#apparently you can take me out of academia but...

[little-mx-sunflower]

20,000 words milestone

Since 20,000 words written is a bit of a milestone, here is some no context information about the 13th century…

Here are two religious manuscripts that may or may not be relevant:

Codex Gigas (aka The Devil's Bible)

^ So, this is a depiction of the devil found in a codex (basically an old handwritten book) from early 13th century, what is now the, Czech Republic.

Here is the Wikipedia article. It's written in Latin, which I recently discovered is a language you can learn on Duolingo... probably not 13th century Latin though.

Aja'ib al-Makhluqat (The Wonders of Creatures and the Marvels of Creation)

^ This is the Archangel Gabriel who is looking quite stylish and colourful. The picture itself is from a 14th century manuscript, but the original work was written by Zakariya al-Qazwini in the 13th.

It was written in Arabic, which as far as I can tell would have been in 'Classical Arabic' which differs somewhat from the 'Modern Standard Arabic' used today.

I can't remember how I found this, but here is the Wikipedia article.

---

So, 13th century England or 13th century Scotland...

Kingdom of Alba

Well, I haven't been to either England or Scotland, but neither existed as we know them in the 13th century. Something that did exist from 900AD till 1296AD was the Kingdom of Alba. Which seems to me to just be the Scottish Gaelic word for... Scotland.

There is a lot of information about Scotland in the High Middle Ages, far more than I had time or energy to read about. But the King during the 1240's was:

^ Alexander II (1198 - 1249), King of Scots. And here is his Wikipedia article, and that's his seal.

He was the "only Scottish king to take his invasion force all the way to the south coast of England", and signed the "Treaty of York (1237) which defined the boundary between England and Scotland".

So, the 13th century wasn't boring, if you are a historian... which I am not.

Getting slightly back on topic:

Church architecture from 13th century Scotland has a few examples still standing that are easy finds.

^ Dunblane Cathedral, in Dunblane, Scotland, has been restored... but would have been restored using materials and techniques that would make it still a useful example of a 13th century church. (Even though it was originally built between the 11th and 15th centuries... like I said, I'm not a historian.)

^ The ruins of Sweetheart Abbey, in New Abbey, Scotland, was founded in the late 13th century. I think it's held up pretty well, considering it has been abandoned since 1624.

^ My personal favourite: The ruins of Elgin Cathedral, in Elgin, Scotland. Built in 1224 on land granted by the aforementioned King Alexander II.

I mean, it had a tendance to be burnt down... at least three times... so it's probably more of a 15th century example, but it's pretty.

---

Assorted people of the 13th century:

Francis of Assisi

Francis of Assisi (1181 - 1226), was a 13th century monk who lived and died in what we would now think of as Italy. He is not relevant to what I am writing, however his Wikipedia page has a detailed painting of what a 13th century monk would wear… although it was painted in the 17th century so…

^ Francis of Assisi.

Hugh of Saint-Cher

Hugh of Saint-Cher (1200 - 1263), was another 13th century monk, this time a Bishop, who…wore glasses! That’s it, that's why I find him interesting. Born in what is now France and dying in what is now Italy, the painting of him wearing a pair of eyeglasses is one of the (if not the) first depictions we have of someone who wore reading glasses. Sunglasses were also invented in roughly the same timeframe in China.

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Miscellaneous...

While not particularly relevant, I of course spent some time looking at fashion trends of the 13th century... and learning of the existence of sumptuary laws, which are also not relevant but confirm the existence of the fashion police.

And I have yet to finish watching the BBC docuseries on 'How To Build A 13th Century Castle'.

I'll end with: Medieval names we can all enjoy...

[superbassbuck]

Bad Idea

Professor!Bucky x Student!Reader, enemies to lovers fanfic

2.8k words || in progress || no y/n || sexual tension || eventual smut || f!reader || bucky is a dick || ao3

summary:

All you need to do is take an American History class to complete your degree. Unfortunately for you, the only section without a waitlist is taught by the most insufferable, pretentious professor to ever exist on RateMyProfessor. You thought Professor Barnes couldn’t be worse than his reviews. But you were completely wrong, and you're learning that the hard way.

rest of the chapters will be uploaded to ao3, so for now, a sneak peek and enjoy!

Chapter 1: Clumsy Girl

The late afternoon sun was poking through the windows inside the campus bookshop café. It was the first day of the fall semester, and you were soaking in your last few moments of peace before heading to your final class of the day.

You’d been rereading the same syllabus for the past fifteen minutes, something you didn’t usually do. But after scrolling through the horror stories on RateMyProfessor, you figured it was worth overpreparing for. 

Apparently, Professor James Barnes was a notoriously strict, pretentious asshole. And due to your last minute planning, he was the only professor available without a waitlist. 

Figured, considering his reputation.

He taught American History and had a brutal reputation for tough grading, strict deadlines, and sarcastic and passive-aggressive remarks. He was the kind of professor that most students would avoid if they could.

But you were trying to look on the brightside. Maybe he was good at what he did. 

You’d dealt with your share of difficult professors, and by now you’d learned a pattern. Nine times out of ten, the biggest jerks in academia were also the ones who knew their stuff. Arrogant? Sure. But it was earned. They were sharp, efficient, and often some of the best educators.

You only registered for Barnes’ class because it was required for your degree. And even though you understood the type of professor he was, it didn’t mean you weren’t dreading every second of it.

You were a senior Political Science major with a minor in Literature. All of your friends teased you for having your nose stuck in a book twenty-four seven. As corny and as nerdy as it seems, you had a personal knack for being an academic weapon. 

You looked down at the time on your laptop. It was already 5:15PM. Your class started in fifteen minutes. With your earbuds still on, you shut your laptop closed and picked up your coffee to head out. 

As you turn on your heel, you’re immediately slammed into a hard wall of clothed muscle. 

And the coffee that was once full in your hands is now empty. 

Splattered all over this poor man’s crisp blazer. 

“Oh my God—” you gasped, scrambling to set your laptop on a nearby table, yanking your earbuds out. “Shit. I’m so—”

“Jesus. Are you an idiot?” His cold voice snaps at you. 

You look up, stunned. The man towered over you, and his scowl was the nastiest you’ve ever seen in your life. It was technically your fault, but damn. 

“I’m sorry ,” you said quickly, already digging through your bag for napkins. “I didn’t mean to—here, let me—”

But you’re interrupted a second time as the man wraps his rough and large hand around your wrist, halting you mid-motion before shoving your hand back towards you.

“Don’t bother, you clumsy girl,” he spits out angrily. “You're only going to make it worse.” 

He’s not even looking at you anymore. This man was glaring down at himself in utter disgust. You don’t even know what to say. You feel terrible for bumping into him and spilling your drink, obviously. But what kind of shit day was this guy already having to be spitting down on you with no regard for your own feelings? 

“Look,” you sigh, trying to defuse the tension. “I already apologized for spilling my drink on you. It was an accident. But I’m short on time. Can I just grab you a coffee or a pastry to make it up to you?” 

He finally lifts his eyes to you. 

“You wanna know what you can do to make it up to me?”

He takes a step closer, looking down at you. “You’re a student here?” 

You nod. “I am—” 

“Do me a favor and withdraw yourself from this school,” he says calmly, but the words were a straight bullet to your heart. “Clumsy students like you won’t last in the real world anyway.”

Your eyebrow twitches. 

What the actual fuck?

At first, you were genuinely apologetic. But now, you’re boiling. 

Who the hell was this guy to throw that in your face over a spilled drink? You worked your ass off to be here. Late nights studying, working for those extra credits. You didn’t bust through years of relentless academic grind to be told by some stiff in a suit that you don’t belong.

And the worst part of it all, he stands there with a satisfied and smug look on his face. Like your silence is a win. Like he expects you to nod, shrink, and scurry off like some embarrassed little freshman.

But you don’t. Instead, you smile. But the words that come out of your mouth are anything but friendly. 

“Listen here, you grumpy old fuck,” you say, stepping forward until you’re toe-to-toe with him. “You’ve got some nerve telling me I won’t survive out there when you’re the one throwing a tantrum over a splash of coffee.”

He stands there, jaw clenched. But he doesn’t move. 

“If anyone needs help surviving the real world, it’s you,” you add, voice dripping with disdain. “Maybe look into the campus Zen club. I hear they’re great with anger management cases like yours.”

He stands there, stunned and in utter disbelief. Before he could get any words out, you grabbed your laptop and pushed past him, not bothering to listen to what he had to say next. You have a class to go to and you refuse to be late because of him . Especially on the first day.

You don’t look back as you storm out of the café, the jingles of the entry door bells are a complete contrast to your anger. 

The man watches you stomp your way to class from the window, eyes wide and mouth still parted in shock. 

“Black coffee for James?” 

The barista’s voice cuts through, snapping him out of his daze. 

Bucky turns, walks to the pickup counter, and reaches his cup. As he does, he notices the café has gone unusually quiet. He picks up his drink, and as he turns back, the whole café is staring at him with wide eyes. Some of them are already whispering, and they’re doing a shit job at hiding it. 

Bucky’s eyes swept across the room, expression darkening.

“What the hell are you all looking at?” 

The classroom was already half full, filled with idle chatter when you stepped inside. You managed to grab a seat in the middle row, close enough to pay attention, and far enough to not get picked on. Your heart was finally slowing down from the adrenaline rush from the café, but your heart was still shaking from the leftover anger. 

You pulled your laptop out of your bag to get ready for notetaking, keeping your eyes downcasted and trying to remain calm. You needed to pull yourself together. It wasn’t like you were ever going to see that cranky old man ever again. 

You glanced up at the clock, it was already 5:35 PM, and the professor was late. 

Ironic. Considering all his reviews complained about him leaving no room for tardiness and that he wanted everything punctual and on time. 

You exchanged a look with the girl beside you. She raised an eyebrow and shook her head, clearly thinking the same thing. You let out a soft chuckle and shook your head as well. You felt your heart finally relaxing itself after that very short and brief interaction.

Maybe James Barnes was one of those professors who liked to make a dramatic entrance on the first day. Letting the tension build to scare the students. 

Some teachers are sadistic like that. 

Then, the door creaked open. The room fell quiet. 

Standing in the doorway, coffee in one hand and a folder in the other, was the same man. The same man with that tired, sharp and glaring look in his eyes. The same man whose blazer you’d completely ruined not even half an hour ago. Except now, the stained jacket was gone. He wore only the crisp white dress shirt underneath, revealing his tie and a sleek silver watch on his wrist. 

“Good evening,” he said, setting his drink down on his desk casually like he hadn’t just insulted the living hell out of you a few minutes ago. 

He finally looked up at the class. Then, his cold blue eyes land on you. 

He froze for half a second when your eyes met. 

Oh, my God. Get me the hell out of here. 

He adjusted his tie, cleared his throat, and turned to the rest of the room.

“I’m Professor Barnes. Welcome to American History.” 

He ran a hand through his hair. 

“Let’s get something clear before we begin. This class isn’t for the faint of the heart,” he looks around the room. “Deadlines are not suggestions. Participation isn’t optional. And if you think you can coax me with charm or excuses, you’ll find yourself to be very, very wrong.” 

He leans against his desk in the middle of the room, his gaze sweeping through the sea of students seated in front of him. 

“American History isn’t just dates and battles. It’s about understanding the complexities, the failures, consequences, and the truths. So, if you think you’re here for an easy A, you might want to reconsider.” 

You swallow. How he approaches his class is exactly how you would’ve expected. Some professors throw on a slideshow and give the class a full background lore about themselves, maybe throw a joke here and there to lighten the first day nerves. 

But not him. 

Not Professor Barnes. 

“I’m going to assume everyone here read the syllabus before showing up,” he said, pacing slowly across the front of the room. “And if you didn’t... that’s on you.”

You shrink back into your seat, trying to make yourself as little as possible. The last thing you wanted right now is to be called on. 

Then, he stopped mid-step and turned to face you. 

His eyes locked on yours. 

Oh. How perfect. 

Luckily, you were prepared for this. You’d read his damn syllabus at least five times. Once last week, twice the night before, and again earlier at the café just before your rude encounter with him. Whatever trap he was setting, you were sure you could get away with it. 

“Since you're so… attentive, maybe you can tell the class how many unexcused absences result in a full letter grade deduction?” he asks, crossing his arms. 

You sat up straight, confident, and smiling. “Three.” 

Then, the corners of his mouth lifted into a smirk. 

“Wrong,” he said. “It’s two. Anything beyond that and your grade drops. Try reading slower next time.”

A few classmates shuffled awkwardly. The girl seated next to you glanced at you and muttered a quiet “It’s okay,” with a sympathetic smile. 

Your brows furrowed. You knew what you’d read. You flipped open your laptop, scrolling quickly through the ridiculously long PDF file, skimming until your eyes landed on that section.

“More than three unexcused absences will result in a letter grade deduction.”

It was three. You were right! 

Your eyes snapped up from your screen, but Barnes had already turned his back, chalk in hand, writing across the board like nothing happened. Like he hadn’t just completely gaslit you in front of thirty people.

You glanced around the room. Everyone else was already scribbling down notes, trying to catch up to his fast pace, and of course—you were already falling behind. 

Did he really twist the syllabus just to humiliate you?

How could someone who worships punctuality and accuracy misquote his own syllabus?

As he launched into his lecture, everything that left his mouth was straightforward and fast. He would occasionally throw in some sarcastic remarks about “students who think they know better” and “overachievers who still managed to disappoint,” and every so often, you caught his eyes darting toward you. 

Yup. That wasn’t a mistake. It was definitely intentional. And personal. 

───

After an hour and a half, the class was at its end. 

Your hands were cramping from typing so much and the notes that you left on your doc were barely coherent in your effort to keep up with Barnes’ lightning-fast lecture.

“I’ll be uploading an article later tonight,” he says, his voice leaving no room for questions. “Everyone’s expected to read it, write a review, and submit it before next week.”

The room started to come back to life as the students gathered their things and prepared to head out. Around you, you heard the students muttering things like “He teaches way too fast,” and “I think I’m going to withdraw from this course.” 

You stayed seated for a moment longer, purposefully taking longer to pack your belongings. As much as you had your own personal complaints about his way of teaching, the only thing occupying your mind right now was the burning need to confront him about the syllabus question he threw at you earlier. 

Most of the students had already disappeared down the hall. You were alone now, and he had his back turned, casually wiping down the chalkboard, probably unaware you were still there.

Taking a steadying breath, you approached carefully, putting on a composed front.

“Professor Barnes?” you beckon in a polite tone—a complete contrast to how you sounded at the café. “I just wanted to ask about something from today’s lecture, if you have a moment.” 

He paused mid-wipe, a slow, smug smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, like he was expecting this. He set the brush down, quickly masking the smile as if to play it cool.

“Sure,” he replied, his voice already with a subtle sarcasm. “What brilliant question have you prepared for me?” 

Your jaw tightened at his tone, but you forced yourself to stay calm. You needed this to go smoothly if you wanted to survive the semester.

He turned to face you, and you caught sight of the sharp lines of his jaw, the salt and pepper stubble on his face, and his baby blue eyes. He was handsome, infuriatingly so. There was no doubt he got away with a lot of bad behavior, thanks to his conventionally good looks and a few impressive degrees to his name.

“When you asked about unexcused absences,” you began, “the syllabus says three, but you said two. I’m thinking that might’ve been a mistake on your part.”

Then, his smirk comes back. He takes a step closer to you, arms crossed. “You’re saying I make mistakes?”

You don’t move. Instead, you narrow your eyes up at him and hold your ground. 

“I believe it was a mistake, Professor Barnes. Unless you twisted the answer just to humiliate me.”

“Humiliate you?” he scoffed, closing the distance between you. “And why on earth would I do that?”

Is he seriously trying to play dumb with you right now? 

Still, you kept an overly sweet and polite tone.

“Is this you trying to get back at me from earlier? If so, I sincerely apologize–-”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he interrupts bluntly. 

You sigh. But you weren’t letting up. You cleared your throat and continued with the polite voice.

“All I want to do is restart on a good footing with you as this semester—”

“Now, what did I say about coaxing me with charm?” he says with a rough and low voice. “Didn’t I say that wouldn’t work on me?” 

You cross your arms now, looking up at him with barely contained anger. He’s really testing your patience right now. Your next words are probably coming off as unprofessional, but you needed to be straightforward with this man. This is you trying your best to remain calm. 

