#the top and bottom rows are so chill while the middle is...

[td-art-storage]

Just gonna drop by and confess

I really like you cosdol design! So while they is distracted lez add your guild name in their visit list!

(hope i get the color right, ne huajai khun min samer ka)

Oh yes please I need cosdol to come visit again it's been so long😭 but what is this khun ne are you trying to give me a heart attack??? Did you go through my old post💀...??? I have so many questions rn

[slowd1ving]

ACT I: FLOURISH ✦ . 　⁺ VIL SCHOENHEIT

Vil Schoenheit and second place aren't supposed to be a thing. He's supposed to be the very embodiment of perfection, so why the hell is someone else's name usurping his crown on the Potions leader board? In which our starring actor cannot quench the flames of academic rivalry and resentment that consume him, nor can he fathom the enigma that you are. gn! scientist! reader warnings: contains nsfw but only later, angst with a happy ending, spoilers for book five, canon-compliant violence

anyways this fic is one of my personal favourites that I've written so please enjoy <3

TWISTED WONDERLAND MASTERLIST

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MASTERLIST ・゜・NAVIGATION

NEXT PART

Scene I: Overture . 　⁺

It starts on a particularly dull morning. Grey clouds adorn the grey skies; they are utterly devoid of joy and beauty. Rook would see beauty in this lifeless day, but Rook is not there to see it. Vil is. Standing here, in the dull hallway outside the Potionology classroom, is a perfectly miserable way to start off the school day.

Three heartbeats pass before Vil composes himself enough to straighten his posture. Three long heartbeats. Between each thump, he has to remind himself that he’s still the best in the Advanced Potions course. Of course he is. So what is this foreboding that’s chilling him to his very bones? He fights the urge to adjust his tie as he anxiously waits for the rankings of the top students to emerge onto the noticeboard facing him. It’s approximately two minutes before Crewel typically posts the monthly rankings, and ten minutes before he has to face the music by entering the classroom for said course. He’s still got time before hoards of clamorous students charge through the hallways.

One minute. He’s always been on top of this leaderboard, even after being transferred to the course as a freshmen where all his peers were at least a year older. His potions are always textbook perfection. Always. Something’s been weighing on his mind, though. Ever since last week’s assignment to brew a sleeping potion using only five ingredients, he’s had a very uncomfortable feeling that Professor Crewel’s ranking is leaning towards someone else. Even though Vil’s recipe contained some of the most potent ingredients, even though he delivered perfection and potency wrapped in a wax-sealed bottle; it may not have been the star of the show.

A parchment scroll slowly materialises into view behind the thick glass. Vil waits with bated breath; it’s been years since he’s last felt tremors like these. The gnawing feeling in his gut feels horribly similar to the first time he experienced stage fright. It’s unfurling. Whoever made this unveiling spell needed to be fired immediately; the bottom rankings were being revealed first. Vil sighs in relief as he sees his name emblazoned on top in a deep red alongside his markings.

Hold on.

Someone else’s name is slowly scrawling itself onto the parchment. Who the hell- an annoying ringing permeates his ears as he feels his heart miss a beat. He doesn’t know that name, but as his eyes swivel to the house logo proudly emblazoned beside it, he can clearly see the Ramshackle logo. The Prefect? The magicless human? The orientation disruptor? The beast-tamer? That person?

It’s been precisely two months since you arrived, and somehow managed to worm your way into Advanced Potions class, despite not possessing any sort of understanding of magic or potions. That should have been a sign in itself, but Vil dismissed it as nothing more than a fluke. Foolish. You’ve kept your head down, preferring to sit in the back of the lab as Crewel lectured the students, while Vil’s consistently kept to the middle rows. Of course he hasn’t noticed you.

Still, it must be a fluke. It has to be. How could you, someone who’s decidedly without any magic at all, become the proverbial spanner in the works? Distantly, he feels his hands clench into tight fists as he scans the row of marks next to your name. You’ve been consistently scoring just a couple of points below him, although the marks for the first class are subpar, of course. Still, he cannot fathom how you’ve managed to beat his average of 96.

That’s until the final row of marks - for this week’s assignment - slowly unveil themselves. Your score of 100 sits proudly above his meagre 87. Vil feels a vein protrude on his forehead. That’s impossible! It’s unheard of for a student to achieve 100 marks in Crewel’s classes, especially for an exam assignment, and especially in the Advanced Potions course! There’s no way, absolutely no way you of all people managed that! The next person below Vil only managed to scrape a 50, for Sevens’ sake!

Vil feels his breathing become uneven. He can’t even imagine how you could’ve cheated - those assigned flasks were enchanted with every sort of spell imaginable preventing cheating, and each potion had to be brewed somewhere on school grounds, under teacher supervision, within an hour.

The clatter of students is beginning to approach. Breathing heavily, he shoulders the door open, devoid of his usual lustrous grace. He avoids his usual row, choosing to sit on the far back corner of the lab - your row. Surely, there must be some indicator as to how you achieved a perfect result, some lapse in composure that would betray what must doubtlessly be foul play.

There’s only one seat between Vil and your chair. He can feel the lack of distance sharply. The lab isn’t particularly big; it’s never bothered him apart from now. Feverishly, he stares down the door, watching the slow trickle of students enter to distract that gnawing feeling. From the corner, he can see the hallway, as well as whoever chooses to look at the noticeboard. It’s agonising, waiting for you to walk in so he can observe you.

When you finally decide to show up, you’re in class around a minute later than Crewel and the previous student. Vil can tell by the direction of your body and feet that you haven’t yet seen the rankings. He’s not sure you know they even exist. He can feel his blood starting to boil slowly, which is only heightened when Crewel points his riding crop at you. Your surprise is apparent by the way your feet stutter to a sharp halt.

“Listen up, whelps!” his voice resounds throughout the lab. “I’m sure most of you have seen the rankings for this month that were posted this morning! As usual, most of your scores were abysmal for the final assignment, though this promising pup managed to get full marks-” here he gestures to you with approval. Vil doesn’t miss the way your brows furrow, then a small smile blooms on your face as you look down at your shoes. “-on an assignment that would likely even trouble my fourth years. Next week, we will go over why your attempts were so laughably mediocre, and I will personally make sure that lesson is drilled into each and every one of you pups.”

Crewel’s piercing glare marches itself around the room. Vil can see your shoulders slump in relief as Crewel strides behind his desk and you are free to make your way to the back. Your gaze is trained straight on your seat. Vil leans on his forearms to observe the other students; a few look back at you with congratulatory smiles, which you return. You don’t seem to have noticed your new neighbour. He feels his eye almost twitch. How dare you? You don’t even realise the full gravitas of this situation! Not only did you dismiss the noticeboard, you don’t even seem to be affected by the knowledge that you got full marks! Not to mention you haven’t even looked at him once! Is it ignorance, or a blatant smugness? Vil almost begins chewing his pen in anger before stopping himself.

The rest of the lecture goes by agonisingly slowly. Today isn’t a lab practical day, so Vil hasn’t got a chance to observe just how you’ve managed to secure that top rank. Instead, he alternates between taking notes and watching you watching Crewel and taking your own notes, which seem to be interspersed with pointless little doodles in the margins of your notepad. It’s infuriating.

He’s worked hard; he’s worked himself to the very bone to be the Fairest One. Yet that title was snatched away by some wimp resting on his laurels and looks to snag the roles that Vil yearned for. Now it’s happening all over again. Something within him is twisting, churning, grating his insides and self-control into a bloody pulp. The title of number one in the Potionology department is something he could finally call his own. Something that couldn’t be snatched away by someone’s looks or charm or mere luck. It was a way to prove himself to his dorm. It was a way to finally be held above all others for something you could very well work hard for. It proved his diligence.

So why? Why was this newly sprouted tuber next to him number one? Why the hell weren’t you taking any of this seriously? He seethes. It’s unbelievable. When he surreptitiously glances at your notes, they’re written in a language that he can’t even make sense of. They’re a far cry from the runes of Twisted Wonderland, and even with his studies on linguistics he can’t figure the twisted squiggles out.

“It’s the Latin alphabet,” your voice is suddenly in his ear, and he wishes for nothing more than to explode on the spot. His eyes flicker between your notepad and your face, which sports a tired smile. You’ve clearly misinterpreted the furrow of his brows as a question, because you continue.

“I can barely make sense of the runes here,” you twirl your pen between your fingers. Your other hand props up your chin as you tilt your face towards Crewel’s general direction, but your eyes linger on his. “So I use the language from my world.”

“I see,” Vil’s curt response doesn’t even make you bat an eye; instead, you turn to face Crewel again as if you had never spoken in the first place. This revelation from you is useless information to him, but if he continues talking to you he may be able to glean more information about your supposed genius.

Towards the end of the lecture, you pause in packing up and swivel towards Vil. He masks his startled expression within a millisecond, luckily.

“I never got round to asking your name,” you smiled sheepishly, scratching your neck with the back of your pen. “I think I saw you at orientation?”

That’s it. Vil feels his self-control splinter.

“Vil Schoenheit,” he says coldly. “You would do well to remember it, tuber potato.”

Your expression is nothing short of bewilderment as you toss your pen in your bag, but ultimately you don’t say anything after you nod. Vil feels a swell of the same ugly, twisted emotion that rears its head at the mention of Neige LeBlanche.

As you leave the room, Vil is left watching your back as the bell rings.

Scene II: Interlude . 　⁺

“Bonjour, Roi des Poisons,” Rook’s sharp gaze misses nothing as Vil feels those eyes observing his countenance. Vil elects to be silent, sipping on the fragrant lavender tea. The Pomefiore lounge never fails to ease his mind with its deep blue tones, fit for the Fairest Queen herself, but it cannot help his turbulent thoughts.

“Who is the lucky one who has cracked that beautiful mask of yours?” Rook’s voice is beginning to sound rather jarring after today’s fiasco earlier.

“I can’t say I know what you’re talking about,” Vil’s stiff words are forcibly turned casual as they leave his mouth.

“Tu me mens,” Rook drapes himself over the armchair Vil sits in, taking off his hat in a sweeping motion. “It breaks my heart, hearing sadness in that beautiful voice of yours. Tell me, who is the cause of this pain?”

“Rook,” Vil turns to him contemplatively, observing how Rook’s present grin is all teeth and sharp edges. “The Prefect of Ramshackle has piqued my interest.”

He didn’t mean to admit it, but the truth escaped his lips before he had a chance to think it through. Vil sighs, shutting his eyes and placing his teacup back into its saucer. It’s been a stressful day, one that can’t be amended with just a simple cup of tea.

“How very beautiful,” Rook comments, rising from his draped position. “I will take my leave, mon Roi.”

Vil has no doubt that Rook’s interest will also be spiked by you. He just hopes he gets some worthwhile intel about you in the process.

Scene III: The Hunter . 　⁺

“Félicitations,” a very familiar voice cuts through the tranquillity of the Botanical Gardens. Vil tenses up from where he was crouched harvesting the flowers of a particularly potent species typically used in aromatherapy. He doesn’t mean to eavesdrop on Rook, but as fate would have it, your voice responds to the hunter.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” your tone is quizzical; by the rustling, Vil gathers that you’re likely here for the bounty of flora available in the Garden. Judging by the volume, you and Rook are probably three or four metres around the bush he’s facing.

“Of course, pardon my impertinence. Je suis Rook Hunt. I was simply admiring your beauty, when I realised you’re the one I’ve heard so much about,” Rook’s voice is sincere in his flattery, but Vil almost screams at his forwardness.

“What’s been said about me?” a shift is heard in cloth. No doubt you’re rocking on your feet, either in curiosity or nervousness, Vil can’t tell.

“Your scientific prowess has been held in very high esteem amongst my peers,” Rook murmurs; Vil can imagine those green eyes staring into yours at that moment and fights the urge to shudder at his audacious nature. Seems like Rook’s already cut straight to the heart of things. “I cannot help but be curious about what you plan to do with those sprigs of Somniablossoms, les fleurs des rêves.”

“Just some analysis,” your tone turned to that of academic fervour, one that resonated with Vil. “I’ve noticed that a lot of the elements present in this world match the properties of the ones back in mine - meaning that this place is likely in a shared universe. I’m trying to examine some of the flora here to see if the subcellular structures of plants here differ in any way from the ones back home. Then I’ll extract and purify the oil from these sprigs for further use, and use the flowers to see if they’d work as indicators.”

Your rambling catches Vil off-guard. He hadn’t expected you to be passionate about science outside the classroom; he judged by your attitude in Crewel’s classroom that it was more of a one and done occurrence of genius.

“Incroyable. Your mind captivates me. It seems we share the same love of science,” Rook’s own scientific fervour is clearly audible in his voice. Vil feels sickened by this sudden closeness between the two of you. He can’t turn away from the conversation, listening while he holds his breath.

“Yeah,” your tone is once again sheepish, drawing the ‘e’ vowel out ever so slightly. “I can’t read the runes here all that fluently, so it’s up to me to conduct my own research instead of relying too much on textbooks.”

“What tenacity! I would love to see your workspace someday,” Rook praises. It’s too much for Vil; he can’t listen any more without feeling that ugly monster within rear its head. “I’m sure it’s as captivating as that wonderful brain.”

Rook’s sweet talk fades out as Vil quietly slips away. He’s got no doubt that Rook sniffed his presence out; he only hopes you were too preoccupied by the vice Housewarden to notice him as well.

He massages his temples as he walks into the secluded corner of the Pomefiore lounge, seeking out his favourite armchair. It’s thankfully empty, as he’s one of the only ones with a free period at this time. Now he’s got time to think. All these negative feelings were going to damage his health, and he couldn’t afford to lose sleep over this. Not with the SDC a mere three months away.

No, he should treat this as a challenge. You proved yourself to be a worthy opponent with clear wit, something you had clearly worked for. To win against you… to win against you would be a more worthwhile endeavour than winning against that bumbling Neige. You would not take his title away from him. At long last, here was something that he could work hard for instead of it being taken away by something out of his control.

Was that what this was about? Control? After being overlooked for everything, left to play the villain, surely he could achieve this, at least?

“Roi des Poisons, I hope you were adequately amused,” Rook’s sudden appearance almost started Vil from his musings. Almost.

“Quite,” Vil responded, staring out of the window at the blue sky and beyond.

[fanfictwins]

MHA - MerMay Special 2025

Summary: "Rather than suffer the watery grave you thought was certain, you find yourself in an unusual situation deep down in the depths of the ocean. You could describe it as fishy... in a good way."

Word Count: ~10.4k

To see drawings made specifically for this special, click here.

- - - - -

You couldn’t remember how many times you had thought about your eventual demise — it was always something that crawled up into a person’s mind at the most random of times, made up of “what-ifs” and the worries hidden deep inside the human heart — but it was sometimes fun for a normal person like you to imagine yourself meeting your end in some final grand blaze of glory.

To imagine that you would become important enough for your death to cause a big splash.

But you were just a normal person, and normal people died quietly.

Your lips kept parting to let in the nighttime air, only to be met with the distinct taste of the salty sea, the cold water soaking through your clothes as a chill enveloped your bones. The night sky above was devoid of any light pollution, the shining stars from light years away able to be seen in their full glory as you angled your head up, and the cruise ship that you had previously been a passenger of continued on its merry way, ignorant to the troublesome situation you were now in.

The act of staying afloat was getting harder by the second.

Your clothes felt like heavy weights, the pressure on your body growing during the constant fight to keep your head above water. You weren’t sure if you were actually moving around much; your body was becoming numb from the cold, so you couldn’t make sense of where your limbs were.

The most unusual part, though… was that you felt oddly calm.

You always thought you would feel an overwhelming terror gripping your core at the moment of your death, but… you were now facing an eerie calmness; you wouldn’t say it was because you accepted this outcome, but you weren’t exactly denying that it was happening either. The fact of the matter was that this situation was what was happening, and you couldn’t do much about it.

And with the stars as your only witness, everything soon faded to black.

- - - - -

Your lungs inflated with a sharp gasp, and your hands found their way underneath your body to push yourself up from where you were laying. You began coughing so much that it hurt, but you felt unable to stop your body from taking in and expelling air, even as painful as it was. You only managed to calm down and stop after a moment, but, even then, there was still a feeling of pain residing in your chest with every breath you took in, and your throat wasn’t doing that well either.

One, two, one, two…

You finally got to a point where breathing didn’t hurt as much… and then paused.

Breathing? Weren’t you just drowning?

You blinked, and then blinked again, before you slowly began to look around at the place you had awoken in; since you had come to with such a startling start, it was hard to put any blame on yourself for not noticing until now that you were in some kind of… large cavern. There were tall walls of rock surrounding you on all sides, one having a single carved opening located near the bottom, while another — albeit smaller — opening was at the very top of the cave, letting in a stream of light to illuminate the area. That helped you take notice of how the rock walls caved inwards in semi-coherent rows, which brought to your mind “shelves”, and with how there were various objects neatly laid upon them, it seemed your initial feeling about them was correct…

…and, now, your interest was piqued, because you wondered what exactly would anyone want to keep stored in a place like this. You could admit that it was a nice cave, but it was still a cave, and you couldn’t imagine yourself leaving anything you valued sitting around like this in the wild.

But as you tried to move from where you were laying — a mostly-flat rock that was sitting in the middle of the cavern — to get a closer look, you felt mild resistance to your movements from the space around you. The effort needed to even just flex your fingers was a bit more than you were used to, and that was when your brain recognized the feeling as how it felt to move underwater.

Your hands rushed to your head at the revelation, only to be stopped by a bouncy surface. The smooth yet soft barrier was completely encasing your head, and you soon figured out that it was a bubble; a stronger-than-normal bubble, as it hadn’t popped yet, but still a bubble, nonetheless.

Though the situation at hand was more than mind-boggling, you shrugged off the weirdness for now in favor of flailing about in the water to look around the cavern. The shelves were lined with various items you recognized: chests, jewelry, silverware, candleholders, framed art-pieces, and other priceless treasures. Those had been placed right next to… literal garbage: cigarette stubs, soda cans, plastic bags, bottle caps, and other pieces of junk that wouldn’t be worth much at all.

But the treasures and junk were placed side-by-side, as if considered the same value.

You came to a stop once you reached a mirror, which appeared old and was cracked. Even so, it still successfully fulfilled its purpose as you peered into the reflection, taking in the sight of the bubble surrounding your head. The sight was a bit goofy, but it was allowing you to still breathe.

The reflection also caused you to realize- oh.

You knew that clothes made swimming harder — as foggy as the memory was, you could still feel how your own helped to drag you down into the depths after you fell overboard — but you only now realized you were moving a little too well through the water for the clothes you were wearing… and the reason for why was now staring at you, copying your wide-eyed expression.

The warmth blossoming in your cheeks only began to subside after you headed back to where you awoke and quickly grabbed your undergarments, slipping them back on. You then grabbed the rest of your clothes that rested by the flat rock, holding them close to your chest. While what was most important was that whoever saved you saved your life, and you understood why they made the decisions they made, this was still an embarrassing situation for you to have to be in.

“O-Oh! You’re finally awake!”

The sound of a voice made you flinch, and you spun around — as quickly as you were able to underwater, at least — to come face-to-face with… a boy who appeared to be around your age.

That was… you assumed he was around your age; it was difficult to tell with all the fins and the scales and the fact that the lower-half of his body, below his stomach, just looked like a fish tail.

You clutched your clothes closer and screamed.

- - - - -

To put it lightly, screaming may have been… a bit of an overreaction.

The fish boy– merman– ah, screw it, how you should describe him was less important than the fact that you should call him your hero. His name was “Midoriya Izuku”, which you learned after you stopped screaming at him — and after he finished screaming himself. That the person who saved you would start to panic just because you were panicking was a little silly, but endearing.

Midoriya looked mostly human… if you were to keep your gaze focused on his upper-half, and squinted just a bit. There were patches of orange scales scattered about his skin, his forearms coated from his elbows to his finger tips, and in place of ears sat large fins, matching the dorsal fin located on his back. His neck had a set of slits on each side, no doubt for the gills he had to have as an aquatic creature, and his lower-half transitioned into a shimmering orange fish tail.

“Well, um… thank you for saving my life.” You tried to offer him a smile, and you hoped it didn’t look as awkward as you felt. “Even though I’m still… super confused about the whole thing.”

“Of course! It was nothing! No need to make a big deal out of it!” The boy glided effortlessly in the water towards you, a noticeable glimmer of excitement sparkling in his eyes as he seemed to soak in the sight of you sitting there. “I’m just happy that you’re okay! Humans aren’t able to breathe underwater, right? I was worried it might’ve been too late when I found you, but, luckily, it looks like the magic bubble managed to provide you a suitable air reservoir, so it’s all okay!”

“Magic bubble…?” You paused before poking at the thing around your head, which wobbled in response. “Oh, so this is why I’m not drowning? I guess… I can see how that makes sense…?”

Midoriya nodded with a small hum. “Yeah, I’m not too good at magic yet, but it’s a pretty basic spell, all things considered. I think anyone who’s taken at least one magic lesson can cast it.”

The way he spoke about magic — so casually, as if discussing the weather — took you aback, because, last you heard, magic didn’t exist; then again, you also recently thought you would be subject to a watery grave, and, now, here you were, submerged in the sea with a magic bubble around your head while you talked to a merperson. The choices you were able to make in such a situation were possibly endless… but thinking logically was no longer on the table anymore.

“Basic or not, as long as it keeps me alive, I think it’s the best spell in the whole world.”

You found it easier to smile now.

“And seriously, thanks. Don’t downplay yourself.”

Midoriya pulled back as you spoke, but a smile eventually reappeared on his face in return, and through the literal water filter in the way, you noticed the way his face darkened with a flush too.

“So, uh… this is actually my first time meeting a human in the flesh! I was kind of wondering if I could maybe ask you a couple of questions? Oh! But you’re probably still trying to recover from what you’ve been through so now might not be the best time! I just think humans are interesting and this’ll probably be my only chance to ever talk to one! To be honest, everything I’ve learned about them comes from second-hand sources, and those tend to vary in accuracy, so it would-”

Wow.

You weren’t sure if having gills instead of lungs made it easier to yap, or maybe Midoriya was just really passionate about what he was talking about, but he kept going and going and going, and it was starting to actually impress you. That he was so shy while trying to explain himself while also making sure you were comfortable just endeared him to you even more than before.

“So…”

You managed to interject when Midoriya finished his current sentence, and before he could go on to the next one, as you gestured vaguely to the cavern around you with both of your hands.

“...this place must be yours, then?”

Midoriya bashfully nodded, his eyes drifting towards the shelves.

“Y-Yeah… I try to collect anything I can about humans. Most of it comes from human vessels that sank a long time ago, b-but, sometimes, I also find things floating near the surface. It’s all so different from anything I’ve ever seen before, and there’s so much variety in the items that I’ve managed to gather that it’s hard to believe that they were all created by the same species.”

You gave a brief glance to the shelves carved into the stone walls, taking in the mix of antique treasures and modern garbage — an exhibit on the vastness of human existence, condensed.

“Ah… well, I guess I can answer any questions you have.” You resumed looking at Midoriya, watching how the expression on his face brightened up. “I don’t mind, and it’s the least I could do in exchange for you saving my life. I don’t exactly have anything else that I could give you.”

“You don’t have to give anything, really! But thank you so much!”

The boy swam closer to you with widened eyes, the fins of his tail brushing along your legs as he circled around you, almost seeming to inspect you. You tensed at the ticklish feeling, before kicking your legs and pulling them up onto the flat rock you sat upon, relaxing them afterwards.

“Okay, so, where do I start? I have so many questions and I never thought that I’d ever get the chance to ask them! I can’t believe this is actually happening right now! So, first, how about-”

“Deku? Who’re you talking to?”

The sound of a new voice from the entrance to the cavern caused you to swivel around on the flat rock you sat upon to look towards it… just to see two more people just like Midoriya; at this point, you shouldn’t be that surprised, but the sight still made you have to pause for a moment.

That new voice, the one that had gotten your attention, came from a girl whose lower-half was more like a jellyfish’s than an actual fish’s, and — to your human senses — resembled a dress, mostly stemming from how the somewhat-transparent, pink, gelatinous substance flowed about as she swam. There was a noticeable lack of fins and scales like what Midoriya had, but she did appear to have a membrane similar to her jellyfish half hung around her shoulders like a shawl.

The other newcomer was another boy, and while he sported a fishtail, fins, and had patches of scales littering his body like Midoriya, his overall appearance was a lot sleeker, as if it was built for speed. The most unusual part about how he looked, however, was one you would normally never bat an eye at — he was wearing glasses… or, at least, that was what came to mind when seeing the thin wires twisted together around his fin ears to keep two pieces of colored glass in place in front of his eyes. He even adjusted them like how a human would adjust their glasses.

“Uraraka! Iida!”

Midoriya turned to greet the two, but looked just as nervous as he was happy to see them.

The two unfamiliar merfolk paused once they saw you, the briefest of moments passing before you saw their expressions shift into ones of realization. That you, the proverbial fish out of water in this situation, were the calmest one here was kind of funny, even with how bizarre this all was.

“Just what is the meaning of this?!”

Iida seemed to be the first to snap out of his shock, and he chopped his arm rapidly to gesture towards you as he focused his gaze on Midoriya, his other hand going up to adjust his glasses.

“Midoriya, I understand you have a fascination with Homo sapiens, but this is absurd! Gathering discarded curios is permissible, but smuggling in contraband of this sort is a very serious crime!”

