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ruthiswriting · 3 years

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body of choice

chainsaw man | denji, power, hayakawa aki, gen, 5k | on ao3

“It’s just…” He stopped. “You really don’t care about tits?”

There was a long silence, punctuated only by low buzz of Aki’s desk lamp. “You care about tits,” Aki said finally, “an unusual amount.”

(or: Time off work means that Denji gets to spend a lot of time thinking about what exactly it is that he likes about tits, anyway. Gender is involved. Power helps.)

inspired by my roommate’s headcanon that denji is a trans lesbian and doesnt know it yet! this fic takes place after the international assassin arc but before ch 73.

trigger warning for denji making transphobic statements due to the fact that he doesnt know that being trans is a thing, internalized transphobia, and body dysphoria. general disclaimer that i am not a trans woman but have been known to experience a gender from time to time. enjoy!

They’d all been given time off work, after the Darkness Devil. A leave of absence for Aki to recover, for Power to get her head screwed back on straight, and for Denji to sit and wait for them to be well, since he wasn’t allowed to go on work missions by himself. It was coming to an end soon— Aki had acclimated to his one arm pretty well, and Power didn’t wake up screaming anymore, so they’d be back to work soon.

Still, Denji was running out of ways to fill the empty time. Having nothing to do made him sizzle with nervous energy, waiting for something to do, for a task and directive to achieve. Aki provided the direction of reading materials, movies, and chores— but it still gave him too much time to think.

So it was a lazy afternoon, not long after lunch but still too early for another meal, when Denji asked Power a question.

“Hey, Power,” he said. “You took over a dead body, right?”

She was stretched out on the floor on her back, hugging Meowy in her arms— Aki always said that she held him too tightly, but no matter what Power did the stupid cat purred like a pleased, rusty motorboat. Denji’s question made her stall, frowning as Meowy squirmed. “Eh?”

“That’s what Aki said a fiend was,” Denji said, rolling onto his elbow to look at her from the couch. “A devil that took over a human’s dead body. So you did that, right?”

She paused, thinking this over— reaching for something hidden in her memory. Then her eyes widened, and she sat up. “That’s right,” she said, suddenly triumphant. She rubbed one finger under her nose, pivoting Meowy to rest awkwardly in the crook of her other arm. “I forgot… The way Power was born!”

There was the beginning of the story in the gleam of her eyes— something that would go on, and be uninteresting and mostly nonsensical. “Yeah, I don’t really care about any of that,” Denji said, before she could begin. “I was just wondering, like,” he paused, and one hand rose up, like he could better form the thought if he could grab it. “…Why’d you end up picking the body you did?”

“I used whatever was convenient,” she said. “Of course, my body is the best body I could have gotten. Tis one of the reasons I am so perfect.”

“So you didn’t care about what it looked like?”

Power sniffed, immediately dismissive of the question. “Only humans care about things like that,” she said. Denji could tell she was starting to lose interest in the conversation— she was starting to lift Meowy in front of her, the cat’s little arms jutting awkwardly toward her as his body dangled. “It is very sad! The only good devil feature I have now are my horns… Human bodies really are so unappealing. And they all look the same.”

This caught Denji off guard. He slid forward on the couch, trying to get Power’s attention again to argue. “Huh? That’s not true at all. We all look completely different. Like, you don’t look anything like me. And Aki looks super different from us…” His argument warmed up slowly as he cooked it over, and suddenly, he was invigorated. “We all look super fucking different! That’s crazy.”

“What are you two talking about?” Aki appeared in the doorframe, his one remaining arm wrapped over the white laundry basket he’d been struggling with the whole day.

“Denji is jealous of my perfect body,” Power said.

“No way!”

Before Power could say anything else stupid, Meowy squirmed over her shoulder to land on the ground behind her with a thump. She wheeled again to grab at him, but he scooted comfortably out of her arm’s reach to vanish under the couch, curling his patchy tail around his feet. “Meowy!”

Denji pointed at her, victorious. “That’s what you get. He’s not gonna come out for the rest of the day.”

“You two, stop fighting,” Aki said, before Power’s high pitched whine could end in a yell. “Denji, help me hang up the laundry. And Power, you need to clean Meowy’s litter box. It stinks.”

“Meowy should be allowed to shit wherever he wants,” Power grumbled.

“He does shit wherever he wants,” Aki said. “He just has better manners than you.”

As he stood on the balcony with Aki, picking up shirts one by one to hang, Power’s words continued to turn in Denji’s chest, until they finally stopped to lodge themselves there at an uncomfortable angle. It felt like he’d swallowed a piece of food before chewing it all the way through, and some piece was sticking there. His breaths couldn’t dislodge it.

Was he jealous of Power’s body?

No. There was no way. Why would he want a body like Power’s?

He’d seen a lot of Power’s body. All of it, actually. He knew what it looked like, what it felt like— even what it tasted like, not that he’d wanted to drink her blood. And he’d decided, pretty thoroughly, he wasn’t interested. Whatever exciting mystery lay under a girl’s clothes had fallen flat when it was attached to Power.

But maybe there was something else to want about her body? Something not about sex, or touch. He couldn’t name it. Or maybe, eventually, he could name it— but he definitely shouldn’t.

Laundry ended with hanging their spare public safety uniforms, all in an identical line. Denji was bigger than Power, and Aki was taller than both of them— still, they were all close enough in size that their clothes could easily mingle together in a confused heap. Denji had gotten halfway through getting dressed into Power’s too-small clothes to know he couldn’t wear her pant size, but on the line they almost looked identical. Empty squares of fabric, wafting in the warm breeze. When the sleeves moved, they looked like they were waving in time.

“You’re thinking about something,” Aki said.

He was kneeling by the now empty laundry basket, because even though Denji could have hung the laundry by himself in about the same amount of time, Aki had insistently stayed to pass the laundry to him. Denji guessed he just didn’t like being able to finish the stuff he could before, when he had both arms, and that maybe if he stuck around to the end of the task it was like he could do it anyway. But also, it felt like he was watching Denji. Waiting for something important.

Denji clipped the last shirt up, letting the clothespin clap shut around the starched white collar. “It’s nothin’ important,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”

The next day, Denji remembered something that brought him back to Power, reading through a manga that Aki had brought home from the conbini.

“I thought of something else about what you said that doesn’t make sense,” Denji said, standing over her.

She had to move the volume down out of her face to look at him, scowling immediately at the interruption. “What?”

“You said that you don’t care about your body, but you do,” Denji said, accusatory. “You wore those— fake boob things. Why the hell would you do that if you didn’t care about what your body looked like?”

She stared at him, and Denji could see from her expression, instantly, she’d forgotten the whole conversation already. Power forgot about a lot of shit, admittedly, but for some reason it felt like a bad sign— like Denji was putting way too much thought into something stupid. He went on pointlessly to add, “you know— what we talked about. How you said human bodies are gross…”

“Correct. Human bodies are gross,” Power said, instantly confident even if she’d forgotten the context. “But there are ways to make them less gross.”

She sat up, throwing the magazine aside. Denji jerked back, out of the circumference of her turning legs, and watched her draw herself up. “It is also helpful to have large breasts,” she said, confident. “Because many people desire them, and so they act in useful ways— like when you helped me save Meowy.” She folded her legs under her and crossed her arms, with sudden finality.“Isn’t that right?”

“Well— yeah,” Denji said. “But you couldn’t have known I would do that before we met…” His eyes flickered to her chest automatically at the memory— she wasn’t wearing them right now, so her t-shirt hung loosely against her body.

“But I knew humans are disgusting. And that they would be interested in me having larger breasts.” She crossed her arms and legs at once, forming a defiant pretzel. “Maybe you should try it some time, Denji.”

Any further argument Denji had against this line of reasoning immediately evaporated. He felt his face flush instantly, and he struggled for words— or anything at all, really. “What—“ he stopped, sputtering. “Don’t be fucking stupid! I can’t have tits, I’m a guy.”

“Why not?”

He stared at her, bewildered. “Cause— cause guys don’t have tits.”

It was so obvious it felt stupid to say— but even with it being obvious it felt like a weak argument. Power wrinkled her nose. “Stupid! Very stupid, Denji. Come with me.” She stood up, briefly on the couch before hopping down next to him. And then, she grabbed his arm and marched him to the bathroom, her fingers making a vise grip against his skin.

“You’re lucky I’m here to help you,” Power said, shutting the bathroom door behind them. This seemed like a bad sign to Denji— Power had to practically be bribed to not leave the door open when shitting, and she didn’t care when they shut the door either. She was trying to cut off his escape route. “Humans are so limited and rigid in their thinking! It’s very boring, so I will help you.”

She was wriggling out of her t-shirt as she talked, discarding it on the floor between them. Then, she ducked her arms behind her back to undo the clasps on her bra. That wasn’t really a big deal— Denji had seen Power naked before, and he’d done her laundry enough times to know what her underwear looked like. But he was starting to feel nervous about wherever this conversation was going. “Power,” he said, eyes flickering to follow her movements, “I don’t know about this.”

“I’m only trying to show you,” she said. “That it is very easy. And that humans do look alike.”

And then, she was pulling his shirt off— Denji choked as the cloth dragged against his mouth, arms jerking up automatically to follow the movement. His shirt joined hers on the floor.

With businesslike hands, Power turned him around so he was staring at the blank drywall. He felt the bra drag around his ribcage. “Whoa— whoa,” Denji yelped.

“Don’t bother fighting me! This is for your own good!” She was snapping the clasps in place, so it was snug against his body. They scratched against his back as they clicked.

Then, she pulled the straps over his arms. Denji felt his eyes drop, to where his cleavage would be, if he had cleavage (but he didn’t because he was a guy, and so he shouldn’t be thinking about this). The rip cord of his chainsaw heart curled awkwardly out between the bra’s lace detailing. He could feel it constrict in his chest— an ugly spasm in reaction to the way it gapped against him.

Power’s hands snaked out from under his armpits. She was holding the breast pads. “Put them on,” she commanded.

Hell no, Denji screamed. Or, well, he thought he screamed. His voice wouldn’t cooperate. Instead, his hand moved, mechanical, to take them from her.

They were pretty much how he remembered the first time— silicone. Kind of squishy, except for an odd firmness in the middle. There was a sticky backing that probably helped keep them from falling off your chest. They also stank, since they lived up against Power’s sweaty unwashed body most of the time.

He raised them to his chest, and after a few moments of arranging, they were on, cool and sticky against his skin.

Power turned him again with one firm hand on his upper arm. Now, they were both facing the mirror— Denji in Power’s bra. Both shirtless. Both, somehow, with tits. She leaned against him and crossed her arms, smirking with satisfaction. “Now you see,” she declared. “We don’t look so different.”

She was wrong, obviously. Denji was taller than Power, and broader shouldered, and just— different. They looked different. Because they were two different people, obviously, but also because Denji wasn’t a chick. No way anyone would buy that he was just from some fake boobs.

But also, he couldn’t stop looking at them. Why? He knew they weren’t real, and also, they were on him. The usual reasons Denji wanted to be looking at tits couldn’t really apply. Especially when Power, who had actual tits, was standing next to him, naked from the waist up.

Of course, he’d already figured out he wasn’t interested in Power, so it made sense that he wasn’t looking at her— except nothing about this situation made sense at all. Especially that some noise, buzzing in the back of his skull constantly, had gone quiet. A feeling that he hadn’t even known was there was gone.

“You can keep them if you want, Denji,” Power said generously. “I only wear the bra because Aki makes me.”

Reality snapped back into place. Denji pushed her away, yanking off the bra. The boob pads unstuck from his body with only a little coaxing, and they fell to the floor with a mushy plap. “Fucking— keep your clothes on, Power!”

Denji ran from the bathroom without reclaiming his shirt, hiding in his room from both Power and whatever he had seen in the mirror. He’d have to come back for the shirt later— Aki always got onto them for leaving their clothes in the bathroom when they showered. But he wanted to be sure that Power would be gone. Power, and her stupid fake boobs, and whatever she’d done to him when she snapped that bra into place.

That night, Aki turned on an old cartoon while he cooked dinner— the sizzle of grease popping over the tinny background music and shouted dialogue. TV always mesmerized Power, although she complained if there wasn’t blood and gore. She still sat close to the screen, blocking the bottom half with the top of her head and horns.

Denji didn’t care about TV, really. It had been kind of novel at first, since his dad had sold the TV set when he was pretty young and they’d never had money for things like movies. But since he’d gotten to watch movies with Makima, watching grainy TV on Aki’s tiny television set had hardly been appealing. But he still watched, apathetic, until his stomach began to twist again.

The show was about some kid who got cursed, so that every time they got wet they’d change from a boy to a girl— or a girl to a boy. Denji wasn’t sure. It seemed pretty inconvenient, honestly. You probably couldn’t plan for being splashed with water in every situation, and the kid didn’t want everyone to know about it, so it just ended up being a lot of dumb shit about the kid managing all the different identities and what people thought he was— or she was. Denji could hardly keep up with his one life, so managing two seemed like a huge hassle.

So he didn’t know he felt so much envy, every time the dumb kid slipped into some water fountain or got dunked in a river. It didn’t make sense to want that. Nothing he was feeling made sense.

He took a shower after dinner. The hot water steamed over the mirror, leaving Denji alone with his thoughts, and the water, trickling over his back. His naked chest.

It was probably something wrong with his head. He knew that already, though—everyone had already made it clear that whatever Denji thought about anything was probably weird and fucked up. This was probably the same sort of thing. Whatever this was.

He rubbed his skin raw with soap and tried not to look down.

It was early in the morning when Denji couldn’t take it anymore.

Without understanding why, he crawled out of bed— over where Power was sprawled, taking up half the space in his bed, like she always ended up doing whenever she passed out there— and crept down the hall to Aki’s room.

When Makima had arranged for Denji to live with Aki, the door to Aki’s room had stayed solidly shut. He hadn’t been explicitly told to stay out, but Denji knew when not to sniff. And it wasn’t like he’d been especially compelled by whatever Aki got up to, so, whatever.

But then, Power had moved in too, along with her near-constant impulse to wreck most of Aki’s possessions and her cat that liked to sleep under Aki’s desk. Aki had waged an intense internal battle between wanting to make sure he could hear when Power was up to shit and wanting to keep at least an illusion of privacy. But at some point, he’d admitted defeat, and the door remained just slightly cracked, even when he was sleeping.

Then, after the Darkness Devil, Power would alternate between sleeping in Denji’s bed and Aki’s, so whatever privacy Aki had attempted to maintain had been thoroughly destroyed. He didn’t seem to care too much anymore anyway— even when it was Denji’s turn Aki always ended up ghosting down the hall to check on them, when he thought they were both asleep.

The light was off, and Denji was at least smart enough to feel bad about bugging Aki when he was definitely asleep, and when Denji should be too. He hovered in front of the door, hand half clenched over the knob, before finally reasoning that he’d known when he’d walked over here that Aki would be asleep, so he might as well follow through. He pulled the door open, and crept into the room.

Denji had seen Aki fall asleep on the couch enough times to know that he slept like the dead. It wasn’t something he understood— it seemed like a pretty big weakness for a devil hunter, if he was being honest. But at this point he at least knew the drill. In the dark, Denji hunted for Aki’s desk lamp, and clicked it on.

The warm yellow bulb cast dozy light over the room. Aki stayed stone still, body half curved on the bed in an uncomfortable contortion. Denji sat next to him, touching his shoulder. “Hey, Aki,” he said, voice a mutter, and felt his ears turn red.

On any other day, Aki would have remained asleep long enough for Denji to back out of this terrible idea. But as Denji hurriedly pulled his hand away, Aki’s nose wrinkled, and he slowly blinked awake. Denji’s shoulders sunk.

“Denji?” Aki’s voice was still thick with sleep, and even in the dim light he squinted like it hurt. “What’s going on? Did Power clog the toilet?”

“It’s not important,” Denji blurted. “Don’t let me bug you, actually.” He stood, planning to leave, but he couldn’t get his feet to unstick from the floor. Every attempt he made just rooted him more solidly in place.

Behind him, Aki’s gaze slowly focused on his back. “…Is everything okay?”

It was a weird sentence, from Aki. He knew it, too— there was something self conscious in the way the words formed, even through his fuzzy concern. But this whole moment was weird, and Denji figured if they both knew it he might as well take advantage of it. He glanced over his shoulder to look at Aki. “I was just, like,” he stalled, trying to find a way to word what was sitting in his chest. “Wanting to know what you thought of something I’ve been thinking about. It’s not important, but, you know…”

The lamp’s bulb was making a weird buzzing noise, filling the dead space between Denji’s fumbling sentences. Aki’s body hadn’t moved, but his eyebrows kept contracting, like if he furrowed them enough he could get to the point of Denji’s sentence. Finally, he said, words slow, “you want my advice.”

Super lame. It sounded so lame when Aki said it, in his weird, grown up way of talking about everything. “Yeah,” Denji said.

Aki looked at Denji. Looked at the alarm clock on his bedside table that was scheduled to go off in three hours (which Denji knew because whenever he couldn’t sleep he could hear Aki start to move at the same time every morning). Looked up, finally, at the ceiling, squinting into nothing. Then, he said, “okay.” And he sat up.

Before he could stop himself, Denji sat again on the bed. This time, Aki drew his legs up, making room for Denji. He waited expectantly for Denji to start talking.

“It’s just..” Denji was glad, suddenly, for the awkward configuration on the bed. Looking at Aki in the eye felt too intense. “You know. I was thinking about…” He took a breath, and said in a burst, “Aki, you’re gay, right?”

The silence suddenly got a lot thicker. Denji could feel the way Aki stared into the side of his head with a new, unwelcome intensity. When he talked, there was a beginning of an aggravated edge to his voice. “Did you wake me up at three in the morning to ask me why I’m gay?”

“No,” Denji said defensively. “It’s just— I’m trying to understand something, okay.”

“Why..” Aki stopped, and ran a hand over his face. He tried again, voice mechanically even. “Why do you think I’m gay?”

This, at least, was an easy one. “Your ears,” Denji said. And he pointed at Aki’s ear, where normally, black stud earrings would poke out from behind his bangs. “They’re both pierced, so like… One of them’s gotta be the gay one, right.”

Aki’s face was beginning to sour at his usual impressive rate. Unusually, though, he made an effort to contain it— to keep his bad mood from running off the edges of his face into the rest of the house. “We can unpack that later,” he said. “What’s your point?”

Denji wasn’t sure, was the thing. He wasn’t sure what his point was— only that there was this unknown thing lurking in the base of his stomach, something he didn’t know was good or not. He tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, like the answer was living up there. “It’s just…” He stopped. “You really don’t care about tits?”

There was a long silence, punctuated only by low buzz of Aki’s desk lamp. “You care about tits,” Aki said finally, “an unusual amount.”

“Fuck,” Denji said. He rubbed one arm over his eyes. “I know you think it’s stupid, okay. It’s...” He didn’t know. He didn’t know what it was.

Aki’s head tilted, just a little— the lamp shadowing the way he squinted at Denji. But then, he said, voice slow, ponderous: “are you thinking you don’t care about tits? And that…” He raised his eyebrow, leaving the connection for Denji to make.

“I’m not gay,” Denji said, voice definitive.

Aki didn’t argue this point. He nodded, willing to accept it without trouble. “But there’s something else about it that bothers you,” he said. “Like…” He paused, slowly feeling out his words. “That you think what you want about them— might not be normal?”

They were statements of fact, made carefully— Aki watching his reaction between every minute word. So Denji knew that he saw the way his shoulders shriveled, inching away from whatever Aki was arriving to. “I don’t wanna talk about this anymore,” he mumbled.

“Why not?”

Denji stared down at his hands. His hands, resting on his legs, and the curve of his stomach against his boxers. “When all those assassins were coming after me,” he said finally. “One of them said… That some things you’re just better not knowing about. So, maybe it’s one of those things.”

Aki considered. “I suppose that can be true in some cases,” he allowed. “But I’d rather know the truth, however painful. …And I don’t think it really is one of those things, this time.”

“So what do you think it is?” Denji challenged him, finally turning his head to look Aki in the eye. “You’ve got something in mind, right? You wouldn’t have said something like that otherwise.”

“Not really.”

Denji couldn’t make out Aki’s face clearly in the dark, so it was hard to tell if he was lying. “Yeah, right,” he said. And he looked away again.

It was a while before Aki responded. Before he said anything, he shifted to be sitting next to Denji— legs close together, the ghost of his empty sleeve batting against Denji’s arm. Denji chanced a look at him, out of the corner of his eyes, but Aki wasn’t meeting his eyes either. He was just looking at some point on the wall. Reflecting.

“Some things you might be better off knowing,” Aki said. “Some things maybe you shouldn’t. But I don’t think it’s wrong to want to get to know yourself better… Even if it’s uncomfortable in the meantime.”

“You do have something in mind,” Denji mumbled.

Aki paused again. “Only based off of what you told me,” he said, voice light. “What you asked me.”

Denji’s vision swam. He squeezed his eyes shut, insistent on blocking out whatever he was feeling, and however Aki was looking at him. “It really doesn’t matter,” he said again, because maybe if he kept saying it it would be true.

The bed creaked, and he felt the mattress rise underneath him as Aki stood. Denji dared to open his eyes to watch him move. Aki was turning to face Denji, so he could use his one remaining arm to push him down to the bed— gently, one hand firm on his shoulder. Denji didn’t fight. He let his body sag, until his head was resting against one of Aki’s lumpy pillows. His eyes kept prickling, so laying down was probably a bad idea. Whatever was burning behind his eyes only got worse the gentler Aki was.

But then, mercifully, Aki turned the lamp off, dropping them both into darkness. He went around to the far side of the bed, and laid next to Denji, a tiny sigh bursting out from behind his lips. Denji felt his throat click.

Aki’s arm cuffed around his head, almost cradling him in the crook of his elbow. “We don’t have to talk about it anymore, if you don’t want to,” he said. “It’s fine if it takes you time to figure it out.”

Denji wanted to protest more. To say that really, there was nothing to figure out, and that Denji was just making a big deal out of nothing. Power had said and done some weird Power shit, and that was all. He could get over it. But at this point, that felt even stupider. So Denji swallowed, and nodded. He didn’t trust his voice anymore, so Aki’s only answer would have to be the way the back of Denji’s neck shifted against his wrist.

Aki didn’t say anything else, only laid against him in the dark, a silent, still presence. Denji drew in breaths until his heart calmed, until he could trust himself to speak. “Should check on Power,” he muttered. “She still gets nightmares sometimes… ‘Specially if she wakes up alone.”

“Right,” Aki murmured. “I can go look— you don’t have to get up.”

“Nah,” Denji said, and he started to sit up.

Before he could get further than his elbows, though, a heavy, furry weight thudded into Denji’s chest. Meowy sank heavily against him, like a furry rock pinning him to the bed.

Denji swore, and in response, Power’s cat meowed in his face. “God, your breath stinks,” he muttered.

“What are you both doing in here?” The vague outline of Power’s body lingered in Aki’s doorway, like a horror movie monster. If a horror movie monster refused to eat vegetables or brush her teeth. “You left me alone, Denji.”

Denji grumbled, still trying to move the cat. “What’s it look like we’re doing? We’re sleeping. And you defeated the Darkness Devil, so it’s fine, right? Nothing bad’s gonna happen. You’re too tough.”

“Not important!” She stepped into the room and the bare sliver of moonlight coming through Aki’s balcony. It made her face white, almost gleaming with sweat. “I knew Meowy wouldn’t leave me for no reason. You two are too weak and pathetic to be left alone! Very good work, Meowy.” She crossed the room to crawl into bed next to them, pressing up against Denji in an insistent effort to fit.

Denji grumbled in protest, but there wasn’t any stopping her— in a matter of seconds she was insistently pretzeled next to him.

“Thanks for watching out for us, Power,” Aki murmured. “Good job.”

He was already falling back asleep. Which was really pretty annoying, because Aki’s bed really wasn’t big enough for the three of them. But if Denji wanted to move, he’d have to drag all of them with him and he just didn’t want to deal with that. So he sighed and wriggled over, making room for Power by jamming himself against Aki’s shoulder.

Meowy slid off his chest like a heavy ooze, landing between him and Power on the crook of his shoulder. Power curled happily around the cat, one arm catching around it to drape across Denji’s chest.

And then, they were asleep again, with just Denji awake. Watching the dawn light start to crawl across the ceiling.

Sometimes, when he was stuck on shit like this, he started to wonder if he had been better off when it was just him and Pochita. Even if he didn’t have money and food, it was less complicated. He didn’t have time to think about things like tits, because he was too busy trying to pay rent, and the bills, and feed him and Pochita. It was harder, but also way, way fucking easier.

Right now, though, it was okay. Denji could stand thinking a little more, if it was like this.

He let his eyes close. This time, he fell asleep.

#chainsaw man #csm #chainsaw man fic #denji chainsaw man #power chainsaw man #aki hayakawa #hayakawa aki

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gone-daddy-gone · 4 years

Text

Pairing: Villian! Kiribaku x reader

Word count: 4,752

Rating: Mature! (noncon/dubcon, anal/ vaginal penitration. oral. refrences to kiddnaping. slight yandere) Violence, mentions of death. I DO NOT CONDONE THESE ACTIONS IN REAL LIFE THIS IS FANTASY, NOT REALITY. All characters aged up.

Genre: Smut, slight Yandere, perhaps?

DT: @writerbyaccident and their fics here (1), and here (2), and @the-grimm-writer piece here

Tag team.

Being a pro hero is all fun and games until you run into Bakugou Katsuki and Eijirou Kirishima. The two were an absolute power house couple. Kirishima’s hardening quirk made it so he never got hurt by his overzealous partner. Something that only bonded them stronger.

You had heard they both wanted to be heros at one point, and now look at them, the biggest douches in the world. Or you could call them villains. Either one worked really. They take whatever they want, or whoever they want whenever they want. The two were a disgusting tag team. You didn’t want to think about what they did to those who were unlucky enough to not escape their grasp.

Your job was simple. Take out a few bad guys, make some kiddies smile and go about your day. You trained hard, but not so much to the point where you were too big of a hero. You had been raised to be grateful for what you have and if you get blessed with more, then the lord had smiled upon you.

However, you find it increasingly difficult to be thankful in your current situation. Feet pounding on the ground, chest heaving up and down, throat sore from breathing so fast and hard. The explosions and objects being thrown at you didn’t comfort you in the slightest bit either.

“Get back here!” The loud one yelled from the top of his lungs, explosions propelling him even closer.

“Common now! You gotta be tired sweetie!” The red one commented, while a street lamp was thrown your way.

You of course were of the right mind, and were not gonna respond.

You weren’t even sure how you got in this situation, really.

You were on patrol for one of the smaller cities, mostly old people and families occupied this city. When you arrived, there was no sound. Everyone was gone, nobody was out at the park like they usually were. The bakery, old Mrs. Moniko ran was closed. The eerie feeling of danger began to settle into your tummy.

That’s when you saw it, a kid, and she was crying. She was peering at you through blinds, wiping her face of the snot and tears. You began to walk towards her, acting on impulse to a child in need.

She viciously shook her head.

Causing you to be more worried, the next step was to pick up the pace. You always did have a weak spot for kids. But the closer you got, the better a view of her mouth you got.

She was mouthing something.

None? Mom? Done?… and if on cue it hits you, the cold feeling of fear. The realization dawned, mixed with the need to protect.

“Run.”

Before you had much of a chance to do anything, you heard a thundering voice call out to you.

“What do you think you’re doing here, hero?” It was Katsuki. It was the first time you ever got a good look at him, in person at least. He was tall, and built. You felt guilty in admitting to yourself that if it wasn’t for his scowl, he would have been attractive.

“Well, I could ask you the same question, villain.” Your attempts to sound cool and brave were coming off more like a bratty kid. Even you can tell that.

“Tsk… Kiri? Why don’t you tell the girl what we’re lookin’ for?” Your eyes widened in fear. They couldn’t be together right now, why were they together right now? Of all the villains to run into, why did it have to be that team? The stories of how they like to take their time reverberated in your mind.

“Bakubro!!!” You frantically looked around for the red head. It was a mistake on your amateur part, they knew they had you right where they wanted you. He came out of the shop, hardening himself and bursting through the wall. You couldn’t help but gulp at that flashy way to make you feel scared. A cheap move, but subtle enough to get the fear growing. And they could smell it.

“Well we’re looking for money. Gold, drugs, whatever these nice rich people have.” He said to Bakugou before laying his eyes on you. “Wow and who do we have here? What’s your hero name again?” He smiled and cocked his head, just so that he could have almost looked innocent, almost.

“Well it’s actually-“

“I don’t think it matters.” The curt words commanded your attention back. “You certainly don’t look familiar, so you must be a loser!” The ash blonde shut you up. “I mean really, look at you! You were shaking like a leaf when it was just me and now you look like you’re gonna piss yourself! I mean how pathetic can you hero’s be!”

Hearing him be cruel in person was way worse than the stories. At least in the stories they left out how evil Bakugou could be, how low he could scoop.

“Aw are you gonna piss for us? Go on do it hero slut!”

The words “slut” coming out of his mouth felt so accusatory. “Are you a little hero slut?”

Kirishima let his face drop his smile, replacing it with a slant. Like he wanted to scold him. Like he cared how you felt.

“Oh common Baku that’s a bit harsh, huh?”

“Common it’s gotta make you mad doesnt it? How unmanly these guys are? How self righteous they are.” The words of manipulation rolled off of his tongue as beautiful as it ever had.

Kiri pondered, letting the thoughts hit him. Before letting his gaze wonder all over your body shamlessly. Thoughts struck his head. The thoughts Bakugou knew would stir him up.

