#knuckleduster x reader

[no-name-omo]

hi ur literally a gem for doing this bc the lack of content for mha vigilantes is actually sending me into a frenzy

anyway!! would it be okay to request knuckleduster x gn!reader? maybe smth like strangers to lovers/fateful meetings almost? and the reader doesnt have to be a hero or vigilante they can just be a regular person that somehow got tied up in the middle of it or smth

hope that fits ur criteria and apologies if smths off😭

[A/N] the first post I made that isn't zzz... Nice, anyway I didn't know if you wanted a head cannon or one shot so yeah next time just make sure the I know what you want fully and maybe a little ooc so yeah; hope you enjoy

[type] One-Shot

[word count] 1,800+

[Summary] For some reason you a nurse nurse couldn't stop bumping into the vigilante to the point that a relationship form

[Genre] fluff / Strangers To Lovers?

[pairing / characters] Iwao Oguro (Knuckleduster) x Nurse Reader

You still don’t fully understand how you got wrapped up with the vigilantes. One minute, you were just walking home from your shift at the hospital.exhausted, still wearing your nurse uniform, mentally cursing out every difficult patient you'd dealt with that day. The next, your life was tangled up in something way bigger than yourself.

You turned into an alleyway, taking your usual shortcut like always. Behind you, faint at first, you heard people screaming sharp, panicked cries that prickled at the back of your neck. You paused, heart beginning to race. Then came another sound, closer this time. Not a voice, didn't even sound human. A low, guttural roar that rolled through the alley like thunder. It wasn’t a cry for help. It was something far worse.

You turned around slowly, not out of curiosity, but fear, heavy and cold in your gut. Down the alleyway, barely illuminated by flickering streetlights, you saw what you could only guess was a man. Or used to be one. His skin was an unnatural shade of blue, his bloodshot eyes wide and unblinking. Ice crawled up his arms and legs like armor, jagged and uneven, and you could see the tips of his fingers blackened with frostbite, just like his tongue when he let it loll out, panting like some kind of beast.

You’re frozen. Stuck. Your body refuses to move. The man or whatever he is stares you down with eyes full of desperation and rage. It’s not just anger. It’s hunger. You try to speak, to scream, but nothing comes out. Then, without warning, he lets out another guttural roar and charges. Ice explodes beneath his feet, spreading like a wave as he sprints straight toward you

You try to step back, but your foot lands on a glass bottle. It rolls, and you slip, crashing down hard onto the cold concrete. Pain shoots through your palms as they smack the ground, but you barely notice it. Your eyes lock on the charging man.he’s only three feet away now. One thought flashes through your mind, cold and final 'Is this how I die?'

But then, just as the thought forms, a fist swings past your head, fast, brutal, and perfectly timed. It slams into the man’s face with a sickening crack, sending him flying backward like a ragdoll.

A gruff, rugged voice came from behind you. “Heh, you’re not getting away from me that easily.” You turned, still sprawled on the cold pavement, and looked up. Towering behind you stood a man who looked like he’d fought through a dozen wars and didn’t bother patching up after any of them. He was broad-shouldered and built like a wall, dressed in a worn dark grey jacket with the sleeves rolled up, exposing scarred forearms. His face was rough unshabby and weathered. A faded mask covered his eyes, and there was something dangerous in the way he held himself.

You try to thank him for the save, but he doesn’t even glance your way. It’s like he didn’t hear you or just didn’t care. His focus is locked on the man he just flattened. Without a word, he strides forward and grabs the unconscious man by the collar, yanking him up with ease, like lifting a bag of trash. “Weak,” he mutters under his breath, more to himself than anyone else. His eyes narrow as he inspects the frostbitten tongue hanging out of the man’s mouth, as if it confirms something he already suspected.

From where you’re still sitting on the ground, you can tell he’s annoyed. He clearly wanted to ask the man some questions, but he’d hit him too hard and knocked him out cold. With a grunt of frustration, he drops the unconscious body like dead weight.

Then, finally, he turns his attention to you. “Hey. You.” The sudden acknowledgment makes you flinch, your heart jumping as you blurt out, “Y-Yes?” He jerks his chin toward the limp body. “Call the police, won’t you?”

“O-oh! I can do that,” you stammer, fumbling to pull your phone from your pocket. You start dialing the police, glancing down at the screen as you speak. “Also, thank you again for the—” But when you look up, he’s gone. Just like that. Only the unconscious man remains, crumpled on the pavement. “—save,” you finish quietly, the word feeling a little foolish now.

---

It’s been a week since you saw that man. You’re still not sure if he’s a hero at least, not in the legal sense of the word. But technically, he is your hero.

Ugh. That thought alone makes you cringe, and you mentally roll your eyes at yourself as you walk past the alleyway you used to take as a shortcut. Lesson learned. You’ve avoided it ever since.

But just as you’re about to keep moving, a familiar, gravelly grunt echoes from the shadows. You freeze. It’s faint, but you recognize it. Weirdly enough… it sounds like him.

You sneak a peek into the alleyway and there he is. The man that save you. One man already lies unconscious behind him, while he’s locked in a fierce brawl with another, much larger opponent. Somehow, he’s holding his own. Every move is fast, brutal, precise. It’s like watching a street fight choreographed by nature itself. You can’t help but stare until something catches your eye.

The unconscious man is stirring. Slowly, quietly, he starts to rise. Your hero hasn’t noticed. 'Oh no. What should I do?' The man behind him braces his stance, his arm beginning to harden like stone. Instinct takes over. “Watch out! Behind you!” you shout.

Your hero doesn’t hesitate. He sidesteps just in time, narrowly dodging the hardened punch, then spins on his heel and drives a crushing blow into the ambusher’s gut. The man doubles over with a choked gasp, collapsing like the wind’s been knocked from his soul.

After finishing off the second guy complete with another quick check of his tongue, for whatever reason your hero stood tall. You just watched again, hands at your sides, but at least this time… you’d helped. And then, for the first time, he actually acknowledged you. Properly.

“Thanks,” he said, flashing a big, toothy grin. Most people might have found it unsettling, like a wild dog showing teeth but to you, oddly enough, it was… kind of charming. He wasn’t acting like he did last time either. Less distant. More human.

You coughed into your hand and gave a small, awkward nod. “It was no problem. I mean, you saved me, after all.” He tilted his head, brows scrunching beneath his mask. “I did?”

That caught you off guard. You frowned, mildly annoyed now. “What do you mean, ‘I did?’ You saved me. Just last week. In this exact—” you threw your hands out, gesturing around you “—alleyway!”

For a moment, he just blinked. Then his eyes lit up with recognition. “Ohhh… right. You’re the good looking nurse from last week!” he said, followed by a short, rough laugh. “Didn’t recognize you without the panic face.”

Your face went hot in an instant. Good looking? He actually called you good looking. You opened your mouth to respond with something sharp, something witty but nothing came out. Just air and a frustrated groan.

The man chuckled again, clearly enjoying your reaction. “Didn’t mean to rattle you,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “it's just that I remember you being all skittish.”

You rolled your eyes, trying to recover your dignity. “Well, someone had to keep you from getting sucker-punched." He grinned wider. “Fair enough. Guess that makes us even now, huh… nurse?”

"... Fine"

---

As the weeks passed, you started running into the vigilante more and more. Almost too often to be coincidence. You eventually learned his name: Knuckleduster. And the more it happened, the more you began to suspect he wasn’t just “passing by.”

He never admitted it, of course. But the way he lingered a bit longer after fights, the way his eyes always found you in a crowd, the way he smirked when you called him out on it. it all said more than words.

You got to know his partners well more like students, really. One was a fast-talking guy who slid around like a hockey puck with a jetpack, and the other, a sharp-eyed girl who soared through the air like it was second nature. You found yourself patching them up from time to time. Nothing too serious, just scrapes, bruises, and the occasional sprain.

But somehow, he always seemed to be the last one to get looked at. The one who waited behind while the others left. Sitting there with that cocky grin and battle-worn jacket, tossing out lines like, “You sure you're qualified for this?” just to get a rise out of you.

And yeah… maybe you looked forward to those moments a little more than you should have.

---

It was late, past midnight and the city outside your apartment buzzed quietly with distant sirens and the occasional honk. You’d barely managed to unlock your door with one hand, the other gripping Knuckleduster’s arm as he leaned heavily against you. His jacket was torn, and blood soaked through the side of his shirt.

“You know,” you muttered as you kicked the door shut behind you, “you could stop taking punches with your ribs. Just once.” He grunted in response, half amusement, half pain. “Wouldn’t be much of a fight if I dodged everything.”

You guided him to the worn stool in your kitchen and flicked on the overhead light. Harsh. Too bright. But necessary. “Shirt off,” you said flatly, already reaching for your first aid kit. He raised an eyebrow at you. “Getting bold, huh?”

You rolled your eyes, heat creeping into your cheeks anyway. “Shut up and lift your arms.” With a smirk, he peeled the shirt off, wincing slightly as dried blood tugged at the fabric. His torso was littered with scars, some old and faded, others fresh and angry. You swallowed and got to work, cleaning a gash along his ribs. His skin was warm under your fingers, muscles tensing slightly every time you dabbed antiseptic as you tried to ignore the closeness; even though you know that it's impossible to.

“You really need to learn what ‘taking it easy’ means,” you muttered. “I don’t get the luxury of easy,” he replied, voice low and gravelly. But he wasn’t looking at his wound. He was watching you. You kept your eyes on the bandages, pretending not to notice. A beat of silence passed. Then, softer: “You always do this?”

“What, patch up stubborn vigilantes in my kitchen? No. Just the reckless ones who keep showing up like strays.” He huffed a quiet laugh. “Lucky me.” You tied the bandage off, your fingers brushing the curve of his side. His breath hitched, just slightly. Your eyes finally met his close, quiet, charged.

“Next time,” you murmured, “try not to bleed on my welcome mat.” “I’ll aim for the couch,” he shot back, voice rough but teasing. And despite everything, the hour, the blood, the danger

you smiled.

The silence lingered after your smile, thick with something unsaid. You started to turn away, to clean up the bloodied gauze and wrappers, but his hand caught your wrist; gentle, calloused, firm.

You looked back at him, your breath hitching just a little. He didn’t say anything, just searched your face for a moment. Eyes softer now, less guarded than usual. Like he was trying to memorize you in this moment, the quiet calm between chaos.

“I keep showing up,” he said lowly, “because I know you’ll be here.” That stopped your heart for a second. No sarcasm. No smirk. Just honesty. Raw and stripped down.

You didn’t even realize you were leaning in until he was, too. Slow, like either of you might still back out. But neither of you did. The kiss was brief. Warm. A little rough around the edges, like him but real. And when you pulled back, his hand lingered on your wrist, thumb brushing your pulse.

“Guess I’ll be bleeding on your welcome mat again sometime soon,” he muttered, the smirk returning, but softer now. You rolled your eyes, but your lips curled anyway. “Just try not to make a habit of it.”

[songsofadelaide]

still life — knuckleduster/oguro iwao x (f) reader. ୨୧ Still unsure if he's truly deserving of a life of peace, Iwao tiptoes around his new home with you— afraid that even his now-quiet existence may yet shatter the tranquil rhythm he's found himself dancing to. 

tags and warnings: post-timeskip, post-naruhata lockdown, reader is a divorced single mother in her (mid-)30s, slight age difference things, implied sexual content, mentions of marriage and (an unconfirmed) pregnancy, minor original characters, domestic fluff and slice of life.

wc: 4.8k

୨୧ This fic will not use 'yn' and instead follow my usual naming convention. Please kindly see yourself out if you're uncomfortable with fics using placeholder names for the reader. I do not use 'yn' in any of my fics. I still use 'you'/second person pronouns and write with a generic (f) reader in mind. I use "Otome" as a placeholder as it means maiden, or Maiden-chan, which pretty much translates to 'yn'. The name isn't mentioned often and is just for the sake of my preferences since I find it jarring to write 'yn' frequently.

🌺 author's note: I am finally settling on a fic format lol. That aside, I started watching Vigilantes late and fell for Fist Geezer a bit more than I expected. I think KD is neat and deserves a break.

୨୧ images used are from pinterest unless stated otherwise.

🎧 now playing... town from the ffi ost | koi no retronym by mekakushe

Here was a feeling he thought he had forgotten— the surface of a clean living room floor, a sliding door left slightly ajar, an afternoon breeze gently blowing through the peach-colored curtains, a weight on his arm… 

It's been eons since he's felt this peaceful, and a muted ceiling is now a welcome sight for him. Right next to him on his left curled up a little boy no older than six, a missing front tooth revealed by his slightly opened tiny mouth and on his right arm rested a head of messy hair, a face just as peaceful, and a body like a slice of heaven underneath the airy cotton dress.

Iwao curled his right arm ever so slightly, prompting you to nuzzle even closer to him, slinging your own arm over his broad chest. This feeling itself was a slice of heaven served to him on a gilded plate. He never even realized how hungry he was. 

Oh. He wanted to punch himself. Surely this must be some sort of cruel prank, a dream he has yet to wake up from. He's a troublemaker, after all, and hasn't really done anything worth being rewarded something like this…

"Mm… Is something the matter?…" You asked as you slowly sat up from your restful sleep, allowing yourself a little stretch before reaching for his right knee, rubbing gentle circles over the cap. "Does the cold hurt your knee?"

The cold made everything all over ache, he thought to himself, though not at all brave to tell you upfront. You coddled him too much, after all, like he wasn't a grown man years older than you were. Still, he'd be lying to himself if he said he wasn't enjoying all the attention. 

"I'll close the window…" You said as you poised to stand up, only for Iwao to grasp your hand in his larger one. 

"'S'fine," he murmured, slowly pulling you down into his hold. "You're warm enough…"

"Well… If you're okay, then I'm okay," you hummed at him, resting your warm cheek on his chest as you lowered yourself back into his arms. "Oh, I just remembered. Tama-chan called earlier today while you were out. I said I'd tell you to call her back, so don't forget to do so."

"Mm, did she now?…" Iwao mused aloud. He wasn't quite ready to speak to his daughter again after his last scolding. It was supposed to be their typical lunch date, but having brought up the topic of relationships and your still-undefined status cost him their peaceful conversation.

"Second chances don't come easy. You said it yourself," Tamao stated as she knowingly wagged a finger at her father before helping herself to another slice of their shared pizza. "And I happened to like her… your girlfriend, I mean. She's so kind and sweet… And her kid, too! I've always wanted a little brother, and Yuki-kun is just the sweetest! A-Anyhow! I want you to stop being silly and respond to her feelings properly, old man!"

Dating should have been off the table for him, even though he's been widowed for the last four years. He mourned his late wife and the life they once shared, and he swore to himself that he'd never go around ruining another woman's life because of his own indecisiveness. Dating and relationships were a Pandora's Box he had no strength to open because it meant sorting through its messy contents. He didn't have the energy for that at all. 

And yet, when he saw you defending the local cafe from what looked like an attempted villain break-in, he couldn't help but hear the hypothetical box being rattled, its contents clattering from the inside, demanding to be heard by him. And he didn't just hear you shout back a string of profanities while brandishing a baseball bat at the men now… Did he?

A pretty thing in a brown apron with a mouth like a seasoned sailor.

The elderly owners shivered in fear as you shielded them from the verbal assault launched by the no-good-doers, your gaze like steel, your form unmoving even as one of the thugs aimed a carefully sharpened pocket knife at you. The ruffians looked just about to retaliate when they flinched altogether at the sight of Naruhata's own Fist Geezer stepping in to mediate the tense standoff. Even with his makeshift cane (that surely served as another one of his weapons), he was still every bit as menacing as he was when he previously patrolled the streets with The Crawler and Pop☆Step.

"Step away from the cafe," the masked man stated as he towered over the group of men with clenched fists. "And I suggest you put that down before you hurt yourself, miss…"

Knuckleduster held the other end of the bat and tried to gently wrench it out of your smaller hands, but he was evidently confused at the amount of resistance he met when you didn't let go initially.

"I'm not going to leave myself defenseless until these gentlemen vacate our premises," you stated, though visibly relaxing at the sight of your would-be savior. "Well? You have five seconds to turn tail before I start swinging."

The thugs left without making any other commotion, unnerved by the appearance of the striking and rugged man in the worn-out mask. They knew better than to cross the older man, who was well-known for letting his fists do the talking. 

"Thank you for stepping in," you said with a low and gracious bow you directed toward the vigilante. Your brave front did not hold, and you nearly lost your footing by the time the troublemakers were out of your sight. Knuckleduster caught you in his arms before you could fall, and you could faintly remember the look of concern that washed over his face as your elderly parents crowded over you. 

You worked as a waitress at Cafe Lilico, your family's little rustic cafe that seemed out of place in the slate-gray Naruhata district. And as he vowed to your parents, he came over to check up on you the day after, where you served him a coffee your mother promised him, along with something else…

"Oh! It's the Punchy Man!" Came the excited trill of a little boy's voice, his ecstatic footsteps resounding against the cafe's redwood floor, the light on his shoes aglow as he stepped into the older man's space. "Are you here to see my mama?! It's because she's sooo pretty, right?!"

"Yukiya! Wh-What are you…?!" 

"The kid's right, you know?" The masked man grinned as he placed a large hand over the boy's head, ruffling his hair. "Your mom's popular, huh? That why you got troublemakers comin' from all over the place?"

"Issokay! She beats them back every time!" The boy, Yukiya, exclaimed as he peered at the masked vigilante from behind your mother's skirt now. 

You placed the cup and saucer of your mother's famous black brewed coffee on his table. "That's quite enough, Yuki-kun. Let's not bother Mister Knuckleduster, okay? He came here for a coffee…"

"I said your kid's right. I did come here for you," Knuckleduster stated as he helped himself to the black coffee you just served him. "Your ma said somethin' about teaching you basic self-defense."

"Did she now?" You remarked, obviously unconvinced by your mother's motives. This wasn't the first time she tried setting you up with a new man.

"I'd be glad to teach you a trick or two, but you're already plenty scary with your bat and your smart mouth," the older man chuckled. The sound of his laughter was low and hearty and incredibly inviting. 

A warmth of quiet hope bloomed over your chest as you told yourself this may be the last time your mother sets you up with a new man. 

"Ah, well… H-How about a sandwich to go with your coffee? O-On the house, of course!"

That was nearly half a year ago. And for all of your supposed busyness, you were a surprisingly attentive girlfriend. It was a word he was still coming to terms with now that he's bared himself to you. And you were incredibly affectionate— a fact he was still adjusting to whenever he came to visit your home, which happened to be the third floor of Cafe Lilico, your family's place of employment.

That single-unit apartment became his most well-kept secret, a stronghold he had no intention of revealing, no matter how much he'd be tortured— not that it was ever going to happen, but that was simply to show how sacred the place meant to him. 

Iwao's reverie was cut short when you climbed over and straddled him, reaching for your son, who was still cluelessly and sleepily curled up beside him. 

"Yuki-kun, time to wake up… We're heading to grandma and grandpa's, remember?" You cooed at the boy as you brushed up the mess of hair over his forehead. 

"Want me to take him?" Iwao asked you as he helped Yukiya's slow ascent, a wide yawn escaping the boy's mouth as he drove his tiny fists over his eyes to rub away the sleepiness that still lingered over his head. 

Your parents lived on the floor below you and usually had their grandson over with them on Fridays. They didn't mind babysitting at first as you navigated through your messy divorce a few years back, but now it has become a ritual for the three of them to hang out and play board games every Friday night, leaving you with a quiet night of contemplation to yourself. 

But your Fridays have been hardly quiet lately ever since you gave Iwao your spare key.

"I was thinking you could cook some rice for us while I bring him down," you replied with a small smile as Yukiya stood up and coiled his arms around your neck. You wrapped your arms around your son and slowly rose from your comfortable seat, carrying your boy with you as you walked over to close the window. "I'll make dinner when I get back."

"Rice, huh… Easy enough," Iwao remarked as he sat up himself, a hand flying over his mouth as he let out a similarly wide yawn as your boy did just moments ago. 

"I'll be quick, I promise," you beamed at him as you made your way to your door. "I bought some beer the other day, too. Shall we have a little drink later?"

He quirked an eyebrow at you. "You want to drink? With me?"

"God forbid a girl wants to drink with her boyfriend on a Friday night," you rolled your eyes at him. "Of course, I want to drink with you. That and more…"

Fortunately, Yukiya was a well-behaved and well-meaning boy who was always more than happy to spend time with his grandparents, especially now that they bought yet another board game to play— something easy enough for all of them to understand and entertaining enough to get them through the night. He was surprisingly mature for his age, too, though he was still more charmingly innocent than precocious. Yukiya easily warmed up to the idea of Iwao becoming part of his family, and he was always upfront about his feelings on the matter. 

"I like you a lot, Iwa-san. You make my mama smile and laugh a lot. I wish you were my papa…" He once told the older man as they walked back home together on a rainy day. For Yukiya, the world seemed endlessly vast whenever the vigilante carried him high in his strong arms. The little boy buried his face in the crook of Iwao's neck in utter embarrassment. "I wish I was strong like you. So I can protect my mama."

"You're a thoughtful kid, Yukiya. I'm sure your ma's awfully proud of you… But you don't have to worry about protecting her because I'm here. I'll protect you both. She'd want you to just enjoy being a kid…"

"Mm… I hope we can become a family for real… Me, mama, you, obaa-chan, ojii-chan, and Tama nee-chan, too…"

A family, huh?

Iwao mused as he lit his favorite cigarette outside the apartment window, even though the evening breeze brought an ache to his scars and knees. He didn't want the place stinking up with smoke, much to his own surprise. Lighting cigarettes indoors reminded him of Pop's endless scolding— "Ugh! My hair will stink of cigarette smoke, old man!" 

"Something funny?" You asked from behind him, and he made space for you right next to him. "You're smiling, after all…"

"Just remembered somethin'," he countered, offering you a cigarette even though you always refused. "Rice is cooking, by the way."

"Mm, that's good. I'll whip up some karaage and steamed veggies and bring out our beer!" You grinned at him before eventually pointing to your living room coffee table. "Don't forget to use your ashtray."

Oh, he had one of those here, too? Iwao didn't know what brought on these contemplations— his self-imposed questions about his life and worth— and whether or not he deserved this peaceful life after all that he's done.

But it was clear to him from the way he had his own ashtray here… His dark towel hanging to dry along yours and your son's… A third toothbrush in your bathroom that clearly belonged to him… A fresh change of clothes his size… His own key to this place… The boy, Yukiya, always running up to him in utter elation… And you, with all of your warmth, beckoning him into your arms every time he arrived home…

This space that was once just yours and your son's… It was clear to him that this was his home, too. You made it into his home. 

"Iwao? Sweetheart? Is something the matter?" You asked from across the room as you sliced through the freshly-washed carrots and broccoli. "You seem a little absentminded these days."

You listened as he lumbered into the kitchen space, the smell of cigarette smoke lingering on his clothes, but you didn't mind much at all. He stood right next to you, his presence ever so evident though he tried his best to keep quiet. 

"Just thinking," he said with a low hum, watching you chop the vegetables deftly. 

"Oh, how dangerous," you chuckled to yourself. "You know, Yuki-kun just told me the wisest thing the other day. I think it was because he caught me deep in thought…"

"What'd he say?" 

"A trouble shared is a trouble halved. A joy shared is a joy doubled," you said thoughtfully. "He said sharing what's on my mind will lighten my load either way. Honestly, that boy is too smart for his own good."

"Good kid, that one," Iwao replied. "You did a fine job of raising him."

"I'm glad you think so. I had help from my parents, of course… Though Yuki-kun would've benefitted greatly from having a f-father figure to look up to…"

Iwao was quick to notice the sudden tremor in your sweet voice, closely followed by a quiver in your movements. He stepped into your space, just right behind you, his broad chest pressed to your back, and his larger hands enveloping yours as he carefully guided your motions. It didn't take long for you to calm down, a tender hum leaving your lips as you managed to bring the vegetables to a steam.

There was no differentiation between the sound of your heartbeats from how close you stood, his strong arms now coiled around your waist as you swayed to and fro, your rhythm slow and easy enough for him to follow. 

At night, he was Naruhata's guardian, but you liked the thing you had going on with Knuckleduster— with Oguro Iwao— during the day. He nearly laughed his socks off when you first started referring to each other as boyfriend-girlfriend, for lack of better terms, but only because he thought it was funny that someone of his old age would have one— a girlfriend— and a really pretty one, to boot. 

But you were no spring chicken yourself, no matter how pretty you were in other people's eyes… And the fact that your parents had to meddle in your affairs, even with the best of intentions, was embarrassing enough when you mentioned it on your first date with the vigilante. He didn't think it was strange, but more endearing, because he thought you'd be tired of your parents worrying for you… But you took their advice and went on that date to placate them, completely unaware of what was to come. You don't regret it one bit.

And you want to think that he doesn't regret it, either. If he did, he wouldn't even be here. right? His strong, muscular arms wrapped around you, his hold entirely reassuring, like an unwavering and unyielding promise you could lean into without thinking twice. 

Yet his quiet, absentminded musing frightened you a little. You were afraid that whatever unspoken thoughts he had would lead him away from you, even though he was already such an important part of your life now. 

"You… think I'd make a good father to Yukiya? I'm sure you've already heard a lot from Tamao…" Iwao spoke, his voice low and smoky, his words full of intent, reverberating against your chest and settling in your ribcage. "…Do you think I deserve this? This… kind of life…"

Is that what's been eating at him?

"Iwao, sweetheart…" You said, gently breaking your embrace to face him. You raised your hands to cradle his face, scarred and rugged but every bit charming to you still, and it pulled at your heart to see him melt into your caress, the hardened vigilante in him rendered malleable in your hands. "Tama-chan meant well when she told me about your relationship. It's not like you didn't try your best to be a good father to her. It just so happened that you didn't see eye to eye on things. As a parent myself, I can't fault you for feeling that way back then. Even though Yuki-kun's still practically a baby to me, I'm not looking forward to the hard conversations and arguments we'll have… But they have to be said, either way. A-And your wife, she…"

You swallowed hard, averting your eyes from his steady gaze. 

"When Tamao and I finally spoke after all of that ugly business, we agreed to move forward with… with our lives. We mourned her mother, and I swore to myself that that was it," Iwao stated, grasping your wrist to bring your palm to his lips. "You were no damsel in distress, I know. There was a fire in your eyes that said you weren't someone to be trifled with, but I couldn't stop myself from stepping in…"

When he first saw you driving away the ruffians outside your family's cafe, something shifted for him. Time only slowed for him, only just, since he wished to burn this memory into his mind until the ink bled into the following pages. His altruism was only part of the entire reason why he helped you out. Fiery, fearless, self-assured, and yet… The overwhelming urge to protect the defenseless overrode everything else. You were brave, but those thugs would knock you out senseless and rob your family of what you're worth if he arrived even a second later. 

Then came your parents' unbelievable request— "You look like a reasonable man. You should date our daughter. She could use a strong arm like you around. Just come over and tell her you're here to give her some self-defense lessons!"

Him? Reasonable? He lost an eye and busted his knee because he was in everyone else's business and had no business being in everyone else's business… 

That cup of coffee your parents offered him gave him hope. So much hope, in fact, that he thought he was overreaching things. He only realized now, holding you like this, that he filled you with the same kind of hope— for better things to come— as you moved forward in your life as well.

"Hah! So you're finally admitting that you did approach me because you thought I was pretty," you remarked rather triumphantly. It was the same smugness that endeared you to him the moment he laid his eye on you.  

