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jd-arts319 · 4 years

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(old bnha oc,decided finally to post it!!!!)

Name: Chikara Hatsumomo

Romanji name: hatsumomo chikara

Alias/Heroname:momo-san,chi-chan,kara-kun

(Hero): elementrix

Personal description

Birthday: august,28

Age: 4(before izuku's conforntation with katsuki & his goons)

14(middle school,class mate of izuku)

15-16(from sports festival through provesional hero license internship)

Gender: trans!male(female)

Hair color: dark brown hair with two bright yellow side-streaks hair

Eye color: greenish-blue/cool green

Blood type: O+

Quirks: Elements,enhancement

Status

Status: alive

Birth place: Shizuoka prefecture

Family: naturia(mother/deceased),mana(father/unknown),chiharu chikara(grandma/deceased)

Occupation: student/artist

Affiliation: U.A

Team(s): Shie Hasseikai Raid Team

Fighting-style range: close & far range,close & far combat

She is izuku's childhood as well,however she never met bakugo until they are 6 yrs.old,she was also izuku's best friend & protector,since she knew of him being bullied for awhile.

Crush: none/(later either todoroki or katsuki)

Bio: she met izuku around after school & the two quickly became friends,since then they are like siblings,both always hang-out each other's home,bakugo never knew her until they both met at the age of 6.

she had mutual-relationship with him,but neverthless she never start a fight with unless if it comes from izuku being bullied,no one also knew if she had a parents,however she is seen walking by herself,it worries the teachers since she was only young,despite she is smart & know how to protect herself,since she heard about her teachers worries.

she asked izuku if she could live with him & his mother & since inko knew what happend to her parents since she remembered her husband mentioning of being closed friend of kara's mother,naturia who died after the fight she been gone to,nobody knew where she died but is broadcast though.

so inko let her live with them from now on & she grew up with izuku as like siblings,she once had a parents one was name hatsumomo sakiko known as pro-hero naturia who controls elements & great in inhenced hand-to-hand combat & reflexes,her father however was remain a mystery,his quirk was enhancement,but he wasn't known as a pro-hero.

he just disappeared after mom had her,since then nobody knew where he disappeared off to,however her mother kept strong for both of them until she died,chi was taken care by her grandma who she took after from,until her grandma's un-timely death comes as well,she was numb from what happend however she starting to be happy again after meeting izuku & living with him.

Appearance:

He had white fair skin,cool green eyes,a curvy yet well-built body,hair tied into a lower-loose ponytail,his body was slim when she was 6 however when 14 her body became slim-yet curvious almost hour-glass like well-built body.

when from 15-16 she even more well-built before,all in all he was rather a very attractive person,that somehow rumored she could outstand midnight & mt.lady,she had a surgery around before she came to ordera high school.

in order to fit her real gender,but since she took after her grandmother she looked almost a like her,many man tend to woo her thinking she was a easy to sway ,but she always ignore them,there are rare-times when perverts comes after her,since she trained & trained before she knows how to defend himself.

4: her hair was short & never wore a hairclip yet,wears teal overralls,yellow short-sleeved hoodie underneath & purple shoes.

14: she wore oredera school uninform,however when she is training with izuku & all might she wore,short tight turtle neck & sleeveless exercise shirt,knee-length below tight exercise shorts,dark-blue exercise shoes his hair tied into a ponytail.

15-16: he wore the official U.A uniform,one with the jacket & one with none,his p.e clothes as well,in civilian look he wore a 70's like cool green & white hoodie,knee-lenght below jogger pants,black ballet-like flats.

Personality:

She is quite mature,tactical,intelligent,reckless,a bit stubborn sometimes but kind,understanding,& blunt person,however when she is angry she is like a vicious demon sometimes,overprotective of izuku,crazy,brutally honest,& creepy can be sweet sometimes,caring too.

Abillities:

Enhanced strength & speed: she can be strong almost as all might & faster than iida,eraserhead as well.

Enhanced reflexes & hand-to-hand combat: she is great at counter attacking & nullificating some quirks as well,like bakugo while fighting him or sparring she can easily overpowered him less than a min.,in hand-to-hand combat is the same as her reflexes as well.

Enhanced telekinesis & teleportation: this was one was clearly unknown but somehow she always use this before she had her quirks,but she is almost strong as tatsumaki from one-punch man.

Equipments:

She always had a whip or some weapons that easy used in combats while using her quirks.

