#honestly a few of these are crossed off only because i think even He'd cringe at himself (e.g. flower petals and karaoke)

[sinsolucion]

ROMANTIC GESTURES.

bold what applies to your muse, italicize if there's potential / it depends.

holding hands · buying flowers · COOKING · cuddles · writing a poem / song · holding door open · tying shoe laces · sharing a milkshake with two straws · offering their jacket when it's cold · kissing in the rain · publicly confessing love · long walks at the beach · doing the titanic pose on a boat · taking cute pictures in a photo booth · sharing a taxi / uber · kissing the back of their hand · slow dancing · getting tickets of their favorite artist / sports team / other · introducing them to their parents · lighting candles · flower petals on bed · love letters · star gazing · brushing / doing their hair · picnics · teaching them to play an instrument / sport while gently guiding their hands · compliments · late night drives · taking selfies together · drawing them · self-made gifts · massages · proposing with a family heirloom ring · lending them their favorite book to read · paying for dinner / coffee · mixtapes / playlists · surprise birthday parties · FEEDING THEM · handing them keys to their apartment · making space in drawer for their clothes when they stay over · sharing a blanket · couple costumes · tucking a hair strand behind their ear · running after them at the airport / keeping them from leaving · moving cities to be together · blowing a kiss · BREAKFAST IN BED · defending them in a fight (verbally / physically) · joint bubble baths · dropping the L-bomb ("i love you") · dedicating a song at the karaoke bar to them · wearing their clothes · yawning before putting an arm around them while watching a movie · granting them the last bite (from meal)

tagged: @kamipyre!! we love love language in this house!!!

[one-sad-human]

•Pinky Promises• Steven Adler

Pairing: Steven Adler x Reader, Axl Rose x Sibling! Reader

Requested? Yup! By an anon

Theme: Angst(?) to fluff

Warnings: Language, sexual references but nothing explicit

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: Fic 1 of 2! Hope you enjoy! Also, the makeout near the end gets sorta hot and it was pretty fun to write? Like I’m considering exploring into writing smutter pieces. I didn’t want to originally because I thought I’d cringe all the way through and hate the result but I might try it out in the near future. Nothing too crazy but it’s something for me to think about.

     You step off of the large bus, your combat boots hitting the ground as you adjust the bag slung over your shoulder. It's stuffed to the brim with whatever you threw in, you're surprised the zipper did burst.

     You take a deep breath of the LA air. It's hot and humid and despite the thick air pollution, you can breath easier than you did in Indiana.

     You grew up in Lafayette, Indiana with your older half-brother William. You were raised in the hellish house with your shared father, which you finally managed to escape.

     William left right at eighteen. He tried taking you with him, but you didn't want him to be charged with kidnapping and have the cops on his ass. Now, two years and your father's stolen wallet later, you're finally in the city of dreams.

     "Will!" You yell out, spotting your redheaded other half.

     "Y/N!" He mocks, catching your figure in a crushing hug. He's taller than you, so you have to stand on your tippy toes during the embrace. "Thank God you're alright."

     "I'm fine, I'm happy to finally see you again," you say, a huge grin on your face. "How's the band? Everything going well?"

     "Well enough," he says with a shrug, grabbing your heavy bag and slinging it around his shoulder. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the guys. You already know Izzy of course, but the rest of them."

     The walk to the 'hell house' as Will had called it is filled with catching up. He made sure to keep in contact with you, but the phone calls were always short. It felt nice to have a full length conversation in person with your brother again.

     "Welcome home," Will says, leading you into the house. You grimace when you catch a whiff of stale beer and weed.

     "You seriously live here? This place should be condemned," you say with disgust.

     "And then where would we live?" The oh-so familiar voice of Will's best friend meets your ears. You whip around and fly into his arms.

     "Jeffery! I missed you so much! You really should've tried calling, you ass!" You exclaim. Izzy rolls his eyes but smiles nonetheless, patting your back during the hug.

     "Who's this?" Another man enters the living room— if that's what it should even be called. He's blonde, taller than you but shorter than the other two men in the room. He has kind eyes and the smile he has on his handsome face leaves you speechless.

     "U-uh, hi. I'm Y/N," you say after a moment of shameless gawking. If he noticed, he doesn't mention it.

     "Oh that's right! Axl talks a lot about you! I'm Steven," he says and bounds up to you, catching your hand in a shake. You don't question who the hell 'Axl' is, but you smile stupidly at him and bite your lip with a blush staining your face.

     "No," Will says, glaring at the cute blonde you've taking an immediate liking to. "Absolutely not."

     "William!" You squeak out, pinching his shoulder harsher. He yelps and swats your hand away. Will glares further at you as he ushers you up the creaky stairs to your room. "Nothing happened! And who the fuck is 'Axl'?"

     "I saw how you were looking at him! I'm not naive, Y/N. You were giving him the 'fuck me' eyes! And me, everyone calls me Axl here." You give him a look. "Except you, of course. You can call me Will."

     You don't give him another word as he leads you to your bedroom. He was the one who didn't have a roommate before, and he'd have to share with Slash now but he was determined to give you your privacy.

     "This is the only room with a working lock, use it. Especially when your changing! Three horny men in a house with one you isn't a good combo." You make a face and shake your head, but you can't really tell if he's being overprotective or if his band mates really are pigs.

     "Are you not including Izzy?"

     "Please, he's the only smart one besides me. He knows I'll rip him a new one." You laugh and give Will another hug.

     "I've really missed hanging out with you like this, and thank you for letting me stay here." He nods and rubs your back.

     "No problem, we have each other's backs, always." You nod and release your bother from the hug. "One rule though: no hooking up with the guys. One time thing or not, you don't know them like I do, I won't let you get hurt. So don't even try anything with Steven!"

     "Even if it's nothing sex?" Will levels you with a look that would make you sweat if you were anyone else. You sigh and roll your eyes. "Fine! I promise."

     "Pinky promise?" He asks, holding out his pinky finger. You shake your head but comply anyway, hooking your pinky on his.

     "Wow, bringing out the big guns, pinky promises," you tease.

     "Bitch," he mumbles. You gasp sarcastically.

     "Asshole!" You reply. William takes his leave with another slew of insults under his breath but none to be taken seriously and all with a smile. You shut your door after him and lay on your bed, content with how things are finally beginning to look up.

If you knew where you would be in just a few months of living with your brother and his band, you never would've agreed to the naive promise Will had forced on you. You think back to the day with a frown.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Steven asks, pecking your bare shoulder as he lays behind you on your bed. You both lay naked and damp with sweat, glowing from the moonlight streaming in the room.

"William," you say with a sigh.

"We just had sex and your thinking of your brother? Should I be worried about you?" Steven asks teasingly. You fight the smile growing on your face and lightly pinch the his arm tightly wrapped around you. He never fails to make you laugh.

"I just feel bad keeping this a secret from him." You turn around to be face to face with Steven. "It's been months of sneaking around. I'm always nervous we'll get caught together or I'll blurt it out to him."

"Then why don't we just tell him?"

"Do you want to die! Steven, honestly, do you have a death wish?"

"No, but—"

"Then we can't tell my brother we're together. He'll murder you, and then probably me one he finds out how long I've been lying to him," you say and move your head in the crook of Steven's neck.

"Then we can be together in the afterlife!" Steven folds his arms around you even tighter. "Seriously though, we can't lie to him forever. We've been together for six months already, surely he'll see how much we care about each other and not want to kill us."

"Yeah, maybe," you say halfheartedly and close your eyes, finally letting yourself fall asleep.

The next night, Guns has a gig at the Whiskey A-Go Go. The ritual goes like it has been, they play the gig, you wait for Will to get drunk, and you and Steven sneak out to the back of the club to make out and maybe get felt up a bit before returning like nothing happened.

It isn't different this time. Steven's hands leave your skin ablaze as he lets them wander down your sides and up your thighs. His lips don't leave yours, even as he squeezes your ass and you let out a moan. He grins on your mouth and presses his pelvis up to your stomach.

His mouth leaves yours to press feather light kisses to your cheek before trailing down your jaw and onto your neck, where he sucks nips at. You have to press a hand to your mouth to stay quiet.

"Don't leave marks," you remind him through batted breath.

"I won't," he reassures and silences you with a chaste kiss to your swollen lips before returning his attack on your neck.

