#because the heroes often get lumped in with them too

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

Many people, including Disney fans themselves, view the Disney Prince (with very, very few exceptions) as a guy who is just....there and the least interesting, compelling, most bland and personality-less character in the whole cast, but the thing is that this stereotype applies to the very old ones (and this is primarily because back then it was damn near an impossible task to animate a realistic-looking human, let alone a MALE human), yet it has been applied to any Disney Prince that isn't Flynn Rider (and quite possibly Naveen, even) and it low-key upsets me because it's far from true. I saw a post that said that there were only two Disney Princes (guess who they were!) that were "worth anything" (obviously stating the rest were just worthless) and that pissed me off. The only time they ever get brought up is to bash the Princessess instead of looking at the positive qualities that they have because, yes, they do have those! They aren't just there to look good and exist. I think they should be defended more because I honestly think they are just as misunderstood, if not more, in some cases.

[sansaorgana]

— A SMALL PRICE TO PAY

PAIRING — King Aegon II Targaryen x fem!Reader

SUMMARY — You visit Aegon with your children in his chambers after he nearly lost his life due to his reckless decision to join the battle.

AUTHOR’S NOTE — This is just a very self-indulgent fic where both twins are alive (I haven't described their looks because Reader is their mother – I have only mentioned their hair colour) and Aegon's injuries aren't even half as bad as in canon. 🙈

WORD COUNT — 3,600

ENGLISH IS MY SECOND LANGUAGE.

A SMALL PRICE TO PAY

When your servants informed you about Aegon planning to depart on Sunfyre and that he was getting fully armoured, your heart stopped beating for a good while before you gathered your skirts in your hands and rushed all the way to the Dragonpit. Your sworn guard could barely keep up with your pace.

“My Queen!” He tried to stop you but you remained deaf to his pleas. All that was important to you was to stop Aegon from making a mistake.

You knew what he was planning to do because all those nights when he had been drunk on wine and whining about his council ignoring him, he had been threatening to just hop on his dragon and join the real fight eventually. Something had to happen on that day, which had finally pushed all his buttons and caused him to take the drastic step.

But when you ran into the Dragonpit, he was already gone. You rushed outside and looked up. The beautiful Sunfyre was up in the sky and flying away. You put your hand over your forehead to cast a shadow upon your face.

“The King has already departed, My Queen,” your sworn guard informed you and took a few deep breaths in after the rapid chase.

“May the Gods protect our King,” you swallowed a lump in your throat and whispered a short prayer. There was nothing you could do now, really. You didn’t have your own dragon, on which you would hop on to join him in the battlefield to help him.

That feeling of being helpless was the greatest burden. Therefore, you understood your husband’s frustration. He was the King, after all, and he wanted to feel like one.

But you were the Queen. And all you could do was to wait and pray.

The news from Rook’s Rest came with a raven and you were in the room with the Dowager Queen Alicent when you read that King Aegon had managed to kill Meleys and her rider, Princess Rhaenys. However, the King himself and his own dragon Sunfyre were injured. The letter brought to you did not dwell on the state of either of them.

You finished reading the words out loud and glanced at your mother-in-law. She covered her face with her hand to muffle the sound of a sob coming out of her mouth. Your lips were trembling, too.

“He’s alive,” you tried to comfort both her and your own self. “And a hero, too.”

“My boy…” Queen Alicent stood up to approach the window.

“With all due respect, My Queen,” you stood up and dropped the letter onto the surface of the desk before approaching her. “We both know why Aegon went to the battle. The servants informed me about his drunken state and… An argument… Between you two,” you told her, carefully. You did not want to damage the relationship you had with Queen Alicent.

She was a good mother-in-law and she loved her children, however, sometimes, she struggled with emotions. Which was no fault of hers, especially now, on the verge of a civil war – everyone struggled. But you were also aware of how important she was to your husband.

Sometimes, it felt as if his mother was the only important person in his life. He did not care for anyone else as much as for her – excluding your children, of course. But his mother was often the main subject of his conversations when you two were alone, discussing your problems. And no matter how much love and support you were showing to him, he was still unsatisfied because what he craved and needed truly was her approval. 

“I deeply regret the words I have said to him,” Queen Alicent turned around to look at your face. “But they cannot be undone now.”

“No, they cannot,” you nodded and she sobbed once more. You felt bad for her, so you put your hand gently on her shoulder. “Do not put all the blame on yourself, My Queen,” you whispered to her. “My husband is known for being impulsive and it is not a secret he likes wine more than he should.”

“And who raised him this way?” Queen Alicent asked you with her big brown eyes filled with pain and guilt.

“My husband had a father, too,” you reminded her. “Also, some… Some things… Us, parents, we cannot help them. Our children are not our property but humans of their own and we cannot shape them the way we like. There are often forces stronger than us that mislead and misguide them from our paths,” you comforted her.

When the knights came back from Rook’s Rest, they had Meleys’ head that they were showing off to the peasants as they praised your husband’s victory. You had to admit, the sight of that red beast’s head was gruesome and the smell was awful as well, however it brought some pride to you that it was your husband who had slain her.

Still, he was what you cared about the most. You rushed to his chambers where he would be brought by the knights and where the Maesters waited for his arrival.

You were scared to see what state he was in. You were scared to see the injuries and blood but you were his wife and you couldn’t imagine hiding somewhere else. You just had to endure it and remain by his side. Queen Alicent stood by you as well and you both waited. When you heard the approaching footsteps, she reached her hand out to grab your wrist and you held her hand to squeeze it in a comforting manner. You both needed that.

The nauseous smell reached your nostrils first – metallic scent of blood and the eye-watering stench of burnt flesh. Groaning Aegon was laid down on his bed as Maesters rushed to his side before you could take a better look at his face.

Queen Alicent gasped and turned around to cry but you let go of her hand and tried to stand between all the men gathered around your husband’s bed.

“My Queen, please,” one of the Maesters looked at you pleadingly. “Do not interrupt, for the King’s sake.”

“That is not a sight for the Queen,” another one told you.

“He is my husband!” You pushed him away to get closer to Aegon and the sight of him made your heart clench.

You sobbed just like his mother at the sight of his skin covered in bruises and blood, while the left part of his body was burnt in many places to the point that his armour had melted into his skin – Maesters worked on removing it as quickly as possible. Even Aegon’s face was burnt on his left cheek and his leg was broken, too.

“Aegon…” You whispered and walked the bed around to find yourself on the better side of him, the one less injured. You grabbed his hand to squeeze and he hissed out of pain before laying his teary eyes on you. “Oh, Aegon…” You sobbed some more and fell to your knees to place a kiss upon his hand before pressing it to your forehead. “I have been praying for you, my King. Thank the Gods for bringing you back to me and now might they grant you strength…”

“My Queens, please,” Grand Maester Orwyle looked at Queen Alicent. “We will call for you after we are done with the King. Let us work now.”

You tried to stand up but you stumbled and it was your sworn guard who had to intervene and raise you up from the floor before walking you out with his hands placed respectfully on your shoulders.

You were pacing around your chambers nervously for the second hour now. All the food brought to you by the servants was lying cold on the table because you couldn’t touch it. Every time someone walked past your doors, your heart was skipping a beat, thinking it was some news about your husband.

Finally, a light knock had your head spinning as you rushed to open the doors before your guard even managed to reach out to push them.

“What is it?!” You asked the Maester standing in front of the chambers.

“The King can receive visitors now, My Queen,” he bowed his head in front of you.

“Thank the Gods,” you mumbled to yourself. “How is he? Will he be alright?”

“His convalescence will be a long one but he will be alright, eventually,” the man answered and then he looked away nervously.

“But…? What is it?!” You furrowed your brows.

“The King might never walk again, My Queen,” he informed you, quietly.

You pursed your lips. The news was heartbreaking for you but you knew it had to be even more devastating for Aegon. On the other hand, you’d rather have him laying in bed all day long than have him dead.

“It is a small price to pay the Gods for sparing his life,” you only nodded. “Thank you, Maester,” you added and walked away.

Before going to your husband’s chambers, you went to the nursery first where your silver-haired twins were playing together, unaware of anything that had taken place on that day.

“Jaehaerys,” you crouched down next to the boy playing with a wooden dragon.

“I don’t want to go to sleep yet,” he whined.

“No, darling, not to sleep,” you caressed his hair and offered him your hand before extending the other one towards Jaehaera. “We are going to see daddy,” you told them. “He is unwell,” you added and the eyes of your children looked up at you, worryingly. “He was fighting in a battle on Sunfyre and he got hurt,” you explained in a way they could understand. “He would love to see you now, I bet.”

Jaehaerys and Jaehaera both stood up and squeezed your hands. You walked them out of the nursery and guided them to your husband’s chambers.

Those had been his own father’s chambers before and Aegon did not like them for that very reason. Most of the time he was spending time and sleeping in your chambers but now you believed he would have to stay in his father’s ones for quite a long time. However, you would visit him every day anyway.

You had been young teenagers when you had met for the first time and you had hated him at first. You still remembered that night when you had been crying from dusk till dawn about the fact you would have to marry him one day. But when you had actually arrived at King's Landing to marry him a few years later, you had been surprised by how much you had grown to like him despite his undeniable flaws.

Also, everyone was saying that your marriage was doing him good and you were changing him for the better. It had always been making you feel proud to hear such words and all of Aegon’s attempts to make you like him more had been only causing you to fall for him harder and harder. Even though some of his attempts had failed, they had still been proving to you that he cared about you.

At the sight of you coming, his guards bowed down and opened the doors leading to your husband’s chambers as they announced you.

“Queen (Y/N) with Prince Jaehaerys and Princess Jaehaera.”

You walked inside the chambers carefully and felt your children squeezing your hands at the sight of their father. Aegon was sitting on the bed now with many pillows behind his back but the bruises had not magically disappeared from his skin after all. Nor had the burns or a broken leg that was now propped up to heal properly.

Aegon cracked a smile at you and his children. You let go of their hands and they looked up at you, questioningly.

“Go to daddy,” you nodded your head at them and they ran up to their father’s bed.

“Daddy!” Jaehaera squealed as Jaehaerys climbed up to sit by Aegon’s better side. Jaehaera tried to do that as well but she struggled. You chuckled at that and helped her.

“Be careful with daddy, he’s still in pain,” you told your children and watched them carefully as they sat by your husband.

Aegon raised his less injured hand to brush their arms with his fingers before laying his hand down again and you took it gently and placed it upon your lap after sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Are you alright, daddy?” Jaehaerys asked with widened eyes. “Mummy said you were in the battle on Sunfyre!”

“Yes…” Aegon answered in a raspy voice before clearing his throat. “Yes, I was. And I won,” he added, weakly.

“When will you be better, daddy?” Jaehaera asked as she crawled closer to her father. She cupped his cheeks gently and you knew it had to bring your husband some pain but he didn’t let it show. His eyes filled with tears again. “You have an ouchie here!” She pointed at his left cheek that was burnt.

“Jaehaera, don’t touch!” You gently took her hand away.

“I don’t know when I will be better, my love,” Aegon smiled sadly at her. “But I will be, I promise.”

“And will that heal?” Jaehaerys pointed his hand at his father’s leg.

“Yes,” Aegon nodded.

“And the ouchie?” Jaehaera’s small lips trembled as her eyes filled with tears.

“The ouchie will stop hurting but it won’t go away. Daddy will forever have those marks from being burnt,” you caressed her hair gently and she sniffled. “Ah, don’t cry, little one, that is an honour for a man to carry such scars. Your father is a hero who has survived dragonfire.”

“Really?!” Jaehaerys asked.

“I have slain Meleys, The Red Queen,” Aegon answered him and Jaehaerys gasped. You could see a shadow of pride on your husband’s face.

“Do spare them the details, dear husband,” you interrupted them, “for they are too small.”

“And how is Sunfyre, daddy?” Jaehaera asked him.

“Right, how is he?” You asked with a furrowed brow. You were curious, too.

“He might never fly again…” Aegon looked away sadly and your heart felt heavy at his words. You were aware of the bond he shared with his beloved dragon but it was also a bad omen, you thought. 

If Sunfyre would never fly again, it could mean that your husband would never walk again either. You swallowed a lump in your throat and gave his hand a light squeeze to let him know you would stay by his side no matter what.

“If Sunfyre can’t fly again, I will let you fly on my dragon sometime, daddy,” Jaehaerys tried to cheer his father up with a sweet smile and Aegon chuckled at that. His hand left your lap to ruffle his son’s hair.

Jaehaerys’ dragon was so young that it was still smaller than him.

“I will let you fly on mine, too!” Jaehaera promised. “But not to battle!” She added and Aegon bopped her on the nose.

Her dragon was even smaller than her brother’s.

“Thank you, my sweetlings,” your husband nodded at them and you spotted exhaustion in his eyes, which you were not surprised to see after such a long and painful day.

“It’s bedtime for you, my darlings,” you reminded your children and they whined. “We will visit daddy again, on the morrow, yes?”

“Can I bring my toys here on the morrow and play with them with you, daddy?” Jaehaerys asked.

“Can I, too?” His sister’s eyes widened.

“Yes… Yes… If I am not too tired, that is,” Aegon promised them.

“If not on the morrow, then some other day,” you stood up and helped your children to jump off of Aegon’s bed. “Your father won’t leave these chambers for a long time,” you gave him a scolding look since, after all, it had been his fault that he was lying there. And now, seeing that he would be quite alright eventually, you allowed yourself to have such thoughts instead of drowning in worry.

“Good night, daddy,” Jaehaerys and Jaehaera said in unison before the doors opened in front of you.

“Take them to their nanny and tell her it’s their bedtime already,” you informed your sworn guard who was waiting for you outside, following you like a shadow as usual.

He nodded at you and extended his hands for the Prince and Princess to take them. They held onto him and you watched them walk away before you took a deep breath in and turned around to go back to your husband.

Once again you sat on the edge of his bed and you sighed at the sight of him. His eyes were full of tears now as he avoided your gaze.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled out.

“You reckless fool!” You exclaimed and then you covered your mouth with your hand and you looked away, too. “I could have lost you…”

“Well, that would have been for the better. Now you have a cripple for a husband,” Aegon remarked.

“It is not known yet,” you pointed out and leaned in to be closer to him. This action made him finally turn his head around to look into your eyes. You spotted a few tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Even if I walk again, I will forever have those scars. And for the upcoming months you will be like my mother when she was taking care of my father…” Aegon’s voice was full of remorse.

“I do not care about those scars,” you assured him and gently wiped his tears away with your thumb. “And I shall nurture you willingly and without complaints. However, I shall never let you forget that all of this is a result of your foolish, impulsive decision!” You clenched your jaw. “Thank the wine and your hot head for the state you are currently in.”

Aegon looked down, not being able to stand your gaze anymore. He was full of shame and you took a deep breath in to calm down before leaning in and placing a soft, tender kiss upon his forehead. You loved him, after all.

“You were here… When they brought me,” he whispered. “It’s all blurry, the memory. But you were here, holding my hand…” He looked up.

“We both were, your mother and I,” you told him. “Of course, how could I… How could we not?” You smiled at him.

“Poor Sunfyre…” Aegon’s eyes filled with tears again. “He lost a wing because of me.”

Your eyes widened at his revelation. You had no idea how serious Sunfyre’s injuries were.

“I’m sure Meleys suffered worse,” you pointed out. “It is a war, Aegon, and the dragons are involved now. However, over my dead body you will go to battle again! You have already proven yourself and the Kingdom needs you alive and inside the Red Keep,” you lowered your voice. “You do not wish to be a puppet, my love? Then you have to live and be strong enough to rule.”

Aegon sighed and you caressed his hair gently. You knew that the crown upon his head was nothing but a burden to him. 

“Will you help me?” He asked, looking deep into your eyes.

His question surprised you greatly because so far, he had often asked you to stay away from the schemes of his council members and the council itself. So far, he had been relying on his mother in such matters.

Then you realised – seeing the pleading and trustful look in his eyes – that you somehow replaced her for him. It was a bittersweet feeling.

“I will, darling,” you nodded. “Of course, I will. I love you,” you assured him and kissed his forehead once more. “Now rest, My King,” you kissed his nose and then lips, very carefully.

You squeezed his hand for the last time and waved at him before walking out of his chambers. You spotted the Dowager Queen Alicent pacing down the corridor and waiting for her turn to see her son.

“(Y/N),” she approached you and held your hands. “I did not want to interrupt you. Is he quite alright?” She asked.

“He is… Well, better than I expected after seeing him right after the battle,” you told her and she sighed out of relief. “You can see him now, but please, not for long, My Queen. I would rather him rest and sleep,” you explained and Queen Alicent nodded at that.

“Thank you…” She whispered and you furrowed your brows because you had a feeling she was thanking you for more than just informing her about her son’s health. “Thank you for loving him… For loving him the way I could not,” her voice broke.

