#he threw himself out of a window to avoid her and proceeded to attack her with children. its a logical next step imo

[oatmealcrisp-freak]

Thinks saiki deserves to look at teruhashi, open his mouth, and scream like that kid from the grudge.

[faulty-writes]

If or when you're ready, I have a request please. A Bakugou VS Mirio scenario where both the boys end up having to stay in the hospital after a mission, and they have to share a room (oh no). And then the reader arrives, to dote on them because her heart can't take knowing they're probably in pain! Bakugou puts on a tough act like it's no big deal so she'll see how heroic he is, but Mirio's probably torn between wanting to assure his sunshine that he's fine and wanting to be babied.

[ Oh dear...this will be fun to write. ]

When you heard that Katsuki and Mirio were returning from a mission, you had expected them to have minor injuries as many heroes did. However, you hadn’t expected the two of them to share a hospital room.

“So, do you know if they have any broken bones?” you asked Izuku who shyly glanced down. The members of Class A were always there when one of their own got hurt and in a way, it was touching. “Well, they both seem fine,” he replied before Kaminari shook his head.

“Are you kidding? Bakugou looked pissed! I’m surprised he didn’t end up attacking Kirishima,” he said as he pointed to the redhead who merely gave his pointy-toothed smile. A chuckle then came as he reached up to rub the back of his head.

“Well, you know Bakubro. I’m sure he’d appreciate a visit from Y/n,” he concluded and you took a step back as several eyes turned on you. “Um…” it seemed everyone knew of your odd relationship between Katsuki and Mirio and the constant battle for your affection.

“W-What makes you think that?” you questioned before Kaminari stepped forward, invading your space much to your dislike. “He totally likes you, that’s why!” he declared and you found yourself at a loss for words.

“Is that true?” Eijirou questioned excitedly as he took a step closer to you. “I mean…” you trailed off, glancing at Izuku as if silently begging for help. “Maybe...Kacchan would like a visit from you?” he said in a hushed voice and you let out a sigh. ‘Thanks, Izuku’ you thought before shaking your head.

“I don’t know, whenever I’m around Bakugou and Togata, things get a little...weird,” you rubbed the back of your neck, uncertain if you actually wanted to visit them. It would be rude not to, but it would also avoid a headache. “Ah!” you stumbled forward when Eijirou pulled your arm.

“Come on!” he encouraged you. “Yeah! I wanna hear what happens after you visit them!” Kaminari stated as he grabbed your other arm. “W-Wait a minute!” you tried to dig your feet into the floor, ignoring the looks of nurses and doctors alike as you were dragged past them.

"Help!" you cried as you bent your head back, watching as your so-called 'friends' allowed the two boys to drag you away. Izuku was standing there looking too nervous to do anything while Uraraka held a hand over her mouth and Kyoka shook her head in disappointment.

“Guys I really don’t think this is-'' Eijirou interrupted you. “Too late!” he said before looking at Kaminari and the two exchanged a nod before pushing you forward. You stumbled and a soft growl rumbled in your throat. “Hey!” you exclaimed as you watched them dash down the hallway.

You sighed, bringing your hand up to press against your forehead. Well, it wasn’t like you had much of a choice now. Somehow or another you knew you were bound to find yourself in another situation involving the two blonds. You took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob.

The butterflies in your stomach seemed to increase as you slowly opened the door. “Why don’t you just shut the hell up, damn it!” came Katsuki’s voice. You should be used to it by now, but somehow it still threw you off. Then you heard Mirio’s chuckle which caused you to turn your head.

Your jaw clenched when you noticed his bandage wrappings, though they were only visible on his forearms and part of his exposed chest. You turned back to Katsuki, much like Mirio he was covered in wrappings. But he had one of his legs in a cast.

“Uh…hello,” you said, waving your hand at the pair and effectively catching their attention. Mirio’s reaction was what you’d expect, happy-eyed and beaming with a bright smile. “Hi sunshine!” he said, which caused Katsuki to scoff. “What the hell are you doing here?” he questioned, though his glance softened as he looked at you.

“I’m glad you’re here!” Mirio chirped in which you were partly grateful for considering you felt a tad awkward. But nonetheless, you began walking over to him. You swore you could hear faint growls coming from Katsuki, but you tried to ignore it as you came to stand by Mirio’s bed.

“How are you feeling?” you questioned as you reached over to touch his arm, he gave a smile and was quick to lay his hand over yours. You could feel the warmth that came from his palm and it made you smile. “I’m better now that you’re here sunshine!” he said in a cheery tone and you couldn’t help but chuckle.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes, another growl rumbling his throat as he watched you and Mirio interact. “Damn extra doesn’t know when to shut the hell up,” he muttered, obviously not caring that you were present in the room.

But, that was just like Katsuki. Since you met him, he always had a brutal sense of honesty. You felt Mirio’s hand tighten over yours as you continued to look at Katsuki with a raised eyebrow. “You two aren’t getting along?” you questioned and only received another scoff in response.

“Why the hell would I get along with him!?” Katsuki snapped and you turned back to look at Mirio who gave a sheepish smile. “I guess it is kind of weird, but Bakugou and I get along fine!” he stated confidently and Katsuki’s eyebrow twitched, you swore you heard the sound of his teeth grinding together.

“Um…” you weren’t sure how to respond, luckily Katsuki seemed to know what to do to break through the silence and you yelped when the sound of explosions filled the air. You could smell the faint lingering smoke that now seeped from the palm of his hand.

Yours was currently fisted into the front of your shirt and you felt the pressure of Mirio’s arm across your back. You turned to look over your shoulder and froze when you saw the glare Katsuki was sporting, it could turn you to stone.

The steel railing that was attached to the side of the angry blond’s bed was now covered in soot and his sheets were thrown to the side. “Bakugou?” you questioned as he started to move, his jaw clenched as he scooted himself closer and closer to the edge of the bed.

It was obvious he was having trouble with his leg considering it was in a cast and you couldn't help yourself. Your body seemed to react quicker than your mind and you found yourself by his side. Mirio frowned as you dashed away and folded his hands on his lap.

“Bakugou!” you exclaimed as you dared to grasp his shoulders in an effort to keep him in place. “Get the hell off of me, damn it!” he growled and while you were a little scared, you swallowed your fear back. You were a hero and Katsuki was no scarier than any of the villains you had faced thus far.

“No!” you replied and tried to force him back onto the bed, but he continued to squirm. “You’re going to hurt yourself!” you tried to reason with him and he stopped for a brief moment before turning his head and letting out a soft, “Pff” sound.

He then reached up to smack your hands off his shoulders. “Whatever,” he said as he finally laid back in his bed. You were partly grateful you got him to stop, but you were a little worried about what he was planning to do if he got back up. Still, you reached down and gently lifted his cast-up leg onto the bed.

You noticed the way he clenched his jaw, and how his body tensed up. “Bakugou, does this hurt?” you questioned, but you were only greeted with his glare in return. “I’ll take that as a yes,” you muttered before taking a seat on his bed.

“You know, you don’t have to be afraid to tell me if something hurts,” you knew that wasn’t the best set of words, especially considering that Katsuki continued to glare at you. After a few moments, he turned to face the window.

“Hm?” you curiously turned your head as well, taking note of the sky that was colored orange and red. Was it that late? “Do you like sunsets?” you questioned as you turned back to look at him. Katsuki now had his arms crossed over his chest and that same scowl across his face.

You latched onto your lip, “They’re okay…” Katsuki muttered before he looked at you, then his hand shot out and grasped your shirt collar. “Ah!” you cried out as you were pulled down and felt a small rush of fear when you found yourself staring into his eyes which were currently filled with anger.

“Tell anyone and I’ll blast your damn face off!” he snapped and more cries escaped as he proceeded to shake you about. You reached up to wrap your fingers around his wrist in an effort to get him to stop.

“Hey! Be easy on them, it’s not nice to treat them like...a bag of chips?” Katsuki stopped but still kept a secure hold on your collar while the attention in the room turned to Mirio who stood there rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

“Bag of chips?” you questioned before reaching up to tear Katsuki’s hand away. “You’re going to injure yourself again if you try to get out of bed with that broken leg,” you said with a slight growl before you turned to Mirio and reached out to grab his shoulder. “Come on,” you said as you guided him back to his bed.

“Both of you need to stay put,” you ordered, but Katsuki rolled his eyes yet again. “I’m fine! Quit worrying, damn it,” you pressed your lips together in a frown, your eyebrows coming down to complete the overall disappointed look on your face.

Mirio glanced between you and Katsuki, a little disappointed in himself that you seemed stressed at the moment. He reached out, gently touching the side of your arm. “Hm?” you turned to look at him, somewhat feeling at ease as he smiled at you.

“I think what Bakugou means is, your concern is appreciated but people have kind of been worrying about us enough today. Not that I don’t appreciate it or anything!” he exclaimed, slightly panicked. “Don’t talk for me, hedge head!” Katsuki snarled with a held-up fist.

You were worried he’d try to use his quirk again and proceeded to run over to him. Clasping your hands around that fist which only seemed to anger him and for a moment you worried about being the third addition to the hospital.

“Why don’t we try talking without yelling?” you suggested as you felt the sweat begin to drip down your forehead, Katsuki growled in response before jerking his hand to the side. You glanced away, bringing your hands back to fold against your chest.

Silence filled the room for a moment before you spoke up once more. “Are either of you hungry?” you questioned, you knew from experience that while healthy. The food provided by the hospital wasn’t always the best and despite the setting sun, you could still order take-out.

Mirio seemed to like the idea and instantly sprang up in his bed, another big grin across his face. “That sounds amazing sunshine!” he said, prompting you to turn your head. You gave a soft chuckle before turning back to Katsuki who was still wearing a scowl and otherwise seemed unhappy.

“Well that’s one, how about you Bakugou?” you questioned and got another scoff in response which made you sigh. “How does pizza sound?” you reached into your pocket and pulled out your phone, waving the device back and forth.

Katsuki’s expression seemed to change slightly and he glanced up at you, but his lips remained sealed shut. Mirio on the other hand was more verbal. “Pizza!” he shouted as he raised both hands above his head, though not without a wince or two.

“You better be careful,” you warned him, so far Katsuki had already tried to get out of bed with a broken leg while Mirio had gotten up and walked around. Though you weren’t sure exactly how they were feeling, you knew if a nurse or doctor came into the room and saw the two of them out of bed, there was a chance you’d be blamed.

Somehow you always seemed to be dragged into some type of trouble whenever you were around the two. “Just call for the damn pizza!” Katsuki snapped and once more caused you to frown. “Fine…” you muttered before taking a deep breath. “I’ll be right back,” you said before bowing and turning to walk out the door.

You just prayed they’d both still be alive by the time you walked back inside the room. Regardless, you let your mind wander a minute before you ordered the food. It was almost ironic how the three of you always seemed to navigate towards each other, was it some type of magnetism? You weren’t sure.

A sigh came once you lowered the phone, allowing your hand to rest against your thigh as you glanced out one of the windows in front of you. The light outside was completely faded and you could make out a few faint stars in the distance.

‘I wonder if they are looking at the stars too,’ you turned your head back, glancing at the door. ‘I better check on them’ taking a quick peek at your phone, you estimated the time the pizza would arrive before deciding to enter the room once more. Of course, you shouldn’t have been surprised when you saw the scene before you.

“Yeah!? Why don’t you shut the hell up and actually say what you want to!? Damn coward!” Katsuki’s angry voice echoed, followed by Mirio's nervous laugh because of the fact that Katsuki had a tight grip on the collar of his hospital gown. “Heh, angry as ever I see,” Mirio commented which caused Katsuki's hair to stand on end.

"What the hell did you say!?" you were standing in the doorway, clenching your phone in your hand as you took the scene in. Mirio seemed to be the first one to notice you. “Hi, Y/n! Thanks for ordering!” he said with a bright smile as if everything were normal and he didn’t have Katsuki’s hand curled into his hospital gown.

“Hm?” Katsuki paused before turning his head to look at you. His jaw clenched and he could feel the slight ache course through his teeth before he released Mirio. “Pff, whatever. Damn extra,” he muttered as he turned to walk back to his bed, or at least try to.

He dragged his casted leg along the floor before you stumbled in front of him with your hands held up, indicating him to stop. “Get the hell out of my way!” Katsuki snapped as he reached over to grab your arm causing you to cry out.

“Hey!” you said as he attempted to shove you out of the way, but you were quick to reach out for him in turn. Your hand curled into the back of his hospital gown and you pulled yourself closer. “What the hell are you doing?!” Katsuki snapped as he glared at you from over his shoulder.

“Uh…” you didn’t have an answer for him, instead you found yourself pressing against him and wrapped your arms around his shoulders. “Please don’t walk with your injury,” your words were soft and slightly desperate as you whispered them into Katsuki’s ear.

You felt his once tense body relax some, but you missed that confused look that played across his face. He knew you were concerned about him, yeah. You were concerned about everyone, always wasting your energy and time on extras that didn’t deserve it.

He could feel the pain radiate up his leg and while he was partly thankful it was in a cast, he’d much prefer life without it. More than likely he’d continue to try and move even while in pain. Somehow, he knew you knew that, or else you wouldn’t be trying to stop him like you were.

“Why the hell do you care?” he muttered, but yet again he knew the answer. His hands curled into fists, he hated feeling...no, appearing weak. He was supposed to be the strongest, the next number one hero. His body trembled and you could hear Mirio move on his bed, the subtle squeaks of the mattress echoing.

You immediately turned your head, “Don’t move!” you snapped as you pointed a finger at him, unintentionally making him jump. “Oh uh...sorry sunshine, it just looked like you could use some help,” you let out a sigh. “I don’t need you to get injured too!” you said before feeling Katsuki tense up once more.

“Bakugou…” you said as you turned back to rest your chin against his shoulder. “I’m going to help you back to your bed,” you insisted. “I don’t need your help!” Katsuki snapped and you felt your stomach twist with anger. “I wasn’t asking, I was telling. Now come on,” the words came out of your mouth with a hiss and you stepped back.

Katsuki seemed surprised by your tone, those normally angry slit eyes widened slightly as you stepped in front of him. You slipped your phone into your back pocket and reached out to take his hand, threading your fingers together.

You watched as Katsuki glanced over at your conjoined hands and a moment later, you felt his fingers tightened around your hand. Almost like he was silently telling you not to let go or rather making sure you wouldn’t. Then your other hand reached out, grasping onto the curve of his hip.

That’s when Katsuki frowned. “What do you think you’re doing?” he questioned, his voice flat and you could hear the slightly annoyed tone that carried through it. But you paid it no mind, only glanced up at him. “Helping you,” the explanation left your mouth in a blunt fashion.

“Now grab onto my hip,” you instructed. You heard a growl, but Katsuki followed through. Though you felt him dig his nails into you, more than likely another indication he wasn’t happy with following your instructions.

But at the moment you didn’t care, rather you took a step back and began to guide him safely to the bed. Once there, you helped him sit down and Katsuki’s eyes locked on you as you gently placed your hands underneath his cast.

“Ready?” you questioned, watching as the blond turned away from you. His jaw clenched but his teeth were visible in their normal snarl. You almost wanted to sigh again, but instead, you moved his legs without warning. “Hey, watch it!” he hissed, his body slightly trembling and while part of you felt bad.

You crossed your arms, “Maybe if you weren't so stubborn and accepted help instead of trying to go off on your own, this wouldn’t be happening,” you replied. But you knew you sounded more like you were scolding a young child, then again if that’s how Katsuki was acting.

You then placed your hands on your thighs and leaned down, watching yet again as Katsuki’s expression changed. “It’s okay to ask for help if you’re in pain,” you tried to reason with him again which had his hands tightening into fists.

“I’m not in pai-” his words were interrupted when your phone began to vibrate. “Hm?” you reached back, pulling it from your pocket to see who it was. You blinked and slid to answer, “Hello,” you said and realized it was the pizza delivery. “Huh?” you blinked and pulled your phone back to glance at the time.

“That was quick…” you muttered before pressing the phone back against your ear. “Yeah, I’ll be there shortly. Thank you,” you hung up and glanced at Katsuki, then you turned your attention to Mirio who sat on his bed with his legs crossed and a smile on his face. You almost didn’t want to leave them alone again.

“Can I trust you two not to kill each other if I leave to get the pizza?” you crossed your arms, letting your foot tap against the ground. Mirio looked confused, tilting his head to one side before he shrugged. “I won't, sunshine,” he replied before looking over at Katsuki who much like you, had his arms across his chest.

“What about you, Bakugou?” he questioned enthusiastically, a smile coming to his face shortly after. The angry blond remained silent and you had no choice but to take that as a yes. “I’ll be right back, I’m counting on you two,” you said as you waved them goodbye and headed to get the pizza.

You could only imagine the look on some people’s faces as they saw a delivery man standing outside the hospital doors holding two pizza boxes. But even so, you made your way to the entrance. Though you noticed your classmates weren't around, had they left already? How nice, you’d certainly make sure to scold Eijirou and Kaminari when you got back. If you got back.

After you had paid for the pizza and returned to the room, you were slightly relieved to see that the boys were behaving. “I got the pizza!” you said with a smile and Mirio raised one fist above his head. “Heck yeah!” he called out and Katsuki merely turned his head. “Do you need help with them sunshine?” Mirio questioned.

“They carried it all this way hedge head, why the hell would they need help now!?” Katsuki snapped and you almost expected him to get out of bed once more. “Uh…” you chuckled before walking over to Mirio. “Here, take one,” you instructed before walking over to Katsuki with the remaining pizza box. “I hope you like it,” you said, but your words seemed to get brushed off.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he responded before taking it. The aroma of melted cheese and spice filled the air, “It smells wonderful,” you commented before hearing Mirio cry out and immediately turned your head to see him fanning his tongue. You raised your eyebrow and walked over.

“Too hot?” you questioned, watching with some amusement as Mirio wiggled his tongue and looked at you with his slightly watered-over eyes. You glanced down to look inside the pizza box only to discover there was indeed a slice of pizza absurdly thrown back into it, resting on top of the rest of the pie.

Not only that but there was a clear bite taken out of the slice. You lowered the lid and moved the box aside before taking a seat on the bed. “Let me see,” you reached out to grasp his chin. “Hm!?” he seemed surprised by your action but you were only trying to observe his now burnt tongue.

“It looks a little red,” you said as you dropped your hand and gave a sympathetic smile. “Would you like me to get you a cup of cold water?” Mirio blinked, he knew he’d be fine without the cold water. But somehow, he found himself being a little selfish for your attention.

A quick glance at Katsuki revealed the other blond wasn't paying attention. Rather he had the pizza box across his lap, a slice of pizza was in his hand and he seemed to be eating it without a problem. His head was turned and Mirio assumed he was looking outside, even though there wasn’t much to see considering it was dark.

He looked back at you, shaking his head which confused you. He pulled his tongue back into his mouth and instead, raised his arms. You knew he was indicating he wanted a hug. “Would...a hug make you feel better?” you questioned, and your words seemed to have caught Katsuki’s attention as he turned back to see Mirio nodding.

His fingers curled into the crust of his pizza and he felt a surge of envy course through him as he watched Mirio wrap his arms around you. A snapping sound occurred when Katsuki’s fingers broke the crust which then fell to crumbles.

The rest of the pizza slice fell from his hand, leaving behind a few sauce stains on his palm. The slice hit the corner of the pizza box and fell to the floor below. His jaw clenched and he could feel his head pulse.

‘Of course, that damn extra would get their attention,’ he thought, every fiber of his being feeling a wave of anger because Mirio was touching you. His eyes shifted to the box that laid in his lap, pizza slices he was probably going to waste just laying there and he felt a smirk come to his lips.

When you pulled away, you found yourself smiling before something flew across the room. “Ah!” you stumbled off the bed, nearly tripping over your own feet. Your hands clasped over your mouth before you realized what was thrown and what now stuck to Mirio’s face.

“Is...is that?” you trailed off watching as the slice of pizza slowly fell from Mirio's cheek, leaving behind spots of cheese and a red sauce stain. You wanted to laugh, but you also turned your head to look at Katsuki. All your joy seemed to leave when you noticed just how angry he was.

“You think you’re some tough guy, huh!?” he snapped at Mirio who then reached up to touch his sore cheek and you noticed the surrounding skin was tinted pink, more than likely due to the fact the pizza was hot when it had been thrown. You wondered how helpful that cup of cold water would be now, but at the moment you were busy attempting to scold Katsuki.

“That wasn’t very nice!” you said, even though that was somewhat of a childish statement and more than likely wouldn’t phase Katsuki who decided to completely ignore you. “Think a damn hug is gonna fix your burnt tongue?! You’re not even that injured you idiot!” unlike him, but he’d be damned if he admitted he was in pain.

“Bakugou!” you shouted as he took another slice of pizza and proceed to throw it towards Mirio who, in turn, held his hands out. “Hey!” the slice in question hit the palm of his hand before falling to the floor with a splat.

You stood there with your hands resting by your sides and looked between the two slices of pizza that were now on the floor. Then you glanced back up, watching as Mirio threw a slice of pizza at Katsuki in return. “Togata!” you cried out, but the two boys seemed to be at war with each other and you took a step back as more cheese and sauce was thrown back and forth.

A sigh came before you brought your hand up to your forehead, once again you were in the middle of their mess. “Well…” you began, though it was unlikely they’d hear you as they were too focused on their food fight.

“I’ll just be going,” you said as you pointed toward the door and proceeded to walk out of the room. You could hear the noise the two were creating even from the hallway and you offered an awkward smile at some passing nurses before one of them asked ‘What’s going on in there?’ you took a deep breath.

“The same thing that always happens,” you offered as a reply, but it only seemed to confuse the poor nurses. You shrugged and continued walking down the hall. Taking out your cell phone to dial Eijirou. Maybe you could get that scolding done early and some help to break up Mirio and Katsuki.

[cunningambitousdetermined]

I Loved You (young!Sirius x Reader)

um ok so i've never written anything and posted it somewhere before but i saw @vogueweasley's 1k writing challenge and i decided why not. actually there are many reasons not to but i hope that someone will have some form of constructive criticism. so yeah, worst case if you hate it um sorry. and thanks @vogueweasley for giving me an oppurtunity. i decided to do sirius x reader (even though i ship wolfstar sorry) here it goes with the prompt: "Did it mean anything to you?" Did I mean anything to you?"

Sirius Black was in love. That was the fact of the matter. Anyone who knew him from Hogwarts would have said that it was a lie. It would pass. Sirius Black, in love? The playboy of Hogwarts, breaker of all hearts? He was in love? It was a phase, they said, she wouldn’t last. If Y/N was being honest, she hadn’t thought it would last either. She was right. 

It had all started when Remus Lupin had introduced them on the train their first year. Y/N was Remus’s best friend and had ever since he could remember. Growing up, they read books, drew pictures and did everything together. She was there after every full moon. She would read books to Remus and bring silly old movies. She was a muggleborn so it had been quite a shock to her and her parents when they found out about Remus’s family. But Y/N had been there when he’d been bitten. They had been sleeping in a tent in the basement of Remus’s house when Greyback had tore threw the window and attacked. She remember every part of that night. The breaking of the short windows, glass shattering, the growling, the tearing of flesh. Greyback’s face was what haunted Remus’s nightmares but his screams haunted hers. When Y/N received her letter, her parents were thrilled, not to mention Remus, who was ecstatic at the prospect of spending all their time in school together. Y/N had left to go change when Sirius Black and James Potter slipped into Remus’s compartment. From what Remus gathered, they had bumped into each other after Sirius pranked his family and James helped him escape. Y/N proudly straightened her tie, she was a witch. She was going to Hogwarts, with Rem. Her giddy smile hadn’t left her face since she had gotten the letter. Diagon Alley was even better. Her mum and dad hadn’t come but Hope and Lyall had taken her with pleasure. They took her to all the shops and helped her buy everything. Remus had laughed at her star struck face when she proclaimed loudly “I love magic!”. She never wanted to leave. 

She walked briskly back to Remus with a bounce in her step. Only an hour or so and they would be there. She heard voices and laughter coming from the compartment and wondered if Remus had already made new friends. She smiled at the thought, he had been so scared to come. Being the first werewolf he was afraid of anyone knowing. She had assured him that nothing would happen and he would make lots of friends, and looked like she was right. She slid the door open, a proud smirk gracing her features. 

“Y/N!” Remus leaped up and pulled her to the seat next to him. Next to her sat a boy with dark brown unruly hair and glasses perched on his nose. His smile scrunched up his blue eyes and brought out his rather large dimples. The boy across from them was what really caught her eye. He had chin length black hair and the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. When he smiled, his whole face lit up. “Y/N, meet Sirius Black”

That was the start of a friendship that rivaled her and Remus. Despite being a Hufflepuff, she was an honorary Marauder. In her second year, she learned to become an Animagus to help Remus. Remus had been furious and terrified but he would be forever grateful for her sacrifice. In her third year, the rest of the Marauders found out and became Animagus themselves. James, a stag. Peter, a rat. Sirius and her were dogs. Except she was golden where he was black. They were inseparable. And it was no secret that no matter how many girls Sirius slept with, there was only one that was on his mind. 

Sirius Black had been in love in like with Y/N for years. He had found her stunning on the train but he was young and naive then. He had since grown up and become someone new. They were the best of friends. Sirius and her were both Beaters on their quidditch teams leading to a never ending rivalry. But, it was the way she listened that set her apart from the rest. There had been one particular night when he had just gotten a letter from home. The letter was all sorts of cruel and no matter how hard he tried to keep his bad boy façade up, all he wanted to do was cry. Remus and Y/N were reading to each other, as they did often in an armchair in the common room when Sirius had sped by, tears in his eyes. Y/N had barely glanced at Remus before she quickly followed him. Sirius burst into his dorm and threw himself on the bed. He then proceeded to punch the wall. Again, and again, and again. Suddenly, a soft hand pulled his back from the wall. “Siri, Siri stop...” It was Y/N. Dimly aware of the tears streaming down his face, he had let her drag him to his bed and wipe his tears. She had bundled him up in her arms, his head in her lap as he sobbed and sobbed for at least 30 minutes. When all his tears had run out and he was finally aware of himself again. His cheeks flamed as he realized how he had let Y/N see him. Crying and angry. He made to get up but your hand that was running through his hair stilled and she pulled it away but kept him on the bed with a firm pull. 