“Yeah… they do think they’re so much better, and if you believe in something you should fight for it! I have a good idea Bakugou!”

“And what’s that Kiri?”

“Why don’t we make her prove herself, and if she’s really a coward she’ll run.” He looked so sickeningly proud of his own little sadistic idea. His hand forming into a fist.

Realizing you’re either gonna have to get pounded to a pulp in a battle you would never, and could never win. Or run for your life and become an absolute failure, and give these monsters the satisfaction of seeing it.

It was a beautiful plan. A fun plan. Bakugou loved winning, dominating really. The thought of getting to take down and humiliate a self righteous hero, well that clearly made him excited from your view, and Kiri’s view.

“That might be a great idea, shitty hair.”

“Ok slut you win, we let you go. You lose, you die.” The conditions weren’t in your favor, no matter how strong you wanted to be; you broke. Tears welted i’m your eyes as your knees threatened to just give up on you.

“I don’t, I don’t wanna-“ Was all you could muster, mind racing to find a way to survive.

“Don’t wanna what?” Kiri asked, a dark smirk growing.

“I don’t wanna die.” You said meekly, tears flowing freely at this point.

“Well then, you are weak and pathetic.” Bakugou said effectively kicking you while you were down. Like the bully he always was.

“Let's make her run for it then! Don’t you think it’ll be fun? Like a little race, and she’ll be our prize?” His optimism is ever present.

“I don’t know if she even deserves that hope. She’ll never win, and she’ll never out run us either. We’re gonna dominate her either way. She can run until her soles are bleeding and her lungs give out. She’s weak, and pathetic.”

“But It’ll be so fun to watch her little ass run until she’s all red in the face, heaving and begging us to stop. That’s the best part.” You felt a cold realization how excited he was too.

And if you saw it, Bakugou saw it too.

“Alright, that seems like fun. You have to count of ten to start running. One,” One second was all you needed to process what he was saying.

“Two.” Your eyes frantically look for the safest route for not only you, but the civilians. Maybe you could run and find help. But Bakugou was right, you were weak.

“Three.” The seconds were slipping away faster than you could ever hope to grasp them.

“Four.” Sobbing as you forced yourself to choose a path and run for it. Mind going numb with the only thought being survival.

“Five.” The smallest, trivial amount of hope bubbled up in your belly from how far away the “five” was.

“Six.” It was barely audible now. Placing a hopeful smile on your face and wiping away the tears, you forced yourself to carry your legs farther. Being clear and out of the way of the hollering made it easier for you to think. You decided that running as hard and as fast as you could was the best plan for survival. Didn’t matter what direction. While the buildings were flying by, the two began to tail after. While you were daydreaming of escape, they were swapping ideas on what to do to you. That was the optimist in you, deep down, you knew you were as good as gone the minute they saw you.

“Where do you think you’re going!” A tense sense of dread overcame your whole body. You begged yourself to just carry on a little further. You could make it out! You could get help and all this would be behind you.

“You look so pretty from the back!” The sickenly sweet taunting from the red one made your stomach lurch. Their angry and skilled footsteps were coming even closer, and at a faster rate than you were ready for.

“Come on now stop running you’ve already lost! We can get to the fun part now!” When he finished his vaguely perverted threat he threw a mailbox straight into your back causing you to tumble and spin. Ripping parts of your hero costume up, leaving you vulnerable in undesirable places.

“Damn Kirishima, didn’t know you had it in you.” You could feel the smirk in the way he talked. Every single part of your body begged to just lay down and take what's coming to you. However, that was not the hero's way. On bloodied knees and elbows, costume already half falling off of your body you made yourself stand. Getting into position to fight. The two were not that far from you, letting their eyes take in all of you. You went to force your costume together, anything so they’d stop staring and getting ideas.

“We already saw love! No use in hiding from us now. And besides…” Kirishima took another step forward. “We’re gonna be seeing more of you later anyways.”

Feeling fully threatened and backed in a corner the best you could do was talk out of your ass. “You’re disgusting.”

“Well that’s not very nice.” Kirshima pouted, like he was a child. It made you wince in disgust.

“I don’t have to be nice to the likes of you! Now, in the name of-”

“Shut up you aren’t taking us in anywhere you damn hero whore. In fact quite the opposite, you’ll be coming with us. It’s been awhile since we’ve had pretty plaything.” You knew the words were meant to make you scared. You knew you shouldn’t show any weakness. But that was becoming increasingly difficult.

“You’ll have to knock me down first.” The smirk on the blonde's face caused you to get this itchy, angry feeling. He had always been so goddamn smug. Before you had time to process he had punched you square in the stomach. Causing you to collapse onto your knees. Letting out an agonizing whine, letting your fingers grasp your abdomen.

“Wow that was fast! Nice going Bakugou!” Kirishima yelled out, pushing his fist out with an obnoxiously childlike enthusiasm.

“Spoke too soon Kiri.” Bakugou retorted back to his partner, watching you as you pulled your knees off of the ground. You ran towards them, throwing out a small jab and uppercut in the direction of the loud one. He dodged them, almost too eager to put you down. He let his knee come up in an attempt to hit you in your already sore abdomen. You reflectively stepped back, avoiding the hard ligament. That was a short lived victory before Kiri, striked, making you stumble back not quite falling flat on your ass. You held back your tears, trying to focus on standing your ground to fight.

“Just give in… common I don’t wanna hurt you like this…” Kiri cooed, laying his fake sincerity on thick. You grimaced.

A last ditch effort, using up all the anger and strength you had left you launched your foot into an attack. The confidence you had in yourself was the most powerful thing about the attack. And for a few seconds, you felt you could actually win. That was until the bone crushing grip on your ankle snapped you out of your day dream, and you were left standing there. Foot in the air and losing balance. Weak from pain and exhaustion. You felt your body lurch backward, the tight grip on your ankle the final debilitating blow of excruciating pain as you finally fell to the ground with a hard thud. They had won. And you had lost. Something you had already known, deep down inside of you if you were being honest.

“Look at you… pathetic.”

“But she sure is pretty! Look at her…” “Kiri” made his way to your crumbled form, letting his intrusive fingers grip either side of your cheeks. Pinching them together, making you unwillingly pucker your lips out.

“Look at those blow job lips… can we keep her Bakugou?” Bakugou smirked down at your terrified form, letting out a mocking chuckle at your fear.

“I don’t know shitty hair… you broke the last one really fast.” Your mind raced, your facial expressions refusing to help you out in this situation. As they both could easily tell what you were thinking.

“How did you do it again, you fucked her to death didn't you?” He sneered at the word death.

“Yeah well… sorta. She wasn’t very willing to do what I wanted.” You let out a moan of agony at his disgusting words.

“I hardened my… ya know. I warned her! I told her it would be ok if she would just stop crying. I asked her nicely to listen to me! I swear.” He said, with an almost guilty look. Letting his eyes leave your form and go back to the one who clearly held the reigns of the relationship. You let yourself sob. Tears running over his fingers that held your face in place.

“Bakugou I’ll be more gentle this time! I swear! I wanna keep this one. Just look at how useless and defenseless she is!” You watched in absolute horror as they talked about you like you were some stray dog. Again, to your horror he spoke again.

“Alright. We can keep her. Why don’t we test out how good she is…” This caused another surge of adrenaline to surge through you. Feeling the weight of a possible sexual assault, and enslavment weghing over your head, you bit his fingers as hard as you could. Instead of letting you go, he hardened his fingers. Causing you to cry out in pain, and you let go.

“How feisty… but I think that little defiant outburst is grounds for a punishment. Wouldn’t you agree, Kiri?” The red one let his face fall from hurt to one of lust.

“Couldn’t agree more…” That was all you needed to hear as you rolled over to try and crawl away on your hands and knees. Muttering no to yourself like a madwoman. It was a cute attempt at freedom as you felt someone’s hard boot dig into your back, pushing you down.

“And where do you think you’re going, whore.” You struggled for words, anything to make it stop. But nothing was coming to your petrified mind. All that came out was another whine as he dug his fingers into your hair. “You’re gonna take what's comin to ya, and you’re even gonna thank us.”

After he finished his sentence he yanked you up by your hair, pushing your face near his crotch. Pants tighter than ever.

“Take it out and suck.” You swallowed deep, shaking your head no. Begging him with your eyes for him to just let you go. That wasn’t gonna happen. Not today, not ever. Your defiance was met with a harsh smack to your cheek. Letting out a “stop” and a whimper, you let your nimble fingers work the button and zipper on his pants. Pulling the fabric down, as his erection basked in the slight freeness it was experiencing. With one last glance upwards into his eyes, you watched as he raised his palm in a silent threat. Quicker than he thought you would, you pushed his boxers down, letting his erection spring out in the open air. He hissed in relief, waiting for your lips to wrap around his large appendage.

You followed his orders from earlier, first gently suckling his tip with your mouth. A slight grimace made its way onto your features as you tasted his salty pre cum. Slowly but surely, letting your whole mouth engulf his member. He let out a guttural moan before letting his fingers find their way back into your locks. Pushing your head down further, causing you to choke and grip with desperate fingers, clawing his hips. You sputtered on pre cum and saliva. While he stood above you, smirk plastered on his features.

“You got a nice mouth hero, ah. Now suck if you want it to be over faster.” With nothing else to do but submit, you put your mouth to work. Letting his moans encourage your lower region to warm up. It was ridiculous, your body preparing itself for what it knew would come next. That’s all it was, you weren’t enjoying it…. You weren’t.

“Bakugou…” While still sucking like your life depended on it, you averted your eyes to see Kirishima stroking himself in full view. He was rather thick and long, the tip of his shaft starting to glisten with pre cum. A flush of red returned to your face before you got another smack to the cheek.

“Pay attention to what you’re doing dumbass!” You moved your eyes back to him, keeping the tears that were forming in your eyes from spilling over. His angry hands still in a vice grip in your hair, a silent command to do more. You pushed yourself to take in more, even if it would only please him a little.

To your dismay, he was not very pleased and he decided to take it out on your throat. With his hands practically ripping out the strands of hair embedded in your scalp he forced his cock all the way down your tight throat. Your little whines and begs were muffled with his cock buried inside of you. A groan of pleasure came from him as he felt the vibrations from the tip of his cock, to the base. He continued pulling you so that your lips were just wrapped around the tip before shunting his hips to the point where your face was forced to breathe in his hair. The feeling of precum dripping down your throat as his member was steadily bruising the back of his throat.

“Do you want a turn Kiri?” The red heads already hard cock twitched at the idea.

“That sounds great bakugou!...but I think I’m going to use a different hole.” After the words fell out of his mouth and slipped into your ear you couldn’t help but groan out in agony. The groans only made Bakugou that much more pleased, he let out a deep moan before pulling his cock from the back of your throat.

“I was just thinking the same thing…” You let your hands find their way to the ground, digging your nails into the dirt. “Please...please I’ll get you whatever you want...money...I’ll do anything just please-”

“I want you to shut up and take what's coming to you. And you better get used to it because this isn’t going to be the only time it happens. We’re gonna fuck you every time we feel like it, till all you can think about is how to make yourself wet fast enough for us.” Bakugou took your hair in his hands and pushed your face back into the ground as you felt Kiri lift your hips into the air. You heard your hero suit rip in two; your low whimper could also be heard if anyone would have cared to listen.

Kiri got to fast work ripping off your panties, letting a finger find its way into your tight insides. “Wow look Bakugou!” He pulled out his finger with an almost childlike glee watching as your wetness came out in a trail.

“Well, I’ll be damned, she is a little slut. Do you like being raped, slut?” The words he was saying shouldn't have made you wet, but it was dribbling out of you. You could feel it, you could feel it. You felt the finger return and begin to play around with your insides, he curled his finger and you let out a shameful moan. You tried to push your legs together, hoping that somehow it would make him slip his finger out, maybe put up a barrier between you two. It was short lived before he pulled your legs apart, rutting his knee in between them to make sure they stayed apart. He kept scissoring into you until he felt like you were ready for two cocks. That was of course a long while of you whimpering and moaning as he found every spongy spot of ecstasy he could. He let out his fingers one final time, letting all the juices he had accumulated dribble off his finger and onto his cock. He moved to take the tip and play with it in your folds, he let out a nice, loud moan of pure ecstasy from your velvety walls. You couldn’t see it but he looked at his partner and nodded, he nodded back before teasing your walls with his own cock. It took you about one second to realize what was about to happen, for the second second you spent in complete shock, and the third, the third was when the agony set it. You howled in pain and agony, you could immediately feel the blood begin to drip down your thigh. You had never taken two guys at one, let alone two guys that were so well endowed. Your sobs to stop and to take at least one of them out was ignored. The pain was so much you could have swore you were going to throw up.

“God you’re so fucking tight and wet…” Kirishima muttered under his breath, as he forced his cock in all the way to the base.

“I think that’s actually blood Kiri.” You let out a desperate “Please…” But all that earned you was a harsh smack on the ass. Your pussy reacted for you giving them a good squeeze.

“Hey I think she likes it!” Kirishima shouted as he did it to your other cheek.

“Please be gentle…” You begged for mercy to the sadistic villains.

“Please be gentle.” Bakugou mocked before he landed another painful smack to your behind. “I can feel that you’re enjoying this, I can even hear your whimpers you’re trying so hard to repress.” He was right, the sick sadistic bastard. You were beginning to feel a sick twisted pleasure as one big cock would come out and one would move in to take its place before it was barely out. They were pumping you stupid and all you could do was moan and hiccup. Bakugou let his fingers find their way back into your hair before gripping it and yanking you back so hard you could barely breathe.

“Open your mouth.” He commanded. When you didn’t immediately do as you were told he gave you another harsh smack on the ass. When you squealed out in pain he spit directly into your mouth.

“Swallow it and say thank you.” You could barely process the request as you felt yourself begin to come closer and closer to an orgasm you never consented to. You did as you were told like a good hero whore you were.

“Are you a hero slut?” A hum escaped your lips as you got fucked harder. “Answer me whore!” He took his oher hand and wrapped it around your throat, giving a tight squeeze.

“Yes! I’m your hero whore!”

“Who do you belong to?”

You let out another pitiful moan as their two cocks pounded into your sensitive pussy. They were coming undone and so were you. “I- I belong to you and Kirishima!”

“What’s my fucking name whore?”

“B-AHH!” You didn’t get the chance to reply to him, your orgasm cutting you short. They both stopped moving inside of you, causing you to open your eyes, the look in their eyes told you that they were not happy with you.

“Did I say you could fucking cum?” You felt a surge of cold fear run through your veins.

“I didn’t-I-I I’m I-”

“Shut up!” He smacked your cheek once, hard enough for your nose to bleed. With his grip still in your hair he began to rain smack after smack on your already sore ass. It didn’t take long for you to start crying and whispering apologies, some begs of mercy mixed in.

“That’s right you’re gonna be fuckin sorry!” He ended his words with another harsh smack. “Kirishima, spread her little asshole open.”

“NO...nonononono please I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

“You’re damn right you won’t do it again.”

He let another smack fall onto your now purple ass cheeks. You could feel a thumb and a pointer finger begin to spread you open, it was painful and uncomfortable. You moved and squealed like a pig beneath him, hoping to escape his grasp. You only got so far as your hair in the villains grasp would let you. Before you had time to plead more Kirishima was already shoving his cock inside of your tight asshole. You let out another painful scream, your throat was beginning to feel sore from how loud you screamed earlier and how loud you were screaming now.

“You’re splitting me in two!” The pain was too much and you began to black out, feeling Bakugou pull out was the last thought you had as your head hit the ground. The feeling of Kirishima's boney hips painfully smacking at your abused ass lulling you to sleep. It was a short lived break before you felt him grip your hair and pull you up. He used his thick fingers to pry your jaw open, letting his cock find its home in the back of your throat again. You winced at the taste of your pussy juices, throat already numb. Even with a cock in the back of your throat you began to drift off again, not without receiving another smack on the cheek to keep you awake.

“Ah, fuck I’m gonna cum, and you’re going to swallow it” You hummed in quick response not wanting to get abused anymore.

“Good...that’s a good girl, you’re starting to catch on now.”

“I’m-I’m gonna come to Bakugou...her asshole is so tight.” And they were right only a few more pumps and you felt your asshole being filled for the first time. Soon feeling hot sticky cum go down your throat, you swallowed it all while looking into the eyes of the man who had just used your unwilling body however he wanted. After his cock was good and limp he finally pulled out of your throat, letting you finally fall to the ground in peace.

“I like this one a lot Bakugou! I haven’t had this much fun fucking someone in a while!”

“She was alright.” Bakugou replied, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Does that mean we can keep her?”

“Like I’d ever let a whore like that walk free after that. Of course we’re gonna keep her...can’t wait to see what else we can do to her.”

558 notes · View notes

tofuwhale · 4 years

Text

Genshin Impact Boy Headcanons!! [Kaeya, Childe, Zhongli, Xiao & Diluc]

Me and my friend (Tofu) decided to make a bunch of headcanons while we were hyped up about the boys!!!! Please excuse our fangirling lol they’re mainly SFW with a little NSFW mentions in some

I might write one-shots based on these headcanons in the future lol, we’re also open to more headcanon prompts/characters so please leave us an ask!

Enjoy <3

-🐋

Type of Tiktok boys they would be

Kaeya

Kaeya would own a roleplaying account with the subtitles and shit where it’s like ‘POV: you’re on a date with me’

Smooth asf, actually makes you blush when you watch his tiktoks

Diluc

He would have an account where he’s just mixing cocktails and showing off his skills as a bartender in front of a window

Zhongli

Fashion icon asf

Mainly formal fashion like suits and shit

He’s confused by the comments because they all say “rail me” and Childe thinks it’s hilarious so he just doesn’t tell Zhongli what it means

Childe

WHITE BOY

STRAIGHT TIKTOK

he probably dances like noah beck

Xiao

Bitch doesn't know tiktok

OR he’s the anonymous type, he uses his mask to hide his identity and shows his hands only

Comments are horny

You bake a chocolate cake for your best boy!

Kaeya

So sweet would appreciate the cake

Tells you to close your eyes to spoon feed you asf

You start blushing and he laughs at you for being flustered so easily

Ends up plugging ur air holes with the cake bc he smashed it to your face

Runs off laughing as you run after him

Diluc

Just thanks you and eats the cake

If it turns out bad, he would ask to help you next time OR he just wouldn't say anything and smile at you painfully as he eats it

Offers to get a cook to make you something as well like a true gentleman but you refuse

Zhongli

Confused by the concept of chocolate cake, but tries it anyways to make you happy

Don’t get too happy, he’ll criticise your baking so hard till you have tears spewing out your eyes

Childe

LAUGHS AND SMILES His smile is so bright it blinds you

HEAD PATS!!!!!

Calls you a ‘good girl’

“Let’s eat it together, okay?”

Xiao

Says to you he doesn’t like chocolate when you give him it, but eats it when you leave anyways

Asks you to make more, not directly but hints it out later like

“I’m in the mood for some cake rn”

A total tsundere

What they’d be like if they’re jealous over you, or if they would even get jealous at all

Kaeya

He’d tease you about it but probably be hurt on the inside

“Woooow, is this your new boyfriend? Personally I think you could do much better,” and then winks at you

You’d pay for it in bed ;)

Diluc and Zhongli

They’d pretend not to be bothered, having trust in you and the relationship but would also secretly maybe ask around the city about who the dude you’re talking to is

Childe

SUPER JEALOUS!!! He’d make sure to let the other guy know that you’re his by hugging you really close and kissing you while the other guy is around

Maybe a little bit overbearing at times but he’s yours and you’re his so it doesn’t matter <3

Xiao

Wouldn’t know the concept of jealousy since he’s been alone all his life but he’d feel uncomfy seeing you talk to another person

He’d probably furrow his brows, pout and walk back to his balcony

Being a sad puppy, arms crossed and resting on the rails waiting for you to come back

What they would do if you got a cold and had to stay in bed

Kaeya

Teases you calling you stupid and laughs at you when you say it’s because you tried to pet a cryo slime

But he makes sure to take care of your commissions and work at the Knights’ while you’re sick

Diluc

Would personally see to it that you’re taken well care of at the winery

Would walk into the bedroom while he thinks you’re asleep and pet your head and tell you cute stories about his day so that you have good dreams

Zhongli

Silently makes you soup but fails immensely

you drink it anyways to be nice

Would crawl into the sheets with you while you're asleep to cuddle and then catch your cold

Childe

Holds your hands while you’re in bed and makes sure you get enough sleep, is actually concerned as hell and won’t make any jokes about it

Won’t be able to do any work or anything, he’d be worrying if you’re ok or not

SOOOOo happy when you’re feeling better but gives you a whole lecture about not staying out so late when it’s cold

Xiao

HE’D MAKE YOU ALMOND TOFU with soup on the side perhaps

Tells you to be more careful

Runs his hands through your hair when you’re about to sleep

First “I love you”

Kaeya

He’d teasingly say “i love you”

But he says it all the time so you can’t tell whether he’s being serious or not

Would let you suffer alone trying to figure out his intentions when he definitely knows he loves you

Diluc

He’d say it while you’re bedridden with your cold, thinking you’re asleep

It’s because he’s too afraid that one day he’ll eventually lose you

Zhongli

He never actually says it but shows it through his actions, like buying you plushies and sweets when you’re sad

He uses your mora to buy the plushies and sweets but you don’t really care anyways because it’s the gesture that counts!!

You know he loves you anyways so he never has to say it <3

Childe

He’d just say it out of nowhere dead serious while you two are goofing around during a pillow fight

You’re really shocked but before you can say anything back he throws another pillow at your face while laughing

‘Pretends’ it never happened after but gets soft when you finally say it back

Xiao

He’d confess during the lantern festival

You’d both be watching the lantern’s

While you’re watching, Xiao would turn to you to see your reaction

Smiles slightly before whispering “i love you”

WOULD REACH FOR YOUR HAND AFTER THAT and squeeze it bc he doesn’t want to lose you either by him dying or you leaving him

The perfect date

Kaeya

Sex. period.

Just a lot of sex like a sex marathon because he loves seeing you being pleasured by him

TONS OF CUDDLING AFTER!!! And sleeping!!! Aftercare yes.

Diluc

FIGHTING TOGETHER

He’d think doing things you both love together is best date anyone could do

Y’all have each others backs

Power couple

Zhongli

Shopping. Duh. Mister spends all his mora or wtv buying anything and everything he sees because he’s thinking of you while he buys them

When he runs out he asks for you to pay even though they’re gifts for you

He’s hilarious

Childe

Would be a fun date

Going to the beach to swim or an amusement park with a ferris wheel

The day would end with the two of you sitting on a bench eating ice cream together and he laughs when you get ice cream on your nose

Xiao

Would rather stay at home/hotel room and not get disturbed by anyone

Probably sleeping in because he’s always tired for having to fight nearby enemies

BREAKFAST IN BED!! The two of you eat almond tofu until you’re sick of it

You drag him out of bed because you want to try to make almond tofu for fun

It tastes bad but you two have fun making it together and that’s what counts!!!!!

(Angst) What an argument with him is like/ What he’s like when you two are fighting or mad at each other

Kaeya

Annoyed and passive aggressive as hell, probably makes a couple low blows while you’re fighting

He’d click his tongue while you’re running your mouth and leaves the room to let out some steam

Either by drinking and talking to Diluc (who doesnt listen)

Or he goes and fights some slimes

Diluc

He would ignore you until things reach a boiling point where one of you snaps and starts yelling

Busting your lungs out at each other screaming and yelling, you’re crying and both of you blame each other

After you two get all your emotions out, you start crying and the both of you are emotionally vulnerable af

While you’re both in this state you have a conversation about what bothers each other in the relationship

Zhongli

Both of you are stubborn as hell, and would refuse to apologize to each other despite knowing that you’re the one in the wrong

Childe has to be the one to get you two to talk to each other constructively about your issues

Childe

You’d ignore each other for a bit but unlike Zhongli, Childe would probably apologise first because he feels bad and he’s too smart to lose you over a petty argument

The two of you would go over the argument again to sort it out properly and resolve the issue maturely

Xiao

Silent while you yell at him, just stares at you with an indecipherable emotion on his face

He just nods and accepts everything you have to say, knowing you need to get it off your chest

Feels like he messed up big time since this is his first real relationship, and goes to the inn’s balcony to think about it

After you yell at him you feel awful and go to apologize

#genshin impact #fanfic #reader-insert #genshin kaeya #genshin zhongli #genshin childe #genshin xiao #genshin diluc #kaeya #zhongli #childe #xiao #tartaglia #diluc #headcanons

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mcu-fan-fics-blog · 3 years

Text

The Helping Hand

This is a Repost from my Ao3 I wanted to bring it to Tumblr. I hope you like it Its currently 5 chapters I will be uploading the rest throughout the rest of the week.

Word Count: 3300 approx

Summary: Y/N Krast Illegitimate Daughter of Tony Stark. Product of an unwanted teen pregnancy. What would Howard Stark be capable of doing to assure his sons future? What will happen when Tony meets our Beautiful, young, genius, rich philanthropist.

Tw: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Drug use, Drug addiction, Teen Pregnancy. (If there are any I missed please tell me.)

Ch.4

Chapter 5: Age of Ultron pt.2

Ch.6

"Y/N you can't keep coming in and not talking." Your therapist tells you quite frustrated. "I'm paying you aren't I, I'll do what I please with the time I pay for." You say finally making eye contact with her. She only sighs. "Y/N I find that often people ask for help in the most obvious yet concealed manner."

You turn away, she continues. "You said it yourself you're paying me… If you don't want me to ask these questions, walk out and stop paying me." You look back "I can't… because I feel like I might just explode at any point." She nods encouraging you to continue.

"Recently I went through something that combined with all the other shit i've gone through… I can't cope. I don't know how." You wipe your eyes and continue. "I've never been stable, but i've always been okay with that. I've never lost anyone in a traumatic way." Your therapist lifts their head. "Who have you lost?"

"I never knew my parents so I didn't really lose them. I knew that Howard was going to pass and I got closure." She jumps in when she realizes you stopped talking. "And what makes this loss different?" You look at her with a tear rolling down your cheek. "The fact that it was my fault."

Three Weeks Ago

Wanda speaks first "I read your mind and all I saw was destruction." He promptly asked her to check again. He then goes on to have some sort of existential crisis not knowing what he actually is. I didn't really start to listen until Clint mentioned where Nat was… Sokovia. You immediately got pale once you heard what Ultron was planning to do with Sokovia. "I need to make a call" you say mostly to yourself but Pietro heard you.

No one noticed you stepped out of the room but him. "Who do you think you're calling?" You jump as he sped in front of you. "I need to warn my family they need to get out." Pietro only laughs "Forgive me but you don't seem like one to have family much less in Sokovia of all places. Why don't you just tell me the truth"

"Im aware you might not know me but I'm Y/N Krast… I run the practice I need to warn my friends. They'll spread the word and start an evac." He sighs. "You need to tell the rest of the guys. It might not be the best move." You nod and walk back into the room there all in. Tony notices you and walks straight to you fearing the Maximoff kid did something to you.

"Did he do anything kiddo because if he did I swear to…" you cut him off. "Im fine but I need to ask you something." He nods telling you to proceed. "Can I warn my friends back in Sokovia? They can help get the people out of there." Tony looks at you and nods. "I guess it can't hurt to take some precautions. Do it." You smile and walk out the room Dialing David immediately.

"Y/N are you okay, it's like three in the morning." You're relieved to hear his voice. "Listen to me David, you need to get as many people as you can out of Sokovia. The people are in danger." Davud sighs "Are you having another melt down remember breathe. In and out…"

"David this is not a game, you have to get as many people as you can out now… Tell Viv too she needs to get her family out. Do as I say David please the people will listen to you." David starts talking again, the panic rising in his voice. "Y/N what do you know… more importantly how do you know?" You raise your voice. "FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE DON'T QUESTION ME! Just do it."

David, shocked by your reaction shifts his tone. "I'll do my best. I need to go." He hangs up not even giving you a chance to say goodbye. (This is what you'll end up regretting later.)

"You truly care for these people… your family or friends." You look up and see the last person you expected. The witch is standing there in the doorway. "Yes, I do care, Wanda because believe it or not we're not all bad people." The comment came out more spiteful than you expected wincing at your own words. You're about to apologize when she beats you to it. "I'm sorry about earlier." She looks down picking at her hands.

You sit down on the steps facing a window and signal for her to sit as well. She joins you reluctantly. "I'm not going to bite." You say. Drawing out a small laugh that made your heart flutter. "Did you see inside my head?" You ask. Her head tilts at your question, but ultimately she shakes her head. "Yeah it happens sometimes I can't control it." You nod. "For the record I dont think youre a bitch. Well I did in the moment…" she cuts you off laughing. "I believe the words you used were 'Crazy Bitch'." You chuckle.

"We should get going…" You stand, helping her up and go to the team. “I contacted my friend David, and I texted my… other friend Viv. They’ve started evacuating people as we speak.” Tony nods and gives you an understanding look. “Now what's our plan to save Nat.” Steve goes on to explain his plan which consists of getting as many people as we could out then fighting Ultron. Once you arrived in Sokovia the streets were desolate. Not a soul in sight.

Pietro gazes in astonishment. “Your friends are good.” You nod relieved seeing that David and Viv did what you asked. “Well check if there are any people left behind…” Wanda cuts in. You weren't given the time to check for any last bystanders when she city starts shaking, and there are bots everywhere. You realize that Sokovia is flying. Tony then informs you of Ultrons plans. You all split up fighting the bots and Bruce made his way to Nat. Not long after Hulk and Natasha had made their way to the now floating Sokovia. Long story short the bad guy was defeated, and all was right in the world again.