“Professor Barnes, if this is about me calling you a grumpy old fuck—”

His brow twitched, then without warning, his rough hand cupped your jaw, fingers pressing into your cheeks, catching you completely off guard. You gasped softly as his thumb brushed over your bottom lip, then pressed down on it completely, silencing you. His grip wasn’t hurtful, but firm enough to hold you in place, forcing you to meet his gaze.

You stare up at him, completely wide-eyed and stunned into silence. 

“I don’t need to humiliate you, clumsy girl,” he murmured, leaning in closer to feel his warm breath against your face. “You’re doing a fine job of that yourself.”

He pauses for a moment as he holds you still, his blue eyes boring into yours dangerously. You don’t say anything. You don’t even know what to say, because you didn’t expect this to be the outcome at all. 

And with his thumb still pressed against your lips, you wouldn’t have been able to form words anyway.

Then, with a quiet, frustrated exhale, he releases you and turns away, striding back toward his desk without another glance. He doesn’t even look at you as he waves his hand dismissively over his shoulder, as if he wasn't invading your personal space just a mere moment ago. 

“You’re dismissed,” he says flatly.

Your cheeks are flushed like an embarrassed teenager, and your words are still failing you. This time, you don’t have anything smart to say back. 

You quickly scramble back to your desk, collect your belongings and hurry out of the room with shaky legs.

[importantstudentbusinessspy-blog]

Academia - The Gala

Masterlist

Pairing: Aged up Damian Wayne x f reader

Tags: NSFW, academic setting, rivals to lovers, friends with benefits, smut, blowjobs, possessiveness, jealousy, oral, p in v, semi-public sex,

Side note: can y'all tell I've never been to a Gala before? I don't know how they donate in those things. Please bear with me.

The perp screamed as Damian flipped him onto the ground, making sure the way he landed would be impactful enough to knock him out for at least a minute.

"Fuck! You fucking brat!" The perp chocked out.

Squatting next to him, Damian flipped his staff to rest it against his shoulder blades, hanging both his arms on it. "You see the rest of your crew over there?" He nodded in the direction of four bodies lying down on the floor of the warehouse, then looked back at the perp currently struggling to take a breath. "Not big talkers, apparently. But you -" he grabbed the man by his collar and dragged him towards himself, the perp yelped, blood dripping from his nose as he struggled against Damian's unyielding grip. "You might still make it out of here alive." He finished.

The perp eyed his men nervously, stammering. "D-did you kill them?"

Damian ignored the question. "I'm gonna ask you one last time, Markus. Where is Roman's shipment arriving to?"

The man's eyes widened at the correct use of his name, and he began to shake.

Damian registered a new stench, his upper lip lifted in digust as he stared down a Marcus. "You better not have fucking pissed yourself. That's disgusting."

Marcus looked like he was about to cry. Damian would bet they were tears of shame rather than pain. He grasped the collar tighter, sneering. "Where did the shipment leave to, Marc? While I'm still in a good mood."

"Y-you fucking psycho!" Marcus was crying now. "Do you have any idea what he'll do to me if I tell you?"

"It can't be worse than what I'll do to you if you don't." Damian said before punching the crying man in the nose, making sure to crack something. Marcus cried out in pain.

"Talk." Damian prompted.

Bloody lips trembling, Marcus confessed the address.

Damian nodded, sure to memorize the location. "What time is it coming in?" He asked.

Marcus's features twisted pathetically as he slurred, "Come on, man. I already told you-"

"What time is it coming in?" Damian sneered. Hating to have to repeat himself.

"E-eleven-Thirty!" The criminam cried. "Pick up's at midnight."

Damian stood up then, kicking Marcus right in the nose, making sure to knock him out this time.

"Jesus christ, kid." Jason spoke in his ear. "Remind me to play bats this footage if ever gives me shit about how I do interrogations."

"That won't stop me from giving you shit." Batman's voice came on the line.

Withholding a retort about Jason calling him "kid." All Damian said was, "it's not like I killed him."

"Right, no, of course." The red hood laughed in his comm. "You just re-organized the order his face, much more merciful."

"Ugh, been on the receiving end of that." Dick's voice joined the line. "Now look at oir baby boy, all grown up and graduated from scratching to dislocation."

"Aww." Barbara's voice supplied helpfully.

Damian rolled his eyes. "I was dislocating men twice my size back when you were still running around in a leotard."

He was so grateful he got to work on his own suit, with a fabric that wasn't skin fucking tight had at fully covered him in bulletproof Kevlar yet still allowed for a full range of motion. If he were forced to wear the same suit as his eldest brother, Batman would have been his first victim.

"Oooh there are those claws!" Tim now joined the line, along with Stephanie, who supplied the helpful words: "scratchy scratchy" in the background.

Clearly, his family was having a much less fun night that he and were desperate for some entertainment. Ignoring them, Damian climbed up from the warehouse and onto the roof of a neighboring, taller building to get a better vantage point. The wind ruffled his hair as the sounds of gotham: sirens, choppers, and car horns, as well as the waves from the nearby river filled his ears. Inhaling the cool air and exhaling, the fog from his mouth traveling with the wind. He switched onto a different line. "Oracle, I need coordinates to the Conrad docks port hanger number 9."

"Roger that, Robin. Shall I send for back up?"

"No need." He said. "I can't handle this myself."

And he did. Carrying out a perfect stealth mission and stealing a crate of the new drug that Black Mask was trying to push on the city, along with the files that exposed every crooken cop currently on his payroll. The files found their way to commissioner Gordon's coffee table that night. The corrupt cops were behind bars by morning.

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Damian didn't know how to explain, but he was having a particularly good day. That is, until he heard your name being said by one of the guys from your program.

"There she is. What was her name again?"

"Y/n, I think?" The boy, a skinny eng student from your physics class, was talking to his friend.

Damian followed his gaze to you, sitting by yourself in a yellow checkered blazer and skinny jeans, with a neat ponytail tied by a yellow ribbon. You were sitting on one of the benches at the campus atrium, chewing on a cut-up apple as you read something on your computer, the screen illuminating your face, reflection on your glasses.

"I got two tickets for the Howling Mystery this Thursday. I'm gonna ask her to go with me."

Like hell. Damian turned in their direction.

Just as his friend replied sardonically. "She doesn't strike me as the type that listens to hard metal -"

"Hey," they both turned at the sound of Damian's voice. The boy who talked about asking you out straightening up. Unimpressed, Damian trampled him in size. "How are you guys?" He asked casually.

"Fine, thanks." The friend replied, looking at Damian in disbelief that he was used to by now. "You?"

"Listen, were you guys just in Atkinson's lecture?" He pointed his thumb in the direction of the room behind himself.

The two guys nodded.

"He's in there right now explaining the Pokhozhaev identity problem that was on the midterm." Damian lied.

Their eyes widened. And one of them asked. "Fuck, really?"

Damian nodded. "Yeah. If you hurry, maybe you could still catch him."

"Dude, thanks!" One of them clapped him on the back, and Damian offered them one his signature easygoing smiles as they went down the hall and back into the lecture, none the wiser.

He himself made his way to sit beside you, leaning back on the bench. "Hey,"

You looked up at him, eyes widening when you realized it's him. You quickly collected yourself, offering a polite smile. "Damian, hi."

"What are you doing this Thursday?" He asked.

You thought about it for a moment, checked your calendar to see that your midterms were done by Wednesday. "Nothing, why?"

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You looked at yourself in the mirror, assessing the outfit. The dress you wore was a velvet, red form-fitting one that accentuated your silhouette, it reached the top of your knees with an asymmetrical hem that added an edgy touch, showcasing the velvet knee-high black boots under it. A deep neckline showed the gold necklace that you never took off, with its matching earrings - gifts from your parents. You let your hair down, framing your face in subtle curls and draping over your shoukders. Your makeup was subtle with a focus on your eyes and red lipstick. The look you were going for was a combination of chic and classy.

A knock on your door caused you to open it, mouth dropping slightly when you did.

Damian Wayne stood at your doorstep wearing a suit. Confident posture and athletic physique. His tailored suit accentuated his broad shoulders and a trim waist. Sharp jawline, high cheekbones, and those green eyes of his sparkled over you with appreciation. You realized why he'd told you to wear red, a well-chosen tie hung from his neck, matching your dress in color.

"Hey, perfect girl," he gave you an appreciative look.

"Oh wow," you let the words out without thinking. Clearing your throat, you offered a shy smile. "You look really nice."

"Thanks," he put his hand in his pocket, eyes roaming your body, and he shook his head. "So do you. Very nice."

He offered you his hand, and you took it, letting him lead you to his Camaro.

"Will you not be drinking?" You asked, seated at the passenger seat.

"I dont drink." He said.

You nodded, thinking that if he wanted to elaborate, he would have. "I read up about that Gala. It's a charity event to raise money for the new wing in the children's hospital, right?"

"Right."

"I'd like to contribute, if that's still allowed." You said.

Damian smirked to himself, a dimple appearing as his perfect teeth came into view. "Do you know how much Wayne donated, perfect girl?"

"No," you confessed.

"You're welcome to contribute, but trust me, they're set for at least the next four years. And that's including construction."

"Wow," you couldn't bring yourself to even inagine the amount that entailed. Suddenly, your donation felt like barely anything. Your shoulders slumped slightly, and then you shook it off. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'd still like to."

He turned to give you a look, the meaning of which you couldn't decipher. "Have you ever donated at a gala before?"

You shookyour head.

He offered you his hand, and you took it.

At last, he spoke. "I'll show you how."

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The way he commanded attention in any room with mere silence should be studied, you thought.

His hand brushed your hip, leading you inside the massive banquet hall. You looked around, and massive chandeliers hung from the intricately painted fresco on the ceiling as the velvet carpet was rolled out under expensive shoes. The sound of chatter and clinging glasses was accompanied by classical music. This was an entirely different world than the one you were used to. Still, you looked around in fascination.

"Is that real Chanel?" Damian's question drew you from your thoughts. You turned to see him eyeing your dress.

You tensed. "... no." You looked down, blushing as you were painfully reminded that someone of his stature could tell the difference. Slightly embarrassed, you quietly confessed, "Mainstream brands can make good knock offs when they want to."

He nodded, gaze drifting back over the crowd. As did you, the sea of people in front of you was clad in high brand designer gowns, suits, and perfumes. Granted, your outfit was by no means cheap, and in fact, it took you a day of work to make up for it. But if he could see that your clothes were a high fashion copy, so could everyone here. In your clothes you felt like you didn't belong. For the first time in your life, you felt... cheap.

You just hoped his lack of a reaction meant a lack of judgment. Damian came both from old money and from new money, as the heir to the top weapons mogul in the world, he was used to a certain standard.

Either way, you may not have been rich but you weren't struggling. Per se.

You glanced at him, about to wonder if he felt embarrassed to be seen with you. But after thinking of it for too long, you realized... you don't care.

Very grateful to both of your parents who worked blue-collar jobs to raise you and your siblings, you learned the value of appearance from a young age. You didn't come from the best neighborhood, but you couldn't tell from the way your family presented itself. Your townhouse was always clean and well decorated. Your mother made sure to always have homemade food and put all of her kids through some kind of extracurricular activities. Which is how you got into maths and sciences. You relied on scholarships and the goodness of your teachers to make it where you did. And you never wished things were different; your life made you who you were today.

So what if you didn't wear designer brands? You had immaculate fashion sense even if it was affordable.

And suddenly, you caught yourself smiling. Suddenly, everyone's facial expressions didn't look so judgmental. Someone cleared their throat beside you, and you turned to face a beautiful couple.

The man was immediately recognizable. Matching in height with Damian, Bruce Wayne looked every bit the billionaire playboy in his classic black suit jacket, accessorized with golden cufflinks, a crisp white shirt, and a black bow tie. His hair was stylized and polished. Sharp facial features, visibly similar to his son's, and a well-groomed stubble enhanced his masculine charm. He held a confident, charismatic expression that exuded mystery.

He held by the waist a woman in an elegant, form-fitting black evening gown with a daring cut at the front. Her hair was styled in an updo. A statement necklace hung around her neck. Her look complemented Bruce's style while showcasing her own elegance. She gave youband Damian a knowing smile.

"Y/n, this is my father." Damian introduced you.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Wayne." You smiled at his father and offered to shake his hand.

He took your hand in a firm grip. "Y/n," his deep voice, also similar to Damian's, greeted you. "You interned for us this summer, am I correct?"

"Yes," you nodded eagerly. "In R&D. It was an amazing opportunity, sir. You run a truly unique organization."

Bruce's grin widened. "Well, I'm glad to hear. Your team lead wrote a great review after you were done. When you graduate, we'd be lucky to have you."

Your cheeks certainly reddened by now, and you felt like you were out of breath as you stuttered out a "Thank you." Or at least you hoped you did. You were pretty sure you had blacked out for a moment.

You couldn't tell Damian how grateful you were for his hand on your lower back. The touch rooting you and making you feel less intimidated, or at least protected by him.

"Thank you, Father." Damian's tone was slow but menacing. "I know young, smart, and pretty are your type, but maybe try not to steal my date? Especially when you have your own..." He gave the woman a pointed look.

She and Bruce shared a knowing look before she turned to you and said in a soft, cat-like taunt. "Careful honey. The more territorial they are, the harder it is to tell if they wish to love you..." She eyed Damian in a way that, for some reason, upset you. "Or own you."

Damian's hand tightened around your waist. The woman caught the movement before her gaze returned to yours. It felt like the air around your was a hundred degrees colder. You felt goosebumps on the back of your neck when she said. "Soon enough, you'll be lucky if Damian lets any man near you."

"I think I see the mayor." Bruce spoke up, breaking the tension, and led the woman away. "We should say hello."

When they were gone, you took in a deep breath, turning to Damian, you wispered. "Was that your mother?"

He huffed out a laugh. "Thank God no." He smiled down at you, his hand rubbing circles on your back. "Did she scare you?"

"She did."

"Yeah, my father's always had a type." He spoke in disdain. For a moment, it almost looked like he was the parent who was dissappointnent in his child's choice in partners.

A small smile crept across your lips. "What's your mother like -"

He lifted your chin and placed a kiss on your lips. A polite way to shut down your question. He pulled back an inch to whisper. "I don't want to talk about my parents anymore." Against your lips.

Message received, you nodded against him. Throughout the night you met a lot of interesting people. Of course, all of them had already known Damian. And they seemed happy to interact with you both. Shy and inexperienced in small talk, you let Damian take the lead. He answered their eager questions with ease, and you noted the way men and women hung on to his every word.

"Those are the kinds of conversations I want to be a part of in my line of work." You admitted.

The whole time, Damian's hands never let you go, visibly claiming you in front of whatever audience you had. You took up a rather interesting conversation with a man who worked for the District Attorney.

You nodded eagerly, agreeing with every word as he said. "It's just a different way of thinking. A mathematical one."

His smiled. "I'm sure you will. If you're eager enough to make it happen. Give me a call if you ever want to come see our unit at work." He handed you a business card, and you took it, nodding gratefully.

Suddenly, you felt Damian slide up from your hip to your neck, his fingers drawing circles on your collarbone. You turned to look at him, seeing his tongue poking his cheek as he eyed the man you were talking to.

"Well." The man cleared his throat. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too," you said before you were led away. Into the hall, away from the crowd.

"Where are you going?" You asked as Damian pulled you into what looked like a conference room, shutting the door behind you and pressing you against it. You looked up at him, squirming under his heated gaze. "Damian, is everything okay?"

"Leave it to you to make a two hundred dollar dress look like it was worth two thousand." He growled against your ear.

"Thank you?" You wimpered in question, unsure how to take the words.

"They were all looking at you like they wanted to take you home with them." He wispered, kissing you hard. "But they can't. You're mine."

You captured your bottom lip between your teeth to keep from moaning. The woman's words from earlier began playing in your mind. You saw Damian the way she described. Possessive, territorial. You couldn't understand why it both scared and excited you.

"Say it." He ordered. "Say you're mine."

"I'm yours." You don't know why you obeyed so quickly. But the words felt right on your tongue.

"Damn right." He wispered, kissing you hard. "Fuck, you're so beautiful." He groaned against your mouth. "I win. Out of all those men. I win!"

The flattering words made you smile. It was the first time someone said something like that to you. To have it be Damian Wayne, of all people.