And so did your heart at her words.

“My Queen, I can only pray to the Gods to be a mother as devoted as you are,” you smiled at her gently.

She wasn’t perfect and she had made mistakes she was very well aware of. However, it was not your role to torment her or judge her. Especially that you were playing on the same team and you both had the same amount of love in your heart for the man who had nearly lost his life earlier today – her son and your husband.

Queen Alicent smiled back at you but her smile was one of the sad kind.

“I shall pray to the Gods for them to bless you more than me in that matter.”

MASTERLIST

[the-modern-typewriter]

If you’re interested dear writer, a protag who used to be beholden to something powerful, but fled and found safety in someone else, a powerful mentor figure of some sort, only to find out that years later the villain has gained the ability of possession—not because they’ve possessed the protag, but the mentor they thought so strong

"No." They were torn, ravaged, between sick horror and an even more nauseating relief. Their mentor hadn't betrayed them, hadn't been playing them. But their mentor... "Get out of him." The protagonist's voice shook. "You can't - they're -"

Their mentor was supposed to be too powerful for anyone to take, to hurt. He was supposed to be untouchable. He wasn't supposed to be yet another puppet for the villain's insidious designs.

Their mentor's head tilted and it was - it was still such a them gesture that the protagonist had to take several large steps back to lean against the opposite wall before their legs gave out.

"Get," the protagonist said again, "out."

As if commands would work, as if their relationship with the villain had ever been of the sort where they gave the orders. As if it was all as simple as no, and don't, and please.

The protagonist summoned power to their fingertips. It felt like waving a candle in the face of an avalanche. Pathetic.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the villain said. "I would never hurt you."

The villain's voice still sounded like their mentor's voice. Gruff and reassuring. The protagonist would have preferred the eerie strain of vocal chords stolen, of something forcibly taken, because hearing the villain's words in their mentor's voice was so much worse.

"How long?" the protagonist demanded, a rancid taste in their mouth. "How long have you been possessing him?"

It felt like they should know. It felt like the worst treachery that they didn't know, that they hadn't noticed. They prayed it was a matter of hours, days, even a week or two.

They tried not to think what the hell they were going to do, when the one person they thought would - could - protect them had been taken.

"You don't want to make a guess?"

"How. Long."

The villain wet their lips. A hungry gesture, something dark and insatiable creeping out beneath the familiar veneer of safety.

The power in the hero's hands flickered and snuffed.

"A little over a year," the villain said.

"No." The protagonist shook their head, a lump in their throat. "You're lying - no."

"I have never lied to hurt you."

"Possessing someone is lying." And it hurt. It hurt like the world was falling down.

"Possessing him didn't hurt you." The villain moved closer, as if they had every right to do so, and squeezed the nape of the protagonist's neck like their mentor so often did. It should have been grounding. It felt like a greater violation that it still felt grounding. Like the villain had stolen all of their mentor's tricks, hijacked muscle memory and instinct for their own purpose. "It gave you the time you needed, kept you safe."

"He kept me safe."

The villain smirked, a slip of a cruel intoxicating thing. "Not for the past year, he didn't."

The protagonist recoiled.

The villain's hand moved, lightning-quick, cupping the back of their head and stopping them from smacking it against the wall.

The protagonist froze. They peered up at their mentor's face, searching for the monster beneath the surface. The thing that they had run from. The thing that had, for the last year...

"Besides," their villain said, voice low. "You basically just ran to another version of me. It's actually quite sweet."

"He's nothing like you."

"You couldn't tell the difference."

The protagonist flinched. "I-"

"You ran to something powerful, something greater than you." The villain squeezed again, harder, even as their voice softened to something more like their own. "Because you're not strong enough to protect yourself. You've never been strong enough on your own. What if he'd hurt you, hm?"

"He's not you. He wouldn't-"

"-When have I ever hurt you?"

"You'd swallow me whole." It came out a whisper, as pathetic as their power compared to the villain.

The villain smiled, a terribly gentle thing. "And wouldn't that be my right?"

"He'd say no."

"That's because he wants you all to himself."

"No."

"Yes." The villain stepped back, but it didn't make the protagonist feel any less crowded in, any less smothered, any less like they were wrapped in the coils of a serpent about to be devoured. "And if you wanted otherwise, you would have noticed far earlier that he wasn't running the show. It was always going to be us. It's always us. You and me."

Maybe the villain was right. The protagonist hadn't noticed, had they? And - as they'd grown closer to their mentor in the last year, they'd felt so safe and so wanted. Maybe their mentor didn't want them at all. Maybe that was the possession.

No. No.

The protagonist squeezed their eyes shut, pressing their trembling hands over their face. That wasn't the point. It couldn't be the point.

"He's in there?"

"Come home," the villain said. "And don't run away again, and I won't need his body anymore."

"I want to talk to him. I want - I need to know that he's okay."

The villain stared at them for a beat.

"Please." The protagonist tried it anyway. "I can't leave without knowing he's okay. He was - you can appreciate that he kept me safe, right? When I was an idiot. Safe for you."

A shudder ran through the villain, and then something else crept into their mentor's eyes. Fear. Fury. Protectiveness.

"Don't go with them. It's not your fault," their mentor said, rushed. "I wanted to protect you, so I told them what to say, how to behave. It was better than-"

In an instant, the villain was back in control.

The protagonist stared, wide-eyed. Everything slid towards horror.

The villain's breathing was a little heavy. Their hands flexed at their sides.

"You're mine." The villain turned away. "And he can't protect you from anything, let alone me. Come home. It will be your chance to protect someone else for once, won't it?"

The protagonist went back to the place they would never, ever, call home again.

[itsabouttimex2]

Hello there! could we see a prequel of when platonic yandere Erasermic first saw Cloud quirk reader! I feel like the reader wouldn't exactily look like oboro, but then seeing that quirk and having that energetic personality would send the memories of oboro back into there mind

These two mourn Oboro to this day. It’s a major part of both of their characters, woven into their beings. They won’t move on. They can’t forget. So when they see you, something kind of cracks inside them.

Aizawa pauses, and just… stares. His chest tightens painfully, as a deluge of long-buried memories gnaw at his mind. It’s easy to that he’d be the strong one, the stoic one. But he isn’t. He’s a broken man long burdened by grief. It’s clear he hasn’t managed to move on from losing Oboro in the slightest.

However, Hizashi was able to healthily move on to some degree and become a teacher, a DJ, a radio host, a hero. Sure, it’s possible that he uses his exuberance to cope with grief or to draw Aizawa out of his worst moments, but he stills manages to be sunny and bright. All the same, he possesses a well-hidden ruthlessness and an extremely powerful Quirk that he’s not afraid to use. The moment he stops smiling, it’s probably time to run and hide, because something is terribly wrong.

And when he sees you, he stops smiling. There’s a moment where his larger than life personality and cheery disposition both slip, leaving him in a rare state of shocked silence. Hizashi just stands and watches, eyes going wide behind his concealing sunglasses. His gangly arms drop to his sides, his every bit of attention focused on staring you down.

Maybe it’s some kind of cruel joke. Maybe he’s been hit by a Quirk, creating a tailored distraction to keep him from noticing an approaching foe. Maybe he’s just seeing things. But no, he isn’t. You’re real, with his personality and Quirk.

———————————————————————

“Oboro…,” Aizawa mumbles to himself, caught in a similar state to his loudmouth friend. His bloodshot eyes catch on your smile, watching as you chat with a friend. The two of you walk side by side, trails of vapor and fog drifting from your fingertips as you show off your Quirk. Your friend laughs in amazement, watching in awe as the clouds shift into different shapes and figures, bending perfectly to your will.

Once, Oboro had done the same for him. Whenever Aizawa seemed down, he’d whip up a cloud and shape it into the cutest kitten he could manage, often ending up with a horrifically disfigured mess that had his friend stifling a smile.

Words catch in his throat. He can barely think straight. It feels like he can’t even stand.

He stumbles through the halls, making the short trip to his classroom, still empty. He snatches his phone from his pocket, fumbling with it until he has his loud-mouthed on the other end.

“You saw them. I know you did. Why didn’t you… why didn’t you warn me?”

A loud sigh from the other end. “Sorry, Sho. The kid’s in class 1-B, so I figured I’d get the chance to tell you in person. Didn’t think you’d run into them so soon.”

He desperately racks his brain for something to say, some way to respond. Hizashi beats him to it.

“Actually, Nemuri learned before me, and didn’t say a word either. I think she’s a little broken up too, honestly. Least we’re not alone, right?”

At least they’re not alone. Aizawa would agree, but can’t manage to swallow the lump in his throat. He just holds the phone to his ear, wondering if it was a blessing or curse that you didn’t get put in his class.

“They seem like a good kid, Sho. I’m gonna keep an eye out for them.”

“So they don’t end up like Oboro” is the unspoken second half of that last sentence. Voicing it out loud makes it a legitimate fear. Leaving it vague means the image stays vague, the fear stays vague. Just an uncanny feeling of potential danger, rather than outright fear for a child’s mortality.

“You know what, Mic? I think I’ll keep an eye out for the kid too.”

Because he can’t bring himself to relive that scene ever again a child shouldn’t have to worry about getting hurt at UA.

So they’ll look out for you. Nothing strange about it. Nothing serious, no cause for alarm.

Not yet.

[kissami]

I DON'T

SUM. you had enough of life at home. You leave and suddenly arrive to your manager's house that you always go for when life is a mess for you. Too bad you forgot who her younger brother of 10 years was.

fem!reader with she/her pronouns

Latina!chubby!reader

song to listen to : I don’t by Sabrina Claudio

warnings: angst, family issues, cursing, I mean come on its Katsuki...AGED UP PRO HERO KATSUKI YESSSSS

“She didn’t defend me and let grandma call me lazy when I was helping too.”

“Stop being so dramatic oh my god.”

It was chilly tonight, but you didn’t care. You wanted to get away from home so desperately.

It was a stupid argument, but this argument had added on continuously which led to you leaving so abruptly. You’ve bitten your tongue so many times, not wanting to escalate the situation even though you had the right to.

Everyone had always claimed that you could tell them anything, especially your mother, but when you do and you’re vulnerable with her, she always had to say you were dramatic.

Being at your grandmas was your safe place, but whenever you were there with your older sister, it always had its way of making you look bad.

Ever since you were a child, you were compared to her. Like you weren’t as amazing as your older sister.

She cleaned, washed the dishes, swept and mopped at the age of 5. You were three years younger than her, but that was when you were seen as “la floja,”.

The older you had gotten the worse it got.. You both would clean together, do things together, but she always got the credit. Never saying anything to defend you when your family called you useless, the lazy one, the one who never changed.

Today was the day you were done being called lazy, the one who didn’t do anything because she was much bigger than her siblings; which would make sense to your family on why you were deemed lazy.

You knew deeply you weren’t though. You did so much yet no one seemed to notice until you made a simply mistake ONCE.

“It seems even at this age she still doesn’t do anything and leaves it for you still huh?” Your grandma said in her native tongue as she stood next to your older sister as she washed dishes.

You were there before, helping her dry them and put them away. You asked her if that was all and you walked away, but all of a sudden your grandma was there drying new dishes.

You felt your cheeks burn and a lump in your throat the way your grandma talked about you and your sister laughing while agreeing.

“She’s just like your cousin, not doing anything. She’s so lazy she can’t simply dry them.”

You felt so embarrassed and hurt that she’d even compare you to her. The girl who never got off her ass, let her dad spend all his money on stupid things while she had money of her own. The girl who’d smoke weed inside and ended up blaming you for it.

You ignored it, walking away as you sat down on the couch and consulted to your mother to just, listen.

But it had ended with her saying how stupid and dramatic you were being for that, leaving you alone as she spoke with your grandma like nothing. You always felt a favoritism with your family towards your sister. You envied her so much, but you tried to not let it get to you.

Today just wasn’t that day. You refused to speak, until your mom had enough and began to speak rudely to you while your sister was being annoyingly confused why you didn’t speak.

Later that night you waited until everyone was off somewhere else, and that was the moment you left. You simply needed a breather, get away from the family party as you departed from the house.

You didn’t realize just how far you had gotten until you reached your manager’s house.

You and her worked together for years and created an amazing relationship. She was like a mother you wished you had sometimes. You loved your mom, so much, but sometimes she would show her favoritism towards your sister too often.

You’ve been to your managers house many times for her sons’ birthdays, family cookouts, or simply just hanging out.

You paused seeing a rather really expensive car outside her driveway, making you hesitant to knock on the door until the door swung open.

You smiled brightly seeing Keiko awing up at you with a soccer ball in his arm. “Y/N, what are you doing here?” He asked as he opened the door wider and pulling you inside.

Keiko was thirteen, with long blond hair and ruby eyes that look identical to the jewel. He was always infatuated with you, a small childhood crush on you that he had the moment he saw you when he was just a child.

All three of her children adored you, loving your presence all the time and always getting excited when you worked the shift when they’d be hanging with their mom or when you’d pick them up from practice.

The one who always brightened up towards you was the eight month old, always blabbering and wanting you to hold him.

Some see it so weird to have such a close friendship with your manager, but the two of you were so similar there wasn’t a chance in hell you two wouldn’t be friends. It seemed inevitable, even if she was 15 years older than you.

“Hey, ke, is your mom here I saw a car outside I’ve never-…seen before?” Your eyes popped out slightly, your jawing almost dropping seeing the familiar blond in the dining room.

“(Y/N), hey!! What brings you here?” You turned around seeing Kira, your manager smiling at you.

You rubbed your eyes, getting rid of the tears as you smiled back.

“Hey I’m sorry for intruding I was just in the neighborhood and decided to visit. I hope you don’t…mind.” You felt the familiar feeling of being deeply stared at, feeling your heartbeat even faster the longer you felt it.

“No no, never! I thought you were at a party tonight?” She placed the bowl of salad down and smiled, holding her hands out to an empty seat that happened to be where he was.

“I was but I got bored. You know how these parties get sometimes…” it seemed she knew exactly what you meant, frowning as she walked over to you and hugged you tightly.

As you pulled away, you looked back and saw the frown you used to be so familiar with, giving those soft eyes you missed.

Kira grabbed your hand, walking to the living room while her kids whined on why she was taking you away from them.

“What happened?” Her eyes were locked solely on you as you spoke.

You told her everything, feeling your hands shake as you talked. “I’m just so…tired of not being enough for anyone anymore. I just want my family to see me.”

She comforted you, rubbing your cheek as you cried. You asked if you could go in the yard to cool off, and she simply waved you off, to take your time.

You cried, feeling so exhausted while you sat on her swinging chair in her pretty yard. It was extremely pretty during the day but with her fairy lights around the whole yard when it was night time, it looked magical.

You felt a gentle push on the swing and you jumped back in surprise as you looked back to see him pushing you.

“Katsuki, you scared the hell out of me!” He chuckled, coming to the front as he stopped the swing.

“Seems like old habits die hard, hm?” He leaned forward and had his face directly in yours while you couldn’t help but lean back towards the pillow of the swing.

“Come on, talk to me. Kira already told me.”

“So why do I need to talk to you if she said it.” You spoke coldly. It just had to be him. Bakugo Katsuki. The most richest man in Japan. The number one hero of all of Asia. Your ex boyfriend.

“Don’t be like that, you ass. Tell me.” Even with the vulgar language he still talked gently. “You know how my family is, Katsuki. It’s nothing really. I guess I just had enough today is all…”

He huffed, extremely annoyed now that you spoke the way you would ever since you two broke up, him still not used to it. Who was he to blame though besides himself? The two of you broke it off months ago, more him, but still.

He missed you, but the way you’re being so cold makes he feel like you maybe did move on the way you said you would when he called it quits.

“It’s not true. None of it is true.” Sometimes you forgot he was related to your manager. It was annoying how he was pitying you. You just wanted some alone time.

“People say otherwise though.” You poked the bear again, knowing just where to get him because he too would always say how lazy you were just to get to you durning arguments.

“Y/N…I’m trying to have a normal conversation with you.”

“Right, normal. Look, it was good seeing you but I got to get home.”you looked anywhere but him, trying to leave the swing as you craved home now, wanting to leave immediately.

He leaned down closer than before, looking deeply in your eyes. You saw the familiar industrial piercing, the eyebrow jewelry popping out against the soft lights outside, and the tight shirt he’d wear whenever he came out of work that left little to no imagination on what’s under the thin fabric.

“Katsuki….”

“I still miss you. So much. I regret everything I said. I was an egoistic asshole who was too stubborn to apologize when everything happened. I needed time, thinking that maybe it’d be the perfect opportunity to let go, but I didn’t want to do it the way I did,” he continued as he grew flustered.

‘Wow, right to the point I see, ‘You thought.

