#when *society* was treating her badly way before him

[voidhope]

The Other Woman

(Part 2 FINALE)

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Synopsis: Miguel had left Y/N for another version of his old wife in hopes of getting his old life back. To only realize the mistakes he’s made.

Link to Part 1

Pair: Miguel O’Hara x Spider!reader

Warnings: very heavy mental health, ANGST LIKE A LOT OF ANGST, ALL OF THIS IS ANGST, mentions of death/almost dying, long term establish relationship, cheating, swearing, therapy, physical fight, blood, feral protective miguel?

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A/N: hello again! this one is more heartbreaking and longer than the first part oof… Very low dialog up until closer towards the end! wanted to just get through telling the story itself and the emotions. It’s just a very heavy storyline!! I want to say thank you so so much for showing so much support for part 1 i had no idea it would receive that much attention :O !! i wrote this out kinda fast as i didn’t want to loose the momentum of the idea. so apologies for any mistakes! all feedback is greatly appreciated ~

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You used to make Miguel coffee everyday, with one cream two sugars, and he would nag about how he hated the taste. It was to your liking, not his. As you would sneakily take sips out of his mug while working next to him. Why didn’t you just get your own coffee? You claimed you could never finish it and just wanted a taste out of his. Miguel would roll his eyes at you every time he caught you but he adored it. He had secretly grown to love the way you made it and had become his only way of making coffee after meeting you.

Now as this version of his older wife made it the way he is suppose to like coffee, bland and straight, he found himself bothered by it. Going as far to correct her even though this was what he had been claiming to have missed so much. He was now seeing himself teaching someone else how to love him like you did…

He was only a shell of the man he was when he had Gabriella. Even though the copy of his old wife has her same personality, the relationship couldn’t be exactly how it was before because he had changed so much. You had helped him become whole again. His tastes and likings had all switched to everything about you. The charm he found in his old wife doesn’t hold a light to you now and he was getting frustrated. He had wanted this so badly. He felt like those babies who whine and cry wanting to eat a lemon and once they get their way they realize the sour truth.

Miguel never truly realized what it was like to loose you until three weeks after he told you the truth. Over the years the idea of losing you terrified him but he only ever thought of it being in death. He never considered separation when everything was perfect for both of you then. There were times he believed that you were made just for him and he treated you like his queen. Which you truly were to him in his spider society. Why would he ever throw that away? Look at what he did.

He gave himself every excuse in the book before you knew he was cheating on you. ‘This is only for research.’ he would think every time he found himself back in that universe. As everyone knew he was so serious about his work, obviously this is just him getting to know more about certain universes and canons. Lyla was the only one seeing straight through him knowing where he was actually going. Things kept tumbling and the more he found out about the place and spent time with her the more his grief and yearning returned. It was all just there, so reachable.

There was a time his mind tried to snap him back out of it while cheating on you and made him realize the guilt. The first time he kissed this woman you were there in his mind. He came home right after and held you without saying a word. You never questioned him, just showed him comfort as much as you could. Lightly stroking his back, you never over stepped or pushed him when he was vulnerable with you. He only closed his eyes and held onto you tighter processing how you were always too good for him. He was converting to living two different lives; his old self during the day and then coming home to you. He didn’t want to let go of either at the time.

Once he found out he could safely have Gabriella again was when he became distant with you. The shame of using you for research made him become stoic. He didn’t want to admit how wrong he was treating you. All while you were always being so loyal and trusting towards him. Things were slowly slipping through the cracks and he knew he couldn’t up keep it. He wished he could have had that conversation with you so much differently but it was over. Now he had his old life back, a dream he had his mind set on.

He ignored the shakiness in his hands when he returned to her after letting you go. ‘It’s all for the best.’ is what he would repeat in his mind as a mantra. His new girlfriend truly had no idea who he really was or what his background was. Miguel continued to feed her lies to the point where he even started believing them himself getting too lost in avoiding what he’s done. He believed he was happy as he spent time with her.

When she got too close to finding the truth after finding his wedding ring in one of his pockets, he set her off course from it by revealing his spider identity and taking her to HQ. This was the day that everything felt like it was crashing around him. Being reminded of his marriage, having to face his friends with his new lover, sharing his personal spider life, his work with someone who wasn’t you. He excused himself rushing to an unused office room while his chest was tightening. Pupils dilating as he realized it was his first time having a panic attack.

Nevertheless he continued to push it all aside and act completely normal with his girlfriend. He was feeling your absence the most while working. You had became an extension of him. He had trained you from scratch and you helped him build this society he has now. You knew the ins and outs of everything and fought perfectly alongside him. Now that he was on his own he let his girlfriend be there for him when he got stressed, but there always was a knot in his stomach he never could get rid of.

The more his mental health ate at him late at night the more he considered searching out for you. There was no closure between both of you and he never got to listen to how you feel. What was your opinion on all that happened? Do you hate him?

He wanted to speak with someone so badly but he dug himself in a hole too deep. You were gone, he was lying through his teeth to this poor woman he’s kept for some fantasy, he felt too ashamed to say anything to his friends, he would rather die if all his workers found out how big of a piece of shit he is. Anytime Lyla tried peeping a word that wasn’t work related he would snap. He had pushed everyone away and now he just felt alone.

Regardless he would wake up in the morning and swallow all his dark feelings. He would remember his grief of when he lost his family and it would put him back in the moment. He has another chance. He was happy with the direction he was going in now.

Right?

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The day he found out you were at HQ he felt his heart stop. He was mid mission trying to call for Lyla but she wouldn’t answer. Frustrated he tried looking into what was happening only to see her busy having a conversation with you. It felt like something took over him when he opened a portal in less than a second. Without thinking nor wasting a heartbeat he rushed back. Just a glimpse of you, maybe just to hear a word out of your mouth. The feeling of having you back in HQ was making him ignore all his insecurities. How he would coward at the thought of trying to reach out to you before. You were in his home, your home, and the thought drove him wild.

You were already long gone though. Lyla stared at him not saying a word. The quietness in the room making his ears ring but his thoughts were screaming in his head. He stood there frozen still trying to recollect himself. He was the one that left you, what is wrong with him?

Again he went back and forth in his own head trying to convince himself ‘You wanted this.’ but if he did why is he feeling like someone just killed a puppy in front of him? Why is he here fighting with his self if this is really his dream? Why did he try chasing after you? The wounds of his past grief were too deep. He never took the time to properly heal and now look at what he’s become.

“Miguel, what’s this?” He was startled turning around seeing his girlfriend holidng your watch and skimming through the divorce paperwork addressed to him.

There was no more hiding, no more lying. He swallowed hard even though his throat was dry. He let everything he had kept away rise to surface. It hurt him to see the beautiful face his old wife shared contort into such anger and pain while finding the truth.

She didn’t stay, but for some reason he wasn’t upset. Though he longed for his daughter, he knew it would have never been the same now. He finally closed the door on his past. His heart had made the choice this time but it’s too late. Now grasping onto the divorce papers left by you, emptiness spread through his soul.

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You on the other hand did not find yourself crying by yourself on a rooftop for long. The shift in the air from your arrival alerted the local spider-man immediately.

“It didn’t work out, did it?” He crouched down next to you as he noticed your watch gone and your missing wedding band.

Peter Parker knew both you and Miguel. Your husband had come to do many rounds of research in this universe when he took you. Eventually offering this Peter a spot in the society, which he politely declined due to just being busy enough here. You both never spoke much but always had an appreciation for each other.

“Do you need a place to crash at?” He continued while trying to get you to look at him. Reaching his hand towards you.

You had absolutely no one and you had been gone so long you couldn’t even go back to the little you had. When you met Miguel you didn’t hesitate to never look back and now it filled you with regret. How naive were you to put all your trust and reliance on him.

You took Peter’s hand. You were ready to start your own life and be your own person now.

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Peter Parker was nice enough to let you stay with him as long as you needed it. You both had became ‘besties!’ as he would love to poke at you. The first month with him you were a disaster really but he showed you how he liked to cope using his spider abilities.

The first thing he helped you with was getting a new suit. Your old one resembled too much to Miguel’s and you felt suffocated every time you put it on. Peter had taught you to use your current emotional pain on whichever sad little villain was making trouble out in Brooklyn that night.

“Come on, we got multiverse spider-woman helping me keep these streets clean now!” He would taunt at the men while watching you easily take them out a little bit too aggressively. His feet kicking up and down while he sat on the side of a building watching you. The crime rate did go down a bit once word got around how strong your punch was. Peter’s just happy he can now spend some nights to himself.

You got yourself a job at the mart on the corner to help cover bills for Peter and save up. You were grateful enough the owners never batted an eye when you would disappear during a shift to either suddenly go cry uncontrollably or beat the shit out of someone at a nearby robbery. Next thing you were enrolling yourself back in university, wanting to finish that degree you never did.

It wasn’t too long that some of your older spider friends would stop by to check in on you. Seeing them was difficult sometimes, you were internally itching to ask about Miguel. Things were going okay for you on a very slow path of breathing step by step. You never wanted to feel that hurt again and so you very well pretend like Miguel didn’t exist if you could.

You couldn’t ignore the hurt resurfacing when you passed couples on the street. Or when you found yourself going to fidget with your wedding ring just to remember it’s gone. You can’t just move on from a relationship that was so deeply apart of you and lasted so long. You gave everything to him and it will take you much time to get yourself to build trust again.

After two semesters, you finally had your graduation. All the things you learned while in Earth-928 paid off as you barley had to study. Passing top of the class, you immediately got an offer for an internship opportunity with Alchemax and was able to get an introduction tour of the building beforehand.

What you hadn’t realized was that Alchemax had been looking for that girl who snuck into their offices a couple years ago. Who made another dimension’s spider appear and then went missing herself soon after. They had kept as close tabs on you as they could and how foolish you were to think your little break in wouldn’t come back to bite you. The moment you stepped foot back in their building, it was over for you.

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Miguel had spent a whole year in much deserving therapy. Nothing could stop the embarrassment he felt when Peter B signed him up with HQ’s best spider-therapist after 3 months of constant out bursts. No one could come near the man when he felt like he had lost everything. Those first initial months were difficult for everyone around him.

Therapy did help, he hates to admit it, but it was a very rough ride. He finally was able to understand his deep inner term oil and heal his issues but moving on from you? No, he could never.

You were the only one who had sincerely stood by his side, always rooting for him. He never fell out of love with you despite of everything that he did. He just pushed everything down too deep and was blinded by obsession. Till now he could never deny that he still loves you. Maybe if he just would have went to therapy years ago instead of acting out on unsolved grief none of this would have happened. The guilt always making him toss and turn at night.

He would have big temper tantrums when he would find his coworkers going to visit you time to time and not sharing any details. He needed to know if you’re okay. Did you already move on? He longed to find you and speak with you but he knew he wasn’t ready yet. He was so self destructive and this was what he deserved.

Everyone avoided him completely when he overheard someone saying you were living with Peter Parker. Fighting crime with him and having a cute little home life. Peter followed you around now like a puppy. Miguel did not take the news well at all. Let’s just say, the large bill replacement for his monitor screens was what snapped him out of that rage.

He also wanted to strangle Hobie Brown every time he saw a glint in his eye when your name was mentioned around. Yet Miguel couldn’t hate the kid either, as Hobie was one of the people to try help repair the damage he did to you. How badly he just wanted to hold you and shield you in his arms from any other people taking you from him as if he wasn’t the idiot to let you go in the first place.

Everyone’s big, powerful, scary boss was really just a grumpy, wallowing-in-self-pity, sensitive, lonely man now. Mention your name too much to him and watch him start crying or take it out on whatever he could find nearest to him. He would some nights scroll through your wedding photos while listening to your last tracked log with Lyla. Your words cutting through him deep like long sharp knives. How he urged to go tell you it was all wrong and how guilty he was for making you feel like this.

Despite it all, he still believed in being the best of the best. He used his work to distract himself from his sorrows, to become numb. Even though his divorce paperwork were set next to him on his desk to remind him the pain. He never signed it.

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“We can’t tell him!” Jessica gritted through her teeth. Small group of spider-people were hovered around Lyla taking in the new found information.

“Her canon events have always been uncertain, we can’t just stop and fix this one?” Gwen Stacy suggested in hopes.

“We have never prevented a canon event of hers or the people involved in it. It could be even more dangerous than a regular canon.” Peter B spoke grimly.

“When ‘as danger ever stopped us?” Hobie spoke up.

“Everyone get your gear.” Lyla added to the stress of the situation.

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You couldn’t open your eyes properly with a strong blinding light being held above you. Arms and legs secured on top of a metal surgical table. You could feel the warmth of blood scattered on certain parts of your body, slowly starting to dry. It was a mix of yours and the people you had tried fighting through to get out of here when you realize the trap you were reeled into. Different people in lab coats poked and pried all around you while you were tied. Your mask was thrown on another table and your suit had large gashes across it.

Soon you also could feel the presence of Peter Parker being brought to the room, thrown slumped in the corner breathing heavily. They had gotten you too good. They knew everything and had planned this so detailed.

“Now you’re going to help me open the multiverse.” Kingpin loomed around you. All you could feel was searing pain as a laser aimed right at your chest.

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Miguel was already staring out the window to the glowing night lights of Nueva York when he saw a big hole appear in sight of the skyline. His eyebrows furrowed while he was trying to process what he was looking at. It wasn’t a second later when all alarms started going off in his office.

“Qué carajos?” He exclaimed seeing the alerts of a possible universe collapse. “Lyla! Why wasn’t this being taken care of already?”

“I already sent people.”

“Then what are they doing?” He yelled. His confusion and anger only furthered when he saw a red alarm for a canon event.

“Canon event?” He whispered to himself. He always knew when these were happening, there were none scheduled for today. There was no way he would let one passed him, it’s not like this could magically appear? His jaw dropped in realization… a new canon event.

“Lyla, tell me the truth. Why wasn’t this reported to me?” He made the atmosphere turn cold. She knew he already figured it out.

“A new canon event was received this morning being given to Peter Parker. Of Y/N L/N’s death.” The words from Lyla made Miguel’s body go still. His eyes raced side to side while he processed it.

“No!” He roared, a fist slamming into the nearby desk. His massive strength breaking it in half.

“Boss, you can’t go on this mission only using your emotions.” Lyla warned. However Miguel was already half way stepping through a portal to find you.

He appeared, watching his team struggle to shut down the machine causing the collapse. Outnumbered by the amount of Alchemax puppets. A different kind of rage filled him as he saw you, for the first time in a year, suffering. Miguel was never one to act reckless while on missions but he had no plan here and just ran off the pure adrenaline the fight or flight had hit him with.

His claws tore into the backs of his enemies as he jumped beast-like across the room. Not hesitating spilling blood across the wall while he took everyone down as fast as he could. His team could only watch wide eye with an unsettling fear as they saw Miguel lose himself to his spider sense. While he fought they took the opportunity to take apart the machine.

Miguel was panting heavily, pupils blown wide glowing red, and fangs dripping with venom as the room slowly silenced. Kingpin laid on the floor slowly trying to drag himself after being beaten to a pulp. It was over. Peter B stopped him from doing anything further. Knowing Miguel would kill the man, Peter B let the team finish up to give Kingpin to authorities. Miguel turned frantically to look at you seeing the other spiders step away. Peter Parker was hunched over you in tears. Miguel fought the urge to snap at Peter and grab his hands off of you.

Your vision was too blurry and everything felt like it was burning. A shape that seemed too familiar came into your peripheral vision and you tried to push yourself up.

“Miguel?” Was the last thing you croaked before slumping back passing out. Miguel catching you in his arms before you could hurt yourself further.

“It’s her time.” Jessica spoke behind him. Yet he was refusing to let go. He had never defied the way the timeline worked since he created his society. He would never break the rules and you both had promised each other before not to. If there was a situation like this you both agreed to save the universe first. How stupid was he to think he would listen to that now facing it in-front of him.

He never got to tell you what happened. He never got to apologize. He never got to tell you one more time that he loved you. Even if you in result just spat in his face, at least he was able to talk to you one more time. You were never a placeholder or someone to fill a hole in his heart. His whole heart belonged to you and he couldn’t let you go thinking you didn’t mean anything to him. No matter the consequences, he needed to tell you.

“Call all the teams to control the damage of a possible universe collapse.” He turned to Jess with Y/N tightly in his arms. The spider-people watched speechless as he opened a portal and disappeared.

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Two weeks you laid motionless in the HQ’s medbay.

The clean up after breaking the canon was a little intense. They were able to get it under control as the event started to fade from your timeline once you were returned and starting to heal in Earth-928.

The spider society would remain silent near the medbay. The lights always being dimmed and hushed whispers between staff to not bother the distressed O’Hara. He refused to leave.

Your Peter Parker had now joined the team, much to Miguel’s dismay. Everyday your friends would come in and check to see how you were. Some telling stories about their day or any gossip updates you missed, in hopes that it would get you to wake up. They would ignore the gloomy Miguel who was basically glued to the seat next to you not saying a word to anyone.

At night Miguel would play with your fingers and softly stroke your hair all while pleading “Please don’t leave me, please don’t leave me. Por favor mi alma.” He knew it wasn’t his place to beg this after what he did, but he didn’t mind the words falling on deaf ears.

Miguel hadn’t eaten in days, he felt too nauseous from anxiety to even try anything. Pavitr had done the favor to bring you and Miguel’s favorite empanadas from a small street vendor downtown. Hoping to get Miguel to at least try the food before he ended up in a hospital bed next to you due to starvation.

You started to blink open your eyes, spots surrounding your vision. You could hear a soft breathing to your right side and you slowly felt your sense come back one by one. It felt like you just had a really rough nap.

“Oh my god that smells so good.” You moaned, sitting yourself up to try to look at where the smell of food was coming from.

You were met with a wide eyed Miguel holding a box of empanadas. His jaw slacked open acting as if he’s seen a ghost looking at you. Confusion hit you first for a second and then you start to panic.

Why was he here? Why was your ex-husband sitting right here? You started to push away from him and Miguel caught on to your panic.

“No, no, no mi amor stop.” He tried calming you. “You’re hurt, you’re going to open your stitches.”

You suddenly remembered everything that happened right before you blacked out. At that moment you forgot the hurt you had towards your ex-lover. Gathering yourself you just stared at him. “I’m suppose to be dead.”

Tears rimmed your eyes. Why did it feel like life just hated you so much?

Miguel engulfed you in his arms as you started to cry. You didn’t care right now. You had ached for this feeling again, so alone, with the comfort Miguel used to bring you. Just for a moment you could pretend like how it was before.

“We can’t do this Miguel.”

He knew what you were thinking. He didn’t want to let you leave his arms yet, as he let his self hold harder and push your head closer into his the crook of his shoulder. The tickle of your breath on his neck, he just wanted this forever.

“She left. Almost a year ago.” He let out to you. A big weight coming off of his chest. You pulled back from him and looked up into his eyes while you watched him avoid your gaze. You felt bad to say you could feel a bit of satisfaction bubbling in you.

“Good, she deserved better.”

“So did you.” Miguel sighed playing with his hands. Your eyes widened when you saw the ring still on his finger. He let you stare. “I-I could never. I couldn’t.” The emotions struggle to come out of his mouth. You understood him though. You always did. Placing your hand on top of his you just nodded.

“Please stay here.” He whispered.

Miguel had broken you in so many ways. Yet he almost ruined another universe just to keep you alive. You both needed time to talk and coming out a coma right now isn’t good timing.

“I finally became my own person when I went back in my universe. I enjoyed my independence.” The words pelleted at him. He could only hold his breath as he waited for you to continue. “I’ll stay… but not for you.”

It wounded him deeply; but he deserved it. This place will always be a home for you even if he wasn’t apart of it. Before he can tear his gaze and turn away, you reached out to hold his face close to yours. Your fingers gently rubbing on his cheeks as you slowly look at him properly after so long. You let your thumb smooth over his frown lines and he leaned into your touch closing his eyes.

“Let’s give us time.” Was the words you blessed that opened every door of hope he could find. He would take it, he would absolutely take it. He has to fight for you, he has to prove to you. He would do anything but for now he’ll be on his best patiently waiting for you.

Both of you sat comfortably without speaking, only the faint background beeps of the hospital monitor making up for the silence, while passing small glances. For once both of you felt a missing warmth you didn’t realize you needed. Sharing empanadas with each other, just maybe it will be alright…

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The end!!! Thank you so so much for your time in reading my story. i really really was so happy with all the comments and feedback on pt 1 it really meant a lot!!!

i hope this was ok ~ i apologize for how long it was i was thinking of doing another part but just wanted to finish this up. I was in such a conflict how to end this. i hope it wasn’t too cliche or anything i’m just a sucker for very wanty needy dramatic stories. It’s a hopeful ending tho~ i couldn’t pick with just happy or sad.

So many of you had tons of amazing suggestions which I appreciated so much. I was such a mess trying to figure it all out. Many of you wanted to see Y/N move on with another person but I ended up going this route. I used Peter Parker as an obv character in y/n’s universe but it’s not tied to any specific one and you guy can think of him more to your liking if you want to!

If any of you would like a small drabble or imagine of another route of this story or just anything angsty/possessive and rarwrarwbarkbark miguel. I’d be glad to help lol!! My request box is wide open~ i had so much fun writing this!

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[depravitycentral]

Yandere! Keigo Takami General Profile

Yandere! Keigo Takami x fem! reader

Tw: kidnapping, stalking, mentions of non-con, implied masturbation, possessiveness, lots and lots of guilt, Stockholm Syndrome/you've kind of lost it by the end, mentions of eating/eating healthily, mentions of murder, Dabi makes an appearance and is directly responsible for your kidnapping, insinuation that Keigo's jerked it to some rather icky nasty stuff of yours, non-consensual photography, fem reader, MDNI

I do not condone any of the actions described in this post - this is fiction and should be treated as such. If you or a loved one is in a similar situation to anything contained in this post or my blog in general, please seek help. You're in charge of your internet consumption; please make responsible choices. With that, enjoy!

WC: 15K (genuinely how)

DARLING PROFILE:

Smart

If Keigo was pressed to describe his type, the very first thing that he would blurt out is intelligent. He wants a woman that can match him in terms of intellect. Someone who can follow his quick-paced jokes, his sarcasm, someone that keeps up with him, really.

He finds it wildly attractive when a woman is confident in her own knowledge, and ideally his darling would be knowledgeable in an area he knows next to nothing about.

He likes hearing them spiel on about something they’re passionate about – and he'll be listening, intently, with a hand under his chin and eyes glossed over because while their words are interesting, watching them is really what’s fully engaging him. There’s something wonderful about the way that they’re able to answer all the questions he prompts them with, never missing a beat and fully dissecting his question before giving their best thoughts back.

It’s just wonderful, and although he’d never divulge any sensitive information to them out of fear for their safety, there’s something euphoric about knowing that if he really wanted to, if he could, he thinks they would understand how he feels.

He thinks they could understand how careful he has to be, how he has to think out his every move and word dozens of times in advance, making sure everything is exactly how it should be.

And really, this helps Keigo feel less lonely – it’s less polarizing and solitary if he knows that his darling could support him, even if he won’t tell them anything.

Just the knowledge makes him giddy, his heart beating faster because it feels so very good to not be alone.

Witty

Similarly to their intelligence, Keigo needs a darling who’s able to dish out what he serves. A witty, silver-tongued darling would have him constantly on his toes, finding that speaking with them is entertaining and leaves him wanting more.

His darling isn’t boring, or a drag to speak to – their stories and commentary leave him on the edge of his seat, growing addicted to their voice and finding himself wanting more more more, eagerly asking all sorts of follow-up questions that he normally wouldn’t bother with.

And really, this is one of the first signs that his feelings for them have ventured beyond friendly – he’s never been this invested in someone before, never wanting to interact with them so badly, never wanting to be around them and hear their voice and watch their lips move to form syllables.

He finds his darling’s sense of humor to perfectly match his own, leaving him winded and often more flustered than he’d care to admit.

They’re just so cute – the knowing little look they send him when they crack a bad pun that leaves him chuckling, the way their face scrunches up when they make an accidentally dirty joke.

It’s endearing, really, and it only makes him fall for them harder, his desperation to see them growing stronger with every passing day because god, they’re just so perfect.

Civilian

While Keigo is capable of developing an obsession with a fellow hero, it’s unlikely.

Part of what draws him to his darling is their innocence – they don’t understand the realities of their society, how violent and horrible the darkest members are, how much crime and unrest fills the city streets right under their nose.