Quirks: Elements

Types: Transformation,Bending

Elements Techniques & methods

Fire: hellfire blaze, magma burst,lava steams,flames of hells.

Earth: earth's destruction,blades of stones,boulder spikes,rocks of quacks.

Wind: race of the hurricanes,winds of rebellion,airs of jesters,rumbling tornados.

Water: raging typhoons,whirlwind maelstorm,aqua burst,war of the sea,oceans rampage,tsunami's massacre.

Mixed ver.:

Fire + wind: hellfire hurricane,winds of hell,airs of magma,rumbling steam of lava tornado.

Fire + earth: rocks of volcanic wars,burning quacks,stones of lava's,magma boulder.

Earth + wind: quack tornado,earth's hurricane,rocks of the wind,bouldering air.

Wind + water: aqua wind,winds of ice,blizzard of tsunami,whirlwind winter,snow typhoon,shivering maelstorm.

Advantages:

☆ She can perform them in a different techniques & moves.

☆ She uses them with or without her weapons.

☆ She can easily change their diffrent shapes,styles,& movements,she also make them as her weapons.

Disavantages:

☆ it drains a lot of energy on his body for pushing it for too long.

☆ he gets restrained on his body & some of them aches if he pushes for far too long.

☆ he usually pass out & been out for a days or weeks for using too much of his energy.

Enhancement:

☆it's useful ability,to use in order to maximiaz some of their quirks including himself too,but that also parts of disavantages as well,since it could get someone hurt.

Transformation:

Fire: pheonixia/xius

Earth: Terraria/rios

Wind: nymphia/phios

Water: sirenix/tius

Transfusion:

Fire + wind: soaring flames

Fire + earth: volcancia/cious

Earth + wind: boulderia/rus

Wind + water: wintersia/rus

Stats:

Power: 5/5

Speed:5/5

Technique:5/5

Intelligence:5/5

Coorperativeness:3/5

Battle & Events:

USJ incident: when this incident happens,she helped all might in the fight,but she lets all might finish the fight in the end & help izuku & the others get treated.

Sports festival: she had won many rounds in this event,but while she still up next she was with the other's teachers regarding the usj incident.

HOSU incident: in this incident happens when she visited izuku & gran torino,when the three head to hosu city,that where the three starts to help the people & the two to find iida,when they did she starts to give a first shot while izuku keeps iida & hero native safe & sends help.

Training camp incident: she along with the others got injured after the villains had attacked their training camp,while she had minor & izuku had major,she felt guiltiness for not saving bakugo.

Rescue mission:

After the incident she along with the students are comtemplating whether or not to try & save bakugo,however in the end she joins the others to rescue bakugo.

From Iida to izuku:

When they put their plan in motion,she saw iida punch izuku & heard what she says,she conforted iida about it & somehow everything is ok between izuku & iida,though she did laugh at the fact todoroki called iida"watcherman iida".

All for One v.s All Might:

When the fight between all might & all for one,she once heard that she was connected to chi's father's disappearance,that it turns out that her father was force by all for one to work with him,but after meeting his mom,he also knew he had kept the secret he had a family with naturia from him,& he was the who killed his father,cause of this, it hurts chi's heart but kept strong while she helped izuku & the others save bakugo while he helps them,she keeps the other villains away.

Dormetries: after the incident,she heard that the teachers have built a dormetries for the students in order to keep them safe,she is still feel hurt about the incident but,she was ok now after she moved in the dormetries with izuku.

Hero provesional license incident: when they day another provesional license exam happens,she met togata mirio who had a interesting quirk,unfortunautly for mirio she knew chi had a elemnetal quirk,thats why there are times mirio wins & loses from chi,& chi is same as him.

incident: when she & izuku,along with mirio starts their hero provesional license exam,they ran into eri who is a girl with uncontrolable quirk & a former yakuza,they form a plan & decided to try & save eri from chisaki,everything just turns fuzzy to him howeever they have succeded on saving eri,when everything is over they start to go home but she first decided she wants to talk to chisaki,but when saw that tomura is about to kill him,she saved chisaki & help the others brings him to arrest,she & chisaki once talked but thats about it.

U.A Festival: when the others are starting,they have a plan to make a mini-concert,while they have practice about it,she & izuku have encounter gentle & love-lover,things gets rather serious but they able to make in time in order to make eri smile.