The aforementioned boy moved to try and shield you from view. “Wait, it’s not what it looks like!”

“Whoa, a real-life human…?” Uraraka glided over, slipping under Midoriya’s arm to get a better look at you. Her hands were in front of her chest, her fingers pressed together as her wide eyes blinked. “Where’d you get them from? I thought humans are usually only found past the water.”

“O-Oh, uh… I was scavenging for more human articles earlier and happened to find them while they were… drowning…? There wasn’t any land nearby and I… I couldn’t just leave them there, so I conjured a magic bubble to use as an air supply and then brought them down here to rest.”

Uraraka smiled, turning her head to look at Midoriya. “That’s so like you, Deku.”

“Do you mean that in a good way, or…?”

You glanced between the pair as they stared at each other, smiles eventually settling onto both of their faces, before your eyes trailed over to Iida, who appeared to be in the middle of dealing with an internal struggle; it seemed like he was conflicted on whether or not he should continue to reprimand Midoriya, as the act of scolding the boy for the noble deed of “saving a life” wasn’t exactly right… even if some of his actions in carrying out the rescue turned out to be unlawful.

And, with that said, you couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at his previous words.

“Excuse me…?” You raised a hand slightly, watching all eyes land on you. “Yeah, uh, I’m just wondering why the words “contraband” and “serious crime” were used while referring to me?”

Uraraka let out a gasp. “Wow, they talk too?”

“It can speak…?” Iida blinked before he shook his head and forced the surprise that appeared on his face away, his gaze now directed straight at you. “I used such terms because it’s strictly forbidden to have any sort of contact with humans, much less bring one right into our home!”

You stared at Iida for a couple of seconds before glancing at Midoriya, whose face now held a darkened flush similar to the one earlier. His fin ears drooped down as his hands fidgeted with each other in front of his chest, an obvious expression of embarrassment displayed on his face, though he tried to smile once he noticed you looking at him, which still looked rather sheepish.

“Uh…” You looked back at Iida, attempting to smile too. “If it’s a huge issue, I can leave…?”

“Unfortunately, we can’t just let you go. This has now become a safety issue, not just for us but for the whole of our people. We’ll need to inform the local council of this matter and decide what to do from there. That will include bringing in any relevant evidence, which would include you.”

“...huh?”

- - - - -

Your breath was quickly taken away after you left the sanctity of Midoriya’s collection cavern, a world previously unknown to you greeting you the moment you stepped- er, swam outside. You could only get glimpses of the fantastical underwater structures, however, as the trio of merfolk kept moving you forward — and especially since Iida kept trying to hide you in the middle of the three to avoid having you be spotted by anyone else, stating that it would only cause unneeded panic if you were. There was also how you were being pulled and pushed along in the water at speeds you weren’t able to swim at on your own, which added to the difficulty of looking around.

You only got room to breathe — metaphorically — once your entourage managed to guide you into a large structure that resembled ancient ruins. The walls were crumbling, the pieces laying about the floor where they must’ve landed the day they broke off, and most of the surfaces had algae covering them, while seaweed and other plants grew out from the cracks in the stones.

The only indicator of “being in a building” were the distinct shapes of architecture, such as the doorways and window openings. You were more than sure that, if it wasn’t for the presence of those, you would have confused the ruins for just being a very large, very weird-looking cave.

But there was something more interesting than your surroundings… well, make it two things.

The two new individuals you were brought in front of looked to be a fair bit older than the trio that you had just barely gotten to know by now, who all appeared to be similar in age to you.

“You actually brought a human into our home, young Midoriya?”

Midoriya fidgeted before he nodded, looking uncertain of himself. “Y-Yeah…”

The merman in front of you was large — very large. That was for both his actual size and the muscles he had. He reminded you a lot of comic book superheroes with the way he was built, which only served to make him seem more intimidating than he already was… and what was what made you more than comfortable staying right behind Midoriya, as if he was a barrier to protect yourself with. While the Olympian-esque human upper-half was what first drew in your eyes, you couldn’t ignore that his lower-half looked less like a fish and more like a whale, only hammering in that he must be an important figure down here; whales were the largest animals on the planet, and you couldn’t think of what could take down a whale off the top of your head.

That said, you did notice he had gills instead of a blowhole, so maybe the fact he looked like a whale was purely aesthetic instead of actually denoting what he could possibly be capable of.

The large merman listened to the whole story from Midoriya, his hand on his chin.

“I see…”

The other merman let out a long sigh, his elongated fish tail slightly coiled up underneath him where he floated. He had an exhausted expression on his face, which was partly obscured by the bangs of his long black hair and the scarf — which almost resembled… seaweed? — that was wrapped loosely around his neck, but he didn’t look the least bit surprised at the situation.

That must mean that this kind of behavior was just expected of Midoriya.

“Very rarely do humans even get near any of our settlements, but this is the first time one has been brought here directly.” The tired merman’s gaze stopped on you briefly, which made you flinch, before he looked at the others. “We don’t exactly have a protocol for this situation. We’ll need to convene with the other council members to discuss this matter and devise a solution.”

The large merman nodded after his fellow council member finished speaking, his hands now on his hips. “That’s right! And you three are the only ones who know about the human’s presence?”

“Yes, sir!” Iida put his hand up in a salute, somehow standing up straight despite not having any legs. “I’ve ensured that the human was brought here stealthily as soon as I was aware of them!”

“Good! And as long as we keep this on the down-low, there shouldn’t be any consequences.”

The tired merman shifted his gaze to glare up at the large merman, his eyes narrowing. “There will be consequences, regardless. We don’t want to encourage this kind of reckless behavior.”

“Ah, Aizawa… young Midoriya was only trying to save a life. We can’t just punish someone for that in good conscience… what kind of lesson would we be teaching them in being so cruel?”

“Don’t let your favoritism soften you, All Might.”

You continued to peek over Midoriya’s shoulder at the two merfolk, watching them bicker over whether or not to discipline the person responsible for you still being in this world, until it came to a point where you decided to raise your hand and speak, interrupting them mid-discussion.

“So… uh, how long is this going to take? I’d like to go home, eventually… if possible…?”

Aizawa turned his head to look towards you again, blinking a few times in response to the fact that you spoke, before his expression settled back into one of annoyance. “Unfortunately, it will take some time for us to get everything in order… and if you’re deemed a threat in any capacity, even if just in the slightest sense of the word, then you won’t be returning home anytime soon.”

Your face must have made your fear at that thought more obvious than you would have wanted it to, because, quicker than you could come up with a response, the towering figure that was All Might approached you… and began gently patting you on the back. Your eyes trailed up his arm to land on his face, and the moment that they connected with his, he flashed you a wide smile.

“Don’t be so nervous, young human! It’s just formality, and I’ve no doubt you’ll be able to be on your way home in no time! I’ll plead your case personally during the meeting, just to make sure!”

“T-Thanks…?”

Though he had been the most intimidating thing you had seen so far during your time under the water, you couldn’t help but feel reassured by All Might’s words, as well as the smile he wore on his face. The way he acted with such certainty about the situation made you feel like you had no reason to worry, and it was as if he was used to making others feel safe around him; with that in mind, his name — “All Might” — sounded more like a title compared to the names everyone else you had met went by. That moniker must have been given to him because of this quality he had.

“All Might, you just met them.” Aizawa fiddled with his scarf, the strands of seaweed effortlessly floating around as he adjusted them. “And you shouldn’t make any promises you can’t keep.”

The large merman laughed. “Of course! That’s why I’ll do everything I can to make it happen!”

“So, um… where will the human be staying in the meantime?” Uraraka floated forward, coming to a gradual stop by your side and briefly glancing at you before directing her attention towards the two older merfolk. “Here? With one of us? You’re not going to… lock them up… are you?”

Aizawa sighed, his shoulders a bit tense, before he shook his head. “Not sure… but whatever the case, the human is not allowed to be unsupervised. Both for their safety, and for our own.”

“Then I’ll take responsibility!”

Midoriya threw up one of his hands, his body bolting up a couple meters within the water as if to bring focus to himself. He curled his hands into fists as a determined look appeared on his face.

“I’m the reason they’re here, so I’ll keep an eye on them myself until a decision is made.” 

The two older merfolk shared a glance, before Aizawa finally shrugged in response.

“A-ha! Very good, young Midoriya!” All Might looked up at the boy and raised a hand to give him a thumbs-up. “Then we’ll place this task in your capable hands! I know you won’t disappoint us!”

Uraraka smiled as she placed her fingertips together. “I’ll help too! And based on everything I’ve learned about them from Deku, getting to hang out with a real-life human seems like it’ll be fun!”

“I shall lend my assistance as well!” Iida raised his hand up, his arm at the most perfect-looking ninety-degree angle you had ever seen. “But I assume we’ll need to keep the human away from public view, correct? If they were spotted, the mass panic that’d spread would be catastrophic.”

The quiet pause that followed was deafening… and then All Might let out a cough.

“Well, about that-”

- - - - -

“Do most people really not know what a human looks like? It seems like common knowledge!”

Uraraka stifled a giggle as Iida ranted beside her. “I think that’s ‘cause we spend so much time with Deku; he’s, like… the local expert. I hardly knew anything about humans before I met him.”

“That… makes sense.”

To your surprise, All Might and Aizawa let you leave the ancient underwater ruins with no fuss, under the condition that you were accompanied by Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida — at least, one of the three — at all times. The trio seemed to be trusted enough to watch over you for however long you remained in their home… and, despite only knowing them for a little less than an hour, you actually felt comfortable around them. They were people you would want to be friends with.

And what was more surprising was that they were allowed to take you around to show you the sights of their home. Their people had a cautious view — which bordered on downright fear for some of them — of humans, from what you had heard so far, but it turned out that most people in this underwater society had never actually seen a human before; you meeting three in a row that knew what a human looked like was just a stroke of luck on your part. That meant that you were free to roam without the risk of causing mass panic, which was another win for your luck.

If anyone asked, you were a “visiting primate”, and no one could refute that.

“So… do you guys have any, like… tourist spots around here…?”

Midoriya looked at you, curiosity held within his gaze. “Tourist… spots?”

You nodded with a small hum, your grip on the boy’s arm tightening briefly as you kicked your legs behind you in an attempt to swim with the three. They all swam so fast, so fluidly, that you would have been left behind to flounder around in the water if you didn’t latch onto one of them for a ride. You would hardly consider yourself to be swimming at all at this point because of it.

“Yeah. You know, interesting sights or places that would make people wanna come and check out your home. That Aizawa guy mentioned “settlements”, right…? So you guys obviously have a bunch of different areas to live, and that’s gotta mean each one has unique attractions that’d make people from other settlements want to visit, so… is there anything like that around here?”

“Uh…” Midoriya thought for a moment, before shaking his head. “I don’t think we have anything like that. We don’t really travel to any of the other settlements for fun, it’s mainly for if we have a need for food or specific habitation requirements, and those that travel often do so for business.”

“...that’s very logical of you guys. Boring, but logical.”

The fantastical nature of the sights of a merfolk settlement soon faded after you found yourself getting used to the structures these underwater people lived in as homes. The strange buildings were adorned with natural ocean greenery, reminding you of how some humans fancied putting potted plants on their porches to frame their doorways… though, unlike with those, if you hadn’t been aware that these were homes, you would have mistaken them for normal rocks that just so happened to have lots of marine plant life growing on them. The merfolk probably had some sort of natural instinct to camouflage their homes to avoid detection, now that you were thinking of it.

But something that you couldn’t mistake for a rock was the red and white scales you spotted in the distance, the merperson’s tail they belonged to a splash of metaphorical light among all the greys and greens of its surroundings. You couldn’t help but think of the koi fish you would see in the artificial ponds of really fancy establishments, the ones that were paid through the nose for.

“Todoroki!”

And given how the three around you reacted upon seeing that same sight, it was very obvious they were more than well-acquainted with the merperson that that striking tail was attached to.

Todoroki perked up at the sound of his friends’ voices, and redirected himself to swim towards them. The closer he drew near, the easier it was for you to see that red and white appeared to be his whole thing. His hair was split down the middle, and the ear fins he possessed followed the same contrast — red on his left and white on his right. That was also the rule when it came to the scales on his forearms, though his tail was more mixed than the rest of his body, with red splotches on a white base … and then his face had a large splatter of red scales on its left side.

“Midoriya. Uraraka. Iida.” Todoroki nodded as he greeted the three before he turned to you. He stared at you briefly, his expression hard to read. “...I’m sorry, I don’t believe that we’ve met?”

“Well, of course you haven’t!” Uraraka floated forward with a wide smile, her arms stretched in your direction to gesture towards you. “This is a real-life human! Deku recently found them!”

Todoroki slowly blinked, resuming staring at you for a moment more before he shifted his gaze to Midoriya. “You managed to add an actual human to your collection? That’s great, Midoriya.”

“A-Ah, they’re not a part of my collection!” Midoriya waved his hands in dismissal. “I just… well, happened to come across them and brought them here… they’re more of a… of a… u-um…”

He looked unsure, so you decided to speak up.

“A friend. I’m a friend.”

Midoriya perked up, his fin ears following suit. “Friend…?”

“That makes sense. Midoriya’s pretty good at making unusual friends.”

“I’d say I’m pretty average compared to most humans, so I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Uraraka grabbed your attention by gently grabbing your arm, her hands — the flesh as pink as bubblegum — feeling squeamishly-squishy as they pressed against your skin to hold it. “Maybe you’re considered average past the water, but everyone down here is going to think that you’re unique. You definitely stand out compared to any of us, but in a good way! You’re just so cool!”

You were unable to stop your face from settling into a deadpan expression at Uraraka’s words, and you looked between the four merfolk floating around you: two fish boys with colorful scales and flowing fins, one fish boy with a sleek and sharp build, and one jellyfish girl with a soft and floaty appearance. They brought to mind fish you would see in aquariums, the ones in the giant tanks that had the nice lighting that made their scales shimmer as water reflected on your face.

“Uh… to me, you’re the ones that look super distinct and unique.” You vaguely gestured around at the four. “Maybe you’re all just used to each other by now, but to someone like me who’s only just now met you? It’s a wild sight. Breathtaking, even. You’re all so… how do I put it? “Pretty”?”

The girl laughed, her pink cheeks seeming to get a bit pinker. “Okay, okay, I get it.”

You let out a small hum in response, before looking over to the three boys, only to see them all also looking a bit shy; there was Midoriya who was hiding his flushed face in his hands, and Iida who was struggling to keep a straight face. Todoroki just tilted his head, looking away from you.

And then you felt your own face warm up.

“U-Uh… how about we just continue the tour? Please?”

- - - - -

Your adventure around the settlement continued with your entourage of four fish folk, and the sight of other merpeople going about their day was a common one… though, when compared with how large the place was, there didn’t seem to be as many inhabitants as you would have thought there would be. The others, after you voiced your confusion aloud, explained that most members of their colony had temporarily migrated to other settlements for a variety of different reasons. Your luck succeeded again, with you arriving here when the population was fairly low.

The outskirts of the settlement appeared to have a fair bit more action occurring than there was within its borders as you spotted two individuals zipping around in the distance, but, due to how far away they were, it was hard for you to make out any details. The most you could gather was that one of them was sleek and grey while the other was spiky and orange. They moved quickly through the water, occasionally clashing their bodies together as they chased each other around rocks and through seaweed, and you found yourself oddly mesmerized watching the pair move.

You managed to glance at Midoriya, whose arm you still held. “Are those two… fighting?”

“Huh?” The boy looked in the direction you pointed, and realization crossed onto his face at the battle occuring in the distance. “Oh, that’s just Kacchan and Kirishima! They tend to spar a lot.”

“Is that something you guys do often for fun around here?”

“Ah… not really?” Midoriya gave a slight shrug. “Only those wanting to join the Guard spar a lot as they train and stuff, but Kacchan usually… kind of… well… he gets really extreme about it.”

Iida nodded. “His dedication to his goals is admirable, at the very least.”

“Wow, that’s interesting- hey, are they coming straight towards us?”

Your little group scattered like a school of fish spooked by a splash in the water, and you were grabbed by Midoriya in a reversal of your usual position with him as he dragged you out of the way. You felt how the water shifted around you as the two people locked in battle rushed right through where you had just been, the liquid mass no match against their forceful movements.

You could barely muster up anything to say from how sudden it all was while others from your group shouted out “Kirishima” and “Bakugo” at the two fighters, although you noticed Midoriya using the name “Kacchan” in place of the latter. That must be a nickname he used for Bakugo, given that he said it with such ease, similar to how Uraraka kept calling him “Deku” every time.

“You’re the ones who got in the way, extras!”

The one who yelled back at your group looked angry, and his facial expression was just one of the reasons why — his body language appeared rather aggressive, his fists clenched tight and his back hunched over. He was the one with orange scales, though they were of a deeper hue than Midoriya’s, and with him only a few meters away, you noticed he also had white and black scales forming a pattern around his body. His fins were long and pointy, serving as a warning to not touch him, especially with how they jutted out as he fought, spread wide as if trying to make him look as threatening as possible; he looked like a living explosion, if you squinted just a little.

“Whoa, I think we got a little too into it…! There’s no need to go yelling at them.”

The other one had a much calmer head on his shoulders, despite the spiky red hair sitting atop it like a red beacon. His scales were jagged, incredibly different from anything you had seen so far, and when you gave him a once-over, you realized he was a shark. While you knew that the reality of you getting attacked by a shark was low, there was still a part of you that was glad the type of fish each merperson was seemed to mostly only be for aesthetics’ sake, above all else.

“Shut up and die!”

Huh… so, the angry orange one must be Bakugo. You were told he got “really extreme” about fighting, and that didn’t seem to be the overstatement it sounded like it was at first, because he looked like he was out to kill. His opponent, Kirishima, didn’t appear to be slightest bit put off by his attitude, but since he and Bakugo apparently sparred often, perhaps he was just used to it.

The sight of the battle was just as, if not even more, mesmerizing up close as it had been when watching it from afar. The way the pair shot through the water in a chase before one of them got close enough to strike the other was something you could watch for hours… though the fact that you were in the splash zone snapped you out of that daze; you weren’t against activities looking to the audience for participants, but this was one you hoped wouldn’t end up involving that at all.

You already had to hold onto someone else to be pulled through the water at a decent pace, as long as you didn’t want to flail around like an idiot trying to keep up with them, so you were less than keen about being dragged into something as physical as a full-on brawl while underwater.

“Are you okay? I wasn’t too rough while grabbing you, was I?”

Midoriya’s voice snapped your attention to him, and you tried to smile.

“Oh, no, everything’s fine! I-I was just… a bit startled, that’s all…!” You waved your hand to the side. “I’ve never seen anyone swim so fast in the water before! And with such precision! Well, I guess humans aren’t exactly built for swimming like you guys, and I did just meet you all, so…”

Uraraka smiled as she put her hands together, her fingers pressed against each other. “If you’re impressed by that, then you should see Iida swim! I think he’s actually the fastest in our school!”

“Ah, well…” Iida straightened up at the mention of his name, one of his hands going up to adjust his glasses. “I’ll admit I was born with features well-suited for speed, but I also have a consistent training regime in place to ensure that I keep myself in top condition. I’m more than positive that, as long as they put forth such effort of their own, anyone can achieve quick speeds themselves.”

“I don’t know about that.” Uraraka continued to smile, though her expression now held an inkling of uncertainty as she looked down at her jellyfish half. Her hands came to rest on it, moving as if smoothing out a dress. “It’s difficult for me to go all that fast without the help of a water current.”

Todoroki’s ear fins perked up. “I can swim pretty fast, but only for short bursts.”

“Yes, but I’ve noticed that those “short bursts” of yours have gotten longer as of late, no doubt due to all the training you’ve put in.” Iida pointed out, the smile coming to his lips as he looked over at Todoroki appearing rather proud. “You’ve built up your stamina since you first started.”

“Midoriya’s gotten faster too.” Uraraka nudged Midoriya’s side with her elbow, causing the boy’s face to flush for the umpteenth time today. “Sometimes it’s hard to keep up once he gets going.”

Midoriya frantically waved his hands around in front of his face. “I-I just… happen to think that it’s a good skill to have… s-so that I can dash onto the scene whenever someone needs help.”

Ah.

“...man, and I’m just struggling to keep up with you guys when you’re swimming casually.” You shook your three free limbs around to show them off, the one you kept locked in its position the arm connected to the hand you still held onto Midoriya’s arm with. “But that’s probably ‘cause I have legs instead of fins. Good for climbing and running… but not exactly made for swimming.”

“Really?” Uraraka looked down at your legs, blinking a few times. “But Tsu also has legs, and she’s able to swim alongside us just fine. She’s easily able to outswim me in a race, at least.”

“Damnit, why are you extras still here? I can’t concentrate with all your yapping!”

You suddenly found Midoriya’s face mere centimeters from yours, the boy having zipped to be right in front of you. The sharp spines belonging to Bakugo’s fins were currently jabbed into the back of your hero — he was two for two now — and it didn’t take long for it to sink in that those biological knives growing on Bakugo’s body would have hit you if not for Midoriya’s intervention.

Bakugo pushed himself back, his fins spread out in an aggressive display. “Tch.”

The cries of worry from Midoriya’s friends were met by a weak chuckle from him, a dazed look on his face as he started sinking slightly. “D-Don’t worry, I’m fine… this happens all the time…”

Iida quickly grabbed onto the sinking goldfish with Todoroki’s help, one on each side of him as they held him up, before the bespectacled boy sternly looked up at Bakugo. “Bakugo, that was completely uncalled for and unnecessarily dangerous! Someone could’ve gotten seriously hurt!”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t be floating around an active battlefield!”

“I think this is a good time to stop, yeah…?” Kirishima patted Bakugo on the back with a slight smile. “There’s no reason to get so heated, and, besides, we don’t want to wear ourselves out.”

“You’re only saying that ‘cause you know you were losing!”

You curled and uncurled the fingers of the hand that used to be holding onto Midoriya’s arm, a few seconds passing before you realized you were basically free-floating now, and you quickly reached out to grab a hold of Uraraka. Her forearm squished under your touch, and you pulled yourself behind her, peeking around her as you used her as a barrier between you and Bakugo.

“Uraraka, I’m scared. Is he always like this…?”

“Um… unfortunately?”

“Hah?! Bold for a freak like you to judge me!”

You shrank behind Uraraka when Bakugo directed his attention towards you, and you realized that speaking had been a bad move. You almost died once already, and it was way too soon for you to face the possibility of meeting your maker again; you still hadn’t processed the last time.

“They may look a little weird, but they’re not a freak.” Todoroki had a frown on his face, but he looked otherwise unbothered by everything that was currently happening. “They’re a human.”

“Whoa, a human?”

Kirishima swam towards you and Uraraka, but stopped more than an arm’s length away, and kept the jellyfish girl between you and him, leaving you a comfortable bubble for your personal space. His lips curved up into a smile as he looked at you, his eyes widening as interest began to sparkle within them. You were surprised you weren’t as scared as you thought you would be when face-to-face with a shark boy, but he did seem to be quite the decent guy to you so far.

“That thing’s a human?”

And Bakugo was seeming like anything but a decent guy. He didn’t hesitate to rush forward and attempt to push Uraraka away to get a better look at you, the interest in his gaze appearing a lot more like the scrutinizing variety, but, luckily, Uraraka had grabbed onto you moments before he could put his hands on her. Her soft self squished into you with every one of Bakugo’s attempts.

“That’s pathetic! Why are we so scared of humans if they look like that?” Bakugo clenched his hand into a fist as his fins spread out, his lips turning up into a smile that had an aura that was anything but friendly. ”Come on! I bet that I could take this human down with a single attack!”

You yelped as you hugged Uraraka tighter, the living stress-ball keeping her own arms wrapped around you, and felt tension in your gut rise. You were scared, plain and simple, and felt utterly helpless to change that — even if you tried your hardest to swim away and disengage, you were basically a crawling toddler to a merperson’s champion sprinter, and just the thought of having a creature like Bakugo rush up behind you with intent to kill made you want to squeal out in fright.

And what about the magic bubble around your head?

The magic bubble survived with you so far, but maybe it would pop because of Bakugo’s sharp spines when he rammed into you, or maybe it would somehow miraculously hold while you bled out after getting impaled. There was also the possibility of the aggressive boy’s bright coloration signaling he had some kind of venom — death by poisoning wasn’t much better than drowning.

Todoroki was left holding up Midoriya on his own as Iida darted to stop Bakugo, Kirishima also rushing to join the swordfish to have the advantage in numbers against your possible-attacker.

“Absolutely not!” Iida spread his arms out to block Bakugo’s path. “Such violence is completely unnecessary! The local council is already debating about this human’s presence in our home at this very moment! Causing injury to them, even mildly, would only cause more trouble than not!”

Kirishima put a hand on Bakugo’s shoulder. “Attacking them unprovoked is too much, Bakugo. If they’re hanging out with Midoriya and the others, I don’t think there’s any reason to fight them.”

“Y-Yeah…!”

Midoriya piped up, managing to focus his gaze at Bakugo despite his dazed state.

“They’re our friend, Kacchan!”

“...seriously? “Friend”?” Bakugo’s sharp spines spread out further as his lips pulled back into a grimace, his eyebrows furrowing even deeper as he focused his glare on the goldfish, who met it despite struggling to keep his head up. “Ever since we were young, those old hasbeens have been telling us that humans are a threat to our people… and you made friends with it, Deku?”

