#like reputation is hard shelled and mean and scary on the outside but on the inside she's so emotional and vulnerable and kind and loving

[aberooski]

so that surprise song mashup, huh

I AIN'T GOTTA TELL HIM I THINK HE KNOWS HE'S GORGEOUS !!!!! 😭😭😭

They are everything to me she has no idea but she did that for me I stg ✋😭

[mountphoenixrp]

We have a new citizen in Mount Phoenix:

          Kwon Yohan, a 26 year old son of Hermes.           He is a bookie at The Pits.

FC NAME/GROUP: Kim Gunhak „Leedo“ / Oneus CHARACTER NAME: Kwon Yohan, also known as „Yuri“ AGE/DATE OF BIRTH: 26.07.1997 PLACE OF BIRTH: Busan, South-Korea OCCUPATION: bookie at the pits HEIGHT: 1,79m WEIGHT: 67 kg DEFINING FEATURES: muscular, pierced ears, a small scar slightly above the bridge of his nose and several other scars all over his body

PERSONALITY: Yohan is a man of few words. He learned early on that speech is silver and silence is golden. As an orphan, he never had high expectations of life and is satisfied with the simple things in life. Privately he is not interested in accumulating wealth, while professionally he always strives to make the greatest possible profit. He's used to putting on a serious/poker face and not showing his emotions, so he may seem aloof or scary at first, but he's actually just a nice guy. True to the motto: hard shell, soft core. HISTORY: Yohan was one of those unnamed children, whose parents were unknown and probably just dumped outside a police station or hospital after birth. He was consigned to care to the Church as all state institutions had no more bed for him. He was raised in an orphanage by nuns in the south of the country in a rural area.

He was given his name at the orphanage using a list of the most common surnames and Christian first names, simply which name was next in line. The nuns were strict, not really affectionate, and there was only little to eat, as the region was one of the poorer areas and the orphanage lived largely on donations. In addition, the orphanage was not exactly welcomed by the villagers, since the children were considered troublemakers.

It was not uncommon for the orphans to steal food or to pick pocket in the village, when they were older. Yohan was a versed pickpocket and lock picker himself, first only the locks of the pantry of the orphanage and later also the locks of grocery stores and houses of the village to steal food for the younger ones. It went well for a while until he was 15 and tried to steal the wallet from the wrong person's pocket. Before he even knew what was going on, he found himself in the car of the local crime boss, who offered him to join the gang so he could use his talent for stealing for their cause.

It was common practice for criminal gangs to recruit orphans as members, as they could often be won over quickly with food and accommodation and had no future prospects for their lives. For Yohan, joining the gang was a means to an end to escape life in the orphanage. At the age of 15 he moved to Busan, dropped out of school, got his first gang tattoo on his back and a new name "Yuri". A psychological trick to bind the orphans even more to the gang. In Busan, he was mainly involved in pickpocketing and trickeries in tourist areas.

As he quickly discovered, the criminal gang belonged to one of the larger gangs in Seoul and at the age of 18 he was sent to Seoul, where he worked as a debt collector for one of the underbosses. Around this time he also took up boxing and weight training, and later martial arts, more out of necessity than interest as Seoul was a tougher place and it was not uncommon for him to become involved in street fights. The boss was quite happy with him and he quickly made a name for himself, but little did he know at the time that he was using his powers to get debtors to pay off their debts.

As his reputation with the boss expanded, so did his responsibilities. Not only did he collect debt, but he was also partly responsible for lending money at inflated interest rates and training gang members. His life was turned upside down four years ago when he was introduced to a woman he was set to start working with. To say they didn't like each other from the start was an understatement. He can't remember exactly when dislike turned into something else, but when they ended up in bed together after one of their usual arguments, it wasn't long before he could only think about her, although he couldn't admit it.

Over time, it quickly became clear that they could neither live together nor without each other. They sabotage each other, but always end up together in the end. You could say their relationship was toxic, but it was also constant. That's why he didn't believe her when she said after a fight on Valentine's Day this year that she would leave him for good and never come back. By the time he realized it, it was too late and he was devastated.

He drank too much, was irritable despite his calm nature, and all too often ended up in a fight he provoked. He was on a downward spiral and when he hit rock bottom he met the person who offered him a way out. He'd never thought there was any chance of getting out of the gang alive, so the offer to try a fresh start in Mount Phoenix sounded very tempting, even if he didn't know what to make of this whole ‚city of gods‘ thing.

PANTHEON: Greek CHILD OF: Hermes POWERS: Nimble and clever, often skilled in business (particularly trade/deals), athletics and stealing. Good at pickpocketing and picking locks. Very versatile and adaptable. Minor belief inducement power. STRENGTHS: calm, highly focused at work, tough WEAKNESSES: no trust in others, cannot ask for help, uncommunicative

[akirakurusuimagines]

Hcs on Akira’s future s/o getting out of their comfort zone and making the bold move to ask him on getting to know him more (after numerous instances of them making eye contact w each other along w occasional soft smiles) and it later turns out to be a wonderful thing as they become really good friends who secretly have a crush on each other, but s/o is a bit nervous of telling him the truth until Akira makes a move and they end up in a relationship? Srry it’s a bit long, & ps, I LOVE your blog

Buy me a ko-fi!

At first, it was so difficult to even muster up the courage to look in Akira’s direction. Between his negative reputation, the rumors that surrounded him, and the scowl and glare he always wore as a protective measure, he was intimidating. 

Somehow that didn’t stop him from smiling softly every time he made eye contact with you, however brief. You weren’t sure how or why, but it made your heart skip a beat. He was handsome, smart, and the brief interactions you’ve had with him hinted you towards a kindness that was betrayed by the cruel rumors surrounding him. 

If he hadn’t come to Shujin on such bad terms, you wonder if he would’ve been popular. Probably. 

Honestly, you have no idea how you managed to convince yourself to step out of your comfort-zone and interact with Akira outside of short glances or casual greetings, yet here you were⁠— in front of Akira, nervously gripping your bag and trying your best to hold eye-contact with the surprised teen, slowly and carefully asking him, “would you like to study together at the diner in Shibuya?” 

You had already been preparing yourself for rejection, especially as the seconds of silence felt like an eternity, so when it registered in Akira’s head and he smiled and agreed, you found yourself speechless and shell-shocked. 

There were plenty of things you regret in your life, but taking the chance to ask Akira out (platonically) was not one of them, as scary as it was in the moment. 

Quickly, you began to get more comfortable with him, being able to confidently say that he was one of your best friends. Though you knew he kept many things hidden and he was extremely busy, sometimes disappearing with his other friends, he always made time for you. Whether it was exchanging text messages or running back to hand you your favorite drink, he always looked out for you, and you did the same for him, helping him get lunch, helping him study. 

You wondered how anyone could resist falling for him, honestly. It didn’t take very long for you to realize that whenever you were around him your heart tended to beat faster, your face would get red every time he got up close and personal while teasing you, or that you’d be daydreaming about him in class. You fell for him and you fell hard. 

But the problem was, you weren’t sure if you could tell him that you had a crush on him. You were frightened by the idea of accidentally pushing him away, of being rejected, of losing someone you cared so much for. 

So you did the only thing you thought you could do: keep it to yourself. 

Well, that proved to be difficult, especially when he’d confront you sometimes, asking if everything was alright, seeing how nervous or distressed you were. 

But he never pushed you to admit it to him, even if he had figured it out long ago (which he did).

Instead, he was the one who confessed to you. It was cheesy and a bit subtle, choosing his words carefully as he solidified how important you were to him in a moment of your weakness and curiosity. 

You didn’t expect him to kiss you so suddenly either, leaning in as you were taking in everything and finally agreeing to date him, whispering a soft and sweet, “can I kiss you?” that stole your breath and your heart. You let him, no questions asked, almost wanting to pinch yourself to check and make sure it wasn’t actually a dream.

His lips tasted faintly of coffee and they were so soft, you wondered if you would melt. Akira had cupped your cheeks and held you close, brushing his nose to yours as he parted, leaving only a few centimetres between you two. 

Dating him means accepting everything about him. From the dorky teen to the suave thief, his past, his present, and his future, and his ideals. You were more than ready to give your whole self to him, and he was ready to do the same. 

Perhaps it would get messy sometimes, but even still, you knew that he was the right one for you. 

[testifytime]

do everything for me, you already know about me BUT: im described as "chaotic faggot" by my friends, i have no filter, I can switch from being outgoing to really nervous in a second, i like drawing, dice, and divinitation. i hoard candles and incense, and i like paintball.

- A Pokemon team/type theme (+ fun facts abt your team!)

Your team is full of Poison types! They’re used the most often for rascly lil fucker trainers, so, it fits :3c

Your signature Pokemon is Toxtricity, though your team also consists of Whirlipede, Haunter, Gloom, Toxicroak, and Crobat!

Fun facts!

Your Toxtricity was sent to you by your juggabro. In his words, it’s a “cool Pokemon to fit your aesthetic but keep you on track”. It can be pretty overprotective, but sometimes it turns a blind eye to the more chaotic things you do. 

