#if you hug sora you are hugging Four Maybe Five People

[kicktwine]

four birds with one stone

[weeb-writor]

Meeting Shouta’s parents on Christmas

Hello all you beautiful people! So here is the last part in the Aizawa mini series. I fell in love with all these Characters and this head cannon so I will probably revisit them! As usually the reader is neutral in every since of the word! I hope you guys enjoyed this series. 

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Aizawa Shouta x Reader

After a month of preparation you meet Aizawa’s Parent over the course of a week

Words: 3,098

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five

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“Ooh my goodness what are we gonna do!?” You said pacing around your living room. Shouta looked at you and chuckled at your frazzled state.

“We get in my car and drive to my family house as planned, pretend to enjoy ourselves so we can come home and cuddle with my fat cats.” He said, pulling you into a hug. 

“You want me to show up to meet your parents without the gift I ordered for you dad? Shouta are you outta your mind.” You said to him with a pout.

“Well that's debatable but I do know my parents and they aren't even expecting anything so it's fine. You can just tell them we’ll get it to him when we get it. Now let's go!” He said trying to drag you to the car.

“Aizawa Shouta! I am not going anywhere unless it's to a store to buy your Dad a gift.” You said giving him a glare. He stared back as if to question if you were being serious. You cocked an eyebrow at him, challenging him to disagree.

“Were gonna be late to get there, do you want that?”

“Better to be late than to show empty handed especially when everyone else has gifts.” You said with a shrug. Aizawa laughed but nodded as you both went to the store. You wandered around the place for an hour before you found something you actually liked. Now you were in the car messily wrapping in as you pulled into the driveway of your destination.

“Okay goodness gracious we barely made it but we're here and I have gifts for all your siblings and their lovers and their kids! Didn't think I would pull it off but here we are in one piece.” You said mostly to yourself.

“Kitty Cat you start talking to yourself and I might leave you to enter the den of wolves by yourself.” Aizawa said as you both got out of the car. You let him take in your overnight bags and get help for the millions of presents somehow packed into your small car you didn't wait long as you felt as presence behind you.

“Hello you, perfect example of a gorgeous human being!” The voice said from behind you.

“Shinji, how nice to see you.” You said with a sigh.

“You know if you’re tired of sighing that way… I have a better way to make you sigh.” He said winking at you. You had to push back all the thoughts of murdering him and just smiled but before you could say anything another voice interjected.

“See I told you we had to come out here! Shinji stop hitting on y/n their dating our little brother you snake.” Saika said, hitting him over the head.

“Can't help it, sis!” He said with a laugh.

“Well for this week you absolutely will have better control overself or so help me God Shinji! Anyway y/n you’ve got me, Shinji and sora at your beck and call, what do you need help with?” Saika said with her graceful smile.

“Oh just this.” You said pointing to the car packed with presents. Sora seemed to choke on air at the amount of gifts.

“God, didn't Shouta tell you didn't have to buy everyone a gift, you poor thing!” Saika said hugging you.

“Well he did but I just really like you guys and loved getting to know you this past month so I wanted to.” You said waving her off.

“More like you wanted to impress our parents, huh cutie?” Shinji said teasing you before he started to grab presents as to avoid his sister wacks.

“Ignore him! My mom is dying to meet you, Shouta’s never brought anyone home.” She said as her and Sora grabbed some more presents. As they went in you pulled out the last two rounds of presents and waited for Aizawa who wasn't far behind.

“Hey love are you ready?” Aizawa said, picking up the presents you set out.

“I am totally not!! I barely remember everyone's name! We should just slip away right now!” You said beginning to pace some more.

“Babe i'm gonna go inside and wait on you, come in whenever you want but remember we are late.” He said with a light chuckle.

“Sho!! don't you go into your house without me!” You said picking up the gifts and following him like a lost puppy. That was that and soon you were inside the house with a lot of eyes on you. You followed aizawa while bowing and placed the toys underneath the huge tree.

“Alright now that that’s done let me meet the one whose stolen my baby’s heart so effortlessly!” A woman said coming over to you. You bowed deeply to her and she let out a melodious laugh.

“How cute, no need to bow so deep! I should be bowing to you, you who is able to make my stoic Shouta blush, giggle and pout!” She says grabbing your face and pulling it around as if to inspect it.

“Oh Honey, you stop it! They are just being polite, you know like Japanese culture requires them to be.” A tall man said coming over to you.

“I'm just saying! Anyway you can call me Mina and this is my parasite of 41 years Hirohito! Nice to meet you!” She said hugging you, you were a bit surprised by how informal and kind they were.

“Excuse my parents, they were born and raised in America! No less Japanese but they are a bit more informal and that does shock a lot of people.” Shojiro said scratching his neck. 

“Oh hush boy! Don’t put a warning label on me and your mom as if we are damaged goods.” Hirohito said, knocking him over the head.

“Now it’s getting later we should all wash up and get ready to eat! I made something special for you all. And Sho I put a king size bed in your room since you’ve finally brought someone home. If you want to take advantage of that and make me some grandchildren then don’t worry we will hold up dinner for you!” His mom said kissing his cheek. He groaned and grabbed your hand and pulled you away and soon you were in his room.

“See, was that so hard?” Aizawa said with a flushed face.

“Ehh you look like it was, tomato paste! But I think it went okay! I can do this!!” You said hyping yourself up.

“Yes you can, kitty cat. After dinner only 6 more days to go.”

“WHY do you guys do Christmas gatherings for a week!” You whisper yelled at him.

“Because we have a doting mother who wants to smother us every chance she gets and a father who would do anything for her.” He said serious, you laughed and got ready for dinner. When you and Aizawa made it to the dining room, you were met with three huge dining tables. Almost every seat filled.

“Sweetheart, you and y/n come sit right here! I’ve got so many things to ask you!” His mom said waving you over.

“Thank you… Mina. Your way to kind!” You said with another bow. Dinner was pretty quiet at first but how quiet can you be with like 30 people in one room.

“Saika, dear, you were in charge of the schedule this year can you read it off for everyone.” Mina said.

“Of course! So on the 20th aka tomorrow it’s all about decorations and the tree! 21st is all about taking the kids to see Santa! 22nd is Family photo day! 23 is the gingerbread houses contest and reindeer games! 24th is sugar cookie making and movies! 25th is a grand breakfast and present opening! Bring forth the cup of straws!” Saika said giggling. Sora rolled his eyes but got the cup and passed it around, everyone taking a straw. 

“Okay now blow into if red dust comes out you’re in charge of taking the kids to see Santa!” She announced and everyone did. Of fucking course red dust billowed from you straw. You looked at Shouta and he shook his head at you and your heart dropped.

“So then it’s me and you, how fortunate!” Shinji said waving at you. You couldn’t control yourself and your head dropped onto the table dramatically.

“Haha, Shinji y/n already knows what a pain in the ass you are! you must be losing your style dear! Not to worry y/n, Shinji will be on his best behavior won’t you?” Mina said as an ominous silence fell over the room. Shinji didn’t hesitate to nod.

“Okay then! Y/n, welcome to the Aizawa family. I hope you enjoy your first Christmas with us! With that let us begin the 6 days of chaos!” Mina said laughing lifting her glass, everyone joined laughing. Okay maybe this won’t be so bad you thought for a brief second.

20th - 5 Days till Christmas

“Dad I understand you like to hang lights up dangerously but do you have to drag y/n into it.” Aizawa said as he watched you nervously. You were on the roof helping his dad put up a few decorations and lights.

“Of course I did, if they’re gonna be an Aizawa one day they gotta learn all our trade secrets.” He retorted as if it was common knowledge.

“I’ve never seen my little Sho so worried. I can’t figure out if it’s because your kind and you love him so much or if you’ve got him by the balls or maybe even both.” Mina said with a slight chuckle. This made you warm in embarrassment and you lost your footing and began to fall, of course taking the old man with you.

“Shit!” Aizawa said as he quickly used his capture weapon to grab both you and stop your impact from being damaging.

“Yeah alright, me and y/n are opting out of decorations this year.” He said dragging you who was still in his captured weapon toward the door.

“Oh honey calm down it would have just been a small bump and maybe a sprain. Would you at least help Shinji and Sora with the kids, decorating the tree?” She said with a kind yet manipulative smile. Before either of you could respond yelling was heard from inside

“Damn it, Yukio stop breaking the glass ornaments and Maki stop recording and help me!” Shinji yelled. 

21st- 4 Days till Christmas 

“Shinji what the hell do we do!” You said pacing.

“Hold on stop talking I’m thinking.”

“Like hell I’m trusting your brain! We just have to ask them to let us take pictures anyway.” You said with determination. You see everything was going well until and elf said something to Haru that Jun took as bullying. A fire light in that boy like you had never seen he was on top of the elf giving him the business in seconds. After he just mumbled things like ‘Bakugou said you can’t let people bully you.’ And ‘gotta put bullies in their place.’. Then when you tried to get him to apologize he glared and said ‘no, I can’t let that bully win’ and just like that y’all were kicked out.

“No look let’s just disguise them! Tetsuya and Haru stitch clothing and Haru and Umi switch! Then Maki will take them and her pictures with them.

“What about Maki though they saw her!” You said not believing you were actually going along with his crazy plan.

“Oh I have a change of clothes, gotta be prepared when you’re going out with uncle Shinji!”  She said cheerfully.

“That’s my girl! Now go do this thing!” He said giving her and high five. Someone how Shinji’s ridiculous plan worked and the parents didn’t even notice, they were all too drunk or tired. 

22nd - 3 Days until Christmas 

“There is no way I'm taking pictures wearing this.” Sora said as he pulled the clothes from the box.

“Yeah mom, why did you make Sho pick clothes this year you know he cant even dress himself! It’s because you babied him so much, you know.” Shojiro said, looking as equally as disgusted at the clothing.

“Hey now! I put my baby in charge of the clothing and you all are gonna wear it, end of discussion. Also if anyone babied him it was all of you so blame yourself.” Mina said, ending the discussion as Shouta wore a crazed grin.

“I like the clothes Uncle sho’ta.” Nozomi said rocking on her heels.

“They are pretty cute huh?” He said ruffing her hair.

“Ah ah ah! Don't you go infecting my kids with your bad fashion sense!.” Saika said, covering Nozomi's ears. At this you all broke out into laughs before heading to put on the outfits and prepare for maybe the most embarrassing photos known to man.

23rd - 2 days till Christmas

You were not an artist by any means but when you heard the winner got the honor of passing out presents you were purposely trying to lose. You knew them apart mostly but if they were all wearing the same pajamas with their hair tied back it was going to be a stuttering mess. However your plan of making a 3 out of 10 gingerbread house was foiled quickly. Aizawa wasn't really a competitive man or so you thought but when you to were paired against Shinji and Shojiro he went berserk! You looked at the gingerbread MANSION with a sigh.

“Shouta i’ve never seen you so invested! It's amazing.” Said Shizumi the resident artist in the house.

“Yeah uncle Shouta and L/N! You definitely got my vote!” Daisuke said smiling at you, you smiled back at him warily. The family all wrote down the people of their choosing and put it into the Santa hat. Now as names were being drawn you were biting your nails.

“Shouta and Y/n will be our Clauses this year.” Hirohito said with a small smile.

“Yay y/n wins.” Haru and Jun danced around you. You giggled before glaring at Aizawa in a way that said when we get home your sleeping on the couch, he just kissed you sweetly.

24th - 1 Day till Christmas

“Uncle Shouta stopped making so many cat cookies! Santa wants other shapes too!” Tetsuya said, hitting Shouta repeatedly on his legs. You laughed evilly as you formed another cat cookie and wrote Shouta’s name on the corner.

“I like your cat cookies.” Nozomi said, playing with her hair. Aizawa picked her up and spun her around.

“Okay, yep that's weird Baby brother! Why is Nozomi clinging to you? What did you do?” Shiori said looking back and forth from you and Shouta.

“Nothing.” Shouta said with a smirk. The family then looked at you hopeful.

“Well would you look at that! It's about time to watch the Grinch isn't it, Rei?” You asked the young boy. He eagerly nodded wanting to escape the situation. 

“You got Rei too? What is happening!” Saika said as she grabbed Rei bringing him to her chest.

“Huh where is your DVD player? I got to put the disk in.” You said completely ignoring her.

25th - Christmas Day

The gift giving had been going pretty successfully. You only Stuttered a few times but you hadn't given anyone the wrong present and let Shouta take the ones with Nicknames you didn't know. But this right here was the moment of truth, the moment you had been preparing for. In your right hand you had a gift for Shizumi and in your left one for Saika. You looked at the two twin like sisters and handed the gifts to each respectful sister hoping you were right. They opened the gifts and smiled so you guessed you were correct had everyone's eyes not been on you, you would have done a happy dance.

“Alright last gift before Mom and Dads are for Miss Nozomi!” Shouta said signaling you to get the present you and him picked out for the young girl.

“Alright this is from me and Uncle Shouta!” You said to the girl handing her the blue box. She said a quiet thank you before tearing into the box. Inside the box was a note which she took out.

“Look at your favorite uncle.” She said before looking straight at Shouta making all the other brothers gasp. In Shouta’s arm was a cute 3 legged kitten which had the girl darting toward him but slowed when she got to him so as not to scare the cat.

“Thank you!” The girl said, rubbing at her teary eyes. You and Aizawa had been teaching her how to care for cats knowing she wanted one. In all honesty she knew she was getting a cat she just didn't know when. You had asked her parents as well but didn't tell then when either so as to have a bigger reaction from the family.

“No need to thank me! Just promise me to take care of him real well.” Aizawa thumbed away the last of her tears. She nodded rapidly before snuggling the kitten who seemed to enjoy the attention. The last arc of gift giving went well as did the extravagant breakfast you had all prepared together. Now you were all saying goodbye.

“Y/n dear I do have one last parting gift for you.” Mina said as you rounded the corner with your bags. You placed down your bags and went to her side.

“I know you and Shouta haven't been together too long but I want to thank you. He acts tougher than he is. He would rather bear all the responsibility and pain and suffer alone. Not to mention the way he puts himself in danger rather than ask for help. With you he seems different, and you put him in his place. You’ve made me feel at ease for the first time since he entered UA as a student. So welcome to the family, we're so glad to have you.” She said putting something into your hands. You bowed at her and opened your palm to see a key to this house and a few pictures taken over the course of the week. You waved goodbye to them all and got your bags and made the short trip to your car where Shouta was waiting.

“Why do you look like you're going to cry.” He said worried.

