouth to read it out. “Number one. You will form groups of three to five, no more and no less. Two, food is provided in the neutral zone of the entrance and water is located in the drinking taps around each area. Three, teachers will be out to cuff and eliminate you. If you are caught, you will be brought outside to watch your fellow classmates succeed where you failed.” His lip twitched at that. Nedzu was being quite straightforward. ‘For fun and stress-relief’ his ass, he knew as well as anyone that this was going to be a test of ability for the students. It was merely poorly disguised. “Four, you will be given watches that will provide a timer, a button for help, the list of items you may be able to find, and your point counter. Five.” Aizawa raised his eyebrows slightly. “Good luck.”

The class was silent, eyes either on him or focused on the desk--great, the problem child already looked like he was planning something. Even greater, Bakugou was grinning like he planned to blow up the Simulation Joint. 

“Well, I guess you all want to talk about it.” The sheer energy some of his students were emitting--namely Hagakure, Ashido, and Kaminari--told him enough. As soon as he dismissed them, they’d be on their feet chattering on and on. He might as well give them mercy. “You may talk about it for the rest of homeroom.”

As he’d expected, half the students were out of their seats, gravitating towards their friendship groups, probably creating their teams already. Aizawa sighed, slipping into his sleeping bag before shutting his eyes.

The temperature was much nicer indoors, better than the cold outside. 

Aizawa fell asleep much faster than usual, to the sounds of his students’ chatter.

DECEMBER 1 | 7AM | 1 HOUR INTO THE HUNT

Uraraka scanned the rocky area, looking down at the slope and the buildings that jutted out. She found nothing in particular but still knew that something had to be there. From up high in the air--courtesy of her quirk and Asui’s tongue wrapped around her torso--she could see some of the other areas. She could even see the Central Plaza and make out the glint of the Golden Sack--though maybe that was just her imagination. 

She twisted in the air, trying to spot something--anything, really--but found nothing that screamed out to her. She sighed, tapping Asui’s tongue to signal she was done.

There was a sudden tightening around her waist and she was slowly pulled lower and lower. When she touched down, she released her quirk, the effects of gravity returning, and Asui pulled her tongue back.

“Did you find anything?” Midoriya asked. She shook her head sadly. 

“There wasn’t much. There’s lot to see on the grounds, but not here. Nothing, well, nothing really stood out enough to check it out,” Uraraka explained, shrugging. “No bots either. I guess it’s too rocky to have a bot roaming around this place.”

Iida stepped forward, a hand on her shoulder. “No need to worry Uraraka-san! We’ve only just begun the Hunt! We can explor--”

A burst of ice exploded from the ground, Todoroki suddenly yelling. “Move now!”

The other four ducked down, scrambling away as Todoroki blasted another wall of ice before following. 

The ice triggered a landslide, rocks and debris raining down on them.

“What is it Todoroki-san?!” Iida called out, slowing to allow the boy to catch up.

“Midnight,” He said simply, all the explanation they needed. They nodded.

The hour they’d spent without seeing a single teacher had been far too quiet--suspicious, even. They shouldn’t have been surprised, and yet they still were. How she had managed to come up close enough that Todoroki had had to use his ice quirk in such a large burst...

At least they were on full alert now, eyes darting to every crevice in the landslides area.

They moved into formation; Todoroki in front, Iida and Midoriya at the back, and Uraraka and Asui in the middle. They’d planned that formation in case they ever needed a quick getaway from a threat, either from in front--which Todoroki would take care of--or the back--which Midoriya would take on. Putting Uraraka in the middle was so that she could use her quirk on the others, and in turn, Asui would be able to latch onto her and Todoroki, and then Iida would activate his engines to run, picking them all up on the way.

They continued to run for a good few more minutes, unsure of how fast Midnight was. Would she be able to catch up? Was she stuck in the ice? They doubted it; their teachers were craftier than that.

Todoroki swerved into a dark overhang, the crevice deep enough to hide the five of them as he created an extra layer of ice to protect them in case the overhang collapsed. 

Uraraka leaned against a wall. The run had been rocky and dangerous--one wrong move and they could have gone sprawling down the hill.

“Do you think we’ve lost her?” Asui asked, staring worriedly at the entrance of the cave. 

“For now, yes, but not for long.” Todoroki used his flames to light the cave more, moving his arm to look around. 

Midoriya gasped, stopping Todoroki’s arm to leave it in one spot. A bauble sat in a hole, hidden enough that unless someone had been standing right where they were, it wouldn’t have been seen. Uraraka eagerly walked to it, snatching it and grinning triumphantly as she showed the glittering ‘2′ painted on it.

“We’ve found something! Finally!” She cheered, rubbing the bauble affectionately. When she remembered the others, she blushed, shyly handing it to Iida. 

Their watches beeped. Their point counters now all said ‘2′. Their first points.

Iida smiled. “Well done Todoroki-kun! You found this cave, and so, you have found this bauble too!”

Todoroki shook his head, a small smile on his own face. “It was just luck. I did not see anything from the outside.”

“We should leave the cave now. There wouldn’t be anything else in here. If Midnight finds us, we’ll be trapped, kero.” They nodded, turning when a new voice spoke.

“It won’t be Midnight trapping you inside.”

They tensed, eyes landing on a familiar figure who stood at the mouth of the crevice.

Ectoplasm. Or, at least, one of Ectoplasm’s clones.

“I’ll be eliminating you all now.”

DECEMBER 1 | 7:15AM | 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES INTO THE HUNT

The sound of crashing and explosions filled the air--but it was distant, echoing off the dome. 

Jirou looked above, aware of the way the rocks were suddenly all around them. She glanced behind her, meeting Aoyama’s distressed eyes and Yaoyorozu’s worried ones. 

“Where do you think that came from?” Yaoyorozu asked, hand braced on the rocky wall. “It sounded terrible.”

“Perhaps it was Bakugou-san,” Aoyama suggested. 

Jirou shook her head. “No, that was too...rocky, not like Bakugou’s explosions. It was like...like a landslide.” 

“Ah!” Yaoyorozu gasped. “That’s right! The mountains area is right next to the landslides!” She nodded. “It was probably from there.”

The other two agreed silently and left it at that. No one really wanted to think about the implications.

Truthfully, the sounds had been one of the few things they’d heard. It was jarring, being in almost utter silence save for the sounds of their own footsteps and the falling of small rocks and gravel, to hear the loud booms. But it reminded them of the outside.

Had USJ always been so big? Jirou swore it hadn’t been so big before--not even during that USJ attack, and she obviously knew how isolated she had felt, being so far away from everyone else except for Yaoyorozu and Kaminari.

They’d been walking for so long, her feet were beginning to hurt, no matter how much she refused to acknowledge that. An hour and--what? Ten minutes?--her feet were already aching.

The worst part was that they hadn’t found anything but a candy cane, which had only been one point. 

“Oh finally!” Aoyama suddenly cried out, pushing his head over Jirou’s shoulder to see the opening of the gap they’d been walking through. It hadn’t seemed so long and narrow when they’d first squeezed into it. They’d glimpsed the other side and had thought it would only be a good five minutes walk--it had ended up taking ten minutes. “I have never been so glad to see more rocks!”

Yaoyorozu and Jirou cracked small smiles. That was true. 

But Jirou still held up a hand as she stopped a few feet away from the opening, plugging her earlobes into the rock and sending sound waves. 

Nothing, nothing--wait.

She turned, looking up. 

“Yaomomo, can you look behind you a bit? There should be something back there.” Yaoyorozu nodded, stepping back and looking up to see a small rock jutting out from above.  

“Is it on that?” 

Jirou nodded. “I can get it, though.” She extended an earlobe, reaching up and over, brushing against the surface of the rock--

She furrowed her brow, then sensed the slight beep within--

“TRAP!” She screamed, jumping backwards into the open. 

Jirou’s eyes widened as she fell backwards, eyes on Aoyama as he lunged for her. 

They wouldn’t make it.

The explosion knocked Aoyama to the ground, his hands instinctively reaching up and over his head. It rocked them and though his eyes were shut, he recognised the moment something fell over him, covering him from the light.

Oh non oh non--had a rock landed above him? Was he trapped? What about Yaoyorozu-san?

He risked peaking his eyes open, lifting his head to see a sort of metal roof above him. 

Yaoyorozu coughed. “I-I just managed to get something out before anything hit us. Aoyama-kun, are you alright?” 

He nodded, blinking rapidly. “Merci Yaoyorozu-san!”

“Guys!” Jirou called from the opening, ducking down to see them. “Are you alright?”

“Oui Jirou-san! My sparkle is fine too!” Jirou nodded slowly at that, slightly confused. 

“Can you crawl out?”

“Yes Jirou-san!” Yaoyorozu said from behind. “Aoyama-kun, do you mind?”

Aoyama started crawling forward, his face scrunching in distaste as he noticed how much dirt and gravel had lodged itself in his suit. But he kept going forward, shaking his head to rid his hair of the excess dirt as soon as he made it out. Yaoyorozu followed suit and the team stood out in the open. 

Aoyama turned, seeing the red in the corner of his eye. “Oh! Is that a candy cane?” 

The other two stopped, turning to see the candy cane resting on top of Yaoyorozu’s metal sheet. Smiles broke out on their faces. Aoyama reached forward, eager to grab the candy cane when--

Ectoplasm leapt down, landing on top of the sheet, his boot crunching down on the sweet. 

Aoyama lurched backwards, bumping into Yaoyorozu and Jirou, all their eyes trained on the teacher.

“Come on, can’t you give us a break?” Jirou muttered lowly, eyes narrowed. 

He stayed silent--it was probably a clone--but charged forward and the trio dived to the side: Aoyama and Jirou to the left, Yaoyorozu to the right.

Ectoplasm’s leg snapped out, catching Yaoyorozu in the stomach, sending her rolling away. 

“Yaoyorozu!” 

She stopped rolling a few metres away, pushing herself up and squinting as Ectoplasm quickly ran after--her eyes widened, readying herself to produce something else when he suddenly swerved to the side, Aoyama’s laser shot missing.

He stood, hands behind his head as he shot laser after laser at the teacher, forcing Ectoplasm to dodge dodge dodge--

It allowed Jirou to come up from the side, her earlobes out and racing towards him--

They landed, sticking into the clone’s body and she let out a sound wave large enough that it melted back into, well, ectoplasm.

The three of them panted, left alone in the clearing. Yaoyorozu stood up shakily, dusting off the gravel from her cloak. Jirou walked over to her, helping her steady as Aoyama approached, trying to ignore the way his stomach ached. 