Your Whirlipede is just an entire baby. Even though it’s got toxic spikes on its shell that COULD kill you, it’s pretty much a lapbug. You just have to try and remind it to be careful before it goes in for snuggles. 

Your Haunter and Gloom actually kind of hate each other! Having them out at the same time often ends up with you either getting paralysed or put to sleep. They’re super sweet when they’re apart, though, and both LOVE scritches. 

Toxicroak used to be really loveydovey when it was a Croagunk, but now it acts like it’s too cool for school. It’s really not. If you pay more attention to another Pokemon it WILL jab you in the stomach. And then it’ll pretend like it totally wasn’t even because it was jealous. 

Your Crobat is the sweetest of the bunch!! It likes to collect (read: steal) things for you that it thinks you’ll like, and is almost always attached to your back out of its Pokeball. Sometimes without you wanting it to be. It can be a bit of a pain, sometimes. 

- Bloodcaste/lusus/chumhandle as if you were a Homestuck troll (+lore)

You’re a purpleblood with a seaserpent lusus! Your chumhandle is acquiredTalisman. 

You live with your lusus in a hive that boarders where the jungle forest ends and the beach begins. It’s a pretty popular spot for violetbloods, admittedly, but it’s also the only place your giantass Seaserpentdad can actually fit; the mouth of the river is deep and leads directly out into the ocean, where he spends most of his time. The hive itself is pretty cluttered - because man, you suck at keeping shit tidy - and filled to the brim with your dice collections, your religious paraphenalia, and all the random junk you’ve stolen (of which there is a lot). 

You have a few interests, of which the main is your religion. You’re a diviner of sorts, oddly sought out by your fellow purplebloods to tell them what their purpose is in life as stated by the Great Mirthful Messiahs. You’re not entirely sure that they really do speak through you, but your readings are scary-accurate, and not only does it mean that you’ve made more friends, but you’ve made a fuck tonne of money, too. You’re more fond of practicing with your friends, or on your own, sneaking what you can beneath your lusus’ snout; so far, he hasn’t seemed to question the candle collection you have, or the alter with the Faygo bottlecaps, or the cards, or pendulum made from a grubbone you got from one of your customers. Actually, he hasn’t noticed much of anything? You’re hesitant to go TOO far, but you do like pushing at what you can get away with every now and then. 

On top of that, you love to draw - mostly as a form of worship, but also just for fun with your juggabros. You send drawings back and forth, even though you’ve never been able to meet them, and it’s pretty fun! You hope one day that you can get them to your favourite hangout spot to cause a little chaos - which usually means trashing the violetbloods’ rich boy shit and stealing things you know they’re too proud to tattle about. You don’t... always remember doing those things? But you definitely remember the amount of violetbloods that give you nasty glares whenever you walk past. It’s okay, though. You have a rifle and you’re not afraid to use it.

Beyond that, though, you’re... kind of lonely. There’s nobody that you really consider a friend around you, and when your friends do visit you, it’s only every few months. Having all those customers and the nasty violetbloods hanging around is great, sure, but... sometimes you wish you could move your hive closer inland to be near your juggabros. You could, you guess. But then where would your lusus go?

Your lusus is kind of ridiculously huge. You really couldn’t miss him even on the horizon, his giant form standing stark against the two moons. Not that he spends a whole lot of time above the water, though. He pretty much only comes back to get fed and throw a fit if he sees any of your purpleblood customers hanging around. 

- Symbol/guardian/chumhandle as if you were a Homestuck kid (+lore)

Your symbol is a and your guardian is your big bro! Your chumhandle is augmentedTemptation.

You and your older bro kick it in a sweet lil bottom-floor apartment. It’s kinda dingy, kinda shitty, but it’s the best he can afford and you’re not really one to complain when you know how hard he works just to keep the leaky roof over your head. It’s got everything you want out of a home, anyway; separate bedrooms, tiny bathroom, sweet hangout pad that doubles as a kitchen (which you’ve got a curtain draped over so that it looks like they’re two rooms) - it’s pretty neat. It’s also got a fire escape out the back and easy access to the lobby doors that’re easy to pick, so you figure it’s kinda home. 

You absolutely fucking love to play paintball. You’ve got a painball gun that you maybe stole from the store once, and a couple pellets you’ve been buying for cheap online whenever you have the money. You don’t... actually have anyone to play with, but hey, cop cars make a great target. It feeds into your general need for chaos, which isn’t limited to - but has involved - petty theft, breaking into cars, and spray painting defametory phrases against racists and homophobes on billboards. You’ve never actually been caught. Okay, you got caught once, but you’re really good at crying. You’re pretty sure your bro doesn’t know about that.

You like to practice witchy shit in your spare time. You’ve got altars set up for your patrons, and a candle collection that you really don’t know that you’re ever gonna burn through. Plus, incense! Your bro kind of hates the smell, but you just crack open a window and it’s like he doesn’t even know. You’ve also got a pretty fair collection of crystals, but that’s more because people just keep giving them to you? It’s wild what they’ve thought were just normal rocks, and you’re pretty sure some of your collection could sell for a pretty buck, but they make way better offerings. 

Of course, you also love to talk to your friends online. You have a bunch! You’re pretty easy to get on with, you think, so you end up just kinda collecting people into one giant group of friends that never stops growing. You share art, play games, chat, make them worried sick when you do dumb shit - it’s great. 

Sometimes at dusk you like to go up to the roof of the apartment block you and your bro live in and stand right on the edge. It’s so high up you can see around for miles, and everything below you looks like a speck of dust beneath your feet. The stars twinkle above you in the darkening sky, just barely visible, and you think, every now and then, that you are very, very small. 

- A FNAF animatronic design and name

You’re a broken down animatronic, probably one of the earliest of your kind. Maybe even a prototype? Nobody really remembers anymore. You’ve just kind of always been there, at the back of the store, half a body and more coherent than people expect you to be, but never fully quite there. Your head lulls back and forth, your arms moving sluggishly, and in order to get around, you drag yourself across the floor.

You can speak, but not by much. It’s glitchy and switched out more often than not, absolutely terrifying to hear in the dark - but you’re a pretty sweet soul, all things considered. The few who’ve been brave enough to slip back behind the old, abandoned doors, past the cobwebs and through the narrow halls, who haven’t run at the first sight of you, tell tales of a sweet carcass who seemed more scared of being found than anything else. 

There are a couple kids who routinely come back to visit you. They like to give you things they’ve found outside the pizzaria, mostly coins and old dice and things that smell sweet to try and cover up how musty you are. 

You’ve never hurt a soul the entire time you’ve been there, but your reputation has been built on the whispers of kids who’ve seen the rotting maw of your muzzle, the glint of your endoskeleton and the shine of your eyes in the dark. They call you Thing - as if giving you a name will make you come to life. 

The ones that know you better call you Peppi. 

- A BNHA Quirk and hero title

Your Quirk is Corroding Touch. Despite its name, and how terrifying it sounds, your quirk is pretty simple! Anything you touch wastes away, and you can control how far along its own personal timeline it decays through. For instance, you could touch a flower and have it start wilting, and stop there on its timeline - or you could have it waste away to a point that it decays completely and turns to mush. 

The drawback here is that what you’re doing is essentially speeding up a natural process. Things that don’t waste away without outside forces - such as rocks through erosion - won’t be affected by your quirk. Things that live very long lives before decaying - such as turtles - will take up a lot more of your time to speed them through their natural timeline. Finally, you can’t reverse what you’ve done. Once you’ve sped it through its natural timeline, there’s no going back; another quirk will have to undo the effects.

Of course, it also means that if you plant an oak seed, instead of waiting hundreds of years for it to grow into an oak tree, you can just use your quirk to speed up the process. So it’s a good-bad thing!

Your hero title is the Wasteful Hero: Corrosion. You’re a sort of last-resort hero, and you don’t like being in the limelight. Your quirk is dangerous if not handled correctly, so you work on a team with another hero who has a counter-effective quirk to yours (essentially Hyper Growth!). A lot of civillians are scared of you, but that’s okay. You know that what you do is important, and that your ranking doesn’t matter so long as you’re saving lives.

You are a little bitter, though, that your partner is several ranks ahead of you.

[sassyshoulderangel319]

Daring Rescue

IDK. I LOVE the mermaid aesthetic and think it’s fabulous, but sometimes you just gotta shake it up. Punk!merfolk sound great and who better than Virgil? XD ChillpunkmerVirgilisawesome

“Look, all I’m saying is that you look a little... try-hard,” Logan said.

“Shut up,” Virgil retorted.

“Virgil, I understand you have a theme going on, but... you just look... Extra.”

“You’ve been hanging out with Remus too much.”

Ignoring Logan sighing out his gills, Virgil lounged on the rocks. Idly, he spun his trident around. It was made of black steel and studded with silver. It made him smirk in satisfaction just looking at it. It had taken him five years to get all the right materials together to make his weapon match his aesthetic.

