#presented without comment because I can't come up with a caption

[stolentrekblr]

Some FAQs

"I feel compelled to tell you I am pleased/angry/don't care about this!!!" I am not telling anyone how they should feel about this. While my blog title is a touch incendiary, I am tracking down the posts I find in the wild and tracing them back to their original poster. It bugs me when screenshots get reuploaded here when the original posts still exist, so I'm doing my best to track them down for you. I also wanted other people to know when their posts/art/edits/words officially escaped containment. While I'm personally irked by the behavior of taking without consent and/or credit, that doesn't mean you have to be. Your response is valid :)

"Why only Star Trek?" Focusing on Star Trek alone is already a massive undertaking. If I could do more, I might, but I am most active in the Star Trek Tumblr sphere and more capable of identifying and tracking down the original post.

"Can I send you something I found/my own post that was reuploaded?" Please do! I am but one person with a questionable attention span, and this is an ambitious undertaking. Tumblr may be the incubator of the Internet, but its search function makes finding things challenging. There is no way to automate this process that I know of.

"What's your issue with this particular Data page?" Initially, I didn't have a problem with this page. My Facebook friend had sent me a couple memes from it, so I liked the page and moved on. I assumed the page runner was just another Trekkie who made memes and reposted art. As time passed, I noticed that many of the memes that lacked credit were coming from Tumblr and from mutuals who had no idea their words/edits/art had migrated off the platform. I mentioned to a couple artists that their work had been reposted and none of them had any idea until I'd mentioned it. I noticed the page was uploading peoples' edits without credit and taking captions verbatim, and that bothered me personally. Two of my posts were lifted in a row, and I had made a couple posts on my main ( @thresholdbb ) about it. It eventually hit a point that I decided this endeavor needed its own dedicated space.

Maybe it's because I spent my entire professional career in education, repeatedly citing all of my sources and teaching students that plagiarism is wrong. Maybe it's because consent in all spaces is vitally important. Maybe it's because the page runner repeatedly solicits money via subscribers, not to mention the "Gift" button that appears in the corner of every stolen picture. It seems disingenuous to present content as your own and also profit from it. On some level, I think the page runner knows what they're doing is at the very least morally questionable/dishonest/wrong, since they do not like or reblog any of the posts they re-upload to their page. (Believe me, I spent a long time trying to track them down before starting this blog.) Far as I can tell, they do not make original posts here, but I cannot confirm this. They make a few original posts on their Facebook pages (I think there's something like 7 that all have the same MO), but they are mostly selfies soliciting money. Like do what you need to do to support your family or whatever, but stealing from people in this way is not cool IMHO.

While it is the nature of meme culture to spread them around without credit, these posts are regularly being taken from a community in which I actively participate.

"Why would they watermark my post?" From what I can gather, straight up screenshots can get nuked because they go against some term of service, but I'm not a super active poster on Facebook and cannot confirm.

"What's your goal with all this?"

Awareness - now you know if a post has broken containment, if your art has been reposted, if your edit has gone uncredited, and where the original post is so you can reblog and add your own tags for OP to read. I'll often see a post in the wild and want to add my comments on my own blog but then can't find it, so I'm doing that legwork as much as I can for the tumblr community

"What if my blog has a do not repost disclaimer on it?"

It seems reposters don't particularly care, but I do. Even when art is reposted with the username/link/credit, the two can quickly become separated if your work doesn't have a watermark because of how some people tend to repost. Let me know you have a disclaimer and I'll add it to the repost report. If you have merch or a tip jar associated with your work, let me know and I'll add that too.

"I'm concerned about Meta's AI"

You and me both. I'm not wild about the fact that tumblr users have no say in what happens to their words, art, and images on another platform. Here they at least gave us the illusion of choice that we could opt out of LLM training, but that disappears once it migrates to Facebook and other social media platforms. People's art being fed into these algorithms without their consent is a concerning trend

"Can I reblog the post and delete your screenshot from it?" Please do! Let the original post be free! In fact, I encourage you to get rid of my reblog completely.

"Why are the posts delayed?"

This page runs on a queue system because I'm not allowing this pursuit to take up my time and mental space every day

"What's your Facebook name?" Must really suck when someone is anonymously taking screenshots of your posts, uploading them somewhere else, and you don't have a say about any of it. On that note, what's your Tumblr name? Mine is @thresholdbb :)

Update: it's @/gjoshmatheny provided they don't change it. This information is provided for blocking purposes only, not to engage with or harass them. Don't feed the trolls

"Why not make your own monetized page?"