“So please, give me another chance to make it right. I’m…fuck I’m sorry. Really sorry.” He spoke, chewing on the lip ring that hugged his plump bottom lip.

You looked at him concerned and confused, not hearing a genuine apology from him in so long, especially after that last argument that ended your five year relationship.

“…you mean it?” You asked softly, playing with your fingers, a habit you had since UA, before he was a hero, before you two even met. A habit he grew to adore.

Old habits die hard.

“I’m…sorry too. For what I said when you broke up with me and saying how I’d move on, we both know that wouldn’t happen. I was infatuated with you.” You smiled looking up, holding his shoulder as he leaned down closer. You caught a glimpse of your promise ring on his necklace, the one you threw on the floor of your shared apartment when he wanted to leave you.

“I still keep it. Everyday I’d wear it just to remember your face and how much of a fucking idiot I was to ever bring that stupid topic up. I was scared though, when you said that,” he sighed, running his fingers into your hair softly.

‘If you don’t want me I’m sure someone would love and appreciate me! Dont come back to me when I move on with someone who cares!’

“I was stubborn to reach out before that happened, but now that I saw you, I gave up trying to be a hard ass. I needed to tell you have I feel. I’m sorry it took me so long…”

“Katsuki, mom wants you.” You accidentally jumped, banging your head into his and hiss as the both of you grabbed your heads in pain.

“Keiko you motherfucker!” Katsuki barked angrily at his nephew who was standing on the porch holding his baby brother and Kaito; the second oldest, looking at each other smugly.

You stood up smiling, placing a soft hand on Katsuki’s shoulder. The was a bright red mark on his forehead and you could only imagine how yours looked too.

“Thank you, Katsuki. I appreciate you saying how you felt, but I have to go now…” You didn’t know what else to say. It was always you saying these words to him but hearing it from him, it did something to you that made you want to runaway in fear, in fear if you let him in again these words would mean nothing.

Just as you spoke the last two words to him, his phone began to ring. It was your baby sister who was calling him. A FaceTime call at that.

He answered it smiling, seeing your sister again after so long. “Kats! Have you seen my sister?!” You heard her voice wobble, making you peak over giggling.

“Oh baby don’t cry she’s right here.” He handed you the phone as you gushed at how cute she looked.

The two of you talked, mainly you trying to calm down her sobbing. She always brightened your day. Even though she was only five, she truly was one of the closest people you’ve had in so long.

At such a young age she seemed to always understand what and how you felt. The way she feels seeing you in distress made her feel distress. It made you sad seeing how much she feels at such a young age towards you, making you not want to mention anything bad that has happened to you most times.

“KEIKOOOO!” She wailed when you accidentally showed the background making you sigh as Keiko’s eyes bulged out.

It was so funny knowing Keiko had a crush on you while your baby sister had a crush on him, making him kind of understand how you felt when he was a kid when he did the same to you the way you sister is acting now.

“Give Keiko the phone right now!” You saw Keiko slowly walk away with his baby brother, making you smirk as you moved quicker and grabbed baby Keiso before handing Keiko Katsuki’s phone.

“Well aren’t you a sweetie!” You smothered the baby in kisses and laughed as you heard your sister wail to him on how much she missed and loved him.

A few minutes later it was quiet again, you hated the awkward silence but luckily the baby was busy playing with your lips and cheeks, keeping you from glancing over at Katsuki.

“I really do need to go home now…” Katsuki walked over and grabbed Keiso, placing him on the small mat on the ground as he crawled away.

“You walked here right? It’s late, you know how many fucking creeps are out right now? And you live across down so it would makes sense you were at your grandmas but still you-”

You placed a hand out, laughing at his flustered expression as you interrupted him so quickly.

“Yes you can take me home, Katsuki.”

I'm so good at forgiveness

Cause I found it for you so many times

When I think I've hit my limit

You push a bit further

And I draw the line

I keep waiting, no I'm waiting for the tide to change

But I know I'm the one to blame Cause I always choose to stay

“…this song is one of my favorites from her album.” You whispered into the quiet silence, making him nod and cough.

“I know…look…Y/N,I meant what I said. I love you. I’m sorry I pushed you away like that. Like you meant nothing when you mean everything to me.” He parked outside of your grandmas, seeing all of your uncles, cousins, and random people standing outside talking.

He missed this. He missed your family, the food, the way they always welcomed him like he was apart of the family. But gods did he miss you more than anything.

You kept your eyes forward, still not knowing what to do.

“Katsuki…I love you too. So much. I felt so much resentment towards you, always feeling my heart ache when I saw you on random posters and ads, I miss my boyfriend. If I were in your position with starting off in a new environment and job, I wouldn’t know what or how I’d live that way,” placing your hand on his, you turned your head and smiled.

Come here by Sabrina Claudio began playing, making you sigh, feeling the love rush through you.

I'm dying to see you

You know what I'm fiending for The only one to get to me Only one to get this close

So I want you to come here I want you to come here

I just need you near

No matter how, just make it here

“I forgive you.“ that was all you needed to say as he clenched the stirring wheel with one hand and cupping your cheek with the other, placing a soft passionate kiss on your lips.

You two pulled away, chuckling at each other’s pink blushes. Even with how much older the two of you got, you two still felt so deeply for one another. Like you were kids foolishly in love.

A tap on the window came from your side, making your eyes wide as your uncle Jaime stood there smirking.

In your opinion he was the scariest to introduce Katsuki to, but at the end of the day, Katsuki lost his fear and actually grew a tight relationship with your uncles, especially your uncle Jaime who just happened to be staring down at you.

“About time fuckers, this one mopped around like a little fucking puppy.” He laughed, walking away to your family and you saw the bright smile on their faces.

“I guess we have to go in, huh?” You winced, looking at Katsuki expecting to see him be annoyed.

But you knew him better than that. There he was, sitting there with a cheeky smile as he waved to your family from the front seat.

“Why are you making that face, ugly? I love your family come on.”

Your mom looked at you in happiness, seeing your bright face that she missed seeing so much. All you needed was her tight hug, the words of affirmations from her. That’s all you needed to know everything would be okay again.

author’s note yes this is how I feel with my family don’t judge I needed a way to vent okay?? anyways I rushed the end because I did NOT want to make another series that didn’t need one so I’m sorry if I didn’t make your expectations lol

[commander-rahrah]

Talking to the Moon: Part IX

Pairing: Astarion x GN!Reader Word Count: ~2570 Warnings: some borrowed in game dialogue, no use of y/n, canonical warnings apply!

archiveofourown: here

masterlist: here

part I: here part II: here part III: here part IV: here part V: here part VI: here VII: here VIII: here

Summary: Set in the end stages of Act III. The party faces it's biggest threat, yet Astarion can't help but worry about his future with you.

Notes: Hi folks ♡ What a hiatus! But I'm now officially married and loving life with my partner and doggos! This chapter is a bit shorter, but I didn't want to get too nitty gritty with details of the last fights leading up to the netherbrain (cause there is too many scenarios/decisions about who you bring and side with etc. etc.) and also because that's not really what this fic is about so... lol. I just wanted to add in little Astarion POVs and twists here and there for wrapping up the main game/known content so then I can get into the custom/headcannony stuff for the end! I would say there is probably 2 chapters of this left where I can wrap up this little story and give these two little heroes a happily ever after!

Thank you so much for reading! As always, kudos and comments are very very appreciated ♡♡♡

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Astarion’s red eyes couldn’t help but always go to you — visions dancing in them as he envisioned his future life with you.

Like when the group was in Lady Jannith’s house a week ago — ghosts and possessed furniture aside — all he could do was imagine the grand home was both of yours. Lounging on the settee with his head on your lap. Reading a book on one of the high backed chairs in the study. Ravishing you on the large, luxurious four poster bed. In the tub. On the balcony.

He thought his desire for you would be a slow build, a steady incline like the last few months had been. As you had slowly re-wired his mind and soul with your patient, gentle touches. As you showed him what it was supposed to feel like. At first it had been casual touches, then slightly more intimate gentle caresses. Then you kissed him again — gods, he still thought about that kiss on those crumpling ramparts. Then it was more than just his lips you put your mouth on, spreading kisses over parts of him that he had never thought of in that way. And it was like his body was set on fire in a whole different way.

But when you both reached that precipice and jumped off that cliff — when he finally got to have you, again, he was ruined.

You had ruined him. He felt like he could never have enough. Gods, he loved you. And you loved him. You repeated it, continuously to him — the words uttered so often to him that they were beginning to sound like a prayer. You loved him. You said you would love him for the rest of your life.

Your whole life… Just a fraction of his.

You would love him for the rest of your life.

And then he would miss you for all of his.

Save of him suddenly finding a cure for vampirism or you being turned immortal he would lose you one day. A thought that rattled the vampire to the core. Astarion had tried to broach the topic, but you kept brushing it off. To be fair, the entire group was constantly dealing with the looming threat of total annihilation thanks to the Netherbrain — but he couldn’t help but worry. You had finally given him something to hope for, a future to look forward to. Pardon him for being concerned it would be cut prematurely short.

Such worries were flooding through him now, his pale fingers trembling as he looked around the ominous cave. It was dank and dark. It smelled absolutely disgusting, and his boots were wet from having to swim to shore. Yet his red eyes could not stray from you for long, not even as you checked on your friends, grabbing their shoulders and giving them determined nods. He had to force the lump in his throat down into nothing just to keep it together.

He needed to be strong. You needed him to be strong. The vampire needed to put his fears of what the expiration date of "forever" would be for him and his mortal love — if only for long enough to stop the chaos of the Absolute once and for all. No instead he would focus on what he will do once you all won. The celebrations and adventures still to be had. The touches to share, expensive wine to drink and stories to whisper.

His thoughts steadied as you approached, though the smallest line in between your brows caused him worry. "You always pick the most romantic spots." He teased, grabbing onto your waist as you sidled up next to him.

You raised a brow, a smirk tugging on the corners of your lips, "Says the man who brought me to a cemetery."

He barked out a laugh, "Touché."

Your laugh didn't quite reach your eyes, which were instead darting around the cavern nervously.

"Darling," Astarion grabbed onto your chin tenderly, forcing you to look at him. His red eyes flickered back and forth over your features before he finally spoke, "There is no limit to what I would do for you. For us." Your bottom lip trembled at his declaration, silver lining the bottom of your eyes for a moment. "I waited centuries for you. Nothing will stop me from being yours. Not time, or vampire master, or a monstrosity of a brain." His pale thumb brushed the tears away from your eyes, and his lashes blinked his own away, "I love you, my moon."

"I love you, Astarion." You whispered shakily.

He placed his cold lips on yours, more softly than he had ever done before. So soft and tender that he didn’t even realize he was capable of it. Both of his hands cupped the sides of your face, using the momentum to pull your chest flush against his as he deepened his kiss. Before you could react, he pulled away though, letting out a husky breath. "We better survive this. Because I never want to stop doing that."

You blinked yourself out of the stupor he had put you in, looking up at him with shining eyes. "We will."

"Get a room lovebirds!" Karlach's teasing voice echoed from behind. "We gotta brain to kill."

The rest of the group had soft smiles on their face as they looked over you both, before stepping forward with determined nods. 

You straightened your shoulders, standing at full height as you looked over your shoulder to the ominous path ahead, though your fingers still stayed twined in Astarion's. "Shall we then?"

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Gods, were you strong.

Stronger than him undoubtedly — even with his spawn nature and physique.

The concentration in your brow and lip as you held the golden sphere around the group, your hands never faltering as mind flayers and spells and a dragon were hurled at you. Yet your powerful magic kept them all safe, shielded and protected by your will.

The unwavering focus in your eyes as you faced the monstrosity of the Netherbrain. Astarion’s knees had trembled and his dagger would have fallen through the sky if it wasn’t for the enchantment tying it to his palm. But you didn’t falter — though he wasn’t sure if you took a breath the entire time.

Your quick nerve as you and Gale formulated a plan together— the group falling head over heels through the air as you all hurled from the falling Netherbrain and nearing the water below. Your hands steady as they mimicked the wizard’s, casting the spell that defied gravity at the perfect moment.

The conviction in your voice as you said goodbye to some friends — but convinced others to save themselves. Sending Karlach and Wyll off together, bidding Lae’zel farewell for now. Convincing Gale that he himself, as he was, is good and pure and right.

The strength of your mind as you yet again concentrated on a spell — covering you both in magical darkness as Astarion had to flee the sun. The strength of your arms wrapped around his torso as he cried into your chest — already grieving the feeling of the warm light and the new life he had found in it. The strength of your love for him — whispering to him that he would be alright, that it was okay — huddled together in the forgotten alley until with your spell and your soothing voice you were able to coax him from his hiding spot.

Your strength to be vulnerable — to let the mask fall once you, Astarion and Gale were alone. Looking at the empty chairs at the tavern table that once held your friends — now all spread across to different planes of existence in a matter of moments. Your tired, sad smile as you and Gale gave each other comforting hugs, whispering your pride to the other after all of the anguish and turmoil had settled. 

How easily your fingers laced through Astarion’s cool, pale fingers as he dragged you away upstairs to finally be alone. Behind the wooden door, both your masks fully dropped as you embraced each other tightly, faces pressed into each other's necks. “It’s… over. Truly over.” You muttered into his skin, your warm lips eliciting goosebumps on the sensitive skin. 

"Ha," A half-hearted chuckle escaped him, shaking you both slightly. In this moment, it truly sunk in. You were here, you were both here. No tadpoles or mindflayers. No vampire masters or ascendancy to haunt you. You were both yourselves, safe and whole. "It is."

You pulled away to look at him, your eyebrows knitted together, "I thought I would feel more-"

"Relieved?" He finished for you. 

"Yes. I am but... I almost feel more unsettled now than ever before. I can't stop thinking about our friends, our city, the children..."

He grabbed your shoulders tenderly, giving them a squeeze, "No one expects you to have an answer for those things. You've done so much already." 

You flushed, looking down between the two of you. "We have. All of us."

But he lifted your chin with a curled finger, raising your gaze to look back up at him, "Don't sell yourself short. No one would have made it this far without you, my moon. I know I wouldn't have." 

You only sniffled as you blinked away the silver tears that were trying to fall from your eyes. 

"Now, I think the bare minimum the hero of Baldur's Gate deserves is a good night's sleep. Don't you think?"

"Ugh, I feel like I could sleep for a century actually."

"While I don't think I want to part with you for that long, I surely understand the sentiment." He winked, before leading you over to the soft bed in the center of the room. "Sit."

You silently obeyed him, watching him as he kneeled to gracefully untie the laces of your boots before sliding them off. As he worked on helping you change, he could practically see the gears whirling in your head. So he shook his head softly as you finally opened your mouth to speak, "Rest, my love. We can talk about the rest later." 

You nodded in agreement, before reaching across to the other side of the soft mattress and patting it, "Will you lay with me?"

"As long as you will have me."  

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You had hoped for a dreamless night — you had even done a half hearted prayer to Selûne as your head hit the pillow that your mind would find peace after the insanity of the day.

And by her grace or pure luck — or perhaps it truly was from the exhaustion of these past few weeks — you slept. Your mind was clear, and quiet for the first time in months. No dreams, nightmares or visions had come to plague you either. 

As you slowly woke up, you lavished in the sensation of the mattress enveloping you, the soft blankets covering your body. The sensation of Astarion's weight and presence next to you made your heart flutter and stomach warm. When you finally cracked an eyelid open, you found that the vampire's red eyes were already trained on you. He was laying on his side, his head perched on his hand braced on the pillow. His lips quirked up as he realized he had been caught staring.

“Hello, darling.” He whispered affectionately, reaching out to move a stray hair from your face. 

You smiled at the tender touch, before looking around the room quickly. You couldn't tell what time it was — courtesy of both of you 'sunproofing' the room before heading to bed. You suddenly realized the hours you would keep would become very different — not that it bothered you. “Did you sleep at all?”

“Hmm, barely. I thought after everything I would and yet… too much on my mind I suppose.”

"I seem to remember someone giving very specific instructions to get a good night's sleep. Did that not apply to you, starry?" You said with a smirk, stretching your limbs above your head lazily. 

His eyes followed your movements, his lips parting slightly before he spoke again. “I was just thinking of freedom.” He shuffled slightly closer on the bed, “How we're free of the parasite. I'm free of Cazador. How I’ll never be in someone’s power again. And all it cost… was my life in the sun. Now I belong to the shadows. And I can't help but think... now what?" 

Your lips pulled into a sad smile, shifting closer to him as well, “If it’s what you desire, I will help you find a way to walk in the sun again.”

His red eyes went round, “I— do you think it’s possible?”

“I think the last few months have proven that anything is possible.”

