#nearly harder than midori’s

[tinylittlelilac]

Very fun birthday present for my sister!! We are amagi bro fans together :]] WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[slashcrz]

☼☾ ( ni han jin , 31 , he / him , cis man , qing 3 ) - have you seen QING TIAN FENG?  we’ve heard through the grapevine that they’re DETIRIMINED but also WORN OUT. when you think of them , you think of FEET THAT NEVER KNOW WHEN TO STOP RUNNING, THE SOUND OF SETTLING IN THE DISTANCE, COLD WATER SPLASHED ON TIRED EYES.

name; Upper Three Banner General Prince Qing Tian Feng of the Ming Dynatsy

nicknames; none

birth date; january 11th, 1768, a capricorn

orientation; bisexual & biromantic

relationship; single but off && on with midori, princess of japan, on the lookout for rebound flings

politics; served as a general for the qing army under his late father, the former emperor's, bloodthirsty missions. currently has changed his views to prioritize peace - is neutral personally to the bourbon restoration, but would be in support of it forced to directly choose a side. he is more concerned with the state of his own country && continent than versailles problems, and is using this as an opportunity to try && quell wars.

religion; taoism { recently }

languages; bejing & nanjing mandarin, english, conversational japanese & korean, some french

headcanons && backstory.

TW: violence, war, ptsd mention, implications of abuse && torture

as a child, you wanted nothing more than to be the sparkle in your father's eye - your mother's first child, not one of a concubine, and a supposed jewel to the emperor... but you did not feel that closeness that was spoken of so highly, you did not feel the impressive achieve that you were spoken to be. dressed up && paraded about, you would parrot the words of your father, a bloodthirsty emperor, and the court would coo. you knew how to soothe a room, and you knew what people wanted to hear. eventually, you repeated your father, the emperor, so often... you began to believe it yourself. living a lie sold to you in the guise of china's greatness. what you would later conquer, you were told was already a blessing to your home - you would only take what rightfully belonged to them. but it was wrong, and though tian feng had joined the military at only age 19, he was quickly a decorated general leading a legion of the best men. finally you had earned the approval you dreamed of from your father - you were finally what he aspired for you to be, swinging your sword && storming onwards. an extension of his reign, a tool within his grasp, another of his greedy arms. but he died, and so did your career as a general. you turned back && returned home, a place you'd hardly visited since first leaving. the occasional banquet in your honor, a display of song && poem about your bravery in battle, but it all left a bad taste in your mouth. you retired young, just shy of 30. the dreams haunt you still. you cannot concentrate as you once could && you rarely sleep, which doesn't help things. returning home was strange && still is. you were a soldier, just a man, for so long... with your men, you were no prince. you struggle now with that balance; and within it all, you wonder if you lost yourself on the front lines. there was many times you nearly died to your injuries; once, you were captured by the enemy, held for nearly two weeks. it is not something you speak of to anyone. none of it is. a lifetime spent hoping to impress your father && gain his praise has done nothing for you except breed loneliness && hate, and no ability to handle them. you source your passion into something worthwhile; a woman, a newfound princess, an enemy you wish to make something so much more. you see in her a future for china, but also... for yourself, if she would allow it. you hope she is the change you need; that she will help you usher in a new era. it is the only way you know how to cope now. but home is harder to come by, and as you begin to realize that the world of politics is no longer large enough to accommodate you, more sacrifices for the sake of duty must be made. you say your goodbye to yet another hope, yet another future, and return to the abyss, unsure && frightfully alone.

[theshotsheardacrossworlds]

Day 26: Break a Leg

Pip Varlineau’s first ever on-stage performance is tonight, which means only one thing---his parents are in Kugane to see him. SFW.

“Pip, your father is here.” Master Hiroshi, the elderly hyur stage manager of the Kugane Theater Company, said to Pip, who was applying his makeup. “He seems…very nervous.”

Oh boy. If Bapa is nervous, then it’s serious. Pip glanced at Master Hiroshi and nodded. “I’ll be right there. Just one second…” After finishing putting on his blush, he scrambled out of his makeshift makeup corner and ran to the stage door.

Ah, there he is.

Estinien Varlineau, leaning heavily on his cane, stood facing away from the door and into a brick wall. Ooookay.

“Bapa!”

His father turned and smiled. Oooooooooooooh he’s very nervous. “Hey son. Hope I didn’t interrupt.”

“No, not at all. As soon as Master Hiroshi said you were out here, I had to come out and see you, Bapa.” Be brave for him. Give him the biggest smile. Pip flashed one his “million gil smiles” as his mother called it, and Estinien pat his head.

“Good lad. I suppose…what I wanted to say…go—”

NO! Pip nearly jumped out of his skin. “Bapa, it’s bad luck to say ‘good luck’ on opening night of a show! You say ‘break a leg.’”

Estinien scrunched his face in deep thought. “Bad luck? Break a leg? I don’t want you to break a bloody leg, Pip.”

Are you for real right now?!?! Pip shook his head and tried very hard not to roll his eyes. “Yes, Bapa. It’s theater tradition. You say ‘break a leg’ and that’s another way of saying ‘good luck.’”

“Hmmm, well…” he pulled Pip into a hug while still holding his cane. “Break a leg, son. You’ll do great. Mummy and I will be right in the front. Not center on the end, so I can stretch my leg.” Estinien placed a kiss onto Pip’s forehead and turned to leave but stopped to look back at him. “We’re so proud of you, Philipine. My boy’s a star!”

“Bapa, I have four spoken lines and a song! That’s it! I’m barely on stage in this show!” Pip laughed.

“Pip, you could have zero lines and no song, and we’d still say you’re the star of the show! Break a leg!” Estinien chuckled, waving, and disappeared out of sight when he turned the corner towards the front entrance of the theater.

A few bells later, when the cast were taking their bows, Pip Varlineau (which is my professional name---it sounds a bit cheeky) saw his parents crying and cheering loudest for him when his name was called. And Pip couldn’t help but cry too. My parents are…the best. No matter what they’ve supported me and my siblings. That Bapa and Mummy insisted on coming means so much, even when I told them they didn’t have to.

“What a lovely show, Pip! You sang so well!” Agnes exclaimed as she hugged her fourth child when he emerged from the stage door. “And your lute playing’s improved too!”

“Thanks Mummy. Mistress Midori gave me a choice of songs, and I chose the one that challenged me on lute.” Mummy hugs are the best. Gods, I miss her…especially her cooking.

“You certainly broke a leg, my boy!” Bapa, if you slap me any harder on the back I’m going to fall over!!! “Now, let’s go for a celebratory drink or two—”

“Or some squid?” Pip suggested, his chocolate brown eyes lighting up. Agnes groaned, while her husband and son laughed. Poor Mummy’s outnumbered. All nine of us love squid as much as Bapa!

“Squid, drinks, and anything Mummy wants!” Estinien tapped his cane on the cobblestones. “What say you, my sweet?”

Agnes wrinkled her nose and giggled the same way all nine of us do. “I say that’s a marvelous idea, my grumpy dragon…and Pip,” she hugged him again. “We are so very proud of you. My little love is a star of the stage…”

“Mummy!” I am not a star of the stage! Not yet! But I will be! And I know that when I get my first starring role, you’ll both be there right in the front. And somehow Bapa will cry more than Mummy.

[agentark88]

Think: Alternate Future: Todoroki: Next Gen

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

“Think: Alternate Future” side stories do not dictate the outcome of Think. Things that happen in these side stories do not affect the current Think story/chapters. Think of these short stories as a fun collection of possible outcomes that may or may not happen in an alternate universe, while still pertaining to characters in the main fan fiction, Think.

Warnings: This work contains mild language and violence.

Kioshi frowned at his older twin brother, Koshiro. He rolled his eyes as his brother leaned closer over Midori Midoriya. The small girl, flustered and rambling, continued to back away until her back hit the wall. Kioshi never understood why Koshiro loved teasing her. Her father was the number one hero, Deku, and Kioshi never felt like it was wise that either of them bothered her. Despite their father being friends with Deku, it didn’t make it any better to mess with his daughter. Shoto Todoroki had raised both of them better than that. Their mother, Anna Todoroki, had raised them better too.

Suddenly, Midori pleadingly glanced at Kioshi. Something snapped in him. He reached his hand out, grabbing his brother, and tugged him back away from her.

“That’s enough, Koshiro. You’re scaring her,” Kioshi said flatly.

Koshiro turned back, furrowing his brows. “Scaring her? I’m not scaring her. I’m just flirting with the cutest girl in our class. Am I scaring you, Midori?” Koshiro turned his sultry gaze back to his classmate.

Midori blushed harder. Her freckled cheeks could have matched the exact color of a tomato. “N-no, I mean, yes, but also no. You’re being a l-little too forward. I n-need some space to breathe.” She ran her fingers through her green curls, a similar gesture that Kioshi connected to his mother when she got nervous. She then pressed her index fingers together, glancing once again at Kioshi.

Kioshi wanted to smile at her, wanted to reassure her somehow, but he was never the social type. He was awkward at best, inheriting that much from his father aside from his ice quirk. He lifted the corner of his lip. He knew it was small, probably settled in the appearance of stolidity to the unobservant eye, but he tried all the same. Midori returned the smile, surprising Kioshi.

Koshiro sighed dramatically, slinging an arm around his twin. The two of them did mostly everything together; however, Kioshi was much quieter than his brother. Kioshi rarely spoke, unless it was necessary. Koshiro liked being the center of attention anyway, and he would say it was the perfect personality for an upcoming hero if anyone asked him directly. Koshiro always encouraged his brother in social situations, but it just wasn’t something Kioshi had much interest in, until recently. Once they’d been accepted into U.A., Kioshi had nearly gone silent. Growing up with and having Midori in his class had gotten Kioshi to come further out of his shell. He enjoyed her company, and she picked up on his subtle expressions a lot easier than his other classmates. Unfortunately for him, Koshiro had a crush on her and hit on her every chance that he got. Kioshi felt conflicted about his twin’s advances due to the fact he liked his brother speaking for him, but he also felt close enough to Midori to be disturbed when she appeared bothered.

There was always too much attention on the twins. For one, it was because of their Pro Hero father and mother, Shoto and Anna Todoroki, who’d climbed the charts rather quickly as a Pro Hero duo. For two, their quirks were exceptional, and as mirrored identical twins, they got a lot more attention. Koshiro seemed convinced all the attention came from their looks, but Kioshi argued that the other students were as attractive if not more attractive than them. Koshiro waved off his ideas as something that their father would say.

“Midori.” Koshiro pouted, tightening his hold on Kioshi. “Why won’t you let me take you out on a date? We’ve known each other since we were little. I don’t know why you always push me away.”

“I-I don’t…” Midori trailed off. She got tongue-tied rather easily, and it didn’t help that Koshiro’s smooth talking could trip up the most confident of students. She blushed hard again, highlighting her haphazard freckles.

“Poor quirkless Midori,” a familiar voice scoffed down the hallway. “Do you always need to be the center of attention? I’m getting bored of speaking for you. Can’t you take a hint, Twin Freaks? She doesn’t have any interest in being any more than friends with you.”

Kioshi’s expression darkened, and his brother frowned.

“Hirocchan, y-you can’t say things like that,” Midori said, shrinking away from him.

Kioshi took a tentative step in front of her. Hiroto Bakugo raised an eyebrow, looking Kioshi up and down with a smug grin. Hiroto ran a hand through his soft brown hair. His crimson gaze was always somehow gentle and intense, as if neither was the true the meaning behind his expression.

“You’re the quiet one, aren’t you?” Hiroto asked. “The overrated icemaker, right?” His grin widened when Kioshi didn’t respond. “I can tell because the white side of your hair is on the left. But, to tell you the truth, your personalities are like night and day anyway, so it’s not that hard to figure out.”

“Want to say that again, Hiroto?” Koshiro snapped. He marched forward, ready to get into a fight.

Kioshi put his arm out to stop his brother. The twins had always butted heads with Hiroto Bakugo, but it was due to their mutual interest in Midori. Kioshi disliked Hiroto for how he treated her. Koshiro didn’t like Hiroto because he had openly announced his feelings for Midori. None of the boys had actually gone any farther than friendships with her. She had always been more focused on working toward becoming a hero. All four of them grew up in close proximity with each other due to their parents, so it didn’t make their relationship any less strained due to a conflict of interest.

“Let’s not fight, okay?” Midori asked in a small voice. She was trembling.

“Would you like me to dispose of them, Midori? I will do it with quiet efficiency,” Akira Bushida interjected. Midori had become fast friends with her since beginning her time at U.A.. She was Kioshi approved, as she was quiet and had his childhood friend’s best intentions at heart. She did make a lot of other classmates uncomfortable, however, mainly because of her quirk.

Bushida turned her stolid expression toward the boys. Her blue eyes stared at them as if they were two unperturbed pools of water. Unprompted tears had already streaked down her face, but no sadness was evident in her expression. She’d clearly been ready to use her quirk to create a tear-made sword to end them on the spot. If she wasn’t training to become a hero, or if Midori so wished it, Kioshi thought she wouldn’t hesitate to end them. Bushida tilted her head, her asymmetrical black hair moving with her as she narrowed her eyes at Hiroto in particular.

“I know I did not hear the word ‘fight’ in this hallway,” someone interjected.

Kioshi turned, spotting Kenta Iida, gliding down the hallway with motorized shoes that he most likely had created with his mechanic quirk. The school-issued dress shoes looked strange with the urban technology attached. Kenta’s black eyes narrowed at the group.

“Our apologies, class president. We had no intention of causing a ruckus,” Hiroto said with false sincerity.

Kenta slowed to a halt, chopping his hands fervently at Hiroto Bakugo. It was a true defiance of physics that Kenta’s combed-back-dark-blue hair did not have a single strand move out of place while he was doing one of his lectures. “Unfortunately, I know better than to put my full trust in your statements, Bakugo.” Kenta shifted in Midori’s direction. “Midoriya, is there any misconduct to report?”

“N-nothing to report, Iida. W-we were all just talking.” Midori was a horrid liar, but Kenta took her words without question, despite her stutter. In a sense, all they were doing was talking, but if she wanted to, Midori could have gotten the boys in trouble for practically harassing her.

“Girl, are you still hanging around here?!” a voice boomed from down the hallway. “I thought you were going to show me your sick notes, Midori!”

“Kotone Kaminari, please use your inside voice,” Kenta reprimanded.

Kotone put a hand up to the side of her face, unsuccessfully whispering in Midori’s direction. “You could have warned me that Captain Tight Pants was around.”

“Pardon me?” Kenta asked in astonishment.

“Captain Tight Pants!” Kotone yelled directly at him, her voice reverberating off of the walls.

Kioshi shrunk back, never one to appreciate Kaminari’s loudness and overly vibrant personality. Kaminari didn’t care much for rules and went out of her way to break them. She quickly latched onto Midori. Kioshi only understood their relationship as a form of opposites attracting to one another. They weren’t exactly friends. They were friendly with each other, but Kioshi understood it as more of a one-sided fascination. Kotone enjoyed flustering Midori, probably as much as Hiroto did, which ultimately was probably why Kotone and Hiroto hung out far more than her and Midori.

Kotone’s blond bob with a purple bolt rose with invisible static electricity as she went to yell another sentence at the class president. Thankfully, Midori stepped in, shaking her arms frantically at her.

“Ah, Kaminari, I’d forgotten we were supposed to meet up. No need to yell. I’m standing right in front of you,” Midori said, smiling awkwardly.

Kotone’s black eyes brightened with excitement. She hugged Midori’s arm, dragging her away from her inpatient group of suiters. Bushida followed them. Hiroto gave Koshiro a sly smile, as if to rile him up again. Kioshi quickly gripped his brother’s arm, so he wouldn’t lash out.

           “See you around, Twin Freaks. But, I hope I won’t. I’ve got much cooler people to hang out with.” Hiroto lifted his hand as a farewell.

Koshiro’s muscles tensed under Kioshi’s restraining hand. “That bastard always gets under my damn skin,” Koshiro muttered under his breath.

“He only does it because it gets a reaction out of you,” Kioshi said.

“He does it to be an ass,” Koshiro said.

Kenta cleared his throat. “Language,” he warned.

Koshiro sighed, tilting his head back in frustration. Kioshi noticed the slightest distortion in the space beside him, almost a slight reflection of light, and he narrowed his eyes.

“Have you been there long, Ojiro?” Kioshi asked.

Kenta and Koshiro turned in confusion, looking several places except where Yoshi Ojiro was actually standing.

“Man, Kioshi. You’re really good at spotting me. I told you that you could call me Yoshi though. I couldn’t help myself from eavesdropping on the gossip,” Ojiro said, invisible to the normal eye.

Kenta’s jaw dropped, as he chopped his hands in the supposed direction of his classmate. “Yoshi Ojiro, please do not tell me that you are currently going against the dress code and prancing around in the nude.”

“Okay, I won’t tell you that then,” Yoshi said. He kicked open a nearby locker, obtaining his school uniform. “I’m actually glad you spotted me, Kioshi. I was hoping to talk to you.”

Kioshi raised his eyebrow. Koshiro tightened a protective arm around his brother. Yoshi swiftly put on his full uniform, adjusting his watch and belt.

“Alone,” Yoshi added with a dramatic sigh. “Koshiro, you and I both know I wouldn’t stand a chance against your brother if I had ill-intent.”

Koshiro pouted. “We do everything together. You know that.”

“Not this time. This is a private matter, or one that would benefit Kioshi more on his own than with his loud brother talking over me every second.”

“Rude,” Koshiro said, glancing at Kioshi. “Are you cool with this?”

Kioshi shrugged his shoulders. “It’s fine.” He pulled away from his clingy brother, following Yoshi for some time.

Yoshi Ojiro had become Kioshi’s friend. He wasn’t sure about when it happened, but the two of them were drawn to each other. They’d gone to middle school together. As Yoshi couldn’t be seen, it felt right that his friend wasn’t really heard. Plus, it allowed Yoshi to get close to Kioshi without Koshiro noticing. For the most part, Koshiro kept Kioshi so close that no one had the chance to even talk to him. Despite his invisibility, Yoshi was a charismatic sort. Nothing really bothered him, and it was what probably got him so far into the hero’s course. People told him his quirk was lame, and he laughed it off as if it was nothing. He was a skilled martial artist on top of being able to completely disappear, so even if others didn’t see his potential, Kioshi did.

They finally stopped beneath a nearby tree. Kioshi stood silently next to Yoshi, who waited a moment to feel the breeze blow through them. At times, they could stand outside quietly for hours. True friends never had to discuss much. But, Kioshi quickly became aware that silence was not what Yoshi intended to settle between them.

“Midori likes you,” Yoshi said bluntly.

“I would hope so. We grew up together,” Kioshi said.

“No, dude. She like-likes you.”

Kioshi blinked in confusion. “No, she does not,” he said.

“Are you truly that dense? She’s in love with you. It’s obvious to everyone except you.”

“If it’s so obvious, Koshiro and Hiroto would not fight for her affections in the way that they do.”

Yoshi crossed his arms over his chest. “Mao Sero told me that the girls had a sleepover, and Midori confessed that she liked you, not that hot-headed Hiroto or your brother.”

“Isn’t that information private?” Kioshi asked.

“It’s only ever private if you never say it aloud.” Yoshi waved off the question. “The two of you need all the help you can get. I know you like-like her too, even if you don’t understand what that feels like.”

“So, what do you suppose I do with that information? Koshiro is interested in her. I don’t want to upset my brother.”

Kioshi had never thought of Midori as more than a friend, but if Yoshi saw it in him, then it could have been possible he hadn’t realized it. Kioshi’s father had explained how difficult it was for him to understand his feelings toward Kioshi’s mother. At first he had thought he’d gotten sick, then he realized that he was only being affected around her. It was around that time that Shoto Todoroki understood that he was catching feelings rather than a cold for Anna Kokoro. Kioshi hadn’t felt sick around Midori Midoriya. Sure, at times he felt like he couldn’t breathe, like when she tripped or appeared to be hurt. He’d also noticed that he was more inclined to react when it came to her verbal or physical safety. He didn’t really want to speak on anyone else’s behalf before. When she smiled, he felt warm, but he chalked that up to a coincidence with the weather.

“Lucky for you, the girls and I have already come up with a plan to get you two together.”

“What about Koshiro?” Kioshi asked.

Yoshi groaned in irritation. “Forget about your brother for once. Think about your own happiness. You didn’t actually think he’d be able to woo her, did you?”

“Koshiro can be over the top at times, but I still care about his feelings.”

“What about me?” Koshiro asked, jogging up.

“I told you that this was a private conversation,” Yoshi said.

“Strange that a private conversation wouldn’t involve me, when I hear my name being thrown around.” Koshiro shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking from side to side.

“Yoshi told me that Midori like-likes me, and he also thinks that I may like-like Midori,” Kioshi stated dryly.

Koshiro’s eyes widened. “You don’t know if you do?” he asked.

Kioshi turned his gaze down in thought. “I don’t think I’ve ever considered the possibility. Besides, I understand that you have been trying to go on a date with Midori for quite some time. I would never attempt to get in your way or start a rivalry between us.”

“Forget about me! My little brother has a crush? Dude, I was starting to believe that you weren’t interested in chicks at all. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I’d love you either way, but I just couldn’t get a read on you.” Koshiro chuckled. “I could never get with Midori. I mean I want to, but she has no interest in me.”

“See, Kioshi. Your brother is all for it,” Yoshi cut in.

“How do I know if I’m interested in her like she’s interested in me?” Kioshi asked.

Yoshi and Koshiro exchanged a look, almost as if Yoshi could actually convey an expression to Kioshi’s brother. Aside from Midori, the two of them should be able to help Kioshi figure it out. If not, the entire endeavor was hopeless.

“No worries, Kioshi. Your older brother can help you figure that out.” As always, confidence radiated off of Koshiro. Even if he didn’t believe he could help, he was going to do his best to do so. “First things first, what do you feel in your chest when you’re around Midori?”

“My chest?” Kioshi asked quizzically. “I suppose it rumbles at times. Often when I’m around Midori, she asks if I want cold soba.”

Koshiro slammed his palm to his head. “No, man. I mean like your heart? Your chest? Like does your chest tighten when she does something cute, or do you feel your heart racing?”

