#even if the students aren't visible that's still weird

[sp00ky-scary]

if I was still in school and in one of those classes where the teachers like record shit to post on tiktok I would actually never fucking go to school, those teachers are insane to me

[dearmantis]

There's no love like our love

Pairing: Aleksander Morozova/The Darkling x wife!Reader

Summary: When the Royal Family finally turns on the Grisha, you find yourself caught in the crossfire. Alone, of course. You're always alone, it seems.

Warnings: murder, death, canonical persecution of Grisha, violence, mentioned death of children, sexual harassment, slutshaming, mentions of sex and cheating, suicidal thoughts, self hatred

Word Count: 6.6k words

Authors' Note: I DID IT! HERE IS YOUR PART TWO FOR A LOST EMBRACE! IT ONLY TOOK 76 YEARS! BUT I GOT IT DONE BEFORE THE END OF APRIL (this is also very not edited, and I'm still not a native English speaker).

Also, funfact: I cut the ending of this, just like I did with part 1. There was a whole other ending, but that was basically just a lot of fluff. I wasn't sure if people would want that from this series/twoshot specifically so I cut it. I can't tell of cutting the ending is a good or a really bad habit.

The title is from Lights are on by Tom Rosenthal!

Part 1: A lost embrace | Masterlist

The universe is filled with light. Billions of beautiful stars, all different sizes and temperatures, burning brightly and sending their energy out into the universe to bring warmth and light.

But there is even more darkness in the universe than there are stars, filling the space between the celestial bodies. An all surrounding nothingness that acts as a playing field for all of the beautiful, weird and wonderful things hiding in the endless sky. A canvas for everything else in the universe that hugs and surrounds all.

And one day, at least according to the most popular theories, the last stars will die and the universe will be entirely engulfed in darkness.

It began with a loud burst of light, and it will die quietly in shadows.

That knowledge used to bring you comfort and a feeling of belonging. The darkness became your new home, a special, safe place right next to your husband, but there is no safety and love to be found in the darkness now.

It was predictable, honestly. You should've known the second Vasily allowed the Darkling to travel Ravka to search of the Sun Summoner with only a few First Army soldiers for protection, but you simply didn't pay attention to the signs, too caught up in your own frustration and bitterness.

He didn't realise it either, it seems, because he simply left without even saying goodbye, leaving you behind to run the Little Palace in his absence. One night you fall asleep next to him, back turned towards him to visibly reject his presence, and the next morning he is gone, his side of the bed made and all of his most important belongings gone. No letter, no announcement beforehand, nothing.

Maybe his head was simply too focused on Alina to even remember that he still had a wife.

It doesn't matter anymore.

You're still awake when they come, three nights after the General left the Little Palace.

You're laying in bed, humming an old lullaby – one of the really old ones that you learned because he sometimes sings them to you when you can't sleep – while working on fixing the embroidery on the kefta of one of the younger students.

The disappearance of the Sun Summoner has led to chaos in all of Ravka, and there hasn't been a calm moment in the palace in weeks. You are forced, just like everyone else, to work until you pass out while keeping up appearances in front of the royal family. Everything needs to be immaculate despite the fact that the whole country is in a state of emergency, so you push small detail work like this into every free second of your day in hopes of doing something good.

You're so focused on your project that you don't even hear them approach your windows from the outside.

They sneak around, quietly taking out the guards until they're sure that they won't meet too much resistance, and then, suddenly, everything is very loud.

You don't remember what happens. Just flashes of memories. Little pieces that simply aren't enough to form a full picture, as if your body simply wasn't able to take it all in. Or maybe it refuses to remember.

Glass shatters, loud and unfamiliar steps echo like thunder through the halls of what was supposed to be your home, men with bad intentions are in your bedroom, in your house, in your garden.

And your husband is nowhere to be found.

The air smells like fire, panic and fear crackling in the air like electricity and the screams of the Grisha you swore to protect as if they were your own children echo through the building and outside.

Shots are fired in the distance, you're on the floor, the barrel of a gun pressed tightly against the back of your head.

There are more screams slicing through the night. You think you hear someone yelling your name, but before you can answer, one of the men who broke into your room slams their heavy gun against your head, and darkness welcomes you into it's familiar embrace.

When you finally wake it's to the sound of a gun shot ringing through the air, and though the bars of your new cage you watch through bleary eyes how one of your fellow Grisha runs away, his bright purple kefta unfortunately doing very little to hide his movements between the trees. You can't tell who it is, not in the dark.

A second shot gets fired. You see how it hits the Durast in the head, his body falling to the ground and staying there, unmoving. Nobody goes to check if he's dead or to drag him off and bury or burn his corpse. It's just left right there, next to a large ash tree.

Someone whimpers and sobs, begs for their life, but you can't take your eyes off the corpse. The way it just lays there, like it's nothing.

You haven't seen an actual battle in centuries. The Darkling is too paranoid to let you go, convinced that his enemies will target you in a fight and take you away from him. The thought alone used to turn his eyes cold and hard like ice, his whole body shaking with anger at the idea of you being in a dangerous situation. You haven't seen death like this, so fast and seemingly insignificant, in forever.

There is no triumph visible in the body language of the soldier that shot the Durast, but no shame either. A job done, nothing more. He doesn't celebrate or pat himself on the back. He just sits back down next to the fire in the middle of the camp and takes a sip of water, like the life he just took was worth less than even the life of a rabbit.

The other guards move to check the handcuffs of the others after that incident, making sure that everything works and no one is able to use their powers. Your heart races so fast it makes you dizzy, the fog in your head thickening and threatening to drag you back into unconsciousness.

It's hard to stay focused enough to take the whole situation in, but you try anyway, tearing your gaze away from the corpse. There are nine cages, including yours, one of them now empty.

The Grisha in the cages are, just like you, handcuffed with their hands far apart. Three of them are wearing their keftas - two of them being Alkemis, and you ask yourself if the Materialki were all still down in the workshops when the raid began - but the others, including you, are wearing whatever you wore to sleep that night. All of you are dirty, and you pray silently that none of them are hurt. It's hard to see with the lack of light. The cages all stand a bit too far away from the fire to truly see much.

The men who guard you, on the other hand, all look like they dressed up for a military parade. Their First Army uniforms sparkle almost, their faces clean shaven or decorated with carefully trimmed beards. This was planned. This whole raid was planned, probably for weeks, and you didn't notice. The idea most likely came up as soon as the General returned from the Fold, and no one ever picked up on it.

It feels like a relic from a time you're supposed to have left behind, a time you didn't even experience and only heard about from the Darkling and on rare occasions his mother.

The First Army doesn't hunt Grisha anymore. The king doesn't put you into cages. They just hate you, insult you, and harass you, but they don't physically harm you anymore. Yet... here you are.

Ravka isn't supposed to be like Fjerda, like Shu Han, like Kerch. The Darkling had made sure of that, worked for this one singular goal for centuries, and dedicated his whole life to it.

The thought of him makes your heart sting painfully, and you suppress the urge to worry for him, to wonder where he is and if he's safe. You have bigger issues than him right now. He's fine. There's no room for argument. He has survived wars and centuries of persecution. This won't kill him. He's probably out there somewhere, completely safe, trying to track down his sun summoner while you rot in this cage alongside the others.

After the handcuffs are checked you watch as four of the five soldiers walk to the cages of the two Alkemi, Ivanna and Ole, and pull them out, the fifth still sitting at the fire and watching the whole situation with mild interest.

You hear one of the guards make a suggestion on how to deal with them, and your stomach turns.

In your mind, you are 12 years old, hiding behind your mothers skirt. Her hand rests on your head, trying to soothe you as you watch with the other people your village how a woman gets dragged out of the cage they kept her in. You remember her face. She works as a seamstress. She gives you pretty ribbons to tie around your wrist or into your hair whenever your mother buys something from her.

The man – was he the mayor? The village head? You don't remember what he called himself – who pulled her out of the cage pushes her to the ground, right in front of a large rock, and motions for someone hiding in the crowd to come closer.

Another man steps forward, the blacksmith, in his hands the biggest hammer you have ever seen.

The woman starts screaming now, her voice breaking under the force of her violent sobs. Her body shakes horribly, and your own shaking hands dig deeper into the material of your mothers skirt.

"Please, please, I swear it. This is a misunderstanding. I did nothing wrong. I swear it. Please, just listen to me," the woman begs while the mayor grabs the thick rope attacked to her handcuffs and pulls her arms and hands to rest on the rock.

The noise the hammer made when it slammed down on her hands haunts you for centuries, just like her screams do.

Just like the screams of the Materialki probably will if you survive this when the guards push them to the ground. The only difference is that the soldiers have no large hammers to break their hands.

You can't move, can't speak, can't do anything, completely frozen in fear while the soldiers hold them down, each of them pressing an arm down onto the cold ground. The two have no chance to defend themselves.

The man at the fire finally stands up slowly, grabbing one of the rocks lining the fire to prevent forest fires, and walks over to the six people on the ground.

You watch him do it. You have to. You failed to protect your Grisha, and the least you can do is witness the horrors they have to go through because of your own mistakes.

Because you should've known. You should've known. Of course the royal family would turn on Grisha. Of course they would send the Darkling away before they raided the Little Palace. He is the last line of defence for the Grisha in this country.

You should've noticed the signs. You should've talked to the General about it, maybe even with Baghra. You should've started to prepare to evacuate the whole Palace, organized a place to hide with food and beds and water.

But you didn't. You didn't because you were too blinded by your own stupid quarrel with the Darkling. This is your fault. Every drop of blood that was shed that night, every bit of pain and suffering that your Grisha experienced, clings to you.

It's all your fault.

When the soldiers are sure that they broke every bone in Alkemis' hands, they put the cuffs back on and throw them back into their cages.

And then they walk back to the fire in the middle of the camp and begin to eat, ignoring the sobbing of the Grisha only a few metres away from them and the corpse still peacefully resting between the bushes and trees.

You wake up the next morning with aching muscles and the knowledge that you probably won't get out of this camp alive. Because as much as you would like to pretend otherwise, these people know you. If Vasily gives the command to have you killed, these men know that you're their target. And he would. You can't even blame him for it. You're the wife of the General, just as much of a symbol for the Second Army as the Darkling. Killing you would be a message to all of Ravka.

They don't treat you much differently than they treat the others, to your surprise. You get starved like the others, glared at like the others, and dehydrated like the others.

You could almost believe that they somehow don't know who you are if it wasn't for the insults.

Every Grisha gets insulted, some more creatively than the others. Especially the two Alkemi get made fun of for their broken, swollen, and discoloured hands by the soldiers, like they aren't the reason why they look like that. Other insults directed at other Grisha in the camp, on the other hand, are overused and boring, like when they asked Lena, an Inferni, where her spark is, why her fire has disappeared.

"I thought Infernis are always so hot-headed? Come on, give us a show!" One of the older men in the camp says to her on your second day awake, and it makes your skin crawl. You wish you could claw those mens eyes out, make them bleed.

But the insults they direct at you, those are personal. They prove that they know exactly who you are despite never saying your name once.

The Darklings slut. That's what you are to them.

His favourite toy. A bedwarmer. A plaything. A whore to entertain him. A distraction from the war. A thing he can let his frustrations out on.

That's who you are in their eyes. Nothing more. Certainly nothing that deserves respect or should be feared. The fact that you and the other Grisha can't use the small science makes them braver.

The worst insults are the ones they come up with after the third day in the cage, right after the soldiers get a quick visit from one of Vasilys messengers, because their words are suddenly no longer insults. They are observations and a horrible, new truth that convince you that their earlier insults are true, working hand in hand with the thoughts and fears you had before any of this even started.

"Don't look at me like that, whore. Everybody, even us fools in the First Army, know how enamoured your husband was with the sun summoner. How many times do you think he fucked her before she ran? Probably did it right behind your back in your shared bed, you stupid thing. I bet she was the last thing he thought of before the guards that accompanied him shot him in the head."

The soldiers celebrate the news of the Darklings death like they just won the wars with Fjerda and Shu Han and tore down the Fold with their bare hands, drinking alcohol and eating freshly hunted deer meat while you and the other Grisha grieve and starve. You don't allow yourself to cry like the others, but you can feel your soul rip itself apart.

You begin to lose yourself after that.

Your sanity runs through your hands like sand, your mind desperate to escape the smell of the Durasts rotting corpse that the soldiers never bothered to remove, the insults, the screams of the other Grisha when they get pulled out of their cages (one a day, always only one a day, like they're trying to drag it out), the desperate hunger that burns in your stomach, the thirst that tears your throat apart, the death of your husband: reality in all it's horrible shapes and colours.

First, you spend a few minutes caught up in a nice memory, like a short conversation in the gardens of the Little Palace, drinking tea and leaning on his shoulder while he tells you about his day. Then the daydreams get longer and take more control over you until you spend days staring at nothing, buried so deep in your own mind that you're no longer aware of what happens around you.

A small part of you hopes that they'll kill you while you're in that state, caught up in the past. Everything is better than reality, and with every second that passes when you're fully aware of your surroundings, that reality becomes more unbearable.

You love remembering the time before Alina the most. You know that her only sin is shining a light onto the lies, destruction, and rot surrounding you, but without her light, you were able to pretend.

You are good at pretending.

The light just makes it harder, and sometimes you slip up and accidentally sink into a more recent memory, your mind racing through different thoughts so fast that you're unable to stop it.

Like how the girl whose kefta you repaired that night, little Bibi, probably ended up dying without it after working so hard to prove to everyone that she earned it. And now her corpse lays somewhere in Ravka with no one to take care of it, to lay it to rest.

The kids are easily the worst thing to remember. Every time you do, it feels like the guilt eats your heart or whatever is left of it right out of your chest, ripping and tearing on the muscle like a wolf on a bone.

How many of them got out of the Palace in time and are now hiding somewhere, probably scared and alone with no one to help them and no idea how to get to other Grisha or back to their families? How many of them are stuck in cages just like you, starving and terrified of the First Army men who are only waiting to get the command to kill them? How many of them didn't even make it out of the Little Palace and died at the hand of the soldiers during the raid?

How many children were buried and burned that night?

Your husband isn't much better to remember either. The words of the First Army soldiers burn themselves into your mind like hot coals. You don't want to think about it. You've never wanted to think about something less in your entire life, but no matter what you do, the pain of losing someone you've known for almost your whole life feels like a knife stuck in your chest.

"... guards that accompanied him shot him in the head."

It's odd, really, how all consuming grief can be even if a part of you hates the person you lost. Almost surreal.

There have always been chapters of your life subtitled with "before the Darkling". There aren't supposed to be chapters subtitled "after the Darkling", not even a single one. It's wrong. It's entirely wrong. He's supposed to be a constant. Something that doesn't move, doesn't change, doesn't leave. He was supposed to be here until the end of everything.

He wasn't supposed to leave you behind. You can't do this without him. You can't lose him. This isn't right.

It's the last piece. The last drop required to convince you that giving up might not be the worst option. If they succeeded in killing the Darkling... what can truly be done anymore? What can you do? You can't free the Grisha in your camp, not with your hands cuffed so far apart from each other that your arms regularly start cramping, and a stomach so empty that it feels like your entire body is trying to collapse in on itself to fill the void. You can't convince the soldiers to free you. You can't save the children and rebuild Ravka into a safe place once more, not alone. You can't do anything on your own. You are nothing.

So why shouldn't you die? Why not join your husbands soul, wherever it may be now? What is left for you to do here? What can you do?

Death haunts your sense of smell and vision. It haunts your mind, and it haunts all of Ravka. Why not let it carry you off? Away from the pain, the suffering, the fear and grief and rot.

There is only more to come. More horrors that linger in the unpredictable future, and no one left to fix it. You certainly can't do it, Baghra - if she still lives, that is - doesn't care enough about others to even attempt to fix anything, and the sun summoner evidently can't do it either. All she can do is shine light on the evil lingering in the dark, but she's not strong or persuasive enough to improve and change the nightmares she exposes.

The Darkling could've done it. He would fight tooth and nail, drench his hands in blood and ash to free the others. He has fought his whole life, after all. He could've done it again.

But you can't. You can't take his position in this war, as much as you wish you could. You can't even get your hands out of your stupid cuffs, no matter how hard you try.

Baghra was right in the end, it seems. You really are too weak to stay at her and her sons side as their equal. You are dust, nothing more.

Now that you're here, stuck in a cage and unable to defend yourself in any way, you ask yourself once more how she and her son could've possibly survived this long. How did they not give up? What do they have that you lack?

"When the entire world hates you and wants you dead, the best thing you can do is live."

That's what she said back then, but you simply don't understand how she found the strength to keep going. You can't find it in you, no matter how much you look. Your whole life is gone. Your friends are probably all in cages or dead. Your husband is dead. Your home is gone. There is nothing left, no reason for you to continue.

Your husband would want you to keep going, a voice in the back of your mind answers, and you can feel the sharp stinging in your chest return at the thought.

You miss him. You miss him so much that it feels like you're being torn apart from the inside. And if you're really honest with yourself, you have to admit that you have been in this state for a while.

All of that anger and jealousy was just your bodies way to avoid facing the fact that you were lonely. No wonder you immediately fell back into routine like a desperate little cat when he finally gifted you some attention after Alina fled. Your entire being was begging to get him back.

And now you will never have him again because you were both too stubborn to simply talk with each other. He will never understand how much it hurt to see him obsess over someone else, and you will never know why you suddenly weren't enough for him anymore.

You will never hear his voice again, or knit him a new scarf for winter, or wash his hair for him after an exhausting day. You will never be comforted by him when you have a headache or watch the first snow of the year cover the grass outside of the Little Palace. You will never fall asleep next to him again, his arms wrapped around you and your face pressed against his chest as his heartbeat and calm breathing lull you to sleep.

He will never hug you again or surprise you with breakfast. He will never help you choose jewelry for an event again, give you his cloak when you're cold, kiss you, laugh at your horrible jokes, or moan your name into your ear, his voice raspy with love and desire while he tries to bring you to another orgasm before his own crashes down on him.

You will never do anything with him ever again.

Turning your head slightly, you stare at the soldiers sitting at the fire, eating some form of stew. You can't smell it. The stench of the decomposing body is too strong, and you wonder how the soldiers can stomach food in this environment.

You can barely breathe on some days without gagging every few seconds. It's so horrible that it drives tears into your eyes.

They talk and laugh about some servant girl, and you silently ask yourself what fate the servants of the Little Palace met. How many of them died that night? How many fled? Did any of them try to help the Grisha that might've fled? And saints, what happened to the Oprichniki?

Slowly closing your eyes again, you pray that the wind changes direction and starts blowing the smell away while you try to think of something that gives you strength.

The first thing that comes to mind is your amplifier.

You haven't thought about that day in a while, not since Alina came to the Palace and your heart and soul drowned themselves in jealousy and hate.

But it's not right to forget something so special. You should remember.

Who else in all of Ravka got proposed to, not with a ring but with a barn owl and a knife?

He has been gone for months, looking for something in West Ravka, choosing to trave through Fjerda and around the Fold to avoid going through it, and the constant worry that he would be discovered keeps you awake on some nights. He sends a letter once a month and promises you over and over that he would be back in the spring, but you still end up surprised when one of your friends drags you out of your bed in the middle of the night and ushers you towards the Generals quarters.

And when you open the doors you find him leaning against his desk, a knife next to him on the table and a barn owl sitting quietly in a cage, large eyes looking at you curiously, but you don't even see those things. Not at first, at least.

You just see him.

"You're back!"

Quickly jumping over to him, you throw your arms around him and press your face against him, a deep laugh bubbling in his chest as he moves to embrace you tightly.

"Careful, my love," he murmurs, his hands finding the back of your neck and pressing you closer to him.

You stay like that for a while, holding each other tightly while he whispers soft words into your ear.

"I'm so happy to see you. I missed you so much, little love. I hope you weren't too lonely without me," he coos, pressing a long kiss onto your head.