“That was...” Yaoyorozu began.

“Surprising.” 

“Terribly rude.”

The girls looked at Aoyama, who smiled. “Honestly, right after an explosion too!”

“I suppose we should expect nothing less from Yuuei.” Yaoyorozu said, nervously laughing. The other two agreed.

“Still.” Jirou twisted an earlobe around her finger. “It’s only the first hour and--” She glanced at her watch, “--fifteen minutes. What else will we have to face?”

They looked at each other, the reality check slapping them in his face. 

Aoyama twirled on the spot, startling the other two. “Well, let’s not waste time then!” He stopped, grinning, almost sparkling. “We’ve got candy canes to find now!”

Jirou and Yaoyorozu glanced at each other, then back at Aoyama, who was already looking around the open mountainous space. They smiled.

None of them noticed that their point counter had gone up by three.

DECEMBER 1 | 7AM | 1 HOUR INTO THE HUNT

Midoriya didn’t hesitate once as he ran forward, using a small percent of One for All to push him forward; his arm pulled back as he charged it up, aiming straight for Ectoplasm.

“GO NOW!” He yelled.

Iida spurred into action, activating his engines as Uraraka used her quirk on her and Asui, Todoroki too far back to reach. 

Midoriya was close--so so close. He waited until he was just a foot away, until his fist was a foot away, and heaved it towards Ectoplasm, the teacher having kept still.

He ducked and Midoriya punched the air, cracking the ground slightly from the force. 

He couldn’t dodge Ectoplasm now and with the teacher jumping straight up and landing his head right into Midoriya’s stomach, he was forced to take the blow, eyes bulging.

Though it allowed Iida to run past, Uraraka and Asui holding on. 

Asui shot out her tongue, wrapping it around Ectoplasm and pulling--

Their teacher was thrown into the air, spiraling down down down the slope, rolling and rolling until he disappeared below. 

Iida gritted his teeth, hard, as he forced himself to stop before he followed Ectoplasm down. 

It wasn’t enough. He was going to fall and bring the two with him damnit damnit--

Uraraka pressed all five fingers to shoulder and Iida went weightless--the three of them weightless together--

They slowly floated forward, Iida’s legs leaving the ground before Todoroki reached out and grabbed his foot, pulling the three back down. 

When their feet were firmly on the ground, Uraraka released her quirk, her stomach only slightly upset. She sighed in relief--both in evading Ectoplasm and in her stronger stomach. 

Then their attention was taken by the groaning Midoriya.

“Midoriya-kun! Are you alright?” Iida called, marching to the doubled over boy. 

Midoriya raised his head, a shaky smile on his face. “Y-yep! Just...just fine.” He dropped his head again. “That was just a really, really strong headbutt,” He said, voice wobbling.

“It’s okay Midoriya-chan, we can stay for a bit while you recover,” Asui said, crouching down next to him.

“I don’t think so,” Todoroki spoke up suddenly, getting their attention. “Our watches haven’t gone off. We would have gotten three points if we had defeated Ectoplasm, but we haven’t. I don’t think he’s incapacitated.” 

They blinked, all looking at their own watches for confirmation. 

“We’ll be on the lookout for him!” Uraraka declared, pumping a fist in the air. 

“And Midnight-sensei!” Iida added.

Midoriya shook his head, straightening slightly. “No, it’s okay, I can handle--” His cheeks puffed out.

“Midoriya, you shouldn’t push yourself. You’re clearly still recovering.”

“It’s just a headbutt guys, I’ll-I’ll be fine after I stand up.”

“A headbutt from Ectoplasm,” Asui corrected. “Though, I admit, I am a bit surprised. He must be stronger than expected to get such a reaction from you, Midoriya-chan.” She tilted her head. “After all, you manage with broken arms and--”

“Annnd that’s good Tsu-chan!” Uraraka interrupted, smiling apologetically at the other girl. She made to put a hand on Midoriya. “Don’t worry Deku-kun! Just relax--”

“Oh? So you were here all along?”

They tensed, blood freezing.

Midnight stood above them, perched on a ledge high up. She smirked down at them, holding her flogger whip from her shoulder. 

Midnight licked her lips, her eyes narrowing. 

“Seems like you were just attacked.” She rolled her shoulders. “Well, it’s not my problem.” 

The atmosphere thickened as she shifted her weight.

“It’s so early to be eliminated.”

DECEMBER 1 | 8AM | 2 HOURS INTO THE HUNT

“Bakugou, if you growl one more time you’re going to turn into a dog.”

“Shut up pinky.”

Screech.

“Hey! I thought we graduated from stupid nicknames!”

“Not when you’re being annoying.”

Clang.

“Guys--”

“Hmph! You’re the one being annoying, growling like a dog at this and at that!”

“Guys--”

“Well, maybe if we’d start doing something I wouldn’t be so restless.”

Clang clang.

“Guys!” Sero yelled, eyes widening at how loud his voice had been. The bickering two stopped to stare at him; Kirishima nudging Kaminari to wake the blond boy up more. “Didn’t you hear that?” 

“Hear what?” Kirishima asked, looking around them at the creepy buildings.

“I don’t know, like, something moving?”

Bakugou scoffed. “We’ve been hearing these buildings fall apart for hours. That’s nothing new, damnit.”

Sero shook his head, determined to make them hear it too. “No, no it was new. Not like something had broken. Like something had been pushed off.” He held up a finger. “Just-just wait, yeah?”

They waited for a good twenty seconds, though some more begrudgingly than others.

Nothing.

“Oh come on!” Sero groaned, throwing his arms into the air. “So when I need them to hear it you don’t make a sound!”

Kirishima patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry Sero--”

“Oof, you alright there Sero? Not going crazy?” Ashido poked his helmet. Sero sighed, stepping away. It was no use. Unless he heard it again, unless they all heard it, they probably wouldn’t believe him.

They continued walking, eyes on all sides.

The ruins were creepy. They’d nailed that aspect of this area, at least. The buildings were tall and leaning against each other precariously. There had to be more around here, but so far they’d found only three candy canes and one bauble--their points adding up to four in total.

It wasn’t the same as before--during the USJ attack--Kirishima had to admit. It was quiet, so so quiet, so unlike the way they’d been attacked from all sides by villains back then. He was happy to be with his friends.

Kaminari yawned again--getting him another harsh nudge to the back.

“Goddamn, how tired can you be?” Bakugou huffed.

“I’m sorry okay!” Kaminari said, raising his arms in surrender. “I’m not used to waking up at the buttcrack of dawn!”

“It wasn’t even that early!”

“For you!” He retorted. “No normal person wakes up at five to do morning jogs you know.”

“Hah? What do you mean no normal person? People who want to fucking exercise will do that.”

“Ughhhh, we already do so much exercising at school. I can’t figure out how you want to do more--”

“Okay that’s enough,” Ashido interrupted, pushing forward to lead the way through the streets. Or fake streets. She still wasn’t sure whether she was impressed by the authenticity of it all. It seemed too real to be fake. Had it really been built like this? Or did Yuuei just build around a ruined--

“Wow, it’s not like it was you and Bakugou fighting just a minute ago,” Kaminari mumbled, pouting.

Ashido simply smiled as they broke into a crossroad, a few cars piled up in the middle.

As they neared it, she gasped excitedly. “Oh oh guys guys! I think I see a candy cane! Finally!” 

She raced forward, Kaminari hot on her heels. There hadn’t been a rule about not eating the candy canes, and so far, they’d all given the lollies to him. Apparently, they were trying to ‘wake him up’ with sugar. He’d keep faking his sleepiness if it meant he got all the candy canes.

The other three followed more slowly, looking around.

Sero’s gut clenched. It was too easy. Right in the middle of the road. He fingered his helmet, using the new upgrades the support department had added--heat vision, night vision, to name a few--since the start of winter.

With the heat vision activated, he turned as he walked, looking at the buildings, down the road, the roof--

The roof!

“Ashido! Kami! Duck!” 

The duo did as told without question, ducking and diving to the sides as a few bullets shot out towards them, shattering one of the car’s windshield.

Bakugou grinned, crouching. “Snipe, huh?” 

“Hm? Yeah, why?” Sero turned--

Just in time to see Bakugou running forward, the bullets narrowly missing him as he propelled himself with his explosions.

“Bakugou!” Sero and Kirishima yelled. They glanced at each other, before clenching their jaws and rushing after him. 

Bakugou raised his arm up high, in the direction of where the bullets were coming from--

BOOM!

He smirked at the explosion, the satisfying recoil of his shoulder as he continued forward, leaning down to grip Ashido’s collar and heave her up.

“Let’s go damnit!” 

She swayed but steadied herself, following him across the road and behind the building. They glanced back to see Kirishima and Sero yank Kaminari up, running after them. 

“So what do we do?” Kirishima asked when they regrouped.

Bakugou’s grin was near-feral. “We take him out, of course.”

Kaminari stared. “Do we even get points for getting him?”

Sero tapped at his watch, scrolling through the activity sheet quickly. “Uhhh--” He reached the end, the last activity glaring up at him: ‘FIND SANTA AND THE GRINCH!’ He looked above it, finding what he was looking for. ‘INCAPACITATE A TEACHER WITH THEIR OWN CUFFS - 20 POINTS!’ “We get twenty points.”

“Hell yes!” 

“Oh hell no, do you think we can take him?” Ashido said, incredulous. 

“What? You think we can’t?”

“Well, I mean, it’s Snipe and--” 

Bakugou cut off Kirishima. “And invisible girl and four-arms--”

“Shouji?”

“--won against him during exams. This’ll be a piece of cake.”

Sero shook his head. “Sorry, I’m not convinced. They had quirk suppressants and weights on back then.”

“And they were only two against him. We’ve got five against one.” Bakugou sighed, irritated. “Do you really think we’re all that fucking weak?”

Kirishima smiled at the phrasing. “We can’t slip up this early in the game.”

But Kaminari was nodding, a grin forming. “You know what, I think we can take him on.”

“Hah! See?”

“Yeah,” He said absently as the idea grew on him. “Yeah! Come on guys! Let’s do it!” Kaminari stood straighter, his arms raised in excitement. “We’re class 1A! If anyone can take him on, it’s us! Five against one!”

Ashido raised an eyebrow at him as she murmured to Sero, “Motivational speech much?”

Bakugou clapped Kaminari on the back--probably a bit harsher than what was normally deemed affectionate. “So you do have some guts!”

