#2 hands and 1 quirk gone in the same day is INSANE

[just-mha-things]

Chapter 419 spoilers under the cut

WHAT THE FUCK WHY DID DEKU LOSE BOTH HIS ARMS 😭

[simpcxty]

Y/n Kaminari

TW: smut, marijuana use. Characters aged up to 21! Shiggy discovers his quirk doesn’t work when he’s having sex, unprotected sex, creampie, breeding kink shiggy, consensual sex,

I realized I had been neglecting my dear villains, so. Shiggy Fuckers, because I know you’re out there. I’m one of them. Don’t say I don’t love you. Here you go.

READ RESPONSIBLY PLEASE

Part 1 -

PART 2

It actually ends up being a month later till you see him again.

But not in the normal alley. No.

Right outside his hideout. So he thinks he must be seeing things. His brain must be showing him what he wants to see.

But then he sees two friends next to you and he realizes that’s not the case. It’s Saturday, he shouldn’t be surprised.

He wants to touch you, or at least have you look his way.

How desperate does that sound? So he keeps walking, walking towards his destination, which just so happens to be two stores past you.

Well damn.

Were his eyes deceiving him? Are you wearing his hoodie again? Fuck. You’re gonna kill him, and that baby blue skirt with fishnets? You’re gonna give him a heart attack. You’re going to give him a stroke. Because the way his hoodie scrunched around the skirt pulled the fabric up and you seemed to be getting irritated with the blue skirt.

He’s almost relieved when you don’t look up from whatever it is your friends are showing you as he gets into the dispensary, finally able to take a breath.

“Damn Boss, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He rolls his eyes at Dabi and walks behind the counter to get what he needs. Dabi mumbled something about a smoke break as he walked downstairs and Shigaraki nodded.

He mostly just needed a joint refill and a new cartridge but he grabbed an eighth anyway and sighs as the bell to the door signals someone had walked in.

“We’re closed for-“ but then he’s shutting up because as he stands up from behind the display, he sees you. Beautiful, right in front of him, perfect, squeezable, lovable you. Right in front of him and his eyes must be deceiving him right? You didn’t even notice him as he walked past. Right?

“Well damn, and I was hoping to get a few things-“

“Not to you- never to you.” Your eyebrow quirks at that.

“We’re never closed to you.” He’s blushing and you smile.

Tomura’s mouth went dry. He had already stuffed his new weed products into his hoodie pocket and was about to head downstairs to get prepared to be absolutely gone until he went looking for you tomorrow.

“Do me a favor and lock the front door? I’m going on a smoke break after this and I don’t know how long Dabi is going to take.” You blushed.

“How will I leave then?” You did it anyway and he just chuckles.

“You think you’re leaving babe?” Did he just? Yes. Yes he did. Oh my god he did.

If only he could just take you downstairs right now.

He was almost shocked when he heard what you were getting but then he felt you tug on his sleeve and he’s immediately forgetting that he’s supposed to be grabbing your products.

He seems to forget how to breathe when he finally urges himself to look at you. Really look at you. You’re so fucking beautiful and he knows that but he can’t help just wanting to fall asleep and wake up next to you, you’re so beautiful he can’t handle it at times. Your dyed blue hair had started to fade and it was fading into a pale little baby blue like his at the tips, still fairly dark at the roots. Needless to say. He was living for it, and the way you’d occasionally lick your lips and drag your tongue over your lip piercings.

When he finally wills himself to grab your chin he immediately leans in, and he wants to kiss you so bad but this stupid display is in the way, and he’s almost tempted to hop over it.

He doesn’t, instead opting to quickly grabbing the shit you ordered, stuffing it in a bag and dropping it on the counter. You grabbed it of course, but after that he’s leading you around the counter and grabbing your chin again with his pointer and thumb, just like every other time.

You’re the one that connects the kiss and after that he’s wrapping his arms around your waist and tapping your thigh.

You took the hint pretty quickly and let out a cute little ‘hmph’ as you slightly hop and wrap your arms and legs around him. Tomura only broke the kiss to walk down the stairs.

But you. You on the other hand. You were shoving your face in his neck and sucking dark purple marks that’d be visible to anyone who ends up looking his way tomorrow and the following days of the next coming week.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to take so long. I missed you so much.” He tightens his grip around you as he makes his way to his room.

You stop your attack on his neck and your legs seem to tighten around him involuntarily.

“It’s okay Shig, I know you can’t control it.” He groans at that. Why do you have to be so damn understanding? It’s frustratingly hot.

“Gonna fuck you so nice and full. How does that sound baby?” Baby? The whine that comes from you when he says it has him pulling you closer. Accidentally but not so accidentally pushing your waist closer to his, making his already hardening member in his uncomfortably tight jeans twitch.

He closes and locks his door behind him when he strides into the room, thanking god for Kurogiri cleaning the rooms today.

He’s gonna have to start working on his messes and get used to cleaning them up of course. Just not this one.

“I’m gonna make such a beautiful mess of you babe.” Babe too? The way he pinned you to his bed so quickly had your cheeks flushing.

“I think I wanna start with your pretty legs pushed to your chest huh? How does that sound baby?” You nodded quickly.

“Please Shig, I’ve been dreaming about it, please fuck me-“ he chuckles and a hand wraps around your throat with the obvious exception of one finger, and he grinds his hips against yours.

“You don’t have to worry baby, I’m definitely going to fuck you, but I have to make sure it’s good don’t I?” You nodded and he’s tearing through the crotch of your fishnets earning a whine from you.

“Shiggy! These are new!” He laughs.

“I’ll buy you new ones, look at how pretty they look on your legs. I can’t help but want to ruin you in them.” His four fingers drag across your legs, the soft fabric of the fishnets dragged across your legs and you sighed contently.

“I got them for you.” He pauses at that and his cock twitches in his jeans once again.

“What did you just say?” Your cheeks are flushed and you’re looking away timidly.

“I thought you’d like them. I guess I was right?” He nods quickly and he’s finally undoing his jeans and shoving them down just enough to pull himself out.

“I fucking love them.”

“I’m gonna make this fun baby, you’ll be too wrecked to even go home tonight.” If your legs would have been around him, you would’ve tightened them around him, he could feel the way your thighs tensed while he held them against your chest.

“Awe and your parents will probably be so worried!” You whined at that and you’re finally looking down at his throbbing member. He’s way bigger than you were expecting, but not scarily huge.

The moment he pushes your panties to the side and starts sliding in, you’re wrapping your arms around his shoulders and clenching around him and he’s trying not to cry because you feel so good. You’re letting him do this and you like it. You want this just as much as he does, and because of that. He just can’t help the words that spill out of him.

“F-Fuck, s-so good, s- oh fuck, you’re heavenly!” And tears pool in his eyes as he and you both adjust because the euphoria you’re both feeling from just this is driving you both insane and his hips twitch forward.

“M’gonna move okay?” You nodded and as soon as he had placed his hand down on your thigh, he pulled away and halfway out of you, but the intensity of it all as he did it kept him from leaving your warm cunt.

“SHIT! Shit, Shit, Shit! Are you okay?” But you’re fine, in fact not a single scratch on you, and you’re just confused, but he’s too scared to risk it again.

“S-Shig, please move.” Suddenly he’s reminded of who you are. Where you both are. You’ve got tears in your eyes as you lead his hand to your neck, the same hand you should be decaying from currently. With his middle finger in your hand he squeezes your neck with a tighter force than you’re expecting but you moan and he’s dropping it. It wasn’t enough to hurt badly at all, it just caught you off guard, and apparently him too, his brain is rattled, you should be partially decayed right now.

“That was new.” He nods. Something seemed different in his eyes. He can’t focus now, not that he could before.

“I need to try something. Do you trust me?” You nodded and he goes for it.

He can pull away, is what he tells himself. But his whole hand is touching- no squeezing your thigh and nothing happens. So he puts his other hand down experimentally on your other leg and nothing happens.

That’s when his hands are pushing your thighs back to your chest and he’s plowing into you and you gasp and throw your head back.

“Shit- f-fuck Tomura slow down.” He halts his movements all together and bottoms out inside of you.

His hands let go of your thighs and you let out a breath of relief as you put them down. You were so incredibly full right now. On his end though, he’s holding on for dear life. The grip your cunt has around him is suffocatingly sweet and he’s trying to keep himself from cumming too soon.

“Hoodie off. As pretty as you look in it, I need to touch all of you.” He does the same, stripping his shirt and the same time, and twitching inside you when you take off his hoodie to reveal you were only wearing a bra underneath.

“You’re so beautiful. I need more of you. I need you so fucking badly it hurts.” You choked out a gasp when he twitches inside of you again.

“I’m here, I’m all yours, please move Shig I didn’t want you to stop.” You wrap your legs around his waist and the slutty shy moan you whine into his ear has him smiling.

“No Princess, you asked me to slow down. So I’ll take it nice and slow for you, okay?” He’s taunting you. You know he is, because his hands come in contact with the skin of your waist and the tears that had pooled in his eyes are slipping down his cheeks, but he wipes them quickly and pulls out to finally kick his jeans off the rest of the way. He’s just as desperate for this as you are. He’s just teasing you about it.

The slow thrusts he gives you once he’s inside you again make you actually start crying.

“Shig, please! Fuck me faster! I didn’t mean this slow plea-“ and you’re cut off by your own moans as he starts to pick up speed, bottoming out with each thrust and holding you against him for a good second every time your hips met.

“What would your parents think of you right now Y/n? Such a slutty little girl for your special villain huh? Fucking me in my dispensary and wrapping your thighs around my face in an alley? You’re all mine, isn’t that right pretty girl?” You nod quickly, but the words that come out of your mouth make him love you even more than before.

“I’m all yours Shig. I don’t care what my parents think, just want you, just wanna be with you.” His thrusts start to stutter at that but he recovers and suddenly grips your waist harder and thrusts quicker.

“Wanna be with me? Babe you are. You’re mine. No one will ever hurt you while I’m around.” His hips are stuttering and your legs are tightening around him as he spills into you and he’s wrapping his arms around you. Tears pool in his eyes once again and he’s holding you tightly against him as close as he possibly can while he fills you with his cum, and when he sees the way you’re looking up at him.

He goes feral.

“Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine! Mine!!” Your vision blurs when he thrusts into you at a specific angle bottoming out once again as he stills and you cry out quietly but desperately while you cream around his cock.

“You’re all mine. My special girl. I love you so much. So fucking pretty when you cum babe. You’re so tight and warm. Gonna fill you so nicely and give you a baby. How’s that sound?” You nod quickly and he smiles.

“Good. So good for me babe. Gonna make you a mommy. You don’t mind, do you?” You’re whining and your legs are tightening around him, as well as your cunt. So fucking warm and welcoming, and he’s reveling in it.

“F-Fuck! Don’t d-do that, gonna make me cum again.” He’s whining and groaning in your ear as he pulls you closer and you push your hips up.

“I need you to fill me up Shig, I wanna walk around with your cum soaking my panties like you said, please, I need it Shig plea-nngh~” he’s thrusting again quickly.

He really didn’t need to hear anymore once you had said that.

“That sounds so hot babe, but you’re not leaving tonight. Not when it’s so dangerous at night, there are criminals. Don’t you know?” You let out a breathy laugh as he rolls his hips.

“You are that criminal Shig.” He leans forward, chest pressed against yours and his hands are suddenly roaming around your whole torso, squeezing and groping the skin as he wholeheartedly just feels you.

“Imagine the headlines Shig- Can’t you imagine? ‘Daughter of Pro Hero Electoplant gone missing?!’ Only for me to show up at home a few days later.” You’re laughing when you say it and he even chuckles with you, but the more he thinks about it the more he picks up the speed of his thrusts.

“Don’t want to leave you again. Just wanna cuddle all night and keep you warm.” His voice is cracking and his thrusts seem to slow stilling inside you as he shoves his face in your neck.

“Need to make sure you’ll come back to me.” He’s pressing his lips against your neck and it’s so foreign. Normally it’s his hands that wrap around your throat that makes you whine but as he nips gently and sucks roughly on your neck, you clench around him and he whimpers as he sucks harshly.

“If I’d have known that you loved me abusing your neck so much, I’d have started sooner.” Your legs tighten around his hips and it’s then that he realizes he stopped thrusting.

“S-So tight, fuck m’gonna cum again.” His voice is higher and he’s whining with each soft thrust as he pushes into you slowly again. The way you’re sucking him in has to be a crime because you’re so warm and squishy, and tight. He’s already convinced himself that he’s sleeping like this, buried inside you, that’s what he wants. needs.

“Gonna breed you. Fill you so nice and full. My beautiful baby. Gonna make such a beautiful mommy.” You’re cumming around his cock again as he says it, he had started to pick up his thrusts now and the thought of all of this was turning you on beyond belief.

You never really wanted kids, now thats different though of course. He’s changed everything.

“Doing so good Shig-“ he’s interrupting you before he himself can even register what he’s saying.

“Tenko. You say Tenko.” Your eyes bulge a bit as he picks up his speed.

“P-Please g-go harder Tenko plea-hnnGh~” Your whines come out desperately after that. You couldn’t seem to get a hold of yourself as he drills into you at a seemingly inhuman pace.

“F-Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck! M’gonna cum. Gonna fill you so nicely with my cum and cockwarm you after.” His hands squeeze your hips and the sight of your mouth agape, tongue lolled out, and eyes crossed seems to engrave itself in his brain.

“Say it again babe. Call for me, say my name.” You gasp out a desperate whimper and your arms wrap tightly around his shoulders.

“T-T-Tenko, please! F-fuck-“ you’re cut off by more whines and moans as he drills into you harder.

“So close. S-So fucking close babe.” He tightens his grip on your hips even more and you’re squealing as you squirt around him and he fills you up one final time.

“Shit, you’re so fucking tight Y/n.” He lays his head on your chest and catches his breath.

“Can I stay? Feels so good.” He lifts his head to look at you and you nod quickly.

“M’so full Shig-“

“Tenko. Never forget what you’re allowed to use that others don’t know.” You blushed and clenched around him earning a nice gasp from him as he looks down to your connected areas.

“Tenko you’re so pretty.” Your hand reaches to cup his cheek and he tears up.

“W-What..?” He looked like he was going to cry as he looked into your eyes now, which ultimately wasn’t your goal.

“T-THAT’S NOT A BAD THING-!” You sputter and kiss his forehead while wrapping your arms around his neck.

“I know. I just- I’ve never- I never thought that-“ he cuts himself off by shoving his flushed face in your neck.

“You’re so fucking pretty Tenko. You keep me so safe and make me feel so special. It’s weird but if I didn’t have you I think I’d be losing my mind being stuck in that stupid pro-hero family.” He snickers.

“Don’t you have your license?” He’s snickering as he says it and you nod.

“Yeah, but I’m not an active hero, I only use my quirk when people are actually in trouble and I see it. Sorry but I’m not gonna become a hero just to be a shitty one.” He nodded. He admired your opinion on it to an extent. But why did you think you’d be a shitty one?

That’d be a question for another day, because his level of fatigue is finally starting to hit him and he’s falling asleep on top of you.

The next morning he’s still buried inside you with his arms wrapped tightly around you, but your phone is blowing up with messages from your friends, mom and dad, and Denki and you can’t reach it without shifting a bit.

“Damn it.” You felt the man on top of you managing to tighten his grip on you.

“Don’t leave me. Not yet. M’not ready yet.” His voice cracks as he says it, and you send your family group chat a quick message.

‘I’m with a friend. Be home soon.’ You were moving out in a few days anyway. It’s not like they could ground you.

“I’m not leaving Tenko. Just had to text a few people.” You’re reminded of those people as they start to spam your phone again.

Demanding that ‘NO! YOU NEED TO COME HOME RIGHT NOW YOUNG LADY!’ Not that you listened.

“I’m moving.” He tenses, and you can tell he’s scared to ask the question.

“Where?” You smiled.

“You know the apartment complex right across the street from my favorite sweets shop?” Please. Because if you’re playing with him, it’s not funny.

That’s five minutes away from here. He nods and you gasp as he makes a move to finally start pulling out of you.

“So there?” You nodded quickly and he chuckles.

“Come shower with me. Nothing else, I promise.” You nodded and you could stand. It was the feeling of his cum starting to move that mad you sit right back down.

He snickers and picks you up with the exception of his middle fingers again.

“Having issues?” You simply let out a cute little, ‘hmph.’ So he decides to leave it at that.

“Thank you.” You’re confused when he says it.

“For what?” He sets you down in the warm water that he had started running and the familiar feeling of his cum starting to run out of you comes back as he steps in.

You should be disgusted. Grimacing in fact. But as his cum finally starts to leak out of you he can’t seem to answer you for what he’s thankful for.

“That’s- I uhm, I-“ his face flushes and he shuts up when he realizes you’re just as flustered as he is.

“Y-Y-Fuck. You look so pretty like this. So vulnerable all for me.” He whispers it in your ear and the thought of you grabbing his dick never even crossed his mind. But then you do it, and he can’t help but fall a little more in love as you run your thumb over the slit of his tip, earning a loud whine as he bucks his hips forward.

You both eventually get out of his room. After more sex of course and more of his cum being stuffed inside of you.

What you really weren’t counting on however, was running into Pro Hero Hawks as you leave Tomura’s room, as he comes down the stairs.

“Y/n? What are you doing here? Your dad said that you haven’t been answering your phone-“

“Well- I mean, it’s weird. Using your phone in a dispensary and all.” You shrugged and he chuckled.

“For a whole day?” You coughed and sputtered before speaking again.

“Well! I should be on my way! Don’t wanna keep the pro heroes waiting!” You gave him little finger guns and Hawks grabs your wrist only for you to yank it away quickly.

“Don’t touch people for no reason Takami. It makes you seem pervy.” He goes to grab you again but you swerve past him to walk up the stairs.

“Kaminari! Are you a villa-“ you laughed before he could finish.

“No. I’m just fucking one-“ you cut yourself off by slapping your hands over your mouth.

“Welp. I outta go.” You’re up the stairs and out the door before he can say anything else, and it’s then that he sees Tomura leave the same room you came out of.

“I’m sorry. What?!”

[my-headcanons-academia]

Are Iida's legs okay?? (Iida quirk hc)

• If he punctured his engine would it heal or would he weld it?

If it's a biological thing, which I think I should assume it is since it grows out of him, then it would heal.

What if it's a Bakugou thing, like how Bakugou doesn't sweat nitroglycerin, he sweats nitroglycerin like sweat. What if it's not metal, it's just a metal-like skin.

Wait is Testutestu actually metal or is it hardened skin like metal?

I bet he isn't sure if it would heal or he'd need to weld it and this keeps this man up at night. He asked Midoriya his opinion but Midoruya just mumbled to himself for hours until he was distracted because it is now midnight and Iida asked him at lunch.

• Those are blue flames we see coming from those engines are known to go into overheat and to my knowledge, he has normal skin around that so that would hurt right??

THE NERVE DAMAGE THIS MAN MUST HAVE???

He has insanely high pain tolerance to deal with this stuff and it's really a detriment. He can get stabbed in the leg and not know unless he looks down because he legit just doesn't feel anything.

He has a bunch of scars around his calves too from scrapes he didn't really think were that deep, so when he thought they were healed enough he'd pick the scab off thinking the skin was grown fine underneath it but no. Picking the scab makes it look like a murder scene with all the blood. That was an interesting night when he had to explain why he had blood on his hands to Tensei who walked in on him by the sink.

• And how does fuel work?? again those are B L U E and purple flames! you need a lot of fuel and gas for that stuff?

Wiki says "he drinks orange juice as a source of fuel for his Quirk, while carbonated drinks make him stall" so it's like Momo's quirk but then what the fuck is his stomach doing?? (Also why doesn't he have Orange Juice or capri suns on hand then??? Give him compartments in his suit for orange juice if that is his literal fuel????)

Poor doctors in mha, 1. Mutant quirks change anatomy so much, the organs have to change too, so things are probably never in the same place, and what if they find a new organ then don't know what is or why it's there?? Same goes for emitter quirks, different things are gonna be different specialised to each individual, AND TRANSFORMATION QUIRKS. DOES IT ALL CHANGE?? DO ORGANS AND BONES AND STUFF ALL JUST CHANGE?? WHAT IF THEY NEED TO GO SURGERY BUT THE DOCTORS DONT KNOW WTF THEYRE LOOKING AT?? • He's a try hard nerd jock so I bet he chugged gasoline one time to see if it would make him run faster.

I bet he did all the maths, all the equations and probabilities, and he still drank it. Tesei saw, took pictures and hangs them up around the house to forever use as blackmail.

• Back on about the Orange juice thing, if the fuel is made of that, then does he leave CO2 or nah? Does it smell of Oranges? Is it a nice smell? Is he just a walking fragrencer?

Because it would be warm oranges because y'know it's fire. Would that smell good? are there fumes with it too? is it like flatulence and oranges? because you do need gas for those blue flames.

Iida has been around the smoke from his engines all his life so he's gone nose-blind toward it and no one gives him a straight answer when he asks if it smells of anything. Uraraka said burnt marshmallows, Tensei (who is also nose-blind to it) said pineapple, Izuku took a whiff and got high. No one is allowed to purposefully whiff it anymore.

• This man needs more leg support damn. That much thrust from his calves can not be good for his knees. I know he's grown up with it so he's used to it, and he either has the strongest knees in existence from all that endurance or his knees dislocate every other time he uses his quirk.

He has so much joint pain. He wants to get a walking stick for his joint pain and it confuses villains because they think that must mean he's out of commission but no, he can easily withstand the pain, the cane just helps. And can also be used as a weapon. The aesthetic bastard probably makes it look like a sword to match his aesthetic.

• Speaking of aesthetic, he saw Denki playing portal 2 one time and saw the characters long fall boots and instantly fell in love with them (he wants to commission Mei to make them but is honestly too scared to,)

He runs so quickly, if he goes up a ramp he will go flying and when he lands, having those kind of boots to cushion the fall wouldhelp exponentially. Also it'll make him even taller and I'm all for that. They also fit his aesthetic!

• More speaking of his aesthetic. I get the whole knight shtick is a family thing and it is also very endearing. But the wind drag. Wind resistance isn't really a problem for us because we go at human speed. He goes at human speed but the human has engines in his legs. That much clunky armour is good for protection especially to cushion the blow if he messes up a run and crashes into something and it's also good for blunt force trauma for up close attacks but there is gonna be so much wind drag. He already has enough speed where it doesn't matter too much if he is dragged just a little bit but I imagine wind drag could mess up balance and stuff. And here's where I'm torn, because he's a rich kid who is proud of his family so wants to carry on the tradition, same hero name, same hero aesthetic, same stuff like that, but should that really go above functionality? I'm not saying to minimise wind resistance he should wear a leotard or speedo or something with no armour like that, and idk the materials used, but that armour looks heavy.

He has so much inner turmoil about this. He always has an identity crisis when this is brought up.

• This bitch's metabolism tho. Orange juice is one fuel, what are the others? whatever they are, he should be eating a lot of it because that stuff gets burnt up so quick. He wouldn't be chubby, because all of his running, and he already looks like a big sturdy guy, I'm just saying, for efficiency, he should look like how Russian Women Who Fight Bears, or a Viking, that kinda physique, strong as hell, big and sturdy.

• He should have prescription goggles instead of glasses. Or. Y'know. CONTACT LESNES. SO YOU DONT HAVE TO WORRY. ABOUT YOUR GLASSES BREAKING. OR FALLING OFF WHEN YOU ZOOM. But I do understand it's for the nerd-jock trope. Guess he cares about aesthetic more than functionality 😔 but goggles can keep wind out your eyes if tho. He looks like a lovable doofus either way.

Uraraka recommends contact lenses since he forgot those existed.

He cries that day. But he was wearing the goggles so the tears kinda just stayed there.

[starryeyes-darkestnights]

Wicked Game

Part 4 of We Dance Together Now

An O’Knutzy au where Leo and Logan are still playing for the Lions, but Finn is a musician/grad student they met by chance on a roadie to Montreal.

Here are the first few parts!

Part 1 - Jingle Bell Rock

Part 2 - This City

Part 3 - Shut Up and Drive

I also stuck this up on AO3, my username there is the same :)

I struggled a LOT with this chapter. I’m still not sure it’s done what I wanted it to do, but I hope it works. And I hope you like it :) 

I’m suuuuuper excited for the next one, I’ve had it half-written since I started this fic! 

These beautiful characters and their world belong to the incredible @lumosinlove

The songs referenced are My Shot, from Hamilton, and Wicked Game, which has several remixes that could work here, but I was listening to the Yola Recoba version, personally. 

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

Leo

“Thanks for helping today, Tremz.” Leo leaned against the entry wall and watched Logan slip on his shoes.

“No problem,” Logan looked up at him, his eyes sparkling mischievously, “You needed someone big and strong to carry your boxes up the stairs. Who am I to leave a damsel in distress?” He stood and flexed his biceps.

Leo rolled his eyes and shoved Logan toward the door. He could hear Finn laughing behind him. “Get out.”

Logan looked over his shoulder and grinned. “Your wish is my command, princess.” Leo moved to shove him again, but Logan snatched up his bag and ducked out the door before he could reach him. “You love me!” he yelled as he jogged down the hall. Leo just shook his head at the older boy’s antics and turned the lock behind him before flopping down on the couch with a tired groan.

The three of them had just finished setting up his new room. In Finn’s apartment. Where he lived now. With Finn. He was still wrapping his head around it. It was crazy to think he didn’t have to pack up his stuff and move somewhere else again next week; that he had blankets that hadn’t been slept on by a hundred people before him. Finn was a godsend of a human being.

He was also a walking tornado of a human being, and Leo’s current state of exhaustion was a result of today being a shining example of both of those traits.

Since he’d been living in hotels all year Leo didn’t own any furniture of his own, which meant he had spent his Friday morning going from store to store buying what he needed. Finn had volunteered to drive, and Logan had tagged along too. The two of them had also very kindly volunteered to spend their afternoon helping him build everything. It was very, very nice of them, and Leo had been incredibly grateful for their company, and for their help… at least until they actually started putting things together. It had been funny at first, watching Logan and Finn jump headlong in to building things without taking the time to read the instructions. But the resultant failures had meant that Leo had to unbuild everything they touched, actually read the instructions, and then give them explicit directions on how to put it back together properly. Instead of the few hours Leo had expected to spend on it, the whole thing had taken them until the late evening, and now Leo was exhausted and ready to relax.

He heard Finn wander into the living room after him, and his smiling face appeared over the back of the couch above him. “What’s up, Marigold?”

Leo closed his eyes, trying not to roll them as he let out an exasperated chuckle. “Finn. That is STILL a terrible nickname.”

“It is not.”

“Yes it is. ‘What’s up marigold’ makes no sense. ‘What’s up buttercup’ works because it rhymes.” He opened his eyes back up to emphasize his point. “Marigold does not rhyme. At all.”

Finn just shrugged, pushing himself back up to walk around the couch. “You should have thought of that before you accepted it in the first place.”

“I didn’t accept it! I just gave up trying to argue with you two and- ugh. Never mind.”

“That’s what I thought.” Finn grinned. “Plus, I googled marigolds after that night because I didn’t actually know what they were, and the name suits you.”

“What?” Leo looked at him, curious. “Why?”

Finn’s expression faltered for a second as he lifted Leo’s feet to sit on the other end of the couch. He put them back down in his lap, making Leo’s heart skip a beat. When he spoke again, his voice was a little softer. “Your hair shines like them, in the sun. Golden.”

Leo had to work to keep his face neutral. That was… sweet. And unexpected. Finn was always doing things he didn’t expect.

Before he could think of a response, Finn’s cocky grin was back in place. “Also, calling you marigold makes you grumpy, which, like, never happens, so I’m never giving it up.”

Leo didn’t even try to hide it this time as he rolled his eyes affectionately, lifting his legs and giving Finn a gentle kick with his socked feet. “Whatever,” he laughed. “I’m going to shower. Have you seen that duffel bag Logan brought in? It has all my comfortable clothes.”

Finn just pointed wordlessly to entryway where he and Logan had dumped a few of Leo’s bags, abandoning unpacking them in favour of wreaking utter havoc trying to build his bedroom furniture.

Leo wandered over and grabbed the Lions duffel off the floor, pausing as he lifted it. He didn’t’ remember it being this empty… he unzipped it, suspicious, and sure enough, he found Logan’s training gear inside.

He groaned. “Damn it.”

Finn looked over to him. “What’s wrong?”

“Logan took my bag. This is his stuff.”

“Oh. Shit.” He looked from the bag up to Leo, and then popped up from the couch. “No worries, I have a solution!” he called, jogging toward his bedroom.

Leo, curious yet again, gently put Logan’s bag back down and started to follow. As he reached the corner, Finn popped back out of his room with a pile of clothes in his hands, almost crashing into him as he gave a little squeak.

“Ahh! Oh my god, why are you right there!? You scared the shit out of me. Learn to make noise when you walk.”

Leo chuckled at that, a memory of Logan saying that exact phrase to him the first night they watched Finn play running through his mind. “You and Logan are scarily similar sometimes, you know that?”

“What?” A confused look crossed Finn’s face.

Leo just smiled, and Finn shook his head.

“You know what, never mind. I don’t think I want to know. Here.” He passed Leo a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. “You can sleep in these tonight and we’ll get your stuff from Logan tomorrow. They’re both pretty big on me so I’m hoping they’ll fit you properly.”

Leo, taken aback by the gesture, accepted the pile with a surprised but grateful smile. “Oh. Thank you, Finn. You didn’t have to do that.”

Finn shrugged, his wide brown eyes twinkling. “I know where you live. I’ll get them back.”

---

But as Leo pulled the shirt on after his shower, he decided that Finn was not, in fact, getting it back. It was soft. And it smelled like Finn. He breathed in deeply. It was silly, he knew, to cling to this little bit of him- to pretend it was Finn, instead of his clothes, that he was allowed to have. But he was doing it anyway. He could let himself have this little thing. He turned to look in the mirror and let out a surprised snort. “Of course.” He chuckled to himself.