Iwao planted his palms on the kitchen counter, trapping you in his arms as he leaned forward to close the space between you. A low chuckle left your lips as he kissed you, tickled by the stubble he had yet to clean up. His tense arms wound around you once more, hands rough against the cotton of your dress as he traced the curve of your back. 

"Oh, you're awfully pretty, all right. Awfully warm… and awfully soft, too…" He murmured against your jaw, warm kisses trailing the length of your neck. His hold on you tightened ever so slightly, and it was your turn to melt into his touch. He crashed into you like an unrelenting wave, his figure rigid over your contrasting softness. You felt the tension in his arms as he held himself over you, his fear of overwhelming you evident from his furrowed brow, but you reassured him as you always did, that you could handle the weight and the press of his strength— the intensity of his love for you. 

You could only hope that he could handle just as much from you.

Your dinner was cold, and your beer was sub-zero by the time you woke up in the middle of the night. Iwao's shirt was the closest piece of clothing you managed to grab as you stealthily slipped out of your bed, or so you tried, until you were stopped in your tracks by a strong hand grasping your thigh. 

"Where're you goin'?" Came his groggy query, to which you replied by pressing a tender kiss on his forehead. 

"Just gonna put our dinner in the fridge…"

"I thought you were gonna leave me. Keep on forgettin' that this is your place. If there's anyone who has to leave, it's me…"

His sleepy blathering prompted a laugh from you, and you moved to gently comb his hair over his forehead until he was lulled to sleep again. You drew your comforter over his topless figure, one foot off the bed, until he spoke again. 

"…Whaddya say to making me part of your family?"

The question hit you like a lightning bolt, time stopping for you just enough for your heart to catch up to what you just heard. Your chest tightened, and all you wanted to do was cage yourself in his arms. So you did. 

"Oh, Iwao… You never had to ask," you murmured against his chest, your eyes filling with tears you've wanted to cry out for so long, yet rather not show him. It didn't matter now if he didn't hear your answer. It won't change anything, anyway. He was your family the moment he decided to step in and make your business his own. "You already are."

"Tama-chan! Oh, welcome!" You happily greeted the young woman, your arms open as she excitedly jumped into your embrace. 

"Yohoo, Otome-san! Thank you for having us over!" Tamao beamed at you as she gladly took your hands in her own. Her smile only widened as she saw Yukiya ecstatically running over to her. 

"Tama nee-chan! Soga nii-chan! And the fireball guy and the lizard guy!"

"Yuki-kun!" The young woman exclaimed as she got on her knee to receive the running boy in her arms. "Ah! How have you been? Why do I feel like you grew a little taller?! Don't grow up too fast, you little bugger!" 

"I didn't realize Rapt and I didn't have name— guh!…" Moruyu stated with a feigned pout, only for Soga to elbow him quiet. 

"Have a seat, you guys! Order whatever you want, it's on the house today," you said as you led the group to Cafe Lilico's best table, handing them your menus. The cafe was closed for the day to give way to your simple marriage registration celebration. "I recommend the garden pizza and the chocoffee as these are our bestsellers, but feel free to choose whatever you want to eat!"

As you took the group's orders and left for the kitchen, your little boy elatedly raised his hands to give each visitor a high five.  

"Tama nee-chan, Soga nii-chan, I have a secret to tell you," Yukiya said, eyes wide and starry as he latched onto the older girl's leg. "Don't tell anyone else, okay?… Uh, maybe you can tell the fireball guy and the lizard guy, too…"

Tamao ruffled the little boy's hair and shot him a big grin. "C'mon, Yuki-kun. We're all family here. No need for any secrets…" 

"Yeah, squirt. What's up? You want us to beat someone?" Soga chuckled as he made space between himself and Tamao on the crimson leather booth seat. The young boy climbed up, all smiles as he happily yet quietly declared that, "We might have a little brother or little sister… At least that's what obaa-chan told me! So I'm gonna be a big brother! And you're gonna be a big sister!"

"That so? That's great news!" The young woman exclaimed with a thoughtful smile as she coiled her arms around Yukiya. "I was already plenty happy with Yuki-kun, but another sibling? Color me impressed!" 

"Yuki-kun? Come here now, let's not disturb Tama nee-chan and her friends!" You called out for the little boy, whose happy smile melted into a small pout as he slowly slinked off the seat. 

"Ojii-chan says I should be a good boy and listen to Mama whenever she calls me so I don't hurt her. Because if I hurt her, I'll hurt my little brother or sister, too," Yukiya mumbled, crestfallen at having to part with Tamao after not seeing her for quite a while. 

"Aww, don't worry, Yuki-kun. We'll see you when we're done eating, and we'll play the whole day!" The redhead remarked, holding out a pinky finger to the little boy. "That's a promise."

Yukiya curled his tinier finger over Tamao's, his smile as bright as the sun as he skipped to the building's upper floor to his grandparents' home. Once the boy was out of their range, she visibly gagged, prompting laughter from the rest of her friends. 

"Ew, I didn't realize my old man could still get it up," she said as she shook her head and stuck out her tongue in disgust at the strange thought. Yet it brought a warm and understanding smile to her face all the same. "A baby, huh?"

"Don't be silly. Anyone can get it up if they're doing it with someone like Otome-sa— ack!…" Rapt confidently started, only for Soga to whack him with a menu. The ringleader's glare commanded silence from the rest of the group, with the reptilian quietly nursing his throbbing forehead.  

"Good for the old man," Soga remarked reflectively. "We can't keep him off the streets, that's fer sure, but that ought to slow him down, even if just a little…"

"But ain't 50 too old to be a dad? A-And I'm surprised you're taking this awfully well, Tamao," Moruyu said, his voice hushed to a whisper now as Iwao approached them in a brown apron that was clearly too small for him, a tray with a pitcher of lemon water and a set of cups in his hands. 

"Yo," he greeted them, placing the cups on their table and filling each one with the fragrant water. "Thanks for being our witnesses, Tamao, Soga."

"No sweat, old man. Too bad those two couldn't be here, huh? They'd be so surprised," the turquoise-haired young man said with a playful wave of his hand. "I think it's a mighty wise decision to skip all of that wedding weirdness."

"Glad you think so. We agreed that the money for the ceremony could be better spent elsewhere. Not that money was ever an issue," the older man said with a rather proud smile. He placed his large hand over his daughter's head and ruffled her red hair, eliciting a laugh and an annoyed grunt from the young woman. Their single eyes met, both twinkling with a synchronized glint of hope and a sense of fulfillment.

"Are you happy, old man?"

"More than I deserve to be, but I'll roll with it."

Was he? Tamao didn't even need to ask. She could confirm this much… From the way you blew silly flying kisses to her father from the open window leading to the kitchen… that he was happy with this quiet life. And so was she, reassured by the fact that you constantly reminded him that he had a place in this world, and it was right next to you. 

🌺 By SongsofAdelaide. Please don't copy, plagiarize, or use my work to train AI. Please do not repost them to any other social media platforms. / masterlist

[frickingnerd]

Vigilante Masterlist

Koichi Haimawari/The Crawler

kissing it better - oneshot

fake dating koichi haimawari - headcanons

dating koichi haimawari - headcanons

koichi haimawari nsfw - headcanons

Kazuho Haneyama/Pop☆Step

popstep realizing her feelings for you - headcanons

Iwao Oguro/Knuckleduster

iwao oguro comforting you after a break up - headcanons

Tensei Iida/Ingenium

dating tensei iida - headcanons

Makoto Tsukauchi

makoto with a touch starved s/o - headcanons

Naomasa Tsukauchi

dating naomasa tsukauchi - headcanons

naomasa tsukauchi dating a pro hero - headcanons

naomasa tsukauchi dating UA's vice principal - headcanons

tsukauchi receiving a hickey from his s/o - headcanons

Soga Kugisaki

(not so) secret identity - drabble

soga crushing on knuckleduster's daughter - headcanons

Oboro Shirakumo / Loud Cloud

visiting oboro's grave - oneshot

Number 6

number 6's darling being a yandere for him - headcanons

Akaguro Chizome/Stain

yandere stain - headcanons

stain meeting a shapeshifter - headcanons

[intheeyeofthestar]

the mha vigilante anime is throwing me back into the mha fandom

[anniebeckcalla]

too little, too late ( p.sh)

(bf!park sunghoon x f!reader) ◦ ₊ WC!1660> ◦ ₊ CW!prison, violence, long sentences, the law, y/n acting like the first prison gf , slight angst, fluff ◦ ₊

part two now available here!

masterlist | tattoo shop | click here

ღNOTE FROM C. another enhypen story! i don't know much about prison visits, and there wasn't much info when i made research, so this might be a bit inaccurate...sorry for that. thank you so much for reading, i hope you enjoy it !!

You found yourself zoning out whilst staring at one of the many posters that dotted the mauve wall of the room. The table you were sat at was laminated wood, the varnish chipping at the edges; a few TV Guide magazines sat atop, dusty and unloved.

Beside the door was a clock which ticked alarmingly loudly for its’ small size. When you inhaled, you caught a whiff of stale food, which was rather odd considering the setting. Above you was a single light bulb that filled the room with a mulchy glow.

You weren't the only one in the room- people sat at other tables, some alone, others with families. A couple of them scrolled on their phones, while a handful attempted to take interest in the magazines in front of them. A few stared into space, their minds thousands of miles away.

Despite the gloom, you were dressed to the nines- your makeup was on point, hair washed and styled, clothes freshly pressed. Your hands and ears were adorned with jewellery that twinkled in the light. It almost masked how awful you felt.

There were a million other places that you wanted to be right now, but here you were; on the visiting wing of a prison, trying your best not to fall apart.

It was all thanks to the love of your life, Park Sunghoon. He'd risen to the bait of crime once again, and let himself get caught by the law. Now, he was paying for his actions with loss of his freedom-and half of your heart.

It had only been three months since Sunghoon had gone to prison, but you were losing touch with reality with every day that passed. You couldn't eat, drink, or sleep properly. Even the occasional cigarette did nothing to curb your worries. If you weren't staring into space, you were crying. (You'd made your way through several multipacks of Kleenex.) You had become a ghost of yourself.

Your family had had enough of it all. “Just give up on that bad influence and move on,” your mother had laughed, rolling up a spliff with gnarled fingers. “Goodbye to bad rubbish!” You (obviously) ignored her. Sunghoon was the only person who made you feel like life was worth living. He laughed with you, not at you. He listened to you, acknowledging your fears and worries. He never tried to prove you wrong. He loved you, and you loved him back.

How you missed his warm embraces. You pined after the times that you'd fall asleep next to him, waking up to see him smiling down at you, hand caressing your face. You missed his soft kisses along your jaw and neck. You longed to hear his voice reassuring you that everything would work out, that it would always be you and him, that nobody and nothing would come between the pair of you.

The only problem with Sunghoon was his passion for trouble; he just couldn't seem to stay away from it. It wasn't that he liked committing crimes. He thought himself the server of justice in the community. Any drug dealer attempting to make children transport their wares were kissed with his brass knuckleduster. Any nonces who tried their hand at the vulnerable were mercilessly kicked until their ribs snapped. School bullies who made their victims’ lives hell were dragged through the back lanes by their eyelids. He was the community’s hero; a saviour to the ones who couldn't fight for themselves.

But this time. he'd gone one step too far and caused serious damage. The drug dealer that he'd beaten up with a baseball bat was hospitalised in a comatose state, with no signs of coming round soon. Sunghoon hadn't been sentenced yet, but he was looking at a minimum of five years- yes, a minimum.

The door beeped as it opened, and a prison guard waddled in. She glared hard at everyone in the room as the prisoners shuffled in, daring someone to stare back. You barely noticed her, eyes at the door. All that mattered was him. At last, Sunghoon appeared, eyes downcast. Your own eyes filled with tears, throat burning as it threatened to let out a sob.

You knew that there was no reason to cry. You had done all this a thousand times before; the hourly visits every once a month,the reassurances that prison life wasn't that bad, the promises to send letters and call as soon as possible.

But things were different this time around. This time, you had something you needed to say.

You inhaled sharply when Sunghoon met your gaze, your heart beating faster with every step he took towards your table. Nobody and nothing existed anymore- not the other families, not the prison guards, not the dusty magazines.

Sunghoon walked over to your table and settled down in front of you. Despite your sadness, your heart gave an extra beat. Nothing looked bad on him, not even the grey bleak uniform that he had to wear at all times. In fact, it contrasted well with his pale skin. His jet hair had grown long since he'd gone in, his fringe brushing his lashes and ends curling at his neck.Tears filled your eyes as he took your hand in his, fingers brushing gently over your knuckles.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” you replied.

There was a brief silence.

“How've you been doing?” Sunghoon’s eyes met yours as he attempted to smile. You didn't answer, the tears rolling down your cheeks and smudging your perfect mascara.

“Why are you crying?” Sunghoon's voice was gentle and quiet. “I'm right here.” His reassurance only made you cry more, the warm tears rolling into your mouth and blurring your vision. “I told myself that I wasn't going to cry today,” you gulped, wiping your face with the back of your hand. Sunghoon held your hand tighter. “It's okay, darling. Don't be ashamed to cry.” You took a deep breath as you looked back up at him. Even though he was right there, you missed him more than ever.

“I'm sorry, Sunghoon,” you whispered.

Sunghoon’'s dark eyes glinted with fear, but his voice remained calm. “Why are you sorry?”

“Please try not to be mad at me,” you replied, voice barely audible. You closed your eyes as you faced the table. Sunghoon’s grip increased on your hand. “You'll have to tell me first, won't you?” You let out the breath that you'd been holding. As much as you adored Sunghoon, you had no idea how he would handle what you were about to tell him. You didn't even know if he'd want to be together anymore.

“You haven't killed someone, have you?” Sunghoon laughed. Your eyes shot open. “No, of course not!” You lowered your voice to a whisper. “It's sort of…the other way around,”

“What? Did someone try to kill you?” Sunghoon's eyes rounded, and your hands felt like they would fall off with how tightly he held them.

It was now or never.

“I'm carrying our child, Sunghoon.”

You couldn't look at him as the words fell off your lips. The silence that followed was unbearable. You waited for Sunghoon to let go and stand up, expected to hear “How do I know it's mine?”. You were ready to be abandoned.

“How far along are you?” he asked at last, his voice low.

“Exactly three months,” you replied. “Remember when-”

“I remember, don't worry,” Sunghoon cut through you. He frowned. “Why were you too scared to tell me?” “I don't know,” you stuttered. In that moment, you really didn't know. You silently cursed yourself for thinking that he'd hate you now that you were pregnant.

He let go of your hands, pushing his fringe back. “I've only gone and done it, haven't I?”

“What do you mean?”

“I've ruined everything for us, y/n. I thought I had to be the hero as usual, and I've near killed someone because of it.. Nobody knows how long I'm going to have to spend in here, and you're going to have to raise our child alone, surrounded by people who keep putting you down…”

In a way, Sunghoon's reaction to the news had made everything worse; he'd presented the reality of what was going to happen. It truly would be just you and your child against your community, struggling through each day.

“Think of all the milestones I'm going to miss,” Sunghoon muttered. He looked directly at you. “I've let us all down, y/n, and I'm sorry.”

“Visiting time's almost over,” the prison guard called out.

Sunghoon leaned forward to you, his eyes pleading. “You shouldn't be sorry, y/n. I'm the one who should apologise to you.” Lowering his voice, he continued, “I'm going to be there for our child, y/n, no matter where I am. When they let me out of here, I'll protect you both with my life. I promise.” The guard was waddling over towards you two, possibly hoping to drag Sunghoon away. “I'm so sorry,” Sunghoon whispered. Ever so gently, he kissed his index and middle fingers, placing them on your lips. “Enough of that,” the guard snapped, gripping Sunghoon's shoulder to pull him up and join the other prisoners.

You weren't sad that Sunghoon didn't turn back to to you to wave goodbye; you two didn't say bye at prison visits. It was easier to turn away than to utter the difficult parting words. Instead, you watched the back of him walk away until he was out of sight, hidden away behind the alarmed door.

For the first time in a long while, tears rolled down Sunghoon's face. He let them flow in front of everyone, ignoring the other prisoners’ stares and the prison guards’ mean jibes. As the day turned to dusk, he continued to cry, his face hidden in his bolster.(giving the pillow the much needed wash it deserved.)

He had let you down, and he knew it.

thank you so much for reading, reblogging, and saving !! (ФωФ)

taglist: @cigsaftersuh @jenoleeaesthetic @pl4netx1a @jeonghansshitester @chenlezip @neodreamzenie @markkiatocafe @mejaemin (thank you so much!)

[bullet-prooflove]

Knuckles Bloody For Me: Harry Da Souza x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989

Summary: There's only one thing that makes Harry lose control...

Warning: Discussions of torture, murder, sexual assault.

There’s blood on Harry’s hands. It stains the ink etched into his skin as he sits on the edge of the bath, his head dipped low, his gaze flickering up to study your features. Your eyebrows are furrowed as you concentrate on your work, using the white linen washcloth to clear away the crimson pulp from his split knuckles. He clenches his jaw, swallowing hard against the fresh sting as you dab lightly.  

This is the thing they don’t tell you about knuckledusters. You can break four bones in man’s face with one punch but they can also fuck you up too if you lose control, and Harry, he lost control tonight, big time.

That’s what happens when some jumped up piece of shit threatens to hurt his wife, when he tells him he’s going to choke the life out of her mid fuck as he films her crying for Harry. It touches something visceral because that shit it’s too close to what really happened over a decade ago, so close that it makes him think the little cunt has seen the video, something that should be fucking impossible since he tracked down every single copy.

“Savi.”  He whispers and you tilt your head up to meet his gaze. You’ve always had the most beautiful eyes. He’s spent entire nights looking into them as he makes love to you in the home that you’ve made together. “I think the video might be online.”

“I know.” You say softly, eyes lowering back down to his knuckles as you resume your work. “Someone sent it to me tonight.”

“What…” His voice comes out in a thick rasp. That rage from before it boils up inside of him like magma simmering inside a volcano. He’d thought this had been dealt with this back then when he’d taken the man responsible corpse apart, scattering his entrails into the wind.

“I think that someone wants to use what happened to me to intimidate us.” You say in a distracted tone as you take his palm in your own, turning it over so you begin wrapping a bandage around his hand. “But we’re not going to let that happen are we?”

This is what he loves about you. This thing that happened it could have broken you, it could of destroyed you but you didn’t let it, instead you twisted it into a weapon, used it to strike fear into the hearts of anyone who ever viewed you as weak.

He may have disposed of that fucker’s body but it was you that carved him up, that sent his severed cock back to the man who’d authorised the attack.

“I’m coming for you.” The note attached had read.

And you had.

You’d left him eviscerated at his desk with his dick in his mouth. His organisation had crumbled after that, his operations swept up by the Harrigans and people knew better than to fuck Savina Delacroix, because his wife she destroys the men that hurt her, she tears them the fuck apart.

After all that’s what hitters do and you’re the best he’s ever had the pleasure of working with throughout his tenure as a fixer.

“No babe, we’re not going to let them intimidate us.” He says, flexing his fist to test the strength of the bandage. “We’re going to murder them instead.”

Love Harry? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

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Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[am3ya]

so like... When we getting the knuckleduster x readers

[dreamdepot]

The Demon Incident (Bakugou/Midoriya x Male Reader)

[One Shot] Ashido suggests a harmless scare-off competition for Halloween. Leave it to your boyfriends to truly take it to the “Plus Ultra” level.

AO3 Wattpad or below!

This story will follow naming conventions as used in the official English Dub, and characters will follow Japanese practice for addressing one another. For example, in the case of Izuku Midoriya, he will typically be referred to by his surname by others and by the narrator (with the exception of his nickname of course). His first name will be used only between those exceptionally close to him (e.g. in dialogue, you would refer to him as “Izuku”).

This fic includes strong language and haunted house levels of implied violence (honestly worse things happen in canon). Last but not least, not canon compliant, Mineta’s gone, Shinsou’s in 3-A. Think that covers everything. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

Looking back, Class 3-A would agree the event that would come to be known as “the Demon Incident” was all Ashido’s fault. To be fair, she didn’t mean to, but it all started with one innocent idea that fateful afternoon…

“…and that led to the adoption of the first vigilante laws in Japan,” Aizawa-sensei said, snapping his book shut. “Don’t forget your reports on vigilantism and its effects on modern society are due next Monday. I feel it goes without saying, but I expect you all to be on your best behavior this weekend. Halloween is a fun holiday, but knowing teenagers and you hellspawn…” He heaved a sigh as he shrugged into his favorite sleeping bag. “Due to heightened security, you will only be allowed off campus for special circumstances. If I hear even a peep of you at the parties downtown, you’ll be expelled faster than you can say ‘Plus Ultra’. Enjoy your lunch.”

You groaned, knowing you still had a good two pages left to do on your report on Knuckleduster before you could enjoy the holiday. Even worse, you knew your boyfriends were not about to let you live that down. For all the upsides of polyamory, getting double lectures on procrastination was not one of them.

Speaking of boyfriends, the one who sat directly in front of you started putting his things away as the usual after-class chatter started up. Midoriya had barely zipped up his backpack when a pair of hands slammed down on his desk.

“Eep!”

“Oh, sorry Deku!” Uraraka giggled. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to ask if you had any plans for Halloween?”

“O-oh, it’s okay Uraraka!” He replied. “You just caught me off-guard. And no, I didn’t really have any plans.”

“Kinda sucks that Aizawa said we couldn’t go out, huh? I really wanted to check out the parties in Shibuya for once.”

“The Shibuya parties are rife with behavior not becoming of future heroes!” Iida cut in. “Uraraka, I’m appalled you’d think such behavior is okay!”

“This coming from Mr. Hosu over here?” Todoroki muttered.

Iida’s jaw locked shut as he turned about as red as Kirishima’s hair. “I thought we promised not to talk about that!”

Todoroki shrugged, putting away his notebooks, one for class and one that you assumed was full of his wild theories. The others laughed, minus Shinsou, who remained asleep at his desk. You joined in, especially since you could also overhear Kaminari and Sero lamenting that they couldn’t go trick-or-treating. Yaoyorozu tapped you on the shoulder holding out her phone with costume ideas. “What do you think [L/n]? Should I go with the classic look or make it a bit more modern?”

“Honestly you could pull off either one, but I think that one’s better for your Medusa costume.”

“Great, thank you! You’re still coming to game night on Sunday, right?”

“Of course! So long as I get my report done… and we don’t do Monopoly again.” You couldn’t complain about your seating placement – and neither could Yaoyorozu since you replaced a particularly troubling student when you joined Class A in Year 2.

Then, as the room lulled in conversation, it happened. “Hey guys, I’ve got an idea!” Ashido announced, standing up on her desk chair. “We’re all stuck here for Halloween, so we should do something together, right? We’re only young once after all!”

“Oh, are you thinking of a party?” Yaoyorozu asked. “I’d be happy to have my family’s chef cater, and I could provide the decorations.”

“No, a costume contest!” Hagakure shouted. “We should totally see who has the best costume!”

“I’ve got a lot of recipes for homemade candy I’ve been wanting to try,” Sato offered.

Ashido held up her hand, and the class quieted down again. “All excellent ideas, but we’re high schoolers! We should do something bigger, something amazing, something that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. Maybe it’ll even go down in UA history! I propose…” She paused, watching as you all leaned in in anticipation. “A scare-off.”

“A scare-off?” The class echoed.

“Exactly. We each try to see who can scare the most people in class. People can team up to form alliances, of course, but no more than four people in a team. Losers have to do the winners’ dorm chores for a month.”

“Oh, I’m in!” Kirishima shouted. “A test of bravery, it’s so manly!”

“More like a test of who can stare into the darkness without letting the darkness stare into them,” Tokoyami said, with the softest of smiles.

“Fumi means he’s excited!” Dark Shadow squawked.

“Hold on, hold on!” Iida called out over the excitement, arm chops fully deployed. “We need to set ground rules. And get off of your chair, it’s dangerous!”

“Of course, class prez,” Ashido winked. Iida nearly had an aneurysm as she moved from standing on her chair to standing on her desk. “We aren’t leaving campus, Aizawa made that clear. Since there’s only a day and a half to get ready, we can’t really order anything either, so you can only use what’s on campus. Also, it wouldn’t be fair to the other classes if they get involved without wanting to, so the scaring can only happen in our dorm. Anything outside or in our own rooms is a safe zone. The roof, common areas, and hallways are all free game. We’ll start at 10 sharp on Halloween night. Anyone who runs out to the safe zones or surrenders is out.”

“Oh,” Iida paused. “Very well thought out, thank you.”

Ashido mock-bowed, as you and half the class gave her applause. She snapped her fingers. “Oh, I almost forgot. No one is required to participate if you’re not into it. Anyone who says they’re not participating will be considered safe and won’t have to do the punishment for the losers.” Her eyes drifted to Midoriya.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Sorry Mido,” she said, “but, I know you don’t like scary movies… you always leave when we have a scary movie marathon. I figured you wouldn’t like something like this.”

“Oh… well… I… I want to participate. I think it’ll be fun.”

Bakugou, who had been uncharacteristically silent, slowly turned towards Midoriya with a raised eyebrow. You bit your tongue as well, giving a look to your boyfriend. You had to fight a smile, practically seeing the gears in his head turning. His brilliant analytical mind was already working overtime. “Ka-Kacchan, don’t look at me like that! It’ll be f-fun!” He said, but his quavering voice wasn’t convincing.

Or at least it wasn’t convincing in the way his classmates thought.

==============================

Bakugou was walking with you back to the dorms when Kirishima ambushed the two of you outside the bathrooms. “Yo, Katsuki, [Y/n]! Do you guys wanna team up for the scare-off?”

“Fuck off Shitty Hair, I’m not teaming up with you.”

You, of course, were a bit gentler. “Sorry Kiri, I’m still deciding if I want to participate. I don’t even have a costume yet.”

“Oh man, is Baku-bro actually scared?” Sero laughed.

Kaminari snickered. “Who know Blasty McSplodey was a scaredy cat?”

“Guys, chill,” you said with more than a little heat. Before you could continue, you felt Bakugou grab your shoulder. Your eyes met for a brief moment, with him sending you a silent thanks.

Bakugou took a deep breath; you knew he was running through his therapy checklist. He had come quite a long way in the past two years. He counted down silently, then replied. “One, not scared. You chucklefucks were the ones who needed to sleep with the light on after that last slasher movie. Two, I’m gonna be off campus.”

“Wait,” Kirishima said. “You’re not gonna sneak off campus, are you?”

 “Fuck no! I actually have an excuse. The old hag and old man need me at home for some stupid Halloween thing for their work. One of their shitty models got sick.”

“It’s actually a pretty cool line, the clothes are modern takes on classic horror movies. There’s this sleek Dracula one I’d love to get if I had the money,” you added. “And Bakugou, you know your parents just want you to be more involved. It’s their way of showing love.”

“No one asked you,” he muttered. “Doesn’t mean I gotta like it.”

“Ah damn, that sucks…” Sero muttered. “Not the love part, that’s cool you get to model. Just… you would’ve been perfect for our team.”

“Yeah, nothing’s scarier than your explosions,” Kaminari said, hanging off Sero’s shoulders.

“And don’t you fucking forget it!” Bakugou snarked, though there was no heat behind it. As your friends headed off to the cafeteria, you and Bakugou quietly turned back to the dorms.

You took the elevator up, walked down the hallway, climbed the stairwell to the next floor, walked back down the next hallway, and took the elevator back down a floor. The two of you were now sure no one was following you. Bakugou took one last look to make sure the hall was deserted before approaching the door and giving the secret knock.