You hear footsteps fast approaching, but as quickly as you hear them, Steven is ripped away from you. He's slammed into the brick wall next to you harshly and groans. You jump away and gasp.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" William asks, his voice lower than usual. His green eyes dark and downright scary.

"Will! Let him go, come on. Stop fucking around, you didn't have to slam him into a wall," you say, but your shaky voice falls on deaf ears as Will doesn't move. Your hands grasp at his arm and try to yank him away from Steven, but he's stronger and taller than you and doesn't budge, he just keeps his eyes focused on Steven.

"Nothing!" He squeaks out. Even in the dark, his kiss bruised lips and flushed red face is obvious.

"'Nothing?' That's why you were ten seconds away from fucking Y/N?" Will asks.

"William stop it! You're scaring me! Leave him alone!" You push him again and this time, he relents. Will paces and runs his hand through his red locks while you rush to make sure Steven is ok.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Steven mutters and presses a kiss to your brow to comfort you, sending you a smile when he pulls away. He keeps his hands on your arms and rubs circles with his thumbs.

"How long has this been going on?" Will asks, crossing his arms as he finally stops his pacing.

"Six months..." Steven says nervously. William scoffs and shakes his head. "But it isn't just fucking around! I love them, Ax. Really."

You smile bashfully, biting your lip to try and contain it. You knew you felt strongly for Steven and that he returned the feelings, but you haven't outright said you loved each other— until know of course.

Will stays silent for a few beats, staring contemplative at Steven. He finally sighs, bring a hand up to rub his temples like he has a building headache.

"Yeah? And you love him, Y/N?" He asks. You nod, reaching out to grab Steven's hand. Steven lets a grin creep on to his face. "Then I guess I can't stop you. But if you ever break their heart, I'll fucking gut you, Adler."

If Will makes Steven nervous, he doesn't show it. He gives him a salute with his puppy dog like smile before sticking out his pinky.

"I promise I'll never hurt Y/N purposely, ever." Will rolls his eyes, the irony makes him nearly groan aloud. He sucks it up anyway when he sees your hopeful expression, hooking his pinky onto Steven's.

"Don't make me regret this, Steven," Will grumbles before leaving and walking back into the crowded club. Steven lets out an exhilarated laugh and kisses you, hard.

"Told you he wouldn't kill me!" Steven exclaims, making you laugh out of surprise.

"And we don't have to sneak around anymore!" Steven kisses you again, and again and again until you're breathless.

"I'm so in love with you," he mumbles between his attack on your lips. You smile, tangling your hands in his aqua-net filled hair.

"As I am with you."

[totiredtowrite]

"Ｔｈｅ Ｇｒａｖｅ Ｄｉｇｇｅｒ"

Warnings - Talks of death, blood

Note: plot didn't agree with me ig, if it sucks deal with it 🙄

FEM READERS DO NOT INTERACT (SHE/HER, SHE/THEY)

/̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿

There were only two people in this town who nobody seemed to see. Whether it be by their own choice or public displeasure, they hardly showed their faces. Town hall meetings, events, the occasional festival, never. Unsurprisingly, the two men who never showed up both worked with the dead.

The executioner, and the undertaker.

Matsukawa Issei, the undertaker, wasn't commonly known by his name. Or even his title, for that matter. Somewhere along the line he'd earned the nickname of 'The Grave Digger.'

He knew why, of course. Everyone knew why. The only time the bulk of the townsfolk saw him was when he was out digging graves at the edge of town. For those who lived near to the graveyard, it was a rather common sight.

Just as dusk fell they would see him out in the field, rusted copper spade in hand as he shoveled up dirt. Typically there was a body wrapped in linen laying somewhere near him, and on the nights where they weren't the people knew he would be back the next night with one.

At first, he'd struggled quite a bit.

Digging human sized holed in the ground, six feet deep, wasn't easy work by any means. Especially not for one man. At nineteen was when he'd started his work. If he wasn't well built before, he certainly was now. If it was possible, he was sure that his shovel would have dents in it from where he clutches it. It was his own little cycle. He obtained the body, he prepped it, (if the family could afford a funeral), he dug, he buried.

Only the reverend and the grifter who hung around these parts really had any continued conversation with him. Even still, he and the reverend had limited conversation. Their talks were short, concise, formal. And, even more so, that was only when a family could pay for a funeral and wanted it in the church.

Naturally that left little to no opportunity for relationships.

Though, it wasn't like people didn't want him. Unlike the executioner, people vied for his attention. The few times he goes into town, he can feel eyes on him. Women and men alike. The grave digger has earned the tag of 'tall, dark, and handsome.'

He sighed heavily, dropping his spade by the door of his home. He never liked burying children. He had two today, twins. It always made him feel remorseful. Like they could have done so much. All he really wanted to to was stare at the ceiling in the company of his phonograph.

It didn't help his mood that the grave robber situation was spiraling. Some sicko was taking bones from graves, keeping them. Maybe he was selling them. Issei opened the door, turning his back to the main room to close it. He let his head fall against the oak. He relished in the silence, though something didn't feel right.

He narrowed his eyes to the door, slowly taking his hand of the handle and turning around when–

"It's honestly about time. What was that six hours? You usually take less."

He stopped, eyes wide in your direction.

The shock prevented him from really saying or doing anything, so you took that as an invitation to continue. "Anyways, nice place! This is the first time I've actually seen the inside," you laughed a bit. From where you were sat, Matsukawa could make out a few things.

A shovel sat by your side, one similar to his. Similar, except it was very clearly made of silver. You were seated on a desk against the far wall, directly across from where he stood. Your legs, one crossed over the other, were clad in dirtied work pants. His expression turned defensive at the realization that there were little splatters of blood near your boot.

"Though you did have to bury kids today huh?" You continued. "I get it. S'not fun digging them up either." You sighed dramatically.

Your remark killed any words I'm previously in his throat. The grave robber.

His face quickly morphed into something threatening, something that most people would run far away from. "You're the–"

"Yep!" You didn't let him finish, pulling up a wanted poster from god knows where. There was no face on it, just a black silhouette with a white question mark in the head. "This is what you meant right? You're absolutely correct."

He moved to advance. "What the hell are you doing in my home," he snarled.

You held up a hand. "Woah there, tiger. You know these things can seriously hurt someone, right?" You tilted your head to the shovel at your side. Matsukawa stopped in his tracks, though his deadly glare didn't falter.

"Look," you sighed, "Can we please get off on the right foot? I'm (l/n) (y/n), the man who's been digging up bodies. Well, parts of bodies. It honestly depends on the price," you giggled. "I know exactly who you are, but why don't you tell me anyways?"

No words left his throat. Well, none that were very nice anyways.

"Right," you rolled your eyes at the obscenities that left his mouth in the place of his name. "But I'm not here to fight." You slid off of the table in a rather smooth manner, sweeping up the shovel at the same time. "In fact, I'm here to help!"

Matsukawa's lips pursed in thought. He should turn you right in to the sheriff. Yet, some part of him wanted to hear what you had to say. After all, if he didn't like it, you've simply engineered your own arrest. He didn't say another word, harshly grabbing your shoulders and steering you towards the small dining table. "Sit." he said gruffly, not giving you a chance to respond before he practically threw you into the chair.

Taking the seat across from you, his eyes locked on you expectantly. You took that as a sign to speak. "Ha, anyways, the other day I found this," you set a femur on the table. Matsukawa cringed slightly. Not because he was nervous by it, but because where did you even have that? "This belongs to a man that's easily six feet tall."

Matsukawa nodded. "And?"

"And," you scoffed, "I found it in the grave of a woman. A woman who was no more than five feet." Matsukawa decided to ignore how weird this conversation was getting. "Unless you're just really bad at your job, these bones aren't matching up. Not to mention the woman I dug up the other day," you let out a breathy laugh. "Can you believe it? Her jaw was far too large."

He shuddered, declaring to himself that he had a psychopath sat at his table.

"Anyways, handsome," you have him a predatory grin, "Wanna entertain me for a bit? Just how do you think those bones are being misplaced? It's messing with my business, you know. Making me less credible."

"Business? What business?" He couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Y'know, grave robbing? You think I just keep the bones I take? The bodies?" You laughed. "Gross, no. I sell them. Shady medical students who wanna get ahead, witches, people who do extremely innocent things with dead bodies." Matsukawa cringed again.

