#i lose my scarf and a snap breaks thanks to my backpack and it just goes downhill from there

[arielluva]

i just love how when me and my friends were trick or treating there was this kid just going “heeheeheehee” in a high pitched voice really fast so all 5 of us started doing it at the same time with the kid just for the funnies lol

[missinghan]

cold sun ⤖ han jisung

❖ genre : soulmate au; fluff; angst

❖ word count : 2,6k.

❖ warning : slight swearing

❖ summary : in a world where one will lose something if their soulmate doesn’t reciprocate their words of love once they turn sixteen, jisung is willing to take the risk so you won’t have to bear the burden.

❖ note : i just realized how i always tend to write for jisung when i'm down :')) anywho this piece is a little different than what i usually come up with but i hope y'all enjoy it ♡

It’s the first day of the week.

“Hey, Y/N. I like you!”

And Han Jisung is really annoying.

Those words come out so easily. It's casual in a way that makes you bury your red nose deeper into the soft fabric of your scarf, which makes your footsteps quicken unknowingly as his voice chases after you loudly. Either way, this isn’t the first time Jisung has said so. In fact, it’s become a habit for him to remind you every other day.

There’s no particular reason why. Or at least that’s what you think.

It’s the end of the week. Jisung decides to hang himself upside down on your bed while you’re stressing over a presentation. “Hey, Y/N.” A cold winter breeze comes rushing against the perplexing glass of your window, shaking the frame violently before all motions come to silence.

Until, “Y/N, Y/N, Y/N,” he creeps up from behind you and chirps into your ear.

“What?” you let out a groan of displease when tempting warmth embraces you whole, prompting you to drop your attention and looking over your shoulder.

Jisung pouts, “You didn’t answer me.”

“It’s because you’re annoying,” you sigh.

“Answer me when I call your name,” he pulls you in a fraction tighter, careful enough not to hurt you but firm to not let you slip away at the same time, and cradles your neck warmly, “So I’d know that you’re still here with me.”

“Alright, stupid.”

The all too familiar gummy smile returns instantly. “Hey, Y/N?”

And you can’t help but roll your eyes. “Yes, Jisung?”

“I like you,” he giggles into the hug, “I like you a lot.”

Han Jisung really is annoying.

He’s annoying because he talks too much. He’s annoying because of how he always asks for your notes after a gaming night with Felix just to nap in class. He’s annoying because he’d drop you in a heartbeat for a single slice of cheesecake from Jeongin’s mom’s bakery. He’s annoying because of how well he can get along with everyone.

Chatty, down-to-earth, easy-going with a lovable smile—attractive, very attractive.

It’s the week after that. “What...happened?”

“He lost his voice,” Jeongin sighs, looking like he genuinely wants to facepalm himself against concrete while walking with an incoherent Jisung to school; expressive hands with his mouth agape and all.

You tilt your head, “...for real?”

“For real.”

After a few seconds of eyeing Jisung struggling with converting what’s in his head, you exhale deeply and quickly rummage through your backpack, “Just stop, you look ridiculous.” And he does just that, zipping his mouth metaphorically and giving you those typical puppy eyes. “Here, use this.”

His eyes light up like stars when you rip off a page from one of your notebooks and offer it to him along with a pen. Truth is, you’re expecting something as predictable as ‘I like you’ or ‘It’s alright it’s just the worst cold I’ve ever caught’. But then, what’s displayed on the piece of paper right now only baffles you.

Park is going to murder you if he sees some uglyass tear in your Ochem notes :)

A forced grin splits your lips open. “Not if I murdered you first and then the entire school and then myself.”

The first genuine smile blossoms on his lips when you give him a mini-sized notepad and pencil the day after—his sixteenth birthday.

And Jisung decides this is it.

It happens when the sun hasn’t even come out yet and the irritating blue light from his phone reads 5:32 AM.

It happens when he sees your reclined figure leaning back against his mattress, his pupils tracing your delicate features. Perplexed emotions fill his eyes to the brim, fulfillment bursting within his chest when you stare right back at him with such purity. So pure that it seems you can do no harm to him and neither can he.

“Hey stupid,” you murmur quietly, shoving a notepad and pencil against his chest, “Happy birthday.”

Jisung gives you a bright smile, opens his mouth, and snaps it close mere moments later. Sixteenth birthday. Early in the morning. Tired grins. The fondness of being so disgustingly in love.

He can’t help but lean in and caves into the taste his soul has longed for as long as he can remember.

Two weeks have passed since Jisung has lost his voice.

Nothing has differed if you’re being completely honest. Han Jisung is still annoying. His lack of ability to speak doesn’t appear to be a problem to him at all. He loves chatting with people even though he’s more of a listener now. But with the small notepad you gave him a few days ago, being socially active is the norm for him even now.

Thanks to his rather short-period experiences of observing people’s expressions and how their features contort in certain ways when they’re feeling certain emotions, Jisung catches onto your mood more quickly during bad days to help you release your inner turmoil by scribbling down something stupid on the notepad. It’s kinda nice like this, you’d think to yourself sometimes.

Other times, you’re more scared that you might have forgotten what his voice sounds like.

“No wonder you got a fucking cold. Stop taking midnight showers already.”

You wave Jisung over when he closes the wooden door to your bedroom, droplets dripping from his hair as he scratches his stomach tiredly. His hair is a mess when he lazily crawls onto your bed, the cushion beside you dips slightly.

His index finger pointing at his post-shower head and a shit-eating grin are all you need to snatch the white towel around his neck.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” you mumble while rubbing the cotton fabric into his hair, “But you’re awfully upbeat for someone who’s lost their voice. Can’t you at least pretend to be sad about it?”

A noise of protest escapes his throat like second nature as your eyes carefully read the quick movements of his mouth. “And can you not be so mean to someone who’s lost their voice?”

A faint smirk creeps its way up to your lips. “Still like me now?”

Jisung thinks hard for a few moments before jumping out of bed to snatch his notepad from your studying area. Of course, I like you. I like you a lot. Your heartbeat momentarily spikes at his scrawny handwriting. Just when your gaze is averted away to cool the blush on your cheeks, he tugs at your sleeve again and points at a different mess of scribbles. You’re more gentle when I’m like this. And you’d always find me if I ever got into trouble. What’s there for me to be sad about?

“Annoying little shit,” you swallow your pride and let him settle his head against your chest.

His presence melts into yours during the hardest hours of the twenty-four, heartbeats on heartbeats and warmth on warmth. Your one regret is that you’re unable to register his tears that night, only the incoherent, breathless hiccups almost as to desperately call out your name.

It’s been a month since Jisung’s lost his voice. And the night when he kisses you for the second time, his notepad is long forgotten next to your pillow.

I-can’t-talk. Give-me-a-break.

Jeongin. Cheesecake. Please? Pretty please?

I’ll fucking kick you.

Wait, there’s homework?!

...so you’re telling me LMAO isn’t how French people laugh?

“This is what you’ve been doing during breaks huh…” you mumble under your breath while lazily flipping through the papers. The occasional ‘I like you’-s do pop up every two pages or so, which is more than enough to make you smile like an idiot. But that is until a peculiar paragraph yanks your attention by its neck and tosses it against a brick wall.

Mom, promise me you’re not going to cry.

He made auntie cry?!

I lost my voice for real now but it wasn’t supposed to be like that at first. I just wanted to mess with Y/N and freak her out for a day.

I’m seriously going to punch him.

She was a lot softer toward me after that, you know. I know it’s extremely selfish of me but I just can’t help being so happy. I’m sorry, mom. I really am.

Han Jisung you fucking idiot.

I was going to surprise her on my birthday by saying ‘good morning’ out loud but nothing came out. My voice was gone.

Guilt, anger, remorse take over you. You knew nothing of this. You never once questioned for a logical reason behind the loss of his voice and kept moving onward as if it’s not that big of a deal. You didn’t suspect it as a kind of prank, either. But you still care, all this time! You have been doing everything in your power as a way for both you and Jisung to treasure himself even if he can’t speak anymore.

I went to a check-up last week. Nothing came up. I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.

However, without fail, the obnoxious part of you will keep wandering back to the concept of soulmates that has been engraved so deeply into the society you’re living in. It makes no sense to you that Jisung lost his voice for no reason right before his sixteenth birthday. This explains it all now.

It’s going to be okay, mom. Because I have Y/N. I know she would come running toward my side over and over again even if she can’t hear me anymore. I really don’t know what I’d do without her in my life.

Jisung knew the penalty for being the first to exchange any words of love yet he still did it. And you were too busy overlooking that stupid pride of yours to say those three words back.

It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to forget what I used to sound like. I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.

Jisung fixes the strap of his backpack, looking up at his mom after slipping into his sneakers. She ruffles his bed head and hands him a small white box with Jeongin’s bakery’s signature logo on it.

He tilts his head in faint confusion, peering at the box of pastry in his arms.

“Give it to Y/N on the bus, okay? Her parents aren’t home right now. You know how she would always skip breakfast when they’re out of town.”

His eyes light up instantly in realization and Jisung nods, preparing to bid her farewell. Just then, his front door comes flying open. It can’t be a mere acquaintance because there are very few people other than his parents and himself who know of the spare key hidden under the welcome mat.

As Jisung turns around, he’s keenly aware of your teary eyes already trained on him. Which in hindsight, makes no sense. As a result, panic rises within the hollowness of his chest, his lips falling agape but no coherent words come out.

“Y/N, sweetheart,” his mom flinches, slightly caught off guard, “Is everything okay?”

A scowl stretches over your contorted features as you shut the door loudly. “What the hell is this?” you question, shoving the familiar notepad into his chest. “A prank? A prank?! Do you think that this is funny?”

Jisung’s frantic eyes move to read the paper and every single color on his face drains tremendously. He easily recognizes the peculiar paragraph by how much lighter the ink is compared to the rest of the messy lines because his pen was running low and his hand couldn’t stop shaking.

Your voice.

His eyes avert back to look at you. His brows furrow timidly and shaky breaths burst from his lips almost like a desperate cry for help. There’s too much he wants to say, too many things to explain, and too many questions running through his head that he can’t process what to do next. He might just overwhelm both you and himself.

I need to hear it again.

And you might not stay by his side this time.

“Okay, don’t answer me then, I guess,” you chuckle lowly, dipping your head and turning around.

Jisung grabs at your sleeve instinctively and drops the pastry box, his gaze empty and all too knowing. Sorrow glazes over his starry eyes when it starts becoming hard to breathe properly. The outlines of his lips are moving non-stop yet nothing comes following after that.

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” you rasp out and tug at his hand. Then it hits you. He’s like this because of you. Jisung lost his voice because of you.

His mom cuts into the conversation, “Y/N, you don’t understand!”

“I’m sorry, auntie,” you smile sadly and take off running into the streets.

You, in the midst of your self-loathing and guilt, allow your feet to go wherever they want as your vision spirals into a blur. A single droplet threatens to fall when a forceful hand yanks you back to reality.

It takes Jisung a moment to regain his regular breathing pace. And when he finally gets it, all he can do is call out to you with the same inaudible sounds and the same desperation in his eyes. It seems as though he’s fully aware that the prank was the stupidest, most irrational thing he’s ever done. But there’s more to the ocean within his eyes than just remorse.

“I already told you,” you clench your jaw and slap his hand away, “I don’t fucking know what you’re saying!”

A deep sigh. “Why am I mad? Of course, I’d be mad! It’s because of me that you lost your voice! It’s because I like you, too! Yet I never said it back… You lost your voice because of me! Don't you get it? Why can't you just hate me for the sake of it?!”

You miss his voice. You miss it a lot.

You want to hear it again. You want to hear him call you by your name. You want to stay up late and talk about anything to the ends of the Earth and back with him. You want him to be the obnoxious, chatty Han Jisung you've always known.

You miss how annoyingly loud he is.

“Y-Y...Y/N…!”

