#my 2 interests collide that's so awesome

[piastree]

Take a Chance with Me | OP81

oscar piastri x reader (fc: huh yunjin)

— Part 3

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Summary : They are a couple caught in the chaos of a love filled with randomness and quirks. Their relationship is marked by funny and unpredictable moments, where each day feels like a new adventure. Despite frequently engaging in amusing and spirited bickering, beneath the banter lies a deep and meaningful romance. Disclamer: This is a story created for fun without any hate towards anyone. This work exists in a realm separate from the original canon. Characters may be divergent from their established personas. So, just enjoy the rollercoaster ride.

f1updates

liked by user1, user2, and 95,390 others

f1updates spotted chart-topping sensation Sierra Turner hanging out in the McLaren garage at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Having a blast and sharing some race-day tales with the McLaren driver, Oscar Piastri!

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user hold up, sierra turner in the mclaren garage?! this race just got a whole lot more interesting

user sierra always bringing the good vibes wherever she goes! McLaren garage just got a major upgrade<3

user y/n, better keep an eye on your man

user lmao y/n's the one catching all his attention

user OMG, sierra talked with oscar??? my two worlds collided

user this is what dreams are made of! sierra, lando, and oscar, the dynamic trio we didn't know we needed

sierraturner

tagged oscarpiastri, landonorris, mclaren

liked by landonorris, mclaren, oscarpiastri and 505,397 others

sierraturner this was all one day. Thankyou for having me❤️ @/mclaren

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user SOO GORGEOUSSS

user sierra turning the race into a concert❤️

mclaren thankyou for coming, Sierra!🧡

sierraturner the pleasure is mine! I'm truly looking forward to another invitation

user sierra interaction with landoooo?? I LIVE FOR THIS

user whoa mclaren garage is filled with beautiful women!! imagine 2 gorgeous women y/n and sierra at the same place

landonorris great to see you here! Thanks for coming to the race

sierraturner looking forward to the next year races!

user is someone notice she seems to be getting cozy in Oscar's garage???👀

user i think u should stop overanalyze ://

message

oscarpiastri

liked by yourusername, mclaren, sierraturner and 174,041 others

oscarpiastri Last day of term completed. Podiums, a sprint win and your 🧡 made 2023 awesome. Big thanks to all the papaya crew

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quadlock incredible year! So proud to be on this journey with you 💙

ausgp What a first season! You’ve done Australia incredibly proud, mate! 🇦🇺🧡

user our rookie is no longer a rookie

user Good job lad, you proved all the haters wrong 🧡

sierraturner congratulations on an amazing first season 🧡

user wow have you officially become his fan?

sierraturner yes, no doubt

user it's time for you to move @/yourusername

yourusername added a story

Congratulations on completing your rookie season! Proud is an understatement❤️

oscarpiastri you know i love u right yourusername i know❤️

twitter

yourusername

liked by oscarpiastri, yourbff, landonorris, sierraturner and 75,407 others

yourusername me n my girlies

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user please let me be part of the group

user can i be one of your girlies…. or perhaps your only girl….. by that i mean your girlfriend and wife i will treat you right buy you flowers and make you breakfast every day my queen

yourusername oh, you're sweet. Lucky for me, i've already got a wonderful guy who showers me with love, flowers, and foods. But i'll remember your offer in case i need a backup🤗

oscarpiastri no need for backups here and definitely no substitutes allowed, mate🙄

yourusername possesive😩

user LMAOOO Y/N never crossed my mind seeing the two of them bickering on comment section

yourbff let's schedule another round!

oscarpiastri she's already booked

yourbff possesive much?😌

oscarpiastri i'm just scared you won't bring y/n back in one piece

yourusername silly hahaha

user Hold up, sierra liked y/n's post? Is this a friendly vibe or a hidden agenda?

user plot twist in the making

lovingwags

liked by f1updateswags, user, and 25,477 others

lovingwags the street is buzzing with rumors of Sierra trying to get Oscar's attention, stirring up tension with y/n. Whose team are you on??

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user why are we even comparing and picking sides when oscar is clearly with y/n? let's respect their relationship u weirdo

user sierra and oscar would make such a lovely couple<3

user can't we just focus on supporting each other??

user dear y/n please just leave oscar for sierra

user you are so sick🤮

user lmaoo stop making unnecessary drama😭

user sierra definitely >>>>> y/n LIKE SIERRA HAS IT ALL — THE TALENTS, FAME, AND LITERALLY EVERYTHINGGG

twitter

f1wagsupdate

liked by lovingwags, user and 45,454 others

f1wagsupdates y/n is currently enjoying a christmas holiday in Oscar's hometown. A heartwarming videos captured her sheer joy while playing with Oscar's nieces. Credit to @/blahblah

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user y/n looks so happy spending time with Oscar's family in Australia! What a heartwarming sight🥺❤️

user while the rumor mill is working overtime between them, y/n stays unbothered too busy being happy to get caught up in the drama

user no wonder they've been MIA since the winter break kicked in. Enjoy the holiday, you two!

user can we talk about how absolutely stunning and genuine y/n looks in this video?

user her beauty shines so effortlessly in this video. Oscar is so lucky😭😭

oscarpiastri

tagged yourusername

liked by yourusername, lilymhe, sierraturner, and 75,407 others

oscarpiastri exploring the town with my favorite dork

user did you just take a break from the track for a romantic getaway in Japan??? wow

user the cutest couple in the paddock<3

user the 5th photo is so cute because she seemed confused loll

user probably because she thought oscar was behind her, and then it hit her like, 'Oh, Oscar's still up there'😂

mclaren enjoy the off season, Oscar & y/n!

user admin is absolutely rooting for both of them🧡

user seated for oscar & y/n's honeymoon phase

user the unbothered queen & king❤️

Notes: Btw, I'm planning to create more parts for this AU, so if you enjoy reading it, you can look forward to some new chapters ahead. Please let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist. Thankyouuuu

[hydroelectricjaya]

I have finished finally finished the first 10 episodes of Ninjago Dragons Rising season 2. Wow. I’ve never been into Ninjago for the lore, only for the jaya, but now the lore is calling to me.

My thoughts on DR Season 2:

Nya being the only one to snap out of the weird energy draining plant of despair because the thought of Jay forgetting her is inconceivable. 💀💀💀

And then we find out that it was the “Test of Fears”. Does this mean Nya secretly fears Jay forgetting her and falling out of love with her?

We are not ready for the upcoming jaya angst.

The concept of the source dragons is awesome. I like that they have unique titles such as life motion, strength, energy, and we have yet to find out the names of the other three.Some people are theorizing that the core dragon of strength is Raz’s master, but I think that’s too on the nose and doesn’t quite fit with all the information we’ve learned so far. 

The next gen of ninja are really starting to grow on me. I wasn’t that excited about them during season one, however, season two has allowed their personalities to shine, and I’m excited about all of their character arcs. 

Bonzel is a spell. Interesting. Season two is diving into both high-tech and theoretical physics/science, but also the occult. I love the “her?” joke about Jordana (Arrested Development reference ICU) but also, she is gifted in both tech and magic. Laugh all you want about everyone forgetting her name but she is very powerful. 

But back to Bonzel, who turned out to be the MVP of these first 10 episodes of season two, the fact that she was a spell that became sentient is giving me sci-fi A.I. vibes. Kai might have been sacrificed for a forbidden five member, but Bonzel is the one who closed the portal and is now with Kai, therefore the variables have changed. We don’t have to wait for another blood moon for the portal to be opened. Plus Jordana got possessed by either a fragment of the portal or one of the forbidden five.

Here’s my prediction for the next 10 episodes: the most entertaining outcome is the most likely. How does Bonzel and Kai escape the nether purgatory? Obviously they’re not gonna wait for another millennia or two for the next blood moon. Somehow the portal will be opened again so they can extract Kai and Bonzel. And who else has all powerful portal technology? The Administration. Bonzel is now an accessory to the capture of Zane. The funniest way to extract Bonzel from this purgatory is for the Administration to apprehend her. 🤷‍♀️

Speaking of the Administration, who is excited for more than 33 seconds of Jay on screen? We found out some juicy details. He knows his name is Jay Walker. He knows he can control lightning and we know now that he hates his job and is just there for the paycheck (I can relate). 

This makes Jay joining Raz’s team, if it is even him, more interesting. Maybe he leaves the Administration because Raz offers him a better job or maybe he gets an invite to the tournament of source dragons and is a neutral party. I’m excited to see the second half of season two because it’s not as predictable as we once thought it was. 

But if Jay does end up joining Raz’s team, I’m excited for the jaya angst. If you’re never fantasized about hatefucking a sexy member of the supervillain group that hates you, have you even lived?

Tell me your thoughts and theories on next the ten episodes of season 2.

Unrelated: On April 8th CERN is turning back on the large hadron collider, same day as the total solar eclipse.

[princess-xeon]

parisocial relationships & rebirth

damn guys it took me forever to process this post!1!!!!111!!!

pain!!!! but it's okay lets catch up.

as per usual i am merging all of my interests and somehow colliding them simultaneously. esthetician school has been good thankfully. im used to the trails and tribulations of capitalism and the beauty industry. me used to it lol. aside from that; i saw Frost Children for the third time in concert as well as atlgrandma and Dorian Electra for the second time. granted it was phenomenal as to be expected but the short lived conversation that i ended up having with Lulu and Angel was semi heart breaking. but i wont let my favorite artists becoming more mainstream affect my live for them again. i have learned to distance myself from expectations and unhealthy parisocial relationships and instead just continue to love people unconditionally. because people like frost children work so hard to make a name for themselves and their art and i will always deeply respect and appreciate that. i told Lulu that i had a very intense depressive episode recently and that their art got me out of that. they were a little startled to hear that (i should've expected that) but they were so kind as always reassuring me that they're happy that im doing better but that what they do isn't even all that serious. but thats the point. i love not taking life seriously. it makes life so much more fun and enjoyable not only for myself but for others as well. regardless i will always love Angel and Lulu. i will always respect the fact that they're such genuine and kind souls while also having fun and encouraging others to stick a middle finger up to the predictable.

i am blessed that i am somewhat out of that rut again. i just had to listen to those who love me. i love my friends more than anything. when i went to that show last night i went with my best friend Lex. i love her more than anything because she keeps me grounded and reminds me that my existence is important and valid. and that you can be a fan of artists such as JPEGMAFIA and remain to be queer as fuck. she's so fucking awesome and i will always appreciate that about her. she treasures me that aside from my traumas of narcissists i will never have the ill intent (hopefully) to end up like someone of that sorts.

i will never forgive thou that shall not be named for how they made me feel. cutting narcissists out of my life was one of the best decisions that i have ever made in my entire life. unfortunately not everyone appreciates and savors unconditional love. i wish i could love every being the same, but some people just refuse to let me in. that is their issues and nothing of my concern.

ive been watching a lot of Drew Monson's youtube videos. he reminds me of the people in my life that i love. and he basically saved my life. his quick witted humor and loveable personality keeps a warmth in my heart. when i was going through my episode, he understood me and helped me out of it through humor, love for pop culture, and overall relatable qualities that i find hard to find from others.

anyways. im going to take a break from chronically online to try to write a poem for my grandma. in conclusion. i will always love Dorian Electra, for reminding me that irony can be sexy and fantastic in queer artistry. that disappointment is okay, and that swaggery always oozes out of me as well as you. no matter how you choose to express it.

much love. 5 ever 👁‍🗨🙏🏻🕊 ~ princess xeon

PIC CREDITS 4 THOSE WHO CARE

1. Dorian Electra performing ‘Puppet’ live recorded from my camcorder

2. An infrared selfie I took from my camcorder

3. My coworker and friend drag legend Banshee Rose performing at Oil Can Harry’s

4. A whisper that I made

5. A photoshoot with Angel and Lulu from Frost Children

6. A cool pic that I found from Pinterest

7. The icon Shaye St John

8. A collage by yours truly

9. My new favorite shirt that I got from the Frost Children concert last night

10. My favorite book at the moment

11. Chloe Cherry :3

12. A cool pic I found from tik tok 🙄

13. Alice Longyu Gao DJing and being iconic

14. Bunny girl :D

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Burnout 2: Point of Impact

Got my new Pixel 7 Pro. Wanted to see if I can play PS2 games (specifically Timesplitters Future Perfect), but after playing Riptide all week I was feeling nostalgic for some classic console racers!

Of the Burnout series--Burnout 2 isn't even the best one. I think it's basically a tie between Burnout 3 and Paradise. There's some other B3-era Burnouts I haven't played (like the 360 version), but I feel pretty confident in my appraisal.

Burnout 1 was interesting. Plenty of racing games had to offer what Burnout did, but the slight focus on crashing and building a boost-bar with dangerous actions made it feel pretty unique. I remember the original's cars being pretty bland. They were solid-colored, unexciting rip-offs of popular car types. But the slight deformation on the cars might it more exciting than the average racer--which just had solid cars collide with a flash of sparks and then you moved on.

Burnout 2 improved the game in every way: graphically, gameplay, and presentation. Watching my friend play through, I definitely felt it was more exciting and fun. I think I played a few races, but it was mostly him. I remember him holding a burnout-combo for over 1 lap. He practically burnout-boosted the entire race. That was cool!

I ended up buying Burnout 3 and it blew 1 & 2 away. The cars were much more interesting looking, the graphics were far more detailed, and the SFX made the experience far more exciting and intense! Then there was the crashing: WAY BETTER! Burnout 1 had car models that deformed slightly, Burnout 2 had a little more destruction, but Burnout 3 had cars that would fold and crumble in half--with glass, sparks, and debris flying every where! It was crazy! On top of that--wrecking other cars was a key mechanic...

Burnout 1 & 2 allowed opponents to wreck, but there's little one could do to influence it. I even tried to just now to bump and push other cars and it was like trying to redirect a train of its tracks with a leaf blower. But B3 let you disrupt an opponent's controls with a bump, or side swipe them into a wall, oncoming traffic, or other obstacle. And you were celebrated and rewarded for this! So not only were you battling the track and traffic, but you literally battled the other racers. It was fantastic.

Anyway--I'm not sure why Burnout 2 attracted me when there was a better game available. There's something about those bland-but-fun PS2 classics that tickle my nostalgia nerve. Because I've been playing Riptide Renegade on Mobile, I've been really pumped to play some classic-fun racers. And since I got a new phone, I was interested in trying out its emulation capabilities. Mostly I'm impressed.

Emulation on Pixel 7 Pro

I was a huge fan of PS1. So when PS2 promised to play PS1 games, awesome! I became a huge fan of PS2. So when PS3 promised to play PS1 & PS2 games: AWESOME! Unfortunately Sony abandoned BC. I thought they would correct that with Playstation Now for PS4--but they totally dropped the ball and haven't quite picked it back up.

When my original PS3 with BC died (after 8 long years of daily play for many hours) I wasn't sure how i was going to play PS2 games. And it's been a long struggle to figure that out. I had hoped the Pixel 4 XL could handle it--but not quite. (At least not Timesplitters: Future Perfect.) I've got a PC that can handle the emulation now, but I love the convenience of using my phone (I don't have a desk or designated PC play space. So it can get awkward setting up my laptop.)

I was able to get Timesplitters Future Perfect working with 4x resolution by switching to Vulkan backend. It's been great so far!! I tried getting Burnout 2 to work on AetherSX2--but it fails to recognize the disc. I've tried to mess around with the regional bios, but it's not getting me the results I want. So tried it out for GameCube with the Dolphin emulator (which has generally been a more pleasant emulation experience in the past).

This version worked. The game ran well at 4x until I got to the highway track. Framerate dropped to 45 fps and the audio chugged along with it. Wasn't great. I switched to Vulkan backend and everything got a little bit better. But the highway tracks still cause slowdown. Not sure how to fix it, but almost every other track runs at a smooth 58-60 fps.

How's it play?

The game requires a "training" section. You have about 6 exercises to go through explaining how to build the boost meter and do burnouts. When this game first came out and I was a high school teenager, the hand-holding that reminded me of Gran Turismo's license tests was kind of exciting. I thought, Wow--how cool that they've spent production time to teach you and pull you into the experience. Now I'm like, "Just let me race!"

Riptide Renegade, like many modern racers, teaches the core mechanics in the first race. It's a 5-10 minute experience of going through a first race. The game pauses and explains a feature, then encourages you to complete the feature. Compared to the tutorial of Burnout, it's not so invasive and is over quick. There's lots of loading in Bunrout 2, so loading each tutorial feels more laboring than it should be.