I don't want to. I want to post, connect, and nerd out about Star Trek, not profit from my incessant posting. I could and might have moderate success, but it's a lot harder when the posts are original and haven't been vetted by another user base before reposting. I like the Ferengi, but I don't want to emulate them. Besides, even the Ferengi followed the Rules of Acquisition. As a side note, there is already questionable legality over profiting from a copyrighted franchise such as Star Trek, but I am not a lawyer; I'm just some brainrotted tumblr user

"What does the rest of the tumblr trek community think?"

I'm glad you asked! I've compiled reactions here

Also as a side note, reposters sometimes take uncredited memes and images from Tumblrs that do have monetized FB pages/tip jars that post all original content

Overall, the Trek community has a lot of good will, but in my experience that typically comes with a strong sense of justice. I'm just out here spreading the word

[paper-mirio]

Decrescendo

Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

Summary: When making hero costumes, the job of a support company is to maximize the efficiency of a quirk while also making sure the hero is protected. However, a massive oversight is made when nobody considers the consequences of constant exposure to loud explosives.

Words: 4,782

Warnings: mentions of blood, mentions of harmful accident, mentions of surgery, slight angst

A/N: I’d like to issue a major apology to @pawpaw-sev for taking a full year to write this. It’s finally here, and I hope you enjoy it. (I also peppered in hints of HOH!Midoriya, simply because I felt like it.)

"Tch, I get that you can't stand the old man, but at least give me a warning next time you pull some rebellious bullshit. You could've gotten us killed."

You took in a deep breath, willing down the words that threatened to spill out in anger. Not wanting to lash out at your boyfriend (since you knew that wouldn't result in anything pleasant), you steadied yourself and prepared to defend your actions for the third time that evening. The sight of Bakugou, focused on his phone and not even bothering to look at you when delivering the scathing comment, nearly made you snap. Having just sat through a lecture about holding responsibility and taking accountability for one's actions from a hero who seemed to do neither, you were reasonably on edge. Luckily, you'd managed to convince Endeavor you were being honest. You'd hoped your boyfriend would be just as willing to hear you out.

"It wasn't 'rebellious bullshit,'" you repeated, using air quotes. "I already told you, I didn't hear him give the order."

"Mhm, sure. Whatever you say."

It would seem he was not, in fact, willing to hear you out. You rolled your eyes. It wasn't as if his opinion mattered, anyway. He was only your boyfriend, the person you trusted with your heart.

"Let's just get back to campus, I need to go talk to Recovery Girl," you said before walking away. You'd only made it a few steps before being stopped by a hand on your shoulder. Bakugou stepped in front of you, eyebrows furrowed as he looked at you up and down.

"What do you need to see her for?" he asked, the bite in his voice from before missing. "I didn't see you get hurt earlier. What happened?"

You paused, confused by his question, before recognizing the look in his eyes as concern. Giving him a teasing smirk, you placed your hand atop the one that rested on your shoulder, giving it a small pat. "Aww, are you worried about me?" you laughed. "I'm fine, Endeavor just wants me to check in with her to make sure nothing's seriously wrong and that I can keep doing work-studies without any issue."

Bakugou raised an eyebrow. "How the hell does that answer my question?"

You let out a sigh. "My ears? I told you I didn't hear his instructions earlier. And like you said, I could've gotten us killed."

He narrowed his eyes at you before letting his hand fall from your shoulder. Turning on his heel, he began walking away. “Fine,” he grumbled, “but don't take too long. We had this movie night planned for weeks now, and we’re gonna start without you if you’re late.”

You let out an exaggerated gasp, placing your hand on your chest as you followed him. “Have you no loyalty, sir?” As you caught up to him, you made sure he saw you wipe a fake tear from your eye. “And here I thought I had a faithful boyfriend, but he would watch a movie without me?” Your attempt to hold in your laughter failed as Bakugou roughly shoved your shoulder. “And now he’s violent! Are there any lows you won't reach?”

Bakugou rolls his eyes, though you see a slight smirk forming on his lips. “Don't be late and we won't watch it without you, dumbass.”



You were late to the movie. Recovery Girl had apparently been off-campus, assisting with a surgery in Musutafu General Hospital. A third-year student interning under her was in her place at the infirmary. After taking you through a few examinations, she told you that you had some mild hearing loss, though it shouldn't impact your ability to continue your work-studies. Satisfied with this, you thanked her and returned to the dorm.

Despite trying to enter through the front door as silently as possible, you heard a shout of your name as soon as you stepped in. “There you are!” said Ashido, waving to you. “You only missed a few minutes, so hurry up and get over here! Bakugou saved you a seat.”

You laughed, closing the door behind you. “Alright, give me a second!” You quickly removed your shoes and ran over to the couch, ignoring Iida’s warning not to run. You dropped into the spot next to Bakugou, wasting no time before snuggling up into his side. He scoffed, but immediately wrapped an arm around you.