Relationships:

Inko & Izuku Midoriya:

He & izuku have been friends since they are both 4,she was the one that always protects izuku,not only that both also bonds on quirks analysim & strategism,while with his mother,inko she usually calls her auntie or sometimes by accidental "mom".

Katsuki Bakugo:

Both met at the age of 6,the two have mutual relationship with each others,however after the incident two did starts to become closer,but they still mutual with each other.

Iida Tenya & Uraraka Ochako:

She always laughs at tenya's enthusiams,but neverthless she & iida gets along well,as for uraraka she did know uraraka likes izuku,however she knows that another person likes izuku as well but she never tells her yet.

Toshinori Yagi/All Might: usually she & toshi who is known as all might had a odd friendship with one another but they get along very well.

Todoroki Shoto: she met shoto on the entrance exam,& had formed a aqquintacneship with one another but as time passed their relationship had gone to from acquintanceship to friendship,though she also feel worry for him after she heard his past.

Aizawa Shota/EraserHead: both had a rather serious comedic relationship,they make a pretty good teamwork.

Togata mirio & eri: she doesn't much interact with them,but they do have a good relationship.

Stain/chizome akugumo: she doesn't know much about him but she sometimes visits him & talked.

Kai chisaki/overhaul: their relationship can say the same that is almost like him & stain,but they talked less.

Trivia:

☆ she wants to be called she because some people keeps reffering to his fake or current gender.

☆ she likes izuku very much,since izuku was sweet & funny.

☆ she likes to draw,music,animes,adventures,training & quirks anaylizing & strategism.

☆ she doesn't know that she somehow victimize some of the boys from different grades & somehow some male pro-heros too(mainly:kirishima,denki,mineta,tetsutetsu,iida,mirio & tamaki).

☆ she likes dumplings,& rice-pork bowl,choco-buns too.

☆ she & toshi usually hang-out once in awhile when is about there lives or is about some classes or is izuku,or regarding toshi's health.

☆ she also have healing as well she never shown it much,only when they are not close to the u.a from recovery girl.

☆ she sometimes do what izuku as well when it comes to anaylizing quirks,instead she never mutters,but actually she does she just saying with letting out a sound.

Edit;Chikara & kyoko shares the same elemental abilities but kyoko is toph but mellow & a ‘avatar’,chikara can bend elements as well but not much as kyoko,both are my ocs

___________________________

Chikara belongs @me

Boku no hero academia @rightfulowners

#original & stableverse #oc #lmao #ships #bnha #boku no hero au #boku no academia #bnha oc #bnha original character

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nnnbells · 4 years

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some nero pov about - surprise surprise - li, set in the aot dimension. not publishing it on the void bc i have pledged never to write anything from nero’s pov.

wrote this probably last year? kasi it was last edited on feb 2020

Nero wakes with a jolt, sweat damp on his forehead. His heart is hammering in his chest, and when he closes his eyes against the sunlight blasting in through his window, he remembers just a glimpse of sharp eyes and dark, unruly hair, before the image disappears. Nero grinds his teeth together in frustration.

That dream – that boy – again.

Most times, the dream would be dark; bleak. Nero would struggle to peer past heavy rainfall, and not too far from him would stand the boy. He stood proud, like nothing could ever cowe him, and when Nero would call his name, he would turn; fix intense eyes on him.

The ginger hates that dream. He could taste it; taste the boy's name on his tongue, but when morning came – and it always did, and would – it would be ash in his mouth. He would spend long moments laying still, trying to force the boy's name from his mouth as if muscle alone would remember a boy he's never seen before.

Sometimes, the dream would be loud. Loud, like the world ending, like fear seizing Nero's heart. The boy, with teeth bared, alone and desperate. In those dreams, Nero would be running – or soaring; he could never really remember – quick, but never quick enough to reach the boy before he would wake with a shout and a hand outstretched. Sometimes, the dream would be a nightmare.

Less often, the dream would be still; peaceful like Nero's never felt before. The boy, on his back, eyes closed in slumber. It almost feels voyeuristic, the way Nero knows intimately how many seconds pass in between each of the boy's breaths by the rise and fall of his chest, but the knowledge that he is trusted with this information calms Nero.

Rarely, the dream would be bright. Too bright; in an intensity Nero's never before experienced. The boy would have his face turned toward the sky, like he could never have enough. Something akin to hope in his eyes. The wind that would whip at Nero's face in those bright dreams would taste like stolen freedom; a frenzied rush.