“Maybe a lot of humans are threats, but not this one!” Uraraka held you tightly, pushing herself back to put more space between you and Bakugo. “Deku saved them from drowning! He saved their life! They wouldn’t do anything to hurt us after he did that for them! I know they wouldn’t!”

Bakugo blinked as his fins began to droop. “Drowning…?”

“Yes, drowning.” Iida nodded. “I believe Midoriya has already mentioned this to you before, but humans are unable to breathe underwater. They don’t have gills like we do, so they experience suffocation when submerged for too long, which can result in death if the individual undergoing the ordeal is unable to surface within a timely manner. Midoriya found this human in the middle of such an experience, and was luckily able to help them in avoiding such an excruciating fate.”

Bakugo blinked again before looking away from Iida and towards you, his mouth hanging open as he did… which lasted for but a second before he began yelling again. “You almost got killed by water?! You’re not worth my time if you’re that weak…! Are all humans that disappointing?”

“H-Hey…!” You put your hands on Uraraka’s shoulders, anchoring yourself, as you leaned over to look at Bakugo, your face starting to warm up. “How about you go crawl up onto land and see how far you get without lungs in nothing but air? You’d struggle just as much as I do in water…!”

“I’m not weak like you so I’d be just fine!”

“That’s not how that works!”

Todoroki looked down when Midoriya shifted in his arms, the latter sporting a shaky smile.

“They’re… they’re getting along. That’s good…”

The koi resumed looking over at Bakugo and you, now locked into a shouting match with each other as your opponent declared he would literally be better at anything you could possibly do; that included walking on land despite him not having any legs since you “suck at having them”.

“...you really do have such unusual friends.”

- - - - -

The tour of the merpeople settlement managed to continue after the chaos settled down, your group — consisting of you, the original three you met, Todoroki, Kirishima, and even Bakugo — swimming around and looking at whatever you came across until you finally ended up back at the ancient ruins. The local council was still in the middle of their discussion, and each person you met was individually summoned, one-by-one, into the meeting room to go talk about you.

You were nervous to think about what each of them would say about you, but…

…you hoped you made a good impression.

The decision seemed to be finalized pretty quickly, all things considered. Aizawa had said that it would take a while, so you expected things to drag along, but maybe luck was just on your side.

Sure, you almost drowned earlier, but you were saved by Midoriya.

Sure, you had been stuck in the middle of the ocean in a previously-unknown-to-you society, but the fish folk you met had been — mostly — friendly, and exploring it had been actually really fun.

The local merperson council, taking into account the first-hand testimony of those you had met, decided that you were not a threat to their home or people, especially since you promised to not speak a word of any of this to anyone back home. You explained how it was the least you could do in return for Midoriya saving your life, even though nothing could ever fully repay him for that.

You were to be sent home as quickly, and quietly, as possible.

Midoriya was even happier than you were to hear that news… until he then realized he never actually got the chance to ask you any questions about humans. You had no idea how he did it, but, somehow, this fish boy gave off the aura of a sad puppy after his realization, and you found yourself unable to just leave him like that. The guilt would have haunted you the rest of your life.

That was why you decided to give him a rapid-fire Q&A session before you had to leave.

“What environments are humans most suited to living in?”

“We can survive almost anywhere. If you see land, just assume humans live there.”

“What kind of diet do humans have?”

“We’ll eat almost anything, sans those with restrictions for health or personal reasons.”

“What activities do humans usually participate in for fun?”

“We… it’s kind of hard to explain. Singing, dancing, fighting… pretty much anything.”

The way Midoriya’s fins fluttered at every answer you gave made a fuzzy warmth bloom inside your chest, and you would have happily spent all day answering his questions if you were able to, but, alas, your time among the fish folk was limited, and quickly coming to a complete close.

“This is Asui Tsuyu. She’ll be the one escorting you during the journey.”

Aizawa gestured to the girl floating next to him, who looked around your age and — just like all the rest — was obviously not human. That said, she didn’t look much like a fish either. Her skin was slick and green on a majority of her body, and her legs had a very distinctive appearance.

Frog.

The girl was a frog.

“Tsuyu…? Ah, wait, I remember Uraraka mentioning a “Tsu” earlier! Is that you?” You looked at the girl with a smile. “She mentioned someone with legs, and you’ve definitely got legs, all right.”

“Oh, did Ochaco mention me?” Asui tilted her head, a finger coming to rest on her chin. “I guess I do stand out from everyone else because of my legs. Guess we’ve got that in common, ribbit.”

Your group now consisted of you, Asui, Aizawa, and All Might at this point, all of the friends you had made having been sent away while preparations for your departure were being set up. That you had spent so much time with the others just to have your going-away party with people you didn’t know as well was a bit sad, but you had actually been given an okay amount of time with the others to say goodbye, so it didn’t feel as if you were being forced to leave with no warning.

You clutched your clothes close to your chest, making sure you had everything that you arrived here with, before looking at Aizawa and All Might. “So… how exactly is this going to work? Like, are we just gonna go for a really long swim, or…? I don’t know about you, but that sounds tiring and I don’t think I could handle that. I don’t even know how my body is handling this right now.”

All Might threw back his head to laugh, the smile on his face still confident. “Worry not, young human! Just hold my hand and think of your destination! Where do you need to be heading?”

“Um…” You reached out, placing your hand on All Might’s huge palm when he offered it. “...well, the cruise ship I was on… er, where was it supposed to dock? Oh, I remember! It would be at-”

The moment you muttered the location, a light began shining from All Might’s hand, and he took it back before turning away from you. He pulled back his arm, the muscles on it and his shoulder flexing with the movements, and, before you could blink, he thrusted it forward for a hefty punch.

“ATLANTICA… SMASH!”

The water shifted violently around the moment All Might threw the punch, the stream it formed clearly visible to the naked eye; it was a water current of sorts, though it looked to be moving a lot faster than what should be naturally possible. There was also how it was softly glowing, the light reminding you of the lights used in aquariums… so, yeah, it certainly wasn’t normal at all.

You blinked a few times as you stared at it. “Okay… so, um… wow…”

“Remember, you are not to mention anything you’ve seen here to other humans.” Aizawa tilted his head down as he looked at you with a stern gaze, and as he narrowed his eyes, you swore they bore a reddish glint for the briefest of moments. “I can’t say that I myself trust you, but you hold the trust of many that reside down here. Don’t make us regret our decision to let you go.”

“My lips are sealed. I… wouldn’t know how to describe any of this, anyways.”

All Might sent you a thumbs-up. “We wish you safe travels, young human.”

You nodded, managing a smile as you returned the thumbs-up, before glancing at Asui.

“...so, should I just hold on, or-”

“Ribbit!”

You felt something suddenly wrap around your waist and pull you to Asui’s back, and after you wrapped an arm around her neck to anchor yourself, you saw that she had used her tongue to hold onto you for extra support. You didn’t have time to feel disgust or surprise towards it before she darted into the water current, the change in the water pressure making your head feel light.

You had to take a few moments to get used to the change in pressure, and once you were able to lift your head up from where it had been buried in Asui’s neck, you saw that the water current was basically like a tunnel… but made of water. You weren’t able to see anything outside of the walls, the water spinning around to keep everything else out, and it was also surprisingly silent.

The look of it made you think you would hear rushing water, but there was only a faint trickle.

“H-Hey, so, what is this, by the way? I’ve never heard of something like this before…”

“It’s a magic water current.”

“Oh, more magic. Like the magic bubble?”

“Yep.” Asui nodded, her gaze focused forward. “If we need to get somewhere real fast, using a magic water current is the best way to travel. It’s faster than a normal one, and a lot safer too.”

“I assume that means you guys usually use these to travel around, then?”

“Not really. Creating a magic water current is actually pretty difficult. All Might’s one of the few people capable of making one, and, even then, it still takes a lot of effort for him to do it, ribbit.”

“Ah… makes sense.”

The trip lasted only a few minutes at most, the end of the water current opening to a section of ocean a few kilometers from a beach, and you watched as the ocean floor began to go into an upwards incline the closer that beach drew near. You hadn’t even been underwater for that long, but the sight of dry land made you feel an incredible sense of relief, manifesting in a huge smile.

“Okay, this should be the place, ribbit.”

“Right! Thanks, Asui!”

“You can call me Tsu. That’s what all my friends call me.”

Asui leapt out of the water and onto the beach once she drew close enough to the shore, her tongue loosening itself from around your waist after she set you down onto the sand carefully, and you took a moment to look around. The sun was barely over the horizon, meaning it had to be early morning, and you were standing just a short walk away from the dock the ship was at.

Oh.

And the bubble apparently popped the moment you left the water.

You tasted the salty sea air on your tongue as you took in a deep breath, the feeling of actual fresh air entering your lungs a little weird, but also good. You had missed this, you really did.

You looked back at Asui with a smile.

“Thank you, Tsu!”

The frog tilted her head as she blinked, a croak leaving her throat. That… didn’t sound like the cute “ribbits” she made before, but instead like a noise that an actual, normal frog might make.

“Uh-huh…?”

Asui made a few more noises before it clicked.

You couldn’t understand her anymore, and when you thought about it, you had never actually questioned how you and the merfolk you met spoke the same language. The chance that you and them could naturally understand each other was low — your luck may be good, but there was no way that it was that good — so it must be because of one thing and one thing alone.

Magic.

Your lips turned down into a frown briefly, before you decided to smile and raise a hand.

Asui blinked, and you noticed the corners of her lips turning up to form a faint smile. The frog nodded as she gave you a wave back, before she turned away from you and leaped back into the ocean, disappearing beneath the waves in a matter of seconds, and leaving you… alone.

You looked out at the water, warm hues gradually appearing in the sky as the sun rose. There was a bit of commotion at the dock, passengers from the cruise ship disembarking as workers dealt with making sure everything ran smoothly, of which the sounds of echoed in the distance, and you simply stood there, coming to terms with what happened and why you were here now.

You were now back on land… and what you experienced started to feel like a hazy dream.

Did any of that really even happen at all…?

You sighed as you wrung your clothes out, putting them on before looking towards the dock.

“I’ve gone crazy, haven’t I…?”

[gummybugg]

Imagine a bunch of your OCs going to the movies. What kind of movies would your different OCs end up watching? (Nothing specific, just genre/vibes.) Do they go to the same flick, watch different stuff? How do they behave once in their seats? Basically, I wanna know what going to the movies with your OCs would be like.

Hi hi hello!

I kept this ask for far too long and planned to write an Entire Scene out using the cast of Crater City, except it never came to fruition! But I can try to describe to the best of my ability what I had in mind, hehe!

...

For sure, Frasier would pay for everyone's tickets (except for Darcy because he's mean), and they would probably go watch the Lego Batman movie together because I said so.

Blair and Elijah would sit in the very back, top row. Blair would talk and giggle the whole time, making crude jokes or references while Elijah tries so hard not to laugh or encourage him, but he can't cant really help it. There's a 90% chance Blair winds up making coke shoot out of Elijah's nose after a batman x joker ship comment.

Darcy and Frasier would sit closer to the front/bottom row of the theater to get away from those idiots. Darcy is pissed Blair said something potentially spoiler-y before the movie started by Frasier is like, "Chill tf out, man, it's literally just a kid's movie." But Darcy wants his money's worth, goddammit.

Frasier is also busy trying to tell Blair and Elijah to stfu (via glares/hand motions) and to let them enjoy the movie and that they don't need security kicking them out of a flick again.

Meanwhile, Darcy has trouble with a teenager kicking his seat (totally not based on a true story). Frasier is like bro chill tf out, you're being louder than Blair and Elijah rn, stop fighting with a teenager. The teens just call Darcy old and that he looks like a poorly AI rendered image of Timothée Chalamet, which he takes offense to.

"Forty is not old, I'm not even close middle-aged yet!" Darcy is agitated.

"You have about 10 more years." The teen retorts.

"Oh, you wanna argue about the sudden spike in average human lifespan over the past fifty years? Because we can go there—"

"Darcy! Are you really arguing with a kid about your age in a movie theater? Stop being so immature." Frasier is so close to pulling the "idk who this man is but he's not mine" card but decides he's the only responsible adult here and can't back out.

Anyway, security has been called, and Darcy is definitely not having it. He wages a verbal battle with security, disturbing everyone else in the cinema, and embarrassing Elijah and Frasier in the process. He goes on about his hardships as mayor and having to deal with an impudent worm kicking his seat from behind (which security couldn't give 2 shits about). Darcy says something along the lines of "We paid for this movie and you'll have to fight my lawyers and I'm the mayor dammit," and so security backs off. Now everyone else in the Lego Batman movie theater is disgruntled at the disturbance. You can cut the tension with a super sharp knife.

Darcy turns to Blair and Elijah, who promptly stfu bc of his death glare. Frasier is concerned that Darcy raised more hell than it's worth all for a shitty movie, but tbh Darcy just likes to use his mayor card.

After the movie ends, they get up to leave, with all eyes on them until they make it to the parking lot. It also turns out that that thing Blair said off hand ended up being a spoiler, and Frasier almost beats the shit out of him, but this time Darcy is the one who has to hold him back. "It's ok, Frasier! We all saw it coming anyway!"

The teens who bullied Darcy come out of the theater to mock him again, but Fraiser flips them off, then security is called once again. And now all 4 of our characters are stuck at the police station with Darcy trying to bail them out, all the while Frasier glares at all three of them with disappointment. Blair is like, "This is definitely going on my 'pissed authority off' bingo board." Elijah rolls his eyes. At least they weren't in any mortal danger, he reasons.

...

🚗 Want to rot your brain with each sporadic Crater City post? Join the taglist! Maybe I'll finish this wip someday, who knows! (ask to be added/removed): @writeouswriter @lyra-brie @digitalsatyr23

[aemonds-sapphire]

Make a Wish - Hawks x Reader

Summary: You finally asked Hawks to show how flying felt like; he ended up showing you a lot more.

Warnings: Fluff. Cavity-inducing fluff. Friends to lovers.

Word count: 2.1k

“Don’t drop me.”

“Oh! Thanks for reminding me,” Hawks said teasingly, spreading his arms. “Now, come here.”

Against your better judgment, you decided to ask the number two pro hero to take you on a short flight. Even after years of being friends with Hawks, it still took a leap of faith to trust him with something like this.

You didn’t budge, feet rooting you to the ground. “Promise?”

You knew deep down that he would never allow such thing to happen, but fear gripped your heart and lungs.

He wiggled his gloved fingers in an attempt to snap you out of your frozen state, beaming smile spreading his lips. “Why would I drop you? I love you!”

There it was.

Those three words that he’d often toss around mindlessly, and that you wondered far too many time whether it was just a proclamation of his friendship with you, or if there was something else underneath.

“Why are you frowning?” Hawks’ arms dropped to his sides as he stuck out his bottom lip. “You don’t love me? I’m hurt.”

You rolled your eyes at his antics. “Shut up. Let’s do this before it gets too late.”

He reached inside his aviator jacket and snatched a pair of headphones. “Put these on. I don’t want your eardrums busted.”

What a comforting thing to say to someone who was about to be swung up in the air in the middle of the night.

“Anyways! Now I’m matching with the famous pro hero Hawks,” you teased, finally getting your feet to move closer to where he stood. “I wonder what your fans would say.”

His big red wings quivered slightly. “Oh, so you think they’d be upset that I’m taking a beautiful girl on a ride?” he feigned concern before winking at you.

“Should we ask?” you grinned in defiance as you positioned the protective headphones over your ears.

He lifted his arms once more as if offering you a welcoming hug. With a deep sigh, you shortened the distance between you two. It was now or never.

You laced your arms around his neck as your chest hit his. Unfortunately for you, this was enough to get your heart to skip a beat.

“Hold up,” Hawks said, raising a brow. “I forgot to bring another eye visor for you. Damn.”

Your palms started getting sweaty from how warm he felt against you, but you had to push that aside for now.

“It’s fine. I’ll just keep my eyes closed.”

He brought his hands up to retrieve his own visor. “And miss the amazing view? Can’t have that,” he beamed while placing it snuggly on you. “Besides, I know these airways like the back of my wings.”

The visor tinted your field of vision with pale yellow, but since it was already dark, it didn’t make much of a difference.

You adjusted it across the bridge of your nose, and offered a smile before looping your arms around him again.

Hawks was staring at you like you were his pride and joy. “There! Seems like we got ourselves another winged hero.”

“Except I have no wings, you dumbass,” you noted, laughing.

“You have mine,” he winked in response. “Now, I need you to wrap your legs around my waist.”

Your smile faded slightly. Very poor choice of words.

“Just hop on me,” Hawks added, seeing the confused look on your face.

You took a deep breath and bent your knees slightly, just to have your legs spring up and circle his body just as requested.

“Good girl,” he whispered in your ear, both arms tightly holding you. “Ready?”

Your heart skipped two beats; one for because how he had just praised you, even if he hadn’t meant to make it sound like that; the other because the question he had shot at you.

You nodded, propping your chin on his shoulder, instinctively closing your eyes as he took a few steps to stand on the edge of the the rooftop of your apartment.

One hand rubbed your back for a bit as if preparing you. “This part is the worst. But it’ll get better soon.”

“Just go!” you half-shouted impatiently.

And before you could even register what was about to happen, you felt your stomach lurch upwards as he took a dive off the building.

Just as you were about to scream, you felt the air change in direction when his two colossal wings suddenly hurled you up into the night sky. Your insides rolled once again as the young man defied gravity. Was he also defying your ability to keep your food down?

The white fur that lined collar of his jacket would occasionally tickle your cheek as the wind fanned the both of you. For a while, all you could hear were the strong flaps of his wings, and even though you had been flying for a while, you couldn’t bring yourself to open your eyes.

Hawks’ grip on you never wavered, and neither did yours. Your legs were completely glued around his toned torso just like your arms kept tightening around his neck.

“You okay?” You heard his muffled voice.

You gave him a thumbs up, still keeping your eyes closed.

His hand started patting your lower back. “Open your eyes!”

How did he...

Carefully and slowly, you opened one eye at a time. Hawks had brought you so far up high that all you could see when looking down were faint rivers of city lights spreading as far as the eyes could see.

His wings drifted expertly across the chilling wind, bending into different angles whenever Hawks intended on shifting directions.

Everything was breathtaking. Your fear was replaced with excitement as you felt for the first time ever what it was like to be him.

Soon after, you watched as he started lowering himself towards a very tall building.

Both his wings shot upwards, allowing the wind to flow through them and allowing him to prepare for what came next

He gracefully landed on the rooftop, bending both wings close to his body.

A part of you was relieved, but another was ready for more.

“You know...” he started slowly, still holding you in place with his strong arms. “As much as I like this position—“

“Uh!” you huffed in annoyance as you promptly let your legs slide down his body, bringing your hand to his chest to push him away. “Pervert...”

“Just teasing you!”

His voice was coming out muffled, and you suddenly remembered you still had the headphones on; you pulled them down to rest around your neck much like Hawks would often do. The visor came off next and he took it back with a smile.

“How was it?” he was looking at you expectantly as he placed the visor on top of his head, a few strands of golden hair going astray in the process.

You flapped your hands along your jacket and pants to set everything back in place again. Your body was still coming down from that high, and you could still feel the surges of adrenaline rushing through your veins.

“Very... weird?” you said truthfully, rubbing both hands together from the cold breeze. “But in a good way! You’re approved!” you quickly added when you saw his smile waver.

“You cold? Want my jacket?”

Ever the gentleman. “Just my hands...”

He immediately slid his gloves off and handed them to you.

“No! What about you?” you asked worriedly.

“It’s okay! I’m hot,” he shrugged, wiggling his eyebrows at the not so subtle innuendo.

You stuck out your tongue at him, slipping both hands inside the warm fabric. You then turned on your heels to explore the rooftop and beautiful scenery.

“This makes me feel so...”

“Free?” you heard him suggest from behind you.

You agreed in silence. Up there it seemed like nothing could ever reach you. Then it hit you.

Hawks longed for freedom more than anyone else. It was painfully ironic how he was gifted with a set of wings, but was still caged by his own morals.

Looking up, you saw bright specs of stars sprinkled across the night sky, some of them framing a bright and round moon.

“Do you bring every single girl here?”

He chuckled, slightly taken aback by your change of topic. “Only the ones I want to impress.”

You scoffed. “You don’t need to do that to impress anyone,” the words automatically left your mouth, and you inwardly cursed at yourself for the slip.

“Oh? Is that a compliment?” Hawks took the opportunity to rub salt on the wound as it was so typical of him.

You shifted your eyes to the horizon that was lined by a row of light of a nearby city, feigning sudden interest.

“So... are you?” he drawled from beside you.

“Am I what?”

This time you turned your head to face him, and you had to mentally slap yourself as you were met with his handsome face.

He flashed you a boyish smile. “Impressed.”

“Very. Thank you for bringing me here... this is beautiful.”

You were about to shift your gaze back to admire the amazing view when his hand grasped your arm.

“Hey, you have something on your face.”

“Huh? What?” you panicked.

“Come here.”

Hawks leaned in, his brows furrowed. “Ah!”

“What?!”

He merely smiled as he brought a hand to your face, his thumb grazing your skin and sending jolts of electricity down your spine.

Oh.

You saw a thin and slightly curved strand on the tip of his finger. An eyelash.

“Make a wish,” Hawks said excitedly.

“You serious?” you widened your eyes at him, but almost did a mental backflip at the sweetness of it all.

He didn’t reply; instead, he brought his thumb close to your face.

You puckered your lips, but he promptly pressed his index finger on them effectively stopping you.

“Eyes closed,” he whispered, looking far too serious. “You’re gonna jinx it otherwise.”

You arched an eyebrow at him, but did exactly what he asked. Once more, you brought your lips together, allowing a swift breeze of air to flow through them.

Wishing upon lashes... this was so... Hawks. You quickly thought of him. No specific details... just him.

“Keep them closed.”

“Why?” You inquired suspiciously.

His face was close to yours as his hot breath fanned your skin. “You gotta wait fifteen seconds for it to stick.”

“You just made that—“

You were cut off by a pair of lips covering yours. Your eyes shot open in surprise as his mouth slanted firmly against your own, causing a wave of warmth to pool in your stomach and a faint shiver to course down your entire body.

Thinking back, you had wished for this moment for a long time. Well, not this one in particular, but your mind managed to come up with very vivid images of Hawks slamming you against a wall only to finally kiss you; or maybe as you both gazed at the sun setting just like in those romantic movies where everything always worked out in the end.

But this was so much better.

It was far better, because of how unexpected it was. Your heart was beating so fast that you could hear the rhythmic pounding in your ears. Once you got over the initial shock, you let your eyes flutter shut as he deepened the kiss, one hand at the nape of your neck, pulling you into his embrace.

Maybe this was the universe’s way of laughing at you. A moment ago you were laughing at the idea of wishing upon eyelashes. It seemed like a childish thing to do, but here you were. You had wished for him, and he was here.

Hawks’ hand splayed across your lower back as the other slid forward to have his thumb caressing your cheek.

A raw moan tore from your throat as you felt all of him pressed up against you, and Hawks followed soon after, a soft groan rumbling through his chest.

Instinctively, you dragged your hands through his thick locks, completely forgetting about the visor resting on his head. Before you could process it, you heard a loud shatter as the fragile object hit the ground.

Fuck.

You broke the kiss at once. “Oh my god... I’m sorry!”

Hawks was glaring at you through hooded golden eyes, and you swore you had never seen that hungry look on his face before. His trademark markings that framed both eyes on both corners were lightly accentuated, and that alone was enough to make him even more alluring.

“It’s fine!” he hurriedly mumbled.

He was leaning for another kiss, but then you smacked his arm as you realized what had just happened. “You asshole! What took you so long?”

“W-what?” the young pro hero looked genuinely confused. “I could say the same to you!”

You pulled him into a hug.

Hawks relaxed against your touch. “I love you.”

Those words yet again... “Do you mean it this time?”

“Always have.”

-

Masterlist

[cozykozume]

Gaslighting on a Friday Night

Scumbag Kenma x Drunk College!f reader 

Warnings: Heavy noncon, Heavy dubcon, Gaslighting, alcohol use, creampie, name calling, slight praise kink, choking, dacryphilia, degradation, humiliation, hair pulling, coercion, emotional manipulation, blackmail, Mean Kenma

PLEASE MIND ALL TAGS.

WC: 2617

If you think I missed a trigger warning, please let me know so I can get it updated! This is for a CollegeAU! collab. 

Thank you to @sightoru​ and @anarchicmartyr​ for letting me be a part of it!

It was your first time going out to a college party with your friends since the semester had started. So many shots, one too many drinks and the inability to say no to your friends is what had your head heavy and eyes tired. Kenma sees everything, always paying attention to those around him. Your stumbling and careless smiles are what drew Kenma in, which is unfortunate for you...

“One shot, two shots, three shots, four. Five shots, six shots, let's do more!”

This was the motto of tonight’s party, and you had no intention of disappointing your friends. 

Each of you had a row of shots in front of you, throwing them back while the crowd around you chanted. By the 4th shot, you could feel the muscles in your face loosening up, a goofy smile plastered across your face. 

The 6th shot had to be the worst though, the burn of tequila creeping up the back of your face and behind your eyes. You could feel the heat as your eyes teared up and you fought back your gag reflex. This was the first night out with your friends since you had started college, and there was no way you were going to be that girl. You swore to yourself that you were not going to be the girl that cried, threw up, or caused a scene. 