Logan went on alert, spear in hand snapping upright. “Someone’s coming,” he hissed. “A mer.”

Virgil didn’t get off his rock. Just twitched his tail and put one arm behind his head. “How can you tell?”

“Can’t you smell the blood?”

“Not all of us are shark mers, Lo,” Virgil said, twiddling with the shark tooth on his necklace while his purple hair drifted around his head, too short to get tangled.

“Shouldn’t we get out of here?” Logan asked, looking around curiously. “What if they’re dangerous?”

“We’ll be fine. We’re warriors of the Crown. We can handle one measly mer on our own,” Virgil said.

“You’re remarkably relaxed.”

Virgil shrugged and spun his trident near Logan’s face to make a point. “We’ll be fine.”

Logan glanced in the direction the smell of blood was coming from and dodged cautiously around a large coral formation for cover. Virgil rolled his eyes and didn’t bother getting off his rock. Though, he could feel a disturbance in the current that signaled someone was coming. Huh. Logan was right. Logan was usually right.

^^^^^

Patton trembled and tried not to. It had been a long time since he’d been this deep. The shine of his scales was dulled in the darkness. Almost no sunlight made it this deep. He was much more surface-based---as evidenced by his freckles functioning the same way a human’s did. “R-Roman?” he called, quietly. “Roman, this isn’t---isn’t funny! Cut it out! Can we please go home?” He folded his arms over his ribs and used his hands to try and suppress the sound of his gills panting. This deep the water was nearly silent and he could hear his breathing.

His arm was bleeding from Roman enthusiastically dragging him into the trench and scraping it on the rock wall. He almost didn’t notice.

He couldn’t see anything. He was much more used to the shallows where the sun illuminated everything.

“You’re a long way from home, surmer,” a voice remarked.

Patton shrieked and whirled.

A deep-waters mer was lounging on a rock, bioluminescent freckles lighting up the black-and-silver trident he was twirling. His tail was dark violet with black patches and powerfully built.

“What... what did you call me?” Patton asked, voice trembling.

“A surmer. You’re a surface merperson,” the merman remarked.

Patton shook and used his tail to back away. He’d always heard deep water mers had a weird culture, and this guy seemed to be proving it. He had several shell piercings up both ears, a shark tooth hanging from a cord around his neck, and blackness lining his eyes. “I... I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you’ll excuse me... I gotta go find my friend.” He moved to leave.

The bioluminescent merman scoffed. “Surmers always were cowards. Can’t handle anything deeper than a couple hundred feet.”

Patton didn’t take the bait, just kept swimming. He was a fast swimmer near the surface, but the pressure this deep was making it harder for him to move, let alone race off.

The violet merman swam over, smirking. “What? Am I scaring you?”

“You don’t have to,” Patton retorted. “I’m already scared.” He met the violet merman’s eyes sharply, his own flashing a pale blue as he ducked underneath the man and kept going.

“You said you were looking for a friend. Maybe we saw them. What do they look like?” The merman followed after him.

“He’s got a red tail and red-to-green hair. I doubt you saw him,” Patton said. “And what do you mean, ‘we’?”

“All merfolk smaller than leviathans have pods, surmer. I meant me and my podmate.”

“Stop calling me that!” Patton snapped.

“Well you didn’t tell me your name, so I gotta call you sumpthin’,” the deep water merman said casually.

Patton glared as well as he could in the darkness. “It’s Patton, okay? Now leave me alone. I need to find Roman and your glowing isn’t helping me not freak out.”

“Nice to meet you, Patton. I’m Virgil. And what can I say? I’m bioluminescent. Lots of us down here are.”

“Go away. Please.”

Virgil scoffed and caught Patton’s arm. “You’re bleeding.” He turned to shout over his shoulder, “Hey Logan! I found the source of the blood you were smelling!”

Emerging from the darkness of the depths was a shark-type mer. Sharp teeth and eyes with a dark grey tail swishing through the water side-to-side instead of up-and-down. There was a spear held loosely in his right hand. He peered at Patton curiously. Patton couldn’t help but shrink away. Shark-types were rare close to the surface and could smell blood. If they were anything like normal sharks, the scent of blood could cause a feeding frenzy. “You’re from the surface,” the shark-type, identified as Logan by Virgil, remarked.

“Y-yes,” Patton said.

Logan took Patton’s bleeding arm and wrapped it in seaweed. “This should stifle the bleeding for now. You’d hate to bring actual sharks or shark-type mers with less control than me down on you.” He set his hands on his hips. “Now. You said you were looking for a friend---Roman, if I heard correctly.”

Patton nodded. He liked Logan better than he liked Virgil. Virgil seemed... dangerous. The trident-twirling didn’t help. He was intimidating. Scary. Logan seemed calm and level-headed. “Yeah. He dragged me down here. He’s... he’s the adventurous one. But when it got dark, we got separated and now I can’t find him.”

Logan inspected Patton again, taking in the dulled shine of his scales. “We’ll help you find him,” Logan said.

Virgil didn’t appear to be interested in the conversation. Just twisted the shaft of his trident around in his left hand and stared off into the darkness. But at Logan’s words he tuned in again. “Oh yeah, sure. In fact, I bet I know where he is.”

“Where?” Patton asked.

Virgil smirked. “Probably in the eel’s lair. Adventurous types always end up there.”

“The eel’s lair?”

“The lair of an eel-type merman who is proficient in magic,” Logan supplied. “Adventurers like to seek him out looking for spells and potions to aid them. Deep-water pods avoid him for the most part.”

“Is he... dangerous?”

“Anyone can be dangerous so that’s a difficult word to use. He is, however, tricky. He likes loopholes and double meanings.” Logan glanced at Virgil. “We might as well take a look.”

“What’s this eel’s name?” Patton asked. Naming things made them less scary.

Virgil shrugged. “No one down here knows. Like the shark said, we avoid him. But his reputation for tricking his... customers has earned him the nickname Deceit.”

Patton shivered from the top of his head to the ends of his fluke.

Logan noticed. “Don’t worry. We won’t make you go inside. Virgil and I will go in. If we find your friend, we’ll escort him out.”

“Actually, I’ll just go in,” Virgil said. “Lo, you stay outside and keep your eye on the surmer. It’s dangerous for cowards like him this deep.”

“I’m not a coward!” Patton exclaimed.

“Whatever. Let’s get moving.”

^^^^^

Virgil glanced at Logan and Patton as he readied his trident. “Stay here. Logan keep the surmer safe. Patton, don’t wander off. I’ll be back.” He twisted and dove into Deceit’s tunnel entrance to his cave. His knuckles turned white on the shaft of his trident.

“Weeellllll... if it isssn’t my ooold friiieeend,” a deep voice hissed. The glimmering scales of an eel wrapped briefly around Virgil’s tail before slithering off and swooping in front of him.

“Deceit,” Virgil replied flatly.

“Ohhh. Too good to ussse my real name now, old friend?”

“Logan is outside. With a surface merman,” Virgil said. “The surface merman is looking for a friend. Adventurous type. Red tail. Red-to-green hair. Goes by the name of Roman.”

“Oh, I’m sssure I haven’t ssssssseen sssuch a merman.” Deceit smiled, revealing his sharp teeth. His scales reached far past his waist, crawling even over his face, giving one eye a slit-pupil eel look.

“Deceit,” Virgil growled. “Give him up. Now.”

“I don’t have thisss merman you ssspeak of,” Deceit said.

“Don’t try me.” Virgil leveled his trident at Deceit’s throat. “I left your pod for a reason, you monstrous eel.” He pressed the middle, longest prong of his trident against Deceit’s throat.

“Ohhh. All grown up now, are we?” Deceit smiled.

“Look, just give me Roman and I’ll get out of your scales.”

“Nothing comesss without a priccce, old friend.”

Virgil clenched his jaw. “How about the price is that I don’t skewer you where you float?” he growled.

“Ooh. Somebody getsss a big ssscary stick and suddenly he’sss the boss? Honey, that’s a laugh and a half.”

“Don’t try me,” Virgil repeated. “I’ve grown since I left your pod.”

“Ssso have I, dear Virgil,” Deceit hissed.

Virgil encroached on Deceit’s space harder, prong slicing the skin of the eel-type’s throat. Blood floated through the water, diffusing in the sea. “Let. Roman. Go.”

The humanoid skin on the right side of Deceit’s face went pale. “Alright, alright. But the biiillllll comesss duuue, little Virgil.”

Deceit waved a hand.

The darkness of the cave lifted somewhat to reveal a merman bound in kelp. Muscular, he matched Patton’s description. He wasn’t much longer than Virgil, but his tail was built for power. Virgil’s for speed.

Another wave of Deceit’s hand and the merman was free from the kelp. He whirled.

“Take him and go. But when you come back, the priccce will be sssteep.”