You're about to answer him when the bird finally makes himself known. Turning your head quickly you look at it, and the owl turns it's head to the side as if it's trying to do assess you carefully as well, it's dark eyes looking you over a few times. You feel a bit self-conscious in your night dress, but instead of shying away, you decide to let it look.

"Is that what you were looking for in West Ravka?" you ask, gazing back up at him.

"I did a lot of research over the past year, and I think this amplifier would be strong enough," he explains, his voice as soft as a feather.

"Strong enough?"

"To keep you with me. I didn't believe it at first either, but this little bird could give you forever. Time would no longer be able to take you from me. I could keep you for eternity."

Tears well up in your eyes, your hands moving to hold onto the front of his kefta as he reaches over to the knife and holds it out to you.

"You don't have to do it right now. You can get to know the owl and see if it feels right. Think about it for a while. It's a big commitment, after all." His empty hand moves up to cup your face, and the tenderness in his gaze makes your heart race. "If you chose the amplifier, I will stay with you. I will be at your side until the end of everything, I promise it. I will take care of you when you're hurt, hold you when you're sad, and laugh with you when you're happy. I will fight at your side, protect you with my life, and take care of you until I die."

Biting your lip weakly, you look up into his eyes, somehow darker than the night sky. "And if I don't choose to take the amplifier?"

"Then I'll still do all of those things. I will just have less time by your side, but I will cherish that time just as much, sweet girl."

You don't know when it happens because you start to loose track of time after the first week is over, but at some point in a random night one of the soldiers goes into the forest to get fresh water from a nearby river and doesn't return.

You're not conscious enough to notice it, and the soldiers are too caught up in their preparations for tonight's entertainment.

You don't even notice how they move through the camp, their eyes looking at each and every grisha they have, and judging who would be able to provide the most fun tonight. You just wish you were lying on the floor.

If you laid down, you could pretend that the heaviness on your chest is your husbands weight and not a heavy mountain of grief that tries to drag you down into the heart of the world.

He liked to do that. Lay on top of you to make sure that every single centimetre of you touched him in some way. You used to jokingly complain about it, but he never stopped. Every time he knew you needed comfort he would lay down on top of you, his heavy, strong body pressing you deep into the mattress while he talked, either asking questions about your day and whatever might be bothering you, or telling you about his, always carefully pressing small kisses onto your face and neck.

He must've known that his weight comforted you, made you feel safe. You've never wanted to be crushed into a mattress by him so badly in your whole life.

You don't hear it when they discuss if you're weak enough now to remove you from the cuffs. You don't even hear it when they open your cage, the old metal screeching loudly.

You don't realize that anything is wrong until one of the soldiers unlocks the cuffs and your body falls to the floor like a wet sack of flour. A loud groan leaves your mouth, your voice rough from lack of use.

The soldier grabs your ankles and drags you out of the cage, your upper body dragging over the floor. After being hung up for so long, you realise very quickly that you can't move your arms at all. The muscles start twitching as soon as you even attempt to bring them together, and a horrible, sharp tingling sensation makes itself noticeable. You bite your teeth together to stop yourself from screaming out.

A wave of panic crashes over you as soon as you fully understand what's going on, trying to kick the man dragging you closer to the fire, but none of your movements seem to really bother him.

As soon as you're close enough to the fire, someone flips you onto your stomach and buries their hand in your hair to pull your head up. Your back bends horribly, and you hiss out in pain as your eyes find those of the soldier who broke the Alkemis hands with a rock.

He doesn't say anything. He just looks at you, eyes taking in every flinch and twitch in your face.

You stay like this for a few seconds staring at each other, when he suddenly spits directly into your face, a wide grin splitting his face into two a few seconds later before he slaps you. Your head drops to the ground quickly.

"Let's get started. Markus can join us later when he's done," someone says. Three seconds later, before you have time to register what he means, you have a small knife in your back.

A blood curdling scream leaves your throat and tears well up in your eyes. You want to beg, to humiliate yourself even further and kiss their shoes in hopes of escaping this, but the last shred of pride left in you won't let you.

One of the soldiers steps onto one of your hands, twisting his shoe a bit in the process to make it hurt more. Someone else grabs your other arm and twists it behind your back until you scream out once more. This time, you scream your husbands name, unable to stop yourself in time. It's a broken, pathetic sound that echoes through the trees like a gunshot.

You know he won't come, but something about saying his name again feels almost cathartic, so you continue to scream it out with your full heart and soul. With every hit, every kick, and every stab wound, you scream the real name of the black heretic out into the endless night and beg death to bring you to him.

When the first gunshots get fired into the forest, you mistakenly assume that they're shooting at you and tightly close your eyes. Your heartbeat rushes loudly in your ears, and your mind replays the events of the first day when the Durast got shot. You can't even stand up and run. Your whole body is consumed by pain.

This is it, you think. Loud screams pierce through the air, gruelling, blood curling screams that scare you half to death.

Your mind races, trying to quickly find a last memory to remember before a bullet pierces your chest or head and kills you, something sweet and soft and perfect, like your wedding night, or your first kiss, or your-.

A loud scream rips itself out of your throat when a bullet hits you right into your leg. The man who shot it is dead seconds later, torn to shreds by darkness itself, but you don't see it, your eyes still rightly closed as you wait for the next bullet to hit you.

It never comes.

Instead someone yells your name, and you think it sounds familiar.

"Ivan!" the man screams, and a second later, someone carefully turns you onto your back and falls to their knees next to you, pulling your head up into their lap, their large hands cupping your face.

You don't want to die. You're not ready.

"My love, my love, it's me. Can you hear me?," he speaks. Fabric ruffles and something wide is dropped over your shaking, weak form, and your whole body feels warm for the first time in days. A familiar scent enters your lungs, somehow overpowering the stench of rotting corpse and fresh blood.

"Sasha?" Squinting your eyes, you look up, trying to focus on the blurry face hovering above yours. He's easy to recognize. The ink black lines over his face are unique to him, almost out of place in this world, just like him. You want to reach up and touch him, but you can't. Your muscles won't cooperate.

"I'm here, my little love. I'm right here. I found you. And I'm so proud of you. So, so proud of you. And I'm sorry," Aleksander answers. His eyes sparkle like stars, tears rolling down his face and dripping onto yours like raindrops. In the back of your mind, you realize that you've never seen him cry in front of people like this before. Only ever in private. Now his voice is almost breaking, his sobs so loud it drowns out the noise of your own hammering heartbeat. It must be a dream. He would never allow himself to show weakness like this.

Ivan appears next to him like a ghost, his hands covered in blood as he carefully lifts the thick black cloak Aleksander covered you with from your legs to look at the injuries there.

"Sasha," you rasp out again. You want him to hold you so badly, but you can barely speak. All you want is to be held by your husband.

"Right here. I'm so sorry, sweet girl. So sorry. I promised I would protect you, and I failed. I'm so sorry, I will never make that mistake again, I swear. I'll never take you for granted again. I'm so sorry for being late."

You want to respond, to calm him down, but he doesn't give you a chance to talk. He just continues with his panicked, slightly hysterical rambling, his whole body shaking under the force of his sobs.

"I'll take care of you. I'll make sure you're safe, and I will never leave your side again. No one will ever hurt you again."

His thumb strokes your cheek gently, and the love in his gaze almost feels like a punch in the gut. He looks absolutely in love and absolutely devastated as well. "I thought I lost you. I kept looking for you in every camp I found, but you were never there, and none of the soldiers would tell me where you are. I was so sure they killed you. I was so scared. I thought-"

Aleksanders voice shatters like glass, his body almost curling in on itself as he presses his forehead against yours. You recognize the breathing pattern he uses, an old trick he taught you a few years ago when you were still new to your position as the Darklings wife. He's trying to stop a panic attack from taking over.

"I'm so proud of you. You're so strong and brave, my darling girl. My lovely wife. I love you so much. You're so good, so good for me. I don't know what I would do without you. What I would do if they... I'm so sorry. I don't deserve you. I'm sorry."

He sounds broken, you notice. You've never heard him like this in your entire life. Tears flood your eyes, and you take a deep breath, more of his familiar scent entering your lungs. Rosemary and ash, with a hint of something sweet.

"I'm never going away again, I promise. I will never leave you again, sweet girl. Never again. You will never be able to get rid of me. I will bind myself to you, body and soul, until the end of everything, I swear it."

You're starting to get dizzy. Everything is so overwhelming.

"Am I dead?" You hear yourself asking, your vision dimming slowly, and you're sure you will be dragged back into unconsciousness by your body soon. Aleksander laughs, and it's oddly light and relieved, considering the context.

"No. No, you're alive. You survived. We both survived."

You smile.

Part 3: So I stayed in the darkness with you

Taglist: @savagejane1 @deadunicorn159

[princess-of-the-corner]

Oooooh! Okay, Sky High's earlier in the timeline! I like that! Couple follow ups:

1) Lol on Commander and Jetstream, those two are such incredible big weirdo dorks and I love them for it.

2) Superpowers are in the process of becoming more common, so what might it look like for the Sky High cast dealing with the steady uptick in powered population? Because you know it means more villains and more vigilantes and more people who didn't get an opportunity to train with their powers in a safe environment and don't know how to use them. Any thoughts on that adjustment period?

3) One of the big main conflicts of Sky High is that they sort you into "hero" or "sidekick" based solely on how impressive your power is. I'm not fully sure if this heirarchy exists in BNHA, but it is definitely less of a divide with 1-A and 1-B both being promising groups of heroes with a wide variety of creatively used powers. One of the things that didn't get explored because of the short run-time of the movie is whether this was changed, but it's pretty clear that the Sky High cast is too goddamn heroic to be anything less than a full fledged hero, rules be damned. So how major do you think the Sky High Kids being visible and effective heroes with pretty lame powers was to destigmatizing that? And do you think they did any sort of work to change the dumb rules beyond just "being a hero with a lame power against the rules?""

4) Sky High seems to very explicitly be for the children of current or retired superheroes. What may have changed to start letting in mentees and otherwise unknown folks who pass the entrance exam in?

5) Given the existence of the "Hero" and "Sidekick" classes, it seems expected that powered people will work in a hero-sidekick pair, until one or both of them retires (or the hero dumps their sidekick, so sorry Mr. B). Meanwhile, in BNHA, sidekick is synonymous with intern. So when did this expectation start changing? Did it have anything to do with less impressive powers becoming more valued, or was it a separate thing?

That's all for now, but like I said, I will probably bug you about this multiple times. I am so weak to Sky High. It is one of the first movies I remember watching when I was old enough to actually have intelligent opinions on it. This might be the thing that actually makes me watch My Hero.

1.) They're losers in love your honor

2.) Honestly this would be fascinating in itself to explore. Like the shift between the SH time and BNHA time just. How world and culture shifts. It certainly becomes much harder to hide secret identities in a world where powers are more common so going 'hey this kid in my old class had a power just like this new Hero that showed up and they look real similar what if-'. You're also getting yes more power-related crime which means more Heroes. Establishment of more Hero Schools even if Sky High is still the best in America so on and so forth.

3.) I 100% think that the Sky High kids fought for change on the Hero-Sidekick system that was set up, and everything shows it! The kids with 'Sidekick' powers were able to save the day just as much as the kids with 'Hero' powers.

They're going to fight for it and show that no matter what power you have you can still utilize it. They also point out that given the range of powers among even the 'Hero' students, they have advantages and disadvantages. Like the Hero Students aren't just relying on their powers, they rely on training and knowledge too!

They'd also use Sue/Gwen as an example as well. Her first time she was put in the 'sidekick' class, but managed to become a fearsome villain as Royal Pain despite a 'sidekick' power. And on her second life, Technopathy was now considered a 'Hero' power! Things shift, and anyone can utilize their talents.

By the time BNHA comes around, while there's still some definite prioritizing of which powers would be 'better' for Heroics, there's less of an issue over it because they've had enough people with weird abilities who could still be very good at what they do. Both on Hero and Villain sides.

Right now in BNHA the divide seems less on 'useful' Quirks and more on an inherent 'good/evil' Quirks. With a little bit of 'do you even have a Quirk at all?' thrown in.

4.) I don't think that Sky High is for kids of established Heroes. I think Will's parents and Warren's mom are the only family we hear confirmation on them being Heroes(with Warren's dad being a Villain). So there's likely many kids who get in without having Hero parents.

Though ofc children of Heroes would get in easy, I think powers are at a level where kids with them would be identified quickly and offered to go to the school regardless of if they intend to become Heroes or not as the school doubles as a 'learn to control your abilities' learning alongside typical high school curriculum.

5.) Yeah I think it started changing at some point along the way in that. 'Sidekick' still means you're taking orders from another Hero and working in tandem to support them and/or the team.

But it's shifted in that Sidekicks are still considered Heroes in their own right. And the role is more for like. Rookie Heroes. Where you're more than capable of handling things yourself, but you want to get your feet under you before you fully go off on your own.

Also being a Sidekick is a /choice/ someone makes, not a role they're shoved into.

[ragecndybars]

I was rambling about this the other day, but I feel like I'm ready to expound upon it a little more, so... AU where Shinjiro Aragaki, post P3P femc route, ends up on the Investigation Team in Inaba two years later.

Obviously he couldn't go back to school right away after the events of the game, given that he'd just come out of a months-long coma and had been wasting away from the suppressants for years before that. So he had to take a year off for health reasons. But when the time came for him to actually have his third year of high school, he found that he couldn't go back to Gekkoukan. It was just... too painful. His only memories of that school now are either bittersweet at best or actively painful. And the rest of SEES had just graduated, save Ken of course, so it wasn't like he had any friends he wanted to stay for.

Mitsuru would want him to apply to a ton of prestigious, highly-ranked schools, of course, but don't get it twisted -- he agreed to finish high school, not become some model student out of nowhere. Sure, he's a smart guy, and he actually doesn't mind studying, but, even with his conscience cleared of the events of October 4th, he's still a badmouthed delinquent who hates authority and cuts class. Most prestigious schools aren't owned by a close friend of his, and therefore take issue with admitting someone whose attendance record and rap sheet are as bad as Shinjiro's. And it's not like he wants to put up with those high expectations and strict rules, anyway.

So, to appease Mitsuru, he applies to a decent enough school, one with pretty high average test scores, but he mainly makes his decision based on his own wants and needs. He wants a school that's relatively lenient with delinquents, but without a large delinquent population -- he doesn't have the time to be surrounded by punk kids, even if he himself is still a punk kid at heart -- and, most importantly, someplace calm. Someplace small and out in the middle of nowhere, so that he can get some damn peace and quiet.

It doesn't get much quieter than Inaba.

Of course, because God hates him, there's a murder in town, like, two days after he gets there. One minute, everyone in Yasogami is whispering non-stop about how one of the transfers this year is a third year delinquent-looking guy who's visibly pushing 20. The next minute, they're all being sent home, and then a dead body is found.

Initially, Shinjiro doesn't suspect any Shadow- or Persona-related weirdness is afoot, but then he hears all the buzz around school that something called the "Midnight Channel" was showing the victim's face in the days leading up to her death, and he has had enough horrid supernatural experiences at midnight to be suspicious. So he tests it out for himself, sees Saki Konishi on the screen, and the next day, she turns up dead the same way Yamano did.

So... great. Amazing. Perfect. Obviously something is going on, and Shinjiro has no idea what it is or what to do about it. At least back in Iwatodai, he knew that someone else was on top of the Shadow shenanigans, so he didn't have to worry, and he had a direct line to the Dark Hour experts if he ever needed to step in. Now, as far as he knows, there's no one around but him to handle this. Sure, he could probably call Mitsuru and have her send the newly-formed Shadow Operatives to handle it, but... well, he's not entirely sure that it's actually Shadow-related, and, even if it is, it's not like he has any other information that could help them solve it, so they would be wasting their time. And... okay, to be honest, things are still a little tense between him and the others right now, and his pride can't handle having to ask for help less than a week after moving away. Especially since Akihiko and Mitsuru in particular had both been hesitant to let him out of their sight.

So... for now, he's on his own. He'll look into this himself, at least until he gets a bit more information.

First things first: the next time he watches the Midnight Channel, he looks carefully and tries to find out who it's depicting. He knows barely anything about the town, so he isn't able to figure it out just from noticing it's a girl in a kimono, but he spends the next day looking around for a place where people might wear kimonos as daily attire, and the news pieces on the Amagi Inn put Yukiko on his shortlist.

Before he can do anything but hypothesize, though, she goes missing. Not yet knowing how the TV world works (or even of its existence), and hypothesizing that he might have until midnight to find and save her, he goes into crisis mode and starts frantically searching. Luckily, while he never would have found her on his own, in the midst of his search, he runs into something that he does know how to handle.

Namely, when he's asking around about Amagi, he hears a lot of people mention her friends, and said friends are acting suspicious as hell. Butting into the police investigation. Getting caught with weapons in the Junes food court. Skulking around outside Daidara Metalworks after school. Gathering around and muttering to one another in a cluster in the lunchroom.

This isn't Shinjiro's first rodeo. He knows the signs. Those kids are Persona users, and clearly they know what's going on more than he does.

But obviously he can't just leave it alone at this point. If those idiot kids bite off more than they can chew and get themselves killed, that'll be on his shoulders. So he corners them outside Junes, confronts them, reveals to him that he knows something supernatural is going on and that he can tell they have Personas, and manages to convince them to bring him into the fold.

They escort him into the TV world -- I think he probably wouldn't be able to enter by himself at first, but once he was in the first time, he would be able to enter freely. He doesn't manifest a Shadow due to already having his Persona, which makes them a bit less wary of him, since it lends validity to his story. He also summons Castor with an Evoker at first, but it freaks them out so much that he begrudgingly learns how to crush the tarot card instead, just so that these damn kids will stop looking at him like that.

With his help, they manage to rescue Yukiko in record time, but they're still a little leery of Shinjiro and his supposed old friends. Given that they kept the police completely in the dark as well, I think it's unlikely they would trust him to bring in an extremely shady group of unknown "Shadow Operatives", and... well, like I said, Shinjiro's pride doesn't want him to contact Mitsuru, either, so he doesn't fight them too hard about it. At this point, it seems like they'll be in good shape to safely rescue everyone who gets tossed in, so it's not like Mitsuru being there would necessarily help, anyway. Or he's able to convince himself of that, at least.

From there, the plot would proceed more or less unchanged. Maybe they manage to save everyone a little faster than they would've without Shinjiro's help; maybe they're able to resolve some conflicts amongst themselves that would've lasted a little longer if Shinjiro wasn't there to give them a smack upside the head and tell them to get over themselves; maybe a few other arguments run even longer than they would have because they strike Shinjiro in a sore spot. But, overall, they save everyone who gets thrown in and they collect clues as to the identity of the culprit at a similar rate to canon.

Eventually, the IT would warm up to Shinji and he would warm up to them. Like I said, the plot would be mostly unchanged up until around Naoto joined, at which point they would finally contact the Shadow Operatives for help.

Of course, they immediately come running to help, and Shinjiro isn't going to admit it, but he feels horribly guilty for having not contacted them earlier. Even though it was technically the Investigation Team who refused to let him, he still went along with it because of his pride, and now he feels that Morooka's death and the suffering that the rest of the IT went through are all on him, even if the Shadow Operatives couldn't have logically prevented all of that.

He starts withdrawing from the team somewhat, guilty and uncertain, until, at the worst possible moment, he suddenly finds that he can't summon Castor anymore. Next thing he knows, another dungeon is forming in the TV world and his Shadow drags him inside, forcing both the Investigation Team and the Shadow Operatives to rescue him.

I keep going back and forth on what his Shadow would be, but I keep going back to the idea of Shadow Shinjiro is literally hunting Shinji down like an animal, just like Castor used to turn on him -- because it's a manifestation of Shinjiro's self-hatred and inability to forgive himself for the death of Ken's mother.

Only after accepting his own Shadow does Castor evolve, and Shinjiro no longer has to take suppressants to stop it from rebelling. It was his own self-hatred and rejection of himself -- rejection of Castor -- that was making it act out. Finally, he's forced to face himself and accept himself rather than running from the guilt that's haunted him since October 4th.