“Because there are 365 days till next Christmas.” You said to him smiling.

~~~~~~~~~~~

MHA Masterlist

[brycelahelas]

take care

rating: mature

book: open heart

summary: God. God. It was a bad idea going here. You want nothing more than to head to the bathroom and crawl out the window and just fucking run wherever the hell your legs take you. You want to run until the ache in your legs makes you forget all of your memories tainted with Rafael, until your lungs constrict to the point that you forget what it felt like to have Rafael’s lips on yours.

Maybe Landry had it right. Maybe emotions do hold us back. And maybe that’s your fatal flaw: you feel and care and love too much to the point that it bites you in the ass. It always did, in the end.

word count: 8000+

notes: THIS TOOK SO LONG FOR NO REASON....literally took me four weeks to complete bc i cannot finish anything in a timely manner. but i hope you all enjoy this 8k+ piece. i love to see interaction so pls reblog and like if you enjoyed! and let me know what you think of it! you can also read this on ao3 here.

dedicated to my lover my wife my shawty my life miss jade... happy birthday!!!

tagging: @zadiechoi @zigtheeortega @senatorraines @bigtoughswordboy​ (if you would like to be added to the list let me know!)

Of all the emotions you could be feeling right now, you find that, at the core of it all, you feel nothing.

This feeling isn’t indifference. Because if it were, you wouldn’t have this ache reverberating all over your body. And although you have a heightened sense of the blood coursing through your veins, of your heart pulsating against your chest, you bite your tongue, shake Sora’s hand, and say nothing when she kisses Rafael goodbye.

When she leaves, you look him in the eyes, sharply inhaling as you struggle to say, “You two are cute together.”

“You think so?” he answers, careful with his words as he eyes Bryce warily. When Bryce gets the message and leaves to greet Ethan, Rafael looks at you once again, eyes almost apologetic. You’re suddenly aware of the distance between you two and the tension that has settled in the air. As he moves closer towards you, you instinctively step forward, but upon realizing what you’re doing, you move back, away from the arms that you know so well, away from the man who once loved you.

He notices this and frowns, only slightly. “Listen,” he starts, voice so low you could mistake it for silence. “About us...I want you to know I still—”

You raise your hand, cutting him off. With your eyes squeezed shut, you take slow breaths and hope that the tears would go away if you didn’t look at him anymore. “Don’t worry, Raf,” you say softly, defeat resound in your voice. “You don’t owe me an explanation. I get it. She’s your childhood sweetheart.”

Just as you turn away from him to go into the hospital, you hear him say, tone just above a whisper, “...Okay.”

The defeat in his voice sounds exactly as it did in yours.

“Are you okay?”

You’ve never heard Esme sound so panicked. As you snap out of your daze, you find that you’ve been standing next to a patient, hands shaking as you hold a needle next to a protruding vein. Thankfully, the patient’s eyes are squeezed shut, looking away in hopes that you would insert their IV quickly.

You insert it in one fluid movement, leaving the plastic tube in and pulling the needle out. Once you let the nurses take over, you grab your clipboard and walk out of the room with Esme trailing close behind you.

“How long was I just standing there?” you finally say once you both enter the elevator and you press the button for the ICU. The silence is palpable, as it usually is with Esme, but her eyes betray a sense of concern.

“Too long,” she answers. “Look, really, are you okay? You’ve been out of it all day.”

“I’m fine,” you say, although visibly the opposite. Esme, being Esme, doesn’t push further.

Silent devastation.

Nothing comes close to accurately describing how you feel about this Rafael situation, but that’s what you settle on. There are no painkillers strong enough to dull the ache in your heart, no way of relieving you from the reality that Rafael isn’t yours anymore. But you live with it, day by day, and it’s apparently starting to show.

After shift change, Bryce bumps into you in the atrium and announces that it’s a Donahue’s night. “My treat,” he tells you, smiling wide as he wraps an arm around your shoulders. “You need it. And you can’t say no because it’s doctor’s orders.”

That elicits a small chuckle from you. “And if I do end up saying no?”

“Then you’ll have to sign an AMA form. But, as you know, it’s not recommended to go against medical advice.”

“Well, I guess I have no choice,” you tell him, grinning softly. “To Donahue’s it is.”

He flashes you that thousand kilowatt smile again and steers you out of Edenbrook and into Donahue’s.

On Fridays, Reggie always makes sure to decorate Donahue’s in a specific theme. Tonight is Samba Night, according to the flyer by the door. Mainly Edenbrook employees crowd Donahue’s, but the vibe is jovial as always, with more five dollar margaritas scattered around the place than usual. You spot your friends in their usual booth, joined by a few of the interns, and they wave you over excitedly.

“Over here!” Sienna calls out as she spots you and Bryce at the entrance. She’s sidled up next to Danny but makes space for you to sit next to her.

As you settle into your seat, all your friends suddenly blast you with questions about your day. How was your shift? Did you have any codes? Did you hear about the rapid response in ICU? Did you hear about the code grey in ED? It’s a dizzying array of questions, and something feels off about it, as if they’re saying so many things at once to startle you. You don’t realize what it is they’re doing until you follow Sienna’s line of sight.

When Rafael walks in with his arm around Sora’s waist, you fall incredibly still. Beside you, Jackie scoffs.

“What is he thinking bringing her here? God, I’m gonna need another shot.”

“I’m right there with you,” you say, suddenly feeling a heaviness in your chest. You turn sharply towards Bryce. “Bryce? Your treat, right?”

Bryce looks at you worriedly but stands right away. “On it,” he says and heads towards the bar.

God. God. It was a bad idea going here. You want nothing more than to head to the bathroom and crawl out the window and just fucking run wherever the hell your legs take you. You want to run until the ache in your legs makes you forget all of your memories tainted with Rafael, until your lungs constrict to the point that you forget what it felt like to have Rafael’s lips on yours.

Maybe Landry had it right. Maybe emotions do hold us back. And maybe that’s your fatal flaw: you feel and care and love too much to the point that it bites you in the ass. It always did, in the end.

Either way, you couldn’t bring yourself to care anymore. Rafael made his choice, and it wasn't you. Fucking deal with it. Huffing, you grab Elijah’s margarita (much to his dismay) and down it all in a few sips. You needed all the alcohol you can get in your system in order to survive the inevitable interaction between you and Sora and Rafael. Dr. Yoeun, Elijah’s intern, watches with wide eyes as you slam the completely empty glass on the table.

It’s Sora who spots you first. Eyes bright and lips pulled into a smile, she basically drags Rafael to your table in order to greet you. You feel yourself tense up as the both of them get to your table, but you feel a hand slip into yours and squeeze. It’s a presence that feels reassuring and familiar. As you look down and realize it’s Sienna’s hand, you can’t help but smile at the interaction and squeeze her hand back.

“Hey! Long time no see!” Sora says, diving into your arms and wrapping you in a tight hug. With your free hand, you give her a soft pat on the back, and she pulls away, grinning. “This is such a nice bar! I’ve never been here before.”

Rafael pipes up from next to her, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “I just got off a shift and wanted to show her Donahue’s. Hope that’s okay.”

“Come on, Raf, you know we don’t own Donahue’s!” Elijah jokes. His tone offsets the tension at the table, which helps Rafael ease up a bit. “You’re welcome here anytime. You don’t need our permission.”

Rafael nods, looking away from the table. “Well,” he finally says, exhaling a bated breath, “I hope you guys have a good one.” Sora quickly waves goodbye, and the two head off to another part of the bar, most likely in an effort to avoid you.

When Bryce returns to the table with the drinks, you immediately down your whole shot. And another. Then another. It’s probably a good thing that you’re off tomorrow because tonight you’re just going to drink to your heart’s content and cease to think.

The thing is, you can’t bring yourself to hate Sora. She always leaves nice comments on your Instagram posts, and she always makes it a point to greet you whenever you run into each other at Donahue’s. There isn’t anything to hate besides the fact that she’s your ex’s new girlfriend. (Or is it old girlfriend? New-old girlfriend? Rekindled flame?)

Well, whatever she is to Rafael, she’s nice to you. And she’s wonderful to him, which is all you can ask for, really. No matter how desperately you want to hate her, you can’t. She’s given you no reason to.

There you go again. Feeling and caring and loving too much. It really will be the death of you.

You don’t see Rafael for a few months after that. At this point, it isn’t him avoiding you; it’s just that your jobs don’t make you cross paths, as is expected. Whatever Rafael-sized ache you had in your heart is gone. It’s just the thought of what could have been that bothers you occasionally.

And you do think of him, occasionally. It’s hard not to. You’re always wondering how he’s doing—if he’s eating enough, if he’s sleeping well, if he’s staying safe. Rafael’s always been such a selfless person, someone who lives by the philosophy that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. That worries you. For someone who is always taking care of other people, he doesn’t take quite good care of himself, and one day that’s going to bite him in the ass.

Well, in any case, it’s out of your hands now. At least, that’s what you tell yourself. You have your own patients to deal with and a grizzled senior resident to report to.

A low, menacing voice snaps you out of your thoughts. “You.”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. When you turn around, you see Zaid beckoning you towards him. “Emergency Department. Now.”

As you fall into step with Zaid, rushing towards the Emergency Department, you ask, “What’s the situation down there? Do we have to run triage?”

“Not necessarily,” he answers. “It’s just high census there right now. Lots of virus scares, among other things. The ED physicians are getting overwhelmed so they enlisted our help.”

You nod silently. You were never too fond of the Emergency Department as an intern. Too much panic and frenzy down there with not enough space to think. You worked better on floors like the ICU or Medical Surgical, where you can take time to actually speak to the patients and work on a diagnosis. At the very least, the ED presented a challenge to you that could potentially be useful in building your diagnostician skills.

When you step through the doors of the ED, you see what Zaid means about high census. All the rooms, including the overflow beds, are filled with people, and every room presents a different case. While you definitely wanted to start in the rooms whose patients likely had an infectious disease, your eyes are drawn to an overflow patient who is wearing a very familiar paramedic uniform. As you draw closer to the patient, your walk quickly turns into a sprint when your suspicions about who it is are confirmed.

“Rafael, what happened?” you ask him, panicked. He’s clutching his side, face grimacing in pain. When you inspect him closer, you see that blood has seeped into his blue uniform.

A nurse approaches the two of you with the suture cart and stops right beside you. “The patient got stabbed during a call, but it’s only a surface wound. No pulmonary or great vessel trauma. A suture is needed though.”

The second she finishes, a call light goes off in ED Room 1, and you notice that she eyes it with a sigh. “ED Room 1 is your patient?” you ask her.

“Yes,” she answers. “Sweet old lady. She’s needed water for the past five minutes, but I haven’t been able to get her because of the craziness going on.”

“Go,” you tell her, waving her off. “I’ll take care of this suture for you.”

The nurse thanks you and walks off, leaving you and Rafael alone. After gathering your supplies for the suture, you sit next to him, aseptically clean the area, and get to work. Neither of you say anything until you rub numbing cream around the stab wound. It’s then that he lets out a hiss.

“You need to stop getting yourself into these situations, Raf,” you murmur softly as you finish the preparations for the suture. When you move to change your gloves, you hear a soft, restrained laugh coming from him.

“You, of all people, should know that I can’t do that,” he mumbles, shutting his eyes as you proceed to prepare the needle. “It’s my job to protect people—to rescue people. I’ll keep getting into these situations if it means I save someone’s life.”

“And if it costs your own?”

He answers without hesitation. “Then so be it.”

“We’re stitching in three...two...one...” You enter the needle into his skin, but he doesn’t react due to the numbing cream effectively desensitizing the area. As you stitch his wound together, you say, “Well, for now, let’s make sure you keep yourself safe, okay? You can’t exactly help people if your body is banged up like this.”

He laughs, this time a bit louder, that sound of familiarity returning to his voice. “It sounds like someone’s worried about me.”

Without missing a beat, you answer softly, “You know I am. I always am.”

It’s the first time you’re really seeing him in months, and he is beautiful. His hair has grown a little longer now, with curly brown wisps covering the nape of his neck. But besides that, he looks the exact same. When your eyes meet, it’s difficult for you to look away, but you find that it’s the same for him

“How...how have you been?” he asks you, snapping out of a daze. He gets up with significant effort but manages to sit upright to look at you properly. “It’s been a few months.”

“Yeah,” you tell him. “You know I’m always busy. No new stories to tell.”

He smiles that goddamn smile that made you fall for him all those months ago. It’s just as soft as you remember. But as you admire him, that small voice in your head just repeats over and over that he didn’t choose you, he chose Sora, and suddenly you’re the first look away.

As you put away the items you used to stitch Rafael up, your mouth seems to run faster than your brain, and you blurt out, “How’s Sora?”

Rafael looks confused. And rightfully so. You don’t even know why you asked that question when you weren’t prepared to hear the answer.

“She’s fine,” he answers, mindlessly. “At least, last time I saw her she was.”

“...last time you saw her?”

“Yeah. We’ve been broken up for a while now.”

“Broken up,” you echo. The words sound so bittersweet in your mouth. “What happened?”

He looks you straight in the eyes, thoughtfully regarding you for a second. “A certain doctor was always on my mind,” he answers nonchalantly. “And it wasn’t fair for Sora to stay in a relationship with me if I obviously liked someone else.”

Wait. “Wait. Hold on. What?” you sputter, watching him as he attempts to stand up.

“Huh, good job on these stitches,” he says, admiring your handiwork. “They’ll heal up nicely.”

“Rafael,” you say exasperatedly, but he holds his hand up to silence you.

“Considering the amount of patients you have, it might not be the best time to have this conversation,” he answers you, a mischievous grin on his face. “Let’s expand on this during dinner tonight.”

Dinner? With him? Tonight? Holy fuck, everything is moving so fast that you’re overwhelmed. Before he leaves, he pauses next to your shell shocked body and leans in, placing a soft kiss on your cheek. “It’s great to see you again.”

And he leaves. Just like that. As you watch him walk out of the Emergency Department and link up with his other paramedic buddies, you stand still in the spot he left you, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. In your periphery, Zaid’s shrill whistle alerts you to his presence, and he marches his way towards you in his usual Zaid way—overzealously angry.

“What the hell are you doing just standing there? Get that suture cart out of the way and get in ED 5!”

It isn’t until Zaid basically bulldozes you into a patient’s room that you remember you still have a job to do. As he grits his teeth at you, he grunts, “Why are you so smiley all of a sudden?”

You don’t answer, instead logging into the computer to pull up the patient’s chart. As Zaid sighs heavily and gets on with his initial assessment of the patient, you see your reflection in the screen and find that you can’t bite back your smile, no matter how hard you try.

Whenever you’re tangled in Rafael’s arms, you wrap your hand around his curls and just memorize. You memorize the way he feels so that there’s never a chance you’ll forget. The way his hair feels under your fingertips, the musky notes of his scent, the corded muscles on his back—everything, anything, you touch and feel and memorize.

After all, you lost him once, and once was enough for you to learn your lesson. Now, every time Rafael finds himself in your arms, you take in his warmth, his curls, his lips, his eyes, his touch. Clinging onto him as if he’ll go away one day, as if he’ll disappear despite his promises of forever.

Forever isn’t guaranteed. You’re a doctor. You know this. In all your years working in the hospital, from the very first time you set foot in one as a high school volunteer, you’ve seen enough death and destruction and despair to know that life is finite. But you’ll believe Rafael anyway, foolishly. A more rational person would question this way of thinking because it’s stupid, perhaps even irresponsible, for you to hold Rafael’s promises to such high standards.

But your mother once told you that if two people were meant to be, the universe will let it happen. And the universe, for all your faults and flaws, gave you a second chance with Rafael. While you’d like to believe that he is your forever, you definitely aren’t going to take your chances. For now, you memorize and memorize.

Rinse and repeat.

Since the moment you two got back together, officially, Rafael has made it a habit to bring you to the street market near his neighborhood at least once a week.

He says it’s a tradition at this point. The amount of times you beg him to bring you back to your favorite taco place, just so you can buy yourself your favorite carne asada taco as a treat, almost warrants the street market becoming a tradition for you two. Not that you’re complaining about it at all. Any excuse to get your hands on a soft, doughy flour tortilla filled to the brim with carne asada and cebolla y cilantro makes you a happy camper.

Today is no different. After rounding the market to see what each vendor has, you two decide on what to get: unsurprisingly, three carne asada tacos for you, and two chicken tamales for him. He likes the way this vendor makes their masa, and you like the way they make their salsa verde. So, not so secretly, you stash four sauce containers of it while he orders, just so you have enough to completely douse your tacos and his tamales.

“Maybe you should get a fifth cup,” Rafael says, voice oozing with faux concern. “I’m sure Delia didn’t notice you taking her entire stash of salsa verde.”

You give him a pointed look. “If Delia didn’t want me to take her entire stash, maybe she shouldn’t have made it so good? Checkmate, Aveiro.”

“Touché,” he says as you two take a seat at one of the empty tables near the tamale stand. Taking the lid off the container, you excitedly drench your tacos in salsa verde, the green sheen of it reflecting against the fluorescent lights above you. Nothing in the world is more mouthwatering than these tacos. Doesn’t matter if you see them every week. You’d eat them every day if you could, and you just know you won’t get sick of them. Rafael’s eyes crinkle as he laughs, and he coats his own food with the salsa. “God, you really love Delia’s salsa, huh?”

“More than anything,” you answer quickly. “Even you. I’m sorry, babe.”

“Guess we’ll have to ask Delia to cater our wedding, huh?”

“Oh my god, can we really?” you ask, taking a bite out of your food. “Man! Have her work with Oscar from the taco stand because these two together are just perfection. Absolute perfection. I don’t care if the people who come to our wedding hate tacos. They’re going to eat tacos. Period.”

Rafael looks at you thoughtfully, with so much affection in his eyes that you can feel butterflies in your stomach. It almost makes you stop eating. Almost. But your food tastes too good, and you’re too hungry to stop, and it doesn’t matter how he looks at you. You’re digging in.

By the time you finish with your first taco, he still hasn’t touched his food. You quirk your eyebrow and ask him, “Why are you just staring at me? Not hungry?”

“What if we got married? For real?”

He asks it so suddenly that you’re caught incredibly off guard. You make a choked sound, almost spilling the salsa verde all over your clothes.

“W...what?” you ask him, embarrassed at the way you reacted, wiping away the sliver of salsa drooling from your mouth. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to get married. In fact, you’ve thought about this very much, to the point where it was almost obsessive. It’s just that you don’t understand how you stuffing a taco in your mouth brought up a genuine conversation about marriage and what that meant for your futures.

“We’re coming up on two years now. We’ve been through a lot of things, tough things, that we’ve survived through together, and we’ve been living together for a while. Marriage is the next logical step, I think.” He licks his lips, looking down as if he’s nervous to continue. “I know how you feel about marriage—how it's an institution that perpetuates gender roles and how couples don’t need to be married to show that they’re committed to each other. But I’d like to marry you, very much. I truly do.”

“Oh, Raf,” you say, but he immediately cuts you off, sounding panicked.

“And I don’t mean to bring this all up to you so fast. My words sound so garbled because I’m so nervous. I don’t even know why. Just know that I don’t expect an answer immediately and that you don’t have to take my last name. Your last name is on the medical degree that you earned, and I don’t want you to think about changing it for me. We can even take your last name. Or hyphenate. I don’t care. As long as I can marry you and be with you for the rest of my life.”

You’re quiet for a while, taking in everything that he’s said. The man really is wordy when he’s nervous, and he looks like he’s sweating bullets. As you take his hand, you notice how clammy he is, and he looks at you expectantly.

“I can’t imagine marrying anyone but you, Rafael,” you answer, genuinely. The words sound so right coming out from your mouth, and that’s how you know it’s true. Rafael’s always been the one for you. You’ve known ever since the day you met him. Doesn’t matter the speed bumps along the way. All that matters is that you’re here now, together, finally deciding what the future holds for the two of you.

You expect him to look relieved. Instead, he looks exasperated. “God, it took you that long to say that? Can’t you feel how nervous I am?”

You grin and squeeze his hand tightly. “I can. And I’m enjoying it.”

He shakes your hand off his and finally stuffs a forkful of tamale into his mouth. “You’re a riot,” he says, low and steady, shaking his head. Although he tries not to smile, it spills out anyway.

A low hum reverberates in your throat. “A riot that you want to spend the rest of your life with.”

“If you keep that up, I’ll uninvite Delia and Oscar to the wedding.”

“Please don’t. If you do that, they might not give me the recipes for their salsa and tacos!”

“Somehow, I doubt they were going to do that anyways,” he answers, finishing the last of his tamale. “Now let’s hurry up so I can buy you the cream puffs you like.”

As you watch Rafael dig into his second tamale, you think back on the things he mentioned about your opinions on marriage. Marriage was something you didn’t believe in, partly due to your gender studies professor in undergrad and partly due to your parents’ failed marriage. People just get married too young, too fast, and divorce is an ugly, expensive thing. As much as you wanted to believe that true love exists, you couldn’t bear to relive through the hell that was your parents’ relationship, which is why you’ve always abstained from the thought of contractually binding yourself to another person. Images of your parents fighting—the passive aggressiveness, the bad mouthing of the other in hopes that you’d take their side—flit in your mind, a constant reminder that keeps you away from readily admitting that marriage was for you. But you are not your parents. And you will not make the same mistakes they did.

You’re glad your parents got divorced. Separately, they’re wonderful people, but they just didn’t fit. And maybe that’s the key to it all. People are like puzzles: their nooks and crannies have to fit just right in order for you to see the whole picture. So maybe that’s why your parents never worked out. Instead of falling in love with the whole person, they fell in love with fragments, only loving the parts they chose to see. To love a person, you must love them whole. And that’s what’s so different about your relationship with Rafael.

As someone who keeps herself guarded due to the trauma of parental divorce, the idea of soulmates didn’t particularly strike you as reality, but perhaps you’re beginning to think that they are real. Because as you sit here across from Rafael, you finally feel as if you’ve found yours.

The birds are chirping today.

It’s pleasant. Especially since you don’t have an alarm blaring into your left ear every thirty minutes. As you roll over, you sling your arm over a sleeping figure, who snuggles closer to you at the first sense of your touch.

“Mmm...five more minutes...” Rafael’s voice is low and scratchy in the morning. It reminds you of how sandpaper feels. You fling your leg over him, and now your whole body is cuddling him. Kind of like a sloth.

“No one’s asking you to get out of bed, silly,” you murmur, giving him a soft kiss at the top of his head.

“Good,” he says, craning his neck upwards to return a kiss to your lips. “Don’t wanna get up. This weighted blanket you bought was a good investment.”

“If it keeps you in bed with me, then I’d say it’s a pretty good investment too.”

He chuckles at that, opening his eyes a peek. His eyes are just so brown that it makes your heart ache. They’re so beautiful, especially in the sunlight, and it’s so surprising that he doesn’t think they’re anything special. As you push the bits of his bangs covering his eyes, you two stare at each other for a moment and share a knowing smile.

You think it’s fair to say that you’ve never truly known love until now.

“You gotta stop buying things that’ll keep me in bed, babe,” he grumbles, closing his eyes for a moment. “I won’t be able to get up for work.”

“Here’s an idea, then,” you begin, closing your eyes too. You listen to his breathing, so soft to the point of silence, and wrap your arms around him more tightly than before. “You and I both call in sick today. We stay in bed. Maybe even kiss a little.”

“Tempting,” he says, a smile dancing on his lips. “But as much as I’d like to kiss you all day, I gotta pay for my half of rent.”

“Alright, alright.” You throw the weighted blanket off you but leave his side intact. “You stay in bed for now, and because I love you so much, I’m going to cook you breakfast.”

Once you slide off the bed and put on your fuzzy slippers, you trudge towards the kitchen in a sleep-deprived haze. But before you can reach the door, you hear Rafael say, “Wait.”

You turn around to find him sitting up on the bed, body leaning languidly as he eyes you. “You know that I love you, right? And that I don’t know what the hell I did to deserve someone like you?”

Bemused, you lean against the doorway with a smirk on your face. “And this is suddenly coming up because?”

He shrugs. “Dunno. I know that I tell you I love you every day, but today feels different. Might be a special day for us.”

“You sound like my Co-Star app,” you tell him. He laughs at that and waves you off, pulling your weighted blanket over his head. As you make your way into the kitchen, you look at your phone.

5:49 am.

Today will be a special day. You just know it.

“What’s going on?” Sienna asks, frantic.

As Zaid and Ines lead a group towards the Emergency Department, you feel a chill going through your spine. There’s no reason to have this many residents working in the ED, unless—

“We’re running triage,” Zaid says, more solemnly than you’ve ever heard him in your life. “Huge fire downtown. It’s chaos in the ED, and we need all hands on deck.”

“Why are they coming here?�� asks Jackie. “Mass Kenmore is a Level I Trauma Center. Are there really that many patients that they had to bring some to Edenbrook?”

“I’m afraid so,” Ines answers her, voice trembling a bit too much for comfort. “According to reports, the fire spread so quickly that it was almost impossible to get people out.”

That does not sound good. At all. As Zaid and Ines rattle on about the specifics of the situation, you can’t help but worry about Rafael. Your mind always wanders to him, instinctively. There’s no doubt in your mind that he’s on scene, helping as many people as he can, because he’s always been one to go above and beyond for people in situations like these, even if that meant endangering himself. Rafael won’t let you change that, won’t let you stop him from doing his job, and so you don’t. All you can do right now is hope that he’s safe wherever the hell he is.

The second you fly through the doors of the Emergency Department, a breath gets caught in your throat. Zaid wasn’t kidding when he was saying ED was in a state of chaos. You’ve never seen so many burn patients in your life. As you start giving out tags, you worry that the endless flurry of patients will never end but worry more that the flurry will end with people you know.

Walking into ED 13, you find that your patient is conscious but barely. His oxygen saturation is dangerously low, and the nurses have already put him on oxygen to stabilize his vitals. You take note of his wheezing and the red tinge on his skin. Must have been a terrible, terrible fire for all of this to happen to so many people. You can’t count how many patients you’ve seen today that look like the one right in front of you.

To your relief, he starts perking up the second he sees you. As you approach him, you see a few second-degree burns you didn’t notice before and make a mental note to chart that the second you get a chance to. “Mr. Huston, I’m your doctor for this afternoon. How are you feeling right now?”

“Honestly, I’ve been better.” The man can still joke, but a violent wave of coughs soon takes over him. “Have...have you seen my wife? I been...askin’ around, but...none of the nurses...”

“Take it easy, Jamal,” you caution him. “Breathe in and out of that mask for me, will you?”

He listens. Now, with more oxygen in his system, he takes the mask off and continues. “My wife was in the building when the fire started. Went there to visit her...then one thing led to another...and...”

“Fire broke out?”

Mr. Huston wheezes as he nods.

“Did you breathe in a ton of smoke while you were in the building?”

“Not as much as other people thanks to this nice young paramedic that pulled me out.”

You try to bite back a smile as Mr. Huston tells the story of the nice young paramedic’s heroics. Of course, Rafael’s out there doing his thing, rescuing people from burning buildings, performing CPR on victims without pulses, and being an all-around good fucking human being. From what Mr. Huston tells you, Rafael is doing things that are way above his pay grade, but you didn’t expect any less. He’s always been so selfless.

“Mr. Huston, where did this paramedic go after he pulled you out from the building?”

“I thought he came with me...did he not?”

Huh. You swore you haven’t seen Rafael around. As giant as Edenbrook’s Emergency Department was, you would have seen him at least once, considering that you’ve been rounding the entire unit like crazy. He must have been in and out of the ED to go back to the building site, or he was in the bathroom taking a break.

Either way, you don’t think anything of it. If anything, Mr. Huston’s story is a confirmation that Rafael is safe and alive, and in a day as crazy as today, that’s all you need. As you finish your assessment of Mr. Huston, you move over to the nurse’s station, logging into a computer to chart Mr. Huston’s signs and symptoms.

A bell chimes to notify all ED staff that the next wave of ambulances are arriving in T minus one minute. The paramedics arrive earlier than that, quickly surging through the ambulance bay doors, transporting patients to the very little overflow beds the ED has. One of the paramedics in particular catches your eye, and a look of recognition flashes over his face. It then quickly turns into a look of sympathy.

When you look closer, you realize that it’s Rafael’s partner, Max. He’s got several second-degree burns all over his arms, and his typically freshly-pressed uniform looks disheveled and charred.

That chills that runs down your spine? It returns. Stronger, this time. But you don’t understand why.

It isn’t until you look down onto the gurney he’s pushing that you realize what it is he’s so sympathetic about.

“Raf?”

You hear yourself scream but don’t remember commanding your body to do so. Somehow, your body drags itself from your spot at the nurse’s station, and you try to get to him before several nurses stop you. “Doctor, doctor,” one of the nurses says, eyes flashing in panic, “you need to calm down. We can’t help him if you can’t calm down.”

Despite her pleas, you rip past everyone trying to hold you back, lashing out at them to stay away.

You rush towards him, fat tears beginning to roll down your cheeks in waves. “Raf? Raf, can you hear me?” As you get to his side, you immediately begin to assess, your heart beating so heavily that you feel as if it’s going to explode.

You listen to his breathing, and it’s labored, as if he’s struggling to fill his lungs. His eyes, the very same ones you were just admiring this morning, are dull and lifeless. His skin is crackled, like a burning log, dark flakes peeling off with the slightest puff of air.