Present

“Alright Doc, have you been following this I know first hand it can be a little complicated.” She nods as you continue. “Well my friends, not the Avengers. Umm… their names were David, and Vivian.” She notices your struggle to continue but you power through the tears building in your eyes. “You see, saving the world came at a price, a price that I was willing to pay, but not like this. I got to the compound, and dialled David and what did I find?” She tells you to continue. “Five… Five missed calls from David telling me that he was going to stay behind in the Practice with Viv.” Tears are now streaming down your cheeks. “Now I imagine that you know what happened to Sokovia ‘Boom’.” You signal with our hands telling her that it was all gone.

Suddenly a timer goes off and your walls are up again. “Y/N you can continue if you want to, I don't…” You interrupt her standing up and heading to the door. “Actually I think that, that was enough for today.” You say walking out. It was confirmed both David and Viv dead… and it was all because of you. After this you distanced yourself. Declining Maria Hills offer to become an Avenger, and also walking away from the Stark Industries collaboration. Unfortunately falling down a deeper hole than you'd ever been in with our addiction. When walking out of the office building your shrink is in when you bump into someone....

“Long time no see Y/N!” You recognize the voice immediately. “I saw you following me last week, as a matter of fact i've spotted you multiple times Natasha.” She laughs, and you roll your eyes. “Now why are you mad Y/N what did you think would happen? You ghosted everyone after Sokovia, why are you angry?” You sigh and start walking away but she stops you. “Because you were right Natasha there was a cost to this and it's taking quite the toll.” Natasha lets go of your arm confused “What are you talking about everything came out great.” you laugh bitterly “For almost everyone else oh and feel free to tell Pepper than I'm not taking her calls no matter how hard she insists.”

“Does this have anything to do with the drugs Y/N because if it does I know some people that can help you.” The way she says it almost makes you believe that she cares, but at the end of the day you know she had orders. You look at her incredulously walking away again, this time she doesnt stop you.

Natashas POV

“Well if you're not going to tell me guess i'm going to have to find out the hard way.” You walk into the building Y/N just came out of and make your way to the Shrink's office. You not so nicely asked for Y/N’s file. As youre reading the file you remember her words bitter and angry “For almost everyone…” Now it makes sense her friends died and no one was there for her. Fuck. You pick up the phone and dial Pepper. “I know what's going on. Call a meeting in the compound and I'll get there in thirty minutes.”

You meet up with everyone at the compound. You share the files with the team and everyone is shocked talking with each other until you notice Wanda. She doesn't look surprised. You pull her aside. "Why are you being quiet? What do you know about Y/N." She sighs "It was an accident alright when we came back I looked into her head. She looked so happy I was curious… When I looked she was grieving, tearing herself apart."

You look at her. "And you said nothing you let us believe that she just didn't care." She laughs. "She doesn't! She doesn't want your help, she made that quite clear already. The one person she thought that she could count on was some guy named Logan." You querk your head, was she jealous, are you jealous. You shake your head. "What else did you see?" Your ask casually. Testing the waters you didn't want to expose Y/N but you have to know what she knew.

"Was there something else I was supposed to see?" You shake your head no, and make your way back to the team. There's fighting over who should talk to her. "I think Tony should go…" Steve says like it's nothing. You almost laugh. Tony gives you a dirty look. "I think pepper should go." You say matter of factly. She asks you to elaborate. "She cares for you the most, but she is angry not at you in general." She nods and everyone else agrees for lack of a better idea.

Peppers Pov

You walk out of the compound with Tony by your side. "You can come if you want to." Your say to break the silence. He shakes his head. "When are you going to tell her that you're her father." He only sighs "I can't tell her… I can't ruin Howard for her because she loved him." You quickly counter "It's going to be worse the longer you wait." You continue "The only reason I didn't push before was because you weren't sure but now you are Tony she's your daughter."

"That's exactly why I can't tell her now she's dealing with a lot. It's not a good time." You nod "Fine." Is all you can say. You walk into Krast industries expecting to be greeted by a busy work floor but are surprised when you see the exact opposite. You do see a familiar face though commandeering the floor. Logan. "Hey logan how are you? I'm hoping I could talk to Y/N." Logan stops in his tracks.

"What do you mean if i've seen her? I thought she was with you guys." He says the panic growing in his voice. "Umm… no she's not been with us for a couple of weeks now. Are you sure you haven't seen her and what's going on here."

Logans Pov

Of course you knew where she was, but you weren't about to tell them. "Yeah no I've talked to her on the phone I just figured she was with your guys." Pepper is still confused about what is happening. "She asked me to get ready for major remodel… all our employees will work from home for the time being." She nods. "Do you know where I could find her? I really need to talk to her." Well that's not going to happen now. Seen as she's currently passed out on your couch.

"She might be at home… She does this sometimes. She runs, but i'll give you her address if you really want to talk to her."

Your Pov

After running into Natasha you went to a bar. A complete rookie move. You knew better, but at the same time you didn't care you've been loading up taking a larger doses and mixing with alcohol. You called Logan to come pick you up and he was there like always. "I can't lose you Logan, I wouldn't survive it. Why does everyone I love die?" He holds his tongue you can tell. "Tell me what you're thinking it's not good to hold your emotions in…" He laughs bitterly. "You think I'd survive losing you Y/N this feeling goes both ways. You're blind to my pain Y/N seeing you like this hurts me it shakes me to my core."

"I'm not blind to your pain… I know you better than I know myself. I'm going to therapy, and before you say it i'm actually talking this time. I'm getting help." He nods "Every step of the way that includes relapsing. Y/N just don't make me lose you." You nod tears building in your eyes. "I won't."

When you wake up you're in Logan's apartment it's nice. Your head is pounding. You decide to go home… in hindsight that was a horrible idea. You have no idea where you are and also have no idea where you're going. "Fuck… taxi, TAXI."

They dont fucking stop you dont blame them you look like trash, hell you feel like it too. You make it to a coffee shop and just sit there. Waiting for what you don't know at least not until the owner comes around. "I don't want to have to kick you out but it's nearing closing time, want me go call a cab."

You laugh "See id say yes and please but I don't remember where I live." He nods feeling bad for you. "Having a bad day, want to talk about it?" You sigh “I would, but sadly my opening up to complete strangers quota is full for the day.” They laugh handing you some coffee. “It 'll help you sober up, So what is it? Alcohol, meth, let me guess pills.” You widen your eyes. “Don't worry, I'm not judging I meet people of all walks of life.” You nod. “Do you mind if I make a call my friend is probably worried sick.” He hands you his phone and you dial Logan (the only number you know by heart.) “Y/N where are you ive been worried sick. Why did you leave?”

“I went out for coffee you know to sober up faster I needed air.” He sighs “Can you make your way back or do you want me to pick you up?” You turn from the barista person in front of you. “Um I want to go home but I can't for the life of me remember my address.” David gives you your address and calls you a cab. You thank him and end the call. “So it looks like I'm heading home in a minute the taxi won't take long.” He smiles reaching his hand out to take their phone back. “I’ll see you around probably…” You nod "probably not.” You say hesitantly, and he laughs. You Are interrupted by the taxi honking its horn. “I hope to see you around by the way. I'm Zack Gordon.” your smile drops immediately.

You compose yourself before he notices your change in attitude. You plaster on a fake smile and make your way out turning one last time. “We’ll see each other around Zack.” He smiles. The whole cab ride was silent, you're contemplating fate. What are the fucking odds of all the cafe’s you could have walked into you walked into his. When you least expect it you’re in front of your house. You walk in and immediately notice something off. You walk into your living room only to see someone sitting in the dark. You know who it is immediately. “Always with the theatrics, it's starting to get old. Would you like something to drink.” She sighs “Y/N I want to talk.” You sit clapping your hands causing the lights in the house to turn on.

“Right Pepper talk, i'm listening” Her eyes widen, showing her confusion. “Look, I'm not angry with our team or you, but I just have some crap to deal with… Alone.” Pepper looks down. “You don't have to go through this alone, you have us now.” Your eyes bolt to hers. “And how exactly do you know what i'm going through… You know what I don't need to know because it doesn't matter.” you sigh “I’ve gone through life alone. I dealt with the punches life has thrown my way by myself. This won't be the exception.” You see Peppers complexion turn red, she's angry. “Why can't you stop making yourself a martyr, talk about dealing with children? You and Tony are the only ones who can make me this irritated.”

“Because I'm broken Pepper and before Natasha or Wanda decide to tell you I'm an addict. Everything is wrong right now so I need to take a step away, I need to get clean.” Peppers eyes soften moving to sit next to you. “You know i'm not leaving your side right?” Your eyes begin to water. “I relapsed… it's bad Pepper. I've never fallen this hard and I'm scared.” She hugs you. “I’ve never had this… people who really care it was just Logan and I. As of recently it was David, Viv, and I. Now I lost them and I can't. I can't sleep, I can't breathe, and I'm so tired Pepper I don't know how much more of this I can take.”

“Okay come on Y/N let's get you to your room.” You and Pepper stand on your way up the stairs and you start to stumble. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this. I am very sorry I drank coffee to sober up but it didn't work.” She nods “It’s okay we’ll talk about it tomorrow.” You both finally make it to your room and as soon as your head hits the pillow you fall asleep.

When you wake up you are surprised by your surroundings you didn't quite remember how you got here. You sit up and hear chattering downstairs. You go down stairs, the memories of last night making their way to you now. THE AVENGERS HAVING BREAKFAST IN YOUR KITCHEN. You watch as thor brakes your plates making you flinch. “As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm I dont think Y/N would appreciate us breaking her plates.” you clear your throat and as you do everyone goes quiet. “Good Morning everyone.”

#avengers #tony stark #pepper potts #tony x pepper #wanda maximoff #thor odinson #vision #pietro maximoff #clint barton #natasha romanoff #marvel #avengers ultron #reader x avengers #natasha x y/n #wanda x reader

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sneezy-cheeseloaf · 3 years

Text

recounting the entire avengers: endgame movie, which i only saw once when it came out, from memory

because i just took the SAT and i want to do anything except think about that so get ready for a fun ride full of holes and my reenactments of scenes and quotes that i remember from however many years it’s been now since endgame came out. buckle the fuckle up

movie opens, clint’s whole ass family fucking dies. cue killing spree fueled by grief and anger. HashTag Relatable

tony is floating through space with nebula and teaching her how to play paper football

holy shit is this how tony dies

“pep” ouc h

oh hey he’s home, dope

The Gang (tm) learns where thanos’s farm is somehow i can’t really remember

“perhaps i judged you too harshly”

“???? thor????” “what? i went for the head”

“five” five what?? days?? weeks??? months???? oh boy i can’t wait to find ou- “years later” HUH???????

steve looks the exact same, so i guess he kept up that workout schedule even through the snap. i mean good for him honestly

and is also running a talk therapy group like sam did

a single smidgen of gay representation but it’s a good start ig

i don’t really remember what everyone else was doing, i just know that tony and pep have morgan now but idk if that gets revealed now or later

the only reason we had a movie is because of a rat. everyone say thank you to Rat for releasing scott lang, please. round of applause

scott’s daughter is all grown up and catch me sobbing over the fact that he wasn’t there to see it

somewhere in here nat is crying and eating a sandwich and honestly girl same

“hey!!! it’s me!!!! scott lang!!! ant man???? also what the hell happened???? lemme IN”

cue scott lang having a single brain cell and bringing up time travel. i think it was him that proposed the idea. maybe not. but imma give him credit

oh yeah bruce and hulk are besties now and bruce is just permanently Like That

and cue everyone being shook at the idea of time travel

time to go see Science Man at his house on the lake

“i wish you had come for anything else.” ouch

gang leaves dejectedly

peter. that’s it. and suddenly tony is all hands on deck

cue science mumbo jumbo in the middle of the night while he eats something out of a bag that i can’t remember

“shit!!” “sHiT!!!” “NO”

“i love you 3000″

Science Man reveals that he has, indeed cracked the code to literal time travel

cue nat, the only person with an umbrella, going to find clint who is busy with murder, as he does

“don’t do that. don’t give me home” stfu budapest man and get in the car.

thor has. enlargened. and is now playing fortnight with korg as a means to cope with what happened plus losing loki, as i think we all would

The Gang is back together and working (surprisingly) coordinately and throwing ideas around and it’s actually very cute. and it makes my heart very happy. and i want to cry every time i think about it because we all know what comes next

scott’s taco gets blown away. bruce gives him another. all is well in the world

and in this exhibit we see the only brain cell in the whole group, which is being used by rhodey at all times

“why don’t we just,,,, (choking motion)” “to a BABY???”

during the time tests someone gets reverted to a baby but i don’t remember who and it’s highkey disturbing

“i consider this an absolute win!!”

cue slo mo walk with the cool white time suits that everyone looks so good in

“see you in a minute” that smile. she looks so happy. sobbing

i think it’s in here that all the color go through steve’s eyes, so let’s just take a minute to acknowledge how pretty he is

“just for the record, that suit did nothing for your ass.” “i don’t remember asking you to look”

“that’s america’s ass.” yes it is scott you’re absolutely right

“i cOuLd dO tHiS aLL dAy” “yeah i knoOoOW”

time for tony to give tony a heart attack and then just stare in what i can only assume is amusement. i’m pretty sure that comes after america’s ass but maybe not

somewhere in here steve is just staring at peggy through blinds and it’s sad when you see it but when you think about it afterwards, it’s so funny for no reason

time to get whacked by a very angry hulk who was not allowed to use the elevator

“NO STAIRS”

tony goes flying. so does the tesseract. loki, in handcuffs, is like “oh bet this is mine now” and. Leaves.

i’m pretty sure it’s bruce who goes and gets schooled by The Ancient One on the multiverse, and i say it’s bruce because i think he’s the only one out of The Gang who could ever actually wrap his head around it

i don’t remember exactly how they get the tesseract but they do

thor and rocket are in asgard and thor has a panic attack, as I think we all would if we had to talk to our dead mother and pretend like we don't know what's going to happen

and remember kids, slapping someone is not the way to handle a panic attack. anyways

a mother always knows

"i'm still worthy!!!!" you always were, thor. you never stopped being worthy

and we have our hammer back

cue sobbing on vormir

“clint. it’s ok. it’s ok.” that smile.

nat’s fucking dead and i’m fucking dead inside let’s keep this party goin

other stones are recovered and i don’t really remember how but hey we got all six

“where’s nat?” cue more sobbing from me and from clint as you can see each and every team member’s heart drop to the fucking floor. especially steve

yeah maybe we’re doing this for half the universe and all the people we lost, but mostly for nat now

tony’s makeshift infinity gauntlet has entered the chat

Green Man is the only one who can physically take the power of the stones, so the fate of literally everything they have ever done up to this point is on him

snap rest in peace bruce’s arm

cue every single person in the theater holding their breath

“guys. it worked.”

cue explosion as their facility gets bombed and i am terrified that it has killed the entire gang

but it obviously has not and i am once again a Class A Idiot

i can't remember if it’s steve or tony who wakes up first but one shakes the other awake and is like “get the fuck up bitch idk what just happened but we got a problem”

everyone is mostly fine. but they’re all alive and that’s what matters

and now we have the setting for the entire rest of the movie basically

oh hey thanos. that’s uh. that’s a big army you got there

i don’t really remember everything that happened with The Past thanos, gamora, and nebula but i remember that gamora once again sees what a twat her adoptive father is and is like “oh hell na”

cue the gang fighting for their lives against Past thanos. literally

oh shit thor’s about to be killed????

OH MY GOD HE HAS THE HAMMER

cue the theater screaming as they should

hell yeah. bonk that giant space grape with the god of thunder’s hammer. you go steve. and look like a badass doing it as you should

shit’s still fucked and they eventually get their asses handed to them one by one

somewhere in here the shield breaks just like we saw in age of ultron. and like damn bro i liked that thing

steve stands up by himself because bitch. you cant kill him unless he says so. he dies on his own terms. he didn’t live for over a fucking century to die like this

our mans is standing up against a whole ass army knowing full well that he can’t win but damn if he aint ready to try

“ok listen strange. you have to open the portal to his left. his LEFT. you hear me???”

“steve. STEVE. on your left.”

cue the most goosebump-inducing scene that i have ever seen and probably will ever see. i would do anything to see that scene for the first time again. that feeling was like nothing i’ve ever experienced

the amazing symphonics are NOT helping my already-about-to-explode-from-excitement heart

now the gang’s ALL here. and we all cry because all of our peeps are back from the dead and we all missed them and highkey grieved for them after infinity war

i can’t remember if steve actually sees bucky yet but i think he does and i wanted to cry on the spot because not only did i miss bucky but man did i just want them to see each other again

cue sick pan of the whole ass marvel roster like smash ultimate, including howard duck somewhere in there

PETER OUR BOY SWINGIN ON IN

“AVENGERS. assemble.” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

but we all know damn well that not a single person could hear him whisper that shit. like steve bro speak up a little

and the battle for the ages commences

we get to see all our favorite boys are girls fuck shit up and it’s absolutely incredible. wow it really feels like someone’s missing who could that be.

this is now a very elaborate game of keepaway

“catch” “Catch” “CATCH “CATCH”

“hey queens” he remembered. catch me cryin

“hey peter. got somethin for me?” god i love her. flew through a whole ass spaceship. no stoppin her

t'challa remembers clint's name. he did care

oh yeah scott is fucking humongous again, but third time’s the charm ig. maybe he won't pass the fuck out this time

somewhere in here, strange starts holding like. an entire ocean back and i dont really remember where it came from

we get a whole segment of marvel women kicking ass and taking names and i think i just need to take a minute. WE collectively need to take a minute

carol flies straight through a spaceship and everyone is like ???? hello????? where have you been?????????

carol gets literally headbutted by thanos and doesnt move a fucking inch. and that look of murder in her eyes. she could tell me to walk into a pit of lava and i would not question it. the power

“launch the missiles!!!” “but sir, our army-” “DO IT”

damn thanos our expectations for you were low but holy fuck

somewhere in here i think petter quill sees Past gamora and is like gamora???? and she like kicks him in the balls or somethin and is like “this is the ones i picked?????”

the fight continues and honestly a lot of it’s a blur but damn was it not the coolest thing i’ve ever seen.

cue strange knowing exactly how this was gonna go down, and holding up a single finger

i dont think ive ever seen that look on tony's face before

oh shit thanos has the gauntlet and all the stones. fuck.

wait holdup that gauntlet looks a little funky

WAIT HOLDUP

“i am inevitable”

“and i. am iron man.”

the theater, once again holds its breath

all is lowkey calm and everyone is shook

thanos’s entire army slowly fades away. including one of those big worm things that almost eats (i think it was) rocket but like. dusts right as it hits the ground and is a really cool shot

and thanos sits down on a rock. and finally is gone. and it's so cathartic

oh joyous day!! they’ve won!! they’ve done it!!! wait holdup where’s tony. i remember what happened to bruce where the fuck is tony

wait

wait hold on

wait hold on a minute

“we did it. we won, mr stark. we won. please, mr stark”

“pep.”

“it’s ok. you can rest. you can rest.”

i have officially passed away and am a sobbing mess. you can’t do this to me. he’s gonna come back. there’s no way. tony stark doesn’t die. no.

this is a fucking funeral. i am going to combust into tears

“proof that tony stark has a heart”

i just wanted him to be able to see morgan grow up.

but him and nat are eating shawarma together in the sky now.

“i’m recording this in case something goes wrong, which it won’t.”

“i love you 3000.”

oh we’re still rolling. oh we don’t even get a minute to process

steve is leaving??? wait holdup we cant lose both. no

“are you sure about this?” “i have to”

“i’m with you til the end of the line” so that was a fucking lie

but steve deserves to do what makes him happy. so i can’t be too mad. actually, nah i aint even mad i’m just sad

bucky looks so dejected. so sad. someone please give him a hug. he desperately needs it

oh hey steve. but you’re old now. hey then, grandpa. how did you. get there

buck and sam go talk to him as they should

“you wanna talk about her?” “no, i don’t think i will”

“how does it feel?” “like it belongs to someone else”

sam has officially inhered the shield, and by extension, his very own bucky barnes. it’s a packaged deal

clint’s got his family back. and they can finally finish their picnic or whatever they were doing at the beginning of the movies

and steve finally got that dance. finally. and he looks so happy. so content.

and that’s about all i remember

i have not watched endgame since i saw it in theaters when it came out because i absolutely do not have the emotional stability to do it again. but damn the disney plus shows have been bangin

i hope you enjoyed the ride, thank you for joining me in my. whatever the fuck this is

18 notes · View notes

coralstudiies · 5 years

Text

SURVIVAL GUIDE & STUDY TIPS

hello everyone!! this post is a collab with the lovely and amazing @boinkhs because we've both reached 2k followers :D she'll be doing study tips for college students and i'll be doing study tips for high schoolers. check out her post here!

i've split this into part 1. survival, which concerns how to study & learn better in general and just tips on how to get through high school. part 2. is on specific study tips for each type of subject, namely sciences, maths, languages and humanities.

Hope this helps <3

1. Don't snooze please

you just end up snoozing 5 times then you’re late for school

2. If you find you have difficulty getting out of bed, just keep in mind ONE TASK you need to do.

for example, making your bed. then you just gotta focus on that! it should help fight the sleepiness because you’re forcing your brain and limbs to be active.

3. Do the necessary things like brushing your teeth, putting on clothes and eat breakfast

i don’t know why but some people don’t eat breakfast before coming to school like ???? excuse me ???? please eat at least a small snack, or a fruit or something. your body doesnt function on an empty stomach! also, drink some water to hydrate yourself

4. On the road, you should do something that puts you in a good mood.

for me, i go straight to spotify and listen to my playlist. you should also review the previous day’s learning so that you refresh your memory before going back to class. personally this is my fav part of the day HAHAHA

5. If you like, you can choose to read a book.

just make sure you’re calm but ‘warmed up’ to focusing in a sense.

1. Hydrate frequently

idk man it just keeps you awake + i dont feel so icky if i drink enough water

2. Learn actively

if the teacher asks questions, try to answer. sit at the front row. offer to help give out the worksheets or notes. clarify your doubts after. when they speak, copy down notes. don’t worry about the aesthetic; i mean you can but you need to write fast and neat which unfortunately doesnt come together very often. i suggest you spend more brain power digesting and understanding the content.

3. Don’t over highlight

ONLY KEY POINTS that are stressed by the teacher. you can tell when their tone changes, expression changes, when they use more hand motions, or they keep repeating a few key words. yes , that. highlight that. stare at it while listening to them speak. make sure you understand. if you don’t please ask. but make sure you don’t have a fluorescent page because that’s not ideal study material!

4. Write down any questions you have

if they’re answered in the lesson, cancel them off. if not, ask after the lesson. dont be scared! *sends virtual courage*

5. Use whatever free time you have to finish homework

because you’re gonna thank yourself later. you should spend more time at home revising than doing homework. ( doing homework isnt equivalent to revising PLEASE I KNOW SO MANY PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY REVISED FOR 3 HOURS BUT ALL THEY DID WAS HOMEWORK ) also it feels better knowing you have one less thing to worry about

6. Record down all assignments, due dates and test dates

do it in a planner or your phone. doesn’t matter just keep them somewhere. it can be demoralising to see an entire entry of shit to get done but still it’s better than not knowing what needs to be done. ignorance is NOT bliss. try to color code or symbol code them, for example • for assignments (due date behind), - for tests etc. act on this when you go home (see below)

7. Have a file/binder some form of organisation to keep different subjects’ worksheets, tests, notes, reading etc.

you can have one massive binder, one binder for each subject, one folder file for each subject or anything that suits you. for me, i clip all materials of one subject together with a binder clip. the materials i use most are at the front for easy reference. then put those bundles into zipper files, perhaps one for math and sciences, another for languages and humanities. or whatever suits you best! make sure you have everything in one place so you don’t panic and dig through a pile of dog-eared paper.

8. If you can, when it’s near the exam period, don’t stay back after school unless it’s to study.

i used to stay back for training and to play volleyball with my friends and i kid you not we would play from 2pm to 6.30 pm and get nothing done but it was fun. and i’m not saying deprive yourself of that fun but when the exams are near, you should be studying somewhere quiet/ somewhere you can focus. you should go somewhere (preferably home) where you can focus and get things done.

9. Decide if you’re a lone wolf or if you need a study buddy/study group

personally i’m a lone wolf because i hate distractions and i don’t want to distract others. but when my friends ask me for help i don’t mind staying back a little to teach them and/or study with them. Personally i find that for subjects like english which require you to write about an array of topics, studying with someone else can help in generation of essay points and to just broaden your understanding of the topic. so yeah it really depends, just do what suits you :)

10. Take notes in class

try to understand while copying, and if you didn’t understand something, you should raise your hand and ask for the teacher to repeat so that you hear it again. also, it gives you more time to take notes as they re-explain the content. read them after the lesson is over to help internalise some facts. you can create your own method of organisation for your notes, e.g. colour coding.

1. Review the day’s learning on the way home.

if you take public transport, try to flip through your notes and worksheets to review new content for the first time.

2. Eat lunch, have a snack, take a shower, everything that’s necessary.

if you use your phone while eating, make sure you don’t eat slowly just to use your phone because that’s wasting time.

3. If you’re super tired, just have a 15-20min power nap

nothing more otherwise you will NEVER wake up until the dead of night. just take a nap to get some energy back. doesnt matter if you wake up feeling more tired, because you’ll shake that feeling in a while. keep a glass of water beside you so that you can drink it once you wake up!

4. Look through your ‘list’ that you made earlier in the day. (in class, pt. 6)

you might want to spend max 10 mins updating your schedule. then stare at the dreaded homework. start with the easiest and least time consuming to build up momentum. this could actually be the remainder of what you’ve finished in school. then look at the due dates. do them in order of due dates. unless it’s a huge project or assignment, you might want a head start on it!

5. With the remaining time, you should start revising

review the day’s learning AGAIN.

make notes/mindmaps/flashcards whatever works for you. you should prioritise the subject or chapter that you were most confused about. quickly revise and try to clear up any questions you have about the chapter. if you have additional time, go ahead and make notes for the next subject! another way is going through corrections and clarifying your doubts with friends/teachers, and summarise the day’s learning on a post-it or two. if you’ve already taken notes in class, look at other sources e.g textbook and combine what you’ve learnt before re-writing or re-organising your notes.

1. Pack your bag!

remove unnecessary materials, and pack the necessary one. make sure your bag isnt too heavy. you can choose to hand carry some files or binders if they’re too bulky, but make sure you’re all packed before the next morning

2. Have a meal & clean up

again, basic necessities. don’t go to bed hungry or feeling icky because thats not how you treat yo self!

Before class:

if you’re going to continue on a chapter, review the content that came before it. Try to make your own connections between the already learnt and to-be learnt content so that you’re mentally ready for class.

In class:

take down notes, highlight, annotate and DRAW DIAGRAMS. you can’t do sciences without diagrams. for physics or chemistry which require more calculation, copy down the problems your teacher goes through and solve them along with him/her. write the formulas on a post it note so you can stick it onto the page where you’re writing for easy reference. if the teacher plays a video which is MOST DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO WAIT FOR YOU you have to write only the relevant points in the most abbreviated form possible.

Note-taking:

I find that linear notes help me most in sciences. for chapters that involve lots of interconnected processes, for example o chem, then mindmaps or flowcharts will be helpful. also if you tend to forget something, post-it that stuff on the front page of your notes where you are FORCED to stare at it. yes. write down example problems and their steps, then write explanations for each step so that if you’re confused you can always refer back. again, draw any required diagrams.

Answering techniques:

if there’s a ‘standard’ way to answer it then you have to make sure you follow that way even in your homework because it’s muscle memory. when you get to exams, your hand will automatically write in the same format so you don’t lose marks or spend time recalling the correct format.

imo sciences are quite logical so as long as you remember and follow the flow you’ll be fine!

In class:

copy key terms, facts and examples and write all examples that the teacher has gone through. write all formulas and definitions on a post it, then shift it around the pages as needed. if there’s a type of problem you particularly suck at, ask your teacher for help IMMEDIATELY because it’s so easy to forget the steps to a problem.

At home:

do your homework, do additional practice, correct your mistakes, clarify, and repeat. memorise formulas and definitions (perhaps using flashcards or post its) then practice more and make sure your concepts are strong. there’s no easy way and sadly this is all i can comment.

In class:

copy down notes, think actively, and if you’re given a sample essay you should annotate the heck out of it and keep it somewhere safe.

For essays:

read up more and write up. befriend the best writer in class and ask for their essays. write essay plans and consult your teacher. brainstorm possible approaches with friends. read the news, and copy the links of interesting online articles for future reference. have a go-to list of examples and quotes you can use, for any and every topic. read these like your bedtime story and never forget to keep updating them.

For comprehension passages:

read the questions first. then you’ll be more sensitive to what you need to read in the passage and how you need to analyse it. try to question yourself about how and why the author does something or makes you feel something. do not rush-read the passage or you will fail horribly (personal experience). do one or two extra comprehensions and ask your teacher to mark them.

In class:

ARROWS TO LINK EVERYTHING and annotate any class notes given. write down new examples provided by the teacher. if there is a link you ‘can check out’ go check it out. it’s probably something thats gonna be on the exam.

At home:

you have to rely on mindmapping and flow charts because everything is linked in some way and you cannot ignore those links!!!! although i do my humanities notes in linear form, my in class notes are all in the form of mindmaps. and actually i revise from those in a pinch because i can see everything at one go. watch vids on the concepts, for example plate tectonics. those things are so hard to see when they’re deadass sitting on the page and not budging. watch a video where they really move instead of being frozen.

