#I just get very easily drained from social events like this (the call was like four or so hours long) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

shades-of-sapphire · 9 months ago

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Headache

It was an uncharacteristically long day at the campus for him.

He usually didn't have many long days that required him to stay at the campus post-sunset, as he rarely had tasks that he couldn't finish in the comfort of his room. But today he had to stay back to participate in a mandatory meeting held by the student organization, and it took up the remaining of his social battery, leaving him drained. It also didn't help that the more the day inched forward, the more he felt the headache that had been lurking on the back of his scalp starting to take over his entire head. By the time they finally wrapped up the meeting, his head was throbbing and he wanted nothing more than to go home as quickly as humanly possible.

But right before he pulled up the app to order his ride, feeling grateful that he decided against driving himself today, he saw her name flashed across the screen of his phone in an incoming call. Suffering as he was, he could never ignore a call from her, so he thumbed the green button. "'Sup?"

"Question. Are you by any chance still out lurking somewhere and not yet confined within the solitary walls of your room?"

He couldn't help but roll his eyes and smile. Even though he knew exactly where this was going, he always found her dramatic antics endearing. "Lucky you, I was just about to go home."

"Second question. Are you perhaps willing to do one fair lady a favor?"

"What kind of favor?"

"Keeping me company," she half-whined, half-grumbled. "I don't want to go home before finishing this one task for a class tomorrow, but I still need an hour or two more, and I don't really feel like doing it in solitary confinement. I've been alone for the past three hours and I think I might be going insane."

While he was mostly introverted with limited social battery, she was the exact opposite; she thrived off interactions with other people, the type to easily survive on incredibly long social events without needing to recharge at all. Surviving three hours alone was indeed much harder for her than it would be for him. And even though he was physically and socially drained at the moment, he could never deny her a favor that was within his capability – it was just not in his dictionary. Besides, being with her was always so easy for him; she was one of the very, very few people who didn't take up his social battery, and was just very nice for him to be around. "Fine. Where you at?"

She let out a satisfied sound and mentioned her favorite café, one he'd visited with her at least a million times since their middle school days. Satisfied enough by the thought of ordering his favorite croissant, he continued his activity of ordering his ride once she hung up, changing the destination to said café instead of home.

He found her perched on her favorite booth by the farthest wall, the one with the long, comfortable sofa. Both legs folded between the table and her chest, her chin resting on her knees as she frowned at the screen of her laptop. She looked up and lit up with a smile as he arrived at the table. "Hello! Thank you for – " She stopped abruptly, now giving him the exact same frown she'd given her laptop previously. "Are you okay?"

He plopped down unceremoniously on the chair across her. "Sure. Why'd you ask?"

Realization washed over her face and she grimaced. "You're having a headache, is it? Your left eye is hardly open."

Having been the bestest of friends since middle school, he knew she practically had all of his tells documented in a dictionary somewhere inside her head, because he knew her each and every tell, too. "Yeah, but it's fine. Should be gone any moment now."

She reached for her backpack to, he knew, the small inside pocket where she kept her emergency medicine. "You took meds yet? Think I still have some – "

"No need, I had one just before getting here. Only need to wait for the effects to kick in."

She let out a long sigh. "You should've just told me, you know. I won't ask you to come here if I knew."

He waved her off. "No, don't worry about it. Can't let you go insane in your solitary confinement, now, can I?"

"You should nap for a while, it'll help with the headache. I'll wake you up when..." She looked around at her table, which was crowded by her many books and notes scattered around her big-ass gaming laptop. Ended up patting the empty space next to her on the long sofa. "Come and just nap here. I'll be as still as I can."

He chuckled, even though he felt yet another painful throb. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Just continue with your thing."

But she was nothing but persistent, so he ended up relenting to her suggestion and moved to her side. A nap did sound nice after all.

She pulled his head to her lap as he lied down on the space next to her. Her hand lingered as her fingers rubbed slow, soothing circles on his temple, an effort she knew always helped him ease the pain even though not by much. The comforting gesture, the familiar presence of her, lulled him to sleep even before his eyes were completely closed.

He found himself swimming in and out of slumber, sometimes due to the throbbing on his head, sometimes because of her movements. He knew how much of a fidgeter she was, so he was actually impressed by how much of an effort she put in to stay still. Her occasional grunts and sighs also woke him up a few times, but he couldn't really complain because he somehow found them all comforting. Every now and then when she was not typing furiously on her laptop, she would go back to massaging his scalp, and if he happened to be awake it would instantly send him back to sleep.

Eventually he heard her whispering his name just above his ear. "Sweets, you need to wake up. They're closing soon."

Groggy and disoriented, he quickly pushed himself to sit – and regretted it immediately, blinded by the violent throbbing bullying his head. He felt her hand on his shoulders steadying him immediately. "Easy, now. Slowly, slowly."

Took him a few moments to completely drag himself out of slumber. As he sobered up, he noticed that the previously crowded table was already clean and her bag was already packed. He turned to her. "How long have you finished your task?"

She bit her lip sheepishly. "A while. Didn't have the heart to wake you up." She was observing him, jet-black eyes behind thick glasses looking for tells of pain. "Are you feeling better? Did the meds kick in yet?"

"Getting there." He shook his head, partly to rid himself off the remains of sleep, but mostly to shake the familiar, comforting, intoxicating feeling of her presence off his system. "You ended up in the solitary confinement after all. Sorry about that."

She reached out to ruffle his hair – another familiar, comforting, intoxicating gesture. "Nah, I actually quite like it. I think I might be an introvert now."

He laughed, absentmindedly thinking that she just might be the only person with the ability to make him laugh after the longest day and a headache. "Sure thing. Do you drive here?"

As if on cue, her phone on the table lit up, announcing a call from none other than her boyfriend. He felt the small, becoming-familiar pang in his chest at the name, at the small smile that was creeping up her face involuntarily. She muttered a "sorry, give me one sec" before picking up the call. Apparently her boyfriend was on his way to pick her up as she didn't drive today, and she told him to take his time and not rush.

He couldn't help but notice that despite being one of the most independent person he'd ever known, she'd been driving on her own less now that she had someone who always offered to drive her around all the time. And he was happy for her. He truly was; he knew very well how much she tend to get riled up behind the steering wheel, so he thought less driving time was actually good for her state of mind. But furthermore, he was happy that she finally found someone she could rely on and – more importantly – someone who could make her happy, because she truly deserved to be happy. And she did seem to be happier this past few months, after making it official with her boyfriend. He was happy for her, even though at the expense of his own feelings – which he only realized a little too late.

"Sweets? Are you driving?"

He blinked and found her staring at him, having finished the call with her boyfriend. "No. I'll Uber home."

"Why don't you come with us? We can give you a lift."

He grimaced accidentally at the "we" and the "us" – which she misunderstood as of pain, judging from the worry taking over her face. "No, no need," he said hastily before she could express any of her concerns. "I'm an adult, you know. You don't have to dote on me so much."

"Ah, but to me you'll always be the sweet boy who loves sweets too much," she teased. "Speaking of which – " She gestured at the paper bag next to her backpack on the table. "I packed you your favorite croissant. And some bread for breakfast tomorrow. And no," she added firmly, definitely noticing his tells of protest. "This isn't me doting on you, I'm just taking care of you. We take care of each other as we always do."

In a perfect world, he would not be such an idiot and would have realized his feelings sooner than later, and also would have the courage to confront said feelings and talk to her about it. In that perfect world, maybe the both of them taking care of each other would feel like the most natural, the most right thing rather than leaving a bitter taste on his tongue. But of course, this wasn't a perfect world. So there was nothing else he could do but roll his eyes and smile. "Fine."

In this not-so-perfect world, that had to be enough for him. Just like spending time with her and being her bestest friend had to be enough for him.

: Text me when you got home! Gotta make sure the vicious-looking Uber driver didn't kidnap you : just got home, safe and sound : she was actually quite nice, you know. small talks and everything : She could have small talks and everything and still has the intention to kidnap you, you know : Or maybe she just wants to get in your pants :p : so funny : thank you, by the way. for the sweets, and for letting me crash on your lap : As if you wouldn't do all that AND MORE for me if it was the other way around : Now go sleep off that headache!

#oneshot #fluff #angst

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heilos · 2 years ago

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It feels like I've been working on this literally forever now haha. Anyone who’s been following me since my Deviantart days might know who this character is, but for those who don’t, she’s a My Little Pony OC I made back in 2013 based off the Tree of Harmony from the G4 cartoon. I’ve had these sketches sitting on my computer for way too long and finally decided to push myself and finish this “ultimate ref sheet” for her while adding in some minor design updates. Took the time to rewrite her backstory info listed below. Please check it out if you’ve got a moment! This character means a lot to me and one day soon I plan on trying to animate her. :)

________________________________________________________ ✨ Harmony is the Tree of Harmony in mind, body and soul. ✨ Brought into existence as a magic sapling by the Pillars of Equestria before they sealed themselves away with the Pony of Shadows, the Tree of Harmony has been the silent protector of Equestria for thousands of years. Over time, artifacts grown from her branches called the Elements of Harmony were discovered by the royal sisters Princess Luna and Princess Celestia and used to battle many foes threatening the world with evil ambitions and dark magic. Years passed since the events of Discord being sealed away by the elements along with the banishment of Nightmare Moon, and for a time the elements laid dormant and mostly forgotten about. These powerful artifacts would eventually find their way into the hooves of the modern day Mane 6 as the current bearers and defenders of the realm with renewed purpose. However, the more the elements were used, the more of a magical imprint was left on them from their wielders when returned back to the Tree time and time again. The magic of these ponies’ friendships paired with their strong unique personalities ended up being a powerful catalyst, granting the Tree not only sentience, but a will to live and grow beyond her crystal body rooted to the ground. No longer content as merely an observer and guiding hoof for Equestria, the Tree crafted herself a new form to mimic the very beings that shared with her their love, care and adoration for the realm they protected against the darkness. Thus the Tree of Harmony became known as the living spirit “Harmony” ________________________________________________________ ✨ List of general information about Harmony ✨

- Her design elements are based off of more traditional unicorns with a long lion like tail, unshorn fetlocks, and split hooves. Her horn also mimics the branch shapes on the Tree of Harmony. - Her hooves and headband are made entirely out of crystal, just like the Tree itself was. If either gets chipped or cracked, she can repair it fairly easily. - Her hair flowers can be gifted to others if she so wishes. They grow back quickly when removed. They’re also magical and won’t wilt unless drained of magic. Flowers sometimes grow on the ground trailing behind her too. - She’s quite tall and sometimes forgets that when interacting with others. This can lead to some very funny, but awkward moments. - She gives great hugs, though she has to be mindful of her own size and strength when doing so. - She cannot leave the Everfree forest unless part of her magic remains behind so that the forest doesn’t grow out of control. (Can be either the Elements of Harmony left in her place or half of her natural magic in the form of a sapling) - Twilight and Spike were the first ones to find her when she created her new equine form. It was quite shocking to say the least seeing the Tree of Harmony moving around and talking to them. - She doesn’t understand social cues at first and relies on mimicking bits and pieces of the Mane 6′s personalities. But she’s still openly friendly and curious about the world around her. - She’s extremely protective of the Mane 6 on an instinctual level and will directly challenge a perceived threat to them unless talked down. - The Pillars of Equestria are basically her parents since their elements made her. She’s very fond and protective of them as well once they return from being trapped in limbo with the Pony of Shadows. - When using strong magic, her eyes glow light blue with whited out pupils. It’s a little unsettling and intimidating to look at. - Her magic is definitely a bit OP, but her full power is limited to the Everfree forest for the time being. Regardless, she has the advantage on her home turf if the need ever arises to defend herself or others. - She is however susceptible to different types of dark magic if her body is injured badly enough. No one knows what would happen if Harmony was ever corrupted by dark magic and they’d rather not find out ever. - The creation of her new form takes place sometime between season 5 and season 7 before the Pillars return, but after Tirek is defeated by the Mane 6.

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sege-h · 2 years ago

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With every “!!” i get, I’ll introduce you to an OC!

Atos Helinskar, aka Storm's dad!

The son of a 'super soldier' experiment whose reintegration into society came to a screeching halt when the woman he loved (Atos' mom obv) was killed by the remnants of the organization that made him.

This cemented to him that leading a normal life was impossible. That the moment he let his guard down, something could easily go horribly wrong. That his son wouldn't be safe unless he knew how to keep himself safe.

Once he saw Atos as being old enough, Spitfire (his dad) began to train him. It wasn't a normal childhood, or a very good one, but Exe- a family friend who Atos came to see as a brother- tried to make the best of it for him. He took him along and away from his dad at times, under the guise of 'taking him on for some training of his own' but in reality he'd take him for ice cream, or amusement parks- anything he could think of that could give him some semblance of a normal childhood for a little while

As he grew older, Atos sort of longed for that sense of normalcy. He joined GUN for lack of a better idea on what to do- his father had been a part of it, and Exe was a part of it. So at least he could still hang out with his brother, having found it harder to socialize with others.

That desire for normalcy of his led to what he figured was the next step in life- getting a family of his own. It was what led to his marriage- he had a very heteronormative idea of it because that was all he'd known. He liked and was friends with a woman- he liked her enough that he wanted to hang out with her more, so he asked her out since he figured that's how things went. And once things worked out for a while, they got married and had Storm

He'd very much rushed into things, being young and inexperienced and just wanting that sense of normalcy that he figured a family of his own would give him. In regards to his relationship- it wasn't quite what he imagined but he figured that that was just a mix of him being a bit of a hopeless romantic mixing in with his lack of a normal life leading to unrealistic expectations

But he did settle into the role of a father pretty well. Storm was the light of his life, and he was determined to give him the type of life he would've wanted as a kid

But they got just barely over half a decade together before tragedy struck, and Atos was lost in a training accident with Exe This is where the story diverges.

One is the main verse, where Atos did lose his life, but returned to the mortal realm as a ghost, pulled in by Storm calling out to him. No one can see him, but he stays away from the afterlife as much as possible, drifting along and keeping an eye out on Storm. He feels that it's the least he can do, despite how lonely he's become

The other is an AU where Atos just barely held on to life, going comatose and being put in stasis to heal, even though it was uncertain if he'd wake up

30 years later, he does wake up- to a world very different from the one he left. Exe is missing, his son's grown up and sporting a prosthetic arm- and is very much an anxious wreck with abandonment issues. Even the moon is different than it was- shattered after the events of SA2

This Atos is still a bit lonely, having taken back his role of a guardian to those around him. Someone for Storm to lean on, and for his mentor to take advice from. He doesn't let his own feelings slip by unless he's alone, feeling like everyone is dealing with enough already without him burdening them with the fact that he isn't okay

Both of these versions of Atos feel like they'd failed Storm. They weren't, and couldn't be there for him when his childhood went down the drain. They feel like if they'd just fought a little harder, things would've been relatively fine and they could've protected their son.

But time marches on, and one is just glad that he wasn't forgotten, and the other is trying his best to figure out how to move on from everything that happened while also playing catch up to the 30 years he missed

#blog games #Ask #Sonic stuffs #FCs #Atos #Whoos I rambled and YET #I still feel like I didn't describe him well enough but on the plus side #I don't think I'd ever written out his backstory anywhere so

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ladyeliot · 4 years ago

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Sparky

Valentine’s Day (Prompts)

Request: Anonymous: #10 & #1 from the Valentine's day prompts with Tony Stark please. I was thinking of something similar to the Nat & Bruce scene in age of ultron. Like Tony & the reader are teammates both like each other

“Will you be my valentine?”

“What is a girl like you doing in a bar on valentine’s day?“

Pairing: Tony Stark x Fem!Reader

Summary: After the events that transpired during the Chitauri Invasion of New York you couldn't take it anymore and chose to go your own way, like the other Avengers. Now three years later you are reunited, but there are too many hidden feelings between you and Tony. (Based on the sequence from Avengers: Age of Ultron, during the party).

Warnings: Flirting, Angst.

Word count: 3290

A/N: Sorry for my spelling and grammatical mistakes, English is not my native language, I am learning.

It could be said that you would never know what the word majesty means if you didn't go to a party hosted by the "Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist", Tony Stark, at his Tower. There was no other situation in the world that better described the splendor that your eyes could discover there, or at least that was what they used to talk about in the social environment to which he belonged.

It had been hard weeks of work, and surely the next weeks were going to be even harder, so there was no better excuse to revive the social life than to organize a small party among friends on Saturday night, that's what Tony had called it, although it was far from being small, and most of the attendees you didn't even know. It wasn't that you weren't sociable, well, actually that wasn't the best word to define you, but what you couldn't get rid of were all those thoughts about the events that happened the last time the whole team had met.

It had been three years since you were all together, you knew that something big was about to happen, otherwise you would not be there again, you would have continued your life away lost somewhere in Indonesia hoping to find peace and tranquility after the Chitauri invasion, but you would never refuse to return when someone asks for your help again. Besides, seen in another way, going back to meet them does not always bring negative consequences.

"[...] I fly up to the general's palace, drop him at his feet and say 'Boom, were you looking for this?" laughter began to erupt around you, as Rhodes smiled proudly at the story he had just told.

You on the contrary showed a small smile trying to interact with the people around you, but you had barely paid attention to his words, your thoughts were elsewhere, even so, you realized that your martini must have evaporated, because your glass was completely empty. You got up from the sofa, keeping your eyes fixed on a bar that was waiting to offer you the best alcoholic beverages you had ever tasted in your life. You assumed that if you were going to have fun that night, it wasn't going to be possible without a little help from inside your body.

"What is a girl like you doing in a bar on valentine's day?" Tony's words caused you to look up from behind the bar and your eyes fell on his.

"I guess drown my sorrows in alcohol," you arched an eyebrow with a small sideways smile and refilled your martini glass.

"I'm sure you'd find a better way to drown your sorrows," Tony's voice grew darker, opening the doors to the game he was best at, but you were no slouch either.

"Possibly, but alcohol knows best how to deal with me," you raised your glass to your lips and sipped some of its contents, "I'm not an easy girl to fight with."

"Then I think you're in the right place," Tony mimicked your gesture, draining the contents of his glass, propitiating a smile on your lips.