“A heart does not have legs,” Kioshi said.

“Does your heartbeat speed up when you’re around her, dude?” Yoshi elaborated.

“I don’t believe so. I would have thought I was having medical issues and would have gone to the nurse’s office if that were the case,” Kioshi explained.

“Okay.” Koshiro said, scratching his head. “Do you miss seeing her when she’s gone?”

“Yes. I am always worried that she will be clumsy and fall when I am not around.”

“I suppose that’s a start,” Yoshi said nervously.

“Do you ever feel inclined to hug or kiss her?” Koshiro added.

Kioshi felt his face heating up. Kiss Midori? He wondered how that would feel. Her lips were often trembling, but from the moments when he’d caught her from a dramatic fall, her skin was particularly soft. Kioshi had been stunned into silence. He’d never thought of her in such a romantic way, but now that he was…

“Is his face turning red?” Koshiro asked.

“Ah hah, I believe that we’ve struck gold. My friend is all grown up.” Yoshi wiped an invisible tear away with an invisible hand. “It’s time to get these two together.”

“I’m in,” Koshiro said.

“I don’t believe that this should be necessary. I am perfectly content being friends with Midori,” Kioshi said. Secretly, he was now dreading the idea of asking Midori out on a date. What if she rejected him? What if she no longer wanted to be friends? Yoshi and Koshiro were okay to talk to, but without Midori being friends with him, Kioshi would feel like a piece of himself was missing.

“Dude, she like-likes you. You have the perfect in. No friend of mine is going to get friend-zoned.” Yoshi threw his arm around Kioshi’s shoulders, quickly calling someone on his cellphone. “More people are in on this than you think.” The phone rang a few times before someone picked up on the other end. “Plan Kiodori is a go. Mao, let me know where we need to meet you.”

Koshiro rubbed Kioshi’s shoulders as if he was preparing him to step into a boxing ring. “You’re going to do great, Kioshi. You’re just as attractive as me, so what could go wrong?”

“She could ask to never see me again,” Kioshi said.

Koshiro clapped a hand on his brother’s back. “Stay positive. It won’t go that badly.”

“They’re hanging out in front of the dorms. Mao said that she’ll distract everyone so you have time alone to talk.” Yoshi gripped Kioshi’s wrist, dragging him along. “There’s only so long that Mao can actually keep Hiroto occupied, so we will have to act quickly.”

“Hiroto? Why would she be distracting Hiroto?” Kioshi asked.

“Dude is going to be pissed if he catches wind of you making a move on Midori. As far as he’s concerned, he’s laid claim to being her boyfriend whenever she accepts him.” Yoshi clicked his tongue as if annoyed. “If you ask me, he and Midori are complete opposites. They should never be together.”

“I’m not trying to start anything with Bakugo.” Kioshi scratched the back of his head nervously, stumbling after his fast-paced friend.

“He’s the one always starting stuff with us. He deserves to be pissed off for a reason for once,” Koshiro said, following closely behind.

“I’m not sure this is the best idea.”

“Stop worrying,” Koshiro said.

The three boys had made it to the front of the dorms in record time. Midori stood in front of the building, gaze turned down at her shoes. Her skirt ruffled in the wind, and she fretfully held it down. She appeared to be alone as Yoshi had indicated. It didn’t take her long to notice the group heading toward her. She looked directly at Kioshi, blushing. She glanced at Koshiro, nervousness filling her expression.

“Please don’t hit on me again,” Midori pleaded to Kioshi’s brother.

Koshiro shook his head. “It won’t happen again. I promise.” Koshiro crossed his heart by dragging his finger over his chest. “Actually, Kioshi was the one that wanted to talk to you, alone.” Koshiro wiggled his eyebrows.

Midori turned her attention back on Kioshi. “Oh, really? W-what can I help you with Kioshi?”

There she was again, blushing deeper. Because of her freckled cheeks, her face reminded Kioshi of sweet strawberries. His gaze flitted down to her lips, and he imagined kissing her again. He closed his mouth, pressing his lips into a firm line out of embarrassment. He lost his words often enough, but it rarely happened in front of Midori.

Kioshi had been so preoccupied with noticing everything about Midori that he hadn’t realized his loyal crew had abandoned him. He should have known that they would not be there for the confession. It would have been awkward for Midori to be ambushed by all three of them. Still, Koshiro never had a problem making advances on her while Kioshi had been around. He almost felt it to be hypocritical that he was on his own for this, especially since the two of them had been the ones to suggest he start going out with her.

“Are you okay, Kioshi? You look kind of nervous,” Midori said. She leaned forward, trying to get a better look at his expression.

Kioshi hid his face under his tri-colored hair by tilting his face forward. Of course he looked nervous. He hated every minute of this. He didn’t expect he had a crush on anyone that morning, and all of this was suddenly dropped on him.

“Weren’t you and Kotone hanging out?” Kioshi blurted. He wanted to say anything to get out of this situation.

“Ah, Mao showed up and stole her away. Something about seeing Hiroto about a textbook he borrowed from her. You know how those two can get together. I’m sure they didn’t mean to ditch me out here for too long. Mao said she’d be right back.” Midori fluttered her eyelashes. Another breeze came through, making her shiver. “It sure is cold out today, isn’t it?” She flattened down the front of her skirt once again.

On instinct, Kioshi removed his jacket. Before he realized what he was doing, he’d slung it around her shoulders. Midori turned her gaze up to him, face turning red again.

“Thank y-you, Kioshi.” She froze, her gaze flitting about his expression. “Y-you’re standing pretty close though, don’t you think?”

“My apologies.” Kioshi took a step back, looking away.

“No worries.” Midori laughed it off, gripping the coat around her shoulders tighter. She looked around in concern. “Looks like I wasn’t the only one that was left behind, huh?”

“Yeah,” Kioshi said.

Silence. The two of them stood there quietly, and the only sound filling the space was the whistling of the wind.

“Have I done something to offend you?” Midori asked.

“No,” Kioshi stated quickly, eyes widening. “You would never.”

Midori sighed in relief. “Oh, good. I was sort of worried that I may have said something to make things awkward between us. You’ve been quieter than usual lately. Also, right now, I can tell you’re tense. Nothing really frazzles you. If there’s something you need to tell me, you can. It won’t hurt my feelings. I promise.”

Midori was always that perceptive about him. Truthfully, he had been quieter lately. Koshiro had become more outlandish with his attempts to win Midori over, and it bothered him. Kioshi had only been stepping in when it got out of hand, but it wore on him all the same. Kioshi’s hands felt clammy. He could feel his quirk tingling his fingertips. It had been a long time since it reacted to his emotions like this. Maybe the last time had been when he was seven. Was this how someone felt around someone they cared for? He would do anything to make the queasiness go away in his stomach.

“Kioshi?” Midori asked.

“Do you like me?” Kioshi bluntly asked.

Midori paused, her eyes losing focus. “W-what?” she asked.

“Because, if you like me, I may also have more advanced feelings for you,” Kioshi said. “To be honest, I haven’t quite determined what they are, but I’d like to find out.”

Midori looked ready to disappear. She covered her face with her hands. “D-do you know what you’re asking, Kioshi?”

“Oh, I apologize if I was unclear. I believe Yoshi referred to it as like-liking someone. I believe that I may like-like you.”

“No. I mean, yes? I mean, I don’t think you could like-like me. You barely notice me. I think you’ve got something confused. It’s okay. I’m fine with just being friends and all. This isn’t a prank, right? You’re not actually Koshiro pretending to be Kioshi? Uh, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like Kioshi would want to go out with me. I’m so awkward, and he’s cool, you know? Don’t tell him that I said that. Wait, are you Kioshi? Oh, no. I’m rambling. I should really stop. This is so embarrassing…” Midori continued to speak, getting more and more mortified as time went on.

Kioshi waited patiently for her to slow down. He understood that it was hard for her to stop talking when she felt uncomfortable. She wasn’t loud, so it made it easier to listen to her. Still, Kioshi was a bit confused by her words.

Midori took a breath, closing her trembling lips. Her eyes suddenly looked wet with tears, and fear struck Kioshi’s heart. His chest tightened, as Koshiro had once described to him as being a sign of love. Kioshi’s hand had moved to Midori’s cheek, his thumb brushed the tear that fell from her beautiful green eyes.

“Please don’t cry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” Kioshi said softly.

“Promise that you aren’t tricking me. This isn’t a joke, right?”

Kioshi shook his head. “Of course not. I care about you, Midori. I wouldn’t do something so cruel to you.”

Midori swallowed a breath of air. She fidgeted aimlessly with her hands. “So, you really like me?”

“I think that I really do. Will you be my girlfriend, Midori?” Kioshi had caught himself off guard by being so forward, but the hopeful look in Midori’s eyes made him feel like it was the right thing to do.

When a smile crossed Midori’s lips, Kioshi felt relieved.

“What the hell did Ice Tray just say?!” Hiroto Bakugo bellowed from the nearby stairs.

Mao Sero and Kotone Kaminari were trying unsuccessfully to hold him back. Small explosions popped off in his hands. Koshiro and Yoshi sprang out from where they’d hidden during the exchange between Kioshi and Midori. The three groups were on route to converge, and it didn’t appear as if things could be settled amicably.

Kioshi took a protective step in front of Midori. Hiroto smirked, throwing off Mao and Kotone. He narrowed his crimson gaze at Kioshi, running his fingers through his silken brown hair.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted a reason to kick your ass, Ice Machine,” Hiroto growled. “What makes you think that you can make a move on my girl?”

“Hirocchan, stop. W-why are you being so mean? You and I were never dating,” Midori said, trembling behind Kioshi.

Kioshi noticed his brother getting dangerously close to the explosive teen. He knew that Koshiro wouldn’t hesitate to throw the first punch to protect Kioshi. This wasn’t his fight though, and Kioshi wouldn’t let his brother get in trouble for something he ultimately decided to do.

“No, Koshiro. I can handle this myself,” Kioshi said, loud enough that it startled everyone around him.

Koshiro froze, gawking at his twin brother. Hiroto’s eyes flared open in excitement.

“You’re going to regret saying that, you quiet freak,” Hiroto said.

“I won’t let you make Midori uncomfortable anymore. She doesn’t deserve you bullying her when you feel threatened that someone’s going to take her away from you. She gets to choose who she like-likes. Clearly, that person is not you,” Kioshi eloquently stated.

Rage filled Hiroto’s expression. “Who the hell do you think you are?!” Hiroto yelled. More violent explosion erupted from his palms.

“Hirocchan, we can settle this without violence. Let’s all stop—”

“Shut it, Midori!” Hiroto burst out. He launched in Kioshi’s direction in the next instant.

Kioshi saw red. He instantly formed a large ice shield with his quirk, deflecting Hiroto’s explosions, which shook the earth. Another explosion cracked Kioshi’s ice. Kioshi promptly slammed his foot onto the ground, and a new sheet of frozen water formed below Hiroto’s feet. Hiroto slipped, growling in frustration at fumbling.

“You’re dead, Ice Tray!” Without fully regaining his balance, Hiroto sent another explosion in Kioshi’s direction, but it was sent off course. The blast headed straight for quirkless Midori.

Kioshi turned, sending a wall of ice curving in front of her for protection. Thankfully, his brother, Koshiro had reacted faster, catching the blast in frozen time. The volatile explosion hung in the air suspended where it was until Koshiro released his quirk.

Yoshi guided Midori away from the frozen explosion so she was safe. She was shaking so badly, it was hard for her to follow him. Kioshi clenched his teeth, turning back in the direction of Hiroto, only to see a fist headed straight for his face. Kioshi lifted his hand, catching the punch before it made contact. He winced at the impact, but it wasn’t long before ice crackled over Hiroto’s bare fist.

“That’s enough. You almost hurt Midori. I can’t forgive you for that,” Kioshi said.

“Eat shit, Twin Freak,” Hiroto hissed. With his right fist incapacitated by a frozen ice cube, Hiroto brought his left palm forward. It sparked and popped to life.

Kioshi readied himself to form another shield, but the blast never came. Instead, Kioshi was bombarded by a face full of pink flower petals, signifying that their homeroom teacher had arrived to break up the fight. Her bloom quirk was rather useful for a classroom full of violent quirks, as she could nullify any powers with vegetation of her choosing. There were rumors that Ichika Akano was related to the legendary Mr. Aizawa of U.A. because of her quirk, but it was found out to be just a myth. Still, she was scary for a delicate looking woman. Mrs. Akano looked absolutely furious. Her pastel green hair appeared frazzled, despite her flower crown, and her narrowed pink eyes spoke volumes. Kenta Iida leaned out from behind her, shaking his head in disappointment. He must have heard the ruckus and rushed to get a teacher.

“Both of you to the principal’s office, now!” Mrs. Akano commanded.

There was little to argue when their homeroom teacher had caught them literally fighting on campus. Both boys stopped, not that they could go on quarreling with their quirks with their sensei around.

Despite getting in trouble, Kioshi didn’t feel the least bit guilty about defending himself. It wasn’t until he stepped into the principal’s office that he realized that he never received an answer from Midori Midoriya about being his girlfriend. For the first time ever, Kioshi felt as if butterflies were flitting around in his stomach. He’d have to ask Midori what that new sensation was, along with her answer to his very important question.

[jhoudiey]

Did something cute for Floyd's first father's day with Mido! 🥺🥺🥺 Chaos fam owns my whole frickin life. No warnings 1700 words

Floyds hands searched the cold sheets where he’d normally find his wife and daughter sleeping and let out a groan. It was father’s day and they’d left without even waking him up to say good morning. He rolled in bed pouting hoping they would come back, but after half an hour decided to go look for them himself. He didn’t want to spend the day alone, that wouldn’t be any fun at all. He picked a tshirt off the floor and smelled it, he’d only worn it a few times so it was perfectly fine to wear again, the stains on the front barely visible. 

The door creaked loudly as he opened it, startling one of the castle staff as he cleaned.

“Good morning Leech-san” he nodded, continuing to dust the ornate frames that adorned the walls. 

“Do you know where Yoru and Mido went?” 

The man shook his head with an apology, bowing slightly before moving along down the corridor. A grin crept across Floyd’s face, maybe they’d disappeared to set up a game of hide and seek. He had always liked to chase them. Floyd laughed and took off running down the hall towards the library. Yoru was fond of books, back at NRC he’d found her hidey hole on top of the shelves and crashed her study sessions often. She was probably teaching Mido the best way to hide amongst the stacks. When he arrived it was silent, as a library normally was. He spied the boring bunny girl from Yoru’s old school at one of the tables and ignored her. Mido wasn’t capable of staying quiet this long, they weren’t here. He tore off down the hallway again, the library door closing quietly on it’s hushed frame. 

“Aha!” He shouted, throwing open the door to the aviary, frightened birds flying from their perches indignantly. No Yoru or Mido here either, if they were surely Mido would have cheered at the flight of so many birds at once. He stopped for a moment in the doorway as the birds slowly returned to their places, grinning once more. He knew where they’d be. 

Floyd heard them before he saw them as he crept quietly down the hallway to the kitchen. 

“Hey Mido-chan, do you think your papa will want some of these?” a dry shake of some sort of ingredient rattled in it’s container.

“YAAAAAAA!!!!” a wet slapping sound and a giggle. 

Yoru was facing away from him as he tiptoed into the kitchen behind her, Midori sitting on the counter, the bowl of what he assumed was breakfast in front of her as she slapped her tiny hands into it, laughing when it oozed over her tiny webbed fingers. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, and though he pressed his finger to his lips to ask her to keep his presence a secret she threw her hands in the air and shouted

“PAPA!!!!” before he could get into scaring range. Yoru turned to him with a smile, spatula in hand. She was wearing the tacky ‘kiss the cook’ apron Lilia had gotten her for Christmas and he was happy to oblige. He wrapped his arms around his wife and leaned on her, resting his chin on the top of her head. 

“Ne Yoru, I thought you went somewhere without me” he pouted, watching Midori slap the batter as hard as she could manage before plunging her arms in as deep as they would go. Yoru shook her head

“We wanted to surprise you with breakfast in bed, but these are harder to make than I thought”

Floyd looked at the counter top in front of them. Yoru had a recipe book open, the words “Pyroxene’s Pancake Perfection!” blazing across the top of the page. He scanned the ingredients list… nothing weird here that would be difficult… then looked at the counter. The regular ingredients were present, however Yoru, for whatever reason had decided to add to the recipe, despite never having successfully cooked anything without instruction. She was nearly as bad as Lilia without supervision. 

“...Yoru...did you put the whole egg in?” he asked, noticing the white flakes floating around Midori’s fingers

“Hmmm? Yea. Mido liked the crunch and how the yolk came out so I put a few in there”

“...A few?” He dropped his head beside hers to stare into her face as he teased her. “How many is a few?”

Yoru stuck her tongue out at him and placed another in the bowl in front of Midori, now screeching at the top of her lungs in excitement.

“CRUMSH! CRUMSH! CRUMSH!” Midori shouted as she crushed the egg into runny batter.

“Ahahhaha these are going to be reaaaally~ gross” Floyd chuckled, dipping a finger into the bowl. “Here, try it!” He smeared his hand across Yoru’s face with a laugh as she laughed and struggled to get free of his embrace. 

“Ooops sorry, missed your mouth, lemme try again” Floyd reached his whole hand into the bowl as Midori cheered and tried to feed Yoru a handful of the eggy batter. To his delight, some of it actually made it into her mouth, but she bit his hand so most of it slopped down her apron. 

“Oh hey! We made this for you…” Yoru struggled against Floyd, he gripped her wrists as she struggled to get handfuls of the batter to pay back the favour “You should eat it too!”

“Nah I don’t wanna, I told you they look like they’ll be gross”

“PAPA! YUMMY!” Midori laughed, pancake batter dripping from her mouth as she patted his hands with hers. She tried to stand but was unsteady on her little bird feet, the edge of the bowl wobbling as she tried to use it for balance. 

“Mido-chan~ don’t eat that kay?!” He let go of Yoru’s struggling hands and reached for her as she toppled face first into the bowl. “Hey Mido-chan, you okay?!” He pulled Midori out of the mixture, the smile on her face nearly reaching her ears. 

“WET! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” She reached for Floyd and he hugged her against the side of his face, Midori finally dealing the pancake mixture deathblow Yoru hadn’t been able to manage. She was drenched in it. It dripped off of her all over his face and hair, dripping down passed them both and landing on Yoru. The kitchen staff found the three of them laughing hysterically locked in an embrace, scooping whatever they could from the nearly empty bowl onto each other's heads. 

“Leech-san. Crowley-san. Midori-chan. We need to prepare for lunch now… would you please relocate your…” They looked in horror at the mess they had made of the kitchen “...whatever this is somewhere else. We’ll handle the cleaning, please just leave us to it” 

“WADDEBER! WADDEBER!” Midori shouted, squeezing Floyds cheeks to have him make faces at the staff

“Aha! ...You know.. Waddeber kinda sounds like water…. LET'S GO SWIMMING! COME ON!” He pulled away from Yoru and grabbed her wrist, cradling Midori to his chest as he ran out of the kitchen, dragging Yoru behind them cackling like a madman. He ran them to the lake, only letting go of Yoru’s hand when he ran to the edge of the dock and jumped, Midori still safely wrapped in his arms. Their laughter was cut off when they sunk below the surface of the water. Yoru sighed and carefully climbed down the ladder at the dock, she didn’t want to get her wings too wet otherwise they’d be damp for hours. She was one rung away from the surface when Floyd rose from the depths below her and pulled her in completely. 

“WADDER WADDER!” Midori shouted as she swam in circles around them. She’d been swimming ever since she was born and loved it. Floyd reached his hand out and caught her to wipe the remnants of their breakfast out of her hair. Yoru did the same for Floyd as he looked after their daughter. When Midori was finally pancake-batter-that-was-mostly-egg free, Floyd turned to Yoru and helped her wash the sludge out of her hair. 

“Wow Yoru, you’re really bad at eating, you got it everywhere!” She glared at him but had to suppress her grin as he scrubbed at the stubborn egg. 

“MAMAAAAAAAAAAAA” Midori shouted as she zoomed towards the pair of them, hands full of seaweed. “LOOK BREADFIST!” She placed the tendrils gently into Yoru and Floyds hands as they offered them and dived back into the lake to get more. 

“Oh. I guess we didn’t actually eat did we?” 

“Nope, oh! There’s that restaurant on main street that said they had special waffles today! We should go! I’ll get Mido!” Floyd dived under the water, surfacing seconds later with his laughing daughter on his shoulders. She had somehow dug up a clam and was trying to pry it open on his head. 

“Come on Mido-chan! Let’s go get waffles! Hold on tight!” She cheered and threw the clam back into the water with a splash, tightly wrapping her arms around his forehead to secure herself. He waited for Yoru to climb up the ladder before following behind to begin the walk to the village. They arrived at the restaurant shortly after it opened before a line had managed to form. The staff stared wide-eyed at the three of them, laughing and sopping wet, dripping water all over the ornate carpet. 

“Table for three, please” 

***

Later that evening Floyd found himself laying in bed, Midori fast asleep sprawled out across his chest. 

“Hey Yoru?” He hummed quietly as she joined them in bed. 

“Hmmm?” She cuddled against him with her head on his shoulder, her hand draped across his chest to hold onto Midori’s tiny hand. 

“Today was really fun” Yoru looked up at him and smiled 

“It was. I love you, Floyd. Happy Fathers Day” She kissed him softly and settled back into the crook of his arm. He sighed happily and wrapped his hand around her waist, the other hooked around Midori’s other hand. He gazed down at his family affectionately, knowing he held the entire world in his arms. 

[speeding-fox]

Fatherhood (Bakugaiden fic)

Shirobon, the well-reknowned hero and savior of the universe. Even after the defeat of Devil Vader, he continues to fulfill his duties as a BiidaCop and do good across many timelines, even into adulthood. If a big threat ever arises once again, you can bet he, along with his friends and allies, are going to be ready, however, there was one thing that Shiro never prepared for, nor saw coming, though it was no threat,

it was Fatherhood.