“Y/N- I- Let’s just forget this. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to have you see that” he muttered as he again tried to pull away. He hated himself. A disgrace. Embarrassment. Right now the only thing he wanted to do was cave. Fall asleep and never wake up. Ever. He hated himself and for her to see him as himself without any mask, she was sure to hate him too. “Just go” he mumbled. She silenced him with a stern look. Then she softened and pressed her hand to his cheek, thumbing over his tear stains. 

“Siri, let me help you. You need to let someone help you. What’s going on?” Maybe it was something about her eyes, so deep and pleading. Or maybe it was her soft smile or her thumb running over his cheekbone that made him spill it all to her. He told her everything. His parents, the shunning, the yelling. She had listened, flinching along the way. And when he was done, she had told him things that no one had said to him before. She had promised that she would always be there. Her soft voice and words eased him and slowly his tears stopped. And she had held him for the rest of the night, rocking him until he fell asleep, her words ringing in his head. “You are perfect, Sirius Orion Black, and to hell with anyone who thinks you’re not”

 That wasn’t the last time that he had cried to her, spilled his secrets. He found himself going to her, letting his guard down. When he was happy and, most of the time, in trouble, she was there to help him plan his next prank. And when he was sad, most of all then, she was there to help him. She tore up his letters and comforted him. Her soft nature at those times was such a soothing presence in contrast to his anger and self loathing. He had never let himself be so vulnerable with anyone. And maybe that was why he found himself falling harder and harder for her every day. 

“REMUS LUPIN!” Y/N cried, “YOU LET ME GO THIS INSTANT!” She was laughing as Remus continued to run through Hogsmeade with Y/N thrown over his shoulder. Sirius couldn’t deny that it made a little bit of green tinge the ends of his vision. “Ya know, Moony, I never realized you had such a nice arse...” she remarked with a chuckle. Remus threw her down into the soft snow and stuck his tongue out at her. She laughed and reached a hand out for Remus to help her up. Sirius could see the look in her eye from here, Remus was done for. Remus grabbed her hand but she dug her feet into the snow and yanked him down with her. He yelped and crashed down, half on top of her. Sirius laughed but couldn’t help the pit in his stomach as she leaned in and whispered something in Moony’s ear. He looked away, he didn’t want to see it. Moony burst out laughing but Sirius didn’t take his eyes off of James, who was enthralled at the new Cleansweep broom. 

Thunk. Something cold and wet had hit Sirius’s hair. He whipped around, snow dripping down his cheek and that’s why Y/N erupted in laughter. She was doubled over, cheeks red and hand clapped over her mouth as she lost it. Something about the shock on Sirius’s face with the snow falling off his hair and Y/N’s contagious laughter made Remus join in. The pair rolled around in the snow, cackling. Sirius grinned, so this was how they wanted to play it. While they laughed at him, he balled up his fist with snow and prepared to throw. Y/N squealed, her smile still lighting up her whole face. “No, no, SIRIUS, NO!!:” Sirius and Remus exchanged a look and Remus dove out of the way as Sirius launched his first snowball. “TRAITOR!” she yelled at Remus, “Traitor!” Her heart was light and her smile wide as she watched the joy on Sirius’s face. It had been a while since she’d really seen him just let go. She was so caught up, she didn’t see Remus aiming until a snowball hit her scarf and slid down her sweater. Remus widened his eyes, that was not good. “Oh really, Moony, I don’t think so...” she narrowed her eyes at him. James had turned around and not one to miss out, ran to help her. “Thank you James,” she smiled sweetly, “At least some of you are decent,” she teased, looking back at Sirius and Remus. 

James smirked, he was a man on a mission. Make Sirius jealous. “Of course love. Anytime” he winked and wrapped his arm around her waist. He saw the muscles in Sirius’s hand flex at the movement and smirked. This was too easy. Y/N had already begun collected all her snowballs and started to pummel the boys with them. Remus was running back and forth, screaming, trying to avoid James’s deadly aim. Y/N was laughing so hard her jaw hurt as she attacked Sirius with snowballs. Her whole body felt warm and fuzzy, this was a Patronus worthy moment. 

As the Marauders trudged back to Hogwarts, sopping wet and drunk on happiness, James kept his arm around Y/N and let her take his scarf. Sirius refused to look at them. His stomach clenched at the sight of James’s hand on her waist. When they had made it back to the boy’s dorm, Y/N rifled through James’s things until she came back from the bathroom, clean and warm, in James’s quidditch jumper and an old pair of leggings she’d left a while ago. His heart fell when he saw her leap onto James’s bed and put her head on his shoulder. His happy mood vanished as she laughed at something James was saying. He plopped on his bed, it was supposed to be his bed she was getting warm in, his jokes she was laughing at and his clothes she was wearing! He grabbed the map and watched the people float around, just having a good time. The weather was perfect for sledding and ice skating and that seemed to be where most kids were. 

Unfortunately, he was still subject to Y/N and James laughing and talking. The closer James leaned in to her, the more his anger bubbled. James knew! The prat knew he was in love with her! And he was still doing it! Yes, he knew he wasn’t good enough for her, but come on! Right in front of him? His anger reached it’s peak when James leaned in to her ear and pulling away, pressed a feather light kiss to her cheek. Whatever James had said had made her laugh lightly and her already pink cheeks to flush brilliant red. Then with a last wink, James hopped up and left the room. No bye or anything, it was a bit odd actually. Remus gave Sirius a meaningful look as he crossed the room and followed James out, Peter scurrying after them. 

Sirius shot her a confused look only to find that she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were trained on James’s jumper sleeves as she pulled and twisted it. His anger rose again as he remembered who’s jumper you were wearing and the kiss that had come along with it. “Well why don’t you go after your boyfriend, Y/N?” he sneered.  Her head jerked up in confusion. The way he said boyfriend had been with such disgust. Even the way he said her name. He sounded like Malfoy and those pureblood snobs. 

“He’s not my boyfriend!” She shot back, James and his stupid plan. Why had she done this? He claimed that he had made Sirius jealous but she knew that the boy didn’t have feelings her. All she’d done was make him angry. She was going to murder James if Sirius wasn’t her friend anymore after watching James disgustingly flirt with her all afternoon. 

“Well, you sure looked pretty cozy!” Sirius yelled, he was furious, all his pent up emotions leading to one big explosion. He leapt up from his bed and stormed over to where Y/N sat, her legs dangling over the edge of James’s bed, and planted himself between her legs. 

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Y/N whispered, he was so close, his grey eyes swirling with emotion. Anger, sadness, and maybe something more, she didn’t know. She inhaled and his scent of sugar and campfire filled her nose. Sirius looked down at her, his eyes flicking to her lips, the lips that he had been tortured by for years. And he kissed her. His hands cupped her cheeks and he ran his thumbs across her face. She stilled, shocked, was this real? But she didn’t think on it as she kissed him back, hands threading through his dark locks, pulling him down. Sirius groaned and pulled away, looking at this wonderful girl. She smiled shyly and tucked a piece of his hair behind his ear. Yeah, he was a goner. 

That was the start of probably the happiest time in Sirius’s life. And Y/N’s. Sirius was the best boyfriend anyone could ask for. They had been best friends before so they slipped very easily into the relationship. Y/N started spending less time in her dorm and more time asleep in Sirius’s bed. She had been the first to say ‘I love you’ because she did. She really did. And when she had, Sirius had been shocked. She loved him? His body had gone into overdrive and he just started crying. He was so goddamn lucky. Unbeknownst to Y/N, he watched her every minute of every day. He admired her. And she was his world. Without her, he didn’t know what he would do. His whole being ached for her when he was at the Potters. When they left school that summer and he went home to that desolate place that held no meaning to him, he was miserable. His muscles felt to weak to do anything and his mind just told him to go to sleep and never wake up. 2 weeks in, he hadn’t even gotten up the courage to open Y/N’s letters. It made his heart hurt just to see her owl drop them off. So naturally when she showed up at his house while his parents were at the Malfoy Gala, he was shocked. His summer turned from his worst to his best. When no one was around, she crept back in and they spent the summer playing quidditch and cuddling by the fire. Sleepy kisses on tired eyes, quiet ‘I love you’s’. Sirius would watch her as she slept in his arms, his clothes, in his bed and he would cry. Softly and not out of pain, but out of happiness. This girl, she had brought him back to Earth, gave him a reason to live. She was his home. His silk sheets would tangle her legs and his old muggle shirts would fall to her knees and he couldn’t have been happier. He had been drowning and she had saved him. She had brought him back to life. 

They were blissfully unaware that they had made a fatal mistake. Regulus. Regulus saw her come in and out and saw them fly around, laughing and loving each other like no one else could see them. But he could and when his mother asked him questions, he didn’t lie. 

“I love you” Sirius whispered into Y/N’s hair, “I love you, I love you, I love you.” She was wrapped in his covers as they just sat, enjoying being with each other. He relaxed against her and she sighed happily. 

“I love you too Siri”

Their sixth year at Hogwarts had come. They were closer then ever after the summer they had spent together. Classes were the same but something had changed. Y/N was just so so happy. She felt invincible. But, she wasn’t. She was mortal and she could still feel pain. 

She walked down the corridor after Charms, parting with Sirius and headed back to her dorm to change out of her uniform. She was cheerily walking, book in hand as she skimmed the pages, making sure she didn’t run into anyone. When she glanced up next, a group of Slytherins stood at the end of the hall, just where she needed to turn to get to the common room. It was Regulus, Sirius’s brother, and some of Sirius’s cousins. She pasted on a smile and made to pass them, not wanting any trouble. You’re fine, she reassured herself but her racing heartbeat said otherwise. She strode past them and gave Regulus a small nod. Just as she thought she was home free, a hand flipped out and grabbed her arm. Her whole body froze and she swallowed a scream. Regulus had her by the arm and marched her down the opposite corridor to an empty corner.

“Regulus! Let me go!” Y/N whispered, “Sirius will hurt you, and I don’t want that.” Even though he had trapped her here, she still felt the urge to protect him. He was Sirius’s family after all. 

“I’m just trying to help you Y/N” he replied, “I won’t beat around the bush. You can’t see Sirius.” The frustration in Y/N spiked into anger, fire licking at her insides. 

“You cannot tell me what to do! Sirius is my boyfriend, who are you to say differently?” She spat at him, disgusted. Stop seeing Sirius, he must be insane. 

“Please, it’s for your own good.” he said and handed her a stack of papers. She looked down at them in confusion. “I found them in his room,” Regulus dropped his voice “My mum found out too, and she wrote you a letter as well,” He dropped another letter into her hand. This one was sealed in an envelope. She made to turn away but Regulus was looking at her expectantly. 

“You want me to open them here?” She asked, incredulous. “What do they say?” Regulus just shook his head and slid down to sit on the floor. He patted the spot next to him. Y/N sighed and sat down and opened the first letter. 

Dear Miss Y/N,

It was recently brought to our attention that our Sirius was in a relationship with you. Now, as we are sure you are aware, we cannot have someone like you sullying the name Black. We hope this letter finds you in good health and able to fulfill our wishes. I, Walburga Black, command you to break off all relations with my son, Sirius Orion Black.  You are not and never will be good enough for this house. You are nothing, nothing but a filthy mudblood. You ruin my son and you will only further his destruction. If you do not comply, I do hope that you understand that we will do everything in our power to stop this. But, I believe you are a smart child, for a mudblood, and I hope that I will not have to waste anymore time or breath on you. 

The Noble House of Black

“Your joking, right?” Y/N laughed, “I couldn’t do that to him, I wouldn’t! I don’t care about some Noble House of Black!” She again went to get up but Regulus caught her wrist. 

“Y/N, I don’t want you to have to do this either, but I think you should. Look at the notes from Sirius. He wrote those this summer. I found them and then my mum gave me the letter. I don’t want my mum to be the reason you break it off but there’s more to the story. I just don’t want you getting hurt in the end.” Anyone else would’ve told her that there was no way he really cared, but Y/N insisted upon seeing the good in everyone so she sat down again and opened the notes.

June 28

Y/N came to see me. Dear god, that women is going to be the death of me. Y/N smiled, remembering the day she had snuck in. I can’t wait to tell Mum all about how I had her, in the bed she bought for me. The filthy mudblood tangled in her sheets that she bought. Y/N’s face fell along with her heart. Mudblood? He would never. Y/N, so naïve, really thinks I’d be into her. That’s what makes it perfect. She would never guess that her only purpose is to spite my mother. Like I really care. It doesn’t help that I get sex. I mean I could have any girl but damn, she gave herself to me to fast. Even I didn’t know I was that good. Either way, she has to find out eventually. I mean I can’t marry her. Mudblood. Imagine that. She’s not even pretty. Kind of fat actually. More hips then I normally see...

The notes went on and on and on. Y/N felt her heart crack and shatter. Tears streamed down her face. She was just a mudblood that he had used. She felt dumb and most of all, betrayed.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N” Regulus said, “I just wanted to make sure you knew.” She turned away in an a

She didn’t respond just gathered the letters and fled. In her dorm, she flopped on to her bed and just cried. She cried for the boy who she thought loved her, who she still loved. She cried because she wasn’t good enough, because she nothing at all. The girls in her dorm had soon filed in and tried to pry the story out of her. She just tossed the letters at them and continued crying. Jane, one of the girls, held her as she shook and sobbed until she fell asleep. She refused to go to any classes the next day, or the next week. She didn’t eat, she didn’t sleep. All she wanted do to was die. Dark circles lived under eyes and her bones began to show through. There was nothing the girls could do, she had shut herself inside the curtains of her bed. Her heart had been broken and she was pretty sure there was no putting it back together. 

The Marauders were worried. Y/N hadn’t been in class in weeks and many teachers were getting suspicious. Remus had tried to visit her but the Hufflepuff girls had barred his way through. Sirius was going mad without her. He couldn’t focus in class, his eyes were always on her empty seat. He laughed and joked with the Marauders but his smiles didn’t reach his eyes. His dreams were filled of her. Her. Her laugher, her smile, her hands, her lips on his. Finally, he’d had enough. James mentioned missing Y/N to Remus and him in the common room and that was it. “I’m going to get her” He said and he stormed out. Remus could feel the anger radiating off of him and knew he would need to be there to put the fire out. He ran off behind him and trailed him to the dorms. The Hufflepuff dorms were one of the hardest to get into so they waited until a boy came out and Sirius stormed in. Remus tried to grab Sirius and calm him down but it was to no avail. He was already charming the stairs and starting up. 

“Sirius! Please! Just calm down!” Remus cried, desperately trying to pull him back. Knowing him, he might say something he would regret.

“No Remus.” Sirius’s voice was colder then Remus had ever heard it. “My girlfriend is ignoring me and I intend to figure out why.” Sirius ripped the door open and found Y/N’s curtains drawn shut. Before Remus could say anything, Sirius had flung the curtains open. Remus watched Sirius freeze, his whole body tense. He stepped forward to look past Sirius and was shocked. Y/N was curled on the bed, eyes wide. She had bags and purple circles under each eye. Her cheeks were sunken in, and her shirt hung off of her in a odd way. She looked like shit. 

“Si-Sirius?” she whimpered, and her eyes filled with tears. Remus looked at the bed and found pictures shattered and things thrown everywhere. She was a mess.

“Yes.” Sirius snapped, “You know, your BOYFRIEND!” Y/N flinched and her face hardened. 

“Oh really? OH REALLY? MY BOYFRIEND?!” she yelled, fury edging in her tone.

“YES YOUR BOYFRIEND!” he screamed back, his face red and his hands gesturing wildly. 

“ARE YOU SURE? I THOUGHT I WAS JUST A MUDBLOOD, TOO NAIVE, TOO UGLY FOR YOU! I LOVED YOU AND LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO THAT! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!” She was out of bed now and standing chest to chest with Sirius. On the last word she shoved him back and caught off guard he stumbled into Remus. Remus was in shock, what had happened? “Did it mean anything to you? Did I mean anything to you?” With that you turned on your heel and ran out of the dorm. Sirius stood and watched as you got smaller and smaller and with step she took, his anger ebbed a little. And then she was gone, leaving behind the boy who loved her. 

[when-they-write-stuff]

I'm really curious about 39. “I want to marry you.” but like asked in a serious way. So glad you're back, take care 🤗

The first time Derek came swinging through Stiles’s window without permission, Stiles freaked out so hard, he ended up launching his can of coke at Derek’s face. 

The man had fallen off the roof in his own surprise. He hadn’t seemed very happy about that.

But when Stiles had started to realize that hey, maybe Derek Hale wasn’t such a giant creeper, he still didn’t expect the late-night visits, okay? Even Scott didn’t do nearly as much stalking. Well, not over him. Maybe over Allison. But he only went creepy werewolf on Stiles occasionally, which he really appreciated.

Derek seemed to be a different story.

The first time he came swinging through Stiles’s window without permission, Stiles threw a can of coke at his face, Derek fell off the roof with a barked curse, and then he hadn’t come back to the house for an entire month.

That had been fine by Stiles at the time. And Derek knocked more often than not now.

Sometimes, he came to talk about the Monster of the Week. Sometimes, he came to chew Stiles out for putting himself in danger when they were facing the Monster of the Week. Sometimes, he just came to sit broodingly in the corner and that was something Stiles still had yet to understand.

Sometimes, Derek came with food.

Stiles may or may not have made that a mandatory rule when the man came anytime before eight in the morning or after eleven at night.

“Oh my god,” Stiles said, taking the offered bag Derek had brought that night. The moment he opened it, the best smell in the world came wafting out and Stiles moaned. “Curly fries. Oh my god, Sourwolf, I want to marry you.”

In a split second, Derek’s face had gone from neutrally blank to bright red. Except Stiles was much too busy digging the container of fries out to really notice.

He might have been a little intrigued if he had.

“So,” Stiles said, stuffing a few into his mouth and glancing back up. “What is it tonight? Hunters? Witches? I know for a fact I haven’t done anything wrong lately, so if you’re here to go all bossy Alpha on me—”

“It’s nothing like that,” Derek said. Stiles narrowed his eyes, still chewing.

“Uh, okay?”

“I was in the area,” Derek said, suddenly focusing on the floor. Stiles swallowed and continued to study the man, a little more carefully this time. Because he was pretty sure something was off.

“So you got me fries?”

Derek froze. He stared at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world before turning around. Stiles stared in confusion as Derek pulled himself right back out the window; without another word or hint. Without literally anything. In a second, Stiles was left alone in his room with a bag of curly fries and he had no idea what had just happened.

But Derek was gone and Stiles was alone.

He was so confused.

-

There was this one time Stiles had been awake for so long, he’d started to think he was living in a TV show and he was pretty sure their entire group was basically the Scooby-Doo gang brought to life with a lot more tragedy.

If Derek’s plans never worked out, did that make him Fred? He thought the man might kill him if Stiles even dared call him Scooby.

But that wasn’t the point. The point was, they had been chasing a witch around Beacon Hills for two weeks now and Stiles hadn’t slept in three days. Every time he thought they were getting close, it was another dead end. And Stiles was about to tear his hair out.

He was half-asleep at the loft when Derek came looming over the couch. Stiles nearly startled out of his own skin, sure he was seeing things for a moment. But that was definitely the growly-brows that he knew so well.

He closed his laptop and smiled tiredly at the man. Derek frowned harder.

“You smell tired.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Oh, thank god, I thought you were going to say I smell- smell for a second there. Which might be fair, because I might have forgotten to shower this… week? But it’d still be rude and I might’ve had to punch you.”

From across the room, Erica snorted into her cereal. Derek shot her a red-eyed glare before fixing Stiles with a dark look again. “You need to get some sleep.”

“Yeah, no kidding. And once the witch is caught, dude, I will sleep for at least a straight day.”

“No,” Derek growled. Stiles blinked.

“Uh, no?”

“No. You need to sleep now.”

Stiles stared at him for a long moment. Then he shook his head and opened his laptop again, only to squawk in protest as Derek grabbed it off his lap, closing it again and setting it on the coffee table. The moment Stiles tried to reach for it, the man gave him a threatening look.

Stiles carefully drew his hands back.

“Okay, Sourwolf, use your words. What’s happening here?”

“You haven’t slept in days,” Derek said gruffly. “Now you need to either go home and get some sleep or sleep here, I don’t care. But you need rest. You’re not going to do the pack any good if you’re sleep-deprived.”

“Oh, I’m so glad to see this is for the betterment of the pack, then.”

Derek narrowed his eyes. Stiles sighed, flopping back onto the couch. He would never admit out loud that even doing that was like a weight had been taken off his shoulders. But maybe he could do with a little power nap.

Derek was still looming over him like a giant fluffy thundercloud. Stiles raised an eyebrow, gesturing down at himself.

“Dude, see? I’m resting. You can stop being all grumpy Alpha now.”

Derek looked at him for a long moment. Then he turned away, disappearing down the hall, and Stiles watched him until he was out of sight. Then he sighed, turning his gaze up toward the ceiling.

But Derek came back after only a few seconds with a blanket and pillow. Stiles sat straight back up.

“Dude, what are those?”

“I don’t know, Stiles. What do they look like to you?”

“You’re using sarcasm. I’m confused.”

Derek gave him a look that screaming nothing other than; ‘Of course, you are’ and Stiles frowned at that. But then the man was tucking the pillow at the end of the couch and draping the blanket over him, and Stiles felt a bit like a child being tucked into bed.

“You know, Sourwolf,” he said, laying back down. “We have to be married for you to be so marital about this. I’m just saying.”

Derek froze, standing over him. The man’s jaw ticked and Stiles was sure he was going to get his throat ripped out for a second. But then Derek just turned away, shooting Erica another red-eyed look as she continued to laugh, and Stiles was left alone.

He blinked at the ceiling again, head spinning.

Because he was pretty sure he still had no idea what had just happened.

-

Movie nights had quickly become a pack favorite and that had thrown Stiles through a loop at first. Because he was pretty sure the pack would have a ‘to the death’ tournament before ever agreeing mutually on a movie. But then they figured out a pretty fair system which was really just Lydia tending to make the final decisions, and everyone was really just too scared to risk disputing her.

Even Derek never said a word.

That might’ve been why they watched romcoms and Hallmark movies more often than anything else, but Stiles didn’t really hate it. Pack nights meant spending his Friday nights with the pack instead of alone at home while his dad worked. They meant pizza, popcorn, and the occasional accompanying board game that almost always ended in declarations of revenge.

They were nice. Or something.

Because Derek was the one with the secret fortune, he always ended up buying the pack an entire stack of pizzas. Stiles had felt a little bad at first but then Derek got this glow when he ordered and passed out his pack’s favorite pizzas, and Stiles hadn’t said a word after that.

They’d already picked out some rom-com movie by the time Derek showed up with the pizzas and the pack was instantly crowding around him, each searching for their own. Stiles stayed lounging on the couch, fast-forwarding through the commercials, when Derek came over and set a box in his lap. Blinking, Stiles glanced up.

“Usually, I share with Scott.”

Derek’s ears turned red and he didn’t say a word, dropping onto the couch at Stiles’s side and facing the TV. Stiles continued to eye him, waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did. Carefully, as if it was going to grow arms, legs, and maybe attempt to eat him, Stiles lifted up the top.

It didn’t attempt to attack or eat him. He blinked at the pizza for a moment and then stared at Derek again.

“This is black olive and pepperoni.”

Derek gave him a flat look. Stiles narrowed his eyes.

“I never get black olives.”

“But you like them.”

“Yeah, but Scott doesn’t.”

“So?”

“Usually, I share with Scott.”

Derek rolled his eyes and faced the TV again. Stiles was half-aware of the pack watching them from their own spots and pizzas, but he proceeded to act like the rest of the loft was empty. Derek was very determinedly avoiding his gaze now and Stiles was ninety-percent sure that no one actually knew about his secret favorite pizza. Other than his dad, maybe. But Scott hated black olives so in return, Stiles never even bothered with that order.

Lydia muttered something about tension from the side and then the movie was officially starting. Slowly, Stiles tore his gaze away and faced the TV.

Derek moved closer and for a second, Stiles’s breaths caught. But then the man just took a slice of his pizza and Stiles stared at him incredulously.

“Derek.”

“What?”

“I’m so confused right now.”

Derek looked defensive. “Maybe you don’t always have to share a pizza with Scott.”

Stiles glanced across the coffee table, but Scott was wrapped around Allison and didn’t appear to have heard a word they said. When he looked back at Derek, he could’ve sworn the man looked a little smug, grunting and pulling the pizza closer to himself.

“Whatever. Don’t eat all my pizza.”

“I did buy it.”

“Oh, I see. So the Sourwolf is a fan of black olives too, huh?”

Derek shrugged and took another slice. Stiles made a few noises of protest which earned him shushing from all around the room. He gave the rest of the pack a stink eye and then turned it to Derek. 

“You’re eating all of my pizza.”

“I’ll buy you another.”

“Soon? Tonight? Is this a marriage proposal, Sourwolf?”

“You’re an idiot, Stiles.”

But Stiles just eyed the man and his red face and wondered if he really was. He stared until it had probably been too long and Derek gave him another flat, slightly murderous look, and then tore his gaze away. But he wasn’t even paying attention to the movie now.

And he didn’t for the rest of the night.

Not with Derek sitting right up next to him, so close that Stiles could probably fall asleep on his shoulder if he wanted to. Not that he ever would. He appreciated having a throat. But he was also pretty sure there was plenty of space further down the couch.

Not that Stiles was complaining. Not at all.

He was just… intrigued.

-

Stiles sat in the middle of his bed with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and tried to pretend the man sitting a few feet away wasn’t Derek Hale.

It was nearing midnight and Stiles had attempted to kick Derek out, he really had! But then the man had grunted something about needing help with the wendigo that they were tracking and Stiles found himself unable to dispute that. Which might have been why he was sitting in his pjs while Derek Hale poured over the research he’d attempted; two empty fast food bags abandoned a little ways over and Stiles’s open laptop playing the first Avengers as he claimed a need for the second distraction.