"I'll keep that in mind," you said lowering your seductive tone ending the encounter, as you watched Rhodes approach you, you just gave him a smile and walked out of the bar back into the crowd.

You knew what Tony was like, during the time you had shared with him he had shown you each one of his multiple and multifaceted facets, which as he continually acknowledged were "Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist". On more than one occasion he tried to delve into the Playboy one, but time and time again he fell flat, for as you had said you were not a woman to deal with easily, nor could you yourself deal with yourself. Besides, there was the fact that you were totally opposite people, but very similar, in terms of character, and during the time you spent together a very peculiar relationship was generated between you, that few of those present would know how to describe.

You crossed that large room contemplating around you, everyone seemed to be enjoying a pleasant evening, you realized that it was the first time you associated those people with a calm situation, no surprise appearance of enemies, no screams and people fleeing through the streets fearing for their lives, only music, laughter and gestures of happiness complemented with a few glasses of alcohol. You felt the need to do the same, let yourself go and enter that parallel world, but something inside you prevented you from doing so, it was like a feeling that something was about to happen, so you opted to look for a door to the outside and enjoy the peace and quiet that your solitude, along with your martini, could offer you.

The night breeze of New York City at 1138 feet was a breath of fresh air, never better. Manhattan lay at your feet, but your eyes had no intention of looking down, on the contrary, they looked up, for you could almost touch the universe just by reaching up. Everything you'd ever wanted was up there, slinging the stars, allowing you to escape this world and discover so much more, and you'd known for years that more than one danger lurked there.

"Nice," Rhodes' presence caused your thoughts to drift away for a while.

"What's nice?" you asked quizzically, watching his figure approach you.

"Seeing that there's still love left on Valentine's Day," he stood beside you in the middle of that wide 90th floor terrace that surrounded the building.

"What do you mean?" you frowned oddly, circling the glass in your hands, but the gesture Rhodes made reminded you of the conversation with Tony. "Oh, no, no, no, that...we were joking. You know how Tony is."

"I know, I know how Tony is," Rhodes affirmed with a nod. "He was worried, when you disappeared off the map."

"I know," you said with a breath in your voice.

You hadn't really been entirely frank in telling your story, after the events in New York, you had taken the option of abandoning your complicated past life and running away, on the one hand feeling like a coward, but on the other hoping to start from scratch. The connection with Tony had been strangely special, and maybe the events affected you more because of his almost possible death, so when everyone chose to go their own way you did too, trying to disappear from the face of the earth, Indonesia was the best thing that happened to you. Eventually you discovered that Tony had made every effort to contact you, until after a few months he succeeded in doing so, thus generating an unpleasant misunderstanding between the two of you, coming to the conclusion that you had no intention of returning. But now there you were.

A new presence made Rhodes turn away from you and go back the same way he had come, but not before offering a little tap on Tony's shoulder. In his hands he brought two new glasses, this time of champagne and with a smile, the one that could get on your nerves, he approached you and offered it to you.

"Rumor has it, I make you nervous," he said raising an eyebrow and tilting his head.

"Excuse me?" you added in the same tone of voice he was putting on.

"You know, you disappeared when the conversation had gotten interesting," he took a sip from his champagne glass.

"Well, it didn't take you too long to find me either," you mimicked him, "If I had wanted to run away from you it would have taken you a lot longer to find me."

"I'll have to agree with you there," you looked down at the floor with a smile and set the glass down on a high glass table, to put his bow tie, which was completely crooked, back on properly. "Will you be my valentine?"

"Are you flirting with me Mr. Stark?" you frowned and subtly brushed the right side of his neck with the tip of your finger, causing a small spark to appear through the touch, making evident the little capacity you had in those moments of your powers. But that subtle gesture only intensified Tony's smile.

"Is it that obvious?" the tone of arrogance perched in his voice, at the same time he stroked the spot where you had given him the slight shock. "As obvious as I make you nervous."

At times that self-assurance could drive you crazy, at others it could drive you mad, on this occasion, both were fighting equally. You didn't know if it was because of the numerous martini glasses that were running through your blood, or because he was more attractive than you remembered him, or because that perfume was igniting your insides, but his powers of attraction were driving yours crazy. You felt the electromagnetism inside you seem a bit out of control, and that made you slow down that situation.

"Subtlety is not really something that goes with you," you said trying to show indifference to his words while you took the glass of champagne in your hands again and turned your face away from his, making a gesture to leave again. You felt a little annoyed with yourself for showing that you couldn't control the situation as well as he could.

"That's true, I'm not subtle," his tone also changed as he contemplated your gesture to leave, he took on a bit more seriousness, "I'd rather act up front, with everything, than hide."

"So that's it..." you said smiling bitterly stopping yourself.

The truth is that during the two months you had been back, after your emotional retreat, you hadn't had a single moment of peace to be able to address the issue at hand Tony. The meeting was hardly cold, there was really no time for reunions, as you showed up at the start of a mission to retrieve Loki's scepter in Sokovia, so that was the first time the two of you were alone, and you were using flirting to put up barriers to have a running conversation.

"What?" he played completely clueless, even though you knew perfectly well what he was referring to. "Ah, you mean I didn't decide to run away and hide in some remote location on earth after I nearly vanished in an alien invasion? If that's it, then yes."

You took a breath into your lungs and nodded to yourself taking a long sip from the champagne glass while avoiding looking into his eyes, which were looking really angry for you.

"I don't think this is the best time to have this conversation," you expressed putting the glass back down on the high table.

"Then when?" he raised his arms. "Shall we wait until this new mission is over and you're leaving again? Where is it going to be now? I ask so I don't have to spend seven months running around every corner of the planet. It would be very helpful if you could give me some clue, so I can save some time."

You threw up your hands in complete surrender and headed for the front door to the tower leaving behind you the bitter words coming out of Tony's mouth, you didn't want to start an argument, especially that night. You brought your hand to the knob of the glazed door, but in those moments....

"Jarvis, lock the rooftop exit doors," those words stopped the door from opening, leaving you ecstatic.

"Really?" you exclaimed indignantly looking back at him. "Are you going to stop me from leaving? You know I only have to stroke the glass to bring it all down."

"But you won't," Tony closed the distance to you in three steps, the melody in his voice had relaxed, as had his countenance.

"How are you so sure?" you asked, almost feeling dread at the answer he was about to offer, checking that he was still slowly approaching you.

"Because you know we need this conversation and there won't be a better time than now to have it," he kept his right arm upright holding the cup, while his left was tucked inside his Tom Ford pants, offering you a nonchalant air.

"Okay," you said giving up, and creating with a slight flick of your fingers an electromagnetic force field around him preventing him from coming any closer to you. When Tony noticed he couldn't help but express his amused feelings in a smile.

"Alright," he tilted his face to one side stopping his footsteps. "Fair enough."

"Well, how do we do that?" you asked somewhat confused not knowing what to say or how to start that conversation, it was obvious that those things were just as bad for you as they were for Tony.

"How about...with an apology?" he said unsubtly with a shrug of his shoulders, which elicited a massive gesture of disapproval from you.

"What!" you exclaimed. "Why would I have to apologize to you? I think that's already been settled since you came to Sumba."

"Well... " he put his finger to his lips as if thinking, "The truth is that during our meeting we didn't settle much, on the contrary, I think we complicated things more. Especially if we remember that you threw me with a force field into the Indian Ocean. For that would be one of the things you should apologize to me for. Among many others, obviously."

"I think you'll have to wait with your arms crossed for me to apologize to you," you explained, your tone was quite high. "Besides, I would never have thrown you into the Ocean if it weren't for you trying to block my powers with one of your damn inventions."

"Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me, you ended up smashing it too," with a swift movement he got rid of the button on the blazer that seemed to depress him. "What about ditching me in the middle of the night at the hotel? That I think hurt a lot more than the wrecking you did to my suit."

Remember what you said about never falling for him? You did fall for him once, when he came looking for you on Sumba Island, but you hardly know how it happened, it was only one night, which you regretted, in part, and you opted to leave as soon as possible to prevent him from invading your mind to force you to return with him to America. But things got complicated when he found you again and the two of you started a stupid battle in the middle of that paradise.

"Oh, please," you said hiding under your palm. "Don't you feel comfortable switching roles? Have a woman be the one to leave in the middle of the night?"

"Not if that woman is you, " he said crossing his arms and stiffening his gesture.

You had both assumed that this conversation was not going anywhere, you were finding that out, your way of being and your character was limiting the possibilities of reaching a middle ground. You plopped down on the glassed-in wall, arms folded like he was in your lap.

"Okay, listen," he began, shoving his hands into his pants pockets, "get rid of this and let's talk face to face."

"I don't think so," you said getting rid of the heels that were grinding your feet silly that night.

"Get rid of the electromagnetic field," he warned again, but you shook it off with your face. "Okay, have it your way."

"What...?"

At that moment you checked as Tony moved steadily forward, approaching the edge of the field, knowing that if he breached it that would cause irreparable damage to his person. The alert went off inside your head you hoped he wouldn't be stupid enough to do it, but that couldn't be said for Tony, he had every intention of doing it. It was a battle you were going to lose, because at the very instant you were a millimeter away from piercing him with your foot you got rid of him, causing a smirk on his face.

"I'd kill you..." you muttered clenching your jaw, Tony smiled without stopping his steps enjoying your anger, which barely allowed you to realize that he was scant inches away from you. "I swear..."

But before you could finish his proximity made you stop your words, causing your lips to brush softly against each other. It wasn't a kiss as such. It was a subtle brush, pausing instantly waiting to contemplate your reaction to the fact. Tony barely moved a millimeter away from you, leaving you cornered between his body and the window, but he stopped his movements waiting for you to start them again. Your heart was racing, you could hear the energy coursing through your veins from one limb to the other, and you needed to take a minute to get yourself under control. He knew it, that's why he was acting that way.

You approached his lips again, keeping your mind completely clear. The warmth and suppleness of his tongue went deep inside your mouth, again feeling his taste mixed with champagne and martini. His body imprisoned yours, making you feel every part of him on you. When his mouth pierced your lips to your neck you tried to mumble something unsuccessfully, almost warning him that it couldn't go any further, but Tony didn't seem to care. He was focusing on rediscovering how every cell inside you tensed as he brushed his tongue against your skin. You brought your hand to the back of his neck, preventing him from separating from you, channeling the energy inside you again with force preventing your body from exploding at any moment, because that was the capacity Tony had when he was on top of you. Both of you were completely absorbed by what was going on around you, that there was a party just a few meters away, and that anyone could discover you sooner or later. That's how a couple of knocks coming from the other side of the glass broke the moment, causing a lapse of your concentration that was attributed by a small sparkle on Tony's tongue.

"Ouch!" he groaned pulling away from you, but again he put on that amused grin. "That was hot, sparky."

You on the contrary looked behind you, running into Bruce's figure somewhat embarrassed that he was the one guilty of breaking the situation you were maintaining, but you also found concern in his gaze.

"I'm sorry... Can we talk for a moment Tony?" he asked pointing to the exit door, "I'm sorry."

"What the hell did you do?" you whispered to Tony, knowing something wasn't quite right, but Tony shrugged it off as if it was nothing to him.

"This better be worth it," Tony said shoving his hands inside his pockets to hide the consequences of the action you had been committing. He turned to you and stroked your bare arm. "I'll be back in two minutes, don't move from here. We have a lot of talking left to do," he winked at you and headed for the door. "JARVIS, enable the doors to the outside of the roof," there was no response. "JARVIS?"

Bruce seemed to understand why that was happening, Tony pulled from inside his jacket a device that controlled his AI, but it didn't seem to show any signs of life either. Tony focused his gaze on Bruce, who seemed to take in what was happening and fear was in his eyes.

"What the hell is going on Tony?"

Taglist Open (DM)

MAIN MASTERLIST

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lattewithatwistoflemon · 3 years ago

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My Potential Autism Traits

Hyperfixations - I get obsessed with fictional characters and get depressed if I don’t have something to obsess over. Will memorize character facts (like birthdays) and dialogue and draw the same characters a million times.

Specialized interests/ skills - really good at drawing and writing and just about nothing else. Super interested in anime and games and will talk people’s ears off about it, but I don’t like making small talk and talking about everyday things like work.

Sensory - bothered by flashing lights and pounding music. Started crying when my friend mashed buttons on his arcade controller. I get very easily irritated by little things, and I wonder if this might be due to sensitivity to texture, sights, and sounds. I notice I’m in a better mood when I’m wearing comfy clothes. I can’t actually tell if my sense of touch is more sensitive than other people’s though.

Motor - clumsy. Was told that I was weird as a teenager, because I stick my butt out when I walk.

Social - say blunt things without intending to be mean. Have been told I can’t tell when someone is flirting with me. Get overwhelmed in crowds. Feel drained after social events and have to have time to myself to cool down. Might cry after social events without knowing why. I’ve been socially withdrawn as a kid and didn’t learn to really socialize until I was 16. People called me weird, because I was quiet/“shy” and didn’t go out of my way to talk to others , because I only wanted to talk about my special interest.

It takes a long time for me to miss people, especially if I’m feeling motivated and focused on my interests. Sometimes I care more about fiction than about real life.a

Other: I have a ridiculously strict sense of morals, and if someone does something I deem wrong, I think “how could they possible do that?! I would never do something like that?” So maybe this is a form of not being able to put myself in someone else’s shoes? But I feel like I don’t generally have trouble with being able to see things from outside perspectives.

Emotional: I am overly emotional/sensitive. Sometimes I have trouble understanding what I am feeling and why, and I have to over analyze myself to discern why I’m upset.

Stimming: I don’t think I have any stims????

#autism #possibly autistic #personal journey #self discovery #I’ll eventually ask a neurologist

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nissakii · 4 years ago

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Is Nishinoya an ESFP? MBTI Analysis with Functions

With a height of 159cm and the number 4 on his back, our fierce libero of Karasuno has always a big presence wherever he is.

One of the manliest among the crows and with his apparent animal-like instincts he never fails to impress the people around him.

All those things are visible by simply looking at Nishinoya first hand by watching the anime or reading the manga.

But there is another thing: Nishinoya is an ESFP.

Something you cannot directly see on first glance.

ESFP?

Oh yes, for those of you who are not familiar with MBTI personality test, the MBTI personality test basically gives the tester four letters meaning you are either E or I, N or T, F or S, and lastly J or P.

Last time in our post we only covered those letters and didn’t go much deeper into the cognitive functions, we only went over the letters without making any connections to the stack.

As an supposed ESFP Nishinoya’s stack is the following: Se-Fi-Te-Ni.

Step by step we will cover each function, it’s meaning considering the position on the stack and also Nishinoya’s extroverted nature (E).

I will show you my deep analysis on Nishinoya’s personality type through my own observations until the latest season and the manga (status: season 3), showing you in detail why Nishinoya is potentially an ESFP. (Yes this is a spoiler warning.)

Let’s not wait any longer and dive into the journey of Nishinoya’s personality!

Extroversion:

Ever wondered that there are people who are either surrounded by a group or have someone else around, but you never see them alone?

That’s extroversion, the kind of person who feels the most energized and happy when they can be around others.

The E in ESFP stands for the trait that shows how someone ‘charges’ their battery, meaning if they get exhausted by spending time alone or with people. In case of an extrovert, they get easily drained when they are spending time alone and derive their energy when they are around others, seeking much more social contact to refill the battery.

And Nishinoya is just that kind of person if you observe him throughout the anime.

The very first indicator of his obvious extroversion can be seen right away when he is introduced in the series, someone who is very loud and open-minded, boldly saying anything that comes into his mind at the moment.

After Hinata talks to for the first time he shows an easy-going and open nature that seems ready to interact with even strangers. He gets easily excited as seen when Hinata called him senpai and he immediately got carried away by that offering him anything he wants in return, teaching him at any time he wants to.

Not only does he get excited over that single thing but in several other scenes you can see him as a moodmaker as he pushes away the most negative aura due to the excitement of a new opponent he can learn from or confront.

He doesn’t fear direct confrontation and speaking his mind, and even when got suspended, the others asked him how he was in such good form despite being absent. Nishinoya stated that he had trained with the neighborhood women and other people to keep his training on-going.

After returning to Karasuno and playing as a regular again, it’s seen that he casually talks to the new members as well as his upperclassmen.

Additionally Nishinoya is always standing next to someone, very close, jumps on their back or like in Tsukishima’s case even bites his shoulder despite the fact he isn’t that close to him.

A true extrovert through and through.

Dominant Se:

Our first actual function, the dominant Se.

What is Se?

Se is a perceiving function aka the S for Sensing and since we established Nishinoya is an extrovert the first function on his Stack is, to no surprise, also extraverted.

Therefore Nishinoya’s dominant function is extraverted Sensing.

What does that mean now?

Having a perceiving function as your dominant function can already say a lot how you interact with the world around you and it’s the first thing people will notice when they look at you without even having to interact with you.

Since the dominant function is the first one that develops in our functional stack it’s the strongest and the most natural one we use, meaning it’s the easiest to use.

The Se in Nishinoya’s stack being his first function represents a lot about how we perceive him as a person, it could also be seen as the function when you introduce someone and the first words you would describe a person with.

What are the first words you would describe Nishinoya with?

Probably a lot and I can tell you: all of them would fall into the Dom Se category!

Now after a long explanation let’s see what the Dom Se is actually telling us.

His dominant function tells us that Nishinoya interacts with the world directly as his relationship with the world is established through physical sensation, it relies on sensory experience meaning what is happening around me is a constant question that his subconscious is trying to answer by observing the things around him.

Stimulating experiences to get a kick of adrenaline and enjoying the world around him, taking any opportunity that comes his way as he spots them and takes advantage of them.

People with Dom Se can be described as adventurous, loud, bold, courageous, adaptable and entertaining.

They also think that actions speak more than words, does that ring a bell?

Starting with the most obvious part is his strong sense of focussing on opportunities as he brushes off worries and concerns that others might have by playing them off, especially Asahi is someone he always explains not to be a worrywart, he often scolds Asahi for whining a lot instead of properly doing something unlike some other Aces.