All you can do is freeze.

Time slows down when the world feels like it’s ending. This you know because right here, right now, as you stand beside the unconscious body of the love of your life, the world truly seems like it’s about to end.

You can’t even touch his fucking face. You can’t touch his hands, his arms, or even his waist because everything seems so fragile. His mouth is agape, and in it, you can see how dry his tongue is and how soot from the fire has dried on his lips. You can’t bear to look at him, not like this, in this condition. So, as you grip the railing of the gurney, your knuckles paling at the sheer force of it, your eyes flash towards his partner.

You can’t even see Max clearly because your tears blind your sight. This is just so pathetic.

“What happened?” you ask quietly. When he doesn’t answer, you ask louder. “What happened?”

“He...he went inside the building,” Max says, on the verge of tears. “After he pulled out the man in ED 13, we heard a woman yelling for help deep inside. She barely got out before the ceiling collapsed on him.” A beat passes before the tears start flowing down his cheeks, and his voice starts to crack. “I...I promise, I told him not to go, I told him—”

“Doesn’t matter what you told him, he was never going to listen,” you cut him off, bitterly wallowing in the fact that Rafael was too selfless for his own good.

Your own tears have streaked your face a dozen times over, and you can taste nothing but salt. It’s difficult to look down at the body lying on the gurney in front of you. All the parts of Rafael that made him Rafael were dimmed, if not gone completely. There were no more silly grins that you always saw even when you weren’t doing anything inherently funny, no more warm, strong arms to fall into when you found yourself crying over the littlest things, and no more big brown eyes to admire in the morning. As you look down at those brown eyes, hoping to see them once more, you find that, rather than seeing them glazed over, they’re transfixed directly on you.

“Raf, oh my god,” you wail, getting as close to him as you possibly can. His mouth, as dry as it is, twitches into a smile, and he reaches out to cup your chin in his palm.

“My love,” he answers, voice so weak that you can mistake it for silence.

“Raf, what did you do?” you sob.

“What I had to do,” is all he rasps out.

“You’re hurt,” you say, voice quivering. “You’re hurt, and you have so many burns...we...we need to order skin grafts...your lungs are damaged due to smoke inhalation...I just...I can’t do this, Raf, I can’t do this without you.”

More tears stream down your face, all the way to his hands. Although you want to believe otherwise, the damage to his body is severe, and you know he’s not going to make it. Somewhere in his eyes, you can sense that he knows too.

“Let me hold your hand,” he says, after a moment of silence between you both. He grasps your hand tightly, as tightly as he can, and shuts his eyes. Between labored breaths, he manages to say, “You are my forever.”

This is his goodbye. There are no grand exits for Rafael Aveiro. Just simple ones. And of all the things he could have said, he chose to remind you that he will be with you for as long as you live.

At the end of the day, that was the best thing about Raf. He died as he lived—feeling and caring and loving too much. And you’ll take that with you, into forever.

“You’re mine too, Raf,” you answer back, bringing his hand to your cheek.

He smiles one last time. As minutes pass, his grip lessens and his chest stops rising. When a nurse silently walks up next to you, you continue to hold his hand tightly, silent tears rolling down your face.

In all your years working in the hospital, you’ve seen enough death and destruction and despair to know that life is finite, but the finality of life has never felt so painful as it does right now. As you exhale a shaky breath, you open your eyes and say the words you wish you never had to say about someone you loved so much.

“Time of death: 2:34 pm.”

Rafael’s grandmother asked you to speak at the funeral. It was a difficult speech to prepare, considering the circumstances. While you wish nothing more than to send Rafael a proper goodbye, you were in no state to prepare any arrangements of any kind. Just typing “good afternoon” on the Word document brought you to tears.

But you did it anyways. If not for Rafael’s grandmother, for Rafael himself. He, of all people, deserved it.

When you stand up on the podium, you scan the crowd to see familiar faces. Everyone you know is there, including Chief Banerji and Dr. Ramsey. You’re even surprised to see that Sora is in attendance, sitting all the way in the back row with misty eyes and a sympathetic smile on her face.

Clearing your throat, you start to speak. “Good afternoon, family and friends. I want to start off this speech by saying Rafael would not have wanted us to mourn him. That is why I wrote this speech as a celebration of life because we should celebrate the life of someone as beautiful as Rafael Aveiro.

“The first time I met Raf was when we were both on call. He had just saved someone, which is always the way we met up during the first year of our relationship. When I asked him if he really went into a burning inferno to save someone, he answered, matter-of-factly: ‘Well yeah...wouldn’t you?’ And that interaction tells you everything you really need to know about Raf. He cared so much about others, even if it put him in danger. He loved his job, he loved his patients, and he loved pushing himself beyond the boundaries of his job description.

“I think that’s what drew us so closely together, what bound us together for life. Healthcare is a field where you’re fully devoted to strangers, where you’re constantly pushing yourself to be better so you can treat your patients to the best of your ability. And Rafael was so damn good at it, so damn good at his job. He loved people. He loved others. At the expense of himself. But I’ll never fault him for that. Raf’s sacrifice meant that someone else’s family member got to live, and at the end of the day, that’s what he lived for.

“The woman he saved that day was the wife of one of my patients. The two got separated in the fire, and Raf made sure that she would be able to get out and see to live another day. He was so selfless, so worthy of a long, fulfilling life. And while it’ll never get easier to refer to him as the past, I hope he knows that he will always be a big part of my future, wherever it’ll take me. Take care, Rafael, and may you rest in peace.”

As you finish your speech with a shaky breath, an applause erupts from the audience. Rafael’s grandmother is the most visibly shaken by your speech, and when you take your seat, she grabs your hand and squeezes it tightly, not letting go until the end of the service.

The service itself was a long and arduous process. You looked away at certain parts, hoping that Rafael’s grandmother didn’t see just how much you were sobbing. After all, it’s never easy to see the cremated remains of the love of your life. Looking away doesn’t make you forget that he’s gone, but it saved you from seeing another reminder of your reality.

Afterwards, once everyone gives their condolences, his grandmother comes up to you again. She looks at you, sad and mournful, and that’s all it takes for you to burst into tears. Bringing her hand up to wipe your tears away, she hushes you gently and takes you into her arms.

“You know he loved you, right?” she asks you, softly. All you do is nod because you can’t seem to croak any words out. “He loved you so much. I’ve never seen that boy so head over heels for a girl. Even asked me for our family ring so he can ask you to marry him.”

You pull back, surprised. “He did?”

“He did,” grandmother says, nodding to confirm. “He even went to the jeweler to resize it for you, just so it’ll fit on your finger when he proposed.” She steps back to appraise you with a sorrowful smile on her lips. “I wouldn’t have given it to him just for any girl, you know. The universe wanted you two together. I just knew.”

You nod, smiling through the tears. You know it did. Just not in this timeline.

Sure enough, when you finally have the strength to look through his drawers, you find that there’s an engagement ring nestled inside a small box deep within his underwear drawer. It’s beautiful—all jade-colored with gold details. And just as his grandmother said to you, it was a perfect fit.

More often than not, you think back on that day. You think of things you could have done better. Maybe if you got him on fluids, maybe if you ordered a skin graft as soon as you saw him, maybe if you just convinced him to stay home that day, he would still be alive.

But some things are just out of your control. Even if you got him to stay home, he would have hopped in the car the second he heard about the emergency. Even if you ordered a skin graft on time, there was too much surface area on his body to cover. Even if you had gotten him on fluids, he was already at the point of no return by the time you got to his body.

Too many things going wrong, too little time.

Medicine is all quantifiable data and qualitative research. As powerful as that is, it couldn’t go against death, and it couldn’t go against fate. There is nothing that is humanly designed that can go against the universe.

While that may seem terrible, it is what it is. Life is cruel. It is selfish and impatient. It takes as it gives, and it is unremorseful.

But life is also beautiful. It still gave you Rafael. It gave you his warmth in the morning and in the night, his soft kisses, and his comforting hugs. It gave you his empathy for others, his love for Caribbean food, and his dedication to his patients. It gave you a chance at knowing what true love feels like, despite believing your entire life that you’ll never find it.

Life may be fleeting, but that’s why you’ll decide to live it day by day. Because that's what Rafael would have wanted.

And you wouldn’t want to live life any other way.

[sluggybasson107]

The Christmas Gift

Digimon

Pairing: (Gen) Ken and Yamato

8041 Words

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. All Digimon related content belongs to Akiyoshi Hongo and Toei Animation

Summary: As Christmas comes closer, the Chosen Children decide to do Secret Santa this year. Both Yamato and Ken learn two things. One, there’s always more to a gift than it seems. And two, friends can come from places you least expect it.

A/N: Wow, this is my first Digimon fanfic! I was a little uncertain about posting it, but I thought it would be a fun read! It was written for NaNoWriMo2020. The only thing I want to mention is that I did not use honorifics only to make it easier for me.

Hope you enjoy it!

Part One

Ken

Winter was here. The cool breeze was soft and cold, carrying fluffy snowflakes to the ground. The sunset creates an atmosphere of a warm, fuzzy evening. The sidewalk is moist with the snow on the ground. Parts were a mixture of snow and water. Mush? It sure feels like it. Kids were outside together, building snowmen and snow angels. Adults chatted, holding containers of lattes and coffee which gave them warmth. I thought that I could enjoy a silent, peaceful walk. And it was for the most part, except for-

“Ken, are you even listening?” Daisuke asked, with annoyance in his tone. He looked at me with a glare, waiting for an answer that he knew well.

“Um, I’m sorry Daisuke, I zoned out.” A blush crept on my face. “I want to hear what you said. Do you mind if you repeat it?” Daisuke’s face became soft, forgetting about the little incident. He started to repeat what he said.

“Well, I was thinking that all the Chosen Children should do a Secret Santa this year. December is starting in a few days. And this way, we don’t need to worry about getting everyone a gift.” He paused, then he frowned. “I thought it was a good idea, but apparently to you, it wasn’t that important for you to listen to!”

“Look, I didn’t mean too! It happens sometimes!” I proclaimed. Daisuke grinned at my response.

We stopped in front of his apartment building. I pushed open the lobby door. “What do you think about it? You feel like it’ll be fun?” I felt his eyes on me, waiting for an answer. 

Is Secret Santa a good idea? There is so much that I don’t know about the other Chosen Children. Even after we defeated BelialVamdemon, I felt distant with some of the Chosen Children, especially the older six. What if I got one of them? This whole thing could end up embarrassing me in front of everyone.

“Earth to Ken! Are you there?” Daisuke was waving his hand in front of my face. “You’re daydreaming again. If you are going to do this all night, then what’s the point of you coming over?” Daisuke’s teasing tone said otherwise.

“I need to think.” A grin grew on my face as we entered the elevator. “Besides, who’s going to help you with your homework?”

Daisuke pressed his floor number. Then he started to tap his head with one hand and put the other on his chin, exaggerating a thinking expression. “I could ask my sister. She loves to help me!” Daisuke deadpanned. We both looked at each other, then burst out laughing as we left the elevator. “Seriously though, what do you think about it?” He opened the door to his apartment for me.

“We’ll worry about that later. We need to focus on your homework for now.” Daisuke groaned in response. After a quick hello from his parents, we walked inside his room. Daisuke dropped his bag on the ground, and we sat down to work.

Daisuke was looking down at the math problem, his face covered with concentration. He was struggling with finding the median and interquartile range. I’ve been helping him understand how to figure it out. I agreed that if he got this problem correct, we could take a break.

“Daisuke, it’s been five minutes. I need an answer.” I poked him with a pencil. Daisuke sighed, then repositioned himself. He continued to stare at the piece of paper with concentration, not giving me an answer.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and he snapped his head up. “Thirty-four! Both are thirty-four!” A grin grew on his face as he saw my nod of approval. “I did it, Ken!” He got up and did a little dance, pointing to the sky. I couldn't help but feel happy for him too. I neatened up his papers as Daisuke headed for the door. “Come on, Mom should be done with dinner.” As we walked out of the room, the smell of soba hit me in the face. My stomach made quiet grumbling noises in response. I glanced at the clock. It’s already six? That explains a lot.

I pulled out a chair next to Daisuke as his mother came over with dinner. Soon after, Jun and her father joined us at the table. Everyone started to dig in after they were ready. I brought my chopsticks holding soba to my mouth. Once I had one bite, I wanted more. I looked around and saw that everyone thought the same. Except for an exchange or two, everyone was too busy stuffing food in their mouth.

Daisuke took a break from slurping his noodles. “Wow, this is great Mom! Those cooking lessons are paying off, aren't they?” Jun nodded in agreement.

I stopped eating, resting my chopsticks on the bowl. “It was delicious, Mrs. Motomiya. I’m impressed.”

His mother beamed from all the compliments. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it! It took a lot of work to put the right amount of salt and flour in it.”

Everyone seemed to finish up their soba because Daisuke’s family left the table. Daisuke turned to me. “Did you make up your mind? About my idea?”

Great. I sighed as I was bracing myself for backlash because of my answer. “I’m too scared,” I stated. Daisuke’s face filled with confusion. He waited for me to expand more. He must have thought that it was a dumb response. I don’t blame him.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine Ken. You won’t be the only one who gets assigned someone that they are not close to.” Daisuke’s face went dark and he started to shudder. “What if I get Mimi? Or worse, Jyou?” I laughed in response, feeling better about the idea. I suddenly felt Daisuke’s hand on my shoulder. “You can be honest with me Ken. If you don’t want to, I’ll drop the subject.” Daisuke gave me his famous smile as he spoke.

“No. I'll do it. I want to get to know everyone better.” I said with a burst of courage. “Besides, I’m dying to see what you get for your person.” I grinned. But secretly, I felt that this will go bad.

Yamato

Taichi is always happy after school. Always. But Taichi was way too cheerful today. The way he bounced over and sat next to me on the bench was a dead giveaway. He must have been holding in some ‘exciting’ news. He kept on glancing at me as we waited for Sora. It was starting to annoy me.

It was one of those rare days where Sora, Taichi, and I had no activities after school. I ignored Taichi as I watched the school entrance. Well, I tried.

“Can you please stop staring at me like a weirdo?” I snapped at Taichi. A smile grew on his face because he had my attention.

“What do you mean? I’m not staring at you!” He put on an innocent face. “It’s only in your imagination Yamato!” I tried moving away from him, but he leaned on me in such an exaggerated way. He had all of his weight resting on the left part of my body. Most people passing by were probably thinking that he was trying to snuggle with me, which was not the case.

As Sora walked out of the school entrance and headed towards us, I slipped off of the bench, making Taichi fall off the bench and yelled a high pitch scream.

“Yamato! I’m gonna get you back for that!” Taichi got up from the ground and headed towards me, with revenge in his eyes. Before I could react, he grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled his hand back for a punch.

Smack!

I suddenly saw Taichi fly from my vision, and Sora replaced him. “What are you doing!” Sora yelled.

“What am I doing? You should ask your boyfriend! He made me fall on the ground!” Taichi countered, having an over dramatic look on his face.

“It was probably for a good reason!” Sora glared at Taichi, and he returned it. Sora offered her hand to Taichi and he took it. She then pulled him up. Her attention shifted to me. “Yamato, are you okay? Did Taichi hurt you anywhere?” She looked me over.

“Sora, this is only Taichi we’re talking about. He’s as dangerous as a puppy.” I said with a smirk. Taichi was about to retort, but Sora stood between us.

“Okay boys, settle down. We need to start heading home.” Sora walked away from us, and not wanting to get on Sora’s bad side, Taichi and I followed quietly.

After some awkward silence between us as we headed to our homes, Taichi suddenly lit up with the same energy as before.

“I forgot! Did any of you guys hear from Daisuke recently?” Taichi’s face was etched. Sora was baffled as she glanced at me. We both shook our head no. His smile grew. “Well, Daisuke came up with the spectacular idea of doing Secret Santa! Doesn’t that sound fun!” Taichi ran ahead as he turned our way, walking backwards. “The anticipation of figuring out who your Secret Santa is! Getting the perfect gift for your assigned person!” Taichi added many hand movements along with his reasoning. “I thought it was a great idea. What do you guys think?”

Sora had a soft smile on her face. “That sounds wonderful. I’m sure everyone will agree. Right, Yamato?” Both of them stared at me, waiting for me to agree. But I didn’t feel like this was a good idea.

“Uh, maybe I’ll sit out.” frowns immediately replaced their smiles. “You guys can do it though!”

Taichi went up to me and hugged my arm. “Come on Yamato! What’s the worst that can happen? It’s just for fun!” Taichi’s face was pleading. I shook him off of my arm.

“No Taichi.” Both of them looked at me, waiting for me to break and say yes. Both plodded and frowned.

“Yamato, I want to participate. You can’t expect me to do it alone, without my boyfriend?” Sora complained, with a pout.

“I’m sorry, but it’s no. And that’s final.” Taichi and Sora stopped walking and looked at me, giving me puppy eyes. I wanted them to be happy, but I do not want to participate in Secret Santa. No way.

But the way they looked at me in such a sad way. This was one of my closest friend and girlfriend crying out loud. I can’t say no.

Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say-

“I’ll do it.” 

They both cheered and did a high five.

Date: December 3rd, 2004

From: Miyako

To: Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koshirou, Mimi, Jyou, Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke, Iori, Ken

Subject: Secret Santa

Hello everyone!

I don’t know if all of you heard, but Daisuke came up with the idea yesterday of doing Secret Santa this year! I asked my siblings to mix up all of your names and send you an email of your assigned person. You should get them tomorrow if everything goes right!

We’re planning on exchanging gifts on the 23rd of December, so be ready then!

Please email me today if you do not want to participle (but please take part in it!)

See you later~

Miyako ♡

Ken

“What are you doing with your friends Ken?” Mom asked as she turned off the television. 

“We’re doing a Secret Santa this year.” I informed her while I helped her collect the dishes from the dinner table, “They’re announcing the person we got tonight.” Mom grabbed the plates out of my hand and placed them in the sink.

“That sounds fun! Who’s announcing the names?” I grabbed my schoolbag, checking through all my homework to see if I completed it all.

“The Inoue siblings are!” Wormmon announced, waddling towards us. “Not including Miyako of course.”

Mom glanced at a nearby clock and frowned. “You would think that they would have told you already. It’s getting late.”

Right as she said that, I received an email on my D-Terminal. Both Wormmon and Mom walked over, wanting to know who it’s from. I grabbed it and saw the messenger.

“They announced it.” I looked away, not wanting to see who I got. What if it was someone bad? Even if I know the person well, what if they don’t like what I get them? I should have never agreed to this. 

I shoved the D-Terminal to my mother. “You read it.” 

She grabbed the D-Terminal, and she let Wormmon see. 

“‘Congratulations! You got Ishida Yamato as your assigned person! Hopefully, he’ll like your gift!’ Signed, Chizuru, Momoe, and Mantarou.” Mom read out loud. She furrowed her eyebrows. “Who’s that?”

“He’s part of the older Chosen Children. He was the one who helped out in Mexico with me, Ken, and Gabumon!” Wormmon elucidated. Then they started to go back and forth, talking about Yamato.

I headed into the bathroom and took out my toothbrush and toothpaste. Is he a good person or a bad person to get? I know he’s into music. I could ask Takeru or Sora his favorite band of his at the moment and get him some merchandise for them, but would that seem too generic? His first reaction to that would be that I put little thought into it. He’s just too hard to read. I guess it could be worse. Maybe I can get him some cooking utensils, or a new guitar strap. I spat out the remaining toothpaste in my mouth. Wouldn’t he want something that he can be emotionally attached to, instead of some gear?

“Ken?” Wormmon grabbed onto my leg. “You okay, you’ve left the water running for a while.” I snapped back into reality and turned the faucet off. There was suddenly a knock on the door frame. I glanced over to see Mom with her hand extended out towards me with the D-Terminal.

A soft smile grew on her face. “Here,” I took the D-Terminal. I realized that there was some money with it. “you can use this to get him something.”

“You don’t need to do that! Mom, I have some money.” I tried to hand her back the bills, but she shook her head.

“It’s fine. I want you to use it all. Goodnight Ken.” Before I could protest, she headed out of the bathroom. Wormmon headed for my room and motioned to follow.

“Are you glad you got Yamato?” Wormmon climbed up the ladder leading to my bed.

I shut the door and took off my shirt and pants. “I don’t know,” I responded. I slid on my pajamas.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wormmon looked down at me, leaning on the pole surrounding the bed.

I sighed while climbing up the ladder. “I don’t know how he’ll react to my gift.”

“He’ll love it Ken, no matter how bad it is.” I pulled the covers over us.

“I hope so Wormmon.”

Yamato

Since when did it get this cold? I know it’s past dinner time, but the temperature dropped tremendously. There was barely anyone on the sidewalks. Not that I thought there would be.

I crossed the last road as I approached the apartments. Walking inside the lobby was like being in summer. I took off my guitar case and jacket as I nodded to the attendant and headed towards my room.

I unlocked and opened the door. “Dad, I’m home!” I announced. I flicked on the lights. Was he home? I dropped my stuff inside my room. “Dad?”

I guess he was working overnight again. Then I’ll have to prepare his lunch tomorrow. What’s something that we haven't had in a while?

My phone starts to ring. 

“Hello?” I spoke into the receiver.

“Hi, Yamato! Have you checked your inbox lately?” Sora’s voice came from the phone.

“No, I haven't. Did they announce the names?” I wedged my phone between my shoulder and neck as I started to gather ingredients to make yakiniku. 

“They did!” Sora informed me. I pulled up my recent emails. “Who’d you get?”

“I’m not going to tell you Sora!” A laugh was heard from the other side. “I’m checking right no-”

Congrats! You have been chosen to be Ichijouji Ken’s Secret Santa! Have fun getting him a gift!

From, Chizuru, Momoe, and Mantarou

Ken was my person.

I dropped my soy sauce on the floor.

Part Two

Ken

I faced the entrance to a clothing store. Yes, the boy genius Ichijouji Ken can’t seem to figure out what Yamato would like for Christmas, so he resorted to clothes. You might think that he knows exactly what he’s looking for, but he doesn't have a clue.

I took a deep breath as I entered the store with the sixty dollars that my mother gave me.

“Welcome! Do you need help finding anything?” A store employee said, greeting me as I walked into the clothes store.

“No, I’m fine.” I walked away before they could ask me anything more. What does Yamato wear? Every single time I’ve seen him, he’s wearing black. I guess I can get him some black clothes, but wouldn’t that seem like a plain gift? Are there black clothes that pop out more? 

I walked up to the cashier who was folding some clothes. “Hello. Do you have any clothes for men that are black?” 

The woman looked up with a smile. “Can you get a little more descriptive? There are too many clothes that are black here.”

“Uh, shirts or jackets for men that are edgy?” Is that what Yamato’s into?

The store clerk smirked at me. “I see. You’re into that style of clothing.”

My face went red as a cut watermelon. “No, it’s for a friend. He seems to wear clothes that are black a lot,” I sighed. “But I can’t tell what he exactly wants.”

Her face turned sympathetic as she put away the clothes that she folded. “Maybe you try looking at this.” She went in the back and came out with a bunch of coats.

I picked up the top one. It was a dark grey leather jacket with a fuzzy inside. It seemed decent, but would Yamato like it? I looked at the next few, but none of them stuck out to me.

“Do none of them seem good?” The clerk started to grab the clothes that I set aside.

“I don’t think he’ll like any of them.” I glanced around the store, but nothing seemed good enough for him.

“Well, I can look at more dark colored shirts and jackets if you give me his shirt size.” She stood there, waiting for an answer. I didn’t know his shirt size! I felt my face go back to a dark red.

“Um, well…” I trailed off. She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know his size. For anything.”

The store clerk broke out in a laugh. I couldn’t help but laugh along at my ignorance. “I’m afraid I can’t help you much then. Maybe you could visit later.” 

“I’ll do that. Thank you.” She gave me a friendly wave and smiled as she went in the other direction. 

I felt that I failed as I walked out of the store. What was I thinking, going to a clothing store unprepared like that? All I learned from that was that this was going to be arduous.

Yamato

“Yamato? What’s the matter?” Takeru’s voice came through the phone.

I sat on the couch. “What’s been popular with boys your age.”

“Um, what do you mean by that?”

I thought about my word choice. I can’t give away that I want ideas for Secret Santa. “What new games or toys or whatever has been popular with the kids in your grade?” Why do I have to sound so obvious?

Takeru’s side went silent. Did he make the connection that I have Ken?

“Well, there is something.” I heard Takeru boot up his computer.

“I’ve-I mean, other boys have been wanting this new game that came out a week ago.” My phone got a notification. “I sent you the name by email. You can look at that. I gotta go, bye!” He hung up before I could respond.

I checked the game’s name and I typed it into our computer. The game seemed to be different from your average game. It at least seemed interesting. Maybe Ken would like it. I decided to look into it more. I read the description of the game.

And saw what this particular game contained.

Let’s just say, I yelped as I closed the tab as quickly as possible.

“You know, you used to complain about me leaving piles of stuff out in the open. Now, look at you.” Dad came inside the apartment to me being surrounded by magazines.

“This is a one-time thing, Dad.” I flipped the page of the magazine I had in my hand to see some soccer gear that was being advertised.

He walked over and peered at my magazines. “What are these for anyway?”

“I’m looking for a gift for Ken. We’re doing a Secret Santa this year.”

“Is Ken that intelligent kid? Wouldn’t he want something that has to do with school?” He headed for the fridge and took out last night’s meal.

I shut the magazine and sighed. “Dad, no kid wants a textbook for Christmas. Even smart ones.” I started to think of the possibility of getting Ken a textbook for Secret Santa. If I did that, everyone would laugh at me. And Ken would be there disappointed in me. I can’t do that.

“Well, what does he like to do in his free time? You can’t think too much about it.” Dad patted my shoulder. “You’re his friend. You can do this.”

“We haven't talked much since we went to Mexico. I don’t know if I can say I’m his friend.”

“Then use this opportunity to become his friend.” Dad headed into his room, leaving me at the table alone. I started to clean up my pile of magazines until I saw one contain news about the new manga that got released, and that’s when it hit me. A book! How come I didn’t think of that? I darted to the computer as I looked up new books for adolescents.

I finally felt like I was on to something.

Ken

I sat in front of my computer, typing all sorts of things in the search engine. From ‘best gifts to give to teens 2004’ to ‘mom Christmas ideas for boys’

If anyone saw me do this, I would be dead.

“Ken, you’ve been typing for more than an hour, you must have found something for him.” Wormmon hunched over the computer top, blocking my view of the screen.

“Nothing seems to be good enough.” I pushed myself away from my desk and crossed my arms. “What would Yamato like?

“Well, Yamato loves to perform. He spends loads of time on gigs. What’s something that you can get him for that?” Wormmon crawled off of the computer and jumped on my lap.

“It’s not like I could buy him a new guitar.”

“Then get him something he can have while performing.” Something while performing? I can’t get him a new outfit for concerts, I learned that the hard way. I can’t get him any gear because that could be way too expensive. What could he use on stage? It can’t be too noticeable. Then an idea came to me. I scooted my chair to the computer then searched up ‘Teen-Age Wolves Japanese band concert’ and images of Yamato’s band came up. It took a glance at Yamato’s hand for me to realize that my new idea can work.

Yamato

Deep breaths Yamato, deep breaths. You’re just going to go inside a school. You do this every day, what’s the worst that could happen? I pushed open the school doors. It’s not like you are going to be arrested. Hopefully.

The male at the window looked at me and motioned me to come over. “Hello! What are you here for?”

“I was wondering if I could look at the books Ichijouji Ken checked out recently.” I felt my cheeks turn into a cherry as I spoke. “I need him to get a gift for Christmas, and I thought he would like a book. But I don’t know what he reads.” I knew this was a horrible idea. I don't know how I’m going to live with this.

Everyone in the room stared at me. “You’re kidding me, right?” The male started to laugh, and everyone joined in. “You don’t even go here!”

“I know it’s such a weird request, but if you could at least have the librarian say what types of books he enjoys, I’ll leave without any trouble.” The people in the office shared a look, and one of them shrugged. The man turned around to face me.

“If the librarian allows it and you give me your name, then we could.” The man smirked at me. “The story behind this is way too absurd to ignore.”

Relief flooded through me. “Thank you so much. I’m Ishida Yamato. I attend Odaiba Middle School.”

“Ishida Yamato? The singer from ‘Teen-Age Wolves’?” A woman in the office spoke.

I nodded. “Yes. You know us?”

“Yes, my daughter loves your band! Do you mind if you...” The woman held out a piece of paper with a faint blush. I grabbed it and looked at her with an eyebrow raised. “To Yutsuko.” I finished the message and gave it back. “Thank you, she’ll love it.”

“Ichijouji Ken? Let me see.” The librarian typed in his name into the computer. “Oh! I know exactly what he loves to read!” The librarian got up from her desk and grabbed two books. She placed them in front of me. I’ve never heard of these titles before.

“He loves these books?” I asked, examining the top book.

“He does! He’s already read those two though.” The librarian paused, thinking. “The third and final book comes out in a week. He’s super excited about it. The school is going to get a copy, but I don’t know when we can because the books are flying off the shelves. The series is popular at the moment. If you want me to, I can find different books that he likes.”

“No, this is perfect!” I blurted. People in the library stared at me with disapproval. “Thank you so much,” I whispered.

The librarian nodded. “He’ll love it.”

Ken

I gripped my piece of paper with vice as the car pulled to a stop. My mother in the driver seat unbuckled her seatbelt and I followed.

“You ready?” She gave me a reassuring smile. I nodded as I opened the car door.