He never expected to find a small, sky-blue infant with a little white puff of hair on his doorstep one morning. How long the baby was there, he didn't know, but what he did know was who wrote the note that was found along with the baby boy, despite not being signed by anyone. 'He's your problem now.' the note read. His ex... why would she just leave this baby with him, and "his problem now," what? The little guy does kinda look like him, but there's no way this could be his child, right..?

Wrong. DNA results from Graybon and Ao's DNA testing machine confirmed that the baby is definitely Shiro's son. He freaked out. He has a son. He is a dad. He was in no way prepared as he had no way of anticipating that he was going to be a father. He faints, and once he regained consciousness, he went to his room to process everything, he needed quiet time to think things over.

Hours later, he decided to take care of the little one, it's his child, it's his responsibility. He may have had plans on becoming a pilot, but he was going to postpone that for the sake of his son. Now all the little guy needed was a name.

"What are you going to name him?" Asks Ao.

"Sorabon. He's about as blue as the sky itself. I thought it'd be fitting." Answered Shiro.

Taking care of Sora shouldn't be too difficult, after all, he still has all the baby supplies from when he and Kiiro babysat Midori and Mizuiro's kid for a month a bit over two years back. While he doesn't have Kiiro around, he still has Ao and Gray to help him along when he needed it. It wouldn't be so bad, right?

Oh how wrong he was. Trying to be a lone parent with a newborn was much harder than he imagined. There was so much fussing and crying, the baby was terrified of nearly every little noise, and would begin bawling everytime he got startled, a day hasn't gone by where the infant hasn't cried because of something scaring him. When Shiro babysat Tiirubon, even they weren't this easily startled by noises. He tried his best to calm Sora down when something scared him, but his crying would sometimes last for hours. With the lack of sleep from all the crying, Shiro was getting close to his wits end, and he questioned if he was even a good enough dad to his kid.

Weeks had passed, and Sora still has his bouts of crying whenever he got startled by something. He told Ao and the others that he was considering to give Sora out for adoption. As much as saying that pained him, he wasn't sure how much more he could take the crying, and he didn't think he and his son were bonding at all.

Aka already has her twins to worry about, she doesn't need anymore stress from having a newborn to also care for, Kiiro wasn't keen on caring for a baby after all the shenanigans from having to care for Tiiru, and while Ao and Gray offered to help Shiro look after his kid, Shiro wouldn't feel right to just pawn his son off to them. They all tell him that it's his decision to do whatever he feels is right for his son. He needed time to think about what he needs to do.

Later that night, there was a storm brewing, the rain poured, thunder can be heard rumbling, and lightning can be seen lighting up the stormy sky. The sound of rain must be calming to the infant, because Sora was sound asleep in his crib, which Shiro was thankful for, finally, a sound that doesn't scare Sora. The blissful silence quickly ended when thunder suddenly boomed loudly, scaring the baby awake, the little guy lets out a loud shrill before he began wailing his little heart out. So much for peace and quiet...

Shiro groans as he stands up and steps to Sora's crib. Why did the thunder have to ruin everything? He picks up the infant and holds him close to his chest, the first thing Shiro noticed after picking him up was how much he was trembling. Many noises scared the little guy, but none of them made him tremble this badly.

Shiro's tired expression softened. "That thunder must've really scared you, didn't it?" He whispered to the terrified child. He sat down on the nearby rocking chair, and started rocking it back and forth slowly as he tried to soothe the frightened baby. Eventually, Shiro gets the little one to feel safe enough to stop crying and fall back to sleep, before the dad knew it, he was out like a light himself.

Shiro awoke with the sun's rays hitting his eyes. Morning already? He guessed he must've dozed off after getting the baby to fall asleep, because he was still in that very same rocking chair, speaking of the baby... He glanced down to his chest to see Sora, still sound asleep on his chest. 

In that moment, it hits Shiro like a truck: he can't give him up, he just can't. He held his sleeping child close, and began to cry. He finally felt a bond between him and his son, he's not going to give up on him, not like his mother did.

Years pass, and Sora kept on growing and growing. He may have been a bit slower than most children, but with each milestone he hit (his first words, his first steps, his first birthday), Shiro couldn't be prouder of his son, and he was glad he was there watch his Sora grow-up and getting braver (as well as getting more foolish). He can't say being a father is easy work, far from it, but in the end, it is worth it.

[haloshornsinkstains]

Interrogation (Mitsuhide x MC)

Available on AO3 here: Interrogation

Mitsuhide (Ikemen Sengoku) x MC. PWP, 18+

“You’ll find they won’t break Little Mouse.” Her head whipped up at the sound of his voice, heart racing as she felt cool fingers stroke her cheek. “Now, do you have my answers or do I need to pry them out of you?”

The cool air of the dungeons raised goosebumps on her flesh as Midori waited, twisting her wrists in the binds and testing their strength. They were tight enough to keep her in place, but loose enough to avoid any discomfort. She smiled, ‘the kitsune still has his weaknesses then’, though where he was now was a mystery. It felt as if she’d been here forever and barely a moment all at once, and with the blindfold over her eyes she couldn’t even tell if Mitsuhide was watching her squirm or not. She huffed, tugging at the binds once more.

“You’ll find they won’t break Little Mouse.” Her head whipped up at the sound of his voice, heart racing as she felt cool fingers stroke her cheek. “Now, do you have my answers or do I need to pry them out of you?” His voice was almost as gentle as his hands on her skin, but she could picture the wicked glint of his smile even from behind the cloth over her eyes. Midori shifted slightly, smirking in the direction of his voice. “Oh, you’ll have to try harder than that kitsune.” His laugh was musical, enough to momentarily distract her as he made his move. The smack rang out loud in the silent air, the sting soothed almost immediately as he ran his hand over her behind. Even through the layers of her kimono it was a powerful blow, and she bit her lip to hold back the moan that rose in her throat. “Such a beautiful shade of pink.” Mitsuhide purred, fingers toying with the edge of her kimono. “Shall I see where else I can turn such colours?” This time a quiet moan escaped her, her head tilting back to expose the column of her throat to him. “Perhaps you should try.” She heard the slight hiss of a blade being withdrawn from somewhere, barely stifling the hiss of surprise as the cold metal touched her skin. ‘I can trust him, this is Mitsuhide. And it was my idea.’ “Worried so soon Little Mouse.” “Stop mind reading you ass.” She tried to move away from him with a huff, but the bindings really were good. “Now, now, don’t be like that.” He chuckled, a hand pressing gently against her back to keep her still. “If you squirm I might slip and this blade is very sharp.” He touched it lightly against her skin, pulling just low enough to tug at the edges of her kimono. “Or you could just tell me what I want to hear and this could be over.” Midori took a deep breath, planting her feet and turning her head to where she thought he was. “I told you I wouldn’t make it easy for you, do your worst.” She expected more teasing, instead she felt the knife move downwards, followed by the unmistakable sound of tearing fabric. She winced a little as she felt her obi fall apart, sure no amount of sewing skill would be able to put that back as it was. “So troublesome little one.” The purr in her ear made her jump this time, and the carefully held blade nicked the soft skin of her stomach. She felt him tense behind her for a fraction of a second, until he realised the sound that left her lips wasn’t one of pain. She could practically hear the amused smirk as he traced a long finger down her newly exposed skin. “This is an interesting development.” Midori arched her back, pressing her body as much into his as she could. “Mitsuhide…” “Yes my dear one?” “I hate you.” “I’m very sad to hear that, given that I love you so dearly.” He traced the blade across her skin again, pressing just enough for her to feel the sting but not deeply enough to draw blood. His cool hand soothed the sting almost as soon as it was inflicted. She leant into his touch, breathing on the verge of ragged. “Mit… su… hide… please…” He hummed appreciatively. “Nearly dearest one.” “Damnit Mitsuhide, please!” The words were almost a moan. “I need you.” His hands stilled on her lower stomach, his own breathing ragged in her ear.  “Ple-” Midori’s begging was cut off by soft lips pressing against hers, his tongue tracing the outline of her bottom lip.

He pulled back too soon, a whine rising in her throat. “Good girl.” he murmured, fingers trailing down her cheek. “Tease.” She huffed in return, though the words lacked any bite. Mitsuhide chuckled, running a finger down her neck and between her breasts. “Ah but you love that about me.” “I’d love it more if you gave me what I asked for.” Midori grumbled. His breath tickled her neck as he trailed his hand lower, shifting slightly to be at her back and let her melt against him as his other hand moved up to cup one of her breasts. Without her sight every touch felt magnified ten times, her skin more sensitive to him than it had ever been. She gasped as his fingers ghosted over her nipple, distracting her for a moment from the other hand that had worked its way between her legs. His fingers found the sensitive bundle of nerves there, working in circles as she gasped and bucked against his hand. He chuckled in her ear, shifting slightly so his thumb remained pressed against her clit as long fingers pressed inside her. “You seem to be enjoying this little one.” The only reply he got were her fevered gasps and whimpers as skillful fingers brought her tumbling over the edge, his other arm around her chest all that kept her standing as her legs turned to jelly. She panted, leaning back against his chest and wished she could see the hungry passion she knew would be written across his face. It was these moments she treasured most, the places where his cool mask slipped and showed her expressions only meant for her eyes. As her breathing steadied and her legs regained some strength she tried to twist to face him, seeking his lips even when she couldn’t see. He obliged, of course he did, he would do almost anything for her, catching her in a kiss so sweet she could taste it. “Mitsu…” She breathed, resting head against his shoulder. “I want to see you.” He said nothing, but she felt him move to pull the blindfold from her eyes, freeing her hands seconds later to allow her to embrace him, even as she pressed feather light kisses across his collarbones. Pressed together like this she could feel the hard line of him through his hakama. She looked up, one hand reaching to cup his face while the other worked on freeing him from his clothes. Even with the desire she could see burning there his golden eyes were soft when they looked at her. “Let me.”  She sank to the floor, taking his hakama with her, glancing up to see his eyes widen as she winked and licked a long stripe from the base to the head of his cock before taking him into her mouth. It took Mitsuhide a moment to respond, one hand finally finding its way to the back of her head, resting there gently as she bobbed up and down. It wasn’t long before his grip was tightening, soon turning into an insistent tug. With a wicked smile Midori pulled back, flicking the head of his cock with her tongue as she did so. Mitsuhide sighed, sinking down to the floor with her and trapping her beneath his body.  “What am I to do with you?”  She smirked, lifting her head to kiss him softly. “I can think of a few things.” As his answer he shifted her slightly and slid himself inside, stealing any more smart quips that might have come from her mouth and replacing them with moans. She arched her back, pulling him deeper as he thrust into her. She wanted to watch him, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open, and in the quick glances she did manage she realised he couldn’t either, peppering light kisses along her neck and shoulder. His movements soon became more erracting, the kisses more fevered, and, just as she was reaching her peak he bit into the soft flesh where her neck and shoulder met, sucking a bruise into the delicate flesh. The rush of sensation was enough to send her crashing into her orgasm, and as he felt her walls spasming around him Mitsuhide followed her into his own.

Afterwards they lay on the floor of the dungeons, Midori’s head resting on Mitsuhide’s chest as he covered them both with his kimono, his hand stroking idly through her hair. “I hope you don’t treat all your prisoners like that.” She hummed, nuzzling her face into him. Mitsuhide chuckled. “Only the ones who ask me to interrogate them.” “It wasn’t my worst idea?” Mitsuhide had just opened his mouth to respond when they heard footsteps rushing towards them. Frowning he pulled Midori’s body closer into his, keeping her shielded with his kimono as he propped himself up on his elbows to see who was making their way into the dungeons in such a hurry, “Mitsuhide! I don’t know what you think you’re playing at but Lord… oh. Oh… no, I…” Hideyoshi stopped mid-tirade when he spotted the two of them, quickly trying to look anywhere except at the couple curled up under a kimono. “Lord Nobunaga wants to see you. I’ll… um, I’ll go.” He sped out, still looking very hard at the floor on his way out. “My, my… to think, all of the things I’ve done and I’ve never seen him quite so flustered.” Mitsuhide chuckled. “Perhaps we shall do this again.” “How did he know… Masamune.” Midori laughed. “Wait… did you want to do this again or just embarrass Hideyoshi? Though I have to admit, that shade of red was really something.” Mitsuhide pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “One of the many reasons I adore you. Now, we must move. Our Lord is waiting.”

[nitewrighter]

does Rei ever get Genji on a midori rider set (fulfilling his childhood dream)?

I think he’d visit, yeah. And he’d be so starstruck and so proud of seeing Rei in Midori Rider’s suit.

Rei: We actually have the costume from the original series in our costuming department if you want to see it!

Genji: You what!?

Glitchbot: Goddammit. Okay, today’s shoot is delayed.

Rei and Genji: What?!

Glitchbot: My monster of the week just got a severe allergic reaction and his understudy’s out of town.

Genji: ...monster of the week?

Rei: Not Throbulator!

Glitchbot: Unless I can get some idiot ready to jump around like a dumbass in a rubber suit for the next six hours, I’m losing hundreds on craft services.

Genji: You need someone to put on a rubber suit for your show?!

Rei: Dad, I know what you’re thinking---

Glitchbot: Do you know anyo--

Genji: I taught Rei all of her stunts.

Glitchbot: No kidding?

Rei: Excuse us for a second-- *takes Genji aside* Dad, stunting is harder than it looks. It took weeks for me to unlearn all the intense ninja muscle memory and get more control. I nearly broke a henchman’s leg!

Genji: But I won’t be fighting henchmen. I’ll be fighting Midori Rider.

Rei: ...

Rei: *looks at Glitchbot* Glitchbot, you have your Throbulator.

[realtacuardach]

Breath of Life (Obiyuki Kissathon)

This is my first entry for the Obiyuki Kissathon, hosted by snowwhite-andtheknight! The prompt was a “from death” kiss. Thanks to the Obiyuki discord, especially jhalya and sabraeal for their help! Enjoy!

***

"Incredible," Zen marvelled, his breath clouding in front of him as he leaned back in the stirrups and gave Shirayuki an admiring look. "To fuse seed and stone until the plant is no longer poisonous, but a beacon!"

Shirayuki shook her hair out of her eyes, feeling the brush of her ornament's tassels against her flushed cheeks. "Well, I can be stubborn as stone myself, I wasn't about to give up and let everyone down. And I had lots of help - Suzu and Yuzuri and Ryuu and Obi…"

Her voice trailed off a little in thought, and Zen smirked before nudging his horse's flank against hers. "I'm losing you, Shirayuki."

She straightened up, her flush bright enough to stand out against the redness brought by the harsh winds. "I'm here, I'm here!" She shot him a playful glare. "And I'm hardly yours to lose anymore. How is Kihal?"

Zen flushed in a gratifying way. "Kihal's fine - although she was sad to miss the chance to visit you. But she couldn't leave the messenger bird trainings."

"I thought that was you, your highness," Kiki wryly commented from atop her steed, "you certainly have spent a lot of time looking out at the training sessions." Her eyebrows raised and the corner of her lips lifted as Mitsuhide appeared to oscillate between amusement and scandal.

Scandal was appearing to win out, and Mitsuhide was opening his mouth to interject when a snowball hurtled out of the trees and struck him squarely in the shoulder. Only his experience in horsemanship kept him upright, and he leveled a righteous glare into the surrounding forest. "Obi!"

The only response was another snowball, this one hitting him in the center of his forehead. As Mitsuhide sputtered and started scrubbing out the snow embedded in his hair, Kiki reached for her sword, placing her scabbard in front of her face protectively as her eyes skimmed the woods. Obi apparently valued his life more than the chance to surprise attack her, as his next snowball whizzed nearly past Zen's ear, painting the tree trunk near him in a splatter of white.

"Obi!" Zen called, his attempt at sounding stern undermined by the undercurrent of laughter in his voice. "Get down here!"

Obi smoothly descended from the trees, landing in a crouched bow in front of them, and looked up at his master with a toothy grin stretching from ear to ear.

Zen shook his head wryly, grinning back at the sight of his immediate knight and friend. "Is that the best way to greet your fellow knights?"

If anything, Obi's grin broadened. "Keeps me in practice, Master. And keeps Mitsuhide on his toes!"

Zen laughed, the sudden tension draining from his shoulders as he relaxed into the saddle; beside him, Shirayuki let out a quiet sigh of relief. It was a blessedly nostalgic feeling to see Obi teasing his master - it was an occurrence that hadn't been seen for the past few months. Obi had taken the dissolution of the romance between second prince and herbalist even harder than the two themselves, for some reason that he had never told her. Although he had treated Shirayuki much the same as ever, albeit with a delicacy for the first few weeks that was better suited to handling fragile seedlings, Zen had experienced what it was like to deal with an Obi who was all business. He had done his job and done it well when his services had been required, but that was the only time he would interact with Zen. Gone was the teasing and quips; the immediate knight's words were short, clipped, and to the point, and then he would vanish with a brisk nod until summoned again.

Zen had tried to be understanding, but his dismay and uneasiness about the situation could easily be read between the lines of any correspondence between him and Shirayuki. In a way, she knew that Obi was just being protective and she appreciated the steadfastness of her friend; however, she wished he could understand that she herself felt that it was for the best. Zen would always be her first love, but the two had grown, both together and apart, to find that their friendship felt more right than pursuing a romance which had cooled and dissolved with the passage of time.

At last, she could see her friends all interact without a blade of sorrow stabbing her in the stomach. And, with Zen, Mitsuhide, and Kiki so far away most of the year, their times together were rarer and even more precious to her than before. She would stomach the sorrow if it meant seeing it, but it was a relief to have it gone.

Obi fell into step beside their horses in his usual controlled lope, the leather of his uniform creaking in time with the horses' hoofbeats in a way that was familiar and comforting.

"Where's your horse, Obi?" Mitsuhide asked.

"Back in the stables."

Zen's attendant clicked his tongue in disapproval. "You really should have it with you on patrol," he said, "it helps when you need to get quickly about the perimeter."

Midori, a new guard just out of Obi's training sessions that had been riding a few lengths behind the others, almost fell off his horse in his eagerness to come forward. "Sir Obi, you can use mi-"

Obi held up a hand and shook his head with a smile. "Not necessary, Midori." He looked up at Mitsuhide. "And when you know how to ride a horse on fortress walls, I'm all ears. Otherwise, it's quicker for me to - "

His words cut off suddenly, and his head suddenly moved to the side with the sharpness of a hawk scouting out its prey. His muscles grew languid as he looked around, before coiling like a panther about to pounce.

Zen frowned, looking around himself. "Obi, what is - "

The next few seconds were a blur. Without preamble, Obi leapt into the air, a flash of black leather and tanned skin as he passed before his master and mistress and towards the trees. The telltale twang of an arrow being loosed plucked the air and Obi's hand closed in a fist as he landed in the snow. "Archer!" He growled as he took off towards the trees, feet barely touching the ground as Mitsuhide and Kiki swiftly dismounted and followed afterwards, with the new guard enthusiastically if belatedly trailing behind them.

Zen, never one to sit back and let others fight his battles for him, swung down and hooked his horse's reins on a nearby tree branch. "Stay here," he cautioned the herbalist before disappearing into the woods.

And Shirayuki, never one for following orders when she felt she could be more of use disregarding them, slid off her mount and checked to make sure her ever present satchel was secured to her waist. She gave the horse a reassuring pat on the nose before making her own way towards the others.

She found them at a tall tree, Zen and his attendants surrounding the trunk and glaring up like hunting dogs who had treed their quarry. The quarry in question was a young man who already looked somewhat worse for wear, his clothing disheveled, a swelling already forming at the corner of his jaw, and his quiver dangling from his shoulder by a torn leather strap. He looked like he was about to faint; the only thing keeping him upright was Obi's tight grip on his shoulder as the knight leaned against the trunk, his other hand clamped on his own upper arm.

Obi crooked his head in question to his comrades down below, who responded with a decisive nod. He coughed before saying with a levity that didn't match the steel in his eyes, "Looks like there's only room up here for one of us. And you're not supposed to be here, anyway, so…out you get."

And then he let the archer go.

It was only a few feet to fall, and the snow was lightly packed so it was cushion enough, but the archer still had the breath knocked out of him as he attempted to stand before Mitsuhide's imposing stance encouraged him to stay still.

"Who are you?" Zen asked the man who had begun to manage a defiant grimace.

"Just a simple archer," he spat, "what is the meaning of this?"

"Why were you shooting at us?" Zen persisted.

The man shrugged. "I guess my hand slipped. I certainly wasn't trying to shoot anyone here, your highness."

Mitsuhide stepped forward. "You don't seem to have anything to keep your catch in, no bag or cords."

A tinge of nervousness appeared in the archer's eyes before he blinked it away. "I'm something of a novice, this is the first time I've gone out hunting."

A tongue clicked up in the tree branches, and they looked up to see Obi shaking his head mockingly down at the archer. "Don't sell yourself short," he interjected, holding the arrows and quiver in one hand while he examined them closely, "this quiver's got some good wear on it, and these arrows certainly look like they were made by someone with experience…" He took the hand from his upper arm, and the dark smears of blood on his palm made Shirayuki's heart stutter. Smoothly, he took the arrows in both hands before snapping them in half. "Oops."

The archer groaned as Obi dropped the quiver and splintered arrows in the snow.

"Couldn't have done that riding a horse," he mused casually, which was met with a snort from Mitsuhide.

Obi then swung himself down onto the ground, his boots landing right in front of the group, sending snow into the stranger's face. The archer flinched back while Shirayuki flinched forward at the sight on the dark stain growing on his armor, spreading from where the arrow had pierced him.

"Obi!" she gasped, stepping forward as her hands reached for her satchel.

He wrenched the arrow out and looked at it with distaste. "I'm fine, Miss," he assured her, "just losing my touch. I used to be able to catch those." He held up his hand so the others could see the line scored through the palm of his glove from the arrow's flight, a red line already beginning to well up. "It barely hit me, but still. I'm getting fat and lazy, how am I going to get the guards to listen to me now?"

Given that the one guard present looked about ready to faint in awe, Shirayuki didn't feel he had much to worry about in that regard.

"We should go," Kiki said, "he may not have been working alone, and we have more resources to persuade him up at the fortress." Her face gave nothing away, and the archer's face paled. Mitsuhide wrenched him to his feet and secured his wrists behind him. Obi gently shook off Shirayuki's attempts to examine or dress the wounds.