He padded out to the living room, where Fin was still lying on the couch, a book in his hand.

“I thought you were joking about loving the Eagles.” He teased, his mouth quirking up on one side.

Finn sat up and looked over at him, a strange look crossing his face as he took in Leo’s appearance. It was gone before Leo could read into it, replaced with a dramatic showing of mock outrage.

“One does not joke about the Eagles, Leo!” He gestured down at the band logo stretched across Leo’s chest. “That logo is a badge of honour. Wear it with pride.”

Leo just shook his head, amused. “Aye, aye, captain.” He saluted Finn. “Thanks again. I’ll see you in the morning?”

Finn waved goodnight and Leo slipped back into his room, turning off the lights and smiling up at the city lights flickering across the ceiling. His ceiling, now. He chewed on his lip for a second, thinking, before getting back out of bed and walking softly to the living room.

Finn looked up at him when he entered, and whatever Leo had been about to say immediately caught in his throat. The warm lamplight was sending soft shadows across Finn’s features, making his freckles glow against the pale of his skin. He was curled into the corner of the couch, book in his hands and a blanket wrapped around him, and Leo wanted nothing more in that moment than to be there too, cuddled up beside this beautiful boy. His heart pulled in his chest.

He realized he was staring when Finn spoke up and broke the spell. “What’s up, Leo?” his smile was soft, gentle. “Do you need something? Can I get you anything?”

Leo straightened up at that, shaking his head. “No, no. I’m good. Thank you. And I’m sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you, and I won’t keep you, but I just wanted to say thank you. For having me here. You didn’t have to offer up your space, and I appreciate it. It really means a lot.”

Finn closed his book and leaned forward; his expression sincere as he locked eyes with Leo. “I’m just glad you’re happy. You deserve to have a home. I wouldn’t want you to be anywhere else.”

And when Leo went back to his room that night, he fell asleep quickly, breathing in the scent of Finn and, for the first time since he came to this city, finally feeling at home.

---

Finn

The next few months passed by quickly for Finn, everything blurring together in an exhausting but happy mess of work and play. He had thought it would be more of a learning curve, sharing his space with Leo after living alone for the past 4 years- and some days it was a bit weird, remembering that there was another person around and he couldn’t just play guitar at 2am, or work through melodies in the shower when Leo was sleeping- but he wouldn’t change it back for anything.

He’d always known he was insanely lucky to live in the apartment he did (his parents had bought it as an investment property when he first moved to Gryffindor- perks of their jobs in real estate). Very few college students had the privilege of even a single spare room, let alone two, and not worrying about needing roommates to pay rent had saved him from needing to share the space with strangers. But it had been lonely.

Now, when he was finished his long day on campus studying, or working on his music, he actually looked forward to going home- even if it was only to meet up with Leo and leave again. After that first celebration he had gone to with Leo and Logan, it had become routine for them to invite him to join them for any dinners or parties that weren’t team-exclusive. He went to every one that he could and had ended up making some pretty good friends in that crowd. In particular, him and Kasey’s girlfriend Natalie had struck up a fun friendship. She was also a musician, and the two of them had gotten together several times over the past few months just to play.

The boys had also asked him to let them know his gig schedule, and they had been there for every single show they weren’t working during. Finn liked having them there, knowing he would have their company as soon as he got off stage. They always had a drink waiting for him, and they usually found somewhere to go dance for the rest of the evening. Logan was always making fun of how Leo used to hate going out, but they danced together often now, and it was one of Finn’s favourite things.

Any nights they didn’t spend working, or with the team, or at one of Finns gigs, they usually spent together just the three of them, squeezed into a booth at Sid’s or lounging around the living room at Finn and Leo’s, playing video games and watching movies. Him and Leo had made the excellent discovery that Pixar movies almost always made Logan cry, though Logan denied it exceptionally violently every time they called him out. It was worth a pillow to the face to be able to tease him though.

Logan stayed over most of those evenings, in the spare room Finn had started thinking of as his. They’d built another bed for him and everything after Finn had woken up the first night he stayed over and seen how cramped he was on the couch. It wasn’t built for hockey players to sleep on and he didn’t like the idea of Logan being uncomfortable. He wanted everyone to feel at home in his place.

Some days it was just Finn and Leo at home, while Logan spent time with the Dumais family. Finn liked those days too. It was nice, hanging out with Leo one on one. The two of them often used the time to do chores, and he had been pleased to find out that they were much more enjoyable with Leo’s company. Grocery shopping with Leo was one of his favourites, riding the cart like a scooter up and down the aisles while Leo picked out everything they needed for dinner, and grabbing all the snacks that he knew Logan liked, so they could always be there when he came by. And he particularly enjoyed coming home and putting things away while Leo cooked, both of them singing along to the radio as the apartment filled with the smells of Leo’s southern recipes.

On quiet nights, he liked wandering into Leo’s room for company, the two of them laying next to each other on Leo’s giant bed and talking about books. One of the first nights he had done that, he had noticed his own t-shirt, the one he had lent Leo his first night, and that had curiously gone missing shortly after, hanging up on Leo’s closet door. Leo had been flustered, apologizing for snagging it from Finn’s clean laundry, and explaining that it was ‘just really comfortable’. Finn had tried very hard to hide the mini heart attack he was sure he was having at the idea of Leo choosing to wear his clothes, and he must have done an alright job of it because Leo continued to steal it often enough that it had just become another routine thing between them. Finn pretended to make fun of Leo for it, but he really liked it. He had taken to folding it and dropping it into Leo’s laundry basket when he wasn’t looking.

The addition of Leo’s warm presence, and of Logan’s fiery, mischievous energy, had made his big, cold apartment feel like home. There was always something happening, and it was never boring- sometimes to an extreme degree when Logan was around. Finn still had scars on his hand from Leo’s 19th birthday in February, when he had let Logan convince him that baking a cake wouldn’t be as difficult as it sounded (‘people do it all the time Finn, how hard can it possibly be?’). He had been wrong, as they discovered when he flipped what should have been a cooked cake upside down over the counter, and it turned out to be just a pan full of very hot batter that went all over Finn’s hands. It had stuck to him like very, very hot glue and the two of them had gone into full panic mode. Luckily, Leo had chosen that moment to come home from lunch with Remus, and he got everything under control. He had been exasperated, and quite concerned, but Finn liked to think he had appreciated their effort. Plus, Logan had felt guilty about it for weeks afterward, which Finn had initially felt bad about but then had started to take advantage of by (very dramatically) requesting him to do more and more ridiculous favours. Logan had stopped feeling guilty somewhere in between the request to build him an entire pillow fort (so he could heal in utmost comfort), and the request to do an interpretive dance to Ice, Ice, Baby (so he could feel like his burned hands were encased in ice).

When they were out of town for games, Finn missed having them around. Everything felt too… empty. But they were constantly in touch via their group chat, Leo sending videos of the cities they explored after games, and Logan sending pictures of Leo looking affectionately annoyed at Logan for dragging him out of the hotel to go and do said exploring. Those videos often included appearances from other Lions, usually making terrible 3 Musketeers jokes about them. On one memorable occasion, James had popped in to compare them to SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward. That one had positively delighted Finn, not least because Logan’s reaction to realizing he was the Squidward in that analogy had been gold. James had had to run.

Finn didn’t blame them for joking about it. He knew it was a bit strange, the way that they had become so inseparable, so fast. But he didn’t mind. When he looked at them in those videos—the wild in Logan’s eyes, the calm in Leo’s— he was reminded of how they pulled out the best of both those sides of his own personality. He never felt more like himself than he did with them. *

---

 Logan

One evening at the end of April, Logan sat sandwiched between Leo and Finn on their living room couch, a steering wheel in his hands. He was deeply focused on steering his car around a particularly dastardly curve when Finn jumped up, knocking Logan’s elbow and sending his character careening off a cliff as he screeched at the TV. “Cheating!! Leo! You’re cheating! Logan! He’s cheating!”

Logan, disgruntled now as he watched himself drop down to last place, just glared up at him. “You knocked me off a cliff. Don’t look at me for sympathy right now.”

Leo just continued playing calmly. “It’s not cheating Finn. I threw a banana at you. If you don’t want to get hit with bananas, don’t drive so close to me.”

“This is insane. Nobody is supposed to be this good at Mario Kart. It’s MARIO KART!” Finn flopped dramatically back down into his spot, groaning. “How have you won every single race?”

“I’m a man of many talents, Finn.”

“This is bullshit.”

Logan snorted, dropping his controller as he crossed the finish line in last place for the 4th time that night. “Says the guy who wins every single round of Halo.”

“Well, if you would stop and think before just picking the biggest bombs and sending your army running headfirst into every battle, maybe you too could win a strategy game.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“You are weirdly good at Halo, Finn.” Leo tossed out. “It’s kind of creepy watching the wheels turn in your head while you play.”

Logan watched, amused, as Finn gasped and glared at Leo in mock offense. “Well then. When the aliens finally invade here and you guys need a team leader to get you through the hordes and into a safe haven, you can find your own general. I’ll be over there helping people who DON’T call me creepy.”

It was Logan’s turn to be offended. “Hey! I didn’t call you creepy.”

Finn considered him for a moment. “Hmm. That’s true.”

He wrapped an arm around Logan’s neck and stuck his tongue out at Leo. “I’ll be over here keeping LOGAN alive, while you get your brains eaten.”

Logan tried to fight back the blush he could feel creeping up his cheeks as Finn’s arm pulled him in. Finn, Logan had discovered, was a very affectionate person, and while his comfort in sharing his personal space had grown on Logan and Leo as well—they were constantly in contact as they shoved together onto the couch—it  still made Logan’s pulse pick up every time he felt them close to him.

Leo snorted out a laugh at Finn’s threat as he put down his controller. “I’ll take my chances.” he replied as he stood and stretched, looking out the window at the setting sun. “It’s getting late. Anybody hungry?”

Logan’s stomach actually grumbled out loud at the mention of food.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Leo laughed as he headed out of the living room.

Logan, somewhat reluctantly, pulled himself out of Finn’s hold and followed Leo into the kitchen, plunking himself down on one of the island barstools as Leo started pulling things out of the fridge. Finn disappeared into his room and came back to sit next to Logan a few seconds later, a book in his hand.

“You want to read?” He looked at Logan questioningly.

Logan just nodded at him as he spun around on his stool, slowly relaxing into his seat as the sound of Finn’s voice took over the kitchen, mingling with the sounds of Leo quietly chopping vegetables at the counter next to them.

A few weeks ago, when Leo and Finn were trying to pull him into an argument about book to movie adaptations, Logan had accidentally let it slip that he had never read The Hobbit. The two of them had been borderline offended, which Logan found hilarious, but it had then led to them asking him about other books, and Logan had been forced to admit that not only had he never read The Hobbit, but he had never read any book for fun.

It wasn’t something he liked to talk about, because he always worried it would make him look stupid, but he hated reading. Having to keep his focus on the page, keeping his hands still as they held the book… he just couldn’t handle it. When Leo and Finn had picked up on the fact that it was a sensitive topic, they had dropped it without asking him any more questions, which he had been grateful for. But the two of them still wanted to show him that stories could be fun outside of movie form, and when it became clear that there was no way in hell Logan was picking up a book himself, Finn had come up with a compromise: he would read a book to him. Logan hadn’t been convinced, but he appreciated the thought and figured he could just tune him out if he got bored, so he agreed.

So Finn had read the first chapter of The Hobbit to him and Leo while Leo cooked that night, and, to his surprise, Logan had found himself completely absorbed. It was kind of like listening to a podcast, but with Finn’s intoxicating voice playing all the parts.

It had become a routine after that—Finn reading to them as Leo cooked, and Leo reading to Finn and Logan as they cleaned up after. They always waited for him to read the next part, and it was one of his favourite parts of being at their apartment now. The combination of the sound of Finn’s voice and the smell of Leo’s cooking, made him feel safe.

That evening, Logan was the first to finish eating, and he leaned his chair back away from the table with a satisfied sigh, reaching over to ruffle Leo’s hair from where he was sitting next to him. “Fuck, Knutty, that was amazing. As always.”

Leo smiled back at him, blonde curls now falling over his eyes in a way that was absolutely not adorable. “Thanks, Tremz. I’m glad you guys liked it.”

Finn made a noise at that. “Liked it? Leo, I have genuinely never eaten better in my entire life than I have since you moved in here.”

Well. That provided Logan an excellent segue into his mission for the evening. He let his chair fall back down and folded his hands on the table in front of him. “If that is true, Finn, then I think that you should do something to pay him back.”

Finn looked up from his plate with a mouth full of pasta, brown eyes narrowing suspiciously as he looked between Logan and an amused looking Leo, who had immediately caught on to what Logan was doing. “Oh?”

“Yes. We have a game next Friday, and you’re invited to come. I think that should suffice as payment.”

“Oohh.” Finn plastered on a very fake smile. “That sounds very… interesting. Let me check my schedule and see what I have going on.”

Logan rolled his eyes at Finn’s feigned interest. He had turned down their offers to come to games repeatedly since they had met.  

“We have your schedule, idiote. We know you don’t have a show OR an exam. And—” Logan decided to move to his next tactic: guilt, “—you have to come this time. It’s a deciding game for the play-offs. If we lose, you won’t be able to watch us play again until next season.”

“I see.” Finn didn’t look convinced.

“Finn!” Logan tossed his balled-up napkin at him, making him laugh. “You are possibly the only person in this city who would turn down offers to come watch NHL games for free. From the box! MULTIPLE TIMES!”

“I cannot possibly be the only person in this entire city who doesn’t follow hockey.”

When neither Leo nor Logan bothered to respond to that, just continuing to look at him, Finn’s grin fell. He looked uncertain now, and his face turned serious as he looked each of them in the eye. “But… you guys know I support you, right? I follow all your scores and your… game… time, point, things, or whatever online. I even bought a hoodie!”

That was true and it had almost killed Logan the first time he had seen Finn in Lion’s colours. It still made his heart beat faster every time he thought of it. Which wasn’t helping him at the present moment.

Finn sighed. “I just think it’s a waste of a ticket for me to go when I have no idea what is happening. I don’t want to embarrass you guys”

Leo interjected then, pointing his fork at Finn. “First of all, you are never embarrassing. Well, usually not – “

“Fair.” Finn admitted.

Leo shot him a look. “—and not about this, for sure. And second, it’s not a waste of a ticket. We all get to invite our family and friends and stuff this game, and neither Logan’s family nor mine are able to make it. And all of our other friends are either on the team or related to them. So, if you don’t use the ticket, nobody will. Plus,” he set his fork down, his voice gentle, “we want you to come.”

Finn’s face softened, and Logan decided now was time to pull out his Hail Mary. “Also,” he waited until Finn looked over to him, “Natalie’s going to be there. And she already asked us if you were going to come this time.”

He bit back a triumphant smirk as Finn perked up at that. He knew they had him now. Finn and Natalie had hit it off really well the moment they met. So well in fact, that he had almost been jealous. But he wasn’t jealous. Because he had nothing to be jealous of. Finn was just a friend. A friend who was currently living rent-free in his mind wearing that goddamn Lions hoodie, but a friend nonetheless.

Finn pushed his empty plate to the middle of the table. “Well.” His eyes sparkled as he folded his arms and looked between them. “You should have led with that.”

---

Finn

One week later, Finn stood against the glass in the team box, cursing himself for agreeing to come to this game. He had never been more stressed in his life, every muscle in his body tense as he watched the puck bounce from player to player in front of Leo’s net. He had a brand-new respect for Leo’s unflappable demeanour. There was no way he could handle being the last stop between the other team and a goal- he was almost having a nervous breakdown just watching. But Leo was in his element: calm, controlled, moving fluidly around his net and mirroring the puck effortlessly. Finn had never seen someone so focused, so intent. When the other team finally took their shot and Leo snatched it out of the air, Finn let out a relieved breath. His heart was going a million miles a minute, just like it had been for the last hour that the game had been tied 1-1. “Oh my god,” he murmured, dropping his face into his hands. “This is so stressful. How do you guys watch this all the time?”

Natalie laughed next to him. “It can be pretty crazy.”

“You look perfectly relaxed.” Finn replied grumpily. It was true. She was much calmer than he was.

“I’m not as calm on the inside. But I have faith in these guys. I know they can win this.” She paused for a second. “It also helps that Kase is benched for this game with his leg. I’m a wreck when he’s in net during important games. Thank God for Leo Knut.”

“Thank God for Leo Knut?” Finn muttered reproachfully in response. His attention was pulled back to the ice as the puck was dropped again, still in their end. “Thank God for Leo Knut my ass, Leo Knut is the reason I might be seeing God soon. I’m going to have a fucking heart attACK! AH!” He shrieked the end of his sentence as one of the Ravenclaw players crashed into Leo, knocking him backwards into a goal post in a way that looked dangerous. His stomach dropped as Leo went down. He shot a panicked look at Natalie. “What the fuck! That can’t be allowed! Is that allowed?!?” He didn’t wait for an answer before looking up at the giant screens above the ice, currently zoomed in on Leo’s determinedly blank face as he slowly pulled his knees back underneath him. He was definitely going to give him a heart attack.

“No.” Natalie looked unhappy. “No, it’s not allowed. But he’s ok, Finn.”

He’s ok. Finn let out a shaky breath. He looked back down to the ice and was watching Leo stand up and reach for a water bottle when, all of a sudden, the crowd started to yell. Confused, he looked back up at the screens. Instead of Leo, there was now a close-up view of Logan, currently with one fist wrapped around the jersey of the player who had slammed into Leo, the other throwing punches.

Finn’s jaw dropped, his heart jumping up to meet it. Logan’s face was fierce. Angry. That energy that always seemed to be coiled around him, simmering just below the surface, was out in full force. His restraints were gone, and holy shit it was beautiful. Seeing those impossibly green eyes flashing dark with passion… it was lighting something on fire inside of Finn.

The other player was half a foot taller than Logan, but Lo had him down on the ice in seconds, spitting angry words in his face as the referees pulled him away. Finn watched Logan skate to the penalty box, swallowing hard as he took in the way his chest was heaving under his jersey. Holy. Fuck.

He felt heat creeping up his neck, and knew his face was going to turn bright red and give him away if he didn’t distract himself immediately. So he forced his attention back down to where the rest of the team was checking on Leo.

Leo. Logan had unleashed in defense of Leo.

Finn felt the now-familiar twist in his chest that sometimes accompanied seeing the two of them together. The feeling that there was something more between them than they were willing to admit.

Thankfully, Natalie mistook the look on his face for concern, and put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “It’s fine Finn, Logan fights all the time. He’s not hurt, he’ll be back on the ice in time to play the last three minutes. And Leo’s already ready to keep playing”

Finn just groaned and dropped his face into his hands. “I am never watching another hockey game again.”

It was supposed to be a joke, but five minutes later Finn watched Logan jump out of the penalty box and take off across the ice, dancing between the other players as he stole the puck and shot toward the net with a searing purpose. And when the goal alarm went off and the entire arena jumped to their feet to celebrate- when Logan was tackled by his teammates, and Leo was skating celebratory circles around his net, and Finn could see the smiles radiating off both of them from where he stood- Finn realized that if he ever wanted to be able to keep his friendships with these boys, it had to be true. Because if he ever watched them play another hockey game again, he would fall in love.

---

“O’Hara, think fast!”

Finn barely had time to register the beer being thrown his way before Leo reached out and snatched it out of the air in front of his chest. “Bliz, how many times do we have to tell you to not throw solid objects at people. Not everybody has your reflexes.”

But Kasey wasn’t listening, already turned around to head back into the living room of Sirius’ house, where they had all convened to celebrate their win. Finn had been grateful for the location- he didn’t think he could handle watching Leo and Logan getting hit on at a club all night tonight. He was still on edge.

Leo rolled his eyes at Kasey’s retreating back and handed the drink to Finn. “I’d wait a second to open that. Sorry, he does this all the time. We’ve had more than one black eye on the team from a drunken Kasey drink bomb.”

Finn chuckled. “No worries. Thanks for the save.”

Leo brightened adorably. “It’s my job!”

“And you are absolutely INCREDIBLE at it my friend!” A pair of arms wrapped around Leo’s neck from behind and a slightly buzzed and very excited James appeared over his shoulder. “MVP of the game, my man! You killed it! We’re going to the play-offs, baby!”

He whooped as he ruffled Leo’s golden hair, still slightly damp from his post-game shower. Leo’s cheeks flushed a deep red as he accepted James’ fist bump. “I just played. Thank you though.”

“And he’s humble too! How are you still single dude? Someone should have scooped you up ages ago.”

Leo’s cheeks somehow turned even deeper red as he shot a quick look up at Finn, and Finn heard Lily’s amused voice as she slid in from behind them, wrapping an arm around James’ waist and pulling him off of Leo. “Leave the poor guy alone James. He just wants to celebrate in peace.”

Leo smiled gratefully at Lily, looking relieved when Kasey and Natalie returned to the kitchen, Talker in tow. Leo jumped into their conversation as the group of them settled in around the room, talking and laughing above the music playing from the built-in speakers. Finn held back for a moment, taking the opportunity to scan the living room from where him and Leo were leaning against the kitchen island. He caught a glimpse of familiar dark curls under a snapback, and Logan’s eyes met his from across the room. Logan grinned, excusing himself from a conversation with Remus and heading towards them.

“Hey,” Logan’s breath was warm on Finn’s cheek as he leaned in to be heard over the voices in the room. “How did you like the game?”

Finn fought to keep his heart from beating out of his chest. He was still reeling from his decidedly unwelcome epiphany earlier that evening, and it was going to be a long night if he couldn’t get a handle on himself soon. He cleared his throat, looking straight ahead instead of turning to meet Logan’s gaze. “It was the most stressful few hours of my entire life. I’m never doing it again.” He winced at the way his voice cracked. Traitorous voice box. “And for the record, you are NOT a ‘perfectly reasonable player’.”

Logan tilted his head back and laughed openly at that. Finn let himself look then. Despite everything, it was nice to see him so relaxed and happy.

“Well, I’m glad you at least came to this one. Even if you judge me.”

He leaned back next to Finn, shoulders brushing, and Finn watched as he scanned the room. A moment later, a glint appeared in shorter boy’s eye, his smile turning mischievous. Finn turned to follow his gaze, looking for what had prompted the change. He caught sight of James, still in his game jersey, and Lily, laughingly trying her best to get him to take it off.

He heard Logan call out to them. “Hey Pots! Did you hear your jerseys are only the third most popular on the Lion’s shop now?”

James froze, turning to them with his eyes wide. “What?”

He rounded on Logan. “Who told you that? Who beat me?” His expression turned to outrage. “Who could possibly have beaten me?!”

Finn held back a laugh at James reaction, letting out a loud cough instead. One that sounded very suspiciously like the word ‘bullshit’. He heard Leo do the exact same beside him and turned to catch his eye with a grin and a high-five. The two of them had made a game over the past few months of seeing who could catch Logan the fastest when he started his game of poking the bear- something that was hilarious to them and endlessly irritating to Logan.

Right on cue, Logan let out an exasperated noise. “Guys! You are no fun! Stop doing that!”

James’ head twisted back and forth between Logan and Finn as he pieced it together. “Wait… what??” He gasped at Logan, looking betrayed. “Tremz! Did you make that up? How could you! You almost gave me a heart attack on this glorious evening!”

Logan shot a mock glare at Leo and Finn, but his face cracked into a grin when he turned back to James. “You should have seen your face.”

James looked like he was about to respond, but at just that moment, a familiar beat started to play over the speakers. Someone in the living room cheered and turned up the volume, and James whooped, throwing his hands in the air. Finn smirked as he followed suit, pushing away from the counter to join him in the middle of the room.

---

Logan

Logan frowned when Finn stepped away from him- he liked feeling his warmth against his side. He watched as Finn moved after James, turning to look back at Logan and grinning as he sang along to the lyrics of the song now playing loudly through the house. Logan loved Finn’s singing voice. He smiled back and was about to go join him when something weird caught his attention, making him do a double take.

It wasn’t unusual for Finn to jump into the middle of a room to give a performance of a song. He did it all the time. At home, at the club, at parties. It was quintessential Finn behaviour.

But now, the entire rest of the room was joining him. Every single one of his friends had abandoned their conversations to chant along with the opening lyrics of this song Logan had never heard before. Logan’s brow furrowed in confusion as he spun around to look behind him. The living room was the same, everyone starting to move away from the walls and stand from the couches. Only Leo had stayed where he was, a few feet away from Logan.

“What the hell?” He muttered.

He turned back around to question Finn, only to find him no longer looking his way. Instead, he was now face to face with Talker in the middle of the room, the two of them rapping dramatically to one another. Logan lifted an eyebrow, letting out a short, surprised laugh as he watched the two of them.

             “I’ma get a scholarship to King’s College,

             I probably shouldn’t brag,

But dag, I amaze and astonish”

The rest of the room was still singing along. It was beyond weird. “What. The fuck. Is happening?” Logan asked nobody in particular.  

The rhythm of the song slowed a bit, and Finn turned back toward Leo and Logan, sliding smoothly over in front of them. His brown eyes sparkled as his gaze locked with Logan’s, singing directly to him.

             “I’m a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal

             Tryin’ to reach my goal, my power of speech, unimpeachable”

Logan leaned closer to Leo, his only ally in this insanity, but Finn had pointed dramatically to the younger boy and Leo laughed, stepping away from the counter and picking up the lyrics from the next line, pointing at himself as he sang:

             “Only nineteen but my mind is older

             These New York City streets get colder, I shoulder

             Every burden, every disadvantage I have learned to manage…”

Logan shot a surprised glare at Leo. Traitor. And now Finn was singing along again, and both of them were pointing at him, waiting for him to pick up the next line but Logan truly, truly had no idea what this was.

Finn looked at him with mock outrage when he realized Logan wasn’t faking his ignorance, straightening his back as he lifted his hands in a very ‘what the heck?’ sort of gesture.

Logan started to roll his eyes, but then all of a sudden, the beat changed again, and Finn’s hands were by his head and he was walking backward, winding his hips in a way that Logan had never seen him move before. A way that should be illegal.

His eyes were still locked on Logan’s, but where they had been filled with humour a moment ago, now they were burning with something intense that was sending Logan into a complete tailspin.

             “I am the AL-EX-AN-D-ER, we are, meant to be.”

His emotions were already running high after their win, and now Finn was standing in front of him, moving like that, looking at him like that. He heard himself let out a shaky breath and snapped his jaw shut, swallowing hard and jerking his eyes away from Finn, desperate for something else to focus on. His gaze landed on Leo, right next to him, which was not better.

Leo. He could see his toned chest through the fitted t-shirt he was wearing, and he wanted to reach out and touch. Fuck.

He could feel all the walls he had built up over the past four months crumbling down around him, and he started to panic. He was supposed to be getting over his feelings for Leo. Not growing them. Not adding Finn into the mix.

His breathing sped up. How was he this gone, for both of them? Was that even possible??

Pull it together Tremblay. He tried to talk himself down. Leo was his teammate. They were both his friends- friends like he had never had before. Those walls were there for a good fucking reason. He didn’t want to risk them.

He took a deep breath in through his nose, straightening his spine and pushing his shoulders back. He could do this. He looked back up and watched as Finn crooked a finger at him, calling him in to dance with them. The same way they always did when they were out together. His face was open and happy again. He just looked like normal Finn now. This was familiar. He could do this. The song kept playing.

             “Hey yo I’m just like my country

             I’m young, scrappy and hungry

             And I’m not throwing away my, shot!”

He took one step closer, and… nope. It would appear he could not, in fact, do this. He couldn’t handle familiar right now. He was buzzed, and high on adrenaline from the game, and this song was in his bones and if he was going to get himself out of this spiral, he needed to be away from the boys that were causing it.

He shook his head at Finn and forced a tight smile, watching him shrug his acceptance and turn to James instead. Logan turned to head over to where Sirius was stood in the corner of the living room, the only other person who looked as bewildered as he was by the scene. He had barely taken a step before a long arm wrapped around his shoulders from behind, pulling in him close to the strong chest he was trying to run away from. He closed his eyes, feeling his body tense as Leo’s low voice sounded in his ear, his skin warm against Logan’s own. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as Leo sang, off-key as usual, in some sort of horrible French accent.

             “I dream of life without a monarchy

             The unrest in France will lead to ‘onarchy?

             Onarchy? How you say, how you, oh, anarchy?

             When I fight I make the other side panicky with my, shot!”

It was hilarious, but feeling Leo this close to him right now, in this moment, was overload. It took everything he had to pull out of Leo’s grasp, grabbing his wrist and spinning underneath him. He stood on his tiptoes to let Leo spin too, and then gently shoved him back toward Finn. He knew Leo would assume he was following, so he turned back to the living room and slid into place next to Sirius.

He stood there, watching Nado and Kuny—how the hell did even Kuny know this song??—singing drunkenly on top of the couch, and tried to will his heart into submission.

After a few moments, Sirius’ voice sounded next to him. “Do you have any idea what this is?”

Logan shook his head, glancing over. “Non. But apparently we should be looking into it.”

Sirius just nodded, looking at him. Logan liked this about Sirius. He was quiet, and he didn’t mind if people were quiet around him. He always seemed to know when Logan needed a minute. He guessed that’s what made him a good captain. Logan felt calmer just being beside him. The two of them stood together in silence for a few minutes, until the whole house broke out into a chorus of ‘whoa’’s, and Sirius glanced over at him again. “You ok?”

“I’ll be better once this fucking song ends. How long is this thing?”

Sirius laughed at that, agreeing, and Logan felt his confidence coming back. He felt safer there, in the corner, watching Finn and Leo from afar. The distance had at least allowed his heart to stop pinging around his chest like a goddamn pinball machine. He was feeling, if not completely back in control, at least much more so than before.