It’s the way his darling is able to be so happy and carefree in the face of such terror that draws Keigo in – they practically radiate positivity, talking about their own mundane life and managing to lull Keigo into a false reality that he, too is simply a civilian.

That he isn’t a double agent with a non-existent sense of self, that he isn’t bursting with stress and anxiety at any given time. It’s a nice reprieve, really, and it’s one that he slowly begins craving. The moments of peace and tranquility addict him, causing him to view his darling as a sort of stress-reliever, someone he can go to when things become too heavy, too dark, too much.

He wants to hear about everything happening in their lives – their crazy neighbors, annoying coworkers, the cat they saw crossing the street, the latest thing broken in their apartment. He wants to know about the mundane things, the things he’s never experienced and never will experience.

His darling is a sort of portal to a totally different world – what he could have had if he hadn’t been born into the family he was, if he hadn’t had inherited his quirk, if he hadn’t have done this or that.

His darling represents possibility, a side of Keigo that he desperately, desperately wishes he could embrace – which is why he slowly begins fantasizing about a future with his darling, always complete with a nice little house, a few children, a pretty ring on their finger, and complete domestic bliss.

It’s a dirty fantasy to him, really, something far off and dreamy, but with every interaction he has with his darling, it only stronger, and he only grows more desperate.

Empathetic

Keigo needs someone who is able to see past the layers of persona he puts on as Hawks and instead see him. Keigo Takami. He needs someone who’s able to listen to his words and comfort him, to see the frightened, abused boy he still is at heart.

The idea of a darling who’s able to understand him on such a deep, raw level leaves him feeling equal parts terrified and relieved, because he’s never really had someone there for him before.

The concept of a companion, of someone to rely on and love and cherish is such a foreign concept to him, and although he finds the idea enticing (having watched more than his fair share of rom-coms and trashy romance movies), Keigo doesn’t believe that he’ll ever get to experience it.

His life is too busy and hectic, and having a woman to hold and love and protect would add too much unnecessary strain. Except once he meets his darling and he feels seen for the first time, things begin changing. No longer does he find himself alone, internally grappling with his real identity and his hero identity, slowly losing himself with all the stress and obligations towards the commission.

No, he’s not alone because he has them – his darling, the one who’s smile and a simple brush of their hand leaves him breathless, feeling like a little kid with a sense of wonder and hopefulness and love that makes his heart pound in his chest.

A darling that’s able to incite these feelings in him is really the key to catching his attention in the first place – a cruel fate, really, considering his darlings is only trying to help him, only trying to help reassure him that he doesn’t have to be the ever strong, ever cool Hawks in front of everybody.

It’s a noble thought, really – but ultimately one that dooms his darling, forcing the blond to latch onto them with incredible strength and never, ever letting go.

GENERAL YANDERE TRAITS:

Clingy

It takes quite a while for Keigo’s obsession to form. He’s never really had the time nor desire to get close enough to someone to even consider a relationship, and while he’s a had a one-night stand or two, that one night of intimacy is the closest he’s ever gotten to someone. He’s just not emotionally available, and for very good reason – he’s lived his entire adult life (and much of his youth) completely under the Commission’s control, his every desire, action, and thought controlled by others.

It’s sad and some part of him knows it, pitying himself even, but Keigo’s just not interested in developing any kind of romantic relationship with anyone. He doesn’t have time, and there’s a small part of him that questions if he’s even able to form that kind of a connection with someone. A childhood full of abuse, training and emotional neglect has fucked him up in more ways than one, and he’s genuinely unsure if he’s even capable of something like love, if he’d even be able to give someone a healthy relationship, his heart.

He swears off romance, finding it trivial and just not something for him, but things begin changing the longer he knows you, the longer he’s around you and spends time with you. His feelings are purely platonic at first – you’re funny, someone he finds himself actually getting along with and not dreading seeing, and it’s always a pleasure when he happens to run into you when he’s out on patrol or just wandering around the city in a rare moment of free time.

(And at this point, it genuinely is random – there’s no pre-planned meetings, no orchestrated attempts at just so happening to run into you, no attempt to follow you or know your location at all hours of the day. It’s just fate, really.)

He slowly warms up to you, deciding that he actually really likes you, and as the weeks turn into months, there’s this feeling that starts tugging at his heart. It’s this strange phenomenon where when he’s lost in thought, planning out his next moves in making sure he balances his double agent lifestyle, there’s this lingering thought of you.

He’ll gear up in his hero suit, shrugging the jacket on over his wings and checking himself over in the mirror, only to let his hand linger over his jacket lapel. He’d never noticed the small speck of blood on the tan material – had you? It was surely an enemy’s, some criminal that he’d roughed up a bit too badly before capturing, but it was still an unfortunate sight. His lips quirk down a bit as he thinks of whether you’d noticed it when you’d ran into him at the end of his patrol yesterday – you hadn’t mentioned anything, but maybe you were just being polite.

Something about the thought of you seeing him with blood on him leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

It’s not until a notification on his phone gets his pocket buzzing that he snaps out of his small reverie, blinking at his reflection and feeling a small bit of confusion settle over him. Why was he thinking of you? Surely it wasn’t your blood, and you hadn’t been present during any of his fights yesterday – why had the thought of you popped into his mind?

Keigo’s not sure, but he pushes aside the thought as he jumps off his balcony, the wind catching his wings and letting him soar towards the Hero Commission building.

He doesn’t give it much thought, but then it happens again the next day; he’s out on patrol, flying a good ten feet above the skyline of this particular neighborhood, when he sees a woman walking with a bouquet of flowers. They’re pretty, he supposes – roses mixed with some greenery and tulips, the kind of perfect bouquet you’d see in a rom-com or some cheesy movie.

He smiles a bit, seeing the way the woman was sighing down at them with a dreamy look on her face, and before he can stop himself there’s this flash in his mind of you with flowers in your arms. They’d be a different color, of course – your favorite color, and maybe even a different flower. Whatever one was your favorite, that’s what he’d get you.

He freezes as the last thought flits through his mind, his wings freezing too and causing him to falter a bit mid-air, desperately flapping them to stay afloat. What the hell?

He doesn’t like it, at first – the way you’re slowly seeping into every aspect of his thoughts, always some little twinge of you sitting at the sidelines, an idle thought of wow, you’d look great with that shirt on or a small question of would she like this?

It makes him uncomfortable, because he doesn’t know how to deal with this strange new development – sure, he's heard all about love and falling for someone, because while he may not look like it, he’s watched his fair share of chick flicks and raunchy romances.

But still, this is different – it’s different because it’s him, because it’s you. And it’s different because Keigo notices, as time passes, that none of those films or stories mention just how all-encompassing the feeling is, or how it makes him want to swing by your apartment every night, flying outside your window and letting those honey eyes scan the room to find your familiar figure.

They don’t mention anything about the desire that eats him up at night, how he seems to see you in everything around him – his pillow is soft, but he’s sure your stomach would be softer. His dining chair is comfortable, but having you sit in his lap would make it more comfortable.

The ratty shirt with the massive holes cut in the back is loose on him, but where it looks sloppy on him, you’d manage to look cute, he’s sure. It scares him, if he’s being honest, because he feels his control over himself slowly slipping through his fingers – he can’t stop himself from checking over you when he knows you’re at work, repeatedly flying through the area when he really doesn’t need to, just to make sure there’s no villainous activity.

(And always keeping an eye out for you when he knows your shift is over – he always gets too nervous and chickens out, but one of these days he swears he’s going to swoop down and pick you up, holding you in his arms as he flies around with you, chuckling in your ear and pulling you flush against his body under the guise of ‘safety’ – just please ignore the hardness you feel against your back or the labored breaths in your ear.)

It scares him that he can’t stop himself from suddenly paying much more attention to your every word, listening to you like you’re spouting holy epiphanies as you tell him about your coworkers or this new film you watched, biting his lip and nodding along, letting his eyes occasionally flick down to your mouth as quickly as he can, just so you won’t notice.

Thus starts a troubling pattern – Keigo starts slowly craving learning as much as he can about you, because with every thought that pops up into his head, he finds his knowledge about you is sorely lacking. He doesn’t know what your favorite flower is – he can’t get you that bouquet he was fantasizing of.

 He doesn’t know where your favorite take-out place is – he can’t surprise you with dinner on nights he can tell you’re tired. (He can tell because he’d followed you home from the air and noticed your slouched shoulders and the way you’d looked on the verge of tears when you’d stubbed your toe on the uneven sidewalk, but still.)

He doesn’t know what size shoe you wear – he can’t pick you up those new shoes he thought you’d like, or get you a new pair of those fuzzy, warm socks he noticed were looking a little ragged in your laundry bin.

 He doesn’t know what your ideal date is, so he can’t plan one with the knowledge that you’d be as happy as humanly possibly, all smiley and bashful and shy, all because you’re with Keigo himself.

It frustrates him, and he figures it wouldn’t hurt to look into you just a bit more – he’s got access to all kinds of information, security clearances associated with his status as both a hero, an agent of the Hero Commission, and an agent of the Meta Liberation Army making pretty much any piece of information he wants to get his hands on accessible. He’s getting access to your computer and phone, sifting through your search histories, contacts, even your bank accounts and government information.

(How else would he be able to start depositing occasional bits of money into your account, gifts he knows you won’t notice because you never check your transaction histories? You may not know about them, but he does, and it makes him feel good, important when he’s gifting you a hundred dollars here and there, making sure you have a cushion so that you can spoil yourself and indulge in all the things he knows you want to, but you don’t have the funds to do so.)

He’s designating a specific feather to slip into your purse or pocket, attached to your person so that he can track where you’re going, feeling the vibration against your back when you’re talking, when you’re shivering because you’re cold, when you’re standing or sitting or laying or moaning and gasping and shaking –

(He’ll always stiffen up when the feather he’d managed to slip into your jacket starts vibrating with the sound of your cries, his cheeks and neck feeling unbearably hot as he starts to sweat, wings twitching uncontrollably and rushing to the nearest bathroom, clutching the sink and grimacing because god, you’re moaning so damn much, you must be touching yourself and he’s not even there to see it, not able to watch you fall apart – maybe you’re even thinking of him, of how he’d fuck you nice and deep, pushing your knees up to your ears and groaning your name over and over while he fills you full of his cum – He’s in the bathroom for a suspiciously long time, and when he comes back with his pants just slightly askew, Dabi will cock a brow but not make a comment.)

He’s even going so far as to set up cameras in your apartment, having broken in one day when you weren’t home, making sure they’re placed in inanimate objects so you don’t find one and get scared.

(Though, he can’t deny that the image of you running to him in fear, crying and clutching onto him and telling him that someone’s stalking you has a very nice ring to it… Ultimately, though, he knows it’s best for you to not take on the stress and burden of knowing your every move is being watched, recorded, stored onto his phone and computer so that when he can’t sleep at night or is particularly stressed from all the lying and sneaking around, he’ll have something pretty and sweet to look at, something calming and relaxing, something that makes him sigh and his lips quirk up into a small smile as his thumb rubs the technology, imagining it was your cheek.)

It’s a slow slide into his obsessive tendencies, but once his feelings for you have formed in full, Keigo is a lost cause – and once you end up trapped with him, forced to depend on him for everything, this trait will only present itself more strongly, becoming harder and harder to ignore because he won’t bother hiding it anymore.

You’ll be scared and apprehensive every time he arrives with a glass of water right when you were beginning to feel thirsty, but really, you should know better. You’ll be unnerved when he presents a new bottle of shampoo to you right as you start itching to shower, but it’s inevitable.

Keigo knows you better than you know yourself, after all – and he just wants to keep you happy, keep you safe. He's just in love, and doesn’t he deserve someone to love?

Doesn’t he deserve to be happy too, to finally, finally have something all to himself, something that’s his?

Protective

Frankly, though Keigo hides it well, his protectiveness over you is unbearable. He’s a seasoned pro-hero who spends a good amount of time with villains, and as a result he’s more than aware of just how dark of a place the world really is. He has intimate knowledge of just how many horrible people are hiding in plain sight, all the violent and horrific crimes they commit, and just how often they manage to escape unscathed.

And of course, he also knows just how many innocent victims get wrapped up in their schemes, often resulting in injuries and trauma and even death. And while Keigo generally is disapproving of murder, he’s even more staunchly against the concept when it’s your death, when you’re the lifeless body that’s laying on the cold, hard cement, blood pooling around your head and your pretty eyes staring aimlessly above, your fingers cold and your neck bruised and oh god oh god –

The realization that the way he feels for you has wandered into romantic territory is the same moment that he realizes that you could very easily be one of the civilians he was just a hair too slow to save.

He’s helping an older woman crawl out of a pile of rubble left behind from a stand-off with a villain, part of the building having collapsed in on itself, and all of a sudden he sees something sticking out from below a large, cement cylinder – a foot, stained red at the ankle, and immediately he feels sick.

Evacuations aren’t always successful, and oh, look at that – the foot’s complexion is oddly familiar, and he swears he’s seen that nail polish on someone else’s fingers before. Bile actually rises up the back of his throat as he realizes that everything about this unfortunate soul reminds him of you, even down to the hair dotting her leg. It’s a hard pill to swallow as images of you bloody and bruised flash through his mind, each one making his chest tighter than the last.

It leaves his fists clenching and his jaw tight enough to make his teeth hurt, and it’s in that moment that his body almost seems to operate on autopilot – the images of you battered and too injured to be helped are still swirling through his mind as his feet leave the ground, his wings beating faster and faster with every second, his desperation to reach you strong enough to get his heart practically racing out of his chest.

The wind is whistling in his ears as he flies to your apartment, his muscles aching from the exertion, his lip caught between his teeth as he mentally chants that you’re okay, you’re okay, please God you have to be okay.

It’s only once he lands on your apartment balcony and sees you clumsily doing your dishes in the kitchen sink that relief floods his system, his entire body sagging against the railing as he finally lets out the breath he’d been unconsciously holding back.

You’re okay.

You’re alive and breathing, and as his eyes scan every exposed inch of your skin, he can’t find even a speck of blood. A hand comes up to rest over his heart, and Keigo swallows, Adam’s apple visibly bobbing with the weight of the motion.

He spends longer than he’d care to admit on your balcony that evening, those yellow eyes watching like a hawk as you move about in your tiny apartment, mentally assessing each and every movement. You’re pretty like this, he thinks – you’re entirely unaware that you’re being watched, but there’s something about seeing you be so natural and free that’s exhilarating, making his heart pound and his cheeks flush pink because this is what you’re really like when no one’s watching. It makes his chest ache to see it, his gloved fingers reaching out and pressing against the glass of your sliding door, the urge almost unbearable to be with you and hear what he’s sure is you singing along to some horrible song.

He’s idly wondering if you cook all your meals, and that’s why you have so many dishes – would you cook for him? He's a lousy chef and frankly a bit picky about his food, but he’d eat anything you make for him with a bright smile and trembling fingers, eagerly wolfing down the food and being nearly brought to tears because you made this for him.

He’s imagining the way you’d let him hold you at night, sharing a bed with you and your body pressed snugly beside his, an arm draped over your side and your soft breaths tickling the expanse of his chest. It’s a pleasant thought, but all too soon his phone is buzzing and he’s brought out of his reverie, glancing at the time and sucking in a sharp breath because it’s been an hour and a half of him just sitting here, gaping like an idiot at you.

Embarrassment creeps up his spine, but before he jumps off the balcony and heads to the Commission to report back, he spares a final glance over his shoulder at you, and the smallest of smiles sits on his lips, something warm blooming in his chest.

But from that moment onwards, Keigo slowly becomes more and more consumed by the idea of just how truly unprepared you are for any sort of villain encounter. You have a quirk, sure, but it’s minor and not especially useful, and it certainly wouldn’t help if you were to be cornered in some dark alleyway, or if you were to hear your front door’s lock being picked, or if you were to be caught in the crossfire of a villain robbing a bank.

And it’s small things that remind him of these facts – he'll see you trip over seemingly nothing, losing your footing and stumbling for just a moment, and immediately fear is sitting heavy in his gut because god, you’d be dead meat running from a villain. It’s endearing, of course, but it’s scary.

He hears you giggle sheepishly and rub the back of your neck as you admit to your friend over lunch that you’d forgot to lock your door when you left for groceries yesterday, his skin and feathers bristling and a small prick of anger bubbling inside him because are you asking to be the next tragedy covered on the news?

 He takes you out for dinner (that he hopes you’ll think of as a date, even if the restaurant is a simple diner that he knows you love) and sees a bandaid on your finger, his voice a touch lower than his previous joking tone as he asks if you’re okay, did you hurt yourself? Your response of how you’d accidentally caught the sharp edge of a razor in the shower makes his entire body tense, both at the idea of you in the shower and at the idea of your blood being drawn, of the way you’d probably hissed and bit your lip, the pain acute. You’ll notice the way he freezes up, this look on his face that you can’t quite describe, but soon he’ll be flashing you that familiar grin, taking a sip of his soda and telling you that unshaved is better, hasn’t anyone ever told you that?

(He likes the way you roll your eyes and pretend that you aren’t embarrassed by his comment – at least, he hopes that’s how you’re feeling, because the comment made him himself a little hot under the collar.)

Everything you do is a reminder to him that you’re weak, and it’s this constant mantra that moves Keigo to take his own measures to ensure your safety. He’ll offer to walk you home from work every day, waving off your concerns by telling you that his patrols end right around that time anyways so it’s no big deal.

(They don’t – they tend to end much earlier, but this way he can fly around for a bit, trail you from the air and keep his eyes trained only on you, all with the luxury of lying when you notice his presence about how his patrol areas happen to line up with the district you work in.)

He’ll tell you that he’s sure your cooking is good, but he knows what place has the absolute best lunches – and would you look at that, it’s not too far from your apartment! Maybe you’d be interested in getting lunch with him sometimes? He knows the owner pretty well because he’s always in there, maybe he could even get the both of you a loyal customer discount.

(He’d only started eating there because a late night of watching you through your apartment windows had led to his stomach growling too much to bear, and he’d strolled into the twenty-four-hour establishment absolutely ravenous for food, still glowing from having watched your sleeping face.)

He’s even making unsolicited, subtle remarks about your own habits designed to get you to change some of your more problematic traits – he’ll tell you that eating breakfast is actually very good for you, he’s heard that people who skip breakfast tend to have bowel problems.

(It’s delivered as a joke and you snort because he’d been a little graphic with a bad pun thrown in there, and as Keigo basks in the sight of your smile and the sound of your laughter, he hopes that you’ll remember the sentiment – you need to be eating properly, after all.)

He’s telling you that crime rates have been awfully high in your neighborhood lately – it’s recommended for all civilians to avoid speaking to anyone on the streets – just for safety purposes, of course.

(And because it dramatically reduces the number of men you interact with, something that makes both his protectiveness and possessiveness cool ever so slightly because that means one less man that you could meet and fall for and want and love-)

And why shouldn’t you believe everything that he says? He’s the number two hero, a man who’s saved more lives than you could imagine – how could he not be the authority on safety? Who are you to doubt anything he tells you, any advice he gives you?

And Keigo knows this – which is why he’ll start pushing further and further with time, trying to convince you to drop anything dangerous at all; did you know that more people cut themselves with knives than with all other cutting tools combined? You should really be careful, you know – besides, sometimes recipes are better with whole tomatoes!

(Really, he just wants to avoid seeing a knife in your hands – you’re not trustworthy with something so sharp, even if the sight of you in the kitchen slaving over the stove is strangely adorable, strangely right.)

Did you know that most animal attacks are from dogs? Maybe you shouldn’t consider getting that cute puppy you’d been gushing about – you just never know.

(Really, Keigo’s just worried that you’ll end up spending all your time and attention with said puppy, leaving him with only the most meager scraps that won’t be nearly enough to satisfy him, and while he’s serious about the dog attacks, he’s mostly just selfish. Plus, an animal companion would make slipping through your window late at night almost impossible.)

Did you know that the vast majority of murder victims are women? You should probably take him up on his offer to be your personal chaperone – consider it a favor for a friend, he’d told you.

(Though he’d been gritting his teeth as he said the word ‘friend’, even the feel of it on his tongue making something ugly twist in his gut. The way he feels for you certainly isn’t friendly – it can’t be, not when he’s imagining waking up with you every morning, the way your lips would taste, how you’d look on your knees staring up at him while you gag and choke and suck so hard your cheeks hollow out.)

And once you’ve been kidnapped, this trait is only furthered, his paranoia eating away at him because he knows you’ll be rebellious, that you’ll want to lash out and hurt yourself and hurt him, and just the thought leaves him buzzing with anxiety, stress eating away at him because he absolutely refuses to let you get injured in any way.

You have to stay pristine – his gorgeous, precious partner that he loves, the only woman who’s ever made him feel something so strong. You have to be okay – because if you aren’t, then he isn’t either, and the only thing more dangerous than a powerful, cunning man living a double life is a broken, apathetic man who wants everyone to know just how little life means now that his other half is gone.

Controlling

His controlling tendencies manifest as a result of both his extreme protectiveness, and as a sort of coping mechanism from the lack of control he has over his own life. He does love you – at least, he thinks this is love.

(If it’s not love, then Keigo doesn’t know what the fuck this could possibly be – what else would cause him to be thinking of you at all hours of the day, his body physically aching and yearning to be with you? What else could cause his breathing to hitch and become so uneven when you’re in his presence, his quirk nearly out of his control as his feathers ruffle and flutter and come down around you like some sort of cage?)

He loves you, sure, his obsession festering into something darker, deeper, more unmanageable and impossible to come back from, but there’s a part of him that begins exerting this control over you as a way to satisfy himself.

By dictating your life, it’s almost like he’s dictating his own – like he gets to choose what happens, like he has self-autonomy, like he isn’t just a puppet being used by others. It’s euphoric, cathartic, and this only furthers his dependence on you – not only do you make him feel something warm and gooey and suffocating in his chest, but you also make him feel calmer, more grounded, more whole.

But as lovely as it is for Keigo to finally get a grip on his own mental health, this has rather disastrous effects on you – even before he’s stolen you away, these controlling tendencies are present. Of course, they’re difficult to spot when Keigo is still just the handsome, flirty hero who seems to have a soft spot for little old you. You’re in a metaphorical honeymoon phase at that point, beyond flattered that someone like him has noticed someone like you.

And so, you don’t really notice the way that he tells you to stop hanging out with a particular friend that you keep rambling on about. They’re going through a hard time, you’re sure of it – it’s the only reason they’ve been so snappy and distant lately, and it’s only natural for you to bear your burdens to Keigo, telling him how they were rude to you last weekend, how they’ve been ignoring your calls, how you’re at a loss because what could possibly be happening?

And Keigo will grit his teeth, his smile tight and visibly strained as he clutches onto his coffee cup with white knuckles, eventually telling you wow, that really sucks, some friend. Maybe you should stop hanging out with them – obviously they aren’t as invested in the friendship as you are, sound like they’re not as good of a friend as you are, frankly.

It’s good advice, all things considered, but it’s presented in a way that flatters you, that makes you sound like you’re the reasonable, good friend and they’ve simply dropped the ball. And so, you’ll follow his advice – that friend isn’t contacted again, and Keigo personally sees to it that you’ve blocked them, having gone in and manually done it on your phone while you were fast asleep.

You won’t notice how he makes subtle comments about what you should order when you’re at a restaurant together – he’ll never make comments about your weight, but he’ll prompt you to eat something healthier, something more, something that’ll leave you happy but nourish you as well. The comments are again difficult to spot – when he opens up the menu, he’ll pipe up and tell you that they’ve got that salad you were talking about the other day – you know the one? Yeah, sounds good – do you want to split it? I think we should get some extra chicken on top, too.

(Once the salad arrives, of course, you’ll be eating the majority – Keigo will nibble at it, picking at it and making a bit show of always having his fork packed with the greens – and a lot of the chicken – but you’ll be the one shoveling food into your mouth, feeling full by the time Keigo’s eaten roughly ten bites.)

You won’t notice it much at all, really – which is why it’s such a shock to one day wake up in Keigo’s luxury, king-sized bed, the soft white sheets smelling like fresh laundry and the pretty red, silky pajamas he’d changed you into feeling foreign on your body.