“Took you long enough,” he muttered. “I told you not to be late.”

“Oh? Weren't you the one who tried to get us to wait for them?” joked Kaminari. “What happened to the concerned boyfriend we saw just a few minutes ago?”

“Aww, you did?” you cooed. You leaned up and pressed a kiss onto his cheek, giggling at the blush that quickly formed. “Thanks for trying, Katsuki. Sorry I was late.”

Bakugou scowled, ignoring the teasing from your classmates after your display of affection. “Whatever, let's just watch the damn movie.”

You settled into your spot, a smile on your face as you directed your attention to the movie. After a few minutes, your smile began fading. You tried your best to follow the film, but at moments you just felt lost. It seemed the dialogue would reach your ears, but you couldn't quite make out what was said. Still, you could gather most of it, so you tried to bear with it for a bit longer. Eventually, however, you realized you weren't going to understand the plot if you couldn't hear everything. You let out a sigh, looking around the room. “Alright, who has the remote?”

The others looked to their surroundings, checking to see if it was near them. Bakugou raised an eyebrow, glancing at you. “Why do you need it?”

You gestured to your ears. “Can't quite understand it, so I was gonna turn on the captions.”

Bakugou nodded, before saying, “I can just raise the volume if you need me to. The captions are gonna take up a bunch of space on the screen.”

Mina shook her head at that, saying, “Uh, Aizawa-sensei said we needed to keep the volume down tonight. We already have it pretty high as is...”

Sero waved to catch your attention. “Wanna switch spots? You might be able to hear better closer to the TV.”

You frowned, shaking your head. “Ah, no, that's okay. Thank you, Sero.” You felt guilty about disrupting the movie this much already, and you didn't want to inconvenience anyone further. “I can just try and follow along as much as I can.”

“Found it!” exclaimed Kirishima. “It was beneath the couch cushions. I can turn on the captions for you if you want, (Y/N).”

You glanced around the room at everyone, shrugging to yourself. “If it won't bother anyone...”

Midoriya cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. “Could you turn them on, please? I kinda need them, too...” Kirishima smiles at you two before hitting a button on the remote. You all turned back to watch the movie as it continued, now with captions accompanying the dialogue.

Bakugou, on the other hand, was looking over at Midoriya, something resembling guilt in his gaze, before glancing back down at you. “Your hearing’s not that bad, is it?” he murmured.

You shook your head, leaning into his side with a smile. “Probably not,” you answered. “It's just been a long day, I think. Nothing to be worried about.”



Bakugou coughed, the smoke and dust from the debris clouding the air around him. After clearing his lungs, he looked at his surroundings. The remains of the building surrounded him, but he luckily avoided being crushed under any of them. The sound of his commlink turning on ripped his attention from his surroundings, as one of Endeavor’s sidekicks spoke up. “Suspect is detained. Ground Zero and (H/N) stunned him enough for us to capture him while he tried to escape. Status?” Each member of the team gave their location and status, and medical teams were dispatched to those who needed them. Bakugou gave his location and reported that he had no injuries. “And (H/N)?” asked Endeavor.

Silence. No response over the comms. At this, Bakugou startled, quickly looking around him only to see nobody within sight. “Ground Zero, they were with you, correct?” asked the sidekick. You were. You had been right there, fighting the villain at his side. After cornering the villain, he'd shouted at you to move before rushing the villain. He'd set off a large explosion in close range to the villain, stunned by your attack, and to you, who hadn't moved. That was the last he'd seen of you before the roof collapsed, and now you weren't responding.

“Ground Zero?” Endeavor called, bringing Bakugou back to the present. He cursed under his breath, quickly standing and beginning to search the area for any sight of you. He looked around the area, hoping you had managed to avoid the falling rubble—unlike how you failed to avoid his attack. Shaking his head, trying to dismiss the thought, he continued to look for you, now shouting your name and waiting for some kind of response. If you had been trapped under the debris, there was nothing he could do but wait for help to come.

Cursing again, he spoke into the comms, “I need a rescue team at the northern side of the building. I can't find (H/N), and they're not responding.” As the sidekick began to assure him that help would be arriving soon, he heard loud coughing nearby. Quickly rushing to the source of the noise, which was a few meters away from what was left of that side of the building, he found you. You were leaning against the wall of the adjacent building, hands on your knees and trying to catch your breath.