He turned to the others, his grin downright feral now. 

“We’ve gotta go plus ultra, right?”

Sero looked at Ashido, then Kirishima. He wasn’t sure they were sold yet, but he knew if the two kept at it, they probably would be soon.

“Brave words for people standing around unguarded.”

The five shots were impossibly loud in the otherwise silent ruins.

DECEMBER 1 | 9:30AM | 3 HOURS 30 MINUTES INTO THE HUNT

Aizawa grimaced as the familiar screaming of Yamada filled his ears. Well then, he thought bitterly, it seemed he was on the move. He wasn’t sure if it was a bad thing.

No one had made a move on the golden sack. Which was good. He didn’t really want to fight this early in the Hunt; didn’t want to eliminate any of his students this early. Of course he wanted them to have fun--god, did they deserve to have fun--but it didn’t mean he was going to go easy on them.

Nevertheless, as Yamada’s screams echoed from the Flood zone, Aizawa felt a shift in the Simulation Joint.

Yamada’s voice would be heard from all over.

It was a wake-up call for everyone.

Maybe he would need to prepare.

DECEMBER 1 | 9:30AM | 3 HOURS 30 MINUTES INTO THE HUNT

“See anything?” Hagakure called out to Sato, a few metres away on her left. She refused to let herself shiver, knowing that if she started, she probably wouldn’t be able to stop. Ugh! She really hated her ‘hero suit’ right now. No, actually, she hated that the USJ wasn’t heated properly. Come on--did the teachers even care about them?!

Sato shook his head, sighing. “Nothing! The water’s too dark. Was it always this dark?”

Ojirou jogged back over. “I don’t think so. I think they made it darker for the Hunt.” Sato groaned.

“That makes things so much easier for us.”

“If only we had Tsu-chan with us!” Hagakure said as she walked over. “Hey, Sato, are you sure we can’t eat the candy canes?”

Sato looked thoughtful for a few moments before shrugging. “Well, they didn’t really say anything about eating it. Or not eating it. So...”

“So can I eat one?” She asked hopefully, clasping her hands together. “It’s already nine thirty! We’ve got the points from the candy canes, they can’t take it away right? Because, technically, we still have the candy canes--it’ll just be in my stomach!”

The boys glanced at each other, smiling at Hagakure’s logic. It was...technically right.

Her stomach rumbled. Loudly.

“Oh! That’s-that’s embarrassing!” Hagakure squealed, hands on her face. “Don’t look at me! I’m just starving! Ahhh!”

Sato scratched the back of his head, reaching into one of his pouches. “I guess we should have some. To keep our energy up.” He pulled three candy canes out--three of the five they had--and handed one each to the others, keeping one for himself.

So far, Team Spirit had eleven points. They had probably exhausted the supply of candy canes and baubles in the flood zone, having found most of the candy canes as they went down the water slide.

That had been a disaster. The water slide had had an explosive halfway through, and as Ojirou slid down, he’d triggered it, collapsing the slide. He’d splashed safely in the water though, but not before giving Hagakure and Sato mini heart attacks.

There’d been three candy canes in the slide alone. They weren’t complaining, it was a good thing, especially since they hadn’t found anything else after that.

Ojirou had seen something glittering underwater though, and he’d attempted several times to swim towards it, only to come up sputtering and coughing. It was too deep but he had sworn it was a bauble--a shiny, golden one too.

So now they were peering into the dark water, trying to find more, closer baubles but with no luck.

“Should we just leave? I don’t think there’s a chance of us getting whatever’s down there unless you’re sugar rush gives you bigger lungs,” Ojirou said, looking at Sato.

Surprisingly, the boy blinked in thought. Then shook his head. “Man, I got really hopeful there but...” He sucked on the candy cane resentfully. “Even if I did get bigger lungs, I’m not confident that I’d make it back up safely--cause I get sleepy and all.” Ojirou nodded, understanding.

“So!” Hagakure started. “What should we do? If we leave, where do we go?”

They looked around.

The conflagration and ruin sections were next to them, but they were sure some of their classmates had been put in those areas. Would it be a good or bad thing to run into them? Would the competition be too intense? Would there be anything left in those areas?

“Maybe we should try just going down into the general area? And take down some villain bots?” Sato suggested. The other two thought about it for a few moments.

“That sounds like a good idea! But...well…”

“What is it, Hagakure?” Ojirou asked.

“Like, is anyone else down there? It’s silly, never mind!”

“No no, go on, it’s okay,” Sato insisted.

“Well, I just think if no one else is down there, does that mean we’re doing a bad job? Only because that means they’re all still looking and haven’t given up on their areas!” She added hastily.

The boys nodded slowly. She had a point. They glanced at each other. Were they giving up too easily?

“HEY HEYYYY!”

They froze momentarily, turning to see Present Mic standing on top of the rocks, staring down at them.

“YOU KIDS ALRIGHT?!” They swallowed, Sato finishing the rest of his candy cane--it wasn’t his pure sugar, but it was still sugar. “WELL EITHER WAYYYY! I’M GONNA HAVE TO TAG YOU ALL NOW, YEAH!”

Present Mic opened his mouth.

“COVER!” Ojirou yelled, bracing himself.

The scream was piercing. It hurt and made their heads ache no matter how hard they pressed their hands to their ears.

Ojirou gritted his teeth as he pried his eyes open, staring at the water. It was rippling--but would it muffle the sound?

At this point, anything was better than the screams.

He let go of his ears--loud loud loud--and lurched forward, grabbing Hagakure’s gloved hand and Sato’s torso with his tail. Sato opened his eyes, wordlessly asking the question.

“THE WATER!” Ojirou yelled. He doubted they heard, but Sato nodded, and all Ojirou could do was hope Hagakure had understood too.

They ran forward, leaping into the air and splashing into the cold water.

Instantly, it filled their ears--good, oh thank goodness it really did muffle the screams.

Present Mic stopped, watching the trio disappear underwater. He grinned. “Ah, smart kids. Really, why’d they put me in the water area?” The grin darkened. “Ah well. I conquered water a long time ago.”

He leapt down from his perch on the rocks, stepping into the water until he was knee deep. He sighed. “Man, and I just got this dry-cleaned too.” Shaking his head, he inhaled deeply.

Hagakure gasped, bubbles escaping her lips as the water rippled. The other watched her worriedly as she began to thrash, swimming up and up, losing her hold on Ojirou’s hand. They followed--it was probably a better time than any to get a breath of air in.

As soon as they broke the surface, the screams returned with full force, their gasps of air lost in the noise. 

Hagakure ducked back down, the vibrations in her skull making it hard to figure out where the screams were coming from--she hadn’t had the nerve to stay above water for too long.

They swam as far as they could, breaking the water to breathe and duck back down. 

How long was the lake again? How long had they been swimming for?! Sato thought tiredly. He glanced at the other two, meeting Ojirou’s eyes. We have to take him out. He wasn’t sure if the message was conveyed, but the boy nodded.

Hagakure gurgled something incoherent, pointing ahead.

A dark mass loomed just in front--the ship!

Bracing themselves, they waited until they were right next to it before swimming up.

Present Mic frowned, stopping to rest his throat. He hated having to push that hard to be heard underwater. Now, where were they? “Great job Hizashi--you lost them.” Probably for the better, he added to himself. He didn’t really want to have an underwater battle--his clothes were far too good for that and this early in the Hunt? He was not going to fight the other students sopping wet.

Meanwhile the trio were slowly swimming around the boat, finding a ladder to get on or at least hold onto.

“It stopped. He stopped.” Sato huffed out.

“Not for long though. I’m sure he’s gonna start any time now.” They nodded.

Hagakure looked down, squinting at the water. “I’m going to see if there’s any baubles on the hull!” She breathed deeply and ducked down before hearing their responses, using her hands to propel herself forward through the width of the ship. 

Nothing nothing nothing. Dangit! There had to be something right? The ship had been the one thing they hadn’t checked yet, considering it was out in the middle of the lake and she really hadn’t wanted to jump in--it looked way too cold for her, and well, it was. She was shivering already.

You know what? Stuff it. I’m asking for a cloak or a jacket next time, she thought, resolved. Invisible girl or not, she wasn’t going to freeze for the next few months.

Her hands hit a spherical object, the ball-like thing attached to the hull. She brightened--a bauble! And a pretty, sparkly one too!

She shoved it out, pulling it from the hull just as more screams rippled through her brain. Argh! Could he just stop already? It was beginning to force a harsh headache.

The bauble sunk as it ripped from the hull and Hagakure turned it over in her hands, her eyes widening at the painted ‘4′ on it. 

Four points! That was great!

She was reminded of her limited air and hurried to push herself forward when suddenly the bauble opened--opened to reveal four robotic arm-like things that latched around her hand.

She winced, but continued swimming--whatever it was, she’d inspect it above water, her lungs were beginning to--

Yank!

Something was pulling her back--no, not her, her hand--the hand with the bauble attached.

She struggled, pulling her arm as far as it could but it was like-was like a magnetic force!

The bauble was still attracted to whatever it had been attached to.

And now it was pulling her along.

Oh no no no--Hagakure fought to keep her mouth closed, fought to stop herself from screaming. Oh no--was she going to drown? No, no she wouldn’t, Yuuei wouldn’t let her.

But if she didn’t get out soon she was going to pass out.

She stopped resisting and instead focused on the bauble--the robotic arms were skinny, but metal and strong, it dug into her hand painfully. 

She used a nail to pick at it, gave up, and went to shove it off, the way she’d shove off a bracelet that was too small on her. It scratched her hand as it moved--but it moved! And that was the main thing. 

Pushing pushing pushing, Hagakure tried not to let the squeezing of her chest affect her. One arm of the bauble was nearly off--and it was gone! It left a stinging line on her hand and even though she couldn’t see it, she knew it’d be there. 

Using the now free arm, she pulled at it, getting the second one off--good good, just a bit more--and then she used both to pull it more effectively. 

She was turning blue--well, she couldn’t see herself turning blue but she hadn’t held her breath for so long before. If she wasn’t turning blue then she didn’t know what she was. Was she even making sense? Her panic increased, but she tamped it down, refusing to let it surface. If she panicked now, it would be all over.

She was hero! She wouldn’t panic!

With one last, desperate, heave, the bauble ripped off of her hand and she sent it sinking away. Did they get the points? Agh, who cares who cares--she did, she didn’t want to disappoint her friends--she needed to breathe!

A large arm caught her on her back and suddenly, Hagakure rushed forward, water streaming past in bubbles.