But then you start racing. The cars are just "unlocked". No purchase necessary--though you have to beat further challenges to unlock more. That's not so bad, but I miss games that give you cash even if you fail, meaning that if you fail long enough you get to buy something new. But then again, Burnout's approach makes getting new cars less grindy.

The cars control ok. Burnout 1 had really stiff cars. These feel better. But still not as nice as Burnout 3 or Paradise. The crashing is exciting enough, but not like the latter games. It's interesting, you only race 3 opponents. I'm guessing this is due to technical constraints. But the game does a good job of keeping the races intimate. While I was able to pull ahead in many races, the AI is always just behind. And if you fall behind, they don't leave you too far behind. It keeps the racing exciting and fun.

I did notice after barely holding first place with 2 laps that were about 1 minute 15 each, somehow I still came in first with an abysmal 1 minute 40. Maybe it'll get harder later.

The point of playing this was just to feel some nostalgia and test out my emulation capabilities. But I'm considering playing through. I don't know...there's plenty of Riptide left and I've got many other games on my list.

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Ortho Shroud Union Gear Personal Story: Part 3

"Happy Birthday"

(Part 1) Part 2 (Part 3)

[Ignihyde Dorm – Birthday Party Venue]

Cater: Next question～

Cater: “If you were to join any dorm other than Ignihyde, which dorm would you choose?”

Ortho: Hmm, I have to only pick one…? If I got the chance, I'd like to go to all of the dorms.

Ortho: I'm pretty fascinated by Savanaclaw's climate, and Octavinelle's ocean environment…

Ortho: Hmmm… It's really hard to decide, but if I had to choose one, I guess it would have to be Pomefiore.

Cater: Oooh. So you're saying that Pomefiore has something that interests you more than the stuff you just said about the other dorms?

Ortho: Well, that's because Pomefiore is the dormitory with the oldest history. In addition to learning about the school's history, I'd like to study that dorm if I can too.

Cater: If you're looking to study the school's history, I don't think you have to go to Pomefiore to learn, right? There're books in the library on that subject.

Ortho: It's something that Trein-sensei said before in magical history class…

Ortho: In order to learn history, it's important to not only learn from documents, but to also visit the places where historical events occurred.

Ortho: It's a research technique widely used in historical fields called field work.

Cater: Aah, it's that thing that Trein-sensei talked about before with a furrowed brow, saying, "If only I had a little more stamina…"

Ortho: I thought I had downloaded all of the data pertaining to the history of this school before I enrolled, but,

Ortho: After listening to the professor's lectures, I've started to think that there's still so much I don't know.

Ortho: If I'm going to do field work on campus, I can't avoid the school's oldest dorm, Pomefiore!

Cater: So you're considering Pomefiore as a historical landmark, huh. That's a cool way to look at it.

Ortho: When it comes to research there… I want to learn more about Rook Hunt-san.

Cater: Rook-kun? Why?

Ortho: Well, actually, I once almost collided with Rook-san while I was taking my Athletic Gear for a maintenance run.

Ortho: Of course, I was able to stop at a safe distance.

Ortho: But, because I was worried I may have startled him, I asked him to let me check his vitals, just in case.

Ortho: And when I did… Rook-san's pulse wasn't racing at all.

Ortho: I don't know if he was shocked but was able to calm it down immediately, or if it didn't waver at all… I have to admit, I'm a little curious.

Cater: …It sure would be interesting if researching Rook-kun ended up more difficult to do than studying the school's history…

Cater: OK, and with that, the interview's over. Next is the main event we've all been waiting for―

Ortho: The presentation of the "gift of good fortune"! I've been really looking forward to this―!

Cater: Ortho-chan, it's great that you're super pumped up～♪ Hey, let's take an awesome video of the event too.

Cater: Uhh, I'll set the tripod around here, and point the smartphone here… Yep, that looks good.

Ortho: If you're going to do it from this angle, I'd recommend taking two steps back and throw from there.

Cater: It's kinda weird to get advice from the one who'll be on the receiving end of the gift… So I should stand about here?

Ortho: Yeah, perfect!

Cater: Okay, here I go…

Cater: Ortho-chan, Happy Birthday!

(Part 1) Part 2 (Part 3)

[crusherthedoctor]

Out all the eggman boys he pilots for battle and what not like the egg dragoon or death egg robot, what are some of your favorites? And do you have any ideas you wish he would employ in the future?

It should be mentioned that, being the Eggman fanboy that I am, I love many of them, even the simplest or shittiest ones (ie: Egg Dealer), because the aesthetic of Eggman's style really appeals to me, and the way his machines can range from goofy to intimidating, or both simultaneously, can be seen as an extension of how versatile the doctor himself is.

Still, I do have my favourites. Most of them are the ones you'd expect, but here goes:

Well you gotta start with the classic, don't you? The first of Eggman's king-sized monuments to his own visage, and more than deserving of its iconic reputation.

This one's a fan favourite when it comes to his smaller scale Egg Mobile attachments, and it's easy to understand why. It's an undeniably brilliant design that doesn't have any obvious weaknesses for armchair intellectuals to point and go "Why does this video game boss have that? That's stupid, IQ of 300 my ass, I'm such a clever internet person, please give me all your praise".

The Death Egg Robot may be the one everyone knows, but the Great Eggman Robo is the one we all strive for. Both phases of the fight may be straightforward, but the scale of the behemoth cements the tense atmosphere, and it happens to be smack dab in the middle of arguably the greatest finale in a Sonic game, which is as wonderful as it is in part due to Eggman never, ever giving up.

A more unconventional choice here. There may not be much to these two fights in particular, but I just really like the general concept of Eggman taking ancient statues or other such structures, and weaponizing them. It's a nice spin on his usual motif of converting Mother Nature to his own preference, as well as defacing ancient histories and legacies for the sake of his own.

Both of Eggman's final mechs in SA1 are awesome. The Egg Viper is a really cool design and gave birth to a certain meme, and the Egg Walker marked the climax of one of Eggman's best moments and one of Tails' best moments.

Speaking of Egg Walkers, I like this one too. Yeah, it's no secret that I don't like how Eggman - the guy known for making all sorts of crazy crafts - is stuck in one tiny thing for a whole game's duration (even though I'm aware it's for gameplay's sake, but still), but on its own merits, the Walker itself is still cool in my book.

Putting them together because they're more or less the same mech. Nothing special here, I just think they're cool "modern" interpretations of the Death Egg Robot-style humanoid mech. And yes, I know Eggman technically didn't pilot the Egg Emperor in Heroes... but he did in Generations 3DS, so get it up yee.

Another one you knew was coming. Don't we all love the Egg Dragoon? So do Sonic Team, it seems. The Dragoon is one bad mothafucka, and the way Generations added to it by incoporating an Egg Viper tail and the Egg Wyvern's wings made it even more badass. Unleashed may not be one of my favourite games in the series, but I'm thankful that it gave me this winner right here.

These two don't really have much in common (aside from the colour blue), but I put them together because thanks for nothing, Tumblr image limits.

Anyway, I've always felt the Egg Wizard deserved more recognition. The design is interesting in itself and keeps to the nautical theming of Rush Adventure, but what REALLY makes it stand out is the way it uses the power of the Jeweled Scepter, and how we get to see some crazy magic that you don't often get from Eggman robots. Like giant dragon heads made of lava, for example. And the fight is plenty enjoyable too.

As for the Time Eater, it may not have gotten much if any story to its own nature, which is a shame, but at least we got a nice clockwork motif out of it, and the way it jitters gives the impression that it's trying desperately to fight back against Eggman's control, but can't. And speaking of, Eggman FINALLY controlling a monster successfully is worth celebrating... unless you forgot like Ian Flynn apparently did, since Worlds Collide claimed he lost control of it. Typical Flynnanigans, eh?

I'm absolutely in love with the idea of Eggman being crafty enough to store a second mech inside the first one in the event of the latter's defeat. It's the perfect way to cap off Eggman's consistent display of brilliance and foresight in Forces. The designs themselves are pretty sweet, with the first one taking cues from Alfred Molina Dr. Octopus, and the second one being an eerie mess of wires and tentacles, as if it were the "heart" of the first mech. And say what you want about the so-so execution of the fight itself, but the sound design that went into it is seriously overlooked.

Just a shame they're collectively known as just Death Egg Robot, seeing how they don't have anything in common with the actual Death Egg Robot. Neither of them are even fought aboard the Death Egg. They deserve a more unique name IMO, but ah well.

Other examples I really like but couldn't use images for because of Tumblr being Tumblr:

- The Final Zone/Egg Pistons from Sonic 1, cause even though it may be smaller scale than the Death Egg Robot, I like the unique scenario of the room itself being your opponent. The final bosses of Sonic 1 and 2 on Master System have a similar appeal.

- Brass Eggman from the 2013 Sonic 2, because weaponizing an organ of all things is perfect for a man of Eggman's pride and swagger.

- The Egg Totem from Advance 2. No special reason for this one, I just like the simple yet effective design.

- The Gachapandora from Mania, because it's a great way to pay tribute to some older Eggman contraptions, and it suits his manchild personality to a tee.

- The Phantom Egg from Mania (again), because even though it looks like a romper suit mixed with a Pokeball, I really dig the concept of Eggman using a suit of robo-armor to go mano a mano, which this boss comes close to doing, if not entirely.

- The Klepto Mobile from Mania (three time's the charm), because a literal rush job still being able to go toe-to-toe with Phantom King is both incredible and hilarious at the same time. Even Eggman's shittiest efforts are his best! Is there no limit to this man's brilliance???

- Metal Robotnik/Black Eggman/Brak Eggman/Bruh Eggman from the OVA and Sonic Robo Blast 2. I don't know what the doc was thinking when he decided to give a robot based on himself some dragon wings and a spiked mohawk, but I'm glad he went through with it. The final fight with Metal Sonic may be the one everyone talks about (understandably so, it's an awesome scene), but the battle with Bruh Eggman is great too.

- The Eggpod from the movie. As far as translating the doctor's style into live action goes, it's a worthy first attempt, and it's understandable that they didn't go for something bigger since they probably want to save that for the sequel, so as to organically raise the stakes (wink wink, nudge nudge). It also reminds me of the Egg Hornet from SA1. I don't know if that was intentional, but it's something I appreciate all the same.

[loversamongus]

In the Dark | Zuko x reader

summary: just a modern!gaang trying to make the best of a rainy day and you ending up in the same hiding spot as Zuko, what could be better?

a/n: this is so long for no reason and was written for no reason but I like it and I hope you do too. Also I didn’t proofread this well so please forgive any typos.

words: 2.5k

fic taglist: @spiritvines @protect-remus @emeraldpotato

The middle of August was supposed to be devoted to making happy memories before classes started again. The middle of August was supposed to be about steamy hot beach days at Ember Island, jumping over waves and burying Sokka in the sand. The middle of August was supposed to have all-nighters just playing video games or staying up with the girls talking about everything and nothing at the same time. The middle of August was supposed to be fucking awesome. But instead, it’s thunderstorm after thunderstorm after hurricane after thunderstorm. 

The six of you were in various corners of the living room. Sokka and Suki sat around the coffee table, taking turns nibbling on a plate of nachos. Toph was perched sideways on the old, barely-holding-up armchair so that her head rested on one armrest while her feet hung off the other. Aang’s face was scrunched up in concentration as he braided Katara’s hair, who kneeled in front of the tv. You and Zuko took opposite ends on the couch, your legs sprawled on Zuko’s lap as he mindlessly flipped through the channels.

“Wait, no go back,” you nudged Zuko with your foot.

“No, I’m not watching Dance Moms.”

“Yeah,” Sokka chimed in with a stuffed mouth. “It makes him mad that Maddie can dance better than him.”

A pillow flew across the room until it collided with Sokka’s head. Before you could so much as let out a snort at your friend’s misfortune, thunder crashed outside and the windows rattled as wind and rain pelted against the glass. And the lamp in the corner of the living room flickered. And the tv froze.

“Oh no,” Katara whined.

“If we lose power again, I’ll scream,” you threatened. Sadly, the universe doesn’t bow down to the threats of a poor college student and soon the unmistakable pop of electricity shutting off was heard by all. The room was suddenly shrouded in darkness for the third time in ten days.

“GIVE ME THAT PILLOW” you yelled as, in the dark, Sokka and Suki both scrambled on the floor to fulfill your request.

“Huh, can’t say I notice a difference,” Toph smirked.

You felt a pillow being shoved in your direction and, snatching it gratefully, you shoved it in your face to release all your frustration with a single, drawn out, muffled screech.

“Now what are we gonna do?” you heard Aang say glumly. 

You felt Zuko shift underneath your legs and you quickly adjusted yourself into an upright position. “If you even THINK about suggesting to think about our place in the universe, I will lock you outside for you scream at the skies, I don’t care.”

Suddenly, you felt a pair of hands patting around the couch and as they got closer to your legs, you reached out to grab them. “What are you doing?” you asked.

Suki’s voice answered. “I’m sensing some hostility.” Rolling your eyes, you hoisted Suki up so that she could sit in between you and Zuko on the couch. Overcome with annoyance and misery over the present situation, you laid your head on her shoulder and her fingers began to soothingly weave through your hair. “Anyone got any ideas?” she asked.

“I know!” Aang exclaimed rather too cheerfully for your taste. “We could play hide and go seek in the dark!”

Zuko scoffed. Everyone else seemed to weigh the option out in their minds. And that was the thing. It was the only option at the moment. They could join in on a seemingly juvenile game. Or sit in the living room and stare at each other until they were so bored that the only thing left to do was to go to sleep. Already you began warming up to the idea. And if worse comes to worst, at least you could scare Sokka a few times for shits and giggles.

“All right. Let’s do it!” You and Suki stood up from the couch as your mind began listing off all the places you could possibly hide. Behind the tv, under the bed, in the linen closet, the cabinet under the sink, in the dryer...

“No, I’m not playing a dumb preschool game,” Zuko interrupted your list. 

“Yeah... I dunno,” added Sokka.

“Why is it called hide and go seek ‘in the dark’? What difference does it make? Hide and seek is hide and seek,” Toph asked.

You chose to ignore the other two downers and exclaimed, “Because it’s spookier! And harder to find people! You know, because you can’t see them as well!”

“Yeah, can’t imagine what that must be like.”

“I think it’ll be fun!” Katara laughed.

Zuko stood up from the couch and you couldn’t tell for certain but you felt his presence draw further away from the group. “You guys go ahead. I’ll be in my room.”

“No!” you cried as you stuck out your arms in an attempt to find him, your eyes still not having adjusted to the dark room. “We’re all playing. We’re all going to HAVE FUN.”

“If I play, will you stop quoting Dance Moms?”

Your hands finally found his in the dark and you gave them a squeeze. “Yes, I promise.”

His hands relaxed in yours and then with a sigh, he spoke again. “All right. Sokka’s it first.”

And then the mad dash for hiding spots began. As you ran away from the living room, you heard Sokka miserably plop down on the couch, no doubt complaining that he had to be the seeker first before beginning the countdown from 30.

Your first thought was laying in the bathtub with the curtains drawn so you felt along the wall to find the bathroom door. But as soon as your hand grabbed hold of the doorknob, you felt someone else smack into you.

“Sorry!” Katara whispered, moving past you into the bathroom. You couldn’t even argue over the hiding spot because you were too busy rubbing the back of your head. You were sure it was Katara’s chin that slammed into it. Retreating from the bathroom, you struggled through the throbbing of your head to think of another hiding spot.

“15...14...13...12...”

“Shit,” you muttered. With Sokka almost done counting, you knew you weren’t going to make it to the laundry room to hide in the dryer in time. As you heard him near the ten second mark, you finally decided the best possible hiding spot was the closest room to the bathroom: Zuko’s room.

Tiptoeing as fast as you could, you scuttled into Zuko’s room. Your eyes were able to make out the door of his closet that was left slightly ajar. With Sokka’s countdown almost complete, you knew it would have to do. You took one step over the threshold of the closet before dropping your knees to the ground. Only your knees didn’t hit the hardwood floor like you had expected.

“WATCH IT,” someone whisper-yelled as they freed their hand from under the weight of your knees. It was somehow even darker so you reached out your hands again to act as your eyes. A rough patch of skin and a mop of hair brushed your fingertips.

