#shh i’m not late to posting shh i totally didn’t fall asleep on my couch at 9pm shh

[kylermalloy]

Hush. Please Hush

Fandom: Trigun Stampede

Characters: Knives/Vash

Word Count: 1792

Summary: Nai wins.

He succeeds in wiping Vash’s memory and impregnating the plants in July. It’s everything he’s ever wanted.

Now, can Vash just stop asking questions?

Vash remembers nothing. He is still Vash—kind, affectionate. Nai’s little brother. But he no longer harbors any weakness toward the humans. He has no compassion for them. He has no reason to.

He is the perfect Independent.

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[beauvibaby]

no one knew – j.benn

gif credit to the owner

a/n: this was totally random but I had so much fun writing this!

You smiled over at Jamie as he set up his laptop to do his interview, the kitchen cabinets falling as a background. “Shh, baby girl.” Your attention fell to the one month old cradled in your arms, her face contorting as she began to wail. Jamie glanced over, despite her screams he looked at her like she was the whole world, which to both of you, she was.

Well, for him, it was both you and Elle.

“I’m sorry, I’ll take her for a walk while you do your interview.” You assured him as he walked over, he nodded silently but put his hands out for her, still having a few moments before he had to be ready. You handed her over with ease, using the time to get her stroller ready with a few toys for her to stare at. “What’s wrong? Mhm, pretty girl.” Jamie questioned her softly, bouncing her in his arms lightly, you felt the warmth rush to your face as he caught you watching him, a soft chuckle falling from his lips as he turned his head back down to Elle who was calming in his arms. He walked over to where you were with her stroller, easily putting her down in it as she looked up curiously at the toys hanging above her. “It shouldn’t take me too long.” He mumbled, ducking down to kiss you quickly, you smiled against him. “Ok.” You hummed, it wasn’t the plan initially to hide her from the world for this long. You were going to post something when she was born, but she had made a grand entrance in the middle of the night via c-section and then before you knew it, a month had already passed and only the team knew of her, and your families of course. But the public was all the clueless, you and Jamie hadn’t been together for much more than six months before you’d gotten pregnant, not that you would change it, because by then you already knew Jamie was the one.

And he confirmed it by proposing the day you got home from the hospital with Elle, slipping her into a onesie that said “will you marry my daddy?” She had to be wearing it for nearly two hours before you even noticed, and when you did you burst into tears, terrifying Jamie who was in the kitchen making dinner for the two of you.

“What’s wrong? What, is she ok?” Jamie rambled, literally running into the living room where you sat with her sleeping in your arms. “Her outfit!” You laughed through your tears, looking at him with a teary smile, he gasped, throwing himself down to one knee, pulling the ring box out of his pocket, he’d been walking around with it all day. “Really?” You asked, looking at Jamie, his face fell. “Of course, I love you so much, who cares if we did things a little out of order.” He assured you, his smile returning when you whispered yes.

“Maybe tonight, we'll tell everyone about her?” You offered as he turned to walk back to his computer, he froze, looking back at you with a grin. He’d loved the time of her being just your little secret, but there already been more times than he can count where he’d just wanted to post a photo of her sleeping on his chest, or the way she grabbed one of his fingers and not even be able wrap her hand fully around it. “Yes, I like that idea.” He mumbled, letting you disappear out the door with her afterwards.

The walk was nice, and quiet, you’d stopped and talked to one of your older neighbors as Elle fell asleep in the stroller, your neighbor gushed over her, saying how much she looked like his granddaughter. You thanked him repeatedly for his kind words, more time passing than you thought, and it was beginning to get a little too cold for Elle outside, so you gave him a nice goodbye and headed back for the house, assuming that by now Jamie would surely be done.

You walked in the door, hearing nothing, so you smiled and carefully got the stroller inside, thankfully not waking the baby, until the dog realized you were here. It wasn’t his fault, he was doing his job, barking when someone got here, but you rushed to shush him, it was too late, Elle woke up and started screaming, those newborn lungs still amazingly powerful. Then you heard it, Jamie, still talking to an interviewer over video chat, trying to ignore the wailing of his daughter. You cursed silently, snapping your fingers and sending the dog to his bed as you lifted Elle up, trying to soothe her as quickly as possible. You knew she would feel better if she was looking out at the pool, something you and Jamie had learned quickly in her first few days of life, outside in general, but if she saw the water in the pool she was instantly happier. But the problem with that, you’d have to walk right past Jamie with a screaming baby. He glanced over at you, shooting you a soft smile, motioning you over, and you hesitated but then remembered you were going to announce her arrival today anyways, you guessed it would just have to be like this instead. “Give me just a second.” Jamie spoke, leaving his spot in front of the computer, you watched him take large strides over to you, taking Elle from you with a smile. “Come on, please. I’ve got to show off both my girls.” He gave you a small pout, you looked at him incredulously. “I look terrible!” You protested, no match for his strength as he pulled you along by the hand. “Jam.” You whined, he only winked at you before sitting in the chair again, this time with Elle in her little baby sweat suit due to the chill outside. “Sorry about that.” He spoke, as if he didn’t just appear with a baby that no one knew about. No one spoke for a moment, trying to decide if they should ask.

Eventually a female reporter spoke up, “and who do you have with you now, Jamie?” She questioned, and your smile widened as he looked down at Elle in our adoration. “This is my daughter, Elle.” He spoke fondly, adjusting her to be more upright in his arms as she drifted off easily, more than likely exhausted from her screaming fit. “And my fiancé, Y/N, is just over there.” He pointed off screen to you, motioning you over, and you listened, not before giving him a glare. You walked up beside him, smiling at the camera, “hello.” You spoke softly, “sorry for interrupting.” You laughed lightly, a chorus of no’s and it’s fine came over the speaker, everyone buzzing as they thought of how they would get to be the firsts to report that Jamie Benn had a secret baby and his girlfriend was now his fiancé.

***

You sighed dramatically as Jamie fell down on the couch beside you, he smiled, pulling you into his side. “She went down good.” He assured you, handing over the monitor that was pointing at the bassinet in your bedroom. You nodded, “did you pick a picture of her to post?” You asked him, looking through your own phone already full of pictures of her and him. You smiled at your favorite one, from just the other day, Jamie asleep on the couch with her asleep on his chest, the dog laying between his legs as well. All three of them fast asleep. “Yeah.” Jamie answered you, typing away on his phone, you doing the same as you opened up Instagram and uploaded the photo, your caption reading,

“My beautiful family, Elle Heather Benn added on December 10th, 2020”

You refreshed your page, the likes already pouring in, congratulations and comments of how adorable she is were flooding your notifications, but one stood out in particular.

jamiebenn14 tagged you in a photo

You clicked on it, taking in the photo you didn’t even know he’d taken the night you came home, you were looking down at her, she was sleeping on your chest, your left hand laid on her back, your ring on full display. Of course he put the tag right on the ring so everyone would notice it.

“The two best things to happen to me in 2020, I’m a lucky man to call these two beauties my own.”

You looked up at him to see him already staring at you. “I love you.” You whispered, pulling him in for a kiss, “I love you.” He murmured, pulling back to kiss your forehead. “So much.” He added, looking at the monitor and then back at you, his feelings plain as day on his face, love and adoration.

taglist: @vinceduhn @kempe @makarsy @literarycharleton @kiedhara @jamiedrysdales @klutchnetsov @meggomyeggo333 @sidscrosbyy @miracleonice87 (since you’re excited for the fic!)

[im-bakugous-bitch]

Shoto Todoroki - Heartbreak

**A/N Hey guys!  I know it’s been a long time since I wrote anything, and I wanted to post something since I haven’t in a while.  I have finals this week, and then I’ll be free for the summer and be back to writing for you guys!  In the meantime, I originally wrote this as a TodoDeku piece, but changed it to x reader so I could post it here.  I hope you guys enjoy!

Shoto had been distant lately.

It was all you could think about.  For some reason it felt like Shoto had given up, but he couldn’t have.  You still walked that path that brought you close to both your houses and kissed when you parted ways.  He was still saying “I love you”.  Just because he was distant and busy didn’t mean it was over.

That’s what you told yourself, at least.  Deep down, you knew it was all lies.  You just preferred to live in ignorance, even only so you could call him yours.  You were unhappy with how Shoto brushed you off on a daily basis, but you were willing to put up with it.  You loved Shoto, you’d seen the good times and believed you could get back there if Shoto would just put in some effort.  He didn’t even have to do much, just show up.  You loved enough for the both of you.

When Shoto announced that he was going on a trip for recommendation students, your heart broke. Shoto would be out of the country for nearly three weeks.  But the more you thought about it, the better you felt.

Maybe time apart was what you needed.  Maybe Shoto just needed some time to himself in order to see just how important you were to him.  Then he’d come back and things would be good again, right?

You couldn’t have been more wrong.

Shoto had been gone seven days, and you were feeling good.  Shoto was having an awesome time on his trip, which made you happy.  One day you had sent Shoto a photo that made you laugh, to which Shoto responded with many funny photos of his own.

That small action alone reassured you more than words ever could.  Just like it used to be.  Everything was going to be okay.

Turns out, you could have been more wrong.

You were talking with Ochako when it happened.  “I think it’ll be okay,” you said.  “I think when he comes back, we’ll go out to dinner somewhere, then cuddle on the couch and watch a movie.  Just like we used to.”  As you finished your sentence, your phone chimed.  You checked who was messaging you and smiled when you saw Shoto’s contact photo. “It’s from Shoto!”

Look, I’ve been feeling this way for a few weeks and I really just need to do this now. I’m breaking up with you and I’m sorry I’m doing this over text, I feel like an asshole.  I just wanted to do this sooner or later because I didn’t wanna give you false hope.  I just haven’t been feeling the spark between us from when we first started going out. I’m really sorry, I hope we can still be friends and things can stay mutual between us.

