#8th anniversary nonsense!!

[tothelasthoursofmylife]

8th Anniversary!

And it's still going on! I'm still writing it!!! With every passing year, I am rather glad (and surprised by myself) that I am still writing it and that I still love to write Watchdog of the Queen. At the same time, I cannot help but think/compare how much time has passed vs how much progress I've made with this story so far orz but I keep going, even if slowly, so that's something at least! And thank you so much for (still) reading this fanfic, even if updates are slow. Sorry for that!

No new update today. However, when I started writing WotQ, I was a teen with time/energy and far too many (often dumb) ideas. For many, I wrote the first chapter or the first few chapters and then shelved them, never to see the light of day - until today! If anyone's interested in some old, terrible Cloudia/Undertaker fic starters, they're under the cut. (They are posted as I left them.)

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The Princess

I am a fan of The Selection series by Kiera Cass. I reread The Heir and The Crown earlier this year and I loved them more than when I initially read them. Obviously, I had to think of a spoof of it. Cloudia having her own Selection, with Cedric (and Milton and Kamden (rip) and some others; this was an AU of WotQ, not just another Cloudia/Undertaker fanfic...) amongst the candidates. The notes file was last edited in 2016; the first chapter below in 2017. Very obviously based on The Heir. Just worse. (Why tf didn't I even change the kingdom's name??? I even made a cover edit, rip)

The kingdom of Illéa had been reigned by born kings for a long time now. No matter if there was a girl born before a boy, the boy would become crown prince upon his birth and thus obtain the privilege to someday become king.

However, sometimes times changed.

The current king, King Simon, was an only child who had married a woman who had given birth to an only child too ‒ me, Princess Cloudia. And despite their efforts, I had always stayed an only child. Therefore, I couldn’t be overruled by a younger brother, and thus it was me who was to be the ruler someday.

Me, Princess Cloudia, the first queen to hold the title on her own.

The fact that after all these years a girl would ascend the throne wasn’t very pleasant for the Royal advisers. After all, such a case had never happened before. But knowing that they couldn’t change this fact even though they badly wanted to, they did their best to convince my father, the King, that I needed intense training ‒ an even more intense training than the one he had received as a young prince. Wanting to support my talents and making it able for me to be the best I would ever be, Father had agreed. And from that day on, I was tormented by the adviser’s ridiculous lessons and teachings.

Fearing that I could fail to be queen, they let me undergo a dreadful training. However, they had never imagined that I would learn so fast and surpass my teachers in a very short time.

I was Princess Cloudia Phantomhive, the genius, the prodigy. No one was as powerful as I was.

***

I was peacefully reading in the small forest in the Palace’s garden when Lisa Greene, my maid, approached me, and for some reason I had the fear that something incredibly bad would happen today.

“Princess Cloudia,” Lisa said after she had curtsied in front of me. “Your parents, the King and the Queen, want to speak to you in private.”

***

When I entered my father’s office, I knew that something was entirely wrong. Still, I sat down at the table and remained calm.

“Cloudia, how are you? We haven’t seen you since breakfast,” King Simon asked. Unlike his daughter and wife, Simon stood beside the window.

“I am fine. Also because you would have never summoned me here just to ask me how I was doing, I guess this is just something for you to avoid the topic you actually want to speak of.” Cloudia leaned back, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Don’t beat around the bush, Father, and tell me straightaway why I’m here.”

Simon sighed. “It is your fault, Penny, that she is such a bold girl,” he mumbled to his wife.

“Well, you could have chosen one of the other thirty-four Selected girls, Simon,” Queen Penelope replied with a soft smile on her lips.

Simon walked away from the window and positioned himself behind his wife’s chair, grabbing the backrest. “Thanks, Penny. These were exactly the right words.”

Cloudia frowned. “What are you talking about, Father?”

The King swallowed. He looked uneasy. “Well, Cloudie... as you know, the situation between us and the British Empire has sharpened lately. We are still trying to negotiate with them as best as we can, but if we do not manage to defuse the situation...” He swallowed again. “Our country’s people are feeling uneasy, suspecting that something is wrong. But we cannot allow them to know about our current situation ‒ it would just cause a huge panic all over the country. However, with our people feeling uneasy and suspicious, we cannot properly negotiate with the British Empire, and thus we cannot defuse the situation.”

“I know about our relation with the British Empire,” Cloudia said. “And I know about our people being uneasy, but why did you summoned me here? Just to tell me something I have already known?”

Penelope and Simon exchanged a look.

“Well, Cloudia...” Simon started again, his voice a little bit shaky. “You know how your mother and I met, and you know that holding a Selection for the future sovereign to find their consort is a tradition in this country...”

Cloudia’s eyes widened in the moment she understood why she was here.

No.

“No,” she said aloud. “No, no, no! I am not going to have a Selection! And definitely not because we have to distract our people somehow so that we can calmly negotiate with the British Empire!”

“Cloudie, dear, just listen...”

“No!” Cloudia raised up from her chair. “You cannot do that to me!”

“Sooner or later you would have to hold a Selection anyway,” Penelope stated. “Just because you are going to be the first Royal-born queen of this country does not mean that you can skip this country’s traditions.”

Cloudia clenched her fists. “I know that, Mother. But I am not ready to marry now. I am just sixteen. I cannot do that now.”

“But you do not have to marry straightaway after the end of the Selection, Cloudia. We would wait until you’re older.”

“But I also don’t want to settle on some stranger now! And what if... what if I just don’t find anyone suitable among these boys? Do I have to bound myself to someone I despise to all eternity?”

“There will be thirty-five boys, Cloudia. The Selection has worked so many times now ‒ why shouldn’t it work on you?”

Cloudia crossed her arms in front of her chest again. “Just because you two are basically a fairy tale doesn’t mean that I will find myself in one too.”

“And what about the kings and queens before us? They all fell in love during a Selection.”

“And what if they actually didn’t? What if they had to marry someone just because they were obliged to pick anyone at the end of the Selection, even though they didn’t like any of them? What if all we know about the previous Selections is a lie?”

“Now you are being ridiculous,” Penelope pointed out.

“I am not being ridiculous. I am being rational.”

The Queen leaned forward, narrowing her eyes. “Cloudia. We had planned to hold your Selection after you turned eighteen, but think about our situation... If we don’t distract our people and they find out about our unfortunate situation, we wouldn’t have to deal with problems outside of our borders, but also inside them. It wouldn’t benefit our negotiations.” Her gaze softened. “Please, Cloudie, we wouldn’t hold your Selection so early if we had the option to avoid it. During a Selection, the mood of our country’s people was always at its best ‒ like when you were born or your father and I were married. And we need something now which can lift their mood, Cloudie. There just isn’t something more effective than a Selection.”

Cloudia sighed.

Being a princess, especially one who was also the heir, was sometimes quite annoying.

“Very well... but I will only do it under two conditions: One, I want the Selected to be able to leave on their own accord. Two, if I simply cannot find anyone suitable during my Selection, I want to have the freedom to end it without me becoming engaged to someone.”

Penelope chuckled. “No, we cannot allow your second condition. You would eliminate all of the boys on the very first day if we did.”

“And what if I promise to let the Selection run for at least three to four months?”

Penelope exchanged a look with Simon who had started to look awfully uneasy and had not said anything for a while now. “Very well,” he silently said in the end. “We will do it like you have suggested it. We will announce your Selection during the next Report.”

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The Amazing Grim Reaper

... A uhm, recap series for between the arcs, with fourth-wall-breaking commentary from Cedric and Cloudia. I wrote three chapters for that and started the fourth and fifth. I thought of "alternate chapter titles" and even made edits of the chapter covers. The recaps were meant to be drawn, I think, and that's what (thankfully!!) doomed them. They were all last edited in 2016, and below is the first chapter. Yikes.

Cloudia: I did not seduce anyone!

Cedric: *laughs* Of course you did, Countess! Shall I remind you what you said to our all-time favourite Lord Parrish? *imitating Cloudia´s voice* “You´re not that bad yourself, Lord. Your footwork is exquisite.”

Cloudia: *scowls at him* I guess that you need better glasses as you have obviously over-read this: “I wasn´t lying ‒ I found his footwork was as exquisite as the appetizers given out at this party.”

Cedric: I don´t understand how this should help you. After all, this sentence only strengthens the fact that you fell head over heels in love with Parrish and tried to seduce him. You are comparing him to food after all! Exquisite food!

Cloudia: I was not done! “I wasn´t lying ‒ I found his footwork was as exquisite as the appetizers given out at this party. Fairly, the man who dared to call himself a cook and prepared these abnormalities should be hanged immediately. I had to speak with the host, Baron Charles Worthington, about this when everything was over.” That´s the whole passage! I compared Parrish´s footwork to terrible food! How can that be evidence that I was in love with him?

Cedric: You´re a strange person, Countess. Perhaps this was the nicest comparison someone like you could think of. Also, Parrish could be a masochist or something in that direction and thus actually like being compared to terrible food.

Cloudia: Why am I even talking to you?

Cedric: *ignores her* Besides, I have more evidence that you were seducing him, Countess! Listen: “However, I have to admit that I haven´t danced for quite a while now, and I´m totally exhausted and heated up due to this instance. May you accompany me outside to get some fresh air?” Am I right in my assumption that you have said these exact words in January 1847, Countess Cloudia Phantomhive?

Cloudia: What exactly is so seducing about these words?

Cedric: Answer my question, defendant!

Cloudia: First, I am not a defendant. Second, now answer mine or you will never get any of Armstrong´s sweets again.

Cedric: That´s just cruel. Also, it´s seducing because you were saying that that you were “heated up” and wanted to go outside with Parrish. Alone.

Cloudia: Have passage like “We walked down the street, and I listened to his boring chatter. He was speaking of his company all the time. But I had to play my role, so I stayed polite, smiled and laughed at the right times, even though I was scowling inside.” or “She met his eyes, while her face showed clear disgust.” become totally irrelevant now?

Cedric: Yes.

Cloudia: ... You´re not supposed to answer it.

Cedric: But I did because “yes” is the one and only correct answer to this question. Besides, you´re forgetting this: “Lord Ronan Parrish was the reason why I had come to this boring, dull party all the way from my comfortable, quiet and orderly mansion in the countryside.” I guess this case is closed now.

Cloudia: ... Parrish was the reason why I went there because I was ordered by the Queen to exterminate him!

Cedric: You mean she ordered you “to find and marry him”? You know how much of a shipper the Queen is. After all, she sent us both to Wales once. Also, I said that this case is closed, Countess. I, Judge Cedric Kristopher Rossdale, name defendant Countess Cloudia Phantomhive to be-

Cloudia: Objection! I stabbed Parrish! I murdered him! If I had been in love with him, why would I have stabbed him?

Cedric: Because you were so disgusted with the thought that someone was able to touch the softest part of your little dark heart that you killed him.

Cloudia: I can see why the other Reapers don´t like you.

Cedric: Once again: I, Judge Cedric Kristopher Rossdale, name defendant Countess Cloudia Phantomhive to be... guilty!

Cloudia: *sigh* Also, I don´t think that you can call Ronan Parrish a “poor man.” He maltreated children and let them die in his factories like they´re nothing.

Cedric: I know but what if even though he hated children, he loved animals and was one of the main donators for a little zoo which has to close now?

Cloudia: I don´t even know if you´re serious or not.

Cedric: He could have been a very nice person apart from this thing. But we will never know because you have erased him from earth!

Cloudia: *rolls her eyes* You´re being ridiculous, Undertaker.

Cedric: I am not! You´re just being insensitive! Ronan Parrish could have been the nicest guy on the entire planet ‒ who just happened to like mistreating children.

Cloudia: You really want to die, don´t you?

Cedric: I mean ‒ what if he had been framed? What if he knew nothing of these kids?

Cloudia: I checked all the evidence to make sure that it was really Parrish who was behind everything ‒ and he was. Now, leave me alone. *turns to the audience* I will break this off before Undertaker can continue behaving like a moron. *Cedric yells something in the back* I apologise for his behaviour. Apparently, his mother dropped him as a baby and thus his brain is a bit damaged. Let´s just hope that the (irresponsible) writer does not let him take over the story again.

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Ciel timeline chapters

This side fic (!) to WotQ had an actual title, but I'm holding on to it for now because maybe, maybe, really very maybe, I will revive this project. Not as extensively as I had planned initially, just something small and short (and this time, I would mean it!!). But that would only be for the far future. Until then, here's the first chapter from 2017. (I only wrote that, a bit of the 2nd, and a few snippets...)

Chapter One: The Gallery of the Dead

“There, Phantoms were trapped in drawings.”

INTO THE ABYSS ARC

Countryside, England, United Kingdom ‒ October 1889

It was awfully silent when Sieglinde Sullivan woke up. The darkness of the sky, when she glimpsed out of the window by her bed, told her that it was still night and day was not about to come in the next couple of hours.

Sighing, Sieglinde let herself fall back into her bed and hugged her blanket. She closed her eyes, but when sleep would not come, she turned and turned around in her bed, trying to find a position comfortable enough that she would fall asleep again, and ultimately kicking her blanket down. Accepting that she was unable to go back to sleep right now, Sieglinde grabbed her crutches and left her bedroom to take a walk in the spacious Phantomhive Manor.