A chuckle bubbled out of him, “I guess you’re right. And even if there’s a small chance… plus, it would mean we setting off on another adventure together." He said fondly, before looking back over at you. "Is that what you want? Is this what you want? I would understand if you wanted to go your own way…”

You pressed your fingers to his pink lips, halting his thoughts spiralling down. “This is my own way. With you. Have I not made that clear before Astarion Ancunin?" 

He kissed the pads of your fingertips, before drawing them down to hold to his bare chest. “Good. Because as selfless as I am, I really didn’t want to let you go." He said cheekily, nuzzling closer into you. "We are rather excellent together you know."

"And united there is nothing we can’t do." You said confidently. 

He arched a white brow, "Even making a vampire walk in the sun?" 

"Even that. Though it may not be an exciting adventure at first, it may take some hours in a library completing research first." 

"Ugh, I was hoping you wouldn't say that." He said dramatically, rolling out of your arms to sprawl across the soft mattress. 

You chuckled at him until the sound of a heavy thud outside your door made you both whip your heads forward. With a furrowed brow, you slipped out of the bed and cautiously approached the door. 

It opened with a creak, though no one greeted you on the other side. Looking down, you found several tomes and volumes of books in a neat pile on the floor. Bending low you scooped them up and carried the large stack into the room.

"What in the heavens are those?" Astarion questioned, flopping onto his stomach on the bed as he watched you cross the room. 

You placed them down on the little wooden table next to the bed, before running a finger down the spines with a smile. A Book of Light & Darkness, Curse with Vigor: Casting & Undoing, The Magic of Freedom... 

A folded piece of parchment was placed in between the first two books. Grabbing it, you opened it and instantly recognized the curling cursive inside. 'I hoped you slept better then me. But I had an idea in the middle of the night and made a visit to a friendly wizard's tower. We best get to work.'

You laughed as you handed the note over to the curious Astarion, "It seems Gale had the same idea as us." 

"Well, I guess that means we aren't getting rid of the wizard anytime soon." He said with a fanged grin. "Good, I was just starting to get used to him." 

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 45: Blademaster

Disclaimer: I am not a blademaster, I just play one on TV. (Spoiler alert: I don't play one on TV. Also this post spoils everything to do with Wheel of Time, I mean seriously this very post will casually discuss the final confrontation of the series and parts of the ending without a care for your virgin eyes.) Let's look at some other blademasters who have graced TV (and the page) lately!

This chapter gets a heron-marked blade icon because Rand is going to become a blademaster.

Sitting on an upended barrel in front of a still-closed ironmonger’s shop, Nynaeve warmed her hands under her arms and surveyed her army.

She is not a blademaster, but I guess the very brief time Nynaeve spent as a queen has instilled a sense of authority in her, to be considering Min, Elayne, and a sack as much of an army.

Once again she resolved that if anything went wrong, she would somehow pull attention to herself while Min and Elayne escaped. She had told them to run if anything went wrong, and let them think she would run, too.

Really, if at this point you aren't at least warming up to Nynaeve a bit, you're deliberately blind to her good sides. For all she worries about the group giving her away, she's much more concerned with making sure they escape.

The damane put a shaking hand to her throat, but before the woman in the lightning-marked dress had time to move, the damane turned and punched her in the face; the sul’dam’s knees buckled, and she almost fell.

More power to this lady. Must be one of the newer damane (or perhaps the sul'dam is especially awful) to still have this kind of response. Probably not an Aes Sedai though.

The four of them stood in a rapidly emptying street, but the people who had decided to be elsewhere were avoiding looking at them. Nynaeve had been counting on that—people doing their best to ignore anything that had to do with Seanchan—to gain them a few moments. They would talk eventually, but in whispers; it might take hours for the Seanchan to learn anything had happened.

Oh no, the villains have planted the seeds of their own defeat, what a tragedy.

Nynaeve wiggled her toes in the boots; they were a little tight. The dress was tight, too, across the bosom, and loose elsewhere. The hem hung almost to the ground, lower than sul’dam wore them, but the fit would have been even worse on any of the others.

It's not often that you see the hero steal a minion's clothes and have a hard time fitting into them.

She thought she would have gone mad if she had had to wear the collar; that was why she could not make her voice sharp with Elayne now.

Another bit of Nynaeve's kinder nature leaking out, though I expect Elayne and Min register it as "vaguely sharp" instead of "monomolecular sharp".

It was not as if she, Nynaeve, felt these things, but in her head was a lump of sensations that she knew belonged to the sul’dam.

Note to self: see how this compares with descriptions of the Warder bond later.

“But an a’dam isn’t supposed to work that way,” Min said. “They always claimed it won’t work on any woman who cannot channel.”

Well they're right, it doesn't. It's just "woman who cannot channel" is not a set category; an a'dam won't do anything to a three-year old even if in twenty years they'll grow up to be Lanfear-tier. They even know that, and they must know about the difference between sparkers and learners, but that's a truth too inconvenient for them to address.

Stark terror rolled across the woman’s face, and Nynaeve’s stomach heaved as she suddenly realized the sul’dam had taken her literally. If she thinks I can, it’s because she knows. That is what these leashes are for. She took firm hold of herself to stop from clawing the bracelet off her wrist.

What does it say about the sul'dam that they can so easily use these powers that Nynaeve finds repulsive? Just how deep does Seanchan propaganda have to go to make people into carefree torturers?

As far as I am concerned, you are worse than a murderer, worse than a Darkfriend.

Of course, as much as I agree with Nynaeve on a gut level, the setting and logic disagree. Darkfriends are still worse than those who wield the a'dam - but I don't think there's much more difference than a step or two. The Seanchan build a society based so much on fear and vice that there's little practical difference between their lands and the world the Shadow would make except that the Seanchan might be overthrown, whereas the Shadow freed possibly never could be.

A gull perched on a piling stared at him; gulls had pitiless eyes.

I'm really all the more offended by Jordan's corvid slander when it's clear that he knows that there are birds that would gladly serve the Dark for a french fry and refuses to use them.

He did not look back to check on them. There was not supposed to be anything to connect them; five men coming into Falme at an early hour, but not together.

Both Rand and Nynaeve are pretty good at spy missions, all things considered. What part of Two Rivers life has taught them all this?

He had not been able to leave the banner behind. He did not think any of the soldiers would have gone into the bags, but he could not say the same for Verin, nor predict what she would do if she found the banner.

I'm pretty sure that Verin would have left your shit alone, Rand. Though I guess the Pattern would have needed someone to show up with the banners if you'd tried ditching them. Still though, Verin really isn't anywhere near as invested in fucking with him as the boy thinks.

“He’s crisscrossed this town,” Hurin muttered, grimacing. “His smell is everywhere, and it stinks so, it’s hard to tell old from new. At least I know he’s still here. Some of it cannot be older than a day or two, I’m sure. I am sure,” he added less doubtfully.

The fact that Fain's spent the past four months scuttling through town like a madman is entirely unsurprising to me.

A banner flapped in the wind over the house the soldiers protected; a golden hawk clutching lightning bolts.

I don't think I've explicitly highlighted the fascist imagery of the Seanchan banner, so uhh... You all know what kinds of symbols Hitler liked, right? Besides the right-angled kinds?

I have to find Fain, too, Rand thought. I have to. But when he looked at Mat’s face, he said, “Ingtar, if the dagger is in that house, Fain likely is, too. I can’t see him letting the dagger or the Horn, either one, far out of his sight.”

Rand not being willing to let the well-being of his friends fall to the wayside for the sake of the mission is why he's a hero and also if you think about it why he's so tremendously bad at the whole prophecized savior part of it.

I mean to have the Horn in my hands before the sun sets again.

He who thinks he turns the Wheel of Time may learn the truth too late.

Wait! A guard. One man. He isn’t even wearing his helmet.

Either the garden has been so safe of late the Seanchan can no longer conceptualize it at as a threat vector (unlikely, considering how paranoid they are), or Fain's influence has got another soldier slacking.

Rand stared at him. The Seanchan was overconfident? The only thing that kept him from going back right then was Mat’s anguished murmurs.

It's a shame Rand never remembers Ingtar as an object lesson in hubris. If anything, he practically learned the sin from this guy.

The furnishings in the hallways were sparse, and seemed all curves. Here and there a tapestry hung on a wall, or a folding screen stood against it, each painted with a few birds on branches, or a flower or two. A river flowed across one screen, but aside from rippling water and narrow strips of riverbank, the rest of it was blank.

I'm trying to decide if the Seanchan are minimalist in their decor or if they just couldn't risk bringing the cool stuff across the sea with them, so they only have a few bits here and there that no one would miss if a storm wiped them all out.

“It is. By the Light, it is! I am saved.”

Everyone is much too busy to realize how strange Ingtar's last sentence there is.

One of the women with a collar around her neck looked up. He was too far to make out her face clearly, but for an instant it seemed that their eyes met, and he knew. The blood drained from his face. “Egwene,” he breathed.

For a pair that aren't fated lovers, these two really have a way of spying each other through windows and across crowded streets.

“What are you talking about?” Mat said. “Egwene is safe in Tar Valon. I wish I were.”

Ha!

It will please me to kill one or two of you for disturbing my morning. Those who survive will tell me of who you are and why you came.

I can't wait for him to die.

I have been suspicious of him since Huan died so mysteriously, and he has always wanted that dagger.”

Oh sure, the ONE TIME the Seanchan's overzealous secret police might have been useful, they're not deployed. Also note that Fain did say he'd kill Huan in his last POV.

The trembling hand he held up in front of his face was turning black, darkness creeping outwards from the bleeding gash that crossed his palm. He opened his mouth wide and howled, clawing at his arm, then his shoulder. Kicking, jerking, he toppled to the floor, thrashing on the silken carpet, shrieking as his face grew black and his dark eyes bulged like overripe plums, until a dark, swollen tongue gagged him. He twitched, choking raggedly, heels drumming, and did not move again. Every bit of his exposed flesh was black as putrid pitch and looked ready to burst at a touch.

Yeah that dagger really ought to be destroyed ASAP. It won't be, naturally, but they really ought to have done it.

“I suspected it might come to you and me.” Turak spun his blade easily, a full circle one way, then the other, his long-nailed fingers moving delicately on the hilt. His fingernails did not seem to hamper him at all.

They might not seem to hamper him right now but I would not be at all surprised if the small lack of mobility they caused as a result is what let Rand win this battle.

The void enveloped Rand. Saidin flowed toward him, glowing with the promise of the One Power, but he ignored it. It was no more difficult than ignoring a barbed thorn twisting in his flesh. He refused to be filled with the Power, refused to be one with the male half of the True Source. He was one with the sword in his hands, one with the floor beneath his feet, one with the walls. One with Turak.

Rand is going to get very skilled at ignoring barbed thorns twisting his flesh before too much longer. It does seem appropriate that saidin is easy to avoid when Rand feels that doing so is an immediate matter of life and death.

The Swallow Takes Flight met Parting the Silk. Moon on the Water met The Wood Grouse Dances. Ribbon in the Air met Stones Falling From the Cliff.

I can picture a couple of these but others... Is it stones plural because there's a lot of jabs, for example?

Lightning of Three Prongs met Leaf on the Breeze.

Yeah these definitely both involve multiple motions.

The Boar Rushes Down the Mountain. Every movement of his blade was an attempt to reach the High Lord; now all Turak could do was retreat and defend, down the length of the room, almost to the door.

Turak's mistake of course was expending the initial effort letting Rand warm up instead of cutting him down immediately.

The River Undercuts the Bank. He dropped to one knee, blade slashing across. He did not need Turak’s gasp, or the feel of resistance to his cut to know.

Well, now that Rand's seeing without looking, we can determine that not only is he a blademaster but he's also a Jedi.

Never before had he confronted a human being with a sword except in practice or bluff. I just killed a man. The void shook, and saidin tried to fill him.

Yeah, it's apparently never easy the first time. I wouldn't know because I've never k-

Because my first time I killed fifty people at once so I just spedrun the cold badassery process. Obviously.

“From birth to death,” they intoned in unison, “I serve the Blood.” And plunged the daggers into their own hearts.

It's good to see that the Seanchan are so thoroughly dedicated to creating as repulsive a society as possible.

What can one girl count, even if you love her, alongside the Horn, and what it stands for?

GRRM would later steal this.

“The Dark One can have the Horn for all I care! What does finding the Horn count if I abandon Egwene to this? If I did that, the Horn couldn’t save me. The Creator couldn’t save me. I would damn myself.”

Remember up there when I said that logic defended the Seanchan? Fuck logic, let's go with our guts. This is where the narrative itself clashes against the inevitable end of "ally with the Seanchan as they are". What does saving the world count if our heroes abandon the damane to this? Despite how bloated the narrative had gotten, Jordan still should have made the redemption of the empire (just like the redemption of the Tower, the Whitecloaks, the nobility, etc.) part of the main story, not try to shove it into a sequel trilogy that will never be written. As is, our heroes damned themselves: it's all well and good to say the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of damane are better off under Tuon's regime that might fall than the Dark One's which might not ever fall, but the underpinning logic of the series is that the Dark One will not ever win this war. The damane could have been saved.

He ran with them. Part of him hated himself for running, but another part whispered, I’ll come back. I’ll free her somehow.

Because this itself could set up an echo for things down the line: Yeah, Rand has to ally with the Seanchan, but Nynaeve could have outed the secret and shook the empire to its foundation in much the same way that she's the one who will save Egwene here. It's not like she was doing much anything else in the last few books anyway.

Ah well. Next time: Redemption!

[faytelumos]

Breaking Up (Is Hard Enough)

cw: recent breakup

---

Headquarters had decorated this year. It had been cute until about a week ago. Now it… it just really stung.

Who ends a years-long relationship in the first week of February?

Civilian, apparently.

Hero sighed inwardly and handed their assignment files to their dispatch agent. The sweet lady took the packet, glanced it over, and then set it down on the desk and uncovered her ink pad.

"Any plans tonight?"

Probably crying.

"No," Hero uttered. But they knew she was married. Which was nice. She'd probably have something planned. She nodded and checked the date her stamp was set to before pressing it into the pad.

"Just having a quiet night in?" she asked before stamping the first page. The mechanical thing always made that motion seem violent.

"Something like that…."

She looked up in the middle of turning the page. Understanding crossed her face, and then something a little too close to pity.

"I'm sorry, hon'," she whispered. Hero shook their head and looked away.

"'s fine." She looked down at the papers and, after another moment, kept stamping.

---

Hero sighed, watching the cashier and the person at the front of the line. They once again thought about pulling out their phone. But they still hadn't changed their background. So they kept standing there, bored. The cashier finished scanning all of the items and started helping the customer bag their things.

It wasn't like Civilian wasn't allowed to break up with Hero just because of timing. Hero hated that kind of thing in shows and movies. But… Hero wished they'd done it sooner. The two of them had been together for over two years. It hurt. It hurt. But it hurt worse when everyone else everywhere was making plans and buying flowers. It hurt worse when Hero was cancelling reservations and refunding tickets. It hurt worse when they were looking at the chest-sized pink teddybear they'd dropped entirely too much money on and didn't have the energy to return.

The cashier finished up with the customer, then moved on to the person in front of Hero. The line moved up, and Hero stepped into the space with all of the impulse items. Their eyes fell down to the candy bars. Civilian's favorite candy bar. They almost considered getting it for them.

Would Civilian see Hero's favorite candy bar and forget they had broken up for a second?

Hero's eyes prickled at the same time the lump formed in their throat. They looked away, blinking back the stinging. They just had to keep it together a little longer. They could cry in the car.

---

Hero didn't really taste their food as they ate. They'd thought their favorite meal would cheer them up. But it was dead silent in the apartment and struggling against the repeated waves of sniffles and blurred vision absolutely ruined the dining experience.

Fuck, why hadn't they noticed? Civilian had said they were unhappy for months. Why hadn't Hero noticed? Why hadn't Civilian said anything? If Hero had known there was a problem, they could have fixed it. They could have changed or asked to be assigned out less often. But Civilian didn't tell them. Didn't trust them.

Hero set down their fork and hung their head, running their hands into their hair as the tears fell. They hiccuped once, and even though nobody else was there, they still covered their face when a sob broke.

They'd thought Civilian was the end-all. They'd already thought about looking for rings. They'd already figured out they were gonna ask Civilian's dad and not their mom for a blessing. They'd thought two years were going to turn into five, into ten.

They'd thought Civilian was happy.

They'd been happy.

And now it was all gone.

And they didn't know what to do with themself.

There was a knock on the door.

Hero sniffed to a stop, but the sounds and tears were still pulling hard against their chest, trying to break out. They looked up, watching the door, sure it was their imagination. Desperately hoping it wasn't. There was another knock.

"Open up!" the visitor bellowed. "It's the love police!"

Fuck. It was probably Sidekick.