Those dreams had Nero waking with his heart threatening to beat out of his chest; had him waking like he would never wake again. Nero knows where he would chase that dream; chase the free winds and bright sky and hopeful eyes.

Nero will join the Survey Corps.

Years pass; quicker than Nero ever would have imagined.

It's not long before Nero becomes an integral part of the Corps. He climbs his way up to the vanguard; is revered as one of humanity's best. Is lauded for surviving as long as he has.

Years pass, and he meets people; people who stand by him and fight alongside him and die before him. Nero never follows. He watches people die; watches them scream and cry before disappearing from the world altogether, but he does not follow. He has someone to find.

The boy in his dreams is younger than Nero remembers when Nero finally finds him. Finally, because he never doubted, not once, that he would find him; the boy with dark hair and even darker eyes.

But when he does, when Nero does find him, the boy stands prouder than ever, the set of his shoulders determined and eyes just as sharp as Nero remembers from his dreams. When Nero does find him, the boy does not find him back.

He stands, stares with blank eyes; the valedictorian candidate of batch 103rd of the southern training regiment, at Nero; a senior soldier of the Survey Corps.

He is a boy.

Still, he is found.

Still, Nero remembers.

So, he takes him under his wing; the moment the boy dedicates his life, his heart, to their cause – or to the commander's lofty words, Nero is not sure – Nero knows in his heart the boy belongs to him. So, Nero comes to him, talks to him, trains him, like any good senior officer would do.

But the boy – Li, he says his name is. Nero doesn't find it unusual like the rest of them, this foreign name; it feels like he's been speaking the name for the entirety of his life and all of his past ones.

The boy doesn't need much training. No, he takes to the sky like a bird of prey. He rides the wind like he was born to fly, and Nero watches him soar, rise higher than all the rest of them; watches him learn what it's like to be free.

Watches the hope begin to colour those obsidian eyes of his.

The boy's first expedition goes awry.

They place him near the formation's centre, because no matter how much mastery he possesses over the manoeuvre gear he is still green, so they place him near the centre, much too far from Nero's place in the vanguard.

They place him in the centre, so when an aberrant suddenly comes barreling through the village they'd been passing through; when it stomps right through the left vanguard and leaves most of them unmounted or dead, the boy jumps to action to prevent it from getting to the right vanguard.

And Nero watches, from his place in the rightmost of the vanguard, he watches Li weave through buildings and zoom past flailing limbs, alone. He watches his boy, his newly recruited, inexperienced boy, take on an aberrant by himself.

Nero doesn't think his horse has ever run faster in its entire career in the Survey Corps. He pulls a hard left, breaking formation and ignoring shouts and warnings from the rest; he can't hear anything besides the indignant sounds coming from the titan's mouth as it swings and swipes at the air, trying to catch Li like a particularly pesky fly —

And it does catch him, it finally does catch Nero's boy, grabbing him in its filthy hand, something like joy in its expressionless eyes. “Li!”

The longest seconds of Nero's life come as he races toward them, him, and he watches the titan wrench its hand tighter around his boy, watches the sheer outrage on his boy's face, and for one terrifying moment Nero thinks, I won't make it; he's going to die, Li is going to die; I can't save him —

And then a figure zooms past him; then two, then the aberrant is tumbling down, Li still snug in its grasp, and finally Nero is close enough; he jumps off his horse without even assessing the environment, frantically grappling at the nearest building, hurtling fast toward the titan's fist before Li gets accidentally slammed into the nearest roof.

Nero's blades break as he chops off most of the titan's fingers in a spin so quick he thinks he might have broken his wrist, but that's nothing compared to the sheer relief that he feels when he sees, from the corner of his eye, his boy grunting in pain as he falls out of the titan's grip and catches himself on a window ledge.

Nero swings off the house he's landed on, stumbling over to the too-tiny window ledge gracelessly in his haste to reach Li, never stopping to even think as he gathers the younger up in his arms like he'll never let go again, the thrum of the boy's heartbeat loud and quick against Nero's own chest. No, Nero doesn't even register the way the boy goes rigid; all the veteran can think is he's safe I'm here I won't leave him he's alive — “I can't lose you.”

Distantly, Nero hears the familiar sound of twin blades slicing through flesh, a heavy inhuman thump following, but in his ears, the words whispered but somehow loud and clear: “Who are you?” His boy – Li, his Li – is stock-still in his arms, and the cadence of his voice is something Nero's never heard from him before; unsure and anxious, maybe even scared.

