#I was supposed to be writing something else but dangit those 'waiting's hit me

[arcxnumvitae]

He'd contemplated sleeping in his office once more, but he'd already done so three times that week. The whispers were already present, but they'd no doubt grow louder again if word speak of the honorable Ahniri judge spending yet another night away from his home.

'Poor thing.'

'Can you imagine your own husband doing that?'

"I wonder if there were any signs.'

'That house is probably full of nothing but memories for him.'

A grain of truth amidst the exaggerated falsities-- the casually judgmental statements about Jophiel. They didn't have the full story, the truth behind why Jophiel was doing what he was. That didn't make it any easier listening to the insults, or dealing with the pitying looks.

It was obvious why he worked the late hours he did, stayed nights in the office, anything to avoid returning to the too-empty home he once shared with his husband.

Zaisan drifted like a ghost through their house. Past the music room filled with Jophiel's instruments and the kitchen bereft of any food. Each room filled with memories of his husband and now only a cruel reminder of how far beyond his reach his love was. Zaisan finally reached their bedroom and quietly climbed atop the bed, and Jophiel's side remained as cold and empty as it had been since the tzowld worsened. When was the last time Zaisan had seen him? How much had Jophiel's condition worsened since then? Was he taking proper care of himself? Aside from Enoch's updates when he was able, Zaisan had no clue.

...How much time did Jophiel have left?

A hand reached out to the empty side of the bed, longing to feel the familiar warmth of skin and the rumble of a chuckle in his husband's chest. Instead, it only met cool sheets.

Tears fell from his eyes, and it was some time before he could manage to let unconsciousness take him.

[vividlybnha]

Tea and Text Bubbles

Warning: Fluff and v minor sexual mention

Word Count: 2775

Relationship: Inko x Toshinori

Author’s Note: This is my first time writing for them so I hope i got their characters on point!! <3

Toshinori didn’t recognize the new number on his phone. He didn’t even know anyone outside of the select few he kept in his life that would want to contact him. Before he could implore the numerous more possibilities of who wanted to contact him and why, his phone got another ping.

Hello! This is Midoriya’s Mother, Inko Midoriya. Is this Toshinori?

Toshinori could feel the whole world stop. He just faintly heard the pen clinking against his mug, along with his papers that dropped to the floor.

“Dangit.”

He could feel the eyes gazing at him from the other tables in the teacher's lounge. You’d think that even with all the years as a hero under his belt he would be used to eyes on him. His spine crawls with anxiety. And yet here he is.

After sitting down, papers and all he finally looks back at his phone. A few new messages appeared on his screen.

I figured that since you and my son have such close ties so should we!

If this is Toshinori that is?

Toshinori can feel his heart leap into his throat. Was social interaction always this scary? He presses the pads of his fingers into the buttons on the phone. After a minute of typing and erasing and more typing and then more erasing he finally found his words.

Yes, I’m Toshinori. I agree that we should have contact. :)

That seemed formal enough, mixed with a soft emoji. This is what normal adults did and he was doing it right. Right? God, he hopes he is doing this right.

“Oooh! Someone is getting contact!” Hizashi squeals in his ear as he bumps his hip. Toshinori flushes and waves his hands, fully ready to clear up the mess before it becomes any worse.

“Oh! The all-powerful All Might is going to be getting in contact? How sensual.” Nemuri drags one long nail up from under his sharp chin. He felt a cough rise in his throat.

It just got way worse.

“That's not it! I swear! It's nothing like that!”

Hizashi throws an arm over Toshinori’s leaning closer to read the text.

“Oh! With a smiley face like that, you can’t even lie!” He lets out a loud laugh and throws himself onto Toshinori.

Nemuri rest on his other arm, head laying on his skinny bicep. “A smiley face? How scandalous.” She is basically purring while Hizashi is throttling him.

Is this what his hero career has lead to?

He only sees the large hand when it pushes Hizashi off of him (which Hizashi responds with by dramatically flailing to the floor). Aizawa comes into the picture, scowling as always and Toshinori is so close to praying to him for coming to the rescue.

“Leave him alone you idiots. Can’t you tell he is uncomfortable?” He folds his arms in disapproval. Nemuri only cuddles closer into his arm.

“But you know how much I just love to teas-” And then with a swift hand pushing her face back she is sprawled across the floor with Hizashi. Both loudly complaining that they were just having fun.

Toshinori quietly thanks Aizawa with a look and Aizawa gives a subtle nod back. A man of few words, as always. He moves to pull the two heroes away from the absolute wreck of a scene until he brings a heavy hand to Toshinori’s shoulder and pats him.

“Good luck with that contact by the way.”