"Go away!" Hero shouted. Or tried to shout. Their voice was broken and wobbly and cracked on the first syllable and there was no way in hell the sound made it to the door. There was some commotion on the other side, and then a jingle of keys. Hero sighed and looked back to their pathetic dinner. They hung their head and squeezed their eyes shut, sniffing, then ran their hands into their hair and hid their face behind their arm as the door opened. Bags rustled and feet shuffled, and Hero just curled up a little smaller at the table. Sidekick tromped over to them and didn't say a word before pulling them into a one-sided hug, wrapping their arms around Hero's shoulders and head and squeezing tightly.

Hero tried and failed to hold back a sob that shook them both. And then another set of hands rested on their back and their leg, and they were vaguely aware of the second visitor crouched down beside them.

Hero wanted to make a comment on Henchman's presence, on how visiting Hero was by far the worst Valentine's Day date anyone ever had come up with, but they couldn't get any words out. Henchman rubbed Hero's back as Sidekick ran fingers through their hair, and neither one of them moved as Hero bawled.

It felt like a long time they all sat there. It was surprisingly easy to feel guilty about being seen like this and having Henchman in a physically uncomfortable position even when Hero's chest hurt so much and they couldn't get a steady breath in. But eventually, Hero started to calm down. Or get worn out. It was both, really. They sniffed and wiped their face with some difficulty (since Sidekick didn't feel the need to let go) as their breath stuttered to a more normal rhythm. Despite the headache, it was kind of nice to have Sidekick squishing Hero so close. They sniffed again and wiped their hand on the pant leg Henchman wasn't touching.

"Feeling better?" Sidekick asked.

"Maybe," Hero sighed, closing their eyes. They just felt tired now.

"We brought food," Henchman cooed. Now that Hero was considering it, they could smell the Chinese food. But they still didn't have much of an appetite.

"'m not hungry," Hero mumbled.

"Well, we got you some for later, then," Sidekick said. They finally pulled away, leaving Hero's side cold. Sidekick crouched down and pulled Hero by the knees to face them. Hero sniffed and grunted, turning away from the table as they tried to dry their face. Henchman stood up with a grunt behind them as Sidekick held Hero's face softly. "How's it going?" Sidekick whispered. They were looking into Hero's eyes with that electric blue gaze that made it feel like they could see the truth right through a person.

Hero cleared their throat and shrugged a shoulder, glancing to the side. "Shitty," they rasped. They sniffed and looked down at their wet hands, then wiped them on their pants again. Henchman's hands smoothed up Hero's back and then started rubbing their shoulders. Hero sighed again, slumping their shoulders and bowing their head. "I just… uhg." They dropped their face into their wet hands, dragging in a deep, wet breath. "I just wish they'd said something…."

"Yeah…" Henchman agreed, and Hero grunted as they got into a tender spot, "it was pretty shitty of them not to bring anything up." Hero sighed. They didn't want to blame anything on Civilian. It was probably hard because they were Hero. They were famous and they were busy, and they were afraid it made them… unapproachable.

"Am I unapproachable?" they blurted into their hands. Henchman snorted.

"No," Sidekick uttered, running their hands into Hero's hair. They gave a little tug, and Hero dropped their hands to look at Sidekick. "You're not unapproachable."

Then why?

Hero squeezed their eyes shut as another wave of pain filled their chest, and Sidekick cooed softly and wiped their face.

"It's okay, sweetie," Sidekick whispered, and even though Hero knew that was their scared child voice, they weren't… they weren't mad about it.

They leaned their head forward just a little, and Sidekick obliged them with a warm kiss on their forehead. Henchman kept rubbing their shoulders, Sidekick's hands buried deep in their hair, and they felt like they could finally get a full breath of air for the first time all week. Their chest settled, wrung and empty from the crying, but their heart finally felt a bit of peace.

"Thanks, guys," Hero breathed.

After a little longer at the table, they all decided to move to the couch for food and a movie. Henchman had a new heist movie to share, and Hero rolled their eyes a little playfully, feeling a little more like themself again. As Sidekick pulled out takeout boxes and Henchman separated them into categories, Hero got a little idea. They slipped away, into their bedroom, and went to their closet.

They opened the door, mindful of the pile of clothes that threatened to fall out and block the door from closing again. As soon as the bedroom light fell in, their eyes were drawn to bright, vibrant, soft, pink fur. Little plastic eyes looked sappily back at them, shimmering in the light. They grabbed it, careful of the pristine fur, mindful of its substantial weight. Civilian preferred bean stuffing over cotton. Tenderly, they drew the thing from the closet and toed the clothes back so they could close the door again.

They walked back into the living room with the bear behind their back as Sidekick poured a bowl of chips they'd pilfered from the kitchen. Henchman was on the couch searching for the movie they wanted to watch, and Hero stepped up to be behind them. They smoothly drew the teddy bear from behind their back and used it to block Henchman's view of the TV.

"Wha—" Henchman flinched, then they gasped dramatically and dropped the remote entirely to grab the bear with both hands. They stared at it for a moment before looking up to Hero, eyes wide and questioning, and Hero just smiled sadly. "For me?" Henchman breathed, and Hero nodded.

Henchman squeaked loudly, crushing the bear to their chest with a bright giggle and kicking their feet. Sidekick balked at Hero, outraged and betrayed in equal measure, but Hero just smiled. That bear made Henchman way happier than it was gonna make them or Sidekick. And if it was better than whatever Sidekick had gotten Henchman today, Hero wouldn't mind a little light-hearted dramatics right about now.

Hero came around and sat on the far end of the couch to allow Sidekick and Henchman to sit together. Sidekick grabbed a blanket from the closet as Henchman started and paused the movie. Sidekick walked right up to Hero and smacked their shoulder. "Scootch."

Hero looked at Sidekick, then at Henchman. This couch was a three-seater and Henchman was on the right cushion — Hero took up the left so Sidekick could sit in the center. But Sidekick… wanted the left? Hero stood and moved, looking down to Henchman and waiting for them to move. But they just patted the center cushion.

Confused, Hero sat down between their friends.

"One sec," Sidekick said, tossing the blanket into Hero's lap and running back to the kitchen. Hero slowly started to unfold and lay out the blanket as Henchman snuggled up against their side, the bright pink teddybear held tightly in their arms. Sidekick returned with a few sodas, and then sat down and snuggled up against Hero's other side, even pulling Hero's arm to wrap around Sidekick's shoulders.

Hero hesitated as Henchman pressed play. Both supporters then grabbed a takeout box each and sat back, snuggling in tightly against Hero. Hero slowly sat back against the couch, their chest tight, and wrapped their arms around each pair of shoulders. Henchman sighed happily and started eating as Sidekick dug through their box for vegetables.

Hero missed the first ten minutes of the movie as they simmered in the warmth, the blanket sprawled across all three laps, shoulders and heads nestled against their chest. They… were really glad Sidekick had decided to take Henchman on the shittiest Valentine's Day date ever.

Because it made everything feel a lot better.

[guideoftime]

▴ — @gloryseized ;; Sheik & Time. rest, sender rests their head on receiver's shoulder.

   They had been sitting in the forest, because he is quite certain Link lives here, and Sheik had been taking his time to calmly pluck at the strings of the harp to play for the other. It seemed to have been helping him relax, and Sheik made sure to steer far clear from any of the pieces he learned to teach the Hero during his journey. Simply so he didn’t add more stress to him or bring him back to a place of discomfort, a place of trauma. He still wasn’t entirely certain how Link saw their journey together, but his intention currently was to help him, not make things worse. 

   So he played more traditional pieces, more classical ones, songs he learned from books in Kakariko Village, or even a few Hylian ones from books in the Castle Library. He played his favorites, and replayed the ones that the Hero really seemed to listen to. It was fun, the harp was comforting to him, and he was really enjoying being able to just play and Link listen to him as he does. 

   Eventually, he feels when the Hero moves to sit down beside him, feels the comforting shift of his presence beside him. Sheik continued to play, it’s been a bit over an hour and his fingers were a little sore but he still wanted to keep going. Because it was comforting, and because he knew it was keeping Link happy. The sweet tune of the calm and easy paced melody filled the space around them, it was a lullaby of sorts and the ease of the gentle tune settled something warm in his chest. He felt it was rather fitting for getting the man to relax beside him, even if he wasn’t certain what type of music Link enjoyed listening to. 

   Despite how many pieces they played together, despite how often they had been forced to experience the same music together. 

   A bit more than halfway through the smoothe notes he feels a shift against him and then a weight on his shoulder. Sheik’s fingers missed a string, causing a jar in the tune and a slip in the melody. The catch is noticeable and uncomfortable, so he stills the strings gently and turns his head to the side to look down at his shoulder… where the Hero’s head was now resting. Cap gone, on the ground beside him, Sheik just sees a head of blonde Hylian hair using him as a pillow–and his heart picks up in his chest. 

   He can feel the heat that floods his face, and can feel the color that darkens his cheeks. A lump in his throat, the steady racing of his heart and he takes a deep breath as he forces himself to not move a single inch and disrupt him. He can’t tell if the Hero is asleep or not, if he was just getting comfortable, but surely he wouldn’t do this of his own free will, right? 

   They didn’t have the smoothest relationship, he can’t feel that comfortable around Sheik, right? 

   He just–had to have fallen asleep. 

   The harp is lowered down and gently sat on the grass beside him, freeing his left hand. He brings it over slowly, using the right to brace him on the ground and then gently brushes the tips of his fingers on his left hand across Link’s forehead. He doesn’t move, he doesn’t even flinch, and Sheik feels a bit more confident that he is actually asleep. This reassurance gives him a bit too much courage. 

   His fingers push further up, bolder, through Link’s blonde hair that he brushes from his face. Sheik shifted a little bit, just to get himself closer, and then daringly he leaned forward and pressed just the briefest, lightest kiss against the top of the man’s head. It’s barely there, a fathering touch, but still the embarrassment floods his face and chest more, darkening the blush that was already there and clenching his heart in his chest. He leans forward more and rests his forehead against Link’s head instead, taking a few deep and calming breaths once more. 

   “I care about you so much.” And he really, truly, always had.

[favoringeyes]

my kagepro retrospective under the cut. it sounds so fake deep or whatever but this aug 15th sucked major balls for me i didnt get to write this until like the 20th anywayyyty

so kagepro day is over, but everyday is kagepro day for me. originally i was going to discuss on what being a "medusa" and "hero" meant in kagepro, but i didnt have time august 15th WOOPS. i’ll probably make a thread on that later stay tuned ;). sorry in advance, i take myself (and kagepro) way too seriously. stuff i say might not make sense, or connect well, but in the end this is kind of just for me and a retrospective on the journey i have taken with kagepro, so it’s not even really an analysis, it’s just self-indulgent. so i found kagepro when i was 14, im 18 now. i noticed this is like a really common thing, people find kagepro when they were pre-teens or teens and then it sticks with them until they’re adults, or well into their adulthood. i dont know if it’s because im biased, but i find kagepro has a tendency to stick to people like glue in a different way other then nostalgia. why is that? well, kagepro at its core is about growing up. it’s one of the main focal points of the series, and jin in his songs’ afterwords talks about it constantly. i guess you could argue the entire time loop is an allegory for denying the act of “growing up.” but what is growing up anyway? is it simply turning 18, or is it the act of regretting? i think becoming an “adult” is different for everyone, just as it is different for each of the mekakushi dan. you cant really put a label on that sort of thing. the summer, it’s a time full of emotion. it’s when you make the most discoveries as a child, it’s when you explore, it’s when you get time to just be. i think it’s fitting that this is the season kagepro takes place in. i think a lot of us yearn for the summer when we didnt “know better.” it was much more simple back then in a way. summer changes as you grow up. it becomes painful, annoying, while summer as a kid is exhilarating. however, im barely even an adult arent i? i turned 18 about 3 months ago, and yet im lumped in with people already well into their 40s. i think growing up for me, at least, is yearning. i yearn for something, i dont even know what. but, the characters in kagepro yearn for a lot as well. friendship, love, happiness. so maybe im yearning for that stuff too. here’s a quote from jin’s remind blue afterword that keeps coming back to me in one way or another, “I wonder what changed between my ‘child self’ and my ‘adult self’. I’d said there wasn’t much difference, but come to think of it, there’s just one thing. For some reason, I’ve come to reminisce to the ‘past’ awfully often.” just something to think about i guess.

[mi6021alishia]

Moving Forward

When I was little I had a story I made up for an English  assignment in Primary school, I'll post it here if my mum can track it down, but essentially it was about a team of superheros who lived together but didn't really get along but were put together by an organisation. It was like a school for heros because their powers shouldn't be known by the public. (My storytelling back then was horrendous, basically just lots of angst and and concepts I thought would be cool at the time haha) There was a character in the story who was a shapeshifter and she had a bad attitude and self esteem issues. The concept for the character was probably based on me and a friend of mine who would pretend to be different animals like wolves, cats, rabbits, etc because wouldn't it be cool to actually be able to transform into those animals instead of it being just pretend? I took this character and decided to think about a fun concept for her shapeshifting, and I thought it would be cool if she used masks to transform, or if she had a singular plain mask that would warp so that she could transform into looking however she wanted to. I decided to still keep the link with animals as nod to the original story by having the masks be animal themed.

All the thinking about masks however got me thinking about myself and the concept of masking. I'm currently waiting for a referal for an autism diagnosis after multiple of my autistic friends told me they were shocked I hadn't been diagnosed years ago. Masking is basically like you have this clay in your hands and you observe the people around you, you hear all the taunts from them that you get for doing things that you think are normal, and you mold the mask to fit into these social situations. Not one more person asking why your so weird, no more embarassed, frustrated tears, no more bullying. The mask is continually molded overtime for every time you misread social cues, everytime you make a 'mistake' in socialising. For me there is a mask for every group I'm interacting with, one for interacting with women, one for men, variations based on age, where I know them from, their interests and personality types, I mold myself like a lump of clay to fit with the person they want me to be. Sometimes you still slip up tho and sometimes, actually, all the time, it is so draining that experiencing anything at all is completely and utterly overwhelming and you need to put on sound cancelling headphones, turn off all the lights and curl up in a ball. During 2nd year at uni, I met someone who made me feel a safe feeling I'd never actually felt before, it was warm, unfamiliar and brought me to tears, it still does. Someone who accepts me without the mask, who saw through it from the start, someone who is patiently by my side as I'm learning who I was before I started masking.

Growing up I was forced to make eye contact that I found overwhelming to prove I was listening, forced to go to events that were overcrowded to me, that were therefore too loud, had too many smells and the accidental  touches from strangers was unbearable, wearing clothes that had awful textures. I was even chastised for eating one thing at a time on my plate instead of mixing my food, among other things. I do those things in private but in public I'm very concious about how I do things, I'm slowly unlearning that. Often times I don't feel like I even recognise myself or my own feelings versus the feelings of those around me or the feelings I think I'm supposed to have. My boyfriend has really aided in getting me to learn who I am, how I feel, the fact that I'm allowed to communicate about experiencing a sensory overload and even the patience of waiting for me to take my time to figure out why I'm experiencing it (whether it be a smell, a feeling, a noise, bright lights etc) I am supremely grateful for this patience. I am glad I ended up on this story because of how I can tie it into the symbolic idea of masking to get through social situations and how there are those that will accept your true form even if it isn't perfect, if it has rough edges and is even maybe a little ugly or distasteful to others. It may have taken a lot of delays to land on this idea and a LOT of wasted time researching multiple other story concepts but we finally got there and thats the important part.

[everydaywulfang]

"Keep Moving Forward" is The Main Difference Between RWBY's Heroes and Villains

We all can probably tell that the spirit of determination is something of a theme in RWBY. However, something that I don't see brought up as often is how the show's taken that and basically built every character around it to at least some degree. Put simply, in RWBY heroes are those that push towards tomorrow and villains are those who are stuck in the past. (With a handful of very notable exceptions which I'll get into later.)

Heroes in RWBY are typically people that have something that they're either working towards or working away from, sometimes both. Regardless, they make a point of not being bogged down by what's happened to them in the past and moving on from it. Ruby has Summer, Yang has Raven, Blake has Adam and the White Fang, Weiss has her father and the SDC, and Nora and Ren have Kuroyuri. All of these characters' arcs involve them dealing with these important pillars of their pasts and moving past them. They use them to mold and change and better themselves. Jaune and Pyrrha are interesting to note here because they don't fit this pattern exactly but still fit the theming.

Pyrrha has worked her whole life towards becoming a huntress. She's much like Ruby in that regard. She enjoys what she does and while her discomfort with her celebrity status is an emotional hang-up for her it isn't really the focus of her arc. Instead, it's about how her future is torn away from her. First metaphorically by the responsibility of being a maiden, and then literally by an arrow to the chest. Jaune meanwhile looks like his story would be about his desire to live up to the standards set by his ancestors. And it is at the beginning. But it becomes apparent that the real meat of Jaune's character arc comes from working past Pyrrha's death and his response to that.