His relief at seeing you, alive and safe, was quickly overshadowed by anger. He'd thought you were seriously hurt or worse, because you failed to dodge when he told you to, and you couldn't even be bothered to answer anyone when you were within range to hear the multiple times he called out to you. With a scowl on his face, he stormed towards you and went to grab your shoulder. “(Y/N) what the fuck was that back there—“

The second his hand met your shoulder, his world flipped and he was on his back on the ground. You’d pinned him down, moving to restrain him before meeting his eyes. Your eyes widened, and you quickly released him. “Katsuki?” You stood, reaching out a hand to help him up. “Geez, give me a bit of a warning before you sneak up on me like that. I thought you might've been that villain.” You grinned. “Nice attack, by the way. Pretty powerful too; my ears are still kinda ringing from it. Did they detain him?”

Bakugou looked at your hand reaching out to him, confusion plastered on his face. Maybe your commlink had been broken in the attack, he reasoned. That would explain your lack of response to the team, but...

“Yeah, they got him,” Bakugou explained, taking your hand and standing. “Don't fucking scare me like that again though, you hear me? When you didn't answer I thought—“

“Uh, Katsuki?” you cut him off. “Could you speak up? Can’t quite hear you when you mumble like that.”

“I’m not fucking mumbling!” he shouted. At this, both his and your eyes widened in shock. Yours, because you saw him clearly yelling at you, yet no sound reached your ears but the constant ringing. His, because he saw the small amounts of blood coming from your ears.

“Shit,” you both said.



You arrived back to the dorms with Bakugou, hands intertwined. It hadn’t even been a day since the mission, after which you'd been taken to a hospital. You'd undergone surgery to repair your ruptured eardrums, but your hearing couldn't be salvaged. In less than a day you'd gone from mild hearing loss to complete deafness in one ear and very little hearing in the other. Endeavor had excused you from your work-studies for the time being, as you needed time to adjust to things.

You took in a deep breath and squeezed Bakugou’s hand lightly to grab his attention. He looked to you, squeezing back to let you know he was listening. “I’m just gonna head to my room and get some rest. It's been a long day. Do you want to come with?” you asked, trying to put on a smile.

He nodded, not saying anything. He leaned in to press a kiss to your forehead, causing a far less strained smile to appear on your face. You squeezed his hand again to ground yourself before opening the door to the dorm building.

Almost immediately you were met with the sight of your classmates, all rushing to greet you. Some looked excited to see you, while others had looks of concern on their faces. All of them, from what you could see, seemed to be shouting at the two of you, probably asking questions about what happened while you were gone. You saw Bakugou shout something at them before they all went silent, focus solely on you now. You flushed under the attention, curling in on yourself slightly before giving them a small wave. “Hello?” you tried, not quite sure how to address them.

You saw Kaminari ask something while pointing at his ears, so you nodded and hoped you'd guessed his question right. “I got surgery on my eardrums because they got ruptured during the mission,” you explained, pointing to the cotton padding you had in both ears. “I have to keep these in for the next few days, and hopefully the support company will deliver my new hearing aids by then.” As soon as you mentioned hearing aids the questions started again, with many lips moving at once adding to your confusion. “In case I wasn't clear,” you stated, raising your voice and hoping it would be louder than they were, “I can't hear you all right now.”

That, again, shut everyone else up. From his spot near the front of the crowd, Midoriya waved to get your attention. Once your eyes were on him, he began to sign, “Are you alright?”

You smiled at him, suddenly very grateful that Midoriya had decided to teach you JSL when the two of you were younger. You let go of Bakugou’s hand, missing the way he frowned and looked at you in response, before signing back, “I will be.”

Koda perked up upon seeing this exchange, quickly joining the conversation by asking, “You two know sign?” When the two of you nodded, he turned to you. “Everyone's been asking what happened on the mission. Last we heard, you got taken to a hospital. Bakugou wasn't answering anyone’s calls or texts.”

You sighed. Of course Bakugou wouldn't update anyone. You couldn't help but think bitterly that you might've been in bed by now if Bakugou had answered everyone’s questions beforehand, but you didn't dare voice this aloud. You knew he felt guilty enough as is. “There was an accident during the mission. Certain...circumstances during work-studies meant I was slowly losing my hearing over time, making it harder to hear my team.” Those circumstances being constantly working with Bakugou without any ear protection. Explaining it to someone made the situation feel much more real to you, and you found yourself taking deep breaths and fighting back the burning tears in your eyes as you continued. “I wasn't able to move in time to dodge an explosion, and the blast pretty much took whatever hearing I had left.” Midoriya flinched at this, turning his gaze to Bakugou and narrowing his eyes.

Seeing this, you let out a shaky sigh before speaking aloud. “If it's alright with you all, I’d like to head to bed now. I'm very tired. Midoriya, if you could repeat what I said to everyone I'd really appreciate it.” Then, without giving anyone a chance to respond, you grabbed Bakugou’s hand again and rushed out of the room, heading upstairs to your room. You weren't able to hear how you sounded back there, so you could only hope nobody heard the shakiness of your voice or saw the tears building in your eyes. The last thing you wanted was for them to try and comfort you when you just wanted to be alone with Bakugou.

