#It was on one of my classmate's backs. They thought it was a stink bug.

[cessnati]

Oct 2, 2023

[i-need-air]

"Dude" — Bakugou Katsuki x Reader [P.2]

Word count: 6.7k;

[ Part 1 ]; [ Masterlist ]

The new message plastered on your phonescreen earned a small smile from you. After a couple of days of sitting together at the same table due to Mei dumping your lonely ass for her babies, Mina suggested to text just to keep in contact more often. Something you did not expect was to be thrown in a group text with her and her friends.

They were absolutely hilarious; until recently they found out you had decent grades and started asking for your assistance, bugging you to join their study sessions, adding something about Bakugou being an absolute beast whenever he tutors them.

Pinky: Aww sucks that you're not coming! You're missing out Bakugou strangling Kaminari lmfao

You rolled your eyes in amusement. Why of course he'd be doing that.

What a strange little man. He really was; just as you started sitting with them, he'd mainly mind his own business, wearing his normal resting gremlin face and poking his food as if he was practicing murder just for the sake of it. First he orders you to sit with them, then he turns into an antisocial bastard most of the times. Yet, somehow, lunch with them was delightful and you found yourself looking forward to spend time with them, hear about their amusing stories and to top it all, making fun of The Great Bakugou Katsuki turned the whole event into a whole different level of fun.

As you weren't completely oblivious, his wandering eyes were really hard to miss anyway; you'd catch his gaze from time to time and he'd look away, annoyed, grunting like the man-child he actually was. Infuriating; how your heart skipped every single time it happened and how you wanted to have those deep crimson orbs on you again and again.

One thing you did not want to do was to leave Mei to the side; whenever she couldn't hang out she would inform you and you'd find something else to entertain yourself with; in occasions you did march in her workshop and sat your royal ass down without permission. Like as you did today, sitting in silence, you enjoyed the normal machinery sounds and her focused hums as she worked with you by her side. It was calming. The much needed calmness that you craved.

It's been a couple of weeks after the glorious incident and you have been noticing how your classmates, mostly the popular ones, started giving you the stink eye; your spidey-senses very much aware that it had to be Midori's doing yet the girl was keeping a very low profile. The hairs on the back of your neck rising whenever you thought about her next step because this level of radio silence was suspicious.

Between your growing interest into the blond and the dread related to your nemesis, Mei stopped her hard work to frown at you.

"Something's on your mind?" She probed, adjusting her goggles better on her head. "You're awfully quiet~"

Through a small giggle, you nodded but took some time to answer. "I guess?"

"Let me rephrase that." She cleared her throat dramatically "Someone's on your mind?"

A sharp gasp left your lips, realization kicking in; you had Hatsume Mei's full attention for the first time ever. In the workshop. Where her babies were! About to point it out, she narrowed her eyes at you, zooming onto you.

"[Y/N]." It's all she needed to say before you looked down, mind on one person in particular, not noticing how your friend smiled fondly to herself as she placed her hands on her hips; she chuckled lightly.

"Mind sharing what's funny with the class, Mei?" You asked trying to decrypt her expression still locked on you. She shrugged and shook her head, her wild pink locks moving wildly.

"OI, WERD—" the brash voice interrupted itself in reconsideration. The owner of said voice clicked his tongue and entered her workspace with indifference, looking around. "My gauntlets fixed?" He asked, curiously checking the lone couch in the corner, then turning his glare at her.

Ignoring his question, Mei's inquisitive gaze locked on him. "Are you looking for someone?"

It was as if she pressed a Total Destruction button because even the hairs on his head spiked up more than normally as he threw her a bloodshot glare.

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD I LOOK FOR [Y/N]?! I DON'T EVEN CARE WHERE—"

"I didn't mention [Y/N] at all though." she cheerily retorted, seeing his position stiffen even more.

"WHAT— WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT— WHO EVEN IS [Y/N]?!" Word-vomit took over; he was shaking at this point, panicked and cringing at his own mistake. "I'm SO FUCKING DONE with people giving me SHIT about that dumbass!" he kicked a table trying to prove a point but the girl was unimpressed.

"So you do know [Y/N]."

"YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK YOU, GOGGLES! Fucking bothersome assholes always buttin' in—" his voice started fading into the distance as he walked out, fuming with nerves.

She blinked before screaming "What about your gauntlets?" through a smile.

"OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE, GIVE ME—" he appeared once again, agitated.

A wave of lava filled your chest as she told you casually, even trying to copy the way he talked, making you laugh in exchange. You shouldn't feel that way, shouldn't you? It was ridiculous since he truly only insulted you and screamed in your general direction; well, it seems he screamed in every direction but it wasn't the point. The point was the warmth in your chest only gave you hope and the still functioning part of your brain begged to differ.

"He's a good guy." You whispered, suddently shy under Mei's knowing gaze.

And he called her Goggles too. You giggled fondly.

—

A few days later, wild gutural screams made you jolt from your desk in panic. You would've recognized that voice anywhere by now so you rushed towards the infirmary door just to find professor Aizawa and two cocoons made of his scarf behind him. His eyebrow was twitching and had a dark aura around him, eyes glowing menacingly but not directed to you.

"I'll fucking kill you—"

"But Kaccha—"

"Silence." The irritated and tired looking man said entering the room, dragging said cocoons behind him, knocking one in the door and pulling harder. You cringed, sure thinking he wasn't having a good day.

"OOF— What the shit was that?" The bundle started to shake uncontrollably which made you giggle. It stopped; halted and froze in place listening attentively as you tried to hide your laughter, trying not to annoy the teacher that seriously gave off a whole Done with life aura.

"You must be [L/N]." he pointed out, undoing one of the cocoons, a big fluffy broccoli like head appearing, big green eyes trying to focus.

"Yes, sir."

"They're beaten. Broken leg and broken rib. Can you heal them or should we wait for Recovery Girl?" The dark haired man went straight to business.

"I can handle that so no need to wait for her."

"Good. I'll leave them in your care." With a nod, he also released the blond, making him tumble and fall on his face. The poor guy groaned but bolted up with a raised fist.

"Behave." The older man said walking away, not really caring about Bakugou's heated muttering. The door shut gently and you found yourself looking at two boys; one fuming and avoiding your eyes, the other on the floor, staring up at you. His leg looked wonky so you fought back a face of discomfort before going to his aid.

"You." You pointed at Bakugou then at the bed. "Sit." A grin spread on your face as you used his words, meanwhile you leaned down to help Midoriya Izuku.

His eyes were absolutely intimidating, as if the boy tried to search within your soul as you helped him up.

"My name is [L/N] [Y/N] and I'm going to heal you today." He returned your smile with ease and nodded, his fluffy green hair shaking through the action.

"I'm—"

"Midoriya Izuku, yes. You're pretty popular, you know?" His face went all red, taken back by the fact.

Curses could be heard behind both; your hand was supporting Midoriya's weight as he only hopped ahead with his good leg, leaded towards a bed. Shuffling sounded too, still accompanied with another round of indistinguishable curses and grunts.

When the green-haired boy was securely placed, you turned towards the other, finding him sitting on the edge of the bed furthest away from Midoriya, pouting adorably.

"So you've got a broken rib, right?"

"What's it to you?" It was his turn to be a petty little shit and copy your words, still not looking up. His leg was shaking and his posture looked uncomfortable so it was not the time to get into your usual bickering.

"Lay down." He tsk-ed sharply. "Please." You pleaded, pursing your lips at his childish attitude. He finally snapped his eyes on you, just slightly widened in what could be surprise but you couldn't tell. All that mattered was that he ended up doing what you said. Though with more huffing, as if it bothered him immensely.

"Ya happy now?" He snapped.

"Very! Now—" you're taken back yet again by the intensity of those green eyes that looked between you and Bakugou with interest. "I'm gonna have to give you an anesthesic and adjust your leg back in place before healing you—"

Like a working bee, you ran around the infirmary getting your syringe ready, a little bit too nervous as two pair of eyes burned into your back.

"Where do you know each other from, Kacchan?" Izuku asked. Even if his leg hurt like a bitch, he couldn't help but be curious about the person Kacchan has been having lunch with for the past weeks; but what type of response could you get from the one and only?

"Mind your own damned fucking business!"

You sighed, irritated but the nickname didn't fly above your head. In all means, he shouldn't be screaming. He had a broken rib and he was screeching like an idiot. Didn't it hurt to even breathe?!

"Bakugou, you need to lay low and shut up."

There wasn't any time to play around; Midoriya behaved exemplary, just barely wincing at the syringe probing his knee but did not complain at all. The polar opposite of the blond beds away.

After letting the anesthetic to take effect, you moved towards the guy that's been living rent free in your head. He looked beaten up, had a bloody nose, open-wounded knuckles and shaky hands.

"Okay, I need you to relax." You whispered, trying to lift his tank-top but he stopped your wrist.

"The fuck yOu doing?!" his voice cracked momentarily while hyperventilating.

"Dude, take slow, steady breaths. In order to heal you I need to touch the skin closer to the wound." It wasn't entirely true but not exactly a lie either. After a pause for consideration he nodded but his eyes remained wary. "You've seen me do it before! Now show me where it hurts."

You needed concentration, focus, steady hands, rock-hard abs and tanned skin— Nooooo, [Y/N]!

All your might; all of it to act nonchalant and professional, to not fucking stare like a degenerate because he was absolutely built. But you couldn't help it. You couldn't help placing your palm on his ribs gently, instead of just the tip of your fingers as you normally would've needed. His sigh of relief made you incredibly giddy, feeling accomplished and fulfilled knowing you've done a great job for him. You also couldn't help healing his most visible wounds one by one instead of doing it all together in one single touch.

Were you flustered? Definitely and his attention only made it worse. You picked one of his hands and he spasmed away but ultimately gave in with a choked grunt; then grabbed the other and channeled your energy into his body.

Your heads were tilted downwards, both staring at how his knuckles healed slowly. What neither him or you noticed was how all his scratches and bruises all over him healed too, or the prying eyes of a third wheel that was already taking notes of your quirk.

"Okay." You whispered, not really wanting to let go. Your brain screamed Dishonor! but your heart skipped a beat, then another, then exploded when you lifted your gaze.

Crimson eyes looked at you in awe, wide and never this clear. They were shining too and you couldn't help but give his strong hands a squeeze, feeling in the calloused skin of his palm and wondered which one of you was shaking... He blushed then and opened his mouth, yet his brows furrowed as his focus shifted behind you.

"THE FUCK YOU STARING AT, PUNK?!"

Oh, yeah. Your other patient.

In a heartbeat you were by Midoriya's side and got to work, chest heavy and no words coming out of you. No snappy or cheeky retorts either, just trembling hands and warm cheeks. Only with murmurs you guided him through the procedure before healing him completely.

Dizziness overtook you; the downside of your quirk and something you've been training with Recovery Girl for the whole semester.

"That was amazing, [L/N]-san! Thank you!" The boy cheered, staring down at his leg in utter disbelief. His compliment made you grin, full and proud.

"Of course it was!" Your normal self surfaced.

"Fucking woo-hoo." Nevermind. Mood dropped and your face did too.

"Well, since you've been a good patient—" you start and ruffle through your bag "You get a lollipop!" Said candy was thrown in Midoriya's lap and he stared at it baffled. Meanwhile you turned towards the bane of your existence and raised a brow, shaking another lollipop in your hand. "You don't. This one is mine because I deserve it."

His angry, stupid and scandalized expression was everything you were looking for. Did you get out of your way to buy lollipops knowing Bakugou would end up in the infirmary sooner or later? Maybe. Was it worth it?

"What the fuck does that mean, dammit— I—" words caught in his throat as he choked with air, looking at the candy in your fingers with murderous intentions. Definitely worth it.

"Thank you?" Broccoli Boy asked but started unwrapping it, probably not to insult your kindness, and the whole interaction fueled Bakugou's anger. He snapped out of the bed and so did Midoriya, but one was marching towards you while the other just wanted to run away in fear, direction Exit.

"Gimme that shit!" He tried to grab it out of your grasp, but you moved away, laughing at his face.

"Midoriya has been nice and thanked me for the healing—" at this point he was boiling. "Say Thank you, [Y/N], you're amazing and awesome and—"

"LIKE FUCKING HELL IMMA SAY THAT, DUMBASS!" he was so sweet, the guy you liked; yeah, your sudden realization hit as he looked like a tomato ready to bite your head off and the only thing you could think was how adorable and sweet he was. All gurgling in rage, spitting cussed words left and right; dreamy, he was dreamy. He caught the lollipop from your hands, his scowl turning into a full blown victorious grin. So shiny... so bright... God, he was so handsome...

You're suddently falling in his arms in slow-motion, the world around you twisting and turning with him in the center of it all. Warmth engulfed your frame as you hit the most comfortable pillow of your life. His chest.

"Oi, [Y/—" he cursed, taking no time to place you on the bed with ease. "You okay?"

"W-What happened? Is she okay?" It seemed the famous Deku decided to remain for the spectacle.

"Get lost!"

Even if you wanted to pass out, his snaps wouldn't let you and with that thought you chuckled breathlessly. "I'm fine, I just need a nap after healing this much..." you assured into the air.

"Will you be okay, [Y/N]-san?" You turned your head until you spotted him and nodded through a smile but someone else answered for you.

"I see you took matters in your own hands." The sweet, gentle voice of your mentor put you to ease but scared poor Midoriya to the core as she appeared behind him at the door. Bakugou was still hovering over you in bed, not really knowing what to do. "You should leave [L/N] rest, boys." With tiny steps she walked around, not really paying any more attention to the scene.

The blond gave you a glance and pursed his lip, analyzing the candy in his hand. Through half-lidded eyes you saw him secure it in his fist and give you a nod. At this point everything was blurry.

"Thanks... or whatever." He didn't waste any time to bolt towards the door, his broad uncovered shoulders were the last thing you saw before closing your eyes in contempt.

"Kacchan, is [Y/N]-san your—?"

"MIND YOUR GODDAM—" the door shut close, making the room tremble and you giggled like a drunk fool.

—

Bakugou walked with his hands in his pockets, looking around with little interest as Dunce Face and Racoon Eyes blabbered without pause to breathe. Fuck, he was exhausted and the concept of shoving food down his throat sounded fucking fantastic. His insides turned and twisted knowing you'd be meeting them soon.

"Yo, isn't that [Y/N]?" Like a flash, his head bolted in the direction Denki pointed at and before he spotted you, the blond already wanted to punch himself in the jaw. Why the fuck is he acting like that? The answer faded in his mind as the scene unfolded in front of him.

—

"You're such a fucking bitch, you know that, [Y/N]?" Arms crossed, you placated the poor first year that was whispering behind you.

"Wow, Midori, so original." With a dead tone and rolling eyes from you, the white haired demon only twisted her face in disgust. "My feelings are hurt."

"Who do you think you are? You're a fucking nobody, [Y/N]! You think you're doing any good here? Go kill yourself!"

"And give you the satisfaction? No, not happening, you fork-tongued lizard." Your nails looked interesting.

Her pale purple eyes got ignited and her diminute frame puffed, like a rabid little mole-rat ready to bite someone. And just like that, she took a deep breath and started yapping and barking. "YOU'RE BETTER DEAD ANYWAY, YOU WHORE! YOU RUIN EVERYTHING! NOW EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT ME! ABOUT HOW YOU STOLE HIM FROM ME! DIE ALREADY!"

Sadly you didn't have any cookies on since you definitely felt like shoving one in her fanged, venomous mouth and patting her head for the effort. Your lips turned oh, so slowly into a grin, enjoying her reaction way too much.

"That's nice. Now can you like, I don't know, go back to making potions with your coven or some crap? Leave the kid alone—"

"This pathetic little shit was talking about me! ME!" her screech hurt your ears so you covered them before you turned to the kid to just see him standing there, petrified.

"Did you try to summon Satan and she appeared instea—?"

"I'M SO FUCKING DONE WITH YOUR CRAP, YOU—" she pushed you but grasped your uniform, a ripping sound following. "UGLY—" nothing prepared you to get attacked by her. "FAT—" she raised her palm. "WHORE!"

No way in hell you were going to back down, instead you clenched your jaw and got ready to block it and finish the fight. She never remotely attended to hit you in a somewhat public place as she was a careful witch, always brewing something in that rotten brain of hers and making sure to keep her sweet appearance on point for the public.

You blinked.

"That was insane!"

The scenery in front of you suddently changed with that one single blink and a tall blond mass of muscle just popped out of nowhere. It knocked the air out of your lungs for a moment and seeing him staring down at her with such hatred, holding her wrist high in the air made you feel immense relief, much to your own surprise.

Were you that tense before?

"Midori-chan, I didn't know you were this rotten." Kaminari appeared in your field of vision too but got ignored by the girl. Her only goal was to free herself from Bakugou's grip but he wouldn't bulge.

"Y-You got it all wrong, Bakugou-s-san!"

Everyone stood there silent, utterly disgusted with her attempt to even try to twist reality.

"Don't even fucking think about it." He warned and those words rumbled deep, threat held within.

"We heard it all, Midori." You shook in place, twisting to see Mina by the kid's side, patting his back. After being used to seeing her easy-going attitude it was only natural to be amazed by her somber tone and serious manner.

Why were you so relieved? kept creeping in your mind. Why?

He then threw her wrist out of his grasp and bared his teeth in her direction, globes so bloodshot scrutinizing her. He oozed rage and fury and was combusting in place. But he did not scream. Bakugou Katsuki did not scream for once when he started talking, instead he growled his words, each with care and clarity.

"If i ever fucking hear you talking like that to anyone ever again I will— fucking— break you." you could hear his teeth grit, the sound making you shiver both in terror and excitement. "NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY FACE! I BETTER NOT FUCKING SEE YOU OR HEAR ABOUT YOU EVER AGAIN!" she yelped, fluttering her tears away and scurrying so fast it could've been comical.

Bakugou then spun to study you, chest raising and falling heavily. You couldn't descypher his appearance at the moment; there was the aggravation, the outrage, the burning flame in his orbs but also... Uncertainty? Guilt? Shame? It wiped off his face before you could figure it out.

"We're taking him to talk to a professor about what happened." Mina's voice faded in the distance. He nodded at Kaminari, who was behind you, and got a nod in response plus a pair of thumbs up, and with that they were gone.

He still tried to control himself, but as soon as you parted your lips to say anything at this point, he snarled into the nothingness. "THAT FUCKING BITCH—"

"Bakugou..."

"FOR HOW LONG?" he then screamed at you, malice gone but tone just as rough and loud.

"For how long what?" You said calmly while also noticing and adjusting the ripped sleeve of your uniform. He ran his palm over his face, eyeing it too.

"For how fucking long has this been going?"