"I should turn you in," he said. He stood up to lean over the table, slamming his hands down right in front of you, eyes angled down his nose.

You, unfazed by this, shrugged. "If you turned me in, you'd get the money, but you'd never know what's going on with the bones switching place."

He let out a muted frustrated noise. "Come on," you tilted your head to let the candlelight illuminate your eyes, "What's the worst that could happen?"

~

Do not repost, translate, or copy my work on to other platforms.

[writteninkat]

ii - rubies?!

word count - 1,903

warnings - mention of scars

"he's so tall and handsome as hell. he's so bad but he does it so well."

index

As you waited for April to come around, you spent your remaining days working out and training your quirk on your own. You didn't want to look for your father nor did you want to bump into him- the only time you wanted to see him was during UA's sports festival where you know he'll be watching so you can rub it in his face how good your life is without him.

As you work out in your apartment building's gym, you can't keep the blond out of your head. Was he doing alright? Should you have asked for his phone number at least? Where did he study? Was he even from this area?

Your mind races and wanders around thoughts about the blond, causing you to trip on your own feet on the treadmill. Before your hands come in contact with the running deck, you feel strong arms wrap around your waist, saving you from the fall but not from the embarrassment.

You take a few moments to stop and think about what just happened, allowing the whole thing to just sink in. I almost tripped because I was thinking about some guy. Stupid mistake.

Your savior puts you down beside the treadmill, hands immediately letting go of your waist. "You okay?" Despite having such buffed-up arms, he had such a sweet voice. You look to your right, checking to see the face of your knight in shining armor.

"My name's Izuku Midoriya." He smiles widely, extending his hand towards you. You take it, smiling back. "Y/n L/n, and yeah, I'm alright. Thanks for saving me, I could have attended my first day in UA with a bandage on my forehead." You chuckled, watching the guy's facial expression turn into excitement.

"No way! You'll be attending UA? That's crazy so am I!"

Your eyes widen, finally someone I can be close to in that new school. "What class are you in?" You move to turn off the treadmill, picking up your water bottle from the floor. You unscrew the cap, taking large sips as you looked at him, waiting for an answer. "Class 1A."

The water backfires, going down the wrong pipe. You cough out the water, rubbing your chest in pain as Midoriya pats on your back in worry. "You okay? Again?"

You wave your hand at him, coughing a few more times before clearing your throat. "So am I." Your voice comes out rough and broken but still understandable.

For the rest of the day, you chat with Midoriya, getting to know each other as you helped each other work out. Like whenever you needed help with your form, he'd guide you. When he needed more weight on his back as he did push up, you were more than happy to sit on him as you scrolled through your cellphone.

As the end of the day, before the two of you part, he asks for your number so it would be easier to contact you. You kind of regret giving it to him cause he wouldn't shut up about the heroes he looked up to. He was such a hero nerd you found it funny.

When he calmed down and told you good night, you hit the sack yourself, images of the angry blond with beautiful ruby eyes filling your head as you fell asleep with a smile. And honestly, that was the best sleep you've had in years.

You're walking yourself to your new school, heart drumming against your chest. The feeling was a little too nostalgic, it was the same feeling you felt back when you came to UA for the practical exam. It felt like time went by a little too fast. You calm your mind, remembering your mom's text to you earlier that morning, telling you good luck with your first day.

You try recalling your goal- to become a hero despite my father telling me I couldn't. To become a hero, to become a hero to become-

"Hey Y/n!" Midoriya waves at you, his smile as bright as the sun. It's sickening but you shrug it off, it suits his face. "Oh, I hope it's alright if I call you Y/n."

"Only if I can call you Izuku." You wink at him, smiling as you continue your way towards the building. As Izuku rambled on about how nervous he was for today that he couldn't sleep properly, your mind raced back to the thought of the school uniform being uncomfortable.

You were so used to wear pants that showing off your legs seemed taboo to you. Don't get it wrong, you like your legs, you think they're okay. But you've been wearing pants maybe eighty percent of your life that you don't like showing even your knees. You can't sit the way you want with skirts- especially if the way you want is your legs either parted apart as you sink onto your chair or your legs on the desk as you scroll through your phone lazily.

Given that it was school rules to wear a uniform, you decided to cover up your legs with black thigh high instead, cursing at the skirt for being a little bit too short for your liking.

"Here it is." Izuku points up at the board right above the classroom door that read 1A. "I just hope I'm not classmates with Tenya or Kacchan." He chuckles, reaching for the door.

"Tenya? That glasses dude who seemed like someone pissed in his cheerios the morning of the exam?" Izuku nods his head but your mind wasn't at ease just yet. Who the hell was this Kacchan?

Your mind wanders again but your thoughts clear away when you hear two people arguing.

"Take your feet off that desk now." You chuckle, recognizing that voice. You mentally send a sorry to Izuku's way.

"Hah?" And that voice too!

You look up, scanning the room and looking for your two new classmates who were arguing. Iida's back covers who he's getting mad at, forcing you to step inside the classroom to get a better look.

"It's the first day and you're already disrespecting this academy by scuffing school property you cretin."

"You're kidding me right? Your old school put a stick in your ass?"

As you thought, that voice belonged to the same guy who's been infiltrating your head ever since you met him. Day and night. However his attitude caught you off guard, he wasn't this rude when the two of you met.

"Rubies?" You say out loud, the blond, or as Izuku calls him, Kacchan looks your way, eyes widening at the sight of you in the same classroom as him. His once smug expression is wiped off his face as he stares at you, completely taken off guard.

Tenya and a brown haird girl who looked a little too much like Kirby approached Izuku and they began talking to him. You, in the other hand, are being pulled out of the classroom by the blond. His hand still as soft as you remember, his grip isn't even that tight around your wrist. Just enough to tug you to where he wanted to bring you without hurting you.

The two of you stand right outside the door leading to the back of the classroom. He turns around, smug expression completely gone and replaced by confusion.

"You never told me you went to UA." He says, stuffing his hands in his pocket as he leans his side on the wall. You cross your arms on your chest, leaning to the side as you rest most of your weight on one leg. "You never asked." The two of you look at each other in silence for a few moments, your heart going haywire in your chest as he keeps his eyes on you. Such eyes that could keep you in a cage of trance forever.

Bakugou opens his mouth but before he could get a word out, a tired voice cuts him off. "Get inside the classroom." He tired-looking man with unkept hair and peach fuzz tells you both. Was he the school janitor? Nevertheless, the both of you walked back inside the classroom, Bakugou's eyes silently telling you that the two of you were going to finish the conversation later.

You sat down on your seat, eyes following the same tired-looking man as he stood in front of the class. "My name is Shota Aizawa. I'll be your homeroom teacher from now on."

He hands all of you your PE uniforms, telling you all to quickly change into them. You follow the girls to the changing rooms and you hang your PE uniform on your locker, already unbuttoning your uniform but you stop yourself.

I can't show them that.

A girl with long black hair, similar to yours, looks at you from the side, her expression questioning. "I don't think Aizawa sensei is okay with late students. You should quickly change."

You wrap your hands around yourself, cringing at the thought of other eyes on your body. The girl's expression changes into a softer one and she smiles, "Don't worry, nobody here will judge. All bodies are beautiful the way they are."

Exactly, yeah. If these girls were going to be your second family until you graduate highschool, you shouldn't be afraid. You can trust them, right?

Slowly, with slightly trembling hands, you begin unbuttoning your uniform. Taking a deep breath in, you slip your long sleeve down your body, showcasing the many scars that littered all over your back.

You can feel the atmosphere change into a silent, much colder one and your thoughts begin to race. Was it wrong for you to show them this? You've only been together for a few hours, how could you show such a vulnerable side of yourself?

Your eyes squeeze shut, ready for the comments and snickers but instead you hear a squeal. "We have the same bra!" A pink girl squeals, pointing at her pink lacy bra. A smile creeps onto your face as the girl extends her hand towards you, "I'm Mina Ashido. Nice to meet you, twinnie!" She perks and as soon as you take her hand, she shakes it softly before pulling away.

You quickly dress up into your PE uniform, pulling your hair up into a ponytail. "Woah, L/n! The white streaks on your hair look so cool! Where did you get them done?" Mina asks, completely taken by your hair, her eyes sparkling as you flushed at her compliment. No one has ever complimented your hair so genuinely like that before, makes you feel kind of proud having it.