In through your nose, out through your mouth. You say to yourself, blinking slowly as your head behinds to feel heavy. You can hear the yelling, laughing and music in the background but it really does feel like you are underwater at this point. 

“Y/n! Get over here! We haven’t even started taking pictures yet!” You smile, turning to walk over to them before stumbling on your own feet.

“Fuckkk!” You laugh, reaching out to grab a hold of someone’s arm. Your fingers lock onto someone’s hand, unsure of who it belonged to. You look up, a pair of tired golden eyes staring down at you. You give him a loose smile, dragging your body closer to him. He, on the other hand, just peers down, an expressionless face watching your every move. 

“Whoops...Sorryyyy!” You yell out over the music, standing on your toes to get closer to his ear. He once again watches you, his eyes trailing up and down your tightly clothed body. He nods his head, taking your hand and passing it over to your friend as she reaches out for you. “Sorry about her! It’s her first time at a party like this and she clearly hasn’t learned the ropes yet!” 

The man that you had grabbed looks at your friend and then back to you, nodding his head. “It’s fine!” He says, his voice barely able to be heard over the music. 

Your friend drags you away, laughing as you are thrown into the group of girls and the photo taking begins. Unknown to you or your friends, that would not be the last time you see those golden eyes up close. 

-------------------------------------------------------

You should have stopped after that 6th shot. You really should have. But of course, peer pressure is a real thing and you fell victim to it. Drinks, shots and even a joint or two had been passed your way during the night and even if you wanted to, you had no way to really say no. 

Your eyes felt heavy, head lolling from side to side as you walk toward the stairs in an attempt to have a quiet moment. Once again, your feet become hard to move and you stumble forward, grabbing onto someone's arm as they walk by. You look up, once again met by golden eyes peering down at you. You smile, pulling yourself closer to him once again. “Hi! Thank you!” You slur, your grip on his arm tightening as the joints in your body become loose. 

He gives you a small smile, sliding his arm around your waist. “It’s no problem. Where are you going?” He asks, his low voice directly in your ear. You giggle, the heat from his breath tickling your skin. “Uhh I was going to try and find somewhere to sit!” You say a little too loudly, your face now pressed against his neck. He nods his head, slowly walking the two of you up each stair and toward the hall of closed doors. 

You both stumble your way down the hall, your mouth babbling about this and that as he guides you into a room. Once the door opens, he softly pushes you inside, closing and locking the door behind you. As he turns around, you are laying back on the bed, your legs hanging off the edge as you attempt to kick your shoes off. 

He walks over to you, kneeling by the edge of the bed and picking up your foot. He slowly unzips your boot, letting it fall to the floor before switching to the other side. 

“Y/n...my name is y/n” You mumble, trying your best to prop yourself up and look down at him. 

“Kenma.” He says, his eyes dancing up and down your relaxed body. “Do you need water?” He asks, his voice quiet and steady. You flop back down, nodding your head as he stands up. You close your eyes, humming along to the song you can faintly hear playing from down stairs. Your consciousness fades out along with the ending of the song, losing the battle you had been having with your eyes. 

You feel something wet against your lips, moving your head side to side as you try to pry your eyes open. “You asked for water. Drink it.” Kenma says, a slight annoyance in his voice as he cradles your head in his lap. You finally manage to open one eye, looking up at him as he lifts your head and tilts a bottle of water against your lips. 

You open your mouth, the cold water slowly drizzling down your throat. You had not realized how thirsty you actually were until now. You sit up more, grabbing the bottle from his hand and chugging it. You can feel him chuckle as you gulp down more water, the chilled liquid settling in your alcohol filled stomach. 

“Mmm thank you…” You whisper as you finish the bottle and flop back down. Kenma drags his thumb along your bottom lip, wiping away the stray water droplets. He grunts in response, lightly tapping your cheek. “Hey stay awake and move a little.” He says, tugging your body further up on the bed towards the pillows. You groan, moving your legs onto the bed and shimming up with his help until you are laid correctly in bed. You sigh, turning onto your side as your head settles into the pillow. 

Kenma slides in behind you, his hand softly massaging your hip as his body pushes against yours. Thinking nothing of it, you close your eyes, too drunk at that moment to care that a guy you hardly knew was cuddling up to you. As you close your eyes again, letting sleep take over your body you feel Kenma’s hand shimmy it’s way into the waistband of your leggings. You groan softly, your mind telling you that this is definitely not okay, but your body reacting almost immediately. 

You try to scoot forward, weakly pushing at his hand as he continues further into your pants. You feel his other arm push under your body, and pull you back to him until his chest is flush on your back. 

“Shhhh...You want this...Just lay back and relax.” He whispers in your ear, his teeth softly grazing your ear. 

Even in your drunk state, you knew that you should not be doing it. This should not be happening. You didn’t know this man behind you and your friends did not know where you were. Although you knew this information, your body did not seem to care. As his fingers finally find your core, a soft sign escapes your lips. You can feel his chest as he laughs softly, his fingers moving more confidently. “Your body is telling me everything I need to know. Don’t worry kitten, I’ll make you feel real good.” He whispers as his middle fingers finally connect with your clit. 

A shiver engulfs your body as electric shocks shoot from the tips of your toes to the top of your head. You shake your head, grabbing at Kenma’s wrist as his fingers begin making small tight circles around your sensitive button. “Please don’t. I really don’t wan-” Your words catch in your throat as he slips one finger inside you, his lips and tongue dancing across your neck. A small moan escapes you, your eyes squeezing shut. 

“God you’re so fucking tight…”He whispers against your neck, his finger slowly dipping in and out of your wet hole. Between the alcohol, lack of sleep and now the finger slowly fucking you, your head felt heavy and foggy. Kenma slips another finger inside you, the slight stretch bringing you back to reality. Quiet moans and sighs leave your body as your hips start to move in rhythm with his hand. “See. I told you that I was going to make you feel good.” He says. 

You shake your head, panting as you get closer and closer to your release. You didn’t want this, You didn’t know him and honestly you’d told yourself that you were going to wait before jumping into bed with someone in college. Yet here you are, in college, once of the first parties you’ve ever been to, drunk and in bed with a stranger. Your eyes start to tear up as your first orgasm rips through your whole body. 

As your body relaxes, you feel the tugging at your leggings. Before your brain can fully register what is happening, your bottoms are pulled down to your knees. You try to twist around to face Kenma, but he moves quicker. Pushing you onto your stomach, he grabs a pillow and folds it in half, sticking it under your hips. “Listen, I just got you off but now it’s my turn.” He says, a hushed whisper in your ear has his body hovers over yours from behind. 

You can feel the warm head of his cock probing your pussy, teasing and dipping in just slightly. “Kenma...Please don’t do this..” You whisper, turning your head the best you can to look at him. “I won’t tell anyone about this so far but please…” You trail off, trying your best to plead and reason with him. 

“And what would you even tell people? I got drunk, followed a guy upstairs, got off on his fingers and then what?” He laughs, slowly sinking his cock inside you. “I’m pretty sure people would believe you were asking for it...I mean you really were. I saw the way you were looking at me, and if you really didn’t want it, why would you get this wet just from my fingers?”

He grunts as he bottoms out inside you, his breath tickling the back of your neck as his body pushes you into the mattress. You cry out as the air from your lungs is pushed out of you too soon, the stretch of his cock causing you to wiggle around beneath him. 

His lips once again find their way to your neck, sucking and biting bruises into your warmed skin. You open your mouth, begging Kenma to stop as his paces begins to pick up. “Pleas-” Your voice is cut short as he shoves two of his fingers down your throat, your gag reflex reacting quickly. “Shhh…” He whispers into your neck, his hips lazily pumping into you. Your eyes close as your body finally wins, your mind being broken down thrust by thrust. You feel yourself clench around his cock, pulling a deep groan from his lips. 

“Fuck you’re such a dirty fucking whore. Your little pussy sucking me in and begging me to fill it up.” He grunts, his hips now moving faster and harder against you. The weight that was pushing you into the bed disappears as Kenma sits up on his knees, pulling your ass flush against him by your hips. You spread your legs wider as your back arches, pushing your hips back to meet his thrusts. You feel his hand connect with the back of your head, his fingers intertwining with your hair. He yanks your head back, his other hand wrapping around your neck. 

The grip on your neck tightens, black spots dancing across your vision. His hips jackhammer against you as your gummy walls pulse, sucking him deeper and deeper each time. His small grunts turn into soft whines and low moaning as he chases his high. “Cum around my cock princess. Cum all over this thick cock.” He says, his voice breathy and low. 

As your mind tries to reason with you, your body takes the lead. You feel your hand moving down the front of your body in search of that last little push you needed. Your fingers connect with your swollen clit causing your body to buck forward into your hand. You push against it harder, a shiver raking through your body as your legs begin to tremble. 

“Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!” You moan out, tears streaming down your face as every muscle in your body convulses. The gushing sounds flood the room as Kemna pounds into you, extending your high even longer. 

As the over-stimulation kicks in you try to inch further from him, begging him to stop as your whole body shakes and convulses against him. His once constant pounding falls out of rhythm, loud, sloppy, desperate humps into your overused hole pushing you towards another orgasm. You look back at him, tears and black eye makeup smeared across your face. You open your mouth, trying to speak out to him but all you could muster was a string of jumbled words and cries.   

He grabs your face, pulling you closer to plunge his tongue into your mouth. His seemingly inexperienced lips match the desperation in his thrusts as he finally tips over the edge. Kenma moans into your mouth, driving his cock as far as he can into your aching cunt before collapsing on top of you, once again pinning you flat against the bed. You push your face into the bed, shaking your head as you feel his cum dripping out and onto the pillow beneath you. 

Kenma pulls out as you relax into the bed, your head finally clearing up as you take in the situation. Before you can move to pull your pants up you see flashes, whipping your head around as he snaps another picture. “Ya know, gotta make sure I document this well. Don’t want you to start twisting the story around tomorrow.” He says, smiling at your photo through his phone as he snaps away. 

You pull your knees up to your chest, trying your best to cover your naked body as Kenma tucks himself back into his pants. He wipes his forehead on his shirt as he starts texting on his phone. “You’re good right?” He says over his shoulder, already reaching for the door handle. You let out a sob, trying to come to grasps with what happened less than 10 minutes ago. As he pulls the door open, you see a shadow of a tall man outside. Kenma laughs, gesturing over to you before you see a black head of hair peek around the edge of the door. 

You hear a loud laugh before the door shuts and you’re stuck in this room with another man you did not know. 

“Hey sweetheart, my friend Kenma just told me how much you helped him out, so I was thinking maybe you’d help me out too?” He says, his voice dripping with condescending sweetness as his fingers quickly work his belt buckle. You shake your head, your mind telling you to run but your body already responding to his towering body.

[ringmyheart]

Heyy, hope I'm not being annoying with so many asks, but could I please get ice feet of death characters of your choice? Thank you so much 😘😍😘🤩😘😍😘

Eli Jang

Eli Jang wasn’t going to push people important to him away anymore - or ever again.

In his past, he’d seen what that had done for him, and it ended disastrous. He wouldn’t keep people at an arms length away anymore, especially people precious to him, and especially not you.

Such an earnest and well meant swear to himself was extremely hard to keep up with, however, when you were besides him and your feet happened to brush against his calf. Feet as cold as fucking ice.

His hand was planted in the middle of your chest, keeping you ironically enough an arms length away from him. When you’d crawled into bed that night, before you could even go under the covers, his hand had shot out and kept you suspended exactly where you were - and you swore you saw a flash of fear in his eyes.

“...”

“...”

You both looked at each other, you perplexed and him worried - of what, you couldn’t say. Cocking a brow, you asked, “is something wrong? Eli?”

He swallowed down a lump in his throat, before removing his hand and returning it to his side. Internally, he hoped you wouldn’t come too much closer. Or at the least, that you’d sleep with your legs bent so he wouldn’t be subjected to the cold with you. He wondered if you were even aware of this…

“No, nothing’s wrong!” He forced a laughed, though no joy reached his eyes; rather, a pained emotion swirled in them.

‘I can’t take another night like this!’

And when you shrugged off his odd behavior and continued settling under the covers, he acted quick. Maybe he could somehow cure this.

“H-hey, it’s winter, and it’s cold.” He lifted himself up with his elbows from the bed and grabbed you by the shoulders spontaneously, steering you to the bathroom. “Why don’t you take a bath?! Since it’s so cold!”

You let him lead you the way there and push you along, confused. “Uh-?”

Sending a skeptical look over your shoulder to Eli, he felt somewhat guilty for suddenly forcing you away. But when he recalled the icy horror he’d be introduced to if he didn’t try and fix it instead, he pushed on - for his well-being as well as yours.

He sent you a smile. “I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold!”

“...” Silence engulfed the two of you before you smiled back. “Aww, that’s sweet. Okay. Don’t worry, I won’t use all the hot water.”

“Please do.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” He smiled stupidly, waving you bye while you walked into the bathroom. “Also, make sure your feet are in there.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

When he heard the bath water begin to run, a wave of relief washed over him. Even if the water didn’t permanently cure your case of cold-feet, it’d at least take care of it for a while, right? And then he could sleep comfortably with you tonight, right?

When you were eventually done with the bath and had put clothes back on, you began to crawl back onto bed, getting comfortable as soon as you pulled the sheets over you. He wondered if it’d worked. He could feel heat radiate off of you from his side, and when you shuffled, the side of your heel brushed against his ankle briefly before it was gone in a second.

In that second, it felt like he’d tasted death - and it was freezing.

‘That didn’t work?!’ The top row of his teeth crushed against the bottom row in a quick act of brain storming. He shot up where he sat, catching your attention from how abruptly he’d pulled himself up, and he looked at you. His eyes darted back and forth in thought, before an imaginary lightbulb seemed to light over his head.

“Man, it’s cold tonight, huh?” He said causally, with a fake shiver. You shifted your gaze upwards, thinking for a moment.

“... I’m not that cold, to be hone-“

“You know when people get a really bad cold they actually feel warm?!”

You stared up at him with wide, doe eyes, and he continued passionately. “I don’t want you to be cold! Here, I’ll get you another blanket!”

He sprinted out of the room temporarily, and you stared at him with an indecipherable expression, a few dark lines falling down the top of your face. You just wanted to sleep…

He came back with a wide smile spread across his lips, a blanket in his hands. Holding one corner in each of his hands, he gestured it to you like a car dealer trying to sell a client a car they didn’t really want. “Here!”

He lifted the overs you already had on you, the one the both of you shared, and began to lay the other blanket over you. You remained still, but your features hardened.

“Uhh… why not just put the blanket over the top of the blanket I already have…?”

“Hm?”

His face blanched. If you squinted hard enough, you could almost see a question make appear on the side of his head, and he still smiled - like he was suddenly frozen in that position, and his ability to express other emotions came to a halt. This masked whatever was going on inside his head, and you looked at him with scrutinizing eyes.

“Because I wanted to tuck you in!” His smile widened, and you sighed when he suddenly began tucking the corners of the blanket underneath you. He spent half of the time he spent doing this around your feet, you noticed.

When he was done, he brushed his hands together, like he was admiring his own handiwork. If your feet were covered by a blanket, you could sleep together and he wouldn’t feel the glaciers at the ends of your legs, right?

The plan felt foolproof this time, and the bed dipped underneath his weight until he laid down and got into a position he could remain in. You examined him before shrugging this weird interaction off - again.

“Okay, well… I’m gonna go to sleep.”

He nodded. “Okay, babe. Good night.”

“...” Waiting to see if he was gonna interrupt your trip to dreamland again with some weird request or offer, you curled into his side after an appropriate amount of time passed. Enough time for you to decide he probably was done with his odd behavior.

You miscalculated.

And so did he.

His teeth gritted together, and it felt like he’d come to a horrible realization, a clap of thunder and lightning striking behind him at his moment of mental clarity and terror. ‘Even when under another blanket, their feet are below zero degrees?!’

The already cold weather certainly wasn’t helping, and he was prepared to research webMD to see if cold feet were ever fatal enough to kill you, when another thought rang in his head.

‘Why not just tell them?’

He quickly shook it out of his head. He wouldn’t push you away. He wouldn’t hurt your feelings.

Even at his own expense.

You were shaken awake violently when Eli suddenly suggested the amazing idea of putting heat packs on your feet to keep you safe for the winter night, and you internally groaned for a world-record amount of time. When he’d put the packs on your feet, it was another failed attempt; rather than heating you up, you’d chilled them down. It was like carrying two packs of ice when he went to put them away.

He’d even turned up the AC to see if maybe that would unthaw your feet, but it was fruitless; and it felt like he saw the light when your feet touched his again, and they were like a visit to the Arctic.

Now, not only did he have freezing feet planted on him, but he was also extremely and uncomfortably hot everywhere else with the AC cranked up.

A head of sweat rolled down the side of his head while he glared at the wall, wondering where he went wrong, when he felt you tap his shoulder.

“Hey, Eli?”

“Yeah?” His brow was crinkled in thought as he searched internally for another solution, but your next few words threw him off guard.

“Are you mad at me?”

“What? Why would I be mad at you?” Shock laced the tone of his voice. You paused, skin between your eyes creasing.

“... today, you kept pushing me away from you. I was just wondering if I did something…”

The look on your face was forlorn, and it felt like a dumbbell was dropped on top of his head. In his act of trying to not push you away… it seemed he’d pushed you away worse than what would’ve happened initially. A black hole of guilt consumed his heart, and his lips formed a shaky, remorseful line.

“No, I’m not. I’m sorry if I made you feel that way. You didn’t do anything. I was just… I don’t know.”

You glanced at him tiredly, before closing your eyes, chuckling with a half smile and nuzzling further into your pillow. “Oh, okay… I was worried, but I guess it’s fine then.”

“Yeah, it is.” He watched your peaceful sleeping expression, and a genuine smile graced his lips. With a soft countenance, he blinked at you a couple of times, before summoning some courage and taking a deep breath.

“Hey, (y/n)?”

“Yeah?”

“Your feet are really cold.”

Your eyes shot open. “For real?”

“Yeah. Like, really cold.”

You averted your eyes from him. “Is that a problem?”

His eyes carried the brunt of his smile for his lips, and they glimmered happily. He rested a hand on your shoulder. “No, it’s no big deal. None at all.”

The small smile on your face you got from hearing those words made Eli come to another conclusion that day.

He wouldn’t push you away - and he would never lie to you again. The temperature of your feet made him nearly faint, but he’d rather die in a blizzard than see that downcast expression on you again.

Vin Jin

“Get your cold feet the fuck off of me.”

“And if I don’t, what will you do? Be mad?”

“I’ll kill you.”

Before the both of you had gone to sleep, Vin Jin had made it very clear to you; do not touch him with your feet. Your arm was okay - but on thin ice, considering your fingers could get pretty chilly, but not your feet. He’d pronounced every syllable in the sentence, even doing little gestures with his hands to paint you a picture. Do. Not. Touch. Him. With. Your. Feet.

He’d fallen sleep before you, and was out like a light an hour after the conversation you’d had. Feeling cold and evil, you decided to go for it anyways, and threw your leg over his. He awakened instantly, and the very first words to you were him telling you to get your cold feet the fuck off of him.

“Is that a promise or a warning?”

“It’s a threat.”

You chuckled, “You don’t have it in you. Y’know, you’d try to kill me, but you’d probably get cold feet. Do you get it? Haha!”

A vein burst in the side of his head, and he kicked your leg away with his grumpily. “I’m not kidding. I’m fast. I’m really fast.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, you won’t even see it coming.”

You grinned. “Well then, evade this, fast guy.” You kicked your leg back to his. He went rigid.

“That’s it-!” Grabbing his pillow and leaping up in one swift motion, any remnants of sleepiness in him were expelled, and he jumped onto you; smothering you with the pillow. “Choke out!

Your muffled laughter came from behind the pillow, and you lifted your leg to the part of his which wasn’t covered, and laid the flat of your foot on it. He screamed like he’d been shot.

Falling back onto his side of the bed, he clutched where your foot met his leg. “You cheap tricked bastard! That’s it, come here!”

Wrapping his fingers around your wrist, he pulled you out of bed, and you stumbled over your own feet as you followed wherever he was taking you with no qualms; smile of a winner, eyes of a sinner.

He let go of you in the living room and made a motion for you to sit, and you did - patiently, at that. The sound of running water hit your ears and it didn’t stop for a good few minutes, and then a dripping noise - like something spilling over something - reached you. Vin Jin came stumbling back into the room with a pale of water, and your chest moved as you chuckled.

“Hah, what’s that for - hey, what the hell are you doing?!” When he lifted your foot into the bucket of water, you weren’t too reluctant; warmed after was warm water, and it usually felt good. But this water wasn’t warm; it was burning.

“Ack, get my foot out of there!” You tried to retract it, but he kept a grip around your ankle.

“This is for your own good. And mine!”

“Stop talking like this is some intervention! That waters scorching hot!”

“Your feet are scorching cold!” He sneered.

“That’s not the comeback you think it is. I don’t think you can use that correctly in a sentence, dumbass!”

Eventually you pulled your foot out of the water, and it was burning red. You hissed lowly in pain, and Vin tossed the bucket of water aside, kicking your foot with his lazily to see if there was a change.

He was down immediately, and if he didn’t have sunglasses on, you would’ve seen tears build in his eyes. “What the fuck - how are they still cold?! Go to a doctor!”

You puffed your chest out defensively. “Leave me alone.”

“Whatever,” he said, scratching the back of his head angrily. “I’m going to bed.”

When you didn’t copy him in doing so, he sent you a quizzical look. “What? Don’t tell me you’re butt-hurt. I just called it as it is. You have cold as fuck feet.”

You crossed your arms over your chest. “I’m sleeping right here, on the couch tonight, since I’m apparently that much of a pain to sleep with.”

“Don’t be like that.”

“Like what?”

“All- al frown-y and shit!”

You sent him a sharp glare before turning on your side and laying down. “Im not. I’m just staying here.”

“Cmon.”

“Come on what?”

“If I leave you here, you’ll just stay and at me and won’t talk to me in the morning.” He ran his hand across the top of his head.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“Okay, fine! You can sleep with me. Geez, you’re so high maintenance… just put socks on at least.”

You jumped up from the couch, nothing left of your soured expression. “Yay! Thanks.”

He glanced at you, before turning his head away swiftly with an annoyed blow of air out of his mouth. “Yeah, yeah.” If he’d been facing you, you might’ve caught the tint of pink he was turning. “I’m just a really good boyfriend, that’s all.”

“Yeah you are.” You flattered artificially, and he just clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in faux irritation.

That night, when your feet would drift to his, despite the violent chill running down his spine, he didn’t say a word.

—

The following morning, you and him awoke to a driveway full of snow. You’d went back to sleep, telling him to take care of it. And to his chagrin, he did end up having to do it, and when he came back inside he came to a realization.

His feet were as cold as yours now.

A snake-like smile curved the edges of his lips into a V-shape, malice hiding behind his eyes. Delighted with the realization, he crept back to your room. He couldn’t wait to get into the bed, and subject you to the same horror you’d don’t to him - to turn the tables. And to see you have to suck it up despite hating the frigid feeling crawling up your calf, because he’d done the same for you, and who were you to refuse?

“Hehehehehe.” A childlike laugh fell off his lips, and when he crawled back into bed, he immediately shuffled his legs to touch yours. You slowly, gradually began to tense, and he saw your shoulders uncomfortably rise. He would’ve cackled had you not been besides him.

He finally gave you a taste of your own medicine, a-

“What the hell?” You mumbled, half-asleep. You jerked your foot away from his, and his mouth opened and closed in a state of a shock. “Your feet are freezing… stay over there.”

“Wha-but I—“ His mouth opened and closed.

“Hmmm. But you what?”

Like a fish, he gaped at you, wide eyed and body language expressing his utter shock, and betrayal, both of which mutating into absolute anger. After everything he did for you?! “Wha- Wha- Wha- you fucking-!”

Goo Kim

“You know I love you, right?” Those were the words you were shaken awake to that cold night, and you’d blinked a few times, clearing the blurriness infiltrating your vision.

Groggily, you replied. “...Yeah?” Even the tiredness befuddling your train of thought, you’d known him well on enough that useless flattery always comes before a request. One usually to your inconvenience.

“And you know I’d do anything for you, right?”

“Hm. Yes.”

“And would you do anything for me?”

“... Yeah.”

“Then can you do me this one thing?”

“What?”

His eyes, which previously had glinted with an artificial, saccharine light, lidded. “Keep your feet one million miles away from me.”

There was a soft thud made audible from the lack of any noise in the room when he hit his ankle against yours, the momentum sliding your leg back to your side. As soon as he’d said that he turned back onto the side he was previously facing, sending you the cold shoulder. You groaned at his back.

“But then I’ll be cold.”

Your feet naturally gravitated to the warm side of the bed - his, and he curled into himself, leaving you stranded.

“I only ask of you one thing.”

“Oh, you’ll be fine,” you scoffed, walking the line between sleep and unconsciousness. “You’ve literally killed people before.”

“You’re killing me.”

“Oh?” If he’d seen you, he’d see your brow curve curiously. “Elaborate.”

“It’s already cold out. You’ll sleep by me, and you’ll drop the temperature around me because you’re so cold, and then I’ll die, and then you’ll go to jail for homicide and then you’ll be sorry.”

