#half the stuff is out there already anyways just scanning in for nicer quality

[exdeputysonso]

Blue Velvet (1986) Press Photos

[get-shiggy-with-it]

Ch. 2

Shigaraki Birthday Celebration! 18+ MINORS DNI

Pairing: Tomura Shigaraki x fem!reader 

Word Count: 3k

Warnings: reader is marked fem cause Tomura is a little sexist and hates you cause you’re a woman, no pronouns, incel!shiggy, collage au/no quirks, tomura is an asshole, gratuitous swearing, like so much, shiggy has a dirty mouth, mentions of shigs being anxious, brief male masturbation, tags will be added for smut in the next two parts

Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5 | Ch. 6

Summary: In which studying is done, unwilling connections are made, and Tomura thinks about the way you smell a totally normal amount. 

AO3 mirror

Taglist: @dillybuggg​ (just shoot me an ask if you want to be tagged!

Tomura hadn’t stopped staring at his phone since he left the apartment. It was second nature by now—head down at a nearly ninety degree angle, hoodie pulled up to hide hair he hadn’t bothered to comb in weeks, and phone out, held just far enough away that he could see the pavement behind the screen. 

He’d found that people tended to naturally avoid him this way and he didn’t have to risk accidentally making eye contact. It was still a bit nerve wracking to venture into buildings he didn’t expressly have to for classes, so he was still hesitant to make the voyage from his apartment to the library.  But he’d made the mistake of mentioning plans to his roommate and the bastard wouldn’t leave him alone about it afterwards until he was practically shoved out with the door locked behind him. 

He was half tempted to make up some excuse last minute and go hide out at the only cafe on campus he could tolerate, but Tomura knew he was just delaying the inevitable. Biting the bullet now would help to not prolong his suffering. 

Your text thread glared up at him in stark white on blue as he pushed past a crowd of students by the library entrance and flashed his ID to the attendant. 

Group Project Bitch:

— hey I got us a room on the third floor, all the way in the back

—text me when you’re here I’ll wave you in, it’s kinda hard to find T-T

                                                                                                     sounds good— 

He shot off a quick text to you that he was hoping on the elevator. The other two guys in the lift may have given him a dirty look for only going up to the third floor, but Tomura sure as hell wasn’t going to risk the physical exertion of stares when just the thought being stuck in a small room alone with you for god knows how long already had him sweating. 

When he stepped out, you were leaned against one of the 90s-green shelves, scrolling aimlessly through your phone. He panicked momentarily, thinking he’d have to get your attention cause just walking up without saying anything would be weird right? 

He wasn’t sure. 

He didn’t do shit like this. 

Thankfully, you looked up at the chime of the lift and waved him over. His red sneakers squeaked as they scuffed the linoleum floors and he already regretted choosing his tighter fitting pair of sweats. The tapered legs that hugged his ankles and thin calves rubbed against his skin and stung the raw patches. 

“Hey, thanks for coming,” you said softly and he nodded, following as you began to weave through the stacks. “Sorry it was short notice, graduation’s coming up so I'm swamped with meetings.”

“It’s fine, I didn’t have anything going on.” 

He cringed internally at the way his voice cracked, trying to keep the usual rasp to a minimum. His roommate said it was from the innumerable hours he spent shouting at his monitor or on discord, which was probably true but to you he was sure he just sounded like a fucking teenager. 

“Cool, I’ve been set up for awhile so feel free to move some stuff,” you talked a bit louder now that you’d both stepped into the study room and shut the door. 

Tomura looked around. You’d snagged one of the nicer ones at least, with the big monitors he could cast his screen onto and those comfy chairs he liked but could never beat anyone too on the lower floors. 

You were right, there was shit all over the big table at the center of the room. Notes and printed out readings with highlights galore and sticky notes littering the pages were scattered all over. What a show off. You probably tossed all this stuff out so he’d think you were actually intelligent or some shit. 

Kicking a pile off of the nearest plush armchair, Tomura took a seat and pulled his laptop out. There was a jack in the middle of the table and you plugged yours in to cast onto the big monitor. 

You made a fucking power point for him. 

This couldn’t be real. 

“So I know I ran some stuff by you in class but essentially I was thinking we make like a simple Twine type thing using the rhetorical argument Swift is making…” 

You started rambling again and Tomura almost immediately tuned you out. His eyes drifted between the rough outline you were flicking through on the board and the laptop you had your nose buried in. 

It was covered in stickers, pretty obviously stereotypical for someone as obsessed with being ‘cool’ as you clearly were. But as he scanned through the various old meme phrases and aesthetic shit, he caught a couple of game references he recognized and a panel cutout from one of his favorite manga. 

He almost fell into your trap for a moment, feeling a rush at the prospect of someone—much less a chick—being into his main hyperfixations. 

But it was quickly crushed under everything his years trolling subreddits had taught him. People like you didn’t actually have interests beyond the attention and dick it got them. Plus that manga was pretty popular anyway, you probably didn’t even read it, just thought the line was funny or made you sound quirky. That had to be why you felt the need to drop it in your first texts. 

“What do you think?” you asked, making good on your new habit of startling the hell out of him. 

Tomura blinked, gaze instinctively turning to you but the blatant way you stared made his mouth turn to sand paper, so he looked resolutely back at the color-coded bullet points on the screen. 

“Look’s fine,” he mumbled. 

The more he glanced over it, the more it actually did look fine. A bit more than fine, really, which pissed him off even more. The little choose-your-own debate style story was not a terrible way to make fucking Whatever Swift interesting and it kinda looked like you’d bothered to google some simple coding which gave him a better idea of what you were looking for. 

It was...good. 

And that so fucking annoying. 

Well, he wasn’t sure if annoying was the right word for it, but the proposal coupled with your apparent lack of disgust at working with him made his face hot and that only ever happened otherwise when his roommate left the dishes out for weeks or when some newb on his server fucked up their raids. 

Then, you had the audacity to plop down in the chair next to him and— 

“You can tell me to fuck off if you want,” you began, shuffling in the chair to cross your legs on the cushion, “but I was hoping you’d be willing to show me how you do some of the coding stuff? I tried on my own, but I have literally no clue what I’m doing.” 

He could smell you again, like the whole fucking health and beauty aisle at the grocery store. When he turned his head a bit to look at you around the curtain of his hair, you were crooked—back against the armrest and facing him. 

“Why do you want to know?” he asked, sounding a bit less rude than he would have liked to. 

You just fucking stared right at him though, didn’t wrinkle your nose at how greasy his roots were or how he was wearing the same hoodies as yesterday. 

“I’ve always been interested in it, but my program is kinda stressful and I don’t have much free time so I never learned,” you offered and for once Tomura found he didn’t feel his skin crawl under your unwavering gaze. 

The dry, cracked area around his eyes burned though as sweat beaded on his forehead and he quickly wiped at his face with a loose sweatshirt sleeve. The garment hung off his shoulders, bought a size too big that he never ended up growing into. 

“What’s your major?” 

He found the words slipped easily from him. It was the quintessential question you asked of anyone in college when you met, but he’d never been interested in the answer before. 

You babbled a bit about your specific area of study and your voice was surprisingly not as infuriating as he remembered it being before. It was softer, he thought, than when you were soapboxing in class about the sexist implications of old as fuck poetry—it had a less grating quality and was almost pleasing to the ear. 