You screamed.  You didn’t know what else to do, so you just let out a loud wail.  Your stomach dropped as your eyes immediately began to water.  

What had happened? Things were going to be okay!  It was all going to be okay!  Why did he have to quit?  You threw your phone down as Ochako moved to sit beside you.  

“Shh,” she said in an attempt to soothe you.  She rubbed your back gently, watching you scream and shout for the next minute as you came to terms with what was happening.  She didn’t even need to read the text to know that you had just been dumped.

After your moment, you wiped your eyes and looked down at your phone.  You reread the message again and again, just to make sure you were seeing it clearly.  Maybe you were imagining it.  Or better yet – maybe this was all some horrible nightmare.  You weren’t sure what you’d do if it was real.

You wanted to yell at Shoto.  You wanted to scream and cry and hold him close and beg him to stay.  Why had he done this?  Why were you only worth a text?  After nearly nine months together, you had given him your all and Shoto had given nothing.  You’d done so much for Shoto to make him happy.  Why didn’t you even get a face-to-face breakup?

You’d known it was coming.  You said it was going to be okay and tried to trick yourself into really believing it, but deep down you knew the truth.  

Shoto had fallen out of love with you.

Not tying and sending the million pleading things you wanted to say was one of the hardest things you ever had to do.  You sat there, phone in hand, trying to come up with something to say.  You couldn’t just leave that on open.  But what does one say to something like that?

It’s okay, I understand.  Don’t ever hesitate if you change your mind.

You regretted the message as soon as you hit send.  You shouldn’t have said it was okay, because it sure as hell was not. Shoto had become this central figure in your life, the only person you could be around without ever getting tired. He’d become your everything and he just left.  He just gave up.  He didn’t even try.

Actually, it isn’t okay.  I wasn’t expecting this.  I’ll be honest, I knew you were going to leave me, but I thought I meant enough to you to at least be worth a face to face – or phone call at least!  Video chat!  Anything besides a TEXT MESSAGE!  Guess I overestimated my importance to you.  

You stared at the typed-out message on your phone for three whole minutes.  Your finger remained close to the send button, but never came close enough to send it.  Eventually, you backed down and erased the message.  You were hoping maybe in a day or two, Shoto would change his mind. Maybe he’d realize what an awful mistake he’d made.  If you sent that message, you knew there’d be no going back.

You stood up, causing Ochako’s hand to fall off your back.  “I’m going for a walk,” you said plainly.  You walked away without waiting for a response.  It was cold out, but you didn’t bother to grab a jacket.  It was getting dark, but you didn’t bother to grab a flashlight.

You walked around the UA campus for what felt like hours.  Every passing second felt like its own forever.  You’d started crying again at one point, but you weren’t sure exactly when that was.  It wasn’t until you heard a voice call out to you that you wiped away your tears.

“Young l/n?”  You’d recognize that voice anywhere.  All Might, your favorite person in the world. Well, second favorite to Shoto. “What are you doing out here?”

For once, you didn’t want to talk to All Might.  You just wanted to be alone.  You pushed past your hero’s fragile figure, not giving an answer as you ran off.  You could apologize later.

All Might chased after you, grabbing onto your shoulder.  “What’s wrong?”

You felt weak.  You were supposed to be training to be a Hero, and instead you were acting like some heartbroken teenager.  Even though you were a heartbroken teenager, you shouldn’t have been acting that way.  But you couldn’t help it.  It was all you could think about.  You wiped your eyes and sniffled as you looked up into All Might’s blazing blue eyes. “Sh-Sh-Shoto d-d-d-dumped m-me…”

All Might’s gaze softened as he let out a sigh.  “I’m sorry, Young l/n.”  He put a hand on your shoulder, but to his surprise it was just brushed off.

You didn’t want to see anyone.  You just wanted to be alone so you could cry.  For the last couple of weeks, people had been telling you the relationship was coming to an end.  Whenever you’d confide in your friends about your relationship problems, you’d always hear the same thing: “It’s only a matter of time, y/n.”

All Might gently reached out to you again, pulling you close into an embrace.  All Might was the closest figure you had ever had to a father, and you was basically All Might’s child.  It killed him to see you in pain.

Once pulled into the hug, you lost control.  You gripped onto All Might’s white t-shirt tightly as tears streamed down your cheeks and incoherent sobs left your lips.

The rest of the night after that was just a blur.

Next thing you knew, you were waking up in your bed.  Not your dorm bed – your home bed.  You’d forgotten UA was getting a week-long break and you were going home for the week.  Your head was pounding, you could hardly recall the previous day’s events.  You opened your phone and typed in your passcode, 74686, spelling out Shoto.  When it didn’t work, everything came flooding back.  You’d changed your password.  You’d changed your lock screen.

With a simple text, Shoto had changed your life.

Fresh tears welled in your eyes, and you buried your face in your pillow.  You were determined not to let them fall this time.  You had to be strong.

After only a few minutes, your mother knocked on your door.  “y/n?” she asked as she turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.  When she saw you sitting up in your bed, hugging a tear-stained pillow, her eyes filled with sorrow as she rushed to you. “I’m so sorry, honey,” she said gently as she held you close, and you cried into her shoulder.

The week carried on just like that.  Late Sunday night, you returned to UA.  You immediately ran into your dorm and laid face-down on your pillow until you fell asleep.

The following morning was the hardest yet.

You were waking up early to meet Shoto before class.  You’d sent Shoto a message; you had some things you wanted back, plus you wanted answers.  You planned to ask why he’d done it.  Why you hadn’t been good enough.  Why you didn’t get a face-to-face conversation.  You had a million questions flooding through your mind, and you planned to ask all of them.

But when you saw Shoto approaching, they all disappeared.

You stood up from the bench you were sitting on with Ochako and Tsuyu.  You followed as Shoto led you around a corner before leaning against a wall.  In his one outstretched hand he held your requested belongings, and once they were taken he crossed his arms over his chest.

You studied him. He looked fine.  No bloodshot or swollen eyes, no tear-stains, nothing.  He looked totally unaffected by the whole thing, and that hurt more than the initial break-up.  Not only did Shoto not care enough to break up with you in person, he didn’t care at all.  He looked like he was already over it.  Just a week shy of nine months together, and Shoto felt nothing.

Shoto raised his eyebrows expectantly at you, as you were just standing there and staring at him. You had your million questions you wanted to ask, dozens of ways to ask them, but you could only get one word out:

“Why?”

Shoto shrugged his shoulders so nonchalantly that you wanted to punch him.  “I just…didn’t feel it anymore.”

The billions of pieces your heart had shattered into even more.  Your heart was beating so fast, your eyes were already beginning to water.  You couldn’t cry in front of Shoto, but you couldn’t think of any of your other questions. You opened your mouth to speak, but no words came out.  What could you even say to that?

Shoto pursed his lips as he looked you up and down.  “I’ll see you around.”  With that he walked away, leaving you shattered and broken, standing there with your retrieved objects fallen to the ground and forgotten, as tears raced down your cheeks.

[iloverubberduckiez-blog]

Taehyung fluff drabble

 A/N: I wrote this drunk yesterday shut in on lockdown cause of the ‘rona.( I'm not gonna fix it and make it better lol I'm hungover now haha) I might start writing again. I never posted on Tumblr for my writing but I might just do an OT7 series soon- anyway tribute to my hubby

“Y/N.”

You didn’t bother to look up and acknowledge him. He sighed and sat down. The boys had just come back from a promotional tour. You had wanted to come along but Taehyung was insistent that you stay home and relax. You had just recently flown in from your travels in Peru and Zambia. You were still combating jet lag but since there was a shower on the plane, you expected to follow along with the boys on the way to their next commercial which you knew was at 11am after your pick up- 2 hours after your landing- just enough time to leave your things, greet your Pups and catch up with the members on the drive over. Unfortunately for you, your boyfriend was having none of it.

This- this is different because it’s the first time since living together you have been apart for more than 6 weeks and it was putting a real strain on you. Of course didn’t tell Taehyung – you were really feeling the media crackdown on you because Dispa- certain companies made it seem like you were out galivanting instead of caring for your relationship, whereas they didn’t know half the story. There were already so many things going on with you in your personal life this fight with him upon arrival was just the topper to the cake.(Even if you are totally to blame)

You greet the other boys and Tae sulks on the couch at the back, not unnoticed by Jimin.

“Are you going to tell me or just shoot daggers all night?”

“Go away hyung.”

“But won’t you at least-”

Taehyung gets up and to his delight one of the managers comes in and informs them that the boys have to leave.

“I’m going with noona, Tae and Hobi-ah”

Jimin smiles and loops his arm around yours. He hopes that he can help you two get over your issues and he can go back to hanging with his favourite couple. He knows that with sunshine Hosoek by his side they can bring you guys back to normal. This is the first time in a while you guys have openly fought and Jimin knows its still fresh because just two days ago you and Taehyung were on the phone up for hours. He knows because your 20 min quick chat lasted until 3am, when the two of you eventually fell asleep on each other after you decided to stream the same stupid movie because you wanted to not talk and ‘spend time together’ (how you can do that online properly?- heck if he knew but it kept you guys happy and Tae sane on days he was missing you so bad he opted to fly home to fetch you.)

“I’ll see you guys later; I’m not feeling so well”. When the members look at you in concern, you try appeasing them with a smile that doesn’t quite reach your eyes.

Namjoon frowns. He knows you and Tae had some sort of argument given that you had barley arrived for 10 mins before the two of you acted like you needed to be in separate rooms to breathe air.

“I’ll meet you there.”

Taehyung stated and went to grab a drink from the fridge.