That throws him into a coughing fit but Toshinori doesn’t miss the little smirk Aizawa gives him as he drags his friends away and all Toshi wants to do now is hide under his desk and scream. But his phone gives off another ping and Toshi gives it all his attention. Anything to think about anything other than the contact.

I know this might seem a bit forward but how about you come over for tea?

There is another pop up of bubbles and then his phone pings again.

Or we can go out! Whatever you want! Sorry if this weird! You can decline if you want!

And usually Toshinori would decline and stay holed up in his house and only leave for work and errands but this time his fingers hesitate. Maybe it was the teasing, or maybe it was because this was Midoriya’s mother, or maybe something else entirely. Either way, Toshinori doesn’t know what prompts him to type the words:

I can come over. What time do you have in mind?

The bubble pops up again and Toshinori can feel the cold grip of fear on him. He should have said no, he should have never said anything, he shou-

Well, I certainly don’t mind anytime!

The bell rings and Toshinori realizes he is going to be late to his class.

The sound of the cab driving away is what brings him back to reality and he finds himself jolting in surprise. He doesn’t know why he is so scared. He has been here before, and not only here but inside their house. So why can’t his heart stop beating so fast? Why are his palms so sweaty and he can’t wipe the smile off his face? He isn't supposed to feel like this. In fact, he hasn’t felt like this in the longest. He has a routine since he was reduced to...this. And it primarily consists of teaching, sleeping, being in pain and brooding in his own home. None of those things required emotions of epic proportions.

So maybe that’s why he feels like he is having a heart attack.

The cool breeze pushes through his hair and he realizes where he is. He can’t back out now, can he? He is already here. Already staring at the door, his hand is just a few feet away. But everything feels so overwhelming.

He takes a deep breath, pulling a cough in with it and drys his sweaty palms against his pants. He tries not to go back into his argument that his clothes were too much. He brings his hands to the wood, it feels cool against his calloused hands.

If he was really counting this would be his first social interaction in months outside of the teachers and students. But he isn’t counting (though the thought still plagues him) and there is someone waiting on him.

It takes all he has to knock on the door, which sounds way too soft to be heard but he still hears the quick padding of feet. His heart is pumping so heavily in his chest, he’s almost afraid he is going to cough it up.

The door swings open with a very unexpected enthusiasm. The small woman stands, trembling slightly but a smile on her face anyway. She brushes the green hair out of her face (he definitely doesn’t notice how it lightly curls at the edges)  and welcomes him in.

“Well! Its, um nic-nice to see you!” She looks so soft and small standing there, fingers pressing into each other. She trembles in her place, sweat beads forming on her forehead. He can’t help but admire that even though she seems so anxious she is so eager and unhesitant. This woman was no doubt Midoriya’s mother.

“Mr. Might?” Toshinori lets out a startled cough when he hears her words.

“Toshinori or Toshi is fine with me.” She quickly nods, readjusting herself. She pulls on the shirt underneath the cardigan and Toshinori can’t help but notice the flowers on the fabric. Then his gaze travels to the small curl of her fingers, how they look so soft and dig into the cloth. And he tries to ignore it, he really does but he notices how she lacks a ring.

“Well, Toshinori!-” He stifles another cough and leans closer. “Are you, uh, hungry?” Her fingers move as if to curl with the tips of her hair but they stop short. She does small rolling movements with her fingers and suddenly her hair is levitating in the air. Toshinori has to hold himself back from touching.

She leads him to the dining room where he is hit with such a wonderful smelling aroma he can feel his non-existent stomach grumble. The sweets on the table look so appetizing. And then he can feel the guilt hit him.

“I can’t eat this...I’m sorry. I don’t want to seem rude but due to my health I have a strict diet a-“

Toshinori’s knuckles grow white with his grip on his pants. She had given him so much within such a little time. She had given him her trust, her home for the time being and now desert. And he couldn’t even eat it.

He threw his gaze to the side, hair shadowing his eyes. She must feel terrible, putting all this work into these sweets just to have it thrown out the window.

Though when her tiny hands grasps his sleeve cuff and she looked up to him with the most magnificent eyes, they aren’t shrouded with pity or anger or sadness.

“What can you eat?”

It was a caring gaze, one he hasn’t seen for a while. One that reminded him of Nana. One that he desperately wished he didn’t need to see. But nonetheless, he opened his palm, the stress releasing with it. And this time, when he smiled it didn’t feel fake.

With everything that had happened this school year, Inko should really not be surprised. Her life has thrown her more loops than ever before in this one simple year than ever before. And yet no matter what she still found herself shocked.