Or Tomura would have said that if he thought you deserved the compliment. 

But, obviously you didn’t. 

So he didn’t. 

He just pretended to care about what you were saying and didn’t hang onto every word at all. Actually he was more enraptured in the way your lips moved when you talked. You used your hands a lot too, but his eyes were ensnared on the way your mouth quirked and dipped, at the occasional flash of your tongue between strong teeth. When he leaned in a bit, he could smell your breath too: fruity gum and the remnants of whatever you were always drinking in that loud as fuck cup. He wondered now what exactly it was, so he could buy it and get a better idea of what you mouth might taste—

Nope. 

No, see this was exactly what he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about. How were you doing this to him? What a fucking slut. 

Tomura steeled his nerves as you started explaining the extracurriculars you did on the side. 

“My roommate freshman year actually started a gaming club and so I’ve gotten more into that over the years,” you explained, pointing at the stickers on your laptop case. 

“Are you talking about The League?” 

“Yeah, I didn’t know if you’d heard of it,” you shrugged.  

He knew of the gaming club on campus. He’d thought about joining when he enrolled but the allure of anonymity online gaming provided was too strong. Plus his discord server didn’t have annoying weekly meetings. 

The thought of you, up late and illuminated by the blue light of a tv screen, tucked away in one of the basement rooms in the media building was...strange. It also prompted an array of new images—you in those fucking cat ear headsets, seated in his lap as he trashed you in Mario Kart which was even stranger. 

Tomura had to physically shake his head to dislodge the thought. 

“Uh, we should probably work on this right?” he cringed at the way his voice cracked compared to your own, smooth tone. 

You should narrate those fucking sleepy time mediation things. His roommate used to hide wireless speakers in his room and blast those when Tomura stayed up too late. It was annoying as shit then, but if it was you talking, he probably wouldn’t have minded so much. 

Or no, no he would definitely mind. 

Yes. It would have been worse if anything. 

“Oh shit, you right. It’s been like two hours.” 

He glanced down at his laptop and saw that it had, indeed, been two hours since he got there. He’d willingly spoken to you for two goddamn hours. It felt like no time had passed at all, but the sun was definitely setting, the overhead fluorescent bulbs taking over as the main light source in the room. 

Weird. 

So you settled back in your chair, typing away like you always did, but the sound wasn’t nearly as frustrating as before. Occasionally, you’d glance over his shoulder and ask questions about what he was working on, but mostly the two of you settled into a comfortable silence. 

This pattern continued for the next few weeks. As the weather warmed, you began to show a bit more skin. He never worked up the nerve to comment on the thick expanse of bare thigh that tapered off nicely into your calf, or the curve of your arms not hidden behind knit sweaters—hell even your fucking shoulders were hard not to look at. 

Maybe all those high school dress codes weren’t actually so full of shit after all. Cause he was definitely distracted by the way your neck swooped into the exposed skin of your shoulder and down your back on more than one occasion.

Did all girls know that? Was it some kind of massive conspiracy to crumble the patriarchy or some crap to go flashing bare shoulders everywhere? 

Regardless if you really were trying to hypnotize him into liking you, Tomura stayed resolutely in his monochrome, long sleeved attire, and if you noticed the behavior you never said a word. 

Never said a word about his allergy ridden skin, peeling lips or scarred throat. Never commented on his terrible posture or said his eyes were creepy. Even when he’d occasionally toss a negative remark your way, you never retaliated maliciously. Just brushed him off with a jovial ‘don’t be a dick’ and a playful, but hard slap to his chest or the back of his head. 

The two of you always met in the same, secluded room on the third floor. You’d talk with him in class sometimes or shoot him texts about random bits of inspiration or a late night game memes, but for the most part, your conversations were confined to that room. He found he preferred the study room ‘you’ best. You weren’t as stiff. There was more of a solidity to you, like he’d seen when you told off that Kai bastard. 

It...grew on him. 

He was irrationally anxious that there would be a time when you couldn’t secure this particular room—with it’s big monitor and comfy chairs and less annoying ‘you’—but he’d been reassured after your third work session. 

Someone had knocked softly at the thick, wooden door and a head of wild, bright pink hair peaked around the crack. 

“Sup bro,” the intruder quipped, as they stepped fully into the room. 

“Hey, Spinner,” you mumbled back, looking up momentarily from the essay portion of your presentation before going back to typing. 

Spinner had seemed to notice him at that point and offered a small wave in his direction. “Oh hey, sorry, thought you were alone,” he said quickly. 

“Nah, this is Tomura,” you said, glancing up again and jerking your thumb in his direction. 

Tomura nodded and tugged at his hoodie strings to stop from scratching under the newcomer’s gaze. He’d gotten used to you, but other people still made him a bit nervous. 

“Nice to meet you,” Spinner had a nice smile, bright and flashy when he spoke. He leaned against the door and crossed his arms, looking around the room. “You got the nice one, huh. How’d you manage that?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” you half closed your laptop and stretched a bit. “Jin was working the front desk, so I’ve just been bribing him with vending machine snacks.” 

“He hasn’t gotten himself fired yet?” Spinner laughed incredulously, but not unkindly. 

“Surprisingly not, but he’s completely corrupt now,” you were picking at the cuticle of your thumb and Tomura fixated on the way the skin split off at the nail. Just like his. “A couple packs of chips and a Monster and I get the most bitchin study room whenever I want.” 

“Damn,” Spinner chuckled again and Tomura really wished that he’d leave already. He was beginning to feel himself fading into the upholstery as the conversation left him in the dust. The divergence of your attention away from him or the project was even more annoying that you were. “Well, are you coming to The League meeting tonight? We’re busting out a Smash tournament.” 

“That’s tonight?” you asked, eyes perking up but sliding subtly in Tomura’s direction. “Sorry, I think Tomura and I are gonna be working on this project for a while longer and I’m kinda burnt out. But next time, yeah?”

Spinner rolled his eyes but nodded and kicked off the wall. “That’s not very sexy of you,” he chided and waved a hand in parting. “Gonna work yourself directly into the fucking grave.” 

“Jokes on you, I welcome death.” 

You buried yourself in the screen again and Tomura actually felt a bit grateful for you ending the conversation before he got too painfully awkward. 

But Spinner stopped before he left, looking Tomura up and down from the frayed strings of his black hoodie to the tips of his worn red sneakers. 

“Nice to meet you, man,” he said with a wide grin. “Feel free to tag along next time if you want, we always need more players.” 

The door clicked softly shut behind him and Tomura relaxed back into the silence.

He did end up tagging along—though he spent most of the time hanging off your heels like a lost puppy—to the next meeting of your gaming club and the one after that. Frustratingly enough, he learned that your interests did also extend into skills as you almost bested him in a few rounds Smash. Your profile, lit only by the flashing screen lights, was even more striking outside of his imagined imitations. 

So much so that it found its way into his head late at night when he was too tired to log onto his server. So much so that it had his cock growing firm and tenting his grey sweats without even the visual aid of his go to porn clips. So much so that sometimes, he felt inclined to do something about the throbbing between his legs. So much so that he thought about the way you picked the skin by your fingers. How it looked like his. How your hand might feel like his but softer. Smoother around the edges. With your sweet voice whispering in his ear, making him whine and pant and spill white ropes of release onto his stomach. 

But it was only because you were hot. 

