#but the prompt being vague made the drawing i did super cool when i finally figured it out ! so maybe that'll happen again lol

[what-stasis]

If you're wondering why 2 prompts have not been done from me, uh....

School cuts my hours in half

[hanoella]

Deserving

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x healer!Reader

Word Count: 2.1k

Summary: When someone bad mouths Bucky in your presence, you set things straight.

Warnings: Angst, but with happy ending, and one vaguely 18+ insult? I'm new.

Speaking of- @wkemeup has inspired me to post my writing for the first time! For their 9k writing challenge, I used this prompt:

"Character A is the target of harassment on the street. Shamed, they pretend it doesn’t bother them. Until it happens in the presence of Character B, who reigns hell on whoever dared to upset [A]"

Enjoy!

..........

Bucky was used to the whispers he got from people the street when he passed by them.

“Is that-?”

“Don’t make eye contact, he’s dangerous.”

“They just let him walk around like he hasn’t killed a bunch of people?”

His enhanced hearing picked up more than he wished it did. He liked to believe it didn’t bother him but deep down it did. It was just one more reason to stay secluded. Isolated. Alone. And he had been successfully doing that.

Until you came along.

Having been the test subject of a super serum version that focused on health and regeneration, you used your healing powers to help the Avengers get back to world-saving shape. Bucky hadn’t been keen on anyone touching him, much less someone he didn’t know. Despite his best efforts, he had caved in when you noticed he was having a bad day with his shoulder and offered to help. Since then, your companionship has been like a guilty pleasure.

You had this way of making him feel like he was the most important person in the world to you. Regardless of what he thought was evident, you only seemed to notice the good in him, even when he protested.

“There’s nothing I can do to right the wrongs that I’ve committed. Redemption isn’t possible. I don’t deserve-”

“Stop.” You said, cutting him off. “You are amazing. You have been through everything that you’ve been through and you still give back to the world. You fight for a world that made you this way, a world that gives you nothing back and yet you fight. It’s the world that doesn’t deserve you.”

Bucky swallowed hard. Looking at you in your eyes, he saw no dishonesty. Only pure admiration.

After that, there was no hope of him being alone. You cracked open his shell slowly but surely and now Bucky couldn’t imagine life without you.

Which led him to his current predicament.

“Come on, please? It’ll be so good and only a few blocks away. I know tapioca sounds gross, but you’ll love it!”

Bucky didn’t know what bubble tea was but apparently it was worth begging him for the past 20 minutes while you worked on his shoulder. Your hands emitted a warm white light as you gently massaged his shoulder. The direct contact wasn’t necessary but Bucky hadn’t complained when you started doing it and it’s become routine every since.

“I don’t know. I know I’m old but I don’t have to resort to tapioca yet.”

Bucky let a moment pass before his lip twitched up into a smile. You feigned annoyance as you cut off the healing and placed your hands on his shoulders.

“How about you go with me and I won’t bill the heck out of you for my magical five-star massages.” You say as you squeeze his shoulders.

“Okay okay, fine.”

Bucky put his hands up in defeat as he got up from the couch he was sitting on and turned to face you.

You swallowed as you let your eyes drift across his chest before you grabbed his shirt from off the back of the couch and tossed it to him.

“Alright! I’m so excited!”

Bucky listened to you chatter on about the different flavors he could try while he put on his shirt. Sometimes, he couldn’t believe he actually had a friend besides Steve. Sure, it helped that you had been Steve’s friend first. But there was something about you having grown closer to him that made him feel special. Never did Bucky think there would be a time that he’d be jealous over a girl that Steve was friends with rather than the other way around. Times were certainly different.

“You coming?”

Bucky broke away from his thoughts and made his way towards the doorway that you were standing in.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

---

Yeah, he knew this was a bad idea.

As soon as you two had left Stark Tower, the whispers started. While the café was only two blocks away, you noticed something was off a block into the trip.

“You alright?” You asked as you tried to decipher his facial expression.

“Yeah. Fine.”

You looked at him skeptically and then shifted your eyes to follow his, glancing around you. You slowly nodded in understanding as you looked at the people around you who were trying not to draw attention to themselves.

“Okay. We can talk about it later.”

Bucky was thankful that most people talked quietly enough so that you couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Keyword: Most.

You two arrived at the café, where it was slightly crowded. It was a warm afternoon, the perfect time to get a cool drink. Before heading inside, you gently placed your hand on his arm for a moment to reassure him.

“If you want, we could look at the menu out here and then I’ll go inside to order it.”

Bucky shifted his weight slightly from one side to the other as he contemplated it.

“Nah. We can go in together.”

“Okay.” you said, gently smiling to hopefully reassure him.

You both enter the building and make your way to stand in line. Bucky looked around at the seating areas. It reminded him of a Starbucks but with a more pastel color scheme. You looked at him and he raised an eyebrow in response. You smiled, happy that he was with you. Bucky’s heart skipped a beat and he smiled back.

That’s when you hear it.

“Is that that Hydra goon? Hey, go back to Siberia you brainwashed Hydra dog!”

You spun around violently the same time Bucky did with an incredulous look on your face, making eye contact with the college aged boy further back in line who was currently sniggering with his friends.

You stalked over to them before speaking in a low even tone.

“Sergeant Barnes has done more for the world than you could ever dream of doing. Apologize.”

You had let the venom creep into your voice, shouting the last word and silencing the rest of the line. Bucky walked up to you and put a hand on your shoulder, trying to turn your attention to him.

“C’mon. It’s not worth it.”

You let out a slow harsh exhale from your nose but didn’t move. The man only sneered.

“Why don’t you scurry along. I don’t care if you’re where he sticks his-”

The next thing Bucky registered was a nasty sounding crack as your fist connected with the jerk’s cheekbone. A round of gasps came from the surrounding crowd as he fell on the floor, completely dazed. You let out a pained grunt as you bent over, holding your hand while trying to cover the white light that started coming over your hand where the skin had bust open and something had definitely cracked.

“Okay, time to go.” Bucky said as he made an executive decision to get you two the heck out of there before anybody could react further. He put his hand on your back and quickly guided you out of the store, walking until you were out of the vicinity and almost back to the tower. You could tell that Bucky was not happy with you since he hadn’t said anything the whole way back. You entered the building and then stood silently in the elevator as it made its way up, refusing to meet his eye.

The elevator dinged as it opened up on the team’s dorm floor. You both walked quickly trying to avoid other people unsuccessfully as Sam stepped out into the hallway from the gym.

“Hey you two, what’re you… What happened to you?” He asked with a furrowed brow, nodding his head towards your hand as you walked past. Bucky and you answered at the same time.

“Nothing-”

“None of your business Sam-”

You gave Bucky a look and started chastising him.

“Hey, don’t be mean to him just because-”

“Keep. Walking.” He said through clenched teeth.

You rolled you eyes and shrugged apologetically at Sam as Bucky punched in the code to your apartment and swung the door open. He nudged you inside and then followed, shutting the door forcefully behind him.

Sam looked down the hall for a moment longer before shrugging it off. Natasha popped her head out into the hallway from the gym.

“What’s all the commotion?”

“Not sure. I think Mr. Tall, Dark and Metal left a few brain cells behind in the pod the last time he was frozen.”

Natasha snorted and then turned back into the gym.

---

Bucky closed the door behind him and then swung his arms out in confusion, giving you the same look of disbelief that he gives Yori when he starts a fight with his neighbors. You gave him the same look back, as if he was crazy for questioning your actions.

“What was that?” He finally asked.

“That guy was crazy! How could I not say something to him?”

“You didn’t have to hit him and hurt yourself! People say stuff like that all the time, you just have to ignore it and move on with your day.”

You stayed silent for a moment, averting your gaze and holding your injured hand that was gently glowing. Bucky gently let out his breath. He closed the distance between you and put his hand under yours to help you support it. His other hand grasped your forearm, gently moving over your smooth skin. He glanced down and watched as the inflammation went away and a bone shifted back into place under your skin.

“Please,” He whispered, his hold on you tightening ever so slightly. “It’s not worth all the trouble. It’s not worth you getting hurt.”

“No.”

Bucky snapped his head back up to see you calm and determined. Speaking again, you look into his eyes.

“It is worth it.”

He blinked twice, not having expected that answer.

“Why?”

“Because if I had let him say what he was going to say. Then to me, it would be validating anyone who has ever said anything like that about you. I can’t let you believe that any of that is true.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“But you do.” You cried out, slipping your newly healed hand out of his grasp and stepping away.

“I can see it in your actions, Bucky. I see it when you deny yourself anything that would make you happy. I see it when you try to hide yourself from the world. I see it when you look at me.” You spoke, voice wavering with the last sentence, averting your gaze again. Bucky stood silent as you continued.

“I see a deep sadness in your eyes. I can feel it in your soul when I heal your shoulder. Or when you touch my hand to see if I’ve fallen asleep. I can feel it emanating off of you. But I know for a fact that you deserve to be happy. You deserve to rest and to be happy. How many times have you fought a fight that wasn’t yours because it was the right thing to do? And don’t say it was to redeem yourself because I know it’s more than that. You are a good man, James. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone. But if you need to prove it to yourself than just take a look at me.”

You gently hold his face and guide it so that he’s looking at you. He’s surprised to find your eyes full of tears, threatening to spill over.

“When you look into my eyes, there is nothing but love and admiration for you. When you touch me, I feel the warmth you leave on my skin. When you hear me speak, you should be able to tell from what I say that I genuinely think you deserve the world. When you are hurting, the only thing I feel is your anguish. It kills me, to see you punish yourself so undeservedly.”

You were whispering now, looking up at him. Bucky’s eyes were watering as well, his jaw clenched in an attempt to hold back his emotions. With your hands still gently caressing his cheeks he slowly lowered his head so that his forehead was resting on yours, swallowing hard.

Bucky lifted his head slightly so that he could look at you and he saw nothing but love. Your eyelashes were wet and shimmering from tears you shed for him. Your cheeks were flushed from the overwhelming feeling that you had for him. He looked into the depths of your eyes and saw only his future with you. Finally, his gaze settles on your lips, soft and supple.

“Please,” you begged. “Please do not ask me to stand idly by as the world tears you apart. You are worth more to me than anything else in it.”

Slowly, his hands touch your waist and slide back until he’s holding you against him. Closing the gap between you, you kiss.

Nothing more in this world could assure him of your love. For once, he believes it.

[thebeautyoffanfics]

hello!💙💙i hope im not bothering you but may i get a tsukasa or mitsuba x reader where their s/o loves to draw but never lets them see and one day they steal their s/o sketchbook and dont see any drawings of them and the boys are a lil dissapointed but their s/o has a secret sketcbook that they always keep with them filled with the boys portraits?? it would be rlly cute!!(feel free to ignore tho!)💙💜

tsukasa yugi x gn!reader, mitsuba sousuke x gn!reader

a/n: no worries, you aren’t bothering me at all!! This is a super cute prompt, so thank you so much for requesting! (i love writing mitsuba too,,, just gotta love the sharp-tongued, short-tempered characters <3)

warnings:

word count: 1,471

Tsukasa Yugi <3

He thinks the fact that you can draw is super cool!! Probably more so than you do, to be completely honest- he’s extremely enthusiastic about it, but that also means he’s extremely annoying about it.

Lots of “let me look, let me look!!” “I wanna seeeeeeee,” “(Y/N), pleaaaaseee, what’re you drawinggggg?”

“Tsukasa, I love you, I love you very much. But, I promise you, if you don’t shut up and let me draw in peace-”

“:((“

So, of course, if you don’t let him see it, our gremlin of a boy is going to look through it one way or another. Pestering you relentlessly didn’t work, trying to slip it casually into a conversation didn’t work, so! You leave him no option!

One day, when you’re minding your business in class, Tsukasa checks your locker. Maybe, just maybe, you left it in there?

Hmm… empty- next stop!! Bookbag!

His eyes practically lit up, his expression excited, practically screaming “found it!!”

Tsukasa would open the sketchbook, silently wondering what on earth you could have drawn. His only experience in art was… well- with things that weren’t intended for art. It wasn’t ever proper “art” either. Just a lot of smearing. But anyway-

A part of him sort of hoped it would be something with him. Maybe even a little doodle, it didn’t have to be a fully colored, lined, amazing piece. Just little doodles, cos you loved him so much, and he infested your mind like the little parasite he is… y’know….

So, as he flipped through the pages, admiring your style- amazed with every little doodle, every little pencil marking, every little detail- he kept an eye out for anything that could have even vaguely resembled him. Yet, once he reached the end, he was rather certain that there was nothing. Tsukasa felt a bit disappointed, pouting despite the fact that you weren’t there to see it.

“Tell me how I knew you were up to something,” You sighed, looking at the boy seated next to your bookbag, the last pages of your sketchbook flipped open. He ignored the comment, placing your sketchbook to the side, then hugging you. You returned the hug, giving him a confused glance.

“What? It’s nothing incredible, but was it that bad-? I don’t even know everything that’s in that, so-”

“You didn’t draw me :(((“

“You didn’t ask me to???”

Still, you couldn’t help but laugh, well aware of the other sketchbook you had stored in the more secure part of your bookbag. Patting his back, then letting go of the hug, you bent down and grabbed your sketchbook and bag. Replacing the sketchbook he had flipped through, you then reached in and grabbed the other.

Somewhat embarrassed, yet know he already found out about your artistic abilities and would probably be glad to see himself, you handed him the sketchbook. “I’ll have you know, I’m not exactly overjoyed with you right now. But, since you’re a sneak, I’ll let you look at that one.”

Tsukasa opened the sketchbook with renewed energy, excited to see what was inside it. Was it him?! Did he actually infest your mind?!! Was he a good model??

Uncharacteristically, his face was slightly warm as he looked over the first page. It started off with a fully finished drawing of him- a very strong start, if he did say so himself. Not only was it him, it was awesome.

He flipped through the rest of the pages, happiness and excitement practically radiating off of him. You could have sworn you saw his eyes sparkling.

“THAT’S SO COOL, (Y/N)!!” Tsukasa would yell after shutting the sketchbook, throwing his arms around you happily, making sure that the sketchbook didn’t get damaged as he did so. “You did draw me! You drew a lot of me!!”

“Ahah- yeah. You’re… cute, after all. Why wouldn’t I draw my boyfriend?”

Mitsuba Sousuke <3

Nosey little dude, but on a more casual level than Tsukasa.

“I’ve shown you my pictures, so you should show me your drawings.”

“That makes sense,”

“So, show me.”

“Nope!”

“(Y/N)-”

Though amusing, Mitsuba will start to pout after a while. “Tch- it’s not like I wanted to see it anyway. It’s probably lame.”

“Awesome then! That doesn’t make me want to show you any more than I previously did~!”

Insert Mitsuba sticking his tongue out at you-

Still, Mitsuba does understand where you’re coming from. After all, he never shows you pictures he’s taken of you. Therefore! It’s only logical that you wanted to draw his cute face!! He muttered this, crossing his arms, yet pretending that it was no big deal to him. Nope, those little comments and attempted glances were nothing-

“Mmh? You’re cute, yes.”

“That’s not what I- whatever, pervert. It’s clear now. You don’t want to show me, ‘cos there’s raunchy art in there! Pervert! Creepy, you’re so creepy-”

“Then aren’t you a pervy creep for wanting to look in my sketchbook?”

“I-”

Mitsuba may have not talked to you for the rest of the day- but it’s fiiiine, he’s fiiiiiiine.

Especially since, by the end of the next day, Mitsuba passed your locker, planning on returning to the class from a bathroom break. As he glanced over at your locker, not fully shut because of your bookbag shoved into it, an idea crossed his mind. It wouldn’t take long… a little peak wouldn’t hurt. Just to make sure his s/o wasn’t a pervert, of course! Not out of personal interest!

So, he grabbed your bag, rummaging through it until he found a well-used sketchbook. His interest peaked, as he grabbed it, opening it up and flipping through the pages.

Some of the pieces were similar to pictures he had given to you, but he didn’t spot anything of him. Sure, your art was impressive, and he was rather content finally getting to see it, but-

But where was his cute face?? Not even his name??? No dreamy “(Y/N) Sousuke” written? Nothing.