I'm yours. I've been looking for you; please find me — “I don't know.” He's been living without any sort of real purpose besides finding his dream; no knowledge of why he's even here, and now that he's found him, found the boy of obsidian, the thought of losing him again scares Nero. It's selfish; childish.

“Nero! Hey, are you alright?”

Above them, on the roof, lands Hamilton Holt, and the momentary distraction snaps Li into action, wrenching his own arms free of Nero's grasp and pushing him away so hard he would've fallen off the ledge had his reflexes failed him. His wrist screams in pain, and Nero is vacantly reminded of the injury he must have sustained when attacking the aberrant, but the look the boy – his boy – gives him is nothing if not alarmed and – and fearful. More so than when he had first faced down a titan.

Nero reaches a hand out; Li doesn't deserve to be anything but happy, and if Nero had his way nothing impure would ever touch him.

“Stay away from me;” comes the boy's growled words before he jumps off the window ledge and flies back toward the formation.

There's another thump, then a pair of boots lands in front of Nero, and when he cranes his head upward it's the Holt boy, looking down at him with a mix of confusion and pity in his face. He reaches a hand out. “Let's go.”

When Nero doesn't move the hulking blond hauls him up forcibly, turning him around and pushing him off the ledge, and it's only reflex that gets Nero safely on the ground, next to his horse that whinnies softly as if telling him it's time to go.

He's numb and silent as he clambers back on top of his horse, and when he takes his place back in the formation, he trots past the young noble Kabra, who's looking at him with an odd, almost comtemplative look in his eyes before he forges on ahead tailed by the Holt boy.

When the Kabra boy becomes squad leader mere weeks later, he handpicks Nero, Li, and of course his two dogs, the giant blond and the brown puppy, as his squad members.

Nero's new squad leader handcrafts team exercises especially for them; drills and practices that have the team weaving together in the sky, slashing down imaginary opponents with beautifully choreographed manoeuvres that wow the rest of the Corps and leave them wishing they'd been picked for the Kabra squad instead.

By the end of each day Nero feels more and more exhausted, sharper, and faster. With his new squad, he thinks out on the field, he could be invincible.

In his new squad, he thinks he's just glad Li is part of it too. The Kabra boy won't let anything happen to the Underground prodigy, he knows.

Under their new squad leader, Nero watches Li grow. His skills reach a height soldiers can only dream of, and Nero knows if he had the same years of experience, Li could equal the prowess of Lance Corporal Levi, humanity's strongest.

Under their new squad leader, Nero watches Li grow into the perfect soldier, shaped by the scheming Kabra through harsh training and subtle manipulations only Nero is keen enough to notice.

No, only Nero cares enough to notice. He supposes it must be the constant eye he has on Li that brought him notice to the mind games the Kabra plays on the boy. It alarms him, knowing that the Kabra – the Commander prodigy – is trying to create another loyal dog, another flawless soldier so finely attuned to his words. It terrifies him to think of the Kabra completely winning the boy over.

Nevertheless, Li grows – exponentially – under the Kabra's watchful eye in skill, psyche, and body. The boy from a year ago, the valedictorian of the 103rd Training Corps, had become a steadfast soldier of the Survey Corps, wearing proudly on his back the Wings of Freedom, shoulders broader and eyes sharper, fully a man in every way, and farther from Nero than when he'd first met him.

The next expedition comes only four months after the last one; the 103rd batch recruits' second foray into titan territory.

The Kabra boy volunteers his squad to be part of the vanguard.

Nero's more than accustomed to being beyond the walls, but he can't deny the palpable tension he feels from the entire regiment, a sort of ironic mix of both nervousness and excitement from the rest of the soldiers.

He knows why; although not listed officially as one of this mission's objectives, today will be a test run of the meticulously groomed Kabra squad, a bearer of hope for the Survey Corps, long under construction, now ready to be unleashed.

The Kabra boy – ever ingenious, they say – had suggested a new approach on establishing supply points inside Wall Maria: the carriages, carrying supplies, flanked and fronted by small teams of only the best; a high density of humans tended to attract an even higher number of titans, so a stealthier approach could account for less deaths.

It's a high risk, high reward situation; but the Commander is not known for being cautious, nor is he known for being sentimental.

He gives the go signal to the little noble's proposal, and places the Kabra squad – fresh recruits and all – in the front vanguard, to lead the first supply cart alongside the Command Centre.