Virgil grabbed Roman’s wrist and pushed him behind him. “I don’t intend to ever come back, Deceit,” he spat. Turning tail, Virgil dragged Roman after him. “You’re another surmer. Your friend Patton came looking for you.”

Roman stared at the row of shell piercings up Virgil’s ear. “Did you know him?”

“A long time ago. Don’t tell anyone,” Virgil growled. His knuckles were white on his trident again.

“I sense a bad history.”

“Don’t. Tell. Anyone,” Virgil snapped again, voice dark. His grip tightened on Roman’s wrist.

“Okay, okay. Sheesh. I won’t.”

“Good.”

They reached the mouth of the cave. Virgil shoved Roman in Patton’s direction.

“Ro! You’re okay!” Patton exclaimed, throwing his arms around Roman’s shoulders.

“You two should head back to the surface. Immediately,” Virgil said. Logan watched the color return to Virgil’s knuckles as his grip on his trident slacked. The two surface mermen stared at him.

“Y-yes. Of---of course,” Patton stammered. “Ro, let’s go. Please?”

Roman nodded agreement. He gave Virgil a slight bow of his head in gratitude, put a hand on Patton’s back, and pushed him up toward the surface before following after. Virgil glanced over at Logan.

“We should get out of here too. This place gives me the creeps,” he said.

Logan grunted. “Indeed. Even for the depths this water is frigid. Let’s be off.”

Side-by-side, they swam away from Deceit’s lair.

^^^^^

Deceit clicked his tongue, watching the Pearl’s image of the violet merman and his shark companion as they swam away from Deceit’s cave. “Flee, little Virgil. Flee,” he whispered maliciously. “But you’ll be back. One day. You’ll need something from me. And you’ll be back. I promissse.”

[olivesilverlock]

mush | amajiki tamaki x reader

a super, super, SUPER late fic a.k.a. part 2 of @denkis-kaminari‘s secret santa gift

summary: a drabbleverse of your relationship development with tamaki, from middle school to a rather unique confession of sorts over the phone a few years later

themes: high school au, friends-to-lovers, reader likes to make tamaki laugh… and blush :’-)

warnings & notes: there’s some crack in this, you can easily tell ahdsdjaklkal but other than that, please enjoy??? // also gender neutral!

(i.)

It was in homeroom that you learned that Amajiki Tamaki got into U.A. High School. The reason you knew about this was because of one Togata Mirio. 

Mirio was loud and big in everything he did and right now his big hand was patting Tamaki’s back, supposedly in reassurance that his decision to go to U.A. with him was a good one. But Tamaki was having second thoughts.

“Can I just return my letter of offer? I don’t want to go anymore; I want to go home,” Tamaki said.

“Ya can’t go now because we’re in school and I don’t think you’re the type to skip school, right? And you’ll be fine anyways! I mean, you did get one of the most-improved scores in the cohort.”

Being Mirio’s friend was both a blessing and a curse; a blessing because he was really good at getting people out of their shell and a curse because he was a little bit too optimistic sometimes.

Tamaki quietly sunk his head onto his desk and mumbled. “Ok,” he sighed. “If you say it will be fine then maybe it will be fine…”

It was not fine.

Lunchtime came around and Tamaki wanted to hurl (himself into the trash can). He felt like garbage and oddly enough, you were the one student to witness him like this. At first, you panicked. Mirio was nowhere to be found and usually he was the one who would be comforting Tamaki in a crisis like this. But this time around, there was only you and you had never really spoke one-on-one with the timid boy.

Fortunately, your nervousness was short-lived when you realised that Tamaki’s face was getting paler and paler. As cautiously as you could, you cleared your throat.

“Amajiki?” Tamaki was startled to say the least and when he looked up through his bangs to see your furrowed eyebrows and slight frown, he retreated further into his seat. 

“Is it okay if I sit here?” You gently asked. Tamaki could only nod, too shocked at the interaction to speak up. Though you didn’t expect him to respond immediately anyway.

You tried not to stare directly into his eyes, just in case you sent him into overdrive, and settled for unpacking your lunch as you spoke.

“Hey, um, are you okay, Amajiki?” You asked, gulping down a mouthful of food. Tamaki’s eyes locked onto yours and you were taken aback by the brief intensity of them. Just one look had made you a flustered mess already. 

“Uhh, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, Amajiki,” you said quickly.

Tamaki looked down at his food and said something that you didn’t quite catch.

“Sorry, what was that?” You leaned a fraction closer and Tamaki gulped. 

“I’m fine, just tired,” he said softly. You leaned back into your chair and nodded.

“Ah don’t worry I understand. It’s a very tiring process, preparing for high school and all. But for you in particular, Amajiki,” you paused, sighing before you continued, “you must feel like a heavy burden has been placed on you to uphold the school’s reputation, right?”

Tamaki was puzzled about how you deduced that from the way his body seemed to curl into itself. His lip quivered as he struggled to find the right words to respond with while you tapped your chin and kept nodding to yourself.

“Mm, I think it’s okay to be nervous about things like this, Amajiki.”

Tamaki actually felt a little calmer now that you were sitting there casually talking with him.

“Ahh, about earlier, I-I’m better now,” he said. You simply smiled at him and continued eating in companionable silence. “Also, thank you for asking me if I’m ok.”

Tamaki sent you a small smile that made your heart quicken at the sudden movement.

“Amajiki…” you started.

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at you with a small smile.

“Um, you can call me Tamaki, if you’d like.”

Your face heated up at the sudden burst of confidence. Tamaki really didn’t know how much of an effect he had on you.

“Ahhh I don’t feel like I know you well enough to use your first name though,” you croaked. Tamaki looked back down, his shyness returning in full force.

“It’s okay, y-you can use it.” And when he looked back up again, it seemed as if you were radiating warmth from your entire being. 

(ii.)

Tamaki really loved heroes and he really loved talking about them with you because you would nod excitedly and listen for hours to everything he gushed about. It was rare to see Tamaki unabashedly talk without stuttering or slipping one bit and you were glad to be one of the people he felt comfortable being around.  

When he met the pro-heroes from U.A., he would call you up first to gush about every single encounter he had, and today it was about All-Might.

“All-Might really does smile all the time. It’s cool and kind of scary. I don’t have a lot of classes with him though so I wouldn’t know for sure. But from what I’ve heard, he can get pretty fired up too.”

“Kind of like Mirio?” You suggested.

“Now that I think about it, yes. Exactly like Mirio.” Tamaki chuckled and your cheeks hurt from grinning. You could get used to this; talking on the phone with Tamaki after school and making him laugh without even trying… that hard.

“Ugh, I miss you guys. Nejire too. I think we need to catch up soon so I can be revived from the hell hole that is work-study.”

“I think you need more than just us to be revived.”

“Excuse me, all I need is to do is be around Mirio for at least five seconds and absorb his energy; only then will I feel completely rejuvenated,” you deadpanned.

“Are the rest of us just extras?” Tamaki sounded like he was actually offended by the seriousness in your voice.

“No!” You protested, then added, “I love each and every one of you equally.”

“H-hey now, that’s just cheesy.”

“It is, but seriously, can you ask Mirio to send me some of his energy? I’m dying here and I really need him.”

“Are you serious?” spluttered Tamaki.

“Yeeees, I can’t live on caffeine alone. I’ll have whatever Mirio’s having.”

“Ok, I’m hanging up now. Bye.”

“Are you jealou—”

Beep.

And that was the very first time that Amajiki Tamaki had ever hung up on someone.

(iii.) It had been a while since you last caught up with ‘The Big 3’ and Nejire wanted to buy enough snacks so that you’d all be full (of junk food) by the time you reached her house. After today’s workload, cooking was the last thing on Nejire’s mind.  

“Is Mirio coming?” You asked Tamaki, who had his back against the wall. 

“Mirio can’t make it because he has work study today,” Tamaki replied.

“Ah, fair enough.” You sat down on the curb outside the convenience store and patted the space next to you.

“Sit next to me?” You said, smiling up at Tamaki. He didn’t reply and instead seemed preoccupied with the ground beneath his feet. He’s overthinking again, you noticed. It was clear to you that Tamaki was subtly calculating where he should sit and how close he would be next to you. 

You wanted to guide his hand downwards and make it clear that you wanted Tamaki to choose to sit just close enough so that when either of you slightly moved, you would bump shoulders. It was a mushy thought, but you couldn’t help it, you just liked being next to him. But you wanted to pretend for a bit longer.

You sat and watched patiently as Tamaki slowly lowered himself down onto the curb… a whole lot further way than you expected. In fact, Tamaki was exactly two seats away from you and judging by the conflict on his face, from the anguish at his miscalculation to his reluctance to change his seating position, he didn’t mean to be.

Tamaki was regressing back into his thoughts again, so you took this opportunity to snap a photo of him but didn’t realise the sound was on. You jumped at the noise, your eyes finding Tamaki’s slightly panicked expression mirroring your own.

You laughed nervously, “Sorry! It was really good lighting and I didn’t want to waste it.” Great cover, you internally groaned.