Well, it’s not like he cared anywa-

“Really, Mitsuba? You needed to use the bathroom?”

“AH-” He yelped, shutting your sketchbook, as if that would make it seem like he wasn’t just flipping through the pages in slight awe. “Shut up, pervert! I went to the bathroom, I just- you were being suspicious.”

“By drawing?”

“YEs.”

You laughed lightly, though embarrassed as you took the sketchbook from him, putting it back into your bookbag. To be completely honest, your heart was beating a bit faster, slightly nervous that he found your art ugly. It wasn’t anything in comparison to his pictures, you thought..

And, when you turned around and caught a glimpse of his slightly disappointed face, your heart beat even faster. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” He said, somewhat defensively- well, that much was normal.

“Sorry, it’s probably disappointing- I know my art isn’t the greatest, but it’s definitely improved over time. There are things I need to study, but-”

“Hey, don’t assume I’m upset with your art, dummy. It’s…” He blushed slightly, looking away from you and shoving his hands in his pockets, “it’s really cool. I’m impressed.”

“Then why are you pouting?”

“I’m not pouting.”

You raised your eyebrows, making Mitsuba flush further, opening his mouth as he thought of what to say in response to that expression. “I just- well, you were weird about it, so I figured there was something about me- something weird or suspicious. But, it’s all perfectly normal.”

It took a moment for you to get behind his words- but, after getting behind Mitsuba’s extremely indirect way of saying things, you understood what he meant. He wanted you to draw him. After processing that, you bit your lip, wondering if you should actually show him your other sketchbook… a glimpse at his slight pout, though it was now confusion at your conflicted expression, you turned around, rummaging through your bookbag.

Then, you pulled out another sketchbook, and pushed it against his chest. “Since you’re so insistent. Just go ahead and look through it, I guess.”

It was Mitsuba’s turn to raise his eyebrows, as he took the sketchbook, and opened it up. His face burned, as he flipped through the pages. They were… filled with him. It genuinely made his heart pound, looking at the array of doodles, line art, and fully finished pieces- occasionally, a small heart or smiley face would be doodled alongside them. If he didn’t find your art incredible before, he definitely did now. Of course, he’d never admit it to your face, but his expression was enough for you to understand.

“A-ah… gross- idiot. Of course, I should have known a pervert like you would draw such a cute face. It’s obvious.”

“Right, right. Honestly, just give me a penny each time you call me a pervert, I’ll be rich in no time-”

[whirlybirdwhat]

Prompt: ASL give Dadan a father's day card. (She threatens to kill them but she keeps the card)

hehehehe this is late BUT HERE WE GOOOOOO

bear hag tiger bandit dad mom

read on ao3 here

“Hey guys.” Ace started out of nowhere, as he and his brothers laid down, staring at the sky from their usual cliffside spot. “What even… is Dadan.”

A beat of quiet.

“A hag!” Luffy said delightedly, giggling as he rolled over to stare at Ace. “An ugly one! Or even a bear! Oh she’s a bear-hag! A bear-hag-tiger-bandit!” He then gasped dramatically, stars in his eyes. “DO YOU THINK SHE CAN HAVE CLAWS! AND FANGS!”

“No! Idiot!” Sabo thumped Luffy on the head without even moving from his position on his back. “Dadan isn’t a bear. Or a tiger. She is a hag though.” He nodded, as if he had made an excellent, proper point.

Ace groaned at his brothers. “No! I mean what even is she to like… us. Not anybody else.”

“What do you mean?” Sabo rolled over as well to look at Ace, who was staunchly refusing to look at anyone else and whose face was turning a brilliant shade of red.

“I mean… like she kinda watches over us right? Does that make her kinda like a parent?”

Sabo cocked his head to the side, thinking. “I mean… maybe? She does give us food and medicine sometimes.”

“NO! THAT’S NOT DADAN! THAT’S –“ Luffy was quickly cut off by a hit to the head from Sabo.

“The Mystery Doctor isn’t real, Luffy, its just Dadan in a shitty mustache.”

Luffy looked to the side disgruntled. “Hmph.”

“GUYS! Focus!” Ace finally rolled over to face his brothers, so now they were finally all looking at each other. “What is Dadan? A Parent? A Mom?”

“I never had a mom before! Or a dad! Is Dadan a dad? Or a mom?” Luffy chattered, jumping on the possibility.

“Neither have I. That’s why I’m wondering.” Ace ignored the latter half of Luffy’s comment. Sometimes it was better to allow him to ramble than to try to make sense of it all. “Sabo you had parents right? What were they like?”

“Shitty.”

“Well, duh. No shit. What else?” Ace prompted, Luffy finally having quieted about Dadan being a tiger-bear-dad-mom beside him, and both staring attentively at Sabo.

(Because, well. They were children who never really had a home beside each other. Dadan was the closest thing Ace ever got, Luffy never had more than spare moments when the bar wasn’t busy, and both never knew anyone that could have been called dad, or mom, or anything of the sort – no one who stayed that is.

Ace hated his dad, and loved his mom (and hated himself, for all that he did,) and Luffy simply didn’t think he had any parents to feel anything about.

Still, Ace wondered, and things that his brothers wondered about, Luffy wondered about.)

Sabo placed his hand on his chin as if to think better. “Well. If we’re figuring out what Dadan was closest to, my mom was kind of like… Eh. She just cared about appearances and looking pretty and shit like that.”

Luffy and Ace nodded as one. “That’s not Dadan.” Dadan might wear make-up and beads, but she was a mountain bandit who was never really seen by people other than her clan or her victims. She didn’t really care about stuff like that. Even if she did get pissed when they stole the lipstick she kept hidden in her back closet for war paint.

“And she cared about other kids more than me, and didn’t really bother me until I did something she or someone else didn’t like.”

“Definitely not Dadan.” Luffy and Ace nodded again. Dadan didn’t have any other kids and yelled at them all the time. (Though, that may be because they never did anything they were supposed to do. What did she expect? Chores were boring! )

“What about your dad? What was he like?” Ace prompted, tossing out the idea of ‘mom.’

“Shitty. He always yelled at me and called me names. He was mean about it though. Dadan just looks like she’s about to cry.” Sabo finished, still thinking hard. “I mean… my parents aren’t what everyone else says parents are like though? At least for the kids in Edge Town.”

“Yeah… dads are supposed to protect you right? And be big and strong? And leaders?” Ace questioned, bitterness tracing into his voice.

“And moms are suppose to like take care of you and bring you stuff! Like the Mystery Doc-“

“THAT’S JUST DADAN!” Both Ace and Sabo this time hit Luffy’s head, cutting him off.

“She just comes to check on us, then trips up all our traps! It’s not a Mystery Doctor! Just! Dadan!” Ace spit out.

Luffy whined as the three of them quieted, thinking over everything that they had just said.

Then, Sabo spoke the words that would seal Dadan’s fate.

“If Dadan is kind of like a dad…” She protected them, or tried to in her own way, and was the leader of the Dadan bandits. “And kind of like a mom…” She was the Mystery Doctor, as Luffy called it, and checked up on them while cursing them out in all sorts of nasty ways. “Then… is she a mom and a dad? Is that how that works?”

“Well. We only have one of her. She can be both.” Ace decided. Jungle life left no room for society to state who could or could not be what and… well…

Besides. Maybe mom’s were the protectors sometimes and the leaders, and maybe dads were the caretakers. Ace was pretty sure that could happen. Did happen. Roles were stupid anyway. Just do whatever the fuck you wanted. That’s how Ace and his brothers lived, anyway, how everyone should live.

But…

“Why were you really asking Ace?”

Sabo knew him too well.

“Some of the kids in Edgetown were talking about how they were getting their dads’ shit for Father’s Day or something.”

And Ace wanted to know if he should be making something for anyone (or just wallow in the hatred he had for his dad.)

If he had anyone to make something for.

Luffy doesn’t even question why Ace was lurking around Edgetown kids without them, and sits up with stars in his eyes.

“WE NEED TO MAKE A CARD FOR –“

“SHUT UP!!”  Twin fist slammed into a rubber head as Ace and Sabo cut Luffy’s idea off.

“HEY!”

Or maybe…

“Maybe he has a point.” Sabo hummed, thoughtfully, as they had all settled into the ground.

“What?”

“Maybe we should make a card for Dadan.” Sabo rolled out of the way of Ace’s fist. “No! Think about it! We get to tell her thank you for all the shit she tries to do for us and maybe she’ll stop yelling at us so often!”

Luffy and Ace looked at him as if he were an idiot.

Sabo felt vaguely insulted.

“It’d be super funny to see her face when we give it to her too.”

Luffy and Ace looked at him as if he were a genius.

Now, there was only one question left.

“How the fuck do you make a card anyway?”

-

Dadan woke up peacefully that morning, which was an immediate cause for her to reach for her knife under the bed and spring into action.

She never woke up peacefully anymore. Not since those three brats had taken to crashing the hut in the morning. Either something was wrong, or those brats were playing with her.

She was going to get more gray hairs than Garp at this rate.

Fuck.

Quickly, she scanned her room for any oddities, any thing that would tip her off to whatever the fuck was going on this morning.

Dresser. Mirror. Weapons. Window. Card. Window. Wall. Wea- Wait.

Card?

Dadan stepped closer to the piece of folder thick paper, lying on her dresser, and peered at it closely.

Hapy Father’s Day! It read, in the misspelt handwriting of a child who had previously learned to write well then gave up. It was in black ink, fancy looking, with a smear along the exclamation point and drifting off into the side.

Around it was jungle trees in crayon and something that might have passed as Dadan, if not for the lack of face, and the only visual characteristics being orange curls and red beads and sharp teeth and a angry look.

Curious.

Wait.

SHE WAS A WOMAN!

Damn BRATS!

She ignored the tears at the edge of her eyes and opened the card, knife set to the side.

Dear Dadan, the same handwriting as the front said, this time in dark blue, thickly pressed crayon. Hapy Father’s day. Thank you for taking care of us. Beside the note was a scribbled jolly roger, an S surrounded by crossbones as its signature. Besides that was another scribbly orange blob, this time marginally closer to looking like a person.

Beneath that, on the same page, was careful red print, again in crayon. The words were spaced out, as were the letters, as if the writer didn’t particularly know how many letters were in the word and was waiting for someone to tell them. It read Shitty Old Hag. Thank you for taking care of me. You are stupid but you are strong sometimes. Happy Fathers Day. – Ace

Besides that was some suspicious wet spots, hastily wiped away.  Dadan dabbed her own eyes as to not add to them.

Ace’s artistry skills were slightly better than Sabo’s at least. His version of her was most definitely a person, apparently sitting atop of a bear. She laughed at that, a little.

Her eyes skimmed to the next page, where a monstrosity of black and orange was red was scribbled out. She was vaguely sure it was human. Vaguely. It might have been a bear.

The yellow crayon writing had been outlined in careful strokes by someone clearly not the original writer. DADAN, it seemed to screech, YOU ARE THE BEST BEAR HAG TIGER BANDIT MOM DAD. MOUNTAIN BANDITS SUCK BUT YOUR COOL. – FUTUR KING OF THE PIRATES

Then, on the opposite side of the drawing, in bright orange, LUFFY.

These stupid, stupid kids.

Dadan wasn’t crying. She wasn’t.

Oh how she loved these kids.

She turned the card around one last time, to the message on the back.

This handwriting, graceful and in black ink, was one she recognized. Makino.

Dear Dadan,

I hope this gift doesn’t insult you too bad, the boys were so excited to do it that I just had to help them with supplies! They really do love you, even if they don’t quite grasp the difference between mom and dad. They told me they just decided you could be both. Isn’t that great?

Thank you for being there for our boys Dadan! Happy Father’s Day.

-Makino

Okay. Maybe Dadan was crying right now.

Oh, she hated the fact that she loved these boys.

“Shishishi!”

“Luffy! Shut up!”

THUNK!

Oh, she was going to kill them.

Dadan turned to the window where a top hat, a straw hat, and a quite obvious head of black hair was peeking out over the window sill.

“BOYS!” She raged, setting the card down with care before running to the window.

“RUN!” Came the terrified call, followed by laughter and joy as three boys sprinted away into the woods.

Dadan debated following them, before deciding she would rather they not see her teary-eyed face.

Ah.

She might not be the best parent, but she did alright at least. Enough to get a card on a holiday.

Dadan loved her boys.

She really did.

[authenticcadence18]

30 Questions About Me

THANKS FOR THE TAG @bugaboo-n-bananoir ILY!!!!

(Nick)name: Cadence

gender: cis female

Star sign: Pisces

Height: uhhhhh I am not sure, it’s taller than 5ft at least

Time: night! (Well I wrote most of this last night, but now it’s the evening of the next day!)

Birthday: well I’m a Pisces, so my birthday is between Feb 19th and march 20th!

Fave band/group: Pentatonix! Or For King and Country. Or the piano guys, the vitamin string quartet, Voctave.....also Phineas and the Ferbtones👌

Fave solo artists: I really like Lauren Daigle, and Jackie Evancho used to be my FAVE. Aaand idk if this counts but Michael Giacchino! love his scores, especially the score for Inside Out. There’s also this guy called Clay Kramer on YouTube who makes KK Slider covers of popular music, his stuff gives me so much seratonin😅

Song Stuck in my Head: Well I’m listening to music rn and “I’m Me” from Phineas and Ferb is on so I’ll say that! (I’ll revisit this one when I finish the list and update it with whatever song i’m listening to/is stuck in my head then) (ok the music has since been turned off and now I have “Status Quo” from High School Musical stuck in my head so! There ya go!) (now it is the next day, and I’ve got “when the party’s over” stuck in my head...i think these three songs are an accurate reflection of my taste in music🤣)

Last Movie: uhhhhh oh yeah, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice! It was SO GREAT because Jay Baruchel plays the main character (and the main character is super awkward), so I felt like I was watching Hiccup from the How To Train Your Dragon franchise learn magic and it was GLORIOUS. And also Nicholas Cage is great. And I liked the love interest in the movie as well!! She had a role to play in the story and felt authentic and genuine, which I appreciated!

Last Show: ok well the last show I watched by myself was Phineas and Ferb! Specifically, the episode with the Mardi Gras block party and then the one where Candace and Stacy compete in an obstacle course against Isabella and Ginger (omg wAIT ginger and Stacy are sisters and Isabella and Candace are GOING to be sisters mY HEART I—AH🥺). I hadn’t watched those episodes in forever, so they were really fun to revisit! I think the last actual show I watched was Kids Baking Championship or something, lol. (Those kids are AMAZING. So skilled!)

When i created this blog: November 2019! It was riiiight after the season 3 finale of miraculous aired and absolutely wrecked my emotions. I had some fanfic written that I’d never posted and had been thinking about making a tumblr/ao3 for awhile, and seeing the finale made me finally go, “.....you know what, yeah. The finale is aired, no more spoilers.....it’s time to make a blog.” So I did! And I posted my first fic! And I’m so happy i did :)

What Do I Post: a bunch of multi fandom stuff XD. This blog started off as 90% Miraculous, 10% other fandoms I like...but now it’s just kind of a hodgepoge of my favorite fandoms (with a focus on Phineas and Ferb, lol). I reblog a lot of posts, and then I post original stuff too! I write fanfic, nowadays for Phineas and Ferb but for Miraculous in the past (and probably in the future!), I draw art (mostly Phinabella art because I’ve been drawing them since i was 11 and it feels good to return to my roots), and OCCASIONALLY I will write an analysis post (I’ve got one in the works rn actually 👀), attempt to make a meme, or dip my toe into salt just SLIGHTLY before quickly backing away, lol. If I were to list the fandoms I post about in the order of how frequently I post about them, I’d probably say: Phineas and Ferb, Miraculous....and thennnnn everything else is pretty random and depends on the day, lol.

Last thing i googled: Jay Baruchel 😂. Couldn’t remember how to spell his last name!

Other blogs: this is my only blog! Sometimes I think about making a separate blog for my art and writing, but I am not sure if I should or not....maybe I will someday, but idk. I also have an AO3 for fanfic and an Instagram for art! All are under the name “authenticcadence18.”