Another one would be wearing shirts with word plays on them, especially those which sounded manly to him, as he also is determined to become a manly man despite his height and does live by those principles to fulfill the desire of becoming what he wishes to be instead of simply saying it or pretending to.

This is not the only decision he made based on the excitement he felt, even joining Karasuno was due to the fact he liked the uniforms and wanted to wear them as he regarded them as cool and manly.

His way of intaking all the events happening is clearly shown in the anime many times.

Nishinoya never takes his eyes off whenever they are playing or watching someone, always having the people and events around him in sight.

In-game his reflexes are unmatched as seen in the first Dateko match in season one where he got the ball with his foot at the last second.

Shortly before the first Seijoh vs Karasuno match, Hinata and Nishinoya were sitting next to each other watching Oikawa serve against another team. Especially in the manga Nishinoya emphasizes his strong desire to receive one of his serves since he mentioned that in his middle-school years he heard about an extremely talented setter that had powerful serves, even though they were not that strong like the current Oikawa.

His adventurous and courageous side wanting to enjoy the challenges around him is seen here clearly. He never directly spoke to Oikawa and in the practice match he wasn’t there but immediately spotted him. He also got angry when Aone spoke to Karasuno before their first match as he still holds a small grudge against him, even though he wasn’t at the scene at that point he always looks around and spotted them talking, quickly joining in.

Nishinoya’s constant watch on what is happening around him is also shown when he receives during practice despite just arriving at the gym or training independently without anyone asking him to receive, he also looks out for his team members and has a close watch on his opponents all the time like Yaku from Nekoma who stated that people like Nishinoya who constantly watch others with the desire to grow are indeed scary.

Yet those parts also show us that Nishinoya’s Se can go into extremes that may be considered unhealthy.

We see that Nishinoya is very moody at times and his behaviour flips in an instant, which can be - in Daichi’s case f.e - very annoying and unpredictable.

Nishinoya is a serious player and we also see him being hard-working showing us that he actually cares about his team but at other times his simple curiosity and superficial mindset can cause more trouble, yet we see it rather off-court than on-court when he interacts with people.

Auxiliary Fi:

The second function on his stack: Auxiliary Fi.

The feeling side we can observe in Nishinoya without digging too deep is also due to the function being rather on the top of the stack as the second function works like a support for the dominant óne.

Fi stands for introverted Feeling which is one of the judging functions, since Nishinoya’s Dominant Se is a perceiving one the information he constantly gathers also needs processing to evaluate situations and develop a good moral judgement before rushing to things.

Therefore the Se-Fi works like that: Se intakes information that Fi is going to process and evaluate properly in order to reduce more damage and help his emotional state by not completely being too reckless.

Being the second function Nishinoya resisting his Fi would be quite hard so we can see a lot of moments he actually uses it in the anime as well.

We have different varieties were his Fi is present one would be when he sticks close to his Dom Se, his comfort zone and tries to ignore the Fi but it comes out in a way or another, which is displayed through brushing off important feelings or emotions, ignoring warning signs, the lack of understanding why some paths may be dangerous and unhealthy,looking down on those who are too earnest and avoiding responsibility by playing the victim.

While Nishinoya is earnest himself and also displays those types of behaviours rather than the beginning in the series we see those slight resists in some examples.

The first scene in which Noya appeared was showing that he broke a mop and was very angry as he lashed out due to his emotions. That very scene was due to Asahi declaring that he would stop playing which stirred him up, also showing that he stopped coming to the club as well (even without his suspension) because he just can’t play if Asahi is not around, making this decision heavily based on emotions only.

Nishinoya doesn’t need Asahi to play his position, rationally speaking and with his skill-level it wouldn’t be a problem at all to keep playing with other people instead, yet he simply was against it irrationally choosing what felt right to him as he tried to blame Asahi for the whole situation they were in.

We also see that when Asahi is overly earnest and tries his best Nishinoya tends to make fun of him or look down on him for his good-nature and soft heart which is one of Asahi’s good sides yet a weak point as well.

He doesn’t take any warnings either as he brushes them off easily one example would be when he ignored the warning that the vice-principle was coming and he still ignored that fact causing him to get suspended.

Still Nishinoya’s Fi also displayed itself in a manner that can be viewed as overindulging in Fi which means when still developing Fi and don’t knowing how to use it, Nishinoya for example can use it subconsciously in an extreme manner.

The Asahi example can be again taken for that.

Another one would be that negative feelings are kept unresolved and inhibit his judgement, one of that moments are few but in the case of season 4 we see that even Nishinoya can stop to function in his position as a Libero after meeting Atsumu Miya’s serve that made him remember how he messed up many times and how he used to fear everything at a point making him feel useless.

Nishinoya takes things too personally at times too, as he almost started a fight with Kageyama on the court when they played against Dateko in season 4 episode 6 and 7.

His first reaction was feeling attacked by Kageyama’s remark about him being in the way which was justified, after the matter being explained Nishinoya backed off but the immediate reaction showed his trait.

But most of the time, especially apart of the beginning where Nishinoya started to appear, we can clearly see him use his Fi in a healthy manner.

Nishinoya’s emotions are always authentic and he accepts emotions very well not making fun of them (in a serious way that is).

He wanted to play against Oikawa due to his respect to him and his immense development in that short time he had heard from him in middle-school, motivating him even more as he played against him.

All in all his emotions are easily spotted, genuine and he shows them openly. When he is sad or touched he easily cries, when angry he gets louder and yells at people, even when Hinata talked to him he got touched and therefore offered to help him right away, simply because Hinata said some nice words.

Especially when excited and happy he even jumps high and climbs on other people’s backs.

He is also very understanding towards mistakes and short-comings, being the first one to encourage his teammates no matter if it was a good play or a big mistake.

Even on the sidelines he is the first one to jump over and rush into a hug to congratulate the one who made a point.

His famous line “I got your backs”, also shows us his other ways of showing emotional encouragement and himself displaying his empathetic nature of thinking about others while pushing his own self-care of confidence.

Someone who wears his heart on his sleeve, that is Nishinoya Yuu.

Tertiary Te:

As his tertiary function is Te his balance consists of Fi-Te.

Even when someone with an auxiliary Fi tries to resist it or there is a lack in it, in Nishinoya’s case it being the second on his stack makes it hard so Te is the defense mechanism that comes in when Fi is in one of those mentioned states.

Te rewards the lacking Fi with a sense of competence and strength, this means the lacking Fi misuses the Te causing the person to fall into a Te loop that tries to find a short-term “solution” for deep-lying self-image or self-confidence issues.

Nishinoya is very stubborn when it comes to his own skills and competences, despite being an amazing Libero and proving that fact in every match he stills seems to be never satisfied with himself and always seeks to improve, as he does that in a very domineering way not letting anyone stop him or even gets angry and resentful when someones tries to threaten or advise him that he is fine as he is. He refuses help from others at those times and does what he believes his right, as long as he sees he is competent enough to reach his goal his Te rewards his Fi with that false sense of strength to make him more confident about himself for the time-being than he actually is.

When he tells himself that he can do a certain thing for sure and obsessively emphasizes that even when he is in a monologue it is mostly to negative emotions, f.e when he fails to get receives several times or especially when he is not confident.

In season 4 we also see him almost not doing an overhand receive because it was the more secure way despite Nishinoya clearly trained to do exactly that receive especially when it came to jump floaters after experiencing Hanamaki doing it in the game of season 2.

His negative emotions mostly are buried behind a facade of I got your back, I am sure I can get any receive and many other words that should express his power.

Since we saw in the manga part and anime in season one, in the first practice match against Nekoma that Nishinoya praised Yaku for his skills but didn’t recognize his own, Yaku mentioned that Nishinoya probably doesn’t even see it himself. It shows that Nishinoya might be aware he is not confident but subconsciously expresses confident manners when in a loop.

Inferior Ni:

Ni, the last one on Nishinoya’s stack and it’s also the function that could be considered the least developed one out of the four.

While Ni is there to learn about intuitive connections it’s there to encourage yourself to nurture the inner world and reflect on the things happening around you, as well as connecting them into a context so you can fill the unknown in yourself. It also provides the imagination of idealistic ideas and envisioning the future ahead of you all that is part of introverted Intuition.

Yet in Nishinoya’s case Ni is his last function on the stack, it means he is more prone to resist and ignore his NI, especially when his Dom Se is going to extremes, this can cause the ignored Ni to become louder and louder when the problems caused by the former and it even can be threatening over time.

And that’s where Ni grip comes in, it unconsciously tries to compensate for the lack of the Se or Se extremes, but since the Ni usually is still underdeveloped it doesn’t turn out well and then the so-called grip happens.

The grip can be described when people would say this isn’t like you at all since usually the one exhibiting the grip behaviour isn’t even aware of that fact.

Nishinoya in Ni grip would be almost the opposite of what he almost is.

Hard to believe that the upbeat Nishinoya could be anything but loud and excited?

Well very wrong, in season four we actually see Nishinoya in his best Ni-grip behaviour.

Where do you ask?

Atsumu Miya standing on the other side of the court.

Yes, Nishinoya may be really excited and loves the challenge but especially in the course of the match we see him being quite different than we usually know him and see a whole different side of him.

It’s almost as if he was isolating himself while he felt trapped, felt very gloomy, frustrated, helpless, unassured and doubtful which are all signs of Ni grip.

He was doubting himself over and over and panicked about not being able to move, totally frozen and paraylzed by fear.

It’s as if the Nishinoya who said I got your back was a whole other being in that moment, his calm and contemplating nature about all the mistakes he could make by getting targeted and not being able to even move for Atsumu’s serves started in entire flashback about how he used to fear everything in his life.

He himself explained he moved on from that point where he was scared and after a long time admitted he was scared yet again like he used too as he indirectly questioned his confidence, abilities and his own value.

Usually Nishinoya who might be stubborn when it comes to advice or help but still accepts that he has Daichi and the others next to him, felt totally alone and trapped in that situation, closed-off and being able to reach out if it wasn’t for Kinoshita getting him out of that wrecked thought-process.

But Nishinoya himself questioned if this is all he could do, if this is the so-called Libero he should be and was almost freaking out by not being able to do anything due to he fear that overcame him,

It was a rare moment but that vulnerable, deep in thought Nishinoya who was unusually quiet and almost going crazy due to his inability seeking much more in that moment - That’s also part of Nishinoya but only the part that comes up when he is at his lowest.

As we understand now we surely can say, it was a moment where Nishinoya’s inferior Ni worked against him in a stressed situation, seeing it not being as developed as it should be but since it’s his inferior function around his age it’s quite normal for him to subconsciously misuse it to compensate for his Se extremes.

Conclusion:

Nishinoya is the very depiction of an ESFP as he embodies all the traits that his functions should represent. His personality type that is called the entertainer fits his fierce and energized nature, unpredictable of what he is going to do next.

With his short height yet big presence, he always stands in the spotlight as his amazing skills, loud voice and strong personality overshadow his much taller allies and opponents.

Even his flashy way of talking, his hairstyle and confidence Nishinoya earns the title of an ESFP.

Never getting tired of what is possible and what has to come, and never stopping to explore much more to what is there in the world.

Can you agree or do you see other traits in Nishinoya?

Write it down in the comments!

Until next time, rushing for my tea with a rolling thuuunder!

Makii

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cherryblossom-chopper · 3 years ago

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Hi Liv!!! Are your December matchups still open? I was hoping to get one, if it's not too much :D

I’m an INTJ, aries sun. I’m short and young looking woman. I’m also queer and a contrarian. I’m a fast learner and resourceful. I am imaginative and full of ideas, the only idea I lack is how to manifest them into reality tbh *sobs*

People describe me to be eccentric, smart, responsible

My exterior seems to be odd yet composed. Inside I am like a machine kept cold and calculating. I’m too empathetic and I use this thinking function to rationalize things and decide wisely.

My interests include literature, art, philosophy, the occult, music, and wildlife biology.

My cons is that I’m too harsh on myself and for a majority of my life I suffered from all kinds of crippling anxiety, resulting in perfectionist tendencies, a serious attitude, and harsh self-criticism. I am indecisive of my vocation due to that. In that case, I am learning to just take a “I do whatever I want” stance in life. So I just try to have fun and always see the brighter side of everything. I’m happiest when I’m reading or analysing something, or when I’m singing and doing anything related to music and/or art.

I’m very particular about my privacy. I have no personal social media for that reason. I love being alone, I don’t feel lonely at all and I prefer having enormous amounts of time for myself because I can keep my energy clean and generate new crazy ideas. But my friends describe as ambivert since I can easily match someone's extroversion (only if we're analyzing things though). Socializing also drains me more than anyone knows, I'd be whacked out of my system/routine for like 2 weeks after a big party. Someday I'd like to live in a quiet, peaceful city on my own :')

Turn offs for me are lazy and irresponsible individuals. Also people who don’t know their boundaries and can’t control their emotions/anger issues, and those who hold grudges. Finally, those who are so penchant for conforming to society’s norms and are terrified of judgment from other people.

I love people who I can let loose with, and those who help foster my inner peace and quiet. Someone who’s not afraid of being themselves and reach their craziest dreams, which I'll happily support! Someone patient and kind and non-judgmental.

Any gender of partner would do. My favorite animals are the whale, elephant, turtles, and rhinoceros :D

thank you so much for doing this! this is my first ever matchup and i wouldnt have it any other way!!

Thanks for submitting a request!

I ship you with Smoothie

She's a calm and well-collected individual who can respect your boundaries. Smoothie doesn't mind relaxing in relative silence together. She can read or scroll through her phone in peace if you need quiet time. Smoothie also doesn't mind leaving you alone if that's what you prefer. Your relationship with Smoothie is built on that understanding. Both of you need time to recuperate after a busy day or important event.

Smoothie doesn't mind being the vocal one if that makes you more comfortable. She is more reserved but has a big voice that calls people to action. Smoothie also doesn't mind fighting your battles for you if it's too much pressure to confront something head-on. She can be your shield.

Relationship Trope: Arranged Marriage

#cherryblossom chopper #one picce match ups #december match ups #one piece

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lovelivingmydreams · 4 years ago

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A story by heroes and villains

Roman Castile: Passion and duty

Roman finds that his different passions seem to get in each other's way for now. But one day, he will find a balance.

“Ugh! I am done!” Roman exclaimed relieved, barely hearing the hissed warning from the librarian. Homework had been draining. Sure they’d had fun. Especially when it came to teasing Virgil about his pronunciation when they worked on Spanish.

Still Roman was ready to do literally anything else.

“Give me a sec, I have to finish this thing for English,” Virgil muttered absentmindedly. Roman knew that Virgil had rewritten that particular assignment two times already.

“Want me to read it trough for you?” Roman offered. Maybe hearing someone say that it was good would be enough to stop him from second guessing himself again.

“You don’t…” Virgil started, somehow looking guilty.

“We’re here to help each other Virgil. If I didn’t want to help you I wouldn’t offer. I thrive on being of help to my friends. It’s no trouble,” he assured him. Virgil offered him a small smile and a nod in response. “Alright. You can read it when I’m done,” he allowed.

Roman took peace with that and opened his notebook to start doodling.

He had a few ideas for some more shirt designs. He’d enjoyed making his ‘coming out’ shirt. Then there was the Halloween party and every other social event this year has to offer where he had to slay. Junior year was a year to be noticed. Nothing wrong with putting down some ideas in advance. He just might come across the perfect outfit.

“Seems I’m not the only one who can draw up some clothes,” Virgil noted and Roman nearly fell of his chair when he jumped at his sudden proximity.

“Will you stop that!?” A thing about Virgil Roman had learned over the last week. He always seemed to pop up out of nowhere. One minute he’s gushing over the latest Disney trailer with André and suddenly Virgil stands next to him giving his two cents. It was terrifying.

“Not a chance,” Virgil chuckled as he picked up Roman’s sketches.

“This looks good though… You ever thought of becoming a fashion designer?”

Roman’s eyes widened. Making amazing outfits for a living? He could make a whole ‘wear your pride’ line and… Oh… Oh…!

“You are a genius!” Roman exclaimed. He’d had no idea what he wanted to do with his future, aside from hero work, but now the idea was brought up he wanted nothing else. Fashion designer, superhero, actor, maybe also Mr. Castile-Anker. That was a future he could look forward to!

Virgil chuckled. “It’s the least I can do. I sent in the designs like you said… I’m kind of excited.”

Roman beamed at him. “I’m sure next time you see DreamPrince on the news he’ll be wearing your design.” He was. He’d been shown some alternative designs by Manifestor and found Virgil’s drawing among them and immediately declared that that was the one.

As he’d told Roman, he’d changed a few things. He’d shown him on Wednesday to get his stamp of approval. Roman had gushed unapologetically, because he knew he’d have to tone it back a bit in front of the team.

Which had been hard.

Tonight he’d be taking it for a test run and he’d make sure to be seen by people and cameras.

“We’ll see,” Virgil smiled as he pushed his laptop with his assignment towards Roman.

Roman read it, dropping the subject without problem.

Virgil was easy to be friends with and he’d quickly learned to read his moods.

During lunch Virgil usually sat himself a little bit away from the group when he felt the need to just focus on his music and sketch a little before heading back to class. He was sarcastic, witty and could dish it out about as well as he could take it.

He was also very guarded emotionally, which Roman could understand, but whenever they were just the two of them, Virgil opened up some more. He’d learned about Virgil’s soon to be stepdad and the admittedly adorable meet cute he’d been a part of.

He knew that Virgil’s dad had found them a new home and they’d moved in just that week.

He learned that Virgil was mature and his dad’s only wingman which they both agreed was super awkward but also hilarious.

Roman had joked that Virgil might end up being his father’s best man. But apparently there was a family friend ‘uncle Thomas’ who might get that position.

Virgil had gone out with another girl that week. Anna, who’d had English with him last year or something. Virgil had listened patiently, but relatively unaffected to her asking him out and arranged another semi-date at the music store for the next evening. Luckily nothing came from it again. Roman asked him why he kept saying yes to people he barely knew. Virgil explained that he had missed out on enough chances to befriend others. So the way he saw it he’d at the very least get a friend out of it. Roman kind of took comfort in that. It didn’t sound like Virgil was trying to get a girlfriend or a boyfriend right now. Just trying to socialize. Roman had reminded Virgil to watch his boundaries though. He wouldn’t want him to push himself out of fear he’d be missing out.