"It's actually natural. My dad has black hair and my mom has white." The girls begin to ooooh and soon after, you all have reached the fields. Aizawa stands beside a white square with a device in his hand, patiently waiting with lazy eyes on his students.

"You should put your hair up like that more. I think the white streaks are cool." Bakugou tells you, his eyes and face forward as he listens to Aizawa talking.

You wouldn't tell him, but his words had your stomach feeling weird things and you feel your face slowly heat up. You swallow whatever you were feeling and face forward.

"Don't tell me what to do, rubies."

You had to buy more ponytails.

[bloodbitchwitch]

The Sparda Family's Pet

Chapter #01

It was another normal day for you. You woke up in your dingy old mattress and dust-covered room. You lived in an abandoned building so this was normal for you to say the least. You had been given away to an orphanage at birth but as soon as you turned 18, you were kicked out and was forced to live on your own accord. You had nowhere to go so you wandered around a bit and eventually came across the oh so lovely, almost falling apart building.

You yawn loudly and stretch your limbs then throw your legs off the bed to sit up slowly. The light from the window across from your bed, temporarily blinding you as you stand and start to make your way over to the small dresser where you stuffed all your belongings in, which wasn't much, just a few changes of clothes and some miscellaneous objects. You take out a new pair of clothes for the day, you wonder what and how you were going to eat today. You didn't have money and without that, you were either left with dumpster food or stealing whatever you could and you were definitely going with the latter. You continued your daily morning routine and once finished, you left your little and barely standing paradise and headed into town where you'd hopefully find breakfast.

While walking, you spotted a man in a leather jacket swiftly following quite an attractive young lady with brown hair and glasses. You hummed to yourself and continued on, barely even acknowledging that the man had some sort of robot arm. After walking quite a bit past the loud couple that were now yelling at each other from behind you and could be heard about a block away, you saw a few small rocks roll past your feet and abruptly stopped. Turning your head left, the direction the rocks came from, you found yourself peering into a dark alleyway that you had failed to notice before. You shuffled your feet a bit nervously because you knew that rocks didn't just go rolling themselves. Swallowing the spit in the back of your throat, you inched closer towards the alleyway. "Hello?" your better judgment being thrown out the window even though you knew you probably should have walked away and not looked back.

A small cough that echoed through the alleyway and a small boy walked into view. He looked hungry and scuffed up. His clothes were dingy and his skin had small cuts everywhere and dirt-caked his face. He had tears brewing in his eyes as he huffed lightly. "Please help me. I'm hungry and have nowhere to go..." You were heartbroken the second he said "hungry" and frowned lightly. You crouched down and got eye level with the boy and beckoned him to come closer. When he finally got close enough for you to reach out and grip his shoulders firmly but not enough to hurt the poor boy, you looked him over to make sure he wasn't hurt too badly and once finished your eyes returned to the boy's face which had contorted into some sort of monstrous-looking being. Your eyes went wide and you screamed loudly which alerted the couple down the block that you had passed. Your breathing quickened as you were face to face with the demon child that had grown a pair of sharp teeth and huge claws. The demon boy coiled his arm back and was getting ready to impale you with his sharp claws when suddenly the man in the dark coat jumped over you and the demon boy. Guns in hands while still in the air, he shot multiple rounds into the back of the demon head causing him to fall forward and nearly landing on you if the brunette from before hadn't pulled you into her chest before so. Blood poured out of the monstrous child's head and pooled at your feet. Your mouth had gone dry as you stared at the deformed and deceitful demon child.

The pretty lady brought her hand up to your face and blinded you by covering your eyes from the horrendous sight. "Nero! Was that really necessary? Right in front of this poor gal?!" The man, apparently called Nero, clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. "Well if I didn't then she wouldn't be standing there, would she? No. she'd be cabobbed onto the shit's arm and bleeding out." the man sassed the woman in front of him, not really upset or anything, it's just how their relationship kind of works.

While the two bickered, you could feel the creature's blood seep into the holes on the bottoms of your worn-out shoes. You cringed and panted, wanting nothing more than to get out of the bloodied alleyway. She tried to step backward, which only succeeded in getting the pair's attention. "Hey now Nero, we should probably get her outta here, she's probably scarred cause of your dumbass." and with that, she grabbed onto your hand with her other hand that wasn't shielding your vision from the gory sight in front of you and guided you away. When she deemed you both to be a safe distance away from the alley, she removed her hand from your face and smiled down at you. "Well aren't you a cute little thing." she snorted and grinned down at you. You blushed a bit and looked down at your blood-soaked shoes "Thank you..." you mumbled lightly and looked behind you to see how far away you were from the crime scene that just took place, only for you to see the man named Nero instead who was most likely intentionally blocking the view from you.

Nero stared down at you for a few seconds, taking in your appearance before huffing lightly and crossing his arms only to turn his head and look the other way. He sort of had a pink hue on his cheeks but you couldn't tell if he was blushing or if he had any kind of adrenaline rushing after that onslaught. You cleared your throat and began to speak. "Um....thank you for saving me back there. I almost became monster food." you then proceeded to give a small, nervous chuckle. The pair nodded and gave you a "No problem". You were about to say goodbye and go your separate ways until your stomach decided that now would be the perfect time to remind you of the reason you were out and about anyways. Your face began to turn a crimson color as they both chuckled at the sound of your stomach making gurgling noises. "Well, I see no reason to leave a pretty little thing such as yourself out on the streets and hungry. Hop on in the van and ill make ya a good ole breakfast that'll stop all that noise!" the pretty brunette exclaimed loudly and grabbed hold of your hand once again and dragged you into her van. "I'll even cook for ya for free since you're so darn cute!" she said in her raspy voice and gave another little snort. Your blush only seemed to darken at her words and you took a seat at one of the barstools by the kitchen area inside the van. "By the way Darlin, the name's Nico and that there is Nero." she pointed to the male who had killed the demon as he was taking a seat next to you on another bar stool. He looked over at you and gave a small smile and a nod before uttering a simple "Hey" which you returned. "It's nice to meet you both, my name is y/n" you gave both a small smile and continued "Thank you both for saving me".

While Nico was cooking and had most of your attention on her, Nero couldn't help himself but look you over again like he did outside. He found it attractive and after Kyrie broke up with him, claiming she was lesbian and started seeing some girl, he needed something to distract himself from the degrading thoughts he had about himself, claiming that he wasn't good enough for the woman he thought he'd marry. He licked his lips and took in your curves....or wait...curves? The more he looked at you, he could see just how hungry you truly were. You looked so small to him and compared to Nico, you were basically skin and bones. How long have you been in need of food? He also noticed all the holes and how dingy your clothes looked. He frowned and came to the conclusion that you were probably trying your hardest and living out in the streets. "Hey" he spoke up "You live around here?" you turned your attention to the white-haired male and pursed your lips. "Yeah, I live down the road. Two blocks away to be exact." Nero's eyebrows furrowed. "Nico and I just came that way. The only house that way is abandoned and falling apart". After hearing his words, your face turned red once more but not because you were shy but because you were embarrassed he now knew that you lived in some old and dusty building. He noticed that you looked upset at his words and mentally cringed at himself for being too blunt. "Hey there, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset... I just... I don't think you should have to live there is all." Nero then thought about his next words carefully and decided that any punishment he'd get out of this would be worth it. "I was thinking that if you wanted to, you could come live with my uncle, my father and I at my uncle's shop?" he peered down at you with what looked like puppy dog eyes and honestly, who were you kidding, it's not like you were going to say no anyways. You were hungry and living in poor conditions. "I... id be more than happy if you'd let me stay with you guys. I'll help around with your uncle's shop and make sure to pay you guys back in any way possible for letting me stay". Nero blushed at your words and felt his cock twitch in his jeans after hearing that you'd pay them back in any way possible. He bit his lip and looked away "yeah yeah whatever. We'll deal with all that when we get to the shop. While we're here though, do you have any belongings you want to pick up before we head out?" You shook your head no and finally turned your attention back to Nico who had just finished breakfast for everyone.

[stickswrites]

This Is Why I Don’t Socialize (Her Shadows Ch. 2)

Makoto and I walked down the hallway, occasionally exchanging a few words, but mostly just taking everything in. When we decided we'd done enough exploring, we checked the time and saw that we still had 45 minutes until class started.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Makoto whined, putting his arms behind his head.