During the day, the manor was filled with all kinds of noise: explosions coming from the kitchen, screaming, Ciel´s annoyed sighs, the sound of porcelain breaking, crying, Tanaka’s “Ho ho,” the sound of people hysterically running back and forth. During the day, Phantomhive Manor gleamed with life, but right now, the manor seemed to have died. The clattering of Sieglinde’s crutches pierced through this eerie silence.

It was hard to explore Phantomhive Manor during the day as someone would always bother you with something or as something would always come up which would distract you from your actual plans. But now, Sieglinde was able to enter rooms she had never seen before, and walk through corridors she had not known before. And, eventually, she entered one of the oddest rooms of all Phantomhive Manor.

The Gallery was located in the back area of the manor, an area nobody usually entered. But despite no light except the moonlight illuminating the room, Sieglinde was already captivated by the Gallery’s beauty: Chandeliers, more beautiful, more delicate and elegant than the chandeliers in the other rooms, hung from the ceiling. The ground was pitch black but the places which were touched by the light glittered, indicating that there was more to the blackness than initially thought. The faint white patterns on the pale golden walls shimmered silvery in the moonlight – and so did the hair of the boy standing all alone in this room.

Ciel Phantomhive seemed like a ghost in the way he stood unmoving in front of one of the many drawings – surreal and out of place –, and Sieglinde almost believed that she had simply imagined his presence, but when she closed and opened her eyes again, Ciel was still there.

Slowly, Sieglinde moved towards him, the sound of her crutches tearing at her ears. And while she walked, she glimpsed at some of the drawings – all of them bearing the sad, serious faces of people long dead and long forgotten.

When she reached Ciel´s side, she waited for him to move, to turn his face to her and say something, but when Ciel kept staring at the drawing in front of him like he was under a spell, Sieglinde positioned herself right next to him and did so as well.

The drawing showed three people: two men, and one woman. The woman was sitting on a chair which looked so regal that it could almost be called a throne, and the two men stood behind her – one left, one right. Even with this poor light quality, Sieglinde could clearly see the woman’s beauty. Her dark hair, her porcelain skin, her glowing eyes. The woman in the picture shone with confidence and strength, and the smile on her face reminded Sieglinde of one of Ciel’s vicious smiles. She was the centre of the picture, stole all attention from the two men in the background like a queen.

“Who is she?” Sieglinde whispered, not daring to speak louder.

“My grandmother – Cloudia Phantomhive,” Ciel answered after a long pause, and turned away from the drawing. “And now, let us get out of here.”

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Unrelated to WotQ but Cloudia/Undertaker stories:

Itamae Phantomhive

I was procrastinating from writing a chapter for WotQ (I cannot remember which one it was; I'm sure I was procrastinating from uni stuff too) by thinking of something idiotic (modern sushi shop AU: The Phantomhives run a sushi shop as a "front" to gather information. Their clientele are mainly criminals and shady people, and they don't know they're the Watchdog family. Only Cloudia can't cook for shit, so she just hires Tanaka when he comes to kill her). I wrote two chapters and a bit of the third and then I forced myself to pull the brakes and post the story on AO3. It stayed up for about 24h hours, got no or maybe one hit, and then I deleted it. From 2018.

Chapter One: Itadakimasu

After her father's death, Cloudia Phantomhive inherited the Watchdog duty—and the Phantomhive family's sushi restaurant. Unfortunately, she was only ever trained in the art of killing, not in the art of sushi.

Struggling to run the restaurant, not to accidentally poison her criminal clientele, and be accepted into the (criminal) culinary world, Cloudia finds fortune in the oddest of ways: through an assassination attempt.

The funeral parlour was dark and dusty when Cloudia Phantomhive stepped inside, and she already regretted choosing it just because it was so close to work. She closed the door behind her and turned on the lights – and a few weak lights looking like candles came to life, exposing rows of coffins, numerous skulls, loose bones lying around.

Well done, Cloudia, you have chosen the funeral parlour of a weirdo.

“Is anyone there?” Cloudia said but nobody replied and appeared. Instead, she heard laughter seemingly coming from everywhere, seemingly coming from one of the coffins.

Cloudia took a deep breath, cursing herself for not checking this place first and potentially endangering herself, before she pricked up her ears and knocked against the coffins to find out from which one the laughter was coming from. And when she finally found the right coffin, Cloudia tore it open and found the strangest looking man she had ever seen inside it. He had long grey hair which fell into his eyes, and he wore old-fashioned black clothes, which were too large for him, and a compatible hat.

“You found me!” he said and giggled, stepping out of the coffin and wandering around the room before sitting down on a large desk made of dark wood.

“You have to be the new Countess of Phantomhive,” said the man. “I have already awaited you.”

“Of course,” Cloudia replied. “We had an appointment after all.”

He grinned. “Please take a seat, Countess Phantomhive.”

She frowned. “And where?”

He gesticulated towards the coffins on the ground. “As you have checked them, you should know that they are empty. For now, at least.”

Cloudia sat down, and the man held an opened casket, from which bone-shaped biscuits reached out, out to her. “Do you want some, Countess Phantomhive?”

“No, thanks. And ‘Miss Phantomhive’ or even just ‘Cloudia’ is fine. You don’t have to be so awfully formal. After all, nobody really cares about old noble titles nowadays anyway – don’t you think so, Mr…?”

“Undertaker,” the man said.

“You’re an undertaker and your name is… Undertaker?”

Undertaker smiled. “Indeed.”

“I didn’t get a lot of sleep in the last week, so, please excuse me if I put this too bluntly, but are you shitting on me right now?”

“Of course, not, Countess Phantomhive,” he replied with no sarcasm in his voice. Cloudia wasn’t quite sure how she should feel about it.

Cloudia rubbed her eyes. “Very well, Mr Undertaker…”

“Just ‘Undertaker’ is enough.”

Then just ‘Cloudia’ should be as well. She sighed. “Very well, Undertaker. How are the preparations for my father’s funeral going?” she asked, clutching her hands together in her lap.

“Splendidly,” Undertaker answered, taking a bite off one of his biscuits. “As soon the late Earl is returned by the police, the funeral will be held.”

She took a deep breath. “No complications?”

“No.”

“No further questions?”

“No.”

Cloudia took another deep breath before taking her bag and standing up. “Then – it was nice to finally meet you, Undertaker.”

He put away the casket and tilted his head. “You came here just to ask a few questions you could have asked on the phone as well?”

I just had to go outside. “I just wanted to be here if you needed my help with anything,” Cloudia answered, smiling. “And now, I have to go again. Goodbye, Undertaker.”

***

London, just like every big city she guessed, was a noisy place. And even though it wasn’t her first time in London, Cloudia flinched when she stepped out of the funeral parlour and was met with all that noise. There were so many people, so many things to see – so much life, so much movement –, and Cloudia wondered when, if at all, she would get accustomed it. London was so much different than the little town by Phantomhive Manor where she grew up after all.

Cloudia put on her earphones to shut herself off the world a bit and kept on walking. Her mother, the last Countess of Phantomhive, had died when she had been very young, and instead of letting his daughter live with him at the family’s London townhouse, Cloudia’s father had decided that she was to continue living at Phantomhive Manor with only a few servants to look after her. It wasn’t because her father didn’t love her – it was because he had wanted to keep her away as much as possible from the world he frequented. He had wanted to protect her even if it meant that they could only see each other a couple of times a year. This had been the sacrifice he had made; this had been the sacrifice he had accepted.

And now, he was dead.

When Cloudia arrived, she took off the earphones, threw them into her bag, and counted from ten downwards before she unlocked the restaurant’s door.

The Phantomhives were a special family.

Cloudia didn’t know when it had started but for what seemed like forever, the Phantomhives served the British Crown as Watchdogs. They governed the Underworld – and just like everything neither the Underworld nor the methods to oversee stayed the same.

Cloudia still wondered why the old methods had evolved into this: A sushi restaurant frequented by criminals and run by the very person who would bring them down. A sushi restaurant whose basement was a technological Eldorado.

The restaurant was located in a place known for its criminal activity, and the whole reasoning behind this façade was that nobody ever suspected the quiet cook or the waiter wandering around like a ghost as long as nobody was poisoned. But even then, suspicion didn’t often fall on the waiter or the cook but on the person facing you. After all, it was easier albeit riskier to put the poison into the tea yourself instead of bribing the waiter or exchanging the cook, especially if it was a place whose employees were well-known to the Underworld and the Underworld was well-known to the employees too. And the “Funtom Tetra” was such a place. The criminals frequenting London, or even Great Britain as a whole, knew that the Phantomhives were running this place, knew who was working here. They also knew that the Phantomhives would never do anything to lose their clientele by doing something as foolish as taking a side and engaging in any underground wars or selling information. And they were right, but only partially – the Phantomhives didn’t take the side of a criminal but of the Crown; they didn’t engage in underground wars, they brought them to an end; they didn’t sell information, they only used it to cleverly take them down before presenting the truth to the Queen.

But why, of all things, a sushi restaurant? Cloudia had once asked her father that question, and the only answer he had been able to give had been a shrug.

With a sigh, Cloudia turned on the lights and locked the door behind her, leaning against it and letting her gaze wander through the restaurant. She had loved her father – she still did. She understood why he had let her grow up safe and sound at the manor. But now, he was dead, and the family duty was left to her.

And she had no idea how to run a sushi restaurant.

Ah, isn’t that every girl’s dream?

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Monsters of London

Another book series I like is Monsters of Verity. There are monsters in that book called Sunai that "collect" (or, rather, consume) souls after playing a melody, so I decided to replace the Grim Reapers' gardening tools with musical instruments too. I also thought of more monsters and decided to make Cloudia unable to walk, based on the meaning of her name: "lame, crippled." I actually still like this idea and think the prologue isn't that awfully written as the things above, but the fic is binned because I simply have no time. From 2018.

Prologue: Elegy

Countryside, England, United Kingdom – June 1838

Even after all those years, he was amazed how naturally the melody came to him when he hoisted the violin to his shoulder and touched the strings with the bow. He closed his eyes and let himself be fully absorbed by the song, swiftly moving the bow and adjusting his fingers on the strings. When he played, he felt completely calm and at ease. When he played, he felt complete. And every time, the song came to its end, he had to force himself not to start again, but to take down the bow, withdraw the violin from his shoulder, and open his eyes again to see what he had done.

Cedric Rosene had never been a man, had only ever been a monster wearing the face of one. When he played his melody, he could pretend to be what he only seemed to be, but when he opened his eyes, he was always confronted with what he was: A monster which lured souls out of bodies to collect them, to safely store them away before they were ready to go on.

His kind was called Sunai, but over the centuries, they had become better known as Grim Reapers in tales and legends.

Cedric knelt down next to the corpse whose soul had surfaced while he had played his song. Gently, he tapped his bow to the shining soul to collect it and start the Cinematic Record – a voiced-over record of the corpse’s life. When Cedric had collected a soul for the first time, his hands had shaken when he had taken up his violin and started his song. Of course, the melody had taken away his tension and the feeling of nausea, but they had returned the instance he had moved to hold the bow against the dead body. And afterwards, he had been plagued by what he did and what he saw of the person’s record. Back then, Cedric had been haunted at day and at night. Now, his bad thoughts were only woven into his dreams.

After he had finished, Cedric left the room and searched for more corpses to find, for more souls to claim. In the distance, he could hear the melodies of his fellow Reapers who had come with him to this place; even though they were far away, Cedric could still make out every note.

From what he had found out of the Cinematic Records, the lady of the household had fallen ill in the middle of April and had only managed to fight herself back to healthiness a few weeks ago. The sudden and drastic decrease in the mistress’ health had caused great panic and worry for her family and the other household members. Everyone had focused to nurse her out of this horrible state; nobody had even wasted a single thought on the Season which had begun shortly before she had become sick. However, after she had triumphed over the disease and returned to her former self, preparations had been started to move to London for the Season.

The preparations had included to send some servants ahead to their townhouse so that they could ready it for their master’s family. And then, someone had taken the current state of the manor – understaffed, hectic – to their advantage to sneak into it and silently murder everyone inside.

How sad, Cedric had thought after the first Cinematic Record had finished before his eyes. Such tragedy after such happiness.

He found his path through the manor, following the faint hum of souls resting beneath not-beating hearts and collecting each of them. Eventually, Cedric arrived in what seemed to be a salon. It must have been a stunning room, once upon a time, but now, part of the carpet and walls were stained with blood; now, part of the furniture laid knocked-over, sometimes even partially broken, on the ground. Glancing down at the maid’s and butler’s unmoving bodies, Cedric hoisted his violin back to his shoulders and began to play. He took the servants’ souls, but right before he left, he blinked at the wheelchair, sitting lonely but upright in the middle of the room. From what he had found out of the records, the daughter had been born with legs which would never carry her. The wheelchair was hers. When the first had noticed what was going on in the mansion, the butler and the maid had hurried to the salon to find the young lady, but they had only found the wheelchair. They hadn’t been able to search further for her.

