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r00en · 4 years

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Still Good Chapter 4.

Small talk over dinner turned to a heavy topic as the great All Might gets a bit of perspective he's never seen before as he comes to terms with his feelings no matter what they might be. All Might finds out the price normal hero’s pay every day to make the world a brighter place...and he’s not sure he likes it.

All Might x Reader (OC)

Warning: Mentions of gore and blood. It only get’s worse from here folks! Oh...did you think this was gonna be a cute rom-com filled with sooches and wuv? NU! I make you WORK for that love! (Edited, added a line or two and fixed a bunch of mistakes that were glaring)

The lull of light dinner conversation mixed with the quiet muttering of the T.V behind them was soothing in a way. There was so few pauses that Toshi could let his mind focus on the topics at hand or things she pointed out on the program over his fluttering heart and twitching nerves. He wasn't so surprised that she was a decent cook. As bland as his food needed to be she picked a rather mild meat rub before cooking his chicken and even finished it off with a few minuets of baking to give it more of a texture over the rubbery feel it had when boiled. He had to admit it was a nice change of pace and tasted great. So much so that Toshi found himself hoping she would make it for him again. Bento boxes every day in a goofy All Might style bento with a little note from her would be the literal definition of heaven. He watched as she happily shoveled some meat in her mouth, catching the happy little hum of enjoyment she let out. A bit childish, not at all proper but Toshi wouldn't change her for the world. Her puffy cheeks filled with food and utterly thrilled expression over something so simple was adding to the atmosphere. Could he ask to stay the night? Make up some kind of excuse like his side hurt or it was too late for the trains. If he pretended to be in pain she might kiss his side again and his guts gave a thrilled twist as the image of her in the kitchen burst through the mental wall he was trying to keep it contained behind.

"Sore wa hendesu!!"

The loud shout from the TV knocked him out of his day dreaming causing Toshi to fumble with his rice bowl for a second. He was caught by a dumb game show host. Shooting a glare in it's direction for good measure he gave a heavy sigh and started eating the end of his meal. "These shows are so weird, I still can't keep up with them. But the talk shows are nice it helps me get a bit more of a feel for professional conversation." The little nurse was covered up to her shoulders in the kotatsu blanket, looking happy and content as she wanted for him to finish his food. This sort of set up was strange to Toshi. Often when you would invite someone to dinner it was a bit more of a occasion, treating that person like a respected guest with constant conversation and offerings of snacks and drinks. This was so casual and seemed more like something married couples would do every night. Sit around and watch T.V and eat their cheap dinners only mildly chatting. No, this was far better. "Damn it Toshi stop thinking like that! This is a common dinner gathering with a friend! This is surely how they do it in the states. Stop getting your weird hopes up"

His eye cast down to the end of his rice. He had eaten far more than he expected himself too given how nervous he felt. He hand't felt 'full' in a long time. If that was indeed what he was feeling. Full, happy and relaxed. That was until she stretched and stood up from her spot. Her work skirt getting caught from her odd position and holding just a bit too high up her milky thigh giving him a beautiful look of the creamy skin that was normally hidden from view. Blood dripped from between his teeth and he snapped his head away to sputter something she thankfully ignored this time around.

"All done? I can start to clean up if you want to finish watching. You can tell me more about that kid you're training yeah? You said he knew about my work back in the states?"

Toshi gave a sort nod, trying to stack his bowls carefully to make the work easier for her. "Yes, thank you! The food was wonderful! I had no idea you were not only a brilliant nurse and hero but you really can cook too." The flush that painted her cheeks was a wonderful reward for his mild complement and Toshi made it a point to do that more often. Constantly if possible. The way she wiggled on the spot and twisted some hair around her fingers, trying to look anywhere but at him with her flustered expression was quiet possibly the cutest thing he had ever seen! Oh he would do it again for sure. Next chance he got.

She scuttled off quickly with a muttered thank you followed by a string of excuses and reasons why she was in fact NOT a good cook at all, facts Toshi ignored as he turned the TV down to listen to her as she set about cleaning their dishes. "So this kid, Midoriya was it?"