Tamaki, whose face was slightly pink, muttered, “You always take bad photos of me.”

“They’re candid thank you very much and anyway, at least they’re not as bad as Kirishima’s.”

Tamaki giggled and you grinned at the lovely sound. You were glad that you could get him out of his head for a bit.

“Anyways, that’s not entirely true,” you said as you got up to take a nice photo of the sunset behind you. “I have some cute ones of you too, I’ll send them if you’d like.”

And with your back turned to Tamaki, you had failed to notice how his blush deepened.

 (iv.)

Tonight you could not stop thinking about Tamaki. He was in every corner, shop window display and person you came across. It was Christmas and the elves were EVERYWHERE. Every time you saw an elf, you would stare at their ears, and then your brain would automatically associate them with Tamaki’s slightly pointed ears that were the exact same shape, only cuter. You didn’t know how many times you’ve freaked out a Santa’s little helper elf by staring at their ears and blushing every shade of red. You didn’t know what to do about it. Though one thing did come to mind.

You grabbed your phone out of your pocket and dashed out of the shopping centre after collecting a pair of complimentary elf-ear headbands for you and your little sister.

“Can we eat ice-cream now?” Your sister whined as you fumbled about with the headband. When you got it to sit as perfectly as it could on her small head, you clicked your tongue and replied.

“Wait!! I have to take a photo first and send it to my friend.” You snapped several shots of your sister, who posed for them despite her eagerness for the ice-cream you had promised her several hours ago.

“Ok that’s cute enough,” you said and sent the best ones to Tamaki.

“I’m always cute,” your sister bragged. You snorted. That was true, but you didn’t want to tell her that again just in case you made her ego bigger than it already was.

You took your sister’s hand and navigated through the packed crowd for some well-deserved ice-cream. As you waited in line, you couldn’t help but check your phone every ten seconds for a reply from Tamaki.

“Are you waiting for your boyfriend to text you back?” Your sister teased.

“Ha-ha no. I’m waiting for Tamaki to reply.”

“Same thing,” she muttered back. You glared at her but rolled your eyes when she shrugged her shoulders in response.

Ping!

The notification rung and boy you had never unlocked your phone so fast in your life.

Tamaki 🐙💞: she looks like she was forced to wear that

You had drawn little hearts around the elf-ear headband on your sister’s head and sent it without context.

You: ummmm it’s cute. plus it reminded me of you

Tamaki 🐙💞: how??

You: you have the same ears as the elves i keep seeing everywhere. tamaki… i think i may have found your long-lost family

Tamaki 🐙💞: okay weirdo

You scoffed. You were glad that you could banter with Tamaki without him getting self-conscious now. But sometimes the easiest way to get a reaction out of Tamaki was to compliment him. And you could never get sick of that flustered face of his.

You: don’t worry tamaki, you’re still the cutest elf boy in my eyes 🥰🥰🥰

Tamaki took a few seconds longer to reply to your message. You could tell by all the backspacing he was doing with whatever he wanted to respond with. You could already picture him blushing while reading your text and it made you smile at your cringey text in satisfaction.

From the corner of your eye you could see that your sister was judging you silently, but you paid no mind.

 (v.)

“You know, Tamaki, you’re pretty consistent with the people that you choose to interact with,” you said over the phone. Tamaki had called you, saying that he couldn’t sleep because he felt worn out. When he asked if you were busy, you had reassured him that you were definitely not busy even though you were stuck on closing duty at your part-time job. No one else was on the closing shift with you, so you had decided to put your earphones in and talk to Tamaki to pass the time.

“How?” He asked.

“Tamaki! Haven’t you realised that you tend to gravitate towards people with, well, sunnier dispositions than yours?”

“That doesn’t really narrow it down though because that could be anyone.”

You cracked up laughing. Tamaki seemed to be funny when he wasn’t supposed to be.

“Okay, I’ll give you that. But, ok, I mean Mirio is basically sunshine personified and although he’s laidback, the guy is a hard worker! Then there’s Nejire, who has pure confidence and honestly, I would too if my speed, technique, intelligence and communication statistics were so well-rounded. How is that even possible? I don’t know. Her resilience knows no bounds.”

Though you couldn’t see it, hearing you talk about his friends with such enthusiasm and admiration caused a faint smile to appear on Tamaki’s face.

“And they’re both so weird!” You sighed deeply, “Tamaki, I think you have a thing for weirdos.”

Tamaki tried to suppress his laughter. “Does that mean you’re a weirdo too?”  

“Oh no,” you mumbled to yourself, pretending to have a dawning realisation. “What have you done to me, Tamaki!?”

This time, Tamaki couldn’t stop the giggle from escaping his lips.

“Oh, wait, Tamaki, I’m putting you in my pocket ok?” You heard an ‘ehh??’ right before you stuffed your phone into your pants and finally locked up for the evening.

You talked on the way home, while you washed up and right until you winded down for bed.

“Tamaki,” you began.

“Mm?” He yawned softly. He was getting sleepier now which was a good sign.

“Um, how are you feeling now?”

“I still can’t stop thinking about what happened today,” Tamaki answered wearily. You felt your heart ache.  

“If you keep worrying about what other people think of you, you’re going to make yourself sick.”

“I know.”

“Yeah, sorry. I know you do, and I know it’s hard as well when your mind is just constantly buzzing. I would offer you my bed, but I don’t think you’d be comf—”

Tamaki made a strangled noise from the other line, “U-Um, that’s okay.” You waited patiently for him to continue, eyes bulging in anticipation for what he was going to say next.

“But can you stay on the phone with me?”

Your heart soared at his request. “Of course, Tamaki, I’ll stay on the phone with you for as long as you need.”

Tamaki thanked you and there was a brief pause because he couldn’t think of what to say next. Lucky for him, you picked up on this difficulty a while back and easily slid into the next topic of conversation.

“You wanna know something, Tamaki?”

“Mm?”

This was it; the point of no return from where your harmless crush on Tamaki would change for better, or for worse.

“Back then, I wasn’t one of the people who ignored you on purpose.” You could feel your cheeks heat up the more you thought about what you were going to reveal to Tamaki. “I noticed you all the time…”

“W-what? Why, or how? I, uhh, huh?”  

“Are you sure? You better brace yourself, Tamaki.”

“Uhh yes? You’re the one who started this conversation?”

“Tamaki!!! Are you ready or not!?”

“Yes, yes, I’m ready.”  

“This is going to sound so shallow and cheesy, or both, oh my god, ok. OKAY,” you raised your voice for no reason in particular; the excess energy in your body screaming to be let out. Tamaki laughed softly and that sound eased your nerves for about a millisecond.

“Tamaki,” you began again, but in a stern voice this time.

“Yes?”

“I always thought you were cute—like really, really, really cute, especially when you played around with Mirio. You always had this small smile on your face when you were with him and I—hold on a second.” You really felt like you were going to tear up for some stupid reason and so you paused to take one deep breath and exhaled… a jumble of sentences.

“I felt so lucky to have always seen that smile up until middle school. Tamaki, you don’t understand—I even thanked Mirio at some point, for being your friend and whatever else, I don’t even know or remember what I fully said. Oh god. Maybe it is selfish of me, but Mirio’s friendliness towards you helped me to become your friend too.” Your voice had barely held up the sternness it begun with; instead, it had turned to mush once you started gushing about Tamaki.

“But then you transferred to UA and I didn’t realise just how much I had missed seeing you in person. And Nejire used to say that I had a ‘thing for shy boys’ and I didn’t know what she meant by that! I only told her that I liked you so much and that I COULDN’T HELP IT. Or maybe I did think you were cute because you were also shy, but you’re more than the sum of your parts, Tamaki. I think I’ve always known that. I just—I just wish I had known you sooner.”

On the other line, you could hear almost every single breath that Tamaki took.

“Maybe I do have a thing for weirdos,” Tamaki contemplated.

Now you were confused. “H-huh?”

“I think it’s like you said; I admire the same kind of people. Y-you and Nejire don’t really have a filter when it comes to discussion topics; you both tend to speak your mind.”

You nearly choked on your saliva. You did not expect this response at all. Maybe a rejection or something but this? You didn’t know what this was.

“What about Mirio?” You managed to whisper.

“You and Mirio are both very warm people. Literally though, the both of you are like walking heaters.”

“TAMAKI WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?”

“Umm, well, these are things you have in common with the people I like, as you said before. B-but what I’m actually trying to say is that high school isn’t the end of the world. It’s only a short time so you aren’t missing much, except… m-me.” Tamaki’s breath nearly caught in his throat at the prospect of staying on your mind for the past year or so.

“Besides, I’ll still be there with you after high school i-if you’ll have me.”

You cupped your mouth in an attempt not to squeal at the cheesiness coming from Tamaki’s mouth instead of yours this time. Once you calmed down as much as possible, you cleared your throat and replied.

“Tamaki, does that mean you accept my long-winded confession?”

“Yes?”

“YES?” You repeated in mock outrage.