Cedric tore his gaze away from the chair and scanned the room. A Sunai’s song made a person’s soul surface and glow, and this effect wasn’t limited to those dead or dying. He stilled when he saw a silver glow shining through the thin gap between the cupboard’s doors. The soul of a dying or dead person was always black, but the souls of the living could have every possible colour.

For a moment, Cedric played with the thought to open the cupboard and lift the girl out and back into the wheelchair. And, perhaps, he would have even done it – helping the girl, revealing himself to her against the rules – if one of his companions hadn’t called for him.

With one last glance at the cupboard, Cedric turned around and left the salon – following the notes hanging in the air to the others.

[mesquitecandle]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot I made sure to screenshot the anniversary room backgrounds:

And to not forget my favorite one:

[thesilliestofgals]

Happy 8th anniversary to the game that changed the trajectory of my life!!

[sambuckylibrary]

In honor of the 2023 TFATWS Anniversary Event, below is a list of AU SamBucky fic recs for your enjoyment!

you're my river running high (run deep, run wild) by notcaycepollard

M | 9.9k | nwa | shapeshifter AU

The third day after SHIELD falls, Sam finds a crow with a broken wing on his doorstep.

What My Hands And Body Done by Fool_for_love

NR | 10.3k | ccntw | soulmates AU

Bucky had resigned himself to a life without a soulmate. After Steve, he didn’t really want another one. Even though Steve had moved on with Peggy, Bucky didn’t see himself doing the same.

After all, if the damage done by Hydra had been enough to scare off Steve, make their soulmarks fade, how the hell was someone else supposed to accept him? Who would even want to?

The universe seemed to think Sam might want to. Bucky disagreed. He and Sam tolerated each other. Sam was funny, sure, loyal, definitely, attractive, no doubt. But none of that screamed soulmate... right?

Ye Cannae Change The Laws Of Attraction by velvetjinx

E | 3.9k | nwa | star trek AU

There's a lot of friction--in more ways than one--between First Officer Bucky Barnes and Chief Science Officer Sam Wilson of the USS Avenger. But in space, things can change in a heartbeat.

we're awesome, totally genius by napricot

T | 3.9k | nwa | meet-cute, no powers AU

At this point, Sam’s scanning the coffeeshop for an exit strategy from this terrible date; maybe he can trip a customer into spilling coffee on one of them, or pretend like he’s seen a friend, something, anything. His eye lands on the white guy sitting at the table behind Mike, directly in Sam’s line of sight, but not visible to Mike himself. And okay, hello, stranger. He’s gorgeous, and he’s looking up from the stack of papers on his table, right at Sam. Hot Stranger’s thick-lashed blue eyes are wide, and a pen is dangling from his fingers as if the nonsense happening at Sam’s table has shocked him into interrupting his work.

What the fuck, mouths Hot Stranger.

Sam's on a first date that starts weird and only gets weirder. Thankfully, there's a hot bystander who's ready to be a hero and save Sam from the horrors of app-based dating.

A Chance by Siancore

E | 20.8k | ccntw | social media AU

Bucky Barnes is a Fuckboy. He exhibits Fuckboy Behavior. Everyone knows it. Especially his best friend, Steve Rogers. Then, one day, he sees one of Steve's social media post with a gorgeous guy named Sam Wilson. Steve's friend is hot and Bucky's interested, but the dude is still Steve's friend. Can Bucky quit his Fuckboy ways to have chance with Sam? Dad Friend Steve doesn’t think it’s such a good idea that they hook up because he doesn’t think Bucky can or wants to change, and more importantly, Steve doesn’t want to see Sam get hurt. Can Bucky change his ways and prove Steve wrong or is the whole thing a disaster waiting to happen?

Not Like I'm Counting the Days by yammz

E | 13.9k | nwa | civilian!bucky/cap!sam AU

Sam takes a deep breath, then nods, and Bucky feels like he just stumbled upon the combination for a lock that he hadn’t known was there. Sam nods as though he’s making the decision right then and there that this is happening, that they’re actually going to hook up instead of just talking about it. Maybe he is actually making that decision right then. He looks Bucky in the eyes. “Tomorrow, I’m being named Captain America.”

(The one where Bucky starts casually dating Captain America)

Sports AU by funsized-loser

M | 1.1k | baseball AU

Bottom of the 8th inning, runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs; the Avengers have a 1-0 lead over the Hydras

The Valk’bhòid by eden22

E | 20.2k | nwa | medieval AU

Uneasy is the head that wears a crown.

The First Gentleman by glittercake

M | 55.7k | gdv | first gentleman!sam/bodyguard!bucky AU

Sam knew what he was signing up for when he married a senator running for Office. He knew what Riley’s job demanded. He knew the hours, the stress, the milling, and the perpetual buzz. Living his life constantly surrounded by everything, by an entire nation.

But he had always dreamed of a quiet life. A place in the country with the man he loves, acres of greenery and trees, and flowers around them. A long winding road they could drive down on a warm Sunday afternoon. A big old farmhouse with a wraparound porch and a French kitchen. Some horses and a stable, and a little creek covered with a blanket of mist in the mornings.

He gets what he wants in the most horrible of ways.

Any Port in a Storm by swiftrax (wildtrak) for GodsDoggy

E | 9.4k | nwa | abo AU

Sam is the first to admit that he and Bucky have got issues. It would be fine if they could just ignore each others' existence and didn't keep getting paired up on missions... but the universe (and Steve Rogers) isn't going to let them off the hook that easy. Being an Avenger means sucking it up and pretending they can both be professionals to get the job done.

When a mission goes awry in the middle of the ocean, Bucky and Sam are forced to take shelter in a remote lighthouse as a storm rolls in.

Can they survive each other long enough to be rescued, or will their interpersonal friction come to a head...

there's a war inside of me by CapnWinghead

T | 5.5k | nwa | multiverse AU

When a portal drops another version of Bucky Barnes into their universe, Sam's adamant about helping her. Bucky's a lot less welcoming.

The Way Out Is Through by samwontshare (Attaining)

E | 12k | gdv | zombie apocalypse AU

Sam and Bucky's love story in Wakanda is interrupted when Sam contracts a virus that makes him crave human flesh. Bucky will do anything to keep him safe. And fed.

Instead of The Blip, Thanos' minions brought the zombie apocalypse.

more TFATWS anniversary themed fic rec lists to come!

[spade-riddles]

I just realized something very interesting about the surprise songs last night. Everyone was expecting her to sing a folklore song in honor of folklore’s 3rd anniversary and at first it seemed like she completely ignored it but upon further inspection I think she actually did acknowledge it by repurposing old songs. To be more exact, I think message in a bottle and tied together with a smile allude to 🎃 anon’s 8th and 9th messages which have a lot of allusions to folklore. Here are some parallels I found:

Message 8:

•Hold on, baby, you're losing it, The water's high, you're jumping into it and letting go // Your ship is docked too far out to sea. You’d swim to it, but the waters are infested with sharks. Your life raft is long deflated…in one swift motion, you replace the solid boards beneath your feet with rushing deep blue water

•And no one knows, That you cry, but you don't tell anyone, That you might not be the golden one // You’re a selfish asshole. So much of your fear is your own. You wince at your cowardice like it is a gaping wound. You so often find yourself unable to meet your own eyes. You scramble into shadows like a black cat. Scared, even, of being scared

•I think her diving into the stage after the surprise songs could represent her jumping into the aforementioned shark infested waters and being tossed out on waves (evermore, cardigan mv). It makes sense why midnights would directly follow this if we look at messages 8-11 which describe how after being attacked by sharks she made it back home and reunited with her lover at 3am (i.e. after midnight). I think the setlist, cardigan mv, and 🎃 messages all tell the same story.

Message 9:

•You are sitting on a beach, cold and windswept. The sea is dark and angry before you. The sun sets in muted colors. You finish scrawling on the parchment. Your pen dries up as you reach the end of a story in 11 parts. None of it makes sense anyway. You're sick of having to dilute everything so far beyond recognition. But a story told through metaphor is still a story told. Even the great poet Sappho is survived by stilted fragments and mistranslated lyrics -> This message pretty clearly describes how she felt while writing folklore back in 2020: the parchment paper which she’s mentioned in her betty speeches, the sun setting in muted colors (august to illicit affairs transition representing gray folklore following the failed lover era coming out which would’ve been daylight), the part about metaphors diluting the truth and Sappho’s story surviving all these yrs later is literally the definition of folklore

•And you're tied together with a smile, But you're coming undone // The flawed, scarred, angry, grateful, nonsensical heart. The one that hides deep inside glittering ballgowns. The one that questions everything, but mostly it questions if the world it has grimaced through so many smiles for would love it for what it truly is

•A message in a bottle is all I can do, Standin' here, hopin' it gets to you // You roll the parchment, slipping it into an empty wine bottle. You may have told the story inside out and backwards, and it may well sink to the bottom of the sea or fall on deaf ears. It may wash up on a sunny beach in Florida, or a rocky shore in the northwest. Either way, someone somewhere will know about that recipe card. And the warm safety you cherish within your fence. And the heist that stole more from you than you ever planned on stealing from the museum. And most importantly, they will know about the human heart // Lost in your current like a priceless wine // Her clinging onto the “folklore” piano in the cardigan mv representing how writing folklore was a coping mechanism and lifeline for her

She said that she picks songs that are related in some way and this is the only connection that really makes sense imo

[hypegirl1]

Mind doing a Angst Rodrick x Reader?

I feel like hes a really angsty guy in the sense of he doesnt know how any relationship works. Child bsf troupe, growing up and getting a crush on him its constantly going on and off with how much of a douche he is. then at the end he starts realizing it and boom somehow together idk lol

Sour Texts(Rodrick Heflley X Fem! reader)

AN:I was so excited to write my first request stop,I LOVED writing this.Keep those requests going guys,I have nothing better to do😭 I loved the idea ty! I hope you enjoy it! ^^

Summary:Your 8th friendship anniversary with Rodrick arrives,you're both very happy about it,even though you always felt something else for him,or maybe not? Genre:Angs,fluff

Warnings:Language

Word count:935

"Y/N,hurry,I wanna go home!"

"Lily just wait a second!I have to choose a good gift for Rodrick"

"He´s not even like your boyfriend,why are you so worried about choosing a good gift?"

"That´s-"

Thta´s the last thing I wanted to hear today..."he´s not your boyfriend".No,Rodrick is not,but sometimes I wish he was,and sometimes I wish not to,he´s very cute,very funny and talented,but oh gosh,I don´t think he would be the ideal boyfriend,I mean...maybe yes,but he´s very lazy,kinda gross sometimes tho,and he´s not that smart,and that´s the problem. He has the perfect percentage of good and bad stuff about him,it´s a 50/50,since we were childhood friends,my feelings for him always came and then went away,because of all of this,and I can´t say if I hate it or love it.

"That´s nonsense Lily,we´ve been childhood friends since we were 9,I literally got us tickets for Olivia Rodrigo on your birthday,how come you say that I shouldn´t think that much about a good gift for him?"

"Well that´s different Y/N,I didn´t asked for those tickets"

"Oh,so you´re trying to say that I shouldn´t have bought them? Fine,I´ll cancel our tickets for her next concert"

"That´s not what I´m trying to say!"

"Haha,come on,don´t be stupid and try to help me find something for him"

"Fineee"

After hours of wandering around,Lily found the perfect gift.

"Y/N look,isn´t this the last album from Artic Monkeys?"

"What?It is!Rodrick has been talking about it nonstop!I should buy it"

And I did,I spent 35$ on it,damn,he better like it...After all the shopping we did,we both went home and I waited til next day to give Rodrick his gift,I wrapped it very delicately,sent him a text before going to his house saying "be there in 15!".I walked to their house and knocked on their door,waited a few seconds til Susan opened the door.

"Y/N sweetie,it´s nice to see you,what are you doing here?"

"Uhm well,it´s me and Rodrick´s 8th friendship anniversary,I came to give him his gift"

"Oh,well he´s at the garage with his band,come in"

"Thanks..."

Why was he having a rehearsal with the band?It was our anniversay,we usually reservate this day to spend it together...I could hear the music from the other side of the door,knocked and entered,omg,this was going to be embarrasing...

"Rodrick?"

"Y/N! Well hey there,what are you doing here?What´s that you got there?"

"Rodrick,can you come outside,I need to talk to you in private please..."

"Uhh,sure"

I closed the door,and that´s when I lost myself

"What the fuck is wrong with you Rodrick?!"

"What?What are you talking about Y/N?!"

"What I´m talking about?!Today is our 8th friendship anniversary Rodrick!I literally texted you 15 minutes ago telling you I´ll be here!"

"You did?I-didn´t heard my phone,sorry..."

"No,it´s not just sorry,I´m tired of you and this shit,you never remember anything!You forgot my birthday,twice!You never give me back the favors I give you,I´m always saving you at school for getting grounded for not doing your homework,I´m sick of it,I´m sick of loving you!"

"You-what?..."