"Oh yes right. Young Midoriya shows great promise. That young man is set to do great things..." His voice trailed off as he looked at his own clenched fist. So frail and skinny now it was so important to All Might to train that boy as quickly as possible. His time was limited and he was growing weaker day by day. The thought clawed at the back of his mind and forced a slight twitch in his jaw. Every day was one day less and soon he would have to live like this. A normal, weaker than average citizen who couldn't save people. Couldn't be the symbol he spent his whole life trying to be. Was this really all he had left in the coming days? Once Midoriya was ready and the torch was passed what would he even do with himself? A washed up old has-been hero who could hardly take care of himself. Hell he was here pressing the new nurse just because of a little pain in his side. Was this really what he had become?

A small plastic object was thrust into his view causing Toshi to perk up and snap his head towards her and what ever she was wiggling in his face. That sweet smile greeting him as it always did, her hair let down now that all the work and dinner was done but she kept on that cute little apron and he felt his heart swell from gloom to joy. Was it her quirk? Could she radiate some type of joy through close contact? How quickly she was able to rip him out of his self loathing and into a peaceful quiet. "You can't have sweets normally right? I picked up these flavors honey sticks just in case." One small stick hung between her lips as she blinked down at him. "Non-processed should be better right?"

He gave a soft nod and brushed his fingers against her's again as he took her offering. He thought he caught her little tremble at the contact but brushed it off as a chill from the sudden unexpected feeling of his colder boney fingers against her far warmer....far softer ones. She took the time to think about his needs and cater to them so diligently he was starting to feel like some unnecessary burden who selfishly pushed himself into her life, and for what? Just so he could get all warm and fuzzy seeing her smile? He must not have been hiding his own personal disdain well enough as that same soft hand he brushed seconds ago came down sharply on the top of his head. "H-hey! What-" "You keep getting this look on your face. I don't like it so cut it out." She was so blunt. That dead stare she gave telling him this was not up for debate. "A-ah...sorry I didn't notice I was making one. Didn't mean to upset you or-gah HEY!" Another swift chop and now his head was really starting to hurt.

"A quit with the apologizing alright. We're friends arn't we? If something on your mind you should say it don't sit there and sulk. That's what friends do for each other." The sudden finger thrust in his face had him lean back and staring crossed at her hand. "Besides what good am I as not only your friend but the new up and coming nurse at the great UA high if I can't even mend the spirit and heart of a fellow employee! I'll be an absolute failure! I'll never be able to show my face to grandma again she'll scold me for sure!" Her speech was so dramatic and heartfelt Toshi couldn't stop the slight twitch of his lips that broke quickly out into a smile. Sitting forward he leaned on his elbows and let his head hang. "Cut right to the point don't you kid-" He chose to ignore the delighted look on her face at the return of his nickname but only just. "And you're pretty good at picking up on others emotions, that's a good quality to have in a school nurse. Better yet one at UA. Those kids are the future hero's, they carry a lot of weight on their young shoulders and I bet a lot of them will need all the emotional help they can get as well as physical. I have no doubt you'll be a great asset to the school from this point on." He had meant it to be some kind of compliment. Trying to match her emotional speed in this conversation but the look on her face now told him he fell short. She was scowling?

After a few seconds of silence between them he moved and rubbed the back of his neck nervously "...I say something wrong? You don't-" "You're trying to deflect the conversation Toshinori...." Shit he was caught. She was far better than he gave her credit for. The sudden feel of her hand wrapped around his resting one caused him to jump and nearly fall back from the table. "Come on. Somethings bothering you. You're normally all kinds of jumpy and odd but ever since the kitchen you've been so quiet." Her eyes looked so worried but a different worried that Toshi was only ever used to seeing on her. Worry that went deeper than his scar and title. Worry for Toshinori Yagi on a personal level he hadn't felt in years. But he couldn't just open up to her like this, burden her with more than necessary or more than he already had. Almost instinctively he turned his hand so he could grip hers. Any other circumstance and his heart would be fighting it's way up his throat but he was being tactful here. A common sense misdirection. "It was something Young Midoriya said today. He knew you from your hero work back in the states. You went by Paladin back then right?" She seemed to relax a bit "He...mentioned the way you used to fight and I just can't get it out of my head. What kind of hero agency sends someone like you out on the front lines to be a punching bag for the rest of the fully capable hero's out there? Let you get hurt in their place....it didn't sit right and ever since Young Midoriya brought it up again it's been eating away at me. Knowing you were hurt so badly so often...." His hand squeezed her's tight, tighter than perhaps he should have given the small wince she gave in response but she didn't pull away. Only returned the pressure and placed her other hand over his.