Nero can practically smell the fear from the puppy behind him. No, it's not fear – the boy trusts their squad leader too much to truly be afraid – it's unease.

Placed at the front of the formation – made up of a single long line of teams spaced far in between – there is nothing to bar titans from reaching their squad with a few meagre steps. No, in fact they are the barrier, the only thing keeping the supply carts and their drivers from certain doom.

In between their ranks, just slightly behind the young noble who is leading the entire formation, is the Commander of the Survey Corps, flanked by his own men; a meagre number of two soldiers.

The Kabra squad is the only thing that stands in between death and a failed mission, and the Commander.

Nero understands the brown boy's unease. Sort of.

A quick glance to the right shows Nero the way Li grips his horse's reins tightly, an eye keen on the horizon for any incoming danger. He's alert and focused on the objective, just as their young squad leader taught them to be, but the tight set of his eyebrows tell Nero he's also just as nervous as he should be; an inexperienced recruit with less than a year of formal Survey Corps training, tossed into an elite mission for veterans by a madman of a Commander and a scheming witch of a squad leader.

Nero faces back forward before the boy inevitably catches him looking. There's no need to be scared. He will protect Li; fight tooth and nail for the boy to live, humanity's objectives be damned.

They run into their first titan not two hours into the journey.

Around 5 metres; nothing to worry about, but the 12 metre titan that comes lumbering after it is definitely something to think about.

The Holt boy spots them first, of course, and when he reports it aloud – both to their squad leader, front and centre, and to the Commander – the man on the Commander's right pulls out a flare gun, loads it with a green round.

Their squad leader pulls back, just enough to ride parallel to the Commander, and Nero watches the young noble exchange words with the other before raising his voice in the unmistakable cadence of an order: “Kabra squad, engage! No rotations.” The Commander's man puts away his flare gun.

Nero had been expecting it, of course; for the Commander prodigy to show off his well-trained squad like prize horses at the first opportunity. So, as rehearsed, he pulls forward alongside the rest of the Kabra squad, spurring their horses so they can reach the titans long before the rest of the Corps does, the Holt boy calling dibs on the larger one.

And of course, also as rehearsed and because their rigorous training has allowed them to know intimately the measure of each other's strengths, the boy behind Nero calls out a, “Assisting Nero-san with the 5 metre titan!”

That's settled, then.

He watches Li pull forward, fearless as ever, inevitably gaining the attention of both titans, before he spurs his horse to come up just behind him. There are little to no trees nearby, so he's going to have to get as close as possible before switching to 3D space.

Li veers a hard right to circle around the smaller titan, and as it turns to look at him Nero takes the opportunity to jump off his horse and shoot a hook somewhere to the titan's side, swinging up and in front to distract it from the younger boy, and in Nero's peripheral he sees Li take to the skies to avoid getting stomped by the bigger titan, its attention appropriately caught now. The Holt boy rides by on his horse, hook catching somewhere at the titan's ankle, and at that point Nero returns his attention to the task at hand.

Below him, the puppy recruit rides in between the titan's feet, his unease seemingly forgotten in the face of duty – or loyalty to their squad leader, who knows – and he jumps off his horse and does a beautifully elegant turn midair (the boy is a quick learner; he'd picked the manoeuvre up after watching Nero do it a couple of times) before grappling at the distracted titan's shoulder.

The next few moments come quick and are finalised by two dull thuds, steam blocking Nero's vision, but when he lands safely back on the ground and whistles for his horse his first course of action is to ride out of the fog and swing his head around frantically, looking for the boy in his dreams.

“Wonderful manoeuvre out there, Li.”

Their squad leader's thick accent filters in through the haze, and Nero snaps his head toward the approaching party. Li is calmly trotting his horse back toward the formation, welcomed by the young noble's proud smile and flanked by the remaining two members of their squad.

Nero wills his heart rate to calm down. He knows, rationally, of course, that the boy from the Underground is stronger than probably majority of the Survey Corps; can probably take down a titan all by himself if he wanted. But every second the boy is not within Nero's field of vision is an agonising moment, the irrational fear of losing him to a miscalculation or a distraction too much for Nero to bear. It drives him insane.

It used to be better; back when he'd practically called dibs on the boy, he would demand the younger follow him everywhere under the guise of ‘learning from his mentor.’ He liked to think it was less lonely for the boy, too. He came with a handful of others, the graduates of the 103rd Training Corps who were delusional enough to join the Survey Corps, but the only other recruit he seemed to tolerate was the Kabra's brown puppy.