Sato! And by the looks of him, he’d devoured some sugar!

Sato kicked his enhanced legs, his mind slightly furry around the edges, but he knew he had to get Hagakure up and breathing--how long had she been down there? They hadn’t realised--Present Mic had been so loud--until too late, until it had been at least thirty seconds. Maybe more. He couldn’t tell.

They burst through the water, Hagakure immediately breathing in a lungful, maybe two, of air, coughing and wheezing as she clutched Sato’s arm. 

Sato glanced hazily at her, unsure of what to do now.

Luckily Ojirou had made his way around the ship, finding his teammates and letting out a sigh of relief.

“You guys okay?” He called, swimming over to them. 

Hagakure nodded, then coughed. “I-I--” 

Ojirou shook his head. “It’s okay, take your time. You got us four points! That’s great Hagakure!” 

Blinking the watery tears away, she beamed--thank goodness! At least it hadn’t been for nothing.

“You okay there, Sato?”

“Hmm? Yeah...just...” He shook his head, blinking rapidly to wake himself up. He couldn’t get sleepy this early. “Good job Hagakure-san! That was a good idea.”

She smiled again, her coughing subsiding. 

“Wait, what’s that?” 

They all stopped, peering at the small metal stick still hanging onto Hagakure’s hand.

“Eep! Gross gross!” She shrieked, shaking it off. It didn’t sink immediately, so Ojirou took it in his hand, looking at it closely.

Tiny golden letters shone on the side--Hatsume industries!

He blinked. Wasn’t that that...determined support department student? The one that had used her gadgets during the festival? And helped make most of their suits?

“Looks like they get support students in on the fun too!” Hagakure said, somewhat less bubbly. “That was a really scary invention though.”

“What did it do?”

“I think it was magnetic! It grabbed onto my hand and pulled me back!” She shuddered. “I do not want to know how she comes up with these things.”

“YOU KIDS ALRIIIIIIIIIIGHT?!”

They started; Present Mic had moved, standing half in the water but still relatively close to the shore. 

He watched the trio. He had been starting to get worried. From what he recalled, none of them had underwater breathing like quirks, so not seeing them for a while had been concerning. Plus, Thirteen and Recovery Girl would kill him if he had just stood around doing nothing--Hunt or not.

They didn’t respond, merely swimming away and behind the ship. He frowned. He was being considerate! “WELL I GUESS YOU ARE THEN! GET READY!”

He continued to scream, almost bored. No matter though, he was not going in the water either way. He knew he’d be getting an earful from the other teachers as soon as this was done. Aizawa and Kayama were sure to ask how he’d gone. His fights were never quite interesting. All he could say was--

“HOLY CRAP!”

He dived to the side, sloshing water out of the way as a--was that a lawn chair?! As a lawn chair was launched towards him. 

“WHAT THE HECK?!” He looked up, his glasses askew, at the team that had made it onto the ship--how fast had they climbed?!--and now the yellow one was chucking probably whatever was on the ship at him. He groaned. He’d been too soft and now look at him, cowering at furniture!

He waded out of the water quickly--hating how soggy his pants felt, damnit, there better be no cameras around here--and dodged another lawn chair. His only comfort was that they had to run out of furniture soon.

Oh wait.

He crouched, waiting until something else was thrown--this time a lamp, were they going below deck too?--and then popped up. 

“YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The yellow boy visibly winced, crouching down and behind the railing of the boat. He did not stand up for a while and Yamada did not see the other two.

Maybe he should stop for a bit. If their eardrums got shot, Recovery Girl would be on his ass about it for weeks.

He relented, resting his throat for a bit, hands behind his head as he whistled. 

Eh, they could spend the whole day like this unless either one of them made a move.

Yamada turned his head slightly, keeping an eye on the boat to see the Central Plaza--

“Oh man! Someone’s out there!” 

He glimpsed a group of students running out and towards the Central Plaza. From where he stood, he couldn’t see where Aizawa was but the teacher was probably somewhere in there--

WHACK!

Yamada fell to the side, his face pounding as it hit the ground. Damnit, how had he missed--what had he missed again?

A shadow loomed over him and he froze--oh no.

“Sorry sensei, but--” A jingle of metal and Yamada tensed, ready to get up when-- “Oh. That’s a big caterpillar.”

Yamada’s blood curled.

Where? Where?!

He screeched, jolting up and butting heads with the student--Ojirou, that’s his name--and frantically roamed his hands over his own body, feeling the hated tingling of bugs crawling over him even through clothing. 

“WHERE? AHH WHERE IS IT?!”

“Sensei--wait! Are you--”

“AHHHHH!” He screamed, unintentionally activating his quirk. 

He couldn’t find the caterpillar but ooh something was crawling on him, the sensation tickling his hair--his hair!

“It’s in my hair isn’t it?! ISN’T IT? MY HAIR!”

A click of metal and suddenly his arm was cuffed.

Huh.

How’d that get there?

He looked up to see the other cuff floating in the air along with a watch. Ohhh. The invisible girl.

“Good thinking Ojirou! You took advantage of his fear of bugs!”

The tailed boy blinked. “His fear...of bugs?” 

“Mmhmm! Jirou told me he was scared of bugs! I completely forgot about that until now!”

“Oh.” Ojirou looked at him, suddenly guilty. “I’m sorry sensei, I really didn’t know. It was just a really big caterpillar.”

Yamada clenched his jaw as he tried to smile. 

Their watches beeped.

“Oh my god! Thirty five points guys! THIRTY FIVE! SATOOOO!” The watch bobbed up and down--maybe she was pointing at it. Yamada smiled at the weak yell. He tried to squash the thought. Get on my level, kid. 

Ojirou helped him up, smiling apologetically. “Really, sensei, I’m sorry. I didn’t know--”

“Ah it’s okay kid.” It really wasn’t. How could the world hate him so much. “Good job you two.” He was going to get such an earful from Recovery Girl. “Now I gotta take myself to the Entrance.” A walk of shame. “Better spend this time wisely while I’m not here to bless ya with my voice.”

Ojirou and Hagakure glanced at each other--blessings, huh? 

“Good luck with the rest of the Hunt, YEAHHHH! I’ll be coming for you all!” Yamada savoured their pale faces--well, the boy’s paling face. He turned swiftly, hurrying away to the Entrance through the back of all the areas.

He did not want the other teachers to see him.

Team Spirit met up on shore again as Sato used his strength to swim fast.

“AWESOME GUYS! YOU DID SO GOOD!” Sato grinned, high-fiving his teammates. 

“So did you Sato! You have good aim!” Hagakure replied.

He blushed, shaking his head. “Nah. I was honestly worried I was going to chuck you two out of the zone. How’d you manage to get him in the end?”

Ojirou turned away, looking down as he scratched his cheek. “I...I said there was a caterpillar and Yamada-sensei...well...”

“He freaked! He freaked sooo badly Sato! Jirou wasn’t kidding when she said he was scared of bugs!”

Sato raised his eyebrows, glancing at Ojirou. Clearly this win wasn’t the type he’d enjoy; even if he had unknowingly taken advantage of their teacher’s fear. He patted Ojirou on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Ojirou. They’re not gonna pull their punches, so why would we?”

“Yeah Ojirou-kun!” Hagakure added. “I nearly drowned back then! All’s fair in love and war!”

Ojirou smiled weakly, thinking, Is this a war now?

“Anyways, we’ve got sooo many points now! I think we can go get something to eat!”

Sato checked his watch, eyes bulging. “Whoa! It’s ten past ten! We fought for a while!” 

As one, their stomachs all rumbled, eliciting various degrees of embarrassment. 

“Yeah, let’s just get something to eat now.”

“Mmhmm! Before Yamada-sensei comes back!”

That got a shudder from all of them.

As cheerful and boisterous as their teacher had been, the way he’d said ‘I’ll be coming for you all!’ did not reassure them at all.

Not one bit.

DECEMBER 1 | 10:30AM | 4 HOURS 30 MINUTES INTO THE HUNT

“Taken down by some bugs?! AGAIN?” 

“Ehehe, well...”

“Don’t you ‘well’ me Yamada! Pathetic! You’re a pro! Your students are braver than you!”

Yamada sunk into his seat as Recovery Girl roughly unlocked the cuffs, practically fuming at the ears. 

“That’s a good thing! You know...for them...to be...” He stopped talking as she gave him a glare.

“You know just as well as I do what I meant! Hmph!” She bustled over to the cameras. “So early in the Hunt too! Look at them all! Aizawa’s managing with a whole flock of those students!”

Yamada grimaced. He could only hope the old woman wouldn’t tell anyone but that was unlikely.

“Wait till they hear about this!”

Yep.

Unlikely.

Impossible.

DECEMBER 1 | 7:30AM | 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES INTO THE HUNT

Kayama sighed for the fiftieth time. 

What a time to be stuck in ice. 

She wriggled her arms, stretching them over her head. She really shouldn’t have underestimated them--shouldn’t have underestimated the fact that the winter cold would help Todoroki’s ice powers in this way.

Though, she supposed, they had put up a good fight. If it weren’t for Todoroki’s surprise at the end, she might have eliminated them all. She smiled; how terribly cruel that would be, eliminating them when the fun’s just begun. She’d cut off their youth-fueled energy just like that.

Still, she gripped her flogger whip tighter and continued her chipping. It was such a tedious job, the ice wouldn’t give way at all, and when it did, only the barest fractions fell away. And with Ectoplasm out of commission--or at least, one of his clones--she wasn’t going to get any help anytime soon.

She glanced up at the camera drone hovering above and waved.

“I wouldn’t mind a little help you know!” She called out to it.

It bobbed away.

She sighed again. Recovery Girl was probably huffing and puffing at her ‘incompetence’. Well, she thought in defence of her imaginary argument, at least the kids hadn’t been able to cuff her. 

Todoroki had been too focused on stopping her from eliminating his dazed teammates that he hadn’t been able to hold back and, though it was kinda a win-lose situation, he’d frozen her all the way up to her neck, leaving her head out. They hadn’t been able to cuff her, unfortunately. Fortunately for her though.

Kayama glanced around, searching for anyone.

And when she found no one, she let a bit of her composure slip.

“Damnit just melt already why are you so freaking cold what is this ice made of--”

A mechanical but familiar voice spoke from the side and she froze.

“Maybe you should have been more on your guard instead of being so caught up in their ‘youth’! Hmph!”

Kayama smiled at the drone that made it’s way around her, waving. “Nice to see you too, Recovery Girl.”