“I’m good, Cap.” He meant it.

Sirius’ eyes were on his. “Ok. You know I’m here though, if you need me.”

“I know.” He shot Sirius a grateful smile. “Thanks, Sirius. Really.”

Sirius nodded, turning away as the song finally ended. Someone switched over to a dance playlist, and the living room turned into a de facto dance floor. Logan and Sirius stayed where they were for another song, until everyone else seemed to be either dancing, or involved in a game of what looked like Spoons at the dining room table. Logan drained the last of his rum and coke and turned to Sirius as he pushed off the wall toward the now empty kitchen. “I’m going to get another drink. You want anything?”

“No thanks. I’m good.” Sirius responded quietly, his expression soft. Logan followed his gaze over to where Loops was dancing with Lily and smiled. He clapped Sirius on the shoulder. “Ok, Cap. Have fun.”

---

A few shots and nearly an hour later, Logan was feeling as close to normal as he figured he would be able to pull off that night, teaching the Hoedown Throwdown choreography to a very enthusiastic Leo and Finn as someone’s country playlist blasted through the house. The team’s excitement for their freshly earned play-off spot had rubbed off on him again over the past hour, and he was enjoying himself, even if he was still a bit on edge.

It only took a few songs for them to ace the dance, and after they killed it to some song about chicken and tractors that Finn had sang every single word to, there was a break in the music while Nat and Talker argued over who got to choose next. They took the opportunity to their breath.

“Well, since we’re waiting anyway, I’m going to go grab another drink.” Finn swiped a hand through his sweat-tousled hair and looked between Logan and Leo. “Do you want anything?”

Leo shook his head, eyes bright against his dance-flushed cheeks. “No thanks. I think I’m done drinking for the night. We have a team meeting early tomorrow I don’t want to be hungover for.”

Logan still had half a drink in his hand, so Finn took off to the kitchen and left the two of them to  discuss who they could drag into their next dance, which Finn had decided for reasons Logan didn’t understand, to try and learn as a square instead of a triangle.

A new song finally started to play as they scanned the room, and as the beat came across the speakers, Logan recognized it with a frustrated groan.

Wicked Games. One of the few songs that he used to have multiple versions of on his playlist. A song that he had had to take off said playlist, because it got him in his head about Finn and Leo.

Of course someone would put this song on right when he had gotten his shit back together. Of fucking course.

He took a long drink from his glass and looked up at Leo, who was still looking around the room for participants. He watched as the colour-changing living room lighting lit up the taller boy’s face: blue, then green, then orange.

“The world was on fire, and no one could save me but you”

Leo glanced over at him, and then did a double take, turning to fully face him. He scanned Logan’s face, eyebrows furrowing as concern flashed through his warm blue eyes. Logan sighed through his nose. Fucking Knutty. He always knew.

“And I never dreamed that I’d meet somebody like you”

When Logan didn’t make a move to explain anything, Leo just nodded and took a step back.

“You know what?” he started. “Let’s just do it as three. Finn’ll get over it. I don’t want to dance with anyone else right now.”

Logan knew Leo was only saying it for his sake. But he couldn’t be bothered to try and pretend he was down for an audience right now, so he just nodded and stepped into what would be his place in the triangle when Finn came back. Leo turned to assess the space around them, and Logan let himself watch again. He never got sick of looking at Leo. Kind, thoughtful, annoyingly perceptive, beautiful Leo. The lyrics of the song repeated, over and over.

             “No I, don’t wanna fall in love, with you.”

“I think we’re going to need more room. Or someone’s going to get hurt.” Leo mused as he looked at the floor around them, trying to work out the logistics of the coordinated drunk jumping that was going to happen. One of his curls fell over his eyes. Logan resisted the urge to reach up and move it away.

             “What a wicked game you play, to make me feel this way

What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you”

Logan’s chest twisted and he pulled his gaze away. Fuck this song. He was going to kill Talkie for this. He could feel himself taking a nose-dive back to where he had been earlier that evening. Why couldn’t he shake these feelings tonight? He could always shake them. He was a master at shaking off feelings. This was ridiculous.

He decided to look for something they could push out of the way for more space, to give himself something to focus on. That was a task he could do.

But before he could move, a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind, the weight of a full-grown hockey player landing on his back and making him stumble forward. Pots’ voice was teasing in his ear. “Wicked Game is right, hey Tremzy??”

Logan’s breath caught in his throat as he froze in place, half bent over trying to regain his balance. Had Pots noticed? Was he being obvious?

“W-what?” he choked out.

James pulled him up and spun around him until they were face to face, his grin lopsided and his eyes a little glazed from the drinks he had clearly been celebrating with. “Wicked Game! Because you played a wicked game! Get it!? You got us the game winner, Tremz.” He looked wobbly on his feet, smiling dreamily. “You got us to the playoffs.”

Relief flooded Logan’s system. He hadn’t noticed. Nobody noticed. It was fine.

It didn’t feel fine.

“Oh. Ya, I guess.” He forced a little laugh.

“Come, my baby Canadian.” James bowed toward him, extending a hand. “I owe you this dance for getting me one step closer to my baby bathing in the cup.”

“Shut up, Pots.” Logan turned as an annoyed voice sounded behind them. Sirius, the inventor of superstition himself, walked by and smacked James gently upside the head. “Knock on wood. Now.”

“Ow,” James grumbled, rubbing his head and knocking on the doorframe he watched Sirius walk through, “how does he do that? It’s like he has a seventh sense for bad luck.”

Logan prayed James would follow Sirius away. But instead he just grinned and shoved Logan toward the center of the dance floor.

Logan did not want to be there anymore. James had freaked him out, and the stupid song was still playing. For the second time that night he wished he knew where the fucking skip button was located in this ridiculously oversized house.

Logan grabbed James’ arm and pulled him to a stop, leaning into him to prevent him going further. He turned on his best fake smile. “Hey Pots. I know I got the goal, but do you know who you really owe this dance to?”

James looked at him suspiciously. “Who?”

“Leo. We wouldn’t have won without his unreal performance tonight. You should get him first.”

James gasped. “You are right, Tremblay. Ok. I will get him first. But I will be back for you! Don’t move!”

Logan watched James wobble backward across the living room, shooting finger guns back at Logan until he crashed into a very amused-looking Leo.

When Logan figured the two of them were engaged enough to not notice him leaving, he slipped off in search of a quiet place to hang out for a while. He found a dark hallway off the end of the dining room and slid down to sit on the hardwood floor. His hands were shaking again as he pulled out his phone and opened the group chat he had with his sisters.  

He missed his sisters. He hadn’t told them about his feelings for either of the boys—for any boy, really—but he knew that if he messaged them, they would talk him down without prying. And that was what he wanted right now. He shot off a simple, ‘you guys awake?’ message, and waited for the reply.

---

Leo

Leo was wandering around the main floor of Sirius’ house, looking for Logan. He was worried about him. Logan had been on edge all night, keeping his distance and forcing smiles that didn’t reach his eyes. Leo could tell he was trying to hide something, and after catching the way he had looked at Finn in the kitchen earlier, it wasn’t hard to guess what that something was.

He had been watching Logan and Finn dance around each other, figuratively and literally, for months now. It was hard, watching these boys—these boys that made him ache with how each of them had burrowed their way into his soul—watch each other. It made him feel like he was drowning.

He had told himself when he came to Gryffindor that he was here for hockey, that he wasn’t going to get involved with anyone. Get attached to anyone. But here he was, the world’s biggest idiot, falling head over heels for not one, but two of the literal worst possible people to fall for. His home roommate and his travel roommate. Both, to the best of his knowledge, very closeted. Both very interested in someone else. Both very interested in each other. It was a bit of a disaster.

But disaster or not, Leo wasn’t going to let Logan feel like he was alone tonight. He knew firsthand how much support from the people who love you mattered, even if you weren’t ready to talk about it yet.

He poked his head into the kitchen and found Finn, looking deep in conversation with Natalie, but Logan wasn’t with him. He was a bit concerned about Finn, too. He also seemed a bit off this evening, and he never had come back from his last drink break. But Finn was safe with Natalie for now, so Logan was his priority for the moment.

He checked a few more rooms before he caught a glimpse of Logan’s ever-present snapback out of the corner of his eye. He was sitting on the floor in the dark end of an empty hallway, the glow from his phone screen lighting up his face.

Leo moved cautiously toward him, and when he didn’t look up, slid to the floor to sit next to him.

“Hey.” He offered softly.

Logan looked up at him with a small, fleeting smile, his usually bright green eyes looking tired. “Hey.”

Leo scanned his face, trying to decide whether Logan wanted to talk. “What are you up to?”

“Just texting my sisters.”

Leo nodded, understanding, and looked away, giving Logan the chance to go back to his phone if he wanted to. Logan looked back down at the screen and typed out a final message before clicking the screen off and shoving it back in his pocket.

They sat quietly next to each other for a few minutes, just listening to the music. After a while, Logan broke the silence.

“It’s crazy that we’re heading to the playoffs.” He said quietly.

That made Leo smile a bit. He looked back over at Logan. “You played incredible tonight.” He said sincerely. “All season, really. I think we earned it.”

Logan’s lips quirked up a bit at the compliment. “Thanks, Nutty. We really did.”

They fell back into their comfortable silence, sitting shoulder to shoulder and watching what they could see of the dining room down the hall. In the lights of the party, Pots and Sirius were teasing Remus about something they couldn’t hear. Remus blushed a deep red and Sirius laughed as he pulled him in for a kiss.

“We’re really lucky.” Leo said, hoping that Logan knew he wasn’t just talking about the game anymore. When Logan didn’t respond, he looked over to see him pulling at the seams of his jeans, looking like he might be on the verge of tears. The sight pulled at Leo’s chest. He wanted to take Logan’s face in his hands and wipe away that look forever.

But he knew that wasn’t what Logan wanted. So instead he stood, holding out a hand to the shorter boy. He would be here for him in whatever way Logan needed. “You wanna get another drink? Or are you ready to head out?”

Logan looked up at him with reddened eyes, and Leo’s heart felt like it was breaking with every beat. And when Logan put his hand in his and the sparks flooded over his whole body, Leo closed his eyes and willed them away.

---

[hey-there-love]

Foolish

Summary: Being the new kid is tough right? Try moving across the world to attend the elite hero course at U.A. Unfortunately, following the path of the straight and narrow is difficult when you have a first ball of death throwing twists in it. Nobody said it was going to be easy. New experiences, new interests, new friends...what could go wrong...right? (It’s all cute at first until the smut shatters it...not right now though ;) )

Chapter 1: Welcome, Y/N

Content warning: adult language, cringy situations

Word Count: 1.6K

You let out a sigh as you stood infront of your new dorm, Heights Alliance. U.A high school was Japan’s best school for up and coming pro hero’s and you were chosen to attend. You never thought you’d see the day where you’d finally walk the halls of the prestigious school.

Being a native from the United States, it had always been your dream to attend U.A ever since you watched a sports festival two years ago, unfortunately you never peaked the interest of anyone with your admissions. That was until an earthquake caused by a villains powerful quirk had changed your life.

Long story short it was a normal day at your respective internship with America’s number 3 pro hero, Hopewing, on patrol. A devastating earthquake began and you single handly rescued civilians from a restaurant that caught on fire with no casualties. The villain was apprehended quickly, but an extensive search and rescue mission was done to recover victims of the earthquake. You didn’t think it was a big deal, you were just doing your job, but news outlets picked up on your heroic act and it spread like wild fire.

Countless offers began to stream in for different agencies and schools all across the country. With multiple letters of recommendation, a distinct offer from your dream school rolled in with a promise to be taught in the central . Even if you hadn’t fantasized about attending U.A, you would have been insane to not take the offer.

So, after finishing out your first year at Elite High School you uprooted, packed up your life, and traveled across the world . Classes started next week and nervous was an understatement. You had anxiety as soon as you touched down in Japan. Things here were different. On top of you being a new student in a foreign country you were living in dorms with your classmates.

You always lived at home with your mother and father , never sharing a space with someone else let alone 20 new people who all shared different quirks and attributes. It was nerve wracking, some were going better than you, who knows what level everyone is on. Your anxiety was making it hard for you to breathe. What if-

“Y/N. Did you hear me?” Mr. Aizawa interjected.

“Oh, I’m sorry sir, I kinda zoned out.” You squeaked. Never in a million years you would have thought that when you were told that your home room teacher was picking you up from the airport and taking you to your dorms that it would be the pro hero Eraser Head. You jaw had hit the floor.

“You know Y/N,” he began, “It’s okay to have anxiety about your situation, but I assure you this is the group of kids to share classes with. They are the best this school has to offer. They can teach you a lot.”

You swallowed the lump in your throat and nodded.

“Come on, let’s go. Iida and Yaoyorozu are waiting to help you settle in.” He said grasping, one of your suitcases. You took a deep breath and followed your home room teacher up the front stairs. As you walked into the doors, you were greeted by two people. One was a tall man with black hair, glasses, and crazy huge calves and the other was lean woman with a luscious black ponytail and the sweetest smile.

“Ah! There you two are! Welcome to U.A! My name is Tenya Iida, Class 2-A representative and this is Vice President Momo Yaoyorozu.” The man in the glasses announced, smiling widely. He spoke rigidly and bowed.

He threw you off at tad bit with the formality. He talked like he was a politician running for office. “Hey, I’m Y/N. Nice to meet you both.” You extended your hand awkwardly since you were holding your carry on and a box. He gave you a firm handshake.

Yaoyorozu smiled and shook her head, “Iida, our classmate looks like her hands are full. Take her box big guy.”

“Oh, right! Sorry about that!” Iida took the box and your suitcase from Mr. Aizawa. You were grateful because it was getting a little heavy in your arms.

“Well Y/N, you’re in capable hands with these two. I’ll leave you to it.” Mr. Aizawa turned on his heel to leave. “Come to my office 30 minutes before class on Monday and we’ll go through your schedule and get you a map of campus.” He called over his shoulder.

Just like that Aizawa the security blanket was gone and you were left alone with the two. They seemed nice, so hopefully the rest were the same. “Alrighty let’s head on up.” Yaoyorozu suggested. Your trio approached the elevator. “So, this is Class 2-A’s dormitory. There are 5 floors in total. The first floor are where the common rooms are located. Including the kitchen, study area, and the gym. Floors 2, 3, 4, and 5 are dorms. Our bathrooms are communal pertaining to who lives on each floor.” She explained.

Holy crap, this place was huge to say the least. You were excited to explore everything, especially the gym but that would have to wait until the jet lag wore off.

“I’ll tell you ahead of time Y/N, everyone is excited to meet our new classmate. If you ever get overwhelmed then instruct them to give you some space. They all can be quite a lot sometimes.” Iida warned, pushing his glasses up on his face.

“I’m sure I will be okay! I’m just happy to finally be here.”

Yaoyorozu gave you an award winning grin. “I’m happy for you too. Someone as talented as you belongs at U.A.” You felt a blush creeping on to your neck.

“Please stop, you’re being too kind. I’ve actually researched the both of you. You guys are so amazing and your quirks are insane!” You replied.

“Well, we appreciate it. So, we’ll bring your things up to your room, give you some time to freshen up, and then head down stairs to meet the others in an hour?” Iida said as the elevator reached the 4th floor.

You agreed as you stepped out and had a look around. The floor was in the U shaped. Next to the elevators was the bathrooms and the entrance branched out into two hallways.

“For obvious reasons the boys are on the right hall and the girls are on the left hall. Your neighbors on this side are Uraraka and Ashido, while the boys are Shouji, Kirishima, and Bakugo.” Yaoyorozu said and lead you to the third door down. She unlocked your door and handed you the gold key.

Iida opened the door and allowed you two to walk in before him. You were sure the big grin on your face was visible miles away.

“Now, I know it’s not much right now, but I wouldn’t stress about unpacking just yet. I’m sure you’ll recruit some help after dinner.” Iida said and sat down your things.

“Thanks guys, I’m going to go wash off this traveling and I’ll see you then.” You smiled. Iida bowed and Yaoyorzo waved before exiting. You quickly made your way to the bed and plopped down, absolutely beat. You began to take in your new home. The white bed frame was against the right wall, matching colored desk was placed against the left wall. There was a giant window on the back wall facing your door and in the corner was a small closet with low dresser inside

You looked around at all the boxes wondering if all your things would fit in this room. Maybe a little unpacking wouldn’t hurt. You opened your two suit cases and began hanging up clothes, organizing sleep clothes, undergarments, and socks in the drawers. Once that was done you began to search for your travel sizes hygiene products, making a mental note to go out for the essentials tomorrow.

Once that was located, you decided to pick out an outfit to wear. Since you arrived in sweat pants and an old t-shirt of your moms; you wanted to look semi decent when you met the others. You went for a simple pair of black jeans and your previous alma mater’s sweat shirt.

You grabbed your phone planning to text your parents that you’ve settled in and made your way to the bathroom. You began to type out a message as you neared the threshold.

Not paying attention as you rounded the corner you crashed into something hard...someone hard.

“Oi, pay attention!” He yelled as everything you were carrying flew onto the floor around you.

“Oh shoot, I am so sorry!”

You both simultaneously began to reach down to pick up your things and bumped heads.

“Fuck. Are you a clutz or something?” He growled holding his forehead. The impact caused you to see two pairs of red eyes glaring at you.

“Look, that was definitely my mistake. I apologize.” Your vision began to come back together and you started to get your things. He reached for the jeans and handed them to you.

You both stood up and then you realized how handsome he was. Spiked ash hair covered his head like a crown, crimson eyes, full lips, and a strong jaw line.

Wow...they definitely make them different in this country.

“Tch, you got a staring problem or did you knock something loose, dumbass?”

“My name’s Y/N, not dumbass.” You shot back, annoyed. He stood silently, shaking his head, and began to chuckle. “What’s so funny?” You questioned.

“Um...you’ve got...” was all he said before pulling the black thong with a cherry print from your shoulder and holding it infront of you with one finger.

“Oh my god.” You squealed and ripped it from his hand. He continued to laugh and walked out of the bathroom. You ran straight to the shower and locked the door. You sank to the floor with your hands covering your face.

Great. I’ve been in Japan for an hour and I’ve already embarrassed myself.

[yukipri]

On the Baratie, Part 3 - a One Piece Mermaid AU Text Story

Third part of the Baratie story tonight!

Warnings for: Thatch x Luffy, Sanji x Luffy, bg Ace x Luffy

Continues off of past parts!

👒🐟On the Baratie, Part 1

👒🐟On the Baratie, Prologue

👒🐟On the Baratie, Part 2

~~

Sanji's never been left this speechless by someone else's food before.

He's long considered Zeff to be the best chef he knows, the mentor from whom Sanji's polished his own skills, once acquired from lonely textbooks in a cold, cold dungeon cell. Sanji's improved, but there are few dishes he can serve that he feels can top Zeff's.

"Well?" Thatch asks, crossing his arms, a gentle smile curling his lips.

There's a small feast laid out before them, and to an untrained eye, it looks simple. But when Zeff finishes his first sip of soup, he makes a low, rumbling sound of appreciation, and honestly Sanji can't do anything but silently echo the sentiment.

Food can be incredible. Not only do living things require nourishment to survive, certain kinds can bring out various physical and mental reactions in the consumer. The right diet can encourage healing, grant clearer vision, even strengthen the body to seemingly inhuman degrees. Food builds the body after all, and the right kind can cause miracles.

But some recipes, Sanji has heard, take food even further beyond.

And this food, this does all of that and more.

Because from the first sip, Sanji immediately feels his body thrum with energy and warmth, and he jolts. What is this? There's no way his body can physically change from taking just a single sip of soup...and yet it feels like it has.

To eat like this, every meal, every day, every crew member...suddenly, "the Strongest Pirate Crew in the World" seems less an obscure, far away concept, but defined in a way that Sanji not only understands, but leaves him feeling nothing but awe. This, he thinks, this is what you eat to be the Strongest.

Sanji hates to admit it, but he's never had anything like it, not even from Zeff. And the cook, Thatch, did it in with the exact same tools, ingredients, and kitchen that Sanji uses every day.

And while the physical effects are mind boggling enough, there's more.

Because in this food, Sanji can feel the cook's raw intent in an undiluted form that perhaps only Sanji himself can recognize and interpret, as a cook who strives to do the same, but has never quite managed to this level of mastery. And in every ingredient that Thatch added, in every careful stir, Sanji knows what he was pouring in.

Love.

Sanji doesn't set his spoon down until the bowl is empty, but when he does, his thoughts feel more organized. And this, Sanji thinks, this food...it's practically a culinary love letter that only Sanji can read.

And Sanji somehow instinctively knows that the love letter is addressed to Luffy.

Sanji's torn. On one hand, he feels that his attraction to Luffy, not even a day old, is painfully inadequate in comparison to not just the devotion of her current cook, but his ability to convey it through his cooking alone. And Sanji knows that at this moment, he has no hope of coming close to replicating the way Thatch shows his love through his food. It's the first time Sanji's felt this way about his craft, and it's humbling.

But on the other hand...Sanji slowly lifts his gaze from the soup to see Thatch with new eyes, but the man's attention is fixed solely on Luffy, who guzzles the soup without a care in the world, no doubt completely unaware of just how special it really is.

On the other hand, the things Sanji could learn from this cook.

"Thatch's cooking is the best," Luffy croons, as Ace reaches around her to roughly wipe her messy face with a napkin. "But! Sanji's cooking is amazing too, and Sanji's cooking will also be the best if he joins our crew!"

Zeff wasn't exaggerating; it really is an honor to be compared to Thatch. Sanji feels his heart thump heavily, and for once it's not just because of lovely, lovely Luffy.

Sanji doesn't have a response for Luffy, but at the moment he doesn't need to--because Don Krieg walks in.

~~

Things happen in rapid succession.

Gin and Krieg arrive.

Then the greatest swordsman in the world, Dracule Mihawk shows up, and the green haired idiot pounces at the opportunity to challenge him, and immediately loses.

"Hawk Eyes," Thatch says warningly, with far too much familiarity and lack of fear facing down a Warlord, but perhaps that's to be expected, given that he's a Whitebeard pirate.

"Thatch," the swordsman acknowledges. "The boy's not dead. Even if he were not under your crew's protection, he has captured my interest."

Sanji frowns at their exchange.

But then he's fighting, and there's no time to worry about it, and the Baratie's in danger, Zeff's in danger, so Sanji has to fight--

And then for some reason, Luffy's fighting.

Sanji's heart leaps into his throat the first time he sees her slam into Krieg, and he moves to abandon his own fight to go to her aid, when a hand stops him.

It's the Dangerous Man, Ace, the one who acted like he was Luffy's keeper, though that antagonism is gone from him now as he watches the mermaid engage in combat with Krieg. He looks surprisingly calm, and he doesn't move to help Luffy, or even to call her back, but instead looks on silently from the sidelines, leaning against the outer wall of the Baratie next to Thatch and the blue-haired man, who are likewise quiet.

"Let her fight," Ace says, though he and his crew mates don't look away.

"You don't care if she gets hurt?! That's Don Krieg!" Sanji spits out blood and tries to move towards her again, but Ace's hand doesn't budge.

"And she's my co-captain." Ace says, and Sanji jolts. "We're headed to the Grand Line. Krieg is nothing compared to the opponents we'll face there."

Sanji wants to object, to call the man utterly insane and heartless for using this as what, a training exercise?! for Luffy, who isn't just a delicate lady, but a vulnerable mermaid! Adrenaline has completely shot Sanji's restraint, and it suddenly doesn't matter how much stronger Ace is, because Sanji's about to give him a piece of his mind--but he stops.

Because when Sanji looks at Ace, he doesn't see the cold eyes of a master evaluating the performance of his subordinate. Ace, for all his power, looks so incredibly human as he watches Luffy fight. Sanji can tell that he cares for her, that he's worried, but above all, that he has absolute trust in Luffy. And it's that belief in her that keeps him rooted to the spot when Sanji can now see that he's itching to annihilate Krieg like he no doubt could.

It's the look that true family gives, that people who don't love you can never hope to replicate, and Sanji knows the difference all too painfully well.

And so Sanji turns to watch Luffy as well. He can't say that the fight looks easy for her, but she's holding her own, far better than Sanji would have expected. Despite being a mermaid, she balances easily with her tail to hurl punches that fly far and true with her devil fruit powers, before she spins on her arms to lash out with her fins, delivering a slam that sends Krieg crashing through the wreckage of his own ship.

Her fighting isn't what even Sanji could call particularly elegant, much more like brawling, but he still can't look away.

~~

Luffy's bare hands shatter Krieg's golden armor, before her tail deals the final blow, even as the mermaid herself, bleeding and entangled in Krieg's net, plummets into the sea.

Conviction, Sanji thinks, repeating Zeff's words, his observations of the mermaid.

The three by the Baratie make their moves then, all at once. Ace and Thatch leap forward to dive into the sea after the mermaid, but are slammed to the deck by their blue-haired companion before they can touch the water.

"Hey you! Blond cook!" the blue-haired man shouts, and Sanji realizes he's referring to Sanji. "Go in after her! She's eaten a devil fruit and can't swim, and neither can these idiots! She'll drown!"

"You'd best do as he says," Zeff agrees, and Sanji swears and takes off sprinting.

Down beneath the waves, it's like the battle overhead never took place, and Sanji wonders if he'd imagined it after all as he finally reaches Luffy. Her eyes are closed, and the majority of blood has already been washed away by the water. Her body is completely limp as Sanji cuts it free of the net so she slides into his arms.

It's his first time touching her, and though she settles heavily and unnaturally against him without a hint of buoyancy...she's soft. Small bubbles rise from her lips, and Sanji realizes that she's breathing underwater. With light from the surface dancing across her face, she looks so incredibly different from when she was awake. She's hauntingly beautiful and serene, and the blue veil over her makes her look like she belongs to another world, like a sleeping sea goddess waiting to be awakened by a kiss. She looks like a true mermaid princess straight out of a fairy tale, not a pirate capable of pummeling an infamous pirate commodore.

Sanji feels his own lungs beginning to scream, and regretfully kicks out, but keeps firm grip of the mermaid in his arms.

When they break the surface, wreckage is around them, and hands immediately pull them onto the deck. Sanji reluctantly lets Luffy go.

"Luffy!" Ace shouts, all pretense of calm gone as he pulls Luffy into his arms to peer down at her.

Luffy doesn't gasp for air like a human who's been under water, but rather takes a longer, deeper breath, and slowly opens her eyes as though finally realizing that it isn't fluid, but air in her lungs.

"Hey, Ace," she says, lips quirking into a smile as she continues to breath in deeply. "Told you I could beat him."

"So you did," he agrees, crushing her briefly against his chest, before pulling them apart so he can catalog her injuries.

"Thanks for that," a new voice says, and Sanji looks up to see the blue-haired man offering him a hand, which he takes. "I can't guarantee Ace'll agree, but I for one am all for more swimmers joining us. I'm Deuce."

~~

~~

(Deuce, probably: So Nami stole our ship, Usopp's following her with a half-dead Zoro and the two bounty hunters, leaving...fantastic, me alone with three stupid devil fruit users. Again.)

I did skim through the manga again for a vague sense of order of events, but I have zero interest in writing every detail of canon into my AU stories. Sure, I'm sure some things could have gone interestingly different that I didn't mention, like Lu possibly avoiding Krieg's gas by dunking her head under water, or Thatch sucking it all up into a black hole....but eh, you can imagine that if you want LOL! This was already getting too long ^ ^;

Some other notes: I re-read Novel A again, and confirmed several things:

1) Thatch is confirmed Head Cook/Head of Dining of the entire Whitebeard Fleet

2) Thatch's division, the 4th, is also primarily in charge of Dining, including but not limited to cooking, gathering food such as hunting and fishing, and presumably procuring other foodstuffs from their territory. I already HC'd this, but nice to have it be confirmed canon!

3) It's a little hard to tell from the wording whether he's just calling it that, or whether it really is Special, but possibly implied that he can cook especially energizing and nourishing foods (in the novel, stamina soup for Pops), possibly like the Kamabakka Kingdom recipes.

(note, I have not read the official English translation, so have no clue what they chose to translate these things as, I only got the original Japanese which is enough for me ^ ^;)

Regarding the last point, I do HC that Thatch knows those recipes and is friends with Kamabakka Kingdom cooks. I also HC that Iva-chan's okama aren't the only country or culture that has Special Foods like that, and Thatch has a very, VERY broad repertoire ;D

I also just love the idea of both Thatch and Sanji, master cooks, being able to read parts of each other through their cooking that goes completely unnoticed by everyone else on the crew <3

As always, thank you so much for reading, and any thoughts you'd like to share with me are immensely appreciated! <3

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

Read the next part: On the Baratie, Part 4

~This ask has been added to the Mermaid AU Text Headcanons Compilation post~

[forever-rogue]

Honey & Velvet - Part 9

A/N: Thank you guys so much for your response to the last part - I’m so glad you guys liked it ;) Thanks for your patience on this part as I worked on some other things. There will be one more chapter after this! I hope you enjoy, and as always, feedback and comments are welcome! xx

Pairing: Maxwell Lord x Reader

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: slight language, s*ft Max

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7  | PART 8 | PART 10

MASTERLIST

»»————-　♡　————-««

Your mouth had all but dropped as the champagne bottle was displayed in front of your face and you were asked if it was the right one. Your eyes flicked over to Maxwell and he just gave you a blasé expression, giving you a small wave as he waited for you to confirm or deny the bottle. 

You weren’t an expert on fine champagnes by any means, but you could just tell this was expensive. The name elegantly scrolled on the minimalist label was enough to tell you that. But you had known this restaurant would be elegant and fancy as soon as you had come and seen the menu - none of the prices had been listed anywhere. You hadn’t expected something like this, but you probably should have known better considering this was all Maxwell’s plan. It still had caused you a moment of pause, but you didn’t make a fuss.