But just like his more needy and clingy tendencies, Keigo’s controlling nature will start to show itself once he’s stolen you away. There’s no point in hiding how he feels now, is there? You’re aware that he’s in love with you (he tells you every fucking day, after all, with a hushed voice that sounds much too vulnerable for you to bear and a barrage of kisses along your jawline and neck), so what’s the point in dialing down some of the more questionable aspects of his infatuation?

He’d kidnapped you out of paranoia, and now that you’re with him constantly, he’s able to really, fully control your actions and the things you’re allowed to do. He’s not too dehumanizing with it, but there’s a lot of limits on things that you normally wouldn’t even think about – you’re allowed to watch TV, but only for an hour a day and only specific channels and programs he’s approved.

(Generally, the cutoff for what he considers ‘appropriate’ for you are things without graphic violence, nothing terribly sad, and nothing that would cause you tension or stress. So, all horror movies are off the table, all dramas, all action films, really only leaving the things he wouldn’t mind watching with you – romances, mostly, and the occasional film with much more erotica than he realized. His face will turn red as the actors moan and whisper hushed I love you’s, his yellow eyes nervously flicking over to you from his spot beside you, his fingers itching to reach out to you, the blanket covering you both suddenly feeling much too hot.)

You’re allowed to eat what you want, but with a few very strict guidelines – you can’t have anything over a certain amount of grams of sugar, nor are you allowed to consume anything that isn’t paired with a vegetable. He’s forcing you to eat protein, and if you don’t eat meat he’ll count out a specific number of nuts you must consume that day, just to make sure you’re getting proper nutrition.

He especially loves if you’ll let him feed the nuts to you, or any food, really – he likes to feel needed and helpful, and to have you looking at him with those pretty eyes, the fork pressed against your lips while you swallow and thank him for the food… It makes Keigo’s breathing get a bit heavy, his mouth watering because god, he wants to use that fork after you, would you think that’s weird?

He’s not taking away any of your basic privileges like dressing yourself or using the restroom alone, but Keigo has a way of making you feel pathetic without even trying to; there’s just something about the way he looks at you, all soft smiles and wide eyes, his palms always clammy and nervous, his touch always hesitant but eager.

He won’t explicitly create a schedule for your daily life under his thumb, but you’ll essentially be in one, anyways. He leaves for work in the mornings, parting from you with a very, very tonguey kiss, and while he’s gone on his patrol all day, you’ll cycle through reading a few of the (pre-approved) books he’d gifted you, practicing your art skills, practicing your musical skills, and staring out the fifteen-story window, the one-way, bulletproof glass not giving you even the option to crack it if you wanted to brave the fall.

You’ll be stagnant, really, something that Keigo doesn’t appreciate at all once he notices it happening, but it doesn’t change the fact that he absolutely can’t relinquish control – you’re his, and even if you’re unhappy, Keigo will be damned if he gives up caring for you and making your decisions for you. That’s love, isn’t it? He knows what’s best for you, so why can’t you see that? Why do you fight him and tell him he’s a monster, a horrible, horrible man?

He just wants to keep you safe and happy and loved, so why are you making it so fucking difficult?

DEALING WITH RIVALS:

While Keigo isn’t too terribly possessive as far as yanderes go, he really only has so much self-control. Of course, he doesn’t like seeing other men around you, those already narrow eyes of his growing even sharper and smaller because he does not like this.

But what sets Keigo apart from others is that while he’s enraged, anxiety and anger prickling at his skin and causing goosebumps to litter his entire body, he’s smart. He’s good at reading people, at fully assessing situations and making split seconds analyses, and that’s exactly what he’ll do whenever he sees you in a situation where another man is showing interest.

He’ll examine the man’s face – is he smiling? Laughing? Serious? Frowning?

Smiling and laughing generally means one of two things – either the man hopes to become friends or acquaintances with you, or he’s flirting and he thinks it’s going very well. Keigo can’t decide which option he hates more.

A serious expression or a frown normally means that the man is trying to create a mysterious air – to embody hypermasculinity, to try and lure you in by looking the part of the strong, dominant man who’s only weakness is you. It makes Keigo cringe, his nose scrunching up in a wince as he thinks of how terribly stupid this man must be to think you’d fall for something like that – he obviously doesn’t know you or your intellect, at least not like Keigo does. Nobody knows you like Keigo does – not even yourself.

He’s looking at the man’s body language – if he’s leaning towards you, he probably has less than innocent intentions, either trying to intimidate you or get close to you to fulfill some sick, perverted urge.

(An urge that Keigo knows all too well – the urge to feel you, to touch you, to smell you, to have your skin against his. It’s an urge that he’s had to fight more times than he can count, stopping himself from scooping your into his arms and burying his face into the crook of your neck, his hands roaming every inch of your body because god, you smell good and you’re so fucking pretty and your voice is like heaven to his ears and you feel too damn good pressed against him like this and fuck you drive him absolutely insane.)

If the man has his hands in his pockets, that generally signals to Keigo that he’s not as confident at this as he’d like you to believe, showing the hero that the man is more than aware that you’re wildly out of his league, that really the man should have absolutely no business speaking with you.

Keigo’s noticing the distance between your body and the stranger’s – if it’s more than three feet, he’s able to take a small, minimally relieved sigh because at least the man isn’t likely to try something. But if he’s closer to you, dangerously close to being in your space and making you feel uncomfortable, immediately Keigo’s wings are flapping, the movements harsh and unconscious as his fists tighten and he grits his teeth because he’ll be damned if he lets anyone make you uncomfortable.

And he’s analyzing your body language, too, of course – if you like the interaction, if you’re pleased by the attention, if you’re scared, if you want to leave, even if you want to leave with the stranger himself. And while Keigo wishes he was wrong, the moments where you actually seem to be enjoying the flirting of a stranger make him bristle, a deep scowl settling on his face while insecurity and panic grip his heart because he has to stop this before it's too late – before you let yourself get wooed by another man before Keigo even gets the chance to fully earn your trust and adoration.

Seeing you approached by potential rivals for your love really brings out the worst side of Keigo – it brings out all the skills the Commission drilled into him, those eyes of his dissecting the other man like he’s merely a slab of meat, the blond finding every possible point of weakness in the man’s stature or attitude, just so Keigo can understand the full scope of what he’s competing with. Just so that Keigo can understand exactly how he can be better than this loser – how he can impress you and get you acting all bashful and dismissive of his witty flirting just like you should be.

Jealousy isn’t too pretty on Keigo, and while he won’t just blindly murder any man that steals your attention for even a moment.

(He’d lose his hero status very quickly, no matter how much he sometimes wants to send a feather clean through their neck, slicing their head off and feeling not a smidge of remorse because now he’ll finally stop running his mouth at you when you’ve clearly already been chosen to be Hawks’s woman – the number two’s sweet, important little partner that he absolutely cannot lose).

His patrol had felt incredibly long today – no large villain sightings, with only a few petty muggers making the time pass. Keigo sighs, wings flapping and wind whipping in his ears as he eagerly scans the streets below.

Normally, you’d be walking to the grocery store right around now – he’d noticed you were low on eggs, so it was only a matter of time before you braved the cold autumn air. Suspicion immediately pricks along Keigo’s spine, however, as he slowly flies along the path that you take to the store. You’re no where in sight – he doesn’t see your familiar jacket or notice the way the sunlight glistens off your hair, and immediately something uncomfortable is settling in his gut.

This wasn’t like you – you’d told him once that you prefer this time of day for your shopping because the store is the least crowded, and Keigo knows how you feel about interacting with strangers. And yet, you’re missing – something that makes him immediately pick up his speed, brows knitting together and his lower lip caught between his teeth. Eager eyes scan every sidewalk as he quickly makes his way to your apartment complex, every second that he doesn’t see you only furthering the feeling of dread slowly eating at him.

He’s near the point of whipping out his phone to call you and check the tracker he’d installed into your phone when he lets out an audible sigh of relief, having spotted your familiar form on the sidewalk below. You’re only a few blocks from your apartment at this point – and with a look of disgust, Keigo identifies the reason why.

There’s a man with you.

You’re standing and speaking with him, tucked away at the corner of the sidewalk, and immediately the feeling of panic is replaced by anger, his shoulders tensing up. As he swoops down and lands on the top of the building above you, he cranes his neck to get a better look at this man. Keigo’s never seen him before – you’ve never interacted with him in all the months he’s been watching you, leading him to believe that this man is a stranger.

Keigo taps his foot impatiently, trying to decide if this is good news or bad news. On the one hand, it’s always good news to know that you don’t have many men in your life – Keigo should be the only one, really, the only person, even, not just man.

But it also means that this stranger probably stopped you to strike up a conversation, which can only means two things – either the man is asking an innocent question, or he’s interested in you. Interested in you, as in wanting to date you, to kiss your pretty lips and hear you whisper those three words and bend you in half and make you scream and moan and gush-

Keigo grits his teeth, left eye twitching slightly at the mere thought of this man being brazen enough to approach you like this. And based off the way he keeps steadily stepping closer to you and you keep subtly shifting away from him, Keigo suddenly understands exactly what’s going on.

He hesitates for only a moment, a small pang of doubt registering in the back of his mind (wondering if this is how you look when you’re with Keigo himself, that annoying insecurity revolving around anything romantic and anything with you once again filling him with false worries), before he’s jumping from the rooftop, landing with a small grunt onto the sidewalk a few feet away from the two of you.

Clearing his throat, he walks with a bit more urgency than normal towards you, slinging an arm around your shoulder and leaning in.

What’re we talking about? Keigo asks, yellow eyes fixed on the man, any semblance of a smile gone from his face. His chest is puffed out ever so slightly, wings spread to make his physical presence as big as possible, to make him as intimidating as possible. Immediately you’re jumping, slightly embarrassed and slightly relieved at Keigo’s sudden presence. He feels you relax slightly against him and tries to ignore the way his throat goes dry and his pupils dilate – he’ll relive the memory of you feeling safe around him later tonight, but now’s not the time.

The man steps back immediately, rubbing at the back of his neck and looking at the hero sheepishly, guilt written all over his face. Keigo scoffs under his breath, examining the man’s face in closer detail. He’s somewhat attractive, and that same nagging voice comes back, idly wondering if you’d prefer brunettes like this man over blondes like Keigo, or if you preferred slightly taller men, because this stranger is easily a few inches taller than the hero. He frows, biting the inside of his cheek and willing the thoughts to go away – at least until he’s sorted this out.

Oh, Hawks, hey man, I didn’t – we’re not talkin’ about anything. Nice to meet you, miss. The man fumbles for his words, before quickly backpedaling and practically running the opposite direction, peeking over his shoulder every once in a while and wincing.

Keigo holds his ground, not moving, keeping those eyes locked on the man’s figure until he’s eventually a good block or two away. Only then does Keigo turn to you, his cheeks a little pink as he flashes you a smile. He’s still got his arm wrapped around your shoulder, and he gives you a small squeeze that he hopes isn’t too forward – he wouldn’t want you to get the idea that he’s after the same thing that stranger had been.

(Though really, isn’t he? He just wants all of you, not only your body – and he can take much better care of you, can’t he? Better than that gangly, sleazy man ever could, better than any other man ever could.)

He’s brought out of his small reverie by you profusely thanking him, telling him that the man had just approached you out of nowhere and you didn’t know how to leave the situation without it potentially escalating.

Keigo only smiles lazily, nodding at you and telling you not to worry, that he’s a pro hero, so it’s kind of my job, you know? Though for my favorite civilian, I don’t mind working overtime.

He winks at you after that, feeling only slightly anxious that you’ll find the action too arrogant, but you only blink owlishly at him, mumbling something about feeling guilty that it’s ‘overtime’. Keigo waves off your concerns, releasing your shoulder and trying not to show loss on his face.

You thank him again, smiling at him in a way that gets his knees very close to buckling, but he just clears his throat and nods, saluting you playfully and letting his wings flap, already a few feet in the air as he tells you to enjoy the rest of your night and to call him if any other creeps show up. You’re still smiling as he flies back over the roof of the building, but you don’t notice how he stops, peeking over the roof to see you make your way in the direction of the grocery store.

A small smile sits on his lips at the sight, smaller and more genuine than the smirk he’d been wearing moments ago.

Knew it, he thinks earnestly, already mentally predicting what you’ll pick up from the store. And as he hovers back into the air, cracking his neck and knuckles, he decides following you there couldn’t hurt – just in case any more men decide to mess with his woman. 

TAKING HIS DARLING AWAY:

Keigo’s obsession with you is overwhelming, terrifying, and pushes him to do a number of things that force his morals to be flung out the window of favor of keeping you safe, happy, his, but there’s still a few things that he can’t push himself to do, even with you in mind. One of these things is to steal you away.

 Kidnapping you is not something he wants to do – he may nurse a few beliefs about how you’ll eventually forgive him for being so obsessive and domineering over you, but Keigo isn’t stupid. He knows your image of him will never recover if he presses the chloroform-soaked rag up to your mouth and coos at you while you fall limp and into his arms.

He knows you’ll never truly forgive him if you wake up one morning in his apartment, breakfast in bed waiting beside you while he stares eagerly down at you, apologizing for having to be so extreme but trying desperately to convince you that he had no other choice, that he did it for you, that he did it to keep you safe.

He knows it won’t go over well, and Keigo already feels so unsure of how to properly court you and make you genuinely like him and not just Hawks that he doesn’t want to do something even slightly risky. He already knows that stalking you, breaking into your home at night to restock your refrigerator and lay beside you on your bed is crossing enough boundaries and grounds for you to be seriously afraid of him, but kidnapping you is a line he simply isn’t willing to cross.

At least, that’s how he initially feels – until something drastic happens, something that seriously threatens your safety and Keigo can’t just simply sit back and allow it to happen. And of course, it’s fucking Dabi – Keigo’s stomach drops when he hears you mention something about running into a man on your way over a cozy cup of coffee in a local café, the air warm and smelling of espresso.

He’d picked the café because he knew it wasn’t super busy – as much as his pride swells when civilians notice him and beg him for autographs and photos right in front of you, it also makes him nervous because the last thing he wants is to come off as cocky or arrogant or rude.

(Plus, the thought of making you jealous of his fans – especially the adoring women – gets his heart racing, his face and ears feeling hot because it makes him feel good that you’re being possessive over him, but he really doesn’t want you to worry. He’ll always be yours.)

But now he’s wishing it was full to the brim, voices chattering and making it difficult to hear the way you describe a man with so many piercings and a pretty serious skin condition came up to me, he knew my name! Keigo, why do you think he knew my name? Do you think I should be worried?

He’s stiff, every muscle in his body tense and his grip on the coffee cup in his hand so tight that it shatters, coffee and ceramic shards getting everywhere. He’s still staring at you, though, even as you gasp and stand up, running to grab some napkins and wipe up the still steaming coffee. There’s some on his hand but he doesn’t seem to care – to even notice, really, if the way he’s just staring and not even flinching is any indication.

Your brows furrow as you wipe the drink off of him, chest heaving slightly as you ask him if he’s okay, if it hurts, if he’s even listening to you. Keigo just swallows, still looking at you, before telling you with an unnervingly flat voice that it’s certainly weird, but I wouldn’t worry about it.

You don’t mention it again, instead trying to ignore the heavy atmosphere and the way he’s looking at you, all wide-eyed and not a single bit of emotion on his face. It’s scaring you, to be honest, and you’re quick to give him a small side hug and thank him for meeting you for coffee. Keigo mumbles something back as he watches you walk away, something prickling at the corners of his eyes that almost feel like tears as he imagines how Dabi could’ve possibly learned about you.

He’d been so fucking careful – always making sure to not let his phone ever directly point at your face or your address, never explicitly saying your full name in case he was being bugged, never even breathing any bit of information that the greedy bastard could get his hands on.

And yet, it’d all been for nothing – because now that Dabi knows about you, everything has changed. You’re in danger, because although Keigo believes that Dabi won’t immediately kill you, he can’t simply rely on his gut – you’re in danger. And although he’d promised himself he wouldn’t snatch you away, that he wouldn’t betray your trust and make you hate him, he doesn’t really have a choice now, does he?

And so, with a heavy heart and red, puffy eyes, Keigo slips into your apartment, the sleeping pills he’d mixed into your water sitting on your nightstand leaving you out like a light, even as he fabricates the crime scene. He’s shattering your window to mimic a home invader, tangling up your sheets and leaving dirty prints coming out your front door, your clothes ransacked and your television and computer destroyed.

It has to look real, after all – faking a death is difficult but he’s done it before, and as he soars away across town to his own apartment, with you clutched in his arms and your hair tickling his neck, Keigo can only whisper apologies against the crown of your head, squeezing his eyes closed and hoping that even in your unconscious state, you can feel how terribly, terribly sorry he is.

Of course, even though your kidnapping isn’t the idea situation for you or your captor, Keigo still tries to make the best of it. He doesn’t pretend to think that you’re happy with him – he expects the crying and screaming when you wake up the next morning, his expression carefully neutral as you accuse him of being a villain, a creep, even though it makes his chest ache in a way no injury ever has, his lips feeling numb because god, he can’t breath with how you look at him in disgust and hatred.

It’s horrible – but he grits his teeth and bares it, avoiding the pillows (lush and top-quality, of course, covered in sheets of your favorite color) you’re throwing at him, not saying anything until you’ve had your fill. And really, his explanation once you’d calmed down enough to listen to it isn’t nearly enough – he’s at a loss for words, really, looking at you with such honest eyes that it only makes you cry harder.

He’ll tell you that I need to keep you safe, and I – I’m selfish, so this is the only way. It’s lackluster and it’ll have you despising him, but as the days slowly pass, you’ll find yourself growing less and less enraged at him, instead growing more and more complacent about your new life.

Because really, Keigo absolutely fucking spoils you. He’s certainly not hurting financially, and he won’t bat an eye at buying anything and everything he thinks you could possibly want.

He’s getting takeout every night, ordering all your favorites (without having to ask you, of course, something that’d scared you at first, but there’s something about the way he eyes you as you eat it that makes you pause, his small, almost shy question of do you like it sounding rushed and nervous) and making sure to pick up snacks and goodies on his way home from almost every patrol. He loves to see you smile, and even in the beginning, when you’re still afraid of him and betrayed, the way your lips quirk up ever so slightly into the shadow of a smile when he hands you your favorite snack makes him gulp, something warm and overwhelming and hopeful bubbling up inside him.

He’s buying you pretty necklaces and jewelry that remind him of you, all the pieces startlingly within your tastes, his memory of the jewelry you used to wear so acute and strong that he knows your style even better than you do.

All of the clothing he buys for you (mostly comfortable clothing, lounging shirts and sweatpants and giant blanket ponchos) fits you perfectly, almost seeming to be tailored with the way they fit around your bust, hips, ass, shoulders, and thighs.

(He won’t buy you any formal clothing, however – he’s faked your death, and he can’t exactly take you out for a nice date now, can he? He wouldn’t mind doing a candle-lit dinner in his own apartment, maybe sprinkling a few rose petals over the table and cooking you something that he really, really needs you to like, but he knows you aren’t willing. You’d thrash and refuse, not eating his food and looking at him with those eyes, the ones that are hard and calloused and sting with pain. So, he instead purchases the pretty dresses with low tops and slits up the leg, storing them in his spare closet so that you never see them, so that you don’t feel forced into anything more than you don’t want. Kidnapping is enough – romantic dinners would be amazing, the kind of thing that Keigo thinks about with a small, sad smile on his face as he watches you sleep late at night, but certainly not a thing that could happen. Absolutely not – at least, not any time soon.)

He’s embracing each and ever artistic and creative passion you’ve ever had, buying you unfathomable amounts of supplies and instruments of the highest quality, waiting with baited breath to see if you like them, hoping with his hands clutched into fists at his side that you’ll smile at him, that you’ll look at him in anything other than hate – and perhaps, if he’s lucky enough, you’ll even thank him.

(Just the thought makes him shiver, a blush rising from his chest all the way up his neck because he can’t not immediately imagine the way you’d thank him – perhaps you’d give him a kiss, full of tongue and spit and moans, or maybe you’d even sink to your knees for him, telling him that you appreciate his thoughtfulness, his love, how he works so hard to keep me safe, won’t you let me thank you, Keigo? Please?)

It’s wishful thinking, of course, but Keigo tries to do everything humanly possible to keep you as happy as you can be given the situation. Of course, he’s still controlling, laying down rules that you’ll be too afraid to disobey, because although Keigo is soft with you and treats you like you’re made of glass, you’ve seen the televised fights, the way his knuckles are sometimes bruised after patrols, the way he snaps angrily into his phone when the Commission calls him with yet another assignment. He’s still dictating what you can eat, how much contact you get with the outside world, your limited sources of entertainment, anything and everything. But he tries his absolute hardest to respect you in every other way, if only to perhaps plant the seeds of you one day growing to tolerate him, of you one day even perhaps loving him.

And so, Keigo forces himself to do the hardest thing of all – not physically crowd you. He’s always wanted to be touchy with you, the years of not having anyone to hold or even give platonic physical affection causing him to be touch-starved, and so once you come into the picture?

Well, he’s only a man – he can’t help but imagine the way your hand would feel in his, fingers intertwined and your soft skin pressed against his own rougher hands.

He can’t help but imagine kissing you, feeling how soft and gentle your lips would be against his, how you taste, how you’d make little sighs and whines when he starts kissing you harder, deeper, letting even just the smallest sliver of his desperation for you shine through.

He can’t help but imagine pulling your body against his own, keeping every inch of you flush with him while you watch a movie together, his fingers toying absentmindedly with your hair, deep exhales sounding from behind you each time he leans in to catch a whiff of you.

He can’t not imagine the way you’d get all shy and bashful when the hand that’s been running up and down your sides suddenly dips lower, cupping at your ass while he lowly mumbles your name, telling you that he can’t hold back anymore, angel, can’t I have a taste?

He’s being good – he’s forcing all those urges and fantasies to the side, not putting you in a position where you feel forced into physical contact of any kind, sexual or otherwise. He’s respecting you, prioritizing you, even if it slowly destroys him. Having you right there, stuck with him, permanently bound to his side makes him want to grab onto you and never let go, to latch onto you like some sort of leech and take everything you have to offer and then some. It drives him fucking crazy, but he knows he’ll get nowhere by forcing anything onto you.

And so, he holds his tongue, forcing his hand to not reach out and touch, forcing himself to not say the compliment on the tip of his tongue that’ll likely make you more uncomfortable than flattered. He’s good, and eventually you’ll end up slowly coming to tolerate him. Sure, he’s kidnapped you and sure, you’re still understandably upset at him, but isn’t he right? You’d seen the man that approached you before Keigo stole you away – if he’d attacked you, what would you have done? You’d have hoped and prayed that Hawks would have shown up, that you’d been saved because you were too weak and incapable of doing it yourself.

So maybe he’s right – maybe you do need him, like he tells you late at night when he thinks you’re asleep. He sounds like he’s trying to convince himself, sounding more and more sure of himself as the night wears on and he repeats aloud that he’s keeping you safe, I’m keeping you safe, I know you don’t understand it now but someday you’ll realize that I only took you to keep you out of harm’s way.

And once you get past that barrier of hatred and animosity, it’s disturbingly easy to let Keigo take full control, to give into him in every possible way.

You’ll stop fighting his diet planning, you’ll gladly thank him for any book he gives you as entertainment, you’ll eagerly listen when he tells you about his patrol and how he encountered so many villains who’d done horrible things. And Keigo will notice this change in your attitude – it’s too early to tell and he’s always been too pessimistic to be hopeful, but you almost seem to be liking him. You’re starting to revert back to the woman he first became obsessed with – all smiles and laughter and snarky comments that left him choking on his drink.

And he can’t believe it – he has to pinch himself, staring at you in shock with a flushed face as you make some comment alluding to him being ‘too handsome for his own good’, the fork in his hand clattering down onto the plate. From there, it’s a steady trajectory up – you’ll start getting even more little knick-knacks, shiny things and expensive things that he leaves in pretty, bow-wrapped boxes for you, a card written in his best handwriting that says something along the lines of for my angel.

It’s cheesy and makes you laugh a bit, but Keigo keeps doing because god, please laugh like that again, say his name while you do it and maybe even reach out to touch his shoulder…

He jumps at the opportunity to further your changing opinion of him, determined to make you like him, determined to let him love you like he knows he can – like he’ll do anything to prove to you.

PUNISHMENTS:

As a general rule, getting Keigo upset with you is kind of difficult. He views you as his own personal slice of heaven, the only thing that he truly has. You’re the only thing that belongs to Keigo Takami, not Hawks, not the Commission, only him, and because of that he tends to idolize you.

