#Camping at Night

[aheckinmess]

Beneath a Starlit Sky [Mirio] (Fluff)

(One Shot 16/? in a collection of My Hero Academia one-shots posted regularly on Saturdays - and sometimes Sundays.)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Mirio x OC, Lemillion x OC, Mirio Togata, Lemillion, Original Female Character(s), Ichijiku Aoki, Tigress, Mirio is a Ray of Sunshine, Would You Love Me if I Was a Worm?, Fluffy Antics, Fluff, Pool Day, OC is Mirio's Girlfriend, There's a Cat Sprinkled In, Overall a Lot of Horseplaying Around, Enjoying the Summer Heat, Camping at Night, Deep Conversations

Word Count: 1,437 words

Summary: After hanging out in Mirio's pool for the day when the summer heat gets brutal, Mirio and Ichijiku camp out later that night in his backyard tent and have a deep, late night conversation about being heroes, as well as what they'd like to do in their future.

Ichijiku (Tigress)

The gentle caress of water lapping at my skin never ceases to soak all of the anxious worries out of my body while I float about the surface tension of the pool. Even when Mirio jumps in and sends me swirling around, I only laugh and sweep my arm across the waves to soak him in retribution.

“Mirio!” I cackle, swimming over and wrapping my arms around his neck. “I was trying to enjoy the pool!”

“Well, I just helped you enjoy it a little quicker.” He winks, pecking my cheek.

“Is that what it was?” I shake my head and roll my eyes, earning me another kiss as he squeezes me close. “What am I gonna do with you?”

“Hm, I don’t know that I’d go for much on Amazon.”

“Are you kidding? You’d go for Lemillion yen!” I giggle, screeching when he blows a raspberry against my neck. “Ah, that sounds so gross!”

“We’re both covered in water! What did you expect?” Mirio laughs.

“A warning at the very least!”

I pull back so that we both go sprawling in the water. Of course, Mirio uses his quirk to get the upper hand, and the next thing I know he’s body slamming me and a torrential flood showers upon us. When I surface again, I throw my legs around the back of his shoulders and ruffle his hair on purpose.

“You will cower before meee!” I cackle.

“Never! I will not bow to your goddess-like charms!” He dives in and water shoots up my nose as I’m dragged under.

We both come back up sputtering and coughing and laughing.

“I didn’t think to plug my nose.” I gag, huffing all the excess water out of my nostrils. “You traitor!”

“Well I got my just desserts because I didn’t think to plug mine, either!” Mirio snorts, shaking his head and wiping his nose. 

“You were the one that dove!”

“I didn’t think that far ahead into my plan.”

Laughter echoes across the pool as we both cough out the remaining water in our lungs. Then I glide over to the edge and heave myself out, standing and finding my towel. I wrap it around my shoulders and sit at the edge as Mirio continues floating.

“Aww, are you done already?” He pouts.

“Already? Mirio, we’ve been swimming for two hours!” I roll my eyes, sticking my feet back in and dousing at him with a kick. “If I stay in there any longer you’ll be dating a raisin!” 

“I’d still love you if you were a raisin!” 

“Aww, would you love me if I was a worm?”

“I just told you I’d love you as an inanimate raisin! You think I wouldn’t love you as a worm?” Mirio swims over and settles between my calves as he rests his head on my thigh. “Of course I’d still love you if you were a worm. Though, admittedly, I would miss this version of you.”

My fingers comb through his hair as I look down at his cheeky grin. I scoot aside so he can climb out and sit with me, and then lay my head on his shoulder. Both of us watch the rays of light hit the water and the neighbor’s cat sunbathing on their patio. A bird visits the birdfeeder standing nearby and hightails it the second he sees us.

That afternoon, I’m reminded of the simple joys of life as the summer sun burns it into my skin and I smile.

. . . . .

“Mirio, no. Mirio, don’t you dare!” I scream as he picks up a roach from inside the tent and holds it out to me. “You know I hate roaches!”

“He’s just a little guy. If you hold him, you won’t be as afraid.” His blue eyes gaze so innocently at me even though he’s holding the little demon in the palm of his hand. “Come on.”

“He is not little! And no!” I snap, hopping a few feet back. “I’m already tempted to tell you I’m sleeping in your room tonight and burning the tent. Just get it away from me!”

“If you insist.” Mirio smiles and disappears to the front yard for a few minutes.

Only after I’ve scoured the surface of the tent while he’s gone do I trust it enough to lay my sleeping bag down. I scream again when he sneaks up and attacks my sides.

“Mirio Togata, stop scaring me or I’m going home!” I whine.

“Nooooo!” He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me down on top of him. “I didn’t mean it. I take it all back!”

With my back to his chest, he tucks his face in my neck and I squirm. It takes a moment for my body to relax after all the adrenaline his antics have caused. But eventually, I sigh deeply and lay against him, closing my eyes and reveling in his closeness.

“Do you still love me?” He murmurs against my ear.

“Of course I do.” I crane my neck and kiss his cheek. “But if you try to make me hold a roach again and it’s not a matter of life and death, I will murder you in your sleep.”

“Noted.”

Awkward limbs fumble around each other as we both get back to setting up our sleeping area. My eyes scan for more creepy crawlies while Mirio seems unbothered. When a bug flies into our tent, I panic before it lands and I recognize the large moth.

“Oh, so you’re fine with this huge moth, but the second you see a roach…” Mirio smirks.