“Miss?” you hadn’t realized how much you must have zoned out in your little quandary. The waiter was looking at you with an expectant expression, “is this bottle suitable?”

“Yes,” you answered with a small smile, swallowing the thick lump in your throat as you couldn’t even fathom the price tag, as he offered you a small nod, “thank you.”

“Glasses or bottle?” he asked you found yourself at another conundrum. Where you just going to agree to a glass and or a whole bottle? You didn’t want to appear overzealous, or however it would be labeled, but your decision was made when Maxwell spoke up.

“Bottle, of course,” he answered, not even bothering to look at the waiter but keeping his eyes firmly trained on you. You suddenly felt shy under his watchful gaze, feeling a blush rise up in your cheeks, despite the fact that you had been under and on top of him just a short time before. The waiter nodded and left to grab glasses and a cooler for the bottle. 

“The whole bottle?” you asked with raised eyebrows as he leaned back in his chair and gave you an obviously type of look, “are you feeling extravagant this evening?”

“I suppose there’s much to celebrate tonight,” his lips quirked up into a smile as you bit your lip, trying your best to not to show him the hold that he had over you. It was pretty clear and apparent to the both of you by now - the constellations of light bruises that were already coloring your neck and collarbones were a fine example of that. Once you had left his office, thoroughly fucked and worn out, you had gone home and showered and changed for dinner, making sure to wear a dress that would show off the marks. Shameless, you had thought to yourself, you were utterly shameless. 

“And just what would that happen to be?” you asked softly as the waiter returned and brought the bottle of champagne. He opened the bottle with a loud pop and filled your glasses, passing one to you and to Maxwell, before departing again. You grabbed the glass and watched the bubbles fizz towards the surface, the sweet smell instantly hitting your nose. Was it possible for champagne to smell expensive? Because this one did.

“You,” Maxwell grabbed his own glass, tilting it slightly towards you, “cheers.”

“Me? You must have me confused with something or someone else!”

“Hardly,” he insisted firmly, “I meant what I said. You truly are exquisite.”

“And you are truly insatiable Maxwell,” you shook your head but held up your glass and lightly clinked it against yours, “cheers.”

You raised the fine crystal flute to your lips and took a sip, letting the fizzy liquid coat your mouth in crisp sweetness. It was delicious - fresh and sweet and you could easily see yourself drinking more of the delicious bubbly. Peeking at Maxwell, you could see that he was savoring it as well, swallowing it and let out a small content sigh. Feeling particularly....flirtatious, you decided to ask, “so? How does it compare? Have you come to the conclusion that you are a foolish man and that nothing is as fine as this champagne?”

“It is very fine,” he admitted with a small smile before taking another exaggerated sip, almost as if he was contemplating it deeply, “but it does not hold a candle to you.”

“Oh?”

“Not nearly as sweet and delicious as you,” his words caused your mouth to gape a little bit, and you hung your head, knowing that you were probably as red as a tomato, “and I’d take you over it any day.”

"You're such a liar," your eyes were wide as you quickly downed the rest of your flute before setting it back down and staring at your lap. You would never have imagined you’d be in this position - dinner with Maxwell Lord as he decided that you were superior to even the finest champagne. You’d have laughed at the thought if someone had even dared to mention it. But here it was...reality. 

"Maybe you should learn to accept comments," he volunteered, lightly nudging your foot with his.

"Sure," you gave in, biting the inside of your cheek to keep from grinning like a complete fool, "I'll take your word for it, Maxwell. I am better than the finest champagne, as decided by the man who knows best."

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" he teased as the waiter came back to take your orders. You hadn't gotten a proper look at the menu and therefore had almost zero clue as what you wanted. Internally panicking, you tried to think of something that every restaurant would have deciding to go just go ahead and order that.

But before the waiter could even turn to you, Maxwell finished his order and then immediately placed your order as well. Normally you would have walked out on a man who even dared to think about doing that - but there was something about when Maxwell did that kind of...turned you on. He did it with such ease, such cool confidence that you weren’t even phased. With any other man you would not have been having it, never. But this man...had you hook, line, and sinker.

"A bold move Maxwell," you shook your head at him and he leaned back in his chair with an easy smile, "how did you know that I would like that?"

"Consider it a lucky guess," he admitted coolly, and you just shook your head at him. He was a lot, incredibly so, and sometimes you wondered what it was about him that you liked. He still managed to drive you insane at times, "can I ask you something?"

"Max," you leaned in close so only he could hear you, "considering you've now thoroughly fucked me every which way, I think we’re past you having to ask me something like that."

A small flash of humility seemed to cross his features for a moment as he thought over his words, drumming his fingers along the fine linen tablecloth. You considered making a smart remark, but for once you could see that he was thinking deeply about something, so you sat and waited for him to say something instead, but then suddenly, almost quietly he asked, “why me?”

The question took you aback for a moment and you gave him a confused look. You reached for his hand across the table and laid yours on top of his, “what do you mean?”

“I’m not...oblivious to our little cat and mouse game-”

“Is it still a game when we’ve both clearly won?” you asked with a little grin on your face that was nothing but victorious, “I hadn’t planned on giving you into that easily, but I guess...I couldn’t stay away. But we both got what we’ve been wanting, haven’t we?”

He laughed for a moment, a hollow sound as he flipped your hand over and traced the tips of his fingers over the soft lines of your palms, “regardless...why have you chosen to share your affections with me?”

Stilling for a moment you wracked over your brain at his question. You never really thought about it before...it had just sort of been a thing. He was a lot of things...that much you knew from the beginning, but even now you were still intrigued, “you know, Maxwell, it’s a good question. I cannot deny that I am a fan of our little back and forth and that I like lording a little power over you.”

“Ahh, so it’s a power thing,” he joked as you laughed lightly, “I should have known you were just after power.”

“It’s nice,” you admitted, “especially in a world where being a woman still hinders you. But no, that’s not it. If I just wanted power, or whatever you want to call, I wouldn’t have spent all this time on you. It’s...something. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but I do like you, Maxwell. For whatever reason.”

“Really?” he raised an eyebrow as you just nodded, “I’ll consider myself lucky then.”

“I suppose I could ask you the same question,” you grabbed his hand and flipped over, tracing over one of his rings delicately before getting a wicked idea. You slowly slipped it off of his finger and onto your own, admiring how it looked on your smaller fingers, “I like this. Looks good on me, don’t you think?”

“Indeed,” he agreed and a part of you was mildly surprised to see that he didn’t seem irritated in the slightest, “much better than on you than it ever could on me. Keep it.”

“Maxwell,” you moved to pull it off, having only attempted to make a small joke, but he closed your hand to prevent you from removing it and pushed your hand back slowly back towards you, “it’s-”

“No,” he insisted firmly, and you left a surge of electricity go up your spine at the huskiness of his voice, “it’s yours now. I don’t know what is it about you, surely no can deny your intelligence, your spirit, even your beauty. But I know there is much more to it than that. Perhaps it’s better not to question these things and let them work as they were meant to. But that’s for another time, another conversation in the future. Now, more champagne?”

“Yes,” you agreed quietly, shaking your head at the golden haired man across from you. You weren’t sure what exactly this was, or where this was going, but you’d already made it up in your mind that you were willing to stick around and find out what it could be. 

The possibility of what could be definitely had you intrigued. 

»»————-　♡　————-««

3 Months Later

A heavy sighed escaped your lips as you looked down at the spreadsheets and numbers laid out in front of you. You’d been staring at the documents for what seemed like hours and you eyes were slowly feeling like they were glazing over. You grabbed your coffee, now long cold and took a long sip, letting the bitter, cold creamy drink swill in your mouth before swallowing it. 

Maybe you could just...pass it off to someone else; you were making neither heads nor tails of anything and about to shove it all of your desk and let it fall to the floor. A light knock came at your door and pulled you of our daze, as you told them to come in. Looking up you were surprised to see Maxwell stepping into, two steaming cups of coffee in his hands as he came closed the door and walked over to you.

“Max,” some of the tension seemed to leave your shoulders as you let a smile cross your features at the sight of him. Your stomach fluttered lightly in excitement at the sight of his handsome face, “I didn’t know you were stopping by.”

“I hadn’t heard from you this morning,” he attempted as he leaned over your desk and gave you a quick kiss. Months ago, when you’d first met him, you never thought he would be capable of such small intimacies. Setting down the coffee and in front of you, he smiled when you eagerly grabbed it and took a drink, finding it much better to your now other cold one, “and I figured you could use the caffeine. You said you were working on those reports this morning.”

“Thank you,” you said before leaning back and letting out a long sigh and gesturing to the papers, “these are killing me. I’m ready to burn or destroy them. I hate numbers.”

“Hmm,” he glanced over them quickly before letting out a whole whistle as he too tried to make sense of everything, “would you like some help? Or at least some company?” 

“I could use a little bit of both,” you stood up and walked around your desk, shoving the papers out of the way before hopping onto it, directly in front of Maxwell, swinging your legs back and forth. He took your hand, thumbing over his ring that you still wore everyday and bringing your hand to his lips pressing a little kiss to your knuckles, “I’ve missed you.”

“It’s only been a few days,” he teased lightly, putting his large hands on top of your thighs, fingers tracing light shapes onto your kind underneath the hem of your dress, “I highly doubt you’ve missed me that much.”

“But I have,” you pouted at him. It was true - he’d been gone for the last five days on business and you’d missed him more than you’d thought. You’d been spending copious amounts of time together over the past several months and he’d become a surprisingly welcome presence of your life. You never would have thought that your initial little back and forth with him would develop into...whatever you currently had. You’d never really called him your boyfriend, never having discussed labels, but you figured he was akin to that at least, “it was a rotten week to spend all by myself when it could have been spent with you.”

“You have me whenever you want,” he promised with a chuckle, standing to his full height, once again taller than you. He You grinned at him as he leaned down and kissed you. It was gentle, at first, soft and lingering, but he put his hands on the sides of your face and kissing you with more feverish intensity. Clearly he had missed you too, “sweet as ever.”

“Oh shush,” you put your hands on wrists and gently leaned up to steal one more kiss. Putting your hand on his chest, you gently pushed him back into the chair and sat down in his lap, putting your arms his neck and nuzzled your face against his, “how was your trip, my love?”

“Fine,” he admitted, his hands finding purchase on your hips as you rested against his chest, “not sure I took much out of it, but here we are. It would have been a week much better spent with you with you indeed.”

“All work and no play makes Max a dull boy?” sliding your hands under his suit jacket, you held onto him as tightly as possible. You could feel the laughter vibrating in his chest as he kissed the crown of your head, “imagine the fun we could have had.”

“I can only imagine,” he agreed. Weekends spent together had been...fun to the say the least. You’d been alternating staying at your place or his, often spending time doing nothing of import, sometimes not even bothering to leave the bed for more than the necessities, “I think time spent between your legs would have been heaven compared to listening to current economic forecasts.”

“I like to think so,” you agreed, pressing a few kisses to his neck and letting them trail up to his jaw before stopping at his lips, “but I understand that sometimes even work has to take precedence over me.” 

“Not if I can avoid it,” his large hands skimmed up your sides and started to lift your dress as he let his fingers roam all over the soft skin of your thighs, “I would choose you whenever I can.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” you teased as you brought his hands up to your chest and let him feel over the fine lace of your bra. You leaned closer so only he could hear, “I got something new will you were gone. I think you’ll like it.”

Maxwell, being the man he was, hiked your dress all the up and intently studied the matching lace set you were wearing. It was pretty, dark blue floral lace with velvet accents that left just enough to the imagination. He made a low sound in his throat as he took it all in; you were going to be the death of him, he just knew it, “exquisite...as always. But you’ll look ever better with it off.”

“I see your true intentions in coming here,” you joked, quickly pulling his hands off of your frame and tugged your dress back down. His dark eyes were honeyed and still soft, despite the affect you had on him, “you just want to fuck me. Was your hand not good enough while you were gone?”

“Nothing compares to how you feel, sweet girl,” he confessed and it sent a small sense of pride fluttering up in your chest, “but I, believe it or not, did not come to just fuck you. I just wanted to see you, and make sure you were holding up okay and not drowning in reports.”

That in itself was enough to make you want to take him then and there. You could tell he was being honest, that he really just wanted to see you. Anything else was just enough to make you want him more. You ran a hand through his hair and tousled it gently, “who would have thought you were such a sweetheart?”

“I have many different sides to me,” he laughed as he gently tugged on a lock of your hair, “just not everyone gets to see all of them.”

“Hmm,” you grinned at him, “I like it. Keep talking like that I’ll just have you here and now. However I like.”

“Don’t you have reports to get done?” he reminded you quietly, “I can help-”

“Fuck the reports,” you huffed as you tried to kiss him, but he just kept dodging you with a playful smile, “they can wait...”

"Sweetheart," the pet name was enough to get your heart racing as you traced over his lips with your index finger, wanting to nothing more than to kiss him again. To kiss him until you were both breathless, to kiss him until you were drunk off of his touch. But instead of indulging you, he simply kissed your finger, "they need to be done. The sooner they're done, the sooner we can do whatever you want. It’s Friday, why don't we go away for the weekend?"

"A weekend trip?" you mused as he nodded, the corners of his mouth slowly lifting into a smile, "I didn't take you for the soft romantic type."

"What can I say?" he slowly shifted you in his lap so you were facing your desk, back to his chest, "maybe it's you bringing it out in me. Maybe I just needed the right person."

"Maxwell," he snaked his arms around your waist before resting his chin on your shoulder. You closed your eyes and sighed contently, turning your head to give him a kiss, "are you being serious?"

"Of course," he promised, reaching for the reports that been pushed away in your haste, "the sooner this is all finished the sooner we can go."

Before you could say anything else, the door to your office opened again and Adina stepped in, her mouth immediately dropping at the sight. You let out a small sound of surprise as she started laughing lightly. You could feel Max rest his head against your shoulder, "sorry boss, I didn't realize anyone was here or I would have knocked. I hadn't heard anything from you in a while and wanted to make sure the were okay..."

"Yeah," you admitted, your face red as could be, but still making no move to get off Max's lap or even try to think of an excuse, "I'm okay. More than okay."

"Mr. Lord," she gave him a small nod, shoulders shaking with silent laughter, "I didn't realize you had come. My apologies for interrupting."

"You're not interrupting anything," you insisted, leaning into Max's body, "I was just stuck on these reports and Maxwell here has so graciously offered to help me."

"Ahhh," she said with a knowing smile, "so this is just a business agreement?"

"Ugh," you didn't really know what to label it, or what that wanted to label it. Luckily for you, Maxwell always had you covered, knowing exactly what to say and when.

"It's a little bit more than just a business relationship," he assured her, earning a beaming grin from you, "we've been seeing each other privately."

"Privately," she repeated, her knowing little grin stretching from ear to ear, "I see..."

"I'm her boyfriend," he said suddenly, surprisingly all three of you. He'd...never labeled it before and neither of you had really discussed it. But you supposed that was the best way of putting it. It had seemed so weird, like it was such a foreign concept...but hearing him say it out loud? You...liked it. You liked it a lot, "if you're looking for a label."

"I knew it!" she exclaimed in excitement, causing you to laugh lightly, "I knew you had feelings for him from the start. I knew it! I could just tell there was something going on! You'd never admit it, but I knew it!"

"Fine," you groaned lightly at her and Maxwell's amusement, "you were right. You can have this one."

"That's all I wanted," she said dramatically, "now, I'll...let you get back to work...or whatever you want to call it."

"It's work," you insisted as she left with raised eyebrows and made sure to look the door. You turned back to look at Maxwell, "for once it's work and no believes me!"

"I believe you," he promised, "always."

"Thank you," you traced a finger over his nose, of the many things that loved about him. But before turning back to the work, you asked, "boyfriend, huh?"

"It does sound a little juvenile when you put it like that. But I think it was just kind of implied by this point," he shrugged lightly, almost as if he was nervous for your reaction, "unless you don't like it, then we don't have to label it."

"No," you promised gently, "I like it. A lot."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," you placed a kiss to his nose and he grinned at you, "now let's do these and call it done. I was promised a weekend trip. Where shall we go?”

"Wherever you desire,” he said and your eyes widened in delight.

“So if I wanted to go to Paris for the weekend....”

“We can make it a long weekend and go,” he promised, grabbing your pen and holding it our for you.

“You’re serious?”

“Of course,” he promised as you took the pen in your own and stared back at the intimidating numbers, “now, the faster we do this, the sooner we can go. Wherever you desire.”

“A girl could get used to this, you know,” you stared at the papers with a new intensity, determined to get this done and out quickly so you could have Maxwell all to yourself.

“I hope you do.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

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[wildernessuntothemselves]

Noona, Do You Have a Boyfriend? | Part 3

Genre: Smut, but also fluff yuck

Word Count: 4k

Summary: Who knew that continuing to bang the boy who wouldn’t leave you alone would make him even more clingy AND lead to you developing some confusing, totally unwelcome feelings towards him? 

Warnings: femdom, sub!jisung, brat!jisung, dom!reader, dancer!au, dancer!reader, slapping, praise kink, also degradation kink, lots of dirty talk as per usual, cumplay, one (1) slap, facesitting, cum eating, suffocation by way of vagina, and fluff.

Part 1, Part 2 Ever since that day at the practice room, you and Jisung have been hooking up regularly. And yes, you’re perfectly aware how bad of an idea that is, especially since he’s now acting like you’re his girlfriend despite you repeatedly denying it. It’s not that he’s delusional; he knows you’re not really dating, he just thinks he’s being cute…or he’s doing it to annoy you, or both— honestly who knows with that boy? And yes, sleeping with him will only encourage this sort of behavior, but in your defense, you’re pretty horny and Jisung is pretty hot. The fact that he’s bratty only makes him all the more fun to play with. Punishing him allows you to let off steam; It’s twistedly cathartic for you, and he doesn’t seem to mind at all. He takes everything you give him with a smile and asks for more. Granted, you haven’t been too harsh on him with your punishment—he’s laid off a bit ever since you’ve started regularly hooking up so there was no reason to get nasty—but you’re still worried you’d go too far one day. For the moment though, everything was under control. You were actually enjoying being around him for a change. It’s funny how being able to physically punish someone when they act out of line can calm both parties down. You even grew to like his little quirks that used to annoy the hell out of you like his loud laughter or the stupid voices he puts on or the way he gets excited over the smallest things, immediately running up to share whatever it is with you. In a way you found him, dare you say, endearing… You were loathe to admit, but being forced to spend time with him—for he always sticks around after sex even when you try to kick him out—wasn’t the worst thing in the world. You were becoming lenient with him, not punishing him for things that would’ve earned him a spanking if it had happened just a month ago. Like right now, he was inviting himself for a movie night at your place without so much as asking for your permission. “I haven’t watched Aladdin yet too. I’ll come over and we can watch it together!” He jumps into the conversation you were having with your friend, not embarrassed in the least that he was eavesdropping. “And why would I want that?” You regard him coldly, unfazed by the interruption. You’ve come to expect it from him.   “Because I’ll hold your hand and sing A Whole New World with you?” He doesn’t pause, starting to sing right away, “I can show you the world—”

“No, thanks.” You shut him up, and his whole face scrunches up into a pout. “C’mon! It will be fun!” Before you can reply and say that—no, it certainly wouldn’t be fun to have his loud and annoying ass talking through the whole movie and ruining it for you—Minho calls out for him, saying that they needed him. “I’m coming, hyung.” He yells then turn back to you, excitement dancing on his face. “I’ll come around at 9. This will be so fun!” “I didn’t say yes—” He grabs your face, smushing your cheeks together and giving you a quick kiss on your puckered lips before he runs off. “See ya, noona!” “Oh my god,” You wail, making a show of wiping your lips with the back of your hands as your friend laughs her ass off. “Why won’t he leave me the fuck alone? He’s so annoying.” “C’mon, he’s not that bad. I actually think he’s kinda cute.” “I actually think you’re kinda crazy. The boy is unbearable.” You retort, glancing back to where the boy in question was just seconds ago and jolting in surprise when you’re met with the dark gaze of one very angry Minho. Shit, did he hear that? Yup, he most definitely did for he narrows his eyes at you, lips curling into a snarl, before he turns around and walks the same way Jisung had gone. “Ohh, you just pissed off your boyfriend’s best friend. That’s not good, girl. Best friends got power.” Your friend looks at you with pity, like you were doomed now. She was enjoying this way too much. “He’s not my boyfriend!” Was a knee jerk response by now. Jisung’s constant attention and rather public, one sided, displays of affection have practically everyone in the company really believing that you two were dating. “And so what? He is annoying and I should say it. Just because he’s his best friend doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”   “Whatever you say, babe.” She says dismissively, clearly not believing it. “Oh, shut up.” Who cares about what she thinks. It’s totally ok. Things were fine. So what if his bestie didn’t like you, and never did, and that this only soured his opinion of you further. It’s cool. It’s not like you were actually dating him. •❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅• Still that incidence sits uneasy with you, and when Jisung comes around like he said he would, you find yourself watching out for signs that Minho had told him something, but you find none. He’s a chipper as ever, and the amount of relief you feel at not having to see Jisung’s smile falter because of you is inexplicable. You shouldn’t care this much about a fuck buddy.  “So this is where the magic happens.” He remarks, his eyes scanning through your living room. “Uh, yeah, sorry it’s not fancy or anything.” You rub your arm awkwardly, feeling insecure in his presence for the first time ever. “In my defense, you’re the one who insisted on coming here.” Jisung makes way more money than you do. You’re just a backup dancer and your apartment shows it. It’s tiny and a little worse for wear. “Noona, I share a dorm with eight other guys. Compared to that, this is heaven.” He brushes off your concern but it doesn’t make you feel better at all. “Is that supposed to be a compliment? Because it kinda just sounds like you think my apartment is crap except for the fact that it doesn’t have your members in it.” You accuse, your arms crossed over your chest. Right away, Jisung’s demeanor changes from bubbly to panicked confusion at your unexpected attack. Even you weren’t sure why you were being so sensitive about this? Are you actually worried about impressing Han Jisung? What the fuck is going on with you today? Are you dying?  “Nooo, I like it! It’s cozy.” He squeaks out, still trying to make it better, but somehow he only makes it worse. “Cozy? That’s just a nice way of saying cramped.” “No, this place is, like, huge.” He lies, very badly, which just annoys you even more as evident in your glare, and he buckles,“Ok, it’s tiny.” “What?!” “What are you gonna do with huge place anyway when you live alon—” He stops mid-sentence, realizing his mistake, “Oh shit, I didn’t mean it like that… I’ll buy you a new place!” “Are you insane?!” Your mouth was on the floor. What was he even saying? “What? I don’t know. I panicked” He cries, throwing his hand up in the air, “You’re being really scary right now, noona.” He does look very scared. His voice was getting dangerously high pitched and he was babbling whatever comes into his mind. It was actually really funny to see the mix between sulky and terrified on his face, and you have to turn your back to him in order to hide the smile on your face. “Whatever, I don’t care what you think anyway.” You head for the couch, and he follows behind, huffing cutely, “You’re so mean, noona.”  As you set up the movie, Jisung gets his back and upturns its content onto the coffee table. “I knew you wouldn’t get any snacks for me so I took it upon myself to be the better significant other and get you your favorite snacks even though you’re always so mean me. Except you never told me what your favorite snacks are so I got you everything.” He really did get everything. Splayed on the coffee table was a wide variety of candy, chocolate, and chips. Anything that could be sold in a convenience store was right there on your table. “See anything you like?” He asks hopefully, seeing the smile that you let slip. Quickly composing yourself, you prop your hand on your chin and scrutinize the pile of snacks like a professional chef would scrutinize a meal prepared by his mentee. Slowly, your hand reaches out to pluck something out of the pile. “Cheetos,” He observes, his tone a little underwhelmed. “Not even the spicy ones. Boring but a classic nonetheless.” You glare at his commentary, ripping the bag open and chucking a handful into your mouth, chomping on them angrily. “Spicy food makes me itchy.” “Aw, that’s cute.” He coos, swooping down to peck your cheek before you can stop him. “The fuck?” You smack his chest in retaliation. “This is the second time you do that today. I swear I will kick you out.” “But I like you so much, noona.” He holds your hand, looking at you earnestly. “You realize there is Cheeto dust all over my hand, right?” “I do now.” You roll your eyes and push him away, grabbing the remote to finally start the movie. •❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅• It wasn’t even ten minutes into the movie but Jisung was already annoying the hell out of you, whining and clinging onto your arm. “Noona, I wanna cuddle.” “No.” You grimace, trying to shake him off but to no avail. “Please.” “No.” “Please with a cherry on top?” “Han…” “Noonaaaaa!” “Ugh, fine, you big baby!” You grab him and pull him onto your lap none-too-gently, squeezing your arms around him so tightly it’s practically a chokehold. But it doesn’t faze him at all. He just wiggles in your hold until he finds a position he’s comfortable in then settles down and hums contentedly as if this was his plan all along. Whatever. As long as he shuts up, right? You’ve never been the big spoon before, but it’s actually not so bad. Jisung had a somewhat small frame so he fit easily in your arms; he wasn’t too large for you to wrap your arms around nor too heavy for you to bear. He fit just right. It was… kinda nice. He smelled good too and he was so warm and pliable.  You could feel his heartbeat thrumming like a hummingbird through his thin body, and you get the overwhelming urge to smother him in kisses and keep him wrapped up and protected in your arms. “Ah, there is Jafar. I heard he’s sucks.” Jisung yells through a mouthful of chips, snapping you out of your daze. It takes you a second to compose yourself, flustered at your own embarrassing thoughts. “Gross! Close your mouth when you eat.” You complain, “And I don’t want to hear anything that would influence my opinion on the movie. Let the actor speak for himself and then I’ll decide—oh wow, he sucks bad.” Your rant is derailed as soon as the man opens his mouth and out comes a voice that is not at all like the one you imagined a villain as creepy and malicious as Jafar would have. “Told ya!” Jisung laughs with his mouth still open. “Shut up.” You groan, but on the inside you were thankful for the distraction. Your thoughts were getting far too ridiculous. As the movie keeps playing, you start unconsciously mouthing along to the songs, which then quickly turns to whisper-singing that Jisung— whose ear was pressed right against your mouth—picks up on. Turning his head around puts his face way too close to yours, so close you could kiss him if you just leaned forward an inch… 

“Wow, noona, I didn’t realize you like Disney this much.”

“Everyone likes Disney.” You mumble defensively, grabbing his jaw and turning his head back around, thinking he’s making fun of you. “Well, I for one, do.” He declares and starts singing along—perfectly, you might add, and not missing a word. “Aren’t you gonna join, noona?” “I didn’t know that tough, hep-hap rappers can like Disney too.” “Hey! I’m real hip-hop. Swag.” He wiggles in your lap, turning his upper body to face you so he could throw double peace signs at you. “And real hip-hop can like Disney, ok?” Fuck he was so cute you wanted to kiss his face off, but instead you just roll your eyes and say, “Ok, real hip-hop, the floor is yours.”  “Only if you join me, princess.” Seeing the disgusted look on your face, he backtracks, “Too much?” “Way too much.” “Noted.” He accepts your constructive criticism and turns back around, resuming his singing. You join him soon and after that, you barely notice the time passing. You were right; he did talk all throughout the movie, but instead of being annoyed at the interruptions, you found yourself anticipating what he would say next. He was just so naturally funny and his comments made the movie ten times more enjoyable. You were having too much fun belting out songs, awing at the cute scenes, clinging to each other at the emotional ones, and laughing at the jabs Jisung takes at Jafar. You don’t even realize that you were holding his hand all through the movie until he takes it away so he could clap as the credits start to roll.    “Bravo!” He shoots out of his seat, “Truly a masterpiece.” 

So what if you were sitting there staring at him with blatant heart-eyes as he fake cries and gives the movie a standing ovation? He just sang the whole soundtrack to Aladdin word for word, and as anyone who knew you would say, the fastest way to your heart is a solid knowledge of Disney, and he just demonstrated that perfectly.