The villains on the other hand are basically all defined by their inability to move on from the past. Adam, Hazel, Salem, Mercury, Cinder, Watts, all of them are inflicting harm on others because of vendettas, grudges, and worldviews based in things that happened to them a long time ago. Salem refused to move on from Ozma's death and now is refusing to move on from his betrayal. Hazel's semblance is literally symbolic of his inability to process his grief. Watts is only with Salem to get back at Ironwood for disgracing him. Mercury believes that he is a killer and always will be and is too afraid to try and change that path. Cinder holds on to the belief that freedom is equivalent to power and has made her whole life in pursuit of that. And Adam is lashing out at anyone he can reach to try and make himself feel like his life matters and is something he is in control of.

This is also why villains like Emerald and Ilia are ultimately able to switch sides. Both of them have a future for themselves that they were envisioning. But it eventually became apparent to them that the people they were following were not going to fulfill that for them and especially not in the ways they wanted.

And now we come to the exceptions which is where things get really interesting.

First off is Tyrian who is, remarkably, seemingly free from any shackles of the past. He genuinely believes in the future of destruction Salem will bring and is just having fun on the ride there. All the other villains have some other agenda besides him. He's not hiding anything which makes him quick to catch on to just how delusional the other bad guys are. (Namely Cinder, Emerald and Mercury)

Secondly, Ozpin and Qrow. I'm lumping these two together as they're somewhat similar on this topic in particular. Both Oz and Qrow are by all rights good guys. They never plunge into villainy, but they also are very much shackled by the past in the same way most of the villains are. What separates them is that they do eventually come to understand these faults to at least some extent and start to work past them just like the main characters do. It just takes them a little longer.

And lastly the most noteworthy exception in my opinion: Ironwood, who descends into villainy but in my opinion never really latches on to the past in the way the other villains do. Ironwood takes the theme of determination to its logical extreme and becomes a person who will literally stop for no one. He pursues his view of the future to the expense of all other things until he's left broken. It is honestly a dark mirror to how Ruby operates but that is something I want to make its own post.

[beels-burger-babe]

Melodious Mourning

***Ben Platt?! Hell yes! Okay! I am so so excited about this! Thank you so much @ester-is-here for reminding me how much I love this song. I hope everyone enjoys it. You can listen to the song, if you haven't already, here. Disclaimer: In Case You Don't Live Forever and its lyrics do not belong to me. They belong to the brilliant Ben Platt*** Poly!MC Summary: It's MC's anniversary of their relationship with the Lords of the Devildom. They've planned a little something special to share with them; something that will express how much they love the brothers, while also preparing them for a tragic truth. The time had come. After a long night of celebrating your anniversary with the seven sins, it was time for you to finally show them the surprise you had prepared for them. You giggled as you dragged a tired Belphegor into the music room by his hand, the others following closely behind you. Asmodeus made a small noise of disappointment and leaned against the grand piano in the middle of the room. "You know when you said you had a surprise for us, I must admit this wasn't exactly what I had in mind, " you snorted as Satan smacked Asmo on the back of the head. Asmo yelped and held his head as he glared at Satan. "Though I'm sure that whatever this surprise it will be equally as lovely. Geez, let me finish before you ruin my hair!" Mammon came up beside you. "But what is this surprise though? Is it a diamond? Money? Jewelry? That lost treasure that we never found?" You smiled softly at the Avatar of Greed and poked his nose. "It's better than that. Or at least I hope it will be," You sat down at the piano and took some sheet music out of your bag. "I um...I wanted to sing a song for all of you," you nervously tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. "With our anniversary being today, I've been thinking a lot about us and all the time that's passed and the what the future will hold, and I-I just thought that this song would be the perfect way to express all of that."

Lucifer placed a hand on the small of your back as he looked down at you with an awe-filled, adoring expression. "I wasn't aware you could play. I would've loved to play with you sometime." You leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips. "There will be time for that in the future. For now, it's time for your surprise," you hovered your fingers over the keys and hesitated. The song the message shared was important but would be hard for your lovers to hear. You glanced over at them. "J-Just listen, please. Okay?" Beel frowned at the serious look on your face and nodded. He could sense that there was something important about this performance, something almost dire, that clearly frightened you. "Of course." You took in a shaky breath as you began to move your finger across the keys.

"You put all your faith in my dreams. You gave me the world that I wanted. What did I do to deserve you?" Your smooth voice filled the room and wrapped around the hearts of each of the demons. They smiled gently at your words as a warmth filled their chests. In the years that they were fortunate enough to have you in their lives, they had spent every last second doing their best to keep you happy. They would give you the world if you asked for it, and you knew that. "I follow your steps with my feet. I walk on the road that you started. I need you to know that I heard you. Every word." Since coming here, the brothers have shown you a number of things. Lucifer taught you to be more confident and take pride in the things that you've achieved. Mammon taught you that it was okay to be selfish sometimes to do the things that you wanted. Together, you and Leviathan learned that the only opinion that truly matters is your own. Satan taught you that you define your own fate and meaning and that no one can say who you are except you. Asmodeus taught you to appreciate the pleasures in life, no matter how big or small. Beelzebub engrained in you that your body is a temple that you must cherish, look after, and love. And finally, Belphegore taught you that it's alright to take time for yourself. Each of them had impacted you and fundamentally changed the way that you looked at life, and you would never be able to thank them enough for that. "I've waited way too long to say. Everything you mean to me," you swallowed down the lump that was beginning to form in your throat. You had waited too long to tell them this, that much was true. By now they were irreversibly attached to you. Though you were grateful for it and loved them in return, there was something all of you had been avoiding discussing. You took in a shaky breath; you couldn't hold it off anymore. "In case I don't live forever let me tell you now," You could hear their breaths get caught in their throats. Lucifer's hand froze on your back, while Belphie quickly sat up from where he was laying on your shoulder. "MC, what are y-you saying? What are you-" Levi's voice stuttered from behind you. You couldn't bring yourself to look at them as you continued, "I love you more than you'll wrap your head around," you finally glanced over at Levi. The otaku's eyes were wide and filled with fear and concern as he scanned you for any missed injuries or signs of illness. At finding none, his eyebrows narrowed in confusion. You offered him a reassuring smile before looking back down at the keys. "In case I don't live forever, let me tell you the truth. I'm everything that I am because of you." Satan's trembling hand gripped onto your shoulder as he placed a kiss on the top of your head. "MC, my love, that is beautiful. But you can't just say something like that and not expect us to be concerned. Are you alright? Should I be getting a doctor or Barbatos or do I need to take you to a human hospital?" You paused for a moment to turn to your lovers. "I'm okay. There's nothing wrong with me, only that I'm human," you watched as they tensed in realization. "Treasure, that's not-" Mammon stepped forward, but you lifted a hand to stop him. "I've been thinking about the passing of time a lot lately, a-a-and I need to say this. Please, just let me finish?" The sound of your voice close to tears had the brothers wanting to do nothing more than wrap you up in their arms and never let you go again. But there was this desperate glint in your eyes, that none of them could deny. Belphie laid his head back down on your shoulder and buried his face into the fabric of your top. "Go ahead, angel. We're listening." You turned your head to lightly kissed his head, whispering a small thank you, before picking back up the song.

The music filled the room once more, but unlike before where it filled your lovers with joy at the thought of such a sentimental gift, a feeling of dread and unease now swirled in their stomachs. "I've carried this song in my mind. Listen it's echoing in me. But I never helped you to hear it." Your mortality was something that had weighed on your thoughts for years now. You never mentioned it for you knew that the brothers would just brush off the subject. They had lost so much already; they didn't even want to begin thinking about the day when you would no longer be with them. But with each passing year, the subject had become more and more crucial, yet you were still too much of a coward to bring such a distressing topic to light. You had hoped the song would lighten the blow, but based on the way Mammon's eyes were squeezed shut and his fists were pressed to his mouth, as though whispering a prayer, it hadn't. Tears pricked your eyes at the sight as you felt your throat tighten. "We, we've only got so much time. I'm pretty sure it would kill me if you didn't know that pieces of me were pieces of you." It was true. You carried the boys with you where ever you went, both literally through your pacts and figuratively through the pieces of their personalities that you have mirrored throughout the years. You often find yourself mimicking Lucifer's eye-brow raise when someone is acting particularly stupid. The sight of food or beautiful clothes causes your heart to thrumb with excitement, just like it does for Beel and Asmo. You have a deeper appreciation for anime and astrology from your many nights with Levi and Belphie. You're more knowledgeable and educated in literature from your countless hours in the library with Satan. You were more conscious with your money after your few attempts of trying to teach Mammon how to budget. You were one with your boys; a beautiful collage of the experiences and times that you had all spent together. You just hoped that they knew that. "I've waited way too long to say. Everything you mean to me." Asmodeus claimed your other side, as one of his hands moved up to delicately wipe a tear from your face. You noticed, with an aching heart, that his cheeks were tearstained as well. Your lip trembled as you opened your mouth to sing the chorus. "In case I don't live forever let me tell you now. I love you more than you'll ever wrap your head around. In case I don't live forever, let me tell you the truth. I'm everything that I am because of you." At this point, you weren't singing so much as you were sobbing. You could feel your hands tremble heavily as you pushed them to keep playing. The only thing keeping you from breaking down completely was the solid feeling of the brother's touch supporting you as they lent you their strength. You squeezed your eyes shut and played hard on the keys, causing the brothers to jump a little as you began to belt. "I have a hero if ever I need one!" Flashes of the countless times that they had come to your rescue flashed in your mind. Unknown to you, the brothers weren't thinking of them rescuing you at all, but rather how you had saved each and every one of them. "I just look up to you and I see one! I'm a man 'cause you taught me to be one," your voice quivered with emotion as you held the falsetto note at the end. You leaned over the keys, suppressed cries falling from your lips as your shoulders shook. Beel placed a hand over top of one of your own and met your gaze. "You don't have to finish this MC. We understand what you're trying to say and we can just end the song here and talk if you want." It was tempting. Honestly, your hands our practically useless with how much they were shaking. But this wasn't just for them anymore. Speaking the words that had been swarming your mind for too many years out loud, although painful, also freed you from a sense of guilt that you weren't even aware that you were carrying. "I-I'd like to finish it. I-If you all don't mind." Belphie's arms came to wrap around your waist and Asmo

pressed a kiss to your cheek. Lucifer's hand on your back moved in comforting circles, while Satan repeated the motion with his thumb on your shoulder. Levi moved closer to lean onto the piano for support. Mammon gave you a tearful smile as Beel lifted his hand off of yours. "Of course. Take your time, honey bun." You took several deep breaths to calm yourself before lightly playing the chords. You met the eyes of your partners and hoped that they could see the utter adoration and passion that was flooding through your veins for them. "In case you don't live forever let me tell you now," you playfully elbowed Belphie and turned your head to kiss Asmo's cheek. "I love you more than you'll ever wrap your head around." As the music picked up the tempo once more, you couldn't help but grin even as tears poured down your cheeks. "In case you don't live forever, let me tell you the truth. I'm everything that I am-" You closed your eyes, tilting your head back, as you allowed yourself to give in to the music and fully feel everything that you had been suppressing. "Woah, Woah, Woah. " As you began to sing the melody again, your eyes snapped open as you heard the brothers harmonize alongside you. Lucifer, Satan and Beel's low voices rang deep like the growl of thunder. Asmodeus and Belphie hit the higher octaves, chiming like bells ringing in the wind. Mammon and Levi sang the original notes with you, remaining strong and pure like waves against a shore. You laughed brightly as a radiant sensation of love blanketed you in warmth and soaked up any traces of fear that lingered. "In case I don't live forever, let me tell you the truth." You looked around at the brothers tenderly and softly played the final notes. They all smiled back at you, eyes gleaming with that same sense of passionate affection that you had felt moments earlier. Your heart fluttered in your chest as you came to a realization. No matter how much or little time you had left with each other, you would spend every moment of it at each other's side loving another unconditionally. "As long as I'm here as I am," you rested your head on top of Belphie's and smiled softly, "so are you." *** This was so sweet and sad at the same time and I just LOVED writing it! Oh my goodness, I haven't written a song fic in ages, so this was a little challenging, but I just loved it so much. Thank you @ester-is-here for this beautiful request!*** TAGLIST: @thegrimgrinningghost

@henry-and-the-seven-lords

@satans-beloved-riv

@cosmixbun

@sufzku

[luimagines]

oooh i have an idea, how would dear reader reacts to the chain's secrets? they could be canon like wolfie being twi, or something you headcanon!

Masterlist

I procrastinated on this one admittedly because I had no idea where to take it but after writing out a list and appointing a secret to each boy. I have it done.

Some things are definitely headcanons.

Part one will include Hyrule, Sky, Warrior, Four and Wild.

Content under the cut!

Hyrule

The battle wasn’t necessarily hard to deal with- the monsters weren’t difficult to deal with and there weren’t a lot of them to begin with.

You slashed, dashed and kicked every enemy away from you and watched as they fell to your blade. Every new step revealed a new purple cloud as you danced around the battle field.

You saw Wild and Twilight fighting back to back with practiced ease and handling it as well as you were. Warrior and Sky was side by side closer to Time and Legend than the rest of the group was and Four and Wind were up in the trees striking the enemy down at a distance and no doubt scheming something while the going was easy.

The only one you had no idea where he was, was Hyrule.

And that didn’t take a lot to dive into your brain and wriggle uncomfortably until your own insecure thoughts pushed you to go look for him.

Between the monsters and the land mines of purple smoke, it was a little difficult to find him.

But when you do- he does something you don’t fully understand at first.

You manage to run into him in a clearing, but he doesn’t notice you at first. Instead, you see him take his sword and run it through his palm. His blood coats the length of his blade, and it drips down his hand onto the grass below.

He watches the monsters in front of him and dances for a minute around them before he takes a breath and kills them effortlessly.

You frown and step toward him. “Why did you do that?”

Hyrule jumps higher than should be physically possible and doesn’t catch himself on the way down. He falls flat on his butt and looks up at you with wide and startled eyes.

“Are you ok?” You kneels next to him and go to take his injured hand. “What on earth were you trying to do?

Hyrule jerks his hand back like you’ve burned him and you see the magic flow through the air around his wound- closing it like it never happened.

“Link?” You frown again and slowly place your hand in your lap. You’re confused and a little afraid for him. You know that blood magic is taboo for a reason and is typically avoided more often than not because of its’s dark nature- but you never thought Hyrule of all people would dabble in it.

“I’m fine.”

“Link.” You stress a little more. “What were you trying to do? I didn’t think you were capable of blood magic... At least you don’t usually use those kind of spells. Is that why you fight on your own for a while each time?”

“I’m not using blood magic.” Hyrule frowns and stands abruptly. 

“Then why-?”

“It’s not important.”

“Hyrule, you’re hurting yourself. I’d say that that’s pretty important.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Don’t make me get Time.” You threaten. “I’ll get Legend too. I bet they’ll get some answers out of you.”

“You won’t just drop it, will you?” He sneers

“Nope.” You stand and cross your arms. “What were you trying to do?”

“I was just checking something.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Like if a curse would work or something?”

Hyrule tenses and he crosses his arms- instantly looking away from you.

“WERE YOU ACTUALLY TRYING TO CAST A CURSE?!” You screech.

“THE CURSE WAS CAST ON ME!” He yells back.

You both still for a moment and wait for the forest to show any signs that others might have heard you.

The sounds of distant fighting continues and after a minute of waiting some more, no one shows up to check on either of you, so you’re safe.

You turn back to your companion and furrows your eyebrows. You lower your voice just above a whisper just in case someone might be on the way but now you need answers. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

He scowls- a face you’re not used to seeing on him and throws his arms down his sides in anger. “Back home, Ganon cast a curse on me. The monsters need my blood in order to resurrect him and I can’t risk letting any monsters from my time getting to me. I need to check if the other monsters will follow suit.”

You blink, not expecting that answer but your anger flares up regardless. “So you go out on your own to check this curse because your blood is needed to resurrect hatred incarnate? What if you’re overpowered? What if they do react to it? How are we supposed to help you if you’re alone?”

“It’s my problem to deal with. I don’t need-”

“Shut up.” You scowl and grab him by the shoulders. You shake him roughly for as long as you speak. “We are your friends! We care about you! We don’t want to see you hurt! We’re going to help you! Whether you want it or not- we’re not to let you deal with this alone. Not while we’re here.”

“Stop shaking me.”

You let him go.

“I won’t tell the others because I know you wouldn’t like that.” You say. “But this stops today. You hear me? None of us are just going to let these freaks near you and this is not necessary while you have a whole team of heroes just as pissed about the situation as you are. You hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

“How clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Good.”