Do I get asks: sometimes, yeah!! Sometimes I reblog ask games/prompts and get some asks for those (I’ve got so many prompts in my inbox I want to write/draw things for...ah it’s fine, I’ll get to it eventually😅), and sometimes lovely people will leave thoughts or nice messages in my inbox🥺💕. I’ve got a specific tag for all those nice messages so I can read back over them whenever I need a boost!

Why this url: it’s a music pun! When a song/section of a piece of music ends with a dominant chord resolving to a tonic chord (if you’ve read a certain fic of mine you should know allll about dominant and tonic chords👀🤣), it’s called an authentic cadence! There are different kinds of cadences, and authentic ones are my favorite. One example of this is “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” I also use this blog to be my authentic, fandom-loving self! So I like authentic cadences, and also, I’m Cadence and using this blog to be authentic! Woo! (And 18 is just my favorite number, lol) I’m glad I ended up choosing a name that doesn’t tie to a specific fandom becaaaaaause this ended up being a multi fandom blog!

Following: 232!!

Followers: 292!!! (THANKS SO MUCH Y’ALL ILY 💕)

Average amount of sleep: wellllll for the past week and a half I was sick so I was probably getting 9ish hours a night (because I would sleep in really late, lol). but NOW? In my immediate future? I suspect my average amount of sleep is going to go down because I’m really bad about staying up late even when I have to get up early😅. Hoping to be good about getting at least 7ish hours a night!

Lucky number: 18! But y’all probably already guessed that, lol.

Instruments: my voice, piano, ukulele, viola (but it’s been a HOT minute), aaaand i used to be able to play guitar but then I got a ukulele and forgot all the guitar chords. (I also dabble in songwriting! I primarily use voice and piano when writing music.)

What I’m wearing: my favorite sweatshirt (that was last night, rn I have on a tanktop), some leggings, and socks!

Dream job: I’m currently learning to be a teacher, and I LOVE teaching and working with kids so that is definitely a job I’m really excited about!!! I would also love to portray characters at Disney or something (well, maybe not at Disney because I hear they’re strict, but like....I want to be Rapunzel or Anna or something, that would be so fun). OR, I would LOVE to work in tv animation somehow, be it voice acting, writing scripts/music, and/or story boarding. basically if I could do what Dan and Swampy did for Phineas and Ferb/Milo Murphy’s Law, I would LOVE THAT. (Especially the writing music part. Getting to write music for established characters and get PAID for it would be SO COOL.!.!.!) Also I think it would be so fun to write Disney storybooks! Like, those books that are about Cinderella baking a cake or Ariel befriending a seahorse, stuff like that. Those brought me a ton of joy as a child!

Dream trip: I want to visit alllll the Disney parks someday😅. (Not right now because, ya know, Covid...but someday!)

Fave food: uhhh i really like pizza. And popcorn. Also hummus and guacamole!

nationality: American

Fave songs: “Times” by Tenth Avenue North; “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (I made an entire playlist of just this song when I first started writing my fic of the same name, so I like the original and a ton of covers of it!), “Show Yourself” from Frozen II, “What Might Have Been” from Phineas and Ferb (and lots of other songs from that show, i made a whole post about that once but I can’t find it, oof); “Rescue” by Lauren Daigle; “Thank You” by Pentatonix; “I See the Light” from Tangled; “Your Hands” by JJ Heller; “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran.....i like a loooot of songs so this is just the tip of the iceberg, but I think that’s good for now, LOL! (As soon as I post this I’m going to remember another song I love, lol)

last book: I got the book Unbirthday for Christmas! It’s basically Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, but if she’d never gone to wonderland and things went horribly wrong there. (I think, I’m not that far into it yet, lol)

Top 3 fictional universes I’d love to live in: 1. DANVILLE, PLS. Especially as a kid, I SO would’ve loved to hang out with Isabella and Phineas and the rest of the gang! Danville is so vibrant and unique and people are always randomly breaking into song there, that’s my kind of place! 2. Fairytopia (from the Barbie movies!) because I could be a fairy OR a mermaid OR BOTH and eat seeweed to breathe underwater even if I wasn’t a mermaid. Like, that’s the dream right there. (I’ve always loved mermaids and fairies, lol!) 3. Maybe San Fransokyo from Big Hero 6? All of the technology in that universe is really cool! And I would love to eat a noodle burger, lol .

Oh! That’s the last one! Wow! This was so FUN!!!!!!! Thanks again for the tag, Maddy!!!! :)

I’ll taaaag @sketchy-panda @macaronsforchat @simplynewyorkbound @inkjackets and anyone else who’d like to do this! (And pls don’t feel pressured to play at all, or answer all of the questions! I was definitely vague with a few of my answers, lol)

[forkanna]

[AO3] [WATTPAD]

"Wooooow, this is a really nice place!"

"Hmph," Ebihara grunted as they stepped out of their shoes in the genkan of her fabulous home. "It's a goddamn McMansion. Really nothing special, trust me. But we sure did pay a lot for it…"

For good reason. Rise smiled vaguely as she glanced around at the grand foyer with the statue and water feature in opposite corners. She had seen many similarly opulent homes when cavorting with other contacts from the entertainment industry, of course, so she wasn't quite as blown away as most of their friends would have been. But it was still impressive.

"You don't like it?" she asked.

"I don't like being nouveau-riche. And this big house seemed really cool when we first got it, but now it's… oh, listen to my ungrateful ass complaining about being too rich. It's disgusting."

"Go ahead," she prompted her as they both padded into the sunken living room. "I've been through some of the same things, don't forget."

Ai didn't do as her friend asked until they were both flopped down on the couch, staring around at the pristine surroundings. "Well… it's always been too big. I feel lost. And now with mom gone, it's like a big tomb holding the decaying corpse of our family."

"Yeesh," Rise hissed. "Gross mental picture. But it definitely gets the message across. Have you talked to your dad about it?"

"Oh, I couldn't bother him with that nonsense," she said with a slight smile. "He's dealing with investment bankers and stock options all day. Doesn't have time for me to be anything besides his perfect little princess, so… that's what he gets. Every time."

Frowning hard, Rise turned a little more in her direction, folding her legs beneath her trim frame. "That doesn't sound right. Come on, he's your father. He's going to want to know if something is up with you."

"No," she said firmly. "I have put both of them through enough for one lifetime."

"Yeah, you kind of said something like that before, and it sounded like bullshit then, too. We all get to figure out who we are as we grew up. You don't have to be perfect immediately! So why would they hold it against you just because you were a little bit of a brat?"

Ai's resting bitch face took on a new quality. Pain. Her hand drifted up to play with the neckline of her pretty pink dress as she gazed at the glass coffee table in front of them. Rise couldn't know what she was thinking, but it looked like a lot was weighing on her mind regardless.

"Oh, who cares?" Ai finally burst out with a long sigh, stretching all her limbs out and hooking her arms over the back of the couch. "It's all so pointless. I threw myself into fashion and makeup and all those things, and I was so unhappy, and now here I am being ungrateful that I actually have someone to talk to for real instead of just 'peasants' at school to subjugate. What a moron I am."

Rise giggled a little, covering her mouth before she said, "You're not a moron. You just don't have it all figured out. Look at me, slumming it in Inaba instead of facing my career; I'd say that makes me even worse than you."

"What's so funny?" she demanded when her friend was still giggling.

"Oh, nothing. Just that you really look like Yosuke in that position. With the apathetic attitude and everythi- OH!"

So fast she almost wondered if she had imagined it, Ai was sitting up in a prim and proper position, legs together and fists resting on her knees. Her face also looked almost as if she were panicking… but why? Nothing had happened.

"Ebi-chan…?"

"Sorry. I'll do better." But when she glanced over and saw Rise was still looking confused, she cleared her throat and waved one hand back and forth in the air, as if wafting away an unpleasant aroma. "I-it's nothing, I promise."

The popstar dipped her head and whispered, "Hey, I know we've only been hanging out for like, hours instead of days, but you can talk to me. You know that, right?"

"Yeah. You're annoyingly persistent with that." But before Rise could protest, she poked her in the middle of the forehead with a slight smirk before pushing to stand from the couch. "This sucks. Unless you want to watch the big screen TV, we should get something from the kitchen and head up to my room."

"I guess. What do you have?"

They both wandered in there and nosed around. The kitchen was a gleaming bastion of modern efficiency, lots of chrome and marble, but the fridge didn't seem to have a whole lot inside: a few drinks and some takeout. So they grabbed beverages and a bag of shrimp chips from the cupboard, plus their bags of goodies from shopping, and headed upstairs, figuring it was better than nothing.

"Oh wooooow, this is so, so…"

"Yes," Ai sighed. "So pink."

Indeed it was. Literally everything that was capable of being pink in that bedroom had been given that treatment, from bed sheets to carpets to walls. At least most of it was a very pale shade, so it wasn't so lurid as to be painful on the eyes. Ai seemed to have a wardrobe in addition to an actual closet, and had her own entertainment system with a smaller TV and a couple of old game systems.

Wait…

"Hey, whoa, you have video games?!"

"What? Oh, I- w-wait, nobody was supposed to see those!" Ai hissed, grimacing and taking a step forward as if she could suddenly hide the consoles from her guest. Not that that was possible, given she was already in the room and had seen them.

"I haven't played one of these since they put me in Karaoke Retribution. Wow, you have Famidrive, Super Famidrive, Joystation…" Rise started looking through the games, and her host fell silent. Eventually, she said, "You sure do have a lot of RPGs and sports titles. What's…?"

But when she looked over her shoulder, she saw Ai looked extremely uncomfortable and ashamed, staring down the carpet as her toes scrunched in its fibers. Why did she look so stressed? Eventually, she made her best guess and put the games back, turning from the floor to look up at her more properly.

"Sorry. That's… my bad, I shouldn't have just started pawing through your collection without even asking. Sorry." She even bowed a little.

"Oh… it, um, it's fine. And those are really old, I haven't even played all of them."

"We don't have to talk about that." Privately, Rise thought the collection looked meticulously cared for, and there wasn't a speck of dust on any of the consoles or the games. But she didn't want to push the matter because it really seemed like she had done something wrong by drawing so much attention to it.

"Good. They're old and stupid." She cleared her throat. "Do you… want to try on some of my clothes? Or… ugh, I sound like a complete idiot."

But Rise merely stood up and rested a hand on her shoulder. "You've never had anybody over here, right? Haven't made many friends since you moved. I get it, it's okay."

Very hesitantly, she squinted at her, swallowed hard, and whispered, "Really? You don't think I'm a lame freak for being nervous about it?"

"No. Now, do you have a CD player?"

"I usually just use my Joystation." Then she froze in place, as if she had caught herself saying something wrong.

"Cool! That works." Maybe if she just acted super casual about everything, it would set her new friend at ease. "Want to put in your CD? That old one."

"I thought you wanted to listen to yours while you were here…"

"Oh, we have time," she giggled with a little bounce, shaking Ai's arm. "Come on, let's set this party off!"

Talked into action, Ebihara rolled her eyes hard. "Well, if you're going to beg I guess I might as well give in." However, Rise could see her cheeks bunching with a smile once she had turned away, grabbing up one of her shopping bags and digging around for the album.

"Let me take a look in here," Rise called out as she skipped over to the wardrobe and threw it open. "Dresses, dresses… you really like dresses."

"All the skirts and capris and whatever are in the closet," she called over to her as she messed around with the console, trying to get music playing. "And most of my blouses. Oh — here we go."

As soon as it started, it was so upbeat and cheesy that Rise burst out in a fit of giggles. But she looked over to check if Ai was offended — she was — so she quickly followed up with, "It's cute! I just haven't listened to old-fashioned music like this in a while."

"Yeah, yeah, you hate it." Suddenly, a patent leather pump hit her in the head. "HEY! The hell are you doing, throwing my shoes? AT ME?!"

"Stop that!" Rise admonished her, already rearing back with the matching pump. "I didn't say you were a loser for listening to it, just that it's not usually my thing. But it's good!"

"I can turn it off, it's no big-" When she saw her taking aim with the other shoe, she raised both hands and set the controller down. "Okay, okay, you monster! We'll let it play."

"Good. Now come over here and play with your own personal Dress Up Rise doll. Do you have any idea how many fans would kill to be in your position?"

Shaking her head, she snorted as she stood up and walked over to join her. "Thought I made it crystal clear I am not a fan. But I guess…" A smile began to take over her features. "Can… I try yours on?"

"Huh? This stuff? I mean, it's nothing special… and you're taller, it could look weird. But you're also really trim and cute, so I guess it might work."

"Cool, thanks. And here — I think you could rock this pretty well." She snatched a red mini dress from the rack in the wardrobe and held it out to her. "I can turn around — or leave the room, if you want."

Rise was already giggling as she began to pull off her blouse. "Why? I'm not shy like that. I mean, only because I trust you not to take pictures; that would piss me off."

Unfortunately, the conversation was temporarily put on hold while Ai stared in wonder as she changed right in front of her. Rise really felt sorry for her; did she really never have any friends at all? It seemed so. Sure, Rise herself didn't take them for granted, either, since her own pool of friendships had been rather thin before she achieved national stardom. But Ai had no one at all. That was such a depressing existence…

"What's the matter?" she finally asked once she had stepped out of her white capris, leaving herself in her underwear and reaching for the dress.

"N-nothing, mind your own business." But the light blush in Ai's cheeks said that she wasn't nearly as comfortable with changing in front of anyone as she wished.

"Okay, sheesh." Then she handed over the capris as she started turning the dress to figure it out. She saw Ai struggling to pull them up beneath her dress and she laughed. "Do you think you're at the beach? You don't have to do that, either."

"What? Is this… is it weird?"

"Well… no, I guess it's not that bad. But you don't have to be so modest; it's not like you don't have anything I haven't seen before in the mirror." Rise laughed.

Ai did not. But it may just have been because she was focusing on not looking completely chagrined. Once she had the capris on, she finally did shuck the dress in one aggravated movement, as if trying to force herself to do it caused the motion to be faster.

"Hey, these are nice," Rise giggled as she poked one of her friend's boobs. The taller girl let out a blast of startled air, then slapped both forearms across her chest. "Aww, she's still shy! You're so cute, Ebi-chan!"

"St-stop harassing me, you pop star pervert!" This time, Rise's laughter was contagious, and they were both giggling as the song changed. This one was a floatier, more romantic number. "Oh…"

As she shimmied the red fabric all the way down her body, situating it in place, Rise asked, "What is it?"

"Nothing." At least this time, that pointed stare was enough to prompt her to try again. "It's… I didn't know… I've heard my mom listen to this. 'Purity'; I remember now."

"Oh. Well… we can change it, or… we can enjoy it?" She paused to take up both of her friend's hands and squeeze them tightly. "Whatever you need."

"No…" A deep breath. "No, it's fine. This is good; it's basically all I have left of her, she never calls anymore." After a few blinks of surprise at herself, she cleared her throat and started to sway their arms back and forth.

"I get you. My parents… well, you probably read all about it. Old news."

"Tell me."

"Well… we broke all contact, too," Rise admitted as they began to turn in a slow circle. "They got really demanding about my career, and it felt like they didn't care about me as a daughter anymore. Just as a source of income and attention. I know I should probably try to make up with them sometime, we all just didn't understand each other very well. But it's… hard."

"I can't imagine. Being disappointed, definitely, but not that level of… I don't know, almost manipulation?"

"Yep. Manipulation is pretty dead on, as much as it sucks to say it."

"Yeah. I…" A couple of quiet seconds of swaying as Ai tried to find her words. At some point, Rise had reached up to rest her hand on her friend's shoulder, and a hand had moved to her own waist. "I think they made a mistake. You've been the most amazing friend I've ever had."

"Give it a few more days," she snickered. "And a few more friends. You only think I'm that great 'cause you haven't had any others lately."

"Like I need them! Tch. You're already best friend material, and I only accept the best. So there's no point in window-shopping around for cheap knockoffs."

Somehow… Ai had made that both sound like she was doing her a favor, and paying her the highest compliment imaginable. It was incredibly sweet in a bizarrely demanding way. Perfectly Ebihara.

Realizing that was what made her also realize they had been slow dancing for a couple of minutes now. Without her heeled sandals, she was even shorter than usual, which meant she had to gaze upward into her tall friend's face to see how she was doing. And when she saw she was staring back…

Ai actually looked content. For once in her life, she looked like she was at peace, just dancing to some old city pop slow jam in her bedroom. She wasn't trying to exploit Rise, wasn't as disinterested as she had once pretended. No, her entire focus was on her, and just because she liked her.