Eager for more of his praise, you sunk down to your knees in front of him, looking up to meet his gaze as you unbuckled his belt, lowering his pants and boxers. You bit your lip when you saw his erection, tongue sneaking out to lick up his shaft. Damian was bigger than anyone you've been with. You ran your hands over the hard muscles of his stomach before taking him in your mouth and sucking eagerly.

"Fuck yes, baby." He groaned as his fingers pulled into your hair.

You whimpered around him.

"Finger yourself while you suck my dick. Get yourself ready." He ordered.

You obeyed, you index finger touching your clit through under your dress as you whined around his cock. You worked him for minutes on end, switching from sucking to licking his head, delighting in the way his hips trusted against you and his panting sped up above you.

Damian thought he won. But looking up into his glazed dark eyes, brows furrowed in pleasure as his mouth opened... all because of you. All at your mercy. You felt like you were the one who won. No one out of all those women in that room could see him like this except you.

His hand pulled you up by your hair, pining you between himself and the wall again. You felt so fragile in his arms. "Did you finger yourself like I asked, baby?" He asked, lifting the hem of your dress.

You nodded.

His finger dipped into your whole, feeling how wet you are. He grinned at you through a hooded gaze. "Good girl."

He made quick work of lining himself up and thrusting into you. You arched off the wall and into him as your arms flew to grasp onto him. Unable to hold back, you begged him. "Damian, please kiss me–"

His lips were on yours in an instant, silencing a string of uncontrollable moans as he thrust into you over and over again. Despit holding your weight and fucking you for a long time, he never got tired. Rather he sped up, panting against your lips. "Come for me, my perfect girl,"

You nodded absentmindedly, grasping onto him, needing him as close as possible as you whispered. "Please, please..."

He thrust into you hard, both of you moaning into each other as you reached your climax. Your limbs shook even as Damian lowered you and led you to a nearby door, letting you both into a bathroom.

He used a cloth to clean up your pussy, correcting your dress and hair, before adressing his own look. All while you were dazed and coming down from the high. He held your shaking body, kissing your lips and cheeks and forehead, telling you you did a good job. At last he asked, "Are you ready to go make your donation?"

You had nearly forgotten. You turned to him, still disoriented but determined to see your goal through. Glancing at yourself in the mirror, you saw that Damian did a good job of cleaning you up. Other than your flushed face, you wouldn't have been able to guess what you had just done. He offered his hand, and you took it, allowing yourself to be let out.

[kikyoupdates]

Heartbreaker ⭑˚💔⭑ 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑠𝑠

bnha x f!reader

reverse harem, isekai, my hero academia x fem!reader, slowburn

You awaken one day with virtually no memories. The only thing guiding you is some strange system that likes to dictate your every move, and for some reason, it insists that you make certain people fall in love with you. Desperate for answers, you decide to go along with its demands. After all, how hard can it be?

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“I can’t just kiss one of them!” you protested. “They barely even know me yet!”  

[“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.”]

Great. Fucking perfect. You were being threatened once again. Sure, having to work out every day got a bit tedious at times, but you would easily take physical exertion over initiating a kiss with someone. It was just way too soon. They didn’t even have romantic feelings for you yet, and you were expected to pull something like that off?  

Not to mention that the thought of going around kissing people downright mortified you. Since you had practically no memories, you had no way of knowing if you’d ever kissed someone before. You were only fourteen, so in all likelihood, you probably hadn’t. On top of how nervous you felt imagining how the other person would react, your face was also burning up with embarrassment.  

You pressed your palms against your scalding cheeks. “D-Does it have to be on the lips?” you mumbled. 

[“𝐍𝐨, 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?”]

Hardly. But you supposed you would take any silver lining you could get. A kiss on the cheek was manageable, at least. Even though your stomach was clenched uncomfortably tight, and it felt as though butterflies were fluttering around inside, you tried to convince yourself that you could pull this off.  

Probably. Hopefully. Fuck, you didn’t even know what to think anymore.  

As you walked to school, you contemplated your options. Based on the sound of things, there were probably more love interests that you had yet to meet, but so far, you only had three—Izuku, Katsuki, and Shouto.  

Katsuki was obviously out of the question, so that left the other two. Between Izuku and Shouto, you felt like you had the best chance at kissing Izuku. It was a struggle to get a hold of Shouto on a good day. Even when you did, he hardly bothered to carry a conversation with you. Your love points had been completely static since the day you’d met at the mall. Given his stoic demeanor, it was entirely possible that he wouldn’t even be fazed if you kissed him, but you didn’t want to risk ruining things.

Out of everyone you’d met so far, Izuku was the best option. He was kind and understanding. Granted, he got embarrassed extremely easily, but you hoped that a kiss on the cheek wouldn’t be enough to upset him. You wanted to believe that your friendship could survive a bit of awkwardness.  

With these dizzying thoughts running through your mind, classes seemed to drag on and on. It felt like time was moving in slow motion. You also weren’t exactly being subtle about your apprehensions, because you kept on glancing skittishly towards Izuku every few minutes. Thankfully, he didn’t look skeptical. He just blushed and flashed you a timid little smile every time your eyes met.  

There was someone, however, who did take notice. To him, it was woefully apparent that something was going on between you and Izuku. 

Katsuki frowned. He couldn’t seem to understand what your deal was. Why did you keep making googly eyes at Deku, of all people? It was starting to leave a bad taste in his mouth. No one had ever given a crap about that stupid nerd before.  

She must not be all there in the head, Katsuki couldn’t help but think. Her standards are so low I almost feel bad for her.  

Katsuki didn’t realize this himself, but ever since the day you’d gotten in his way and protected Izuku, he was letting his thoughts dwell on you for a lot longer than he would’ve liked.  

“Hey. Stupid girl,” he muttered, lightly nudging you with his foot. “Could you be any less obvious about creeping on that loser Deku? You’re embarrassing yourself.”  

He hadn’t expected you to react as strongly as you did.  

“Creeping?!” you spluttered. “I-I wasn’t doing anything like that! I’m acting normal! You’re the weird one!”  

Katsuki gaped at you. He also hadn’t expected for you to be such a god-awful liar. Did you have any idea how damn flustered you looked right now? Which could only mean that he was right. You were embarrassed to have been caught staring at Izuku so often. Did that mean that you considered him more than just a friend?  

For some reason, the thought of Izuku having someone who admired him really, really pissed Katsuki off.  

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐒 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄:

[𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐠𝐨𝐮 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐢 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.]

[+𝟏𝟎 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬.]

[𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: -𝟗𝟎/𝟏𝟎𝟎]

Your shoulders tensed up.  

Huh? It happened again. His points randomly went up even though I didn’t do anything positive. Also, isn’t he always irritated? I feel like he exists in a perpetual state of annoyance.  

As always, you had no answers when it came to this guy. You weren’t about to complain, though. So long as the points increased, the system had no reason to be upset with you. Right now, you had a bigger issue anyways. AKA figuring out how the hell you were going to kiss Izuku and get away with it.  

By the time lunch rolled around, you’d managed to get so worked up that it was difficult to breathe. You hadn’t even done anything yet and you already felt like you were about to pass out from embarrassment. Izuku would forgive you, right? He wouldn’t think you were a total creep for doing something like this? 

Ugh.  

No matter how much you tried to reason that you had no choice in the matter, it still didn’t make you feel any less shady about what you were going to do.  

You walked over to Izuku’s desk so stiffly that one might’ve thought you had concrete slabs for legs.  

“I-Izuku,” you stammered. “Um, can we... I mean, is it okay if we eat outside today?”  

He grinned widely, completely unaware. “Sure! It’s a pretty nice day, isn’t it? Eating under the sun is a nice change of pace.”  

Goodness. He was so bright, almost blindingly so. All the more reason for you to feel nervous and guilty about what you had planned.  

You didn’t have much of an appetite on account of how agitated you were. The most you could do was pick at your food and offer a weak smile every so often as you listened to Izuku ramble on about the latest hero exploits he’d heard of in the news.  

I have to do it. I should just get it over with, and then apologize for acting so suddenly. What excuse will I make? Will he believe me if I say I have a habit of platonically kissing my friends?  

Honestly, it didn’t sound too believable, and you felt even more guilty about making up a lie like that to try and downplay the whole thing. 

[“𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩. 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠?”]

You gritted your teeth. They really were a major scumbag. It was true that all sorts of people suffered, most often the ones who deserved it the least, but that didn’t suddenly make your problems nonexistent. You were allowed to have morals and grievances, and every fiber of your being was telling you that it was incredibly scummy to force a kiss on someone, even if it was done out of self-preservation.  

That was why, despite how afraid you were to be tormented again, you still couldn’t work up the nerve to kiss Izuku. It just felt wrong. You didn’t want to upset him. You didn’t want to make your friend uncomfortable purely because you were scared to face the consequences.  

And just like that, lunchtime came to an end.  

“I need to run to the bathroom,” you blurted out. It was a lie, of course, but you wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. You didn’t even have the courage to face him anymore. All of this was driving you absolutely insane.  

Is Shouto still an option? Do I have any chance of actually completing this task? 

You could feel your fingers trembling as you constructed the text message.  

He’d left you on read again. As expected, it was a hopeless pursuit. You were nowhere near close enough to invite him to hang out the way you did with Izuku, and since you needed to complete this task before tomorrow, time wasn't exactly on your side.

[“𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬? 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲.”]

“Shut up!” you exclaimed, digging your fingers into your scalp. “Just leave me alone! I’m trying to figure this out!”  

“What the? Now you’re even talking to yourself? You really do have a screw loose.”  

Katsuki was looking at you with a mixture of contempt and disbelief. Considering there was no one else around, he probably thought you were having a full-blown conversation with yourself, like some sort of crazy person.  

You bit your lip. “I was, uh—I was trying to—ah, forget it. I don’t even know what to say anymore.”  

Put simply, you were tired. Sick and tired of being ordered around and being forced to do things you didn’t want, all the while not even knowing what kind of person you were. There were moments when you felt confident in the things that you were saying, but other times, you had no clue if they were even reflective of your true personality.  

All of this just sucked. Stupid system. Stupid amnesia. You felt like giving the middle finger to life itself.  

Katsuki narrowed his eyes. “Did you and Deku have a fight or some shit? You’re acting even creepier than usual, which is saying something.”  

“Why would we fight? It’s nothing. I’m just... tired.”  

It was the truth, after all. Besides, you had no reason—nor any desire—to get into the details with an asshole like Katsuki.  

“Don’t tell me you like him or some shit,” Katsuki muttered coldly. “That would be really sad. I’d actually feel bad for you.”  

“He’s my friend,” you blinked. “Of course I like him.”  

“I didn’t mean it like—jeez, you really are an idiot,” he sighed. He hastily ran a hand through his spiky hair, then rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Just so you know, I’m really fed up with your bullshit. You keep on gawking at Deku like he’s the best thing you’ve ever seen. Maybe you need to get your eyes checked.”  

You felt your brow twitch. Now really wasn’t the right time for his nonsense. Your mental state was already strained enough as it was; you certainly didn’t need to be dealing with one of this guy’s episodes on top of everything else.  

“Izuku is a good person,” you said. Unfortunately, you didn’t manage to stop yourself from saying the next words. “Are you jealous because you’re an asshole, and he’s not?”  

Katsuki’s eyes blew wide open. “What the fuck did you just say to me? Who the hell would be jealous of a loser like him?!”  

He grabbed you by the collar of your uniform before you could even blink. Once again, you were forced to stare into his deep crimson eyes, feeling the heat of his breath against your skin. Students weren’t supposed to use their Quirks at school, but you somehow doubted that would stop him. 

“I’m sorry,” you grimaced, trying to push him away. “I didn’t mean it. I’m just tired, okay? Please let me go. I need some time to cool my head. If you could just let go—”  

You pushed, and Katsuki pulled. Unfortunately, all this jerking around caused you to lose your footing, and in the process of stumbling forward, your legs got tangled up with his.  

Before either of you realized it, you’d both hit the ground.  

Your mouth hurt. Actually, to be more specific, your lips hurt. As it so happened, you’d fallen right on top of him, and your lips had inadvertently smashed into each other. It took a few moments to let it all sink in. Your eyes were wide as you stared at each other, disbelief and horror gradually overtaking both of your expressions.  

[𝐃𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐏𝐞𝐧.]

Your reward for kissing someone was nothing more than a measly pen. But you didn’t have time to think about that right now. The present situation was too dire to ignore.  

“I-I’m so sorry,” you breathed, slowly tearing your face away. Your lips felt swollen and were stinging slightly. When you looked closer, you realized that Katsuki’s lips had begun to bleed a bit. Your mouths had collided so forcefully that you’d both split the surface of your skin. You supposed you should thank your lucky stars that you hadn’t chipped your teeth.  

Katsuki’s face was unbelievably red. The shade was nearly a perfect match for his crimson eyes.  

For a while, he appeared to be just as dumbstruck as you were, but when the realization hit—and it hit hard—he didn’t hesitate to erupt. 

“Get the fuck off me!” he screamed. He pushed you back as hard as he could, and unsurprisingly, you were knocked flat on your butt. You shouldn’t have expected anything less, really. Your unluckiness was a Quirk in and of itself.  

You rose to your feet, albeit on shaky legs. Katsuki did the same, and once you were both standing, you proceeded to just stare at each other without uttering a single word. 

This is so awkward. I’d rather he just hurry up and get to the part where he kicks my ass.  

That didn’t happen, though. Rather than reacting with violence, Katsuki made it a point to be as loud as humanly possible.  

“You’re fucking crazy!” he cried out. His index finger was awfully shaky as it pointed to you. “D-Do you think you’ve won just because you caught me off guard? I wasn’t expecting you to do some shit like that, so that’s why...! That’s why I, uh...”  

He appeared to be lost for words. Honestly, you couldn’t blame him, and you felt a bit sorry for him too. None of that had been intentional, but regardless, it was a disastrous way to share a kiss. Your throbbing and slightly bloody lips were more than proof of it.  

“Anyways, shit like that doesn’t matter to me!” Katsuki insisted, although his violently red cheeks weren’t all that convincing.  

One way or another, you’d completed your daily task, which meant that you would be spared. But at the same time, you knew for a fact that Katsuki’s love points would plummet after this interaction, and that would piss off the system regardless.  

Basically, no matter how you sliced it, you were fucked.  

At least, that was what you’d thought.  

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐒 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄:

[𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐠𝐨𝐮 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐢 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬.]

[+𝟓𝟎 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬.]

[𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: -𝟒𝟎/𝟏𝟎𝟎]

Uh... how in the fuck?  

“Don’t you dare go around telling people what happened!” Katsuki fumed. “I’ll fucking kill you if you do! I’ll say it again—this ain’t shit to me, you hear? If anything, you should feel lucky that you got so close to me. It sure as hell won’t happen again!”  

He was raging at you without pause, but his points had yet to drop by a single interval. You were slowly starting to piece together that a lot of the things Katsuki said were actually way different from what he truly thought.  

Whatever. As embarrassing as all of this was, perhaps it was better this way. Better to have kissed someone by accident rather than willingly do it and feel guilty after the fact.  

You could hear Katsuki literally stomping as he walked away. His back was turned towards you, so you couldn’t see his face, but you were able to see the tips of his ears—and they showed no signs of getting any less red.  

[“𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬.”]

“Oh, bite me,” you snapped.

Katsuki felt like his stupid heart was about to explode.  

He’d always prided himself on not caring about what others thought or did. Izuku was the glaring exception, since pretty much everything about him pissed Katsuki off. But otherwise, he thought of the people surrounding him as nothing more than extras. He was the main character; they were stuck playing background roles that no one would remember. Because Katsuki was obsessed with victory and being number one at everything, he’d always believed there was nothing anyone could do to make him feel overwhelmed or otherwise inferior. Naturally, this meant that it was almost impossible to embarrass him.  

Until now, at least.  

As much as he tried to keep telling himself that it was nothing more than a stupid accident, he couldn’t get the image of your lips out of his mind. And when he realized those same lips had been pressed against his, he felt his entire body get uncomfortably hot, to the point that he felt like he was boiling alive.  

For the remainder of classes that day, Katsuki’s face was red as could be. Not only that, but his leg was shaking uncontrollably, and he couldn’t keep from clenching his fists. All of this felt like absolute shit. What the hell was this feeling? He hated it. He wished it would hurry up and be over with.  