You’re his first real romantic partner, his first real romantic experience, and the combination of that plus his intense, pitifully strong desire to please you makes it hard for him to stay angry at you for any significant period of time. And so, while he’s far from the ideal captor (too clingy, too controlling, too awed when he looks at you), Keigo will avoid punishing you at all costs.

He just doesn’t see the point – he doesn’t want you to hate him any more than you already do, and the thought of purposefully hurting you makes him feel physically ill. He hates seeing you in pain – it’s part of what drove him to steal you away, after all, the terror he felt at knowingly putting you in harm’s way. He’s protective and frankly anal about your health, and so to purposefully bruise your pretty skin or make you cry makes him angry enough to want to hit something, angry enough to literally writhe in his own rage.

And so, Keigo swears off any sort of physical altercations with you – he’s just too strong and you’re just too weak, and it would break him to know that he was the source of your pain and misery.

(He knows he is, already, but he can’t be the source of it physically, too, otherwise he might just shatter, feeling entirely numb and carrying out his missions like a robot, utterly unaffected by the world because he hurt you, and can he even call himself a decent hero, a decent man after that?)

However, while causing you physical harm is off the table, Keigo is realistic enough about your situation to know that punishing you entirely is something he can’t avoid. You will act out, he’s sure of it – he’d be concerned if you didn’t, really, and so he’s expecting you to lash out at him and try to hurt him. If he were you, he’d do it too.

But as much as he expects this behavior and wouldn’t fault you for it, Keigo knows that if he wants to make any progress, if he wants to give you even a chance at eventually growing complacent (it’s a selfish desire, really, but it’s the only route he can see to where you’ll be even remotely happy, or at least not fighting tooth and nail at all costs), he has to establish repercussions for when you’re throwing tantrums or acting poorly.

It feels condescending and Keigo hates it, but he decides that where physical punishments fail, he must rely on emotional ones. It’s manipulative and it makes Keigo feel dirty, disgusting, like a poor excuse for your so-called-protector, but it’s his only choice. He has to get you into shape, both for your sake and his. It’s the only choice, he swears.

You really hadn’t meant to stumble upon something you weren’t supposed to find, really. As a general rule, you don’t snoop through Keigo’s things – he’s a clean freak, first of all, the apartment he keeps you in minimalistic with everything in its correct spot. It’s classy and pretty, sure, but it’s boring, and can you really be blamed for wanting to explore after a few weeks cooped up in this penthouse?

Certainly not – which is how you find yourself tiptoeing into Keigo’s bedroom – he’d brought up the idea of sharing a bed multiple times only to be outright refused by you, and so he kept his things in this separate room. And it wasn’t explicitly off-limits, your captor never actually telling you that you couldn’t venture in. And so here you are, opening up the tall, wooden cabinet in the corner of the room and immediately sucking in a sharp breath at what you find.

You’d known Keigo had stalked you, the confession slipping from his lips early on into your captivity and the evidence difficult to deny.

(How else could he have known all your preferences before you ever voice them, knowing the way you like your morning drink, the products you use in the shower, hell, even the way you sleep – getting the pillows you like, pajamas similar to your own, even the type of sheet you prefer.)

You’d known, sure, but this – this is something else entirely. The cabinet’s housing a variety of items that send a chill down your spine because they’re yours.

An old bottle of perfume sits on the corner, the brand name smudged off from wear, and you bite your lip as you notice it’s still got just a bit left, though not nearly the amount you remember when it’d gone missing a few months ago. Your nose scrunches at the thought of him using your perfume, and bile rises in the back of your throat as you start imagining exactly how it’d been used, for what purpose and how often for that much to be gone.

There’s a few old lip balms sitting there, organized by flavor – cherry at the right, then melon, then mint, then peach and coconut. You don’t bother looking at them closely, too nervous to find signs of usage from someone other than you. (Which is good: the mint flavored Chapstick’s missing a chunk, with  what looks like teeth marks sunken into the material.)

There’s an old hairbrush you thought you’d left at a friend’s place, still a few tufts of hair left between the bristles, though something seems to be crusted against the handle, and you wince at the thought of what that could possibly be. You’re scared, really, your heart screaming at you to stop searching, begging you to not look deeper because you don’t want to know what else he’s stolen from you, but your mind urges you to keep going, some sort of sick urge to know exactly what he’s taken, why he’s taken it.

(Though, you think you already know – the way he leans in close to smell you when he thinks he’s being subtle is telling, as is the way he has you sort out your used period products into a separate waste container, telling you that it's because the pads he gives you are compostable. You’ve seen the way the bags linger, though, staying in his bathroom, blood sometimes sitting under his nails when he emerges, eyes dilated and licking his lips at you.)

But as soon as you spot the photographs, you crumble.

Of course you’d known he was stalking you, following your every move and watching you at your most vulnerable, but somehow this is worse – there’s dozens of them, stacked neatly in piles that you can’t even begin to understand. Leafing through them with shaking fingers, they only seem to get worse and worse, images of you laying on your couch, cooking, doing your makeup, changing into your bathrobe, sleeping, and oh god, there’s even one of you on your bed, legs spread and fingers thrusting and rubbing and oh god you’re going to be sick-

The photographs fall from your fingertips as you shakily take a few steps back, the sound of the front door opening and Keigo’s call of I’m home making panic swim in your veins. He’s quick to come find you, asking you in a voice that’s edging on concerned where you are, but when he steps into his bedroom and spots you against the far wall, hands covering your mouth and the wooden door open and askew, Keigo’s clenching his teeth, jaw working.

Oh, is all he has to say, and it snaps you out of your horror.

Oh? That’s it? That’s fucking it, Keigo? What – what is this? You’re sick, a sick freak! Why do you have my stuff? What’s wrong with you? You’re yelling, pushing yourself further against the wall, and he can only frown, irritation and worry eating away at him because god, hearing you so upset is physically hurting him but there’s nothing he can do.

You weren’t supposed to see that, it’s, uh… He trails off, mind racing and panicking as he tries to think of what to say, but you don’t let the silence sit for long.

There’s something wrong with you, you’re a fucking monster! You think you’re a hero? Stalking some poor civilian, stealing her shit, photographing her while she’s sleeping? You’re disgusting, a horrible, twisted, sick creep! Stay away from me!

You’re crawling backwards away from him as he comes towards you, his hands in front of him as a sign of peace. You’re crying, he can see, and it only makes his chest ache more, shame and self-loathing away at him because you’re right – he’s sick in the head, he knows it, but he can’t help it.

I know, I know, calm down, you’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t stop crying, angel –

It's the wrong thing to say and he immediately knows it, because you give him a glare that makes something sharp dig into his heart, so much so that he physically clutches at his chest, wincing and averting his eyes from yours.

I hate you, Keigo, you whisper, and it makes something ugly come from his throat, a mix between a gasp and a whimper. I hate you I hate you I hate you.

He’s frozen for a moment, before swallowing, nodding his head and blinking the tears out of his eyes. I know, he starts, before turning on his heel and walking towards the doorway to the bedroom. I know you hate me, but you’re stuck with me.

And with that he walks to the front door, slamming it behind him and leaving the apartment empty. You stay curled up on the ground for a few minutes, still crying and hiccupping, the influx of emotion making your head ache. You’d been here for weeks now, and you thought you’d moved on from these crying episodes, from these emotional outbursts, but something about the photos had opened the floodgates.

After another ten minutes, you shakily get up, still rubbing at your eyes and avoiding looking at the wooden cabinet. You all but sprint to your own bed – the bed he gave you, at least – and curl up on top of it, letting your eyes shut and exhaustion fall over you. It’s not until you wake a few hours later that you notice Keigo still hasn’t returned home yet.

That was odd – he’s not on shift, and it was the middle of the night by now. Where was he? Shaking your head, flashes of the photographs race through your head, forcing you to stop thinking of Keigo. The night is quiet as you make yourself something small to eat – a piece of bread and a small amount of the low-fat butter Keigo eats, the apartment still eerily quiet.

You fall into a restless slumber soon after, your dreams filled with the sensation of something – someone – watching over your sleeping form.

When you awake, there’s still no sign of him – everything’s quiet and empty, and you bite your lip, equal parts relieved that he’s nowhere in sight but also slightly concerned. The feeling looms over you as the day slips away, his presence still gone. It’s not until two days later that Keigo finally returns home, and by that point the paranoia at his absence leaves you perking up when you hear the faint jingling of keys.

You’re immediately on your feet, practically tripping as you run to the front door, eager for him to return, eager to not be all alone and scared – something you’d realized about a day ago. You’d actually been afraid of his absence. Perhaps it was survival, wanting to make sure you had enough food and someone with the locks to all the keys that’d be able to let you out, or perhaps it was that you needed him. Maybe you needed some human contact, the total silence and your inability to contact anyone driving you stir crazy.

Regardless, you wait with eager anticipation as Keigo opens the door, those yellow eyes immediately catching yours, his expression carefully neutral though you can see something behind the practiced apathy. It’s relief, you think, and something else – something more desperate, something more vulnerable, something that makes you launch yourself into his arms, nearly knocking the wind out of him as he stares wildly down at you, shock written all across his face.

He’d expected that you’d be relieved that he came home, happy to have your source of food and care back, but not this excited – he swallows, frantically trying to not focus on the way your body is pressing against his and how he can feel all of you, instead letting his arms hesitantly wrap around you, not wanting to scare you.

You’re saying his name, he realizes, and he furrows his brows, closing his eyes and letting the sound ring through his ears. It’s wrong to be enjoying your clearly distraught state and he knows it, but he can’t help it – you’ve never initiated physical contact like this before, and is it really such a crime to be enjoying it?

I’m here, angel, ‘m here, he tells you, petting a hand over your hair and letting you squeeze him tighter. Please never leave me again, Keigo, please!

You’re begging him, he realizes, and it forces him to hug you just a bit tighter, his wings coming down to join the hug to. Closing his eyes again, Keigo lets out a slow, deep sigh, relishing in the way you’re clinging to him for comfort, begging him to never leave you for a moment.

And as he whispers a small I’m yours, I’ll never leave you again, you can only nod against his chest, disgusted with yourself for this display of your dependence on him. Because really, when had you become so fond of your captor? The photographs are still on the ground in his bedroom, all the things he's stolen from you sitting in that damned cabinet, but you find yourself not caring.

As you breathe in the now familiar smell of his cologne, hear his heart pounding away in his chest, you find that you don’t care about anything, really – because perhaps what he’s been saying along is really true.

Maybe you are in need of protection, needing him to provide for you. Because you’d been left alone for three days, and what do you have to show for it? Panic, loneliness, fear that he’d left you behind? Maybe you really are just as weak as he makes you out to be – and as you slowly pull back from the hug, you find yourself ever so briefly being thankful for him.

Thankful that you’ve finally, finally found where you belong: by Keigo’s side, letting him fawn over you and keep you locked up like some prized pet.

OVERALL DANGER:

6/10

Keigo is less dangerous and more paranoid. He has so many alter egos and warring identities that once you come along, encouraging him to just be Keigo around you rather than Pro Hero Hawks or PLF Hawks, he can’t let you slip away.

There’s something about you that doesn’t leave his mind – perhaps it’s your mannerisms, your looks, the way you speak, how you walk and how you smell and how you think. Maybe it’s some twisted form of fate, or some long-repressed part of his quirk that’s beginning him to finally find a companion, a mate, someone to share himself with.

Regardless, once Keigo’s obsession forms, he’s a lost cause – he’s thinking of you constantly, unable to stop his mind from wandering into idle thoughts of what you’re doing or how you’re feeling. He finds himself unconsciously trailing behind you, watching over you from above with those sharp eyes of his narrowed in on your form, studying and memorizing the curves of your body underneath your clothing, the way you walk ingrained into him so deeply that when he closes his eyes all he sees is you.

His paranoia grows as his obsession does, too, the worrying realization that you’re weak making it difficult for him to ever part from you, anxiety swimming in his gut because what if you get hurt and he isn’t there to help you? What if you get into trouble and he isn’t there to swoop and be your savior?

(Some sick, twisted part of him almost wishes you would run into trouble, just so he could put himself into the position of being your knight in shining armor, of making you swoon for him, feeling the way you’d be so very grateful and want to make it up to him in any way you could. He forces the thought down, disgusted with himself for fantasizing about you being in danger, but during long nights where he tosses and turns in his too-empty and too-cold bed, the thought of you looking at him in such awe and gratitude makes something warm, wet, and shameful throb to life between his legs.)

He does eventually kidnap you, yes, but as time passes you’ll find that slowly you’ll stop caring about how he keeps you trapped by his side, how he controls your every day life, how he forces you into all sorts of loungey, comfortable clothing that always smells like him. Because really, Keigo is awfully pathetic – he thinks he’s good at hiding just how badly you affect him, but you can see the way he perks up when you enter a room, looking so hopefully and lovesick as he gazes at you that it almost hurts.

You’ll be able to tell how his heart is racing in his chest when you get close to him, his breath turning ragged and his palms so sweaty that when he wipes them on his pants they leave wet marks. It’s pathetic, sad, cute, and as time passes with Keigo as the only person in your life, slowly you’ll begin wondering if being loved by him isn’t bad.

Is what Keigo can give you – protection, adoration, reliability, devotion – really so bad? Is it so bad to just be loved?

And Keigo will be there waiting for you once you finally come around, his hands trembling as he hugs you, burying his face into your neck and you swear you feel something wet against your skin, his tears tickling you as his shoulders shake. He just loves you, and how cruel can you be to reject him, to leave him without the only person he’s ever cared for?

How could you be such a monster?

[sansaorgana]

If the both of you were hurt in a accident, I can see Benny, even if he’s all battered and bruised, jump out of his hospital bed to see how you are 😍

hello, sweetheart! oh, he definitely would do that 😅💗 thank you for your request 😇 I got a little inspired by the movie Easy Rider when it comes to the accident 🙈

requests for benny are open 🥺🎀

Benny was a skilled motorbike driver and he knew when he could go faster and show off – he felt the motorbike like a part of his own body at this point. And as much as he loved to show off his skills in front of you, he would never do that when you were actually riding with him. No, when you were sitting behind him, clutching to his sides, he wouldn’t even speed up too much – just a little bit above the limit. Benny would never want anything bad to happen to you.

But Benny couldn’t control other people on the road. He could only control his motorbike but not the cars and trucks that were all over. Some of their drivers had a problem with the bikers – in the country that loved freedom so much, the ones who lived truly free remained the outcasts. And it was one of the truck drivers who made sure that Benny’s bike would lose its balance and end up in the ditch. Just like that, without even caring about the lady sitting in the back. He drove away. If he wanted to kill you two, then he could consider himself unlucky because Benny was too skilled to lose control of his motorbike completely and he managed to avoid the worst.

He had a slight concussion and his arm was twisted from putting it behind to soften your fall and make sure to at least protect your head. The nurses were trying to calm him down and make him rest but he couldn’t as he kept asking about you.

“Why isn’t she in the room with me?” He asked for the tenth time and the woman sighed, giving up.

“Women don’t share rooms with men,” she explained.

“I gotta see her,” Benny shrugged her off as she just finished putting a bandage over his twisted arm to make sure it would stay in one place now. “I gotta see my girl.”

“Mr. Cross, you’ve had a concussion. You should rest now,” the other nurse tried to make him lay down but he pushed her hands away.

“Not before I see (Y/N),” he gave her a deadly glare. “Why don’t you want to tell me what’s wrong with her?”

“You are not a family member,” the woman looked him up and down. He knew why they treated him like that – because he was a biker. A dirty bum and they didn’t approve of that lifestyle. In their eyes, it would be better for the society if he had died there.

“Just tell me the room number,” he mumbled but they looked at each other and left him, closing the door behind.

Benny was pissed. He was fine, after all. And he needed to see that you were, too. So, he jumped out of bed, feeling a little dizzy but ignoring it completely as he limped to the door. His legs were not broken but they still hurt badly after the fall.

He opened the door and found himself in the hospital’s corridor. He approached the small board with all the important information about the facility and he found out that the rooms for women were on the floor under his. So, he went to the emergency staircase – where no one would see him – and he slowly limped down with greeted teeth to handle the pain better. He was determined to find you and only then he would be able to rest properly.

He was planning to peek inside every room until he’d find you but at the sight of the woman at the end of the corridor, he realised he didn’t have to. He swallowed thickly as he approached your mother. She gave him a very dirty look but he also spotted some sympathy in her eyes when she saw the way he limped.

“Oh, Benny. I would beat the shit out of you but I don’t beat cripples,” she crossed her arms.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. (Y/L/N),” he looked down. “How is she?”

“She’s gonna be fine. But if I see her once more on that goddamn motorbike of yours, I’m gonna kill you, boy,” your mother threatened and Benny looked up to give her puppy eyes like a beaten dog.

“Can I see her?” He asked, quietly.

“Go on,” your mother shook her head and pointed at the door on his right.

Benny pushed them softly and smiled at the sight of you sitting on your bed. You were reading a magazine and stuffing yourself with chocolates your mother had surely brought you. You had a scratch on your cheek and a bandage on your arm as well.

“Hey,” he greeted you awkwardly and you looked up. Your heart skipped a beat to see him so weak and hurt.

“Oh, baby! They told me you had a concussion, you should be in bed!” You protested.

“They told you, huh? They didn’t want to tell me shit about you. Had to see with my own eyes,” he admitted with a chuckle as he limped to your bed to sit on the edge. “You okay, baby?”

“Well, I’m worried ‘bout that,” you pointed at your cheek. “I’m worried it’s gonna stay. The scar, I mean. What they gonna call me then? Scarface?” Your lower lip trembled. “And I’m gonna be ugly.”

“You’re never gonna be ugly, stop it,” Benny dismissed it with a shake of his head. “And how’s your head, dollie?”

“I don’t even have a concussion!” You told him with a smile. “All thanks to you.”

“I’m glad. And the arm? Why is it bandaged?” Benny pointed his finger at it.

“I might have scars there, too. But that I can cover, right? It just got pretty bloody and some glass got inside but it’s not infected, thankfully. They stitched it up a little, so yeah,” you explained and shrugged your arms. “Gee, baby, that was so scary. Why did that redneck do that? We were just riding, weren’t we? What problem did he have with us?”

“I dunno,” Benny shrugged his arms, too and he looked down. “But your ma’s right, you shouldn’t ride with me anymore.”

“Don’t be stupid, I already told her there’s no way. If it was your fault, I’d consider it but it was not! And in fact, I am alive thanks to you,” you grabbed his hand to squeeze it. “Now, give me a kiss and go back to your room to rest,” you ordered and Benny cracked a smile at you.

He loved you for your spirit and devotion. He leaned in to place a gentle kiss upon your lips and he traced gently the scratch on your cheek.

“If it stays, it’s gonna look badass, dollie, I’m tellin’ ya,” he whispered and you giggled.

“When you say that, you’re making me want for it to stay,” you admitted. “Now, go rest.”

“Can’t I rest here?” Benny asked, giving you puppy eyes.

“You can,” you nodded and moved slightly on the bed so he could lay next to you. You went back to reading your magazine and played with his hair gently to soothe him.

He was dozing off when two old nurses opened the door to your room rapidly and you looked up at them, confused.

“For God’s sake, there he is,” one of them said. “Mr. Cross!” She approached Benny to wake him up.

“Let him stay here, sister,” you pouted.

“Absolutely not!” She shook him and he opened his sleepy eyes to rub them.

“You shouldn’t shake him like that, he’s had a concussion,” you pointed out and pushed her hands away.

“He should be in his own bed,” she snapped at you angrily.

You didn’t like the way they were treating him. He was your sweet Benny, your lovely boyfriend, the love of your life. And they were treating him like a piece of shit – worse than a dog.

You gave her a dirty look and caressed Benny’s face gently as his hazy eyes focused on you.

“Hey, baby, I think you should go now,” you spoke to him softly. “But don’t worry, we’re going out tomorrow, yeah? And I’m gonna take you home with me, no matter what my mum says. And I’m gonna take care of you,” you promised. “Now, go, sleep it off,” you encouraged him to sit up slowly and leave your bed as the two angry nurses took him by his arms and nearly dragged him out of your room. “Be careful!” You shouted after them but they ignored you.

MASTERLIST || BENNY MASTERLIST

[halfagone]

So here’s a unique twist of a common prompt. Danny is the son of Bruce Wayne, whoever his mother is is up to you. However, Danny wants nothing to do with Bruce or his family for whatever reason, whether it’s because Damian treated him badly as a child or maybe he just doesn’t like how Bruce operates. Either way, they meet and the meeting ends badly. What do you think?

There are actually a lot of reasons why Danny might not want to stay with Bruce or stay away from Bruce. There is, of course, the usual "Danny has billionaire trauma" route that works for some arguments (although not all (but I'll leave that ramble for another time)). You could always go with Danny and Damian didn't get along (if we're doing a Demon Siblings AU). But I think the route that goes best is just that... Danny has a lot of Trauma™ and he's not ready to join another family.

Unfortunately those kinds of AUs would probably be the sadder ones because that can mean that he has problems and/or is cut off from Jazz too. Because as much as I love Jazz, she was never the bastion of perfection and older sisterhood that we sometimes like to paint her as. She tried, just like her parents did, and sometimes she failed. ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ

In those AUs Danny is probably trying to live on his own. Maybe he's emancipated, maybe he's turned 18 already (I do have a fic idea where Danny moves out of the house after turning 18 despite not graduating yet, which is a thing you can do. Plenty of kids' birthdays pass before June graduation in the U.S., after all.) He's just started to stand on his own two feet and probably move past the neglect, both physical and emotional, that came with living with the Fentons.

Enter Bruce. Bruce, who has abandonment issues and is one paranoid motherclucker (and yes, that was intentional), who has just found out he has an unknown son from either a past relationship or one-night stand. Of course he's going to want to know more about Danny and catch up on all the time he lost with Danny. And the thing about Bruce is that sometimes he acts like a bad father purely because he doesn't know how to communicate his feelings and does all these things that come off as insensitive and/or overbearing.

Sometimes Danny might be able to make it work. But depending on the downturn his life might have taken... sometimes he can't. And for a Danny that might have just gotten that hard-earned independence... it likely won't be pretty.

---

Danny doesn't know what to make of Bruce Wayne. The man seems nice... enough. He's a bit too excitable, tries a little too hard. It's clear as day that he's trying, much more than Danny's adoptive parents could ever bother to sometimes, but it's... Danny would appreciate it more if Bruce just gave up.

He's happy to see that Bruce didn't willingly give Danny up. No word yet on Danny's bio mom, but at least he's got that going for him. He could do without Bruce's meaningful attempts to introduce him to the rest of the family or find out more about him.

Danny absentmindedly tugs at his collar. He really wishes he'd just turned Sam down when he had the chance. Tucker had balked when she extended the invitation out to him. Usually Danny would be her first choice, since he had some semblance of High Society Table Manners™ which usually Sam wouldn't give a shit about, but well, Tucker had gone once, got embarrassed to hell and back, and pretty much sworn off against it ever since.

He'd only moved out from Fenton Works three weeks ago. Danny could understand why she didn't want to ask him while he got settled in.

But well, she was his friend. And with the risk of her parents trying to openly marry her off to some rich guy (as opposed to subtly trying to marry her off, like they were doing now), Danny had taken one for the team and agreed.

If he knew this was going to happen, he would have just stayed home and figured out how to cook scrambled fucking eggs.

"I'm not very comfortable with this conversation right now, Mr. Wayne," Danny said plainly to the man. They were off in a side room at this point, tucked away from the rest of the crowd that would usually gawk at them otherwise. Already he'd turned heads when people recognized him as familiar.

To be honest though, even if they hadn't gone to a more secluded room, Danny still would have told it to the man straight.

"Oh, is it because your friend isn't here? I told you you're more than welcome to-" Bruce started again but Danny cut him off with a sigh.

"That's not the problem here, Mr. Wayne," Danny deadpanned. "I don't know why you're expecting me to be on board so quickly but I- I just turned eighteen. I have an apartment, I have a job. I know I'm still a kid in your eyes but I haven't been your kid in- ever. No matter what any paternity test ends up saying, which I still haven't agreed to by the way-"

"You're not even willing to try?" Bruce asked in return, like he'd been struck across the face.