Almost like…

"Careful, cutie," she joked with a dimple-graced grin. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you're hitting on me."

"Hm?" Ai breathed distantly, clearly distracted by her own thoughts.

"It's okay, I'm just being dumb. You're fine, Ebi-chan." She leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss into Ai's cheek before pulling back to bite her bottom lip for a moment. Maybe she was just doing it to be kind… but she also suspected she was doing it because of the slow dance. A tender gesture like that just seemed to suit the song, the mood, the whole moment.

That single peck left her friend speechless again. Rise almost began to say something before she saw her moving, and she held her words for a moment. Wanting to let her hug her or whatever. This was going to be a great growing moment for Ai, and for their friendship. Maybe she would even learn to hug other people! Eventually.

Feeling lips press so delicately at the corner of her mouth threw all of those thoughts out the window. Really, that brief contact changed everything about that moment even more: the hokey old ballad suddenly sounded like pure magic, the club-ready minidress felt more like a ball gown. Rise had literally never felt like this in her entire life — up to and including when she had some of the country's most eligible boy bands and actors fawning over her in the past. Including the many unbelievable adventures she had been on with the Investigation Team.

She felt like she was with Narukami again. But instead of having her advances go unrequited, this was what it would be like if he looked at her the way she looked at him.

If only it wasn't Ai Ebihara standing in front of her, looking at her that way. Now she had a problem. How was she supposed to explain that her interest in her wasn't romantic? They were both girls! That kind of thing just wasn't done in Japan. Sure, she had heard it was more common overseas, and rumours within their own entertainment industry, but that wasn't the same as actually pursuing it for real. But then where were all these feelings coming from?

"Ai…"

The unfortunate coincidence was, her suddenly-very-close friend's name just happened to be pronounced the same way as "love". So whispering it the way she had, regardless of whether she meant to… it carried a certain connotation.

One that did not seem to be lost on Ai herself. Not if the next kiss was any indication. Brief as it was, just barely pressing into her lips before it was gone, it still was a first for both of them. First kiss - as whatever lay beyond the boundaries of friendship.

Temptation to just go for it welled up as Rise slid her hands up along Ai's stomach, perching on her shoulders in a vain attempt to find a grip somehow. To anchor herself within this whirlwind moment. She knew honest surprise was written across her face now; she may have been an actor, but this had caught her so unaware that she couldn't even begin to fabricate responses. Pure, unfiltered Rise.

And now the kiss was over… leaving two very confused teenage girls standing with their hands on each other's bodies, staring back at each other with bewilderment.

"I… wow, that…"

"Rise-ch… I… didn't- that w-wasn't-"

"No, no, I know." Damage control. She smiled, trying to put her friend at ease as she whispered, "Sometimes things happen, we didn't plan… I would never say you…"

Ai licked her lips, shivered. "I didn't. I'm so sorry, was… was that your first, too?"

"M-my first with… a girl… I, um, I did kiss a boy for a drama I was in. But that was just acting." Why was she telling her all this? Was this not acting?

Then what was it?

Suddenly, Ai took a step back, her hands still raised vaguely near her heaving chest as if she were going to pat herself down, or reach for Rise. Though she didn't. "Hey, you have to believe me, I didn't- this was not why I brought you back to my house. I'm not a pervert, I wasn't trying to…"

"Pervert? For a kiss?"

"No, I… for shit that comes after a kiss. In case you thought I was going to try anything funny."

"Oh." Her cheeks flooded with color as she finally realized what her friend was getting at, and she said in a slightly higher timbre of voice, "Whoa! That's- yeah, I definitely wasn't thinking about that! What would we do, anyway? You're so silly, Ebi-chan!"

"Right?! No way!" They both laughed nervously for a second or two, then suddenly cut off at the same time.

"Awkward," Rise muttered with another chuckle.

"You, uh, you can leave if you want to. Since it's awkward. Do whatever you want, I don't care."

Already trying to build up her defense mechanisms again. Rise couldn't stand that; she hated wasting time with important work only for it to be thrown out with the bathwater. So she threw her arms around her new friend in a tight hug, trying to ignore the little tingle in the pit of her stomach that told her this meant more than either of them thought it did.

"Stop."

"No."

"Rise… it's… you don't have to do this just to make me feel better. It's weird. I'm fucking everything up."

"You are not! It was only a kiss!"

"But how did it end up like this?" Something familiar about that… but Ai kept pushing ahead, "It has to have been me, because like you said, you've never kissed a girl before. And you do actually have female friends, unlike a bitch like me who doesn't have any at all. And I get one friend, one, and I immediately try to make out with her! Why am I such a fucking head case?!"

"Hey," Rise snapped, "it wasn't like that at all and we both know it. That was like, a wedding kiss, you know? Small and tender, but it didn't lead anywhere crazy. It was sweet."

"Really?" she asked urgently, finally meeting her eyes again. "You… you don't hate me for it?"

Laughing, Rise leaned up to pick her on the lips again. This time, she made sure the contact was so brief that it couldn't possibly develop into anything more — which was now something they had to be worried about, apparently.

"If I hated you, would I do it again?"

"Mhhh…" The other girl closed her eyes, trying to ignore a wave of some emotion that passed through her. Then, smiling, she whispered, "Thank you."

"Hey, you're welcome. Not everybody can say they got a kiss from Risette!" When she giggled, the smile on her friend's face got a little wider, even if her cheeks were still flushed.

The song changed to something a little more upbeat again. The spell was broken. They embraced warmly, then broke apart and started commenting on each other's clothing. Even if the mood didn't totally go back to normal, at least they no longer felt like they were in danger of destroying a friendship that had barely begun.

But the whole time, Rise found herself glancing back at the girl who — had she been that pretty before? — a lot more often than usual. What if they changed everything forever on accident? Maybe it would be okay regardless. She had to hold onto that hope.

         To Be Continued…

[imaginedanganronpa]

hi this is weird but could i request s/o asking how big the v3 boys’ dick is (they’re dating) and like their reaction

I don’t think this is weird, it was honestly a fun Request. I willsay, though, that I didn’t include their response (like, I didn’t have themsay, “Oh, it’s so-and-so inches” or whatever) because I’m not completelycomfortable with writing that side of the conversation. But writing theirreactions was super fun, I hope you like it!

Also, I’ll leave it under ReadMore for safe measure even though this isn’t that NSFW.

S/O Asking the V3 Boys How BigTheir D*ck Is!

Saihara Shuichi

While you and Saihara have been dating for several months, thingsstill haven’t progressed to that point. Itwasn’t a big deal though, that side of the relationship was simply a bonus soneither of you were trying to rush things.

He is fairly inexperienced as well, so perhaps he doesn’t getquestions like this very often.

Your mind started wandering and you found yourself having somerather promiscuous thoughts about Saihara, but you didn’t want to make himuncomfortable. You’ve been more needy lately and have hinted that you wanted totake things to the next step, if he was comfortable; and for a Detective, he didn’t seem to pick up on them.

In your eyes, you assumed that the question would be yet anotherhint, but it came across as more straight-forward than you intended. While steering the conversation into a more intimate turn, you throwout the question that’s been on your mind for quite some time. You’d be lyingif you said you weren’t curious, after all. 

“Hey, Saihara… how big isyour dick?” You ask rather nonchalantly, and this causes him to drop what he was doing instantly.

The blunt question caught him completely by surprise,as his eyes widen and his face turns bright red. He tips his hat and covers hismouth with his hand to avoid making eye-contact with you out of embarrassment.

He wasn’t sure that he was hearing you correctly, “Pardon?”He prompts and you repeat yourself innocently, batting your eyes.

Saihara was a flustered mess. “What the H-Hell,(Y/N)? Why did you ask me that?” He becomes incredibly sheepish and you feel as though you may havestepped over a line.

“Just… curiosity killed the cat!” You exclaim, frantically trying to justify your motives. Your boyfriend was floored because no one’s ever asked him that before, so you can’t blame him for being shocked. He shies away from you and simply takes a seat at the table across from you, still looking at the floor somewhat flabbergasted.

After recollecting himself and calming down, Saihara takes in a breath and gets serious. “You know, if you wanted to take things to the next level you could have just told me,” his voice was a bit stern but still compassionate, “and then maybe you can find out…”

You weren’t expecting the second part, and now you’re the one who is taken aback. All Saihara does in response is offer a shy, impish smile. He was trying to sound flirty but the blush on his face told you that he was still embarrassed.

Ouma Kokichi

You started dating Ouma only a few months ago, but you’ve knownhim for much longer than that. Regardless, you are familiar with his personality and howloud and over-confident he is, and wondered how he remained so carefree all the time.

Since he’s the type to constantly boast about himself, you thought he had to have a reason to be this cocky. You’ve heard jokes about people with Ouma’s personality type and their nether-regions, but you didn’t know whether or not those jokes were true.

Well, there’s only one way to find out.

While watching him pester some of your classmates, as he normallydid, he started bragging about himself and placing himself on a pedestal whilst poking fun at and belittling the others. He had the same wide, cocky grin glued on his face that you know and love so well.

The question seems to roll off your tongue without your full-intention.“Damn, Kokichi, how big is your dick?” You emphasize the teasing tone in your voice but you didn’t realize that you just blurtedout your thoughts for several moments.

The question did surprise him and his brows jump, but he quickly recollects himself and maintains his calm composure, suppressing his initialshock. “Why do you ask?” Ouma responds while holding his hands behind his head and leaning backwards slightly.

That’s when you finally catch your mistake. “O-oh, it’s justbecause… you always act so confident, you know?” You were starting to blush, realizing that you had just made your private comment in front of all of your classmates. You meant to do this in private but your mouth seemed to have a mind of its own this morning.

“You’re saying I have… big dick energy?”

This causes Ouma to smirk mischievously, narrowing his eyes as hesnickers. “That’s so funny! (Y/N) thinks I have a big d-”

You cut him off by standing and dragging him by his scarf out of the classroom - not wanting the others to hear your conversation but his smug smile said it all, and he definitely wasn’t going to let you live this down.

Oh, boy, he’s cocky and your comment only fueled his ego even further. He continued to tease you for it, insisting that he only did it out of love. You were Ouma’s favorite person to torment, especially because of how cute your reactions were.

He continued to bring it up for the rest of the day. “(Y/N) wants to know how big my dick is, I guess they’re a freak.” He would make nonchalant comments like that with others around, drawing attention to yourselves and causing you to melt with embarrassment, wishing you had never asked.

Once you were finally alone, Ouma leaned in for a kiss but brisked past your cheek at the last second. You could feel his smile pressed against your skin as he whispered, “If that was a serious question then… you’ll just have to find out for yourself.”

He winks at you as he pulls back and started to walk out of the building without you, leaving you behind in your own quivering, lustful state.

Rantaro Amami

Rantaro understandably wants to take things slowin your relationship, so you haven’t reached a more intimate stage yet.

He also has high standards and respect for both you and himself so sexualityisn’t a topic that is discussed often. He didn’t want that to become the most important thing in your relationship and wanted to avoid becoming dependent on it. 

All he wanted to do right now was enjoy your time together as you settle into your newfound relationship. You were more than happy to take things slow and simply spend time together; plus, Rantaro still had some brotherly-protective instincts for you that carried over from your friendship, so he couldn’t picture you in that light just yet.

You were just blatantly curious, though, and who could blame you? Rantaro was a flirt and you were extremely attracted to him. It’s not like you haven’t had any lustful thoughts about him before, this wasn’t a new thing… and maybe you simply wanted more substance to your thoughts.

Your curiosity got the best of you and you decided to take a leap and jump the gun. Blushing intensely, you hang your head and glance away while you mention, “I have a question, Rantaro.” 

Your boyfriend tilts his head thoughtfully to one side, resting one cheek on his hand as he smiles and responds, “What is it love?” in the sultry, smooth voice that always sent chills down your spine.

“H-how big is your dick?” You ask whilst stammering and can’t stand to look at his face right now.

Rantaro raises his brows and his smile fades a bit, the corners of his mouthreturning to a neutral state. His face that was previously resting on his palm lifts as his body stiffens uncomfortably. “Oh, what? Why do you ask that, might I ask?”

Regardless of his shock, he still remained as calm as usual. It was hard to surprise him, after all. He was always so relaxed and laid-back, and he didn’t sound like he was upset with you. Just, simply unsure.

This was the most surprised you’ve ever seen him, and yet Rantaro still managed to look as cool and composed as always. You told him that you were just curious, nothing more, and he leans back in his chair as he props one arm over it and his smile returns.

With a hearty chuckle, he playfully shakes his head at you. “Well, you’re something else… but why would I just tell you?” This comment was more teasing and lewd than you were used to coming from him, so your head snaps back and you finally make eye-contact with Rantaro once again.

“It’s… big enough, I guess,” he says, not really sure. “I’ve never really thought about it. It’s never been that important to me.” He shrugged his shoulders and dismissed the question, insisting that you’d find out when you were both ready and consenting.

That… wasn’t the reaction you were expecting. Rantaro didn’t even flinch. You only caught him by surprise for what seemed like a few brief moments, and he was still as chill as ever… God, he was so cool.

But his vague response only worsened your thoughts and made you even more curious… dammit. He knew what he was doing, too, and smirked at you playfully from across the table, a glint in his eye.

Kiibo

You’ve overheard some of Miu’s and Kokichi’s comments before, soyou knew that Kiibo got this question a lot, but their curiosity never eliciteda response from the Robot. It must be difficult, too, since that was the first thing most people asked him.

You started dating a few months ago and those kinds of topics between the two of you havenever come up before. He was still pretty inexperienced and shy around intimatesubjects and feared saying the wrong things.

You were really curious, though. You hoped that this wouldn’t upset him and that he would understand, coming from his partner and not just a classmate or stranger. You were the only person who really should know, anyway, so hopefully he doesn’t panic when you ask…

“I have a question…” you trailoff, a bit ashamed of what you were about to say. But Kiibo was genuinelyconcerned and hoped that nothing was wrong. “What is it, (Y/N)?” He asks,sounding very genuine and serious.

You didn’t know how to put it lightly, so you are extremely blunt. “Do you have a…” And you didn’t even need to finish that sentence.

He knew where this was going and his face turned red almostinstantly. He started overheating and wished he could disappear. “W-what?What prompted you to ask that?!”

Holding up your hands defensively, you insist that it was sheercuriosity. “You never really answer Miu or Kokichi… I mean, I get it, but I just wanted to know! We’re dating now, y’know…” Your eyes dance around the tiles on the ground as you scratch your head and giggle shamefully, trying desperately to explain and make sense to Kiibo.

“They don’t need to know my business, they’re Robophobic!” he exclaims, talking with his hands frantically as he tries to steer you away from this conversation. But you just weren’t letting up…

“Wait… did you just admit to having a-”

This conversation was spiraling into something really strange that Kiibo didn’t want to be a part of. Cutting you off, he realized that he had no other choice and needed to come clean to get you to be quiet, since people were around and could hear the whole thing.

He then pulled you to the side where your conversation was abit more private and spoke in a low voice. “I’m only telling you thisbecause we’re dating, but, well… yes, I do…”

He explained that it was… retractable and detachable. Your eyes glistened with excitement and now you really wanted to know more, because… well, wouldn’t anyone? “Oh, wow! Then, how big is it?!”

Kiibo’s jaw drops as he lets out another frantic scream and his blush returns, “Ahh! I’m not telling youthat!” You pout and start to pull the old puppy-eyes trick on him, but it wasn’t working.

The Robot gets serious and insists that he wasn’t going to reveal that kind of sensitive information, so you give up and give your boyfriend a break. “Fine…” you mumble, defeated. Finally, he could sigh a breath of fresh air as he calmed down and was no longer flustered.

Two giggles caught your attention as you both turn and notice Miu and Kokichi standing not too far away, apparently overhearing everything. They high-five each other and Kiibo groans with frustration. Oops…

Kaito Momota

You and Kaito have been dating for several months now and have yet to progress your relationship to the next stage. He didn’t want to risk ruining anything since you were friends long before you started dating.