“You can’t see me! But I can see you! Stuck in that pile of ice.” Incoherent muttering came from the drone, and Kayama could only imagine the scorn. “It’ll take another half hour to get free of that by the looks of it.”

“It could take shorter--”

“Good luck Kayama.”

Kayama slumped, pouting. She lifted her whip, saw that it was being worn down instead of the ice and clenched it tighter.

Those kids were going down.

DECEMBER 1 | 8:30AM | 2 HOURS 30 MINUTES INTO THE HUNT

“Split up damnit! SPLIT! UP!”

“No Bakugou I don’t-don’t leave me with him!”

“WHO SAYS HE’S GONNA GO AFTER YOU?”

“LOOK AT HIM! HE’S GONNA KILL ME PLEASE BAKUGOU--”

Bakugou grunted in irritation as he rounded the corner, stopping short at the half-crumbled doorway. Beams were placed haphazardly across it, and there was only one opening he could try. Everywhere else was too small. He took off his gauntlets, pushing them through first. 

Kaminari bumped into his back, winced as he clutched his nose.

“Is your head made of rock?! Dang that hurt!”

“Maybe you should watch where you’re going damnit.”

“Why have we stopped? He’s right behind us!”

Kaminari glanced behind him, fearfully waiting the moment Snipe would round the corner and shoot them dead. He still thought the bullets were real, no matter what the others said. They broke through the road and shattered glass--real or not, it would hurt!

“Bakugo--” He stopped dead as he turned back, finding Bakugou’s foot slipping past into the crumbled doorway. “Wait wait wait! How am I supposed to fit through? Bakugouuuuu!”

“Just fit through. Bend or something, I don’t care. Hurry up, or you won’t be able to catch up.”

As his footsteps receded, Kaminari’s panic increased. First of all, he wasn’t as flexible! Second of all, how was Bakugou that flexible in the first place? 

Kaminari jumped as a shot hit the wall. Snipe was coming oh great Snipe was coming near.

He hastily jammed a foot through the opening he’d seen Bakugou fit through, gritting his teeth past the pain as it scratched against his clothes. He lowered as he got the rest of his right leg through, using the wall to support himself as he twisted to fit his shoulder.

“You’re being incredibly slow.”

Kaminari jumped. Snipe stood at the corner, watching him with guns raised. He lifted his left arm.

“Please don’t shoot me I’m innocent!”

“What?” Snipe muttered lowly. “Never mind.” He cocked his gun up higher, walking forward as he took out a pair of cuffs from behind. Kaminari’s heart raced--no no no he couldn’t get out. 

He sped up, pushing the rest of his body through and getting his head and other shoulder out. But his left leg was still on the other side and--

Another shot rang out and a beam fell, trapping his foot.

“Oh crap.” His face blanched. “Oh craaaaap! No no no! Get off get off get off!” He pulled at his leg uselessly, twisting his foot this way and that but it didn’t budge, in fact it only made the beam slip lower, putting more pressure. Kaminari turned his head. He was in another room, but there was a hole leading to the next one over. Was Bakugou in there? “Bakugou! Bakuuu! Gouuuu! Please help me please please please--”

A shadow fell over him and he yelped as he glimpsed Snipe through the beams. He could electrocute the teacher--he knew that--but what if Snipe cuffed him first? Who’d be faster? And what if Snipe jumped as he shocked the ground? And then he’d be out of commission for the next few hours?

He didn’t want to find out. Not if it meant risking that much.

But Snipe was looming closer and with a resigned expression, Kaminari shut his eyes, mentally preparing himself for the shock--

BOOM!

The explosion rocked him to the side, his arms reflexively being brought up to protect his head from the smoke. 

Boom!

Another explosion rocked the ground, but smaller. His foot was free but he didn’t feel safe yet. 

Kaminari blinked his eyes open, peaking through his arms to see the beams blown away, Snipe all the way back down the hallway again, the window illuminating Snipe in a dark shadow, Bakugou standing beside him.

Bakugou standing next to him!

“I knew you wouldn’t leave me to die!”

Bakugou scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Yeah? And what was that look then? You were about to shit your pants.”

Kaminari grinned, waving his hands as he stood up. “Just for the theatrics!”

“Sure,” Bakugou mumbled, eyes trained on the teacher. His arms were still raised, probably ready to set off another explosion in the event the teacher shot them.

“Hm. I would have gotten you if it weren’t for your friend.” Kaminari grinned wider, giving Bakugou a thumbs up and a thanks at that. “Too bad.”

Snipe pulled out his other gun, returning to wielding the two guns when a different shadow lurched up from the window--

The remaining glass shattered as Sero leaped inside, tape pooling from his elbows as it shot out and wrapped Snipe up. The teacher grunted, his arms uselessly tied back but refusing to let go of the guns. 

He flicked his wrists, angling them.

“SERO!”

Sero glanced down just in time to see the guns aimed at his feet, his eyes widening--

Ashido slid from behind the corner, her acid destroying the floor. She reached out a hand and slapped the gun away, shooting some acid to it for good measure. 

Snipe still had the other gun though, and without hesitation he shot once, twice, thrice, at Sero, who jumped backwards in a flurry of movement his tape getting cut off. 

Snipe used that moment to break himself free, the tape falling away. 

He sensed Ashido’s kick before he saw it--ducked, stepped back once, and rammed his elbow out, catching her in the other leg.

She yelped, sliding into the wall, her last image of Snipe being him jumping out the window.

The four rushed to the window, seeing him land on the ground where Kirishima stood, hardened, but the man merely ran back inside the building, shooting bullets at their friend.

Kirishima made to follow, but saw them and stopped. “You guys okay?!” He called out.

“Yep!” Ashido yelled back.

“We didn’t get him buuut.” Kaminari held out an item--the cuffs--and beamed. “We got these! I think they fell off when you exploded him Baku!” Bakugou turned away, scoffing, but with less venom that normal. Below, Kirishima grinned, giving them a thumbs up as their watches beeped.

5 points for getting the cuffs of a teacher. Of course, it wasn’t the twenty they’d been hoping for, but it was better than nothing.

“We should start exploring the buildings better. I saw so many candy canes while we were running, but I didn’t have time to pick them all up,” Sero suggested as he created some tape to help them down.

They nodded when they reached the ground, a new fire burning in them after the fight as a result of the adrenaline.

It was early. They’d had a slow start but...

They were going to win this.

DECEMBER 1 | 11AM | 5 HOURS INTO THE HUNT

The bot’s arm came crashing down, it’s weight forcing Tokoyami to steady himself as Dark Shadow pushed it back up. It was the same bots they’d fought during the sports festival, but something told him that there had been upgrades made. And in the dome of USJ, there was a lot of light, so Dark Shadow was sufficiently weaker than usual.

But as Dark Shadow held the bot’s arm in place, Shouji leapt up, jumping onto the arm and pounding down onto the bot, sending it’s head flying off. It jerked around a bit, it’s other arm turning in an erratic circle, digging into the ground as it passed. 

Shouji brought his arms down on the exposed wiring, ripping them out until the bot stopped moving.

He jumped back onto the ground as their point counter went up by one. 

Kouda came running up to them, smiling and signing, though a bit shyly. “Good job guys!”

“It was nothing. The burden of my wrongdoings is heavier than any monster,” Tokoyami said quietly. Kouda smiled, nodding along.

“We should get moving to the Entrance before any more bots attack. I admit, I’m hungry. Now’s a better time than any to get going.” Shouji advised, looking around. They’d gained two points by taking out two bots but now the rest of their attention was being taken by Team Riot who were charging forward towards Central Plaza.

Tokoyami shook his head. “Are they taking on Aizawa-sensei now? Have they even eaten yet?” 

“I don’t know, but while all the bots are distracted, we should go.” 

They nodded and rushed forward, Dark Shadow and Shouji keeping an eye on their backs. They broke out of the trees, feet running on concrete once again.

They skidded to a stop, staring up at the looming robot. 

A three-pointer bot from the entrance exam swiveled it’s head towards them, the lens swirling and zooming in.

Like before, it’s arm swung high, but this time the arm spun as it lifted and--

It froze, electricity sparking around. A laser beam cut through the middle and it broke apart in two, revealing the team behind.

“Hey, sorry for taking the kill.” Jirou smiled, her earlobes retracting. Aoyama had his arms wrapped around his middle, leaning against Yaoyorozu for support. The trio looked particularly beat up, dirt on their faces; Yaoyorozu’s and Aoyama’s cloak ripped.

Despite that, there was a gleam in their eyes; burning bright and strong.

Shouji nodded at them in acknowledgement. “Are you going to the Entrance too?”

“Yes. It’s already been several hours since we begun. I am feeling quite famished,” Yaoyorozu explained. Indeed, she looked pale, maybe even thinner than before, though they couldn’t be sure. 

"Let’s go then.”

The two teams started up the stairs, a swift jog in case any robots decided to follow them up, though it was unlikely considering it would be harder for them to drive up stairs.

But then again, in the course of the part five hours, they’d learnt not to underestimate Yuuei.

Several times.

“We moved to the Conflagration zone to dry after we stayed in the Downpour for a few hours. Cementoss-sensei was there but we managed to evade him long enough.” Tokoyami looked to Kouda. “Kouda’s quirk is quite good for finding things--his insect friends told him the whereabouts of ‘strange objects’. It’s thanks to him that we found most of our items without running into Cementoss-sensei.”

Jirou turned to him. “That’s great Kouda! You’ve gotten over your fear!”

Kouda blushed, shaking his head and signing quickly. “Only a little bit!” He returned his teammate’s looks. “And you two did so much work too! Shouji-kun-you’re great at getting information! And Tokoyami-kun too!”

Shouji ducked his head, one of his arms creating a smile. Tokoyami and Shouji thanked him for the compliment.

“What about you three? Where did you come from?”

Yaoyorozu smiled weakly. “The mountains. It’s lucky we had Jirou-san otherwise we would never have dodged half the traps in there.”

“But even with me, we couldn’t get away from them all.” Jirou replied bitterly, clenching her jaw. 

Yaoyorozu gave her an encouraging smile but it was Aoyama who said, “But you still did wonderfully Jirou-san! It is not your fault we were attacked by several Ectoplasms!” He huffed--the sound still encompassing some of Aoyama’s usual flare. “My hero suit has been ruined so terribly! It’s hard to keep up my sparkle!” 

Jirou shook her head, her lip quirking up. “Yeah, that reminds me, how many Ectoplasms did you guys have to fight?” 