“How would being a little cold kill you?”

“Hypothermia.” He answered without missing a beat.

“Huh…” you hummed at how quickly that was thought out, and consequently how poorly. “Maybe my cell mates will hold me.”

“Your heart’s as cold as your feet…”

Your mouth fell open, and you pressed your feet against him again, this time with bad intent. “They are not that cold!”

The moment the bottom side of your foot touched him, he lost out a shrill shriek, and jumped out of the covers like a startled cat.

“I can’t take this anymore!” He yelled, standing to full height and walking over to the foot of the bed. He made a gesture with his hands for you to get up too, and begrudgingly you lifted the covers off of you and got up, rolling your eyes.

“What?”

With his hands, he made a slicing motion over the bed, as if he’d cut it in half. He placed the tips of his fingers on the bed itself and slid them back and forth, like a pizza slicer.

“This,” he was referring to the left side of the imaginary cut he’d made in the bed, “is my side of the bed.” He then slammed his hands on the right side. “And thiiiiis, is yours. Do not cross my side. Capiche?” He titled his head in your face obnoxiously, hands still swinging back and forth as though he was parting the sea.

“One more time. This-“

“I got it the first time! Geez.”

He folded his arms over his chest in an ‘X’. “Do not cross my side! Got it?!”

You narrowed an eye. “So we’re just gonna sleep like this forever?”

“Maybe not in the summer.”

“But then it’ll already be hot and I’ll want my side to myself!” You threw your hands on your hips. “‘Kay, you know what? Fine. Fine! I’ll sleep on my side.” You out your hands up in mock defeat. “You’ll never know the touch of a significant other again.”

“At least I’ll be warm.” He’d nearly hissed it out bitterly, and without sharing another word, you’d huffed and stepped into your side of the bed - sticking close sky to the edge.

All night, you’d slept somewhat soundly - aside from the few times you’d feel a burning, gaping hole in the back of your head. Why he kept looking at you all night, you couldn’t tell. After a while of feeling the pair of eyes from behind on you, you came to the conclusion he was monitoring to make sure you stayed on your side, and your lips fell into a brooding flat line. The bastard…

Eventually you knocked out and didn’t wake back up again - at least, not so easily, and when your eyes finally opened again, it was daylight. Waking up with a yawn, you stretched, the lack of presence by your side not going unnoticed.

At first, you’d tilted your nose skyward frustratedly. Just leaving without saying goodbye - were you seriously that cold? You’d probably continue to anguish over the fact, when you noticed a piece of paper with a letter on the wall that usually wasn’t present, hung atop the dresser.

‘WEAR THESE SO WE CAN SLEEP TOGETHER AGAIN ->’ written in writing so bad you had to squint and analyze it for minutes to decipher it, you unknowingly nodded before following the line of the arrow, seeing it pointed to a pair of socks hung on the dresser. They looked like they were so heavy and thick, they’d drag the entirety of your leg down and indent the floor you walked on with every step, not to mention the ugly, multiple colors - but disregarding that, you smiled at the sentiment. Thanks to the note afterwards, you were able to discern the series of glances to you that night weren’t of skepticism, but regret - or maybe guilt.

Despite the seemingly angry ‘that fucking bastard’ ringing in in your inner thoughts, there was a humorous smile resting on your face.

Taehoon Seong

“Like hell yer sharing a room with that fuckin’ bastard Hobin.”

When he slammed his hand on the register’s desk, both you and her jumped. In spite of his firm tone indicating he’d already made his mind up about this, it was purposeful on his part that his bangs swept across his eyes, and he noticeably flushed red.

You gasped, facial features contorting, aghast. “That’s cold… you can be mad at him, but you don’t have to bring him not having a father into this. We’re only sharing one to save money!”

He threw his hand down back to his sides irately, and the angry expression he held would’ve intimidated you had he not seemed so flustered. You recoiled a little regardless.

“That’s not what I meant, you air-head!” He yelled through gritted teeth. Throughout his thought process, he’d figured if he’d covered up his indignance at you and Hobin sharing a room with an annoyed front and changed it quickly, he’d be able to avoid having to face your confrontation on why he was so concerned. And he’d figured by doing this, he’d be able to avoid confronting his feelings for you himself as well.

However, as reckless and spontaneous as he acted, hiding his true intentions, his embarrassment was thinly veiled.

He sent the lady behind the check-in register a glare. “Change it.”

She began to type something, and you could visibly see a layer of sweat beam on her forehead nervously. “Uh, s-so I’m switching you two to be in the same room, right?” She stammered out, hurriedly complying, and you scoffed.

“Wha-?! Do I just not get a say in this?!”

Your objection was shut down swiftly by a glower being sent your way, triggering your flight or fight response. “What?” He seethed, head tilting back threateningly, “are you saying you want to share a room with that loser?” The dark aura surrounding him seeped into the atmosphere, and you shuddered.

Rubbing the back of your neck, you gave in. “Ah - uh, well, I don’t mind either, I guess… heh…”

Hitting one last letter on her keyboard, the lady behind the register spoke up, grabbing your synchronized attention. “Alright, so,” she squinted at her screen, “Hobin is now in a room alone, and you two are sharing one. Is that right?”

Wanting the entire ordeal over with, he nodded furiously, before grabbing your wrist and leading you along behind him. You’d protest and inquiry further, but truthfully, it felt nice to be wanted, even if the reason why wasn’t made clear to you.

-

“Oh, man.” You chided casually, hand sliding off the strap of your backpack to rest at your side. “Only one bed… how cliche.”

You made sure to implicate a sense of normalcy to your words, trying to make this feel like no big deal at all. By your side, he just stood still, like a frozen statue. His eyes were wide, and you couldn’t tell if it was shock or agitation.

Engulfed in silence, you waited to see if he’d say anything, but were met with no response. “Well… looks like one of us is gonna have to sleep on the floor.” Secretly, you hoped he would be ‘one of us’. However, he provided an alternative.

Dropping his bag on the floor with an extra amount of force so it’d slam onto the ground, he stormed to the bed, leaving you standing idly at the door. Curling into the farthest possible left corner of the mattress, he shrunk into himself somewhat, blowing out of his nostrils.

“Whatever,” he shrugged, “it’s no big deal. I don’t give a damn.” His gaze made sure to avoid yours like the plague before this, but now he glanced at you from the corner of his eyes, patiently; awaiting your reaction somewhat… worriedly. Concerned to what you’d say, and wether it would be an indirect rejection against him, or a more pleasant answer.

Secretly, you’d wished this unforeseen circumstance would’ve elicited more of a reaction. If he liked you, he probably would’ve refused instantly, right?

It felt like you were being friend zoned, the way he want about it so mundanely, and your face was blank as your thoughts grew more and more forlorn and disappointed. You’d gotten lost in them after a while, like a-

“Are you gonna fuckin’ say anything?”

Snapping you out od your thoughts, you redirected your focus to the moment at hand, and quickly made a decision.

“Hmf…” you stared at him with wide eyes briefly, before humming. “Alright.” You slung your backpack off of your shoulder. “If you don’t care, neither do I.”

He went slack at your words, releasing a relieved breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in. When your weight dipped under the bed as you climbed on, his eyes were faced forwards; but he was acutely aware of every shift and creak of the bed.

“...” Glaring at the wall, his face felt hot again. So close…

“Well,” you smiled. “Good night, then.”

Strands of hair fell over his face when he sent you a look over his shoulder scrutinizingly, before he fixed his vision forwards again, resting his head on his hands. “Yeah, yeah… ‘night or whatever. Just stay on your side.”

You’d fallen asleep much quicker than he had, his heart skittering too loudly in his skull for him to catch any rest, until your even and serene breaths lulled him asleep as well.

Normally, he was a fairly heavy sleeper. However that night, he was instantly pulled from his dreams, and his eyes abruptly snapped open when he felt a glacial cold on the lower extremity of his leg.

He awoke to a piercing cold.

You were woken when you went flying off the bed, sent by a kick to the middle of your stomach. Any sleepiness remaining in you was expelled the moment you collided with the floor, rolling a bit from the momentum.

With a pained groan, you lifted yourself on your elbow. “Hey, what the hell?!” You griped, looking up to see he’d rolled onto your side of the bed - or at least, what was your side of the bed, eyes narrowed at you from above.

Rubbing the part of your head which had hit the floor, you scowled. “What’s your problem? Don’t tell me you’re a sleep kicker…”

Remnants of exhaustion were still evident under the crevices of his eyes, however that didn’t impede the lour he directed to you. “Yer sleep in’ on the floor tonight.”

You looked oddly sad at that, shoulders boxing into a square. “Wha- what did I do?!”

The blades of his shoulders stiffened up to his jaw, and he squawked. “Don’t tell me you don’t know! Your feet are fuckin’ freezing!”

You seemed to ponder for a moment, internally wondering if they really were that cold - it’s not like you’d ever slept with anyone before in the same bed. Eyeing your unnecessarily intense expression, he stubbornly scoffed, before retreating back to his side of the bed. Not that he it was needed, as he’d claimed the entire thing for his own.

And you’d been banished from your own bed. The one in the room he argued you’d stay in!

Furiously, you picked yourself up to your feet, and stormed back to the bed. You didn’t even have to listen to him, he didn’t own the room, right?

Your rampage was cut short when he noticed you approaching, and swung his legs off the corner of the bed you were headed towards defensively. With your means of getting up now hindered, you wondered if you could just walk around to the other side and hop on, but realized he’d probably make it there before you. And then you’d be faced with the same situation, so it’d be easier to just handle it here and now.

Leaning down and summoning the most menacing stare you could to match his own, you started speaking. “Let me on.”

“No way.”

Frowning deeply, you tried to attempt overreaching past him and somehow mauevering yourself onto the bed from then. You weren’t gonna sleep on the floor; not in a room you were told to be in by the very guy kicking you off the mattress. Your hand flashed past the arch of his neck to reach the bed behind him, but mid-way a blur of pasty skin was quicker than your motion; and you found your hand blocked by the side of his palm. You scowled lowly, and tried again on the other side of his head, but met the same outcome.

Intimidatingly, he stood, but you stared him down, trying to be as unpredictable as possible. With a small groan of exertion, you tried to fly your hand past him, but this time it was kicked away by the head of his foot; and you let out an “ouch”.

“Yikes, that stings, asshole!” You growled, before going at it again, and being kicked again - this time stumbling aback from the force. This kept going for a prolonged amount of time, you reaching and him deflecting your attacks.

“Damnit!” You reached - he kicked. “Let me-“ this time you tried to glide besides him and jump into the bed with your entire body wholly. He kicked your shoulder back, and you heard it pop. “-get on-“ you went for the other side. He blocked. “-the fucking bed!” With a sudden surge of confidence spurred from your fatigue, you just jumped with no prior plan or idea and mind. His foot crashed into your stomach, and you lost your breath when you were propelled back, and hit the floor.

Now on the floor again, you somewhat subsided to your fate, and a few minutes passed as he’d gotten back into the bed to your upmost chagrin, and you were stuck on the cold hard floor. Drawing senseless doodles into the floor with your finger, you grumbled to yourself angrily.

“-fucking inviting ME to HIS room ‘nd then kicking ME off the bed… little asshole… one of these days…”

You considered how things would’ve turned out had he not interfered with the rooming plan for whatever reason he did. “Yoo Hobin would never treat me like this…”

You could hear the sheets beneath him shuffle as his upper body went taut, and it creaked when he sat up and glared at you again. “What did you just say?” Despite his harsh and cold tone, he looked somewhat guilt-ridden.

Feeling especially spiteful, you averted your gaze to the floor again and continued your nonsensical tracing of the floorboards. “Oh, nothing, I just said that YOO HOBIN WOULD NEVER TREAT ME LIKE THIS.” Your tone was casual, but near the end you amplified your voice as loud as possible to draw out the guilt in him. It was deserved, that’s what he gets for kicking you off.

You picked yourself up, headed towards the door. “Maybe I’ll just go sleep with him…” you knew deep down you wouldn’t. You didn’t want to wake him up if he was asleep, but you hoped he would somehow stop you before you reached the door. If not, to save your pride, you’d continue to storm out the door and then just wander the halls ‘till daylight.

“... Fine. You can sleep here… just stay the hell away from me.”

You beamed, mood doing a complete 180. “Really?!” You clasped your hands together gratefully. “Thanks so much! Don’t worry, I’ll stay on my side.”

You jumped onto the bed, now appreciating it much more than before, and when you’d finally settled comfortably your eyes fluttered to a close. It would’ve been extremely peaceful, had you not felt a sudden pressure against your chest.

Eyes blinking open, you arched a brow when you saw him posed to kick you, keeping his leg besides your upper body.

“... And what’s this for?” You asked, unnerved. He lidded his eyes at you.

“To make sure you keep your cold feet on your fucking side… if you cross over, I’ll freaking kill you.”

“Aren’t you technically on my side now and infringing upon the rules you set yourself?”

The look of hatred he sent you made you chuckle nervously, a drop of sweat sliding down your forehead. “Heh… okay…” with a sigh, you just gave in. “Well, it certainly beats sleeping on the floor.”

He glared at you broodingly, in spite of the red color painting his face. You closed your eyes and smiled, content.

“Goodnight.”

“If I feel yer feet come on my side, you won’t live to see daylight.”

That was good enough for you. Signing tiredly through an exhale, you fell asleep, him watching your peaceful expression until he drifted off too.

(Unedited)

Ur not annoying me w ur requests at all!!!! I love writing them, u could never annoy me by requesting lol DONT worry!! I hope this was what u wanted w ur ask, it ended up rlly long and unexpectedly sweet? and I’m not certain if u have read how to fight, but if u haven’t, based on ur last few requests I think u would like taehoon, wangguk and thus one other guy who’s name I don’t remember but his hair is in a bun LOL. It’s by the same author if lookism so if u haven’t read it I definitely recommend it!!!!! Ty for requesting ❤️❤️❤️

[teriwrites]

The Fatal Choice Wrap-Up

I'm not sure whether I would say this story lined up with my expectations, because, with this one, I really didn't have any expectations. The most I had going into this was the barest memory of the scene where Delroy hides out in a griffin stable and Delroy and Adriana's first conversation. Otherwise? Nada. Everything else I knew fully drew on the second draft.

That said, despite entering what I'd affectionately dub as the 'mediocre midsection' in terms of writing quality - grammar has tightened up, sentences are comprehensible, a lot of redundancy - there are still absolutely some heavy high and lowlights regarding the storycrafting itself. Heavy enough that I'll only be focusing on one each.

But first:

Beyond the Draft:

This might get a little messy, as I'm trying to recall the second draft off the top of my head. I know the ultimate ending, but the details in the middle might get a little fuzzy, and not everything will necessarily tie together.

Okay, so Delroy has made a deal with Altair Morenson. He's discovered that Adriana uses magic, and that she has an old mentor out to get her. He's waiting for the day of the execution, when Altair is going to let his friends slip out the back door while he prepares for the execution, and all will be well!

Not all is well. Somehow, Altair gets back in contact with him, and essentially demands more upfront payment. Delroy cannot provide this. Rather than find a way around it, or giving him a counter-offer, he winds up losing his temper in absolute panic and thoroughly insults the executioner. The executioner is, understandably, upset. He now swears that Delroy's friends will die, and that he will have the guards keep an especially close watch on them to make sure there's no chance of a jailbreak.

Delroy panics again. Naturally. He's lost all his worldly worth (obviously, Altair was not going to give him back all of that nice stuff he paid initially), and he goes to Adriana and begs for help.

She agrees to help, and they make plans for interfering during the earliest stage of the procession to the gallows (idk why that was the move, but apparently that's their best shot).

As their plan begins to play out, Adriana's mentor shows herself again, completely sabotaging their ability to save Seth and Roland. As Adriana gets into a very public, very magical duel in front of massive crowds of people to save herself, Delroy becomes helpless to watch as the procession goes on, and his friends are brought to the gallows.

Our man has no agency left. He, ahhhh, watches his friends die. From like the front row. As spectators cheer it on. Pretty sure one of them makes direct eye contact with him just before it all goes down.

Very fun scene, very chill, I've always been very nice to my characters.

Following That, Delroy completely loses himself in despair. Remember all that shit he was talking about people being messy and drinking too much and talking to themselves and 'having no respect for themselves'? Yeah, that's him. We get a bit of a time jump, but he's like that for a hot minute. Several months lost to the bottom of a bottle sort of deal. Maybe longer, I don't remember the exact timeline.

In a couple of the moments he's lucid, he often wanders back to the richer neighborhoods of Diaga, back to that square where the prison stands and it all went down. And he ends up making a sort-of friend there.

That friends offers him a lot of advice over those visits, and ends up offering him a job, as he's in need of some hired help in his manor.

Who is that friend?

Why, it's Governor Cedric Boyd, of course! The man who ultimately swayed the board of Governors to have Delroy's friends killed! Said to be the worst of the worst!

But he's nice! And he's been very helpful! And his offer is very generous. With a lot of conflict, Delroy agrees, and we close out book 1.

(A lot of the latter part of that is told in very quick succession. Probably way too quick tbh)

But there you have it! His friends die, Adriana is forced into hiding after revealing a very illegal practice in full view of government officials, law enforcement, and the public at large, and Delroy takes a job with the man he's supposed to hate the most!

(I'm sorry that was so long, the 42K I covered before only really got us to like the midpoint)

Strengths:

Characterization: The consistency of character and digging deeper into the 'why' of their development took a massive step forwards between 2012 and 2013. Yes, we can look back at Kristen and mention her temper, or Raevin and poke fun at her angst, but their narrative voice often found itself at odds with this, claiming they were way more stable than they actually appeared, or else came across rather one-dimensionally. With Delroy, we can see his obsession with grooming, with propriety, with manners, and take note of his recent history with the upper-class Isolates that stood in great contrast to his childhood in his dad's orphanage. We can see the encouragement of his beliefs in his relationship with his mentor, Keegan. Nods towards this behavior appear time and again throughout the story, between regular mannerisms (always straightening his tie), lines of thought (immediately considering his appearance when trying to make a good first impression), and habits (hanging up clothes as soon as he arrives at an inn so they don't wrinkle). As characterization is something that I am more recently finding myself wondering about, whether I'm doing it well with maintaining a consistent idea of a character throughout a story, it's really encouraging to see the maybe overzealous beginnings of doing exactly that.

Weaknesses:

Biases: We're here again, folks. It's back, and worse than ever (maybe not, Below got pretty rough, but it's not great). I'm going to try not to repeat myself, because I did go into some detail with it in one of the live reactions, but basically, I can't be totally sure whether Delroy's absolutely toxic ideas about the world reflected my own, or were simply meant to be a part of said listed 'characterization'. Similarly, the worldbuilding hinged a lot on essentially ultra-traditional Western ideas about things like gender, alcohol consumption, etc. Not my proudest moment, reading some of these things. What my takeaway here is, ultimately, regardless of whether I was accidentally revealing my own real-world views or simply doing my best to reflect 'generic historical takes' to give an idea of this worldbuilding setting, clearly there is a degree to which, intention doesn't matter! It was uncomfortable either way!

Final (Written) Line

'It had been impressive.'

Live Reactions

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

November 2013: The Abernathy Chronicles - The Fatal Choice

Wordcount | 42,502* Genre | Fantasy POV | 3rd Person Setting | Fictional World of Ardeai Status | Incomplete Draft**, Retired *While I did write the full 50,000 that November, the flashdrive I saved it on was corrupted, and this is the most complete draft I have left rip **A complete draft of this WIP does exist but was written at a later time

The Synopsis As I Remember It

Delroy Abernathy left home at the age of 16, looking to make his way in the post-coup corruption of his home, Ardeai. Ten years later, he's settled in with a band of rebels in a valley of the isolated, treacherous Silverpass Mountains. With a quick-learning, academic-bent mind, Delroy's role involves a lot of pouring through the camp's intel, and absolutely no permission to make the difficult journey back out into open country. When two of his closest friends are captured on a recon mission in the capital city of Diaga, however, Delroy refuses to accept their fate. Stealing a steed and some provisions, he sets out in the dead of night. But making it to Diaga is one thing. The far greater challenge lies in plotting his friends' escape, and in discerning who he can trust. And unless he can manage to do both, the countdown to their execution ticks on and on.

First Line

Delroy sat at his desk, running a hand through his long, chestnut brown hair.

Characters

Delroy Abernathy - 26, he's got a case of the three Bs: blue eyes/brunette/beanpole of a man, asexual*, absolutely brilliant academic, absolutely abhorrent in any social situation, somehow still doesn't have a problem making friends, less good at keeping them *iirc, this is the first story I ever explicitly mapped out my characters' sexualities! Unlike my plethora of 'functionally-ace-because-I-rarely-write-romance-but-theoretically-can-be-interpreted-however-you-want' main characters, Delroy is bonafide aroace Raelyn Marinelli - 20s, blonde, hetero (derogatory), daughter of the rebel leader, one of Delroy's friends, honestly idr loads about her role in this first book other than she was there and tried convincing Delroy not to leave Adriana Estep - 20s(??) probably??, lesbian(??) iirc, coily dark hair, tawny brown skin, first person to actually help Delroy out in the city, pretends to be more jaded than she actually is, struggles between empathy and self-interest sometimes (always), big 'aren't you tired of being nice? don't you just wanna go apeshit?' vibes, good secret keeper because she herself has Big Secrets

Pre-Reading Thoughts

In some ways, I remember this story Way more clearly than the previous couple. And in other ways, I don't remember it at all. This particular draft that I'm reading is an incomplete NaNoWriMo draft from 2013. In 2015, I went back and rewrote it from scratch. Most of what I know about this story is drawing off of that second draft, so it's possible that even the synopsis I'm remembering is off. The series that this WIP started off was meant to be four books, and followed the difficult life of Delroy as he grew into what would eventually be the mentor figure for a prototypical 'Chosen One' plotline. It was my first real attempt at fleshing out worldbuilding, and really dominated most of my creative writing in high school. I absolutely loved it, and it was extremely difficult to step away from when I eventually reached that point. But as for this specific draft, I mostly remember that it was a huge pain in the ass. I grew up as a pantser. All I needed to start writing was a vibe, and I'd be off. The problem was, I found it very hard to commit to an idea when all I had towards it was a vibe. As soon as I'd written enough of said vibe to satisfy the urge to write it, I had a tough time putting more words on the page. Which is how I wound up giving up on reaching 50K halfway through the month. I was so fed up with plotholes and getting lost in my own story that I walked away at about 30K. Between a few word wars and things to entertain my friends, I pushed that up to 32K. But then, in the final stretch of November, suddenly a whole slew of the members of my little internet writing community were passing the big 50,000, or else fulfilling their personal goals. And I knew I wasn't done yet. More than that, I knew I was going to win. Long story short, I wrote 8K on the 29th and 10K on the 30th of November 2013. I reached the 'finish line' at like 10PM, with aching hands and so much pride. It was the 2nd hardest win I've ever earned. Don't worry about the 1st. We'll get there. :) So basically all in all, the legacy that this particular draft of this particular WIP has is that it singlehanded turned me from a religious pantser to an obsessive planner, so I'd never had to feel so wildly unprepared when tackling something like this. And I honor that legacy every day by not remembering a single scene from this whole first draft <3

[h2bakugou]

Heh bitchhhhh 🥴🥴🥴, can i request a bakugo x reader. The reader has a showstopper quirk were they can make people break out into song and dance and when kidnapped by the league they force them to preform “ive got a dream” from tangled. P.s play bloxburg with me 🥺👉🏼👈🏼

a/n: heyyyy bitchhhh, lmfao yes, thank you for drafting this idea to me in my bedroom, and we can play bloxburg soon. i had so much fun writing this omg, 

the song is from tangled so credit to tangled for most of the dialogue/song!

summary: upon running into the league of villains, you and bakugou decide it’s best to just try and get away instead of staying and fighting, but your quirk is going to affect all in the area.

key: (y/n) - your name / (f/n) - first name / (l/n) - last name / (e/c) - eye color / (h/c) - hair color / showstopper - your quirk

warnings: swearing, fluff, angst, this is a certified crackfic brought to you by my sister’s amazing brain.

wordcount: 1.7k

»»————-　★　————-««

»»————-　★　————-««

It’s a pretty average day, nothing crazy happening. for a grade in class, you’ve been assigned to patrol near campus.

And you were paired with none other than your crush, Bakugou.

The tension between the two of you was palpable, but it was a battle between knowing if Bakugou was aware of your quirk or not. You were worried.

As the tension settled, thickening with every passing second, every breath feeling harder to push out than the last, Bakugou was tired of the silence.

“Oi! Say something.” Bakugou’s harsh voice cut through the silence like a knife. It was unexpected, and it startled you. You looked over at him and cracked a smile.

“Sorry! I’m just thinking, what exactly are we looking for on this patrol?” You ask, deciding it was best to not worry if he knew about your quirk or not, he was in your class, surely he had to know.

“It’s a patrol. We’re not looking for something specific dumbass. We’re looking for anything out of the ordinary.” Bakugou’s words weren’t meant to hurt you, in fact, Bakugou began to think about if what he had said had been to harsh.

He’d been suffocating the feelings of a crush toward you for a while, and this patrol with one another didn’t help. Kirishima nor Kaminari were here to keep him grounded, he was going to be a mess.

A few screams caught your attention. Darting over to the noise, a lady was running away from an alley. Glancing at Bakugou, the two of you rushed in, not expecting what you saw.