That’s why he’s been so hesitant about doing anything intimate, but you can’t say that you don’t want to partake in those things. It’s been on your mind for awhile, but how do you say that to Kaito?

You were watching him as he sits across from you while you each work on your own independent projects in a comfortable silence. He looked very focused as he juts out his lip and stares intensely at his work, almost forgetting to acknowledge that you were there.

You could tell that he was incredibly focused and nothing would break that, so you didn’t want to intervene. But your mind started to travel to a new place… you haven’t really had any intimate thoughts, but today you couldn’t seem to get them out of your head and you didn’t know why or what it was that caused it.

Suddenly, the question that was floating around in your head accidentally slipped out. “Kaito… how big is your dick?”

Truthfully, you didn’t even catch yourself saying that and it simply… came out unintentionally. Your face flushed once you realized that you said this out loud and you panicked - that was supposed to stay a private thought!

Kaito froze in place, his hands stopped working but he remained in the same position, continuing to stare down at his work. He was just trying to process your question, debating whether or not he heard you correctly.

Then, his head slowly lifted and his eyes met with yours. He looked a bit confused and taken aback, and your face was filled with embarrassment. 

In this moment, you wished you could take it back, especially when he added, “Uh… excuse me?”

You started waving your hands dismissively, “Oh, nothing! Forget I said anything!” You tried to deflect his attention but that clearly wasn’t going to work. Kaito was still trying to wrap his head around the question.

He became a bit defensive. “Why do you want to know? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

You thought that this may be a his ego shining through but you insisted that you were simply curious, since you two haven’t gotten to that point yet. His attitude switched to a more understanding one, “Do you want to? You know, take it to that point?”

Your jaw dropped in surprise, “Seriously?” Kaito nodded slowly but reassuringly, a very faint blush appearing on his cheeks. 

“Well, we’ve never actually talked about that kind of thing… but if you’re really that curious…” he started to ramble on, the cockiness that you knew so well returned and he started to sound like himself again. You sighed in relief, feeling like you just dodged a bullet.

Finally, Kaito chuckled. “I didn’t realize how straight-forward you’d be about that kinda thing, (Y/N)!” A wide, wholesome grinned formed on his face as he leaned in to plant a kiss on your forehead. When he pulled back, his eyes met with yours and he adds, “The offer to progress things is still on the table,” with a wink.

Korekiyo Shinguuji

You knew that Korekiyo was an inherently sexual person andboundaries were something you two discussed in-depth. He didn’t want to make itto that part of your relationship without having your full consent andapproval, or without knowing what you liked.

That would only help you both in the long run, after all.

These types of conversations weren’t uncommon and you’re surprised you haven’t asked him this question sooner. Korekiyo was open and receptive to this kind of curiosity and never judged you.

You always just thought it would seem too… blunt or crude, and you wanted to avoid that. But watching him work and hearing him talk about his passions was so attractive and you couldn’t hold yourself back.

Plus, you knew he wouldn’t get uncomfortable or feel weird, like most other people, when asked a question of this nature.

You were watching Korekiyo sort through old history books and describe each one - he had a vast collection and knowledge at his disposal, which you found endearing. You were lying on your stomach on the couch not too far away while he crouched on the ground.

“Hey, Kiyo?” You ask, catching his attention as the tall man turnstowards you. “Yes?” His voice was filled with wonder as his eyes sparkle, causing a small, sheepish grin to form on your lips.

“I hope this isn’t weird but… how big is your… dick?” Your words sounded long and drawn out, and your eyes darted away because you couldn’t stand looking at him right now. You were clearly embarrassed as a blush formed on your cheeks.

The question didn’t seem to faze Korekiyo at all. Instead, he simplylooked at you with a blank expression; then, a mischievous smile spreads across hislips. “Oh, wow, I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you had a question about the books.”

This caused you to blush more intensely, like perhaps you shouldn’t have asked him that… but it was too late now. Korekiyo stands slowly and starts making his way towards the couch, towering over you.

Thoughtfully, he tilts his head. “Why do you ask? Do you want something from me?” He tugs his mask down and you can sense the lust in his expression. You two haven’t gotten to that point but now wouldn’t be a bad time to start. Still, your eyes widen with surprise as your question seemed to put him in a mood.

Shaking your head, you insist, “No! Just… general curiosity.”

“Hmph,” he says while sounding a bit disappointed, then joins your side on the couch and takes your hand in his. “It’s no fun if I just tell you the answer. Just, let me know when you’re ready to find out for yourself…”

Korekiyo’s words were extremely sensual and made you feel hot. Plus, he knew exactly what he was doing to you as right before you can close the gap between the two of you and kiss him, he stands and walks back to his stack of books. A smug look appeared on his face as you knew he was toying with you on purpose.

He took your question as a challenge and now feverishly teased you until he knew you were hot and bothered, but you shouldn’t have expected anything less from Kiyo.

Gonta Gokuhara

You two just recently started dating and haven’tadvanced things to that level yet. You knew that Gonta was pretty inexperienced with this sort of thing so you don’t rush him but you still sometimes catch your mind starting to wonder off…

Although you’ve been hinting that you wanted to take things to the next level, all of them have been flying over Gonta’s head. You can’t blame him since he’s never been in a real relationship before, though; and he’s likely never done anything very sexual with another person, so it’s no surprise that he doesn’t pick up on your barrage of hints. 

But how else were you supposed to tell him that you wanted something more without coming across as too blunt? The last thing you wanted to do was scare Gonta or back him into a corner. You wanted to take things slow for his sake, but that was difficult to maintain at times.

As he sits across from you, you initiate the discussion and try to discreetly steer the conversation into a more lewd tone. “Hey, Gonta, question,” you propose and he perks up with wonder, a smile spreading across his face.

You second guess asking him what you planned to originally, but you didn’t have any other choice now. “How big is your… dick?”

Honestly, it was a bit of a personal question that sounded better in your head. He doesn’t really understand at first, either, furrowing his brows in confusion. It takes him a moment to process thequestion, with help from you though.

You start to gesture by pointing downwards and giving him a lustful gaze, and then it clicks. Gonta’s face turns bright red and he started to stumble over his words. “O-oh!”

He was quite surprised, not expecting something like that from you. With a shy smirk, he scratched his head and wondered how he was supposed to respond. Did he… just, say it? Or was that not the gentlemanly thing to do? Was that too lewd for a gentleman?

Well, you were asking him directly and you were staring at him with curious eyes, so he didn’t want to let you down, but Gonta has never been asked something like that before. He didn’t want to say no to you but something about the question felt wrong. He kept his eyes glued to the floor as his mind races with thoughts.

When he finally comes around and pulls himself out of his flustered state, Gonta becomes very blunt. Still somewhat shy, though, he doesn’t give you a definite or direct response and tries to move along from this conversation as quickly as possible.

“It’s about… this big.” He holds out his hands at a considerable distance apart from each other. Then, a sheepish and embarrassed smile appears on his lips as his entire face turns a vibrant red. He quickly returns his hands to his sides and adds, “But… don’t tell anyone that! Gonta don’t want people to know… except for (Y/N).”

Your eyes widen as you weren’t actually expecting him to give you an answer, but you nod affirmatively. You then take your boyfriend’s hands into your own and squeeze them gently, trying to reassure him. “I was just curious is all…” you say, giggling nervously.

Gonta returns the nervous gestures and continues, “Please, don’t think of Gonta as less than a gentleman! Gentleman don’t talk about those things… it’s just ‘cause (Y/N) asked.”

He was just so precious. You can’t help but to smile and pinky-promise that you didn’t think less of him. 

Ryoma Hoshi

Ryoma understandably wanted to take things slow in your relationship after what happened in his last one. As much as you wanted to adhere to his wishes, you started to grow needy over the last couple weeks.

But intimacy wasn’t very important to Ryoma and he never really brought the subject up. Sure, he was open to it, but he didn’t like to talk about those sorts of things directly. There were more important things in a relationship than that so he didn’t rush them.

But one afternoon, you can’t help but to blurt out a question that you’ve had on your mind for quite some time. You often said your thoughts aloud, but this was probably the worst time to do so.

“I’m just curious but… uh, how big is your dick?” You ask slowly, each word feeling heavier than the last. Honestly, Ryoma wasn’t that fazed and turned his head to stare at you with a blank expression.

The most reaction you got out of him was a head tilt and one corner of his mouth rising to form a smirk. Was he enjoying this?

He tapped his hands nervously and retorted, “Why do you ask?” You didn’t really have an answer as to what prompted the question, it’s just something that has been running through your mind recently and popped into your head at the wrong moment. 

Perhaps you wanted to take things to the next level but didn’t know how to say it or open up to Ryoma. Either way, you can’t quite put a finger on it.

He leans back in his chair, crossing his arms which makes him look so cool. Then, he lowered his head so that his hat covers his eyes, and adds, “I wasn’t expecting such a lewd remark from you, (Y/N).”

He seemed amused and was now bursting into a smile that he couldn’t contain. You could tell that he was enjoying this now and it made you feel embarrassed; you shy away and firmly press your lips together, an awkward silence befalls you two.

But eventually, he breaks the silence with a shocking comment that you didn’t see coming.

Somehow, Ryoma was stone-cold throughout the conversation. Then, he finally gives you your answer very bluntly. “Well, to tell you the truth…”

Your eyes widen since you weren’t expecting him to actually answer your question. He seemed to have his fun and was now just giving you the answer you were looking for. Afterwards, he shrugged and looked you in the eye - he didn’t look bothered one bit.

“It’s no big deal, I don’t care if you know that,” a chuckle escaped his lips, “why would I?”

Ryoma was still composed and nonchalant. There were more important things in life and you were dating so it’s not like you wouldn’t find out eventually, he was just ripping off the band-aid. He couldn’t care less if you knew and actually found it funny that you’d ask such a promiscuous thing.

He does tease you about it from time to time, especially after you do finally take things to that level. But he only does it with a good heart and light humor, giving you shit as always.

- Mod Rantaro

[flamboyantommo]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation

*All answers should be about works published in 2017.

@allwaswell16 tagged me to reflect on my writing this year. And because I’m a huge procrastinator, clearly, I’m doing it right now! 

(My GOD, this is so long, so if any of you actually read all of this, God bless.)

1. List of works published this year: In the order that they were posted

- What's Stopping You?

- Know It All

- Curveball

- Shut Up and Wink at Me

- One Day, Maybe Next Week

- It’s Hard to Say It, Time to Say It

- Got It Backwards

- NC-17

- Members Only

- Ready

- Aim

- Fire

- From the Floor to the Ceiling

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

Um... Probably Got It Backwards. It was a pinch hit, written for @stnbutterflies, and she loved it! I churned that fic out in like, three weeks, and it got so long so fast that I had three betas working on it as I was writing it. It was... a lot, haha. I did a lot of literary research for it because Harry was a tutor in it, so he needed to know what he was talking about, and I wrote about 20K words of it - so, half - in a weekend because I was just going so fast. I think it’s the fastest I’ve ever done a fic of that size before, and it’s definitely something to be proud of. Oh, and Denise got it turned into a book, like an actual physical copy, and I think that’s pretty damn cool! 

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

I can honestly say that I loved all of my fics this year, and there’s two of them that I want to write sequels to. But if you've been paying attention, then you know those sequels won’t be coming out for like, another year, hahahaha. 

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

(this is from Members Only, which may be the fic I had the most fun writing this year)

“Um… Save me a spot in there?” Louis stumbled.

“You do yoga?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. Every week.”

Fucking liar.

“Really? Oh, I’ve never seen you.”

“Yeah, um, it’s usually in the morning. Or during the day. But yeah, I’m waiting for my coverage to get here, and of course Perrie is running late, so… But yeah, I’m totally coming.”

Why am I like this? Louis wondered.

Harry grinned, though, so Louis supposed it wouldn’t be too bad. “Well cool, then. Yeah, I’ll save you a spot by me. OK?”

“OK.” Louis saw Perrie coming from the locker rooms, so he told Harry, “Be right in. Get us a good space.”

“Cool.” Harry was still smiling when he walked away, so Louis hoped Perrie would be a good person for once.

“Perrie!” Louis hissed when he approached the counter. “You love me, right?”

Perrie eyed up Louis and kept walking.

“Perrie Louise, get over here!”

Perrie sighed. “Yes, Louis?” She didn’t walk over to the counter, but she didn’t walk out of the building, either, so Louis figured that was a good sign.

“I need you to cover me so I can go to yoga.”

Perrie frowned. “I’m sorry. Did you just say you wanted to go to yoga?”

“Yes! Keep up!”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you once say that yoga was only for hippie vegetarians who needed to learn how to breathe?”

Louis shook his head. “Nope, wasn’t me.”

“What about that it was just for people who wanted to be flexible so they would be better in bed?”

“Can you just help me, please?” Louis whined. “Please?”

“Harry’s going to yoga, isn’t he?”

“Who?”

Perrie sighed again. “Go. Just know that I’m only doing this because you’ll never shut up about it if I don’t.”

“Thanks, Perrie! You’re the best!”

“You don’t listen to me when I talk, do you?”

But Louis didn’t answer her. He was too busy grabbing his water bottle from behind the desk and hurrying back to the training room.

When he walked in, Jade, the instructor, was just turning down the lights.

“Louis, what are you doing here?” Jade asked him. “You know this is yoga, right?”

“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth. His eyes darted over to where Harry was sitting on his mat, hoping he didn’t hear. Luckily, Harry was doing shoulder rolls to get warmed up, so Louis didn’t think he did. “Everyone has to start somewhere, right?”

“Yeah. Just never thought you would.”

“Why doesn’t anybody have any faith in me?” Louis muttered as he made his way over to Harry. There was a spare mat next to him, so Louis sat down on it.

“Hey,” Louis whispered as he took off his socks and sneakers. He was glad he wore basketball shorts today instead of actual pants. He was feeling warm already.

Harry just smiled at him, looking perfectly peaceful already.

Louis wanted to suck a mark into his neck.

5. Share or describe a favorite comment you received:

OMG I love my comments. But I’m going to put two here, and they’re from the people that my fics were written for. 

First is from @stnbutterflies on Got It Backwards. She wrote: 

I'm so in love with this story and I feel so honoured, that you wrote this story for me. The whole idea with the robin picture was wonderful and I might have shed quiet a few tears while reading. And liked how you put together the story with the flashbacks and everything. This really might be my favourite mpreg fanfiction I've ever read! Thank you so, so much! You really did great! xx <3

Second is from @harrystinychristmasshorts on It’s Hard to Say It, Time to Say It when Kat clearly knew I wrote it but wasn’t calling me out yet. 

i was going to wait until you were revealed to come talk to you but i couldn't wait any longer! by the looks of it the round of fics yours is in will be revealed next week and i'm just so excited because? i have a very vague idea of who you are but i really don't want to spoil the fun so. i'm forcing myself to be good and wait. but! i'm gonna come yell at you when i found out who you are because you deserve more than just comments on here! okay Xx

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

Well, this year, I actually took a break from writing. It was only for a few months, just because I was just so stretched thin last year of fics I wrote. And this year is actually the year I’ve written the least since beginning to write. 

So the time for me that was hard was when I was trying to get back into it, trying to remember how to write a sentence and how to characterize people. That was tough. I got back into it with What's Stopping You?, and then of course, it was just continuous writing after that. But getting back into my routines was really difficult. 

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

Actually, in What's Stopping You?, when HL were finally finally about to hook up, the dirty talk part of their conversation had me in giggles because dirty talk is so not something I write on the norm. Like, it just felt so strange to me? But it fit the scene of the story, so it had to be done. 

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

I think this is the year I stopped caring about how many kudos my fics got and focused more on writing because I enjoyed it. Of course, I want people to read what I spent all of my time working on, and I do think there are some fics that have been definitely slept on, but it doesn’t make me as upset or frustrated as it used to if my fics aren’t super read. 

And, I guess I tried new things. Like, I wrote two proposal fics this year (wow, I’m such a sap), and I took part in the Drabble challenge, after complaining forever to the gc about not wanting to because I thought it would be hard. (It was, but I still liked it and might do the spring one) 

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

Next year, I want to follow through on all of the sequels I’ve planned and have been planning for God only knows how long. *cough* Taylor Times, if anybody’s still interested *cough*. That’s literally it. Hopefully I can follow through! 