If you’re so frickin lost:

watch more videos on the concepts, watch more videos on the events, search up interpretations online and ask your teachers!!! for everyone who gets equally lost as me when i’m faced with a new chapter, another way is to pre-read before the teacher starts teaching. if you’re lazy to read just watch a couple clips on it so that at least you have some background. even if you wake up the next day with 0 concrete memory, which you won’t, you’ll already have the flow of things which will help you if you’re usually the straggler.

(disclaimer i study geography although i've tried history and english literature but i think that they're similar to some extent, especially on how to study them)

#study #studyblr #studying #coralstudiies #revision #study motivation #notes #study tips #study advice #studying tips #studying advice #high school #lectures #tips #advice

1K notes · View notes

mybiasisexo · 4 years

Text

Blood & Bond

Pairing: None....yet....

Length: 16.4k

Warning: OC | Language

Summary: Kai and his little pack of werewolf cubs’ lives get a lot more interesting when a pretty foreign girl with special abilities decides to befriend them.

Author’s Note: I finished reading Running With Wolves (debatably one of the best werewolf exo aus ever written and maybe even the best werewolf story ever written idk read it if you havent I swear it doesn't matter who your bias is you will fall for kai!!!) and was like ‘I wanna write a werewolf!au’, but this doesnt touch a candle to the genius that is that story which is why I kinda stopped writing it. I want to make it darker, a bit more mature, so here is this! If I ever decide to humor myself and rewrite it, it will be completely different. So, enjoy this, cause, I mean, its pretty good!!! also who else misses ot12???? Just me??? ok....

MASTERLIST

1. The Witch…Kinda Sorta

“I’m open! I’m open!”

The crunching sound of sneakers against gravel could be heard around the area as a small group of young men ran across the basketball court at a park. It was an intense game, the boys were snarling at one another, not afraid to push and shove to gain the upper hand.

After ten minutes, one of the boys jumped up and with the flick of his wrists, scored the final three points.

“We win,” he grinned after the echoing swish of his victory faded into the trees.

“You cheated,” one of the boys from the other team muttered, wiping the dripping sweat off of his forehead while others around him fell to the floor, breathing hard and exhausted.

“You always say that when you lose,” one of the guys who was on the ground whined, yanking the boy’s ankle, causing him to stumble to the asphalt. They all chuckled around him.

He just sighed.

The young man who had scored the winning points tossed the sore loser a bottle of water, which he took gratefully. “Thanks, Kai.”

“No problem, Chanyeol. Also, I didn’t cheat.”

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes and chugged half of the bottle.

The six boys sat around in silence, drinking, snacking, and just enjoying the chilling wind dry their damp skin.

“Do you smell that?” One of them asked the others, his big eyes widening.

They all paused, sniffing the air and shaking their heads.

“It smells like a fire.”

A different one shrugged, “it’s probably a forest fire or something, Kyungsoo. Nothing to worry about.”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “No, Tao, it’s close.”

He stood up and brushed off his shorts, heading towards the smell that only he could distinguish.

The boys that he had left glanced nervously at each other before standing up as well and following their somewhat peculiar friend.

They trudged around the trees, past the playground and the water fountain, until they were surrounding the restrooms that were on the opposite side of the park.

The cement wall that was around the tiny building was covered in graffiti, and the two doors were slightly ajar.

As they approached the deserted restrooms, one of the taller boys began to cough, “ugh, Kyungsoo, you were right. Someone definitely started a fire.”

“And it’s coming from the back.”

Slowly, the group began to circle the building, and once they were at the back of the structure they paused with shock.

In front of them was a young woman. She was kneeling, her back facing them, and in front of her was a pile of black char.

“Uh….” One of the boys named Jongdae was able to muster. His rumbling voice startled the girl, and she spun around in surprise, nearly falling into the pile of black.

The boys gulped once they saw her face. She was a foreigner, which was easy to tell with her deeply tanned skin and big curly brown hair. She was wearing a pleaded skirt and a black tank top with a green plaid shirt on that was hanging off her exposed shoulders. She also had a gray sweater tied around her waist, torn black stockings and dirty combat boots.

“What are you doing?” Kai asked her with raised eyebrows.

“Uh….” She mimicked Jongdae as she slowly climbed to her feet. Her shock seemed to fade once she was standing straight, and she grinned while shrugging, “nothing?”

“That doesn’t look like nothing,” Jongdae said with narrowed eyes, his arms crossed over his chest.

“It doesn’t smell like nothing either,” Tao added with his nose scrunched with disgust. Sehun, who was right behind him, made a show of waving his hand in front of his nose.

The girl laughed nervously, “Well, it’s nothing that you boys need concern yourself with.”

She began to turn back to her work, but froze once she realized something. Her lips curled knowingly as she returned her gaze to the group of males, placing her fists on her hips, “you all are werewolves.”

That startled the group, and the six boys began talking loudly at once, trying to dismiss her wild accusation.

She sighed, “It’s alright, calm down.” They all stopped in unison and stared at her with awe. “Well, I guess since you all are a part of the super realm… I’ll let you in on my doings.”

“Super…?” Chanyeol’s eyebrows scrunched together with confusion.

“I was casting a spell,” the girl informed the group. “I’m trying to… well, recall some things… I guess you could say. I read a book earlier, and it said that burning a certain type of branch could bring suppressed memories to the forefront. But, as you can see, it didn’t work like it should have.”

Everyone eyed the pathetic pile of burnt ash.

“Anyways,” the girl began, twirling back to the werewolves. “I’m Sloane.”

“And you’re a witch,” Tao inferred.

Sloane’s eyes narrowed at the tall boy, “I am not a witch!”

Static surrounded the cramped space and a second after the six males were on the hard ground, on top one another, unconscious.

Sloan smirked at her handy work, brushed her hands together and hopped over the bodies lying on the floor, strutting away from the restrooms.

~*~

“Yesterday was weird,” Sehun pouted the following morning. The six friends were huddled on the lawn in front of their university. It was a small and rather prestigious school with only four hundred students. Unlike most universities, the students were required to wear uniforms and a lot of the rules were similar to high school.

“I feel like I dreamt the whole thing,” Tao said, adjusting the strap on his shoulder.

Kai groaned, “I really don’t want to be here.”

“Aw, come on!” Jongdae cheered, ruffling Kai’s silky brown locks, making his hair look messier than it was prior. “School’s fun.”

“You only say that because your super power is sweet talking teachers to give you good grades,” Chanyeol rolled his eyes, but the huge grin on Jongdae’s face stayed planted.

“I like school,” Kyungsoo mumbled, causing the other boys to sigh and head inside.

The six of them were only freshman, yet they already held a reputation. As they walked the halls, others stopped and stared—some with envy, others with lust. They were easily the best looking in the school, it also helped that they had a strange rebellious aura that made girls swoon over them.

“They’re staring,” Kai, who couldn’t handle the fame to save his life, whispered to Jongdae, who loved his fame all too much.

“They always stare, Kai. I’m surprised you aren’t used to it by now. Nothing’s changed since high school.”

“Don’t they have something better to do?” He asked, voice rising with exasperation.

Jongdae shrugged and tapped Kai’s chin. “Enjoy it while it lasts, Kiddo. We only have three more years of this.”

“You’re literally three months older than me!” The younger yelled, his hands curling into fists.

“Blah, blah, blah!” Jongdae replied just as passionately.

“Kyungsoo!” Kai whined, wrapping himself around the smaller boy.

“Jongdae, leave Jongin alone, would you?”

Jongdae gulped as Kyungsoo glared at him and nodded quickly, running towards the front of the group to avoid the dark energy emanating from Kyungsoo’s eyes.

At lunchtime, the six schoolboys trickled into the cafeteria and sat around their usual table in the middle of the room. They ate quietly for the most part, some doing homework, a couple were playing cards and betting their chips, Kai was complaining to Tao how much he hated his math class while Tao slowly ate Kai’s rice.

A loud plop on the end of their table startled them, and once they all whipped around to where the noise came from, they jumped. The witch from the day before, Sloane, was standing at the end of their table, hands on hips and eyes slightly narrowed as she scanned the werewolves.

“So it wasn’t a dream,” Sehun muttered, gawking at the figure hovering over their table.

“Mind if I sit, fellow classmates?” She asked and slid into one of the last remaining two chairs before anyone had time to object. She began scarfing down her rice nearly frantically and the boys sat frozen, staring at her with wide eyes.

“The food here is to die for,” she moaned with her mouth stuffed with food. That seemed to knock some sense into the others, unpausing them, and they all began to eat their food as well—all while keeping an eye on the new girl that was currently sitting right beside Kyungsoo.

He scaled her lean body with his eyes, and couldn’t help but to grin at how she was wearing her uniform. The skirt rolled up, so that it ended slightly above her mid-thigh, her dress shirt half tucked, a few buttons at the top undone, her jacket sleeves pushed up to her elbows. She still wore black stockings, but these ones ended above her knees and her scuffed combat boots hugged her feet comfortably. Her hair was still wild and free and she was covered in jewelry—her neck, fingers, ears and wrists wrapped in gold and black.

The dishevelment of her uniform resembled Kai’s.

“How… How are you here?” Tao finally sputtered, the other guys seemed to all let out a collective breath of relief with the question finally out in the open.

Sloane glanced at all the people at the table and giggled softly, “I enrolled.”

“Are you stalking us?” Sehun asked her rudely, his usually soft features hardening into a glare.

She flat out laughed at that, it ringed mockingly, “of course not! I enrolled about two weeks ago. It’s a coincidence that we bumped into each other yesterday. Either that or fate. Most likely fate though….” Her last few words were muttered, her talking more to herself then the boys, but they heard it regardless and they seemed to tense at the word.

“Is today your first day?” Kyungsoo quietly asked the young witch. She nodded. “Mind if I see your schedule?”

She smiled shyly before digging into her bag until she found the slip of paper she needed. Kyungsoo scanned it, nodding here and there and finally gave it back to her, “we have english together, along with Chanyeol. You and Chanyeol also have biology together. You have history with Jongdae and Sehun and trig with Kai.”

She nodded slowly, digesting what he just said before opening her mouth to ask, “So who is who?”

“Oh, right, I forgot we haven’t introduced ourselves,” Kyungsoo chuckled, scratching the back of his head. One by one, the werewolves introduced themselves to Sloane.

Except Kai.

He just watched the strange girl as she blinked at him expectantly.

Finally Kyungsoo sighed and gestured to the broody male, “that is Kai. Don’t mind him, he doesn’t bite.”

“Depends on the time of day,” Jongdae added, causing them to chuckle.

“It’s nice meeting you all,” Sloane grinned. “It’s been a while since I’ve stumbled across someone from the super realm.”

“The super realm?”

“Yeah, folks with supernatural abilities. Such as werewolves, vampires, and wi—” She seemed to choke on the last word.

“Witches? Just like you are?” Kai finally broke his silence, studying her intently.

Her eyes darkened as they met his, “I’m not a witch…Kai?”

He shrugged and chugged his milk. Their lunch break came to an end and Kyungsoo and Chanyeol lead Sloane to their next class.

~*~

“She can’t hang out with us,” Kai informed his pack. Class had finally ended and the six of them instantly headed up to the rooftop, where they usually went when they had to talk about something serious on school grounds.

“Why not?” Sehun asked his leader, he tilted his head like a curious puppy.

“There is something off about her,” Kai elaborated. “I get strange vibes from her.”

“It’s her power,” Chanyeol shrugged. “She’s very powerful. I’m surprised we didn’t notice it yesterday.”

“There are a lot of things you didn’t notice yesterday,” Kyungsoo muttered with an eye roll, remembering the fire only he could smell.

Kai shook his head, “I don’t think that’s it. I mean, yeah she’s definitely powerful, but there is something else about her that puts me on edge.”

“Is it her sense of fashion?” Tao asked with true concern. “I mean, her uniform was like the female version of yours—”

“No it wasn’t!” Kai snapped, huffing as the others started laughing. He pinched the bridge of his nose, “I’m being serious. She can’t be around us.”

A few of the boys sighed, but had to obey their alpha’s order.

As they walked out of the school, Sloane was leaning against the stairs. Once they were close enough, she went up to fall in step with them.

“So, where are we going? Are we doing some supernatural stuff? Are you going wolf? Or can you only do that when there is a full moon?”

It took everything in Kyungsoo not to answer her questions. He could admit to himself that he had taken a quick liking to the foreign girl. The six boys continued walking, attempting to give her the cold shoulder.

She appeared to not register their attempt as she continued. “Maybe something boring, like homework, huh?” Tao could hear laughter in her voice. “Werewolves doing their homework? Isn’t that comical?”

“Sloane,” Kai began, slowing down so that he was walking beside her. She glanced at him, noticing his dark beautiful features. “Stop following us. We don’t want you to hang out with us.”

She stopped walking, “what?”

She glanced at the rest. They were a few steps in front of her and Kai, half circled and turned towards the two.

“You are not a member of our pack,” Kai continued with a voice cold and sharp as icicles, catching her attention again. “What? You thought you could get an in with us because of what you are? You’re nothing special. You’re just another girl. No. You’re just a weird witch.”

He watched her jaw clench and her thin fingers tighten against the strap of her bag, “I told you already that—”

“All the same,” he smiled politely at her and she wanted to slap it off him at that moment. What a typical pretty boy!

She took a step away from the group, “fine. I won’t interfere with you or your math homework. Good luck trying to get that D up.”

Kai arched an eyebrow as she spun on her heels, and winced as her brown curls slapped him viciously across the face as she stomped away.

“That was harsh,” Chanyeol admitted with a sigh. All the boys were watching Sloane’s form blend into the crowd.

Kai didn’t reply, instead he touched his cheek where her hair hit him, when he pulled his hand away he noticed blood on his fingertips.

~*~

True to her word—and much to Kai’s relief—Sloane left them alone.

For the rest of the week, they didn’t see her in the cafeteria, and in the classes they shared, she sat as far as possible from any one of them. She must not have taken it too badly, because whenever they crossed paths in the hallways she appeared chipper. She appeared to bounce when she walked, as if she had zero cares in the world and it caused a lot of stares. The student population were all extremely curious of the foreign new girl who came out of nowhere and was able to eat lunch with Kai and his group of hot friends—even if for a day.

On Saturday, the six boys lounged around Kai’s house, doing homework, studying, playing videogames, whatever to pass the time. The weekend was their favorite—especially Kai’s—they didn’t have to deal with the stress of being stared at and judged for seven hours of the day.

“Who wants to play another round of ball?” Tao asked suddenly, spinning the dingy basketball that he found resting on the floor on one of his fingers.

“I’m down,” Chanyeol said. His eyes turned to slits as he glared at Kai, “plus, we need a rematch.”

“Why?” Kai scoffed. “You want to get your ass handed to you again?”

“Shut up!” The two boys started wrestling around the living room while the others gathered everything needed for their trip to the park.

Once there, they spared no time splitting into teams and beginning their vigorous round of basketball. On one team was Kai, Sehun, and Kyungsoo while Jongdae, Chanyeol, and Tao played against them.

They were tied; Kai had the ball and was about to score the winning point when a strong wind blew the ball out of his grip. They all watched as it rolled off the court and into the semi muddy grass.

“What the—?”

Strange growling noises could be heard from the trees surrounding the park. The six werewolves huddled together, listening intently, trying to figure out what was going on.

Slowly, they made their way towards the trees. Hairs sticking up like the fur on a frightened cat, eyes shining colors that were not the usual brown, fingers curling into claws, they anticipated an attack.

They were not disappointed.

Something flew from out the shadows, crashing roughly into Kyungsoo, dragging him down to the ground. It appeared human, but had bluish-gray flesh with long limbs, fingers, and fangs. It was literally skin and bones and the noise that came out of its mouth when Kyungsoo lashed at it with his claws was chillingly inhuman.

Kyungsoo pushed the corpse off of himself and sat up with wide eyes glowing ice blue, “What the fuck was that?!”

He wasn’t able to get an answer. More of the bizarre looking creatures sprang from out of the shadows, all running towards the six werewolves. The boys did not hesitate to attack back; one by one they all fought against the monsters, but were outnumbered. Tao yelped in pain as one of the creatures slashed the side of his stomach, Sehun stumbled and landed hard on the ground, a crunching noise following suit. Jongdae was thrown across the field and hit a tree painfully, knocking him unconscious.

The werewolves were losing and Kai, the alpha, could feel it. He scanned the field, watching his pack mates battle the creepy beasts. There seemed to be even more coming out of the forest, Kai had to think quickly.

While he was preoccupied with his thoughts, one of the creatures saw its chance for a surprise attack and sprinted towards him, claws and fangs at the ready. Kai sensed its approach at the nick of time, but was too close to the monster to move. Something bumped into him from behind, and he landed hard on the grass. The creature twirled in confusion and froze when it saw whatever it was that knocked Kai over. Kai also glanced up and was stunned to see Sloane hovered over him eyeing the thing that would have killed him a second ago.

She pulled out something shiny from her belt. Kai noticed that it was a dagger with weird swirls engraved in the metal.

“Restitui quondam tibi,” she muttered with the knife over her head. She then dived the knife deep into the soil until only the hilt could be seen.

Bloodcurdling screams were soon heard, so deafeningly loud, Kai winced and covered his sensitive ears with his hands. He watched in confusion and shock as the creatures frantically ran away from the park, vanishing into the trees. The air seemed to still with the newfound silence.

Sloane leaned back on her heels, letting go of the knife that was still pinned to the ground with a relieved sigh. Kai and a few of the others who weren’t in critical condition stumbled onto their feet, glancing around them in awe.

“How did you do that?” Kai asked Sloane.

She let out a breathy laugh and shrugged tiredly, “looks like I can hang out with you after all.”

~*~

“Your nose is bleeding,” Kyungsoo stated, pointing at Sloane’s face. Her eyes widened as she dipped her finger in the warm liquid sliding down her cupid’s bow. With a soft chuckle, Kyungsoo slid her a tissue, which she took gratefully, placing it hesitantly against her face.

Tao, Sehun, and Jongdae were lying on the couches, all three of them unconscious from the pain. Tao’s side seemed to be ripped into shreds, blood running steadily onto the wooden floorboards. Sehun’s arm was broken at both the elbow and the middle of his forearm, while Jongdae’s head was bleeding and a few of his ribs were broken.

“What are we going to do? They’re not healing themselves!” Chanyeol asked desperately, his deep voice vibrating off the walls of the silent room. His arms were crossed against his chest and his eyebrows tried to unite at the center of his forehead.

Slowly and somewhat uneasily, Sloane stood up, “I can help them.”

“But you’re exhausted,” Kyungsoo said, standing up with her to make sure she didn’t fall.

She shook her head, “I can do it.”

She approached Tao first, since his condition appeared to be the worst, “Kyungsoo, can you sit him up for me, please?”

He silently did as he was told, and Tao groaned a bit, but his eyes remained closed. Sloane sat beside him and rested her forehead on his while she wrapped her arms around him, making sure one of her hands was firmly pressed against his wound. She started muttering under her breath and the three boys who were conscious to witness the ordeal stared in shock and wonder as his side began to glow a silver white. Sloane’s muttering became more urgent and she finally pulled away. She gently laid Tao back onto the couch and rubbed her fingers against his ribs that were now hidden by his unblemished flesh. Kai blinked and kneeled down beside Tao, staring at the side of his stomach that was, just a few seconds ago, torn apart with blood gushing out of it. It now was back together, as if it had not been touched at all. Kai ran his fingers across the boy’s skin and Tao began moving, coming too.

Sloane snatched Kai’s wrist and he lifted his eyes to meet hers with a threatening growl. The girl was unfazed, “let him rest.”

Kai yanked his wrist out of her grasp and Sloane walked away as if the encounter never happened, walking over to Jongdae. Kyungsoo again lifted the boy up so that Sloane could press her forehead against his, but this time, she wrapped one arm around his head and the other around his waist. She once again muttered some words, and Jongdae started whimpering silently.

“I know, honey, I know.” She broke her chanting to say and sighed, pulling him closer towards her. After a few minutes, she laid him back down. His breathing was back to normal and his eyes moved against his eyelids.

Chanyeol quickly went to Jongdae’s side, eyes full of wonder as he checked to see that his wounds were healed.

Sloane kneeled beside Sehun’s sleeping form and tilted his head toward her, placing her’s against his. She rubbed his arm as she started her chanting, and quickly finished with him. When she removed her head from his, his eyes fluttered open and he tiredly stared at her. His eyes saying everything his mouth couldn’t. His gaze remained on her as she stumbled to her feet and swayed a bit, his other hand rubbing his once broken arm like she was doing prior.

“Whoa,” Kyungsoo said as he caught Sloane’s now unconscious body.

“Let her sleep here,” Tao’s groggy voice was heard, and they turned to see him lazily blinking up at Kyungsoo, tapping the small space beside him on the couch. Kyungsoo glanced at Kai for approval and the alpha shrugged.

They both started chuckling at the image of Tao’s tall frame clinging to the witch’s body like a koala to a tree.

~*~

When Sloane’s eyes finally opened, she was welcomed with darkness. Something was pressed against her, pinning her down to the soft surface she laid on. She tried to move and froze when she heard a grunt in her ear and a tightening around her body.

A light came on and she blinked, not used to the brightness. She noticed Kai sitting on an armchair; he had turned on the lamp on top of the table beside him. He was gazing sternly at her with gold glowing eyes.

She turned away with a gulp and scanned the room. She was still in his living room, lying on a couch with Tao, who had wrapped himself around her, snuggling close. Jongdae was still resting on a couch, but Sehun and the other two boys weren’t present.

“What time is it?” Sloane asked the brooding werewolf, her voice rough from sleep.

“Eight thirty.”

She had slept for four hours. Sloane tried to sit up again, but Tao’s hold on her was unrelenting, she somehow was yanked closer to the boy, his nose digging into the crook of her neck. She sighed with frustration.

Kai chuckled at her despair, “he’s a cuddler.”

“I’ve gathered.” The two were quiet for a minute. “Are they alright?”

Kai nodded. “Yeah.” The humor left his voice. “You saved us.”

She could hear the question in his statement, and knew he would ask, but her stomach interrupted him with a loud growl.

He grunted, “Hungry?”

She rolled her eyes, “using so much of my power is draining. I need to regain my energy.”

She heard him shuffle around until he was hovering over her with an outstretched hand. His eyes were back to a deep chocolate brown, although she could still see the disdain for her in them, “Kyungsoo’s in the kitchen cooking. Let’s go.”

It was a battle trying to unknot Sloane from Tao, but with a few yanks, she was free and she gratefully smiled at Kai, it quickly turned into a scowl as he dropped her hand as if it burnt him and headed towards the kitchen without checking to see if she was following.

The first thing Sloane noticed once she entered the kitchen was Kyungsoo. He was standing in front of the stove, wearing a cute pale pink apron, which contrasted with his black clothing, singing softly to himself as he stirred around whatever he was making. Chanyeol and Sehun were seated at the island, Chanyeol messing with his phone while Sehun rolled an orange around the granite tabletop, bored and hungry as hell.

They all turned towards Kai and Sloane once they entered. Kyungsoo smiled at them and Sehun nearly fell off his stool as he tried to reach the witch.

When he was in front of her, he just stood there, staring at her intently. She returned his gaze, although a bit self-consciously—for he was just a few centimeters away—and they remained in that position until someone else came stumbling into the kitchen. Everyone turned again to see a groggy disheveled Tao leaning against the wall, “you left me!”

~*~

Everyone gathered around Kai’s dining table as Kyungsoo and Chanyeol set it, placing down the huge feast around the table. Kai woke Jongdae up, and he joined the rest of them, just as ravenous as the others.

Sloane learned something then, and it was that werewolves could eat, and could eat a lot. Kyungsoo had made enough food for about twelve people, and the werewolves scarfed down every bit on their plates as though it were their last meal. There was not a bone left once everyone was satisfied. Chanyeol burped obnoxiously as he leaned back on his chair, rubbing his protruding belly.

“Are you full, Sloane?” Sehun, who was sitting beside her, asked. She nodded and stood up, helping gather up all the dishes and setting up the sinks to wash them.

“You don’t have to do that,” Kai said, coming up beside her as she poured the dish soap into the water.

“It’s alright. I’d feel bad if I didn’t do anything.”

Kai sighed, Sloane felt he wanted to say something, but he refrained and she didn’t push him. The two washed in silence. A few of the boys had left to get ice cream and the other two that were left were laying around on the couch, watching television. Sloane could hear Chanyeol guffaw from time to time and it made her smile.

Once they finished the dishes, they joined the others in the living room. They were all gathered around, a pint per person, and now that they were settled, Kai turned the television off and they all turned to the stranger in the room.

She looked up at them wearily, “yes?”

“We have some questions,” Kai began. She slowly placed her ice cream onto the table and sighed, folding her hands over her knees. “What were those things?”

Her eyes widened in shock, “you mean, you don’t know?”

The boys all shook their head.

“They were—I can’t believe you don’t know—they were vampires.”

“What?!” The boys asked.

“We’ve seen a few vampires before,” Sehun started. “But none that looked like that.”

“There are three different types of vampires, and even calling them vampires is being generous. They are a type of immortal, the ones that crave blood. You have the Ancients, whose blood still runs in their veins because they were turned when they were still alive. Those are the stereotypical vampires that everyone knows. They appear human and drink blood and the like. The second type are the Medietas, they were turned at the brink of death, they are less human then ancients, but still can pass for human. They always have pale skin and dilated eyes; their fangs can’t be hidden….

“Then you have the last kind of vampire, the Mortuum, who were turned after death. As you saw, they are monsters. They don’t have any cognitive thinking, only hunger for blood.”

“Why did they attack us? Why were they here?” Jongdae asked.

“You don’t know much, do you?” Sloane asked, sparing them a judgmental glance. “Werewolves and vampires are mortal enemies, and this just so happens to be your territory. I highly doubt you all know, but this town is a supernatural goldmine! The power that flows through here is strong enough to pull many of us here—myself included. Those vampires were drawn here because of that energy, but they happened to run into you guys, and their instincts kicked in, so they attacked.”

“Why couldn’t we heal ourselves?” Sehun asked quietly, rubbing his once broken arm.

Sloane swallowed thickly, “That’s the thing about being mortal enemies. It’s easy to destroy the other. Vampires have the ability to disable your fast healing as well as your other wolf abilities, as do you to them.”

“How do you know all of this?” Kai muttered, somewhat frustrated by his lack of knowledge.

She shrugged, “I read. A lot.”

“What did you do back there? You spoke that weird language…”

“Latin, the language of the dead.”

“You mean the dead language.” Kyungsoo corrected.

She shook her head, “no, I meant what I said. Latin is the language of the dead. What I did back there was cast a vanquishing spell. It pretty much banned that coven from returning. But, like most spells, there’s a catch. The spell only works for that coven alone—meaning other covens may enter without a hitch—and it only lasts for a certain amount of time, ten years to be exact. After that, they can return and cause all the havoc they want.”

The boys were silent for a while, digesting everything Sloane had told them. Finally Tao spoke up, “….Coven…?”

Sloane groaned and fell back on her chair, “why don’t you guys know this stuff? You’re werewolves!”

“We’re young,” Jongdae defended. “And also, none of us like to read.”

She shook her head and laughed with disbelief, “how you’ve survived this long is a mystery.”

“We got guts,” Chanyeol grinned.

“And lack of brains,” she mumbled, but they all heard her.

She rose to her feet, “I should probably go….”

“Where are you staying? One of us can take you,” Kyungsoo applied.

“I, uh….” She shuffled her feet.

“You don’t have a place to stay, do you?” Chanyeol asked. The pack glanced at her.

“I’ve been staying at different hotels, using spells to trick them into thinking I paid, or forgetting I was even there. I don’t have any money on me.”

“So, you’re homeless?”

She shrugged, staring at her feet.

“You can stay here,” Kyungsoo offered.

“What?” Sloane and Kai asked at the same time.

Kyungsoo shrugged at his leader, “Kai lives here all alone, and he has two guest rooms. You’re going to school with us now, and it would be nice to have you around, being that you know a lot more about this stuff than us…. We have a bit to learn from each other.”

“I don’t want her living here,” Kai spat through clenched teeth. This place was his sanctuary; he didn’t want some strange girl with magical powers who he still didn’t trust to ruin that for him.

“Come on, Jongin, don’t be stubborn.”

“Don’t call me that in front of her. She’s not staying here and that’s final!” Kyungsoo suddenly pulled Kai into a headlock and dragged him away from the living room.

“We need a moment,” he informed Sloane as they disappeared down the hall, into another room. It was dead silent as they waited for the duo to return, Sehun and Tao’s grins never left their face while Chanyeol and Jongdae chuckled every once in a while.

Seven minutes later, the two reemerged. Kai huffing and pouting while Kyungsoo’s lips stretched into a heart shaped grin.

He nudged Kai forward, and with an eye roll, the leader trudged to the girl with his hands in his pockets and muttered, “you can stay here.”

“What was that?” Jongdae asked dramatically, his smile stretched evilly.

Kai rolled his eyes again and raised his voice, “you can stay here…Sloane.”

“Thank you,” she said but the other boys’ guffawing quickly swallowed it up.

He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck, “Whatever.”

His pack left his place soon after that. As soon as Kai and Sloane were alone, he cornered her and sat her down.

“I still don’t think you being around us is a good idea,” he began. Sloane’s eyes were wide as she took in his words. “I don’t trust you. I know you are a witch, despite what you want us to believe, and I’m keeping a close eye on you.”

He sighed, “That being said, you did save my pack’s lives today, and that is something I’m indebted to. So, I promise to let you stay here, as a form of payment for what you did today, alright?”