"But it's the exact same thing they did to you." Toshi's head snapped up. What could that possibly mean?! He was the worlds greatest hero, no one could touch him in his prime. He wasn't some striking dummy set out on the streets to take hits he was saving people. "That sounds dumb let me explain. Here in Japan the only reason things are the way they are now is because of you. Sure all the other heros take care of minor crimes that pop up from time to time but you are the whole reason this society works the way it does. You take punches every single day in all different sorts of ways to keep people safe and thriving. No one stops to ask if you're okay, no one gives you a break or time off. For the past twenty years you have been the symbol the world needed you to be....but you were just an object of hope to cling to. A punching back for the worlds problems day in and day out but you did it with a smile. You never asked for anything in return and used your powers to help everyone else around you regardless of the sacrifices you had to make to do it." His side twitched slightly, as if affirming her words. "And you wanted to do it. Use that power in any way you could. Even now the only thing your mind is screaming is for you to help me, even if I don't really need saving. You view it as in injustice that you need to right. Our views on it may be different but I wanted to us my power to help people just like you. Every single use of it needed to go to that cause because otherwise what good is it to just let it sit there and do nothing? If I'm not helping someone with my quirk, even if that help is buying time for the right hero to do the job then what point is there to having it at all? Besides the best look on a villains face is the one they get when their punches just don't work!

Toshi...I need you to understand how normal heros really think. Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if I was there to take that hit for you....if someone could protect you for once rather than you always having to shelter us. I don't want to only rely on the symbol of peace, I want him to rely on me now! Even if it's just making him food and listening to his problems."

She was so passionate and god damn it was she smart. Ripped that morality right out from under him. He desperately wanted to save someone who didn't need to be saved, from a path they both walked. And she wanted more than anything now to be his hero. Putting herself out there for him here and now made his heart swell.

Her hands were shaking slightly and he worried more than anything that this wasn't the whole picture but he wasn't going to push her. Not now. "While I might not have your power I needed to do this for the people I cared about. Without me so many others would have gotten hurt and many could have died. I can come back from those hits....they can't. Even if it's minor...even if it's scary how can I call myself a hero if I don't do everything I can to help?" She grinned up at him, that shining in her eyes was so hopeful and bright that he found himself starting slack jawed at her for a moment. "How else can I Go Beyond?!"

This was the moment in every sappy romance movie he had ever seen where the hero wrapped his arms around the girl and kissed her until she was out of breath. Held her like he would never let go and showered her with love and adoration. But Toshi was stuck to his seat. Only able to hold her hands and smile right back at her. "You keep on surprising me kid. But you know, I'll never stop worrying about you. It's kinda my job. Even if I'm like this I don't really know any other way to be."

The small laugh that pulled from her warmed his heart but it chilled just as quickly when she let his hands slip from hers to stand. "That's my line you dork. I'm the school nurse after all." As she passed him she let her fingers run over his wild hair and he leaned into the touch like it was second nature and watched her move into the kitchen. Damn it this wasn't good. His heart was thudding so hard he could feel it through his chest. In a few short minuets she had cemented herself as the most kind, beautiful and intelligent woman he had ever met. And cutest, he added as she stumbled out with a few more honey stick and a goofy grin chatting about something else she saw on TV to break the tension and lighten the mood. It was all white noise to him right now. She wasn't his friend. This wasn't a normal relationship with a colleague. This wasn't how he acted with Aizawa, Kayama or Yamada. Hell not even Dave. He couldn't remember a time where he just wanted to be near someone so desperately it hurt.