“I mean, yes—I like you too AAAHH.” The tips of Tamaki’s ears were burning now.   

You burst out laughing. “I’m surprised you could understand what I was trying to say.”

“I always understand what you’re trying to say.”

“Aww Tamaki, you’re so cute,” you gushed once again. “I’m glad you like me too! Now please go to sleep before I come over there and put you to sleep myself.”

Tamaki passed out instantly. 

[scenariosofkonoha]

Headcanons for Gaara with an s/o that is Baki’s daughter?

I may have gone a tad bit over board with this one *sweat drop* But I really do hope you like it Anon! 

How They Met

I imagine that Baki’s S/O was a little over protective of their daughter. Baki is made out of fire and brimstone so his S/O (let’s say that she is a civilian) is a little more cautious…more like a lot more. When the woman finds out that the Sand Village’s Jinchuriki is roughly her daughter’s age she doesn’t allow the girl near him. She can’t play near him or even be outside if her mother know’s he is out

But this doesn’t mean she had never seen him. Baki’s daughter watched him from a far wanting to reach out to him but between the horror stories and seeing the one tailed beast attack the village she is a little nervous to approach him.

She is not necessarily afraid of him though. Once when she was very small she had watched him cry when a group of her friends had run away from him.

“Someone with that tender of a heart couldn’t be that evil.”

She and Gaara were properly introduced during the preparations for the Chunin. Introduction is a strong word…though she is introduced to Temari and Kankuro without incident, as she gets to Gaara it doesn’t go a planned.

“Hi I’m-”“I don’t care,”

Spurned she just keeps her distance from him as they train and up until they leave for the hidden leaf village. It is only when Team Baki returns that the two of them even begin to interact at all. As the team works on training, Gaara works on himself and being more open. Who best to try being more conversational with then the only kunoichi that dare come near him?

He tries his best to break out of his shell and talk with her. They are fairly short conversations but she enjoys speaking with him just the same.

“What mission are you going on?”“Escort” he answered shortly to her cheerful question.“That’s great, do your best!”

Gaara won’t admit that talking to her, however short, makes his days better. After a while he will learn to ask follow up questions, inquiring about her missions and day as well.

The Relationship

It starts of fairly slowly. They, at first, only hang out together every so often. If they crossed past on mission she would smile and ask him how he was. If they were both in the  This gained her the reputation of being fearless and undaunted like her father. Her kind and easy going disposition only serves to grow said reputation.

When Gaara wants to change for the better she is the first on board to lend a hand. It starts by her suggesting that maybe if he wants the village to acknowledge him, as a person, not a monster, he should take D ranked missions in the villages. To assist with the ensuing awkwardness, she goes with him on the first few. They find cats, do specialty repair jobs and run errands. She even finds a way to get his siblings involved.

As Gaara slowly gains a positive reputation the two of them grow closer. She is constantly in his corner helping him where he needs. She would definitely realize her feelings first. She would want to tell him but when he states he wishes to be Kazekage she would hold back out of respect for his dream.

“That’s wonderful Gaara. And I’ll be right by your side,” she promised putting the letter behind her back, crumpling it out of sight. “every step of the way.”

Gaara won’t notice his feelings for a good long time. Due to being socially isolated, his skills are still developing. They, sadly, aren’t to the level to notice her love for him. But he knows he likes spending time with her and continues to do so. She becomes a fixture between him and his siblings as they help him adjust to a more community oriented life.

To be of more help to him, she trains and works to be stronger. She is by no means a push over but her soul focus had always been to do what was best for the village. Most of her missions center around Suna and normally doesn’t take anything higher than a C. After Gaara’s admission she takes on more, missions that take her out of the village and last longer.

Baki is intense as a human being. He is a shinobi that has seen war, he doesn’t want his daughter to have the same plight. Seeing her new path he grows more worried. With the constant nagging and worrying of his wife, he (gently) pushes for his daughter to go into another aspect of shinobi life, teaching. Although she only goes into it to honor her family’s wishes, (and to get her mother to stop crying.) she finds really enjoys it. She works more with the smaller children teaching them basic skills. She even gets the sand siblings to help assist as mentors.

Having students and building bonds truly helps Gaara and whenever ge has the chance he helps with her class. His presence is a little jarring at first. But, as he attends more ( and with aid from Temari and/or Kankuro) the students begin to warm up to him. Some even look forward to seeing him.

“Sensei, is Gaara coming to help today?”

Temari is the first to notice how the two feel about each other. It starts when she sees them working together in her class. Yes, they had be friends for a while now by this point it has formed into something different Something more.*cues up Beauty and the Beast “~There may be something there that wasn't there before.~”*

Her brother is never far behind the girl and becomes more thoughtful and considerate of her feelings. She notes how we will ask her opinion or things and knows where she is at all times. Even though she is one of the few friends he as, he looks at her differently then anyone else.

Her suspicions are confirmed when listening to her speak to her class.

“My Mom says I can’t talk to him because he is dangerous,” A girl said from the back row. Their teacher tilted her head, her brows furrowed at the admission.“Yeah because he has that tailed monster thingy.” a boy retorted loud enough to rattle the windows.“My brother said he once destroyed the whole Village!” the well placed exaggeration set her class into chaos. Placing her forefinger and thumb on the bridge of her nose she inhaled slowly.Temari watched from her hiding place just by inside of the door from out of sight. A part of her felt wrong watching her friend this way. But for the sake of her brother, she had to know. Allowing her protectiveness t win over her propriety, she kept her post watching in all unfold.“‘Sensei,” a sweet voice broke through the drone. The young teacher’s attention was brought to her normally very quiet student in the front. The little girl held up her hand as if waiting to be called upon. With a nod of permission the girl began. “Gaara- sensei is really nice. How can someone so nice be dangerous?”Both women’s eyes widen at the question. The very same question, the teacher had once asked herself at the same age. It had always begged an answer, but with time, a little rewording and large sweet eyes, she believed she had finally gained an answer. With another inhale she faced her class and began carefully.“Sometimes” she spoke sitting on the corner of her desk. “Bad things happen to good people. They don’t know why it is happening. So… they may try to reach out, for help or at least a friend. But, if no one is there for them or if people pull away they will begin to feel isolated and alone.” A vision of a small red head crying into the sand came to mind. “maybe even a little afraid or hurt. Eventually, the bad things will begin to weight them down. They will want to do something about it. That something might hurt someone or even themselves.” She reasoned. Temari watched as her look concentrated on a spot on the floor before continuing. “It isn't that they are a bad person,” She added quickly looking at her students, “Its just means that they resorted to desperate measures to make it stop.” The pregnant pause stifled the room. Everyone seemed to hold their breath, waiting for her to finish. Temari, even more preparing herself for her answer.“But when someone realizes that they have done something wrong or that they have hurt someone, they should do their best to make it right. They themselves need to remember, that they are good.” She spoke softly before concluding with a smile. “So it isn't that Gaara is dangerous or bad, he just has done some dangerous things when bad things happened. He is working very hard to gain our trust, our friendship. And it will take all of us to help him. To give him a chance to make it right.”

Temari gave a smile as the class lit up in understanding and excitement over helping Gaara-sensei. With that he decision had been made.

The elder sand sibling devises a plan to get the two of them together. A plan nearly ruined by Kankuro, who was fond of their squad captain’s daughter. He isn’t the only one. Several shinobi find the kunoichi beautiful and well worth the chase until they face her father. Kankuro sees just what happens when her father finds out.

“If even think about touching my daughter, no amount of puppetry will save you.”

Kankuro doesn’t for a second think that his captain won’t end him and quits his advances. (Not that his daughter was at all interested in the elder brother. For the most part she laughs off most of his tries.) And it isn’t that he doesn’t like Kankuro. He respects the boy as shinobi of the village. But he knows of the boy’s mischief and will have none of it near his daughter.

When telling her what happen she laughs it off, she never really found her father all that scary.

“He has all the other chunin afraid to go around you” He said as the two pulled kunai out of the wall and posts. She shook her head in disbelief as they cleaned the training ground. Her father was a pushover, well at least to her. “He has all of them running scared. Well Except Gaara, guess cause he’s not a threat.” At the mention of his name the girls cheeks lit up in flame. At the obvious reaction Kankuro gave an easy purple smile. “Or is he?”Waving her hands erractically she shakes her head. “No, no I don’t know what you are talking about.” Her vehement denile falling on deaf ears.“You love him, don’t you?“Shhh! Not so loud.”“There is no one here but you and I!”

This is when Kankuro gets on board with the plan. To help his brother but also to see Baki’s face when he finds out his daughter is in love with his most feared student.

The plan is simple: get Gaara to recongize his feelings. If he admits it, she will easily follow suit.

The plan is easier said then done, Gaara doesn’t understand what they are trying to do. They continuously ask him about her and he answers, honestly and innocently.

“Don’t you think she’s beautiful?”“She’s aesthetically pleasing, but even you know that.”“Well yeah but…you know, I’m sure she’d love it if you took her to get something to eat.”“She’s teaching right now.”“I know that but I mean later. Like just the two of you?”“Why would we do that? All of us agreed to dinner tonight.”“I give up!”