Sloane nodded with understanding, “I promise, in return, Kai, that I’ll prove to you that I am no threat. As Kyungsoo said earlier, we have a bit to learn from one another.”

“That we do, Sloane. That we do. Let me show you your room.”

2. House Rules & Lone Wolves

“She carries this ancient looking suitcase and it is literally the only thing she owns. It has her clothes in it, and this book that looks just as old as the suitcase, and that is it,” Kai informed his pack mates as they were all walking up to the cafeteria.

It was a Monday, their first day back since Sloane saved them from the vampires, and Kai was having a rough time adjusting to the whole living-with-a-witch-that-may-not-actually-be-a-witch situation Kyungsoo unceremoniously thrust him into.

“Until then, I mean, she’s alright. She’s quiet, stayed in her room for most of the day, and only came out to eat or use the bathroom. We’re going shopping later tonight so she can buy a toothbrush and whatnot.” Kai shook his head in disbelief, “I can’t believe I have a roommate.”

“A really pretty magical roommate at that,” Chanyeol added with a nod.

“You think she’s pretty?” Kai asked, sparing the taller boy a judgmental glance.

“Well, yeah? She’s very pretty,” Chanyeol shrugged.

“That means a lot coming from Chanyeol,” Sehun snorted, nudging his fellow playboy friend.

“If she gives you any problems,” Kyungsoo said, as they all sat around their table. “You can always kick her out.”

Kai sighed, “You’re right, I just… what will my aunt think?”

“What will your cousin think?” Tao asked. “Once he finds out you have a good looking girl living with you….”

Kai’s eyes widened with horror, “he shall never find out.”

“Not to mention,” Jongdae began with a sharp curve to his lips. “What your little buddy downstairs will think about this situation.”

“Jongdae! I’ll have your head!” Kai pounced on top of the table, reaching for his evil friend’s neck, when the center of his problems finally joined them.

“What did I miss?” Sloane asked Chanyeol under her breath as she slid into the seat beside him.

The tall boy shrugged, chuckling all the while, “Kai’s having some issues and Jongdae is really bad at giving advice.”

The girl nodded with wide eyes, placing a spoon filled with soup into her mouth thoughtfully.

After Kai was satisfied with the purplish hue Jongdae’s face took from the lack of oxygen, he settled back down and Tao rubbed his friend’s back as he coughed a lung out.

Once everyone was settled, Kyungsoo began talking, “the full moon is this Saturday.”

All the boys seemed to grow tense once the words were uttered.

Sloane, on the other hand, gasped, “Does this mean you’re finally going to go all wolf?!”

She began squealing.

“Why are you so excited to see us as wolves?” Kai asked, baffled.

Her jaw dropped, staring at him in disbelief, “why wouldn’t I?! It’s not every day you run into werewolves! I can’t wait to see your fur. How big do you guys get? Do you still have your human mind? Is the shift painful?”

“Whoa whoa!” Sehun said chuckling. “One question at a time.”

“Um,” Kyungsoo began thoughtfully. “Pretty big, yes, and yes.”

“But,” Kai drawled out, sending a warning with his eyes to his pack mates before meeting Sloane’s. “You are not going to be able to see our fur. You’re going to stay in the house for the entire night.”

Sloane’s face fell, “What?”

“It’s dangerous for you to be out with us in our wolf forms. Yeah, we do keep our humanity, but the full moon pulls us towards our wolves, those instincts are quicker. You can get hurt if you are not careful.”

Sloane’s shoulders fell, “but… I really wanted to see your wolf forms. I bet you guys are beautiful.”

“We can just tell you,” Jongdae shrugged. “And we can always half shift, you know? Our eyes change colors and our claws and fangs come out. But during the full moon is when we shift completely and it’s out of our control, and aw you think we’re beautiful?”

“Let’s just show her!” Sehun yelled excitedly. Tao gasped loudly and nodded in agreement.

“No,” Kai said immediately. He used his alpha voice, so the others had no choice but to listen. That didn’t stop Tao and Sehun from whining.

“You’re no fun,” Sloane pouted, twirling her spoon in her food.

Kai just shrugged, “being the alpha means keeping a level head.”

“And which head exactly is it that must be level, huh, Kai?” Jongdae questioned with a wicked grin.

“Have you not learned your lesson?!” Kai barked, hopping across the table to choke Jongdae out again.

Kyungsoo sighed, while the others started making bets over if Jongdae would pass out or not, and Sloane lifted her hand from her spoon, even though it remained swirling around her soup.

~*~

“There are rules to my house that we haven’t discussed yet,” Kai informed Sloane as he pushed a cart through E-Mart. She walked beside him, well around him, running from one side of an aisle to the other, tossing things into the cart.

“Like what?” She asked as she studied the different types of deodorant.

“Like…” Kai began, thinking of something. “You can’t invite anybody over without my permission.”

“Well that’s fine. I only know you guys.” She finally settled on a deodorant and continued towards the hair products.

“Any food that’s in the fridge will be for the both of us, I don’t expect you to get a job or pay rent or anything, but if you could hold your keep, you know, cleaning after yourself, cooking dinner, washing dishes—”

“Making sure my hair doesn’t clog the drain. I get it,” she placed watermelon scented shampoo and conditioner in the overflowing cart and continued on.

“Respect my things and my personal space and I think we’ll get along just fine.”

She twirled around to shoot him a quick salute and returned back to leading the way towards the toy aisle.

“Why are we here?” Kai asked skeptically.

Sloane laughed and stopped in front of the board and card games, “We should have game nights.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I think it is. Come on, Kai, live a little.”

Kai rolled his eyes, but helped Sloane decide on a few games they could play.

After they picked them, they headed towards check out.

“How can you pay for all this?” Sloane asked, munching on a Slim Jim that had been rung already.

“My parents had a lot of money,” Kai stated, sliding his black card to pay for their items.

“I couldn’t help but notice the ‘had’ in that sentence,” Sloane pointed out.

Kai shrugged again, feigning nonchalant. He didn’t say anything as they headed to his car.

Once on the road, Sloane played with the radio for a minute until she found a song she liked. She started shaking her curls and Kai pressed his lips together to hide a rare amused grin. Once the song was over, she turned the volume down, “You are one of the younger members of the pack, right?”

“Yup. Sehun’s the only one younger than me.”

“Then how come you are the alpha?”

He winced, “I’m the strongest.” He left it at that.

“But…” She let her sentence carry; knowing that Kai didn’t want to talk about this either. “Never mind. Sorry I asked.”

Kai blinked at her in surprise, and for some odd reason felt guilty, “its fine. I’ll tell you…someday.”

She nodded at him, “I’d like that.”

Kai pulled into his driveway, and the two dragged their bags into the house.

“Thank you again for taking me in. It means so much to me, I don’t think you understand.”

Kai scratched the back of his neck, “You saved my life, this is the least I can do. Just know that I am waiting patiently for you to fuck up so I can kick you out.”

“And ever so charming,” Sloane muttered. She perked up instantly. “I’ll make dinner!”

“I have another question,” Sloane said, once she started cooking. Kai, who was still putting things away, groaned and Sloane took that as permission.

“Why won’t you let me be around you guys once you change?”

Kai clenched his jaw, “I told you, it’s dangerous.”

“I’m not a mere mortal, Kai. I’m sure I could handle it. I can help.”

“There’s no need for help, Sloane. We change, we venture the woods, and then we turn back into humans at dawn. He meet here, eat, shower, and then they all go home. That’s how we’ve always done it, that’s how it will go on Saturday.”

“But, maybe I can fold your clothes for you, or cast a spell to make the shift easier to handle, or something?”

Kai shook his head, “We can handle it. We’ve been shifting together for a few years now. Just stay here and wait for us to return, alright?”

Sloane sighed, “Fine.”

Kai let out a relieved breath. He didn’t want to tell her how they hunted and killed innocent animals. How they howled at the moon for hours. How he used the pain of the shift as a reminder of the monster that he was, of the burden his family and fellow pack members had to carry. She didn’t need to know any of that.

~*~

The following day, after school had ended, Sloane found herself at the nearest public library. She had decided that she would try to help Kai and his pack as much as possible without being a burden or upsetting the alpha, so she spent about an hour and a half searching for the right books about plants and glancing around at books about witchcraft—coming up empty on the latter.

Satisfied with her borrowed books, she bounced out of the building with a warm smile on her face. The sun was shining despite the chilly autumn breeze, and she could tell that things were finally looking up for her.

Those thoughts turned sour as her body collided with one in front of her. Her newly acquired books tumbling towards the asphalt, but before she could finish her blink, the person she bumped had them stacked neatly in his hands. They never even touched the ground.

Her eyes widened as she took in the stack before lifting them up to see a boy around her age, a stunningly bright smile on his just as attractive face, “here you go, miss.”

“Thank you,” she stuttered, collecting them from his grasp as he bowed and proceeded on his way before she could yell out an apology. She followed him with her eyes; he seemed in a rush, almost running as he crossed the street.

“Weird,” she pouted. His energy was off, and she couldn’t figure out why.

“What’s weird?” A deep voice asked from behind her and she jumped out her skin as Kyungsoo seemed to appear out of thin air.

“I…” She spun back to where she last saw the boy but he was already long gone. “There was a guy….”

Kyungsoo just arched an eyebrow up at her, as she slowly came back to her senses. “How did you find me?”

He shrugged, a smug smile on his face, “I’m getting really familiar with your scent. Also Kai sent me to look for you, he was getting worried.”

She scoffed, “Kai? Worried about me? I’m sure.”

“He worries about anyone he feels he has to protect.” The two fell into step, heading towards Kyungsoo’s car that was parked on the corner of the street.

“He feels like he has to protect me? I’m a magical being,” Sloane almost scoffed. The two settled into their seats, and Kyungsoo took off towards Kai’s house.

“But you’re living under his roof. That makes you his responsibility in his eyes.” He could sense her disbelief. “It’s the alpha in him.”

She nodded understandably at that, “I never got to thank you.”

“For what?”

“For making him take me in. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably still be mooching off hotel workers. I hated doing that.”

Kyungsoo smiled at her, “all in a days work. You’re the first wit—uh… magical being we’ve ever ran into. At least, one around our age, who didn’t want our heads on a platter.”

Sloane smirked at Kyungsoo stuttering over her title. “So you have dealt with witches before?”

Kyungsoo nodded, “yup. Ones passing though who had a dislike for us pups.”

Sloane cracked a grin at that, “you’re funny, Kyungsoo.”

He blinked owlishly at her, “that’s a first.”

She burst out laughing at his reply and shook her head with a sigh, “you’re also very refreshing. I appreciate that.”

“You seem to appreciate a lot of things.”

“I’ve had a past that allows me to do as such.”

Kyungsoo sensed the bitterness she tried to suppress and it piqued his interest. He knew better than to press her on it though, deciding instead to change the subject quickly, “what you got there?” He pointed at the books in her hands.

“Some books about plants. You know plants have a ton of magical attributes? Certain plants give us certain powers or take some away.”

Kyungsoo nodded, “like Wolfsbane.”

“Yes. Which, please remind me, I must read up on. Now that I’m living and hanging out with a bunch of wolves, I need to know as much as possible about you all.”

“Do magical beings like you have plants that are your kryptonite?”

“I’m pretty sure. I haven’t looked into it, but I know there must be.”

“You’ve really made me curious about all this supernatural stuff. We haven’t really worried about these things, I guess being young and powerful makes you really ignorant to certain things at times.”

They finally reached Sloane’s new home, and Kyungsoo held the door open for her as they entered the loft.

“Yeah, we both have quite a bit to learn, huh?”

“It seems so.”

“Sloane!” Tao squealed once she was in his vision. He hopped off the couch and leaped on her, causing the books she was holding to fall again. Kyungsoo quickly plucked them from the air, gathering them into a pile in his hands.

“Wolf reflexes,” he smirked once he noticed Sloane’s shocked expression.

“Is that so?” she sputtered.

“Sloane! Kai told us you bought games! Let’s play some!” Tao, who was still wrapped around the girl said, dragging her over towards the bookcase where the games she and Kai had bought the day before had been placed.

Something Sloane had noticed was the way Tao, Sehun, and Jongdae treated her. Ever since she healed them, they had seemed to hover around her, always needy. She wondered if her power had anything to do with that.

They decided on Apples to Apples, and the rest of the gang joined them in the living room. Chanyeol and Jongdae were both really good at playing, although Jongdae tried to make his answers as inappropriate as possible. They snacked and joked and relaxed for a few hours. Sehun and Tao had Sloane sandwiched between them and Jongdae constantly asked her if she needed anything. Kai was suspicious, but his thoughts on the matter speculated about the same as Sloane’s.

“Those three seem to be smitten with you,” Kai mentioned when he was able to corner Sloane in the kitchen.

She nodded, digging in the pantry for more snacks.

“I couldn’t help but wonder if your power had anything to do with that.”

Sloane stiffened at his tone and spun around, facing the wolf, “are you accusing me of something?”

Kai smirked and shrugged, “you didn’t cast a spell on them to make them act like that, did you?”

“Of course not! Why would I?”

“Because if some of my pack members love you, it would be easier for me to accept you.”

“That’s ridiculous, Kai. I think when I healed them it made a slight bond. They’ll get over it in a couple days. I already told you I’m not evil.” She walked towards him so that she could clearly look into his eyes and so that he could hear her heartbeat better. “I’m not out to get you and your pack. So you can relax.”

Kai blinked at her, noticing her heartbeat remain steady. He clenched his jaw and snatched the chocolate cupcakes from Sloane’s grasp. Spinning on his heels, he returned to the living room where the others were waiting for them to return.

Sloane sunk into a stool near her, holding her head in her hands, feeling slightly exhausted from dealing with Kai’s attitude and distrust.

She was going to win him over somehow.

“You alright?” Sloane lifted her head to see Jongdae watching her anxiously.

“Yeah. Fine,” she tried to smile, but it wouldn’t stay on for long.

“Don’t mind Kai,” Jongdae advised, walking over to the girl with his hands in his pockets and a warm smile on his face. “He’s all bark.”

She laughed at that, “He doesn’t seem to trust very easily.”

Jongdae shook his head at that, “nope. It took him ages to warm up to me, actually.”

“Really?”

Jongdae’s grin stretched mischievously, “I appeared out of nowhere, kind of like you did. He had no idea what to do with me, and I got on his nerves. It just takes him some time.” He worked up the courage to place his hand on Sloane’s back, rubbing it reassuringly. “Will you please come join us? I have to whoop your asses at Apples to Apples again.”

Sloane rolled her eyes and pushed him away, following him out into the living room.

~*~

“Sloane! Sit next to me!” Sehun called as soon as Sloane stepped into their shared history class. She smiled and took a step, but as soon as she did, Jongdae ran into the room, wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her away to sit next to him. Sehun stared in disbelief before he whined and began sulking, and a few girls that were sitting behind him started quietly squealing to themselves.

Jongdae began laughing hysterically and Sloane started questioning whether coming here was a good idea after all.

“Mr. Kim!” Their history teacher, Professor Park, barked once she entered the room. “Control yourself or I’m kicking you out… again!”

Jongdae waved his hand dismissively, but tried to contain his chuckles.

Their teacher began lecture and Jongdae leaned over to Sloane, “tomorrow’s Saturday.”

Sloane nodded her head; taking notes quickly before turning to Jongdae, “are you scared?”

He scoffed, “are you kidding? This is a part of who I am. I’ve been doing this for years now, it’s routine.”

“So why are you reminding me of it?”

“Because I can practically smell the tension on you. You’re not planning on going against Kai’s order, are you?”

Sloane blinked rapidly at her fellow classmate and shook her head vehemently, “no, no, that’s not it.”

“Well, what is it then?”

“I…”

“Sloane…”

She sighed, but before she could tell him what was going on in her head, Professor Park called on her. She answered her question correctly—annoying her teacher in the process—and returned back to her conversation, “I, uh, had a dream last night.”

Jongdae nodded slowly, “that usually happens when people sleep.”

“Jongdae!” Sloane grinned. “I’m being serious. I had a dream that… well, I can’t really remember what happened, but I remember my emotions, the urgency, the full moon, and fur… lots of it. Something is going to happen tomorrow, something out of the ordinary.”

“Are you psychic?”

“No, but I am incredibly intuitive. Also, I broke a vase yesterday!”

“What does that have to do with anything,” Jongdae questioned, truly concerned for the girl’s sanity.

Sloane grew distracted as the boy in front of her began answering a question. Jongdae watched as her eyebrows scrunched together and her eyes widened in realization, her eyes never leaving his neck.

“Earth to Sloane? You okay?” Jongdae waved his hand in front of her, causing her to come back to reality. “Did you just have a vision?”

“I… did I zone out?” Sloane seemed genuinely confused.

Jongdae pursed his lips. “You were staring at that kid as if he had a bug on his back.” Sloane tried to recall what she was thinking about, but came up empty.

“Great answer as always. Sehun, why don’t you elaborate on what Mr. Zhang was saying?” Professor Park said, staring at Sehun expectantly.

“Uh… I believe he covered it all, Professor?”

Sloane face palmed and Jongdae began his manic laughter again, causing both him and Sehun to get thrown out of class.

Sloane and Jongdae’s conversation was forgotten for the rest of the class.

~*~

“I made dinner!” Sloane’s voice was heard as soon as the door swung open. Six exhausted young werewolves stumbled into the kitchen with relief as the waft of stew overwhelmed their senses. The table was covered in plates and bowls and beside it stood Sloane with a nervous grin on her face.

“Sloane! You shouldn’t have!” Jongdae cried while Tao pulled her into a tight hug.

“You’re a life saver!” Chanyeol praised, quickly yanking a chair back to plop onto it. “Kai was promising us he’d cook and I really wasn’t in the mood for burnt kimchi fried rice.”

“Hey!” Kai barked, eyes slits with the promise of death as he glowered at Chanyeol.

“What? it’s true!” Chanyeol stuck his tongue out at his alpha.

“What did you make?” Sehun inquired, glancing around the crowded table. Kyungsoo smiled appreciatively at the girl before sitting down as well.

“Well, I cooked a stew with astragalus roots in it, some beef, a salad, and warm agrimony tea.”

Once everyone was settled, they all began eating, the moans of pleasure didn’t go unnoticed to Sloane, and she bit back a smile, pleased that her cooking skills were still up to par.

“This is, without a doubt, the best stew I’ve ever had!” Tao squealed.

“Sorry, Kyungsoo,” Kai grinned at the smaller boy, who just rolled his eyes and took a sip of his tea.

“His stew is still better than your kimchi fried rice,” Jongdae muttered and yelped as Kai kicked him underneath the table.

“What did you say was in the stew and tea?” Kai asked Sloane soon after, acting as if he had not just given Jongdae’s shin a nice purple bruise.

Sloane slurped some broth before answering his question, “astragalus roots and agrimony.”

“Are those the plants that you found in your books?” Kyungsoo asked.

She nodded, impressed that he remembered. “Yeah, astragalus helps increase energy, both the body and mind. It will help you with fatigue and unclear decisions. While agrimony helps keep away negative energy and spirits as well as keeping a level head.”

Kai’s chewing slowed as Sloane continued talking. He blinked at her, and she must have felt his gaze, because she looked up at him.

“Is this your way of helping us?” He questioned. She nodded and quickly broke eye contact, awaiting a scolding.

“Thank you, Sloane,” his voice was strained, but Sloane could hear his sincerity. “I should have known you would find a loophole.”

“Aw! Our Sloane is so smart!” Tao gushed with a full mouth. He ruffled the girl’s hair.

“Our…Our Sloane?” She choked. Tao began laughing, murmuring a ‘how cute’.

“Are you still anxious, Sloane?” Jongdae asked soon after.

She glared at him and Kyungsoo cocked an eyebrow, “why were you anxious?”

“I…” Jongdae began his manic laughter and Sloane threw a carrot at him. It shut him up immediately and he pouted, feeling betrayed that Sloane would use violence against him. “It’s nothing really. I promised that I wouldn’t get involved…”

“But?” Chanyeol pushed.

“But… be on guard tomorrow. I feel something will happen, something different.”

“Good different or bad different?” Sehun asked.

She shrugged, “that’s up for you to decide.”

“She also broke a vase,” Jongdae added.

“Jongdae!” Sloane shook her head at him, and his lips seemed to glue together. His eyes widened and he pushed away from the table, causing him and his chair to stumble backwards.

“Now you get why I’m always beating him up, “ Kai sighed as the table burst into laughter.

Sloane just scratched her head and drank her tea, “I really did break a vase though, is there any way I can get you to lend me six dollars?”

“Mmm!” Jongdae yelled from the floor where he was practically convulsing, pulling at the pink flesh of his lips in an attempt to rip them apart.

“Shut up!” Kai ordered.

“It’s your fault you’re in this situation!”

“You really would try to act that way towards a witch and not expect her to retaliate?”

“Hey! I’m not a witch! You want your lips merged too?!”

“No! I’m trying to defend you!”

Outside the moon shown bright, nearly full with the promise of change.

~*~

“I’m curious,” Jongdae murmured sleepily the next day. “Why are we watching a movie about a werewolf hunter?”

“Van Helsing also killed vampires,” Sloane informed, running her fingers through Tao’s brown hair where his head sat comfortably on her lap. He began purring like a kitten.

“I still don’t get why we are watching it, regardless of what he murdered,” Sehun scrunched his nose at a particularly violent scene.

Kyungsoo sighed, “it’s an attempt at distraction. But… it really isn’t working very well.”

“Where’s Kai?” Chanyeol asked.

“He couldn’t stomach the plot,” Kyungsoo shrugged.

“He’s not the only one,” Jongdae muttered.

“Will you guys just relax?” Sloane asked. “You’re transforming in less then twenty-four hours. Eat, rest, and enjoy a cool action flick with both a hot leading and supporting role and horribly depicted werewolves.”

“The werewolves are a bit much,” Kyungsoo relented with a soft chuckle.

“I wish I was that muscular when I shifted,” Tao yawned.

“Those vampires don’t seem that far off though…” Chanyeol mentioned, causing a chilling silence to take over.

Sloane let out a gust of breath and a few of the boys glanced over at her.

“Don’t worry about us too much, Sloane,” Jongdae said. He threw her a reassuring grin after sensing her distress.

“Yeah, we’re big boys,” Chanyeol added, flexing one of his biceps and sending the girl a wink.

“I know. I don’t even know why I’m so worried, honestly. I hardly know any of you.”

“It’s because we’re so handsome,” Tao provided, his eyes still closed.

Sloane lightly smacked his arm and rolled her eyes, “and so dumb.”

“We’ll be okay, Sloane,” Kyungsoo assured with a warm smile. “We always are.”

~*~

“Look who has finally graced us with his presence!” Sehun yelled as Kai stumbled down the stairs a few hours later.

“Sloane made us have a werewolf marathon,” Tao informed his leader with a slight pout.

“All of them sucked, especially that shape shifting one,” Chanyeol added.

“Um, Blood and Chocolate was actually pretty decent. You have to admit that,” Sloane said. Chanyeol just shrugged.

“Well, I obviously haven’t missed much. It’s go time, you all ready?”

“But, the moon isn’t even all the way out yet!” Sloane said, her eyes widening with alarm.

Kai smirked, “we have to prepare some things. We shift pretty far from the house.”

“But—”

“It’s going to be fine!” Sehun drawled, throwing his arms around her shoulders. “You worry too much.”

“Can I at least—”

“Nope,” Kai interrupted, popping the P.

Sloane groaned with frustration, “then what am I supposed to do?”

Kai shrugged, “watch movies about witches. I heard that The Blair Witch Project is a good one.”

“Not cool,” Kyungsoo chastised as he walked past his best friend to grab some bags.

“What’s in the bags?” Sloane questioned, plopping back on the couch in defeat. She watched as Kyungsoo distributed the bags so that each boy got one.

“Snacks, extra clothes, first aid. Just things we will need if we change back early for whatever reason.”

“That happens?”

“Occasionally. It’s rare.”

“Usually, if we get wounded pretty badly or knocked unconscious, we’ll turn back to our human form,” Jongdae mentioned.

“Oh…”

“Oh great,” Chanyeol said, throwing his arms in the air. “Now she really is going to panic!”

Kai headed over to where Sloane was seated and knelt in front of her, “we do this every month. We will keep a look out for anything out of the ordinary, but until then, it will be just like always. You really need to chill, we know what we are doing.”

Sloane nodded, “I know, I know. Just be careful… all of you.”

Sehun saluted, “aye, aye, Captain.”

Kai rose to his feet, “I am the captain of this ship, and my first command is to head to the van!”

Sloane smiled as the boys said their farewells. Kyungsoo patted her shoulder, Tao gave her a slimy kiss on her cheek, while Jongdae kissed the top of her head. Chanyeol clipped her chin, Sehun rubbed her arm, and Kai walked out without so much as a wave—which was what Sloane was expecting.

“We’ll be back before you know it,” Sehun whispered to her before rushing to the others, closing the door behind himself.  Now alone, Sloane let out a shaky breath and played with her gold necklace, hoping that their confidence would get them through the night.

~*~

“She is really worried for us,” Jongdae mentioned as they all piled into the van.

Chanyeol jumped into the driver’s seat, Kai in the passenger, while the other four climbed into the back.

“It’s nice,” Chanyeol admitted as he pulled out of the driveway. “She’s like a mother. It’s kind of cute watching her fret over us like that.”

The guys in the back nodded in agreement.

“I just hope she doesn’t do anything stupid,” Kai muttered, closing his eyes and sinking into his seat, mentally preparing himself for what was to come.

The ride was mostly silent, as they made their way to the outskirts of the forest. The moon seemed almost reachable as Chanyeol haphazardly parked and they all filed out. They were in a small circular clearing; the trees in the area were easily fifteen feet, hovering high above their heads.

“You all ready?” Kai asked, locking eyes with each member of his pack and receiving a nod from each. “Alright, here we go.”

It took a few moments, as the moon slowly began to reveal itself. The wolves became anxious, hobbling from foot to foot, claiming to have to pee, and telling stale jokes to pass the time. But soon, they began to feel the shift.

Chanyeol was the first to change. He yelped, startling the other five, as he tumbled to the ground. With his last bit of sanity, he quickly yanked his clothes off, not wanting to destroy them during the shift.

Jongdae whistled, “looking good, Channie!”

“Fuck off!” Chanyeol roared before screaming in agony. Sehun winced as Chanyeol’s arms twisted in odd angles. The others undressed quickly, knowing their turn was soon.

Kyungsoo was the next to begin shifting. Tao, Sehun and Kai quickly joining him. Jongdae blinked in surprise, Chanyeol was practically full wolf now, his russet fur blowing in the breeze, as his snout started to form.

“I’m not shifting,” Jongdae spoke from the corner of his mouth nervously, knowing none of the others were listening, too distracted by the pain. “Uh…” He glanced around and glared at the moon, “what are you doing?! Let’s go! I’m on the clock!”

Chanyeol was full wolf then and his fire orange orbs stared at Jongdae, almost mockingly.

“Oh, shut up!” Jongdae snapped. He cursed loudly right after, feeling the bones in his feet break and expand.

“There we go!” He cheered with his signature laugh as he began to shift.

The shift took around ten minutes to endure, and slowly, the boys changed into wolves. Once Jongdae’s white and black fur fully covered his new body, the six wolves howled, quickly taking off through the familiar forest.

Quick as lightening, the beasts raced through the land, leaping over fallen logs with their tongues lolling out their mouths. A few roughhoused, snapping at each other’s necks, while others chased after squirrels and other small animals. The sense of freedom they felt while they were wolves was indescribable. Although the shift was painful, being a wolf brought a joy that made it somewhat bearable.

A couple hours passed with the six pups playing and running around. Jongdae and Sehun were play fighting, Kai and Kyungsoo were racing one another, Tao got distracted by a frog, while Chanyeol was chasing his tail.

While running, Kai suddenly stopped, causing Kyungsoo to become distracted and hit a tree. After shaking it off he studied his leader. Kai was stiff as a board, the chocolate brown fur on his back slowly rising and his gold eyes glowing brightly against the darkness. He began growling menacingly, and that’s when Kyungsoo smelt it.

He whipped his head in the direction Kai was glowering and joined his low growling. Kai let out a quick bark, and soon, the other wolves joined the two. Immediately smelling a threat, they all snarled dangerously low.

Finally, the threat came into focus.

Another wolf, about as big as them, hesitantly made its way towards the group. It had ashy grey fur and sapphire eyes. It made it clear it wasn’t looking for a fight…

But he was on Kai’s territory.

With a sharp bark, Kai charged the lone wolf, his pack following immediately. They began fighting with the wolf, but he was stronger than anticipated. He was able to ward off Chanyeol and Sehun, and dodge Kyungsoo and Tao’s advances, but Kai surprised him, coming at him from his right and causing him to land on his side.

He immediately rolled onto his back in surrender, but Kai was seeing red. He dug his teeth into the beast’s flesh, causing him to howl in pain. Somehow he was able to get Kai off of him and bite him back in defense. Once free, he turned to run away, but was wounded, and wasn’t as fast as he could have been. Kai, Chanyeol, and Kyungsoo were hot on his heels, and once again pinned him onto the moist ground.

The exhausted animal closed his eyes, tired of fighting them off, and awaited the deathblow Kai was so eager to give.

Before he could finish the wolf off, Kai was knocked over. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol growled in surprise as Jongdae stood protectively in front of the other wolf. He huffed and shook his head. Kai got back on his paws and barked, ordering Jongdae to move, but the pup remained in front of the wolf, who was now unconscious.

Sehun and Tao joined the rest, ears perked with wonder, as they watched the confrontation.