Almost immediately, a soft voice came from the other side. “Original run. Issue 506-A.”

It was an obscure issue in the worst arc of the comic run, but Bakugou remembered it without hesitation. “All Might fights the robots of the evil Doctor Z.”

“Issue A not Issue B.”

“Listen fucker, you know it’s us!”

“You were the one who came up with the password system, not me.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes. You sighed and answered instead. “Misprint issue with messed up coloring. Makes All Might look like he’s running around without pants.”

The door swung open. “Welcome, Agent Explosion Murder and Agent Speedo.”

“Agent Green Might,” Bakugou replied with a smirk, and walked into Midoriya’s room. The door clicked shut and was locked.

“Guys, can we please change my codename?”

Midoriya snorted. “No way, we’re totally not letting you live down the locker room incident of Year 2.”

“How was I supposed to know it was a banana peel?!”

Bakugou fell onto the bed laughing. “Fuckin’ classic!” Therapy wasn’t the only thing Bakugou had made a lot of progress on. Patching up his friendship with Midoriya was another, and living together in the dorms let the two do a lot of the things they always wanted to as kids. The secret passcodes with issues of the All Might comic and the codenames had been in place since they were four. Even in the rough times in middle school, the codes were used during their few truces. By the time the three of you started dating, they quickly roped you into all of their schemes.

The biggest scheme of all was keeping up the façade they hated each other – which was actually Midoriya’s doing. Despite appearances, he was far more scheming than anyone expected. He was not even close to the perfect little boy scout hero-wannabe that he portrayed. You used to be surprised by his mischievous side, but now you knew he was the evil mastermind of your throuple. Now, the three of you continued your relationship in secret, not because of how your classmates would react, but because messing with them was more fun.

==============================

“Guys,” he had said at the time, “it’s perfect for tricking villains into thinking we’re not as close as we really are. They’ll underestimate us!”

“Don’t give me that bullshit ‘Zuku, you just want to fuck with our class.”

You had just laughed back then. “Bet you 10,000 yen they don’t figure it out before graduation.”

“Oh, you’re on.”

==============================

“Those idiots really think you’re scared of shitty slasher movies.”

Midoriya groaned. “Ugh, they’re so boring and predictable. You guys know I can’t sit through one without falling asleep.”

“Or talking our ear off about how stupid they are,” you giggled, pulling Midoriya into your lap. He automatically adjusted into prime cuddling position without even realizing it. “Your mind never takes a break, huh ‘Zuku?”

“Why would you split up when a murderer is around? This isn’t Scooby Doo!” Midoriya huffed, adorably you might add, as you wrapped your arms around him. “I would’ve caught any of those slashers in five minutes.”

“Says the guy who can single arm shoulder press Fatgum and Endea-whore at the same time.”

“Details…”

“Would be the perfect time to try out Operation Crystal Lake,” Bakugou said, flopping back on Midoriya’s bed.

“Could be, but I’ve upgraded it. You guys want in?”  

“You think I’d be here if I didn’t, nerd? Made sure they think I’m gonna be off campus for Halloween. Nice improv by the way, [Y/n].”

“Come on, Kit-kat, you know I’ve always got your back. ‘Zuku, who’s gonna be our Jason? I’ve got the perfect quirk for it.”  

Midoriya smirked. “I have a better role in mind. Kacchan, how do you feel about scaring the piss out of the Bakusquad?”

“Don’t call them the Bakusquad.”

Both you and Midoriya answered together. “You’re their leader, it’s the Bakusquad.”

Bakugou groaned. “Whatever. Guessing you’re planning on using the trick we tried to pull on the old hag?”

“Auntie knows our tricks so it didn’t work on her, but I bet it’ll have the others running to their rooms in no time. Well, at least Kaminari, Sero, and Kirishima. Mina’s gonna be tough, she’s definitely got the strongest spine for horror out of the rest of the class. Jirou might be hard too…” You gently tapped Midoriya’s hand, your sign for when he started mumbling.

“Right, sorry,” he said as he straightened up. “I’m thinking of bringing in someone to help. I’ve talked to one, and…” His phone pinged. “She’s on board.”

“Full team of four,” you said. “So, what plan are you thinking of now?”

Izuku walked over to his favorite All Might poster. He posed in his classic Golden Age costume, pointing at the viewer. It was the crown jewel of his collection so it was kept in a thick frame.

Well, that was what he told everyone else in class.

He flicked the hidden switch and the poster swung up, revealing the corkboard underneath with a spaghetti of red string tying pictures of your classmates together. “Kacchan, [Y/n], let me introduce you to Operation Ouiji Board.”

==============================

It was finally the last class of the day, and thankfully it was a lighter one: History with Midnight. The class was getting antsy, and some were already planning their tricks for the scare-off. As Midnight allowed everyone to swap desks for a group project, it only made the planning easier. Ojiro turned to Kouda and Shouji. “Do you think we should go easy on Midoriya?” he signed, so as not to alert Midnight and to make Kouda feel more comfortable. You had the perfect view and quietly tapped a transcription in morse code with your pen for your boyfriends to hear. Midoriya’s insistence that the three of you become experts in non-verbal communication really paid off.  

“Maybe. I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet.” Shouji signed back. “How about you Kouda?”

Kouda shrugged. “I don’t know if I even want to be part of it yet. I thought it might be fun to include my animal friends, but I don’t want them to get hurt if someone gets scared.”

“Good point,” Shouji signed.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom, Uraraka floated a note to Asui. Bakugou got just enough of a peek and tapped back to you.

Let’s team up! I’m sure we could do something really fun with our quirks. Maybe I could float some of your slime?

Asui passed the note back with her tongue.

Okay, but slime isn’t scary by itself – kero.

No one was sure why Asui felt the need to write out the croak, but it was cute all the same.

Up at the front of the classroom, Kaminari whispered to Hagakure, just loud enough for all three of you to hear. “C’mon, you should totally join our team. You’d be perfect to play a ghost!”

“I mean, I know, but isn’t that what everyone is expecting me to play? Scary happens when you least expect it.”

“Okay!” Midnight said, snapping her whip. The class jolted upright. “It’s clear that you’re all excited for Halloween and not going to focus on your work. Obviously, I can’t blame you. Halloween is the best holiday of the year of course. The drama, the costumes, the tricks and… the treats.”

She slid up to sit on her desk, legs crossed. “So, does anyone want to tell me what exactly you all are planning? Or do I need to get rough… and by rough, I mean tell Aizawa.”

“No worries, we’re just going to have a scare-off in our dorms on Halloween,” Ashido explained.

“A scare-off! Oh, that sounds like so much fun! It reminds me of my days in UA when Mic and I tried to scare our friends at Halloween,” She paused, and her face fell a bit. “Just… promise not to do anything too dangerous.”

“Of course, not sensei, I’ll personally make sure of it,” Iida said.

Midnight appeared oddly stern. “Thank you, but I am serious. There are students who always try talk to ghosts or summon demons.”

Bakugou snorted. “As if that shit exists.”

Midnight pursed her lips. “That’s what I used to say. Then I ended up working a case investigating some students who had seemed to go missing. Turns out they were doing what they thought was ‘harmless’ witchcraft. They were never seen again… in one piece that is. It took months to find all the body parts.”

A sobering chill fell over the class. When the bell pierced the silence, everyone jumped. “But that was then, and I’m sure you all would be smart enough not to do anything like that! Be safe, have fun!”

The class slowly filed out, except for you and Midoriya. You walked quietly together out of the main classroom building and across campus to the dorms.

“So, what do you think of the plan?” Midoriya asked.

“Perfection as always, Small Might.”

“Aww, you flatter me.”

“So, I’ve got the little toy from Mei we’ll be using, but I’m kinda surprised you didn’t ask her to be our fourth.”

Midoriya laughed. “She’d be a great fit for the team, but since we’re going for subtle…” The campus suddenly shook. Both of you turned towards to the massive warehouse that housed the Support Class shops. As expected, a plume of smoke rose into the air, followed by the exasperated groans of Power Loader.

“Point taken,” you muttered. “Well then, I’ll get my stuff ready for the pre-show. Should I get the fake blood packs?”

“I think you’ll be able to do fine without it. Blood might actually traumatize them.”

==============================

Bakugou stared at the storm brewing outside. He fought to keep a smirk off his face. This couldn’t have worked out better.

“Are you sure you can’t stay Baku-bro?” Sero asked.

Bakugou leveled a look at Sero. “You don’t know the old hag. There’s no telling her no.”

Just then, you and Midoriya ran up, on cue. “Kacchan, are you sure though? I’m sure Auntie wouldn’t want you going out in this rain! It’s dangerous and people drive so recklessly…”

“Hah?! You sayin’ I’m gonna die or somethin’ shitty Deku?”

“N-no! Of course not, I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

You gave your best puppy-dog eyes. “At least text us to let us know you got there, okay?”

Bakugou raised an eyebrow and a smirk in your direction. “Oh? You goin’ soft on me, [L/n]? Keep that up and people might start talkin’…”

“I’m just saying! It’s dangerous on nights like this – not to mention Midnight’s story…”

“Aww, see Baku-bro, can’t you be nice? We all just care about you!” Sero laughed.

“Fuck off. I’ll see you fuckers later. If something happens, I’m coming back to haunt your asses.” With that, he popped his umbrella and headed out. He could hear Midoriya spouting off his usual muttering and your attempts to calm him, but Bakugou smirked, hearing how it was a clear setup. As soon as he was out of view of the dorms, he circled back and scrambled up the rope ladder you had set up outside your dorm window. Now all he had to do was wait for showtime…

==============================

“Oh, hey [L/n].”

“Eep! Shouji, don’t do that!” You said. “Nearly jumped out of my skin there.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. Guess Midnight’s story has everyone on edge.”

You laughed. “Yeah, guess so. Don’t know how long I’ll last tonight. You ready?”

“Yeah, teamed up with Ojiro and Hagakure. We’ll try to go easy on you.”

A flicker of guilt passed through you. “Don’t. It’s like they always say, we gotta go Plus Ultra!”

Shouji seemed impressed. “Challenge accepted then. By the way, what’s with the lunchbox?”

“Oh this?” you said, holding up the small tin box in your hand. It looked like a collector’s item, stamped with some pre-quirk era comic book hero’s likeness. “Surprise for Snipe-sensei’s birthday. He doesn’t look like it, but he has his own collection of retro merch that’d make even Midoriya jealous.”

“Huh, had no idea. I’ll catch you later.”

“Yeah, see ya!” As Shouji left, you let out a silent sigh. The bit about Snipe you completely pulled out of your ass. Instead, you crept through a side door and set the lunchbox against the wall, the strong magnets holding it steady. With careful hands, you opened it and set the timer, connecting wires to the dorm’s fuse box…

==============================

At the slightly-less-exciting stroke of 10 pm, the students gathered in the common room. Almost instantly, Hagakure and Kouda screamed. Sero descended from the ceiling and his web of tape in a fairly good spider costume. “Aww man, I was hoping I’d get more of you with that,” He groaned. “At least I still have the rest of the night.”

“Good luck man,” Kaminari laughed, dressed in a Pikachu kigirumi. “You’re not gonna get me with that.”

“Kaminari,” a deep voice breathed in his ear. “You failed your test.”

“AAHHH I’M SORRY SENSEI!” He then stopped and realized that “sensei” had violet eyes.

“Heh,” Shinsou grinned, lowering his capture weapon. “Funny how much a voice changer and some black hair dye can do.” Todoroki, dressed as a vampire, narrowed his eyes, pulling out his conspiracy notebook to make a couple notes.

“Guys,” Midoriya said, “Have any of you heard from Kacchan? He always texts when he gets to Auntie’s place. He should have been there hours ago, but he’s not answering my texts.”

“I’m sure he’s just busy,” Uraraka said, patting his shoulder. She was dressed in a highly detailed Apollo-era astronaut spacesuit, accurate down to the mission patches. “I bet his mom just put him to work right away and he forgot.”

“I guess… but it’s not like him!” Midoriya’s eyes watered, threatening to ruin his professional-grade All Might costume and makeup.

Aoyama popped up next to him. “It will be fine, mon ami. Why don’t you have a snack!” He whipped out a silver tray and lifted the lid, revealing a platter of Kraft Singles. “OooOOOoooo! Isn’t it terrifying?!”

Midoriya looked to Uraraka, who merely shrugged. “Aoyama, what’s scary about processed cheese?”

“It’s not real cheese! Is it plastic? Is it even truly edible? OoooOOOOooooOOOO!” He closed the tray and slunk off to attempt to scare another.

Uraraka leaned over to Midoriya. “We can never introduce him to actual American food, can we?” Midoriya shook his head.

“Sorry I’m late!” You said, running up to them.

Uraraka gasped. “So cool! I could’ve sworn you were gonna use your quirk.”

“Too tiring to keep that up,” you said. Your shapeshifting quirk was flawless but had the significant drawback of burning you out after prolonged use – certainly made you jealous of people like Toga, even if she had to drink blood for hers. “You don’t think the witch costume is too cliché?” You had the full robes, complete with eerie skull buttons and a pointed witch’s hat. You even had a thick grimoire and Ouiji board cradled in your arms.

“No, it’s great! It’s so detailed too, you look like you can really cast magic spells! Did Hagakure help you with the makeup?”

“Funny story, actually…” Before the two of you could launch into specifics, the lights dimmed.

“Now that we’re all here, let’s get started!” Ashido said, getting a cheer from the class. “Who wants to go first?”  

“If it’s all the same, I’d like to go first,” you volunteered “It took some time to set everything up.”

“Sounds good!” Ashido said. “What’cha got for us?”

“Demonic summoning!”

The class was caught a bit off-guard. “Okay, guess we’re going zero to a hundred off the bat,” Jirou muttered. While the rest of the class murmured, Dark Shadow clapped excitedly.

Everyone gathered in the darkest corner of the common room as you opened your spellbook and set out the Ouiji board. “Are you sure this is safe?” Midoriya asked, eyeing the chalk lines and runes.

“It will be, as long as none of you cross the salt line. It’s very important you don’t,” you said. “If the salt line is broken, the demon could escape and… well I’d rather not say.”

“It’d kill you all!” Dark Shadow shrieked.

“Shhh!” Tokoyami said, eager to watch the show.

The class shuddered. You sat in the middle of the carefully warded circle and began chanting in Latin. At first nothing happened. Ashido was just about to say something, when the lights flickered. Your chanting grew louder as your voice grew deeper, and your eyes seemed to roll back in your head.

“O-o-okay [L/n], I think you can stop,” Ojiro said, more worried about your wellbeing than anything.

Suddenly, the lights cut out completely. The red emergency lights kicked on, casting an eerie glow over the room. A dark amorphous figure materialized in the summoning circle. Gasps filled the room. You slumped forward as the demon began to take shape.

“[Y/n]!” Midoriya shouted, running forward, just missing the grabbing hands of his friends, trying to keep him back. He tripped, and the salt line broke…

The shadow smashed into his chest. As soon as it started, the ritual seemed to be done and the lights snapped on. Everyone rushed to Midoriya and you. “[L/n]’s breathing but unconscious,” Shouji called out.

“Deku? Deku, wake up,” Uraraka said, kneeling at his side. Suddenly his eyes flung open, and he jolted awake. “Deku?”

He floated to his feet, and the class gasped. His eyes were bloody red instead of cool forest green. His bones popped as his head cocked to one side. “What’s wrong, friiiiends?” His voice eerily creaked. “Don’t you want to play with your old pal Deeekuuuu?”

Everyone took a step back. “Deku… what are you…?” Uraraka said. A frightening grin overtook his face. He opened his mouth and a terrifying black tentacle lashed out before snapping back. With a single sweep, he knocked your limp body sideways and into the wall. “[L/n]!”

“Mon dieu!” Aoyama squeaked.

Midoriya blocked anyone from getting close to you as his demented voice cackled. “Let’s play hide and seek. I’ll be it.”

The lights snapped off again.

“Run.”

Screams filled the room, and the class scattered. Kouda and Aoyama immediately ran into their rooms. No amount of bragging rights and chore freedom was worth dealing with demons.

Two down, nineteen remain.

==============================

Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki, and Asui were huddled together on the next floor. “We’ve got to do something,” Iida hissed.

“How do you deal with a possessed best friend?” Uraraka sobbed. “And what about [L/n]?!”

“We’ve got to make sure [L/n] is okay, and maybe he’ll put things right,” Asui said. “We have to get back down to the common room.”

“But we’ll need a distraction,” Iida said quietly. “I vol-”

“Me,” Todoroki said. The others turned. “It makes the most sense. Iida can get in and out fast and I can maybe freeze… that thing.”

“That thing is our friend!”

“Not anymore,” Todoroki said. “We have to save him. It’s a monster wearing Midoriya’s skin.”

Asui reluctantly nodded. “I’ll go and help Iida.”

“What a good plan.” The four of them jumped, Midoriya’s eerie voice echoed through the hallway. “Too bad none of you will live to make it downstairs.”

“Where is he?” Uraraka squeaked looking around. Todoroki flared his flames to light the room, but nothing was there.

“Why O-chaaaaa-ko, I’m your friend, I’m always by your side.” Suddenly they looked up. The Green Demon skittered across the ceiling, then bent backwards to look at them with a demented smile. They didn’t have a chance before the tentacles lashed out.

“Got youuuuu.”

==============================

A few floors up, Sato, Hagakure, Ojiro, Shouji, and Shinsou huddled together. “What do we do, what do we do, what do we do?!” Hagakure squealed.

“Deep breaths, Tooru,” Ojiro soothed, rubbing her back. “We’re going to be okay.”

“We do need a plan,” Sato muttered. “We’ve all got good quirks to keep us safe, we just need supplies. Let’s head to my room, I’ve got sugar for myself, but also a lot of kitchen knives just in case.”

“What if this is all just part of the scare off?” Shouji asked. “Aren’t we overreacting?”

“You saw Deku!” Hagakure nearly shrieked. “He’s not like that. That’s not our ray of sunshine!”

“Shinsou, you’ve been quiet,” Sato said. “What do you think? You’re the closest with Midoriya.”

Shinsou was pale, his face just illuminated by the light of his phone. “Tenya, Tsu, Shouto, and Ochako are gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?” Ojiro asked.

“Just… gone,” Shinsou muttered. “We all agreed to share our phone locations with each other just in case someone got kidnapped. All four of their phones are just… gone.”

Suddenly, they could hear heavy footsteps approaching them. Shinsou whipped the phone flashlight down the hall. “Guys?” A familiar voice called. “Is that you?”

“Uraraka?”

She ran up panting. “Thank goodness you’re alright! I just barely escaped Deku. I hope the others got away.”

Shinsou narrowed his eyes. “Ochako, what about your phone?”

“We kept our phones out for light and Deku smashed them. We tried calling for help, but it looks like the storm knocked out a cell tower.” An eerie skittering echoed down the halls. “Oh no, that’s Deku,” Uraraka hissed. “Turn off your light!”

“But…”

“Do it, Shinsou!” Hagakure hissed.

Shinsou begrudgingly turned it off, plunging them all into darkness. “Here, let’s hold hands so we don’t get lost,” Uraraka said. Shinsou felt a soft hand take his – Uraraka, he assumed – while he could feel Shouji take his other hand. “This way guys. We can use my room.”

For a moment they stumbled in the dark, heading farther down the hallway. Ojiro then spoke up. “Uh, Uraraka, where are you going?”

“To my room.”

“But… isn’t your room the other way? We’re heading towards [L/n]’s room.”

Suddenly, lightning flashed, briefly lighting the hallway. Shinsou jumped back, letting go. “That’s not Uraraka!” Uraraka’s form was replaced by yours, now looking decayed and zombie-like. “Shit, it’s [L/n]!”

“Oh dear,” you hissed as the skittering grew louder and closer. Shinsou’s phone light turned on again. “It’s always so hard to keep a form for long.”

“[L/n], you’ve gotta fight him!” Hagakure shouted.

Shouji froze. “Look at his eyes.”

Where your normal eyes once were had been replaced by nothing but empty black pools. You raised your arms, hissing. “I must serve my master. All hail the Green Demon!”

“Run!”

“Going somewhere?” Demon Midoriya floated through the air, tentacles lashing.

==============================

The Bakusquad minus Ashido hid in the boys bathrooms, in a rear closet. The room was eerily quiet, the silence only broken by the occasional slosh of water in the bath as the pump circulated. “Guys I’m freaking out, what the hell is going on!” Kaminari trembled.

“I don’t know but we’ve got to get out of here!” Sero agreed.

“Guys, pull yourselves together, we’re heroes! We need to make sure our friends are safe first! Getting everyone out safe is the manly thing to do.”

“You’re right man,” Sero said, pulling out his phone and sending a message in the group chat.

“But what about [L/n]? And how do we save Deku? A-And Bakugou still isn’t answering!”

Kirishima’s shoulders sagged. “We’ll have to check on Baku-bro later. Hopefully he’s fine. First, we gotta get out and get the teachers.”

“Man, of course it was Deku who’d get possessed. If he was here, he’d know what to do. He’d like… analyze the demon!”

“Or [L/n] would be able to copy and fight him hand to hand!”

“Or Baku-bro could knock him out,” Kirishima agreed. “Wait, we could fix this! If we got to the breakers, we could get the lights back on. That’d at least help us see him coming!”

“Good idea Kiri!”

“Guys,” Sero whispered. “The group chat… it’s silent.” The other two peeked over his shoulder. The only thing there was a sound clip sent from Shinsou.

“Shit! It’s [L/n]-”

The clip cut off.

“[L/n]?” Kaminari muttered. “Does that mean… Demon-ku got to [L/n]?”

“Guys,” Sero said.

“Then, we really need to get out of here and get the teachers. Kaminari, you and Sero run ahead. I’ll try and check for anyone else here.”

“Guys.”

“Kiri, it’s too dangerous!”

“Guys!”

“What!”

“Did you just hear the door open?” They slowly turned towards the closet door. A slow bare footstep smacked against the tile. One by one, they could hear each of the showers turn on. Steam started to fill the room, seeping under the door. The bathwater splashed.

The three scarcely dared to breathe. They stared at the slit of light under the door, waiting for a sign of who it was. Their hearts stopped when they heard a familiar popping.

“Katsuki…?” Kirishima ventured.

“You came back?” Kaminari asked hopefully, reaching for the door handle.

Sero grabbed his friends. “Something’s not right.”

The lock on the door exploded. The door slowly swung open. “Baku-” Kaminari’s voice caught in his throat.

It was Bakugou, but his skin was pale and splotchy. His eyes were completely black, and his hair hung loosely on his head, soaked to the bone. His favorite clothes were torn and… was that a tire track across his chest? A raspy breath rattled from his mouth as his arm slowly rose to point at his friends. “Youuuu… fuckers…”

Their screams could be heard all over campus.

==============================

“I don’t like this.”

“Me neither, Tokoyami. We should have all stayed together.” Yaoyorozu produced a flashlight from her arm. “At least we have an advantage with you and Dark Shadow.”

“Mwhehehe,” Dark Shadow giggled. “Say the line, Fumi!”

“It’s hardly appropriate. For all we know our friends are in danger from a demon… if they’re still alive that is.”

“I’m sure they’re alright,” Yaoyorozu sighed. She cast the light over the doorway to the maintenance room. “Hmm, didn’t Shouji say he saw [L/n] messing around over here earlier?”

“Do you think he planned this?” Tokoyami looked deep in thought. “Perhaps this is an elaborate act?”

“But [L/n] borrowed all of your demon summoning books!” Dark Shadow squawked.

“Why do you have demon summoning books?”

“You never know what might be handy someday.”

“I suppose I should expand my reading then,” Yaoyorozu muttered, running the light over the door again, stopping short of opening it. “The floor. It’s all wet.”

“Soaked!” Dark Shadow added. Suddenly the hallway was filled with screams.

“What was that?!”

Tokoyami spread his cloak, letting Dark Shadow spread across the floor and walls. “By the sound of it, our friends.”

Dark Shadow didn’t get far. “Fumi, I found something!”

You moaned as Dark Shadow coiled around you. “All hail the Green Demon!”

Yaoyorozu gasped. “Oh no, it’s [L/n]!”

“The demon has clearly claimed his mind. We’ll need to perform an exorcism. We should take him to my room.”

“Fumi, he’s holding something!” Dark Shadow took the bundle from your hand and brought it over to Tokoyami.

Yaoyorozu cast the light over the strange object. “Looks like a bundle of paper,” Tokoyami muttered. “Are you trying to communicate, [L/n]? You can break free of the demon!”

 Yaoyorozu, however, frowned as she touched the paper. “This is odd, it’s not normal.” Then she realized a moment too late. “Tokoyami, throw it away, it’s flash paper!”

“Too late… fuckers…” The enthralled Bakugou growled. With the smallest of sparks, the room burst with light rendering Dark Shadow useless.

Before Yaoyorozu could run, you crept up behind her. “You must serve the Green Demon!”

As the two screamed, taken beyond the veil, you and Bakugou droned on with your worship, only stopping to mutter. “What a mad banquet of darkness…”

==============================

Ashido and Jirou crept through the common room. “I have a really bad feeling we’re the only ones left,” Jirou said. “You heard those screams too, right?”

“C’mon, all we have to do is undo whatever [L/n] was doing right? It’s Ouiji board rules, right? We just have to say goodbye!” Ashido said.

“This is a demon summoning, Mina, I don’t think it’s that easy.” Jirou froze. “Someone’s coming.”

Suddenly, an eerie red light illuminated you above the summoning circle. “You shall not stop the dark revelry. You will make the perfect sacrifice for our lord! All hail the Green Demon!” You shouted, launching into a new wave of chanting.

“Screw this, we gotta get out of here!” Jirou shouted, but as she reached to grab Ashido’s arm, a clammy cold hand grabbed her.

“Earphoooones…” The voice growled behind her.

“Ahh! Bakugou?!”

Ashido stepped back, readying her acid. “I’m sorry guys, I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m not letting you take her!” She was about to throw it when she could hear skittering above her. She spun around just in time to be snatched by the demonic tentacles.

“Such a good servants you are,” Midoriya’s demented voice hissed. His eyes seemed to bore into Ashido. “You’ve brought me perfect sacrifices. I’ll harvest their souls, just like the rest.” The demon seemed to unhinge its jaws, descending on her.

“NOOOOOOO!!”

The lights flicked on. “And that’s the game,” Midnight said, standing next to the light switch. The rest of the class emerged from the hallway, embarrassed.

“What?!” The two girls shouted.

Midoriya smiled brightly and lowered Ashido before retracting Black Whip and releasing Float. You high-fived him before turning to Bakugou, who was strangely trembling. “Katsuki, are you okay?”

Suddenly he doubled over in laughter. “WOOOOO! I can’t believe each and every one of you idiots fell for it!”

“But-but-but, I thought you left?!” Kirishima spluttered.

Bakugou was dying with laughter, so you took over. “Bakugou’s trick was, as sensei would say, a logical ruse. In fact, Midoriya planned the whole thing.”

“Midoriya?!”

“But Mido,” Ashido said, “I thought you didn’t like scary things!”

“Nope, I just find them really boring, and people don’t like it when I start overanalyzing movies.” Uraraka and Iida winced. “Nothing against you guys of course! I know I’d get upset if someone wouldn’t stop talking when I was watching something.”

“So, how did you do it?” Yaoyorozu asked. “It was – clearly – very convincing.”

“Well, Kacchan pretending to leave was the first step, but getting Midnight to help was the second.”

“Wait, we were only allowed to have people from our class!” Sato said.