As soon as the two of you entered your room and the door shut, you let the tears fall from your eyes and pulled Bakugou into a hug. He hugged you back without hesitation, pulling you close. The two of you found your way to your bed, where you laid together in deafening silence for the rest of the night.



“How does it sound?”

The first words you heard clearly in over a week were spoken by Aizawa-sensei, who was sitting in Recovery Girl’s infirmary and observing as you tried on your new hearing aids. The small devices were high quality and incredibly expensive, though the support company that provided your costume had them delivered to you for free. According to Recovery Girl, your hero insurance would've covered much of the cost anyway, but the company appeared to be trying to avoid a lawsuit for not providing your protective equipment in the first place. Regardless, you weren't complaining about getting your hearing back for free.

“It's quiet,” you answered, but a large grin quickly overtook your face. “But I can hear you!” You saw Aizawa-sensei nod in response, a small smile on his face.

Recovery Girl handed him a small device. She was standing more than a few feet away, so she sounded much quieter, but you could just barely hear her. “Use this when you're teaching in class. It will send your voice directly to their hearing aids, so they won't have to worry about falling behind in class.” She made her way over to you, her voice increasing in clarity the closer she got. “As for you, while you're still benched from going on any further missions, those hearing aids will double as comm links when necessary.” She held out her hand, in which she held several small devices. “These microphones are smaller versions of the one I just gave your teacher. They're meant to be given to your teammates working in close range to you, so you can hear them without using the commlink up to a certain distance.” After placing the microphones back in the box with your new support equipment, she gently grabbed your hand. “Things won't quite be the same as they once were, but I know you'll be able to adjust. You’re a strong hero, after all.”

“Hero-in-training,” Aizawa-sensei corrected. “Speaking of which, class will be starting shortly. Are they free to go?”

Recovery Girl nodded, waving her hand dismissively, “Yes, yes, they can go now.”

You beamed, quickly standing up before bowing to Recovery Girl. “Thank you!” You rushed out of the infirmary, running towards class before your homeroom teacher could stop you. You rushed towards the 2-A classroom, throwing open the door before shouting into the room, “They work!”

The screams and shouts that filled the room couldn't have sounded more beautiful to your ears.



It was the first movie night the two of you had since you lost your hearing, and Bakugou wanted it to be special. Through some gentle persuasion, according to him, he'd managed to convince Sero and Kaminari to let the two of you use the common room that night, even though the two of them had already planned to play Mario Kart that night. Though you couldn't quite hear the conversation they had, the looks on their faces told you that the persuasion he used probably wasn't as gentle as he suggested.

But that didn't matter anymore. What mattered to Bakugou was you, cuddled up to his side under the blanket, a smile on your face as you looked at the screen. He had one arm draped over your shoulder while you hugged his torso, and the other hand held the remote. He was scrolling through the streaming service, looking for something that appealed to both of you.

“What about that Peerless Thief movie? Looks like it's finally out, and I heard it got good reviews,” Bakugou suggested, pointing at the screen where the poster was displayed. You shuddered at the sight of the titular villain; despite knowing it was just an actor in costume, he captured the image of the infamous villain with terrifying accuracy.

“No thanks,” you muttered. “I'd like to actually get some sleep tonight, if that's fine with you.”

“Pfft, what? It's not that scary, it's practically a documentary!” Bakugou teases, glancing down at you. You had buried your face in his shoulder, not wanting to look at the poster any longer. “What, you think the Peerless Thief is gonna come get you?”

“I don't know, maybe! They never caught him! For all we know he could still be out there, being a menace under the radar!” you exclaimed, throwing one arm up in exasperation. “Just hearing about him in class is scary enough, I don't wanna see any of that!”

Bakugou rolled his eyes, reaching his hand up to ruffle your hair. “All the more reason to watch it, then,” he said. “If you're so worried about him being out there, you can study this and see how he works so we can take him down together.”

It was your turn to roll your eyes. “Right, because two heroes-in-training can take down one of the most infamous villains of all time,” you muttered. Something caught your eye on the screen, and you pointed at it. “What about that one? A Heart That’s Ours to Share? I remember reading that book back in junior high.”

Bakugou looked to where you were pointing and grimaced upon seeing the poster. “Really? A shitty romance? This is what you wanna watch?”

“I know, I know, it looks kinda silly,” you started. “But trust me, it's a lot better than it looks. It ends up being closer to an action-thriller as it goes on. The romance is there, but it's mostly used to drive the rest of the plot forward.”

Bakugou opened his mouth to argue again, but swiftly closed it. He had to remind himself that tonight was about you, and letting you relax. If you wanted to watch some stupid romance, who was he to stop you?