"We could always go bug the staff in the teachers' lounge," I suggested.

Makoto got this sly smile on his face as he nodded vigorously. So together we made our way to the teachers' lounge, where Dad and a bunch of the other teachers were sure to be. We arrived at the door to the lounge and I pushed it open. As soon as we walked in, we saw a lot of the teachers hanging out and chatting, All Might included. Also, yes, Makoto and I know about All Might, his injury, and how he can't stay in "hero form" for very long. We hang out around UA so often it would have been impossible for them to keep it a secret from us, so Principal Nezu just flat out told us what happened.

"Well, well, well," Midnight said with a smile. "Look at who got into the Hero Course!"

Makoto and I looked at each other and chuckled as we walked in. Midnight immediately stood up and came over to Mako and me.

"You two have gotten to be so much stronger since the last time I saw you," she said, patting our heads.

"Thanks, Midnight," Mako responded. "That means a lot, coming from you."

Midnight gave us a closed eye smile and walked back to her seat on the couch. Mako and I walked over to the counter that the coffee maker was on and began to make ourselves some coffee. Nobody stopped us because it wasn't uncommon for us to be here. When we were both homeschooled and UA was in session, we would spend the majority of our time in the teachers' lounge and socialize with the teachers that didn't have a class. Suffice to say, everyone was used to our presence at this point.

"What are you two doing here?"

Mako and I turned around to see Dad standing right in front of us, his eyes half-closed and his yellow sleeping bag hanging over his shoulder.

"We're making coffee," I responded. "What does it look like?"

Dad sighed dramatically before turning back around and walking to a corner in the room. He climbed into his sleeping bag and fell back asleep. Mako and I turned to each other and laughed as we waited for the coffee to finish brewing. Right as we were pouring our coffee, Present Mic came up to us with an attitude that was way too cheerful for this early in the morning.

"WHAT'S UP, MY DUDES?" He boomed. "YOU PUNKS READY TO DAB THIS DAY?!"

Internally Mako and I cringed. Mic always tried to be "hip" but the way he used slang was nothing short of cringey. I'm absolutely convinced the man gets all of his slang and memes off of Facebook.

"Yeah," Mako said. "I think we are."

"Well good job, both of you, for getting into UA," he said, talking much softer. "We're all very proud of you."

Mako and I looked around the room to see all of the teachers looking at us with varying degrees of pride in their eyes. I almost started crying, but managed to keep the tears from surfacing. Even All Might looked like he was proud of us and he'd only known us since the entrance exam ended. I bowed in thanks to everyone and saw Mako do the same out of the corner of my eye.

The two of us spent the rest of the time we had in the teachers' lounge talking to all of the teachers. We had a really nice conversation with All Might and it was a little surprising to hear how down to earth he was. After checking the time on the clock on the wall, I noticed we only had 10 minutes until class started. I nudged Mako and nodded my head toward the clock. He nodded in response upon seeing the time and we both stood up.

"Thank you for your time," we said in unison to All Might while bowing to him.

"It was my pleasure, you two," he said, waving his hand a little in embarrassment that we were bowing.

We smiled at him and quickly washed our coffee mugs in the sink. Grabbing our bags, we walked out of the teachers' lounge saying a general goodbye to all of the teachers. Just as we got out of the lounge, Dad exited with us and closed the door behind him.

"Which classroom are you going to?" I asked him.

"That's none of your business," he responded with a teasing smile. The smile fell from his face as soon as he started talking again. "Now, I can't have you two punks ruining my image. So get going."

"Got it," I responded with a chuckle.

"See you later, Mr. Aizawa!" Mako said as he and I started walking down the hallway again.

As we were walking away I could hear him muttering.

"Now where is my sleeping bag?" he asked himself. "I need to make... an impression."

Mako and I looked at each other, both having heard what he said and stifled our laughs with our hands as we walked away. As soon as we turned the corner, we started laughing openly, the sound carrying through the halls.

"So," Mako started, calming down from laughing. "We're in Class 1-A."

"Right," I responded. "So we should be just around this corner."

Sure enough, as soon as we turned the corner, our classroom was right there. The door was massive and we could hear yelling come from the other side of the door. Mako and I stood in front of the door, neither of us ready to go in yet.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this," I told Mako, voicing my concerns. "I mean, if I'm anything like my birth parents then I-"

"Stop worrying," Mako interrupted. "You are nothing like your birth parents and you're gonna do great. You won't even have to make friends with anyone if you don't want to."

"Good," I responded. "Because I don't want to make friends. I'm here to become a hero."

"I know," Mako said. "That's why we're all here."

I looked over to him and offered a small smile. He returned a grin of his own and held out his fist to me. I chuckled and gave him a fist bump before dropping the smile from my face and sliding the door to our classroom open.

It was just as chaotic and loud as before and nobody even bothered to turn and look at us besides a few of the boys that had been shouting to each other in a friendly conversation. I scanned the classroom and found my seat right next to Shoto Todoroki, a boy I had met at the recommendations exam. Mako's seat was right in front of mine, which was poor planning on our teacher's part. I was about to walk to my seat when I was stopped by a short boy with purple hair.

"Hey, hot stuff!" He said, drool practically falling out of his mouth as he tried to look up my skirt. "Why don't you come sit by me?"

"Oh come on, Mineta!" a loud blond with a lightning bolt in his hair whined as he came over to us. "Why do you get to talk to all the hotties first?"

I shared a glance with Mako before ignoring both of them and trying to walk to my seat by the window. Both of the boys stepped in front of me in an attempt to stop me.

"Hey, I'm Denki Kaminari," the blond said, a flirty smile on his face. "But you can call me anytime."

"I'm Minoru Mineta," the purple-haired pervert said.

"And I don't care," I responded flatly. "Now, move out of my way before I make you."

I glared at them and they quickly scrambled out of the way. As I made my way to my desk, I heard Mineta grumbling.

"It's not like she's even all that pretty with those scars anyway," he mumbled.

I stopped in my tracks and took a deep breath to try and keep from lashing out at him. The room went so silent that you could hear a pin drop. I heard Mako smack Mineta over the head before coming up behind me and I heard Kaminari rebuking him as well. Good to know Kaminari has some respect for women. I thought to myself.

"You good?" Mako asked softly as he put a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded silently as I began to cross the room yet again. I made it to my desk and set my stuff down next to my chair. I knew there were eyes on me, but I honestly didn't care that much. Soon enough everything went back to how it was before Mako and I entered. There was an ash blond boy at the front of the classroom who had his feet on his desk and a tall blue-haired boy with glasses rebuking him and telling him to have some respect for the school he was attending. I heard the shouting conversation again and the giggling of some girls on one side of the classroom.

"He's wrong," Mako said, turned around at his desk so that he could talk to me. I looked up at him with confusion on my face. "What Mineta said. He's wrong. Your scars don't make you look ugly at all. I think they look cool."

"Thanks, Mako," I said with a small smile.

I pulled out my phone and started playing some games on it as an attempt to pass the time and ignore the stares that lingered. Especially the stare of Shoto Todoroki. I remembered seeing him at the recommendation exam and I remembered his quirk was extremely powerful. He had managed to place second while I placed 3rd and Mako placed 5th. I wasn't sure why he was staring so intently at me, but it was slightly unnerving. I kept my face blank as I waited for class time to start. If there was one thing I was thankful to my bully for, it was my learned ability to both control and conceal my emotions. In fact, Makoto and Dad are the only people I let my guard down around. With everyone else, I act like I don't care about anything, and it's always fun to see who I can piss off by acting that way.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when the door to the classroom opened and a boy with curly green hair and freckles stood in the doorway. As soon as he entered, the rude blond and the uptight blue-haired boy started going at it again.

"Take your feet off of that desk now!" the blue-haired boy said forcefully.

I groaned quietly and buried my head in my arms as I rested them on the desk. I blocked out the conversation that happened as much as I could, but I heard bits and pieces of it. Things like the blue-haired boy was named Tenya Iida, like the pro-hero Ingenium, and how the angry blond really doesn't like the green-haired boy, Izuku Midoriya. The rest I was able to tune out, but I glanced up a few times to see Mako looking over his shoulder at me to make sure I was okay. He tapped his desk with his finger three times and I tapped his chair leg twice in response. This would seem to be meaningless to anyone except Makoto and me.