"Oh, her—" there was this pressure to say it out loud, to confirm what it really was, like saying it out loud would give it weight, importance...

"Her bullshit, yeah." he didn't force it either, thankfully.

"Since we were in middle-school." you shrugged, chest and neck aching without an apparent reason. You cleared your throat.

"Stop that— Stop that fucking shit. Don't do that." He got close to you in a single step and you had to look up at him, feeling so small out of a sudden by his side. You smiled, as you taught yourself to do whenever things got tough.

"Do what?" It came out shaky, too shaky for your own taste but he was so close.

"Act like it doesn't fucking matter! Like it's no big fucking deal!" His breath fanned your face.

"I mean..." you started shrugging again but he stopped the action, palms holding your shoulders in place as he gave you a pissed off look. "It doesn't really matt—"

"YES, IT FUCKING DOES!"

His fingers held you in the spot as he inspected your features with a clenched jaw and classic furrowed brow. Flames erupted in your ribcage at his words and you couldn't even breathe anymore.

You licked your lips, not sure if you could say the next words but the fact that he focused on the action too attentively gave you the push needed. "What's it to you?"

His breath hitched, fanning over your face as he stiffened. Deep crimson waved between your own orbs and your lips—

Those flames? The flames that burned your inside? They were spreading throughout your body rapidly, the epicenter at the spot where his thumb caressed your skin at the edge of your shoulder, just touching the start of your collarbone. Even through the layer of fabric you felt it, as tiny as it was, but he did not do anything, just stood there with red tinted cheeks in daze. Much like you were.

"Thank you for saving me today, Bakugou." You whispered and he just nodded, still enthralled with your lips. At least you knew he was somewhat still there with you. Involuntarily, you bit your lower lip, just a little, smiling softly, taking the smallest step towards him; the corner of his lip turned up slightly—

"[Y/N]! Director Nezu wants to talk to you too!"

The spell was broken; you yelped into him, grabbing his shirt for support and checked your surroundings. A waving hand caught your attention; Kaminari was signaling you to go to him then froze and started running away; little did you know someone was sending him a death glare.

You cleared your throat, still warm and fuzzy from head to toe and separared from the blond that caught you in his arms. Bakugou seemed to have noticed the position too because he jerked away a step back and looked completely out of place.

Ridiculous. And hilarious, looking anywhere but you and still made no attempt to move. Neither did you, instead opting to hide a giggle.

Because you felt warm, tingly, all while he was a complete gremlin, sweet in his own personalized way, in which he cared for you, he defended you.

And you're in disbelief because how come this guy, this adorable, blushing porcupine with anger issues made you feel so soft and fragile? How did you end up in this situation and how can you stay in it forever?

"What's so fucking funny, hah?" There wasn't any bite to what could've been an aggressive wording, just hidden tenderness. He fought a smile too and had the audacity to try to act annoyed. Sadly, you had to go, so you shook your head and took a step back.

Bakugou understood, so he nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I'll see how later, ok?" You promised and he glanced at you from the corner of his eye. Now you had his ear in full view for you to see the tips reddened too. You want to melt, even coo at the sight, but you really did have to go. However, you couldn't leave without sending him a cheeky smile.

"Yeah, whatever." His jaw sinked a little in the collar of his shirt as he stomped away too.

—

The whole afternoon was spent talking to a counselor and to the principal himself about a problematic individual. The first year student was encouraged by your new friends to report it as they escorted him to safety and soon an internal investigation started; maybe, possibly because of you.

Why were you so relieved?

Because they listened to you. Because they believed you. Because you didn't have to prepare yourself every single morning to take verbal hits from all directions. Because you've been given a voice, unlike your old school where everything was brushed off; "It's your word against hers" and much more bullshit. No, this time was real and they proved it by listening to every single word you said.

You were dropped at your dorms just before 9 P.M. and it was too late to meet anyone at the point. But it wasn't important; the moment you landed on your bed a smile broke on your face, a few tears fell and you had the best sleep in forever.

—

The air changed. The aura around your class switched. Midori was clearly missing, which instantly turns a bad day into a fantastic one, but it wasn't only that. Students were called, one by one, again and again interrupting class and took hours to come back. Meanwhile the Divas in particular looked concerned, another great view to enjoy now and until the rest of time.

It was obvious why this was happening and you never felt this much peace and satisfaction. Even so, you started to feel overwhelmed because people suddently started greeting you. The people that weren't in Midori's toxic and constricted entourage.

They said your name! Without hatred! The school's goldenboy's name, Kaminari Denki, was dropped again and again too. It seems he just casually started mentioning what he witnessed the day before and you suddently felt the need to hug him tight. Gossip spread like wild fire thanks to him, after all.

Maybe you fell into a parallel universe but you couldn't bring yourself to care, you just waltzed on the hallways after the bell rang, wanting to go get some food, then hide at Mei's workshop for some recharging. Another part of you wanted to meet the explosive boy too, though.

In all honesty, it didn't matter where you ended. You were in an incredible mood.They talked to you and it was exhausting but nice!

Was this what it felt in horror movies when the demon-child with rotating head and projectile vomit was finally exorcized? Was the curse really released for good?

As you floated in the skies, high on life and what-not, you turned the corner just to run nose straight into a wall. Your brain decided to take a break for the day, it seems, and you genuinely hoped nobody saw you march head first into— It wasn't a wall, but a boy that gave you a raised brow and narrowed eyes.

"Watch where the fuck you're going, dumbass."

"Great to see you too!" you chippered, walking around him, knowing for a fact his attitude wouldn't be able to piss you off—

"What's with the idiotic expression?" Nevermind, he can go fuck himself. Yet you smiled because you're a Godsend angel and that's what winged saints do.

"Just really happy." You shrugged, walking away with ease and tried to bite a bigger smile off your face when you noticed him turning to walk with you. "What are you doing on this side of the campus?" You inquired.

"Came to walk you to lunch or whatever." Well, damn, that made you halt in surprise. He's behind you, staring out the window with disinterest but froze when he saw your dumbfounded face. "WHAT? IT WAS IN MY WAY, OK? Want me to leave? I can leave! You can fuck off—" You placated your hands and started laughing.

"No, no—" Your eyes glint. "It's really sweet of you." You said, awaiting his reaction with mischief.

He first choked on air, like one normally does, and then showed the worst allergic reaction to mere words. "SW—! THAT'S NOT— I'M NOT— YOU— I— NO—" in no time you're crackling like a deranged witch, adoring every single second of the show he was pulling. He was basically howling and your laughter actually infuriated him more.

"FUCK OFF!" Your amusement calmed down as you studied him, his puffed cheeks, red eyes avoiding you; with a few stomped steps he placed himself ahead of you but made no attempt to stand you up and go be a hermit somewhere else.

Bakugou Katsuki. Ash blond hair, broad back, pink ears... Swears like a sailor, is all bark and and all bite, except with his friends. Has a big heart...

"Something strange is happening." You find yourself saying.

"Hah?" He glances back.

"People have been acting weird." That stops him.

"They better not be fucking messin' with you—"

"No, on the contrary, they're nice to me..." you assured, voice faint as his comment repeated in your mind and your chest warmed up once again because of him.

They better not be fucking messin' with you.

"Good." He says and you can't bite your tongue.

"You're a good guy, Bakugou."

He gives you a face. "Hah? Now you fucking notice?!" But he's grinning at the end of the sentence, cocky and so full of himself and you'd lie if you said you didn't consider him incredibly handsome. Although it seems he did not get the message.

"No. I mean it for real. You really are a good guy." He grunts like he hurt himself in his own confusion, staring stupidly at you, slightly blushing. "You're gonna be such a great hero too." Mouth agape to try to answer, he just gives you plate eyes and nothing else. On the other hand you genuinely expected more explosive reactions but this seemed to have broken him for some good seconds. He stared and watched and stood there like an idiot in front of you, making you want to both bury yourself in your own embarrassment and laugh at him.

You opted to look up at the ceiling, flustered and amused, yesterday's events suddently washing over you; they never really left your thoughts but now all the feelings decided to come visit once again.

"Oi—" he better not ruin it. "Wh— The fuck you kissing my ass for?!" You breathe out, long and loud for him to understand how stupid he sounded and stalked ahead; only food could save the day he's been actively ruining and that's what you were gonna get. He followed your rushed steps with cusses and questions until he grabbed your wrist to slow your pace. "Slow down, dumbass!"

The issue was that his obnoxiously loud voice caught then attention of some students that were just minding their own business.

"Is that Bakugou Katsuki?" Earning a groan from him as if it wasn't his fault!

"—with [L/N] [Y/N]?"

"Are they holding hands?!"

"So they're really together?" You cringe in embarrassment.

"Is that a confession?!" No, no, absolutely not happening. You rush out of the scene, gut burning, the boy on your toes cursing and mumbling whatevers but you didn't reach far until he talks. At least he had the decency of stopping you at an empty spot before giving you a heart attack.

"This is when you confess— or some fucking— dumb shit like that." Even without seeing him, back turned and absolutely petrified, you heard the cocky vibration in his tone that was sprinkled with some light stuttering.

Son of a bitch. That prinkly ass cocky fuck. That absolutely handful of a sea urchin—

You checked the closest stairway, your nearest exit and pathway to your salvation but something in that attitude of his just made you shake as you covered your face and laugh.

"You're... You're the worst." You mumble in disbelief but the grin that almost broke your face got even bigger as he choked and inhaled sharply.

"Hah?! Wasn't I the fucking best a minute ago?!"

"I did not say tha—"

"Same shit!" He bites when you glanced on him through your fingers. Your skin was burning so hot it would've been mortifying if he didn't look just as rattled. The view managed to calm your nerves and spike them at the same time.

"You're the worst..." Finally uncovering your face, he takes in your grin and visibly calms his fuming yet remains just as discomposed. "—and I like you."

Still, you cover your mouth because the blond in front of you started combusting and it was glorious to watch. Hell, you felt like grabbing a snack and watching him go through all those feelings that slapped his face on repeat. First his eyes widened, the teasing from before forgotten, then his skin, already splashed with red transformed completely into the same color, so deep it in resemblance with his eyes, eyes that were reading into you intensely. He went rigid too and as time passed and passed and he did not move, the only thing left was to break him out of his misery. Yes, break him.

"This is when you say it back."

He snapped. "I— DON'T FUCKING— DON'T FUCKING MAKE ME SAY EMBARRASSING SHIT LIKE THAT!" Birds flew away in one mile radius, windows trembled, your eardrums cried for mercy and you hid your smile because even through deafening volume, Bakugou Katsuki did not deny it. A zoo totally high on crystal meth started a revolution in your insides and the feeling threatened to burst out at any moment.

This is it. This ball of emotional constipation was taking your breath away while cussing you after you confessed and all you wanted to do was to squeal... What have you become?

But you said nothing, just stared with your hand covering your mouth, taking in the boy that looked like he wanted to throw fists with you, bared teeth and all, and also simultaneously die of a stroke.

"I—" he tried, you had to give him credit because he really did try. Like a challenge, like he wasn't going to back down, he gave his best and not without looking like it killed him inside. "F—" cuss word got stuck in his throat when you couldn't help a scoff. Suddently the show comes to an end when he halts, gives you a glare and takes a deep breath. For a moment you feared he'd walk away. Oh, how wrong you were because deep down you had to know he did not back down easily.

"I like— you, too." Beautiful words came out of his mouth, looking like it physically pained him to say them. "THERE, I SAID IT! YOU FUCKING HAPPY NOW?!" He howls indignantly, crossing his arms, trying to hide his clear flustered self yet it takes him one glance at you to return to his self induced stroke. "Don't fucking make that dumb fucking face—" he struggled to exist. "Don't look at me like that, dammit!"

You giggle, relieved and happy and in all honesty about to cry a tiny bit. You couldn't help it, enamored with how blissful this moment was. Bakugou stops his grunts and watches you in awe, small, minuscule grin taking over his face and he clicks his tongue, trying to fight it.

And deflects, as always.

"C'mon. Have to walk you there before you get lost or some shit like that." You breathe in and nod, even thought you were perfectly capable of walking to the cafeteria as you've done it for a year and some now.

"Okay."

"You'd be starving if it weren't for me." You snort and roll your eyes, but beam like a lovestruck idiot.

"Sure thing, dude." It instantly earns a grunt, then a pout, followed by grumbles and heavy feet by your side. You check on him, noticing his shrugged shoulders and tinted nose and you almost trip with your own legs because of it. He doesn't say anything for the longest time, which you didn't mind as you yourself needed some time to shoo away the butterflies and rainbows that floated all around in your very empty head. It wasn't until you almost reached the cafeteria that he stops you by the arm and looks away.

"You— You shouldn't call your boyfriend dude, dumbass."

Remember the butterflies? Now they're radioactive and fluttering around, crazed and disoriented.

"Says the one that calls me a dumbass, Bakugou." You relent, thankful he took the initiative to answer the question that lingered in the air throughout all the walk.

A wild flush takes over him and he refuses to turn toward you, just observing from the corner of his eyes.

"It's— It's Katsuki to you, dumbass." And he drags you inside without giving you a chance to process it. But when you do, you grin like mad and whisper just as you were manhandled through the door, preparing yourself for his explosive gargling and screaming and silently apologizing to everyone in your general proximity.

"Okay, Kacchan~"

Note: Thank you for reading and for any sweet mesages! I read each and every one of them and they make me so incredibly happy!! I would like to point out that the phone editor switches around paragraphs and it's very confusing. I edited some mistakes and for now it's good but I'm scared it wasn't fixed since I edited before too and I encounter the same problem again... If you find something off, could you please let me know? I want the reading to be enjoyable for everyone after all. Thank you again! 💕

[twstarchives]

This Happens, and I...

Card: Lab Coat - SR Characters: Epel, Crewel, Jack, Cater, Vil (mentioned) Notes: Connected to Lilia Lab Coat

Chapter 1

—ALCHEMY WORKSHOP—

Crewel: The lambent flower, as its name suggests, is a plant that radiates light.

This plant is able to convert various nutrients into magic power and store them.

When it blooms, it releases all of the magic it had saved, making it give off a radiant shine.

Its petals won’t stop giving off that magic after it blooms, so it withers very quickly, and it’s difficult to breed them.

In fact, our own school’s botanical garden has hardly any at all.

For our Magic Potions lab today, we’ll be using nectar from lambent flowers.

Obviously, this nectar is extremely valuable. So be very careful when you take some from the jar with your droppers, puppies...

(Shatter!)

Epel: AHH?!

Crewel: The puppy that barked just now...

You’re Pomefiore’s Epel Felmier, yes? If you have a question, then quietly raise your hand.

Epel: I don’t have a question, I just... um...

I hit the jar of lambent flower nectar with my elbow... and broke it.

Crewel: You what?! ...Y-You spilt more than half of it!

Epel: I-I’m sorry... I-I was careless...

Classmate A: Oh, no... You really screwed up. See you on the other side, Epel.

Epel: Huh?

Jack: I heard from one of my seniors that if you make Professor Crewel mad, your life as a human ends for good.

They said he “disciplines” any student who makes some stupid mistake till they’re bowing on the floor crying their eyes out.

Epel: Th-They’re just exaggerating...

Crewel: Exaggerating. Yes, exactly, only exaggerating. That comment made it very clear what your stance is on this.

First you waste valuable lab ingredients, and then brush it off like that...

You’ve got some nerve, you mutt!!

          (Crewel brings out his whip)

Epel: Ahh!!

Jack: Th-That had a lot of force there.

Epel: I-I’m sorry... I really am! It wasn’t on purpose...

Crewel: Be quiet! Bad boys who make excuses must be punished.

You spilt one teacup’s worth of nectar. Collect that much again, and don’t miss a single drop.

I’ll give you... yes, two months to do this. If you don’t have it all collected by then...

You know what’ll become of you, don’t you?

Epel: ...*Gulps*

(W-Well, he gave me a chance to make up for myself. I gotta break my neck tryin’!)

Yes, I understand. I’ll go and get back all the nectar I wasted.

Classmate B: ...No way Epel’s really gonna be able to do it. He looks like seeing a bug would be enough to send him screaming bloody murder.

Classmate C: He should just call it quits and tell him “I can’t do it” while he still can. That pretty boy’s got too much pride.

Classmate A: Oi, cut him some slack!

What are you going to do when that sheltered little boy starts bawling his eyes out? Hahaha!

Epel: ......

—BOTANICAL GARDEN - TEMPERATE ZONE—

Epel: I’m getting that lambent flower nectar no matter what!!

...It’s been a week since I promised myself that. I’ve been coming to the botanical garden to check on the flowers everyday, but...

I only planted five flowers, and they’re still just buds. I can’t get their nectar if they don’t bloom...

But even if they did bloom, I still only have five flowers—I wouldn’t even be able to get a whole spoonful of nectar.

And I have to get an entire teacup full? How am I supposed to do this?

Cater: What’s this~? I see Mr. Cutie from Pomefiore over there!

Epel: That voice... That’s gotta be Cater-san.

How many times do I have to tell you? My name’s not “Cutie,” it’s Epel.

Cater: Yup, yup, you’re as cute as ever today ♪

Have you thought about starting a Magicam yet? I could show you how.

I’ve said this before, but I think someone as cute as you could absolutely be an influencer~

Epel: ....Hah. Right now, I don’t have the time for that.

Cater: What’s the matter? You look glum.

Epel: Well...

Cater: So Professor Crewel told you to bring him one teacup’s worth of lambent flower nectar... I see.

Epel-chan, you poor thing. Wasn’t it obvious this was impossible from the start?

Epel: Huh?

Cater: Lambent flowers take about two to three years to bloom after they bud.

Epel: Whaaat?! T-Two to three years?!

Cater: That’s how long it takes to build up enough of that magic power they need to bloom.

So I don’t think there’s any way you could get a whole teacup in two months.

Epel: S-So then why did Professor Crewel tell me I only had two months to get the nectar?

Cater: Well, he lives by the motto “Discipline your dog till it stops biting the hand that feeds it.”

Epel: Discipline...?

Cater: He’s probably waiting for you to come crying “I can’t do this anymore~!” to him.

Epel: S-So, you mean... He was just being mean from the start?!

Cater: You got it~♪

Well, maybe it’s better to say it’s just his teaching style.

Huh? Epel-chan, are you listening?

Epel: ......

I... I’m not the best at studying... and yeah, I make a lot of mistakes... but... I always try to fix them...

And I... just want to be acknowledged...

So when he gave me a second chance, I thought “I have to put in everything I’ve got”...

But he was just being mean... My classmates were making fun of me too... I can’t believe this...

Cater: Wait, you’re actually really shocked?!

Epel: This happens, and I... I... and everyone got to... ah!