And like. the ending of the game would not really change, either. But just. Shinji gets closure and self-acceptance. The Investigation Team gets someone a little older and more experienced to look after them. Kanji gets a good role model, even if Shinji won't admit that he is one. Yu gets someone who isn't afraid to question his decisions but is still willing to back him when they agree.

Just... soft self-indulgent fluffy fanfic where Shinjiro joins the Investigation Team and gets to experience the normal teenage years that he never got (even if there's also more Persona nonsense and a murderer thrown in there).

Before I end this post, here are the basic character dynamics I'm envisioning:

Souji/Yu: Actively trying to befriend Shinjiro from the beginning, but Shinjiro resists and avoids him because he sees too much of FeMC in him and it brings up bad memories. Yu tries to give him space at first, but ultimately is persistent and manages to make Shinjiro open up a little. Their relationship has a lot of mutual respect, but it takes a long time for them to progress past their uneasy alliance. Once they do, though, they're pretty tight.

Yosuke: Doesn't get along with Shinjiro at first, being much more wary of him than the others. Even when he decides that they're definitely on the same side, he's still kind of scared of him. Once Shinjiro proves himself, they get along better, often feeling like the only sane men in the group and bonding based on their shared exasperation. Shinjiro does get on his case a lot, though, and tends to treat him like a kid.

Chie: Looks up to him for his fighting ability and experience, but they also clash a lot because he snarks at her and calls her an idiot constantly. He can't help it. She's too much like a young Aki for him to treat her as anything but an annoying little sibling.

Yukiko: Thinks he's hilarious, much to his chagrin. They have a pretty average and respectful relationship most of the time, and half the time they end up feeling like the only sane men among the group. He also refuses to let her cook, even in the name of giving her "lessons", which annoys her, but whenever he bars her from the kitchen it usually means he'll take over, so she's willing to look past it.

Teddie: Flip-flops rapidly between being genuinely scared of Shinjiro and hanging off his arm. Shinjiro tolerates both of these behaviors because he thinks of Teddie as a young kid, and therefore is extremely protective of Teddie. This persists even when Teddie grows his body and looks/acts more like a teenager. In Shinjiro's head, he's just a very tall, very annoying toddler.

Kanji: Thinks he's the coolest guy ever. Shinjiro gets flustered by hates this lowkey idol worship and tries to dissuade it by being extra short with Kanji. Not only does this not help, but he can't even keep up the act half the time because he actually really likes Kanji and is way too fond of him to stay gruff. It doesn't help that, every time Kanji's "girlish" hobbies come up, Shinjiro feels the need to come to his defense as a fellow manly man who likes to cook and sew.

Rise: Thinks he's kind of unremarkable and a little intimidating. She's one of the few people in the group who actually has the guts to tease him to his face, though. She does not fear God. Luckily, being a non-combatant renders her completely safe from retaliation, so he mostly just glares and talks big whenever she pisses him off.

Naoto: Extremely appreciative of Shinjiro for being the Only Sane Man (Yosuke gets booted out of the position for being kind of a dumbass at times). Also annoyed because Shinjiro has a tendency to treat them all like kids, which bugs Naoto more than the others. They both appreciate one another's company and general maturity/intelligence, although Shinjiro doesn't like when Naoto tries to drag him into deductions or anything.

Nanako: Very scared of him and he doesn't know what to do about it. He tries not to show it, but it really gets to him. When she eventually warms up to him, he's so happy about it that he has to flee the house immediately before any of the IT catch on.

Dojima: Leery of him. Doesn't want Yu spending time with him at first, and only relents because he begrudgingly admits that it's not his place to decide who Yu befriends. Even then, Yu is constantly subject to prying questions about his group of shady-ass friends (known-delinquent Kanji and sword-in-food-court Yosuke don't help with this either, but nearly-twenty-and-still-hasn't-graduated-because-of-a-fucking-gunshot-wound Shinjiro takes the cake). Dojima eventually comes to accept that Shinjiro isn't a bad guy, but they never progress past icy stares and terse nods.

Marie: They get along okay but don't really like each other. They both think the other is weird as hell.

[toxinoire]

A lil Dukesaw something because I'm board

(There's Chansaw if you squint enough)

Also if the name Heather is overused in this, I wanted to make it confusing :)

Setting: Movie

'G0d, come on Veronica.' Said Heather as she hit the back of Veronica's head.

Veronica fixed and hair and retorted 'What's your damage Heather?'

Heather shrugged. 'Don't blame me. Heather says to haul your ass into the cafeteria.' Veronica stares at her with an obvious "I don't wanna" expression.

Heather saw this coming, so she turned to Heather. 'Heather, back me up here.'

Heather looks back at Veronica with a...gentle? Expression on her face. 'Yeah Veronica, she really wants to talk to you.' And a gentle voice apparently. And as expected, Veronica complies. Heather knew that this is why whenever they need to call Veronica, Heather has to be there, because she listens to her more than she listens to her or Heather. It's weird but it makes sense since those two are on a similar wavelength.

When they arrived at the cafeteria, Heather goes on about her plan to trick Martha Dunnstock with a forged note. Veronica refuses at first then eventually listens, since she doesn't exactly owe Martha anything.

'You need something to write on. Heather, bend over.' Said Heather.

Veronica and Heather visibly flush. Veronica looks like she's trying not to laugh while Heather looks like she just had a system error. She complies anyway.

Once that's over with, Veronica and Heather started around with the lunch time poll. Both Heather and Heather see them talking to this guy in a trench coat, and Heather swears there is an even deadlier than usual aura on both Heather and Heather.

Said dude in a trench coat pulls a gun on Kurt and Ram and sends the cafeteria into a panic.

Both Heather and Heather got trampled upon by other students.

Once the commotion is over, Veronica checks on the other two.

'Are you ok?' She asks Heather. She nods. 'Are you sure?' Heather nods again. 'Yeah.' Veronica sighs in relief and turns to Heather. She gently places her hand on her arm and ever so softly asks 'Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?'

Heather smiles at her and nods. 'Yeah I'm ok. It's a little painful but I'm ok.' Veronica, still softly, asks 'Are you sure?' Heather nods. Veronica smiles back at her as she sighs in relief once again.

Heather can't see Veronica's face, but her entire aura right now emits so much affection.