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

Let’s see... As always, @temporaryfixlouis for being my go-to beta, even if our schedules haven’t quite lined up in a while. I know I can still count on Michelle! 

Then there’s @harrystinychristmasshorts, who has become a new beta and friend this year, and is always there to boost me up. I loved being able to work with her and also write a fic for her and being super sneaky about it, lol. 

Then we have @wonderdaysoflunacy who I only met because she made me a moodboard for Runner on Third, and she always has a compliment ready. She’s also an amazing person and so so so easy to talk to, about fics or anything else. 

And of course, everyone in the Life Ruined But It’s Fine gc, because all of them are amazing writers and it’s an honor to be included with them and fangirl over each other, hahaha. 

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

Bahahaha of course. Nothing specific is really coming to mind at the moment, but it’s mostly the characterizations. In every fic I write, one of the characters is based on me, either a little or a lot. Also, the setting. Unless I actually say otherwise, just assume all of my fics take place in South Jersey/Philly, because that’s just where I live and where I spend a lot of my time. 

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

Don’t be afraid to find a beta. It took me more than a year and a half to start working with a beta, and all of the fics I wrote in between then and the time I started probably could’ve been much stronger. It also would’ve made less work for me, so I didn’t have to read over my fics four times. I could’ve just done two. And it doesn’t hurt to have extra eyes looking over a fic or get another perspective on something you’re writing. 

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

OK, let’s see. I have: 

- a fic for the @1dshortficfest due in February. 

- a fic for Rachel’s @moodboardprompts due... shit, when is that due? March 1.

- my next prompt for the 1000 Feelings challenge. I had an idea all ready, but then I read another fic with the almost exact same plot line, so back to the drawing board! 

- Thursday Deadlines! The last part of The Taylor Times series. I revisited what I had written the other day and have started adjusting the plot for it. It’ll be shorter than what I planned, but it’s been hovering over my head for the last year, and I need to finish. 

- Eventually, I want to write one more part in the Bottom of the Tenth series. Destination wedding? We’ll see. 

- A full fic to tie up the Your Move series (my winter drabbles)

- I’m working on an age difference fic that I’ve been thinking about for a while. 

- I’m still working on the famous/famous AU I started planning like, months ago

- Oh, and I’m working on a pinch hit for the @hlwinterficfest2017! 

14. Tag three writers/artists whose answers you’d like to read.

@harrystinychristmasshorts @wonderdaysoflunacy @tommostummie @harrygotthebee and anyone in the 1000 Feelings gc who hasn’t done this yet!

[queendophne]

Love at First Note

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Stony

For: Stony Bingo Round Two fill

Prompt: Secret Admirer

Summary: (PART 1/3) Tony got a note! Finally! Wait. What if it was Justin being mean to him? Tony no longer wanted to chance a look. Tony studied the badly folded paper in his hands studying it. "Why don’t you take a look, Anthony?" his teacher smiled warmly at him after bending down to be eye level with him. Tony looked at his teacher’s encouraging face before opening the folds of the paper with shaking hands.

Notes: the first two parts of this fill are Tony and Steve in Kindergarten. The eiplogue or last part is their wedding. There is a cute fluffy fic. I had fun writing this! Enjoy

Other Locations: on AO3

Tony was five. The smartest five-year-old in the world according to his mama and his mama was always right. Still, it was hard being too smart for his age. No one liked Tony much. The only friends he had could be counted on one hand, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy and Bruce. Though a lot of times he felt like he was forcing himself on them. He was not much fun. Not really. But he does buy them a lot of gifts. Hopefully, that will be enough to keep them around. They were the bestest and most fun group of people. Tony did not need anyone else! It just hurt that he was alone in his kindergarten class until after twelve when Tony, along with Bruce, heads to big kid school where he spends his time with his friends.

Though, lately, Tony has been bluer than normal. His teacher had started the anonymous compliment baggies this quarter and everyone got something except Tony. It had been two weeks and not a single compliment was paid. Tony had given many of his classmates compliments in hope of getting something but this activity seemed to cement how much his peers did not like him. At least Bruce in the next class over got some notes which made Tony happy. If he could he would give Bruce his own notes but the teacher specified only to compliment their classmates.

                                               (beware mobile users)

His friends tried to cheer Tony up. Pepper gave Tony her last cookie, Rhodey gave him his latest robot toy to borrow, Happy punched Tony lightly in the arm trying to show affection, and Bruce had given Tony a ‘secret compliment’ in person while in the car on their way to big kid school. He really did have the bestest friends but it was not enough. It should be and that made Tony angry at himself but like any kid, he just wants to fit in and be normal.

"Yo ‘ony," Justin came up behind Tony’s desk on Monday the third week into the quarter, "did you get any notes yet?" Justin snickered while his goonies joined in. Tony could feel his face flame up in shame and anger. It was not his fault no one wanted to talk to him. Right? His mama had told him so.

"Go ‘way ‘ustin!" Tony said in reply. He hated Justin more than anyone he knew, even more than his father which was saying something.

"Oh? ‘onna make me?" Justin teased leaning forward invading more of Tony’s space. Tony glared angrily up at Justin from his seat. Tony was not afraid of Justin, not one bit!

"No, but I will," a third voice joined the conversation. Tony turned to see Steve walk into Tony’s classroom looking determined and angry. Steve was a kid from Bruce’s class. He always seemed so cool and fun to hang around but Tony was too shy to talk to him longer than to say ‘hello’. Tony vaguely wondered why Steve was in his classroom instead of his own before focusing back on the situation.

"Steve! My fwiend-" "we aw not fwiends," Steve cuts in looking at Justin seriously stepping in-between Justin and Tony. Tony just silently watched the interaction not really knowing what to do. This was his chance to talk to Steve! He should say something! Anything! But he didn’t. Tony just sat there silent even as Justin and his goons walked away. Even as Steve turned to smile his brilliant smile at him. Even as Steve bid him goodbye.

Tony was silent. He was so stupid. So much for smartest five-year-old, his mama lied to him.

Tony came into class in the morning to see everyone checking their baggies for messages from the day before. Tony was tempted to ignore the daunting paper bag with his name on it but something told him that he should look. Maybe today was the day his luck would finally show up. He did not let his hopes up too much.

Tony’s bag was hanging a little over his head. He had to reach up on his tiptoes to push his hand in the baggie. At first, Tony did not feel anything but surprisingly he felt a small piece of paper hiding in the corner of the bag. Nervous and excited Tony pulled the paper out of the bag so quick that he had ripped his baggie pretty badly. He freaked a bit but it was quickly trumped by the happiness of getting a note.

Tony got a note! Finally! Wait. What if it was Justin being mean to him? Tony no longer wanted to chance a look. Tony studied the badly folded paper in his hands studying it. "Why don’t you take a look, Anthony?" his teacher smiled warmly at him after bending down to be eye level with him.

Tony looked at his teacher’s encouraging face before opening the folds of the paper with shaking hands. Tony read the small note. He read it again and again. It was written in crayon and badly spelled but it read,

‘I tink u r ausome!’

Tony blushed at the words not really believing that this note was meant for him. Maybe someone had mistaken his bag for someone else’s. His teacher looked pleased and Tony felt a little hope. Even if this was a mistake, this was his. A message. A compliment. No one could take that away from him.

In a hurry, Tony rushed to his bag and took out his pencil case and placed the paper inside after folding it again keeping its bad folds and all. It was perfect just the way it was.

Tony could not stop smiling for the rest of the day. He went up to Rhodey at the beginning of class to show him the folded paper. Tony did not unfold it. He wanted to keep it to himself. Rhodey just laughed at Tony’s antics and told him to sit his butt down on the chair next to him or Happy was going to take it.

When Tony got home, he rushed inside to show Jarvis and his mama that he got his first compliment! Jarvis took Tony to the kitchen, rummaged around a bit and pulled out a small rectangular box. Jarvis explained that this box has a secret power, it holds treasures forever and ever. He handed it to Tony to use as a safe keeper for his note with a warning to take good care of it. Tony knew enough that the box held no such power but it excited him all the same to have something valuable to hold and to cherish from a man he loved dearly.

The note was placed softly onto the metal bottom of the box. Tony wanted to handle it all with extreme care. This was his note. He will look at it forever and always.

The next day Tony came running into his classroom. He almost fell a few times on his way to it but he got there without a single scratch. Tony did not care but he was proud that he was able to keep his balance. But standing in front of the paper bag, that had been so kindly replaced, with his name on it, brought back the feeling of anxiety and fear. What if it was a one time fluke? What if it really was an accident? What if the kid only did it once out of pity?

A hundred thoughts ran through his mind as he stared down the bag. Maybe he could will the note into existence. With slow and unsure steps, Tony walked up to the bag, lifted his hand in, and pulled out two pieces of badly folded papers.  The first was another note that read,

‘Tony is SUPER smart. U gave me ur last biscuit. Thank you.’

The second paper was a drawing. It was a good art piece for a five-year-old to have drawn. Or at least Tony thought so. He figured that was all that mattered. The drawing was, of course, him standing in the center with two large brown eyes, dark curls on his head, with flimsy stick figure hands and feet popping out of a boxy t-shirt and shorts. The drawing made him laugh. Tony loved the drawing very, very much.

After that, Tony had come to expect something in the paper bag. There were times that he had not gotten anything but always seemed to recieve a few extra by the same hand a day later to make it up. His treasure box was starting to get full of these wonderous notes and drawings. Tony had seen a lot of the other kid’s notes and found that none of them were from his complimentor.

This made Tony curious. He, too, wanted to give back to them. He wanted to find the person to repay them in kind. He talked to Bruce about it but his friend had said that it was against the rules so he should not do it. Tony was born to break rules so he decidedly ignored Bruce’s advice. Pepper agreed with Bruce but Happy and Rhodey were more than glad to help Tony come up with a plan to find the admirer.

Tony just really wanted to know who it was and pay them back. Buy them a gift so that they would like him. He just really wanted to make this person his friend. He was going to succeed. Do it secretly so that neither the teachers or his classmates found out about it. The plan did not leave the confines of his four, soon to be five, friends.

Steve came to his class to see his best friend, Bucky, though Tony liked to just call him James because there was only one room for a nicknamed James in Tony’s mind and that was Rhodey. He sat next to him talking a bit and asking him over to play this weekend and Tony really wished he was in James’ spot. He liked Steve just as much as James did! What did Steve not see it? Tony just pouted staring at his desk.

No matter. Once Tony found his secret admirer Tony would no longer need Steve. Not like they were friends really so Tony was not going to lose anything…well Tony still wanted to be Steve’s friend but that was never going to happen! Plus, Tony was now busy trying to find his secret admirer.

“Hey ‘ony,” Steve crossed the room to stand in front of the small brunette. Tony blinked up at him a few times before looking back at his stack of papers for math problems he had to finish for his big kid school math teacher.

“Hi,” Tony finally managed to squeak out, “you like 'tar ‘rek?” Stupid question Tony.

“‘tar ‘rek? Nope,” Steve tilted his head a little smiling shyly at him.

“Oh, uh, it’s about ou'erspace,” Tony clarified trying to dumb down the concept of Star Trek so that Steve could understand it.

“I like ou’erspace,” Steve giggled, “maybe you cou’ show it to me! Come over this wee'end! ‘ucky’s coming too.”

“Okay,” Tony finally replied after a long silence between them.

“Okay see you ‘a’er Tony,” Steve waved at him before leaving the classroom. Tony whispered a small goodbye in return but Steve was already too far to hear it.

Tony lingered a little longer watching Steve leave the classroom before pulling out his small notebook he had written his plan on. It was simple enough, Tony was going to hide under the teacher’s table after class and watch his bag from there. Surely his secret admirer will place it in before they leave.

So after class, Tony waited. And waited but no one came up to his bag. He sat there long after all his classmates have gone but it seemed that no one put anything in his bag. Maybe today was an off day. He will try again tomorrow. Tony quickly ran to his car so he was not late to match class at his big kid school. His teacher hated tardiness.

Tony tried again every day that week. He stayed after everyone else but somehow he seems to miss them. Tony was starting to get angry and sad. He just wanted to give them a gift and be their friend! Why were they making his life difficult!

“You know,” Rhodey supplied putting his sandwich down, “maybe try going earlier in the morning. They could come in early and put in your bag before anyone else comes in.”

“I hate ‘ornings!” Tony complained and pouted at the prospect of having to get up earlier than usual so he could get to class before everyone else.

“It is only until you find out who this secret admirer is,” Pepper supplied encouragingly. Tony turned his pout on her making Pepper giggle and pet his head.

“Maybe I shou’ ‘ive up,” Tony sighed defeated. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes at the idea of failing to find out who his secret admirer was.

“Tony Stark gives up on nothing!” Happy replied slamming his fist on the table in determination making Tony jump. He knew that Happy meant well but sometimes he did things a bit dramatically. Still, he inspired Tony to try catching his admirer in the morning.

This was such a bad idea. Tony was not a morning person at all.

Tony sat shocked in his spot behind the desk. He had found his secret admirer! But of all the people, Tony did not expect it to be him. Still, he did not mind the fact that James was putting the notes in his bag but he did care to the fact that James looked super annoyed doing so. Why would a person put a compliment in another’s bag while being grumpy about doing so?

Well, at least he knew who his secret admirer was. It was not Steve, obviously, but James was not a bad choice. He could work with that. So operation befriending James was ago!

“Hey ‘ony,” Steve had stepped up behind him making Tony jump, “what’ya doing?”

“Steve!” Tony greeted back looking around nervously.

“You coming tomowow?” Steve asked looking nervous as well.

Tony blinked. This was the perfect opportunity to make friends with James and Steve! This was perfect! “Yeah! I will come!” Tony responded enthusiastically.

“Great! See you,” Steve ran off again to see James before he leaves to his own classroom. Tony watched the two interact before turning to his bag and collect his notes.

This note read,

‘ Can’t wait for outer space! See u this weekend!

P.S ma helped me spell. Because you are smart

so you know how to read’

This confused Tony greatly. The only person Tony talked to about outer space to was Steve trying to tell him about Star Trek. Did Steve tell James about it too? Well no matter. This changes nothing. The plan to befriend James was underway!

Tony held the wrapped boxes in his hands nervously. He did not know what to get Steve or James as befriending gifts. They were hard but Tony settled on something small. For Steve, Tony got a full box of crayola crayons with every color. For James, Tony got him a complete set of toy cars. He knew James likes to play racer with his rundown cars that he keeps in his pockets. He hoped that they liked his gifts.

Tony barely made it to the door of Steve’s apartment before the door swung open for him to come in. Steve looked so happy to see Tony and it made Tony feel a nervous kind of joy flutter in his chest as he walked in. Steve led Tony to his room where James had already set up his shop of cars he was playing with.  

“What you got in your ‘ands ‘ony?” Steve asked tilting his head curiously. Tony jumped a bit before rushing to hand both Steve and James their gifts. Both boys looked confused but they opened the gifts anyways.

“They a’e ‘ifts,” Tony replies, “uh, fow both of you.”

“It’s not my birthday,” Steve looks confused but there is a little happiness there too. Tony fidgeted in his spot not really knowing how to respond to that.

“‘ink we aw too poow?” James asked throwing the new toy cars on the ground, “I don’t wike gifts.”

“‘ucky!” Steve glares at James. Tony just stared at the box James had thrown devastated. He had screwed this up. He had screwed this up so badly. He felt tears well up in his eyes but he refused to cry in front of them so he ran out of the room in desperation to find the bathroom.

“‘ony!” Tony heard Steve call for him but Tony ignored him in favour of finding the bathroom. He opened the first door he found and luckily enough it was the bathroom. Closing the door, Tony dropped to his knees and cried.  

All he wanted was to make friends. The only way he knew how to was to get them gifts. Was that not how friends do it? Justin did it all the time! Look at all the friends he has!

Tony cried harder.

After a few minutes, Tony heard a knock on the door. Tony tried to ignore it but he was not home and it was rude to ignore someone in their own home. Reluctantly, Tony moved away from the door and let the person in. When the door opened, Steve was standing at the opening next to James and a woman Tony assumed was Steve’s mama.