We walked into the jewelry store and the cashier greeted us. I felt the weight of the sixty dollars in my pocket as I walked up to him.

“Hello! Do you need help with anything?” The employee asked with a smile.

“Could I make an order for a custom necklace?” I passed the piece of paper to him, and he nodded.

“It could be done.” He grabbed some sheets of paper. “Here are your options.” There were different designs on the paper for custom necklaces. They all looked great, but the one on the third row stood out to me the most. 

I looked at Mom. “You think the third one looks good?” She nodded. I looked back at the employee. “The third one please.”

We gave him the information that was required. At the end of the transaction, he told us the price. “Okay, that’ll be eighty-five dollars and sixty cents.” I froze. That’s more than what I had!

“Here.” My mother pulled out some bills and the man accepted. Before I could protest, she took the receipt and dragged me out of there. What was she doing?

Right when we entered the car, I shouted at her. “Mom! Why’d you paid for that? Eighty dollars is way too much!”

She smiled at me. “Yamato will love it.”

“I know that! But that’s going too far!” I put the sixty dollars I was planning on spending in her purse. “Nobody pays that much for Secret Santa. Let’s go back and cancel the order.” Before I could leave, she spoke.

“It’s just that,” she sighed. “I’ve never seen you so excited.” My face turned red. “You’ve been trying so hard to get a gift for him. You don’t want that to be wasted, do you?”

I shook my head.

“I’m glad that’s settled then.” She pulled out of our parking spot before I could stop her.

Yamato

Right when I went home, I went to the author’s website. She’s doing a signing near here. It also comes with her new book for free. If I could get her to sign a copy to Ken, he’ll love it! I clicked on the signing information page and was greeted with a disheartening sight.

Seventy dollars? Seventy dollars is the price to go and meet her? I know the librarian said that the series was super popular, but really? That’s when I checked the book preordering, and there was none left to preorder! I felt the opportunity for a good gift slip from my hands. There were only twelve more days to get Ken a gift. The signing was in five days. I groaned as I put in the information to pay for signing. 

This better be worth it.

Taichi

“Hey, Sora! Yamato!” I ran up to the couple, who were walking to a lunch table with food. I was also holding a tray of food that seemed indigestible.

“Hey, Taichi!” Sora gave me her smile as we sat down at a table. “What’s up?” I had to ask the question that has been burning in my mind.

“How are you guys doing with Secret Santa? There are only ten days until the twenty-fourth.” I asked. I stabbed my fork into the mystery meat. I didn’t know who Sora and Yamato got, but I bet they’re easier than Mimi.

“Great! I got everything I needed, and all I need is to package it up!” Sora said. She looked at her boyfriend. “How about you Yamato?”

All Yamato did was stare in the distance with his facing giving off an I want to murder look. You could feel the negative energy coming from him. He didn’t respond to her.

“Hey Yamato, you doin’ okay?” I poked him with the bottom of my fork.  

He didn’t budge.

All I and Sora could do was look away awkwardly and continue eating.

Yamato

I handed my ticket to the employee at the door. They looked at it and handed it back to me, giving me a nod of approval. I walked inside to see a crowd of people waiting in a line. I joined in. It felt like the line moved every ten minutes. It must have been two hours until I was able to see the author at her table signing books. I impatiently tapped my foot as each person got their book signed.

When it was my turn, an employee had me go up to the author.

She gave me a friendly smile as she got a copy of her new book and opened it. “Hello! Who’s the book for?” She asked.

“Ichijouji Ken,” I answered. I suddenly felt many eyes in the room look at me. Maybe I should have just said Ken instead of his full name.

Her eyes narrowed. “You sure don’t look like him. You related?”

A blush formed on my face. “No, I’m his friend. We’re doing a Secret Santa, and I wanted to get him a copy of your book.”

Everyone in the room seemed to stop staring. The author gave me a grin. “This seems to be a little overboard for a Secret Santa.” She joked.

I did an awkward laugh. “I know he would like it. He talks about your books all the time.” The author finished her message in the book, then she handed it to me.

“That makes me so happy to hear that. Tell him I appreciate it.” I nodded as I was ushered out of the way for the next person. I left the building and headed home in the cold. I only checked the message that the author left after I stepped foot into our apartment. As I read it, a grin grew on my face.

He’ll love it.

Part Three

Ken

I walked up to the Inoue’s door and knocked. I felt the weight of the box inside the paper bag that I held. I kept on reassuring myself that he would like it. I took a deep breath as the door to the apartment was opened.

“Ken!” Miyako hugged me by the neck. “So glad you came!” She moved away and held open the door for me. “Taichi and Daisuke were just about to see who could stuff the most marshmallows in their mouths!” She ran ahead, taking my hidden gift with her. I looked under the tree to see a bunch of trashy bags. It seemed that everyone followed the rule of keeping your gift a secret by hiding it inside a bag.

I took in the surroundings as I wandered inside the Inoue apartment. Taichi and Daisuke were both stuffing marshmallows in their mouths, Jyou was trying to prevent them from choking, Koshirou and Iori were playing cards, Miyako and Mimi were admiring the Christmas tree while gossiping, Takeru and Hikari were frosting cookies, and Sora and Yamato were watching the current events unfold on the couch.

I felt my cheeks go pink as I saw Yamato. What if he doesn’t like it? Is it as good as I thought it was? I thought of the many ways this could go wrong. I shuddered. He’ll never like it. He’s not gonna like-

“Uwwaagghh!” I suddenly saw Daisuke, teary-eyed, spit out all the marshmallows in his mouth. “I give up!” Daisuke dabbed his mouth with a napkin.

Taichi spat out the marshmallows in his mouth into the trash. He pumped his fist upward. “Aw yeah! What did you expect was going to win?”

Hikari spoke up. “Not going to lie, but I thought Daisuke was going to win big brother.” 

“Same here,” Koshirou added. Everyone nodded in agreement. Taichi faked a look of betrayal.

Then Chizuru entered the room. “Well, are we going to start or what?” Chizuru asked. Momoe and Mantarou with a camera followed. “You all go into Miyako’s room, and we’ll remove the gifts out of their bags. We’ll call you in when we’re ready.” We all went into Miayko’s room. It was awkward as everyone sat around waiting for the Miyako’s siblings to prepare the gifts

“Mimi, do you think your assigned person will like their gift?” Sora asked.

Mimi winked at her. “I’m sure they’ll love it.” Everyone laughed in response and I chuckled. How can she be so confident?

Miyako turned to me. “Ken, do you think the person you were assigned will like your gift?”

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Will Yamato like it? I felt my whole body go red and my eyes start to water. “I don’t know,” I whispered. I gripped my pants.

I felt someone’s hand go on mine. I looked up to see Sora in front of me. “I’m sure they’ll like it, Ken. Just have faith in yourself.” Everyone was staring, so I only nodded in response.

“Everyone come out! We’re ready!” Momoe hollered. Everyone got up and headed back. Mantarou started to record us walking inside. All the gifts, from big to small, were laid out under the tree.

We all sat in a circle as Chizuru and Momoe handed out our gifts for everyone.

“I think Daisuke should go first since he came up with the idea. Then, everyone to his left can go after.” Iori proclaimed. Everyone agreed. That’s when I noticed that I was on Daisuke’s right. I was going to go last! I couldn’t help but wonder what my gift held.

Daisuke ripped open his wrapping paper and took a look at the gift. “Oh my gosh! I love love love love love love it!” Daisuke turned it around, revealing a few soccer posters with his favorite players on it. “Thank you Secret Santa!” He called out, holding his posters in the air.

Next was Koshirou. He took a long, good stare at his wrapped box, then he unwrapped it. His face filled with delight as he saw what it was. “A computer cleaning kit! Thank you so much!” Everyone shared an of course he would love that look.

Then, it was Yamato.

I felt my body heat up as he picked it up. Then, he slowly unwrapped the gift. Everyone shared a glance when Yamato revealed a jewelry-like box. He slowly lifted the cover of the box.

His face was covered with awe as he gently held the necklace in his hand. His mouth was left open. Everyone ‘oohed’ and ‘awed’ as they looked at his gift. It was a necklace that was Yamato’s name. If you turned it around, it had a song lyric inscribed on the back. “Yamato Ishida. ‘I’ll even walk on the edge of a knife’” Yamato read. He gently touched the inscribed words before putting it around his neck. A smile formed on his face. “I love it so much. I don’t even know what to say.” His face went pink with embarrassment. “Thank you so much.” The way he reacted was better than I imagined. I couldn’t help but grin. He loved it!

After that, everyone went through the gifts. After Yamato, Jyou got a mug that read ‘World's Best Dad’, Miyako got a shirt that read ‘Bingo’ on it, Takeru also got a shirt that read ‘I Love Hats’, Iori got a new kendo bag, Mimi got high-quality makeup pallets, Taichi got some deodorant (everyone laughed at that one), Sora got a flower show ticket that started in February, and Hikari got a brand new collar for Miko.

It was finally my turn.

Everyone’s eyes were on me as I took my gift out of a Christmas themed bag. Right when I saw it, I almost dropped it. “No. Way.” My excitement grew so much. It was a book from my favorite author! I wanted to get a copy, but it was sold out! “I don’t know what to say! I love it! Thank you” I traced the spine with my finger. I wanted to head home and start to read it right away!

“There’s a note!” Koshirou pointed out. I looked at the piece of paper lying on the ground.

“It says ‘Look inside, there’s a surprise!’ on it.” I read out to the group. I put down the note as I opened the cover of the book.

I gasped as I saw what was on the page. A signed copy! “This can’t be real! Those signings were super expensive!” I exclaimed.

“Read it out loud!” Sora requested. I then started to read the message.

“‘To Ken Ichijouji. I feel honored to be writing to one of the smartest kids in Japan! Your friend went all the way to Tokyo and waited in line for three hours just for me to say Merry Christmas to you. That’s when you know you have a true friend standing by you. They told me how much you love to read my series, which makes me so happy! I hope you have an amazing Christmas and an amazing time reading this!’ Then her signature follows.” I almost went to tears. I couldn’t believe they went through all this effort for a silly game! “Thank you to whoever is my Secret Santa.”

“Okay, now that’s done, we revealed who was your Secret Santa. When we say go, point to the person who you were assigned.” Mantarou announced. Who did mine? Who would have gone through the effort to get me a signed copy of my favorite book series? Daisuke? No, he wouldn’t get me a book. Koshirou? I don’t think he would have had the courage to talk to the author and get the book signed. “Three,” I turned to Yamato, who made eye contact with me and looked away in a bashful way. That’s when it clicked. “Two,” I looked down at my book and smiled to myself. “One...”

“Go!”

I pointed to Yamato, who had a surprised face as he saw me pointing at him. I gave him a shy smile, and I returned it. The room suddenly was filled with laughter as I looked around and saw…

Everyone got each other? Mimi and Taichi, Jyou and Daisuke, Iori and Sora, Koshirou and Hikari, and Takeru and Miyako were pointing to each other.

“Was this done on purpose? Why’d you guys do that?” Miyako asked. Everyone quieted down to hear the answer.

“We thought it would be fun if everyone got each other. That way, it felt like more of an exchange.” Momoe explained. Miyako just huffed in response.

Everyone started to mingle then, talking about their gifts to their Secret Santas.

I grabbed my present and admired it. I couldn’t believe that Yamato, a Chosen Child that I don’t have the best relationship with, gave me this. I stood up. I wanted to find Yamato, but he wasn’t in the room. Where was he? I asked around, but it seemed like nobody knew.

“I saw him exit the apartment. At the moment, I didn’t think much about it.” Chizuru informed me. “I don’t know where he would have gone, though.”

Why’d he leave? I opened their door and walked into the hallway with my book. That’s when I saw the floor number for the elevator go upwards. The roof? I clicked the up arrow and waited for the elevator to go on my floor. When it did, I entered it and sent it upwards.

The doors shuffled open as I walked onto the roof. The cool breeze felt nice as it hit my face. That’s when I saw Yamato leaning on the fence surrounding the edge. He was facing the other way.

“Yamato?”

He didn’t answer.

I walked up to him and leaned on the fence next to him. He turned to face me with a soft smile. “I love the view up here. With the stars and the city lights.” He said. He then pulled out the necklace. “This is the best gift I’ve ever received Ken.” We both blushed. “Besides my harmonica and guitar.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

The breeze picked up, grabbing onto my sweater. You could hear people below talk and sing about Christmas. Snow fell from the sky, covering the city with white. I was tempted to stick my tongue out and catch one. It was a beautiful sight.

“Uh, thank you so much, Yamato.” I sputtered out. “I didn’t expect you to get me this book.” He gave me a confused look. I realized what I said then. He must have taken it the wrong way. “Not that I didn’t like it! I love it!” Somehow, my blush became a darker shade. “I’m sorry.”

That’s when Yamato turned and faced the city. “To be honest, I freaked out when I saw your name. I didn’t know what you liked.” A smile formed on his face. “Because I’m so smart,” he said with sarcasm. “I went to your school to see what books you read in the library.”

What? My eyebrows raised with shock. “You’re serious? They must have rejected you!”

“No, they actually let me ask your librarian what you love to read! I was thinking I was going to get rejected.” He threw his hands up. “But school, out of all the places, let me in!”

I grinned. “I had a similar experience! I also panicked. I went to a store to get you black leather clothes.” He whipped his head around to face me with shock on his face. “The thing is that I didn’t know your clothing size! You could tell that employee thought I was so dumb.” We both laughed.

“I’m glad you didn’t do that.” He grinned. “Sora always teased me that I wore ‘edgy’ and ‘emo’ clothes. If you gave me those, she would never let me alone.” His face suddenly lit up. “I also forgot. At the signing of the book, the author wanted to let you know that she was extremely grateful that you support her.”

“Wow, I don’t know what to say.” Did she really think that? That’s when I remembered that I was still known in Japan. I’ve tried to disappear from the news and the internet, but it seems like people recognize me.

“Yet again, she also said that the Secret Santa gift was super dumb. You could hear it in her voice.” Yamato joked, imitating her voice. It was really impressive, especially since he has such a low voice.

Then, he laughed. I couldn’t help but join in. I never knew how fun it could be to talk with Yamato. I looked down at my book. I finally understood why he was well-liked.

“Thank you. For everything.” Yamato said, gripping onto his necklace. “But I think we should head inside.” I forget that there was a party going on. How much time has passed? We both headed into the elevator and headed into Miyako’s apartment.

When we opened the door, everyone was hanging out.

“Where did you two run off to?” Taichi asked, who was playing cards with Jyou, Miyako, Koshioru, and Takeru. “We’ve been waiting for you two.”

Yamato shrugged. “The roof.”

Well, I’m glad that you two came down now. We’re about to start caroling!” Daisuke announced, holding bells. He passed them to me. He went around, giving the Chosen Children bells and sheets of paper with song lyrics.

“We’re now able to see if the famous Ichijouji can sing!” Mimi exclaimed, doing over dramatic gestures. “He’s going to start us off doing a solo in Jingle Bells!”

“I didn’t know about this! I’m not ready!” I protested. “I’m a horrible singer!” Nobody was buying it. I don’t want to sing! Especially in front of everyone.

That’s when Yamato spoke up. “Ken and I will both sing.” He smiled at me. “Besides, what’s the point of caroling if you’re doing it alone!” He grabbed the paper handed out to everyone.

That’s when I realized that I was going to be leaving tonight with something that I never knew I had.

Something that I never knew I needed.

Epilogue

Yamato

The crowd screamed as I went on stage. The flashing lights blinded me, but I was used to it. I looked at Takashi, Yutaka, and Akira. They nodded at me, saying that they were ready.

I grabbed the microphone. “You ready?” I asked. The crowd responded in screams. I waved, telling them to quiet down. “We have a treat for you all. For the first time, we’re going to be performing our two new songs. The first is Tobira (Door), then after Hitoribocchi no Seesaw (Alone On The Seesaw)!” They got louder as I positioned myself and my guitar.

I looked out into the crowd. I found the Chosen Children sitting in front of the stage. I gave Sora a smile, which she returned. I looked at Gabumon, who did a thumbs up.

Then, there was Ken, sitting by all the Chosen Children and their partners. He was bookmarking his new book. He already got through a fourth of the book. He peered at my neck and saw the necklace that he gave me. I grabbed onto it, made eye contact with him, and smiled at him. I gave the signal to my bandmates to start up the music. I didn’t know how everyone would react to the two new songs, but I decided to perform it.

Besides, it’s not fun to restrain yourself. It’s better to take the risk and walk on the edge of a knife.

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 64: Final Exam part 6: Making the Grade

Presenting the next raw and unedited chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!   Please note, this chapter may undergo more extensive editing before it gets posted to AO3/FF.net, as this one ended up a bit on the long side.

Earlier chapters can be found here

“Kocho!  Were you watching the whole thing?  I didn’t know you were going to be here!  Does this mean you’re going to be in our class?” Ojiro wrapped her arms around Koharu and pulled her into a tight hug, which she returned.  “What’d you think?”

“Maybe let her breathe, Kimmie?” Sato asked, but he was smiling.  Even Koharu would admit the invisible girl’s enthusiasm was contagious.

“I was,” she told them, as she took a seat in the small auditorium she and Class 1-A had been brought to after the exam had ended, injuries had been tended to, and the Hero Course students had had a chance to shower and change.  “You guys did good.  I was worried for a while, but wow, you really pulled it off!  Your teacher was quizzing me just about the entire time on what I’d do if I was out there with you. So, yeah, I think that’s pretty official.”

“Yeah, that sounds like him,” Sero added.  He had one of those flick-combs and was trying to fix his hair. One strand was stubbornly sticking up no matter what he did.  “Do you think he’s that scary naturally or does he have to work at it?”

“Bro, really?” Sato asked.

“I’m pretty sure it’s natural,” Koharu told him.    “He can make you feel like he’s glaring at you even if he’s not looking at you.”

She gave a wave to Midoriya and Haimawari, who were in the front row with Tokoyami and Shinso. Twenty chairs filled the back of the room, meaning it could have fit a Hero class with room to spare or any class from any of the other courses.  There was a podium at the front, and a large projection screen behind it.

As Aizawa, All Might, and Vice-Principal Midnight entered the room, Class 1-A grew silent and took their seats.  Koharu folded her wings and took a seat in the second row from the back, with Ojiro, Sero, and Sato.

Behind the teachers followed the Villains from the exam.  She recognized the bug-like Nauseous and the winged Raptor right off the bat, and it wasn’t hard to identify Kamuy and Shadow-Thief.  Even utterly depleted of power, Kamuy still towered over most of them.   The last one, a beefy man built like a sumo wrestler,  with a shovel-like jaw, had to be Jawbreaker, even if he was now made of flesh instead of a conglomeration of metal, concrete, wood, and rock.  All of them had changed from their costumes to comfortable clothes.  Most of them looked amazingly relaxed for people who had just been fighting a bunch of students less than an hour ago.  Only Shadow-Thief kept stealing furtive glances at the door.

Aizawa took the podium and held their gaze for what seemed like an uncomfortably long time.  She was certain he was doing it on purpose, trying to put them on edge.  She’d already gathered from his exam behavior and the discussion about the “Villains” that he liked to play mind games.  “So, let’s discuss the results of your exam.”

He clicked a button on a small remote control, and the screen behind him divided into three vertical segments.  The right portion contained a picture of Recovery Girl and a note that her final distance from the civilian defense shelter was two meters.  Koharu had to admit, her heart had been in her chest the entire time Haimawari had been racing after her, especially as Shadow-Thief had gotten closer and closer to the end.  But given that the numbers were green, she guessed they were still good.

“You were able to complete your primary objective and keep Doctor McGuffin from being moved past the 100 meter,” Aizawa went on.  “Barely.  Not guarding the defense shelter after you engaged with the Villains’ final assault was foolish and under other circumstances, could have been deadly not just to Doctor McGuffin, but to the others inside as well.”

Ojiro’s arm shot into the air.  “No fair!”  she whined. “You didn’t tell us she could just sneak inside like that!”

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. “The results would have been the same if one of the more powerful Villains had brute forced their way in. You all practically left the door open and did not only did not account for the full range of her teleportation abilities, but seemed to forget her existence entirely once you were engaged with the others.  I shouldn’t have had to explain what all the Villains could and could not do to get in.”

Even Koharu had forgotten about Shadow-Thief, getting much more caught up in watching the other fights. But Aizawa was right too.  

“Would have gotten away with it too,” Kamuy said to Shadow-Thief, “if you hadn’t stopped to gloat.”

“Don’t blame me,” Shadow-Thief hissed.  She jerked a thumb in Aizawa’s direction.  “He was the one who said we had to give them a fighting chance.”

“Still,” he went on, “you met the objective.  Barely.”

The middle portion of the screen showed a tally of civilians rescued and a separate tally of failed rescues. The top number was bigger by a long shot, in the three digits, but there were numbers on the bottom too.

“In terms of civilian rescues,” Aizawa went on, “you more than surpassed the bar we set.  The number of failed rescues includes a portion of the those injured in Doctor McGuffin’s abduction, but also those missed during the course of your other fights.”

He looked down. “Fortunately, no real lives were lost, as this was just an exam.  But in the real world, there will come times when you’re unable to save everyone. When you have to make a split second decision between confronting the Villain or saving the civilian.  When you’re too slow or not attentive enough or simply unaware there’s anyone there.  It will happen and it’s more than likely at some point, you will make the wrong choice.

“So learn while you can.”

None of the others said anything at that, though many of class 1-A exchanged glances with each other. Koharu guessed that they were trying to figure out what they’d missed, what they hadn’t seen.  Second guessing could make you crazy like that. Hopefully, it wouldn’t weigh on them too much.

The final screen displayed pictures of the Villains, all of them but Shadow-Thief with a red x slashed through them.  “And for your third objective, you managed to defeat four of the five Villains.  As valiant as your rescue of Doctor McGuffin was, Haimawari, I’m afraid it did not count as a complete take down of Shadow-Thief.”

“Still,” Shadow-Thief piped up.  “Nice try, kid.”

“I’m going to be sore for days,” Jawbreaker said, speaking less gruffly now than he had during the exam. “I wasn’t expecting children to go all out like that.”   He rubbed the back of his neck.  “I haven’t been hit like that in a while.”

“At least you got to put up a fight,” Nauseous said.  “I got taken out early.”

“Wimp,” Kamuy taunted.

“Can you all not…?” Raptor said.

“Settle,” Aizawa growled.   He looked over the class again. “As we told you originally, in addition to the three-tiered priorities for passing the exam, we were also scoring you individually.  You’ll all receive more detailed feedback after All Might, Midnight, and I have had a chance to compile it, but for now, we’ll be providing a basic evaluation of your exam performances.”

There was a collective gulp from the class.  Even Koharu felt a chill go down her spine.  

***

Worried looks passed through 1-A, dreading the criticism that was surely going to come from Aizawa. Koharu had only known him a short amount of time, but already she could tell that he did not suffer fools gladly and was quick to point out any flaws he found.  Judging by how fearful 1-A looked… she was going to assume it did not get any better with time.

“Aoayama,” Aizawa began.   The glowing boy stiffened in his seat. “Nothing exceptional in your performance, but no glaring weaknesses either.  You made decent use of your Quirk to try and counter your foes.”

“Merci,” Aoyama said, looking relieved.

It was short lived. “However,” Aizawa went on, “check the arrogance.  When you were out the search and rescue teams, you lost valuable seconds arguing with your teammates.  If you have something to contribute, offer it.  But don’t automatically assume you know better.”

Aoyama looked down, but nodded in response.

“Funny, that’s not how I remember it when we used to team up, Eraser,” Vice-Principle Midnight said, giving him a teasing nudge with her elbow.  

“I seem to recall some choice words as well,” All Might said, wearing a grin that might have best been described as “shit-eating.”

“That’s not the topic of discussion,” Aziawa said.  “Moving on.”

He made a show of shuffling his papers.  “Since we have two Iidas in the class,” Aizawa went on, giving Vice-Principle Midnight a significant look, “we’ll begin with Sora.

“Overall, impressive tactical thinking in the early stages and excellent teamwork throughout.  When the shooting started, you did a good job taking command of the situation and put yourself at risk for your teammates. Commendable.

“But you twice allowed yourself to become distracted and vulnerable because you were worried about your boyfriend.”

“That’s when I got you,” Jawbreaker said.  “And I’m not exactly easy to miss.”

Sitting next to Sora Iida, Midoriya turned a bright shade and sunk low in his seat.  

“They’re dating?” All Might gasped.  “Young Grandson, why did you not tell me about this?!” Koharu wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Midoriya turned even redder.

“Sorry, Grandpa Might,” he squeaked.  

“Heroes in relationships are more common these days,” Midnight said.  “But with a handful of exceptions like Suneater and Nejire-Chan, they typically don’t work together, for just such a reason.  I’m all for young love, but do keep it in mind, children.”

At this point, Koharu was wondering how Midoriya’s chair hadn’t caught on fire.  Sora Iida looked nonplussed by the whole thing, occasionally shooting curious glances Midoriya’s way.

Still, Koharu understood the flying girl’s worry.  Midoriya had been knocked under a collapsing building and no one had been able to raise him. He could have been hurt or worse. That he’d just been pinned down with his patched together communicator unable to get a signal out was nothing short of a minor miracle.

“As you say,” Sora Iida said.  “Thank you.”

“As for you, Tensei,” Aizawa continued, “you demonstrated overall good sense and teamwork, and a willingness to sacrifice yourself for your teammates.  You kept your head about you.”

“He still went down when I got ahold of him,” Jawbreaker added.  “All that speed doesn’t do anybody any good once somebody grabs you.”

Tensei nodded.  “I shall endeavor to improve.   Perhaps some sort of shock field through certain points on my armor…”

“It would be difficult to properly calibrate the strength of it though,” his sister said.  “Especially since you could not anticipate enemy resistance in advance and under such circumstances, it would be difficult to manipulate precise controls.”

Both twins made a “Hmmm” sound and looked like they were about to burst into more discussion.   Aizawa cut them off. “Moving on,” he said.  “Ojiro.”

Next to her, the invisible girl stiffened and shook.  On her other side, Sato took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“You did well,” Aizawa said. “Good use of your Quirk, good support of your classmates, and good, if unorthodox, thinking when fighting Kamuy.”

“You’re creepy, kid,” Kamuy growled.  

“Continue focusing on your skills and teamwork,” Aizawa finished.  “And know when to back off.  Your stunt against Kamuy ultimately worked, but it also severely hampered Todoroki and Kaminari’s ability to support you.  If Aoyama and Tokoyami hadn’t arrived when they had, you could have had trouble.”

“Yes, Mister Aizawa,” Ojiro replied, actually sounding serious.  Koharu hadn’t known her long, but she hadn’t really expected that of her.

“See, Kimmie” Sero said, leaning forward and looking her way.  “Nothing to worry about.”

“As for you, Kaminari,” Aizawa said, and Koharu looked to the back row, where the blonde was sitting next to Mineta, “while you proved effective during the majority of the fighting, with good use of your Quirk and Support gear…

He sighed wearily. “Victory dancing?  Really?   Never let your guard down like that.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Kaminari replied, her Cords drooping.  “In my defense, I really thought she was down.”

“That kind of overconfidence will get you killed, Sweetie,” Vice-Principal Midnight said.  “As it was, it nearly cost your class their win.”

That got a gasp.  And there was a lot of hurried talk and in the case of Kirishima-Bakugo, a lot of swearing.  It wasn’t until Aizawa activated his Quirk that they silenced again.

“Had any of the objectives not been met,” All Might said, gravely, “we’d be having very different conversations right now.  As it stands… we decided the two things canceled each other out well enough.”

“Understood,” Kaminari said, very quietly.  Mineta gave her a small hug, but Kaminari pushed her away.

“It wasn’t even good dancing,” Kamuy added, which earned her a glare from a couple of the others.

It wasn’t fair, in Koharu’s opinion.  But in the real world, that kind of slip up would have absolutely been fatal.  And even she was boggled by Kaminari’s early declaration of victory.

“Kirishima-Bakugo,” Aizawa began, clearly eager to move on.  

The muscular blonde girl sat up a little straighter in her seat.  “Bring it, teach.”

“You acquitted yourself well in straight-up combat scenarios and demonstrated a measure of tactical thinking,” Aizawa went on.  “But your first instincts continue to remain all out, full-frontal assaults.  Those aren’t always going to work.”

“Worked well enough on this guy,” Kamuy said,   giving Jawbreaker a nudge.

“Shut up,” Jawbreaker snapped back.

“Worked so far,” Kirishima-Bakugo said, flipply.  “But got it. More thinky, less blasty.”

“I could have told you that,” Todoroki, who was sitting on her left, said.

“…Maybe tell me those things earlier, Iz.”

Aizawa’s attention focused next on the rock-skinned girl sitting next to Aoyama.  “Koda, you made good use of your Quirk and demonstrated excellent teamwork with your classmates.”

“Thank you,” Koda said.

“Unfortunately, your combat skills are often not as aggressive as fits the situation.  While I respect your desire to cause as little harm as is necessary… there are times where that’s simply not possible. Restraining your opponents won’t always work.”

“Sometimes,” Jawbreaker added, “you just have to hit someone.”

“I shall keep that in mind,” Koda replied.  

“I thought you performed admirably, Mademoiselle Koda,” Aoyama said, making a dramatic flourish with his hands.  

“Now, Sato,” Aizawa said, obviously determined not to get derailed.  

Next to Ojiro, Sato just buried his head in his hands.  “Oh no, here it comes.”

“You were one of the few to be able to properly approximate how Kamuy’s Quirk worked, and you were able to use that you your advantage, so good job there.  And you had creative application of your Quirk when you faced her the second time, as well as good teamwork with Ojiro.  In the future, however, you may want to put more work into combat options that don’t require the use of your Quirk.”

It took a minute for Sato to realize he wasn’t being yelled at.  “He said you did good, Kenta!” Ojiro squealed.  “Get your head up!”

“Th—thank you,” Sato said, nodding rapidly.  “Thank you, sir.”

“Shinso,” Aizawa said, and Koharu could have sworn that there was something just a little warmer in his voice when he said the same compared to the rest.  She remembered how he’d cheered for the purple-haired boy when they were watching the exam.  Just what was the relationship between the two of them?  

“Excellent teamwork and good use of your Quirk,” Aizawa said.  “We did have some concerns you weren’t giving it your all, but you eventually corrected.”

A small smile pulled its way across Aizawa’s face.  “And your… unique insights proved invaluable in supporting your team’s efforts.  Good job.  Work on bringing your A-Game right out of the gate though.  Don’t just build up to it.”