Kyungsoo yelped in surprise as his attention was brought back to the strange wolf—who was a wolf no longer.

A boy around their age now lay were the wolf once had. Realization hit them all slowly—except for Jongdae, who had pieced everything together while Kai was blood hungry—and panic slowly took over the situation.

Another werewolf had shown up on their turf and approached them, probably asking to join them, and what did they do? They attacked him, nearly killing him in the process. Four out of seven wolves present were covered in blood, but the boy had bite wounds on his neck and belly, and blood was pouring profusely out of them. Almost without thinking, Kai dragged the boy unto his back and took off, rushing towards his house, to Sloane, who he knew could help the boy. He heard the pounding of his members’ paws against the rough earth as they followed him, some limping. It was a race against the sun, which was beginning to rise over the horizon.

It took about thirty minutes to get back to the house. Kai yipped once he saw the familiar wood of his home, but as soon as he left the clearing of the trees, he stumbled and fell, convulsing as his human form began to resurface.

One by one, the boys began to shift back to their human forms. Kai tried to crawl to the door, as he was still changing back with an unconscious guy still on top of his back. It was a struggle, but he was able to bang on the door, leaving blood stained handprints in his wake.

“Sloane!” He croaked, his voice was still laced with his wolf. “Sloane! Please help!”

Exhaustion got the better of him and he relented. He was aware long enough to see the door swing open and smiled with relief as a startled Sloane appeared before him.

~*~

Could it be possible for silence to be so loud it could startle someone awake? That’s what Kai’s first humane thought was as he jerked from his sleep. He was disoriented, still stuck between his wolf and human minds, but as he began blinking into focus, he realized that he was in fact human.

He sighed, running a hand over his face as the night’s events began surfacing. He was in his bedroom, clad in only a pair of black boxer briefs. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand—three forty-six. He checked the skin of his stomach, remembering he took a hit, but saw that his slight wounds were already closed in a fading pink.

He still had dried blood under his fingernails.

With a groan he climbed out of bed, trudging down to the living room. Once down there, he noticed that the television was off. Everything was off and it was silent. The silence made him feel incredibly guilty of his behavior, and he needed some type of distraction.

Chanyeol, Tao, and Kyungsoo were all in the living room, asleep. Tao on a couch, Kyungsoo siting up in the armchair, his chin resting on his bare chest, while Chanyeol’s tall frame was sprawled on the floor.

Kai headed over to the kitchen and saw Sehun sipping on a glass of milk. They locked eyes and Sehun bowed his head a bit in greeting, his face blank of any emotion.

“How long have you been up?” Kai asked the younger boy, his voice still rough with sleep.

Sehun shrugged, “about twenty minutes. The groaning woke me up.”

Kai cocked an eyebrow but didn’t question. “Where’s Sloane and….” He dropped his head, the guilt closing up his throat.

Sehun sighed, leaning back in his chair and drinking more of his milk, “in her room.”

Kai patted the wall before heading down the hall to his roommate’s room. After some hesitation, he knocked quietly.

“Come in,” he heard her say, and did as he was told.

Sloane was sitting on the floor in the middle of her room, Jongdae sat at her desk, looking the most serious he ever has, and on the bed laid the werewolf Kai tried to kill. He gulped, seeing him in the light. His wounds were closed, but the dried blood still remained.

“He was having trouble earlier, but he’s all healed now,” Sloane informed, her eyes never leaving the stranger’s sleeping form. “You got him pretty good.”

“I didn’t know,” Kai said.

“I know.”

“I did,” Jongdae admitted. His voice was hard with anger, and when he locked eyes with Kai, they were stern and shown a bright hazel—his wolf’s eyes. “I tried to get you to stop.”

“You did,” Kai sighed, looking down at his bare feet.

“There’s a question I can’t get out of my head, Kai. I keep wondering what would you have done if he hadn’t shifted back? Would you have killed me too? Just to get to him?”

“Jongdae! You know I wouldn’t.”

Jongdae shook his head, “how could you be so careless? How could you let your bloodlust take control over you like that? You weren’t you, man….”

Kai kept his head low like a scolded child, knowing he deserved this.

“You nearly killed someone, and for what? What reason, Kai? Because he was in your territory? Please, you don’t kill someone who approaches you with caution! You don’t deliver a deathblow to a wolf who has his fucking belly up in surrender!”

“Jongdae!” Sloane called. She spun around to see her usually casual and goofy friend. He was glaring at Kai, his chest heaving. “You’re going to wake him up.”

Jongdae stood up and walked out the room, but when he was in front of Kai he muttered, “I’m disappointed in you, Leader.”

Once he was out of the room, Sloane sighed and Kai sat where Jongdae was sitting prior.

“He’s right,” he confessed, running his fingers through his hair to yank on the strands. “What was I thinking?”

“You told me that it was dangerous,” Sloane began, after a small silence. “You being a wolf. You said that you don’t have complete control; that the wolf takes over. You saw a threat and proceeded to get rid of it.”

“But Jongdae is right. When he approached us, he was cautious, letting us know he didn’t want any trouble. Still, I attacked him. Even when he was surrendering, I was all too willing to end his life. I’ve never been like that before. It scares me.”

Sloane sighed, sitting a tad straighter. “I know this guy.”

“What?” Kai’s arms fell limply at his side.

“I mean, I don’t know know him, but I saw him earlier this week.”

Kai didn’t know what to say to that.

“At least you stopped,” Sloane continued. “At least you were able to get him here safely.”

“Not without him nearly bleeding out.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m here then, huh?”

They sat in silence, watching the boy sleep. He had pale skin and jet-black shaggy hair. His face was blessed with angelically soft features and his build was sturdy, yet lanky.

He began twitching in his sleep, and with a loud gasp, the boy sprang forward. His bare chest was shiny with sweat and was rising and falling quickly.

He sensed the two in the room and jerked his head towards them, “who are you!?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Sloane murmured with a soft, yet dazzling smile.

The boy looked confused, his eyes wandering back and forth between Sloane and Kai as his nose flared.

Finally, his eyes widened with realization as they bored into Kai, “You…you tried to kill me!”

Kai winced. Of course, he would recognize his scent.

“I—”

“Don’t worry about him right now,” Sloane interrupted. “As a matter of fact, he’s leaving.”

“I am?”

“Yes,” She said sternly.

Hesitantly, Kai left the room, shuffling back to the living room where the others were sitting, awake and aware.

“We heard him. Is he awake?” Kyungsoo asked.

Kai met his eyes briefly before nodding.

“Come here,” Kyungsoo ordered, pulling his leader down on the chair with him. “We’re not angry with you, Jongin.”

“One of you are.”

“Jongdae will get over it,” the shorter boy assured. “Don’t beat yourself up, alright?” Kai didn’t answer, so Kyungsoo punched him slightly on the arm. “Alright?”

Kai nodded again and sniffed, not wanting to cry in front of his members.

~*~

“Do you remember me?” Sloane asked the werewolf, who had relaxed somewhat since his attempted murderer left the room.

He studied her and slowly nodded, “the girl… I bumped into you earlier. You dropped your books….”

“And you caught them all before they had the chance to even hit the ground. I should have realized it then, but I still don’t know much about werewolves.”

He blinked at her.

“I’m sorry about what happened last night. I’m not even sure they all know what happened, but I know they are all incredibly sorry. Especially the one that was in here. He’s the leader of this pack.”

“And what are you? You’re definitely not a werewolf.”

Sloane grinned, “That I am not. I’m not sure what I am. I hope you don’t mind, one of your wounds was infected, so I took the liberty to help with healing you.”

The werewolf reached up to his neck, but was met with smooth flesh. He sighed with relief and glanced back at the girl, “you’re overflowing my senses with your power. Are you a witch?”

“No,” she answered, mostly out of habit.

He stared at her in wonder.

“Are you hungry?” He shook his head. “Are you tired?” He shook his head again. “Are you going to tell me your name, at least?”

He finally broke into a smile, and it was beautiful, “Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun.”

“Hello, Baekhyun. My name is Sloane Collins. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You as well.”

“One of the members brought you some clothes… It’s not much, but it would probably be easier on the both of us if you were clothed.”

Baekhyun glanced down at himself and his face turned an endearing bright red.

Sloane chuckled and placed the pair of shorts and plain white shirt on her bed, “I’ll be in the living room. It’s right down the hall.”

He smiled at her appreciatively as she headed out.

Sloane fell on top of the couch with a huff. Sehun and Jongdae quickly joined the others in the living room and they all stared at her expectantly.

She groaned when she realized all eyes were on her, “what?”

“You know what,” Kai said.

“He’s awake…”

“We know,” Tao sang, pointing at his ears. “What happened? Is he alright?”

“He’s fine… A bit disoriented, but fine.”

“Did he tell you anything about himself?” Kai asked.

“His name is Byun Baekhyun, but that’s all the information I have on him. He’s changing right now, I told him to join us once he is dressed.”

It didn’t take long before Baekhyun was shuffling into view. He nervously glanced around the room at the werewolves before making his way to Sloane, sitting stiffly beside her. He stared at her expectantly, blinking innocently, but jumped as a few of the boys groaned.

“Not you too!” Chanyeol complained, throwing a couch cushion in the air.

“W—what?” The boy asked, utterly confused.

“She healed him,” Kai informed his pack, although none of them realized what that meant.

“Anyways,” Sloane began, demanding their attention. “I believe there is something that needs to be said before we continue any further.”

She gave Kai a meaningful look and he cleared his throat uncomfortably, “I’m sorry, Baekhyun. About last night, I didn’t mean… it was not my intention….”

“It’s alright,” Baekhyun stated with a small smile.

“It’s not!” Kai countered, finally working the nerve to meet the stranger’s gaze. “I was going to kill you.”

“But you didn’t,” Baekhyun said with a shrug. “That’s all that matters.”

The other boys apologized as well, and Baekhyun accepted them graciously.

“Now that that’s all out of the way,” Sloane said. She turned towards the boy, “how did you end up in Kai’s forest last night?”

Baekhyun shifted uncomfortably, “well, I’d been in town for a couple weeks. I knew there was a pack nearby and was waiting to approach you, but I didn’t know what to say. I decided that the full moon would be a good idea, because you would see me as a wolf and not question it… at least, that’s what I had hoped for.”

“Why did you want to meet us?” Kyungsoo asked, handing the boy a glass of water.

“I don’t belong to any pack,” Baekhyun informed once he chugged half the glass. “I’m alone.”

“He’s a rogue?” Tao asked, the pitch of his voice higher with fear. Sehun, Chanyeol, and Kai’s eyes changed into their wolfs’ at the idea of a rogue.

“Calm down!” Jongdae barked. “If he wanted to kill us, we would have a while ago. Not all rogues are vicious anyway.”

The three relaxed, and Jongdae rolled his eyes.

“What happened?” Sloane asked, visibly concerned. “Why are you alone?”

Baekhyun stared at his hands that were wrapped firmly around his cup, his knuckles were snow white from how tightly he gripped it, “I don’t know. I’ve always been.”

“Were you bitten?” Kai asked.

Baekhyun shook his head, “no. I was definitely born a werewolf, but I’m an orphan. The first time I shifted, it was in front of my foster parents. They were so terrified they kicked me out on the spot. I’ve been wandering ever since.

“I told you all I have been here for a few weeks. In that time, I watched you. You seemed like a nice pack, and I was envious—especially of you, Sloane.”

His eyes flickered over to her and he chuckled lowly—self-consciously.

Sloane tilted her head, “why?”

“Because,” his kept eye contact with the magical girl. “You all seemed like a family. I knew you weren’t a werewolf, yet they had accepted you. I wish I could feel accepted.”

“You can,” Sloane whispered, and she smiled reassuringly at him. “You can. With us. Right guys?”

She scanned the six pack mates. They were silent, for whatever reason. All of them avoided her gaze.

“Kai?” She tried.

He scratched his chin and whined silently before meeting her gaze, “what? You want him to stay with us too? As if I have the room?”

The hostility in his voice caused Baekhyun to flinch and his shoulders to slump.

Sloane was unperturbed, “If he doesn’t have anywhere else to stay, I don’t see why not. He’s been alone all his life. He needs brothers, Kai. He needs you guys.”

“But I—”

“He can stay at my place.” All heads snapped over to the giant who had been sitting quietly on the floor beside the television for most of the conversation.

“You don’t have to feel obligated to do so, Chanyeol,” Kai assured.

Chanyeol shrugged nonchalantly, “Why not? I highly doubt my parents would mind another werewolf in the house. I don’t have a spare room, but my bedroom has a lot of space, and I wouldn’t mind sharing.”

“You would do that?” Baekhyun breathed in awe, slightly overwhelmed by the hospitality the giant shown.

The two locked eyes and Chanyeol nodded firmly, “I know what it’s like to be an outcast, Baekhyun. No one should have to deal with being a werewolf alone.”

“That’s our little Delta!” Sehun gushed, falling on top of Chanyeol. The two began wrestling on the floor, knocking over a lamp in the process.

“Are you alright with adding another member to your pack, Kai?” Sloane asked the tense alpha.

Kai ran through the events that happened not even twenty-four hours ago. Of him attempting to take Baekhyun’s life. He had no idea what the pup had been through prior to that night, and now the guilt seemed to pile onto his skin like dirt, making him feel grimy and gross.

He gasped for air and looked up, looked at Baekhyun—at the earnest and hopeful look in his eyes—and knew without a doubt, that he wanted him in his pack, “any werewolf is welcome. I’m the alpha of this pack, Kim Jongin, but I go by Kai. From this day on, I will be your alpha, Byun Baekhyun. Welcome to our pack.”

All the boys hooted and hollered. Sehun ran over and ruffled Baekhyun’s hair, yelling incoherently in his ear. Sloane clapped along, a giant smile on her face, but it was dim compared to the one on Baekhyun’s.

“Now that that’s all settled,” Sloane said once the excitement died down. “Will you all please get dressed?! I’ve seen enough naked bodies to last me a lifetime!”

“Hey!” Sehun huffed. “We’re all wearing underwear!”

“I’m sick of all the skin! Are you all not cold!?”

“You know werewolves run hot!”

“That doesn’t mean you have to act as if you think you are hot enough to walk around this house half naked!”

“Whatever, Sloane! Don’t act like you don’t like it!”

“Ew! Sehun, don’t touch me!”

The day ended on a high note, the boys’ surviving another full moon.

3. The Sullen Siblings

The halls were silent.

Almost eerie, considering the time. Byun Baekhyun gulped as his eyes skittered around the dimly lit hall.

His ears perked, noticing the small explosions of heels on tile and he sighed from the familiar sound.

“Are you nervous?” Her voice smooth, sweet, comforting. He couldn’t help but smile at just the mere thought of her, but she was there in his presence, an eyebrow lifted as she studied him.

He cleared his throat and wiped his sweaty palms on his pant legs, “is it that obvious?”

Sloane slowly shook her head, “no. Not for others, at least. Come.”

She grabbed his hand and led him down the hall into the office. It was stuffy and smelled slightly moldy, but Baekhyun tried his best not to cringe.

He hated school.

When he actually attended school, he was bullied relentlessly, but he had faith that this school would be different. He had faith in his pack, in Sloane. Hence why he was allowing her to drag him into the office.

His pack. He still couldn’t believe after nineteen years, he was finally able to say those words.

Apparently, Tao is ridiculously rich, and he begged his parents to yank some strings so that they could get Baekhyun enrolled. As before mentioned, their university was prestigious and private, only accepting the best of the best—also known as the rich of the rich—so it came to no surprise that getting Baekhyun in wasn’t going to be an easy feat.

Unless, of course, you’re Huang Zitao.

Baekhyun couldn’t even feign his surprise by Tao’s generosity. Tao seemed rather… Detached. Unbothered by everything. Baekhyun would even go as far as to classify the tall werewolf as frightening. But when he brought it up to Sloane the night before, she laughed, genuinely confused by his assessment.

“Well, if that’s what you see, it definitely won’t last for long. Trust me.”

The two new students headed over to the desk where the principal’s assistant sat and she printed out Baekhyun’s class schedule.

Once they were out, he kept staring at the piece of paper in awe. Sloane noticed the slight shake of his hand and grinned.

“Would ya look at that? We have biology together.”

Baekhyun’s head snapped up to stare at her, his expression still in that dreamy state of disbelief. “We have a class together?”

She nodded; getting the reaction out of him she wanted. “Yup. Chanyeol is also in that class.”

The sparkle in his eyes nearly tripled.

But then the bell rang.

Doors sprang open and hoards of students trailed out, flooding the halls.

Baekhyun’s nerves got the best of him; flashbacks of his brief time in school making him break out in a cold sweat as shoulders bumped into him. He was instantly aware of his clothes and hair and height and everything he ever was insecure about and he could feel a panic attack crawling up his throat.

A warm soft hand slid into his damp one, tightly gripping his limb and bringing his attention to Sloane.

“You’re okay. You’re here with me.”

“And me,” a deeper voice called and Baekhyun was surprised he could hear it over all the chaos around him.

The hall in front of them seemed to part and about five feet away, Kai, Chanyeol, Tao, and Sehun were making their way towards Baekhyun and Sloane. Kai was the one Baekhyun heard and it made some sense now, because people were quieting down as the boys walked.

Sloane had been at the university for about two weeks now and in that time she had sensed that the boys who she was starting to consider her friends were pretty popular. But, she could admit, she was very ignorant to it all—for there were more important matters to her. But now she was seeing it all first hand and wow how could she not have noticed it before? The way girls—and guys—were not only giving them space, but also how they all giggled and gushed once the guys passed them. Not to mention the ogling….

They were viewed as gods here.

She couldn’t help but to wonder where that put her in the college hierarchy.

It wasn’t looking too good.

She shook away her thoughts and the sense of impending doom and glanced at Baekhyun, who would be a part of all this attention in less than a minute.

He seemed to gather what was coming for him, and his free hand twitched at the hem of his uniform jacket. Sloane could tell how uncomfortable Baekhyun felt in it, as if he were not worthy of such things, and it hurt her soul. She was going to do everything in her power to make sure that beautiful smile of his never faded.

Kai and the gang finally met up with the two and stopped before them.

“Did you get your schedule?” Chanyeol asked Baekhyun.

Baekhyun nodded and practically threw the piece of paper at his new roommate. Chanyeol grinned at the action, but didn’t mention it as his eyes wandered down the sheet. He wasn’t the only one with wandering eyes. A lot of the students were now noticing Baekhyun, and he felt each stare penetrate him like a knife.

“We have biology together,” Chanyeol said. Handing him back the paper.

“I know. Sloane told me.”

“Did she also tell you that you’re sweating like a stripper in church?” Tao commented with a slightly disgusted look on his face.

“I….”

“Leave him alone,” Sloane hissed, narrowing eyes on the taller boy. “It’s his first day and you all are giving him more attention than he needs.”

“Well he better get used to it,” Sehun sighed. “It’s not going to get any easier.”

He sauntered passed them, heading over to his next class.

“He’s right,” Kai murmured to Baekhyun. “The students here… they have nothing better to do with themselves, I guess.”

“Ya’ll are hot and mysterious,” Sloane shrugged. “Of course you are popular.”

Kai scowled.

“You think we’re hot?” Chanyeol smirked, eyes glittering flirtatiously.

Sloane shrugged, unfazed. “I have eyes, Yeol.”

Chanyeol stiffened at the name, “you… you gave me a nickname!”

Kai rolled his eyes, “come on. The bell is about to ring.”

The four dispersed. Baekhyun, Sloane, and Chanyeol had their shared biology class next so they headed there.

The minute walk felt like an eternity to Baekhyun. The whole time his eyes flittered around the hall, taking in everything. A lot of people they passed whispered to one another, gazes trained on the three of them. The hot and popular Park Chanyeol followed by the mysterious new foreigner girl and an equally as attractive new boy. Baekhyun didn’t know how to take the ‘being attractive’ thing, so he decided not to let it get to him.

He also didn’t really like the way people were talking about Sloane.

She told him that his strong need to be around her was a byproduct of her power. That a slight bond had been made between the two of them and it would wear off in a week or so, but he wasn’t so sure. Since the first time he saw her, he knew he wanted to be around her. She had a calmness about her, a gentleness that made him like her.

But he seemed to be the only one.

Everyone they passed was either curious about her or completely disgusted. It made his wolf furious that people were so quick to judge someone they obviously knew nothing about.

Chanyeol must have sensed it, because he glanced at the smaller boy with wide eyes that grew impossibly bigger once he saw the glowing deep ocean blue of his irises.

“Whoa, man!” He whispered so that no one else could hear.

Baekhyun’s eyes snapped shut as he tried to control his wolf. Chanyeol’s big hand came up to rub his back encouragingly and after a short moment, Baekhyun’s melted chocolate colored eyes returned.

“Thought we lost you there for a moment,” Chanyeol said. His face was drawn together with concern as he took in his member’s appearance.

“What happened?” Sloane asked as they slipped into class right before the bell rang.

“The way they were talking about you….” Baekhyun locked eyes with the girl and she gulped. The blue was slowly bleeding into his iris.

“They talk,” Chanyeol dismissed, loosening his already lazy tie even more. “That’s what they do.”

“Not about Sloane,” Baekhyun growled, baring his teeth.

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow, then lifted his hands in surrender. “Alright, Baekhyun. You’re right. Let’s sit down, okay?”

Baekhyun was fighting his wolf again and it caused his senses to skyrocket. Sloane bit her lip in worry as he remained standing in the front of the classroom, the teacher introducing him to the rest. His neck was tight with strain and his eyes were closed in case they weren’t the right color.

He bowed quickly once he was introduced and made his way next to Sloane, who immediately grabbed his hand under their shared table.

The bond between them flared, and Baekhyun gasped as energy ran up his arm.

“You’re alright now,” Sloane grinned mischievously. Leaving Baekhyun stunned, but his wolf was dead silent, and he sighed with relief. “Now listen to the teacher and do good in school, okay? We didn’t get you enrolled so that you can scare everyone.”

“Yes ma’am.”

~*~

“I haven’t even been here the whole day and I’m exhausted,” Baekhyun pouted. His backpack was already trailing behind him on the floor and his jacket was hanging off his shoulders.

“It’s lunch time,” Jongdae began in a warning tone. The two had calculus together which was their class right before lunch break. “You better brace yourself. Chanyeol told me about your wolf coming out this morning.”

Baekhyun groaned, ruffling his dark hair. “I don’t think he will be making another appearance today, but—” he took a deep breath in front of the wide doors to the cafeteria. “Alright. I’m ready.”

Jongdae chuckled and pushed the doors open. The dull hum of multiple conversations exploded and Baekhyun shuddered before entering the giant room behind his pack member.

Out of all the boys, Jongdae was definitely the most caring to Baekhyun. He was sure it had something to do with being the only one without a guilty conscious for attacking him the first full moon together. Jongdae has felt like an older brother for the past days, helping him with whatever issues he has had and always asking him if he is all right. Baekhyun has been thankful.

They grabbed a tray and loaded it with food before Jongdae led Baekhyun to a table nearly filled with familiar faces.

“How is it going so far?” Tao asked curiously.

Baekhyun bit his lip. “Besides nearly going wolf a couple times, it hasn’t been too bad. The classes don’t seem too difficult.”

“Has anybody tried talking to you?” Kyungsoo asked.

Baekhyun shook his head. “No. But I have been getting a lot of stares. It makes me nervous, I don’t like it.”

“I told you earlier that you need to get used to it,” Sehun said. “Hanging out with us, well, we get that a lot.”

“We’re kind of like celebrities,” Jongdae revealed with a relaxed shrug.

“Celebrities?” Baekhyun repeated, eyeing the cafeteria and locking eyes with more people than he would like. “I don’t know….”

#exo scenario #Chanyeol scenarios #Baekhyun scenarios #baekhyun #chanyeol #kai #exo fanfic #exo drabbles #exo scenarios #exo #exo oneshot

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hey-hamlet · 4 years

Text

BNHA AU Ideas: Songbird, Part 2

Also on AO3!

Link to Part 1

TL;DR:

Izuku has a powerful quirk: he can give powers to the people around him based on the different songs he sings. Unfortunately, everyone else really wants that quirk and are willing to kidnap him to get it.

Songbirds sing even when the music stops.

Hello I’m redefining Izuku’s quirk for the sake of more dramatic powers: Most songs are general power-ups (everyone in auditory range), others are personal power-ups (only the person singing). Both only affect those who hear them, unless the effect is 100% intrinsic. Izuku uses a lot of general power-ups because he’s helpful like that. Each song can only be used once per day.

Examples: A song that creates a forcefield will only be a barrier to those who hear it, but a strength increase is a strength increase no matter which way you slice it.

anyway! day 1 of class is ok bc izuku and bakugo head to school together, and its honestly a miracle he didn't get kidnapped again

anyway, he meets iida and is fucking floored when he apologises for yelling at him. uraraka calls him the "boy with the singing quirk" and hes pretty happy. bakugo is grudgingly pleased izuku has friends and sits down, izuku following suit. shinsou is half asleep at his desk and seems to have been there the whole time

aizawa does his little spiel, quirk assessment happens yadda-yadda. izuku looks so chill on the outside but the kid is freaking the fuck out internally

he's coming second in the test, aizawa still erases his quirk, more of an example to the class because he assumed izuku wouldnt lose his shit. he didn't - at least externally

from this we also find out izuku has a kind of internal metronome because he suddenly has no internal 'beat' when his quirk is erased. his hearing gets substantially worse too.

which serves to freak him the fuck out because he feels off balance and like hes had cotton stuffed in his ears

anyway, yeets the ball, all is good, bakugo glares fucking daggers at aizawa for singling out izuku and izuku tries not to dissociate

battle trial is nothing special, but bakugo just fucking,,, turns his hearing aids off so izukus quirk doesnt work on him

its a blessing and a curse because it leaves izuku free to use most personal powerups, but honestly bakugo wants a nice fight more than he wants to win so thats fine with him

izuku wins, but only just, izuku gives uraraka a speed up through the comm link, iida who was Not ready for that, loses

USJ

Bakugo and Izuku sing Stronger than You and kick ass for a solid while before the song runs out and the nomu hits them into the lake. Izuku, with a broken leg and the beginnings of a concussion, has to drag a semi-conscious Bakugo to shore and let me tell you they both almost drown like 8 times. Izuku helps All Might by singing Anything (Hedly), which functions honestly like a big Ol’ Plus Ultra to anyone believing in what they are doing. (It starts working on Shigiraki after the Stain arc, but before then he was acting without purpose)

Sports festival!

All Might and Izuku are basically dad and son in this universe too, so, despite the dissimilar quirks, Todoroki still calls out Izuku to fight. Because Todoroki is the son of Endeavour and privy to a little more heroics insider info than he really should be, he also knows how often Izuku deals with villains. In an attempt to piss off the eternally nice and collected boy enough to give him a fight he can piss off Endeavour with, he calls him a damsel in distress.

Izuku is fuming and Bakugo has to basically hold onto his forearm to stop him from clocking Todoroki right in the jaw, but lord is Bakugo also pissed. Todoroki, for a second, realises he may have fucked up.

Todoroki wins the first event, Izuku is pretty middling. Like he's top 10? But he didn’t make a major impact. But the guy sees Monoma and gets an Idea

“HI SO – I know you hate class 1A, and really there is something to be said for the way our school is trying to pit 2 classes of children against each other like a bitter blood feud - BUT I have an idea that could be 100% ridiculous and if you want 1B to make an impact, please work with me. I need to shove something in Todoroki’s face.”

“… I’m listening.”

The general idea is Izuku’s songs have a different effect when sung in a duet, some are only practical in duet form: IE, stronger than you is a dodge boost alone, but in a duet is a massive power boost to the two singing it. So what if two people with Izuku’s quirk sung a duet? Chaos, probably.

Monoma agrees because one of the only things he likes more than 1 upping 1A is quirk based tomfoolery. The team ends up consisting of Izuku, Monoma, Kendo and Uraraka. Kendo and Uraraka, with the use of Uraraka’s quirk, carry both Izuku and Monoma – the better you sing, the better the quirk works.

Its lucky Monoma knows most of the songs Izuku brings up as ideas, and adds some suggestions of his own. If the other two know the song it's not a bad idea to join in, but its not the end of the world if they don’t.

The list of songs they have on standby and their effect when sung by two people with the Songbird Quirk

Two Player Game - Be More Chill: It forms both a connection between the people singing it, allowing them to anticipate the other's movements and creates a semi-translucent double of each singer that mimics their movements with a half second delay, aka: each punch you throw hits twice.

Family – Mother Mother: Creates a kinda forcefield that hovers just above the body. The stronger the bond between the singers, the stronger the shield – good thing Uraraka and Kendo know that one.

Hurry Hurry – Airtraffic Controllers: Slows down your perception of time, giving the appearance of superhuman reflexes. With the addition of a partner, it also grants superspeed.

We don’t get tired, we get even – Pat the Bunny: The more energy you’ve used up, the more energy you get back when singing this song + a proportional increase in general ability.

Doubt Comes In – Hadestown: Anyone who hears it quickly loses the ability to fight other people, including the singers.

The Greatest Show – The Greatest Showman: In addition to the normal effect of drawing attention to the point you can’t look away, singers get a ‘moon jump’ ability.

Turn the Lights Off – Tally Hall: Makes the area pitch black and gives the singers monstrous forms with plenty of claws and eyes.

How they use these is up to your imagination, but they end having taken the 10’000’000 point band from Todoroki. Bakugo, the only person with a decent understanding of Izuku’s quirk, just turned off his hearing aids and told his team to block their ears when weird shit started to happen. They came second, Todoroki third and Shinsou’s team fourth.