Your lip twitched, you wanted to protest but also were not in the mood to make a scene

Sejin Nods and motions for the other boys to move towards the parking lot.

Once the boys had left Taehyung approached you with a bottle of water and a coke for himself before he perched himself on the opposite side of the couch, you found yourself on.

“babe,I thought you were cutting down on Coke”

“I also thought you weren’t talking to me Jagiya”

Taehyung moves closer offering to open the bottle for you as you were struggling. Once he had it you snatched it and gulped so fast you started choking. He patted your back until you caught your breath then kept his hand there tracing delicate patterns, just enjoying your presence. He was hoping you wouldn’t flinch away but he kept his hand there to give you the comfort he knew you needed.

Ignoring his question you closed the bottle of water after another sip and placed it on the table.

“You’ll be late for your photoshoot”

“who cares?”

“shouldn’t you? it's important.”

“This is more important”

“This?”

“You are important Y/N”

You felt his intense gaze on you and realised he had moved his hand from your back to couple it with his other in aid of holding your face in between his hands. He placed a gentle kiss on your forehead and let go. You rushed to grab his left hand and cradled it in between both of your hands kissing it softly in return before resting it on your lap. He interlaced one hand with yours and used his other arm to pull you into his side, resting his chin on your head atop your head (using his height advantage over you to cover you).

“I’m sorry.”

“No Tae I'm sorry.”

You sat up and saw the tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

“I knew he liked me from before and when I got the news that the flight was early to land, since we were already together from  the shoot when he offered to take me home I just took his offer without much thought, other than I would see you sooner. But when I got home and he offered to bring my bags in my room and then you were already gone I guess he thought he could make his move, so he kissed me and then I saw you and then soon everyone was here and I-”

“shh it’s okay”

Tae wiped the tears falling from your eyes. His own threatening to spill if you didn’t stop soon.

“There are already stupid articles and rumours that have been going around that I’m just hooking up with anyone and-”

“I told you to stop reading those, they’ll post anything to make money Jagi. I’m sorry for accusing you of cheating and for being a possessive asshole when all you wanted to do was spend time with me after so long.”

“So you were listening, I thought you were too busy yelling and throwing hands” you chuckled and he laughed with you.

“I’m sorry, you are sorry and now we are okay”

He bops your nose but your smile drops as your hands reached up to his face to see the bruise slowly starting to take form.

“well yeah but honestly who are you Kookie? Why were you trying to box him out?”

“Because he was trying to take my world from me.”

Taehyung pressed his lips to yours in a passionate kiss.

[ionlyspeakinmyheroacademia]

Late Nights and Lavender Tea

series masterlist ☕️ 

Pairing: Izuku Midoriya x Ochako Uraraka

Warnings: Some lauguage, gets a lil steamy at some parts, slow burn, MAJOR SPOILERS

Summary: After a year of friendship, Uraraka realizes that she is totally in love with her best friend, Midoriya Izuku. There's just one slight problem. She's in a happy, committed relationship with Iida Tenya.Or is she? As their relationship progresses, she sees a side of Tenya that scares her- and she wonders if she made the right choice to get with him in the first place. And her resurfacing feelings for Izuku aren't helping her case, not in the slightest.Midoriya Izuku always avoids romantic relationships, but he simply cannot avoid his feelings for Uraraka Ochako. She's taken, but Izuku can't help but hopelessly pine after her. After seemingly the millionth late-night talk over tea, he realizes that he's head over heels in love with her. He's in love with a girl who's off-limits. He can swallow his feelings for her sake, of course.That's okay with Izuku. If she's happy, he's happy for her. It's really okay, honestly.Teenage relationships are hard. That's one thing they've both realized.

Notes: This is my first fic, let me know what you think! (cross posted on ao3)

Chapter 5: Out of the Frying Pan

Ochako was exhausted. She’d been up since before they had gone out to patrol yesterday, and they had left pretty early, considering Ryukyu usually didn’t even get up until noon. Nejire Chan, on the other hand, had them up and working at six AM. She had gone straight from patrol to taking on the group of low-level villains with Tsu, Nejire, and Ryukyu, where she had been kidnapped when they left her to keep watch. 

She shuddered, pushing thoughts of the night before away. It was too soon to think about it. She looked over at Tenya, still asleep on the chair next to her bed. He was so peaceful as he slept, the anger gone from his features. Outside the door, she could see her parents talking with the doctors and Ryukyu and Nejire, who had just arrived, and Tsu burst into the room, flying over to Ochako, throwing her arms around her. 

“I was so worried about you!” Tsu cried, tears falling rapidly, as she sobbed into Ochako’s hospital gown. 

“Shh, shh,” Ochako soothed, rubbing her friend’s back consolingly. 

“I should never have left you alone-”

“Tsu, it’s not your fault. It’s my own fault, I volunteered to stay by myself. It’s my own damn fault that I was too stupid to realize I needed help.” Before Tsu could tell her she was wrong, Ryukyu and Nejire hurried in, and Nejire, not unlike Tsu, pulled Ochako into a hug. 

“Are you okay? What did they do to you? Who saved you again? Was it that guy in the chair? Isn’t that your class rep? Oooh, is he your boyfriend? I could have sworn it was the green-haired problem child. Deku right?” Nejire, as always, erupted into a million questions, leaving Ochako flustered.

“Don’t suffocate her, Nejire,” Ryukyu scolded, and set a hand on Ochako’s shoulder. “Ochako, I’m so sorry I put you in danger. As your supervisor, the blame falls on me for your capture. I'm so sorry for putting you through that.”

“Ryukyu-” Ochako started, when Tenya sat up groggily, turning to the women in the room, looking confused before he registered what was going on. “Hey sleepyhead,” she teased, smiling at him warmly.

“What time is it?” he asked sleepily, taking his glasses off to rub his eye. 

“Around seven,” Ochako’s father said as he walked into the room, followed by her mother, both of them holding two cups of coffee.  

“Would you like one?” Ochako’s mother asked Ryukyu, who accepted the caffeine gratefully because she wasn’t used to being up at this hour. 

“No, thank you,” Nejire answered when Ochako’s father asked if she wanted his other cup. “I have enough energy, at least that’s what Ryukyu says.” 

“Well, alright. Iida, would you like it? I have sugar here if you want anything,” her dad asked, turning to her boyfriend.

“Yes, thank you sir,” Tenya replied, taking the steaming cup from her father, blowing it off before taking a sip.   

“Anyway, Ochako, honey,” her mom said, coming over to stand next to the bed, “You’re cleared to be discharged so that they can get you to Recovery Girl. That way you can be back in the dorms by tonight.”

Ochako nodded, smiling warmly at her mother. “Okay, mom,” she answered, as her mom reached down to ruffle her daughter’s hair. 

“We’ll give you guys some time alone,” Ryukyu said, putting an arm around both Nejire and Tsu, and walking out of the room. 

“I’m going to head out too, if that’s alright, Ochako,” Tenya smiled softly at her, leaning over to kiss her forehead. “I have to report back to Manual.”

“Of course, see you later Tenya,” she answered, returning his smile. 

“He’s an okay kid,” her dad said, watching Tenya walk down the hall, putting his helmet back on. Ochako didn’t respond, just watched him walk away, thinking about what her friends had told her a few days before. 

“You okay, baby?” her mom asked gently, tucking Ochako’s hair behind her ear and turning her daughter’s face to look in her eyes. Ochako shook her head, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes, the mask she had put up to hide her pain tumbling down with those three little words. “Aww, sweetie, shh, shh.”

“I was so scared, Mom. I didn’t think I would ever see you guys again, I…” she choked out, sobbing as her parents threw their arms around her, “I thought I was going to die all alone, tied up in a old warehouse, with no way to be heard or seen, I thought I was going to die, and no one would know what happened to me, you guys would have lost your only daughter, and I would have never gotten to tell you I love you.”

Her parents soothed her as she sobbed into their shirts, whispering calming words to her, rocking her back and forth, kissing her hair, and her mother crying with her. 

“We love you Ochako, we’re so glad you’re okay,” her father said, his voice shaking, and her mother nodding, sobbing at the thought of her daughter dying.

“If it weren’t for Deku, I’d be dead,” she looked at her parents in the eyes, “I owe him my life.”

“The next time I see him he’s getting a huge hug, make sure to warn him,” he mother said, her voice muffled by Ochako’s hospital gown, and Ochako and her father laughed. 

“I will mom,” she replied.

“Anyway, I brought donuts,” her father burst out suddenly. “I didn’t have enough to share with everyone, so I didn’t get them out when your friends were here, but I got you chocolate creme, your favorite!”

“Aw, dad, you didn’t have to do that!” Ochako exclaimed, but took the donut anyway, biting into the fluffy pastry, savoring the sweetness. 

“Anything for my favorite daughter,” he laughed, ruffling her hair. She smiled as he passed a donut to her mother, and all three of them squished on the bed, catching up before Ochako had to go back to school.

…

“That should do it for today,” Recovery Girl sighed, “I couldn’t fully fix your leg without using all your energy, so you’ll need a crutch until tomorrow, and I’ll fix it in the morning, all right sweetie?”

“Yes, thank you so much ma’am.”

“Your welcome dear,” Recovery Girl replied, smiling at Ochako, and handing her a lollipop. “Make sure you’re careful with that leg tonight, and don’t do anything to raise your stress levels. You need to rest, especially after what happened last night.”

Ochako nodded, unwrapping the sucker and putting it in her mouth. 

“Anywho, I’ll see you in the morning dear.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ochako said, and stood, reaching for the crutch, and started slowly out of the room, adjusting to how the crutches sat under her arm, rubbing uncomfortably, causing her to wince. She made her way to the dorms, admiring the sunset, savoring her time alone, or at least she thought she was. 