And you were practically begging for him to jack off to the thought of you with those outfits and liking all the shit he liked and noticing when he shrunk away from conversations or including him in them when he started to feel that awful sense of fading into the background. 

Yeah. 

Everybody jerks it sometimes to their group project partners if their ass is nice enough. 

Right?

[kaistarus]

Inevitable

Pairing: NishinoyaX(OC)-Kaede Mizuki

Words:6.2K

Summary: Kaede and Nishinoya get along great, but when it comes to dating she’d consider them the least compatible people on the entire planet. So, when her heart starts acting up around him she figures it’s best to ignore it for as long as possible

A/N: This is my favorite thing I’ve written so far and honestly I think it's my highest quality work. I’m very proud of this one, so enjoy :) *artwork commissioned @Kurushima_Kaito on Twitter*

Masterlist

“I’m starving.”

Kaede tried her best to ignore the boy obnoxiously leaning his entire body weight on her as she finalized the week’s task list. She ticked off the final box of ‘wash practice jerseys’ she and Yachi spent half the afternoon on saying, “you’re always hungry. I told you to start bringing snacks.”

“But that’s so much work,” Nishinoya whined, resting his chin on her shoulder. He began twirling her half-ponytail around his finger while wiggling his eyebrows. “Hey, what if you started-”

“I don’t have enough time to start babying you, Noya.” She said, ignoring his pout while securing the pen at the top of the clipboard. “I have to give this Kiyoko so you should-.”

He hummed happily, “Kiyoko.”

She gave him a quick glare before shaking him off her shoulder, “can you go bother someone else?”

“Nah, everyone’s busy,” he said, skipping after her. She glanced around to the team of boys standing around and very clearly not busy. Kiyoko stood beside a flushed Yachi as they flipped through pages of a small notebook, going over a few minor details before tomorrow’s match against Shiratorizawa.

“Hey Kiyoko, I’m finished with the-”

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Nishinoya plucked the clipboard out of her hands. “Hello, beautiful. We completed stuff. Obviously, I offered my assistance because of how thoughtful and handsome I am.”

“Sure,” Kiyoko accepted it, flipping through the pages before nodding to Kaede. “Thank you.”

Kaede opened her mouth, but Nishinoya cut her off. “You’re welcome, gorgeous.” He placed his elbow on Kaede’s shoulder. “Anyway, Kiyoko. You come here often?”

“She’s a manager.” Kaede deadpanned.

“It wasn’t literal, Mizuki. It’s a conversation starter.”

“That’s what you went with?” Kaede pinched the bridge of her nose. “‘Kiyoko, how’s your day?’, ‘Kiyoko, are you ready for tomorrow?’, ‘Kiyoko, I like your hair.’”

Nishinoya cocked his head to the side. “Hair?”

“She got a haircut.”

“Oh shit, really?” Nishinoya looked back to where Kiyoko was and his shoulders slumped. “She’s gone.”

“This is why you’ll die alone,” Kaede brushed his arm off her so she could walk to her backpack.

“You’re so mean to me.” His pout turned into a sly smirk. “I kind of like it.”

Kaede rolled her eyes, ignoring everything else that came out of his mouth as she switched out of her gym shoes to finally go home. The sound of volleyballs smacking the court drew her attention and she was hardly surprised to see Hinata and Kageyama still practicing with Yachi’s assistance.

“How come they never ask me to help?” Kaede wondered aloud, swinging on her worn backpack.

“‘Cause you’re really bad at volleyball.” Nishinoya snorted.

“That was rhetorical.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

She purposely bumped his shoulder as she walked past him to the gym doors and he over exaggeratedly grabbed it with a hiss, “are you trying to injure me before finals?”

“Shut up,” She snorted.

“You think you can just replace me as libero?”

“I think I can roll around on the floor, yeah.” Kaede slid on her outdoor shoes and jumped onto the sidewalk. He narrowed his eyes at her, but before he could rant about Rolling Thunder Ennoshita called out a few yards away.

“The second years are all going out to eat. Are you both coming or what?” He shouted while Tanaka waved both his arms in a ‘get over here’ motion.

“You should come,” Nishinoya hurriedly shoved his feet into his outdoor shoes and leapt beside her. His smile softened as he nudged her hand hanging loosely by her side. “It���ll be fun.”

Her mouth twisted while she contemplated. It would be fun, sure, but with how early they were meeting at the school she wasn’t sure she could manage. Kaede bumped his hand back before giving a half-smile that made his expression drop.

“I have an exam to study for and we’re getting up too early.” She shrugged loosely, “Next time, okay?”

“Nerd.” He pouted.

“Probably,” she poked him in the forehead. “You better not send me a stupid video at three in the morning. You need to sleep too.”

“Yes, mom.” He rolled his eyes, but his lips were curved into a smile. He grabbed her hand off his forehead and squeezed it once before pivoting around to the waiting group. “Now go be lame somewhere else before you wear off on me.”

Kaede rolled her eyes. She waved goodbye to the other boys who booed at her unwillingness to attend. She glanced down at the hand that Nishinoya had squeezed before leaving, wondering why it was still so warm regardless of the chilled night.

She figured she was overthinking and waited for her racing heart to calm down. She just needed some sleep.

*******************************************************************************************

Kaede yawned, rubbing her sleep-filled eyes and snuggling against Kiyoko’s shoulder. Her eyelids hung heavy as she watched rather than listened to Coach Ukai and Coach Takeda give instructions before allowing them on the warm bus.

“It’s too early to be alive,” she whined when they finally finished, wrapping her arms around Kiyoko for protection against the morning’s frigid air.

Kiyoko patted her head, “it’s already seven, Kaede.”

Kaede whined pitifully again at the mere mention of the time. Sure, it had been seven at that moment, but they’d met at six-thirty which meant by herself she’d woken up before the sun had risen. Nobody should have to wake up before the sun.

Her eyes scanned the boys lined up along the bus to find most of them were in a similar state as her-leaning against each other and half-asleep. She locked eyes with Tanaka and Nishinoya who were glaring and she lifted a lazy brow before realizing her arms were still wrapped around Kiyoko.

Like the bigger person Kaede was, she nuzzled her cheek on Kiyoko and tightened the hug. They looked like they were about to pop a blood vessel until Daichi dragged them away by the back of their shirts.

Kaede snickered evilly until a shadow loomed over her.

“Are you seriously still tired?” Tsukishima asked condescendingly. “Is that going to be your new excuse for doing nothing?”

Kaede straightened up with her fists clenched. “Well, you’re-you look-you’re dumb.”

She cringed as Tsukishima cackled, walking triumphantly back to the bus. Yamaguchi trailed after him giving an apologetic smile that didn’t make her feel any better.

“I thought it was good.” Yachi smiled cheerfully.

Kaede patted her head half-smiling. “That’s all that matters then.” She lied, the burning sense of revenge coursing through her veins.

Kiyoko lightly pushed the small of Kaede’s back when they were letting people on the bus because managers got special privileges, such as, firsts. She hurriedly plopped down beside Yachi, excited to tune out the noisy team and hopefully fall back asleep.

She unzipped her jacket pocket and shoved her hand inside, digging for her headphones. She furrowed her brow and swiped her fingers around in a panic when she felt nothing but fabric. They had been there when she left her house...

“Is something wrong?” Yachi asked with a concerned crease in her brow.