The more they ask, or more like Kankuro asks, the more obtuse Gaara grows. He instead tells her that his siblings are acting weird. She sighs and says she will ask what they want and he should need to worry about it.

“Let him figure it out on his own.” She sighed with a smile toward her two well meaning friends. “If he feels the same he’ll come around,” She said trying not to let her heart sink at the thought of him not noticing her. 

Gaara, in true fashion, does figure it out. But only in the most extreme circumstances. An accident during shuriken training causes her to be hospitalized with extreme lacerations to her neck and face. While off on a mission, Gaara was unaware that anything had happen.

After reporting in, he is told by a group of academy students about the accident. Temari and Kankuro are not fast enough to catch him has he runs to the medical ward to check on her.  When the three of them rush in, she, embarrassed about her face and neck, tells them it isn’t so bad. Needless to say no one believes her when she tells them not to worry.

Of course not paying her mind, they are all extremely worried. But not on the level Gaara is. He stays with her as long as she lets him. He is even there when they replace her bandages. When she catches sight of what she looks like she begins to cry.

“I know it’s stupid,” her voice warbled as she wiped away tears. “scars make you stronger…” she held no belief in her words as she pulled the mirror away from her face. “I’m so foolish crying. I-”“I love you no matter what you look like.” a graveled voice call drawing her attention to him. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he opened his palm. A small whirlwind of sand curled into his hand, slowly, grain by grain a flower came into fruition right in front of her eyes. Between the flower and his words, the girl looked up at the Sand-nin. Slowly, and a little painfully she gave him a smile, scars crossing into her familial face markings.“I love you too,”

And the long awaited relationship finally  begins. one would think it would be rocky and awkward between the two but everything is pretty easy going. Seeing as they had been friends for so long, the next step seems natural. It doesn’t take too long to adjust to the newness of it and she is always patient as they learn how to be together as a couple.

The Announcement

Their relationship remains a secret for quite a while. It wasn’t suppose to be a  secret originally. They just didn’t tell anyone. They were often together when they were younger and them being together now doesn’t really look much different. It’s not as if they hold hands or kiss in public. She is a private person by nature, and Gaara doesn’t really feel the need to tell anyone to begin with.

Unfortunately that includes his siblings. It takes a month for Temari to truly confirm it is real. It takes Kankuro all the longer. Which  he is not pleased, but Temari’s “love-tap,” to the back of his head quiets any argument the puppet-nin might have had.

Temari, on the other hand, tells Gaara that they should at least tell her father. And even when both of them agree two things happen. First, Gaara is chosen to be Kazekage. The second would be the girl’s mother and her reaction to the boy’s appointment. Baki’s wife begins to passionately push their daughter away from from the sand siblings.

Not one to outwardly go against her mother she just decides no to tell her. Simply going for telling her that they are her friends and they need her support. The whole village’s support. With that she tries to tell her father instead. He, being a supporter of Gaara, seems to be a better option.

In a stunning turn the man, in his own fatherly way, tries to steer her away from dating a shinobi all together. She decides against telling him as well, mostly out of sheer disbelief.

Though he is working more then before, she does get to see Gaara more often. Missions were what took him from the village. Due his position he can’t leave thus allowing her to be by his side. These circumstances causes their inseparable nature to more on display. Those in the village begin to notice. The younger generation says nothing out of respect for the two, the older generation won’t say anything out of respect to Baki.

The secret of them being together is protected by two revolving rumors. “There is no way such a sweet girl would be with a monster,” and “Baki would never let any boy near his little girl.”And since confirming any rumor would mean talking to some of the most fearsome shinobi in the village it just remains a mystery.

But everything unravels when Gaara is taken. No one tells her what happened. She had said goodnight to him the evening before knowing nothing of what happened and how he was taken. She is only told when she arrives to her class and that is all they are talking about. They ask her for more details only to have her run out of her class in search of her father.

By the time she reaches her father, word of Kankuro’s defeat in battle reaches her. With Temari out of the village she is left without a friend or aid. Her father quickly chastises her, squashing any attempt of her going after him. After ensuring her safety he sends her to her mother. The woman only serves to drive the girl to her wits end with her constant berating of her friends. Be then spends her time waiting in Gaara’s office for information.

When Team 7 arrives with Temari the girl is numb. The eldest sand sibling does her best to console the girl, insisting to her it will be alright. Temari says that they will go after him, but her sense of helplessness only seems to grow.

It is only when Naruto speaks does she show any sort of emotion.

“So your Gaara’s girlfriend, huh?” The blonde boy spoke with a big smile. His voice carrying through the whole room. The girl stood, in front of her father and the other council members, eyes blinking with unshed tears. She recalled how Gaara spoke of this boy. With his sparkling smile and bright eyes, she could see why Gaara had worked so hard to become like him.Giving a watery copy of the leaf-nin’s smile she nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.” her voice wavered as she gave a deep bow. “And I’m asking you, please bring him back, Naruto Uzumaki.” It was then that her tears finally fell. Specking the floor in small misshapen puddles. “Please bring him back to the Village. Bring him back home.”

Her plea was answered, bringing their leader back to the village. A village he works so hard to be acknowledged by. A village that he became Kazekage of. The village where his family lived. His home.

While he was being checked over by medical-nin, a small part of his family lingered int he doorway, watching him with tear filled eyes.

To Gaara he felt that all of his hard work had been achieved in a single movement. Even when he was taken to the medical unit everyone treated him as a long lost friend. Well…everyone save for one.

“So you are dating my daughter?”

Baki was on the boarder line of ‘might be okay,’ and ‘definitely not pleased’. Its not that he didn’t like Gaara. Quite the opposite. He had a deep respect for the boy had grown and changed. The once murderous genin had done so much to atone for the sins of the past and change how the village saw him.

“Well yes I suppose I am,” he said thoughtfully as he tested out the bandages on his arm and shoulder.

But at the end of the day this was still his daughter. The sweet girl that  wanted to be friends with a Jinchuriki because “He looks lonely Baba.”

Though the boy had changed and he had seen the two on numerous occasions interacting peacefully. The man couldn’t quite erase the sight of death the red-headed boy had once given him. To say that he was  conflicted would be an understatement. But at the end of the day.

“You will take care of her. You will keep here safe and you will not hurt her. Do you understand me? Do otherwise and your sand will not save you from me.” The man said, he’s voice even, the tone cold.

At the end of the day it was his daughter’s decision. And he couldn’t fault her for her choice.

“I will do right by her,” the Kazekage vowed, “she is my home.”

The two have some sort of unspoken bond. Each understanding the promise in the air. Both knowing how precious the girl was to the other. Her father left promising she wouldn’t be far along.

As the Medical-nin left the room the girl entered the room. Making her way to sit next to him on the bed. The two of them silent. All that had transpired between the from the past few days settling between them. Shakily, she placed her hand on top of his, an unsteady laugh followed.

“How am I to stay by your side if you leave me behind?” the soft chuckles soon turning to tears as she looked up to him. New tears tracking over old as she gazed at him before embracing him. there was once a time when an embrace would have startled man. now it had become second nature to  wrap his arms around the girl, his girl.

Holding her tightly, he placed his face into her hair. “I’ll always need you by my side.” Lifting her chin, he saw more of the tears streaking down her cheeks, cross hatching scars and markings. He had never wanted to see her said, much less be the cause of her sadness. “You are my girlfriend after all.”

His attempt at a joke getting the desired effect, her hiccuping giggle lighting up the room. “So they told you about that?” her brushed stray tears away with his thumb as he gave her a small smile.

“It would seem everyone knows now.”

“Almost everyone,” she admits, her face matching color with her family markings. “My mother…” she trailed with a sigh. For Gaara that was a conflict for another day. Placing a kiss on the top of her head her pulled her back to him. “I love you Gaara,” She said into his chest, holding him as if she would never get the chance again.

“As I love you,”

[petitelepus]

Mer To Die For, Part 2

Pipes is in love, but rest of the pod is not. What happens?

Pipes took another look at his quest and love interest. She seemed normal if you looked past the webbed tentacles, huge eyes and thirst for energon. Pipes cleared his throat nervously. ”Uh, I’m sorry?”

The Mer before him looked to the side and frowned, looking ashamed of herself. ”I like energon… As in blood…”

You must have been joking.

”Um… Do you like grabs? I have those!” He tried to offer with a shaky laugh, reaching his hand into hole and grabbing first grab he got in his hand, offering it to the other Minimer. The femme stared at the grab, but slowly extended her and shyly took it. Pipes flinched. ”Oh, I forgot the rock!”

Small Mers like Pipes usually lacked fangs strong enough to pierce through crab’s hard shell so he used a pointed rock to break the hard shell and pick the meat inside the grab. The Mer grabbed the pointy rock and was about to hand it to you when he heard a crunch and turned to see you munching the crab, shell and all. You flinched at the attention you got from amazed Pipes.