"They'll keep until we get inside," he grinned good-naturedly, "and then you can unleash little Ryuu and all the other herbalists on me."

Shirayuki gave in reluctantly, if only to speed up the process so they could return to the pharmacy for proper assessment and treatment. Obi walked behind the rest, keeping watch for any other movements that would give the presence of potential accomplices away. She turned back a few times to check on him, but only got a cheeky wave and grin in response. So she swallowed the persistent feeling that something was wrong and focused on the return trip, letting the familiar cadence of his footsteps calm her frazzled nerves.

Her mind froze for a moment before thoughts began to hurtle past at dizzying speed. She shouldn't be able to hear them here.

In the fortress, in town, in the castle back at Wilant,  the steady clip of his boots striking the floor was a familiar sound that at times provided her with a great deal of comfort. But she wasn't used to hearing it outside, where he could perch on stone walls, jump from branch to branch, or track through grass or leaves or snow with the silence of a shadow.  She shouldn't have been able to hear him.

She felt a bolt of unease, which only intensified as the brisk, efficient pace began to sound much slower and heavier. She couldn’t keep herself from turning as his steps began to loudly crunch behind her, and the bolt became a stabbing fear.

The increasingly loud and belligerent complaints of the archer had drowned out the sounds of Obi’s breathing, but with her eyes focusing on him with clinical scrutiny, she tuned out all other sounds. Shirayuki winced at the pinched look his eyes had taken as his mouth gaped almost laughingly wide, the air whistling in and out of his mouth in shuddering gasps. She gripped her reins hard and pulled her steed into a stop, just like he’d taught her. “Obi?”

Obi raised up a hand to reassure her. “Don’t worry, Miss, I’m - “

And then he dropped into the snow, his limbs splayed out like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

“Obi!” She screamed, and the others turned in shock as she nearly fell off the horse trying to get down.

“Sir!” Midori cried equally loudly, rushing over to Shirayuki’s side just in time to help her turn Obi over, to expose his mouth and nose to the air.

“We need help,” Shirayuki said, pulling her satchel in front of her, “Midori, go to the pharmacy and bring back a stretcher.”

She was never more grateful for their respective trainings, in hers for her ability to give clear directions despite emotional duress, and in his for his ability to swiftly follow them.

Snow kicked up from the horse’s hooves as Midori rushed the remainder of the way to the university. The others rushed over, paying no heed to the whining of their prisoner as he was dragged along.

Zen took in the figure of his fallen friend, a gleam of fear in his eyes before it reforged into steel. He glared daggers at the man now being forced to the ground at his feet. “What was on the arrow?”

The archer narrowed his eyes in response. “I don’t know what you - “

Zen’s sword sang as he pulled it from his scabbard, and the grips of his retainers on the enemy’s shoulders tightened until their knuckles were white. “Spare us your lies - what have you done to my knight?”

The archer looked around, and was met with fire in Mitsuhide’s eyes and stone in Kiki’s. He swallowed and slumped. “You might as well say your goodbyes.”

“What?”

“The arrows were poisoned at the tip, and I wasn’t given any antidote.” He looked up at Zen with malice. “We weren’t planning on taking prisoners.”

Zen lunged forward with a growl and Mitsuhide blocked him, giving his liege a look and shaking his head. The prince relaxed, somewhat unwillingly, and took a deep breath.

“Luckily for you,” the archer felt the sting of steel against his throat and looked up at Kiki`s unyielding stance and blade, “we do. Although how lucky you are remains to be seen.” Mitsuhide joined her and placed his blade at the other side of the man’s neck.

Zen stood in front and glared down. “What. Poison. Did you use?”

Shirayuki had been listening to all that was going on behind her, as she checked on Obi’s state. Her fingers felt for his pulse (slowing considerably and distressingly thready) and hovered over his mouth to feel the breeze of his breaths. She didn’t let her hand tremble as she pulled the leather away from the arrow wound in his arm and the score on his palm. No infection that she could see…

“Poison,” she whispered as she scrambled around for a moment, trying to find the quiver where Obi had dropped it when he fell. She pulled out a broken arrow, the blasted arrowhead blessedly intact, and examined it carefully. The poison came off on her gloves and she sniffed tentatively. “No smell…”

“I don’t know,” the archer spat, “something to do with frogs.”

“Frogs,” Shirayuki repeated to herself, and shut her eyes and tried to remember if she had seen anything like that in her books. Her heart froze as her mind focused on a page that she remembered Yuzuri showing her. “Curare.”

She could hear the rush of people from the university as Obi sagged into the snow completely.

…

The rush back to the clinic and the pharmacy was a blur for Shirayuki. Between the other herbalists and the onslaught of guards, Obi was quickly swept onto a stretcher and borne to the warmth of the clinic.

Yuzuri ran out to meet them and began jogging besides Shirayuki. “What happened?”

Shirayuki panted beside her. “He’s been shot. With curare. I need the catspaw you brought back from your last trip.” She came to the split in the halls where she had to go one way for the greenhouses and other for the clinic, and dithered a moment. She didn’t want to leave him, but -

Yuzuri shoved her towards the clinic. “Go,” she barked, fear making her voice brisk, “I’ll get the catspaw. You get to your man.”

Despite the urgency of the situation, Shirayuki stumbled, her cheeks burning hot. He's not my -

But Yuzuri was already gone, and out of the corner of her eye she could see the stretcher making its way towards the clinic. She broke into a run and nearly crashed into the clinic doorway. Ryuu looked up where he was setting up bowls and pestles on the nearest table, a cluster of trainees hovering nearby.

“I heard what he was poisoned with,” he said plainly, “and I thought I had better be ready. You can observe,” he continued flatly as he looked towards the trainees, “when we’re finished. This will be a delicate procedure.”

The trainees filed out quickly, and Shirayuki looked at the master herbalist and felt her heart sink at the stress building up between his eyes. She walked over and squeezed his arm. “We can do this. Obi is strong, and we know how to help him.” Ryuu let the corner of his mouth tilt upwards before it sank back into a pensive frown. Somehow the comfort didn’t feel complete without Obi following it with an arm slung around their shoulders.

“Here’s Sir Obi!” Midori yelled as he ran into the room ahead of the other guards carrying the stretcher.

“And I have the catspaw!” Yuzuri shouted as she ran after them, her fist lifted in triumph.

Shirayuki clapped her hands together once. “Let’s get to it.”

As the pounding of pestles started behind her, she took it upon herself to peel away his glove and torn sleeve for easier access to the wounds. A sick feeling pooled in the pit of her stomach as her hands ran over the muscles of his arm that were now relaxed to the point of near stillness. He shouldn’t look like this.

She swallowed hard and began cleaning the skin around the wounds, keeping an ear on the progress of the catspaw poultices. The sleeve kept rolling back over the arm wound and, in a fit of frustration, she ripped the cloth back to the point where pieces came off in her hand.

Oh, she admonished herself weakly, he really likes this shirt.

If you wanted my clothes off so badly, Miss, she could almost hear him saying, all you had to do was ask.

Shirayuki continued to clean the skin, willing herself not to be undone by how badly she wanted him to be awake and saying that to her. A mortar was stuck in front of her and she blinked up at Ryuu.

“We ground the catspaw,” he said, “does it look ready?”

He would know as well as she that it was, but she appreciated what he was doing. She nodded and smeared a liberal does on a bandage before plastering it on his arm, Ryuu moving in sync to wrap the arrow score for safe measure.

“And now we wait?” Shirayuki asked, one hand gripping Obi’s wrist to check his pulse while the other brushed the hair dripping with snowmelt out of his face.

Ryuu pulled up a chair and stared intently at their wounded knight. “Yeah.”

Time passed painfully slowly, although it should really have been just a few moments, as the two kept vigil. Shirayuki kept the twin heartbeats of hers and Obi’s pulsing at the back of her mind, as she wondered what the others had gotten out of the archer. Were they safe? Did they need to grind more catspaw in case of another attack? Where were they? Why wasn’t Obi waking up?

His pulse pushed more and more slowly against her thumb, and she counted under her breath the moments between them. It kept her mind steady and focused when all she could do was monitor the situation and wait. She turned to ask Ryuu to check outside the window to see if anything else had happened when she froze. She wasn’t feeling anything.

“Obi?” She held her hand above his mouth. Nothing. She drew her hairpin from behind her ear and held it over his face, watching the tassels for movement. Nothing. Her heart stopped.

His heart wasn't beating.

"Ryuu!" She barked, and the younger herbalist jolted in his chair. "He's not breathing, and I can't find a pulse." She rolled up her sleeves and climbed up on the bed beside him. "I'm going to start compressions, go get help!"

Ryuu ran out of the room so quickly that his chair overturned. Shirayuki could hear his steps and shouts fading away, but turned them out as she fell into the rhythm of compressions.

Sweat dripped down past her ears as she felt the impact of his muscles and sternum reverberating in her shoulders. He was supple and strong, and she hoped she wouldn't crack his bones. If he had to be bedridden because of this, she would never hear the end of it.

Oh, I'm easy to get into bed, Miss.

She leaned down. One breath, two breaths.

This wasn't right. Obi wasn't supposed to be like this. She had felt the muscles of his chest against her several times over the years they'd spent together, whether it was when he caught her if she stumbled, or when she'd leaned against him to avoid the bustle of a hectic, crowded town square. He was warm and strong and always ready to spring into action. Now he was limp and cold and -

She leaned down. One breath, two breaths.

She missed his warmth. The warmth of his corded muscles that made her feel so safe. The warmth of his ready smirks and smiles when she needed to see them most. The warmth in his eyes when he regarded her, especially when he didn't realize she was looking. The warmth that she had only recently realized filled her heart to overflowing when she saw him -

She leaned down, blinking back tears. One breath, two breaths.

"Please," she whispered as she resumed compressions, the tips of her fingers growing icy as the fear stabbed her heart. "Please, Obi…"

He didn't answer. He had never ignored her before, even when he'd felt brave enough and secure enough in their relationship to have disagreements.

She leaned down, her lips trembling against his. One breath, two breaths.

"Please!"

She resumed compressions, although she could barely see now. The trained professional in her knew that she was fatiguing rapidly and was emotionally compromised, and that for Obi's sake, she needed for someone to relieve her soon. But...she could not bear to let go of him.

She stopped a moment to catch her breath. Her arms were quivering and her compressions were becoming irregular, which was not in Obi's best interest. Her hand felt for his pulse, and found nothing.

"Obi," she whispered, longing to curl up into him and to wake up from this nightmare, "please don't leave me."

She shook the tears from her eyes and steeled her shoulders again to resume pounding his chest when she felt something stirring beneath her palms. She leaned back in surprise and looked at his face, his eyes still closed. She grabbed his wrist, paused for a torturous moment - and then nearly fainted with relief at the weak but steady rhythm beneath her fingers.

Shirayuki slumped forward, resting her head on his chest to hear that blessed beat for herself. His chest rose and fell for a few seconds before he began to cough, causing her to bolt upright. “Obi! You’re awake!”

Obi’s eyes opened just enough for her to see the glint of gold, and he smiled weakly. “‘Course. I couldn’t leave you, Miss.”

Relief and joy coursed through her in a rejuvenating rush, leaving her feeling almost as intoxicated as Roka fruit liquor. The relief was so great, that she leaned forward and, against all medical and rational knowledge regarding a patient recovering from respiratory and cardiac arrest -

Kissed him.

Obi let out an involuntary gasp as Shirayuki nearly fell on top of him, but his heart beat strong - if not a little fast - against her palm as she leaned down. The medical veneer having been discarded now that he was safe, she let her senses flood her as she brought her lips down to meet his. His mouth, windburned and slightly chapped at the top by the harsh Lyrias winters, felt warm and right and perfect against hers. He grunted a little as her nose crashed into his but she didn’t care, her heart jumping as her top lip slid between his. She retracted back apologetically. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured, brushing her hand across his face.

Then her sense came back and she yanked herself away, color flaming in her cheeks. “Oh, Obi, I’m so sorry!”

Obi grinned up at her as he gasped for air. “You take...my breath away, Miss.”

Really, if he hadn’t been recovering she would have smacked him. She pulled herself back further, hiding her face in her hands.

“Hey,” his voice gentled as he pushed himself up on one elbow. She was so spellbound by the look in his eyes that she didn’t notice his hand winding its way through the tendrils of her hair at the back of her neck. “It’s okay. Besides,” he grinned cheekily as he brought her head closer, “I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”

Shirayuki’s eyes widened. Then she blushed as she let herself sink down as he pulled her slowly back towards him. Tears sprang to her eyes as the look of naked adoration in his gaze as he craned up to meet her, sealing their lips together. Although she and Zen had kissed many times over their relationship, this was beyond any sensation Shirayuki had ever known. Their hearts beat in unison, and everything was heat and fire and a feeling like coming home.

They separated for air, and she traced her fingers across his cheek, his jaw, the scar over his eye, revelling in the feeling of warmth and life. For his part, he appeared to have run out of energy to do more than lay back and purr under her ministrations like a contented housecat.

“I thought I was going to lose you,” she whispered.

“Never,” he promised, “I’m yours as long as you want me.”

She was about to show that statement the kind of appreciation it deserved, in lieu of the words her heart was too full to speak yet, when the door creaked behind them.

“Is that really,” Suzu asked from the doorway, “the best way to treat respiratory - ugh!”

“Stop ruining the moment!” Yuzuri scolded, removing her elbow from his side. “We waited too long for this! Speaking of which,” she held out her hand, “pay up.”

The next few moments were filled with the sounds of grumbling and gold changing hands. However, the two on the cot were too occupied to care.

***

I hope you enjoyed!

[saccharii]

Todofam Month, Day Twelve: What if...

Human Disaster Social Worker Touya

AO3 Link

Todofam Month masterpost

@todofammonth

heads up, dad might try to contact you

Touya stared blearily at his phone and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He reread the text, trying to make sense of it. He checked the sender again. It had to be some wrong number, right? Nope. It still said Natsuo. 

Maybe he was still asleep?

It was not something he ever expected to wake up to. A text asking him to come in to work early, sure. Or maybe a firm reminder of the next family dinner from Fuyumi. A booty-call text from Hawks would be a pleasant morning surprise. 

But not heads up, dad might try to contact you

More than five years had passed since Touya talked to his father. He couldn’t even remember the last thing they said to each other. Hell, when was the last time they saw each other? Maybe a month before he’d packed his things and left...?

Touya shook the thoughts out of his head.

What? Why? he texted back.

The “...” bubble popped up, disappeared, and popped up again. The phone rang and Touya answered it without thinking.

“Hey,” Natsuo said before Touya could say anything. “The old man’s apparently trying to ‘mend bridges’ or some garbage. He he kept going on and on about how becoming the number one hero put things in perspective. Yesterday, came home early when I was visiting Fuyumi and Shouto and I got the pleasure of his company. I wanted to warn you he might try to ambush you too.”

Touya scrunched up his face. None of this made any sense.

“You sure it’s him and not the bodysnatchers or something?”

“Pretty sure. He’s just as much an ass as always.”

“You might want to check the basement for pods, just in case.”

Natsuo snorted

Touya yawned and stretched, nearly knocking over one of the many half full cups of water on his nightstand.  

“It’s too early for this. I just woke up.”

“It’s ten. Don’t you have work?”

“Not until eleven. I’m working a half shift. It’s paperwork day.”

“That’s good? I guess? Don’t answer any unknown numbers.”

“I can’t do that.” Touya threw his arm over his eyes. Why did sunlight have to be so bright? “I have to answer any calls I get because of work. Emergency situations or whatever.”

Natsuo hummed sympathetically. “That sucks.”

“Yeah. Actually... do you have his number? I could block it now.”

“Nope.”

Touya groaned. Of course. Nothing could ever be easy. “I guess I’ll just have to hope he can’t get my number. Or maybe he’ll forget I exist.”

Natsuo laughed. “If only. At least he doesn’t know where you live.”

“Don’t jinx it,” Touya said. “He could probably find me if he wanted.”

It was an abuse of power to use hero resources to track someone down without a warrant, but when had Endeavor ever cared about shit like that?

He pushed himself up and squinted at the clock. “I better get out of bed and get ready. I have to be at work in an hour and I haven’t eaten or showered or anything.”

“Isn’t your work a half hour away?”

“Yup.”

“Good luck with that,” Natsuo said. “I’ll see you later.”

Touya hung up and rolled over, pulling the blankets around him. Maybe he could get away with sleeping for another fifteen minutes.

“We received a complaint about you.”

Touya nodded. People complained about him all the time. It turned out some people thought that piercings and badly dyed hair where ‘unprofessional.’ The more traditional parents didn’t like his casual speech and attitude. Whatever. He wasn’t using keigo just because some asshole waste-of-space parents thought that a lowly social worker should bow down to them. (Endeavor had drilled keigo into all of his children’s heads. Touya knew the proper way to respond in any formal situation. He took great pleasure not doing that.)

“So what is it this time?” 

“According to the complaint,” she said, scanning the papers in front of her. “When told of a teen’s disrespectful behavior you said, and I quote, ‘Hell yeah, stick it to the man’ then high fived her.”

Touya grinned. “Oh yeah! I remember that. I liked that kid. She’s got guts.”

His boss pinched the top of her nose. “You can’t just say things like that, Todoroki. I know you connect well with troubled teenagers, I’m not sure if it’s because of your age or your casual attitude, but you have to retain some professionalism.”

Touya snorted, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair. ‘Troubled teen.’ Ha, she had plenty of troubles alright—two pieces of garbage who called themselves her parents.

 Only years of practice pretending not to give a shit kept him from blowing up at the sight of the girl’s split lip and dead eyed stare. It was a familiar sight for him: he’d seen it in the mirror enough times growing up. 

“You know what grave sin she committed? She said ‘okay’ and rolled her eyes when they asked her to do something. What will that troublemaker do next? Breathe too loudly? It pisses me off.”

His boss’s gaze softened. “I understand your feelings. It frustrates me too, but you know why we can’t do anything.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Only ‘life threatening’ situations justified removal from a household. That was why no one did anything when he was a child, even when he showed up to school in bandages. It was why he couldn’t get Shouto out of the house even now, with all of his resources. All that shit he’d gone through—lying on the floor bruised and bleeding due to his father’s ‘training,’ unable to move until his mother scooped him up—felt pretty life threatening to him.

Getting Shouto out of that house was the whole reason he’d become a social worker in the first place.

The first time a kid from a ‘non life threatening situation’ on his watch died, he’d spent the entire month holed up in his room, dark thoughts swirling in his head, wondering if it would be better to burn the world down.

“Listen,” his boss said. “You’re good at your job, and I respect your judgement. But you have to show some propriety. For example... why are you wearing two different shoes?”

Touya flexed his right foot. It pinched his toes, but a shoe was a shoe. “When I was switching to my indoor shoes Amano bumped into me, and I dropped one out the window. A dog grabbed it and ran off. Ichihara lent me one of his spares. It’s a bit tight, but it mostly fits.”

His boss nodded slowly. “Right. And why didn’t you just wear both shoes?”

“...It didn’t occur to me?”

“The strangest things happen to you, Todoroki. You’re lucky I have a truth telling quirk. Otherwise I’d never believe you.”

Touya shrugged. It wasn’t his fault that these things kept happening to him. Okay, maybe a few of them were his fault, but the kangaroo thing and the time with the parade were out of his control.

“Todoroki!”

Touya jumped and nearly dropped his phone onto the mall’s dirty floor. A smiling, pink cheeked, brown haired girl skipped towards him. He opened his mouth to ask her who the hell she was, but she brushed past him before he could say anything.

Brow furrowed, he turned to see her approach... Shouto?  The girl flounced up to his youngest brother and said something to him. Shouto responded and smiled. He smiled. What the hell was going on?

Two other teens, a black haired boy with glasses and a freckled green haired boy, flanked Shouto. They greeted the girl.

Shouto was hanging out with people? He was talking to them? Smiling at them? Did he have friends? When did that happen?

Without stopping to think about whether it was a good idea or not, Touya strode towards the small group of teenagers. One of them, Glasses, saw him coming and moved as if to intercept him. Touya sidestepped the boy and made a beeline for his brother.

“Hey! Shouto!”

Shouto startled and whipped his head around, eyes wide. “Wha-? Touya? What are you doing here?”

“Buying new shoes. Are these your friends? Holy shit, do you have friends now? I never thought I’d see the day.”

Shouto turned bright red. “You’re one to talk.”

“Um.” Freckles looked back and forth between the two of them. “You are...?”

“He’s my brother, Touya. And yes, these are my friends.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother.” The brown haired girl put a finger on her cheek and tilted her head. It was kind of adorable.

The three teens not so subtly eyed him. Touya knew what they were thinking. With black dyed hair, red showing through at the roots, multiple piercings, and a grungy leather jacket, he didn’t look like someone related to his prissy looking little brother.  He loved Shouto, but honestly he embodied Rich Kid Aesthetic.

“He’s got two of them. Why didn’t you tell your friends about us? Are you ashamed of me and Natsuo?” Touya realized his mistake as soon as he saw the stricken expression on Shouto’s face. No matter how many times they told him that they didn’t resent him, it remained a sore spot. “I’m just kidding. So, friends, huh? I’m proud of you.”

Glasses cleared his throat and stepped forward. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Iida Tenya and-”

“I know you.” Touya snapped his fingers and pointed at Freckles. “You’re the kid with the hands. Midori something.”

Shouto groaned and covered his face with his hands. He looked just like Fuyumi when he did that.

“Um, yeah, I’m Midoriya.” Midoriya held up his gnarled, scarred hands, and stared at them with a furrowed brow, like he had never seen them before. “I do have hands.”

“I thought Shouto would never have friends. First day of middle school he made some kid cry. He didn’t even mean to. He just said, ‘Why would I want to be friends with you?’ and stared him down.”

Shouto turned an even deeper shade of red, almost purple, and scowled. “Okay, that’s enough.” He pushed Touya bodily away from his friends. “Time to go. It was good seeing you. Goodbye.”

“I was just-”

“Good. Bye.” he said, pushing harder.

“I was just being honest. It’s a compliment. I was congratulating you.”

“I’m going to get my revenge,” Shouto hissed, low enough his friends couldn’t hear. “Just you wait. I’m going to humiliate you.”