“Zuko?”

“Get out of here! This is my hiding spot!”

“You were just complaining about playing this game and now you have dibs on hiding spots like a toddler?!”

“I was here first!”

“Oh my god, you are a toddler!”

“4....3....2....1..... READY OR NOT HERE I COME.”

Suddenly, you felt arms stretch out to reach behind you and you heard to click of the closet door being closed. Those arms wrapped around your waist next and pulled you down into a corner on the floor. Now leaning against his chest, you heart raced, and your head throbbed a bit harder from the sudden movement, but Zuko sat completely still. You could barely hear him breathe.

You heard Sokka’s footsteps come down the hallway and you tried to calm your breathing so he wouldn’t hear. The footsteps paused for a moment outside of Zuko’s room but then picked up again and continued into the house. You felt it safe to move the few inches of space the closet allowed away from Zuko’s chest.

“You didn’t have to pull me down so hard,” you whispered, your hands moving to your temples to massage the headache.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t want you to get caught.”

“Me? What about you? We’re in this together now.”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who actually wanted to play this game. Couldn’t let you get caught first.”

“Don’t act like you’re not enjoying this.”

“Anything is better than the fit you’d throw if you lost to Sokka in the first round.”

The both of you tried to stifle your laughter as best you could in order to not make too much noise. In the distance you could hear Sokka complaining about not liking this game anymore because the dark house is spooky. It only made you want to laugh harder but keeping down the giggles only managed to make your head pound more.

“Ow...”

“What’s the matter?” Zuko questioned.

“Katara and I collided heads. Now I have a headache.”

Zuko was silent for a moment but you heard him shift besides you. Something fell off a hanger and landed in you lap. “What are you doing?”

“Wait here,” he said as a teeny bit of light came into the closet. Zuko had opened the door. Zuko was leaving the hiding spot.

“Where are you going?!”

He shushed you harshly in response and then he was gone. You knew he wouldn’t hear it but you let out an annoyed scoffed anyways. Really. To be shushed like that. How rude.

A couple of minutes go by and the boredom starts to set in. Who knew Sokka would be such a terrible seeker. In the darkness, you start feeling around Zuko’s closet for anything interesting— anything the slightest bit amusing to keep you occupied. A thought popped up that this scenario wouldn’t be half as boring if Zuko just stayed where he was, but no, he just had to leave. And after manhandling you and shushing you! Definitely rude. Your hand fished in one of the pockets of his coats and you heard the crinkle of a wrapper.

“Aha!” you quietly exclaimed as you pulled out a small wrapped Jolly Rancher. “He is a toddler!”

Just then, the closet door swung back open, nealy making you jump out of your skin, and a tall silhouette stepped inside.

“It’s just me!” Zuko whispered, and crouching down, he resumed his place beside you. “I went to the kitchen and got you some aspirin for your head. And some water.”

“You did that without getting caught?” you asked while taking the aspirin and glass of water gratefully. Sokka really is a terrible seeker, you confirmed in your thoughts. You popped the two pills in your mouth and followed that up with a chug of water. While doing so, you heard something hit the floor.

“What was that?” It definitely wasn’t Sokka or anyone else because it sounded like it came from inside the closet.

“I got tired of sitting in the dark,” Zuko quietly explained. “So I grabbed one of the candles from your room, too.” Suddenly, a small flame erupted and lit the candle placed in the middle of the closet floor. “And the lighter from the kitchen.”

“Well, that’s probably a fire hazard.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want to sit in the dark for the third time this week?”

“Zuko, we’re playing hide and seek!”

“Okay, fine. I’ll blow it out!”

“No, wait!” You grabbed onto his shoulder before he could bend down to blow out the candle. You considered just how miserable the past couple days have been with the constant downpours and losing electricity, events preventing you and your friends from having any kind of fun before the summer ended. The days have been so dark and gray lately that you had almost forgotten what light even looked like. What’s a small candle flame? You’ll just make sure no more of Zuko’s shirts fall off the hanger and onto the candle.

“If you were able to do all that without Sokka finding you, he probably wouldn’t notice light from coming under the door, right?” you asked, and Zuko settled back against the wall beside you again. You didn’t know how long you’d be stuck in this hiding spot so, deciding to make yourself comfortable, you rested your head on Zuko’s shoulder. 

“This summer was supposed to be fun,” you said quietly. “Having bonfires on Ember Island. But we’re sitting on the floor of your closet with an evergreen scented candle.”

“Could be worse,” he answered. “You could be stuck in here with Sokka.”

“And you could be stuck in here with Azula... or Jet!”

“You could be stuck with Momo.”

“But I love Momo.”

“Yeah, but would you want to be stuck inside a closet with Momo?”

“Touché.” 

You giggled a little before settling down again. Zuko wrapped one arm around you. With all the frustration the weather of the past week has wrought, the flickering evergreen candle and Zuko’s light embrace was enough to comfort you just a bit. It does not, however, help take away the fact that this is not at all how you expected the summer to go.

“I just wanted us to have a really memorable summer before you graduated. You know, spend time together,” you said. “This weather ruined it.”

Zuko hummed and reached with his free hand to grab hold of yours. His thumb gently ran back and forth over your knuckles. “I wouldn’t say it ruined it.”

“You wouldn’t rather be sitting in the sun on Ember Island?”

“I’m happy just being here with you.”

“Says the guy that tried to kick me out of this hiding spot at first.”

“Hey, I pulled you down here, didn’t I?”

You smiled again and nestled further into his shoulder. In the back of your mind, you wondered why it’s taking Sokka so long to find everyone. After all, hiding in a bedroom closet isn’t one of the most unique spots. And with the light of the candle, it’s sure to be a dead giveaway. Nonetheless, you let yourself relax. You felt Zuko kiss the top of your head, making you remember that your headache had finally subsided.

Just as your eyes were about to close, you heard the door fly open again.

“GOTCHA!” Sokka yelled seemingly at the tops of his lungs. You sat up quickly and threw the Jolly Rancher you had found earlier at his head.

“GO AWAY,” you yelled. You felt Zuko chuckled as you leaned back against him.

“I’m never playing hide and seek with you people again,” Sokka muttered as he ambled away and out of the room. Back and resting comfortably with Zuko, you thought to yourself that maybe losing power and staying in isn’t so bad after all.

[earthbased]

History of Witchcraft Correspondences pt 3: Gardner to Geocities

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] Gerald “I tripped over this totally legit ancient knowledge” Gardner would have had exposure to grimoire correspondence lists, including HC Agrippa’s, through his experience of Ceremonial Magic and the works of noted racist prick Aleister Crowley. (If you love big lists of correspondences check out Crowley’s Liber 777). Crowley’s books were a major source of material for Gardner’s early Wicca. This early Gardnerian Book of Shadows doesn’t include a specific herbal correspondence list. I assume herbal magic in early Wicca was more likely to be incorporated through resin incenses and anointing oil blends, more in line with its use in Ceremonial magic. Those old grimoires and Hermetic-inspired texts have a lot of things that look familiar to modern witches, but they don’t seem to use the lists of single-noun keywords that are common today (e.g. Protection, Healing, Courage, Wealth). I believe this came about in the 80s and 90s, when the New Age movement collided explosively with rapidly growing interest in modern witchcrafts in America. The New Age movement emphasised self-help and self-improvement through spiritual and mystical practises (largely stolen and bastardised from Asian religions) which fitted in well with solitary Neo-Wicca, the more liberal descendant of formal coven-based Wicca. Spells for self-improvement or everyday benefits based on New-Age-style keywords (Love, Healing, Protection etc) plus some generic magical practices (Cleansing, Banishing) were highly popular and fitted both the New Age ethos and the Neo-Wiccan framework. Crystal healing became huge in the mainstream thanks to the New Age movement. Its books and lists of crystal properties often used that familiar keyword format and New Age crystal healing became extremely popular with many witches, who easily adapted it into their magical systems. (Sure, crystal correspondences were listed in grimoires before then, but not used so extensively). It helped that the New Age store with its glittering crystal displays was often the only point of call for those looking for witchcraft books or fellow witches before the internet really got going. New-Age-influenced witchcraft was also very, very marketable. A flood of new books in the 80s (e.g. by the Farrars, Raymond Buckland, Scott Cunningham) had provided an extensive framework for solitary Neo-Wicca. In the 80s, 90s and 00s authors increasingly used the language and easily digestible formats of New Age books to produce a multitude of beginner-oriented, Neo-Wiccan flavoured witchcraft books (e.g. DJ Conway, Edain McCoy, and Gen X rage-button activator Silver RavenWolf). Llewellyn Publishing was a driving force of this tendency as the largest publisher in the field, and in the circles I moved in during the 00s it had a reputation for printing quantity over quality. Its majority white authors also mixed in Hoodoo and Native American material for uncritical consumption by their majority white target audiences. In my experience among white, English-speaking witches and pagans there was a prevailing attitude that all spiritual and magical practitioners outside of organised religion were “on the same side” and that the material was essentially interchangeable, so any practise or lore we could get our hands on was fair game. (Yep, it was extremely arrogant and harmful. I make no excuses for it.) One of the most popular references for herbal magic to this day dates from this period: Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (1985).  Cunningham draws from ancient Greek and Roman medicine, HC Agrippa’s 3 Books, Culpepper’s Herbal and a large number of British folkloric sources as well as a scattering of anthropological texts from various continents. Mercifully, he includes a bibliography of all these sources. He synthesises all of this into a short summary of each herb, including a list of those familiar keywords (e.g. Protection, Luck.) He includes a planetary correspondence for each herb in the vein of HC Agrippa, though without the detailed background cosmology. He then lists an element and gender solely based on the planet, which has continued to confuse beginner witches to this day. I’m not sure if he was the first to do this, but since his work is so widely referenced I’d say he had a hand in popularising the practice of assigning an element and gender to herbs and other magical components. In the 00s many websites about modern witchcrafts and Neo-Wicca (which were very often conflated) sprang up, especially on free hosting sites like Geocities and Angelfire. Copying and passing along the coven’s Book of Shadows by hand was a Wiccan practise, but for solitary witches in the 00s it became much easier to copy information into and out of one’s personal Book of Shadows with digital aids. I often spotted word-for-word plagiarism cycling through various websites from beginner books. It still happens today (though with much better graphic design).

See, I don’t have a problem with reusing the same information - in fact I think it’s awesome to have shared lore and traditions. But when you hide the source of your information you cut it off from its full story, and stories are what I love most about witchcraft. We have these winding stories of the historical descent of our lore, stories of our own direct experience of plants and stones, stories from other witches, and stories from ancient mythology about plant species that we can still touch today with our own hands. And I think that’s rad. So I hope this series helps you understand more about the witchcraft lore you read, and maybe inspires you to mention your own sources when you share material.

[lizzy-williams]

𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦

Part 1

((This is about Colson Baker’s character in Project Power, he has fire powers, imma have a field day with his one. Because he had very little backstory, I feel like I can kinda shape him and imagine his life with someone. Hee hee. By the way, in my stories he doesn’t... you know... explode.

🔥Warnings: Language, drug references, sexual references

🔥Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBIzL1OdKMI

Fire by KIDS SEE GHOSTS

masterlist

𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘒𝘕𝘌𝘞 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘛 Newt was a drug dealer, that’s actually how you met. You were just buying weed, and the next second you were back at his place, hooking up. You kinda just kept... coming back, until eventually, he was willing to call you his girlfriend. 

He liked you because you were carefree like him. You had the same interests, liked the same things, and were rockstars in the sexual department. You were the best he’s ever had and vise versa. You even thought his alligator was fucking awesome, the girls he hooked up with in the past just ran away. But you found it cool that he owned a living, breathing gator. 

He made good business, not to mention the fact that he flew under the radar. He was very underground. And that was perfect for you. You didn’t need him getting arrested for a fucking gram of cocaine. 

But one-night Newt went out, and you stayed at his place, anxiously waiting for his return. He said that there was a new product, something people had never seen before. And if Newt, the man who had tried every drug he got his hands on said that he hadn’t heard of it, there was definitely something worth seeing there. 

You suddenly heard a knocking at the door, the rhythmic knocking recognized as the secret knock you and Newt came up with to signal that it was one of you. You got up, grabbing the pistol that was laying on the coffee table, and rushed to the door, unlocking it immediately. 

Newt burst in the door, looking behind him anxiously as he closed the door frantically behind him. 

“Newt, what’s wrong? Were you followed?” you questioned anxiously, automatically pointing the pistol at the door. 

“Lock it, baby, I have something amazing to show you,” he motioned in your direction, your feet patting back towards the door, locking the 4 locks on the door quickly. 

You then jogged over to where Newt had set his goods. 

“Ooo, fancy metal case, huh?” you joked, “What are you? The Matrix? Men in Black?” 

“You’re joking now, but wait till you see what’s in here,” he smirked, taking a key out of his pocket, unlocking the case. 

As he opened it, you looked at what was placed inside. There were two rows of metal containers, 6 in each row, holding a small, slightly glowing pill. 

You picked one up, looking at it closely. One half was grey, almost metallic, the other half looking like a mini glowing galaxy. You shook it a little, “What is this?”

“It’s Power.” he replied, “I’ve been hearing about these things for weeks. They give you power for 5 whole minutes. Like a superpower. We’re talking like superman shit. But there are catches,” he took the case out of your hand, taking the pill out of the case and held between his fingers vertically. 

“What’s the catch?”

“You never know what power you’ll get. It’s different... for everyone. Like I could be invisible, while you have...like bulletproof or something. It’s real, I’ve seen it.”

“Are you sure this isn’t some sugar water in a pill casing?” you were skeptical, the concept of superpowers almost childish. 

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, pulling up a video. You took the phone from his hand and pressed play, and you were presented with a man. It looked like it was in an airport runway. 

You saw him hold a pill up, and twist it, the pill lighting up like a lightbulb before it disappeared down his throat. You watched as his body twitched, his body kneeling down. But after a few seconds, he stood back up. Suddenly, you watched a mere man, run up and down a runway in 30 seconds flat. He did it several more times, back and forth, back and forth, before the video ended.

“Holy shit, was that real?” 

“Shit, baby, I wish you could have been there. I saw it with my own eyes, it was like watching The X-Men but in real life.”

“Are there any other catches?”

Newt knew the other side effect... but he didn’t want to tell you, as not to make you worry. So in return, he shook his head.

“How much are they?” You questioned. 

“500.”

“For the case??” you were shocked at the amount of money, more than you could make from even heroin.

“No. Per pill,” he looked at the small pill between his fingers then back to you. 

“Per pill??!!” You beamed, “Holy shit, baby! In that case... that’s... 6,000 dollars!” you watched as he put the pill back in the case. 

“I know, and there are more getting shipped in to me tomorrow, delivered personally...,” he smirked, your arms were thrown around his neck, pulling him down for a passionate kiss, as you felt him chuckle, the vibrations making you all the happier. 

“I can pay for school!” you smiled, “And we can get you a new car...” you began to daydream, as Newt smiled at you, his lips colliding to yours again. 

“This is amazing...” You muttered against his lips before pulling away, “Have you tried it?” 

“Not yet...,” he smirked, “But do you wanna come with me when I do?”

“When?” you laughed. 

“Now,” he responded, you squealed as he picked you up and threw you over his shoulder, walking out of the apartment and to his car. 

******

“Where are we going?” you asked, turning to Newt in the driver’s seat, his eyes on the road ahead, the sky dark. 

“Somewhere safe. Just until the effects of the pill pass,” he responded, his anxiety apparent. 

“Are you sure you wanna try this?” you asked, your hand going to his knee, “I don’t want you to get hurt,”

“I’ll be fine, baby, I swear.” he ensured. 

You simply nodded your head. Even though this small pill was going to make you and him a lot of money, you were still skeptical about your lover trying it. 

The car then pulled into an empty parking garage, driving to the top floor, and then stopped. 

“You still got it?” he turned to you, turning the car off. 

You nodded, opening the glove compartment and taking out the pill’s case, holding the thing that was supposed to change your lives forever. 

“Maybe it can give you more stamina, maybe keep you going after round 2,” You smirked, Newt looking at you and rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, well, whatever it does, it’ll probably be pretty cool.”

You both stepped out of the car, Newt walking a ways away from you, making you frown.

“I don’t want you close, just in case something goes wrong, okay?” 