Cater: Hey, don’t cry, Epel-chan...

Epel: ...I want to prove them all wrong!!

Cater: That option?!

E-Epel-chan, you’ve actually pretty competitive, huh?

Epel: I'm not a mutt... or a pretty boy!

Cater: I think it’d be better if you apologized while you’ve still got time. ‘Cause this was an impossible game from the start...

Epel: It... can’t be impossible. I’m going to outsmart all of them!

Chapter 2

—INTERIOR HALLWAY—

Cater: Oh~? Are you heading back now, Epel-chan? Then let’s go to the Mostro Lounge together ♪

What do you say about making your Magicam debut by taking a selfie with me against a super aesthetic café backdrop?

Epel: Cater-san... Sorry, I can’t today, I think. I have to go to the botanical garden.

Cater: Botanical garden... What?

Are you still collecting lambent flower nectar because you want to prove yourself to Professor Crewel?

Epel: Yes, of course I am!

This is compensation for the valuable nectar I spilt. I’m going to pay it back.

Cater: You sure are stubborn. But remember we talked about how this was impossible from the start?

Apologizing ASAP will make everything sting less.

If you’re scared of Professor Crewel, want me to come with you?

Epel: C’mon! I thought I already told you “it can’t be impossible.”

Cater: Huh? What do you mean...?

Epel: Hehe... Here, come with me. I’ll show you something cool.

—BOTANICAL GARDEN - TEMPERATE ZONE—

Cater: Epel-chan, where are we going? We’re already really far into the botanical garden...

Epel: We’re almost there. Oh, here, I can see it.

Cater: Huh? Is something here...? Wait...

Whaaaaaat?

The flower bed is full of blooming lambent flowers!

Huh? You only had like five before, right? How many hundreds is this?

Plus they all look strong, and they’re already blooming flowers... No way...

How’d you do this?!

Epel: Hehe, it was as easy as a can of—er! It was very easy!

Remember what you told me, Cater-san?

About it taking time for lambent flowers to build up enough magic power to bloom?

Cater: Oh yeah, I remember.

Epel: Hearing what you said reminded me of something the teacher told us during class.

Crewel: This plant is able to convert various nutrients into magic power and store them.

When it blooms, it releases all of the magic it had saved, making it give off a radiant shine.

Epel: And in that case, if I just keep giving it nutrients, it’ll collect more and more magic and bloom quicker!

...Maybe? That’s what I thought.

But the store-bought soil you use for growing regular flowers wouldn’t work at all...

So I decided to give it a special fertilizer packed full of lots more nutrients everyday.

Cater: A special fertilizer?

Epel: I made it myself!

Cater: You say that in such a cute tone, like you just baked some sweets... but fertilizer, huh? You made some?

Epel: Yeah! It’s all inside this bag...

Cater: THAT STINKS!!

*Cough*... Wait... It’s making my eyes and nose burn!! What’s that disgusting smell?!

Epel: Ahaha, isn’t it normal for fertilizer to smell?

Cater: This is not normal!! This doesn’t bother you at all, Epel-chan?

Epel: It’s not that it doesn’t bother me, it’s just I’m used to field wor—wait, no, um... I’m used to gardening.

There’s so much fertilizer right at your disposal at this school! You could get as much food scraps as you want in the cafeteria.

Cater: Food scraps?!

Epel: And the most important thing to make this special fertilizer is...

Horse shit!

Cater: Horse... huh, what?

I just heard a word I never thought I’d hear coming out of the mouth of our delicate Epel-chan...

Epel: It’s horse shit. A horse’s dung. I’ve been getting some everyday from the horse-riding club.

The horses at this school eat really well, so they make loads of it everyday. It really helped me out.

Horse shit doesn’t just help grow the plants; it nurtures the soil too. It’s really the best fertilizer you could get!

Cater: D-Do you have to keep saying it so many times? Cay-kun is getting shaken up...

Umm, so, you’ve been collecting food scraps and horse dung everyday for two months...

Then mixed it together to make a suuuper smelly fertilizer, and that made the lambent flowers bloom at a crazy speed...?

Epel: Yeah!

Cater: Epel-chan, I can’t believe you! You’re way bolder than you look!

I’m actually blown away!

Crewel: Just when I thought I heard a ruckus over here... this is an odd pair. What are you doing in the botanical garden?

Hm? Don’t tell me I’m seeing... lambent flowers blooming in that flower bed?!

Epel: Professor Crewel, what do you think? I grew lambent flowers!

I’m really close to being able to get you one teacup’s worth of nectar... Please wait a little while.

If you’d like, I could even get a whole teapot’s worth.

Crewel: Heheh, hahaha! And here I thought you’d surely tuck your tail and come crying miserably to me... I didn’t see this coming.

You must have needed an extraordinary amount of dedication to raise lambent flowers up to this point, since they die so easily.

You’re a much pluckier puppy than I’d taken you for. Good boy, Epel Felmier.

Epel: Thank you...!

Crewel: However, don’t think I’m going to be lenient with your class and exam grades just because of this.

I’m just holding you in the same regard as the other puppies now.

This recognition is simply for making up for your shortcomings.

Epel: Yes, I understand. I’ll continue working as hard as I can from now on.

Crewel: Good answer. ...Keep this up and prove yourself to the other students too.

Epel: Okay!!

Cater: ...There you go! “Good boy” is Professor Crewel’s biggest compliment!

Epel: Ehehe...

Cater: All’s well that ends well, huh? ♪ Man, but anyway...

The sparkly, shiny lambent flowers, and a smiley Epel-chan. You wouldn’t even have to edit this; it’s already super photogenic.

Hey~ Is now the right time to make a Magicam account? I’m sure you’d go viral!

Epel: I’m sorry. I’m going to go to the library now... to study!

I’m going to keep doing my best in Potions... and maybe... I’ll even be able to surpass the Dorm Leader!

See you later, Cater-san. Excuse me!

Cater: Ehh~! Don’t be so cold~ Your super nice senior¹ will help you study~!

1. Your super nice senior

Cater refers to himself as “oniisan” (big brother), but I tried to substitute with something more fluent-sounding that still conveys a similar feeling of familiarity/him being “older”

[ice-cream-nekogirl]

i needed to lose you to love me (Bakugou Katsuki X Reader)

Summary: Bakugo sucks at apologizing, but knows that he owes you one. Big Time.

WARNING: THERE IS SOME MAAAAJOR AAAAANGST AND STRANGER THINGS 3 SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER.  LIKE… MAJOR... I might have to actually make an alternate ending... sure I personally think this one has a happy ending too but... have ya’ll HEARD Selena Gomez’s new music video and song? It’s heartbreakingly beautiful but important about self-love so... here ya’ll go! Warning it’s also pretty lengthy... I also alluded to American Horror Story in here too.

Taglist: @i-love-bakugou​, @soseoky​, @random-username-101​

The Long Awaited Part 2 of ‘Dump His Ass’ here: https://ice-cream-kitsunegirl.tumblr.com/post/186316524474/dump-his-ass-bakugou-katsuki-x-reader

And Thank You All Might: https://ice-cream-kitsunegirl.tumblr.com/post/186833600249/thank-you-all-might

If you haven’t seen Stranger Things 3 year and don’t want any spoilers… this one has HUGE spoilers so… read at your own risk…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlJDTxahav0

You promised the world and I fell for it... I put you first and you adored it

It’s been at least a couple of months and yet you found yourself still upset over the newfound sadness that plagued you as you put away an empty glass of water in the sink, sniffling a little bit. Unable to help but let some tears stream down your face as you could only think about what you had lost.

Why did it have to be him?

Yes, he was a huge jerk but he had a good side after all.

It wasn’t just you, many others had to see his nastier sides and witnessed him beat up some innocent people. And many, including yourself had thought there was no way such a jerk could ever have any sort of redeeming qualities, and the only good trait about him was that he was good-looking and badass.

He acted like he was so big and tough and bullied others just to show off his power, but even he had a soft spot that he buried deep down inside.

And you lost him.            

Now all you could do was cry as you grabbed a tissue to wipe your face, not wanting to go to school upset over such a silly thing. Plus, you already embarrassed yourself in class not long ago by crying in front of everyone, so it was time to just get over it…

But you missed him…

“(Y/N)?” You nearly perked up as soon as you heard a familiar voice that belonged to the person you had been avoiding for the past months. Your ex-boyfriend…

Bakugou wasn’t a patient guy, and had been trying to bug you for the past couple of months but you stopped letting him and he had reluctantly put up with your silent treatment and cold shoulders. However, he couldn’t ignore your tears, he fucking HATED seeing you cry and he fucking HATED knowing that he was responsible for them…

Set fires to my forest And you let it burn...

He tried to get close to you, but you never let him, except this time he wasn’t going to let you just push him away. “Oy. What the fuck’s the matter…?” Despite his coarse language there was gentleness as he closed in towards you and looked you in the eyes.

“H-He’s gone…” You didn’t want to really see him, but you decided to just answer his question and his eyes slightly widened, “Who’s gone?” His concern grew when he thought that someone important to you might have died or disappeared.

“B-Billy… Billy’s gone… Hopper’s gone too… a-and so is Alexei…” You wiped your tears away with a napkin and swallowed hard to try and not get so emotional over the beloved characters you grew attached to.

But Bakugou could only blink in befuddlement, only for that to turn into pure and simmering annoyance, “Seriously?! Are you talking about the characters from that show?! I thought someone actually died!” He quickly shouted as you put your hand over your mouth to quell a snicker, as sad as you were over losing Billy, Hopper and Alexei, Bakugou’s anger was so amusing.

Yes you had been rewatching Stranger Things 3 ever since it came out because it was THAT good, you finally watched all of it with your friends and it was the BEST season thus far. Yet, it still didn’t cease to break your heart with the way it concluded this year.

“Yes… I am… oh yeah… Billy’s dead… and Alexei’s a new character that everyone fell in love with, Hopper’s also PROBABLY dead and Eleven… moved away from Hawkins can you believe it…?” With a small smirk you told him everything that you were sad about and you were actually really shocked to see his eyes go wide in the slightest bit of outrage as he yelled.

“DON’T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED IN THE THIRD SEASON! I haven’t seen it yet!”

“Well I wouldn’t have to tell you what happened if you had just sat your ASS DOWN that night and watched it with me.” It was your turn to be harsh as you used a sharper tone that almost scared your ex as he looked at you in shock. He was not used to this side of you at all because you were usually his cheerful if weird and kooky girlfriend.

Bakugou knew you could be tough, but being on the end of it was… scary to witness.

“Now you care about the show?” You chuckled and shook your head when you recalled all of the times when he mocked your taste in shows and repeatedly said that Stranger Things was unoriginal and stupid. Well, actually at first you were okay with it because that was okay and it wasn’t anything personal, but then he started mocking other things that you liked knowing that you liked them and then mocked you for liking them. Why did you put up with all of that?

Sang off-key in my chorus 'Cause it wasn't yours...

“Because you made me watch it! You’re the idiot that got me invested in that dumb show in the first place!”

“Okay, maybe I was a LITTLE bit pushy but… did it kill you to watch something with me every now and then you jerk?” You had calmed down a little bit, and instead put your hands up just to stop this pointless argument, much to Bakugou’s slight surprise as his scowl had lessened.

“You know what? Nevermind… I’m not going to argue about a freaking show… and I’m not gonna waste yours or my time… I forgot how much you value your time.” Shaking your head, you grabbed your bags to get ready to leave soon. Maybe you were giving Bakugou the guilt trip, but in your defense he called you fat and accused you of being lazy, and you were starting to realize that he didn’t give you a whole ton of respect during your relationship as he insulted things you liked, didn’t spend a lot of time with you, brushed you off when you tried to help him, blew you off at times and again, he called you fat. Something he swore that he would NEVER call you, and he broke that swear.

He treated you like garbage so now, like Max had said, it was time to treat HIM like garbage.

And so far the guilt-trip was working and Bakugou hated that it was. Every time you reminded him of the things he said, this knot in his chest would build and it would make him SO angry and yet so fucking guilty.

“Dammit (Y/N)… will you just listen? I know I said some stupid-shit but-“

Uh-uh, you didn’t want to hear it and you quickly put your fingers in your ears and started to sing, “Lalalalala~! I can’t hear you~! I respond to nothing Katsuki~!” You sang outloud and that just made the already frustrated Bakugou even madder, “CUT THAT OUT! (Y/N) YOU MORON STOP ACTING LIKE A FUCKING KID!!”

“I’m sorry? But I can’t understand you Katsuki… cuz you’re a human… and I’m a pig, remember? Pigs can’t understand humans… there’s a language barrier. Oink, oink.” Your eyes were wide in fake surprise which REALLY shocked but also REALLY infuriated your ex.

“Do NOT call yourself that! You’re not a pig! Come on I didn’t MEAN what I said all right?!” You couldn’t be serious; you couldn’t have taken his words to heart THAT much could you? He really hoped not, because it just made him regret what he said even more.

However, you weren’t listening to him and just continued to ignore him as you tried to walk away, but Bakugou wasn’t going to let you. He didn’t like this feeling, he didn’t like it at all…

I saw the signs and I ignored it Rose-colored glasses all distorted 

“Hey! Goddamn it (Y/N) stop ignoring me!” Bakugou wasn’t used to you ignoring him at all, because you always, always gave him your attention, sometimes a little too much but he got used to it. And he liked that...

“Katsuki, you SERIOUSLY hurt me… I’ve told you this… the damage is done… you know I had a hard time growing up because of that… and you and Izuku were the only ones who never called me things like that when everyone else did…” Your voice cracked yet again as you quickly turned away and walked away as fast as you could, not giving Bakugou the chance to try and reach out for you the second he thought you were going to cry again.

Set fire to my purpose And I let it burn

“Argh! (Y/N)!” Bakugou called your name, but his guilt kept him rooted to where he stood as he let you walk off. But his eyes slightly widened when Mina and Yaoyorozu had been around and came just in time to walk with you and give warning glances to Bakugou so he didn’t try to come over to you. Mina even made sure to glare at him as the girls put their hands on your shoulders as the three of you walked away and left your ex alone.

Again…

“Dammit…!” He exclaimed to himself with his fists clenched. God he really fucked up; his classmates were giving him the stink-eye and you probably hated him. He couldn’t have that.

Well, Bakugou still really didn’t give a shit about what the others thought about him, but maybe, just maybe he didn’t want you to hate him. Even if it was his own fault. The more he reflected on what he said to you, the worse he felt…

You got off on the hurtin' When it wasn't yours, yeah...

8 HOURS LATER

You held back a yawn at the last class of the day, resisting the urge to go to sleep when Aizawa droned on and on about something you didn’t really care about. Well, it wasn’t that you were sad or anything, you were totally over everything that went down the last couple of days. Frankly, you had better things to think about and deal with than your dumb ex-boyfriend.

Like the new Zombieland! Now that you watched Stranger Things 3, it was time to get into something new. And you finished Big Mouth season 3 too so… you needed something else to focus on that wasn’t related to your ex or school. You giggled a little bit at the thought, maybe you should have been focused on studying for upcoming tests but at the same time it felt like everyone had been working too hard.

So the minute it was time to go you quickly went over to Izuku to see if you could drag him to the next showing.

“Hey ‘Zuku c’mere I got a plan…” You kinda grabbed his arm, making him jump a bit in surprise as he yelped a little bit. “A-Ah! Oh! H-Hey (Y/N)-chan… s-sure…” You thought he was so cute even though you two had been friends forever and he STILL got nervous whenever you touched him.

However, Bakugo didn’t find it cute AT ALL. Why the hell were you touching Deku?! What the hell were you doing with Deku?!

You didn’t notice this though as you just lulled him away to whisper, “Hey I’m like super hyped for the new Zombieland cuz it’s been getting some pretty good reviews despite the fact that it’s been like 10 years since the last one so… wanna go see it with me? I’m gonna invite some other fun people with me~.” It was a bit of a sudden, spontaneous idea but you thought ‘fuck it’ you wanted to go watch an awesome zombie movie with your friends and get school off your mind for a little bit.

Wasn’t that one of Columbus’s rules after all? Rule 32: Enjoy the little things. Yes you memorized some of the rules, some of them were good rules!

“Zombieland? Oh, that’s right! They made a sequel… sure…! I think that would be kind of nice…” Izuku wasn’t exactly a movie buff like you were but he liked spending time with you and watching movies or TV with you, and he liked the first Zombieland too.

“Great! Give ourselves a goddamn break ya know? I think we’re all kinda stressing out so yeah! Let’s go for it dude!” You gave him a big grin as he couldn’t help but blush quite madly, but he was happy that you seemed a bit happier as of late. Given the drama that occurred after you and Bakugou broke up and the mini depression you went through afterwards that lessened somewhat with the help of him, Shinsou and All-Might.

Did you still get sad? Of course. Depression and a low self-esteem don’t just go away, but your friends had been helping you through that, and you even still talked to All-Might whenever he and Izuku were training together or discussing something together.

“Actually that’s… not a bad idea at all. I suppose we have been a little busy lately...” He took note of what you were planning, and thought that a break could be good for him and his friends. “YEAH! Totally! I’m gonna invite Hitoshi! And Mina, and Tooru, and Denki, Fumikage, Yuga, Tsu, Momo, Eijirou, Hanta…” You listed off a few people you planned to invite since those were the ones you felt oddly closest to. It was a pretty big group but hey they could pay for their own tickets right? Besides the more the merrier!

“I think they’ll really like that (Y/N)-chan.” He thought outloud as the two of you walked out of the place together and headed towards the dorms, unaware that a furious Bakugou overheard EVERYTHING.

You were inviting THOSE losers to see a fucking movie but not him?! What the hell?! Now you were full-on ghosting him?!

That’s what it certainly felt like as he discreetly followed you and the damn nerd back to the dorms and you cheerfully skipped over to your room to get some good clothes on and get your things altogether so you could prepare for the upcoming time-slot at 6. You still had 2 hours but you liked to be ready before then.

And you quickly started to text to your friends. 

‘Hey Toshi, let’s go see Zombieland 2! I hear it’s really good so lets go C it bro!’ 

You texted Shinsou first though since he was the other friend you considered your closest.

‘Sure. Liked the first one, looking forward to this one.’ 

He quickly texted you back and was certainly up for it as you grinned and decided to tease him just a little bit. ‘HOORAY! And it’s a movie made just for you!’

‘HAHAHA YOU’RE SO FUNNY’ 

His text was very sarcastic but just as playful as yours as you snickered a little bit before you started sending the other texts to your friends.

‘LET’S GO SEE ZOMBIELAND 2 YA’LL. We need break, let’s go laugh it up at the movies!’