“Alright, alright. I’m going. Try not to be too weird and drive them off.”

“I don’t need your advice. It’s not like you have any friends.” Shouto gave him one final push, sending him stumbling. “Don’t ever talk to me again.” He stomped back to the other teens.

“See you next week!” Touya called back.

“What on earth is that?”

Touya hefted himself off the couch onto his elbows to see what Fuyumi was talking about. 

“That’s my backpack.”

“It’s got Pokemon on it, and it’s covered in coffee stains.”

“It was on clearance for a hundred yen. And that’s Detective Pikachu, I’ll have you know. It’s a good game.”

Fuyumi shoved his legs out of the way so she could sit down next to him. “Why do you have to sprawl out all over the couch?”

Touya groaned and dragged himself up into a reclining position. He pushed his feet against Fuyumi’s legs, and she swatted his knees.

“I don’t have a couch at my place and this one is comfortable.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Other people have to sit too, Touya. Please tell me you don’t take that bag with you to work.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Fuyumi rubbed her eyes underneath her glasses. “You’re supposed to be a professional. You’re an adult now. You need to set an example for the children you work with. You need to set an example for Shouto.”

“What does a backpack have to do with that?”

The microwave dinged. Hell yeah, food time. Touya hopped to his feet and jogged into the kitchen. He pulled the hot pocket out of the microwave and took it back into the living room.

“Is that a hot pocket? Where did you get that? We don’t keep those in the house.”

“I brought it with me.” He gestured to his hoodie pocket, and sunk back down into the couch.

It had been pretty awkward to walk around with a frozen pastry in his pocket, to be honest. It was probably something most people didn’t do. He knew he sometimes did things that others found strange, but he had a hard time telling apart what was weird and what was normal. He usually relied on people’s reaction to figure out if he was being strange or offensive. Judging by Fuyumi’s horrified expression, carrying around a frozen microwaveable meal in your pocket was not normal.

He took a large bite and promptly burned his tongue. 

“Ow!” He fanned his mouth.

“Serves you right. You should eat healthier.”

“Why are these things always too hot or too cold?”

“Did you follow the directions?”

“Yes- well, no. I’ve never read the directions.”

He held the package up to eye level. “Oh. You’re supposed to let it sit for two minutes. Hmm... ‘Enjoy with a serving of fresh fruit or veggies.’ Hah! Even they know that their food is nutritional garbage.”

“Maybe you should cut out the middle part and just eat a serving of fruit and vegetables.”

“But that takes effort. You have to wash the vegetables, then cut them up, then cook them. Then you eat them off the plate and after that you have to wash the dishes. It’s just not worth the hassle.”

“Touya, they have bags of salad you can buy and eat with no prep. You can get frozen vegetable stir fry packets, too.”

“But you still have to cook them and do the dishes.”

Fuyumi clasped her hands together and raised them to her lips like she was praying to god for strength. She did that a lot when Touya was around.

“You are going to die of malnutrition. You can come over anytime you want. We have a home cooked meal every night, and we’d love to see you.”

“Yeah, but then I’d have to see Endeavor. Hard pass.”

“He’s been doing better,” she said, picking at the afghan draped over the arm of the couch. “He wants to do right by us. He asked about you.”

“Sure he does. You didn’t give him my information, did you?”

“Of course not! I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Good. I can’t stay tonight anyway. I have a date,” he said as casually as he could, like he wasn’t internally freaking out.

Fuyumi’s eyes lit up. “You have a date? That’s great! I didn’t know you met someone.”

“I already knew him. One of my fuckbuddies is interested in trying for something more.”

She grimaced. “Please. I never want to hear you say ‘fuckbuddy’ again.”

Just as the word ‘fuckbuddy’ came out of her mouth, Shouto entered the room, stopped, turned around, and walked back out.

Touya burst into laughter.

“Oh god,” Fuyumi whimpered, sinking down into the couch and covering her bright red face with her hands. “I can’t believe he heard me say that.”

“Poor kid.”

The front door slammed open and shut, and heavy, thudding footsteps stomped toward the living room. Touya knew those footsteps. He hadn’t heard them in over five years, but every atom in his body knew what they meant.

He jolted to his feet, sending the hot pocket packet tumbling to the ground and crumbs scattering.

“Oh, he’s home early,” Fuyumi said.

“What the fuck. I thought he was in Hokkaido all week.”

“No, that’s next week.”

Touya vaulted over the back of the couch, and threw himself flat on the ground. Just in time, too. Only moments later Endeavor entered the room.

“Fuyumi.”

“Welcome home, Father.”

“What was that noise, and why is the room a mess?” A pause. “Is that a child’s backpack?”

“Um.”

The floor creaked under Endeavor’s weight as he came closer and closer to the couch. Touya held his breath and tried not to move.

Endeavor, sans flame beard, (he had improved that much at least) leaned over the back of the couch, and stared down at his oldest son.

And so, the first thing Touya said to his estranged father whom he had neither seen nor spoken to in a half a decade was, “What’s up, fuckface?”

Touya arrived outside the cafe ten minutes late. Unsurprisingly, not many people were in the outdoor seating area. Only Hawks and one other person pretending, and failing, to not stare at Hawks. Most would consider it still too cold to eat outside. Not Touya, though.

When Hawks looked up from his phone and saw Touya he did a comical double take. He spluttered and wheezed, covering his mouth with both hands in a vain attempt to stifle his laughter. “Oh my god. What the hell happened to you?”

Touya plopped down on the (uncomfortable) wrought iron cafe chair across from Hawks and held up his now deep purple arm. “Work happened. There was a kid who couldn’t control her quirk yet. I tried to wash it off, but no dice. I came over as soon as I could.”

“The kid has a quirk that dyes people purple?”

“Just the skin and hair, but it lasts a few days.”

Hawks leaned forward and examined Touya’s face. “It even dyed your eyelashes. Wow.” He sat back in his chair. “And you came out for the date anyway despite the fact you look like an eggplant. I’m flattered.”

Touya shrugged. “I’ve had worse. One kid had a projectile vomit quirk.”

Hawks’ eyes lit up. “That’s so gross. Tell me more.”

“Not much to it. She was... six? I think? Anyway, she had two stomachs. One was normal, and the other was a sort of storage, I guess you’d call it. She could swallow items and store them in the second stomach, and later spit them out at high speed. Pretty dangerous, even when used right. She spit rocks through car windows a few times. The second stomach didn’t have any way to digest anything, or anywhere for whatever she swallowed to go.”

“I am loving where this is going.” Hawks gestured with his hand. “Please, continue.”

“Well—she ate some food and it went to the wrong stomach. She couldn’t digest it, so it went bad-

“Ew.”

“-and she got sick. When they realized it was a quirk mishap they called me and she-” Touya pantomimed vomiting. “All over me.”

“Disgusting.” Hawks laughed.

Touya shook his head. “It’s probably the worse quirk mishap I’ve had. Some others are close, though. What about you? You must’ve come across some strange quirks and situations.”

Hawks leaned back and tapped his black, talon-like fingernails on the table. “There was a mugger who had some sort of subspace pocket in her boobs that she was keeping all the loot. We had to reach in and fish it all out. Not gross, but awkward. One woman sweated slime and left a large trail behind her. She wasn’t too hard to track down. Oh! Once, I had to apprehend a guy who farted fire. He-”

“What’s this?” Shouto appeared seemingly out of nowhere next to Hawks’ and Touya’s table. It took everything in Touya not to jump, but Hawks didn’t seem to be startled at all. “Touya, do you have a friend? Who would have thought.”

Shouto’s eyes glinted and his lips curled up into a smirk. Touya did not like what that expression promised.

“What are you doing here?” Touya ground out, glaring daggers at Shouto and doing his best to telepathically communicate fuck off. 

His smirk widened, the little shit. “I was going to meet up with one of my friends, but then I saw you and thought I’d say hi. Wait, are you on a date? How did you manage that? I’m so proud of you.”

Hawks looked back and forth between the two of them and furrowed his brow. “You two know each other?”

“We’re brothers,” Touya said.

“What?” Hawks’ eyes widened. He pointed at Shouto. “But you’re Endeavor’s son. So does that make you-” He pointed at Touya. “-Endeavor’s son, too?”

“Yes,” Shouto said. “You didn’t know?”

Hawks hummed contemplatively and looked at Touya. “I just realized I never knew your family name. I probably should have asked earlier. It’s been, what, six months now?”

Touya shrugged. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t know your real name either.”

“It’s Yuuoh Sora, nice to meet you.” Hawks saluted and Touya returned it.

“You’ve known each other six months and you only now learned each other’s names?” Shouto asked incredulously. “Is that normal? I don’t know anything about dating, but I don’t think that’s normal. Were you really going to date someone whose name you didn’t know?” 

“Yup,” Touya said.

Hawks snapped his fingers and leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table and resting his head on his hand. “So what was it like growing up with Endeavor as a dad? Pretty cool, yeah?”

“No,” Touya and Shouto said coldly at the same time.

Hawks jerked back slightly. “Sounds like there’s a story there.”

“There is,” Touya said curtly.

Hawks looked back and forth between the two brothers, but they didn’t elaborate.

“What do you even see in Touya? He’s a mess.” Shouto raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, tilting his head to the side. “He used to eat toothpaste out of the tube, like it was candy. Mom had to lock it up.”

“Shouto...” Touya growled.

“One time,” he said solemnly to Hawks, “he glued his lips closed with superglue. When they took him to the doctor the nurse had to run to the hardware store to buy solvent.”

“The label was in Korean!” Touya protested. “It’s not my fault that chapstick and gluesticks look so much alike.”

Touya wondered how Shouto even knew about that. It was a few years after the fiery bag of dicks isolated Shouto from everyone, and he doubted that Endeavor even knew about it, and if he did he certainly wouldn’t have told Shouto.

It was probably Natsuo. He’d find that funny. Then again, Fuyumi had a mean sense of humor from time to time. (It happened long after Mom was committed, so no way she knew about it.)

“You’re currently purple.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”

“See? A mess,” Shouto said to Hawks

But Hawks just smiled. “I feel like I can relax and be myself around him without pretense, you know? I don’t have to worry if I’m funny enough or charming enough. It doesn’t matter if I do or say something embarrassing.” He tilted his head to the side. “If you ever find someone like that hang onto them and don’t let them go, whether or not it’s romantic.”

Touya’s cheeks heated and he beat down the bubbly feeling rising inside him. He turned his head to the side so he wouldn’t have to look directly at Hawks, or Shouto for that matter.

“...I guess I understand,” Shouto said slowly.

His phone dinged. He took it out of his pocket, his face impassive until he saw whatever the text said. He swore.

“I have to go. I told Ochako I’d meet her for sushi five minutes ago.” 

He stuffed his phone back in his back pocket and jogged down the street toward the kaitenzushi place. (Endeavor would lose his shit if he knew his precious youngest son was dining in such a cheap place. Touya approved.)

“Ochako, huh?” he mused under his breath.

How kind of Shouto to give him material for his own revenge.

Touya stretched, and his back popped. He kicked away the tangled sheets at the end of the bed. Hawks moved away slightly, then cuddled back up to him once he got settled, their sweaty skin sticking together in spots. He picked a few loose, downy red feathers off of Touya’s chest.

He snickered.

“What is it?” Touya asked.

“When your brother asked what I see in you, it took all of my strength not to say your dick piercing.” 

Touya groaned. “It’s a good thing you didn’t. Shouto wouldn’t get that it’s a joke and he’d repeat it to someone.”

Hawks buried his face in Touya’s neck, and Touya could feel his smile against his (still purple) skin.

---

Like what you read? Consider buying me a coffee.

[ahiddenpath]

My Favorite Writing Stuff

One of the best things about writing is that all you need is a pen and paper!  But we all have our favorite tools and luxuries, and I thought it might be fun to talk about mine below the cut.  Lotsa pics, long post.

Word Processors

Scrivener

The single writing item I use most is my word processor, Scrivener, by Literature and Latte.  At some point waaaaaay back in 2012, I found myself writing Growing Up with You in Microsoft Word...  And having to wait ten seconds for the screen to adjust and load new text as I scrolled.  It was just too danged long for the program to handle.  Just reading my manuscript was a nightmare, let alone copying and pasting to move text, shuffle paragraphs, etc.  Making a new doc for each chapter quickly became a clunky chore.

THEN I FOUND SCRIVENER, AND IT’S THE BEST.

Scrivener is... not very user friendly; there’s definitely a learning curve.  But it was immediately so much better for writing long fiction than Word that I bought a book on the program and read it from cover to cover, which...  I don’t think I’ve ever done before.  That’s how much of a game changer this was.

The feature I rely on most is the binder.

This is the binder for Four Years, which currently has...  Forty-eight chapters.  I corralled the chapters into two folders, one for the first year of college (1), and one for the second (2).  

If I click folder 1, all of the chapters appear, each snug in their own folder.  Once the Scrivener file loads, there is no further loading time.  Each folder can be moved by clicking and dragging, as can each text file inside each folder.  FREEDOM!

This feature alone was worth the price of the program.  They offer a free trial, so please check it out if you’re interested!

Portable Word Processors

I’ve mentioned these before, but I have two portable gadgets that allow me to write on the go, distraction free.

Alpha Smart Neo 2

This might look like the baby of a toddler’s toy computer and a keyboard, but it’s actually my baby.

Just kidding!  Sort of!  The Alpha Smart Neo 2 is a portable word processor that boots up in a second, is powered by three AA batteries for eons, and weighs about 2 pounds.  They are no longer in production (which is a crime), but there are oodles available on Ebay for about $20-30.  

(I used to own and talk about my Alpha Smart 3000.  The Alpha Smart Neo 2 is the latest model before the company shut down, and the keyboard is nicer; it’s quieter and easier on the fingers).

I honestly can’t say enough about this device.  I rarely draft on a computer anymore; it’s just too easy to find yourself surfing the web, falling down a research vortex, or even reading your manuscript instead of writing.  Alpha Smarts can remember what you wrote until you delete it.  That’s it.  That’s all they do.  It’s beautiful.

I write about 800 words/hr on a computer.  I write about 1,500 words/hr on an Alpha Smart.  Distractions are so, so real.

When you’re ready to port your writing from your Alpha Smart to your word processor, all you have to do is connect a printer cable to your Alpha Smart, then plug the usb end into your computer.  Open your word processor, turn on your Alpha Smart, select the file you want to transfer, and hit send.  If you forget any of this, it’s written on the back of the Alpha Smart.

I know that no one should blame their success or failure on their tools, but...  I wouldn’t be able to write nearly as much without my Alpha Smart.  And if you ever do writing meet ups, you’ll be the only person who isn’t fighting for a power outlet!  It also fits easily into a tote bag or backpack.

Oh, Alpha Smart Neo 2.  My partner and friend!

Freewrite

The Freewrite by Astrohaus is... um.  Well, it’s a lot like the Alpha Smart Neo 2, except that it’s waaaay more expensive, much harder to use, and has terrible firmware.

There are cool things about it, for sure!  For one, it has this weird...  Pseudo typewriter feel.  It’s much larger and heavier than an Alpha Smart, and I’m not sure that I actually consider it portable...  But the thick, angled base practically functions as a lap desk.  It’s comfortable to use and has a nice mechanical keyboard.

It has wifi capability, so you can send drafts directly to your dropbox/cloud/email, no cords or transfers needed.  The screen is an e-ink scree, like a Kindle Paperwhite, easy on the eyes and readable in the sun.  It’s also backlit, which is the one major win over the Alpha Smart.

I bought mine used off ebay for a fraction of the list price (this thing is NOT worth $600 on any planet, goodness gracious mercy dang!  I paid about $180), and, um...  I still don’t know if it was worth it, not when I can buy an Alpha Smart Neo 2 for $30 tops.  I mean, I like the e-ink and the backlit screen, but...  There’s a lag between typing and the words populating on the screen.  There are no arrows to fix a typo.  I had to send 10 emails back and forth to tech support to get it updated and working.  It was not broken, and I understood all the directions...  It’s just god awful firmware.  I also lost a draft because it wipes your device if you open their Sprinter program while using your Freewrite.  

I still use it, though!  The tactile sensation is really nice, the keys make a satisfying clickety clackety, the E-ink screen is lovely, I adore the option to write in a not-that-well-lit room, and the wifi transfer is faster than my Alpha Smart’s wired method.  But I still can’t recommend it as long as Alpha Smart Neo 2s are available, not unless you’re some combination of the following: a writing nut who writes so gosh dang much that these toys are worth it, someone who is big on tactile sensation, someone who likes hipster stuff, or someone who would love an Alpha Smart but can’t read the electronic screen well.  If this is you, make sure you also have a strong grasp on how to talk to and understand tech support, because you will need them.

Just never ever EVER open Sprinter...

Notebooks

Leuchtturm1917, hard cover, A5, dotted

MAY I INTRODUCE YOU TO MY LOVE, THE LEUCHTTURM NOTEBOOK.

WHERE DO I EVEN START.

The Leuchtturm is...  Just the best.  The hard cover takes abuse well, stickers hold onto it nicely, it has two ribbon bookmarks and an elastic closure, there’s a folder attached to the back inside cover...  The dot version is unobtrusive and encourages smaller writing, which helps the notebook last.  And it is available in a rainbow of colors!

The paper is lovely, the pages are numbered, and IT HAS AN INDEX.

I’m a scientist, and working in a Leuchtturm is just like working in a fancy, expensive lab notebook.  The set up is done already, man.  You just gotta jot down what pages contain what.  IT’S SO ORGANIZED, with almost zero effort!  Mi amor.

Sure, I could make an index page and number all of my pages manually...  But I’ve met myself.  I won’t do it.  When you combine all of these lovely features, you have one unbeatable notebook.

Plus, they’re easy to obtain in the states!  I order them off Amazon or buy them at my local Barnes & Nobles.

Midori MD Notebook, A5, grid

The Midori has even nicer quality paper than the Leuchtturm, but the cover can’t take abuse, and it lacks the nice features.  I truly appreciate the paper quality, but the other features bring me back to my Leuchtturms every time.

It’s a Japanese item and is more difficult to import to the states.  You can get them off Amazon, though!

Pens

I use Uni-ball Signo 207 gel pens.  They write comfortably, and using them feels satisfying.  They should be available in most Walmart/Target type stores, at least in the states!  

It should be noted that I’m just not a pen buff.  I tried fountain pens, and it was more trouble than it was worth for me.

Folios/Traveler’s Notebooks

Okay, so you found the perfect notebook!  Wanna make it SUPER DUPER FANCY PANTS?!  Well, you could try a traveler’s notebook.  

I only learned what a traveler’s notebook is about a year ago, so if you’re also in the dark...  It’s a leather cover that holds notebooks inside with elastic.  I own these chic sparrows, one for my Midori notebook (or whatever notebook I’m using at the time), and one for my journal.

My full name is etched into them, so please pardon my censorship XD

The chic sparrow traveler’s notebooks are so elegant and decadent and...  I won’t lie, I literally move one or both around the house with me, just so I can look at them.  

The one on the left is a Mr. Darcy deluxe, size A5, in the Wickham color.  The one on the right is an Enchanted Woods deluxe, size A5, in the Elderwood color.

They have lots of pockets on the inside, a pen loop, and elastics to hold multiple notebooks.  This one is strung with a Midori notebook.  I also have a smaller B6 one that I use as a wallet!  It holds a small notebook, so I can write down those ideas that always happen when I’m out and don’t have paper.  The pockets hold IDs, credit cards, and cash.

It’s just this... magical, opulent item.  While it’s likely the least practical thing on this list, it’s very special to me.

Lap Desks

I HAVE A HARRY POTTER RAVENCLAW STORAGE DESK FROM POTTERY BARN AND I FEEL LIKE A WITCH WHEN I USE IT.

Oh dear, I took a terrible picture, it looks so lovely in person.  

The top can slide in both directions, revealing enough storage for several A5 notebooks, pens, and more.  It’s a great way to cart your stuff into your favorite cozy nook for a writing session.  Plus, you’ll feel like a Hogwarts student!  It’s available in all four house designs, plus a Hogwarts crest version.

Pottery Barn puts these on sale occasionally.  I’d aim for 25% off before buying.

My Writing Bag

I decked out a tote bag in writing pins to carry my Alpha Smart, thesaurus, a notebook, and pens.  You can use any bag, as long as it accommodates what you need!  Here are my fave sources for writing-related pins:

Literary Emporium, who makes my favorite pin, “Still I Rise,” a Maya Angelou quote.  They have the most gorgeous pins.

When life gives you lemons, read them, advice for the ages

And fandom:

Digivice pin

My beloved Sailor Moon pin, the loveliest pin I’ve ever seen (not shown because it lives on my Sailor Moon jacket!).  All of the inner senshi are available!

THAT’S ALL, THAT WAS SO MUCH.  Please let me know if you try any of these out!

[evilrubberducke]

Another IzuMina one shot is here! I was in the middle of working on something else when the idea for this fic smacked me over the head and demanded to be written. I hope you enjoy it!

Read it on AO3!

Title: A Cheerful Heist

Summary:  When Mina sends a text she didn't mean to, she and Izuku have only one option; delete the message from their classmate's phones before it can be seen.

Izuku looked up as Mina burst through the door into his room. At first he had jumped whenever this happened, his anxiety prompting fearful scenarios to run rampant. Now, after more than a year of dating the energetic girl, he was used to the sudden interruptions and had come to enjoy them. They usually meant she had come up with some hairbrained scheme or prank she wanted to tell him about. They rarely worked out the way she proposed them, but they were almost always entertaining, if only because spending time with Mina was one of his favorite activities in the world.

This time, however, he was more than a little confused. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that it was approaching two in the morning, a time when any normal Hero in training should have been asleep. Even with it being the weekend, the entire class was wiped out from today’s training, and the dorms were nearly silent. Izuku himself was only up to place an order for a new, limited edition All Might figurine depicting the Hero’s already legendary defeat of All for One.

The other concerning thing was the expression on Mina’s face. It hovered somewhere between guilty and worried, which was downright terrifying. Given her bubbly nature, Mina was quite unflappable. If something had gotten her this worked up, this late at night, it was almost certainly something to be very worried about.

She looked like she had just rolled out of bed. She had her favorite fluffy pink and black striped pajamas, and her favorite alien themed slippers who’s eyestalks were waving furiously after the run to Izuku’s room.