“Wait why would something go wrong??” you asked anxiously.

“I don’t know what powers there are... or how many there are. I don’t want something unexpected and hurt you.” 

Before you could respond, he twisted it, the pill glowing brightly as he held it in his teeth, “See you on the flip side,” he joked, before swallowing it, wincing in anticipation. 

He started coughing, dropping down to his knees, starting to hold where his heart was, his other hand going to his heart as he let out a yell of anguish.

You watched Newt convulse, letting out coughs and yells of pain. You began to rush towards him, but he stopped you.

“Stay back, stay back,” he coughed out, yelling out more in agony.

In seconds, you saw his body become ignite into horrifying, bright orange flames. His clothes were burned away to a crisp. The fire on his skin crackling and snapping as the screams and yells began dying down to pain-laced grunts as the form of his body began to stand up, making your hand cover your mouth, your eyes tearing up in fear. 

You had to watch him...for 5 whole minutes... watching his stumble around, waiting until the pain died down. Until the fire went out. Until it was over. 

His body suddenly collapsed to the ground, the fire dulling down to glowing embers on his skin. 

You couldn’t take it anymore, your legs carrying you as fast as they could to the charred body of your lover. 

“Baby? Baby can you hear me?” you were sobbing, half of his body crispy, covered in black remanence of skin. 

He let out groans of pain, his body barely moving. 

You ran quickly to the car, opening the back and pulling out an old blanket, running back and wrapping his body up in it. You tried to set him up, but all he did was yell out in pain. 

“Come on, Newt, I’m gonna get you to a hospital, but you gotta help me!” you cried, trying to lift if the skyscraper-like body over your shoulders, “Please, Newt, come on!” 

With all the strength left in his body, he tried to hoist himself up, but only enough to drape over your shoulders as you literally dragged him over to the car. You opened the back door, laying him down in the back seats, him groaning out in pain. 

“You gotta stay awake, okay, Newt?” You panicked, “Just blink twice if you can, okay?”

You watched as his body responded, his eyes closing two times, making you nod and run to the driver’s side, getting in and starting the car. 

“Babe...” you heard him wheeze from the back seat. 

“Yeah, what is it, are you okay??”

“Call my cousin when you get there, ok?” his voice was horse.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” you smiled, turning back to the road. 

******

You sat anxiously in the waiting room, black marks from the char on your boyfriend’s body covering your white tank top and skinny jeans, even your converse, your leg bouncing anxiously up and down as you watched the phone, waiting for Newt’s cousin to text back, tears still stringing down your face.

How do you tell a family member something like this? Your cousin tried a new drug and caught on fire or Hey, your cousin was on fire cause superpowers are real?

You heard the phone ding, and all the text read was “OMW”.

“Ma’am?” you flicked your head up, making eye contact with a woman in a white lab coat, holding a clipboard, “Are you with Newton?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m with Newt,” you stood up, wiping away the tears that were falling moments before.

“I see, well, his body was covered in 3rd-degree burns, do you have any idea what happened?” 

“N-No, I found him like that, he was at home...,” you tried to lie, you couldn’t let it slip he was a drug dealer, let alone selling a drug that would be both yours and his payday for at least a month or two, “Is he gonna be okay?”

“Yes, we’ll have him stable soon. We’ll prescribe some painkillers and antibiotics.” As long as he doesn’t sell them you would think, “He’s gonna be pretty much out of it for a few hours after you take him home. Does he have someone who can take care of him for a few weeks?” she glanced down at her clipboard.

“Y-Yeah, I can do it,” you choked out, the tears partly because you were upset this happened, but mostly because he was okay... and not dead. 

“Where is he?!” Robin burst through the doors, her eyes laying on me and the doctor. 

“Robin,” you muttered, Robin jogging over to you and hugging you tightly. 

“Is he okay? Tell me he’s okay,” she murmured into your shirt. 

“He’s gonna be okay, alright?” you hugged her back. 

“When can we see him?” she pulled back, looking at the doctor. 

“Just as soon as we stabilize him.” the doctor smiled. At least she wasn’t delivering bad news. 

******

You and Robin rushed through the halls of the E.R. hand in hand, looking for room 293. You were moments away from talking to him again, touching him again...

“Here!” Robin pulled you sharply to the left, opening the sliding glass door, seeing Newt wrapped in bandages, his one eye that was uncovered landing on the two of you. 

“Fuck,” he whispered, watching you and Robin walk up to each side of the hospital bed.

“I’m not getting out of here for a while, am I?” he asked, disappointed. 

“Obviously not,” Robin responded.

“But we’ll be here until you do.” you comforted him, holding the hand that wasn’t burnt to a crisp. 

And to that, he gave a small smile. 

******

((Part 2 comin real soon :) ))

[fizzingwizard]

Episode 26 already! I can’t believe we’re about halfway through... This episode seems to be end point for the current “arc,” or “mini arc,” maybe?? I’m not sorry to see it go but overall, this episode was pretty eh... Not bad, just kind of... I don’t get why we needed it. A fair few REALLY important things do happen! Those are awesome! I just think we could have got them in a more... interesting... way? xD Like, I didn’t hate watching it or anything, it just kind of felt like, with all the important stuff going on, shouldn’t there be more... oomph? (And I know we had a ton of oomph lately, it’s about time to wind down for a while... but then why pick now to spring certain things on us... anyway...)

Pic of the day!

generic group shot that captures each Chosen’s individual fighting spirit!

Koushirou: *intent focus*

Sora: *look of concern*

Jou: *I must have learned something in school that will be useful here*

Mimi: *Jou thinking always makes me nervous and a little grossed out*

Recap below!

So last week I’m pretty sure I vowed to violently murder someone in a back alley (or something like that) if we didn’t get to see the gang eat some FOOD this episode.

Well, looks like y’all are safe from me for now. Though I gotta say, I’m mildly concerned that they are eating Digi-eggs. Don’t those look like Digi-eggs? Other than the random very normal looking grapes...

Thank HEAVENS they are taking a BREAK.

Taichi uses his telescope to remark that Cloud Continent is not only a continent in the clouds, but it sure looks small from down here. Leomon admits he’s not really sure what’s going on anymore either xD

Leomon’s mainly weirded out by Patamon, who... I suppose just doesn’t fit the bill for what he expected the holy Digimon to be like :P lol

Ok so quick aside... I’m honestly kinda peeved that we’re still with Leomon’s silly group of clowns. I know that sounds harsh! And I love Leomon! But his army is... uh... well, he definitely made sure he’d be the coolest one around at all times xD It makes sense that he’d be hanging around because after all, getting to the Holy Digimon was one of his goals as well, but honestly he and his team just feel like replacement back-up for the other Chosen Children who are in the real world atm. AND FIZZ IS NOT INTO THAT. At this point I really do NOT understand why the kids had to split up and send some to the real world at all. I suppose it may be explained in the future but I also won’t be surprised if the answer is “It’s exactly like you saw, Devimon tried to separate them.” I would much rather have had the whole team together. I mean, if this was an excuse for Taichi and Yamato to get close... it really didn’t feel like that. At least not to a point where they couldn’t have gotten with the others around too.

Anyway, break time’s over, because there’s an actual monster fight going on. It must be cool to watch - the way Ebidramon shakes Seadramon reminds me of the T-rex vs stegosaurus battle in Fantasia xD But then Seadramon has the last laugh and EATS EBIDRAMON’S DATA, enabling it to evolve to WarSeadramon. That must have been an epic meal

Meanwhile in the real world, important things are happening, Koushirou’s using lots of Big Words with Kanji and Mimi is happy to get back at Jou for one-upping her last episode by correctly recognizing the roman letters this time. They are still sitting on the same bench where they’ve been for SIX episodes now. My butt hurts just thinking about it.

Patamon is very informative.

Patamon: We’re all gonna die!!

Thank you Patamon. You are so cute.

WarSeadramon decides Takeru and Patamon look like a yummy dessert after his meal, so he attacks them, only to be feigned off by our heroes. WarSeadramon gets pissy and says “Two on one is no fair! I have friends too!” and calls MetalSeadramon to join him. Apparently, MetalSeadramon can move on land :O This was one of the freakier things, I was actually like GAAH

Taichi tells Yamato to take Takeru somewhere safe. Since he is clearly very tasty to Seadramons. Yamato doesn’t bother arguing xD

Takeru: Hey! I’m your brother not a bag of beans!

However they are both cut off! Stuck between a rock and a hard place!

Meanwhile, Koushirou is literally a bad ass. He’s managing to reroute the rogue ships whose GPS have gone haywire by sending a signal from a second satellite, which the ships then pass on to the other ships.

Thus helping them get back on course and not collide with each other.

I mean this kid is in fourth grade. HOW HAS HE NOT BEEN SNAPPED UP BY THE GOVERNMENT AND TRAINED INTO SOME CHILD SUPER SPY???

no seriously... I’d actually kind of LOVE it if that were a thing x’D Like the government goes to Koushirou’s house and tries to get him to come but his parents are like “Um no he is a child and he needs a childhood” and protect him :’< When will this show realize WE ALL LOVE KOUSHIROU

Mimi: HURRY UP!!!!!!!!!!

Mimi: H... Hikari... you were still here...? Ehehe.... um... *whisper* hurry up!!

so yeah Hikari is still here! Standing! Staring! Really creepy! I get that the others are very distracted atm but it seems like someone should be like “do you need help? are you lost? do you need a doctor since you seem to have gone catatonic??” Only Koushirou is actively doing anything, I think someone could be spared to at least let her sit on their lap!

Back in the digital world, Garurumon is so distracted by the fight happening in front of him that he fails to notice the attack from behind, and Professional Self-Sacrificing Idiots Taichi and Greymon save the day.

They predictably fall off the cliff wheeeeeeeeeeee

It’s raining men, hallelujah

Under water, Greymon gets his assed kicked until Taichi manages to swim to him

which seems to give him renewed focus, I suppose, and he’s able to get away from the two Seadramon pals and get some air.

However they almost immediately drag him back down. You would think Greymon would be REALLY bad in a water battle and at least need to evolve to be any use (especially given that both evolved Seadramons are perfect levels), but both Greymon and Garurumon never evolve this episode, so I think we’re supposed to assume that even after eating they’re just not recovered enough for that yet. GOOD

Yeah but here’s what confuses me. Yamato does not do anything to help. Well, I shouldn’t say anything - whenever an enemy comes out of the water, he and Leomon’s team attack it from afar. But I mean, Taichi is in the water, being attacked by two Digimon who are both a level higher. WHY DOESN’T YAMATO GO IN TO HELP?!?!

We can’t even give him the excuse of needing to protect Takeru because 1) Takeru has Leomon’s entire team to protect him and 2) Takeru is fighting!!!!!!

I’m sorry but Yamato should be in the water. This is just crappy writing. He’s shouted “Taichi!” three times in the exact same way this episode and has very few other lines, so I actually sort of suspect that Namikawa Daisuke might not have been available to voice him this episode?? Maybe? So they just couldn’t give him too much to do for that reason. That’s totally speculation, I just don’t understand why Yamato does so little here.

Back with Koushirou, his plan has worked and all the ships are successfully changing course woot

Aww looks like a Christmas tree

The way Garudamon carries Zudomon is A++

The partners inform them that the Zurumon are on the move...

Jou theorizes that they’re off to gobble up more data somewhere else. Mimi’s like “ew?”

They decide they really need to get back to the digital world now. They’re finally worried about Yamato and Taichi and figure they’ll be more useful over there. I really can’t think of a reason why Koushirou could not have saved all these ships from the digital world so YEAH HARD AGREE. What even was this interlude?? Show us how cool a hacker Koushirou is?? We already KNEW that, he can do it from the digital world too, and watching the kids sit on a bench for six episodes was NO GOOD. Grrr. At least I needed them to do something really cool to justify all this but... nope! Can’t say it was necessary for Taichi and Yamato’s sake either!

There is one awesome thing that comes out of the separation...

Hikari: Oh you want to go back to the digital world? Why didn’t you say so?

ZIP!

Aaaaand they’re gone! Hikari included! :O

I kind of guessed this was gonna happen when Hikari first showed up, but I also sort of thought, it seems so early to have her join... I know this season is Doing It Different but we JUST got Takeru, I figured we’d spend more time on his story first. Also figured the lead in to Hikari joining would be more... Idk... this was just kind of anticlimactic, y’know? But whatev.

Now the only thing is... there’s no reason they had to go back to the human world for this. Hikari could have just come on her own. “It’s calling,” she says. Well, it could have called her regardless. So we really didn’t need this for Hikari’s sake. Bleh.

Curly

Ok so injuries really are a thing now. I’m down. We don’t get blood but we get to see lots of sparkly data leakage.

Still best boy, warts and all

What I DO really like... that i think we saw this ep as well as the episode before last in particular, is how important the kids are to their partners this season. Greymon loses it when Taichi’s KO’d in the Devimon battle, and this time, when they were separated under water Greymon started to panic until Taichi arrived. That alone seemed to restore his confidence. And even though he can’t evolve further, Taichi’s still able to give him a power boost. That was the one thing in 99 Adventure - the idea that the partners were connected with their human partners and needed their help to reach the next level was always fun, but mostly left the kids just running around unhelpfully much of the time. Tamers added on to it with the card game boosts (which were just to sell toys to kids BUT I still thought was cool lol). And then Frontier just did away with the partners all together and made the kids the monsters which I did NOT like personally. (YMMV although that one ep where Takuya has a crisis and becomes Flamemon was a cool effect.) This season has found a good balance, I think, between keeping the kids involved and preventing them from being too involved, if that makes sense. Of course it still means they’ve got suction cups on their shoes and can hold their breath underwater for unusual lengths of time...

Yay we won!!

... Never mind, now there are four of them xP

(but really, did he think he’d beaten two Perfect levels just like that? A level below, under water, and two-on-one? Taichiiii)

Yamato’s still just shouting Taichi’s name like the girl in Forrest Gump. “Run Taichi run!”

Then... Taichi hears a lovelier voice than Yamato’s!

Taichi: Zudomon!! Why do you sound like my little sister?

Bang bang Zudomon’s silver hammer came down upon his head

Bang bang Zudomon’s silver hammer made sure that he was dead

The whole gang is back!!! YAAAAAYYYY the one reason to love this episode!

So nice to see someone other than Greymon and Garurumon be a badass xP

And then this!! Anticlimactic though it was, I’m really excited to have Hikari on the team. She’s joining about halfway through which is kinda similar to how it was in 99 Adventure, but 99 Adventure had a much better lead in... however this season still has lots of storytelling to do.

Taichi is pretty amazed but not freaked, at least not yet.

Hikari’s just like “I was called here” and yes she’s as freaky as ever. If anything she’s even more freaky. I’m down as long as she gets a bit of personality beyond “mysterious” and “adores her brother”

I mean Takeru’s had plenty of opportunities to be a baby BAMF so far, so Hikari deserves some too. I wonder how long she’ll go without a partner?

Next week! It’s our first Takari shot!

Also... ooooohh??

The group will go to a new continent. Exciting exciting. Though I ragged on this episode, I’m still overall enjoying this season. But yeah I’m so GLAD the team is back together and unless something happens to change my mind, I def think they never should have been separated from the beginning. Or at least it should have been a much shorter separation. Anyway they’re together again so fingers crossed for more good stuff to come.

[iberiandoctor]

Five Works in 2020

I was tagged by the lovely @angel-in-new-york-city! This was fun, thanks for letting me play!

Rules: Choose your 5 favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Here are five works, in seven different fandoms, in this past Year of the Plague.

1. The Adoration of the Earth: 

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Strange/Norrell, [E], 6,000+ words.

One should never flirt with odd books at Solstice-time in Faerie, as Mr Strange learns to his great chagrin.

My first JSMN fic, written for @threedomiciles in 2020′s Smut4Smut challenge. Writing explicit fic is challenging, and writing it in Susanna Clarke 19th C. pastiche even more so; still, I’m pleased with how things turned out! Plus, I live for esoteric footnotes ;)

2. The Lark and Her Lieutenants: 

Les Misérables  - Victor Hugo, Cosette/Marius, Enjolras/Grantaire, Valjean/Javert, [G], 18,585 words. 

While Cosette is stirring up the Revolution, Grantaire meets a young man in the Luxembourg Gardens.