“I can’t help it!” I grab my pillow and smack him with it. “Any bug that my brain thinks shouldn’t be bigger than a quarter freaks me out! I’m fine with tiny roaches and beetles. But the second they get too big, they’re fair game!”

“Haha! I love you so much.” He coos.

“I love you too, you permeating punk.” I stick my tongue out at him.

At long last, we both crawl into our sleeping bags and cuddle in close. I shut off the lantern when it’s time for sleep and steady my breathing. Sleep doesn’t come easily, but just as I’m starting to fade, Mirio’s voice calls out to me.

“Hey, Ichan?”

“Mm?”

“Why did you decide to become a hero?”

Silence blankets us as the crickets stall for me with a song. Childhood memories flash through my mind. Yelling pervades most of it, but there was laughter too. Playful running around the house gets sprinkled in with the consistent angry accusations my mother would always throw at my father and me.

“You know how I grew up,” I begin, glad for the darkness cloaking my expressions. “There might have been a lot of suffering, but there was some good in it too. I decided to be a hero so that I could offer a little bit of good into peoples’ lives when things go wrong. I want to be reliable, so no one else has to suffer the same way I did.”

The silky sound of skin sliding over sleeping bag stretches across until I feel his hand squeeze mine. Tears prick at my eyes and I swallow them down, turning to tuck my head into his chest, dragging my sleeping bag with me.

“I didn’t grow up in the same manner, but that’s how I feel too. I want everyone to be capable of smiling.” Mirio whispers, stroking my hair and planting a kiss on my forehead. “What would you have done if you hadn’t gone down the pro-hero path?”

“Something artsy.” I say. “I’ve thought about it before. I think I would have either started my own business as a baker or maybe sell some crochet goodies of mine.”

“I still have the stuffed bear you made me.”

“Really?”

“Sure do.” 

“What would you have done, Mi-kun?”

“Mom says I would make a good lawyer.” He chuckles. “But I think I might have become a comedian or motivational speaker.”

“I can see that.”

“Or maybe if you’d started a bakery, I would have owned a flower shop so our lives could have still intertwined.” He kisses my cheek. “I can’t imagine a life without you.” “Me either.” I agree, heart thrumming as I hesitantly add. “You’re like my family now, Mirio.”

“You’re my family, too.” He reassures, his hold on me tightening. “And one day, I’ll buy you a nice ring, and we’ll get married, find a house, and have a big family.” He sighs pleasantly as he trails off. “Just me and you against the world.”

“Forever?”

“Forever.”

Want More Mirio? Try: Shelter in the Storm

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

we need more hero/arch-nemesis duos whose backstory is being bitterly, bitterly divorced

[chloesimaginationthings]

Vanny regrets living at the FNAF pizzaplex even more now..

[freitag1607]

1.05 / Battle of the Labyrinth

[potato-lord-but-not]

put all the podcast guys in a room together for group therapy

[moghedien]

Lae’zel is killing me because she’s like such a freak in so many ways and like we literally beat the shit out of each other and she’s so fucking into it and horny about it and I can push her down in the middle of camp after and just make out with her in the mud and blood from our fight in the middle of camp, and she is like soooo into it

But I ask her to just kiss me in public and she’s like “no I’m shy” and immediately turns into this 🥺

I love her

[eliassimp]

[starsarekind]

Percabeth Halloween '24

[vee-lociraptor]

ALSO i love you podcasts being largely removed from the capitalistic ideas that leak into big name shows and movies i love you podcasts not feeling the need to be advertiser friendly i love you podcasts produced in someone's closet out of genuine love and passion for the project i love you so much and you mean the world to me

[candycassowary]

It has come to my attention that people have been using my mspaint doodle as a reaction image- and I'm flattered however I realized I didn't sign it so I made a signed version. Use this one instead please and thank you!!

Drawn while listening to Malevolent, but can apply to a wide variety of horror podcasts or listening experiences. I'll tag a few for safe measure

[fairytaleprincessart]

[goryhorroor]

horror sub-genres: campy

[bakanokiwami]

[2024] TOP 20 PODCASTS ON AO3 FOUND IN FANDOMS > OTHER MEDIA

To make this ranking, all series titles in Other Media were copy-pasted to Google Sheets, rearranged according to number of fanworks, and then manually filtered since not all podcasts were marked as such.

The numbers under each rank indicate how much they rose/fell in the rankings based on last year's (Nov. 24, 2023) rankings, which can be found here. NEW means it's their first time entering in the top 20. The gray numbers in parenthesis indicate how much fanworks it gained since last year.

The data for this year and last year's rankings were taken while logged in, so lcoked fanworks are included in the count.

A few web series like Critical Role and Dimensions 20 released audio-only versions of their works too, but I left them out since they were listed was a web series on ao3 and more known as one too.

All nonfiction podcasts have also been excluded (Not that there were many), because with RPFs, it’s hard to tell if the fic in question is just based on the podcast or because of the things the person has done outside of it.

Stella Firma ranks 21st in the rankings this year, dropping 5 places from last year. (Figured they deserve a special mention since The Magnus Protocol is technically under The Magnus Archives).

Still keeping A. Walker, et. al. as is for the f@tt fans.😂❤

Thanks for understanding and hopefully I didn’t mess up anywhere! 🙏

ETA: Typo at Rank 15! Campaign dropped 1 rank, not 3. Sorry about that!

[bigtittiecomitte]

Pov: You grew up with the swag

[taygra5shaon]

DURGE use genuine CARE and AFFECTION on ASTARION: It's super effective!!💘

[potato-lord-but-not]

An assortment of non-malevolent doodles as a palette cleanser