“No, I…” Kaede slumped back in defeat. “I think I lost my headphones.”

“Oh no,” Yachi’s eyes widened. “Do you want to use mine?”

“No,” Kaede waved her off. “You were talking about that book you wanted to finish listening to. I don’t want to-”

There was a quick bop on her head and she whipped around to find Nishinoya smirking mischievously. Kaede’s sneer must have been more vicious than usual because the way his eyes widened in fear made her feel slight guilt. She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, hoping that she could tune out the obnoxiousness on her own.

Not even five minutes after the bus left Kaede felt a nervous tapping on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to Nishinoya leaning beside her backrest smiling apologetically.

She sighed, “what.”

He held out his palm to show a pair of tangled earbuds. She looked between them and his hesitant expression before just raising a brow. “They’re very nice, Noya. I’m not sure what you-”

“You lost yours, right?” He dropped them onto her lap. “I’m giving them to you.”

“What?” She picked them up and flipped them over in her palm. “Why?”

“I’m not using them and you looked upset,” his nose wrinkled. “You get really cranky when you’re upset.”

“Thanks,” she said monotone, beginning to untangle the pair. “Are you sure this is-”

“Do you want my jacket, too?”

She blinked a few times before turning to him. “Why would I need that?”

He rested his head against the side of her seat. “Well, aren’t you tired? It could be a pillow or something.”

“Oh,” she paused, furrowing her brow in thought. “I guess, but I’m not sure that’s necessar-”

He dropped the material on her head and created a static mess of her hair.

“Okay, feel better,” he said before hopping his way to the back of the bus. She sat in disbelief before turning to Yachi who was hiding a smile behind her hand.

“Don’t,” Kaede said, bundling the jacket and placing it behind her head. “He’s just an idiot with no concept of personal space.”

Kaede could finally tune out the rambunctious guys and leaned comfortably against her makeshift pillow, finding herself drifting to much needed sleep. She definitely didn’t find the way Nishinoya’s jacket smelled comforting-it just happened to be nicer than the musty bus. And if she snuggled up to it a few times that was purely because it was softer than the bus seat.

When she woke up it was for the bus pulling into the parking lot and everyone pushing their faces against the windows in awe of the stadium before them.

“Holy shit,” Tanaka breathed. “It’s even bigger in person.”

They piled out of the bus, shoving and pulling each other in a rush to get out of the cramped space. The boys stared at the building with their jaws slack.

“I feel sick again,” Hinata covered his mouth and Kageyama shoved him toward Tanaka who side-stepped him, leaving Hinata to fall flat on the concrete.

“Alright, everyone,” Coach Ukai clapped to garner attention. “I want best behavior. There’s a lot of people here, so don’t go embarrassing-”

“I bet I can get there first.” Hinata said, taking off for the front doors.

“You got a head start idiot. This doesn’t count.” Kageyama said, sprinting after him.

“Do you think they have food vendors?” Nishinoya tugged Tanaka’s sleeve and they both took off. Everyone stood there watching them before glancing awkwardly at the coaches.

“-me. Oh my god.” Coach Ukai palmed his eyes.

“Yeah, good luck with that.” Tsukishima snorted as he and Yamaguchi left the group. Kaede shrugged because this was Karasuno; chaotic as hell, but somehow they made it work.

The arena was as massive inside as it was outside, but it didn’t talk long to track down their missing morons. Hinata and Kageyama hadn’t left the main vestibule, and although Nishinoya and Tanaka had found food stands neither had actually brought money. Kaede wasn’t interested in donations either, regardless how good Nishinoya’s puppy-dog eyes were.

Since the court was reserved for the teams, coaches, and a single manager Kaede and Yachi would be watching the game from the stands. They said their goodbyes outside the locker room-ruffling Hinata’s hair, patting Asahi’s back, fist bumping Tanaka, and even forcing a good luck to Tsukishima-when she turned to Nishinoya she was thrown off by his lifted hands.

“You won’t be there when my name is called,” he pushed them forward. “So I need you to high-five me now.”

“That’s adorable,” Daichi said slyly behind him.

“It’s not adorable,” Nishinoya sneered at him, and a snickering Tanaka, with a red tint to his cheeks. “It’s just for luck. That’s all.”

“It’s a little adorable,” Kaede tried to force down her smile.

“Just high-five me, okay?” He mumbled, tensely pushing his hands further out. Kaede rolled her eyes before lightly patting her hands against his. He furrowed his brow and looked down at his palms. “That high-five sucked.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” she shrugged, grabbing Yachi’s hand to pull her toward the bleacher doors. “You can have a better one after you win the game.”

Kaede left him there pouting as her and Yachi pushed their way through metal doors that took them to Karasuno’s cheer section. Kaede was in awe at how many people were in attendance. They had somehow managed to go from a few people to a packed stand in only a few months.

“There’s our girls,” Saeko cheered, waving Kaede and Yachi toward the front of the bleachers. “Does this mean the boys are coming out soon?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Yachi nodded.

“Ugh, please don’t say that. Ma’am makes me feel ancient.” Saeko grimaced, leaning her forearms against the railing.

Yachi apologized profusely and Kaede laughed lightly at her meekness. That’s when Karasuno came out of the locker room for warm-ups-Saeko immediately dialing in on Tanaka, hollering her praises the moment he was in sight. While he was covering his face in embarrassment Hinata and Nishinoya were waving like madmen in hopes of gaining her attention.

Hinata cheerfully waved to Kaede and Yachi when he spotted them while Nishinoya smirked mischievously, making a heart shape at Kaede with his hands. She groaned, creating one herself before snapping it half to which Nishinoya dramatically dropped his jaw, flinging a hand against his chest in mock horror.

She giggled at his ridiculous performance which seemingly was enough to please him because he went back to focusing on warm-ups.

“So you and Noya got a little something-something going on?” Saeko gave her a once-over and nodded approvingly. “I never imagined he could bag a cutie like you, but I’ll give credit where credit is due.”

“What? No, that’s-” Kaede felt a shudder run down her spine. “I would never date, Noya. My standards aren’t that low.”

Saeko hummed, thrumming her fingers along the railing. “Noya’s a good kid with a lot of love to give, but I think you’ll figure that out.” Saeko ruffled Kaede’s hair, effectively messing up her half-ponytail.

Kaede narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but for her safety didn’t press the matter further. She leaned on the railing, watching Nishinoya carefully as he received with his classic Rolling Thunder-the team erupting in laughter around him.

If Kaede could describe Nishinoya in two words it would be simple-minded and clingy. The exact opposite of anyone she ever pictured herself in a relationship with. Did she think he was attractive? Sometimes. When he was smiling or laughing or focusing really hard on something or zoning out or pouting or… Well that wasn’t the point. The point was they weren’t compatible at all and Saeko had no clue what she was talking about.

Kaede felt a warmth creep up her neck as Nishinoya wrapped his arm around Hinata’s shoulders, a bright smile spread across his lips. She shrank into her shoulders. Right, no clue what she was talking about.

When the match finally began she found her confident facade fading as she clutched Yachi’s hand tightly, her heart pounding at the fast pace of the game. Kaede’s heart swelled with pride when Nishinoya adjusted to their powerful spiker, and ignored Saeko’s knowing glances when she bounced with excitement. The same feeling coursed through her as Hinata’s bright smile overtook his face and as she leaned over to celebrate with the convenience store guy for Yamaguchi’s service ace-she even hugged Yachi with all her might when Tsukishima made an amazing block.