"I like you Rodrick!Alright?Or I don´t know,the whole time I´ve known you my feelings always leave and the come back because of this kind of stuff!And I hate it!"

"Well I´m sorry for not being the best friend you can ever ask for!Sorry for not knowing how relationships or friendshis work! how was I even supposed to know if you liked me?! If I knew it I could have changed!"

"How-how were you supposed to know?!Are you really asking me that?! What about ALL those fucking texts I send you telling you how much I love you and appreciate you,how much I never want us to fall appart,I literally asked you to be my valentine,to spend christmas and halloween and the 4th of july with me,I bought us matching t-shirts,the other day I sent you a text telling you that I liked you!But not just once,I sent you those texts more than 100 times!"

"I thought you meant all those stuff as friends!"

"No! I didn´t! Do I have to be more obvious?! I hate that I love you because-"

"Because I´m not perfect?!"

"What?No Rodrick,I- I´m not asking you to be perfect,that´s stupid,no one is perfect"

"Well it looks like that´s what you want"

"No Rodrick,I- I just want someone to spend time with,that remembers important dates and stuff,that knows how to show love..."

"I´m sorry Y/N,I´ve been acting stupid this whole time,I just- don´t know how this stuff works"

"Well,we can work on that by now on,what do you think?"

"I´d love that"

I was blushing so hard,I admit that even though we argued we fixed it,and that´s a start,fixing things.

"What is that you have?"

"Oh...this was my gift for you for our 8th friendship anniversary,It´s the last album from Artic Monkeys..."

"Really?!"

"Yeah,here,open it"

"Y/N I-thank you,how about we start again and I compensate you all of the stuff I didn´t do?"

"As friends?"

"As more than friends"

"Yes,I´d love that..."

[your-thorn]

I remember when we showed each other our delulu sides... [part of celebrating our one month anniversary]

On Oct 8th he thought I was cheating on him. Of course not true, but the mind makes a habit of such things and the issue was swiftly resolved.

In the very near future I showed mine...

Oct 10th I shared my delusional thoughts and it made him slightly panic. Of course this was also resolved. Mine were about some misconceptions and miscommunications we've had and how he may not be prepared to take care of me...

Of course all of this was nonsense played by our minds...

But I still hold these moments sacred, it shows us at our extremes and shouldn't be shunned.

[x-i-l-verify]

The Current State of Starlight Twitter: A Compilation

[mcx7demonbros]

OBEY ME! MASTERLIST

Created: 18.04.22

UPDATED: 30.04.23 (dd/mm/yy)

NO explicit NSFW STUFF HERE!

MY OCs

Klein

Angelo

Helios, the Traitorous Brother

Elias

1/ FANFICTION

Catholic MC

Prologue PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5

First Friday in Devildom

Response to Levi’s “I’m just a yucky otaku.”

Summoned to the Vatican: pt. 1 pt. 2

Le Traître Le Massacre

After Midnight Mass

Papa mortuus est (M!MC as Pope)

Mole MC 

Prologue CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2

Treacherous Brother

PART 1

Teen!MC calls Lucifer “Big Brother”

8th Brother Series

PART 1

Teen!MC Masterlist

One-shots

The brothers met the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles

MC is caught cheating in the exam

Something Is Wrong

Meal Time (minific)

Does anyone know the recipes?

Voting (Dialogue Nonsense)

Adoration for The Human

2/ Obey Me react to... / Head-canons

Pact headcanons

Their demon forms on you

Demon bros react to MC watching Super Sentai

The Demons as villains in Super Sentai/Power Rangers

The Brothers as Power Rangers

Demon bros react to Chibi Devi!

Power Rangers Villain! MC

MC’s Grandma Part 2

MC is a greedy capitalist

OM! Boys as Chinese Zodiacs

What language do the Brothers speak?

“You will fall in love with a human” prophecy

MC has the Omnitrix

Wheel-chaired MC after Lesson 20-14 😏

You call them “Seven Deadly Simps”

Top or Bottom (the Brothers)

Fortune-Teller!MC

How He Gives A Speech (the Brothers)

Smoking Headcanon (The Brothers)

I’m Running for President

The Devildom Public Holidays

3/ Hell Series

Headcanon

MC goes to Hell [Darker Version]

On Damnation…Again

Intro

The Gate (Limbo)

First Layer (Court of Sloth)

Second Layer (Court of Envy)

Third Layer (Court of Gluttony)

Fourth Layer (Court of Wrath)

Fifth Layer (Court of Lust)

Sixth Layer (Court of Greed)

Seventh Layer (Court of Pride)

Damnation Masterlist

4/ Links to other blogs for icons, wallpapers, etc.

Demon bros cat butler icons/avatars

Colored dividers

5/ A Catholic’s take on characters and other things in Obey Me

Lilith

Who is the serpent that tempted Eve?

On Lust

Is Obey Me a satanic app?

Raphael’s ability to eat Solomon’s cooking

Catholic!9 Choirs of Angels vs. OM!9 Choirs of Angels

6/ Others

Did Simeon write a BL?

Asmo’s dangerous Lust

I’m not giving butler Lucifer to you, Diavolo

Luke’s worried over us

Lucifer says sorry

View all your Devilgram cards

Lucifer’s down bad for MC

Weird theories / Imagines

MC isn’t real

Paranoid theory

Something is wrong

Anniversaries

Six-month anniversary (first event I played added to Lonely Devil)

1st Anniversary

Food Series

Each character

Brothers

Lucifer | Mammon | Leviathan | Satan | Asmodeus | Beelzebub | Belphegor

Side characters

Diavolo | Barbatos | Luke | Simeon | Solomon

[youneedsomeprompts]

Can you do some Halloween-y prompts?

Course! I decided to make a Halloween countdown post with prompts as diverse as possible for the days until Halloween. I hope you like it!

Halloween countdown prompts

A prompt for every day of October until Halloween

Feel free to use and reblog!

contains: AU prompts, situation/setting prompts, imagine your OTP..., dialogue prompts, encounter prompts

1th - werecreatures AU for your OTP

2nd - attending a Halloween party but not recognising each other because of their costumes

3rd - imagine your OTP meeting up for a horror movie night, and Person A has to take Person B into their arms because B is so easily scared

4th - getting into an accident on Halloween evening, and Person A has to save Person B's life

5th - "I bet you won't manage to scare me tonight!"

6th - on a graveyard during a stormy day

7th - Person A is hearing scary noises while being home alone and calls Person B to help them 'survive in this haunted house'

8th - ghost hunting AU

9th - imagine your OTP meeting while taking their children trick-or-treating

10th - "What was that? Did you hear this?"

11th - in a dark and deserted side hall of an infamous library

12th - trying to prepare different cocktails for a party but strangely every drink turns into Bloody Mary

13th - imagine your OTP calming a scared child that got frightened by the trick-or-treating children at their door

14th - coffee shop AU with Person A changing the menu for a Halloweeny menu, much to Person B's distaste

15th - at a very scarcely visited funeral

16th - "Does this blood belong there?"

17th - rivalling at a contest at the local fair about the biggest pumpkin

18th - imagine your OTP having their anniversary on Halloween

19th - costume shop AU with Person A finding the perfect costume for everyone while Person B is hating working there

20th - "Please stop talking about this supernatural nonsense!"

21st - at a masquerade ball where a murder happens

22nd - imagine your OTP confessing their biggest fears

23rd - Person A is trying to find a loved one that had gone missing and not daring to ask Person B for help

24th - vampire AU for your OTP

25th - "I didn't intend for this to happen. Really! You have to believe me! It was an accident!"

26th - imagine your OTP handing out candies in amusing couple costumes

27th - "Haha, look! This pumpkin looks just like you!"

28th - in a supermarket during a robbery from guys in Halloween costumes

29th - Bakery AU where Person A falls in love with Person B solely by the taste of B's pumpkin pie recipe

30th - carving pumpkins together and Person A has to doctor Person B who cut themselves

31st - imagine your OTP getting a baby/pet on Halloween during a thunderstorm

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

What’s going on with JK interjecting himself into everything v does? I hate the narrative of Jk being jealous. However you could see this coming to a head with JM. jm looked done during a recent clip of them in green. He kept looking at TK and V arm around Jk and tonight’s muster Vmin had a moment and jk grabbed v. Taejin moment and jk grabs v. Vmin moment jk pours water on JM. Then JM separates TK. I’m starting to feel bad for JM, cause Now he’s being branded jealous. Tae has to see JM hurt.

Usually we ignore asks like this because this constant need for drama and making yourself worry due to things that are not really there is just too much on every level and the only real answer that comes to my head is a single word: No.

But, you know what, here are some of our thoughts beyond that single word, even if it all still boils down to it anyway:

Bangtan are a seven member band and MUSTER is the celebration of them all, their 8th anniversary and a show to entertain us and to give them what they are so dearly missing even if only in an ontact version. They aren't paid actors playing a script, and concerts/MUSTER isn't an episode of some TV show with the question of will they or won't get get together or will the jealous secondary character get in the way of their love once more. JK isn’t jealous and he also doesn’t “ruin” moments, the way some claim (you know who I mean), nor does he try to pull Tae away from members or display some kind of possessiveness over any of them in any manner. 

Why do you insist on basically character-assassinating JK over and over again when we know he isn’t that kind of person based on everything we know about him and have seen of him and his interactions with the members and people around them?

In the past JK said he is basically like an amalgamation of all the members along with parts of himself, that he loves his members dearly and that they all take good care of him (BTSxGame Caterers). Just yesterday for FESTA did JK say that Tae is his friend and Jimin said JK is his younger brother/dongsaeng. Why, instead, can’t we be happy seeing JK and Tae interact again so freely and happily like they used to years ago before their awkwardness arose (according to them)? Why, instead, must you come into our asks and twist the situation into something it isn’t?

How many times do we have to turn around and around and around and think of this question and narrative just phrased differently until we finally stop? Until we can finally lay to rest the evil JK trying to destroy vmin narrative or the weird notion that somehow Tae, Jimin and JK have been living in the worlds most convoluted, unrealistic and dramatic love triangle for the last ten years? These things only happen in teen dramas but not in real life. This isn’t Vampire Diaries Bangtan Edition where at the end of season eight basically every character had a thing with every character or whatever.

Vmin are something special and their closeness and the love they have for each other has no relation to JK, or any of the other members, nor do their interactions with JK, or any other members, change that fact in any way. We’ve seen so many cute and fun interactions today, and just like all the other vminnies and OT7s, we are now going back to enjoying those instead. ByeBye.

From anon: I hope you saw how Jin directly told Joon to hop off the car and he called Taehyung instead. But I guess that goes against the Namjin agenda 🤣

Another Ta*j*nist, hello, only the second time we’ve had one of you come to us. Since I can’t add the video, here is a description of what it shows: Namjoon, Seokjin, Hobi and Tae walk toward two of the Chicken Noodle Soup cars for the next performance. Hobi gets into the first car, Namjoon in the one behind it, Tae without much thought gets into the first one while Seokjin approaches the second car, communicates something with Namjoon who gets out of the car and swaps places with Tae.

The ultimate proof of Ta*j*n being real, is that it, since that’s what the tweet claims? None of this goes against my/the “Namjin agenda”, since there is no agenda to begin with, and everything this moment tells me is that there was a plan for who was supposed to go with who but either Namjoon or Hobi made an error and Seokjin/Tae fixed it. Just like Jimin and JK automatically stayed behind and Yoongi walked toward the third car. Do you really believe that with an expensive and extensive production such as MUSTER something even as “trivial” as who will go into which car with who isn’t planned and discussed in advance? Can you imagine what chaos would take over the stage if everyone would do what they want? And no, this isn’t be “explaining away” “””evidence”””, it’s me being rational when faced with nonsense. Sorry. I usually try to be friendly, nice, but this is ridiculous. 

Also are you really naive enough to believe that moments such as this one, or what the first anon described, on stage can challenge these bonds built and nurtured for nearly a decade? That something as trivial as this (this being the moment anon talked about, not the bond Tae and Seokjin have) is somehow stronger “”proof”” than everything we have of the last eight years? Is this some kind of joke? Are we just being pranked?

EDIT: Since some people love twisting words in my mouth--the anon and the video/profile that the video for this moment came from was a shipper, so if I “trivialized” or downplayed something, then it wasn’t Tae and Seokjin as friends and how much they love each other in that way, there is no doubt about that in my mind even for a second, I merely wanted to show that such a small moment of them taking a car together isn’t “””proof””” enough to discredit both vmin (and everything we have about them that leads us to believe what we believe) and namjin (same case) and “crown” ta*j*n (in a romantic sense) as winners or whatever. Tae and Seokjin are wonderful together and one of my favorite duos (my bias wreckers even) so don’t even try to come for me for trivializing them or downplaying their bond, since I didn’t, just because I basically said I don’t ship them nor see any potential/”proof” for their supposed romance in that moment (or any other one).

What is it with people that instead of focusing on how fun the show was, how much the members enjoyed it, and how lucky we are to see them on stage again, people just focus on either negativity or trying to create ways to have their gotcha moments against other shippers? Aren’t you tired? Are you really ARMY at all?