The events of the night before had planted fear in her heart, growing into paranoia, and Ochako felt herself looking over her shoulder constantly. This was the first time she’d been alone since the capture, and it was starting to dawn on her that she wasn’t okay, not in the slightest. She was terrified, in a way she had never been before. 

I hate this feeling, I don’t want to live the rest of my life in fear. I’ll never be able to do anything, she thought, rubbing circles on her temples, stopping to adjust her crutches. It was then when she heard the sound in the trees behind her. 

It was a quiet noise, only a small crack in a branch, but she jumped, landing painfully on her still injured leg. Her heart raced, staring at the trees, hoping it was nothing, only a squirrel or a large bird. She groaned inwardly, turning back to the dorms. I’m such an idiot, she scolded herself, UA is heavily guarded, I’m perfectly safe here.

But no matter what she told herself, she was still frightened, and she hurried to Heights Alliance with her heart in her throat, moving as fast as her injured leg would let her. 

When she reached the building, she breathed a sigh of relief, and composed herself before pushing the door open. 

“She’s back!” she heard Mina cry, and all at once, she was swarmed by her classmates, questions being thrown at her left and right.

“All right, everyone, move out of the way, Ochako’s boyfriend coming through,” Tenya called from the back of the group, and all of their classmates moved out of the way reluctantly, and Tenya made his way towards her.

“Hey,” she said, kissing him lightly on the cheek, and smiling up at him. 

“You okay?” he said softly, so only she could hear, keeping the conversation between them. 

“Yeah, just tired, Recovery Girl took a lot of my energy healing my injuries, and she still has more to heal tomorrow.”

“Do you want to go sit down?”

“Sure, that sounds nice,” she replied, and he helped her over to the couch neighboring the one where Todoroki and Sora were sitting, Todoroki’s head in Sora’s lap as his boyfriend played with his hair.

She leaned against Tenya’s chest, closing her eyes and trying to drone out the conversations of her classmates. She let her mind wander, thinking back to the other night, with the girls, remembering what they had said. Tenya had been acting normal, back to the way he’d been before the Sports Festival, before everything had gone downhill. Ochako had never been in a relationship, so she really didn’t know what to expect, but she knew something was wrong with her and Tenya’s relationship, but she cared about him too much to let him go.

“Why are you so tired babe?” she heard Sora ask Todoroki.

“Well, I got like, two hours of sleep, thanks to Midoriya. I covered for him after he went and broke the rules, and ended up getting chewed out all night, and when Midoriya finally got there, dear ol’ dad and Burnin lectured him. And of course when I tried to leave I got in trouble, so I didn’t go to bed until at least six-thirty this morning,” Todoroki answered, and Ochako sat up, looking at him quizzically.

“What do you mean? What did Deku do?” Ochako asked, genuinely confused.

“He saved you. We had specific instructions not to, but he was distraught, he said he really needed to make sure you were safe,” Todoroki said, and then turned to her, puzzled. “Why, did he not tell you?”

“That little shit,” she said under her breath, and stood up, positioning her crutch under her arm and hobbling towards the elevator. 

“Where are you going?” Tenya called.

“To give him a piece of my mind!” she yelled back, hitting the up button and tapping her good foot impatiently. He was in for a hell of lecture, that was for sure. 

Izuku had been studying when Ochako burst into his room, fuming. 

“Hey! You’re back! How are you-”

“Uh uh, I have a bone to pick with you,” she growled, limping over to him, and putting her free hand on her hip. “Izuku, what were you thinking! You could be expelled for defying a direct order like that! Do you not remember what happened last year with Bakugou? I won’t let you get expelled for me!”

“What was I supposed to do, Ochako? I couldn’t let you get killed, I couldn’t. I know I didn’t follow the rules, but someone once told me, ‘Meddling where you don’t need to is the essence of being a hero’. I couldn’t let you die, I just couldn’t, and I’m sorry if that makes you angry, but I saved your life, and I’m proud of that. I had to save you Ochako,” he said, bursting into tears, hastily wiping them away. She stood there in shock for a moment, staring at him as tears started to fill her own eyes. She stumbled forward, and threw her arms around his shaking shoulders, both of them sobbing into each other’s shirts. 

“I’m sorry Izuku, I just don’t want you to throw your future away for me,” she cried, her anger ebbing away as they held each other.

“I’m not sorry,” he whispered, burying his face in her hair, even though he knew deep down he shouldn’t. “I’ll never be sorry for saving you.” I love you, his heart was repeating over and over, and he wanted to scream those three little words as loud as he could, but he bit them back. She was with Iida, she had a boyfriend. He stifled another sob, and hugged her tighter, trying to commit her to memory. They stayed there for a good while, just hugging each other tightly, trying to hold each other’s sadness in, patching up the holes the two of them had left in each other’s hearts. 

…

“So,” Izuku asked, sniffling. “How are you feeling?” The two of them had been sitting in his room for a while now, after breaking down in front of each other. They had sat in silence for a good five minutes, Ochako sitting in his desk chair, and Izuku sitting rigidly on the edge of his bed. 

“I’m exhausted, I mean, I already was, and then I cried, so now I’m extra tired,” she answered, laughing lightly, cutting the laugh off with a yawn.

“Do you want to lay down? I need to keep studying anyway, and it’s getting late,” he suggested, immediately cursing himself. You idiot, his brain screamed at him.

“Do you mind?” she asked, “I could use some sleep.”

“Of course not, here,” he jumped up awkwardly, moving over to the desk as she shuffled over to the bed, slipping her slippers off and getting under the covers. He turned the lights off, leaving on the lamp on his desk, and sat down, trying to distract himself from the fact that Ochako Uraraka was in his bed. They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, and Izuku stared blankly at his notebook, doodling absently, anything to distract him from her.

“Izuku?” he heard her whisper from behind him. 

“Yeah?” he said quietly, turning to look at her, and saw tears shining in her eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He moved to sit on the bed next to her, and brushed her hair from her eyes gently. 

“I’m scared ‘Zu,” she whispered, tears spilling over. “I don’t want to sleep, I’m scared I’ll have nightmares again.” He reached over and wiped her tears away. 

“Shhh, it’ll be okay Ochako, don’t worry.”

“I haven’t slept since this morning, and I didn’t sleep for long, I had these terrible nightmares…” she wiped her tears away hastily. “Sorry, this is the second time I’ve cried in front of you in an hour. God, I’m so pathetic.”

“No you’re not,” he reassured, setting a light hand on her knee. 

“Midoriya, have you seen-” he heard a voice from behind him, and a swift intake of breath. 

Izuku turned around, and smiled at Iida. “Hey Iida, what’s up?”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Iida roared, storming over to Izuku and ripping him off the bed, picking him up and throwing him by the collar of his shirt into the All Might covered wall.

“Whoa, what’s going on?” Izuku said after grunting in pain. “Why the hell did you thro-” He was cut off by Iida’s fist colliding into his face.

“Tenya!” Ochako screamed from behind them, trying to stand up, reaching for her crutch. “What is wrong with you! What are you doing?”

Izuku slid to the floor, pinching his nose that was gushing blood. He looked up to see Iida, his eyes full of pure malice, pulling his arm back for another punch. Izuku prepared himself for the blow, but it never came. He opened his eyes to see Ochako’s hand on Iida’s arm, pulling it back. Iida swiveled around to face her. 

“Stop, please, stop,” she whimpered, trying to reason with him, but Izuku could see his arm twitching. He tried to make a sound, but he was too late- Iida had already slapped Ochako across the face.

[spectrumscribe]

Your Heart’s Desire

a very late submission to tmntflashfic‘s valentine’s day prompt thing, since it got insanely long, and has to be broken up into parts.

Master Post of Chapters.

————————————————————————————- Chapter Four.

“So how many more siblings do I gotta watch out for?” Casey asked, tossing a rubber ball up into the air and catching it before it hit his face. Mikey was out for the evening, and Casey figured he’d take the moment to ask some important questions. Like just how many demons were going to be gunning for his life.

Maybe he was handling this better than he should be. Hm.

“Two at least, three if we’re really unlucky,” Raph said from his position a few feet away. They were lying on the floor, because Casey was stuck on an essay, and felt like procrastinating as long as he could.

“Shit. Big family?”

“I guess. It’s big by some standards, tiny by others. Depends on what dimensional plain we’re hanging around in.”

“Who’re the other two or three sibs you got? I just got the one, and she lives back in New York with my dad.”

“Two more brothers, one older sister. Plus her wife.”

“None of the rest of you married?”

“Nah. Most demons don’t do that shit. Karai’s just a huge sap underneath all the murderous intent.”

Casey turned his head, glancing towards Raph. This was more information he’d gotten on the demon’s family in one go, in comparison to the few weeks he’d been living with Casey.

“Can you tell me about them?” Casey asked. “I’ll tell you about mine.”

Raph blew out a gust of air, and rubbed his face. “I’m technically not supposed to, and Donnie would get pissed I bet, but sure. Why not. You seem less likely to use the info against us than most humans. Too stupid to do anything useful with it.”

“Wow. Fuck you.”

Raph laughed, the sound coming from his chest. “So basically, Karai was our sire’s first ‘kid’ so to speak, and then came the four of me and my brothers. There’s a couple eon’s difference in age, and Karai lords it over us all the time. Bitch.”

“Sire?”

“Equivalent of our dad. He’s basically this near god level demon, and has claim over a good number of dimensions.”

“Dude… sick.”

“He’s less cool than he sounds. He used to be a really active power, but the last couple centuries he’s really mellowed out. He spends most of the time possessing people so he can watch his soaps.”

“Still though…” Casey said, trying to imagine Raph’s dad. He probably was huge, way huger than Raph. Probably more horns too. And spikes. Shit he should totally draw that some time. “Why’d he chill out though? If I were a demon overlord, you couldn’t get me to do that even if you tried.”