As the ball took its final fall there was a lull in the air before the crowd erupted into cheer. Kaede and Yachi clutched each other tightly, jumping and shouting at their team’s well deserved victory. She felt tears pricking her eyes as she watched the boys dogpile in the center of the court-the third years a tearful mess in disbelief, unable to process they were actually going to nationals.

Kaede grabbed Yachi’s wrist with a final wistful look at the guys before tugging her into the hall so they could congratulate their team. She waited impatiently, bouncing on the balls of her feet, for the doors of the gym to swing open. At the first sign of them opening her and Yachi immediately jumped onto the still smiling team.

“You guys were amazing,” she turned to Hinata, waving her fist in the air. “Your spikes were insane Hinata!”

“Did you see my last one?” He swung his arm downward. “It was totally ‘shabam’, right?”

She nodded her head without a clue what he meant, turning to Yamaguchi to ruffle his hair, “and let’s not forget about you mr. service ace.”

“Stop,” he whined, swatting her hands away with a blush lighting up his freckled cheeks.

Kaede’s excitement grew as everyone raved about each other’s performances and began talking about nationals. Her emotions were near bursting when she spotted Nishinoya wearing a lopsided grin with both hands raised for the high-five she’d promised him.

Kaede rolled her eyes, completely bypassing his hands and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He tensed up momentarily before encircling his arms around her waist.

She squeezed him before pulling back. “You were insane,” she smiled excitedly. “The setting thingy worked and your receives were amazing even though he was left-handed or whatever and everything was great-you were great!”

He stared at her seemingly frozen and she looked around awkwardly at his lengthy pause. Suddenly a cocky smirk made its way onto his lips and Kaede regretted her every decision.

“Setting thingy?” His eyes scanned her face. “Left-handed or whatever?”

“You try to compliment a guy and this is the thanks you-”

“I’m kidding. I’m kidding.” He smiled fondly before pulling her back to his chest, burying his face into the crook of her neck. “Thank you.”

Kaede blinked, loosely replacing her arms around his neck. Saeko’s teasing comments popped into her mind and her heart started beating at an irregular pace. She leaned her head against Nishinoya’s for a brief moment as her chest filled with an unfamiliar warmth.

She supposed Nishinoya wasn’t always terrible. He made her laugh sometimes and he genuinely cared about people and he never seemed to get nervous… she could admit those were decent qualities in a person. Kaede chewed the inside of her cheek as she let herself relax in his hold.

“Are you guys almost finished?” Suga called over,” we’re trying to pick a place to eat. Coaches are paying which means-”

“It’s free?” Nishinoya released her, nearly shoving her aside to get to the group. “We need to find the most expensive meat in the area guys. I’m starving, so maybe a buffet actually.”

Kaede glared at him as he attempted to use Asahi to assist him in bouncing high enough to see the center of the circle. She took a calming breath before joining Kiyoko on the far wall, slouching back with crossed arms. Kaede couldn’t fathom how she almost believed Nishinoya could be anything but obnoxious.

She knew she was right. Saeko had no clue what she was talking about.

*******************************************************************************************

Kaede grumbled as she slumped into the gymnasium after a grueling day of school. She toed off her shoes with an exaggerated sigh, lazily tossing her bag against the wall and sliding down beside it like a ton of bricks rested on her shoulders.

“What’s wrong with you?” Tanaka stood over her while she sluggishly dug out her gym shoes.

“I failed my exam,” she pouted, “couldn’t even answer all the questions.”

Tanaka snorted, “that sucks.”

She groaned, letting her head hang forward and hearing another unwanted set of footsteps approach.

“What’s wrong with her?” Nishinoya asked after a quick once-over.

“She failed an exam.”

“The Calc one?” Nishinoya crouched in front of her, pinching her cheeks to lift her face. “I thought you studied all weekend?”

“I did,” she deadpanned.

He grimaced, “well, if it makes you feel better I fail all the time.”

“Well, you’re an idiot.”

Nishinoya rolled his eyes, switching the pinch to a gentle cradle and leaning forward. “It’s only one exam.”

She started to argue, but he lightly bumped his forehead against hers.

“You’ll be fine,” he smirked. “You’re annoyingly smart, and there’s ways for you to make up the points, right?”

Kaede’s heart was in a frenzy as she nodded.

“See? Nothing to stress about then.”

“Whatever,” she mumbled, avoiding his eyes.

Nishinoya snorted, standing up and turning to the court. “Kinnoshita, send your practice serves to me, okay?”

She watched him run off before turning to Tanaka. “That was weird, right?”

“I honestly can’t tell with you two.”

She narrowed her gaze at Nishinoya, carefully fixing the bangs he’d messed up. She was probably just overanalyzing things because Saeko was still lurking somewhere in her mind and it was best not to think about it. Kaede finished putting her gym shoes on and decided she’d confidently continue on like nothing had happened.

A few days later Kaede was sitting cross-legged against the wall, searching for the phone numbers of coaches for possible practice matches-her first legit manager assignment. Nishinoya had joined her during the team’s allotted break, sitting down and tugging her non-dominant hand in his lap. He played with her fingers and languidly drew patterns against her palm, leaving a tingle blazing up her forearm.

“What are you doing?” She eventually asked when the goose bumps were too strong to ignore.

“It’s too bad you suck at volleyball,” he said, lifting her hand, “cause you have really nice hands.”

She pulled her hand back. “That was the weirdest backhanded compliment I’ve ever gotten.”

“What? I don’t even know what that is.” he whined, reaching for her hand.

She tucked her under her butt and he pouted. “It’s like a hidden insult.” She put the end of her pen on her lip in thought, ignoring how he tugged her arm in an attempt to free her hand from her butt. “It’s like if I told you, ‘too bad you’re so annoying because otherwise you’d be really cute’ or something.”

“You think I’m cute?” He asked with a sly smirk.

Her face flushed red. “What? No, it was an example. I said if I-”

“That’s okay,” he flicked the orange ribbon she used to keep her hair half-up. “I think you’re cute too.”

“I’m not cute.”

“You are,” he stated, standing and stretching to prepare for Daichi calling everyone back to the court. “Now if you’ll excuse me. The most attractive person you’ve ever seen has to get back to practice.”

“That’s not even close to what I-,” she started, but he was already waving her off. Kaede sneered, writing the phone numbers with more force than necessary.

That boy had a death wish and one day she would grant it...

Kaede paced around the next practice staring down at her notebook she’d been studying. She furrowed her brow as she tried to remember terms that Kiyoko had given her, but something felt off.

“I’m starving.”

Her muscles tensed as a familiar whine reached her ears, but unlike usual arms wrapped around her midsection and a chin rested on her shoulder. Kaede side-eyed Nishinoya who was observing the notebook in her hands with a raised brow.

“You’ve been pretty clingy lately,” she pointed out.

“In a good mood,” he reached forward to grab her notebook. “What’s this?”

“None of your business.” She said, moving it out of reach. “Aren’t you worried Kiyoko’s going to get the wrong idea?”

“Nah, I’m stepping down. Giving Tanaka a better chance, ya know?” Nishinoya made a grabbing motion. “I wanna see the book.”

She grumbled, but opened it back up, revealing volleyball terms and definitions along with really poorly drawn stick figures. Nishinoya straightened up, tugging it from her hands. “What is it?”