This was probably a dumb idea. Because his dad was home, Derek had never come over when his dad was home, and every time Stiles heard a noise outside his bedroom door or downstairs, he had to smother the fight or flight urge.

It wasn’t like his dad didn’t know Derek swung by sometimes, but… Stiles didn’t often divulge the consistency of Derek’s nightly visits. He was terrified his dad might have words to say about that if he did.

“Hey, dude,” Stiles said, glancing back over. “Remember that one time you used to be afraid of my father? Yeah, I do too. When did that change?”

“We’re not doing anything wrong.”

“Oh wow, no. Not at all. Other than werewolf stuff at midnight in the middle of a school week.”

Derek blinked, glancing up from the bestiary. He actually looked confused and Stiles wondered for the first time if Derek even realized the hours that had passed since he’d shown up. Through the window of course, because Derek might claim to not be scared of his dad, but he never actually used the front door, did he?

Stiles wondered if that was a werewolf thing. But no… that was vampires, right? The whole, invite-only shebang.

Derek glanced at the laptop screen and winced. Stiles barked a laugh.

“Oh my god, Sourwolf, you totally lost track of time. What, does being around this amazing token human make the hours blur by? I always knew you liked me.”

“Shut up, Stiles.”

“The classic response. I think that means I’m starting to get through to you. Or underneath your skin. Or something.”

“Like a parasite.”

“Hey, rude!”

Derek just smirked at him. Literally smirked. Stiles didn’t really know what to do with the way his heart fluttered at that and he very pointedly fixed his gaze back on the laptop screen. Derek shuffled around a little bit more, gathering up the papers, and Stiles blinked at him.

“Uh, what are you doing?”

“... Leaving.”

“Okay, dude. Why?”

“It’s past midnight and your father is home.”

“Oh my god,” Stiles said, rolling his eyes. “Look, he already knows you show up and random times like a total creeper. Heck, from the things he asks me sometimes, I’d be worried he thinks we’re married or something. If you hear him come upstairs, just duck under the bed or something.”

Derek’s expression was flat but his ears were burning bright red. “Stiles, I’m not hiding underneath your bed from your father.”

“I mean… there’s always the closet, but—”

“Good night, Stiles.”

Stiles clamped his mouth shut and watched the man set the stack of papers and books on his desk. He offered his best glare when Derek glanced back, but the man didn’t seem to care. In a couple of seconds, Stiles’s window was being pushed up, the cool night air was breezing in, and then Derek was gone.

Stiles stared at the window for a moment longer, still glaring. That slipped away into a small frown, which slipped away into nothing. Sighing, Stiles shut his laptop and pulled himself up.

It was then that he realized Derek had forgotten his jacket on the back of Stiles’s desk.

For some reason, that made him smile.

-

The intruding pack took Stiles because he smelled like Derek. Which meant maybe wearing the man’s leather jacket around all the time and conveniently ‘forgetting’ to bring it back to the loft during pack nights wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had.

But Stiles didn’t always have the best ideas. So whatever.

He may or may not have been conveniently wearing Derek’s jacket when he was taken from the school parking lot and at first, he was pretty sure they thought he was Derek. But then when he severely lacked in blazing red eyes and fangs, Stiles was hit over the head and stuffed into the trunk; not the best way for them to introduce themselves, if he had a say in it.

He didn’t get a say in it.

By the time the car stopped moving and Stiles was moderately coming back to consciousness, he was hauled out and dumped to the ground with enough force to nearly knock him out again. His ears rang and Stiles groaned, a foot sinking into his stomach the moment he tried to make a sound.

“Can it, kid.”

Stiles clenched his jaw, eyes squeezed shut in pain. The ground beneath him was cool; probably cement. The sound of footsteps around him echoed through the air and Stiles had put two and two together before he was opening his eyes again.

What was it with the Beacon Hills big-bads always living in abandoned warehouses? Stiles would just like to ask.

The pack wasn’t very big when Stiles glanced around. A handful of blue-eyed betas gave him guarded looks as the man that Stiles could only assume was the Alpha stepped out of the shadows. He flinched away as the wolf approached and promptly scrambled up, only to be kicked back down by a beta behind him again.

Laughter filled the air. Stiles scowled.

“You realize Derek’s going to kick all of your little furry asses, right?”

Laughter turned to growls. The man paused in front of Stiles and offered a sharp-toothed grin. “Derek Hale. The Alpha to a bunch of teenagers.”

“Have you ever pissed off a teenager? Cause it never ends well. Especially if they have furry problems and terrible control.”

“You smell like the Alpha.”

Stiles felt his face turn a little hot. “That’s an innocent mistake.”

The man must have heard his heart skip an audible beat because his expression turned even more amused. Stiles scrambled back as he took a step forward; but a sharp growl at his back had him freezing. Swallowing hard, Stiles turned back forward.

“What do you want with Derek?”

“We wanted to talk.”

“Dude, you nearly ripped my throat out earlier. That’s a crappy start to a conversation.”

The Alpha’s expression was nothing but sinister. Stiles dropped his gaze to the floor before the Alpha moved closer and he was on his guard again. Because he wasn’t Derek. So what the hell did they want with him?

“Clearly, kid, you matter to the Alpha.”

Stiles looked up in surprise, but the man looked completely serious. Despite himself, Stiles rolled his eyes. “Yeah, about as much as a parasite living underneath his skin.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. Stiles snorted.

“It’s an inside joke.”

“I see. If we killed you, how much would it hurt him?”

Stiles’s blood went cold. He froze in his position and tried to ignore the growls that erupted behind him. A shiver crept down his spine and he silently wondered how long he’d have to ramble for in order to keep his throat intact until Scott, Derek, or someone came.

“I’m a thorn in Derek’s side,” Stiles said weakly. “Seriously, dude. He won’t care if you kill me.”

“So you’re useless then.”

Stiles swallowed hard. “Uh, no? I know some really good jokes and have been told that my rambling is the perfect way to pass the time. I mean, if you really want me to shut up then grunt, growling, and the occasional shove into the closest wall is usually Derek’s go-to. Might I recommend that?”

The Alpha stepped closer and Stiles scrambled up. This time, there was no one there to kick him back down and he stumbled in panic across the warehouse as the pack advanced closer. Stiles would really rather not be found by his dad mangled and torn apart, thank you very much. He’d really rather not go that way. 

Stiles had wolfsbane mace in his backpack. But that had been left on the ground when he’d been taken.

“Look, look,” Stiles said, throwing up his hands. “I’m sure we could make an arrangement here! How about you let me go, I’ll give you a thirty-minute head start to run from Beacon Hills, and then never mention to my pack how ugly you all were?”

Eyes lit up the darkness; four pairs of blue and one pair of red. Stiles chuckled weakly.

“Or I could just never mention the ugly part ever again?”

The Alpha’s face shifted and a squeak built up in Stiles’s throat as the man moved forward, fangs and claws gleaming. But before he could have his throat ripped out, there was an echoing roar that filled the air, followed by a series of howls.

Sometimes, Stiles hated the pack’s timing. Sometimes, he was just relieved they actually showed up.

The Alpha whirled around and howled back. Stiles stood stock-still as he spotted Derek coming out of the darkness and the man’s eyes snapped to him first, face fully shifted.

“Stiles, get back!”

He really didn’t need to be told twice. Stiles scrambled back as the others moved forward, wishing for nothing more than his mace or baseball bat. He was totally going to start carrying a knife on his person. Goddammit, he was going to start carrying multiple knives on his person.

Stiles didn’t make it far before there was a pain ripping through his shoulder and he was yanked back. He went hard to the floor, vision spotted red with pain, and then he spotted one of the betas from earlier. The one who’d kept kicking him around.

Stiles snarled, trying to pull himself back up. The man’s blue eyes shone in the dim light.

“Don’t mean anything to the Alpha, huh, kid?”

“I really think he just hates doing research,” Stiles said, scrambling back. “I also have a theory he doesn’t know how to properly work a computer. Or you know, I’ve just gotten underneath his skin. Like a parasite.”

“Inside joke?”

Stiles offered his most winning smile. “Inside joke.”

The beta snarled and leaped forward. 

In the past, Stiles had been used as bait, become a popular accidental target, and spent too many of his weekday nights running through the preserve for his life. So he was able to dodge swiping claws fairly easily, pinwheeling around the beta with a yelp. Stiles retreated away and caught sight of his friends beyond the approaching ‘wolf, noticing with a sinking heart that they were all still engaged.

The beta seemed to realize that as well because he approached slowly. Claws out, fangs bared. Stiles moved backward until he was tripping over a bunch of cargo boxes and wood planks, and then he realized he was nearing the wall.

“Guess you don’t mean quite enough, kid.”

Stiles’s breaths lodged in his throat. God, he could not die like this.

He grabbed the nearest wood plank, swinging as the beta leaped forward again. It cracked off the side of his skull and the man roared, stumbling sideways. Stiles attempted to use that chance to make a break for the others, but he really should have known better than attempting to outrun a werewolf.

He was tackled back to the floor in less than five seconds, flipping to his back and kicking wildly out. It was times like this Stiles really wished for a pair of his own claws.

The beta dug claws into his shoulders. Stiles howled in pain.

Then the man was being yanked off.

Stiles caught a blur of movement. There was a thud and a whimper as the beta was shoved into the nearest wall and Stiles thought he caught the metallic scent of blood. Glancing blearily up, Stiles caught a flash of red eyes and Derek’s shaking body as he restrained a set of claws against the man’s neck.

“Your pack turned tail and ran,” Derek snarled. “This is your chance to follow them. But if I ever catch even the slightest whiff of your scent back in Beacon Hills, next time, I’ll rip out your throat. With my teeth. Got it?”

The man nodded. There were hands helping Stiles up as the beta moved around Derek and took off. He was gone from the warehouse in a matter of moments.

Stiles groaned as Erica steadied him by the shoulders a little too roughly, swaying on his feet. Derek’s red eyes flashed as he turned around and she quickly drew back.

“Perfect timing as always Sourwolf,” Stiles said, attempting a small grin. But dammit, he hurt. “Quite nice. Very romantic. I’d totally propose or something right now, but if I get down on one knee I don’t think I’ll be getting back up.”

Derek growled again. Stiles winced.

“Keep the grunts and growls on the down low, dude. I’m fine.”

“You’re hurt.”

“I’m moderately fine.”

Derek’s gaze snapped beyond his shoulder. “Go after the pack and make sure they are out of Beacon Hills tonight. I don’t want them even attempting to stick around. And call Scott. Tell him his best friend was hurt while he was skipping school with Allison and I’d like to have a chat.”

Stiles winced at that. “Oh my god, dude, please don’t do that. No chats needed. I’m moderately fine!”

“You,” Derek said, fixing his red eyes back on where Stiles stood. The shiver he got from that wasn’t fair at all. “Are going to a hospital.”

“Or maybe I could just take a shower and the loft and avoid freaking out my dad?”

There was blood making his shirt— and Derek’s jacket— stick to his skin, Stiles noticed. The leather had actually provided a little more protection against the beta’s claws, though. It was better than being in nothing but a thin t-shirt. Derek stepped forward, searching him up and down, and his face did something funny.

Stiles’s stomach twisted. He dropped his gaze.

“Fine. If you don’t say anything, I’ll go to the hospital. But only because I might need stitches.”

The sound that left Derek’s throat was nothing but feral. Maybe with a little bit of a whine? But Stiles just hunched deeper into the jacket and turned away, not waiting for the man. The other betas were already gone. Stiles had thought Scott might have been with them, but his heart sunk a little when he realized the boy had not been.

Though it's not like he could have known, right? Stiles could have been anywhere. He’d skipped out on classes before.

Usually for pack stuff.

He waited silently by the Camaro parked outside of the warehouse for Derek, still looking anywhere but the man’s face. And the ride to the hospital was a tense one.

Derek never asked for his jacket back. Just checked him in, stayed until Melissa came, muttered something about Scott and the others, and then was gone. Stiles didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about that.

He needed stitches. And when his dad had shown up, he’d seemed too relieved to be furious. 

Stiles supposed it was the little things.

-

He didn’t see Derek for a little while after that.

He didn’t know if it was because Derek was avoiding him or Stiles was avoiding Derek… but he wasn’t outright trying to, okay? He just didn’t go to a few pack meetings and Derek stopped swinging through his window every other night. Stiles stopped wondering if he would. Scott had a come by a few times for a solid two weeks and then he tapered off too.

Stiles threw himself into upcoming finals for his first senior semester. He couldn’t tell if his dad seemed relieved at this or worried at how little Stiles was leaving the house.

The man had even tried to bring it up a few times. Or, more so, he tried to bring up Derek.

Stiles did his best to just wave it all off.

So four weeks passed. To say Stiles was settling into the lull of things would be completely accurate and he was actually starting to remember what it was like to have a regular schedule. Not like he didn’t kind of miss pack movie nights, unexpected Derek Hale visits, or running around Beacon Hills for his life because... maybe he did? Just a little bit. Stiles figured he’d just give it time. So he could look Derek in the eyes without feeling like he was going to drown in embarrassment.

Derek’s jacket hung in his closet. Stiles hadn’t touched it since returning home from the hospital and he was pretty sure it was still covered in blood. Though, dammit, if Derek wanted it back, he could come get the thing himself.

And then Derek did come.

The last thing Stiles had expected was a visitor, so when his window was opened without a warning, his first reaction was to leap out of bed and launch the closest thing nearby at the intruder. Much like the first time.

Except this time, it wasn’t a soda.

There was a loud grunt and a curse as Stiles’s fifth-grade soccer trophy bounced off of Derek’s head. This time, the man didn’t fall off the roof, which Stiles thought was a plus. But he did look downright pissed off.

“Dammit, Stiles!”

“Dammit Stiles? Dammit, Stiles? Dude, what have we established about knocking!”

Derek glared with red eyes, pulling himself all the way into the room. Stiles glared right back, folding his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow.

“What the hell are you doing here anyway?”

“What does it look like?”

“Uh, I dunno. Crawling into my bedroom like a total creeper after nearly a month of radio silence?”

Derek’s eye twitched. But Stiles didn’t budge.

“I’m fine, if that’s why you came. Or, your jacket’s in the closet. I…” he faltered a little bit, uncrossing his arms and dropping down onto the edge of his best. “I didn’t wash it. But I can do that and bring it by the loft later if that’s what you’d prefer.”

Derek was looking at him like he’d grown horns now. Stiles scowled.

“What?”

“I didn’t come for the jacket.”

Stiles looked at him for a long moment. His scowl slipped. “Oh.”

“I did come to see if you were okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“The stitches are out?”

“One week ago.”

“Oh,” Derek said and this time he was the quiet one. The man nodded, eyes dropping to his feet. “That’s good.”

“Yeah, well, you can go now.”

Grey-green eyes snapped back up. Derek actually looked startled. “You want me to leave?”

“You want to stay?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Oh geez,” Stiles said, his anger mounting again. “Dude, I don’t know. Maybe because you haven’t come by in ages. You know, after dumping me at the hospital and then making like it was hot. I’m so sorry if I did something to offend you. I’m so sorry if me nearly dying was offensive to you!”

“Do you know why you nearly died, Stiles?”

“Because the token human is always the easiest to take a jab at?”

“No, you idiot. Because you smelled like me!”

Stiles froze, all of his anger dissipating. Derek looked at him with red eyes and if he was honest, Stiles had known that. He’d been an idiot. He’d pranced around in a leather jacket that made him feel all gooey for some reason and in return, the big baddies actually thought he mattered. Actually thought that Stiles Stilinski, token human, mattered.

Mattered to Derek Hale.

“You smelled like me,” Derek said, stepping closer. “And that got you hurt.”

“So what, you take off for a few weeks? What, Derek? What do I smell like now? Do I even smell like pack anymore?”

Derek’s face fell. Stiles felt his stomach twist.

“I don’t, do I?”

“It gets you hurt. I shouldn’t have— started things.”

Stiles stared at him for a long moment. Then he swallowed hard, retreating a step back. “Things? What, like the research projects? The pack nights? Cause that’s not allowed, is it? Derek Hale isn’t allowed to let people think he cares. Well dammit, Sourwolf, you were really good at that. I almost fell for it too.”

Derek’s eyes flashed for a moment. Shaking his head, Stiles turned around and pulled the closet open, pulling out the man’s jacket. It was still a little bloody when he shoved it into Derek’s hands and the man visibly flinched.

“Just… tell Scott the things your pack needs. I don’t have to come over anymore, dude. And you don’t either.”

Derek’s face was tight when he looked at Stiles, expression betraying nothing. The man nodded and started to turn away and Stiles clenched his jaw hard, looking at the floor. Because dammit, he’d messed things up. He’d turned a good thing sour.

He should have returned the stupid jacket right away. He shouldn’t have been so dumb.

Silence fell over the room. When Stiles dared glance back up, Derek was looking at the jacket in his hands. The man’s shoulders were tense and he just stood there. Window open, the cool night air breezing in. His grip was white-knuckled around the jacket.

Stiles clenched his jaw even tighter when the man turned around.

“I do care.”

Stiles’s heart skipped a beat. Derek dropped the jacket to the floor, nudging it away, and then glanced back up. Grey-green eyes searched Stiles’s face.

“I— I do care. And I’d like to care. For a while. But I can’t do that if you get hurt and I can’t do that if you die, Stiles.”

“I’m not going to die.”

The man gave him an exasperated look. Stiles swallowed hard.

“... I don’t plan on dying?”

“But you can’t say that for sure.”

Stiles looked at him for a long moment. Then he stepped forward and brushed the tips of his fingers against Derek’s. The man shuddered, catching his hands, and Stiles offered a small smile. “Okay, so I can’t. But come on, dude, that’s the thing about promises. I promise stupid stuff all the time. Remember that time I vowed I was gonna marry you just because you brought me curly fries?”

Derek’s face turned red. Stiles grinned harder.

“How about you care a little, I care a little, and we trust that’s going to be enough? Because hell, dude, I don’t plan on dying anytime soon. I really don't plan on dying soon. And I mean, am I really much safer tagging at the pack’s heels instead of being a part of it? Instead of being… the Alpha’s?”

Derek’s eyes were red now. And they were locked on Stiles’s face as he shrugged.

“I just require the occasional curly fry delivery every now and then because you were in the area. And you’re not allowed to run after dropping them off.”

Derek didn’t say a word. Stiles raised a brow.

“Sourpuss?”

“You’d be mine,” Derek said. Stiles grinned.

“I mean, I don’t know a ton about marriage, but is that like a proposal? Because I am an eighteen-year-old teenager, Sourwolf, and I still need to finish high school. But yeah, I’d probably be okay with being werewolf married to you one day. Of course, that’s going to require a bit more bribing than some curly fries—”

Stiles cut off mid-sentence. Because suddenly, there were lips on his own, effectively shutting him up, and Stiles’s brain logged off as he realized Derek Hale was kissing him. Derek Hale. Of course, maybe he should have expected if because possible werewolf proposals—

Derek drew back for only a second. “Stop thinking so hard.”

And Stiles just grinned. Because Derek Hale was kissing him, Derek Hale cared, and Stiles was totally going to start making sure he used the front door instead of the window. His dad was going to have to be slowly introduced to this.

Or you know… with time. A little bit more time.

Stiles kissed Derek harder and decided maybe it could take just a little bit more time.

- -

I swear, this was not supposed to nearly be 6k words. But I wanted to make it 5+1 things and then I couldn't decide where I wanted to end it. So here we are! Thank you so much for the prompt nonnie, I had so much fun!

(if you enjoy my writing, consider supporting your student writer? You can also request a prompt if you’d like!). https://ko-fi.com/rh27writer

[nah-she-didnt]

No Mercy

Read on AO3!

Huge thank you to everyone who offered to edit this. Enjoy!

--

The members of the Order of the Phoenix sat in near total silence around a long mahogany table. Every now and then someone would mutter something under their breath to the person in the seat next to them, but most stayed completely quiet. A cloud of anxiety hung heavily over them, filling their lungs, their nostrils, and their hearts with doubt. No amount of strategizing sessions or dueling practice could prepare them for what lay in store this evening. 

James only noticed that he was bouncing his leg nervously when Lily stretched out her hand and rested it on his knee. He looked at her, wondering how she could stay so calm. Lily never seemed nervous before raids like these. She was always cool and collected, like she’d been preparing for the moment all her life, which she probably had done, being a muggle born. “I love you,” he mouthed silently to her. She nodded imperceptibly. She knew. 

All of a sudden the door to the meeting room of headquarters banged open. The table’s inhabitants all jumped. Albus Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody strode into the room. Both men looked grim and tired, as if they had missed several nights of sleep. James sat a little straighter in his chair and glanced across the table at Sirius. He looked wan, staring at the table where he held Remus’ hand so tight that his knuckles turned white. 

 Dumbledore took his place at the head of the table, placed his fingertips on the tabletop, and surveyed the group. The only sound in the room was the gentle patter of rain against the high, stained glass windows. 

“Tonight you will embark on a mission that is both highly dangerous and absolutely essential to defeating Lord Voldemort,” Dumbledore began with a steady voice, “your task is to identify and capture Evan Rosier, a high-ranking member of the Ministry of Magic and second lieutenant to Voldemort. We’ve received intelligence that Rosier is to attend a meeting at Malfoy Manor tonight. As you know, his capture will greatly weaken Voldemort’s cause within the Ministry, and will make ending his reign of terror that much simpler.” These words were met with silence. 

“You will break into two teams. The vanguard will sweep the premises for Death Eater activity and neutralize any enemies on the ground. Support will provide backup and further neutralize captured targets by stunning them and removing their wands. I will now allow Alastor to hand out partner assignments, Alastor, if you please,” 

Moody got clumsily to his feet. He was clearly not yet used to his new leg. He removed a crumpled piece of parchment from his coat pocket, smoothed it on the table, and squinted down at it. “Right,” he said gruffly, “first Vanguard partners are as follows. Potter and Lupin,” James’s head snapped up to look at Lupin, who grimaced at him, “Black and Evans,” Lily smiled weakly at Sirius who nodded at her across the table. 

James felt his heart sink. Of course they split up the couples, they were too much of a liability together, he thought to himself as Moody read off the rest of the teams. Lily and Sirius were two of the most gifted duelers in the room, but something about the two most important people in the world to him fighting together made him nervous. What if something went wrong? 

 Moody finished reading his list of names. The nervous energy in the room had reached a peak. Now that they knew who they were to fight with, the Order was ready. James’ body seemed to vibrate with anticipation, his hand itching for the wand in his pocket. If he had to sit still for one more moment he thought that he would scream. 

 “We depart in exactly ten minutes,” growled Moody, “take a moment, check in with each other, then make your way to the property line and prepare to disapparate.” For a few seconds no one moved. They all knew what Moody meant by “take a moment.” They knew that one or more of them might not come back. 

--

Sirius sat motionless. He felt oddly calm and ready to burst from his own skin at the same time. He went over the plan quickly in his head. Enter through the right wing of the basement, silent as a mouse. He knew how to take his corners, how to listen for the pacing feet of guards or the faint crackle in the air that meant curses hung there. He was prepared as he could be, but he was also scared shitless. 

 Remus nudged his knee with his own. “Hey,” he breathed, “you okay?” 

Sirius nudged him back, “of course. These Death Eater prats can’t scare me.” It was a lie, and Remus knew it, but he smiled anyway. 

“You’ll be alright, yeah? Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Name one time I tried to do something stupid.” 

 “The time you tried to wrestle Devil’s Snare because it was a ‘punk ass bitch.’“ 

“Alright, fair. But I swear on McGonagall that I won’t do anything stupid tonight.” 

“Good boy,” Remus said with a forced smile. He knew that there was little he could do to keep Sirius out of trouble. 

“Alright lads?” said Peter anxiously. Sirius knew was secretly relieved to be excluded from the vanguard. He may have had a knack for sneaking in unnoticed but he was a less experienced dueler than his friends. 

 Sirius clapped a hand on Peter’s back. “We’re grand, aren’t we Moony? Ready to kick some blood-supremacist arse?” 

 “Ready as I’ll ever be.”  

Sirius strode across the room to Lily, his mission partner. “Ready, Red?” 

 Lily took a deep breath, then nodded. She turned to James, looking as if she were about to speak, but before she could get a word out he had enveloped her in a massive hug. “Promise you’ll look after yourself?” Sirius heard him murmur into her hair. Lily nodded, “you too.” 

They broke apart, and James turned to Sirius. “Look out for her, yeah?”

“James,” Lily scoffed, “that’s some absurd male bullshit, even for you.” 

James smiled at her admonishment. “And you make sure to look out for him too! I want you both back here without a scratch in twenty five minutes, alright?” 

Sirius didn’t say anything, but pulled James into a hug, which he reciprocated. When they broke apart and Lily and James said goodbye to Peter, Sirius shot Remus one last look. He tried to say something, anything, to convey his fear to Remus, but Remus just shook his head. “Nothing stupid, remember?” 

“Alright, you lot,” bellowed Moody from the doorway, “move out!” 

--

Lily, Sirius, Dorcas, and Peter crept silently through the wet grass outside Malfoy Manor. Lily cursed herself internally for not casting a repelling charm on her sneakers before leaving headquarters as her shoes squelched into the soft mud below. 

The four of them were on high alert. They were about forty yards away from the house, which meant that they were prime defensive charm territory. Once Sirius stopped the group by holding up his hand, waved his wand in a complicated series of movements, and managed to tear a hole in the patchwork of spells that guarded the house. Lily was grateful to him, but did not exhale the breath she was holding in her chest. There were still ample opportunities for the plan to go wrong. 

 The group reached the door to the basement kitchens, then huddled together. 

“Right,” Lily whispered as quietly as she could, “Peter, Dorcas, remember. Lock the door behind us, stand guard, then follow in ten minutes.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Dorcas impatiently, “go on, show off. Make sure to leave us plenty of prisoners.” Lily laughed softly, squeezing Dorcas’ hand one last time before turning to the locked door. She and Sirius worked non-verbally for a few minutes to turn the lock until they finally succeeded and made their way inside the house. 

The hallway was pitch black, except for a few weak rays of moonlight that fell through small window panes that lined the hall. Lily knew better than to cast Lumos so, with a nod from Sirius, they proceeded down the hallway in the dark. 