It makes her feel a little bit like shit to not be on the receiving end of that affection.

~~~~~

Heather is the first one to arrive at Veronica's house for their croquet game. Veronica's parents know her well since she spends a lot of time there. She heads to the lawn.

'Hi Ronnie.' Heather greeted the girl sitting on the fountain writing.

Veronica looks up at her and smiles. She gets up and walks over to the girl in green, wraps her arms around her waist and gives her bone crushing a hug. 'Hi darling.'

Heather giggles as she hugs back. 'Quite affectionate today aren't we?'

They walked to the fountain. Veronica sat down and pulled Heather on her lap so she could hug her from behind.

'Those people trampled you earlier. I couldn't stand to watch.'

'Aw babe I'm fine.'

Veronica buries her face in Heather's neck. 'Even so. They hurt you.'

'It wasn't intentional darling.'

'They still ended up hurting you. I would've punched them if I knew who they were.'

Heather giggles at how protective Veronica is over her. It's cute and flattering.

She loves her so much.

Of course, Heather and Heather don't know about this. They'd rip them to shreds if they ever knew.

'You smell good.' Said Veronica as she sighed in content.

'You're warm.' Heather says as she also sighs in content.

They stay like that for a while but had to break apart after Veronica's mom tells them that Heather and Heather have arrived.

[megkuna]

sometimes i feel like. whatever i wish i could care less about the way people perceived me but i have like INSTANTLY felt relief whenever i accommodated to some Societal Expectation(TM). when i went from 9th to 10th grade and lost like, 20lbs over the course of 4 months suddenly all the people in my class were telling me how good i looked and would actually like. talk to me. even if i was still as much of an annoying standoffish nerd as before. back when i was 20 and started out at my college as a trans dude with a different name and he/they pronouns all of my professors acted really weird towards me because i didn't pass. respectful, but they didn't acknowledge me as a student who could add value to their classes/research. about a month in i lied, i told them there must have been some error in my forms/their student roster and they had been referring to me w the wrong name/pronouns all along because i couldn't bear them thinking i was trans, actually. those professors have become mentors to me and keep in touch even after i graduated, and like i just KNOW that wouldn't have been the case if i was openly out as trans and it's not even because they just HATE trans people it's just like. they can't see past it. they can't see past you being fat, or trans, or anything that's visible and not normative. i've felt a lot less pushback when i've come out as bi/lesbian because these aren't things that are permanently present in a visible way at the workplace/classroom etc in the same way that fatness or transness are. it just. i don't know man. i know how i am, and i know these sort of experiences make me overly conscious. sometimes i wish i could let go, but people's perception has a very material effect on my life, and "not caring" just feels like it's a recipe for disaster for a low income immigrant in this country. whatever.

[mythicaldemonart]

So more spoilers for season 7 of MHA with Episode 3 being out now, but I have some thoughts.

Episode 3 is really fucking good though, and I do recommend watching it ASAP if you want to remain spoiler free.

So, we finally found out who the traitor is and honestly that was a bombshell. Honestly one of the best plot twists in the series. AND ALSO, Hagakure face reveal!!! She's cute! I do have exactly one complaint. Since the beginning of the show it's been kinda implied that Hagakure has just been running around naked with gloves and boots on. Then with the introduction of Mirio, we learned that costume designers can design costumes for heroes with certain types of quirks, where regular fabric would hinder their ability to use their quirk effectively, and instead make a costume by weaving the hero's hair into a fabric, and ultimately that costume will then act like a part of their body. Which could have been a neat explanation for why Hagakure's costume allows most of her body to remain invisible. And then the face reveal scene came in, and basically showed that she is in fact just naked, and her costume amounts to a pair of boots and a pair of gloves... Which means for a decent amount this show's runtime over 6 full seasons, there is literally a character who is almost completely naked whenever they are on screen, which would be fine if she was an adult... But the fact that she is a minor is fucking weird. This does beg even more questions, like, the school has to know that is her costume, and they are ok with that? They are just okay that one of their students is just running around completely naked? They didn't even try to make sure that she could get a full-body costume that would allow her to still remain invisible? But Mirio can get a costume that phases through objects with him? None of the teachers or the headmaster has any safety concerns about the invisible girl running around naked? None of the pro heroes she's worked with had any safety concerns about her running around naked? And I mean like, being a hero is a dangerous job and your costume has to provide at least some protection... But she's not wearing any protective clothing??? She could get seriously injured because she has nothing to protect her from getting hurt, and people wouldn't be able to tell cause a lot of serious injuries would be fucking invisible. I'm honestly more mad about this than I probably should be. I wouldn't even mind it that much if originally she thought it was a good idea and then at the same time as other people got their costumes redesigned, she saw an opportunity to request a similar costume to Mirio's. Especially as she's started refracting light more and making herself at least partially visible. It would still be a little weird, but it could at least be chalked upto like her not knowing that was an option and UA letting students find out on their own how to improve their costumes and letting them learn the hard way why certain ideas aren't as practical as they might seem on the surface. However in its current form, her costume is a really weird detail in this story that only gets weirder as the series goes on. And for the life of me, I do not understand why it was written this way, and in my head the only explanation that makes sense is this was done deliberately to sexualise the invisible teenage girl, which even if it's played for comedic effect is still really gross.

[hiddens-eden]

The Last Tune (Emmett Cullen x Male!Reader) Pt 1

Paring; Emmett Cullen x Male Reader + Cullen Family x Male Reader (PLATONIC)

Warning: Cursing, Abuse, Tramua, Angst

Pronouns; He/Him

Spelling checked; No

Summary; Y/N is a quiet boy that's had his fair share of physical and emotional trauma, so he loves to keep to himself. He barely interacts with anyone unless needed and prefers to listen to music and sketch in peace. So imagine his surprise when some of the most popular kids in school want to be around him! They heard him singing along with his music and were immediately entranced. One of them in particular has his eyes set on him. Though, they are not the only ones who have an interest in Y/N.

A/N; Hello, my little Otaku's! Welcome to my first fic! I hope you enjoy, and feedback is always appreciated! Just be kind! I'm sorry if it seems at all rushed! On my next stories I do plan on switching PoV's so it'll be easier to write and more entertaining. Enjoy!

"Who are they?"a dark haired girl asked her friend that was sitting just across from their lunch table

"Those are some of the most popular people in school, the Cullen's. Not only are they hot as hell, but they're charming to boot! They do disappear for long periods of time, which gives them an air of mystery."

At the Cullen's table, they softly chuckled at the description the new girl was given. After all, it's only natural considering what they are. They are a being talked about in many fantasy tales. Known for their taste for blood. Vampires, a creature of the night that feasts on humans. However, they in particular don't drink human blood

They went back to softly talking to each other, but a few minutes later something caught their attention. A soft voice echoed in their eardrums. It was enchanting and beautiful, it was like nothing they've ever heard of. They all simultaneously started looking around for the source of the pleasant sound when the new girl asked about someone else.

"Who is that?" she asked, pointing to a table where a boy sat by himself

"Oh! That's (Y/N), (L/N)! He doesn't talk much, but when he does, you can't help but feel so tranquil and at peace!"

That caught the vampire's attention, and they whipped their heads to where the brunette was pointing. Noticing that that was where the sound is coming from.

"What do you mean?"

"His voice is so soft, like silk! But it has a sort of firmness to it! That's not the only thing, though. He is so kind, adorable, and smart as well! He even helps who ask for him to tutor them. His personality makes everyone want to be around him!"

That rose some questions in the vampires heads. If he is that well-liked, why is no one sitting near him?

"Then why is he alone?"

~The vampires will have to thank the new girl for asking so many questions~

"Well, whenever people come near him, he gets anxious and tries to get away as soon as possible. Someone grabbed him on accident, and he started having a panic attack, falling to the ground, and hyperventilating."

The Cullen's were a little shocked when they heard this. That wasn't normal for sure

"Holy shit. Was he okay?"

"Yeah, he was sent home early. But, some students saw his face as he was leaving and said that he looked terrified. We think something is going on where he lives, though we can't know for sure" she shrugged

"Once he came to school the next day, he was wearing long-sleeves. I thought it was weird considering he never wore them before, but the rest of the school shrugged it off as it being in the winter months making it reasonable. The person apologized the next day and (Y/N) just said it was fine, and he just likes being alone, so now that's what we do"

Right when the girl finished, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Making everyone get up and start to throw away their trash and head to class. All except one person...

"I don't think he heard the bell" Emmett said

"Gee, none of us would've guessed!" Rosalie responded, causing the other Cullen's to chuckle

Suddenly, Jasper's sight shifted to his wife Alice because he felt her stiffening up, a tell-tale sign of her power activating. The other vampires looked at her as well, waiting for her to relay what she saw. After a little bit she came to and, slowly, turned to Emmett grinning

"Emmett, why don't you go over and tell him class is about to start? Maybe even ask him to tutor you! We all know you need it." she remarked, still grinning

Starting to understand why she was acting like the way she was, Emmett sighed, wanting to protest, but he knew Alice's visions almost always came true, or they would end at the same conclusion.

He made his way over to where the boy was sitting

"Remember not to grab him!" Alice semi-shouted from where she was standing

Emmett waved her off, still approaching (Y/N)

He gently tapped (Y/N)'s shoulder, making the smaller boy jump in surprise and what Emmett can only assume is fear

(Y/N) turned his head around fast enough to give him whiplash and that's when he met the golden eyes of the person that startled him

He took his earbud out before speaking, "I-Is there s-something I can do for you?" (Y/N) asked shakily

Emmett stood there for a moment. He had never seen someone so hot and cute at the same time. The girl was right, too. His voice is the embodiment of angelic. Emmett took this chance to take in all the boys features, from his soft (S/C) skin that reflected the light of the cafeteria. To his intoxicating (E/C) eyes that he could get lost in over and over again. Emmett felt a small pull to (Y/N), and he knew exactly what it meant.

“H-hello? Are you alright?” (Y/N) asked

“I-I um…class is about to start…”

(Y/N) looked at the time and blushed

“So it is…” (Y/N) stood up and started collecting his things “T-thanks for letting me know” (Y/N) stood to leave but was stopped as Emmett stood in front of him

“I was wondering if you could help me study for chemistry? I’m currently failing” Emmett chuckled, rubbing the back of his head

"I-I don't mind, where should we meet?"

"How about the Library after school?"

(Y/N) smiled the slightest bit "Sounds good, now if you don't mind I need to get to class" and with that (Y/N) left the cafeteria heading to his next class. Emmett slowly rejoined his family, still in awe from the recent interaction.

Jasper grinned from the emotions Emmett was emulating

"It seems Emmett is very interested in that guy"

"Hell yeah I am! Did you see him?!"

"We did" Edward answered him, "But"

"But what?" Emmett asked

"I can't read his mind, same with the new girl"

"Does that mean they're a supernatural?" Rosalie asked

"No, they aren't. The new girl is a weird case, but (Y/N) seems to just have fantastic mental walls and barriers. Which is concerning..."

"Then I'll have to break them" Emmett smirked

The rest of the Cullen's let out a collective sigh as they made their way to their respective classes. Still wondering what was going on with the mysterious (Y/N).

The final bell rang, indicating the end of the school day. Students started to funnel out of their classes and into the hallways. Emmett was waiting outside (Y/N)'s classroom, ready to head to the library.

After waiting awhile of waiting, (Y/N) came out of the classroom books and binder in hand

"Hey"

(Y/N) jumped and turned around to see Emmett, a look of relief claimed his face

"You ready to go?"

"Y-yeah"

As they made their way to the library, they made some just talked about their interests and things of that nature, eventually arriving at their destination. After they settled in their seats with the necessary books, they started the study session.

Emmett found it cute, they way (Y/N) would nervously try and help him understand the complex formula's and equations. After a few explanations, (Y/N) sat down and started to work on his homework. Unconsciously, (Y/N) started to sing to himself, making Emmett perk up and look at him.

"You're a good singer"

(Y/N) blushed, "Thanks...but others don't think so..."

"Are you kidding me?!" Emmett stood up, causing (Y/N) to jump a little, "Your voice is amazing!"

(Y/N) blushed at the praise he was given. He'd never been complimented before, so this was new to him.

"Thank you" (Y/N) smiled, making Emmett's cold and dead heart swell with something he's never felt before

"N-no problem" Emmett said before sitting down, and starting to work again, still thinking of that cute-ass smile

Soon, the sun started to set and that was their cue to wrap things up.

"Could you tutor me again tomorrow? If you're free, that is" Emmett asked

"Sure, I should be open. Meet here after school?"

"Deal"

"Then I'll see you tomorrow" (Y/N) smiled at Emmett before walking to his place

To say Emmett was giddy is an understatement. He was over the moon. Not only did he get to be tutored by his adorable mate, but he also got him to open up and be more relaxed around him! He made his way back to his own house and entered with his head still stuck in the clouds. Unaware of the fact that the whole family was sitting in the living room

"It seems that Emmett had an amazing time" Jasper couldn't help but let out his own smile from Emmett's emotions

"Something good happen, Emmett?" Carlisle asked, intrigued by Jasper's comment

"I think he's the one"

"The One?" Esme questioned

Alice snickered, clearly happy that her vision seemed to have came true

"My mate" Emmett replied, still thinking about the fun time he had studying with (Y/N)

"Congrats!! But, make sure you claim him before anyone else!" Esme explained

"He's not an object, Esme" Carlisle chastised

"I know, but humans may not understand their feelings"

"I just have to take things slow. I don't want to scare him off"

~Next Day at School~

"Hey (Y/N)!"

"Hmm? Oh, hey Emmett!" (Y/N) smiled sweetly

As Emmett got closer to (Y/N) he noticed a very distinct smell coming from the boy. "(Y/N) are you alright?" he asked concern lacing his voice

(Y/N) visibly tensed and started to shake slightly. "U-um ye-yeah? I'm f-fine"

Emmett was less than convinced. He needed to know who or what hurt his mate, so he could end it's pitiful existence, then and there. Though, he decided not to add anymore fuel to the fire...yet.

"If you say so. We should head to to class"

"Yeah"

"Are we still on for tonight?"

"If you still want to, then yes" (Y/N) smiled at Emmett causing him to absolutely gush at his adorableness

"Yep! Totally!" (Y/N) chuckled at Emmett's response

While heading to class they just talked about whatever was on their minds. Well, mostly Emmett since (Y/N) is a closed off little bean <3. But, that didn't stop either of them from enjoying themselves. Even once they where in class they softly whispered to each other. Their teacher didn't care much because (Y/N) is a model student and Emmett is a popular kid (you know those teachers that try and get in with the cool kids? Yeah, that's their teacher). When they went their seperate way's for their second block (Y/N) though that was it, like all of the other people he's tutored. He just thought Emmett was being kind and he'd see him after school for their study session. But he was proven wrong at lunchtime.

(Y/N) was eating by himself at a table listening to music and singing along softly when he felt vibrations coming from next to him. He looked over to not only see Emmett, but the whole Cullen entourage in tow. He was shocked to say the very least.

"Can we sit here?"

Collecting himself he responded with a soft "Yeah". The Cullen's then sat down, Emmett sitting on your right and Alice on your left. She squealed and looked twoards you "I've wanted to actually talk to you for a while now! Emmett talks about you and your singing too! I hope I can hear you one day!" This, this was how (Y/N).exe has stopped working. You where an embarassed blushing mess while looking at Emmett in mock betrayal. 'He talks about me?' you thought. He just smirked enjoying your cuteness.

"Ahh!!! He's soo adorable!!" Now you were a even darker red. Only provoking Alice more as she got slightly closer to you. You were about to curl in on yourself when you felt that you were being griped by the waist and pulled into a solid chest.

"Alice, your going to make him explode" Emmett said slightly, just slightly defensive

She laughed "My my what about you then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look down, bonehead" Rosalie butted in amused

Emmett did what she said and saw you an absolute wreck. If a cherry was a person it would be you at this point-

Now he was trying to compose himself. The sight of both of you made everyone at the table start chuckling. After that whole fiasco you got to know Emmett's family and started to enjoy their presence. Something you never really had the pleasure of experiencing...

Over the next few weeks, Emmett did everything he could to be even remotely close to (Y/N). They would do studying sessions at the library, and after they would get something to eat. Well, only (Y/N) did. He thought it was weird Emmett never ate anything, but Emmett assured (Y/N) that he was eating well. They would often go to parks and just have fun too. However, all fun things come to an end. When one day (Y/N) didn't show up to school. Emmett just thought (Y/N) got a cold, but soon days turned to weeks and he was getting worried. He didn't know where (Y/N) lived so he couldn't go to his house and see if he was alright, but one day Carlise came home a little later than usual which was not unnoticed by his family.

"You're back late" Esme commented

"Well there is a teenager in critical condition. He came in with severe lacerations all over his body and what seemed to be marks of repeated tramua as well. He came in a couple of weeks ago and was in a coma until he flatlined earlier this morning" Carlise took off his doctor coat and placed it on the chair making his way to Esme. As he stood next to her he looked over to see his "children" with wide eyes

"Is something wrong?" Carlise asked a bit worried

"When did that patient come into the hospital?" Emmett asked urgently

"(Date). Why?"

With that all of the vampires stood up and started to get ready to go to the hospital

"What's wrong? Where are you guys going?" Esme asked

"That's most likely my mate" Emmett replied, making it clear he was irritated

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Esme rushed everyone out the door and to the hospital

At the hospital, they made their way to the room (Y/N) was at. Once there, Carlisle motioned for Emmett to enter first. Emmett went in and was shocked by what he saw. (Y/N) had many tubes attached to him. His body was wrapped in bandages and his breathing was hitching. Emmett walked over to the resting (Y/N) and reached out for his hand, grasping it softly. He rubbed his thumb over the boy's knuckles in a reassuring manner, then sat down next to the bed, still holding (Y/N)'s hand. He could only think about how much he failed his mate. How could he let this happen? He knew there was something going on, but he did nothing? He turned a blind eye to it all. How can he face (Y/N) when he wakes up? Emmett's thoughts were interrupted by someone's voice

"Who are you?"

"I should be asking you that" Emmett replied

"I'm (Y/N)'s boyfriend"

With that, Emmett's world stopped. Boyfriend? How? Why? Was I to late? Emmett turned to (Y/N) conflicted, but that's when he saw the heart monitor. His heart rate was not that high a while ago.

"Can you leave me with my boyfriend?" (B/F/N) asked harshly

Emmett reluctantly stood up and made his way to the door, but not before taking one last look at (Y/N). Once he was out of the room, Emmett started walking down the hallway back to his family.

"Who was that guy that went in there?" Rosalie went up to Emmett

"Apparently, he's (Y/N)'s boyfriend"

The Cullen's looked at Emmett in sadness and pity, but they noticed something

"You don't seem that bothered about it" Jasper said

"Well, before he came in, (Y/N)'s heart rate was normal, but when he spoke his heart rate rose"

"So, you think-"

"Yeah, his 'boyfriend' must've done that to him"

"That's awful" Esme covered her mouth in shock

"We can't really do anything if we don't have proof though" Alice said irritated

"Then we'll just have to get some" Emmett smirked, making the other Cullen's nod

They made their plan's and put them on hold until you were sent home. In the meantime, Emmett came to visit whenever your 'boyfriend' was never there and if he was, Carlisle was keeping a closer eye on you than normal. He also noticed that (B/F/N) would only ever sit in the chair across the room and when he would glance at you a look of disgust would be present on his face. This further solidified his resolve to get you out of that situation.

~A few days later while Emmett is visiting you~

"We're going to help you (Y/N), Everything will be better soon" Emmett reassured the sleeping male whilst holding his hand. He then felt (Y/N) clench his hand and looked up to see those beautiful (E/C) orbs opening

"Em-"

"Shh, don't strain yourself yet" Emmett stood up and pressed the 'call' button just above (Y/N)'s head before sitting back down

"Where-"

"The hospital...can you tell me what happened to you?"

After a brief pause, (Y/N) shook his ever so slightly

"That's fine, just tell me when you're ready" Emmett smiled sweetly. He saw (Y/N)'s face contort into sadness as he started crying. "I-I'm sorry f-for worrying you" (Y/N) choked out between sobs. Emmett couldn't see him cry like this, so he started to comfort and reassure the other male. "You'll be okay...I won't let you get hurt anymore..."

A/N: I really hope you liked it! Please tell me your thoughts! Sorry it took way longer than I said! I will now be working on the requests I have gotten and a new series I've conjured up ;)By my little Otaku's!!

[theshy1sout]

Six Eared Shadow

Do you remember the analysis about Mei and Red Son? That was me, and I'm doing this again, but now about Macaque and Sun Wukong

Because what the heck why do they hate each other so much

Ok, so this... This is such a messy chaotic really chaotic mix of a few headcanons and theories I made up and it SOMEHOW turned into a fanfic that I wrote so long that other people made many similar things in meanwhile and now this sounds not original at all, but I wrote it not to keep it in my deep hidden shelf so here we go

(It's based on what I know from the lmk series. I've started to read JTTW, but I'm still not so far to get to know anything about Macaque, but I won't change anything about this theory from now on)

Let's gather some basic information for the start.

-> Macaque is made with a shadow or even he is a shadow (kinda shadow demon, the demon of shadow). I mean, shadow is not only his power, he literally is made with shadow matter. We know that because he can not only manipulate shadows but also go through walls and turn yourself into a shadow.

-> I'm not sure if someone made him or he just "poof" out of nowhere just like Sun Wukong, but according to the story he told about how close he and Monkey King used to be, there's no doubt they had some master/student relationship which later turned into almost equal partnership. What is said, Macaque followed Sun Wukong for a long time, learning a lot from him, 'being his shadow'. They grew in power together, fought together, and (as it is said) Macaque started casting as Sun Wukong shadow, which (surprisingly) looks like he did willingly. Just look at the picture - the shadow is big and bright, it’s powerful and smiling, proud of his strength. He doesn’t look like someone forced to be Sun Wukong’s shadow. It shows how much Macaque admired Monkey King, that he wasn't just a friend for him, he was his idol.

-> We all know Macaque is a shadow demon, he can easily change his appearance, he does not have to look like an evil clone of Monkey King, especially if he hates him now or something, SO even if he used to look up at Sun as his ex-student or ex-partner, and now we know he is NOT, he would prefer to not look so similar any more.

He can choose any other look, but he doesn't. Why? Well, maybe he actually cannot. Maybe this isn't an appearance he has specifically chosen, maybe this is his 'basic' comfy form and any other form would just take too much energy to keep up. And looking at the really tiny probability of two very similar monkeys just "poofing" out of nowhere, I dare to say, Macaque wasn't born (I mean like Sun Wukong or any other demon), but he was specifically created. And here is a question: on someone's purpose or not? Maybe the power of great Monkey King was so strong so the part of it just jumped from him and formed into another similar creature, but let me say it's just weird and I prefer the theory of Sun Wukong being so bored and lonely after his master's (Tripitaka) death, and he created a brother for himself from his own shadow. Just to have someone, anyone.