“I’m trying to learn everything for when Kiyoko leaves.” Kaede mumbled while her face grew red.

He fought back a smile while flipping through pages, “is there a section for liberos?”

Her eyes widened and she reached for the book, “no.”

“So, there is!”

“Stop. Give it back.”

His eyes scanned the pages while she attempted to reach over his shoulder. Eventually he landed on one before turning around with a wicked grin.

“Noya, I swear if you don’t-”

“‘Libero-my favorite position!’,” he read as he dodged her swipes. He flipped it around with an amused smirk, pointing to a stick figure with spiky hair. “Is this supposed to be me?”

“Obviously,” she crossed her arms. “It looks just like you.”

“What’s wrong with my legs?”

“Those are your knee pads!”

He cocked his head to the side, mulling that over. “I guess… I see it?” He scanned both his pages with a furrowed brow before holding out his hand. “A lot of stuff is missing. Do you have a pencil or something?”

Kaede offered him the pen from her track pants and he began writing notes all over the pages. She tried peeking over his shoulder, but he turned away.

“Noya, what are you-”

“Done!” Nishinoya snapped the notebook shut with the pen tucked between the pages. He bopped her on the forehead with it, wearing a fond smile. “Now you can really nerd out.”

Kaede’s cheeks warmed as she took the book back, but before she could thank him Coach Ukai was calling everyone to the court. He ruffled her hair before running off, which annoyingly sent a thrum through her heart.

Kaede chewed the inside of her cheek, opening her notebook to the section that Nishinoya had helped fill out before her expression immediately dropped. He had written majority useful notes, but most noticeable were comments about how libero was the best position and how ‘only attractive people play it’. He even gave his stick figure muscles and encased it in a giant heart. 

No matter how hard Kaede tried to muster her usual frustration-nothing came. Instead she smiled fondly, her fingers trailing across the stupid words, ‘love of my life’ he’d written in the bottom corner with an arrow pointed to his stick figure. She closed her eyes as her stomach rolled with an unfamiliar feeling she didn’t know what to do with.

But Kaede knew one thing… She was screwed.

*******************************************************************************************

Kaede attempted to get through the rest of the week as if nothing had changed. She pretended her eyes weren’t lingering on Nishinoya longer than usual, that her heart wasn’t an uncontrollable mess when he laughed, or that she didn’t light up when he clung to her. Unfortunately, pretending wasn’t good enough and people were beginning to notice-even Nishinoya was giving her weird looks.

Honestly, she was just looking forward to their break since holidays were finally here. She needed time away from everyone to overthink her life choices.

Coach Ukai’s abrupt clap brought her back to reality where Nishinoya had been running his fingers through her hair while they stood in an end of practice huddle. Everyone was dispersing and Kaede looked around panicked, having zoned out and missing everything he said.

“He assigned daily work-outs for over break,” she heard Nishinoya begin, turning around confused, “he said Kiyoko should’ve given you tasks if you had any, and Kinnoshita, Suga, and Yamaguchi were assigned cleaning tonight.” Nishinoya smiled affectionately.

“Oh-I-uh-thank you.” She cringed at herself, but Nishinoya just saluted and left for his duffel bag.

“Th-th-thank you, Nishinoya…” Tanaka came up beside her with his hands clasped. “You’re so cute and funny and I loooooovvve-ow!”

She punched his arm as warmth crept up her neck. “I don’t sound like that!”

“You definitely do.”

She glanced at Nishinoya, then covered her mouth from his sight before saying, “do I really?”

“Don’t worry. Nishinoya’s as dumb as you.” Tanaka rolled his eyes before walking toward the other’s. “You could wear an ‘I love Nishinoya’ t-shirt and he still wouldn’t get it.”

She pouted at the insult, but was reassured by Nishinoya’s apparent obliviousness. Kaede followed Tanaka to the benches and plopped down beside Nishinoya who’d put his stuff by hers at the start of practice. It took all of her focus to not look at him, especially when she could see him sneaking peeks at her.

“Does anyone have plans for Christmas?” Daichi questioned further down the bench.

“Saeko’s forcing me to look at lights with her,” Tanaka’s shoulders slumped. “If I could just get a date I wouldn’t have to deal with her dragging me around.”

“I’m taking Natsu to see lights, too.” Hinata said, tossing a volleyball between his hands. “I don’t mind hanging out with her though.”

“That’s because the only thing you think about is volleyball, Hinata.” Ennoshita ruffled his hair and Hinata’s face turned red.

“Not true!”

“Nishinoya and Kaede are probably the only ones with actual plans.” Asahi chuckled, causing Nishinoya to choke on the water he’d been guzzling.

“Yeah, what are you guys doing?” Daichi asked.

Kaede looked over, surprised that so many of them were curious about her plans. “Um, I haven’t really thought about it yet. Lights are cool. Maybe food, who knows.”

“Seriously? You haven’t planned anything?” Asahi crossed his arms. “That doesn’t sound like Noya.”

Nishinoya looked between everyone panicked while Kaede’s eyes flickered toward a snickering Tanaka. “I mean, I don’t know what Noya’s doing. So, maybe he has plans?”

“I’m confused,” Hinata frowned. “Are you guys not hanging out on Christmas?”

“No,” Kaede felt warmth spreading across her cheeks. “Why would we-”

“Heh, good jokes guys.” Nishinoya grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bench. “We gotta go though, so I think that’s-”

“You’re dating though...” Hinata looked at Kageyama. “People hang out on Christmas when they’re dating, right?”

“Obviously, idiot.” He turned to Daichi and whispered. “They do, right?”

Daichi nodded.

Kaede’s jaw went slack at the accusation as Nishinoya continued to yank her toward the exit. “What? We’re not dating!” She tried to remain in place, but Nishinoya tugged harder. “Why would you think that?”

“Well, Nishinoya said you guys were in-”

“Wow, this has been a great time,” Nishinoya cut him off as they reached the door. “I really appreciate this guys. Unfortunately, we’re leaving. Have a good break or something...”

After he dragged her a good distance from the gymnasium she tugged her hand out of his strong grasp. “What the hell was that?”

“Not sure what you're talking about…”

“That!” She gestured wildly in the direction of the gym behind them. “They’re going to think we’re dating.”

Nishinoya facepalmed, “I promise you that doesn’t bother me.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t-” Kaede’s fists clenched as he continued walking without her. “Get back here!”

She caught up quickly and grabbed his hand, pulling him around to face her. He observed her scowl and furrowed his brow in frustration, attempting to pull his hand out of her grip.

“It doesn’t matter,” he claimed, avoiding her eyes, but Kaede knew that was bull shit. She tried to take a step closer, but he kept awkwardly stepping back until he hit a wall and a blush spread to his cheeks.

Kaede’s heart was in a frenzy at their position, but she wasn’t going to flake out now. She dropped his hand to place her’s beside his head so he couldn’t walk away from her anymore.

“Explain.” She demanded.

“Mizuki, it’s really hard to think when you’re pinning me against-”

“Try,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re being weird.”

“I’m being weird?” His eyebrows rose in disbelief. “You've been acting weird all week!”

Kaede felt her cheeks warming as her confident facade wavered. “Well, that’s not what this is about. We’re talking about you here.”

He dragged a hand down his face before giving her a once-over, “do you actually not know?”