It seemed genuine enough, like he was sincerely hurt by Danny's standoffish attitude. And Danny would feel guilty if he weren't so tired right now. He'd been tired for the past four years and he didn't need this on top of it all as some twisted cherry on top of the shitty whipped cream that was his life.

"No, I'm not," Danny told the man, straightforward. People had said no to Bruce before, right? Surely, someone had.

He began to doubt when Bruce just stared at him, dumbfounded. Danny didn't let the silence linger because he didn't linger, just moved on and left the side room. He could feel Bruce's eyes on him as he went, and then some of the other Waynes' eyes on him when he came into view. He ignored all of them and tried to find Sam.

Maybe her parents would even be willing to let him go back to the hotel room, after the huge 'scene' he'd just caused.

[arthursfuckinghat]

so what is your opinion on mary then? you said previously that you didn't like her but you're happy to defend her?

Sure, Mary isn't my favourite person, but I don't hate her - honestly I don't <3

I'm always going to defend characters who are victims to mischaracterisation, especially the women. It's a frequent double standard, people fail to be as understanding of female characters compared to male characters.

Mary and Arthur both suffered to difficult home lives and dysfunctional families, just to different extents.

Mary hated that Arthur was an outlaw, she understandably didn't like that he kills people and steals, but she knew how good of a person Arthur could be. Arthur hated Mary's family and how they treated her, they were very judgemental and abusive, especially when Mary was with Arthur. He knew how much she cared about her family regardless of how they treated her, Arthur knew how good of a woman she was.

What pains me is how Mary failed to understand how living as an outlaw wasn't a choice for Arthur. He was raised in an environment that showed how harsh the world could be if he wasn't tough enough or willing to kill for his safety, Mary was raised in a similarly harsh environment that exposed her to how being a woman meant being treated as a lesser person in the society they lived in.

Given how Mary and Arthur initially parted ways, her needing Arthur's help in chapter two proved difficult for both of them - same in chapter four but it ended on a better note if you chose to.

Mary's main takeaway from meeting Arthur was seeing how he didn't, or couldn't change. Even though we don't see as much of her life compared to Arthur, it didn't seem like she changed either.

It always came across to me that they both wanted eachother to change (i.e Mary wanting Arthur leaving the outlaw life and Arthur wanting Mary to be more understanding of his circumstances) but because they both had family ties, they just couldn't.

Mary couldn't be understanding of Arthur's life because he still continued to live that way, proving that he couldn't change. Arthur couldn't leave his outlaw ways behind because he had the gang to provide for, proving that Mary wouldn't be understanding despite them both knowing that they couldn't abandon family.

To which we come full circle, they split initially because they weren't compatible and that still remained to be the case.

Mary was fully prepared to drop everything to run away with Arthur, but she expected him to do the same. Even after his explanation about the gang and needing money, she knows she's heard it all before and decided to just leave it. They both wanted to run away so badly and I can imagine that even if they did, their lives would catch up with them eventually.

Nothing gets forgotten.

Arthur knows that, he just ran out of time, and Mary didn't know at the time how precious those moments with Arthur really were.

[unohanadaydreams]

What’s your opinion on Mayuri and his relationships? Do you think he’s a little tsundere in a way? Or do you think Nemu is his only friend? I think he has soft spots but I think he feels emotions like embarrassment and hurt. I mean I’m sure he feels irritation towards Kenpachi, but if he really hated him wouldn’t he just walk away? I feel like he’s a little lonely, even if he likes being alone. Maybe it’s just normal for him

Oh, he definitely feels emotions. In my opinion, he does suppress quite a few of his emotions. Like those he feels are beneath him or that he expected would never take root (like love for Nemu or adoration for Urahara).

He treats the people in his life that we, the audience, understand him to hold as special as though they are, at best, annoyances and, at worst, mindless fuck ups.

And with Mayuri, it really seems as though he loves the idea of these people more than the actual people themselves. Nemu is so steeped in his life's dream that you can see why he so easily put her close to his heart. But he doesn't respect her as a person and even the idea of his treatment being 'tough love' falls flat when you consider that as soon as he makes peace with the fact that he "fucked up" by loving Nemu, he treats the following Nemuri with a more distant, passive hand.

With Urahara too, it seems like he loves the idea of a mentor more than the actual mentor himself. He admires what the man left him more than the actual man himself & he reduces those feelings down to rivalry and annoyance.

Like, do I think Mayuri in his own way DOES have feelings of affection for Nemuri and Urahara and others? Sure, but he doesn't allow himself portray that in ways that most do. A lot of his 'soft' moments are kind of passive aggressive, rude, or scolding, even.

In fact, he most often portrays genuine fondness for those he wants to study or kill (sometimes it's tongue-in-cheek like 'wooow sooo impressive' but yknow), which is just amazing. He shows more outward affection and unmasked interest for Orihime than his daughter.

Obviously he doesn't do a stellar job, TO US, at hiding that he has love for others in his life, but he is dictated by what he wants to be rather than who he is. And at some point he just becomes what he aims to be, yknow? He refuses to be just some guy.

He wants to be Mayuri Kurotsuchi the best scientist, the best leader of R&D, the best captain of the 12th to ever exist in the Gotei 13. And he perceives that someone like that can't fall into the emotions that he suppresses.

Maybe this comes partly from him wanting to surpass those who came before him so badly that he over corrects to avoid inheriting what he perceives as their downfalls?

For instance, Senjumaru dropped everything & her unofficial R&D in general to be in the Royal Guard while Mayuri clings to Nemu and what she stands for in a vice fucking grip.

And Urahara was banished from the Soul Society for putting his fellow shinigami before his position and general place in the world; he chose to save the Vizards at the cost of everything he knew. While Mayuri would fucking never. He only saves his fellow Shinigami when he feels in control of the situation & to emphasize his position as That 12th Division Bitch.

At his core, I think he is lonely and that is partly why he doesn't just deuces out of some of the conversations he has in canon. But its by his own design. He did it to himself. Because that's the path he chose. In TYBW he very clearly chooses the path that will isolate himself even further from others on a vunerable, personal level.

And also, he just likes to bitch and complain. This is the man that called Yamamoto a fail captain to his fucking face; he loves to bitch at people. Absolute equal opportunity for handing out over-explanations on why he's right complete with condescending rhetorical questions.

He definitely feels waaaay more comfortable snarking at someone than he does admitting that he wanted to have a conversation with a body that wasn't lifeless on a table.

[queen-haq]

Fic: Grudgingly Yours (Part 2)

Fic: Grudgingly Yours (Part 2)

Summary: You are a general surgeon, working in a hospital that’s slowly sucking the life out of you when one day you’re given the offer of a lifetime.

A.K.A  - An arranged marriage fic :)

Pairing: Billy Russo x You

Rating: R

Masterlist (contains links to my other stories and this one)

Chapter Two

 A week had passed since your wedding day and you were finally getting the hang of maneuvering around Billy in the penthouse you shared with him. Not that it was cramped, it was a fucking mansion really. A wedding gift from Alistair, and located in the same neighbourhood as him. Of course you saw right through the ruse. It was a convenient way to keep watch over you; you wouldn’t be surprised if the man had cameras in the suite too. You did spend a day looking for them but the search turned up empty. Oh well. If the old man got his jollies from that then so be it.

 After resigning last week, you had spent the last few days moving in and getting settled. It was the first time in years where you actually had time to relax and you took full advantage of it, lounging by the pool in the private rooftop terrace everyday. It was heaven, but you had to remind yourself not to get used to it. This was temporary, nothing more. Even with the millions you would be paid after the divorce, there was no way you’d spend it on something so frivolous like a luxury apartment. That wasn’t your style.

 You entered the suite and headed to the kitchen to grab something to drink. It was almost one in the morning and you had just returned from dinner with some of your college friends. They had arranged the get together last minute after finding out about your wedding. The first half of the night was just them drilling you about why you hadn’t told them you were dating Willliam Russo. One of them found out about the wedding through some bougie New York society blog and they were hurt you hadn’t invited them. Of course you couldn’t tell them about the arrangement, that was part of the NDA you signed with Alistair, so you made up some nonsense about the two of you falling madly in love after you treated Alistair and deciding to elope in a mad whim. It was bullshit, but your friends ate it up. You did feel a slight twinge of guilt for lying to them, but, whatever. They didn’t need to know everything about you.

 You poured a glass of wine for yourself and took a sip. An appreciative sigh escaped you. God, these rich snobs knew good wine. You had almost emptied the glass when you heard loud yelling. Curious, you sauntered outside the kitchen to find the source - a tall, leggy blonde storming down the spiral staircase, screaming.

 The entire upper floor was Billy’s territory, and he’d warned you to stay the fuck away from the very first day you’d moved in. Apparently the same instructions didn’t apply to the other woman.

 “Fuck you, Billy! I hope you fucking die!”

 Amused, you regarded the scene in front of you as Billy took his time coming down the staircase. He was dressed in a black wifebeater and jeans, and appeared unbothered by his date telling him to die. Damn. This was fun. You really did revel in other people’s drama.

 “Who the fuck are you?” the blonde demanded as soon as she saw you.

 “His wife,” you responded.

 The woman turned around to confront Billy who was now a few feet away. “You’re married? You slept with me yesterday, asshole!”

 “Ouch!” you remarked, making a face. “That’s harsh.”

 Billy cast a scornful glance at you before grabbing the other woman by the arm. “What part of we’re fucking done don’t you understand?” His voice was pure ice as he pulled her to the door. “Don’t show up here next time, Gwen. Or I’ll make sure you never book another modeling gig again.”

 You cocked your eyebrow as he practically threw the woman out before slamming the door shut in her face. Shit. That was cold. You felt badly for the Gwen woman, she didn’t deserve to be humiliated like this. Now the same asshole was approaching you, flashing the same disdain. A slow feeling of dread crept over you but you kept your calm, refusing to cower. “You really know how to treat your women well, don’t you?”

 Stopping right in front, eyes darkened with contempt, he looked down at you. “Next time keep your mouth shut in front of my guests.”

 You snickered. “Or what? You’ll throw me out too?”

 “Happily.”

 “We both know that won’t go over well with your Granddad.” Smug, you sidestepped past him and headed back to the kitchen. To your surprise, he followed behind you.

 “There’s only so much bullshit I’ll put up with.”

 You laughed, rinsing off the wine glass in the sink. “I think you’ll put up with a lot to get your hands on his money.”

 “You’re gonna judge me after you married a fucking stranger for money?”

 You turned towards him again. “Guess that makes us both gold diggers.”

 There was that beat of silence again, when his eyes grew darker and his expression turned blank and he simply stared at you like he was contemplating your torturous death in multiple ways.

 “Are you just gonna be hanging around here the entire time?” he finally asked. “I thought you were a fucking surgeon or something. Don’t you have people to cut up?”

 “I quit.”

 A snide sneer curved his lips. “Of course.”

 Usually bitchy comments just rolled off your back, but something about his tone struck a raw nerve. “I’ve been busting my ass for the last fifteen years to get to where I am. What the hell have you done?”

 “I’m a goddamn Marine. A scout sniper specialist with 134 confirmed kills.”

 “So you’ve killed people. Congratulations.”

 “Like you haven’t? Everyone you operated on come out alive?”

 Another sore spot for you. Bastard. “I’m not buying your bullshit about serving. People like you never actually risk your lives. You guys get the glory from slaughtering nations while it’s the poor folks who risk their lives on the battle front.”

 You were taken aback when he suddenly charged at you, cornering you against the kitchen island. Apparently you hit a nerve too if the twitch in his jaw was any indication. Gripping the island on either side of you, he held you hostage between his arms. “Don’t presume to know me.” His voice was a quiet roar, laced with vitriol and menace. The man wasn’t playing, especially when he lowered himself so he could meet your eyes directly. “You have no idea who I am. What I’m capable of.”

 “I hope you’re not threatening me, Billy. I don’t respond well to those.”

 “And I don’t respond well to being forced into marriage.”

 “Looks like we’re at an impasse then.” You crossed your arms, straightening your back, hoping the narrowing of distance between you two would force him to retreat. But he remained in place, his pitch-black eyes still locked on you. “Maybe we should call a truce to keep the peace.”

 “Not interested.” His eyes glided over your face, making it difficult for you to breathe under his scrutiny. “I’d rather destroy you.”

 You knew better than to goad him. You really shouldn’t have, but you couldn’t help it. “Violence gets you all hot, husband?”

 Something almost resembling a smile curved his mouth “You’ll never know. I wouldn’t touch you if you were the last woman on earth.”

 Your lips formed an exaggerated pout. “Aw. How am I supposed to survive without vanilla sex?”

  The last thing you expected from him was a grin, an actual, legitimate smile that finally made you recognize he really was fucking hot. Yeah, yeah, everyone went crazy over his looks including your friends but his personality ruined his good looks for you. Except his smile somehow managed to overshadow all of that nastiness.

 “That mouth of yours is gonna get you in a lot of trouble, golddigger.”

 “It’s also got me out of trouble, sweetheart,” you fired back.

 “This isn’t gonna end well for you. You know that, right? The old man is using you to embarrass me. He thinks he can bring me in line by forcing this marriage on me – but I’m not gonna let him win, no matter what.”

 “Why not just play along? Sounds like all he wants is for you to stop fucking around and take some responsibility.”

 An impenetrable expression masked his face. “Take responsibility? No, he wants me to be his fucking puppet and I’m never going to be that.” The hard glint returned to his eyes. “And if this means I have to take you down, I will fucking do so happily.”

 There were a lot of things that didn’t make sense in this scenario. Like why a rich brat like Billy ended up serving in the military. You didn’t know if that really was true, you needed to find that out, but if it was, it didn’t gel. You would’ve expected him to follow in his family’s footsteps and go to some Ivy League school and work in the family business. But from the cursory stalking you did online, that didn’t appear to be the case.  Back then you didn’t care enough to find out more, but now your curiosity was definitely piqued.

 “Scared?” His snide tone brought you out of your reverie. “You should be. Shows that you’ve got some survival skills.”

 “You don’t need to worry about me. I always land on my feet.”

 “When this whole thing blows up on you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

 You smirked. “Warning noted.”

 He moved back, evidently disappointed by your flippant reaction. “You’re an idiot.”

 “I graduated top 2% of my class in medschool but, sure, I’m an idiot.”

 He sent you an irritated glance, making his way to the fridge. You watched as he took out some leftover food from the fridge and started warming it up. “Booksmart isn’t everything.”

 “You’re gonna wax poetic about street smarts now?” You snickered. “Spare me.”

 “Just, please, shut the fuck up while I eat. Your voice is giving me a headache.”

 You watched him as he ate some pasta, noting how careful he was not to leave a mess. Small, dignified bites, carefully wiping off residue sauce from the surface, and actually washing the dishes after he was done instead of leaving them in the sink for the maid to clean up. 

 A yawn escaped you and you realized how tired you were. The dinner had wiped your energy, and while the argument with Billy had reenergized you for a while, your exhaustion had returned. As an introvert, there was only so much you could take being around people.

 “Does Alistair know your brother’s got a record for pimping?”

 You stopped in your tracks. Fuck. A part of you had hoped Billy would be too lazy to have someone look into your family but obviously you’d underestimated him. You turned around to face him, careful to keep your blank mask on. Your brother had made some stupid, heinous mistakes as a teenager that you still hadn’t come to terms with, but you sure as hell weren’t going to let some rich prick lord it over you.

 “Of course. One of the reasons why he chose me for this shindig. That man really wanted to stick it to you.” You weren’t entirely sure, but a part of you suspected that really was the case. You were meant to be a punitive consequence for Billy and so far everything about you was an embarrassment to the man. Alistair really did strike gold when he landed under your care.

 Billy’s eyes were filled with cold heat as he continued his assault. “He pimp you out too?”

 Your temper flared. “Why? You interested?”

 “Not my type. I like ‘em with less meat and no sass.”

 You rolled your eyes. “Is this where I’m supposed to start crying because some rich brat called me fat?”

 “You know,” he mused, “this rich brat can sneak into your room at any time and kill you without a second thought.”

 “And this fat bitch could slip some poison into you that fucks up your entire body and kills you in the most painful way possible.”

 There was wry amusement in his voice, like he was actually enjoying this. Something you didn’t expect. “So you’ve put some thought into this.”

 “I keep a running list of the best poisons in my head.”

 “So not just a golddigging whore then. Potential killer too.”

 “I’m a woman of many layers.”

 “Clearly.”

 For the first time you saw his gaze linger down your body, not in disgust or disdain, but with actual interest, like he was seeing you in a whole new light. And all because you’d confessed to thoughts of murdering him. What a fucking psycho.

 Done with his bullshit for the night, you turned your back and exited the kitchen, all the while feeling his eyes boring into you.

To be continued...

A/N - Thank you for the lovely response to the first chapter. I know some people asked to be added to a taglist but Tumblr really hates my posts when I add pictures or tags in the body. If you’d like to follow this fic, I recommend you follow the tag “Grudgingly Yours”. 

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this chapter and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Thank you!

[askganon]

I'm really tired. I just transferred to a new university to study psychology and it has been the actual worst experience in every aspect. The two biggest issues are the fact that I am autistic and thusly have issues making friends, and that I have this god-awful professor in my counseling class.

This professor is OFF his rocker. He actively talks about the secret society he is in, trying to teach us preposterous things that have no place in that class or even the school at all. I could write a novel about every problematic thing he has said, but my most major issue with him is how he views and treats women, and continuously brings sexual topics up when they have no relevance to the course material.

He has disrespected his wife over the phone in the middle of class and then tried to justify his behavior using his gender, spoken extensively about what features men don't like on women such as makeup or plastic surgery. He says "natural" women are "healthy" (well-endowed) in either the chest or behind but not both, and are uneven in the chest. He specifically targeted my classmate, who was the only one wearing false eyelashes, to say that men don't like that either.

Another time he told us that women run the world because men are obsessed with us, that we are not oppressed at all, yet he turns around and tells us how women in the corporate world go commando under their skirts and sleep around to work up the corporate ladder. He says this in a way that puts women to shame for this as well.

This week, though, was completely different. His departure from the course material started with the extremely invasive question, "what do you remember about your transition to adolescence?" Again targeting that very same classmate. I blink and he is now telling us that the male experience during puberty is far worse than what women experience, basically saying that—excuse my bluntness—getting a boner in class is much worse than anything women go through, even turning to our singular male classmate for backup on this.

He also tries to tell us that its so so bad for boys because the girls actively try to touch them or make them "psychologically disturbed," as he worded so decoratively. What adolescent girl wants anything to do with that when she's going through her own problems? Since when were young girls going out of their way to trouble boys like this? I was actively trying to deter boys during this time.

I and the other two women in my class were disputing all of this, until our professor finally said, "I will just let that go over y'all heads cause you will never understand the male experience," to which I, shaking with rage, replied, "—and vice versa."

My mental health has been suffering severely, and much worse since this happened Monday. I had never felt such pure, primordial rage towards someone before. This man makes me feel not only objectified but also demonized. Last night was my breaking point, working on one of his assignments. I experienced the most intense mental breakdown of my life so far, and afterwards spent all but two hours of the night trying to cram the project that was due today.

I guess my point is that I would report him, but my school makes it nigh impossible to do so. I'm perpetually exhausted and I do not know if I can make it through the last two weeks of class. I want so badly to be petty and spiteful to his face, but for the most part I've controlled it.

I don't really know what I'm looking for by doing this. I guess I just want to know what you think? Apologies for the length of my message.

Such is the mentality I encountered often in my youth by Hylian men, and women, toward my sisters. They would lust after my sisters based on their attire and physique, while also attempting to demonize them and ostracize them for the exact same reasons.

In short, men are cowards who carry the darkest urges shamelessly, but are too prideful to admit the problem within themselves. Instead, the vilify women for their own indiscretions.

They will openly mock my Gerudo for their appearance, while desiring nothing more than to own their flesh in the most disturbing of ways.

This professor seems like a prime example of the Hylian males I encountered. But if this is the case, then so too is his weakness.

He has likely been thwarted in his past in his attempts to procure a mate to his liking, and due to his pride, he believes it is all of womanhood to blame, and not himself.

This one he singles out is likely similar to those he desired but could never obtain in his youth. As such, he blames all others for his own shortcomings.

Likely too with his mate. I would assume her physique does not fit the desires he now feels entitled to, and as such he makes her the target of his criticism.

But through all of this, he reveals a second weakness.

Fear.

He fears that which he cannot control, and women as a whole seem out of his grasp. Every slight, every jab, and every assault from his lips is but proof that he is afraid of what women are capable.

In the midst of a Gerudo warrior, this professor of yours would crumble like kindling to a flame.

Take solace in the knowledge that you are superior to this worm, for you are what he can never have.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Egg Percy Jackson evidence masterpost

Considers traditional masculinity a burden,weird,confusing and gross(see her calling Ares ugly + Finding Apollo extremely annoying for acting like a stereotypical guy)but forces it onto herself because she's desperate to fit in and be accepted

Thinks women are better than men

Almost all her friends in the og series were girls(Annabeth,Silena,Clarisse,Thalia,Zoe,Bianca and Rachel vs just Grover,Nico and Beckendorf)

The first gay male character in the series stopped crushing on her because he realized she's not the ideal man he thought she was

Her relathionship with him is also very eldest sister/middle brother-esque

Her most common clothing item is hoodies(dysphoria)

Almost all the gods who treat her badly are men while almost all her positive relathionships with them are with the goddesses,including Artemis who is very famous for disliking men and protecting young girls

Persephone,who's most significant and solid myth is about men's violence against women(Hymn to Demeter),canonically likes her for being 'different' from other 'male' halfbloods

Generally relates to other female characters more than she does male ones

Best friends to lovers to exes turned even closer best friends is a very common experience for irl trans women with afab wlw and this is her canon dynamic with Rachel

Was jealous of Thalia because wanted to be like her,Thalia being a girl who defies and spits in the face of society's expectations of women but is still very proudly a girl and gets pissed when people try to erase that

Frequently describes women she finds pretty in an enchanted and awed way,which combined with all the prev points is most definitely gender envy

The Titan's Curse,the book where she enters teenagehood,had a huge focus on how she's 'not like other men' by the Hunters,who in the og myths were pretty much a metaphor for 'lesbians',if not outright interested in women and rejecting men as romantic options

Only ship them platonically but Annabeth never really shows attraction to characters she thinks are men other than her and Luke and she straight up said she never actually loved the latter romantically and always saw him as an older brother and was just confused because of how young she was so this makes both her being a lesbian and Percy being a trans woman click perfectly together

Specifically them being butch4femme since Annabeth is a tomboy who hates girlyness for herself and Percy as per stated before dosen't wanna be masc.Also,daughter of the king of Atlantis?'Her hair was curly,like a princess'?Gender envy strikes again!!

She acts like a Mom Friend very often,especially to younger characters,and i'm allowed to say that because i'm afab and a Mom Friend myself

Rick has commented on her sexuality but never her gender so it's not like it's been debunked

A joke one but Blackjack was called a mare in SOM yet a stallion from TTC onward so trans horse boy and his trans horse girl owner

Luke's relathionship with her heavily parallels his to Annabeth,Thalia and Silena so it's not a stretch to say this is unintentional subtext of her being a girl like them and him picking up on her vulnerability like he did them(Not in a 'chilvarious' way btw)

Jason and her remind me of many common main m/f romance tropes-The 'hotheaded girl x levelheaded boy' classic,tall girlfriend and slighter taller boyfriend,contrasting in a complimentary way powers,iirc it being obvious to everyone they instantly liked eachother(feel free to correct me and i'll remove this),Team Parents to the babies of the cast and 'Sweet Sixteen' joke since Percy met her first boyfriend at that age.Worth noting that this would make Percy Jason's best friend who's a girl and that he broke with Piper because their feelings for eachother were shallow and their dating dynamic was too by extent

Similarly,Percy and Annabeth fall under the 'dark haired female protagonist and her tomboy blonde best friend' trope that was so popular 2000s/2010s

More so motifs i think work well than evidence but sea related things are usually associated with femininity-Calling ships 'she',mermaids,pearl jewelry,the moon controlling the tides,the term 'Beach Bunny',etc

Her random reinforments of her 'manhood' are very inconsistent with the rest of her personality and we're given no indication Sally raised her on gender roles so it's less Percy being Percy and more Rick being a cis man

Rick also agreed with the headcanon she loves Led Zepplin so i googled to find out if they were lgbt and they weren't but what i learned was enough to let me know they're a hit with lgbt people for a reason

Again,just my own take,but i feel her being pastel and kidcore is more fitting than any other interests and style for her in addition to her being canonically punk and they're both in-character for her since she's got a positive opinion on girly girls and the second one is an excellent coping mechanism for constant childhood trauma

She's at most in-character,well-written and realistic when she just lets herself be instead of trying to be what everyone wants her to and to be brutally honest,this includes the fandom.She's a femme trans woman and i'm right

[fairystar111]

The Heirs of Yesterday

By: fairystar111

Rating: Gen

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia

Summary:

The worlds come to be a dark place. So why shouldn't Shouto regain the childhood he lost? And why shouldn't he stay with his brother through it all?