“Got it!” Shinso bubbled, punching the air.  “Give them the Smash right from the start!”

“As for you, Shoji,” Aizawa continued, looking at the tall, six-armed boy.  Koharu was one hundred percent of a lesbian, but even she had to admit, Shoji was ridiculously good looking.  No wonder Ojiro’s webshow—After becoming friends with her, she’d dug up a few old episodes—called him Class 1-A’s most eligible bachelor.   Of course, she’d suddenly stopped doing that for some reason, but hadn’t mentioned why.

“You did well.  Good fighting skills, good teamwork.  Work on showing some greater initiative in planning and remember that you have options for long range attacks that don’t put you at as much risk in a physical confrontation.”

“Understood,” Shoji said with a small nod.

“Sero,” Aizawa began.   The name had barely left his lips when the pink-skinned boy let out a terrified whimper and turned several shades paler.  “Overall, good teamwork and good rescue work.  You were especially effective against Raptor.”

“Damn tape,” the winged man growled.  “Swinging me into that building hurt.”

“But watch your grandstanding.  The correct response to finding out you’re fighting real Villains is not worrying about your hit count.”

Sero still hadn’t moved or reacted.  It took Sato giving him a nudge.  “Bro. You’re not dead.”

“I’m not?”

“You’re not.  I’d tell you if you were.”

“Good.”

Once again, Aizawa looked as though he’d rather be anywhere else.  He closed his eyes and appeared to be counting, judging by the slight movement of his lips.    “Tokoyami.”

The glowing frog-thing, Frog-Shadow Koharu thought it was called, was sitting on Tokoyami’s shoulder. She perked up at Tokoyami’s name. “And me!” the thing declared.

Aizawa gaze briefly went to a corner of the room, where a yellow sleeping back, of all things, was sitting.  He instead returned his attention to the bird-headed girl.  “The first true victory went to you, so congratulations on that.”

“She got you good, bug man!” Kamuy yelled, slapping Nauseous on the back.

“Yeah, yeah,” Nauseous growled.  “Rub it in, why don’t you?”

“I was planning on it.”

“As seems to be the common theme here, good use of team work and collaboration with your classmates. However… as difficult as it is to draw the line where you and Frog-Shadow end and begin, let’s focus on your own physicality and active participation in these battles.  Being saved by your living Quirk is fine, but you cannot rely on that.”

“I shall keep that in mind,” Tokoyami said, giving a slight nod.  “Or rather,” she added before Frog-Shadow could interrupt, “we shall.”

“Todoroki,” Aizawa went on, addressing the pale girl with the multi-colored hair.  Koharu wasn’t quite sure how her ombré hair worked exactly, starting white but turning red the further out it got, but given that her own hair matched the pattern of her wings, she wasn’t sure she was in any position to question it.  “Your overall performance was excellent.”

“Indeed,” All Might bellowed, interrupted him.  “Young Todoroki was very much the MVP of the exam!  You proved invaluable in multiple Villain confrontations!”

“I merely did what I could,” Todoroki said demurely.  “I only regret that I was unable to better protect my classmates…”

“That is unfortutnate,” Aizawa said.  “But sometimes inevitable.  In the meantime, you demonstrated excellent use of your Quirk and good overall thinking and teamwork.  Continue to work on your endurance and you’ve a bright future ahead of you.”

“Would it be possible to have that in writing?” Todoroki asked.  “I would like to make sure my mother is aware of these facts.”

“Geeze, more jokes, Iz?” Kirishima-Bakugo asked.  “You’re on a roll today.”

“Yes,” Todoroki said, her voice carefully neutral.  “A joke.”

“You’ll receive your written evaluation later,” Aizawa reminded her.  His voice turned protective.  “But by all means, do invite your mother to visit if she has any… concerns.”

In the front row, Haimawari squirmed uncomfortably as Aizawa focused his attention on him. “Haimawari, your overall performance was positive.  If not for your efforts, the class would have failed the primary objective.  You also proved your strategic worth against Jawbreaker and your combat powers against Raptor.”

“That was your plan?” Jawbreaker asked.  “Good job, kid.”

“I was supposed to give you a chance,” Shadow-Thief added, “but I didn’t expect you to catch up. You could be faster than Inegnium someday.”

Aizawa stared the lanky boy down.  “You’ve raised my expectations of you, Haimawari.  I’ll be looking to see you step up to leadership positions again.”

In spite of the praise, Haimawari looked a little pale.  “Ah, okay, got it.  Thank you, sir.”

“As for you, Midoriya,” Aizawa continued, “if you keep hitting up against a wall and keep bouncing off, what do you do?”

“If you’re this kid, you keep on doing it,” Jawbreaker said with a laugh.

“Maybe… not that?” Midoriya tried.  “It’s kind of my go to move, but it really wasn’t working so well. And there wasn’t a lot of room to do some of my bouncing tricks like Gran Torino.”

“At least,” Aizawa said. “You recognize it.  You’ve got a lot of power and a lot of techniques, work on developing them.  We can focus on some options for when your usual strategies don’t cut it. Additionally…”

“Yes, Mister Aizawa?” Midoriya said, in response to Aizawa’s trailing off.

“In the next team exercises in class, you’re not allowed to take charge or formulate plans unless your teammates have also come up with plans.  I think we’re all very aware how much of a leadership role you’ve taken.  And while those skills are desirable for a Hero, we can’t have your classmates becoming complacent.”

“He is right, Young Grandson,” All Might added.

Midoriya nodded. “You’re right,” he said.  “I’ll… do my best to stick to that.”

“See that you do.” Aizawa looked down at his notes on the podium, then up at the class.  He looked back down again, as though he was making sure of something and made a pained expression.  Finally, he looked back up.

“And Mineta,” he said. “As is becoming a pattern for you against live opponents, you demonstrated solid tactical thinking when provoking your opponents into a trap or otherwise keeping their focus on your mouth instead of what you’re doing.  I would tell you to be less…”  He gestured vaguely.

“Ah, you just gestured at all of me,” Mineta said.

“Exactly.  I’d like you to be less you.  Except that it seems to be working.”  He pinched the bridge of his nose.  “It would be illogical not to encourage you to continue using those skills, not matter how distasteful.”

“What Eraser is saying,” Vice-Principal Midnight added, “is continue to own it, girl!  If I was still active in the field, I’d snare you for a sidekick in a heartbeat.”

At that, Mineta actually blushed, something Koharu hadn’t been sure was actually possible.  “Y-yes, Vice-Principal.  T-thank you.”   Koharu was extremely sympathetic though.  The Vice-Principal’s expression was enough to set her own heart aflutter.

“Continue to work on battlefield discipline, however,” Aizawa corrected.  “As useful as your… talents are, there is a time and a place.”

“Got it,” Mineta said. “Time.  Place.”

“And Kocho.”   It took Koharu a moment to realize Aizawa had said her name.  The others of 1-A turned to look at her.   “Overall, good analysis of how you’d participate against the exam Villains. Though you did forget about Shadow-Thief, just like the rest of the class, so I can’t fault you for that entirely.   But good analysis overall, especially for someone not currently in the Hero Course.  I’ll be expecting good things of you when you join the class for the training camp and for the next term.”

“I knew it!” Midoriya shouted.

“Way to go!” Sero said.

“Good job!” Sato added.

“You did it!  You did it!” Ojiro said, practically bouncing in her seat.   Cheers went up from some of the others, like Haimawari, and even those of she didn’t really know, like Shinso.

The celebratory moment was short lived.  One of the Villains, Jawbreaker, spoke up.  “So… that’s it then?”

Aizawa nodded.  “The exam is over and the students will be returning to their dorms after this.”

“Then,” Raptor said, “I suppose we just wait for the police, then?”

All Might gave Aizawa a surprised look.  “Just what did you tell them, Aizawa?”

“He said we had to beat the kids if we wanted early parole,” Shadow-Thief snapped.   “I knew it.  I knew I should have run when I had the chance… just taken my chances and run…”

“I can’t speak for these idiots,” Kamuy said, “but I’ll go quietly.  I gave my word and I keep it.”

“What’s a few more years?” Nauseous said, shrugging.

“It was a logical ruse to get the most competitive edge out of you,” Aizawa said.  “Once you’ve returned to your respective detention centers, your effects will be returned to you and your releases will be processed.

Koharu wished she could say she was surprised.  Even already knowing that Aizawa had misinformed the Villains somehow, she hadn’t expected that.  But given what she was learning about the man, along with the dirt that the Voice and Deku had spilled on him, she really, really wasn’t surprised.  

“You bastard!” Shadow-Thief snarled, and had to be restrained by Kamuy and Jawbreaker.  She probably could have escaped easily if she’d wanted to, but it seemed her heart wasn’t in it, as she let the other two push her back down.  “I thought I’d lost my chance…!”

“Guess I’m going home,” Raptor said, leaning back in his chair and smiling.

“You’re definitely a bastard, Aizawa,” Jawbreaker said.  “But I have to say… it worked.”

All Might just shook his head.  “Dirty pool, Aizawa, dirty pool.   Let me apologize on his behalf.”

Jawbreaker waved a hand in the air.  “Honestly, I figured he was bullshitting us.  It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.  But I figured it was a worth a shot.”

All Might just shook his head.  “One of these days, Aizawa, these “logical ruses” of yours are going to backfire…”

“Haven’t yet.”

Being in Class 1-A, Koharu thought, was definitely going to be an experience.

***

“Okay, everybody,” Midoriya began, “if I could just have your attention for a minute?”

Unfortunately, Class 1-A (and Kocho, who’d been invited to celebrate with them) were too busy celebrating their exam victory to notice.  After the exam, they’d pooled their money—Izumi had offered to pay for the whole thing, but they’d insisted it come from all of them—and ordered pizzas (and shakes for Kocho), gotten the stereo going, and turned the dining area into a party spread with other snacks and sodas.

It had been close out there more than a few times, but Isamu was glad he’d been able to be a part of it. Of course, now Aizawa was expecting bigger and better things from him, on top of having already raised his profile at the Sports Festival, so that was a lot to live up to. And there was still the training camp on the horizon.  They had a departure date for it, but no other details. But those were worries for another day.  

He did wonder how the other Hero Courses were doing.  1-B was supposed to be taking theirs this afternoon, and 1-C in the evening.  Kana had promised she’d let him know when they were done though, so he was anxiously awaiting that text.  1-B didn’t have as many “heavy hitters” in it as his class did, but they had a lot of variety and a lot of potential for teamwork if they really tried at it.

“Guys?” Midoriya tried again.

“If everyone could give us their attention for just a moment?” Tokoyami tried, with no success either.

“HEY!  LISTEN!” Frog-Shadow shouted, from her perch on Tokoyami’s shoulder.   And that did get everyone to shut up.

“…Thank you,” Midoriya told Frog-Shadow, before looking around at the class.

“Anytime!” Frog-Shadow said, giving him a thumbs’ up.

“As I was saying,” Midoriya continued, “everybody did great out there.  There’s not a one of you I’m not proud of.  Not that I was worried for a minute, but we really showed how we could come together when it really matters.  So absolutely, let’s celebrate!  We earned it!”

Isamu joined with his classmates in cheering, though he thought Kaminari looked like her heart wasn’t in it, despite everyone having told her that they didn’t blame her for almost causing them to fail the exam.  He could see the electric girl had taken the criticism to heart and he doubted she’d do anything like that again.

He’d talk to her later if he had the opportunity.  They weren’t exactly friends, but they’d gotten to be friendlier over the term, especially when he’d burned a few copies of some of his mom’s lesser known CDs for her. And they both agreed that Double Pop was a cheap rip off and not an homage, no matter how hot Mineta insisted they were.

As the cheers died down, Izumi spoke up.  “I have already told my parents about our passing the exam,” she said. She sounded pretty happy, as far as he could tell.  Izumi was a fairly reserved person, but even he could see the pride in her victories today.  She deserved it, completely.  “They send their congratulations to all of us.  They have also extended an offer to the whole class—and you, Kocho—to join us at our island vacation home before the training camp.”

He knew Izumi’s family was rich.   But all the same, he couldn’t help but blurt out, “You have an island vacation home?”

Kirishima-Bakugo smirked at his surprise.  “They have their own island.”

That did not do anything to take down his surprise.  “Of course,” he said.  Visions of the costs of plane tickets and island prices and everything else immediately tampered down any enthusiasm he would have had for going.  Not all Pro-Heroes were rich, of course, but with the right endorsements and even a modest amount of success, they could be very well off.  That was not his family.  They did well enough, of course, but he wasn’t anywhere near the same ballpark.

Really, between the Iida twins, Izumi, and Mirdoiya alone, the amount of yen in the room was staggering. It did very little to quell his feelings of inadequacy.  But he could see Kocho doing a very good job of concentrating on her drink and a pang of sympathy overrode anything else.

“Of course, since it is the Yaoyorozu private jet and hotel, it is all expenses paid,” Izumi went on.

“As long as we’re back in time for the I-Island Expo,” Midoriya said.  “Dad’s going to be busy, but the Aunt Meslissa and the Togata kids are all going, and I’m going with them.”

“We’re going too!” Sora Iida piped in.  “Mother is presenting several new inventions and Father will be there as well, representing the family.”

Tensei Iida looked over at his boyfriend.  “I will insist upon you being allowed to come,” he told Sero. “It is only fair, since my sister’s boyfriend will be there.”

“Double-date vacation with our Iida squeezes, Midoriya?” Sero said.  “It’s all moving so fast!  We’ll be in-laws before you know it!”

Midoriya turned red at that. “Maybe… maybe not that fast!”

“Toshi,” Sora told him, leaning in, “I think he is joking.”

“Or am I?” Sero laughed, giving himself a double thumbs’ up.  Ojiro reached over and gave him a smack on the shoulder.  “Ow!  Go easy, Kimiko!”

“Stop making Midoriya a nervous wreck!  You’ll ruin my ships!”

“You can’t call it a ship when it’s real people, Kimmie,” Sato said, looking faintly embarrassed at his friends.

“You’re going too, right, Haimawari?” Midoriya asked.

“I, ah, yeah,” Isamu said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. He still needed to find a suit before that happened.   As the first year winner of the U.A. Sports Festival, he’d gotten an all- expenses paid invitation to the Expo.  It would be the furthest he’d ever been from his home in his life.  Still seemed like way too much attention on him, but Hero-Society really did like to have people it could celebrate, it seemed.  “Hadn’t had too much time to think about it, with the exams and everything.”

“You get a plus one, you know!” Mineta yelled.  “You should totally take Kana!”

Isamu let out a squeak. “We’re really not ready for that!” he said quickly.  “Really!”

“Take me then?” she asked, pouting.  “Shinji’s still grounded and I’ll be so lonely…”

Nope, nope, nope, get away bad thoughts!

“We should be able to return in plenty of time,” Izumi said, answering the question and thankfully ending any conversation with Mineta.  

“Are you sure it’s okay if I come?” Kocho asked.  The tips of her wings flicked about as she talked.  “I mean, I’ll have to ask my parents to begin with, but you all barely know me.”

Boy, did he know that feeling.   It definitely summed up how he’d felt at the start of the term.  But now he had good friends here, and even got along with pretty much everyone else.  He still sometimes felt like an outsider, but with people who’d literally grown up together, that wasn’t completely surprising.  But he definitely no longer felt like an outsider.

“You’re going to be in 1-A,” Midoriya said, smiling.  “That makes you family.”

“Welcome to the crazy house,” Kirishima-Bakugo said.  She made a sweeping gestured.  “I’d say you get used to some of them, but, well…”

***

It’s the next morning, Saturday, and most of the class was out and about, some of the couples spending time with each other, some enjoying a day of much deserved rest after the exams. A few had even gone home already in preparation for the upcoming trip.  They’d had one of the biggest tests of their lives and they’d passed.

So why couldn’t Chihiro bring herself to celebrate?

Maybe because she’d nearly ruined the whole thing.  Not just for herself, but for everyone.  She’d barely passed her other exams.  As much as her mom often told her to “dig down deep and find the genes I gave you,” Chihiro sometimes had to admit… she just wasn’t that smart.  Book learning did not come easily to her.  So she’d poured everything she had into being a Hero.  And with her new costume, she’d actually started finally getting good at that, overcome the limitations of her Quirk and started thinking a little bit smarter there.

And in one fleeting taste of victory, she’d done something stupid and started celebrating.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. One of the first basic rules of Heroing. Never, ever celebrate until the Villain was either unconscious or in a police car.  She’d been so damn sure their combined power had been enough to put Kamuy down.

She’d been wrong.

And everyone had nearly paid for her mistake.  Sure, they said they didn’t blame her.  And she even believed them.  Well, she believed everyone but Kirishima-Bakugo.  She’d never actually said it, just grimaced and nodded along when the others said it.

It didn’t mean she didn’t blame herself.

In retrospect, being alone in the common room with her thoughts probably wasn’t the best thing right now, no matter how much she didn’t want to be around other people.   Of course, if she really didn’t want to be around other people, she would have just stayed in her room. Instead, she was sitting on the couch, strumming on her ukulele.  Maybe, just maybe, a little music would take her mind off of everything.  She hadn’t had as much time to play as she’d like this term, but maybe she could get back to it.

She was definitely bringing it on the trip to Izumi’s island.  Islands practically called for ukuleles.  Also, she just liked the word ukulele.  This one in particular had been a gift from her dad.   It even had a small inscription.  “Just write “I love you, Chihiro.’”

The doors to the outside flew open and in walked someone she really didn’t want to deal with right now:  Shiro Monoma.  If he said one word about anything—never mind how he’d have found out in the first place—she knew she’d throw hands and Cords.  And then she’d probably get in actual trouble.

He had bolted through the doors like he’s gathered up all his courage for an important mission, but now that he was inside, he just looked a little confused.  He even pulled his phone out and checked something on it—probably his text messages.

“Mika’s not here,” she told Monoma flatly.  Mika had said something about how he was having a rough time lately, but honestly, he got on her last nerve often enough that she wasn’t sure she cared.  “Pretty sure Koda’s upstairs though.”

How someone as nice as Koda was put up with the likes of him and Aoyama, she had no idea.

“I, ah, yes, good,” Monoma said, looking both awkward and uncomfortable under her gaze.  She must have stepped up her intimidation game. Maybe she’d actually see how this played out.  “I… heard you all passed the exam?”

Of course.  Why did she think it was anything else?   “Come to gloat?” she snapped, pointing her Cords at him.  Sparks danced along their tips.

He put a hand to his chest, offended.  “Gloat about what?”

“You don’t know?”  She carefully set her ukulele down in its case on the table in front of her and stood up.  She waved her arms through the air as she ranted, her Cords mimicking the gestures.  “You’re not just bullshitting me, so you can insult me?  Mock me?  Mock poor stupid Kaminari who nearly danced her way into failing the exam?”

Crap.  She said too much.

Monoma’s expression softened, though she could also see some kind of comprehension dawning too.  “I assure you,” he said, crossing the room so he was standing across from her, “that I meant to do no such offenses.   It’s not my place to do so anymore anyway.  At least you’re still here.  It sounds like you still deserve your spot.”

Wait, what?    “The hell does that mean?” she demanded.  Dammit, he needed to stop looking like a kicked puppy. It was making it incredibly hard to be mad at him!

“I’m leaving U.A.,” he told her.  Chihiro’s Cords jerked up in surprise.  “I’m… I’m not cut out for this.  My Quirk’s not good enough.  I’m not good enough.  I only stayed long enough to help my class pass the exam.  Which they did.”

Okay, seriously, what the hell.  

“I, ah…” she began, uncertainly.  “They throw real Villains at you too?”

Now it was his turn to be surprised.  “…Your teacher really is insane.”  She didn’t disagree.  “Super-Ball got some of his Pro-Hero friends to play the part.   Dirtbreaker, She-Panther, Silver Stalker, the Human Rocket, and Microwaveabelle.  They’re all fairly minor and low ranked… but they gave us all a pretty good fight.”

“Betcha Shinso could have told you all about them.”   She did genuinely like the little guy.  Their dads were friends, so while they weren’t close, she was certainly more than used to his quirks.

“Yeah,” Monoma agreed. “He probably could have.”   Chihiro recalled that his dad was friends were Shinso’s dad too.  She seemed to remember the two of them had even been closer, once upon a time.

“But you’re quitting?” she asked.  As much as he tried to brag or claim his class was better than theirs, she couldn’t believe it.

“My mind’s made up,” he said, quietly.  “Please don’t try to talk me out of it.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she said.  “But like I said, Koda’s upstairs if that’s who you’re looking for.”

He hesitated, then looked down at her ukulele.  “I didn’t know you could play,” he said.

She shrugged.  “I’m not nearly as good as mom.  But I do all right.”   She realized he was looking at her expectantly.   The curse of the musician.  As soon as you admitted you could play, people wanted to hear it.

With a sigh, she picked it up and sat down, using her Cords to indicate that he could sit too if he wanted. He took up a spot on the couch opposite her.   She took a moment, then launched into the cords of a positively ancient song and couldn’t help but launch into song, in English.

“I see trees of green and red roses too

I'll watch then bloom just for me and you

And I think to myself

Oh, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue, clouds of white

The brightness of day, the dark, say goodnight

And I think to myself

Oh, what a wonderful world…”

She stopped when she realized he wasn’t just watching her, he was staring.  Hard.

“What?” she asked.  

“I’ve never actually seen anyone play music up close like that,” Monoma said, actually sounding impressed.  “At least, not live.  Video is one thing, but up close and personal… it’s actually rather breathtaking.”

Okay, Monoma was dishing out compliments instead of insulting her intelligence.  This was obviously a Monoma from an alternate universe where he was nice.  “Think you could copy it?” she asked.  “You’d probably make a good musician that way.”

He shook his head.  “I could copy the motions, but I wouldn’t have the heart for it you do.  Or the kind of conditioning in my fingers you have.  I’m honestly really impressed.  You’ve got real talent.”  There was an undercurrent of “and I’m jealous” to it, so she took some pity on him.

“It take some work,” she said.  “But anybody really can learn.  You learn the chords, you put them together, one after the other, they turn into music. Same for every song, just broken apart and put together in different ways and speeds.”

Monoma’s lips were moving, but no sound was coming out, as he seemed to be processing what she’d said. He suddenly bolted from his seat. “That’s it!  Like music! Not like shots from a quiver!”   His eyes were wild and Chihiro slowly and deliberately put her ukulele in its case so she could stand up.

“I’m going to tase you if you don’t start making sense!”

His expression still maniac, Monoma continued. “I could string moves together into a symphony of fighting!  I’ve been treating moves like separate weapons, to be used and discarded!  I can combine them!”

“Uh… good for you?” she tried.  Should she be calling someone here?  Was he having an aneurysm?  She could probably always defibrillate him, but she was pretty sure that wasn’t the right medical procedure.  

His eyes were shining and maniac still, when he focused them on her.  “You’re brilliant, Kaminari!  Thank you!”

In a burst of speed, he was at her side, his arms wrapped around her and holding her tightly against him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” His lips pressed against her cheek for a moment, a long moment, separating with a wet, smacking sound.

Reality seemed to settle back in.  He stared at her, then bolted towards the door.  “Thankyouagain,Ihavetowithdrawmywithdrawl,Ineedtogonow!”

Chihiro stood there for a moment longer, before she flopped back onto the couch, her legs suddenly weak.   Her fingers touched her cheek where Monoma had kissed her.  “What… what just happened?”

***

Mika had made herself scarce from the 1-A dorms and was hanging out with Anime in hers.  As was expected, her friends’ dorm walls were completely covered in posters from various manga and anime, most of which even the biggest otaku would find obscure.  

Her phone buzzed.   Earlier, she’d sent a message to Shiro, telling him a “mutual acquaintance” was feeling depressed and maybe he could go by and cheer her up.  He was depressed, she was depressed, it was the perfect plan.

She checked her phone.

Cute Ex: So I’m not quitting.   Got a really good idea when I was at your dorm building.  Had a really good conversation.  …I may have kissed her.  Things got happened and I got passionate.

Mika smiled.  That was fast.  Really fast, actually, given the parties involved.  Good for Shiro and good for Akaya.  Her friend needed it.  And Shiro would be way better for her than Aoyama, if he ever figured out that he was clearly crushing on Akaya.

“It worked!” she told Anime.

The animated girl squeed happily.  “I knew it! Just like I Set Up My Best Friends (Because I Could)!”

Cute Ex: I hope this doesn’t make things awkward.

Mika was about to respond that of course it didn’t, this was her plan all along, when she saw more dots indicating Shiro was still typing.

Cute Ex: Because now I might actually ask Kaminari out.  Not just because of the kiss.  But because I discovered she’s actually fascinating.  I know it sounds crazy, but…

She didn’t see the rest of the text, as the phone dropped from her hands.  “Anime, we’ve made a terrible mistake.”

[loxare]

A crap guide to KH characters

that I made instead of studying psychology, enjoy!

Sora – precious bab. Will fuk you up if you mess with his friends. Has been suppressing his emotions since 2002 and honestly really needs a hug and probably a good cry. Sunshine boi. People really need to stop being mean to him, or trying to unravel who he is as a person i s2g i will cut a bitch. Has sacrificed himself to save his friends way too many times. Honestly, he's just a good boy who went on an adventure to save his friends and went through a lot of crap, but still manages to keep an upbeat outlook.

Riku – 2edgy4u. Will also fuk you up if you mess with his friends. Went through probably the best redemption arc since Zuko. Also needs a hug. Has tried to sacrifice himself to save his friends several times but his friends say he's not allowed. A good boy who's been trying to make up for his mistakes since 2002 and honestly he's doing a great job.

Kairi – Sunshine girl. Hasn't fucked anyone up for messing with her friends yet but damn if she isn't trying. Tired of playing damsel in distress, more tired of waiting for her boys to come home. Probably would sacrifice herself for her friends but hasn't had the opportunity. Ready to fist fight a damn werewolf to avoid being sidelined again. I need a game dedicated to her stat.

Roxas – 3edgy5u. Started out a happy kiddo, then some bad shit happened and now he's just mad at everyone. Identity crises every second Wednesday. All he wants is to eat ice cream with his friends, roll around town on his skateboard and disassemble the government, is that too much to ask?

Axel/Lea – The absolute worst person ever turned lovable asshole once he discovered parenting. Seriously, he was terrible in CoM. But honestly, understandable considering he was forced to join a cult that spent a solid decade telling him he had no emotions and hey, please be an assassin for us. Needs to pick a name. Currently fighting Aqua for the Best Team Parent Award (and losing, sorry Lea, Aqua is just that good).

Xion – precious daughter. Seriously needs a hug. Identity crises all day all night all the time. Most Forgettable Character Award (I'm so sorry). All she wants is to eat ice cream with her friends, go to the beach and scream trans rights at the worlds, is that too much to ask? Had so much bad shit happen to her. Inherited her self-sacrificial streak from Sora. Someone get this girl a better role model. No, not Lea, he did some self-sacrifice bs too, someone else. No, not Aqua either.

Terra – himbo xtreme. So good and trusting he trusted the wrongest person. Sorry, two wrongest persons. Terra no. He's just a terrafic dude (I'm not sorry). Stronk. Dumb. Kind. Would possess his own empty armor to protect his friends and sit in a wasteland for over a decade. What strength. What willpower. Someone get this man into the Green Lantern Corps, stat. I need him and Kronk to meet because they're both so dumb I love them. Terra's great.

Aqua – Light of my life. Willingly jumped into hell to save her friend. Jewelry maker. Will fuk you up if you mess with her friends. Did I mention that she jumped into hell to save her friend? Who was actually her friend being possessed by the bad guy? And that she stayed there for over a decade? Such strength. Someone get this woman a hug. And therapy. Current holder of the Best Team Parent Award. Her friend group has five brain cells and she holds four of them.

Ven – Literal sunshine boy. Don't look too long, you'll go blind. Will fuk you up if you even look at his friends. Shady past that he absolutely does not remember. Winner of the Rip Van Winkle Award for longest nap. Kind of a brat at first but damn does he grow up fast. Has the worst evil twin ever. Holds the last brain cell.

Vanitas – The evil twin. The worst, I love him. Seriously needs to get some therapy. And a redemption arc, I need one so bad. Makes his own pets out of sadness. SHady past he might remember. Sees himself as the monster when the real monster was Doctor Franken- I mean. Xehanort. Really needs a hug, but maybe be prepared to run if you're giving it.

Namine – Perennial damsel in distress. Literal self insert character. Ends up going from one bad situation to another. When she finally gets her freedom, she vanishes. No one understands her powers and honestly that's fine. All she wants is to help. Someone tell her it's ok to want things for herself too.

Repliku – this guy is just an identity crisis put into a person. Doesn't even have his own name yet. So incredibly angry at everything he's gone through but has ended up in a sort of acceptance. The only person who didn't get a happy ending and I can and will revolt. Spent most of his life confused and angry and honestly relatable.

[ddaenggtan]

tag game

tagged by: @jungtaeyoongles​ and @hobisbeautifulass

:: nickname(s): bette-y boop, bette-y boo, bette-y bear, betet, babie, beepa (only by Fiance tho), bette in general is a nickname tbh as is my actual name, uhhhhh idk what else do yall call me???

:: bias: pls stop asking me this question i am an Anxious Libra i cannot make decisions

:: blood type: uhhhhhh i think like a+? maybe a-. definitely a.

:: favourite food: cake. mac n cheese. chickie nuggies. honestly probably chickie nuggies overall bc i could literally eat them every day of my life.

:: birthday: october 6th uwu

:: zodiac: LMAO im a walking libra stereotype

:: pronouns: she/her

:: hair length: like..........idk tbh its a weird mullet thing goin on rn bc i buzzed it funky and now its growing weird, but i think like. two and a half inches at its longest.

:: height: i am 5′8.75″ and yES that .75 is important to me

:: a crush: i mean i have a fiance so

:: what do you like about yourself: i like that i can listen to my friends and lighten their burdens some, and i like that i got long ass eyelashes for no fuckin reason, because this is the year of fucking loving ourselves

:: left or right handed: right

:: list of 3 favourite colours: blue, purple, pink. 

:: (right now) eating: uh......a burger?

:: (right now) drinking: sprite uwu

:: i’m about to: finish this and the other tag thing and then do fwl reblogs and then write that hanahaki fic lmao

:: listening to: my Get Hype playlist, which currently features like fifteen Black Swans and also some reggaeton

:: kids: none

:: get married: i’M FUCKIN TRYING, smh fiance keeps saying “taxes” and “insurance issues” like thats gonna make me wanna marry her less smh

:: recent phone call: cab company on my cell, guest’s room on the work phone

:: (have u ever) dated someone twice: no? i think?

:: been cheated on: lmao yea

:: kissed someone and regretted it: lmao yea

:: lost someone special: lmao yea

:: been depressed: right now buddy boi

:: been drunk and thrown up: literally once and it was the worst experience of my life

:: had glasses or contacts: glasses, that i lost like four years ago and can’t afford to replace

:: had sex on the first date: ...................does it count if it was before the date?