When we were younger, Makoto didn't like talking about his feelings and I didn't like talking at all. So we devised a system to ask how the other person was without words. If we were holding hands or hugging, we would squeeze three times to ask how the other person was. The person being asked would squeeze back twice if they were fine and once if they weren't okay. This translated to things like now where we would tap on objects to ask if the other person was okay and we just never stopped. So when he tapped his desk three times, he was indiscreetly making sure I was okay and me tapping his chair twice let him know I was fine.

I saw Mako's shoulders relax and I relaxed back into my arms as he tapped my foot one more time with his as a way to make sure I knew he was there when I needed him. I hooked my foot around his as a source of comfort and he did nothing to move it. I think he needed a little comfort too. That was something about Mako that I learned very quickly. He is all about helping others with their emotions and problems but tends to minimize and neglect his own, which was something I tried to not let him do around me.

"If you're just here to make friends you can pack up your stuff now."

Mine and Mako's heads snapped towards the door where we heard my dad right outside the classroom door. Our eyes were wide as we met the other's gaze.

"Welcome to UA's Hero Course," he said in the same monotone voice he used with almost everyone.

"What the hell?" I mouthed to Mako.

He shook his head in response saying he had no clue. The class quieted down as Dad talked some more and unzipped his sleeping bag.

"It took eight seconds before you all shut up," he said, gathering his sleeping bag in his arms and walking into the room. "That's not gonna work. Time is precious. Rational students would understand that."

There was a moment of silence as Dad stood in the doorway of the classroom before he spoke again. The atmosphere was tense as everyone tried to figure out why a tired man with a yellow sleeping bag was in our classroom. They were idiots. Clearly, he was our teacher, which meant so much more antagonizing towards Makoto and me. I sighed heavily and noticed Makoto do the same.

"Hello, I'm Shota Aizawa," he said. "Your teacher." Everyone was shocked for a second, but Dad didn't waste any time in pulling out a PE uniform from his sleeping bag. "Right, let's get to it. Put these on and head outside."

Everyone was confused about what we were doing. Well, everyone besides Makoto and I. We knew what his style of teaching was and we knew he wouldn't go easy on us. If anything, he'd be pushing us harder than anyone else in the class. Realizing he was serious, everyone quickly grabbed a PE uniform and headed to the locker rooms to get changed. I got changed in the corner of the girls' locker room in a successful attempt to remain unseen. I was the first one done, so I walked out of the locker room while adjusting the bracers on my arms and saw Makoto, who walked out around the same time while finishing securing the bracer on his left arm. It was a piece that his mother used when she was a pro. He had one and his sister had the other.

"Did you know?" he asked about Dad being our teacher.

"No," I responded quietly. "You know I would have told you."

We kept the topic of our conversation secret because Dad, Makoto, and I had concluded that it might be a good idea to keep my identity and the fact that I'm our homeroom teacher's daughter a secret. It wouldn't be a secret for long, but it would be helpful while it lasted. That way nobody would think he was helping me in some way.

Makoto and I made our way outside. We were the first ones to be done changing. We met my dad out on the field and shot him half-hearted glares. He just gave us a teasing smile in return but it quickly fell from his face. We looked behind us and saw more students arriving, all now wearing their PE uniforms. I sighed and pulled all of my hair back into a ponytail and pinned my bangs back with some bobby pins I had put in my pocket. I knew what was coming and having my hair in my way wouldn't help me at all.

"Alright," Dad started. "Now that you're all here, I think it's time you know what you'll be doing. Today you'll be performing a quirk assessment test."

"WHAT?!" the rest of the students asked in unison. "A quirk assessment test?"

I could see the annoyance growing on my dad's mostly expressionless face as they all repeated exactly what he had said. He turned around, probably to hide this annoyance as a brown-haired girl, whose name I had heard was Ochako Uraraka, started talking.

"But orientation!" she whined. "We'll miss it!"

"If you really want to make the big leagues you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies," Dad said firmly with his back still turned to us. The students gasped before Dad continued. "Here at UA, we're not tethered to traditions. That means that I get to run my class however I see fit." Dad looked at everyone over his shoulder." Everyone started murmuring, worried about what would happen. Makoto and I shared a glance before turning back to Dad, determined to do well. He turned around to us fully while talking. "You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives." He pulled out a phone and showed it to us. "But you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before. The country's still trying to pretend we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel." He glanced at Mako and me for a few seconds before continuing. "It's not rational. One day the Ministry of Education will learn." He stood up straight and turned to the angry blond. "Bakugo, you managed to get the most points on the entrance exam. What was your farthest distance throw with a softball when you were in junior high?"

"67 meters, I think," the angry blond, Bakugo, responded.

"Right," my dad said. "Try doing it with your quirk."

Everyone moved to a different part of the field and Bakugo stood in the center of a circle that was painted on the ground. Dad stood between him and the rest of us. We eagerly waited to see what Bakugo would get on his throw.

"Anything goes," Dad said blandly. "Just stay in the circle." There was a moment of pause where nobody moved. "Go on," Dad urged. "You're wasting our time."

"Alright, man," Bakugo said while stretching his throwing arm. "You asked for it."

He geared up for his throw with a big wind up and when he released it I could have sworn I heard him yell "Die!" But I could be wrong I suppose. A huge explosion left his hand as the ball soared through the air, followed by a trail of orange. Explosions. I thought. That's his quirk. Amazing! It's no wonder he got the highest score on the exam. He has so much power and brute force!

"All of you need to know your maximum capabilities," Dad said, holding the device that would measure distance in his hand. The ball landed in the distance and Dad turned back around to us. "It's the most rational way of figuring out potential as a pro hero."

He showed us the screen and in big, blue numbers we saw that Bakugo threw the ball 705.2 meters. I looked at Makoto and raised my eyebrows slightly, impressed at his throw. Makoto mirrored my expression and nodded. We had our work cut out for us.

"Whoa!" Kaminari said. "705 meters! Are you kidding me?"

"I wanna go!" the pink-skinned girl with horns said excitedly. "That looks like fun!"

I chuckled at her choice of words and I saw Makoto let a small smile through. The rest of the students kept talking about how much fun these tests would be. Idiots. I thought. He's gonna push us to our limits. This isn't supposed to be fun and it won't be.

"So this looks fun, huh?" Dad asked calmly. Everyone paused at his words. "You have three years here to become a hero. You think it's all gonna be games and playtime?" A smirk that can only be described as devious made its way onto Dad's face. "Idiots," he said. "Today you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last had none and will be expelled immediately."

Everyone immediately made noises of protest. Makoto and I shared a look and I nodded. Dad was serious. Even if it was one of us that came in last, we'd be expelled. He wouldn't play favorites. Dad interrupted everyone's internal monologues about how they would need to do their best with more talking.

"Like I said," he started. "I get to decide how this class runs. Understand? If that's a problem, you can head home right now."

"You can't send one of us home!" Uraraka said, stepping forward to challenge Dad. "I mean, we just got here. Even if it wasn't the first day. That isn't fair!"

I scoffed and felt some eyes turn to me. Immediately Dad started talking again, though.

"Oh, and you think natural disasters are?" he asked. "Or power-hungry villains? Hm? Or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No. The world is full of unfairness. It's a hero's job to try and combat that unfairness." An air of understanding seemed to wash over the students as Dad continued to talk. "If you wanna be a pro, you're gonna have to push yourself to the brink. For the next three years, UA will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So go beyond. Plus ultra style." He smiled again, this time a little more reassuring. "Show me it's no mistake that you're here."

After he finished talking, I could hear everyone chattering to themselves about how they needed to do well. I tried to calm my nerves that were rapidly growing. If there's one thing I've never liked, it's being singled out and made the center of attention. The fact that we would be doing most of these tests one at a time in front of our classmates was enough to get my heart racing. Sensing my nerves, Makoto grabbed my hand tightly. Much tighter than he would have if he was simply doing it for my benefit. I squeezed his hand three times to ask if he was okay. He squeezed twice at first, but a few seconds later squeezed again. He wasn't sure. He was nervous, we all were. These tests could make or break us.

"Now then," Dad started. "We're just wasting time by talking. Let the games begin."