Nero learned much from the meagre months they spent glued to each other's hip before the boy's first expedition, and he was confident enough to think that Li trusted him. But he never did explain the reason behind his protectiveness – to the boy or to the other seniors of the Survey Corps – and he supposed it must have seemed strange to an outsider.

But Nero's breakdown after the boy's near-death encounter during his first expedition had scared him off; now that they were no longer on speaking terms – much less a-metre-near-the-other terms – it's now much harder for Nero to tamp down his possessiveness. Watching the boy's ears turn red with embarrassment from their squad leader's compliment just screams wrong, wrong, wrong, but Nero knows there's nothing he can do about it; nothing he will do about it, because all he ever wants is to see Li safe, and safe is how he is right now, in the Kabra squad.

Nero doesn't need to intervene.

They return from the expedition the next morning with an astounding 80% of the party still remaining; the highest recorded survival rate in a Survey Corps expedition. Of course, it helps that only the veterans had been enlisted for this one.

Naturally, a party is in order.

The Commander is invited by some rich asshole in Sina to celebrate, and he brings the Kabra boy with him to properly credit the mind behind the new formation (and, Nero supposes, to endorse the future Commander of the Survey Corps in the event that Erwin Smith kicks the bucket prematurely. The Commander likes to think ahead).

Before their squad leader leaves, Nero watches him place five gold coins in his blond dog's palm, smiling; leaving some instruction, no doubt. And that same evening, said dog comes into the mess hall, puts his fist in the air, and shouts, “Drinks on Ian tonight!”

The resulting cheer is deafening.

Nero is wasted, probably. He can't see much past his own nose, and each step he takes he swears he feels the ground shaking.

So, yes: he's probably wasted.

He can't remember how much he's had to drink, but he does remember chugging down each frothing mug they place in his hand. So, yes: he's probably drunk too much.

He steps outside the tavern for a little air – it's much too loud, now; and a congregation of drunk soldiers is always a headache – and peers at a familiar figure sitting on the porch steps, facing the empty midnight street. He smiles a little giddily when he realises who it is.

He plops down rather gracelessly next to Li, almost tipping over in his drunkenness, but the man – boy, who cares? – doesn't even flinch.

The stars above them remind him faintly of something, but now he can't remember. Nero can't remember much of anything. He wants to go to bed.

“I first met you in a dream I had when I was young.”

Nero doesn't even notice he's talking until he realises it's his own voice he's hearing. He makes no effort to stop; it doesn't matter anyway, does it?

“You were frightened. Afraid of something I couldn't see. And that made me afraid too. When I woke up I wondered to myself: what's happened to that boy?”

He hears Li shift, and a quick glance to the right reveals the younger man had turned his body slightly in his direction. The Underground prodigy had never been one to hide his motives; now Nero supposes he's curious.

“When I woke up, I said to myself; I'm going to make sure that boy is safe. No matter what.”

A loud bark of laughter surprises himself more than it surprises Li, but when he shifts to look Li in the face, he finds that the younger man is already looking at him, something akin to wonder in his eyes. It's been a while since Nero's been able to look at those obsidian eyes. He hates that he can somehow see his reflection in them.

“But you don't need saving, do you? I finally find you, and you're the strongest soldier in your entire generation, probably even the next ten. Figures.”

Nero finds his eyes fluttering shut. He's so sleepy. And when in hell did it get so cold?

“I don't know why I'm here. I don't even know why I'm still alive; dozens of expeditions and not one lucky titan manages to off me. I just know…”

He closes his eyes, leans his head against the handrail beside him. Li has gone so silent. Nero wonders if he's still here, or just up and left sometime during his drunken rambling.

“I just know that I'm glad you're finally safe. That's enough.”

Nero lingers between a pleasant unconsciousness and bleary awareness as he feels his back hit a particularly unpleasant mattress.

There's some murmuring about, and Nero's too sleepy to properly wake up and tell everyone to shut up, but he's about to try anyway, propping himself up on an elbow before his eyes even open, until he hears a harsh, “Quiet!” in a voice that's unmistakable.

The muttering stops, and then an even more unmistakable hand pushes him back down on his back, a momentary pause before pushing ginger strands off his sweaty forehead. Nero keeps his eyes closed; memorises the feeling of calloused fingers almost tenderly wiping the sweat off his brow.