“He’s old,” Raph explained plainly. “He’s been alive longer than any mortal being can comprehend, and he’s getting ready to step down.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep. One of us’ll be next in line, unless someone tries to steal the spot like his brother did.”

“You and your sibs?”

“Yeah. It might be Karai, might be Leo. Donnie doesn’t want anything to do with it, and I’m with him on that. It’s a lot of work to police dimensions. Off chance it could be Mikey, but we’d probably see the collapse of a number of realties if that happened.”

“Yikes.”               

“Yeah. It’ll probably be Karai. She is the oldest.”

“How’s that work anyways?” Casey asked. “Like, are little demon babies are a thing?”

“Not really. Either you’re made into a demon artificially, or you’re sired as one. With sired demons, like me and my siblings, we start as semi-sentient blobs made from two or more essences, and get nurtured by whichever demon is the main ‘parent’. Mine was my dad.”

“Who was the mom then? Or did your dad have a fling with chaos or somethin’,” Casey half joked, thinking of Mikey.

Raph didn’t answer, suddenly going quiet. Casey turned to look at him again, and saw Raph staring at the ceiling with an unreadable expression. “Raph?”

“She. She, uh… she died, pretty much right after she brought us into existence,” Raph said, voice soft. “I only knew her for a little while, and then she was gone.”

“Dude, shit,” Casey said, suddenly feeling like a nosy asshole. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“No, it’s fine,” Raph said, sighing. “You asked and I answered.”

“I’m still sorry. What happened, if you don’t, uh, mind me asking about that too?”

“Well… she was human, for starters. My dad fell in love with her.”

That really got Casey’s attention. “Yooooo… demons can fall for humans?”

“Everyone can love, or so my dad says. Anyways,” Raph coughed awkwardly. “She wasn’t from this dimension, but it was close enough in design that it had humans still. My dad sort of just… met her one day, and knew she was the one. He was possessing a human at the time, and he literally bumped into her on accident.”

“Sounds kinda like a rom-com plot,” Casey commented. “But with demons.”

“Ha, yeah I guess. Point being, they fell in love, yada yada yada, and spent a few years being happy and stuff. She even knew my dad was a demon and thought it was fine.”

“She sounds like a cool lady,” Casey said honestly.

Raph grinned fondly. “Yeah. I only sort of remember her, since I wasn’t like, fully alive yet, but she was. She definitely was.” His grin slipped, and a hint of grief appeared in his eyes. “She gave her soul to my dad to save us all.”

“…how so?”

“My dad had a brother, another big time demonic influence. He wanted my dad’s turf, and he came for him when he realized my dad had created a chink in his defenses,” Raph sighed, long and heavy. “Tang Shen. She was the chink. She also ended up being the thing that defeated my dad’s brother.

“He’d poisoned us, me and my brothers. We were already starting to form inside mom, and he poisoned our essences. It was killing Tang Shen too, but it was mostly meant of us. Karai was already a fully-fledged demon, so my technical uncle went after my dad’s unborn spawn instead. Easier targets for eliminating potential successors or usurpers.

“It ended up being us or Tang Shen, and… she chose us. Told my dad to take her soul, and use its power to revive us and destroy his brother...”

“And then what?” Casey asked as Raph trailed off.

“And then he did,” Raph finished, still staring at the ceiling. “She died right after, since taking a human’s soul right away will kill them. I… I sort of miss her still. It’s been a really, really long time, but…”

Raph trailed off again, and a solemn quiet settled in the room.

Casey turned his eyes to the ceiling, feeling uncomfortable with how quickly things had gotten serious.

“That got heavy really fast,” Casey commented in a hushed voice.

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“ ‘s cool. My turn then.” Casey tossed his rubber ball again, and caught it as it fell. “I got my dad and my sister still, but I, uh, lost my mom too. She got pretty sick one year when I was still a kid, and just… never got better. It sucked really bad for a long time. My dad had it especially hard, since he had two kids to feed, a whole lot of bills to deal with, and not a lot of extra support. So I. Uh. I get it. Missin’ your mom even after a long time.”

“…hey Casey?”

“Yeah Raph?”

“Lemme try something.”

Casey felt more than saw the runes appear on his chest, and watched as it fizzled out again right after. He blinked, sitting up halfway to put a hand on the spot. “What was that for?”

“I was seeing if… if what you’d wanted was your mom to come back. I could do that. One soul for another. Um. It wasn’t though. I’m sorry.”

Casey blinked, and bit his lip.

That sounded too good to be true, and he wasn’t sure what he thought of his past self for not taking that chance. Even if he hadn’t known there was one.

“It’s fine,” Casey said quietly. “You gotta keep moving forwards an’ stuff no matter what. ‘s my motto. I’m not really surprised I didn’t ask for that.”

Casey missed his mom, and probably always would, but he wasn’t sure if he could do that to his family. To his mom. Bring her back and throw everything into chaos.

It was probably best he hadn’t made that his desire, even if the idea dragged back up old hurts. Of wanting to give anything to get her back.

Casey swallowed thickly, and rubbed his eyes.

Raph didn’t say anything, other than shifting onto his side, facing away from Casey. After a minute, Casey lay back down as well.

They lay there in silence, Casey listening to the kitchen clock ticking, and the slow breaths Raph was taking.

Oh god things had gotten awkward. Heavy and awkward. Why had Casey even asked that shit?

He’d wanted to know more about demons, not dead moms. Why did things always turn into dead moms?

Life imitates art or something like that.

“You wanna go play street hockey?” Casey asked, trying to get rid of the smothering feeling of grief.

“Yeah. Yeah I do. Don’t fuck up your knee this time.”

“No promises.”

Mikey didn’t come home that night, and Casey knew that for sure because he fell asleep on the couch with Raph, waiting up for the wayward demon.

Casey woke briefly, because some red light had been hovering over him, and it’d roused him.

“ ‘s goin’ on…” Casey slurred, mostly asleep still.

“Shh, it’s nothing,” Said a dark shape close by him. “Go back to sleep.”

“Raph…? What’re you doin’…”

“Just… just something. Don’t worry about it. Just go back to sleep already, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Maybe a few weeks ago, Casey would’ve woken up all the way and demanded to know what was happening. But now?

“Sure,” Casey mumbled, turning onto his side and pushing his face into the couch cushions. “Go t’ sleep yourself though. ‘s fuckin’ late…”

“I will. I promise.”

“ ‘kay…”

Casey trusted Raph enough not to do weird shit while he was asleep. He could rest and not have to worry about anything.

But Raph wasn’t there when he woke up, which set off a couple alarm bells in Casey’s head. It was weird, waking up to an apartment empty except for him. He’d gotten used to having another individual around twenty-four-seven.

Casey made himself a quick breakfast, and ate it quietly in his empty feeling kitchen.

The demon showed up around lunch, casual as anything as he waltzed in through the balcony doors, tucking his wings back into nonexistence as he did. Casey didn’t ask where Raph had been, and Raph didn’t supply any answers.

They had chicken strips (Casey’s) and raw beef (Raph’s) for dinner, and didn’t discuss anything from the day before.

 Casey was smoking on his balcony, because that was where you supposed to smoke dammnit, when he received yet another unwanted visitor.

Said unwanted visitor sped by his balcony, grabbing Casey as they went, and as Casey was swept up into the air yet again- he figured it might be time to quit smoking.

Thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully, the demon that’d grabbed him dropped Casey onto the roof of his apartment complex. Landing with sweeps of their huge-��seriously huge- wings, the lithe demon loomed over Casey.

Casey scrambled to his feet, squaring up against the newcomer. Shit, was this a big one. Casey kept his hands steady anyways. “Okay motherfucker, I don’t know which one of Raph’s bros you are, but back the hell off! I’m not ‘enthralling’ him or whatever, so you can cool it with the trying to kill me thing!”

"̷O͡f ̵ço̶u͜rs͡e h̛e͟ pi̛c̵k͘ed͡ ̧a ̕m̀oųt͏h҉y o̵ne͢,"͜ The demon growled, flashing teeth as he stalked around Casey. The demon was a lot taller than Raph and Mikey had been, and leaner all around. He looked like he was built for pure speed, and reach too if the tail was as flexible as it seemed.

Casey was so busy examining the demon’s differences from his brothers, he missed the moment Raph’s unidentified brother attacked.

The demon was suddenly on top of Casey again, slamming him down against the concrete rooftop with a huge hand on his chest. The demon’s teeth were then right in front of Casey’s face, and he got a hot gust of demon breath blown right in his face.

Casey wheezed, feeling his ribs bruise and his lungs nearly collapse.

"͞Lęt̨'s j̵u͟st ̴gét ͘t͜his ov͞e̕r ̡w͡i̶th͝,"̢ The demon said in a put upon tone, opening his jaws wide and bearing down on Casey’s neck.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE, DONNIE!”

The demon- Donnie apparently- snapped his jaws shut right in front of Casey’s nose, and leaned his long neck away. The tips of his long horns caught the daylight as he looked evenly at his furious brother. "̡Ŗa̵p̴h͝.̡ ̛Lòng͞ ̨ti̛m̢e no ́see.͢I ͢w͡as ̛ju̴s̶t̷ ͠ta͡k̷i̕n̷g c͞are ͝of ̕thin̨gs."

Casey turned his head, and woozily caught sight of a more familiar demon he knew.

Wow Raph did look pissed.