Bakugou, finally having control over his laughs, snorted. “Nah, Pinky only said we could only have four people on our team. She never said it had to be in our class.”

“You got me there,” Ashido sighed.

“That’s why I planted that little story about demonic summoning during class,” Midnight said, “and why I volunteered to watch the dorm for Aizawa tonight. Then of course, I also supplied a bit of my quirk.”

“We needed just a bit,” Midoriya explained. “That way we could get [L/n] to convincingly pass out. Then, after he woke up when I chased you guys out of the room, he had time to put on some bloody makeup and to shapeshift into the fake Ochako. Auntie taught me a lot about costume makeup for cosplays so I have a bit of a collection for times like this.”

Shouji’s eyes widened. “Then, when I saw [L/n]…”

“I was setting up a timer to temporarily cut the power. Nothing sells a demon like a blackout, right?” All three of you removed the costume contact lenses from their eyes. “Convincing, huh?”

“All I had to do was suggest something terrible happening to me for you idiots to fill in the rest of the blanks,” Bakugou smirked. “’course my costume was pretty good too.”

“Admittedly the hardest part was getting Black Whip to come out of my mouth.” Midoriya muttered. “Anyway, that means we win! So, who’s taking over trash duty for me?”

The class just stared in shock. “I… can’t believe it,” Shinsou muttered. “They completely played us.”

“Like a goddamn fiddle,” Kaminari groaned.

“Not like it was hard, Dunce-face,” Bakugou snorted. “Doesn’t hurt my [Y/n] and my ‘Zuku are awesome actors and could scare your asses any day!”

It took all of two seconds before Bakugou realized what he had said. Todoroki, fearless or perhaps blunt as ever, spoke first. “Did Bakugou just admit he’s dating [L/n] and Midoriya?”

“Ah fuck.” In a flash you were surrounded by your classmates, clamoring for details.

You sighed. “And here I figured I’d win the bet.”

Midoriya laughed. “I guess Kacchan just had to force a win.”

“I didn’t wanna win it like this!”

And so, despite winning the scare-off, the three of you were perhaps stuck with the scariest thing of all: explaining why you were hiding a relationship for fun from a class that thrived on chaos.

==============================

[ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff]

Star-crossed in the Crosshairs (John Price x Reader)

Chapter 7: The Lengths That I Will Go

Fic Summary: This mission is the pinnacle of your efforts for the past three years. Your whole team and yourself have worked countless hours, slaughtered hundreds, risked life and limb for scraps of intel, and now it all boiled down to pairing up with another taskforce to get this job done and dusted. An unexpected spanner in the works comes in the shape of your former best friend, now also a Captain and somehow resurrected from his KIA status, John Price.

You can’t afford to let feelings - old and new - get in the way of your purpose. No matter how much you’ve missed, wished for, loved him, and no matter how much he might feel the same.

Chapter 6 // Masterlist // Gif Credit // AO3 Version // Chapter 8

Left eye swollen shut, you spat out the blood that had seeped into your crooked mouth and tried not to think about how your dentist was gonna look at you if you needed another tooth replacing. Your captor took time away from your face to exploit your ribs, which you were certain had transitioned from bruised to broken thanks to the knuckleduster he had slipped on just minutes ago. You’d been counting them for the sake of passing the time. All that torture training resurfaced for the first time in a eight months, and you resolved yourself to the pain – your only ally besides the inside of the hood that allowed splinters of light through the minute gaps in the woven fabric.

First rule: never give your captor anything.

Second rule: give into insanity.

It didn’t matter how many of your team survived right now. Because if you imagined hope for a fraction of a second, imagined that they were coming for you, you had something to be broken by and you would not be broken by this. Right now, you didn’t know how many of your team had made it. You could afford to lose yourself. Therapy would bring you back-

No, stop it. No therapy, no hope, this is it.

And you knew why it was harder to compartmentalise this time than last year. You’d let your emotions slip out before you were out of the storm, let yourself get so damn sentimental over Price and your history together. Now, instead of having a good cry about it in your office or sleeping off the stress on a flight home, you were stuck here with a fucking bag on your head and injuries that would only aid your captor’s attempts to chip away at your resolve.

Your eyes had dried about two hours in, no room for instinct amidst the flourishing bruises and ringing ears. Tears had dried up with the blood staining your skin and soaked the hood; every punch no doubt cracked the blood into flakes.

Mercifully you were lifted under the armpits and dragged across the floor. You counted two doors opening and closing and an elevator in between, the concrete cutting off to mosaic tiles that trapped and tripped the toes of your boots that grazed over them. Only when the dragging stopped and you were forced stand up was the hood removed from you. At last you got a look at your captor – incredibly unremarkable compared to the man you both shared a room with.

Čiernik was laughably attempting to position a webcam atop an ancient laptop in the corner. As you were forced to stand in the centre of the room, he moved aside and you stared down at the monitor where someone was depicted staring with their gormless face smeared in blood.

Oh. That was you.

Your zip ties snapped off your wrists, but you didn’t start swinging because another prisoner was being shoved in front of you and you could tell from the uniform who it would be.

A similar state of affairs, Price had his hands in zip-ties, his shirt already removed and the sack on his head taken off shortly after. His absent boonie bared his face beneath the low hanging light bulbs. A stream of blood ran from his temple to his bushy jaw. Somewhere inside of you, there was a discordant pang. You ignored it and slow blinked at the corner of the room above his head where a few strands of spider web swayed in the air-conditioning’s flow.

“You will fight,” Čiernik stated.

Sluggishly, you looked at him. He was pointing, rather comically, at the laptop where he’d switched to another tab. Bronze was depicted upon it, breathing to your relief but it looked to be a massive effort on his part. Head slumped over, he was held under the armpits by two gruff looking bastards. He’d been stripped to his under shirt, more brown than white around the tear where he’d been shot.

“You will fight,” repeated Čiernik as Price’s zip-ties came off.

As you returned your stare to your would-be opponent, Price mouthed something at you and he put up his hands, gesturing for you to come at him. You didn’t catch what he was trying to tell you. Instead your head, with its defences lowered, filled itself with memories of easier times, how Price always beat you in sparring. Closest you ever came was drawing, both of you pinned in a position of pain and neither of you tapping out until your commanding officer at the time demanded you both let go. He was the best. Best of the best.

Your left eye, stinging and sealed off, was throwing off your depth perception as you swayed on the spot, fists up. Čiernik’s crooked glee

Hit first and hit hard.

You landed a solid blow to the side of Price’s head, sending him stumbling. Bloody saliva fell from his lips, splattering onto the ground as you threw another punch and crushed his fingers beneath your boot. If he didn’t have a concussion from before, he definitely did now. Something stirred gleefully in your stomach at that.

Finally, he met your attacks with defence, locking you into a grappled and hunched over stance. You shook it off, trying to keep up the charade of fighting your friend. He wasn’t going easy but neither were you, smashing your skull heard into twice before he swung you around and onto the floor. Your feet skidded on the concrete like you were on ice.

“What the hell is this?” The authoritative American accent from across the room came through glitching as it emitted from shitty laptop speakers. Čiernik spun round to face the laptop.

“You bomb my men and think you can get away with it?” His sneering face moved close to the webcam’s lens, “You want them? You come and get them yourself.”

Then he muted the caller. But you’d already pieced together who it was and why Čiernik was Zoom-ing your forced fisticuff.

Two menforced you and Price to face one another, an inch apart like you were pitbulls in a ring, growling and snapping teeth, their hands tugging back your heads like leashes.

When you heard John on the radio, the day that he died, you knew how Orpheus felt in that split second of distrust and relief at seeing Eurydice there, just a fragment of time as he shouted down the radio then let out a cry and was cut off from you, sealing you apart with Price in the Underworld and you cursed to remain on the mortal coil forever. Now you were stuck in Purgatory together without a obol between you to get you out of here.

“I only need one Captain to make a deal with. Keep going.”

On Čiernik’s command, you were both released to continue the brawl. A high-pitched whine shot through your head as Price slammed his fist to your chin. His turn for “hit first and hit hard”, it would seem. Your trousers started sliding down your hips and you grasped at your arm where a rag replaced your makeshift tourniquet. Hiking the trousers back up, you launched yourself at him and swiped at his legs to knock him off his feet.

You should be biting his ear off or digging his eyes out, reshaping his face like it was made of clay beyond a few punches. Your teeth were gritted in your jaw in an attempt to satiate your sudden bloodlust. A burning desire to strike him over and over was stoked strong inside of you. But somehow you were holding back, and so was Price. Even as he got you in a headlock, breathing hard against your ear, spit splashing on your lobe, he could’ve done so much worse than the knee to the chest you received. Could’ve used his boots for a start or aimed for something more juicy, like where the sledgehammer had gotten you. It still hurt like a son of a bitch yet it could’ve been a direct hit. He was holding out hope, making you do the same, and it was putting you both in more danger.

Heard over a painful cry, the sound of the door flung open snatched your attention. A spewing smoke canister bounced off your bullet wound and onto the floor as you seized Price around the middle – away from a lunging Čiernik.

Unceremoniously, you were both hauled away from the smoke and into a blinding light.Your blurred vision pieced together Gaz and Crash barricading the door behind you. Bullets began denting the metal hull of the doorframe. You swung your head around to find Ghost, his hand just now removing itself from your shoulder – sore from how he’d yanked you in his rescue.  

“Good to see you,” He said casually.

Crash pushed a pistol into your hands, “It’s not just the villa. It’s every villa. They’ve taken the whole town.”

Brain barely blunted by the shortest capture you’d ever faced, you recalled those papers with postcodes and house numbers, the ones you’d walked past without a single indication that you were already within the trap.

No wonder your team only just managed to catch onto Čiernik; Shepherd clocked him first, made him more obvious by soaking up his spread of occupation on the border of Russia.

“Can you shoot?”

“Sky’s still blue, right?” You tucked in the earpiece Crash handed you next, “They’ve got Bronze. Ghost, you and Gaz will clear the way for us. We’ll scout ahead for where she could be. She lost a lot of blood back at Shepherd’s villa. Price, you and Crash will cover our backs. Have we got an exit plan in place?”

“Laswell’s sending reinforcements. New exfil is twenty klicks south-south-west of the original.”

You didn’t ask why Soap was absent, or if Chance had made it out. No time.Reinforcements were swarming on your location.

First two rooms were left vacant but recently let if the bloodstains dragged across the stonework were anything to go by. All following rooms required a spray of bullets before checking it, your wound stinging more and more. But the shackles on the walls and the array of weapons on call told you this was a torture floor, and you had to find Bronze-

“I’ve got Bronze!”

You lurched around at where Ghost had called from. He already had Bronze over his shoulder. Time to bounce.

Crash took over on the lead, continuing onwards rather than backtracking. More of Čiernik’s arseholes were thrown at you from the staircase above so you had no choice but to spill out into the streets. All hopes that civilians wouldn’t be caught in any crossfire died back when Crash had revealed the expanse of Čiernik’s real estate reach. Your only hope was the row of parked car outside the back door. You pressed against the front tire, scanning in the rear-view mirror (ripped off from the vehicle for convenience) for a potential way out. You had two seconds to view the street before the mirror sparked out of your hand, shattered by a high calibre bullet just as Price finished the barricade, giving you a minute to get out of dodge.

“Manhole,” You told Gaz with a nod of your head to the right.

Gaz nodded back, “Cover me; I’ll get it open.”

Brave bastard, you were tempted to steal him from Price as he dodged hellfire to crowbar open the manhole cover. Ghost, Price, and Crash covered him well enough whilst Bronze slumped up beside you

He slurred out, “Cap?”

“Keep going, Bronze. We’re nearly out.”

“Huh,” He leant his head on your shoulder, making you wince internally, “Feel like we’ve been nearly out for hours.”

One by one, your colleagues funnelled down the hole while you covered him.Even with your left eye out of action, you managed to nail the bastards hunting you down, even with Ghost’s hulking figure drawing attention as he lowered Bronze down, until it was time to drag over the manhole behind you.

Through the sewer system, surprisingly amazing brickwork curving overhead. It wasn’t worth a damn fragment of your attention, even if half the team weren’t dragging barely conscious through a miles of shite. The static around your arm spread up your neck at the stench surrounding your team.

“Bronze?” You called out ahead without coughing on the stench.

“Still hear, Cap.” It came out faintly but he was still conscious, thank fuck.

“Crash?”

“Still goin’.”

“Gaz?”

“Alright here.”

“Ghost?”

“Not broken.”

“Price?”

“Still standing.”

Within the hour, you were overground once more in the arse-end of Nemšiná, having added an extra two klicks onto the journey if your calculations were right.

So it was a respite you welcomed when a hijacked van skidded over to your team with a grinning Scotsman in the left-hand driver’s side. Still, no Second Lieutenant in the passenger seat.

Your team loaded on quick and got out of the town quicker. Soap swerved around and looped back on himself three times whilst you and Crash administered first aid on Bronze, sewing him up to the best of your abilities against a rocky road. Then you arrived at the new exfil point with a Chinook ready to take your Sergeant to the nearest hospital. A bag of A Positive and a needle welcomed him aboard and you bade farewell for now.

A phone was stuffed into your grasp by a soldier in uniform you took a second to recognise – Odristan Special Forces. Thankfully you recognised the caller ID faster and addressed General Fernandez the second your voice reached the received.

“You broken, Captain?” He asked.

“Fit for duty, sir.”

“Your black box did its job perfectly.”

“Any news on Chance?”

“She’s been getting the rest of Sierra team ready for the final push.”

“Any other updates I should be aware of? Or can I check in with the team?”

“You’re free to go. This is still your op; they’ll follow your command.”

Fresh from capture and still calling the shots, you felt quite pleased with yourself for that. However there was little time for that kind of thing before the so-called final stretch. There was however time for a power nap and an energy bar before you started planning anything.

The rest of Sierra were bundled into a large camo green tent nearby, cleaning their weapons, arm wrestling, talking in hushed voices. The second you entered one of their sightlines, they rippled in a wave of standing to attention, their feet stomping like falling dominoes – including Chance who stood out by the hand she held over her abdominal.

“At ease,” You said firmly, “Carry on. Chance, a word.”

She almost trotted over to you with a drone under her arm, her voice low beneath the chatter of your team behind you. “Captain. You look like shit.”

Ignoring her comment, you asked, “How’s the gut?”

“In pieces, but I’ll live. You still good to finish this?”

“If you’re my eye in the sky,” You gestured to the drone then to her stomach, “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“You too. Medical’s set up over there if you want to get yourself checked.”

You followed her suggestion. The last thing you needed was to charge into an assault then slipping on your own vomit, spinning in your nausea. And of course, the universe placed you in the bunk besides Price who was icing his jaw and his left knee.

He waited until you covered your left eye with an ice pack to speak: “You hit hard.”

“You hit like you’re riddled with arthritis.”

“Well, you did stand on my hand,” and Price held up his hand, wiggling his fingers to display the lack of tape and gauze. You hadn’t broken a thing.

That angered you more than anything that transpired in Čiernik’s basement. You channelled those sudden bubbles into a restrained reply:

“I’ll stamp harder next time.”

“And I’ll kick harder,” Price chuckled, leaning back into his ice pack. Against the plastic, you could see a faint purple amidst the red on his cheek.

How easily you were forgiven, it was almost insulting. Why couldn’t you do the same despite saying the contrary? Perhaps you could unpack that to your new therapist, that and your apparent fury that was just below the sealed surface that was still pushing up towards your throat. You swallowed hard as you fumbled in your pack for your spare watch. This was the final stretch. You just had to get through it then you could figure this out. Releasing the ice pack from your eye and laying back to balance it against your ribs, you rubbed at your wrist then slapped it with a sigh. Čiernik had stolen your watch.

_____________

AN: Thank you again for your patience with this! I'm writing during half term so this is nearly finished and I can't wait to share it.

In other news, I saw "Boys from the Blackstuff" on Thursday and it was brilliant! I love live theatre so to see such a stunning production was a real privilege. Bonus points were seeing Barry perform (I was shaking with how good he was). Not only did I paint him as Yosser, but I met him at stage door and got to give that painting to him! He was very kind to my starstruck ass. I'll never shut up about it lmaoo

______________

Tag-list: @mockerycrow and @entertain-my-lvst

[shysheeperz]

love ur blog!! I check it out before starting an anime/manga 💞

just wondering do u have any recommendations for complete anime/mangas?

thank u either way!!!

Completed??????

Manga:

Fullmetal Alchemist- the gold standard

Silver Spoon- by the same person who did FMA. Agricultural school stuff. Cute.

Agravity Boys- space sci-fi gag comedy, a wild ride to say the least, I miss my stupid boys

Magu-chan: God of Destruction- cute digimon/pokemon-shaped gods get woken up and mingle with a bunch of middle schoolers. Cute fluff mostly, will occasionally pull at your heartstrings (including the ending)

High School Family: Kokosei Kazoku- comedy/ slice of life, about an entire family attending high school. Has a volleyball arc that rivals the likes in haikyuu!!

Haikyuu!!-sports manga, if you want to cry over boys and their love for the game then this is for you, Boys x Volleyball is the tru otp of the show

Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku- dark historical fantasy, so very, very good. Don't get attached.

Dr. STONE- sci fi, technically the main story is complete. We still have been getting the occasional side chapter or three that continue where the main story left off tho. A very solid shonen jump series. includes one of the best shonen jump dads in the history of ever. Will make u emotional over lightbulbs and stuff. hard not to root for the main cast.

Dr. STONE Reboot: Byakuya- a non-canon little one volume spin-off about byakuya and mainly about a funky lil robot that will make you sob uncontrollably I'd personally say to read up to the end of the Treasure Island arc in the main story first before tackling this one (about ch 140ish)

Dr. STONE 4D Science- a continuation of the main story, only a couple chapters, the ending is a really cruel tease imo and if Inagaki/Boichi don't give us more may they be cursed to lose all their left shoes forever

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Sanji- spin-off of sanji side stories by the duo who did food Wars. ONE PIECE related ofc. Tasty looking food. Sanji too cool for school. One volume.

Astra Lost in Space- space sci fi survival, solid story that deserves more appreciation, the ending is just a tad lackluster in actually showing what a lot of readers would have liked to physically see. By no means ruins the story tho.

Blue Flag (Ao no Flag)- high school, romance, slice of life, boys and gals just trying to figure out life and relationships. Solid.

Mashle: Magic and Muscles- gag comedy that leans a little too much into the shonen battle-esque stuff towards the end imo, but a decently enjoyable time. A mash up of Harry Potter and other various manga like mob, opm, etc.

Mitama Security: Spirit Busters- comedy, axed but I enjoyed it. Goofy fun. nothing spectacular but reading it won't hurt anyone.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes- spin-off of mha obviously, average joe Koichi >>> deku FIGHT ME, the goodest of boys, world building u don't get in the main series, Aizawa's backstory, Knuckleduster is the man the myth the legend.

Chihayafuru- screaming crying throwing up, it's niche it's technically a sports manga, romance, female MC, growth™, love triangle but at the end of the day that's not what's important

My Love Mix-Up!- comedy romance, big big mix-up on who loves who and lots of shenanigans ensue.

Noragami- TECHNICALLY not complete until like 2 days from now when the final chapter releases. my emotions! MY EMOTIONS!!!! 😭

Gintama- comedy/gag with dashes of really good drama

I have no idea what your tastes are, anon, so here's a mix that I've personally enjoyed. Some of them were axed, but technically that makes them complete so I included them :P yes I cheated.

Anime:

There's a lot less of them bc I haven't actually watched a lot of completed series.

Run with the Wind- more boys x sports but this time it's about running. Also the boys are in college. Will trick u into wanting to run.

91 days- ol timey story about VENGEANCE. Set during the prohibition.

Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann- makes you emotional and feel all fuzzy inside, sci fi, mecha

Cowboy Bebop- a classic

Samurai Champloo- also a classic and I actually prefer this one over cowboy bebop tbh, god tier baseball episode

Astra Lost in Space-the anime version, if you'd prefer watching over reading, but I always prefer manga > anime just cause.

FMA 03/FMA BROTHERHOOD- the gold standard. I appreciate both versions. 03 goes the anime original ending root bc obviously the manga wasn't completed yet no biggie.

Mob Psycho 100- MOB!MOB!MOB! and tumblr sexy man reigen arataka

Gintama- animated version alternative lol. The voice actors bring the characters to life.

Obv there are the old school classics like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Gundam and all that jazz if you haven't already checked out some of those. Oldies but goodies.

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 5

Episode 3: Thumb War Part 1

~Downtown Swellview, in backstreet alley~

Oh, (y/n) loved this job.  Some women got to jet all over the world and drink cocktails for a living, which genuinely happened to this one girl she knew in college - Melanie something or other. Yeah, good old Mel got to spend her evenings in Bora Bora watching the sunset, others got to relax in their penthouse suites after a gruelling day in court as a sleek, successful lawyer, whose biggest worry is what to order at the five-star restaurant they dine at every night. 

(y/n)'s nights were different. There was no sunset, the concrete jungle took care of that by hiding the horizon. She certainly wasn't being wined and dined with filet mignon and a Bordeaux, no, she and Ray didn't have that kind of money. What they did have was emergencies coming out of their ears because as usual, the criminals didn't come to Captain Man and co, they went to them.

That's how they'd ended up in one of the grottiest, grossest areas in all of Swellview--and believe me, Swellview had quite a few. It was dark, duh, because there could never be a crime on a nice, sunny day in one of the posh estates, and there was no one around--the perfect place for a nice robbery or murder. Yeah, their criminal had decided to make a shady backstreet carlot his digs, but whatever, they'd been in worse spots. 

And the guy wasn't even that big of a deal. Sure, he was a pain in the ass, but whatever criminal wasn't? Stainless Steve was hardly gonna go down as the world's greatest mastermind, rather the wackiest. His entire get-up made him look like an oven-ready turkey--all wrapped up in aluminium clothing. Steel shoes, steel-lined, foil clothing, dyed silver hair with added shiny highlights and gloves with iron knuckledusters under the metallic padding. 

He looked weird, really weird, but no matter how tough he thought he was, beating him up was a walk in the park for Captain Man and Miss Danger tag-teamed him, with the kid watching on the sidelines. A few punches from the hero here, a couple of kicks from the heroine there and Steve was getting tired. It wasn't glamorous by any means but god, she loved this job.

Ray grunted as he sucker-punched the metal man across his cheeks, making him collapse onto his knees as his face stung from the impact. Captain Man's strength was living up to its name, but the worse was yet to come. As he knelt, defeated on the ground but just gathering his energy to give the smirk hero a taste of his own medicine, (y/n) swooped in with a sharp kick to the chest, metal boot hitting metal jacket, and Steve stayed down. Probably a wise choice to stay there and wheeze as Ray grinned and pecked at his girl's lips for being so goddamn hot.

"You wanna tag in, kid?" The man asked his other sidekick as he pulled away from his blushing finacée so Henry could get some action. They'd been doing all the heavy lifting for the last ten minutes, wanting to do some couple fighting since they bounced off how hot the other was when throwing fists, but now, the kid looked like he was itching to do something useful. So, they elected to take a break as he was doing now, after all, a mid-battle kiss and cuddle wasn't so bad, was it?

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! You work on this sandwich, I'll work on Stainless Steve!" Henry garbled through a mouthful of PB and J. A mid-battle snack wasn't so bad either and Ray was endlessly hungry so he didn't mind splitting it with the kid, who was already springing to his feet at the opportunity of going to pound town on this clown.

"Deal. We'll munch, you punch." Ray grinned as they high-fived on the way past, Ray snatching the half-eaten sandwich as he guided (y/n) over to an oil drum. He could perch her on his knee and lavish his attention on her with kisses, sweet words and soft touches whilst his other sidekick burnt off some steam. And he got an evening morsel--win-win.

"I'd much rather work on you, Captain..." The woman teased her lover as Ray took a seat, causing his smirk to grow even wider. She too sat down, feeling emboldened under his dark gaze and how eating the sandwich was the last thing on his mind when he had an angel tempting him in ways that shouldn't have been possible. Perhaps he had to keep an eye on Henry too, but that didn't mean he could multitask. Kid, sandwich, hot future wife, he could do that.

"I'm gonna wreck you, Kid Danger," Steve growled as he slowly stood up, his chest and face still aching from the couple's assault, but he was less concerned about them. Sure, Captain Man and his girlfriend or whatever she was these days could take him but now it was just him versus a skinny, pathetic child. What could go wrong?

"Yeah, I don't think so, Steve. I have super-fast reflexes, so don't even try--" Henry chuckled with his boss at how cocky the villain was. He was the one with the superpower, he could move super-fast, no one else, Steve was fighting a losing battle, at least that's what they all thought. So, when the metal man backhanded the kid across the face before he could even finish his sentence, it came as quite a shock. Who was the cocky one now?

"Oh! Nice shot, Steve!" Ray exclaimed, shooting up from the oil drum so quickly that (y/n) nearly lost her balance. What gives? She was pulling out all of her best moves; fluttering eyelashes, big, doe eyes, innocent kisses to his cheek that then drifted to his jaw or lips, she wanted to seduce him and yet he was now preoccupied with how much Henry was sucking and that damn sandwich. Huh...rude.

"Don't compliment the criminal!" (y/n) snapped at her stupid doofus, who pouted when she took a speedy bite out of the PB and J to ruffle his feathers. Normally, the girl wasn't in the habit of sharing one snack between herself and two others but if she wasn't gonna get any kisses then she might as well do something else, and her sulking made Ray smile. He couldn't wait to take her home.

"Okay, you know what? That's it." Henry grumbled, having had enough toying with the guy, he just needed to let off some steam. No one punched Kid Danger, made him look like an idiot and got away to tell the tale. Looking over his shoulder, the teen whacked Stainless Steve repeatedly in the nose, his hands moving so fast that they became a red and blue blur. And Ray was loving it, his little movements and shimmies in time with every beat were so adorable as he watched his youngest sidekick beat the crap out of the guy, fists thumping against the metal but never tiring.

Henry gripped the criminal's jacket as his punches jackhammered the man's face, spreading pain throughout his nose until the guy couldn't take it anymore. His eyes rolled back and the kid knew he was done, so he relented to catch his breath and to watch Steve go floppy in unconsciousness.

"Careful, don't fall." He warned him breathlessly, even though he knew that the man was out for the count and couldn't hear him even if he wanted to, so it was no surprise when he fell back onto the ground with a scraping thud. "Aw, you forgot to be careful..." 

"Hey, nice job, K-D!" (y/n) grinned at the boy, strolling over to his side to share a fist bump with him since he'd pulled some pretty sick moves there. She never tired of seeing his lightning reflexes in action, just like he never tired of seeing all of her bruises disappear in under ten seconds. 

God, he wished he had that, his knuckles seriously needing icing, but that would have to wait until they got back to the Man Cave and he dreaded hearing Ray's complaints about how he wanted his fiancée all to himself after taking down one of the most irritating criminals in the city. Still, what needed to be done had to be done and his hands were sore.

"Thanks, Miss Danger," he grinned at the woman as his tender knuckles met her healed ones before he turned to Ray, who was still munching the sandwich, "okay, let's call the cops and have them come pick up this--yo! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Watch out! Wath out!"

"Holy shit, turn around, doofus!" But suddenly, there was no option for going back to the Man Cave. The hero stood there obliviously as his sidekicks watched in horror at how a Mini Cooper hurtled towards him in reverse. They had no time to react to how random it was, just that Ray was standing there eating like nothing was wrong because he was completely unaware that he was about to be flattened, and as usual, he thought their warning meant nothing. What a doofus.