Uraraka gets to the second round bc Bakugo fights Monoma in the first round and jesus that fight is hilarious because its just Monoma – while using Bakugo’s quirk too – insisting that Izuku has abandoned class 1A for class 1B and Bakugo getting progressively more done with this boy’s shit.

Izuku and Bakugo + Todoroki and Iida are the semi finalists. Izuku and Bakugo are mostly just like “Thank fuck I’ve been talking to so many god damn weirdos today please can we just have a normal fight”. Izuku wins, j u u s t. (Izuku and Bakugo have a pretty 50/50 win loss ratio going on in this AU)

Todoroki vs Izuku is the final round of the whole thing, Todoroki told him about Endeavour, Izuku is pissed that no one looks at him and sees him, they only see his quirk (other than like, 6 people at this point). So he gets where Todoroki is coming from but holy shit hes doing literally just that. The main song Izuku uses for that round is Escapism – Steven Universe which makes him intangible (other than like his feet so he doesn’t go through the floor like Mirio). He’s trying to get the vibe across to Todoroki that he is free of his blood. He stops singing just to scream that at him, which is really what loses him the round. He's not intangible anymore, so he has no way to dodge the fire that comes at him. But he's pretty happy anyway.

Stain Arc!

Izuku’s hero name is Lyre!

Izuku doesn’t intern with Gran, but he does visit the guy with him. All Might hasn’t given his quirk to anyone else because the only suitable person he can see is Izuku, but Izuku basically can’t say no to him so he’s having a crisis. Izuku just thinks he’s there to visit All Mights old mentor and shoot the shit, which is really what they do.

Gran basically just ends up telling him “Kid aint a wallflower, he’ll tell you to fuck off if he doesn’t want it. All Might decides to ask Izuku about it after everything is over.

Izuku ends up interning with Endeavour, along with Todoroki. He never ended up yelling at endeavour, even though he hates the guy. Shouto encouraged him to take the offer bc, 1, Endeavour literally never gives out internship offers and 2, it’d be more fun because that way he doesn’t need to deal with his dad’s bullshit alone.

Endeavour is like “Oh it’s the kidnap kid, your quirk is neat.” And izuku is smiling through gritted teeth like “Th Anks SiRr”

So, starts pretty normal, then the winged Nomu steals Izuku right off the ground. Izuku just says “I’ll be fine! Just keep doing what you're doing, I’ll get myself down.” Endeavour just shrugs like “Ok, I give you permission to defend yourself.” While Todoroki is screaming internally because his new friend is literally being flown away

So the Nomu that was once a really good friend of Izuku’s (not that izuku is aware of that) literally just dumps him somewhere else and leaves. Izuku is confused, really confused, so he starts walking his way back to where he was before he hears a familiar voice.

Guess who it’s Iida, with a serial killer standing right over him. Izuku panics and goes straight into Turn the Lights Off. Without Monoma it only makes it dark, but it’ll have to do.

Thing is: he has a key problem. By virtue of the fact he’s singing, Stain can always hear him. Izuku’s only advantage is that he can see Stain but stain can’t see him, and the darkness means Stain moves more cautiously.

Anyway, in the artificial darkness, he can send a longer text anyway.

Midoriya [7:31PM] stain – [Location Pin Dropped]

So a lot of people, All Might and Aizawa included, f r e a k o u t. Todoroki goes running, Endeavour sends sidekicks with him because he saw his son, normally deadpan, almost chocking on panic as he mutters “Midoriya found Stain.”

Endeavour very much wants to also get Stain but the Nomu are Very Pressing Right Now, so there isn’t much he can do other than try and hurry the fuck up. Torino is kicking around because he could mostly, trying to get a glimpse of All Might’s kid in action, ends up having to kick villain ass. He's not that concerned until he remembers “OH SHIT TOSHI’S BOY”. When he finds Endeavour the man, a little panicked for Endeavour’s standards, yells at him to go to the address bc his son and intern are fighting the fucking hero killer.

Gran Doesn’t think he’s moved so fast since he kicked All for One in the face with Nana 25 odd years ago.

So Stain is kinda pissed bc suddenly he can’t see and someone is singing. He goes to stab Iida but,,, he ain't there anymore, and the singing is fading away. He figures “oh well, lemme get native” the singing changes to a different song. Very quickly he can see, but the singing boy, still singing is rocketing towards him and rapidly changing form.

Monster – dodie: Literally shifts Izuku into a monster. Stain suddenly realises that this is Songbird, talk of the underground, most wanted quirk by villains and quirk traffickers everywhere. This kid, target of villains everywhere, has put himself in their sights just to try and help people.

He thinks maybe Songbird might be one of the good ones.

Oh, an aside? People calling him Songbird sets off hella panic attacks because the only people who do that are people actively trying to kidnap him. And that’s what stain is calling him.

His monster form wavers and he tries to sing through tears and hitching breaths and Stain smiles because he's still curled around Native with his claws out.

Todoroki gets there first and helps defend Iida, Izuku is fighting to keep stain away from Native. The pros are on the way, Izuku is fading fast. Endeavour has been training them hard so he's exhausted and freaking the fuck out, while someone waves swords in his face.

Stain gets him, he loses the monster form. This doesn’t help Izuku’s panic, because now he can’t move and he’s felt this before along with grabbing hands, and dark vans and ropes around his wrists praying someone knew where he was going so someone might know to come for him when he doesn’t get home.

Todoroki sees that and he doesn’t know what to do. Izuku is panicking – the boy who seemed so put together and on top of things s falling apart at the seams. Iida feels horrible. He just wants to go to his friend he's never seen that distraught before.

Todoroki does the only thing he can think of. He sings.

He was never into music before, be after the sports festival he learnt Escapism -the song Izuku sang to him – and singing it back to him is the only thing he can think of doing.

It helps. It really helps, because if there was one thing that never happened when Izuku was taken – it was singing. He calms down just enough to breathe, which is all he needs to do.

The quirk wears off and Izuku throws himself at Stain, the words to Thunder by Imagine Dragons already pouring from his lips and electricity pouring from himself. If Stain touches him, he's toast, even if its via a sword. Izuku just has to avoid thrown weapons.

Izuku gets a hit, the quirk wears off Iida, who rushes in to stop Izuku from taking a throwing knife to the arm. The three of them knock out Stain just as the heroes skid into the alley. Izuku lets out a sob and crumples to the ground, Iida and Todoroki rushing over to him. They both honestly look like they’d bite anyone who got too close. Gran calls All Might who starts hightailing his way over there – Aizawa is also breaking a few traffic laws to reach his pack of injured kids.

They don’t get there in time. Shirigaki, furious that the hero killer went against him, orders Kurogiri to get Izuku. They take Iida and Todoroki for good measure. The heroes watch in horror as the children they were meant to protect vanish under their noses.

Headlines the next day: “UA sports festival finalists defeat Hero Killer – only to be taken by Villains seconds later.”

#bnha au #songbird au #midoriya izuku #Iida Tenya #todoroki shouto #All Might #hero killer stain #bakugou katsuki #aizawa shouta #gran torino

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maddiefriendlovesbilly · 4 years

Note

Spencer x Ghost?

Spencer x Ghost

(AAAAA- it has been months since you sent this to me, and all i can say is im so sorry) Side note I have my friend @lethalbreadkills helping me with this one!

For reference: Maddie (maddiefriendlovesbilly) is green, Jimmy (lethalbreadkills) is red (((its 4:30 at the time i have joined this so im dead braincell wise sorry yall))) and Orange is stuff we decided together :3

Also this is so very chaotic im so sorry for this anon but this has been in my fuckin drafts for SO LONG and this is the only way its getting finished (its now 5 am uwu) im so sorry for all the shitposting i do its a mess. I shouldnt have been allowed here. (we finished at about 5:30 am its hell <3)

Sphost? Ghencer?? Sphoster??? I adore and despise them all equally.

We have decided that it should be BeanieGhost

Anyway I think this ship is really cute

They’re both so neurotic I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue

One of them starts a rant on some topic and the other joins the hell in

I’m an advocate of LETTING SPENCER INFO DUMP BECAUSE HE DESERVES IT OKAY

And Ghost would let this dream come true???

I would die for both of them and if Spencer told me I had to die I wouldn’t even complain, no questions I’d just be like “Aight.” I trust him that much.

(Not sure I trust Ghost’s judgment enough to do that unquestioningly; sorry Ghost)

Back on topic

I can’t imagine these guys on anything that comes close to society’s definition of a date

It’d be more like “hey you wanna come on this hunt with us?” “maybe, depends if there’ll be snacks” or like chilling in Spence’s room binging the entire star trek: original series in one sitting or “oops sorry about that level 11 entity that attached to my soul and is now wreaking havoc in your house, wanna make out later to make up for it?” “Fine but you also have to play three rounds of Call of Duty with me afterward”

They wouldn’t be romantic often but like highkey? I can see them throwing themselves into the line of fire for each other with a recklessness only they could survive

We can’t forget that Spencer is a more than 60,000-year-old overpowered demon/god/entity/thing, which, yes, could throw a slight wrench in this ship for multiple reasons, but I choose to make angst out of it instead.

Side note: Ghost is a chronic conspiracy theorist (and you can’t tell me otherwise) and every once in awhile Spencer will offhandedly say something like “Y’know I helped the Egyptians build the pyramids” and Ghost just goes fucking feral.

Look, I’m not saying Spencer IS touch-starved and most likely has issues creating and developing relationships and therefore avoids interpersonal connection, especially offline, but I AM saying he is prime material for it. (thats a lie thats exactly what shes saying don’t believe it) (I’m projecting okay dont judge me) (loser imagine projecting)

Imagine with me for a second: Why does Spencer willingly stay with a family who locks him in their basement with only minor complaining? He’s a near all-powerful entity just released into the world for Spence’s-sake - If he wanted to, there’s no telling what havoc he could wreak! So why doesn’t he? Why would someone so powerful, so terrifying, so dangerous that a group of people decided to seal him away forever stay with the first family he finds in sub-par conditions for years - especially someone who’s seen to be as high-maintenance as Spencer? Let me hit you with a theory: He’s chasing the feelings of validation, safety, and love - no matter how rarely it’s shown - that a family can provide. Being socially isolated for even a few years can do a number to a person’s psyche (I should know, I’m projecting onto this character right now), let alone thousands.

Now maybe Ghost can’t match thousands of years in isolation, but damn if he doesn’t have a few years of crippling loneliness on his record too.

I can see the two of them learning how to be vulnerable around others together, emotionally and physically; learning how to open up and how to talk through issues; and some third point, because points are better in threes.

(May I suggest that these losers are both trans but thats just me adding in my own projection lmao)

(You absolutely may)

Imagine the conversation thats just “so i have a murderer in my head thats an ass” “rip to u ig sounds like a you problem :///”

imo spence has trouble expressing emotions other than like,,, annoyance and haughtiness, its like sort of his go-to defence, so showing Ghost his emotions is a big step for him

I hear you, and i say yes good. (found this one headcanon that i kinda live by where he was uh, either autistic or adhd i dont remember but theres that too) OH yeah that would be at thing huh. Spencer: *is emotionally vulnerable @ ghost* ghost: oh shit im trusted??? Oh fuck uh.

Yeah so like…. Ghost and spence showing emotion at eachother is kind of :flushed: ghost be like: whats an emotion. Imagine having emotions fuciiing loser hhaha,,,, *laughs nervously*

Ghost is also very emotionally distant with most people so it would probably be like “what??? The fuck?? Emotions?????? You have those???”

Ghost and Spencer be like *gay*

So another idea is that maybe Spencer realizes Ghost doesnt play any games [like the uncultured SWINE he is] and decides he must [remedy] this and so he introduces him to like, nintendo first. (some bitches thought that said nintendo fortnite. Im bitches) and theyre playing like, mario kart or smash or smth and Ghost gets really [fuckin into it]

Ghost and spencer: *literally in eachothers laps playing fucking wii tennis*

Spooker: what are the- *TOAST FUCKING SLAPS A HAND ACROSS HIS MOUTH* shut up you dont wanna know what happens when its mentsonssbfdjfsd (sorry i had a stroke uwuwuwuw)

(Theyre in denial we don’t judge in this house)

They will not hesitate to play dirty either, they will straight up push each other over and vaguely flirt

Ghost is losing and straight up fucking goes “ur hot” and spencer actually dies and boom ghost is the winner. sparkle emoji Magic sparkle emoji

“I am Not a HomoSexual:™:” “Yeah, sure you aren’t” “Screw off”

Pet-names-ish: Asshole, Gaymer-Boy, casual insults, Mr. Spirit Bitch, Mistake, Loves Ghosts More Than His Boyfriend What A Fucking Loser aka Gay-ass

Pros:

They both open up a lot most likely. Gain someone to trust since they’ve sort of been through the same things (though on much different scales)

I can see soft hours of hanging in each other’s bedrooms

Spencer is a tsundere you cant tell me otherwise youre just a coward if you disagree

So is Ghost so this can only go well

Every time Ghost has to solve a case at the Acachallas Spence is just peaking out from his basement like “the fuck is this?? Hot Man??????”

Enemies to lovers 500k (Gets Hot and Steamy :flushed: NOT CLICKBAIT!!!!11!!!!! 18+!!!!!!! GAY LOVE StORY!!!!!!) Lemonz!!! Made from teh Sexiest of Wattpaders UWUWUWU YAOI Boys Love don’t like don’t read!! (this is so fucking stupid jkfnd) I hate this with a passion Q^Q. All my years of being a basic watpad fanboy have helped me to the moment i bring maddie to tears

The steam is just like,,,,, holding hands and being angy all the fuckin time the steam is literal because their anger translates into actual steam

Cons:

Their angst has nowhere to go and it just sits between them like two raccoons at a dumpster-style mexican standoff

They really start off hating each other huh. Like, I know this can still lead to healthy relationships but neither of them are very good at healthy relationships with people he hasn’t known for his Whole Life so that’s an Oh No.

They totally feed off of each other’s stupidity (but this could be seen as a pro too so take that as you will) as well as anger - im talking one-upping each other kinda shit

Its ridiculous honestly how intense it gets, like they straight up need intervention sometimes because they dont realize they can just STOP

Conclusions:

I think this would be a relationship that would that a lot of time and hard work to make work, but i think in the end it would be really super cute!! Like it would make no fuckin sense to anyone else but somehow they’d understand each other and help each other through their similar issues. Also theyre both big nerds in different ways and i think they’d have just ranting sessions back and forth over and over and it would be soft!!!!! So yeah, i think it would work, at least, i want it to :D

So. Maybe?? I feel like it could, but they’d need to work pretty hard to make it healthy and not constant fighting. Could be stupid amounts of cute and wholesome but also could be stupid amounts of oh no and pain, depending on how the two act. If they learned how to get along with each other and work past their differences it could be super cute and soft. Just a very, er, bumpy beginning. And middle. And end. (this makes me very nervous,,,,why did you mention an end) (wouldnt you like to know weather boy) (TvT) UFDUNS bumpy but soft . Agreeing with the loser gay, want this to work it’d be interesting :3

#spencer x ghost #jess writes #ishhhhh???????#venturiantale #venturiantale pie #johnny ghost #spencer acachalla #johnny toast #jimmy casket #fred spooker #let me know if you enjoyed this or not it was intense #sr #ship review #ship reviews #vt ships #vt ship reviews #vt ship review #vt sr

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bepoets · 4 years

Text

Review for Trish’s Dream Fic

Trish ( @couragedontdesertme ) said she’d write an epilogue of the elsarik dream Fic if I made a Formal Review of the elsarik dream fic. So here we are.

Please note review should be taken VERY LIGHTLY this is more or less me re-reading the Fic and loudly yelling about things with too many exclamation points. Enjoy Trish.

Ch1

First of all imagine my fucking surprise I didn’t even know you had gotten work done on the dream fic???? Here I was thinking the link you sent me was the next chapter of city of ice and then I click on it and it saYS DREAM FIC???? E X C U S E M E oh my goodness

The first section is just so entirely domestic and beautiful and you can tell how lived in and content they are in their life as roommates. ALARIK (listen my phone autocorrects ALARIK to be in all caps and I’m too lazy to fix it so y’all are gonna have to deal with reading ALARIK’s name as if I’m yelling it every time I type it) anyway ALARIK just bringing her the chocolate croissants she loves so dearly and Elsa curling up with a book and him fretting and worrying over her being there alone all day and later... it’s just SO DOMESTIC. it’s such a small short moment but it’s so domestic and a perfect opposite of the PAIN THAT HAPPENS AFTER!!! And we al know I LOVE READING PAIN

The fact that ALARIK was only home late because he was doing tutoring to earn more money to by Elsa A PRESENT????? Shut up no one speak to me that’s true love but also PAINFUL the guilt he must feel oh my god

Elsa...stops struggling... because she doesn’t want ,,,, ALARIK ,,,, to get hurt. Because she cares for his safety more than her own because he has protected her and he is her friend and she loves him I am going to SCREAM

The fact that you use the phrase ~marching her out of the warmth of the room~ when she just used her magic to like cover the walls in frost makes my Heart burst cause idk if it was intentional or not but I just love the thought that this room has become Home to her it’s become safe and beautiful and lovely and WARM because it is full of love and friendship and companionship rather than the cold loneliness of say her ice palace of her locked room as a child. I like to think Elsa could have covered the room entirely in ice and snow and frost and it would still feel warm to her because of the love that’s developed there thank you for coming to my tedtalk

Ugh fuck hans

I have literally no words other than fuck hans for any section with hans in it I DONT even want to RECOGNIZE THAT HE EXISTS !!! Making Elsa feel like she’s nothing I am going to punch him in the eye

~ALARIK weeps over smushed chocolate croissant. End scene~

I know that it’s such a heartbreaking sad ending for that first chapter but also I really can’t stop laughing about him crying over a stepped on croissant since I know that your like planning note for that last scene was literally just some variant of ALARIK cried over a smushed croissant and that’s just such a funny IMAGE TO ME EVEN THOUGH ITS SAD

I just like to imagine ALARIK cradling the chocolate croissant in his arms like a bébé as he sobs

Ch2

I’m fucking S A D

ALARIK having like NO MONEY and just thinking about that the money he has was going to go to a gift for Elsa and the guard LAUGHING AT HIM LIKE THATS IT THATS ALL YOU HAVE?? Like shut UP HES TRYING TO SAVE HIS BELOVED

P e t t y c h a n g e HE IS TRYING MR GUARD I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW HE WORKED EXTRA TO GET THAT MONEY

ALARIK is so fucking DEVOTED I’m going to run through a goddamn wall I cannot cope. Willing to sell the clothes off his back have you ever seen an idiot more iN LOVE

ALARIK just going willingly cause he has no fight left in him and he just wants to see Elsa even if it means he gets imprisoned too oh my GOD

THE SCENE ITS THE SCENE!!!!!!!!!

STRAIGHT FROM TRISH’S SUBCONSCIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT STARTED IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!

ALARIK wanting to hold her hands when her hands are what are chained up and seen as dangerous and what ~make her a witch~ the absolute love and power that holds.

LET ALARIK AND ELSA HOLD HANDS

“I promised to keep you safe” the pain I feel oh mY GOD

“They’ll KILL you” they’re really out here trying to protect each other at all costs oh my god nothing matters more to the other than keeping the other safe and for that I want to cry and love them and also I want to ram their heads into the wall because wHY WONT THEY JUST PROTECT ESCH OTHER TOGETHER

The PARALLEL OH MY FUCKING GOD

the P A R A L L E L of ALARIK stilling and no longer struggling when the guards threaten Elsa’s death in the same way that Elsa stilled and stopped struggling when they threatened ALARIK’s death oh my god that broke me right there

U g h hans fuck that guy

A N N A !!!!!!!!

When I first read this,,, I DONT know why??? But for some reason??? I didn’t think Anna would be in it???? Which like thinking back on that it makes no sense of COURSE Anna would be in the FIC why would I ever think otherwise. But anyway I was so surprised when she showed up I literally gasped and went ANNA??? Out loud because I was so shocked

ALFAFA GERANIUM

ALARIK really is just so bad under pressure who thought this was a good idea

AG FOR SHORT wink wink nudge nudge cough cough

I’ll be thinking about ALARIK shouting alfafa geranium on my death bed let us never forget

“No harm, no foul” is literally the most fucking Anna line I’ve ever heard. She absolutely would say that to someone who was being question for a crime she’d be like “it’s not biggy”

Why is it that when hans says “BUT ANNA!!!” I hear it like he’s wining like a petulant child I read it like “bUT annNNAAAAA” ugh I hate him

“Don’t scream” *ALARIK’s inner monologue* “this ,, is the story of how I died”

ILL HELP YOU HELP HER ESCAPE!!!!! HELL YEA YOU WILL ANNA HELL YEA YOU WILL

Ch3

My dumbass really went “why are none of the children named neta” before remembering that is the child of Anna and Kristoff and these...are the children of Anna ,,, and .... ugh please don’t make me say his name

I would die for these kids though I love them and I want to protect them at all costs

Johannes at 5 (and a half!!!!) being a fine soldier GOOD FOR HIM

Isak owns my entire heart from the moment he started fake crying for his mother what a star performer a true Actor he’s too good

Arendellian Royal Guards, are they guards? Or are they simply baby sitters? The world may never know

JOAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the babies being named JOAN!!! Hang in there Joan!!!!!!!!! That made me cry oh my god J O A N

Bébé Isak lookout supreme with his big eyeballs and smile and goofy lil salute I love him

The fact that Elsa says she felt stupid for being lured into a false sense of security means she felt secure and safe for literally the first time since she was a child when she was with ALARIK and I cannot properly articulate how much that made me cry I love that so much that has to mean sO MUCH TO HER oh my god

“You have to get out!! Do the magic!!” NO ONE SPEAK TO ME ABOUT ANYTHING EXCEPT THIS LINE FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL MONTHS I LITERALLY WEPT

the use of DO THE MAGIC oh my god AND ELSAS HEART LIKE BREAKING BECAUSE SHE FEELS LIKE SHE CANT

DO ! THE ! MAGIC !

Brave little boy with his mother’s determination saying “be brave. That’s what mama said to tell you” oh my GOD THESE CHILDREN HAVE MY WHOLE HEART OH MY GOD

A rooster crow for the signal COUKD they be more obvious I love these kids they’re ridiculous they are truly the children of Anna

Elsa!!! Chose!! To be!!! Brave!!!

IF SHE TRIED TO SAY GOODBYE TO ELSA!!! SHE MAY NEVER LET GO!!!

SHE HAD NO WHERE TO GO!!! BUT SHE DOES BEVAUSE THERES ALARIK WAITING FOR HER BECAUSE GUESS WHAT

ALARIK IS HER HOME !!!!! HE IS HER HOME !!!! SHE CAN GO TO HIM!!!!

Queue another one of my shocked and delightfully surprised screams as I shouted KRISTOFF????? Because blonde dude driving a reindeer cart

Let’s get you somewhere safe I’m going to cry THEYRE finally together again and they can keep each other safe together as. They. Should.

They are cuddling and my heart is exploding oh my god ALARIK seems so surprised like you big dumb idiot you’re both in love with each other it’s a mutual thing get with the program

SLEEP ELSA! ITS GOING TO BE OKAY! AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN PROBABLY FOREVER! IT WILL BE!

Ch4

*queue another gasp* there’s only one bed?????

Yea I saw it coming yea I was just as shocked even so yea I got very excited about it wHAT DID YOU EXPECT

They’re cUDDLING and he went to move away and she DOESNT WANT HIM TO they could’ve been sharing a bed THIS WHOLE TIME AND I JUST WANT TO SCREAM BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY

ALARIK laying all the credit on kristoff and the kids when he’s kind of the one that steamrolled the whole plan into happening because he’s the one who showed up ALARIK please give yourself more credit

“You came back” “of course I came back... I couldnt ...” “why?” And then ALARIK refusing to meet her eyes has me absolutely weeping this is the kind of shit I THRIVE ON this is truly a gift to us all everyone say thank you Trish for these three bits of dialogue I will be thinking about them for all my days

ELSA KISSED HIM!!!!!!!!!

Yeah I do lose my shit anytime Elsa is the one to make the first move you go girl you go

THE SPICE VENDOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bringing in all my favorites I am going to cry thank you Trish I love Darius

I SUPPOSE YOU TWO HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN MARRIED

listen I SCREAMED WHEN HE SAID THAT I SQUAWKED!!!! MARRIED!!!!!!

I had been observing you two and just assumed!!!!! You would assume right mr spice vendor sir if they WERENT so stupid for so long it’s okay we understand

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE ??? And Elsa says MARRY US? And ALARIK is going to PASS THE FUCK OUT

He literally got to finally kiss the woman he’s in love with for the first time last night and now they’re getting married poor boy is going to get WHIPLASH from how fast things are progressing but it’s okay im sure he is happy

Elsa’s little vows of just needing each other and keeping each other safe and keeping company and not needing gold or silver ugh TRUE LOVE

And ALARIK hopelessly devoted to her being like I PROMISE

“just you being there no matter what is enough” peak romance true love the devotion the dedication I’m a wreck

LE SMOOCH! LE MARRIAGE! INCREDIBLE I LOVE THEM

~end review~

Okay where is my epilogue please and thank you

#shards of shards #couragedontdesertme #Trish’s fics #shards #shardsverse #elsarik

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normal-thoughts-official · 4 years

Note

Do you have any hcs for Magnus taking ppl to pride for the first time? I kinda feel like he’d act as a guide for others, making sure everyone feels safe and happy during their first time. Like, I can picture him bringing daylighter Raphael out for the first time, showing Meliorn around (bc even though they’ve been around for a while, the Seelies don’t really do human stuff) and holding Alec’s hand while he looks around in amazement.