“Hi Tony,” Steve’s mama greets, “I hope you don’t take James the wrong way. He comes from a different place and took your gift in the wrong way. What do you have to say for yourself James?”

“Sowy,” James apologized while looking at the ground, “I didn’t mean to ma’e you cwy.”

“I-it’s okay,” Tony sniffed standing up from the floor. Steve came up to Tony and pulled him into a tight hug before pulling Tony to James’ side.

“Let’s be fwends?” James asks quietly shuffling nervously.

“Yeah! Fwends!” Tony smiled taking both Steve’s and James’ hand in his own and dragged them back to Steve’s room.

Tony made new friends! He was so happy!

By the end of the quarter, Tony, Steve and James became good friends but it was Tony and Steve who grew exceptionally close. They almost inseparable and Tony was not scared to call Steve one of his best friends. Steve came to Tony’s class to talk to both him and James a lot after that day. They talked about everything or Tony talked and Steve listened. Steve was good at that and he seemed to enjoy it.

On the last day of class, Tony walked up to James with a note of his own making and handed it to James personally. He had wanted to thank James for all the nice messages he had given him over the activity and today was the last day to do so. He also wanted to thank him for giving Tony the courage to start a friendship with him and Steve because of it.

James took the paper with a questioning look but did not say anything. Tony watched James unfold the paper and read it’s contents before looking at Tony and saying, “wrong pewson.”

“Wha’?” Tony looked at James confused.

“I am not yow secwet admiwew,” James replied.

“But I saw you,” Tony looked even more confused.

James laughed, “it was Stevie. That dummy has been twying to  talk to you all yeaw. He made me do it because we awe in the same class.”

Of course. Tony should have known after getting to know Steve this past few weeks. That kid was the biggest sap.

“Yeah, you have no nice bone in yow body,” Tony teased James receiving a light punch on the shoulder.

“Go make him a new one,” James pointed at the door, “it will make the dummy happy.”

Tony did not run so fast in his life. For the first time in his short life, Tony’s math was wrong. Steve really was Tony’s secret admirer.

“Hey Steve,” Tony greeted

Steve smiled brightly in return, “hey ‘ony!”

“This is for you,” Tony handed him a neatly folded paper.

[cinnonym]

Who might I be? Anyway, as your ask is open for prompts: extreme (distinctive) characters.

Well, if that isn’t my favourite person in the whole wide world

It’s not every day you encounter the perfect jawline. So when you do, you don’t let it go again. Which, to sum it up, was how Emmy Lou ended up at the mechatronics workshop.

Her backpack dug painfully into this place right between her ribs, where it hurt the most, the assortment of pens and notebooks an unorganized mess. In her defence, she had thrown everything together in her haste to get up and follow jawline-girl from the tram.

Normally, unfinished drawings didn’t annoy her much – it was inevitable if you insisted on drawing strangers on the tram. A tram, by very definition, both collected and lost people at every station, none of which were in Emmy Lou’s control. Her notebooks were overflowing with half-drawn sketches, their status ranging anywhere from a few lines to full-grown coloured art pieces, depending on both the schedule of her models and her own motivation on that particular day.

The point was, Emmy Lou didn’t care all that much about the people she perpetuated on her pages. They were practice, simple, gratis practice, a means to an end to some day get her access to art school. 

The other day an elderly man had looked over her shoulder and sent her a thumbs-up. „Never give up on your passion,“ he’d said and Emmy Lou still couldn’t decide if she should be discouraged by the hopeless manner he’d said it in, or motivated because he’d gone through the trouble to talk to her at all. Then again, Mary always said she was overthinking too much, so maybe she just ought to be glad to have had a human interaction.

None of which mattered now, Emmy Lou told herself strictly, angling her head backwards to look up at the shabby wall in front of her. A brickstone house, similarly rundown as the cottage Emmy Lou herself lived in these days, covered in malicious looking tendrils of ivy. A rusty sign hung from an iron stick, its colours faded it read „Bill'n'Ben’s, Mechatronics inc“. Beneath the sign was a door with a bell.

Emmy Loud had spent the last five minutes looking at said door. Jawline-girl had vanished behind it, a teasing whip of her ponytail the last thing Emmy Lou had seen from her. It was idiotic, probably, to have come here, on account of a half-finished portrait. It was probably idiotic to have come here, period. Emmy Lou should be at the market, running errands for her mum and younger brothers. Instead she was following a girl to her workplace like a downright creep. On the other hand, now that she had come as far, shouldn’t she at least give the situation a try and ring that bell? What could possibly go wrong?

That, Emmy Lou noticed rather quickly, was exactly the wrong question to ask herself. She had barely finished the thought when the scenarios popped up in her head: jawline-girl could be part of a cult, a group of gangly teenagers just waiting for innocent redheads like Emmy Lou to offer as a sacrifice. Or the mechatronics shop could be a disguise for a laboratory of super-scientists – jawline-girl certainly looked the part – and they would abduct Emmy Lou for their researching purposes as soon as she rang the bell. Or worse, the bell itself could be connected to a bomb, which would inevitably destroy the whole building and everything in it, because evidence had to be annihilated.

Or maybe it wasn’t and instead jawline-girl would open the door and laugh at Emmy Lou. In her mind, Emmy Lou imagined a high-pitched and obnoxious laugh that would destroy the positive image she had of the girl. A sneer that would twist that beautiful jawline into something not at all draw-worthy until Emmy Lou would leave, scarred for life and forever untrusting of human beauty.

Before Emmy Lou could lose herself too much in the twisted corners of her brain – though some of the pictures did make for excellent comic material – she used a trick Mary had once shown her, after one of Emmy Lou’s frequent attacks-of-counterproductive-overthinking, short ACO. She took a deep breath, imagined the oxygen streaming down her pharynx, slowly reaching her tubes first, then her bronchia, alveoli and finally her blood. The only subject Emmy Lou liked more than Arts was Biology, and that was mostly due to her young and over-motivated Arts teacher at school, who had insisted on trying out crazy new methods every week. (Recreating statues had been the worst of them. Emmy Lou hated touching other people.)

Once she had successfully distracted herself with the wonders of breathing and the human organism, Emmy Lou turned back to the door. It didn’t have a window, which was too bad, since Emmy Lou would have loved the minimal advantage of knowing where she was about to go before she went there. As it was, she didn’t have much of a choice but to press the bell and wait.

In the twenty-ish seconds it took Bill or Ben or whoever actually owned the shop to open the door, Emmy Lou had made three half-hearted attempts to run. In fact, the only thing really keeping her from making a dash was that the street the workshop lay in stretched on for at least a mile in each direction, with absolutely no corner, turns or even a house entrance to hide behind. If there was anything more embarrassing than ringing a bell of an unknown shop, it was being caught on her flight. 

Plus, she really wanted to finish her portrait of jawline-girl.Which reminded Emmy Lou of the possibility that it could be jawline-girl herself, who was now slowly turning the knob to answer the door, and the thought was so frightening – because what should Emmy Lou say, „I really like your jawline, please let me draw it?“ - that she almost reconsidered her priorities and made a run for it after all.

But by then, the door had finally swung open and Emmy Lou stood rooted to the spot, clutching the string of her backpack with one hand, the other still awkwardly hovering over the doorbell, as she mustered the person in front of her. 

It wasn’t the girl, which was a good omen (she hoped). It wasn’t an old man either, which was the picture both Ben and Bill had evoked in Emmy Lou’s mind. It was, however, the next best thing: an elderly woman. Jackpot, Emmy Lou thought, because while the woman watched her with apprehension of the kind that made all words vanish from Emmy Lou’s brain, she also seemed rather kind and grandmotherly, which was always a good thing.

Emmy Lou remembered her manners just in time before the woman could open her own mouth and undoubtedly ask what the hell Emmy Lou was doing here. Because a short girl with too-frizzy hair and a backpack bulging with notebooks certainly didn’t make the impression of frequenting a mechatronics workshop. But Emmy Lou smiled her most convincing smile that she had practiced in front of her mirror for months now and said brightly enough to fool even herself: „Excuse me, Madam, I am looking for Mister Bill?“

Which, for some reason Emmy Lou couldn’t quite understand – Bill was one of the owners or had she remembered a wrong name? - drew a hearty laugh from the woman.

„My dear,” she then said, her voice just as hearty, and not at all frail like Emmy Lou would have expected, “Bill died years ago. I just haven’t gotten around to change the sign yet, besides, it looks so handsomely alliterative, don’t you think? My name’s Benedicta, I’m the widow. Whatever business you had with dear Bill, I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with me instead.“

„Oh,“ made Emmy Lou, who felt incredibly dumb and vaguely horrified at the idea of other, worse outcomes of her blunder. What if Benedicta had gotten angry instead of amused, or worse, started to cry. What if Bill had died yesterday instead of years ago? She could have put her finger right into a fresh wound and hurt this kindly lady whom she didn’t even know, for no other reason than her absolute incompetence to let go of a perfect jawline when she encountered it.

Benedicta, apparently mistaking Emmy Lou’s mortification at the near miss for some sort of grief, put out a hand to stroke Emmy Lou’s sleeve briefly. (Emmy Lou barely held her hand in place instead of recoiling from the touch, but only because she was still too dazed to react.) 

„Poor girl, don’t be sad,“ she said, her voice hovering between pity, which Emmy Lou abhorred, and a strange amusement. „He died quite peacefully, in his sleep, whoosh and gone. Besides, nobody is really mourning him, he had always been the kind of person who didn’t quite belong on earth, don’t you think?“

Emmy Lou, once again, hesitated. The sheer volubility of the woman overwhelmed her, but at the same time, she felt grateful she didn’t have to do the talking herself. Also, Benedicta was already half-dragging, half-leading her inside, which seemed like a good first step. Now Emmy Lou only had to find jawline-girl and ask her if she minded posing for her, so she could finish her drawing.

But Benedicta, chattering continuously, solved even the next obstacle for Emmy Lou. They had barely passed through a short and narrow hallway, Emmy Lou struggling to fit her bulky backpack through, when Benedicta interrupted her monologue for a second to call out: „Don’t mind us, Tess, tis just a visitor looking for old Bill, isn’t that perfectly amusing?“ And half a minute later, jawline-girl popped her head around a corner, mustered Emmy Lou with the same cool stare she had objected her phone to, back on the tram, and disappeared again.

Emmy Lou almost started after her, drawn to the possibility and once again mesmerized by the stunning perfection of her jawline, but Benedicta’s hand was still on her sleeve, rooting Emmy Lou to her spot at the kitchen table.

„That was my niece, Tessa, she’s living with me. Helping out at the shop too, though Lord knows she isn’t made for the handiwork – no offence, sweetpie!“ The latter being called out in response to the gruff that came from the corner Tessa had vanished behind. 

Benedicta leaned in conspiratorially and winked. „She hates being inept at anything but I’m only telling the truth, you know. People have to learn to live with the truth.“

„I can still hear you,“ Tessa’s voice sounded out, low and melodic though sharp in its irritation, and it was a voice to remember, a voice that demanded attention and praise; a voice befitting that jawline. Once again, Emmy Lou stirred, her artist heart drawing her towards Tessa, towards the artwork. But Benedicta’s grip might as well have been iron for its unwillingness to let her go, and Emmy Lou had no choice but to stay and face the woman’s cheerful smile and airy tone.

„So, what business did you have with dear old Bill?“

Emmy Lou flinched. It seemed ironic, but she had almost forgotten about her excuse to ring the bell, to get into this house which didn’t seem like a workshop at all but more like a really homely kitchen.

„I, uh,“ was what she made as she tried feverishly to come up with an explanation that for one, satisfied Benedicta’s curiosity and on the other hand, could also lead up to a portrait session with Tessa. She came up blank. 

Benedicta was still watching her apprehensively and even from Tessa’s general direction, Emmy Lou picked up a curious sense of expectation, almost as if both women knew she had been playing a ruse thus far and were looking forward to the next act of the play Emmy Lou was performing for them. 

Emmy Lou coloured. Her mind, her wonderfully imaginative mind, that could come up with a thousand and one horror scenarios if need be, that served as live commentator and innate cinema most waking hours of her day, lay now empty and silent before her, unable to concoct a single excuse. 

She sighed.

„I am an artist,“ she said truthfully and at last, before Benedicta could start speaking again, questioning her further, pressing. Her hand, still on Emmy Lou’s arm, felt less comforting now, and a brief image of handcuffs flashed through Emmy Lou’s mind before it went black again. „I’m here because I want to draw - „

„The sign!“ Benedicta interrupted, cheerfully enough to break the heavy atmosphere that had grown in the room. „Of course, that’s why you were mentioning it earlier, Bill had always wanted to repaint the sign. No sense for vintage, the man, that’s what I always said, but you know how they are.“ She nudged Emmy Lou and winked. 

Emmy Lou responded with a weak smile of her own, amazed that yet another problem had been solved by Benedicta’s bubbly personality. Was it lying, she asked herself, if she didn’t correct the wrong assumptions other people made? Was it wrong not to mention that it had been Benedicta, who had been speaking of the sign earlier, that Emmy Lou had never mentioned it once? Was it very despicable not to stop Benedicta in her cheerful rant over how she had paint stored downstairs and how Emmy Lou could start whenever she wanted and “feel free to redesign it completely, dear, I love me some change, besides, it wouldn’t hurt business if a fresh sign attracted some more customers than the current one did.” 

And then she added „Oh, and dear, Tess can help you, she’s decent with colouring, if not at car work,“ and Emmy Lou decided that if she was a despicable being, at least she got what she wanted. Which was more time to study Tessa’s jawline, so she would go with the play for now.

„That sounds awesome,“ she managed to fit in between two of Benedicta’s floods of words, and both of them ignored the complaining „Aunt Bee!“ from the other room.

When the topic turned towards payment, however, even Emmy Lou’s unscrupulousness found an abrupt end.

 „I don’t mind doing it for free,“ she insisted, over and over again, her guts twisting uncomfortably. „Consider it a last gift for poor Bill, a sign in his honour…“

But Benedicta wouldn’t hear of it. „Nonsense,“ she said, her fingers momentarily tightening around Emmy Lou’s wrist with a fierce kindness. „Of course you will be paid, if not in money, at least accept cake and biscuits while you’re working. It’s the least I can do, besides, every girl should have cake and biscuits, I’ve found it lightens the mood so much, don’t you think?“ Emmy Lou couldn’t really argue with that. 

In the end, it was decided that Emmy Lou would start her job tomorrow – now she just had to come up with an excuse for mum, to explain her sudden unavailability for daily chores – and that paint and tools would all be provided by Benedicta whereas Emmy Lou just had to „come and make art“.

And promptly, Emmy Lou was out of the warm kitchen and on the shabby street again, her hand clutching a slip of paper with Benedicta’s phone number - ”In case anything comes up, you know” - her mind struggling to comprehend what had actually just happened. She hadn’t seen Tessa again, but that was okay because starting tomorrow she would see the girl more than enough to finish her sketch. 

And now, Emmy Lou thought, I just have to come up with an idea for that blasted sign I’m supposed to paint and everything will be fine. 

Lying isn’t really lying if you work for it, right? Also, she was adamant to tell herself over and over again; that jawline? It was totally worth it.

[komahinasecretexchange]

Title: Infighting

By: @imakeideasnotart

For: @yusakidesu

Warnings: sad soulmate Au

Prompt: fluffy post hope arc, soulmate AU

Note: I’m so sorry if this isn’t what you wanted, I tried my very best, and I hope you enjoy! I ran into a huge technical difficulty, and had to type this on my phone. I pray that i caught all the errors ! This was a great prompt, have a super duper day!

Hinata leans back in his chair, glaring wearily around at his classmates over what should be the cheery clatter of tableware. Only it isn’t. He hopes they forgive his staring, but he can’t seem to take his gaze off of Mahiru and the way she studies her tie with Peko or Fuyuhiko around. Or the way Teruteru squeaks around Imposter like some pig caught red-handedly in some forbidden act. Or the way Mikan gets jittery around Ibuki and Saionji, playing with her hair and staring at the floor until she can find a way out. The way Gundam won’t stop sizing up Nekomaru. It’s just fascinating in some twisted, terrible-

“Ouch!” Hinata yelps as a foot rushes into contact with his knee-cap. “What was that for?”