But still, no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t fathom how she was chopping up potatoes while All Might was rubbing spices into a salmon. Inko pushes closer to the table. Maybe she shouldn’t of let her friends talk her into doing this. Maybe she should have stuck to only occasional comments during their knitting sessions together. Though it's far too late now. Now she has All Might, the All Might back in her house and this time it's not for official business. This time he is in her kitchen and badly rubbing a salmon.

She was going to do this though. She had to. She wanted to know her son’s mentor, she wanted to be able to connect with him. If she couldn’t be the one to keep him safe she’ll do whatever she can to help. Even if it involved teaching All MIght how to rub a salmon.

“That's not how you rub a salmon.” Inko moved a hand to try and muffle the giggle that slipped past her lips. Toshinori turned to her, a frown on his face as he blushed.

“S-sorry! I never really cook so-“

Inko pushed her hands onto his larger ones. She could feel the veins and bones in his hands as they slightly protruded from his skin. She couldn’t help but run her palm over them, pressing her thumb into his rough skin before using her hands to push his into motions.

“Wh-what a-“

“You have to cover the whole salmon, make sure you really get the spices in there.”

This was totally her knitting groups fault. She would have never done this before. She could feel her face flush as she helped push his hands into the fish. After a measly few groups and now she can barely hold her tongue, much less her hands without her usual second-guessing. Although his hands were so warm and sweet.

She continued to help massage the spices into the fish. Toshinori leaning closer and glancing down at her. It’s only when his hip brushes against hers does she realize how close she is and how she should definitely finish the potatoes (and maybe stop fantasizing about hero).

She scrambles to the sink, flicking the faucet on and begins to wash her hands. “I’m gonna, i- uh, start the t-tea!” She barely hears his huff of an answer over the rush of water.

The silence is awkward and tense. Inko almost wants to push her head into her hands and scream. She doesn’t (because that would be very awkward) and instead pushes a breath through her nose and starts humming.

It's a song that she has sung about a million times. Times where she held Midoriya close to her chest and sang into his ear. Times where she didn’t know if she was doing it right. This whole single mother thing. Where she second-guessed herself at every decision. Yet no matter how many times she sings it she still feels the comfort of when her own mother did it for her. The warmth of her mother's arms.

Inko notices it but not really, she only catches a glance but she sees Toshi’s shoulders drop lower, the tension in him releasing. She can’t help but smile as she starts the fire for the tea.

At least she did one good thing.

Inko sets the tea on the table, the sweet smell of chamomile wafting through the air. She pushes Toshi his cup and he pushes out to take it. Inko gives him a bright smile and his face flushes but he still smiles back. The room is calm and quiet, it almost lulls Inko to sleep. She hums under her breath.

Toshinori leans back, tall shoulders against the back of the chair. He pulls the tea to his face, blowing up the steam that rises in swirls. Inko settles on the table, pulling the sugar cubes into the air and placing them into her tea. She doesn’t miss Toshinori’s glance at the use of her quirk.

“ So you’ve never made salmon before?” Inko blows the tea off. She watched his face, how his lips curved downward. She wished she could just wipe it away. Just take away all his sadness.

“Never really had the chance. With all the hero work and such I never got around to it besides-“ He pulls his cup to his face, just behind it a small smirk.

“-seems a little fishy. Don’t you think?”

It's a dumb joke. Absolutely terrible but Inko finds herself laughing anyway. She almost feels ashamed of herself for laughing, she definitely feels ashamed for what she says next.

“You finished?” And then she is doubled over laughing. She hears Toshinori snicker and then fall into laughter with her. She couldn’t help but push her hand out to steady herself, as her head drops back and she giggles and snorts. She didn’t expect to feel the warmth of Toshinori’s hand, the cuff of his evening shirt just barely touching her pinky. Although she couldn’t stop laughing Inko could feel her face flush, the tips of her ears burning. Yet she didn’t move her hand, she couldn’t bring herself to.

When her head finally resumed position on her shoulders, despite their jumpiness with her small giggles she saw that Toshinori was red and a small trail of blood leaked from his mouth.

“Oh, goodness! Yo-your bleeding!” Before Inko could stop stumbling over her words she scatters for the pink-tinted napkins. The panic increased with Toshi’s apologizes and pleads that ‘I’m fine! This always happens!’. Inko brought the napkin gingerly up to his sullen cheeks, fingers just grazing his warm skin. The look he gave her was so soft. She gave herself a second to wallow in his gaze. His blue eyes sharp and adoring. She would have forgotten about the blood if she hadn’t grown far too embarrassed.