“Midori, we have a problem. A big problem.”

“Mina, what’s going on?”

“So I was texting Toru about this guy she likes, she’s having trouble confessing you know, and I was looking through photos of us, cuz I was thinking if I showed her a photo from our first date it might help her, and I guess I pressed the wrong button or something cuz the next thing I know I sent a picture, but I didn't mean to I swear and-”

“Mina, breathe!” Her face was flushing purple as she talked, growing darker and darker as she rambled without pausing.

She did, long slow breaths visibly calming her down. The flush in her face faded to just being on her cheeks, and her posture relaxing just a bit.

“Feel better?” He asked softly, taking her hand in his. She nodded, and finally brought her eyes up to meet his. Her pupils were still dilated slightly, leaving only a thin band of gold filling the dark pools of her eyes. Izuku had to pull his own eyes away before he got lost in hers, as he was wont to do. “How about you try again. Once you’re done explaining, I’ll help you fix whatever the problem is, ok?” He smiled as reassuringly as he could.

“I was texting Toru, like I said, but I messed up and sent a photo I didn’t mean to send. And it wasn’t just to her. I kind of...sent it to everyone in the class.”

“Well, that’s not too bad. Just send a message apologizing for the mistake.”

Her shoulders drew in as she unconsciously tried to make herself smaller. “It’s...it’s not a photo I want the rest of the class to see.” She looked at him once more, and flushed a deep lilac. “And it’s...not of me…”

Izuku frowned, trying to understand what she was saying. A photo that wasn’t of her, but that she didn’t want the rest of the class to see? Mina was very open, especially with her friends and classmates. He couldn’t imagine her having anything that would get her this worked up.He pulled out his phone, which he had left muted so as not to be distracted. Opening his messages, he finally saw the photo in question and eyes widened as he recognized it. Now he absolutely understood what Mina was talking about. He’d honestly forgotten about the picture, and a part of him wondered exactly why she still had a copy in the first place.

“Oh.” Was all he managed to get out.

“I have a plan.” Mina said. “Toru said she’d help us, so she’ll be here in a minute. With the three of us, we can probably get it done before anyone wakes up.” Her tone grew more confident as she spoke, slipping into the combat mindset they had all developed through all their Hero training.

“Wait, what plan?”

“We’re gonna sneak into everyone’s rooms, find their phones, and delete the photo before they can see it. We don’t have to worry about you, me, or Toru, Kirishima’s phone is still out of commission from when Bakugou blew it up last week, and Bakuguo’s relic can’t get pictures. So we only have to grab 15 phones before dawn. We can do it!" The last was more to herself then to Izuku, who was still reeling slightly.

“That seems like a really terrible plan.” Izuku said.

“Got a better one?” Said a new voice from the door. Izuku turned to see his door had opened seemingly on its own. As Izuku looked closer he could see a pair of bunny slippers standing by the door, though no other clothes accompanied them. Apparently Hagakure was committed to the idea of nabbing their classmates phones while they slept.

“Toru! Did you get it?” Mina asked, bounding forward to interrogate her friend.

“Yep” From seemingly nowhere, the invisible girl produced a large silver key that dangled from a long chain. “Though you totally owe me an explanation on why this was in your desk drawer.”

“What exactly is that?” Izuku asked, apparently the only one outside of the loop.

“Master key for the dorms” Mina answered nonchalantly. Izuku boggled at the answer.

“Why do you have that!?”

Mina placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. “Izuku, if you care about me, never ask that question again.” With that, she turned back to Toru, leaving Izuku with far more questions than he’d had.

-----

In the end, it was disturbingly easy to break into their friend’s rooms. Hagakure, of course, was a master of stealth and had no trouble slipping in and out of almost every room. They made quick work of the girls side, the only hang ups a brief moment of panic when Yaoyorozu rolled unexpectedly in her sleep and nearly gave them a heart attack, and having to chase Urarka’s phone around the room since it, like much of her bedside furniture had become weightless as the girl slept.

Mina apparently knew all the codes to their phones, a fact which once again made Izuku question what exactly his girlfriend got up to in her free time.

When they reached the boy’s dormitories, things slowed down considerably. Hagakure was far more efficient at stealth than Izuku, but refused to enter several of the boy’s rooms. Her aversion to Mineta’s room was predictable (Izuku himself had to take a break to coat his hands with sanitizer after they had finished that one), but her aversion to Todorki and Ojiro’s rooms was harder to determine. She cited fear of the former’s wrath, but refused to elaborate on the second.

It fell to Izuku to sneak into a few rooms, unplugging Kaminari’s phone from the boy’s nose charger, unsticking Sero’s phone from its tape cocoon, and trying not to wake Tokoyami’s Dark Shadow from its position curled tightly around the boy.

It took them until just before the sun was set to rise, but the three of them managed to delete all of the copies of the photo their classmates had received. Satisfied and immensely tired, they each bid their fellow conspirators a good night, and practically collapsed into their beds once more.

Only to be woken far too soon by the rest of their classmates calling them for breakfast.

-----

“Late night Midoriya?” Kirishima called as Izuku dragged himself into the common room. He’d never been one for coffee, but felt like today he could make an exception. He yawned as he nodded in response to Kirishima’s question, then made his way to the kitchen to get his mug.

Mina was already there, dark bags under her eyes standing out against her bright skin even more than Izuku’s did. Some people joked that Aizawa acted like a father figure to their entire class but today, Izuku thought, they actually looked like his children.

He and Mina sipped quietly at their coffees, trying to pay attention to what their classmates were talking about. Kaminari was excitedly explaining the features of a new phone to Kirishima, who was looking perplexedly at the device. Apparently he had finally gotten the replacement he needed after Bakugou had blasted the device, which had gone off at an inconvenient time and ‘distracted’ the explosive blonde.

They were currently showing off the phone’s ability to project video above it, using cute stock footage of puppies playing in a park. Izuku could see why everyone in the room was enraptured. It didn’t get much more adorable than labrador puppies awkwardly bouncing around, putting their paws in the air like they were cheering.

Which reminded him…

“Mina, I forgot to ask, why did you still have a copy of that picture?”

She looked at him as if he were the biggest dolt in the universe. “Because it was adorable, duh.” She held up her phone, shaking it slightly to emphasize the point. “Besides, with the effort I put into getting it, I wasn’t just going to delete a photo like that. I almost thought about making it my background, but I figured you wouldn’t be a fan of that.”

Izuku flushed slightly at the idea. He would definitely prefer that only Mina saw that photo, given that it had been taken for her after all…

“Wait I can get my old messages on here too? Awesome!” Kirishima called, excited that he wouldn’t miss out on any of the memes his classmates had been swapping while his phone had been out of commission.

Both Mina and Izuku’s eyes widened as a horrific thought occurred to them. They spun in their seats, desperately trying to stop Kirishima before he undid all of their hard work.

Unfortunately for them, they were too late.

The phone projected the most recent image it had received in a holographic display that let the entire common room view it.

A nearly life sized image of Izuku filled the space above the table, dressed in the same cheerleader uniform that Kaminari and Mineta had tricked the girls into wearing for the sports festival. He wasn’t acting like his usual shy self, but was wearing the broad, encouraging smile he had been perfecting, and cocking a hip. One eye was closed in an exaggerated wink, and he was holding a pom pom high above his head. Below him, a caption proudly declared “Cheering 4 you! Do well on your exams! :)”

There was a long moment where no one spoke, trying to process exactly what they were seeing. Izuku could only blush furiously. Mina looked ready to tackle the first person who said anything.

Finally, Aoyama broke the silence. “Très bien Midoriya! You sparkle almost as brilliantly as moi!”

With that, the spell was broken. Several classmates crowded around, congratulating Izuku on his confidence, and his ability to fill out a uniform. They were all very positive. Even Bakugou was...tolerant at least. He stayed well away from Izuku, though he did look a little more red in the face than usual.

In fact, more than a few of his classmates were looking a bit flushed as they complimented him. Even the usually stoic Todoroki had come out of his shell, smiling and placing a hand on Izuku’s shoulder as the taller boy complimented Izuku on filling out the outfit.

It was a strange compliment, but Izuku accepted it all the same. He knew Todoroki was one of the only classmates who could match him in social awkwardness, so seeing him be more open was very gratifying, even if the root cause was something Izuku would have preferred hadn’t happened.

Izuku was surprised to be pulled out of the conversation with his classmates mid-sentence. Once he was free of the crowd, strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him close. As they did, Mina’s familiar scent filled his nose, and he relaxed a bit.

“Mina?” Izuku asked, confused by the interruption. It wasn’t like she was shy with her affection, even in public settings, but she didn’t usually grab him out of the blue like this.

She placed her head on his shoulder, and he got the distinct impression she was glowering at someone. He turned to follow her gaze, but couldn't see anyone doing anything specific. His classmates were still talking about the picture, which no one had bothered to take down, to his ongoing embarrassment.

“I’m just reminding people.” She said, not breaking eye contact with whoever she was watching.

“Reminding who? And of what?”

She turned her head as a  devilish smile crossed her face. “I’m reminding everyone that I got there first.” With that, she spun him around and pulled him into a full on kiss.

Izuku felt his heart rate spike in surprise and embarrassment. Part of the reason they were never very affectionate in public was that it made him feel very self conscious, even if it was only something simple like holding each other's hands.

Today though, he found that he didn’t mind it so much. After the initial wave of surprise, he relaxed into the embrace as his nerves faded away. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or maybe his sense of anxiety was so overloaded that it just gave out. Either way, he wrapped his arms around Mina, holding her just as tightly as she held him, and returned the kiss with just as much enthusiasm.

The two stayed like that for a long moment, lost in each other’s warmth. When they finally did break apart, it was to a completely different atmosphere.

Several of their classmates were blushing furiously at the blatant display of affection. Iida was caught between his desire to look away, and to scold the two for excessive PDA. Hagakure bounced up and down as she held out her phone, which was displaying a thumbs up emoji. Even the usually stoic Todoroki and Asui hadn’t kept it together, though the two of them looked more disappointed than embarrassed. Tokoyami was the only one who seemed indifferent, though Izuku wondered if he would even be able to discern embarrassment on a bird’s face.

Izuku found he didn’t care about their reactions. He was surrounded by good friends, who cared about him. HIs girlfriend was willing to go the whole nine yards for him, even if it was an emergency in name only. For a boy who had grown up being told he was worthless, and that no one would ever care for him, it was more than he had ever dreamed of.

[writing-anomaly]

Torn

Fandom:  Jojolion

Summary: Yasuho’s life is tearing at the seams. The volatile Rokakaka trade is catching up to them and when Josuke unravels, Yasuho  is pushed to her limit. She’s left more vulnerable than ever as she struggles to protect two men who barely know her.

This a story in which the protected must become the protector.

Chapter 3

Jobin stood by the window as the sun set on the little town of Morioh.

Peering from his bedroom's second-story floor, he looked down upon the bane of his existence.

Josuke Higashikata.

Jobin knew little about his father's reasonings for adopting the younger man, but it had yanked a thread from the elaborate efforts Jobin had put forth toward obtaining the one miracle that could spell the end of the Higashikata curse.

Groaning loudly, the eldest Higashikata son, allowed himself to process the stress he allowed to pile up during his absence from his hometown. The painkillers he took would do little to alleviate the headache that was his current reality, anyway.

Damo Tamaki had been killed...and on the Higashikata estate.

That little detail equated a HUGE problem.

Tamaki had been a gate keeper in regards to the underground trade of the Rokakaka fruit. He was also the man who ultimately held the door wide enough for Jobin to slip through the ranks of a world that detested humans. Not close enough to get his hands on the coveted fruit, of course, but near enough to pick up on some vital information.

That was motivation enough for the eldest Higashikata son to use the family business to money launder for the deadly Rokakaka smuggling ring. There was no official name for the group, Tamaki-san had detested such flagrancy as an act that would draw too much attention. They were simply there for the spoils.

There was much profit to be made from the misfortune of the fortunate. Wealthy men whose affluence couldn't afford them the one thing that mattered; their lives.

And so they made a business of it.

Damo Tamaki, Yotsuyu Yagiyama, and a few more of their kind; Rock people, as they called themselves. They were an anomaly, as far as Jobin was concerned. A species of man thriving within the rock-like state that would've taken his life as a child. A species that by all means and purposes could slip in and out of the human population, without detection. Rock people existed outside the border of human society. No records meant no identity as far as the feds were concerned. Which left minimal means for Rock People way to function effectively within the dominant culture.

Jobin was scouted specifically because of his ties to the Higashikata fruit company and brought onboard to help them integrate into human society.

In a way, Jobin viewed himself as a reaper, though not a particularly grim one. He never took a life, simply found those who were hanging off the edge between this world and the next. Then he pointed them toward Tamaki and his crew.

Transactions were enacted only within their tight-knit circle. The Rokakaka was exchanged in person, cash-in-hand; A quarter million yen for one piece of fruit. All handled under the table by way of the Higashikata Fruit company. What happened thereafter was not his concern.

They'd get their secound chance at a price. Rokakaka had mysterious properties to restore to the body what was loss. He himself had seen a few clients cured from incurable diseases, snatched back from the abyss, and continue their lives vicariously with a bounce on their step that would ware off as another part of their body started to malfunction. A new set of lungs may be paid for with a kidney. The only constant in the use of the illegal fruit was the rule of equivalency. The healing effects of eating the fruit were never without cost, whether paid for by the client's body or that of another.

It was an undeniable parallel to the Higashikata battle against the Rock disease; a cruel fate passed down from parent to child, most commonly the first born son. Its onset, assured by the age of 10, would lead to rapid deterioration in an otherwise healthy body.

Uncrossing his arms, Jobin raised a steady hand to his face, feeling the softness of his skin, remembering a time when its suppleness had stiffened and its texture became hostile as granite.

He subconsciously scratched the deep vertical ravines of his left cheek, residue from a time when his own father had hesitated to make the brazen decision required from past Higashikata patriarchs.

A sacrifice of equivalent exchange.

One life for another.

It wasn't a gift out of love, so much as an expectation; a duty to ensure the success of the next generation and the longevity of the the family bloodline. When his own time had come, Jobin had been none the wiser. A cheerful lad who simply enjoyed spending quality time with his family on a hot summer day. It wasn't until Jobin noticed his own limitations in running around with his friends that he had asked his mother why he was different.

She never lied to him the way his father did.

Protection is what his father called it, when he refused to tell him the whole truth.

He was brought out of his thoughts as his burner phone began to ring for the 7th time in the past hour. It was a cheap prepaid phone he used in order to separate his business from personal affairs. Truthfully, Jobin's contact had been blowing up his phone for the past 3 days, and he wasn't sure he could avoid him much longer. The business trip to New Zealand had allotted him an allaby, but now that he was back in Morioh, the drama was bound to catch up with him.

Hesitantly, he turned from the window to walk to the prepaid phone that had been haphazardly dumped into the tin can on his computer desk. It was full of the paint brushes he used to stimulate his prized stag beatles. There were so many, trying to dig his hand through them would be useless, so he dumped the whole thing on his king-sized bed. Sure enough, the phone blazed even louder after it hit his red cotton sheets.

Picking it up, he fumbled with the closed flip phone, and failed to answer before the ringing stopped.

Part of him felt relief, the other...dread.

Tamaki had been BOSS as far as he was involved.

Jobin did suspect that there was another above him, but he had never gone so deep that he'd brushed shoulders with the individual that Damo Tamaki reported to..

Ding!

He looked at the screen alert that told him a text message had been recieved.

The caller I.D. said unknown.

Sweat began pool at his temples as seeds of anxiety sprout.

He didn't particularly like dealing with the unknown.

He liked it even less when the 'unknown', 'unknowns' came to introduce themselves.

Taking a deep breath, he stilled his shaky hand.

"Ok, 3, 2, 1...." Jobin counted down to the moment that would decide his immediate future.

He flipped the phone open.

Unknown: I scraped up Damo Tamaki's body from Midori street.

Jobin just stared at the screen. Midori street was the road that ran along the east section of the property. After a moment of thought, he replied.

Jobin: When was this?

After several minutes his phone lit up again.

Unknown: Last week. You know somethin'?

Jobin: No, but that explains why he hasn't been answering my calls..

Of course, the eldest Higashikata already knew that the rock gangsta had been murdered. In fact, he was somewhat pleased that he had been. His family clued him in about the deadly situation involving a love interest his younger sister Hato, brought home. Damo Tamaki preyed on her while on the set of one of her modeling gigs; she was the key he used to access the family estate. The 'Rock man' practically melted everyone in the house with his stand Vitamin C, including the maid.

Jobin assumed it was due to Josuke killing Tamaki's right hand, Yotsuyu Yagiyama, after a failed attempt of trapping him on the Higashikata estate.

So Damo Tamaki decided to murder the whole family.

The aftermath was a vicious brawl.

Hato came out on top.

Damo has killed by the same man as his underling.

And the house was still in need of repairs.

Jobin stood up from the edge of the bed when the light in his room began to noticeably dim. Not bothering to recollect his stag beetle brushes, he returned to the window, absorbing the last bit of warmth as the sun sunk lower into the Japanese horizon.

Ding!

The text message he read made his heart pound.

Unknown: I should kill you.

So they knew..

Guilt by proximity. Two deaths at his family home.. how could the smuggling ring not think he had something to do with it.

Jobin felt himself beginning to sweat. His bedroom was suddenly a hot box.

His stand, Speed King's power must of have been activated by his adrenaline.

"What should I say..." he mumbled to himself.

Jobin: Bring it-

The text was deleted as soon as he pressed the last key.

He knew not to pick a fight with a man he could not see. Jobin was a formidable stand user, but he still had no idea how deep the Rokakaka's roots ran within the Rock-human underground. His everlasting headache pulsed even harder when his phone chimed again.

Unknown: But if you were a rat Damo would have killed you himself.

Another chime.

Unknown: As an act of good faith, I require something from you.

Another.

Unknown: Check your car.

Jobin bolted out of his room.

The wood floor panels creaked with every pound of his footsteps as he made it to the hall and down the stairs.

"Sorry!" Jobin yelled, as he nearly ran over the maid, a very startled Nijimura-san, on his way to the garage.

Cold wind from the open garage door and caused his sweat covered body to shiver involuntarily. Who had opened the door? Josuke never used that exit and Nijimura was not forgetful enough to leave it open.

Jobin gauged his surroundings.

There were no footprints or any other indication that someone had broken in.

Aside from the open door, everything was as it should be.

Cautiously, Jobin peered through the window of his golden lamborghini. His fingers pressed against the cool of the glass as he made out a a small pink box in the passenger seat. It was the size of his hand and wrapped like a present with a purple bow to secure it.

Cute. He chuckled dryly.

He opened the car door, and slid in the driver's seat, eyeing the package warily.

The odds of it not being a bomb?

Slim.

But here was no other option. Whoever messaged him knew where he lived and was most likely hanging around to make sure he obeyed.

Speed king manifested as a pulsing translucent heat wave.

It was a gamble considering it was a close range stand. The further he sent his stand, the weaker it's attack became. But scouting out the perimeter was worth the temporary vulnerability. Besides, it was almost undetectable in that form, aside from the unusual rise in temperature.

He needed to determine if he was in immediate danger.

Jobin reclined in his black leather seat, running his nails along the stitching.

His eyes closed as he willed his mind to connect to the vision of his stand.

Speed King scoped the area within a 10km radius.

It was dark, so the colors of the environment were muted by the blue of the night sky, making it harder to differentiate shapes. Jobin instead focused on finding pockets of heat that were not his own. The nocturnal creatures popped from the monotonous environment, appearing in blobs of yellow and orange as his sensor locked on to their body heat. A rat, owl, and a few bugs were all that came into view.

Nothing alarming.

Jobin retracted his stand and focused on his current dilemma.

The 'gift.'

He reached over the cup holder to the passenger side chair and picked up the box.

It was light as a feather.

He shook it, yet nothing rattled inside.

Jobin held his breath and untied the bow.

When he looked into the box he saw a single note.

Kill Kujo Josefumi

Jobin's eyebrows shot up at the unexpected request. It would have made more sense if the note had mentioned his sister Hato or Josuke, since they were the ones responsible for taking down Damo Tamaki.

He flipped paper to look at the back.

Your wife dies

So he was being given two options.

Kill Josefumi or lose his wife.

Jobin should've expected as much. Forgiveness would not be given freely. He was expected to earn his way out of punishment. Admittedly, it was a very mob boss-like course of action. He'd have to take every precaution from this step forward.

"..Kujo Josefumi." Jobin tested the name on his lips and scowled.

He remembered Tamaki had used the name as an alias but he assumed the identity belonged to someone who was already deceased. From what he'd heard, it was customary for rock people to target a particular human in order to absorb their assets and status when they choose to integrate into society. In any case, this was the best possible outcome. With Tamaki out of the way Jobin was one step closer to whoever was holding the reins on the Rokakaka smuggling world.

Murder was not something he aspired to do, but if it meant advancing his efforts in obtaining the Rokakaka, and a cure to the Higashikata curse, then so be it.

His son, Tsurugi depended on it.

The only issue was, "Who is Kujo Josefumi?"

To be continued...

[kyralih]

cardinal king, arc two, chapter nine

Ongoing Sailor Moon fanfiction where the roles are reversed, and instead of Beryl and the Earth Kingdom attacking the Moon, the Moon Kingdom attacked the Earth Kingdom and now, thousands of years later, Mamoru and his Four Heavenly Kings fight to keep Earth safe.

While their past business was wrapped up in the First Arc of their story, their return to Tokyo was met with little in the way of peace, as Mamoru encountered a red haired, red eyed little boy who also calls himself “Mamoru” and insists on being with Usagi, despite the dangers that dog him at every turn. To make matters worse, a surprise attack has them down two Kings and leaves them with very little information to go off of to get them back.

Can they solve these mysteries before it’s too late?