Was the text you sent via group messaging to Mina, Hagakure, Kaminari, Tokoyami, Aoyama, Tsuyu, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima and Sero. And you were met with numerous replies.

‘YEAH! I LOVED THE FIRST ONE!!’

‘Oooh I’m so excited for the sequel!’

‘Oh yeah! Now that’s an idea (Y/N)! Let’s nut up or shut up!’

‘I will never turn down an offer to see a zombie movie.’

‘Yes~. The first one was amazing, the second will be just as good~.’

‘I did like the first one, I’d like to see the second one too so that sounds like it would be fun (Y/N)-chan.’

‘Oh that comedy horror movie? Sure! The first one you showed me was good!’

‘OH HELL YES! I love that movie! It’s a yes (Y/N)! Thank you! I’m so up for that!’

‘Sure! I freaking loved the first one, dunno how this one’ll do without Bill Murray tho.’

You snickered at someone of their replies, finding many of them cute and funny at the same time. Looks like you had a party to go see this movie with, and you couldn’t be happier. You really needed this, since the past months hadn’t been easy since you were admittedly still getting over Bakugou. And you thought about what All-Might said, how you had to believe that you were beautiful and that you deserved love.

Of course, you still had a hard time believing that because it wasn’t just something you could drill into yourself and expect it to stay there, but at the same time you made sure to keep reminding yourself that and set your inner saboteur at bay. While at the same time, trying to not let what Bakugou told you dictate how you saw yourself.

You loved Bakugou, you really did, but he was mean to you, even though you knew what you were getting into, it ended up hurting you more than you ever thought it would when he just kept saying things that hurt and got into arguments with you whenever you wanted him to just spend a little time with him. He hurt you, and it was something you couldn’t quite just let go of, even though you weren’t exactly upset at him anymore, part of you still was.

And the love you still had for him didn’t leave you, but you kind of hated him too for being such a jerk to you, to Izuku and to Shinsou too for that matter. You hated him and you hated all the terrible things he said to you, because his remarks made you realize that no, you didn’t deserve any of that. Sure, you knew that maybe he really did love you at one point, because he kept trying to apologize so that meant he had to have still loved you right?

Or was it just his pride trying to win you back so he didn’t feel like a loser? You weren’t so sure, but deep down you knew that he did love you and did it because maybe he did feel really bad for what he said.

Dammit you wanted to hate him, but dammit you fucking loved him too. And damn, dammit it wasn’t good for you. You couldn’t just take him back after all of that, but you would at least know that he wasn’t a bad guy, he did have a heart, and that he did love you, and you loved him too…

But you didn’t deserve to have him treat you the way you did either. You loved him, but you were learning how to love yourself too.

You sighed as you got in your clothes and got everything you’d need from your wallet to your purse as you left your room. Making your way to the common room to hang about until it was a good time to leave.

“So Zombieland 2 huh?” Shinsou surprised you by suddenly speaking and popping up right behind you as you let out a shriek and jumped. Dammit he really was like a cat after he started training more. Hell he was so good you didn’t even detect that he was there since he was like a ninja learning how to subdue any obvious aura that you could sense.

“Good God man you’re going to need to start wearing a bell or something!” You whined a little bit as he couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at your expense and the light flush on your cheeks.

“But yes… Zombieland 2… Double Tap. What the fuck am I right? I looooves me some zombie movies! Add a little comedy to it and you get one hell of a flick!” However, you went from surprised to cheerful as you happily shook your firsts in giddy anticipation.

“Heh… yeah you got a point. The first one set the bar… might as well see if these guys still got it after 10 years…” He thought outloud as you gave him a nod and a thumbs up. “It was actually my first rated R movie.” Shinsou then decided to share as you perked up a bit with a gasp. “For reals?”

He smiled and nodded as a grin came to your lips, “Nice… that’s a good start to the world of R rated movies. I’ve been watching so many R rated movies at a young age I forgot my first one…” You KINDA bragged but you weren’t lying, you’d gotten into R rated movies at a pretty early age, but Shinsou was actually somewhat impressed as he gave you a smirk.

“Oh yeah? You’re not the only one… I just have a better memory.” And he kinda poked fun at you as you laughed and playfully smacked his shoulder. “I’ll give you that…” Still you decided to own up to that because yes, you didn’t have the best memory unless it came to movie lines, character quirks or memes.

“Well… it’s a good idea, and I’m into it so… I’ll just go put on something that’s… not my uniform.” Shinsou’s smile looked almost coy as he scratched the back of his neck as you smiled back at him, “Take your time, movie don’t start for another hour and a half.” You said as he gave you a polite wave that you happily returned.

Yeah, you couldn’t wait to see the movie now. Especially with Shinsou, Izuku and all the others, they were so great. Shinsou and Izuku were so great… Shinsou was great…

You couldn’t help but think as you made sure you had everything, and some candy you stored away and would sneak into the theaters as you put the treats into the secret pockets of your purse. However, you paused momentarily when you definitely felt someone else’s aura in the room, no one other than Bakugou’s. You knew what his aura felt like, it was always so vibrant, bright and almost hot whenever you came so close as you could always see it flickering and blazing. Only this time, it was subdued, akin to a small candle.

“So you’re going to see that movie huh?” There it was, his low, raspy voice that you had fallen in love as you turned to see him looking so oddly calm. Bakugou wasn’t known for being calm at all, and yet he was here looking strangely cool.

You had to admit, although you kinda wanted to still treat him like garbage you were starting to feel kind of guilty about it too. So you decided to be more civil this time as you smiled, “Let me guess… Denki and Eijirou told you?” You asked politely as he scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Duh. Those two don’t know how to keep their traps shut when they’re excited…”

Maybe you could invite him? You thought, sure he was probably going to turn it down but… no, it probably wasn’t a good idea.

“In their defense, it’s been 10 years since the last one showed. The actors are all kinda old now, and we’re interested to see if they still got that thing ya know? If they can hold a candle to the first one, not sure you remember it but it was hella funny.” You said with a smile, and Bakugou couldn’t help but feel somewhat at ease.

The smile was real and it’s been a LONG time since he’s gotten a smile from you, it almost hurt seeing you smile because he remembered the times when you and him were together, you were always smiling. But this time, you and him weren’t together, and yet you were smiling now. Of course, Bakugou wanted you to be happy, but were you happy without him…? He almost didn’t want that… he wanted to be the one to make you smile because he was never, EVER going to say the stupid shit he said ever again.

“I remember.” He said gently and you were KINDA freaking out, was this even the real Bakugou? You were a little concerned, but you knew you shouldn’t have been since the calm aura was still as orange and red as ever, the red drowning away the orange as you saw a flicker of pink in there. Was that love? Or was that guilt? It had to be guilt. You knew Bakugou at his most vulnerable, and you adored that side of him too, but things have been so awkward between you and him that you didn’t know what to do…

You sighed a little bit and nodded as you moved from the refrigerator to go and sit at the couch, “I always thought you were prettiest like this.” But you stopped before you could sit as you perked up at his sudden comment though, and you looked over at him in shock. Did he just say you were pretty?

We'd always go into it blindly I needed to lose you to find me

A chuckle left you, turning into a snicker as you shook your head and you saw more of your Bakugou when he narrowed his eyes at you in annoyance, “How so…? I’m… not really dressed up.”

“Well that’s why!” He raised his voice a bit, and you honestly smiled because now he was kinda back to being himself and being honest. However, he didn’t want to yell at you anymore or make you feel worse so he calmed himself down, “Just regular clothes, no make-up, messy hair… no fake, colorful shit, just your style.” Okay, now you couldn’t be so sure, but dammit he wasn’t lying, it was all in his aura, his tone, and the way he was moving closer to you.

He really was trying, wasn’t he? You wanted to forgive him, you really did, and you were still trying to but… you weren’t ready for that.

“Heh… you’ve got weird taste in girls Katsuki.” You were still self-deprecating, just like you had been in your relationship, but Bakugou always made you feel better about it, and told you that you WERE beautiful and how you never ceased to turn him on.

Only this time, the words he said to you came back, and the things you told yourself came back and reminded you that no, you couldn’t fall back into his arms. No matter how close he got as he slowly came behind you. “Stop saying shit about yourself like that… you’re beautiful…”

God you loved the warmth that radiated from his powerful physique as his arms came around you, a shudder going down your spine at the familiar feeling. No, no, no you weren’t going to fall back into his arms, dammit… you couldn’t…

It was a pleasurable torture when he put his arms around your plump waist as he caressed your sides, and gave you a gentle kiss to the side of your head. Hoping that you could forgive him as you didn’t resist his advances until you decided…

“No.” 

You wanted to, but knew that you couldn’t right now as you grabbed his hands to pry them off of you, “No Katsuki, no, no…” Shaking your head, you were surprised that you managed to get his hands off you as you heard a low growl resonate in his throat as he gave you a soft glare, but he knew that… he couldn’t do anything because you said ‘no’. And Bakugou was taught very early on by his bitch mom that no meant no…

“Sorry I just… I don’t… I’m not... I can’t do that…” You shook your hand and raised a hand as you averted his gaze and instead you went back to go and maybe get other things from your room, but the truth was you just wanted to escape this awkwardness, it was too much for you. And frankly you were terrified of falling back into his arms again…

This dancing was killing me softly I needed to hate you to love me, yeah...

Bakugou accepted that you said no but he was pissed off as he clenched his fists and trembled with hurt and rage. For a moment he almost thought you were doing this on purpose, and pushing him away for good. Why didn’t you forgive him? He apologized (a lot), he’d been trying so hard to apologize and take back everything he said to you.

Grinding his teeth, and barely holding it in, he angrily marched over to take out a minuscule of this fury on the nearby dishes on the table and shoved them off as they loudly shattered and cracked upon making impact with the floor.

“DAMMIT!!” 

He finally shouted with all the pent-up frustration, his booming voice drowning out the shattering glass as you gasped and backed away in slight shock and fear at his sudden outburst.

"How fucking long are you going to punish me (Y/N)?! HOW FUCKING LONG?! ARE YOU REALLY STILL PISSED OFF OVER SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED MONTHS AGO?!”

This reminded you of something you saw in a movie, he was so pissed and even yelling at you and honestly it did scare you, but Bakugou wouldn’t hurt you. Physically at least, you knew that much, but you weren’t going to back down

“Of COURSE, I’m still kind of pissed off! And for the record I am NOT punishing you, you narcissistic asshole, I’m TRYING to think about how I should forgive you for the things you swore to NEVER call me! Or if I even should forgive you! W-What? You want me to j-ju-ju-just… make out with you like its old times?!” You exclaimed with the same vexation that you had been keeping at bay ever since the two of you broke up, not seeing Bakugou’s narrowing eyes and shaking figure as he seethed when you once again, reminded him of the big mistake he made with you.

“I... I mean I... I can’t even look at your face Katsuki! Without… thinking about and hearing the words you said to me and the expression of anger and disgust on your face when you said that I was just some fat pig who was wasting your time!” Emotion nearly choked you up as you wiped your eyes when tears started to cloud them and you couldn’t see just how aggravated and distressed Bakugo was as he clutched his hair out of frustration.

“I FUCKED UP!! How many times do I have to say that I fucked up?! How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?!” 

Throwing his hands up, he shouted that he had indeed screwed up, louder than before, frustrated with everything, with you, with himself, with the fucking guilt that just started eating away at him again.

To love, love, yeah To love, love, yeah To love, yeah I needed to lose you to love me, yeah...

“You can say you’re sorry all you want! I just… I can’t ignore the fact that you would stoop so low to say the same things the people YOU protected me from would say to me. Why did you do that?” You had to ask, even though you were still mad as hell.

“ARGH! Dammit! I don’t fucking know! I was pissed off! I had shit I was dealing with and I took it out on you but I shouldn’t have! I admit it!” Bakugou wasn’t denying it anymore, he knew he royally screwed up and that he couldn’t use his anger as an excuse for it, but you still weren’t having it.

“Oh. Oh so that’s what I am huh? Something for you take it all out on? Well your bad temper is not an excuse Katsuki and I’m done listening to you use that as your excuse for almost everything… you can’t even put it aside to think about me or how that must have seriously hurt me. Did you ever even think about how I felt during those times? Did you ever stop to put yourself in my shoes? Did you ever feel awful and useless when you couldn’t make your partner happy? Or... d-did, did you ever dread going to school because people were going to comment about the way you look? Did you go home feeling horrible about yourself because people called you ugly and fat? Did you spend nights crying all by yourself, bored and alone and feeling like you were going to be alone for the rest of your life because everyone else made you feel so worthless? Did you ever feel like maybe it was your own fault? Did you ever think that you had to have been the worst partner ever because it seemed that no matter what you did, you couldn’t get your partner to spend time with you? Did you ever feel like maybe you really were worthless because you felt like you just couldn’t do anything right and then spend every day hating yourself?!” 

You barraged him with all of these questions that broke his heart as he hated the emotions swimming in his furious crimson eyes but that’s not what you were talking about as you glared at him with hurt, darkening red aura barely visibly radiating from you. He couldn’t even say anything because deep down, he knew that he was probably one of those people now after you broke up with him because of what he said…

“I just… god… here’s my real question… why are you such a fucking asshole to me?” That’s the real question you wanted to ask him, and Bakugou couldn’t help but look shocked, confused but even more pissed off than before. He was an asshole to everyone, but you were hellbent on this little spat because of what he said, that was it wasn’t it? You were still mad because of something he said…

“For God’s sake I said I was sorry for what I said all right?! I’ve said it a million goddamn times! I’m SORRY (Y/N)! I didn’t mean what I said to you! I want to take it all back because it was the worst fucking thing I could have ever said to anyone! Especially you!�� He shouted his apology, the angry tears threatening to spill but you shook your head at this.

“I’m not talking about what you said, I’m talking about everything! Ever since we got together you’ve still managed to treat me like shit! Even before we got together you still treated me like shit, and yet it got worse when we became a thing! You hardly spent anytime with me, pushed me away when I tried to help you, made fun of what I liked, insulted me and called me other names for what? Cuz I’m a geek like Izuku, cuz I like geeky things and like to watch TV and eat sweets and say dumb puns and hang out with Izuku and Hitoshi, well I’m sick of it Katsuki! I’m fucking sick of it!” 

To love, love, yeah To love, love, yeah To love, yeah I needed to lose you to love me…

You didn’t realize the tears dripping down your chin, or the sudden wave of blue aura that your sadness triggered and emitted from your form and rushed towards anyone in the vicinity as Bakugou cringed as the tears automatically streamed down his face in response to your quirk. Damn your quirk… but he’d be lying if he said that it wasn’t just your quirk making him cry…

Neither of you noticed that some of your classmates Izuku, Shinsou, Kirishima and Hagakure instantly backed away from being seen by you or Bakugou. They heard the screaming, and they were hella uncomfortable as they gasped quietly when your quirk hit them and immediately brought tears to their eyes as Izuku and Kirishima covered their mouths as huge tears well and dripped down their faces and made them quietly cry. Shinsou shut his eyes tightly when he felt your quirk make unwanted tears pool in his eyes as he tried so hard to blink them away but couldn’t stop some from falling. Hagakure on the other hand whimpered and had to keep her mouth shut though the boys couldn’t see anything other than moisture streaming down her invisible face.

She didn’t focus on them though, instead she was just thanking the gods for making her invisible because hearing two people scream at each other was scary…

However, the screaming died down once Bakugou heard you out, and apparently everything else that became clearer to him the more you said it. He knew he wasn’t hardly a good boyfriend, aside from the more intimate times you and he shared but it couldn’t make up the bad times either. Hell, even he knew he was a pretty shitty boyfriend, but now he felt like he’d been a really shitty boyfriend after you finally said all of it. All the shitty things he’d done before and after your relationship…

You sighed, closing your eyes as you looked away from him and didn’t see the look on his face. Remorse, shame and subdued fury all etched throughout his features as he furiously wiped his face to get rid of the tears he couldn’t stop. He wanted to comfort you, but he was the one who hurt you, and now he was hurting too, all of the hurt that he caused you to feel.

You promised the world and I fell for it I put you first and you adored it...

“I’m just… I’m going to go now… sorry I just… I have to go…” But you didn’t want to be around him right now, you had a movie to go see with your friends. And the worst part is he was letting you, he wanted to follow you and just keep saying that yes, he was an asshole to you and that he just wants to take it all back so you could forgive him.

Dammit why the fuck wasn’t he moving?! Why the fuck wasn’t he saying anything?! 

All Bakugou could do was stand there, stunned in silence and growling quietly, rubbing at his tearful eyes more harshly as he watched you go. No, he couldn’t just leave it like this, it couldn’t end like this right?

No it wasn’t, he couldn’t just let it end like this, but he couldn’t bother you right now, he knew that much at least no matter how much he just wanted to go with you so he could at least be close to you after spending these past few months alone.

Yet he’d be kind enough to let you go with your friends as you spent the next hour just preparing yourself and drying your tears so you could go to everyone and say that you were okay. But of course, you weren’t okay, they knew that all too well.

Even Shinsou and Izuku held their tongues when they were all leaving with the motley crew of classmates that often didn’t hang together but were nonetheless friendly with each other.

“Ya all right there girl?”

“Is there anything you need (Y/N)?”

“I’m okay… honestly guys.” Kaminari and Kirishima were the first to ask if you were okay. “He didn’t say anything mean again did he?” Kirishima made sure to ask about Bakugou though, sure he was practically his best friend but even he wasn’t standing by him after the things he said to you. What he said was NOT cool, did he give him emotional support? Definitely, he’s the one who even told him that he should apologize to you, but he was sad that it didn’t seem to work.

However, he knew you weren’t obligated to forgive Bakugou, no matter how much everyone wanted to see a happy ending for you both.

“No one would blame you if you didn’t forgive him (Y/N). What he said was pretty cruel given you guys’ history together.” Tsuyu spoke what she thought, but she at least hoped nobody would. Some might have thought you were being unreasonable and unforgiving but Tsuyu wasn’t going to blame you if you didn’t take him back.

“She’s right. Or at least… they shouldn’t blame you. Although… I at least hope the two of you can reach better terms…” Yaoyorozu had a BIT more compassion though and sincerely hoped the best for you both and you couldn’t help but smile because that’s exactly what you wanted to.

While you and Bakugou didn’t have a pleasant conversation, you did want to at least go back to him later and say that it’d be great if you and he could at least be friends.

“I do too Momo… thanks Tsu. Thanks you guys… I’m still working on the forgiveness part but for now… I do want to get on better terms with him at least.” You smiled sadly at your sympathetic friends who all gave their nods and smiles of agreement as they seemed to approve.

“The decision is yours (L/N). There’s no obligation for you to return.”