Every corner presented the opportunity for a trap. Every shadow was an enemy lying in wait. Lily nearly had a heart attack when Sirius had clutched her arm at a high-pitched noise that turned out to be a small mouse. She made a mental note to take the mickey when they arrived back at headquarters. 

 They had just reached the end of the corridor when they both froze. Footsteps paced on the other side of the door, surely a guard set to stop any intruders from accessing the stairs to the main floor. Sirius motioned to Lily I’ll get the door, you stun. She nodded and arranged herself into her fighting stance. Her attack had to be swift and silent to avoid alerting anyone to their presence. 

Sirius looked her in the eye. One, two...three! He pointed his wand and non verbally flung the door open. Before she could see who was on the other side, She threw a silent stunner through the doorway. Lily heard a large body hit the floor. She scrambled through the doorway and looked down at the Death Eater. His mask covered his face, but he was clearly stunned. They left the guard lying in the doorway for Dorcas and Peter, Sirius casting a body-bind curse at him for good measure. Lily felt herself flush at her success. It was a small victory, and the rest of the mission was sure to be much more difficult, but she had managed to make one thing go right so far.  

She and Sirius began to climb the stairs that, according to the plans Moody had shown them, led to a door that opened into the entrance hall on the main floor. Lily knew that this was where they would find the most Death Eaters. With any luck, James and Remus would be climbing the identical staircase on the other side of the hall, ready to help them surprise any guards in the hall with a sneak-attack. 

 They reached the top of the stairs and stood in front of the door, almost uncertain. Sirius gestured once again to Lily, but this time he wanted her to open the door and attack first. She nodded, and once again on the silent count of three the door burst open. Sirius, wand raised, darted into the hall, ready to stun and fight and even kill if necessary. 

The hall was completely empty. 

Sirius almost lowered his wand, shock etched in every line on his face. Lily frowned. This wasn’t right. The hall led directly into the parlor, where Rosier and the other lieutenants met to plan their attacks. The hall should be full of Death Eaters there to protect their commanding officers. 

Lily looked at Sirius, who stared back. “What’s happening?” 

“I don’t-” suddenly the hall was filled with the sound of a voice screeching,  “Avada kedavera!" 

Lily dragged Sirius to the ground as a vase exploded above their heads. Three hooded figures stood on the landing above, but just as Lily had just started to get her bearings again, they disapparated and reappeared in the hall in front of them. Sirius was already back on his feet sending stunning spells at two of them. She scrambled up to cover his left flank and shot a body-bind curse at the third. The figure blocked her curse, but did not send back one of his own. She used his moment of hesitation to advance, pushing him back further into the hall. 

Sirius managed to bring down one of the Death Eaters with a well-placed stunner, then turned his full attention to the second of the two. Lily continued to throw spell after spell at her Death Eater, but he just blocked them all. “Come on!” she screamed, swiping her wand through the air with vicious speed.

Stupefy, stupefy, reducto, patrificus totalus, one spell after the next at the speed of light, and still the Death Eater retreated. “Fight back, you Coward!” she screamed at him. Finally, after her stinging hex missed him by inches, the Death Eater froze. Next to her, Sirius took down his second Death Eater and turned to watch. Lily’s opponent reached up to his face and slowly pulled his hood down to reveal himself. 

 It was Sev. 

 The next moment seemed to stretch into several slow-motion minutes. Lily heard Sirius roar in anger beside her, but stood rooted to the spot. Her blood began to boil at the sight of Sev. Her former friend. The boy who taught her all about Hogwarts. The boy who brought her chocolate frogs and The Daily Prophet before she even got her letter. The boy who humiliated her in front of the entire school. Lily pointed her wand directly between her former friend’s eyes. Any second now, she told herself, she would hex him. 

Then, two things happened in quick succession. James and Remus burst into the hall, probably at the sound of Sirius’ yell. They stared dumbstruck at the scene before them, Lily pointing her wand into Snape’s face. Then, the air was once again full of screams and curses. Two more Death Eaters appeared on the landing and began firing curses at them from above. One of the Death Eaters hit Sirius right in the chest with a flash of purple light, sending his limp body skidding across the floor. 

Remus screamed.  

Lily realized that she was still pointing her wand at Sev and quickly stunned him. She tried not to listen to the sound of his body hitting the cold marble floor. She turned to see James dueling both new aerial attackers while Remus ran to Sirius’ motionless form. She ran to join James in dueling the Death Eaters. 

 Suddenly, new and familiar figures began to fill the hall. Alice Longbottom and Fabian Prewett appeared from a staircase leading from one of the upper floors. Lily saw Alice sprint to Sirius’ body, grab him by the arm, and disapperate with a loud crack. Fabian had already taken out one of the Death Eaters and was furiously dueling the other. 

Lily seized the opportunity to pull James behind a pillar. 

“We have to run,” Lily panted, “it was a trap, there isn’t any meeting tonight!” 

James nodded quickly, scanning the room behind Lily. “You go now, I’m going to get Remus.” 

“But-” 

“Go!” 

She relented and turned on the spot. She felt her body being pulled through nothingness until finally she stopped in the grass outside headquarters. She landed clumsily, slamming the back of her head into the ground. She thought, stupidly, that this wouldn’t have hurt so much if she had hit the muddy ground outside Malfoy Manor. 

Alice ran over to her and pulled her up by her elbow. “What happened?” 

Lily blinked rapidly. She still felt dazed from apparition and her head ached. “I dunno. there was no meeting, just guards. Someone needs to warn Support to get out, now. Wait, no, tell them, James and Remus-” but just as she spoke James, Remus, and Fabian apparated onto the scene and fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Remus immediately sprang to his feet, staring around madly. He grabbed Alice by the wrist. 

“Where’s Sirius?”  

“Calm down, Lupin-” Fabian ordered, pulling Remus back so that Alice was beyond his reach. 

“WHERE IS SIRIUS?” he screamed, spitting madly, his eyes wild with terror.

Fabian seized him by the shoulders. “Get a grip, he’s going to be fine. Right, Alice?” he asked.

Alice nodded. “I already took him up to the house. He’s fine, Remus, just knocked out.” 

“Not fine,” Remus muttered, eyes darting back and forth as if Sirius were hiding behind one of the bushes lining the front garden, “dead.”

“He isn’t dead, I swear. He’s only knocked out. Come inside, you’ll see. We need to get inside to report to Moody.” Fabian slowly let go of Remus, and together he and Alice turned to walk up the driveway to headquarters. Lily could see him send a patronus to Peter and the other members of the Support as he walked. 

 Remus’ shoulders heaved with his labored breaths. He seemed to be regaining some of his lost self-control. But then he rounded on Lily, still panting. 

“What, the hell, was that, Evans?” 

 Lily was stunned At Remus’ use of her last name. “Remus, I-” 

 “He was your partner. Why didn’t you protect him?” 

 “Remus, mate,” James interjected, “you heard Longbottom, he’s-”

 “HE IS NOT FINE!” Remus bellowed at James, “He’s not fine! He could be dead or worse because you-” he pointed a finger between Lily’s eyes, “couldn’t curse your old Death Eater pal.” 

 “HEY!” James advanced on Remus, drawing his wand and sticking it underneath Remus’ chin, “fucking knock it off, Remus. You’re upset, I get it, but don’t take it out on her, mate. Things happen, it wasn’t anyone’s fault.” 

 “You saw her, James, she wouldn’t hex him. She let her guard down, she-” but Remus suddenly seemed to hear himself for the first time. His whole body went slack and he fell against James, sobbing into his shoulder. 

 James stroked Remus’ hair and whispered “I know, I know... it’s going to be alright.”  

Remus nodded against James’ shoulder and sniffed loudly. After a few minutes of comfort he straightened up, wiping his nose on his sleeve. He turned to face Lily but could not quite meet her eyes. “Lily, I can’t believe I said that. It wasn’t your fault. Please forgive me.” 

 Lily suddenly came back into her own body. She froze when Remus began to rage at her, shutting down her brain and thoughts in shock. Now, they came flooding back. He was right.  

“There’s nothing to forgive” she whispered, “it was my fault.” 

“No,” Remus cried, striding to her and grabbing her hands in his, “it wasn’t. You were shocked, you weren’t thinking, you were-” 

Lily shook her head and dropped her hands from his. “I froze, and I almost got us all killed.” 

--

Moody informed the Order members that their intelligence had been a false plant, that there had been no meeting tonight after all. The entire mission was a waste and a failure.   

An hour later the five of them sat in front of a roaring fire in the Potters’ sitting room. James and Peter played a half-hearted game of wizard’s chess while Remus slept soundly on Sirius’ shoulder. Lily stared into the fire, trying to forget the look on Snape’s face as she pointed her want at him. It wasn’t fear or sadness, it looked more like heartbreak. 

Sirius nudged her with his foot, snapping her out of her thoughts. “You okay?” 

“I should ask you the same question,” she grimaced. Sirius had woken up not long after they arrived back at headquarters, and Alice declared him “good as new” after a dose of pepper-up potion. Sirius had insisted to the group that Lily was a brilliant partner who had his back the entire evening. No one argued. Remus rubbed Sirius’ shoulders as he spoke, his smile a little too forced. 

Sirius raised his eyebrow at Lily. “Come on, Evans, you’re not still thinking about Snivellus, are you? You know that wasn’t your fault.” 

James and Peter exchanged an awkward glance. “Peter...” said James cautiously, “let’s grab a hot chocolate or something, yeah?” 

“Righto,” agreed Peter, and the two stood up and walked toward the kitchen. 

Lily looked at Sirius. “Don’t call him that.” 

“Defending him, are we?” Sirius said lightly, “when he would have killed you in an instant if you had been any other mudblood?” 

Lily’s eyes darted back to Sirius, “I know what he is. I know he’s a-” 

“Of course you do,” Sirius waved away the rest of her thought, “you’re not angry with yourself right now because you don’t understand what Snape has become. You’re angry because you think you should have somehow known better. Well, I’m here to say that’s bullshit.” Sirius said all of this quietly as Remus still slept on his shoulder. 

Lily looked back into the fire. “You don’t understand. All my first memories of magic are with him,” Lily muttered, more to herself than to Sirius, “I can’t imagine my childhood without him. He showed me a whole world of impossible things. I can’t just forget him. Because I’ve tried, believe me. But I can’t forget his fucking face because he’s in nearly all my best memories. And he doesn’t deserve it.” 

Sirius nodded as she spoke, letting her last words hang in the air for a moment before letting out a long sigh. “Well, Evans,” he said with a mirthless laugh, “it turns out I understand you better than anyone else in the world.”  

Lily gaped at him. “I’m sorry, don’t you hate Snape more than anyone?” 

Sirius regarded her with amusement. “Not Snape, dolt, my dear family. For eleven years I accepted all the mania, the superiority complex. I lapped up every lie they told me like it was water and I was dying of thirst,” he spat, growing more agitated as he spoke. “I thought if I played the part of the good heir they would love me better. Ha. Well, they did for a little while, at least until I went to Hogwarts and got sorted into Gryffindor. You see Evans, I hate them, but they’re so much of who I am. And so sometimes, when I let my guard down, I end up hating myself too.” 

He fixed her now with such an intense stare that she felt suddenly self conscious. “I understand exactly how hard it is to fight the other side of this war. You fight your childhood friend, I fight my brother, my parents, my cousins, and it seems everyone loses.” 

Lily knew he was right. Their childhoods could not have looked more different, yet they both understood what it was like to feel gut wrenching betrayal. Her eyes filled with tears.

“Sirius, I’m so sorry” she sobbed, “I almost got you killed tonight, when I saw it was him I completely froze. I almost got one of my best friends killed because I couldn’t do what was necessary.” 

Sirius smiled sadly. “It’s okay, Red, you’ve saved my ass on more than one occasion. I’d say we’re square.” He reached out to cup her cheek gently. “Just promise me one thing. Next time we see the bastard, promise me you’ll blow him away?” 

Lily gave a watery chuckle. “I promise, no mercy.” 

“‘Atta girl.” 

[ghost1643]

The disastrous like of a Aromantic psychic

Saiki has never felt romantic attraction ever. Sure, it might seem odd to normal people but, this was Saiki, and Saiki wasn't like normal people. Oh no he was a very power psychic. One who almost always knew when anything happened. Mainly resulting in him knowing he was an anime character. Thus why he knew it was a fan fiction he was currently in.

Yet, even in this fanfic he was 'forced', (as he would word it), to help people and avoid getting attention.

He sighed listening to Nendo go on and on about this girl he saw in the hall with his other classmate, Shun Kēido. Both of which had refused to leave him alone for years now and considered themselves his friends. He usually could put up with them, but not today.

Not after this morning.

Saiki had Nendo fall down the stairs onto of him which hurt and was hard to tell was coming since his mind was told small to be read. Then Shin had spilt his drink all over him this morning. From there things just spiralled. Everyone he hung out with had either done something that could physically hurt him, done something to annoy him or damaged his property.

Yet, he would have ignored it. He would have ignored it all if it wasn't for what was just about to happen.

He was tuning his friends out, just as Teruhashi's thought came into his mind speaking over the rest. He quickly picked up his books just in time to save them as she slammed her hands down on the table but, he had been to distracted by the two males blabbering on to save his desert.

His beloved rice pudding dropped to the floor spilling all over.

Teruhashi jumped back apologizing and cleaning the mess. Then she threw it out like it was nothing. Then she proceeded to try and get him to talk to her. It was like nothing happene.

....and that was the moment Saiki broke. Years of putting up with these people. Years of putting with their stupid thoughts. Years of saving them from themselves and convincing himself that their fates would affect him. Risking possible damage to himself for these people. Heck, even saving a few of them from death and this was how he was relayed.

By losing the one thing that mattered most to him.

He felt the colour leave his face as his mind snapped. He just looked up at Teruhashi who was jus smiling, trying to flirt with him. After all it had been three years of talking to his body without him replying.

"I'm just saying we could totally hang out sometime. I mean all three of us can go to Karoke athis Friday-"

"IM DONE!" Saiki snapped standing up. He didn't seem to notice everyone staring at him. He didn't notice the tears in his eyes. He worked so hard and for what? The one thing he loved the most was being ignored.

"Wha-"

And then he did it before she could say another word. He came out in front of the whole school.

"I can't take the flirting anymore! I've tried to give you every hing I could! I'm aromatic okay?! I don't wanna date anyone! I-I can't do it anymore!" He snapped at god knows who anymore before racing off down the hall. He didn't hear anyone rushing after him.

So he rushed to the bathroom and opening a window in there. Once he opened it, he teleported back him seeming to forget all about his school shoes. 

Once he got home he sighed taking off his school clothes. Then slowly he headed upstairs to rest in his room. When he laid back in his bed, he found himself smiling.

He had done it! He had finally freed himself of the chaos!! He had finally freed himself of those dumb asses!

No more teruhashi trying to go out with him! No more moments of Shin pretending he was an anime character! No more moments of Nendo being the dumbest creature alive! No more of Chio trying to flirt with him! No more Moments of Kashi trying to get him to work out so often! No more moments of Reita's stupidness!

How did he know he would be freed from these people? Well to put it simply Japan just wasn't as accepting of a place as people thought. If anything being part of the LGBTQ+, was a social death sentence in any situation. If it wasn't then..well people would start avoiding them.

So it was the perfect way to fix his problems! No more dealing with peoples problems! No more fixing things! From now on it was all about him and his little bubble.

Yet, if that was try then why did he feel so...upset?

He didn't know why but, his chest ached a bit as he buried himself under his sheets. He had no idea why though. It's not like he would miss his so called 'friends'. Instead he was now free from them. Yet, he felt so....so odd.

~time skip~

Two days later and Saiki was in bed every moment of that weekend that he could.He came home on Thursday night after coming out and hid in his room. And that's what he did for the rets of the weekend so far.

He missed school on Friday which had never happened before. Yet, he just felt more numb than usual. He didn't know why though. He didn't even feel good enough to eat rice pudding which definitely wasn't good.

This continued for all the next morning. Heck he even spent time in bed the entire afternoon. Maybe it was because he used so much of his powers Thursday. Like enough to make him feel so crappy. Yet, he knew that wasn't true.

As much as he hated to admit it, he realized he missed his classmates. Their interactions at least gave him something new to expect. They have him something to do other than study. Now he had nothing to do.

Nothing but miss them and eat rice pudding.

The power of rice pudding had motivated him to visit his favourite cafe. The one that served the best rife cakes. It was what he did every Saturday night, usually with one of his classmates as of recently, but today he was all alone. And that would be the way it would stay.

Saiki guessed he shouldn't be so emotional anymore. After all this was what he choose. If he didn't want to be alone, well then he shouldn't have come out. He sighed thinking to himself that it didn't matter anyways. He was graduating in six months. He would have been all alone again in a collage on the other side of town anyways.

He just sighed standing outside the cafe door. His thoughts filled his mind somehow being louder than all the other voices he heard around him. In fact he seemed to just tune out all of reality. Thus resulting in the conclusion he refused to admit.

His classmates were his friends. They had spent years getting to know each other while doing their little cycle of madness. Thus also getting closer together. In fact dare he even imply, sometimes his friends made him happy. He even dared to say he liked hanging out with them at times.

Yet, he had thrown that away over his own selfishness. And now he had nothing and no one. No one except his beloved desert food.

Just as he came to this conclusion h had his hand on the door. His mind seemed to calm down with it's own thoughts at this point as he slowly opened the door. He should have waited thought. Why? Cause the second he opened the door he caught the single thought that should have clued him to turn away.

"I hope I picked the right hiding spot."

The second he heard that thought, he had opened the door. The lights were out playing feeling so nervous. He assumed someone was there to attack him as he walked in. So he began getting ready to defend himself. If only he could focus his mind on relaxing. Maybe then he could hear more thoughts, but now his mind was thinking of his own worries.

However he took a step in the building the lights came back on. As they did his classmates jumped up screaming surprised as confetti and balloons were thrown over the room. He jumped a foot in the air as everyone smiled to him.

Every corner of the cafe was decorated with the A romantic flag colours. Heck there was even a flag over a table. Yet, what he focused more on was his mains group of friends. He moan friends were inches away from him smiling, as if they were seeing him for the first time in years.

"Wh-" he was cut off by Nēndo rushed over hugging him. His eye got bigger as his other friends held him close as well. He blushed before feeling the entire class hugging him which seemed to calm him down to hear all their thoughts. As he did he almost cried.

They were all about him. They were all thinking about him.

"How on earth am I gonna tell Saiki I'm sorry I've been forcing my feelings on him? I mean any way I word it makes it sound like it's all about me but, he's been there for me through so much. How am I gonna avoid hurting him." It was the only time he heard Teruhashi think about anyone other than herself.

"Saiki I'm so sorry I haven't reached out to you for so long. I hope you still wanna be friends even though I haven't been helping you as much as I can be." Reita thought smiling. Being the only one who knew he could do read minds, well, his words seemed more comforting than others.

"I can't believe I push everyone to drive for a happy life when I made Saiki feel bad enough that he ran away. I promise from now on Saiki I'm gonna give you as much as I can." Kineshi Hairo, always thought about how to motivate others. It was normal. Yet, it some how made the world to Saiki.

"You supported me through so much man! How am I gonna support you?!" Shun Kaidō always was full of thoughts about how he must be like a hero. Why on earth would he be thinking about anything else?

"Oh my. What can I do for you?! I mean you already payed for me to go on a school trip and help support my part time job here every week by visiting here. I mean I already got you some pudding for free today but, I suppose I could also offer you some time to just hang out when I get a free moment." Chisato Mera, has so many jobs but, this was her favourite. It was true Saiki came here for rice cakes every week, but something about her thought made him what to come every day.

"Oh gosh I'm gonna cry. I missed Saiki so much. I thought he just gave up. What would I do without a friend like him....No! No Chiyo! This isn't about you. Don't you dare start crying. Instead just focus on how Saiki and how to make him happy." Chiyo Yumehara, usually thought about how to woo men. Somehow this made him more happy than anything anyone else could say to him.

And that would have been it. He was being overwhelmed by his friends thoughts followed by other classmates thoughts about how much he had helped him and how they wanted to repay him. It was enough to touch his heart as he was lead to a table to sit down.

As he was, Nēndo explained it was a coming out party. One where they celebrated how brave Saiki has been for coming out. It was so odd to say the least, but it made him smile. It just made Saiki be overwhelmed by his emotions. So much so that he didn't lie when he was asked about why he didn't go to school.

"Well I figured you guys wouldn't wanna be stuck hanging around a someone like me." He admitted before finally eating his pudding. Just as he did he looked up to see guilty faces and hear guilty thoughts. Ones he was bound to hear again and had heard before.

That is Exocet for the one he heard at the end.

The only thought he ever heard from Nēndo.

"I made him feel like that?...why on earth would I abandon a best buddy like him? I mean what on earth would I do if he never existed."

Something about the guilty look and thought of gratitude finally broke him. Saiki was in tears. Like actual tears as he looked back down, eating a bit of his food. As soon as he did he felt his best friend Nēndo hug him again.

"It's okay. I'm always gonna be here for you." Nēndo smiled.

Without a second thought Saiki hugged him back.

The two just smiled clinging onto each other for support before everyone else slowly joined in. Each hugging and giving their support aloud for him. Each word just made him feel even more better.

Maybe standing out wasn't so bad.

If it meant he had friends like this and could be who he was, then he didn't mind standing out for once.

(The end)

[maidenof-thesea]

Snakes & Butterflies | Part I

Pairing: Jimin x reader

Genre: Soulmate Au!, Fluff, Angst, Smut (Maybe, still debating)

Words: 2.4k

Warnings: None

Note: Jungkook may not be my bias but let’s be real. He bhabie. And he knows it! I’m sorry, I know JImin is a main character and I have yet to introduce him but I promise he will appear very soon, all with good time. 

“Y/N”

“Y/N!” My mom yelled waking me up from my dream. 

“Why did you buy a king sized bed if you’re just gonna sleep on the couch?” My mom said already bustling around in my kitchen. Yuki, who almost looked annoyed, ran to the porch instead to finish her nap in the afternoon sun. “You do realize it’s already thirty minutes past noon?”

“Sorry, mom” I said stretching, exposing my belly. I went to hug her but she lifted up my shirt. “Hey!”

“You’re getting too skinny!” she said pinching my skin. “Why don’t you just move back in with me? I promise your father won’t mention marriage again. And you won’t have to take care of drunk tourists during the summer.”

I pulled my shirt down, feeling my face burn in embarrassment. Choosing to ignore her question, I sauntered over to the kitchen to see a pot of beans cooking and arroz already ready to go. I get a bowl to serve myself only for her to snatch it out of my hands.

“Don’t avoid my question!” she yelled smacking my hand when I went to reach another bowl. When she realized that I was not going to answer her question, she sighed in temporary defeat. “At least brush your teeth first.”

“Okay omma,” I said smiling, while running to the bathroom. 

“Did you watch that documentary on Netflix?” she asked, while serving me a bowl.

“Yea,” I said to the best of my ability while brushing my teeth. Once I reached for a fresh wash cloth in the linen closet, I saw my scar and I remembered my dream. Jimin. I know a Jimin, an old childhood friend, but he had moved away so long ago. But nothing more than that...I couldn’t even remember his face, let alone his Soulmate mark. So no way did I dream of a memory, but I must have dreamt of that because of my conversation with Fernando. “Hey mom, do you remember Jimin?”

“Jimin? That Korean boy you used to be friends with?” My mom said nonchalantly. “What was his cousin’s name? Jung-”

“Jungkook.” I answered. “The boy that looked like a-”

“A conejo!” my mom gushed causing me to widen my eyes. “He was so cute! I wonder how he grew up..”

She went on about how adorable he was that he must have grown into a handsome young man and that whomever his Soulmate was, was so lucky. I started to surf through my emails and I had an email from Jennie’s mom, sent this morning.

Hello Y/N, this is Jennie’s mom! I hope this email finds you okay! You probably already know that next week is when we open the cottage as an airbnb for the summer. I’ve attached a list of this season’s guests. They are all coming from South Korea this time! They should be arriving by next week but one did mention that he may arrive early since he is a student. You should expect him around 1 pm

All my love~

“MOM!” I yelled getting up from the table. “A guest is coming in 20 minutes!”

“QUE?! HIJA DE SU PU-”

“MOM! LANGUAGE!”

We started cleaning haphazardly. My mom was tidying up the living room, since she had already previously cleaned the kitchen. I ran up the stairs and got some fresh linens from a closet that I knew where Rosa, the housekeeper I had Jennie hire, kept them. I quickly sniffed them and determined them dusty. I ran back downstairs, almost tripping on the sheets.

“Be careful!” My mom yelled. “What are you doing?”

“Well Rosa doesn’t start till this weekend, so I’m gonna have to set up a room for them now!”

“You don’t have time to wash sheets!” My mom yelled as she stopped me from putting the sheets in the wash. “Just put them in the dryer with some dryer sheets and that should get rid of the dust.”

“You are a genius mom,” I said doing as she instructed. “The fridge-”

“I already cleaned the fridge and threw out old food cartons” My mom said. “I was planning on going grocery shopping for you since you work-”

“That’s fine,” I said making my way up the stairs to one of the spare bedrooms. “I’m off today which is lucky. And thanks, they may want to get groceries for themselves.” I started opening up all the windows, letting the wind in and the sun shine through. When I heard the dryer ding I ran for the sheets and ran back up the stairs and started making the bed. 

“Do you think they are running late?” My mom said dusting the furniture. “It’s been 30 minutes.”

“Jennie’s mom mentioned that he or she was a student at the university,” I said, putting the last pillow on the bed. “They may be taking public trans-” 

The doorbell rings and my body stiffen in surprise. I ran back down the stairs with my mom hot on my heels. In my hurry I had forgotten that my pajamas consisted of a tank top and shorts, completely leaving my arms exposed. I opened the door and a tall Korean boy stood at the door with a suitcase. I felt my heart drop and my blood run cold--speaking of the devil.

“Noona?” Jungkook said, cocking his head, his long jet black hair falling into his eyes. His front teeth were still the same as all those years ago. His eyes rank over my form and almost immediately, he zeroed in on my arm, the arm where my Soulmate mark should have been. Instead of surprise or even shock for that matter, his eyes were sad. Before I could even open my mouth, my mom grabbed my arm and swung me inside.