“I said-” Raph growled, snapping his wings out as he took a threatening step towards the larger demon. “-don̡'t y̛ou͠ f̴ưc̷k̴ing ͟d̛a̶r͝e.͏"

Donnie huffed, still not easing his hold on Casey’s steadily collapsing chest. "̡I'm not ̵ǵo̢ing̷ ̀t҉o͠ l̢e̡t y̢ou̴ ̀do͝ ̵t̀hi͟s̡ ̀to yours͟elf͜ ągain,̸ ͠Rap͘h. It'ş ̡for ̛y͡o͞ur͏ o͟w͞n̢ ǵo̶od͞.̢"

"́Y͟ou d͟o͟n't͡ ̀g̶et͏ ͘to make th͢at̸ dec͞i̴si͢o͘n̸ fo̴r͏ ͞me̶,̢"͘ Raph said in a hissing voice, steadily shifting closer and closer to full demon form. Scales covered his arms and crawled up his neck, same time as Raph’s eyes turned pure green. "́N͏o ̢o̸n͠e͞ ͘d̢oes.̨"

"Oh ͡pl̶ea̕s͘e͡,̡ h͡e'͜s͟ ͘n͏ơt̢ ͢w͠o̷rt͏h҉ i̵t̛.̶ ͝H̕e̵'͡ś b̴ar̨ély ̷wǫr͡th̕ ́ȩat́iņg̵.̡ A̧nd ̴b͡es͘ide͞s,͠ ͢it͠'s not ̸like̢ ͟you ҉a̶ĺready m-̧" Donnie broke off, as something flickered in the air too fast for Casey’s blackening vision to catch. Even with the reptilian features and steady loss of oxygen in his brain, Casey read dawning horror in the demon’s expression.

"Y̷ơu ͏d̡idn̶'͟t,͘"͘ Donnie said, not asked, in a quiet voice.

“Just get off him, Dee. You know the rules,” Raph said in a low tone, his own voice returned to normal reverberation.

It took another moment, but Donnie’s stupidly huge hand lifted off Casey’s aching ribs, and he sucked in a much needed gush of air.

Casey saw spots in his vision, and tilted sideways as he tried to stand up. Someone’s arm caught him though, and Casey found himself being supported by Raph.

“Why’re all your brothers-” He coughed. “-assholes,” Casey asked, throat raspy and feeling aches blooming all around his rib cage.

Donnie sneered at them both. "Ǹo͡ w̨o̵rd͢ fr̕om ̢y͏o̢ù ̸fo̢r͝ ̸o͠v̕èr a̷ ̢mo҉ntḩ, ̶a͡nd I̵ f͡i̵nd y̛ou ͢lik͏e҉ this͜.̧ A͠n͠d o̡nly͠ bèc̕au͏s͞e̛ M̧ike̢y͜ ̵c͝a̷me̕ a̛nd͟ tol͠d͜ ̨me̸ ̵w̛h͡a̴t͏ y͢o̵u̡'̡d bee͡n up͘ t͜o." ͠

“What I do in my spare time doesn’t concern you,” Raph said, stepping defensively in front of Casey.

"It d͝oés̢ ͏s̴o!" Donnie exclaimed, stomping one of his front limbs. "̡I'm̀ ̷ąl̵l͘o͞wed to be ̀çonc͢ern͢ed͠ w̷h͏e̷n͜ ̶my broth͡èr͜ v̀an̡ìs͠he̕s̶ ͡f̢ór͞ ́w͟ee͏ks̀ on̴ ̨e̷nd̨,͞ ̷aǹd̵ ̷t͞u̶ŕn̡s̢ o͠ut͘ t͝o͟ h̶a͘v̶e̴ beén h͠i͘ḑin͟g o̵u͝t wi͞t̨h̴ ͟a ́h̴uma̕n̸ ͘ţh͜ís ẃh́ol̕e ̢t҉im̨e!"̡

“He’s not hiding out,” Casey interjected. “He’s stuck here ‘cause I made a contract with him, and then forgot what for.”

Donnie shot him a look, luminous red eyes glaring harshly at Casey. "̛S͢h̸ut up. I͞ do̶n̶'̀t͠ want t͘o҉ he͟ar ̕ęxcu̵ses fróm̷ ͝s͜o͞m̧e̕ s͝t͏up̕i̷d ͜hu̡m̡an my̢ brother͞'s̷ ͜t͜a͡k͜en͘ to."

“Hey! You don’t get to talk to him like that, Donnie,” Raph said, jabbing a finger at his much taller brother. “I’m the only who does.”

"̨R̨a͢ph, quít͏ ̀i͠t w͠įth͘ th͡i̴s̵ ͟nonsenşe,͝ ͜and̷ jus͢t̀ ki̡l̶l̢ h͟i̛m ̕aĺre͠ady͞," Donnie said, lowering his head to be eye level with Raph. "̸T̶her͠e͠'̵s ́no̢ ͠pòi͘n̵t įn p̢ur͞s͡ui̵ng ͞t͡his̢. ̶Y̧ou ̷k̀n͢òw̡ ͡ḩow̕ ̴i̸t'̨l̢l͜ ́en̸d͟.͘ ͜L͟et'͘s͏ j͝u͢st ̧go̸ hơme án͜d ͜f̵o͏r͠ge͏t th̛is ȩve͜r̨ ha͘p̨p͡ene͘d͡."̶

“No.” Raph growled, not giving an inch.

Donnie flashed his teeth, and he rose back to his full height. His wings snapped out again, and his tail whipped around behind him. "̡I ͠g̀ųe̷s͜s̀ I͞'ll̢ hàv͠e̕ to ųse ̕forc̕e t͝h̸e͡n."̛

“Fucking br͡iņg ҉i͘t̶,"̧ Raph growled, starting to get bigger.

Casey was caught between ‘hell yes demon battle’ and ‘oh fuck demon battle’- when Donnie’s tail whipped across the roof the wrong way, and demolished the small garden in the corner.

Casey’s terror/excitement took a nosedive, and turned into pure horror.

The sound of clattering across the rooftop made everyone pause, and Casey turned slowly to look for the source.

April was standing in the open doorway from the rooftop entrance, her tools and watering can dropped on the ground beside her. She was staring at the disaster zone Donnie had made of her garden, clutching only her broom still.

Casey grabbed Raph’s shoulder, and started to tug him away from the danger zone. “Okay, we’re leaving now.”

“What? No, Casey I have to-”

“My garden,” April said, voice just loud enough to be heard across the roof. “You destroyed my garden.”

Donnie turned a condescending look on her, and scoffed. "͘Th͟i̸s͠ dóes̶n̕'͏t c̕o͞nc̛er̢n͞ ỳo͝u, m̸òr̸t̶al͟.͞ ̷Leáv̢e̸ w͠hi̕le ̴y͝ou st͡ill can."

“That was five months of work,” April said, pale and wide eyed. Her grip around her broom tightened to knuckle white. “Five months of work. Gone. I was writing my whole thesis on it.”

"I͘s s̡h̛è ̨d͟e͟af? ̛I told ͏her͏ ͠to l̀e̡a͠v̸e̛ ͝a̕lre̕a̵d̢y̵-"

“FIVE. MONTHS .OF WORK!” April suddenly shouted, causing everyone to jump, even Donnie. She’d lost the shocked expression on her face, and turned it into pure fury. “AND THIRTY PAGES OF THESIS! GONE. WORHTLESS.”

“Okay I see your point,” Raph whispered in an abruptly small voice, willingly backing away now. Casey nodded jerkily, and tugged Raph towards the edge of what was probably going to be the splash zone for blood.

April marched across the roof, broom swinging in her grip as she did, straight towards the visbily unsettled dragon-demon responsible for her garden’s violent death.

April glared up at Donnie, no hint of any fear from their height differences. “Shrink down. I know you can, because he can.” She pointed at Raph, who was trying to slip behind Casey. “So do it. Shrink down right. this. second.”

Donnie looked down at her, seeming confused by April’s commanding tone. "U̵h- ͡ex̶cu͟se me̢-?"

April swung her broom around in a vicious swing, and made contact with a harsh slap to Donnie’s side. He yelped, and tried to shy away, only for April to chase after him.

“SHRINK DOWN!”

"̨You'r̶e̡ i͝nsa̢n͜e͘!"

“DO IT!”

"N͝O̶!́"̴

“Do it or so HELP ME GOD-!”

Casey watched his neighbor and best friend chase the demon sizes bigger than her, using only a broom and her terrifying temper to cow him. Raph had fully hidden himself behind Casey at that point, and Casey did his best to shield his other friend from April’s wrath.

Eventually, after April managed to land several consecutive hits to Donnie’s head and horns, he poofed into smoke, and rematerialized as a long haired human with tall horns. “Okay! I did it! Leave off you insane woman-”

April whacked him across the shins with her broom, literally sweeping Donnie’s long legs out from under him.

“Now fix it, you over grown lizard!”

“Fix what?! OW!”

“MY GARDEN!!” April screamed, pure fury in her voice. Her red hair flared up around her head, exactly like fire in the wind. She looked more demonic than the lanky man on the ground, currently trying to protect his tall horns and long tail from her broom.

Donnie then yelled something Casey couldn’t quite understand, and he stumbled for a moment- vision skewing violently. Raph steadied from behind thankfully, a warm hand placed in the center of Casey’s back.

April seemed utterly unaffected, continuing her assault on Donnie. The two of them were back to throwing insults at one another, and Donnie actually seemed a bit scared now. April continued whacking him with her broom anyways.

Casey- shaking off whatever Donnie had just done to his hearing- managed a wince on behalf of the fallen demon. “I actually feel sorry for the dude.”

“Me too,” Raph said, now fully hidden behind Casey. Though, he apparently didn’t feel sorry enough for his brother to actually intervene.

“Ooooooh shit. Dee’s really getting it now.” A cheery voice said from behind them. Casey glanced over his shoulder, and saw a mostly human Mikey clinging to the roof railing. He waved to Casey.

“Mikey! You told Donnie where I was?” Raph hissed accusingly at his brother.

“Nuh uh! Just that you were okay and junk, and sorta maybe chillin’ with a human.”