This is so fucking dumb, he thought. Why should it even bother me? I could care less about that stupid girl.  

He kept on trying to convince himself of that fact, but because the tightness in his chest and the heat on his cheeks wasn’t dying down at all, it only managed to piss him off even more.  

Unfortunately, Katsuki was completely unaware of the fact that you could see his emotional turmoil plain as day.  

[𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐠𝐨𝐮 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐢 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮.]

[+𝟐𝟎 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬.]

[-𝟏𝟎 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬.]

You scratched your head. His points just kept fluctuating up and down, and the fact that his desk was right next to yours made the whole thing endlessly more uncomfortable.  

Poor guy. It must be hell inside his mind.

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[cha-melodius]

If possible, firstprince #20, please! 🫂

(Another extremely popular one, also requested by @miss-minnelli, @nowords-world, @miharaikko, and @ashesfromashes. And it's another grad students/academia AU, because I couldn't help myself. read all the hug ficlets)

20: The “woah, hey, hello, hi” hug.

Alex is exceptionally drunk. Probably more drunk than Henry’s ever seen him, and that’s saying something, since they spent the majority of their graduate school years together. Henry’s seen him silly drunk at holiday parties, and sad drunk after committee meetings, and angry drunk that one time when someone scooped him in a publication, but he’s never seen him quite this ecstatically happy drunk.

He’s certainly earned it. His dissertation defense had gone perfectly—Christ, but he’d looked incredible up there in a sharp suit purchased just for the occasion, confident and brilliant as he explained his research. Apparently, his committee didn’t even give him many revisions, the lucky bastard (luck has nothing to do with it—Alex is just that good).

So he’s got plenty of reasons to be happy, and Henry is happy for him. If Henry’s also achingly sad, that’s his own business. Ok, yes, Alex is sticking around for another semester to teach, but all too soon he’ll get some fabulous postdoc or faculty position, and god knows where it will be, but it’ll almost inevitably be far away from Henry.

Henry has managed to keep his maudlin thoughts at bay for most of Alex’s defense party, but the night is winding down and so is he. He’s withdrawn to the edges after an unsuccessful attempt at distracting himself by helping to clean up—Zahra had told him in no uncertain terms to cut it out, she was paying someone to do that—chatting with a few people but mostly sulking. Fortunately, Alex hasn’t noticed.

Or, that’s what he thought.

One moment Alex is bopping wildly along to some pop song on the makeshift dance floor they’ve cleared by shoving Zahra’s living room furniture out of the way, and the next he’s making a beeline toward Henry. Henry barely has a chance to prepare himself before Alex is throwing himself at him, and Henry has no choice but to quickly abandon his drink in order to catch him.

“Woah there, love,” he says, because he’s more than a little drunk himself and his filter is shot.

Alex grins brilliantly up at him and simply says, “Hi,” as he wraps his arms around Henry’s waist and pulls him into a crushing hug.

“Hello,” Henry replies, unable to keep himself from matching Alex’s smile. “Can I help you with something?”

“You can come dance with me.”

“Oh, I don’t think—”

“Puh-leeeease, H?” Alex interrupts, batting those offensively long eyelashes up at him. “You gotta.”

Henry’s always been terrible at saying no to him. Still, he tries, “Oh, do I?”

“Yeah, ‘cause it’s my party, and I want you.”

He doesn’t mean it like that, of course—he just wants Henry to join them—but Henry’s stomach turns over anyway. Helpless to resist, he lets Alex drag him out onto the dance floor. Then someone (it was definitely Pez; Henry’s going to murder him) puts on a slow song. To Henry’s surprise, Alex collapses into his arms like all the frenetic energy has drained out of him at once, his arms looped tightly around Henry’s waist and his head resting on Henry’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Alex says after they’ve swayed aimlessly for a little while, “why’re you sad?”

So he definitely noticed. Henry shouldn’t be surprised. “I’m not,” he tries anyway. Alex lifts his head up long enough to glare at him. “Fine, I’m a little sad. It’s just… the beginning of the end, isn’t it? I’ll be finishing this year—I will, hush you—and you’re applying for jobs and leaving me…”

He means to say us, but it doesn’t come out that way. Alex just hums, a low rumble Henry feels more than hears.

“Take you with me.”

“What?”

“Y’know, like a spousal hire,” Alex says, yawning into Henry’s shirt. “Tell ‘em I need a position for you too. They’d be stupid not to.”

Henry’s head swims. The thing is, Alex is such a superstar that he probably could negotiate something like that. Except for, you know. The fact that they’re not married. Alex doesn’t even seem to realize the implications of what he’s just said, he’s too busy falling asleep on Henry’s shoulder.

“I think we need to get you home,” Henry manages eventually.

Alex rousts himself, blinking up at him. “Just think about it, ok?” he says, like this is a serious proposition.

“Okay,” Henry agrees.

What else is he going to do? Besides, it makes Alex smile at him again, and really, that’s all that matters.

[byjovewhataspend]

the whole 'what is canon and should be examined' vs 'what was a gag and should be ignored' in hero academia is always so weird

Bakugou being put in a dog muzzle and restraints at the Sports Festival is just a gag and not to be seen as a real thing that happened---- up until the LoV sees it and thinks hes being abused and that it would make him hate heroes, so they explicitly kidnap him to show that they are on his side (and also remove his restraints despite him attacking them, to show they are different from the heroes). so not a gag, actually important

Hagakure is naked, its just a gag---- up until we find out Mirios suit was made from his own hair so that it reacts the same as his quirk and hagakure doesnt need to be naked so why the hell is she? Its a gag but apparently its actualyl in-universe sexism (compare her treatment to Bubble Girl, Midnight, Mt Lady, and Uwabami)

'Quirkless people CAN be heroes if they have heroic hearts' seemed like it would be a theme but then after a bit you realized it was just a way to start a character journery and quirk status isnt ACTUALLY importan...... up until izuku loses his quirk and it turns out, yeah, quirkless people CANT be heros, despite being world famous and well trained in fighting and certainly at least as good in a fight as bubble girl (and also despite aizawa havign lost his quirk but not being made to give up his uniform even 8 years later). not a means to an end, actually important

the theme of 'reaching out to take someones hand' didnt actually end up being what it seemed to be, since 2 villains died from it who otherwise wouldnt have. so. we shouldnt have taken that seriously as 'the way to save people thematicallt'. i understand the thought process behind 'killing tomura saved him' but its obviously just not the case for Toga, for her it was clearly a punishment. ((which is bullshit-- the only named character she killed was Curious, and in that scenario she was allowed to do that. i love the MLA but they literally cut off giran's fingers to lead the LoV there to rescue him so they could kill them. all kilsl there were done in self defense. doesnt count!))

also mic and aizawa reaching out to Kurogiri didnt save him in the end. he did 1 single task for them and then died. he died trying to save tomura, even. so reaching out has something like a 10% success rate? i think it only worked to bring Izuku back from being a vigilante... and uhh... maybe it worked on Nagant? a little? (((i dont count la brava and gentle, they showed us from the beginning that gentle was a good guy))). (i guess it worked on Joki Joki but im ignoring that, they arent a real character)

so reaching out a hand ONLY works for good guys. not the desperate and scared and angry. so. again! not a theme, in the end (if so, wayy too messy and specific). kind of a buzzword

anyways this isnt like.. an essay. this is just me going 'whoa. so. this was really hard to anticipate, actually. you really have no idea of what to take seriously or not'

its sort of like those videos that talk abotu 'every time Red shows up there is a ghost, this movie was so meticulously perfectly made' but also there is a plenty of continuity mistakes and things like that in that movie too, and certainly the REST of his movies arent perfectly tight either. if you expect them to be youre going to end up confusing yourself. What is perfect? what is a joke? what is a mistake?

its just interesting. i think thats why mha has such a robust fandom, actually. there is so mUCH that if you focus on any one thing you can change your whole perception of everything and its great for inspiring creativity.

like... its an obvious one, but why did UA even HAVE a child-sized muzzle on hand to put on bakugou at an awards ceremony? and everyone was comfortable doing that publically rather than jsut having him not go up to the podium? that really DOES speak the the society, especially when we find out some peopel at home (the lov) were disturbed by it! people scoff that headcanoning mic and shinsou as havign muzzle trauma is overdramatic but... ua has child sized muzzles on hand and used them in public! Joki Jokis parents sewed his mouth closed and left him to die (and we never hear if they were arrested). thats 2 kids in muzzles at least!! its a lot more kids in muzzles than most fandoms have!

the show (but not the manga) STARTS with Kamui woods calling a purse snatcher 'the lowest of the low, pure evil' before beating him up publically, him and Mt Lady competeing to see who can hurt him in the most excitign and showy way to get fans. thats. Dark. but THAT is just a gag.

on a less dire one, if izuku had been a girl and everything else had been the same, you know 100% that the costume that department gave him wouldve been all exposed skin and skintight lycra. he'd be doign battle in a bikini. his kickboots woudl be heels.

something like 1/3 of hero prospectives seem to just be theater kids that see it as a way to achieve celebrity, and i do think thats interesting for the society and world building

idunno. i just think its interesting. a million little implications that did or didnt mean anything. how often fans go 'stop worldbuilding on that ONE thing, it wasn't serious' whereas they themselved worldbuild on a DIFFERENT thing

thats all. rambling. big fandom. many opinions

[urhoneycombwitch]

you oughta know: part I

Spring Break

series masterlist

foreword: since Eddie Munson is our collective Ken doll to dress up as we please I present to you my new and improved: dirtbag!college!Eddie. now with 50% more tattoos and a splash of 90s grunge college academia aesthetic.

cw: drinking, intoxication, R has breasts, R and Eddie are slut4slut in this

___

The bass on this houseparty’s stereo pumps through the floorboards, rattling every wall of the building. Hiding out in the less-stimulating kitchen seems like a good option for tonight.

Apparently, this other guy thinks so, too, ‘cuz soon it’s just you and him across the counter from another. He’s handsome, actually. Moonlight from a window above the sink highlights strong cheekbones and a sharp cupid’s bow as he helps himself to a glass from the cupboard.

Slinking out from elbow-rolled shirtsleeves are thick, dark vine tattoos; they wind around his forearms, smattered with hair and freckles, the ink trailing to end at his wrists.

You lean forward onto the counter separating you two (well aware that you’re spilling out of your top), then tip the neck of your beer bottle at him- “Eddie?”

He spins to face you, raises a pretty brow, long lashes sweeping over auburn eyes- “Uh- maybe? Who wants to know, dollface.”

A scrunch of distaste with your nose at the nickname, you barrel through the discomfort- “Oh, I thought it might be you. I’m Robin’s roommate. She said her weed guy had cool tattoos.”

The guy’s face lights up with a lopsided smile, dimples peeking out as he preens, “So you think they’re cool?”

You roll your eyes, take an unamused sip of beer, press a bit further into your hands on the counter. A little thrill at your small victory- his eyes flicking down once, twice, to your cleavage- you ride the alcohol-gifted looseness and adrenaline. “Psst. Hey. My eyes are up here, perv.”

It’s a tease. A goad masked as chiding. Eddie sets his glass of water down, doe eyes fixed on yours, not falling for the trap of your quick inhale- “You seriously sayin’ that to me, when you’re the one with your tits out?”

He tsks, walks those big boots over, leanin’ in to your counter space, close enough to smell the spice of his cologne- “Would almost think you like the attention.”

You swallow hard. Hold your ground, looking up at him through your lashes, bust still on display- “Yeah, and you’d probably like to be the one to give it to me. In your dreams, pal.”

It’s getting harder to play hard-to-get as Eddie bumps his hip against yours. The whites of his eyes are slightly bloodshot (you can smell the heady undercurrent of weed wafting from his clothes), while the black of his pupils are already blown out with feverish lust. “C’mon, have a heart, angel. Can’t fault a boy for dreamin’.”

And goddammit if you don’t melt for that line. (He really is a rather great lyricist, as you’ll come to find out this upcoming semester.)

In retrospect, you’ll never admit it, but you did make the first move- pressed him right up against Linda Satler’s kitchen counter and kissed him, with tongue. Robin walked in on the two of you and got in a full shriek before either of you realized someone else had come in, jumping apart like two children caught arms-deep in a cookie jar.

“God, gross,” she gags, louder than the wave of sound flooding in from the open door. She crosses the room in a few swift strides and plucks at your elbow, a reproachful whisper- “I sent you to get weed, not to make out with the dealer!”

“I am getting weed, Robin,” you insist, patient but firm, pulling from her grasp to turn back to Eddie, teeth worrying at your bottom lip that shimmers with mixed saliva as you ask, sweet and simply- “Can I please have some weed?”

It wasn’t actually your plan to butter Eddie up for a better price (another fact you’d remain stoically opposed to, later), but he gave it to you, all the same- a laughably low amount for a bundle of pre-rolls.

Robin’s eyes bug out at the amount he hands it over- then she smoothly pockets the goods and pats you on the shoulder. “Okay. My mistake. I actually love that you’re both getting acquainted in this manner. You have my blessing to do it a bunch more, just- not when I’m in the room. M’kay?”

She grins cheekily at Eddie before looping her arm in yours, pulling you with her towards the door- you call out before it closes behind you both, “Robin’s number is our landline! You can call me there, if you want!”

Eddie stands still for a few moments after you’re swallowed up by the noise of the party, palm flat to the twinge in his chest. Cupid’s arrow, he can feel it sinking in.

He’s an RA, this semester. Really can’t afford to be seeing cute girls and selling them weed- at least, not at the same time. Gotta straighten up a bit over Spring Break, he thinks.

Then he cracks the window open. Lights up a joint. Smokes out into the fresh night air and tries really hard to think of anything other than your tits. (A game of mostly losses.)

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

BNHA 430: This wasn’t very “My Hero Academia” of you I’ll be honest—

Okay, where do I begin? Uh. So the story reached its conclusion. Congratulations, and all the best to Horikoshi-san for telling the story he wanted to tell for ten years, loved the characters, the little world he created after the cancellation of his previous works, I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

... but in my opinion: the last seven chapters were so bad- I don't think I can see this ending as anything other than a contradiction of what we were shown. Like, I thought we'd get a twist, everyone would be fine, something would change. I'm wearing the clown shoes already.

So, I'm just gonna treat this as a normal chapter, and not a final one, because I'll be here for days if I open this can of worms, which, I will not lie, is very bad (I'll open it at some point, not now.) I'm posting this on the.. 6th? Because apparently there's an announcement in the 5th and I don't wanna spoil the fun.

So, uh, under the read more are my thoughts on the ending, be warned I'm very, very negative about it.

*sigh* Oh boi, how killing the League made this go from an "underwhelming" to a "tone-deaf" chapter- I mean. Jesus fuck, leaving things open-ended don't erase the fact they can't make a single appearence to prove me wrong. And if they were alive, the last five chapters (and canonically eight years!) were a waste of emotions and keeping them hidden was a stupidly cruel move.

Funny, the narration is "people aren't equal but it's because of these differences that people find common ground to get along"- THE VILLAINS WERE KILLED OFF FOR BEING DIFFERENT BRO WHAT DO YOU MEAN- "if lending a hand and caring is being a hero then we all became the greatest heroes". Izuku, whatever you're drinking, I'm taking it and drinking it all by myself. You may have cared (which I can't even say for certain anymore). But Tenko died. On accident. Because you gave him OFA.

I liked the "Midoriya-Sensei" part... For 5 seconds. It's fitting, he loves learning stuff, he's good with kids, good for him. Until you say "it's only because his embers are gone". Then why use it as a tease for seven chapters only to just get rid of them at the end? Is running to Ochako really the last we get to see him use it? Not even as a part-time hero? (not that it matters at the end-)

Ragdoll works with the WWP, Tsukuachi was head strategist in the final battle, Hawks is the (H)PSC president, Aizawa is Aizawa. Why wasn't Izuku hired at an agency? Intelligence was a huge part of his character, yet the moment he was fully Quirkless again, he had to leave? Men truly aren't created equal...

"Cursed power", "blessing", "special" — the only thing special about OFA was being haunted by a guy whose brother was insane enough to hunt it down for generations. A Quirk's a Quirk; having multiple people/powers in one body isn’t special, Tokoyami and Shoto exist. Izuku was supposed to make it special using it on his terms. But I guess "meant to save, not kill" was a lie, as eight out of ten people who had it died. Nine out of eleven, counting BNHA: HR. Tenko died because his body couldn't handle the Quirk, but I guess Izuku isn't gonna think about any of it? Katsuki was right, I guess. OFA is a curse.