Just like everyone else we want to enjoy MUSTER and celebrate how fun these two concerts were, so these asks? Any new ones coming in will simply be deleted if they are equally as nonsensical. If you want drama, find someone else who is as into it as you are because we are not.

[decimadragonoid]

This Dr. Noir piece is essentially an attempt to redraw my first conceptualization art piece from last year on January 8th, as well as a commemoration to Dr. Noir's birthday and first anniversary this past Saturday. This was during a point in Dr. Noir's past where he could still fit into rooms despite his continual overgrowth into a near-50-feet-tall Dusknoir. While the size comparisons and proportions are still unintentionally skewed, I'm really proud of the results!

I'd also like to take some time to reiterate what inspired me to create Dr. Noir, as well as some redactions I'm doing simply because some aspects in my story were either unnecessary, nonsensical, or a little overboard at times. Dr. Darius Noir is a Dusknoir OC I came up with as a result of browsing the web looking at fanart of Dusknoir in various places like Google, Deviantart, and Tumblr. Official reports about Dusknoir state that they often serve as a bridge between the spirit and living worlds. Dusknoir's antenna gifts it with the ability to receive transmissions from the spirit world to bring lost souls there. However, there were some occasions where a Dusknoir had a will of its own, trying to prevent trainers and Pokémon from meeting an untimely death. I based Dr. Noir's calm, kindhearted personality off of the latter and went from there. Normally you wouldn't think a Dusknoir would partake in medical duties or procedures, especially considering that their overall design is most likely inspired off of the Japanese yamawaro, a one-eyed demon that was often encountered by woodcutters in the mountains, nor would you think a Dusknoir doctor would be possible due to their original purpose of bringing lost souls to the afterlife being based off of the Grim Reaper. However, given that I've seen Dusknoir attempting to prevent Ash and several other characters from being taken to the spirit world during the episode 'Ghoul Daze!', I decided to make Dr. Noir a Dusknoir who also does his best to ensure no one has their lives cut short. And his role as a doctor was a great way to do it! Now, one year later, here he is! Dr. Noir is a gentle giant who's always willing to do the unthinkable and help nurse people and Pokémon back to health.

There's also something I wanted to bring up about his trainer and close family, Keshaun. When I first conceptualized Dr. Noir, Keshaun was simply a random human Pokémon Trainer I drew on the fly to accentuate a point. Originally, he was going to be a bedridden cancer patient whom Dr. Noir would heal during the late hours of the night without anyone knowing. This important factor of their meeting still stands, but since cancer doesn't exactly exist as one of many causes of death in the Pokémon world, I decided to tone down his diagnosis to an 'unknown illness.' It all happened over the course of this weekend. The reason why I toned Keshaun's illness down was because I looked back to the Pokémon web series Twilight Wings, particularly the first episode where the main character John was bedridden with an unknown illness, yet aspired to become a Pokémon Trainer despite all the odds against him. This is a simple redaction I'm doing out of personal choice and deliberation, nothing more. Therefore, my redaction from cancer to unknown illness won't drastically change anything about Keshaun and Dr. Noir's first meeting. Everything still falls into place.

Overall, I'm really proud of my OC creation(s), and I intend to keep this story going for as long as I can! I'd also like to point out that this art piece also serves as a placeholder for a new story arc I'm going to make for Dr. Noir and Friends called 'Otherworldly Goodwill Revisited!' I don't want to give away too much, but as I stated before, this story arc will further explain how Dr. Noir and Keshaun first met and became inseparable. Anyway, thanks for reading. I know I intend to babble on and on when typing something to get a point across, but I really felt I had to say something because I love this duo so much! This askbox series is a story about how it's important to take care of yourself, enjoy life, and turn disadvantages into opportunities and reasonable accommodations! I hope you look forward to more adventures with Dr. Noir in the near future! Thank you, and see you soon!

~ DecimaDragonoid, 2022 ========

Please do not hesitate to leave your thoughts, comments, or any critique, as it really helps me improve my overall work and style! ========

Dr. Noir is always ready to receive and answer your questions! Wanna interact with the friendly, helpful giant Ghost Pokémon himself? Feel free to leave a question or comment for him in my inbox!

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Fanart by DecimaDragonoid

Dr. Noir is an OC made by me!

Pokemon © Nintendo, Game Freak, Satoshi Tajiri, The Pokémon Company

[mysticsparklewings]

My Delectable Romance

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It’s National Donut Day! 🍩

And My Chemical Romance’s “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge” has a birthday coming up on June 8th! 💥

…Before you accuse me of having lost my mind and not worthy of the privilege to make art anymore, let me explain. 🤪 ⬇️

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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Today (June 3rd) is apparently National Donut Day here in the states, and June 8th is the release anniversary/birthday of My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. And if you have a look at what Revenge’s album artwork looks like, (g.co/kgs/utFXEh) now this nonsense I’ve produced probably seems a little less odd. 😆 I assume because I’ve just missed a few other “special” days this year, I really got it in my head I wanted to throw something together for today. Originally, I was going to do donuts in a more “normal” way, but as loyal Sparklers might guess, the idea to combine the sweet treats with something most people wouldn’t think of was a result of me trying to put my own spin on “regular donuts.” Still, even when I first had the half-joke idea to recreate Revenge’s cover with donuts, I was picturing and started working on something more inline with that super aesthetic art style you see all over Instagram. Or, at the very least, something with hard lines and cell shading as I’ve been known to do in the past. It wasn’t until I was maybe 1/5 of the way through and struggling to place the hard donut lines in a way I liked that I realized the rougher, “grunge” art style I used for I Got Tickets and One Birthday (plus a couple of pieces that haven’t gone public yet) would work pretty much perfectly for this. (To that end, I used primarily the exact same Valentine's brush set here that I did for I Got Tickets.) So I shifted gears and leaned all the way into that. Admittedly, I did take the roughness even further than I normally would have specifically because of what I was trying to replicate, and therefore the donuts probably look almost too vague for donuts, but I kinda don’t care. 🤷‍♀️ My story that I'm sticking to is the donuts are "normal," just with black food dye in the mix, and then they were half-dipped in powdered sugar and splattered with berry (rasp or straw, your choice 😉) jam. And while I initially intended to get sprinkles on the donuts themselves, in the end I thought they looked better mostly just around them instead. I must say though I'm maybe a little too proud of the "advisory" warning in the corner. 😆 The original album has a Parental Advisory there, and the corner felt particularly naked without something in that spot.

I'd already thought of the wordplay of simply calling it "Sweet Revenge," and I thought of changing the "explicit content" part to "sugary content" pretty easily. It did, however, take me a few more minutes to decide what would best replace "parental." I considered "diabetic," but I decided against it because A. that felt kind of insensitive to actual diabetics (in general and because there is research to support that the common conception that diabetes is purely a problem with sugary food/sweets is misleading at best and outright wrong at worst), and B. I get irritated very easily by how often "wellness culture" online likes to push the idea that IF YOUR EVER EAT EVEN ONE TEASPOON OF SUGAR YOU WILL DIE IN 3 DAYS! I imagine my irritation at that isn't too far off from the eyeroll-level irritation a lot of people feel for "explicit content" warnings and other similar censor-related things. To be clear, here is your permission from me personally, as long as you don't have existing proper medical advice/reasons to stay away from it: Eating sugar in moderation won't hurt you. Just don't over do it and you'll be fine. Anyway, so I landed on "health advisory" as the solution for the reasons listed above. I think it works quite well. 😁 Oh, and one last thing: I could have used the proper "Mom's Typewriter" font for "Sweet Revenge" as it's used on the album for the MCR logo, but I opted not too mostly because I was just too lazy to go to the trouble to download and install the font on my iPad. And to a much less extent, I thought doing the rough-edge cursive kinda works since a lot of sweet shops or bakeries will use a cutesy cursive or similar font for their logos. Plus this way I could manipulate the shape and proportion of the letters a little more freely. 🙂 Aaaaannnnnd...I think that's everything. It's very silly, but I like it. And hey, I managed to get it done it time! I should now probably get back to other "more serious" art...and the real donuts that entered my house specifically because of what day it is. 🙂 Hope you guys enjoy! ✨

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Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and associated concepts © My Chemical Romance 

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[deadstrangeblog]

On the evening of February 9th, 2004, a resident of Woodsville, New Hampsire, witnessed a car crash on the route 112 highway. The driver was 21-year-old Maura Murray, a nursing student at the university of Massachusets Amherst. When the witness approached Maura’s car to help her, she was quickly dismissed by Maura, who stated that she had already called for roadside assistance. An empty wine box lay on the passenger seat, and red wine stained the car’s upholstery. Now concerned, the witness contacted emergency services and headed home. When police officers arrived at the scene less than 20 minutes later, Maura Murray had vanished.

This is where the case begins to get weird; The events leading up to Maura’s dissapaeance are as nonsensical as they are sad. For a start, Maura had emailed her university professors and boss on the day of her disappearance, explaining that she needed a week off due to a sudden death in the family. However, this was not the case. According to her family, nobody had died. On Thursday, February 5th, just four days before she went missing, Maura broke down crying at her campus security job and reportedly “zoned out” for hours. The final straw was when she crashed her dad’s Toyota Corolla into a guard rail, causing around $10,000 dollars worth of damage. It is unknown whether or not she was driving under the influence. The last conversation that Maura had with her family, was in the form of a phonecall with her father who reminded her to collect the accident forms for the collision. They agreed to talk again on Monday, neither of them knowing that Monday would be the last day Maura Murray was seen alive.

In the years since her disappearance, there has only been one alleged sighting of Maura. A contractor returning home from work described a young woman running along the highway about 3 miles away from where Maura was last seen. The supposed sighting aside, something creepier has happened, something that arguably adds a whole new level of mystery to the case. On February 8th, 2012, a youtube user by the name of 112DirtBag uploaded this video. It is simply titled “HAPPY ANIVERSARY”:

Although this may just be another case of callous internet trolling, there’s no denying that there are some eerie coincidences. For instance, the video was uploaded a day before the 8 year anniversary of Maura’s disappearance, and the user’s name also contains the name of the highway she crashed on. Despite the speculation, there is no way of knowing for sure if the strange video is connected to the case, although the man’s YouTube account mysteriously deactivated and he has never been formally identified.

[soniabigcheese]

Well ... had a couple of revelations this week and a realisation that once you reach your 50's time moves in mysterious ways and sometimes warps.

Firstly ... I've been saying that I've worked 20 years at my current workplace.

Nope. Its actually 19 ... 20 next March or April. I was working at a GP surgery when the twin towers fell in New York. I'd seen a couple of documentaries talking about the 20th anniversary of that tragic event.

And secondly.

I've also been going on about how it's been FIVE years since my brain surgery.

Nope again.

It's only just been FOUR, the 4th anniversary was 8th August.

How do I know this? I received a letter from the new neurosurgeon, a transcript of a phone call we had. Basically an introduction to him taking on my case. And filling in a few blanks as well as some straight up no nonsense information. Mainly the fact that the 'squatter' if not fully removed (which it hadn't and that bit of news had been brushed under the carpet/skipped lightly over) is very likely to return.

I did my research and factored in the then assumed length of time between surgery and now and thought ... that's okay. I have time I can deal with this.

However, after realising that I'd overestimated the time factor by a year ... it's now starting to feel a little scary.

I know he said over the phone ... growth rate is most likely a millimetre or so, but in the letter, he said a few millimetres. (Hubby said he was covering his bases basically)

Damn.

But yeah, I like this new consultant very much.

So there you have it. Apologies for going off piste a little but I did finally get to the point (as I usually do after waffling on a bit)

In the letter, it did state that there has been some little bits found elsewhere that they are monitoring closely. Assurances that when I finally do go in for more surgery, technology will be even more advance and the risk lowered considerably.

[wingsonghalo]

Distraction: an IzuOcha Fanfic

I THREW THIS TOGETHER IN 2 DAYS BECAUSE I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS IZUOCHA WEEK UNTIL SATURDAY; PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF IT’S NOT UP TO MY USUAL STANDARDS, BUT I HAD TO WRITE SOMETHING FOR MY BNHA OTP

Many thanks to @kittykatz009 for their help reading this over and convincing me not to axe the first few parts of the fic! This fic is here today because of you! Also, I hate the boring title, but I couldn’t think of anything else, so this is what you’re getting.

Unrelatedly (or is it?), it’s my boyfriend’s and my 8th anniversary today! Here’s to true love!!

Title: Distraction Rating: T for vague suggestive dialogue from dumb classmates Summary: Ochaco and Izuku have been going out for months now, and even though everyone seems to think they're a distraction to each other, that's far from the case. Isn't it?... Wordcount: 8,241 Also available on: Ao3

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Distraction

Ochaco was really glad to have friends that cared so much. Really, she was. She wouldn’t trade any of them for the world.

But at the same time, sometimes she really wished they would mind their own business.

She liked to think of herself as a smart girl who could make solid decisions for herself. It wasn’t always true, but she liked to think it anyway. She wasn’t an ignorant child anymore, at the very least.