The light from an open door illuminated a portion of the alley at the end, the rest shadowed in darkness from the buildings looming above.

Stepping into the lit room, the door was harshly shut and locked behind you, your eyes focusing on none other than the League of Villains.

“Shit.” You cursed, staring at the group of rag-tag villains with dangerous abilities.

“Well isn’t this ironic.” Tomura Shigaraki trotted over, standing oddly, almost hunched over as he scratched at the side of his neck.

“That can’t be healthy.” You whispered, cringing at the unnerving sound of his fingernails scratching against his raw skin.

“Die!-”

“Bakugou wait!” You pulled him back from lunging at the group, taking a step back away from them.

“We gotta stop them! What are you doing?” Bakugou yelled, glaring at you.

“Do you really think we can stop all of them at once? That’s suicide! Think dumbass!” You hit the top of his head lightly with a fist and groaned.

“That’s my line!” Bakugou grunted, looking back at the league. Shigaraki stood up straight and sighed, flexing his hand.

“What ideas do you have?” Bakugou hated asking the question, but he couldn’t use his. He’d cause to much damage, and structural damage to the bottom floor would cause the building to collapse.

“I have one but-”

“Then use it!”

“I can’t! My quirk it’ll-” You knew this was going to happen.

“I’m getting tired of your bickering. Dabi-”

“Use your quirk and stop wasting time!” Bakugou shakes you, gripping your shoulders harshly. It hurt but you activated your quirk and all the lights went out.

A single light shone down and Shigaraki stepped forward. He wasn’t moving on his own accord, and everyone was just watching as you raised your hands, seemingly controlling him like a puppet.

As music began to play, Shigaraki began to sing.

“I’m malicious, mean, and scary. My sneer could curdle dairy. And violence wise, my hands are not the cleanest.” Shigaraki’s eyes were wide, still conscious of everything that was happening, he was unhappy with the events unfolding.

The rest of the league sat immobile as they watched the scene unfold, Dabi trying to hold back a laugh, Kurogiri being ultimately curious, and Toga happy as can be.

“But despite my evil look, and my temper, and my hook, I’ve always yearned to be a concert pianist.” Shigaraki was moved over to where a piano sat, coincidentally still in pretty okay shape. Guess hiding out in yet another bar had its perks.

“Can’tcha see me on the stage performin’ Mozart? Tickilin’ the ivories ‘til they gleam. Yep, I’d rather be called deadly, for my killer show-tune medley, thank you! ‘Cause way down deep inside I’ve got a dream!” Shigaraki’s fingers danced across the keys, always having one on each hand raised as to not decay the entire piano.

It was you controlling him playing, not him at all. Shigaraki had never touched a piano in his life, yet it was very interesting to seemingly be able to play it perfectly.

“He’s got a dream! He’s got a dream!” The rest of the league joined in, singing along with him.

“See I ain’t as cruel and vicious as I seem! Though I do like breaking femurs, you can count me with the dreamers Like everybody else, I’ve got a dream!” Shigaraki ended his verse off with a groovy riff on the keys, the spotlight jumping over to Dabi.

“I’ve got scars, and lumps, and bruises. Plus something here that oozes. And let’s not even mention my complexion.” Dabi stepped forward, his hands pointing out parts on his body.

“But despite my extra toes, and my goiter, and my nose, I really wanna make a love connection.” Dabi’s eyes widened as he sang the words, your fingers wiggling around, controlling his movements.

“Can’t you see me with a special little lady, rowin’ in a rowboat down the stream?” Dabi sat on a stool and mimicked rowing in a boat, continuing his verse.

“Though I’m one disgusting blighter, I’m a lover, not a fighter! ‘Cause way down deep inside I’ve got a dream!” Dabi jumped up form his stool and stood in the middle of the room.

“He’s got a dream!” The league sang.

"I’ve got a dream!” Dabi continued.

“He’s got a dream!”

“And I know one day romance will reign supreme! Though my face leaves people screaming, there’s a child behind it, dreaming. Like everybody else, I’ve got a dream!” Dabi danced his way over to Shigaraki.

“Magne would like to quit and be a florist!”

“Kurogiri does interior design.”

“Twice is into mime, Toga’s cupcakes are sublime!”

“Mr. Compress knits.”

“Giran sews.”

“Muscular does little puppet shows!”

“And Spinner collects ceramic unicorns~!” 

"What about you?” Shigaraki steps toward Bakugou who’s eyes widen in surprise as they quickly dart to you and then back to Shigaraki.

You were controlling everyone, the only downside to your quirk, is everyone in the area is affected. You control those in the room, even Bakugou. You just hoped he wasn’t going to hate you after this.

“I’m sorry me?” Bakugou asks, staring at Shigaraki. Dabi steps forward too.

“What’s your dream?” Dabi asks, pulling him into the center of the room where the spotlight shone.

“No, no no, sorry boys, I don’t sing.” Bakugou replied coolly. You stifled a laugh as he stared at you.

The league glared at him as the music kicked up again.

“I have dreams like you, no really! Just much less, touchy-feely. They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny!” Bakugou began to sing, dancing around the bar.

“On an island that I own, tanned, and rested, and alone, surrounded by enormous piles of money!” Bakugou laid on the bar counter, propped up on his side as he pretended to relax on a beach.

“I’ve got a dream!”

“I’ve got a dream!” The rest of the league joined back in singing, while you pulled Bakugou off the counter, still controlling the others. You had to get out of here while they were still distracted. The song was almost over.

“She’s got a dream, he’s got a dream, they’ve got a dream, we’ve got a dream!” The league sang together.

“So our diff’rences ain’t really that extreme!”

“Call us brutal!” Shigaraki started.

“Sick.” Dabi added.

“Sadistic!” Twice and Toga sang harmoniously.

"And grotesquely optimistic.” Kurogiri sang, his voice was surprisingly really good.

“‘Cause way down deep inside, we’ve got a dream!” The league was singing together again.

You pulled Bakugou out of the bar and helped him down the alley as the two of you ran away, heading back toward the campus to let the heroes know.

“I’ve got a dream!” Shigaraki started again.

“I’ve got a dream!” Dabi was next.

“I’ve got a dream!”

“I’ve got a dream!”

“I’ve got a dream!” Kurogiri, Compress and Twice joined in.

“I’ve got a dream!” Toga smiled as she joined in. She was having a blast.

“Yes, way down deep inside I’ve got a dream!” They all joined in for the last line as the music faded out.

The lights returned to normal and everyone was able to move on their own.

“What the fuck!” Shigaraki cursed, shaking his body out as a chill raced through him.

“That was horrible!” Dabi groaned, staring at Shigaraki.

“I didn’t know you could play the piano!” Toga rushed over to Shigaraki.

“I can’t.” Shigaraki glared at the blonde girl.

“And who knew Kurogiri could sing so well!” Twice laughed.

“Never speak of this to anyone.” Shigaraki groaned, taking a breath from the entire show.

- - -

“Why’d you make me sing?!” Bakugou groaned as he held your hand, pulling you into the main campus building.

“My quirk affects everyone in the area. I didn’t have much of a choice. You had to do something or it would’ve messed up.” You sighed.

“Whatever. I guess it wasn’t so bad.” 

“You have a nice voice.” You compliment him. Bakugou’s cheeks twinge red as he thinks about what you just said.

“It was kind of funny to see them all sing and dance like that huh?” You question, gripping his hand a bit softer, your own face heating up as he runs his thumb across the back of your hand.

“It was something alright. Let’s just get this dealt with. And don’t you dare tell anyone about this!” Bakugou stops, pulling you into him.

“I won’t, I promise!” You smile, looking into his crimson eyes.

“Good.” Bakugou’s eyes flick down to your lips and then back up to your eyes.

He pulls you in for a quick kiss, his lips locking onto yours for a few seconds before pulling away.

“Or that.” He pouts, huffing his cheeks as he returns to walking, leaving you stunned as you slowly catch up, excitement bubbling inside you.

»»————-　★　————-««

masterlist

[theladyofmanyfandomsfanfiction]

Festive Fuelstop

Pairing: Mando x Reader

Warnings: None.

Summary: You, Mando and the Child end up in a small town and get pulled into their traditions.

A/n: Happy Holidays, my loves!

You walked out of the Crest and took a breath of fresh air after a week of being trapped inside the flying metal. Despite having to make an emergency landing, you were thankful that the fuel line had started leaking just to stretch your legs. You and Mando had landed on the outskirts of a charming village where the mechanic actually refused the credits that the Mandalorian offered to repair his ship.

“Oh, golly. I can’t take payment now - I haven’t made any repairs.” The man chuckled heartily and whistled for his best workers to get on the job. The repairman then focused back on the new arrivals. “Why don’t you hold on to those credits and take your family down to the markets in the meantime?”

Mando appeared to have frozen so you leaned forward and pulled his hand back, flashing a smile to the kind man.

“The markets sound wonderful - could you point us in the right direction?”

You were given instruction to follow the wooden path down the hill until you reached a clearing into the central part of town which you, Mando and the Child followed.

When you reached the bottom, the townsfolk were in a buzz carrying boxes of shiny strings and coloured balls from one part of town to the next. Homes were decorated with lights strewn across the fences and roofs, some even had a green wreaths on the front door. Adults met up with one another with a grin as they walked in the same direction while children chased each other in tow.

You and Mando exchanged curious glances. This wasn’t something either of you had come across and your confused expression caught the attention of a passerby. The man stopped before the two of you and pointed.

“Visitors?” He guessed with a smile on his face that highlighted a hidden dimple.

You returned the smile and Mando nodded, “Our ship is being repaired uphill.”

“Well then it’s in safe hands. Please, feel free to join us in the Square while you wait.” The man invited and then walked away in the same direction as everyone else. It seemed like the whole town was headed that way.

Folding your arms, you turned to the bounty hunter, “Is it bad that I want to know what’s happening in the Square?”

“We have to keep moving.” Mando reminded as he looked around the buildings. “Maybe find a diner of some sort.”

You watched as more of the townsfolk left their homes and bit your lower lip as you thought - then you heard the child croon and idea came to mind.

“If everyone’s in the same place then none of their lodgings, food or otherwise, will be open. We’ll have a better chance to blend in alongside everyone else while seeing what has everyone so excited.” You said. “And the kid might never experience this again.”

The Mandalorian cocked his head to the side when he heard you.

“Are those reasons for the kid or for you?”

You shot him a side-eye and shook your head. Without hearing his argument against the plan, you followed the crowd and - in a few minutes - his beskar arm braces were bumping beside you.

It was a short walk to the heart of the town where a large green tree gleaming with lights and decoration sat in the middle. Your jaw dropped, eyes mesmerised with the sight that you almost knocked into the woman in front of you had it not been for Mando pulling you back. As the last few people joined, you realised that it was getting too close-for-comfort for the child so you moved to a more open space a little further from the festivities.

You returned to staring in awe at the magnificence of the tree and couldn’t help but smile, “What are they celebrating?” You wondered just as a little boy zoomed past with his friends, hearing your question. He stopped before you and Mando and placed his hands on his hips.

“You must be travellers! Tonight begins the First Ice of Holly Day. We gather around the tree just before the snow begins to fall - which should be starting soon!” The young boy explained and then ran off leaving the baby to lean over his cradle and coo.

Soon? You looked up to the skies and noticed that they had now been filled with frosty grey clouds. The sun began to fade away which illuminated the lights around the entire town making everything glow. As it darkened just a touch more excitable voices began talking quickly, most of it inaudible. You were so caught up in the moment that you hadn’t realised Mando tensing up beside you until you turned to him. He looked like he was ready to be jumped. You opened you mouth to chide him when there was a joyful cry from the far side of the tree.

“Look - look! It’s snowing! Holly Day has begun!”

You , Mando and the Child looked up once more and, sure enough, small snowflakes descended upon the happy town. A chilled breeze set in and you remembered that you weren’t properly clothed from when you exited the ship a while ago. You were about to suggest finding some coats when Mando turned his head toward the clearing.

“We should head back. I don’t want to be caught in a snow storm at the base of a hill.” He told you. You glanced at the baby trying to catch the snow in his mouth and sighed. Mando was right.

You shivered slightly, dusting the snow from your shoulders. “Point made. But before we head back, I need to stop at a vegetable stall.”

“Why?”

You pursed your lips and squinted at the green womp rat in the cradle, “Because somebody keeps ‘force-flinging’ the celonslay into the refresher.” you leaned down to the baby and used the tip of your index finger to lightly press on his button nose. “Vegetables are what’s going to make you big and strong.”

You straightened back up and noticed the crowd the beginning to disperse as you looked around them to find some place that sold healthy greens.

Mando pointed over your shoulder quietly and you followed his hand to where a row of merchants stood with their goods just past the tree. You thanked him and requested that he and child stay put until you returned. The bounty hunter didn’t argue and so you ventured off to the markets. As you passed the tree you smiled once more at its beauty. A part of you wondered if Mando would oppose to having a small one in the ship. But then you thought better of it because if Mando didn’t oppose then the kid might tear it apart or worse, jam it into the refresher.

You passed the first stall which happened to be filled with florals and ‘Holly Berry Seed Pots’ and over to the second one where rows and rows of fruits and vegetables sat. Scanning the items, you spotted the celonslay and decided against purchasing it again. The Child clearly didn’t like it. As you browsed, a head popped up from behind the stall - it belonged to the man you first met upon reaching the town.

“It’s you.” You realised.

He chuckled and quirked a brow. “Twice in one day? I’m beginning to think that you’re following me.” He teased lightly and tapped his hands on the wooden counter top. “I’m glad you decided to come to the Square.”

The man inquired about how you felt about experiencing the First Ice and you told him the truth of how you adored the way it was celebrated. You both then returned to the task at hand and you asked for his suggestion on a vegetable that a baby would enjoy.

“Children are tricky to pick for.” The Merchant hummed as he looked over the available selection. “But I do have some gimer canes. If the kid is teething, he can chew on this to get important nutrients with a sweet taste. He might even do a happy dance.”

Your eyes lit up along with your smile, “That’s perfect, I’ll take four.”

“Gimer canes are fairly rare so...”

“I’ll pay you double.” You offered instantly, not bothering to discuss it with the Mandalorian.

You expected the Merchant to take the credits right away but he laughed admirably at you. “I was actually hoping that you’d come with me to the Holly Seed Planting tomorrow instead.”

As much as you wanted to stay, you and Mando were due to leave the planet in under an hour. Your shoulders visibly slackened and the Merchant seemed to have understood. He reached beneath the counter and lifted up a paper bag, handing it over to you.

“Here, consider it an early Holly Day gift.”

Slightly confused, you looked inside and saw four pieces of the rare cane. You didn’t know how to express thanks besides repeating the word in the hopes that it would be enough.

“It’s okay, really.” The Merchant said softly. “Times are strange, we may meet again.”

You flashed a smile and thanked him once more before turning to leave.

You returned to the Child and the Mandalorian shortly after and noticed the mechanic of your ship walking away from the beskar-plated man with a spring in his step and humming a tune.

“Was that...?”

“It was.” Mando sighed. “Apparently, the repairs won’t be ready until tomorrow afternoon because the mechanic doesn’t want to miss out on the ‘festivities’.”

You couldn’t really blame the creature for halting work and you looked over at the hill pathway that led to the ship. “Old fashioned camp out in the broken cargo hold?” You suggested.

“It’s getting dark and you’re exhausted. We’ll stay in town until the repairs are complete.”

This meant that you could repay the Merchant in full.

“Why are you smiling?”

You wiped the escaped emotion from your face and cleared your throat. Balancing the bag against your hip, you looked around the well-lit town, deflecting the question, “I’m sure that there’s a good lodging around here.”

And you were right, a short walk down the road landed the three of you at a comfortable inn for travellers. But as luck would have it, finding a decent sized room in the towns busiest time proved to be difficult and so, you, Mando and cradled baby were placed in a smaller, single bed compartment with extra blankets to compensate. While it was quaint, a part of you wished that you were back on the Razor Crest.

As Mando settled into the temporary sleeping quarters by checking the perimeters, you helped the kid out of his cot and onto the soft mattress. This hadn’t been the first time that there was only one bed between three individuals so you and Mando decided to take one side each to make sure that you were both well rested. And, to be involved, the Child would walk across the surface before sitting on the side that he wanted Mando to be. 

The kid cooed and then smacked his lips which reminded you that he had not been fed the since lunch. You walked over to the table by the door and dug into the paper bag retrieving a stick of the gimer cane before carefully handing it to the baby to taste.

Mando joined your side as the pair of watched the child chew on the cane with a happy squeal.

“He likes it.” Mando noted, relatively surprised. Your mouth hung open as you watched the green womp rat do a little seated ‘happy dance’.

The Merchant was right.

Speaking of the man, you remembered to tell the bounty hunter of your plans the next day, explaining - once again - that it would be a good way for the kid to learn and enjoy other customs. His sigh told you that he wasn’t thrilled but, ultimately, he resigned. “Fine but we’re leaving the moment the Crest is fixed.”

You tried to contain your smile but it slipped out which led to the Mandalorian shaking his head and heading for the bed to get some decent rest. He picked up the child and moved him to the centre before laying down on the sheets. As you watched the baby find a comfortable sleeping position against his chosen-father, you realised that you were fairly exhausted from the day. You took up the blankets that the lodging provided and laid along the empty bed space, covering yourself and the kid just before falling asleep to the burning candlelight.

When you woke to birdsong, you found that the child had switched sleeping allegiances and was now snuggled in your arms. Mando stepped out of the refresher and helped you to get ready for the day by removing the womp rat from your hold which led the child waking up with a small wail until Mando pacified him with a gimer cane.

Once all affairs were in order, you paid the lodging owner in full and left for the Merchant’s stall where the man had just farewelled a customer.

“Can I have four more gimer canes?” You wondered and the moment the Merchant saw you, he abandoned his job, rushing to the front with a smile.

“You- you’re still here.”

Nodding, you gestured to where Mando stood with the child, “Our repairs will be done this afternoon which means we can go to the Holly Seed Planting.”

The Merchant nodded and boldly took your hands when he spoke. “The Planting is in a few hours but there are things we can do before that!” He looked over your shoulder to Mando, “Tell me, friend. Have you ever gone sledding through fields of freshly lain snow under trees of light?”

Mando stared back through his visor, “Only to capture my bounty.”

The Merchant didn’t know what to make of the statement and you chuckled to lighten the air, “Sledding sounds wonderful!”

And that’s what you did. The Merchant took the three of you to a sledding field and you almost forgot about your mission to find the child’s people. Mando took the green womp rat for a ride after caving to his pleading coos while you rode with the Merchant. 

Once the snow-filled fun had run its course, you all ventured back into town for a hot meal at the local cantina and a short rest before learning that enough time had passed for the Holly Seed Planting. You and Mando followed the Merchant over to the large tree where, at its base, several plots were dug in long rows along the white frost.

“What’s so special about this event?” You asked as curiosity enveloped when you noticed people gathering in pairs.

The Merchant took your hand and pointed across, “Holly Seeds are special, they bloom fast with emotion and identical where love is pure. It’s a rare sight to see but it doesn’t make it any less fun to plant.”

“What happens to these seeds after?”

“We nurture them through the year, their roots and leaves merge until they form the Town’s next tree for Holly Day.”

If you had left the day before, you never would have learnt about something so amazing.

“Oh - I think it’s starting. Let’s go get a seed.” The Merchant told you excitably.

Mando made no effort to move quickly, instead he held onto the child and stepped back. “I think the kid and I will wait this one out.”

A part of you wished he wouldn’t remove himself but once the Mandalorian made up his mind, he often stuck to it. You focused on the Merchant once more, painting the snow with your footprints until you both collected a Holly Seed Pot each and kneeled by two empty plots.

“Okay,” The Merchant said, nestling a little closer, “so all we need to do is hold these next to each other and if everything is right, they’ll bloom.”

You held out your pot until it clinked against the Merchant’s. Almost instantly, a bud peered through the Merchant’s soil and it quickly grew into a stem ... then leaves sprang forth ... and finally, a white-petaled flower emerged, tilting forward like a bell.

You looked down at the pot in your hands and there was nothing - not even a hint of green.

You gave a dry chuckle to hide the way your heart sank, “I can’t imagine it’s good news if nothing happens, right?”

The Merchant shook his head to not worry you but you could see in his eyes that this came as a surprise to him too. Clearing your throat, you flashed him a smile and looked around the place where bursts of colourful flowers came to life. “So, what happens next?”

“Usually, we walk around and see if there are identical flowers before we plant them into the ground but...”

You noticed his eyes flicker to the various pots, clearly trying to spot his match, and placed an gentle hand over his shoulder.

“Go ahead, it’s okay.” You told him as he once told you. The Merchant hesitated briefly until you repeated yourself.

You got to your feet as he thanked you and then you watched him walk through the crowd. Glancing at your sad-looking pot, you remembered something and looked up to find your travel associates.

No green or beskar could be seen. You did, however, see the mechanic once again. He had just arrived and was talking to a friend about how he had just finished a job.

The Razor Crest must have been ready. You intended to give a farewell to the Merchant but when you saw him standing by a young woman with an identical white flower, you decided against it.

Let him have this moment. Taking the plant, you decided to blend out of the crowd and back to somewhere familiar.

—

The Merchant was kind but Mando felt his dislike for the local grow every time you were present. He blamed the whimsical nature of the town but Mando felt something envious surge in him whenever you talked about the Merchant with a smile. Then he had to spend the day watching the pair of you laugh and joke and... hold hands - Mando seriously feared that you may have been falling in love. When the Seed Planting came around, he tried to ignore the way you and the Merchant had grown fond of one other so he stood to the back of the crowd. He was blending in quite well until a sweet old lady spotted him and the child and handed him a Holly Seed Pot of his own. He tried to give it back but the woman ignored him and moved on. The Child cooed and Mando turned to see you kneeling by the snow and holding your pot against that of the Merchants.

He heard the baby croon and attempt to speak.

“I know buddy...”

The child started tapping his hands over Mando’s gloves and pulled his attention from the Jedi over to the pot in his hands.

A red flower had sprouted almost instantly while was distracted. The edges of the petals ran gold like ink.

His mind flew to what the Merchant had said about quick blooming flowers and the Mandalorian felt his heart race.

‘Fast with emotion.’ He had said.

Turning around, Mando made a quick getaway just as the townsfolk gathered to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ around the flowers. Thinking fast, he decided to head back to the ship, almost bursting into a sprint. The child had fallen asleep during the trip so when Mando finally got to the Crest, he laid the infant down before getting to work. He took the pot plant over to the carbonite chamber and shut it inside with a hiss.

—

The walk uphill was long and exhausting. There were multiple times when you considered throwing the pot behind you but something always made you rethink and forget the option. When you finally reached the Crest, you spotted Mando fiddling by the carbonite chamber and the kid asleep in his cradle. You dumped the pot on the side bench and headed past the Mandalorian for the cockpit.

“I’m ready to get out of here.” You said, climbing up the ladder. Without missing a beat, you sat in the pilots seat and prepared for take off, closing the doors of the cargo bay. You were a fast flyer so you had the ship up in lightspeed in no time only dropping out when you were several systems away. As you prepped the ship for autopilot, you heard the familiar armour behind you.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out.” He said gently. “The Jedi Order and the Mandalorian Way don’t give much room for romance.”

You leaned forward and flicked on two switches. A disappointed sigh escaping over the console. “I know. Sometimes, I hope for a sign that will lead me down a different path - one where I don’t walk alone. But it’s always a fools hope.”

The Crest’s engine sputtered, shaking loose a pipe above your head which made you frown when it bumped your head. “Dank farrik.” You muttered. “Can you get me something to fix this?”

The beskar helmet nodded and Mando turned down the narrow corridor. He went down the stairs to grab a wrench from his tools cabinet when a flicker of gold caught his attention.

Sitting on the bench was your Holly Seed Pot, a green stem had rose from the mud, blooming a red Holly Flower with gold trimming - just like his.

Masterlist here

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Technically a redo of an older aesthetic while also now including some other character aesthetics, as these are mostly character aesthetics for alternate universe counterparts of my Power Rangers: New Samurai team, but if they were in my friends, @disneyfan , universe of Love From The Stars.  Keep in mind, Reese mostly appears in our convos on the AUs, the others are new due to a counterpart adventure idea for the main power rangers story, so...

Descriptions under read more:

Top Row, from left to right:

*Reese Tombs- The youngest daughter of Hades, Reese is technically named Heidi but never call her that. It’s bad enough she still has to deal with her dad calling her it in his fake family act because after so many years of leaving her to raise herself, Reese can’t help but not buy his sudden change of heart as soon as they freed from the Isle and sadly with her sister’s wedding coming up, she has to deal with this act constantly. At least she has Ben though, the only person in Auradon she’d befriended so far after their awkward meeting with him in Beast form, and at least she has her inventions and her inventions sketchbook, let alone has her pet Spike. But when things go wrong at the wedding, Reese’s curious nature leads her into trouble when a pirate catches her trying to grab his gun, making her wonder if there is truth to the quote that curioustly killed the cat...or maybe it brought good things, as Reese soon finds with her new friend, Lia...