Spinner wrote a book (not a comic, guess he took offense to Izuku. Fair, actually). Mr. Compress got a panel, but no real mention of the LoV? They broke the status quo for months (in-universe), and after all of that, nothing changes? Did Spinner know about Tenko, how he became Tomura? And the people who will read it and pull an MLA? TomurAFO had followers, now he's a martyr a lá Re-Destro. I’m hoping Spinner didn’t commit suicide like Destro did.

Ochako’s expanding Quirk Counseling. Reform’s implied (it only said expansion), but Himiko still became what Curious wanted her to be: A cautionary tale. And I’m still asking how Ochako knows Himiko what went through, she only told Ochako she was hated because of her Quirk and how she loves. I wanna think she’s reforming it, but nothing else changed, why should I think she’s the exception? She might literally just think Himiko didn't get help, that's a cruel irony.

(At least she's seen as a hero on her rights… even if it took 429 chapters, messy writing with a shoved crush plot, her face looking like rubber seriously her face looks wrong to me for some reason and I don't know why, and still being a girlfailure recognized as a "caretaker", not a badass hero).

Shoji's travelling through Japan to solve discrimination and got a prize for it. No foundations or mentions of Spinner being the main reason he did it, just "standing atop those who rose up eight years ago", just solving it peacefully, you sure are, buddy. Like, I'm sure you are being successful but how exactly are you solving this? I mean, you "solved" the hospital fight by fighting Spinner with Koda and telling people to not defend themselves from others wanting to beat them up- Oh wait, time constraints, we can't elaborate how. I'm rolling my eyes.

Shirakumo showed the noumu state could've been reversed, yet Katsuki, who never killed someone aside from AFO (and that guy was gonna die anyway), fatally exploded him. I hoped it was a misunderstood panel but no. He died because he wanted to save Tenko. Even fucking Gran Torino was alive by the end of this. Why.

I think Shoto is the only main character I’m not really having a problem with (Ochako's ending required Himiko for it to feel somewhat complete. Sorry, Ochako). I’m weirded out that they mentioned the billboard using the guy whose life was ruined by it as an example, but other than that, he’s doing fine. Wish we saw him talking to his siblings though. But alas. No mention of Fuyumi and Natsuo. And Rei's with Endeavor. Fuck I take it back Todofam still deserved better.

Inko got so sidelined when Mitsuki and Masaru were in 424 for half a chapter, by the way. Just one panel for her, the protagonist's mother.

Schedules not aligning is one thing (I get it, my friends and I can't align ours anymore), but Class A not opening an agency together? They survived the same two wars. And you're telling me they wouldn't say "WE'RE WORKING TOGETHER AND TAKING MIDORIYA WITH US"? Also, where’s the "world where heroes have time to spare" when they look so busy? Were they understaffed or working as celebrities? (if someone says it was for the suit I will point out to the three nepo babies of Class A + Momo's Quirk, Katsuki’s a dumbass if he forgot that detail, I don't care if it's a surprise for Izuku).

We wasted pages on a kid that can throw plates from his hair. To tell him he can be a hero. Coming from the guy who had to stop working as a hero when he lost OFA. I'm not taking this parallel seriously.

I wish Izuku wasn't in "everything’s fine" mode until the end. We're really gonna leave him at "implied" mode, not confirm if his mental state's fine? Being open and emotional was an appealing part of him and now we just get “Yeah that’s just how it is”.

This one's petty and irrational, I know, but since I'm letting some of the steam out: I hate Izuku's new "protagonist that went through it" design; those face scars are my main complaint (the constant "FAILURE OF AN MC" reminder makes my eye twitch and I wish that was a joke, but also so many characters in BNHA got face scars, it doesn't even stand out), but "perfect necktie", normal, formal salaryman attire, his red sneakers are gone?! Where's the character highlights? The things that make Izuku stand out?

But hey: He gets to be a hero again! Not with skills, heart, intelligence, strength, in spite of Quirklessness. No, he has an Iron Man suit! That Class A paid billions for. The government should be paying the child soldiers- sorry, Class A and B (and Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu) instead, but all they get is a pat on the back. If the suit breaks down, hurts or kills him while in it? I'll laugh (Hatsume and Melissa worked on it? Oh it's gonna happen, I'm hoping). And Toshinori, what happened to him, did he hit his head when he landed on that building!?

Acts 1&2: Smiles cover his fear and reassure people, believed saving is about saving body and soul, wanted to help Tenko, only didn't because Gran Torino said it wasn't a good idea. Disliked people were being heroes for fame and not because it's the right thing to do, only used support items as reinforcement and a precaution, never as a full solution, even Iron Might was so he’d have a chance to fight, not a solution.

Act 3: If Tenko died smiling, it wasn't resignation, he was saved, even though he died. Didn't care AFO killed the Shimura - his mentor's - bloodline. Is fine with the billboards existing, even though it caused things like the Todoroki plotline. Now he's giving Izuku a suit, when the last time he did it himself, it didn't save him and his spine was almost snapped? Dude, what?

Also full disclosure, I thought he was paralyzed from almost getting split by the spine, but I guess he just had a bad back. Let's not discuss the trauma of almost being snapped in half and feeling your bones break so bad you set a record of how many screws were used, I guess.

... I. Hate BKDK's conclusion. Like, I apologize for this one being longer than the rest but I'm usually gravitating towards this dynamic and. It's actually so laughable how much I hate it. If the LoV had another outcome (or some deserved vindication at the very least if you're still gonna fuck them up with sudden deaths), I'd probably be overjoyed as a shipper w/o worrying too much. But if the LoV story ends in utter shit, then Izuku and Katsuki fail, and this mess is why I hate it:

Thematically, Tenko wasn't rescued, it wasn't a perfect victory because AFO still got away with what he did to him. Save to win, win to save were just nice words. "The End of an Era and The Beginning"? Nothing changed in the world they live in, and they don't stand out among other heroes (these are AM’s successors. And they aren't even important. How.) What "new era" is this, really?

Their resolutions, relationship rebuild? Offscreen, but Katsuki was the one with the Iron Man suit idea for Izuku and apparently that compensates for it. Because he’s the one who can solve all of Izuku’s problems now, not motivate him to be better anymore. It wasn’t even Izuku’s idea, it was Class A, and sure it’s a nicely condescending gesture. We’ve seen Toshinori barely come out alive even with one. That's a support item for a reckless little shit who will get himself killed.

Izuku barely batted an eye to any of the things he went through - losing his arms and/or OFA? Seeing Spinner's breakdown? Lady Nagant!? Katsuki or Tenko dying because of Izuku and OFA!? SOME INTROSPECTION?! IT’S BEEN OVER 100 CHAPTERS SINCE YOU’VE BEEN THE EMOTIONAL MC—

Katsuki's insecurities were pointless by the way! Izuku's empathy and heart never mattered, a Quirk was more important to be a hero in the end. YOU BULLIED HIM FOR NOTHING BUDDY- like. Shouldn't have done it at all, but now his own character development means nothing because his previous beliefs were the right ones. Changing for the better was pointless. Like Twice's death. Or Katsuki’s own death, since “Control Your Heart” meant nothing as well.

Izuku still remembers Tenko, but has he done anything about it? No one wants to remember him, Himiko or Touya. Spinner's book won't be taken seriously except for Tenko's followers, Mr. Compress was sidelined, Twice's death was pointless. They didn't change society, they've returned to the status quo. Pointless as Izuku losing his arms.

That fucking suit- Wow, he really couldn't be a Quirkless hero, the casual rivalry was just erased for an easy way out of their consequences, there's no catching up because Katsuki paid for Izuku a way to be a hero. Izuku doesn't get there because he still believes Quirks make a hero. This isn't heartwarming or romantic or whatever, Katsuki just proved he also didn't believe Izuku in the end, that he had to pay a way for him to be a hero.

And it ends with Izuku seeing Tenko's... Ghost? Hallucination? Vestige? I guess we’ll never know, because Izuku’s following his dreams again! Let's ignore he's doing this during class hours and he definitely should be in UA but who cares, he probably quit, we'll never know. Aside for lame BKDK/DKBK smut fics plots (tell me I'm lying, I dare you), being a teacher was clearly a inferior choice for him and he can't do both ignore Aizawa and Present Mic look at him being the world's greatest hero!

It just took 1 year of trauma, scars, following on his mentor's mistakes, losing the thing that "actually" made him be a hero, having the first (Katsuki) and the last (Tenko) people he tried to save dying because of his existence (one literally by his hands), proving anyone can be one! By ignoring the guilt of those you failed, give hands and sparing your thoughts, having superpowers and/or connections who'll give you a suit! And if they still "act out"? Then they deserved death no matter the valid points they've had and you gotta play jury judge executioner. Unless they decide to be quiet like a good entitled citizen.

Fuck this shit I swear- You could’ve had a BKDK proposal with a double spread handhold, and I'd still think Izuku's ending isn't earned. His "happy ending"— actually, hot take: BKDK crumbs are the fandom's "consolation prize" (ugh) for this ending. I feel cheated out my OTP (like. I'm shipping the version of them in my head, not the canon one 412-onwards because it's only gotten worse from there-), and for what? The League died, and it's the heroes' fault. I've held back because I genuinely wanted to believe the story was better than this, that the League would be helped, but fuck it, I've been asking this for seven chapters and two months: Why would I want Midoriya Izuku, of all people, to have a happy ending after this shit?

A story about hope bent itself over to give the protagonist an unearned happy ending, when it said it was for every character who wants to connect to that hope, who wants to give that hope. Izuku went from "wanting to be a beacon of hope and save people" to "talk about beacons of hope, but in the end, others are doing this better than you. You had none of the willpower to be one." He's not hope or unity. Act 3!Izuku is just a plot device, I feel nothing for his ending other than irritation, and I hate it because he was my favourite character. Lol, a very useless one in the end.

So. Yeah, those are my thoughts about the ending. I think. I don't know if these are all of them, hell, I might adding more to this post even months after. I feel horrible about hating it, but I've sat on this chapter for days and right now, not a lot can make me like it, especially with the timeskip, which made this "open ending" a rushed and incomplete mess. If you disagree with me, honestly, that is very fair. I'm glad for you if you liked the ending. I'm just disappointed, and wanted to share my opinions. (and I do have more stuff to say about it, and Act 3 as a whole, but I think I've been negative enough and I don't have the energy to talk about the entire arc at once).

But for the weeks I spent hoping this wouldn't slap a classic shonen ending in this catasthrophic mess and for making me feel like a dumbass after what we got in the end: Everything after 410 that isn't 421 and 422 is non-existent to me, this epilogue was a freaking waste.

Thank you for reading.

(EDIT.: Fixed some spelling mistakes and added a few more things because I can keep going on how bad this ending is. Also to just make one thing clear because of ship discourse: I am a BKDK shipper. But only until like. 405? 412 if I'm generous. Anything after that? Yeah, no, keep that shit away from me lol.)

EDIT 2: Got reminded this post existed and I've already talked about it, but to the Spider from the past, here's the update:

Society never changed at all and lobotomized MC chose being a teacher for future unemployment. Tomura's last words were used for romance bait with local monthly babysitting girlfailure haunted by Himiko. *opens up a wine bottle* But Shoto's doing fine, Touya wasn't done even more dirty and "Katsuki crash the car" memes are funny.

I still hate Izuku-Sensei. Busted Toshinori-wannabe, can't blame Toshi himself for not wanting to see an impostor walking like that's his son for too long.

[loislanecoree]

Please Please Please

Aaron Taylor-Johnson x Fem!Reader

Summary: An unexpected coffee accident turned your life upside down into a world full of glamour and flashing cameras everywhere you turned. You thought with Aaron by your side, it was going to be easy to navigate, but it turns out life in front of the flashing cameras isn't so effortless after all.

Author's Note: I've been looking at my notes and it seems like this plot needed more chapters, so I added some more. Here's chapter 2. Comments and likes are always welcome :) Let me know if you'd like to get tagged!

Wordcount: 4K

Disclaimer: 18+

chapter one - chapter two - chapter three - chapter four - chapter five - chapter six - chapter seven - chapter eight - chapter nine - chapter ten - chapter eleven - chapter twelve - epilogue

You watched the temperature of the reaction you were making reach at 25 degree celsius before sitting back on your desk chair. You sighed and recorded your steps on your report. Sometimes you couldn’t help but wonder if you would have been happier if you had decided to do academia instead of working in an industry. Though, the thought of having to find financial support for your research seemed like a stressful thing to do also. 

Besides some of the toxic coworkers that you have, you didn’t hate your job.

But there was always that what if.

Your eyes glanced at your phone that was sitting on your desk and saw Sara’s name appeared on the screen. 

Sara: So, do you think my boss will notice if I decide to leave early for today? 👹

You chuckled softly at your phone and started typing a response. 

You: LMAO! Probably since they can’t seem to work well without you there.

Sara: I’m so bored 😩 I finished most of my work. Just waiting on some approvals but everyone is busy with meetings. 

You: Come save me too. I’m currently doing a reaction, and they need this rush apparently 🥲

Sara: Ew. 🥴 Oh, btw, Luca texted me asking if we’re down for dinner tonight. 

You looked up from your phone and couldn’t find Luca anywhere. Luca was one of your best friends from CalTech and now, he worked with you and Asher too. Ivy, who was also part of your friend group, worked with Sara in NASA. It was weird how life still threw all of you together. Either way, you were just glad that they were still in your life. 

Even though you were debating about Asher’s presence lately.

You: Yes, he asked me this morning. I’m down if you are. 

Sara: Yeah, sounds good. No promises I won’t say shit to Asher though

You: LMAO I wanna see that! 🤭

Sara: I haven’t seen Ivy all day. Not sure if she’s part of the meetings. She’s the only one who actually entertains me here.

You: Told you to get out of Pasadena 😂

Sara: Yeah, okay. I’ll get right on that! 👍

You glanced up from your phone when you heard the lab doors opened and saw Luca pushing a cart full of succinates. His thick salt and pepper curly hair that ends just right past the nape of his neck was covering his forehead and the top of his goggles. He paused in front of your desk and sighed, pushing a strand of hair away from his face.

“Never. Again.” He said, out of breath. 

“What happened?” You got up from your chair, walked around your desk and studied the succinates that were sitting on the cart. 

“These bitches were so far up the rack.” Luca explained. “I’m tall but not that tall. I swear to god, Max is getting on my nerves. He could have grabbed these himself.”

He was right. Luca was tall. 

He was a lanky, tall guy but those racks they stored the chemicals in were very high up. Sometimes some of those chemicals were in heavy gallons of plastic jars. You wondered if that was even safe for the team. Max had been too lazy to get it himself even though he was a lot stronger than any of you in the team.

You shook your head and said, “You know how he is. Do you need help? I can help. I’m done starting my reaction. I don’t have to take care of it after four hours.”

“No, I’m good.” Luca set a hand on his hip, still trying to catch his breath. “I just need to weigh these.”

“Okay, let me know if you do.” You said. “Oh, and I talked to Sara. We’re down for dinner tonight.”

“Ugh, good!” Luca set his hand on his stomach. “Just thinking about it makes me hungry already. I already told Asher about it too.”

You walked back around your desk and saw your screen light up again with a new text message. 

“Mhm. I’m sure he was quick to say yes.” You murmured, your eyes focusing on the message. 

“With you coming along? Of course.” Luca teased as he pushed the cart next to his desk. 

Your attention wasn’t with him anymore though as you saw Hannah’s name on your notifications. You were afraid to open the message. Last month, she had dragged you to that after party where you embarrassed yourself in front of Jen, and you knew Hannah only texted you when she needed something. 

It wasn’t as if you disliked her. Hannah just went into her own path after high school. You and Hannah were neighbors back in San Francisco since you were kids, but she had her own dreams. 

Bigger dreams than yours. 

Ever since you were children, she always wanted to be on TV. Now, she had booked multiple acting roles and had connections with Hollywood. She tends to drag you around after parties and movie premieres. You didn’t seem to mind it often, but you felt like you didn’t fit in with her crowd. It went the same with her. She didn’t fit in with your new group of friends. 