One more thing he learned about Virgil: he was overly critical of himself.

“Well, I think you can hand this in with confidence Virge,” Roman concluded as he returned Virgil’s laptop to him.

“So… I recall something about pizza? I’m starving!” he grinned.

Virgil chuckled and lead the way. Soon they were sat at a table with their orders and they were talking about everything and nothing. It was great. And Roman was so close to asking Virgil out but…

“So… Um… There’s this… Shoot wait a minute,” Roman got up and picked up his phone.

“Si mama…?” he asked curiously after seeing the caller ID.

“Darling. I know you are out with your friend. But I wanted you to know we’re headed to the university now,” his mother informed him. The university… Wait. “Que?” Roman looked at his watch incredulously. He was going to be late. Unless he left right now that is.

“Perdona! I’ll be there soon.” He hung up and dug through his wallet for some money.

“So sorry Virge! Time got away from us I’m afraid. I swear I intended to give you that ride… Can you call your dad… You know what? Just use the change to take the bus or something alright? My treat! I’ll call you later!” he promised as he tossed down a few bills that should more than cover the tab and the tip before rushing away.

How was it so late already?

He sprinted around a few corners and found a spot to get changed. BS had explained about the sciency stuff behind his costume change, but all Roman really cared about was that he basically had a magical boy transformation. Sure he could sit there and let the tech do its thing, but it was much more fun to make up a cool transformation sequence.

First, hair. He retrieved a lip balm like object and applied the substance to his hairline. He tucked the balm away and with one smooth movement of his hand he styled and recolored his hair. Instead of parted in the middle with regal waves it was flicked to the back, save for a single rebellious strand dangling down his forehead. Instead of a deep ash brown it was warm chestnut in color.

Then he took a tini metallic bead from a ring on his finger and tapped it against his temple, before he swiped his hand in front of his eyes as his mask placed itself securely on his face, changing his eye color in the process. He tapped his wrists together in front of his chest and brought them down with force, feeling his blazer and shirt get replaced by the skintight suit. He tapped his right heal against his left before taking another power position and finishing his costume change.

How cool was his life?!

He created a platform to lift himself to the roof and sprinted towards the university. The GTH was in it’s basement. As he made his way there he started to think over asking Virgil out again.

Maybe, now wasn’t the time. Virgil was clearly still upset about the whole Janus thing. He didn’t say it but Roman could tell. And he didn’t want Virgil to think for even a second that Roman’s crush was anything less than genuine, he had noticed that Virgil still had trouble believing their friendship was real at times. Not to mention that starting a relationship with someone while he was still figuring out how to balance out superhero and civilian life was clearly a bad idea. He couldn’t even ask him out without being interrupted by his other life.

So, he'd wait until he had his life in order and he was sure Virgil was ready. There was definitely some kind of connection between them. And Roman was willing to wait until the time was right…

He knew he was being a coward, but his friendship with Virgil was so fragile.

He entered the basement campus with little hassle and dropped of his bag in his personal locker, making sure to lock it. If anyone with ill intent got in here they could easily find out his identity with it's contents and Roman didn’t want his name out like that. Not yet at least.

He hurried to the training hall, threw open the doors and slid inside.

“Your prince has returned!” he exclaimed, doing a pretty good job at pretending he hadn't just sprinted the whole way there.

“Has he now?” BS asked, apparently in a bad mood today.

“Oh come now big S, the boy is just excited for his present! I would be too if I got a new costume made for me by a secret admirer,” Sweets offered with a calming hand on BS' shoulder. Sweets was an empath. He could share his emotions and those of others, perfect match for someone who wants or needs to keep his calm.

But what sweets said made Roman rather flustered. “I don't think DreamPrince has had enough appearances to already gain such attentions. Whoever did this just couldn't stand to look at this any longer.” Roman gestured to his current costume.

“Speaking of which…” he held out his hand bouncing on his feet in excitement. He was supposed to meet the chief of police today and he wanted to look presentable.

Manifestor chuckled from his spot on the desk. “Give the boy his stuff. He's been looking forward to this day for the past four years.”

BS sighed and handed Roman a small box, which the young hero snatched up before rushing to the dressing room.

He turned his suit off and took off the containment units. He opened the box and switched the old units for the new ones. The bracelets were more comfortable and adjusted to his skin tone, the metal bead was replaced with two skin colored stickers he applied to his temples.

“Let’s do this,” Roman smirked excitedly.

“To adventure!” he called out as he crossed his arms and tapped at his temples while simultaneously clicking his wrists together. At the same time he tapped his right toe behind his left heel and brought his ankles together. He struck a power pose, facing the full length mirror and grinned excitedly. Virgil had added an insignia on his cape and golden trimming in the final design. There'd been a few options for his emblem and Roman had chosen the shield with a castle by the sea with the sun shining down on him. He looked quite dashing.

He left the dressing room and handed the box back to BS with an elegant gesture.

BS wasn't amused. Sweets and Manifestor on the other found it hilarious.

“So? What do you think?” Roman asked as he turned around to show off the end result.

A loud ‘bing' announced a message from his family watching from the observation room.

“Gaaaaaaay!” Roman rolled his eyes good naturedly. Remus was a fan.

“Stay away from Planes!” the next one read. Roman chuckled. He had asked Virgil about the cape, considering he’d expected someone as cautious as him to heed Edna Mode's advice.

Apparently Virgil had intended the Cape to be an addition for official events. So ‘Prince’ would look good on camera. He'd also pointed out that it would look badass for the prince to un-claps his Cape before a fight. He'd had a point and Roman actually loved it.

“You look very handsome darling.”

“Thanks mom!” Roman called out.

Then two beeps came from a device on BS wrist. He looked down and relaxed, tapping away at a holographic screen, turning up the intensity of his shadow. “The chief is here,” he announced.

Roman raised an eyebrow, that was not what BS had been so tense about. Something in his private life maybe? If that was the case he'd never find out.

Roman had no time to worry about that though. The door opened and in walked the police chief. A small but commanding African American woman. It was something in the way she walked that made Roman want to stand at attention. And so he did. He wasn't the only one.

“DreamPrince, at your service ma’am,” Roman introduced himself respectfully.

“So you are what all the fuss is about?” she asked as she looked Roman up and down.

Chief Davies pursed her lips before nodding to herself. “I’ve read your file, you’re quite the prodigy aren’t you?” she asked.

Roman chuckled a little awkwardly. “I’ve just been training from a young age, that’s all.” Most gifted didn’t realize their talent until they were well in their teens.

“Good answer. I have no time to stroke an adolescent ego. We’ve got work to do.”

Chief Davies turned to Manifestor. “You got the files I sent?”

Manifestor nodded hurriedly. “Yes. I had no time to review them though.”

“I’ll walk you through it,” she announced dismissively. The leader of Roman’s training team nodded and tapped at something on his wrist. The screen that had shown the messages from Roman’s family earlier was now filled with mugshots.

The men looked dangerous. Roman shifted nervously. “You… you want my help apprehending these men?” he asked, trying not to show how frightening it seemed.

“God No!” Roman hid his relieve. “These men are all in jail already, with iron clad cases keeping them there for a long time. You think I’m going to send some rookie after hardcore criminals? No offense, but you are still a baby,” Roman blushed at that and focused back on the pictures.

Wait a minute. “I know that guy! Remember at the end of my first week? I spotted some tugs bothering that kid and tossed a rock at them?”

“And by some miracle you weren’t found when said tugs came looking for you,” BS added through gritted teeth. Still upset at Roman's initial recklessness.

“I wasn’t the only one they were looking for,” Roman insisted. He’d been so sure he hadn’t been alone that night. But BS claimed the would have known if anyone else had been there.

He never went after the tugs after they left the alley. BS insisting he was done with back alleys for the night.

And now those guys were apparently behind bars?

“Next slide please!” Davies called out.

A picture of a ziplock bag with pictures, a USB stick and a note of cut out letters that said ‘your turn’.

“For almost a year now we’ve been getting mysterious packages like this. Pictures, audio and video recordings. Every last one had one of these men incriminating themselves. It’s like whoever delivers these stands right next to them, but never gets caught taking pictures or carrying a wire. I have a small task force on the case who have dubbed them ‘The Phantom’. We are keeping this as in house as we can. Once the public hears about the Phantom, we’ll lose the most valuable asset we’ve ever had. Plus until now we weren’t sure if they were a sensible vigilante or a mobster who was taking out competition in a very clever way. Given what you just said I’d be inclined towards the former. They might have some sort of gift that hides them well enough to get away with spying. But right now, they are putting themselves in danger.” Davies turned towards Roman.

“Keep an eye out, see if you can spot him during your patrol this evening. And if you do, get him on board with the program.”

“Prince did not go through all that training to be your recruitment poster boy!” BS snapped to Roman's surprise. That was the most emotional response he's seen from BS ever. Aside from when he scolded Roman on his reckless behavior.

Davies glared at BS, looking quite intimidating, despite barely reaching to his chest.

“Now don't go all noble on me BrainStorm. What? Did your heart grow three sizes while I wasn't looking? Is there suddenly room for more than one other person there?”

Roman knew that this was a threat. Davies knew BS’ true identity, where he worked, who he cared for. She could ruin whatever he had built in an instant.

Roman often wondered what kind of life BS had outside the facility. Did he have a partner? A family? Did they know about his past at all.

A few seconds ticked by with no one daring to do so much as breathe.

Then Davies relaxed and stepped back. “I'm no monster BrainStorm. I wouldn't ask some rookie to deal with this if I hadn’t tried everything else already. I send in my agents and even called in other gifted. All we got out of that was this,” she gestured and Manifestor showed the next image. A note in the same style as the previous one that said ‘no babysit!’

“Our profiler thinks they are young. So maybe your prince won't seem as threatening. They might've had his back once before already. If this Phantom were someone you cared for, would you rather we left them be, or would you drag their noble behind here yourself to give them proper gear and back up?”

The question hung in the air for a moment, BS had nothing to counter with. Roman imagined Phantom being one of his friends, or even Janus and the answer remained the same.

“I will do what I can,” he vowed before lifting his chin and facing the fierce chief head on. “But ma'am, I don't appreciate you threatening my mentor like that.”

BS had stood up for him, it was only right for him to return the favor.

Davies chuckled. “Just when I started to worry you were only brawn and a pretty face. You can be smart too huh? And you’ve got guts. You just might have what it takes kid. Now. I have places to be. Keep me updated, and don't lose this.” Roman accepted the watch he was handed with a confused frown.

“My people will call if we need you. Please use that brain and return the favor?”

With that she left. Well… that was intense.

Roman put on the watch and saw that it had a frequency displayed on it instead of time. He also spotted two buttons. One blue and one red. It didn't take much to realize that one was a panic button and the other was to make it so the cops could hear him. He wondered if it would connect to the nearest patrol car or to Davies directly.

He hoped he’d never have to find out.

“Well… time to show the city their hero is ready for action.”

It had been a pleasant evening so far. He'd stopped a few shoplifters, broke up a fight or two and dodged a few reporters, though he let them snap a good picture of his new outfit.

Now the sun was down however and he was making his way to the back alleys.

“Looking for a fight is foolish Prince!” BS growled through his earpiece.

But Roman wasn't looking for a fight. He was looking for someone who'd gotten him out of at least one pickle.

He ignored BS as he landed on a roof, overlooking the city using his sight. He didn’t know what he was looking for exactly, but it was his only plan.

Suddenly he spotted something strange and unusual. There was an energy, a few blocks ahead. But it was impossible for him to really see it. Like he was looking at it trough glasses with strong prescriptions.

He rushed towards it and found a gang of criminals with violently swirling auras. He knew what this meant. They were going to hurt someone.

“Send back up to my location,” he instructed before turning the receiver off. He needed to focus.

“I say we attack now! They are week! We can take them down easily.” A shorter guy with energy like glass shards insisted.

“Boss says we have a truce until the rat is found,” a giant of a man stated calmly, though his energy betrayed how much he wanted to go with the first guy's plan.

Were they talking about Phantom?

“What rat!? Those idiots just bragged to the wrong crowd.” The first voice shot back. Phantom was becoming a bit of a ghost story it seemed. Some who believed, judging by the shudder that went through the other men's auras at the mere mention of them. But clearly not everyone was convinced.

“Oh and they gave out pictures as well? Did a little livestream? We're not safe until this rat is lynched,” the tall man pointed out tensely. He was a believer. And he wanted Phantom dead. Not good.

Roman studied the tugs and to his relief he spotted they were all armed. Weird thing to be happy about. But it meant he had probable cause to interfere.

He jumped down, slowing his descent just so that he didn't hurt himself on the landing without sacrificing the cool factor.

“Do you gentlemen have permits for those weapons?” he asked as he rose up to his full length facing them fearlessly.

“what the…?”

“It's that Prince clown!” Rude.

The tall guy, the leader probably, silenced the group with a gesture and smiled, his anxious energy almost completely disappearing. He'd found something to vent on. “Sure kid. Got mine right here.”

Roman flung his cape in front of him and manifested a gelatinous shield around himself as the leader pulled out his gun and fired several rounds at him. The tugs wouldn't see it. But it was there, and it caught the bullets slowing them down until they were harmless, making them fall to the ground when they met with the fabric.

“Well now you just pissed me off. This is brand new!” he complained as he dropped both cape and shield.

“I suppose you won't surrender peacefully?” he deduced. The criminals all readied their weapons. Seriously? Did they not get that he was essentially bulletproof?

He sighed as he took off his cape and hung it on a water pipe that ran down the side of the building.

“Fine,” he sighed and then he amped up his speed a bit while shielding himself from the rain of bullets heading his way. He used the gelatin shield because he didn't want to risk the bullets ricocheting and injuring someone. Especially the gifted he was sure was still watching the whole thing.

It wasn't hard to disarm the criminals. He even managed to knock a few to the ground. But there were at least two who'd gone down without him even touching them. And he would’ve sworn he saw a figure move between him and a tug once or twice to block a blow. He couldn't really see the other hero. It was an odd sensation. But he could feel his presence better and better and soon he was adapting his moves to those of the Phantom. Together they took out the whole group. Though to the villains it would seem like he'd done it by himself. He stood victorious over the leader, a pile of disassembled guns behind him and sirens lighting up the alley.

He twisted his foot to show off his white boot with gold accents. “So… how does it feel to get your butt kicked by a guy in heels?” he wondered playfully before looking up towards the presence and winking in acknowledgment.

“Good job Dream Prince. We've got it from here.” Roman turned to the cops and bowed to them

“It's my pleasure to be of assistance to the police of this fine city.” Then, while turning around, he made a gesture that could be taken as a ‘goodbye’, or as a ‘follow me’.

He was glad to notice that the presence seemed to follow him. He found a fire escape and floated himself to the roof it led to.

He turned to face his hopefully soon to be partner in crime fighting.

He could hear the clanging of someone climbing the metal fire escape. And while he still couldn't quite make out the figure that reached the roof he saw his reflection in a pool of water left behind by the rain earlier that day.

An unfortunate weakness, but so long as no one knew, no one would be looking for it. In order to be a hero, no one could know Phantom really existed. Was that why the authorities were kept at a distance? Why Phantom never made introductions despite having crossed paths at least once before?

He stepped forward with a bow. “Greetings Phantom. I must thank you for the assistance. Both just now and three months ago. I am Dream Prince, he/him if you please. A pleasure to officially meet you.”

A distorted chuckle made him look up. He could see Phantom much better now. He was dressed in Male coded clothes, though that was no guarantee. The hero outfit was simple. A black t-shirt, boots and denims, paired with a black coat that reached down to his calves and had the collar popped up. He looked really cool… but Roman couldn't make sense of his head. He was looking right at him he could see it, but his brain couldn't identify a thing.

It was so weird.

“Phantom huh?” His voice was a strange deep echoing sound. The distortion was pretty spooky if he was honest, but he wasn't afraid. Phantom was on his side.

“Sure you can call me that. He/him… mind telling me what that was about? I thought you officials weren't let of your leash unless you could be responsible enough to not get yourself killed?”

Roman cocked his brow. “Says the guy who has half the criminal underworld out for his blood,” he reminded him. Phantom looked away. Clearly he knew Roman had a point.

“Do you have something against the program?” His tone had been oddly bitter.

“No I…” Phantom took in a deep breath. “Sorry, I’m just pissed at the cops for sending you, I guess.” He sure sounded upset. And Roman could understand that. Here Phantom was, doing his part and all the cops could do in return was bother him At least as far as the young vigilante could tell. But then why…?

“Yet you chose to follow me up here?” Roman pressed. That didn’t make any sense. Phantom had shaken off his ‘babysits’ before. What made Roman special?

“Um… Well… I just…” Phantom stammered. Roman wondered why. Was he bad with confrontation? Social interaction in general? Or had Roman said something that hit a nerve somehow?

“You interrupted my stake out!” Phantom blurted out all of a sudden.

“Do you know how long it takes to work my way up the ranks? First I have to find a low level runner, then I follow him to his boss, that guy to his and so up the ladder I go. I was getting real close to the big guy of this group. And now…” Oh… Well Roman could understand how that would be frustrating.

“I apologize,” he said sincerely with a small bow. “I merely intended to help. They were talking about killing you.” Surely he could understand that he could not stand by after hearing that.

“And now there is a price on your head! The leader of that little club is like two steps away from the big boss. They won’t be happy with you taking him in.”

Well… He had a point. But Roman had back up. It would be rather stupid of the mob to come after a hero with government sanctioning. And these guys would go behind bars for a long time right? “You got dirt on them?” he asked. If the guns weren’t enough then surely whatever Phantom had gleaned from his stakeouts would be sufficient. Right?

“Yes… But that’s not the point. They have no clue about me. Not really. But you are out in the open. This is not your kind of mission Royal pain.” Oh, he had nicknames huh? It was an insult, but Roman didn’t mind witty banter. Especially if it came from a place of care. And Roman was starting to think it did.