Team Eclipse looked at each other. 

“We fought four, but one of them might have been the same one,” Tokoyami answered. Team Sparkle nodded, grimacing. He noticed their looks and asked, “How many did you fight?”

“Seven,” Yaoyorozu replied immediately, resentfully. 

“And they weren’t the same ones!” Aoyama added.

“At that point, I was wondering if he was just out to get us or something. I stabbed my earlobes into so many Ectoplasms I had to clean it off.” Jirou suppressed a shudder.

They slowed as they reached the top of the stairs, the smell of food making it to their hungry noses. More than a few stomachs rumbled, but no one mentioned it. As they stepped up, they were met by the sight of three Ectoplasm’s.

The stairs to the Entrance had two flights. They had only made it pass the first.

“If you want food, you will have to get past us.” The Ectoplasm in the middle spoke. Something about him told them that that was the real Ectoplasm. The way he spoke and kept unnaturally still. “Of course, you could always let yourself be eliminated.”

Both teams readied for a fight.

Jirou clicked her tongue, sick of the sight of that particular teacher.

“You really can’t give us a break, huh?”

DECEMBER 1 | 11AM | 5 HOURS INTO THE HUNT

“KAMINARI! NOW!”

Ashido stepped forward, onto Kirishima’s back--the boy using his quirk--and leapt into the air, willing herself to stay aloft as Kaminari readied himself and activated his quirk. She shot acid out of her feet to give herself a few precious moments more.

The ground sparked, electricity travelling into Ectoplasm and the three-pointer bot and Ectoplasm and--

No, not Aizawa-sensei. 

“Sorry guys! He’s-he’s hard to control!” Sero gritted his teeth, digging his heels into the ground. Aizawa-sensei was currently in the air, using Sero as a way to swing him around. His torso was wrapped in the boy’s tape but his own capture tape was out and shooting straight for him--

Sero ducked, stepping a bit too close to the area where Kaminari’s electricity ranged and felt a striking zap go through his body. His teeth clattered together, and he tasted blood--crap, he’d bitten his tongue. 

The zap was over just as quickly as it had begun, Kaminari feeling the aftereffects come on and deciding to stop before he truly went out of commission.

A few metres away, Bakugou stood blasting at advancing robots; three-pointer bots, a pain. He barely glanced at the rest of his team, trusting them to do good enough not to get cuffed.

Team Riot were currently in Central Plaza, having made an effort to go for the Golden Sack (worth forty points). They’d charged in, a semi-plan made to lure the Ectoplasm clones away using Sero’s tape so that Kaminari could zap them all in one go and make it easier for Ashido, Kirishima, and Bakugou to take on Aizawa-sensei.

But it had all gone wrong.

Though maybe it hadn’t gone wrong. Their plan had just been rushed and slightly loose.

Aizawa-sensei had been fast--faster than they imagined--and even though they’d timed it so that their homeroom teacher was on the other side of the fountain, where the Sack sat upon, he’d managed to swing himself over to them, landing in front and erasing their quirks.

They’d struggled evading their homeroom teacher--who knew almost all their strengths and weaknesses--and the three clones without their quirks, but through a series of running and ducking, they’d managed to split Aizawa-sensei’s focus, allowing some of them to get their quirks back.

Sero had been the first to get away, and he’d instantly shot out his tape to catch all the clones in one go. It had been a massive effort to pull them altogether but when done, he’d yelled at Kaminari to get ready.

Aizawa-sensei had heard that though, and he’d returned to erasing his quirk but the tape was already out. 

Kirishima and Ashido instead used a few harsh, strong kicks to finish off one of the clones but then a bot had come up from behind Sero and they’d been forced to run, leaving the other two to escape.

It had been at that moment that Kirishima had come running to them, Bakugou leading Aizawa over to the other side as he made a run for the Sack--whether he knew he was helping by distracting Aizawa-sensei or he genuinely thought he could reach the sack, they didn’t know.

But it helped.

It had been the moment they’d needed.

Their quirks returned.

That brought them to the present.

The robot malfunctioned, it’s movements jerky and strange until it collapsed onto the ground. Ashido threw a wad of acid to the clones for good measure--they’d started to melt down but they could never be sure--and she rolled onto the ground.

Kaminari wobbled on his feet, a shaky smile on his face as he gave them--or he gave what he hoped was them--a thumbs up. It wasn’t them.

But Sero and Bakugou were still locked in battle.

“Oh c-come onnnnn--” Sero hissed, feeling his hold on Aizawa-sensei loosen and the teacher slipped free, using his own tape to swing down to safety.

A large blast shook the ground--Bakugou’s howitzer. It had sent all the bots away though and allowed him to focus back on their battle. 

He snarled in joy as he beheld Aizawa-sensei’s falling form--falling in front of where he stood, their teacher’s back to him.

Without wasting time, Bakugou blasted himself off the ground, racing towards him fast fast fast--

Aizawa twisted in the air, kicking his legs around to meet eyes with his students behind his goggles. Bakugou’s explosions sputtered out, but he still had the momentum--

Aizawa sent out his capture tape to trap the boy’s arms.

It had worked--but Bakugou was still grinning.

Aizawa’s eyes widened--the Sack.

He looked down--the ground coming up fast--, and sure enough the rest of team Riot were speeding towards the fountain--Ashido especially fast with her acid. He used his quirk on her and she stumbled but continued, none of them bothering to look up. 

He couldn’t help the twitching of his lips.

They all had that much trust in each other. A development, he supposed.

But their success wasn’t going to last.

Before he released Bakugou, he swung the boy to slam him onto the ground and rolled. Aizawa snapped up immediately, returning his capture tape to get it to catch Kirishima in the ankles--and the boy went falling.

Sero spared a glance.

“GO!” Kirishima yelled, yanking his foot away but ultimately letting himself get pulled backwards. 

That left the other three.

Aizawa felt a headache start. Damn, this was troublesome.

Yanking Kirishima far enough, he sent his capture tape out past Sero and Kaminari--to Ashido, the closest. 

He smirked.

It grabbed onto her legs, trapping them together as he pulled her back, making sure to give the tape an extra jerk to get her spiralling backwards, knocking into Sero and narrowly avoiding Kaminari. 

Kaminari stumbled sideways. His head was still stinging and his stomach ached from the emptiness but--crap, now he was the only one left. Damnit Aizawa-sensei! You couldn’t have taken me out?! This pressure’s too much!

He gritted his teeth and pushed forward--ten metres, eight, five--

The Sack was blindingly bright--gold, too. Probably fake, but who knew with UA? And so close, so damn close--

He reached out, stepping into the moat around the fountain’s main section.

He barely registered the beep in time.

The fountain blew up.

Something wrapped around his waist and he was pulled backward, the pressure around his midsection too strong--too strong too strong he was going to puke up his empty stomach--

The heat seared his front, his face; he turned his head, his arms lifting uselessly to cover his face.

He was thrown backwards, landing near Kirishima, the redhead scrambling towards him.

His ears rung, but he could vaguely make out what he was saying.

“Are you okay? Kami--talk! You okay man?!” 

Kaminari tried to nod.

A shadow passed over him and he was being lifted by strong arms--Bakugou. One arm slung over the explosive boy’s shoulder as he was dragged away. 

He didn’t know where they were going, but they were going away--away from Central Plaza.

And the Sack.

The ringing subsided, only to be replaced by a different kind of sting.

He’d been so close. 

And he’d ruined it.

“‘M sorry guys. Coul’n’t get it,” He mumbled, hazy.

He heard a scoff. “Tch. You got closer than any of us dunce-face. Don’t sell yourself fucking short.”

“Yeah Kami! That was amazing! You can’t blame yourself for not knowing they’d blow the whole thing up!” Ashido chirped from somewhere behind.

Kirishima appeared in his line of sight. “That was super manly dude!”

Silence.

“Hey Sero, say something.”

“What? I mean you guys all said it already!” A pause. “Okay! You did great Kami. Seriously. Rest up, we’re bringing you to food.”

At the mention of food, his mind focused a bit more, his vision narrowing. Yes, food, food food. Finally.

Though it still felt like forever until they made it, Kami’s feet hitting the stairs over and over until it finally stopped only to start up again--how many stairs did the USJ have? He couldn’t remember but surely it hadn’t been--

“You made it. You can relax now. You’re in neutral territory.” He was being moved somewhere else, laying on a soft surface. “Kaminari, if I heal you, you’ll feel tired. Are you okay to risk that?”

“Yeah yeah, just heal him already.”

“Hmph, patience Bakugou.”

SMOOOOCH!

Instantly, his body relaxed, sinking into the soft mattress. He felt better, but he did feel tired now.

Kaminari opened his eyes, meeting Kirishima’s eyes. He grinned at him, giving a thumbs up.

“So where’s the food?”

A packet of something both hard and soft landed on his chest.

“Here.” 

Kaminari turned to look at Jirou, her eyes uncharacteristically narrowed. She was glaring at him furiously.

“What’d I do?” He asked, confused and slightly intimidated.

Yaoyorozu appeared next to her, putting a hand on Jirou’s shoulder. “Jirou-san, I don’t think it’s a good idea to glare so much.” Her eyes softened, but she still frowned.

“I can’t help it. We had to fight through three more Ectoplasms just to get up here and they could walk through free. Fantastic,” She said flatly, slumping on the ground. 

“I guess being first isn’t always the best, huh,” Sero added unhelpfully, as he received another glare.

Kaminari looked around, finding the two other teams--Eclipse and Sparkle. Ashido laughing at Aoyama’s ripped cloak, the blond boy clearly trying not to pout. Sero talking to Shouji and Tokoyami. Kouda sitting against a wall, nibbling on an apple as Bakugou chomped on a banana next to him.

Though everyone was beaten up considerably, bruises and scratches that hadn’t healed, there was a spark in their eyes.

For once, they weren’t fearing for their lives. For once, they were having fun.

DECEMBER 1 | 11:10AM | 5 HOURS 10 MINUTES INTO THE HUNT

Recovery Girl smiled at the cameras, shaking her head. She could hear the students’ chatter from behind the door.

She watched as Aizawa reset the fountain, the Sack slung over his shoulder, bots roaming the area.

A softie through and through, she thought.

You could have cuffed and eliminated them all, Aizawa, before going to reset the fountain.

And yet you didn’t. 

DECEMBER 1 | 1PM | 7 HOURS INTO THE HUNT

“Are you sure this is a good idea? Do you really think it’ll work?”