Despite you being the one staring, he’s the one who blushes when he catches you. He really was the best boy when he wasn’t the worst. Grabbing his hand, you pull him back down on your lap, this time facing you, and kiss him passionately, pouring out all the confusing emotions you were feeling for him into the kiss. “Wow, noona, do you have an Aladdin kink I should know about? Because I will put on harem pants if you want to.” He giggles as he pulls away from the kiss. “Don’t ruin it.” You warn, but there was no bite to it, and pull him back into another kiss. It quickly got heated. You were already so worked up that it only takes one little moan from him for you to push your tongue into his mouth and your hands to start groping him. But then, inexplicably, he pulls away. “Uh-uh, no sex today, noona. I’m more than just a hot piece of ass, you know?” You roll your eyes. What was he up to now? “It is one hot ass.” You tease, your hand going out to squeeze it, and smirk when he jolts in your lap. “Are you sure you don’t want me to fuck you, baby?” “Uh..yeah.” His breathing stutters as you start kissing along the side of his neck, the hands on his ass continuing to knead the flesh gently. “Hmm, then why are you squirming so much?” You whisper in his ear then nip at the sensitive spot right below it. Fighting back his moans, he tries to come up with an excuse,“It’s just… my legs are cramping up.” “Oh poor Hannie.” You coo, and move your hands to his thighs. “Want me to help you, baby?” “You don’t have to—” He tries to get up but you pull him back down right away. “I want to. Noona wants to take care of her handsome baby.” He completely stops resisting after that, turning into a gooey mess. When you order him to take off his pants, he does it faster than he could blush. “Going commando, I see.  And you say you don’t want sex. You’re such a bad liar, baby.” He pouts, tugging on the long white shirt he still has on to cover up his cock. “What a tease.” You chastise, slapping his ass and making him jump and whimper. Yet he’s remains as shameless as ever. “Noona, my thighs.” He reminds you. “Spoiled brat.” You give his ass another slap before your hands go to his thighs to massage them.  You start from barely above his knees, something that the ever impatient Jisung doesn’t appreciate. But if he thought he could tease you without suffering any consequences, he was sadly mistaken. You take your sweet time rubbing and kneading along the expanse of his thighs, all while he squirms and tries to subtly shift under you so your hands will slide higher, but every time he does that, you just start over. “Noona…” He whines when your hands go back down for the fourth time.  His cock was now hard and straining against the thin material of his shirt, leaving nothing to the imagination. “What is, Hannie?” You coo, loving how needy he can get with just a little bit of teasing. “It hurts.” “Are you saying that the massage is not helping?” You raise your eyebrow at him, but he just fusses harder. “No, you’re not doing the part where it hurts.” “Then where does it hurt, baby? Show me.” You lean back to watch as he slowly pulls his shirt over his stomach, acting like he’s embarrassed when in reality his cock was hard and twitching already. “Hmm, cute.” You coo, reaching out to stroke it. “And all mine. Right, Hannie?” He doesn’t reply, too focused on the pleasure you’re giving him so you stop. “I wanna hear you say it, pretty.” He moans at the praise, his hips thrusting up to fuck your still hand. “It’s yours, noona. All of it. I’m all yours.” “Then why did you think you can stop me from taking what’s mine, huh?” “I’m sorry, noona.” “You should be. Dumb baby thinks this is his.” You hiss, pushing him down on the couch and straddling him. “You need to be reminded that I own you.” You barely hear his submissive ‘yes, noona’ as you chuck your pants off and sink down on his cock. You go hard right away, riding him fast. He tries to take your shirt off but you stop him, “What did I say, Han?” “I just wanna see your tits.” “Oh?” You grin, slipping your hands behind you and unhooking your bra. You take it off without removing your shirt, teasing him. Then slowly, very slowly, you pull the shirt up until your breasts are exposed to his hungry eyes. “These tits?” “Yes, wanna see ‘em bounce as you ride my cock, noona.” He drawls, leering as pushes his hips up into you, making you jostle and your breasts bounce up and down. Brat. He knows he’s not allowed to do that. Helping him out, you start riding him again, making your breasts bounce even more. “This what you want, baby?” You’re being nice and that’s always suspicious, but Jisung always falls for it somehow. “Yeah, just like that. I love it.” You smile, bending down so his face is inches from yours, before you say in a sickly sweet voice, “I don’t care what you want, little slut.” Fear stains his face as your smile is replaced by a severe look. “I was so nice to you today. I let you into my home. I gave you a massage. Now I’m even fucking you, yet you still want more. Let me make one thing clear, Han.” You grab his face roughly, sneering at him, “You’re nothing but a dumb little fucktoy for me. All you’re allowed to do is to lie there and look pretty for me as I fuck your brains out. Understood?” He nods, his cock twitching inside you. “Use your big boy words, Han.” “Yes, noona. Whatever you want, noona.” “Pitiful.” You spit, not giving him the satisfaction of calling him a good boy. But it’s ok, you know he loves it when you’re rough with him. You start riding him again, going even faster than before. Jisung stares at your chest, but you can’t imagine he’s seeing much through your now lowered shirt. But maybe that excites him even more, the allure of having what he wants be so close yet he’s unable to get it. It doesn’t take long for him to get close at this pace. “You gonna cum for me, pretty?” “Yeah, please let me do it inside. Wanna fill noona up.” You scoff at his pleas, “You think you deserve it after all you’ve done. All you do is bother me.” “I’m sorry, I just wanted your attention.” “Of course, you do. You’re an attention whore. You’d let anybody do anything to you if they just paid you the slightest bit of attention, wouldn’t you?” You stop jumping up and down on his cock in favor of grinding in his lap, his cock that is still deep inside you rubbing deliciously against your walls. Shaking his head, he vehemently denies, “No! It’s only because it’s noona.” “I don’t believe that. I bet if I let you cum inside me and told you to eat it up, you would. You’d lap up your own cum right out of my pussy if it meant just to hear me call you a good boy.” “Yes! Please let me do it! I’m so close, so close—ah, ah, please!” He begs, his hips stuttering under you as he tries to stop himself from pushing up into you. He was shivering, so close to orgasm you could feel it. “Then cum, little slut.” You’d never get tired of watching Jisung orgasm. He always looks like his body can’t handle the pleasure it was feeling and would give out. He throws his head back and moans loudly as his body jerks with the shocks of pleasure. You take it all in as his dick twitches inside you and you feel his warm seed fill you up. It’s almost enough to make you cum too, especially when he looks down at you  through half-lidded eyes to see if you were watching him. You always were. Holding his cum inside as much as you can, you climb over his body and hover just inches from his face. “Tongue out.” When he obeys,, you relax your muscles to let the cum drip out of you and onto his open and willing mouth. “Wow, there is so much. Someone was excited to be fed his own dirty cum.” His eyes flutter at your words, but he doesn’t move, his tongue still out like a good boy. You push it back into his mouth your fingers after you’ve swiped up some of the cum that’s leaked onto his chin. “Swallow.” You feel the suction around your fingers as he does what you say. “Show.” When he opens his mouth and sticks his tongue out again to show you, there is no semen left. “Did I do good, noona?” He asks hopefully, wanting his praise now, but you don’t give it to him yet.  “What, just because you swallowed? Any two-dollar whore could do that.” That doesn’t make him happy. He glares at you, and mutter under his breath. “Bitch.”  But you know he intended for you to hear it. If he wasn’t getting attention from you as praise then he would get it as punishment. For Jisung, there was no such thing as bad attention. So you give it to him, striking him across the face hard.  “You little brat.” Grabbing him by the hair, you sit down on his face, putting all your weight on him and smothering him. “Here is what’s gonna happen, you don’t get to breathe until you  make me cum. After all, you’re no use to me if you can’t even do that.” Whatever he says is muffled by your pussy, but it doesn’t matter because he does what he’s told anyway and eats you out. He hardly seems bothered that he can’t breathe, his eyes silently glaring at you as he rubs his face against your pussy, his tongue licking in and around your opening as his nose grinds against your clit.  “Don’t look at me like that or the next time I feed you cum, it won’t be yours.. but you’d like that, wouldn’t you.” You smirk as you feeling more than hearing him moan at your threat. You see, Jisung has divulged to you a saucy little secret; he’d always fantasized about having his girl get fucked, or in your case, fuck, other men and making him watch. He’d never tried it before because he was too nervous to tell anyone about his fantasy for fear that people would judge him. After all, what kind of man would let others touch his woman? Being with you, however, has made him face many sides of him that he was ashamed of acknowledging before, and you were more than happy to help him. “I wonder who I should fuck.” You continue teasing him, loving how he only gets more enthusiastic as you go. “Your Pili-hyung?”  Oops, wrong name.  Jisung gets angry again at hearing the older man’s voice. He grabs your hips and pulls you up a bit so he can move his head to bite the sensitive skin of your inner thigh, hard enough to make you jump.  “Ok, ok, not him. Calm down little squirrel.” You laugh at his glare, sitting down on his face again. “But if you do that again, I’ll put your pretty cock in a cage for a month.”   Now that scares him, and he goes back to eating you out.    “How about Minho, then? God knows he could use being brought down a peg. I’d kill to be able to get my hands on him and fuck that attitude out of him.” You moan as you feel Jisung’s tongue push into your hole at the mention of his hyung’s name.  “Yeah, you like that, baby? Wanna watch me make Minho cry?”  He groans and fucks you fast with his tongue. Glancing over your shoulder confirms that he was indeed hard again, and that knowledge--the fact that he’s getting so worked up over--combined with the enthusiastic way he was eating you out pushes you over the edge.   You can’t hold yourself steady as you cum so Jisung holds you up as you wobble and shake. You feel like you’ve been waiting for this a long time and it feels damn good. 

You’re pliant in his hands as he lays you down next to him and props himself up to ask meekly, “What about now, noona? Was I a good boy?”  “Yes, baby. The best boy.” Your heart flutter as he grins brightly and lays back down, wrapping his arms around your midsection and squeezing tightly.  It’s quiet for some time, and you almost drift into sleep, lulled by the sound of Jisung humming contentedly to himself. But just as you’re almost asleep, he speaks up.  “Noona.” “Yes, pretty?” You reply groggily. “Let’s go on a real date.” You jolt awake. A real date? What does that mean? Or you do know what it means but do you want it? Do you want to date Jisung? Your answer should be no but if so then why did your heart skip a beat when he said that? You’ll just have to deflect until you figure it out. “Doesn’t JYP have a dating ban?” “Yeah but it’s not in the contract or anything. It’s more of a...suggestion.” He’s fumbling and you both know it. “Yeah and fired is just a word.” You retort snarkily.  “I’m not gonna get fired.” “You’re an idol, Han. If you go on a date, the fans or dispatch will be on your ass before you even take a step out of your door.” “There are secret places where idols go for dates, you know?” “Yes, but it’s risky and you’re a rookie from a rising group. If you get caught, it won’t only compromise your career but it could hurt the entire group. You can’t be selfish about this.”  “Forget it. I know you would never date me anyway even if I was the last man on earth.” He mumbles glumly, and so your worst fear comes true; making Jisung lose his smile. “Who said so?” You splutter out, not knowing how to make this better.  “You did. Word for word.”  “Oh... right.”  It’s silent again, but not like it was. Not the good kind.  “Where are you going?” You feel your heart picking up in anxiousness as Jisung gets up.  “I’ve annoyed you enough today. I’ll leave you alone. Thank you for letting me come over.” He says guiltily, hastily putting on his clothes.  “You didn’t annoy me.” “I always annoy you. You just said that. You always say that...” He drifts, a hidden meaning in his eyes that you understand perfectly. Minho had told him.  “I-I lied.” You confess, wincing as you see the shock on his face.  Now, look what you’ve done; you’ve made such an adorable, happy boy doubt himself so much that he’s genuinely surprised that you don’t dislike him.  He looks at you with hope, his eyes silently willing you to say anything that will make him stay, to give him hope that his feelings aren’t completely unrequited.  You know that your feelings for Jisung have changed ever since you started sleeping together but what is the exact nature of those new feeling, you don’t know. Do you like him? As a friend? As a lover? Or is what you’re feeling merely lust that you’re confusing with infatuation?  It hurt you to see him hurt like this. You could just tell him that you like him and make the both of you feel better, but if it didn’t turn out to be true, it would only hurt him more in the long run. He likes you a whole lot, that much is clear, and now, whatever those feelings mean, you like him enough to want to protect him from that pain.   “I don’t think you’re annoying, Han. And for whatever it’s worth, I really enjoyed spending time with you today. But if you don’t feel comfortable staying then you can go... and I’m sorry.”   You are sorry--for making him doubt himself, and for not being able to stop the sadness and disappointment that your words have brought him. 

“There is nothing to be sorry for, noona. ” His voice cracks despite the brave smile he has on, and the wet glint in his eyes making your heart squeeze painfully.  “I should go now.”   •❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅• A/N: Feedback is greatly appreciated. The Minho/Chan appearance will be pushed back to chapter 4 since I divided chapter 3 into two parts. 

[darriness]

Klaine Fic - You’ll Always Be The Home - Chapter 4

Author: darriness

Fic Summary: Everything is finally settled in Kurt and Blaine’s life…right?

Link to: Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3

Rating: T

Chapter Word Count: 2115

Chapter Summary: A meeting

Author’s Note: Thanks to my beta @darrenismydarcy

AO3 Link

“Blaine!” Kurt calls as he follows his husband out of the church and down the steps to the street. Blaine isn’t running but he’s speed walking with a hand over his mouth and looks like he might vomit. Kurt is vaguely aware of Bethany following him down the stairs but his eyes and attention are on Blaine.

“Blaine!” He tries again when he’s reached the sidewalk. Blaine is about a half a block away, “Blaine, stop! Please!”

Blaine does stop then, causing a woman walking in the other direction to have to quickly dodge past him with a glare and curse. Blaine turns to Kurt with wide eyes and his hand still over his mouth. Kurt approaches him slowly with his hands outstretched like you might a wild animal you don’t want to provoke. Kurt’s never seen this look in his husband’s eyes and he’s not quite sure how to handle it.

“It doesn’t mean…” Kurt starts but Blaine cuts him off with a harsh laugh as he removes his hand from his mouth sharply.

“Everyone else is dead, Kurt.” Blaine says, “The only other way for that kid to look like that is if I somehow got some girl pregnant eight years ago and by that point I had given up sleeping with women so...” Blaine rolls his eyes sarcastically.

Kurt breathes in deeply and tries to stay calm. Biting back at Blaine would not accomplish anything, “What do you want to do?” He asks.

Blaine puts a hand to his mouth and rubs harshly as he looks down the street and shakes his head. Kurt’s heart aches for the lost look in his eyes. He doesn’t know how to fix this. He doesn’t know what to do.

Finally, after a long silence which wasn’t really silent considering they are standing on a busy New York City street, Blaine finally looks back at Kurt, “I want to buy a unicorn.” He says, looking over at Bethany.

Kurt looks at Bethany to find the girl staring incredulously at Blaine, like maybe her brother had gone insane. Kurt’s not entirely sure that hasn’t happened.

“What…?” She asks.

Blaine nods, “You said you wanted to do something extremely gay after the funeral. I think we can all agree that our time at that funeral has come to an end, so let’s do it. Let’s do something really gay. Let’s buy a unicorn.”

Bethany and Kurt look at each other for a moment. Kurt thinks they are both thinking the same thing: that Blaine is a stiff push away from losing it completely and neither wants to see that happen. Kurt thinks that the middle of the street is not the best place for Blaine to have whatever breakdown he might be having so he decides quickly with a nod to just go with it.

“Okay.” Kurt says, “Let’s go buy a unicorn.”

-- -- --

As it turns out ‘buying a unicorn’ means taking an almost magical mystery tour around New York City until landing in a spot called Dinosaur Hill and purchasing perhaps the largest unicorn stuffed animal known to man. It’s so large that it takes up an entire seat on the subway as Bethany puts her arm around it and cuddles it. Luckily, the subway isn’t overly busy at this time of day or transporting such a feat of sewing engineering home might have been a challenge.

When all four of them (Blaine, Kurt, Bethany, and Eugene the Unicorn, as Bethany has named him) enter the apartment, Bethany curls up on the couch with Eugene beside her. Blaine takes a seat in the armchair and Kurt perches himself on one arm of the chair Blaine sits in. 

They are silent, each lost in their own thoughts, like they had been for most of the search for Eugene the Unicorn. Eventually, Bethany coughs, drawing the attention of the two men.

“So uhhhh, are we going to address the white unicorn in the room?” She asks.

Kurt sighs and looks over at Blaine who is chewing his lip. Kurt wishes he knew what Blaine was thinking, but finding out you have a brother you never knew about from the parents who abandoned you at the funeral for the mother who abandoned you isn’t something Kurt could imagine in his wildest dreams. He has no idea how he would feel after finding out such information.

“We don’t know for sure he’s who we think he is.” Blaine finally whispers, in direct contradiction to his words on the street earlier.

Bethany’s eyes widen, “I’ve seen pictures of you at eight, Blaine. That kid is your clone. Like you said, what other option is there?”

Blaine sits straight in the chair and begins to lean forward while pointing. Kurt reaches for Blaine’s hand and brings it into his lap, which effectively ends whatever comeback Blaine was going to give, “Look, I think we all know who that little boy is.” He says softly, “That’s not what I think we should be talking about.”

Blaine slumps in his chair and nods after a moment, seemingly resigned to the fact. Kurt watches Blaine’s face before looking over at Bethany who is doing the same thing. Kurt has a feeling that whatever they need to talk about, it has very little to do with Bethany and her feelings.

He truly believes what he told Blaine in the shower the night after they told Bethany about their mother’s passing. Bethany’s connection to that part of her life isn’t all that strong, potentially almost non-existent, because Blaine allowed her that. He gave her a parental figure. He gave her the stability, and nurturing, and love that their biological parents either couldn’t or wouldn’t give.

And it’s this influence over his little sister that Kurt is sure why she says what she does next. Bethany nods her head with a determined expression and looks between Kurt and Blaine, “We should take him.”

Kurt lets out a surprised laugh as Blaine’s eyes widen next to him.

“What - you want to kidnap him?” Kurt asks.

Bethany shrugs, “Considering who our father is, I’m sure this kid would come willingly.” Kurt lifts his eyebrows in silent agreement before Bethany shakes her head and looks back at Blaine, “He’s going to need our help.”

Blaine’s eyes widen again and his mouth opens and closes a few times. Kurt watches a lot of thoughts pass behind his husband’s eyes, but Kurt can’t really guess at any of them. He knows his personal thoughts on Bethany’s suggestion but this isn’t really about him right now. And by Blaine’s reaction, Kurt’s personal thoughts are way off. Blaine seems to be at war with his thoughts.

Blaine’s mouth opens again, as if ready to say something, but is interrupted by a knock on the door. All three occupants of the apartment turn toward the door in unison. Knocks are not an uncommon occurrence, but for some reason all three of them seem to regard the action as alien. What is that noise and what should they do about it?

Kurt shakes himself from his confusion first and gets up to answer the second knock. He pulls the door open with a polite smile before his face crumbles in confusion when he’s not met at eye level by another person. A cleared throat brings Kurt’s eyes down a couple of feet and his eyes land on an eight-year-old Blaine.

The same little boy from the church is standing on their doorstep. He looks dapper in his blue suit, purple checkered shirt and deep blue bowtie with brown dress shoes, but it’s also his expression that gives off an air of dapperness. Of superiority. Of...judgement.

Kurt feels judged by this eight-year-old in a very eight-year-old Kurt Hummel sort of way. Kurt would have served that face at eight. He has a sudden twilight zone moment in his head. This kid looks like Blaine but acts like Kurt. Is he somehow their time travelled biologically impossible child?!

Kurt shakes his head to clear himself of the thought as he and mini-Blaine continue to stare at each other. Eventually, the boy clears his throat again and quirks an eyebrow, “Are you going to invite me in?”

And suddenly this little boy is Blaine’s dad. Kurt may have only met him once, but there is no mistaking who raised this little person. Speaking of the elder Anderson...Kurt’s eyes shift up and down the hall outside the apartment for any sign of Marcus Anderson. There is none.

Kurt looks back down at the boy dumbly for a moment, even prompting the kid to lift his eyebrows expectantly, before stepping aside, “Um sure.” He says for lack of anything better.

As the little boy makes his way into the apartment, Kurt gestures toward the living room, “Ummm Blaine? Bethany? Your…” He trails off before saying ‘brother’, but the pause is enough to imply the word before he adds, “, is here.”

Blaine and Bethany are staring at the little boy with wide eyes. One set hazel, the other blue, but still so much alike. The boy moves into the room with a confidence he really shouldn’t have at that age and definitely not in this situation, and sits in the only unoccupied chair in the room. He folds his hands in his lap and sits with a straight back.

Kurt sits back down on the arm of Blaine’s chair and the three of them - Blaine, Bethany, and Kurt - just stare. How did this kid get here? What does he want? Why can’t Kurt get the image out of his head of this kid being somehow genetically tied to both him and Blaine?

Before any of them can ask a question though, the boy speaks.

“My name is Aiden Anderson. My father is Marcus Anderson and my mother is…” He pauses and Kurt notices his mouth pulls up in a slight grimace, “was...Evelyn Anderson.”

Even though Kurt is beyond confused, his heart breaks for the little boy, for Aiden. This boy just lost his mother.

Blaine clears his throat and shifts in his chair. Kurt turns to see his husband lean forward with a furrowed brow, “Aiden,” He starts, “does your dad know you’re here?”

Aiden shakes his head, “No. I found your address the other night. My father said he had to go do something but he was acting very strangely so I snuck into his office while he was gone. I found your address on his desk attached to a picture of you two.” He says gesturing between Blaine and Bethany.

Bethany and Blaine turn to each other with shocked expressions before turning back to Aiden as the boy keeps talking, “You looked liked me.” He shrugs, “And when I saw you at the funeral today, I asked my father who you were and he got all…” Aiden pauses and adopts a grumpy expression for lack of words to describe Marcus Anderson’s reaction. He drops the act after a moment before sighing, “I wanted to know why you looked like me, so I remembered the address and came to find you.”

The room is silent after the boy's story before Kurt’s eyes widen briefly, “Smart eight-year-old.” He says impressed.

Aiden turns to him with his nose in the air, “I’m seven.” He corrects.

Kurt’s eyes widen even further.

“So, you don’t know who we are?” Bethany asks.

Aiden shakes his head, “No. I just saw your picture and know that my father got really upset when he saw you and I asked about you.”

Blaine sighs next to Kurt and wrings his hands together, “Aiden, I don’t think your dad would want us telling you who we are.” He says.

Aiden tilts his head curiously, “My father always says the more knowledgeable a man is, the less of a fool a person can make of him.”

Kurt notices Blaine’s eyes pinch at this before he bites his lips together, shakes his head, sighs, and looks back at Aiden, “Aiden, I’m Blaine. And this is Bethany.” He says, gesturing to Bethany on the other couch who waves. Aiden gives Bethany a strange smile but waves back before Blaine continues hesitantly, “...And our parents were Marcus and Evelyn Anderson…”

Kurt watches as the little boy in front of them takes in the information, rolls it around in his head, and then comes to the only conclusion there is. His eyes widen and his mouth drops open as he stares between them.

Kurt kind of can’t believe he’s been witness to the same face (just decades apart in age) realizing it has more siblings than it thought it did twice in one day.

[herohotline]

Wet Clay (P.1)

Shouta Aizawa x Reader

A/N: alright let's try this again. take 2 everybody

Summary: You’ve been officially hired as U.A’s first school counselor. You’re assigned to help the hero course- learning more about their students and teachers along the way. And if you manage to catch a crush on one of said teachers... You just hope he doesn’t distract you from doing your job.

Word Count: 3,300+

Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

If there was one thing you knew about U.A, it was that the school seemed like a never-ending magnet for trouble. They’ve already been on the news twice this year due to villain attacks, and it made you wonder: hey, who’s taking care of the aftermath? 

You’ve been working as a freelance therapist for over ten years, and you reached into several things. Family sessions, PTSD recovery, addiction therapy, the works. So with high hopes, you came to U.A one day with a proposal for the principal. Getting a meeting with him wasn’t easy, so you intended to use the time you got with him wisely. 

Your meeting was scheduled at a random time of day- the middle of the school day, really, so when you made your way to Nezu’s office, you saw several students. They seemed like busy little bees, rushing over to the cafeteria with smiles- it must be lunch hour. The whole place was insanely big, and you wouldn’t have been able to navigate it on your own- so good thing you weren’t. 

Your tour guide sure was loud, though.

“It’s great that Nezu let someone in, but he wouldn’t tell us what it’s for!” The hero you recognized as Present Mic had been chatting animatedly the whole time, and you tried your best to keep up with his energy. 

“That’s strange,” you say back to him, adjusting the grip on your briefcase. They checked it at the front gate- happy to see it was only a few business papers. “I don’t think what I’m talking to Nezu about is very secretive.”

Present Mic waves his hand in the air, making a ‘ppsh’ noise with his teeth. “Nezu likes to mess around with us teachers a lot. I’m not surprised! Oh, and here we are!” He spins rather suddenly to face you, presenting the large office doors to you. 

You look at it curiously. “...Isn’t Nezu supposed to be a small animal?” How could he fit through the door…?

Mic laughs as if you had made some sort of joke. He opens the door for you, patting your back as you walk inside. “I’ll be here to escort you out when you’re done, good luck!” He whispers- well, his own way of whispering, which is still very loud, before thrusting you in the office and closing the door behind you. 

You blink once to try and realize what just happened.

“Ah, ___!” Nezu greets you as you stand still in the rather large office, his little body looking comical behind his desk. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting with you!” Oh boy, here we go. You don’t really appreciate Mic thrusting you into this, literally, but you smooth out your clothes and walk toward the principal’s desk.

“I feel the same way, Nezu,” you smile at him as you shake his little paw across the desk. “I’m glad you’re willing to listen to what I have to say.” He gestures to the seat beside you and you gladly take it, making yourself comfortable.

“Of course. It’s been chaotic but I’m always willing to hear ideas for the school. You mentioned therapy?” The business has begun- but oddly enough, the animal pulls out a tea set and begins to brew. 

“Simply put, yes. With all the events that have been happening at your school lately, I believe it’s due time for a therapist to be hired. You’re training heroes, and while it’s important that they’re physically ready for the world of heroics, I believe they should be mentally ready as well.” You take a cup from him, muttering a ‘thank you’ as you continue to give him your proposal. “Just this year, you had a kidnapping. I know you took care of it, but those sorts of things have a large impact on kids- they might be teenagers, but they aren’t fully developed. Then there’s just the thought of studying and working to be a hero- it’s stressful, and I believe every child should have a good outlet for when it gets to be too much.” 

Taking a sip of the tea, you hum under your breath. It’s a wonderful citrus flavor.

Nezu smiles. “I looked into you- I hope you aren’t offended, it’s merely what we must do for letting strangers into the campus. You’re a therapist, correct?”

You nod. “I’m not offended, I figured as much. And yes, I am. I’ve been in the field for over 10 years, so I’d like to think I know what I’m talking about when it comes to mental health.” 

“Of course! I don’t doubt you!” Nezu laughs- a squeaky little noise. “You’re right, the students deserve a good person to talk to about their struggles. The question is… are you sure you can be that person?”

So he had caught onto you. Yes, more than anything, you wanted to be the one to help these kids. It’s a bit ballsy to walk into an office and suggest they hire you, unprompted, but you believe it’s the right move to make. Nothing will get done if you don’t put the first foot in, after all.

“Yes,” you tell him, as determined as you can. “I would like to be the test driver in this. With how many students U.A holds, one therapist for so many kids is nearly impossible. I’d die of stress before they do,” you pull your briefcase up to your lap and open it, handing him a few papers. “These are the things I’ve planned if you were willing to go through with hiring me. I’d like to focus on the hero course first, a few sessions with each kid throughout a few months. I want to learn about these children, and from what I learn, I can fully deduce what sort of changes need to happen in U.A. Like if my work is even needed here, or what type of therapy should be offered or special programs.” 

Nezu flicks through your papers with an impressed smile. “You’ve thought a lot about this,” he says, “you seem to care very deeply.” 

“I’m passionate about helping others how I can,” you tell him honestly. “And frankly, if you don’t mind my honesty, U.A is long overdue for a school counselor. Every child deserves to have someone to confide in, plain and simple, Nezu.”

At your statement, he laughs. It’s not because he thinks you’re joking, but he knows you’re right. “I love your attitude!” He says. “And you’ve convinced me. We’ll start our hiring process right away, and you can show me more of your plans. I’m happy you came to me today.”

“Oh, what?” Your eyebrows stand up in shock. “Really? Wh… really?”

“Yes!” Nezu smiles. “I had already decided on hiring you before you came. But meeting you was a pleasure and convinced me more.” He hands out his small paw again and you slowly shake it.

“Welcome to U.A, ___.”

---

Getting home, you looked back at the meeting and for a second you think you were tricked. But you’re soon emailed several background check forms and sessions for drug testing- the works of getting hired at a very cautious school. So you deduce that it’s not a trick- but it’s very strange. 

You’re grateful though, and you accomplish what you can right away such as the background check, quirk information and license, and sending in your history with therapy. Nezu told you that if you were quick, you could have your first day in just a week. It shocks you- a week? It’s so soon!

Maybe, you think, they’ve already been thinking about hiring a counselor for a while. It was long overdue, and now they’re in a rush to get you in and working. You suppose that with everything that’s been going on for the school, that’s fair. 

You hope you can do this- the last thing you want is to let this opportunity slip through the cracks and let everyone down. 

---

After a full week of filling out paperwork, various meetings, and a lot of movement speeches that you’ve given yourself to get through it, your first day at U.A comes, bright and early on a Monday morning. And, interestingly enough, your first big task of the day is getting dressed. 

The students have uniforms, but the teachers all wear their hero costumes, and you’re not a hero. So what on earth do you wear? You glare at your closet for a long time before finally slipping on a simple button-up shirt tucked into some slacks. It’s the most professional-casual you can get, right?

Taking the train to U.A was a bit busy, but you were buzzing with first-day energy that you couldn’t even mind the pushing and shoving of people coming on and off the train. You’re sure that the longer you have to take the train, the more it will bother you, but today it seems like nothing can break through your hopeful exterior. 

God, you hope this works. You hope the kids like you. 

It feels funny to walk into U.A with no guards hounding you- but thanks to your I.D that you got just yesterday, you walk in without any problems. It makes you grin. Your first stop for the day is to find Eraserhead- you’re meeting with his class first and taking over homeroom for today. Tomorrow, you’ll meet with the other hero course. 

When you walk into the teacher's lounge, nerves are tingling your senses. It feels like it really is the first day of school, but instead of a student, now you’re a teacher, sort of. The room looks empty, so you assume the teachers have all gone to their classes for the day. You wonder where Eraserhead is…? 

It’s as you walk around the desks in a curious manner that a yellow bag on the floor catches your eye. Quite frankly, you do a double-take on it-- is someone sleeping in there?

“Hello?” You walk up to the bag. “Is that you, Eraserhead?” 

You remember Nezu joking about something like this, but you didn’t take him seriously. As the sleeping bag rolls around, your eyes widen in surprise as you see that yes- this is Pro-Hero Eraserhead sleeping on the floor. 

His tired, dry eyes look up at you. “You’re the therapist?” He asked, his voice deep and scratchy. 

“...Yes. ____.” It’s all you can manage to say as you watch him slowly crawl out of his bag, picking it up and standing on his feet. All of a sudden, he’s looming over you with his height and it almost catches you off guard. “Thank you for working with me,” you shake yourself out of your thoughts and present your hand to him. 

As he shakes it back, you notice that his hand basically engulfs yours. Woof. 