Jisung collapses onto his knees, a hand on concrete while the other is on his neck. His chest rises and falls unevenly, muffled noises of discomfort echoing deep down from his throat. Despite that, what you heard just now, is his voice.

“Answer me when I call your name. So I’d know that you’re still here with me.”

“I promised you, didn’t I,” you spread your arms and smile warmly, “That I’d always answer when you call my name. As long as I can still hear you, I will come running toward you over and over again. Doesn’t matter what it takes, doesn’t matter where you are.”

Jisung lifts his head and tears come rolling down on his cheeks. His throat feels swollen when he stutters with difficulties, trying to convey what’s in his head, “Y-Y/N, don’t- don’t go! Please don’t leave me...!”

“Come here,” you close your eyes with the widest grin on your lips, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Only when Jisung grows closer and throws his arms around you, sobbing into your uniform do you convince yourself that all of this isn’t a hallucination. The hug is a lot stronger than what you’d expect. First of all, you nearly fell over from the impact and your arms are pinned so tightly to your sides that you feel like your ribs are going to snap.

Everything is so overwhelming that all you can say is, “Ow.”

“Sorry,” he mumbles into your hair and loosens his arms a bit so you can loop your hands to the nape of his neck and hair.

“You’re so annoying, Han Jisung.”

He purses his lips, sniffling, “You tried to make me snap on purpose. Meanie.”

You quirk a playful brow, “Still like me now?”

“Yeah,” Jisung smiles, “A lot.”

Because he knows that he has you. Until every last star in the galaxy explodes as a supernova, Jisung has you.

[smuggsy]

“You’re overdue on this book and I want it so I’m tracking u the fuck down” sounds funky as a modern au prompt, especially if it was a younger sibling of one of them or a real obscure/hyperfixation of the reader(s). If you don’t want to write it, don’t worry! Hope you’re doing well

COLLINS / FARRIER AU. Okay, so here it is, poster-thingy included (couldn’t help myself).

The kind girl on the counter makes a face at seeing him approach, Collins can only guess what a pitiful sight he is: bags under his eyes, uniform in disarray, hair unwashed and an empty coffee cup on his hand. If he'd crossed paths with any of the prefects roaming around he would've definitely got an earful for it -- that's no way to present yourself as a student! Fix that bloody tie!

 Ah, that would've really been the icing of the cake. A real shitty way to end his day indeed.

 "I thought maybe you'd forgotten to notify me" Collins smiles, aiming at friendly conversation but coming out rather miserable, "perhaps you'd lost my ID number?"

 "No, I'm sorry" is all she says, genuinely sounding like she means it, and Collins knows she means it, so maybe he'd get lucky today.

 "Are you sure it's not returned?" he insists, and having a look around to ensure nobody's within earshot he leans in closer, "I can go get it for you, kill two birds with one stone, aye?"

 Collins looks at her name tag and puts on his most miserable wet-puppy face. It's no use trying to flirt at this point, it's the fifth time he turns up this week looking like a zombie from The Walking Dead and she's been over the counter every single time. The fact that he doesn't remember what she's called is clear evidence of his exhaustion.

 "Sally..." he looks up and puts both his hands together in sign of prayer, maybe even pouts a little, because who cares about decency at this point? "Pleeease?"

 She shakes her head at the screen with a frown.

 "I'm really sorry, I'm not allowed to give out students' personal details. I'll give him another call later, how about that?" She offers, and Collins lets out a sigh and nods pathetically, thinking it's a he, what a fucking twat.

 He's ready to turn on his tail and leave without the only copy of Crónicas de la Guerra Civil Española in the whole campus yet once again. Except Sally then shouts a warning, pointing over his shoulder to one of the tables behind, "I said no drinking -- for heaven's sake" she storms out of her seat to the two young girls.

 Collins doesn't waste any time, he stretches his hand over and turns the computer's screen towards him, sloppily fishes his phone out of his pocket and snaps a quick photo of it and puts it back in place before the librarian has even turned around. When Sally comes back making an exasperated face, Collins tries to walk away in the same tired pace he walked in and not give himself away.

 Outside, out of her field of vision, he checks the photo. Some idiot named Farrier, block D, apartment 201. A law student.

 Fucking superb. Bunch of self-centered pricks.

 He storms out towards the east side of the campus, praying to all the powers that be for a quick exchange of words and a successful retrieval. He only even needs to read four chapters, but he's got only two days to do so, digest the information and have a decent sleep to sit a decent test.

 Collins gets quite a few odd looks as he strolls into the hall and turns directly to the stairs. His sweater gives him away as a Humanities student but he's sure that's not what's getting him stared at. If he bumps into any seniors here, he's bloody done. They'll revoke his pass on account of his appearance. They're known to be a bit of a pain in the ass, the prefects from this block... Then again, it's not like he goes out at all. Wouldn't be much of a loss, really.

He can't hold back his rotten mood as he knocks on the blue door exasperatedly, eager to get this whole business over with so he can return to his dormitory, have a proper shower and put something in his stomach that isn't an energetic beverage.

 Ten seconds pass by and there is no sound coming from inside the room. He tries again, letting out a whine.

 Nothing.

 He's pushing his luck, but he tries on the doorknob anyway.

 Locked.

 He bumps his fist on the door a couple more times and he's short of losing it right there and then -- all the stress from midterms weeks about to come flooding out.

 "Fuck’s sake, I ain’t your bloody landlord Peter!" the door finally swings open, "I told you to get a dupli-- oh", and behind it is one of its room's inhabitants, wearing nothing but a towel over his hips and dripping water over the wooden floor.

 On any other day, Collins would've taken a moment to appreciate the sight before him, but today isn't 'any other day' so he goes straight to the point and pays that six-pack little to no mind.

 "Are you Farrier?" he barks. The stranger blinks, mouths something but makes no sound, taken off guard by his hostility, no doubt. "Are you?" Collins pushes.

 Now this manages to put a scowl on the guy's face, and he crosses two tattooed arms over his chest. He's built like a brick wall and it only manages to set Collins' teeth on edge even more.

 "Yeah, who's asking?"

 Collins hears himself let out a sigh.

 "Look, I need a book you have. Spanish Civil War, just give it to me, I have a test." He adds, feeling like his soul is leaving him and taking his eloquence along with it. His eloquence and his ability to make himself sound less Scottish for other people's sake.

 Collins finds he doesn't give a shit about other people's sake today. It's their problem if they don't understand his accent, so they should sort it the fuck out.

 Farrier smiles at him, at his extended expectant hand.

 Collins feels like a ticking time-bomb about to go off.

 "Have you got the book?" He asks another time.

 "What are you, the library police?" Farrier scoffs.

 "Gimme the fuckin' book, alright? You're way overdue" he snaps, his brain catching up with his mouth too late.

 (Although even later he finds he doesn't care).

 "Jesus mate, it's only a book" he turns around and disappears for a couple of seconds, when he returns he's no longer sporting that amusing smile and he looks Collins up and down in anger before putting the heavy paperback copy on his free hand. "Take a fucking break."

 Collins stumbles back as the door is slammed on his face.

 The sound brings him out of his reverie, and he blinks at the book on his hand, considering an apology for the briefest of moments before turning around and walking towards the stairs. By the time he's outside the rush of adrenaline is gone and there's a slight pain on his chest. Still, he pushes on until he's back at his own block.

 Should probably cut down on the caffeine...

                                                             *  *  *

 They meet again one week later.

 "Hey"

 When Collins has fallen asleep on his usual spot, a hidden table in a secluded corner of the History section of the library. The usual drill.

 "Hey, Spanish Civil War…"

 He jerks awake, somebody’s insistent hand on his shoulder.

 When he looks up Farrier’s staring him down, but Collins only realizes it’s him after he’s put his glasses back on and ran a hand over his drooling mouth.

 He checks the time on his phone, disoriented.

 “Yeah, they’re closing up”

 “Ugh”

 Just then, the lights over them go off, and Collins stumbles to his feet, knocking his book over to the floor and almost slipping on a pencil trying to get it back. Farrier strolls over the corner of the towering shelf of books and shouts: “Hang on!”, then he returns and gets Collins’ laptop under his arm and the backpack hanging from the chair as well, like he’s picking up his child from school.

 Farrier takes a step away but stops when Collins quickly starts running his hands over the table to clear the remaining balls of paper. Then he makes sure the chair is quickly tucked in place and bends over to check there’s nothing being left under the table.

 Farrier clears his throat.

 “Take your time” he says sarcastically.

 The remaining set of lights go off.

 “Shit” Collins mouths, running along now, “don’t think they heard ye”

 “You don’t say -- wait!”

 They catch Arthur at the door.

 “Blimey, boys. Almost left you!”

 “Sorry Mr. Cornwell” Collins grins, sheepishly.

 “Ah, Collins!” the old-man adjusts his glasses and leans over to him. “You again.”

 It sounds incriminating, and Farrier lets out a small laugh next to him.

 “Should get you a key, I should…” he mumbles as they pass him to get outside. Collins shudders and makes a sudden stop, causing Farrier to bump right into him.

 “Shite, forgot me ja--”

 “Well then, night to you gentlemen” but Arthur is already biding them farewell and very bent on returning to his own cozy and warm room. Collins doesn’t have the heart to stop him.

 He’ll make a run for it.

 He tugs at his bag, hanging from Farrier’s broad shoulder.

 “Thanks” he mutters under his breath, and Farrier hands him the laptop as well.

 “So, how was your test?”

 Collins ignores the question for a brief moment, as he puts the laptop inside the backpack and then puts the backpack on.

 There’s no reason to be a dick, he thinks. Except he kind of wants to be a dick to this guy.

 “Dunno” he retorts. He rubs his hands over his arms, only a thin shirt on, and nods in Farrier’s direction without actually looking at him. “See ya” he takes a step forward only to be stopped by that arm again.

 Sighing, he turns to look at him now, and Farrier’s undoing his thick woolen scarf, much to Collins’ dismay.

 “Your dorm’s further” he says, aiming to put it around his neck as well. That’s when Collins reacts, pushing his hands away along with the scarf.

 “What’s your deal?” he asks, nodding again in Farrier’s direction and feeling his nose starting to drip already. Couldn’t have been a coincidence, this guy turning round a corner and finding him passed out exactly a minute before the lock-down. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Collins knows, on the contrary: the library sofas aren’t comfortable at all, and the air conditioning is turned off at night.

 He’d have woken up with a cold and a stiff neck.

 “What’s my deal? What’s your deal, mate? You always this snappy?”

 “Fuck off, I’m not snappy” Collins says, and closes his eyes in defeat just a second after. “Maybe I’m snappy. I’m having a shitty semester, why are ye following me around?”

 As Collins puts his hands on his trousers’ pockets to warm them up Farriers quickly takes advantage and rolls the scarf around his exposed neck before he can stop him.

 “Well, you’re the prettiest guy I’ve seen in a while and I think you need someone to keep you in check ‘cos you clearly overwork yourself” Farrier quickly explains, shrugging like it’s no big deal.

 Collins blinks, taken off guard, and he steps back.

 “What…?”

 “Yeah.” he shrugs again, nonchalant.

 Collins has a look around but sees no-one except for a couple of pigeons and a curly-haired blonde running back to the cafeteria. Is there a camera hidden somewhere near? Is someone hiding inside that trash-can with a cellphone?

 “I like a guy in glasses, sue me.”

 Collins lets out a disbelieving laugh.

 “Okay, bye” he’s resolute to leave now, and Farrier doesn’t try to stop him this time. He catches up with him, though, openly grinning.

 “I’ll walk you”

 “Alright” Collins stops on his tracks and faces him. “You want an apology for last week, I’m sorry I was a dick, as I said: I’m having a shitty semester,” he takes the scarf off and feels the cold embracing him fully back again, and his nose is impregnated with that fucking cocoa axe deodorant. “Please kindly fuck off.”

 “So that’s a no to the date?!” Farrier shouts as Collins hurries away.