My Les Mis Quarantine Edition Big Bang fic, a collaboration with the awesome @thebansacredbanned. Now with art from @sssara-b! In this story, Cosette and Enjolras swap roles: Enjolras is the shy ingenue, Cosette the revolutionary leader; Valjean just wants to get his daughter off the barricades.

3.  The Instruments of Their Master: 

La Comédie Humaine - Honoré de Balzac/19th Century CE France RPF, Corentin/Manuel, [E], 5,700 words. 

The Duke of Otranto had two protégés: one, a police spy; the other, a promising future Deputy. The lessons these men learned under his tutelage — none more during the Hundred Days, when the Republic hung on a knife’s edge of war and politics — left the one greater, the other more guilty.

My Yuletide treat for @kainosite, in very much a fandom of two; a crossover pairing between Balzac’s fictional police spy, Corentin, and noted 19th century French politician Jacques-Antoine Manuel. Set in France’s Hundred Days period, Napoleon’s spymaster Joseph Fouché pits his two protégés against each other so that they can better work together to secretly thwart old Boney; hatesex and politics and history collide!

4.  Diamonds Taking Shape ... : 

Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston/Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Alex/Henry, Nick/Rachel, [T], 4040 words.  

 … and an intersection with Crazy Rich Love (:winky face emoji:)

My Yuletide assignment for @legendaryguardian; when I saw I’d matched with them on both CRA and RW&RB, I knew I had to write this crossover! Alex & Henry visit Singapore, and have dinner with Nick & Rachel at Gardens by the Bay.

5.  The Age of Imagination and Experience: 

Call Me by Your Name, Elio/Oliver, Oliver/Michol, [M], 2/9 chapters. WIP.   

 “Ah – to have that kind of innocence, the innocence that seals the mind against imagination and the heart against experience!" A Gilded Age, The Age of Innocence AU.

I started writing this Gilded Age AU for the December CMBYN Challenge, though the way it’s going, it’ll be well into 2021 before it finishes! I have loved Wharton’s The Age of Innocence for more than half my life, and I couldn’t resist envisioning Elio as Ellen Olenska and Michol as May Welland, with Oliver as Newland Archer, the man in the middle. Having a bisexual male love interest in place of Wharton’s foreign divorcee is a different narrative proposition, and I am very much enjoying exploring 1870s New York society through Oliver’s eyes.

I’m tagging all the talented creators mentioned in this post, and anyone else who wants to join in - @breadcrumbsandstars, I know you wrote a lot last year? @saltedpin; @raspberryhunter, so did you guys!

[feigeroman]

It's my birthday...!!!

...And to celebrate, I thought - apropos of nothing, really - that it'd be fun to go through the first seven series of Thomas, and pick out my favourite episode from each one.

Series 1 - Down The Mine

I don't really know why I enjoy this one so much. I suppose it's mainly nostalgic attachment, considering I had this episode on VHS. Other than that, it's a nice simple story, making the best of a limited number of sets and characters, and supported by some really good directing in places. Bonus points for this ending shot, which is one of my personal favourites...

Series 2 - Thomas & Trevor

Series 2 marked a step-up in both scope and scale, with a mix of simple tales and deeper morals. This episode is a good example of the former, and while not a lot seems to happen in it, I like it because it's very low-key, low-stakes, and it acts as a nice little follow-up to Trevor's introductory episode.

Series 3 - Trust Thomas

I once heard someone describe this as the quintessential Thomas episode, and I think that's not far off the mark. Yet another simple, enjoyable story, with an underlying message that's still especially relevant in these troubled times - however badly your day's going, things always have a way of working out alright in the end. Plus, you know, that crash is pretty awesome...

Series 4 - Steam Roller

Another episode I remember vastly enjoying on VHS. And again, it has a simple premise that's executed brilliantly: When two identical personalities collide, the results can be interesting; when those same personalities are as full of themselves as each other, the results can be spectacular...

Series 5 - Toby's Discovery

Anyone who knows me well knows just how much of a sucker I am for good worldbuilding, and that's one of the things that's kept me interested in Thomas all these years. This episode in particular sheds some light on Sodor's past, and there's some great set design and cinematography to support the story. That, and Toby's one of my favourite characters, so this is bound to be one of my favourite episodes...

Series 6 - Percy's Chocolate Crunch

Again, I'm not really sure why this is my favourite episode from Series 6. I suspect I mainly like it for the crash; it's just so batshit-insane and ludicrous - even by the show's own standards - that I just can't help but love it. I also love the idea that the people of Sodor have apparently learned nothing from the events of stories like A Close Shave or Thomas Comes To Breakfast - what did Mr Jolly think was going to happen when he sited his chocolate factory at the end of a railway siding?

Series 7 - Peace & Quiet

I'll be honest, nothing in Series 7 really sticks out to me - this one only makes the cut because I remember really enjoying it as a kid. Murdoch's always been one of my favourite TV-exclusive characters, and that's probably because I identify so strongly with him - a big guy who doesn't say much, and just wants to go about his business in peace.

[hitsuackerman]

What in the World? (Akaashi Keiji x Reader) pt.3

Sorry for the long wait but... Here is part 3 of WINTW? :D Enjoy!

Akaashi’s lineup: @alluring-akaashi​ @oikawalmart-hq​ @extrasugafree​ @bbykiyoomi​ @apricotjihyo​ @simpformiya @colorseeingchick @something-that-idk

links: part 1, part 2, part 4

To answer your question from 2 nights ago, the reason why you never saw Akaashi leave his house was because he got up early for volleyball practice and arrived late as well. Due to the circumstances, the both of you made a silent agreement to go home together. Only if there was practice of course.

School had already ended and the walk back home finished. Seated on your desk, you practiced your quirk. Morphing the leaves into different shapes and sizes, manipulating the soil to quicken its growth or whatever your mind could think of.

The little sessions you were doing made you remember your childhood. The day you found out about your quirk was similar to what you were doing. 4 years old with a soiled shirt. A gigantic carrot in the back of the house followed by leaps of joy of having a daughter with an enlargement quirk. It wasn’t until you were 6 years of age that you realized you could not only enlarge things but manipulate them as well.

Not long after, your quirk finally showed its potential.

Matter Manipulation. The thought of having such an intense quirk scared you. But, being that gifted, being a hero would probably be a walk in the park

Upon seeing just how blessed you were, they ended up boasting you in their agency. Once the word spread, they received a letter coming from Endeavor’s agency hence the arranged quirk-marriage.

It always made you wonder. Why didn’t you develop romantic feelings for Shoto? Maybe it was how the situation began or because he took care of you like a brother you’ve always yearned for. Probably the latter.

Leaning onto your chair, you put the plant back in its original state. Something as little as that shouldn’t have been so tiring on your part. If anything, it felt as if your quirk was slowly disappearing.

“How would it feel to be quirkless though?”

Recalling the Shie Hassaikai Raid, Overhaul had envisioned a world without quirks. Maybe he was just born in the wrong dimension. He was a hypocrite, of course. In a way, every single being relied on their quirks to the point where things were patterned after them. Remembering the Quirk Singularity theory, maybe the garbage man wasn’t a hundred percent wrong.

“Jeez.” You dragged your chair to your window and peaked at the neighbor’s. Bless him for pulling the curtains to the side. “This dimension’s turning me into a stalker and praising a villain.”

Reaching for your phone, you scrolled through some group chats and found what you were looking for. You promised those 2 girls you would call them, but with how you were not able to use your quirk for everyday living, you just fell asleep before you could hit the dial button.

“Hey girl!” Asami greeted as she adjusted her video. Her room was the embodiment of a pink princess. Pink walls, pillows, and even her chair. Mina entered your mind. How was your alien friend doing?

“How was the volleyball practice?” Akiko entered the video conference. Hair a mess and screen focused on the upper half of her face.

“First. Mimi was right.” Seeing that Akaashi’s room was still empty, you looked at the two girls on the screen. “Bokuto-senpai is really beefy. He’s tall too. Reminds me of a very hyper owl.”

“Did you hear his slogan?” Asami was a fan girl. It was clear by now.

“Slogan? You mean his ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’?” A loud screech echoed through your walls. “Yes. I hear it multiple times a day. It’s pretty cute though. He’s like a child on steroids.”

“What’s the second point?” Akiko asked.

“I almost got hit by a ball. Other than that, that’s pretty much it.”

“And who saved your clumsy ass?”

“Akaashi-san did. Bokuto-san’s setter.” The gasps and their sudden change of posture was something you were not in the mood for. “And no. Before you two go feral, nothing else happened. That’s it.”

“No fun!” The two girls exclaimed.

The rest of the call, you managed to get a bit more information about the two girls. From random memories you don’t know about, small mannerisms that they do when they get all excited, or even just the gist that they would do anything a friend would do. When you heard about the problems they were having, hero instinct kicked in.

Their problems were nothing compared to what you had back home. Giving advice made you feel like a therapist but seeing their thankful expressions, it was all worth it.

When the morning came, you opened your window and looked at your neighbor’s. Any minute now, he would do the same and ask if you were ready to go. With the small window of time, you stared at the gray sky. The clouds looked heavy with rain. Though you had your jacket ready, you couldn’t help but miss your personal heater.

“I wonder how half and half is doing?” You began to drift. Staring at your palm, you made sure it was facing the opposite way from Akaashi’s window before activating your quirk. Despite only practicing on a plant, you could feel your quirk gaining a bit more power. “35%. And it’s too straining, even for me. Fuck.”

“Everything alright?”

Clenching your fist immediately, your eyes snapped to the direction of the voice. Mouth slightly open. Just how long had he been watching.

“I honestly don’t know but it’s fine.” You shrugged. “No practice today?”

“Coach said to take a break for today. We can head to school now if you want.”

“D’you wanna grab a snack bar first?”

“Okay.” Closing both your windows at the same time, you proceeded in getting ready.

It wasn’t long before both of you were inside the convenience store. Your eyebrows furrowing at the sight of foreign snack bars. The one’s back home usually had certain nutrients that enhanced quirks a tiny bit. Sort of like a coffee rush. The one’s in front of you were a bit dull. Or maybe you weren’t sure which flavor to get.

“Akaashi-san.” Gunmetal blue eyes met yours. “What can you recommend?”

The small tilt of his head was rather pleasing to look at. Watching how he scanned for a potential candidate, Akaashi reached for a blueberry-oatmeal variant. Flipping it to read the ingredients, he extended his arm a bit and offered you the snack.

“Bokuto-san likes that flavor. You might too.” When you took the snack from his hand, his eyes widened a fraction of a second. Sure, he felt random sparks but this one was a bit more intense. Brushing it off, he ushered you to the cashier. Offering to pay for the food, he watched as your eyes brightened up a tiny bit.

As he was paying, you exited the convenience store. That small jolt of electricity was something much bigger than the ball incident. Peaking at your hand, you activated your quirk and saw how the yellow glow was brighter than before.

‘What the hell even is this? If this is the second time for this to happen then something must be up. But, Akaashi doesn’t have a quirk so there’s no way our quirks are colliding or some shit. Or maybe he does have a quirk he’s just not telling it. But maybe this is an after effect of having a quirk in a different place?’ Your thoughts would make Deku’s mumbling look slow.

The glow on your palm suddenly expanded till it just burst like Bakugo’s explosions. Eyes widening at the feeling of not being able to control your own power.

‘What the fuck??’

Being so lost in thought, you were startled when you felt a hand pulling your arm. The next thing you felt was your body colliding with another. Your cheek touching his tie as his arm was protectively wrapped around your shoulder. Looking up, you saw how his eyes were focused on a bike that had stopped a few feet away.

“Are you okay, miss?!” The biker exclaimed. “My brakes gave way!”

“It’s my fault, mister! Sorry.” You bowed but struggled a bit. Akaashi still holding on to your shoulder. “I was distracted and so lost in thought I probably didn’t hear you calling out for me.”

After apologizing to the man for not taking into account your surroundings, you offered to help in fixing his brakes. Though he refused, you waved him off and told him a wire or screw must have been loose. So when he turned around and apologized to Akaashi, you quickly put your quirk to use and repaired the brakes.

With things going back to the way they were, the both of you were now approaching the school. Every few steps, you would stare at his hands. Come to think of it, you wondered if he saw the explosion coming from your palms.

“About a while back,” You opened the topic. “Sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s nothing.” He answered. Eyes focused on the approaching school gate. “Just be more careful next time.”

“Yes sir.”

“I do have a question, though.” Hearing you hum, he proceeded. This time his gaze was towards you. “Why are you carrying firecrackers?”

‘So he did see.’ You mentally cursed. Even if you used the ‘it was just light reflected from the glass windows’, there was no way the tall male would believe you. Trying to think up a reason, you began to chew on your lower lip.

“AKAASHI! (Y/N)-CHAN!”

‘Oh thank the quirk gods…’

“I HAVE GREAT NEWS!” Bokuto said as he jumped with excitement. Just in time, he managed to catch you eyeing his childhood friend. There was a moment of silence that even Akaashi wondered why he suddenly stopped yapping. “Anyway! Karasuno and Nekoma will be visiting us during the weekends for some practice matches. AAAHHH! TSUKKI AND KUROO WILL BE THERE AND WE CAN HAVE ANOTHER MATCH, AGAASHI!”

“I’m looking forward to it, Bokuto-san.” He turned to face you as all you three head up the stairs towards your respective classrooms. “You’ve never met the other teams right?”

“No. But I did do research~” One of the lighter things when it came to learning about this place. The teams were pretty interesting and it would be awesome to witness a match with other schools.

Sliding the door open for you, the both of you entered your room with a few greetings here and there. Once the bell rang, you took out your notebook and pen. Again, you caught yourself thinking, what was going on in your own world? Was there another you struggling as well? Twirling your pen, you allowed yourself to drown in your thoughts.

- - - -

and yes! part 4 is now up :) mostly because nothing much happens in this chapter and i had to make ya’ll wait :* Akaashi’s lineup is still accepting tags :) comment if youd like to be a part of it

[kelelamentia]

The String that Binds Us

The String that Binds Us

This my try at a soulmate fic

@ozmav

 Wayne Enterprise:

 Marinette and her class were on a field trip to Wayne Enterprise in Gotham, she was lingering at the back to avoid Lila and her sheep; Marinette want no part in that thank you, but she could still hear them talking.

“There have been so many people and celebrities wanting to be on the other end of my string.”  Lila boasted.

A string is a glowing red thread that leads from one person’s heart to their soulmates; it will appear when the soulmates are close to each other and gently tug them together. When Marinette was younger, she her string would lead her to Adrien.  Looking back Marinette realizes she dodged a bullet.

“Heck even Damian Wayne said he wished it was me!”

“I have no doubt Lila, you are awesome!” Alya praised.

Lila voice carried through the hall, gain the attention off many people outside her classmates; people Lila wished never heard her.  Marinette just rolled her eyes and kept quiet; anyone worth their salt would never want Lila to be on the other end of their string.  Just as Lila was boasting about something else; she felt a tug on her heart. Marinette looked at her chest; it was her string!  

It gave a couple more gentle tugs, Marinette taking a couple steps with each tug, before it full out DRAGGED her to where it wanted to be!

“AH!”  Marinette yelled, as she was hauled in one direction.

Marinette’s yelp drew her classmate’s attention to her; so they were witnesses to her be towed away be her string, not that anyone reacted.  No one has ever seen a string react so strongly before, so how could they?

As Marinette ran; trying to keep up with her strings pace, she passed 2 men in suits; nearly running into them.  They seemed to be making their way to her class.

“Sorry!  I don’t know where I’m going!!!!”  Marinette shrieked, as she passed them.

Marinette’s first obstacle in her run to her soulmate was a door; an ‘Employee Only’, that needed a special key to get in.

“Crud!”

“Hang on little lady, I got your back!”  Came a male voice from behind.

It was one of the two men she nearly ran over; he bolted passed her and unlocked the door, holding it open for her as well.  Marinette thanked him as she stumbled past.

“Thank you!”

“You’re not leaving me behind Miss!  Someone has to make sure you don’t run into anymore doors!”  

“Thank –Whoa!” Another hard tug from her string cut Marinette off.

Once the door was closed, the second man finished making his way to the stunned class; he introduced himself to the teacher.

“Hello Ms.Bustier?  My name is Bruce Wayne; I just heard one of your students lying loudly about my youngest son and I feel the need to put a stop to it, now.”  Bruce put emphasis on the word ‘now’ while staring hard at Lila.  Lila shrunk into herself; knowing everything she said now going to come into question, Bruce Wayne was nothing but thorough in his questioning.