Time came at last, and to Toshi dismay, that he had to head home. He wanted her to make a fuss and demand he spend the night, not that his nerves would allow him to do anything but stare awkwardly at the ceiling all night long let alone make any sort of romantic move. No, he would first try and talk to her without having a heart attack. Baby steps. She did whine a bit, rolling back from under the blanket and pouting when he insisted on catching the last train home. It was rather late. "I'll see you at UA tomorrow anyway. We need to go over plans for the entrance exam next week so don't look so down alright?" He wouldn't admit he liked that she looked so bummed out. Made his heart do a little flip that she wanted to spend as much time with him as he did her. That was a good start, knowing she wasn't forcing herself to stand him.

"Yeah yeah....Grandma reminded me like six times today. I have alarms set I won't oversleep this time." They both chuckled as he slipped his shoes on and stood in the doorway. "H-hey uh...if you wanna get up a bit earlier we can grab some coffee on the way to work..."

She looked at him with those wide eyes and gave a tilt of her head "Hm? You wanna go to work together?" Toshi stepped back and waved his hands frantically "Y-yeah I mean if you wanted! Only if that's not too weird! I figured you liked coffee given all the mugs you have around the kitchen....it's fine if you want to sleep in I understand don't push yourself." Geez what a stupid idea. This was the second time he asked to see her outside of work and he felt like a total creep. "I would love that." You're nearly fifty years old Toshinori this is unacceptable behavior, you should be ashamed of yourself. Pushing a young girl like this to constantly meet up, someones gonna call the police. "Just text me when you wanna meet up and I'll reset my alarms." Then again it's just coffee....it's not like you asked her out on a date. Was this a date back in the states...not like I dated there either but maybe it is. "Hey Toshi." Way to blow it, first the kitchen now this- a rough jab to his forehead had him fall back against the apartments railing. "You gotta work on your inner turmoil. I would love to get coffee tomorrow morning. Just text me when you want to meet up okay?" He was stuck standing dumbfounded, holding his foehead all slack jawed and flustered. "Y-yeah? Yeah...alright I'll text you." He muttered watching as she grinned behind the closing door until it clicked shut. Yelling out a 'Go home Toshi!' as she sensed he was still standing like an idiot on the balcony. It took him a few more seconds to right himself and step away from her door with one more glance at the apartment that belonged to his crush. He could say that now, be honest with himself, no matter how red in the face it made him as he nearly ran down the steps as if that would distance him from the utter embarrassment.

As Toshi sat on the nearly empty train he found himself staring down at his phone. He wanted to wait at least a bit to text her not wanting to come off any more desperate than he already felt. While he killed time he tapped in her hero name in the search bar. He was surprises to find more than a fair share of hits everything from interviews to caught footage of fights. With a shaking finger he clicked on the first one listed. 'Paladin vs Iron Fist' at least her name was kinda cleaver. But what ever mild enjoyment he got from her hero name was quickly sucked out of him as he watched his poor little nurse get bashed in by a massive man possibly his own size. Not only that but he had; as his name implied fists of Iron that he had no issue using against the tiny girl.

She was quick on her feet at the very least. Dodging some of his slower telegraphed attacks, and he was sloppy and slow. A small time criminal who was used to just beating his way past opponents it seemed. Clearly not used to them getting back up. She took two heavy hits to the jaw and one uppercut that sent her flying upward leaving her open to a sudden massive barrage of punches to the stomach and chest. The force of it knocked her back into a wall that gave way with the power of it. Even he would be winded after something like that. The camera zoomed in as close as it could from their distance and Toshi was horrified to see the pool of blood slowly spreading from in impact site. Only her twitching legs visible behind and under the rubble. More blood that he was comfortable seeing coming from anyone. No one could get up from that...she must have been a mangled mess of bone. But slowly those feet moved in and some of the broken building was pushed away as she climbed out. Wiping her jaw from the small dribble of blood that still lingered. She was otherwise fine. Scraped up and winded, glowing that faint green of her quirk but otherwise no worse for ware. She was even grinning as she righted herself and gave a little stretch. "Think you can even me out big guy? Never feels right to only have one side punched you know?" As if she suddenly noticed the camera she turned and gave a thumbs up, what an All Might move. "Don't try this at home kids! You might not get up so quick!" The villain was back on her in a second shoving her body back into the rubble with a horrible crack and the sound she made turned his insides in knots.