Hagakure nodded, taking off her boots. “Well, maybe not! But we have to try at least! If I can’t get past Aizawa-sensei, I won’t be able to get past villains in the future!” 

Ojirou and Sato smiled hesitantly, nodding slightly. “It might be a bit different than that, Hagakure-san. Aizawa-sensei is a pro at stealth too.”

“Exactly!” She piped, ripping off her gloves. She shivered. Now the cold could really attack her. “If I can get past him, this’ll be a true show of my skills!”

Sato pointed at her watch. “Are you going to take that off?” 

Hagakure looked at it, poking and prodding before relenting. “No. I don’t want to risk disqualification or something, but I’ll be careful.”

She peaked over the tree, staring at the new fountain. After it had blown up a few hours ago--it had been one huge explosion--something had opened up below and a new fountain had popped right up. The only sign that it had been blown up in the first place was the debris scattered around.

“There’s no more Ectoplasms too! This could work out great for us guys!”

Her teammates looked at each other, before resigning to the fact that she wouldn’t give up.

“Be careful out there.” 

She nodded, grinning.

She waited until Aizawa was on the other side and ran forward, keeping low so that her floating watch wouldn’t be too visible. 

The run was longer than she’d anticipated, and by the time she made it to the cut hedges bordering the fountain, she was panting. But she’d made it!

Aizawa was walking back over to this side. She could tell by the sounds of his footsteps. 

Closer, closer, closer--he should be walking away by now--closer, closer--closer?!

Hagakure’s heart raced. Why was he coming closer? Had he seen her? She glanced at Ojirou and Sato--her heart dropped.

Their eyes were wide, even from a distance she could see that, and they waved frantically at her.

Someone was standing over her.

She looked up, a squeak leaving her lips as she stared into Present Mic’s eyes.

Was he always this scary?

“Told ya I’d come for you!” Present Mic opened his mouth. “SHOUUUUTAAAAAA!”

“What? There’s no need to shout,” Aizawa-sensei grumbled, coming over. 

Hagakure scrambled away from the hedge, stumbling up as she spun to face the two teachers. 

“So you thought you’d be able to sneak past huhhhh? Well, that’s too bad man!” Present Mic yelled, the second sentence in english. Hagakure swallowed, continuing to step back--dangit, why did she have to have a stupid watch? That gave her such a disadvantage!

Ojirou and Sato appeared at her sides in defensive stances.

“We should run. I don’t think we can take the both of them,” Sato murmured from the corner of his lips.

Still, the two teachers heard him.

“Really?” Aizawa-sensei muttered. “I would have hoped you three knew you were at an advantage.” They stilled. “Two of you have quirks I cannot erase. And the third is sufficiently trained in combat to put up a decent fight.”

Present Mic grinned. “And you know! You’re all pretty close! You could get to me before I shot your eardrums.”

Team Spirit looked at each other.

They came to a silent agreement.

Stepping back--

They ran.

“AW COME ON MAN!” Present Mic sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I was really looking forward to that you three! Yeee-AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The trio winced--they hadn’t gone too far yet and the effects of Present Mic’s quirk could be heard all over USJ. It was a piercing as they remembered from a few hours ago.

Aizawa elbowed him. 

“OW! Man that hurt!”

“You’re hurting my ears.” He clicked his tongue, turning away.

Team Spirit made it back to the trees, running past for good measure. They slowed, stopping and resting on the grass.

“He thought we’d forget about the capture tape or cuffs? I feel underestimated,” Sato huffed out.

The other two smiled wryly. 

“Though without those two things, we really would be at an advantage,” Ojirou said, straightening.

“I’m not taking any chances! We’ve only got five more hours to go! We can do it!” Hagakure cheered, still out of breath. 

“Yeah. Just a few more hours to go.” Sato looked at Ojirou, smiling. “Plus ultra, yeah?”

They nodded.

DECEMBER 1 | 2PM | 8 HOURS INTO THE HUNT

Kouda waited until the ant had finished speaking before standing to tell his teammates. He also couldn’t believe it, but then again, he really should be able to. It wasn’t something out of reach for UA.

“What is it, Kouda?” Shouji asked. 

“There’s some in the dome. Wedged between the glass and taped to it. They’re saying it’s the same thing as our candy canes.” He looked at Tokoyami. “Can you..?”

Tokoyami nodded, Dark Shadow already wrapping over his body. “I’ll do my best.”

He flew into the air, climbing higher and higher--the ground lower and lower. It would have been dizzying and despite his training with his special move, the day’s events wore down on him. Eight hours, one meal, and no sleep since the beginning--he didn’t want to think about his bed.

From in the air, Tokoyami could see much of USJ. The mountains zone had been half-destroyed, smoke piling up high; the waterslide in the Flood zone had collapsed; bots roamed the grounds, looking for students to attack. From that height, Tokoyami felt untouchable from the threats of below. 

“Dark Shadow--keep an eye out too!” The beast nodded, and they swerved close to the glass--though he couldn’t see out of it anyway, snow covered the outside from view. They’d been walking behind the Flood zone, keeping to the edges of the dome to get easy candy canes and baubles. It had been a fruitful excursion and they’d barely run into anyone--friend or foe.

Tokoyami scanned the dome with his eyes. Nothing yet, but he trusted Kouda and Kouda trusted those ants.

Dark Shadow flew them closer, almost skimming against the dome.

There! A bauble, black to blend into the beams, hanging. 

“Do you see it, Dark Shadow?”

“Yeah! Grab and go!” 

Tokoyami reached out his hand--his fingers grazed the bauble--he latched onto it, ripping it free.

“Good, we got--”

Electricity sparked through his body and Tokoyami hissed--what the--?

A second set of shocks rippled through him and he looked closer at the bauble, eyes narrowing at the circular object stuck to it’s skin. 

“What is it? A taser or something?”

“Something like that.” With a grunt, Tokoyami scratched the device off, letting it fall to the ground. “I should have realised there’d be traps. Even up here, they’re not going to go easy on us.” Though if the rest are just like this one, we won’t be able to tell there’s traps til it’s set off. Tokoyami thought bitterly.

He shook his head. It’d be fine if they were just zaps. 

He checked his watch--their point counter at forty-eight now. The bauble had been worth four points. 

“Tokoyami! Is that an item?” Dark Shadow asked, and Tokoyami looked up to see a pair of red glasses attached onto the side of a beam. Midnight’s glasses--worth seven points. He smiled. 

“Yes. Good spotting Dark Shadow.”

They repeated their routine, though more carefully now.

And yet it still did not prepare them for the burst of pink gas.

No--Midnight’s gas!

As Tokoyami had pulled the glasses away, it had triggered the trap--releasing a shocking amount of Midnight’s gas. Somehow they’d stored it up here.

Dark Shadow dropped to escape it, but then something shot out of the glasses and latched onto Tokoyami’s hands. He felt a pull and his arm went up, towards the beam where it was slowly but surely being encompassed in the gas.

“Tokoyami! What is it?”

“Some-something is pulling me back up! It’s strong,” Tokoyami gritted out, clenching his jaw. He shook his hand, but the rod-like things on the glasses were unyielding. “Keep going Dark Shadow!”

Dark Shadow charged down, leaning more to the left as a result of the force of whatever was pulling Tokoyami’s right hand. He tried to pull his hand down, make it easier for his shadow beast to fly. 

They were hurtling as fast as they could go, but still it pulled them back--

The pressure released, sending Tokoyami’s hand shooting forward and then his whole body, the same feeling when someone would step on the brakes--

“DARK SHADOW!” 

They were nearing the ground faster than he knew they could control--no, nearing the Conflagration zone’s dome. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he swore he heard Shouji yell over the sound of the wind rushing past. 

“Tokoyami! Duck!”

He ducked his head deeper into Dark Shadow’s arms, gritting his teeth as the inevitable impact arrived--

CLANG!

They collided with the dome, Tokoyami thankfully safe from most of the impact, though his head still rattled, but Dark Shadow absorbed the most of it.

Dark Shadow gripped a beam to prevent them from sliding off, then slowly went back, using the beams like a fireman’s pole as they slid towards the ground.

Shouji and Kouda ran to meet up with them.

“Are you alright Tokoyami-kun?”

He nodded, standing up, refusing to let his wobble be shown. “Yes. That gas...” They looked up at the still-spreading pink gas. “It surprised us. And then there’s this.” He lifted up his right hand, the glasses still attached to it.

“What is that?” Kouda asked, shyly stepping forward to peer at it. Now that he could see it better, it resembled something of legs. Or arms. 

“I don’t know. But it latched onto me and kept pulling me up. Something was pulling it towards the gas.”

“Magnets?” Shouji supplied. Tokoyami nodded. That was probably it.

“Thank you Tokoyami-kun! You got us eleven more points even with those traps!” Kouda beamed, smiling. Tokoyami blinked, lowering his eyes. Yes, he supposed he had, even after all that.

“I can go back to searching up there after a few minutes rest. There’s clearly more to find up there.” 

They nodded, looking up. The gas was was a reminder to be more careful, but Tokoyami wasn’t going to let his team down.

He’d fly up there and get them all the points.

DECEMBER 1 | 3:30PM | 9 HOURS 30 MINUTES INTO THE HUNT

Exhaustion battered them down. 

Midnight had been out for blood. Wherever they went, she followed. They’d moved from the landslides to the mountains to the stairs--and still she’d followed!

Now team Tree was in the Conflagration zone. With Todoroki’s quirk, they assumed they would have an advantage in there, but the flames raged on around them--and sweating buckets did not help. They’d dressed for the cold; their extra layers of clothing becoming an enemy.

“Should...should we just leave?” Uraraka asked weakly, pulling at the collar of her suit uselessly. “It’s really...really hard to see anything in here.”

Midoriya pursed his lips, thinking. They’d been in here for half an hour and they’d found enough items to make it seem like no one else had gone through this zone--too hot or too dangerous? 

He didn’t want to give up, but looking at his team, some of them were looking bad: Iida, in his elaborate hero suit, moved with less energy than usual. Asui was sweating, her eyelids drooping, and he himself felt groggy and sticky with sweat. Todoroki was the only one who looked decent, and even that much was a stretch, when he kept ocnstantly freezing his left side.

They’d already stacked up to seventy-four points. That was probably good, right? Yes, there was no need to push everyone to their limits, especially since they’d gone deep inside the zone now they’d need to take a while to get back out.

“Yeah, that’s a go--”

The pillar of concrete came out of nowhere.