Sky 

Sky wakes up one day with a far away look in his eye which immediately puts you on edge.

Not only that but to make it worse, he doesn’t stop looking at you.

He looks scared.

Every five minutes you swear you catch him looking in your direction only to look away in haste when you look back at him.

No one is saying anything and it doesn’t help your paranoia.

With some people walking ahead you, you step back and take a spot next to Sky. You notice that he’s tense and walking robotically, and trying to match your pace. “Dude, what’s up? You’re freaking me out.”

Sky trips over himself and finally looks you in the eye. “What do you mean?”

“You woke up like you saw a ghost. You’ve been looking over to me every five minutes and even now you look like you want to sprint away from me. Did I do something?”

“I.. Ummm...” Sky stutters for a minute before swallowing whatever lump was in his throat. “I just had a dream... is all.... I’ll get over it.”

“I’m assuming it had something to do with me then.”

“No, not exactly.” Sky’s quick to speak even if you can see the beginning’s of sweat collect on his brow. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Want to talk about it?” You tilt your head. “It looks like it really shook you up.”

“Oh, um, I-”

“Maybe you died and Sky freaked out.” Legend pushes you forward and away from Sky. “He doesn’t have to talk about it if he doesn’t want to.”

“Ok, my god, Legend slow down! Not everyone is as emotionally constipated as you! Talking about things is healthy and important!” You shout over your shoulder, trying to dig your heels into the dirt with little to no luck.

Legend seems a bit stronger right now that he usually is, you bet it’s his power bracelet.

If Sky actually looks a bit paler at Legend’s claim than neither of you notice.

The day passes a little calmer after that, Sky seeming to have calmed down enough to not be so weird and it something you’re quick to forget about.

By the time the afternoon hits, a bunch of dark and foreboding storm clouds roll in.

Somehow, Sky manages to find it in himself to walk next to you again and does his best to stay close.

You don’t mind it and even jokingly pull his sail cloth over your head when it begins to rain on your group. It’s not particularly strong and there’s not a lot of options to rest and take cover, so you bare with it. Sky lets you keep the sail cloth over your head surprisingly.

But then there’s thunder and you see lightning in the distance and bite your lip. “Maybe we should hunker down or something?”

The rain goes from gentle drops to a down pour within seconds and the group runs a bit to gain as much cover as you can in the nearby tree line.

Sky pushes himself in front of you and shoves you behind him with enough force that you’re fully knocked over. In one fluid motion he lifts the Master Sword skyward and charges the blade, tossing it away from the group in a glowing blue arc. It cuts through the grass and even splits the first tree it strikes in half before dissipated into the air. 

You would have been struck by lightning if he didn’t do that.

“Sky?” You get up and try to wipe as much mud off of your pants as you can. “Are you ok? How did you know that would happen?”

Sky gulps and takes a deep breath as he looks at you with wide eyes and understanding. “I saw it in a dream.”

“Oh...” You gasp and reach out to him shakily, putting your hand on his shoulder. “You have dreams then?”

“Yes.” Sky looks at his sword and hesitantly puts it away. “Sometimes.”

“Ok then...” You nod and look around the group. They’re all in varying stages of shock, surprise and concern.

Everyone is looking at Sky.

“We need to get out of the storm.” You say in lieu of changing the topic. ” Who knows if there’s more lightning on the way and there’s a lot of metal within the group.“

“Right.” Time nods and does a not so subtle double take in his attempt to leave it be. “Let’s go.”

You nod back and nod once more to Sky and wrap your arm around his shoulder. you lead him forward and lean into his space to whisper into his ear. “Thanks.”

“I’m just glad I made in time.”

“We’ll talk later ok?” You smile in hopes of alleviating some of the tension. “I have some questions if you’re willing to indulge me.”

“I suppose it’s only fair.”

Warrior

“He’s a cute kid.” Warrior mentions randomly one day. 

You startle and jump, nearly dropping the image. You scramble to catch it and successfully do so after playing hot potato with yourself.

“Warrior, a little warning please.” You sigh and attempt to clean your finger print smudges on the glass. “But yeah, my little brother is cute. I hope he stays that way.”

“I don’t think you have much to worry about.” Warrior shrugs. “He grows up to be a fine and upstanding young man. Good looks run in the family. ”

You scoff and roll your eyes. “Thank you, I’m sure they do.”

Warrior comes to stand next to you and gently turns the glass over to see the image better.

“Warrior?”

“Hm?”

“Am I doing the right thing?” You sigh.

“What do you mean? I’d say you are. Sacrificing yourself for the good of a better tomorrow- for your family- for your loved ones- but that’s not what you’re talking about are you?” Warrior lets you take the image back.

“But he’s so young... and I’m supposed to take care of him.” You gulp. “I just want him to be safe and sound and healthy but I can’t really do that from- from... I’m here instead.“

“Well... no said it was going to be easy.” Warrior offers lamely.

“What if he grows up to hate me?” You clench the glass tighter at the thought. “I just abandoned him, didn’t I? Oh my god-”

“Hey. He loves you.” Warrior takes your shoulders in his hands and shakes you somewhat. “He admires you greatly. You’re his hero. He looks up to you even now. He’ll understand when the time comes.”

“Even now?” You sniff. “What does that mean?”

“Years have passed and he hasn’t stopped looking up to you and how you did everything you could for him, for Zelda and he’s trying to make you proud-”

“Warrior he’s five, how do you know this?”

His mouth shuts with a click of his teeth.

“Warrior.” 

“Um... I... He...”

“Link.” You pocket the glass and face him head on. “When did you meet my brother?”

He stares at you for a moment and deflates. “During... during the war of my era.”  

“...What?”

Warrior hisses and brings his hand to scratch the back of his neck. “He showed up around the same time that Wind did but he talked about you.... and I guess you talk to him about me because he wasn’t really surprised at what was happening.”

“How old was he?” You bite your lip, already dreading the news.

“Older than me actually.” He offers with a tight smile. “I never asked him but if I had to guess I would have put him in his mid twenties. The oldest Link to start his adventure compared to the rest of us...”

“But he still...” You deflate as well and hug your arms around yourself. “He still has to go doesn’t he? I can’t save him from it. Even now, I... I can’t- I fail him in the end then.” 

“He doesn’t see it that way at all.” Warrior catches you before you fall to your knees in despair. “He admires everything you’ve done for him, everything you’re currently doing. You kept him from danger for as long as you could- until he was old enough to take on his destiny. That’s more than any of us could say.”

“I don’t want him to go through any of it though.” You sob and lean into Warrior for support. “That’s my baby brother Warrior- how am I supposed to be ok with this?”

“I don’t think there is a way.” He admits. “Nor do I think you should be.”

“I can’t keep him from it.”

“But you can and have been postponing it.” Warrior rubs circles into your shoulder as you cry. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you even more.”

“I miss him.”

“You’ll see him again.” Warrior grips you tightly. “He also did very well all things considered. He became an older brother to me and to Sprite and Wind... I don’t think Wind has figured it out yet that your brother and Lucky are the same Link though.”

You sniffle and calm down slightly. “Was he awesome?”

A laugh is startled out of him and he chokes on the snort and cough that tries to leave him at the same time. “I’d say he was better than me... And he claims to have never held a sword until then.”

“Good.” You nod. “He’s the best brother in the whole world.”

“Yeah, he was.”

Four

You’re walking on a random trail as the day dies down and you’re partner is Four for the hour.

The sun rests behind you comfortably and you talk about the different weapons from each others Hyrule. You’re no smith- but you do think it’s an interesting process and try to take notes where you can.

As you trade your notes and laugh at the more ridiculous stories from one another, you look down and notice something weird with Four’s shadow.

It almost looked like it was laughing along too... in the opposite direction that Four was looking in. But you blink and it’s as if it never there.

Maybe you’re tired.

You have been walking all day and perhaps it was a trick of the light.

You don’t think on it too much and go back to talking with your friend.

Hours later-you’d think that it would be the end of it but it isn’t.

In fact, you can’t sleep. And the way it moved was different than it should have been and the more you look into the memory there more obscurities than there should be. Not to mention that Four gets weird around shadows or whenever they are mentioned.

You stare up at the star filled sky as you think about the incident.

“I’m telling you I think they saw me.” A new voice says.

You’re thrust into the moment and attune your hearing to the direction it came from.

“I think you’re thinking too much into it. How could they have seen you?” It’s Four.

You close your eyes and roll over in the same direction, pretending to still be asleep.

The voices take a minute to pick up again when you do that.

They were watching you.

“They stared at me for a solid minute- how did you miss that?” New voices hisses.

“They were laughing-”

“You were laughing, you love sick fool. They looked at me. They saw me. I’m going to blow the secret and you’re not even listening to my warning.”

Your eyes snap open and you push yourself up as quickly as you can.

You instantly spot Four sitting by the fire, but you’re not surprised by that. What really takes your attention is the new person next to him- who looks uncannily like your friend.

But with purple hair...

And red eyes...

And darker skin...

“Four what the hell?” You blurt.

Four responds quickly and as intelligently as he can manage.  “Uhhhh...”

The person next to him curses and runs a hand through his hair. “I told you. I told you. I told you.”

You lock eyes with the new guy and introduce yourself.

He huffs and crosses his arms, his face darkening slightly- or again- maybe it was a trick of the light. “I’m Four’s shadow.”

“His... shadow...?”

“Yes. That’s what I said.”

You nod, wide eyed before turning to Four with a million questions in your eyes. He can see it and holds his hand up to his mouth, pressing his knuckles harshly against his teeth as he waits for them to start flowing out of your mouth.

“Love sick fool?”

“Shadow you snitch!” Four screeches and takes a swing at him.

His cry is loud enough rouse some of the others but only really wakes up two of them. You stare tensely as Time and Legend sit up fast enough to nearly throw themselves into the fire as they turn to Four.

“Sorry.” You whisper yell to save his honor.

Shadow is nowhere to be found.

Time and Legend turn to you as the only other one awake and each raise an eyebrow in tandem.

“Ni-nightmare. I yelled. I’m sorry.” You try to act like you just woke up as well and try to hunker down into your blankets.

Time sighs and wipes his eyes. “You ok?”

“I will be.” You try to smile but you’re too nervous and it comes out more forced than it should- but perhaps that helps you sell your little fib.

Legend for his part glares at you before he sits down with a solid thump and throws himself dramatically back into his bedroll. 

No words are exchanged between you two.

“Everything alright Four?” Time yawns as he also begins to lie down again.

“Yeah. All good here.” Four laugh nervously and waves him away.

Time nods, no longer paying attention and slowly... nearly half an hour later, you see that the two of them have fallen asleep again. Thankfully neither of them seem to realize that it didn’t sound like your voice at all.

Shadow appears again from somewhere and takes his spot next to Four. “Nice going.”

“Shut up.”

“Four, I have questions.” You sit up and make your way over to the two of them.

Shadow raises an eyebrow. “What’s there to explain?”

“Everything?”

“Ok. Ok. Both of you, don’t start. You caught us fair and square. Sit down.” Four sighs and gestures to the other spot next to him. “It’ll take a while.”

“Done.” You grin and nearly run over a sleeping Sky in the process. “Tell me everything.”

Wild

“Has anyone seen Mr. Champion?” You glance up after doing a supply check through your bag. You’re running a little low on rations and know the resident cook usually has some to spare.

But you haven’t seen him in a while.

“Didn’t he go to get fire wood?” Wind tilts his head.

“Wasn’t that at least an hour ago?” You respond, furrowing your eyebrows as you think about it more. Where did Wild go?

“He hasn’t come back yet?” Warrior sits up straighter. Now the rest of the group is a little more aware of their missing member and each start subconsciously checking the tree line as if he were about to come back that very second.

“I can go look for him.” You offer, standing up. “Maybe he got distracted. We are in a new area.”

“Oh great, he could be miles away and we’d never know.” Legend groans and throws his head back. “Just what we needed.”

“Have a little faith Vet.” You snort. With a quick jump and skip over the supplies, you begin to leave the camp behind. “Try calling him Wind, I’ll see if I can go find our missing chef before dinner.”

“Please do.” Time nods. “We’ll start a full search party if you’re not back within the next hour though. It’s getting too dark.”

“Noted.”

“I could find him faster.” You hear Twilight say but you’re already too far away to back down now.

Truthfully, you have no idea where to start- but you imagine that to find Wild- one must think like Wild.

You pick a direction and stick with it.

At some point maybe fifteen minutes in you reach a small creek and begin to follow to stream upwards.

It’s really more like you’re taking a hike than searching for your friend and you begin to feel a little stupid even if realistically there’s no other way for this to be done.

That is- until you see him anyway.

He’s seems to be frozen in place, staring off into the distance with his hands still held mid air, gripping the canteen he appears to have been filling up.

It confuses you and you stand there staring at him to move- to blink- to do something. But he doesn’t. “Wild?”

No response.

“Champion?” You call a little louder and begin to tip toe a little closer to him. You’re afraid that even the slightest snapping of a twig would break whatever spell he’s under and you don’t fancy a violent reaction out the man who can easily blow the whole area up with little to nothing.

But still no response.

“Link!” You hiss and eventually reach his side. He hasn’t once turned in your direction or even acknowledged your presence and you begin to doubt that he’s even conscious.

His eyes are open and he’s knelt beside the creek but maybe he got hit with some magic or something- you don’t know.

You gulp and place a hand on his shoulder. You shake him lightly but when that also proves to not do anything you begin to shake him more and more until you nearly throw him over-but he does not react at all.

“Oh boy... What on earth happened to you?” You bite you lip and begin to look around. He’s too heavy for you to carry on your own and also too far away to yell for help or assistance.

You should have dragged Twilight with you.

Suddenly he takes a deep breath and blinks rapidly, shaking himself back into the present. 

You freeze and tense up considerably as you watch him come back to himself.

Wild stretches and looks up at the sky before standing up. “Twilight’s not going to like this.”

“No. I don’t think so.” You reply.

He freezes as well and looks at you by only shifting his eyes. “How long were you here for?”

“A while...” You admit. “Maybe fifteen minutes. You were gone for over an hour. I got worried.”

“Oh. That’s not so bad then.”

“You ok?” You gulp and slowly drop your shoulders from your ears and unclench your fists.

“Yup. Peachy.”

You nod and continue to lower your guard- not trusting this one bit. “May I ask what that was?”

“Just a memory.” He shrugs and tries to walk past you.

“A memory?” You frown and turn on your heel to follow him. “A memory? I shook you head enough to nearly throw you into the water and you claim it was because of a flashback? I’ve heard of disassociation before but I think this is more like astral projection through dimensions. You were completely gone!”

“It happens from time to time. Nothing to worry about.”

“What if something came up behind you and killed you?” You argue. “I’d say that’s something to worry about. Does this happen often?”

“Everyone once in a while. Maybe once every other month. It depends really. It doesn’t happen as often as it did in the beginning though.” Wild admits and gestures for you to follow him.

You do- but you keep asking him questions.

“So this is normal?”

“For me? Yes.”

“For you?”

“I...” Wild hisses slightly as another thought comes to his mind. “I never told you did I?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about but I’m going to assume that no, you didn’t.”

“I get memories from my old life from time to time when something triggers them. I used to have amnesia but I’ve got most of the my memories back at this point... By now it’s just filling in little blanks.” Wild shrugs. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Oh...” Understanding calms you somewhat. At least it’s not a magic spell or anything. “How did you get amnesia? Do you remember that?”

Wild stops in his tracks and looks at the ground momentarily before looking up again and walking forward. “I died.”

“I’m sorry what?”

“I died.”

“Huh?”

“I. Died.”

“WILD!” You tense up again and follow him without hesitation. “What do you mean you died? Did you heart just stop or were you like blow up or something- Oh my god! I’m so sorry! I’m being super insensitive right now, aren’t I? But I don’t understand! I don’t- Wild- Link- you can’t just drop a bomb like that. Are you like a ghost or something? No. Wait. You can bleed and I’ve seen you crash into more walls and rocks than I care to admit.”

“This isn’t exactly the reaction I was expecting.” Wild frowns and cuts you off. 

“ArE YOu oK?!”

“I’m here aren’t I?”

“But that’s not what I mean- How can that even make sense-”

“Where did you think I got my scars from?” Wild cuts you off once more with a barely restrained snort as he bites his lip.

“Oh my god.”

“I’m fine I promise.”

“Wild nooo....” You whine and Wild thinks for a minute that the information upset you so much that you’re going to cry. “Who did it? I’ll kill them with my bare hands. Who hurt you?”

Wild comes to a full stop again and sighs. Deep and tired but he tilts his head and offers you his hand. “Do you want the short story or the long?”

“Long story please.”