“And now that you are out, you can’t expect me to hold your hand any longer…”

Roman crossed his arms and smirked catching the implications of what Phantom just said.

“You’ve been looking out for me all summer huh?” he guessed.

Phantom scoffed and probably rolled his eyes. While Roman still couldn’t quite see it, he would bet his entire Disney collection on it.

“It’s not like I came looking for you.” Phantom snapped. And Roman believed him.

“Still… Thank you…” he was going to say more but then he heard a beep in his ear followed by a loud voice. “Prince! Answer this instant!”

“Ow!” Roman exclaimed annoyed, reflexively reaching for his ear though it wouldn’t help much. He pressed the button to talk to BS. “One. Loud. Two. Rude! I am in the middle of something! And did you seriously remotely reactivate my com?”

He would demand a new com that couldn’t do that or he’d refuse to wear one period. What if he needed to concentrate right now? What if he was in the middle of tense negotiations or being told delicate information. As a matter of fact. This situation right here was delicate. One wrong move and Phantom might bolt. And he might not come along next time he found him. And even if he couldn’t get him to join the program, he wanted Phantom to know he had an ally in him. Someone to talk to, confide in, count on if he didn’t have anyone else.

“You do not turn off your com while going into a gunfight! It’s moronic to go in alone!”

Roman rolled his eyes. “I am fine, not a scratch on me.” He wasn’t going to mention that he wasn’t alone exactly. Phantom had never consented to BS and the rest of his team knowing.

“I’ll call you when I’m done here.” And this time he took the com out of his ear. BS could yell at him later.

“Sorry,” he sighed. “My mentor is… intense at times.” In a cold and distant way.

“Mentor?” Phantom asked.

“One of the people helping me practice my powers, test my limits. Comes with the program. It’s not just a babysit and a nice suit,” he joked casually.

“Oh…” Phantom’s tone was odd. It made Roman want to come closer and offer comfort. He didn’t though. They weren’t at that point yet. Not by a long shot.

“Listen, I admit I was sent by the chief. But I didn’t come here to recruit you. I wanted to thank you and tell you… If you ever need someone to talk to, to help you figure something out… I’d be more than happy to oblige. No need to tell me your name or anything about yourself,” he vowed as he reached out his hand. Phantom hesitated for a few moments before bridging the distance and offering his own.

Roman grinned and grabbed it for a firm shake. “I’ll see you next time,” he assured his fellow hero before letting go and turning around to finish his patrol.

Progress was made. Not much, but still.

He just might’ve made a new friend.

@cirishere @hestianerd1 @moonlightshow00 @naturallyunstablegamer @alias290 @meowthefluffy @frida0043 @angelic-cali @selenechris @theblackveilinreverse

End of this part meet Virgil and read his story.

Masterlist

#ts sides #sanders sides #Roman Sanders #Virgil Sanders #Prinxiety #Patton Sanders #Logan Sanders #Remus Sanders #Hero Au #Janus Sanders #fic

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 years ago

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 23, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first humans ever to land, and then to walk, on the moon.

They were part of the Apollo program, designed to put an American man on the moon. Their spacecraft launched on July 16 and landed back on Earth in the Pacific Ocean July 24, giving them eight days in space, three of them orbiting the moon 30 times. Armstrong and Aldrin spent almost 22 hours on the moon’s surface, where they collected soil and rock samples and set up scientific equipment, while the pilot of the command module, Michael Collins, kept the module on course above them.

The American space program that created the Apollo 11 spaceflight grew out of the Cold War. The year after the Soviet Union launched an artificial satellite in 1957, Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to demonstrate American superiority by sending a man into space. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy moved the goalposts, challenging the country to put a man on the moon and bring him safely back to earth again. He told Congress: “No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”

A year later, in a famous speech at Rice University in Texas, Kennedy tied space exploration to America’s traditional willingness to attempt great things. “Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it—we mean to lead it,” he said.

[T]here is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people…. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills….”

But the benefits to the country would not only be psychological, he said. “The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school.” The effort would create “a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs…new demands in investment and skilled personnel,” as the government invested billions in it.

“To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money…. I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us.”

Seven years later, people across the country gathered around television sets to watch Armstrong step onto the moon and to hear his famous words: “That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

President Richard Nixon called the astronauts from the White House: “I just can't tell you how proud we all are of what you have done,” he said. “For every American, this has to be the proudest day of our lives…. Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man's world…. For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one…in their pride in what you have done, and…in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth.”

And yet, by the time Armstrong and Aldrin were stepping onto the moon in a grand symbol of the success of the nation’s moon shot, Americans back on earth were turning against each other. Movement conservatives who hated post–World War II business regulation, taxation, and civil rights demanded smaller government and championed the idea of individualism, while those opposed to the war in Vietnam increasingly distrusted the government.

After May 4, 1970, when the shooting of college students at Kent State University in Ohio badly weakened Nixon’s support, he began to rally supporters to his side with what his vice president, Spiro Agnew, called “positive polarization.” They characterized those who opposed the administration as anti-American layabouts who simply wanted a handout from the government. The idea that Americans could come together to construct a daring new future ran aground on the idea that anti-war protesters, people of color, and women were draining hardworking taxpayers of their hard-earned money.

Ten years later, former actor and governor of California Ronald Reagan won the White House by promising to defend white taxpayers from people like the “welfare queen,” who, he said, “has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veteran’s benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands.” Reagan promised to champion individual Americans, getting government, and the taxes it swallowed, off people’s backs.

“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” Reagan said in his Inaugural Address. Americans increasingly turned away from the post–World War II teamwork and solidarity that had made the Apollo program a success, and instead focused on liberating individual men to climb upward on their own terms, unhampered by regulation or taxes.

This week, on July 20, 2021, 52 years to the day after Armstrong and Aldrin stepped onto the moon, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and four passengers spent 11 minutes in the air, three of them more than 62 miles above the earth, where many scientists say space starts. For those three minutes, they were weightless. And then the pilotless spaceship returned to Earth.

Traveling with Bezos were his brother, Mark; 82-year-old Wally Funk, a woman who trained to be an astronaut in the 1960s but was never permitted to go to space; and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen from the Netherlands, whose father paid something under $28 million for the seat.

Bezos’s goal, he says, is not simply to launch space tourism, but also to spread humans to other planets in order to grow beyond the resource limits on earth. The solar system can easily support a trillion humans,” Bezos has said. “We would have a thousand Einsteins and a thousand Mozarts and unlimited—for all practical purposes—resources and solar power and so on. That's the world that I want my great-grandchildren's great-grandchildren to live in.”

Ariane Cornell, astronaut-sales director of Bezos’s space company Blue Origin, live-streamed the event, telling the audience that the launch “represents a number of firsts.” It was “[t]he first time a privately funded spaceflight vehicle has launched private citizens to space from a private launch site and private range down here in Texas. It’s also a giant first step towards our vision to have millions of people living and working in space.”

In 2021, Bezos paid $973 million in taxes on $4.22 billion in income while his wealth increased by $99 billion, making his true tax rate 0.98%. After his trip into the sky, he told reporters: “I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this…. Seriously, for every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart very much. It’s very appreciated.”

—-

Notes:

https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-space-flight-passenger-revealed-wally-funk-2021-7

https://www.businessinsider.com/blue-origin-auction-spacecraft-jeff-bezos-winner-seat-astronaut-2021-6

https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-launches-to-space-blue-origin-first-human-spaceflight-2021-7

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/06/08/wealthy-irs-taxes/

https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-thanks-amazon-customers-for-paying-trip-to-space-2021-7

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[From comments: “When you’ve been able to amass your money by not paying your fair share of taxes, your “privately funded” venture is a diversion of rightfully public funds. This new space race is publicly funded, but absent public controls and alignment. Socialize the expenses, privatize the profits.”

“After May 4, 1970, when the shooting of college students at Kent State University in Ohio badly weakened Nixon’s support, he began to rally supporters to his side with what his vice president, Spiro Agnew, called “positive polarization."Combined with the unsubtle racism of Nixon's Southern Strategy, thus began the decades long Republican policy of dividing Americans against each other that has led us to what we have today; two Americas that reside in different universes, and our national wealth controlled by a handful of unelected, supremely, in some cases psychotically, self-centered white men.Jeff Bezos could not have existed in Kennedy's America. We must make that so again.”

#political #polarity #division #greed #Heather Cox Richardson #history #space race #common good #Letters From An American #wealth inequality #fair share

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kurokoros · 5 years ago

Text

some like it hot (3/4) todoroki x reader x bakugou

Rated: M (smut)

Words: 8.5K

Pairing: shouto todoroki x fem!reader x katsuki bakugou

Summary: A Charity Fundraiser leads to you going home with not one, but two of the most popular Pro Heroes of your generation. They say some like it hot, and you certainly aren’t complaining.

AKA: a totally not self-indulgent threesome fic

Chapters: One | Two | Three | Four | AO3

AN: Only one chapter left after this!!!

warnings: semi-public makeouts, temperature play, teasing

Taglist: @kiaoizz, @sarahs-castle-of-clouds

You smooth out the silky fabric of your dress, biting your lip as you look down at yourself, making sure everything is in place. While no stranger to dressing up for events like this, you’ve been especially nervous about tonight, taking painstaking measures to find a dress you liked and make sure everything is as close to perfect as you can get it.

Chalking it up to the short notice, you ignore the little voice in the back of your head calling you a filthy liar. All week you’ve been waiting for tonight, and now that it’s almost here, you’re beginning to realize you’ve run out of excuses not to make a move on a pair of certain Heroes. The thought is both exciting and nerve-wracking, but you still have an entire night to get through first. An incredibly chaotic night of socializing and making sure none of your high school friends do anything such as, but not limited to, starting fights (Bakugou), setting off explosions (also Bakugou), or getting shitfaced on champagne (Kaminari).

Deciding not to dwell on everything that could possibly go wrong tonight, you take a deep breath and throw your bedroom door open. “What do you think?” you ask the girls sitting on your couch as you step back into the living room. Two pairs of eyes immediately latch onto you, and you hold your breath, waiting for the verdict.

You needed all the help you could get today, and who better to ask for fashion advice than two of your favorite ladies?

They react accordingly.

Mina gasps and nearly falls off the couch as she lurches forward with wide eyes. “Damn, girl, you look hot!” She makes a show of assessing you, dark eyes roaming over your silver dress and the places where it clings to you perfectly, sleeveless and cut with a deep v-neck.

While her reaction is more subdued, Momo’s smile is no less genuine when she sees what you’re wearing, and her lips twitch in clear amusement by the way Mina practically throws herself at you. “You look lovely,” she compliments, analyzing you. “The color brings out your eyes. And that dress is a good fit for you. It shows off your figure nicely.”

Mina is significantly less tactful.

“No bra?” Mina hums as she circles around you, eyeing the low swoop of your backless dress as a catlike smile spreads across her face. As she comes to a stop in front of you, she wiggles her eyebrows. “Very sexy,” she continues. “Classy! But definitely sexy. Bold too. I know a pair of certain someone’s that’ll like that.”

The blatant teasing makes you flush, and you huff in annoyance. “I already told you, I’m not thinking about that tonight.” Another lie. It’s the only thing you’ve been able to think about for the past week. Even more so since the other day.

The wicked smile on Mina’s face only grows. “Doesn’t mean they won’t be,” she practically sings. “Both of them already eye-fuck you all the time, but with this dress? Oof. Good luck!”

The wave of arousal that floods through you is as embarrassing as it is hot, and you already know you’re in for a long night. “Mina!”

Momo is quick to pull the cackling girl out of your reach before you can do something like strangle her. She sits Mina back down on the couch and smiles at you again, this time reassuring. “I’ll make sure she behaves tonight,” she promises.

The glare you’re throwing Mina softens when you turn to Momo, and you sigh, resisting the urge to rake your fingers through your carefully done hair. “Thank you. You’re a queen,” you say, making Momo blush faintly.

“So, is everything ready for tonight?”

Mina snickers at the hurried change in subject.

“Almost,” you tell her. “There are a few last minute things we have to take care of, but so far, everything is running smoothly.” Well, as smoothly as anything Pro Hero related can be. The hard part hasn’t even started yet. “Izuku should be picking me up anytime now so we can head over to the venue. You know how involved he likes to be.”

Smiling, Momo nods. “I’m sure everything will be fine,” she tells you, clasping her hands together in her lap. Already, you can feel yourself beginning to calm down at her gentle words. “You’ve been working very hard this week, so try to enjoy yourself tonight. You deserve to have fun after all of the planning you’ve done.”

If you weren’t painfully in love with two hot-headed idiots and she didn’t have a steady girlfriend, you’d marry Momo right now.

Alas. A pout forms on your face as you think about how tonight is probably going to go. “I wish.” You sigh. “You know how events like this can get. Someone has to play babysitter.” The last time the former students of Class 1-A were left unchecked at a massive event, a table burst into flames. You may not have proof of who did it, but you do have your suspects.

With a shake of your head, you smooth down the front of your dress one last time. “I’ll be right back,” you tell the pair sitting on your couch before hurrying back to your room. There’s still a few more things you need to get done before you leave.

You’ve just finished putting in an earring when you hear someone step into your room behind you. Glancing over your shoulder in the mirror, you spot Kyouka standing awkwardly in the doorway behind you. One of her earphone jacks is wound around her finger as she twirls it nervously. “Kyouka!” You smile as her eyes rise to meet your own. “Where’d you go?” you ask as you pick up your other earring, fiddling with it.

She bites her lip. “Denki called me,” she murmurs back, shrugging. When you nod in understanding, she sighs and takes a step further into your room, quietly closing the door behind her. “Hey… can we talk?”

Her unusually hesitant tone makes you freeze up. “Sure. What’s up?” You force your voice to stay steady, but fumble a little while putting in your earring. Whatever she has to say, it’s obvious you aren’t going to like it. Kyouka very rarely sugarcoats anything.

If Kaminari already did something stupid you’re going to go ballistic.

A sick knot forms in your stomach and you can practically feel the blood drain from your complexion as you’re faced with a million and one possibilities for things that have already potentially gone wrong.

It’s not until you turn around to face her directly that she continues. “I probably should have brought this up earlier, but you’ve been hard to track down lately.” Kyouka stops twirling her earphone jack and crosses her arms instead, leaning back against the door. “You know how Denki and I have weekly double dates with Mina and Kiri, right?”

“Yeah.” There’s a clear tinge of suspicion in your tone as you wait for her to continue. Your eyes narrow as you stare at Kyouka, trying to get a better read on her. She doesn’t seem apologetic like you’d expect her to be if this was about Kaminari. Instead she just seems… awkward.

A frown forms on her lips. “The other day, it was Denki’s turn to pick the place, and we went to some bar. Bakugou came with us because he was pissed about something. Kirishima wouldn’t tell us what exactly, but he mentioned that Bakugou dragged you off somewhere to talk.”

Your eyes widen as you realize what day she’s talking about. But that doesn’t make any sense. Izuku, Shouto, and Katsuki were supposed to be going out together that night. And Izuku didn’t mention anything about Katsuki bailing on him the other day at work.

“Kyouka, what are you…?” You leave the question hanging, not sure what you want to ask her.

She fidgets again. “Okay, try not to get mad at her, but Mina had a lot to drink and—”

The obnoxious sound of your ringtone for Izuku going off in your purse cuts her off.

“Shit.” You scoop your bag off of your dresser and fumble for your phone. “Sorry, it’s Izuku, I have to take this.” Offering Kyouka an apologetic smile, you finally manage to grab your still ringing phone, a dorky picture of Izuku smiling back at you.

Her eyes open wide. “Wait!”

But it’s too late. You’re already accepting the call and pressing your phone against your ear. “Hello?” you ask as you carefully tuck your phone between your shoulder and your ear, your eyes darting around in search of the strappy heels you chose for the night.

The chipper voice that greets you isn’t Izuku, but you aren’t surprised. “Hey!” Ochako practically sings from the other end of the line. “Izuku and I just got here! We’re waiting for you out front!” Izuku mumbles something in the background that’s too quiet for you to hear clearly, but it makes Ochako giggle cutely. “He says there’s no need to rush, but he wants to get to the venue as soon as possible.”

“You are?” Finally, you find your shoes sitting beside the door and sigh. “Okay. I’ll be down in just a minute. Thanks!” After Ochako chirps out a “see you soon!”, you hang up and smile apologetically at your friend. “Sorry, Kyouka, I have to go.” Scooping up your heels, you shove your phone into your clutch, a flurry of movement as you grab everything you’ll need to get you through this fundraiser. “I’ll see you at the gala, right? Tell me about whatever Mina did then. I’m sure everything will work out!”

Part of you feels bad for bailing midway through the conversation, but if it’s just about Mina, you’re almost positive everything will be fine. The girl may be a bit of a hot mess, but she tends to get herself out of trouble just as easily as she gets into it. Besides, there are a million other things you need to worry about right now.

Kyouka whirls around as you open your bedroom door, staring at your back with wide eyes. “No, wait, this is—” She tries again to make you listen, but you don’t hear her over the sound of Mina’s loud chattering coming from the living room.

“I'm leaving!” you call out to Mina and Momo as you struggle to slip on your shoes, hopping on one foot towards your apartment door. Frowning, you glance at your closet. Will it be cold enough for a jacket tonight? Should you risk it? Fuck it. “Lock up before you guys leave, okay?”

Mina twists around on the couch, practically draping herself across the back as she pouts at you. “No! Don’t go!”

“We’ll see you soon!” Momo calls back with a short wave. “I’ll be sure to lock the doors and turn off the lights!”

“You’re a lifesaver, Momo!” And with that, you throw open your apartment door and dart into the hallway.

“Wait!” Kyouka watches in absolute horror as your apartment door shuts behind you before she can finish. She runs her fingers through her hair and sighs. “Fuck.”

You’re pleasantly surprised by the turnout for the fundraiser. The venue rented for the evening is packed, filled with hundreds of Pro Heroes, both current and retired, as well as other extremely important people, and you’re practically giddy with excitement as you see so many familiar faces. The anonymous donations being shared on a large screen haven’t stopped going up since the first hour of the night. Nothing has been set on fire or exploded. And no massive fights have broken out between any of the Pro Heroes in attendance. So far, you’re considering tonight to be a win on your part, and you’re trying not to think of all the ways things could change horrifically in a matter of seconds.