“Yeah like, if it wasn’t healthy then you shouldn’t go back to it… sure sometimes toxic relationships can be cleansed but… Bakugou’s got his own stuff to work on too.”

Despite their less than stellar grades in school, Tokoyami and Sero were wise in their own ways, as what they said made you feel better and it made a lot of sense. And you appreciated the hell out of them for that.

“That’s right!”

“Uh huh! We’re with you with whatever choice you make too!”

“Of course my friend~.”

And it helped when Mina, Hagakure and Aoyama backed you up by giving the same endless support they had been giving you for months as you couldn’t help but tear up and laugh. “Dammit you guys… thanks… but please… enough with the mushy stuff I don’t wanna get all emotional again…” Your amused tone earned smiles and small laughs from your dear friends as Shinsou and Izuku stood by you.

“Sure… you’ve probably had enough of that huh?” Shinsou knew it’s been an emotional roller coaster for you, and he was certain that you could only handle so much mushy gushiness. “Y-Yeah… but I appreciate it… shows how much ya’ll care about me.” You had to admit that though, you loved how much all of your friends had done so much to help you.

“Anything for you (Y/N)-chan.” Izuku gave you one of his sweet smiles that you found irresistible as you smiled back at him. Something about him always made you feel so cared for; he was a good guy. He and Shinsou were such good guys.

They made you remember to actually love yourself too. They certainly loved you, and the rest of your friends loved you too. And you were starting to love yourself a little bit more too.

“Wait! There’s like 10 of us! How are… are you paying for all of us…?”

You snickered and couldn’t be happier to hear Kaminari’s comical but logical question as it broke the ice and lightened the mood. “Oh actually I also invited Shouto!” And you suddenly announced that, grinning as soon as you saw the dual-haired boy coming your way with a small smile as he watched you wave.

“Hey Shouto~!” You greeted him cheerfully as he joined in with your group.

“Hello (L/N). Hello Midoriya.” He returned the greeting politely, still giving you one of those rare little smiles that you were happy to see.

“Todoroki! (Y/N)-chan invited you too?” Izuku was especially elated to see his friend there, albeit he was surprised since you waited til the last minute to invite the fire and ice user. “Yes. She showed me the first one last week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I’m interested to see how this second one will go.” Todoroki’s been slowly converted to your way of pop culture as you introduced him to several films like Disney and Marvel, but especially classic old movies like The Breakfast Club, Jennifer’s Body and Zombieland of course.

“Yeah you go bro! That’s my dude!” You were ecstatic that he was willing to come along though, and it showed. “Besides… I was able to take 10000 yen from my old man’s wallet so everything is on me.” His smile turned into a small smirk as you gasped and laughed, clapping your hands happily.

“YES! That’s my Shouto! Rebelling against daddy~!!”

Okay, maybe you kinda gave him that idea since you didn’t have a lot of money yourself, but Todoroki did, and he was more than happy to pay for you and his friends especially since it was so accessible thanks to his bitch father.

“All right~! Let’s go~!!” You exclaimed cheerfully, throwing a fist in the air as you lit up a bright, cheerful pink aura that radiated throughout your friends which made them all perk up a bit as they felt your happiness and were just as excited as you were now.

“YEAH!”

“ZOMBIELAND~!!”

“WHOO-HOO! DOUBLE TAP!!”

“CARDIO~!”

Kirishima, Mina, Sero and Kaminari were especially excited as they were your more extroverted friends, but everyone was smiling along with you as they gladly followed you to the movie theater to see this long-awaited sequel of the first beloved movie.

Everyone was happy. You were happy too, you were especially happy now despite what happened with you and Bakugou.

The same unfortunately could not be said for Bakugou, who was far from happy, but he was glad that you were at least happy. He just wishes that he could have been happy with you, and that he could make you happy.

But he didn’t make you happy anymore.

2 HOURS LATER

“That was fucking INCREDIBLE!!” You exited the theater EXTREMELY happy and almost wishing the movie didn’t end because Zombieland 2 was THAT good a movie and you were SO happy that you got to see it with all your friends. You SWORE you heard Todoroki laugh too, so that was something you were never forgetting.

“I KNOW! HA! Not bad for 10 years later!”

“I freaking loved Madison!”

“I did too! She was the funniest one!”

“Oh yeah, she was pretty much the best part of the movie.”

“Hell yeah! She was really sweet too, I liked her! She was tons of fun!”

Naturally, the Bakusquad (plus Hagakure) was as cheerful as ever as they all loved the movie they just saw, and were extremely happy that they took up your offer today, because it was money well spent. Well, Todoroki’s money but still!

He thought so too, he rather liked the sequel and found it amusing, he actually smiled and tried to not laugh at some of the dumber things that Madison girl said during the movie. “I agree, it was… amusing. I see why you go here often (Y/N).” Todoroki made sure to compliment you though, he wasn’t the best with emotions but he knew you had been kinda unhappy lately so he tried to be kinder to you.

“Thanks Shouto! I know right?! It was AWESOME! I’m SO glad I decided to just come over here~. It gets an A+ from me~.”

“One of the rare moments where the sequel is just as good as the first movie, if not better.” Tokoyami even pointed out something you highly agreed with because it was THAT good. “Exactly! You don’t get that with every movie… sequels tend to suck…”

“The new additions were good ones too, sometimes adding new characters is actually what kills the movie. Not for this one.” And Tsuyu gave her input that almost everyone here agreed with, but couldn’t choose a new favorite.

“My favorite is that Madison girl~. She knew how to dress and be the cute one~.” Aoyama had his favorite, but everyone near unanimously agreed that she was the funniest one. “But she knew how to survive too for all those years.” But Yaoyorozu pointed out that despite Madison being a cliché dumb blonde character that she STILL survived the zombie apocalypse by herself.

“An excellent point Momo! She ain’t that stupid…” You giggled a little bit alongside your best guyfriends Shinsou and Izuku. “No she was actually… oddly smart… kinda like you.” But Shinsou poked a bit of fun at you as you laughed and slapped him on his shoulder playfully. “SHUT UP TOSHI! NO… I’m not that thick I’m smart too!” You exclaimed but cheerfully as he tried his hardest to not snicker or grin at you.

“You are smart (Y/N)-chan… coming here to see this movie was smart, I liked it, I liked it a lot! It was actually better than the first one.” Izuku was the sweetheart though as he gave you a bit of a sweeter compliment, much to Shinsou’s slight annoyance.

“Thank you Izuku~.” You sang-songed cheerfully as you beamed at the blushing boy who instantly turned bashful at your smile, much to MORE of Shinsou’s annoyance. Always trying to be the ball of sunshine that guy…

However, all that mattered is that you were ecstatic and everyone else clearly had a good time and loved the hell out of the movie. And you were smiling again, Shinsou hadn’t seen you smile as much as normal so seeing you smile the way you were was very nice.

You were smiling the entire time you went back to the dorms, just laughing with your friends and re-quoting the funnier lines from the movie and discussing some of the funniest parts until all of you had to go your separate ways and return to your rooms. Especially when other classmates came into view, you didn’t wanna spoil it for anyone after all.

“Hehe… well guys I think I’m just gonna stay up a couple of more hours and go to sleep or at least try to.” You said to your friends as they each smiled and nodded before they all said ‘okay!’ ‘sure’ and ‘that’s a good idea, good night to you (Y/N)’ and you made sure to happily return the polite ‘good night’ back to them.

Now it was just you and Izuku and Shinsou, you were still just happily chatting to them, but that’s when Bakugou decided enough was enough. He heard all of the other idiots just laughing and talking about a movie he hadn’t seen it yet and now some of it was fucking spoiled for him but that’s not what mattered right now. What mattered is that he didn’t like the way he left things with you a couple of hours ago, and now he had to talk to you again.

“I’m telling you, I could totally make Zombie kill of the week if we were in the Zombie apocalypse.” You were trying to brag to Izuku and Shinsou who were just chuckling at your enthusiasm.

“That would require some elaborate way of killing them, some people get really creative with that…”

“Oh yeah? You don’t even know how to use some weapons (Y/N)…”

Izuku had more hope in you, Shinsou was just playing with you though and God Bakugou fucking hated it, especially when you laughed with them.

“Oi. Deku, Eyebags, get the fuck out of here.” Before you could reply Bakugou suddenly made his appearance and immediately told the two guys to get out, “Ah! K-Kacchan I uh…” Izuku knew how jealous Bakugou could get though and his first instinct was to try and reassure him that he wasn’t trying anything with you or anything.

“Beat it you damn nerd!” But Bakugou didn’t wanna hear him and a very scared Izuku quickly rushed out with a very frightened ‘Okay!’ as your smile instantly turned into a frown as he forced your friend out, but Shinsou wasn’t budging at least.

“Get lost Eye-bags, I need to talk to (Y/N). ALONE.” He roughly demanded the brainwasher to leave, but Shinsou had his arms crossed and stood where he was.

“I’ll go when I want to.” He shook his head and refused to leave even though Bakugou was only getting madder when Shinsou dared to tell him ‘no’, but you didn’t want there to be a fight so you raised your hand.

Set fires to my forest And you let it burn Sang off-key in my chorus...

“It’s okay Hitoshi… you don’t wanna be here… me and Katsuki DO have to talk and I’d rather you not be around to see it so… it’s okay…” You gently convinced him to leave you and your ex be for the time being and although reluctant, Shinsou sighed and complied. He knew you knew what you were doing so he got up to go, not before whispering a ‘see ya later’ as he left and he and Bakugou exchanged glares as he walked away.

You didn’t approve of how he just broke you and your friends up from a fun conversation, but you supposed that this had to be done since you and he didn’t really leave on a good note earlier today, or this morning.

No more fighting. You were done with it, you just wanted to stop fighting with him.

Except… it was easier said than done. The two of you stood in the living room for what felt like forever because none of you could find the words to say and it was beyond uncomfortable. “So… did… Kirishima and Kaminari already spoil the movie for you?” You decided to ask a lighthearted question and Bakugou ALMOST snickered.

“Yes… I’m going to kill those morons…” He didn’t really mean it but he knew how much you enjoyed those two movies and he really, just really wanted to see it with you since he loved seeing the first one with you even though back then he pretended like he thought it was stupid. But no, he liked it, and now some of it was spoiled for him. Maybe he’d go see it with you again since he knew you never minded seeing another movie twice.

“Hehe… well… it was good so… if you ever feel like seeing it, I recommend it.” You said gently with a little smile as Bakugou leered at you.

“What I want… is to just say I’m sorry for… being such a fucking asshole to you, for being the worst fucking boyfriend and… everything… I’m... I’m sorry (Y/N)... I’m so fucking sorry everything, I can’t say how sorry I am...” Bakugou shamefully blushed as he apologized to you because he was never good at doing that. Hell, he very rarely said the word ‘sorry’ at all, but lately he’d been using that more and more when it came to you after he realized just how terrible a boyfriend and friend he had been to you.

To love, love, yeah To love, love, yeah To love, yeah I needed to hate you to love me, yeah 

You were shocked but also touched that he was doing this for you, you knew how hard it was for him to apologize so you were touched and kind of happy. “Thanks Katsuki… it’s… okay… I think I’ve been mad at you long enough so… it’s okay… we’re okay.” You gave him a smile that actually gave him hope as his eyes slowly widened.

“We are…?” Bakugou asked you somewhat nervously, because he started to see some doubt in your eyes as you sighed, “Yes… we are okay but… not… in the way you think…” His heart was racing, but it wasn’t from excitement because you didn’t look like you were happy.

“Look… Katsuki… I mean you no ill will. I still care about you, and I still love you but… I really, really don’t think you’re a good boyfriend…” You said a little bluntly but made your voice soften as he gasped quietly.

“You’re not a bad person… but you’re not a good boyfriend either… and I don’t really think that I can really return to a relationship like that… sorry…” Sighing heavily you finally did it, you told him that you didn’t want to go back to the relationship but seeing his expression broke your heart.

“I know I wasn’t! But… look just… dammit (Y/N) I’m not going to say any of that shit to you ever again! I won’t fuck up like I did last time I swear!” He sounded desperate, as if he was pleading to you as he moved closer and you fought the tears starting to build in your eyes when he grabbed your hands. He would beg if he had to, he just couldn’t lose you.

“I love you.” 

He said calmly and yet sincerely, out of pure impulse but that’s what he truly meant. He loved you and he just wanted to hear you say the words back to him. He knew you did…

To love, love, yeah To love, love, yeah To love, yeah I needed to lose you to love me...

“See that’s just it… I know you love me… I love you too… but… I thought you loving me was enough, at least… until… you said the things you did… now I know you’re sorry... and I don’t doubt that you do love me but… I started hating myself again when you said those things and it made me realize that... I need to love me too, I need to start loving myself… and I didn’t love myself when I was with you. I let you do that for me, and… I can’t do that anymore. It’s not fair to you, and not good for me.” You loved him, you truly did love him but at the same time you needed to give yourself time before you could go back into a relationship, especially with him.

Bakugou was an extremely flawed person and although he was honest and you believed every word he said, you didn’t think it was a good time to go back to him.

And he knew it, but it didn’t stop the tears from coming but he stubbornly willed them back as he swallowed hard. He tried so hard and he wasn’t giving up yet, but he knew that you didn’t want to get back together with him. Worse, he made you hate yourself for a moment because of what he said and what he had done to you too, so… maybe you were better off without him. He’d rather you love yourself first because you were the best thing he’d ever had.

To love, love, yeah To love, love, yeah To love, yeah

“Fine then…” He tried to sound bitter, but he was just miserable and he did understand even if he was really hurt right now and knew that this was nobody’s fault but his. “I don’t fucking deserve you anyway… you’re… too good for me…” Bakugou muttered as he forced back all the emotion until he felt you kiss him suddenly on the cheek, making him gasp a bit.

“It’s okay… we all make mistakes. We’re human, that’s what we do. So… don’t beat yourself up.” You said to reassure him although it didn’t make him feel any better as he pulled you into a sudden, tight hug as you closed your tearful eyes and hugged him back, feeling his tears on your shoulder as your arms tightened around him so you and he could savor each other’s warmth just one more time

Neither of you truly wanted to pull away, it was almost too painful but you knew that it was for the best. You had started learning how to love yourself more, and you had to put yourself first more, and he knew that. And Bakugou also knew that he needed to work on himself too, and maybe he’d be a better boyfriend to you someday.

And now the chapter is closed and done To love, love, yeah To love, love, yeah To love, yeah..

“Good night Katsuki.” You said quietly to him as you pulled away with misty (E/C) eyes as he glumly looked at you, cupping his cheeks to wipe the tears away from his red eyes.

“Good night (Y/N).” He said as calmly as possible, and refused to cry in front of you (again) as he watched you slowly walk away. The two of you shared a small wave before you turned away, inhaling and exhaling deeply as you walked away for good.

You and Bakugou would at least be friends, and that was good enough for both you and him, even if he did rush over to his room to sob into his bed afterwards now that he had officially lost you. 

He loved you, he still loved you...

You loved him too, you still loved him, but you needed to love yourself too. Even if it meant losing him.

And now it's goodbye, it's goodbye for us...

[loreofthekidults]

Cocoa & Chili | Yoon Jeonghan

focus: jeonghan

words: 2k

genre: stranger things au / high school au / marching band au? / fall themes

description: I’ve been really missing stranger things this year, and with the onset of fall, I decided to start writing instead of just moping around bc lets be honest, without svt I’m not sure we could remain sane this year. Thank you to all the hosts of the #caratrevival event, it’s really motivating and inspiring to see all these creators! This week’s themes were Jeonghan and your Favorite Hip-Hop Unit song, which in my case is Chilli. Hope you enjoy the references!

a/n: Thank you to @woozisnoots​ for making such an amazing banner for this fic. Check out her writing too and enjoy!

Also, happy birthday Jeonghan!

____________________

Jeonghan stomped down the stairs into the warmly lit basement. He scanned the room for the small, black case, but blankets, board games, and backpacks were strewn into every corner and across every surface. He stalked past the group crowded around the round table staring intently at their character sheets. 

“Have you seen my flute case, Seokmin?” Jeonghan called out to his younger cousin behind him. He threw a pile of jackets off the floral armchair and rummaged a hand through the cushions. Nope, not there. 

“No idea!” The kid didn’t even lift his head from arranging the grid with the figurines of his new campaign. 

“Are you really not going to tell me?” Jeonghan gushed as he hopped over and encased Seokmin in a suffocating bear hug. He pulled his scrawny cousin off his chair and began to swing him back and forth in the air. “Pleeease? Please please please? Just give me a hint.”

Seokmin, ever the happy bug, screamed his head off like a pigeon in fright while intermittently shrieking in laughter. 

Across the table, Mingyu giggled but continued to roll for his stats. Vernon spared them a glance, but simply chose to ignore the chaos beside him while Hoshi guffawed his distinctive laugh and clapped his seal clap. Seungkwan sighed dramatically but couldn’t help joining in on the attack.

“Come on, tell him! Then we can finally get him out of our hair and start playing!” Seungkwan protested as he tickled his helplessly flailing friend. 

“Okay, okay!” Seokmin gasped, “Check the vcr pile—it’s probably somewhere there.” He pointed to the corner of the room where a mountain of plastic cases rose beside their boxy television. Jeonghan immediately let him go, letting him drop heavily onto the carpeted floor. It only took a moment of scavenging for him to spot his flute case stacked underneath Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and his collection of Twilight Zone tapes.  

“Is it a home game today?” Vernon asked, glancing at the marching band helmet lying on the table.

“Yup, glad we don’t have to travel an hour to Soomantown just to watch their football team wreck ours again. We can get wrecked 10 minutes from home this time,” Jeonghan chuckled as he grabbed his shako helmet and ruffled Seokmin’s chestnut-brown hair. “Thanks, bud.”

“DM for us next time,” Seokmin hollered after him, his head a mess. “We miss your campaigns!”

“Alright, maybe next time.” Jeonghan stuffed his instrument and shako into his Jansport and threw on his periwinkle blue marching band jacket. “Don’t forget there’s Grandma’s chili in the crockpot if you guys get hungry.” He clamored back up the stairs, out of the toasty basement of his childhood where he used to weave magical stories of monsters and heroes with them. 

It wasn’t as if he no longer liked Dungeons and Dragons and the crazy storytelling that came with it, but he had other things to fill his time than sitting at home playing make-believe, especially with—as much as he loved these kids—newly minted freshmen.

As Jeonghan opened the garage door, he was met with the crisp smell of decaying leaves and fresh air of October. He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath in. Oof, so chilli. 

A slight moldy stink tickled his nostrils, though. Crinkling his nose, he opened his eyes just to see another kid speeding on his bike up the driveway to the house.