 With Marinette:

Down 3 long hallways, up three flights of stairs, two more hallways and another two doors, through one very startled business meeting, and now; so far, 10 flights of stairs.  Marinette was getting tired and rather dizzy, thankfully the man that was running with her had a good sense of humor and thought this was hilarious; he also introduced himself as ‘Dick’.

“Why is this taking me all over the place?  And WHY is this place such a maze?!”  Marinette asked, running out of breath and stumbling around because of her string.

“I don’t know why you’re running all over; or why your string is pulling this hard, but this place is a maze because Bruce is weird.”  Dick did his best to answer, breathing still calm and keeping a steady pace.

“Why couldn’t have it just let me take the elevator; instead of running up, what fifteen sets of stairs now!”

Dick just laughed at Marinette’s comment as they ran down another hallway.

As they ran through more twists and turns Marinette was beginning to wonder when this would end. Just as she thought that, she collided with another body, hard, giving her only a moment to brace for impact.

“Ouch.” Marinette said; she ran into a wall of muscle; also clearly male body, so the impact hurt her slightly.

“Oof.” Sounded the person she ran into, obviously not as bother by the hit.

When Marinette had braced herself, she put her hands in front of her, so they were resting on the new person’s chest.  Her soulmate; for that’s what he had to be, ended up wrapping his arms around her.

Something happened with the string right after it finished pulling; the string began to bind them together, winding around them shoulder to ankle; so there was no escape. Marinette couldn’t believe what was happening; neither could her soulmate or the three bystanders.

“I-I’m so s-sorry! I didn’t mean to run into you!  The string just yanked and I couldn’t stop!” Marinette rushed out in one gasp.

Before her soulmate could answer her, there were comments from their audience.

“I can’t believe it! Demon Spawn really does have someone at the end of his string and she’s cute!”

“If I wasn’t seeing this for myself I wouldn’t believe it, the Brat has a soulmate! ...And very active string?”

“Guys watch it, we don’t want to scare the Little Lady off before she’s properly introduced do you?”

“Shut up you idiots, you’re not wanted here.”  Marinette felt more than heard from the chest she was pressed against.

Marinette knew it, she made her soulmate upset!  She needed to find a way to fix it.  Red in the face Marinette started to ramble.

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to…”  Marinette was cut off by her soulmate.

“I don’t mean you Miss; I meant our stupid unwanted peanut gallery.”

“That not nice little D, I help get her to you.”

“Shut up Grayson.”

“Umm…”  Marinette interrupted, bringing their attention to her. “Hi, I’m Marinette…”

“Hello Marinette, I’m Damian and apparently we’re soulmates.”  Damian introduced.

“Apparently?  Really Demon Spawn, you two are literally tied together with your sting; that’s more of a definitely.”

“Timmy’s right you know.”

“Shut up Todd, Drake!”

“Guys please introduce yourself before she just deems you all dangerous.”  Dick tried.

 “Fine Dicky-Bird, hi Rosie-cheeks; I’m Jason.”  Jason greeted.

“And I’m Tim, we’re Damian’s brothers; along with Dick, sorry if we made you uncomfortable.”  Tim apologized.

“It’s fine! It’s just a lot happened in such a short period and my string dragging me around was really confusing.”  Marinette explained.

Jason and Tim started laughing.

“We know, watching Damian get towed around like he was on a leash was hilarious.”  Jason cackled.

“Yeah, seeing him get dragged from his desk was hysterical!” Tim snickered.

Marinette felt Damian growl and looked up at his face; he was turning pink.

“Shut up.”  Damian commanded, looking like he wanted to hurt his brothers.

Marinette wanted to sooth Damian’s ire.

“Damian,” Marinette drew his attention. “I did much more embarrassing things than you; I got pulled away from my class, nearly bowled over Dick and the person he was with, almost ran into about four doors, up like twenty flights of stairs, and disrupted a board meeting.  I think I did worse than you.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Grayson, did she really do all that?” Damian questioned Dick.

“Yup, I’m surprized she’s not more tired really.”

“Are you hurt?” Damian asked, focusing on Marinette.

“What?  No, I’m fine.”  Marinette answered confused.

“Are you sure?  That must not have been an easy run.”

“It wasn’t bad Damian, I promise.”

“If you’re sure Marinette.”

“I’m sure.”

“Look as cute as your conversation is, you two are still tied together; how do you plan on getting out it?”  Tim inquired.

Marinette blinked at Tim and looked back at Damian.

“I…Don’t know. I’ve never heard about a string doing this at all.”  Marinette conceded, wiggling around; only to stop when she noticed was kind of rubbing herself against Damian.

Damian turned a little pink from Marinette’s movements, but his best not to let his brothers know. Tim walked around the pair; occasionally pulling at the string, trying to see if it would give, making observations.

“This is really interesting; this has to be the first record of a string dragging people together instead of the tug and the first record of tying them up!”

Again everyone fell into silence, unsure how remedy the issue; until Jason spoke up.

“Why don’t they kiss?”

“WHAT?!”  Damian and Marinette yelled as one.

“You guys have any better ideas?”

Damian and Marinette turned bright red, but couldn’t argue with Jason.

“B-But, you guys are watching…”  Marinette whimpered.

“The Lady is right; we should leave and let them have their moment together.”  Dick stated, corralling Tim and Jason to a nearby exit.

Marinette and Damian were left alone, quiet and embarrassed.

“I’m sorry about my brothers Marinette; they live to humiliate me.”

“That wasn’t too bad Damian…”

Damian cleared his throat.

“We should at least try Todd’s idea.”

“Right, sure, of course, but I…This is…I mean…”  Marinette tried.

Damian blinked at the girl he was bound to.

“Are you saying that you’ve never been kissed?”

“Yes.”  Marinette whispered.

“But how?!  You’re beautiful!”  Damian exclaimed, having been shocked by this revelation.

“I-I-I-I-I” Marinette stammered, turning even brighter.

“Forgive me for my forwardness Marinette, but it’s true; you are beautiful.”

“T-Thank you Damian.”

“You’re welcome my Dear, but we really should try to get out of the string now.”

“Right.”

There was some awkward moving and wiggling; they stood at two different heights, but eventually they got close enough to kiss. When their lips finally met Marinette expected the electrifying spark that should come with a soulmates kiss, what she didn’t expect was the warm, comforting feeling that wrapped around her; making her heart sigh in contentment and her very being say ‘Oh, there you are; hello.’

When Damian and Marinette pulled away from each other the string was gone.   During the kiss Marinette had moved her hands from Damian’s chest to around his neck; causing a more intimate embrace between the two.

“I should get back to my class…” Marinette breathed without any conviction.

“True, perhaps you would be willing to join me from dinner tonight?  I would enjoy getting to know you Marinette.”

“I would like that too Damian, but I think I’m going to be in trouble for running away for the class; soulmate string or not.”

“Don’t worry, my brothers more than likely have…handled the situation with your class.”

Marinette tilted her head in confusion.

“If you say so Damian.”

“Let me walk you back?” Damian asked holding out his arm.

“It would be a pleasure Damian.”  Marinette said intertwining their arms.

Together they walked back to the entrance, back to Marinette’s class, but into a new beginning for them.

End

That was The String that Binds Us

 Also

 Extra:

With the class at the hotel, after the tour and Lila getting called out by Bruce:

Alya – SHE WAS LYING THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!

Nino –Babe please…

Adrien – Come on guys, Lila couldn’t have done that; her lies weren’t hurting anyone.

Alya – WHAT!  NOT HURTING ANYONE?!  THAT WITCH HAS COST ME MY REPUTATION AS A REPORTER!  NO WONDER PEOPLE STOPPED FOLLOWING ME THEY SAW THE LIES!

Nino – Bro, what do you mean by ‘her lies weren’t hurting anyone’ did you know she was lying?!

Adrien – Umm…

Alya – You-You-You-Grrr. Did anyone else know!

Adrien – Marinette did.

Nino - *Suddenly getting* She tried to warn us…Dude why didn’t you back her up if you knew!

Adrien – Well Lila wasn’t hurting anyone and Marinette was the one to provoke her to getting worse.

Alya – Not hurting anyone?  She hurt me and ruined my rep, she led the rest of the class on about all the things she has done and PROMISED!  HOE IS THAT NOT HURTING ANYONE?!

Adrien – Wait a minute…

Nino - *Interrupts* We were CUREL TO MARINETTE!  WE ACTED LIKE BULLIES AND YOU LET US!

Adrien - *Has no response to that*

 Extra 2:

Jason and Damian are alone:

Jason – So?  Did you enjoy your soulmate rubbing on you?

Dami - *Spit take* TODD!

 Extra 3:

Damian and Marinette at a restaurant:

Marinette – I just realized I never gave you my full name; I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Damian – I’m Damian Wayne.

Marinette -*Oblivious* Like Bruce Wayne’s son?

Damian - *Now knowing Marinette cares more for him than a name* Yes Marinette, has anyone told you that you are a wonderful girl?  Because you are.

[hopelessromanticspoonie]

Monsoon Season

Chapter: 1 of 2

Characters: James Conrad x Reader

Rating: Explicit

Summary: When a rogueish British soldier saves you from a sticky situation, you find yourself in his flat, clothes soaking wet with only one bed for the both of you.

Warnings: Brief mention of violence and blood. Smut in Chapter 2.

A/N: This is my response to @yespolkadotkitty​‘s request: ‘I would adore if you had time to write a fluff one where for flimsy reasons Conrad carries reader over the threshold of somewhere with ONLY ONE BED’. I didn’t mean for it to get this long, but it all just happened! I hope that you enjoy!

Taglist for this series: @lotus-eyedindiangoddess​ @phoenixwench​

Permanent taglist: @just-the-hiddles @vodka-and-some-sass​ @he-is-chaotic-she-is-psychotic​ @nonsensicalobsessions​ @myoxisbroken​ @blah666 @brokenthelovely​ @myworddump​ @polireader​ @wiczer​ @littleredstarfish​ @the-broken-angel-13​

Thanks for the AWESOME banner, @yespolkadotkitty​!

You were lost, at the peak of monsoon season, in a country where you didn’t speak the language, in the middle of the night.

To put it mildly, you were screwed.

You had been following the rest of your team back to your seedy motel when you were separated by a man on a motorcycle who had no regard for where the road ended and the sidewalk began. Then a mother had sprinted in front of you with her two children in tow, running from the lightning that flashed menacingly in the sky. And then a group of rowdy teenagers had crossed your path.

By the time you were free to continue on, your fellow scientists were nowhere to be found. You didn’t speak a lick of Vietnamese to ask for help, and your stumbling around the neon-lit street didn’t get you anywhere except lost. Just when you thought the situation couldn’t get worse, the heavens opened up and torrential rain poured down on you, hot and heavy through your thin summer clothing.

Every curse word under the sun fell from your lips as you ducked into the nearest open doorway. Your shoes squeaked and stuck to the sticky bar floor as you moved away from the door hesitantly, taking in the patrons milling about, illuminated by the dark red light that did nothing to hide the drugs changing hands or the glazed look in the eyes of scantily-clad women as they disappeared behind curtains with leering men.

You did not belong here.

Gulping down the fear that crawled up your throat, your hands fisted at your sides as you turned on your heel, intent upon leaving. The thunderstorm outside seemed a safer bet. But a large man stood in the doorway, his arms folded as he looked down at you with a hunger that made your skin crawl - not in a good way. You backed up, eyes wide, only to collide with another body, sticky with sweat and reeking of stale alcohol and cigarettes.

You whipped around, not understanding what he grumbled at you, but the way his eyes traveled up and down your body and the bruising grip he held on your wrist was not to be misunderstood. Panic seized your mind as you babbled incoherently at him, shaking your head back and forth, vaguely aware that your voice was rising in volume and pitch but uncaring.

A man stalked from out of the shadows, towering over all the other patrons, his light eyes hard as steel as they focused on the man holding you captive. You watched with mouth open wide in shock as his hand curled into a fist into the shirt of his target, yanking him away from you and tossing him onto the floor with as much ceremony as one would a bag of trash.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his richly accented voice sin wrapped in sandpaper, both soothing your frazzled nerves and coaxing your libido to life.

You didn’t have time to answer, as the behemoth of a man who had been guarding the door shoved you out of the way, knocking you to the ground. Danger practically radiated through his rigid frame, coiled tight as he glared daggers at the man. He moved so quickly that you couldn’t follow, only catching the whip of his fist followed by a grunt, or the twist of his torso that ended up with his opponent sprawled out on the dirty floor before him.

He approached you cautiously, hands held in palms up in front of him in a clear show of peace, kneeling beside you. “It isn’t safe for you here. More will be coming. Where are you staying?”

You had only just arrived that day, and you couldn’t remember the name of the motel for the life of you. When you stammered that out to him, his brow furrowed and he ducked his head with a sigh of exasperation. When he lifted it again, his jaw was set beneath the scruff of a beard several days overdue of a shave, his brow furrowed in determination.

More men burst into the bar, shouting furiously and pointing in your direction. Your dashing protector grasped your hands and pulled you up, ducking his head so that he could look into your eyes. “Stay close to me and do not let go of my hand. Understood?”

He didn’t wait for your frantic nod, tugging you out of the bar and into the downpour outside. Your eyes stayed on his broad shoulders as you jogged behind him, watching his back flex and shift beneath the soaked linen of his shirt. He led you down streets that only seemed to become narrower and narrower with each twist and turn. You followed him willingly deeper into the labyrinthian alleys and thoroughfares that you had no hope of escaping should he decide to leave you to fend for yourself.

But he seemed to have no intention of doing so. That was made clear when he suddenly turned to you and pressed you into the wall beneath a balcony overhang, shielding your body from view with his. His forearms caged you in and his head hung low, his forehead brushing yours as he panted lightly into the humid air between you. Water dripped down the hard planes of his face onto yours, clinging to his light eyelashes and wetting his lips set into a thin line. “We’re being followed. You seem to have piqued the interest of some unsavory characters, or they are thoroughly upset at my thrashing of their fellow ruffians. Do exactly as I do.”

With no option but to trust him, you nodded, the small motion rubbing the damp skin of your forehead against his. His eyes met yours, cool blue of the sea before a storm, steadying you with the confident assurance you found within their depths. His hand found yours, engulfing it and almost searing with its heat, and you were off once again.

You followed him as closely as a shadow, your slip-on shoes slapping out against the wet pavement lost to the thunder and rainfall that deafened you. When he stopped and flattened himself to a wall, doing the same to you with a hand splayed across your stomach, you waited for his signal with your stomach heaving beneath his staying touch. He seemed to see everything at once, his keen eyes darting around, calculating and methodical. How he could see anything at all through this rain was beyond you.

You were doing a fairly decent job at keeping up with him, until you stumbled over a bit of uneven pavement, losing your shoe in the process. It was at that moment that he silently urged you faster, leaving you no room to protest as the gritty pavement bit into the soft sole of your foot.

Only when you ducked into a stairwell and climbed three flights of stairs did he slow, turning to look at you with a brow raised in concern. “Alright there, miss?”

You released his hand to brace yourself against the rough concrete wall, lifting your bare foot to reveal the bloodied underside. Something had caught the skin of your foot along the way, and you winced as you flexed your toes experimentally. “Lost my shoe somewhere back there.”

He made a deep sound of displeasure, crouching down beside you to take in your injury, holding onto your ankle with gentle fingers. Shaking his head, he righted himself and slipped his arm around your torso, his fingers curling around your ribs. “My flat is just up ahead. If it’s agreeable, I can tend to it there?”

“That’d be nice, thanks. Who knows what’s on those streets.”

He nodded, forehead creased in thought as he cast another glance around you before briskly walking you both forward. Now that you had slowed down and you had a moment to breathe, each step felt like hot knives stabbing up your leg, and you did your best to stifle your quiet whimper behind your bottom lip caught between your teeth.

He must have heard it, because without a second thought he slipped one arm behind your knees, lifting you up into his arms with very little effort on his part. You squeaked in surprise, your hands flying around his neck for stability. Somehow he managed to walk the rest of the way to his door and open it without dropping you.

His apartment was pitch black, and he carefully sat you down on something soft just a few steps inside before covering your lips with a calloused fingertip. “Hush for one moment,” he shushed you, and you strained to pick up the quiet sound of his boots as he shifted about the apartment.