:: broken someone’s heart: lmao yea

:: turned someone down: truly an obscene amount of times, bc apparently hitting on people at work is a common theme among men :)

:: cried when someone died: uh yea

:: fallen for a friend: lmao that’s how i got engaged

:: (in the last year have you) made a new friend: so many 

:: laughed until u cried: did that literally yesterday

:: met someone who changed u: doesn’t everyone we meet change us in some way?

:: found out who your true friends were: lmao yea

:: found out someone was talking about you: lmao yea

:: lips or eyes: eyes, always, because as wonderful as lips are, there’s something different about it when the light hits their eyes just right and it turns into a kaleidoscope 

:: hugs or kisses: kisses always

:: romantic or spontaneous: romantic

:: hookup or relationship: relationship

:: first best friend: 4th grade, and we are in fact still friends

:: surgery: nay

:: sports i joined: lmaoooooooo does academic team count

:: do u believe in yourself: im tryin

:: miracles: sometimes, but never when you really need them

:: love at first sight: in a way, yeah. not that ‘i’d do anything for you and i wouldn’t even hesitate’ kinda love, but love is so fluid and dynamic and diverse, i fall a little bit in love with people constantly every day, so i don’t understand people who don’t believe in it

:: heaven: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

:: do u have any pets: five of them, and they are all spoiled as shit

:: do u want to change your name: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

:: what did u do for your last birthday: Fiance and I went up to my mom’s house (bc it was also my mamas birthday uwu) and we played a bunch of board games and hung out and it was super fun

:: what time did u wake up today: 12:57 PM

:: what were u doing last night at midnight: waiting for a fucking cab so i could go home from work

:: something i can’t wait for: finishing the fics im writing, MOTS7, the fics that emma and jane and lisa and reni and b and nell and sora and ellie and so many other fucking people are writing, going home god damn i wanna be home already, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Wednesday so i can preorder the full 7 set, uhhhh getting married, uhhhhhhh, listen i look forward to a lot of things, 

:: last time u saw your mum: uhhhhhhhhhhh the 1st? i think? im seeing her wednesday tho!!!

:: what is one thing u wish u could change about your life: that i didn’t have to worry about money and food as much so i could actually enjoy more of it lmao

I’d like to tag…. @personawife @strawbxxymilk @seokoloqy @peekaboongi @honiboyyoon @helpitskpop @gimmeyoon and literally anyone else that wants to do this 

[hailcyeon]

hiraeth | 07

Pairing: Jaehwan x Reader Genre: Sci-Fi, Royal AU Word Count: 3.1k Warnings: Mild cursing

“It’s nothing, thought I spotted an old friend. He’s still smiling in his usual irritating way, lips stretched wide at a joke you’re not in on.”

Sora’s declaration spurs forth a flurry of activity that results in your standing outside an elegant bistro half an hour later, feeling woefully under-dressed in your faded jeans and sweater. Judging by the trendy gaggle of diners on the outdoor patio, this restaurant is well out of your usual price range. You understandably had the space to bring only so much when fleeing Armistice, but next to Sora in her long skirt and designer boots, you feel rather inadequate. Even Jaehwan, still accompanying you on Hakyeon's orders, cleans up nicely in his dark jeans and button down.

Oblivious to your sartorial distress, Jaehwan has been staring at something behind you over your shoulder for the past five minutes. You spare a glance, somehow both bored and agitated, but it’s just another gaggle of highly fashionable pedestrians on the opposite sidewalk. It’s strange being in the throngs of normal society, people laughing and going about their day, as if you’re not acutely aware of every passing stranger and their likelihood of being under the king’s command.

Sora huffs and checks her phone. “Ugh, it is just like Sanghyuk to keep us waiting this long.”

With the thought of meeting the king still looming over everyone's heads, Hakyeon had declared you needed a new wardrobe to properly fit the part of court mascot and roped Sora into being your guide for the day. Then once Sora realized you hadn’t eaten yet, she insisted on treating you to lunch first, calling up her brother as well on the assumption he would like to see you. From what you gather though, Sanghyuk is a late sleeper, leaving the three of you to wait outside the restaurant for his arrival.

Jaehwan scoffs, hands in pockets and lips quirked in a smile. “He's probably still hungover.”

Sora rolls her eyes. “I know he's still hungover. He threw a pillow at me this morning when I tried to wake him up.”

It's strange to think of the young boy you knew at one time having anything to do with alcohol consumption, but sudden movement in the corner of your eye cuts off any further thought. A jolt of panic runs through your body, but before you can react, Jaehwan pivots to shield you and shoulder checks the encroaching figure, sending him sprawling on the sidewalk. The chatter around you pauses briefly, the diners outside startled into silence.

“What the fuck, Hyuk?” Jaehwan pulls a groaning Sanghyuk up by the hand, both annoyed and amused. “You can't just run at people.”

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” Sora says, glaring up at her brother.

Holding his head, Sanghyuk stands and grins sheepishly. “I just wanted to surprise the princess. I didn't think you'd go all macho-Sword-man on me.”

“Han Sanghyuk, how many times have I told you that no one likes it when you do that?” Incensed, Sora has her hands on her hips, and you're struck by how much she's channeling her grandmother right now.

Trying to calm your still racing heart, you crane your neck upwards to peer at Sanghyuk. The last time you saw him, he was about shoulder height with you, but apparently, he takes after his giant of a grandfather, considering his current condition.

“Ahh, she doesn't mind,” Sanghyuk says, giving you a proper hug in greeting. “Do you?”

“Just don't do it again,” you respond, awkwardly bent back by his embrace. “What happened to you, Hyogi? I can't ruffle your hair anymore.”

Sanghyuk releases you, grinning, and Jaehwan opens the glass door to the restaurant, ushering your group in.

“Puberty is a magical thing, I'll tell you all about it later,” Jaehwan says, deadpan and holding the door open for you to walk through.

You stick your tongue out at him childishly before you can stop yourself. “We're getting lunch and buying some clothes, why are you here exactly?” You know the answer to that, of course; Hakyeon was very clear that you are not to go anywhere in the city without your “bodyguard”, but you hate feeling babied.

“He can hold the bags for us,” Sora says soothingly. She strides forward to the maître d’ of the restaurant who is busy jotting down reservations in a large tablet.

“I'm sorry, we are booked full through today,” he says as your group approaches without even looking up. “You'll have to call ahead next time.”

Undeterred, Sora smiles. “I'll just need my usual table, Jisoo.”

The man immediately looks up from his task, eyes widening in shocked apology. “Lady Han! I am very sorry, I didn't realize it was you.” He jumps out from behind the desk, bowing a full ninety degrees. “Right this way.”

You haven’t seen this much bowing and scraping since your days at the palace, but you follow Sora and the man anyway to the back of the restaurant where there is a lovely paper screen set up for privacy. Snippets of conversation heard from diners you pass along the way only add to your confusion.

“Ohmygod, don't look now, but the Han Sora just walked in.”

“Holy shit, think we can get a picture? Who's the hottie she's with?”

“Gross, that's her brother.”

“No, the blond one! Next to that frumpy chick.”

Your cheeks heat in embarrassment and you quicken your pace, desperate to be out of view. The maître d’ eventually leads the group to an elegantly set table toward the very back, set against some more screens and bathed in sun from an overhead skylight. He pulls out a chair for Sora, and Jaehwan, to your surprise, pulls one out for you. At your questioning look, Jaehwan simply flashes a cheeky smile and seats himself to your left. On your right, Sanghyuk immediately grabs a menu to peruse.

“Would you like a wine list, my lady?” says the maître d’ to Sora, once again in a deep bow. “We recently received a shipment of excellent vintage wine from Imsal that I'm sure you would find to your taste.”

“I'll just have a bottle of that then,” Sora responds, sending the man scurrying off in haste.

“A little early for alcohol,” you say, paging through the menu. As everything since your exodus has been, the expensive choices are overwhelming.

“Never too early for alcohol,” Sanghyuk states dryly, nose still stuck in the menu.

“Maybe just a glass of milk for this one,” you say, narrowing your eyes.

“I'm lactose intolerant, actually,” he says smugly as the maître d’ returns with a bottle of wine and an ice bucket.

Uncorking the bottle, Jaehwan takes it upon himself to pour out glasses for everyone. He passes over Sanghyuk’s offered glass, eliciting a furious pout from the offended party.

“You can't be serious.”

“Shut up and drink your milk, Hyogi,” quips Jaehwan, smirking as he pours you a glass.

Sanghyuk flips Jaehwan a finger, making you snort in laughter and Sora sigh.

“Boys,” she says in exasperation. “Can we pretend to be nice and civilized for like, half an hour? That's all I ask. And are you not still hungover?” Sora glares pointedly at Sanghyuk, who has decided to take matters into his own hands by pouring himself a glass.

“Nope!” he responds, popping the ‘p’. “Didn’t even go out last night. Was up until four gaming; Changkyun set our raid real late.” A waiter comes by briefly to take orders, bowing several times in the process. Swirling the wine in his glass, Sanghyuk lays his chin on his hand boredly. “I’ll behave. Wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of your adoring fans.”

Sipping your own wine slowly, you look at Sora sitting across the table. “What's this about adoring fans?”

Jaehwan lets out a laugh that he tries, and fails, to cover with a cough. “Wow, you really lived under a rock back in Armistice, huh?”

You glare at him, and Sora flushes slightly. “I didn't really have time for much outside of school and work,” you mutter.

“That's quite alright.” Sora smiles and fiddles with her hair self-consciously. “I act a bit now, that's all.”

Both the boys scoff at that. “She's the kingdom's sweetheart,” Jaehwan supplies. “Can't turn on a screen without seeing Sora.”

“Did you have to take the one voice over gig though?” Sanghyuk complains. “My friends keep trying to get me to play that game, and it looks so cool, but I refuse to play anything where I have to listen to my sister the whole time.”

Sora rolls her eyes in response. “My agent thought it'd be a good idea to engage the younger demographic. Deal with it.”

“The point is,” Jaehwan says, “she's the perfect candidate to teach you how to behave in Capital culture.”

You narrow your eyes, trying hard not to be offended. “Are you saying I don't know how to behave?”

The waiter returns with several trays, distracting Jaehwan from an answer for a moment. “You're prickly,” he responds eventually with a mouth full of pasta. “And abrasive.”

“I am not prickly.” You try not to sound defensive, but you have to admit his words have some truth to them.

“I wasn't done,” Jaehwan says holding up a finger and swallowing heavily. “You freeze in tense situations and you're so out of touch with the kingdom that you didn't realize its most famous celebrity is actually your best friend from childhood.”

He smiles widely as you grit your teeth and glare. “Am I wrong?” he asks with the quirk of an eyebrow.

You stare down at your plate, unwilling to answer. He isn't wrong. No one knows better than you that the task Hakyeon has given you is monumental. You were forced to grow into a different person after leaving the kingdom, and now you're supposed to prance back into court high society like none of it ever occurred.

Remember Hakyeon, is all you can think through your clenched jaw, clenched fists. Remember Hakyeon and remember the debt.

“You're not doing it alone,” Sora says softly from across the table. “Okay? We'll be here to prepare you for everything.”

You sigh, feeling defeated before anything has even happened. “That’s all well and nice, but I’m the one going into the lion’s den.”

“The king’s not going to murder you in broad daylight,” Jaehwan says with the slightest roll of his eyes. “He’s left you alone so far anyway. If he'd wanted to make a move, he would have already.”

This does nothing to help your fears and you glare at him again. “Do you think I would have been allowed to enter this city if the king didn't want me here?” You can't shake the feeling that you're walking right into his hands.

“Well,” Sanghyuk pipes up. “If nothing else, don't worry too much about the court and the general public. A little ass kissing here, a couple photo ops with Sora there, and they'll be eating out of the palm of your hand.”

Sora nods. “Exactly. Stick you in a designer dress and you’ll fit right in. Maybe a haircut too,” she adds as an afterthought.

“What's wrong with my hair?” you ask, frowning. You hadn't cut your hair in a while for lack of time and initiative, but you don't think you look terrible.

“Don't worry,” Sora says waving her hand dismissively. “I'll take care of everything, and when I'm done the tabloids won't know what to do with themselves.” Her grin is meant to be encouraging but it feels like an ominous portent for the rest of the day at your friend's mercy.

As it is, your instincts had the right idea to be frightened.

Shortly after lunch, Sora leads you and Jaehwan on a whirlwind of a shopping spree. Sanghyuk ditches early, citing an urgent appointment with his bed and his utter disinterest in taking part in his sister's madness as reasons.

For once you’re glad to have Hakyeon's unlimited credit line, considering the high-end boutiques and department stores you keep being pulled into. You're continuously forced into fitting rooms, arms laden with clothes Sora wants you to try, each time aided by boutique owners who inevitably end up being huge fans of your friend. Between your impromptu fashion show and the salon where your hair and skin are poked, prodded, and plucked, you feel like you’ve walked through a hurricane of perfume and finery.

Sora excuses herself to check on an order she has coming in at yet another boutique, leaving the two of you to awkwardly wait outside. Jaehwan is buried in various shopping bags, and you're leaning against the brick facade in an attempt to catch your breath. It’s a busy shopping district, pedestrians flooding in and out of the many storefronts and restaurants.

You close your eyes for a moment, head bent in a futile attempt to hide yourself under the giant ferns flanking the boutique doors. No matter how much rest you get, you can’t seem to shake this exhaustion that’s settled into your bones ever since you made the decision to leave Armistice. It’s a strange feeling to be so very tired and at the same time wary of every little bit of your surroundings. The anxiety and fatigue combine to make your insides feel inflamed.

A deep breath later you straighten up and peek up at Jaehwan on the off chance he’s also tired enough to let you leave early, but he’s all furrowed brows and tense shoulders, once again distracted by something across the street. You follow his gaze to the cafe immediately in front of you, confused by the seemingly innocuous scene. There’s a man with close-cropped hair seated outside who feels vaguely familiar, but there are millions of men with buzz cuts in the world and you’re all out of long-lost childhood friends.

“What have you been staring at all day?” It comes out snippier than you intended, and Jaehwan snaps his eyes to yours, an easy smile plastered back on.

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been staring off into space,” you say, suddenly annoyed. “All day.”

“It’s nothing, thought I spotted an old friend.” He’s still smiling in his usual irritating way, lips stretched wide at a joke you’re not in on.

“Some bodyguard,” you scoff, pushing off the wall. Instead you find a seat at a bench a little down the block, ignoring your shadow as best you can while he settles down next to you. Your position gives you an unhindered view of the riverside promenade, the gap in buildings allowing a small breeze to filter through. You absently play with your hair as the wind picks it up, now cut shoulder length and blow-dried straight.

“It looks good,” Jaehwan says suddenly, face peeking out from under the pile of boxes and bags he's holding.

“What?” His voice wrenches your gaze away from the river, where the setting sun is turning the surface of the waters to molten gold.

“Your hair,” he explains. “It looks good, don't worry.”

You blink and look at him, not quite sure how to react. “Thank you?”

Amused, Jaehwan gives you a lopsided smile and copies your tone. “You're welcome?”

You turn away quickly, trying to hide your embarrassment, and caught off guard by his friendliness. You still don't know what to make of the man who has been your constant companion for the past few days. He seems determined to get under your skin, all smiles and jokes, but then his sudden serious moments give you whiplash.

“What's that?” you ask, pointing toward several structures clustered up against the river. Some of the buildings look half-complete, with their steel skeletons stretching up to the open sky, while others look fully functional but nonetheless abandoned. The largest straddles the river, arched towers on each bank meeting in the middle elegantly.

“What’s what?” Jaehwan cranes his neck to look at where you're pointing. “That ugly thing? It was supposed to be a hotel, I think, a whole resort complex type deal. There's always some new construction project going up, but this one ran out of money and stopped building a while ago.”

You nod in understanding. “The city's expanded a lot since I was last here.”

“All the development companies are owned by the king's new magistrates,” he murmurs.

“All of them?”

“Not in name,” he amends. “But it's all the same people if you trace the contracts far back enough. Hakyeon's been trying to fight it, but it's an uphill battle.”

“How is he doing that?” you ask, genuinely curious. You have no idea what your cousin has been up to beyond court politics.

“He's been funneling money to competitors and foreign investors. A lot of business shit I don't fully understand.” Jaehwan shakes his head and grimaces a little. “He's the one that convinced TirTech to open a branch here.”

You raise an eyebrow. “And the king just lets him do it?”

Jaehwan's face grows dark for a moment, mind elsewhere. “The king is pretty busy with other things.”

You're about to ask what he thinks the king is up to when Jaehwan suddenly exclaims and shoves the bags off himself.

“Oh! Wait here a second.” He jumps up and makes to walk away, then turns back around. “Do not move, understand?” he says firmly, wagging a finger for good measure.

“Yes sir,” you mock, rolling your eyes.

You watch as he quickly jogs across the street to a food cart on the corner. You're both confused and amused by his sudden change in demeanor as he animatedly points to what you assume is a menu, glancing back every now and again to make sure you're still sitting on the bench. He jogs back a few minutes later with a paper bag in hand.

“Churros!” Jaehwan grins, pulling one out of the bag for you.

You accept the proffered fried stick of dough and take a bite, careful not to dust yourself in sugar in the process. Warm and sweet, the dessert is an immediate mood lifter.

“Did you have a sudden craving?” you ask, half joking.

Jaehwan shakes his head, mouth full of his own churro. “This is the best churro cart in the city. I remember from the last time Sora dragged Hyuk and me this way.”

“What, like you've tried all of them?” you mumble around a mouthful of churro.

“I get around,” Jaehwan says, wiggling his eyebrows at you suggestively.

It's an effort not to inhale dough as you snort in laughter, caught off guard by his silly expression. He seems rather proud of himself, smiling broadly at your laugh. You bite your lips in an attempt to keep a straight face, but your efforts are in vain. With a roll of your eyes you turn away from him, but the laughter has sunken into your face as a contented smile, the omnipresent dread on your shoulders held at bay for the moment.

[lynxgriffin]

Led Zeppelin was right all along

It’s my FINAL PIECE of KH3 commentary! That’s right, I’ve finished the game! Commentary for me finishing it is under the cut!

Okay guys, this is it

It’s time to finish this sucker

It’s time for all of my feelings to get curbstomped and then cracked in half over a knee

Turns out I’ve caught a cold so this might be tougher to do

But I’m still going to do it

AWAY. WE. GOOOOO

And after beating this gummi boss again…

Ahhh there he is at last

The old fart

…So weird that it’s not Leonard Nimoy though

Xehanort: Let’s just try out this whole apocalypse thing and see how it goes

It’s rainin’ Heartless, hallelujah

LMAO there isn’t even an enemy counter, it’s just:

ENEMIES. YES, ALL OF THEM. ALL THE TIME. FOREVER

And I just blew up ten million Heartless with a train, THIS IS THE SHINIEST APOCALYPSE EVER

Ohh, once again, hate that tunnel

IT’S A TRAP

At least Aqua didn’t fall for that

Oh dang he’s got No Name there

NOOOO SUNSHINE BOY

Oh well now that’s cheating

FUKYEAH GOOFY

Donald’s fukkin pissed

Did Donald just Megaflare this bitch

ArE yoU kiDDinG mE

Oh great, one of you again

Aqua: Never mind, that is way damn too many Heartless

HE SCREAM, AGAIN

SORA PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER WE’RE STILL EARLY IN FINAL BATTLE MODE

Well that was five different layers of OH SHIT

Oh hey back at that chess metaphor HI AGAIN YOUNG ERAQUS

Wait the hell kind of chess move was that

MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE SALT FLATS

ThE FINAL WORLD, HUH

Chirithy!!!!

Chirithy: So yeah you’ve kinda died a couple times previously just by being unconscious a lot

Sora: YEAH WELL time to get back to life

Sora: THERE’S PUZZLES IN HEAVEN, TOO??

THERE’S PUZZLES IN HEAVEN YUP, BETTER GET TO THAT

Ohhhh no the sparkly stars are KHUX Keykids, aren’t they :(((

Ugh it’s the little star soul stories that are getting to me :(

Sora bein’ a pal even to all the souls in heaven, gosh darn

OH SURE JUST KEEP THAT FROM THE AUDIENCE

OMG this soul is longing for his kismesis, what a nerd

“What a weird place” YEAH NO SHIT

Well it’s nice to see THESE Soras are having a great time

Perhaps this game was taking the idea of Sorabits a tad too literally

Also actually two quick questions here:

1) Why is Chirithy in heaven?

2) Sora were you instagramming from heaven??

Sora: So heaven’s been a trip and all but I’ve still got endgame to do, STAY COOL FUZZY FRIEND

Wait a bloop it sent him back in time too??

Insert 2001 Space Odyssey reference here

Oh now we’re in DIFFERENT heaven??

Okay yeah now I have no clue where we’re going from here

Man here I was expecting to fight all the Norts and instead it’s…Heartless…Grim Reaper

I’m starting to suspect this is not the real Jiminy

This is kind of a weird callback to KH1, innit

Yeah I was just wondering that myself

Oh hey Youngnort

See? Grim Reaper Heartless, I knew it

I gotta say that after Sora dying and going to KH heaven this is…kinda weirder coming afterwards

I’m kind of worried about where this is going

This is like Three Days of the Condor, I TRUST NO ONE

WE FINALLY GOT A TITLE CRAWL???

WHELP. ROUND TWO, I GUESS

Guys, let’s…let’s not do this again

You ever get a sense of deja vu

OHOHOHOOOOO THIS IS DIFFERENT

“WHO ARE YOU??” “I’M YOU BUT STRONGER”

Terra: I’ll kick every ass! I’ll kick your ass! I’LL KICK MY OWN ASS

Gad damn the bullshit never stops around here, does it

We’ve done this before but I DUN CARE since this is my favorite boss battle music

Meanwhile the Unreal Engine’s just huffing and puffing trying to keep up

:O!!! EPHEMER!!

WHATRE U DOIN IN A HEARTLESS TORNADO

And all the dead Keykids came to help!

Ohhhhhh myyyyyyyyy goooooooooooosh

HAHA SO THAT’S HOW THEY INTEGRATED THOSE PEOPLE THAT WON THE THING

Congrats Keykids, U ARE ATTACKS

That’s…that’s really sweet actually

That’s a whole lot of Unicornis and Vulpes in there

OMG I was so busy watching those names I didn’t even realize I was supposed to avoid dying

FINALLY CURAGA???

I dunno Lea that was already a pretty big bad

Aw darn they Norted Repliku

Or wait no Pastku?

Pastku you’re such a little shit

Lea: That wasn’t blundering! That was failing, WITH STYLE

HE LOOM

Unreal Engine: Please…help…I’m dying Squirtle

Oh hey FINALLY super powerful magic users like Yen Sid get involved!

And Moses parted the Heartless Sea

And hey finally got Starlight!

Well ain’t this a familiar setup

I miss Leonard Nimoy :(

Well I’m glad we get to save and shop before we all die horribly!

….Wait haven’t we all already died horribly??

FINALLY We get to fight some Norts!!

Took out Xigbar first

Yeah Xigbar I’m really not sure all that hoohah was worth it

Are we gonna do this for each one or do we have to pick and choose?

Oh well that takes care of Pastku so maybe not

SKIRT RIKU VS SKIRT RIKU

Oh that’s creepy actually

OH NO! Repliku :(((

Sora…you just gonna leave that…okay

So now we got some Neophytes to deal with

Well I was gonna go after Mar first but I guess Luxord is our opponent now

AW DAMN I hated this part from before!

Oh wait that wasn’t hard at all you just look behind those stupid cards

Luxord: Well it’s been fun, time to die

Why does everyone’s teeth look blue??

Really liking all these remixes of the old boss themes tho

Aaaaand down goes Mar

And what’s nice is partners have mostly worn down the last Nort present!

Larx is an asshole to the very end

Door puzzles ohhhh nooooooo

Well thank goodness we worked out that nonsense

Who to help first? REDHEAD SQUAD

If that’s Xion I’m going to be SO UPSET

At least we get to fight WITH Kairi even if not as her

Lea is SO ANGER

Ohhhhh BUUUUUURN

Oh well that ain’t good

XION NOOOOOOOOOO

Absolutely not, Xemnas!!

*throws hands in the air* OHHHHHHHH

HE KNOWS

Oh fuck you Xemnas HDU

Ohhhhh sheeeeeeet

THE BOY IS BACK

JUST STAB ME IN THE HEART WITH THE OTHER PROMISE, OKAY

Called out by Roxas daaaayum

Gah dammit not again! STOP DOING KAIRI DIRTY

GET READY FOR: TRIPLE KEYKIDS ASSKICKIN

Hot damn but it’s satisfying to beat the crap out of Saix with Sora, Roxas and Xion all at once while The Other Promise just blasts in the background

Lea: I’m not mad I’m just disappointed

Awww maaaaaan

OH GOSH SEASALT TRIO HUG

THEY’RE ALL TOGETHER AGAIN SOB SOB

Now to the Wayfinder family! Took out Vanyeetas first!

Sora: Hey WTF that’s my face you got

Yeah I gotta agree I don’t know which part of that was okay honestly

WHELP no time to think on it gotta take out Terranort

Since we got back Roxas and Xion can we finally get Terra back??

Sora: TERRA PLEASE STOP, IT’S TOO WEIRD

OHHHHHHH!! OH OH OH

That was metal as all hell

YAAAAAAY

WAYFINDER FAMILY IS HERE

Ohhhh gooooosh

Everyone’s together and I’m full of rainbows

MAN so we got…three Norts left, don’t we

Guess the only way out of this is up

What we’ve just been cloning No Name the whole time??

Okay, FOUR left, we gotta deal with Ansem, Xemnas and Youngnort first

Oh sheesh that was Youngnort dying, thought it was me for a second

Youngnort: Just one last piece of cryptic bullshit to leave you with! BYYYYEEEE

Aaaand that’s Ansem down

Ansem: Must…pontificate more…before…I die

Haha took out Xemnas with flying rocket punch nanobots

Xemnas: Regrets…I’ve had a few…

But then again, too few to mention?

Sora: Life is pain, Xemnas! Anyone who says otherwise is Norting you

Oh boy oh boy, all we have left now is…the old fart…

Oh this is gonna piss me off good, ain’t it

YUP, I’M PISSED

YOU DONE HER DIRTY AGAIN

Nomura do we need to sit you down as a group and learn you some things about NOT DOING THAT

That was…kind of a cool moment I guess?? BUT I’M STILL MAD

Oh shitcakes

The world to come is death from above I guess

Donald and Goofy just coming in like “Hey…what’d we miss?”

I’m honestly really glad they’re here tho, TRINITY ALLLLL THE WAY

The whole gang here together again IRONING OUT THE PLOT POINTS

Trophy here???

OH HEY WE’RE BACK HERE

A town of nothing but Norts

OH I forgot THESE WEIRDOS were in trailers somehow

The hell is happening anymore

An Organization so nice we fought ‘em twice!

The scary music is playing but I have no clue where to goooo

Well it took me five minutes just to find the dang guys before Thundaga finished them off

Oh really now!

ONE MORE TITLE CRAWL FOR Y’ALL

HE WAS AN ANGRY GOAT WHO SAW THE MOVIE INCEPTION ALL ALONG

SHEESH that was a nutty battle that took awhile

Well I think I won THAT battle anyway

Is this gonna be a THAT WASN’T EVEN MY FINAL FORM or what

More callbacks!

This is the fight that never eeeeends, yes it goes on and on my frieeeends

OH that was fuckin weird but COOL

I LOVE THE TRINITY

EVERYONE ELSE AGAIN TOO

HAHA OH DAMN

EVEN ERAQUS GETS TO REAPPEAR

Yaaay my favorite terrible dad

That look from Eraqus OMG

Babbeh Eraqus so cute

Now YOU get the goofy apocalypse weapon, Sora!

More dad reconciliations sob

Oh gosh I’m so glad we get this before we end

ohhhh noooo

Oh no you know shit’s serious when you enter a blocked scene

DOES EVERYONE FINALLY GET TO GO HOME NOW

Man everything’s just so shiny now

A CHIRITHY FOUND A VEN

NEW OUTFITS FOR SEASALT GANG FINALLY

THE EXPANDED SEASALT GANG

YAAAY NAMINE BACK

LET HER LIVE HER LIFE NOW

MOTHAFOCKIN BEACH PARTY FOR EVERYONE YES

FOR REALLY EVERYONE FOR REAL??

Also dang sing us out Utada

*points and points* THAT? FINAL SHOT???

WHERE’S THE BOY

What did you do to my son Nomura

LOOK IF YOU’RE GONNA POP HIM OUT LIKE THAT I AT LEAST WANT TO BE VALIDATED FOR MY THEORIES

THE CREDITS ARE ROLLING AND THERE’S STILL THINGS I FEEL LIKE I’M MISSING

Also just interjecting here but damn that endgame was so long IT FELT LIKE A WHOLE ‘NOTHER GAME

And now the pretty march music with the Super Longer Credits—I CAN’T BELIEVE DRAKE BELL WAS YOUNG ERAQUS

*points* WHY IS FURRY SQUAD VOICED HERE??

Well if nothing else gonna get me a kickass OST out of this

HERE we go, post credits stuff

Here’s the Furry Squad!

LUXU WAS XIGBAR WELL OKAY

What fresh bullshit is thiiiiiiis

OH HEY WE’D ALMOST FORGOTTEN ABOUT THEM

Hey where is Ava

Oh fuuuuuck yoooou Luxugbar

Whaaaaaaaat

THE BOY

SHIBUYA????????????

*throws hands in the air* I GOT NOTHIN FOLKS

I GOT ABSOLUTELY NOTHIN

THE END PAGE!!!! SURE AS HELL IS WHAT THAT IS

OKAY SO LIKE

PLEASE, HELP ME OUT HERE, SECRET ENDING

IS THE NEXT GAME JUST GONNA STRAIGHT UP BE VERUM REX?

NOPE THERE IS NOTHING MORE THAT’S JUST IT

WELL THAT WAS

A WHOLE DAMN LOT WASN’T IT

Nomura I am in fact going to die and go to your house and haunt it and push all of your things off shelves like a cat

ALL OF THE THINGS

OFF OF. YOUR SHELVES.

Okay so overall I did really enjoy the game but also I’m just ????

?????????

??????

Like my reaction is pretty much just

LATER NERDS THIS HAS BEEN LYNX SUFFERS THROUGH KINGDOM HEARTS 3

I HOPE YOU HAD FUN CAUSE I DID

I think I’m gonna go lie down now

[heaartsavior]

► NAME ➔   Kairi! ► ARE YOU SINGLE? ➔  Hmmm....yep! ► ARE YOU HAPPY? ➔  Always! ► ARE YOU ANGRY? ➔ About...a few things. And a few people. ► ARE YOUR PARENTS STILL MARRIED? ➔ Of course!

NINE FACTS.

► BIRTHPLACE ➔   I...don’t really remember? Destiny Islands has always been my home though. ► HAIR COLOUR ➔  Red ► EYE COLOUR➔   Violet ► BIRTHDAY ➔   July 23, which is pretty soon I guess! ► MOOD ➔   I would say I’m in a good mood. ► GENDER ➔   Female ► SUMMER OR WINTER? ➔   Hm....Both! I love summer since it’s the best time to go to the beach and swim around on the island! But I also like winter since it gets cooler on the mainland and not as hot and gross as it does in the summertime. ► MORNING OR AFTERNOON? ➔   Sometimes morning, most times afternoon.

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE.

► ARE YOU IN LOVE? ➔ I’m not revealing any secrets! ► DO YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT? ➔  I do!  ► WHO ENDED YOUR LAST RELATIONSHIP? ➔  I mean, I’ve never really been in a relationship, but friend wise? I don’t think I’ve had that either. I get along with most people. ► HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN SOMEONE’S HEART? ➔  I don’t...think I have? At least I hope not. ► ARE YOU AFRAID OF COMMITMENTS? ➔  Nope! I’m the best promise keeper around these parts! ► HAVE YOU HUGGED SOMEONE WITHIN THE LAST WEEK? ➔  Pffft, yeah! I’ve hugged at least a handful of my friends in the past few days!

► HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SECRET ADMIRER? ➔  Hm...once or twice? I think? ► HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN YOUR OWN HEART? ➔  More than I would probably like to admit...

SIX CHOICES.

► LOVE OR LUST? ➔  Love! ► LEMONADE OR ICE TEA? ➔   Lemonade, duh! ► CATS OR DOGS? ➔  I love both, but I’m biased towards dogs since I’ve grown up around them more! ► A FEW BEST FRIENDS OR MANY REGULAR FRIENDS? ➔  I’ll always go for best friends! ► WILD NIGHT OUT OR ROMANTIC NIGHT IN? ➔ I guess a night in? ► DAY OR NIGHT? ➔  Day!

FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS.

► BEEN CAUGHT SNEAKING OUT? ➔  A few times, my room has a door that leads to the backyard. So it was a little easier for me to sneak out to meet up with Sora and Riku some nights when we wanted to go stargazing. ► FALLEN DOWN / UP THE STAIRS? ➔   A few times! ► WANTED SOMEONE / SOMETHING SO BADLY IT HURT? ➔ Absolutely. ► WANTED TO DISAPPEAR? ➔ I...well, a few times.

FOUR PREFERENCES.

► SMILE OR EYES? ➔  Smile! ► SHORTER OR TALLER? ➔  I don’t really have a preference. ► INTELLIGENCE OR ATTRACTION? ➔ Why not both? ► HOOK-UP OR RELATIONSHIPS? ➔  Relationships!

FAMILY.

► DO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY GET ALONG? ➔  Yep! My brother and I sometimes fight, but that’s what siblings do! ► WOULD YOU SAY YOU HAVE A “MESSED UP LIFE?” ➔  Well...I would say there are some aspects that aren’t exactly “normal”. ► HAVE YOU EVER RAN AWAY FROM HOME? ➔  Well...I guess when we were building our raft that kind of counts? But other than that...maybe once after the islands got restored. It was a lot for me to handle. ► HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN KICKED OUT? ➔ Nope!

FRIENDS.