 By the time he’s back at the dorm he’s openly shivering, Farrier’s perfume is stuck in his shirt and he quickly takes it off and locks himself in the bathroom to have a hot shower and pretend what just happened most definitely was a figment of his imagination.

[sparklingskz]

long way back | han jisung

▸ requested?: yep

▸ genre: college au, fluff

▸ description: you find yourself stranded at the library with no umbrella to protect you from the rain, when someone comes to your rescue.

▸ word count: 1.4k

▸  a/n: just noticed both my jisung imagines are related with rain lol anyways

As soon as you pressed the “print” button on the computer, you slumped on your chair and sighed in content.

You had just finished your final paper, and the only thing you wanted to do now was to pick up the printed copy, get out of this library and relax in the comfort of your apartment, preferably sipping some warm tea and watching your favorite show.

Sadly, the weather had other plans for you.

Your final paper tucked in your backpack, you stared at the sky which had turned grey in the few hours you’d been at the library, rain pouring onto the streets. Of course, you hadn’t even bothered to check the weather in advance, meaning you weren’t carrying an umbrella. Your apartment was located on the other side of campus, and you didn’t know if your cheap backpack would effectively protect your precious paper from getting wet.

Standing next to the library door, you decided your best option was to wait for the rain to stop while gazing resignedly at the sky. That was until a voice snapped you out of your thoughts.

“Need a hand? Or an umbrella, in that case?”

You turned to face the person addressing you, and you were met with a guy around your age. Said guy looked pretty cute bundled up with a jacket and a scarf, and carried an umbrella in his right hand.

“Are you serious?” You asked, not quite believing that a complete stranger would let you walk alongside him under an umbrella in this weather.

The guy shrugged. “You look like you desperately want to get home and you probably don’t have an umbrella, so I’m offering to be a good guy and walk with you.”

Perhaps not all hope was lost.

“If you’re really offering, I would really appreciate it. My final paper is in my backpack and I’m afraid it wouldn’t survive this pouring rain.”

The stranger chuckled. “Then it’s settled. I’m Jisung, by the way.” He extended his hand for you to shake, and you did.

“I’m y/n, nice to meet you.”

He smiled, and you noted how nice his smile was. How have you never seen this guy around college?

“So, shall we get going? Where do you need to go?” He inquired, tilting his head like a cute puppy.

“I live on the other side of campus, right on the block next to the science department.” You said, cursing yourself for living this far.

Jisung didn’t seem to have a problem with it, though. “Okay, let’s go.”

You both stepped out of the warm comfort of the library, Jisung opening his umbrella before quickly raising it over your heads, effectively protecting you from the rain. For the both of you to fit under it you had to press your body next to him, task that was a little awkward given you just met and he was, ahem, very attractive. Even though it was very cold outside, you could feel a small warmness on your cheeks due to the fact you were so close to Jisung.

You started to walk in the direction of your apartment, trying to not step out of the safe zone under the umbrella. However, a few minutes later, strong wind started blowing making it much more difficult to walk comfortably, rain was hitting you in the face and you could tell Jisung was having trouble holding the umbrella in place.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea that we keep walking anymore.” Jisung more so shouts to be heard over the rain and wind.

“But where do we go?” You shout back.

Jisung looks around, and he fixes his gaze on one spot. “Coffee shop, go.” He says, pointing with his head towards the café.

You make one last effort and get there in one piece, opening and closing the door quickly as to not get too much water inside. Jisung closes the umbrella and you both just stand there catching your breath for a few seconds.

“I think we should stay here until the storm calms down a bit, otherwise the umbrella won’t be of any use.” Jisung said.

You nodded before responding. “Yeah, let’s sit down.” You both found a comfy looking booth and sat down across from each other.

You looked around, there were a few other people in the coffee shop, probably escaping the weather like you two.

A sort of awkward silence came down on you, neither of you really knowing what to say now that you found yourselves in this situation.

Suddenly, Jisung spoke.

“Given that we’re kind of stuck here, how about I buy you a cup of coffee and we get to know each other?” He said, throwing a small shy smile in your direction.

Oh, you weren’t expecting that. But hey, what were you going to lose? The guy was cute, kind (considering he was willing to share his umbrella with a complete stranger) and didn’t look like he was a serial killer, so you weren’t going to miss the chance to get to know him.

“I would like that.” You returned the smile.

“Cool, be right back.” He stood up and went over to the counter, and you took the opportunity of getting a good look at him.

He was around your same height, maybe a bit taller, and had dark brown hair, delicate features and squirrel-like cheeks that almost made you coo out loud. Earlier you had noticed he also had deep brown eyes you could lose yourself in.

It was safe to say you considered him attractive.

You watched him order and he came back a few minutes later, two coffees and two muffins in hand.

“Hope you don’t mind the muffins, thought you maybe wanted a sweet treat.” He said as he sat down.

“Not at all. Thank you, Jisung.” You took a sip of your coffee, which was perfect for this gloomy weather.

“No problem.” He smiled at you. “So, how about you tell me about yourself?”

-

About two hours later, you felt like you’ve known Jisung your entire life.

Conversation just flowed effortlessly between you two, jumping from topic to topic as you got to know each other. Jisung had a really charming personality, listening attentively whenever you spoke and his eyes sparkling whenever he talked about something he was passionate about.

You were ranting about one of your teachers when you caught a glimpse at the window, and saw that it was already dark outside, the rain having  stopped completely.

You stopped your story and looked at Jisung, wide-eyed. “When did it get so late?”

Jisung looked outside. “Oh, I didn’t even notice.” He said, his smile sporting a hint of embarrassment.

“I would love to keep talking, but I have an early class where I have to hand over my stupid final essay.” You said with a sad tone.

Jisung chuckled. “No worries.”

You both put on your coats and walked to the door, stepping out onto the now wet ground.

“Just because it stopped raining doesn’t mean I’m not walking you home.” Jisung said suddenly.

A bit taken back, you answer. “Oh, and why is that?” You say playfully.

“Because it’s dark and I’m a gentleman.” He said while bowing exaggeratedly.

You laughed and hit his arm jokingly. “Let’s go then, gentleman.”

You walked in the direction of your apartment, standing pretty close together even though the pressure of staying under an umbrella wasn’t there anymore.

You continue talking while you walk, and you were so into the conversation you didn’t even notice how fast you had arrived to your apartment.

“Well, this is me.” You said, part of you not wanting the night to end.

You turned to face Jisung, and he looked like he was thinking hard about something. A few seconds later, he spoke.

“I had lots of fun today, y/n, and maybe you’d want to repeat it sometime? Like a date?” He scratched his neck nervously, awaiting your reaction.

Your heart may have started beating a little faster.

You threw a smile in his direction. “I would really like that.” Because in reality, you would, Jisung looked like the sweetest guy and you were already looking forward to seeing him again.

“How about we exchange phone numbers and we arrange something?”

You nodded and did exactly that. Once you gave Jisung his phone back, you both said good bye with a smile and you entered your apartment.

Once inside, you unlocked your phone and saw what Jisung saved himself as, a smile breaking onto your face.

“Your savior”, and an umbrella emoji.

[bvidzsoo]

Abiding Darkness (II)

 Author: bvidzsoo

 Warning: none yet

 Pairing: Oh Sehun x OC

 Word count: 2, 852

 Summary:  Belikov Bora is living in Seoul at her grandparents as she had gotten her long awaited scholarship. She’s not new to this world but she’s also not really interested in the famous people of it…so maybe that’s why she gets the shock of her life when a zombie apocalypse begins and she’s stuck with Oh Sehun.

 A/N: Second chapter is here, I hope you will enjoy it! Mr. Zombie is introduced :)) more action is coming starting from the next chapter!

    The deafening silence around us seemed to get suffocating as Sehun didn’t look at me once again, eyes roaming the place. I was chewing on my bottom lip, unknowing what to do. I have to get to my grandparents as fast as I can, so staying with Sehun isn’t an option as he probably has to go and find his own parents and perhaps band members too.

“Where’s he…” I heard Sehun mumble as he looked around, my eyebrows rose.

“Who?”

“My designated driver” He said with a sigh and my mouth opened a little as I nodded.

“Well, I don’t know but isn’t it a little weird that it’s just the two of us here?” I asked, eyebrows furrowing as he looked at me for the second time since I helped him get out from underneath the car.

“Maybe the others...died?” He gulped after saying that, eyes clouding with worry, another reaction he couldn’t hide with his blank face.

“I hope they are just unconscious” I muttered, looking at my feet, “I’m probably going…”

“Yeah, I have to find my friends” Sehun nodded, already turned as he was ready to leave me alone. My heart clenched a little that he was about to leave me so easily, not even bothering to glance at me twice.

“Take care” The words left my mouth unprepared and surprised the both of us. Sehun’s head turned a little, he eyed me.

“You too, Bora” The way my name rolled off from his tongue seemed too effortless and for a reason, my heart seemed to skip a beat. I nodded as he was already walking away, leaving me alone. With a sigh and last glance I turned around as well and started making my journey, which was the other way from Sehun.

Going without a car would probably take the whole day and even a little from the night to get to my grandparents. Their home is pretty secluded from the city as my grandfather wished for a quiet life after their hectic life in the city. Grandma wasn’t too keen of the idea since the market was at least fifteen minutes away but in the end agreed and they moved away, to the home that I grew to love and respect.

The streets looked dead and eery silent. It was weird to see such a city full of life, suddenly so empty and...dead. I couldn’t help but feel a little scared and paranoid thanks to the deafening silence that seemed to lurk around every corner. It was unsettling and upsetting, I like silence, but this one just feels...wrong.

The ground was covered in some gray ash and the cracks on the ground seemed to have stopped emitting that foul smelling, light green, gas. The windows of the buildings were all gone, probably due to the explosions. Passing by a shop, the little toys were all scattered on the floor and my heart seemed to clench thinking about that little, cute, girl again. I really hope she is okay. But all the cars were scary, turned upside down or crashed into fallen lampposts and buildings, blood was also everywhere. And even if I tried not to, I couldn’t help but notice a few people laying unconscious, probably dead. My heart clenched for them too, they looked young and innocent, not deserving something like this. And that just makes me think that I could have been one of those people, and then mom would have really had a reason to call dad for and cry. But thankfully I am still here but confused as hell, as I still can’t seem to process what all this is.

Why does it feel like I’m in some sort of movie? This sucks, I was never a heroine, I have no idea what to do right now. I’m not some sort of book character that seems to know what it’s doing and is strong, even if on the inside is breaking every second.

Gripping the straps of my backpack, I realized I should walk faster if I really want to get to my grandparents before it turns morning, which scares me. It means I will have to walk in the night, all alone, in this scary silence. That thought doesn’t sit well with me and I took a deep breath, trying to stop myself from panicking further. It’s useless, panic will only make me feel worse, not better.

Taking a turn, more buildings with missing windows were in front of me, but it seemed like the damage on this street was bigger. On the sidewalk, the scattered bodies made me feel sick to my stomach and I had to stop myself from gagging, the warm air suffocating.

Walking further down the big street, I spotted a single person standing on its two feet, back a little slouched. The person seemed a little older from the back and my eyes widened, there is someone else alive too! Biting my lip, I walked faster, wanting to check on this person.

Getting closer, I observed how dirty his clothes were, back moving really quickly up and down. My eyebrows furrowed as the sound of breathing was loud. I stopped a few meters away from the person, cautious of it.

“Hello?” I muttered quietly, biting my lower lip. The person suddenly seemed to stop breathing and went rigid.

“Sir, are you alright?” I asked louder this time, but still there was no answer. For a reason, I didn’t feel safe, this person felt dangerous and out of reflex, I took two steps back, feeling like I had to run right now.

And my eyes bulged when the person turned, face white, veiny and mouth black, blood pouring out from it. He seemed to fix his red eyes on me as his mouth seemed to form a snarl and I gasped, before I could register what was happening, I was already running back the way I came. Running back to Sehun. This person was no way human, I can’t even tell what he is.