”I- I’m sorry, I was just so hungry I couldn’t wait!” You apologised, embarrassed by your impatience. Pipes gaped. ”H- how did you—”

”We Abyss dwellers and octopus Mers have harder and sharper fangs than normal Mers. Just like mine. ”You said after swallowing and opened your mouth to show your fangs to Pipes. The Minimer leaned in to see closer and he gasped in wonder. Your fangs were much sharper than his blunt teeth, reminding him from shark’s fangs more than normal fish’s fangs. He also couldn’t help but to notice your longer and not to mention sharper canine teeth.

”Why you have such a long canines?” Pipes asked curiously. You closed your mouth and frowned. ”I use them to suck out energon from my meal.”

”Oh… You weren’t joking about that.”

”I’m sorry. I must weird you out.” You apologised, hanging your head shamefully. Pipes panicked, he didn’t want to shame his potential mate. ”N- No! R- rather, I like it!”

This caught you totally off guard. You snapped your head up and stared at him, big eyes wide and Pipes swore to his life, there was something in your eyes that lured him in like biolight. And yours weren’t even activated! He was truly in love.

”R- really? You aren’t afraid of me?” You questioned in disbelief.

”Why would I be…?” Pipes mumbled like in trans. You blushed softly and looked to the side. ”Then… You won’t mind me intruding your nest…?”

”Intrude how? Your my guest, I welcome you here!” Pipes chirped happily, extending his arms open as if wanting a hug, but not of course demanding one. You cheered up immediately, eyes sparkling and you rushed to him, wrapping your arms around him in a hug. Which he totally didn’t want!

”Thank you so much! I won’t stay long, I swear! Just enough to gain knowledge from world above!” You promised as you hugged Pipes, your head against his and he felt his blood boiling in love. You were so close to him, touching him, hugging him…!

”S- sure, take all the time you need…!” He stuttered in confusing love haze and you yelped happily, finishing your grab before he could even register it. You were just so cute, how could he say no to you?

The word about Pipes’ crush spread like plague in Lost Light pod. Those who had seen you had been quick to spread a word about you and it took only a day or two before the word reached the pod’s leaders.

”So there is a Abyss dweller in our community now.” Megatron started, almost immediately getting answer from his co-captain Rodimus. ”Is it really that big deal? At my old sea Mers from every corner worked together!”

”Rodimus, you don’t understand. Mers from abyss are known for their thirst of either energon or flesh, was it fishes, crabs or Mers like themselves. We can’t risk the whole pack’s safety because we have one Mer from Abyss with us.” Ultra Magnus, a giant whale Mer said as he frowned his famous frown. Rodimus shared a quick look with Megatron who didn’t look any less impressed.

”We drove Abyss Dwellers into deep parts of the sea because of what they were. Cannibals and energon drinking cannibals. They would eat their victims whole or suck them dry of the energon. They’re dangerous from the head to tail.” Megatron explained the situation to his younger captain partner.

Rodimus frowned, but there was no doubt of his decision. He had to do what was necessary for the safekeeping of the Lost Light pod. ”Let’s meet them.”

Meanwhile Pipes was in ninth heaven. You were so beautiful, so graceful and so kind. You moved around with a gentle push of your tentacles, your moves barely disturbing the water around you and you were so mindful of the grabs you left behind you, always cleaning after yourself… If there was anything to clean, you tended to eat WHOLE grab with it’s shells and everything.

”Sooo….? You’re from Abyss? What’s it like in there?” Pipes asked, attempting to start a conversation if not only to hear your angelic voice. You smiled lightly and shrugged. ”It’s dark for one. And cold. I’m shocked how warm it is here above.”

”Why did you come here?”

You frowned sadly. ”I lost my home and source of food so I had to leave…”

Pipes frowned, regretting even asking about it. ”I’m so sorry…”

You smiled and shook your head. ”It’s okay. I’m here now and it’s so pretty! Everything you have is so interesting! In Abyss it’s just dark and empty. You have amazing cave to live in! In my home there wasn’t much and if there was anything it was already usually taken by bigger Mers. Also, it’s really easy to breath here, the pressure in Abyss is crazy.”

”What kind of creatures there are in Abyss? I’ve heard a lot of scary stories from there. Like are there really Mers who practice cannibalism?”

You smiled sheepishly. ”That’s just a rumour made by someone mean. We eat fishes and grabs just as any other mer. I’m expectation though as I need some energon to survive.”

Pipes gulped, but patiently waited her to continue. ”It’s not like it’s all I eat, I just need enough to maintain my iron levels. I could always eat seaweed maintain my iron levels, but frankly, I don’t like the taste… I like it how warm and rich energon is.” You blushed, covering your red cheeks with your hands, but you were also smiling so cutely when you described the taste of energon.

Pipes could have listened you to talk about energon for hours, but someone was calling his name. He excused himself from your company and swam outside his cave where his good friend Drift was. The shark Mer looked uncomfortable, like being there made him anxious.

”Oh Drift! Nice to see you! What brings you here?” Pipes smiled as he looked at his friend. Drift smiled awkwardly and waved at his friend. ”Hi Pipes…”

The bigger Mer sighed and looked to the side. ”Pipes, I hate to do this, but Rodimus wants to see you… and the visitor.” Drift said to Minimer. Pipes gawked at his friend, you being completely oblivious in the background in his cave’s hidden depths. ”I- I- Why!? We haven’t done anything!”

”I know you haven’t, but you know… Abyss dwellers have certain reputation and Rodimus and Megatron want to see if the rumours are true. Though, Megatron already has a certain though about her…” Skids said, averting his gaze from his friend. This must have been painful for poor Pipes, but it had to be done.

Pipes sighed, his head slumping. ”Fine… When they want to meet her.”

”Now.” Drift said as he moved to the side to unravel the three most powerful Mers in whole pod. First was Rodimus, a bright and beautiful Mer adorned with gold as he was bold. Second was Megatron, equal to Rodimus as dark predator. Third was Ultra Magnus, a giant whale Mer who kept an close eye on everyone and every rule ever invented. Pipes gulped and swam forward. ”Captains… What do I own this pleasure?”

”Nothing much Pipes, we just came to check if the rumours were true.” Rodimus said shrugging with a free mind until Megatron jabbed him on the ribs with his elbow. ”Ow, I mean, we want to see if you’re holding a bloodsucker in your care!”

”Rodimus!”

”What!?”

”That’s not the word we use for them!” Megatron yelled at his co-captain. Rodimus grunted and corrected himself mindfully. ”I mean, we want to see if you really have a Abyss dweller in your care. Just so you know, we make sure they don’t attack anyone.”

”I do have one…” Pipes straight up admitted head hanging but he was quick to correct himself. ”But she wouldn’t attack anyone! She has been eating grabs this whole time!”

”Would you mind showing her to us?” Ultra Magnus asked calmly. Pipes, after a moment of thinking about it, nodded and turned to his cave’s darkness. ”(Y/n)… Could you come out for a moment?”

”Just a second!” You chirped back and after a couple of seconds you swam out from the cave. At the sight of new Mers you flinched and hid behind Pipes and he never felt more manly. Rodimus leaned in close and smiled to you. ”Hi there. You won’t bite me will you?”

Megatron and Ultra Magnus tried so hard not to discipline Rodimus for his chose of words but Ultra Magnus found it impossible. ”Rodimus! Language!”

”I didn’t even say anything bad!”

”Yes you did! Look how scared you made her!” Ultra Magnus pointed at you.

”I- I’ll try not to…” You whimpered from behind Pipes and shrank under the the stares of three big Mers. Rodimus smiled big and wide and pulled back. ”Great, so you won’t bite anyone or eat anyone or suck them dry of energon?”

”No, never!” You cried out loud, stepping up from behind Pipes to defend yourself. ”I would never bite anyone without their permission!”

”Yet how does it work in Abyss?” Megatron grunted and you had tendency to look ashamed. ”It’s different down there…!”

Ultra Magnus cleared his throat and gave you a harsh look. ”I’m sorry, but as long as you display a threat to our pod I must insist you leave as soon as possible. Now even if it’s possible.”

You gawked at them, then looked for Pipes for help, but the poor minimer couldn’t do anything to help you. If the pod leaders chose to drive away someone then their words was to be followed. You frowned, heartbroken and sad as you excused yourself.

Before leaving for good, you took a glance at Pipes and smiled sadly. ”I’m sorry. If you ever need me I’ll be at the Abyss’ border…”

And just like that you were gone. Pipes watched sadly as you swam away and finally he got the courage to move, to seek you out and cry out for you not to go, but Drift stop him on his trail. ”No Pipes, don’t…!” His friend cried as he held Pipes down and the little mer bursted into tears, feeling like his heart was broken.

Rodimus, Megatron and Ultra Magnus had manners to give a mer a peace when needed and swam away, pack to their main pond where they usually got together. Meanwhile Pipes cried against his friend’s shoulder…