The soft silence pulled so tenderly at Inko’s heartstrings as she dabbed at the blood. She should speak, say something, anything but she could only bring herself to focus on the corner of his mouth where the blood seeped from.

“I...I just, uh-”

There is a loud beeping from the kitchen and Inko quickly swivels out of her chair, face red and stuttering. “Oh! Th-the uh, foods r-ready! And I’ll be rig-right back! And uh, and yo-you can finish tha-that, um thought!” And like that she is gone.

Toshi brought a hand to his lips, fingers gently checking to see if there was any more blood. His hand came back clean.

He wanted to say he didn’t deserve this, he wasn’t doing his best with Midoriya or any of the other students. He had wanted to say he could still be better. Though the sweet smell of food wafts into the room and Toshinori can just barely hear her humming.  

He may be scared but that's okay. He may not be ready for this but he will be.

And he will make it through, smiling as always.

[drizzys-selfship-sea]

-rises from hell- hey can ya do Asahi with all the s/i questions

//sticks out my leg 

>:3

⭐️ What’s their Ultimate/SHSL?

-Ultimate Daydreamer!

-Asahi’s mind works 24/7 nonstop, but when she lets it do what it wants, it can come up with some hecking wild things.

👥 Which Protag would they get along best with?

-I can see her getting along at least decently with all of the protags, honestly (except for maaaaybe Komaru?)

-But as it stands, she’s good friends with Shuichi.

-Asahi really wants to see him succeed and become someone worthy of his title, especially since she has some insecurities about her own talent too (”yeah, I come up with ideas, so what? How important is that, really?”)

-So, she’s willing to offer encouragement or advice or just be someone to talk to who can relate to his problems quite heavily.

-The two of them bounce ideas back-and-forth about how the school works or during investigations.

-She also likes to run ideas in general by Shuichi when she wants a serious second opinion.

🗒 What are their introduction lines?

-”I’m Asahi Kuroki, and if hating reality is what makes me the Ultimate Daydreamer, then I guess that’s what I am.”

🤔 What’s the first thing the protag(s) would point out about them (bonus points if you specify the protag)?

-First thing that sticks out about Asahi is that she hates being interrupted.

-When Kaede and Shuichi find her, she’s running laps around the school.

-She thinks best when she’s in motion, so she’s running laps to try to kickstart her brain into figuring out what’s going on (and also to get any nervous jitters out of her system).

-When she’s eventually caught up with and stopped by the pair, she immediately becomes very grouchy.

-She does mellow out fast, though, and just goes right back to running once the conversation’s done.

-So the second thing to note about her would be that she gives off conflicting signals.

-Like she never seems to know what emotion to feel at any given time.

💕Which character(s) would they spend more time with (Give at least three to choose from, other self inserts are always allowed)?

-For the entire first chapter, she’s practically glued onto Rantaro because he radiates “good older brother” vibes and Asahi has a space in her life waiting for someone like that. 

-After the first trial, Asahi checks up on Shuichi a lot and ends up befriending him, so they end up spending a decent amount of time together.

-Asahi also ends up growing attached to Angie because of their mutual interest in art. They talk a lot about creative things and sketch together sometimes!

-Over the entire game, though? She spends the most time with Kokichi.

-At first she’s just trying to keep an eye on him, but eventually she ends up becoming his assistant when things get real nasty.

🎁 Name an item (made up or canon) that they would like for a FTE.

-(I went through the entire list of items that v3 has so I’m gonna list multiple)

-Ketchup (Asahi has always wanted to chug ketchup straight from the bottle for some ungodly reason)

-Sketchbook (she could always use more of these considering how fast she burns through them).

-Teddy bear (She likes soft and cute things)

-High-end headphones (all she wants to do in her free time is block out the world)

-Book of the blackened (Despite liking cute things, Asahi also loves really dark and sinister things)

🥇FTE! What’s their first Free Time Event like?

-Asahi comes up with a new idea and really really wants to talk about it, but she doesn’t want to bother anyone.

-So, she just is generally ten times more fidgety than normal, not being able to hide this desire very well because she never hides anything very well.

-Shuichi finally bites the bullet and asks her what’s on her mind, and she admits that she came up with something she’s proud of and asks if he wants to hear about it (almost desperately).

-Not knowing what else to do, Shuichi agrees, and Asahi proceeds to spend almost an entire hour describing the new world she’s built and the characters that live in it so far.

-After she’s done, she’ll ask Shuichi his thoughts on it, and the answer choices are that he hated it, likes it, or really likes it (the last of the three being the best option).

-Asahi will express relief that he liked what she came up with, absolutely adoring the validation and asking if he wants to know about any further changes to this world, and he’ll say sure. 