“Not know what?”

He glanced down nervously, “I like you, Mizuki.”

She blinked once. Twice. Then her arm fell limp to her side. “Oh,” she breathed out.

“Yeah, like, I really really really like you.”

“I-uh-heard the first time, Noya.” She said, staring at his feet. She supposed this had been what Tanaka meant by Noya was as stupid as she was.

“Right, sorry, it just felt really good to say.”

Kaede’s heart was pounding and she was surprised Nishinoya hadn’t pointed out the noise. It was so loud she couldn’t focus. Her stomach was rolling in that weird way again that she couldn’t tell was nausea or butterflies-maybe both.

“When did-”

“Shiratorizawa I guess...” His face scrunched in thought. “I mean, maybe before that. I don’t know, it feels so weird... “ He rubbed his chest. “A good weird. Just a different weird.”

She nodded understandingly. Nishinoya also made her feel all sorts of weird. He lifted his hand toward her face, but hesitated when he neared her cheek, dropping it back to his side.

Kaede frowned, staring longingly at the hand that normally wouldn’t have hesitated to hold her. She chewed the inside of her cheek before mustering up the courage to lace her fingers with his. Nishinoya’s eyes had watched her gaze carefully, tracking her intense stare with hopeful eyes.

He lightly swung their hands with a dopey smile. “You’re cute.”

“I’m not,” she furrowed her brow, a light blush painting her cheeks.

He pressed his forehead against hers with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You are.”

Kaede pouted at how out of control her heart was at him simply squeezing her hand and from the almost cocky look in his eyes he could probably tell. Her eyes flickered down briefly and she raised her brow contemplatively.

“I feel like someone who wears a ribbon everyday has no right to claim that they aren’t-”

“Noya, I’m going to kiss you,” she interrupted.

His jaw went slack and he froze in disbelief. Kaede smirked slyly at the reaction she’d been hoping for as she guided his face closer, holding him a breath away.

He blinked back to reality, “are you sure? I mean I would love that so much, but are you absolutely sure? Because that’s like an actual thing that-”

Kaede closed the gap, pressing her lips against his to stop his rambling-whatever he’d been saying getting lost in their kiss. They had an awkward position at first, but once realization struck Nishinoya he quickly adjusted, sliding his hand up and tangling his fingers in her hair. She tried to remain focused, but as Nishinoya wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close she couldn’t help the bubble of laughter that escaped her.

Nishinoya pulled back, embarrassment striking his face as he searched her eyes.

“You’re laughing,” he stated, slightly out of breath. “Was it bad? I’ve never kissed someone. It was bad, wasn’t it?

“No, it wasn’t-I just-,” she giggled, leaning forward hiding her face in his chest. It hadn’t been bad. The kiss had just been so Nishinoya-diving head first, putting everything into it with no experience. Kaede couldn’t help it.

Nishinoya cradled the side of her face and lifted her to face him, smiling at her with more affection than she’d ever thought capable. He ran his thumb along her bottom lip before leaning forward to capture her lips again. This time he went slowly, from pulling her close to the press of his lips everything felt thought out.

When he pulled back, rubbing his nose against hers he whispered, “better?”

“Uh-huh,” she squeaked, face a brilliant shade of pink.

“This is good, right?” He furrowed his brow in question. “Kissing is usually a good sign.”

Kaede’s lips quirked into a small smile as she pressed her forehead against his, eyes soft as they scoured his face. “Yeah,” she rubbed her thumb along his cheek. “It’s a really good sign.”

“Cool,” he smiled dopily, leaning against her touch. “So, wanna go out this weekend?”

Kaede rolled her eyes, giving him a quick peck.

“Is that a yes?”

“Nope,” she said, stepping back and walking away backward. He blinked a few times before following her.

“What do you mean no?” Nishinoya pouted.

She stuck her tongue out and pivoted around a smile forcing its way on her face when Nishinoya caught up, interlocking their hands together. “I guess I’ll think about it.”

“Think about it!?”

Kaede swung their hands happily as Nishinoya ranted to her about her audacity while she unknowingly walked him to the nearest ramen shop. She was hungry, so why wait for the weekend when they could just go out now?

She glanced over to Nishinoya’s pouting face as he listed off reasons he should be allowed a date and rolled her eyes. Kaede relished in the warmth consuming her chest as she listened to him, allowing herself the happiness she’d been pushing back for so long. This was nice.

Being with him like this… She liked this. She liked him.

And she was happy she had finally figured that out.

[thelibrarianintraining]

The Division - Part Two - Chapter Six

Author: @thelibrarianintraining

Title: “Die For You”

Word Count: 2,314

Warnings: angst (and lots of it)

Summary: With the information that she obtained from Felix, Eve finds where Aksel is keeping Mitch.

Masterlist

Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven

The address took Eve to a house a few miles from the outskirts of Amsterdam. It was far enough from other people that Aksel could conduct his illegal activities without any neighbors raising the alarm. It was also far enough out that Aksel apparently felt safe leaving it with minimal security. Although it was also possible that news of Felix’s murder had already reached him and that was what had drawn him away. That was the best case scenario, of course. She wouldn’t let herself think about the possibility that Mitch might not be there anymore. She wouldn’t let herself believe that anyone could’ve killed him.

She spotted two guards watching the cellar door, but that was it. Aksel didn’t appear too concerned about anyone coming after the assassin he’d taken. His concern seemed to lie with the assassin escaping. She couldn’t say that she blamed him, but if he’d been smart and a little less arrogant, he would’ve prepared for both possibilities.

Unfortunately for her half-brother, someone had come for the assassin. A very well-trained someone. His rural retreat and lack of security would make her job way easier. If no one could see or hear all the bad stuff that Aksel was up to, then they definitely wouldn’t see or hear her put two bullets into his guards. She fired on the two guards and they both dropped to the ground. She waited, listening for back up, but after a few minutes of nothing, she decided that it was safe to move forward.

She rushed across the yard, trying to keep low to the ground, thankful for the cover of night. She peeked around the corner of the house double-checking for any other men. Seeing none, she readied her gun and lifted one of the cellar doors, slipping inside and closing it behind her.

The cellar was chilly and dark. She slipped her penlight out of her pocket and turned it on, supporting the hand holding the gun on the hand that held the light as she scanned the room. The wall to the left held tools, probably for torture purposes and the right wall held canned goods. The far wall, however, had a metal door secured with a padlock. Luckily, she’d spotted bolt cutters on the left wall. Once again it was obvious that they were more concerned about Rapp escaping. She couldn’t say that their concern had been misplaced, but they really shouldn’t have ruled the other possibilities.

She cut the padlock open and set the bolt cutters to the side. She took a deep breath in order to prepare herself for whatever was to come next, even though she knew that it might be something that she could never be prepared for. Her gun was ready as she pulled open the door. Another dark cold room waited behind it. She lifted her penlight and it immediately landed on the prisoner in the middle of the room.

“Mitch?” she breathed. He was stripped bare, bruises covering his body, his dark hair matted with what she could only assume was blood. His arms and legs were chained to the chair. His chin was resting on his chest, a trail of  dried blood running down it, and Eve took a shaky breath as she took a step closer. She feared the worst. What would she do if she was too late? She pushed that thought away. He had to be okay. “Mitch?”