So Wukong created Macaque and then what? He trained him, he taught him everything he knew, maybe even he shared his powers with him. Some great great bonding time. But as Macaque said, something drew them apart. It is visible that Macaque blamed Monkey King for this, for 'forgetting him'. Before speculation of what happened then between them, let's focus on what Macaque showed us what he wants now.

We have two episodes, both show different sides of him. In season 1, Macaque's main goal is to steal Monkey King's power from Mk, and then to very specifically revenge. He visibly does not want to defeat Sun Wukong, he wants to hurt him as much as possible. Look: when Monkey King showed up, Macaque totally forgot about Mk. And then, when he's so close to defeat him, instead of that he turned to Mk and tried to kill the teenager. Mk is just a tool to hurt Sun Wukong.

And we can't forget how Macaque constantly pointed out all the weak sides of Sun, he's basically just saying on and on "you're weak, you're weak, you're so weak, I'm so strong, I'm strong, you are so weak". Which really fits the feeling of being forgotten because he was weaker and Monkey King was stronger, better, glorious and famous. Macaque really feels like that, he really tried to make Sun Wukong feel his pain by dominating him.

On the other hand, we see that Sun constantly striked off him. He said almost nothing to him, just "Aren't you bored of keep being in my shadow? It's time to give back what you've stolen" and that was fricking all. For Monkey King, Macaque is a just shadow, always behind him, something you turn around and leave behind to not see it and to forget, like an unwanted past. An unnecessary problem, that irritatingly keeps returning to him. He does not want to interact to not make even a slight more bond between them, he wants to delete him from his life forever, and omg WHY. At this end of the ep, Sun Wukong did not even mention Macaque. He really doesn't care at all (or extremely tries to not care). His HATE is almost touchable, ouch.

In season 2, Sun Wukong LEFT US ALL ALONE. Macaque showed up again, he played with Mk a bit, and... Left? That's the thing, you see, he doesn't need to hurt or kill Mk. All we see is Macaque talking about his past and then letting Mk experience something the 'hero' in the story should have felt. The guilt. When Mk interpreted his story differently, seeing himself as the warrior, Macaque corrected him. Cause he doesn't care about Mk at all. He heard how Mk told him about what hurt him, and here is a funny point, because if Macaque needs to be understood, listening to Mk and talking with him (such a simple act of empathy, they both needed it then, guh) should have been enough. Mk really felt the 'warrior' character in the story, so he understood what Macaque felt. But surprisingly, that was not what the demon carved.

Macaque chose to make Mk feel like Monkey King at the moment something drew the demons apart. He wanted to force Mk to be sorry, to apologize, to regret his mistakes, cause he failed with forcing Monkey King to feel that. But! Maybe he is not as purely innocent and poorly forlorn. We see the flashback for a half of second before Mk hit him with Staff:

We see Sun Wukong attacking Macaque who's in his demon (true) form.

Let's repeat this: Macaque felt as if a friend left him in the past. He said a friend did this to have all the "hero's glory" for themselves. We know Sun Wukong could do such a thing, especially before he met Tripitaka, but 1. In my theory Macaque is created after Tripitaka's death and 2. If (as my theory said) Sun created Macaque to not feel so lonely, he would never leave him for such a thing. So Macaque hides something for sure, something he did, something so terrible that made Sun Wukong attack him and not want to know him anymore. How horrendous thing Macaque did that made Sun Wukong choose to be alone again and to forget his dear brother he created by himself?

Back to the great bonding time, repeating speculation of "oh maybe they even share the powers" and comparing it to Macaque wanting to steal Mk's power, my theory here is saying:

Sun Wukong taught Macaque the technique of the same powers as he knew, but Macaque overused it (probably wanting to see how powerful he is, probably showing off and killing so many harmless people) doing terrible terrible things. So Monkey King took all of the powers from him and left him alone, powerless, with the last painful words: "Dont you dare to show in front of my eyes ever again". Of course Macaque was hurt, of course he didn't see why he's the bad guy, because he did not care about people at all. And of course Sun Wukong was hurt too.

Maybe he came back to the village Macaque had destroyed and following a quiet crying he found a little baby with a heart so clear and he put into him all Macaque's powers, making them sleep until the time will be right... But back to the series!

Yes exactly. Why did he destroy the lantern and leave? Why did he suddenly lose interest in teasing Mk and stop forcing him to feel guilty?

First thing, he saw Mk is ready to fight for his friends seriously. He still cared so much about them, not like Monkey King about Macaque. That was hard to swallow, that was hard to watch for the demon. That was't the thing he wanted to see. And second, the flashback. Maybe the sudden realization that he actually did something bad. Cause Sun Wukong didn’t just leave him, he cast him out. It was hard to admit that he actually deserved this (or maybe much more), it’s much easier to blame others, not yourself. So Macaque felt “that’s enough” and left. Mk brought him to this uncomfortable point of admitting the truth. Which he didn’t want to. Maybe in the following eps, he will see it, but now Macaque just isn’t ready yet. But the last talk with Mk gives me a little hope. He stopped treating him like a tool or toy, he was actually talking with him like with a person, he even warned him about Lady Bone Demon.

Maybe (maybe) one day he'll see that humans aren't just useless creatures he can carelessly kill, maybe Mk will make him care and realize what he's done, but that's just speculation in speculation, he could die before he reaches that point, maybe he is already dead....

And that's it. That is all I wrote on ao3, but in the fanfic I put much more details and I build those characters up much more than here. This is only rough rough short-saying, I'm really sorry if you read it all

Oh and here is a link if you liked this above i'd love if you read the fanfic thank you

[kaashiboo]

haikyuu boys reacting to you talking to an attractive guy part. 1

┇ akaashi and shirabu

→ fluff

【warnings: swearing】

gn! reader

✎ a/n: i got a bit carried away with shirabu's AAAAHHH. it makes me sad because im a huge shirabu simp but im content deprived so pls expect me to write more about shirabu for an unhealthy amount of times!<3

part 2 - coming soon (ft. tendou and iwaizumi)

akaashi

"y/n." he said, almost as if he was whispering but he didn't want to bother you as you seem interested in the conversation that you were having with your male classmate.

"darling." he tried once again, tugging on the hem of his your jacket. fortunately, you turned to him this time.

"i thought we were going to the newly opened coffee shop." he reminded you.

"oh yeah! okay, wait a sec." you smiled at him and returned your attention back to your classmate.

'ouch' he thought.

the seconds you promised turned into another ten minutes and so he was just standing there behind you awkwardly. he wasn't even paying attention to the conversation, he was just busy watching as your eye lit up in excitement. the way you would make weird gestures with your hands to furthermore elaborate your story. he noticed as well how attentive you look as the boy speaks, you leaning in to hear him better. heck, you didn't even bother to cover your mouth as you laugh— not that he hated it but you were never like that to him.

he blinks, starting to feel uneasy and having the urge to pull you out of the scene but he knows very well that you're not his property and that he has no right to tell you who and who not to talk to. as long as you're safe then he's fine with it.

he tries reassuring himself that your classmate was nothing more than just a friend but his insecurities were starting to slowly get into his head. he looks down to his feet, brows furrowed as an attempt to distract himself from his thoughts.

"keiji?" you spoke softly, placing your hand on his shoulder. he looked up, staring right behind you but your classmate was no longer there.

'how long was i spacing out?'

"are you okay?" you asked. taking out your handkerchief from your pocket to wipe the beads of sweat that were on his forehead.

"do you feel sick? we could always go to the shop next time."

"i'm fine." he curtly replied. he panicked as soon as he realized how rude his response was but he immediately relaxed when he saw you smiling gently at him.

"if you say so." you reached for his hand, and intertwined your fingers together as he lets you lead the way.

the short walk from your school to the cafe was quiet— quieter than usual. you told him to find a seat and offered to order for the both of you.

he wanted to protest and tell you that he could have paid for it but he chose not to. he really did want to talk but the unsettling feeling hasn't disappeared yet which made him want to not say anything at all.

you quickly found akaashi and sat across him. his hands were clasped together, resting on the table and so you placed your hands on top of his. giving it a light squeeze.

"you've been awfully quiet. do you want to talk about it?" he contemplated on whether he should tell you about his weird feelings or not but he decided that it would be better if he opened up.

"earlier," he paused, not really knowing how he should start it. if you weren't close to him then you probably wouldn't have heard that he spoke. you decided to let your hands on the table instead of his hands.

"when you were with your classmate, i was glad to see how happy you looked as you talked to him but it felt weird, i don't know why but the way you acted around him was completely different compared to when you're with me... " his voice shrunk.

"i apologize for thinking like this, y/n. i know it's completely immature of me. let's just— forget about it." he slightly frowned, grabbing his own drink and took a sip from it.

"were you perhaps... jealous, my love?" you chuckled and he playfully rolled his eyes at you.

"it's nothing, darling." he denies.

"it's clearly something, keiji. and besides, what you felt— or i assume, what you're currently feeling, is valid. i should be the one apologizing, okay? i'm glad you opened up to me." you reach for your drink next to his but akaashi was quick enough to get a hold of your wrists with his one hand effortlessly while the other grabbed your drink , the straw near your mouth. you looked at him in confusion.

"just drink it. i don't want to let go." he lets out a slight scoff, staring away from your teasing looks. you obliged before he changes his mind and take away your drink.

he still hasn't let go and you chuckled at how stubborn he was. he knew he could have let you use your other to hand to grab your drink but oh well.

"but seriously, keiji. you probably weren't listening but we were talking about something else." he doesn't know how your statement was supposed to make him feel better but he nodded, urging you to continue.

"i'm not gonna tell you to stop being jealous because i think that's easier said than done but i just want to assure you. we were talking about how his date went because he has a crush on my best friend and they finally went out. he doesn't like me and i don't like him in that way either." you explained calmly.

"and i'm sorry for making you think that i'm not comfortable around you. i think you took it the other way around though. just because you see me more hyper when i'm with others, doesn't mean i don't feel at ease when i'm with you. you make me feel safe and normal." you sheepishly confessed.

"oh." he mumbled.

"'oh'? that's all you're gonna say?" you joked, your gaze diverting on the table where he was still busy playing with your hands.

"sorry for jumping into conclusions."

"it's alright. i love you, remember that."

"i love you more, y/n."

shirabu

"goshiki. have you seen y/n?" shirabu asked as soon as he approached goshiki's table.

"huh? why are you asking me that? aren't we from different classes and year?" he tilted his head, confused with shirabu's visible frown.

"yea— i know that, shut up. you know what— never mind." he groaned and left.

break time is almost over and you still haven't shown up. shirabu may never admit but he truly is worried about you.

he stormed to the classroom of your previous class, silently opening the door, and peeked inside. only to see you sitting on your chair with your male classmate standing in front of your desk, a hand resting on the table to support his upper body as he leans down to meet your face.

he scoffs loudly, your head immediately turning to his direction, and leaned away from the boy.

"this is a school. not a motel." shirabu snarled.

"why are you here?" you raised a brow at him while your male classmate stood up straight, fixing his uniform along.

"i— i wanted to check something here but i was not expecting two irresponsible students deciding to flirt in a classroom. have you ever heard of good manners?" he crossed his arms on his chest. watching as you harshly shove your belongings into your bag before making your way to where he was.

you stood in front of him. having to look up a bit to match his piercing gaze, "you're smart but you're bad at making assumptions." you placed your hand on his chest and pushed him to the side to make way for yourself.

"where do you think you're going?" he shouted, trailing behind you as you try your best to get past the crowd.

"i don't know what the hell is your problem with me, shirabu. would you please mind your own business? what are you? my significant other? asshole." you rolled your eyes and continued your journey to wherever your feet decide to lead you as long as he would not be near you.

you looked over your shoulders. seeing that he already stopped following you. you were supposed to feel glad about it but you felt otherwise.

-

it has been exactly four days. four days without your usual bickerings with shirabu. the whole volleyball team was surprised. it's not like you stopped visiting them to watch their practice, but your interactions with the setter have drastically decreased. no one dared to ask about it and they all act like nothing is happening but the tension still somehow got in the way as you converse with the others. the pair of eyes carefully watching your every move and it took you all the energy to not look back.

'seriously? who does he think he is? it's so annoying. how dare he jump to conclusions. and besides, even if he was right, why does it matter to him so much.' you tried to convince yourself but it wasn't enough to overpower how you actually felt about the whole ignoring situation. you did try to approach him the other day but backed out.

semi noticed that you were spacing out the whole time as he was talking about something. not even the blow of the whistle was enough for you to snap back to reality and so he just patted your back before running back to the court to continue the practice.

you sighed to yourself and felt your phone buzz, receiving a text from haru.

haru: hey y/n! i'm in the library right now. i'll be waiting.

you wanted to bid your goodbye to them but they were too engrossed with practice so you decided to just leave without uttering a single word.

"shirabu! where are you going?" tendou watched as his teammate's figure disappeared from his sight.

"ah, young love." he clicked his tongue in amusement.

"hi haru!" you greeted and he offered a smile before he put his index finger to his mouth, a friendly reminder that you two are in the library. you whispered an apology before sitting beside him.

"so, how'd you do in the exam?" he starts.

"i don't think i'm very satisfied with it but i got a 90% so i guess it's not that bad." you talked as you took out your own textbooks and placed the test results on the table for him to see.

he gasps jokingly, "i beg to disagree that it's not a good grade. i literally got an 88%" he playfully punched your shoulders and proceeded to tell you how proud he was that you managed to ace the exam with his help.

"i hope you don't mind if we settle here instead? i didn't really want to bother my roommate and i think most classrooms are occupied right now." he looks at you apologetically.

"don't sweat about it." you reassured, placing your hand over his that was on the table but you immediately retracted your hand when you heard someone cough.

"what do you want?" you tried to sound tough but you were intimidated by his dark gaze even though he didn't mean to scare YOU off.

"let's talk." he looks straight into your eyes.

"no."

"oh? i wasn't asking. i was demanding." he then grabbed all your belongings, carefully but hurriedly putting them inside your bag and zipping it close, and slung it on his shoulder.

"shira—"

"kenjirō." he cut you off and impatiently grabbed your wrist, not forgetting to give haru one last glare before dragging you along to wherever he planned on taking you.

his pace was fast and you tried your best to keep up with him, being careful in order to not trip.

he abruptly stopped on his tracks which took you by surprise and almost hit your face on his back. he gently pushed you inside the volleyball team's clubroom and you finally gave in and decided to let him.

none of you spoke as you got inside. you leaned on the wall just beside the door. staring intently at your bag that he placed on the floor. having no intentions of making eye contact with him.

however, you didn't expect it when he suddenly stepped closer and nuzzled his face into your neck. "k-kenjirō?" you stammer, reluctantly hugging him and rubbing circles on his back for comfort.

"is there something wrong?" you whispered and he finally pulled away from the hug.

"sorry."

"kenji—"

"shut up," wow okay.

"i'm sorry for... being mean— not that it's something new but i didn't realize how bad it was to accuse you of something that you may or may not do... but that's not the point. i know you're bad at flirti—"

"kenjirō, are you apologizing or insulting me?" you let out a laugh. oh how he missed hearing that.

"right. anyway, i'm sorry i made you upset to the point that you had to avoid me," he was about to continue but you interrupted him.

"avoid you— what?! i thought YOU were avoiding me so i didn't want to bother you!" you exclaimed and the two of you stared at each other in confusion.

"so you weren't mad at me?" he narrowed his eyes at you, a hint of doubt laced within his voice.

"no? i mean, i was pretty upset that you thought i had the time to flirt with someone but it wasn't a big deal and my anger only lasted for an hour." you tried to elaborate.

"but why didn't you approach me the day after? heck, you didn't even spare a glance at me during practice!"

"because i thought you were mad at me!" you exasperated, massaging your temples at the same time.

"god, y/n. so you're telling me i avoided you for nothing?" you hesitantly nodded at him, mind still filled with questions.

"why were you so affected by it anyway," you mumbled.

"excuse me?" he raised a brow, sounding as offended as ever.

"imagine seeing the person you like to be with another attractive guy and be PHYSICALLY close with him. how would you feel then?" you were taken aback by his sudden confession but you decided to play along with his i'm-still-in-denial-game.

"well, i don't know about that because the person i like is constantly surrounded by handsome guys on the volleyball team but i was never jealous."

"so you like someone from the team," he humorlessly chuckled. "this is pointless." he stated.

you groaned at how slow he was, "you're so stupid. it's you who i like, kenjirō! oh my god i can't believe you're this dumb." he stared at you in disbelief, using his index finger to point at himself, "me?"

"no. the fucking wall, kenjirō. i like the wall!" you shut your eyes closed, trying not to get your annoyance into your head.

"then who were you wi—"

"a friend, shirabu kenjirō. haru is a friend who offered to tutor me for the whole week since exams are coming." you reassure.

"but why him? do i look like someone who won't tutor you?"

"yes..." your voice trailed off and he stood there, dumbfounded with how straightforward you were.

"but if you just admit that you were jealous then maybe i'd approach you instead." you joked.

"i wasn't jealous but you're changing your tutor whether you like it or not. now, come on and let's tell him so i could finally go back to practice." he picked up your bag and tossed it to you.

"you're not gonna ask me out first?" you teased before placing your hand at the doorknob.

"well then, go out with me."

"i said ask, not demand." you rolled your eyes.

"as if you'd have a choice anyway."

[s-serendipit-y]

never alone

request: could I get a kokichi x reader hurt/comfort imagine? like, kokichi has a bad day and ends up opening up to his s/o and then s/o totally babies him? makes him a bath, cuddles him and gets him snacks etc- really just pampers him and makes him feel all special and soft? (bonus points if there's atleast one forehead kiss involved) anyways, thank you, and I'm sorry if requests aren't open/you can't do this one qwq

characters: kokichi ouma

notes: i’m not really sure if this fits your request that much, but i really liked how this turned out and i hope you do too

cw: canon violence and language

kokichi was not well liked and he knew that. being trapped in this school for gifted juveniles with sixteen other students - that number slowly dwindling - only made it worse. everyone believed that cooperation with each other would be best to defeat the headmaster named monokuma, but kokichi knew that wouldn’t work. this was a sick game that wanted everyone to fall into despair, if everyone corporates they’ll be hit with a even bigger motive then someone will die and that fake trust they had for each other would go down even more.

yet kokichi didn’t need everyone to like him, just one person, s/o was the only person he actually trusted and despite the constant lies he told, they trusted him too. they were someone he knew he could depend on even if others wouldn’t stand behind him. he could let his facade down in front of you, he didn’t like this killing game; actually he despised it with his entire being. he doesn’t want anyone else to die, he wants to confront the mastermind.

the morning announcements had went off not long ago and the remaining students- excluding kokichi - had met in the dining hall as usual. you sat alone in the corner eating breakfast waiting for kokichi to arrive, it did worry you when he didn’t appear at the same time as everyone else, but you don’t want to imagine that someone might’ve done something over night.

“gonta has plan,” the ultimate entomologist breaks the silence gathering everyone’s attention. you look up, also interested in what he would say. “gonta will fight exisals so everyone else can escape.”

“are you crazy! they’ll kill you!” tsumugi exclaims.

“what are you guys talking about?” kokichi opens the door to the dining hall making a beeline towards where you were sitting.

“gonta wants to fight the exisals so we can all escape.” you tell him. kokichi laughs, “wow gonta you really are dumb.” everyone goes silent.

“you’ll just end up dying, but i guess that’ll make the killing game even more fun so go ahead ahead and do it!”

“kokichi-“ shuichi begins but is quickly cut off. “in fact, i plan on winning this killing game and i don’t care if i have to become a blackened to do so. only two people have to survive right? so it’s gonna be s/o and i, all of you will di-“

kokichi didn’t even get to finish before kaito punches him on his face. “you always been weird but this is a different level kokichi, you need to get your shit together.” kaito states staring that the boy.

kokichi says nothing, his hair covering his face only thing visible is the red mark that was on his cheek. he walks off in silence leaving everyone in the dining hall, “seriously how the hell do you deal with him? are you seriously okay with what he’s saying?” kaito asks you.

everyone’s eyes turned to you and you freeze, what could you say? you knew kokichi was lying but even if you tell them that his motives will still be unclear to everyone else. you stand up running out of the dining hall without saying anything, you had to know if kokichi was alright first.

it took multiple tries but kokichi finally opened his door for you, you locked it behind yourself both of you sitting on his bed.

“are you alright?” you whisper resting your fingers in his hair, he closes his eyes leaning into your touch. he shrugs, “my face seriously hurts,” he says. you smile slightly pressing a light kiss to his swollen cheek.

“i’m sorry i should’ve stepped in,” you admit, kokichi looks at you. “no you shouldn’t have, if kaito would’ve punched you i would’ve killed him.” he gives you his signature smile but it drops seconds later.

you both sit in silence for a moment before you stand up taking your hand out of his hair. “c’mere,” you murmur pulling him off the bed heading towards the bathroom.

“s/o if you wanted to see me naked you could just said so,” he teases. you roll your eyes, “not like that dummy,” you turn on the water plugging the tub so the water would fill it. “take a bath, alright? i’ll be right back.” kokichi looked confused but went along with your request. you shut the bathroom door behind you, leaving his dorm to grab his favorite snacks.

when you returned kokichi was already finished sitting on his bed, you hand him the snacks and sit next to him. “sorry that is not really a breakfast but you haven’t ate yet so…” you trail off.

kokichi says nothing and opens the snacks, “thank you s/o.” he says and you nod. the silence didn’t last for long, after building up the courage you said, “you know i care about you right? you can talk to me about anything at all.” you place your hand on his cheek so he’d look at you.

kokichi sighs, “i know s/o, and there are things i’m not telling you just so i can protect you. “ he admits.

even though there were multiple times kokichi had opened up to you, it still shocks you. he was letting he walks down one by one for you, showing how much he trusts you. “i want to protect you too y’know.”

he says nothing pushing you lightly so you were laying down, he rests he head on top of your chest. you immediately wrap your arms around him feeling him sigh into your touch.

“when we get out of here,” he says, “i want you to meet d.i.c.e”

you were guessing that was the name of his organization, he’s never really talked about it before or told anyone the name of it.

“i can’t wait to meet them, i bet they’re amazing just like you.” you say. you feel him smile against you.

“yeah they’re cool, but no one’s better than i am.” he says. there’s the kokichi you knew and love, you use your other hand to ruffle his hair. “of course not! you’re the best.”