“Oh my! It’s my conejito!” My mom gushed with her arms spread open to hug him. I quickly scrambled to the coat closet to grab a jacket. “What a small world! Come on in, come on in!”

Jungkook giggled at her nickname for him and sauntered inside dragging his suitcase. He steps into the living room and Yuki then decides to greet him by rubbing on his ankles. His eyes widened in surprise and I quickly picked her up, my protective instincts kicking in.. 

“I’m sorry!” I say stepping back. “She isn’t usually this affectionate around strangers. Are you still allergic to cats?”

“No!” Jungkook said stepping closer and actually petting Yuki, to which she purred. “It’s fine! It’s not as bad as it was when we were kids.” He looked at me with a crinkle in his eyes. “I can’t believe you actually remembered that.”

“I’m not entirely sure how I did either…” I muttered as I readjusted the jacket back onto my shoulder. Once again, his gaze fell to my now covered arm. “So you are staying here for the summer?”

“Oh yes, me and my hyungs will be staying.” Jungkook said scratching his head. “They should be coming sometime next week.”

“Oh so does that mean Jimin will be coming?” my mom asked, handing him a cup of lemonade. “We haven’t seen you guys in forever, Y/N was just thinking about you and your cousin this afternoon.”

“Oh really?” He said sitting at the kitchen table. “It has been awhile, I actually just moved back to the States for school.”

“You guys moved back to South Korea?” I asked in surprise. I had always thought they just moved to a different city due to their parents' company. “I didn’t know that…”

“Yea,” Jungkook said sheepishly. “We had a family emergency.”

“Oh no!” my mom said sitting across from him. “I hope everything was okay!”

“Uhh..” Jungkook said nervously and looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

“Mom,” I said interjecting. “Don’t you have to head back home? Dad must be wondering where you are?”

“Oh you’re right!” my Mom said. “It was so nice seeing you Jungkook! Have a good time here, Y/N is such a good host!”

“Jungkook,” I said as my mom was gathering her belongings. “I already set up a room for you upstairs, if you want to settle in.”

“Okay noona,” Jungkook said smiling at me. As I followed my mom out the door, I turned around and Jungkook was looking at my arm, with a sad look in his eyes. So he saw, but his reaction was not what I expected. I closed the front door and my mom whirled on me. She smacks me on the arm.

“You should have been more careful!” She whispered/yelled. “What if he saw?!”

“He didn’t,” I lied. “I’m sorry, I should have been more careful.”

“Well, don’t forget to buy those temporary tattoos from my friend, okay?”

“I will mom.” I replied smiling while waving at her. “Say hi to Dad for me will you?”

She gives me an annoyed face and drives away. I look back at the house and I felt fear creep up my spine. Sweat started to bead at my brow, my fists were clenched and my heart was pounding in my ears. Shit. At this rate, I’ll have an anxiety attack. I took a deep breath and made my mind go blank. The sound of the waves relaxing me. I headed back inside and Jungkook was most likely in his room unpacking. As I headed up the stairs, the most angelic voice was singing, I couldn’t understand Korean but it was beautiful. Jungkook along with Yuki were in his bedroom and I felt hypnotized by his voice.

“Oh!” Jungkook said as he spotted me at the doorway. “Hi noona!”

“Hi Jungkook,” I said sheepishly, picking up Yuki. “I’m sorry about Yuki, she’s rubbing all over your clothes.”

“It’s okay,” Jungkook said, folding the last of his clothes. “She’s really pretty, so it’s okay.”

“I hope you’ll be comfortable in this room, I sort of just found out this morning that you were coming,” I said awkwardly. “I wasn’t expecting you guys till next week.”

“I’m sorry about that!” Jungkook said a little awkward himself. “I finished my finals early and the hyungs wanted me to come here early to get groceries and whatnot for them.”

“No it’s okay,” I said shuffling my feet. “If you want, I can give you a ride to the grocery store? I was thinking of going shopping by myself.”

“Really?” Jungkook said with his cheeky smile. “I would be really glad, I was planning on taking an uber!” 

“Yea,” I said smiling, his smile was contagious. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll be good to go!”

Once we arrived at my favorite grocery store, Jungkook proceeded to place a matter of things into his cart: seven loofahs, seven toothbrushes, seven men’s deodorants, etc. Huh I was gonna have seven guys living with me this summer. Great. Once we both had what we needed for the time being, we headed home. For the most part, Jungkook was acting normal, or at least wasn’t acting weird. Which was even more strange. From what I could remember people always had a reaction to my lack of a Soulmate mark. Growing up, kids were cruel, Jennie was constantly getting into fights with little brats that would call me loveless and all matter of cruel things. She was my only friend and even though she had a beautiful feather Soulmate mark, she never looked at me differently. Even when she had already found her Soulmate Lisa. They were on their honeymoon in Greece. 

We had gotten everything situated in the fridge, decided to just use labels on things we weren’t willing to share, but the rest such as milk, eggs and juice we would be okay with sharing as long as we would replace whatever we finished. Next I showed him where the laundry room was, so that he could wash his own clothes, at least till Rosa started working. 

“So I typically make meals every now and then,” I stated. “But you guys are welcome to cook for yourselves. We have a visitor policy, no one can spend the night but I’m okay with it as long as you notify me ahead of time.”

“Noona,” Jungkook said, blushing as he interrupted me. “How did you get this job?”

“Um well, my friend’s parents let me stay here under the condition that I manage it as an airbnb during the summer for super cheap.”

“Friend?”

“Yea, her name is Jennie Kim, Remember her?”

“Oh,” He said rubbing his head. A message dinged and my notification sound was BB-8’s alert from Star Wars. “Oh wow, you still like Star Wars?”

“Of course! Kylo Ren is my husband.” I said nonchalant as I read my mom’s text message.

Mom[4:58 pm]: Cassandra said you can go by tonight to get a Henna tattoo since the special stick on tattoos hasn’t come in yet.

“I have to go Jungkook,” I said slinging my bag over my shoulder. “Will you be okay by yourself?”

“Of course,” he said petting Yuki. “Will you be long?”

“Maybe,” I said glancing at the clock. “I have to drive to San Ysidro.”

“What? Why?” He said worriedly. “I heard that place is dangerous once the sun goes down.”

“I have an appointment with a massage therapist,” I lied, avoiding eye contact and turning around heading out the door. “I’ve been there countless times, I should be fine.”

“Y/N,” Jungkook said following me outside. “I am not comfortable with this.”

“I can take care of myself,” I muttered a bit annoyed. “I am older than you Jung-”

“Is this about your arm?” Jungkook said grabbing said arm. “Because if it is-”

“Jungkook,” I said, taking my arm out of his grasp. “I understand that you may feel obligated to me because we were childhood friends, but please don’t pretend that you know the first thing about me.”

“I’m sorry,” Jungkook said, taking a step back. “But I just don’t think it’s worth risking your safety.”

“I’m sorry too,” I sighed in defeat. BB-8 chimed again and I’m sure it’s my mom asking me if I was gonna go or not. “We can talk more about this when I get back. I’m pretty sure you have questions, especially with what’s been going on lately.”

“Can I at least go with you?”

“Look,” I swung my bag around, so that I could rummage through to find my taser, to show him “I got my safety covered, plus Miss Cassandra doesn’t trust outsiders.” 

“Fine,” Jungkook sighed, pulling his phone out. “At least give me your phone number.” 

“Fine,” I agreed, reaching for his phone and typing in my number. “I’ll be back for dinner.”

“Noona,” Jungkook said. “You want to watch Star Wars later on?”

“Yea,” I said smiling. “Maybe we can watch Iron Man too.” His eyes widened in shock and he nodded quickly with a blinding smile. How has he stayed the same all these years?

Prev / Next 

Masterlist  

[fortune-fool02]

Not All the Same

Merman Kakyoin Noriaki x human female reader

Requested by: anonymous

Mermaid AU

Please enjoy.

The Surface was no place for a creature of the sea like him. He has seen humans steal their food from them just to trade for coins, they don’t even eat them themselves. 

Though, he could not deny he was curious of the humans. And it was that curiosity that is the reason why there were multiple metal hooks digging into his flesh as well as gashes along his body. Blood trailed in his wake as he glided through the water, alerting any predator within a twenty metre radius of the weakened prey. Kakyoin threw a glance over his shoulder and his eyes widened at the shadow of the shark that was rapidly gaining on him. 

Panic flooded his body, forcing himself to swim faster in hopes to escape the shark’s jaws. The seabed below him began to grow closer, an indication of the approaching shore. With no alternative escape routes, he had no choice but to go onto shore. 

He dragged his body onto the sandy beach, out of the reach of the shark’s gaping jaws, he watched as the shark disappeared under the waves of the water again and a sigh left his lips. Though, he was unable to reveal in the joy of escaping death’s jaws as a surge of pain flooded his body. His scales slid off, replacing themselves with skin; his gleaming fish tail shedding itself to expose two bare legs. 

The waves of pain faded, pulling his consciousness with it and the last thing he saw was something approaching him. 

***

[Name] had watched it all. The creature known as nothing more than a myth crawl from the water onto the beach, where it proceeded to transform, just like the stories said they could. She couldn’t help but approach the wonderful creature. Once she was close enough, a small gasp slipped her lips at the sight of the fish hooks in his flesh, along with wounds that appeared to come from a knife. 

How could someone do such a horrible thing to this creature? Carefully, [Name] picked the merman up and carried him back to her house -which was close to the beach- and set him down on the bed. She gathered everything she could that could help treat his wounds and began to tend to them, removing each of the hooks as carefully as possible to avoid causing more pain to the creature.

As she was in the middle of bandaging him up, his lavender eyes snapped open and she just narrowly missed the swipe of his hand, despite not having claws. She backed away, raising her hands up to show she meant him no harm and he only hissed at her. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” [Name] said softly, her tone reflecting her [Eye colour] eyes, radiating concern for the merman. His narrowed eyes fell down to his bandaged body, noticing how his wounds didn’t hurt as badly as they did earlier. 

Did this human heal him? Why? What was her intention behind this? Looking back up at the [Hair colour] human, he watched as she gave him a soft smile before gathering her tools and leaving the room, closing the door behind her. 

***

[Name] returned to the room not long after, carrying a tray with her. The scent of fish caught the merman’s attention, turning his attention from the window to the food on the tray. 

“I thought you might be hungry.” [Name] said with a small smile on her face, trying to appear as harmless as possible. Kakyoin looked at the food, raw salmon. A low growl was heard from his stomach at the scent of the fish but he made no attempt to approach and accept the food; sceptical of her motives behind this. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” [Name] repeated again, setting the tray on the desk and taking the plate of food into her hands. She stood there, holding the plate out for him to take. Patience was something [Name] was good with, and she couldn’t blame this merman for his uncooperative behaviour. If she was attacked like he was, she doubted she would trust humans either. That was why she had to do this, to show him that not all humans were like the ones who attacked him. 

Slowly, Kakyoin rose from the chair, cautiously approaching her. His body tense, prepared to lash out if she tried to attack in any way. His hands reached out to the fish, snatching one off the plate and quickly feasting upon it. [Name] smiled softly, setting the plate on the bed for him and giving him space to eat; just on the off-chance he was protective of his food. 

Once he had finished the salmon, he went to reach for the second one when he stopped and turned to her. His bright lavender eyes locking onto her [Eye colour] ones, 

“Why are you... helping me?” he asked, his voice was slightly hoarse and the syllables were a little strained but understandable. She gave him a sweet smile that he has never seen on a human before, it gave him a strange sense of security that he hasn’t felt since he left his pod. 

“Because no one should suffer like that. Especially something as unique as you.” His eyes widened slightly. Unique? This human believed he shouldn’t suffer because of that? Strange indeed. 

He took the salmon and bowed his head at her, a way his kind would thank each other. She smiled, mirroring his action and leaving him to eat in peace. Maybe... this human was different?

[bananaink]

KeGo December Day 13 - Window

Izuku crossed his arms in front of his chest, a slight sting shooting through his ribs, and stared after a woman on her bike down the street. She had too many grocery bags on her stupidly colorful bike and swayed dangerously from side to side. Someone tried to help her but she just smiled and kept on. She made it out of Izukus field of view safely and left him bored again.

He sighed against the window and looked over his shoulder to check on Aizawa. He was still sitting with his back to Izuku at the kitchen counter, either reading or scribbling something down. His mug had stopped steaming so he would probably refill it soon but otherwise it was quiet in the apartment with almost no movement.

Boredom was something he wasn't really used to. Usually he would either hide from his brother, avoid his father or work with/for Kurogiri. If these didn’t apply, he would care for his wounds, scavenge for food or write in his journal. But all of the above were just... gone. Not an option. His fingers itched for a pen and his notebook but to get it he’d have to leave the apartment which – as the police, Aizawa and reluctantly Izuku had agreed on – would not be possible for a few more days. Maybe weeks. Just to be safe. Just until they were sure he was safe, his mom was safe, his wounds had healed and they had decided what to do with him.

Nervously, he eyed Aizawas back. The underground hero hadn’t exactly offered to take him in, just told the police to call him when questions would arise, herded him away from the station, into a car and then drove back here. Then he had proceeded to dump Izuku on the couch and empty the storage room of any and all storage. And now Izuku was trapped in a very weird limbo, unsure about anything. What would happen to him?

And to make matters worse, he had never felt so full of energy. His muscles didn’t ache, bones didn’t creak, his stomach wasn’t cramping with hunger and the few restless hours of sleep gave him so much more focus to work with. So much more he could observe, analyze. And no notebook to write it down. Great.

Well, he was supposed to be resting, lying down and letting all that energy work out his lingering injuries which were still stinging and burning and pulsing here and there - but that just wasn’t an option with Aizawa so close. And every time he closed his eyes, his brother loomed over him.

He paced in front of the window again - four steps, turn, four steps, repeat - and eyed the plant on the little table outside. It looked even sadder with only one green leaf remaining on its dried and frozen body. Izuku found himself guessing how long someone had to ignore a plant for it to reach this state of more-dead-than-alive. Maybe days? Weeks? But it would get water from rain and direct sunlight, wasn’t that supposed to be the only thing for plants to grow? How could it still die? Frowning, Izuku bit down on his lip to keep his bubbling words down and when he heard Aizawa standing up to refill his mug, he stopped and watched him over his shoulder.

But the adult just sat down again, sighing and popping his shoulders, stretching his arms over his head. Izuku grimaced in sympathy at the sound. Sitting hunched over a table did bad things to a back and Ereaserhead hadn’t moved for hours. Aizawa scratched his head, ruffling his already wild black hair and turned to look over his shoulder. Immediately Izuku swiveled his stare outside again, crossing his arms and pretending to be very engrossed in something down the street. His skin prickled a little bit and he started pacing again as soon as the hero's attention wasn’t on him anymore.

He managed ten minutes of mindlessly staring outside with glances at the clock in-between before he looked over his shoulder again. Aizawa was still sitting there. With his back turned. Working or something. Izuku took a deep breath and quietly let it out again, before scratching the side of his head and glaring at that back. This was dumb. He was bored out of his mind. And Aizawa just sat there. Being busy.

“You’re annoying.”, he said with sudden vigor and flexed his hands, waiting for a reaction.

“Okay.”, came the deep answer, obviously distracted.

“And stupid.”

“Mh-Hm.”

Izuku lifted his hands to phantom-strangle Aizawa from across the room, barely stopping himself from hissing in frustration. The adult had been nothing but quiet and nonconfrontational for the duration of Izukus stay and it started to get on is nerves. Especially if he had nothing better to do but stare outside a window and worry his head off.

He paced for two minutes more, grumbling under his breath and watching a cloud, looking like a muffin, move over the sky before he glared at the hero again. He seemed so aloof in these walls. As if he had nothing to fear, presenting his back to Izuku, napping defenselessly slumped on a chair or carelessly handling Izuku knives to chop vegetables.

He could have attacked Ereaserhead by now easily. Yeah, Izuku would probably spectacularly lose but not before inflicting enough harm to scar the hero. Not that he wanted to fight but this indecisive situation, this fear of the unknown, the question of would he be allowed to stay or send away...

Rubbing his scarred cheek, he made a decision. Probably a stupid one, reckless and born from spite but it would be better than smashing his face against the wall or staring at the vulnerable back or waiting and giving another person the power to decide.

Making sure that his pacing went on for a few more seconds, he slowly made his steps quieter, lighter until he was sure Aizawa couldn’t hear them anymore. Then, he chose a path that would avoid that one creaky floorboard beside the couch and keep himself out of Aizawas line of vision, if he decided to turn the same way he had done before. That should give him a few seconds if push came to shove. He tip-toed to the big bookshelf and its inhabitants, zeroing in on the well-used ones and buzzing with anticipation.

It only took him ten, maybe fifteen minutes of nerve-wrecking silence and hyper focused movements to not drop anything, but once he was done, he quietly went back to the balcony-window and made his pacing slowly audible again. Then he threw some huffs and sighs into the mix. Aizawa just sipped his cold coffee.

Izuku crossed his arms in front of his chest and eyed the bookshelf. Inconspicuous and not the biggest inconvenience he had made but still annoying enough. That should show the pro hero to leave him alone to his own devices. And maybe jog his decision...

An annoyed but slightly impressed Shouta stood in front of his bookshelf, holding “How to live like your cat” in one hand and “Well, you are Single - How to cook for one” in the other. Neither had been the one he needed.

Gazing up at his shelf he frowned at the turned picture-frames, his cat-figurines and books facing the walls and that dumb Present Mic action figure Hizashi kept sneaking into his home delicately balanced on its ridiculously accurate hairstyle.

He turned to look at the boy currently highly interested in the window, tapping the glass and fidgeting on the spot. After ten silent seconds of staring at the back of his head, Midoriya even squished one cheek against the window and hummed an innocent tune. Shouta turned back to the shelf, eyeing the turned books. Even the highest figurines he himself struggled to reach were turned - how in the hell had Midoriya managed to reach them without Shouta noticing?

And – more importantly – why?

“Midoriya.”, he said, voice unexpectedly loud in the silence surrounding them. The kid almost jumped out of his skin and up the ceiling, but he still turned around with the most clueless expression Shouta had ever seen.

“Why?”

The boy eyed Shouta intensely first before glancing at the bookshelf.

“I’ve asked myself the same thing. Seems impractical to store them like this, Ereaserhead. You can’t even read the labels or see the pictures.”

“No... Why would you do that?”

“Do what? Improve your mind with casual memory tasks? Save you from thousand dead cat-eyes staring into your soul?”

“That’s not an answer to my question.”, Shouta tried to say without exasperation and put the two books back were Midoriya had sorted them. Backs facing the walls.

“And I told you to call me Aizawa when I’m out of costume.”

“Sure beans. You’re welcome by the way.”

The pro hero rubbed his forehead, sighed and then put his hands on his hips, turning fully to look at Midoriya. The kid flinched hard again despite his confident voice and the impressive defiance in his eyes.

“Alright, undo all of this. And get me my books on the history of quirk manifestation back in order please, I need them.”

Midoriya stared at Shouta for a few seconds with an unreadable expression. Long enough for it to almost get uncomfortable. But then the kid shrugged and walked over. Stiff and tense but he made sure to sound as carefree as he tried to move.

“A shame, this is so much more exciting. Which book will you get? Cats, cooking, history or even more cats? You never know.”

With that he shuffled close and started picking specific books out and piling them at his feet. Shouta eyed the covers and quickly realized that he was sorting them by genre. The kid had memorized the books and their placement which wouldn’t be that impressive if it weren’t for the fact that Shouta had a whole wall of books. He himself never cared about a specific order or sorting system since he only used a handful of them regularly. One section for school-related books and one for his favorite cat-themed-ones. But other than that, he just stuffed them somewhere in hopes of forgetting them. Most of them weren’t even his since he usually had no time to read anyway.

Midoriya pulled out a ‘teaching for dummies – part 3’ book and Shouta sighed at the memory of that specific birthday party. Hizashi had been oh so funny...

Shouta sighed, watched the kid and wanted to cross his arms over his chest to get comfortable, but suddenly Midoriya ducked into a crouch and swirled around, eyes wide and face ashen. He knocked a small pile of books over and Shouta froze with his arms halfway in the air. The boy in turn froze with his shoulders curled, eyes jumping all over Shoutas body and lingering on his hands. He looked scared. Prepared. As if expecting a hit.

They blinked at each other – one surprised and one expectant.

Okay.

So, that happened.

The kid took a measured breath, awkwardly saying something about being startled by a spider and quickly tried to play his own reaction off by grabbing the knocked over books. As he stood up to sort them back into the shelf in alphabetical order, the pro hero carefully lowered his hands again, stuffing them into his pockets. Right. Traumatized kid. Not fond of hands. He carefully observed his forcefully relaxed body movements and how he always had Shouta at least halfway in his vision. His back never fully turned towards him.

He gripped the books a little bit too tight.

“Midoriya-”, he said and the kid startled bad enough to let the book go, frantically trying to catch it before it hit the ground and knocked three more to the floor in the process. He winced and tucked his flailing arms back in before presenting Shouta with another very innocent look over his shoulder. The underground hero sighed.

“Is there something you maybe want to let me know?”, he asked and Midoriya – for a very hot second - looked trapped. But he quickly caught himself, fiddling with the sleeves of Aizawas borrowed pullover that looked entirely too big on him and made his face as expressionless as possible. His cheek twitched and he tried to hide it by scratching his scar. Unnecessarily hard, digging into the skin. Aizawa suppressed a frown at that because the boy looked on edge and ready to bolt. His attempt at a casual shrug looked stiff and forced.

“Your plant is dying. Pretty negligently for a pro hero.”, he said, surprisingly sure of himself and Shouta couldn’t shake the feeling that the boy was deflecting. He hummed in thought, eyes roaming over Midoriya and his posture. He was obviously still in pain, holding himself a little lopsided and tense but at the same time he had managed to rearrange his whole bookshelf as quiet as a trained professional.

And it had taken him a lot of focus to pull that off.

Midoriya eyed him from under his long and unruly curls, still very expectant and tense. As if waiting for a sentence. A verdict. Shouta sighed and let his eyes wander to the balcony. The door was still open a small gap because Midoriya really didn’t like closed doors and tended to flee to the open when anxious. Shouta would have to keep that in mind, especially regarding the costs of keeping his home nice and cozy. Maybe more blankets? That’s when a thought entered his head and he would have face-palmed himself if not for the fact that the boy was still fidgeting right beside him.

“I must apologize. I haven’t been as openly with my communication as I promised I’d be.”, he started and Midoriyas face fell a little bit, devoid of color before he swallowed and ridigly turned to the bookshelf. He fidgled with a cat-figurine in stiff hands and had his shoulders up to his ears.

“Whatever.”, he hissed, tightly.

Shouta sighed again, feeling dumb and sheepish and not like someone ready to decide something so big for a boy with a history as complex as Midoriyas. He had talked with Inko Midoriya about this, with Hizashi, with Tsukauchi and with the principal, but not even once with the kid in question. Had wanted to wait until he’d have the paperwork read, until he’d have everything planned out, thought out. He had wanted to make sure he knew what he was doing and showing the anxious, traumatized and scared kid that he could take care of him and his needs, that he’d have a plan, that he’d make sure he’d get the help he and anyone in his position deserved. But that seemed to have backfired.

Midoriya had his eyes on his work, diligently putting the books back in order, but his eyes were dull and tired. His whole frame seemed to have sunken in.

“I am in the process of getting full custody over you.”, Shouta said and watched again how the kid let go of everything he had held in his hands. Surprised he twirled around, eyes wide but quickly tried to stifle his reaction and looked at the ground, gritting his teeth.

“There is a lot of paperwork tat needs to be filled out but I am confident that I’ll be able to take care of you.”, Shouta said and tried hard not o sound like he was selling himself too much. The kid jus scrunched up his nose and Shouta – for a short second – feared that he had made the wrong decision, but then the kid rubbed his arm and leaned to the side. Unconciously closer to Shouta.

“Why?”, he asked and Shouta found green eyes starin caustiosly up at him. Shouta knew he had to be honest with the kid right now, so he took a deep breath and met the gaze head on.

“Because...”, he started “... I won’t hand you off to some kind of orphanage or rehabilitation system provided by the hero-society. With your history, people will treat you differently, unfair and cruelly. I’ve seen it happen, have dealt with the outcome. It will happen and that’s horrible, but under my guard I can protect you, prepare you, help you. I won’t let people make you into a villain.”

Immediately Midoriya jerked up, eyes blazing with fury.

“I’m not a villain!”, he seethed and Shouta met his fury with calmness.

“I know that. Still doesn’t change the fact that people might think differently when they find out and act on that.”

Midoriya sagged and looked to the ground, frustration and sadness rolling off him in waves. He absentmindedly touched his scarred cheek, tracing the handprint-shape and then frowned miserably.

“What... what about my mom?”, he asked, voice small and finally sounding like the young, scared boy he really was. Shouta felt the urge to reach out and put a hand on the boys head, offering comfort like he used to do with kids. But he stopped himself and instead leaned a little bit down to catch a better look off his face.

“She is still your mother and nothing will change that. As soon as you decide that you want to live with her again, you’ll be able to-”

“No, I- I don’t-”, Midoriya interrupted him and then looked mortified by it. But Shouta just waited until he had gathered his words.

“She- is she going to be fine? People- if people find out about me and the-”, at this he scratched his cheek harshly again, ”-won't she suffer, too?”

Shouta felt his chest give a painful little twinge at the pure raw feelings in that freckled face, laid bare and obviously terrified by it.

“She’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it.”, he said with as much conviction he could give and held the green-eyed stare for as long as he could. Midoriya broke it off with a little doubtful frown. And Shouta supposed that he could do nothing about it for now. So he looked at the books again.

“Now that we clarified this... finish with this and then we can go over the paperwork together. I asked of you to be honest and open with me as much as you could. It’s only fair I offer you the same.”

Midoriya stifled a sniff and went silently to work.