His attacker is Souda, who he had been somewhat engaging in conversation with, somewhat ignoring over a quick breakfast.

“It wouldn’t kill you to listen to me, you know. Also, stop glaring at people. It’ll only stir up more drama. You know we don’t need any more of that around here. Get a grip, man.”

Hinata sighed. Souda was right. For all the bickering and hatred, they needed somebody to lighten everything up. It was just that Ibuki wasn’t the same type of carefree girl that she once was and nobody else was stepping to the plate. And Chiaki…

“I miss Nanami,” Hinata bluntly states, poking a sausage link around the eggs on his plate. He suddenly doesn’t feel very hungry thinking of his lost friend.

‘She could fix this I know she could. She would find a way.’

“So you do miss her,” Says Souda as their eyes catch for the first time in five minutes. Hinata stares at him and his artificial pink eyes as Souda sets down his fork himself. “Why?”

Hinata almost chokes on his own saliva at that question. “What do you mean ‘why’? She was my best friend- How could I not miss her?”

Hinata feels some sort of tension slip in out of nowhere and start to rise. Souda looked serious. To Hinata, he had two default moods and those were utilized only when he was panicking and fanboying. Souda suddenly leans backwards in his chair and looks him up and down, as though he suddenly doesn’t know him. It’s painfully obviously, but more importantly, it isn’t helping to cool the tension. When Souda finally speaks, suddenly it gets put into overdrive, and there’s not a doubt that he’s ever gotten so angry so from a conversation with a friend.

“You don’t exactly seem to be honoring her, dating that asshole.”

Souda spits the words out and then bitterly looks into his own cup of coffee like the Mona Lisa is in the process of being painted there. Hinata sees the way Souda’s fingers clutch at the cup a bit, like he’d love to beat that “asshole” into the ground or smash the plate Hinata has assembled to bring to his cottage later.

The fact that the rest of the dining hall is dead silent, and it draws attention to them in favor of noting that Souda would love to beat Nagito Komaeda into the ground. It’s almost entirely out of spite and a will to prove a point to a lost artificial intelligence.

And now those words are long and measured like somebody was tracking the duration between each one with a timer.

“What did you just call him…?”

And Souda has grown a backbone in the blink of an eye. “I said he’s an asshole. He killed Chiaki, and we needed her.”

He hadn’t killed Chiaki. Hinata’s hands slammed down onto the tabletop forcefully. He felt a twinge of guilty pleasure at the horrified look that jumped onto Souda’s face. “She is dead here, in the real world, Souda. Dead- do you need a fucking dictionary? She is dead. It sounds like you’re trying to throw your problems onto my boyfriend.”

“My problems?! I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking!” Souda snaps at him. Hinata feels even more upset at this because he knows that Souda only puts up this much of a fight if there isn’t a single doubt in his mind.

“You’re just feeling guilty that you couldn’t salvage her AI after her execution, and you’re blaming Nagito when he hasn’t done anything wrong!”

“I couldn’t save her, with the way that execution destroyed her, and he’s the one who got her executed! ‘Hasn’t done anything wrong’? He got Imposter and Teruteru killed, and now Chiaki’s gone- that’s his fault!” Out of the fuzzy peripheral of Hinata’s vision he could make out the two victims of the first trial flinch respectively. “He tried to kill us all!”

“Once!” And Hinata feels his chair skitter out from under him as he stands and bellows his words, only to hear his chair fall behind him with a heavy thud. “He was trying to give a fair shot for somebody to leave! He didn’t know the other rule until the trial began!”

“Yes he did!”

“Did you believe it at first?!”

“No, but I know first-hand that he did!”

“His brain was deteriorating, he- He had terminal cancer!”

“He’s a murder!”

“He’s saved our lives a dozen times over and you know it. He was smart and courageous and kind and you- you treated him like shit!”

“I was just a talent to him!” Souda protested.

“You never took the time to meet him, of course you were! You’re expecting him to have some kind of inherent good will towards you, and you never even made the effort to deserve that much!”

“He was insane!” Souda says in a vague attempt to bolster his argument.

“I don’t see you solving escape games and pointing a gun to your head on behalf of anybody! I don’t see you telling me to keep my movie tickets, or pointing out gummy bags, or handing out elevator tasks about compasses, or finding letters in cottages! Or- Or ending prizes, or portable stoves that nobody else would have noticed- But that all saved our lives.”

There’s a lull as Souda digests this, as everyone collectively digests words as opposed to food. And then, he speaks again, frivolously. “He was dangerous!”

“Well, I don’t see you trying your best, risking your life and saving a group of people over and over after they’ve bullied you, tormented you, shunned you, oh, and remember the time they beat you up, knocked you out cold, and tied up in a room where somebody died the day before without feeding you for days?! I don’t see you making those kinds of sacrifices, you-!”

“Hinata! Stop it!” Mahiru was upon him. “This fighting won’t solve anything. Nagito-”

“Shut up!” He barked. “You weren’t even alive to see it!”

It was as if he’d slapped her with his barbed, immediate response. Hinata felt the air being sucked out of the room. Looking at her hurt expression, he felt as though he were being vacuum-sealed. She actually lacked a sharp comeback for once.The lost, panicked look on Souda’s face was enough to make him want to leave immediately and, really, what was going to stop him? He grabbed the plate beside his own, and carried it towards the door. Before he left, he looked back, returning everybody’s gaze as they stared blankly at him.

“Does anybody else have an opinion about Nagito that I should hear?” He asked venomously. For a moment, the whole restaurant was caught in a brittle silence, tension all around them. Turning on his heel, Hinata left his toppled chair, half-eaten breakfast , and thirteen shell-shocked peers behind him.

___________________________________

Balancing a plate in his right hand and knocking with it at the same time wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. As it turns out, everything that happened in the program affected his muscle memory respectively and he found himself trying to use his left often. He knew and truly did love Nagito. He sure did make things complicated and it almost made him itch for the confines of the simulation, where romance and soulmates hadn’t been programmed in. Where they could go through a day being fully emotionally capable and not feeling guilty for the scars the other would suffer because of them.

Eventually, Hinata was able to tap the rim of the glass plate against the door loud enough to be heard from the inside.

“Come in!” He heard Nagito crow weakly. Nobody cared with formalities anymore. Nagito knew who was coming. Nagito’s cabin was treated as a lion’s den these days and he was tied up there tighter than ropes could ever restrain.

He did have to set down the plate on the floor to open up the door and had to stoop down low to pick it up again, which made him feel oddly embarrassed and violated, though there was really nobody to blame.

“Hey.” Nagito smiles at him from his bed. He’s still tucked into the covers with the usual bedhead, blinking heavily as Hinata kicks the door closed with his foot behind him and makes his way over to the foot of the bed.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

Nagito shifts, pulling his lanky legs closer to his chin. He rubs his eyes. “Don’t worry about it… I was having bad dreams anyway.”

Hinata smiles, seeing Nagito’s bare chest peek out from the sheets, and his smile is only strengthened when he sees the fresh flowers that he had given him yesterday on the bedside table flourishing.

“About what?” Hinata pretends to ask, mindfully setting down Nagito’s plate on the plush surface of the bed so he can self-consciously mess about with his left hand for a moment.

He does take a moment to notice how frail Nagito looks in the bright sun washing over the room.

“The program,” He answers wistfully. “Killing myself, hurting you, hurting them. It’s all the same at this point. Just, the program.”

Empty words aren’t really Hinata’s style, and he knows there’s really nothing he can say to take back anything that’s happened. Sometimes though, it’s the thought that counts.

“Nagito you’ve never once hurt me,” He says as he reaches for the plate on the bed and offers it to his groggy boyfriend. “Maybe I didn’t understand what you were doing at the time, but I do now. I believe in you.”

“I would beg to differ,” Nagito mutters, but his argument dies the moment he has the plate with eggs and bacon arranged in a little happy face handed to him.

“Yeah, hey, can we not talk about depressing stuff for like 2 seconds?” Hinata asks sarcastically, pleased to see the surprised look on Nagito’s face.

Nagito would comply- very rarely did he ever oppose him. “…But may I ask what exactly this is?” He stares down at the soulless, eggy expression that emerged from the plate.

“I mean,” Hinata grumbles stiffly. “I thought it was cute.” He feels a bit self-conscious.

“Oh, I do, too, I just didn’t think it was like you at all. I thought you might be embarrassed to give something so saccharine to someone like me.” Then, Nagito picks up fork that came with it and- Hinata wonders if it was intentional- stabs the face in the right eye.

“So like…” Hinata stutters, because Nagito was right. It really wasn’t like him. He wasn’t some stay-at-home dad or anything.  Why was he making little faces in Nagito’s breakfast food? “I mean I guess things have changed. I thought you could use a smile…?”

“Things have changed, how?” Nagito asks with a forkful of egg hovering over his mouth for a moment as he spoke.

“I mean, everything just kind of-” It felt as though his next words would have been practiced, and he simply stops. He knows it would sound as though the words hadn’t come from him. “You know what, forget I said anything.”

“Whatever you say.” Nagito shrugs, but Hinata sees in his eyes that he still wants an answer.

“I guess it’s just so different now,” Hinata says, caving. He can’t resist Nagito. If he ever did try, it would end up in some perfectly calculated and contorted mind game, in which Hinata confessed at the end anyway. “Like outside of the program, nothing is the same anymore. We all seem to be at each other’s throats knowing what we can do, what we’re capable of. And it’s scary. Who can say if it’s just in someone’s nature? Like, can they still kill outside of the game, when the stakes are non-existent? Even in the game, we thought it was real life, and people still killed, but… things are worse now. Even worse than during the literal murder game. I don’t know… everything just seems a little out of proportion to me.”

They took a moment and Hinata flinches as their eyes met, watching Nagito’s foggy right eye staring forward blankly into his red one. Being someone’s soulmate was a curse. And with the two of them having more than enough scars to go around for even one person, it really did change things.

“Hinata you do realize that you could solve all of your problems by killing me? I haven’t heard but I can take a good guess at what the others are saying and feeling about you. Us. You can walk out now, I won’t stop you. In fact, I encourage it. It would do you so much good- I could make it easy.”

Hinata audibly groans. It is too early in the morning for this kind of conversation. But Nagito has been trapped in his cottage for so long that it’s starting to make a lot of sense that he would try to take some sort of action to get out, and extreme ideas were his forte.

“I don’t give a shit what they think,” Hinata lies. He did care, just not enough to sacrifice his happiness for it. “I’m not leaving you because a few of them have a problem with you.”

“Hinata, what they say isn’t the only issue and you know it.”

The problem is that he cannot technically can’t argue against that claim with any facts to back it up. The others do hate them, tie them up like cattle. The others were not ashamed to shut them out entirely or lock them up. Sometimes Hinata wonders if anything would really be worse if Monokuma were to show up now and force them to kill each other all over again. He feels like the others would relish in a chance to kill Nagito and by extension, him.

They, of course, have the opportunity now. But that’s the fragile uncertainty they live in. The price they’ve paid, really, in order to spare the world from themselves.

“Seems they now realize what a heartless foul piece of vermin I was all along.”

“They didn’t just start ridiculing you, you know? I get it, you’re a masochist. But can we not just have a morning to be happy?”

“And you believe happy breakfast faces are going to erase all the pain I’ve given to you and me alike? Hinata, please,” He supplements readily to Hinata’s hesitation.

“You’re changing the subject again. I take it there’s something you want then? I’m not in the mood to jump through hoops for you. If you want something, just say so.” He grumbles.

“How perceptive of you, Hinata! Truly, I can never fool you. That would be much too hard for useless trash like me…”

“Just answer the question.”

But Nagito just raised his eyebrows and drew in his knees under his chin popping the last of a bacon strip into his mouth.

“I suppose walking you in circles will be pointless. I guess I’m trying to really figure out why you think staying here with me is worth it…”

“Nagito.” But the moment his hand met Nagito’s, Nagito pulled away.

“Don’t tell me that it’s all okay. I sawed off my own arm, and you felt every second of it. You even have a limp arm because my prosthetic isn’t really ‘me’. You go through headaches, cuts on your thighs and wrists… You’re being shunned and hated. There is no two ways about it, Hinata. I am the root of all of your problems, not somebody you should be bringing happy breakfasts to every morning!”

Hinata opened his mouth to release a protest, but he needed another moment or two to sit with the heavy issues that he’d decided to address so early in the morning.

“What, am I going to abandon you and leave you to starve? Not a chance.”

“Killing me would give you your arm back.” he reminded him wistfully. “Sounds like a great deal could be done if I were cut out entirely.”

“Nagito, I’m not going to kill you to get my arm back.”

“It’s my fault.”

“Well, do you want to kill me? I’m not opposed to that. I’ve given you your fair share of hardships in return.”

“Hardly.”

Hinata splutters. “You are now half blind due to my heterochromia! How the hell is that not bad?”

Nagito suddenly looked like they had both lost their arguments.

“You lost your eye! That’s a huge deal.”

“You lost your arm and your status.”

“Yes, but not us. Right?” He says, shifting closer. “Here’s a novel idea: I love you, and I think it’s worth it to be here.”

“How is that at all an even trade-off in any sense of the-” But it’s too late, because HInata’s hand is already brushing up against his cheek lovingly.

“Look, you just woke up… Let’s not overcomplicate things until after lunch, okay?”

“Hinata, I didn’t mean-”

“Ah-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-” He tuts, clicking his tongue in rhythm. “No more. I love you, and we can leave it at that. We don’t need to have some weird conspiratorial, mysterious understanding of it. It’s simple, and it’s not changing. Why bother making it into something it isn’t?”

Nagito can’t even protest before Hinata leans forward, and started to kiss him gently, his lips softly pushing against one another’s, as Nagito precariously balances the breakfast plate on his lap between them.

HInata’s hand rubs his cheek, back and forth, rocking into him, feeling Nagito’s hair tickling the back of his fingers as he goes, lips pulling apart only to meet again.

“Don’t… make… this… difficult…” Hinata begs between kisses. “It doesn’t have to be…”

Nagito moves the plate out of the way before taking the situation into his own mismatched hands. HInata feels Nagito grab at him around his waist, fingers digging into his lower back, before feeling a familiar tongue start to run up and down, licking his lips over and over, soft swishes, the air between them ceasing to exist. Nagito’s fingers suddenly jerk him forward into his expecting lap. His legs spread, Hinata sat proudly above him, holding Nagito in place as everything became a melting kind of needy. Nagito’s fingers especially, digging into the back of his hipbone so hard that it hurt, tongue pushing against the front of his mouth cruelly, yet never in his mouth.

Nagito seems fixated on licking his lips, swiping slowly and roughly the edges of Hinata's’ mouth, tracing them with precision, but pressing hard, just like Hinata’s di-

Down, boy.

It was sad that HInata could no longer grab at Nagito with two arms. Sad that he could only ever feel him with one, but there wasn’t too much he could-

“Fuck,” He thinks, because Nagito’s tongue was sliding into his mouth finally, dribbling saliva coated his lips, over sharp teeth. It only took a moment before Hinata had shifted his one hand to Nagito’s shoulder. It was easier to pull him in that way. Pulling their bodies together, Hinata’s legs wrap around his waist…

He was right. He didn’t need any explanation for this beyond love and hormones. He didn’t need Nagito to try and put some name on what really only had one.

HInata hears Nagito let loose a small, muffled giggle into his mouth. Hinata smiles, and then straightened his mouth because it’s hard to kiss that way. What they have is too strange or complicated to ever really be understood. Maybe that’s why the others reject it outright. If neither of them could understand it, how could the others, when they didn’t even have a hand in it? Maybe that was okay. They didn’t need to understand it beyond “I love you.”

Nagito takes another moment before he slows and eventually goes still, retreating his invasive tongue and lips, and Hinata watches a string of saliva break between their mouths as he leans backwards. Hinata really can’t think of anything else to do beyond open his one good arm, and engulf Nagito in a hug.

If they fight the good fight together, for each other, it should come together eventually. Who knew that it would be Nagito who gave him that kind of optimism? They can learn to look past the eyes and arms and the pointless infighting. Hope looks past it all. Does he really need anything else? They aren’t the only ones who have suffered.

He can say though, that forgiveness is inevitable.