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

A/N

I hope you all enjoyed today's chapter! The picture at the top is Makoto. On the left is his everyday outfit and on the right is his hero suit. Again, Makoto belongs to my friend, but the artwork is mine. I'm super excited for the next chapter. Thanks for reading!

-Sticks

Word count: 3880 words

[estrxlar]

The Ghost Of You

17 - So Called Guardian

This Chapter’s Songs:

November; Tyler The Creator

Desire Lines; Lush

Show Me How; Men I Trust

- Y. L. Perspective

I swiftly take off my blazer, shoes, and tie, keeping an eye on the new yet old girl. After she had introduced herself to me, she finished up her conversation with Kiyoko. As I hid behind the locker to change my outfit, I listened in on Eclair and her reason for being here.

"Yeah, so I just got back! I'm leaving again around next week! I'm on spring break to see my mom, so I thought I could by after school to visit the old club! Maybe if Takeda lets me, I could stick around till I leave," she mumbles, smiling down at her shoes. The girl looked like an unboxed expensive doll with rich clothing included. "Oh...I have a question."

Kiyoko hummed, tying her shoes on the bench.

"How's Koushi doing?"

I felt as if my ears were stretching out towards her, hearing every single vowel she spoke out. 'Suga? What does she want to do with him? Maybe they're old friends.' I hoped and prayed that the two weren't involved in anything together. If so, that would give me another issue. I didn't want some beautiful girl near Koushi if they had history. Especially not if they're so close for them to be on a first-name basis.

I slam my locker shut, getting ready to put on my shoes as well. Both girls are surprised by the sudden sound, but I ignore it, continuing to "mind my own business."

"Uhm..." I feel Kiyoko's eyes wander towards me at the mention of Sugawara. "He's been doing pretty good ever since school started. I don't know much about his personal life."

I spot her hands tightening in on each other in the corner of my eye. "Oh! Okay, I'll just ask Daichi then. The only reason I'm asking is that...well...you know."

'You know?! What the hell does this girl want with Koushi?! And it's not like I can say I'm his girlfriend or anything...' I think to myself, finishing getting dressed. "Hey, Kiyoko, we should probably get going. We don't wanna be late to practice," I mutter in a nervous voice, rubbing my neck.

She nods to me. "Yeah. Uhm— Eclair is coming as well if you don't mind."

'Of course, she is.' Once again, I smile, saying, "that's fine with me! Gives me some time to know her." The girl squeals in excitement, getting a head start to the gym before Kiyoko and me.

When Kiyoko pulls open the gym doors, we're greeted by a few players that were already there. To my surprise, there seems to be a new boy in the gym.

I had expected him to greet us, girls, in a gentle manner the way the rest of the team does. Instead, he yells out to the black-haired girl, "Kiyoko! Come to my arms sweet mama!"

Repulsed, she slapped her hand against his face, making sure he hadn't touched her. "Stop that," she demanded which in her therapeutic tone that I could never take seriously. I only stood at the doorway, confused as to why there was a short, loud little man at our feet.

"I've missed you!" The boy gets back up, standing a good distance from us. Kiyoko simply scoffs before walking to the supply room, leaving Eclair and me with him. He looks our way almost immediately, grabbing both of our hands and kissing them. "Hey, ladies! Now, Eclair— you better tell me who this fine girl!"

She giggles lightly. "That's Y/n! I just met her a few moments ago, so I'm not sure I can tell you much about her!" A few moments after he turns back to the rest of the team, she leans close to my ear to whisper, "that's Nishinoya. He was our old libero before leaving for temporary discipline."

Kiyoko rolls out a basket of volleyballs, calling me towards her while Eclair greeted our players. I run towards her, helping her unbuckle the straps that held the casket together.

"So...who exactly is this Eclair?" I ask her, causing her to roll her eyes.

'I'm guessing no one good.'

"It's just an old manager that was around for a month or two during our second year. Throughout that time, she managed to get every boy on the team to wag their tail for her. I wouldn't call her a slut or anything, just very flirtatious. She didn't do much. She was more of a cheerleader for the boys so drool over," she explains. I look over to Eclair, feeling ill by the fact she was much closer to any of the players than I was. "And about Sugawara... she had a major crush on him for a while. You might want to keep an eye on him since you two are a thing."

It seemed Eclair was a huge threat already. With her formality, style, and beauty, I most definitely had my doubts about keeping Koshi in my grasp. I stared her down as she walked over towards him, greeting him with a small hug. Internally, I felt like ripping my head off at the sight. But I just tried ignoring it and continuing my task.

Thankfully, Daichi yells my name out, calling for me to head over there. I do as told and run over towards the group. He tugs at my shoulders, wrapping one of his strong arms around them. "This is Y/n. She's been a manager of ours for a week now, but she's pretty familiar with the third years. I think she'll be helping Kiyoko out until they graduate. Y/n, this is Eclair and Nishinoya— second years. Eclair was assistant to manager for a little while and Noya is our team's libero."

"Wow, that's so cool! So is Eclair gonna be a manager too?! That would be so awesome if we had three pretty girls in the club!" I cringe at how girl-obsessed this Nishinoya seemed to be and how sweet Eclair was behaving.

She smiled, giggling at the boy's question. "No, silly! I'm only here for a week! Since I'm still on spring break, I'll just be hanging out with you guys a couple of times before going back to France. I'm so sad that I have to leave all of you sweet boys for good!"

Daichi let's go of me, letting me wiggle my shoulders around. "Noya, you haven't changed all that much after leaving school for a while."

"Oh, whatever. I'm just excited to be back on the team. So, where's Asahi? Is he back yet?"

Everyone grows silent at Noya's question, looking anywhere but at him. 'Who's Asahi? This team is really lacking communication skills,' I think to myself. "Well...Uhm," Daichi mumbles in a hesitant tone.

"Damn coward." Nishinoya makes a sudden remark, changing the cheerful atmosphere he led just a few seconds ago.

Tanaka tried shutting up his peer, scared he'll get himself into even more trouble than he was already in. "Noya! Show some respect for your upper class-men!—"

"Oh shut up! He's a scared little cry baby and you know it," he yelled back to Tanaka. "If Asahi's not coming back, then neither am I!"

'So dramatic.' I think to myself, raising my brows at the awkward situation. Before anybody can stop him, he rushes out of the gym, leaving us worried. It sure was the "guardian" that Daichi described last week. Blunt and loud.

"Hm..so who's gonna run after him this time?" Tanaka groans, disappointed that his reunion with his friend came to a sudden stop.

Eclair frowns, beginning the sentence of her idea. "Maybe I could talk to him—" but she's suddenly interrupted by Koshi, who stands right behind me.

"Y/n! Why don't you do it?" He and his patronizing smile showed no mercy towards me. Placing both of his hands on my hips, he turns and leads me towards the door. "Come on, it'll be fun! Noya is always nice to gorgeous girls. Right guys?"

The team nods, chuckling at Koshi's strange behavior, given none of them had ever seen him act so touchy with me. In fact, he'd just told every member of the club that he thought I was gorgeous.

I give him a death stare, attempting to unleash myself from his grasp. He still kept a cheerful mood and was determined to see how I could handle this situation. "Koshi—I dunno... I just met the guy two minutes ago!"

When we reach the door, he suddenly got close up to my ear, whispering, "you'll be closer to the team ten times more than you were if you get him back. I just want you and the team to feel comfortable before announcing anything."

As annoyed as I was with him, I understood. My friends knew Suga, but they weren't very close to him in any way. I didn't blame him for wanting me to communicate with them. Still, that didn't change the fact I was pissed with him for putting me on the spot like that.

Sighing, I roll my eyes, awkwardly smiling at the team as they look towards us. And before I knew it, I'm off looking for Nishinoya.

I felt released when I had spotted him sitting nicely under a cherry blossom tree. As cheerful as the area was, he looked quite disappointed.

I debated once more if I should have butt into a problem that I truly had no acknowledgment of— if it was the best idea to potentially ruin this opportunity for the volleyball club. Unfortunately, he had spotted me in his peripheral vision before I could doubt myself any longer.

"Did Daichi send you?" His raspy high pitched voice questions me while he cracked his knuckles.

'Well, not him, but his best friend.'

I shake my head, sitting down in the empty spot next to him on the bench. He quickly turned the other way, crossing his arms like a child. "I'm not coming back," Noya scoffed.