Characters: Dabi | Touya Todoroki, Shouto Todoroki.

CW/Tags: Kidnapping, Emotional Manipulation, Infantilism, Toxic Codependency, Moral Ambiguity, Yandere, Yandere Dabi, Obsessive Behavior, Possessive Behavior, Stockholm Syndrome, Big Brother Dabi, Manipulative Dabi, Minor DabixHawks.

Start/Previous/Next

If Touya was being completely honest, he absolutely despised his youngest brother in the beginning. When he first saw Shouto’s distinctive red and white split hair he knew that this boy was going to replace him in their fathers eyes. Shouto would be the Todoroki family prodigy while he would be the defective runt. Touya hated the toddlers adorable little face and his sweet little smile and how no matter how much he pushed him away Shouto still found a way to worm himself into his heart. When Shouto turned four his quirk came in and he began his training with their father. All Touya’s hate for him died when he walked in on their father beating his baby brother in the name of “hero training”. Touya had originally hated Shouto because he had thought that Shouto would be treated as something precious and would be loved as his fathers masterpiece unlike how he treated the rest of them. It wasn't until he walked into Shouto’s training that he realized that even if Shouto was a perfect prodigy and exactly what his father wanted he was still being treated just as badly as the rejects like him.

Touya tried to get Enji to stop training Shouto by offering himself instead but nothing he said would ever change their father’s mind. He even tried to report their father to the police and multiple heroes but was ridiculed. They said he was lying and looking for attention because there was a new baby in the house. When their mother had her breakdown and burnt Shouto’s face, Touya decided that no one was ever going to help them. He was going to have to be the one to take down their father before he ended up killing his siblings. He lured his father to Seketo Peak and ambushed him with the intent to kill; his father held nothing back when fighting his eldest that day. Touya was left for dead by his father with third degree burns covering fifty percent of his body.

The only reason he survived was because he was found by one of All for One’s lackeys and taken to his doctor. He's pretty sure he's technically more noumu than human now but whatever at least he’s still alive. During his rehabilitation with Dr.Giraki he met a pale haired boy with bright red eyes named Tomura. Tomura had told him that he was just like him too; he had an abusive father until his sensei came to save him. Tomura invited him to stay with him and his caretaker Kurogiri. It took him a while to realize that Tomura and his sensei were villains and what they did was not exactly legal.

Touya was conflicted while he had begun to grow fond of Tomura as a little brother, he sort of reminded him of Natsuo. He was raised to be a hero and heroes can't be friends with villains . When confronted, Tomura explained how heroes only cause pain for the people around them. He told him how his grandmother had been a hero and abandoned her child making him into an abuser. It left Touya thinking, the heroes in his life had only ever caused him pain and suffering while these villains were the nicest people he's ever had to care for him. He asked if he could join them and if they could help him take down Endeavour but Tomura said his sensei had been grievously injured recently and they were not strong enough to tear down an entire society just yet. So they spent the next years training and recruiting strong but loyal members to their league under the watchful eyes of their sensei. By the time Shouto is entering UA they should be able to launch the war on heroes starting with taking down the top ten. He hopes his baby brother won't be too mad at him for leaving him behind all those years ago but he's coming for him now whether he likes it or not. His family belonged to him; they were his to love, his to control, his to own.

Shoto awoke groggily to the feeling of an unfamiliar plush bed. Why am I on a bed? The base doesn’t have any of those he thought. He glanced around the room and found it to be decorated in a very childish way. The room he was in looked like it was meant for a small child. There was a canopy hanging over his bed and rails surrounding the bed, plushies everywhere, the walls were painted a soft powder blue, and he was even wearing a fluffy penguin onesie. Hmm this is a little strange, this room sort of looks like a nursery, Shoto thought. Endeavor would rather die than have his masterpiece be caught dead in something like this. So where is he?

Then it all came rushing back to him, the league had infiltrated their base and come for him and his friends. Touya wasn't dead anymore and now Endeavor was. Touya had come to take Shoto away like he had always promised he would. Shoto was conflicted, Touya his big brother and protector was finally back, but he's not just Touya-nii anymore he's also the villain Dabi. He’s supposed to be a hero; he can't just ignore all Dabi’s crimes just because he wants his big brother back. He has to stay strong, heroes can’t love villains and Touya-nii is gone.There is still a whole society out there that needs fixing and he’ll have to be there to help pick up the pieces.

Shoutos head shot up when he heard the door start to open slowly as if someone was trying not to wake him. He carefully lowered himself off the bed and into a crouch ready to attack when he tripped on a chain connecting him to the railing. The door slammed open when Dabi heard the loud crash.

“Shouto are you alright? You shouldn't be out of bed without me.” Dabi scolded, picking up the boy and placing him back on the bed.

“...” Shouto glared at his brother in defiance, refusing to talk back. The brother he remembered is gone now all that’s left is this villain.

“Listen Shou I understand your anger you're probably thinking why did I have to uproot your life once you were finally doing okay but I had to. I wanted to come for you sooner I really did but dad basically murdered me back when I tried to take him down as a kid. It took a long time for me to gain my strength back and find enough powerful allies to be able to take you back.” Dabi said, ruffling Shouto’s hair.

“I wanted to take you out of that home as soon as possible more than anything but I was too weak. I'm sorry Shouto, I never wanted to hurt you but this had to be done for the good of everyone. Hero society was a toxic breeding ground for abuse and corruption. It needed to be brought down one way or another. I was never going to let you become a hero and be abused for the rest of your short life before you get killed off and forgotten.” Dabi said, angry just thinking about some pathetic villain laying hands on his baby brother.

“I am a hero and when I leave this place I'll fix what you have done to society.” Shoto responded startled when he was grabbed harshly and pulled onto his brother's lap.

“You're not leaving me again. Now that I finally have you back I am never letting you go.” Touya growled, cutting Shouto off before he could speak.

“And I know damn well you're not being a hero. I didn't spend all this time fighting for you just for you to get yourself killed living out a dream you don’t really want. Think about it Shouto did you ever truly want to become a hero by your own volition or were you groomed to be one since birth. If you weren't praised by everyone around you for having such a heroic quirk would you still want to be one?” The villain growled out.

“I've always wanted to become a hero,” Shouto mumbled, eyes focused on his lap. At least that's what he had always thought. If he couldn't be a hero what could he do? It's not like he can waste his quirk on a regular job. Being a hero has just always been what he’s supposed to do. His mother went through hell to give him his quirk; he had to use it to become a hero or she went through all of that abuse for nothing.

“No Shouto you've been groomed to believe being a hero is the only thing that will bring meaning to your life but it's not. Don't you want to live a life free of danger and the pressure of heroics? A life where you can finally act your age and just be a kid. Don't you want to live with your big brother Shouto? I sacrificed so much just for you, can't you make your Touya-nii happy?” Dabi asked, watching his little brother's eyes well up with tears. He almost has him right where he wants him. Shouto just needs a little push in the right direction and then he'll be all his.

“I-i cant. I-i don't know what to-… Please dont make me-” Shouto sobbed as crystalline tears flooded his face. He didn't know what he wanted, he just wanted peace. He didn't want to be constantly attacked by villains. He didn't want to fear for his safety everyday. He didn't want to go up against an army. And he sure as hell didn't want to rebuild an entire society but what is he supposed to do? How can he even start to fix this mess? Did he even want to? All he could do was sob into the arms of his brother turned villain.

“Shh shh It's okay Shou. I think you don't know what you want and that's okay because that's what your big brother is here for. As long as I'm here you won't have to worry about a thing you can leave it all to me.” Dabi cooed, gently wiping the tears off Shouto’s face. Shouto said nothing as he buried his head into the crook of the villain's neck.

“Come on Shouto it's alright you don't have to cry everything is going to be fine. Just give up all control to your big brother and you won't ever have to worry about a thing.” Touya whispered into the boy's ear while running his hands through the soft red and white hair.

“P-please no I don’t w-want to be a villain.” Shouto sobbed. He just wanted his brother. He just wanted to be safe and happy for once in his life.

“Oh firefly, you could never be a villain. You could never have what it takes to be one.” Touya cooed, gently grasping the boy’s chin and forcing him to look him in the eye.

“I don’t want to fight anymore Touya-nii. I c-can't fight you.” Shouto stuttered out through his sobs.

“And you won't have to not now not ever again if you give up your hero fantasy. I’m the only person who really cares about you Shouto. The heroes don't care if you want to fight or not, they just want a mindless soldier. I just want to make you happy.” Touya purred, he could see his baby brother’s resolve crumbling.

“What can I even do if I'm not a hero? I'm useless.” Shoto sniffled. 

“Don't say that firefly you could never be useless to me, maybe to the heroes but not to me. And you don't have to do anything really as long as I'm here I'll always take care of you Shouto. No fending for yourself, no more long sleepless nights, no more fighting for your life. As long as I'm here to take care of you unlike those heroes you like so much.” Touya said, watching Shouto’s eyes twinkle when he was called by his childhood nickname. The villain could tell it was getting harder for Shouto to differentiate the villain Dabi from his big brother Touya. Soon he will be falling right into his arms and he will never let go.

“So firefly, will you give up being a hero for your big brother? No one else will ever take care of you and love you the way I do.” The villain purred.

“Okay,” Shouto whispered. Maybe this is the best option for me, he thought. No one has ever cared about what he wanted except Touya.

“What was that?” Dabi asked with a smirk wanting to hear the exact words come out of his little brother's mouth.

“Yes Touya-nii I give up. Please take care of me.” Shouto said, looking up at him with pleading teary eyes. He could feel a small part of him finally letting go. He knows he's never been the most morally righteous person in the world but he never thought he would be siding with villains when Japan needed heroes most. But a little bitter voice in the back of his head always knew this was coming. Why should he have to give up his life to save everyone when no one ever bothered to save him when he was getting beaten black and blue by his father his entire childhood.

“Good boy,” Touya said, grinning so hard the gaps between his staples showed. He knows Shouto will still need some minor attitude and behavioral adjustments but he wants to stay with Touya willingly and that's way better than how the others are doing with their kids.

“There will be a probationary period before you can walk around freely. Just a couple of weeks at most. I want you to be on your best behavior and prove to me you really meant what you said. I don't want to punish you for lying to me, Shouto.” Touya lectured in a stern tone. He didn't think his brother was lying but he just wanted to make sure.

“I would never lie to Touya-nii” Shouto said in a scandalized tone, his eyebrows furrowed as if lying to his big brother was a strictly forbidden act that can never be done. Touya snorted; it seems that his baby brother hasn't changed all that much since he left. He doesn't know if it's the lack of socialization at a young age or all the abuse he endured but Shouto is pretty stunted for his age. Sometimes he’ll say something or do something only a small child could think of, not a teenager.

“That's good Shou but I just want to make sure. I don't know what they've been teaching you at that hero school of yours but if it's anything like what Keigo went through, there was probably some infiltration and undercover training.” Dabi seriously doubted Shouto could pull something like that off though. No offense to his little brother but from what he remembers he has seriously got to be the worst liar in Japan. 

“Okay nii-chan. Does this hurt?” Shouto murmured distractedly, his little fingers lightly tracing the villain's facial scars occasionally poking the shiny staples in wonder and concern.

“No firefly it doesn't hurt. Not anymore, the doctor fixed me up after my ‘accident’ and Tomura gave me a fire resistance quirk. You don't have to worry about me. The scars and staples are more aesthetic and to scare people off more than anything harmful.” The scarred man replied.

“You're not scary,” Shouto said with a confused look on his face, squealing when his brother dug his fingers into his tummy.

“Only you would think that Shou.” Dabi snorted fondly, tickling his little brother mercilessly.

“Stop, stop. Wait, I have a question!” Shouto cried out through peals of laughter.

“Okay, okay” Dabi said as his fingers slowed to a stop leaving him with a flushed breathless baby brother in his lap.

“What was so important you had to stop our fun?” Touya asked.

“Shigaraki Tomura, the leader of the League of Villains, gave you a new quirk? That's very kind of him, is he nice?” Shouto asked in a confused tone.

“Yeah he’s a real softy on the inside but don’t tell him I told you that. You can meet him some other time. He is pretty busy wrangling your green haired friend right now.” Dabi whispered with a smirk. He can share embarrassing stories about his and Tomura’s youth later on once Shouto gets to know him better.

“Oh-” Shouto uttered sullenly. He had forgotten about his classmates. What will they think of him when they find out he betrayed them? Will they hate him because he doesn't want to be a hero anymore? Shouto could feel himself start to tremble as his eyes filled with tears. He didn't want his friends to hate him. He doesn't know what to do. He needs help. He needs his big brother.

“What's wrong firefly? I thought we were getting along. What's with the waterworks?” Touya cooed, placing a kiss on his brother’s forehead, smiling when he felt Shouto lean into his touch.

“My friends, I don't know if they'll be okay. I know you love me and will take care of me but you're my brother it's different. What if the others are mean? What if my friends get hurt? I don't want them to be sad, I don't want them to hate me.” Shouto sobbed in his brother's chest, feeling his brother's hold on him tightening.

“Calm down, your friends are going to be just fine. I know you must think we all must be horrible villains and maybe we are to everyone else. But with each other the league is family and we take care of our own. And starting today your friends are also part of the family, they won't be hurt any more than a timeout or some other kiddy punishments.” Dabi said, rubbing soothing circles into his little brother's back.

“Are you sure?” Shouto sniffled, wiping his runny nose childishly on the sleeve of his onesie.

“Yeah Shou trust me Kurogiri and Compress are like strict dads to all of us, Shigaraki, Spinner, Magne, Twice, Toga, were all like siblings. We would never hurt each other and we could never hurt you. You all belong to us now, we'll take good care of you.” Dabi cooed gently, rubbing the tears away from Shouto’s puffy eyes.

“ I trust you Touya-nii. Will I be able to see them again?” Shouto asked.

“Yeah, after your probationary period you can have a playdate with some of your friends. It all depends on your and their behavior. If they're not behaving correctly you won't be able to see them for a while bud.” Dabi said resting his head on his little brother.

“Oh okay” Shouto pouted sadly, knowing that Midoriya and the others were not going to submit to a stranger’s will so easily. He probably won't be able to see his friends for months.

“Don’t pout at me. I'm sure you can play with Sako’s kid soon after you finish. He's pretty sassy just like Compress but I'm sure you'll get along. He wasn't in your class but you two will have to play nice. He's going to be your cousin now.” Dabi chided.

“He wasn't in my class? Who is it?” The boy asked.

“His name was Monoma Nieto though he goes by Sako Nieto now.” Dabi responded.

“Oh I don't like him.” Shouto pouted, anyone else would have been better than Monoma.

“Come on, Shou don’t be like that. He follows Compress around like a little duckling. I'm sure he's not that bad. You don’t like the old him but he's been here for a while now and Sako has straightened him out. He's a sweet kid mostly…He hasn't had company his age besides Toga in a while and she's mostly in and out of the house with her dad. Come on firefly can't you at least try to play nice with him for me?” Touya pleaded with his little brother.

“Okay I’ll try,”Shouto responded, the pouty expression still stuck on his face.

Three Weeks later

Shouto’s probation is finally over and if he’s being honest he'd rather it not be over. He’s been having fun spending every day with his Touya-nii. He doesn't really want to meet everyone else, especially not Monoma or Sako now I guess. They all seem nice from what his brother has told him but he’s still nervous to meet everyone.

“Firefly are you ready?” Touya called, knocking on the door.

“Shou?” Dabi called and received no answer.

“I'm coming in.” Touya opened the door to find no one in the room.

“Shou? Firefly? Where are you? Please come out now?” Touya yelled momentarily panicking. There's no way his brother escaped right? Shouto could not have been playing the long con right?

“Himura Shouto if you don’t come out by the count of three you're going to be punished.” Touya snarled. He is three seconds away from putting the entire mansion on lockdown.

“One”

“Two”

“Thr-” Dabi was cut off by a whine.

“Nooo” Shouto whined, the sound coming from underneath his bed.

“Shouto what are you doing down there? You almost gave me a heart attack.” The villain asked crouching down relieved to see two little feet sticking out from under the bed.

“I don't want to meet them…too nervous,” Shouto finally spoke.

“Come on Shou they're aren't going to bite, they're all pretty excited to see you again. They're nice and remember all the stories I told you about. They all have been waiting to meet you. We cleared this day off specifically for you to meet everyone.” Touya cooed trying to coax his baby brother out of his hiding spot.

“Do I have to meet Monoma? I can meet everyone else but not him. He’s going to be mean to me.” Shouto whined.

“How about this you can meet the league first and then Nieto separately later.”  Touya negotiated.

“Fine,” Shouto answered reluctantly, wriggling out from under the bed.

“Jeez firefly you haven’t even started getting ready yet, your hair is a mess. Hurry up, lift up your arms, they've been waiting on us for a while.” Dabi said, dressing him in a pair of powder blue corduroy overalls and a creme top.

“Well I was going to hide for the whole day so I didn't bother.” Shouto said with a shrug as his brother helped him snap the overalls in place and brushed his hair.

“Okay let's go.” Dabi said, grabbing his little brother's hand and leading him out of the room.

This was Shouto’s first time out of his room. It seems their living space is quite big. Their floor is a pretty wide space with a large living room, kitchen, elevator and a lot of other rooms he saw on their way out. This place must be a pretty big mansion if just him and Touya-nii have an entire floor to themselves, the boy thought. The elevator was taking them down to one of the common areas where the league shares the place. Apparently they all have their own floors. As the elevator went lower Shouto could feel butterflies in his tummy, his grip tightened on his brother's hand as the doors opened.

Shouto darted behind his brother as they walked out of the elevator. He peeked behind his brother's arm to see the league in a lounge area hanging out and happily chatting amongst themselves. He quickly ducked behind his brother's back when their eyes shot up to them.

“Come on Shou, will you introduce yourself for me?” Dabi asked. He felt Shouto slowly shuffle in front of him and placed his arms around him in a hug.

“Hi…my name is Himura Shouto. It's nice to meet you.” Shouto spoke quietly before he turned around and pushed his head onto his brother's stomach. He didn’t notice all the eyes of the league softening, staring at him with adoration and fondness.

“Aww that was sooo cute! You have such an adorable little brother Dabi!” Toga squealed, twirling a knife around in her hands.

“Come on Shou let sit down” Dabi sat down on one of the couches next to Hawks and pulled Shouto onto his lap.

“Hi Shouto! Do you remember me? It's been a long time since we've seen each other,” Hawks spoke gently, trying not to spook the kid. He did kinda help murder his dad on live television. He just wanted to make a good impression on his mate's little brother.

“Hi Hawks.” Was all Shouto responded not feeling up to talking too much.

“You can call me Keigo. I don't go by Hawks anymore.” The bird said cheerfully.

“Ok.” Hawks looked up at Dabi, perplexed as to why Shouto was not speaking. Wondering if it was something purposely against him or if he was that way with everyone.

“He woke up pretty shy this morning. You guys can talk to him all you want but I'm not sure you're gonna get much of an answer.” Dabi explained before his pretty bird worked himself in a panic over what Shouto thought of him. He hasn’t introduced Keigo to Shouto yet but he was sure they’ll get along.

“Well this is quite different from the show stopping Todoroki Shouto we saw in the UA sports festival.” Mr.Compress put into words what everyone else was thinking.

“Yeah, his demeanor is so much cuter than before. He’s so much weaker now” Twice blurted out.

“Ignore the second voice, the first one is what he really means.” Touya murmured into Shouto’s hair, feeling him nod in response.

“Well I think this Shouto is the cutest. I wish Ochako was acting like this already. Why did Dabi have to get the perfect little sibling?” Toga whined.

“How is Uraraka?” Shouto asked curious about his friend's new homelife.

“She's good! She lives with me and dad now!” Toga giggled pointing at Twice.

“Twice is your father? The quirks would make sense in a way. Are you his secret love child by any-?” Shouto is cut off by his brother's hand covering his mouth.

“Shouto! We do not ask questions like that!” Dabi scolded though he was laughing on the inside at the shock on Jin’s face.

“Why?” Shouto asked, genuinely confused as to why that would be rude.

Laughter exploded around them as Dabi tried to explain that asking people if they were created by accident and kept a secret is rude to Shouto. Even Kurogiri was cracking a smile by the end of it.

“Man Dabi, your brother sure is a riot” Spinner said, the lizard man still chuckling.

“He’s not trying to be,'' Dabi said with a small smile. All the laughing had helped Shouto relax a little bit; he didn't feel as stiff in his lap as he did before.

“Okay that's enough of that I want to hold him too.” Magne said, making grabby hands at Dabi. Dabi looked down at his brother who just shrugged in response. He was handed off to Magne who carried him with ease.

“Hi sweetie I'm your Aunt Magne. I'll be taking care of you whenever your brother is out on business.” Mange cooed as she placed him on her lap. She had always wanted kids but the time never felt right. This will do for the time being.

“We get to be Aunts? I want to be Auntie Toga!” Toga squealed, loving that she is not the youngest anymore with all these new kids around.

“Wow I've never had an aunt before,” Shouto said, eyes filled with wonder.

“Really? How come honey?” Magne made the mistake of asking not seeing Dabi shaking his head and making an x with his arms.

“My father did not have any siblings and my mother was sold to my father by her family so we never saw her family again.” Shouto said nonchalantly as if he was talking about what he wanted to eat for lunch.

“Oh sugar, I'm so sorry.” Mangne replied, hugging the boy.

“It's okay, Keigo and Touya-nii killed my father so everything is good now.” Shouto replied; Hawks made a choking sound while Dabi chuckled at how uncomfortable Shouto was making everyone.

“Dabi, do you believe young Shouto here is ready to begin his studies again?” Kurogiri asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yeah he should be able to start soon. He isn't a flight risk anymore so he can go.” Touya replied.

“I have to go to school again? I don't want to meet new people” Shouto pouted. He didn't want to go to a public school where people would expect him to be a hero for them because they saw him in the sports festival.

“We would never make you interact with the public. We had a small learning institute built in the mansion for you children. Currently the only member is Nieto. Once the others are all fully conditioned you will all be able to complete your studies together again.” Kurogiri explained to the pouting child.

“Oh I don’t know if that's better or worse.” Shouto said.

“What seems to be the problem, little one?” Compress asked.

“My friends are very stubborn so I'm going to be stuck with Monoma for a long time. I don’t like him, he is very mean.” Shouto murmured not wanting to offend Monoma’s father.

“Shouto I already explained he better behaved now it won't be the same as when you were in UA.” Dabi said gently.

“Indeed Shouto. My little magician is quite the sweet boy with me but… I know how he is so I will be there to supervise his behavior on your playdate later today. I can assure you if he is mean to you in any way he will be punished swiftly.” Sako said sternly.

“Hmm okay.” Shouto said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He could get revenge for all the times Monoma terrorized his class.

“Anyways, how are the rest of your kids doing? I've only heard about Nieto so far.” Dabi asked. They've all been so busy with getting their kids settled in they've hardly had any real time to sit down and talk to each other.

“Izuku was acting like a brat so he's in isolation right now.” Shigaraki muttered sadly, missing the misbehaving brat he calls little brother.

“Ochako is still a bit too feisty for my liking but at least she is letting us take care of her now. She's a little brat. She was so underweight when we first got her but she’s doing better now. She's still too skinny!”Jin said.

“Yeah she's so cute when she stuffs her chubby cheeks full of the sweets we get her! I want her to call me Himi-nii but she won't say it yet. Honesty Dabi, how did you get Shouto to call you such a cute name?” Toga whined.

“Can’t help you there. Shouto is just the best, no training required.” Dabi said smugly, grinning at all the annoyed and envious looks sent his way.