*Aurora- The eldest of twin creations, Aurora like most Etherial creations, is known to be very curious about everything really and thankfully, her’s and her twin’s father at least does his best to visit them and supply them with that knowledge and gifts from his journey’s, but having grown used to the habit of peeking at ships, her and her sister accidentally peek on the wrong ship one time and while all is well with the ship’s owner, Jim Hawkins, Aurora ends up meeting Reese for the first time and suddenly, Aurora’s curiouslty now extends to not only Reese but the planet she came from, Ixsol. 

Middle Row, from left to right:

*Helia- The youngest of the twin creations, but you wouldn’t assume that from the way Helia acts most of the time, as while her sister is often more curious with everything, Helia often tries to be the responsible one of the two and is only known to really fully show her curioustly whenever their father visits them with answers for them and gifts, but despite her responsible nature, she can’t help but curiously peek at ships a-lot like her sister, leading to at least one awkward incident with Jim Hawkins and his ship, but at least Helia got a new way to tease her sister when seeing how she and Reese interacted, let alone when it comes to Ixsol, Helia letting her curioustly show a little more with stuff. 

*Morgan- The daughter of one of Ariel’s sisters, Morgan like some of her cousins and her aunt before her, is known to be curious about the human world above and once some of her cousins were able to attend Auradon Prep, it was allowed for Morgan to attend Auradon Prep as well, staying with her aunt a-lot on the world above and due to this, Morgan has developed a love for art and hopes to learn a-lot more about the world of humans. 

*Jesse- The son of Queen Tiana and King Naveen, Jesse is often seen as the combo of both his parents: he does know to work hard but he also knows when to chill and just have fun, often leading to him being the chill friend to many. But like his mother before him, he enjoys cooking and is known to excel fully in cooking class at Auradon Prep. 

Bottom row, from left to right:

*Caleb- The eldest of him and Silas, Caleb is often seen as the jokester friend to many of the pirate kids, always trying to at least cheer others up as he tries to keep up a happy face himself ever since he and Silas were found by the pirates in the wreckage of their parents ship, having only survived the attack by pure luck. But because of what happened back then, he struggles to let go of having to always take care of Silas, but has found a hobby in Solar Surfers at least and other vehicles and does have a curioustly about Ixsol when learning of it.

*Silas- The youngest of him and Caleb, Silas is pretty quiet in comparison to him and Caleb, always preferring to keep to himself and his music and sometimes tuning people out via his hearing aids, often making it hard to work with other pirate kids at least, but he is working on it slowly and just wishes his brother wouldn’t baby him so much sometimes, especially when they allowed to visit Ixsol finally.

[viviae]

The Red Plague: An Analysis

Ok, I’m to preface this that I am not at ALL a student of medicine or science I am just a humble blogger who really likes diseases, literary analysis, and the science behind death. This will also be a STUPIDLY long post so I am letting you all live by putting it behind a readmore this time

This goes without saying but there is a content warning to this. I’m talking about death, stages of decay, rotting, corpses, vomit, and other gross medical stuff. There will be NO images however. I subjected myself to viewing those images and I will not condemn you all to view them. 

I’m going to start this off making sure everyone is on the same page and post an image from the art book about the Red Plague itself

So let’s start with the canonical facts about the plague first

Average life expectancy was 3-7 days once symptoms show, Averages are also liars which means it could’ve taken a little bit more than 7 days or under 3 days to die. 

Spread by the plague beetles, exact method of transfer is unknown but Julian was force fed one and contracted the plague however they are safe to keep in containment.

Plague beetles also infected nonhuman objects like the water supply which is shown as a thick ichor. This ichor no longer possesses infectious properties at the time of the story

Julian believed that it had to do with a corruption in the blood hence the usage of leeches 

The Lazarus started as a containment center before becoming a crematorium, meaning people believed that it was spread from contact or things like that

HOWEVER This is not the first appearance of the plague as it would show up at locations Lucio stayed for too long but no note if it spread from these locations. 

It’s not a disease, its a curse.

So, this is one nasty plague on our hands. Most diseases that are this lethal would never be able to spread as much as it did unless it could spread from corpse contact or through other means like a carrier. I think that it could be spread through a combination of both which would add an additional need for cremation. 

Corpse Disposal & Spreading

Historically during plagues you would simply toss bodies into mass graves or ‘plague pits’. This would be, substantially, easier than what they do in Vesuvia. Cremation is not an easy process and is an art form. The heat needed for a cremation alone is incredibly hot and needs special methods to be contained. Not to mention the tedious cleaning process to make sure ashes don’t damage the heat element. So you are telling me that Vesuvia... went through the process of rowing away their dead to the middle of a lake to do mass cremations because it was the easiest? Yes they would’ve run out of grave space a while ago but no one is saying they can’t go make a plague pit out in the woods for half the work.

Now granted, I understand the imagery of making Asra wade through bodies of rotting corpses to find the apprentice’s bloated corpse is uh,,, graphic. Or making us stumble upon an open plague pit of bones in the woods with you LI is not what most people call romantic. (you’re welcome for that image) So they could’ve just made mass cremations on a separate island for tone reasons but that’s BORING.

Not a lot of diseases are actually capable of surviving in dead body simply because when we die our bodies lose the necessary high heats for them to multiply and survive. But this isn’t a disease in a traditional sense, its a curse to Lucio. And this is Lucio we are talking about, some one who is famously afraid of death and dying, which was grafted by a demon of pestilence who is obsessed with worms (cough maggot symbolism and death by disease cough). So I propose that the plague is spread in addition to plague beetles but by dead bodies themselves. This would put additional pressure on proper corpse disposal and the need for cremation. This fact would also explain why plague doctors were present at the boats leading to the Lazarus instead of simple plague carters (rowers?) as doctors would probably have to keep a closer eye on proper disposal of bodies.

As for how I think the beetles themselves spread the plague, I think it’s probably in a similar way as to how Lyme Disease is spread. I can’t name any disease that is spread by beetles themselves off the top of my head but ticks are pretty similar to beetles (I am not an entomologist). Lyme disease is spread by infected ticks biting into the hosts skin and regurgitating its stomach contents that includes the bacterium for the disease. 

This would explain why Julian got the plague pretty awful real quick. He consumed all of the plague beetle’s contents and Lucio didn’t have to try and force a beetle to bite Julian, which would’ve given Julian time to fight back. This is also working with the fact Lucio got bit by a plague beetle when running from Morga in his tale. He most likely contracted the plague, or perhaps he contracted the curse then and later on got re bit, in that bite. This would also explain the ichor that infects the water in the south end. Beetles are significantly larger than ticks, and so they might have a need to empty their stomach contents more and its more waste produced. 

Symptoms and Inspirations

The Red Plague is obviously, influenced by the Bubonic Plague in terms of symptoms and Tuberculous in treatment. I will list some of the common symptoms of Black Plague and signs and be comparing these to the Red Plague. I cannot stress enough that I do not have any knowledge in medicine but I don’t think the dev’s are all doctors so we are on even ground.

There are generally speaking three types of plagues; Bubonic (Most common type of The Black Plague and mainly targets your lymphatic system), Pneumonic (When the Plague enters and infects the lungs), and Septicemic (When the plague enters the blood stream, either form can lead to Septicemic)

Bolded Symptoms are what are obvious symptoms the Red Plague has taken from these three variations of plague. Italic is Lucio specific. 

High Fevers

Chills

Headache

Muscle Pain

Weakness

Seizures

Swollen black lymph nodes known as Buboes (Bubonic)

Internal Bleeding (Septicemic)

Gangrene (Septicemic)

Shock (Septicemic)

Vomiting Blood (Bubonic & Septicemic)

Coughing Blood & Mucus (Pneumonic)

Shortness of breath (Pneumonic) 

The Red Eyes

By far the most obvious symptom of the plague and its trademark. Consider this the equivalent of Buboes to the black plague. This is the first obvious symptom that marks you for dead and probably one of the first symptoms to show after a possible resting phase. 

Apparently it takes each eye individually as seen with Julian or it may not take both? The stage we see Julian in isn’t the clearest but I’m assuming he was rather early on with a pretty serious case. 

It’s also a debate of what exactly is going on with the red stringy bits under neath the eyes. For the sprite models it appears to be veins under the eyes that have been aggravated. While in the concept art above it has a more liquid and viscous look which is probably blood. And in Julian’s CG of him dying of the plague he has no marks around his eyes. So I’m saying its a fun combo of all of the above.

Essentially I think that the plague is causing the blood vessels in the eyes to pop and do serious damage. There can also be a foreign growth to occur behind the eyes or just magical nonsense, doing additional damage to the veins surrounding the eyes and cause bleeding from putting stress on the veins. 

The Arms and Lower Extremities

Ok, remember how I talked about Lucio’s fear of death and how its incredibly likely that the plague is manipulating his fear? In death there are various stages of decay, and different functions occur at each stage. And one of these functions is Livor Mortis. 

Livor Mortis is when your blood cells rupture out of your veins and die. These dead blood cells sink down to your body based off of gravity where they settle. This is seen as a purple color on the skin based on gravity, normally the back. This can be disrupted by any disruption to the body, but depending on time you are likely to receive lighter marks based on its previous position. 

What I think is going on all over the body is veins are rupturing and the body is going through an extreme form of living Livor Mortis. Just that it’s in red and not purple because this is the “Red Plague” and not the purple plague. And due to the patients still being alive when Livor Mortis is occurring it simply pools into the extremities instead of one specific location, with the fingers and bottom of the foot being the most severe. To add to the veins popping suddenly the subtle bruising through origin points to where the red vein-y look begins remind me of my own experience of having four veins burst in my arm. 

Julian had reason to believe he could use leeches to treat the plague and in typical plague doctor fashion of “They were right but not exactly” he was on the right track! Using leeches to drink the settled and dead blood would be beneficial to the patient. As likely leaving these areas to accumulate dead blood would put it at serious risk of rot, since maggots first grow on open wounds and areas affected by Livor Mortis. 

Julian might not have been curing the plague but what he was probably doing is preventing a lot of people from developing gangrene and needing amputations. A beneficial skill for a previous combat medic to utilize and what might have drawn additional attention to him. Julian’s uses of leeches could also explain why Lucio does not have any of these red marks since Julian is his personal doctor and Lucio would spare no expense for his treatment. 

Lucio’s Unique Symptoms 

Portia’s route mentions that due to Lucio’s longer surviving time he developed unique symptoms. We don’t know much details about this besides he was extra miserable and was confined to his bedroom most the time. From my provided list above I think that generally speaking the Red Plague is a combination of Bubonic + Septicemic plagues.

However, Pnuemonic plagues were considered especially deadly, but rarer. Lucio is described as having a cough when he has the plague and generally a wheezy voice. It wouldn’t be odd to think the plague had spread into his lungs due to the increase longevity he had. 

There is a dramatic irony in Lucio losing his lungs to sickness as well. Morga tells us about how when Lucio was very young he almost drowned and that instilled a fear of death in him at a young age. He’s also a man with a lot of stamina who can run in the freezing cold carrying a fully grown apprentice on his shoulder or run away from Morga who also possesses a lot of energy. Lucio has trained his lungs to be stronger more so than the average person, and now with his downfall he loses them. 

It goes along with his general want of having a new body as well. You can rebuild muscle mass although hard, but recovering from illnesses that target your lungs? You’ll almost never get back to the same degree you previously were. 

The imagery of the dead is also present in the animal itself used to spread the plague. Although the beetle comes from Lucio’s tribe, beetles play a role in decomposition. Beetles like to come after the body has been nearly completely rotten, after the maggots and wasps consume most of the dead flesh beetles come in and eat the scraps. Beetles are also used in skeletonizing items, one example I think of off my head is a man who had his amputated foot skeletonized by beetles for keeping.  So these beetles are coming in and spreading a plague that forces the body to go through stages of decay while living, for their own food. Just like Lucio’s tribe came in and slaughtered other tribes for their own need to eat.

The plague was handcrafted to torture Lucio for his inability to finish his end of the deal. That’s why it uses imagery of dead bodies, it steals Lucio’s lungs from him, and why even the dead can cause severe damage. 

Of course this is all my own theory and analysis of the plague but thank you for reading all of this. 

[infiniteiram]

I Think You’re In My Seat.

a vds one shot. you can find more on my ao3.

( @ apolloswords )

feel free to comment/message me any suggestions for one shot ideas!

Unfortunately, the airlines messed up the seating arrangement and Jens is forced to sit on his own. Fortunately, someone else's seating arrangement was also messed up.

"Bad news," Moyo announced as Jens followed closely behind him. "They messed up our seats."

"What?" exclaimed Sander, giving the both of them a puzzled look. "How did they manage to do that?"

"The system completely messed up everyone's seats." Jens explained. "So, since we checked in late, we basically got the scraps. Which means, there is a very slim chance we're all stuck together." He reached over and flicked the back of Aaron's head. "I told you if you showered in the morning we would be late."

"I didn't expect you guys to show up so early." He groaned. "I wasn't even awake yet."

Jens snorted. "Well, you know we still had to take the train. Bottom line is, we can thank you for the shitty seats."

"But, not so shitty." Moyo added. He began to pass the new tickets around, the ones with the new seat number on them. "Robbe, Sander, we managed to snag you the last two seats together. Kind of at the front."

"You are a miracle worker." Sander laughed as he patted Moyo's shoulder. "What about you guys? Where are you guys sitting?"

"Jens has a window seat near the middle of the plane, I'm a few rows behind him and Aaron has a seat at the very back of the plane." Moyo continued on. "And no Aaron, we are not switching."

"Oh come on, it's going to take forever for me to get out. And I'm going to be near the bathrooms, I better not see Sander and Robbe going in at the same time."

Robbe blushed and hid his face into Sander's shoulder. "I don't think we're that promiscuous."

Sander only snorted. "Maybe it'll be revenge on Aaron for making us late."

"Hey, Moyo got you guys sitting together, why're you complaining?"

The rising teasing between his friends seemed to be getting louder, but Jens let their conversation fade around him. He was distracted by the bustle of the airport, people of all ages rushing around. The start of the summer months was probably a busy time for this place, and as much as he loved and adored Belgium, it felt nice to be headed somewhere else.

His eyes wandered among the crowd of people. Giggling kids with their decorated backpacks, business executives looking rather posh in their work attire with a cup of coffee in their hands and other older adults double-checking their bags for their passport and boarding passes. But his eyes only lead him somewhere else.

A few feet away were a group of three boys his age. One of them was leaned against the wall, his dark long curls giving contrast to his light brown skin. He was smiling at the guy to his right, who was sitting on top of a small carry-on luggage with a bright yellow backpack on. This boy also had dark hair, though it was cut short and just barely touched the tips of his ear, where a dangly earring hung. But the boy who really caught his attention was standing on an angle in front of them. From Jens' perspective, he could make out the sharpness of his jaw, the straight bridge of his nose and a small smile on his delicate pink lips. His light brown curls hung quite effortless in front of his face, and the denim jacket he had on fit his body nicely. Jens discreetly eyed him up and down, and felt a rush of adrenaline shoot through his body. He'd never been the type to admire strangers from afar, let alone be completely smitten over one.

But that was exactly what he was feeling right now.

His daydreaming was quickly interrupted by a sharp jab into his ribs. Wincing, he gave Aaron a glare.

"What was that for?"

"Moyo said you were staring too long. I asked what you were staring at and he told me just to ask you." Aaron responded rather innocently before shrugging his shoulders. "So what were you staring at?'

Feeling a blush rise to his cheeks, Jens bit his lip and pretended he had no idea what Aaron was talking about. "Nothing that concerns you." He mumbled out, looking down at his feet.

He heard Moyo snicker from his other side. "Aaron, I don't think you're going to have to worry about just Sander and Robbe sneaking off to the bathroom."

Now Jens elbowed Moyo's ribs. Not as harshly as Aaron did, but harsh enough. Moyo laughed and held up his hands in defence. Both Sander and Robbe raised their brows at him, before trying to sneakily turn around to figure out what Jens was eyeing at. Who Jens was eyeing at. When they came face to face with the other trio, they snickered to themselves as Jens gave them a side eye.

"Damn Jens," Robbe teased. "Three options?"

"One." He admitted, mumbling again. "But I'm not saying which one."

"You know what would be extremely lucky." Sander teased. "If you ended up sitting beside him."

Jens felt his face go a bit more red but scoffed, trying to play it cool. "It's better than sitting beside Aaron."

"Hey!" Aaron protested.

-

"Now boarding flight 2121." The intercom announced above them.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Robbe and Sander smile softly at each other. He had no idea what the sentiment meant, but judging by the way they looked at each other, it had something to do with their little love story. Jens tried not to feel the way his heart stung suddenly. He would never admit it, but he envied the way all his friends were very content in a relationship but he was not. For the most part, he never felt left out- just, rather lonely. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he made sure both his passport and boarding pass were in his hand as he walked up to the flight information desk. The flight attendant smiled at him and ushered him off. Taking a deep breath, he trudged down the boarding bridge at a slower speed. He couldn't help but to also feel a tinge of disappointment. The boy in the denim jacket from earlier hadn't been sitting around their gate, and he hadn't seen him since him and his friends had wandered off twenty minutes ago. There was now exactly zero chance of scoring a seat beside him, even if his chances from before were still close to zero.

He felt Moyo slap his shoulder, which startled him a bit.

"See you in two hours." He remarked.

"I hope you seat mate is some old grandma who can't hear very well but insists on talking." Jens taunted playfully, as he found his seat. Slipping into the small aisle, he flopped down on the window seat and gave Moyo a handshake before he headed off.

"I hope I get a cute girl." Aaron remarked, as he slowly passed Jens' aisle.

Raising brow, Jens smirked. "How would Amber feel about that?"

"You're right. I hope I get the grandma." Aaron muttered while rolling his eyes.

Jens looked over the other seats as other passengers clambered about, stumbling into their seats or trying to put their carry on luggage up on the overhead storage. A few rows up stood Sander and Robbe, who waved at him before the settled into their seat. When he knew all of his friends were in their seats, he sighed heavily and placed his backpack underneath the seat above him. Tapping his fingers on the arm rest as he bounced his leg, he distracted the remaining minutes before takeoff by looking outside of his window.

Only to be interrupted less than two minutes after.

"I think you're in my seat." A voice with a slightly different accent announced.

Turning his head to face the person the voice belonged to, he felt his face heat up again.

It was the boy from earlier, the one in the denim jacket. Only this time, he was standing very close to Jens. He could now make out the silver rings on his finger, the way his jacket actually hung over more over his shoulders than he thought and the colour of his eyes. The vibrant blue that stared into his brown ones, its colour so bright that Jens didn't believe colour existed before this moment. Realizing he was probably gawking at him, Jens swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to conceal his mess of emotions.

"No? I'm pretty sure this is my seat."

The boy reached over, showing his boarding pass. Squinting a bit, Jens read the seat number and frowned.

"I think they double booked the seat." He stated, looking back up at the boy.

Shrugging, the boy just ran a hand through his curls and sat down. Jens was rather surprised at his chill and confident behaviour, which had him going through an even more internal mess of feelings.

Trying to avoid gazing at him for so long, Jens turned around and started biting the inner corner of his cheek. He suddenly felt very nervous that the boy was beside him now, and if he let his arm up on the armrest, there would be the slightest physical contact between them.

Coming down the aisle was the other two guys, the rest of his trio. The one with the dark curls wiggled his brows at him, only to be lightly smacked on the arm as he passed through. The other boy, the one with shorter hair and was now wearing sunglasses with red lenses, reached out to pinch his cheeks. The boy ducked swiftly and snorted, looking behind him as his friends sat down. Jens noticed that the other two were sitting in different aisles, just like him and the Broerrs.

"Did they fuck up your seats too?" Jens asked, attempting to make conversation.

"Yeah, clearly." He laughed lightly, before fully turning his head to face Jens. "I'm Lucas."

"Jens." He nodded before trying to give him a small smile. It wasn't that smiling at him was an issue, Jens just didn't want to make it so obvious that his slight crush was growing by the second.

Fortunately, Lucas smiled back. "Are you travelling alone?"

"No, my friends are scattered about as well. That's how I figured the airline must have also messed up your seats up as well."

Laughing lightly, Lucas shook his head, his curls gently moving about. "I figured they messed up after seeing someone else in my seat. I just hope I'm not stealing someone else's."

"I don't think so. I think you and your friends were the last ones to board. See? They're closing up the doors now."

Lucas wasn't as tall as Jens, so he couldn't see above the seats. He put his hands on the armrest and lifted himself up a bit. The slight brush of his fingers just barely grazing over Jens' hoodie sleeve was enough to send sparks through his body. The very slight contact had his face turning pink again, and he needed to calm down before Lucas noticed.

"You're right." He agreed, bringing himself back down. "To be honest, I thought they would close the plane before we got on. It's a miracle I'm here right now."

"Why's that?"

"My friend Jayden, he's back there with his red glasses, decided to be an idiot and lose his passport somewhere in the airport. We came from a connecting flight from Amsterdam, so at least it's not there."

"I get that, my friend Aaron also decided to be an idiot. He woke up late which lead us to checking in late, which lead us to shitty seats and being separated." Jens added, before biting his lip. "So, you're from Amsterdam?"

"Not quite. Utrecht, but the closest airport is Amsterdam. So, to get to Rome, we needed a connecting flight." He explained, before tilting his head a bit. "Are you from Brussels?"

"Not quite." Jens repeated, laughing a bit. "Antwerp. We're actually much closer to each other than we would've been."

"Yet we meet on a flight to another country." Lucas remarked, a glint sparkling in his blue eyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the departure to Rome, Italy." An attendant called over the intercom.

The plane began to move beneath them and Jens double checked that his seatbelt was on. The attendants began to do the safety instructions in front of them, and Jens turned his head to look back out the window. After a few minutes, his instincts told him to look at Lucas, who hadn't said anything since the departing announcement.

Poor Lucas was squeezing his fists so hard that his knuckles were white and his face was drained of colour. The slight pink of his cheeks were gone and he was squeezing his eyes shut, taking in deep breathes to calm himself down. Jens widened his eyes, internally panicking as he had no idea what to do.

Reaching out slowly and slightly, he put a warm hand on top of one of Lucas' fists. The skin beneath his own was ice cold, and Lucas opened his eyes quickly, surprised to see that Jens was looking at him.

"Nervous flyer?" Jens asked lightly, but softly enough to be comforting.

He huffed out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, can you tell?"

"Just a little." He paused, unsure how to go about this. "Do you, uhh, do you maybe want to hold my hand?"

"May I?"

"Of course."

It took Lucas a second. But after feeling the plane begin to move faster as it lifted off the runway, he unclenched a fist and grabbed onto Jens' hand. His tight grip should have also cut off Jens' circulation, but Jens stayed calm. He let his thumb rub gently circles on top of Lucas' hand, trying to ease him a bit. After a few moments, he felt Lucas' grip loosen a bit, some warmth beneath their hands and Lucas' breathing being a little less restrained. Lucas' eyes were still closed, and Jens eyed him up and down, taking in the entire wonder of this boy.

This boy, who he realized, was holding his hand.

Of course, the intention was innocent. But Jens suddenly felt his heart race as he continued to let his touch calm Lucas down a bit. He couldn't believe he was holding his hand and if any of his friends knew, he would never hear the end of their teasing. When the plane was soaring through the sky at a steady pace, Lucas sighed heavily and fluttered his eyes open. After a few seconds in which he recollected himself, he turned to Jens and gave him a soft smile.

"Thanks, sorry, I didn't think I'd get so nervous. I was fine on my first flight, but to be fair I'm really tired. I didn't sleep much last night."

"It's okay." Jens smiled back, reassuring him. He noticed the way Lucas still hadn't let go of his hand, and he was just fine with that. "Do you always get nervous when you fly?"

"Mostly, yes. But not like, that bad. Except for now. I think I lost all feeling in my body."

"Probably helps if you actually sit by someone you know huh?" He joked.

Smiling a little wider, Lucas huffed out another nervous laugh. Though this time, it felt a bit lighter. "Yeah, but, it also helps to have someone like you to sit by."

"Someone like me?" Jens asked, unsure what the ambiguity of the statement meant.

Lucas only shrugged, giving him a grin before adding another rather vague statement. "Yeah, someone like you."

-

And for the second time today, Jens couldn't believe his luck. After about an hour into the flight, in where him and Lucas had quickly gotten comfortable with each other, Lucas had dozed off. Jens had recalled he was feeling a little tired, but as Lucas fell into a gentle slumber, his head slowly fell onto his shoulder. Lucas, being asleep, obviously didn't realize he had fallen asleep on his shoulder, but Jens couldn't help but feel so giddy. He didn't want to move however, because there was no way he was going to wake Lucas up and ruin this.

So, he aimlessly looked out the window and began to think. He couldn't help but feel like he had missed a chance with this boy when they parted ways after the next hour. But, he didn't know if it was too forward of him to ask for some kind of contact with him. To be fair, they had already held hands so the next natural step in this equation was to somehow get his number.

Feeling Lucas stir gently, he looked down at him. The light brown curls fell over his face gently and Jens could make out the small freckles over his nose and his eyelashes mimicking rays of sunlight as his beautiful blue eyes stayed hidden. Jens didn't know how someone could've been so beautiful, let alone be so close to him.

He truly felt like the luckiest person in the entire world.

"Sorry," Lucas mumbled, his eyes still closed. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

Smiling down at him, Jens reached out to just squeeze his hand again. When they had let go of his hand, Jens tried to conceal his frown. So now, he used this as a gateway to have Lucas' hand back in his. He also liked how Lucas did't remove his head from his shoulder right away.