Whatever assessment that he felt necessary to conduct must have turned up favorably, because several agonizing moments later a lamp flicked on next to you, bathing the room in a pale yellow light.

It was small, the space cramped with only a coffee table and the modest chair you were seated upon taking up what could be considered the living room. A kitchenette was visible over his shoulder as he knelt before you, next to which stood a closed door. There weren’t any personal effects, nothing that suggested anyone even lived there, save for a small stack of books on the table and a plate drying over the sink. It was clean, well-kept, even the age of the items belied by the care given to them.

“May I?” he asked, pulling your focus back to him.

You blamed the humidity and oppressive heat for the difficulty you had in catching your breath, instead of the earnest concern that knitted his brow as he looked up to you, his hands held out to receive your injured foot. Flushing both from the exertion and a sudden wave of embarrassment at his scrutiny, you carefully lifted it to him, only for him to gently settle your heel on his knee, steadying you.

You watched him as he worked, an open emergency medical kit at his side, fully and thoroughly stocked with much more than what was standard issue. He was efficient, but still careful, mindful not to put too much pressure on the nasty-looking gash. He was just as soaked to the bone as you were, his blue linen shirt stuck to his skin, revealing impressive muscles for his frame that flexed pleasantly with his every movement and breath. Your eyes fell to the triangle of tanned chest revealed by his shirt, the top two buttons undone. A water droplet rolled down his neck and disappeared beneath the fabric, and you tamped down the sudden inexplicable urge to trace its journey with your tongue.

He was beautiful, in a rogueish way that made you wonder if the harsh lines around his eyes softened when he was lost to the throes of the basest pleasures.

It occurred to you, while you were tracing his cheekbones so sharp they had to cut glass with your eyes, that you didn’t even know his name.

“James Conrad,” he suddenly murmured, as if he had been reading your thoughts. He offered you a quick smile and a curt nod before lowering your foot back to the floor. He stood, his back ramrod straight, offering his large hand to you once again. “And your name, miss?”

You took his hand and gave him your name, taking his assistance gratefully to rise to your feet. The bandages he had wrapped around the injury helped lessen some of the pain, and it would do nicely to protect it from bacteria. This close to him you had to crane your neck to look up at him. The scent of him drifted to you, pine and alcohol and something inherently masculine that made your mouth water.

Your name on his lips broke through your thoughts, sounding like both a question and a curse as he stared down at you. Emotions warred in his eyes, too many to give a name to, but his thumb stroked over your knuckles lightly. He hadn’t let go of your hand. You shivered at the intimacy of the gesture, desire flashing over your skin like a cool breeze on such a balmy night.

“Oh, pardon me. You’re absolutely drenched. I must insist that you stay here for the evening, and then I can assist you in finding your lodging tomorrow morning? I can find you something dry to wear, and then you can sleep in the bedroom.” He paused, taking a step away from you. You instantly missed the closeness, and you leaned forward just a bit to seek out his touch. Your hand fell limply to your side. “The door locks from the inside.”

As if you had any other option. “Oh, thanks.”

Every movement he made was measured, sure, as if his mind was several steps ahead of his body. That combined with his sharp gaze and rigid posture spoke volumes where his words did not.

“Military?”

He paused in the doorway of the bedroom, holding a bundle of clothing in his arms. One brow ticked up on his forehead as he peered up at you from beneath long lashes. “Former British SAS.”

That would explain it - the assertiveness in his command and the knowledge that lingered in his gaze. You nodded, taking the proffered clothing with an appreciative smile. You shifted on your feet uneasily, wondering where you should change, a blush staining your cheeks as you thought of undressing before James. When nothing was offered, you spoke up. “You wanna turn around there, solider?”

“Pardon me.”

Your eyes lingered on his back for a moment longer than necessary, following the slope of his broad shoulders down the dip of his spine to a narrow waist. The situation wasn’t ideal, but you found yourself lucky for more than one reason that he had been the one to pull you out of it. Quickly, you stripped out of your sopping wet clothes, only nude for a moment slipping into the loose gray t-shirt and faded boxer shorts he offered you. There was something intimate about wearing his clothing, about smelling the faint scent of laundry detergent and pine so close to your skin, that set your nerves alight.

At your call, he took your wet clothing from you, arranging it over the coffee table so that they had the best chance of drying. You didn’t hold out much hope in the humidity, but the effort was thoughtful nonetheless. You followed him into the bedroom once he was finished, taking in the sparsely furnished room silently.

“I will take the chair out in the sitting room,” he said quietly, his hand lighting on your shoulder in parting before he moved to leave.

Your hand caught his wrist, light enough that he could break free if he wanted, but he didn’t. He turned back to you, his cool eyes staring straight through to your soul as he waited for you to speak. You had never felt so exposed and seen in your entire life.

Speaking around the sudden dryness in your throat, you released him to wave your hand toward the bed. “It’s big enough for the both of us. I would feel awful if I made you sleep in that chair when there’s plenty room here. You wouldn’t go through all this trouble just to hurt me, right?”

Fire lit in his gaze before he closed his eyes briefly. When they opened the expression was gone, replaced by a wariness that you instinctively knew went to his very core. “You would be foolish to trust a complete stranger.”

You sat down on the thin mattress, springy beneath you. “You laid out a man twice your size in the bar back there. You could break down that door if you really wanted to. At least this way I know that anyone who tries to come in has to go through you to get to me.”

You had tried for humor, but by the sternness of his expression, it hadn’t landed. He sat down on the other end of the bed, unlacing his boots. You averted your eyes when his hands went to the collar of his shirt, affording him the same privacy he had offered you. When the bed pitched beneath you, you rolled over onto your side, facing him in the room.

You were just able to make out the wild curls of his hair with the hazy red light that streamed in through the window, haloing him perfectly. The night’s events hit you suddenly, brought about by the light, and you clutched your hands tightly to your chest.

“James?”

“Yes?” his voice was just loud enough to fill the space between you, intimate and deep even as it was directed at the ceiling.

Memories of the hollow-eyed women flashed in your mind’s eye. “Thank you for saving me back there. I… I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t.”

He must have felt your trembling shaking the bed, as he shifted so that he was on his side, reaching out in the darkness to clasp your hands comfortingly. The backs of his knuckles brushed against your chest, making your heart stutter against your ribcage. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”

Maybe it was the adrenaline that had flooded and left your system, or the dim lighting playing against the line of his shoulder, or the gentle rub of his thumb over the back of your hand. But you felt emboldened, your curiosity driving you as you shifted closer to him on the bed, lining up the lean length of his body against yours. The brush of the hair on his legs, so very male, tightened the muscles of your abdomen pleasantly.

His breath hitched in his throat. “It was only polite, what was right.”

You lifted your entwined hands to your mouth, brushing his hand across your lips. He was faintly salty, but also sweet, addictive. Would his kiss taste the same?

You propped yourself up on one elbow, daring as you lifted a hand to drag across his cheekbone to brush a stray lock of hair back into place. “Are you always so polite, James?”

[otterbeesfanficblog]

When neutron stars collide

(Bakugou Katsuki x Reader)

Part 1: Steps Before The Starting Line

Part 2: When a Star Chooses To Shine Part 3: Compare And Contrast Part 4: From Where We Stand Part 5: You Would Be Angry Too...

A/n: Hello dear readers, I'm so glad you decided to read my story. I hope you have fun. Anyway, I wanted to clarify a few things before we begin. Because this is featured in Japan, your in story surname will be first. For your surname, I have chosen it based on your quirk. Many, if not all My hero characters have their surnames related to there quirk. Get ready if you don't already know this, you about to learn somethin'. For example: Bakugou's family name looks like this (爆豪), which is in Japanese kanji.  The kanji (爆) means (Burst) which can also be found in (爆発) (bakuhatsu) which means (Explosion). The second part of his surname (豪) has different meanings, one of them being (overpowering).  And in short, even his first name roughly means (Win) and (Myself) which really really relates to his need to win by himself and do most things himself. Now that we have explained Bakugou, let's explain you!I've chosen to use (宇宙急増) which is (Uchūkyūzō). The first half (宇宙) means (space), the second (急増) means (Surge or Explosion). From what you learned, I'll let you figure out what your quirk is. Either way, I simply wanted to explain this to you because I thought it was fun to do and I thought some of you would want to know. Japanese is such a beautiful and interesting language. Anyway, sorry for rambling, I hope you like the story!

You had to admit seeing it on tv, movies, shows, cartoons, animes...

The school was a lot different than you had expected it to be.

In all fairness, it was hard to say UA was a good example of what a 'normal' school is like. You may not be the most well versed in what a 'normal' school should be, but a school full of heroes and students training to be heroes was probably not too normal.

Your stomach twisted into a not as you watched all kinds of students pile into the UA for the same entrance exam, breathing in deep and letting out a big sigh you rubbed your face with your hands.

"Am I really doing this...?"

"I asked myself the same thing when I got here!"

You felt your body flinch at the sudden voice next to you, but looking to your side where it came from you relaxed. A little.

Standing next to you with a smile you can only describe as the rival of a golden retriever, was a boy with spiking red hair and red eyes. His teeth were as sharp as the points in his hair, but his eyes held nothing but friendliness in them.

He had a red tint to his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck with a groan.

"This is so nerve-racking, huh? I knew a lot of people would be here but man, it sure is crowded."

You were quiet for a moment, simply staring before you shook your head and realized normal people have conversations with each other.

"Oh, uh, yeah right. Crowded..."

"Sorry, totally blanked!" He held out his hand to you with his smile still wide. "My name is Kirishima Eijiro! Nice to meet you!"

You looked at his hand for a moment, slowly extending yours and giving it a small shake. His hand was warmer than yours and was rough, glancing up from his hand you realized how tall he was compared to you.

You mentally roll your eyes, scolding yourself for sizing up the first person you meet. He seemed nice enough...

"Yeah, nice to meet you too..."

He gave you a shy smile, tilting his head almost expecting something. You tilt your head back in confusion, trying to converse with him with your eyes. You jump a little and felt heat rushing up your neck you your cheeks.

"Oh! Right, my name... I'm Uchukyuzo Y/n."

"Wow! That's such a manly name!" He clenched his fist together in a fist pump motion in front of his chest, looking at you in awe, then quickly backing up and waving his hands around.

"Ah! I mean! Not to say you're like a man because.. you're a girl, obviously! Not trying to say you're manly. Eh-! I mean! Not to say you aren't manly! Just that, ya know, you aren't manly in the sense that you're a man! You're not a man! Well, unless you wanna be! If so - ah- That's awesome!"

You felt yourself grin up at him stumbling, it had been so long since you had talked to someone your age, let alone someone so... outgoing.

It was nice.

"It's cool, Kirishima. It's a compliment in my book, I think you're pretty manly too."

He paused his stumbling and gaped at you, then grin wide so wide he scrunched his face and closed his eye in glee.

"Oh wow! Being called manly by someone on my first day here, no way I'm gonna fail now!"

For the first time in a while you relaxed your body, then watched Kirishima bounce up.

"Oh! Hey, I got an idea! Let's sit together at the exam orientation!"

Grin not leaving your face, you nod with gentle eyes.

"Sure."

"Hell yeah! My first friend! Things are looking up!"

You let out a soft chuckle and let him lead the way while he continued to talk to you, telling you how excited he was to have this chance and how he was definitely gonna make it in. He treasures you that you would make it in too and that hopefully, you two could be in the same class together.

You just let him talk, agreeing with him every so often and chiming in if he had asked you a question or not. It was a little tricky at first, again you hadn't talked to someone your age for a long time, but with his outgoing personality, you quickly got into a rhythm with him.

You appreciated the fact that he wasn't someone to dig into your personal life after you dodged and gave vague answers to him about some stuff he got the picture you didn't talk about it that much.

He didn't at all hold back about himself though, which you found surprising. Everyone you had ever meet didn't really... talking about personal stuff like their life. You had been around people who minded their own business and didn't bother you so... you didn't bother them.

You and Kirishima had come in early so there were lots of seats open. You wanted to sit in the back and Kirishima wanted to sit in closer, so you two decided to compromise and you sat in the middle decently far back.

While more people were filling in seats, you were caught off guard by one of Kirishima's questions.

"Hey, noticed you aren't wearing your school uniform."

You froze and looked at the table in front of you, hiding your eyes from him.

You weren't wearing a school uniform the same reason why you don't have a bag like everyone else...

You were silent for a while and Kirishima was about to dismiss it before you looked up at him again. You gave him a timid smile while scratching at your cheek.

"Ah, I didn't really know I had to wear it. News like that doesn't really get to me until it's too late."

Kirishima looked at you with curious eyes, shrugged then looked at the screen in the front of the room.

"That's okay, I'm sure it won't be a problem. And if it is," He sends you a wink and shoves a thumb to his chest. "I'll be there to back you up."

Your chest clenched at his words, your throat barely letting any air in as you took a shaky breath in, hoping he didn't notice as you turn to the front. You give a strained smile and nod.

"Yeah... thank you..."

The orientation started boisterously by the pro hero and radio star Present Mic, though, no one reciprocated his calls to action. You were a little embarrassed to think you were actually going to respond to him, you opened your mouth to but when you heard nothing from your peers you quickly shut your mouth and slouched.

Then you felt secondhand embarrassment for a curly-haired boy with green hair and freckles as he was called out by a boy with blue hair and glasses in front of everyone.

"I could never..." You mumbled, crossing your arms and trying to hide more in your chair. Kirishima chuckled next to you and smiled.

"There's gonna be some interesting characters here, I'm excited! I mean, I already met you, and you're super cool!"

You looked at him confused, both of you leaning in close to each other so as to not get caught talking.

"But, I haven't done anything."

"You talked to me, that's pretty cool! Most people think I can be... eh, too much." He blushes and rubs his neck in a timid manner.

In all honesty, you only talked to him to blend in, it was only chance that you ended up liking his company.

"Anyway, he said we'll be in different battle centers. Which one are you in?"

You watched him pull out his exam ticket that you were also given when you came in here and looking at it, it said he was stationed at center D.

You reached into your pocket, pulling out the folded ticket, you realized how different yours was from his.

You only had your name, your examinee number, and the battle center you placed, which luckily was also center D. He had his school picture along with other information, which the picture you had to admit was cute. In the photo his hair was black and let down, showing he changed before he got here.

You didn't have any of that because, well... they didn't have records of that.

"Ah, yes! Same battle center! I already know we'd make a great team!"

Putting the ticket back into the pocket of your baggy ripped pants, you chuckle and shake your head at him.

"You do know this is basically a competition right? We have to win points for ourselves."

"Oh, sure, but who said we would have to do it alone? Present mic didn't say anything about not teaming up!"

You supposed he was right, but you had no doubt they would be watching for that too. They most likely wanted to separate friends to get the full potential out of everyone, and you can't do that if you are working with a friend, at least not all the time.

You both went back to listening to Present mic speak, but you weren't at all focused on his words. You glanced around at all the faces around you, some were serious, some were nervous, and some were just plain cocky.

You didn't use your quirk much, not unless you really needed it, which... That's a lie, you used your quirk often, but not at it's strongest. You did that once and...

Looking down at your clothes, you pulled at your baggy shirt and shuffled in your baggy pants. They looked like hand-me-downs from an outsider's view, which in a sense they were. You just hoped no one noticed...

They were the only clothes you had.

------

After you and many other students were bussed to battle center D, your nerves began acting up again and you couldn't help bouncing your leg.

There were a lot of people already showing off their quirks and getting pumped for the exam, you on the other hand couldn't get the sinking feeling out of your chest that you were not only being constantly watched, but also looked down on.

Kirishima had changed into something much more sensible than you, but he pressured you that it wouldn't matter what you were wearing once you got into it. You held tight to those words, knowing that you'll worry yourself into a hole thinking about things you can't fix so you focused on a plan.

Which... wasn't coming to you greatly. Of course, you had thousands of ideas popping off in your mind, but you knew plans can change in seconds, especially for hero work.

"We're gonna do great, then we're gonna get in, and be in the same class, and become pro heroes, and get to be symbols of peace all on our own!"

You chuckled and looked over at the red-haired boy, who you were sure if he had a tail it would be wagging non-stop.

"You sure are confident."

"And you aren't? Come on, once you get into it, it'll be as easy as breathing!"