“I’m glad you’ll be working with the students,” he says, and his honesty throws you for a loop as he begins to walk off, you following him from behind. “Do you mind telling me what you have in store for the day?”

“Right!” You try to walk a little faster so you can walk side-by-side with the man, his legs quite longer than yours. “I figured I'd like to introduce myself, let the kids get to know me. It’s hard to suddenly have a new face around, as well as being expected to talk about your problems with a stranger. So I just need to not be a stranger anymore.” You look up to Eraserhead and he silently nods. You figure that’s his way of telling you ‘good idea’? 

“We’re here.” He stops in front of, again, another rather large door. They all seem to look like this. “Get ready.”

As the door opens, you’re immediately met with the sound of teenagers laughing and yelling. Eraserhead heads in first, thankfully, and you peek your head in to get a look of the students. You’ve seen a lot of them through the news, so some faces are familiar, while others aren’t. 

“Class,” Eraserhead’s authoritative voice cuts through all the noise. The students are quick to sit in their seats, heads up and attentive for their teacher. He sighs, his shoulders sagging in a tired manner. “Today, ____ will be taking over the class,” you take that as your cue to enter the room, standing next to Eraserhead silently. “I’ll still be here, so don’t disrespect them. Listen to them, take what they have to say seriously.”

That seems to be the end of his little speech as he shuffles away in that same sleeping bag you found him in. You step up to the podium, and your nerves are back as you look at the sea of students. Oh boy. 

“Hello, everyone,” you smile. “As Eraserhead mentioned, my name is ___. There’s no need for formalities with me, you can just call me by name. My job here at U.A is to be your school counselor.” You watch as several of their faces change and you laugh a little. “I know, it’s strange. I’m here today to ask you a few questions. My first question being, how many of you are comfortable talking with a stranger?” 

None of their hands raise beside a rather sparkly boy with blonde hair. 

“I appreciate your honesty!” You gesture for him to put his hand down and he does so. “Most of you aren’t going to come to me right away with struggles you may have, and I understand that. My job today is to have you all get to know me. We’ll be doing a few activities, and by the end of home-room, you’ll go back to your regular classes. Are there any questions?” 

A hand shoots up right away, and you nod your head to the girl it’s attached to. She looks very attentive and scholarly- you have a feeling she might be a class president or something like that. “Why has the school decided to hire a counselor?” 

“That’s a good question. What’s your name?” You ask. 

“Yaoyorozu Momo.”

“Thank you for asking, Yaoyorozu. Truthfully, with all the events that’s been going on in your district, the school believes we should be more attentive to our students' mental wellbeing.” You feel like you’ve gone over this pitch thousands of times… “It’s important that you all have an outlet when you’re stressed or upset.” 

Yaoyorozu seems satisfied with your answer as she nods, her hand going back in her lap. Another hand rises after that- not as confident as Yaoyorozu, but still there. 

“Yes?”

“I was wondering- my, uh, name is Midoriya Izuku! I was wondering what we’d talk about in your office?” The boy has wonderful green hair that curls at the ends, freckles on his cheeks that make him look innocent and cute. He’s somewhat nervous, which intrigues you, but you move on to his question. 

“Yes, in my office…”

The rest of the period goes like this. You eventually get a question out of almost every student, and they seem to be warming up to you already. You’ve learned most of their names- but you’ll probably need a few days until you remember them all. After the questions, you do a few games together that you thought up- things that typically would be done in middle school. You split up the classroom as you have them learn more about each other- things like ‘go to the left side if you’d rather lose your taste, go to the right if you’d lose your smell’. They were simple activities that the students seemed to mostly enjoy, and you participated in them as well. 

At one moment, you asked a very specific question on purpose: how do you feel about your quirk? If you like it, you would go to the right side of the room. If you dislike it, you’d go to the left. If you weren’t sure how you felt, you’d sit in the middle. In the end, only you and boy with white and red hair stand in the middle as the rest of the class sits on the right. 

“What is your quirk?” He asks you and you smile down at him. Everyone turns their attention toward you, clearly interested. 

“My quirk is called Sensory. If I use it right, I can heighten my own or someone else’s senses such as their hearing or sight. But if I use it wrong, the person goes into sensory overload.” You explain it as simple as you can, and a pink hand raises in the air. You can’t quite remember her name… 

“Why don’t you like your quirk?” 

“Well, I don’t dislike it,” you quickly reassure the class, “but I have my reasons, as I’m sure Todoroki has his own as well?” You look down at him and he nods silently. “Anyway, I asked this question so that you all would get to know who I am a little better. Quirks are a great way to express yourself, but it’s important to remember that it isn’t the only way. It’s okay to not feel completely at home with your Quirk, but it’s important to understand it and accept it as a part of you.” 

After the activity ends, the period is over and it’s time for you to go down to your office. Eraserhead offers to walk you there since you’re still new to the building and you gratefully take it. The two of you leave the classroom with a stern word from the teacher for his students to wait patiently for Present Mic to arrive ‘or else’. You have a feeling that there's no real threat behind his words, but it seems to work. 

“So,” you fill the silence in the hallway, “do you think it went well, Eraserhead? You know them best.” You look up at him and the hero reaches up to run his fingers through his hair. He’s not quite looking at you, but you know he’s paying attention. 

“You don’t have to call us by our hero names,” he huffs and his hands go back into his pockets. 

“Oh! Well… To be honest, the forms Nezu gave me never mentioned any of the teacher’s names, so I don’t actually know…” 

“Typical of him,” the man rolls his eyes, his lips tugging upward just a bit at the ends. “You can call me Aizawa,” all of a sudden you both come to a stop and you realize that you’re outside of your office on the first floor. “Mic is Yamada and Midnight is Kayama… I’m sure you know who Yagi is.” You nod. “You’ll learn the rest of their names along the way. The 1-B teacher is Kan, by the way.”

“Oh, good! Thank you, Aizawa,” you smile up at him. “And thank you for walking me back.”

“You’ll get used to it in a bit,” he sounds sure of himself, making you believe him. “And… you did fine with the kids. I can think of a few who might come over by the end of the week.”

His reassurance is honestly very touching, as you weren’t really sure of yourself. 

“I hope I have at least a week, my office is kind of baren right now,” you laugh at yourself a little. “And thank you- it’s good to hear. I really hope this goes well, you know? I think I can really help them- I want to help them.”

Aizawa just stares down at you but you’re honestly getting used to his silence. You can already tell that he’s a man of few words, so you’re grateful that he’s talked to you as much as he has. You laugh again- you’re not sure why- before opening your door and waving goodbye to him. He leaves after that, and now it’s just you alone in your office.

You sigh as you look around the room. It’s got the essentials- two chairs, a couch, and a table in the middle. Then there’s a desk in the corner of the room, but other than that, it’s empty. You’ll definitely have to fill up the area to make it seem more welcoming- maybe you can bring some things over from your apartment. 

All you know is that you’re determined. By the end of the week, you’re going to make this place feel like home.

[vegetacide]

TaG: Bloodlines (Part 9 Bit 1 )

Veg • notables: Due to the length of this part I am splitting it up into two bits.

Any errors in this are strictly my own

Ty to @gumnut-logic and @scribbles97 for the brainstorming help and the encouragement.

Also a special thanks for Nutty for letting me borrow Gordon's talking bird from her fic "The Dentist" (Part 11)

Previous:

Part 1 | Part 2 Bit 1 & Bit 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Rating and General warning: Mature content head. If you are not a fan of medical issues of a female nature in relation to pregnancy please proceed with caution.

Characters: Virgil, Kayo, (V/K), Jeff, Scott 

Location: TaG-verse AU | Tracy Island

E N J O Y

8-8-8

Part 9 - Dipisahkan (Bit 1)

Week later...

“...and now for international news.  A suspected homicide and fire in an internet café in Istanbul has been downgraded to Death by Misadventure as autopsy reports conclude the presence of a high concentration of narcotics found in  the remains of the establishments proprietor, Berk Demir  The café has long since been suspected as being associated with several black-market smugglers groups and dark web anarchist but to date authorities have been unable to obtain the necessary proof to back the claims...”  

Kayo groaned and rolled her eyes as she flicked off the holo-fed.  She was not in the mood to listen to criminal reports and activities when there was nothing she could do to help.  

There were criminal elements the world over like that cafe, some of which she’d had an active hand in shouting down over the course of the last few years.  From human trafficking, to the sales of banned chemicals or other components that could cause a loose of life and had on some occasions.  

She’d helped where she could, always hopeful despite the odds that it would help bring to  justice the man that had caused so much pain to so many people.  

Whatever it took to protect those she called her family and humanity as a whole, she would do it.  The GDF had simply to ask and she was there. 

Being bound to the villa and watching what was going on in the world though was like dangling a carrot and the best course of action as she sat here and incubated another life was to avoid it at all costs.  

On top of that, the recommendation that she relocated to the mainland and even be further removed from everything was hard for her to swallow. 

After talking to Jeff and Scott that following morning after that little revelation by her OB-Gyn her life had been completely taken from her control.  Grandma had joined the conversation as well and had agreed wholeheartedly that thought the island was a good place for her to recuperate and rest for the time being,  the long term relocation was the best course of action.  

Grandma had been a respected and well known doctor before her retirement but obstetrics and neonatal care had not been her chosen discipline.  If there was a need for something more than just childbirth she didn’t feel adequately suited for the task.  

That with the addition to the island not being equipped with the necessary supplies and it didn’t take much to convince Virgil of their one and only recourse. 

So it looked like she was getting evicted and kicked even further afield from the action that made up her regular daily life. Relegated to a gestational oven, far away from home.  

Tossing the remote on the coffee table she flopped back and stared up at the ceiling.  Bored out of her gourd and feeling completely helpless for the first time in a long time. 

From across the room she heard a chuckle and tipped her head further back to look at her father in law.   

“Lucy had a hard time doing nothing too.  Especially when she was pregnant with Alan.”  He said,  exchanging his data pad for his cane and coming over to join her.  

“Please tell me, you found a way to stop her going insane with boredom.”  Kayo griped, righting herself with a grunt of effort. 

“She tried to take up knitting but with Gordon in the house…. It didn’t go over well.”  Jeff assumed a casual stance though he was favouring his right leg a bit.   After all his time in space, his recovery was slow and his joints were not enjoying gravity in the slightest.

Kayo made a face as she pictured the mess that must have been. “Well,  there is no way I am taking up knitting now,  Gordon is worse now than when he was a kid.” 

Jeff laughed with ease at that,  nodding his head in agreement with her statement.  

“Yes,  it’s best to keep him away from pointy sticks and yarn.  He too easily falls into temptation. “

They fell into a companionable silence. Just enjoying each other's company like they used to do when she was little and she was too annoyed or upset to hang out with the rambunctious brothers. 

It was weird how easily they fell back into the old routine,  Jeff  taking care of Tracy Industries and her doing any number of other quiet activities.

Oftentimes when she came to sit with him,  it was just so she could feel closer to her own father. Wherever he was.  She knew Jeff was aware of it but he always made time for her when she needed the comfort and he never made mention of it either.  Knowing she was trying to put on a brave front in front of the rest of the family.   

“It’s a beautiful day out.”  He remarked,  he’s face turned towards the large open balcony doors, the light breeze tousling his grey hair.  “Would you care to go for a stroll, I could use the company.”  

Kayo grinned and gave a nod.  Getting to her feet on her own steam for a change was a nice boost to her confidence.   Jeff stood close by to help but he didn’t ask or pester her like his sons were want to do and she was grateful for it. 

She loved all her extended family very much but they tended to treat her like she was glass and would break at any minute even her husband.  God, she loved him but his over protectiveness was starting to drive her batty.   

Being the well brought up man that he was, Jeff offered her his elbow as they made their way out the balcony doors and towards the veranda stairs. 

She tucked her hand in the crock of his arm, enjoying the warmth he offered her.  Circling the pool they came to the top of the trail head that led in a gentle descent down the cliff side to the tide pools that sat below the mammoth villa.  

It really was a beautiful day out and Kayo let her thoughts drift as the smells and sounds of their island home surrounded her.  

Tropical birds danced and chirped amongst the tall palms and ferny underbrush and she caught  a flash of iridescent black and a streak of white as something dove across their path.   Stopping to see where it went off to, her and Jeff blinked as whatever it was squawked and chirped and burped at them before something that sounded vaguely like ‘Virgil’  hailed down from further up the path.*

“Did that bird…?”  Kayo asked, slightly confused.  

Jeff just sighed and shook his head.  “I thought Gordon was joking when he said he taught a honeyeater to talk.”

“A what now?”  She was more baffled than ever.  

Jeff just patted her hand and they continued on their way.    

They meandered on at a sedate pace for a few minutes,  taking their time to traverse the well used path in no rush to reach any particular destination. 

Coming around a bend they reached a small lookout where a large outcropping of rock had been worn smooth by the elements making for a perfect place to park one’s backside. 

Jeff grunted as he settled onto the warm, volcanic rock and patted the space beside him in invitation.  

“I’ve always wondered..”  Kayo started,  kicking off her sandals and sighing contentedly as the sun-kissed warmth of the basalt soothed her feet. 

“Wondered what?”  Jeff encouraged,  tipping his cane back and forth between his hands.

“How did you manage it?” The look he sent her and the cant of his head pushed her to elaborate further. “Being away from home so often?” 

“Ah,”  He remarked as he caught on to her meaning. “While Lucille was pregnant and the boys were little.”

His brows dipped down as he thought of how best to respond, his jaw working back and forth as if he was chewing on the answer.  “Funny you should ask actually.”

Her brow arched up as she regarded him,  watching the quirk of his lip as he glanced her way.  “How so?”

“Virgil asked something similar.”  He didn’t elaborate more on that.  Just went back to chewing on an answer for her previous inquiry.  “Well,  I can tell you one thing.  It wasn’t easy.  There were a lot of late night comms calls that made me glad that NASA didn’t charge long distance fees.  And prior to the lunar communications relay being built,  a lot of long, mopey emails that Lucy loved to tease me about to no end.”  

“Virgil’s been barely gone a day and he’s already checked in with me three times…” Her voice trailed off and she pointed  to the heavens.  “You kept going back out there. I just….how? 

She really wanted to know the answer cause she had been asking the same thing to herself all week and she hadn’t been able to come up with an answer. 

“A job needed to be done and I had the skill set for it.  The world didn’t get put on hold just cause we decided to have a kid...and another... and another..” He chuckled to himself. “ And so forth.”

“I just told myself whenever I left,  get it done.  Get it done right,  precisely and correctly and get home.  Keep on tasks and I’ll be home before I know it.  For the most part that worked,  kept me focused.   When it didn’t  there was plenty a night where Lucy was there..”  

He sighed and rubbed at his chest.  An old ache that would never go away and she felt a pang of guilt for bringing it up.  

“You two will figure it out though.”  He added taking a cleansing breath, the sadness that hung in his gaze dulling as he shifted his train of thought away from his dearly departed. 

“It won't be easy,  they will be a few bumps but you’ll manage. Besides on the days when things don’t work,  the little nuget will have four uncles and great grandmother and an ecstatic Grandpa waiting the wings to lend a hand.”

Kayo looked down at her slowly distending tummy, her doubt churning with all the things they could mess up and would mess up.. But Jeff was right.  They weren’t alone. They had a large support system that was just as excited as they were for their little stowaway and they would figure it out.  

A bleep from Jeff’s wrist comms sounded and he glanced down to read the holographic message that had been sent to him. His brows dipped and he took a moment to send back a brief reply before giving her knee a pat.  

“Boys are on their way back. Should be here soon.”   

“Everything okay?”

He nodded as he held out the crook of his arm to her again. “Few bumps and bruises.  Alan sprained his ankle but Virgil saved him from a nastier spill.” 

Before she could ask about her husband,  Jeff raised a hand.  “Virgil is alright too but I am sure Grandma will have them both scanned within a inch of their lives the moment they get home.”  

Placated for the time being, she took the offered limb and they made their way back up the cliff side path. 

When Two finally landed some thirty minutes later, Kayo was chomping at the bit.   True to Jeff’s word though Grandma had both Virgil and Alan in her clutches within moments of them disembarking the massive cargo hauler.  

Alan limping along, Virgil and Gordon each under an arm.   The stretcher had been an option but the youngest Tracy had kicked up a fuss that it wasn’t really that bad.

Grandma had taken one look at the dirty lot of them and all thoughts of complaint had fled in the face of all that Doctor Grandma-feel my wraith energy.  

It was another twenty minutes before Kayo even had a chance to check in with her husband and when she finally managed to get a moment along with him he gathered her up in a hug and it didn’t appear as if he wanted to let go.

He was freshly showered and changed. Hair and skin still a slightly damp and smelling of soap.  

Running her hands up and down his back, her head tucked into the crook of his neck she gave him a gentle squeeze which he reciprocated.  

“Hey,  tough day at the office?”  She said into his ear. 

“Something like that.” 

Taking his hand Kayo tugged him toward the elevator. “Come on,  let’s get you fed and watered before you get called away again.

“That’s supposed to be my job.”  The grin that up turned his lips chased some of the shadows away from his eyes

“Well then,  hurry up and I may let you mother-hen me.  Though I will warn you, I can’t be held responsible if I start throwing things at you.”

“Oh, there’s a challenge if ever I heard one.”  He chuckled, tucking her in under his arm as they passed through the heavy doors into the cab.   

“So,”  She started,  hitting the button for the upper level. “How’d it go?” 

Virgil shrugged with one shoulder.  “Couple amateur rafters got into trouble on a class five that they had no business being anywhere near. Alan lost his footing as we were pulling them to shore.  He’ll be alright in a few weeks,  the rafters on the other hand are going to be getting some hefty fines for trespassing on a private reserve.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to the kitchen.  “Sucks to be them.”  

The awesome scent of roast chicken had Virgil distractedly grunting in agreement and Kayo grinned.  The thought of food had obviously caused his brain to short out and speech had taken a back seat to hunger. 

Coming up to the counter, she peaked around Virgil’s shoulder to admire the spread of food.  Cecilia had been busy.  

The Haitian woman was a genius in the kitchen and the boys had been spoiled rotten lately with her cooking.  

Carb loading had turned into the number one pastime for the brothers and they endeavoured to consume  as much as possible before her departure for the mainland with Kayo.  There had been talk around the table about hiring her on full-time once the baby was born but it usually took second place to food shoveling and breathing. 

‘Cecilia, that smells fantastic.”

“Virgil Tracy, you keep your fingers out of that roast.  It’s not done yet.” The tall woman swatted at his hands with her baster and stole the carrot back that he had managed to pilfer.  “Don’t blame me if you get salmonella poisoning.  There is no way I am going to be held at fault for tossed cookies on the next call out. You hear me?”  

“Yes, ma’am.”  Chastised he took a seat and watched with longing in his eyes as the food guru went back to work 

Kay just rolled her eyes and plunked down onto the stool beside him, tossing a leg over his thigh as she got comfortable. 

He glanced down at it and grinned,  putting hand on her knee and giving it a little squeeze. 

“Comfortable?” 

“Yup.” 

Getting a little distracted Kayo jumped a bit when a cup of tea was placed in front of her. The scent of ginger tickled her sinuses and she looked up to see Cecilia standing across from her with her arms on her hips and a tea towel tossed over her shoulder. 

“Drink up. You need to keep hydrated.”  She instructed, pointing at the cup. “And no hanky panky in my kitchen.” 

Virgil’s hand dropped from where it had slid up her thigh and he did his best to look innocent. 

“Don’t you play coy with me.”  The tall woman scolded, placing a cup of coffee in front of him.  “It’s what got the two of you into all this baby hubbub in the first place and I don’t want it in my kitchen.”

Reprimanded they checked themselves and they both directed their attention at their respective drinks. 

Foot falls down the stairs had Kayo turning to see Scott.   He flashed a smile as he approached, data pad in hand.  

“Hey,  thought I would find you here.” He said,  walking behind the counter to snag a fresh cup of coffee. 

“Food was a necessity.”  Virgil smirked, taking a sip from his own cup. 

“John’s finished making those upgrades to the security system at the house in Parnell and the rota’ has been adjusted for the next few days until you get everything settled.” Scott held the data pad out to Kayo so she could see.

She blinked surprised she was being included in this even though she was the security specialist in the family. Taking the pad she flicked through the information that it provided.  Updated security measures, upgrade gear and protocols.  All things she had improved upon recently when Jeff had come home with little tweaks here and there by John for surveillance and anti-surveillance measures.

She was impressed and it must have shown on her face.  

“You trained Hubbert well.” Scott remarked, a telling comment on his approval of their  T.I security crew.  “He has assigned Baxster and Jenkins to watch over things at the house and escort you to and from your appointments and such.”  

“They’ll do.   They both had advanced hand to hand tactics training and a working knowledge of counter intelligence measure that could come in handy if…”  She paused and corrected herself. “When the media gets wind.”  

“GDF has agreed to lend us a couple of bodies as well so we aren’t stretched too thin. They’ll be made available when needed.” 

Looking into his coffee cup Virgil questioned, “You sure this is going to be okay?” Kayo knew he hated to be a burden on his brothers, preferring to be the one to provide support and not the one that needed it.  

Scott gave his shoulder a pat.  “Don’t worry, we got it. Even with Alan down we can cover things for a few days until you get back.   Aunt Val is aware we are limited for a few days and is making preparations on her side if the need arises.”

Virgil didn’t look all that convinced but there wasn’t much he could do.  His hands were tied as much as hers were.  

“I still don’t like this.”  

“I know, Bro.” Scott gave him a nudge and his large frame rocked slightly with it.  “Pulling you from rotation completely is still an option if you want to take it.”  

He shook his head.  “No, that won’t work. Our effectiveness will go up in smoke and I don’t want that on my conscience anymore than you do.”  

“But it’s my burden to take on as field commander, V.  Not yours.” 

This was just going around in circles and it wasn’t really getting them anywhere.   Kayo nudged her husband from the other side.

“Come on,  take me for a walk up to the lookout.  I want to watch the sunset before dinner and it looks like we have the time.”  

Cecilia who had been busily chopping greens for a salad nodded her head in confirmation when Kayo looked to her to verify. 

“Besides,  I could use a light exercise. I feel like I am starting to resemble a blimp. 

Virgil choked on his coffee and turned to her.  “A blimp? Hardly.”  

Giving Scott a wink,  she took a sip of her tea content for the time being that the heavy talk had been effectively brushed aside.  This was one that she knew they would come to  rehash again later though she knew there really was no use in it. 

They had to do what they had to do. Moving to the mainland though a pain was their only option and Virgil needed to keep doing what he was doing.  As Jeff has said,  the world didn’t stop just because they were with child. 

8-8-8

End of Part One

NEXT

[lostinfantasies38]

Ten Favorite Dialogues from 2020

I picked 10 dialogue exchanges that I loved from the stories I posted this year. A few of them are from the same stories, since I spent a good chunk of the year working on long fics instead of one shots or shorter stories. Under the cut bc they are lengthy.

I also realized that most of my zingers tend to be in my descriptions and don’t always make it into my character’s dialogue. I might have to change that. 

In no particular order:

1.

Dorian chuckled. “Honestly, you two are disgraceful. You can’t come to a club looking like sex on legs when you aren’t single. You’re going to give people a heart attack.”

“Jealous, Dorian?” Alistair needled.

“Insanely,” he replied smoothly. “Aside from myself and Zevran,”—he saluted the elf who shot him a saucy wink—“you’re the most attractive men here. And to add insult to injury, you’re together,” he sighed dramatically.

Accidental Alliance, a oneshot modern Cullistair AU 

2. 

“Step two of the pie liberation was to avoid suspicion of the adults.” Evan giggled at Connor’s phrasing and thought he heard Alex snort in amusement, too. “Zoe’s job was to act as a distraction, which wasn’t hard to accomplish because Cynthia decked her out in this frilly monstrosity that every woman within a five-mile radius oohed and aahed over. She fucking hated it, of course, but it worked in our favor for The Plan. And yes, those are honest to God capitals, babe. Think Mission Impossible: Thanksgiving 2010.”

“Alternate title: Pie Larceny,” Evan quipped, overjoyed by Connor’s rich laughter. Alex definitely chuckled at that.

“Yes! Oh my God, that’s amazing. I’m totally renaming it Pie Larceny.”

Save Me From Myself - part 3 of my DEH series, Connor Murphy/Evan Hansen

3.

“It makes me want to wrap you in blankets and bubble wrap and smother you with attention until you’re sick of looking at me, though.”

A broken laugh tumbled out of Evan’s mouth. “Well, there’s a mental picture. What are you gonna do? Roll me down the street?”

“I’m working out the logistics, but rolling you around does sound kinda fun,” Connor teased.

Snorting, Evan retorted, “I mean, you do have practice rolling joints. Guess a bundled up boyfriend isn’t much difference.”

Connor’s borderline hysterical laughter almost drowned out Evan’s airy chuckles. “Jesus Christ, Evan,” he wheezed, shakily wiping away tears. 

Save Me From Myself - part 3 of my DEH series, Connor Murphy/Evan Hansen 

4.

Returning his head to the shadows, he hissed, “Sister Agnes is milling around. I need a distraction so I can reach our room.”

Kai grinned and pulled a dehydrated pepper from his pocket. “Down the hatch.”

Gavin stopped him with a concern expression. “Are you sure about this?”

He snorted softly. “Please, I grew up eating these. My mum sends them because she knows I love them. They’re like candy. I’ll be shitting fire for a week, but they don’t hurt my mouth. I’ll burn hot and sweat like crazy though. Trust me, it’ll work.”

The redhead arched an eyebrow. “So you carry them in your pocket at all times?”

“No,” Kai answered irritably. “That’s why I needed Easton earlier. To act as a distraction for me so I could get it out of my room.”

Gavin sighed. “If you’re sure. I mean, we could brawl in the hallway, that would work, too.”

Alistair glanced around the corner. “Hurry up and choose. I’m not waiting forever.” Kai smirked and popped the pepper in his mouth.

“Well, that decides it,” Gavin groaned. Alistair tried not to laugh as over the course of a few minutes, Kai’s face visibly flushed in response to the spicy heat and sweat pooled under his hair, running in rivulets across his face.

“How do I look?” he asked.

“Like you’ve got the sweat,” Gavin replied sardonically.

“Perfect,” he retorted. “Right, good luck, Alistair. If I fail to distract everyone, Gavin’s got you covered.”

Find Me Well Within Your Grace - young Cullistair prequel fic - excerpt from Ch 11 featuring a few of my OCs and Alistair 

5.

Wrapping his arms around her as she hummed at the stove, he said, “Sirra and Alistair either just left my apartment or she only now deigned to tell me they’re gone.”

Eowyn grinned wickedly at him, checking the clock on the dining room wall. “My, my! Four hours later! Scandalous.”

“I wish you could have seen them. The magnetism! It was instant.”

She giggled. “I saw the photos. That’s more of Alistair’s almost-O face than I ever want to see again, thanks very much.”

He snorted. “Fair enough.” After a pause, Zevran chuckled, “I give them a month.”

Rounding on him in horror, Eowyn stared at him with wide mossy eyes. “You just said they were perfect together! Do you think we made a mistake?”

“No, amore mio. I mean, I give them a month before they elope. I might have been party to their engagement shoot today.”

She blinked slowly as the giggles built until she was clutching the kitchen counter in a fit of uncontrolled mirth. “Okay, that may be accurate knowing Alistair!”

“I’m thinking of changing my business cards. Should I add ‘Matchmaker Extraordinaire’ or ‘Signor Soulmate’?” he asked cheekily.

Shot In The Dark - Sirra Brosca/Alistair modern AU oneshot [dialogue shown is between Zevran/OC]

6.

Cullen grinned with him. “Me either. Maybe we can improve your chess skills enough for you to graduate from mediocre.”

“Oh, ha ha. You and the others can have fun with that, thanks very much. Here I was hoping we could spend more time in bed,” he teased, sliding a hand into his curls.

Rolling his eyes playfully, the blonde retorted, “Of course, count on you to think how often we can sleep together instead of improving our skills.”

“That is how we improve our skills.”

“Training skills, you fiend.”

Heaving a melodramatic sigh, Alistair quipped, “Well, one of us has to be the boring one in the relationship. Glad it’s not me.” Cullen elbowed him gently in the ribs, chuckling along with his lover’s bright laughter.

Find Me Well Within Your Grace - young Cullistair prequel fic, excerpt from Ch 12 

7.

“You’re not worthless,” Alistair whispered. The breath she’d been holding passed her lips with a tiny mewl of surprise. Still unable to look at one other, Alistair kept his hand on her wrist and she resisted the urge to scoot further away.

Sirra murmured, “You don’t know me, Alistair. You can’t say that.”

“I can,” he insisted firmly, his fingers pressing just a bit harder on her flesh. “It doesn’t matter who you were. When you join the Grey Wardens, all that matters is who you are. I may not know who you used to be in Orzammar, but I have a pretty good idea who you are in the sun.”

Sun Touched - excerpt from Ch 4

8.

“I’m sorry, Alistair, I wanted to surprise you. Most dwarves in Orzammar, caste and casteless alike, have genital piercings. It’s cultural and unrelated to murder.”

His eyebrows climbed into his hair. “Even the men? How in the Maker’s name does that work?” Sirra opened her mouth to explain, but he hastily held up a hand and shivered. “Rhetorical question. Please do not answer that.”  

Sun Touched - excerpt from Ch 14

9.

“I love you, too,” she murmured, gracing him with a watery smile. “If I had known you were up here, I would have left Orzammar years ago and tracked you down,” Sirra mused, only half joking. 

“Oh, really?” he quirked an eyebrow in amusement. “I can just imagine you sneaking into the droll monastery and breaking me out. I would have assumed you were a figment of my imagination, a desire demon, or Maker-sent. Regardless, I doubt I could have resisted the mischievous glint in your eyes as you crept in to find me in my smalls, surrounded by thirty other recruits, and told me to run away with you.” 