“Hey, Jeonghan,” The kid hopped off and threw his bike haphazardly onto the grass. “Nice outfit.” He swung his backpack at him as he dashed past him into the house. 

“You better hurry up Dino, else they’ll start without you,” Jeonghan called, half-heartedly dodging the swing.

By the time Jeonghan parked his car behind the high school and strolled onto the fields toward the rest of the marching band, he couldn’t help but miss the cozy heat of the basement. 

Rubbing his hands together desperate for any warmth, Jeonghan walked towards where Joshua was kneeling in the grass assembling his clarinet. They waved at each other in greeting and began sharing complaints like two elderly patients deeply offended by the cold seeping into their joints.

Seungcheol shuffled over and pointed a gloved finger at Jeonghan. “Late! That’s going on your record Yoon Jeonghan.” He made an overly exaggerated effort in taking out his pen and writing Jeonghan’s name in his notebook. 

“Chill, man. What’s the point of being friends with the drum major if I can’t dodge the rules sometimes?” Jeonghan whined despite laughing at his friend’s antics. 

Seungcheol just wagged his finger at him accusingly. “Make him run laps,” Joshua softly suggested with his mischievous smile. 

“No time, unfortunately. We gotta go warm up soon.” Eyes scanning the expanse of light blue uniforms, Seungcheol was back into drum major mode. “Oh hey, the trumpet girl is late, too.”

They turned to look at the new girl in town stepping onto the field. It wasn’t often their small town had any visitors, even rarer a new resident family. 

“Anyways,” Seungcheol clapped his hands, “let’s get into your sections.” He wandered off into the crowd, ordering his classmates to start warming up while brandishing his trombone in one hand like a disgruntled substitute teacher. 

Joshua stopped Jeonghan for a moment before they separated and handed him a hand warmer. “Thanks!” “Nope, I’m keeping the other three.” Jeonghan snickered as he shoved Joshua away and joined the rest of the flutes in their warm up drills.  

As expected, their marching band show was performed without a hitch, and the spectators gushed over the color guard with their periwinkle blue and rose pink flag formations. 

And as expected, the opposing football team with their star players totally squashed Pledies High’s football team. 

When half-time finally crawled into view, Jeonghan, Joshua, and Seungcheol could not be more ecstatic. It was only 7pm, but the autumn chill settled like a thick blanket over the field. Playing bleacher features to a futile game on cold metal seats didn’t do much to keep them warm either. 

So when they were finally allowed to put their instruments away and take a break from the disaster of a game, they quickly squeezed their way through the crowd to get to the snack shop and raffle tables. 

Leaning against the fence by the edge of the field, the trio cuddled their cups of hot cocoa in their hands and inhaled the sweet steam like desperate sharks around blood.

Jeonghan scrunched his eyebrows as he detected the funky scent that he couldn’t quite identify mixed in with the sugary smell.

A presence softly rustled behind Jeonghan and murmured slowly. Shivers shot through Jeonghan, and he whipped his head toward the quiet voice. His sudden jerk sploshed some of the hot cocoa onto his hand, burning his fingers and making him even more panicked. He instinctively leaned in towards Joshua, away from whatever creeped up next to him. 

Jeonghan let out a breath as he recognized the figure. The tall, lean person next to him wore a fitting varsity jacket from the visiting school. His face wore a nonchalant expression that morphed into one of surprise as he did a double take when he finally got a good look at Jeonghan’s face.

“Oh, wait. You’re not Johnny.” He turned away in embarrassment and sauntered back into the crowd, presumably to find his not-Jeonghan friend.

“He thought I was one of their star football players?” Jeonghan asked incredulously, looking bug eyed at his friends. Seungcheol giggled and flicked a strand of his hair. “Must be the silky locks.”

As Joshua and Seungcheol played with his hair, Jeonghan saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He caught a whiff of that same moldy funk.

“Guys, do you smell that?” Jeonghan pushed himself off the fence and squinted at the dark foliage behind the bleachers.  

“Smell what?” Seungcheol sniffed the air and rubbed his nose. Joshua followed Jeonghan’s gaze. “Is that trumpet girl?”

The blue uniform could just be barely made out against the shadows of the tree line. She appeared to be climbing into the thick shrubbery.

“Maybe she lost something?” He gestured for his friends to follow him. “Come on, let’s go help her.” Jeonghan discarded his empty cup in the trash bin and walked towards the trees. Joshua calmly blinked a few times before trudging along forward with him.

“What could she have lost so far into the woods?” Seungcheol whined. But he couldn’t hide his concern in his voice as he also curiously, and apprehensively, peered into the darkness after her. 

They ventured past the bleachers away from the stadium lights into the trees. Here, among the branches and brambles, the shadows blended into each other and the volume of the crowd behind them was muffled.

Joshua took out a small keychain flashlight attached to his swiss-army knife. With its measly light, they made their way through underbrush, past twisty trees, and around thorny vines. The football field was only a short distance away, but the atmosphere felt heavy with the night and the trees seemed to be watching them.

“Guys, are you sure she went this way?” Seungcheol’s voice climbed higher by a few pitches as he reluctantly fell in step behind them.

Snaps of twigs and distant growling could be heard ahead of them. Jeonghan coughed slightly as he breathed, the moldy scent creeping through the air formidably. It felt like the air was lined with layers of webs of sticky mold, and no amount of flailing could unstick the smell. 

“Man, you weren’t kidding earlier. This smell is nauseating.” Joshua whispered nasally, fingers pinching his nose.

They came to a clearing where a creature seemed to be digging at the roots of a tree. Jeonghan couldn’t quite make out what it was. But he was sure it wasn’t just a dog that escaped their yard. It’s movements were… off.

It was about the size of a medium-sized dog, but without any of the expected pupper qualities. Its leathery skin rippled like damp velvet and slime was oozing off in tiny droplets. When the brightness from Josh’s flashlight hit its back, the creature whipped around immediately. Where there should have been a face, its head opened up like a blooming flower, with five petal lined with rows of teeth. It screamed a bobcat scream and pranced forward at the trio. 

Stumbling backwards, Jeonghan grabbed a stick from the ground and swung it wildly in front of him. Joshua was crouched in a defensive position with his flashlight in a trembling hand but was frozen shock-still, swiss army knife totally forgotten. Seungcheol grabbed Jeonghan’s shoulders behind him, holding him as a barrier between him and the creature. 

Shrieking, Seungcheol mustered all the courage he had and threw the remaining bits of hot cocoa in his cup at the creature. The liquid hit it square in the face, making the monster rear back in surprise for a moment. But after a wary lick, it seemed to lap up the spilt drink deliciously.

“Did you just feed the monster?” Jeonghan hissed.

“It’s all I have on me! What else could I throw at it?” Seungcheol waved his arms wildly as he returned to his post behind Joshua and Jeonghan, pulling on their jacket sleeves to get them to back slowly away from the clearing. 

“I don’t know, maybe a rock or something?” Joshua whisper-screamed in a very un-Joshua manner.

“Chill, buddy, Chill,” Jeonghan held the stick in front of him and waved it gently to the left. And right. Then left. 

The creature closed its face petals to form a bud-like head which followed the motion of the stick curiously. Right and left and right.

Jeonghan winded up his arm and threw the stick to the distant side of the clearing. The creature turned and ran after the branch, demolishing it with its teeth. Splinters flew everywhere.

“Go, go, go, go, go!” Jeonghan turned and shoved Joshua and Seungcheol. They scrambled blindly past the thorns, out of the woods, and into the bright lights of the field. They reached the back of the bleachers, and Seungcheol grasped them deliriously into a tight embrace. Josh was still wide-eyed while Jeonghan was giggling half hysterically from the remnants of the adrenaline. 

“Whoa, what happened to you guys?” The trio looked up and saw trumpet girl standing before them, eyebrows raised and a leaf sticking out of her hair.

“You’re alive!” Jeonghan gasped. The trio looked at each other bewildered and cackled deliriously.

[mardi-nah]

Strange Folk

A short little something.

Photos taken from Pinterest.

Tags: fae, prince of fae, fairie king, true names, forest, night, secrets, magic, m/m, sfw

My mother liked to tell anyone who would listen that I was a “mellowed out” oddball, as if boasting that I was Off at one point—or trying to assume credit for putting me back On, which was too ridiculous to consider.

“He’s always been so quiet,” she’d muse, “So imaginative. He’s never had many friends, but at least he has friends that exist, now!”

It seemed a little cruel to me that she chose to write me off without researching the subject for herself, but I had resigned myself to that particular quirk of hers long ago.  

When I was a young boy, I liked to sit outside on the edge of Yellow’s Meadow and weave together flower crowns and baskets. A steep ditch neatly spliced the edge from the rest of the meadow, so a thin ribbon of land was sandwiched between the trench and the Dark Wood.  

I particularly liked the edge because the other children never dared to approach it themselves; they wouldn’t so much as call out to me, should I jump the ditch. It was my favorite place in the whole wide world.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all the children that would abandon me to the edge. Certainly, all of my classmates and neighbors left me well enough alone, but every third day a child or three would skip out of the shadows of the Dark Wood and throw themselves at me until I was forced to relent.

Those kids weren’t like the others—they were cruel, but never mean. They never lied, but they kept hoards of secrets they liked to hold over me, taunt me with, as if it made me lesser to not know them. By unspoken mutual agreement, we never traded names, and I stubbornly refused to give them any importance by giving into curiosity and asking why the were in the Wood.

Some were more pleasant than others. I made a point not to ask them anything, either.

They weren’t really my friends, I don’t think, but I did (involuntarily) spend more time with them than any other children my age. Mom never did believe me when I complained about them.

One would think that after all these years, I would have forgiven her for not believing me, but thirteen years later, there I was, at her funeral and thinking about all the times she implied I was mad.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Ms. Walker from across the street weeped, her black eyes large and gushing. Her wrinkled mouth wobbled. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, Brooke. You’ve always been like a son to me.”

Aww. Not necessary, but—nice. “Thank you, Ms. Walker,” I replied, trying for a small smile.

She patted my shoulder with a leathery brown hand and limped off, letting the next person make their amends.

“I’m sorry for your loss …”

It is cruel how we deign to place the left behind loved ones at the forefront of never ending apologies and tears from other people. Every “sorry” made my jaw clench a little tighter, every sniffle made me want to snap for everyone to shut up, and hearing the priest speak on the righteousness of my very unreligious, flighty mother made me want to get up and leave. I’m not really sure how I managed to stay in my seat and not scream, but I did.

The wake was in St. Peter’s Graveyard—Mom’s favorite. I didn’t know if it was altogether normal to have a favorite graveyard, but St. Peter’s was steadily being infiltrated by the looming trees of the Dark Wood, giving it a mystical, alive feeling that Mom adored. Some days I thought she harped on my supposed insanity simply because she was jealous, but in the end, I don’t suppose it mattered.

It seemed unbelievable that the weather would comply, that clouds would ring out rain like oversized sponges for my mother’s funeral, but there we were, water slicking down our collars and our hair pressed to our faces and necks under the barrage of rain. No one had thought to set up a covering or shelter for this, so the priest stammered a few quick words and we hauled Mom’s casket into the ground as quickly as we could before the hole flooded.  

When I looked up, squinting into the gray of streaking water and chilled to my bones, I thought I saw people standing in the Dark Wood, pale faces almost indistinguishable in the harsh weather. But when I wiped my face and looked again, they were gone.

~

I don’t know why I didn’t go straight home.

My suit was soaked, stiff and stuck to my skin uncomfortably, jacket tied around my shoulders to avoid dying of heatstroke. Likely, the suit was ruined. I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation with the store I rented it from.

The forest was dark, but it wasn’t quiet: crickets were screaming into the night, owls and birds calling to each other on black-coated branches, mosquitos buzzing around my ears. My pant legs were probably covered in critters as I shuffled through tall grass and underbrush, but I couldn’t make myself care. Moonlight attempted to break through the ceiling of foliage, and just barely succeeded, tinting the air with its ghostly light and dying before it could touch the ground. The shadows between the trees were tar-thick and full of cobwebs.

I wasn’t sure where I was going; I just had the thought to get away. My house was some distant point behind me, but I couldn’t go back. As soon as I had arrived at home, I felt choked by it, by its familiarity and silence and the unspoken judgement of its invisible eyes. I couldn’t do it.

The forest around me vibrated with life. I walked further into it, welcoming it, ducking my head into its noise and dark and smell. I didn’t know where I was going. I could have passed into the Dark Wood for all I knew, but I couldn’t find it in me to worry.

The trees around me shook, leaves and branches bouncing in a nonexistent wind. I could feel and hear the underbrush shiver, and the buzzing around my ears grew more and more pronounced until I was forced to pause, frowning.

“He’s coming,” the forest whispered, all of it together. “He’s coming.”

Are they talking about me? I wondered. I glanced around, but I couldn’t see or hear anyone else.

“He’s coming.” Nature’s voice picked up a little, slightly louder, much more urgent. “He’s coming!”

“Who?” I asked the air.  

“He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming.”

The hair’s on the back of my neck stood at attention. I spun around again, but still, it was only me in the woods. “Who are you talking about? There’s no one there.”

“He’s here.”

Everything became deafeningly quiet all at once. The birds stopped cawing; the crickets stopped singing; bugs stopped buzzing. Trees and underbrush and grass stilled, and I couldn’t even hear the crunch of leaves and twigs when I took a step forward. And another. And another.

My scalp prickled.

“You,” a voice flowed through a dark to match his voice: velvety and deep, soft and terrifying. I wheeled around to find the silhouette of a man across from me. “I saw you put your mother into the ground.”

The man took another step forward, and I instinctively stepped back. He was a man, but he also quite obviously wasn’t—his skin was so pale it was almost translucent, his body long and lean, his eyes too large and completely black. A long, spindly pair of antlers grew out from thick white hair, dyed a light blue in the scant moonlight. His clothes were long and the earthly tones of the forest around us: a moss green overcoat with billowing sleeves that drooped almost to the ground, light brown trousers that did not cover his bare, dirty feet, a dark shirt that appeared too baggy for him. A diadem of silver branches wrapped around the crown of his head, impossible to pull off with his antlers.  

I didn’t know what to say. My voice failed me.

He took another step forward, watching me. And then another. Another. “Your loss is great today.”

“I wasn’t close to my mother.” It was the truth, hoarse as it was coming out of my mouth. I licked my suddenly dry lips, feeling self-conscious.

“And yet, you come to my forest stinking with despair.”

I decided not to comment on the “stinking” bit. “Who are you?”

The strange man tilted his head, as if confused by my ignorance. “Some call me sovereign. Some call my name. You called me ‘you’ when we played together.”

“Played … ?” My mind was working furiously to remember a kid with antlers, but none came up. There was a boy who would skip out of the Dark Wood with others with him, always, and he had this man’s white hair and black eyes, but was he this man? I couldn’t tell; it was too long ago, and I was horrible with faces.

He was so much closer to me now. When did he cross so much distance? “Do you remember? Do you remember me?”

“I …” my voice died in my throat, so I cleared it and tried again. “Maybe. I’m still not sure why you’ve come to me.”

“Come to you?” I had clearly offended him. He took another step forward and I took one back, flinching as my back hit a tree. “No. You came to my forest tonight. You have come to me.”

“I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.” My pulse was thrumming in my ears, breath catching. I needed to run. But where? I could barely see anything.

The man drifted closer, and it was only then did I realize how much taller he was than me. He loomed over me, making me feel small and helpless—and I wasn’t a small guy. My heart beat a staccato against my ribs.

He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off, terrified of what he was going to say next. “I don’t have anything to offer you. I’m useless.”

A laugh bubbled out of his throat, beautiful as the gurgling of a creek. He reached out and took a lock of my hair between two long fingers, black eyes glittering inky. “You used to draw such nice pictures when we were young. I always wanted them afterwards.” His eyes flickered to my captured hair as he smoothed his fingers over it. “Everything you do has always been so beautiful to me.”

There was something there in his face that I hadn’t caught before. A strange thing, almost like hunger, but not quite. A fierce want, perhaps.

Ms. Walker once told us a story of fae stealing away young mortals to keep for themselves. I had no doubt that this was about to happen to me, if I didn’t run.

“What do you want?” My voice came out quieter than I meant, practically a whisper.

“Give me your name, and I will let you leave.”

“And if I don’t?” I mumbled.

He was so close now. When did he get this close to me? His black eyes fell to my mouth and went hooded, and then he was leaning into me, gorgeous and otherworldly, the smell of midnight and pine trees on his skin. I felt his breath on my lips and tasted honeysuckle.  

“Brooke!” I gasped, pressing back into the tree. “It’s Brooke.”

He smiled then, an oddly cold thing. “Brooke,” he murmured, slow, like he was enjoying the way the word flowed over his tongue. A shudder rattled down my spine. His black eyes found mine again as he straightened, my breath flooding back with the space. “Fitting.”

I was trembling, but I couldn’t make myself stop. A chill had seeped into my bones without his warmth nearby, and the smell of pine was still in my nose, haunting me. “Can I go now?”

“You may,” he smiled again, “Brooke.”

Another shiver racked me. Dread pooled in my gut, the feeling of something wrong twisting my stomach into knots, but it was too late to do anything about it now. I peeled myself off the tree, and still shaking, hurried away, back to where I thought my house was.

“I will see you again,” the fae called after me, “Brooke.”

I had definitely made a mistake. 

[ranger-jedi-knight]

Angel Wings Darken Chap 3

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26286832/chapters/64015168 ok so here is part 3 of @chocolate1721 prompt!! I hope you guys enjoy!

First up, the reactions of Paris after watching that live stream!!!

When news of a live stream coming from the Ladyblog came up, naturally everyone clicked on it to watch.

Why wouldn’t they?

The creator of the site, Alya Cesaire, told everyone she was going to America with her friends for a class trip. So they were curious what she would be live streaming. Gotham had its own villains. So they were curious.

But oh.

Oh.

They were not prepared for what they saw.

Ladybug in front of everyone dressed differently. Wearing a suit like Joker who was in the background fighting Batman. Deep red combat boots, a black dress shirt tucked into black pants, covered by a tux vest that was red with black polka-dots, her gloves were black with red fingers. Her hair was longer in higher-up pigtails, the tips dyed red and purple respectively. The only thing that remained of Ladybug was her mask.

But that just showed her ice-cold eyes.

It was like they were frozen over as they looked over the class in front of her.

Only warming up to that familiar warmth when they landed on a couple of people, the mayor's daughter Chloe and Bruce Wayne’s son Damian. They were the only two to get that warmth.

Everyone could only watch, shocked, as she-Bug she’s going by Bug now- slapped and kicked Adrien. It practically gave the people of Paris whiplash. She went from being gentle, kissing Damian’s cheeks as she spoke, to being harsh and violent by hitting Adrien.