My breathing got ragged as physical action is not my thing, legs quickly tired as I ran around the corner, back to the street where I helped Sehun. To my horror, that creature was following me closely, snarls leaving its mouth as he seemed to keep snapping its mouth closed then open, as if it was trying to talk. And to my desperation, it seemed like he was faster than a man looking around his age, close to his sixties.

Turning my head back, I realized he was quickly closing up on me and my heart started to beat suddenly so fast, my vision got dizzy for a second. Stupid sickness, I can’t faint right now or I’ll be dead. I took a deep breath through my mouth and forced my legs to run faster, sweat dripped down from my temple, going to my cheek and then neck as it was swallowed by my red scarf. God, I really wouldn’t mind your help right now as I don’t plan on dying yet!

I was half down the huge street when I spotted a tall person with black hair. My brain seemed to malfunction as my heart seemed to stop beating as I thought it was another creature but then my mouth did the work for both.

“Sehun!” I shrieked, surprised that I still had voice after so much running. The person stopped walking and he turned around, I couldn’t see well as he was at a bigger distance, but his eyebrows were probably furrowed.

“Run!” I shrieked again as I was rather quickly getting closer to him, as the creature behind me, too.

But Sehun seemed to be too confused as he didn’t move, and as I got in front of him I didn’t stop to explain everything, I latched his arm into my hand and started pulling him, dragging him as he wouldn’t cooperate.

“What are you doing?” Sehun exclaimed, fighting my grip as he just slowed me down.

“Run!” I shrieked desperately, fear consuming me as the creature was too close, mouth wide open as if he was getting ready to bite one of us, or both really.

“Are you mental--”

“You are an idiot, run!” I shrieked, shaking his arm as the snarls of the creature got louder as he was one arm length away from us. Finally, Sehun seemed to realize we needed to really run, when his head turned and there was a sharp intake of breath. This time, he was gripping my arm tightly as he started running, too fast for my already tired legs, dragging me after him.

“You need to run faster!” He rushed his words out, his grip not faltering for even a second.

“I’m too tired” I hissed but still pushed myself to run faster, side by side with Sehun. The creature wasn’t right behind us anymore but he was still close, his snarls could be still heard.

The street we were running down seemed to finally come to an end as there was a big intersection, the road going all four ways. I didn’t even care where we were running to anymore as far as we could escape alive from this creature.

Sehun’s sharp turn to the left almost made me lose my balance, and I wanted to protest when he took another sharp turn and pulled us to a rather narrow street. My eyes bulged, the creature would find us too easily here, we can’t even run since it’s with a dead end. As I opened my mouth to argue with him, that this was going to get the both of us killed, I was roughly pushed into a brick wall. I flinched at the sting coming from my back but closed my eyes for a second, taking deep breaths, too loud from running for so long. This is the longest I have ever ran, I feel really close to dying. My lungs were screaming for air and legs sore as I leaned my head against the brick wall, forgetting that Sehun was with me. I could feel his body heat as the buildings between we were hiding were quite close to each other, but all I really wanted to do was thank him, because I probably would have died if it wasn’t for him actually thinking of hiding.

Suddenly, the snarls got loud and my eyes widened as they opened, looking right into Sehun’s wide ones. He clamped his mouth shut but my breathing was still loud as I tried to satisfy my burning lungs. With a sudden movement, Sehun’s hand was pressed against my mouth, sealing it shut as his tense body pressed against my stiff one. He raised a finger against his lips, telling me to be quiet. I nodded lightly, my lips forming a tight line as I held my breath. The creature seemed that it stopped running as his footsteps were loud, sluggish and slow. He came into this alley, if he finds us hiding here, we really are dead. Maybe Sehun’s plan wasn’t that smart after all.

We both looked at each other with wide eyes as the creature just walked by us, an awful smell following it. The finger that was still against Sehun’s lips pointed towards the opening and he made some running movement with his fingers and I nodded, taking a shaky breath. Great, we have to run once again. He blinked twice and at the third one we carefully emerged from our hiding place and with our eyes on the creature, that was looking right and left to find us, we took careful but hurried steps, leaving the alley.

“We need to run again” Sehun took my arm again and I couldn’t protest as we quickly ran back to the intersection and kept going ahead, the wide street forming into a smaller one.

After running for five more minutes, we finally stopped and I fell the second Sehun let go of my arm. I was breathing loudly once again, whole body burning because of the lack of oxygen. Sehun was hunched over, lightly coughing, him breathing hard too. Neither of us could talk, we needed a few minutes to regain ourselves.

“I’m sorry” I was the one to break the silence, once the strong burn from my lungs disappeared.

“What?” Sehun asked confused, eyebrows furrowed as he looked at me.

“For calling you an idiot back there…” I trailed off, biting my lip nervously “I just...I was scared I was going to die because of you, sorry again”

“Oh, that’s…” Sehun cleared his throat, stuffing his hands inside his pocket, “that’s fine”

“And also thank you” I offered him an embarrassed smile, “Because you saved me, you know. I thought-I thought that thing was a normal person and then when I asked if he was feeling well he turned around and then...then I started running and I really didn’t want to die but I was half sure I was going to and then I saw you and--”

“Stop talking” Sehun’s brows were scrunched as he glared at me “Do you always just...speak this much?”

“When I’m nervous, panicked or scared...yeah, I do” I huffed, rubbing my forehead tiredly.

“Don’t rant around me, it annoys me” He said blankly and I looked at him, throwing him a little glare.

“If I didn’t tell you to run, you probably would be dead now” I said while crossing my arms.

“Really? If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have had to risk my life since you brought that creature to me” Sehun snapped back and my mouth fell open, realizing he was right.

“Sorry” I muttered, looking at the ground. Sehun sighed loudly and he scoffed before I saw a hand in front of my face. I looked up at him and timidly took his calloused hand, while he pulled me up firmly.

“What was that thing even?” He sighed distressed, running a hand through his black hair.

“I have no idea, but it seemed human. At least until you see its face” I mumbled while shrugging.

“Well I hope I won’t have to see something like that again” He visibly shuddered and I nodded with my eyebrows furrowed.

“But he can’t be alone and...now I’m kinda scared that I’ll meet more of those” I sighed, biting my lower lip hard, “And I really don’t want to go the way I came…”

“We should stick together” Sehun’s firm statement made my eyes snap in his direction.

“What?” I asked, slightly confused. Did he really mean it? Or was it just an optional thought voiced out?

“We need to stick together for sure” My eyes seemed to go wide by the determination he had.

“That thing seems very dangerous and if alone, you can get killed easily...and you are a woman as well…” He mumbled the last part and I scoffed offended.

“Excuse you? You think because I’m a woman I can’t take care of myself or what? I’m less stronger--”

“Yes, you can’t protect yourself” He said once again firmly and my lips pulled into a sarcastic smile.

“Right, because you can protect me while you are just a sing--” I quickly stopped myself before the word ‘singer’ left it. He doesn’t know I know who he is, I can’t blow my lie away right now. He would probably bring me back to that creature and offer me for free.

“Because I’m a what?” Sehun crossed his arms in front of his chest, eyebrows raised.

“Nothing, I don’t know what you are” I shrugged, looking away from him. He hummed, one finger rubbing over his lower lip, as he seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

“Where were you planning to go when we parted ways?” Sehun asked, bringing my attention back to him.

“My grandparents house, they are probably worried sick about me” I answered, face pulling into a grimace thinking about them. Oh no, I hope they are safe from those creatures!

“Where do they live?” Sehun asked as a calculating expression crossed his blank one.

“The outskirts of Seoul, we probably won’t get to them before morning by feet” I sighed, gripping the strings of my backpack nervously.

“Then we can’t go today”

“But--”

“We should go for tonight to the dorms and stay there. We have food, and water, and a place to sleep at there, and make a plan tomorrow and then leave to your grandparents house” Sehun said with firmness, but also his voice was questioning, curious if I agreed with him.

“Let’s do that, okay” I muttered, nodding as I released a rather loud sigh.

“Okay” Sehun nodded and then wordlessly he turned around and started walking, not glancing back even once to see if I was following him. Skipping after him while watching his wide shoulders, I realized this walk with him would be deafeningly silent, long and awkward. But at least I am not alone.

~Next Part~

[fisheskeyboard]

It’s You

A teenage superhero tries to protect her retired mother when the past catches up with her.

CW: sexual abuse mention, fire

Flicker stopped at the base of the building, panting, scanning for a route. Without someone to boost her she’d have to find her own way up- her friends were all in exams for classes she hadn’t taken and had no idea any of this was happening. So for now, Flicker was on her own.

Her eyes darted from balcony to balcony, but the fire had destabilized the lower floors and things were looking precarious. She spotted two groups of people clustered on balconies near the roof and took a deep breath. Time to earn my nickname.

While she blinked from balcony to balcony to crumbling fire escape, stretching her teleportation range as far as she could and using the moments she hung in the somewhere else that bridged time and space for her to reassess her crumbling route, she cursed the kind of landlord that bought a building in the poorest part of town, filled it with desperate people, and left it to rot. This place had probably been a death trap before it had caught on fire, but the people on the balconies couldn’t afford to live anywhere else.

She pulled the passenger stabilizer belt from where it clipped to her own. When she got to the balcony she didn’t stop to talk- she just snapped the belt around a woman’s waist and pulled her into the blink.

The two manifested briefly on top of a silent crane, then Flicker was unhooking her frightened cargo on the roof of another apartment building nearby. “I’m bringing the kids!” she shouted as the woman got her bearings. “Keep them safe!”

Back and forth and back and forth while scared people screamed in her ear and her stabilizers whirred and strained to keep Flicker -and everyone else- in one piece as she tore the world to get them to safety. The fire department had gotten to the other group by the time Flicker had finished the first, so she took a deep breath, held it, and headed for the elevator shaft.

Blink - empty - blink - empty - blink - breathe! -  Blink - empty - blink - empty - blink - breathe! - Blink - empty - blink - empty - blink - breathe! - Blink - empty - blink - empty - blink - breathe! - Blink - empty - blink - empty - blink - no one. Good. She headed back outside to clear the smoke from her lungs, then moved from window to window, peering into each one as she clung precariously to the sill. If she had been any bigger than five-foot-nothing Flicker wouldn’t have been able to pull this off, but thankfully she was the tiniest person she knew.

She found an old man - dead? passed out from smoke? she hoped the latter - lying in one of the beds on the fifth floor and had him to the ambulances in four blinks.

When she finished her ‘rounds’ and the only people she could see in the building were conscious and dressed for fighting fires, Flicker materialized next to the fireman barking into a walkie-talkie by the trucks. “Anyone... left?” she panted.

He shook his head tersely. “Don’t think so. Go to the ambulances, Flicker. Get checked out. Don’t want you fainting from smoke.” She was drawn to situations like this like a moth- the fire department pretty much all knew her by this point. 

“I’m- OK. Just a bit dry.”

“There’s water in the back of the truck.” The walkie-talkie was silent for a moment and he looked at her. “I’d tell you to stop if I had any right to. Thanks, Flicker.” She blinked into the truck and snagged one of the plastic water bottles. Most of it was already down her throat as she hopped out of the back door-

Then she heard the boom and the shouting and was running back towards the building. Dammit! Gabe had made her a gas mask why did she never have it when she needed it?

She saw a woman taking off a scarf on the edge of the parking lot. Blink- flash- “thanks-I’ll-give-it-back-I-promise!” - And she was nipping past the smoldering walls. 

There were a pair of firefighters, one floored by debris and one digging them out. It was pieces of a furnace. The furnace had exploded because of course it had, this was probably the first heat to come from it in forever.

She crouched near the floor, covering her mouth and nose with the scarf, watching as the firefighter cleared the last pieces of hot metal from their fallen co-worker. As soon as the one on the floor was clear Flicker dove in, snapped the passenger belt around the fallen firefighter’s waist, and blinked for the doors.