“Tch, whatever,” he grumbled before hitting play. “I'm choosing next time, though.”

You grinned before leaning up to press a peck to his lips. “Thank you, hon! I love you!”

He blushed, letting out a huff. “Yeah, yeah. I love you too, dumbass.” He set down the remote, using his now free hand to wrap around you. He pulled you into his lap, causing you to let out a surprised gasp. Arms now resting around your middle, he leaned back into the couch with you and watched the movie play on the screen.

You looked at the screen, an excited grin on your face. As the opening credits ended, however, your smile faded as faint sounds entered your ear. Once you realized it was the dialogue, a frown settled on your face. The TV was outside the optimal range of your hearing aids, and the words spoken by the characters were nearly unintelligible.

“Um, Katsuki?” you mumbled. Upon getting a hum of acknowledgment, you continued. “Could you turn on the captions, please? I can't hear what they're saying.”

Bakugou inhaled sharply, muttering a shit under his breath before quickly reaching for the remote, being careful not to jostle you in the process. As soon as it was in his hands, he turned the captions on and rewound the film to right before the dialogue started.

Now able to understand what was being said, the smile returned to your face. “Thanks, Katsuki!” You leaned your head back to press a kiss to Bakugou’s cheek. Giggling at the blush on his face, you turned back to the screen and leaned back into his chest, relaxing as you focused on the film.

As you watched the movie together, you frequently glanced back to Bakugou at the more exciting or shocking parts to see his reactions. Much to your dismay, each time you looked you saw a deep frown on his face as he stared ahead at the screen. You sighed each time in disappointment and turned back to watch the movie. Maybe he just doesn't like it, you eventually thought. I’ll make it up to him next time, though. The two of you continued to watch in silence before you began to notice something. At some points throughout the movie, Bakugou would randomly tighten his grip on you, pulling you closer to him, only to let you go once you started to shift in his grasp.

Curious, you began to take note of when this would happen. After about three more times of this happening, you noticed it would happen during the more intense, action-packed scenes. And about an hour into the movie, you realized it only happened when an explosion was involved.

Ah, you realized. That’s what this is about.

You quickly reached for the remote and paused the movie. You turned in Bakugou’s lap to face him, eyebrow raised. His eyes were still on the screen for a few seconds before blinking a few times. He shook his head and turned his gaze to you, eyebrows furrowed.

“What the hell? I was watching that,” he grumbled. Despite his annoyed tone, he moved his hands to rest on your hips and pull you closer.

“Mhm, sure,” you said. You paused before raising a hand to place on his cheek gently. Letting your thumb stroke his face, you made sure to look him in the eyes as you asked your next question. “Katsuki, you know I don't blame you for what happened, right?” you asked. You immediately knew you hit the nail on the head, as he averted his eyes and his grip on your hips loosened. You saw his lips move as he mumbled something, but the sound didn't reach you. You sighed and shook your head. “You know damn well I can’t hear whatever you just said. What was that?”

“I said, I can't see why you don’t blame me,” he repeated, loud enough for you to hear. “This wouldn't have happened if I'd just...I don't know, listened to you!”

You frowned. “You know...maybe you're right.” At his shocked look, you shrugged. “Maybe if you'd listened to me, we might not be in this situation. Or maybe it might've happened anyway.” You saw his eyebrows furrow, so you continued, “Maybe if the support company provided equipment to protect my ears, I might not have lost any hearing in the first place. Maybe if Endeavor didn't assign us together so often I wouldn't be exposed to your loud explosions so often. Maybe if I'd had the common sense to think that constantly being around explosions might damage my hearing, this could've been prevented. But that's a whole lot of maybes.” You smiled gently at him leaning your forehead against his. “There's probably a lot of ways things could have happened, but they didn't. I’m deaf now, and that's just something I have to deal with. The only thing we can do now is move forward.”

Bakugou looked at you in stunned silence, unable to do anything other than nod. You leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips, and he responded eagerly. Your hands gently cradled his face, while his remained on your hips. After pulling away, you pouted at the frown on his face. “Now, could you smile for me Katsuki?” At your request, an unamused look sat on his face. You giggled, before pressing a peck to his lips. “No need to be grumpy!” Another peck. “I won't stop bothering you until you smile!” Another. “I can do this all night, you know.”

He smirked at that, his grip on your hips tightening. “Who said I wanted you to stop?”

You laughed, pressing one more kiss to his lips before turning back around to your previous position on his lap. “Come on, we’re about to get to the best part of the movie. I’ll kiss you as much as you want when it's over, deal?”

Bakugou leaned his head onto your shoulder, pressing one last kiss to your cheek. “Deal.”