► DO YOU SECRETLY HATE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS? ➔ No? What’s the point of keeping someone around that you don’t like? ► DO YOU CONSIDER ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS GOOD FRIENDS? ➔  Of course! ► WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? ➔  Sora and Riku, duh! Selphie too! ► WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU? ➔ Probably Sora and Riku again, we used to share everything with each other. Though I don’t think that’s really true anymore...

Tagged By: @caelumobscura

Tagging: @kiibearer, @dawndevour, @wayweaver, and anyone else who wants to do it!

[kiibearer-a]

► NAME ➔   Sora ! ► ARE YOU SINGLE? ➔  I guess so .  ► ARE YOU HAPPY? ➔  I try my best to be ! ► ARE YOU ANGRY? ➔ Not a lot . But people tell me I should be more ... ► ARE YOUR PARENTS STILL MARRIED? ➔ Sort of, I guess ...

NINE FACTS.

► BIRTHPLACE ➔   Destiny Islands  ► HAIR COLOUR ➔  Brown ► EYE COLOUR➔   Blue ► BIRTHDAY ➔   March 28th ! ► MOOD ➔   Sunny like the weather ! ► GENDER ➔   Guess I’m a boy . ► SUMMER OR WINTER? ➔   Summer ! I’ve been to able to visit a ton of different worlds with snow and so many cool things in winter, but it’s always so cold ! I think summer is always going to be my favourite because it reminds me of home ! ► MORNING OR AFTERNOON? ➔   Afternoons, I’ve never been much of a morning person ...

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE.

► ARE YOU IN LOVE? ➔  ... I think so .  ► DO YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT? ➔  Maybe ! ► WHO ENDED YOUR LAST RELATIONSHIP? ➔  I’ve never been in one before ! ► HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN SOMEONE’S HEART? ➔  I really hope I haven’t . ► ARE YOU AFRAID OF COMMITMENTS? ➔  Not really, once I put my mind to something I don’t intend to give up ! ► HAVE YOU HUGGED SOMEONE WITHIN THE LAST WEEK? ➔  Do you know me ? I hug people all the time !

► HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SECRET ADMIRER? ➔  How would I know, aren’t they supposed to be a secret ?  ► HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN YOUR OWN HEART? ➔  A few times I think ...

SIX CHOICES.

► LOVE OR LUST? ➔  Definitely love ! ► LEMONADE OR ICE TEA? ➔   Lemonade, for sure ! ► CATS OR DOGS? ➔  I’ve always wanted a dog ! ► A FEW BEST FRIENDS OR MANY REGULAR FRIENDS? ➔ Best friends always ! ► WILD NIGHT OUT OR ROMANTIC NIGHT IN? ➔ Wild night out sounds fun ! ► DAY OR NIGHT? ➔  Day !

FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS.

► BEEN CAUGHT SNEAKING OUT? ➔  Usually when I go to Riku or Kairi’s, we sneak out to each other’s houses all the time . I think my mom might’ve given up trying to stop me ... ► FALLEN DOWN / UP THE STAIRS? ➔  I’m a bit of a klutz .  ► WANTED SOMEONE / SOMETHING SO BADLY IT HURT?➔ More than anything . ► WANTED TO DISAPPEAR? ➔ It’s happened .

FOUR PREFERENCES.

► SMILE OR EYES? ➔  Smile ! ► SHORTER OR TALLER? ➔   Taller ? Both ? ► INTELLIGENCE OR ATTRACTION? ➔ Definitely both ! ► HOOK-UP OR RELATIONSHIPS? ➔  Relationships !

FAMILY.

► DO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY GET ALONG? ➔  I’ve always gotten along well with my mom . ► WOULD YOU SAY YOU HAVE A “MESSED UP LIFE?” ➔  Maybe more adventurous than most ! ► HAVE YOU EVER RAN AWAY FROM HOME? ➔  I don’t think it was by my choice to run away once the island was destroyed . But I’ve been running ever since .  ► HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN KICKED OUT? ➔ Never .

FRIENDS.

► DO YOU SECRETLY HATE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS? ➔ No ! Why would I hated a friend, they mean so much to me ! ► DO YOU CONSIDER ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS GOOD FRIENDS? ➔  Of course I do ! ► WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? ➔  Riku and Kairi, without a doubt ! ► WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU? ➔ Probably Riku and Kairi ... they know me better than anyone by now .

Tagged By: @heaartsavior

Tagging:  anyone who would like to ! you can ay i tagged you !

[askthenewhopespeak]

March 3rd, 2020- Departures

Sora Hijirihara is fifteen years old and has a plan. It’s not a great plan, mind you, but this is a plan, and it had been building for a while now. She can’t- she won’t- let this new threat get anywhere close to her family.  And she will fix this world, as much as she can. (Makoto and Gundham were beyond saving, but maybe she could get baby Mitsuru his big sister back) She just has some preparations to do….

first station, the library:

(plan notes: try to finish it before someone notices you, especially alter ego)

-She prints out some things. Some pictures she took, that she hurries to clip together, as an album.

- In a second thought, she prints one more picture. Guilt tripping never harmed anyone… much.

-She writes down her letters. Two of them come out perfectly. The other two… not as much. One of them will suffice, but for the other… Shit, she’ll have to talk to him.

- She steals a pen as she leaves the library. No one would notice.

(well, this is done. What next?)

Second station, Mitsuru’s room:

(plan notes: You can do this. You won’t even cry.) Sora: *She places her hand on Mitsuru’s shoulder as she enters the room. * Mitsi? Can we talk? Mitsuru: Huh? Yeah, sure. *Sora closes the door behind her. * Sora: I’m leaving. And I wanted to say goodbye. Mitsuru: ….huh? Sora: I have found something- something that lets me track Invdia. So I’m leaving, and I’m going to keep our family safe. Mitsuru: …. What the fuck? Sora: I’m going to get your sister back. And I’m going to make sure no one lies a finger on mine. *She closes her eyes. * Please don’t make it harder than it has to be. Mitsuru: No. I’m going to make this as hard as I can. Because this is stupid idea. You don’t have to do this, Sora. You shouldn’t do this! Sora: No one else can! And- and I screwed this place over enough, so I’m going to fix everything I can. Mitsuru: And what about me? You’re just gonna leave me behind? Like my sister? Sora: I don’t want to! But you can’t leave. You have your medicine, and… I don’t want you to see this. I know what might happen and I don’t want you to see melike this. *She burries her face in him. *  I thought about just leaving you a letter, like I’m doing for mom and dad, but I couldn’t find the words- I’m so sorry… Do you hate me, Mitsi? Mitsuru: No. Of course not. I just think you’re being a dumbass right now Sora: I can’t even look at the twins without wanting to cry. I keep thinking about- how if I haven’t got us here, how this place would’ve been better. How I fucked it up for everyone. Mitsuru: Don’t blame yourself for this. You had no idea this was going to happen, and you never wanted it to happen. Guilt makes you do crazy things. Sora: You realize they are going to come after Monaca, right? She never appologized for what she did, so if they get a hold of her history…. And honestly, I’m pretty mad at your sister and doubt she’d stop them. Mitsuru: So instead of hunting them down, on your own, without backup, and without telling anyone else where you’re going, you can stay here and help protect all of us Sora: …’m gonna join them. Put up my best ‘crazy not uncle Shuji ’ act and be by their side. And then, if they try to punch my family…. *her hand is sent to KK, under her skirt. * well, you know what it is with knives and backs. And I will leave a note saying I left! Mitsuru: …. This is a bad plan driven my emotion Sora: Well, one of us is the brain on the group and it’s definatly not me. I’m here to stab things andcry a lot. Sora: …It’s the best plan that I have. And… I really don’t want to stay here. Mitsuru: And what if you don’t come back? Sora: I’m trying to save everyone! I’m four-fifteen years old. And I can’t stay in this school a second longer, and it’s been over two years and I just… what else can I do, Mitsi? Mitsuru: …I dunno. I don’t have all the answers. I just don’t want you to do something stupid Sora: When did you stop having all the answers, Mitsi? Mitsuru: When did I ever? Sora: It always seemed like you had, when we were younger. Mitsuru: You’re gonna take the words of an 8-year-old as solid answers? Sora: When you are an eight year old? Yes, why not? Remember, in that same age everything that came out of Kaede’s mouth was sacred. Mitsuru: You have a lot to learn about the world, my dear Sora Sora: It was seven years ago! I know better now… you know you won’t change my mind, right? Mitsuru: I figured. So there’s no point in arguing, I guess Sora: No, there really isn’t. I’ll go, and I’ll get the baby his sister back, and make sure no one touches my family, and maybe I won’t be surrounded by things that make me freak out. Mitsuru: Or you’ll die without accomplishing anything. That’s not me being morbid. That’s a real possibility. Sora: I have a knife, I’ll be fine. Mitsuru: A knife can’t solve all your problems, you know. They have guns. Sora: …I survived Kaede Naegi, I can survive jerks with guns. Mitsuru: They can gang up on you. They might have bombs. Poison gas. Other horrible things. Sora: …You are being pessimistic. I think you are really forgetting who is which role in our group. Mitsuru: And you’re forgetting these aren’t some dumb jokers. These are real, actual terrorists and murderers. They will not exercise restraint just because you’re a kid. Sora: …I’m trying to, really. Because I can’t- can’t afford to be scared for this. I can’t be weak. Mitsuru: Being scared doesn’t mean you’re weak. Reckless idiots aren’t scared. Sane people are scared. Sora: being either just raises my chance to screw this up. Mitsuru: Fear….fear’s like a double-edged sword. It can keep you from doing something, screw you up, and make you worried about stupid things. But it can also be what motivates you to stay alive, or help someone else. If you’re scared about what’ll happen to someone else if you die, that’s a good reason to keep living. Sora: *she sighs. * Mitsi? How long can you be away from here without, well, dying? Mitsuru: As long as my meds can last me. So not very long Sora: …Well, that solves it, I can’t take you even if I wanted too. *she looks at his eyes. * Mitsi, before I leave? Can I get a birthday kiss? Mitsuru: No. But you can have two. Sora: Sounds fine with me. *She leans forward to kiss him. * Mitsuru: If you die out there, I’ll kill you. Sora: I promise to come once you use an Ouija board. Mitsuru: Good. *he hugs her* I love you. Even if you are a huge jerk. Sora: I love you too, and hi, at least I’m not Kenta. Mitsuru: Hehe, yeah, true …Please come back. Sora: I will. I’ll miss you a lot. Mitsuru: Same here. And if you see Ryouko…tell her that she’s an idiot. And I miss her a lot too.

Sora: I’m gonna give her a picture. *she pulls the picture she printed earlier and the pen.* Maybe write on it something like 'for the best big sister in the world’. Mitsuru: Yeah… *He does so* I hope things go well. Sora: I do too. *she gives him another kiss and then checks her watch.* Well, if you’ll excuse me, my mother is having a baby so it’d be a great time to steal her credit card right now. Mitsuru: You’re pure evil. And somehow, I’m okay with it Sora: Hey, I’d need resources. Like some hair color and a dacktape. I’d rather not be recognized on tv like some other pepole had. Mitsi… whatever it’s worth… I love you. Mitsuru: I love you too. A lot. Even the dumb parts Sora: …I hope so, it’s the most of me. Mitsuru: *He hugs her again* *Sora hugs back* Sora: I know I said I don’t want you, but i really wish you could still come. Don’t watch videos, okay? *She turns to leave. * Mitsuru: Don’t die. Please. Sora: I promised, didn’t I? Mitsuru: …and if you can, give those Invidia guys a nice solid kick to the nuts Sora: …when I’ll stop pretending to likethem. And maybe one to Sly, anyways. Mitsuru: Good. Be smart, Sora. And good luck.

(well, you didn’t change your mind, so… a start?)

Station three, Sora and Kaede’s room:

(plan notes: just do it as quick as possible. Kaede will ask questions if she sees you.)

-Kaede is not in the room, thank hope.

- Sora steals Kaede’s backpack from under the bed, because Kaede isn’t actually using this thing and Sora needs a backpack.

-She packs clothes- especially, she tries, those that are not only red and black, because she has no idea how much Invdia knows of Hope’s peak and she doesn’t want people to actually make the connection.

-It is tempting to forget her tooth brush, but she gets it anyways.

-the letter for Akio and the twins is dropped on Kaede’s bed. Sora pretends she doesn’t feel like crying.

-she picks the rest of the essentials before she leaves towards her parent’s room.

(that went well)

Station four, Naomi and Takumi’s room:

(plan notes: Now to the actual ileagel part of today)

-finding her mother’s wallet isn’t hard. She knows well where the bag is kept, as well as where her mother keeps the note with her PIN on it. (she told Sora once that this was for emergencies. She isn’t sure it counts.)

-No one comes in, obviously. A quick check at her watch confirms the baby is coming, and both Naomi and Takumi would be busy with this.

-She drops the letter for them on the bed. She cries.

(Theft is much easier than one would think)

Station five, Damian’s room:

(plan notes: drop your shitty letter and go already.)

*Sora pushes the door to Damian’s room *

Sora: good, you are here. My letter sucked.

*She enters, closing the door behind her. There is a backpack on her back and she has shoes on. *

Damian looks surprised at the sudden entrance before sliding off his quiver and bow. “Hey Sora. Is something wrong?”

Sora: I just don’t want an adult to hear. Can’t have them stopping me from leaving, can I?

“… Why are you leaving?” Damian asks a bit quietly, sitting down on his bed and focusing all of his attention on her.

Sora: I managed to find a way to track invdia. So I’m going to join and keep them from my family.

“That’s crazy.” Damian says bluntly. “All you have is a knife you don’t know how to use to the best of your abilities. You can’t go by yourself Sora.”

Sora: I can and I will. I’m going to make sure Ryoko comes back, and to make sure they don’t think about my family as targets.

Sora: I can’t stay here, Damian.

“What happened to Jataro and the others… there’s no reason to assume the same will happen to you, Akio, Mitsuru or any of the others. No one knows outside of the school that you’re from the future.”

Sora: My sister has caused a massacre, if you didn’t notice. And she’s also my family. It’s not all about me, believe it or not.

“Monaca…” Damian remembers with a grimace before trying one last thing. “I tried to go after Invidia in an effort to stop them too. What’s the difference between you doing this and myself?”

Sora: … I don’t exist? Well, not for another hour, but no one would be able to make this connection.

Sora: and I don’t know how to tell you this, but you worked for storm.

Damian looks down at that before sighing. “There’s no talking you out of this.” He states rather than ask. “… what do I tell everyone else?”

Sora: Mitsuru knows, and I guess he’ll tell Kaede, Shuuichi and Akio. This *She searches her bag for a second and pulls a folded paper * is for my parents. Give it tommorow, okay? I should be fine by then.

“Alright…” Damian takes the paper before pulling Sora into a hug. “Stay safe okay? I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

Sora: I promise, I will. Mitsi already promised to kill me if I die. *She hugs back * don’t hide in your room, okay? Spend time with Jataro and everyone else.

Damian slowly let’s her go and nods reluctantly. “I’ll do my best. Keep in touch, if anything happens I’ll be there. House arrest or not.”

Sora: write me your number? *She hands him a piece of paper from her bag * and don’t get yourself in trouble.

Damian writes his number down on the paper before giving Sora a slight smile. “No promises.”

Sora: *She smiles back. * Jerk.

Damian sticks his tongue out before giving a slight wave goodbye. “See you around Sora…”

Sora: See you around… Don’t let Mitsi watch if there are videos, okay?

*She leaves. *

(You always thought he was the best uncle ever. Good to know this still holds.)

Station six, the mall:

(plan notes:just get what you need and go.)

-yes, she can use the primitive public transportation. She did it before, with some of the other kids.

-her first stop is at the ATM, where she takes out as much money as she thinks she needs, and hopes she wouldn’t need to use the card again.

- She gets everything she needs and couldn’t get at the school. This includes a prepaid phone, which she immediately texts Damian from, telling him it’s her new number and to call if there’s an emergency at the school.

-The sink at the toilet isn’t great, but it works well enough for the hair color she got. She’ll do it better later, but this should do for now. (she only manages to get the bottom half of her hair, to her dismay)

-Also at the toilet, she wraps black tape over the handle of her knife, making it mostly unrecognizable.

-She grabs her bag tightly with one hand as she puts her sun glasses on. She’s ready to go.

(You hope it works enough to make you unrecognizable at first look)

Sora Hijirihara is fifteen years old and has a plan. It’s not a great plan, mind you, but this is a plan, and it had been building for a while now.

She can’t- she won’t- let this new threat get anywhere close to her family.  And she will fix this world, as much as she can. (Makoto and Gundham were beyond saving, but maybe she could get baby Mitsuru his big sister back)

She just has some preparations to do….

first station, the library:

(plan notes: try to finish it before someone notices you, especially alter ego)

-She prints out some things. Some pictures she took, that she hurries to clip together, as an album.

- In a second thought, she prints one more picture. Guilt tripping never harmed anyone… much.

-She writes down her letters. Two of them come out perfectly. The other two… not as much.

One of them will suffice, but for the other… Shit, she’ll have to talk to him.

- She steals a pen as she leaves the library. No one would notice.

  (well, this is done. What next?)

Second station, Mitsuru’s room:

(plan notes: You can do this. You won’t even cry.)

  Sora: *She places her hand on Mitsuru’s shoulder as she enters the room. * Mitsi? Can we talk?

  Mitsuru: Huh? Yeah, sure.

  *Sora closes the door behind her. *

Sora: I’m leaving. And I wanted to say goodbye.

  Mitsuru: ….huh?

  Sora: I have found something- something that lets me track Invdia. So I’m leaving, and I’m going to keep our family safe.

  Mitsuru: …. What the fuck?

  Sora: I’m going to get your sister back. And I’m going to make sure no one lies a finger on mine. *She closes her eyes. * Please don’t make it harder than it has to be.

  Mitsuru: No. I’m going to make this as hard as I can. Because this is stupid idea. You don’t have to do this, Sora. You shouldn’t do this!

  Sora: No one else can! And- and I screwed this place over enough, so I’m going to fix everything I can.

  Mitsuru: And what about me? You’re just gonna leave me behind? Like my sister?

Sora: I don’t want to! But you can’t leave. You have your medicine, and… I don’t want you to see this. I know what might happen and I don’t want you to see melike this. *She burries her face in him. *  I thought about just leaving you a letter, like I’m doing for mom and dad, but I couldn’t find the words- I’m so sorry… Do you hate me, Mitsi?

  Mitsuru: No. Of course not. I just think you’re being a dumbass right now

  Sora: I can’t even look at the twins without wanting to cry. I keep thinking about- how if I haven’t got us here, how this place would’ve been better. How I fucked it up for everyone.

  Mitsuru: Don’t blame yourself for this. You had no idea this was going to happen, and you never wanted it to happen. Guilt makes you do crazy things.

  Sora: You realize they are going to come after Monaca, right? She never appologized for what she did, so if they get a hold of her history…. And honestly, I’m pretty mad at your sister and doubt she’d stop them.

  Mitsuru: So instead of hunting them down, on your own, without backup, and without telling anyone else where you’re going, you can stay here and help protect all of us

  Sora: …’m gonna join them. Put up my best 'crazy not uncle Shuji ’ act and be by their side. And then, if they try to punch my family…. *her hand is sent to KK, under her skirt. * well, you know what it is with knives and backs. And I will leave a note saying I left!

  Mitsuru: …. This is a bad plan driven my emotion

  Sora: Well, one of us is the brain on the group and it’s definatly not me. I’m here to stab things andcry a lot.

Sora: …It’s the best plan that I have. And… I really don’t want to stay here.

  Mitsuru: And what if you don’t come back?

  Sora: I’m trying to save everyone! I’m four-fifteen years old. And I can’t stay in this school a second longer, and it’s been over two years and I just… what else can I do, Mitsi?

  Mitsuru: …I dunno. I don’t have all the answers. I just don’t want you to do something stupid

  Sora: When did you stop having all the answers, Mitsi?

  Mitsuru: When did I ever?

  Sora: It always seemed like you had, when we were younger.

  Mitsuru: You’re gonna take the words of an 8-year-old as solid answers?

  Sora: When you are an eight year old? Yes, why not? Remember, in that same age everything that came out of Kaede’s mouth was sacred.

  Mitsuru: You have a lot to learn about the world, my dear Sora

  Sora: It was seven years ago! I know better now… you know you won’t change my mind, right?

  Mitsuru: I figured. So there’s no point in arguing, I guess

  Sora: No, there really isn’t. I’ll go, and I’ll get the baby his sister back, and make sure no one touches my family, and maybe I won’t be surrounded by things that make me freak out.

  Mitsuru: Or you’ll die without accomplishing anything. That’s not me being morbid. That’s a real possibility.

  Sora: I have a knife, I’ll be fine.

  Mitsuru: A knife can’t solve all your problems, you know. They have guns.

  Sora: …I survived Kaede Naegi, I can survive jerks with guns.

  Mitsuru: They can gang up on you. They might have bombs. Poison gas. Other horrible things.

  Sora: …You are being pessimistic. I think you are really forgetting who is which role in our group.

  Mitsuru: And you’re forgetting these aren’t some dumb jokers. These are real, actual terrorists and murderers. They will not exercise restraint just because you’re a kid.

  Sora: …I’m trying to, really. Because I can’t- can’t afford to be scared for this. I can’t be weak.

  Mitsuru: Being scared doesn’t mean you’re weak. Reckless idiots aren’t scared. Sane people are scared.

  Sora: being either just raises my chance to screw this up.

  Mitsuru: Fear….fear’s like a double-edged sword. It can keep you from doing something, screw you up, and make you worried about stupid things. But it can also be what motivates you to stay alive, or help someone else. If you’re scared about what’ll happen to someone else if you die, that’s a good reason to keep living.

  Sora: *she sighs. * Mitsi? How long can you be away from here without, well, dying?

  Mitsuru: As long as my meds can last me. So not very long

  Sora: …Well, that solves it, I can’t take you even if I wanted too. *she looks at his eyes. * Mitsi, before I leave? Can I get a birthday kiss?

  Mitsuru: No. But you can have two.

  Sora: Sounds fine with me. *She leans forward to kiss him. *

  Mitsuru: If you die out there, I’ll kill you.

  Sora: I promise to come once you use an Ouija board.

  Mitsuru: Good. *he hugs her* I love you. Even if you are a huge jerk.

  Sora: I love you too, and hi, at least I’m not Kenta.

  Mitsuru: Hehe, yeah, true …Please come back.

  Sora: I will. I’ll miss you a lot.

  Mitsuru: Same here. And if you see Ryouko…tell her that she’s an idiot. And I miss her a lot too.

  Sora: I’m gonna give her a picture. *she pulls the picture she printed earlier and the pen.* Maybe write on it something like 'for the best big sister in the world’.

  Mitsuru: Yeah… *He does so* I hope things go well.

  Sora: I do too. *she gives him another kiss and then checks her watch.* Well, if you’ll excuse me, my mother is having a baby so it’d be a great time to steal her credit card right now.

  Mitsuru: You’re pure evil. And somehow, I’m okay with it

  Sora: Hey, I’d need resources. Like some hair color and a dacktape. I’d rather not be recognized on tv like some other pepole had. Mitsi… whatever it’s worth… I love you.

  Mitsuru: I love you too. A lot. Even the dumb parts

  Sora: …I hope so, it’s the most of me.

  Mitsuru: *He hugs her again*

  *Sora hugs back*

Sora: I know I said I don’t want you, but i really wish you could still come. Don’t watch videos, okay? *She turns to leave. *

  Mitsuru: Don’t die. Please.

  Sora: I promised, didn’t I?

  Mitsuru: …and if you can, give those Invidia guys a nice solid kick to the nuts

  Sora: …when I’ll stop pretending to likethem. And maybe one to Sly, anyways.

  Mitsuru: Good. Be smart, Sora. And good luck.

(well, you didn’t change your mind, so… a start?)

Station three, Sora and Kaede’s room:

(plan notes: just do it as quick as possible. Kaede will ask questions if she sees you.)

-Kaede is not in the room, thank hope.

- Sora steals Kaede’s backpack from under the bed, because Kaede isn’t actually using this thing and Sora needs a backpack.

-She packs clothes- especially, she tries, those that are not only red and black, because she has no idea how much Invdia knows of Hope’s peak and she doesn’t want people to actually make the connection.

-It is tempting to forget her tooth brush, but she gets it anyways.

-the letter for Akio and the twins is dropped on Kaede’s bed. Sora pretends she doesn’t feel like crying.

-she picks the rest of the essentials before she leaves towards her parent’s room.

(that went well)

Station four, Naomi and Takumi’s room:

(plan notes: Now to the actual ileagel part of today)

-finding her mother’s wallet isn’t hard. She knows well where the bag is kept, as well as where her mother keeps the note with her PIN on it. (she told Sora once that this was for emergencies. She isn’t sure it counts.)

-No one comes in, obviously. A quick check at her watch confirms the baby is coming, and both Naomi and Takumi would be busy with this.

-She drops the letter for them on the bed. She cries.

(Theft is much easier than one would think)

Station five, Damian’s room:

(plan notes: drop your shitty letter and go already.)

*Sora pushes the door to Damian’s room *

Sora: good, you are here. My letter sucked.

*She enters, closing the door behind her. There is a backpack on her back and she has shoes on. *

Damian looks surprised at the sudden entrance before sliding off his quiver and bow. “Hey Sora. Is something wrong?”

Sora: I just don’t want an adult to hear. Can’t have them stopping me from leaving, can I?

“… Why are you leaving?” Damian asks a bit quietly, sitting down on his bed and focusing all of his attention on her.

Sora: I managed to find a way to track invdia. So I’m going to join and keep them from my family.

“That’s crazy.” Damian says bluntly. “All you have is a knife you don’t know how to use to the best of your abilities. You can’t go by yourself Sora.”

Sora: I can and I will. I’m going to make sure Ryoko comes back, and to make sure they don’t think about my family as targets.

Sora: I can’t stay here, Damian.

“What happened to Jataro and the others… there’s no reason to assume the same will happen to you, Akio, Mitsuru or any of the others. No one knows outside of the school that you’re from the future.”

Sora: My sister has caused a massacre, if you didn’t notice. And she’s also my family. It’s not all about me, believe it or not.

“Monaca…” Damian remembers with a grimace before trying one last thing. “I tried to go after Invidia in an effort to stop them too. What’s the difference between you doing this and myself?”

Sora: … I don’t exist? Well, not for another hour, but no one would be able to make this connection.

Sora: and I don’t know how to tell you this, but you worked for storm.

Damian looks down at that before sighing. “There’s no talking you out of this.” He states rather than ask. “… what do I tell everyone else?”

Sora: Mitsuru knows, and I guess he’ll tell Kaede, Shuuichi and Akio. This *She searches her bag for a second and pulls a folded paper * is for my parents. Give it tommorow, okay? I should be fine by then.

“Alright…” Damian takes the paper before pulling Sora into a hug. “Stay safe okay? I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

Sora: I promise, I will. Mitsi already promised to kill me if I die. *She hugs back * don’t hide in your room, okay? Spend time with Jataro and everyone else.

Damian slowly let’s her go and nods reluctantly. “I’ll do my best. Keep in touch, if anything happens I’ll be there. House arrest or not.”

Sora: write me your number? *She hands him a piece of paper from her bag * and don’t get yourself in trouble.

Damian writes his number down on the paper before giving Sora a slight smile. “No promises.”

Sora: *She smiles back. * Jerk.

Damian sticks his tongue out before giving a slight wave goodbye. “See you around Sora…”

Sora: See you around… Don’t let Mitsi watch if there are videos, okay?

*She leaves. *

(You always thought he was the best uncle ever. Good to know this still holds.)

Station six, the mall:

(plan notes:just get what you need and go.)

-yes, she can use the primitive public transportation. She did it before, with some of the other kids.

-her first stop is at the ATM, where she takes out as much money as she thinks she needs, and hopes she wouldn’t need to use the card again.

- She gets everything she needs and couldn’t get at the school. This includes a prepaid phone, which she immediately texts Damian from, telling him it’s her new number and to call if there’s an emergency at the school.

-The sink at the toilet isn’t great, but it works well enough for the hair color she got. She’ll do it better later, but this should do for now. (she only manages to get the bottom half of her hair, to her dismay)

-Also at the toilet, she wraps black tape over the handle of her knife, making it mostly unrecognizable.

-She grabs her bag tightly with one hand as she puts her sun glasses on. She’s ready to go.

(You hope it works enough to make you unrecognizable at first look)

[shewhodancedinthemoonlight]

Michi Headcanons

1. Mimi loves having her hair played with, so she gets Tai to braid it for her. He’s become quite good at French braids.

2. When Tai wants to apologise for something, he buys or makes her a bowl of popcorn (depending on how deep the apology needs to be, it will sometimes require lots of caramel). He also gets her popcorn if she’s feeling down.

3. They both love having the last word, which results in intense, but ridiculous fights sometimes.

4. Mimi is an early riser, whereas Tai loves a good lie in. He’d start work at noon if he could, while Mimi loves getting up at the crack of dawn to have a head start on her tasks for the day.

5. Sora is very close to both of them, so whenever they fight, she will hear two different versions of the same argument. Tai and Mimi often make up on their own, but when they don’t, they both try to win her over, and Sora tries hard to stay neutral each time.

6. Mimi once told Tai that she’d never felt like she was missing out on anything by not having siblings until she saw how close he and Kari are.

7. Although Tai’s fluent in English (having even spent a year studying in New York), he sometimes asks Mimi to proofread a text or e-mail for work.

8. Mimi often gets so distracted that she forgets to drink enough water, which is why Tai reminds her to do so (by placing a glass on her desk or putting a water bottle into her handbag before she heads out).

9. Out of their group of friends, they’re probably the couple showing the most PDA. This doesn’t mean that they make out all the time or get handsy. They just like holding hands, wrapping their arm around the other’s waist or shoulder and stealing the occassional, innocent peck (it’s not much different from when they were friends; they’re both just physical people).

10. When they first started dating, Mimi was shocked to find out that Tai was immune to her puppy eyes (just hers specifically, as he told her to her chagrin, “worked great when my ex did it…” She refused to sleep in his bed for a week after he said this). Having known her for half of his life, he’d learned (albeit with great effort) to resist her big innocent eyes and pouty lips. So, Mimi had to resort to other methods if she wants something, such as kissing the back of his neck, telling him to choose a movie or baking one of his favourite treats.

11. Mimi listens to a lot of music and frequently incorporates lyrics into their daily conversations. When Tai tells her to put two sugars into his coffee, she sings “Actually, I meant three.” He regularly complains about how none of his favourite films are ever on Netflix, to which she will chant, “Ohhh, tell me something I don’t already know.”

12. When Tai’s had a bad day, he’s quiet and broody for a while. When he opens up about it, he’s looking for advice. Mimi, on the other hand, likes to vent and complain and wants him to get angry with her.

13. Once they’ve said “I love you” for the first time (Mimi claims it was her; Tai obviously says it was him), they’re not shy to repeat it frequently.

14. Tai has four nicknames for her: “Mi” for when they’re with friends and family; “Mimi Choo” when she returns from an extensive shopping trip; “Your Majesty” for when she’s telling him to do something; and “sweetness” when he wants to turn her on.

15. He gives obscure compliments. He’ll tell her that “these pancakes taste delicious” often enough, but every now and then he’ll say stuff like “these pancakes taste like the only cloud in a blue sky on a summer’s day” and move on like nothing happened. “What?!” he’ll ask when Mimi can’t decide whether she wants to melt or laugh at him. “You’re a five-star-cook. You’ve heard every kind of praise there is. I’m breathing new life into this.”

16. Mimi’s a natural at video games. A few weeks into their relationship, Tai asked her if she wanted to join him, Matt and Izzy for a round of Mario Kart, and she agreed. She ended up winning against all of them, shrugged, said “Well, this was fun,” nonchalantly and left the three guys starring at the screen in disbelief.

17. When they can’t sleep, they’ll make up elaborate, over the top travel plans (such as riding an elephant to the Taj Mahal or taking a private jet to New Zealand).

18. Some nights when they get ready for bed, Tai will come into the bathroom as Mimi’s brushing her teeth, wrap his arms around her waist seductively and whisper the worst, corniest pick-up lines into her ear (Mimi’s favourite to date is “Are you an Instagram post? Because I want to double tap you all night”).