The cackle leaving her lips had a chill going down their spines.

Sabine and Tom could barely breath as they watched the screen in their bakery.

Every time Bug yelled, it froze every Parisians veins. They have never heard her so angry before. And that was something. They’ve all seen her angry and annoyed. How could they not? Some Akuma battles were annoying or frustrating. Especially when they realized Chat wasn’t doing much work to help. He was sexually harassing Ladybug.

Everyone could see that.

Well, almost everyone.

That class Ladybug was yelling at didn’t seem to understand as they stanned the LadyNoir ship. But everyone else?

They could tell.

They could also tell that Ladybug was young.

And shouldn’t have to deal with it.

Everyone jerked when the saw her stalk toward Alya and rip the phone from her grasp to speak to the live stream.

“Hello, Paris. As you may have seen, it’s me, Ladybug,” she spat the name out. “But I've changed. I now go by Bug. And since they know, you get to know as well. In my civilian life, you know me as Marinette Dupain-Cheng and know Chat Noir as Adrien Agreste. these three people,” she turned the camera to Lila’s bowed form, Alya’s scared face, and Adrien’s red-hand shaped blotched face, “have been making my life hell. But oh, they had help,” she said panning the camera out to the rest of the class. “Those lovely sheep followed the Liar called Lila Rossi’s every word, never checking a single thing she spewed. You can thank them for turning me into this new me. I go by Bug now. I’m helping Joker. and Hawkmoth, Mayura, if you know what's good for you, leave your miraculous at my balcony unless you want to see what a protege of Joker can do,” she gave the camera a sinister smirk as she shoved the phone back into Alya’s grip.

The rest of the live-stream went by, but Paris barely paid any attention.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug.

AND HER CLASS DROVE HER INTO WORKING WITH JOKER.

Fear gripped everyone's hearts as they watched what happened on screen, not even listening anymore.

But no one had more fear in their hearts than Gabriel and Nathelie.

Well, maybe Tom and Sabine were close.

They just learned their daughter was Ladybug, and that they’ve been believing a stinking little liar instead of her. When the live-stream ended, chaos erupted.

Every news station was doing a piece on it and the French Government was scrutinizing Collège Françoise Dupont. The school board was close behind them, wondering what on earth was going on over there that allowed the Star Student to be bullied so hard she joined Joker.

They were also calling everyone they could in Gotham to get those students back and deal with them. They would leave Chloe there thou.

They couldn’t force Marinette back into France. So, they could only hope Chloe would help calm her down.

So the mayor texted his daughter and got the confirmation that she would do what she could to help Marinette but that there weren't any promises.

Within the day, the class was scheduled to come back to Paris.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Police escorted the class to the airport, wanting them out of the country quickly. Adrien  was walking fine, he just groaned softly when he breathed. Alya had her arm in a sling so that her shoulder could heal and not get agitated. Lila wouldn’t look anyone in the eye. Just stared at her feet as her nose throbbed. The lady manning the desk scoffed when she saw Lila, causing her to curl into herself.

They were seated in the back of the plane, many rows before them empty. Only the first class seats and a couple rows behind first class had anyone on them. One row halfway between the two had two officers seated, making sure no one tried anything. Adrien was sitting by himself, rubbing his ring finger which was burned and wrapped. His miraculous revoked, leaving a mark as a permanent reminder that he could never be Chat Noir again nor could he wield any other miraculous.

Alya was in a similar position. Nino thou…

Nino was hurt, but he knew, he understood. And he would do everything in his power to make it right. Unknown to them, Alix was also like that. She was fuming. The watch she had been given was taken from her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bug sneered at the group as they stood outside the airport. The class jerked at seeing her land in front of them. She smirked at that. Her cold gaze going over them, lingering on Adrien, Alya, Nino, and Alix. As Bug stood there not doing anything, people got out their phones to record, wondering what was going to happen after what happened the first time.

“Oh, you thought I was about to let you keep your miraculous, Agreste?” Bug said with a cackle. Adrien flinched, gripping the ring with his other hand as Plagg flew out of his pocket and went over to her.

“Plagg!” he shouted betrayed and the kwami just shrugged.

“Sorry kid. I gave you enough chances,” Plagg said before looking at Bug once more. “I’m sorry I let it get this bad, Bug. I tried, but I couldn’t get him to change,” Plagg continued sadly. Bug just cooed softly to the kwami.

“It’s ok, Plagg. I know. You tried. Agreste isn’t worthy, he doesn’t show the capacity to change,” she said looking Adrien in the eyes. “Adrien Agreste, as the Guardian of the Miraculous, I hereby renounce you as Chat Noir. You are no longer worthy of wielding Plagg and you shall never wield another miraculous,” She said, her voice seemingly multiplying as she looked down at Adrien when her head tilted back. A faint glow emanated from Bug’s eyes as she spoke.

Adrien cried out as the ring around his finger started burning. Everyone watched scared as Adrien scrambled to remove the ring but it wouldn’t move. But then after a bit, the ring flew off Adrien’s finger and Bug caught it with ease, a sneer on her lips as she watched Adrien on the ground curling around his branded finger. That brand will be a reminder and make sure he never touches another miraculous. She then looked to the other class members.

“Nino, Alya, Alix, step forward,” she commanded and the three couldn’t stop themselves as they stepped forward, Bug’s many voices ringing around them. She looked at the ex-couple with contempt, she only felt slightly bad for Nino, the boy was only following his girlfriend but paid for it when he asked about a couple lies that didn’t make sense. Alya broke up with him soon after. But he didn’t apologize to Mari or try helping her. So she didn’t feel too bad about what she was about to do.

“Wha-what do you want?” Alya asked, her voice trembling.

“Alya Cesaire, as the Guardian of the Miraculous-” she started and Alya interrupted her with a sob.

“No-no please-!” she sobbed out but Bug continued on like she hadn’t been interrupted.

“-I hereby renounce you as a Rene Rouge. You are no longer worthy and will never be worthy of wielding a miraculous,” she said and Alya gasped and sobbed as right were the fox necklace usually rested, a brand was marking itself. Bug then turned to Nino who bowed his head, his fists clenched as he waited.

With a wobbly voice he said, “I am so sorry Marinette. I deserve everything you dish out to me. Ii failed you as a friend and as Carapace. I’m sorry for being a failure. Please tell Wayzz I’m sorry for not being a good hero.” Bug watched as tears fell down Nino’s cheeks. Her face softened a bit, knowing how sincere Nino was being.

“Nino Lahiffe, you have let me and Paris down. As the Guardian of the Miraculous, I hereby give you this warning, if you are truly sincere in your remorse, you are being given one chance to make it up. Prove to me that you deserve to wield a miraculous again. Only when you have proven yourself worthy will you be able to wield a miraculous,” Bug said and Nino gasped as a mark in the form of a turtle-the same shape as the miraculous he wore oh so long ago- formed on his wrist. It didn’t hurt much, like what he imagined getting a tattoo would feel like really. He just gripped over the spot and took deep breaths, only wincing occasionally.

Bug then turned to Alix who had taken a step back in shock, trying to escape but unable to move. The other three were able to move back, being helped by their classmates as a medical personnel looked over the brands. Only Nino didn’t need anything besides some soothing lotion.

“Alix Kubdel,” Bug started going closer to the girl and circling her. By then, Batman was there standing back since he didn’t know how to proceed since she wasn’t exactly doing anything bad. Just marking them to never wield the sacred jewels ever again. “Your family was entrusted with the bunny miraculous. But with it passing to you, a grave mistake has been made. But it was always a mistake, for two bunny miraculouses have been in this time for too long. It’s time to remedy that,” she said reaching a hand out and the pocket watch flew from Alix’s pocket into Bug’s hand. “I cannot trust you to hold this without abusing its power to change history. It shall merge with it’s counter to become whole. But you shall never have it back nor wield any other miraculous,” she said and Alix gripped her hip as it burned. She then looked over the cowering class and scoffed. “None of you will ever wield a miraculous again if you ever did,” she said knowing a few others had used a miraculous but only once. While Alix hadn’t she wasn’t going to risk Fluff. She didn’t say anything while giving them a disgusted look before swinging away, flipping throu the air as she disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paris got to watch that happen from the many people that recorded it. Some live streamed it on Youtube, some put it onto Twitter, others Tumblr, and a few sprinkled onto other social media platforms. It was a shock to watch it. Mr. Kubel was especially pissed off. He just learned that he held a miraculous all this time and instead of handing it over to Ladybug, he gave it to his daughter who was a hot-head. But he couldn’t have known.

But he still felt horrible.

He should have known.

By the time the plane landed, Damocles was gone from office, a worker for the Board was waiting at the gate to give Bustier her pink slip, and several officers and lawyers were waiting beside them to take Lila Rossi, Alya Cesaire, and Adrien Agreste into custody.

Lila has done so many despicable things that are currently being broadcasted to the world. Alya harassed and assaulted Marinette and enabled Lila and Adrien and slandered many peoples names. Adrien, he sexually harassed Marinette, enabled Alya and Lila, and endangered citizens by negligence.

When they exited, the three were taken into custody and walked to a cruiser. Their parents-excluding Gabriel since the man barely ever left and they couldn’t blame him if he was embarrassed by his son-followed after the police. They watched as they got into two cruisers. Lila and Alya both had quite a few lawyers go to them while Adrien only had two.

After that, the parents got into their own cars and followed after the cruisers, calling for lawyers as they drove to the station. Parisians all sneered at the passing police cars throwing what they held at the backseats.

The occupants flinched every time when one hit.

But oh.

Lila was also pissed.

Everything was crumbling from underneath her. Her kingdom, gone. And it was all HER fault. She snarled and looked around hoping to see a glimpse of an Akuma. But she couldn’t find any, a soft growl leaving her throat as Alya looked at her scared. When they arrived at the station, Lila had to be held down by two guards and marched inside. She kept squirming and fighting, wanting to make a break for it and get what she deserves. She was going to get revenge.

She couldn’t stand losing to Marinette. She was afraid at the moment Bug appeared. But.

The next time she saw Bug, she was going to attack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next time Lila saw Bug was in court. Somehow, Chloe and Damian got Marinette to go to Paris. Marinette had the most chilling expression on her face as she entered the courtroom and walked up to the witness’s seat. She held open disdain for Lila and the others sitting waiting to be called guilty. The lawyer for them didn’t try hard to get them free or even a plea or deal. He was going throu the motions hoping they’ll get guilty and the worst punishment possible.

Lila snapped when she saw Marinette. With a snarl she shot up and threw her hands out to attack Marinette. Marinette smirked as Lila came at her.

Within seconds Lila was tied up in a yo-yo, face pushed against the tiles with Marinette standing above her with a smirk, pushing her down into the tile. Leaving Lila raving against the tiles, frustrated tears leaving her. “You bitch! I should have killed you in Gotham! Hawkmoth should have let me kill you, you little bitch! You won’t get away with this!” she shouted out and no one in the court dared breath at that.

“Hawkmoth is no more, Lie-la. Before I came down here I picked up his and Mayura’s miraculouses off my balcony. Your partner has abandoned you. He knew what was good for his health,” Marinette said with a smirk and Lila froze as she glimpsed their miraculouses in Marinette’s hands.

Marinette smirked as she watched the officers jerk Lila up and handcuff her hands and feet to keep her from fleeing. With a nod from the judge she’s cuffed to the seat so that they could continue the trial.

Lila just doomed herself to never see the outside again from her prison cell in Italy.

Ok, so here it is!! Paris’s reaction(and the parents to some degree) about what happened! The next chap will focus on Gab n Mari’s parents! So until next time!! -Love Wila<3<3<3

P.S. there MAY be another dark mari fic coming ur way~~

[whitetigerdemoness]

Sooo.....did someone say Holloa sequel?

I give you “Shooting Star”.

Holloa Master Post. A03 link. 

The stars you see at night potentially burned out millions of years ago.  

Lila Rossi left the Dupeng Cheng bakery feeling pretty clever. Her pocket was weighted with the butterfly charm she had stolen from Marinette’s room. She patted her pocket, feeling certain she could get a good amount of cash for it from the pawn shop she prefered. Different products danced in her mind as she thought about what to buy with her dirty money. Some new boots, perhaps? The season was changing, spring right around the corner. 

Yes, she decided, a pair of stylish new boots would be the perfect treat for herself after all the awful trials she had had to endure these past few mon-

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

“ Tiki I just don’t understand that girl!” Marinette huffed in frustration, dropping solidly into her desk chair. “Why in the world would she come here to try to apologize of all things, and expect me to believe her, after everything she has done!” The red kawmi sat on the desk with a thoughtful expression.

“I don’t know Marinette. Lila always seems to have another angle. Are you sure that was all she was here for?” Marinette’s eyes widened at the kwami’s observation. Taking a quick look around her room, she didn’t see anything out of place. Her booby trapped diary box was untouched, none of her clothes looked disturbed, the miracle box on her desk was-

SCREEECH CRUNCH!

“What the?!” Marinette jumped at the sound. 

“That came from outside!” Tiki gasped in alarm.

“An akuma?” The black haired girl asked.

“Only one way to find out.” Tiki replied. Marinette raced to the ladder that led to her rooftop balcony. She leaned over the railing, taking in the shouting people below.

It wasn’t an akuma attack.

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

“...Wolfram Berger stands trial today for attempted vehicular manslaughter against Lila Rossi, better known to some as Volpina, three months ago. Ms. Rossi remains in a coma in an undisclosed hospital. Ladybug and Chatnoir are standing as witnesses today against Mr. Berger’s chronic harassment of Ms. Rossi as well as two of her classmates, Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Marc Anciel, who will also be testifying today-”

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

Ladybug punched the brick chimney hard enough to leave an imprint of her fist. The trial earlier today had ended with the jury declaring Mr. Berger not guilty. The defense had argued that Mr. Berger had simply lost control of his car and that the fact that Lila had been the victim was merely a coincidence. Chat Noir and Paon were off the side with troubled looks of their own.

“I can’t believe that jury! Four weeks of community service? Not guilty? That awful man could have killed Lila! I might not be her biggest fan but…” Ladybug trailed off with a frustrated growl. 

“The court system is not as straightforward as tv likes to make it dear.” Paon sighed. “If Miss Rossi had actually died the verdict may have been more severe, but she is still alive if only through life support.” The peacock hero rubbed her arms, unhappy with the verdict.

“I don’t know.” Chat noir added, “Berger has a lot of followers. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them managed to sneak onto the jury. I noticed quite a few of them giving Marc and Nathaniel the stink eye, not to mention us.” 

One would think that Hawkmoth being gone for nearly six months now would weaken the Office of Akuma Affairs anti-akuma and anti-hero platforms. The lack of new material didn’t phase the group who were happy to make up new situations to blame on the heroes or skew old ones. Paon especially came under fire often due to Mayura’s past actions, being an easy target due to her public identity. People were unable or unwilling to separate her from her temporary replacement. Being Hawkmoth’s wife hardly helped either. 

“I hate to say it Ladybug, but we have bigger concerns than Mr. Berger walking free. It has been three months and we still haven't found the butterfly miraculous.” Paon gently reminded the steaming hero. Their group, which extended beyond the three on the rooftop, had searched Lila’s belongings and home extensively with no luck. Ladybug had been certain the girl had taken the miraculous having been alone in her room just a day before the jewel had been discovered missing, but it was starting to look like that may not be the case. Lila had been hit with Berger’s car as soon as she left the bakery. The girl would have had no time to hide the miraculous anywhere. Similar searches of Berger’s home and possessions had also been fruitless. The current running theory was one of the many bystanders that day had picked up the broach. The lack of new akumas suggested whomever had discovered it had not been compatible, kwami didn’t show themselves to just anyone, but it was only a matter of time before someone compatible did come along. The miraculous were magic like that, inevitably gravitating towards wielders.

Ladybug groaned. “Yeah, anti-hero sentiment is higher than it has ever been. You would think people would be happy for peace, not calling us useless because we can’t stop every mugging and petty crime.”

“Almost makes you wish Hawkmoth was back.” Chat Noir chuckled. Distantly, an explosion boomed. “uhhh…” The black cat hesitated.

“Let’s move!” Paon commanded, already racing across the rooftops.

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

“Please tell me that is not an akuma. Chaton, if that is an akuma I will personally make your life miserable for the next week.” Ladybug threatened.

“If that’s an akuma, I don’t think you’ll have to work too hard to accomplish that.” Chatnoir gulped, taking in the scene. A girl in a multi colored dress was frolicing in the street below, watering people she managed to catch with a watering pail. People who came into contact with water from the pail began to sprout flowers all over their body, older victims looking to have become plants entirely.

“If that is an akuma, the akuma is likely in the watering can.” Paon commented. “She doesn’t look too dangerous.” The peacock wielder leapt to street level without further ado to confront the akuma.

“Paon wait-dammit.” Ladybug muttered. Paon had become active after Hawkmoth had already been defeated. Despite being the eldest hero, she had never actually faced an akuma before and was making a rookie mistake. Akuma were never as simple as they looked. Ladybug exchanged looks with Chatnoir. She could see he was conflicted. Instinct was telling him to leap to his mother’s side and support her. Training was reminding him that hanging back and watching was the wiser choice.

“Go to her Chat, I’ll hang back to watch for tricks.” Chatnoir nodded and joined Paon, who was trying to knock the watering can from the akuma’s hands with her knives. The akuma laughed as she batted the knives away like pesky flies.

“You showed up! Goody! Let me take care of you!” The akuma chirped, gleefully dancing closer to Paon. “Everything will be so much easier once you’re a plant! You’ll be happier!” 

“I like sunlight as much as the next cat, but I’m not too crazy about water.” Chatnoir quipped, using his baton to try and trip the akuma. The action was in vain. Even the combined efforts of Paon and Chanoir were not enough to make the akuma’s ballerina like grace falter. Further from the battle, Ladybug approached one of the flower covered victims.

“Hold on, I’ll get you out!” The man did not respond at first, his eyes glazed and listless. When Ladybug began to try and tear the vines from his body, he began to scream in pain. Shocked, the heroine recoiled. 

“HEY!” The akuma screamed. “Don’t hurt my plants you naughty bug!” The akuma darted towards Ladybug, free hand outstretched. Jumping backwards, Ladybug felt a small trill of alarm as the movement felt sluggish. Moments before the akuma could pour water on her, Chatnoir kicked her away.

“You okay Ladybug?” 

“Be careful, Chat, Paon, I think the plants are giving off some sort of sedative.” Ladybug winced, holding her head. “Harming the plants seems to also harm the host, don’t touch anyone.”