For more information, media, and links to prior chapters, see this page: Cardinal King

Name reminders! Zoisite–> Hanada, Kaito –> North King Jadeite –> Moegi, Yuu –> South King Nephrite –> Midori, Nero –> East King Kunzite –> Kobai, Khalid –> West King

He kept replaying the scene, trying to figure out what he could have done to change what had happened, but he just drew blanks. His head pounding, his body sluggish and sleepy, he knelt there in the debris and stared at the place where Nero should have been, feeling empty and useless in the sudden silence. The Archons had one more of his friends, and if all they needed were the Kings, then it was only West left before they could do whatever it was they were intending. He struggled to his feet, stumbling as he lost his balance, and staggered towards the crystal that oozed the miasma that had sapped them of their strength. Without it, would Nero have been able to defeat Iao without repercussions? Would his attack have done more? A rose came to his hand; he twirled it, forced in energy that nearly blinded him with pain, and stabbed the Rose Sword into the Archon’s gemstone. Cracks spread across its surface and the purple mist dissipated, and Mamoru turned back towards the entrance, only to be met by West King and Helios.

Neither said a word. West put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and Cardinal King put his hand atop it, keeping it in place. West wasn’t going anywhere - he wouldn’t let that happen. “Helios,” he called, and the unisus glided down to the level of his eyes, white wings beating carefully. “Something is wrong with my powers; I know I can do more than I am doing, but something is in the way, choking off what I know I can do. We need to figure out what is blocking it and remove that block as quickly as we can. Are there further attacks?”

‘Not at this time.’ Helios replied, sounding exhausted, ‘I’ll keep my senses open and consider the problem with your powers; the moon will be rising soon, and once that happens I can research any potential causes in Elysion once Rin has gone to sleep; I’ll go to him now to keep an eye out for --’

“You sound awful,” Mamoru cut in, trying to drum up a sense of levity that had not been with them in days. The statement shocked Helios into silence, so he continued with the half a smile he could force, “That Archon - Iao - seemed to have been behind the attacks today, and, thanks to Nero, he won’t be back again. When was the last time you slept? Last week? Go home, get some rest; you’ll think clearer with some sleep. We’ll handle the rest of it from here.”

The unisus drooped, ‘I did not mean to disappoint you -’

“Who said you did?” he interrupted again, quick to discount any issue on Helios’s part. “You’ve done more than any of us have, worked harder than anyone here. You deserve a full night’s rest. I need you at your best, Priest of Elysion,” he said, the last like a tease. “Take a nap, we’ll wake you when we get home.”

Helios nodded, but added before he disappeared, ‘Don’t let me sleep past midnight; there’s more I need to do before dawn.’ With an affirmative nod, he disappeared, and it was just him and West.

As the shop’s patrons stirred, they walked towards the door and detransformed; he was too exhausted to go jumping around the city, and apparently Khalid agreed. His cleats made a drumming sound as they walked, his practice clothes colder as dusk surrounded them, but he was too tired and numb to care about the discomfort beyond the notion that Nero had been wearing the same thing. They walked in silence to the nearest bus stop, boarded, and headed towards the arcade to collect Rin. “It wasn’t your fault,” Khalid stated quietly, and Mamoru nodded, though Iao’s words about saving Earth’s future from him never quite left the back of his mind. “I should have been there,” he continued, and Mamoru shook his head.

“If you were, you may have been crushed or taken with him,” he stated firmly. “They need you and your energy to summon something they called Demiurge; I don’t know what these crystals have to do with anything, but that Archon, Iao, made it clear that you and the others were necessary for their plan, but I was not.” He paused, swallowing, and did not meet Khalid’s eyes as he continued. “He used me against Nero, Khalid. You can’t let them do that to you; if this future they see is all that bad, then fight to save it, with or without me, okay? Don’t let yourself get caught.”

Khalid said nothing, but nodded. Mamoru didn’t quite know if he believed the motion, but wondered if he could talk Khalid into disappearing into Elysion until they figured out what to do, just in case. He had fought alone in the beginning, and he’d rather fight that way in the end by choice, rather than through loss. He didn’t think Khalid would agree, but maybe he could get Helios to agree and work with him to convince Kobai that it had to be done.

The bus rolled up to their stop and paused to let them off; they walked the short distance to Crown Arcade with its interior lighting spilling out onto the street as the sun finally fell below the horizon. He spotted her immediately, her blonde buns and pigtails easy to find even if she hadn’t been bouncing up and down behind a driver’s seat for a racing game. They entered to an electronic beep and she turned to the sound in a way that suggested she had been doing that for a while, and a smile broke across her face upon seeing him. His chest warmed against the bleakness it had been filled with as she hurried over and bounced into him, her arms wrapping around his neck as she held him close. He returned her embrace, eyes closing for a moment as he let her warm weight settle on him, the familiar feel of her easing the loneliness inside him in an almost unfair way. When he let her go enough for her feet so slide to the floor, she turned to look at Khalid and he released his grasp completely. She looked to his other side and her demeanor changed for a second as the realization hit her, but she did not ask the question to be sure, probably for his benefit.

“How was it?” he asked.

She took his hand and led him over to the racing game, “He’s pretty good, you know? Almost caught up to your score, Mamo-chan!” she said, though the cheerfulness of her tone was forced. She kept hold of his hand as she leaned over to smile at the kid in the driver’s seat, “We had a good afternoon, didn’t we, Rin?”

The young redhead grinned up at her, then turned his gaze to Mamoru and the smiled faded and he returned to the game.

“Where are your friends?” Khalid asked conversationally, looking casually around the arcade for signs of the “retired” sailor senshi.

Usagi replied, “They had to go; Ami-chan had some studying to do and Minako-chan complained that her mother would ground her for life if she wasn’t home before sunset. It’s been just Rin and me since then!”

“Thanks for watching him,” Khalid replied, “Has he told you where he lives or where we can find his parents yet?”

“Rin?” Usagi prompted, “You can tell me, you know. It’ll be okay - we can help you if something bad is happening, alright? You can count on us.”

Rin kept playing the game, until he suddenly, deliberately, crashed the racecar into a digital guardrail. “It’s time to go back to Mamoru’s place now, isn’t it?” he asked flatly, turning to take hold of Usagi’s hand as he hopped down out of the driver’s seat. He looked up at her, “I’d like to play with Minako-chan and Ami-chan again,” he said, “Can we do that tomorrow?”

Usagi smiled wide, “Sure! I’d like that, too.” She straightened, still holding his hand, and walked towards the exit. Rin grabbed his little backpack and slid it into place as they all walked through the door to another electronic beep. “Can I pick you up from school again tomorrow?” she asked, swinging his arm playfully. He appreciated that she made the offer, but now that it was just him and Khalid, the reason why she had to offer made him feel almost sick to his stomach.

The kid beamed up at her, “Okay!”

“See you tomorrow then!” Usagi enthused, releasing his hand at the corner. Rin looked up at her, then grabbed the straps of his backpack and waited to cross the street, Khalid stepping up to stand nearer to him. Usagi took a few steps back, towards her bus stop, and caught his hand in hers, the warmth spreading from her into him. She squeezed, he squeezed back. They didn’t speak - they didn’t need to. He didn’t want to talk about it and she didn’t need him to, but as her eyes filled with tears he held her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into him. He knew what she meant.

“I’ll get them back,” he said, his whispered voice cracking before he could stifle the emotion.

“I know you will,” she said, then pushed back from him, brushing the back of her hand across her cheek. She cleared her throat and stepped back, “I’ll tell you if Luna finds anything,” she said, glancing towards the eastern horizon for moonrise.

“Thanks,” he replied, adding, “If ‘Archons’ did not return anything, have her search for ‘Demiurge’ - their goal is to summon it, whatever it is.” She nodded, worry etched in her features, and he looked up as a bus rumbled towards them. Kissing her on the top of her head, he whispered, “You’ll miss your bus. I love you, stay safe.”

She pulled on his jersey to kiss his mouth, the movement quick but sweet. “I love you, too. Take care, and tell me if anything happens, okay?” He nodded, and she picked up her school bag, turned, and hurried for the bus stop before the bus left her behind.

He turned back towards Khalid and Rin, just in time for the Shapeshifter to wheel out of the air towards them, insect-like wings beating, barbed elbow bared to strike. “KHALID!” he shouted, heart in his throat, adrenaline throwing him into motion. Khalid never hesitated; he bent down, scooped up the kid, and dashed off towards the park, away from the direction of his apartment, the weaponized body part of the pink-skinned enemy skimming just above where his head had been.

“Oh Little Red~” the sing-song voice of the shapeshifter called, her voice ringing above the street traffic as she swung up and followed them from above.

His head pulsed even before he called on his power to transform, the pyrite pendant shining briefly as the change overcame him, but as his feet hit the pavement in boots rather than cleats, his headache tripled in its discomfort. His run wobbled, but he pushed through the pain to follow after. He had to help them - he would help them, pain or no! He wasn’t going to let them get Khalid or Rin, and he wasn’t going to let himself black out trying! He covered the distance quickly, the powers of his transformation propelling him to run faster than he ever could hope to untransformed, and he caught up with Khalid and the kid quickly. He summoned a rose and threw it on the go, aiming for the monster that coasted easily above them; she dodged it, but he used that time to take the kid from Khalid and run ahead, allowing Khalid to transform without revealing who he was. They disappeared into the park, the pink creature still on them - or so he thought; his vision was filled with black and white spots, images that he tried to force away but was having less and less luck doing so.

West King caught up to them, his cape streaming out behind him as he ran. Tired as he may be, he jumped up, kicked off the trunk of a tree, and was airborne, his scimitar flashing as he yelled out a battle cry. Taking advantage of the surprise attack, Cardinal King stopped by one of the large construction tubes that kids liked to crawl through and deposited Rin into one, sure that the creature that stalked them would be too distracted to see. “Stay here!” he ordered as frightened red eyes stared out at him from the darkness within the tunnel, and he dashed off, heading for the playground to mask a more convincing hiding place. Panting, he turned in place, sending playground wood chips flying into the plastic playset behind him, and summoned another rose as West King fell from the sky, just barely missing another strike from the creature. He sent the projectile flying as he turned, trying to pinpoint any other movement - any sign of backup for their enemy. He now knew there were at least four of them - but, for the moment, it seemed the pink one was alone.

West King appeared at his side, breathing heavier than he normally would, scimitar still drawn, a red line of blood across the blade. Good. They bled. “Leave now,” Khalid called up in challenge, his shoulders rising and falling hard with the effort, “And you’ll leave with your life.”

He readied another rose to make the point, backing West’s attempt to scare it off.

“Same to you!” the voice called back, the pink skinned female figure in the revealing outfit floating above them. She shrugged exaggeratedly so they could see it from the distance between them, “I couldn’t care less about you - hand over the redhead and I won’t have to kill you, simple as that!”

“Why do you want him?!” Mamoru yelled up, making the effort to breathe evenly, concentrating on the notion of pulling energy from the planet beneath his feet, just as he had less than a week ago, but it still felt like he was pulling on a string rather than letting the energy flood into him. The world spun dizzyingly, his head felt like something cold and sharp was pushing through it, and his muscles ached with exhaustion. They weren’t prepared for this fight; they couldn’t afford this fight, but if they could keep her talking they could attempt to use the time to reenergize themselves and attempt to piece more of this together.

“Listen, I get that you guys are “superheroes”, but he doesn’t even belong here - we’re just trying to get him back to where he belongs!” she called back, using her fingers to make quotation marks obvious.

“Then where does he belong?!” West called up.

“With us,” she yelled down, rolling her eyes. “I’ll give you to the count of five. Just walk away. I’ll find him and we’ll never have to see each other again.” With a flourish, metallic blades appeared in either hand, catching the light from the streetlamps around them.

“Not the best answer,” Khalid dryly muttered, “If we were in better shape I’d suggest catching her for information.”

“No kidding,” Mamoru agreed, his answer airier than he had intended. He kept an eye on her as she slowly counted down, watching to make sure she didn’t launch herself at them early.

“One~”

“We’re not letting her get him,” West stated, and he nodded, though the movement threatened to knock him over. West seemed to notice. “Think you could get away with him?”

“Not in this condition,” he replied, glancing quickly to him in an attempt to evaluate his fitness. “You?”

“Two~”

“I couldn’t get far, not after earlier,” West replied honestly. “That leaves just one option then.”

Cardinal King took another deep breath and held it, keeping himself oriented, prepared to break the moment Khalid did.

“Three~”

West King rolled his wrist to ready his scimitar, his eyes skyward too.

“Four!”

West dashed to one side to ricochet off of the tall playground slide to gain some air; Cardinal King threw a rose to keep the shapeshifter off balance, her surprised call of “Hey! Not fair!” showing enough that it worked. Dizzily he called forth another rose, his head swimming and fire shooting up his arm as the flower materialized in his hand. A warning blazed through his addled mind and he barely turned the instrument into a sword and blocked before the pink enemy was upon him, her blades meeting his and forcing him back, though the effort needed to accomplish that was much less than it should otherwise have been. It took everything he had to keep his sword between himself and her and off his chest. She grinned down at him, her demonic smile alarming as her long, wavy light brown hair fell in the short space between them like a veil. She leaned in and blew on his face, his hair fanning away from her as she knocked his mask askew, and he could do nothing to stop her. “Silly Prince~ This could have been avoided, you know.” She pressed in closer and his muscles screamed; all he could do was glare, every ounce of strength he could muster fully involved in not letting the blades pierce his skin.

“Illusionary Silver Crystal, hear my prayer! Let me save him - help me fight to protect this world and its people as a Sailor Senshi!”

Usako?

“Moon Princess Power!” she called, her voice ringing in the night, echoing from a place near the park’s entrance, “Make Up!”

Light flashed beyond the curls of the enemy; she turned her face aside with a perplexed expression, and he turned to see what was going on, equally as hopeful as afraid for her. If it worked… but what if it didn’t? What if the power were too great?! He closed his eyes against the bright light just in time, the shapeshifter tensing and releasing a slight hiss to reveal she had not been so lucky, and as he blinked in the aftermath his spirit surged. Usako was gone, but in her place stood a Sailor Senshi - one unlike the others in color scheme and accessories - one that was clearly her. Her front bow was pink, the back made of lace and longer than any of the other senshi, her skirt and collar a shade of blue darker than Mercury’s, her skirt underlaid with some sort of lace petticoat that similarly puffed at her sleeves. Her white elbow length gloves and knee-height boots were lined in pink ribbons and pearls, her tiara made of yet more pearls surrounding a red stone reminiscent of her Jewel Tiara days. In her hair, done in the familiar odango style, were the pearl accessories from her past life and new pink hued gems in front of the double buns. She was beautiful, but the determined, almost murderous look in her eyes made him nervous -

“I’m the Pretty Guardian of Love and Justice, Princess Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I’ll punish you!” Her blue eyes burning, she held out her hand and her Crescent Wand appeared, the Silver Crystal itself sitting couched within the tool. Was she still Usagi? She held it high above her head and changed her stance, her body moving like a dancer’s as she focused on the creature that pressed into him. “Moon,” she called out, summoning palpable power around her. “Princess,”

“What is this?!” The pink creature remarked, pressing down on him to sit up straighter. He groaned, her added weight on his hands finally enough to overcome his strength. Her twin daggers cut into him, piercing his flesh on either side of his chest. Something cracked. The pain on top of everything else finally overwhelmed him.

“Halation!”

The last thing he saw was glittering light slicing through the creature that straddled him.

He awoke in a haze of pain, his head swimming as notions of where he was and what he was doing slowly tried to take hold of him; the moment they did, his eyes shot open and he called out, twisting to stand and fight, only to be entangled in sheets and blankets tucked in tight. He was in his room?! Light angled through his bedroom window, tracing across his bed, and for half a moment he wondered if it had been all some sort of horrible dream, but as Helios teleported in just above him, the concerned and haggard look about him was evidence enough that the events of the past few days had been real.

‘How are you feeling?’ the unisus asked, voice choked with concern. ‘You had us all worried, Mamoru - take it easy.’

He pulled his hand out from beneath the tightly-pulled bedding and rubbed at his head in an attempt to ease the residual pain there, noticing as he did so that his chest was bound with gauze, faint red stains coloring the white fabric in near center of each side of his upper body. The light through the window disconcerted him - how long had he been out? They couldn’t afford this - he had to get up and transform and figure everything out before it was too late. Carefully, he turned to look at the time on the clock on his bedside table - 11:50 am - only to catch on something. His heartbeat slowed to a crawl, beating painfully as he reached out for the Pyrite Pendant that lay on the table beside him, the fool’s gold cracked completely through its center. As his hands touched it, one hemisphere of the crystal twitched out of the facing entirely. His transformation item… he turned to look at Helios, the realization heavy and frightening. Did this mean he couldn’t…?

Helios landed at the edge of his bed, offering no explanation or words of comfort. ‘You nearly died last night. If it hadn’t been for Usagi’s transformation, both you and Khalid could have…’ he trailed off, but Mamorus’s full attention was still on the broken pendant now cradled in the palm of his hand. His transformation item; did this mean that he couldn’t be Cardinal King anymore? But if he couldn’t be Cardinal King, what would happen to Kaito, Nero and Yuu?

He swallowed, “I couldn’t call up my powers. Something was fighting me - it’s been fighting me. Helios, what… what does this mean?” he said, motioning to the pendant. “Is it symbolic? Am I not supposed to be fighting as Cardinal King? Will I not be able to fight with everyone anymore?”

‘Mamoru…’ Helios trailed off, and Mamoru met his gaze, the regret he found there making his gut clench. He wouldn’t let that happen - he’d fight, he’d keep fighting, transformation or no - ‘I figured it out,’ Helios continued, slowing his train of thought as he waited to see what his advisor had in store - had he already found a way around it? ‘Just… too late to be of any assistance to you. I should have seen it earlier - figured it out sooner. If I had…’ he trailed off, breaking eye contact to shake his head in shame. ‘I should have realized when your nose bled back at the Midori manor. It’s been holding you back, Mamoru. I’ve been holding you back - that pendant has been restraining your abilities.’

He waited for Helios to continue.

‘I’m sorry,’ Helios continued. ‘When I made the Pyrite Pendant for you, I didn’t know who you were - the transformation was not intended to handle or wield the amount of power you are now able to draw upon, and when you awakened, your transformation into your Princely attire covered the mistake I made as it had no restraints placed upon it. Cardinal King was never meant to handle the amount of power you are now used to - there were inherent restraints in place within that transformation to stop you from burning through your life force, restraints meant to protect your life - the lives of all of the Heavenly Kings - that you have now grown beyond. Your inability to wield the strength you needed was because you were trying to direct a river through a kitchen funnel.’ He nodded towards the pendant. ‘And it very nearly killed you yesterday. It’s why you have been getting headaches - the block in place made you strain far harder than you ever needed to. Yesterday night, as you started to bleed out, the Golden Crystal reacted by breaking the pendant in order to channel the energy needed to save you.’

His brows furrowed, remembering how he had transformed into his previous life’s form for the first time when he needed the Golden Crystal to heal Nero; how he had only used that much energy again successfully when they were all in Elysion and he was once more garbed in the wear of his past self. He always recognized that the Golden Crystal was easier to use as Prince Endymion, but he had never realized it was because Cardinal King was inherently limited. He closed his palm around the pendant that had, for so long, been a lifeline, and slowly deposited it back on his nightstand. “Am I still able to transform and fight?”

Helios flipped his mane in the unisus equivalent to a shrug, ‘You should be able to, but… unleashing your power as Prince Endymion regularly - in this world and this age - without the full practice in wielding the Golden Crystal’s power, you could very easily do damage you never intend to do, and without a safeguard in place you could go beyond the limits and use your life energy in its place.’ He paused, ‘I may be able to figure something else out; but for the immediate future -’

“Helios, I have to be able to fight. The Archons won’t stop just because my transformation is undergoing technical difficulties,” he stated and pulled back the covers to swing his legs over the side of the bed. Mention of the organization brought them to the forefront after the knowledge that he was alive and could transform to fight them - even if he needed to be careful in doing so. As Prince Endymion, able to wield as much power as Helios suggested, he may be able to stop them in their tracks. He stood, intending to get dressed and plan their next move, only to stumble in lightheadedness. He reached out, steadying himself on his dresser before he could fall over, and turned to Helios, who had jumped up off his perch to follow after him in concern.

‘You’re still healing,’ Helios explained quietly. ‘You strained yourself and need more time to recover -’

“They won’t give us that time!” he growled, pushing back, “And since when have I needed this much time? It’s been over twelve hours, Helios - we can’t afford to wait for this; it’s just me and Khalid now. People will be in danger and we have to help them. If they summon this Demiurge thing there’s no telling what will happen to everyone.” Still bracing himself on the dresser, he reached and opened his door, intending to find Khalid and figure out their next move, only to be greeted with a surprised -

“Mamochan!”

- that kept him in place as Usagi sprung across the living room from the kitchen. She wore her school uniform and a cheerful look that fell to concern as she looked him over, stopping before she could jump on him, blue eyes trailing to the gauze on his chest, lingering on the red stains on either side. He glanced down, glad to see pajama pants on, and readjusted to hold on to the door frame. “Usako - what are you…?”

“Doing here?” she finished helpfully, glancing back towards the kitchen sneakily before stepping closer. “Keeping watch. I - look,” she said, motioning down to the bow of her school uniform, in the middle of which a new brooch was clasped. In the shape of a heart, it was decorated with stones of red, blue, green and orange surrounding a pink gem. She unclipped it and flipped it over to reveal the moonstone that had made up the feature point of her Jewel Tiara belt, the same gem that allowed her to communicate with the Moon Kingdom. “It holds the Silver Crystal,” she stated, opening it with a deft twist of her thumb to reveal the silver gem sitting cushioned within its center cavity, “and with it I can transform - I tried it again last night after the first attempt. Mamochan, I was so scared, but now - now I can help you. Really help you. I can fight with you guys, just like I used to, but this time I can do more than just sneaky sideline things!” She caught his free hand in hers, smiling up at him in earnest, “I can fight alongside you to keep our world safe, whether from those Doom and Bloom girls or the Archons or anything else thrown at us.”

“Doom and Bloom girls?” he repeated, grasping her hand comfortably, his stomach squeezing with discomfort with the thought of Usagi putting herself in danger, even as his mind recalled that glittery blast that had taken the enemy off of him last night.

“The shapeshifters,” she explained, “That’s what she called herself before she left - something like “You’ll never defeat the Doom and Bloom Girls!” I… at least that’s what I think she said. I was - you’re okay, right?” she said, the excitement that had filled her as she shared with him her new item fading to be replaced with concern.