Ochaco wasn’t sure how it had happened that Iida was blocking their way to the exit of Heights Alliance, but here he was, a towering figure of parental scrutiny. “Listen here, Midoriya-kun, we have an important test tomorrow, so I want you to have her back here by 11, understood?” Iida’s voice was firm and no-nonsense, but then, it was seldom anything else.

Ochaco’s boyfriend looked flustered, which was also pretty much his default. He was holding his hands up as if to placate their rigid class rep (although he was acting more like Ochaco’s father right now). “Iida, i-it’s really all right, we’re just—”

“Don’t go anywhere dangerous!” Iida cut him off, eyebrows set in a severe angle. “Just because we have our provisional licenses doesn’t mean we’re invulnerable!”

“Ohmigosh, Iida, we know!” Ochaco finally interjected, rolling her eyes with an impressive amount of melodrama. “Stop being so serious!” Couldn’t she even go out for dinner with her boyfriend without people lecturing her? It was hard enough to find a time that wasn’t taken up by homework and hero studies!

Their taller friend squared his shoulders, which did not indicate that he intended to stop being serious. “I am merely trying to look out for you. I implore you to exercise caution. And… ahem...” He cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up his nose, even though they hadn’t looked like they needed adjusting. “I know this isn’t something you want to hear from me, and I cannot in good conscience condone it at all, but… if you should require protection—”

“WE’RE LEAVING NOW, IIDA,” Ochaco practically shouted, grabbing Deku’s hand and starting to drag him off before any more could be said. Her cheeks burned. She hoped Deku hadn’t caught on.

“W-Wait, protection from what?” he said, baffled. Ah, yes, that was her clueless Deku. His eyebrows were knit in an adorable frown. “Uraraka, what’s he—” But then his eyes popped open wide and his face turned tomato-red. “Oh—I—no, that’s—we—does he really think—uh, oh gosh—” Well, now his brain would be broken for another fifteen minutes. Ochaco wasn’t sure whether to be exasperated or amused, so she settled for a mixture of both.

“Just ignore him, Deku,” she sighed, not releasing her hold on his scarred right hand. “Let’s just have a nice time tonight.”

“Right,” her boyfriend squeaked, his eyes roving around to look at everything except the girl holding his hand.

Ochaco tried not to let it get to her. She was glad her friends cared about them. But honestly, these kinds of insinuations were starting to offend her. Everyone acted as though just because Deku and she were a couple now, they would act dramatically differently from the way they always had. Like they’d be inseparable, totally incapable of thinking of anything but each other.

Well, the joke was on them, Ochaco thought. She’d had tons of practice forcing her thoughts away from Izuku Midoriya their first year at UA, during which she’d been painfully infatuated with him (he, on the other hand, had been painfully infatuated with becoming a Hero). As if her absurdly hardworking best friend could be distracted by something as frivolous as love. As if she would let herself be utterly consumed by needing to be with him every moment. Ridiculous.

But then his green eyes met hers, unsurely, hesitantly, and he smiled that little awkward smile, and her heart lurched.

Okay, so she was still painfully infatuated with this boy. And she wanted to be with him about 90% of moments. But at least (she was reasonably sure) the feelings were mutual, so they could put aside that yearning to be closer and just focus on their shared goal, right? Deku was no longer an ideal to aspire to. He was her best friend, her partner. She didn’t have to chase him anymore. They were on equal ground when it came to their feelings for one another.

Right?

She smiled back at him, her chest glowing with warmth even as uncertainty poked at the back of her mind.

***

They had been together for three months now. Sure, maybe it was longer than a lot of high school relationships lasted, but to Ochaco it felt like no time at all. After all, she’d been in love with him for far longer than three months. Not much had changed between them since their first year, except now she was actually allowed to touch him and maybe even kiss him once in a while (those were still somewhat rare, since Deku was still pretty easy to fluster). She still couldn’t believe sometimes that they were together, half because of a sense of giddy incredulity and half because most of their behavior was no different than from when they were just friends.

Which was fine. Mostly.

Sometimes she wished she knew what he really thought of her, though. He wasn’t exactly good at communicating how he felt in words. Blushing and stammering and occasionally blurting out very emotional things were more his tools of the trade.

When they’d first gotten together, no one had noticed. They hadn’t felt the need to tell anyone. Ochaco wasn’t big on the idea of PDA, and she was pretty sure Deku’s head would explode from the blood pressure if she made a spectacle of fawning over him in public.

For reasons Ochaco still couldn’t explain, Aoyama had been the first to catch on. “How long have you and she been dating now, Midoriya?” he’d asked casually one lunch period as he passed their table.

“Don’t be silly, they aren’t dating,” Iida had scoffed, at the same time Deku had blurted “Oh, about two weeks?”

A silence that seemed very loud descended upon the lunch table.

Deku slapped his hands over his mouth. “I mean—no, wait—”

It was far too late, though.

“Wait, you guys are dating?! Like, for real?!” Mina seemed to appear out of nowhere to slam her hand on the table dramatically. “This is huge!” She slapped the table a few more times, making the soup in Deku’s bowl ripple. “Details! Give me details!”

“Why did you not tell me?” Iida’s wide shoulders were slumped a little, and his expression could almost be mistaken for a pout. “Did you not deem me worthy of such vital information?”

“No, that’s not it,” Ochaco assured him, waving her hands around and trying not to look at her other classmates, who were steadily surrounding the table. Was it hot in the cafeteria or was she just starting to sweat from stress? “It’s just—it’s personal, you know?”

“Damn, Midoriya really is popular, huh?” said Kaminari, shaking his head.

“I knew you guys would end up together!” Tooru squealed from directly next to Ochaco, making her jump and practically fall off her seat. She hadn’t seen the invisible girl approach. Well, obviously.

“Makes sense,” said Jirou with a nod. Ochaco wasn’t sure what that meant.

“You lucky bastard...” Mineta whined. “I’ll bet you’ve seen all kinds of things, haven’t you, Midoriya?”

“What?” said Deku, blinking.

“Guys, please!” Ochaco interjected, rising to her feet. “We didn’t tell anybody because we thought you all would react like this.” Her eyes kept flitting over to her boyfriend, who looked like he would rather be drowning in his soup bowl than be in this situation. She hoped he didn’t decide this was more hassle than it was worth. “It’s really not a big deal, so please, don’t make it one!”

“It’s not a big deal?” Tsuyu-chan didn’t sound convinced as she brought her index finger to her chin. Ochaco grimaced. Tsuyu had been the only one she’d ever told about her feelings for Deku. After all the times Ochaco had poured her heart out to Tsuyu-chan, sometimes tearfully, her insistence that this wasn’t a big deal must have rang quite false.

“It’s not a big deal?” Izuku echoed their froglike friend, his brows lifting in a hurt expression.

“No—no, that’s not what I mean, Deku,” she stammered, patting his shoulder. “I just meant—”

“Enough!” Iida declared, getting to his feet as well. He placed a hand on both Ochaco’s and Deku’s shoulders. “Uraraka-kun simply means that she does not wish for you all to pay them any undue attention. These two wish for their relationship to be unobtrusive and private.” Ochaco wished he’d stop talking so loudly about it, then, if he understood that. “You will all disperse and leave them in peace.”

“Does that include you, too, Iida?” Sero asked with a chuckle.

Their class rep winced. “Nngh… I suppose it does...” He crossed his arms and nodded decisively. “After all, it would not do to intrude upon their time together as lovers.”

“I dunno if I’d call them lovers,” said Mina contemplatively, tapping her chin and squinting at them. “I mean, knowing these two, they probably haven’t even kissed for real.”

Ochaco was torn between the desire to tell them all to shut up and the one to defiantly say We have too! Like, three times!

“Well, Midoriya? Have you?” Kaminari pressed, elbowing Ochaco’s boyfriend, who was rapidly turning the color of an autumn apple.

He gave no answer, however. He merely slumped forward. There was a small thump as Izuku’s forehead met the table, evidently too embarrassed to contribute further to the conversation. Ochaco wished she had stayed seated so she could follow his example.

“You are all making them uncomfortable!” Iida roared. “Disperse! Now!”

They did, though there was a lot of discontented grumbling.

***

Though it never got quite as mortifying as that lunch period, her classmates didn’t let them forget that they knew their secret-that-wasn’t-a-secret-anymore.

Which was fine, really. Ochaco didn’t mind people knowing.

She was mostly afraid that Deku would mind people knowing, since their friends tended to get a little too pushy and involved when they picked up the scent of relationship drama. Izuku didn’t handle people asking him uncomfortable questions well. And the last thing Ochaco wanted was for Deku to be bombarded with curious inquiries when he was trying to do work (and he was trying to do work most of the time).

As strange as it would have been to contemplate a year ago, Ochaco really felt most comfortable when she was alone with Deku. Their relationship was simple, natural. Neither asked much of the other beyond their company. She could lean on his shoulder now and instead of him going red and dropping whatever he was holding, he would just rest his cheek on her head and ask her if she was getting tired in a voice soft with fondness. “No,” she would say, nuzzling into the space under his chin. “Just wanted to be close to you.”

Today, that was exactly what was happening: they were studying together in Ochaco’s room after their nice dinner together, and she was resting against him as they both read from their textbook and took notes. History was far from Ochaco’s favorite subject, but the steadiness of his breaths and the warmth of his proximity made her feel cozy and content.

Such moments rarely lasted.

“IS EVERYONE DECENT?” Iida’s voice came through the door after two sharp knocks that startled them both upright. “I’D LIKE TO REMIND YOU THAT CURFEW IS IN TEN MINUTES!”

Ochaco felt her face heating up. The paper she was holding crumpled in her hand. “Uraraka, wait, don’t—” Deku tried to placate her as she got to her feet, but his protest fell on deaf ears. She stomped over to the door and flung it open.

“You’re the one who’s indecent, always assuming the worst of us!” she declared, chucking the balled-up sheet of paper at Iida’s chest.

Her friend looked confused, but Ochaco had said her piece, so she closed the door again and plopped herself right back down on the bed next to Deku. “He means well,” said the boy next to her. His hand was hovering over hers like he still needed permission to touch her.

She leaned heavily against him, offering her silent confirmation that contact was all right. “Yeah, I know. They all do. Still makes me kinda mad.” Really, did they all think the two of them had no self-control?

He surprised her by taking her invitation for contact. His arm wrapped around her back and he pulled her gently against his side. “I have to go now, don’t I?”

Ochaco rested her chin on her arms, which she had crossed over her knees, sulkily. “I guess...” Her heart sank in her chest. She was well aware of the curfew, but Deku having to leave now after they’d been preemptively reprimanded felt like some sort of admission of wrongdoing. She wondered if their friend was just going to wait outside until Deku emerged. She wouldn’t put it past him. “You wouldn’t want to stick it to him by spending the night, would you?” she quipped.

“What?” he yelped, his shoulder jerking against her cheek.

She giggled. “I’m kidding, silly.” Her eyes drifted up to meet his, and she quirked an eyebrow. “Or am I…?”

“Please don’t tease me,” her boyfriend begged her.

“Sorry,” said Ochaco, stifling a giggle at his pained expression. “You have the best reactions. It’s hard not to.”

He frowned, looking at her intently for a moment before leaning in and planting a kiss on her cheek.

“D-Deku!” she squeaked, covering her cheek with her hand as if it had left a mark. Her eyes darted over to the door, halfway worried that someone would burst in. “You can’t just suddenly kiss me like that!” She kind of wished he would frequently, though.

“Sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry at all as he got to his feet. “You have the best reactions. It’s hard not to.” He had the audacity to look pleased with himself.

Well, she was going to have to get him back for that one at some point. But for now, she stuck her tongue out at him and delighted in the way he just laughed in response as he opened the door.

And, well, it had been a joke, but Ochaco wouldn’t have minded if he’d taken her seriously, either.

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Dating Uraraka was simultaneously the easiest and hardest thing Izuku had ever done.

On one hand, being together with her felt effortless. They fit together like two puzzle pieces and probably had since the day they first met and saved one another. They’d fumbled around a lot, both of them too timid and afraid to give voice to the feelings that had developed between them, but once those feelings had finally been spoken aloud, it was as if a giant weight had been lifted from their shoulders. Gone was the pressure to be perfect around one another. Gone was the incessant stream of questions that had used to plague Izuku’s mind: Am I hanging around her too much? Is she annoyed by me? Is feeling this way really okay? Is it okay for someone to feel this way about me?

The answers were yes, no, yes, and yes, he had discovered.

But for as easy as it was to be with his girlfriend (his girlfriend—he still couldn’t believe he was someone who had a girlfriend now. What kind of weirdo world was this?), it was much harder to carry on as usual as members of Class 2-A now that they were a couple.

For one thing, everyone seemed to consider them a package deal. If someone invited one of them to hang out, they always included the other as well. Izuku appreciated the consideration, but he could only turn down so many shopping trips with the girls before he started to feel like kind of a jerk.