She left the hurt one with the ambulances and the healthy one with the fire truck, and was blinking for the edge of the parking lot for one last look when she felt a pair of arms clamp like steel cables around her waist.

In the long moment in between Flicker whirled on who had grabbed her, clamping the passenger belt around their waist before their body could be torn in two trying to follow her.

“You ass!” Now on the edge of the parking lot, she got an actual look at her passenger. “Do you want to get spli-” the words died in her throat. On the edge of the parking lot, with the burning building behind them, the grey-haired man with the gleaming tower shield and the teenage girl with ash stains on her face stared at each other.

The hero known as Steelheart, the oldest active superhuman in the city, unlocked the passenger belt from his waist and passed it back to her. “The fire department can handle things from here. I need to talk to you.”

“What do you want?” She knew him, of course she knew him, everyone knew him, she’d even seen him in person once or twice. Her voice shook, and her eyes were trained on his face as she clipped the belt back onto hers.

“The Mosquito.”

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She’d always been a terrible liar, but maybe he’d think the tremors were adrenaline.

“Don’t lie to me, Flicker. You have the exact same energy signature when you teleport. You use the same techniques. You have the same range and limits. Either you inherited your power from her or she trained you. Who is she?”

In a moment that betrayed her lie more than she knew, Flicker drew a breath to speak- and blinked out of his sight.

-

“Damn it!” Steelheart shouted, alone in the parking lot, instantly young and green for a moment, cursing the Mosquito as she vanished again. He reached for the earpiece he wore. “She scarpered.”

“The tracker you left on that belt is working wonders,” the dry voice in his ear responded. “Loading her location now.”

He glanced at the small screen implanted on the inside of his shield. A GPS map showed a blinking dot in a shop across the street.

-

Flicker’s heart was racing as she pulled her phone from her belt and hammered open an app Marca’s sister had programmed just for them. She tapped frantically on the ‘scry me’ button, their quickest possible emergency alarm. Was Felix done the exam? Could he See her to send help? Or was his phone blinking away in the pile of backpacks by the door?

“Flicker!” she heard through the open window. “Come out! I’m not going to hurt you.”

Shitshitshit. No one except her own would even think to hide her from Steelheart, not when he’d been protecting the city for longer than she’d been alive. When she heard his footsteps on the stairs she leaped into the in between.

-

Steelheart watched the dot flash from building to building. When he was young, he’d thought the Mosquito had no range limits, the way she’d been able to slip through his fingers every time. Watching Flicker was an education in how- hiding spot to hiding spot, barely materializing long enough for the tracker to update her location. If he’d not had the map he’d never have been able to find her.

He raced down the street in pursuit.

-

Flicker - for lack of a better term - flickered aimlessly around the city, panicking. Who would hide her? How was he following her? Could she lose him?

She stopped in the washroom of a public park near her house to catch her breath, pressing her back to the stall wall and gasping for air. She pulled out her phone- nothing from Felix. He must still be in the exam.

-

“She’s faster than you, old man. Want me to head her off?”

“No! We’re not ganging up on her. I’m not here to terrify the poor girl.”

“Well you’re doing a fine job. Look how not-terrified she is, cowering in a public bathroom.”

“Got a better idea?”

“She doesn’t know you know where she is. She’s not found the tracker yet. Use stealth. If you have to follow a teenage girl to catch a superhuman gone rogue, at least follow her effectively.”

-

Flicker peeked out the washroom door. No sign. Had she managed to lose him? She had to warn her mom. She pulled out her phone.

Chased halfway across city by SH looking for u. We might need to

He pulled her phone out of her hand and clamped his other hand on her wrist. “So she is your mother.”

Tears sprang to Flicker’s eyes and her breath came ragged. “Leave us alone!”

His face was twisted up with sorrow and regret. “Flicker, you weren’t there. You don’t know what the Mosquito put this city through.”

“I know exactly what happened! You think my own mother didn’t tell me who she’d been? They were abusers and murderers and rapists and you protected them! The Mosquito was the only one who put their victims first!”

“Are you sure you want to do this here?” Steelheart asked the sobbing girl. “Where anyone can hear her secret? Take me to her. Just me. No team,” he dropped his earpiece in the grass. “No shield,” he shrugged the strap off of his arm and let it fall. “Just me. I want to fix this.”

She shook her tiny wrist out of his hand, but he grabbed her again even as she dove into the in between.

Flicker had decided once that she would never splinch someone, no matter the consequences. But she also couldn’t alter her destination now or she’d be lost in the in between. So though her heart was breaking, she clamped the passenger belt around his waist again and betrayed her own mother.

-

Nei, once the Mosquito, got her bearings as quickly as her daughter did. It came with the territory. Steelheart let go of her daughter when he saw her, sitting at her kitchen table, as grey as he was, with the daggers that had made a whole city tremble mounted on the wall. But Nei spoke first.

“How. Dare. You.” She said softly, clenching her jaw with rage. “You call yourself a hero and then follow a teenage girl home like a jilted creep.”

“It’s you,” he breathed.

“I’m sorry Mom,” her daughter Lizzie whispered. “I panicked. I couldn’t lose him.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart.” It had always been a possibility, especially when Lizzie had inherited her power.

“We all thought you’d died when you went inactive,” Steelheart said. “Hunted someone as ruthless and dangerous as you instead of policemen and politicians and gotten killed for it. But then Flicker came on the scene, just like you in every way, except how she used it... I had to know. We had to know. Because if you were still active, anyone who turned up in a ditch with holes in them could be yours. Anyone could be your next target. You could go after Aurora again.”

“And he’d deserve it,” spat Nei. “Six months for what he did to those girls?”

“People change, Mosquito. As you’d know if you let them have a chance to.”

“And who’s going to give their victims a chance?”

Over a decade and he still didn’t have an answer to that one. He looked at Lizzie instead, and said, “Well, this clears one thing up, at least. From your choice of victims we’d always assumed you were transgender.”

Nei clasped her hands in front of her. “Oh, Mosquito, I’m not a creep at all! I just follow girls home and speculate about the genitalia of murder suspects with my friends!” she glared flatly. “I am, by the way. Transgender. There are options for girls like me, when we want to have children.” He went crimson under his cap- while he was thrown off and not looking at her hands, she reached, slowly, for the clasp of the suppressor that hung around her neck. “Flicker, darling, go crash with Scry or Werewolf for a few days, okay? Adam and I have some old business to sort out.”

But Lizzie blinked behind her instead, and shut the clasp. “Don’t, mom. Please. You haven’t had a seizure in months. I don’t wanna have to take you to the hospital again.”

“Seizures?” Steelheart’s eyes went wide.

Nei felt hideously vulnerable, now that he knew. But she spoke before he could demand answers from Lizzie. “Our powers aren’t stable. Without help like Flicker found, we leave pieces of ourselves in between. After you kept me from Aurora, I found that out the hard way. You know. People change.”

“So that was how it ended? You couldn’t? People lay awake at night picturing your daggers in their stomach and you just... retired? For your health?”

“And haunted their every waking step. Everyone needs a bogeyman, Steel. There was a reason I was so theatrical about it. Because let me fucking tell you, people like Aurora don’t change if they think they can get away with staying the same.”

His distant eyes and the creases on his brow said she was right. “That doesn’t change the fact that you’re a serial killer.”

“Fine. I’m a killer. And so is every single person I ever targeted. I know how you feel about vigilantism - ironically - but locking me up and just *trusting* them when they say they’ve changed is shit and you know it. I’m just the easier target.”

“Mosquito, you don’t-” he stepped forward, but Flicker blinked between them. She held out her arms, shielding her mother.

“It’s over,” she said. “It’s been over for more than ten years. Please. My mom did what she could to help people, and now it’s done. And you can’t say the memory of Mosquito doesn’t help protect people you aren’t watching. You know why she’s stopped, and you know she can’t start again. You said you weren’t going to hurt me- please don’t take my mom away to rid the city of a threat that doesn’t exist anymore.”

Maybe someone else would have done differently. Maybe he would have done differently if she hadn’t still had ash from the burning building on her cheeks, streaked with her tears. But once he saw how they were the same, he couldn’t shut his eyes.

He walked out the door.

[watchmist1412]

Break the Ice- Chapter 4

Co-written by @bloodredruby and @watchmist1412

 BTI Fanart

Words ~ 3300

Rated K+

Summary: Figure Skating AU. After an accident Gray, a professional figure skater, has to take some time off to heal and he’s not enjoying it AT ALL. What he didn’t expect was meeting Juvia, a swimmer tired of her career, even less ending up as her coach. Lucy, an aspiring figure skater, came to realize it was a whole new experience with a pink haired weirdo and his equally weird cat by her side.

Fanfiction.net

<<Previous Chapter // First Chapter

IMPORTANT NOTE! If you're not interested in reading the gruvia part of the story you can start reading right from this chapter where the nalu part starts. You won't be missing anything from the nalu side of the story.

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“Are you absolutely sure you know the way?”

“Yes, we’ve already established this Levy!”

“I know… but are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

Lucy sighed. She was having the same conversation again and again since the day before. She loved her friend but sometimes she was a bit overprotective.

“Lev I’m sure. I’ve been in Magnolia for a few days now I think I can find my way. Besides you’ve made me memorize the map by heart, I’m not going to forget everything when I leave the house.”

“Fine! Promise me you’ll call if something’s wrong?” She was almost pleading.

“Of course I’ll call you, don’t worry. I need to do this on my own.”

“Call me when you finish too!”

“We live right next to each other. Once I get back I’ll tell you everything, okay?” Lucy reassured her.

Levy pouted. “Okay, I guess you’re right. Sorry, I’m just a little worried for you. Ah, not that I don’t think you will succeed!”

Lucy playfully nudged her friend in the shoulder. “Hey, it’s alright. I’m the one who should be anxious not you.”

“I know that… leave all your worries to me and you go blow their minds with your awesomeness!”

Lucy let out a laugh. “Well I’ll leave that to you then! I really should be going now.”

“Right!” Levy rushed to unlock her apartment door. “Wait, did you take the leaflet with you?”

“Yes, it’s in my bag. I don’t think I’ll need it though I’ve memorized the address.”

“Right… okay. Good luck then, you’ll do great.” Levy flashed a grin and gave her a thumbs up.

“Thanks!” Lucy waved as she got down the stairs of the building. The elevator was fully functional but she lived only on the second floor and it would be a waste of energy and time. Besides, it was a good excuse for some exercise.

Lucy skipped the last two steps landing on the pavement with a huge grin on her face. It was finally happening! It was finally the day she could go to the place of her dreams! She would finally go to Fairy Tail!

————————————————————-

Lucy realized she hadn’t thought this through. All of her previous excitement had been slowly turning into anxiousness the closer she got to her destination. Now standing in front of the stairs leading up to the glass doors of the Fairy Tail building she was contemplating her decision to go inside.

What was she thinking? She should have been more prepared! She slowly realized she had no idea what to say and how to present herself. How was she supposed to approach the subject? Oh hello, you haven’t seen me since I was 5 and probably don’t even remember me, but would you mind being my coach?Yeah, like that would work.

Lucy was regretting not taking Levy with her, at least she would have some emotional support and she clearly needed that. Maybe she could call her friend and talk to her for a little while! That would make her calm down more.

The blonde let her backpack slide from her shoulder and started looking for her phone when she stopped and closed the zipper again. She couldn’t just call Levy like that. Not when she had given that brave speech of having to do this on her own and not needing any help. She just had to open her big mouth and ruin herself.

Should she just leave and come back another day? No, she wasn’t a coward, she wouldn’t just give up! Besides Lucy had come all this way she should at least go inside.

Determined Lucy took one step forward. But what if the woman wasn’t there? She hadn’t made a previous appointment maybe she couldn’t go in like that.

However, before the same traitorous thoughts get the chance to cloud her mind once again.

“Hey! Sorry to interrupt your inner turmoil but you know you’re blocking the way, right?”