Not wanting to linger on the sour thought, you glance at the men chatting beside you, a pair of former classmates from the UA business department like you. Admittedly, you’re hardly paying attention to anything they’re saying, more interested in people-watching from where you’re perched against one of the far walls. Business is the last thing you want to talk about tonight after the last week of planning and stressful conversations with dozens of people.

Besides, it’s absolutely more fun watching Izuku flit around the room like a hummingbird on crack as he tries to greet everyone. Seiji is following him around like a shadow, in awe of all the Pro Heroes in the room. It was you who suggested that Izuku bring the intern to the fundraiser, mostly because you thought the experience would be good for him, but also because you knew it would be amusing to watch him wander around like an adorable little puppy for a few hours.

You regret nothing.

Hiding your smile behind your glass of champagne, your eyes slowly sweep across the room, searching for two people in particular, though you try not to be obvious. Predictably, you find a striking pair of ruby eyes already staring at you from across the ballroom floor, and like every other time you’ve caught him staring tonight, Katsuki makes a show out of letting his eyes wander down the length of your dress.

It seems any subtlety he had has disappeared since the other day. There’s absolutely no hint of shame as he practically undresses you with his eyes, heedless of Kirishima and Kaminari chatting on either side of him. And you’re definitely not complaining.

How could you, when you’re eyeing him with an equally shameless frequency? It’s almost unfair how good he looks, with his tousled, spiky hair and the suit he’s wearing almost casually. Your eyes keep drifting down to his chest without your permission, the tanned skin revealed by the unbuttoned collar of his shirt nothing short of enticing. Katsuki’s suit jacket is left unbuttoned, his shirt half undone, and his hair is a predictably spiky mess, but he still looks like a goddamn model, leaning against the wall with one hand shoved into his pocket.

With just one glance, you know you’re in trouble tonight. All week, it’s been a struggle to ignore the fact that you want to jump him and Shouto, and with the fundraiser in full swing, you’re running out of excuses not to.

The thought is ripped away when a very flustered Seiji nearly crashes right into you.

You gasp, moving your glass of champagne away from your body. “Shit, you okay, Nakamura?” Quickly looking the intern up and down, you don’t spot anything of immediate concern. Frowning, you stare at him as he blushes and avoids your gaze, more jittery than usual. “Did Kaminari give you champagne?” you demand, eyes narrowing dangerously as your gaze snaps across the room to where your idiot friend is. “I swear to god, if he gave you champagne after I explicitly told him not to, I’ll—”

Seiji’s eyes widen in alarm and he rapidly shakes his head. “All Might is here,” he tells you, voice hushed like it’s a secret and you aren’t aware of the guestlist for the event you basically planned yourself. The poor boy is practically vibrating with a terrible concoction of excitement and terror. He glances over his shoulder in the direction he came from, and you catch a glimpse of Izuku and All Might chatting.

Not for the first time, you seriously start to question if this nervous student is your boss’s secret child from an illicit affair.

Your tone is dry when you say, “I’m aware.”

Seiji glances between you and the pair of Pro Heroes a little ways away, still shuffling nervously on his feet. “What do I do?”

“Well, you could talk to him,” you suggest, like a hypocrite. Instead of solving your own love life crisis with words, you’ve settled for eye-fucking Katsuki from across the room, which isn’t exactly productive, but oh well. “Go on.” You give Seiji a little push. “He doesn’t bite. Besides, I’m sure he’d love to meet Midoriya’s favorite intern.”

“I’m his only intern,” Seiji reminds you, a pout on his face.

You roll your eyes and give him another nudge towards Izuku and All Might, walking with him until you’re close only a few feet away. “A win by default is still a win. Now, get to it.”

He shoots you a dubious look, but does what he’s told, slinking over to Izuku’s side. As soon as your boss catches sight of his intern, a smile breaks out across his face, and he’s quick to grab the poor boy and all but throw him into All Might’s waiting arms.

Snorting, you prepare to head back to your old classmates and resume staring at Katsuki from across the room like a horny teenager.

Cold fingertips press against your bare back and you jolt, arching away from the freezing touch with a soft gasp. “Hello, love,” a deep and familiar voice murmurs against the shell of your ear before you can start to panic. Lips brush against your skin, and you can feel them pull into a smile. The nickname makes your heart swell.

Forcing yourself to relax again, you lean into his side as your attention shifts away from your boss, his old teacher, and his very frazzled intern. “How long have you been here?” You tilt your head back to peer up at him, already leaning back so that your shoulder is pressing against his chest.

Shouto shrugs. “Not long,” he tells you. Those grey and turquoise eyes lock with yours, and he begins to draw slow circles on your back with his thumb. “I was running late.”

When you shiver, you aren’t sure if it’s because of the fact that he’s touching your bare skin or because he might as well be using his quirk on you. “Issue at the agency?” you ask, tilting your head a little more to get a better look at him.

Fuck, he looks good tonight. Like Katsuki, he’s gone for a simple, black suit and white shirt. But where Katsuki already looks disheveled with his jacket wide open and the top buttons of his dress-shirt left undone, Shouto is presentable in a way that has you wanting to make him disheveled. His jacket is fitted, a single button holding it together in the front. And his tie. What you’d do to grab that carefully pressed tie and yank him down to you.

A devilish smirk tugs at Shouto’s lips, like he knows exactly what you’re thinking. “Something like that,” he says. His fingertips slide up your back, tracing the length of your back. “You look beautiful tonight.” A lick of heat shoots straight down your spine as those bicolored eyes wander down your torso, like he’s drinking in the sight of you.

That look in his eyes paired with the gentle brush of his fingers on your back does something funny to you, makes you a little giddy.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” And then, because you’ve already had a glass of champagne and you’re feeling bold tonight, you actually do hook your fingers around the loop of his tie and give it a little tug. A low sound leaves the back of his throat, but Shouto comes willingly.

He dips his chin, close enough for you to feel the heat from his breath fanning over your lips. “Thank you,” he murmurs back to you, voice low and teasing.

A few people glance your way, looking between you and the Pro Hero curiously, but you ignore them all, too wrapped up in the man in front of you to notice the curious looks and a few whispers.

(Across the room, Katsuki hides a smirk behind the rim of his champagne glass, only half-listening to Kirishima and Kaminari chatting beside him. Shouto’s eyes flick away from you for just a second and meet Katsuki’s, red and turquoise clashing, but there’s no animosity this time.)

Shouto’s fingers twitch against your back, and then with a low groan, he leans down. “Still willing to be my human shield?” he murmurs to you.

For a moment, you’re confused, until you see a tall figure making his way through the crowd, a familiar flaming beard and mustache making you roll your eyes. If he sets anything on fire, you’re going to dump a bucket of water over the bastard’s head. “Of course,” you whisper back, plastering a smile on your face as you fiddle with your champagne flute.

“Good.” Shouto squeezes your hip in a silent thanks, and you try not to think about how good the contact feels. “Here he comes.”

“Shouto!” Endeavor calls out as soon as he spots his son. “There you are, boy. I’ve been—” He cuts off as soon as he sees you standing there as well, Shouto’s arm still wrapped firmly around your back.

You don’t even bother to hide your smirk at the look of distaste that crosses the older man’s face. Your smile is all teeth. “Endeavor!” you greet him before he can say anything else to his son. Mock enthusiasm is practically dripping from you, and you think you see Shouto trying to hide a smile from the corner of your eye. “Thank you so much for coming tonight. It means a lot to the public to see the faces of so many former Heroes at events like this.” Endeavor’s expression sours at the word “former”, and you decide to lay it on thick. “And I’m sure Deku greatly appreciates your support even in your retirement.”

Distaste drips from his every word. “I’m sure.” Endeavor’s turquoise eyes don’t spare you a second glance as he turns to Shouto with a meaningful look. There’s a demand there. Something that screams we need to talk, and Shouto’s grip on your waist tightens. He stands a little straighter, shoulders tense, and his lips twist into an angry line as he clenches his teeth.

Oh, but you aren’t done yet. Shifting so that you’re slightly in front of Shouto, you loudly bring Endeavor’s attention back to you. “How have you been? It’s been a while. I don’t think I’ve seen you since your retirement party.”

Shouto squeezes your hip again.

Endeavor looks at you like he’d rather be anywhere else, but with dozens of other people nearby and cameras sure to be watching, there’s nothing he can do aside from play nice.

And that’s how you, in your attempt to take your role of human shield very seriously, end up chatting idly with Endeavor about work, the charity event, and whatever the hell he’s been doing in his free time now that he’s no longer a full time Pro Hero. Neither of you give a shit about the conversation, but you’re both too stubborn to end it first, and Endeavor is clearly waiting for you to leave so that he can talk to his son alone.

Yeah, not gonna happen.

The conversation is taking a turn towards the recent tsunami when Shouto shifts his hand.

A small sound escapes you as those cold fingers brush against your naked back again. The palm of his hand is pressed low on your spine, the tip of one finger barely teasing the low hem of your dress. Whatever you’d been about to say to Endeavor sticks in your throat, your brain stuttering to a halt as Shouto’s thumb lazily strokes your bare skin.

Your breathy sigh is too quiet for Endeavor to hear, but Shouto’s gaze snaps over to you. When he sees you shiver, his eyes widen. “We’ll talk later, Endeavor,” he cuts off his father, eyes still on you.

Shouto doesn’t stay to hear Endeavor respond, and the older man’s protests are lost in the crowd as Shouto carefully guides you away. His hand is still on your back, and his breath tickles your ear as he leans down. “Come with me?” After you nod, he adjusts his grip on you, casually leading you out of the ballroom and away from the crowd.

You end up letting him pull you into a low-lit room that you think might be someone’s office. It’s only then that he lets you go, and you shut the door behind you as he crosses the small space. You follow, but stop when you reach the desk centered in the room. Setting down your clutch and the empty champagne glass you’ve been holding, you lean back against the desk and watch him with a small frown.

“Is something wrong?” you ask, eyes following him as he comes to a stop with his back to you. “Shouto?” Did the brief conversation with Endeavor upset him this much? You don’t voice the question, waiting for him to speak.

His head snaps up and he looks at you over his shoulder. There’s something in his eyes that you can’t put a finger on, but it’s gone as suddenly as it was there. “No,” he says, turning around to face you. “Nothing’s wrong. I just…” he trails off, taking a step closer to you. “Thank you, for earlier.”

“It was nothing,” you tell him, smiling when he comes to a stop in front of you, near enough for you to reach out and touch him, but you force your hands to stay still at your sides, not wanting to scare him off. Maybe it’s the lighting or the proximity, but all you want to do is feel him closer.

As if he can hear your silent request, Shouto moves impossibly closer, until you can feel the warmth radiating from him. “It wasn’t nothing.” The words are firm and your eyes find him in the dark. His eyes are softer than you’ve ever seen them. “Not to me.”

Heart practically in your throat, your mouth goes dry as he places his hands on either side of your hips, pinning you between him and the desk behind you just like he did the other day in his office. “Sho?” His name comes out shaky, breathy, and the look in his eyes is filled with so much affection that it almost hurts to stare at for too long.

You’re reaching for him without a second thought. The palms of your hands come to rest on either side of his face, and he sighs as you pull him down. It tickles when his bangs brush against your skin as his forehead is pressed to yours, and your mouth quirks upwards at the sensation. Shouto’s breath fans across your lips, his nose bumps against yours, and your chest squeezes like he has a vice grip around your heart.

And maybe he does.

“I should have kissed you the other day,” he tells you, quietly so that you almost miss it. One of his hands grasps your hip, pulling you even closer. “I wanted to.” Your lips part wordlessly at his confession. Shouto tilts his head to press his lips against the palm of your hand. “There’s a lot I wanted to do.”

Your mouth is dry. “Oh?” you say, for lack of anything else. It’s all you can do to keep a stupid smile off your face. He’s always had a way of surprising you.

A chaste kiss is pressed to your cheek as Shouto hums, and it would be sweet if his lips didn’t brush against you ear as he says, “I wanted to bend you over the desk and make you beg me to fuck you.” The hand that squeezes around your hip only punctuates his statement. “Would you have liked that, love?”

He leans away from you, and your hands fall to his chest, grasping at the lapels of his jacket and his tie, anything to keep you grounded. The dim light in the room casts shadows over his face, but his eyes are bright and trained on yours, watching your reaction to the question.

Your thighs rub together beneath your dress in a poor attempt to soothe the ache already beginning to grow there. There’s no way you could deny just how much you would have liked that, considering how you thought about it, too. “Shouto,” you choke out his name, practically gasping it as his thumb brushes against your hip, causing ice to shoot through your veins. The silky tie he’s wearing is crushed between your fingers. You swear you can feel his heartbeat beneath your trembling fingers.

“You sound so pretty moaning my name,” he murmurs. His right hand snakes around your hips to press against your bare back, cold and hot all at once, and it’s too much for you.

“I—fuck.” The grip you have on his tie tightens further, and you yank him down to you without a second of hesitation, desperate to feel him against you.

And then your mouths meet in a kiss that’s sweeter than you imagined; it steals your breath, and you know the taste of his lips will linger on yours for days. Shouto’s palm presses against the small of your back, gently curving your chest against his until there’s no space left between you. His other hand trails up your spine slowly as your lips move against his, settling into a gentle rhythm.

Shouto cups the back of your neck. His hands slide over your bare shoulders, grip your hips, pull you closer and closer until there’s no space left between. You make a quiet sound of protest as his lips leave yours, only to gasp when his hands hook beneath your thighs and lift. You go willingly, gripping his shoulders as he sets you down on the desk. The silver dress you’re wearing is hiked up your hips, neither of you caring if the fabric is wrinkled, and the moan you make when his hands grab your thighs with wildly different temperatures is quickly cut off by a more heated kiss.

One of your legs loops around his hip to pull him closer, and you sigh once you feel his torso pressed against your own, little space left between you and him. Shouto’s hands smooth across your bare legs, drinking in the feel of your soft skin beneath his palms where he hasn’t been allowed to touch you before. The flashes of heated skin and frozen fingers have gasps and sighs spilling from your mouth, every sound quickly swallowed by him. His thumb brushes against the hem of your panties, and you fumble with the top button of his shirt, wanting nothing more than to rip the fabric away.

His mouth leaves yours with a lewd, wet sound, and then his teeth are scraping across the side of your throat, his tongue flicking out to taste you. Your tilt your head for him, your eyes fluttering shut as he presses butterfly kisses from your neck to your exposed collarbone, then slowly works his way back up to your cheek.

Another chaste kiss is stolen, and you can’t fight back a giggle. Shouto smiles against your mouth.

It’s a flurry of motion as the two of you kiss in the half-lit room, the only sounds the heavy breathing shared between the two of you and the gentle thrum of muffled music coming from the ballroom. Your hands are shaky when they cup the back of his neck and play with his hair. Your heart pounds in your chest, threatening to leap straight into his.

“Shouto,” you gasp against his ear as his lips find a sensitive spot just below your jaw. Deciding he likes the sound, he nips at the spot and lets his tongue draw slow circles over it until you’re squirming. Nonsensical praises and please keep falling from your mouth as his mouth meets your neck and sucks. He seems determined to work a hickey onto your throat, teething at you until your nails are raking down the back of his jacket.

Your eyes snap open wide as the door to the office clicks and is shoved open unceremoniously. Your stomach drops. A jolt of panic shoots straight through you, but Shouto doesn’t let you turn your head to investigate, apparently unconcerned with whoever just walked in on the two of you. In fact, it only seems to spur him on as he nibbles at your neck.

Flustered, you’re about to push him away when the new arrival speaks.

“Starting without me, you icy hot bastard?”

Oh. It’s Katsuki. Excellent. You aren’t sure what you should be feeling considering one of the guys you like just walked in on you making out with the other guy you like, but you’re pretty sure that hot burst of arousal that goes right to your core isn’t it. Though, you’re certainly not complaining.

Neither is the man currently dragging his tongue across the hickey on your neck.

Shouto nips at your throat one final time before pulling back. “You were taking too long,” he tells Katsuki before blowing cold air against the wet skin on your neck. Shuddering, your back arches, your chest pressing tighter against his. A pleased hum leaves Shouto at your reaction, and his right hand slides up your side to palm your breast as he stares at the pretty little mark he left on you.

The cold thumb that brushes against your nipple has you mewling, and he squeezes the thigh you have hooked around his hip.

“Got caught up with that damn nerd,” Katsuki grumbles, kicking the door shut again. You hear the lock twist, and Shouto finally lets you look at Katsuki. Hungry, ruby eyes meet yours and a roguish smile crosses his face. “How ya doin’, angel?” he asks casually, raking his eyes down your quivering body and settling on your thighs where Shouto has your dress hiked around your hips. His tongue sweeps across his lower lip before he pushes away from the door and walks towards you and Shouto.

You should probably stop Shouto as his lips move to your jaw and his fingers slip beneath your dress to touch your breast directly, but those freezing fingers pinching and rolling over your nipple are making it hard to think. “I—I’m good,” you tell him, watching Katsuki until he disappears behind you. “Want to let me in on whatever it is you guys are up to?”

By now, you have a pretty good idea what’s going on, but you still want to make sure that all three of you are on the same page here. It dawns on you suddenly exactly what Kyouka was trying to tell you earlier, and you aren’t sure if you should be pissed at Mina or thank her later.

The pair of hands that grab your hips have you leaning towards a massive thank you. “Come on, sweetcheeks.” Katsuki scoffs and leans down to nip at your ear. “You’re smarter than that.” Greedy fingers squeeze your hips before he lets go of you with one hand.

“Maybe I want to hear you say it,” you huff as he grabs your hair none too gently and tilts your head to his liking. Katsuki’s lips meet your jaw at the same time Shouto tugs at your nipple again. The cold has you painfully sensitive already, and you can’t help but squirm between them. Your fingernails drag against Shouto’s back and he grunts in approval.

Katsuki just clicks his tongue. “You wanna fuck or talk, babe?”

Someone’s chatty tonight. You roll your eyes at his sass. Meanwhile, Shouto is making better use of his mouth, content to let you and Katsuki bicker as his lips peruse your skin.