Laughing, Sirra raked her short nails down his toned chest. “A naked teenage version of you? I would have taken you on the spot, letting the recruits feast their eyes on us, before dashing out the front door with your bare ass in tow.” 

He closed his eyes with a lusty moan, and swallowed hard, his voice strained when he replied. “Definitely Maker-sent then. To think, we could have been on the lam for the last few years, making mad love wherever we went.” 

Sighing melodramatically, Alistair smirked and playfully bopped the tip of her nose with his. “Ah, well, at least I have you now and that’s all that matters.”

Sun Touched - excerpt from Ch 17

10.

“Stop it,” Morrigan mumbled irritably.

Alistair feigned innocence. “Stop what? I’m sitting here like a good patient. I wasn’t even talking until right now.”

Yellow eyes bored into hazel as the subtle light faded around them, his shoulder apparently healed. “You know very well what. Stop staring at my hands. ‘Tis most distracting.”

“And here I thought it was my hands distracting you during the fight,” he smirked. “Not where my eyes happened to land. How could you have known that I might have been paying attention, if you weren’t observing me, too, hmm?”

Scoffing, Morrigan took a large step back and crossed her arms haughtily over her chest. “You are insufferable.”

Sheathing his sword, Alistair shrugged with affected boredom. “I may be insufferable, Morrigan, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Deny it all you want, but we both know the truth.” 

Snagging his shield from where it fell on the ground, he slung it over his back and murmured for her ears alone. “Besides, for a cranky witch who grew up in a swamp, they’re surprisingly soft and gentle… when they want to be, that is.” 

You Give Me That Lovin’ Feelin’ - ch 2. Part 1 of 3 of Morristair written for @scharoux 14 Days of DA Lovers 

[randbwrite]

La Comtesse Chronicles Chapter 1 Part 2

Words: 1907

TW: Blood, graphic violence, death

CW: War, attempted assassination, vampires

B: Near silent footsteps didn’t announce Derrick’s presence so much as the scampering of a happy stoat pattering across the stone ahead of him did. The man was massive, how on earth he could move so quietly was a mystery Rapscallion wanted to solve one day. Whenever he got around to it. 

“They’re waiting for you upstairs.” With his bland tone of voice, Derrick could’ve been discussing the weather.

For all that Rap could be seen to care, they might as well have been. “I know.”

“It’s inadvisable to make them wait.”

“So?” Indifferent shrug.

“There’s a difference between cute and stupid. You crossed a line earlier, and you’re going to drag your feet now?”

“Yep.”

“They want me to drag you if necessary.” Both of them knew how that would end. 

“Aww, I knew you cared!” 

“Never tried to hide it, unlike some people.” 

“Oh stop it, you’ll make me blush.” Rap’s devil may care smirk nearly brought one to Derrick’s expression, but he had to be serious!

“Palavering isn’t going to change the situation...”

“Yeah, but!! If they’re annoyed enough, they’ll give the orders without the imperious preamble and pomp. Here’s your orders and off you go! Works like a charm.”

“Right.” Massive arms were crossed over an equally broad chest, the quirk in his eyebrows reminding Rap his friend really will carry him off if need be. 

A huff lifted a pesky lock off his forehead momentarily, exposing the brilliant emerald orbs beneath. “I’m going, I’m going! I’ll catch ya later. Or not.”

Derrick shook his head, one scarred hand messing up the extraordinarily unkempt rusty mop Rap called hair. He knew what was meant. They couldn’t promise anything, nor really ask, but the unspoken request every time was to take care. Try and survive, eh? Wouldn’t be quite so exciting without the other around. They should probably wonder about how much nonverbal communication went on between them, but such was life. Full of the oddities that made it...so alive.

.....

The board of impassive faces that met Rap would be unreadable to most. Decades of training had refined their poker faces, but everyone has their tells. Tiny twitches, the way certain coifs had been fixed endlessly before he arrived, notebooks, bracelets, rings all adjusted to the nth degree...they should really watch their perfection of accoutrements more carefully. It all but telegraphed their mood. Course they’d never asked him. 

Uhhh...okay, wait. They all had that same creepy dead look in their eyes except one. Dude off to the left, madness gleaming usually signaling blood lust. Did he do anything to tick that one off recently? ...No, not that he could remember...few times over the years, sure. The last prank hadn’t been his, but he took the blame for it. The crazy stunt had gotten a larger contingent of the assassins caught up in it and made them all want to kill him for a few weeks. That wasn’t too much of a deviation from the norm however. With a bit of time they’d all drop it, move on to the next frustration or take it out on their targets. They’re not allowed to kill one of their own anyway. 

Missions were usually handed out by one person. Not a tribunal. Must be another meeting taking place, killing two birds with one stone. This wasn’t set up as a retribution either or he’d sense more of his fellow assassins in the shadows. That’s a delayed relief and he knew it, but hey! He’ll take what he can get.

“So! Whatcha got for me? Who’s incurred the wrath of the great and powerful Assassin’s League? Besides me of course.” 

A minuscule draw to the head assassins’ brows was his reward, but the gleam in the other’s traveled from his eyes to a wide, manic smile. It was also he from whom the instructions came, a mission that per the norm wouldn’t allow for denial in accepting.

“Your target is la Comtesse Arcanum. She will be taking part in a battle between the French army and the German forces. Shoo now. Off with you.”

A noble. Right! That should be easy enough. So why was that gleam now being shared among most of his peers? He almost preferred when they all were content to be blasé about everything to...this. Esh.

Rap was on his way quick enough. It only involved avoiding the booby trap someone had set for him in the hallway to his storeroom. Place didn’t so much count as a bedroom as he rarely bothered to sleep there: gathering up an array of...necessary supplies and hopping a horse he’d leave in the nearest town to the battlefield; he was good to go.

Mission was simple, least to his mind. These commanders tended to do their leading from behind, strategizing based off of reports and keeping themselves safe in a tent far removed from those who gave and lost their lives for whatever ideal or land being quibbled over. Surrounded by soldiers, they thought themselves to be safe. Protected. Untouchable. Heh. People assume in order to be an assassin you have to melt into the shadows. Not true. Humans jump at shadows! They distrust their own even. Disappear into the mundane though...no one will look twice. 

Think about it. Your water boy scurrying to keep the retreat horses fresh? What about the cook’s kid running rations, a medic’s assistant supplying fresh bandages, even an officer with the bearing and urgency demanding he not be stopped for anything or anyone, ducking into the command tent. It was always some variation and pretending to be in a hurry was the only steady requirement. When he got to this battlefield however, he couldn’t stop the swear word from being muttered.

“What the—? Lemon juice.”

No bustle to a central command tent. No commander in that one large, ostentatious tent either. A map, little flags which could surely help anyone intending to spy on their contingency plans, but no female commander. He was going to have to go into the fight himself, and he was beginning to see why they’d thought this would be such great fun. Fun for them.

A survey of the map showed him the general lay of the land, an idea of the commander’s intentions, how she had spread her troops, and where he might lure her to take her out. It wouldn’t be easy as she had plenty of people who were going to be trying to kill her. An entire army as a matter of fact. But if they sent him out there, the army wasn’t going to be enough to take her out.

Something about how the pattern was laid out was bugging him: only when he discerned she wasn’t the singular high ranking officer on the field did he understand. Sort of. Who fought with their own vanguard rather than dividing forces? There must be a purpose for it... He was going to need a vantage of the battle before he went out to join it.

Donning a uniform of the French army, he fished out a spyglass and took a cursory view of the battlefield, suppositions holding true. A maelstrom of blood and chaos was the field, soldiers and grass on fire, blades flashing, one of the soldiers fighting seeming to be made of fire and still plowing on. It was a mess. Rap shrugged and put away his tool. He’d picked out a spot to lead la Comtesse and his target to distract her with, which just so happened to be the second most dangerous force on the field to contend with. Who was on fire. According to the excited rumors in camp, that was the man he was looking for all the same. His own eyes confirmed it from the way the two moved in concert as well, even if logically what he was seeing was defying rationale.

By the time his traps were laid, set for both his target and those who may get between them, the battle had become more of a slaughter than an even fight. It was a matter of time before the opposing commander sounded the retreat; with the lack of officers on the field of battle it seemed surrender wasn’t to be the intention.

Anyone approaching the man on fire had been incinerated, disturbing visions of boiled metal and bent airwaves lending credence to the notion that whatever was actually happening over there and however the frak it worked, it wouldn’t be a bright idea to get anywhere close. Instead, Rap took advantage of the pile of discarded corpses surrounding the indefatigable duo and...played dead. The winds were probably changing soon, based on the way the clouds were moving. He was gambling on the hope this fire man wouldn’t want to risk accidentally burning his commander or allies, never mind the fact Rap had NO IDEA how in the name of insane bonfires anyone could survive being in the middle of those high temperatures, let alone send them off. 

It worked. It worked!! Fire man moved with the wind, using it to carry his incendiary discharges towards his enemies rather than risk his own. A useful breeze, the coat that surely served to project further fear in his enemies and protect the backs of his legs lifted. Just enough. A series of tainted projectiles fired in quick succession, more than half hitting the small target that was the back of fire man’s knee. Good thing Rap had gone with his metal options rather than the more innocuous wooden ones. Easier to hide the evidence afterward, but they wouldn’t have survived the heat. Then again, usually his targets weren’t walking infernos. A notion for further consideration later. Much later. 

It didn’t take long, though fire man must’ve had an elephant’s metabolism to not have dropped immediately, but in under a minute he was finally down on one knee. It would continue to work through his system; the flames guttering along with his strength. The delay gave Rap enough time to move into position though. He would lure the commander to his choice in battlegrounds. Not far from where they were, but just enough that his traps would remain untouched by the unwitting and unintentioned. He held his blow gun aloft, a short sword in his other hand. France’s coat of arms emblazoned on his chest and a very unsoldierly smirk on his lips completed the visage. 

Make her feel rage. Take away her calm. Peel back the strategy and finesse that made her a terror in her element. Force her to step into his world, one without rules of combat, and that would be the only chance he had to take her out. Then again...something made it seem like all his efforts wouldn’t matter. As if she would step just as easily from her realm into his and beat him at his own game. He would not, should not consider defeat. That would mean accepting death, and this had only just begun!

The cocksure rise of lips and brow would not betray fear’s frigid grip trailing sweat down his spine nor the faint tremor of nerves knowing this time, among all the others, the League had no intention that he should come back alive. They might just be right. But he’d never willingly give them the satisfaction.

Standing stock still in the open went against every single instinct in him, nearly all the training he’d received and the adrenaline screaming he move! Fight or flee, pick one!! But for this to work, she had to come to him. A few steps were all it would take and the first of his traps would be sprung...

[cytarabi]

Hey! I've become a huge fan of your fics on ao3. I wanted to know how do you push out so many beautiful chapters so quickly? What's your writing process like? I'm working on a big JB fic, which I'm trying to finish timely, but high quality. Always like to see how other writers do their thang! Thank you!

Hi! I remember your name!! <3 Thank YOU for the question and praise, that’s so sweet!!

I love seeing how other writers do their thang, too! And I’ve found it can be very, very different for each author.

TLDR I write a lot of my fic ahead of time. I outline the entire fic, chapter by chapter before I start writing. I use several tools to speed the process and/or to make it more artsy fartsy.

I’ve found that I’m a “plotter” and not a “pantser” (two main ways of writing, unless you hate being labeled lol.)

Plotter means that I prefer plotting out most of the story before I write the details. Here’s been my process for my multichapter fics:

1) I come up with an idea and let it brew! I think about key scenes or dialogue I love and I jot them down in my phone on Google notes. Write down your ideas, you’ll probably forget them.

2) During this brewing time, (for As Black As Thunder and my next fic) I take the time to read, read, read. I read works and jot more notes! I have an entire Google doc for Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier where I wrote down her tone usage, figurative language and summary of each chapter. I can’t tell you how much this has helped get me in the write TONE for the work. Tone is SO important. Readers reading a thriller will expect thriller beats! Deep Fried Drinks was a rom com, so the verbs, adjectives etc are very different from creepy Gothic. When I started As Black As Thunder (ABAT), wow, it was hard to nail the tone at first. But by the second half of the fic, I’m fully immersed in it and it’s much easier to create the tone naturally. Without using inspiration, I don’t think it would have turned out as well. For ABAT, I think I took two weeks of no writing, when I’m used to writing every day. It was hard not to write, but wow, was I ready when I started!

3) When I’m ready to outline, I do! I open a google doc for the fic and start throwing everything I can think of in there. My ABAT doc was only like three lines for 6 months... lol! I’ve only just started looking into story structure, so my older fics are all wonky. BUT for ABAT and Deep Fried Drinks, I tried to follow story structure for plots. First act, second act, third act, character arcs, etc. My longest fic, Time Stops, dropped a bunch of readers in the middle and I think it’s because my middle SAGGED majorly. I didn’t try to follow a structure, just sort of plotted it out how I wanted to, and it was probably very repetitive and boring. For ABAT, I plotted a mid point turn to spice things up, chose things to make the character more proactive, etc. I highly recommend Ellen Brock on Youtube for any plotting advice. She’s an editor, and I’ve learned so much!

4) Organize plot into chapters, write key notes for chapters and fill out background info. The first two are self explanatory, but the third is my favorite! One thing that speeds my writing (I have no idea if people do this or not) but I have lists. So many lists! For ABAT, I have lists of common outfits for characters (I usually hate writing about outfits but I’m glad I wrote more for this work). I also write the character arc for each main character. For ABAT, I have the following for Brienne:

Brienne 

Symbols: white crocus flower (purity, youthfulness, sensitive to rain), White begonia, Small birch saplings struggling for light

Goal: serve public, be idealistic, honorable

Lie: (hidden for spoilers)

Truth: (hidden for spoilers)

Flaw: stubborn, idealistic, watched her father get fame and respect for his engineering, wants to do the same thing and do it perfectly, doesn’t understand systemic racism 

Motivation: serve people, be accepted by the public, belonging, abandonment

Stakes: public rejection, Tarth name on the line, mockery, insanity, failure

So when I think about a curve ball for Brienne at any point of the story, this character section helps me stay true to character. I have a section for Brienne, Jaime, Cersei and Missandei. Cersei has a larger section because she’s a villain... ;)

In addition to this section, I also write down their personalities and strengths. You know, like if they went to an interview lol. For example, I have Missandei have the following strengths: 

Missandei

Adaptability: able to adapt

Intellection: introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions

Consistency: all people should be treated the same

Futuristic: fascinated by future

Learner: loves to learn

I ALSO have an emotion worksheet and this is SO USEFUL. They say in writing: show that the character is angry, not tell the reader. WELL, IDK about you but I can’t keep track of all the little quirks characters do and yet, I want them to be consistent. If while writing a scene, I sometimes think, “Hmm what is Jaime doing if he’s in awe right now?” I search for “awe” at the top of my fic, and bam, I have options, more or less. For a lot of emotions, I brainstormed ideas based on character traits, arcs, Gothic tone etc. I fill all of this out before I write the first chapter. 

Here’s an example of some emotions I have for ABAT:

Emotion List (remember to have introspection, unique perspective) 

Awe:

B: wrinkle deepened between brows, parted lips, fixed gaze, stands still

J: arched brow, open mouth, stare, goes closer

C: lowering chin or raising chin, goes closer

M: adaptable, quick to react

Deceptive:

B: looking away, walking away

J: scratching ear

C: smiling, neatly placed hands

M: long blink

Thoughtfulness:

B: staring off, quiet, daydreaming

J: staring at object important to him, twisting pencil or object in his hand, squeezing his hand

C: squeezing hand, staring at object she wants to get rid of or improve

M: daydreaming, staring off at her own outfit—it’s foreign

5) Now the fun part: writing! I used to write with scene structure outline, but I think I’ve grown off the training wheels. But it really helped me in Deep Fried Drinks to plot out the chapter scenes ahead of time, and I used Ellen Brock’s proactive and reactive videos to help me out with that. I throw on some music to get me in the mood of the story and I write during my kid’s nap, about two hours every day. Sometimes I’ll write at night, but lately I’ve been too tired to do that. My tip for this part is to try and figure out what you want to improve. What are you good at, and what could you improve as a writer? My first fics had like zero figurative language. Awkward. This takes a level of awareness that’s hard to reach but watching or researching creative writing technique really helps me. For example, I used to NEED to write all five senses out for each chapter ahead of time. Now it comes naturally to me! I would say now my main issue is phrasing? Pacing? And I need to tone down the melodrama for my next work....... lol! I write, write, write--and usually, I write 60-90% of the fic before I start editing!

6) Editing. Fun fun fun. I don’t mind editing, I just don’t think I’m that GOOD at it. I try to read through my chapter twice and edit as I go. I look for things I want to take out or add, look for show vs tell, formatting, etc--do things make sense? Did I miss anything? In ABAT, I’ll write something in chap 20 that I need to start in chap 18, so I’ll go back and make a quick note to “add part about document somewhere in this chapter” so I don’t confuse readers. When I edit chap 18, I’ll add that line or paragraph in. It’s all an intricate web! I also have a list of vague words I try to eliminate or replace with stronger words (I have more words if you want them). I found that I have certain words or phrases that echo a lot, like “while”, “turned around”, “turned” or “did not”--now I search for these phrases/words and try to change them:

Get rid of vague words, fix by explaining more:

Some 

While

Thing

Stuff

Very

Really

Big/small

Good/bad

Simple verbs: had, was, went

Got/get

Few

Several

What

Do/Did

It

Like with all writing “rules”, they can be broken, but it helps to know why they are rules. I steered away from adverbs, and I think it improves my writing. Other writers have different prose and adverbs work so well--it all depends on your style! If I find these vague words in dialogue, for example, I almost never change them because dialogue is usually freaking vague lol!

7) Beta reader(s)! I honestly think this work is better than my other stuff because I have a newer beta reader, theunpaidcritic!!! *I bow* She’s literally an expert so it’s SO helpful for me in every way--I can’t fangirl about her enough. If you’re struggling to get a beta reader, I recommend joining a JB discord (transformative werk is my favorite discord, and there is a beta read request thread) or post a request on reddit!

8) Post! Once you’ve edited and gone over beta reader notes, it’s time to post! Congrats!!!!!!!!!!

For time reference, I started this process around mid-May for ABAT, and I will be done by early September. Maybe I’m just a fast writer? Compared to angel-deux, ha, I look slow. Everyone is different! Please let me know if you have any other questions, I am ALL about helping out! :) <3 <3 <3

[inorganicone2230]

Purity (Part 1) Yandere!Overhaul x Fem!Reader

Part 2

Summery: Overhaul meets a quirkless foreigner who holds some very interesting views on his way of thinking. The more time he spends with her, the more he wants to keep her and her purity for himself. And he has no problem with falling to the depths of obsession if it means getting what he wants.

Warnings: None for this chapter.

Kai Chisaki certainly considered himself to be, above all else, a visionary, a Messiah meant to save the world from itself. He saw the world for what it truly was. A vile, rotten cesspool, filled to the brim with filth and ugliness, and plagued by a disease called quirks. Despite possessing a powerful one himself, he never considered it to be the blessing that other people did, not that he felt above using it to achieve his goals of course. He was going to be the one to set the world right again, and rule the underworld with an iron fist, so he begrudgingly realized that he would need the power of his quirk to accomplish said goal. No matter how much it sickened him.

Some might call him insane for his beliefs. That quirks were a sickness, infecting the populace with Hero and Villain Syndrome. But he knew the truth that they were all just blind to, that’s why they needed him to be their guide and show them the way to purity.

Perhaps that’s why he found you, you were meant to be his reward for all the good he was doing. It’s only been a few weeks, but he’s sure that it’s a day he won’t ever forget. Not ever, he thinks, gazing down at your form spread out over the sheets in sheer, manic glee as he recalls the all too vivid day…

—————

In hindsight, pulling you out of the way of that moving vehicle could be seen as the starting point to the chain reaction that sent him down this long and winding road of obsession. Not that he would change it for anything in the world.

He had merely acted without much thought when he reached out his white gloved hand to pull you out of the way, touching you as little as possible. He simply wasn’t in the mood to get himself soiled with your blood that would go flying everywhere should you get hit. Touching your shirt seemed like a small price to pay if it meant avoiding being covered in bodily fluids.

You turned around, your (e/c) blown wide in shock and blinking up at him stupidly. Your features were obviously that of foreign descent, not that cared enough to guess what country you came from. It was far too beneath him.

“Umm… thank you. That definitely would have been horribly messy.” You said, your Japanese was relatively decent, if a bit too formal.

He glared, noting with quiet contempt that you didn’t seem affected by it, probably because you were too stupid to know when to be afraid. “The only reason I did it was because I’d rather not get covered in blood and gore. If I could have avoided it, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

You seemed more amused than perturbed by his attitude, and he was beginning to wonder if you were very brave or just hopelessly stupid. “Well thank you for the assistance nonetheless, even more so considering what a hassle it was for you.”

If there were just a few less people out and about he might have decided to use his blasted quirk on you, consequences and mess be damned. Instead he turned on his heel. “Perhaps next time, whatever filthy quirk you have will be able to save you.” He fully intended to walk away and never think about this incident again, however, what you said next was more than intriguing enough to make him stop and give you a second glance.

“That would make sense, if I actually had a quirk. I’ll be sure to ask for one in my next life.”

He turned around to look at you, you were already walking away, but it looked like you were lost, you kept looking at your phone and then back to the street signs and buildings as if you were trying to translate the writing.

“You were born quirkless?” He’d never actually met someone who was genuinely born quirkless, only those that had lost their quirks due to his drug. He could only imagine what it must be like to feel so clean and pure.

You only gave him a brief glance as you continued to scrutinize your surroundings, more than likely surprised that he was still standing there, let alone talking to you. “Yup. No special power for me, unless you count my extraordinary ability to walk a straight line in platform heels while drunk a quirk that is.” You chuckled, the sound not nearly as annoying as he thought it might be.

“Then you’re one of the lucky ones.”

It seems that was the comment that got him your full attention, your head lifting up to stare wide eyed at him. “Lucky? That’s certainly not the word most people would use when describing a quirkless individual. Do you have something against them by chance? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but now you’ve got my curiosity peaked.”

Kai thought about it, why he was still here, why he was still talking to you, and the only answer he could come up with was that he was interested to see what your reaction would be to learning his views. Would you agree? Look at him like he was insane? He wanted to know, so he figured there couldn’t be any harm in enlightening you.

“Have you ever heard the theory that quirks were caused by a strain of virus carried by rats?” You gave a quick shake of your head, (h/c) strands bouncing around your face as he continued. “Quirks are a sickness, they ravage humanity with Hero and Villain syndromes and people seem content to go along with it. It sickens me that the world has fallen so low as to rely on abilities and deformities that we were never meant to have in the first place. It’s unnatural and disgusting.”

He was expecting some kind of reaction from you, he didn’t think you’d jump right into agreeing with him, that would have been too perfect. His best guess was that you were going to think he was crazy, most outside of the Shie Hassaikai thought he was, why should one quirkless girl be any different. The reply you gave him definitely didn’t fit into either of those categories.

“That’s certainly an interesting way of looking at it, from an evolutionary standpoint at least. I’ll admit that when looking back on human history and development, quirks are definitely not what I would have expected human evolution to progress towards. So perhaps your rat theory does have some merit. Almost like a second coming of The Black Death or something.” You said, having moved closer to the wall of a building while the two of you spoke.

“You don’t think I’m crazy for thinking this? Most people would have stopped listening after I used disease and quirk in the same sentence.”

“No.” You chuckled. “There’s nothing wrong with having an opinion that differs from the norm, sometimes it’s what we need to progress and move forward. Culture and society are constantly changing and adapting to new things as time goes on, but we wouldn’t be able to do that if it wasn’t for someone else stepping forward and saying that something needs to be done or fixed if we are to ever move on from the ways of the past. Your views may be a bit extreme, but definitely not crazy. After all, no one ever said passion was a bad thing.”

You couldn’t have possibly known how pleased he was by your words as you looked up into his eyes, eyes that even his underlings flinched at when attempting to hold his gaze for too long, but you just stared right at him, unflinching with a small smile tugging at your lips. It set his pulse racing pleasantly, and if he didn’t already know that he was in top physical health, he might have thought something was wrong with him.

“You looked as if you were lost, perhaps I can help you find your way.” He honestly felt like taking apart his own brain when the words left his mask covered mouth, but it was too late now, you were already agreeing.

“If it’s not too much trouble, that would be amazing! I can speak Japanese fairly well, but reading it is another story entirely.” You said pulling out your phone to show him an address for a local hotel, he took note of how soft and clean your hands looked, not a speck of filth to be seen. “I’m here on a study trip with a group of classmates and I went wandering off to look around, ended up getting lost along the way and was too embarrassed to ask for directions.”

“It’s three blocks away, follow me.” He ordered, turning on his heel. He didn’t bother to see if you were tagging along behind him or not, he knew you would obey.

The walk was kept silent and he was pleased that you didn’t seem to want to fill the time with pointless chatter as most people would have, but a small part of him was a bit disappointed as well, he wouldn’t have minded hearing you speak more of those intellectual views of yours. He wondered what else you might have to say about his views on the world. He might have even asked if the two of you had not just reached your destination.

There was someone rushing over, a blonde girl with blue scales around her yellow eyes was marching over to you. “Where in the Nine Circles of Hell did you run off too?! We’ve been worried sick! Don’t you ever scare me like that again.” She said, pulling you into a tight hug.

He wanted to obliterate the annoyance as soon as she touched you. It was blasphemous that this piece of garbage would even think to touch someone as clean as you with their dirty hands. He was even more annoyed that you didn’t seem bothered by this, just reached up to pat her filthy head.

“Sorry Nell, I went for a walk and got a little turned around. But this guy helped me out!” You turned around, to say thank you one last time and maybe get his name, but he was already gone.

Nell just gave you a look, like you had lost your marbles. “What guy (Y/N)? Don’t tell me your seeing ghosts again like you did in elementary school. Was this one at least hot?” She jeered with a barking laugh, bumping her shoulder against yours and motioning for you to follow her towards the hotel entrance.

“That was one time! And you know it was only because Mike was hiding in the attic of that old house to purposely try and scare us. What ten year old wouldn’t have been terrified.”

“Right… sure that’s all it was.” She teased.

“I swear to God, he was right there not even two seconds ago!” You were amazed he managed to slip away in so short a time span. “But he did seem pretty antisocial so he probably didn’t want to hang around longer than necessary. Still though,” You look back over your shoulder one more time to see if you can spot that green jacket. “kind of cliche to just up and leave like that without a word.”

“You didn’t answer my question though, was your mystery man easy on the eyes?”

You did have to smile a bit at that. “He did seem pretty handsome from what I could see of him. He was wearing a black dust mask over his mouth and nose, so all I could see of him were his gold eyes. It’s a shame I didn’t get to find out his name, he was interesting to talk too.” You sighed. “But oh well, it would be a miracle if I ever ran into him again in a city this big.”

From up on the roof of another building, Kai watched and listened, a plan already forming in his head. He had to agree with you, it was a shame you couldn’t have spoken more. He found himself pleased with the sound of your voice and wondered what his name would sound like rolling off your tongue, the thought had him shuddering in pleasure. He was not one to question himself on anything, if he wanted something or had a goal, he would find a way to accomplish it. And he most definitely wanted to interact with you again.

“I’ll come find you again soon (Y/N), then we will both get what we want.”

This was my first time writing for Overhaul, so please let me know if you thought I did his character justice! Thanks and please enjoy!

And a special thanks to @talpup for helping me brainstorm this and all my other stories!

[mrs-takami-keigo]

King of the clouds

Chapter 5 

Main Pairing: Hawks/Quinn(OC)

Story Rating: Explicit! 18+

Genre: Romance/Action/ Smut

Words: 7.3K

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Notes: To the people that do read this, thank you so much! This story is my baby and I plan on seeing her through to the end. Everytime I see a like for this I get a little emotional, beacuse I do put a lot of thought and heart into this story. But I would also love to hear from you! Please don’t be afraid to comment or anything, I love reading people reactions to this. 

“Okay so the objective is Phoenix is going to be the villain and it’s up to you, Bakugo, to subdue her before back up comes. Once you put the handcuffs on her you win. You have twenty minutes.” I heard Aizawa explain over the earpiece.

“Tch just start the clock already.” Even without the device, I could hear Bakugou’s loud voice resonating. ‘Why does this kid have such a big mouth?’

“Your twenty minutes start now.”

The sound of an airhorn rang through the training grounds, signaling the start of our match. I was given a head start so I could hide. Figuring my best option was to start off on higher grounds, I stood atop a medium-sized office building. Even though I wasn't in his line of sight I could see him. Watching as he started down the main street of the training ground, looking around, trying to pinpoint my location, Bakugou’s guard was up, ready for anything. I’m sure he’s waiting for me to make the first move.

“Come on you old hag I know you're here!”

‘OLD HAG?!’ I could feel my eye twitch and my blood began to boil. This kid sure does have a lot of nerve to talk to someone like that, but it’s one of the reasons I looked forward to meeting him. His attitude, skill, and demeanor reminded me of my own at times. I went to the edge of the building, slamming a combat booted foot on the ledge, my hands on my hips as I yelled down to him.

“Anybody tell you it’s rude to disrespect your elders?!”

“Shut up!” I saw him lift an arm up and a giant explosion generating from his palm. Glass windows shattered as the blast made its way up to me. Using my wings I shot up into the sky, trying to avoid the blast. Covering my face with my arms I felt the heat from the blast run through me, the air around the blast whipping around me, my curls flying everywhere. The sheer force of the explosion was impressive for a kid his age, if I weren’t able to use my wings to fly away, I for sure would have been finished.

“That’s it?! I thought you had an explosive quirk, not a firecracker! Honestly, you must be great during festivals.” The look of annoyance washed over his face as I spoke. “You know that’s what Imma call you from now on. You're just like a firecracker, all you are is nothing but noise!“ I let out a belly laugh as I wrapped my arms around my stomach. I knew I was pissing him off but that's what I wanted.