[all-things-all-the-time]

It's Christmas!! And Ryan can't think of anything to get Michael what's he gonna do???

12 Days Until Christmas

‘what do u get for someone who has everything?’

That’s what Ryan typed into Google on December 13, 2016. Mike really does have everything - the newest tech, every article of clothing, homewares, things for his dog, and Ryan, which is probably the best thing to have in the world if Ryan says so himself.

Of course, everything that comes up is something stupid or something Mike wouldn’t like - like a cooking class or driving a race-car around a track a couple of times.

Ryan huffs and shuts his computer, rolling off the bed to go find Mike. Maybe he’ll be able to think better after some sex.

11 Days Until Christmas.

“So uhm…what do you want for Christmas?” Ryan asks carefully over dinner. He’s afraid Michael is going to freak out because Christmas is like 2 seconds away and Ryan doesn’t have anything.

Mike shrugs as he sticks a piece of broccoli into his mouth. “Dunno,” he says around his food. “Anything. Something cool.”

Ryan pouts, and he thinks he hides it, but then Michael is laughing at him. “Really dude, don’t sweat it. We’ve been together for so long. There are only so many presents we can come up with.”

Ryan glances up at Mike, and he’s smiling that stupidly perfect smile and it makes Ryan feel so much better about the whole thing. “Yeah, okay.”

10 Days Until Christmas

“I got you the best ever gift,” Mike says after a particularly dirty round of sex. 

Ryan is flopped on the bed, still breathing hard and sweating. He looks over at Mike, glowering. “Fuck you, dude. What happened to the whole 'don’t worry about finding something awesome?’”

Mike shrugs and looks over at Ryan. The bastard isn’t even breaking a sweat. Then again, Ryan did all the work this time. “Yeah, but I found something so awesome so obviously I had to get it.”

And that just brings all the anxiety right back.

9 Days Until Christmas

“Mom?" 

"Hi, baby, Merry Almost Christmas!”

“I don’t know what to get for Mike.”

“Oh honey, I’m sure you’re gift enough.”

“Yeah, but he said he has a really good gift for me!”

“Maybe a nice watch.”

“He already has a thousand watches, Mom.”

“I don’t know, sweetheart, but I have to run. Devon just went out on his skateboard and I don’t think he brought a helmet. Love you.”

8 Days Until Christmas

It’s 3am and Ryan is almost asleep. Until Mike slips his cold fingers under Ryan’s shirt to rest on his stomach. Ryan groans and shifts, wanting to push Michael away, but not having the willpower. 

“Ry,” Mike whispers, now pressing his cold-ass nose to Ryan’s cheek.

“What?” Ryan asks with another groan.

“Can we come out on New Years? Like…publicly?”

This is not the conversation Ryan wants to be having at 3am. “Babe,” he says slowly, with a sigh.

Mike sighs too, and it’s far more disappointed than Ryan’s. “Yeah, I get it. It’s cool, Ry. No problem…Night.”

“Night.”

7 Days Until Christmas

Ryan feels guilty about the conversation he and Mike had the night previous. He’s hesitant to come out. Mike feels like he’s done with swimming and he can live his real life now. But Ryan is still planning on swimming in Tokyo, and he doesn’t know if the world is ready for them to come out as a couple.

Mike has asked him to come out a few times, and each time, Ryan has had to let him down. He doesn’t like doing it, but he just isn’t ready yet.

Michael is in the pool because, yeah, he says he’s done, but Ryan doesn’t believe it for a second. Ryan’s inside, morning practice over, chugging a Gatorade and looking down at Mike’s ring on their dresser. He's wearing a matching one, on his right ring finger.

Fuck. He can’t even get Mike a ring for Christmas because of course he already has one.

6 Days Until Christmas

ryan lochte, 2:27pm: hey babe

cheryl burke, 2:27pm: hey hey :-* merry holidays!!

ryan lochte, 2:27pm: u 2!

ryan lochte, 2:28pm: wat shud i get for mike?

cheryl burke, 2:28pm: shit ry

cheryl burke, 2:28pm: that’s a hard one.

cheryl burke, 2:28pm: he has everything

ryan lochte, 2:29pm: tell me about it!!!!

cheryl burke, 2:32pm: how about one of those fancy coffee makers?

cheryl burke, 2:32pm: or maybe a trip somewhere

cheryl burke, 2:32pm: idk baby. i’ll keep my thinking cap on for you

5 Days Until Christmas

“Five days 'til Christmas,” Allison comments, playing with a loose thread on one of the blankets. “What did you get for Mike?”

“I don’t know what to get him!” Ryan says, panicked.

“Five golden rings?” Allison teases, and Ryan hates the way her lips curl up in a shit-eating grin.