“Fumikage is doing pretty well since both our quirks are avian in nature. I can use his bird biology against him to imprint on me. It's actually pretty cute since he’s never had an older avian in his life so he doesn't really understand that he's acting like a newborn hatchling. He'll be ready to play with Shouto soon.” Hawk spoke excitedly, trying to change the subject before someone attacks his lover for his bragging.

“How's he handling the quirk suppressors?” Dabi asked genuinely curious since it seems Shouto has forgotten about his collar or doesn’t seem to mind it.

“That's the only thing that's been rough on Fumi since his quirk is sentient and he's had it since he was a toddler. He keeps asking for his brother and saying he’s lonely. And I want to take the collar off, I really do but Dark Shadow is an extremely strong quirk that will do anything to protect its user so he probably won't be getting it back for a long time. How’s Shouto taking not having his quirk?” Keigo asked, hoping little Shou isn’t having as much trouble as his Fumi is.

“Honestly I don’t even think he remembers that I took it away. He hasn't tried using it as far as I know and doesn't seem to care that he can't.” The villain explained glancing over to his brother playing a game with Toga on her phone.

“Lucky you Izuku wouldn't stop trying to use his quirk to attack me the whole time I visited him.” Shigaraki snarked, secretly a little jealous of Dabi. Not that he would ever admit it but he really wished Izuku would act a bit more like Shouto. When he spoke, the little Himura’s head snapped up to look at him. He could see him hesitating before he nodded and began crawling over people’s laps. Shigaraki had assumed he was trying to get back to his brother but Shouto stopped at his lap and sat down.

“Um, what are you doing?” Tomura asked awkwardly, wrapping his arms around Dabi’s little brother so he wouldn't fall.

“How is Midoriya? He must be having a hard time without All Might.” Shouto asked.

“He’s been a brat but that is what I expected so… Why would he have a hard time without All Might?” Tomura asks, confused. Did Shouto know about One for All? He didn’t think Izuku had told anyone about the origins of his quirk.

“Because he's All Might’s secret love child.” Shouto said casually.

“WHAT!” Shigaraki shrieked.

“Shou we just talked about this.” Dabi groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“All might is NOT his father! All for One is!” Tomura exclaimed, wondering if Shouto was dropped on his head as a baby. Knowing his and Dabi’s history… maybe.

“Who’s that?” Shouto asked with a confused pout on his face.

“Ask your brother later. Anyways, what was so important that you needed to come sit on me?” Shigaraki's dry voice scratched out.

“Oh I want to thank you for helping Touya-nii when he was hurt and for giving him a new quirk so he won't burn himself. Thank you for saving big brother.” Shouto said quietly.

“Oh it was nothi-” Shigaraki started but was shocked silent by Shouto hugging him. Tomura’s cheeks flushed pink as he was thanked so sincerely by the kid. He had never had anyone react so kindly to his actions.

“Y-your w-welcome.” Tomura stuttered as he watched Shouto scooch back over to his brother.

“Wow that was bold of you Shouto.” Dabi smirked looking over to their leader looking very flustered.

“Yes, I saw on the Tv that the best way to thank someone is to give hugs.” Shouto said with a very serious expression on his face, as if he didn't get the information from a kids show.

“Can we leave now? There are too many people. I want to go home” The boy whispered into Dabi’s ear. He didn’t mind the league, they were actually kind of fun but he wanted to go back to his room now. He hasn't been around this many different people in a while. It was tiring for him.

“Okay the kid is sick of all of you, we’re leaving. Come on Compress, Shouto wants to go on his play date with your brat.” Dabi grunted smirking at the disgruntled faces of the rest of the league members. He knew they all liked Shouto but they could spend more time with him later.

Shouto almost choked when he heard about the playdate. He was having so much fun talking to his new family he had forgotten he was supposed to meet Monoma after! Is it too late to say he wants to stay longer?

“Come on Shou say bye.” Dabi cooed as he picked Shouto up and placed him on his hip.

“Bye bye, you all were nice to talk to.” Shouto mumbled, sticking his hand out to do a little wave before he put his head back into the crook of Dabi’s neck. He missed all the longing and adoring looks that were being thrown his way as they left. The league was absolutely smitten for the boy.

As they rode the elevator to Sako’s floor Shouto’s stomach dropped. He felt like there were one hundred butterflies playing tag in there. This is going to be the first time he’s going to see someone from UA since his brother came to get him. He can't help but think it's going to go very poorly. Class 1B never really got along with his class and Monoma especially hated 1A a lot.

When the doors opened they walked into an extremely extravagantly decorated home. It was very different from his brother's more traditionally decorated home. They were seated on a flamboyant red sofa while Compress went to get Monoma from his room. His heart hammered in his chest as he heard two sets of footsteps leading to the living room.

“No way… This is my surprise, the Todoroki Shouto. Ahahaha of course a member of the inferior class 1A would be kidnapped by villains!” The blond laughed, looking at the boy from class 1A dressed so childishly and in the lap of a villain.

“You're here too stupid.” Shouto muttered, averting his eyes.

“Well only because I was caught helping your stupid class escape. If you inferior 1A students hadn’t needed so much help, I wouldn't be here right now! But no you useless heroes couldn’t even-” Momona screamed all his anger from the past months coming to the surface and boiling over.

“Nieto. I would stop talking right now if I were you unless you want to be punished in front of little Shouto here.” Sako scolded, satisfied with seeing Monoma’s face pale.

“Why don’t you two head to Nieto’s room to play.” Compress added, hoping to ease the tension between the two boys.

Shouto could feel Monoma’s death glare on him as they walked to his bedroom. He wishes he had just stayed in his room.

“When did you even get here?” Monoma asks, cutting through the thick silence.

“Um, I'm not sure. I think it's been a couple weeks, maybe a month ago.” Shouto replied.

“You're still fairly new then. I suppose you have an escape plan already?” The boy asked with a scrutinizing glare.

“No, why would I?” Shouto answered, confused. He hasn't thought about leaving his brother since his first day home. And even then it was a more reluctant thought that he really didn't even want to do.

“Because you're a hero that was kidnapped by villains! Of course you should be planning to escape!” Nieto exclaimed. He knows he’s not the poster boy for typical heroes but before he gave up being a hero even he had tried to escape a couple of times.

“I'm not a hero anymore and I wasn’t kidnapped. My brother just came to pick me up like he had always promised me. As for escaping, why would I do that? I like it here.” Shouto answered honestly.

“Are you really that pathetic? Your morals didn't even last a month before you gave up! You were supposed to be one of the most promising heroes of our generation. What is wrong with you?!” The blond boy screamed outraged with Shouto’s behavior.

“Well I never wanted to be a hero! Everyone around me just expected me to. If hero society hadn’t crumbled, yes I would still be one. But only because I could never get away with not being one. Everyone would always look at me as the son of Endeavor and powerful quirk and wonder when I was going to become a hero, not if I wanted to be one at all. Now that it's gone and the only option for people who want to be heroes is to rebuild an entire society. I would rather not fight my own family for some stupid dream I didn't even want to begin with.” Shouto yelled back.

“So you were blessed with a perfectly heroic quirk and the number two hero as your father and you’d give it all up like it meant nothing.” Monoma yelled.

“Shut up! You know nothing about me or my life and what I went through.” Shouto growled.

“Oh please like a perfect little rich boy like you ever went through hardship.” Monoma scoffed.

“I was created from a quirk marriage for one purpose and that was to create the perfect hero that would beat All Might like my father never could. My father bought my mother and forced her to have three children before I was born. My oldest brother had a defective quirk not suited for his body and my two other siblings had weak quirks so they were neglected. Before I was born my eldest brother was trained by my father until his skin would burn from the inside out. His body was made to handle ice but he had a fire quirk. When I turned four my quirk came in and I was abused everyday in the name of training. Do you think it's a blessing to beat a four year old until they vomit everyday? Later my eldest brother tried to stop my father and was almost killed. The stress eventually made my mother go insane and she gave me the scar on my face. The ‘training’ went on for years until I got into UA and then my brother saved me.” Shouto explained with big tears running down his face.

“Do you want my quirk since you think it such a waste not being used for heroics. Because I can ask Shigaraki and he can give it to you because I don’t care anymore. You can take it and go try to be a hero because I won’t. I didn't even want the stupid thing in the first place!” Shouto cried out, staring at the sick looking blonde.

“Hey, what's going on in here?!” Dabi yelled as he and Compress rushed into the room to see Shouto sobbing and Monoma looking pale.

“Papa I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to make him cry! I'm sorry.” Monoma apologized with teary eyes turning to hug his father.

“Its okay Neito, can you tell me what happened?” Sako asked only to receive no response but a head shake and eyes looking anywhere but him.

“How about you Shouto, can you tell me what Nieto did to upset you?” Compress asked, looking over to the sniffling boy being held by Dabi.

“He said that I was pathetic for not trying to escape and that I was wasting my quirk not being a hero.” Shouto said, pointing at the blond in question, happy to get him in trouble and finally get a taste of his own medicine.

“Neito, is that true?” Sako asked. The boy just nodded looking down at his socked feet.

“Well seems like this play date is over. We can try again once you retrain him.” Dabi said ready to take Shouto and walk out of there.

“Yes it would seem it is. You two can let yourselves out. I've got a brat to punish.” Compress said as he closed the door to Monoma’s room.

The ride back to their floor was silent beside the sound of Shouto’s sniffles.

“Well that went well…” Touya said sarcastically, as the doors opened to their floor.

“I told you this would happen Touya-nii. He hates me.” Shouto cried. He doesn’t really care if Monoma likes him or not. But his reaction to him scared Shouto. What if his actual friends react the same way.

“Shouto he doesn’t hate you he is just having a hard time adjusting to his new life and needs some re-education. You’ll see eventually all the other kids will be like you too. Some just take a bit longer to train.” Touya explained gently, trying not to make Shouto break out into tears again.

“Okay Touya-nii,” Shouto replied sullenly. Even if it takes them a while eventually all his friends will be with him again. 

Five months later

In the following months his brother sorted out a routine for them. Most days Dabi would be there to wake him up, play with him a bit and give him a bath and dress him before taking him to school but when he was away on league business Magne and Keigo usually filled in and were suitable caretakers. Shouto started his schooling with Monoma soon after their fight and they have settled into quite a rocky relationship of playing/learning together and having fun but also hating each other and trying to find ways to get the other in trouble. They were frenemies… for now just until Shouto can get his real friends back.

He’s allowed to roam the mansion within reason now and allowed to visit whoever his heart desires. He usually likes to visit Toga, Kiego, and Tomura the most. The girl would act like his big sister and never hesitated to spoil Shouto and give him something fun to do. While Tomura showed him how to play video games and was always happy to play with him. Shouto liked him; he never got mad at shouto when he made them lose or got frustrated when Shouto couldn’t understand the mechanics of a game, he also regularly liked to spoil Shouto with new games and consoles much to Dabi’s ire.

Hawks would take him on mini flights around the mansion and tickle him half to death with his feathers. The man would regularly spend his free time with them on their floor. Keigo was always happy to entertain him playing hide and seek with him or tag. Shouto really likes Keigo and Keigo really likes his big brother too so that makes him one of Shouto’s favorite people. He doesn't like when they send him away while both of them are home though. He doesn’t know what they're doing and why he can't be there with them but whenever he asks anyone in the league they just give him amused looks and tell him he’ll understand when he’s older. But knowing how Dabi is that day may never come, many of the league thought.

The others also really liked Shouto’s presence and would regularly seek him out to spoil and cuddle. Twice was really funny and always made Shouto laugh. The man was really sweet despite the contradictions he would blurt out. Jin was what Shouto thought a good father should be like. Sometimes when he saw the way the man interacted with Toga it made his heart ache. He wishes he could have had a kind father like Jin when he was younger.

Magne was a kind and motherly figure in their home. She was one who he seeked out when he was longing for his mother. When his heart ached and he wanted nothing more than to see his mom. She would brush away his tears and comfort him until he felt better. She wasn't his mama but it helped and he appreciated her a lot. For now he just had to wait until the rest of his family was found and relocated. He really wanted to see his Mom and his other siblings.

Spinner was fun too. He taught him how to be a super secret ninja and how to use swords. Until his big brother found out and after that visits with Spinner had to be supervised to make sure he didn't give more swords to the baby. Shouto pouted for an entire week when his lessons were taken away but the restrictions were never lifted.

Mr.Compress was nice and showed him his magic tricks and would play with him too. But Shouto rarely goes up to him for that because Monoma always gets a jealous pout on his face and will be mad at him for days. Which he understands he doesn't like sharing his brother either. One time Monoma asked Dabi to carry him to his room just to make Shouto mad. And his brother did it?! He couldn’t carry both of them at the same time so Shouto had to trail behind them with Monoma giving him smug looks the entire time. That was the only time Shouto wished he had his quirk so he could fight the other boy properly. And fight they did, the next day Shouto waited until no one was looking and tackled Monoma pulling his hair and biting him while the other boy flailed, slapping him wherever he could reach. They were eventually separated by Kurogiri and sent off to their parents to be punished. Neither boy could sit very well at dinner that night after the spankings they received.

Kurogiri was a strict but kind man. He didn't hesitate to swat them when they were acting bratty but he also loved making them sweet desserts and cute bento boxes for lunch. The man said they both reminded him of his days taking care of Tomura and Touya. Much to the younger villains ire insisting that they had never been as bratty or as cute as Nieto and Shouto are. Kurgiri disagreed stating that they most certainly were a pair of cute brats making the duo blush.

One day Tomura stopped Dabi out of the blue to ask how Shouto’s behavior has been recently.

“He’s been good, why?” Dabi answered, confused. 

“Because Izuku has been behaving really well and making a lot of progress recently and has been begging to see the little peppermint for a while now. I thought I could give him a little reward to help him settle in.” Tomura explained.

“He’s been good enough for a playdate? That’s new, but yeah when do you want them to have to meet?” Dabi said surprised that the stubborn green brat was actually doing well.

“I promised Izuku today. If you're not busy.” Tomura winced, hoping they weren't busy; he would hate to disappoint his little brother.

“That's fine I'll go get Shouto ready then. We can meet at the play area in the garden in half an hour.” The scarred man said, already walking away.

“Okay. See you in a bit.” Tomura replied.

Dabi rode the elevator up thinking of how excited Shouto was going to be to see his friend. When he got to their floor he went straight to Shouto’s room and opened the door. Privacy is a concept Shouto has never understood so he doesn't bother knocking.

“Hey Firefly I got some good news,” Dabi said, walking in to see Shouto on his bed playing a game on his switch.

“What is it nii-chan?” Shouto asked, pausing his game looking at his brother with big round eyes and a cute little smile.

“Tomura says Izuku’s made a lot of progress recently and he wants to reward him with a playdate with you today.” Touya said watching his little brother's eyes light up.

“Really!!” Shouto gasped, bouncing a little in excitement. He's been waiting so long to see his friends. He’s so happy they're starting to like it here too.

“Yeah firefly. Come here let's get you dressed then we can go meet them in the garden.” Touya replied while picking out an outfit for Shouto to wear.

“Okay nii-chan!” Shouto answered, lifting his arms up to be undressed. He thought his big brother changing him and giving him baths was a little strange at first but if it makes Touya-nii happy he doesn’t mind. His brother thinks he had grew up too overly independent so he often did things like spoon feeding him and carrying him around to try to break him out of his old bad habits. Now that he has Touya-nii back, he's not supposed to be independent ever again.

“So what are you going to do with your friend?” Dabi asked as he changed Shouto into a fluffy light brown hooded sweater with bear ears and matching brown pants with a bear’s face on the butt. Again Shouto thought the clothes were a little bit childish but if it made his brother happy then he doesn’t care. 

“I’m going to tell him all about my new school and my new game Tomura got me and the lessons spinner taught me and what Monoma and I do so at school and-” Shouto babbled on about all the things he was going to tell Midoriya while his brother watched him fondly responding with the appropriate hmms and ahhs. Touya hasn’t seen Shouto act so excitable since before his quirk came in, it was good to see it coming back. His baby brother has been through a hard life. He deserves to be a happy kid for once.

Once he was finished putting on Shouto’s brown fuzzy boots Dabi picked the boy up, placing him on his hip and headed to the elevator. On their way down Shouto continues to babble to his big brother about anything and everything that has happened in the past six months that he was going to tell Izuku about. The closer they got to the garden the more Shouto would wiggle happily wanting to get there faster. Dabi held him tighter as they walked into the garden towards the play area.

“Shouto!” Izuku yelled, still holding onto Tomura’s hand. This was his one and only chance he and Shouto had to escape and make a plan to come get the others once they find some outside help. Maybe they can find a way to bring heroes in from other countries to help.

“Izuku! Can I go down please?” Shouto called back happily before asking to be put down. 

“Of course,” Dabi said watching the boy start to run toward Izuku the second his feet touched the ground.

“I missed you.” Shouto murmured as he pulled Izuku into a hug.

“Yeah I missed you too,” Izuku said, tearing up. Tomura and Dabi watched fondly off to the side, letting the boys have a moment to themselves.

“Let's go play,” Shouto said, pointing towards the massive playground in the garden.

“Um okay, let me ask Tomu-nii first?” Izuku answered confused as to why Shouto was asking to play with him. Maybe he wants to hide in the structure so they can plan their escape without prying eyes watching them, Izuku thought walking back towards the adults.

 “Nii-chan can I go play on slides with Shou-chan please?” Izuku asked with pleading puppy dog eyes towards Tomura.

“Sure, just stay where we can see you.” Tomura replied.

“Thank you nii-chan!” Izuku yelled hugging Tomura quickly before running back to Shouto. Not noticing Shouto watching him and Tomura with a happy smile.

“Let's go!” Midoriya yelled, taking Shouto’s hand in his and ran toward the play structure.

“Let's go on the slide first,” Shouto said, already climbing the ladder.

“Um okay,” Izuku answered, following his friend up the ladder.

“Um Shouto,” Izuku tried to talk to the boy but he was already sliding down. Izuku reluctantly followed him down.

“Let's go again.” Shouto giggled racing back to the top of the slide before Izuku could catch up to him.

“Shouto wait-” Izuku tried but his friend was already going down the slide again. Maybe he was just trying to make them look less suspicious, Izuku thought. He decided to wait on the platform near the slide for Shouto to come back up.

“Izuku, why aren't you playing? Do you not like the slide?” Shouto asked, confused. Maybe Midorya had never been on one and he didn't like it. Shouto had also never been on a playground before he came here. But he found the experience fun; it was kinda like a little obstacle course.

“No it's not that I thought maybe we should talk first. Since we haven't seen each other in so long.” Izuku explained trying to get Shouto to stop playing. Shouto is acting a lot different from how he remembered him. He’s acting a lot more childishly and happy than ever before and while that should be a good thing he doesn’t know if it is necessarily by choice or if he was being brainwashed.

“So what have you been doing since you got kidnapped?” Izuku asked, startled by the look of displeasure Shouto sent him.

“I don’t know why you guys keep saying that. I wasn’t kidnapped, Touya-nii just came to pick me up like he always promised he would. A big brother taking back his little brother is not kidnapping.” Shouto answered with an irritated pout.

“S-sure... so what have you been doing?” Izuku stuttered, feeling like ice was being dripped directly into his veins. There's no way he is being serious right?

“Oh yeah I was just about to tell you at first I was only with Touya-nii and I couldn't leave my room and then I was good and I got to meet everyone and they let me walk around now. You don’t have to worry about the league, they are all very nice. Tomura plays games with me and Toga plays with me and Spinner teached me how to be a ninja, and Twice is really funny-” Shouto babbled on not noticing the boy in front of him no longer paying attention.

Izuku felt like he had been stabbed in the chest. From what he heard it sounds like Shouto has had access to roam around freely for a long time now. So why hasn't he tried to escape?! Maybe he's been waiting for help?

“So Shouto, have you tried to escape yet?” Izuku asked gently, trying not to anger the boy in front of him again.

“Um no.” Shouto answered confused. Mononma had asked him the same question when they first met too. 

“It's okay, I'll help you now. I need you to help me break my collar and then I'll break yours and we'll make a run for it towards the nearest exit.” Izuku said urgently.

“W-wait, you want to leave now? B-but you and Tomura looked like you were getting along so well.” Shouto stuttered, feeling his heart break. He had thought his friend was happy to be here too but he just wanted to betray Tomu-chan.

“I know it's sudden but this is our only chance. We'll come back to rescue everyone else once we can get some help from other heroes. And don’t worry about Tomura, he thinks I'm happy being his dumb little brother. He won't notice a thing until it’s too late.” Izuku said with a smirk.

“You've been lying this whole time?” Shouto questioned feeling angry for Tomu-chan. Tomura was so nice to him he didn’t deserve Izuku acting this way towards him.

“Well yeah it's not like anyone can actually like it here.” Izuku scoffed, not understanding why Shouto was acting this way. They needed to hurry up and get out of here he thought. When suddenly Shouto bolted down the steps toward the edge of the yard. Izuku, thinking Shouto hadn't heard the plan correctly, ran after him.

“Wait! We were supposed to break the collars first!” Izuku whisper-shouted. Well he can pretend they are playing tag. It wasn’t until he heard Shouto scream for his brother that he noticed that they were actually running toward their kidnappers instead of away. Izuku stopped dead in his tracks but it was too late.

“Touya-nii” Shouto screamed, while tears ran down his face. Tomura and Dabi exchanged looks of concern.

“What wrong firefly?” Dabi said, picking up his little brother. Not again he groaned internally. What’s with all these little brats and making Shouto cry?

“Izuku said he wanted to escape and that he was going to take me with him. He said he was lying to Tomu-chan the whole time so he could get a playdate to escape.” Shouto stuttered out through his sobs.

“Shouto what are you doing?! You're supposed to be a hero! We need to get out of here.” Izuku screamed in rage. His only chance at escape had just been destroyed by Shouto. 

“I don’t want to be a hero! I just want to stay with Touya!” Shouto yelled back. They're screaming match was interrupted by an angry Tomura.

“Izuku” Shigaraki growled as he stalked toward his little brother. He can’t believe the brat has been lying to him for months. Oh he is going to be punished severely.

“Wait Tenko-nii he’s lying. I promise I wasn’t trying to-” The boy tried to lie.

“Save it Izuku. Shouto has a much better track record when it comes to lying than you do.” Tomura snarled.

“I-” Izuku couldn’t come up with any excuse so he just ran as fast as he could trying to get away. 

Tomura just pressed a button on his phone and Izuku could feel a needle puncture his neck. Soon he was falling on his back looking up at Tomura Dabi and Shouto staring down at him as his vision started to fade.

“Shouto how could you…” was the last thing Izuku said as the world went black .

“Touya-nii I want to go home” Shouto whined into his brother's neck. The exhaustion of Izuku’s betrayal started to weigh on him.

“All right firefly, anything for you” Touya purred with a deranged smirk on his face. He was thoroughly satisfied with how today’s playdate had gone. While Tomura grimaces carrying his reckless brat back already thinking of all the ways he’ll punish him for his misdeed. 

What neither boy had known was that today had been a test for both of them. Their collars have hidden microphones built into them. Touya and Tomura had been listening the entire time… 

Start/Previous/Next

[softbutchthatlovesyou]

This might sound defensive but if you're attracted to a 100% binary trans man as a woman then that's straight regardless of what you say, because trans men are men full stop, maybe it's unintentional for you but there's a lot of trans men aren't really men or are women-lite shit going around, reanalyze yourself and your transphobia because that's straight up awful shit and I'm so sick of seeing this being spread around it's fucking conversion therapy shit disguised as something positive reanalyze why you want trans men to be with lesbians so badly when lesbians traditionally mean and is understood by wide society to be women liking women, like actually sit and think about that, maybe it's hard to admit that it's offense but good fucking god

You seem to be under the assumption that I am forcing the tran men who identify as Lesbians to be not fully men or women lite and you are very wrong?? I do not see a trans man as any less of a man for being a Lesbian. He is a Man and A Lesbian. They are both true. They are not conflicting labels just because of societies perceptions of a word that was forcefully adjusted after Lesbian separatism.

Yow however are the one assigning those people a sexuality based on how you see their relationships. Is a woman supposed to break up or change her entire sexuality because her partner came out and she didn't stop being attracted to him? What if she still primarily dates women after they breakup for unrelated reasons? Does she earn being a Lesbian back? Or maybe consider how many trans men are butches in the community who are Men and Lesbians and their femmes love them and are no less lesbian to any of their peers. What about those who are firmly Trans men and Trans Women at the same time? Do they stop being a lesbian on "Man days"? Do they earn it back on women days? You know, to make sure on "man days" they aren't viewed as Womenlite for being a lesbian by their own choice. Where's the line anon?