🏵 FTE! What’s their last Free Time Event like?

-Asahi’s free time event journey is all about coming to terms with the world outside, as she actually wouldn’t mind staying in the Academy because she just doesn’t think the outside is for her.

-Her final free time event is her trying to thank Shuichi for all his advice and help, and just listening to her in general.

-She tells him that she came up with a new idea, specifically for a character that lives in the world she told him about in the first free time event.

-She describes the character as being very confused at heart, being constantly turned-around and not knowing what to do with herself or how to interact with others.

-She says that this character hid so far into her own head that her dreams twisted into nightmares, leaving her stuck with physical monsters that she managed to make bend to her whim.

-This character, while feeling rather scattered in her own head, believed that at least this was better than the outside.

-But someone ended up finding her and helped her leave her supposed safe place to confront the world she couldn’t run from.

-Again, Asahi asks for Shuichi’s thoughts, and he can either say that he hated it, liked it, or bring up that the character reminds him of her (the third one is, again, the best option).

-Asahi confirms that yes, this character is meant to represent her.

-”I might still not want to deal with the real world…but I feel a bit more ready to handle it now. Thanks, Shuichi, really. Let’s get out together, eh?”

🎭 What’s listed as their likes/dislikes?

-Likes: Validation

-Dislikes: Being interrupted

☠️ A body has been found! What’s their initial reaction?

-Asahi usually tries to put her brain to work immediately.

-If she has time, she’ll slip out to grab her sketchbook and write notes.

-She knows this is a life-or-death situation, so her mind usually complies with her and her emotions sort of…switch off.

-Unless she was close to the victim, that is. Then it’ll be a bit rougher.

☝️ Anything specific they’d point out in a class trial? Do they stay on topic?

-Asahi is actually quite timid in the trials, not speaking up unless she feels like she NEEDS to.

-The constant back-and-forth and arguing stress her out and can make her head hurt.

-Needless to say, Asahi tries to stay on-topic as much as she can because she wants her contributions to be important.

-As the game goes on, she’ll even try to actively keep the trial on-topic and start speaking out more.

-The stuff she brings up are usually pieces that can either be used as a base for more spot-on lines of reasoning or are correct in one way or another.

😨 __________ has been found guilty! What’s their reaction (Specify character, it doesn’t have to be canon)?

-(Winter here hit me up in the DMs and told me to just use canon chapter 5 as reference for this one, so here we go).

-The entire trial is rough for Asahi, and when Kaito’s found out to be the guilty party, she gets hit with a million different emotions at one time.

-As time went on during the game, she began to think it was less and less likely that he’d ever kill anyone.

-But, knowing the circumstances, this made too much sense to her, and dangit it hurts.

-She didn’t really have any attachment to Kaito besides a lowkey admiration for his encouraging attitude, and she can’t exactly say she’s too surprised, so it’s more who the victim is that leaves her unable to function.

-She can’t really blame Kaito for the murder because he was forced into doing it, so she just can’t be too mad at him (it’s Maki who makes her angry).

-This entire trial is just so taxing for her tbh.

💔 What do they do after a trial/execution? Do they do anything at all?

-Asahi usually likes being alone after trials.

-She shuts herself in her room and paces, trying to dream her anxieties away.

-Once her research lab is opened, she goes there after the trials. 

-Delving into the world of fantasy when real life went bad was always a big comfort for her.

💉 Despair AU! What are they like in Despair/ infected with the Despair disease?

-Asahi actually doesn’t change too much.

-She’s always been a little screwed up, but she always directed that screwed-upness into her stories, specifically towards her fictional characters.

-Now, she treats all those around her like simple characters in a story that she’s the author for.

-Others aren’t much more than playthings to her.

-And she looooves torturing her playthings~

💎 Would they join any clubs/gangs? Which one(s)?

-Asahi honestly doesn’t have any interest in group activities.

-Her imaginary world is her everything, so she refuses to give control of it to anyone else.

-She just plain old doesn’t work well with others, so she does her own thing. Clubs don’t appeal to her.

-(Plus that would mean human interaction and she’s a bit hesitant to get involved with that).

☀️ Non!Despair AU! What’s their daily life as an ultimate like?

-In a Non!Despair AU, Asahi would likely be isolated on most days.

-Interacting with people face-to-face is hard and she always feels like she’s annoying everyone around her, so she just tries to keep to herself and the few people she decides that she likes.

-She’d be very active online because it’s just easier to interact with people over the internet for her.

-But otherwise, she’s a shut-in.

-She will go out sometimes if she’s feeling social or particularly grounded!

-But usually, any free time she gets is usually devoted to thinking up new ideas.