“Asshole,” he mutters, flopping down on the bed. “I’m actually panicking here. I have five days and no fucking gift besides a mug that says ’#2 Swimmer.’”

Allison is quiet for a few minutes, and so is Ryan, as they sit together on the bed. Basically everything he thinks of, Mike either already has or wouldn’t want. He assumes Allison is having the same problem.

“What about some kitchen stuff? He’s getting into cooking.”

Ryan sighs and nods. “Yeah, I thought of that. We could use some new pots and stuff…thanks, Schmitty.”

4 Days Until Christmas

“Dude, I got Mike the best present.”

Ryan’s jaw drops and he feels like the air has just been knocked out of him. “You got Mike a gift?” he asks, shocked his little brother even remembered it was Christmastime.

“Fuck yeah, and Mom helped me pick it out!”

Ryan’s anger bubbles over at that point. “She helped you?! Dude, I asked her for help and she rushed off to deal with your stupid ass!”

Devon laughs and Ryan wants to throw his phone across the room.

“What did you get him?”

“I got him an Amazon Alexa. The one thing your house doesn’t have.” Devon pauses, and Ryan can basically hear his smile over the phone. “With all that smart house equipment so you can just yell at a robot to turn your lights on.”

“Well thanks for outfitting my whole home,” Ryan grumbles before ending the call.

3 Days Until Christmas

Mike’s presents for Ryan are meticulously wrapped and under the tree in a neat pile. Ryan sighs when he looks at it, hoping there’s nothing too extravagant. Mike always goes overboard on gifts. It’s not like money is an issue, but Ryan is so shit at coming up with gifts. 

Mike has always assured Ryan it’s just because he likes showering the people he loves with things they're gonna love, and Ryan wishes he had the same talent. 

2 Days Until Christmas

Ryan manages to come up with a few good gifts for Mike. Of course, he still needs one big one, because he knows Michael has something big for him.

Still stumped, Ryan wraps up the rest of Mike’s gifts and puts them under the tree. Their piles, luckily, are pretty much even, so Ryan, so far, feels confident in his choices.

Too bad he only has a few hours to come up with the big gift of 2016.

Christmas Eve

“One present?” Mike pleads, plugging in the tree lights and sitting down by the pile of presents. 

“Fine,” Ryan concedes, sitting down with Mike. “One present.”

It’s an old Phelps tradition to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and every year, Ryan says no. And every year, Mike begs until Ryan says yes.

Michael surveys the presents with his name on them and he picks one from the pile. Ryan grins, because he knows exactly what it is.

Mike tears open the paper to reveal a cardboard box, which he opens, and he immediately breaks out into a huge grin.

“You don’t expect me to actually wear this?” Mike asks, holding up the chef’s coat, complete with his name embroidered on the chest.

“Yes I fucking do,” Ryan insists, leaning over for a quick kiss.

Ryan picks out a gift from his pile, a small and light one, and unceremoniously rips off the bow and paper. Inside an envelope are tickets to Italy for a week in April, and Ryan feels dizzy with excitement. They’ve been talking about a trip abroad, minus Olympics, for a while now, and Ryan immediately lurches forward to hug Mike.

“Thanks, Mikey.”

“Merry Christmas Eve, Ry.”

Christmas Day

Michael is up at 8am and he shoves at Ryan’s side. “Get up,” he says, sounding like a five year old. “Presents time.”

It takes a few minutes to get Ryan out of bed, but as soon as he has coffee in his hand, he’s fully awake and down by the tree. Soon, the room is a flurry of torn paper, bows, and new gifts, and there’s a bit of a pause. Ryan knows what comes next. The big gifts.

Luckily, without prompting, Michael goes first. He hands Ryan a box and inside he finds a laurel from their first Olympics, but it’s been dipped in gold and silver. 

“Remember this?” Mike purrs as Ryan runs his fingers over the gold leaves. “You refused to take it off and it got all stuck in your hair the first time we had sex.”

Ryan blushes, but he also feels tears prick at his eyes. He blinks quickly, looking up at Michael when he feels confident that he won’t actually cry. “Thank you,” he whispers, leaning in to kiss Michael. 

When he pulls back, Ryan knows it’s his turn. He takes out his phone, and Michael looks confused for a second when Ryan hands it to him. Michael unlocks it and it opens to the most recent post on Ryan’s Instagram page, which Michael hasn’t seen yet as Ryan posted it just before they started unwrapping gifts. 

It’s a selfie of them kissing right before they left Athens, paired with a selfie of them kissing just the other day. The caption reads, “the best gift I’ve ever gotten” and it already has thousands of likes. 

Ryan is nervous because Michael is quiet for so long, but he looks up at Ryan with tears streaking his cheeks and a huge smile on his face. 

Yeah, Ryan nailed Christmas this year.