"Watch out for what?" He asked in confusion but there was no urgency or worry in his voice and neither was he in a rush to do what they said. The danger was over, they'd caught the bad guy, kicked his ass and now, it was time for them to relax. All this hurrying wasn't his style, not when he had a half-decent sandwich in his hand and his eyes on the most beautiful woman in the world. Who'd want to turn their back on her?

"Just turn around, please!"

"Doofus, for the love of God, just turn around! Please, if you love me, turn around!" The boy and woman pleaded with him, wanting to avert disaster before it struck. Of course, it wasn't as if Ray would die or be seriously injured if he got hit, his indestructibility would protect him but that still didn't make it okay to just stand back and watch. He was their friend, boss, lover, and brother from another mother, whatever their connection, they cared about him and seeing him be run over by a tiny yet powerful British car made them cringe. If only he'd listen.

"Sweet girl, you know I can't take my eyes off you. I'm not losing the sight of you standing there, looking all pretty for you, the kid or anybody..." Oh, god. Should she melt or punch him for being a lovable idiot? 

"Move out of the way! We're not joking, dude!"

"I can't hear you, there's like a car coming or--" Too late. Oh well, at least Henry and (y/n) could say that they tried to save him, and it was Ray's fault that he was catapulted halfway across the parking lot when the Mini backed into him. To be fair, if it wasn't her beloved moron, the woman probably would've laughed at how comical it was to see a huge man fly through the air screaming, only to land on the concrete with a small squeak. However, when that squeak had such a familiar groan following it, all her heart could do was tense in worry.

"Oh my god!" She shrieked and ran after him, Henry quickly on her tail as tears sprung in her eyes, although they'd never fall. Now was not the time for sentiment, now was the time to make sure that he was okay--and he was. Captain Man is always okay if a little embarrassed.

"Dude, you all right?" Henry panted as they skidded to the spot where Ray had finally stopped rolling. He was moaning and groaning, perhaps a little delirious from the pain of a fall and blunt force trauma that would kill anyone else, but apart from that, he was still dumb old Ray.

"Yeah, I'm o...okay!" The hero groaned as the pain fizzled out and his vision cleared from the blurriness, bringing his friend and sweet girl back into focus. Aw, she did look all pretty tonight and the only thing that marred her exquisite features was the worry etched across her face from how he stumbled over his words. Well, he'd sooner put an end to that.

"Are you sure, doofus? How are you feeling?" (y/n) asked as she knelt to brush the back of her fingers across his forehead, which was slightly clammy and sticky from the fight and impact but she knew that that dopey look on his face wasn't due to a concussion, neither was her grabbing her hand to squeeze through the pain. He was on manoeuvres.

"Like I'm on cloud nine when I look at you, baby," Ray replied with a toothy grin, making her face burn as Henry groaned. Great, he got all concerned for nothing when in reality, his boss was just gonna use this as an excuse to have a nurse tonight--and he did not want to see or hear that.

"Oh, god. He's fine!" Henry argued, knowing that whilst some doctors might think the man was on some pretty strong hallucinogenic painkillers or something, the reality was that his brain was like that twenty-four-seven.

"I think I might need a kiss to make it better..." was his tongue-in-cheek reply. Oh, the gall of this guy. Whilst (y/n) laughed, Henry wrinkled his nose and turned his back, bored at how with every passing day, with every step closer they got to finally tying the knot, they got touchier and grosser. 

He refused to look as the girl bent to seal their lips together, the sweetest medicine Ray could've received and suddenly, the residual pain faded away and in its place, a burst of energy arrived. Call it energy or desire but Ray quickly felt the need to return home as he sat up in that dimly lit parking lot, following her lips as she pulled away after a minute. If they were at home, he could pull her to a private corner or pull her back down for more but it was cold and open here, not the place for him to go in a second time.

"Later, doofus. We still need to deal with Stainless Steve." (y/n) reminded him as she sat back on her haunches before straightening to her full height. She wouldn't mind playing nurse and indulging him when then they were safely back at the Man Cave, just not when they had work to do first. All that needed doing was getting Steve to jail and then they could revert to their normal lives. Duty first, pleasure second, that's how it went for them.

"Ugh, fine! Let's call the cops on this bozo, they can deal with him." Ray conceded, agreeing that they couldn't have another blood bank incident where they leave the criminal to return to his devices. They began to stroll back to the spot where Steve had been lying, but things weren't as they had left them.

Their criminal was gone, no longer on the ground where Henry had dropped him and in his place, there was a camera crew and that pretty young reporter from KLVY News. Huh. Odd. The news must've gotten wind of what they were up to because they hadn't made the call and no one was around to witness the fighting occurring. Very strange, indeed.

"Uh, guys. Why are they here?" (y/n) asked her doofus and friend as their relaxed stroll picked up into a brisk pace. She thought she'd heard voices earlier but she'd just put it down to kids or some low-level criminals hanging around in the shadows; not once had she expected it to be a camera crew ready for an interview. Okay, that was fine, she could do an interview, it wasn't like she was the sole speaker and they didn't frighten her as they once did. No, this was weird but fine, just another factor in a normal night for them.

"They're probably here to interview us, sweetheart, y'know, 'cause we're superheroes. Come on..." Ray grinned at the thought of being in the limelight and basking in the glory that came with yet another successful takedown of a pesky criminal who blighted the city. He'd take the lion's share of the camera and fame and (y/n) was fine with that; whatever was left could go to Henry because her idea of hell was performing in front of the nation as they scrutinised her every move.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we need to tell them about the fight!" Henry grinned and sped up into a jog with the couple so they could catch the woman and her crew before they left the scene. This was as close as he'd get to being thanked for what he did, so he took every opportunity to let the praise wash over him, even if Henry Hart would never be thanked or acknowledged.

And so, they skidded to a halt in front of the camera and a frankly stunned reporter, panting from the sudden exercise but they'd made it and that's all that mattered. But what was odd was that the woman didn't look happy to see them, more surprised or dare (y/n) guess...disgusted, uninterested? That was new.

"Hey! Hey! What's up?!"

"What's going on? We're here!" The boys rambled as they swiftly smoothed their hair and painted their best smiles on their faces as they stared down the lens of the camera. Miss Danger settled for just standing there with a soft smile on her face; they could do all the talking because she guaranteed that their words would be infinitely better than whatever she could come up with.

"Are we on the news?"

"Are we live right now?"

"Yes!" Well, that answered those questions. Without even batting an eyelid, the reporter pushed her shock to the back of her mind and tightened her smile, moving on like the interruption was a mere bump in the road for her. Three superheroes coming out of nowhere and crashing her report? That was nothing and she quickly accommodated them, including them because after what she'd just witnessed, she'd love to get their reaction.

"As you can see, I am now with Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger." She grinned into the camera, pausing to look at the heroes in turn as they lined up, Ray subtly taking his sweet girl's hand to remind her that he was there. Like he always said when she worried about being on TV, it wasn't something to stress about, only a chance for them to revel in their excellence--y'know, the usual bigheaded crap that she only tolerated from him.

"So...what's up?" 

"Huh, what's up? What do you mean?"

"What's up with you? What do you mean?" The question came as a surprise for the trio because it was so basic and generic, not the usual snappy ones they got, which were all about finding out the who, when and why.

"What do you want?" Okay, then... This had suddenly gotten very awkward. They were heroes, they'd just defeated a bad guy and a news crew had turned up. What did she think they wanted?

"Well, I figured you'd wanna interview us about Stainless Steve and uh, the people of Swellview might wanna know that the city is safe once again..." Ray replied, smirking as he inclined his head towards the presumably grateful audience at home, but that was when something became very apparent to his sidekicks. Something was lacking, something missing and it was kind of a problem.

"Uh, dude, dude, dude, dude!"

"....thanks to us, so you're welcome--what, what, what?! You're not seeing me on the news?!" Ray snapped as Henry and (y/n) prodded his arm, vying for his attention so they could point out their problem. It was rather important, so even if he got pissed at them, not that he would over such a trivial thing, they did it anyway.

"Uh, Captain, Stainless Steve is gone."

"What?" Ray gawped at his girl's face before taking a look around. She was right too; Steve was gone, vanished, stolen, whatever, he wasn't in the spot where they'd left him. What the--- did they miss something? They'd only been gone a second and in that time, their man had done a runner right before they could slap the cuffs on him.

"Where'd Stainless Steve go?" Ray stuttered, looking just as lost as his sidekicks because they could swear that he was out for the count when he'd been rammed by that rogue car, Great, that was them not going home tonight, it looks like they were off on a search for the metal man, but strangely, the reporter had all the answers.

"He was captured by The Thumb Buddies!" She told them, changing her voice at the end to sound proud and dramatic, but she wasn't making any sense to the three. The what? Seriously, had they missed something? Was she saying that somebody else had stolen their win?

"What?"

"I'm so sorry, what did you say?" Ray and Henry stuttered as they tried to understand what she was telling them. Not being praised and showered with gratitude was like a slap to the face and Ray found himself needing the support from holding his girl's hand, not the other way around, because what the hell?

"You sound like you said somebodys. Did you say somebody's?"

"We captured Stainless Steve--I don't know what she's saying, I'm just trying to explain to her that they and I captured Stainless Steve..."

"Yeah, I don't think she's listening." (y/n) stopped the boys' ramblings as she caught sight of the woman's glazed, empty stare and how she had that expression on her face that only came with experience. Y'know, that expression you develop after dealing with men for most of your adult life; the nod-and-pretend-you're-listening face for when they keep talking and won't shut up. Most journalists have them and this one was just waiting for the heroes to let her return to work.

"Thank you. I'm Kimberly Cross, crossing off." Ray, Henry and (y/n) were left stunned as the woman spoke loudly over their explanations and excuses before tootling off, taking her mic and cameraman with her and leaving them to stand there in confusion.

"Where are you going? Are you done?"

"That's not the end of the interview, is it? 'Cause I had more to say, he was talking and I was talking and--oh, hey, I found the sandwich!" And as the reporter climbed into her news van and drove off, Ray soon found himself with a lot of questions; where had their guy gone and who had stolen the limelight?

"No, dirty!" (y/n) growled as she watched her lover lunge for the remnants of the sandwich he'd dropped after being hit by the car, which she suspected had belonged to the guys who'd snatched their arrest. It had fallen in the mud after that, with one side of the crisp, white bread now stained black and there was no way she was gonna kiss him if he ate something off the ground. God, was it worth it?

"Aw..." Jeez, it wasn't Ray's night tonight. No capture, no thanks and now, no sandwich. At least he had home to look forward to, after all, that concussion might just make a return the moment he stepped foot in his bedroom. He only hoped that there was a nurse on call.

~One week later, the Man Cave~

For one week, there was peace. Not an easy peace, but peace nonetheless. The Thumb Buddies, as the team discovered, were an up-and-coming duo popping up all over town at various little rescues or missions and whilst it irritated the hell out of Ray and Henry, they didn't do anything to stop and find out who they really were and what they were up to. 

So, here they were, one week later, one week older, and (y/n) was still putting up with their bitching and moaning since she wasn't going to get herself worked up over two guys who were just lightening their load. It was the boys who were mumbling and grumbling as they were called out to yet another emergency at the local baseball game, which left their headquarters in the hands of Charlotte, the smart one and Jasper, the not-so-smart one.

"Uh, what are you wearing?" Said smart one asked the not-so-smart one as she stepped out of the elevator and glanced up from her PearPad. Jasper, in all of his genius, had chosen one of the worst shirts he could have possibly chosen to put on that morning and Charlotte knew that the garment was gonna stir up some trouble when Ray got back.

"Oh! This is my Thumb Buddies shirt." That's what was gonna get him hung drawn and quartered.

"Yeah, well, you better take that off," She advised as she strolled past. It was better to warn him now, that way when it all went wrong and Ray was scrambling to wrap his fingers around his neck, Charlotte could at least say she tried to save him. Come on, that shirt was just begging to be ripped off.

"Why?" Jasper frowned, showing just how unaware he was. Had he not met Ray Manchester? The biggest man-child around? (y/n) wasn't always gonna be around to protect him and calm her baby down, so what then? Jasper might as well have betrayal scrawled across his forehead in permanent marker.

"Because, last week, Ray, (y/n) and Henry caught that criminal, Stainless Steve and those Thumb Buddies guys took credit for the capture." The girl explained as if it hadn't been the talk of the Man Cave all week. God, (y/n) must've been exhausted, she had been soothing his bruised ego all week, telling him that it was all right and to focus on her instead, which had been the sole reason for the uneasy peace they'd found.

"So?" And Jasper seemed to have a death wish. Did he want to be thrown into the pot and boiled to death?

"So, Ray and Henry were pretty mad about it and (y/n) can't hold them back forever, so if I was you—" Charlotte's advice ran out as the tubes beeped and dropped, bringing down Kid Danger in the left one and Captain Man in the right one, with Miss Danger wrapped up in his arms. Oh dear, here came the blood bath; if he was smart, he'd take the shirt off now...

"Hey! How'd it go at the baseball game?" Charlotte didn't miss a beat, figuring that if she stayed calm and acted natural, maybe, just maybe, the boys wouldn't notice the abomination that was Jasper's shirt. Ray didn't look in his direction very much anyway and it's not like having two, smiling guys and their names splashed across your chest isn't obvious...right?

"Oh, I don't know, I'd say it went pretty well..." Ray replied with a huge grin on his face as the three came down from the tubes with a certain bounce in their step that hinted to the teens that they knew more than they were letting on. Well, they were in a good mood, that was a positive sign for Jasper's survival and despite how noticeable it was, the hero and sidekicks hadn't seen the shirt yet, rather they were too caught up in whatever it was they had to reveal.

"Uh, yeah, we didn't do that much other than, uh..."

"WE FOUGHT A BEAR!" (y/n) just couldn't hold it in, not when she was still on her adrenaline high. Not to brag but it had been the most awesome mission of her life. Full of danger, full of daring stunts, full of risk, which normally, she wasn't a fan of but she had to admit, seeing Ray tackle the beast head-on was something that wouldn't be leaving her dreams for the next few weeks. It was hot.

"We fought a bear! Yes, we did!" "Oh my god, we did that! We did fight a bear!" Henry and Ray turned into giddy schoolboys as the excitement came flooding out of them too. If (y/n) found it exciting, then they found it unbearable because heaven knows that they sort the danger, stunts and risks a lot more than she did. And judging by how they were screaming in each other's faces, with Ray giggling like a child on Christmas when his nose brushed (y/n)'s, it was quite the battle.

"Hey, hey, hey! What bear?" Jasper butted in, not wanting to ruin their vectoring shrieking but come on, they couldn't just leave them in the dark like that. Screw the bear, him wearing that shirt in front of them and then drawing their attention was risky, but even so, the heroes didn't notice, not yet anyway.

"Okay, okay, so, shall I tell them the story?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Henry asked his boss with a huge grin on his face since he didn't know if Ray wanted to bask in the glory of this and be the one to retell the tale but he was surprisingly fine with it. Of course, he was; he had other business to attend to, such as sharing a post-fight with his sweet girl as the adrenaline high always made it that much better.

"All right, all right," Henry gathered himself as Ray took a moment to tightly hold (y/n) against his chest, her arms wrapping around his neck as their lips met and Henry knew that he had a few seconds to shine, "These college kids brought a real-life bear to the baseball game!"

"Yeah, you know, just to be funny," Ray added as he and (y/n) broke apart. The kiss was good but neither of them could resist being a part of this story, not when it made them seem so epic. 

"Which it was. Dangerous, but funny." The woman added, beaming up at her doofus as his hands stayed on her hips, keeping her close and he was inclined to agree with her. Sure, the bear could have killed everyone on the field but it did make everyone chuckle to see several grown men wet themselves. And besides, it wasn't like Swellview's greatest heroes couldn't handle it.

"Oh, it was hilarious."

"So hilarious," Henry and Ray agreed, the latter smiling down at his sweet girl as she drunkenly giggled at the memory. No one got hurt so it was okay to laugh, right? Of course, if someone had lost an arm or had a leg swallowed then she'd be suitably sombre but since that wasn't the case, it was fine...yeah. It was fine.

"Anyway, until the hotdog guy came out." Henry carried on with the story as Jasper munched on some chips. Any second now, they would see the shirt, once the story was over and they weren't so chipper, that would be it and he just wasn't bothered.

"Yeah, you know weiners?"

"Yeah, I love weiners." The boy nodded through a mouthful of the fried potatoes because he was loving hearing this story as much as they loved telling it. Charlotte was just waiting for him to get rinsed; now that would be the real blockbuster.

"So, the bear, he gets a whiff of the weiners, right? And he just loses his mind! Chases the poor Weiner guy right onto the field!" Ray continued, getting visibly more and more animated as he relived those exhilarating moments. He'd just acted on instinct for the next part, maybe a show of bravado for the crowd watching as well as one lovely young woman in particular, but either way, his reputation was shining brighter than ever.

"So, Ray, being the adorable doofus he is, chases the bear onto the field!"

"I did, I did!" Ray's cheeks flushed slightly under the adoring gaze of (y/n), who couldn't help but feel her tummy flutter when he'd risked his safety doing something that was admittedly, very stupid but also kinda hot. It was selfless and that wild spark of passion in his eye was just another reason for her to fall in love with him, as was the way his hand found hers without even having to break eye contact.

"And check this out. He tackles the bear!"

"I tackled a bear! I tackled a real-life bear!" Ray couldn't help but skip around a bit at Henry's revelation, even if it meant dropping his girl's hand as quickly as he picked it up to squeeze it. Oh well, he was excited, she knew that and it allowed her to admire the man as he glowed with pride and maybe a bit of ego too. Damn, she knew those muscles were big but today, they seemed even bigger. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and the bear gets up, he's like, oooargggghh! And there's spit coming out of his mouth, arrroooghhh! He slashes at me, his claws just scrape right across my face!" Ray exclaimed as if the details of him nearly being mutilated weren't horrific to hear. 

Perhaps that had been a bit of a terrifying moment for (y/n), seeing her almost-husband getting shredded until she remembered that he was Captain Man. There was no need to worry, the pain only lasted for a second and he'd been through worse, no matter how much her heart instinctively bled to see him wince from the claws.

"Oh my god!" Charlotte gasped. She certainly felt the same terror (y/n) had and was wondering how the woman could still be smiling because that sounded awful--the sort of thing that she'd work herself until a nervous frenzy over. And yet here she was, giggling and blushing like a schoolgirl as she drooled over her fiancé, nothing new there but why wasn't she laying down the law? Giving them the third degree for being so reckless? Why had she participated?

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I guess that he thought that Ray was gonna go down or something like that but--"

"Instead, the bear goes, ooooraggh! Which I guess in bear language probably means...."

"Uh-oh, this doofus is indestructible!" She was laughing because everything had turned out fine. Why stress about something when you can laugh about it instead? The bear had gone in for the kill, expecting Captain Man to have his innards as his outards as he gnarled and viciously pawed at his stomach and face, but when Ray grunted through the pain and stayed in one piece, all of the danger disappeared.

"Stupid bear had no idea that I can't be harmed!" Ray yelled, gesturing wildly to his still perfect face as (y/n) stepped over to wind her arms around his neck, unable to keep her distance any longer. His hands landed on her waist, keeping her close as the story continued with the same energy, the same longing looks, but just a physical connection that couldn't be ignored any longer.

"We are smarter than a bear!"

"We are smart than a bear!"

"We are the smarter species!"

"Yes, that happened!" And that was the end of that. Charlotte and Jasper were left...regaled as (y/n) finally pressed her lips to Ray's for the first time in minutes because neither of them would ever get enough of that. For some reason, they were just drawn to each other today, more than usual and the high from the fight wasn't helping. They were living their best lives and it showed, no wonder they couldn't keep their hands to themselves.

"Wow..."

"Unreal, man." The teens complimented them on their big win. Charlotte didn't sound particularly thrilled but that was just how she was. It was impressive and like Jasper, she found herself to be quite entertained by the grandeur of it all and speaking of grandeur, (y/n) had a brainwave. If two kids were entertained by the tale, who was to say that others weren't? After all, it's not like that baseball park had been empty, far from it. A couple thousand people from it, to be exact.

"Sweet cheese, we might be on the news! I bet they're talking about us right now," The woman gasped, looking up at her lover with sparkling eyes and his grin grew from the moment she said the word 'news'. Ever since the debacle with Stainless Steve, Ray had been anxious to get a new story in the press to make them all seem like the best team around again, but there had been nothing of substance worth reporting, which left them at a stalemate. Until now.

"I like the way you think, sweet girl..." He smirked and immediately began to lead her over to the supercomputer where they could hear all of their heroic actions being broadcasted to the city. He wouldn't mind seeing an action replay of how she gave the beast a swift jab to the snout after it wandered a little too close to Kid Danger for her liking; even when he was still reeling from being mauled, it was so hot to witness and seeing it again would be a godsend.

"Yeah, let's see what they're saying about us," Henry smiled and so, they all gathered around the computer. The trio stood back a little so they could soak up the story and bask in their awesomeness, which just left Charlotte and Jasper to bring it up on the monitor.

"Okay...coming up, now."

"And Trent, this happened just moments ago?" Mary suddenly appeared on the screen, sporting her usual blonde bob as she looked across at her colleague. Oh good, they hadn't started their report yet, they hadn't missed it. Fresh off the press, that was more like it, so much better than that Thumb Buddies crap.

"That's right, Mary..." Trent nodded, causing a surge of excitement to run up Ray, (y/n) and Henry's spines. Any minute now, they'd announce how awesome they were and then the Thumb Buddies would be history.

"See? They're talking about us!" "Fought a bear, my man!" It was kinda cute just how excited they were and (y/n) wasn't about to complain, not when her hero wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her in close, encasing her in his warmth and the scent of his cologne. She could feel his smile pressed against her neck as he refused to let go of the hug, wanting to hold her there as he heard the praise coming from the news crew. At that moment, life couldn't get any better.

"Okay, now, we're gonna go live to the scene where it all went down and talk with the actual heroes who saved the day." However, you can only go so high until there's nowhere left to go but back down. Their smiles deflated when they heard that because it didn't make any sense. They'd left the baseball field, they were safely anonymous and hidden in the Man Cave, how were they meant to do an interview now?

"What? How are they gonna interview us right now?" Henry asked, looking back at the perplexed couple as the cold seeped into their fluffy warmth. Oh dear, this didn't feel right, (y/n)'s tummy was talking to her, telling her that this next bit of news wasn't gonna be something any of them wanted to hear. 

"Yeah, yeah, 'cause we're here..." Ray muttered and just to make sure that they hadn't been tailed or anything, the boys checked behind them to make sure that there were no pesky reporters that needed a Memory Wiper to the face. That was dumb but the young woman with them let it slide; she didn't want to upset them any further, not when she sensed that Trent was about to cause a shitstorm.

"Thanks, Trent," said the reporter who had been with them the other night, bringing their attention back to their screen and oh, it wasn't good, "I'm here live at Nacho Ball, where a local, sweaty man committed a crime just moments ago."

"What, what, what is all this about?" Ray stammered, looking at his sweet girl for answers as they moved closer to the screen with heartbroken, confused expressions. Their big moment was gone, it had been replaced with a crappy fast-food restaurant instead, which stung. His girl could give him the answer, right? She was smart, she knew stuff, she made things clear with that big brain of hers when he didn't understand, she knew what was going on and it was all fine...it had to be.

"Why are they at Nacho Ball?"

"Don't look at me, I know just as much as you about this..." (y/n) told them. For once, she didn't have all the answers, rather, she was in the dark too, with nothing to go off except her gut and that was telling her that this wasn't going to be easy to hear. Oh, her poor doofus, her poor Hen, they were gonna throw fists first and ask questions later because they took so much pride in being the number one heroes in this town. To be outdone on their turf, it didn't look good.

"Can you tell us what happened?" The reporter asked a miserable looking girl, who seemed to have a perpetual wobbly lip and permanent tears in her eyes like someone had just told her the worst news in the world. Sure, she worked at the grossest Nacho Ball in town, but come on, was life that sucky for her?

"Yeah...Um, this guy, I think his name is Jeff, he ordered a three-ball nacho sack and when he paid for it, he handed me a coupon." The whiny girl described. So far, so...normal.

"But there was something wrong with that coupon, wasn't there?"

"Yeah! It was expired!" Jeez, this girl was whiny. It made (y/n) wonder what had happened to make her so teary because surely, getting so upset over one coupon wasn't worth it, not when her mascara was in danger of running down her face and making her look like a panda.

"Kimberly, we've just received cell phone video of the attempted Nacho Ball crime, so we're gonna show that right now," Trent butted in and suddenly, the viewers were being shown some blurry, shaky footage of what had gone down in the restaurant and suddenly, their suffering made sense. This guy was the author of their frustration, rather, because every time something irritated them, he was always there.

"Okay, that'll be twelve-twenty-one."

"Oh, yeah, sure. Here's a Nacho Ball coupon for twenty bucks."

"Great. I will just ring this up." "Thanks, bro!"

"That's Jeff!" Ray pointed out, knowing that tubby belly, moronic voice and dumb cap anywhere. Of course, it was him, where there was trouble for him and his sidekicks to sort out, Jeff was there too. His arms tightened around his sweet girl as he couldn't help but tense his muscles in aggravation, and (y/n) responded in turn. If she allowed her doofus to get worked up every time Jeff did something dumb, she'd be walking a greying old man down the aisle, not a super-hot hero.

"It's okay, doof. Everyone knows how stupid he is." She soothed him, tilting her head back into a rather awkward angle just to peck his chin affectionately. Ray softened at that and instantly relaxed when his mind focused on her tender love rather than stupid Jeff and the woman was left satisfied when the creases on his forehead relaxed and his shoulders slumped a bit, The ensuing kiss to the top of her head wasn't bad either.

"This coupon expired four days ago."

"Oh, I didn't know."

"Oh, sure you didn't." The whiny girl sneered as Jeff frowned at the expired coupon with knitted eyebrows and in a moment of colossal overreacting, the girl slammed her hand onto the panic button on the counter—the one reserved for when they were genuinely being robbed.

"HELP! THIS GUY HERE IS TRYING TO ROB US!" And that's when everything went to shit. To be fair to Jeff, and (y/n) couldn't believe she was sticking up for him, but it was a bit much how she assumed that he was a robber just because he had a dodgy coupon. Dare she say that she felt sorry for him in a way? The ensuing sirens, alarms and flashing lights were a bit much as he stood there and protested his innocence, right up until someone tackled him from behind.

A tall man with an orange cape leapt onto Jeff's back, slamming him into the counter and wrestling him to the floor like he was a WWE champion. Then, as Jeff was wriggling for freedom from the sudden assault, another guy joined the fray, pouncing on his friend's back and pinning Jeff to the tiles even more, possibly squishing his pancreas in the process too. They'd slapped the cuffs on him quicker than Ray, (y/n) and Henry could blink and upon freezing the frame, they saw who'd upstaged them with such a miraculous counter.

The damn Thumb Buddies.

"Whoa! Gosh, that was the bravest thing I've ever seen." Trent grinned, causing Ray and Henry's mouths to drop open. Okay, (y/n) wasn't particularly thrilled by it herself but they took it much more seriously. For them, it was like a betrayal seeing how these two idiots were being praised for taking down one criminal who hadn't even done anything—and they'd dealt with Jeff hundreds of times.

"Whaaaaat?" "Bravest?!" They gasped, staring at the monitor in disbelief because all they'd seen was a mad scramble to rest an idiot, hardly the stuff of legends. They'd nearly been eaten by a bear, that was heroic and deserved praise and yet they weren't getting any, all because of these two.