well surprise surprise this got very long. bet y’all never saw that coming

ok so i particularly love this ask because like, the idea of meliorn going to pride for the first time is a riot and i adore it

like seelie society has developed completely independently from mundane society in every way, hell, it existed before humans did. so there's absolutely no reason whatsoever to believe that their culture even has the concepts of gender of sexuality, and believing that it would be the same as modern western ones is just straight up anachronistic tbh

so like personally i hc that seelie society has no gender (and therefore no concept of sexuality in the way that we see it), so the idea of pride- doesn't even make sense to them, cuz there's no concept of these identities, much less a history of oppression that would bring forward the need to celebrate their resistance like there currently is

so meliorn would want to go just to like, see what that's like and what's it all about. and the whole time they're just following Magnus around and like, taking notes. hm, interesting, what is this trans thing again? ah yes, people who dont think their personality matches the one mundanes believe would be brought by their genitals. hm. fascinating. and Magnus is just like, laughing loudly and it's the best pride he's ever been to, because he knows how ridiculous queerphobia and cishetnormativity are, but meliorn can make that so clear in their words in a way thats just, like, fantastic to hear, you know? and they dont even mean to, but it's great all the same

plus meliorn actually does feel good because a lot of people look at them and smile broadly or even wave, especially younger people who are just like, in awe of them and Magnus, who are so unapologetically gnc and indisputably beautiful, and looking at them is just like, inspiring, you know? and Meliorn has never felt this admired and appreciated and they dont even fully understand why, they're just walking around in their usual clothing and leaf makeup and everyone is just like, in love with them. and it's nice. they can tell there's an edge of sadness to the whole thing, like how their normal everyday existence seems to be so shocking and refreshing for these people, but mostly they feel good about it

later they bring their findings to the other seelies - you know, the ones who dont usually leave the realm and are way less familiar with mundane culture(s) than they are - and the others are like. shut up. there's no way this is real. the shape of their genital defines what wavelength they are supposed to find appealing? this makes no sense. and meliorn's like "idk what to tell u buddy i literally physically can't lie" and they're like surely this is an elaborate prank

but anyway it's fun and nice and they enjoy it greatly and ask Magnus a lot of questions, and Magnus loves going with them more than anyone else because its just so fun and the way this is completely unnatural to them feels refreshing - Magnus doesnt have to explain why he feels the way he feels, for once, but rather he has to explain why people dont get that, and thats a good change tbh

okay onto other ppl im sorry for this tangent djdndjdndk RAPHAEL YES. god i just. okay i love the mental image of Magnus taking Raphael to pride aaaaaaaa

like okay first of all so many layeRS to make this emotional, okay. the fact that he's now a daylighter and can enjoy being out in the sun, the fact that this is a bright costumed parade and it kinda reminds him of the día de los muertos parade and makes him feel at home, the fact that he gets to celebrate and meet other ace ppl - just, so many good things going on here dundidmdi

and Raphael was kinda unsure about going because 1- pride can get pretty sexual at times, and while he gets it and doesn't mind other people's business, he doesn't want to be hit on or participate in that; 2- big crowd makes senses go craycray and it can get very overwhelming and he's scared of overload, plus it's just not his scene in general with huge parties and such. but a part of him does want to go and he's torn, so of course Magnus is immediately like "oh dear, don't worry, i can take you, i'll make sure it's good" and Raphael is like okay

so Magnus takes him and it's :') nice, because as always he’s just so attentive. disclosure i’ve only ever been to the São Paulo pride so i’m gonna go with how it works in here but im assuming it’s not that different in like, other places. also São Paulo currently has the biggest pride parade in the world along with NYC so you know, i think it’s influential at the very least

anyway so he finds a section that’s led by ace pride groups, one that’s considerably small (in number of ppl) and spacious, and it’s. nice. very nice. magnus makes it a point to paint the ace pride colors on raphael’s face (we deserve raphael in makeup tbh) and raphael is all like “it’s fine, it’s not like i’ll want to draw a lot of attention” (like he isn’t wearing the ace flag colors already) and magnus is like hush, let me have this, i want my boy to have a good pride experience. so raphael lets him and hides his smile and lets him, and it’s. cute okay

also idk why but i have the mental image of raphael seeing some other latino guy with some sign like. “i’m not your fetish” or something of the sort, and kind of tearing up because his whole life he’s been seen as this kind of sexual fantasy that couldn’t not be about sex, much less not be interested in it, and he feels seen. and it’s nice, okay

and as promised it’s not too overwhelming in matters of like people, tactile issues and such (there’s little magnus can do about the noise other than spell raphael to decrease his sensitivity so he doesn’t get overwhelmed, which is not ideal because it makes communication a bit harder between them, but he does it anyway if raphael asks him to), and if raphael gets tired, they can always turn into a corner and take a portal back home and cuddle the post-crowd jitteriness away. so it’s a success. and raphael hugs magnus later and thanks him and says that it was so great, that he’s missed this, the energy and the colors and the sun, and he never thought he’d get to have it again, and he did thanks to magnus. and magnus hugs him back and tells him “anything for you, my boy,” and it’s the sweetest thing okay im emo

also okay this still falls under Raphael and Meliorn but the POLYCULE okay, or at least saiaphaeliorn. like sign me the fuck up for the 4 of them together at pride, meliorn and magnus helping make some cute pride-themed makeup on the other 3, just aaaaaaaaa. maia looking absolutely gorgeous with her face framed in the bright bi colors, maybe a sunny dress with the trans flag colors? just because i think she’d look so cute in like, a mostly white dress with baby pink and blue details, okay. simon just paints the pan flag on his cheek but it’s still vibrant and cute and it suits him. and ghhghghghg meliorn delicately painting raphael’s face with colorful glitter..... effervescent, okay. just beautiful

and they get to hold hands in public and laugh and crack jokes and simon loves the music and the festival and raphael smiles fondly at him and maia singing along (him and meliorn definitely don’t know what the fuck they’re singing, but it’s okay because they’re clearly happy and that makes the two of them happy too) and just duahsdiahdaiuha soft okay. also they all get to experience meliorn’s takes on the whole thing and it’s fantastic and as usual meliorn gets raphael to laugh until he almost cries, and simon smiles brightly at the sight and gives meliorn a peck for their efforts, and just aaaaaaaa

in short they’re SOFT and i’m SOFT. and look yes i know that usually parades esp big ones are super crowded (lord knows the SP pride parade is an experience) but if in SP with 5 million ppl parading i could find sections with less people where you had enough space to walk holding hands and hear each other and not be overwhelmed, then i’m sure they can too, especially with magic and powers at their disposal. so i’m going to have this

also like. as much fun as this is for magnus (and it definitely is, it’s very nice to get to enjoy to be himself openly, and to bring kids there for their first time, and you know), it’s also bittersweet because like. he was there at stonewall, he was there for the first pride, you know? and apart from the obvious part where he lost so many friends who were there, there’s just. the very bad memories of the riots, because as important as they are and as much as he obviously doesn’t regret them, riots are hard, they are the language of the oppressed. he’s had to magically protect people from being shot by the police, he’s had to withstand trial by the Clave for using magic to shield the people from the tear gas and risking being seen, he’s had to save a lot of lives and he’s failed at it sometimes, too (i’ll always hc that he’s the reason neither Marsha nor Sylvia died during the riots and you can pry that away from my cold, dead hands). and he’s also seen it be whitewashed and lose some of its resistance and meaning, he’s seen Sylvia be booed at a later march when she spoke against imprisonment, and he’s seen so much be lost

and in that sense going to pride with alec later on might be his favorite, because it’s not like, a first time where he’s trying to get everyone to have the most fun they can and shit, you know? plus alec loves watching more than he does participating, he feels way too exposed in the crowded streets with so many openings and whatnot. but watching from a rooftop, where he has the best view, can still hear the sounds and enjoy the colors and the beauty of it from a distance? that’s perfect for him, and it’s a different experience

and magnus sits by his side as they watch, hand in hand, and reminisces about everything that he’s experienced after so many years, all the changes he’s seen, how he feels pride but he also feels loss and he feels old, and he fears what happens if pride’s history is forgotten, you know? and alec listens to him, listens to his version of this story, playing with magnus’ fingers and just enjoying the sound of his voice and the sight. and it’s nice. alec is always super attentive and enjoys hearing him talk and magnus can get lost in his memories unapologetically, you know? and it’s good

but that’s later on, of course, when they’ve already attended plenty together. for alec’s first pride he probably wants it to be like, perfect, so much so that alec has to tell him to slow down again, because of course magnus wants alec to have The Full Pride Experience, but alec would rather soak it up slowly than participate in a lot of stuff, anyway. magnus paints the rainbow flag on his cheek (one of the only occasions alec lets magnus put glitter on him, then promptly complains for the next three months because i swear that stuff is still on my skin, magnus, the other day i found some on my shoes! and magnus laughs at his antics as always and alec is forced to laugh too and can’t even be mad) and they kind of stay more by the end, and alec is kind of smiling in disbelief to himself the whole time as he watches all the colors and the unapologetic way people express their pride, and magnus can’t stop looking at him and grinning, too. and they walk hand in hand and it’s cute

(later, magnus says, see, mundane culture isn’t so bad, is it? and alec looks at him with a way more serious look, full of joy and happiness, and says, no, it isn’t. and kisses him and thanks him for everything, and it’s sweet)

also I'm soft thinking about Magnus reminiscing about planning the first pride along with "his dear friend Brenda" to Alec and/or Raphael, them putting their arms around his shoulder as he tells them the softer stories, too, the good things they did

small bonus: Magnus plays 2 truths and a lie with Simon regarding his memories of past prides, and Simon gets it wrong every time and is all wide eyed by the end, which makes both Magnus and Raphael laugh :)

#ask #anonymous #sh #shadowhunters #magnus bane #malec #The Polycule™#saiaphaeliorn #simon lewis #maia roberts #raphael santiago #meliorn #alec lightwood #brotp: i'll do whatever it takes to protect them

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akechicrimes · 5 years

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i’ve been thinking about the nature of the velvet room and what that means for goro akechi and also sae’s promise at the end of the game for adults to do better by the younger generations. by this i mean that i work in student services, and i have a headache.

there’s a pretty strong conclusion in the field of education that students do not succeed alone. they’re constantly being guided, assisted, and advocated for by adults. parents go into schools to argue for their child’s rights. they call the school to change grades. they help children at school with their homework--it’s an expectation that parents have the time and education to do so. learning disability staff work with teachers to help the students in the teacher’s class receive appropriate accommodations. college guidance counselors are in fact critical for the jump to college, because admissions officers don’t have the time to meet every single student in the world, and rely on college counselors to introduce them which students are worth speaking to. coaches guide students through athletics, but athletics is socialization, character-building, and sometimes also therapy. coaches in turn also function in the same way that college counselors do, because they also will promote and advocate for certain student-athletes to talk to recruiters.

on and on and on. adults at every single turn are helping children. it’s advocating, evaluating, assisting, and guiding all rolled into one.

i work in student services right now, which is an entire industry that’s popped up in higher ed under the assumption that the higher education system on a structural level is a) too complicated for one teenager to go through alone, and b) that left to their own devices, students are unlikely to succeed alone. when in need of help, student services is an entire office dedicated to providing adults as a resource for students, so that students can come in, speak to someone with administrative power, and get help. in the office that i work in specifically right now, these students have committed some sort of infraction or are reporting another student’s infraction, and are seeking to get through the university’s disciplinary system, hopefully unscathed.

there’s something that relieves the tedium of being a desk jockey by thinking about the place as a real life velvet room, but the more i think about the comparison, the more i feel like it’s not a silly, surface-level comparison. the underlying assumption of student services, and the velvet room, is that you cannot succeed alone. you cannot succeed without a significant amount of help, either from your peers, local adults, or long-nosed men who never give you a straight answer.

the reason why student services, and family/coach help, is so emphasized in student success is because this support network can and often IS the difference between failure and success for a student. student success is so often correlated with how much money the parent has to fund their education, how much free time they have to do their homework, whether or not they have reliable transportation, whether or not they had an adult to walk them through their lowest emotional moments, whether or not they had someone who believed they could succeed, whether or not they had someone to tell them to shoot higher and farther, whether or not they had a benefactor to give them the resources to do that.

now that i type this out. i would like to propose that most of navigating schools, systems, and life depends on your benefactors.

ok. benefactors, so i can get my own story straight, are defined by advocating, evaluating, assisting, and guiding. i would say that this is very similar to a lawyer. (the french word for lawyer is “l’avocat,” by the by.) the main distinction that i think a benefactor has from a lawyer is that a benefactor is also supposed to provide resources for the person they’re advocating for, and that the benefactee is supposed to, yknow, be able to do things for themselves, and actually use the resources they’re given, rather than just sitting pretty and having the lawyer do everything.

and now i’m going to shift this entire essay to be about benefactors, but i just figured out that that’s what shido is, but i’m also too lazy to go back and restructure the stuff that i’ve already written to reflect this discovery. so i’m typing this paragraph instead. i have a headache and i can’t sleep. fuck you

what’s compelling to me about akechi--and adachi, since we’re on the topic--is the ways that he’s set up as “he could have been the main character if not for X.” for adachi, the statement goes “he could have been the main character if he hadn’t self-isolated and blamed other people (specifically women) for his ensuing loneliness.” for akechi, it’s “he could have been the main character if adults in his life hadn’t consistently let him down, put him in the worst possible situations, given him very few resources to work with, and refused to advocate for him in any way, shape, or form, leaving him to do all of this himself.” that is to say, the phrase goes it takes a village to raise a child, and akechi was forced to do the work of what should have been fifty-something different people.

the shorter version of this is “akechi could have been the main character if he’d had a benefactor,” aka someone who actually took interest in his life success, gave him the resources to do it, and guided him on how to use those resources.

which brings me back to the velvet room.

akira, like most of the persona protagonists, loses parental and adult support in the beginning of the game. minato’s parents are dead, and his mental health seems to reflect the fact that he’s got very little adult support in his life. souji’s parents don’t call him once during his year in inaba, and dojima is, how do we say, not exactly much of a functioning adult himself. akira being cut off from adults in his life is more explicit in that his parents literally try to get rid of him.

but from the beginning of the game, from literally the first thing that happens in the game, akira gets a benefactor. the game starts off with finding sojiro sakura. it is the first thing the game asks you to do.

the thing about sojiro is that the game starts off presenting him as a manifestation of adults further driving akira into the dirt, but the fact of the matter is that sojiro is akira’s first benefactor. sojiro complains and whines and vaguely threatens akira in several different ways, but (1) sojiro’s threats for akira to stay in line are actually him taking an investment in akira’s success, because he’s telling akira to not get in trouble. they just don’t look like it, because he’s being gruff and hard-assed about it. (2) sojiro gives akira a place to stay, a physical and very fucking important resource for akira. akira doesn’t have to worry about being homeless, and akira doesnt have to worry about rent. the game would be very different if akira was homeless. (3) sojiro, again, complains and whines and threatens akira in several different ways, but he goes to shujin, where three adults (the principal, kawakami, and sojiro) all get together to, theoretically, talk about how to help akira succeed at that school. (this doesnt happen, but that’s what the talk was supposed to be. again, it’s an example of the ways that kobayakawa isnt doing his job as well as he should, and the ways that kawakami in particular is not being a good benefactor/advocate for her new student for whom she’s responsible for. kobayakawa tells akira he expects good behavior; kawakami says in front of akira and everyone and also god that she’d rather him transferred to another class. as a teacher, her entire JOB is to help him succeed, and the first thing she says is that she’d rather not do it. in comparison, sojiro IS doing his job as a parent, especially by asian-father standards, by showing up at the school, telling his charge to stay in line, demonstrating investment in akira’s educational success, providing transportation, etc, etc.)

the game would be very different if sojiro were not here. akira would be homeless or paying rent, and making rent would be consuming most of his time. akira would not have the time to be a phantom thief, and probably not even the time to maintain good standing in competitive academics. he’d get through his probation, i’m sure, but with great difficulty, and also despite great odds. being underfunded and under-resourced would only create greater incentive for akira to look into illegal activity, potentially falling prey to someone like kaneshiro who promises quick cash. like lavenza pointed out, the game is rigged and unfair, and it’s remarkable how we don’t find it supremely fucked up that the people most in need of support are those who are denied it and told to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” to “work hard and deserve your success,” to “keep your head down and do as you’re told.”

not to say that sojiro was THE deciding factor that determined akira’s life trajectory, but sojiro was really really really really really really fucking important, is what i’m trying to say.

literally like forty-eight hours after this, akira gets a whole bunch of new benefactors, including:

1) caroline/justine, providing resources and access to personas

2) yaldabaoth, providing a stable link to the metaverse (and if i can elaborate on this for a second, consider: rejection syndrome, that fun thing where shinjiro’s persona goes fuckin wild and tries to kill you, occurred in persona 3 but not in persona 4 or persona 5. persona 3 is the game in which people just sort of come by their ability to manifest a persona and wind up in the dark hour by accident. persona 4 and persona 5 has izanami and yaldabaoth, respectively, ensuring that persona-users get in and out of the TV world/metaverse safely, aka acting as a benefactor and providing a resource for persona-users. there’s a more stable link by far. this is, of course, complicated by the fact that izanami and yaldabaoth are also the gods that are proposing the harsh conditions for which usage of personas is required, but i would also like to point out that izanami and yaldabaoth are both beholden to the collective unconscious of humanity, and that yaldabaoth himself was born from that, and both of them actually have very little choice in the matter as a manifestation of humanity’s will.)

3) igor, even if igor is not igor, in that igor provides general guidance, the third eye, and encourages akira to pursue healthy relationships and support networks

4) MORGANA.

LITERALLY THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF MORGANA IS SO FUCKING WILD TO ME.

LIKE.

THINK ABOUT IT.

morgana being a literal manifestation of humanity’s hope and then condensed into a fucking CAT and then sent out with a mission to help AKIRA SPECIFICALLY is like. a FUCKLOAD of aid. hypeswap pointed out that morgana is basically kind of a minor deity, in that morgana (like yaldabaoth) is a manifestation of some aspect of humanity’s subconscious, and then morgana is MADE TO HELP AKIRA SPECIFICALLY. morgana doesn’t even LEAVE akira at the end of the game!!!!!! morgana was SO PERFECTLY TAILOR-MADE TO BELONG TO AKIRA that morgana STAYS with him!!!!!!!!! LIKE!!!!!!! imagine having a fucking SMALL GOD HAND-MADE FOR YOU, TO HELP YOU THROUGH YOUR DAILY LIFE, BEAT UP SHADOWS, TALK TO YOU ABOUT YOUR ACADEMICS, POINT OUT WHICH FRIENDS YOU SHOULD MAKE (LEGITIMATELY HALF OF MORGANA IS JUST HANGING OUT IN AKIRA’S DUFFEL BAG AND SAYING “HEY YOU SHOULD TALK TO TORANOSUKE NOW”), AND ENFORCING A HEALTHY SLEEP SCHEDULE. ON GOD. literally anyone who complains about morgana enforcing a healthy sleep schedule better be some ungodly motherfucker who gets nine hours of sleep EVERY DAY because i REFUSE to have yall discounting the importance of a healthy sleep schedule for a growing teenage boy

and as more than a few akechi-centric fanfics have pointed out, morgana is like, THE singular reason that akira and the phantom thieves even KNOW about stealing hearts in the first place. they don’t know anything!!!! ryuji and akira wouldnt have even made it out of kamoshida’s palace without morgana!!!! it was because morgana specifically told them about finding treasures, removing it, and leaving the shadows alive that they knew THE FIRST THING about pulling off a heist.

okay, so, akira had help. so what. why am i telling you this.

the reason why im telling u this is because traditional morality tells us that people do things because they are bad, and that circumstance is an excuse, not a reason, and that everyone always has a choice when it comes to doing bad things.

AND THAT’S TRUE. that’s super true. that’s very extremely true. correct. absolutely. especially when it comes to doing harm to other people, everyone has a choice to either cause harm, or not cause harm. period.

WHAT IS ALSO TRUE is that from a macro-scale, odds are NOT in certain people’s favors when it comes to succeeding. (and again, persona 5 would like us to look at things from a macro-scale, because it keeps referencing the rigged game and how odds are not in akira’s favor.) the rules are set up to have certain people lose, and keep losing.

bringing this back to akechi, akechi lost from the literal moment he was born, because he was the son of (a) wedlock, (b) political scandal, (c) and non-consensual sex, apparently. literally the only way he could have been any more disadvantaged by nature of his birth would have been some extremely dramatic birth-related complication, or a genetic birth disorder, or some other medical complication. so he’s already lost.

the part about “keeps losing” comes from his mother’s difficulties in raising a son alone while supporting herself, further underfunding her to do a task that should be done by at MINIMUM two people. her mental health suffers because of the strain, the lack of resources, the sheer fact that she’s raising a son she didn’t ask for and also didn’t consent to conceiving, resulting in her death. things get worse. akechi’s shoved into the foster care system. more adults who don’t care about him who do not invest in his success or well-being. more schools full of more teachers that are in themselves under-funded and under-resourced, meaning that akechi, amongst a bunch of other under-funded and under-resourced kids who by this point probably have a shitload of emotional and mental trauma, are all stuck together in an environment that is in itself increasingly less equipped to support these students.

the great irony of education is that schools receive more funding if the students in the school do well. hilarious, right? a school produces good students, and suddenly they have alumni funding, stakeholders, donations, so on and so forth. a school starts failing, and people pull out. students in struggling schools get even less help when, arguably, they’re the students who need more help.

like i said. rigged game. you lose, and you keep losing.

in comparison to akira, akira “loses” his skirmish with the justice system, and everything in his life sets him up to keep losing--and literally sojiro is THE ONE PERSON standing in between akira and continuing, successive losses, that would have piled up and compounded upon each other.

all this in mind, i’d like to propose that one of the reasons why akechi is so attached to shido is because shido is akechi’s benefactor. shido provides equipment for akechi, likely provides cash, most certainly gave akechi the gun he uses, probably had a hand in akechi attending whatever school he attends.

and to further complicate this, i’d like to mention that benefactors can and do come in terrible types: madarame, for example, was yusuke’s benefactor. i’ve mentioned yaldabaoth is a type of benefactor. kaneshiro is arguably a type of benefactor, although a particularly malicious and overtly parasitic type. as i’ve pointed out before, kobayakawa is a type of benefactor for makoto, in that kobayakawa offers explicit aid to makoto’s educational career.

having a benefactor puts you at their mercy. again, not to draw parallels between yusuke and akechi, but yusuke’s entire social link revolves around potentially getting a new benefactor post-madarame. yusuke ultimately declines for a variety of reasons, but i’d like to point out that one of the reasons is arguably that yusuke is hesitant to put himself at the mercy of a new benefactor’s wishes. if yusuke accepts that money, he’ll be beholden to please whoever’s funding him, and this greatly restricts his artistic freedom.

this is also part of the reason why it’s so fucking funny that you can mouth off to sojiro and sojiro, apparently, gives not a single shit. you tell sojiro that you’ve been a criminal for eight months and he helps you. you tell sojiro that you’ve gotten his adopted daughter involved in criminal activity and he’s just like “well it’s good futaba has friends i guess.”

sojiro is a type of benefactor whose help is... probably not unconditional, but hilariously close. morgana is the same way. caroline and justine are the same way. notably, morgana and caroline/justine were, yknow, made to help akira, and likely cannot do anything else. akira has a lot of benefactors who will help him regardless of what he chooses and how he utilizes their help.

a lot of the abusers we see in persona 5 are benefactors using their pull to make the benefactee behave in a way they want--people who can threaten to stop sponsoring, people who can threaten to leave if the benefactee doesn’t do as they like. this puts the benefactee in a precarious position of having to behave in a certain way in order to continue to receive aid.

circle back to shido: shido is akechi’s benefactor.

but akechi’s plan is to become shido’s benefactor.

NO IM SO SERIOUS. THAT’S WHAT AKECHI’S PLAN BOILS DOWN TO.

as some people have pointed out, akechi’s plan isn’t actually to kill shido. akechi’s plan is to make shido dependent on him. akechi is trying to position himself as having a valuable resource that shido cannot do without (access to the metaverse). what akechi’s trying to do is to position himself in such a way that shido gets a taste of his own medicine.

(which, personally, amuses me greatly, because akechi’s plan boils down to “oh well you abused me? i’ll abuse you back,” which is just. so fucking stupid and also very much exactly what anti-goro fans do 99% of the time, so the entire thing is just an endless source of schadenfreude.)

but as we know, this doesn’t really work out. first of all, shido likely operates as akechi’s benefactor in financial ways, and the fact that akechi requires shido alive and in power in order for his STUPID fucking plan to work means that shido has akechi by the throat. even if both of them are benefactoring each other, this means that, at best, they’ve come to a situation in which both of them are an equal threat to each other, so it’s really no surprise shido wanted to cut akechi loose.

and i think it’s important to note that shido is probably one of the very few adults in akechi’s life who actually helps akechi--again, in the same way that madarame helps yusuke (with a lot of fine print, coercion, and other hidden knives involved). people have pointed out that akechi did rely on shido’s praise--the value of emotional stability and improved mental health, no matter how slim, cannot be understated. (there’s a reason why people wind up in self-destructive behaviors; the behavior itself fulfills some need that the person has.) i’m not sure that akechi would even have a job at the police force if shido had not pulled strings to get him there. i’m not sure akechi would have the grades that he does at the school he attends if shido had not helped him get there. like any other employer relationship, when akechi proposed to help shido by utilizing the metaverse, shido is expected to provide the funds to ensure akechi can actually do that job, and those funds would have made a remarkable difference in akechi’s life. and all of these are conditional on akechi killing people.

when sojiro decided to invest in akira, sojiro drastically changed akira’s life trajectory, and protected akira from a lot of future misfortune, all at basically no cost to akira and without any strings. shido investing in akechi does the same, not only stopping akechi’s “losing streak,” but reversing it altogether into a winning streak.

suddenly, akechi’s in a school that actually gives him schoolwork that pushes him intellectually, actually prepares him for college, actually teaches him things. the better akechi does, the more he’s rewarded for it, because there’s actually teachers who are there who will notice. he gets paid for working with the police, which means better pay, better hours, better living conditions, more free time. people take note of his success. people start talking about him. all of a sudden, he’s getting interviews for being so remarkably young and still so adept as his job. and again, it’s all conditional on akechi fulfilling his deal with shido.

compare and contrast to akira, who has sojiro, morgana, and the velvet room all acting as his benefactor. the entire POINT of the velvet room is to be an unconditional, no-strings source of aid. meanwhile, akechi only has shido, whose help is highly conditional. the difference is remarkable. the difference between akira and akechi comes down primarily to the adults and other forces who took the time to invest in their success, future, and well-being.

all this in mind, persona 5 (although it has very little backbone in a lot of its execution and doesn’t like following through on its own train of logic) has the audacity to say: maybe people doing bad things is not certain people’s faults. it’s the fault of the rigged game itself.

so the question becomes: who’s setting up the game?

this is usually answered by “who’s the shitty benefactor?”

who has more resources and more ability than someone else, and provides those resources/abilities on a conditional basis? who has power over someone else and is using that power not to help, but to harm the person with less power? who’s using what they have in order to make someone else act according to their needs? who’s rigging someone else’s life circumstances?

the plot of persona 5 is the phantom thieves seeking “who’s setting up the game,” which turns into a sort of matryoshka nesting-doll escalation as they move further and further up the chain to find bigger and more comprehensive sets of games. start with kamoshida, who’s setting up unfair conditions and a rigged game in which ann, shiho, ryuji, mishima, and akira are at his whims in an increasingly-unfair situation. kamoshida, as the rule-maker of the game, needs to go. but kamoshida is ALSO part of a different game, which is shujin itself, which is being funded by (apparently) shido’s conspiracy to some extent. kamoshida is an olympic medalist who has no other prospects in his life and is stuck in a job he doesn’t really like because shujn has a deep investment in providing a competitive athletics program, because competitive athletics programs is a mark of a good school, and there’s a lot of money involved in making shujin a good school. kobayakawa is the next chain up, in that he’s strongarming makoto to catch the phantom thieves, but even kobayakawa is not the person making the rules; kobayakawa is at the whims of an even larger game. so on and so forth.

which brings me back to shido.

(for the record. it was this point that i realized that this essay had gotten out of control. because i’d started a whole other meta essay one other time, so i already had a bunch of thoughts about loki and the importance of akechi’s plan to take down shido in the way that akechi was hoping to, and i realized that this entire train of thought was rapidly taking me into “norse mythos analysis hours,” and i was like. fuck. fuck. god fucking dammit. i started this essay as a way to pass the time and cure my headache and now we’re doing this??? we’re really doing this????? fuck me)

“who’s setting up the game” is a neat observation that systems of oppression are intangible and operate without humans, but at the same time, are maintained and composed of humans simultaneously. (i know. it doesn’t make sense. it sucks.) palace rulers, then, are an attempt to locate intangible systems of oppression into a single human person.

in reality this doesn’t happen quite so neatly, but masayoshi shido is a nice fantasy that maybe, a very large portion of systemic corruption can be boiled down to one bald man with ugly glasses. he embodies literally EVERYTHING wrong in the world: corruption, misogyny, embezzlement, gross adults, manipulation and blackmail, murder, child abuse--basically everything you can think of. and from akechi’s point of view, shido is not only at the heart of government corruption, but also most of akechi’s personal hurts as well.

watch closely this very cool narrative trick that persona 5 forgot to capitalize on: you store all the shitty things in the world in one person, and then you take him out, destroying him and all the world’s sins all at once. if you locate all the sins in one place, you don’t have to worry about the fact that systemic injustice is permeated throughout every aspect of the fabric of our world, from the policies in place to the ways that we think to the ways that our imaginations are arrested from imagining new possibilities (the prevalence of anti-goro fans who insist that he’s scum of the earth being fair evidence of the ways that traditional morality prevents people from re-imagining a kinder world in which people can be held accountable for their actions in conjunction with empathy).

akechi, in particular, would like us to think that all the sins of the entire world are stored in the masayoshi shido--again, from his perspective, it certainly looks that way. but i don’t think we should underestimate the degree to which akechi engineered his own shitty situation with shido, and the degree to which akechi is a highly unreliable narrator of his own circumstances.

the SECOND after shido goes down, the PT are wondering why very little has changed. it turns out that shido is not the source of all the world’s evils.

shido was a symptom of the world’s evils, that’s for sure. shido is a uniquely-perfect piece of garbage that, by some freak accident, was a well-placed and well-timed fit for the government system’s flaws. the fact that shido got as far as he did is a symptom of the situation, but he isn’t the cause, or the source.

okay, now the phantom thieves have to go one level higher. they’ve got to kill yaldabaoth. yaldabaoth is the cause of everything, isn’t he?

also no. yaldabaoth is also a symptom of humanity’s desires. yaldabaoth was made by the human subconscious and, despite yaldabaoth being a bitchass motherfucker, yaldabaoth wasn’t just being a shit to the phantom thieves when he said that ultimately he’s just fulfilling humanity’s own wishes.

well, akira takes down this fucker too, but by this time the damage is done. we’ve realized that corruption cannot be contained in a single person. one person alone cannot be conceptualized as the Source Of All Evil. we’re forced to confront the fact that corruption is widespread, everywhere, and exists within individuals as well as in the relations between individuals.

compare and contrast this with the ending of persona 3, in which humanity calls down nyx to enact the end of the world out of some mass collective suicide drive. since nyx cannot be killed, and humanity cannot be stopped from wishing to die, minato becomes the seal to prevent humanity from calling out to nyx. in killing yaldabaoth, akira destroys the manifestation of humanity’s desire to be controlled and kept apathetic, but in both of these situations, the enemy is still humanity itself.

so as it turns out, despite the phantom thieves’ desire to take down shitty individuals in order to dismantle large-scale systems of injustice, the game would have us turn to the fact that this is not enough. the solution is always in the mass population--in everyone everywhere, and that our responsibility as individuals works in conjunction with the fact that everyone is collectively responsible simultaneously.

which brings us back to sae niijima.

i know, i know. i talk about akechi and the velvet room and shido and akira and sojiro for howeverthefuckmany words, and now i’m going to talk about sae.

sae is the center of persona 5. or at least, she should be.

all the threads that persona 5 has been tracking (or at least has been attempting to track) ultimately boil down to sae and her decision to become a defense attorney. sae takes up the idea of being a benefactor and makes it her profession. and sae, very specifically, tells akira that she, as an adult, will start taking responsibility for the younger generation.

sae says: we might be collectively responsible, and the injustices of the world may be a product of everyone everywhere. but it’s also true that the actions of the collective start with individuals. and that individual is going to be me.

persona 5 begins and ends with an adult saying that the game might be unfair, but i’m going to take it upon myself specifically to do what i can to try and stop that. i will be the benefactor that this kid needs. i will be the difference in someone else’s life. i will stop unfortunate events like akechi and shido from happening.

the truth is that benefactors can and do make a meaningful difference in someone else’s life. that’s the entire reason why they’re so critical to a child’s success in life. as it turns out, people cannot and do not succeed alone. and that it’s not unusual for a child to seek out adult help in any way that they can, and that in fact they should, and it’s normal and understandable, and that adults should seek to help children in any way that they can, lest situations like shido occur.

this is part of the reason why i really like that the velvet room has become such a staple in the persona series. the entire premise of the velvet room is based on the idea that people do need help, and that it’s not a moral failing if you aren’t able to succeed without someone in your corner.

anyway. say thank you sae, sojiro, and igor.

#meta #mine

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