___________

Who is behind almost four days in their own challenge? This Idiot! ᕕ(◉Д◉)ᕗ 

Well, the temperatures in germany suddenly spiked and so I got hit with a migraine ready to burn a whole in my skull so... I blame the new lost day on that :’D

However! I made it and that’s all that matters :D

As usual, check out @banashee, wo is so much more disciplined than me and I crossposted this chapter on AO3!

Also, check out the kego prompts! :D

[illusionsofdreaming]

guess I like playing with fire;

Notes: You’re on a mission and Claude’s ruining it spectacularly.

FT: Claude

What most people don’t realise is that what separates a good band of mercenaries from the bad are based on the quality of information they have and not the skills they boast. Intelligence on locations, knowledge of the land and insight on their enemies are what keeps the men alive at the end of the day. Any prowess with a weapon are decoration, the icing on the cake, some extra branding for their names. The best mercenaries have learned to hoard information and their information network is often a complex and extremely exclusive one.

For once your infamous mercenary nickname has uses other than to inspire fear and scare naughty children at night. After all who wouldn’t want to get in the good graces and be allied with the child of the Blade Breaker? There’s been rumours of increased monster activities and it just so happens that the rural city you were passing by where the Ashen Demon’s name was popular was also a hotspot for travelling mercenaries as well.

A simple reconnaissance mission was set up - you would hang around the taverns and gather information and return by day, hopefully with new insight regarding the validity of  these rumours, whether or not the resistance should be concerned.

The evening was still young, the tavern you chose had only just started filling. Your current table companions consisted of an axe wielder going by the name of Gildhart, a sharp nosed swordsman with a wicked scar down one cheek and a well built brawler who’s massive red mane was just barely held back by the bandana on her head. Conversation had been slow at first but by the third round of cards, their lips were starting to loosen.

“Damnit! I’ve heard of your prowess on the battlefields but who knew you’d be so vicious on the table too!” Janet scowled as she threw in her cards as you swept your new winnings to your side.

“The name Demon fits you alright!” Gildhart laughed, taking a large drink from his cup.

“Well, our opponent is an incredibly hard person to read, I believe we may have been playing at disadvantage all along.“ Kent, the name of the swordsman you remembered, smiled wryly at you.

“I don’t mind if you wish to try another game instead.“ you offered, palms up in invitation and away from the cards. It didn’t matter which game they chose anyways. You still remembered your father’s disapproval when he first found out, despite its inevitability considering the companions you grew up with.

“If I can’t stop you from cards, least I can do is make sure you won’t lose our entire fortune.”Jeralt had heaved a sigh then, placed you in his lap and proceeded to teach you the ways of gambling. That was the beginning of your colourful journey into becoming a master card shark, but that‘s a story for another day.

“Pah! We’re not cowards! Am I right boys?” Janet’s fist thumped on the table and for a moment you worried the furniture wouldn’t survive the weight of the brawler’s fist.

“Damn right we’re not!” Gildhart boomed and Kent sighed with a shrug, sealing their fates.

“Let me deal this round.” Kent offered with an apologetic smile your way which you nodded, taking no offence.

“So what dangers brings the Ashen Demon to these parts of Fódlan eh?” Janet asked as her companion began shuffling the cards.

You’ve been ready for this question and you gave a nonchalant shrug as you leaned back with your drink. “Trying our luck before circumstances forces our hand to pick a side.” With the war going on, it was inevitable that mercenaries bands would get absorbed into either side. The sympathetic and understanding nods from her companions seemed to agree.

“I have no love for needless slaughter, retirement might be imminent in my near future.” Kent mumbled softly as he dealt out cards.

You took your cards, taking time to organise them before casually throwing out your bait. “I’ve heard stories of problematic beasts cropping up around the area, there could be business in those desperate enough to spare some coin to hire our skills.”

“Ay, you’ve not heard wrong.” Gildhart coughed. “Although calling them problematic beasts would be an understatement.”

“Oh?” You breathed out, relaxing your shoulders. The wary glance shared amongst the mercenaries was not missed by your eyes. Silence overlapped the table and you played oblivious for a few moments before looking up. “Is everything alright? I understand if I have intruded on something you’d rather deal with yourself.”

“No, nothing like that.” Janet was quick to refute. “We might be confident in our skills but even we know this is not something we can handle.” The mercenaries seemed to share a look between them and some form of agreement must have been reached as they hunched forward in their seats and beckoned you to follow suit.

“They say monsters the size of houses, some with claws and teeth and others with scales appear overnight wiping out villages before disappearing the next day. No one knows where they come from or where they go afterwards. Others have tried hunting them and failed and those that survived an encounter are crippled by fear of what they’ve seen.” Kent relayed this with a somber expression, his eyes taking on a faraway sheen.

You took this in quietly. You understood their wariness, you have witnessed the destruction these beasts are capable of first hand. What concerned you however was their sudden appearances and disappearances. You folded your arms on the table as a frown crossed your face.

“Were the attacked villages known to have frequent monster sightings?”

Gildhart shook his head, rubbing his chin with a grimace. “Not that we know of. Pretty peaceful from what I remembered. The villagers never had any experience against anything larger than a wolf. Some of these men wielded nothing but woodcutting axes against these things.”

Could simple negligence and relaxed security caused the complete annihilation of a village in the short span of a day? Even if it were possible, with how chaotic Fódlan has become, it was common nowadays for simple villagers to be armed with some form of weapon to protect their family and not simple farmer’s tools. Unless... these were men who had been going on about their daily lives, who had been caught unaware and given no time to arm themselves, ambushed by creatures unleashed in the middle of their homes.

You took a deep breath, steadying yourself. You can’t leap to conclusions yet. You needed more information. However before you could ask another question you caught sight of something outside the window. It took your all to resist the instinct to turn around, instead you used your peripherals to confirm your worst fear: Claude Von Riegan, heir to the Riegan house,  leader of the Alliance resistance, lurking across the street just begging to be noticed.

“Excuse me for a while.” you stood up abruptly, shocking your companions who started reaching for their weapons which you stopped with a hand. “Sorry, thought I saw someone familiar. I’m going to step out for a while.”

“What about the game?” Gildhart eyes travelled from you to his hand of cards.

“Play without me.” You untied a pouch by your waist and threw it on the table. “Drinks on me.” And you breezed past them, just barely able to control your pace to a fast walk, despite the strongest desire to run.

“Think its a friend?”

“From the look in the Demon’s eyes?”

“Rest in pieces strang-“ the door closed behind you. You took a deep breath - Sothis knows you’d need it - and scanned the streets. It was almost laughable easy to spot him, wavy hair and green eyes, golden earring glinting in the darkness, smile stretching across face as he spotted you.

His hand was rising to wave but you grabbed him and dragged him away two streets down and shoved him into a indescript alley.

“Whoa teach, at least ask a guy out before-“

“What are you doing here Claude? I thought we’d agreed that you’d wait for my return.” You cut him off, fuming.

“Aw teach, it’s been hours. We’d all rest easier at night if you had someone to watch your back.” He laughed at the wilted glare you sent his way. “Alright so we’re not really worried and maybe I’m just a little nosy.”

Of all the people to come nosing in, it had to be Claude. The most high profile, easily recognisable mascot of the Alliance resistance. While you knew despite his flippant attitude, Claude would never do anything to jeopardise the war efforts, his being here meant he’s comfortable and confident in his ability to get out unscathed.

You sighed and relaxed against a wall, since he was here anyways you might as well pass on what you’ve gathered so far. “I haven’t gotten much yet.” you warned and made sure to direct a pointed glare towards him before relaying what you’ve heard and your theories so far.

He had a hand on his chin as he listened, brows furrowed in a contemplative expression. “Almost like what happened back in the chapel in Garreg Mach...” He was mumbling to himself but the words brought back a flood of memories you had avoided revisiting.

You vividly remembered the ruins, the screams of students and roars of creatures rending the air. The cold and the overwhelming numbness that took you as you held the motionless body of your only family. You were alone, truly alone and the cold was seeping into your blood, your bones, your soul. What little emotions you’ve gained these past few months was being stripped by the cold. There’s no one left-

“___________.” His hand was warm against your skin, a shocking contrast that brought you back, burning away the ice in your veins. His gaze was apologetic and a touch concerned, his hold on you was supportive but not restrictive.

You shook your head lightly, stepping back from his touch and he released you. “I’m fine.” You muttered, brushing a hand through your hair, disappointed for getting carried away.

His eyes watched you, “Of course, teach. I never doubted that.” He said quietly with a smile, the sincerity in his tone hard to ignore and it made the breath in your lungs catch in your throat. There were times like these, where the masks he wore would slip and you would hear the strength of his convictions and beliefs. That truly, despite your lapse in emotions, all your flaws and imperfections, he knew you’d be alright, you’d pull through, even when you don’t believe it yourself.

You averted your eyes. “You should get back to the others Claude.” You were about to shoo him off when you heard footsteps approaching. You panicked. The leader of the Leicester Alliance can’t be seen here, skulking about in dark alleyways like some scoundrel with nefarious intentions. With how tensed and chaotic everything's been with the war, the last thing the Alliance needed was doubt to be casted on their leader's reputation. In a split-second decision, you pushed him against the wall, into the shadows. Your hand wrapped around the back of his neck and pulled him down to meet your lips, purposely angling yourself so that most of your profile blocked Claude’s features from view.

Though initially stiff with surprise, Claude quickly caught on. It was remarkable how quickly he adapted, tension from his shoulders melting off as he relaxed his hand on your waist, fingers curling on your hip like a possessive lover.

There was a gasp of surprise as the footsteps halted. “Is that-”

A convincing groan from Claude convinced the stragglers to pick up their pace and a few seconds later they were gone.

Immediately you moved away to check but Claude lunged for you, tugging you to his side as laughter crossed the alleyway. With one arm rested against the wall to shield your faces, you had a second to take in his boyish smile before he dipped down to kiss you again, his hand held your chin with surprising gentleness. In return you pulled on his curls just on a touch side of painful which made him grunt, a soft breath of amusement puffed against your lips.

The strangers passed by his back and Claude pressed closer, ducking his head further. It was easy to ignore the lewd taunts and whistles they threw over their shoulders as they walked past when all you could focus on was how soft his lips were, how you’re positively sure all the blood in your body had rushed to your face.

This time when the strangers left, neither of you parted immediately, just to be sure. In the shadows, you counted down seconds and when it seems no further strangers would be passing by, you stepped away.

“Well,” Claude started with a soft laugh but it was strained and for once he seemed to be struggling with his words. “I didn’t know you felt that way about me teach.” He tried to be casual, but his usual flippant tone was ruined by the breathlessness in his voice. This uncertainty from Claude, someone who always seemed to have a reaction and smile prepared for every scenario, was unexpected... and it stirred something uncomfortable in your chest.

“I couldn’t let them see your face.” You explained, ignoring the tingling in your lips and the lingering thoughts of how it felt to have your fingers in his wavy curls. “This wouldn’t have happened if you had followed the plan in the first place.”

He chuckled, mask back on, his arms drew back to cross behind his head in his signature lazy half stretch. “Ah, well, you know me and instructions teach.”

You shook your head as you willed the heat from your face to disperse. “Get out of here before you get caught for real Claude.”

You turned to leave the alleyway but he reached out to grab your wrist. “__________, about what happened-“

“We’re not talking about this.” You whipped around and gave him a firm glare, determined to end the conversation before it started. There’s a ball of emotions curling in your chest that you’re not ready to unravel. You needed time and there’s still a mission to be completed.

His green eyes were bright as he released your hand with a laugh. “Not even a li-”

“No.”

Claude’s smile was knowing as his thumb traced the bottom of his lips, grinning when your eyes inadvertently followed the movement.

“If you say so, my friend.” He hummed, expression thoughtful as he gave a small shrug.

“Go now.” You’re almost impatient to return to the tavern. You’ve never had a preference for drinks, not like your father, but now you find yourself desperately craving for something strong.

“Although your cold dismissal hurts, I shall do as you wish and promptly remove myself from your vicinity.” He swept into a dramatic bow, but its effect was ruined when he looked up not a moment later with a cheeky wink.

He dodged your half-hearted kick and his laugh made him look like he’s never aged a day beyond seventeen and it stayed on your mind for the rest of the night.

You were woken the next morning by the uproar in camp, although not for the reason you’d expected. Apparently words of mysterious strangers hidden in the back alley became the story of the town and soon bards were singing songs of the Ashen Demon’s midnight tryst much to your abject horror and Claude’s great amusement. You knew a betting pool was being set up, something you’re determined to sabotage.

You’re hiding in your tent, with a pounding headache,  not willing to reign in the chaos outside just yet.

A breath of fresh air washed into your tent as someone entered.

“How bad is it?” You threw out before the other could say a word.

He didn’t answer immediately, humming thoughtfully as he set down the tray of food he was carrying on the coffee table. “I think my favourite version has to be the one where the Ashen Demon seduced the local hero, single handedly finish the war with the blessed sword before riding the Immaculate One into the sunset.”

The story was so outlandish you couldn’t even dignify it with a proper response and opted to hide your face in your hands. It’s bad. Really bad.

Claude’s laughter was light and airy, and despite your mood, something inside warmed at the heartfelt joy in his tone.

“This is all your fault.” You mumbled.

“Perhaps.” he allowed with a grin, bright eyes sparkling. “I’ve mixed something to help with your headache, it’s bitter but it should do the trick.” He placed a small vial on your table.

“You did well my friend. Rest up, I will deflect the others from disturbing you for today.” He patted your shoulder and avoided your halfhearted swipe with a smile before pushing outside your tent. You had two seconds to catch sight of all of your ex-students crowded around the entrance before the tent flap fell behind him, muting the excited gossip that grew in volume at Claude’s reappearance.

You sighed against your hands, wishing the ground would open up and swallow you whole. The mess of feelings in your chest was no closer to being solved, in fact it’s getting more and more complicated by the day. For a moment, you swore the ring Jeralt left you grew warm in your pocket.

[xrikix]

» Hiraeth Chapter 7 || Haikyuu AU

❝They will learn how to fly.❞ – an AU where the kids of Haikyuu characters grow their passion for volleyball and face their problems.

Starring our OC’s Hoshi, Minami, and Leo! (don’t worry they’re as fluffy as our babies from Haikyuu but sprinkle in more angst)

Read Chapter 6 Here!

Realization

Weeks passed with the days feeling blended together. Leo purposefully shoved himself towards his studies and slightly avoided his family, especially Minami. He cursed at himself. He knows he was being stupid and childish, but his fears got the better of him, locking away his rationality. Days continued into weeks as he watched Minami at home, ecstatic about practice with how much fun they were having in the court, and all the new things they were teaching her. Their parents would always eagerly listen to every word she spoke with delight on their faces. The jealousy ate away at him, feeding the envy which grew each passing day. His rationality fought on, deciding to work even harder at practice, to prove to the team, to his family, and especially to  himself, that he could do it, that he can succeed at being a setter-- but things are easier said than done. 

Halfway through April, at the end of practice, Coach Ukai called over the team, “At the end of the week, we’re gonna have a practice game with Aoba Johsai so be ready.” Leo’s ears perked up when he heard Aoba Johsai, his mind instantly flashing to Hoshi. 

Ever since school started, their days together lessened and seeing each other became less frequent. Exhilaration coursed through him until it stopped abruptly when he realized what it meant. He wasn’t a starter, meaning he won’t be able to play against Hoshi. He grit his teeth, his eyes closing. They promised to see each other on the court and it was so early in the school year, he was already breaking it. His eyes stayed closed, wanting to throw his feelings aside. Leo knew Hoshi would understand, but it only further stroked the fire within him. 

He needed to prove himself or else he didn’t deserve to be on the court. 

The rest of the week passed, when he told his family that he was going to do practice games against Hoshi. And of course, they got competitive. Although Minami was quiet in the beginning, he could see the sparks of interest in her eyes. “You better win,” she spoke after collecting her thoughts. 

Leo shrugged, “It’s just a practice game, and besides I’m probably not gonna play in it…” 

Minami rolled her eyes, “‘It’s a practice game, it doesn’t matter who wins or loses…’ well it kinda does, but whatever.” She threw her arms around his shoulders, “I’m sure Coach Ukai will let you play, you know how he is.” Leo nonchalantly nodded his head, not quite processing her words. “Did Hoshi message you?” she asked,  looking at him.

“Yeah but it was mostly just him being super excited,” he sighed, “I didn’t have the heart to tell him.” 

Minami smacked him,  “What happened to my goofy twin, stay hopeful,” she said, her lips breaking into a grin. Leo shrunk back further, pulling himself away from her arms, ignoring the smile that dropped from her face. 

The team didn’t have to wait long before Aoba Johsai entered the gym. Leo was standing next to Dino and Katsuki, the latter puffing himself up to look bigger to which Dino shoved his elbow at Katsuki. Leo consciously kept his eyes away from the team, instead focusing his attention to the court. He had to return his eyes back when he watched Coach Ukai shake hands with Coach Mizoguchi, who took over when the former, Coach Irihata, decided to retire. He didn’t want to look for Hoshi, but his eyes couldn’t help but wander and soon they fell upon him. Hoshi returned his gaze with a grin and a thumbs up to which Hoshi sent him a small smile which soon dropped. Hoshi’s smile fell when he saw Leo immediately looking away, adjusting his glasses. He didn’t think it would hurt seeing Hoshi in Aoba Johsai’s tracksuit but it stung, is this what Minami felt? But his heart ached more when he saw how well Hoshi was doing on their team, compared to his pitiful state. His hands clenched, as the words of Coach Ukai flooded over him, trying to anchor him down from his agitated thoughts. There are benefits to not being a starter, he just had to force himself to remember.

He was watching from the sidelines with Katsuki who gleefully cheered on his cousin and their team. Katsuki hollered encouraging words to which Dino would look away and only pushed Hikaru and Kise to become louder and louder, their yells ringing out through the gym. Leo focused on the game ignoring the glances Hoshi sent to him from the court. Once and while, Hoshi would twist his head towards Leo, looking at him expectantly for answers, but Leo would only look away. 

Katsuki nudged him with his elbow, “Wasn't that guy at your dad's party?” 

Leo nodded, “Yeah, we’re neighbors.” 

Katsuki’s face crossed into amazement, “Damn, this must suck.” Leo didn’t respond but continued to watch the game.

Coach Ukai called for a time out and Katsuki proceeded to run over to Dino, his excitement radiating off of him. Leo continued to stand against the wall as he focused on the court. He could hear someone walking up to him but didn’t bother to look at who it was. 

“Hey Leo,” Hoshi said, his voice rather soft, not sure what to say. 

Leo glanced at him, seeing how he was drinking water and wiping sweat off of his brows. “Hey,” he faintly responded. They were silent before Leo’s mouth opened, his mind already blanking. The words he didn't want to say tumbled out. “Do you hate me?” 

Hoshi, surprised, quickly turned to face Leo. “Hate you?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Why would I hate you?” 

Leo’s mind raced to come up with an answer. Shaking his head, he responded, “It’s nothing.” 

He could feel Hoshi’s eyes studying him, making Leo cower into his own body even more. 

His arms clenched his sides, shrinking himself, as he heard Hoshi speak, “Is something wrong Leo?” 

He vigorously shook his head, “No, why would something be wrong?” He smiled for the added effect, “Everything is fine.” 

“But you don’t seem-” 

“Back to the court boys!” Coach Ukai yelled. 

Hoshi turned his head towards the team, “I need to get going…” 

“Yeah…” 

“I’ll see you later?”

“Sure.” The words flowed throughout his head, he didn’t mean to be so indifferent towards Hoshi, a part of him regretted it  but seeing how everyone was pushing forward towards their goal while he lagged behind made the anxiety grow within him, lashing out every chance that it could get. 

Katsuki grimaced as Dino tried to block Hoshi’s spike but failed, the ball colliding with the floor with a loud thump.  Leo glanced at the scoreboard and saw how badly they lost their first game, 18-25. He could hear Hisaki cursing as Ryu merely patted his back, saying it was not his fault. Dino stood there silent, while Hikaru and Kise kept grumbling their complaints, the two on the floor. Hoshi’s team cheered, their ecstasy towards their win clashing against the low morale of Karasuno. 

“Another game?” Coach Mizoguchi asked, smirking. 

Coach Ukai gritted his teeth, “Of course.” The sun began to dip, its warm rays shining through the windows as Leo watched Coach figure out what to do. 

Hoshi walked up to him, “So what did you think?” 

“Of what?” 

“The game.” 

Leo sighed, “Well you won.”

 “I didn’t mean it like that.” 

“You guys are better.” Hoshi shook his head, exasperated, “I say both teams are pretty good but, “ he glanced towards Hisaki who was still seething, “Your setter is predictable.” 

Leo’s ears perked up from Hoshi’s words, “What?” 

Hoshi shrugged, “I don’t know. I mean I could tell he played a lot longer but they’re textbook plays, everyone does it.” 

Leo couldn’t respond, not sure how to. He didn’t know if he necessarily agreed with Hoshi’s words, but when watching the game unfold could see what he meant by ‘predictable.’ His plays seemed biased towards the older players, utilizing Ayama and Ryu more, despite Dino or Hikaru being a better choice in the situation. Leo sighed, it wasn’t his place to judge even though Hoshi’s words made him giddy. The coaches called for the 2nd round to begin, Hoshi already beginning to run towards his position. Leo looked on but saw Coach calling for him. Confused, he stood besides Hisaki who scoffed, his arms crossed. 

Coach Ukai stared at the two, “We’re gonna try something different this time. Leo you’re gonna be subbed in.” 

“What?” Hisaki said, his voice raised, “I don’t-” 

Coach raised his hands, “We’re just trying something different. I want to see how it goes with Leo.” Hisaki grumbled, looking away but Leo’s eyes began to spark. He was going to finally play and see how well his training helped. Maybe this would stop his negative thoughts, if he saw where he was now, with the countless hours of practice. 

He ran onto the court, feeling everyone’s surprised eyes tracking him, the hushed whispers of Aoba Johsai and their confusion. Hoshi smiled at him from across the net, raising his hands beneath the net, Leo clasped it. “I look forward to a good game,” 

Hoshi said. “We’ll see,” Leo replied, standing next to Dino. 

He turned to the team, “Do you guys know how to do a synchronized attack?” 

Ryu and Ayama looked surprised, “Well yeah, Coach taught us last year but we haven’t really used it,” Ryu said sheepishly. 

Dino nodded, “Dad taught me so I’ll just follow along.” 

Leo nodded, “Well we should try. I’ll flash the peace sign when it's time.” The team looked at each other but smiled, nodding their agreement. 

“Let’s give 'em hell!” Hikaru yelled. Leo was pumped, his heart was beating ecstatically and he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his body, his fingers aching to touch the ball. 

Although he could feel the dark thoughts swirling around in his head, they felt lighter. All he had to do was win, showing himself that these feelings weren’t worth the pain and suffering. 

All he needed to do was take flight.

[grailacademy]

Welcome to Grail Academy

Chapter 30: Conquest

It wasn’t any noise that stirred Yorick from his slumber, but rather the lack thereof. He had dozed off in the truck as Sable’s organization drove to Calicem’s border, his head softly vibrating against the window. But when that soothing shaking stopped, his eyes snapped open. “Why are we stopped…?” He yawned and rubbed his eyes, looking to Rettah for an answer. She was staring out the window at a series of headlights blocking the truck’s paths. “Do you think they’re police?”

Yorick shook his head. “No...they would need more time to get here.”

“Well, who else knows about us?”

“Nobody, besides my old team.” He sighed, and a ping of realization hit him. He and Rettah shared the same expression. “You don’t think…”

Before they could respond, an orchestra of sound soared from the engines of the assailants. Queenie patted Yorick on the shoulder, speaking softly, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. Stay in the truck, don’t let them see you.” With that, she hopped out of the vehicle with her hands up, and moved slowly to what she could now see were a row of motorcycles.

“We don’t want any trouble” she started, and suddenly they were upon her. A figure, whose face was hidden under a blue bike helmet, dashed and quickly grappled her, pinning Queenie’s arms behind her head with the end of a blade against her throat. Queenie didn’t even see the swords hanging in sheathes from the attacker’s belt, but the moment the cold metal grazed her skin, she halted her breathing. A distorted, deep voice came from under the helmet, shouting towards the line of trucks. “Nobody moves, or I paint the road with her.” Following this threat, another biker dismounted and stepped forward, their orange helmet emitting a similar vocal distortion to their speech. “Come out, witch. We know you’re in there.”

Inside the truck, Rettah held a tight grip on Yorick’s shirt as she watched the hostage situation. “How the hell do they know about Sable!?” Scarlet growled, pushing his way to the front of the truck to peer out the window. “They’re bluffing, they have to be.”

Surprisingly, the door of the truck ahead of them swung open, and Sable stepped down. She wore a heavy parka, thick enough to hide her face and cover enough of her body that people wouldn’t find the lack of color to her skin suspicious. Strands of black hair writhed within the darkness of the hood, and she smiled at the four bikers. “What can I do for you, my dears?”

The biker with the blue helmet shouted, “You can turn the fuck around and go right back where you came from, for starters!” The biker in orange held up their hand to silence their partner, and spoke in a calmer tone, “You know Madehold will only find you and bring you back herself if you don’t. This doesn’t have to be hard. Only if you make it.”

Sable chuckled at that. First quietly, but it slowly grew into a raucous cackle. She threw her head back in laughter, wiping a tear away from her eye once she calmed down. “Ah, I’m afraid I can’t do that. Do you know how long I’ve been trapped in that cesspool of a city, scavenging and surviving?” As she spoke, she pulled her hood down and began strolling closer and closer to the group. The two that were still on their bikes reached towards their waists for concealed weapons. “You see, my friends and I have been working on this little project of ours for a very, very long time. And now that the barrier’s down, well...it’s time for us to share it with the rest of Remnant.” A black tendril whipped out and caught the orange biker in the throat, strangling them and lifting them off the ground. They gagged, and the blue team member let go of Queenie to slice down the branch of hair with their swords to free them. This only gave Queenie the opportunity to incapacitate them, planting an explosive card on the back of their helmet and smirking as they were knocked unconscious by the blast, their helmet now shattered to pieces. “Oh, Queenie, how sweet of you!” Sable smiled to the girl, petting her head. “Go back to the truck, honey. I can take care of the rest, it’s no trouble.”