Luca and Ivy didn’t like her much. They said she was “too stuck up” even though sometimes, Luca wanted to get invited to these events. Sara didn’t mind much, but you knew Hannah could get on her nerves too. Besides you, Asher was the only one who got along well with her. It was because Asher wanted to be part of her glamorous world even if he tried to put a facade on it. 

Hannah: Hey! You got plans for tomorrow night?

You: Not sure. Why?

Hannah: There’s this after party for this movie I was on. Please please please come with me!

You: Um… Idk.

Hannah: Please? 🙏 I really need someone there, and I know you support me a lot.

You sighed and ran your fingers through your hair. You have the urge to bite your nails at the moment, but you stopped yourself from having your nails between your teeth. Not only have you been handling chemicals, but you have told yourself to stop this bad habit. Instead, your leg shook anxiously underneath your desk. 

You: I don’t know, Hannah. 

Hannah: I swear, I won’t leave your side. Please?

Fuck. 

You knew if you didn’t say yes, she was going to keep bothering you. You wondered why you were the one she wanted to come to this event. Last time you checked, she had a boyfriend now. 

An actor too. 

You: Fine. 

Hannah: Ah! Thank you! You’re a lifesaver! ❤️

Great. 

Now, you have to go shopping for a new dress. 

When you found yourself in your car at the end of your work day, you contemplated whether to go park on the street near the restaurant and wait for an hour for your friends to get there, or you could go do a pit stop at The Insomniacs. 

As always, the latter won. 

A few minutes later, you found yourself waiting in line to buy your favorite blended coffee. Sometimes you wonder if this was just your body craving it at this point, or if you actually needed the caffeine because it seemed like you could sleep perfectly fine with it. 

Scrolling through Instagram, you took a step forward in the line. The shop was a little busy today, but you had time to kill, so you didn’t mind waiting. 

“Is this going to be our meeting place?” The British accent was so thick through the man’s familiar voice, your phone almost slipped out from your hands.

You looked up from your phone, your eyes following where the voice came from. You thought he was standing in front of you, and you just didn’t notice it when you had joined the line, but he was nowhere to be found. 

You froze for a moment, your eyes studying the shop before landing on him. He was standing at the end of the counter, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in front of him. He was wearing that smolder look on his face, his mouth tugged into a small smile. You swallowed your emotions that were surfacing as you slipped your phone on your back pocket. 

He wasn’t wearing his costume this time. He was in his casual clothes. Black shirt, black trousers, and gray coat. His long curly hair was messy. It was still pushed back, but it looked mussed. 

You wondered if what he was wearing was actually his casual clothes or another movie costume. You wondered what kind of role he was playing in the movie, and why was he in this coffee shop for two days in a row now?

“Are you stalking me?” You asked but immediately regretted the words that slipped out of your lips. 

That came out a little rude too. 

See, this is why Hannah shouldn’t be dragging you to an after party tomorrow night. You act so stupid in front of celebrities. 

Aaron chuckled at your comment, tilting his head at you like he was challenged by what you just said. 

“How do I know you’re not stalking me, darling?” His voice was calm and gentle.

But that nickname. 

It sent shivers down your spine. 

You looked around the shop and wondered how everyone was acting so normal that a celebrity was in here. They were probably used to seeing famous people in this shop. It was across Warner Brothers Studios after all.

Your turn in line came, and you ordered your usual. Even if Aaron was standing at the end of the counter, you could feel his eyes burning your side. 

Walking towards him after paying for your drink, you said, “Because I’ve come to this place several times the last couple years and I don’t remember you being here much.” 

Immediately, you saw a proud grin tugged on his lips as he said, “Touché, love.”

You couldn’t help but smirk at him. Your eyes studied the current situation of his look. He looked like he just finished a long day of filming. There were dark circles under his eyes, but it still made him look so attractive.

“Is mocha blended coffee your usual?” Aaron asked, interrupting your thoughts. 

He must have noticed you were checking him out because he was smirking at you. Your cheeks turned into a shade of pink as you quickly looked away and focused your attention towards the counter.

“Look who’s the stalker.” You teased him. “Are you listening to my order?”

He laughed softly, which sent shivers down your spine again. 

“This place isn’t that big, love. I can hear that man’s order right now.” He nodded his head towards the man that was ordering his drink at the register.

That new nickname. 

Where’s a hole on the floor for you to fall in when you need one?

You sank your teeth into your bottom lip and glanced up at him. He was so tall, and he took up a lot of space. You have to literally crane your neck just to look at his face. 

“Since you love to eavesdrop so much, then yes it is.” You answered. “Is cappuccino your usual order too?”

Aaron’s lips tugged into a big grin as he lowered his lips close to your ear and whispered, “And you accused me of eavesdropping?”

You could hear your heart drumming in your ears as you bit your lower lip harder. You could almost taste metal in your mouth. 

Where the fuck was that comet, Sara? Because it might as well just disintegrate this Earth right now. 

Or maybe it could just hit you. Just you. 

You could feel his warm breath and warm presence on your side, making your legs feel like jelly. He was so close to you, and it felt like an eternity before he straightened his body back and smirked at you. Again. 

Before you could retort something back to him, you heard the barista both call your names and set both of your coffees on the counter.

Thank fucking god.

“Well, it’s nice to see you again, stalker.” You said before grabbing your cup and walking out of the doors immediately. 

Were you in some kind of a movie or something? There were so many questions lingering in your mind as you sipped your coffee, letting the cold liquid cool your body down. You kept questioning why he kept making conversations with you and from all people, he kept trying to get your attention and teasing you? 

You shook your head to clear out all these delusions that were lingering in your mind. 

You were being stupid. 

You drove towards West Hollywood, driving around to find yourself a parking spot. In this city, you could barely find one, especially on the side streets. Opting out for the street parking, you decided to park in the public parking garage and walked your way towards the restaurant where Sara and Ivy were waiting outside. 

“Hey.” You smiled, pulling Ivy into a hug. “How are you, Ivy?”

“Good. How are you?”

Ivy’s brown curls were up in a ponytail, her brown eyes glinting brightly at you. She looked tanner from the summer days that she spent at the beach all the time. Freckles were dusted on top of her nose and cheeks, and she looked a lot happier and more relaxed than the last time you saw her. You barely saw Ivy because she was always busy taking care of her family. Sara was the only one who saw her often because they worked together. 

“I’m good. How’s your parents?” You asked, knowing she has been struggling with them lately.

Ivy shrugged, “They’re good. They’re moving to Boston, so I’ve been helping them pack up the house.”

Now, it makes more sense why she seemed more relaxed.

“Oh, nice. I’m guessing you found a place of your own then?”

Ivy nodded excitedly, her ponytail swaying behind her. “Yeah, I found one in Glendale, so I’ll be closer to you guys.”

“Thank god! I get to see you more!” 

“Hey guys!” Luca greeted, running a hand through his curls. 

Next to him was Asher who also greeted all of you. He was a bit quieter than usual, and you wondered if it was because he felt guilty for his behavior from yesterday. You gave him a small wave and followed your friends inside the restaurant. Settling in your seat as soon as the hostess led you to your table, you focused your attention on the menu in front of you. 

Sara and Ivy were murmuring to each other about the menu, while Luca and Asher were arguing about the meat choices that were better for Luca’s taco. You settled for three tacos and a margarita as soon as the server came and took your orders. 

“Oh!” Sara called everyone’s attention once the server walked away. She nudged you with her elbow and said, “Ask her who she bumped into yesterday.”

Jesus fucking Christ. 

Not Sara too! 

“Oh my god.” You mumbled under your breath, shaking your head. 

The server came by with your drinks and you immediately took a sip of your margarita, letting the alcohol burn your throat. 

“I swear to god if you bumped into Paul Mescal, I’m going to lose my shit.” Luca commented, taking a sip of his cocktail.

You laughed with Sara and Ivy. Luca’s celebrity crush was Paul Mescal, and he has been waiting to bump into him one of these days. You would support it, but you doubt he lived in LA since he was Irish, and he probably preferred to live in Europe. That didn’t stop Luca from hoping though. 

“No, Luca.” You chuckled. “It was ATJ.”

Luca and Ivy choked on their drinks, both of them gasped loudly and looked at you with wide eyes. Asher was rolling his eyes in the corner, while Sara was giggling softly next to you. 

“Shut the fuck up!” Luca exclaimed. “That’s even worse!”

“Aaron fucking Taylor-Johnson?!” Ivy whisper-yelled, her eyes looking like they were about to fall out of her sockets.

“Fuck Paul Mescal.” Luca shook his head in disbelief. “I’ll take ATJ.”

“Yeah, well, I saw him again today.” You mumbled through the edge of your glass before sipping your drink again.

You watched as your friends, including Sara this time, dropped their jaws to the floor and widened their eyes even more. Asher on the corner was shaking his head as if he hated this subject that you all were talking about.

That was such a lie.

You knew Asher would literally throw a party if he ever got accepted into that world.

“Wait, what?!” Sara exclaimed.

“Woah, woah. Wait!” Ivy held up her hands to pause the conversation. “Are you sure this second meeting is a coincidence?”

A line appeared between your brows as you stared at your friend like her theory was the most absurd thing on Earth. You understood that they were all in shock, but that idea in her head for a moment was not… reality. 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ivy. I’m literally no one.” You argued. “Besides, the coffee shop is across from Warner Brothers. He’s probably filming a movie or something.” 

Luca held up his hands this time, swaying it in front of him to shut everyone up. “Wait! What happened yesterday?”

Sara laughed at the memory as you side-eyed her. She was the one who opened up this conversation. Now, look at the position you were put into.. 

You explained to your friends the whole incident, and Luca’s mouth was hanging open the whole time. It wasn’t long until Ivy joined him the moment she heard the words “I wiped his clothes with a bunch of napkins” left your mouth. 

“Ugh!” Luca stomped his foot under the table. “You’re so lucky! You got to touch him!” 

Asher threw his head back and groaned softly. The table immediately went silent, and you all turned your heads towards him. 

“Are we just going to talk about celebrities all night?” Asher complained. 

You hated the subject of this conversation, but your patience with Asher was hanging by a thread. Luca leaned back against his chair, crossing his legs underneath the table and crossing his arms on his chest. He lifted his brow at Asher, and an annoyed look was plastered on his face.

“Okay, Mr. KillJoy, what’s going on with your life?” Luca asked sarcastically. 

You rolled your eyes as soon as Asher started complaining about the extra production that Keith was planning for the team. You wanted to tell him that you couldn’t believe he still wasn’t over this, but it was Asher. He was never going to be over this, especially the way Keith had embarrassed him in front of you in that meeting. 

“I mean come on! More production and less people?” Asher whined.

“Actually, Keith’s hiring more people, so I don’t know why you’re complaining about this.” You argued. “Did you not hear that sentence coming out of his mouth from that meeting?”

Asher didn’t say anything as Sara leaned forward, her elbows resting at the edge of the table. Fire sparked behind her eyes as she looked at Asher. You didn’t even need to be a mind reader for what Sara was about to say in the next ten seconds. She already warned you this morning. 

You weren’t going to lie. You sort of wanted to hear this.

“Oh, and didn’t you lose your shit?” Sara asked, her voice sharp.

There it was. 

You turned to Sara, nudging her gently on her side. You gave her a look to make sure she wasn’t going to push it too much on Asher. However, you didn’t have to worry about Sara because you saw Ivy and Luca exchanging looks and immediately, Luca leaned forward against the table also with a curious expression.

“What did you do now, Asher?” Luca asked. 

Asher’s eyes darted between his friends. You could tell that he was even more embarrassed because now, he has to explain to his friends the behavior that he projected onto you yesterday. You rolled your teeth over your lower lip and leaned back against your chair, playing with the glass in your hand. There was no saving him from this. As much as he was your friend, you were also irritated with the way he reacted yesterday. 

No, you weren’t just irritated.

You were furious about his accusation. 

“In my defense…” Asher muttered, and you could hear Sara’s low scowl next to you. “I… I admitted I was wrong, okay? And I apologized for it.”

“What the fuck did you do?” Ivy asked, ignoring his stupid introduction.

Asher stuttered for a moment. His panicked eyes were shifting back and forth towards everyone. He let out a long breath and slumped down on his chair. 

“I accused her of having a crush on Keith.” He murmured under his breath. 

Even just hearing those words, it made you want to throw up the tacos you just ate. Luca’s eyes immediately sparked with anger, while Ivy shook her head in disappointment.

“Seriously, Asher. You need a fucking therapist.” Luca barked. “Seriously? Keith? That man is older, married, and has kids! Why the fuck would you accuse her of that? Or is it because he always gives you a cold shoulder?”

“Or because a man was being nice to her.” Ivy mumbled through the edge of her glass before sipping her drink. 

Ivy was right. 

Asher always acted out whenever a random man was being nice to you. It could be a stranger smiling at you, and he would immediately roll his eyes. He would make up some excuse that he only acted that way because he was being protective towards you, but everyone in this table knew the real reason why. 

“I said I was sorry!” Asher said. “It was a mistake, and I wasn’t thinking right.”

Your friends continued to call out Asher’s behavior, but you were done with this conversation. You didn’t even want to think about it. You felt your phone vibrate in your back pocket, and you slipped it out to check who was texting you. 

Hannah: Got you a dress for tomorrow night! No need to worry!

You sighed and slipped your phone back in your pocket, drinking the rest of your margarita. Luca’s eyes shifted towards you when he saw your distressed expression.

“Who was that? ATJ bothering you?” He teased, making Ivy chuckle.

“No,” You rolled your eyes. “Hannah invited me to this after party, and she was letting me know that she has an extra dress for me to wear.”

“Ugh,” Luca said dramatically, tucking a hair behind his ear. “I swear, Hannah needs to invite me to one of these parties.”

You laughed softly, “I thought you didn’t like Hannah? You said she was too stuck up.”

“She can be.” Luca said, rolling his eyes. “But I have needs.”

“Like Paul Mescal?” Ivy teased him.

Luca ripped a piece of his tortilla and threw it at her, making you and Sara laugh. Ivy stuck her tongue out to him as Luca rolled his eyes again. Out of all of you, Luca was the most dramatic and sometimes, he was more girlier than the girls. Though, you always tell others to never underestimate Luca because he could put you in your place in an instant, and he never liked anyone who was whiny and toxic.

You were surprised Luca hasn’t ripped a hair out of Asher’s perfect golden hair. 

Maybe he was close to doing it. You knew you were. 

As Sara asked for the paycheck, the five of you split the bill and left the restaurant after paying. You and Sara said your goodbyes to your friends and told each other that you would see each other at home. 

Driving back to your apartment building that night, your mind resurfaced the events of the coffee shop again. Ivy’s voice echoing in your mind.

Are you sure this second meeting is a coincidence? 

You quickly dismissed it because the more you think about it, the more comical it sounded.

You were just tired. It had been a long day. 

That was all. 

__________________________________________________________

Taglist:

@acourtofpenandpaper, @metal-redcherries, @n0rdicmaiden, @galadoesart, @dare-writes

[thus-wrote-mrs-zeppeli]

hiiiii! i would absolutely love if you’d let me indulge in some jjba writing, esp diego x reader in any capacity (plz plz plz) (academic burn out and thesis paper due tuesday, HEAVY religious theology focus and im yapping about media censorship from 1950-Present because i love being a primary document nerd, apparently. read too many old-timey whiney newspapers, need some cliche palate cleansers if you can :,))

maybe something academia centric, idk! if you wanna do multiple characters for a prompt, maybe ‘how they react realizing you’re actually really smart in a specific area’, characters reading work and assuming it’s like, professional since there’s no name on it, or just some good old fashioned academic/intellectual/strategic rivalry, i’m not picky + i know you’ll kill it no matter what!!

hope you’re doing well man <3

Hello~

Wow I hope you’re able to get some rest, I know I’m ready for a break from my studies, but that sounds super exciting! I hope all goes well for you~

This gave me an idea, I hope it is to your liking~

(And yeah I’ve been great, thank you~)

Content: Headcanons style. Not a happy ending. (Sorry, I’m assuming you wanted something a little sweeter but this is what came to mind) enemies to lovers to enemies

Diego x reader: Intellectual rivals

Let’s be real. Diego isn’t used to meeting someone who actually rivals him in any area. No one’s quite as talented, quite as clever, quite as intelligent…at least, he rarely recognizes anyone as such.

But for someone as skilled as him, that kind of pride is understandable.

So having someone like you come along and nearly outmaneuvering him…it puts him on edge, initially.