"I have done braver things on the toilet!" "Yeah, that is a bit ridicul—oh my god, Ray, what?" (y/n)'s nose scrunched up at how disgustingly dramatic her lover was being, which earned her a sharp shushing from Charlotte. The girl was still trying to listen and whatever troubles they were having comprehending being replaced was interrupting that. 

"Kimberly, are you with the heroes right now?" Trent pressed further, sending the boys into a cold silence as they begrudgingly started to listen again. Did they have to call them that? So what? They did one rescue and now everyone was fanning over them, had everyone lost their minds? Captain Man and Kid Danger, were the brave ones...and Miss Danger too, of course.

"I sure am, Trent," The reporter grinned as the camera cut back to her, revealing to the heroes' disdain that she was now with their newfound enemies, "And once again, it looks like our city of Swellview owes a big thank you to The Thumb Buddies!"

"You're very welcome." "We appreciate that, yes." They weren't anything spectacular to behold. To (y/n) (and secretly Ray and Henry), they just looked like two guys in costumes, which was technically what they were too. They seemed a bit dorky, a bit starstruck by the cameras and attention suddenly thrust upon them but apart from that, they seemed very polite and respectful, maybe even humble for the praise the news lavished on them. It was so damn aggravating.

"Okay, who are these Thumb Buddies? Where did they come from?" Ray asked darkly, needing more than a hug from his sweet girl to let this one go. He needed answers because, despite the report being muted, he could still feel the rage burning through him. This was his city, he'd been protecting it for years and now that there were two newbies on the scene, he'd lost the loyalty of his fans, and everyone knows how Captain Man thrives on the attention—simply doing it as a good deed was okay but doing it to be loved was better.

"Yeah, and why are they in our town, doing our job?" Henry asked too, his lips pursed into a thin, firm line. In his years as a sidekick, he'd grown used to the praise too, after all, he never got any as Henry Hart, being praised as Kid Danger was all he had left to fill that need to be loved. If they were the heroes now, where would that leave them? The professionals, the dependable ones, the ones who knew what they were doing?

"Well, technically, they're making our job easier." (y/n) pointed out, which caused Ray to whip around to face her with a murderous look, almost like she'd prodded her finger in a sore wound. It was a betrayal, how dare she side with the enemy, even if she did make a valid point. His sweet girl, did she like these Thumb Buddies too?

"Whose side are you on?!" He asked her furiously, but the woman didn't flinch under his intense gaze or bat an eyelid when his face got close to hers. If anything, her heart rate increased for a different reason entirely, not that she'd ever let him know that since he was being his ridiculous, doofy self right now. She'd only make a move on the adorable doofus when he was being reasonable, not irrational.

"Oh, we're picking sides now?" She smirked, raising her eyebrows in a way that said she wasn't taking him seriously, more like finding his fury amusing, "You know I'm with you, doofus, calm down.

"...Charlotte, I told you last week that I wanted a full report on these guys. Now, where is it?" Ray switched targets after taking a split second to calm down. Right, his girl would never side with two guys she'd never met and had no plans on joining, which was crazy when he snapped back into the moment and realised just how close her smirking lips were to his. So, he quickly redirected his anger onto someone else, namely Charlotte since he'd given her a task to complete after the incident last week.

"I sent you an email, last week." The teen stated dryly, giving him one of her dead-eyed stares because he was accusing her of slacking off. She was Charlotte, the reliable one, if her boss needed something she'd do it and she wasn't gonna be held responsible if he was too busy getting it on with his girl to realise that his order had been delivered.

"You know I don't read my emails unless you send me a text telling me to read my emails," Ray replied petulantly, trying to not seem like the idiot in this situation. (y/n) knew that all too well, he was so...forgetful, so distracted by things he deemed more important than a boring, old email, so he needed several reminders since he was usually busy eating, showering, napping, training, playing games or loving up her to notice.

"I also sent you a text," Charlotte stated, which was grinding for the man to hear, so much that he couldn't help but growl and reach out with grabbing hands, only for Henry to shove (y/n) into them instead. He could hold onto her for a bit, she could help him calm down a bit because God knows that he needed it and she craved it and it came with the bonus that Ray wouldn't kill Charlotte for his mistake.

"All right, all right, just...hug (y/n), there you go...will you just tell us who these Thumb Buddies are?" The boy then turned to his friend, who didn't know how to tell them that there wasn't much to tell. She'd trawled through every newspaper, every magazine, every gossip column, social media accounts, private records and public information to work out just who they were dealing with. Dorks. Normal, kooky dorks with nothing exciting and nothing to fear, hardly worth getting so upset over because they were people. Merely people.

"They're just...they're just guys. Regular guys, who started fighting crime." She said slowly, trying to phrase it gently, but just how gentle could she be when telling them that there was no dirt to sell to the press or legitimate reason for the city to be fawning over them?

"Then, why is everyone making such a big deal about them?" Ray asked in a distraught tone as his fingers danced up and down his sweet girl's satin-covered spine. It soothed him, feeling the curves and contours of her body, which he practically had memorised at this point, and feeling her forehead rested against his shoulder calmed him even more. He couldn't get mad when he had to stay still and give her affection.

"Well, they're new and they seem nice." Well, he could when Jasper was the one stating facts. God, he said it in such a plain, obvious way and it aggravated everything, making Ray see red. His hands seized (y/n)'s hips and squeezed and he couldn't help but shout, though he did take care to not shout directly into her ear.

"We're very nice!"

"Yeah, we're delightful, Jasper!" Even Henry couldn't help but snap too because he felt the same; they had everything the Thumb Buddies had and more, it was just because he lived in a throw-away society that it wasn't good enough. He'd finally reached the point where he was no longer new and exciting, the same with (y/n) and she'd been the latest to join. They were nothing new, so that meant they weren't wanted anymore...how depressing.

"Jeez, stop shouting, doofus. I think you're overreacting to this." (y/n) grumbled when her moment of peace was shattered because of her stupidly loud fiancé. She'd been enjoying that, had liked just breathing him in for a moment with just his hands on her back and his cologne in her nose, it was intimate yet softly so, just enough to satisfy the unending need to have him close. That is until they got upset again and she accidentally poured petrol on the bonfire.

"Overreacting?! We're overreacting? This is underreacting!"

"Overreacting? Oh-ho-ho, this--this is subtle!" The boys hissed, once again feeling betrayed by her cool response to the news that these new heroes were the greatest thing since sliced bread. That gained them an eye roll because with how many good times they shared, it was easy to forget how childish and proud Ray could be and how that had rubbed off on his most impressionable sidekick. She adored him, both of them, but god, could they be any more annoying?

"Hey! Look how popular those guys are," Jasper suddenly drew their attention back to the news and once it was unmuted, Ray and Henry found themselves with more cause for clenching their jaws.

In the time they had been "underreacting", tons of fans had seen the Thumb Buddies on the news and had gathered in the grungy Nacho Ball, almost to the point where no one else could fit into the restaurant. Each one was waving bits of nacho sacks for autographs or PearPhones for selfies, shouting and proclaiming their newfound love just as they used to do for Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger. All that just for them?

"And as you can see, it looks like everyone wants their tacos signed by the Thumb Buddies. Back to you, Trent."

"And Mary!"

"Looks like the Thumb Buddies are gonna be autographing tacos for quite a while, so if you're in the area of Nacho Ball, you might wanna head on over there and meet them." The report finished with the shining smiles of Trent and Mary and the dark frowns of Henry and Ray, who'd grown more and more livid with each swirl of the pens held by the Thumb Buddies. When was the last time they'd been swamped by fans wanting an autograph? Right, before these clowns turned up with their stupid kneepads and orange jackets.

"Are they--are they kidding me?! Not even a mention of the thing we did at the baseball game?" Ray whined as he plonked himself onto the back of the couch with a sour pout on his face. That prompted (y/n) to wander over with a sympathetic expression written on hers. He might have been annoying her but that didn't mean she didn't understand what he was feeling and looking so sad she couldn't help but intervene.

"Just let it go, sweetheart. We don't need a party for every mission we complete." The woman told him gently, standing in between his legs and stroking her hands over his scratchy cheeks that would be due a shave in a couple of days. The praise was nice but by no means necessary, just knowing that they'd do the right thing should've been enough.

"But sweet girl, I--"

"Wait, wait, wait, stop kissing, shhh!" Henry suddenly shushed their little pep talk when the next story flashed up on the monitor and it was like the producers could hear their prayers. Okay, his assumption that they'd sloped off to the back to makeout was misplaced and a bit annoying but Ray didn't care, not when he saw that the city's baseball match was up next. 

"Didn't even get one kiss, let alone kissing..." (y/n) muttered under her breath as Ray scrambled to stand next to Henry. She'd been building up to that and had been hoping for some adoration from the man since they'd been talking about these Thumb Buddies for far too long. Couldn't they just change out of their uniforms and watch a movie or two? Laze the rest of the afternoon away?

"And now, some news about today's baseball game. The Swellview Sailors lost seven to three..." Trent reported the score and left an awkward gap, which made everyone hang on to his every word for that crucial addition, "Captain Man and sidekicks save the day". However, he said nothing and didn't even crack a smile as his viewers waited for an explanation or development that never came, much to the heartbreak of the boys. "That's it."

"All right, that does it! We're going down to Nacho Ball and we're gonna tell those rotten thumb buddies that Swellview is our town!"

"Our town!" Ray and Henry growled because Trent's failure to mention their heroism for the day meant one thing. All-out war. If these Thumb Buddies wanted to take over their turf then they were just gonna have to fight them for it and they'd see who was the best when they had a proton blaster being waved in their faces. 

"Who needs the Thumb Buddies?"

"Nobody!" It was safe to say that they were ranting and blinded by the red haze of frustration from being ranked second place behind two bozos from nowhere. Were they gonna march into a Nacho Ball and cause a scene because they were jealous? Hell yeah.

"Nobody I know!"

"Exactly!"

"I fought a bear!" Ray exclaimed as they marched off towards the tubes again. It didn't matter that they were tired from an eventful mission, it didn't matter that (y/n) groaned and looked up to the ceiling with a silent plea for some invisible for to make them see sense but it wasn't happening. It was either stay in the Man Cave and hear all about how Captain Man and Kid Danger made fools out of themselves or she bit the bullet and went with them to try and avert disaster. Why did she love this job again?

"Are you gonna go with them?" Charlotte asked her with the same bored tone and the dry look she'd been wearing all afternoon, ever since this problem fell into her lap. In some ways, she admired the woman for being so loyal since not many people would still work after being led into reckless decisions so many times but then again, there was being loyal and then there was being dumb. Which one was (y/n)? Love made her do dumb things for all the right reasons.

"Yeah, someone needs to care since they don't." The heroine sighed tiredly and trudged along behind them, mentally preparing her camera face again since she'd end up in the papers one way or another. It would be something ridiculous like "Miss Danger spotted with Thumb Buddy, has she moved on?" or "Have Miss Danger and Captain Man called it quits?". Stupid, irrelevant headlines that were always far from the truth.

"If I come with you, do you promise to watch that new rom-com with me? The one with Tom Hiddleston in it?" (y/n) asked her doofus as she ascended the steps and wrapped her arms around his neck, ready to go up the tube. 

That was a toughie; on one hand, he loved sitting down to watch a rom-com with her since they were boring but the perfect opportunity to just...admire her. But on the other hand, he'd have to admire her as she admired Tim Hiddlestick or whatever he was called with his stupid suave accent and perfect face. A celebrity crush was a celebrity crush, hardly anything substantial but still. Did he have to see her drool over someone who wasn't him?

"...Fine. Just because I love you." Ray conceded, deciding to indulge his darling girl since she was so graciously following him on a personal mission to bitch and moan at two men he'd never met. Precious girl, keeping him from sinking into self-ruin, he could survive one movie for her, after all, Theo Piddleson wasn't the one who was gonna be waiting for her at the end of the aisle.

"Thanks, doofus. I lo--"

"W-w-wait--wait! Since you guys are going to Nacho Ball, can you pick me up a three-ball nacho sack?" Jasper butted in, thinking with his stomach and not his head--a grave error to make. (y/n) didn't think anything of it, to be fair, she'd probably pick up a snack once they were done berating the Thumb Buddies, but Ray took it much more seriously. He was enjoying a moment with his fiancée, she was about to say those three words that he'd never thought he'd have the privilege of hearing and he'd cut her off. Not cool, man.

"No, we're not gonna pick you up a three---what are you wearing?" Ray stammered and took a double-take when he finally saw what the boy was wearing. This was his gravest error. It was obvious now he was looking at him properly and with those faces smiling up at him, it was impossible not to notice. The lettering, the photo, and him interrupting the moment were infuriating and all of a sudden, he was breaking away from (y/n) to pick another fight.

"What do you mean?" Jasper's hands moved to cover his chest as if he'd been burnt, quick and reflexive. Charlotte couldn't help but grin; her warning had not been heeded and now, he was about to face the consequences for thinking he knew everything. 

"Move your hands," Ray ordered him. He didn't want to sound too harsh, deep down he knew that Jasper was still a kid and he wasn't about to yell, not when his sweet girl and other employees were in earshot but damn it, he knew what he'd seen. Jasper could move his hands over the pattern as much as he wanted, but he could still see those eyes peeking out.

"Jasper, just move your hands away from your shirt,"

"Yeah, you're not in any trouble," (y/n) agreed with Henry after Ray turned to them for help. It was no secret that the kid wasn't slightly afraid of them like he was with Ray, so they'd be able to get through to him hopefully, but those were famous last words that the woman couldn't guarantee. With her, he wasn't in any trouble at all but with Ray, that was a different matter because he'd labelled those men as enemies and he was supporting them, even if he didn't see it that way.

So, slowly, very, very slowly, Jasper parted his fingers, revealing his Thumb Buddies shirt in all of its glory, much to his terror and Ray's disappointment. Someone get (y/n) on hand, he preferred to have his head on his shoulders, not rolling along the floor...

"Wow..."

"Calm down, calm down, it's fine, just look at me, doofus..." (y/n) moved like lightning as she watched Ray's eyes darken. Henry was gonna let her do most of the work since she was the expert at taming Ray but he still offered a hand on his boss' shoulder as another force guiding him back to the tubes. If they could just get him out of the Man Cave, he'd probably forget about this and Jasper would live to make another mistake, another day.

"It's fine..."

"We're all good, just come with me."

"It's totally fine..."

"You good?"

"I'mma just walk away..." So far, so good. Ray melted into his girl's touch like her soft words were working and with Henry helping out, for a moment, the sidekicks thought that they were gonna get away with this one. The man seemed calm and suspiciously reasonable for a guy famed for having a ridiculously short temper and childish personality, almost too suspiciously as if it was all too good to be true.

And it was. Ray just couldn't take it, he couldn't have those sorry excuses for superheroes being showcased in his secret hideout and in a moment of madness, he went berserk. No thought, no beforehand, no thinking things through, he just grabbed a spare blaster from a rogue and began firing to the beat of his frustrated grunts and groans. So much for having a magic touch, Henry and (y/n) were instantly wrangling to get him under control rather than treating him with the utmost care.

"Raymond, put it down, you moron!" (y/n) screeched as Jasper hit the deck and Charlotte hastily opened an umbrella. Oh yeah, that was gonna keep her nice and safe. Jasper was in a similar position, although he at least had the sense to clumsily scramble for cover as (y/n) did her best to get her rogue lover under control, mainly by jumping on his back and trying to steer his fire away from the boy. It was a damn good job that Ray was a shit shot with an even shittier aim because otherwise, Jasper would be a goner as her weight was doing nothing to make those muscles move.

"Ray!"

"Raymond Manchester, I swear to god, if you don't stop trying to kill one of our employees, you'll be walking down the aisle by yourself!" The woman played her trump card by shouting the warning into his ear and as the threat wormed its way through the labyrinth of Ray's brain, his lasers slowly tapered off. 

Alone? On his wedding day? No sweet girl? No Mrs Manchester? Well, he'd wrap Jasper up in cotton wool, beg on his knees for the rest of his life and worship that boy if it made her happy and prevented that terrible possibility from becoming true. 

That gave Jasper enough time to wriggle through one of the holes in the sprocket and hide behind the thick metal as Ray lowered his weapon and Charlotte closed her umbrella. Right, in future, they'd be using the no wedding warning to get him to cease because Jesus, he could've hurt someone.

"Dude! That was dangerous! What if you hit him?" Henry asked sternly as (y/n) frowned and folded her arms. What had he been thinking? She'd never cancel the wedding, not unless something heartbreakingly catastrophic happened, but it had been enough to shock him into stopping, not that Ray shared their worry about hurting Jasper. The only thing he cared about was giving his best puppy dog eyes to his fiancée. Yeah, she'd be needing a bit more than that.

"Oh, it was set to a light stun!...ooh! Wait...yikes!" Ray brushed their worries away because he'd assumed that the weapon was just zapping lightly and Jasper, had he been hit, would have been fine...or not. To his and (y/n)'s and Henry's horror, the blaster had actually been programmed to burn and sear flesh, a setting reserved for their greatest and most hated enemies, not for the kid they were all so fond of.

"Raymond. Get your ass up those stairs before I kick it from here to Nacho Bell." (y/n) glowered at her dumb doofus and he ashamedly shuffled up to the tubes with eyes meeting the ground. He hated how angry she was and how she gave him the cold shoulder as they were packed into a single tube, his arms being the only thing keeping them pressed together because right now, she could barely look at him.

It stung and as the seconds passed, he found himself growing more and more embarrassed by his outburst as they whooshed off without Jasper left behind to lick his wounds. She'd forgive him in a bit but in the meantime? Ray Manchester was firmly on the naughty step.

~Nacho Ball~

Well, this was homey. As shown on the news, Nacho Ball was packed full of people and whether they had gone there for the food or not was irrelevant. The only thing that mattered to Ray and Henry was that everyone and they meant everyone, was collecting their order and then pandering to the Thumb Buddies like over-excited children--which most of them were.

Everyone boy, girl man, woman and toddler giggled and blushed as they approached the small table that the staff had set up for the men so they could hand out free t-shirts, selfies and sign tacos, and for the boys, it was enraging, perhaps even humiliating. There was a time when people used to do that for them, they'd queue around the block just to get a glimpse of their red and blue uniform but now? They were old news, pushed aside for the newest toys in the toybox.

And that wasn't the worst bit.

"Hey, isn't that your obnoxious little sister in there with the Thumb Buddies?" Ray asked as the trio peered through the glass door and assessed the situation, which was when they saw the biggest betrayal of all. There was Piper, fawning over the Thumb Buddies as they gave her a free shirt and signed everything she pushed in front of them. What the hell? She was supposed to love them and be their biggest fan, but that was not what they were seeing. Traitor.

"Yeah...what is she doing?" Henry breathed out as he watched his sister take an obnoxiously happy selfie with their rivals, something which made their skin bristle. Well, his and Ray's skin, (y/n) wasn't particularly bothered, not when she could smell that greasy, not-good-for-you-at-all goodness just waiting for her to buy. They hadn't had lunch yet, couldn't they forget about these guys and just move on, much like she was trying to do about the whole Ray-Jasper blaster incident? Was that too much to ask?

"Uh, I thought she was supposed to be the president of the Captain Man fan club," The hero stated bitterly as he stared at the alarmingly pink shirt that Piper had thrown over her cute outfit and how it proclaimed all her love for those idiots. He, out of the kindness of his heart and perhaps just a little bit of simping for his then-best friend, had made her president of the Man Fans all those years ago and this was how she repaid him? Et Tu, Piper?

"Yeah, she is, but you can like two things, doo--oh, sweet cheese, here she comes..." (y/n) muttered before trailing off as the girl abruptly turned around and headed for the door, straight for the ensnaring superheroes. Oh dear, (y/n) would hold them back as much as she could but even with her best, this was gonna be excruciating.

"Hello." Yep, it was excruciating and they'd only said one word. Before the heroine could tell them that confrontation was a bad idea, y'know, caring so they didn't have to again even though she had every right in the world to just leave them to it, they marched into the restaurant and that was where the awkwardness began. 

Ray stood with his hip jutted out at an angle and even lanky Henry cut an imposing figure as he towered over his shocked sister with a sour expression on his face. There was nowhere for the girl to go and when she looked at Miss Danger for an explanation, all she got was a wince because they were in too deep now to go back, like they were a jealous girlfriend confronting her boyfriend for being with someone else. This shit was getting weird.

"Yeah, hi, Pi---Hello, little girl," Henry added, switching his voice at the last minute when he realised that Kid Danger did not know Piper Hart on a personal level, no matter how many times they'd interacted.

"Ah, jeez..."

"Uhhh, h--hey, Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger. I, uh, didn't expect to see you guys here," Piper stammered awkwardly as her palms grew clammy around her tray of food. It truly was like she'd been caught out, stuck between her new lover and her old one, especially when the boys pettily folded their arms like she was in the wrong. God, (y/n) felt first-hand embarrassment, second-hand embarrassment, third-hand embarrassment, fourth-hand...and so on.

"Yeah, we bet you didn't."

"Yeah, we bet you didn't." Ray and Henry spat, giving a pretty good impression of Regina George as they stood there like a couple of mean girls, bored yet spiteful looks on their faces and for what? Piper hadn't done anything wrong, who said she was switching sides?

"Yeah, well, I--I..."

"Nice t-shirt."

"Yeah, with the Thumb Buddies on it," Ray flicked his fingers towards the hot pink material Piper was wearing, specifically the spot on her chest that had that stupid smiley pic of them together. He could feel his sweet girl glaring daggers into the side of his head and the way she was growing more and more restless by the scene they were causing but he wasn't done yet. Oh, he had a lot more to say, no matter how much his heart was tugging his brain towards the door and the idea of going home, where he could make all of his wrongs right.

"Oh, come on, this is just a t-shirt. It's not like I'm their number one fan!" Piper chuckled nervously and tried to play down the reasons why she'd put the shirt on in the first place. It wasn't a big deal, just a freebie she'd been given by two new celebrities, hardly the legends that were Captain Man and his sidekicks. Of course, she still loved them, but that's not what they were hearing.

"Oh, really? Then explain this!" Ray snapped and pushed the girl to turn around so they could see the back of her t-shirt, which had the icing to go on the traitorous cake. In big, white, stupid lettering, Piper's back read "thumber 1 fan" and as if the pun wasn't bad enough, the meaning behind the words was just another knife in their hearts. She could lie to them all she wanted but they knew the truth; the cold, heartbreaking truth.

"Thumber one fan?"

"Jeez, man..." She made them sick, and if (y/n) was just a little bit braver, she might've mocked them for that. She could tell them that all kids make mistakes but on second thought, she wasn't even sure that Piper had. So she was wearing a shirt with a dumb pun on it that promoted other heroes, so what? 

"Don't you think you're overreacting now, Captain Man?" The woman hissed to the man, slightly turning her back on Piper so she would struggle to hear her. The last thing she wanted was for Piper's view of her fiancée to dip, he deserved to be loved for his bravery, just not his partial stupidity, which was working against her right now. Piper didn't hear her, thank god, but neither did Ray, not when he didn't want to listen.

"Okay, look, I know this was wrong, I just really wanted to meet them, and have them sign a taco and take a selfie but it was just this one time, I swear! It didn't mean anything!" Piper begged them desperately, and alarmingly, she was starting to cross into the "yeah, I cheated but it didn't mean anything" territory of being caught red-handed. Things were starting to echo a really bad teen breakup movie and the boys weren't helping, not even caring when (y/n) tiredly pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She gave up staying at home for this shit...

"You know what? Just forget it."

"Yeah, we have something to do, so..." And here came the awkward confrontation of meeting "the new guy", or in this case, the Thumb Buddies. They'd had a go at the cheater and now it was time to slag off the one who dared to take their place, which made (y/n) groan loudly and unapologetically as she stomped after them, and Piper watching on forlorn.

"Hey, what's up? How's it going?"

"All right, okay..."

"Hi, yeah, sorry--ooh, nice shirt, where'd you get that?... Yeah, just following my idiot of a fia--boyfriend...hey..." Of course, slagging off "the new guy" had to come with a little showing off too, just to show them who they were messing with and the cheater who they'd given up in the process. 

The room's reaction was instantaneous; once Captain Man, Kid Danger and Miss Danger made themselves apparent in the middle of the restaurant, people began to switch sides. What the Thumb Buddies had previously had was given to them, the adoration, the excited squeals, the constant hellos and how are yous, the phones that were suddenly shoved in their faces because holy shit, it was Captain Man, Kid Danger and Miss Danger! Cue the fangirling/boying. 

Piper stomped off humiliated and (y/n) made a mental note to make it up to her later as she graciously smiled at everyone who greeted her, from the cutest kids with their colour-in menus to the cocky high school seniors who thought they had a chance at taking her on a date. 

Hell, on second glance, even the Thumb Buddies seemed to be stunned and hyperventilating from their presence, which was a huge ego boost for Henry and Ray as they preened under all of the attention that had found its way back to the right people. This was more like it.

"MARRY ME, MISS DANGER!" A churlish voice came from the back, probably from the table of football players in the corner, who thought they were so clever with their cheap cologne and playground popularity. Okay, Ray loved the attention but not when it reached this point, not when the odd idiot around the room failed to read the signs that those shoes were already filled, never to be empty again if everything went smoothly. 

So, much to the squeals, jealousy and thrill of the others in the Nacho Ball, he slung an arm around (y/n)'s waist and pulled her close to his chest to show those morons, wherever they were in the sea of people, that this little fling of theirs as the magazines called it, that he was already set to have her as his wife. (y/n) blushed and shyly rested her palm on his chest as she ignored the camera flashes, acutely aware that this was gonna be posted online in a few hours, and the last thing she needed was to be scrutinised for all the wrong reasons.

They'd been so careful with what they'd fed to the press. Sure, there had been speculation on just what stage their relationship was at but there had been no official, definitive announcement for the world to savage, pull apart and sulk about. No hearts had been too broken because for most, they were still boyfriend and girlfriend. That wasn't serious, it couldn't be, please, tell them that Captain Man hadn't settled down and please, tell them that Miss Danger hadn't settled for less than she deserved. Still, no time like the present and some provoking to shove things in the right direction. 

"All right, everybody out! Right now! Customers, employees and the gunches who keep asking my fiancée to marry them, we have official business with the Thumb Buddies, so goodbye!" Ray gave no fucks. 

Without a second thought, he and Henry grabbed the portable tannoy system from their belts, which were rarely used, and ushered the crowd from the restaurant, although they weren't as obstructive and annoyed as you might think. No, they were far too preoccupied with Captain Man's very public announcement that he and Miss Danger were...engaged? 

Someone call KLVY because sweet cheese, this was huge! Some were shocked, some were whispering excitedly with their friends, some were disappointed and one girl was straight-up crying. Guess she had quite the crush on one of the heroes that had now been obliterated.

"That's right, one foot in front of the other! You can walk and murmur about what I just said at the same time! You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here..." The man was shameless and having Henry back him up wasn't helping as the trembling Thumb Buddies rose from their seats and (y/n) stood frozen like a statue. Had he just told a room full of people that they were getting married or was she just crazy? It was gonna happen at one point but jeez, she wasn't expecting that...

"You okay, sweet girl?" A soft voice suddenly sounded and she snapped out of her daydream to see that Ray was back by her side after shoving the last person through the doors. For such a huge guy, he sure could be silent when he wanted to be and despite his bumbling size, he was never rough, not with her. Well, not unless she wanted him to be, but right now, she wasn't talking to moron Ray, she was speaking to darling Ray, the one who'd gotten down on one knee and given her a ring with the sweetest words she'd ever heard.