Queenie vacated the area as the other three mystery bikers stepped forward. The orange figure unfolded a staff with an ignition point at the end, and the two in back both pulled long intricate chains from their belts. They stood ready to fight, but they were no match. A swirl of tentacles shot from Sable, hacking and slashing like a massive blender, until all the assailants were unconscious and dangling from nearby tree branches. She brushed the dust off her hands and crawled back into the passenger seat of the truck. “Well then, that takes care of that. Shall we continue?” The pack of trucks pushed forward, wrecking all four of the motorbikes that stood in their way.

--------------------------

“So, what do we do now?” Nico called out to his brawling teammates from the bleachers of the training hall. As Esmerelda flung herself into the air to dodge Bernard’s whip, she could see through the skylight that the sun was once more beginning to set. She landed gracefully on her feet, like a cat, and placed a hand on her hip. “I don’t know, but it’s almost nightfall again, which means the clocktower will reset the day soon.”

Bernard grumbled and wrapped his weapon around his forearm, inspecting some of the fraying portions of metal. “Does this mean we never actually went to that bar in the first place?” Both Esmerelda and Nico stared at him, confused. “I...I guess not. Haha, hey! That’s great! Now I’m not on the biker gang’s shit-list!” Nico clapped in joy, propping his feet against the back of a bleacher seat. Esmerelda only pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, hissing, “Well, I’m not as content to relive the same day for all eternity, darling.” She began to pick her nails angrily, continuing, “What does Madehold expect us to do? Fix it for her!? It’s like the only things adults are good at are lying to us and making us take care of their problems.”

Bernard put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, and Nico proceeded to start playing around with his bat, balancing it on his nose like a seal. “Why don’t we just let her take care of it, then? It’s a city problem, not a student problem.” Esmerelda then snapped her fingers to get Nico’s attention, and as he lost his concentration, the bat toppled over and clocked him in the forehead. “Have you forgotten that we LIVE in the city? Calicem’s barriers are down, which means anyone can get out. And by anyone, I mean Sable, and Yorick. Not to mention, anyone can get in too. Or, anything.” Nico rubbed the sore spot on his forehead that was beginning to bruise, and exclaimed, “Oh please, grimm are the last thing I’m worried about! Everyone in Calicem is too high, drunk, or stupid to get emotional enough to draw them. They’re goddamn zombies!”

Just as he finished his sentence, a distant screech erupted from the far end of the city. First one, then dozens. Bernard and Esmerelda both frowned at him, and Nico rushed to grab his weapon as he defended himself, shouting “Hey, that wasn’t my fault! Don’t look at me like that!”

The three of them rushed out of the training hall, sprinting across the quad and spotting BRVI bursting out of the dorm hall, weapons at the ready. They grouped together, following the sounds of anguish to its source: A group of Creep grimm herding around a building’s storefront, clambering up the walls and snapping their teeth at the people cowering inside through the window glass. Six on the building, and many more stalking through the streets, large and small. The hunters immediately got to work, hacking away at the monsters until the storefront was cleared. Bernard and Vert ushered the civilians out the back door, and Esmerelda pointed at the leftover Creeps scaling the side of the building. “Ivan and I can take care of the stragglers. Beau, Iris, Nico, you three follow their trail and find out where they’re coming from. Bernard and Vert are on civilian duty.” Beau was about to protest when she realized that she and her team were being bossed about by someone who wasn’t their leader, but the steadfastness in Esmerelda’s tone told her that it would be better to do as she said. Beau, Iris, and Nico ran in the direction that the first wave of grimm had come from.

“The grimm sure did pick a good time to attack, when everyone else is away on winter break.” Ivan stated sarcastically, wedging the ends of his blades into the cracks of the brick and beginning the climb. Esmerelda rolled her eyes, “I’m taking the stairs.” She made her way up the stairwell inside, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of dejá vu from when she was in the same situation, chasing Yorick at the hotel. That was the last time she saw him. The thought made her push further, until she kicked the door to the roof open and was met with a trio of Creeps, who spun around at her sound and hissed, claws bared. Esmerelda bared her claws as well, and lunged for the closest creature’s throat. Her nails sunk deep into it’s skin, breaking the scaly exterior and holding the grimm in a headlock. “IVAN!” She called, and her impromptu partner flung himself over the ledge of the roof and landed on the Creep’s back, taking the opportunity to sever its head inches from where Esmerelda’s hands were. The grimm’s headless body stumbled about for a bit before finally collapsing. This, of course, did not make the other Creeps very happy, and they screeched at them.

Meanwhile, as Bernard and Vert did their best to direct the foot traffic away from danger, Nico led the charge towards the source of the attack. “Stay on your toes!” Beau shouted to him, but Nico just ignored her and kept on running, ducking to avoid a passing grimm’s claw. He danced around the creatures, unknowingly leaving Beau and Iris to clean up his mess. It was only when he heard Iris yelling that Nico slid to a stop. He spun around, adrenaline pumping through him, and Iris called out to him, “Hey, Nico!” She thrusted her fist into the air and formed horns with her index and pinky finger, a gesture that Nico copied with zealousness and a smile. He continued his pursuit alone, building up more and more speed with each step he took. Soon, he was out of earshot of his friends, and it fell eerily quiet. The sound of Creeps could only be heard in the distance. Nico slowed to a walking pace, making sure to keep his bat ready just in case. He walked down the empty streets, feeling something familiar about the scene. Then he saw it, the bar they went to the other day. Or, maybe it would be this day? He wasn’t sure how the whole thing worked, and he wasn’t going to bother figuring it out.

“This is the edge of the city…” He muttered to himself, “...The barrier must be around here somewhere.” That was when he heard it. Boom. Boom. Boom. At first he thought it was someone’s bass-boosted car radio blasting muffled music, but the beats were too off. Boom. Boom. Boom. It was getting closer. He couldn’t tell from what direction it was coming from. He quickly flipped the switch on his weapon and brandished his bow staff, backing away slowly. “Whatever’s out there, I’m warning you! Don’t mess with me, I’ve got the power of heavy metal on my side!”

A gust of warm air suddenly hit the back of Nico’s neck, ruffling his mohawk. He froze. He could hear a soft growling rumbling from something’s gut. Slowly, he turned, and Nico’s face was now mere inches away from the gaping maw of a gigantic prehistoric Creep grimm. Just one of its teeth was as big as his head, and the only reason it wasn’t towering over the other buildings in the area was because it was hunched down, eye to eye with a scrawny pink haired weasel of a boy.

----------------------

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

----------------------

Birds scattered from their treetops. Civilians rushing from the scene turned their heads. The loudest, highest pitched scream anyone on team EBN or BRVI had ever heard erupted from Nico’s direction. Esmerelda facepalmed, and Ivan nudged her shoulder, “I think your little buddy found where the grimm are coming from, heheh.” She slapped the nuisance upside his head and leapt off the roof. Springing back and forth, from one window ledge to the other, until she landed on the ground gracefully like a cat on her feet right next to Bernard. “Let’s go.”

------------------------

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit-” Nico huffed his words breathlessly as he ran for his life, the monster’s giant feet missing him by centimeters every step it took. “Okay, big guy! I’m sorry! I didn’t know this was your turf, I totally understand! You need some privacy, get yourself some me-time! I get it! Let me just get out of your hair, I’ll be on my way, you’ll never hear from me again! I promise!” He didn’t exactly know why he was trying to negotiate with the creature, and when he realized how stupid this really was, Nico halted abruptly. “Ah shit...I’m gonna have to fight that thing, aren’t I?” He looked over his shoulder anxiously, and watched the grimm get closer. “...Alright, let’s get this over with.” He took a fighting stance with his bat raised, his eyes shut tight to avoid looking at the beast. “If I die, at least I’ll go out in a blaze of glory.”

But he didn’t die. He waited, and waited, yet there was no sharp pain to signify that the gigantic Creep’s teeth had begun the process of crushing his skull. Confused, he opened one eye cautiously, and saw that the grimm was somehow getting farther away now. “Huh?” It took a moment for him to process the situation. He was now sitting in the arms of a masked figure, resting in their lap as they sped away on a worn motorbike. The person’s helmet was scratched and cracked, the blue paint beginning to flake off. The vehicle squealed as it turned on the rear wheel, stopping once some distance was made between the grimm and themselves. Nico got to his feet and immediately pointed his bat in the figure’s face. The person reached up to push his weapon away, but spikes suddenly judded from the end, and they pulled their hand back. “Who the hell are you, and why did you help me back there?” Nico interrogated with a furrowed brow.

“Chill out, man. We’re cool.” The figure with the helmet raised their hands to surrender, their voice was disfigured through the helmet’s malfunctioning filter. “Yeesh, it gets so hot under this thing. I’m just gonna take it off, okay?” Nico stepped backwards and warned them, “Slowly. You make any moves, it’s bye-bye to your motor skills. And I don’t mean the bike.”

The figure nodded, and slowly lifted the helmet off. Nico’s eyes widened. He dropped the bat, and it clattered and rolled across the pavement. He almost stumbled and fell backwards from tripping on it.

“...Yale…”

[lesbian-raichu]

HAPPY ENTIRE MONTH OF HALLOWEEN

Here’s a short scary story - this is “Case 45: Medical Institute of Arkansas” (Continued under the cut)             Heya Sunshine, Found this out in the woods near the clubhouse. Looks like a letter or something spooky like that so I figured it might be something you’re into. I started reading on the way back it but tripped like a dumbass - I can’t fucking walk and read, I’m like a kindergartner. Skinned my hands and everything so the paper got kinda crumpled and gross. My bad. But uh, having blood on this sort of shit makes it more legit maybe? I dunno. You’ve got a better stomach for mysteries than I do. I keep thinking I hear shit behind trees and it’s not even night yet lmao. I’m gonna drop it on the table for you. I’ll call you after my classes are done.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Love,                                                                                                           C

Medical Institute of Arkansas

Log date: 10.24.2004

Name: Sarita Makwana, Chief Physician

Forgive the frankness with which I am to depict what has transpired. After today, I believe it allowable. I am writing this both to make sense of this and to convey to others what occurred here. Patient zero, James Allison Fitzgerald was committed to my care this morning, by his wife. Initial symptoms were arrhythmia, excessive hypertension, risk of stroke. It was Nurse Ellen Suzuru who performed the MRI, and who deduced based on strain of the heart that there were arterial clogs.

You know what? I am forgoing the lingo. I have no idea when this will get out. I have no idea if anyone will get to read this.

Suzuru did the scan, and as a result, the decision was made to operate. With respect to whomever reads this, I frankly don’t give a damn if we made the right choice or not. We could not have known. The thing about the scans, from what we could see, was that his ribcage looked abnormal. Several of us dismissed it as an injury, a poorly regrown bone, maybe a deformity of the third and fourth ribs. It was inconsequential, if a dying man is brought to a doctor, that doctor has few options. His wife disclosed that James had been experiencing trouble breathing for approximately three days prior to his entry, and that the pains in his chest had started merely an hour before he entered our care. I remember she rambled about a trip to France they had gone on, worrying about salmonella poisoning from snails, and I attempted to calm her down. Her husband was 6’4 and 360 lbs, heart conditions were not improbable. God, I am so tired.

We sedated him and proceeded to open him up, with the plan to insert a few heart stents to improve blood flow. The initial appearance of everything however, was fine. Confoundingly so. James was healthy.

If anything, there was some strain on the heart, but no blockages, blood flow was fine. For all intents and purposes, James had simply overexerted himself, yet when he came in he was half-conscious. At this point, I was confused but intrigued. A healthy dying man, only 40, no pre-existing health conditions. The most I could figure was that if his ribcage was poorly formed, it could  place stress on the organs, but his wife insisted to one of our nurses - Kinnings - that he was as healthy as an ox before last week. And at this point, perhaps I can only laugh, because it feels almost like a joke.

We were paying attention to the wrong thing.There were two other doctors with me - Uzumaka Williams and Desmond Corrigan. Williams said she had cut her hand, and was sent out immediately. I didn’t know how she managed it at the time, she wasn’t holding anything, just examining the patients heart, when she jerked back. She insisted she was fine, but left to avoid contaminating anything. Corrigan left after her to call my assistant. It was after about fifteen minutes of examination, right as the thought crossed my mind that I should simply stitch him up and send him to neurology, that I saw his breastbone, and the ribs curving out of it. I had not cut it out of the way, but somehow it was pushed aside, as though malleable. His ribs had been moved. Corrigan came back with Suzuru, and I asked if he had done anything, or if he’d seen Williams, but he denied both. There was no reason to lie. I wasn’t paying attention. If I had been, I would have noticed that his ribs had moved.  I perhaps would have noticed that the beeping of the heart monitor was not coming from the heart monitor at all. I would have noticed that despite the fact that I felt the patient’s heartbeat, he was dead by the time he came in. Perhaps I would have noticed that James Fitzgerald’s ribs were not ribs at all.

How many doctors does it take to realize that the patient is already dead?

That was my initial assessment, anyway.

I feel ashamed in saying I froze, but we all did. There was a long, loud creaking noise, like a door opening. The sound of beeping was being perfectly mimicked, but no one’s mouth moved. There are different types of fear. The subtle: a general feeling of unease, a pit in the stomach. The frenzied: screaming and crying and begging. Then there is the overpowering: the silencing, no scream can leave you. You’re afraid to utter a sound, afraid to breath, afraid to twitch or run.I could not turn around. God bless Desmond, who tried to attack. God bless Ellen, who tried to get its attention. My good friends, may God bless them, God save them. God help me.

I never turned around. Whatever was inside James’ body was now protruding out of him, able to control his mouth just enough to mimic the beeping, before falling silent. The opening I had made in his chest was stretched, long angled white rib bones - used as legs - lurched him forward, towards Ellen. James’ head lolled around, his mouth agape, tongue out, discoloured and bloated. The legs were segmented and thin, like that of an arachnid, and the host body was dragged along like a puppet, James’ toes dragging and swinging against the ground. I watched, frozen, as two of the sharp, eight protruding bones, stuck into her body and twisted her around, as though she were a mop on the floor. It thrashed her around in the air, and then threw her against the wall. It did the same to Desmond, poking him through the eyes, jabbing his neck erratically, piercing it several times, and shaking him madly in the air with a leg stabbed through his abdomen. An image in my head was of a child shaking a dead goldfish in a plastic baggie. Trying to make it live. Aggressive and spasmodic, able to move with extreme speed in one second, and be eerily stock-still the next.

It swiveled in my direction, twitching like a spider, or a crab, and suddenly James was making sounds. Sobbing, gargling screaming. It felt like there were words in there, distorted. The stresses on syllables felt wrong, like a movie being rewound. He ended the sentence with a long and loud gurgling howl that shook the equipment in the room. At the time, I thought I was spared. I was stabbed once, in my side, thankfully missing my lungs. With monstrous speed, the creature jerkily scuttled away. I stayed with their bodies. I was certain that someone had to have called for help, but it only took me a few hours to realize that even if it came, I wasn’t sure any of us could be saved.

I consider myself a decent doctor. I may be in nowheresville, Arkansas, but I graduated magna cum laude from my university, and chose to stay where I was close to my family. With this in mind, I have to insist - this is not an illness to be cured. This is a parasite, some bone-like tapeworm. I realized this in that time alone, and that with the screaming I heard in the building, both human and parasite, that they were looking for living hosts. Poor Desmond and Ellen were of no use to them.

God I am so tired. I’m going to take a moment. Funny. This isn’t really a report anymore. I’m back. I recorded them, the parasites. I was right about one thing, and wrong about another.

They are speaking, for some reason, backwards. Begging. Calling for loved ones. Asking to be killed.

Which of course means I was wrong. They were never dead. “Consumed” is maybe a better word. The parasite begins its control through the spine, then connects to the brain stem, keeping their human hostage like a flesh puppet. I caught a glimpse of Uzumaka, the spindly legs extending from her torn chest hoisting her around, dangling with her mouth torn at the corners, the sounds she made were the worst of them all.

The Medical Institute has been quarantined. I managed to talk to a few other doctors in Cardiology and Gastroenterology that called the room I was next to. They told me how the parasite was being transmitted. They told me the authorities are planning on burning the building. Several cops that tried to enter to save survivors were killed. The others I heard. The frenzied snapping of bones against tile, the sobbing screams, and the trails of congealing blood that followed the sounds gave me all the information I needed to know. The phone call was cut short, the other doctor had hung up on me while I spoke to them. I went back to my colleagues, my friends, their bodies cold. I have no idea what will happen now. If the quarantine is breached, then God help us.

My hand is seizing up at this point from writing. It’s the only loophole, though. I realized it before Uzumaka did. It’s transmitted through blood, whatever these things are. The smallest cut is too much. Luckily I was stabbed through my right side. I’m left-handed. I lost my motor skills sometime during the phone call, when my colleagues hung up on me, unfortunately, and I suppose my ribs are currently being dissolved by the creature taking their place. I’m writing this in the infinitesimal chance that amidst the destruction, maybe carried by an errant breeze through the window, this letter will get out, and people will know what happened to us. Though that might be selfish, as even this page might be contaminated. If I am being honest, I am too tired. I can’t do more. One of the officers is in the room, across from me, still apart from the body hanging from those towering bones, eyes plucked out, half of his face torn away. And funnily enough, I can understand him. I hear his words, no longer backwards, still wracked with agony.

My name is Sarita Makwana. I am a doctor at the MIA. I love my family. God bless them. God protect them.

And God save me.

[katedoesfics]

The Lost Hero | Chapter 4

The trip to Akkala was far longer than going to Castle Town, taking them two days to complete their journey. Located in the north-eastern corner of Hyrule, the air was notably cooler. At it’s northern tip, and just west of Akkala, Death Mountain loomed over them, and to the east, the mountains that made up Upland Zorana. And beyond the range, tucked away in the deep valley, was Zora’s Domain.

Dahvi didn’t realize how close he would be to the Zoras, which only reminded him that he was a very long way away from home. Or, the home he had known for his entire life. And though he would always feel a closeness to the desert he grew up in, he knew that he belonged out in Hyrule. Urbosa was right, afterall; Hyrule was their home, no matter what corner of the world they came from. And he was excited to explore it all.

The north-eastern corner of Hyrule that made up the Akkala region wasn’t unlike the rest of Hyrule, at least from what Dahvi had seen. It was just as lush with life as Central Hyrule, yet notably more open and vast. The trees ignited in fiery oranges, reds, and yellows, bringing a stark contrast of color to the green plains. As they neared the edges of Akkala, he could smell a hint of the salty ocean on the breeze.

By nightfall, they finally reached the lab that the Sheikah Robbie called home. He was quirky as Sheikah came; he was short in stature and wore glasses that Dahvi could only compare to goggles. And it was clear that he had a true love for ancient Sheikah technology, with many artifacts hung on walls and scattered around the main room of his lab. Dahvi didn’t know what any of it was, but found himself examining them curiously as Robbie greeted them. As he and Urbosa spoke, Dahvi wandered around the lab, drawn to its curiosities. He was in the midst of examining a peculiar object, his arm raised to touch it with his fingers, when Robbie jumped up from seemingly out of nowhere, grinning at Dahvi. His arms folded across his chest as Dahvi stumbled backwards in surprise.

“Ah, a curiosity for technology, hm? A boy after my own heart.”

“Sorry,” Dahvi muttered. He clasped his arms behind his back.

Robbie laughed and waved him off with a hand. “Nonsense, boy. I appreciate a mind that craves knowledge.” Robbie patted the item that Dahvi had been examining. “Not to worry; nothing here will hurt you. Well, certainly not as they are right now.” Robbie laughed as Dahvi’s expression turned to fear. “Oh, don’t fret,” he said. “All of our technology was created to help stop the Calamity. They will do you no harm.” He swung his leg around, promptly spinning himself around to face Urbosa. A wide smile split his face.

“Don’t you worry about him, now,” Robbie said. “He’s in good hands. The best, if I do say so myself!”

Urbosa smiled down at Robbie. “I wouldn’t see him with anyone else,” she said. She turned her gaze to Dahvi. “You do as Robbie says, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Dahvi said.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay the night?” Robbie asked.

“I appreciate the offer,” Urbosa said. “But I’ve left Riju in charge until I return.”

“A terrible decision,” Dahvi said.

“Well, best you get back as soon as possible, then,” Robbie said with a grin.

Urbosa tousled Dahvi’s hair, then bent down to plant a kiss on his cheek. Dahvi’s nose wrinkled, but otherwise he did not pull away from her.

“Sav’orq, Dahvi,” Urbosa said.

“Sav’orq.” He watched as Urbosa and her guards left the lab, the door closing behind them, and he let out a breath, his shoulders dropping. This was his life now.

“Now, then,” Robbie started, clapping his hands together and turning to Dahvi. “You’ve had a long trip. A good night’s rest will do you some good. Are you hungry?”

Dahvi shook his head. “No, sir.”

“Well, then, let me show you to your room.”

Dahvi followed Robbie towards a hallway outside of the lab. They climbed a set of stairs, then stopped at one of the closed doors.

“I have much to teach you, Dahvi,” Robbie said as he opened the door. “We’ll start first thing in the morning. For now, settle in and get some rest.”

Dahvi thanked Robbie, then stepped into the bedroom, the door closing behind him. Dahvi stood in the center of the room for a moment, looking around him, then placed his pack on the bed against the wall. He gazed out the window - opened just slightly - overlooking the Akkala region. To his left, east of Akkala, he could see the Akkala Sea. To his right, the sun had disappeared behind the distant Death Mountain. The sky was darkening quickly as the evening approached.

Dahvi took a moment to settle in, emptying his belongings from his pack. He filled the wardrobe with his clothes and placed his spear carefully against the wall in the corner of the room, across from his bed. When he was finished, he let himself drop onto the bed. He took in a deep breath, the salty air filling his nose, and he closed his eyes.

*****

An unholy sound louder than Dahvi could have ever imagined caused him to awake with a start, falling out of his bed and onto the floor. His hands rushed to his ears, pressing tightly against them in an attempt to block the horrid noise. He dared to open his eyes, wincing slightly as the sound continued, only to find Robbie standing above him, banging two pots together.

“What the - are you out of your mind?” Dahvi barked at him.

Robbie straightened and laughed, and to Dahvi’s relief, he stopped banging the pots together.

“We have no roosters to wake us up around here,” Robbie said. “I thought this would do just as well.”

Dahvi groaned and pushed himself onto his feet. He glanced at the window only to be met with the disappointing news that the sun hadn’t even graced the world with its presence yet.

“It’s not even daylight out,” Dahvi whined.

“Not yet,” Robbie confirmed, raising a finger in the air. “The sun will be up shortly. But there is still much to be done!”

“Agreed,” Dahvi started. “Like more sleep.”

Robbie grinned. “Come,” he said, turning away from him and moving to the door. “Get yourself dressed. The day has just begun!” And with that, the door closed loudly behind him.

“He’s insane,” Dahvi muttered. Still, he stretched his arms, yawned, and proceeded to dress quickly. He trotted downstairs into the lab where Robbie was waiting. Dahvi sniffed the air, the scent of fresh eggs filling his nose.

“Ah, yes,” Robbie said. “Breakfast is a key start to every day.” He held a plate of cooked eggs in front of him, only to pull the plate away as Dahvi reached for it.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Robbie said. “This is my breakfast.”

Dahvi frowned. “But you said breakfast is a key start to the day.”

Robbie nodded. “I did say that, didn’t I? But in the real world, there are no servants to feed you.”

“I’ve never had servants feed me,” Dahvi muttered.

“But they cooked for you.”

“I guess.”

“And they hunted and gathered for you.”

“Well -”

“If you want to eat today, dear boy, then you must find a way to do so.”

Dahvi let out a loud sigh, and Robbie grinned.

“I already gave you some help,” Robbie said. “Early mornings and evenings are the best times to hunt. And during the day, you can gather any plants you come across.” He jumped forward toward Dahvi, thrusting his palms out at him. “But don’t eat them! Later, I’ll show you what’s good, and what’s poisonous.”

Dahvi swallowed. “Poisonous?”

Robbie chuckled. “I have complete faith in you,” he said, then pushed Dahvi out the door. “Now, go get some breakfast!”

Dahvi stared at the door as it slammed behind him. He stood there a moment, then heard the distinct sound of a deadbolt sliding across. He heard shuffling from inside, then noticed Robbie peaking at him from the nearby window, a wide grin on his face. Dahvi sighed, then turned around to face the still sleeping world. Without the sun, there was a chill in the air, and he pulled his cloak tighter around him before stepping off the stoop with only his spear in hand.

Fortunately, Robbie’s lab was not far from the foothills, and Dahvi recalled seeing a lot of wildlife darting in and out of the trees in a sparse forest to the west. He set off in that direction, whistling a quiet tune to himself until he neared the forest. He had never hunted before, but he was not unfamiliar to the concept. He wasn’t a completely inept idiot, afterall. He knew that the creatures of the wild would not take kindly to his presence. And those that did not scurry off to safety would surely have no fear in attacking him head on. He had a general idea of what to avoid - the larger, more intimidating beasts - and what would likely provide an easy meal.

He set off into the woods as silently as he could, spear at the ready, his eyes searching for any movement he could find. Birds fluttered through the trees, and from time to time, a squirrel leapt between the branches, but Dahvi did not expect to have much luck with these smaller, quicker creatures.

It wasn’t long, however, before he came across a small herd of deer nibbling on the grass just at the treeline. He pressed himself against one of the trees, holding his breath as he leaned around to examine them.

There was a particularly large deer with antlers closest to him, but he didn’t dare to attempt to hunt that one. He chose his next closest target, one of the smaller does, then carefully planned his method of attack. Thanks to his training with the Gerudo, he felt confident in his abilities with the spear. The target was in his line of sight, and he was close enough to ensure accuracy. All he needed to do was throw the spear.

He stepped out from behind the tree only to snap a small branch on the ground. The sound immediately alerted the herd, their heads shooting up and their eyes wide as they spotted him. The sprung into action, quickly darting back into the trees at remarkable speed. Dahvi cursed under his breath, but resisted the urge to chase them. Instead, he threw his spear into the ground, then leaned against the tree to wait until his anger passed.