For the first time since this conversation started, Wild smiles even if it’s faint and subtle. “Alright, let’s take the scenic route back. This might take a while.”

Part 2

[usermischief]

♫ Pairing: Steddie ♫ Characters: Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington ♫ Tags: 4x09 with a sprinkle of canon divergence ♫ Words: 952 ♫ Mini Fic Roulette: 28/∞ 

--- --- ---

Steve hates that Dustin is down here with them. He shouldn’t be. He shouldn’t be anywhere near this place. It’s far too dangerous. But at least, he is with Eddie the whole time. His stomach contorts violently as he walks out of the trailer, red lightning cutting through the sky. Steve cannot put his finger on it. It just feels like something is wrong, like something isn’t as it should be. Dustin is safe with Eddie. He’s seen them together. He saw the way Eddie treats Dustin. The guy would never let anything happen to him. 

And yet— 

Steve slows his step. No. He can’t leave. Not like this. He stops and turns, swallowing around the lump in his throat. He shouldn’t be more worried about leaving Eddie and Dustin to fight bats than walking straight into Vecna’s lair with Robin and Nancy. But he is. “Hey, guys. Listen.” They had this talk before. Steve told them to be careful, told Dustin not to do anything stupid. But he steps closer to the duo anyway. “If things start to go south, I mean, at all—“ Steve locks eyes with Eddie, noticing the weird flutter of his heart as he does “— you abort, okay?” His grip tightens around the flashlight in an attempt to keep his trembling fingers under control. Steve needs Dustin to be as safe as possible. He needs him to be alive once they return from killing Vecna. He needs Eddie alive as well. He needs to know this goddamn ‘Dungeons and Dragons’-loving guy with zero understanding of personal space will annoy the hell out of him with Dustin once all of this is over. “Draw the attention of the bats. Keep them busy for a minute or two. We’ll take care of Vecna.” Although Steve knows he is the one walking into a situation in which his chances of survival are much lower,  he cannot shake this gnawing feeling of dread. However, as much as he wants to stick with Dustin, he cannot let Robin and Nancy deal with Vecna alone. “Don’t try to be cute or be a hero or something.” Please, please. Stay alive. Just stay safe. “Okay? You guys are just—“

“Decoys,” Dustin interrupts him almost annoyed, “don’t worry. You can be the hero, Steve.” But his tone softens despite the little jab. Most likely because Dustin knows that this isn’t what his little Steve was about. 

“Absolutely,” Eddie chimes in, looking from Dustin back to Steve, “look at us. Were are not heroes.” And he smiles. He smiles like it’s okay, like it’s going to be fine. He smiles in a way that makes it so much harder to leave.

So, Steve nods and forces himself to turn, to walk away because if he doesn’t do it now, he might lose his nerve. 

Robin smiles at him. Nancy does too. 

“Hey, Steve?” Eddie calls after him. 

And Steve stops again, faster than he perhaps should have. He tries not to think about it as he turns, finding Eddie in his personal space once again. Seeing how often it had happened in the last few days, Steve should be used to it. But this, right now, it feels different. The air is heavy around them, loaded with something impossible to put a name to.  

Eddie reaches for him. He has never done that before. Invading his personal space is one thing, but now Eddie’s hand curls around the nape of his neck. Breathing hasn’t been this hard during any of Steve’s countless baseball games — or that one time he was dragged into the Upside Down through the water gate. But right now? Right now breathing seems to be exceptionally hard, and it gets even more impossible when Eddie pulls him closer. It’s obvious what’s about to happen. Steve has been in this situation before. 

Well, not exactly this one, but—

Eddie kisses him. Hard. Blunt-nails-digging-into-his-skin type of hard. 

It’s short and very different. It’s something Steve has been waiting for even though he never realized it. The kiss sets his whole body on fire. It makes his skin tingle. His fingers twitch. His eyes flutter close, but he feels frozen, almost scared to move — to ruin this somehow. This kiss makes him feel warm and fuzzy in a way no kiss ever did. Even when Eddie pulls away, the sensation remains. Every fiber of his body wants to pull Eddie back to him, wants to kiss him back. But he knows now isn’t the time. They have to take care of Vecna first.  

Steve opens his mouth, thinking he should probably say something, anything really. But between Dustin’s wide eyes, his own racing heart, and Eddie’s sincere expression, his head is awfully empty. 

“Make him pay.” 

Eddie’s words snap Steve back into the reality of their current situation. They are in the Upside Down, on a mission to kill Vecna, to save Max. He will sort this out after they survived Phase 4, after they are back and don’t have anything to worry about. Steve offers Eddie a smile and a nod before turning around, feeling the other boy’s gaze burning into his back. Part of him wishes he’d still wear Eddie’s vest just so Steve would have something of his with him where he goes. 

Robin smirks at him, mouthing ‘big boy’, and wiggles her brows. 

Nancy has already started walking, her shoulders in a tense line. 

Taking a breath, Steve follows the girls and forces himself not to look back. Eddie will be there when he returns. He will be right by Dustin’s side, waiting for them to return — for Steve to return. 

They’re going to be fine. 

Everything is going to be fine.

[bnhamixjuice-sfw]

ANON REQUEST: Hawks, Dabi and Aizawa: spot an ex he had a bad break up with, he sees her walking around struggling to hold on to a bag of groceries while pushing a stroller with a toddler in it that looks awful lot like them, and the he awkwardly confronts them when the bag falls out of her hands.

Tags: Manga Spoiler, Mention of cheating, Angst to Fluff.

Hawks

“I’m so sorry Dove, I didn’t mean to–”

“Didn’t mean what? to deny that I’m your girlfriend in front of the media ‘cause you had a job agreement with the commission not to reveal me! okay Keigo you’re doing this for what reason exactly? Hero Reputation? More women you can use to cheat behind my back again and expect me to forgive you? I–I don’t want this kind of life anymore!”, you wailed in pure anguish roughly wriggling your wrist away from his firm clutch.

He felt suffocated when he needed to let you go for all the things that he did to hurt you, holding back the urge to chase you outside when you frantically closed the door, not looking back anymore on him. Leaving the top pro hero falling on his knees, lonely between these four walls of his house.

After all this time he can’t forget you, longing to see your face everywhere he goes even on pro hero awarding events or his usual patrol work with Endeavor looking for you through the crowds, praying to see your smile again that he misses the most.

His life was crumbling apart without you, but luck was on his side today when he spotted you not too far from where he was signing autographs for his fans while stealing some glances. As always, you’re still beautiful standing there.

Trying to fix your grocery bags while clasping the baby-carriage’s handle. He hesitated at first to approach you thinking you’re probably waiting for your husband to pick you up and your child. And that’s when a tuft of yellow hair popped out.

“Mommy look it’s Hawks, Awtoglaph pweasee awtoglapph”, his excited pleas reached Hawks’ ears. pointing his fingers towards your ex-boyfriend who waved a hand on both of you.

Soon red feathers clumped together on the ground, preventing your bag to fall.

“Wow what do we have here, a kid full of energy today, so where do you want me to sign your autograph?”, stooping down beaming a smile with his eyes crinkling behind his yellow visor making your child gasp in awe.

He knew instantly that his suspicion was right seemingly looking at his own reflection with those golden honey orbs and black lines on those eyelids and small bump protruding behind the kid’s shirt, red feathers similar to his, messily cramped inside.

“Ke–Hawks here… ”, almost calling out his first name when you handed him a notebook and a pen.

Slightly feeling his gloved hand against your palm.

“Hawks look I hab wings too–”

“Honey we need to go home now or else you’ll miss your favorite show again, now say bye bye to Mr. Hawks”, you interrupted, sneaking a warning glare on him not to tell him anything before gently freeing your child’s wings out from his shirt’s makeshift holes.

“Little fledgling I guess your wings were moulting, so did your Daddy tell you about it”

“Hab no Dawdy but Oh you see… Mommy Lov’ Dawdy so much that she booboo cries” you were shock-stricken softly hushing your child out of embarassment.

“Well kid make sure to tell your Mommy not to cry okay cause Daddy loves her so much, yes don’t forget to tell that to her every day I–”, he stammered with his voice started cracking, overwhelming him with emotions too easily, swallowing the lump forming on his throat.

“Your father loves you too kid trust me, and surely there’s not a single day he’s not thinking of your Mommy, his only Dove–Ah I think I’m taking too much of your time Miss I-I’m so sorry”, halting it immediately, muffling a few sniffles before finally signing his signature.

Your heart began thumping so loud, not expecting him shamelessly grabbing your hand, burying you into a warm embrace in public.

“Wait Keigo stop this, everyone’s taking so many pictures of you”

“No I don’t care anymore, listen Dove I’m so sorry and I still love you, come back to me please I promise I won’t hurt you again, I’ll do better this time just let me make up for it, and for our son”

You can’t blame yourself for giving in, accepting him wholeheartedly knowing this is what you promised to him once.

To never let your future child experience the same heartache he suffered from his past.

Dabi

He regret those cruel words that came out from his mouth the first time he was too fed up of your constant admonishment of putting a rest on his revenge against his family forever since you cannot bear to see him exhausting his body anymore, starting this heated discourse again between you.

“You always bring this up y/n every single day and it’s too annoying already, why are you siding on Enji too much Babydoll… come on just say it you really want us to have a perfect family, so cool to have a child with this debilitating quirk too right?”

Sucking your inner lips anxiously avoiding to tell him something about that last one, you felt his grip on your sholders constricting furiously waiting for you to answer him back, but your tears spilling from those precious eyes made his stomach churn in guilt realizing what he had done when you began screaming on his face that everything’s over, shoving him away and locking the door of your house shut.

He knew how much of a dick he was, the worst break up that’s been haunting him everyday with your terrified face forever etched on his mind

It’s been a long time since the last time he saw you after you moved from your old house and he cannot find you everywhere until today.

He saw you pushing a stroller on the side of the road and having a hard time balancing the bag of groceries on your other hand.

Perhaps you found someone better than him and additionally having a child; a normal child considering he’s not the father. that’s what he thought until something caught his attention.

Squinting his eyes, he was slack-jawed to find a familiar cerulean orbs and red hair on that young boy giddily calling you Mommy.

He took this rare chance of talking to you again by catching your bag of groceries that you clumsily dropped, your eyes met recognizing your ex-boyfriend instantly when he removed his mask. piercing eyes gazing down below observing your child’s similar features.

“Babydoll why didn’t you tell me about him, our son?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Dabi and refrain from calling me that nickname anymore, also stay away from MY son before I call the police”

You breathed heavily snatching back your grocery bag from his grasp, clutching the stroller’s handle in pure anger.

“Daddy you meanie, go home”, tugging his pants with those tiny hands.

It hurts you to see your own child begging for his father to go home, when you can’t even tell him how you often show his own picture to your child that’s why he recognized his own father easily, keeping him close to his heart and memory forever.

You can’t hate your only child’s father.

He was expecting him to cry on his intimidating face when he bent his knees down to look at his child closely, ignoring your earlier threat by patting his son’s head seemingly accepting this foreign fatherly instinct.

“Kid look I’m obviously a bad guy, I don’t want you to get in trouble so maybe next time when your Mommy allows me, don’t worry I’ll probably see you again next time pepperoni haired kid”, chuckling when he saw his son’s childish pout, letting him pinch his stapled cheeks annoyed at his nickname.

“Y/n this is goodbye then”, flashing you that thin smile noticing his lips quivering a bit as he stood.

Shoving both of his hands inside his pockets before turning around to walk slowly away from both of you ignoring your child’s tantrum cries calling for him to go back.

“Ssh… sweetie don’t cry okay–Wait Touya!”

He stopped on his tracks when you yelled his real name again, like how you used to call him that before out of endearment.

“We’re going to stay here from now on so same address, the usual okay knock thrice and use our anniversary day on pressing the doorbell and don’t forget our password, listen I’m doing this for our child only so you better show up tonight or I won’t ever give you a chance”

He disappeared quickly after that, and tonight he never failed to show up incessantly ringing the doorbell many times even greeting you that typical password; a kiss.

A yearning kiss, hands intertwining the moment you opened your heart once again.

Aizawa

“Shouta you keep missing my calls these past few weeks when I needed you the most, you barely have enough time to visit me when I was sick the whole week and now you’re late, fine I don’t wanna hear your excuses anymore”

Those bitter words pierced him like thorns, seeing you slip out that engagement ring from your finger and placing it on a table whispering those bitter words he doesn’t want to hear from you.

“It’s better if we end this relationship now before we regret something, I–I can’t imagine my future being married with you or even having a child with you who pathetically seek for time and attention from his workaholic father, sorry Shouta”, you covered your mouth trying to bite back your tongue from spilling about your unborn child.

Running outside the restaurant leaving him heartbroken that he can’t further speak out his words anymore because everything that you just told him was painfully true.

He doesn’t deserve you, blaming himself for not appreciating you enough despite of your effort of enduring the hardships of having a pro hero fiance who often risk his life for his students. A man who can’t even spend a time to take care of you.

Nevertheless, he wanted to mend back those strings that binds you to his heart, always pouring out his loneliness on visiting that Cat Cafe on his day off every week reminding him of memories you two share.

You often take him there to spend a date knowing he’s fond of cats and snapping lots of photos of him every time he ends up sleeping on the corner with cats huddling close to his face nearly suffocating him.

Keeping your engagement ring to him all the time was the only thing that calms him down whenever he’s in dire situation on his job, thinking how much he wish to meet you here again.

Unbelievably seeing you again one time, rubbing his weary eyes once and twice to know if it’s truly you. Indeed, he can’t forget that familiar caring smile of his beloved, finding you outside the cat cafe currently having a problem of organizing your bag of groceries.

“Mawmmy, neko pweasee I wanna touch it!”, your daughter began whinning clapping his hands to get your attention.

He can’t believe his own eyes when your child resembles him too much with that obsidian dull eyes and sleek black hair minus for that pigtail hairstyle but that scowl seems a carbon copy of his own.

“Wait Baby I–”

“I think you need help Y/n”

You were flabbergasted to find your ex-fiance taking a hold of your bag of groceries with his whip that was about to hit the ground and voluntarily offering his Neko tote bag for you which you persuaded him not to.

“Mawmmy pwease I want that too, Neko”, her tiny hands reaching out determined to get it no matter what.

“Baby no–”

“Well your daughter love cats so much, you can give this to her, please just a friendly gift”, taking out something from his pocket leaning down a bit to his side to rummage on that keychain, letting you see his necklace around his neck with that old engagement ring of yours dangling.

“Found it, here kid I’m not sure if you’ll like this”

“Aww Mawmmy have that too um…right Mawmmy, so no thanks Mister”

There’s no way you were married that’s what Shouta suspected when he saw you not wearing any ring, and obviously that cat keychain was closely similar to his anniversary keychain that you two bought for each other.

“Y/n I can drive you two back to your house if its okay–”

“Mawmmy please say yes”

You sighed in defeat not having a choice in the first place and also giving freedom to your child to spend time with her father who doesn’t know about this.

His car was still the same, sitting beside him and your child now sleeping behind after getting so tired ogling on his car’s cat accesories.

You chuckled upon seeing your daughter’s face on the mirror messily drooling, leaning slightly on your side to wipe the corner of her mouth.

“Darling is she our daughter”

“Eyes on the road Shouta, and yes so what will you do about it. Do you expect me to ask for any financial support from you oh maybe spending your precious time for our daughter that I can’t even get from you years ago”, you sarcastically uttered, stabbing him rudely with those truthful words he was unprepared to hear from you.

“I understand if you’re still mad at me y/n, but I just want you to let you know that I want to set things right first before asking you to forgive me. Because I don’t want to miss this opportunity again to tell you how much I wanted to talk to you or maybe to see you in your white wedding dress”

You can’t resist how determined he was to get close to you again, feeling his hand slowly making its way on you.

Giving back that engagement ring to whom it truly belongs, and that was you, a dream he wanted to come true despite it being too impossible.

Turning your head away to wipe your own tears, proposing for the second time that you have been waiting to hear from him all along.

“She’s your daughter Shouta and don’t you dare make her cry of I’ll scratch your face harder than what your cat does”

“That’s too kind of you, I mean my cat misses your deadly belly rub too, you named him Mr. Pickles right, well I’m sure he’d be thrilled to see his Mom again and his new sibling soon”,

You both exchanged soft giggling catching up on one another by starting the conversation about your lives and so on and so forth, and apparently your child was eavesdropping on both of you.

Your daughter muffled a “Pro hero mission success” after accomplishing her goal, peeking a bit to see you wearing that shiny ring.

She knew it the first time she saw that stranger recognizing him from one of the picture you often place under your pillow, her daddy.

Well she did inherit Shouta’s intellectual skills after all.

Do not repost this fic/headcanon.

Disclaimer: I don't own My hero academia nor its characters and plot.