He nodded, “I will be.”

“You should get back to bed; Rin and I will make you something to eat -”

“Rin knows?” he reflexively asked, eyes darting past her to the kitchen, the table barely visible from that angle.

“Not about me,” she said quickly, her voice shushing him as she paused, looking up at him, before pushing on with the answer, “but he was there when you lost your transformation. He knows who you are, and about Khalid.” Mamoru’s brows furrowed; with all of Rin’s secrets it had been a given that they would hide their identities from him until they figured out where he came from and what he was after. He hoped now more than ever that they had been correct in trying to protect the kid, and that it wouldn’t come back to bite them. “He was really worried about you; he didn’t want to leave you to go to school, and Khalid hadn’t wanted to leave you alone, so he called to ask me to take him.” He nodded his understanding; if their positions had been reversed and Khalid was hurt, with everything else going on there was no way he’d leave him alone, anywhere, and with Usagi’s recent transformation abilities it seemed safe enough to ask that she escort the kid to school so they could get some work done. “Only, on my way over…” she paused nervously, glancing to the window over his desk, “there was another attack, this one at Rin’s elementary school. I guess it went off earlier than intended - hardly anyone was there. The news reported that the site was dangerous and the officials called off school all over the city - they’re citing gas leaks.”

He wavered in place, suddenly feeling weak, despite what he wanted to do. While he had been laid out, people were getting hurt, their energy drained, that same energy building to help the Archons with Demiurge - they couldn’t let it continue - “The elementary school - have they pulled people free of the miasma? Do we know anything about the crystal in --” he paused, dread rising in him as he realized that, if their positions were reversed, the only way he would leave a healing Khalid was if there had been -- “Where’s Khalid?!” His heart raced and, immediately this time, he clumsily fell to the ground, startling Usagi back a step as he placed his hands on either side of him and focused on the pink glow of Khalid’s Kunzite soul stone, prepared a burst of power, and sent it out --

Only for the door of his apartment to open. “What are you making?” Khalid’s voice called softly to Rin, the pink of his gem pinging brightly in Mamoru’s mind. He nearly fell over in relief.

“Rice balls,” Rin returned as Usagi reached out her hand to help him up. He took it, though also held onto the door frame to inch his way back to standing, only for Helios to appear in the crook of his arm, wedging his neck beneath his arm and growing in size until Mamoru was standing again. He held on to his mane to regain his balance, shooting the unisus an incredulous look, but the moment he steadied the unisus shrunk back down to his typical house-cat size, flew over, and landed smartly on the couch in front of the television.

“Are they edible?” Khalid asked, the question only halfway teasing.

An indignant reply met his query, “Yes.”

I don’t know, He could almost hear Nero needle, I’ve eaten some questionable things and even I’m having second thoughts about eating this. What do you think, Yuu?

I think it’s risky, Yuu would say, We’d better make sure he eats the first one, just to be sure.

What flavor are they, anyway? Kaito would wonder, that note of light derision glancing off his tone.

“Then may I have one?” Khalid said instead, and Mamoru waited another moment in the doorway to his bedroom before walking across the living room with Usagi to join them.

He missed his friends.

[silverangel19]

Evening Hour

Don’t question my choice of title. I’m horrible at it. It was initially Evening Photograph but then I’m just like wtf no why can’t I think of good titles. This fandom needs more HayaRyuu content and I’d like to contribute with this small fic. It’ll also be posted on Ao3 later today if anyone wants to read it from there. It’s fluff, no smut. I don’t write smut. Enjoy~

“Thanks for your help, Kashima-kun.”

“No problem, sensei. I’m glad to be of help. I’ll be taking my leave now, excuse me.” Ryuuichi hurriedly gathered his stuff and jogged out the classroom.

He was running a bit late. He had just finished helping out the teacher and was on his way to the daycare room. As he reached the room, he slid open the door, only to find no one inside. He blinked, and looked around the room, wondering if maybe the kids were having a game of hide-and-seek.

As minutes passed, worry was starting to seep in and he was debating whether or not he should look for them or if he should just wait patiently for them to come back from wherever they went. Ryuuichi knew that Usaida was very well capable of taking care of the kids, but sometimes it gets a little worrisome not knowing their whereabouts.

It was only then he remembered that he had a phone and calmed down a little. He could just call Usaida and ask him about it. He hasn’t really been using the phone Obaa-san had given him. After nearly a year of not having a phone with him, the habit of checking his phone dissipated.

‘As thanks from before.’

The memory of Hayato resurfaced and Ryuuichi couldn’t help but smile softly as he stared dazedly at the phone in his hand. He was shook out of his thoughts when the phone rang, echoing loudly in the empty room. He jumped at the sound and fumbled to receive the call, quickly glancing at the caller before picking it up.

“Hello, Usaida-san?”

“Ah, Ryuu-chan. You’re done with school now, right? The kids couldn’t wait any longer so I took them out for a walk a while ago. We should be back in another hour or so. We’re with Inomata-chan, by the way. Apparently they’re free to use the room for the whole day so the cooking club is making some sweets for them. If you want to, you can stop by the cooking room.” Usaida’s voice spoke from the receiver.

“Oh, sure- “, Ruuichi paused and looked at the time. Hayato was about done with his club activities. He looked down at his bag and was reminded of the chemistry homework given by Hebihara-sensei. Hayato does well in this subject and was surprisingly patient and helpful when teaching him. Ryuuichi had planned to do it together with him when the kids were having their nap time. Then again, he also hadn’t expected to be called out to assist his teacher in something. By the time he was finished, the kids had woken up from their naps.

‘Since they’re out now and Hayato is coming over soon…’

“…It’s fine, Usaida-san. I could use this time to get my work done. Hayato and I will be here when you guys get back. Have fun with the kids.” Ryuuichi said and laughed as he heard a mixture of ‘I want to talk to Ryuu!’ and ‘It’s Ryuuuuu!!’ in the background.

“Okay, we’ll bring back snacks for you guys. Enjoy your time with Hayato~” Usaida responded teasingly and hung up before Ryuuichi could even say goodbye.

“…Right.” Ryuuichi sighed, placing the phone in his bag. He walked over to the side of the room, taking out his worksheets.

It’s been ten minutes and he hasn’t done a single question. Looking at the equations and formulas got him a little sleepy. Ryuuichi rubbed his eyes and leant back on the book shelf behind him. He looked up to the sound of the door opening.

In came Hayato with his baseball cap still on, panting slightly with his face flushed and a light sheen of sweat plastered on his skin.

Ryuuichi’s heart beat a little faster at the sight. He swallowed and averted his gaze for a moment before flitting back towards Hayato.

“H-hey, Hayato. Usaida and the kids are out for a walk. They’re currently at the cooking club right now, and will probably be back in another hour.”

Hayato grunted and took off his cap, plopping down next to Ryuuichi, sitting close to him. Close enough that their shoulders brushed against each other with every small movement. Ryuuichi didn’t mind it, and hoped that Hayato didn’t too. The musky scent of Hayato was oddly comforting, a pleasant tingle ran down Ryuuichi’s body, and he had to resist the urge to lean closer.

The two of them had grown close with each passing day, so much so that their classmates would question them if one was not present with the other. They were always a pair. Walking to class together and having lunch together. They were comfortable with the other’s presence and enjoyed each other’s company, with lingering gazes and soft touches that were occurring more frequently as time passed. They have even started calling each other by their first names. It had been quite embarrassing, especially the first time, to freeze up or get flustered as they stuttered out their first names. Since then, they have gradually gotten used to it and are now completely fine being on first-name basis with each other.

Ryuuichi glanced to the side to look at his friend. Hayato was breathing a little heavily, his eyes were half-mast and looked about ready to flake out.

“Are you okay, Hayato?” Ryuuichi asked softly, his voice laced with concern as he gently placed a hand on Hayato’s shoulder.

“I’m fine. There’s a competition coming up in a month and our coach has been training us harder than usual. He’s hoping our team would win for real this time.” Hayato replied nonchalantly.

‘It must be some really grueling training if even Hayato is feeling this tired from it.’  Ryuuichi thought as he looked down at the worksheets spread on his lap. ‘I should let him rest… I’ll just figure this out on my own for the time being.’

Hayato took a look at the papers and textbooks on Ryuuichi’s lap and huffed. “You need any help?”

“Eh? No, no, I’m fine! I can do it myself, you should get some sleep before they come back!” Lies. He was totally not fine. Ryuuichi had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

“…I know this particular topic is more difficult than the one before, even I find it a bit challenging.” Hayato raised a brow questioningly, not believing a single word Ryuuichi said.

Ryuuichi rubbed a hand behind his neck and chuckled nervously. “Uh…”

“Come on, I’ll teach you.” Hayato took the paper from his lap and looked at the questions.

“It’s really okay, Hayato- “

“Ryuuichi.”

Golden amber eyes stared hard at him before they softened. Hayato shook his head and sighed in both exasperation and fondness, giving a soft knock to Ryuuichi’s head. “Hurry up before they come back.”

They were silent for a moment until Ryuuichi broke it, smiling brightly. “Thank you, Hayato!”

Hayato looked away, a small blush painted his cheeks. “Whatever.”

They spent the next half an hour doing their work. Ryuuichi hanging onto every word Hayato said as he taught him and Hayato explaining to him calmly despite the usual grumpiness he gets whenever he was tired. Hayato was done teaching him and was now just looking over his work as Ryuuichi worked diligently on it, making sure he wouldn’t make any mistakes.

Ryuuichi was half way through the last question when he felt a weight on his shoulder. He turned his head slightly to find Hayato asleep, a serene expression on his face.

Ryuuichi was slightly surprised. It was the first time seeing Hayato asleep like this, on him no less.

‘He looks so peaceful… Not at all scary.’ Ryuuichi lips quirked up into a smile as he patted the soft raven strands. Hayato mumbled a little in his sleep and leant into the touch.

Ryuuichi held back a giggle, not wanting to wake him up. ‘He can be quite cute at times.’

With Hayato this close, the scent of him was even stronger. It really was a nice smell. Ryuuichi felt himself relaxed even more, his eyes were starting to droop, the warmth next to him tempting him into a blissful slumber.

‘Ahh… and I was almost done with it…’ Ryuuichi’s sight of his chemistry work was blurring, letters and formulas becoming a jumbled mess of black and white. He gave in and drifted off as well, head atop the other and fingers laced together.

‘I’ll just doze for a while, and wake up before they’re back…’

Inui, who was passing by the daycare room, had looked inside, and nearly shouted.

“What? Wh-what is this!?” He whisper-yelled to himself and moved closer to the window. He took in the sight of Hayato and Ryuuichi sleeping closely side by side, and he suddenly remembered an incident that happened not too long ago.

An image of a Kamitani wrapping his arms around a cross-dressed Ryuuichi popped into his mind.

‘This is my woman. You better give up.’

‘If you ever dare to hit that person when you talk to them, I’ll send you flying to the sky.’

“Wait, so they weren’t acting? Shit, are they together? They’re really dating?! But they are both guys!” Inui rambled on to himself, making a mixture of expressions and strange noises, causing him to receive weird looks from the people who passed by.

“I feel like I just intruded an intimate moment… No, no, no! Why am I thinking of this?? Argh, I should just forget about it already! What they do is none of my business!” Inui nodded to himself determinedly and started speeding away.

‘But… should I congratulate them or something, maybe?’ Inui slowed down as he thought about it before shaking his head furiously and running off again.

Usaida took his time strolling back to the daycare room with the kids in tow, and Midori strapped to his back. As they neared the room, the toddlers started running excitedly towards the door, eager to give the sweets they got from the girls in the cooking club.

Usaida took one look at the see through window by the door and his eyes widened at the sight before him.

Before the kids could open the sliding door and rush in, Usaida stopped them. “Nope, nope. Hold up, I gotta take this. Stay quiet and don’t make a single noise, okay?” For once, the toddlers obeyed and listened to him, looking up at him curiously.

He took out his phone and went in the room. The four toddlers followed behind him and peeked through his legs. Kotarou letting out a small ‘Nii-cha?’.

“Heh, this is some good blackmail material.” Usaida snickered as he positioned his phone at the right angle.

“Hmmm, it feels even more lovey-dovey with this evening lighting.” He hummed and tapped his phone. The kids were murmuring something about ‘Kamita’ and ‘Ryuu’ and ‘lovey-dovey’ below him.

The camera shutter went off loudly. For a second there, Usaida thought they might’ve woken up, yet the two boys still slept soundly, unaware of the audience in front of them.

‘I wonder if I could sell this to that weird secretary butler man…’

Ryuuichi and Kotarou were now in the dining room back at home, drinking the tea that Saikawa-san had prepared. Strawberry juice, in Kotarou’s case.

Saikawa came in with a plate of beautifully decorated biscuits in his hands. He placed them down onto the table and then proceeded to ask about his day. All was fine until Saikawa mentioned Hayato’s name.

“Ryuuichi-sama and Hayato-sama do indeed make a great pair.”

Ryuuichi nearly spat out his tea. He coughed into his fist and asked what Saikawa meant.

Saikawa smiled and took out a piece of what seemed to be a photo from his suit pocket, and presented it to him.

In the photo, was Ryuuichi and Hayato. The evening light that cast through the window gave a soft orange glow around the two sleeping boys. The whole picture gave off a tranquil feeling to it.

It was only then did Ryuuichi realise the positions they had been in. Hayato had his head resting on Ryuuichi’s shoulder, and Ryuuichi’s face was partially covered by the black hair where he had laid his own head on. In the picture, Ryuuichi could clearly see that their hands were intertwined together.

The longer he stared at the picture, the warmer his cheeks felt.

“Nii-cha! Face… red…” Kotarou pointed out in his usual soft tone, eyes sparkling at the rare sight of his brother’s scarlet hue.

Indeed, Ryuuichi’s face was flushed a bright red. So red that it could compete with the strawberry juice in Kotarou’s hands.

“Where did you get that, Saikawa-san?!” Ryuuichi stood up abruptly, the photo falling from his hands.

“No worries, Ryuuichi-sama. The both of you are very photogenic. This photo is not anything but beautiful. It pleases me to see you in such a comfortable state in another’s presence.” Saikawa assured him.

“Th-that’s not what I meant…” Ryuuichi trailed off.

“Usaida-sama seems to have good skills in photography. I will most definitely make further purchases from him in the future.” Saikawa said as he picked the photo up and showed it to Kotarou when he asked to look at it.

“Nii-cha… and Kami-cha… good!” Kotarou exclaimed with a huge grin on his face after having seen the photo.

“K-Kotarou…”

“I shall make a wall of photos dedicated to you and your loved ones. Ryuuichi-sama, we shall make more good memories together. I am sure the Chairman will be glad to have some family photos up in this household. I shall also prepare some red bean rice for dinner, this is indeed a splendid occasion to…” Saikawa’s voice grew softer as he headed back towards the kitchen, leaving Ryuuichi in his flustered state.

“Eh? W-wait, you don’t need to do that! Saikawa-san-!”

In the Kamitani household, the two brothers were watching some random show on the television while eating the apples that their mom prepared for them.

“Hey, Aniki!”

“Mm.” Hayato chewed on his apple, his eyes still on the screen, not bothering to give his full attention on Taka.

“Are you and Ryuu lovey-dovey?” Taka asked, using the word that he heard from Usaida.

Hayato choked on his apple.

Lol I hope that ending wasn’t too abrupt xD Also, sorry that the kids didn’t make much of an appearance. It’s been over a year since I’ve written anything and Wow I suck. I forgot how hard it was to write a 1k fic, let alone 2k. I’ve been working on it since yesterday and I’m honestly surprised that I managed to get it done now instead of procrastinating. I hope you guys liked it! :D

[bigklingy]

In case anyone wanted to know my (brief) thoughts on Fates.

So I got a comment on a Fates video asking if I ever did a “review” of some kind. I thought I might as well copy-past my reply here. Heres my dot-point thoughts on FE Fates. Just... try to be civil. I know everything about this game tends to spark flame wars. Gameplay: -In general, MUCH better than Awakening, especially pair-up. Skills are also nice, being less luck-based and more about flat stat boosts, and personal skills should be in every future game. -Class balance is a bit better. Generals and Snipers got much-needed improvements. Only class I'd call "overpowered" is Master Ninjas. (If they didn't have Poison Strike they'd be fine, but with it they beat both frail units AND bulky ones) -Unbreakable weapons are fine, and for the most part there's still strategy in weapon choice, perhaps even more so. But there are a few problems. Higher-level weapons have drawbacks too large, and Knives are almost completely inferior to Shuriken. Map Design: -Birthright, decent. Conquest, fantastic, nearly perfect. Revelation, bad. -Dragon Veins are a nice gimmick, especially when bosses use them too. -It’s hard to describe (and not really related to map design), but the world map in Birthright and Revelation feels lifeless and boring compared to the ones in Sacred Stones, Awakening and Echoes. Difficulty: -Birthright is a bit too easy. Its Hard should have been harder. Characters range from good to game-breaking. -Conquest is a bit too extreme in its difficulty. Conquest Hard is barely different from Conquest Lunatic. If they'd toned-down Hard to be more of an in-between of Normal and Lunatic, I'd like it better. Character balance is very good overall with the possibly exception of Camilla. -Revelation is all over the place. A few isolated maps are hard, the rest are as easy as Birthright. Many characters are TERRIBLY balanced on this route though.

-I like how higher difficulties aren’t just numerical stat boosts to enemies. Adding enemies, changing equipment, changing objectives, or even changing deployment locations. Please do more of this in future games.

-Lunatic mode is way better than Awakening’s. Less cheap luck-based difficulty. Though its exclusive skills are dumb. Supports/Pairings: -Gaining classes through supports adds depth. -A+ supports are confusing and clumsy. Opposite-sex siblings should be able to A+. You should not be allowed to A+ if you get no classes out of it. (e.g. Azura and Sakura) -Children feel awkwardly shoehorned in and should have been explained better. Paralogues are nice, but none of them have any story relevance. This game either should have had a time-skip or no children at all. -While children aren't as broken as Awakening, and Offspring Seals are great, we're back to FE4 style "some pairings aren't viable at all from a gameplay standpoint". Magic-focused mothers suffer greatly from this, as there are very few magic children. This is more a personal thing, as I pair more for story than gameplay. -I feel like the "every character can marry the Avatar" system hurt some characters/plot points this time. I personally think Gunter, the Hoshidan siblings, Midori, Percy and possibly Soleil should not have been able to marry them. -Before you ask, no, I don’t think Scarlet should have been able to marry Ryoma. I actually don’t like that pairing much. I do think she shouldn’t have been able to marry the Avatar on “that route” though. -Male Avatar can't marry a Gen 1 female without erasing one child forever. -Same-sex marriage totally inferior to straight marriage from a gameplay standpoint, erasing one/two children forever. Spoilers ahead. Also, mostly negativity ahead. Story: -All three routes aren't great.

-WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A NAME FOR THE CONTINENT.

-I am in a VERY small minority that thinks Birthright is worse than Conquest. It adds a ton of random, pointless deaths just to try and give it as much tragedy as the other routes. The final stretch of chapters I found unsatisfying. Sneaking inside the enemy castle so conveniently only evil people get killed is less epic than a full-scale invasion. And it makes Birthright the objectively morally-superior route when they were supposed to be avoiding that. Corrin's characterization is the best of all three routes though. -Controversial opinion: I'm not bothered THAT much about Conquest, it might actually be my favourite of the three. (But that's not saying much) But it suffers from contrivances just to cause tragedy, and the villains often "undo" anything positive Corrin does and can't be rebelled against until it's too late. The siblings shouldn't have been kept in the dark about their father. Corrin not killing things gets hard to believe, and all the "it's not black and white" speeches fall hollow when IT ACTUALLY IS. I disagree with Nohr being 100% evil though. I think the only evil Nohrians are Hans, Iago and Garon. Chapters 21 to 24 are some of my favourite moments in any FE game, though that might only be because the map design is so good. -Revelation is weird. It's the most "complete" route with the best ending, and lets you use everyone. But the plot often hinges of characters being idiots. Corrin here is imo the worst of all three versions, coming off as really stupid at times. The main villain has no backstory if you don't buy the Hidden Truths DLC. -I think Corrin should have been blood-related to the Hoshidan siblings. They not being breaks one of the themes of the game and feels like waifu/husbando pandering. It also requires weird plot contrivances. (Both Sumeragi and Mikoto must have been cheating on/with eachother at the same time??) -Character-wise, they're... okay. I feel like less characters are exaggerated stereotypes compared to Awakening, though they're still present. (Arthur, Peri, Odin) But none of the characters truly grabbed me as amazing. -The children aren't nearly as good characters as they were in Awakening, with only one or two not boring me to death. -Hans and Iago, on all three routes, are irredeemably terrible. Generically evil for no reason. -Controversial opinion: I kind of like Garon. But sort-of ironically. I find him hilariously over-the-top and fun. And he actually has a backstory unlike Hans and Iago. -The final Rev villain is a step up from Grima, but still not that great. (And with Grima's expanded backstory in Echoes, Grima might actually be better than him now) -Mikoto is killed way too early, she barely makes an impact. I like her on Revelation though, as I consider the phantom version of her an exaggeration of her flaws, thus.... giving her some. -Corrin is the worst Avatar so far, and possibly the worst Lord in the series. A lot of their character suffers from player-pandering and the plot bending over backwards to absolve them of any direct guilt in anything. Birthright Corrin is okay though. DLC: -From what little I've played, it's not as good as Awakening's. Hidden Truths is good though. -Grinding DLC suffers heavily from the scaling. At end-game, the only people who can kill the enemies in Boo Camp... are those strong enough to not need the exp anyway. That kind of defeats the point. I like that it's not effortless, but they went a bit too far. Overall: -Conquest has some of the best gameplay in the series by far. I hope future FE games follow its example in map design. -They tried to do a better story than Awakening, but it ended up even worse. Please hire the writers of Echoes to write future FEs from now on. -I like Conquest considerably more than Awakening for its gameplay alone. Birthright is better than Awakening gameplay-wise, but I found Awakening “deeper” overall. Revelation has more characters, but it’s got some big issues.