“Mikey.”

“Hey, at least I didn’t say anythin’ to Leo or Karai! Or Shini. Yikes.”

“Are you giving him our names?!” Donnie shrieked across the roof. “Guys! What have we talked about?!”

Mikey shrugged with a guiltless grin. “Hey, Raph did it first.”

“Names mean a thing?” Casey asked, struggling to keep track of the situation.

“Yes, yes they mean a thing!” Donnie exclaimed. “It would have been nice to know that you’ve both been handing them out like candy, and that Raph’s human’s neighbor was a witch!”

“April’s a witch?” Casey asked, even more confused. “April, you’re a witch and you never told me??”

“Don’t call me names!” April yelled, sweeping at Donnie again. “Just because you’re in trouble doesn’t mean you get to call me names!”

“April’s a witch? What?” Casey questioned again, this time aiming it at the demon hiding behind his back.

“I thought you knew!” Raph said in a panicked voice.

“I thought so too!” Mikey added.

“I DIDN’T SO WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!” Donnie yelled over April’s broom whacking.

April, apparently unbothered by the side conversations that’d developed, hit Donnie again. “Fix it!”

“I AM, you psychotic woman- ACK-!”

“Yeesh, so no movie night tonight?”

“Not the priority here, idiot!”

“I don’t know what’s happening anymore but guys please don’t attract her attention over here she’ll- APRIL WAIT I HAD NO PART IN THIS-”

“STOP BRINGING DEMONS INTO OUR APARTMENT!”

April being a witch made a horrendous amount of sense. The plants, the insane natural talent she had with chemicals and science in general, the bizarre way she’d been dealing so fearlessly with Casey’s accumulating demon population…

Casey thought it was amazing.

April didn’t think as much.

“That sounds fake,” She said, arms crossed to the demon she was staring down.

Donnie, who had managed to get off the ground again now that things were calmed down, stared back at her. “You are. I can sense latent power all around you.”

“Fake.” April said again. “I don’t believe you for a second. Witches don’t exist.”

“I’m a demon, I’m standing right in front of you. You’ve been living with a demon, if only by association, for more than a month. How can you deny that witches exist?”

“You have to draw the line somewhere, and I’m drawing it here.”

“I don’t understand you humans. At all.”

She’d raised her broom threateningly in response, and Donnie had backed off with his hands raised.

April had eyed them all, eyed her restored garden, and then hefted her broom again. Everyone got the message.

Then she’d left, flipping her loose ponytail over her shoulder as she did.

Casey laughed aloud as she shut the door behind her. “Wow! I can’t believe none of us died! That’s a relief. Now someone explain my best friend being a witch. Seriously. What the fuck.”

Something then lashed out at his head, and Casey didn’t even have time to react before Raph yanked him down, and Donnie’s clawed hand was caught by Raph’s.

“Dammnit,” Donnie cursed shortly.

“I just said-” Raph growled, yanking his much taller brother to his level. “-don’t touch him.”

“And I just said-” Donnie growled back, knocking his long horns and forehead against Raph’s. “-this is going to end in disaster.”

“Oh my god, none of you have any chill,” Casey said, trying to wiggle out of Raph’s restraining grip.

Both of the quarreling demons let out rolling snarls, and Casey was practically tossed aside by Raph as they started fighting again.

The roof was covered in black smoke, and then there were two huge dragons wrestling right in front of Casey. He very closely avoided getting smacked in the face by Donnie’s whipping tail.

And- shit- the cement was cracking, and Raph’s mouth was starting to glow and produce smoke, and Donnie’s was crackling with purple light, and everything smelt like ozone and rain and sort of like a forest fire-

-they both summoned magic circles, bright red against bright purple, and-

-a giant portal opened up underneath them, and they both fell into with surprised bellows.

The orange ringed portal closed up without a sound, and it was like there’d never been demons around to begin with.

Casey looked over at Mikey, who was still holding his hands out with his legs apart.

Mikey looked at Casey, and gave a winning smile. Complete with deadly canines.

“What the fuck.” Casey said, not asked.

“They needed time to cool off,” Mikey explained.

“So you sent them to hell?”

“Maaaaybe?? I don’t know. It just sort of- poofed them off? Somewhere?? They’re gonna come back don’t worry. Donnie’s good at finding his way home, no matter where I poof him.”

“Oh my god.”

“Soooo…” Mikey gave him a cat-ish grin, coy and sly. “Can we go eat all the raw meat and watch a movie till they get back? I mean, they’ll probably get a snack along the ways anyhoo, so like, they ain’t gonna miss that meat, right? Ha ha.”

Mikey’s tail was lashing around excitedly, the curly crest on it bouncing around as it did. He looked way too proud of himself and way too okay with the fact that Raph and Donnie were probably going to come back pissed.

Casey thought for a moment.

Hm. If worse came to worst, he could just call his friendly neighborhood witch to subdue everyone. And speaking of-

“We can if you tell me about April being a witch.”

“Oh totally, and I get dibs on the steak too!”

“Uh. Wasn’t gonna eat it, so sure.”

Technically Raph had been planning to, but keeping Mikey from eating things that weren't exactly dead yet was more important.

next part.

[baahsu]

—To my love in 140 characters—

Jungkook struggles with his birthday post to Yoongi. Hoseok helps.

yoonkookseok | general |  2.9k words | yoongi's (late) bday fic | canon compliant | AO3

12:00 AM, read the bright screen of Hoseok's phone as it buzzed incessantly at his bedside table.

 Hoseok shot up from his bed, grabbing the device in a hurry and running to the door of his and Jimin's bedroom, the younger boy still fast asleep.

 As Hoseok opened the door and made to walk into the hallway he saw Jungkook dashing out of his own room towards the living room, laptop in hand and phone tucked in the waistband of his sweatpants, threatening to fall. Hoseok raised an eyebrow, curious, and followed after the maknae after sparing another glance at Jimin's sleeping form.

 "What are you doing, Jungkookie?" He asked, stepping next to the couch where the youngest had settled himself on, laptop propped over the center table, a video editor software and ten other tabs — and was that a Yoongi fancam? — opened.

 Jungkook jumped, not having noticed Hoseok's presence.

 "Hyung!" He took one hand to his chest, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Did Hoseok really have to creep up on him like that?

 He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart down, pressed "save" on the file he had opened and looked at Hoseok, "I'm working on my post for Yoongi hyung's birthday, I didn't  have time to do it earlier, so I have to hurry now."

 Hoseok hummed in interest. He bent down to get a better look at the computer screen while the boy went back to typing something in a notepad document. "And what is it that you're working on exactly?"

 Jungkook opened his mouth to answer but stopped himself before he said anything. He wasn't about to reveal any details of his incredible birthday post before hearing about Hoseok's own.

 "You tell me first, hyung, what have you planned for Yoongi hyung's birthday?"

 Hoseok straighten himself, both eyebrows raised in slight surprise and amusement by Jungkook's defiance. The younger was just too cute.

 "Well, I'm going to make seven tweets, with a picture and a nice caption each, for each one of the years I've known Yoongi hyung. Sounds good, right?" He stuffed his chest, proud of himself.

 Jungkook took in Hoseok's words and his gaze unintentionally wavered, going from his computer screen to Hoseok and back to the screen. It sounded good indeed, like the type of thing that would send Yoongi down into memory lane and make him an emotional mess.

 "Yeah… It sounds awesome…" Jungkook offered in a small and slightly quivering voice. He slapped himself mentally; he didn't need to be feeling like a total failure right now, not in front of Hoseok and, most importantly, not when he needed to concentrate on his hyung's birthday project.

 Sensing the sudden shift on the younger's mood, Hoseok sit next to him on the couch and slung an arm over his shoulders, "What is it, Jungkookie?"

 "I-It's nothing. It's just—" He sighed, "I'm sure Yoongi hyung will love it."

 The intrigued look on Hoseok's face remained, though, "Well, yeah, that's the point of it… But what are you making? I'm sure he'll love it just as much."

 With his gaze fixed on the laptop's keyboard Jungkook let his fingers tap lightly over the keys, not really typing anything.

 "I wanted to make him a video, it's nothing much…"

 "A video?!" Hoseok screeched, which caused jungkook to slam his hand on the keys, startled.

 "Oh, sorry!" Hoseok lamely apologized as Jungkook fumbled to press "ctrl+z" and fix the text he had been previously writing. "I mean, are you really making him a video? That's amazing!"

 A small smiled graced Jungkook's lips. He had to give it to himself, his idea was really good.

 Yet, shortly after, the corners of his mouth turned downwards again. Even if the idea and its execution were amazing, they still wouldn't be on par to Hoseok's heartfelt tweets.

 He shook his head to dissipate the intruding thoughts. He wasn't envious of Hoseok, he simply felt like his efforts weren't good enough for Yoongi.

 Jungkook waited a few seconds until his mind was completely clear and began focusing on his editing again, but stopped before really doing anything, "Hyung, are your tweets ready yet?"

 Hoseok blinked. Oh shit.

 "No! I mean, kind of? I have the pictures and a draft of the captions I want to use, but I didn't get to post any of them yet. I better get working on that, though, I'm already half an hour late." Hoseok said after looking over at Jungkook's laptop. He scooted to the edge of the couch and fetched the phone he had thrown over the center table, quickly opening the twitter app.

 It seemed like he would be the first one to post, Hoseok noticed and made a low squealing noise. Perfect!

 As he started to type diligently on his phone, Jungkook glanced at the time in the corner of his computer and at the template of his video; 77 seconds in total and only a couple of frames ready. Panic started to settle into him, why haven't he started this earlier? There wouldn't be enough time now.