The busses arrived and let you off, and you let yourself fall to the back of the group waiting at the large doors of battle center D.

Kirishima stood next to you looking more determined than before, which you were surprised because you didn't think he could be any more determined. Looking up at the large door you sighed, then glanced at your hands.

This whole time, you'd be collecting as much as you could and it was making your heart race. You knew you had to release it soon, but you also knew you could still gain more.

"START!!"

The doors opened and your head shot up.

You had this.

You ran close behind everyone else, closely feeling the vibrations of their feet hitting the ground next to you. Kirishima hollered in glee as he ran, grinning so wide it must have hurt. The group started to branch off every which way, but Kirishima stayed on your path with a few other people.

A three-point bot came around the corner and you all locked onto it.

"This one's mine."

There was no room for argument as you high jumped over the group with immense power, landing, then speeding to the bot. Jumping high above it you felt the power in your building as you land on it face, then you smile and started to glow.

"Boom."

You and the robot were surrounded in bright light, then an explosion came from you and the bot, sending a couple of people who were still behind you stumbling. As the light around you dimed, you were surrounded by specs of light that looked like tiny stars. The bot beneath you fell and you jumped off, landing before it and collecting the energy from the vibrations it forced into the ground upon it falling.

You yawned as a sense of tiredness fell over you, looking back you saw a few students still watching you in awe, one of them being Kirishima who looked like he was gonna cry.

"So cool..." He whispered.

You waved at him and began to jog off, calling back to him as you left.

"I'll see you later, Kirishima, get some points!"

Kirishima was right, once you were in it, you were in it. You weren't even really thinking about points even though you knew it was almost the whole point of the test, you just couldn't bring yourself to care about it.

You destroyed many bots and even saved a lot of people who were overwhelmed or just not ready. Time was going down but you were more focused on if this was real.

You've seen what villains could do in real life, they could be anyone, anywhere, anytime. You learned quickly at a young age, life will always be against you, and you have to be ready to fight to be alive.

You came down what looked like the main street, looking side to side. You saw a couple of students downing a few bots, while others stood and looked for more. Out of the dust clouds, you saw a bit of red hair flash into view, then you saw a very focused Kirishima.

He was breathing heavily just as you were, and he was helping someone up from the group, presumably asking if they were alright.

"Hey! Kirishima!!" You waved your arms above you, trying to get his attention. You couldn't help but smile, knowing not only he was your friend, but you were also so filled with pent up power and adrenaline, you didn't care if you stuck out.

He was quick to turn his head after hearing his name, once he saw you from down the street, he smiled and waved back.

Your meet up didn't last long when suddenly the ground started to rumble and shake, you allowed some of the energy from the rumbles to leak into your body. You didn't want all of it, in fear it would be too much, but you also wanted to be ready.

Turning around, you watched a humongous hand come around the corner, bringing with it its body and your eyes grew wide.

"Holy shit... That's a big boy."

The bot stood larger than the buildings and apparently was zero points, but the points weren't what you were thinking about as it easily collapsed a whole building. The collapsed building sent a huge dust cloud your way, you covered your eyes but took in all the energy you could from the blast and the bots movements towards you.

You started to glow as you glared up at the bot.

To you, it was real, very real. It remained you too much of your time as a kid, everything was bigger than you back then, you weren't about to step down from this thing. Especially not after you heard screams and people running away.

"Uchukyuzo! What are you doing!?"

Turning, you saw Kirishima running to your side with a look of our worry.

"This thing is huge and it's not worth points!"

"That's not the point." You glared back up at the bot as it got closer and closer, your body glowed and allowed tiny bits of star-like lights to fall from you. Kirishima looked at you as if you were crazy but stood firm by your side, readying his body and smashing his firsts together.

You watched sparks fly from them as the bashed into each other, seeing his skin turn stiff. His quirk was hardening, that could be very useful.

"Okay, then... I'm with you! What's the plan?"

"Catch me, I've got the rest."

Your eyes glowed and sparkled like a night sky as you smiled at him, you could see him sweating but he nods with determined eyes.

"You got this!"

With that, you crouched and sent a large amount of power through you legs to the ground, sending you flying into the air towards the bot. It wasn't long before you landed on it, with plenty of power still left and power you absorbed from its heavy movements, you knew you just needed a little more before you could to it.

You watched its many eyes glow in response to your appearance, zeroing in on destroying you.

If you were any younger, any less prideful, you would have ran away for sure. This was the thing you would run from as a kid, hiding instead of fighting. Not anymore.

You weren't going to hide anymore, you've hidden enough in your life.

It was time for people to know your name.

You began to glow too bright for people standing by to look at, bright as the sun. You friend down at the bot as you held onto it, hoping Kirishima could actually catch you.

"Let's create a supernova!"

You screamed this as you released all the pent up power you had, simultaneously taking in and expelling that same energy all at the same time. It hurt like a bitch, but you felt that power go right through the bot and a few feet into the ground below.

All that light disappeared, then reappeared with a vengeance, basically blinding anyone who was staring too close. It was silent for a few moments, but then almost a sonic boom came from where you were. A huge burst of wind and power exploded from where you and the bot were.

The bot exploded into pieces, and the sheer power behind the explosion sent you flying upwards. You, along with everyone else watching, saw the large bursts of colorful stars come from the bot as it fell to the ground. You were sent into the air, but soon you felt yourself start to plummet.

You gasped and forced your body to face down to see where you were headed, watching the ground below quickly approach as you looked for Kirishima.

Your heart plummeted into your gut when you couldn't find him, the one person you need to help you not die. You started to use the wind coming at you as a force of power, but you knew it wasn't enough to break your fall so you wouldn't die.

"UCHUKYUZO!!"

Your eyes go wide as you saw Kirishima jump from the window of a building towards you, holding out his arms. You reached out just the same, grazing him at first, then gripping his hands as he pulled you into his chest.

You felt his skin harden all around you, and you knew he was going to try and take the brunt of the blow as he placed himself under you.

You weren't having it.

The ground quickly coming at you, you flipped and had yourself beneath him. His eyes went wide at this, but you just smiled up at him, starting you glow.

Then, you both hit the ground.

Your eyes were tightly shut, your teeth clenched, until finally you opened you mouth wide and let out a breath you were holding in, along with a groan. You heard a groan from your chest, and you opened one eye to see Kirishima slowly getting up from on top of you. He opened his eyes, first blinking and just taking in what happened, then gasping and looking up at you.

"Uchukyuzo! Oh my god, are you okay!?"

You felt one of his hands behind your head, you suspected that was him trying to protect your head from the fall, the other was moved from your lower back to the ground on the side of your hip.

You let him pull his hand out from under your head and you went limp on the ground taking deep breaths as you closed your eyes and groaned.

"I'm okay, are you?"

"I'm fine, why are you asking me that!? You took the brunt off the fall! You told me to catch you!"

"And.." You opened your eyes and started to lean up. "You did, thank you."

Kirishima got off of you and sat next to you as you sat up, rubbing the back of your head before, tiredly turning around to see the mess.

It was big. Pieces of metal were everywhere, speckled stars still fell from the sky as the dust was clearing.

You slowly stood up, Kirishima standing as well and just silently watching you. Not to your surprise, many many students crowded around and stared at you. You looked on at all of them with half-lidded eyes, the adrenaline and power you had before was no longer there and you were exhausted and beat.

"Are... You all okay?"

They all started at you, mouths gaped and eyes wide. From what you could tell, none of them were seriously damaged, which was good. You nodded and put a hand to your stomach in pain, which you then felt your own skin.

Looking down, your clothes were ripped as hell. Your shirt was now a ragged, dirty crop top, and your pant legs were ripped at your thigh and your ankle, making it this mismatched length. Your shoes were as dirty and thin as they always were, if not a few new holes.

"Wow... I look like shit."

You turn to make a joke with Kirishima about how you really should have brought different clothes, but turning you saw him with tears in his eyes and clenching his fist. He tightly closed his eyes and nodded at you.

"So manly..."

You couldn't respond before you heard the overhead voice speak and a siren goes off.

"TIMES UP!!"

For a moment you just stood there then your eyes go wide.

"Ah, shit! How many points did I get! I wasn't paying attention! Did I get enough? How many is enough? I --"

The ground beneath you shifted and the word tilted to the side which made you stumble, you groaned again and closed your eyes.

"Well... shit..."

Then it all went black and you went numb.

-------

"Will she really be okay?"

"You worry too much, young man. She will wake up in no time."

A groan left your mouth as you rolled on to your side, snuggling into the blankets and pillow beneath your head.

"... Just five more minutes."

"AH! You're awake!"

You open one of your eyes to see where you were, the room was white and standing next to you with a sheepish grin was Kirishima, and next to him was a nice-looking old lady.

"I'm awake."

"Dude, you totally passed out at the exam. You freaked me out! You freaked a lot of people out actually!"

"Oh... sorry." You closed your eyes again and yawned, then sat up and rubbed your eyes. "How long have I been out?"

"It's sunset now if that gives you a clue, my dear." The old woman said, point out the window with a chain that kinda looked like a syringe.

Looking at the window, you saw that it was indeed sunset, which made you frown and look at Kirishima.

"Shouldn't you... I don't know, be at home?" After saying this he looked at you with shock.

"I couldn't just leave you here! I would just die wondering if you were okay or not! Can't have my first UA friend die on me!"

"Oh, hush, she wasn't dying." The old lady scolded him, turning and going to her desk as he rubbed his neck with a blush tinting his cheeks.

"Well, I didn't know that..."

You smile at him, throwing your legs over the side of the bed, partly wishing you could just sleep in the bed forever.

"Thanks for worrying about me Kirishima, but you should go home, I'm sure your family must be worried."

He shook his head as the old lady came back over and handed you some small candies.

"Nah, I called them to tell them I was making sure a friend was okay, they know where I am. I'm worried about your family."

You went still at the mention of your family, vaguely shrugging.

"I'm sure they're fine."

"We couldn't find any emergency numbers in your name, my dear." The old lady said, looking at you sadly. "So, we didn't know who to call."

"It's okay, really. Kirishima, you can go home now, you know I'm okay."

He then let out a sigh and ran his hand over his shoulder.

"Would... It be okay if I walked you home? Just to know you're really okay!"

You were about to quickly deny him the offer and even felt yourself thinking of some rude away to make him go home, but... looking at his concerned face and knowing you were the reason he stayed back so late...

"... Yeah, sure."

----

Recovery girl, as you learned she was the school nurse, gave you a new pair of clothes. You thanked her over and over for them, knowing the ripped clothes you had would no doubt go to the trash.

As you walked with Kirishima, you were both quiet. It was somewhat awkward and tense, but that was your fault.

You didn't want him to see your home, you didn't want anyone to see your home. You never let anyone go near your home, fearing judgment and pity.

"So..." Kirishima started, trying to fill the silence. "Your quirk is hella cool, how do you do it?"

You thought for a moment.

"Well... I think I would call it force control. See, I can absorbed any kind of force or power. Some more than others, vibrations and impact forces are easier."

"Uh..." He looked at you confused, so you slowed down and explained.

"Meaning I can absorb vibrations from the ground or if I was hit, say, in the face, I could take that impact energy and use it for my own. I can also take in things like air, light, and sound. Other stuff too but, those ones don't work as fast as the one I mentioned before."

"So," He looked off in front of him. "Are you like, collecting energy all the time."

You hum in though, waving your hand in a so-so motion.

"Well, yes and no. If I really focus, I can absorb a lot of energy. If I'm just walking like I am, I'm collecting but just not as much, just enough to keep me going."

He groans and puts his head in his hands, you look at him in confusion.

"What-"

"Your quirk is so cool! Mine's nowhere near that cool, or flashy! I mean, you explode like a star in the sky! All I do is get hard."

You choked on the air you breathed in and screamed, covering your mouth as you laughed. At first, he thought you were laughing at his quirk, then he realized what he said and his face grew almost as red as his hair.

"AH! I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!!!!"

You both end up laughing for a while, him from embarrassment, you from it being just plain funny. After you calmed down you smiled over at him.

"Hey, honestly, your quirk is fuckin' amazing. The ability to harden your skin like a shield, making it a fantastic defense tactic, while also being able to use it offensively. That's nothing to sneeze at, Kirishima."

He shyly chuckled, looking off into the distance.

"Yeah, I guess..."

You soon came to where you planned on taking him.

"Here we are."

It was a one-story house, it was clean, white, and had a for sale sign on it. Kirishima looked at it then to you.

"You're moving?"

You shrug.

"I move around a lot."

"Oh, well, okay."

You smiled gently at him.

"Thank you for taking me home, you're a really nice guy."

He waves his hand dismissively with a smile.

"No way, it's just the right thing to do. Oh, how bout I give you my number, and we can call each other while we wait for our results!"

You felt your blood run cold as you let out a chuckle, shyly scratching your head.

"Actually, I... don't have a phone."

"Oh..."

"Sorry..."

"Eh, it's okay, I know we'll both make it in any way. No worries."

He began to turn down the street you both came from, turning back with a smile and a wave.

"See ya, Uchukyuzo."

"... Hey!"

You called out to him which made him stop and turn back to you, smiling you shrug towards him.

"Just call me Y/n."

He seemed shocked at first, then gave a huge grin and nodded.

"Sure, and you can keep calling me Kirishima or Kiri if ya want! Bye!"

You waved at him one last time, watching his disappear around a corner. As he did so, your smile vanished and you dropped your hands to your sides with a sigh.

Looking at the house you stood in front of, you glared at it, knowing you would have to switch houses soon. Not because you lived there, god no. It was because you didn't live there, you were just using its mailbox.

If you tried to live in that house, people would start to notice and you didn't want to get in trouble like that again. So, with a sigh, you turn away from the house and venture off to your real home.

If you could call it that.

Making your way to a somewhat closed-off area, you looked to see if anyone was watching, then turned down an alleyway. In the alleyway was a large wooden board set up against the wall, talking the side, you drag it to the side enough to see the narrow space between the two buildings it was leaning on.

You shuffled your way in the narrow walkway, turning and pulling the wood board back into place, then turning and going down the narrow way. Once you were at the end, there was another wooden board, which you move as well. You made your way in the small boxed off area, the shoved the wood back in place.

Turning around, you faced your real "home".

A large tipped over dumpster was where you had placed your back shift bed, made from a dirty, old, and ripped table cloth and a bunched up pile of ripped clothing you couldn't wear anymore as a pillow.

In the middle was the small trashcan that you used as a fire pit, just the left of where you slept held all your canned and stolen foods. It also held a first aid kit you had stolen and a few other things you had 'permanently borrowed' from someone.

The whole place was covered by scrap metal you have found and use as a roof for your little 'home', only enough space to let the smoke from the fire out.

Speaking of fire, you walk over and pick up your fire poker, pushing around the embers that were just barely alive. Looking to your right, you didn't have much left in your pile of flammable items so you put the poker down and decided to let the fire die.

Going to your food pile next, you looked through it. Most of the stuff had to be heated up of the fire you so nicely let die, but your stomach growled in anger of missing another meal for the four-time in a row. You didn't eat at all yesterday and you certainly didn't eat breakfast today, to you picked up the can of peaches and went over to your bed.

You didn't have a mattress, you just used some extra clothes you found here and there. You sit down, you head just barely grazing the top of the dumpster that hid your bed, opened the can and began to eat.

And by that, you just poured the contents into your mouth.

You grew to realize you can't be picky about what you ate, if you did, you'd be dead. Staring into the dying fire, you thought back to the red-haired boy you met today.

You wonder: Was he at home now? Did he have a home to go to? He said he had a family so, that's good. He must have a bed. And food. A home... Good...

"... someone as good as him doesn't deserve this fate..."

After finishing the can you put it off to the side, crossing your legs your slouch and rub your hands over your face. Covering your face your eyes start to have a familiar sting, to which you growl at and shake your head.

Crawling out of the dumpster, you pull down the lid, encasing you in darkness as you curl up. Head resting on the pile of clothes, you pull the table cloth up to your chin and close your eyes.

You couldn't help but imagine how the nurse's bed was so much better than ... this. You gently raise your hand, letting it glow. You released a burst of energy that stuck to the ceiling of the bin and floated all around it.

If you really imagined it, it was like you were floating in space, far away from earth and just... floating.

You willed yourself to close your eyes and hoped that you'd get at least a little sleep before you found out the horrors of tomorrow.