Straightening up I wiped the tears from my eyes, stopping my laughter. Bakugou’s teeth were bared in annoyance, his gloved hands balled into fists. “Come on firecracker you wanna play with the big dogs right?! Then let's play!”

Lifting my arms towards the sky I channeled all my energy into my palms, that same feeling when I formed my wings ignited through my body. Soon two large fireballs formed in each of my hands. Taking a deep breath I threw both fireballs directly at the teen. Due to their size and how fast they were going, it would take precise movements and fast reaction time to dodge them, but from what I’ve seen previously and from Shouto’s letter I knew he could dodge them with ease.

Just as I had anticipated he shot off his own blast towards the ground to propel himself into the air barely dodging the two balls of fire as they made an impact with the ground.

“Should have guessed an old hag like you didn’t have any juice left!” Changing his direction he used his explosions to make his way to the roof trying to chase me and fight me head-on, but I’m faster.

“No juice you say.” Horror was written on his face when he heard my voice from behind him. My fire wings let me reach insane speeds, the last time I checked I clocked it at a hundred and eighty miles per hour. Using fire to help me, I flipped over myself, bringing my right leg down landing a hard dropkick on his shoulder, sending him straight back down to the street. I made sure not to use my full strength afraid I would cause too much harm to his body.

When Bakugou landed, he was face down groaning in pain. Lowering myself back on the ground, I watched as Bakugou rolled to his side, gripping the shoulder I kicked him on with his hand, coughing as he tried to catch his breath.

“What your problem is, is that you underestimate everyone around you.” He had stopped his coughing, glaring at me. “Now, Katsuki Bakugou stand up, and let’s fight for real.”

“You’re gonna regret sayin’ that old woman.” Bakugou stood up, shaking off my last attack. I could sense that his attitude had changed, he now saw me as an opponent.

Using his power like before he launched himself forward at a faster speed, throwing me off for a second. Smirking I flew up into the sky ready to miss his attack only to be stopped. I felt his hand wrap around my ankle. Glancing down at him, a satisfied smirk played on his face.

“Tryna fly away already?” Before I could comprehend what was happening I felt my body be spun around.

Bakugou was using his other hand to set off small explosions resulting in him spinning around like a tornado and taking me along with him. He reached a speed that made everything look like one big blur before letting go of my ankle, I had no time to react with how fast I was traveling through the air.

“AUGH!” The air flew out of my lungs as my back came in contact with the brick, the impact was so strong that I left a small crack in it. Catching myself before I fell to the ground, I saw Bakugou get ready for another attack.

“That was impressive kid but you won't get another shot like that again.”

“Try and stop me.” Bakugou went to move again but stopped in mid-motion. “What the-” Soon he was flung up into the sky, coming back down at neck-breaking speed, slamming into the earth. A chuckle escaped my lips as he struggled to stand up or move in general, cursing as each attempt turned out to be useless.

“I’m well skilled in close combat but I excel at long range. Not only because of my fire but because of my other power.” As I spoke I stalked closer to the young boy, the sound of broken glass and gravel crushing under my boots. Whenever I used this quirk my hair would float behind me, as if I was underwater and my eyes would change from hazel to grey. My right hand was extended out pushing him further into the ground. “My telekinetic powers allow me to do things like this without even touching another person.”

Still holding him down I squatted next to him, balancing myself on the balls of my feet. “Now that you have a taste of both my powers let’s continue yeah?”

“Times up!” We both heard Aizawa say over our earpiece. The training grounds were in shambles, building missing walls, windows blown out. Parts of the street were torn up, it looked as if a war had passed through here. It was partially true, seeing as how after I had un-pinned Bakugou we both went all out. There were times where I was sure he had me but it was always because of a silly mistake on his part that I would escape.

Which led us to this moment, I had him trapped in a cage I made out of metal pipes when I sent him flying across the training grounds with a punch and firepower mixed in it.

“NO! Let me go again! I can beat this old hag!” He had his hands wrapped around the metal pipes, trying to shake them loose.

“So I’m back to being called old hag huh? And here I thought we were getting along.” I reached through the bars ruffling up his hair. “I’m actually thoroughly impressed with you firecracker in all seriousness.” He stopped his manic behavior, a reserved look on his face.

“I’m looking forward to what you do in the future. You’re special, firecracker, that’s without a doubt.” I flicked my wrist, moving the cage off of him. “When it’s time for your next work-study, be sure to contact me.”

“Tch! Whatever old hag.” I couldn’t help but smile, he may have said that but the small blush on his cheeks and the satisfied smile he wore didn’t go unnoticed.

“Okay, kiddo’s, who’s next?”

Stretching my arms above my head, I cracked my back and neck as I sat in the nurse's office. Recover girl had helped ease the pain in my back from when Bakugou slammed me into the building and my sore muscles. She told me if he had tossed me any harder my back would have been broken and that I’m lucky all I had was the giant bruise on my back. Going twenty rounds in combat with those kids wreaked havoc on my body. Some were easy to defeat and some proved to be quite the challenge.  

“That was too much Quinn.” Shouto handed me a glass of water as he took a seat in the empty chair next to the bed I was on.

“Oh please, that was nothing compared to the villains I’ve fought before. And you were holding back, don’t think I didn’t notice Shouto.”

“I was worried, it's only been a few days since you’ve gone back to work after the incident.” Shouto clenched his fist as his expression turned dark. “Since that bastard put you in the hospital.”

It wasn’t until that moment I registered that I haven’t really seen or spoken to him since that day. Fuyumi told me that Shouto was at the hospital that day, and saw exactly what Phoenix Rising does to my body. That image of me hooked up to machines, clinging on to life must have fucked him up.

“Shouto, look at me.” He still had his fist clenched tight, I was afraid that he would draw blood if he held them any tighter. “Come on half-pint look at me.” Facing him I leaned down a little so I could try to catch his eye. Once he heard the nickname I used to call him, his eyes met mine. Those once bright eyes of his now held years of pain, abuse, and burden in them.

“I thought you were gonna die, I-I can’t lose you.” His voice was shaky from trying to hold back his tears as he spoke.

“I’m not going anywhere, half-pint. I would never let scumbags like Dabi be the end of me, I promise you that.” I took his hands in my own. “Do you know why I came to Japan?” Shouto just shook his head, too afraid to speak. “I came to protect you, Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Auntie Rei. I failed in protecting Auntie and Touya, I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

“Quinn…” I got off the bed to stand in front of him, making him stand up with me.

“So don’t worry about losing me okay?” Giving him a reassuring smile I squeezed the hand that was in mine. “Come on you gotta change out of your costume and go do your homework and I gotta go home, there is a nice hot bath screaming my name right now.”

Once I got home I stripped off my costume, noticing that it had some rips in it, I made a mental note to go and try to get that fixed. Grabbing my hair towel and robe I made my way to the bathroom.

Besides having roof access, this apartment had an amazing bathroom. White tiles lined the floor and walls but the sink, cabinet, toilet, and bathtub were a solid black. There was also a separate stand up shower in one corner, while next to it was a clawfoot tub that was so big it could fit two people comfortably.

Turning on the water and stepping into the shower, I washed the day’s sweat and grime off my body, relishing in the feeling of the hot water running down my body and through my soft curls. Once everything was washed off, I filled up the tub with hot water adding in some of my favorite eucalyptus and spearmint bubble bath soap.

Sinking in my body in the hot water, I slid my aching body down the back of the bathtub leaning my head back to rest over the edge.

“Ah now, this is the life.” Closing my eyes I could feel my muscles relax under the water. Between the relaxing smell of my soap and the soft 90’s slow jams playing in the background, I felt myself let my mind wander.

“You’re so beautiful not only cause of your looks, it's that heart you have.”

‘Hawks.’

I could still feel his lips pressed against my palm. How his golden eyes shined under that moonlight. It was only for a moment but the usual playful glint in his eyes had disappeared when he spoke about how that was the only place he was actually at peace. That sadness made me want to reach out and hug him, make sure that the sadness left.

“No! Snap out of it Quinn!” I sunk lower into my tub, the water coming up just past my lips. Bringing my knees up to my chest, I hugged them. The best thing I could do for both of us is just be friends and that’s it. There was no way I could get my feelings involved, not with Hawks.

I stayed in the tub for another ten minutes, the water started to cool down and my fingers turned pruney, telling me it was time to get out. Standing up I could feel a dull ache in my back.

“Maybe I should put a patch on this.” I put on my purple fuzzy robe and wrap my hair in the pink microfiber towel as I walked through the bathroom door that led straight into my room. Going through my draws I found a clean pair of panties, and my favorite red satin shorts and camisole pajama set.

Shedding off the robe and grabbing a soft white towel, I swiped it across my damp skin. Feeling like I was dry, I slid the undergarment up my legs followed by my satin shorts and top. Going up to my white and gold-lined vanity, I grabbed my favorite body lotion that smells of vanilla and coconut.

After applying lotion I went through the rest of my night routine. Doing my skincare, massaging oils into my curls to keep them hydrated, and putting on my diffuser with peppermint oil in it, hoping the essential oil will soothe my aching body and my thoughts about a certain red-winged man.

Just as I stepped into the bathroom to grab an icy-hot patch, the sound of something faintly knocking on the door that connected to the roof caught my attention. My guard went up instantly, no one knew I was there besides my family, Mirko, and Hawks. Putting my slippers on, I tiptoed to the staircase that led to the door. The pounding became more frantic as I crept closer.

I could feel my heart begin to race with each step I took. It would have been one thing if I lived in a house, but I live in a highrise apartment building and there were over thirty floors of people that lived here. If something went wrong I would have to worry about them before backup could arrive and fend off whatever or whoever this is.

Igniting my right hand with flames, I kicked the door open, ready for a fight.

“OH MY GOD!” I stopped my flames immediately and ran to catch Hawks as he swayed to the side, catching him as he started to fall to the ground.

“Hey, fire….bird…” Hawks could barely get my nickname out of his mouth before he coughed, blood landing on my slippers. I could see he was holding on to the last little bit of consciousness he had, his wings were almost non-existing save for the few small feathers that were left.

‘How the hell did he fly here?!’ I slung his arm around my shoulder, my right arm wrapped around his waist, trying to hold him up. After about five steps Hawks lost all consciousness and became dead weight, making it hard for me to carry him.

“Hawks what happened to you?!” I used my telekinesis to help me bring him down the stairs and into my living room. Laying him down on the couch. I ran into the kitchen grabbing a small dish towel, running it under cold water, then running into the bathroom grabbing the first aid kit under the sink.

Running back to the couch I was able to finally take in his appearance. His usual beige colored and fur-lined coat was covered in blood, it looked old seeing as how it was all crusted. His pants were dirty and covered in tears, those brown leather gloves were gone as were his yellow visor and headphones. Not wasting any more time, I kneeled down, opening up the first aid kit.

“Okay, dove lets get you out of this coat.” Placing my arms around his torso I lifted him up, using my body to hold him. Hawks head fell on my shoulder, his chin hair tickling my neck. Bunching the coat in my hands I slid the heavy material off his shoulders, and since he had such small wings at the moment this was easy to do.

I threw the coat to the side, planning on washing it later, I held back onto him as I lowered him on the couch. Getting hold of the wet towel, I brushed his soft dirty blond hair out of his face. I couldn’t help but wince when I realized how badly he was beaten up.

“Oh Hawks, who did this to you?” I could already see a black and blue under his left eye, his lip was split open, dried blood around the wound. I started with the blood around his lip, trying to see exactly how bad it was.

“Fuck that hurts.” My eyes shot to his golden ones, well one, his other one was so messed up he couldn’t open it fully. “Whe-where am I?”

His eye was searching the room, trying to make sense of where he was, but drawing blanks. The panic in his face was becoming more evident. Gently touching his cheek I made him lock eyes with me.

“Hey, look it’s me, Quinn. You are safe, Hawks you’re safe, okay.” His widened eye started to relax as my words hit him and my face came into focus. His body visibly relaxing as I kept my hand on his cheek.

“Quinn? How did I get here?” He tried to sit up but winced in pain, falling back down on the couch.

“That’s what I would like to know, but later let's try to patch you up okay?” I continued to clean his face of the blood, putting ointments where he had open cuts. Pushing myself up off the ground I reached down to help him stand up.

“What are you doing?” Hawks was confused but still stood up in front of me.

“I have to check under your shirt for any other wounds.” Without another word I tucked my fingers in the hem of his shirt, my fingers brushing against his skin, pushing it up. He tried to stop my hands as they began to lift his shirt.

“Oh stop it, like I haven't seen a man's chest before, now let me do what I need to do.” I inspected his torso and didn't see any cuts or scrapes, just mild bruising. Pulling the shirt down I helped him lay back down.

“Mind telling me how and who fucked you up like this?” I was cleaning up the mess I made while in my frantic mode.

“A couple of low-grade criminals is all. One of them had a time warp quirk and one was a power quirk, not a great matchup for someone like me.” By the tone in his voice, I knew he was upset and embarrassed, he probably didn’t want me to see him like this.

“Why didn’t you call for backup? Shit, you should have called me silly.” I looked back down at him, a soft smile forming on my lips as I tilted my head to the right, my hair flowing over my shoulder. “You may be a man that's too fast, but I’m the woman who can keep up.” I bent down to grab the towel that was on the floor, only to feel Hawks palm on my cheek. Using his other arm he propped himself up, bringing his face closer to mine.

“The only woman that can keep up with me, I like the sound of that.” His voice came out as a gentle growl. I couldn’t look away from his golden eyes, there was something behind them, something that left my stomach in knots. It was as if I was under a spell that no matter what I couldn’t break. He kept leaning closer to me, his warm breath fanning over my slightly parted lips. Hawks’ hand that was on my cheek moved so it could cup my jaw. Soon I felt my eyes begin to close as he did, our lips just about to graze each other.

Suddenly the sound of the Imperial March from Star Wars echoed through the room, breaking the spell between us. I pulled back, eyes wide open. My cheeks hot from a blush that crept up. I looked at Hawks just as he flopped back on the couch, his arm covering his eyes as a deep sigh came out of him.

The song kept blaring trying to get my attention. I already knew who it was, my mother. Jogging into my room I picked up the small purple phone off my bed sliding the arrow on the screen to accept the call.

“Hey, mom!” I was still trying to calm down my racing heart.

“Quinn! Honey are you okay? You didn’t call me once you got home from work. I called your Uncle and he said he hadn't heard from you since yesterday!” I could hear the sheer panic in her voice, knowing that she hadn’t slept all night.

“I’m fine mom, just went to Shouto’s school to help out, then came home and took a shower. I was going to call you, I swear.” I may be in my late twenties but my mother still treated me like a baby at times. I couldn’t blame her though, I am her only child and well it’s been rough.

“Well, you could have just texted me.” Even though I couldn’t see her, I could see the pout on her face.

“I’m sorry mom. Wait what time is it there? It’s nine at night here.”

“Well my dear daughter it’s 8 am here and I have not slept because I thought my beautiful child was missing or hurt somewhere!” Shaking my head I knew that, that was coming, guilt trip. Classic Emiko.

“Oh my god mom, don’t start that.” I chuckled, stepping out of my room to check on Hawks. He still had his arm over his eyes, but his mouth was moving like he was talking to himself.

“I wouldn’t have to if you would just call your mother.” I sighed as I went back into my room. I put her on speaker as I went around the room looking for my hair tie. “Oh Quinnie, I wanted to ask if you're doing anything next month on the twentith?”

“No, not that I can't think of why?” Taking my hair in both hands I put it up in a messy bun, black and burgundy curls sticking up out of the bun. I continued to try and fix it when she dropped a bombshell.

“Well, I’ll be coming to visit for six months!” I halted my movements, staring at the phone wide-eyed.

“Wha-” I was going to say more only to hear a crash in my living room.

“Fuck!” I heard Hawks shout soon after the crash.

“What was that?!” My mom’s voice went back to worry as I grabbed the phone from my desk and turned it off the speaker.

“Hey mom I gotta go, I’ll call you back later!” Without even hearing her response I hung up the phone, tossing it back on my bed as I ran out of the room.

There in the middle of the living room floor was Hawks, face down on the ground, his fist gently pounding on the floor, muttering a string of cuss words.

“What the hell Hawks, are you all right?!” I ran to his side, trying to grab his hand to stop the pounding. Once the pounding stopped, I ran my hands through his soft blonde hair. I was trying to coax him into turning his head to look at me.

“Come on dove tell me what’s wrong.”  I continued to rub his head for the next five minutes and nothing happened.

“Hawks…” I gently grabbed his face, turning it towards me. The second my eyes landed on his face I couldn’t help but smile. He had fallen asleep from me petting his head. He looked so serene while he slept. I’ve seen his face countless times, more so in my head but still, I’ve never seen him look like this.

“Alright, you big bird let’s go on the couch.” I used my powers again to move him over to the couch. I figured the most comfortable position for him would be on his stomach, seeing as how even though he had barely any wings it would be uncomfortable on his back. I picked up his head to slide a small pillow under it and covered him with my blanket. I squatted down, running my hand through his silky hair once again.

“Goodnight Hawks.” I stared at him a little longer than I should have. I stood up ready to go call my mother again when I heard him mumble.

“Quinn...please….” I looked at him, my brows furrowed in confusion.

‘Is he dreaming of me?’ I returned down to my squat like before.

“Don’t...don’t go..” His face started to contort into a sad expression, a single tear falling from his eye.

I don’t know what possessed me to do it but I wiped his tear with my finger and leaned closer to him.

“I’m right here Keigo.” I gently pressed my lips against his temple. His soft hair brushing against my nose, tickling it. Pulling away I saw a slight smile form on his lips, his expression went back to the beautiful serene one.

He finally settled down after another minute or so, now snoring his life away. I had moved to my room, after putting his jacket in the wash and just sat in the middle of my bed, hugging a plushie of Mirko, as I thought back to the almost kiss.

‘What the hell was that?!’ His golden eyes replayed in my head, and how low his voice was when he said ‘The only woman that can keep up with me. I like the sound of that.’ I could feel my cheeks burn as I blushed.

“What the hell are you blushing for Quinn!? It’s just Hawks, a wild card, a guy that's five years younger than you. He's an arrogant, big-mouthed, rude, smart assed, man. It’s not like you lik-” I covered my mouth before the last words came out of my mouth.

Shaking my head I knew I had to get my mind off of the guy, so I texted Mirko to see if she wanted to go for a workout in the morning. Knowing that a good workout would set my head straight.

The next morning I woke up, my pajama’s all ruffled, black, and burgundy curls all over the place. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed onto the cold wooden floors. With my eyes, half-closed I slid my feet all around in search of my Winnie the pooh slippers. Once I had them on my feet I stood up, stretching my arms above my head, and that dull ache came shooting from my back again.

“Fucking feral child.” I cussed as I remembered exactly why my back hurt. Walking through the bedroom door I made my way to the kitchen, ready to make my coffee and breakfast before my workout with my good friend Rumi.

I glanced at the couch as I passed it to check on Hawks, who had one leg and arm hanging off the furniture while his other arm was slung over the back of it, and drooling. He was drooling on my nice pillow.

“God Hawks, you really can be an animal at times.” I turned my face up in disgust. ‘How could I possibly think about kissing him last night, look at him.’

I turned on my Keurig to heat up, making my way to the fridge. Grabbing a couple of eggs, onions, scallions, and cheese, I decided on making a nice healthy omelet and maybe some fruit on the side.

“Where am I?!” Hawks shot up from the couch screaming, nearly making me drop my plate.

“Holy shit Hawks! You scared the hell outta me, you damn bird brain!” If there was one thing I hated, it was jump scares of any kind.

“Quinn? How did I get here?” He slowly stood from the couch, looking around the apartment. I know I saw him last night but for some reason, he looked different to me as if he was more attractive. We were about the same height but he looked taller. The was his black and gold muscle shirt clung to him like saran wrap, showing off every definition of his chest and arm muscle. His hair messier more so than usual, lips puffy from sleep.

‘Stop it, Quinn!’ I shook my head as I placed my plate on the kitchen island.

“You flew here after a bad run-in with some low-grade villains.” I walked up to him, putting the back of my hand against his head. “Well, at least you don’t have a fever. You took quite the beating dove.” I pulled my hand from his forehead, going down I took his chin in between my thumb and pointer finger.

“The ointment I put on your lips seemed to start working and your eye isn’t as swollen as before.” As I examined his face I could see the slight blush forming on his cheeks.

“Sorry to have bothered you, firebird.” His voice was soft as if he was in trouble for something.

“You weren’t a bother Hawks, just next time please call me if you need backup. I’d hate to see my friends injured like that.” I had to remind myself he was my friend, and that’s it.

I saw him nod his head, his eyes roamed over my body, before coming back up to my eyes. “Nice jammies you got there princess.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

It wasn’t till that moment I remembered what I was wearing. “Shut up you ass! It’s my house and I can be as comfortable as I want, I could walk around naked if I wanted to.”

“Now that’s when I should come here!” I pressed a finger to the bruised area on his cheek causing him to wince. “Oh yeah!?”

Hawks grabbed me by my waist, his fingers started to move fast, tickling me. I tried to move out of his grasp but he was stronger, even though he was beaten up.

“Hawks stop!” I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically, tears falling from my eye. “Come on stop!!” No matter what he did not stop. I moved slightly back, the back of my knees hitting the coffee table. I was about to fall over when Hawks wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling my body flush against his.

“Hey Quinn, you ready for the work...out..? My, my what have I hopped in on?” We both looked at the door to see Mirko standing there, her spare key and carrot keychain hanging from her hands.

I pushed Hawks away from me, fixing my top that had ridden up. “Nothing, just some guy pretending to be hurt so he could take advantage of my kindness.”

Mirko pretended to gasp, her hand coming up to her chest. “Hawks how could you?!”

“Ha-ha-ha, you’re both hysterical.” He had pulled out his phone from his pocket. It looked like he was texting someone.

“I’m gonna go change real quick.” I walked back into my room, leaving the bunny and the bird alone.

It only took me ten minutes to change into my workout clothes, which consisted of a hot pink sports bra, black biker shorts, and a pair of running shoes. My hair was pulled up in a high ponytail and my hands wrapped like boxers, knowing full well that I and Mirko were going to do hand to hand combat.

Making sure my hands were wrapped properly I sauntered back into the living room.

“Really!?” I heard Mirko yell, as she laughed in Hawks’ face. His face had turned red as she continued to laugh.

“Shut up Rumi!” Hawks hissed between his teeth once he noticed my presence in the room.

“What did I miss?” I looked between the two. Mirko was trying to collect herself from laughing so much and Hawks looked panicked, his eyes wide as he kept glancing at me and at Mirko.

“Hawks said-” With a quick movement, Hawks jumped over the couch to get to Mirko as he covered her mouth with his hand.

He had one of those fake smiles plastered on his lips. “I said nothing!” He looked back at Mirko, his face turned serious as he whispered in her large bunny-like ears.

“Okay…” I walked past them going to the kitchen, I still had my suspicions about the two. “I’m just gonna eat my breakfast and then we can head out.” I reached down into the fridge to get a water bottle when I felt someone touch the bruise on my back.

“That’s a nasty bruise you got there, Q.” I had flinched a little from her touch.

“Yeah I went to U.A. yesterday to help class 1-A train and that kid Bakugou threw me into the side of the building. It hurt like a bitch but I’ll be alright.”

“That was the one who won the sports festival right?” Hawks was next to touch the mark, but his touch sent chills down my spine. His soft touch against my bare skin felt like icicles against my warm skin.

“Yeah.” I didn’t mean to sound cold when I said it, but I couldn't help it. Moving away from his touch I closed the fridge.

I took a swig of the water, glancing at his face, he looked puzzled but before he could say anything his phone went off.

“Hello?” I turned around walking away from the two of us. Mirko took this opportunity to talk to me.

“I thought you had fire quirk, not an ice one, cause that was cold.” She stood next to me with her arms crossed, her foot tapping against the floor.

“I’ll talk to you about it later, it’s a lot.”

“I’m gonna head out ladies, my ride's here.” Hawks made his way to the front door. I didn't want to be like this towards him but right now he was messing with my head, and I needed space.

“I’ll have my uncle’s sidekick bring your coat back when it’s cleaned.” Not even sparing him a glance, I went to my forgotten food. I could feel Mirko’s stern stare on me.

Hawks just nodded as he sent a wave over to Mirko before shutting my door.

“Do you mind telling me what the fuck is going on with you?” Mirko is the type of person to not hold back on anything.

“First we can just go workout, I got a lot of stress to release.”

“Fine but the minute I beat your ass in combat, you gotta talk Hunny-bun.”

All I could do was smile at her. “Who says you're gonna win?”

Throwing myself on the floor of the boxing ring, my chest was rapidly falling up and down as I tried to catch my breath. Mirko was a monster when it came to combat, she never held back, not even for a second.

“You’ve gotten better, but nowhere near beating me.” She flopped down next to me, chugging her water, then passing it to me.

“That's because you're insane!” I heard her low chuckle as I dowsed my face with the water. “Seriously Mirko, like what the hell? Are you even real?”

“Whatever, don’t think I forgot about this morning now spill!” She gave me a swift punch in my arm.

So I told her, I told her everything. From the lighthouse moment to the moment she walked in on our tickle fight. Tucking my arms behind my head I just laid on the floor, looking at the ceiling.

“I don’t know, what do you think? Am I crazy?”

“Nah I don’t think you're crazy.” She was still sitting next to me, her arm was across my stomach, making her lean over my body. I’ve only known her for a short amount of time, but she was the first hero to be genuine with me. Besides Hawks that is, but he was a different case.

“What should I do? I want us to stay friends and just friends, but the sexual tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife.” Her long hair was tickling my exposed stomach. Reaching down I played with it between my fingers. “I just have to get my mind off of him.”

“I know a perfect way.” She leaned down, her face coming closer to mine. “You need to be fucked, that way all that pent up sexual tension could be transferred to someone else.”

“Oh yeah and by who?” I laughed at just the thought of it.

Mirko had a devilish grin on her face, that scared me a little.

“Mirko, this better work.” I looked at my friend as she walked in front of me. I had to admit she looked hot. She had on a pantsuit, but instead of a shirt, she wore nothing under her blazer. A long gold chain with the initial M hung from the end of it and she had on black stiletto heels. We walked past a group of men who couldn’t help but stare at us as we passed, mouths to the ground.

“Oh trust me, with you looking that sexy, it’s gonna work.” She wrapped her arm around mine as she pulled me to the front entrance. I did have to admit I did feel sexy in my dress. It was a baby blue, satin bodycon spaghetti strap mini dress, that came up mid-thigh. The way it hugged my curves was perfect, and it was low enough to show off my cleavage but not enough that I had to worry about my boobs popping out when I danced. The sound of my clear open toe heels could be heard, stepping in rhythm with Mirko’s.

“Hey, big red.” Mirko stopped at the entrance of the club she decided to take me to. A man that had to have been at least seven foot tall, stood at the door.

“I feel like it’s been a while Mirko. How have you been?”

“Same old, same old! Just taking my new friend from the states out on the town. Phoenix, this is Big Red, Big Red, meet Phoenix.”

“Nice to meet you.” I went to give him a handshake but he just scooped me up in one arm, lifting me into the air. “Oh, we're a hugger I see!” I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, I should have warned you.” Big red put me back down on the ground. “Is our table ready, I called Daichi earlier.”

“Yeah! Come on in ladies.” Big Red opened the door for us. As soon as he did the bass from the music vibrated through my body, the lights on the ceiling moved in time with the music, people singing and dancing along with the DJ. It was amazing.

“I see Daichi!” Mirko shouted over the music, pulling my hand as she led me through the crowd.

“It’s about time you go here Mirko!” When she finally stopped I could see a fairly tall guy, he had long black hair, tied up in a messy bun. His features were that of a god, his gaze would have anybody stopping in their tracks. His dark sharp eyes would pull you in, while his charming smile had you blushing like a schoolgirl with a crush. He wore a simple black and white flower-patterned button-down with his sleeves rolled up and black jeans. Even with something so simple he looked so hot.

“Sorry, my friend took a while to get ready. Phoenix, this is Daichi, one of my best friends and owner of the club. This is Phoenix, she’s a pro from the states.” Mirko took a seat in the black leather horseshoe booth, pouring herself a glass of vodka.

“Nice to meet you Daichi.” I stuck my hand out for a handshake. His large hand grasped it gently.

“To meet a beautiful woman such as yourself, the pleasure is all mine.”

I smirked at him as I took a seat next to Mirko. “Your right Mirko this may work.”

The night passed on and the drinks kept flowing and I got closer and closer to Daichi. I learned that he was a year older than me, quirkless, and no relations to heroes besides being friends with Mirko. He was the opposite of Hawks and that's what I need.

“So Phoenix does a woman with your stature dance with a quirkless man?” He stood up, his hand out for me to take it.

“If the man is you, I’ll make an exception.” I handed my purse to Mirko as she flirted with someone she met at the bar.

Daichi guided me to the dance floor, just as a song with a slow sensual beat blared through the speakers. Once we got to the dance floor, Daichi turned me around, his hands were on my hips. My body started to sway with the beat against his, my butt was grinding against his pelvis.

With each seductive roll, his body met mine, with my back pressed against his chest, I could feel the alcohol run through me. I let it take over my body, not caring about anything. I just wanted to feel the man behind me as he slowly ground himself against me.

There were no words exchanged between us as we continued our sinful dance, or as we made our way to my apartment. Even as he pinned me against the wall, his lips hot on my neck, leaving a trail of kisses down to my chest. His cock, hard and pressed against my leg or when he moaned my name all night while I let him fuck me. I was doing this for myself, I needed to get that image of Hawks’ smiling face out of my head. And if that meant I had to find a surrogate for my desires for him so be it.

‘This is just how it has to be Hawks.’