So it did hurt....every hit she took hurt as if she were a normal human. Every broken bone, every rip or scrape she could feel it all. And this villain was beating her into the ground with no mercy! His hands were shaking, gripping his phone so tightly he saw the screen suddenly crack and snapped him from the sudden rush of boiling anger that threatened to spill over. His phone still worked just fine he noted as he stared at his grim reflection in it's damaged surface. The hero's had figured out a plan by that point and someone was pulling him off her as he switched his phone off. She did that every single day with a smile on her face. Just like All Might. And people adored her for it if the comments and commentary were anything to go by. The person filming even said they didn't feel worried as long as she was on the scene. That did nothing for that burning hate he felt in the pit of his stomach. His hand clutched over his mouth as he sat in silence for the rest of the ride.

Never again. No one would ever hurt her again.

#All Might x Reader #All Might/reader #All Might #Toshinori Yagi #Toshinori x reader #MHA #my hero acadamy

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pinnithin-writes · 4 years

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Good Jokes

Chapter 19

Stars wheeled above Tommy’s head in constellations he didn’t recognize. His eyes slowly fell into focus, and they moved sluggishly as he tracked the dust motes swimming in front of his nose. The nausea was gone, replaced with a strange lightness in his limbs; an airy, detached feeling he wasn’t quite sure he enjoyed. When he raised his head to look around, his body responded several beats slower than he’d like.

So this was Xen. It… didn’t look like much. Tommy had been deposited on a hunk of floating rock in the middle of a nebulous void, clustered around other asteroids rotated and spun like tortoises. It was unnaturally small, he noted. There was no way the hordes of aliens that had flooded Black Mesa had originated here. Spatially speaking, it was impossible.

But Tommy had just lived through an entire week of the impossible, and his survival depended on suspension of disbelief. He watched the landmasses floating past as he flicked through his thoughts. The ground beneath him had a light, chalky texture. Tommy skimmed his palms across the surface in an attempt to ground himself.

He felt untethered in a dangerous way. Vulnerable and exposed and… something frighteningly new.

Mortal.

It was very likely he could die here, he realized. Die for real. Die and not come back. Die with real consequences. His heart was delayed in its reaction, thumping out an anxious rhythm that was too slow to be natural. He was stretched out like taffy here, and if he broke it would end him permanently. Tommy was suddenly very, very afraid.

He forced his limbs to move, pushing himself into a sitting position with an effort that was worrying. Dr. Coomer had made it through - he was dangling his legs contemplatively over the edge of the rock they were floating on - as had Gordon, who was casting a wide-eyed stare at their surroundings, too awed for words. Bubby was nowhere to be seen, but Tommy was too busy wrestling against the static in his body to spare the prototype much concern.

He couldn’t lose it here. Not now. His pulse was thin and rabbity and oh so mortal, but if Tommy started freaking out in this unreal and dangerous plane, he’d surely die.

In that moment, Gordon wheeled and caught Tommy’s gaze, giving him a brief pass for injury before fixing on his face. “This is fucking crazy,” he breathed. “I can’t believe this is real.”

Tommy swallowed and managed a weak nod. No, he would not be dying on this planet. Look around, he thought, figure it out, build a solid foundation on fact. He drew in a steadying breath.

There was - somehow - an atmosphere on Xen, which Tommy deduced from the lack of boiling in his eyeballs, as well as a decent amount of oxygen, evident from Gordon being able to speak without instantly suffocating. The guy really should have put the helmet of his suit on before entering the portal, he thought distractedly. Gordon didn’t seem to be experiencing the same slowness in his limbs as Tommy was, which was good. Better to have one barely capable teammate than an entire downed crew.