it was silent again, you let your eyes travel across his room. evidence from past cases were everywhere, even a board with everyone’s picture on it and how trustworthy they were. you being the most trustworthy and shuichi having “trustworthy?” (or is it stay cautious, in the japanese ver. i heard it was that) scribbled under his name. everyone else was labeled suspicious or weird.

“s/o…” kokichi breaks the silence first. “please don’t die. i don’t want to be alone here.” he whispers. you look down at him rubbing your hand across his back. “i don’t want anyone to die but if you-“ he pauses.

“i’m not leaving you.” you state. “don’t die on me either, i love you kokichi.” you press a kiss you his forehead.

“i love you too s/o.”

[bangtanpromptsfics]

pyxis.

dialogue prompt #9: “Cheer up it's Christmas Eve, sweetheart”

pairing: jimin x reader

genre: christmas au, brother's best friend au, fluff, childhood friends to lovers

word count: 3,412 (oh no)

warnings: reader is a lil sad but nothing angsty tho

summary: christmas was always an eager wait. less for the tree decorations, family dinner and the fuss of toddlers. more for your childhood best friend who you kissed under a mistletoe years back.

a/n: ahhh!!! I'm not completely satisfied with how this turned out to be. the inspiration was from a few christmas themed fics I read here and the movie ‘It's Christmas, Eve’. anyway this was my attempt though it's nowhere near christmas time. one of my personal goals is to celebrate a christmas like the west, the snow, the fuss and the commotion ;-;. Also I lost sense of time and space and this turned out to be 3k ;-;

masterlist

“Cheer up it's christmas eve, sweetheart”, your mother chimes as she pours brown batter into little cupcake moulds.

You simply smile at her, the festive mood not really getting to you because of exhaustion. Uni was tough, and enjoying this Christmas when you know you have tons of essays due in a few days was hammering inside your brain every now and then.

“Is that chocolate?”, you ask, leaning your tired body on the counter where she is at work.

“And orange”, she smiles, turning around to preheat the oven.

“Where's Jin”. Though you hated the routinely flicks against your forehead, the absence of your big brother felt weird.

“He went with Jimin to get the Christmas tree”.

The mention of Jimin brings a smile to your face. His soft features and captivating grin filling your head. If there was one of the few things you enjoyed coming back to your hometown for holidays, it's chocolate cupcakes your mom bakes and Jimin.

His family are friends with yours after all. You, Jin and Jimin attended the same school until college and other priorities in life drift you apart. Though the bond must have rusted a bit, you can't deny the fact that you still have that crush which started somewhere in middle school, on a chritmas eve like this when he kissed your cheeks shyly under the mistletoe. Your friends and family, and even Jimin himself must have seen it nothing more than platonic, but you still find yourself relieving the moment in your head however crazy it may sound.

Standing up straight, you decide to fix your bed hair and complete the skincare routine before the said duo drops.

“Mrs. Y/L/n...”, Jimin softly kicks the back door. He is carrying one end of a huge fir, and your brother on the other end, grunting from the freezing snow outside.

“Oh dear place it right there”, you mother is quick to her feet helping the boys and doing her usual commentary on how well the tree looked.

Jimin looks more handsome than ever, especially with his nose and cheeks dusted in scarlet from the cold. He looks really huggable in his fluffy sweaters and red beanie. Jin is busy commanding around so you choose to sit back, a very typical sibling energy and the size of decoration boxes and the tree itself not really appetizing to your will to find any strength.

“Hey Y/n!”, Jimin stares back at your eyes in a split moment which has your lashes fluttering suddenly. You probably look like you are carrying a disease and right now you become very hyper aware of that.

“You alright? You look tired”, he comments. You feel his eyes carefully studying the black under your eyes and worrying his mind because that's what he is like. He cares about everyone and everything, has a heart so soft it hurts to even think about it.

“Jet lag...”, you say, “I'll be fine”. You shoot a little thumbs up on his way to reassure.

“Why didn't Jin get the tree earlier? It's Christmas in a few hours”, you dodge the focus around you and walk near in an attempt to closely examine the tree for no reason other than feeling Jimin’s eyes a little too long on you.

Your brother gets visibly annoyed seeing you start a very unnecessary talk. So he is completely obliged to shoot back with, “Because you were in charge of Christmas decorations this year but your lazy ass flew down here only yesterday”.

“You know I was busy with Uni!”

“Whatever”, he shrugs, getting back to the box of tree decorations. You feel a little bad seeing yourself not being helpful during a festive season. It felt like you were procrastinating on your responsibilities as always.

“Um...is there any way I can help?”, you ask softly, earning a mischievous grin from Jin and your mom fills in the answer.

“We need more baubles. Also I missed out gifts for Aerum and June, so maybe you can get them”. Now this was already tiring and you were not lying earlier either, the jet lag was still choking you alive. You wonder if the huge pile of stars and glitters beside your foot aren't enough but then maybe it's true because this is the largest fir you ever saw for Christmas in your house. And speaking of the five year old notorious duo, your cousins-- Aerum and June, you have no other option than to step out into the butt numbing cold and get something for the sake of not getting your brains eaten.

While you stand there doing these calculations, Jimin puts a two and two and immediately suggests to tag along with you.

“That'd be great! Thanks sweetie”, your mom chimes, her fine lines of face gathering around her eyes while she does so and you catch her throwing a wink to your side and you pretend you never saw that.

“Thank you Jimin”, you smile in all honesty while he reciprocates the same.

“No problem. I'll get my car. Will you be ready in an hour? I think you just woke up”

“Uh...yeah”, you fake a laugh, “Yes I'll be ready in an hour”

Jimin still lives here in your hometown, attends a community college nearby and his house is just a few steps away from your own. You remember how you had the same analogy in your mind as well. You like living here. You like Jimin’s company. The lake Park and the annual ice skating competition in December and the bookstores and coffee shops at the outskirts of the town. And you can't seem to clearly remember when and where that feeling started to become foreign. Maybe it was a teenage quirk to explore the world that you are now a three hour flight away from all of this. It wasn't a deep regret, but seeing Jimin, it almost felt like it. It felt like you betrayed him. Because he seemed to be keeping his word to this day.

This year, it's a few degrees lower than what it usually is and you find yourself chattering your teeth together as you walk to Jimin’s house.

His footsteps rush to get the door as soon as you ring the doorbell and he greets with the same wide grin as if he hasn't just saw you an hour ago.

“Let's go?”, he asks immediately, getting house keys from his coat pocket and locking the front door before stepping out making you confused.

“There's no one home? Where are your parents?”

“Oh well didn't Mrs. Y/L/n tell you?”, he studies your features and gets his response so he continues “They went to New York this year for Christmas. It's some elder people thing I think...so I'll be spending Christmas this year with your family”

“Really!?”, you chime, and then immediately notice a very childish jump you did with tiny fists and all, feeling a little embarrassed at yourself, “Ah... uh I mean that's great”.

“Yeah”, he giggles, sounding like a twelve year old who is still waiting for his growth spurt, “Get in the car it's freezing in here”.

Since it's been six odd months you've spoken to Jimin, you figured it would would be strange and awkward to be with him, but his demeanor states otherwise. He could effortlessly begin conversations and build momentum with you and by the time you are at a thrift store, he is aware of the little gist of student life and the dramatically exaggerated history research paper still due.

“What are you getting for the twins?”, he asks, seeing you checking out the kids toys section with absolutely no idea and that's exactly what you reply to him.

“How about this puzzle?”, he brings a big jigsaw to your glance and you figure it's a great thing to have their little brains engaged and give yourself time to breathe.

“It's perfect!”, you add, immediately placing it your cart with a few decors you picked up from earlier aisles.

Jimin places an extra pack of Christmas candies in the cart, and you send him a questionable look knowing it's his way of bribing the kids coming this evening. He puts too much effort into people's happiness, something you wish you were capable of as well.

The shopping went smooth. It was therapeutic to get hot chocolate with extra marshmallows afterwards like he insisted followed by that very cliche movie scene where one of them develops a creme moustache and the other notices and dabs it off.

You want this moment to linger a little longer, but your whole family arrives in less than two hours and the decorations were due. If Jin doesn't have you in the next thirty minutes he might as well eat all the cupcakes your mom is baking as revenge.

“I had a great time”, Jimin states as he stops the car in front of your house, stealing the words from your mouth and warmth hugs your cheeks immediately.

“Me too. It's been long since we spent time with each other”

You hear a lone sigh with white fogs coming out of his plump lips while he does so, as if he were suddenly sad when you mentioned that.

“Are you okay?”

His grips tightens around the steering, “I've missed you”, he says, eyes meeting slowly. And as if he was suddenly pulled back to earth he conjures another sentence to not sound so vulnerable.

“I uh... It's just--”

“I've missed you too”

Even with the gear box painstakingly blocking the way, you throw your upper half towards his body anyways and you find him hugging you back. His hugs still feel the same from years back; safe and warm and filled with love.

If it wasn't for the constant reminder that your brother is probably plotting a murder against you, you would've stayed much longer in his embrace. Maybe the hug was a big straightforward for a bond still gradually blooming, but it didn't feel weird at all and when you pull back he is smiling down at you.

“I thought you two lovebirds flew off”, a very annoyed Jin states from above you. He is balancing himself on a chair to attach the mistletoe to the ceiling.

“Sorry hyung”, Jimin says. And somehow now you are getting super aware of the way your family is low key shipping you both. Not that it's an irritating thing of course though you seem to act like it. But you have no idea what's going on with Jimin, what if he said he missed you as your childhood friend? It's a lot difficult to segregate his priority of giving affection. He seems to be giving justice in terms of care for every living being he knows.

“The circus is on its way so I hope you both hurry with putting up everything together”, the voice above states, now lowering himself to ground after putting up the twig.

Three of you giggle at the mention of your family as a circus. Well in a way it definitely was. You have a bunch if uncles who crack awful jokes, a trait Jin himself as picked up from a tender age of ten. Then their wives and kids who share certainly the same braincells in comprehending things. You bet they'll ask you again about your major and your dating history once they walk in through that door amidst clearly stating everytime that you are a history major and yes still very single.

In the hallway there is a half decorated tree. A thread of fairly lights wrapped around the green and very few baubles hanging here and there.

“I'll put up the star and join you”, Jimin says, digging out a golden star from the carton. Though now he doesn't know why it was a good idea for him to announce that when both of you were almost the same height. He is just a few centimeters taller than you and the top of the fir is still very much way above your heads.

So with a chuckle you both figure Jin has to do it.

“This is your final year right?”, Jimin asks stepping closer to you. He seemed nervous about something. Or was it anxious?

“Yeah...you?”

“Yeah...”, his sweet tone was drawn almost like a whisper and you sense you should ask him further about what's wrong. But before you had to deal with a starter he continues,

“Are you planning to work in Chicago as well?”

“Sweetheart help me clean up the kitchen please”, your hear your mom's voice overpowering through the house. Which is good. Because you don't know what you are supposed to answer. It was as if he was almost hopeful that you'll choose your hometown all over again. But you aren't sure. So you take the opportunity to step away from the situation excusing yourself.

And while you are clearing the blobs of batter stuck on the counter, your mind is a haywire. What are you going to do? Though you know your whole family wants you to stay, it's still a foggy place to be in. Four years apart in another city as a college student has not provided much, except caffeine addiction and sleepless nights. Things were not even as fun as everyone told you.

A few steps away Jimin silently prays that you stay, because he had truly missed you. Even though you have outgrown from the eighteen year old shell as he had known, he finds himself actively choosing to be with you. Even when other things in life occupies his mind, there's an element of it which goes back to you.

“They are here!”. You groan silently, while your parents are throwing their hands in air, giggles and chatter fills in as your uncles and aunts and the taunting toddlers welcome themselves in.

“Y/n! You have grown so much!”, the older aunt comments, and you supply a manufactured smile to tag along. Other comments follow by soon, about how tired you are, gasps about not having a partner and future plans, all of which are not completely answerable at the moment but you manage to get through them all and finally excusing yourself back to the garage convincing there are more decor supplies in there.

Families are nice. They make festivals brighter and lives less lonely. But yours was just hard sometimes. Not that you completely loathed the people now fueling themselves off the cup cakes your mom bakes, you were just merely lost, still yet to come up with an answer to what your stance is after graduation.

“Hey...”. Jimin has joined you now which you notice feeling a warmth against your shoulder when he sits, with an extra scraf knowing the garage is still comparatively chilly than the house, “you okay?”.

“Yeah...I was just...thinking”

“Is this about earlier? I'm sorry if I made you anxious”, he quickly adds.

“No!...I mean yeah but, it's high time I find a ground with this. What are your plans?”

“I was thinking about teaching at Jefferson High”, he shifts rather uncomfortably. He is talking of the school in your town, your school, where you have lots of memories with Jimin, “You know...like we said during Junior year in high school?”

“I'm sorry Jimin”, you feel the guilt inside you growing, “I never kept my promises”.

“Hey...that's okay! Everyone changes. I just want you to be happy. I...I hope you are happy Y/n”, he reassures, taking your hand from your side and squeezing it between his soft palms.

“I don't know about that either...”

As much as you hated showcasing vulnerability to another person, you know Jimin is an exception. You had cried to him about everything during school days and he had never invalidated a single thing, even when you were visibly dramatic over a downpour during a family picnic when you were five.

Jimin is frozen on his seat as if he can't find the words. He was never good with words so instead he hugs you, a little longer than the last time till he is sure you have calmed down. Grateful for not ending up crying, you smile up at him and remind yourselves to get back inside to avoid suspicion, especially from the kids who take humiliating people as an important milestone to achieve.

When you enter back inside and get immediately surrounded by a million questions and chores thrown at you, you find your answer. Maybe your heart belongs back to everything your younger self had blabbered about. Not to mention, this fairly good reunion with your crush feels nice, though, he might still see it as platonic. Maybe he makes things less daunting.

By the way Jimin was owning everyone's heart in the house, it felt like he was family. Well in a way he is. But to put more clarity, he bought things together and his actions bought so much peace and love within everyone. Even the notorious twins listen carefully to him and help the uncles and aunts in the kitchen.

He is again by your side, two cupcakes rests on his palms and you take it with a silent ‘thanks’.

Seeing no signs of him beginning a talk now, you think of coming up with something. Maybe a memoir from today? Or about how absolutely handsome he looks right now? Wait.

“They are under the kissing twig!”, Aerum screams like the house caught in fire, her sibling joining by the side to provoke the habit even more.

“It's called a mistletoe Aerum”, your aunt corrects before pasting a smug across her lips.

Nothing changed. They are the same people. Hyping you and Jimin to kiss just like when you were thirteen. If the factor of time is removed, this is the exact night. Both of you cemented to the flooring as if you forgot to exist.

Both of your necks snap together to the mistletoe Jin had attached to the ceiling earlier. And when you lower your gaze back, face gawks at each other eye to eye. It's the same. He has that blush, the shyness from years ago. It's going to be platonic. Yet again. And this moment will only ever be romantic and flowery in your head.

June was the first to squeak, and Aerum shuts her eyes the moment Jimin is leaning his mouth towards your lips. It was difficult to relax under the stares of many, but when he ghosts his mouth over your again and leans in for a second kiss, you are fixated on him. Hands holding each other, the plump of his lips so soft it felt like you were biting into a fluff of cloud.

Maybe he'll have an explanation to your family for this. Not like anyone in the audience was disappointed. Your mother was almost in tears? And Jin looked hardly surprised with any of this. As if it was all swell according to his plans.

“You both are so cute”, one of the aunts awes and your mother is quick by her side, completely agreeing to it.

“Jimin...”, you return your gaze to the equally flustered man who just kissed you and he sounded almost breathless,

“I'm sorry if this was wrong it ju--”

“I like you”, you immediately snap in and his face is a void for an instant. Fully processing the words, his eyes disappear when he grins, “I like you too...a lot”.

“Are you two dating?”, the twins haven't dropped the case yet, running to your feet to help their curious brains.

“Yes...”, Jimin responds, looking up at you for a reassurance, which you quickly supply with a nod, “Yes we are dating”.

When the kids are satisfied they go away snickering to themselves.

“I decided to stay”, you say.

“Really!?”, his disbelief was comical, yet wholesome considering how much he wished for this, “I'm...I'm so happy!”.

Giggling at him, this time you lean forward and peck the corner of his lips.

“You lovebirds better get a room”, Jin announces and thankfully not loud enough to catch everyone else's attention.

Usually Jin expects a punch to his arms from his sister, but he sees how grateful you are for his mistletoe decor. He leaves the couple, satisfied that there won't be any more ranting about how much Jimin likes you.

Thank you so much for reading!! ♡♡

Original Content of ©bangtanpromptsfics

[httpswwwtbhkcom]

[TBHK] Kou x GN!Reader | Genre: Fluff, or Angst | No TW unless you want to add anything || Reader is a Supernatural that controls Fire, they aren't a School Mystery but they still hang around the school. They are the strongest during Sunset after school when the sun and air are the hottest, but mostly they just wander the corridors... And if they visits Kou everyday, even at night where they're weakest, they smile. They do love him so!

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

A/n: Thank you for waiting! I decided on making this a fluff-

Hope this was to your liking. I haven’t written in days- and I kinda didn't know what I wanted to wrote- I apologize.

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

Title: “He’s such a sweetheart.”

Pairing: Minamoto Kou x Reader

[@httpswwwtbhkcom’s masterlist]

Warnings: Grammar errors, not proofread, mentions of almost getting killed, mentions of being in a cabinet (but the cabinet door is slightly open, then leaving soon after.), a bit of swearing(?), 

Genre: Fluff

Keys:

Y/n- your name,

Reader: Neutral

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

You waited at the roof for Kou. You reminisced about the time, feeling your power surge through you for a second due to the sun setting.

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

[Flashback]

You were walking down the hallway, humming a tune from a song while you watched the students go to their classroom, and mingle with their peers. You wore a uniform close to what the students use. It had some minor and major differences but if people could see you, they would think you're one of the students at Kamome Gakuen. And so someone did.

You felt someone from behind tap on your shoulder. “Uh, Excuse me?” A male voice said. Surprised, you turned to the boy and stepped back in shock. “Ah.. Sorry for scaring you. I’m just new here and I’m lost. I’m supposed to be with my big brother today to help me around the school but he was busy with paperwork. Can you tell me where the student council office is?” He said, scratching his neck.

After a while of silence, He spoke up once more. “Ah! Of course! I’m Minamoto Kou! Nice to meet you.” Kou held out a hand for you to shake. The people around you looked at him weirdly. They couldn’t see you after all. You finally responded and pointed to yourself. "Me?" He nodded. You shook his hand, and began to get more surprised. “Minamoto..? Sounds familiar. May I know the name of your brother?” You asked, feeling a surge of happiness and relief go through you.

“It’s Minamoto Teru. He's the school council president. I’m sure you know him right?” He said proudly, grinning at you. You let out a small ‘oh’ as you stiffened at the name Minamoto Teru; An exorcist. ‘If Teru is his big brother, he might be an exorcist too..’ You noted. “I don’t know where your brother is but he might be-” You told him the directions to the student council room.

Kou nodded. “Thanks but can you lead me there instead?” He gave you a sheepish smile. You hesitantly nodded, not wanting your head sliced off by him. You shuddered as you remembered that you almost got killed by Teru alone. Your powers were strong that time yet you still couldn’t defeat him.

As you and Kou walked beside each other to the student council, he tried to make a conversation, ignoring the weird looks the student gave. “So, I didn’t catch your name earlier..”

“It’s Y/n.”

You gave him short answers, wanting this to get over with. Even with Kou talking to you, he showed no signs of trying to eliminate you. But that doesn’t mean you could trust him that fast. ‘Does he even know that I’m dead?’ You asked yourself. You shook your head, not wanting to know his answer.

“Are you alright?” He gave you a worried look. “You seem troubled.” You shook your head, telling him you’re alright. Kou glanced at you then at the floor, slightly frowning. You felt a pang on your chest. ‘Damnit..’ You sighed before trying to make a conversation.

“So.. Do you have a pet?”

---

You and Kou were right in front of the student council room. “Here it is. Your brother must be here.” You acknowledged. He nodded. “Thank you for taking me here. Sorry if I wasted your time or something.”

“It’s nothing, Minamoto-kun. Happy to help.” You told him with a small smile. He returned the smile and you waved, slowly walking away. “See you later, Minamoto.” Kou bid goodbye before. You turned away from Kou as you walked away, with a small smirk “This day got interesting.”.

Kou watched as you walked away. His gaze was interrupted when a student caught his attention.

“Excuse me. But, who were you talking to?”

Kou gave the student a confused look. “What do you mean? I was walking with someone earlier. Didn’t you see them?”

The student shook their head. “No one was there when you arrived here.” They said as they walked away.

[End of flashback]

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

A few days after you and Kou became friends, he learned that you were actually a supernatural and about your past life.

It wasn’t much but you were happy at least someone other than supernaturals could see and interact with you. You sighed dreamily, looking at the view and watched people as they left the school. You heard the door open and immediately, your eyes darted to the door to see Kou.

“Sorry I was late! I couldn���t find something for a while.” He panted, slumping to the floor. You sat beside him and patted his back in reassurance. “Don’t worry. Whatever it was, I’m sure you’ll find it.” You told him. Kou looked at you before chuckling.

“I already found it. I’m just tired.” He said with a cheeky smile. You stiffened before your face slowly turned red, feeling your cheeks burn. You looked away, feeling embarrassed. Kou stared at you for a few seconds before taking a small box out of his pocket.

“Here.” He passed you the small box. You slowly took it from him. Your hand brushing his. Ignoring the feeling for a second, you opened the box to see a necklace. “I bought it for you cause I think it’d be great..” He admitted, a small blush noticeable on his face. Then he grinned “I have one here too see? So we would match!” Kou showed the necklace hidden under his clothes.

Your heart fluttered as you gave him a love-struck smile. “Thank you, Kou. I love it! Can you help me wear it?” Kou nodded then took the necklace from the box and carefully wrapped it around you, making sure not to hurt you and get it tangled. While he was wrapping it around you, you were sure you could feel his breathing from the back of your neck.

Once he was done, he backed away and looked at you. “There! All done.” You gave him an apologetic look “I didn’t know that we were supposed to give each other gifts. I could’ve given you something..” You mumbled guiltily, looking down. Kou shook your worries away and informed you that he wanted to give you the gift and that he doesn’t need anything because you’re with him.