Because you really don’t want to give Katsuki the satisfaction of shutting you up, you opt to keep talking. “Mina told you what I said, didn’t she?” you ask as he places a series of rough, wet kisses along your jawline. “And, apparently, you told Sho.” At the sound of his name, Shouto nips at the swell of your breast and spreads your legs wider until his hips are pressed flush to yours.

“You complainin’?”

“No.” You arch your back and press your chest more firmly into Shouto’s palm when Katsuki’s hand reaches down to grope your ass. Figures he’d be an ass man. “But I was going to wait until after the party to bring this up.” You’re a little surprised they managed to coordinate this in such a short timeframe, but you know how determined they can be when they put their minds to something.

Apparently, all it takes to get them to work together is the thought of a threeseome. That’s something you’ll definitely be filing away for later.

Cheeky bastard that he is, Katsuki latches onto that after. “Oh?” he drawls, smirking against your cheek. “You been thinking about this awhile?”

“All week,” you admit with a gasp as Shouto heats up the hand on your thigh and begins to knead. Your hips roll forward against his, and he swears and mumbles your name under his breath. “Thank the girls for that. They’re the ones that told me to go for it. I was content to just keep pining.”

Katsuki buries his face against your hair and gives your ass a squeeze. “Shoulda said something sooner, babe. I’ve been thinking about fucking this tight little ass for years.”

White hot arousal coils in your belly as the admission hits you right between your thighs. You shiver at the thought.

“Of course, you have. Pervert.”

When Katsuki chuckles, it’s deep and mocking. “I’m not the one that wants to get fucked by two cocks, angel,” he whispers in your ear. Before you can fire something back at him, your head is pulled back roughly and his lips find yours in a bruising kiss.

Unlike with Shouto, there’s nothing gentle about the way Katsuki’s mouth moves against yours. From the beginning, it’s nothing but intense passion that has you moaning against him. He takes control of the kiss quickly, all teeth and tongue as he latches onto your bottom lip and tugs. He gropes at your ass again, pulling your dress out of the way to grab at your bare skin. The waistband of your panties snap against your skin as he slips a finger beneath the silk and lace, and when you gasp, his tongue slips into your mouth to taste you.

It’s almost too much happening at once between Katsuki at your back and Shouto mouthing at your collarbones. Both of his hands are on your thighs now, his fingertips drawing nonsensical shapes on your already sensitive skin, the temperature alternating rapidly between hot and cold.

When Katsuki finally pulls away so that you can breathe, you grab Shouto’s shoulders with shaky hands, trying to steady yourself. His gaze flicks up to meet yours. You wet your lips and he follows the movement with his eyes. “Shouto. Are you okay with all of this?”

Slowly, Shouto pulls his mouth from your breast. His palms smooth over your thighs as he straightens to his full height, staring down at you. “Are you?” he asks softly, his right hand leaving your thigh to cradle your cheek. As he watches your expression, his thumb traces the high point of your cheekbone.

Nodding, you let your hands slide down to his chest, where you fist your fingers in his shirt, uncaring as you wrinkle the fabric. “Yeah,” you whisper, the room suddenly quiet. Katsuki has stopped moving behind you, listening carefully to what you’re saying. “I want you. Both of you.”

Shouto’s small smile at your admission is blinding. “Good.”

He leans down to press a chaste kiss to your temple, then your cheek, and you giggle as he finally finds your lips. Katsuki scoffs and mumbles something that sounds like “saps”, but you can hear the fondness behind the half-hearted insult.

Shouto’s kiss is hungrier than before, his lips hot and dominating against your own. A trail of fire follows in his wake, and you tremble as his thumb brushes the juncture of your thigh and pelvis, just inches from where you want him. The hand cradling your face drops back to your thigh, holding your legs open easily. You can feel him against your thigh, hard and hot, and you tilt your chin to kiss him harder, your lips moving eagerly beneath his. An ache forms in the pit of your stomach as he parts your lips to kiss you deeper.

One of your hands disentangles from his shirt and slides to the back of his neck, where you grip his red and white hair and pull. A low sound tears from his chest and he grunts against your lips, the noise smothered. Your thighs clench around his hips.

Behind you, Katsuki begins to move again, his hands running over your naked back and slipping beneath your dress to squeeze your waist. A whimper falls from your lips as Katsuki suddenly gropes your breasts and rolls your nipples between his fingers. He chuckles at your reaction and removes his hands just as quickly. Instead, his mouth finds the back of your neck and shoulders, his teeth immediately finding a spot that has you shuddering in delight.

As Shouto starts to pull away, you jolt forward to steal another kiss, nipping at his bottom lip. The low moan that escapes from Shouto as your teeth press against his skin is nothing short of beautiful, and your tongue slides across his lip to soothe the sting.

Before you can lean back, Shouto breathes a teasing stream of cold air into your mouth that chills you from the inside out.

The cold is chased away by the hot fingers that stroke the front of your damp panties. Another choked moan falls from you as Shouto’s thumb traces slow circles around your clit. “You’re so wet already,” he murmurs, watching as your back arches and your face twists with pleasure. Your thighs twitch around him.

The air in the room is stifling and warm, and it’s hard to breathe between Katsuki sucking a bruise against your neck and Shouto’s fingers working magic between your thighs. You barely manage to choke out, “Like either of you can talk.”

You roll your hips against Shouto’s for good measure, feeling the outline of his cock through his dress pants. Katsuki is no better with his hard length pressing up against your ass.

Shouto’s thumb presses harder against your clit and you gasp. “Shouto!” You squirm against his fingers as he continues to tease your clit, chuckling at the frustrated sound you make. You’re practically dripping already. “Please.”

“Please what?” he goads, continuing his slow torture on your sensitive nerve endings.

If you didn’t know better, you’d think he was trying to kill you right now. Each touch is only making you more aroused. The knot in your stomach keeps coiling tighter and tighter, and you’re almost embarrassed to think about how close you are to coming already.

Shouto’s teasing is cut short by a very impatient Katsuki. “Oi, Icy Hot,” he growls as his mouth rips away from your neck. Red eyes glare at Shouto over your shoulder, and Shouto’s gaze slides to Katsuki’s in annoyance. “Hurry up and fucking do something or I will.”

To punctuate his statement, Katsuki reaches around you to squeeze your breast.

Rolling his eyes, Shouto ignores Katsuki and leans in so that his breath is fanning over your face. “We’re gonna make you feel good, love,” he says, just as the fingers rolling over your clit switch hands. The freezing temperature makes you cry out, your thighs trying to snap shut around Shouto’s arm, but you’re blocked by his hips and the strong hand that pins your leg to the desk.

“Damn right,” Katsuki chuckles behind you.

The next few minutes are a blur of hands and mouths. They’re always touching you: grabbing and squeezing your sides and hips, teeth nipping at your neck, chests pressing against you. It makes you dizzy with lust. In the haze settling around the three of you, you manage to tear open Shouto’s jacket and untuck his shirt. A button flies by and bounces off the desk, but none of you give it a second glance. A sigh leaves your lips as your hands slip beneath the hem of his shirt, skimming over the defined muscles of his torso that you’ve seen plenty of times but never gotten to touch.

It’s even better than you could have imagined.

A loud bang from outside the room is what causes the three of you to pull apart.

You’re panting, dizzy from the heat and lack of oxygen, and you shiver as cold air caresses the wet spot on the side of your neck that Katsuki was laving attention to. Chest heaving, your gaze snaps to the door. You flush as you realize how much of a wreck you must look with your hair disheveled and your dress hiked up your thighs.

Shouto and Katsuki aren’t much better with their heavy breathing and swollen lips. Your hands have made a mess of Shouto’s hair, and you’ve worked his dress shirt half-way unbuttoned, revealing inches of his bare chest that you want to lean in and lick. His tie is askew, crooked and loose from your tugging. Having been behind you, Katsuki was spared from the brunt of your grabby hands, but that’s something you’re definitely going to fix later.

Another sound from out in the hallway has Katsuki swearing under his breath. His eyes narrow in irritation as he peels his hands away from you. You’re pretty sure he’s pouting over the interruption, and you would roll your eyes if you weren’t completely frozen over the thought of getting caught sandwiched between two incredibly hot Pro Heroes. Pun intended.

The doorknob rattles as the sound of giggling and a low, husky voice come from the other side of the door. A pair of shadows move across the bottom of the door, blocking out the thin sliver of light from the hallway. You don’t recognize the voices on the other side, but you aren’t willing to take the chance that they might know you.

Thank fuck Katsuki locked the damn door behind him.

The three of you stand there frozen in silence until the couple in the hallway give up and move onto the next empty room they can find. Your heart doesn’t stop racing until their footsteps disappear, and you’re only mildly embarrassed at the little thrill that runs through you at the thought of almost getting caught.

Sighing, Shouto squeezes your thigh and drops his head onto your shoulder. A sweet kiss is pressed against the side of your throat, and your leg tightens around his hip, accidentally pulling him closer. You can’t help but flush when you feel a very prominent bulge pressing against the inside of your leg, and Shouto’s responding groan has heat pooling in your stomach all over again.

A scoff makes you glance over your shoulder at a fuming Katsuki. “Damn shitty extras,” he grumbles, still glaring at the door. Oh, yeah. Definitely pouting.

“What have we said about calling people extras?” you ask automatically, rolling your eyes at his childish anger. You’ve told him at least one hundred times to stop calling people extras because it’s rude.

His response is immediate. “It’s impolite and makes me look like an egotistical fuck.” Close enough.

You don’t reply. Katsuki is still glaring at the door and grumbling under his breath. And Shouto’s half-hard cock is still pressed against your thigh, so you don’t dare move, even though the stupid, horny part of your brain is begging you to wrap your legs around his waist and grind your hips against his.

Eventually, Shouto leans away from you and takes a half-step back. Blue and grey eyes lock on yours through his messy red and white bangs. “What now?” he asks, glancing at Katsuki for a second before turning right back to you. He squeezes your thigh again, thumb rubbing slow, soothing circles against your leg.

Shouto’s pupils are dilated, blown wide with lust, and you think he’d probably fuck you right here and now if you gave him permission to.

A pair of hands latch onto your hips from behind and a firm chest presses against your back. “I can think of something fun.”

You roll your eyes, but don’t stop his hands from slipping back under your dress and teasing your sides. “We are not having sex here, Katsuki,” you state firmly, fighting to keep your voice even as a rough hand palms your breast. Your back arches anyway. “Did you already forget that we almost just got caught?” It’s hard to sound reprimanding when he pinches your nipple and has you sighing.

“What?” Katsuki chuckles and leans down to nip at the back of your neck. “That turn you on, angel?”

You don’t have to turn around to picture the stupid smirk on his face as he teases you.

Maybe it’s the champagne from earlier making you loose-lipped, or the fact that you just made out with both of them and almost got caught, but you’re feeling a little braver than usual. “Absolutely,” you admit, startling both Katsuki and Shouto with your blunt answer. “But I don’t exactly need any of the people I work with seeing me naked.”

If Izuku walked in on this, you’re pretty sure he’d never be able to look any of you in the eye again. And if Seiji, god forbid, walked in on this, you’d have to change your name and move to another country all together.

At the mention of anyone else seeing you like this, Shouto’s grip on you grows a little tighter. His eyes narrow, and there’s a possessive edge to his low voice when he says, “Agreed.” His warm hand slides up your thigh until his fingers are brushing against the silky hem of your panties.

You swallow a pleased sound. “Besides,” you glance from Shouto to Katsuki, “my apartment isn’t far.” If this is going to happen tonight, you’re going to take your time with them, and you definitely can’t do that here.

A snort. “Cowards.”

“I thought you wanted to fuck my ass, Katsuki?” you tease, rocking your hips back against his as much as you can. “The lube is at home.”

That catches both boys’ attention.

Katsuki lets go of you and practically shoves you forward into Shouto’s arms; Shouto grunts as he catches you with ease, his expression nothing short of amused as he grabs your clutch off the desk. Gently, he sets you back down on your heels, your legs shaky beneath you.

“Fuck, let’s go!” Katsuki barks at the two of you, already stomping towards the door. “Now!”

#todoroki shouto x reader #shouto todoroki x reader #todoroki x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader #katsuki bakugou x reader #bakugou x reader #bakugou x reader x todoroki #todoroki x reader x bakugou #todoroki shouto #bakugou katsuki #bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha #mha #fic: some like it hot

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flutteringphalanges · 4 years ago

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Don’t Let the Bats Bite

Summary: After decades spent together in England, Agatha, now vampire and wife to Dracula, has maintained a distance from her family members. Even though secretly she has wondered about them. It isn’t until she hears a report that an accident has taken the lives of her great nephew and niece-in-law and left their two year old daughter, Zoe, an orphan that she steps in and, against the Count’s wishes, brings the toddler into their unusual life. Will their vampiric ways conflict too much with parenthood, or is Zoe Van Helsing their missing link to perfection?

Ship: Agatha/Dracula

Rating: T

Chapters: 1/2 (or 1/3)

Read on AO3

A/N: Originally, this was just going to be a one shot, but I felt like doing it in parts because I felt weird just being one long thing. So a few parts it shall be. Feedback is greatly loved and appreciated! -Jen

Part One

“Up!” Dracula stared down incredulously at the demanding two year old. Her name, according to what they could dig up in documents, was Zoe. Zoe Van Helsing. His however many grands niece by marriage to Agatha. During their near century in England, his vampiric bride silently withheld her desires to learn of her family’s presence. For their sake and safety.

But like with many unplanned events, everything changed that fateful day when it was broadcasted over the news that a fatal car accident had taken the lives of Richard and Delilah Van Helsing, leaving their now orphaned toddler in its wake. Her decision was made right then and there. Even before the reporter finished his segment. And Dracula found himself caught between a rock and a hard place.

“We cannot care for this thing, Agatha.” The vampire frowned as the little girl tried to claw her way up his pant’s leg. “We are vampires. We simply aren’t equipped to deal with...this.” Zoe let out a grunt of protest when the man peeled her off of him. “We should return her to Child Protection. Perhaps a social worker can figure something out.”

“Zoe isn’t a thing. She’s a child. Need I remind you that she is family?” Agatha frowned, going over to the child and scooping her up. “Your family nonetheless. She has no one, Dracula. Just us.”

“Well perhaps she should be placed with a human family!” The Count argued with exasperation. “You didn’t even discuss this with me. You went about forging documents and somehow, despite the system, we’ve been granted custody of a practically helpless being!” He began to massage his temples. “Manipulating Frank Renfield to do our bidding is supposed to be my job, not yours.”

It was almost unnerving that, even at her young age, the girl resembled her distant aunt so much. The blues of her eyes. The rich brown locks of her hair. If anyone didn’t know any better, perhaps she could easily be passed off as their biological offspring. How truly odd genetics were. Zoe watched Dracula with a curious expression, one that was slightly more appealing than Agatha’s glare of animosity.

“She stays with us.” The former nun declared firmly, glowering at her lover. “End of discussion.”

Agatha’s frown faded away into a warm smile as her attention turned to the toddler. Gingerly, she tucked a few stray strands of hair that had fallen from one of Zoe’s pigtails behind her ear. The child had only been with them for a few hours and already the vampire’s maternal instincts had blossomed. It was evident how much she adored the child, something her husband had yet to understand.

“I took the liberty of making a list of things we need for the house.” Agatha said, adjusting Zoe in her arms. “I was hoping you’d be willing to go out and buy them.”

“And you thought this why?” Dracula inquired, folding his arms.

“Because I assumed you’d rather do that than stay at home watching her.” His wife replied, throwing him a look. “Zoe’s been through a lot. I don’t want to drag her around to various shops. I promise it isn’t too much. Just a crib, some child locks, baby gates, a high chair, more nappies, a few outfits--I have her size listed, and a few other things. It shouldn’t be hard.” She ignored the stare of disbelief Dracula was giving her. “Once we’ve had some time to settle down, we can really go about setting a nursery up.”

A nursery. The infamous Count didn’t want to question as to which room they’d be turning that into. He knew. And even if he argued against it, Agatha would win. She always did. His prized artwork and treasured statues would be moved else---god forbid the closet. This was why he had never desired children even as a human. They were needy. Required things. Like his study.

“Nothing should require this much work.” He muttered under his breath, knowing full well that Agatha could still very much hear every word. Begrudgingly retrieving his long trench coat, a gift from his wife no less, Dracula briefly glanced over his shoulder. “And where might I find this list of yours?”

“The counter.” She replied curtly, nodding her head in the direction. “It’s getting late so try to be quick about it if you can. Stores close earlier on Sundays, you know.”

“I’m well aware.” The vampire responded, snatching the note from its spot. “I’ll retrieve what I can.”

“Thank you.” Agatha said with a small smile. “We will be waiting with bated breath.” To which she received a grunt in return. Rolling her eyes, Agatha’s attention returned to her niece once her husband had vacated the premises. “Uncle Dracula can be rather grumpy.” She chuckled, kissing the girl’s forehead. “Don’t worry, you’ll win him over. Just wait and see.”

XXX

1897 had been a monumental year for Dracula for many reasons. Most importantly, it was when he met Agatha--though the circumstances were far from favorable. After the massacre of St. Mary’s Convent, he had decided to spare the nun for his own curiosity. A new bride of his own demise. Agatha, of course, had other plans. And after a failed attempt of killing him, she came up with the brilliant idea to end herself. Not a stake. No, lesson learned from Jonathan Harker, but the Sun. Second momentous memory--well, discovery--apparently that bright, burning star in the sky wasn’t so deadly after all.

Something changed between them after that. The toxicity that had once embedded itself in their relationship began to drain away and soon new feelings surfaced. Happy, warmer feelings. Brighter than the Sun itself. And within a few years, hatred became love. And with that romance, became a partnership. Marriage. A life far from Transyvania and into Whitby, England.

Though they could go out during the day, the two still seemed to prefer the nightlife. It was peaceful. Quiet. And watching the sunrise together before tucking away to sleep for a few hours did them both good. But now all of that was going to change. Or so he felt was implied by the list gripped between his clawed fingers.

“First one?”