They were short a member, though. Tommy didn’t miss the worried trill in Coomer’s voice when he said, “I haven’t seen him since we… I - I don’t know.”

“Oh no,” Gordon muttered. He passed another narrowed glance around them. “Where’s Benrey?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? Where had the entity gone, exactly, now that he was no longer bound by the structural laws of Earth’s plane? A dark premonition told Tommy they would be playing on his turf while they were here on Xen. Best to tread lightly. Shouldn’t be too hard, considering the gravity level.

Gordon shaded his eyes against the glow of the nebulas around him. “Did you see that?” he murmured.

“See what, Gordon?” Coomer asked.

Tommy heard a sharp intake of breath, a shift of dry gravel as Gordon took a step back. “Whoa.”

He flicked his gaze up at what had alarmed the man, and sucked in a startled gasp of his own.

Benrey had ballooned to a grotesquely colossal size, hovering nearby with that same placid smile stretched across his mouth. Uneasy, Tommy scrambled to his feet, and immediately was forced to double over from the sudden rush of blood to his head. The entity’s eyes, two gelatinous circles of yellowed flypaper, rolled from Gordon to Tommy. His lip curled back to reveal his jagged grin, each individual tooth the length of a fully grown man.

“What?” Gordon harshed out in disbelief.

Dr. Coomer, wholly put off, only uttered a small, “oh.”

Head spinning, Tommy managed to stand to his full height and draw his rifle from his shoulder. He made the mistake of catching the entity’s gaze and rapidly looked away. Okay, no, yeah, the nausea was back.

Gordon held out a hand defensively. “Hey, man,” he began.

The force of Benrey’s voice shook the platform they stood on. “Yo.”

Gordon fought valiantly to remain calm, but Tommy could detect the panic running a cold undercurrent beneath his voice. “What’s up? You look a little - you look kinda… big, there.”

Benrey’s enormous shoulders rolled in a shrug. “I’ve been tellin’ you to go back. I dunno man, you’re not listening to me. It kinda hurts.”

“Why do you want us to go back? What is happening?” Gordon asked. His face quickly hardened from shock to indignation as his brain began piecing together the facts. “Hold on. Hold on. Hold on,” he growled. “I was fucking right. It’s you, man!”

Benrey’s lips, if possible, stretched thinner as his grin widened. “Yo, it’s me!” he affirmed, buffeting them with his breath. “What’s up?”

Tommy covered his mouth and nose with one hand while Gordon sliced his arm in a threatening arc. “Don’t come any closer. Stay at that distance,” he warned.

Benrey’s mile-wide smile didn’t waver. “What the hell, man?” he asked. “Why are you freaking out?

“Because this is insane!” Gordon barked. He tore his eyes away from the creature to cast a worried look at the boxer beside him. “Dr. Coomer, what do we do?”

A tense few seconds of silence passed. Coomer’s voice was quiet when he responded. “Gordon. I’m scared.”

Gordon pivoted anxiously to Tommy again, who had managed to aim his rifle at Benrey. “Tommy. Tommy,” he hissed.

He darted him a look. “Yeah?”

“Make a run for it, okay? I’m gonna distract him.”

Tommy frowned. Like hell he would. If Gordon thought Tommy would leave his side after everything they’ve already faced, the man was dumber than he thought. He gave a sharp shake of his head and Gordon turned away with a sigh.

The entity was still watching them with a predatory expectancy. Gordon made another attempt to act like it was normal to speak with a man so large his mouth was a cave. “Hey what’s y - ah, what’s your favorite - what’s your PlayStation 3 gamer, uh gamertag-” he fumbled, muttering under his breath. “Do they call it gamertag? I dunno. I dunno, man. What’s your na-”

Benrey’s grin fell into an amused smirk. “That’s private information,” he answered. “You shouldn’t be asking that.”

“...‘Kay,” Gordon responded flatly. He returned his attention to a despondent Coomer. “How do we get him out of here? I feel like if we move he’s gonna fuckin’ eat us, or something.”