Another drawback was that he and Uraraka could no longer hang out for extended periods of time without people talking. Which was silly, because they had used to hang out for entire days in first year without anyone batting an eye. They were friends; it was expected that they would spend time together. But now that they were boyfriend and girlfriend? Suddenly, if he spent more than 4 hours with her, it was suspicious. Never mind that usually when they spent that much time with one another, they were just sitting in the same room and doing their homework. Uraraka was never demanding of his attention when they were together. She just let him focus on whatever he needed to focus on. Really, sometimes her patience amazed him. He must have been the most boring boyfriend ever, but whenever he asked her “Do you need anything?” she would just smile and say “I’ve got what I need right here.” It turned out she hadn’t been talking about the glass of water he’d gotten her. She was talking about him. How had he gotten so lucky again?

It also hadn’t exactly been easy letting his mother know. He had considered just not telling her, but he’d already kept too many things from her, and this in particular was something that he knew she would care about, so he’d bitten the bullet and broken the news. She’d made a high-pitched squeaky noise of excitement that honestly sounded a bit painful. Now she was texting him nearly every day with messages like How is Uraraka-san? and Are you two getting along well? and Love is important, but don’t neglect your studies!

Neglect his studies? Him? When had he ever?

By far the worst thing about having a girlfriend was having his intentions constantly misunderstood. People cheekily reminding them of curfew was bad enough, but there had been the time when they were training together behind the dorm building, Izuku practicing his kicks and Uraraka practicing making herself float. They’d been at it for some time, so they were both quite tired, but it was still somewhat unexpected when his girlfriend abruptly fell out of the sky and toppled him over.

Sure, maybe a year ago, Izuku would have instantly flipped out because her chest was on his chest and her eyes were looking into his eyes and she was so close. But in this instance, after a few startled blinks, Uraraka snorted and just burst out laughing. Her cheeks were rosy, and her laugh was one of his favorite sounds in the world. He couldn’t help but join in, his head flopping back against the ground.

The laughter died away when her warm hand rested on his cheek, and when he opened his eyes, she was looking down at him with that particular expression that made something anxious and beautiful flutter in his stomach. Her face was soft, and gentle, and so affectionate that his heart ached. His mind reeled that he could be the target of such an expression, but he wasn’t going to question it anymore. He’d spent too long questioning it.

So when she closed her eyes and leaned down, his own eyes slid closed too, and he waited.

The touch never came, however, because at that moment there was a loud gasp from somewhere off to their right. “Oh my!” Izuku’s and Uraraka’s heads whipped over to see Yaoyorozu standing there, her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide. “My goodness! I never would have expected you two to engage in such fraternization here!”

“Wait, no, I—that’s not what—” Izuku’s throat felt like it was being closed off. His face was hot. It didn’t help that Uraraka was still pressed against him.

“Really!” said their class’s vice-president, putting her hands on her hips now. “And on school grounds! Couldn’t you at least go to one of your rooms?”

“Momo, hold on, I can explain—” Uraraka rolled off of him and got to her feet, and Izuku followed suit.

“Just a moment! I am not done!” She was really on a roll now, and there was no stopping her. “You two are very young, yet! Only 16! Frankly, I expected my classmates to have better sense than to—”

“MOMO!” Uraraka burst out, her cheeks looking like she had rested them on a hot stove. “I was just using my Quirk and I messed up and fell on him! Nothing happened!”

A long silence followed.

“Oh,” said Momo, her posture relaxing. She petted the ponytail spilling over one shoulder awkwardly. Her face went pink.  “W-Well, I must admit I was rather confused about why you both seemed to be fully clothed, but—”

“Is this what a waking nightmare feels like?” Izuku murmured to himself, wishing very much that he were elsewhere.

***

Another thing that was kind of a bummer about dating his best friend? No one would let them pair up for Heroics exercises anymore. People either thought they had an unfair advantage because they could communicate without words (which they’d been really good at even before becoming a couple, he might add), or they were dismissive of the two of them pairing up because they thought it was just an excuse to spend time together and they wouldn’t really pay attention to the exercise. Izuku couldn’t help but feel insulted by this insinuation. To suggest that he, of all people, wouldn’t take Heroics seriously? Did they know him at all? Uraraka, too, was a dedicated and talented Hero-in-the-making. Whenever he looked over at her, he saw only fiery determination burning in her brown eyes. There was not even a hint of hesitation in her every movement. He didn’t intend to insult her resolve by questioning how serious she was about this. Surely she would take it as personally as he would.

Indeed, she seemed quite irritated when the matter was brought up again in today’s class.

“I don’t know,” said Iida when Izuku and Uraraka came to him with their request to team up in the day’s rescue practice drills. “We’ll be in groups of two, so are you certain you won’t get distracted by each other and spend all the time, er, canoodling?”

Izuku couldn’t do anything but bury his face in his hands, too mortified to speak as some of his nearby classmates giggled.

His girlfriend was much better at sticking up for herself. “YOU KNOW WHAT?” she burst out. “I’ve had about enough of you all just making assumptions about him and me!” He lifted his head, amazed at her bravery. Uraraka’s cheeks were burning pink, but her expression was hardened and unbending. “If you spent any time at all around us you’d know that we are as serious as we’ve ever been about being Heroes! Also!” She thrust a finger out at Izuku. “He was distracting me way before we started going out, so there!”

Nobody said anything for a while then.

Izuku gaped at her incredulously. What did that mean? Distracting her? When?

Uraraka had evidently decided she had said something dreadfully embarrassing, because now her whole face was flushed. “On second thought I’ll pair with Tsuyu-chan today,” she suddenly said in a rush, grabbing the frog girl’s hand and scurrying off with her before anyone could ask her any questions.

“Who uses the word ‘canoodle’?” he heard Kirishima laugh quietly to Kacchan as everyone separated into their groups.

“Very well then, I guess you’re with me, Midoriya-kun,” Iida said briskly, pushing his glasses up his nose and apparently making the choice to ignore Uraraka’s odd behavior.

“What?” he said blankly. “Oh… right...” Izuku nodded and followed his friend as they took their positions.

He hadn’t been planning on letting Uraraka preoccupy his thoughts during this class, but now it seemed inevitable as he ran her words through his mind again and again.

Distracting? Me? What did I do? Did I make things hard for Uraraka? Oh god, am I still making them hard for her? If so, what should I do?

He had been certain they were on the same page with all of this. Izuku had never had a problem balancing his friendships with his ambitions, so he had assumed that a relationship would be much the same. He’d never once considered Uraraka a distraction. She was usually very good at staying on-task, and never complained if all they did together was study.

So then, what about him had been a distraction to her?

Was he expecting too much of her time after all? Did he ask for her help too often? She always seemed quite happy to spend time with him, but perhaps he was just not reading the signals correctly. He’d always been terrible at that kind of thing. It was better if people simply told him things like that outright. Maybe she didn’t feel comfortable telling him? Was she trying to spare his feelings? Had his occasional mutter storms become too much of an annoyance?

He’s been distracting me since way before we started going out! The words played on a loop in his head, even as muscle memory took over while he engaged in the exercises, leaping and running and rolling along the ground with more or less perfect efficiency.

A distraction. Izuku was a distraction. Well, of course he was, now that he thought about it. His insecurities probably meant that she was often forced to provide emotional support when she had better things to do. He tended to launch into impassioned tirades about Heroes whenever they came up, which was frequently.

Uraraka was so dedicated and smart and driven. He knew she was going to make an amazing pro Hero. She always seemed happy when they were together, but had he really just been taking attention away from her goal this whole time? He was suddenly reminded of the day of their entrance exam, when he had been about to approach her but had been stopped and informed that she was clearly concentrating and that he shouldn’t interrupt. Was their whole relationship just an extended version of that? Of Izuku butting in and interrupting her when she was trying to focus?

He was so lost in thought that he ended up getting hit in the face with some rocks stirred up by Iida’s Reciproburst, but even the smarting pain in his cheek couldn’t distract him from the uncertainty pulling at his heart.

***

He decided that he needed some advice.

Izuku had never and would never claim to be an expert on girls. But he was quite sure he could say the same for the vast majority of his male classmates. Plus, the idea of talking to them about relationship troubles made his insides shrivel up in humiliation. They would probably just stare at him. Or, worse, laugh. Ordinarily, he would be too embarrassed to ask about this sort of problem, but he was kind of desperate, and he hadn’t been able to find a moment alone with Uraraka after today’s classes.

“Hey, um,” he said awkwardly as he approached the group of sofas and armchairs most of the girls were spread around. Ashido and Yaoyorozu looked up at him when he spoke, but Jirou and Hagakure appeared to be absorbed in their phones. “I was wondering if I could get some outside input… Uh, s-sorry to bother you,” he said, a little belatedly.

“You’re not bothering us,” Ashido told him from her armchair. The other two girls present were paying attention now too, he noted. “What’s up?”

He ignored the sensation of his cheeks heating up. “Uh… I don’t know if you guys would know anything about this, but… have I ever been a distraction to Uraraka-san?”

Ashido and Hagakure looked at each other. Jirou and Yaoyorozu, too.

“Well, first off, it’s dumb that you still call your girlfriend by her last name and with -san,” Ashido piped up.

“Even the other guys in class dropped the -san with her,” Jirou commented.

Ashido pointed at Jirou as if to say bingo. Izuku frowned. He’d only been trying to be polite since he was among his classmates. He didn’t call her with the honorific when speaking directly to her anymore, at least. He’d work up to the first name thing. Eventually. “But anyway, to answer your question… of course you’ve been a distraction to her,” said Ashido.

“Wh… what?!” Izuku sputtered, taking a dismayed step back.  He wrung his hands. “Oh no… this is terrible! When? What did I do?”

The girls stared at him.

“You… existed,” Hagakure said. “You could have been doing anything. Eating noodles, training your Quirk, just standing there, it didn’t matter. She’d always be looking at you, even back in first year.”

Ashido nodded vigorously. “Oh yeah. She had it bad.”

“It was rather endearing,” Yaoyorozu added with a slight smile. “I’m surprised you never caught on.”

“Had… had what bad?” Izuku asked, uncomprehending.

“Oh my god.” Jirou sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face. “We’re saying she liked you, you dummy. She couldn’t take her eyes off you. We all saw it. Except you, apparently.”

Izuku just gaped some more.

“S-So I was being a distraction even when I was just standing around?!” he finally said, horrified. He held his hands to either side of his head as if to prevent his swirling thoughts from leaking out of his ears. “Oh no… then who knows how much of a distraction I’m being now? I’ve got to do something!”

“Hey, is he an idiot?” Jirou asked, jabbing a thumb in Izuku’s direction as she turned to face her best friend.

“No, I think he’s just got a very low opinion of himself,” Yaoyorozu surmised, smoothing her skirt in her lap. Well, she probably wasn’t wrong there.

“Look, Midori,” said Ashido, twisting in her chair to fling her legs over one arm of it and lean against the other. “You’re not doing anything wrong. In fact, Ochaco would probably say that you were only distracting because you did a lot right.”

“I don’t think he’s going to understand that,” Jirou pointed out. She was correct. Izuku had no idea what that meant.

“Ugh, fine then. I’ll be as clear as I can,” his pink friend said, rolling her bright gold eyes. “You being distracting wasn’t because of anything you did. It was because of who you are. All honest and friendly and kind and dorky.”

“Wow, you sounded really complimentary until that last one!” Hagakure put in.

“You know who else is honest and friendly and kind and dorky?” Ashido continued as if there had been no interruption. “Ochaco. You two are a perfect match. I’ve never seen two people get so excited about some mochi before.”

“It was special limited-edition mochi in the shape of All Might’s face,” he defended himself weakly, tapping his thumbs together in front of his chest.

Ashido gestured to him with both hands in a ta-da sort of manner. “My point.”

“So, what, you’re saying that no matter what I do, I’m going to be a distraction to her? Because of who I am?” His heart felt like a heavy stone in his chest. How had everyone but him realized that he was dragging her down?

“No, that’s…” Ashido sighed and looked around at the other girls for support. “Guys? Anyone else wanna take a crack at this?”

“Tsuyu-chan would know just what to say, but she’s swimming right now,” Hagakure noted with disappointment.

“Swimming?” Jirou repeated. “But it’s November.”

“I said what I said.”

“Anyway, before Midoriya spirals, I’ll try saying something.” Jirou raised her eyebrows at him. “Before you were going out, she was kind of distracting to you too, wasn’t she?”

“No,” he said immediately. “Never.”

“Really?” She didn’t look convinced, her mouth turning down in a frown. “You never found yourself thinking about her when you were supposed to be doing work?”

“She’s my classmate and friend who has most of the same work as I do,” Izuku answered, confused. “Why would I not already be thinking about her?”

The girls all groaned in exasperation, which was not an unfamiliar reaction but still hurt a bit nonetheless.

“We mean didn’t you ever get distracted with romantic thoughts about her, silly!” Hagakure clarified. From the positioning of her sleeve, Izuku guessed that she’d buried her forehead in her hand.

He paused and gave that some thought. Had he ever lost himself in daydreams like that? He didn’t think he’d ever really let himself have such thoughts. It had taken him ages to even admit to himself that his being so flustered around her was less just because she was a girl and more because she was Uraraka. And even after that, he had never presumed any interest from her. His thoughts had merely transitioned from she’s so cute and she’s so close to don’t look her in the eye and don’t get too close. Well, until she made it more than clear to him that being close was what she wanted.