 Jungkook's hands began to shake and he typed another set of words into another frame and set it in its place on the timeline. He hadn't checked if the soundtrack synched with the frames yet — and how could he, not even 1% of them were finished —, hadn't even checked if the giant letter he wrote to his hyung was coherent enough to be put on full display to the whole world. There was just so much to do, he wouldn't have time to finish it all!

 And he might not have realized he had started crying, only being pulled out of his thoughts and stopping to take a deep breath when wet drips hit his hands and the keyboard keys, and Hoseok's hand started rubbing soothing circles on his back.

 "What's wrong Jungkookie, why are you crying?"

 Jungkook sniffled and rubbed a hand over his eyes, trying to stop the tears. He then thought better of it and decided to first use his shirt to wipe the laptop keys, he couldn't afford having his laptop getting damaged now. But obviously he didn't get every drop, the keys ending up somewhat wetter than before. Jungkook hiccupped, chest tightening and tears rolling down his cheeks at full force.

 "I— there's no time, hyung. I won't be able to finish the video in time. There's so much left... Scratch that, there's everything left. I should've started sooner, now even if I hurry—"

 "Shh, Jungkookie, it's ok, breathe with me. We have twenty four hours, there's no need to rush. You're doing great, take your time." Hoseok kept rubbing Jungkook's back, the act serving to calm both of them down. Seeing the younger so distressed only caused him to get distressed as well.

 "T-Thank you, hyung. But look at you, I-I'm sure you’ve posted everything by now and Yoongi hyung has probably seen it already and is now smiling from ear to ear and—"

 "Jungkook. Jungkook." Hoseok hold the younger's face in his hands, staring right into his eyes, "Jungkook, please stop rambling. I've only posted one tweet, see?" Hoseok showed him his phone as reassurance. "And Yoongi hyung is most definitely sleeping, he'd never check twitter, or any sns for that matter, without getting his cup of coffee or some tea first, and none of us have seen him wobbling into the kitchen, have we."

 That seemed to do the trick. Jungkook sniffled a few last times and turned back to his laptop, his letter at the back of the screen and, at the front, the video software with the last edited frame playing on loop, bright and waiting for him to resume his work.

 "Alright," Jungkook took another deep breath, "everything's fine. It'll all be fine if I keep working." He muttered as self reassurance. He just had to work hard. Twenty four hours — now twenty three and a half — were more than enough.

 Hoseok smiled fondly at him, relieved he had calmed down, and pressed "send" on his next tweet. Five more to go.

 "But hyung," Jungkook called him not two seconds later, "what if everyone else tweets before me. What if it takes me so long to finish this I only get to post it ten hours after everyone else?" And there he went again, hands shaking and lips trembling as despair made its way into his body once more.

 Hoseok felt his heart hurt. As lovely as it was to have Jungkook so invested in working on something meaningful for Yoongi it also came at a high prince. Not only when it came to gifts and expressing their feelings, the younger was also always afraid he wasn't good enough for Yoongi, wasn't as good as Hoseok to be in a relationship with the older rapper, wasn't good enough to be together with two amazing people like Yoongi and Hoseok.

 "Don't worry about that. I can space my tweets out a little, and after the others wake up I'll tell them to wait. You have time, it's ok." Hoseok said slowly and caressed his cheek for good measure, feeling the tear stained skin warm up under his fingertips.

 A sweet smile made its way into jungkook lips, his nose crinkling slightly.

 "Thank you, hyung." And he resumed his editing, as determined as ever. Everything was fine, he'd be fine and his video would blow everyone away. The giggle that followed got covered by his hand, but Hoseok didn't fail to notice it.

 A huge smile formed on the rappers face and he got up, patting Jungkook on his shoulder to indicate he was leaving the room. He needed to check on the others and make sure his promised was kept. His Jungkookie was going to finish his birthday post on time and before the others, and he was going to make sure of that.

 He walked into his room, finding jimin still asleep. The same went for the other members as he checked up on them. Even Yoongi himself, which always made something for the fans during his birthday, was lost in dreamland, curled inside a blanket cocoon. Hoseok fought the urge to walk over to him and place a soft kiss on his lips, but he knew that would most likely stir him awake and, as much as he loved him, Jungkook was his priority at the moment, and if there was something the younger didn't need right now was Yoongi wandering around the dorm.

 He went back to his room and sat at the edge of his bed. He unlocked his phone to post another one of his tweets and waited. Someone was bound to wake up soon.

   But soon didn't come as soon as he had hoped. He spaced his tweets out with about five minutes in between them — thinking back at it now, he sighed; he should've used a bigger interval, fifteen minutes, maybe… Yeah, that would've worked better —, went to the kitchen twice to get some water and also went over to check on Jungkook, to which the boy reassuringly smiled at him and said he was fine, but within an hour he was done, all posted, and no one was awake yet. He grunted, lying on his bed. More waiting was ahead of him.

   Jimin was the first one to get up and Hoseok didn't even wait for the boy to gather his bearings before grabbing him by the arm and telling him to not post anything for Yoongi's birthday.

 Jimin yawned and rubbed at his eyes, "What?" He croaked out, voice hoarse from sleep.

 "Don't post anything for hyung's birthday yet, you have the whole day, there's no need to be all desperate and stuff." No need to be all desperate and stuff and yet here he was doing everything he could so Jungkook wouldn't become exactly that.

 Jimin seemed to take a second to process what Hoseok had said then stared at him blankly. "What, why? Not that I care about the time I post my photo, but… Why? Does it really matter when I do it?"

 "Of course it matters!" Hoseok said it so loudly and with such conviction Jimin stepped back, a half offended, half disgusted look on his face. "What's wrong with you, hyung."

 Hoseok sighed heavily, "Jiminie, listen, Jungkookie is struggling with his post, he's afraid he's not going to finish it on time, so please just wait. I'll do whatever you want me to later to make up for it."

 Jimin considered Hoseok's words once again.

 "If you think I wouldn't refrain from doing something when Jungkook — or any of you, I guess — might get upset by it, then that's on you and I take deep offense to that," he said in a mockingly serious tone, but his words were no less truthful. Hoseok groaned exasperatedly and Jimin raised a finger to shush him, "but, I'll wait. Jungkook's been talking about this 'amazing video' he was going to make for weeks," Hoseok sent him an indignant glare and he immediately understood what it meant, "video that he didn't talk to you about in fear you'd open your big mouth and blurt everything out to Yoongi, and as I was saying, I don't really feel like ruining the surprise, so I'll just sit back, maybe get something to eat. It's too early anyway." Jimin finished and walked straight past Hoseok, heading to the kitchen. In his way he greeted Jungkook and said something to him, but over the walls of their dorm Hoseok wasn't able to discern any of the words they shared.

   Jin was the next one to wake up and Hoseok told him the same thing he had said to Jimin, only in a more respectful tone — better not risk getting the elder to post some embarrassing picture of him and Yoongi as a birthday shenanigan.

   Lastly Hoseok checked on Namjoon and Taehyung, finding the two sleeping and snoring in their shared bedroom. The curtains were closed and both of them had earphones in — Namjoon was even wearing an eyes mask, as if the room wasn't already dark enough. It looked like neither of them would wake up soon, and Hoseok wasn't complaining.

   A few more hours passed and Hoseok was fighting the urge to lie on Jungkook's lap and fall into sleep's sweet embrace, but he didn't want to bother the youngest in his work and, besides, he still needed to keep watch in case one of the sleeping members decided to not be asleep anymore.

 He yawned and stretched, willing his eyes to remain open, when Jungkook jumped to his feet next to him, hands in the air, screaming "I'm done!!" with a fiery passion in his eyes.

 Hoseok jolted on the couch, both from shock and excitement. His heart almost ran out of his chest, but he willed it to stay put and pulled Jungkook into his arms in a tight hug.

 "That's great, Jungkookie!" Hoseok whispered in his ear, taking the opportunity to leave a kiss on his neck. "Let's post it, then!"

   When Yoongi, Namjoon and Taehyung emerged from their rooms it was already time to leave for the airport, no time for big cheers of "Happy birthday, Yoongi!!", only for a few pats on the back and reminders of "don't forget anything, we'll be away for a while."

 As expected, Yoongi didn't really bother to check twitter, Hoseok noticed as he walked to their van with an arm draped around the elder. The shorter man only uploaded a photo he took a couple of days before with a brief message thanking everyone for the support during his birthday when they got into the vehicle, which almost didn't happen either, since his phone almost shattered on the ground when Jungkook grabbed him by the arm and pulled him onto a seat by his side. Hoseok observed everything with a grin plastered on his face and Yoongi only scoffed at him, just watch and see if I'll bother looking at what you guys posted for me.

   Not true to his words (thoughts, to be precise) at all, Yoongi opened twitter as soon as he was relatively comfortable on his airplane seat, scrolling through the members' posts with badly hidden curiosity and enthusiasm bubbling out of his pores.

 Hoseok and Jungkook shared a knowing and fond look while observing him, but didn't comment on their boyfriend endearing behavior; he had received enough teasing from the other members as it was.

 A wave of affection washed over Yoongi when he finally saw what Jungkook and Hoseok had done, choosing to check their posts last in a sort of self-made surprise. And indeed a surprise it was. Birthday messages aside, just the amount effort and love put into them was enough to cause Yoongi's heart to grow three times in size.

 As he looked at their posts one more time he was glad to see that by now Jungkook, on his right, a hand squeezing his own over the armrest, had his eyes glued at the window admiring the morning sky, and Hoseok, on the left, still clutching at his arm after the takeoff and head resting on his shoulder, was sleeping soundly, so they couldn't see the huge smile that formed on his lips nor the tears that swelled up in his eyes.

 Yoongi kissed the top of Hoseok's head and the knuckles of Jungkook's hand, neither of them moving from their positions, and closed his eyes, the beat of Jungkook's video still faintly playing through his earphones.