"It's okay. I don't mind."

He felt Lucas hum against his body, before letting out a loose giggle. "So, what are you heading to Rome for?"

"Just a trip, a quick one to start of the summer and what not. You?"

"The same." Lucas let his eyes look back up at Jens, and once again he was marvelled at the sight of them. "That's kind of a good coincidence."

"Or you know," Jens shrugged, looking away for a second. "Fate."

"Fate?"

"I mean, out of all the seats here, what were the chances you would be sitting by me? Or, let alone, having the same seat as me?"

Lucas grinned, the blue in his eyes clashing together as they became a mess of bright shades. "Seems just like a really good coincidence. Do you believe it that sort of stuff?"

"Fate?"

"Yeah."

For the second time, Jens repeated his shrug. "Sure, why not? It's kind of like, everything happens for a reason. What about you?"

"Do I believe in fate?"

"Yeah, or are you sticking to everything being a coincidence?"

"Mostly coincidence. Though, I am starting to think a little bit of all this might be fate?"

"Why's that?"

A familiar glint sparkled in Lucas' eyes again, as he let himself gaze at Jens above him. There was something knowing about the smile on his face, but Jens couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"I was going to fly out to Italy two weeks ago." Lucas began to say. "But Kes, my other friend here, had to renew his passport so we pushed our departure back. It kind of sucked at first, but not anymore."

"Sucks a little less?" Jens teased, biting the tip of his tongue between his teeth as he smiled widely.

"Definitely sucks a little less."

-

Both boys stood at the baggage claim. When Jens had gotten off the plane, all his friends had given him a suspicious look as the boy they had seen him admiring was suddenly following him. He had to give them credit for not saying much, as he didn't want to be embarrassed before he could even ask for his number. Aaron, and Lucas' two friends, Kes and Jayden, were still making their way towards the baggage claim. Sitting at the back of the plane was probably not idea, but it gave Jens some time with Lucas.

They got their luggage and Jens saw the other two guys, followed by Aaron, head over. Frowning slightly, he was sad to realize that Lucas and him would part ways and they would be nothing more than two random strangers who managed to sit beside each other on the plane. They weren't even from the same country, and he doubted that the universe would allow him to be this lucky again.

"Lucas!" The boy with red glasses called out, who Jens assumed was Jayden. "Who's your friend?"

"Jayden, Kes, this is Jens. Jens, meet Jayden and Kes." He introduced. "I told him I needed new friends who weren't idiots."

"Just friends?" Kes asked, raising his brows and for the first time, Lucas blushed so hard he turned pink. It made Jens smirk, amused at his reaction.

"Jens!" Aaron called out. "Who's your friend?"

Now it was time for Jens to introduce Lucas to the Broerrs. Turning around, he saw Moyo, Sander and Robbe heading towards him. When they reached him, they stood beside him, all three of them smiling widely as the smirked at the very small distance between him and Lucas.

Coughing awkwardly, Jens bounced his leg. "Luc, meet Moyo, Sander, Robbe and Aaron. Guys, meet Lucas. I met him on the plane."

"And you didn't go to the bathroom?" Aaron piped up and Jens reached behind Lucas and quickly swatted the back of Aaron's head. Aaron winced as the rest of the guys continued their smirking.

"So, where in Rome are you staying?" asked Robbe, and Jens was thankful for the opening normalcy of a new conversation.

"I forget the name, but it's like, a quick shuttle ride from here? Napoleon or something." Kes replied.

"No way?" Moyo exclaimed. "Napoleon Hotel Roma?"

"Uhm yes?" Lucas replied, furrowing his brows in confusion.

Moyo clapped Jens' chest, startling him with his excitement. "Dude, that's the one we're staying at! Did you not know that?"

"Honestly, the hotel didn't even come up in our conversation." Jens admitted.

"Well come on!" Jayden exclaimed, calling then out to follow him. "We can all head to the shuttle and get there together. How long are you guys staying in Rome for?"

"Two weeks." Sander responded, wiggling two of his fingers up.

"No way! So are we!" Kes said in surprise.

Jens looked at Lucas, who was still blushing and giggle beside him. The rest of the guys had started to follow Jayden's lead, but Jens let himself bask in Lucas' company for a few more seconds. Lucas looked up to meet his eyes, a happy grin plastered on his face.

"So, is your opinion still changing?" Jens asked, wiggling his brows.

"What?"

"Do you still think this is a big coincidence?"

"A little bit." Lucas shrugged, his grin growing wider as he took in the way Jens was looking down and smiling at him. "But, I think I'd like to think that this is definitely fate."

"And I'm pretty sure that's exactly it."

"So is this fate Jens? Were we meant to meet right here, right now?"

"I think that's what was supposed to happen. I was meant to meet someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

"Someone like you."

And with that, they followed their friends towards the airport shuttle. Jens didn't know what the rest of the trip, the rest of the summer, meant for him, but that was okay. Because when he looked down, he smiled as Lucas shyly slipped his hand into his and intertwined their fingers together. Lucas pretended he hadn't reached out for him, but Jens felt his hand squeeze against his as he repeated the circular motions with his thumb on top of his hand. They didn't have to say anything, but it was clear they were thinking the exact same thing.

Maybe everything did happen for a reason.

[kael-jaime]

Made a little collage of things that had inspired and basically formed many of my characteristics to make me who I am.

Top row: Power Ranger (I had always loved this show since not only was and sometimes still is the coolest but could cover some critical moments in one’s life; this taught me many things and also kicked off a love for martial arts), Swoozie (a YouTuber that makes hilarious story times and in some made a main take away in order to help others in the same situation; this sorta rubbed off onto me to help others in similar situations), Markiplier (a lets play YouTuber who makes people laugh a lot and even does so much for others that it makes others smile all the time; this is something that I also love to do), Nintendo (Everyone pretty much knows them but the games they make has always been unique and something to make people happy; I love their games and they really inspire some creativity), & Cartoon Network (Though now there isn’t too many shows the shows that were once there were unique and very much had a huge impact on kids; I learned too many things from shows on this network and had many laughs).

Middle Row: Marvel (Everyone pretty much knows them but the fact that the comics that are generated from them can cover real events in a fantasy setting has made many people look in awe; I loved the heroes and some villains and just how they seem more human then others) & Bones (an anime production company that has made most anime that I watched through my adolescence and even to this day; Inspired creativity for many ideas).

Bottom Row: Nickelodeon (just like cartoon network always had many shows that had put the smile on many kids; also gave in joy and many lessons on life), Stan Lee (Without him many of what people know about Marvel would not exist; his creativity towards creating things and just overall love for the craft he made had always inspired me), Toei Animation (an anime company that has made many anime that people probably saw without knowing it was an anime such as Dragon Ball Z; their works I grew up on and I still watch today and had many inspirations from their projects, especially one specific one that is inspiring something I’m working on), Final Fantasy (a game series made by Square Enix which had many interesting stories and characters; for me Final Fantasy 7 had given me so much feelings while playing and has helped to make an inspiration for another thing I’m working on), A1 pictures (another anime company that had worked on anime such as Fairy Tail had worked on many projects; some of their work had given me many joy and chills in some shows), & PBS Kids (many shows that are given to kids and showed how kids can learn many things in life; for me it had taught me many things and has especially encouraged me to be curious of things).

Honorable Mention: Disney (Everyone knows this company and gives many joy to people of all ages in many forms; Helped with many creativity ideas and to give many life lessons especially today).

[piccolini-cuscino]

Silk.

It’s your third date with Neil, and you finally get around to asking him why he always wears a tie...

Pairing: Neil x f!Reader Warnings: Smut, lots of smut. Restraints... If you’re under 18, please don’t interact with this! Notes: The tie smut is here! Enjoy!

A seamless blend of old and new, Neil’s place exuded the same opulence as the man himself. Plush rugs, mountains of cushions and a grand chesterfield sofa radiated a homely kind of warmth, while the art that adorned the walls and the stacks of books on a floor to ceiling wrought iron bookcase dripped finesse. The duality of Neil, you thought, as he led you by the hand through the living room. You expected nothing less from someone with a sick sense of humour and a penchant for Savile Row suits.

It had only been three dates but spending time with Neil was like seeing an old friend. He was a nomad, with a love of physics and jazz and telling you wide-eyed tales of far-flung escapades over expensive cocktails that always had you tottering home on a cloud.

And now, here you were, admiring him uncorking a bottle of Moët. You clinked your glass with his. “To our third date.”

That boyish smirk was as intoxicating as the bubbles in your glass.

“Our third date.”

An awkward silence hung in the space between you and Neil. The giddy implications of that coveted third date raced through your mind; you hoped that guzzling your drink would quell that. Neil had the same idea.

Once his glass was empty, he looped two fingers underneath his tie, loosening it ever so slightly. He needed a distraction.

Suddenly, he sprang to his feet. “How about some music?”

You nodded, keeping your eyes glued to Neil as he crossed the room. Casting a delicate hand over his record collection, he turned to you. “Any preferences?”

“Nothing too loud; something we can dance to.”

Without another word, Neil had dropped the needle on one of his favourite John Coltrane records, and returned to you. He held out his hand. You couldn’t refuse.

But it took you by surprise – the way he moved. Sweeping you up in hold and deftly covering every inch of the room with you clinging to him for dear life. The way he admired you had your heart fluttering in your chest. His cologne and the way his tongue poked from his lips in concentration didn’t put you much at ease either.

The urge to close the gap between your bodies hijacked your train of thought.

Then, as if by magic, fine silk of Neil’s tie settled in your grasp. Not wanting to waste a second more, you guided him down to your level for a slow, luscious kiss. His hands roamed as you swayed. Only when your teeth grazed his lip did he move away, out of breath and with eyes that pierced you.

Your hand, trembling and damp, was still bound in his tie.

You closed in on him again. “Why do you always wear a tie?” you whispered.

“Because,” Neil began, raking his fingers through your hair, “they’re terribly versatile. And they definitely come in handy.”

You gave it a tug. “Can you show me?”

Neil stood up a little straighter; suddenly making you regret even asking. “Carry on being the irresistible creature that you are, and I’ll have no other choice.”

“Don’t make me beg,” you pouted.

He didn’t miss a beat, snatching you into him and peppering your neck with kisses that knocked the air from your lungs and your feet from under you. “I’d rather enjoy hearing you beg, actually,” he rasped in your ear. “And why do I get the feeling that you would too?”

Before you knew it, you were watching the light from the living room grow distant from the vantage point of Neil’s shoulder. And then, a soft, luxurious pile of sheets and pillows enveloped you. You tried to map out the room in the low light from the bedside lamp, but your brain had decided to shut off everything that wasn’t Neil.

He was straddling you now, with one hand behind your back, tugging down the zipper of your dress. His lips, soft as they were, only ventured so far until the temptation to draw his teeth over your neck became too much.

And just when a quiet moan caught in your throat, Neil sat back.

No one commanded your attention like he did; he knew that. He took his time, unfurling the knot in his tie, unfastening the top three buttons of his shirt, slipping the tie off his neck. Never once breaking eye contact. “You really want to know why I wear these?”

“Yes please.”

He grinned, pointing to your clothes. “Let’s lose the dress first, shall we?”

A nervous jolt shot through your stomach when Neil’s delicate hands dragged the fabric down your body, leaving your favourite dress in a puddle on the hard wood floor. The unbearable chill pierced your skin and instinct kicked in.

Before you could drape your arms around your body, Neil patted the pillow above your head. “Hands up here,” he coaxed, just inches from your face. “Good girl.”

You couldn’t breathe, only watch while Neil bound your wrists together in a figure of eight. Then, finally, he tied the silk around one of the metal slats on the bedframe in an intricate knot. You gave your restraints an experimental tug. “Christ, I’m not going anywhere am I?”

“That, my darling,” Neil began, ghosting his fingers over your cheek, “is the point.”

Neil’s lips carved a slow, meticulous trail down your body, leaving no part of you untouched. He carried on teasing and taunting you until every muscle burned and ached. But the thing that really got you, was his eyes. Dark and intense, he kept them trained on you, noticing every little gasp, every writhe for freedom. He saw it all; it drove you wild.

Any apprehension had been replaced by pure, animalistic need.

But Neil loved to tease. He sat back on his knees again, looking down at you squirming underneath him. He laughed to himself, fingers trailing over your underwear. “I have to admit, I’ve got a bit of a thing for beautiful lingerie,” he remarked.

“I look better without it, trust me.”

Neil raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

You nodded, mentally kicking yourself for being so cocky and keen.

His fingers curled underneath the waistband, dragging them an inch or two lower. And then he paused – again. “Mind if I…”

“Don’t keep me waiting.”

Neil smirked, yanking your underwear the rest of the way down. “You know,” he began, peppering kisses over your stomach, “you’re going to need to learn some patience.” He was deliberately biding his time now. Parting your thighs ever so slightly. Brushing his fingertips up and down, making you want him more and more with every subtle movement. Keeping his eyes on you as you tugged at your restraints again. Then the bastard winked. “And restraint.”

He offered you no time to choke out a sarcastic comeback. His tongue got there first with a few quick laps that erased every thought you had. Spreading your legs even further, you tried to tell him this – words only failed you.

And then he looked up again, replacing his tongue with his fingertips barely brushing along where you needed him most. “Here’s how this is going to go, darling,” Neil said. “Are you listening?”

You nodded.

“I’m going to need you to do better than that. Use your words.”

“I’m listening.”

“You’re not going to come until I tell you to. If you do, there’s going to be consequences. Understand?”

You hadn’t quite noticed just how dry your mouth had become until you spoke again. “Yes, sir…”

And clearly you weren’t thinking straight. If only the floor could have opened up and swallowed you whole. Instead, squeezing your eyes closed would have to do.

“I quite like the sound of that,” he chuckled, relishing just how coy that slipup made you. “You ready, darling?”

“Yes.”

“Yes…”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good girl.”

He knew how to make you melt, just with words.

But his tongue. He was an expert with his tongue; those slow, flat strokes gave way to more exploration. Parting your folds, savouring just how much you wanted him too. He practically devoured you with one arm slung over your hips to keep you right where he wanted you.

That didn’t stop you struggling against his vice-like grip. Every time his pace quickened, you couldn’t help rolling your hips against him as if somehow that would hurry him along with his plan to make you explode. You wished you could have grabbed the sheets or his hair when the tip of his tongue delved through your folds and gently tugged them into his mouth. You’d have to settle for a feeble attempt at burying your face in the pillow, trying to keep quiet as the tension mounted.

“You better not be about to come already,” Neil murmured, flicking your clit.

If you hadn’t been about to come then, you were now. But somehow, you harboured just enough restraint to squeak out a quiet beg for him to slow down.

“You can do better than that,” he said, setting about a mind-melting rhythm with every stroke ratcheting up your need.

“Please, I’m close. Slow down,” you whined teetering right on the edge.

He did. But only long enough for you to reach the bottom of the climb again and catch your breath for a moment. And then he tried a different tactic. Rather than use his mouth – a dull ache crept through his jaw – he added his fingers to the mix. Gingerly caressing you, luring you into a false sense of security, letting you breathe easy for a moment. Neil admired you from down there, as he taunted you.

And then his middle finger slipped inside.

The rattle of his laughter sent sparks piercing through every nerve in your body. Then his index finger followed suit. “Christ, look how wet you are for me,” he grinned, holding up his two glistening digits for your to see. He licked them clean and then buried them inside you again. “And you taste so fucking incredible. Gosh, you’re such a good girl aren’t you?” he continued, curling his fingers up against that one magic spot inside you that sent an unbearable heat seeping through your stomach. You arched your back and angled your hips to get the position just right. “You’re my good girl, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

And when he decided you needed more. He gave you more.

When Neil’s mouth resumed its purposeful, calculated efforts, you knew you’d do absolutely anything for this man. No matter how filthy or debauched. And that alone sent your mind spiralling out of control again, carrying you away on blissful waves of pleasure. Imagining all of the lewd and wonderful things he could do to you. And him having total control. Just like he did now.

You wished you could have tangled your fingers through his unruly mane. To pull him closer. To get him to slow down – just to enjoy this for longer. But you settled for begging again. It was no use trying to make him relent; you were too far gone for that. And Neil could sense it.

“Remember,” he murmured, “you have to ask nicely.”

Even that casual scold and the feeling of his breath on your skin felt unbearable. You just about managed to gasp out a ‘please’ before it happened.

Your body, growing more and more impatient was set ablaze with delicious bursts of euphoria. You couldn’t care less that you were disobeying him; you’d take the consequences, you thought, sinking lower.

Coming down, you opened your eyes to find Neil on top of you, gazing down with a soft look in his eye. “I suppose you’re going to have to punish me now.”

Neil raised an eyebrow. “You were a very naughty girl,” he said, giving you a fleeting kiss. “But, you’re also utterly mesmerising. So, I’ll let it slide, just this once.”

“Maybe,” you said, glancing up at your restraints with a devilish smirk, “if you untie me, I could return the favour… sir.”

With a pout, Neil worked out the impossible knot he had bound you with, and unfurled the length of silk. “I really quite liked rendering you totally helpless.”

“You’ll like this even more,” you grinned, rolling on top of him.

But Neil was quick to stop you, pressing a finger to your lips. “We’ve got some champagne to finish first.”

[chilling-seavey]

based on ur post about the songs from the album and when they would have been written in ABM- ABM Daniel writing a song for Flora and she hears it for the first time?

By the time Daniel graduated with his bachelor’s degree in music production; he had an album of ten original songs under his belt. His first year was learning the basics but by the time the novel of ABM began, his classes started assigning projects in writing and producing their own songs. We all know that Daniel is incredibly creative and especially so when it comes to his music and this universe is no different, but he was also incredibly protective about his work. He showed Florence snippets of what he had been working on but never full songs because he didn’t want to admit that all his songs were about her.

His inspiration was directly stemmed from her; for every single one of his projects.

Even when Florence and Daniel started dating, he kept his previous songs locked away on his computer in near embarrassment with how lovesick and emotional they all were. They were pieces of his fragile soul from the past two or three years and he was simply a little nervous of opening that back up again.

By his final week of university, Daniel received a CD that was burned with all of his projects in order on it to hear his progression and his professor congratulated him on being one of the top students he had ever seen or taught. Daniel thanked him, went home, and hid the album in the very back of his sock drawer.

Here is the link to ABM Daniel’s University Album.

Thursday, June 16, 2022

It had been in there barely two months when Florence found it. She was doing laundry and putting the clean folded clothes in the drawers when her hand grazed something at the bottom of Daniel’s sock drawer. Curiosity got the better of her and she pushed the folded socks out of the way to reveal a CD case, the cover staring back up at her with one of Daniel’s first year headshots and the title in white across the black and white image; Firenze. ‘Florence’ in Italian.

She set the laundry basket on the floor and picked up the CD from the bottom of the drawer. She flipped it over and skimmed the track list printed on the back. Ten short titled tracks in a row down the middle. Florence figured she shouldn’t go snooping through her fiancé’s things but it wasn’t a gift since her birthday already passed and they never gave each other Christmas gifts so she carried it back out to the bedroom.

Daniel was watching the girls in the living room while Florence was doing laundry so she had a moment of privacy to close the bedroom door and bring out her laptop. She slid the CD into the disk drive and put in her earbuds to listen to the mysterious album that had been hidden from her for nearly four years. The front cover slid out like a real professional album and she flipped it open as the songs loaded into iTunes.

The first song was titled Just to See You Smile. Written and Produced by Daniel Seavey, 1st year Music Production student, March 2019.

Florence smiled at the gentle piano that led the introduction to the song and then Daniel’s youthful voice that came in next. She couldn’t believe he never showed her this song; probably too nervous since it was his first, but it was sweet and it made her smile.

The second song was titled Hard. Written and Produced by Daniel Seavey, 2nd year Music Production student, Summer 2019.

She followed along to the lyrics in the small cover booklet, her smile faltering a moment at the lyrics come the pre-chorus. It was obvious as to what it was about, especially being written in Summer of 2019 when Matt was still around and it was often that Florence truly ran crying to Daniel when he hurt her.

The third song was titled Falling. Written and Produced by Daniel Seavey, 2nd year Music Production student, September 2019.

Florence’s expression was flat, the words of the song resonating deep in her mind and the emotion behind Daniel’s voice nearly sent chills down her spine as she read along with the lyrics.

That one was followed by Perfect from November 2019, Made For from January 2020, For You from February 2020, What Am I from Summer 2020, all of which just added another weight to Florence’s heart. The angsty heartbroken songs that she was smart enough to know just who they were about, each lyric speaking right to her soul from a part of Daniel’s she hardly knew existed.

She tried not to feel heartbroken herself over the deep lyrics and soft melodies as a vision into Daniel’s own mind through their friendship. She had hurt him so much and never knew. She now sat on their shared bed in their new apartment and fought back her own tears over these songs that he tried to hide from her.

Daniel had finished making lunch for the girls and set them at their small white wooden table to eat, waiting impatiently for Florence to finish putting away the laundry so they could eat together. The minutes passed as he cleaned up the kitchen but there was no sign of her.

“Stay right here, okay?” Daniel said to his two daughters before heading down the hallway to find his fiancé. Their bedroom door was closed which was strange and he opened it and headed inside, only to find Florence sitting on their bed with her laptop open and her headphones on and tears in her eyes.

Daniel was startled by her seemingly sudden emotion but then his gaze landed on the open CD cover and the booklet in her hands and his heart literally stopped.

“Flora.” he breathed as she looked up at him.

She paused What Am I within the last minute and pulled out her earbuds with a shaky inhale, “Why didn’t you show me this?”

“I…” Daniel walked slowly over to her and glanced at her laptop to see what track she was on. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “I didn’t…I…I didn’t want you to be upset. There’s some…heavy and personal shit in these songs.”

“Yeah.” Florence laughed humourlessly, looking back to the simple black booklet in her hands.

“Are you mad at me?” Daniel asked softly.

“Mad at you? You should be mad at me for listening to something you didn’t want me to listen to.” Florence sighed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand before her tears could fall.

“They’re all for you anyway.” Daniel shrugged. “Plus it had your name on the cover.”

“You really meant all of this?” Florence asked, holding up the lyric booklet haphazardly.

“Every single word.” Daniel nodded and shuffled to sit beside her on the bed. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’ve been in love with you from the first moment we met.”

“I didn’t know…that I hurt you this bad all the time.”

“Not all the time.” Daniel tisked. “The hard stuff just makes for the best songs.”

Florence chuckled lightly and Daniel smiled softly and pressed a sweet kiss to her cheek before leaning his head against hers.

“I wrote What Am I the week before Penelope was born.” Daniel said quietly, staring at the song paused on the laptop screen. “And you were the only thing on my mind the whole time…you and our baby that I didn’t know was ours yet.”

“I heard you singing it to her once.”

“Yeah.” Daniel cracked a small smile at the memory.

They sat in silence together, in their own minds and memories, staring at the paused CD.

“Are you gonna listen to the last three?” Daniel asked.

“Are they gonna make me cry?” Florence mumbled.

“No. Next one was the first song I wrote after we started dating.” he flipped the booklet to Taking You, “And then one from when I knew I wanted to marry you,” he flipped to Big Plans, “And finally, my thesis project. Spent all this last year working on it from recordings to lyrics to instrumentals to production and everything in between.” he flipped to the last page to Love Song finished just that last April. “Got a shining 100%.”

Florence smiled at him and stuck her earbud back in but Daniel got up from the bed again. “Are you not going to listen with me?” she frowned.

“Gotta watch our babies so they don’t destroy the house. Come find me after, okay?”

“Okay.” Florence smiled lightly and welcomed his lingering kiss to her lips. She watched him leave before turning back to her laptop and pressed ‘play’.

The upbeat guitar of Taking You instantly made her smile and the sweet lyrics had it sticking; thinking back to the first few weeks of their romantic relationship and how fresh and new everything was. And Big Plans definitely made her cry – especially because it was made in April and he said it was when he knew he wanted to marry her, so far in advance to when he actually proposed. And Love Song. Her favourite on the whole track list, an upbeat and catch incredible song that sounded like it could be professionally made by a famous band. But it was just her Daniel and his deepest, sweetest, honest feelings for her and it only made her more excited to spend the rest of their lives together.

When the album concluded, she took it out of her laptop and put the CD safely away in its case and on Daniel’s desk across the room before heading back down the hallway. She lingered in the doorway a moment to watch Daniel set two plastic cups of apple juice down for the girls and they thanked him sweetly. He stood back up and caught glimpse of Florence in the hallway and they shared small smiles. She headed over to him and he swallowed her up into a warm embrace and peppered a few kisses to her cheek and down her neck.

“I love you so much.” Florence whispered.

“I love you more.” Daniel smiled against her neck.

“Our whole love story on one CD, huh?” she said.

Daniel pulled back from her to look at her face and their noses brushed lightly. He kissed hers before resting their foreheads together, “It is.”

“I’m proud of you. It was all truly beautiful. Can’t believe you didn’t share all that with me before.”

“I’ve shown you bits and pieces.” Daniel shrugged, his eyes falling closed as they stood together in their kitchen, arms wrapped around each other and just breathing together. “But I was too shy.”

“I know.” Florence giggled, giving his hips a small squeeze. She pulled back to look him in the eye. “But now I expect to hear all your beautiful art.”

“Okay.” Daniel leaned in to kiss her lips and they smiled into it before he pulled back just long enough to whisper, “I’ll put it in my vows.”