19. It’s not often that Mimi is sad, but when something upsets her, she’ll have an even harder time dealing with it. Tai will find her on the bed, arms wrapped around her knees and tears streaming down her face. He’ll come closer to test the waters, and she’ll usually let him comfort her. She’ll tell him what’s wrong  (she might miss her parents a lot, what with them living across the Pacific, or maybe she got told off at work or, even if it’s rare, she’s doubting herself). He’ll bring her popcorn or chocolate and a glass of water and then hug her, massaging soothing circles into her back. “It’s okay, Mi, I got you,” he’ll say, and that’s usually the thing to cheer her right up.

20. Just to rile him up, Mimi sits on his lap and starts seductively kissing his neck at the most inconvenient of times: when he’s watching an important football match; when he’s on the phone with someone from work; when he’s already running late for football practice; when they’re meeting their friends at their favourite bar. “Mimi,” he’ll warn. “Please, not now. We can’t be late again…” - “We can be quick though,” she’ll try to convince him.

21. Their go to karaoke song is “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

22. Mimi claims the best thing Tai’s ever said to her was when he came home drunk from a night out. He nuzzled into her neck and slurred, “You know I said One Direction’s fifth album wasn‘t that good? I lied, like, Love Me Goodbye is, uh, one of the saddest songs I‘ve ever heard and I made Matt listen to it so I’d have someone to, to talk to about it. Feels good to come clean. Night Mi!”

23. Mimi tries (and fails) to get ready for bed before Tai does, because he likes to lay in the middle of the bed with all four of his limbs outstretched so there is no space for her. “Will you fucking move!” she’ll say every other night, and he most likely will answer with a fake snore.

24. Since they’re both a bit full of themselves, they sometimes bet who can withhold from touching the other the longest. They keep score on a small blackboard in the kitchen.

25. They love travelling together, though they’re mostly low-budget trips because Mimi tries to go to New York at least once a year (Tai accompanies her sometimes). They go to New Zealand once (although not in a private jet) to go hiking, where they climb Ben Lomond and all Mimi’s doing is complain, ask how much further and when can they stop for food. Finally, Tai turns around and tells her hat she’s lucky he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, otherwise he’d leave her behind in the wilderness. She stops complaining after this.

[orenonahaichigoda]

About Ichigo's Compartamentalisation of AFAB Programming, Emotions, Masaki's Death

Anything pre-series that doesn't affect canon much will generally follow my verse so long as no one I'm playing with would be affected by it, unless they would like to play in this setting. (This does include Ryuken and Uryu RPers for ones that would have to opt into Masaki's backstory. What will always be true is what went unresolved when Masaki died, and Issin's failing to teach emotional health is pretty canon. Anything else, anyone playing with me opts in/out, but the choice is there if you like)

My verse: Souken Isida was South African, mostly Black, and a small part Japanese. Mrs. Isida was white, according to the original definition, of Dutch blood. Masaki and Ryuken were often kept apart growing up as well, by Apartheid. Kanae was Japanese, and in real life, the Japanese went from being Coloured to being white around 1960. Everyone was legally assigned one of the three classes, and mandated to carry passbooks of their designation everywhere. There were things like trying to pass a pencil through someone's hair, witch hunt games to take away others' white status. Anyway,this is also when Souken established contact with a distant relative in Nagasaki, who would sponsor them immigrating to Japan and save them from further brutal violence.

The one unfortunate thing Masaki brought with her was colonial views on queerness, from her son's gender identity to being ashamed of her husband's and her own bisexuality. Masaki promised to set aside some time and truly try to listen to her newly out son, as Issin, born and raised in the fairly queer-friendly Edo period, had already put forth solid evidence that insistence that it was "a phase of playing pretend" would only deeply hurt their son, something that horrified Masaki to tears to realise she'd been doing.

However, she would die in his arms before they could talk.

Ichigo has never really quite made peace with this. Similar to Orihime/Sora/Hairpins except not really anger and yelling, and it's not so much a regret as something that just never got resolved, words of acceptance Ichigo never got to hear.

There's a lot of reasons why going to her grave and really facing that she's dead sends him into a spiral. Another is here, she died much later, Ichigo was twelve, and here, he got pregnant really young, at 13, but while Issin was still learning about hormone therapy, so it also really drives the point that Masaki didn't live to see Yasuko, because only another 14 or so months, and she would have. There's a lot that he really just tries desperately not to think about there. And the wound of her death is fresher here than in canon, if I am using this verse.

(Eventually, in my project, they find her in Soul Society's Korea, and she says something like "I'm so proud of the man you've become," and that seals that. And she and Issin both start dating Ikumi, which of course, they're cool and older and she's closer to Ichigo's age, so that's part of her arc, etc)

As for RP, this is one of the reasons he's more guarded about being stealth than might be really necessary in his environment. He did deal with someone he thought the world of not believing him, not just kids looking for reasons to pick and right-wing outsiders, and they were denied the ability to patch it up.

AFAB people on both sides of the pond are also taught to "Be a good girl." As in "Be a good girl and make everyone happy by hugging your creepy grabby uncle" kinds of things. Orihime clearly suffers so much from this. She's actually a really good example of it. (Ideas for RPing with an Orihime?)

Ichigo got a bit of both growing up. Issin listened to him from the beginning and renamed him, which is why he still fits the fruit-naming theme.

As a man, it's your duty to protect.

As a woman, it was your duty to sublimate yourself for others.

Add the fact that the planned talk with Masaki would've been highly unusual, as Kurosakis just tend to bottle things up, and this is why Ichigo doesn't consider himself much at all.

If someone comes at him with a fist, well, that's easy to fight back, although maybe not as important as someone coming at someone else with a fist.

But he doesn't WANT anyone to know about his anxiety, his depression, his trauma at becoming a child soldier for a dystopic martial law government sent in to fight unstoppable beings.

The only thing is in the end, he is a teenage boy, as subtle as a category five hurricane, as teenage boys are wont to be. In canon, most turn blind eye because they are too focused on what they think is best for him. Here, if your character is willing to see it, it's right there. If he has his non-canon daughter in the thread, she sees it clear as day, and she's four.

He'll resist. He's got that AFAB training that his feelings are a burden. And he wouldn't know how to name them if he wanted to, because Issin hasn't exactly modelled emotional health, here. Ichigo sees himself wholly as someone there *for* others.

NONE OF THIS IS HEALTHY. I'll say that because naturally, there are people probably young enough to be my kids here, so I do need to say that. He's not okay, and he needs help. He needs a lot of things. He probably won't be able to talk about a lot of this with a counsellor, which is really unfortunate, but this isn't something to aspire to.

But healthy and peaceful doesn't make a page-turner, although getting there does.

[hq-cuties-pls]

hi omg I love your blog! could you guys maybe do some daichi headcanons? i need soft daichi in my life!!

Soft Daichi is my jam, Anon… He’s a perfect husband and I love him. I did some Childhood and Fatherhood headcanons; hope that’s ok!! Sora is Admn Ellie’s brainchild, though, and she helped me with the childhood ones a lot.~Admin Emma

Childhood:

I’ve mentioned before that Daichi was the wee-est of wee babies, but just because he was small didn’t mean he wasn’t healthy… and he was definitely a bit of a trouble maker. He was an inquisitive little bean, exploring everything–the instant he was mobile, he was into everything. No one really minded because he wasn’t overly destructive, but his older brother certainly minded when Daichi got into his Weekly Jump collection.

Daichi has two brothers–one a few years older, one a few years younger. Kaiyo is his older brother–taller, stoic, muscular and went into police work; Sora is his younger brother–also taller, obscenely popular in school, kind of a pretty boy, good at sports… Daichi has always low key felt inferior to both of them, even as a kid.

When Daichi was about five, he fell out of bed. It sounded like a sack of bricks hitting the floor, and his parents nearly had a panic attack. Child was still sound asleep, curled up with his blankets and pillows and his stuffed Pikachu, and didn’t even stir when his mom tucked him back in. He was fine (kid’s built like a brick house even then) but his mom installed safety barriers on the bed the next day. They didn’t come off until Daichi was almost in high school (and only then because he begged her)

Daichi was never a kid to cry a lot. He tried really hard not to when he hurt himself or he felt disappointed with something. It got to the point that, even when he fell out of a tree when he was eight and broke his arm in three places, he only whimpered. His mom only figured it out before he went inside because Sora started screaming.

Daichi has always had problems with really vivid night terrors. He experienced sleep paralysis for a brief period when he was young, and to this day he still needs a small light in the bedroom with absolutely zero mirrors. Before Sora was born, he would climb in bed with his parents, but once he was a big brother, he tried to deal with it on his own.

He was an artistic child. He was that kid who always had piles of crayons and colored pencils; the fridge was always covered in his drawings and paintings, and he was really serious about it. He even had a little sketchbook most of his life. He continued this habit well into his adulthood–he’s always needed that creative outlet. It’s how he’s so steady, even at a young age.

Daichi wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up. He was always really interested in helping people, and he always really admired them. Even after he started to play volleyball really seriously, he was looking at it for like, a real job and everything. As he got older, he started reconsidering because his parents really wanted him to go to college, but it’s still a low key dream that he has.

Daichi had a stuffed Pikachu growing up; he was always a big gamer as a kid, and Pokemon was his favorite. It was his fifth birthday present, and he literally carried it everywhere for about two years. It was always the one toy he took on school trips, it stayed in bed with him always, and when it had to be washed, he either had to be at school or he parked in front of the dryer until it came out.

Fatherhood:

When Daichi finds out you’re pregnant, he’s elated. He sweeps you into this gentle hug and there are tears in the corners of his eyes. He can’t believe how happy he is, and how lucky he is. He is super protective, though, almost to a fault. He will literally do everything for you without being asked. It’s great in the early months when you’re sick and tired, but by the end, you’re probably ready for some of your independence back.

Everyone sort of expects him to step into his role as a husband, caregiver, and father no problem, but he has a lot of anxieties and doubts. Researching gives him panic attacks, but not researching keeps him awake at night. He’s caught somewhere between wanting to be supportive and wanting to be supported. He feels guilty about it, though, because he’s always been your stern and stable Daichi, and you’re the one growing a baby, not him. Reassure him, though. Once you remind him that you’re nervous too, and that you’re a team, he’ll feel better.

The day his children are born are literally the happiest days of his lives. He worries the whole time you’re in labor, but the first time he holds his baby in his arms, he’s gone. He’s in love, and he’s so fucking proud. No victory, no goal reached, no obstacle overcome compares to the feeling of his healthy, tiny baby in his arms. He cries–like, real honest-to-God gut-wrenching sobs–when his first grabs a hold of his finger with those tiny, tiny hands. He thanks you profusely, and refuses to leave your side for a while.

He is literally your rock in the early months. He pulls more than his weight around the house because he knows you’re up every hour on the hour for feedings. He tries to get up too, especially for the things he can do like changing the baby or rocking it back to sleep when it just needs to be soothed. As a result, you and him both bond pretty thoroughly with your children, and neither of you is too exhausted because the other is always picking up slack and taking turns.

He loves blowing raspberries on their cheeks and tummies because he lives for their laughter. He does it to them until they’re about four or five, and when that doesn’t work, he tickles. He just wants his kids to be happy and feel loved at whatever cost, and if a few tickles from Dad is what it takes, he’s more than willing to deliver.

Daichi encourages wide varieties and arrays of interests. He wants his kids to try intellectual, artistic and creative, and athletic pursuits to their abilities and desires. He encourages trying new things, even if they aren’t very good at it at first, because he wasn’t born an amazing volleyball player. He’s also that Dad who will absolutely look into stuff his kids are into, but he’s not into or doesn’t know anything about. If his kids obsess over a game, he’ll try and understand what’s happening and ask them questions if they’re ok with it. If they get into playing a musical instrument, he’ll always ask them to put on little concerts for him, even if they’re awful at it. He always encourages and praises them, though.

He is literally the most supportive dad. If his kids ever came out to him, he would be so loving and supportive, no matter what. He also goes out of his way to make his house a safe space for all of his kid’s friends, unless they are legitimately bad people. Daichi has always been a good judge of character, though, and his kids trust his good word.

He literally takes to fatherhood like a fish to water. Everyone jokes about how it’s because of all the practice he had in high school, but he also knows that he would literally do anything for his kids. He’s just the best dad–stern, but fair; supportive, but always pushing for them to do better. He cries at every milestone, and makes them smile when they’re down. He’s just literally the best father any kid could ask for.

[askthenewhopespeak]

fault

//Appologizes if this is a mess, turning discord rp to posts is harder then it should be,

“Miraz-san, stop by on your way out of class, please.” Naomi said, looking at the archer.

Damian perks up slightly at his teacher calling him, frowning slightly. He packs his things and waits for everyone to leave. When everyone does, she looks at him. “I have a question to you and I want you to answer me. How much did you sleep, lately?”

“I’ve slept fine.” He replies avoiding eye contact. “The school year just got busy is all.”

“…I am more qualified than anyone else in this school to notice people working way beyond their limits, did you know that?”

“What are you talking about?” He frowns.

“…What are you doing in the afternoons?”

“Practicing with Miss Pekoyama or Coach Nekomaru. On days I’m not I study.”

“…And no interaction with your classmates?”

“Not in the past few days, maybe a bit longer.” He mutters, holding his arm.

“I was worried about this. Why aren’t you?”

“I just want to catch up on things I’ve been slacking on since…you know.”

“Four months ago?”

Damian flinches slightly, caught in his lie but refusing to tell why he’s doing so.

“It’s not healthy for you, Miraz-san. You need social interaction.”

“I can talk to my friends anytime.” His eyes narrow stubbornly. “And I’ve taken care of myself just fine.”

“I’m just trying to stop you from repeating mistakes other people did! You can’t. No one can. We are all worried for you, kid. And I have permission from Komaru and Makoto to do whatever I think is right in those circumstances.”

“I said I’m fine!” He snaps, finally looking up at her. Bags are evident under his eyes. “I’m going to get strong for everyone one way or the other.”

There is a knock on the door, and Naomi smiles. “I think you two would get along great, then.” She said. “Come on in, Sora!” Sora stepps into the room. “You called me, Mom?”

Damian turns his head slightly to glance at Sora. “…”

“Yes. You needs more human contact” She points on the boy, “and you,” and then on the girl “are my daughter and I can tell you what to do, so you two are free to do whatever you want as long  you stay together for the next few hours. Think on it as detention.” Sora rolled her eyes, but besides it didn’t respond. She was used to those things from her mother, and it wasn’t the first time she was used as a tool to help someone… though less then she grew up and stopped being cute little girl.

Damian looks at Naomi with irritation before nodding. “Fine…”

“I’m not that awful, I swear.” Sora said. “Come on, uncle Damian. You can teach me to shoot.” Her uncle back home always refused, because there was the constant fear of MI raiding the school… which was fair, but still. She wanted to learn,even if she’ll ever use KK as her main weapon.

“Just come on for now.” Damian does his best to ignore her as he walks down to the library. “Today isn’t a training day.”

She follows him, dancing in her place. “Mom means good, you know. Or, well… She means well, anyways. She is trying to help.”

“Mhm.” He mumbles in reply as they step into the library.

“You are being mean.” She said. “This seems a common theme here. Did all of the cool adults I know started as such meanies? And what are we studying?”

“Chemistry and Physics.” He replies, pulling out his school schedule for her to see. “Exams are coming up soon, so I’m starting with my sciences.”

“I know a bit Chem.. Can’t you at least start with subjects I actually study?”

“Which ones do you have to work on?”

“Probably nothing you take, but I also can flack on my exams and no one will say a word.” She pulled her shoulders. “I just really don’t want to do science. I think I can help with math, though!”

  “I don’t need help.” He starts to reject her help but frowns. “….but since you have to be here I guess you can check my work.”

“Okay!” She agreed. “So why  am I babysitting you?”

“Pretty sure I’m older than you for one.” He replies with an amused scoff before frowning again. “As for why you’re ‘babysitting’ me, I don’t know why. I really don’t need it.”

“Well, yeah? You will have kids just few years younger than me. We babysat.” Sora pulls her shoulders. “Last time mom had me do it was, like,five years ago in my timeline. It’s been forever. What did you do she didn’t like?”

“She thinks I’m working myself too hard.” He grumbles as he begins to study.

“…She has a good reason to watch out for people like this. When are your exams?” “Before we get out on winter break. ”

  “…So you are studying too much and mom is worried? Did I get that right?”

  “Minus the studying too much because I’m not.” He denies.

  “…Who under 18 did you talk too lately? Out of class?”

  “….Jataro.” He says after a moment. “He messaged me asking if I was alright few days ago.”

  “That’s not interaction, that means he was concerned to you.” She sighed. “Now I see what mom wanted. Here, let’s do something fun.”

  “But there isn’t any time to have fun-” He begins to protest.

  “There is always time to have fun.” She declared, grabbing his hand. “Come.”

  Damian grabs his things right before he is pulled away.

  She pulls him towards the art room. “Art. I know you like it.”

  “How do you know- from the future, right.”

  “I mean… I assumed that the Hope’s Peak art teacher would enjoy art. Draw something.”

  “Art teacher?” He looks at her in disbelief. Surely he did something bigger than teach art. It was just a hobby after all!

  “Do you want me to tell you about my uncle Damian?”

  “Um, sure. Just don’t tell me too much. I remember time travel rules.” He says quickly, taking a seat. While he turns to focus on her, he can’t help but glance at the easel. He hadn’t drawn anything outside of class as of recent…even with the more frequent dreams he’s had.

  “My uncle Damian is both an art teacher and the  right hand of a yakuza clan leader. He is tall and strong, and really cool.”

  “No way.” He says laughing for just a moment. “I got tall and I join the Yakuza. I wonder how that happened with the Kuzuryuu’s…”

  “…It didn’t. You married a yakuza clan leader.”

  “What?” He looks shocked.

  “You married a yakuza clan leader and had two kids. I did babysitting on both. We all did. We have way too many cousins that can deal with weapons to be trusted with normal babysitters.”

  “Uh….wow.” He pauses, taking the information in. “How did I do that…” He thinks aloud.

  “You married aunt Yukari.” She said, confused.

  “Oh, I married Yukari. That makes sense- wait what?” He catches himself from falling off his stool he sat in.

  “Is something wrong? And why aren’t you arting… is this a verb?”

  “I…sorry, but I don’t think that will happen this time.” He turns away as his expression hardens.

  “Is something wrong?” She asked. “Did I say something wrong? Do you need a hug? I’m good at these.”

  “No, you wouldn’t know. We’ll maybe you would but- Yukari doesn’t return my feelings. That’s all.” He says bluntly before picking up tools to draw.

  “I’m sorry.” Another thing to the mental list of things she messed up. (The twins. Sophie and Hideaki, Hiro, Taka and Tsuba… and those were just the people)

  “Wasn’t your fault. Unless you spoke to her, time travel doesn’t work like that.” He says before drawing in silence for a few minutes.

  “…My version of time travel seems to work like this.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “As much as anyone could determine, us being here made a… wave in the time space something and made shit happen. For example,  the body swap thing back in February seems to be the direct cause of Akio coming.”

  “You mean a ripple in the timeline? Like Flashpoint.”

  “I don’t know this term, I’m afraid.” She said. “Is this slang?”

  “No, it was a comic event where this one guy change an event in his life and different events in the timeline changed.”

  “pretty much? I think?”

  “Mmm” He pauses his drawing, pencil on his cheek in thought. “I still don’t think it was you guys. Don’t put all the blame on yourself.”

  “Not ourselves. Me. I played with a time machine.”

  “So?”

  “My fault… But we’re not here because of me. What are you drawing?”

  “I decided to draw what you told me about the future. Without faces in case….in case of something, I don’t know what.”

  “I think I’d want to see it when you are done.” She said. “I would have drawn something, but I’ve been told I should try and stop drawing purple cats as the answer to everything.”

  “Do you want to look at what I have so far?”

  “Yes.” Sora agreed. “I wanna see it.”

  Damian scoots aside, letting her see a picture of an himself imagined a bit older alongside Yukari. “I don’t know much about you guys, or my own kids so I started with what I know.”

  She touches few things, makes some brief changes with her finger. She can see their faces so clearly.

  “How does it look?” He asks curiously.

  “Almost.” She said. “Very very close.”

  He smiles at that, though it wavers looking over at Yukari.

  Sora cuddles into him, almost automatically.

  Damian looks at Sora, surprised at her action, unused to such interactions after so long. After a moment, he turns back to his drawing letting his brush pour out his emotions and stress for the moment.

  She lets him draw, watching his brush moving.

  “Can you tell a little bit about yourself and everyone else from your time? I admit I’m curious.”

  “Of course… But you’ll have to be more specific, otherways I’d blubber and say too much.”

  He pauses, unsure how much he could really ask without consequences. “Tell me about my kids.”

  “Takuyuki and Tsubasa. I love them. Even if babysitting them is sometimes worse than babysitting Jiro.”

  “Jiro?”

  “Jiro Ootonashi… He’s Mitsi’s nephew, so he and his sister spend time around when they’re parents need a break.”

  “Right. Well…how bad is taking care of my kids?”

  “We enjoy it.. But I somehow think you all less. Especially when Jiro is visiting.  Too many kids with weapons sounds like something people would try to avoid. And Taka is going to end up being taller than me and it’s not fair.”

  He cracks a smile at that. “I’m sure it’s pretty unfair.” An unwanted yawn escapes him suddenly.

“You sound tired.” She said. “Do you want to sleep?”

  “Not now…” He rubs his eyes in an effort to get the sleep out. “I still have things to do.”

  “What kind of things?” She asked. “Surely nothing you can’t reject to get the service of the best teddy bear at school? I cuddle back!”

  “Just studying a bit more is all.” He chuckles at her offer.

  “Nope. No more studying today from you.”

  “Sora…” Damian mutters in protest.

  “What?”

  “….nevermind, I’ll rest. It’s late after all.”

  “Good.” She pulls his hand. “Do you want me to play teddy bear?”

  “You don’t have to, I’ll be fine.” He says as he cleans up everything.

  “…Please do not consider me a factor. What do you want?”

  “I’m just turning in for the night.” He tries to reassure her. “I’ll see you tomorrow alright?”

  “This is not what I asked. I asked if you want a teddy bear or not, and said that my comfort would not be a factor, meaning I don’t have to do anything.”

  “Not tonight then.” He says simply, though a part of him is reluctant to reject.

  “Alright.” The dark haired pulled her shoulders. “But sleep, okay?”

  “I will.” He nods. “I promise.”

  “Good.” She said, petting his shoulder briefly.

  “Night Sora.” Damian waves goodbye, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

  “Night.” She said, completely not stalking him on his way to his room- it’s her house she knows all the hidden corners. And by that I mean she totally stalked him all the way to his room

Damian makes it to his room, shutting the door behind him. Once he locks the door, he lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding

  She pauses near the door of his room, floating there for a moment, before starting to walk towards her room.

  Turning away from the door he sits on the bed and lies back. It was nice to relax, but he still couldn’t help but feel like he was wasting time. He knew Naomi and Sora meant well, but he still couldn’t bring himself to tell them what’s going on. He wasn’t sure who to talk to at all, or if he even could, not after everything. “…I’ll just have to keep getting better.” He says to himself. “I have to make sure nothing like that happens again.”

____

  When leaves his room the next morning, Sora is sitting next to the door, reading a book.

  “Sora?” He looks startled at her presence there. “What are you doing up so early?”

  “I grew up with Kaede in the room. I can’t sleep late. How did you sleep?”

  “I slept okay.” He replies, not really wanting to talk about his dreams.

  “Alright, then.” She is closing her book, raising eyes to him.

  “…Are you just going to follow me until Miss Naomi says otherwise?”

  “Nope.” She said. “I’m going to follow you until I am sure you are not overworking yourself.

  ”….same difference.“ He sighs, slinging his bag over his shoulder and headed to the cafeteria.

  "Nope! I’m more annoying than mom!” She followed him, red skirt floats around her as she runs down the hall.

  “Not something you say out loud.” He snarks back. They arrive at the cafeteria, Damian grabbing hot chocolate, pancakes,  water and an apple.

  “Why not?” She asked, making herself coffee. “It’s the truth.”

  “Doesn’t mean you tell the world.” Damian replies before finding a seat and starting to eat.

  “Why wouldn’t I tell the world things I don’t mind anyone knowing?” She asked, confused, getting toast and sitting to the table.

  He doesn’t reply to her question- mainly because he didn’t have a good retort- and keeps eating in silence.

  She eats her toast and drinks her coffee. “Do you want me to leave you be?”

  “I’d rather not have you trailing me all day, but it doesn’t matter if you do. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing until I prove I’m not overworking.”

  She looks at him. “Why are you not interacting with anyone, then?”

  “I’ve just been really busy…” He answers not too convincingly.

  “…Yeah, I don’t buy it. You are usually a much better liar.”

  “….I’d rather not talk about it.” He grumbles, taking a sip out of the mug he held.

  “Hmpff. It makes you feel better.”

  Looking at the time, Damian gets up and throws away his trash. “I’m headed to class, see you later probably.”

  “Okay, See ya.”

  ____

  Sora is waiting by the class door, still reading a book. It looks natural enough, so someone could think this was just where she chose to sit.

  Stepping outside, Damian immediately notices her holding back a groan. “Hey Sora…”

  “Hi.” She said, not raising eyes from her book.

  “I’m training today with Coach Nidai. You coming along?”

  “Yeah, I do.” She agreed. “Pull me up?” She gave him her hand.

  He takes it and pulls her up. “Let’s go.”

  Sora jumps on her feet, following him.

  A few minutes later Damian is out jogging the track, Nidai waiting at the finish line.

  Sora, barefooted, runs after him. She is not running on full speed, giving him distance and also because she is not sure she can catch him, so why try.

“Your pace is getting better, but you need to steady your form! Make sure you get some rest before our next session!” Nekomaru critique’s Damian before turning to leave. “Don’t stay out too long, and make sure you take a good SHIIIIIIIIIII-” The door to the school shuts before he finishes his sentence.

  Sora speeds herself, reaching Damian “See? Even he thinks you should sleep more.”

  Damian sits at a bench, taking a breather before responding. "I’m fine.”

  “…I have no idea how did it take them so long to figure you were working for Storm, you are a terrible liar.”

  “And you pry too much.” He snaps back. “I’m just trying my hardest to not let anything happen to this school again!”

  “I’m trying to make sure my family is fine!” She yells back on him. “I’m trying to make sure everyone I love will still be here for mini me, and it’s hard and I’m lost and I still want as many people as I can to be fine, and letting you kill yourself is no help!”

“I’m not going to kill myself!”

She pokes him for a moment. “You are if you continue like that.”

  He steps back catching himself. His tone gets low with anger. “Continue like what Sora? I’m just making myself stronger and smarter than I was before!”

  “There are things more important than being strong and smart.” She said. “Many other things.”

  “Like what? Please tell me, what can be better than making myself better for everyone here?”

  “Being nice and kind and spending time with your friends and let them help.” “I have to do this alone, I can’t ask for their help. I have to prove myself worth being there for them.” “…I don’t think that you need to prove anything to anyone.”

  “You don’t get it!” Damian shouts. “I have to do this, because everything that happened was my fault!”

  “…How exactly?” She is going to  slap him if he doesn’t stop and listen…

…Oh. Now she gets why everyone hates when she gets like this.

  Damian looks away, realizing what he said. “I let him in, I fell for his manipulation and by doing so other despairs were able to get into the school. I didn’t even realize who they were until Tanaka and Hiro’s deaths. We don’t even know if all if them are gone. For all we know the people who crashed Miss Naomi’s wedding with an escape pod could be more.

"Even in the attack on the school, I was helpless. Everyone else was here, defending the school and all I did was run. I’m weak Sora. I’ve been a puppet this whole time, and when the chance to cut my strings came, I didn’t take the final shot.”

  “…None of us figured them out. If someone, we- the five of us, i mean- should have, and we didn’t.” She wraps her hands around him. “You told Maverick Storm no. I don’t think you understand how strong it makes you.”

  “This is why I’m doing this….” He can’t stop himself from shaking as tears threaten to fall. “I don’t want to be toyed with again, and I want to be able to help…”

  She holds him quietly.  "You are stronger than you think you are.“

  ”…“ He doesn’t respond, closing his eyes and trying get himself to breathe.

  "You need to sleep. Do you want me to walk you to your room?”

  He nods his head, wiping his face with his sleeve.

  She grabs his hand, pressing it as they start walking. Eventually they enter his room.

  “….thanks.” He says simply as he let’s go of her hand. “For listening at least. But I think you’re wrong about me. I’m just a dumb kid with a bow.”

  “The best art teacher I ever had.” She pulls her shoulders. “Do you need a teddy bear?”

  “N-no, I’ll be alright.” Damian says quickly.

  “Okay. But please, sleep. Okay?”

  “I will, good night Sora.”

  “Good night.” She turned away and left.

____

  The bell rings and classes are done for the day. Damian steps out the classroom, bag slinged. “…hey.”

  “Yo!” She waves to him. “Missed me?”

  “Not really.” He says sarcastically.

  “Oh.” Her smile disappeared.

  “H-hey, it was just a little joke!” He says quickly.

“Haa?”

“Sarcasm? No? Er, anyway…I was going to go find what Jataro is up to, did you want to come along?”

She shakes her head. “I won’t bother you.” She’d shade him, just to make sure he is not lying, but she’d leave once she is sure.

“Oh, alright. I just figured it would make it easier to follow me rather than sneak after me.” He says with a slight smirk.

“Whatcha talking about?”

“Eh, nothing then.” He shrugs. “I guess I’ll get going now.”

“Bye.” She waves.