But still, for thoughts of her to be distracting? Izuku wasn’t sure if he would call it that. “I mean, usually when I think of her, I think about how admirable it is that she’s working so hard here at UA and everything. Does that really count as being distracted?”

“You make it sound like you only like her as a friend,” Jirou told him.

“What?” he squeaked. “No, I—I don’t, I mean, I do, like her as a friend that is, but also, um...” He wasn’t sure if that sentence had an actual ending, so he just let it fade into oblivion. He cleared his throat, ducking his head a little to mask the blush that was probably rampant on his face. “I like her very much,” he finally got out.

“Aww,” Hagakure cooed.

“I think Uraraka-san thought of herself as a distraction to you for quite a while,” Yaoyorozu spoke up. “She felt that if she were to want a relationship with you, you might be forced to choose between her and your future as a pro Hero.”

“Well that doesn’t really make sense,” Izuku said before he could really think about it. “I mean, why would I have to choose, if she’s a part of my future anyway?”

They all stared at him.

“Ohmigod,” Hagakure breathed, “that was totally like a marriage proposal!”

Izuku’s cheeks were on fire. “Wh-What?!”

“Tooru, how can it be like a marriage proposal if Ocacho’s not even here?” Jirou pointed out, rolling her eyes.

“Still, that was hella romantic,” said Ashido, sounding impressed. “Didn’t expect that out of you, Midoriya.”

“I—I wasn’t trying to be—I just meant, because we’ll both be pros—” Was it too late to just pretend this conversation hadn’t happened? No, surely that would be akin to running away, wouldn’t it? Heroes didn’t run away from a battle. But this was an entirely different kind of battle, one that Izuku wasn’t sure he was equipped to handle.

“Don’t ruin it,” Ashido laughed. “Listen. It’s great that you don’t think of your relationship and your goals as being two opposing ideals. To me, that means you guys are pretty solid. But you’re so one-track-minded about all the Hero stuff that sometimes it seems like you don’t have any room in your head for anything else.”

“Wow, Mina, don’t pull any punches,” Jirou drawled.

“No, that’s fair,” said Izuku, hanging his head. “I get that a lot.”

“Can you really blame her if she feels like she’s not allowed to pursue her relationship because you’re always so busy?” Ashido went on.

He thought about that, too. “No,” he decided. It seemed this was far more complicated than he’d thought it was. “But… wait, I wanted to talk about me being a distraction to her,” he remembered suddenly. “What can I do to stop?”

“You can’t,” Hagakure said at once. “When you love someone, thinking about them a lot is a given. It can’t be helped.”

Just when he’d thought his face could stop overheating and he could return to a normal color, someone would say something like that and renewed heat would spread across his cheeks. How did his classmate throw around a powerful word like love so carelessly? “Um… so there’s nothing I can do,” he got out, trying to shove aside the tangle of giddiness and nausea that was currently rolling around in his belly.

“I think the best course of action would be to talk to her yourself.” Yaoyorozu’s authoritative voice lent credence to everything she said. It was reassuring. “She knows herself better than we do, after all.”

He nodded once, thoughtfully, and then again with more certainty as the idea took root in his brain. “Yeah. I… I guess you’re right.” Drawing in a deep breath, he gathered his courage. “All right. Anyone know where she is?”

“I think she’s under that one tree out back.” Ashido crossed one leg over the other as she contemplated it. “You know, the one you always used to train under while she secretly watched from up here in the dorm.”

There was the sound of an impact that meant that Hagakure had reached over from the couch and smacked Ashido on the arm. “Mina! Don’t tell him that! Ochaco would be so embarrassed!”

Izuku had no idea what they were talking about, but he at least had a location in mind now. “Got it.” He offered them all a shaky smile. “Thanks, guys. I know I’m kind of stupid about all this, but it means a lot that you were willing to talk to me about it anyway.”

“Aww, anytime, sunshine,” said Ashido, in the tone one might use when scratching a cat between the ears. “Now go get her!”

Izuku didn’t really have to go get her if he already had her, but if he said that aloud he had a feeling it would cause another upset. He settled for just nodding, and turning on his heel to go find his girlfriend.

***

Ochaco Uraraka was indeed beneath that very tree, a book open on her lap, her thermos by her side, and her chin tucked into the collar of her pink winter coat. She looked up when she heard his footsteps, and the smile she sent his way had the usual effect of making his heart stutter in his chest. “Hey,” she said as he sat down beside her. “What brings you out here?”

“You do,” he answered. He fidgeted with his hands in his lap. “I… wanted to talk.”

She tilted her head a little at him curiously. “That’s kind of a scary way to put it, but talk away.”

“Scary? Why would it… never mind,” he shook his head. “I wanted to ask you if… if everything’s okay. With… you and me.” His words had gotten quieter and quieter as he spoke until they were practically a whisper.

Her eyebrows drew together. “Of course everything’s okay,” she told him. “Why?”

“Well, with what happened in Heroics today…”

“Oh, that.” She snorted and shook her head, briefly bringing her hand to her forehead. “That was nothing, Deku, really. It just slipped out.” She held the thermos out to him, and the enticing scent of hot chocolate drifted into the air along with some steam.

“I mean, I didn’t think it was nothing,” he confessed as he accepted the thermos and took a brief sip before handing it back. “I thought about it a lot.” She just looked puzzled, so he guessed he had to explain a little better. “Listen… are you sure that I’m...” Tentatively, he reached over and covered her hand with his. “...That this isn’t just one big distraction for you?”

Her jaw dropped. “What?”

“I had no idea that you felt like that,” he continued. “That I was pulling your attention away from things.” He ducked his head. “I don’t want to be the reason you don’t become a Hero, Uraraka.”

When he hazarded a glance up at her, she was giving him that smile that was equal parts frustration and affection. She lifted his hand between the two of hers, running the soft pads of her fingers over his scars gently. “You’re the reason I have become a Hero, Deku. Whenever I felt myself losing faith, I only had to look at you, and I found it again.”

Was it possible for one’s heart to stop and race at the same time? It certainly felt that way. A rush of relief washed over him, from his head down to his toes. “So I wasn’t… distracting you?” His voice came out timid and quiet, like he was a naughty child awaiting reprimanding.

“No, you definitely were,” Uraraka giggled.

“Aww,” he groaned, hanging his head.

“But there wasn’t anything you could have done about it,” she went on, pausing to take another sip of cocoa. That sounded familiar. That was exactly what the girls had told him. “You were just being Deku. I was the one who kept thinking to myself how strong you were, how inspiring, how cute.”

“Cute?” he repeated, his eyes widening.

“Oh, come on,” she sighed, brown eyes rolling impatiently. “You have to know by now that you’re adorable. I bet I could ask anyone in class, ‘hey, is Deku cute?’ and they’d all say ‘yeah’. Well, except maybe Bakugou.”

Izuku buried his face in his hands and drew his knees up to his chest like he was a turtle trying to retreat into a shell, feeling a little flattered and a lot embarrassed. “I don’t know how I feel about that… a guy doesn’t necessarily want to be called ‘cute’...”

“Sorry,” she laughed. “Would you prefer ‘handsome’? That works too.”

“Please stop,” he begged, still hiding.

“Hey, look at me.” Her hands were gentle but firm as she pulled his own away from his face. “I know it makes you kind of uncomfortable when people praise you, and I like that you’re so humble, but please, you’ve got to trust me when I say nice things about you. Would I lie to you?”

“No,” he said right away. The idea was absurd.

Uraraka grinned, eyes sparkling. “Then there you go,” she said, sounding satisfied. “You are kind, and smart, and brave, and an inspiration to everyone in class. Lots of people outside class, too.”

Why had this conversation suddenly become a Let’s Praise Deku Until His Heart Gives Out thing? “Uh… o-okay,” he squeaked. “You are too, though...”

“Oh no, mister,” she told him with a stern frown. “This is not one of those ‘I know you are but what am I’ situations. Let me compliment you.”

“Sorry,” he said.

“Anyway, this is almost gone.” She offered the thermos to him again and wiggled it. “Want the last bit?”

“Um, if you want me to have it,” he agreed, taking it from her and tilting it back to drink.

“By the way,” said Uraraka, offhand, “you were always especially distracting whenever your shirt was off.”

He sprayed the hot chocolate everywhere and thumped his chest as he coughed, but Uraraka just laughed, bright and cheerful. “You had to wait until I was drinking to say that?” he wheezed, though he sounded more amused than accusatory.

His girlfriend giggled a little more before sighing and wiping her eyes. “I sure did,” she confirmed, and put her head on his shoulder. “Consider it payback for all the times I couldn’t take my eyes off you and ended up choking on whatever I was eating or spilling it on myself.”

“Did that actually happen?” he asked, incredulous.

“Often,” she said.

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“I had no idea.”

“Oh I know you didn’t.” She chuckled. “It’s pretty amazing that we’ve gotten this far. I mean, for the longest time, I was convinced that you either weren’t interested in relationships at all, or just didn’t see me as someone you could like.”

You’re so one-track-minded about all the Hero stuff that sometimes it seems like you don’t have any room in your head for anything else, Ashido’s words echoed in his mind. Izuku’s heart clenched. He had spent so long dwelling on his feelings of being unworthy of her that he never considered that she might have similar insecurities.  “I saved the first voicemail you ever left on my phone,” he blurted out. “It’s still on there. I’ve probably listened to it a hundred times.”

She lifted her head to look at him in amazement. “R… Really?” Her normally rosy cheeks looked especially rosy right now. Izuku wasn’t sure if it was because of the weather or because of what he’d said, but either way, the effect was beautiful.

He nodded. “It’s silly. It’s not like it was a particularly personal message. You were just asking me if I could share my English notes because you’d lost yours, and then you said ‘I hope you had a good weekend’ because, y’know, we didn’t all live in the same building back then.”

Widened brown eyes blinked at him several times. “How long ago was that?”

Izuku cringed, running a hand through his hair awkwardly. He’d been hoping she wouldn’t ask. “Probably about two or three weeks into first year?”

“Didn’t you change cell phones in first year because your old one got broken?”

“Ah...” He cleared his throat and looked very carefully in the opposite direction from her searching gaze. His phone had indeed been destroyed during the whole Training Camp debacle. “Yes. But I… had already backed up the file on my computer… so when I got a new phone...”

“Oh my god.” She gave a short, breathy laugh that rose into the air as a small cloud. “I… I can’t believe that.”

Resignedly, he dug in his pocket and extracted his phone, searching through his audio files before locating one simply entitled U1. It stood for “Uraraka, first message,” but he wasn’t going to tell her that. He was already embarrassed enough. “There it is,” he told her, balancing the phone on her knees.

“I didn’t mean I literally couldn’t believe it,” she clarified, sounding amused as she put the phone back into his hands, “but thanks for the evidence anyway.”

“I know I can get a bit, um, too focused on things when it comes to becoming a Hero...” He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and then drew his arms around himself, rubbing them a little. He really should have grabbed a coat. “But... that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you, too.”

Uraraka was leaning against him again, huddling closer. She’d probably noticed the goosebumps on his arms. “I wouldn’t want you to change, anyway,” she admitted. “Your sense of purpose was one of the things I first admired about you. You wouldn’t be Deku if you didn’t constantly have Heroes on the brain.”

“But that’s the thing,” he insisted. “You’re on my brain a lot too. You always have been since we met. You do know that, right? That you’ve always been special to me?” He wasn’t sure what was giving him the courage to say all this. Perhaps it was just that he’d never trusted anyone quite this much, or perhaps having bare arms made one more willing to bare their soul as well? No, that was ridiculous.

She was quiet for a minute, hiding the lower half of her face in her coat again. “I hoped I was special to you,” her voice finally emerged along with a cloud of condensation, shy and hushed. “But no, I didn’t know for sure.”

Finding her hand again, he wrapped his own around it. “Well, now you do. You totally changed my life when you stopped me from falling on my face back then.”

“Falling for me even back then, huh?” she quipped.

“Yes,” he replied without missing a beat.

Her hand twitched, and then her fingers squeezed his. “Deku,” was all she said to that, her voice soft.

“You’re the reason I have that name, too,” he pointed out. “It would have just been an insult I hated forever if you hadn’t said it was cute.”  He bit his lip. “So… every time someone calls me by my Hero name, I think about you too.”

She placed her free hand on his cheek to turn his face towards her. She had that particular expression again. The one that was overflowing with affection, the one that made him feel like time had stopped. “I really like you so much,” she told him before closing the distance between them. Her kiss was a reflection of herself: soft, gentle, warm, giving without expecting anything in return. But she deserved reciprocation, so that’s what he gave her.

“It seems hypocritical of me to ask this now, but am I distracting you from any important homework?” he murmured when they parted, gesturing to the book still balanced on Uraraka’s lap.

“Yes,” she said, “and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He couldn’t help but think, as she pulled him close again, that maybe it was okay to be distracted once in a while.

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(Also, sorry I use Ochaco’s VIZ manga spelling. I got used to it and now it’s hard to switch.)