Still, you insisted on at least giving him something in return in the future. Then, you decided that you and Kou should bake instead. “What should we bake then?” He asked you, glancing at the sky. “But I have to go soon.. I can’t get Teru-nii and Tiara worried.” Kou frowned as he remembered that he needed to go home sooner or later.

“Can we bake at your home then? I’ll try to hide when your siblings comes to the kitchen.” You said, wanting to hang out with him longer. He looked at you and sighed, not knowing what to do. “But you’ll get weak. It’s almost evening.”

You waved him off. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” You stood up and lent him a hand “Let’s go. We don’t want your ‘Teru-nii’ to be worried, hm?” You joked, mimicking the way he said his brother’s name. He gladly took your hand and laughed, lightly punching your arm.

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

You were supposed to help Kou with cooking but couldn’t due to his older brother offering to help him, so you’re stuck hiding in one of the cabinets (the cabinet door is slightly open so you could see.). “Teru-nii, It’s alright. I don’t need help! You can just play with Tiara while I cook.” Kou insisted, a bead of sweat visible on his face.

“Come on! You’ve been working so hard. I just want to help you cook for the night.” Teru cheered, smiling at his brother. “I sense something here too. Are you hiding something Kou?” Kou chuckled nervously and shook his head, trying to act innocent. Teru seemed to catch the act yet ignored it.

Teru was going to open the cabinet you're in and Kou immediately closed the cabinet, making you flinch. You immediately left the cabinet and hid behind the table undetected. “You’ve been working more than I do. You should take a rest. I’ll handle it, no worries.” He said, genuinely caring for his brother. You smiled at the scene.

Teru pouted but finally obliged, going into the living room where Tiara was. Once Kou was sure Teru was gone, he immediately opened the cabinet, to see nothing but food there. Worried, he frantically looked around to see you standing beside the table. “I told you this was a bad idea! You almost got caught.” He whispered to you, holding your shoulders. “I’m alright, don't worry.” You reassured him, trying to calm you and him down.

“Oh and Kou?”

“Yeah?”

“The food’s burning.”

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

The food Kou made burnt but Kou made a new one, you using your powers to cook the food faster. Kou didn’t like it at first, you were getting weak every second and yet you’d do this. You told him that it’s fine, as long as he and his siblings get to eat. And that you can eat some of it too.

After quietly roaming around the house, and almost getting caught 4 times. You went to Kou’s room and lied on his bed. You sighed, finally feeling the fatigue. You’ve been ignoring it for a while that you didn’t notice it was this late.

Kou went to his room and saw you on the bed. He slowly walked over to you and sat on the floor and poked your cheek. “Are you asleep?” He asked quietly, not to wake you up, but enough for you to hear when awake. You grumbled and nodded, facing him.

You both seem to be in a trance and stared at each other. You were the first one to look away, a pink blush dusting on your cheeks. “Is it time for me to go now?” You asked, sitting up on the bed. “You could stay here for the night. I’m sure Teru-nii wouldn’t find out.” The way he just said that made you blush more.

You coughed, trying to calm your red face. Then smiled. “If that’s alright.” Kou’s eyes glistened and he smiled. “That’s great! I’ll just tuck in Tiara for now, you’ll wait here. I’ll grab you a mattress, pillows, and a blanket.” He said before running off.

‘Does he know that I don’t really need those?’ You thought. Chuckling, you shook your head. ‘Nevermind. At least it’ll be comfortable. He cares about me.’.

“He’s such a sweetheart.” You lovingly smiled as you caressed the necklace around your neck.

☽✧ ✦ ✧☾

E/n: This was something... Improvisation. I kinda didn't know much on what to do but I hope this was to your liking! Have a good day/night.

[transfaulkner]

the ghost of you is close to me (5068 words)

characters: rey, lulu, june

summary: when rey disappears from lulu's life, she's sad, but you have to move on eventually. that's why she's so happy when he comes back - but things aren't always as they seem.

writing under the cut

Lulu was sitting outside in the smoking area of the TCMCC offices. She didn’t smoke—her mom wouldn’t even let her get a Juul, even though she’d explained a million times that it wouldn’t do anything to her lungs because of the magical girl power stuff. And so she was just sitting with a half-empty thing of Monster, not really drinking it or anything, just kind of swirling it around like she’d seen her family do with wine.

This was so boring. Going places and going on missions and hunting stuff was fun, sometimes, but she had school to worry about now and was constantly busy and her mom had started to worry about the buildup of Monster cans in her room and had started talking about the dangers of caffeine addiction.

She missed how things used to be. Back before she’d had to start high school. Back when things were… not normal, exactly, but better.

“Hey, kid.”

She looked up. She hadn’t seen Rey show up—but he was a thief, it was kind of his job to be sneaky.

“You look like shit,” she said, by way of a greeting.

In her defense, he did look like shit. He had dark circles under his eyes, visible even behind the sunglasses, and his ponytail was kind of messy and stringy-looking. And there was something about him that just didn’t seem the same as usual.

“Nice of you to say. Can I sit down?”

“Sure.” Lulu scooted over on the bench, taking a swig of Monster. “Where have you been? I feel like it’s been forever since I saw you.”

“Eh, around.”

“No duh.” She gave him a little shove in the shoulder.

“Hey. Respect your elders, kid.”

“Or what? You’ll throw a Werther’s Original at me?”

“That’s a low blow,” he said, ruffling her hair. “So. What have you been up to? Before I left, you told me you were starting high school.”

Lulu made a face. She didn’t want to talk about it—to tell Rey that she was barely passing her classes, that all the students that tried to make friends with her eventually gave up because she never talked to them, that her teachers didn’t pay attention to her.

“Alright. We don’t have to talk about school. We can talk about whatever you want to talk about.”

“Uh… I bought a binder,” she said. “It works good.”

“Good. That’s good to hear. Not wearing it while you’re working with June, I hope.”

“Nah, I’m not that stupid.”

“Didn’t think you were. I just wanted to make sure.”

“Well, now you’re sure.”

The sound of the door opening startled them both. Just June, walking out to her car. She was probably finished with her overtime paperwork—apparently, taking on an apprentice meant doing a lot of extra work, as she never let Lulu forget.

“Hey,” Lulu said, offering a wave. June turned to look.

“Hey,” she said back, not acknowledging Rey at all. This wasn’t unusual, though—when he showed up, she either pretended she didn’t see him or joked about trying to arrest him. At least, Lulu was pretty sure she was joking about it.

“You still on good terms with her?” he asked. “June, I mean.”

“Yeah, kinda. She works me really hard, but it’s okay because I get to be mean to her sometimes too.”

Rey laughed. “Yeah, that sounds like you guys. I’m glad things are working out.”

“I’ve missed you, though,” she said. “Not in like a sappy way or anything, just—you were cool to have around. I liked learning about, uh, crimes and stuff.”

“Mm.” Rey looked a little sad, but Lulu wasn’t going to press it.

“But you’re back now. So we can keep doing fun stuff.”

“Sure. Yeah.”

Lulu was about to ask something else—about why he was being so weird and cryptic—but her phone buzzed, and she looked down at it. “Oh, shoot, my mom’s here.”

“Go get in the car. I won’t keep you waiting.”

“But you’ll be here tomorrow, right?”

“Yep. I will.”

The next day, they hung out again. And the day after that. And every day after that for the next two weeks. She had missed talking to him, learning how to break into cars and practicing with her sword and just making fun of each other about dumb shit. She was an only child, but the way her cousins who had siblings talked to each other was the way she and Rey talked to each other. So that was nice.

And to top all of it off, school was easier. She couldn’t believe it, but school was easier, now that she had someone to talk to about it sometimes. And Rey had even been helping her with her homework, when he had the time. Her mom didn’t usually do that kind of stuff, she was busy with work and with managing the house, and her grandma thought that her time spent on homework was better spent on sword training, so Rey was better than nothing.

After English, she packed up her things and headed for the door—the last class of the day, and she wanted to go meet up with Rey this afternoon.

Her teacher stopped her before she left, standing up as she passed his desk. “Luna. Can you sit with me after class for a minute?”

“Sure.” She took a seat, feeling her stomach drop. The last assignment. She must have failed it. Even though she’d worked so hard on it, she must have failed it, and her mom was going to be so mad—

“This story is beautiful,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

“Your story. It’s beautiful.” He slid it across the table—and holy fuck, that was a ninety-eight. That was the highest grade she’d ever gotten on anything ever. “The girl with the magic amulet, trying to escape fate—what a great metaphor. And there’s clearly a lot of inspiration from classical fairy tales.”

“Sure, yeah.” She couldn’t exactly say that her inspiration was from real life, he’d never believe her. That was the whole point of doing it as fiction.

“I’m really impressed with your work. I know you’ve been struggling with some of our nonfiction assignments, but this is really great stuff. Have you thought about pursuing writing when you’re older?”

“No,” Lulu said, because she had to be honest with him. “Not really.”

“Well, maybe you should. If you’d like, I’d be happy to offer you an alternate fiction assignment for one of the essays we’ve written. Maybe you could write a story on the topic of our current events essay, or do your book report as a chapter from another character’s perspective.” His voice suddenly went solemn. “I know you’ve been having a difficult time in school.”

“Oh.”

“Teachers do talk to each other, you know. And transferring in your sophomore year can’t be easy. I know—I had to move to a new town when I was sixteen, and it was one of the hardest things I had to do. If there’s anything we can do to help—”

“Thanks,” she said quickly. She didn’t want to talk about this stuff.

“Alright. I get it. I’m just the teacher, you don’t want to talk. But really. The offer is open.”

“Can I take my story with me?” she asked. “Just. Um. So I can look over it again.”

“Sure. It’s already graded, that’s fine.”

Lulu shoved it into her book bag as fast as she could. “Thanks.”

“Have a good afternoon,” her teacher said, and she barely managed a wave as she ran out the door.

Rey’s mom had been an English teacher—he’d told her that one time, while they were talking about her transferring into high school. So he would know if the story was actually any good or if he was just saying that to make her feel better.

When she made it to TCMCC, Rey was already there, wearing the same stupid jacket he had been for the past two weeks.

“Hey. Where’s your stupid necklace?”

“Put it somewhere for safekeeping. It’s kinda bulky.”

“Whatever.” Lulu hopped up on the bench. “I need you to look at something. From school.”

“Are you going to make me go to a parent-teacher conference?”

“No, idiot, I have parents for that. I just need you to read this story that I turned in for my English class and tell me if it’s actually good.” She pulled it out of her backpack—it was all wrinkly and crumpled up—and handed it to Rey.

“Damn, ninety-eight. That’s pretty good.”

“Just read it.”

“Alright, alright, I’m reading.”

She sat and waited as Rey read through the story. It was five pages because that was how long her teacher had required it to be, but he took a long time looking it over and reading it.

“This is actually really good, Lulu,” he said, handing it back to her. “I don’t really know if I’m the best judge, though, considering I’m in the story and all.”

“Wait, it’s actually good?”

“Yeah. What, you think I’d lie to you about that stuff?”

“No, but… I don’t know.” She kicked her legs under the bench, looking down at her backpack. “I didn’t think I was good at, like, school stuff. Like writing. I’m just good at fighting stuff.”

“Well, after you’re done fighting stuff—”

“Come on.” She laughed. “We both know—”

“No.” Rey turned to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “No, Lulu. There’s going to be an after.”

“No, there’s not!” She shoved her backpack aside, standing up to get in Rey’s face. “It’s written into my fucking source, Rey, I’m not supposed to get an after! I’m supposed to feel all my stupid emotions and get really angry and sad and then I turn into a big monster and someone else kills me!”

Rey’s face fell. "Look, look—Lulu. You're the most stubborn kid I've ever known. You wouldn't let anyone tell you what to do. Why should fate be different?"

“Because it’s—because it’s fate! I’m supposed to—”

“Everyone’s supposed to do something. Doesn’t mean you actually have to do it.”

“But I’m not… I can’t stop it from happening. It’s going to happen, whether I want it to or not.”

“I know you. And if you put your mind to it, I’m pretty sure you could stop fate too.”

“...what if I can’t, though?” She sat back down, hugging her backpack to her chest. “What if it happens and I can’t stop it?”

“You can.”

“I don’t—” Lulu stared down at her feet. “It was easy before. When I didn’t care. Because when you don’t care, you’re okay with anything that happens. But if I care, then I’m—”

She swallowed back tears. “Then I’m scared that I’ll fail.”

“You’re not going to fail, kid.”

“You don’t know that.”

Rey gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder, as if he was trying out comforting her. “You’re right. I don’t. But I’m pretty sure you won’t.”

The next day, Lulu didn’t touch Electus all day. She didn’t go out or talk to anyone, or bother with her schoolwork. She just opened up her word processor and started to write.

“I tried writing more,” she told her English teacher at the end of the week. “Redoing that assignment you said I could do. It’s the book report.”

“Thanks, Luna. I’m glad you’re putting in the effort, it’s nice to see.”

She didn’t say anything, just handed him the printout of her writing and walked over to TCMCC to go see Rey.

He was waiting, like he usually was on school days. This time, he’d found a spot on the bench, and was stretched out across it as Lulu approached.

“Hey, kid.”

“Hey.” Lulu shoved his legs out of the way and sat down.

“Why do you look so down?”

“Tomorrow’s my birthday,” she said.

“Oh.” He tilted his head. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t birthdays supposed to be… fun?”

“I have work. And I don’t have anyone to celebrate with ’cause Greg’s out of town and June doesn’t care.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that sucks. And I’m not gonna let it stand.” He got up, extending one hand to Lulu.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re going to go have an early birthday.”

Rey led her through town, passing a few of the stops she usually made before landing in front of a coffee shop they’d been to a few times before Rey left. It was a local place, not very busy, and the baristas knew them pretty well because they’d throw straw wrappers at each other when they got bored of talking about stuff or making bets on whether June would get mad if Lulu replaced her suits with pink ones.

“Go in. Get us some coffee. And then we’ll go do something fun.”

“Okay, sure.” She walked in—there wasn’t a line for them to bother waiting in, so she just headed up to the counter and ordered. “One flat white and one unicorn frappuccino with extra sugar and whipped cream.”

“Coming right up,” the barista called.

The coffees were done quickly—there was one other person in the cafe, so of course they were—and the barista slid them across to Lulu. When she noticed who it was, she grinned. “Oh, is Rey back?”

“Yeah!” Lulu picked up his coffee along with her own. “He’s been back. About a month now.”

“That’s great to hear,” the barista said, handing her a stack of napkins. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen him in, I was getting worried. You two used to be regular customers—is he your older brother?”

Lulu considered this for a moment. “Kind of? Not biologically, but—kind of.”

The barista laughed. “Well, tell your ‘kind-of’ brother that we miss seeing him here, okay?”

“I will.” She took the cups and headed out to Rey.

“Got you your stupid sugar coffee,” she said, taking a sip of her own. “I still don’t understand. If you want coffee, you should want coffee. Not… coffee-flavored sugary milk.”

“You’ll never understand the beauty of a unicorn frappuccino, Lulu,” he said, taking a long sip. “See? Perfect.”

“That stuff’s going to kill you one of these days,” Lulu joked. “You’ll have a whipped-cream-induced heart attack and I’ll have to go to your funeral.”

Rey’s face fell. Lulu had the sudden sinking suspicion that she’d completely ruined the mood.

“Sorry,” she said. “You can like it if you want.”

“It’s fine.”

They walked in silence for a while until they got to the place Rey was heading—which was, shockingly, an abandoned roller rink on the back side of town. The place was padlocked shut, and the lights were off inside, but there was a steady flicker on the sign outdoors that read Starlite Roller Rink.

“This is where we’re going?”

“I have it on good authority that they never cleared the roller skates out of there,” Rey said. “Go pick the locks.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the one in training here, smart guy,” he said, giving Lulu a little push on the back. She rolled her eyes, but took out her lockpicks and opened it up. It was easy enough, and she couldn’t miss the look of pride on Rey’s face when she pulled off the chains.

Inside, the Starlite was dark, but there was still enough sunlight streaming through the windows that they could see where they were going. The rink itself, though a little dusty, was in good condition. There was the traditional ugly carpet, the black lights turned off but still visible, and a disco ball spinning idly in the middle of the room on a battery that had never been turned off.

Rey gestured grandly to the full rack of roller skates. “Take your pick.”

“Hell yes.”

She pulled off her sneakers—gym at school meant no Demonias that day—and dug out a pair of skates in her size. The wheels were lime green, which was perfect, and she rolled her way over to the rink itself.

“This is going to be lame if we don’t have music,” she declared, and pulled out her phone. “Oh, cool, I have a signal out here. Let me introduce you to some good stuff.”

“Oh, I’m going to be hip with the kids after this?”

“Shut up, old man.” She turned on her Spotify—no playlist in particular, just her favorites—and hit shuffle. Something pop-punk started blasting through her phone speakers, and she grinned widely as she pushed off into the center of the rink.

It took a while for her to get back in practice, but the music was motivating her, and she wasn’t exactly bad at balancing after all that sword practice.

“Oh, hey, I have an idea!” Rey turned on his own phone and pointed the flashlight up at the disco ball, bathing the whole roller rink in sparkling light.

Lulu spun in a celebratory circle, scream-singing along to the final chorus as she watched Rey standing on the sidelines. “This is the best birthday ever,” she declared as the song came to a close, and took a bow.

“I’d give that a ten out of ten.”

“Do you wanna come out and skate with me?” she asked, rolling up to stand next to him.

“Ah, I’m no good.”

“No, really! Come on!” She stepped out of the rink and onto the carpet, pulling him towards the rack. “I want you to. That’s my birthday present.”

“Fine.”

As she watched from the bench, Rey hunted down a pair of skates in his size—the wheels were neon orange on those—and tugged them on. Once he had, the song changed, and Lulu’s face lit up. “Oh my god, this is my favorite. Come on, let’s skate.”

She pulled him by the wrist into the center of the rink.

“I’m not really great at this,” he said, pushing himself along next to the walls.

“I don’t give a shit, old man. You have to have fun when it’s this song—oh, hey, you can learn the chorus! It’s not hard.”

Rey rolled his eyes, which Lulu could see even behind his glasses, but it was good-natured, and started nodding along to the beat of the song. She tried a few tricks, fell a few times, but by the time the song was coming to an end Rey had learned the chorus and was tentatively singing along with her.

The sun started to set not long after that, and Rey didn’t want them to be caught out after dark, so they put the skates back and Lulu turned off the music.

“I’m gonna be sixteen tomorrow,” she said as Rey was walking her back to her house. “That’s weird.”

“Why?”

“I dunno, ’cause I don’t really feel sixteen? I feel like a kid still.”

“Sixteen is still a kid.”

“Yeah, compared to you, old man,” she said, grinning. “But really. I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“I guess.” She adjusted her backpack on her shoulders. “I… I don’t know. A month ago, I would have told you I wasn’t ready to be sixteen. But now, I feel a lot more… prepared, I guess? More like a person who can actually do stuff. Closer to an adult.”

They stopped in front of Lulu’s house, and she turned back to look at him as she walked up the front path.

Rey was looking at her with a smile on his face, but Lulu could tell that it was a sad one. “I’m proud of you, kiddo,” he said. “Now go get some sleep. You’ve got a birthday tomorrow.”

A few days went by without Lulu seeing Rey. She had work to do, after all—for school, for June, and on her writing, which she was actually starting to enjoy. But she’d been missing him, and so she’d made a promise to herself a couple of mornings later to go and find Rey again.

Unfortunately, Lulu had been swamped with busywork that whole afternoon. Usually she was done with her actual work by two-thirty, but work for the TCMCC and work for school kept her in the office until three-fifteen, and she was going to be late to see Rey. He always showed up at three o’clock, on the dot, and she was always outside to wait for him by then. He wouldn’t be mad, Rey didn’t get mad most of the time, but he would probably ask what was up and then she’d have to tell him about homework and school and how her parents were mad that she was getting Cs even though it didn’t actually matter anyway. It wasn’t like she was going to college or anything like that, not with this stupid sword.

Except she wasn’t getting Cs all the time anymore. She had gotten an A on her last two English assignments, and her gym teacher had said that she should try out for the girls’ basketball team next winter because even though she was only five foot three she had the best defense out of anyone at the school. She was actually doing good at things.

So she had to talk to Rey about it.

When she got outside to wait for Rey, June was already there, standing on top of the bench by the little ashtray thing. She usually stood like that while she was smoking—made it easier for her to reach when she was done. Lulu sat down next to her.

A minute passed. Then five minutes. Then then. All the while, June was standing outside with her cigarette, not seeming at all bothered by Lulu’s presence.

“Where’s Rey?” Lulu finally decided to ask. He’d been showing up every day for the past month, and June had been outside for part of that time—maybe she’d seen something. Noticed if he’d shown up and then left because Lulu was taking too long.

“What are you talking about?”

“Rey. He’s usually here by now. You’ve seen us hanging out for, like, a month now.”

June put out her cigarette and frowned down at Lulu. “Rey hasn’t been here. Not for months.”

“Well, yeah, that was true at first, but then he started showing up again. It was like a month ago, June, you can’t tell me you forgot.”

“Lulu.” June looked at her with sudden concern. “Rey hasn’t been here. I promise you, for more than a month, I have not once seen Rey. You haven’t been out here with anyone.”

“No, but that can’t be right. He’s been here.”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lulu said, pulling her jacket tighter around herself. She had to go find him, because something was seriously wrong.

Only Rey wasn’t anywhere. Not waiting at the coffee shop. Not by the library where they’d studied. Not even by the high school, where he’d helped her look around for the kind of school it was that one time. Rey wasn’t anywhere, and she didn’t know why.

She figured if he wasn’t here, he had to be on a job. Stealing stuff. So she found a list of all the museums and banks and jewelry stores she could, and she started checking them.

June wasn’t happy about it, but she did give Lulu a list of places Rey had hit before. As well as the number for a therapist’s office, but Lulu ignored that. She wasn’t crazy. She had seen him. They’d talked. They’d gone roller skating together. That wasn’t fake.

Only, Rey hadn’t touched the locks when they’d gone skating. And only after Lulu had proposed that he could put the roller skates on had he actually done it. And June hadn’t acknowledged him that first time they met up, and even though he was standing outside the window the barista hadn’t seen him, and when Lulu had made that joke about how all that sugar was going to be the death of him—

Lulu asked June which of the locations was the last place he’d ever hit.

And then she hopped a train to Boston.

Boston Capital Art Museum was big. Pretty. Kind of crowded. And most importantly, it was full of enough people that Lulu went unnoticed. She’d dressed to be subtle—combat boots instead of Demonias, long black pants, puffer vest over her hoodie—but she’d left her hair pink. Just to let Rey know when he saw her that she was here.

No one there looked like Rey, at least not in most of the areas. She made it through the statuary wing, the Greek pottery area, and even a whole hallway of portraits of ladies in big fancy wigs before she spotted a flash of red-and-bleached hair in the traveling exhibit area.

She speed-walked over to it, and reached out to grab Rey’s wrist.

Her fingers went right through.

“Rey,” she said quietly. He turned to look at her, and his sunglasses were gone. All she could see was the bright golden color of his eyes underneath.

“Hey, kid,” he managed to say, cracking a smile. It came out wrong.

“We have to talk.”

With Rey following behind her, she led the way to the statue garden. It was quiet, and not a lot of people were there, so she found a bench in a secluded area and sat down, putting her water bottle on her lap. Rey sat down beside her, looking more and more… not-there with every passing moment.

“How did it happen?” she asked, not looking him in the eye. “How did—how did you die?”

Rey was silent for a long moment. “You remember that necklace I used to wear?”

She nodded.