I was lost. Was there anything other than coming back to the club to talk about? His skills. "Uhm, so, you specialize in defense, right?" I prayed to every presence that I was steering the right way with this conversation.

"Why do you think that?" He asks. "Cause I'm short?"

I shake my head again. "No, It's because Daichi kept calling you 'Guardian'."

"Guardian?! Where did that come from? I mean, I'm not that important. It's embarrassing—really!" Bingo! Noya grew flustered about the nickname and faced me, denying his excitement. "D-did he say that?"

"Mhm, supposedly you're pretty important."

But all good things must come to an end. After a few more seconds of happiness, he reverts to his angry attitude. "So what?! Does Daichi think giving me a badass nickname is enough to make me come back? I mean he's not wrong but—damn is Daichi that's not fair."

'It's not all that. Honestly, it's kind of cringe. But whatever floats your boat, I guess.' I wonder to myself how I could possibly make this stubborn boy agree that he was needed on the team. Without a script in my hand, I came up with the best I could do. "Look, Noya. I don't know much about volleyball or the club the way you do. Hell, I've only been here for a week and I'm already stressed out. But I'm positive that you're important to us. We have this kid...his name is Hinata. You met him earlier. You see, he has potential, but he still needs a lot of practice on his receives. And from what I know, that's the most important aspect of the game. Right?"

Nishinoya abruptly stands up, near crying at my explanation of how badly we needed him. "...wow,

L/n! You know how to convince a guy!" His voice wobbles in emotion. "Of course I'll help you! I

mean— Hinata! But that doesn't mean I'm coming back to volleyball club, I'm only gonna teach him how to do receives, that's all!"

I stand up, bowing towards the girl-obsessed guy. "Thank you, Noya."

'I did it! I got him to come back! Only for one practice, but that's still something!'

-

After taking many mental (and physical) notes on today, it was finally my time to leave practice.

Seeing Noya's playstyle helped me tremendously to understand the position of a receiver on the volleyball team. And as it turned out, he was an important player. And after this "Asahi" guy left, it only made everyone feel more diminished.

He's supposed to be another one of the third-year players. Though I've never met him, I do know that he's a boy my age but looks like a man. Supposedly, during a game that Karasuno was losing caused trouble for the entire team. Sugawara was setting and Asahi was attacking, but all of his attacks were shot down by another team. The night they came back is when he'd decided to give up on volleyball. I couldn't even imagine how guilty Koshi must have felt after that. Knowing him, he probably took on the blame for everything.

I was glad I decided to help out the club by getting Noya to help Hinata with his received. It would benefit not only them, but Sugawara as well. "How can you be confused, its just 'wooh!' and then 'pow!'" He shouts as the ball ricochets off of his wrists.

"Yeah! I know exactly what he's saying, how do you not get it?!" Kageyama says to Hinata, who's mentally challenging himself today.

"That's only because you guys teach with words!"

The day was coming to an end, finally. Dealing with a bunch of boys making noise and Eclair non-stop talking to everybody made me feel sick. But before I left to change back into my clothes, Nishinoya made a move to stop me.

"Wait, Y/n! You can't just leave without giving me your number! And where's my hug?! How about I take you out sometime as thanks for giving me such a sweet talk under the pretty little tree?" He whines, grabbing both my hands. 'Where's my hug? Mother fucker, you're younger than I am.'

Koshi spends no time running up behind me and pulling me from his grasp, telling the boy, "Noya, you need to stop harassing all the girls that step into this gym."

"Oh, come on, Suga! She's a total cutie and you know it!" He points at him. "Wait a minute...is that why you're so protective of the new manager?! You've got your eyes on Y/n!"

We both gasp, letting go of each other in an instant. "No!" Koshi and I yell while awkwardly smiling.

-

As time passes, each member dresses out and begins to walk home. When I do as well, Koshi. waits for me outside.

I would finally be able to talk with him about today!

"So, you have Noya a sweet talk under the cherry blossom tree?" Sugawara teases me, playfully bumping my shoulder while we began our walk into the roads.

I hit him back. "Stop that! That was just a coincidence. And I only got him back by saying Daichi thought of him as some knight and that he was needed on the team. That's all!"

"Oh yeah? Well, you did a good job. He said he'll stick around for a little bit to teach Hinata. Gotta say they get along great." His sweet chuckle fills the warmth around us.

Something was poking at me to ask him about the girl I'd met earlier. 'If she still has feelings for him, then should I not say anything?' "Hey, Kou?"

He hums, wrapping an arm around me. "What?"

"...what do you think of Eclair? Are you happy she's back to visit you guys?"

"Oh, I guess so. I tried not paying too much attention to her." He states, looking at the sidewalk ahead of us. Something told me he didn't want to talk about her feelings for him or if they were still there. However, I was determined to get to the bottom of the situation before having to be in the same room as the girl who likes the boy I love.

"Uhm...could you tell me about her? Like, what kind of relationship did she have with everybody? Did you guys get along? Stuff like that. I wanna get to know her without having to talk to her a whole lot," I tell him, snuggling into his shoulder.

When he walks dead silent for a few seconds, I realize that something is wrong. "Y/n..." he begins to sound a bit worried and disappointed. "I'd rather you not be around her too much."

As if I had no idea, I raise my brows innocently. "Why?"

"She just...stirs things up. I-I'd rather not have her come in between us. Thing is, she used to have this thing for me a few months before she left for France. At first, I thought she was just being polite by doing usual things that people would do when they are in love. But then after some time, I realized she had a major crush on me. And when I told her that I wasn't ready for a relationship, she totally flipped out. She made a big scene and told everybody that I was a stupid guy who only talked to girls for my pleasure." Towards the end of his explanation, he becomes more and more ashamed of what he says.

'So that means he had to have done things with other girls.' The thought that Koshi has most likely already had sex made my face heat up in both anger and sadness. Not that I had any motive to rush into that with him, but I felt more anxious he would expect more from me if the time ever came. "And...did you only talk to girls for pleasure?" My heart raced with every silent second that ran past us. Sugawara didn't want to answer my question.

"Koshi, if you've already had sex then I don't mind. I'm just asking if you used other girls for pleasure...because if so—"

"No!" He shouts gently, turning me towards him. Once again, we stood under the street light that we always seemed to stop at on walks home. "Y/n, I know I was pretty messed up but I wouldn't ever take girls for advantage and never have! And my old habits—they aren't something I should be proud of, so I don't talk about it."

"Koshi, we don't have to if you don't want to," I tell him.

"But I have to eventually, right? Why get you all caught up in a relationship you don't even fully know about."

I look into his eyes, longing for him to lay his sorrow down onto me and forget about it all. I knew that he'd never have it in his heart to do anything evil. But whatever he didn't want to tell me was eating him up. After a few moments of even more silence, I bring him back from his thoughts. "Kou?"

The boy takes one of my hands within his and brings it up to his lips, kissing it lightly. When he takes his lips back, he begins his explanation. "I've never really been able to cope properly with my mom's death, Y/n. That's why when I talk about it, I can't seem to keep myself together. And I know it's been a long time, but I'm still ashamed for giving my first time away so easily because I was overwhelmed with anger that I didn't care any longer. Things that someone should save for someone special were spent on girls who were only in it for pleasure. I was the same, but I now know that I would have saved even holding hands with a girl if it meant it was with you, Y/n. See— doing anything with you feels like the first time but better. And that's because I love you. So yeah, I slept with a couple of girls, but it never meant anything to me. It only helped me distract myself from realizing that I required feeling important and loved again. That as much as I wanted to, I couldn't be an adult at the age of seventeen. Please, tell me that you understand what I'm saying? That when I'm with you, you make me feel whole again. Like I'm loved and needed, and I can take my time with you."

When he says things like that to me, I can't help but sink into his arms and breathy close to him. I wanted nothing more than to help him cure whatever negative feelings intoxicated him. If I was what helped him, then so be it.

"Then tell me, Koshi," I whisper to him, looking deep into his eyes. The world stopped around us if only for a second to let me ask this question, even if I already knew the answer. "...who is your first love?"

Every nerve in my body jumped when he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a strong hug. If he had already done everything romantic with other women, then wouldn't that meant he was already in love with somebody previously?

No, wrong.

"You. Y/n, you are my first."

-

I loved writing the ending of this chapter sm eee

Vote mofo <3 ily

- estrxlar