It sounds defensive because it is. You are not reading a word I've said about any of this and are shoving shit I don't believe into my inbox under the guise that you think I condone any of what the fuck you iust said.

I am a man and spend half my time fighting to be seen properly as one against transphobic Lesbians who insist I have to be a Girl Butch otherwise they have the right to dictate who I can date. I fucking know more than enough about people who want to change my gender to fit their transphobic views. I spend an entire portion of my blog fighting about transmasculine rights if you bothered to look around before you sent this accusatory ask.

Some Trans Men are Lesbians because THEY WANT TO BE. When I talk about Lesbian Trans Men I am talking about ME and THEM. If you cannot understand that then you are not having the same conversation as me.

Also the fucking Lesbiphobia of revoking someones right to be a Lesbian because you don't see it that way is disgusting. Who the fuck are you to think it's okay to tell somone they aren't who they say they are? we got a council that can kick us out of our little clubs since that's how you wanna treat these identities?

[shakertwelve]

Hey hii hello hiiii what do u think was Marquis trigger backstory? Since ur the professional on him and we don’t know shit about him(besides his apparent vampirism lmfao)

Interested in your marquis backstory thoughts because his power implies a lot but I can’t quite put it together - there’s SOMETHING that he feels the bones breaking each time and doesn’t show it but idk what. Forced to play into a role even as it causes agony? Macabre leaning? What’s goin on there

SO the first big thing about marquis's background is that i really don't think he grew up with any wealth or comfort at all—his cape persona is a performance that he's putting on to get as far as possible from his much more humble origins, imo. heathcliff stuff. obvious tension of identity there that fits with a changer power and also makes sense with his pain tolerance, which suggests he's had a lot of experience bearing through pain without any help, and the way he talks; he often sounds like he's picking his words deliberately and even trying to give off an air of sophistication, but he never actually uses any words that are especially fancy or obscure. ward messes with this a bit by making him act like an actual cartoon vampire sometimes, but i think i'm still pretty close to the mark.

at one point he mentions that his father was a doctor, but i don't think the man he's referring to there is his biological father—his wish for the brigade not to put amelia into the foster system makes me think he himself spent some time in the system and didn't enjoy it (pretty plausible, especially considering this would've been in the 70s and 80s) before he eventually ended up with the man he thinks of as his father, which is why he's hopeful that amelia will be alright if she's with a good family from the start.

if anything i think he probably grew up more like rachel than anyone else in the cast, but while rachel dealt with being treated badly by human society by forming connections with her dogs instead, marquis never totally gave up on the idea that he could prove himself to be worthy. his dedication to being a "noble" villain, to me, seems like it comes from an almost childish sense of fairness; he has to believe that if he makes himself respectable, people will recognize it and respect him, if he holds himself to a higher standard he won't just be treated as another criminal, if he chooses his words carefully enough he won't be misinterpreted, and if he trusts his daughter to the dallons they'll rise to the occasion and take care of her. it's something he notes makes it difficult for him to understand amy once they're reunited, because she lacks that same internal drive; she's already seen that no matter what she did, she was never really treated like she belonged in the dallon family, so she can't make herself care enough to try anymore. my guess is that it's different for marquis because he had a father figure he actually looked up to, who (in marquis's memories) was a self-made man who was respected on his own terms, and if his father did it right, he can, too.

in a literal sense, his power is the ability to contort himself into any shape that could possibly be wanted from him, but he has to keep breaking himself over and over again to do it—and he does! his shard doesn't even need to throw in anything to protect him from the pain, because he's already willing to do anything just to become someone who can be accepted like he wants. trying to describe the exact moment of his trigger would take more speculation (i could sketch out a timeline but i'd really just be making up the details), but i think those are the underlying issues that are already cooking in his head when it happens.

[gigglygloatinggremlin]

I don't know if anyone's still alive here, but way back when I still cared about OUAT, I had a little AU cooking where Rumplestiltskin adopted Zelena.

Do I have your attention? Good. So remember when Cora swindled Rumpel into changing her payment in the contract from HER first-born to THEIR first-born? What if he DIDN'T though?

Cora's first-born is not Regina.

So he's standing there absoltely baffled when a ginger toddler appears in his castle. He checks what's up. Is this thing working? Why yes, his magic mumbo-jumbo responds. That's your payment, Cora's first-born. Take it or leave it. So he takes her in.

Zelena proves to be a promising witch anyway, so it's cool, but still stings.

What this accomplishes for Zelena as a character is that her whole thing with Rumpel is no longer projecting her daddy issues onto him, it's her BEEFING with her actual DAD.

Because surprise, surprise, you stupid reptile! You are still the most important person in her life, thus, for the curse to work she has to take YOU out.

I mean he tries to prevent that, he really does. But her mother did sell her to Rumpel even if she had actively tried to prevent that. Her actual father is probably dead in a ditch. Her previous adoptive father hates her. And her sister is a literal princess being raised by both of her parents. Even if it isn't Regina's fault she seemingly had it better from the start (it's very hard to write this with a straight face, but as far as Zelena's concerned, that's the truth), in Zelena's heart, her sister can't compete with the man who raised her.

So Rumpelstiltskin does what Rumpelstiltskin does best and drops her like a hot potato. And on the next day Rumpel starts coaching Regina.

Great, now she's green.

Also, Zelena knows why her dad needs that stupid portal, in my mind she's grown up on stories of her older brother, lost and alone in a cruel magicless (gasp!) dimension, and how they need to find and save him. And in all her teenage overcompensating glory, Zelena decides to look for Baelfire herself. Then Rumpel will see how great of a daughter she is, and that she totally won't have to commit patricide, and she, her dad, big brother and magic will all live happily ever after.

Zelena goes to the different worlds she does have access to, which leads her to Oz, because why is it that they can hop between these worlds and not to the one Baelfire is in? Maybe if she goes to Oz this time, from there she'll find a path to another world, and from that one to another, and if she keeps hopping between different dimensions, she'll come across the right one. After all, the wizard of the Emerald City is from there. He got there somehow, if she could just figure out how, then she's golden.

But then the whole thing with Glinda happens, and it is not pretty. Zelena's had eighteen or so years of direct exposure to magic and Rumpel's rancid vibes, she should have grown up absolutely vicious in this AU. I want her to drag Glinda and read her for filth. Like, what do you mean "Dorothy must have powerful magic to have defeated an evil witch?" When a house falls down on you, you die, it's basic physics! This is a child that is lost, she is not interested in your sorceress secret society, she wants to go back to Kansas, lady! So you always wanted to get rid of the Wizard, huh? Well, why didn't you?

(Glinda in this show to this day makes me so irrationally mad. What on Earth was that storyline?)

The obvious parallels between how she was treated by Glinda and has been treated by Rumpel give Zelena a reality check and upon returning to Rumpel's castle, no closer to finding Baelfire than she had been before leaving, Zelena has an explosive argument with her adoptive dad. Zelena takes out the RECEIPTS that have been piling up throughout her teenagehood. The argument ends with her yelling that Baelfire is so hard to reach now, because he just wanted to get away from Rumpel that badly.

Zelena’s officially disowned, but still alive, so that's cool.

Zelena takes permanent residence in Oz and stews in her misery. The only thing that can make her feel better is making her dad’s life harder. She probably meddles in his relationship with Belle a lot. Maybe she even gathers the courage to try and connect with Regina.

Speaking of vulnerable young women who lost their safety net and are at the mercy of powerful geriatric men.

Hades enters!

Now, you’ve lasted this long, but I’m gonna ask you for some more patience.

Hades in this AU is just a Little closer to the source material.

And by that I mean he asks a woman’s father for her hand and then kidnaps her.

You cannot tell me Rumpel wouldn’t have agreed immediately. Zelena can be and has been enough of a nuisance and an outright obstacle to his plans that he’d want her OUT of the picture no matter what means he has to take.

Now she’s trapped in the Underworld, tricked into eating the pomegranate seeds, biting her tongue lest her dear husband has the bright idea to spike her wine with Lethe water. His family is SO WEIRD, her sister-in-law offers to adopt her because of a loophole that would let her see sunlight for half a year, but her brother-in-law WILL try to seduce or rape her if they’re ever left alone together and her father-in-law keeps moaning in her and her husband’s basement. “Sure, honey, I will help you overthrow your creep of a brother. Of course, you’ll take the throne. Who else? Your bajillion nieces and nephews that have been eyeing the position for millennia? Pfft, you’re so funny, darling.”

Speaking of family. Sitting side by side, they judge her birth mother and her adoptive brother she’d never got to meet. Both leave her unmoored and emotional, but in completely different ways. Maybe she gets closure with them, maybe she doesn’t. Time goes by, and Zelena dreads there won’t be any familiar faces left to see at the trial.

Finally, she sees her father there. And her husband thinks she’s excited to punish him, but, in reality, Zelena knows Rumpelstiltskin. He will not be staying dead for long. This is her chance to escape. Then she can kill him again.

In conclusion, Zelena obliterating Hades with a lightning bolt is less of a sacrifice and more of a divorce in this AU. I want her to be a mirror to Regina after the gang rescues her in a way that Zelena is a great sister, but she’s still evil. I know that’s basically canon by the end of the series, but imagine the opportunities of this dynamic if it had only 15% of its canonical emotional baggage. The absolute chaos of it. Wait, does that make her Henry’s aunt times two?

Do you see the vision now?

Did the vision come to me when I was re-watching St Trinian's and heard the snootiest, brattiest, most British "Daddy" in all cinema history? Yes, it did.

Edit: Y’all, I just remembered Baelfire would be alive in this actually! Can you imagine the drama of him coming after Rumpel? Him trying to convince Zelena to return their father to the world of the living? Like Orpheus? And succeed? And Rumpel has to live with the knowledge that had the roles been reversed, he would have failed and Baelfire would have been stuck in the Underworld forever? Can you imagine that?!?!

[arlington-loverboy]

Sweet Elite x Bridgerton (Pt. 2)

Following on from the previous post, I wrote what I think each of the Main 10 would do in this au!

━━━━━━━━

Claire:

She is probably one of Arlington's most renowned doctor/botanists. She loves her work and spends a lot of time in her greenhouse and is used to being ignored by society.

Her family insisted that she accept the Queen's idea to nominate her, she gave in to make them happy although she did not expect much.

She was so nervous and shy at first that she didn't seem to be interested at all, so everyone tried to match Scholar with someone else.

When she and Scholar finally had a chance to interact, they both found understanding and acceptance in each other like never before in their lives.

She has conflicting feelings about Scholar being Lady Whistledown, it seems cruel to spread rumours, but she knows they are not bad people and have meant well from the beginning.

Tadashi:

His family's scandal damaged his reputation and left him in a difficult situation, but being the Queen's protégé has its advantages.

He's not too worried about getting married, but the Queen decided to nominate him so he accepted it as an assignment.

Tadashi: "I have struggled in vain against my good judgement, my own expectations and will, I can't take it anymore. I love you, I cannot live without you. Despite the inferiority of your birth and the scandal surrounding your circumstances." Scholar: "Oh, me too- Wait, against your good judgment?"

Scholar had to explain to their father that they were not being bullied into marriage, Tadashi just has a strange way of courting.

Lady Whistledown helped clean up his reputation after the scandal, he likes knowing that Scholar genuinely cares about him. He has never paid much attention to society gossip anyway, he just hopes Scholar is safe.

Raquel:

She was not willing to marry, it was her parents who made the decision.

She never treated Scholar badly despite initial attempts to match them up, she knew it wasn't their fault.

She began to grow fond of Scholar when they proved to be quite adventurous and fun, but her heart was smitten when Scholar kicked her butt in a shooting competition.

At one point Scholar thought there was really no interest on her part and accepted the courtship of others, Rachel burst into their home at dawn the next day to ask their father for they hand in marriage.

She thinks having Lady Whistledown as a wife is fucking sexy and cool, if she could she'd brag about it, but she will protect Scholar's secret with her life.

Alistair:

He did not expect to be a candidate for the Diamond of the Season, after all, he only rubs shoulders with society because of the inheritance he received from a distant aunt.

He felt he was not a good match for them, after all, his family was still on a slightly higher scale than his own.

His younger brothers were a crucial part of the courtship, they plotted and even forged letters to motivate Scholar and him to meet and fall in love.

His whole family is delighted with Scholar and his father, they treat them as part of their family and often meet at their country house.

He is more concerned about Scholar being caught than the issue of them being Lady Whistledown itself.

Ellie:

As a natural inventor, Ellie knew what it was like to be seen as an outsider and to be constantly questioned by society, so she did not hesitate to extend a helping hand to Scholar from the start.

Neither she nor her family had any urgency for a marriage, but the Queen thought that marriage might appease her mischievous personality.

The moment she discovered that Scholar matched her freak Arlington trembled.

Since their marriage she calls Scholar her muse and tries to name all her inventions after them.

She finds all the logistics behind the gossip and publishing network that Scholar created interesting. She is proud of her spouse's work and will do anything to help them protect and evolve their business.

Axel:

The most renowned musician of the moment in society, hundreds of bachelors line up every season hoping to be the lucky one to become his spouse.

He was definitely not willing to marry, it was all nonsense orchestrated by his benefactors and patrons.

He had a first engagement that ended badly and became wary of romance, he tried to put some distance between them at first, but Scholar was simply too charming.

Right when everyone was about to dismiss the idea, Axel rode dramatically across Arlington on horseback to find Scholar and ask them to marry him.

He was initially conflicted about Scholar being Lady Whistledown, but remembered that Scholar never wrote anything scandalous and cruel about him unlike the mainstream press (he was secretly always a fan of Lady Whistledown because he likes gossip and mayhem).

Karolina:

As the perfect daughter of one of Arlington's oldest families, she and the entire society had very high expectations about who she marries.

‘Of all the beauties and talents of the season, the diamond had to be YOU? Something must be clouding the Queen's judgement’.

“If I loved you less, I could talk about it more”.

Not ONE SINGLE SOUL thought they were really going to get married, the day the church announced it, everyone's jaws dropped.

Scholar swore in front of their father that they would never marry Karolina because she was a heartless person, their father reminds them every time he wants to make fun of them.

She knows talent when she sees it, admires Scholar's brilliant mind and the grace with which they have managed their secret business. Lady Whistledown's publications have become even more irreverent and sarcastic since their marriage.

Neha:

She doesn't have much experience in society as her family is quite new, she became popular as a designer and works with Arlington's most famous dressmakers.

Rather than looking to marry for love, Neha was looking for someone she could count on to deal with the responsibilities of work and family.

She was quite cold at first because she thought Scholar would not understand her due to the difference in their conditions and status, but the moment she saw how hardworking Scholar is she slowly let her guard down.

She feared that Scholar would not like her family, as they are very important to her and Scholar felt the same way, however, the moment the families were reunited it was all laughter and joy.

As someone who started her business from scratch, Neha admires and respects Scholar's career as Lady Whistledown. The two help each other to innovate and expand their businesses.

Tegan:

Despite being from one of Arlington's most prominent families, Tegan always let the spotlight of society fall on his parents and sister.

His parents put pressure on him to marry, he didn't even know the Queen well enough to be nominated.

He felt sorry for Scholar because he knew they both preferred to be invisible and watch from a distance during the seasons.

Scholar became his refuge, they both chose a small wedding and spend the whole day at home after their marriage.

When he found out that Scholar was Lady Whistledown he was surprised, the person he loved was much more amazing and brave than he had imagined, he definitely had to help them continue their dream.

Tyler:

His family has been involved in the arts for generations and the Queen holds them in high esteem, which is why she chose Tyler as a candidate despite considering him a little… unconventional.

The situation made him incredibly nervous by putting him in the public eye, as if the family reputation he had to maintain was not enough.

He always dreamed of a dramatic and epic love story, but the moment he saw Scholar he couldn't help but gravitate towards them without knowing it.

Scholar becomes one of their greatest sources of motivation, they both feel free and supported by being together, so much so that he no longer worry about what society says about him.

He always loved Lady Whistledown, laughing out loud at the writer's witticisms. Since their marriage the publications became even more humorous beyond sarcasm, sometimes accompanied by small illustrations by an unidentifiable author.

[jadedbutler]

Who else up terrorized by Moriarty no yuukoku

Sherlock encountering William at a Crime Scene (TM) what happens next may sadden you

Moonlight bleeds through the white muslin curtains billowing over the open balcony windows, silhouetting his slender form.

All the other lights in the manor have been snuffed out. He’s resting back against a nightstand by the window, cigarette poised between the elegant, gloved fingers of one hand still dripping wet with noble blood. The other hand loosely grips the blade sheathed in his cane. 

A cruel wind outside howls. The dark coat draped over his narrow shoulders flutters from the draft. He tilts his head slightly, and the moon caresses his delicate features, the slight down-turned curve of his mouth, the pale lashes dipped over his eyes. Breathtaking – the very portrait of a fallen angel, isn’t he?

“Fancy meeting you here~” Sherlock says casually, as if he’s not breath-taken, sidling up next to him. Careful not to step in the puddle of blood soaking the thick carpet, courtesy of the cane-sword, of course. Doesn’t exactly take a master detective to piece that one together.

The Lord of Crime, William James Moriarty, doesn’t acknowledge him right away. He purses his lips, not-quite pouting as he exhales a thin stream of smoke into the darkness. The tobacco somewhat masks the smell of carnage and kerosene surrounding him.

Although he’s a mere half-metre away, he’s so, terribly distant. Look, but don’t touch. Fragile in the way a broken window is fragile – come too close, and you’ll get yourself hurt. Sherlock wants so badly to cup that porcelain-cut face in his hands, brush away the tears he cannot shed. 

Instead, Sherlock gestures with his own unlit cigarette, perched between his middle and index fingertips. “Got a light?” 

The carmine eyes that finally rise to meet Sherlock’s gaze catch none of the moon’s light. None of the sparkle that had once danced in his irises, when he looked at the golden ratio or chatted at length about puzzles and mysteries. Now, dull and dark as the stains on the carpet.

Liam treats Sherlock with a wordless smile, raising his cigarette to his lips and tipping his head forward, offering. 

Sherlock leans in, pressing the end of his cigarette to the cherry of Liam’s, and they both inhale in unison until an orange ember blossoms between them. 

A lingering pause, ash-scented and bitter. 

Liam breaks first. “Are you here to arrest me, Mr. Holmes?” he asks in those deceptively demure tones of his. “I’m afraid that I can’t afford to formally cross your path for a little while longer.” 

Sherlock pulls back and sighs out a mouthful of smoke. “I’m hardly here on pure motives,” he holds up the earring he’d snatched from the cellar, presumably right before Liam had blessed the entire house with blood and combustible liquid. “But you already knew that, didn’t you? Liam.” 

The earring is a delicate thing – silver-backed and smithed into the shape of a leaf and stem, bearing tiny pearls as the bells of lily-of-the-valley. “It seemed like a simple request at first,” Sherlock drawls, flicking his hand so the tiny bells chime. “Finding this thing.”

Liam makes an obliging gesture with his smoking-hand. The grip on his cane does not ease for even a moment. 

Sherlock begins: “A young heiress from a neighbouring company is making her debut in society, and loses an earring – a gift from her late mother – the night after attending an event at a young lord’s manor. She’s set to leave London tomorrow, and wants the matching set before she departs.”

“Oho. Perhaps it had fallen off sometime during the festivities,” Liam murmurs, sliding his red gaze away from Sherlock and into some fixed point in the room’s shadows. “It’s easy to lose things in the fray.”

“ Perhaps ,” Sherlock snorts, batting his hand. “Except the young lord won’t let her search the premises the next day. Pretty stingy considering he was just throwing a party.” 

“I imagine he had some cleaning to do. It would be shameful to let a guest see the state of the place after such an eventful night.” 

Sherlock gives Liam a sharp look. He feels a tug at his mouth, and bites back the smile threatening to creep across his face. This feels far too much like the times Sherlock would ramble on to Liam about other cases and puzzles they’d solve together. 

“So the young lord happens to have a rather high turnover rate for servants, some who quit because of dreadfully low wages, and others who go missing entirely. A real piece of work, he is.”

“ Was ,” says Liam, softly. 

“Of course,” Sherlock continues, ashing into a cigarette case he’s untucked from his pocket. Can’t afford to leave around circumstantial evidence and get pinned as an accomplice, even if Liam is clearly going to burn this bloody place to the ground. “The case had your handprints all over it. A lost earring leads to a decadent noble who starves his staff and toys with them in his spare time.”

Liam takes another contemplative drag of his cigarette. Smoke curls around his unwavering smile. “The young lady will be glad that you’ve retrieved her precious jewellery for her.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure she’ll be thrilled I’d pulled it from the corpse of the hapless dead servant who had nicked the damn thing,” Sherlock scowls, snuffing out his cigarette entirely.

“By the way,” he jerks his thumb back, “I had to give Scotland Yard a tip about the servant’s body in the cellar, so you should wrap this up before you actually do get arrested.”

Liam lowers his hand, cigarette held loosely between his fingertips. “I see,” he says, and dammit all if he doesn’t sound just a little disappointed!

Sherlock hisses out a sigh. “Y’know, Liam, if you want to see me, you know where I live. You can drop by any time.” Then, in a voice softer than he’d intended, so low that it almost breaks: “You don’t have to do this.”  

“On the contrary,” nothing about Liam’s tone or expression betrays him, but Sherlock still feels a profound, aching loneliness grip his heart, squeeze tight. “This is all I can do.” 

Curse this rank, corrupt society, for making Liam think this way about himself. 

Curse Liam, for choosing the shadows and blood, for hurting himself, for staining his hands with this worthless lot.

And curse Sherlock, for leaving him behind, slipping out into the night through the balcony while Liam stays behind and drops his cigarette onto the kerosene-soaked floors, drowning the accursed manor in flame.

Next time, next time will be different. Sherlock won’t let Liam stay a puzzle he can’t solve.  

I've linked the fluffy follow up here if u want to see it 😮‍💨✌️🚬

[thethirdromana]

I have a bunch of thoughts inspired by @animate-mush and @vickyvicarious' discussion on asylums and madness in the Woman in White and Dracula, but that discussion moved on before I had a chance to add to it, so this is going to have to be a separate post.

I'm thinking about this from the perspective of Bad People vs Bad Systems.

The Woman in White is a novel what goes wrong is the fault of bad systems. Laura lives in a system - a patriarchal society - that enables bad people to take advantage of her, and denies her the means of protecting herself.

But it seems to me that Wilkie Collins doesn't quite commit to the idea. The system fails when it's abused by bad people like Sir Percival Glyde and Count Fosco. But Collins only shows things going wrong as a result of bad people in a bad system. He doesn't show that same system leading good people to do bad things.

It's noticeable when we get the revelation about Anne Catherick's parentage. Until then, Sir Philip Fairlie is presented as a good man, and Laura's slavish adherence to his wishes could be a demonstration of how the patriarchy causes even good men to make women suffer. But the reveal that Sir Philip Fairlie is Anne Catherick's father upends that: he's just yet another morally flawed man in Laura's life. He doesn't harm Laura deliberately, but through Walter's narration Collins explicitly makes the connection between Sir Philip Fairlie's sins and everything that Laura suffers.

Contrast him with Walter, our morally pure hero. Walter often doesn't seem to treat Laura much better, but Collins clearly doesn't see it that way. For instance, it's striking to me how much Walter's treatment of Laura echoes her treatment in the asylum: she's confined to one location, lied to, and infantilised. Except when Walter does it, he's a good person, and it's presented as a good thing - even as romantic.

Wilkie Collins is more interested in talking about social issues than Bram Stoker is, but Stoker is more willing to take that further step and accept that bad systems also cause good people to do bad things. Jack Seward is a good person: he wants the best for his patients, he means well, but he also uses his power as an asylum-owner to abuse Renfield. The heroes exclude Mina from their discussions with the best of intentions, but it still ends badly for them. Collins never pursues this kind of storyline with Walter - or at least he hasn't yet, and I don't think it's coming.

Overall, harm in Dracula can happen regardless of intention. Harm in The Woman in White requires intention or at least indifference. I wonder how much of this is inherent to Collins' worldview, and how much is that the idea that patriarchal norms are bad even in the hands of good men would just have been a step too far for Collins' 1860s readership.