"Yeah...you do know you just told everyone we're engaged, right? The whole world will know now..." (y/n) whispered to him as one hand settled in her lower back and the other picked up her left hand, one finger stroking over the place where her engagement ring would be if she wasn't in uniform. 

It was...new, maybe a bit overwhelming but still a good feeling to know that everyone else was caught with them, which meant no more lies and rumours about how they secretly hated each other and everything was for show. This was nice, impromptu, but nice.

"Let them know. I want the whole world to see how much I love you," Ray whispered after tenderly kissing her cheek, his lips moving across to ghost past her ear. It tickled, made her blush and caused a grin to spread on her face at the sentiment; she would've thought he'd be shy and reluctant to let everyone know his business since professions of love weren't gonna bolster his tough-guy reputation, but this was the opposite. Newsflash: Captain Man's soft spot revealed.

"Is that...okay with you?" This man. This fucking man, could he be any more perfect? Sure, it was too late to go back on his words but still, her comfort came above everything for him and unlike most, he never missed a chance to make sure everything was okay between them.

"More than okay. It's perfect, doofus...I love you," (y/n) replied gently, unable to stop herself from saying the words she'd been denied earlier because this was just a micro-step in them getting closer and closer to the big day. Everything was still in the infancy stage with very little planned apart from a rough idea of who was going to be there and doing what yet they were getting there, very slowly but very surely. 

Now, Henry was a patient boy, especially when it came to these two. He could take the kissing, the random breaks they seemed to take to say some mushy stuff and even their borderline obsessive behaviour when it came to needing physical affection every five seconds, but he had his limits. Okay, one smooch and that was him done; this was a Nacho Ball, for god's sake, hardly the time or place and the Thumb Buddies were getting restless. Time to intervene.

"Uh, Captain Man? Miss Danger?" He cleared his throat as the kiss lingered on and on and on. Maybe he was a killjoy but when they had interrogations to do about who these idiots were and where they had come from, he had to draw the line somewhere, especially when he'd allowed the moment to stretch on for as long as he had.

"Ugh, fine, you can have him back..." (y/n) pouted as she relinquished her hold on her doofus and accepted that he couldn't be soft and squishy forever. Out here in the world, he wasn't Ray Manchester, he was Captain Man and she was Miss Danger, with nothing to shield them if they revealed who they truly were. He'd go back to being an ass and she'd have to wait until they were back home to see the real him again.

"Now..."

"You two..." And just like that, they were back to it like nothing had happened in between. The boys descended into intimidation again and (y/n) prepared herself for awkwardness by folding her arms and acting as uninterested as humanly possible. What was though, was how excited the Thumb Buddies looked. To most people, Ray and Henry would look pretty terrifying right now but all they could muster was a constipated look of delight. Maybe it was nerves?

"We don't know where you came from..."

"We don't wanna know..." Still, no change in their expressions, even as they edge closer. Could it be possible that the Thumb Buddies weren't the dastardly villains that Ray and Henry had painted them out to be? (y/n) couldn't say for certain, but they looked so happy, perhaps a little too happy...

"But I'm gonna tell you something right now...okay, why are you smiling at us like that?" Ray asked as their grins unnerved him. It was kinda difficult to act all mean and serious when they weren't flinching or shaking, this was the opposite of what he had been expecting. Why weren't they scared? Why weren't they begging for forgiveness? Come on, he was supposed to be giving them what for.

"Joey...I--I--I think I'm gonna faint..." The smallest of the men stuttered to his friend as his wide eyes stayed on the three heroes, his hands grabbing onto the taller man's arm as if he needed to steady himself. Jeez, were they that imposing? (y/n) had always seen herself as quite friendly and approachable, but when she gave them a reassuring smile, his eye did a funny twitching thing. 

"Just--just hold onto me."

"I'm gonna faint!"

"Just live in the moment, okay? Just breathe and live this moment," The tallest of the two, Joey apparently, encouraged his friend, who began to take deep, calming breaths that seemed to settle his nerves. Joey was hyper too but he hid it much better than his friend with the moustache, who, despite his breathing, still needed to hold his arm for support as Captain Man swapped some confused looks with his sidekicks.

"Okay...OH, GOD, WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS REAL LIFE!" All of their attempts to stay calm were in vain because the moment they let down their guards, it all came pouring out. It was slightly alarming to be shouted at about how much they were loved, so (y/n)'s hand sought out Ray's as her calming measure, but they were used to it. Screeching fans were an occupational hazard for them and these guys were no different, even if this was a complete three-sixty on what they had been expecting; "the new guy" was chill? Go figure.

"Okay, what is going on?" Henry demanded as he watched two normal if slightly oafish men fanboy over him, his boss and his boss's fiancée. Had he missed something? He'd expected this confrontation to be dramatic and angsty, not dorky and amicable because they were supposed to be the replacement and they were supposed to be the jilted exes...or something to that metaphoric effect.

"I think they're a lot nicer than you originally thought," (y/n) murmured without taking her eyes off of the men. Ray's hand squeezed hers and it was enough to not get nervous but the confusion was still there; Charlotte had been right, these two were nothing special, just two dorks in strange costumes who decided to be vigilantes. Oh, how she hated to say I told you so...

"It's just...the only reason we ever decided to be crimefighters--"

"--Is 'cause we want to be exactly like you three!"

"We humble ourselves before you..." Ray, Henry and (y/n) were speechless as the THumb Buddies revealed their almost devout love and loyalty for them but also knelt to the ground and bowed their heads as if they were in the presence of royalty.

Okay, perhaps it was a bit extra, demeaning to them, and embarrassing for the trio to be revered as superiors but it was also kind of flattering, and definitely a slap in the face for Henry and Ray. You could say that they hadn't just got the wrong end of the stick, they'd chosen a completely different stick entirely, one that was far from the truth.

"These guys are all right."

"Yeah, I'm starting to like these guys..." And just like that, Henry and Ray's opinions were turned on their heads, much to the frustration of (y/n). They changed theories as quickly as they had formed them and only when they were faced with irrefutable evidence, not someone else's wisdom. Her wisdom, they'd ignored it and now, they looked like idiots. Jealous, moronic idiots.

"You could've just listened to me, but nooooo. Miss Danger just likes to listen to herself say smart stuff, she doesn't want anyone to actually follow it." The woman growled sarcastically and slapped them both upside the head for pissing her off. One of these days, they'd listened to her when she said something to save them from trouble and then, they wouldn't end up in tricky situations. Y'know, like having two men kneeling before them.

"Sorry, sweet girl--I mean, uh, fellas, you may rise before us." Ray stammered a quick apology to his precious girl before grabbing his microphone and addressing the Thumb Buddies like he was their king and they were pitiful peasants. He was loving this; as much as he'd. hanged his mind to see them as equals, not enemies, he refused to let them know that because he was the experienced, dog-eared hero who'd saved the city from peril for twenty years or more. They were just starting out and as such, needed to show him some respect.

"Look, guys. Y'know, the whole superhero thing, it's sort of my--oh..."

"Emergency..." (y/n) muttered as Ray was interrupted by the quiet beeping of his phone. An emergency call was being put through and it wasn't like he could ignore it, even if he was about to tell the Thumb Buddies that Swellview was his city, no matter how much they helped or won the hearts of its people.

"They're getting a real emergency call!"

"I know, I know! Shhhh! Shhhh! Shhhhhhhhh!" The smaller man shushed Joey as he freaked out. So far, all they'd managed to pull off was stopping petty thieves and scavenging the leftovers of Captain Man's fights, so they'd not properly sunk their teeth into a meaty crime yet. Therefore, the notion of a genuine emergency, one fit for only the best, was cause for them to get giddy again.

"I should probably take this. If you'll excuse me..." Ray inclined his head towards the vigilantes politely and sloped off to the side to answer the call as the Thumb Buddies spluttered every respectful phrase they knew. To be honest, Ray could kick their dog and spit on their grandmothers and they'd probably say thank you, that was just how much they loved him. (y/n) and Henry, however, had no idea what to say, their boss normally led the talking for them.

"Where are you going?"

"We don't know these--we don't know what to say! Don't you dare walk out--oh, god." The sidekicks spluttered as Ray walked out the door with just a loving look over his shoulder at his sweet girl and nothing more. Oh, that was chivalrous, leaving them in it. Now, it was gonna be awkward and the pair prayed for a conversation point to make itself known as they slowly turned around to face the Thumb Buddies again.

"So..." Good start from Henry, certainly better than whatever (y/n) had planned as their watery smiles paled in comparison to their enormous grins, "The Thumb Buddies. Cool name."

"Nah. It's stupid..." Joey said bashfully, making (y/n) smile softly at how friendly they seemed. They weren't the brightest pair she'd ever met and they definitely had a childish streak in their personalities but it kinda reminded her of Ray and the playfulness that endeared him to her. They were dorks but she was famous for liking those, doofuses specifically, so hearing them be so hard on themselves strangely struck a nerve.

"Don't be so hard on yourselves, it's cute. How did you come up with it?" She asked with as much interest as she could muster in her voice.

"Well, Mark and I used to be dance instructors," Joey started. He and the smaller, moustache man, now known as Mark, began to lazily demonstrate one of their old routines, making Henry's smile falter from the awkwardness and (y/n)'s grow from how...endearingly quaint they were. What was it with her and dorks? She didn't fancy them or anything, far from it, she'd already found her perfect doofus for that, but they were so nerdy and weird she couldn't help but relax. 

"We taught the elderly to dance," And with an explanation like that, she was sold. She liked these guys, they were the kind of people she would've hung out with in college. Misfits and weirdos.

"But we never really felt fulfilled, y'know?"

"We felt like a couple of...nobodies." They went on, making Henry nervously look back at the door every five seconds as (y/n) kindly listened intently. He wanted Ray to come back now, he wouldn't tolerate a long-winded life story that made him want to tear his eyeballs from their sockets, he'd tell them straight and that'd be it. How long could one phone call take?

"But then, one night, we were having dinner with my sister and she says, you guysth!"

"'Cause she talks with a lisp!" Mark chuckled as Joey slurred his speech to be a bit more comical, enough for (y/n)'s gentle smile to twinge as they enjoyed retelling the story. Someone kill Henry now, he was having a dork overload and it was bad enough spending eighty per cent of her time with her and Ray being dorks in love.

"She does! She says, you guysth! You don't have to be nobodiesth! You can be sthomebodies!"

"And we were like, Sthombodies?!"

"Which sounded like Thumb...Buddies!"

"So now, that's who we are."

"The Thumb Buddies!...Boop!" Well, that was an adorkable story and to top it all off, they seemed to have like a strange, handshake thing which involved pressing their thumbs together and squeaking, which was...normal. Henry was getting a vibe here, a very specific vibe that came from a very specific kind of dork. 

Y'see, over these years he'd become an expert in what he called dorkology--the study of dorks, mainly because he worked for one. Ray was a dork, specifically a doofus, and on the chart of dorks, he was somewhere in between a nerd and a dweeb, possibly edging on being a sap but nowhere near being a dunce. Frankly, he was a dork but not a Thumb Buddy dork.

It all sounded very complicated but by Henry's calculations, Ray might have been a dork but he was a dork who got the ladies, very well by previous accounts. A dork who found themselves a mate in the wild was rare and it was only specific groups who could be so lucky. Many dorks found themselves unappealing to the females of the world and often, there were not nearly enough dorkettes to go around, so Ray finding his perfect bookworm dorkette match in (y/n) was a stroke of star-crossed fortune. 

The Thumb Buddies weren't so lucky though. From where he was standing, he noticed that they weren't blessed with the looks to accompany the personality so, unlike Ray, they weren't doofus, they were dimwits. Dorkette-less dimwits.

"So...I'm guessing you two aren't married." He stated after a brief second of study and placing them securely in the dimwit section of the dork chart. Judging by their amused scoffs and chuckles he was right and judging by how (y/n) knitted her eyebrows and glared at him, she didn't like that. Yeah, on the female dork chart, she was a bookworm, bordering on being a nerd, techie or weenie.

"Nah...just wait for the right girl!"

"That special someone!"

"Where is she?"

"Keep looking! If Captain Man can get someone as perfect as Miss Danger, we can too!" They laughed awkwardly as (y/n)'s cheeks flushed. Dorks couldn't go for the same dorkettes, doofuses were a higher ranking of dork so they got the prettier dorkettes, which was how a moron like Ray won the heart of (y/n), the borderline genius. The Thumb Buddies were on a lower rung, less likely to find themselves a girl since they weren't super-hot, super-cool walls of muscles like Captain Man.

"Trust me, it's worth the wait," (y/n) advised with a gentle smile as they awkwardly tittered about being loveless, much to Henry's amusement. Oh, he loved studying dorks, especially after spending a few years in the field waiting for two to finally discover that they were true dorks. A very complicated science, but rather interesting too, and speak of the dorky devil...

"Kid, sweet girl...Stainless Steve is on the loose." Ray panted as he sprinted back into the restaurant, having just gotten off the phone with Charlotte with some bad news. All of that hard work last week and for nothing because that metal bastard had evaded the useless police before he could be locked up. 

"What? Again? I thought the cops had him," (y/n) practically deflated when she heard the news, although she perked back up again when his arm curled around her back and rested his hand just above her butt. Y'know, she'd get to go home at some point, she'd get to change into some comfy pyjamas and nap at some point too, but of course, the job came first.

"They did, but he got away and now, we gotta go get him again," Ray replied tiredly, soothing her worries by rubbing his thumb against her satin-covered skin. He hated the idea of going through all that effort again but they were the guys to do it. Who else would?

"All right, okay, all right, we're sorry guys--" Henry sighed and turned to the Thumb Buddies, expecting them to understand that they had to go do some serious hero work but to his surprise, they had other ideas. This was their chance to do some proper crime-fighting, not the odd punch-up they had been doing recently.

"No! No, no, no, no, can we go with you?"

"Oh, please, let us come with you!"

"You gotta let us come with you!" Joey and Mark yelled, screamed, and begged the heroes to let them accompany them. Getting in on the action of a real Captain Man and Co fight would be a huge boost to their confidence and they'd finally get a taste of what being a superhero really meant. It was the chance of a lifetime and even if it made them seem a bit desperate, they couldn't help but run and circle the heroes to stop them from walking through the door without taking them first.

"Uh, no..."

"I don't think that's a good idea..."

"We don't usually do guided tours of crime scenes..." Their excuses came quickly as they thought about the prospect of having two inexperienced, untrained noobs following them into what could be a highly dangerous situation. What would happen if Steve was particularly vicious on his return?

Sure, the Thumb Buddies' enthusiasm and endless energy were a bit annoying, the upstaging even more so, but they couldn't let them get hurt. No, having them in the background would just leave them to make mistakes because it was just another thing to worry about.

"I'll rub your shoulders on the way!" Joey offered, which was an odd thing to put on the table. Ray's shoulders were tense, fair enough, he carried the weight of the world on them at times, but he had a very willing girlfriend to do it. (y/n) was more than happy to lavish her doofus with affection as she eased his pain. Seeing him tilt his head back and hearing him groan and praise her dextrous fingers was a dream, but admiring and having her lips on his broad shoulders and neck was bliss.

"What? No, I'm sorry, boys, but I'm the only one who rubs Cap--"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Or not. (y/n) snapped her head in Ray's direction when he interrupted her gentle protests with a raised hand. Okay, was he considering this? She wasn't going to but she could rub his shoulders if he wanted that, he didn't need a Thumb Buddy to help out. Consider her thoroughly confused. "You'll rub my shoulders?"

"Sure!"

"You got good hands?" Rude, much? Her hands were great, probably smaller than Joey's but still powerful. She punched people for a living, there was power in those paws. And yet, apparently, he didn't want her doing that. What was Raymond's game?

"Yeah!" Joey exclaimed and raised his hands to show Captain Man just how big they were. He could cover more ground and get at those knots. He just needed to say the word.

"All right, let's go..." There was the word. Henry and (y/n) stammered and staggered after the hero as he casually walked past the celebrating Thumb Buddies and out the door. (y/n) had to practically jog just to keep up with him as the men put on their serious faces and swaggered behind them, which left her with a minute to ask a question. Why?

"My shoulder rubs not good enough anymore, doofus?" The woman asked as she caught up enough to speedily walk beside him, although there was no malice in her tone, just a genuine curiosity as to why he'd allowed two amateur vigilantes to tag along. There had to be an ulterior motive, she just couldn't see it.

"You know I love them, sweet girl, but if you're behind me, I can't do this..." Ray smirked as he slowed down to a casual walking pace, one that was much more suited to her shorter legs and the Thumb Buddies' out-of-shape bodies. For a dork, he sure could be cryptic at times and despite her borderline genius, she couldn't always figure his riddles out, not until he put the engima into practice.

"Do what? I don't under--oh my god, Raymond, that's so good..." Her knitted eyebrows soon relaxed--all of her muscles did from their tense, confused state--when Ray dipped behind her and two huge, enormous, massive, colossal, warm hands rested on her small shoulders and began to manipulate her muscles in a way that could only be described as magical.

Seriously, he was clumsy and poorly coordinated at other stuff but with this, he was an artisan., so much that she didn't realise her slip-up as the pleasured sighs fell from her lips every time his thumbs ran across her spine.

"That's Captain Man to you, sweetheart," Ray purred into her ear as his body forced hers to keep walking, even if it was barely a crawl from how much they'd slowed down. The Thumb Buddies were enthralling Henry in another one of their fascinating stories and even though they were distracted, they were catching up, not that (y/n) could even think about going faster. It was hard enough putting one foot in front of the other as his fingers swirled across her shoulders, let alone coming up the brainpower to focus on anything else.

"Yes, Captain..." She whined breathlessly, trudging along with only him on her mind. It wouldn't last forever, eventually, his fingers would cramp up and her muscles would stop feeling so good but for now, she was gonna soak it all up. It was worth it just to feel him shiver against her when she called him by that name.

~A shady house, the backyard~

It wasn't unheard of for athletes to have their shoulders rubbed before a big match, rather, it was common amongst boxers and the like, y'know, the ones who got riled up too quickly and needed to calm down before their focus snapped. That wasn't the situation for Ray, he never got wound up enough for that to happen but one thing was for sure, his mind had never been calmer in the buildup to a fight.

Joey was right, he did have good hands and they were working magic on Ray as they approached a suspicious-looking house in a quiet neighbourhood of Swellview--a little too quiet if you asked (y/n). Much like he'd done with her, Ray was loving the shoulder rub, so much that (y/n) was happily hearing him mumble rubbish to her as he loosely held her hand and rambled. Something about prettiness, weddings and...food? That pretty much summed him up.

As they approached the backyard, things started to get creepy, so it was a good thing that at least one of them could relax. The Thumb Buddies felt fine; with Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger leading the way, they felt unbelievably protected and the sidekicks wished they could say that. Sure, they were confident in their abilities but (y/n)'s tummy was talking to her as they snuck around the old, creaking house and into the backyard, the last known location of Stainless Steve.

Of course, he couldn't have chosen the park or the rich estate to hide, no, he had to hide in the dark and in the neighbourhood where the trash collectors seemed to be on strike. There was crap scattered everywhere, ranging from an old, abandoned sofa to chip packets to an old orange cone, this place was gross, not that Ray seemed to mind that much as he sneakily checked their surroundings with Joey massaging his shoulders and (y/n) safely tucked into his side with her fists ready to swing.

"Kid, you see anything?" He questioned Henry as he walked in behind him, Mark on his tail since they'd each decided to take a Thumb Buddy into their responsibility. They'd hopefully stay safe that way but it was so dark and the bushes were so built up that it was almost impossible to catch a glimpse of shiny metal anywhere. An ambush would be so easy in a place like this...

"No, nothing. You sure Stainless Steve ran this way?" Henry asked as Joey began chopping at the man's spine, causing his ensuing groan to sound funny. They'd been walking around for ages and had seen nothing, which was starting to make him nervous.

"That's what the cop in the police helicopter said, maybe he---ahhhh. Ahhhh, this guy's hands are like magic," Ray grinned as the guy behind him kept rubbing for much longer than his sweet girl ever could. Not to be mean or anything since he'd adore her until his dying day but sometimes bigger hands were just better. They could cover more ground and go on for longer, not to mention the fact that this way, he could have a massage and look at her.

"Thank you..."

"You know, if you're not careful, he'll grab onto you and never let go. It's what happened with me." (y/n) joked as she witnessed Ray's dopey smile and Joey laughed as the hero's cheeks flushed pink. It was a fairly accurate description of how they'd ended up the way they are now; they met, they fell in love, they latched onto each other, never to let go again. It was that simple.

"Hey, hey, hey, look! Footprints...leading up to the shed," Henry suddenly interrupted, pushing all of the jokings to one side as he noticed some familiar prints etched into the dirt below their feet. Too deep to be any of theirs, kinda like the wearer had been weighed down, possibly due to the impossibly heavy metal jacket they always wore. It was him, wasn't it? Steve was in the shed and all they had to do was sneak up to it and nab him, Easy.

"Oh, hey! Do you guys think that Stainless Steve is hiding in there?" Mark asked under his breath. Ten points to the Thumb Buddies for a brilliant deduction; he might have been hiding in there, might being the keyword. Steve could be sneaky when he wanted to be, so every clue was to be taken with a pinch of salt because, in this game, there was no chance to restart if you walked into a trap.

"Yes."

"Probably..."

"Well, we don't know until we look..." The trio replied as they cautiously eyed the shed, pondering about how they were gonna go about this one but for Joey and Mark, that wasn't an option. This seemed like a simple enough mission, just going in and grabbing the villain, so what they asked next seemed like a no-brainer.

"Ooooh, let us go in there and get him!"

"Yeah! Let us do it!" They begged yet again, wanting a chance to do some real crime-fighting for once without having to stick to small operations or mere lucky finds. The last time they'd dealt with Steve, they'd just stumbled upon someone else's hard work and stolen the glory, but this time, they wanted to do things properly. If they'd let them, that is.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..."

"That's not a good idea, guys..."

"It's probably best to let us handle this one..." (y/n) said in line with her friends. In her experience, no mission was ever as easy as it appeared and if they allowed the Thumb Buddies to proceed and then they got hurt, well, that was on them. They were the professionals, they had the knowledge, weapons and backup ready if something went wrong. Mark and Joey didn't, not that they were listening to that reason.

"Please! If you guys will just let us do this, it'll make us feel like we really did something..."

"Like--like our lives have meaning..." Well, when they put it like that, it was nearly impossible to hold the tears in. (y/n)'s watery eyes met Ray's as she and Henry looked to him for the final say and she wondered which side was winning the war in his mind. 

She'd seen it before, hell, she used to be like that, an inconsequential nerd with nothing more than a nine-to-five life as her future when all her heart secretly longed for was an adventure. An odd longing for one so naturally nervous but she understood what they were feeling--the need to belong to something, even if that something wasn't something tangible, like morality or the belief that some things were still good and wholesome and worth fighting for.

"Captain Man?" She asked with hope in her voice, wanting to hear his judgement on the matter so they could put the men out of their misery. He was the boss, he made the call, not her, not Henry, him. What had he decided?

"Well...all right."

"Okay, you guys can get him," He caved, that was his decision. (y/n) broke out into a smile when his softer side came out to play again. Maybe he didn't need his name on this capture, perhaps letting them get a taste of what fighting the big dogs felt like, after all, he remembered what it was like being the newest hero on the scene and trying to find his big break. And seeing the proud smile on his sweet girl's face as they celebrated just sealed the deal; yeah, he'd chosen correctly.

"For real?!"

"Seriously?!" You could say that they were a bit happy at the news, possibly ecstatic. Just a bit. 

"But be careful! We don't want to have to scrape you up off the ground and into a bucket..." (y/n) quelled their excitement as Henry shushed their squeals; the last thing they needed was to give away their position because rule number one for espionage was to always try and have the element of surprise. That was their first lesson, the next lesson was not getting yourself killed before you'd even started because they didn't need the guilt on their consciences.

"Yeah, I don't want those fabulous hands getting hurt," Ray added, which made (y/n) frown at his simping as the Thumb Buddies grinned and blushed. This was it, their moment had come just as Joey's sister had said; time for the dorks to find their place in the world.

"Totally get it, totally get it!" Joey laughed it off as Mark came to face him and then, their smiles dropped into serious, stern expressions, which were completely ill-suited to their natural goofy personalities and whacky costumes. "Okay, man...this is it."

"I love you." Bit much? Bit of bromance going on? It made the heroes share a slightly confused look at how bluntly Mark said it but they understand the sentiment, it was cute. Ray loved (y/n), (y/n) loved Ray, Henry loved (y/n), (y/n) loved Henry, Henry loved Ray, and Ray loved Henry, their unit was built upon trust and a strong friendship, more in the couple's case. It was a good sign and lesson three was to always have your partner's back.

"Yeah...who are we?!" Nobody batted an eyelid at how Joey didn't reciprocate because of how weirdly touching the scene was as they entered lesson four - opening lines must always be cool and must always boost your confidence.

"THUMB BUDDIES!!! Boop!" They shouted as they mashed their thumbs together before charging into the shed with a battle cry sounding out into the night sky. Mark went in first with Joey stumbling over his heels as the wide-eyed superheroes watched on, ready to step in if they needed to but then the doors slammed shut and they assumed that they had everything under control. Until they didn't.

To their absolute horror, shock, terror, surprise and whatever, the shed wasn't a shed. Instead, it was a cleverly disguised trap, revealed when the flimsy, wooden walls fell to the ground with a slam. The trap itself was rather disturbing yet brilliant; a tiny, compact rocket with just enough room for two or three people to squeeze into it if they wanted an uncomfortable jaunt into space and through the small viewing window at the front, they could see the men's terrified faces pressing their noses against the glass. Oh god, they'd said to be careful.

Lesson five, charging in is nearly always a dumb idea. Be the tortoise, not the hare.

"Well, that's weird..." Ray stated as he blinked at the rocket. (y/n) was unable to form words as her hand slapped over her mouth at the peril the Thumb Buddies found themselves in and it didn't take a genius to work out that they were panicking. Well, they would be somebodies after this, the first idiots to not want to go to space. How had it all gone so wrong, so quickly?

"Hey!"

"What's happened?!" Joey and Mark screamed above the noise of the engines starting up, the strange hissing and gentle vibrations of the metal making them feel sick as they realised that the door had been bolted after they ran into the pod. All heroes had bad days but these guys had the worst luck in the world. Not to be a pessimist but it looked like their bad day would be their last...

"Uhhh, uhhhh, we don't know!"

"You seem to be in a rocket," Henry told them as they tried to think of something, anything to help out. They should've known it was a trap, just walking into the shed to make an arrest was too easy but they were the ones who'd wanted to save the day. Their mission, their rules, their tactics. How could they help when they were still figuring out exactly what had happened and how?

"Uh, but don't worry! Everything's gonna be--"

"Activate main engine... Prepare for launch..." (y/n) could tell them not to panic all she wanted but when the rocket's automated voice came on and the thrusters started to fire up and spark flames, it didn't matter. They were panicking, she was panicking because she just knew that they were meant to be the ones in that damn rocket, not the Thumb Buddies, who were just fledging fighters, totally unequipped to go into space.

"Fine?---" 

"Ignition...goodbye." Before she could offer any counsel or advice on how to shut the rocket down, the remaining thrusters kicked in and the shuttle started to shake, rattle and...fly. Screaming and pleading for their lives, the Thumb Buddies watched with pale faces and bloodshot eyes as Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger stood frozen on the lawn, getting smaller and smaller until they were like ants on the ground. 