That made the entity laugh, vibrating the asteroid they were standing on. “Wanna kiss?”

Gordon startled backwards. “No!”

He scrambled away just as Benrey drifted closer, taking a flying leap from one platform to the one adjacent in what was far too great a distance to be natural. Tommy watched Gordon skid with all his weight on one foot as he adjusted to the gravity, and once he was certain of a safe landing, he grabbed Dr. Coomer and they made the jump together.

Gordon was still shouting at Benrey as they touched down. “You can stay there. You can stay there. Over there-”

“Yo, come back,” came Benrey’s distant whine.

“No,” Gordon bit back, insistent.

Tommy helped Coomer to a steady standing position and brushed the dust off his lab coat. A pointless action, perhaps, considering how crusted it was already with dried blood and alien gore, but Tommy was more focused on the scientist’s hollow stare as he tapped his shoulder in a “you good?” manner.

Dr. Coomer met his eyes and gave a very slow nod. His grip on his weapon was shaking.

Benrey, further back, swam lazily through the stardust as he basked in Gordon’s attention. “Man, we used to be great friends,” he said.

Tommy scoffed. He’d heard this one before.

“We were never friends,” Gordon barked. “We were never friends. There was maybe-”

“Remember those days where we played - we were playin’ in the sand and in the mud, we played in the mud all the time? Great friends.”

Gordon looked to Tommy, who managed to roll his eyes. Being the size of the house didn’t change Benrey’s tendency to act like a complete ass, it seemed, though Tommy’s nerves were still alight with apprehension as the creature stared them all down.

“I don’t think - I have a - you are forging these memories, dude,” Gordon went on, backpedaling quickly as Benrey lurched closer. “Oh, shit. Oh, shit.”

God, he really looked awful at this size. Tommy’s instinct to keep an eye on the most immediate threat warred with the revulsion of seeing an almost-human with pores the size of mailboxes. He shook out his right hand, then his left, as if that could get rid of the crawling feeling on his skin. Benrey blinked, slow and wet, at the three of them.

“Hug?” he asked.

Gordon made a noise that could only be described as “fuck no” and booked it.

As they hopscotched across the levitating platforms, Tommy gradually gained his bearings, adjusting to the weightlessness and the loose grasp this plane held on the laws of matter. Feeling a bit more oriented (but not an iota safer), he was able to notice more detail in the architecture here. The spires that lanced into the milky starlight above were definitely otherworldly, but a few features in this plane were recognizable to Tommy, such as a support beam in the shape of a lava lamp, and… were these Pop Rocks under his shoes?

Another rock formation swam past and he leapt lightly across the gap. Gordon was connecting a dotted path toward the largest landmass in this nebulous thing that passed for a planet, putting as much distance between himself and the entity as possible.

“Okay. Okay,” He huffed. “So, I guess Bubby - we have to forget about him because we have more pressing matters on hand right now.”

Coomer deflated vizibly at this notion, but he said nothing. They kept moving.

Now that Tommy was looking for it, he caught a number of other items from Earth in this plane. Busted copies of old video games, value sized bags of sweets, and other assorted oddities dotted the landscape, fusing and unfusing with the skeletal architecture like Xen was some kind of extraplanar bowerbird nest. He blinked with disorientation as he struggled to track it all. These were all things Benrey liked, he concluded, and suspicion coiled in Tommy’s stomach. Perhaps he had underestimated how much influence the entity held over this plane. It was probably best not to discount how easily he could kill them all here.

Gordon was in the same vein of thinking. “We have to get away from whatever the hell Benrey is,” he warned them, before lamenting to himself, “Why, why, why, why? Why is this my life? Why does it have to be this way?”

Tommy wasn’t sure if Gordon intended for the others to hear him, so he only grimaced and shot the man a sympathetic look in response. The whites of his eyes were showing stark in that frightened, deerlike way. He was terrified, but still somehow holding it together.