Well, not nowhere, but the ground.

It brushed right up against Todoroki--the one who’d been leading--and a second on on their left started growing.

“It’s Cementoss!” Iida called, grabbing Uraraka and Midoriya and running to the right with them. 

Asui leapt sideways, her tongue already half out when Todoroki used his ice to destroy the left wall and propel himself to the right.

They regrouped against a burning building, Todoroki freezing over the section nearest to make it safe.

“So it was you after all,” A deep voice rumbled out. They tensed, for once the searing heat replaced by a deep focus. The flames made it hard to find Cementoss, but the sound had come somewhere from ahead. “Only one other team made it in and out of this zone. They lasted fifteen minutes. I’ll try to make this quick.”

Concrete spiked up from the ground, heading straight for them--they had to split--

Midoriya and Iida leapt to the right, Uraraka, Todoroki, and Asui going left.

The concrete smashed into the frozen building, the ice shards shattering and falling upon them. 

Todoroki gritted his teeth, activating his right and sending ice shooting in the general direction the concrete came from. He heard a shatter, and clicked his tongue--Cementoss must have shielded himself.

Uraraka tapped his shoulder. “We should go--he can obviously see us--” The ground wobbled underneath them and it was only with the help of Asui did they get pulled back in time before concrete shot up, right where they’d been standing. 

“I don’t think we can win without risking too much, kero,” Asui said as they ran around the building. The flames leaped out at them but Todoroki iced the path as he led the way, pushing through. 

Uraraka nodded. “Yeah. He must have something--maybe some sort of heat vision goggles to see us?”

“Whatever it is, we’re at a clear disadvantage,” Todoroki grunted. Damnit--and he’d been so confident in his ice quirk too!

They ran around, the building longer than they’d realised. 

Uraraka glanced to the sides, watching as Todoroki iced the ground and walls for them--

Her eyes widened. She slid to a stop, stumbling uncouthly as she stared through the ice to what was inside.

A star--or, it looked like a star. 

She racked her memory for what she remembered it from, squinting and scrunching up her face--what was it what was it?

“Uraraka-chan!” Asui hopped back to her side. “What is it?”

She pointed at the star. That’s it! “The star for-for the christmas tree! It’s worth like-ten points guys!”

Todoroki slid back over to them, eyeing it. 

Uraraka turned to him, eyes eager. “Can you get it, Todoroki-kun?”

He nodded. “Keep an eye out for Cementoss, though.” He put his left hand onto the ice and melting it away as fast as he dared--he didn’t want to risk damaging the star, and thus losing the points.

The ice melted quick, and when he broke through a violent burst of flames escaped.

He stepped back with his right, letting his left take the heat. Uraraka and Asui stepped back, the flames large enough to melt the rest of the ice, making way for more fire to be generated by however way the school did it. 

“Todoroki-kun! Are you okay?” Uraraka called.

He clenched his jaw and nodded. “I’ll take it out--be ready to run if it’s a trap.”

Uraraka and Asui stepped away, but not before Asui wrapped her tongue around Todoroki’s midsection. The heat stung, but in the event it was a trap, she wasn’t going to leave him to it’s mercy.

Todoroki touched the hot metal--his teeth were going to break with how hard he was gritting them--and found the pointed section, running his finger down until he could get a better grip. Bracing himself, he yanked it out--

Asui threw him backwards, the explosion shattering the rest of the ice until he created more to stifle it. Still, the ice cracked at the force.

Uraraka gasped--Cementoss!

“Run!”

They ran, pushing past the flames now that Todoroki was still being pulled by Asui. 

The end of the alley approached, a wired gate separating them from Midoriya and Iida, the former ripping it open--

The ground shook--they refused to stumble--

It wasn’t wide enough for them to leap through--not yet not yet--

Midoriya activated One for All, using what was probably more strength than necessary to rip the rest of it open--the whole fence crashed down, but on their side.

“URARAKA!” Iida yelled, hand outstretched--and she understood.

Reaching backwards, she clapped hands with Asui who held out hers--the girl went weightless, still clutching Todoroki--and Uraraka ran forward, stretching to reach Iida--

In the end, the concrete bursting behind them was what gave them the speed to reach him.

They flew forward, Todoroki slamming into Uraraka’s back as she whipped her hand out and used her quirk on him too. 

Bracing herself, she used it on Midoriya and her too, the nausea growing. 

But now Iida could run.

They all gripped onto him, whether it was an arm or his torso--

He crouched, activating Recipro Burst and--

Zoom!

Rushing past the flames, Iida maneuvered carefully, knowing he had limited time to get them all out of there--ignoring the flames that reached for their bodies--far, far--

They made it a considerable distance before his Burst ended and he stumbled to a stop.

Uraraka released her quirk’s effect, and they all collapsed onto the grround, adrenaline pumping through their veins at the wild ride.

“We should...go...before he catches up...” Iida panted out, staring at his engines.

Midoriya grinned at him. “Do you really think he’ll be able to catch up with your Recipro Burst?” 

Iida looked up at him, a proud smile growing. “Perhaps not,” He admitted. “But we need to make sure.”

“Well it’s a good thing we’re near the exit then,” Asui croaked out, looking in front. 

They turned, the doors to leave the zone right in front.

“And our points too!” Uraraka piped up suddenly. “You did it Todoroki-kun! We’ve got eighty-four points now! That’s so much!” She threw her arms in the air, exhilarated, and threw an arm around the boy, who stiffened.

“So that’s what got the points?” Midoriya asked, pointing to the star still in his hand.

He nodded. “But it was Uraraka who found it. If it weren’t for your quick seeing, we would have missed it.” He looked down, clenching his right hand. “I was too focused on icing the area I didn’t think about the items we could have found.”

Uraraka shook her hands dismissively. “Don’t worry about that Todoroki-kun! We got the points so that’s good...” She trailed off as the ground shook again. 

They all glanced at each other, standing.

“We should go...” Midoriya began nervously.

“Before Cementoss does catch up, kero,” Asui finished.

They all nodded, making their way to the exit. 

When the cooler air of the outside hit them, they couldn’t help but sigh. 

Sure it was cold, but it was much better than the searing heat of those flames.

They looked up.

And froze.

DECEMBER 1 | 4PM | 10 HOURS INTO THE HUNT

Toshinori hated that smile of Nedzu’s. It’s the smile that told him the principal was planning something. 

Something that probably wasn’t going to be good.

Nedzu completely ignored him, too deep in thought.

It had been hard work getting all the puzzle pieces into place. His students were unpredictable, but it was the teacher’s who’d nearly messed it up. Especially Midnight and Present Mic--he’d have to talk to them about holding grudges with their naive first years. 

But finally everyone had been gathered onto the grounds. 

And by the looks of their confused faces, none of them knew what was coming.

Nedzu lifted his tea cup and took a sip. 

He put a paw on the button. 

And with another, darker smile, he pressed it.

Toshinori couldn’t help but wish his students good luck with all his heart.

DECEMBER 1 | 4PM | 10 HOURS INTO THE HUNT

The fountain split into four, the Central Plaza opening up to pull it in. The ground as class 1A tried to figure out what was going on--were they still doing the Hunt? What was this part all about? 

The Golden Sack was the first thing that came back out.

And then a giant Ectoplasm followed suit, the Sack perched on his head.

(Yaoyorozu put a hand on Jirou’s shoulder to stop her from screaming. She was sick sick sick of that teacher!)

He loomed above them all, casting a menacing shadow. Once his upper body was out, the teachers seemed to follow, rising from the ground.

(Midnight smirked darkly at Team Tree; the five getting chills up their spine. She still hadn’t given up.)

(Hagakure subtly stepped behind Sato, hiding herself from Present Mic--despite the fact that she was the best hidden in the first place.)

As the ground closed up again, around Ectoplasm’s giant clone, snow poured out, filling the area around and piling around the teachers.

“Well well class one A,” Nedzu’s voice spoke all around them. “You’ve all managed to last until the final hours of our Hunt! Impressive! It’s been rarely done.”

“Hmph.” A distance mumble huffed somewhere. “If someone hadn’t been so stupid they would have eliminated some of them.”

(Midnight and Present Mic’s smirks twitched--the elderly lady was not getting over their earlier mishaps anytime soon, it seemed.)

“Yes yes. But in the end, class one a made it. It’s been so long since I decided to do this!” Nedzu laughed giddily, the sound chilling. “Now, you might want to take cover.”

“You won’t warn them hm? Of course you wouldn’t.”

“Where would be the fun in that?”

The sound of screeching and creaking pierced their ears and as one, the class looked up to see the glass receding and--

Snow fell.

And not the soft, beautiful snowflakes. 

It fell in harsh, loud thumps.

(Tokoyami called on Dark Shadow to shield team Eclipse as the snow weighed on them.)

(Kirishima pulled Bakugou back, under the cover of trees, in an effort to stop the boy’s obvious desire to Howitzer impact the snow.)

When the snow finally made it all down, the class emerged from their covers.

It was thicker than they’d have thought, piling up as high as their shins in some areas. But it was uneven too; the domes of the Conflagration and Downpour areas taking up a large chunk of it.

Nedzu returned to the intercom. “So! It should be rather obvious now, I’ve left so many clues, but...” A low chuckle. “It’s a snowball fight!”

Simultaneously, they froze in surprise.

A what?

“I’m sure you all know what a snowball fight is. But…” A pause that shouldn’t have been as menacing as it was. “You don’t know what a plus ultra snowball fight is.

“If you want the sack, you’ll have to get past all of the snowballs and your teachers. But I warn you…” Nedzu pitched his voice higher in excitement. “If you get hit, you’re out! You can’t make any more attempts on the Sack nor can you help your teammates!”

Nedzu giggled--this was so fun! “One more thing. If any one of you gets the sack, you will win. Even the lowest scoring group can win with the Sack now. Any one of you could win the sixteen thousand yen cheque.”

(Uraraka’s eyes flamed. The amount of food she could buy with that!)

Nedzu put his paw on another button. “Good luck everyone!”

DECEMBER 1 | 4PM | 10 HOURS INTO THE HUNT

This time, class 1A was not facing the imminent, stressful threat of death.

This time, they were merely children once more, teaming up against the silly but real threat of snowballs.

Some of them smirked, grinned, smiled; others ducked their heads, and dug in their feet, tensing their muscles.

They were teenagers. And they were heroes-in-training.

They were going to defeat these snowballs, even if it meant using their stupidly powerful quirks for something as trivial as a snowball fight.

Plus Ultra, after all.