Lucy lost in her thoughts hadn’t realized another person had shown up. She quickly turned around to face the source of the voice. The first thing she noticed about the man in front of her was his vibrant pink hair. It wasn’t uncommon to find people with various colored hair on the streets but the particular shade was a little unusual. It strangely suited the man who was now cheerfully grinning at her. He seemed about her age and he wore a white scaled scarf around his neck.

Snapping out of her thoughts she responded “You know it’s not polite to sneak up on people.”

“Hey, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you!” he defended himself “You are the weirdo staring at the building like you want to set fire to it.”

“I’m not a weirdo! Also why would I want to set fire to the building?”

“I don’t know… you were glaring at it pretty intensely.” He squinted “What are your intentions?”

“I’m not a pyromaniac, okay? Why would you think that?” said Lucy frustrated “And I wasn’t glaring, I was just thinking.”

“I know, I was just teasing you.” He grinned.

This man is unbelievable.  Lucy thought

“So are you going to come in?”

“What?”

“I mean, if you want to glare at the entrance door all day, I won’t judge. I don’t think you came for that though. Hey, maybe you can come glare at the inside, its warmer too!”

“I TOLD YOU, I WAS JUST THINKING!”

“Okay, don’t shout you weirdo.”

“And quit calling me a weirdo!”

“Fine, fine… weirdo.” He whispered

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” The man hurriedly headed to the automatic doors and stopped right before he got it. “Come on, it’s getting really cold out there.” He then went inside.

Lucy followed the pink haired man inside the considerably warmer building. She looked around and took in her new surroundings. The lobby was colorful with plants all over the place and comfortable looking couches in the middle. Overall it seemed like a pretty welcoming place.

“So… is it your first time here?” asked the pink haired boy

“Well, yeah.”

“I would help you out but I’m running pretty late, sorry.”

“It’s fine! I can find my way by myself.”

“If you want any help go ask Mira.” He pointed to a white haired woman reading a magazine behind a desk “She’s really nice, don’t worry.”

“Okay, thank you.” Lucy smiled. He wasn’t so bad after all.

“No problem! I’ll see you around, weirdo!” he waved at her as he sprinted to a corridor.

Never mind. “HEY! What did I say about-” it was too late, the man had already disappeared.

That whole encounter had been really bizarre though Lucy found herself smiling.At least she didn’t feel as anxious anymore. Talking with that weird man had cleared her head and lifted her worries without her noticing.

Lucy turned to look at the woman behind the desk who she assumed was the receptionist and made her way towards her. She tried to get the woman to notice her presence thinking she was engrossed in her magazine but before she could say anything the woman looked up and smiled sweetly.

“Hello, how can I help you?”

Taking a closer look at the woman’s face she had something familiar about her that Lucy couldn’t place yet. Well, she had other things to worry about.

“Hi, I am… looking for Aquarius, can I talk to her?”

Please say yes, please say yes!

“Yes of course! I think she’s in the office. Take the stairs and it’s the first door at the front.”

Lucy sighed in relief. “Thank you so much!”

“No problem!” the woman smiled again. “Oh wait a moment! I think I should warn you, she just had a fight with her boyfriend so she’s a little… grumpier than usual.”

Lucy gulped. “I’ll keep that in mind, then.”

That was not good, that was not good at all! From what she remembered from the woman, she always had a bad temper. That definitely did not make things easier.

Lucy walked up to the direction she was pointed at and finally stood in front of the door that she hoped was the right one.

You can do this Lucy, you didn’t come all this way for nothing! She motivated herself. She took a big breath and knocked hesitantly on the door.

And then there was… nothing. There was no response! No sound from the inside that indicated someone had heard her or even if there was someone inside.

Lucy determined knocked again. Maybe she wasn’t heard the first time

“Go away!” said an angry muffled voice from the inside.

“Wait, hear me out I-”

“I don’t care, I can’t deal with you right now.”

“Please let me in, I have something important to tell you!”

Lucy was met once again by silence.

“I know you’re inside!” Lucy knocked once again on the door not wanting to give up. “I came all this way to talk to you and I won’t leave until you give me a chance.”

Suddenly the door opened and Lucy stumbled catching herself before she fell down. Then she was met with the very angry gaze of a blue haired woman now blocking the entrance.

“You’ve got some nerve kid, what do you want?” she glared.

Lucy stared straight back at the woman not losing her newfound confidence. “I am-”

“No, wait, don’t say anything.” Aquarius cut her off once again “I’m in a very bad mood, come back tomorrow or something.”

She started closing the door but Lucy put her foot between the door and the wall stopping her from doing that. “Please hear me out! My name is Lucy Heartfilia.” She managed to say as she tried to stop her from closing the door.

At that Aquarius loosened her grip on the door allowing it to open a bit more. “Layla’s brat?”

“Yeah.”

Aquarius closed her eyes seemingly contemplating a decision. “Fine, come in!” she finally caved in “Make it short though.”

The woman stepped away from the entrance allowing Lucy to enter the spacy room.

“So what is Layla’s kid doing here?” she cut straight to the point.

“Well, I was in town and I thought I would come visit you.” Lucy tried to slowly make her way to the point.

“Yeah, that’s nice and all. Now tell me why you’re really here. I haven’t seen you since you were a shrimp why did you decide to come now?”

There goes Lucy’s plan. She prepared herself, now was the time. “I want you to become my coach.”

The seconds of silence that followed her statement felt like hours. Then finally Aquarius squinted her eyes and broke the silence. “Are you being serious right now?”

“Yes, I want to take up professional skating.”

Aquarius sighed “Of course you do, what did I expect from Layla’s brat? And you want me to guide you in that I suppose.”

“Please, you’re the only one I could think of! It has been my dream since I was a child. I’ve been practicing for years, I promise I won’t disappoint you!”

“And does your father know about this?”

Lucy winced. She knew this was going to be brought up at some point. “My father, he… He doesn’t control my future. This is my dream and I’m going to make it reality.”

“So he doesn’t know and you came on your own.”

“He, uh.., will find out eventually?”

“Look kid, I don’t want to be caught up in your family drama. If Jude finds out about this you’re on your own.”

Lucy’s eyes brightened up “Does this mean you agree?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Layla’s kid or not doesn’t mean I will be making exceptions for you. If you want to be my student you have to prove yourself.”

“I am not my mother. I will be making my own place!” Lucy was determined to get the woman’s approval.

Aquarius gave her a crooked smile “I like your spirit brat, follow me.”

Lucy smiled brightly “Thank you so much!”

“Hey, I haven’t accepted yet.” The woman frowned and stormed out of the room with Lucy on her toes.  

“So where are we going?” asked Lucy as she tried to catch up with the larger steps of the woman and failing at it.

“The ice rink.”

“Why?”

“I just told you, you have to prove yourself.”

“Right now?” this was not going well

“You have a problem with it?”

“No I just… I thought I would get more time to prepare.”

“Prepare for what? I want to see your skills right now not an organized performance.”

Aquarius finally stopped in front of twin metal doors and after fumbling a bit with a set of keys she opened them and stepped inside. Lucy could barely observe the world around her before the woman started talking again.

“We’re here. Do you have your skates with you?”

“Yes, they’re in my bag.”

“Good, put them on and go to the ice.”

Lucy got her skates out and stated putting them on. What was she going to do? She was confident in her skills but what if she failed? She just hoped the woman wouldn’t make her do anything too difficult.

“Hurry up!  I don’t have all day to wait for you.”

Lucy snapped out of her daze and speeded up her process eventually getting to the ice.

“So what do you want me to do now?”

“Now I want you to skate me something.”

“Like what?”

“Whatever you want, go wild. I just want to see your skills. If I like it I may consider being your coach.”

“Anything I want…”Lucy whispered to herself. She knew which routine she would be skating to! This might not be a failure after all! She knew it like the back of her hand by now.

She took her starting positions with her arms wide open and her eyes closed. She could feel the older skater’s calculating stare on her. Lucy took a big breath and let the music play in her mind as she moved to the non-existent rhythm.

When she was skating everything disappeared around her. It was just her and the ice. At that moment she forgot all about her worries, about impressing Aquarius. She was just dancing alone, her blades slashing across the ice, going through overly familiar steps.

Before she knew it she had stopped her arms clasped together for the final pose. Then all of her worries came back to her and Lucy frantically searched for Aquarius’s gaze to see if she liked it. They stared at each other silently for a few moments with Lucy’s worries only growing. Was it appropriate, did she make any mistakes?

“That routine… it was…”

“It’s my mom’s.” Lucy smiled to herself “I always saw her practicing that and she managed to teach me part of it before she… Well, I added some parts that I couldn’t remember on my own too.

“You know, you really look like your mother.” The woman’s gaze almost softened for a moment but it quickly disappeared, Lucy thinking it was just her imagination.

“I want you to know that I am very strict with my students and I expect you to follow whatever I say. I will not tolerate any tardiness or laziness from your side, is that clear?”

Lucy stared at Aquarius for a few seconds processing what she meant. Catching on, a wide grin started making its way to her face. “So this means I passed!”

“It means you’re not as horrible as I expected you to be. Damn it, now I have to sign all this paperwork because of you. Wait here I’ll be back in a moment.”

When Lucy was left alone she let out a scream of joy, spinning around on the ice in excitement. She had done it, she got herself a coach! The girl felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was one step closer to her dream. Oh, she couldn’t wait to tell Levy!

“That was awesome!”

Lucy yelped, startled by the sudden voice behind her. She thought she was alone when did someone come in? Looking for the source of the voice she recognized the pink-haired man from before. He was waving at her, leaning at the rink railing and a childish smile on his face.

Lucy carefully approached him from inside the rink. “It’s you again. You scared me, I didn’t know you were here!”

“Hey, maybe I’m secretly a ninja!” the man pulled his scarf up to his nose covering half of his face “Nin-nin”

Lucy couldn’t suppress a laugh “You’re ridiculous.” The man grinned at her. “Are you even allowed to be here?”

“Well… sort of? That’s why I was hiding! The crazy woman didn’t notice me at all.” He finished proudly.

“Wait, since when are you hiding?” he didn’t see her whole routine, did he?

“Since you started skating! I was passing by and I noticed you from outside. That was a really amazing performance!”

“You liked it?” Lucy smiled as she felt warming up on the inside. Someone had really liked her performance! Lucy wasn’t used to showing her skating to other people so it felt so good getting praised for it!

“Of course I did, you weirdo!”

And she was brought back to reality. “I told you to stop calling me that!”

“Then what should I call you?”

“What?”

“See, that’s why you’re a weirdo. You haven’t told me your name yet, you know.” he shot a bright smile.

“Oh, right! I’m Lucy, nice to meet you!” she extended her arm.

The boy reached to clasp her hand. “I’m Na-“

“NATSU, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING HERE?”

They both turned around to see Aquarius glaring at them from the entrance.

“Oh no, the crazy lady’s back! I got to go!”

“WHO’S A CRAZY LADY?” She was now furious, that was not a good choice of words.

Natsu looked at Lucy with a scared look on his face “I really have to go, see you around Lucy!” and he bolted to the exit door with Aquarius throwing curses after him.

“Yeah, I’ll see you around!” mumbled Lucy.

“That brat really gets on my nerves! Does he have a death wish?” Aquarius was fuming. “YOU!”

“YES!” Lucy flinched.

“We need to talk about your schedule and the contract. Get out of the ice and follow me.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Lucy’s thoughts couldn’t help but wonder to the strange man, Natsu. Without knowing it he had helped her a lot even if he was a bit annoying, calling her a weirdo all the time. She didn’t get a chance to thank him… She would be sure to do so once she meets him again. Yeah that was a good plan! Lucy kept smiling for the rest of the day.

Hey guys, we hope you enjoyed the new chapter! We look forward to reading your thoughts about it!

Ruby has made an amazing comic about this chapter that you can find right here!

See you next chapter!

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU

Nani the heck is this? Read here!