As far as he could tell, you weren’t affiliated with the President, or the Joestar and Zeppeli…so what? You were acting on your own? Seeking out the corpse parts for your own personal goal? Or maybe you didn’t even know about the holy corpse, and were only nosing your way in because you noticed all the excitement around it.

Ugh, it bothers him. He should’ve paid more attention to you at the start of the Steel Ball Run…he noticed you but hadn’t thought anything of you at the time…and now he had to compete with you without much information to go off of. Usually his specialty but…you weren’t easily giving away any hints about yourself. Not even accidentally.

Not only did you know your own weak points…you knew how to keep them hidden from him.

It’s kinda funny, really.

Diego was smart.

But so were you.

You noticed his eyes on you at checkpoints. Subtly, and only briefly, but that intelligent gaze burned with a frustration you could feel. He was turning you over and over in his mind, almost like you were a puzzle box that could be solved by methodical observation.

Let him look all he wanted for a chink in your armor, you wouldn’t make it so easy for him.

Your battles with Diego are often wordless. A smug smirk when one of you overtakes the other at the start of a leg, visibly sizing each other up in brief moments of respite…it’s a game to him at first but…he Really hates to lose.

It pisses him off enough that he decides to get a bit closer.

Diego is self-reliant, speaking with the confidence of an indomitable god, and the arrogance to match. Even after all the irritation you’ve been causing him with your own intelligence, you can tell he still feels like he’s better than you.

You don’t take it personal.

He thinks he’s better than everyone. The disdain he has for you extends to the rest of humanity, too.

You can chase each other til you’re both exhausted, but you will never lose to him.

Sure you might never catch him entirely unaware either but…this is very much a first for him.

And it’s kinda fun to watch him lose that veil of calculated cool-headedness he so often hides his true, uglier feelings behind.

He has decided too long ago for you to change his mind that humanity wasn’t entirely beyond redemption. And yeah, you may have been well beyond the average pigeon of society, but he won’t make some sort of exception for you.

He’s at the point that he has no choice but to get even closer to you…and while he might say you’d better not get too comfortable around him lest he finally find your weakness…the more time you spend together the more he seems to lose his desire to finally best you in front of the entire world.

Maybe he’s just slowly accepting he cannot beat you in a battle of wits.

You have a stronger suspicion that he’s still waiting, observing you, biding his time to prove he’s better than you.

Even when he’s sitting with you and seemingly talking about nothing in particular with his hands holding you gently, you both know the moments of peace spent together won’t last.

You were still rivals. Rivals don’t willingly drop their guards around each other.

Still. This complicated relationship is starting to wear on you. Diego won’t give you anything serious. But he’s not gonna just leave you alone unless there’s no more point in trying to best you.

But if you decide at this point to admit he has you beat as a tactician without a fight, he will never accept that as a victory.

Then again…maybe that would be the best way to get back at him for worming his way into your heart like he did. That was too far. Playing with each other’s emotions on that level…just for some superficial “victory”…it just wasn’t worth it anymore.

Against Diego, the only winning move was not to play.

As you suspected, Diego doesn’t take your sudden resignation from the race very well.

But he definitely won’t show you’ve caught him by surprise by chasing you down to demand an explanation.

Neither of you really felt any real sense of victory after your brief encounter during the Steel Ball Run. He won’t forgive you easily for your “cowardice”, as he would call it. And you won’t forgive him for wasting so much of your time.

-

Sorry it’s kinda short…I do think there’s more that I can do with this idea, I would like to explore it further sometime~

[blank468]

My somewhat final thoughts of My Hero Academia

Note: Now that MHA is now doing an epilogue and is ending soon, I might as well give my final thoughts about this series. I’ll probably continue to talk more about it after the series is officially over but I’m not going to do a full fledged hour long review because I have better things to do.

This is a generic shonen empowerment fantasy that managed to screw its own theme and message. Any good will I would’ve given to series at the beginning is completely irrelevant as it when on. The morals and themes are constantly changing to throw random s**t on a sheet of paper that either doesn’t make sense, contradicts what being shown on screen, or if it doesn’t fits the tone of the story. My hero is not a deconstruction of the shonen genre that does anything new that would make it stand out. Most of the ideas and plot points created either have horrible execution, given no amount of attention where they’re just ignored or just have horrible payoffs. It follows all the exact same tropes seen in every other series and makes them worse. It also gets to the point where it rips off Naruto and makes the same mistakes it did. The amount of plot twists that are excused as some kind of subversion are obnoxious and predictable where’s it gets incredibly annoying. The world building is horrendous and just makes the story feel small for a world that has a life changing impact. The power scale doesn’t always make sense and it does nothing but act as a way to reward characters that didn’t earn it.

It has a dangerous and horrible message for victims of abuse and bullying. My hero has no problem telling the audience that if you’re a victim of any kind of abuse, it’s your problem and you should just act like it’s not a big issue. Apparently it’s ok lie to your friends, family and colleagues that you can trust but it’s not ok to lie or even hold accountable to your abuser. And no matter if he/she has a reason for the way they are, you are always in the wrong and you should spend your sad life praising and benefiting them.

There exists way too many characters for the audience to be invested in and after watching them for several arcs, they are just stereotypes with nothing new or original about them. Many of them come across as either being stupid, annoying, useless, unlikeable, petty, ignorant or just both. Some characters will either exist to benefit others or just highjack the story, ruining every other character’s chance to get any sort spotlight. The series is way too reliant on putting focus on unpleasant and uninteresting characters to please its large audience. The humor is way too reliant on a character’s personality trait. No matter what they do, the story expects us to automatically like them regardless of how horrible and selfish their actions are. Izuku may not be the worst character, but he’s no where near as great as everyone hypes him up to be. Bakugo is an unbearable mess of a character that serves no real purpose in the story and exists to take away every characters chance of development. His development is one of the laziest and obnoxious parts I have ever seen in any story and yet he’s the most popular sadist in the show with no sort of reason or sympathy for me to like him. Any criticism given to this d**khead is automatically shot down and people like me get harassed and called a brain dead immature f*g for stating our opinion.

Aside from Twice and Gentle/ La Brava, these villains are not that interesting and what ever traits about them gave them something to do is absence. Shigaraki is the stories biggest wasted potential that went from being an idiot to being an incompetent idiot to benefit my left nutsack. Toga is a Mary Stu who went from being a sad and annoying character to an annoying and self centered bitch who complains after being told her actions are wrong. Dabi is just a Gary Stu who’s only interested in wanting to kill his dad. Spinner is a joke that is constantly scammed by his creator.

The only saving grace I can give to this series is the art style of the manga and some parts of the Todoroki family drama. I can even say that Horikoshi’s art style and how he designs characters and panel designs inspired me as an artist. The anime as a whole is fine but it’s not perfect, but that’s mostly because it doesn’t do a whole lot of creatively/artistic things to make it on par with the most popular anime series. As an artist, I would recommend my hero as a reference to use to improve your work. If you just want to read or watch a series that has fights that just make you feel some kind of emotion, then you might get something out of this series. It’s not even the absolute worst thing I’ve seen; I’ve seen much worse in other genres other than shonen manga. It’s just rare to find a badly written series without being surrounded by d**kriders. It’s just a disaster of a series, and I wished I spent my time during the pandemic watching another series like Demon Slayer, or Black Clover.

[class1akids]

Art Exhibition - notes about author comments

Memo for the original art exhibition] Parts that seem not to have been included in the catalogue [Spoilers] from here

This is detailed comments from a Japanese account who visited the exhibition today. It's her quick notes of things that are not included in the catalogue. Apparently the new art is there, but the context of the pictures is not.

◾︎ZONE1 → Are the comments in ZONE1 pretty comprehensive?

◾︎ZONE2 · There are also some parts with no names or comments for Black Deku...T_T In No.317, when All Might's hand can't reach Midoriya, this name wasn't included → Between "Don't try hard" and "You can rest", there was a line that said something like "You don't have to go any further", and I remember it was crossed out I think the line "I have to tell you" was different Also, on the previous page, the name for Midoriya's "So don't worry" also had a comment from the teacher, and in the name the expression was what you would call a dark expression (I think that's how the teacher expressed it), but (※From here onwards, it's a loose translation based largely on memory) It wasn't that he wanted it to be like that, it was like that to protect him, so the expression is different, and I'm sure there was a discussion about how he was smiling under the mask and that's why it ended up with that expression in the finished manuscript...T_T The teacher clearly commented that Black Deku is not a dark expression here, and it was really amazing, so it's such a shame it wasn't included in the catalogue...;;;;;;;;; ･

Ochako's line "Please let this be his Hero Academia!!" was slightly different in the draft (not included in the draft) ･

The thing that personally excited me the most in ZONE2 was the draft for the scene with Toga and Dabi in No. 341, but this whole scene is missing, it's crazy, you're kidding me? I think the sensei's comment was that it was a waste of the character because it looked like a character standing there, so they added more detail in the finished draft → I think the draft had quite a few lines different, and Toga didn't call Touya either? I was impressed that Dabi also called him "Endeavor-san" when he spoke to her. She's kind because she wants Endeavor to suffer, but this line was phrased differently in the original draft. I really want to check this again...T_T I think in the original draft Dabi's "Let's laugh, Toga Himiko" was "Laugh, Toga Himiko." I thought it was really nice how it went from the imperative form of "laugh" to an inviting nuance of "let's laugh"...I don't remember this, seriously...;;;;;;;;;;;;; ◾︎

ZONE3 · No.Todoroki-kun being nailed to the building in 352 -> The part with the Burning Fist, is that the original draft? I feel like the whole step thing isn't in the catalogue, and in the original draft, the lines "Don't take any more lives of people who have nothing to do with this!" and "Take it all out on us" seemed quite different → I won't let any more people (who are not involved? Unrelated people?) be killed! 。 English: I think the line was something like that, and it was quite impressive that kill was a strong word. -

In the draft, the two children on the right side of the spread in The Great Ice Shock were not children (not included in the draft) →There was a comment from the teacher, saying that since Dabi had been talking about big subjects the whole time (I can't remember exactly, but I think he did talk about big subjects), he made it a childhood panel in the final draft to go back to the starting point. -

In Endeavor's scene, there was a comment from Ruridragon, which was also in the fan book, but this is fine because you can still find almost the same comment in the fan book...T_T -In the draft,

Enji's "Rei's 'quirk'----" was just "Rei----" →That would have been difficult to understand, so that's how it's structured in the final draft. I think the teacher also commented that when you're drawing, basic things like this get left out. -

The draft for the scene where All Might pushes Todoroki and Iida isn't included in its entirety T_T →I felt like it was different from All Might's lines, the part where he said "You guys are the ones best suited for the job!" is Is that how it is? And then when he said how far it was to Gungi... it was like he was going all the way across Japan... and the furigana for Gungi was "Wakayama". Is the teacher's Gungi Wakayama? ･

The lines by Iida, which also had a note like this, had been changed almost completely from the finished manuscript, and were more negative in tone (I can't be included in the Battle of Kokusho? (I think it's not)... something like that). "It's there to guide the lost" was also something like "for the sake of my name friend", it had a nuance of a friend but I need to check again if the kanji or ruby ​​made it read that way... this part is too serious... T_T ･

The names for the part where Kurogiri is rescued were also not included → the panel layout on the left page was different (I think the top half was divided into two and it was Mike and Spinner, with Kurogiri on the bottom) → There was a comment from the teacher here as well, saying that it was changed to give the nuance that Spinner had accomplished her goal, but was it meant to imply that the teacher was slightly regretful? Regarding the feeling after reading it, having Spinner in the last panel in the finished manuscript makes it too high-context...! It was something like that (my interpretation might be a bit different) ･

There are quite a few scenes with Ochako-chan and Toga-chan that are not included in the original draft...T_T →In the original draft, there was a comment explaining why that panel where she is half Toga-chan and half Ochako-chan is like that (I think it was because there wasn't enough blood...I need to check...T_T) →This was picked up a little in the sensei's comments, but in the original draft, Toga-chan's "I was really happy, Ochako-chan" was something like "remember it," just like in the comment in the catalog, but in the original draft, I think the kanji was "remember it forever" instead of "remember it" ･

There was also a comment from the sensei about the scene where Toga-chan is flying a bird in the sky ･

There was also a comment from the sensei about the part where she is laughing while looking at Kacchan's card (the original draft is included) →There was a story that had the nuance of her suddenly remembering something in the middle of the battle, so in the original draft, she had this expression (I didn't realize it was not included, so I remember it too vaguely...) ･

Comments about La Brava and Gentle were also not included → (nuance) The readers would know when La Brava was released that Gentle was coming too, so they wanted to have them both appear first, but they relied on La Brava and only put La Brava out first in the final draft, so I think that's what they were saying. I think they also said that they wanted to get as far as introducing Nagant. ･

Vertical double-page spread four-panel "Further Beyond" (Deku, Tomura, Dynamite, AFO) → The reason AFO is the only one not looking straight ahead is because at the time, AFO is (nuance) an insignificant opponent, not someone he needs to face, so there's no need to look him in the face, so he's the only one looking away. ･

About the panel layout of "Explode" → The panel layout was chosen because they wanted to express that a lot of things are happening in one period of time (very rough translation, nuance). The sensei was talking about means and ends, playing with the panel layout and the order of what you want to express... ･

In the scene where Tenkuro intervenes in the past, when Midoriya, as a child, stops him with both hands, this draft was displayed and they were talking about the facial expression in the draft (they look completely different, so the teacher commented that it was negative) ･In the draft for "I have to become the enemy's hero," Tomura talks a lot and it had a completely different atmosphere, and they commented that he talked too much so they cut it out in the final manuscript I forgot where it was (I think it was around BEGINNING) but I think the teacher commented that Midoriya and Kacchan don't need words◾︎

Snapshot (I can't remember exactly) ･

Hagakure-chan → Apparently they developed new costumes because there are a lot of bugs ･

Nagant → Apparently they're collaborating with Ganriki-sensei next time! ･

Kacchan & Todoroki → Kacchan knows the shops around here ･

Iida → When you get to this age (like, your eyes are harsh) ･

Ojiro & Kirishima → I miss Ojiro with his hair down! ･

Shinso-kun → (Like, he won't let me take a photo at all!) ･

Kouta-kun & Shoji-kun → Kuuta-kun's talk is too funny! (Like that) ･Ochako-chan & Tsuyu-chan → To the place (the grassland?) that Uraraka wanted to go to! ･

Aoyama-kun & Kaminari-kun & Ashido-chan → Charge Zuma who are too into fan service (comments towards Ashido-chan and the others who are acting like normal people) ･

Jiro-chan & Yaomomo → (Will they really say they'll take a photo?) They're saying things like they'll make funny faces ･

Tokoyami-kun & Hawks → Talking about after the meeting for the provisional license exam ･

Enji → (My memory is really hazy here, but was the story about Hawks being good at being considerate from Enji's part...?) ･

Sato-kun & Sero-kun & Mineta-kun → I'm so looking forward to the photos of these two, so make sure to check the comments... T_T ･

All Might & childhood friends → They talked about how Kacchan chose a mountain that would be easy for even All Might to climb, and that they're going to conquer it!

I feel like the comment at the end of the book is a bit different from the catalogue. It's a bit technical... I thought as I read it (something about taking out the trash...)

[kikyoupdates]

Goddess Wink ⭑˚💘⭑ 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑒𝑠

bnha x f!reader

reverse harem, my hero academia x fem!reader, slowburn

Ever since your Quirk first manifested, you’ve been the apple of everyone’s eye. With the goal of becoming a hero, you enroll to U.A. and soon find yourself drawing the attention of many. Will you form genuine connections with others, or is this all just your power's will?

previous | story masterlist | next

There were only a few days left until the Sports Festival. Though you’d expected it, you hadn’t been able to work on your Quirk much at all, but the fact that nobody knew your powers yet was definitely to your advantage. You’d been keeping up with your studies over the last week and a half, annoying Katsuki with text messages, and most notably—meeting up to train with Izuku.

You definitely felt a strong connection to the freckled boy. He was quick to get flustered, had a habit of mumbling to himself every now and then, but it was clear that he had a heart of gold. He was kind and gentle; two traits that were incredibly important for a hero. You liked to think that you had a similar gentleness about you, but it probably couldn’t compare to Izuku’s. The two of you were similar in that your Quirks were a bit difficult to work with, but there was a lot you could learn from his spirit and determination.