He slowly lifted his head to look at her and she let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his dark eyes. Her fear momentarily dissipated. He stared at her for a long moment, squinting as he tried to focus, his eyes needing time to adjust to the light.

“Eve?” His voice was rougher than usual, the familiar gravelly quality of it changed to something that sounded almost painful.

“Hey, baby,” she whispered, rushing to him, cupping his face in her hands as she searched his eyes. She was completely overwhelmed with relief and she realized that despite all her efforts not to think about it, she’d been terrified that she wouldn’t make it to him in time. He blinked at her.

“Eve?”

“Yeah, it’s me, Mitch.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m gonna get you out of here, all right?”

“No, you gotta go. If they come back while you’re here…” It was like he suddenly came to his senses. His whole demeanor changing.

“I’m not leaving you here, Mitch.”

“They know you killed one of their guys. If they find you here, they’ll kill you, Eve. You gotta go.” He was practically begging her, something that he’d never done before, but she ignored it. There was no way in hell that she was leaving him behind. She wasn’t going anywhere without him.

She huffed and got to her feet, running back to the other room to grab the bolt cutters so that she could free him. She made quick work of the chains, but lifting him to his feet was a struggle. He was leaning heavily on her, apparently even weaker than he looked. And despite, the loss of weight, he was still pretty heavy. She tucked her gun back into it’s holster so that she could use both hands to get a better grip on him so that he wouldn’t fall.

“You shouldn’t have come,” he muttered as she half dragged him out of the cellar. “I can’t believe that Hurley sent you.”

“He didn’t,” she replied. They were slowly making their way to where she’d hidden the stolen car in the woods, but it was a struggle. She’d never really thought about how heavy Mitch actually was. If he fell, she was going down with him.

“Have you lost your mind?” he snapped.Eve was silent for a long time. She was a little agitated with him, but she tried to keep in mind that she had no idea what he’d been through while she was searching for him. If the marks that covered every inch of his skin were any indication, she wasn’t sure that she actually wanted to know. She was, in truth, surprised that he was still able to keep himself upright.

“You’d do the same for me. I’d do anything to make sure that you were okay. Do you hear me, Mitch?” she asked quietly as they reached the car. “Anything.”

He didn’t say anything and she yanked the car door open, helping him into the backseat and tugging a blanket from the floor to cover him. She didn’t want to know what it’s purpose had been before, but right now, she really just needed to make sure that Mitch stayed warm. She tossed it over him and then ran to the driver’s side and blasted the heat to warm him up.

Part of her was filled with unimaginable joy with the knowledge that he was still alive and right there with her. The other part was aching. He hadn’t wanted her to come after him. He hadn’t thought that she was capable of rescuing him. Mitch had doubted her and that hurt worse than him asking her if she’d lost her mind. It hurt worse than the silence that came along with it. He wasn’t proud or disappointed. He was just unreachable.

Getting Mitch into hotel was a whole other struggle though. She’d tried to come up with something the whole way back to Amsterdam and had circled the block twice before she finally decided that she’d have to stop somewhere and get him clothes. There was no way that she was sneaking a naked, badly beaten man into the hotel without someone raising the alarm. It didn’t matter what side of the city they were on, someone would question it, and it just so happened that she was staying on the nicer side of town.

Her options were limited so early in the morning though. By the time she found a place, it was almost time for all the shops to start opening anyway.

She nudged Rapp awake and pressed a gun into his hand before running into the store to buy clothes for him. When she returned, she took the gun and handed him a bottle of water, which he gladly emptied. She placed the bag of clothes into his lap so that he could start changing and slid into the driver’s seat.

“Thanks.” It was the first that he’d spoken since he’d asked her if she’d lost her mind and she hesitated before she glanced into the rearview mirror, their eyes locking.

“Of course,” she replied. “We’ll get some food at the hotel, all right?”

“Yeah,” he responded as he tugged the black sweatshirt over his head. She glanced back up into the mirror a few minutes later to find him wiping as much of the blood and grime from his face and hair as he could. She looked away when his searing brown eyes met hers. Something between them had been fractured, or she hoped it was just fractured. Fractures took little time to heal, but if they were broken, she didn’t know what she would do. She didn’t know if she could fix broken or how long it would take if she could.

She would never have been able to live with herself, if she’d let something happen to him, but he seemed unable to accept that she’d come for him. He seemed almost disappointed though which of them he was disappointed by she wasn’t sure.

Rapp let out a hiss as the hot water seeped into his fresh wounds, stinging them as it soaked away some of the grime. Eve stepped into the shower behind him. Leaving him alone for more than a few seconds was apparently making her feel uneasy. She was treating him like he was a fragile child and he hated it. This wasn’t how Eve was supposed to treat him. He wasn’t a baby. He was a grown ass man. He was an assassin. He could take care of himself.

“Eve, I’m fine. I’ll be okay,” he assured her as he turned to face her. He wasn’t angry with her really. He didn’t actually mind her attentions. He was angry with himself. He didn’t like feeling weak. He didn’t like feeling helpless.

“I know, Mitch. I just want to help. I know you don’t need me to, but let me. Please?”

He tried to use her words to make himself feel better. She didn’t think he was weak. She didn’t think that he was incapable. She just wanted to help. He nodded and clenched his teeth as she went over every cut and bruise with a warm, wet cloth until he was clean of all the blood and the sweat and the dirt from the cellar.

He tipped her chin up when she was done and kissed her gently. His lip was busted and the gesture was painful, but he needed it and he was sure that she needed it too. He just needed some kind of assurance that at least one thing was still going right. And after the things he’d said and the way he’d treated her since she’d showed up and saved his ass, even though he hated to admit it, he needed to assure her that nothing had changed.

She lightly trailed her fingertips over his bruised jaw as he pulled away and looked up at him with a sigh. He knew that he should thank her for saving him, but it’d take him a little while to admit to the fact that he’d actually needed her to in the first place. He knew that he should tell her that he’d missed her and that he was happy to see her, but it just didn’t feel like the right time.

Her fingertips moved over him tenderly, avoiding all the cuts and bruises as she traced them over his body. Her hands lingered as they reached the trail of hair on his stomach and she looked back up at him. She pulled away and stood on the tip of her toes to give him a quick kiss.

“I’ll order you something to eat, baby. Don’t stay in here too long,” she whispered and stepped out of the shower. He started to reach out and grab her, but thought better of it. He wasn’t sure that he was up for that kind of thing and he wasn’t really sure that it would help the situation even if he was. She slipped into a robe and then left the bathroom.

He rushed through the rest of his shower and returned to the suite, where Eve was waiting to dress the worst of his wounds.

The bed felt like heaven when he was finally able to lie down, sinking into the mattress and pillows. The hotel was definitely nothing compared to Eve’s usual choices, but after the ordeal that he’d been through, it was comparable to a five-star island resort.

Eve slipped under the sheets next to him after she got out of the shower, but she didn’t scoot in too close. Obviously, she was afraid of hurting him, but he wanted nothing more than for her to curl up in his arms and the whole world to feel right again. Even if the feeling only lasted until the morning, when he’d have to go out and finish the mission no matter how much pain he was in.

He closed the space between them and wrapped one of his arms firmly around her, holding her close and breathing in the smell of her shampoo. It was something sweet and vaguely familiar. She snuggled in closer this time and he sighed in relief as he closed his eyes. For the moment they were safe. He fell into a restful sleep for the first time in what felt like an eternity.