“Is he gone?” Gordon asked, right as the entity loomed into view. “Oh god. Oh god. Hide from him!” he hissed, throwing out a frantic gesture. “Tommy, get out - get out of sight! Don’t let him see y-”

Tommy’s position didn’t seem to matter that much, as the entity kept his luminous gaze on Gordon exclusively. “I can see wherever you go, friend!” Benrey boomed. “I have scans of your feet as well!”

“I don’t want you to have those!” Gordon replied, vaulting over the edge of the structure onto a nearby rock formation. “And they told me you didn’t!”

“Stop right there, Mister Gordon Feetman.”

Benrey leaned in close as the platform swung past him. Gordon stood tall and fired on the creature with all he had, even while trembling in his boots, and Tommy loved him for his fearlessness.

The entity seemed content to play with his food for now, taking the gunfire without so much as a flinch while the platform circled away from him. As Gordon, panicked and gasping for air, slid out of range, Benrey turned his glistening smile on Tommy and Dr. Coomer. His chin and neck were honeycombed with bullet wounds, and blood slid slow and thick down into the collar of his uniform.

Benrey winked at Tommy. Tommy racked his rifle in response, though fear was furrowing bone-deep in his limbs. Getting killed by this guy in the ass end of space would be a pretty embarrassing way to die, all things considered.

His attention was ripped away by Gordon charging past them, arm raised to fire. Tommy wheeled and met the wave of peeper puppies skittering toward them. He took aim and shot them down one by one as they approached, reminding himself to be conscious of the weightlessness in his body and the pulse in his neck that could be stopped in a second. You’re mortal. You’re mortal. You can’t slip up here.

Through the pepper of gunfire, Tommy heard Gordon utter a bewildered, “Bubby! What?”

Coomer popped the last alien with a slug of lead and snapped his attention to Gordon. He was staring, puzzled, at a static point on the ceiling a few yards away. Tommy looked, too, blinking through spatial disorientation as a full-sized Hot Wheels car phased through the prototype’s body. Bubby dropped from the stalactite he was clinging to, stumbling to an unsteady landing on their level.

Coomer exhaled in audible relief at the sight of him.

Bubby adjusted his glasses and dusted himself off, as if that bizarre entrance had all been planned. “God dammit, I thought I was out of there.”

Gordon’s gun arm hung in limp confusion at his side. “What just happened? Did you just turn into a car?”

A beat of silence passed as asteroids skimmed around them like pontoons.

“Look,” Bubby muttered, tossing an awkward look at the vehicle over his head. “We all have secrets.”

As Dr. Coomer pulled the other scientist into a hug, Benrey leered around the corner, aiming his yellow, pointed smile at them. The four of them hurriedly clambered through one of the cracks in the chalky stone walls and out of the monster’s line of sight.

The odds and ends Tommy had been seeing were tangled up in a scattered nest inside. He stepped gingerly over knotted shoelaces, a broken plasma ball, and sixteen copies of FIFA 08 as he followed the others toward the glowing teleporter in the cavern’s center. It hummed lowly, spiderwebbed between pillars, far more organic than the portals Tommy was accustomed to.

“What are these?” Gordon breathed. “There’s way more to this than we knew, huh?”

“The alien landforms here are beautiful,” Coomer intoned sarcastically.

Tommy crunched over broken glass and bottlecaps as he circled the room. Had Benrey taken them… home? Was this his home? How long had he been collecting this stuff? Tommy was having difficulty reconciling the two vastly different environmental factors of this place, alien and terrestrial, while Gordon and Bubby debated the safety of the teleporter.

“Well, either you’re stranded in an alien world, or you’re sent somewhere safe, or you’re instantly killed by it,” Bubby reasoned flatly. “So, take your pick.”

In that moment, Benrey’s face squeezed between the rock like flesh through cheesecloth, and Gordon pulled Tommy by the wrist through the portal before they could vomit at the sight of it.

Chapter 18 <-----> Chapter 20

#ink #fanfiction #good jokes #part of my endeavor to relocate all my ao3 work #body horror #BIG BODY HORROR ON THIS ONE #violence #guns #hlvrai

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