They were up in the stratosphere before they even spoke again, unable to process that the one time they decided to accept some superhero interns and they accidentally sent them to the moon or something. Definitely not a mission to give to KLVY and certainly not their brightest moment.

"Well, I'll be darned..." Ray muttered as their necks stayed craned at the stars, watching the rocket into it was nothing more than a shooting star crossing the galaxies. (y/n) could swear that a tear rolled down her cheek as they became yet another star in the inky darkness; it was all so damn poetic, they'd wanted to shine and now they would but no one would ever know who they were admiring when they looked up at the sky and happened to see them floating past. They'd be immortalised in space and free to wander the cosmos as the Earth kept spinning...would anyone miss them?

Her thoughtful reflection was broken as delighted cheers broke the quiet of the night and when she finally brought her gaze back down, she saw that it was Stainless Steve. He'd crept back into the garden and was cheering at the sky as he watched his rocket disappear, which was no doubt his cunning method of getting rid of them once and for all. If only he noticed how he'd only succeeded in sending the wrong heroes.

"Goodbye, Captain Man and Kid Danger! And you're stupid little fiancée! Enjoy getting hitched in outer space for the rest of your---lives..." His screams were cut off as Ray, henry and (y/n) took a few steps forward and when the metal man turned around, he was met with their stony expressions. Oh, how they wanted to kick his ass into space too, maybe he'd bring their newfound friends back when he returned.

"You tried to trick us!" Ray realised as he looked from Stainless Steve to the path the Thumb Buddies took and back to his stupid shiny face. Right, it all made sense now, they were meant to run in there and get caught, not those guys. They had just been a very unfortunate accident, sneaky, little...

"You tried to shoot us into space!"

"No! No, I didn't!" Liar, liar...aluminium foil on fire. Steve cooly looked off to the right as they caught him out as if lying about what had just happened right in front of them would change anything. They might have looked dumb but they weren't, unlike him in his stupid metal outfit and facepaint. Why couldn't he just use a ski mask like most villains?

"You did too! We just watched your rocket fly away!" (y/n) spat, stepping forward as if she was about to punch the guy, but Ray's hand quickly caught her wrist to stop her from doing anything rash. She was upset, he could see that from her quivering bottom lip, so there was no knowing what was going through her mind and he didn't fancy letting her stand up to Steve alone, not when he was ready for a fight too.

"Yeah, so? What are you gonna do about it, girlie? Run and hide while Captain Man saves your pretty little ass?" Steve growled, taking one step closer so (y/n) could feel his breath fan across her face as he sneered. Contrary to popular belief, Miss Danger did not need the assistance of Captain Man because she was not a damsel in distress, nor was she afraid to fight her own battles, no matter how much Ray wrapped her in cotton wool sometimes.

"I hope for your sake that you've got metal everywhere..." She smiled sourly, watching as the confusion flickered over his features for a second before she took the plunge and kneed him right in the balls. Yeah, it was all well and good having metal plates sewn into your jacket but when you forget about the squishy parts, none of that really matters. 

Steve crumpled to the dirt and Ray and Henry witnessed the scene with wide eyes and their breath caught in their throats as the small girl took down a guy, who thought he could intimidate her. Well, here's to no little Steve's running around in the future. 

And just for good measure, Henry found a discarded, crusty soda cup lying on the ground, which was filled with a suspicious liquid that could have been soda or something more human, so naturally, he savagely threw it at the man's body, hoping the smell stayed with him for days. 

Ray would've done something too, he would've ensured that the villain stayed down until the cops arrived but he couldn't take his eyes off his sweet girl, who couldn't take her eyes off the rocket above their heads. It was just a speck at this point, only just in view and whilst she lamented the loss of the Thumb Buddies with Henry, he struggled to control his racing heart. It wasn't his fault that she was so hot when she fought.

"This is bad..." Henry said after a minute or two and he wasn't wrong. What could they do? They could muster the Schwoz's love shuttle and follow them but there was a strong chance they'd be dead by the time they managed to launch. Everything came back down to Earth eventually; the rocket wasn't big enough to fully explore the depths of space, and nor did it have the fuel to do so. It would circle the planet a few times, perhaps stray away just a little and then get caught by gravity again, at least, that's what (y/n) predicted. Was that good or bad though?

"Shhhh! We don't know what happened..." Ray silenced his sidekick as he snapped out of his filthy thoughts and promptly made a ruling on the matter. What the news didn't know wouldn't hurt them, right? As far as he was concerned, the Thumb Buddies were strangers to the Man Cave team and the night's events never occurred, which was cruel but what else could he do?

"Doofus, what are you talking about?" (y/n) asked with a frowning face. Sometimes, her dorkette just didn't get his dorkiness, not when she was racking her brain for a solution that didn't involve spending millions of dollars on a rescue mission.

"We were never here."

"We were never where?"

"We were somewhere else..."

"Where?"

"I wasn't here, and neither were you. In fact, I was at home with my fiancé all evening..." Oh, now she understood. Henry jumped onto his almost evil plan almost immediately as the man seized his girl by the arms and began to drag her away from the "scene of the crime". (y/n) didn't like it not one bit, but she allowed him to take her anyway--the mens rea to follow the actus reus as it were. Were they just gonna walk away and deny everything if the Thumb Buddies ever cropped up in conversation again? Yep, looked like it.

"Said Captain Man today in court when the prosecuting attorney questioned his whereabouts on the night of the disappearance," The heroine muttered bitterly as they scampered away from the house and back towards the Nacho Ball where they'd left the Man Van. 

It wasn't a long walk but it certainly looked suspicious for any lowlife witnessing three superheroes running away like they were the bad guys. Perhaps they wouldn't snitch when the police came knocking on doors and asking questions?

"You got a better idea, sweet girl? Other than going home and watching that rom-com with Ted Iggle-Piggle?" Ray asked with soft yet serious eyes because he was up for suggestions, anything she could give him, he'd take. She had to believe him, he wanted to do something about their...predicament but he had no idea how to get those fellow dorks back. Maybe a good night's sleep in each other's arms would bring some inspiration.

"His name is Tom Hiddleston, and no, I don't. I have nothing..." (y/n) replied tiredly, not even having the energy to twitch the corners of her mouth into a smile. Going to bed and chilling with a crap movie did sound nice and her doofus always knew how to take her mind off the bad stuff that waited outside the four walls of their bedroom. 

Sleep always brought better thoughts to her and who knows? Tomorrow might just give her an idea of what to do or maybe her worry would fade in the night, and honestly, she didn't know which was better. A hopeless struggle that might just fail or the prospect of carrying the guilt of never knowing for the rest of their lives? Her famous last words:

"Perhaps it's better to just forget. After all, I doubt we'll ever see them again..."

[no-name-omo]

Iwao Oguro (Knuckleduster)

Head-Canons (0)

One-Shots (1)

[Summary] For some reason you a nurse nurse couldn't stop bumping into the vigilante to the point that a relationship form

[Genre] fluff / Strangers To Lovers? [Pairing / Characters] Iwao Oguro (Knuckleduster) x Nurse Reader

Imagines (0)

Mini-Fics (0)

Iwami Oguro (Knuckleduster)

(Fem! Iwao Oguro)

Head-Canons (0)

One-Shots (0)

Imagines (0)

Mini-Fics (0)

[quirkfics]

Hello! Good to see you around again!! 🥳

May I please request knuckleduster and "tempt"?

Iwao, no matter how unmoved he appears, no matter how much he tries to hide behind his unending need for fighting the good fight, is sorely tempted by everything you do. He forgets himself if you lick your lips, staring too long, his fingers clenching into fists at his sides. He'll pause in the middle of speaking, and try his damndest to cover it up with a gruff: "Hmm."

He's always busy, always chasing down a villain or some punk on the street, but he lingers if you smile. You've never managed to put him off his rounds as Knuckleduster completely, but you're starting to have the feeling that you simply haven't tried hard enough.

After all, he keeps coming back.

"So," you start, catching immediately onto his slowing steps, head tilting to hear you better, "are you going to join me for dinner or what?"

[frickingnerd]

iwao comforting you after a break up

pairing: iwao oguro / knuckleduster x gn!reader

tags: hurt/comfort, reader has bad luck with relationships, implied platonic (can be read as romantic), iwao calls reader "kid"

you started to lose track of how many of your relationships had failed by now

somehow you always started to fall in love with people who never seemed to care as much about you as you did about them

in a desperate attempts to vent, you decided to seek advice from none other than iwao

if anything, at least he'd be honest with you when giving advice! 

and he had even managed to have a wife, so he must have some knowledge about relationships! 

he didn't seem all too pleased when you mentioned you were here to ask for advice, but when you started to tear up halfway through telling him about your failed relationships, iwao started to soften up and sigh

"listen kid, if you don’t love yourself you will always be chasing after people who don’t love you either. try staying away from boys for a while and focus on yourself!"

while you were still letting his words sink in, iwao got up and ruffled through your hair, before adding one last thing

"and don't cry because of guys like that! you look better when you smile!"

[avocado-writing]

love drunk (tangerine’s path)

tangerine x f!reader tags: sex pollen; dub-con (bc sex pollen); love confessions; oral (f receiving); p in v sex

2k~ words

rated E minors dni

pt1

Tangerine shoves you out of the way, acting just fast enough to disarm the attacker by punching him in the gut with his knuckledusters. The machete skids across the floor but the man doesn’t stop. Instead he barrels into Tangerine and the two of them go crashing into one of the chemical setups behind them; there’s an almighty smashing of glass and the mystery powder is billowed up into the air. 

“Fuck,” you mutter, grabbing a disposable mask out of your back pocket and quickly pulling it on. You do not want whatever the fuck this stuff is getting inside of your lungs. You hear Lemon taking out the last couple of assailants as you rush to check Tangerine, putting a bullet in the skull of his attacker before he can get back up. 

“Tan, you alright?”

Tangerine seems… groggy. He blinks, slowly, as if the world is only just coming back into focus. His fancy suit is covered with whatever they’ve been making here - that’s a biohazard nightmare for sure. You pull Tan to his feet, careful to avoid making contact with the powder. 

“Yeah…” he mutters, dazed. You hear the sound of his brother approaching, and you and Lemon look at each other.  

“This ain’t good,” you surmise, looking at the way Tangerine sways on his feet. Lemon sucks breath in through his teeth. 

“Get him home. I’ll finish up.”

You raise an eyebrow. 

“You sure?” ‘Finishing up’ means spilling gasoline and torching the place. Though, judging by the relative newness of the operation, doesn’t seem like any backup will be coming soon. 

“Yeah. Look at him, he’s off his face,” Lemon states. This is true. With a sigh, you turn to Tangerine. 

“Come on, sunshine, let's get you out of here.”

Tangerine would usually snip back about you babying him, and the fact he doesn’t means this thing is bad. He just wanders behind you, pliant, unaffected by the cold London air outside. When you open the side door for him, he simply… sits down without complaint. 

This is most unlike him. 

You’re kissing the wrong side of the speed limit as you drive him back home, occasionally glancing over to see how your passenger fares. A light sheen of sweat has broken out on his skin and he’s getting flushed. By the time you pull into his driveway, you can hear how loud he’s breathing. 

“Tan?”

“Mm,” he replies. You reach over to place the back of your hand on his forehead and check for a fever, and he slaps you away hard. 

“Ow! What the fu-”

“Don’t fucking touch me!”

He practically spits it out, and you’re taken aback. Tan doesn’t talk to you like that. Not seriously. Sometimes there’s a bit of banter between the two of you, but never real venom. 

You look at him for a long moment, studying his face, his body, down to his lap —

Oh. 

Oh. You see the cause for the panic. 

Tangerine has the biggest hard-on you’ve ever seen. 

He’s straining against the fabric of his trousers, his hips twitching minutely, as if he doesn’t realise it. You meet the blown pupils of his blue eyes. 

“Tan - ”

But by then he seems to come to terms with the fact he just snapped at you, and more than that he’s sitting in your car while fully fucking erect, and he looks guilty for a fraction of a second before seeming to lose himself again. He doesn’t say anything but leaves the car and stumbles down his front garden path, where he manages to unlock his front door and disappear into his house. 

He leaves it ajar, which you take as an invitation to follow. You’re not going to leave him here like this. He could need medical attention, so it’s probably best to keep an eye. 

Although it seems what this drug was… was some sort of fucking aphrodisiac. 

You send Lemon a text confirming you’re staying with his brother, and get one back telling you that he’s about to start the blaze. With everything seemingly alright on his end you follow Tangerine. 

You hear the door you know to be his bedroom one slam above you. Carefully you shut the entrance behind you before walking over to his kitchen and grabbing a cold glass of water. 

Ascending the stairs you can’t help but feel trouble is on the horizon. 

“Tan?” You knock on his door, and hear a moan from behind it. You furrow your brow. 

“Alright, look, I’m coming in - ”

Too late do you hear the cry of, “no, don’t!” and you’re met with… quite a sight. 

Tan’s thrown off his shirt and waistcoat, his bare chest sweaty and heaving. He’s beautiful. His trousers and boxers are halfway down his legs and he has his cock in his hand, ruddy red and leaking from the tip. Again that look of guilt crosses his face, but it doesn’t stop him from working his shaft again in one long stroke. 

“Tan…” it feels like your throat has gone dry. You find the strength to out the water down before you drop it. 

“I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m sorry,” he manages, torn between touching himself and the shame of having you see it, “that drug… it did something to me…”

“Yeah, I can see that, love.”

“Don’t call me ‘love’,” he practically moans, his hips undulating gorgeously against his hand. “Sorry - fuck - look, just… just get out of here, you don’t need to see this...”

But you don’t get out of there. Instead you take a tentative step towards him. He eyes you warily, like a deer caught in the headlights. 

“I could… help,” you state, simply. Your eyes inadvertently drop to his lovely cock again and you lick your lips. “It looks like you’re suffering and I could offer some relief.”

“I…” Tan is torn. He’s clearly desperate to say yes, but seems worried about taking advantage of your kindness. But hey, you’re the one offering. 

“I mean, what are friends for, right?”

Tangerine groans, and steps forward to embrace you. 

You don’t expect the kiss. It’s messy and needy, his mouth open as he slides his tongue against your own. You hum at the taste of it, revelling in how hot and eager he is. It's always wonderful to have an enthusiastic participant in a kiss. You trace your fingers down his rock-hard ab muscles, grinning beneath his lips as he makes a little noise of happiness. Your touch meets his pelvis, then his cock -

And he comes all over himself. 

You’re so surprised you break the kiss to look down. Tangerine keels against you as thick spurts jet out the top of his head, covering the both of you. He remains heavy and hard in your palm. 

“You…”

“I’m not done,” he groans. You nod. Okay, yeah, understandable. This drug seems pretty wild. You let your head fall forward onto his shoulder as you continue your strokes, long languid movements to caress him. You don’t want to admit it but you’re enjoying hearing the little sounds Tangerine is breathing out into your ear. The way he rocks his hips to greet you is sweet, he seems to be restraining himself… but you really don’t mind if he’s a little rough.  

You feel the warm plain of his hand come to rest over your pelvis. 

“Fuck, ah, can I… can I touch you?”

Your breath hitches. 

“Yeah.”

He works at the buttons of your trousers, his work shaky from overstimulation, but his hand finds you wet. He groans lowly as he presses two fingers against your cunt, gathering the slick that’s formed there. 

“Fuck, you’re…”

“I know.”

He huffs out something that, despite everything, seems to be a laugh; and slips two fingers inside of you. You gasp at the easy intrusion and it turns into a moan when he crooks them against that sweet spot inside. 

“Do you like that, darling?” he growls out, “You look fucking gorgeous on my fingers.”

His voice is gravelly but he still manages to be so filthy. He pulls his hand back, and for a moment you’re disappointed, but it's only so he can suck the flavour of you from himself. His eyes roll back as his tongue slides lazily around his knuckles. 

“Christ. Please, let me eat your pussy. I need to know how you taste. Properly,” he chokes. His pupils, impossibly, widen further. His breathing is so heavy his nostrils flare. There’s something predatory about it, yet so vulnerable. 

You sit down on his bed and only manage to kick one trouser leg off before he gets on his knees before you, planting his face into your core. 

“Oh, fuck - !” 

He uses so much force it pushes you up the mattress, only stopping when his body hits the side of the bedframe. His mouth covers your dripping cunt and he licks a solid stripe up you, feasting on what you offer him. He moans as if you’re trying to drive him mad. 

“Perfect little cunt,” he mutters. Each hand comes down to clamp over your thighs and keep them apart - not that you were attempting to close them. His fingers press so hard you see divots on your skin. When he sucks on your clit you release on his tongue, and he keeps fucking you through it as he slides his cock up between the bedsheets and his stomach; coming in spurts for a second time over his stomach. You reach forward, blindly, tangling your hand in his already wild chestnut locks. 

“Oh god Tan,” you choke, “this was - ah! - this was meant to be for you.”

“Don’t care,” he replies between kisses, caressing your cunt with his attentive mouth, “fuck, I’ve wanted this for ages. I’ve been in love with you since Moscow.”

Oh. That changes things a bit. 

You use your purchase in his hair to yank his head back a bit. He looks annoyed, of all things. 

“But… Moscow was two years ago, Tan.”

He nods. There’s a sincerity on his face you’re not used to seeing, and you’re unsure if it’s aided or not by your wetness in his mustache. 

“I know. I’m sorry. Fuck, please, I feel like I’m on fire, let me fuck you properly.”

All you can do is nod, fuck-drunk. Tangerine grabs his cum-coated cock, rubs it against you a couple of times and pushes home. You both groan, delighted. He doubles his grip on your legs, sliding it up to your knees to make you allow room for his body to slot against yours, and he begins to pound into you relentlessly. 

“Fuck, I’m so sorry. I love you, I’m so sorry, I’m so fucking sorry - ”

“Tan - oh shit - ” his cock hit your g-spot there - “Tan, you don’t need to be sorry. I love you too.”

He pauses for a second, before rocking his hips into you hard, sheathing himself up to the hilt. 

“Wait, you do?”

“Yeah. So stop apologising.”

It’s something you’ve been fighting with for ages but well, it’s true. He’s perfect. He’s a hothead and a bastard and he’s got a mouth like a sailor but… yeah. At some point along the road you fell in love with him right back. 

Tan smiles, a real genuine smile, before he reaches down to kiss you along with his next thrust. This kiss isn’t as urgent as the one before. It’s real and passionate and true. You taste yourself on his tongue and sigh as he reaches up to caress your face, a calloused thumb stroking your cheek. 

“I love you,” he sighs, a couple more erratic thrusts making him come for the third time in quick succession. At last you feel his cock start to soften. 

“I love you too,” you reply, as fatigue begins to take over. Tangerine has the good grace to roll over before he collapses, meaning he doesn’t land on top of you. You can see the way his body shakes from exertion but it seems, at least, the drug has worn off. 

You grab the glass of water which you originally brought up for him and get him to drink. Now he’s back to himself he grunts a bit at being coddled, but obliges when you fix him with a look. His hand comes to rest on your hip and he holds you tight. 

You’ll have to do jobs like these more often, you think, as you settle into Tangerine’s side. 

tags from master taglist: @honestlywtfisgoingon​ @white-wolf-buckaroo @felhomaly @venusthepirate @lunarpansexual @wanderedaway​​ @georgiee-riviere @mushywutty​​ @apieceoffabulousshit @4ng3l-0n-34rth @minjaz @starl1g4t @earth-elemental18 @luhvbot @underratedboogeyman @july-is-summer @vocalvixen20cp @northerngalxy @tangerinesgf @chaoticroaddreamerpastaerpasta @rxcently @skrrten @nightmarefeast @lost-lila @hardcore-flower @kalli0pe @insanitia  @tvngerinescoat @assmaster37 @zuzusoosoo @oldyellowbricks2 @cockete @spidervee

[dark9896]

What now? [Klaus x Reader]

Requested by Anonymous 💒

Was there even such a thing as a normal day in this city? Well, to be fair, Klaus has had many 'normal' days amid the chaos of Hellsalem's Lot. Several of which he'd spent with you specifically, days he absolutely cherished...

But did it have to be chaotic on his wedding day?

The one day Klaus wanted everything to go perfectly, but no! Femt just had to release a pack of demon beast hybrids... again!

Barely being able to see you dressed so gorgeously in stunning wedding attire, before the building started shaking and collapsing. It should have been such a cut-and-dry day, one that Klaus would treasure and cherish forever. But now the building was crumbling around everyone, stopping the proceedings before they could hit a full stride.

Just seeing the fearful, anxious look in your eye set Klaus in hyper-drive, the wedding could always be rescheduled. The clothes could be fixed up, everything could be recreated. His family would be so very helpful in these endeavors but why were they necessary?

Dr. Estevez stood there, completely unfazed by the destruction of the church around herself. Standing by, she had deformed into small clones to escort as many non-fighting guests out of harm's way. Her attempts to keep things from getting too out of hand were rather effective, given how many other guests were fully capable of fighting.

Klaus's brothers and Father were doing their best to assist the tiny doctor as the least equip to fight out of all the fighters on the scene. You really didn't want to get your nicest outfit all dirty, and you didn't have the heart to tell your in-laws that you were a member of Libra.

You already told them about future plans of starting a family.

But things were never that easy. There were simply too many of these beasts, and not nearly enough people to contain the problem. Every last one of the people capable of fighting had to give it their all. There were simply too many creatures roaming around the city, flying and stomping and leaving mounds of rubble in their wake.

Leaping on the back of a flying beast, Klaus dug his heels into its skin. A bright red glow from his knuckleduster as he aimed, waiting for a good opportunity to bury a blood lance into its brain.

"Kreuzvernichterlanze!"

The damage to the pavement and buildings was thankfully minimal as Klaus tumbled forward. Your ability to catch Klaus was put to the test as he fell off the beast, though he was deeply embarrassed to be caught like this in front of his family. Little did he know that his siblings approved, his mother was a tad bit horrified. She was very concerned, and confused, about the situation given that you told her about wanting to start a family.

"Well this is fun, eh honey?" Klaus ducked as his ears started turning red, "One hell of a party though, no one can complain that it wasn't a wild time."

"Shatzi please." Klaus could barely choke out the words, "I don't think anyone is considering this the reception."

Pushing down on Klaus's shoulder, leaping up with your own blood sword, "You know, this is probably the best time for us to go through with this."

Catching your ankle and lifting you up so you could finish the beast off, "I... I'm sure we could reschedule Liebling..."

"But can we actually count on the 13 Kings to not do something like this again?" Dragging your blade down with your weight, knowing Klaus was right there to catch you if something went wrong, "Especially with how your family likes making sure plenty of people know."

Landing on your feet, turning to Klaus. He had to seriously think it over, you did have a point...

"Not that it's a bad thing for them to do," You continued, "I'm just a little skeptical that the 13 didn't try to plan this chaos specifically because it's you... because it's Libra."

As much as Klaus hated to admit this, you had several points about this. He would have definitely preferred to reschedule and give you the best wedding ceremony and reception. Sadly, reality wasn't cooperating with him.

"Dr. Estevez!" Klaus yelled over his shoulder, smacking a smaller beast away with one hand, "Please, would you start the vows? We have little other option at the moment."

"Okay!" The nearest clone gave a thumbs up, "If you're certain Mr. Reinherz."

A curt nod and quick explanation through all of Dr. Estevez's clones, "Thank you for being here today as Klaus von Reinherz and [Full Name] enter into a lifelong civil union."

It wasn't ideal, nothing about today was really. But At least the tiny doctor was more than capable of reading the ceremony vows while assisting. No one had ever seen her communicate this way, let alone have multiple clones speak the same words like this. It was so very welcomed given the circumstances.

"Today we celebrate the separate journeys that brought them together, and we usher them toward the new journey they will embark upon as partners."

Oh, the two of you were a little closer than traditional partners. Having had each other's backs in battle, sitting up late to comfort one another through any little thing, and the countless hours the two of you just spent relaxing together. And that was on full display as the two of you fought so well side by side.

It felt like little time was passing as Dr. Estevez continued the proceedings, "Thank you. Do you, as witnesses to this day, support and encourage this union?"

The guests, as scattered as they were, chimed in at random sounding times. Some more enthusiastically than others, "We do."

Steven landed just a second too late to answer with everyone else, rather close to you and Klaus, "I support this too I was just late about it."

"It's perfectly fine Steven." You nodded at Klaus's comforting attempts, "You were the one who helped the most."

"Just behind Klaus's family of course."

Both boys were a tiny bit blushy as you winked. Before Dr. Estevez had a chance to whack the three of you for "disrupting" the ceremony. As if the demon beasts weren't covering that role a little better.

"As I guide you in exchanging your vows, you, Klaus, and you, [Name] will declare your intentions for a lasting partnership in love and marriage. Are you prepared to do this?"

It took a second to catch your breath, Klaus answered so much quicker than you did. "Yes!"

His lack of breathlessness made you a little jealous.

"Without further ado, let’s begin."

"Repeat after me." Dr. Estevez hesitated for a brief second.

"I, Klaus, take you, [Name], to be my partner. I promise that from this day forward I will regard you not only as my equal partner but as my closest friend." You were just close enough to hear this straight from Klaus's mouth, pausing just enough to see the look on his face as he kept trying to stare lovingly at you, "I promise to comfort you in sickness and in health. I promise to demonstrate my commitment to you through love, laughter, and compassion. I love you."

You felt a little out of breath as you stared at Klaus as much as possible. "I, [Name], take you, Klaus, to be my husband. I promise that from this day forward I will regard you not only as my equal partner but as my closest friend. I promise to comfort you in sickness and in health." Coughing slightly as you landed right next to Klaus, "I promise to demonstrate my commitment to you through love, laughter, and compassion. I love you."

It took all of Klaus's willpower to not kiss you on the spot. He would have been like this even if the ceremony had gone uninterrupted. But it somehow meant so much more to be saying all of this mid-battle. The feelings were palpable, almost as much as the adrenaline.

"As much as I would like to continue the ring exchange," Dr. Estevez called out, "I feel it would be best to hold off until the chaos dies down. That said, with the power vested in me by Bradbury General Cathedral, I pronounce you newly wed partners for life. When you have a spare second, you may kiss."

It took both of your willpowers to not rush to one another, despite the inopportune moment and chaos unfolding around you. Though the silver lining was the thinning of the demon beasts, so very few were left. Steven had taken the less romantically inclined fighters to chase down the remaining creatures.

The falling dust fluttered around, almost like the flower petals that were supposed to be falling at this moment. You barely gave yourself the seconds needed to catch your breath as you stared at Klaus. His wedding tux was almost immaculate in spite of the battle, whereas your clothes were slightly torn and tattered.

None of that mattered. Running at Klaus, leaping right into his arms, knowing he would catch you. Clinging to his broad shoulders, your lips crashed together with reckless abandon. Far more passionately than Klaus intended to be...

But it felt so right.

Gently spinning with the momentum, not caring how it looked. Until your feet gently hit the ground, when Klaus leaned into the kiss- dipping you ever so slightly as he savored the finale to the event he'd been lowkey planning since month 2 of dating one another. There were so many eyes, so many voices cheering, many of them not truly belonging to the wedding nor the reception. But the situation was far from what had been planned.

The sheepish look across Klaus's face as realization set in was beyond adorable. Unfortunately, Steven still had your rings... But for the moment they weren't missed, even as everyone discovered that the reception area was almost completely unscathed.

The suspicion that Femt had planned the attack for the ceremony itself grew stronger.