Chapter 13: Weird Flex, But Ok

For a month now I’ve been in a steady study schedule and little to my knowledge, marked the grueling slow burn to our relationship. I just read into it as friends helping each other out and everyone else is waiting out to see if and when Iida is going to break and finally say how he feels. Shinso hasn’t sparked anything yet but we talk to each other in passing. I don’t pay attention to any of those social cues as I’m preparing for my next exams.

-Wednesday, In the hero classroom, after school-

“I can’t believe you got a 100 percent on your english test Iida-kun!” said Midoriya as he slung his backpack on.

“Looks like working with Palma-san so closely is really paying off” Kirishima nudged him “maybe if you show her your test score she’ll give you a treat.”

“Stop you guys! She’s just a really good tutor” Iida said adjusting his glasses “maybe if you focused like we did, you’d pass too.”

“Oh ho ho! you picked up on more than just english Iida-kun” teased Kaminari “when’s the wedding?”

Iida turned red and briskly walked out to the front of the school. He then sees Mimi carrying Ita’s limp body and Jin deploying a portal. He gets concerned and runs toward them.

“Ita? ITA!?”

“Oh its glasses, hi” said Jin.

“What happened?!”

“She got knock-out sprayed accidentally when we were on cleaning duty” Mimi said calmly “she’ll be ok, we were going to portal her to her room and leave a note to check on her.”

“I’ll take care of her, just hand her to me” Iida said extending his arms.

Mimi and Jin looked at each other and shrugged “Ok lover boy, here you go and in the portal you go!” Mimi said tossing Ita’s body into his arms and Jin pushing them into the portal. “Make sure she stays in her room until she comes around! If she’s still out by 6pm, let us know!” Jin warned.

“Um ok thanks?” Iida said as he stepped into the portal and was suddenly in Ita’s room. The smell of the flowers hit him and the bright colors soon followed. He was in the forbidden garden again, alone with her limp body. He laid her on her semi-messy bed and put her backpack on her chair and shoes in her closet rack. He opened the window to let in fresh air, suddenly Ita took a deep staggering breath but didn’t wake up.

“Come on Ita, wake up” Iida said softly as he kneeled by her bed “I can’t stay here until you come around, the others might think wrongly of me or you.” As he stoked her hair, the idea of just bring her out to the commons room and wait for her to come around. He wraps her in her blanket and carries her to the commons room couch. He runs to his room to change really quick and come back to keep an eye on her. Everyone coming back was concerned for her and Iida explained everything. It was nearing almost 2 hours and Iida decides to get food ready for her.

“Hey Aoyama-san”

“Yes?”

“Can you keep on eye on her while I prepare some food?”

“Why of course I’ll keep your sleeping beauty company while her Prince is away~”

“Okay... well just make sure she’s breathing” Iida said as he stands up.

While Aoyama is sitting next to her slumped body, he started to talk to her like she was able to respond. He doesn’t pay attention that she was starting to float up slowly. 

“...and that’s how I want my hero debut to be like~ Palma-san?” he snapped out of his monologue as he saw that she wasn’t there but only her blanket. He looked around to see if she was walking around or with Iida, then the panic set in.

“IIDA-KUN!”

“What?! Did she wake up?!” he said running in.

“Not to cause alarm but I looked away and suddenly she’s not here”

“I’ll check her room, you go ask around if they’re seen her”

They split up and don’t notice her limp body on the ceiling like balloon. It wasn’t until Uraraka accidentally floated her cup and saw her body. She screamed for help and everyone came running in.

“How is that possible? I’ve never heard of sleep levitation!” said Momo.

“Never mind that! We need to bring her down before she hurts herself” said Iida trying to take action “Tsuyu, can you bring her down?”

“On it, kero”

As she stretched out her tongue to grab her, Ita teleports out. Everyone panics and starts to look around for her and she reappears in the hallway.

“That’s mega weird” said Mineta “we need sensei to erase her quirk.”

“wow Mineta thats the most intelligent thing you’ve come up with!” said Todoroki “I’ll go get him while all of you try to contain her.”

As they try to do that, she just teleports in random places in the dorms.

“What the- who took her out of her room?!” said Aizawa demanding to know how this came to be.

“I did! I was trying to-” started Iida.

“How many times do I need to tell you to leave her be?! You shouldn’t have taken her out of her room while she’s unconscious” Aizawa scolded as he erased Ita’s quirk and captured her in his scarf “lead me to her room so I can show you why.”

They lead him to her room and the smell of the flowers hit hard and he placed her body on her bed.

“why can’t she be moved while she’s out sensei?” asked Midoriya “is it related to her quirk?”

“Yes and no, here, do you see that bouquet of flowers? It’s a mix of lavender, white sage and white lilies; nature’s telekinetic quirk suppressant.” he said pointing at the flowers on the desk “Telekinesis is one of the world’s most powerful quirks because it can be activated subconsciously when they sleep or get knocked out. This mix of herbs and flowers makes the user not only sleep soundly but suppresses their subconscious from activating the quirk and getting hurt. She keeps sachets of this dried mix on her person at all times for this very purpose and you put her in serious danger of getting hurt.”

She took a staggering deep breath and everyone started to make sense of the reasons why she has that fresh flower smell all the time. Everyone left her room and Iida tried to stay to watch over her but Aizawa advised to not as she might need the space to come around. Time passes and its well passed 6pm and Iida was about to go run to the intel dorms when she emerged out her room in a change of clothes.

“oof hi yall!” I said stretching my arms and back “I feel like I was tossed repeatedly on the wall!”

“you don’t remembered what happened?” asked Iida

“I remember getting sprayed with some knock out spray that was uncapped in the work room I was cleaning and as I was slipping out of consciousness, I saw Jin running towards me and telling me that I’m going to be ok... then I had a bad dream then I woke up in my room.”

“You don’t remember how you got here? or if you got moved?”

“Umm no but I’m pretty sure Mimi and Jin portaled and carried me to my room and left a note” I said and I picked up on Iida’s face that something else happened “why? what happened while I was out?”

He then explained to me what happened and how Aizawa had to educate everyone on why I shouldn’t be moved.

“Why would you do that?!” I said mortified “Tenya! what if I floated away? or teleported into town or oncoming traffic?!”

“I didn’t know you’d do that! I didn’t think it was serious when your friend said not to move you from your room!”

I try to not rage and I just took a deep breath and calmed myself. I just told him to not do it again and continued on my usual evening.             

-The next day, in homeroom-

“Ok class, before I start the safety lecture” Diya sensei said grudgingly “a quick reminder that the skills display is 3 weeks so for the next few sessions we’re going to cut homeroom short to extend training and have the practice gym open for extra practice during free period and after school.”

Jin turns around to face me “hey are you down to practice heavy weapons with me during free period?”

“yee yee, I was going to ask you the same thing”

Diya gave us the lecture and what happened yesterday after school to ensure future safety. We did training in Weaponry and I was trying to improve my reaction time for heavy weapons. My body isn’t suited for the heavy weapons and neither is Jin’s but our goal is to just do enough for an average mark. I teleport in the hero class with my training clothes on because we were doing another round of spars.

-Hero classroom, before I arrive-

“I am not excited for spars today” groaned Mina “Palma-san is going to brutally whoop us one by one!”

“I don’t think she’d take out her emotions on us like that” Momo responded “she was forgiving about yesterday.”

“She’s not talking about that” Jiro cut in “Palma-san has been training with 1-B to develop new techniques for their exams, according to Kedo-san, Palma-san had brought the entire class to their knees without much effort.”

“Hi everyone!” I said as I teleported in “who’s ready for some spars! I know I am!”

“I’m glad you feel that way Ita!” said Iida standing up from their desk “lets all try to get in the same mindset as her!”

We get to the sparing circle and Aizawa was smiling and everyone knew it was gonna be brutal.

“Anybody want to go first?” asked Aizawa.

“I’d love to go first sensei” I cheerfully said with my hand up.

“I thought you might’ve said that, your opponent is Iida” he said scribbling on his clipboard “please step up to the circle.”

My stomach dropped, Iida? Out of all the people?! It’s like they want me to teach him a lesson. No matter, I wasn’t going to go easy on him.

“Hey, let the best fighter win” I said extending my hand.

He looked at my hand and almost hesitated to shake it “yes, let put on a good fight.”

“Palma vs Iida, commence spar”

My goal was to pin him or send him out of bounds because he’s too bottom heavy for me to pick him up and knock out. I get on defense as he started to rush me. I found it suspicious that he wasn’t landing any hits on me, he was just circling in on me. As I extended my arms out to levitate, he hooked onto my arms and pinned them to my sides. I was starting to lose my temper.

“Playing dirty huh?! Two can play at THAT game!” I yelled as I splayed my legs up and wrapped them around his hips to make him lose his balance. He got flushed at my very suggestive move

“What are you doing! This is very lewd behavior!”

“Aww whats the matter? Can’t handle a little roughness?” I said has I felt his grip loosen and broke out of his hold to push him down, legs still wrapped around him as he landed on his back “I like it rough, hot and heavy. Let me show you.”

The class gasped when I did my dirty talk. He pushed me off and tried to get me out of bounds, but I wasn’t taking it.

“Aww, you don’t want to play with me? Maybe if I give you a little peek you’d want to.” I said as I started to lift up my shirt. I didn’t make it past my bellybutton and Iida stopped to pull down my shirt. I did a quick slap and tackle as he knew it was game over for him.

“IIDA-KUN! USE HER SPIN MOVE! THE SPIN!” yelled the boys from the bleachers. Fools think I don’t know how to counter my own moves. As predicted, he did my low spin kick but I propelled myself up with his engine so quick that he didn’t have time to stop. He spun out of bounds and victory was mine.

“Palma wins”

“Good job kid! Barely used your quirk” Aizawa said as he finished scribbling on the score sheet.

I look over to Iida and he’s slowly getting up and I walked over to him

“Hey, good spar” I said extending my hand to shake on it “I see you’ve improved greatly on countering and spins, keep it up!”

He shook my hand vigorously “I gave it my all Ita but your taunting and boldness always throws me off! A truly powerful opponent!”

We sat in the bleachers to see the other spars and I get curious on who’s going to be my next opponent. 

“Ok next up, Midoriya and Palma. Please step up to the circle.”

What in the actual fuck sensei?! But also I was curious about his quirk and see how it works.

“Palma vs Midoriya, begin spar”

I’m feeling pretty confident that I can send him out of bounds at least but I was in fear that he was going to break my arm or some shit. Some punches were exchanged and high kicks were avoided but I slipped a face touch in. I activated the copy and I felt a sensation in my throat, what the hell is this? This isn’t a strength quirk! What this that?! I breathed out and I puffed out smoke and a low flame. Fire breath!

“So this is what you’ve been hiding! You’re a secret fire breather!” I called out and everyone looked confused.

“What! thats not my quirk!” said Midoriya shocked “thats my father’s quirk!”

“Hmm? that’s interesting” I said pondering a bit but refocused on the spar “no matter now, I have the upper hand broccoli boy! Say your prayers”

I levitated up and screeched as I spit fire down to Midoriya that was struggling to avoid them. Poor boy was trying to jump up to knock me down but just flew backwards and out of bounds. Accidental win for me!

“Palma wins”

“Amazing work kid, love the dragon screeches” Aizawa praised as he flipped the page to see the next spar.

Midoriya didn’t look too well when I walked over to him to see if he was all right “Hey you good there? Is it the quirk thing?”

“Yeah! I can’t figure how you copied that but not my One for All” He pondered as I picked him up “was- was the fire breathing supposed to be my quirk?”

“Probably, my copy works as a scanner. My hand reads vitals, brain waves and unaltered DNA found on the face. I can copy a baby’s or seemingly quirkless individual and show them their quirk that awaits or is suppressed by other factors.”

“That’s amazing! Palma-san your quirk can help so many people in quirk medicine and research!” he said as we sat in the bleachers “I hope that someday, when you find the way to activate dormant quirks in the quirkless, I can speak on your credibility as a hero.”