“Thanks for breakfast,” you said, setting your plate aside. “Would it be alright if I maybe had a friend come over today?”

Freja smiled at you. “It looks like you’ve already gotten close to your classmates in such a short time.” She picked up your plate and turned towards Mikael with a frown. “Excuse me. What did we say about painting at the dining table?”

“Hm?” Mikael blinked, paintbrush in hand, feigning innocence. “What’s this now? [Name] wants to have a friend over?”

“Please don’t try to change the subject.”

“Of course she can have a friend over,” he smiled. “What time were they thinking of coming?”

Freja’s brow began to twitch. “Mikael. Kindly get the art supplies off the table.”

“Oh, just a few more minutes? I’m almost done with this section.”

She let out a begrudging sigh, and you laughed, knowing full well how much she loathed cleaning up after Mikael left a whirlwind of paint splotches in his stead.

“I haven’t actually asked him yet,” you said. “Just wanted to let you know that it’s a possibility. I’ll let you know what he says.”

You left the room, and just in time—Mikael had apparently spilled some paint onto the floor and Freja was about to chew his head off. Even though you’d been spending a lot of time with Izuku this last week, he’d never been to your home before. It probably wasn’t the best place for training, admittedly, but a part of you just wanted to take a breather for a day.

“[Name]-chan, this is your house…?!”

A few hours after your text conversation, Izuku showed up to your home, emerald eyes as bright and wide as you’d ever seen them. You giggled a bit at his reaction. You didn’t normally have people over, just because you didn’t want them to think you were some sort of overly important person. Mikael was the one with the wealth and stature, and though he was your legal guardian, you didn’t want your home to be what people based their impression of you off of. Your Quirk already made it hard enough to tell who really liked you for who you were.

“I know it seems a little intimidating, but it just comes across that way at first,” you reassured. “Everyone is super nice and accommodating. I’m sure they’ll love you.”

Izuku nodded rigidly, though you could tell by the look in his eyes that he was very much still dazed and in awe. You led him inside, where Freja and Mikael were waiting to greet him in the lobby. Rui wasn’t working today, which was a bit of shame. You were sure she’d be over the moon to see that you’d brought a boy over.

“Hello,” Mikael greeted, extending his hand out. “You must be Izuku. I’m Mikael, [Name]’s legal guardian.”

“I-It’s very nice to meet you!” the boy squeaked.

“I’m Freja,” she introduced. “It’s a pleasure to have you here. I was wondering who [Name] had been spending all her time with these days.”

Mikael grinned. “She can’t stop talking about you! It seems like you’re one of her closest friends from the class.”

Izuku went red as a tomato, glancing over towards you for confirmation. You nodded, laughing, and his blush somehow deepened even more. He was so easy to read that it was almost criminal.

“Would you like some food?” Mikael offered.

“Oh, um… it’s fine! I ate just before I came here.”

“I see. Well, I hope you two have a good time. If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask either Freja or myself.”

“Yes, thank you so much!”

Izuku flashed them a bright smile, and you didn’t waste a beat before grabbing his hand and leading him along. He stammered out, so flustered he was speaking in squeaks, but he didn’t let go of your hand for a second as you gave him the tour of the manor.

“This is the downstairs kitchen,” you said.

“There’s more than one kitchen?!”

“Yes. And this… is one of eight washrooms in the place. Or maybe there’s more. I don’t remember.”

“There’s more than eight washrooms?!”

Each and every one of his reactions was priceless, and by the end of the tour your stomach hurt from all the laughing. You finally led him towards your bedroom, but as you began to open the door, you could feel the resistance of Izuku tugging back on your hand.

You frowned at him. “Izuku-kun?”

“S-Sorry.” He was staring down at the floor, looking guilty for some reason. “I’ve never… been inside a girl’s room before. Somehow, it feels like I’m doing something I shouldn’t be…”

He’s so cute. I love him.

“We’re friends, so of course I’d let you in my room,” you smiled. “It’s nothing too special anyways. See?” You pushed open the door and gave his hand a small tug. Compared to the rest of the manor, your room wasn’t all that outlandish. It was decorated with your favorite colors, some poster and magazine cut-outs taped to the walls, accessories and clothes and various other things cluttered together. Come to think of it, you probably should’ve cleaned up a bit before having a guest over.

“It’s really cute,” Izuku breathed out. Not two seconds later, he realized what he’d just said, and started stammering out apologies. You laughed again.

“Thanks. I’m glad you like it. Oh, yeah—you’re a huge fan of All Might’s, aren’t you?”

He flashed you a sheepish smile. “Um… yes. I mean, you know that he’s my inspiration for becoming a hero in the first place, so I’m definitely a fan. I might even be his biggest fan…”

“You probably have a lot of merch and stuff, right?”

“I guess it depends on what you mean by a lot?”

“So, that’s a yes,” you laughed. “Well, I probably don’t have you beat or anything, but since Mikael travels overseas so much, he’s able to score a bunch of merchandise that isn’t available in stores here. Especially in America, there’s so much stuff dedicated to All Might. Look.”

You walked over towards your desk, opening up the lowest drawer. There were tons of things inside, but what you were interested in was the mint-condition figurine still secured in its box. You showed it to Izuku and watched the eyes nearly bulge out of his head.

“T-That’s—!” He stuck out his pointer finger, mouth agape. “It’s part of the series with his Golden Age outfit that’s sold exclusively in America! I wanted to order it online, but it was so rare that you could only buy it in stores during its launch! I-I can’t believe you’re in possession of such a treasure, [Name]-chan…!”

His excitement was even more pronounced than you’d been expecting. You smiled brightly, placing the box in his hands. “There. It’s yours now, Izuku-kun.”

“Eh? N-No way!” he stammered out. “This is limited edition! You’re never going to be able to buy it anywhere ever again!”

“That’s fine by me. I was actually hoping to show it to you. I definitely like All Might, but I’m nowhere near as big of a fan as you are. I’d rather it belong to someone who can appreciate it.”

“Seriously…?” Izuku stared down at the boxed figurine, incredulous. “But even still… this is way too much! There’s no way I’d ever be able to repay you…” His big green eyes began to well with tears, and before you realized it, he’d begun to cry.

“Izuku-kun? Oh, no—I didn’t mean to make you cry! I’m sorry!”

He sniffled, cradling the figurine to his chest. “N-No… I’m just so h-happy… ugh. Sorry… you probably think I’m so lame right now…”

“No, of course not.” You ruffled his curly hair with your fingers. Almost immediately, his tears stopped, and a deep flush overtook his cheeks instead. “You’re really amazing, working with a power like the one you have. It must be pretty scary to have to worry about injuring yourself so severely every time you use it. I couldn’t imagine.”

“That just means I need to get stronger,” he said resolutely. “I haven’t made this power fully mine yet.”

“Fully yours?”

“N-Nevermind!” he squeaked, jolting back as if he’d seen a ghost. “I was just mumbling to myself again!”

“Ha-ha, alright. Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

“Um, yes! I’m good with whatever you want to do, [Name]-chan.” He smiled shyly, still cradling the boxed figurine to his chest. “I really don’t know how to repay you, even if you say it’s not that big of a deal. For me, this is huge.”

You giggled, lightly tapping by the freckles on his cheek. “It’s fine for now. But maybe one day I’ll ask you for a little favor in return.”

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[aka-quotemarks]

A pet peeve and some opinions, concerning the depictions of the one with the moniker of Don Sombrero.

Hat Guy can be read as a character who's grown a rough prickly shell to protect his soft gooey inside. This means he can very easily be mistaken for, or re-framed as, a Tsundere. It annoys me, I don't know why, but I want to enjoy some SethoScara or some KazuScara or any other Scara pairing, without reflexively flinching away from the fifth tsuntsun Hat Guy in a row. Moving on from the pet peeve and into a three part request for something I want more of.

Hat Guy speaks dramatically! He's not going to throw some meaningless vulgarity around. Noooo! He's gonna insult his target in a way that diminishes them as a person. He's not going to call someone a bitch, or a fucker, or an asshole. He's going to call the target of his ire, 'stupid' 'weak' 'worthless' and say things like 'why are you even here?' 'you aren't worth my time or my attention'. Insults, not vulgarities.

Hat Guy speaks dramatically! He's someone who has spent most of his life partially blaming his pain on having once been naive, innocent, and kind. You've all heard what the Kabukimono sounded like, you know what he sounded like after losing all his memories, what he, for lack of a better term, naturally sounded like, he sounded innocent and naive. He knew that too, and he changed it. Where was a wandering eccentric in Inazuma supposed to find a model to voice train himself on. I'll tell you where. Open air theatre. Hat Guy voice trained himself using open air Kabuki Theatre. Specifically he based his voice on the bad guy of those stage plays. Who was always called Kunikuzushi.

Hat Guy speaks dramatically!

If he doesn't sound like he's delivering lines on a stage half the time he's speaking, he's not being dramatic enough. Last and debatable least, but also arguably most is...

Hat Guy has a sense of humor.

Surprising, unless you pay attention to his voice lines, and read the Opulent Husk lore. While it could be confused for Yae Miko's sense of humor, which appears to be based around an aggressive sense of of Schadenfreude, Hat Guy's sense of humor revolves around getting a rise out of people. He want's to see his victims face twist in an uncontrolled rush of emotion. So he'll charge up an attack while growling at the Traveler, then laugh and tease when they flinch. He'll claim to want to go commit some more atrocities just to see the look on the Traveller's face as they question whether or not to take him seriously. He'll accept the moniker of 'Hat Guy' with relatively little complaint, because now all he has to do now is act mildly insulted anytime someone calls him that and he gets to watch Academia scholars trip over themselves as they panic over this apparent social faux pas. And it means Paimon loses out on picking his nickname, anything to get a rise out of her.

[epickiya722]

Hi, I just wanted to say your blog has gotten me through all the my hero academia discourse from the epilogue leaks that have came, out I just find it so frustrating Remembering when chapter 430 came out the leaks taken out of context again. Seeing people hate on midoriya is frustrating to me as a midoriya lover and a bakudeku shipper. Being in fandom is so tiring will definitely be taking a break from my hero academia until Dec 4 when the volume officially comes out.

First, you're welcome!! ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )

Second, you should take your break!

I'm with you on how frustrating how this fandom can be. I am, too, a Midoriya fan (you already know I'm about to say he's my #1 tied with Miruko) and being a multishipper, I have came to like BakuDeku.

I'll tell you, seeing how everyone is reacting, I frankly find myself highly annoyed.

I don't discriminate, so I'm annoyed with just about everyone right now.

From saying this is canon and this is ruined and whatever else isn't helping anything.

It seemed almost no one learned.

The full chapter isn't out yet and people want to start ship wars.

BakuDeku's now coming for Horikoshi's throat are doing exactly what others have been saying for years, you are really proving what antis and others have been trying to call you folks! They've been calling the shippers "toxic" and now with the leaks out, BakuDeku are acting out. I thought you were better than this! Don't be attacking people, hello? Let alone the fucking mangaka???!!!

You can ship BakuDeku! Don't feed the haters what they want! DO BETTER!!

Oh, the other ship shouldn't celebrate so soon either. "Horikoshi has been hinting IzuOcha since the beginning. BakuDeku's were delusional into thinking their ship would be canon."

Show me you're an ass without telling me. Case and point.

First, can we drop that word, "delusional"? I hate it.

Second, I don't know if anyone is really paying attention, but the most Horikoshi has done with IzuOcha was make it feel one-sided. Izuku barely shown anything towards Ochako except being flustered around her like once or twice because she's a girl. Just like he has done with other girls.

BakuDeku shippers weren't delusional to ship them because look at the manga, just look. They even have a volume cover that looks to be a reference to Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy!!

What I hated about Ochako having a crush wasn't that she had a crush. It's Izuku, why wouldn't she like him? What I hated was the fandom chose to only recognize her for that. Whether you hated or loved Ochako, it feels like injustice to her to think only her crush on Izuku was important and then assume from barely fucking nothing that after eight years, he wants to date her because his possibly drunk ass looked at her and thought "I want to make her my wife, she's so pretty".

Sorry but it's a played out trope.

And after reading his previous works, Horikoshi making the main boy and girl canon don't even seem like his forte. It just don't feel right.

Now, them dating isn't bad and I know some people think "it will ruin Ochako's development" but again... how we know that with very little information?

And Izuku, my favorite green bean... this fandom really doesn't get you. I have unfollowed and blocked so many people within just year alone because of these bad takes about him.

"Bakugou should take that suit back". Bakugou isn't the only one who contributed to that suit. Yeah, he gave the most donation but saying that just makes him sound controlling. Don't do that. Don't make him sound like someone who would deprive someone of something just to control their actions. Bakugou fans, come on now.

After all the years of Bakugou being hated? Don't do that to him. I mean, I'm already disappointed in some of you, but come on.

Izuku ain't do nothing wrong that we know of! Cool your jets, first!

We don't have no full translation. We don't have all the pictures. The leaks gave to little to darn near nothing.

We don't know everything, but apparently it doesn't matter to anybody, does it, friend? (I meant the friend part affectionately!)

Again, I'm annoyed at just about everyone right now about this. Nothing is canon until everything is out on the table and every little detail is seen.

People were acting like 430 was such a terrible ending even before the whole chapter came out and now seeing them go "I guess that chapter wasn't so bad" is so funny to me. Oh, now it doesn't?

[marigold-hills]

Dunes & Waters, part 20

PART 1 • PREVIOUS PART • NEXT PART

“Werewolves?” Sirius asks, and there’s nothing in his voice.

This is the moment, Remus thinks. A fraction of what Sirius thinks about people like – monsters like him. But Sirius shows nothing, doesn’t flinch, doesn’t react, doesn’t respond.

“Yes.”

And Sirius turns to him and swings the world on its axis: “neat,” he says. “Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“That I think it’s neat? Or the why?”

“Both, I suppose.”

“Well, it’s cool, isn’t it. Werewolves. How they’re perceived through history. Not something I thought about studying, and especially not in Egypt… Norse history, maybe. So: why?”

It’s on the edges of his tongue. Because I am one. He wants to say, but doesn’t. Sirius it taking this remarkably well, but this is academia, and he has a curious mind. There probably isn’t much he’d object to studying if it could further his knowledge.

“Like you said,” Remus lies, “it’s cool.”

Sirius grins so brightly it rivals the false sun. Turns back to the board. “Alright. Now we can work.” Writes WEREWOLF? In big bold letters at the top. “That makes so much sense now. See I told you, you should have just told me from the start, we might have been here weeks ago.”

Sirius’ demeanour doesn’t change an iota. Like he really doesn’t mind. Like he doesn’t care that they’re studying a XXXXX-class monster. He’s just happy to have a breakthrough and he’s humming to himself while he stares down his board with a renowned wind.

“So Lupus makes sense. It’s always a wolf, sometimes a dog-man. Wepwawet, same thing. Wolf god. But the falcon? I’m not sure how that lines in. Nor Anubis. He’s not a wolf as well, is he?”

“No. Just a dog.”

“Just a dog, he says. Nothing just about dogs. They’re magnificent creatures, you know?”

ANUBIS he writes on the board, cheeky smile and aura of elation. Academic excellence never looked so hot on anyone. Protector of graves, a bullet point, then another: usher souls to the afterlife.

“I’m not very familiar with Wepwawet,” he says in way of explanation, looking embarrassed. It makes a blush spread under his eyes and its so lovely Remus has to look away.

“What do you need to know?”

“What’s his role?”

Remus tells him, and Sirius writes it down. Wolf-god, opener of ways, hunter.

“He opens the way to, and through, Duat. In the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, he guides the deceased.”

Sirius adds to the board. Writes DEATH under Anubis and under Wepwawet. A series of question marks next to the Falcon and the Wolf. “I’m not sure how all of this goes together.”

“You’ve gotten a breakthrough today. Sleep on it,” Remus checks the time, “Merlin, it’s two in the morning. Let’s leave it here for today, alright? Shall we aparate back to the hotel?”

“Let’s walk,” Sirius looks at his board like it will be physically painful to step away from it. “I need to clear my head.”

They walk. It’s quiet. Sirius is deep in thought and doesn’t point out any stars and he’s just as lovely now as when he was animated.

NEXT PART

NOTES:

sorry for spamming today! Apparently so her thing is working, but I always feel weird posting more than one part in a day

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