He feels the warmth of a blanket cover him, and he lets himself drift back off to sleep, a smile threatening to overtake his features.

Morning finds Nero vomiting on a recruit's bed.

There's another recruit sitting across from him, watching him with a mix of a grimace and dutiful respect on his face, and Nero manages to weakly smile back, wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand. “Sorry 'bout that.”

He's in the newest recruits' barracks, the 103rd kids, and most of them are gone. The boy across from him, sitting on another bed, is not in uniform. It's probably a day off.

The boy eyes the puddle of mashed up dinner on Nero's blanket with barely concealed disgust. “Li will kill you for that. Uh, sir.”

Nero looks up so quick his head feels like it's flying straight off his shoulders. “This Li's bed?” The recruit nods.

Nero nods back, slowly this time to avoid dislodging his head – it may not contain much but he's still rather fond of it – and moves to get up, narrowly missing hitting his forehead on the ceiling of the bunk bed on top of his – or Li's – squeezing his eyes shut when he's finally upright to give the nausea time to fuck off.

When he feels he can walk properly without tripping on air he gives a tight smile and short nod to the young boy. “Best you clean it up then; wouldn't want Li to be on your ass about it, hm?”

He leaves just quick enough to avoid seeing the boy's hasty salute.

“You couldn't have thrown up on another person's bed?”

Nero looks up from where he's tinkering with his gear, setting it down and narrowing his eyes at Li. The boy is in his uniform polo; he probably still hasn't bought any personal garments for himself yet (he'd discarded of the two shirts he'd owned in the Underground when he came here; had said they reeked of blood and grime).

“You couldn't have put me on my own bed?”

Li shrugs, “Your bunkmates were noisy.” Nero wonders why now, Li cannot even look at his face, when all this time that Nero had stayed away from him he'd looked upon the ginger with such disdain in his eyes.

Nero goes back to cleaning his gear.

“You weren't drunk.”

It's not a question, but nevertheless Nero hears Li asking for affirmation. He snorts. “I think I had like a barrel worth of booze. I'm not a lightweight, but I'm not exactly Hamilton Holt either. So, yes: I was drunk.”

“Is that the excuse you're going with?”

Nero puts down his gear with a decisive clunk, and faces Li, who finally seems to have found the courage to look him in the eye. He looks... defiant, but in a way, hopeful. Nero wonders what he's hoping for. “What do you want?”

The blunt question seems to off-balance Li. He blinks, steels his glare; “I want — ” He cuts himself off, shifts on his feet. “I – I want…” Nero has never seen the Underground prodigy so nervous. He supposes he's never seen a lot of things.

Nevertheless, he somehow finds it in himself to pity the poor boy, and softens a bit. “Take a seat if you want.” The workshop is empty; they are two of the few unlucky soldiers without family or lovers to come home to.

Li shakes his head, resolute, and hesitates again. “I… was it – was it true?”

Nero stops. Blinks, and returns his gaze to Li. “You think I'd lie to you?” He may have been drunk enough not to find his way back to his own barracks, but he certainly wasn't drunk enough not to remember all he'd said.

The younger man looks to the floor, mutters a soft yet sure, “No.”

A soldier comes flying into Nero's path, and it's only years of experience and extreme skill that propel him to abort his own flight and swing himself the opposite direction of where he was originally going, the speed and force of the manoeuvre so sudden that Nero's ribs hurt in protest.

Distantly, he listens to the pained grunt of a soldier as he slams against a nearby tree. He lands gracefully next to said soldier, who kneels against said tree, clutching his stomach.

“I could hear you coming ten miles away, you know.” He tells Li, not bothering to offer a hand up because he wouldn't take it anyway.

Li huffs out an almost sarcastic “Did you?” (almost sarcastic, because Li is physically incapable of ever expressing any emotion other than disdain or anger) before getting up, still grimacing. He turns to Nero, and the older man almost laughs at the sight of Li physically forcing a more neutral expression on his face (almost laughs, because if he had he has no doubt he would have a fist to his jaw within a second). “Tell me how to be better, then.”

Nero blinks. “Huh?”

Li's facade falls, and he looks shy suddenly. Nero remembers the day at the workshop. “You're my mentor after all, aren't you?”

Nero must catch flies from how long he stands there with his mouth hanging open, but when he finally rights himself, he sees pink slowly tinging the younger man's ears, although he adamantly stares at Nero, waiting for his reply. Nero smiles.

He is found.

#nyx writes

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