“It had a… spirit inside it. And I made a deal with it, kind of, so it would take over my body. So technically, I’m not actually dead. My body’s still walking around, just… I’m not in it.”

“Oh.”

Lulu didn’t say anything. She could feel the blood rushing to her head.

“You’re a fucking hypocrite,” she said at last, staring him directly in the eyes. “Such a fucking hypocrite. You told me to not give up even though I’m supposed to die, and you go and fucking—sell your soul to a necklace?!”

“Lulu—”

“Fuck off! You and your stupid advice—” She stood up, turning so she didn’t have to look at him.

“Lulu, please.”

“No! I don’t give a shit anymore! Who cares if I make it through this stupid stuff, right? Some role model you fucking were!”

Rey didn’t say anything for a long while. He was so silent that Lulu was sure he had disappeared for good.

“You weren’t supposed to leave,” she finally said, fighting back tears. “I told you. I told you that when people like me go, we go alone, and that if you and June and Melissa didn’t leave, then I would be fine.”

“You know no one can control that,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Shut up! Shut up, you’re sorry, you shouldn’t have fucking done it in the first place!”

She reached for her necklace, tugging out the bright pink gem from where it was hidden underneath his shirt.

“Lulu—whatever you’re doing, stop.”

“No. You can’t make me do anything anymore, Rey, you’re a fucking ghost. So no.” She took a deep breath, wrapping both hands tightly around the gem. “Electus, I’m ready to make my wish.”

“Think about this,” Rey pleaded from behind her. She wouldn’t even turn to look at him. Not when he’d done this. All that talk about choices and fate, telling her to decide things for herself, and he’d chosen to put himself in the same situation as her. She didn’t have a choice. He did. And he made the wrong one.

“Electus, I wish—”

“No!”

In a split second, Rey had torn the necklace from around Lulu’s neck, leaving it on the ground.

“Lulu, no.”

She turned to look at him at last, fighting tears. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“You can’t waste that wish on me. I told you before and I’ll tell you again. You can’t do this. That wish is for you, you can’t give up that for me.”

“But I—”

“Come on. Are you going to say you can’t do this without me?”

“Rey, I can’t, I can’t,” she said, reaching to pick it up again with shaking hands. “You know I can’t. I don’t want to do this on my own.”

“You’re not on your own,” he said, kneeling to help her up. “You’ve got June and Melissa and your mom. And you can make friends at school.”

“Why are you even here if not to help me?”

“I don’t know. I just know, when you were doing okay and happy again, I left.” He guided Lulu up onto the bench, sitting down next to her. “Kid, I’m not going to be here forever. No one is. Well, except maybe June, but she’s the outlier here.”

Lulu laughed. It came out more like a choke.

“But the point is, you’re strong enough to do this even without me. I’m just here for a little while, to… help you along. That’s all.”

“What am I supposed to do now?” she asked, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie.

“What you’ve always done.”

“I miss you,” Lulu said, leaning in to try and hug him. Her arms went right through. “I’m going to miss you, I mean. Whatever.”

“I know. I’m going to miss you, too, wherever I’m going.”

“Are you going to go away now?” she asked. “I don’t want to watch.”

“Not yet. I’ll stay while you leave. So you don’t have to see me go.”

“Okay.” She nodded.

They were silent for a while. Lulu stood, putting her water bottle back on her hip.

“Can I hug you?”

“I think we can arrange that,” Rey said, and suddenly he felt a lot more solid. Lulu leaned in, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

“Bye, Rey,” she said after standing up. “I’ll see you later.”

Rey didn’t say anything for a while, but then he nodded, seeming to get the picture. “See you later, Lulu.”

She turned away, walking through the statue gardens until she was at the entrance back into the museum. Once she was, she turned to look back, and Rey was gone.

Lulu didn’t look back again after that. She just pulled her water bottle close to her chest, and walked off, trying not to cry.

-

thank you for reading! if you enjoyed this, please tell me, and i will post more content of my ocs being sad and/or happy. i also have a happy ending version of this story, if you want something a little less rip-your-heart-out. :]

[bubblemiya]

Ace of Spades ~ Natsuo Todoroki x Reader

Chapter 1 : First day disaster

Next | Masterlist

Warnings: blood mention, abduction mention

word count: 2.2k

A/N: This is my first fic on my new blog and I am so excited about it! I hope you enjoy

**************************

You knew hero work wasn't going to be easy but there was still a tiny part of you that thought you'd be snatched up by a top agency right away with your flashy suit and unique quirk. That wasn't quite the case. 

In fact the opposite happened, your strong quirk had very little drawbacks and many people saw it as dangerous, the nature of your quirk drew villain organisations to you. You defeated them, reported, even 'disposed' of some of them but there was one organisation you couldn't quite shake.

It was your loyalty to the side of heroes and your impressive skill set showcased in your fights that caught the eye of the Endeavour agency. Today was your first day at the agency, it had been a full year since your graduation from shiketsu, and it hadn't properly sank in yet until you were pulling on your hero suit in the women's changing room and a fiery haired sidekick basically pounced on you.

"Aren't you the new girl? I'm Moe Kamiji, my hero name is Burnin'" 

She was beautiful, her hair was unique and her loud personality made you envy her. Her inquisitive staring distracted you and you almost tripped pulling up your body suit. She chuckled and helped steady you before offering to help you zip up.

"I'm y/n l/n, my hero name is Phantom Light"

"from what I've seen of your quirk, you're like a ghost type pokemon! that's so cool"

If she sensed your nervousness or felt the heat rising in your face, she didn't mention it. She instead just waited for you to tug on your boots and rambled about how much she loves working at the agency. Her bright attitude was nowhere near what you expected walking into a workplace run by the most intimidating man you've ever seen. She had a natural warmth to her that seemed to calm your fears. You guessed that they sic her on all the newbies at the agency because of that. 

"well I'll show you around, newbie"

She looked confident and comfortable as she showed you around the main floors and you only hoped to feel the same way soon. You had already seen the reception and social media/pr team offices as they were on the way to the changing room but Moe had shown you the gyms with in-house saunas, break rooms, conferences rooms, and investigation rooms. The place was huge and despite being full of people, felt empty. It was terrifying, but still exactly what you expected from the new number one. Moe's phone beeped as you passed into another hallway and she pulled it from her bra to check.

"I regret not asking for pockets on this thing" she growled "shit, I'm being called to a villain attack not far from here, you're on your own for now, newbie." she turned to run down the hallway.

"Thank you Kami-"

"Call me Moe!" and before you could even respond she was gone. Your nerves suddenly came flooding back without your new friend there to ease them. With your 'almost fall' in the changing room and Moe leaving when you needed her most, it seemed lady luck was not on your side today. Right as you turned the corner you smacked right into someone exiting an office and they spilled their coffee down your shirt.

“Oh i’m so sorry!” 

“It's ok, my hero suit is quite thick so it's not that bad” you attempted to laugh it off but paused as you finally looked up. Your blood ran cold as you realised who you bumped into. The six foot five figure of your boss loomed over you. On your first day you just so happened to bump into Endeavour's son and cause a coffee spill right in front of the man himself. “I-it was my fault any-”

“You just started today and you’re already causing problems, we scouted you because of your impressive skill set but -”

“Shut up, old man” Endeavour's face immediately twitched in anger but he listened to his son, not wanting to cause a scene with him. “It was an accident and it was both of our faults” Endeavour looked embarrassed but grunted something inaudible under his breath. “I'm Natsuo, I'm sorry about your suit, take this” he held his jacket out to you.  

 “Its ok, it's just a stain”

“Please I insist”

You took it, not wanting him to be offended, and you got a chance to get a proper look at him. He awkwardly scratched his neck as you put on the jacket. There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Endeavour pushed Natsuo past you and carried on walking down the hall. You shook your head to try and rid you of your shame, you hoped you had not just ruined your big shot in the hero world. You walked back down to the offices, keeping your head down as you passed Endeavour and Natsuo to avoid the awkward eye contact. Endeavour was immensely intimidating so you wanted to avoid getting further onto his bad side as much as possible. You filled out the last of your paperwork and set out on your daily patrol.

You kept the jacket on during your patrol and kept in mind that you should take it off to fight but hoped that wouldn't be necessary. You wandered your designated streets, taking in the general hustle and bustle of the town. Bike bells and shop doors opening were sounds you considered comforting. You nodded at people as you passed them, even stopping to say hi to some kids, and stopped at a cafe for a drink. You walked with your drink, hoping for a peaceful end to your work day, until the bird chirping and happy kids turned to screams for help. Your feet, as if on autopilot, followed the sounds until you turned a corner and came face to face with a guy harassing a group of high school girls. You recognised his face from the news, he was a low level villain who had abducted some high school students over the last 3 weeks. He didn't have any strong quirk that you knew of so you went straight in with a strong punch. However, in your haste, you failed to notice the knife he had concealed until he swung it in your direction and he caught your stomach. It wasn't so deep that it needed immediate attention so you continued to fight him off. you had shouted at the girls to leave the alley but they were frozen in place. Fear sometimes acts as an invisible paralytic, 

one that we can't or struggle to fight against.

He had gotten in a couple of good swings but once you knocked the knife out of his hand he was pretty much useless. You gave him a harsh elbow to the nose that definitely broke it, a noise that you didn't wanna admit made you feel good and all but knocked him out with the hardest punch you could throw. While he was incapacitated you leaned down to slip him under your control into his body to possess him to make him easier to carry. Your quirk was called 'ghost' which not only gave you the ghostly ability to walk through walls but also to possess people and communicate with the dead. Your possession ability works like a telepathically controlled puppet instead of a typical spirit possession. Once you had his unconscious form up and ready to walk himself to the nearby police you made an attempt to calm the girls and make sure they followed you to the police so police could do safety checks and collect statements. You found it was easy to keep them distracted from their feelings by talking to them and answering questions they might have. You learned one of the girls, a short girl with black hair and black bunny ears, was named Hoshi.

"Are you a pro hero?"

"yup! I started at the Endeavour agency today!"

"Saturday is a weird day to start a new job"  

"There's no such thing as weekends when you're a hero" you chuckled at the way she rolled her eyes.

"Don't I know it. My dad is a pro too" 

"oh really?"

"yeah but he's away visiting my stepdad"

Your conversation abruptly stopped when police arrived on the scene and took both the unconscious villain and Hoshi away from your custody. The only thing left to do now was find where you had left Natsuo's jacket and head back to the agency to get stitched up. You ran back to a bench you passed to luckily find Natsuo's jacket still there. you didn't wanna get blood on it so you carried it back to the agency instead.

When you walked back in the agency building, Endeavour was standing in the office, handing paperwork to the receptionist, and he noticed you almost immediately.

"Phantom Light, what happened?"

"I got that guy who was abducting high school kids, the one that's been all over local news" Your chest felt heavy as you struggled to pant out your sentence. You were holding your free hand over the wound, putting as much pressure as possible on it to reduce bleeding.

"You're gonna need stitches, I'll take you to our in house doctor" He seemed a lot less tense than he did earlier and Natsuo was nowhere to be seen. You muttered a thank you and slowly walked behind him. He led you to a white door with a black metal name plate on it reading 'Dr.Kita'. You thanked Endeavour again and wandered into the room.

"Good work today, Phantom Light'' was the last thing he said before he shut the door behind you. He was being a lot nicer and even attempting to be encouraging which you figured was his own way of apologising for yelling at you earlier. 

The doctor was a tall guy around forty with yellow eyes and brunette hair that was already starting to grey. He welcomed you and got you to lie down on the bench so that he could stitch you back up. He was very talkative, as most doctors are as a way to distract from pain, and he asked about a couple other visible scars to focus your mind elsewhere. 

"I got the skin graft about a year ago, I got in a fight with some villain who had a fire quirk. I wasn't even at an agency yet, I was still looking to get scouted, but I walked past him harassing this man for money and I couldn't just walk past it" The doctor nodded as you told the story of the man with white hair and some nasty facial scars who burned you last year. You hissed as the final stitch went through and the doctor clasped his hands together.

"that's you all fixed up, now you just need to change and go home" he said, helping you off the bench and shaking your hand.

You walked back to the changing room and shoved your coffee and blood stained clothes in a bag and changed into your normal clothes. On your way out the building you passed Moe who all but begged for your phone number before you left.

The walk home was quiet and peaceful, The sunset was pretty and nice to watch as you made your way to the train station. The subway ride home had very few people and it was nice to have some time to yourself. You almost missed your stop though because your mind kept drifting back to white fluffy hair and pretty grey eyes. Natsuo was all you could think about. It didn't help that you had his jacket wrapped around you. The smell of an expensive cologne lingered around the collar, it was faint and softer than the cologne you expected him to wear. It was nice and comforting, a smell you could get used to.

Once you got back to your house you used your quirk to pass through the door - which is always locked because you used your quirk and had no reason to open it unless you were expecting food delivery. When you turned around to kick off your shoes you noticed the chain lock had been busted open. You quickly looked around the entrance to your house to check if anything was missing but everything was exactly as you left it in the morning. You dumped your duffle bag full of dirty clothes on the floor and went to check around the rest of the house. You upturned cushions, sifted through cupboards and looked underneath your copious number of house plants but everything seemed normal and in its right place. The only place left to check was your bedroom. Your hand shook as you grasped the door handle nervous to see if anything had been taken but when you walked in you couldn't see anything out of place until you turned your head to the dresser and there it was. Tucked into the frame of a photo of you and your brother sat a playing card, the ace of spades to be exact, with a time written on it.

"2:30 pm"

[blackcherrykiss]

BLOOD BOUNDARIES - Enhypen OT7 Fanfic (ch.7)

[CH.1] [CH.2] [CH.3] [CH.4] [CH.5] [CH.6] previous chapters

[CH.8.] next chapter (unavailable, check back or follow for updates!)

You fell into a distrustful panic that night now that knew the screams of the woods were also where Jungwon and his friends lived. You weren't sure if you should be scared for those group of boys or be scared of them. You'd be lying to yourself if you tried to believe it was only a coincidence the boys had a place in the forest of violent cries.

You questioned your sanity, were they murderers? Was that their dirty secret?

Your conclusions were endlessly dark, repeating themselves countlessly. You had never wanted to sleep away your thoughts more than ever. Eventually, you got exhausted from your thoughts. It was mentally draining to try and tear apart the possibilities of the situation, you didn't have enough evidence to be so sure. You lay in a cold sweat as you drifted off into a deep but horrible sleep.

You dreamt in full awareness. The boys with blood spilling down their hands and onto their swan white clothes. A red mess everywhere on the cream walls of an orphanage that overflowed with rays of a full moon. Although you were scared of what you were witnessing, you could not wake up even if your life depended on it. It seemed as if the dream had sped up your sleep as you woke in what felt like a few seconds. Calmly, you awoke in the misty autumn morning in a crushed up pile of blankets. You sit up to peel your wispy curtains away from the window to get a good look at the dark forest that steamed with a muddy blue fog. All of the memories of Jungwon yelling at you for just being near the woods flooded your brain as you stared. This time you were determined to search deep into that forest and get to the bottom of its mysteries as it called out to you.

"Y/N I think you're going to be late for your first class." Nana knocked before bursting into your room in full uniform, not a wrinkle on her shirt.

"Y-you're already ready? What time is it?!" You glanced back and forth between your pyjamas and uniform that draped over a random stool as you were too lazy to fold nicely the night before.

"We didn't want to wake you... So we went ahead thinking you'd come down eventually." She yanked you out of bed, gripping your forearms tightly before backing out the door, "Don't be late! We promised we'd keep out of detention this year!"

Within a blink of an eye, you slip into your uniform, slinking your arms through the holes of your blouse and adjusting your legs to be cover by your ashy plaid skirt. With your bag and binder in hand, you sprinted across your campus to the gymnasium where you found yourself arriving, everyone already in the proper athletic attire.

"You're late."  Your health teacher grit her teeth in visible disappointment. Your teacher knew how unlike you it was to be late as your classmate's eyes followed your every movement.

"P-pardon me." You clawed your fingers through your bedhead, speeding to the change room, nervous she'd assign you detention.

You let out the deep breath you were holding in as you got into the empty locker room, frustrated at yourself for waking up so late. You can't help but feel upset that you let your thoughts get the best of you and ruin your perfect attendance. Truly you were ashamed but began to see no point in continuing to rush the pace at which your day was running.

The locker room door opens and you see Kyungeun peep herself inside, "Y/N? You alright?"

You pull your boxy shirt flat down, zipping and tying every spot on your tracksuit jacket, "Yeah, sorry rough morning..."

"No worries, I just said that I had to go to the bathroom but I really just wanted to check on you." She had a motherly sound to her voice which comforted your bad start to the day. Perhaps she was in a good enough mood for you to ask her briefly about her relationship with Sunghoon.

"Kyungeun, I think I need to just clear the air... I saw you with Sunghoon in the library." You tilted your head in regret as to whether or not you were starting off the conversation in the right direction.

"Y-you saw us???" Her face drained to an unrealistic hue, "Lord... Sunghoon will kill me if he finds out you know."

"Stop! What do you mean? He'll kill you? Is it because I know that you two are dating?"

"NO! Nevermind then!" She cut you off right after the question mark in your voice. She looked rather relieved at your response which could only mean their relationship was much different than you had presumed. "I just can't tell you about our relationship I'm s-sorry it's between just us two."

"So then it's okay for him to flirt with my roommate?"

"No? Are you serious right now ?!" Kyungeun panicked.

"So you are dating?" You gave a smug smile.

"It's not that..." She was visibly frustrated not being able to describe herself in words, "I'll tell you this, I'm bound to him..." She ran her index finger along the reddened gash on her neck  He's blackmailing me."

"So you're like his pet?" You held in your laughter, you knew you should be more serious but you had no other way of trying to help Kyungeun express the gist of her relationship.

"I'll tell you another day...  Let's just go before the teacher gets mad at you for taking so long to change."

...

After your class full of advanced leg exercises and mediocrely fun games, you got halted by your gym teacher, "Y/N can we speak about how tardy you were today?"

You got fearful of her sentencing you detention, freezing up from your heel upwards, "I'm so sorry, I just had a lot going on last night..."

"Sweetie, I know this is your first late in my class but unfortunately the school does not tolerate tardiness in the way I believe it should be." She tapped her chin a few times, "I have no other choice but to send you to detention but it'll just be a half-hour at lunch." You felt better that it wasn't for a full hour or two after school but you were still dreading the idea.

"Can't you just let me off the hook? I promise it'll never happen again" You pleaded desperately.

"I'm afraid I cannot... If the other teachers or students knew you didn't get sent to detention I could get into trouble for giving you 'special treatment'. I know you didn't mean to love but I cannot afford to lose my job so I'll see you then." She patted one of your shoulders, giving it a little squeeze to cheer you up.

"I understand..." You nod with your head that already hung low.

"It's in the English room down the hall, there is usually only a few students there. Some familiar faces."

...

That rest of your morning would only pull through faster as you got some weird anxiety over walking into the detention room. You could not concentrate at all in the class you had before lunch. You felt as if you were too good for the detention group of kids, but here you were about to join those you criticized. Karma.

"Make sure to answer the questions 8-16 on page 300, you have the rest of the class to do so. Any questions?" Your physics teacher stood with his hands balled up behind his back.

Realizing you had no physics book in your bag after triple checking, you shot your arm up in distress, "ME! I forgot my textbook today... I was in a rush this morning." You faked a polite laugh with the expectation your teacher would have a spare.

"I'm afraid I don't have an extra, anyone willing to share?" The teacher lifted his head to scan the class.

"I could share." Jaeyun winked making your face recoil

"Perfect! You'll probably have to move your stuff to his seat then." Your teacher suggested.

With a thick coat of disappointment, you pulled a chair up to Jaeyun's desk to which he kneed you annoyingly.

Within just a few seconds of settling down, you complained "How the hell am I supposed to write? There is no space... Desks are made for ONE person."

"Okay then don't use my textbook and fall behind" He sneered.

"Wait wait, I just had the greatest idea Jaeyun." He gave you puppy eyes when you said his name, "What if you look for half the answers I do the other half then exchange?" You whispered so the teacher could hear.

"I can't trust you make good answers though..." He jokingly sighed.

"HEY! Okay or work together for every question to get it done twice as fast? Oh wait but then I'll be the one carrying the team... Bummer..." You stretched the corners of your mouth until your lips disappeared.

"I honestly don't feel like doing work so lose-lose." He pouted and rolled his eyes.

"Same... I can't even focus, I'm having a rough morning..." You openly admitted, "I got sent to detention for being late in my first class."

"Detention? Didn't think you were the type." Jaeyun had an unexpectedly sweet giggle which contrasted with his lower tone voice, "Heeseung and Sunghoon get sent often, surprised they aren't kicked out of the school."

"They get sent often?!" Your voice rose to which you quickly quieted down to avoid trouble, "Will I see them there?"

"Why? Looking forward to going now?" Jaeyun whispered with a grin, causing you to scoff.

"As if..." A sudden idea coming to mind, "Say Jaeyun... About the party... Heard you guys have a place in the woods...?" You became aware that you could pry some information out of him that would help you when searching the woods that night.

"Yeah, we do... We don't normally tell people about it." He said casually yet still with some sort of caution.

"So why tell us then?"

"Haven't had any visitors in a while..." Jaeyun toyed with his mechanical pencil, using the plastic part to trace around his lips, "Awfully interested aren't you?" He seemed to have caught on to your intentions, shifting the mood of the conversation around in a full 180.

Suddenly the dream you had earlier slipped into mind, causing you to sit in growing discomfort, "What do you want from my friends and I?"

"Nothing sweetheart... We're more interested in you than your dormmates. You look like someone we know." He laughed like a psycho and it creeped you out how the two of you were just poking lighthearted jokes to something much darker and mysterious, "I know you're afraid of us, you know far more than most girls." His voice dropped to a whisper as he watched the teacher behind you to make sure he didn't see the both of you slacking.

"Kyungeun knows your secrets too she said she'll tell me."

"She's acting like we don't know her secrets." Jaeyun closed his textbook, "Y/N just remember this, Kyungeun is half as bad as we are and half as pure as you are."

"Alright class, that's it for today's class. This textbook assignment won't be due until Friday have a good lunch." The teacher interrupted, causing your conversation with Jaeyun to end on a hanging note.

"Good luck with detention."Jaeyun hushed in your ear.

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p.s, i changed the cover lol don’t make fun of my photoshop skills!