A friendly voice pulled Dracula from his thoughts and away from the crib he’d been mindlessly staring at. Turning, he saw a rather young man, red hair and equally warm green eyes behind wood framed glasses. Part of him considered the idea of dragging the innocent bystander out into the back alleyway and feasting upon him. But he knew well enough Agatha would somehow figure out he’d killed someone. She always did. Oh how he despised this humane sourcing of blood system they had going on with Frank Renfield’s connections. It took the fun, the rush out of it all.

“If you would call it that.” He replied tonelessly. “Unplanned.”

“Ah, so many of them are. But isn’t that the excitement of it all?!” The stranger grinned, clearly not picking up that his company was unwelcomed. “Do you know what you’re having?”

“A girl.” The vampire replied curtly. “She’s two.”

“Oh, adoption!” The man sounded somewhat confused. “Were you not expecting it to happen so soon or…” He shook his head and smiled. “Well, way to go, mate! It takes a special kind of person to do something like that. Why--”

Dracula’s jaw set in frustration. “Look,” he began. “You seem nice. But I simply do not have time, nor do I wish to, discuss things with you such as babies and the happiness of parenthood. I’m here by request of my wife. I’d like to be in and out of here as quickly as I can. My best wishes to you and your partner. May your rugrat be tolerable.”

It was the best sort of well wishes he could give. Lifting up a crate of cradle parts as if they weighed as much as a mere feather, he set them roughly in his cart before striding off. The faster he could get out of the damned place, the better. The cheerfulness of it almost made his stomach churn. Pink, spill-less sippy cups. Various stuffed plushies with big, beady black eyes. And a few large packs of nappies--though his eyes stared fixated at a purple potty chair. He didn’t want to think about training a child to use that. That, he decided, would be Agatha’s doing.

“All set?”

Unlike the overexcited customer he had just run into, the cashier looked tired. Disinterested in all that was around her. Dracula didn’t mind her lack of emotion as he loaded the contents of his cart onto the conveyor belt. She didn’t share her excitement at the fact he possibly had a new kid, or bombarded him with questions on the subject. Instead, she quietly scanned everything and placed it back into the basket.

“Have a nice night.” The woman said through a wide yawn, handing the vampire his receipt. “Come back to see us soon.”

The wheels of the cart whined as he rolled his cargo across the pavement and to his cart. It took a bit of maneuvering, but by some stroke of luck, he managed to squeeze everything inside. Hopefully Agatha would deem the ride fit enough for a child to be in. It did have a back seat after all. That had to be good enough, shouldn’t it?

Agatha wasn’t there to greet him at the door when he arrived home. Nor did she help him unload the very stuff she had asked for. Instead he found her lying comfortably in their bed, the toddler fast asleep curled up at her side. She held a finger to her lips as he entered their room somewhat perturbed by the stranger in his spot. Surely he wasn’t secretly jealous of a two year old. He wasn’t that juvenile.

“We’ll sit her up in her own room tomorrow.” The former nun whispered as not to wake the toddler. “For now, I see no reason for her not to sleep here. Poor thing is exhausted after all. Went right down not too long after you left.”

“I got everything you asked for.” Dracula replied, leaning against the wall. “You wouldn’t believe how much it cost.��

“We have the money, Dracula.” Agatha countered softly. “Much more than anyone in Whitby, perhaps even most in England. I proved to be quite the accountant when it came to managing our money--not to mention Frank Renfield’s services are rather useful. We will be fine with just one more.” She smiled down at Zoe. “You and I have had many adventures, my love. This is simply another one.”

“A different kind of permanent one.” Her husband muttered quietly. “I’m going to the fridge. How opposed are you to me having the dentist tonight? It’s AB Positive.”

“Take it.” She said with a wave of her hand. “I prefer O anyway. If you could heat up either some of the ethics professor or the banker--if we still have some left, I’d much appreciate it. And it doesn’t have to be the perfect temperature, just nothing below lukewarm.”

Her husband nodded in understanding before turning on his heels and exiting the room. Agatha’s eyes followed him until he disappeared from sight. Apparently, this was all going to take a lot more getting used to that she thought.

XXX

After a few days, the nightmares started and Zoe often woke up screaming for her parents. It didn’t matter what they were doing--whether it be having a nice, quiet moment to themselves or in the thralls of passion, Agatha would tear herself away from her husband and rush into their adopted child’s room. Dracula sighed as his wife brought the tear streaked face toddler into their sitting room right in the middle of their game of chess.

“Want Mummy and Daddy!” The little girl wailed. “Want Mummy and Daddy!”

“I know, I know…” Agatha attempted to soothe, rubbing the girl’s back. She looked to Dracula in almost desperation as if maybe he had a solution to all of this. “Aunt Agatha and Uncle Dracula promise to make all of the bad dreams go away.”

Zoe sniffled and looked towards the Count. “Bye bye, dark!”

The man’s brows furrowed. “What does she mean?”

“Bye bye, dark!” The girl insisted, her volume rising. “Bye bye, dark!”

“Perhaps she’s afraid of the dark?” Agatha inquired, eyeing her niece curiously. “We should consider installing night lights around the house.”

“Agatha, we are creatures of the night!” Dracula groaned. “Certainly she can learn to adjust to the nighttime as we did. She sleeps through most of it!” But the look on his wife’s face told him everything. “Fine.” He said, tone almost cold. “But I get to decide what they look like and where they go.”

A decision, he came to, that involved the famous superhero “Batman”. It seemed only fitting to fix the well known symbol of a black bat surrounded by a halo of yellow within the various sockets in their home. He’d never been a fan of the comic, but he took humor where he could get it.

“Funny!” Zoe informed him one day pointing at the light. She tilted her small head to the side and smiled. “Bird!”

“Bat.” He corrected, grabbing her hand. “As we’ve gone over before. Come now, your supper’s getting cold.”

“Bird.” The toddler insisted, shaking her head as she followed her uncle. “Bird, Daccy, bird!”

“Dracula.” The vampire exhaled, lifting the child into her high chair. “How is it you can say other things but my name gives you a great deal of trouble?”

“I find it rather adorable.” Agatha smirked as she set a plate of peas and macaroni in front of her niece. “Aunt Aggie and Uncle Daccy, has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

“As tasteful as the blood of a leper.” Her husband said, throwing her a look. “Agatha, I honestly do not think this setting is working out.” And as if on cue, a single pea flew past his head and tumbled onto the floor by his feet. Zoe giggled from her seat, quite pleased with herself. “To further prove my point.” He continued, motioning to the abandoned vegetable. “I’m a cold blooded killer, not a loving guardian.”

“We all have flaws.” His wife replied simply, going to wipe the toddler’s mouth. “But that doesn’t mean we cannot fix them.” She pressed a kiss on the toddler’s forehead before turning back to her husband. “And I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and have come to the conclusion that there is perhaps one way we can do that.”

“And that would be…” The Count ventured.

“An uncle and niece day!” Agatha chuckled, noting the stunned expression on her lover’s face. “It’ll be good for the three of us. I get some time to myself and you get to know Zoe more.”

“In the past several centuries of my life, I have never heard of a more ridiculous idea!” Dracula retorted, eyes following Agatha as she moved about the kitchen. “Agatha, you can’t possibly expect me to…”

“You’ve dealt with entire armies.” The former nun interrupted. “Surely a toddler cannot be that much harder.”

Another pea flew through the air, this time hitting Dracula straight in the face. The man frowned deeply as the toddler gave him a toothy grin. When he had taken Agatha as his bride, he hadn’t expected a vegetable wielding toddler in tow decades later. Exhaling, he leaned against the counter. This was going to be one hell of a war.

#Dracula 2020 #Dragatha #Dracula #Agatha Van Helsing #Dracula x Agatha #Dracula BBC #Dracula on Netflix #Don't Let the Bats Bite

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irwingiggling · 5 years ago

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friends of friends. | pt. 1

A/N: Sooo guess who’s back with a new fic?! Please let me know what you guys think, and if you want me to continue this - I have lots of ideas for it! If you enjoyed it, please give it a like so I know people are interested in reading more :) The band does exist in this fic, but it’s more of a casual thing and none of the boys are famous. In this fic I tried to really focus on the characterization and in improving my writing, so yeah this is my little passion project rn while I’m in quarantine. [Also a little shoutout to @cakesunflower, I don’t know her at all but her fics (wglylm, quiet hours, etc.) and her writing is honestly incredible and she was one of the many awesome writers on here who inspired me to start this. :)]

Word Count: 2,100+

Rating: PG-13 (mentions of alcohol, swearing)

---

"Who's Calum?" Audrey was perched over a tall wooden stool, hands around a mug of steaming hot coffee. Her short brown hair landed just above her shoulders, cascading perilously towards her coffee as she stared down her friend, a sly smile on her face.

"Just a friend of a friend," Rose replied with a shrug.

Audrey's eyebrows arched in response, unsatisfied with Rose's answer.

"No seriously. I barely know him, I met him the other day at some get together Nina dragged me to."

At mention of the other girl, a smile crept onto Audrey's face. "Damn, Nina. How's she doing?" The three were close friends back in university, sharing a dorm for two years. But after school, they'd all started to go their separate ways. Nina was in public relations. A true socialite, she loved meeting new people, and could keep up conversation for hours. Since landing her new job as an assistant for some small music company, she'd managed to drag Rose along to various parties and social gatherings with increasing frequency. The two lived on opposite sides of town in Boston, but remained decently close despite this. On the other hand, Audrey had moved back home to Michigan after school, and the two didn't see her very often at all.

"She's good. Still a true extrovert." Rose said with a gentle shake of her head.

"Gotta love that girl. She was always a go-getter." Audrey laughed, taking a sip of the creamy drink.

In contrast to Nina, Rose would describe herself as a simple person. She had her little apartment, her work, a well-stocked supply of coffee, and her dog, Olive - who she'd somehow managed to sneak under her apartment's 60lb weight limit. Everything else was extra, but as long as she had those few essentials, she was perfectly content. Though as a recent university grad who was still working part-time at a coffee shop, and taking whatever freelance work she could on the side, she didn't have a lot of room for extravagances anyway. In contrast, Audrey found a job as a radio broadcaster back home right out of school, and could now afford to make the flight down to see her girls.

"Anyways don’t try and change the subject, you haven't had a man in your life in ages!" Audrey exclaimed, teasingly poking a finger against the arm of Rose's blue sweater.

Rose gave her head a faint shake, smiling gently. She had no doubt Nina had already recounted the entire work gathering to Audrey over one of her long-winded FaceTime calls. Nina had a way of getting carried away with the stories she told, which likely meant their distant observation of Calum had morphed into a much closer brush than it actually was.

----

She vaguely remembered him from that last work event. He was easily recognizable by his dark curly hair, tanned skin, and youthful appearance, especially since the vast majority of others mingling looked to be in their late 30s. Rose caught drifts of conversations about sales and pitches and various public relations-related stuff. She had caught him looking over at her during one of the speeches. When she met his gaze he'd turned away.

"Who's that?" she asked, tugging lightly on Nina's arm. Nina was in the middle of rambling about some publication technique to boost online views.

"Oh, him? That's Calum. He's a member of one of the newer bands the company's signed. Seems decent, haven't really had a chance to chat with him yet."

Calum.

She never got the guts to go over and talk to him that night, even though he looked like one of the only people who was actually having a decent time, chatting animatedly with an equally tall guy around his age, drink in hand. Instead, she stayed by Nina's side, letting her talkative friend fill the silence and introduce her to many people whose names she would inevitably forget.

---

It was two weeks later, and Nina had caught Rose off guard yet again, getting her to agree to another one of her work parties before Rose even really knew what she was saying yes to. The term ‘party’ was an exaggeration, to say the least. Only the watered-down drinks and the 70s hits playing at a whisper in the background gave the faintest suggestion that this was a party. Rather, it was a way for people at Nina’s company to schmooze with those from other nearby labels and PR companies, collaborating on techniques, getting insider information on new signings and album releases. And Nina was so thrilled at the prospect of sharing her knowledge and making new friends, that Rose felt obligated to say yes. However, not knowing a thing about the music industry or public relations made it difficult to relate to any of the conversations, so she often found herself glued to Nina’s side, maintaining an appropriate amount of nods and smiles to the people Nina talked to, waiting for the agonizingly slow clock to tick down. She sharply reminded herself to not give in to Nina’s pleas again, that this would be the last time she would let her Friday nights turn out like this.

Letting her thoughts wander, she remembered catching a vague glimpse of the dark-haired man earlier on in the night, but she hadn't seen him at all in the past half-hour, and figured he'd gone home. She wished she could leave too, but sadly Nina was her ride, which meant she'd be here for a while longer. By this time Rose was frankly sick of Nina's incessant chatter, and with feigning enjoyment in meeting random people she truly had no interest in.

She politely excused herself from the conversation, and made her way towards the kitchen, in the hopes she could scrounge up another drink to get her through the night. Taking a look around the kitchen, she let out a small sigh when she didn't see any alcohol. However, her eyes landed on the same curly-haired man from earlier. So this was where he'd been hiding out. His cheeks flushed a vague tinge of pink at seeing he'd been discovered, but he let out a relieved breath when he saw that it was her. One of the only other people here around his age, who didn't seem like she'd want to chatter endlessly about the management side of music.

"Hey, I remember you." He stood facing her, a gentle smile on his face. "Calum," he introduced, taking a hand out of his pocket and extending it towards her.

"Rose," she replied, lips curving into a smile as she shook his hand, his larger one temporarily enveloping hers.

"Nice to meet you," he nodded. "Do you work here?" He was sure if he'd seen her before that he would have remembered.

"No, I'm actually a struggling arts major," she confessed with a small chuckle. "My friend dragged me here. Nina."

"Oh," Calum nodded, eyes flashing lightly in recognition of a name he couldn't quite place. "The really… social one?" He asked hesitantly towards the end, unsure exactly how to phrase it.

"Yeah, you can’t miss her,” Rose said, giving her head a small shake in amusement. She felt a sense of relief as Calum's light chuckle flooded her ears.

"So I'm kind of hiding out here right now," he began, looking past her for a second to the crowd of people mingling past the doorway, a sigh of relief leaving his lips as he confirmed none of the guests were interested in pulling him into another conversation.

She chuckled lightly, moving to place her empty glass near the sink. "Do you come to these kinds of things often?"

"Not really," he shrugged, taking another sip of his drink. "But the label wanted me to make an appearance. Somehow I keep drawing the short end of the stick this month for that kind of stuff."

She laughed, glad she didn't have to pretend this was an enjoyable party.

"It's kinda.. stuffy?" he added, nose scrunching at the word.

She nodded in complete understanding. "Yeah. A lot of middle-aged record and publication people. Not exactly my crowd either."

"Tell me about it," Calum sighed, taking a long sip of his fruity drink. "And this was all I could find," he added half-heartedly, raising the glass.

She chuckled, trying to muffle her amusement at the strange drink that didn't seem to quite fit with his look. The vividly coloured mini umbrella and bright purple liquid contrasted sharply with the metal rings that adorned his tanned fingers and the tattoos peeking out from his shirt collar.

Noting her amusement with his drink of choice, his eyes began to light up, and he chuckled along with her.

"I figured," she said, fighting to contain her smile. This only served to make him more amused, a full-blown laugh bubbling out from his full, pink lips. His laugh seemed too pure, too alive for this subdued party.

They stood in silence for a couple beats, letting the low buzz from the various people in the room flood their ears again, before Calum drained the rest of his drink in a gulp. "Did you wanna get out of here?" He asked, setting his empty glass down on the counter beside hers, gesturing vaguely to the direction of the front door.

"Oh!" She wasn't able to mask her surprise, eyebrows rising and a faintly amused but apologetic look on her face. "Wow, um… I think you're great, I really do, but that's just not quite something that I'm-"

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion at her response. He tilted his head slightly to one side, lips parted, as he tried to figure her out. Eventually his lips curved into a smile and a gentle laugh erupted from his mouth as he realized where she was going with this. "Shit, I meant food. My bad."

And then she was blushing profusely, wanting to melt into the floor in embarrassment because how could she fuck that up? She sighed, letting out a small whine of contempt, and when she finally got the courage to look back up at him, he was watching her, eyes sparkling. He dragged his bottom lip between his teeth, trying half-heartedly to contain the smile that still graced his face at her expense.

"Yeah, ok." She nodded, letting out a small chuckle. "I can do food."

---

She didn't quite know how she ended up at the fast-food place at 10pm, seated in a tiny booth across from Calum, watching the curly-haired man munching happily away on fries, their knees occasionally knocking against each other.

When he looked at her it was as if he was looking into her. His dark curls cascaded over his forehead, a hint of stubble on his jaw. His eyes were soft and dark brown. They crinkled around the edges when he laughed and they felt like home. It was weird for her, to feel that way with a stranger. But in many ways Calum felt more like an old friend. Like someone she'd known all her life and was just reconnecting with. At this point in the night he was beginning to look tired and sleepy, but just when she thought he was losing interest, his eyes would light up at a funny comment, and it would bring her in closer, creating the most comfortable, at ease feeling deep in her stomach. That night she learned Calum had a wicked dry sense of humour, and that his warm laugh sounded like honey.

They were there for over an hour, long after the remnants of their burgers had gone cold. Only the buzzing of the neon sign in the front window, and the quiet shuffling of the lone staff member were background noise to their conversation.

Eventually they decided to part ways, both tired and content from the night. They put their empty trays in the garbage, and left. Outside they stood only a few steps apart, trying to use each other's bodies to evade the cold wind blowing through the empty parking lot. It was already April in Boston, but some nights still felt like winter.

"Alright," he said, tugging the hood of his jacket over his head so only a few curls poked out. "Get home safe, ok?"

"I will. You too, Calum."

She turned to leave, but his fingertips brushed across the fabric of her jacket. She looked up, the movement garnering her attention. His tongue darted across his bottom lip, brown eyes searching her own.

"We're doing a little show at The Reign next Saturday night. You should come, if you want."

"Yeah I'd love to. I'll be there."

And then he was smiling, hands buried in his pockets. She took a step back and gave him a wave, which he returned, watching her for a few moments before turning in the direction of his own apartment.

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