After a few moments, his breathing slowed, and he turned his gaze to the sky. From one of the branches above him, a bird took flight, momentarily leaving its nest. Curious, Dahvi proceeded to climb the tree until he reached the nest. To his delight, three eggs were tucked into the structure of the nest. It was no deer, but perhaps it would be enough to satisfy Robbie. 

No sooner did he reach into the nest, however, the mother bird returned angrily. She screeched threateningly and batted her wings at him. Dahvi tried desperately to keep his hold on the branch while swinging his arm around, but before he knew it, he was dropping to the ground, landing hard on his back. The impact knocked the breath right out of him, and he choked and sputtered for a moment before his breathing steadied once more. He glared angrily at the bird perched on the edge of the nest, and she seemed to glare angrily back at him, daring him to try to touch her babies again.

Dahvi cursed at the bird, then returned to his feet. He pulled his spear out of the ground and trudged through the forest in frustration. His stomach was starting to grumble, now, and the hungrier he felt, the angrier he became.

He slowed his pace and took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. He wasn’t incapable of taking care of himself, and he refused to let anyone think he didn’t have what it took to survive in Hyrule on his own. He didn’t need a babysitter - certainly not Robbie - and he was determined to prove that to himself and to Urbosa.

He slowed further still, stalking along quietly as he spotted the herd of deer once more. There was no way he would go back to Robbie with three measly eggs; he was getting himself one of those deer.

He made his way to one of the does once more, getting as close as he dared without alerting them, keeping his eyes on the ground to make sure he didn’t make a sound. Once he was near enough, he pressed himself against a nearby tree and sucked in a breath, steadying himself. He peered around the tree, took aim, and threw his spear quickly at his target.

He whooped for joy as the spear hit its mark and the deer promptly fell, crying out in pain. The rest of the herd took off once more, not looking back at their fallen friend. Dahvi quickly made his way to the deer who was now twitching and convulsing. He took his dagger from his hip, taking the liberty to end its life quickly. When the deed was done, he wiped the blood off on his pants before pocketing the dagger. He removed the spear from the deer and let it hang behind his back. He stood, then examined the deer with a frown. It was considerably larger than he was, bringing a new dilemma to mind; how in the name of Hylia was he supposed to bring the thing back to the lab?

[desktopdust]

Phantom Network: Spacetime Exception

(Recently I applied for a writing position, and was presented with a series of prompts and told to write a short story for consideration.  The following is what I came up with, and while they liked it quite a bit, ultimately another candidate was selected; not sure if I’ll do anything further with this idea, but at the very least, I wanted to make it available for anyone interested.)

I really thought I knew what I was getting myself into.  But as I hopped onto the underside of a small bridge, pressing myself up against it to stay out of the rushing waters beneath me, it occurred to me that maybe that assessment hadn’t been so accurate.

I’ve been running jobs like this for years.  Sure, I usually prefer to pick my own targets, but it wasn’t unheard of for someone to contact me and make a good case, just like my current “client” did.  So I proceeded as normal: read up on the target, dropped them an @ on social media saying “Congratulations!  You’re next!”, and went to get my wardrobe cleaned. (I know what you’re thinking, but a proper wardrobe is essential in this line of work!  The gunmetal-colored alchemar I wear is some nice armor for sure, but on its own it just doesn’t pop.  Add a dark brown fog coat, a bowler hat, and a green silk scarf, and there, brings the whole thing together!  Well, that and a black domino mask with fabric over my mouth for anonymity…also important. Anyway.)

The property belonged to Jenaro Walters, one of the richest men in the world and exactly the kind of scum I love to steal from.  According to the client, he kept one of his most prized possessions, a priceless jade vase, in his summer castle near the southern shore. (Yes, summer castle. He owns multiple honest-to-God castles, and that’s in addition to five other homes. What’s that?  He could feed the entire country for a decade with that kind of money?  You’re right! But he won’t!) It had a lovely view of the surrounding countryside, otherwise untouched for miles around with the sea lapping in just on the horizon, and was protected by immense stone walls reinforced with iron supports and guarded by a “highly-trained” security team.  The castle itself is on the small side for a castle: still unreasonably huge, but looking at others on the market you can see Walters had some restraint.  It sported half a dozen battlements and barely fewer towers, a moat inside and outside the outer wall, but decoration-wise it was rather plain.  Not a single gargoyle in sight!  What a waste.  Well, at least I wouldn’t be tempted to steal one.

The job went well at first.  I waited until night had fallen before making my approach, discovering that the guards were in such a panic thanks to my announcement that it was child’s play sneaking past them and scaling the wall.  I made my way across the courtyard, in through one of the windows, and around a few bends in the barren stone hall before realizing what was wrong. The floorplan didn’t match the one I had memorized at all.  When that dawned on me, I ran back outside to gather my bearings, but wouldn’t you know, I came across the one guard who was actually doing her job and suddenly the whole place was on alert.

Now, the cautious thing to do probably would have been to fall back and gather some new intel.  But I didn’t do that.

At the very least, I was careful in crawling onto the right side of the bridge.  No one was around to see me, so I sprinted back over to the castle, pressing myself against a shadowed wall to remain out of sight as I thought.  This was honestly a pretty troubling development: the floorplans I get from the Phantom Network are always accurate, and are updated frequently enough that my target couldn’t have had enough time to remodel.  So the way I saw it, there were two possibilities.  Either someone here had some kind of technology or ability that allowed them to quickly rearrange the interior of a building, or…one of my fellow thieves provided a fake floorplan.

But I had to set that aside for the moment—this vase wasn’t going to steal itself, and the longer I wait the more chance these idiots will have to get their act together. My alchemar switched on with a low hum. Gravity’s hold on me lessened, and with one leap I shot up towards the castle roof; just before reaching it, I shifted gravity sideways, dropping on all fours against the wall and creeping forward to glance over the edge.  A tall tower stood at the center of the rooftop, and the surrounding area was barren. Unfortunately, there was a balcony about halfway up the tower, from which several spotlights scanned the area. That and the door at its base were the only ways in.

I could certainly take out the guards, but with the place on high alert it wouldn’t be long before someone realized they weren’t at their post—getting out would be a lot more difficult than it needed to be.  I knew I needed to take the long way.  I waited until the searchlights had just swept past and then threw myself over the edge. With my gravity still rotated, I “fell” straight across the rooftop to the tower door, successfully avoiding detection; I then restored normal gravity, dropping down from the wall, and tried the door.  It was…unlocked?  That didn’t bode well.  This job was getting worse by the minute…but, I was too stubborn to back out.  So in I went.

The first few floors of the tower were totally empty.  I was extra careful in sneaking past the entrance to the balcony, and made it roughly three-quarters of the way up before encountering something I couldn’t avoid.  The floor in question was one long hallway, lined with fancy artwork and exotic plants, terminating in an elegantly carved double door that had a single guard.  He was large.  Large as in roughly the same size as the doorframe behind him.  Tall, broad-shouldered, muscular physique, and wearing flashy gold alchemar made of thick plates with a horned helmet that totally obscured his visage, with locks of straight brown hair flowing out the back. Nice aesthetic, I’ll give him that.

I took a moment to weigh my options.  I could go back to the balcony—incapacitating the guards from behind would be even easier, and then I could climb the tower from the outside and avoid this wall of muscle. However, that didn’t solve the problem the conspicuously-still searchlights would cause.  Forward remained the best choice.  Hoping to avoid a fight if possible, I activated my alchemar and quickly increased the force of gravity upon him from a distance. Unfortunately for me, rather than collapsing like a normal person would, the big gorilla managed to stay upright, and now knew someone else was nearby.  Fantastic.

“Who goes there?” he bellowed.  “Show yourself, trespasser!”

Well, no point in hiding.  I strolled into the room, keeping gravity focused on my foe, and tipped my hat to him. “Evening, friend.  Would you mind letting me through?”

He glared at me—even with his face hidden, it was obvious.  “You…!  You’re the one I was told to watch out for!  Phantom Thief Roche!”

“Oh, I see my reputation proceeds me,” I said.  I removed my hat, twirling it around with one finger.  “Well, you know my name: who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

Despite the intense gravity, the guard raised his arms and flexed them proudly, declaring, “My name is Aldebrand!  I have served under Master Walters for the whole of my life, and in light of your recent threat, he has ordered me to ensure the safety of his most prized possession!”

“Ah, so his prized possession is kept here!  Thanks for confirming that, Brandy.”

Aldebrand lowered his arms.  “Oh…”

Returning my hat to my head, I said, “Look, Brandy, I can see you’re under the rich bastard’s thrall so I won’t try to reason with you, but I am getting that vase one way or another.  Just lie down, for your own sake.”

Instead, Aldebrand took a defiant step forward.  “I think not! I know your tricks, thief—you think that you are unstoppable simply for wielding the power of gravity?  You have chosen a coward’s element!  I shall defeat you head-on!”

He charged.  The second he did, I willed the point my gravity powers were pulling him towards to move forward even faster, pulling his head down to the floor.  On one hand, it worked.  On the other, that didn’t stop him.  Aldebrand pushed himself forward along the floor, his alchemar flashing and releasing flames that wreathed his body; I was only barely able to jump in time, adjusting my own gravity so that I “dropped” to the ceiling.

“Fire,” I mumbled. “That’s less than ideal.”

Honestly?  I was expecting something like rock or metal. When a big brute uses alchemar, they usually favor an element that’s tough, strong, and, well, physical.  Were that the case, I could easily counteract any move he made: no matter what rocks or blades he threw, I could alter gravity to redirect them, staying out of range while using his own attacks against him. Fire, though…fire doesn’t care so much about gravity.  Basically, Aldebrand had the advantage in both ranged and close combat, and I was going to need to get creative.

“What’s the matter?” Aldebrand asked as he struggled to his feet.  “You come to pick a fight, yet are too afraid to finish it?”

He held both hands out, shooting a volley of fireballs at me.  Rolling out of the way, I willed gravity to pull Aldebrand towards the farthest wall, momentarily ceasing his attack; he spun as he fell, ultimately landing on his feet, and then threw a punch.  His fist spawned a compressed, fast-moving fireball that shot directly at me. Quick reflexes were all that saved me, dropping me to the wall just as the flames sailed past my head. Aldebrand didn’t let up: he ran along the wall towards me, shooting more fireballs every second.  I opened my hand and pulled a painting into it, catching the attacks and setting the art on fire in the process.

“Fiend!” Aldebrand shouted, stopping his offensive.  “How dare you damage Master Walters’s property!”

I gave a shrug. “Alright, if it means so much to you…”

Spawning another gravity well, I threw the flaming portrait at Aldebrand.  The extra pull brought it to his face faster than he expected, giving me time to get moving, but that was all.  He used the power of his alchemar to extinguish the flames, and then punched another pinpoint blast my way.  This time I was ready, and pulled another painting forward to shield me. Aldebrand roared.

“What’s the big deal?” I asked as I flung the painting.  “Walters has more than enough money to replace this trash.”

Aldebrand swatted the painting away—oh, he adjusted quickly, good for him.  “It is the principle of the thing, you impudent cur! But what should I expect of one who simply takes what rightfully belongs to others?”

Ducking below another fireball, I said, “Rightfully?  That’s rich.”

Aldebrand reared back.  Just in time, I leapt onto another wall, dodging his attack, and then leapt right at him, manipulating gravity to pull us both towards each other to amplify the force of the punch I delivered to his face.  I remembered too late that he was wearing very thick armor.  As we both dropped to the floor, I clutched my hand, grunting through my teeth, and Aldebrand wasn’t willing to give me a chance to recover.  A huge fireball sent me rolling across the floor—if not for the protective field my alchemar generated, that probably would’ve burned me to a crisp.  I got on my feet as quickly as I could, only to find Aldebrand charging at me.

“Die, wretched thief!” he yelled.

Flattening myself against the floor, I created a gravity well that pulled Aldebrand upward, sailing right overhead and crashing through the door he was meant to guard. He groaned in pain as he picked himself up, and that was when I finally worked out how I was going to win.

“Tell you want, Brandy, I’ll humor you,” I said as I pulled three paintings through the air, lighting them on the residual flames from Aldebrand’s recent attacks.  “You wanna know why I don’t give a damn about Walters’s property?  I’ll tell you: it’s simple reciprocation.”

Aldebrand led with a flurry of fireballs as he ran back into the room.  I carefully manipulated the paintings to shield me, throwing one of them when the opportunity presented itself.

“Walters and all the other elitist bastards like him don’t give a damn about anyone else. They take what they want, leaving as little as possible for those without the power to stop them, all so they can horde everything of value for themselves.”

Aldebrand swatted. Anticipating him, I pulled the painting off to his side, throwing a second at the same time.

“They say you should treat others the way you want to be treated, right?  If he’s treating everyone like dirt, then I can only assume that’s how I oughtta treat him!”

The second painting smashed into Aldebrand’s face while the first circled around to hit him in the back.  He braced for the third, but instead of sending it at him, I sent it around the room to light up the potted plants sitting around.  Aldebrand shook with fury.

“You understand nothing!” he told me.  “Parasites like you are the greedy ones!  I shall tolerate no more of this slander!”

He rushed across the room, and I stood ready.  With a calculated application of my power, the many burning trees all flew straight towards Aldebrand, who surrounded himself in intense flames to totally incinerate them before they could make contact.  A second later he was upon me, throwing his entire weight into a single punch, just like I was hoping.  I leaned back as far as I could—I couldn’t alter my gravity to escape, I needed to focus on Aldebrand’s gravity.  The first step was eliminating the natural force keeping him on the ground, making his body lighter and his punch come faster.  As it passed, the flames surrounding him singed me, but I held fast to my concentration: I generated a powerful gravity well at the exact point where his momentum aimed him, and with nothing to hold him down, the force of Aldebrand’s punch threw him headfirst into its pull, launching him through a support pillar and into the wall with a loud smack.  Any flames that lingered went out as he dropped to the floor, unmoving.

“Whew,” I said, dusting myself off.  “That was a workout.  Hey, Brandy, are you dead?”

I didn’t get a response.

“So that’s a ‘maybe’…ah well.”

I couldn’t be sure that no one had heard our scuffle, so once I was on the other side of the doorway I stacked as much rubble as I could to block off any would-be pursuers. Luckily, I didn’t come across any more opposition until reaching the top floor.  The sprawling circular room had low lighting, and was entirely empty save for the pedestal at the very center, upon which sat a jade vase with a rounded body, short neck, and twin handles.  Drawing a pellet from my coat, I crushed it and blew the resulting dust forward—thin beams of red light came into view, crisscrossing through the entire room to form a tight net around the treasured pottery.  The original plan had been to sneak into the castle’s generator room and deactivate any security measures like this, but now that the floorplan I had received had proved faulty, that was no longer an option.  One look was enough to tell me I wouldn’t fit between the beams, so I took a deep breath and reactivated my alchemar.

First step was to create a gravity well above the vase that was equally strong as the natural gravity pulling it down.  By adjusting the balance between these two forces, I was able to gently lift the vase from its pedestal and move on to the hard part.  Most of the gaps in the net were wide enough that the vase would be able to pass through them standing up, but not all of them—I was going to need to turn the vase on its side to thread it through the laser grid, and figured I’d have the most room to do so right above the pedestal.  It was a very precise process, and being worn out from my fight sure didn’t help matters.  Shifting my hands to help myself better visualize what I was doing, I gradually moved the sources of the opposing pulls on the vase in opposite directions, subtly angling both as I did so that they remained centered directly upon the vase.  One false move and it would drop to floor, shattering and triggering the alarm to notify every guard on the property of my location.  I had to try not to focus on that possibility, though.

It took a while, but I eventually got the vase horizontal, the two gravity wells holding it firmly in place like a pair of tweezers.  I paused to take a breath, and then manipulated the balance between the wells, slowly pulling the vase towards me and through the first opening in the grid. The next gap was to the side, so I halted the vase and again adjusted the locations of the wells to get it in position.  The vase needed to be reoriented this way after every single gap—the grid was cleverly-made, turns out—but eventually it made it across the room, allowing me to pluck it from the air and power down my alchemar.  I allowed myself a sigh of relief as I clutched the vase.  Finally, I thought, I had the damn thing and could get out already.  I had had my fill of surprises for one day.

I turned around to find a gun in my face.  My first thought was that it was incredibly rude—hardly a proper greeting.  My second was a storm of rage I can’t quite articulate with words.

“Congratulations, Roche!” said the one holding the gun.  “Job well done, I’d say.”

My eye twitched. I recognized that voice.  Sure enough, I was looking at an athletic woman with medium brown skin and bright red, shoulder-length hair that nicely framed her smug face.  Her alchemar was silver and looked very lightweight, the armor itself being very sleek but accentuated by a knee-length half-skirt and off-the-shoulder shawl, both made of smooth pink fabric.  Despite the situation, I was totally powerless to stop myself from letting out a long, wordless groan.

“Kari,” I then muttered.  “So good to see you.”

She giggled. “Aw, thank you!  It’s lovely seeing you as well.”

I gestured around, careful not to touch the still-active lasers.  “Come here often?”

“Nope, first time.”

“What a coincidence, me too.  I’ll warn you now, the service is terrible—I ordered a drink an hour ago and haven’t heard back since.”

Playing along with a sour expression, she said, “Oh, that’s a shame.  It had such good reviews.”

“Well, maybe they’re having an off night, I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”

“Good point.” Kari held out her free hand. “Anyway, I’ll take that.”

Pulling the vase away, I said, “Um, excuse me?  I stole this fair and square, Kari.  I won’t give it up so easily—you haven’t even bought me dinner.”

“How can I if the service is bad?”

“I never said it had to be here.”

Rolling her eyes, Kari said, “You’re such hard work, you know that?”

“I take pride in it, in fact.”

A smirk crossed Kari’s face.  “Darling, if you don’t give me the vase, how can I pay you for your services?”

I can only imagine what my face looked like as I slowly processed what she was telling me. I’m imagining something very stupid-looking.

“You…you’re my client?” I asked.

Kari nodded. “Mm-hm!”

“If you wanted the damn thing, why not just steal it yourself?!”

“Too much work. This was easier.”

I’m an idiot.  A fool.  I’m a complete and total sap.  I’d say she played me like a fiddle, but I’ve tried playing fiddle—it’s actually very difficult, and saying that’s what happened when she exerted zero effort would be an insult to the skilled fiddle-players of the world.

As I was mentally kicking myself, I noticed a change in Kari’s expression.  She looked…serious?  Maybe?  Hard to tell, I’d never seen her serious.  “All joking aside, Roche…I needed to evaluate you, and this seemed like the best way to do it.”

“Evaluate?” I repeated.  “…Wait, this was a test?  You set this all up to…hang on: are you the one who swapped the floorplan in the Phantom Network database?”

Her coy smile returned.  “Haven’t the foggiest what you’re referring to, but sounds like it’s beside the point.”

“It’s definitely point-adjacent.”

“Listen, darling: I have a lead on a much, much bigger job, but after running the numbers it looks unlikely I’ll be able to pull it off myself.  I need an…assistant.  And after screening a few candidates, I’ve decided you’re the best fit.”

“Lucky me,” I grumbled.

“You are lucky! Now, what do you say you hand me that vase and we talk business?”

I handed her the vase. She had to grab it with both hands, finally removing the gun from its threatening position, and I replied, “I say ‘see ya’.”

Not giving her a chance to answer, I headed for the door.  However, in the time it took me to blink, Kari was suddenly standing in the doorway, pouting with the vase tucked under one arm.  At least she had put the gun away.

“Hey now, what kind of response is that?” she asked.

“After discovering I’ve been bamboozled by a chronic pain in the neck who wants to make me her lackey?  An entirely fair one, in my humble opinion.”

“‘Humble’, huh?”

“Well, it sounds nice.”

Kari sighed. Her alchemar shimmered briefly as she let go of the vase—rather than falling, it hung eerily-still in mid-air, allowing her to ignore it as she stepped towards me.

“Roche,” she said, looking…probably-serious again.  “When I say this is a big job, I’m not talking about payment.  I’m talking about what it means.”

I snorted a laugh. “What?  Suddenly you care about what jobs mean?  My gosh, Kari, when did you become a proper thief?”

I expected a sharp retort, but that’s not what I got.  Kari’s expression remained the same, and something danced behind her eyes…I couldn’t really tell what it was, but it made me feel like a bit of a jerk. And not in the satisfying way.

“I may owe you some explanation,” Kari said, “but certain things are still personal.  I hope you understand.”

Ah.  So it’s personal.

“A job like this unsettles the elitists, shows the people their oppressors aren’t invincible. But miscellaneous gestures like this just aren’t enough.  Haven’t you ever wondered what it would take to really change things?  To not just undermine the oppressors’ power, but to take it all away?”

I had to think for a moment, ultimately saying, “That sounds too good to be true.  And in any event…frankly, Kari, I wouldn’t feel safe working with you.  You’ve screwed me over a few too many times for me to just trust you.”

Kari nodded. “…Fair enough.”

Really?  Who is this?  What the hell happened to her?!

Before I could form a coherent reply, though, she extended her hand and said something even more shocking: “Honor among thieves.”

I gawked.  I was just too stunned to do much of anything else. When I finally found some words, I said, “You…do know how serious a promise that is, right?  If you break it, the Phantom Network will ban you—or worse.”

She stared directly into my eyes and said, “I understand completely.”

…Dammit.  Just when I thought I knew how to handle this thorn in my side, she finds new ways to defy expectation.  I couldn’t believe I was actually considering her offer. But, even with our history, I couldn’t deny she seemed genuine…and admittedly, I had found myself wanting something more than petty theft.  Stripping the elites of their power altogether was too tantalizing a prospect to simply ignore.

“Oh, what the hell,” I mumbled, taking the hand offered to me.

Kari’s face brightened a bit, and she failed to suppress a smirk.  “Not very official.”

Smiling back, I leaned forward and said, “Honor among thieves.  I look forward to working with you, dear Kari.”

To be sure I was overselling it, I quickly kissed her hand before letting go.  Kari turned, tossing her hair, and said, “Excellent. Welcome aboard, Roche.  Now, shall we make our escape?”

As she walked through the door, she pulled a pink veil over her face.  I took a step after her, but then realized the vase was still hanging there, and turned to say something.

“Oh,” she said, “and would you mind carrying the vase?”

The power holding it aloft cut out suddenly—I had to scramble to catch it in time.  Giving a heavy sigh, I said under my breath, “Yup. I really have no idea what I’m getting myself into.”

[justsmilestuffhappens]

1. Mistletoe

Mistletoe is the most dangerous of all weeds

Eddie knew he'd regret agreeing to it. Being in the emergency room getting buck checked up was a horrible way to spend the holidays on or off shift.

It wasn't Christmas yet but they could go without anything bad happening at all preferably.

It started out fun but ended up here.

"Come on. It's like old holiday tradition or whatever." Buck had said while standing under it.

They just worked a call of a Santa having a heart attack after an argument with Ms. Clause at the Christmas funtime show shop.

Eddie had kissed buck on the cheek to appease stupid tradition.

At Ms. Clause's insistence Buck then proceeded to pluck a seed from it because of course it was a real one.

Within seconds it fell into his mouth and he swallowed it in a panic.

"Isn't the real thing toxic? buck spit it out!" Hen had yelled while watching him next to Eddie.

Eddie was already telling him the same as he ordered buck to force himself to vomit.

It really was only in his throat for well under half a minute but they didn't regularly deal with this. Eddie resisted panicking just as buck must have been.

"We've never had someone eat the mistletoe before. It's on our wavers." Ms. Clause said quickly.

"Which we didn't sign while coming to help you," Eddie said rubbing bucks back as Hen looked him over. He wasn't cut from the bit of branch but they couldn't see deeper into his throat.

Eddie then took the whole mistletoe and threw it in the trash.

"Fuck tradition if it can get people killed. Cap we gotta take buck to be looked at." Eddie radioed to the truck.

Hen was already walking him to the fire truck.

"You're gonna regret that. It's supposed to be about a peaceful truce. That's why we kiss. Throwing it away could upset the mother."

"Yeah. Well I'm sure she'd be angry too if her loved one got hurt by mistletoe."

Just as Eddie rushed to catch up it started raining.

The sudden downpour grew on their way to the hospital and thunder joined along with a howling wind. They looked out to see the rain being whipped about.

Eddie kept a hand on buck ignoring Ms. Clause's words. It's just a coincidence.

Once they were at the hospital they heard how lightning striking a transformer nearby had the hospital on backup power until it was fixed.

Thankfully they didn't wait long for buck. After a short while it was confirmed that his throat was clear of injury but he could still show signs of nausea at the least so he needed to be careful to return back if symptoms appeared and he got worse.

"Thank God." Eddie said as he heard the news beside buck's bed.

Hen was talking to the doctor in the hall while cap was on the phone.

"I could kiss you right now" Eddie said before he caught himself.

"What's stopping you? I thought kissing in the rain was book shit" buck joked looking at the window.

Eddie doesn't know what came over him, okay he did. He leaned over to kiss buck feeling those lips with his own.

It wasn't fireworks but even with their eyes closed they noticed the lights getting brighter before they opened them.

The storm faded soon after as they sat there looking at each other surprised.

"No more mistletoe." Eddie stated.

"Not even the fake kind?"

"Not even if it's the fake kind that doesn't come apart." Eddie warned.

"Power's back. That was weird right?" Hen said coming over and seeing buck avoided her eyes. "So you two okay?"

"Hen. Eddie. We're finishing our shift. Buck you're off. Don't worry about it. The doctor says you'll be fine but to rest before going home. I'm sure Maddie would pick you up if you don't mind waiting for an uber." Bobby said coming over to rest his hand on bucks shoulder. "Glad you're okay. They're just waiting to be sued. Hopefully they keep it down so no one else will be in danger of a repeat kid."

Buck saw Eddie following slowly behind them.

"We'll talk later." He said before Eddie was out of earshot so he wouldn't shout it for the others to hear.

He thought back to the kiss while laying down.

Maddie was going to sense something was up and he wasn't ready to explain.

The sudden rain storm ending as quickly as it began was still on his mind as he touched his lips.

That's one way to have their first kiss.