“Oh stop it you!” I said as I playfully punched his arm “go write that in your journal or something.” 

I spent the rest of my day thinking about how I gave up my dream to be a doctor, life sucks. Fast forward to Monday...

-Homeroom in intelligence classroom-

“Special Announcement time everyone!” Diya exclaimed “In 3 weeks, the week after the skills display, will be the school dance. Tickets are on sale during lunch.”

I get so excited that any depression I had lingering, had left the country. Little known fact about me is that I LOVE school dances and the whole process of finding a dress and spending time with friends puts me in the fantasy. Mimi and Jin notice and they start planning with me. I was happy again and I wasn’t going to let anything ruin it for me.

-Hero classroom, before I arrive-

“Sooooo Iida-kun” Kaminari said sliding into Iida’s view “are you going to ask Palma-san to the dance?”

“I am, thats for sure” said Iida confidently “she likes to dance.”

“Maybe you’ll get lucky and get to kiss her while slow dancing” dramatically said Aoyama “finally your princess will be all yours!”

Everyone was talk over each other how this was going to be the dance that will join us together. Meanwhile, in the opposite side and down the hall somebody else had the same idea.

“Shinso it’s been weeks of just pleasantries in passing!” groaned Tetsutsu “just ask her to the dance and do couple-y things.”

“I don’t want to go to the dance, I’d rather sit at home or go to the cat cafe” responded Shinso “its not like she’d not go if I didn’t ask.”

“Who were you not gonna ask?” I butted in out of nowhere.

The boys yelped and jumped a bit “oops sorry! I couldn’t help but overhear.”

“I was saying that I wasn’t going to the dance” Shinso said glaring at his friend “and I wasn’t going to ask anybody in particular because they would go whether I asked or not.”

“Not much of a dancer? or fan of crowds?” I asked trying not to pry at him, he nods in response “I figured, would’ve been nice to see you dressed up or shared a slow dance with you.”

Tetsutsu gives Shinso the ‘see what did I tell you’ look “well ummm are you going?”

“Yea I am, I love dressing up and I like acting up on the dance floor” I said as I did a quick spin “I hope I find a dress in time and I wouldn’t mind getting asked either.”  

Shinso looked like he was about to change is mind about going but then I quickly said my goodbyes and made my way to class.

“Hi everyone!” I said in a cheerful tone.

“Palma-san! You seem happy” Hagakure said suspiciously “is it because of the dance?”

“Oh yes! I love school dances with the dressing up and pictures” I said twirling to my seat “some of my best memories were made at school dances! not to mention that slow dances are my weak spot~ if anyone slow dances with me, there’s a 100 percent chance of us kissing.” I said dreamily as I sat at my desk.

There was murmuring after I said that but I was too busy remembering my last slow dance, before the incident and how happy I was with my boyfriend at the time. My goal was to be that happy again and maybe fall in love, for real this time. Class started and I had to re-focus. Class ended a bit early and I packed so I can teleport to the ticket sales to get that squared away.

“Hey Ita” meekly spoked Iida

“Oh hey”

“What are you doing after class?”

“I’m going straight to the ticket sales booth” I said as I zipped my bag closed “I want to get that taken cared of so I can start thinking about what dress I should get.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you already had a plan” Iida responded “I was going to ask if you wanted to eat with me.”

“Sorry, the lines are probably going to be long to purchase a ticket so I might not have time to eat with you” I gently and densely said “maybe some other time?”

Before he could say anything, a portal popped up and Jin and Mimi popped their heads out.

“ITA JUMP IN! THE LINES ARE ALREADY FORMING!”

“oh SHIT GOTTA GO YALL!” I screamed as I ran full speed into the portal before vanishing.

“No fair! Palma-san and her friend have instant travel quirks” pouted Uraraka “I can’t even purchase my ticket until next week anyhow.”

“I wish I had friends like hers” said Bakugo “amazing chemistry on and off the field plus powerful and smart! Man what I’d give to have a power squad but I’m stuck with these idiots!”

“Awww we love you too Bakugo!” said Mina, Sero and Kaminari

“THAT WASN’T A COMPLIMENT YOU DUMBASSES!” yelled Bakugo.

I spent a good two-thirds of lunch in line to buy my ticket, turns out, it’s separated by grades but in different locations because of the size of the school. Didn’t matter much to me, I spent 3,000 yen on my ticket and I started to search for a dress online in my free period. Mimi and I had trouble finding something that would fit our build and height. Jin and I sit in Stats and Strats, doing our in-class work, when a 3rd year with the agent number 420 comes up to us.

“Yo lil mans and mama”

“Waddup.”

“Yee Yee”

“I got some of that good good and an invite”

“Oh si? How much for the good good?” I said reaching into my breast pocket for my coin purse that I keep my wad of cash in.

“5,000 yen for 2gs, 2,000 yen for half g and 300 yen for this mystery bag of different strains I’m trying to get rid of.”

“I’ll go splities with you on the 2g” Jin whispers to me as he reaches for his wallet in his pocket.

“You got it my lil man and mama” he said as he gave us that good good and counted our cash “and the invite is after dance party in the 3rd years dorms.”

“No way! we get to party in the watch tower suite!” I said excitedly because the 3rd year intelligence dorms are luxury in comparison to the other dorms. They have a class size of 10 and their commons room is massive, perfect for parties. Plus they have a watch tower connected to their stairwell that oversees the city and perfect spot to spy/make out. Its on the top floor of our dorms (A class: 1 year- 2nd floor, 2nd year- 3rd floor, 3rd year- 4th floor) and you ONLY get in their parties through invite.

“That’s right lil mama, bring your tall friend too” He said putting the money in his breast pocket “booze and weed friendly, food is limited so try to bring something...OH! and you can bring a plus one BUT they have to be cool and abide by our party rules. Make out and fuck in your own rooms, we don’t want to deal with that shit.”

We nod and he gets up to go back to his group of the ‘cool squadron’, a group of 5 that by themselves are dumb and useless, but combined they form a force that can level a house! After class, we tell Mimi and even they were excited to be part of the cool kids party.

“We’re getting noticed more and more by the upperclassmen now that we took that practice test” gushed Mimi “I’m getting flustered by all the attention!”

“Yee, I won’t be partying as hard but the clout of just being let in will be enough” said Jin as we walked to the front of the school “do you think anyone else in our grade will be invited?”

“Doubt it” I said stretching my arms “those 3rd years know what’s good and who’s cool enough to party with them.”

Fast forward to the weekend and Mimi and I are hitting up the dress shops to find a dress. After visiting 12 shops, Mimi found one and just needed about almost a foot of extension to make it floor length. Her dress was a very 90′s royal blue satin dress with thin straps and rhinestone accents, full fantasy with the matching gloves, shoes and hair clips. All I found were shoes, clutch, necklace and earring set, and a stark white faux mink coat. I knew what I wanted but nothing fit on me and I couldn’t get a custom made in time for the dance. Feeling a bit down on my luck, I accepted what I got so far and headed to the dorms. Mimi was feeling kind of shitty that I couldn’t find my dress and helped me think of something or some place I can go to get a custom or alterations. On our way to the car, Mimi saw that a cloth bulk and supply store was having a sale on bolts of fabric. She gave me the idea that I should just make my dress, since I made most of the pieces for my culture presentation costumes and made a dog fur coat for the project, I have the capacity to make a dress. I got hopeful as we entered the store and when asked by the employee what I was looking for, I told them my situation and they directed me to the store owner. The store owner has a quirk that gives them exacts on anything just by looking at something, they eyed me and told me my measurements and how much fabric I will need for what I wanted. I was amazed by their generosity to help me that I almost started crying but I didn’t when I saw how inexpensive everything was! I thanked them and happily made the drive back. I started right away at my dress because I knew I wasn’t going to have enough time if I didn’t utilize my down time into making my dress. My dress idea was a 3/4 sleeve, trumpet gown with a wide scoop neck with the lavender colored fabric I purchased with a gold rosette trim on the bottom. When I say I utilized my time, I mean EVERYDAY and MANY ALL NIGHTERS to complete this dress. I would go straight to my room after school and just really tired myself out with this. Meanwhile, Iida and the boys were tryna push us together.

“Hey Ita” said Iida as positive as possible.

“Yo! Haven’t seen you in a while” I responded as I’m walking down the hall from the nurses office.

“What happened to your arm?”

“Oh I blocked a rubber bullet with my shield but it fell off my arm mount before the bullet hit me, It wasn’t so bad, just some bruising.”

“That sounds like a big deal!” he said concerned but then remembered why he wanted to talk to me “but anyways, um the dance is coming up really soon and I heard you are making your dress!”

“Oh yea I am, its kinda the reason why I haven’t spent time outside my room” I said sheepishly “But its coming along just fine.”

“Oh well um if you don’t mind me asking, what color is the dress?”

“Its this pretty lavender color with gold trim on the bottom” I said dreamily “I can already see myself dancing in it.”

“Lavender? It is a lovely color, you look good in everything you wear” he said as controlled as possible to not give away his feelings “I was just asking because I was having trouble choosing a color for my dress shirt and I haven’t asked anybody as my date.”

“Oh were you planning on asking someone?”

“Well...sort of” he starts to lose his cool “they’re kind of hard to get a hold of.”

“Oh sorry to hear that” I said with a straight face as the hint just flew over my head “Hope you see them in passing soon! I just got a ping from my squadron to report to the field” I said picking up my pace to jump out an open window, I turn to them before jumping “See you around!”

Iida just stands there waving as he sees Ita jump out the window into T-pose formation, floating toward the practice field where you could see a bunch of students practicing with equipment. Kirishima, Aoyama and Tokoyami jump out from their hiding spots with looks of disbelief.

“Wow... she really did that” said Kirishima scratching his head “at least you know what colors she’s wearing to get her the flowers.”

“Alas! the princess flies away from her destiny! What will our hero do to capture her heart~” Aoyama strikes a pose as he recites.

“Not surprised she blew him off like that” Tokoyami spoke up “her skill display is next week and all her efforts are on that and the dress.”

“Skills display?” Kirishima and Iida asked in unison.

“Yes, it’s a sort of ceremony were they get issued their official agent numbers based on all the tests they’ve taken and the display will show the program how they stand” Tokoyami explained and clarified “I know this because I’ve overheard her talk with her friends about it.”

“Why hasn’t she told us about it?” Iida pondered “we’ve seen her work before and cheered her on...how is this any different than that?”

“Wait! I’ve heard about that display thing from another one of her classmates in passing now that I think about it” Aoyama perked up as he recalled “the display is going to take place in the half stadium and the people in attendance are agencies and families supporting their student.”

Everything clicked for them, she didn’t want to tell them because she rather not think about how lonely she is when her family won’t be there. They went about their day feeling bad that she’s not open about her loneliness, it mostly bothered Iida since he knows more about it than the others.

-the next day, after the last class of the day in the hero class-

“EVERYONE! I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!” bellowed Iida to get the attention of the class.

“PALMA-SAN SAID YES?!” squealed the girls.

“No! But it does have to do with her-”

“She said no?” said Todoroki.

“What? no...ANYWAYS!” Iida said embarrassed and tried to refocused on his task at hand “As you all may or may not know, our dear classmate Palma-san is having her skills display in 3 days, and I want to form a spectator group to see her in place of her family that is unable to attend. This is an important part of her program rubric as she will be given her official agent number and will start getting offers for her internship with the pros. She’s done so much for us and seen us get our hero requirements, who’s with me to cheer on our self-less classmate!”

“We are!” said the Baku-squad.

“Us too!” said the girls.

“You know all of us are on board” jumped up Midoriya “she’s like our big sister in our made up family we built.”

Everyone nodded and Iida got relieved that everyone cared to see her. They all planned what to chant and made banners for her, all while she was busy making that darn dress in her room. Ita on the other hand, was too wrapped up in her own things to know all the surprises she will come across on her big day. She’s feeling confident and ready to take on this next major step, what could possibly hold her back?

-End Chapter 13-

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