 “Good little bugs should HELP plants!” The akuma fumed. “Bad bugs will be pruned away by the Gardener.” The akuma attacked with a flurry of graceful kicks and wide sprays of her water. Ladybug and Chatnoir put up their shields to deflect the water, while Paon hung back and attacked from range with her knives.

“We need to pull back, one touch of that water and it’s game over!” Chatnoir said after a particularly close call.

“We need some way to prevent her from pouring water.” Ladybug added, movements slower than she would have liked. Gardener’s supply of water seemed infinite, and dodging the growing puddles around them was becoming harder.

“If only we could find someone unaffected by her powers, I could create a senti-monster. Where are all the civilians? This is a busy street…” Paon groused.

“Parisians are pretty good at getting out of spitting range of these fights by now. The police have probably set up barricades to prevent people from coming this way.” 

“It might be time for a Lucky Charm!” Cried out Ladybug, her yoyo toss taking more effort than it should have due to her lingering sluggishness. A chromatic pocket knife fell into her hands. The hilt was ladybug spotted, but the blade simmered in rainbow colors.

“Looks like it’s time to cut ties with the Gardener.” Chatnoir quipped, using his baton to catapult a nearby trash can at the Gardener. Ladybug huffed at the pun as her eyes darted around the area trying to come up with a plan. Other than the Gardener’s watering pail, nothing else stood out to her. Nothing except...Paon. Ladybug cast an eye around the plant strewn street again. A few of the plants still had twitching human limbs sticking out of them. Perhaps someone still had enough consciousness to produce a sentimonster...the Lucky Charm was never wrong. She had to trust it.

“Paon! Are you sure you can’t feel any strong desires?” The street was getting pretty flooded, the heroes had taken to jumping from cartop, to street stall top, to try and avoid the water. On one hand, it kept them dry. On the other this severely limited their maneuverability. Paon closed her eyes and concentrated.

“There is...one...but I’ll need a moment to focus!” The peacock hero threw another of her feather-knives at the akuma, only for it to clatter uselessly onto the street as the agile girl danced and twirled away.

“Right, let’s give Paon some breathing room kitty. Hit the street!”

“You got it Ladybug. Cataclysm!” Dark energy crackled across the flooded street, causing it to heave and crumble in on itself. Chunks of the asphalt shuddered as their supports eroded, falling into the sewers below. The Gardener stumbled, all of her attention diverted to staying on her feet during the mini earthquake. 

Meanwhile, Paon whispered to the blue feather in her hand before sending it on its journey with a blown kiss. The feather didn’t go as far as Ladybug thought it would, fluttering down to land on a twisted pile of flowers and thorns. An image bubbled and coalesced into reality, settling into the kneeling figure of…

“Penknight?!”

[shadowofthelamp]

I cleaned up a swap au writing from... geez, two and a half years ago. I tried to make it a bit more accurate to the one we’re writing now. Zim is about 12/13 here.

Wordcount: 1275

Zim didn't like the new kid. 

Which wasn't surprising; Zim didn't like a lot of people. He could probably count even loose friends on one hand. (The one with the scar on the back- the other one had a finger missing from an accident when he was seven.)

However, he didn't like the new kid for a different reason than he didn't like most people.

Most people, they refused to pay attention to his greatness, mocking him as weird and a loner and 'had set them on fire'. Feh. Ridiculous stuff. 

Dib, however? 

He wouldn't leave Zim alone. 

Normally, Zim would bask in the attention, but Dib never gave him a break. He followed him from a distance after skool, he pestered him with constant questions during recess, and he'd actually stolen one of Zim's inventions!

Granted, the invention was a laser pistol and Dib got into trouble for having it about two minutes later, which was undeniably funny, but the point still stood. 

Despite all this, Dib still treated him like he was... a pet or something. He'd click his tongue when Zim snarled and would wave off any prying questions. It was like the guy had dropped out of outer space, with his house that had sprung up overnight and his creepy sister that never looked up from her... game? Phone? Whatever it was, Zim wanted to get his hands on it- it looked really advanced. (Dib had something similar, but he was always writing in it with a stylus thing that looked both ten years old and from the future. It was bulky and weird.) 

"Hey, Zim? How are you today?" Dib whistled lightly, hands in his pocket and a grin on his face. (Man, his teeth were weird. And Zim thought his cousin Pur needed braces.)

"I'm fine, stink-brain." Zim turned back to rummaging through his backpack. 

"Why do you keep calling me that? I don't smell bad."

"It's an insult." Zim rolled his eyes. "Are you going to help me today?"

"With what?"

"Robot hamster." Zim pulled out the little wriggling rodent. "It'll make Mr. Spork flip when it grows to three feet tall. It's going to try and eat his desk."

"That seems like it would be disruptive."

"That's the point. He's afraid of hamsters, you know." The hamster wriggled around and squeaked, probably because Zim was squeezing it kind of hard.

"Well, it seems useless to use your technical prowess for silly pranks."

"Pfft, says you." Zim stood up, brushing off his pants and slinging his pack over his back. 

When he looked back when reaching the door, Dib had something metal poking out of his backpack, but when Zim blinked, Dib was just writing in his PDA.

~~~~~~~~

Dib had left his PDA on his desk. 

Dib never let that thing out of his sight. It was as much a part of Zim's image of him as his stupid backpack and his even stupider hair. 

So Zim stole it. 

What else was he supposed to do, give it back? Maybe it had information on why Dib was stalking him- or maybe it was a diary and held blackmail-worthy material. 

It had a firewall, but it wasn't Zim-proof, and within half an hour, he was in. 

The home screen looked weirdly similar to a regular desktop, except there were weird symbols under the file icons. Foreign letters maybe? Only two were in English- 'Language notes' and 'Study Notes'. 

Language notes first, but Zim discarded it almost immediately- it was just some kind of dictionary. Boring. 

So, Study Notes it was. Zim scrolled through a few pages of the same weird language as on the home screen before it switched to English. 

Day 20. Today Gaz said she had fun chasing a human around for his game device. I still don't get why she finds human games so fascinating- they're not as good as the Arcade on Flagtrep-7, and she knows it. Well, they distract her. Would that be treason, liking that an Invader isn't doing her job? Eh. My Tallest says we can take as long as we like, since this place is newly discovered. 

What the hell...? Was Dib some kind of author, writing in a diary like he was an alien or something?

That, or he actually was an alien. Pfft, it would explain a lot.

Day 21. Zim continues to be fascinating. For a member of a species so inferior, he surprises me.

Zim's hands tightened around the device as he read on. 

He seems almost irken, due to his lack of parental units and love for destruction. He doesn't appear to like my study of him, but I can't help it- of all the specimens here, he's my favorite. He cares for his cyborg pet, but can't stand most of our classmates. A psychological marvel, intense and angry but with a capacity for boundless enthusiasm. I feel if any human would understand our work, it's him. 

Of course, I cannot tell him. Law dictates I'd have to dispose of him then, and he's much more interesting alive. 

I wonder if he'd be different from the others I've dissected. He's started mixing chemicals to change his body composition- it's less efficient than a Pak distribution system, but I look forward to seeing if they do anything interesting. I'll have to get samples to compare.

There were more entries, but Zim just thumbed past them, only catching occasional words. Dib seemed to like 'inferior' and 'useful' a lot. 

Either he was totally nuts (possible) or this was real, he was an alien, and the only thing stopping Dib from taking him apart was a creepy fascination. 

Zim had always wanted an admirer, someone to praise him for being so good at what he did. (Well, one besides Skoodge, anyways.) Dib had come close before, but he had no boundaries at all- Zim had spotted him trying to watch him go to the bathroom once. This? It knotted up his stomach.

He tried to imagine Dib with big bug eyes, hands deep inside a corpse, and it came a little too easily-

"There it is!" Dib's voice shook Zim out of his thoughts. "I've been looking all over for it. You didn't look, did you?" His voice had a tinny undertone, both of fear and anger.

"Who needs fifteen passwords? I couldn't get in." Zim said, and Dib snatched it back

"You sure?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure," Zim said, even as he scanned Dib up and down. He looked the same as ever- but then, Zim had never really looked. His skin was slightly off, but everyone in their town had some kind of mutation, so he'd simply brushed it off at the time as being born too close to the City Cesspool. He mostly looked normal, but there was a slight shimmer near one of his ears. Zim reached for it, but Dib slapped him away before he even got close.

"What was that for?"

"I saw a big hornet about to sting you."

"Where?" Dib's vision darted around, swatting at the air, and Zim took the chance to slip away.

He needed to find out what was really going on. If Dib was just weird, then he was just weird, Zim already knew that. But if he was an alien? Well, that was another can of worms entirely, one Zim fully intended to dig into with both hands.

He couldn't skip last period for the next few weeks or the tracker under his ribs would start electoshocking him again, but at 3:15, he was going to find out the truth, one way or another.

[staytheb]

Like Oh 2.0 - White Day

Previous Chapter: Late Night Word Count: 3,949 Summary: It’s White Day and the boys wanna show their small appreciation towards the females.

Like Oh 2.0 masterlist

here is the 7th chapter!! and i wanna apologize again for the name changes, languages bits, and the usage of unnie/noona/oppa/hyung as well as i find it as a customary honorific sort of thing. so it’s staying for the sake of how this story was written back then. lol also i honestly have no idea when writing this where i wanted to go with it. i just knew that i based the writing on a year thing as i started with the school year and would work with holidays and birthdays from there on. it will include the boys’ actual schedule during that year, but it has been tweaked to fit my fic. lol but other than that, it should be fun so um, happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

Serena spotted a grocery bag hanging on the door of her apartment upon returning from work. She eyed the bag suspiciously. In all the years she has lived here she has never received such a thing before. The woman slid one of the holders off the door to peer inside the bag and discovered that it was filled with candies and folded pieces of paper. "How long has this been here though?" She muttered in English while glancing around her, but nothing. "Is it a trick or something?" She did another look around, but was still the only one in the hallway. "Or is it related to White Day?" Serena shrugged her shoulders while taking a hold of the bag and entered her peaceful abode. She set everything onto the coffee table while throwing herself face first onto her sofa and let out a satisfied yet tired groan.

The woman had just finished a twelve hour shift as a part-timer at a pet center that groomed, pet sit, and whatever else to care for and treat the animals. Serena's been up since four in the morning and she was dead tired. She vowed she wouldn't take another twelve hour shift in her sleepy state ever again. Still lying on her stomach Serena let out another groan upon remembering that she still had to finish the rest of her Chinese assignment that was due tomorrow. "Ugh, seriously fcuk my life." Serena muttered in annoyance as she slowly maneuvered herself into a sitting position while rubbing the tiredness away from her face. She then stared at her feet while running her hands through her hair. "Shower first. Food second. Then homework." She stood up while stretching. "Yeah, that sounds great."

After her quick shower Serena made herself two sandwiches and sat down in front of her laptop with music playing in the background on her TV. She logged onto the school's campus's website to access where a majority of her Chinese homework was already released. "I still can't believe that we still do everything online and attend the class just so we can review everything that we did online, man. If I knew that I would have registered with another teacher for more of an interactive environment." Serena muttered to herself. The class itself wasn't as bad, but it was just boring sitting there just listening to Teacher Cuī go over everything that was already online. Serena enjoyed the in class assignments on her own, of course with Mark always asking to be her partner.

The female figured it was because the idol could avoid working with the classmates who were fans who would rather talk about him, the group, or of themselves instead of working on their classwork. Serena couldn't blame them for that since he was a celebrity and a popular one that was still rising. Still though, it gave Serena some minor issues whenever Mark couldn't attend the class where they would actually need a partner as a lot of those classmates didn't want to pair up with her and would always give her the stink eye and ignore her. So Serena would either do it alone or pair up with another student that wasn't a fan, but working alone made it manageable to get through those days.

After about an hour into her online work and several grumbles during most of it Serena finally took a break. "I'm pretty much self-teaching myself." She sighed as she rubbed her eyes. "Well, it's better than bugging Jaycee and Euncy about it although they would be a better teacher than my current one." Serena muttered as she stood up and stretched her limbs. "Maybe I'll ask them for a review later on." The woman then heard the sound of her front door opening and saw just Melanie entering. "Where's the twins?" Serena asked. "At school. They're getting ready for their double date." Melanie answered as she set her things onto the sofa and coffee table. "A guy asked Jasmine out and she agreed. She just had to rope Jeannie into it as the guy was looking for a date for his friend as well."

Serena laughed upon hearing that. "Please don't tell me that they both agreed only because of a free meal at some restaurant that they've been wanting to go to since forever." "What you just said." "I don't blame them. It is White Day." Serena noticed the two small white boxes on the table. "What's in the boxes?" "Macarons given by two guys who are friends with one another." "Awkward." "Yeah, but dude, you got to try the lychee rose flavored one since I know you like lychee." Melanie said as she then pulled out a white and pink macaron with a dark pink filling along with a light blue macaron that had yellow filling. "This one is blueberry lemon isn't that bad." Serena took the pink one from her sister and bit into it. "Oh yeah not that bad." She tried the half-bitten blueberry lemon. "This one is okay, but I like the lychee flavored one is better." "I know."

Melanie followed her sister to the kitchen. "I have marshmallow cake that another guy gave me." Melanie said as she placed it into the refrigerator. "But it tastes better when it's cold." "Ugh, I can't handle anymore marshmallows for today. I'll eat it later." Serena made a face as she chugged down some water. "I ate a lot of those at Pet Care and brought some of the extras home that no one wanted." "Hmm, maybe I can put some in my secret stash." Melanie chuckle as she opened the hidden compartment pantry to the right of the fridge. "I need to stock up on it anyways. I'm running low on my snacks." "Be my guest." "Cool, but I'll do that later. Lazy right now and I need a shower." "It's still on the coffee table where I left it once you're done." "Okay."

Just then a dialing tone sounded. "What's that?" Melanie asked while looking around. "You don't have a home phone." "I don't. It's from the laptop. Someone's calling me through Skype." "Is it Jaycee or maybe Euncy?" "Probably one of those two." Melanie went to take a shower as Serena returned to the living room to glance at the caller and saw that it was Mark. "This better not be homework related or better yet, it better be homework and not some thing to pass time for." She sat down in her previous spot, turned off her TV, and answered the call. "Nǐ hǎo." Serena greeted Mark in Chinese and then switched to English. "What's up?" "Nothing. Just wanted to bother you." Mark laughed as he fixed a few strands of his hair while Serena rolled her eyes. "Well, if that's all you wanted, Mark, then I'ma hang up." She shot him a small smile. "I don't need you to waste my time when I can be using it for studying."

"But I'm not wasting your time, Serena." Mark smiled at her. "Because you're talking to an idol." "Get out of here." Mark laughed upon hearing her response and then noticed that Serena was really going to hang up on him this time. "Hey, wait, Serena, wait. I'm just kidding." He continued to laugh. "Really, I'm kidding." "I don't have time for your jokes, Mark. I still have to finish my Chinese homework which you should be doing too, Yí Ēn tóng xué." She spoke the last part on purpose as Mark grinned at her. "Well,  Zhōng Lǐ  tóng xué, wǒ yě shì." He then grinned wider. "We can work together like we do all the other times." "Tch, again? Really?" Serena made a face as she stuck her tongue out at him. "Why don't you just ask Jackson for help? He's fluent." "Yeah, he just talks too much." "Ouch." "Besides, I get to talk with you more because you don't talk a lot like him." "Wow."

Serena noticed the background behind Mark and recognized it a moment later. "Are you at the company?" She asked him. "Yeah. Why?" "Then don't you have practice or company work you have to do?" "Yeah, but we're on break right now." He smiled at her while playing with his hair. "That's why I'm calling you so I can ask for help. Also, I don't know when I'll actually have time to complete it. Plus, I still don't have the textbook." "I knew you just wanted to copy my work since day one." Serena glared at him as Mark laughed while dismissing it with one hand. "It's not even like that." "Please lor, nǐ shì xué rén jīng." She shook her index finger at him in a playful-like manner. "What?! No way, Serena. Teamwork, remember?" Mark reminded her with a smile. "Besides, the term you used is a bit offensive, but then again you wouldn't really know since you're such a newb to the language."

"You're a jerk." The female told him as Mark let out a chuckle in disbelief. "What? How am I a jerk?" "You just are." She stuck out her tongue at him before speaking again. "Anyways, how would I say those words without being offensive?" Mark thought about it as Serena took that moment to go through the grocery bag from earlier and grabbed one of the Hi-Chew bars. "I guess you can say something like, nǐ shì gēn pì chóng. Although there are other words, this one is more in a teasing-like manner. Also, it works better than the other one if you don't want to sound rude that is." He teased Serena as she nodded while opening a strawberry flavored Hi-Chew and popping it into her mouth. "Okay." "I see you got the candies that was hanging outside your apartment door. Do you like them?"

"Wait, they're from you?" Serena asked surprised while holding up the opened pack as Mark nodded his head. "Yeah, didn't you read the letters?" She eyed him weirdly. "What letters?" "The pieces of paper." "No, not yet. I thought they were for decoration or something." She let out a sheepish laugh as she grabbed one of the papers and then showed Mark the letter with a bored face. "Seriously? You guys put 'from the boys from a few doors down'. Really?" Mark laughed. "What? Did you expect us to put our real names or GOT7?" "No. I wasn't thinking of anything about it until you mentioned it." Serena shrugged as she set the paper on the table before looking at the idol again. "Why did you give us candy though?" "For White Day." "But we didn't give you guys anything for Valentine's day, Mark." "It's just a simple gesture, Serena." "Ah, well thanks then. Happy White Day."

"You're welcome and Happy White Day to you, too." He smiled. "The younger members actually wanted to make you guys chocolate, but we didn't have time. We had to do our White Day event with ahgase this morning." "Oh, that's nice of you guys to do that. I'm sure they appreciated it." She smiled at him and then remembered something. "Oh yeah, tell the other members thanks, too." "Yeah, I will." At that moment Melanie returned to the living room after her shower. "So who called?" " Yo-Mark." Serena caught herself from saying 'your boyfriend' as she turned the laptop around to show her sister. "Hi, Melanie." "Hi, Mark." The two waved at one another as Melanie picked out a melon gummy from the grocery bag. "Did you get these on our way home, Rere?" "No. GOT7 left it on my door after I went to work and saw it when I came back home."

"Oh, thanks, Mark. Happy White Day." Melanie thanked the idol. "You're welcome, Melanie, and Happy White Day to you, too." Mark smiled at her as he initiated small talk. "Did you get any good stuff for White Day?" "Yeah, a lot of macarons and cake." Melanie showed him a light green macaron that was pistachio from out of the white box. "Have you've tried these before?" "I think so. I don't remember." He laughed as Serena appeared behind her sister so she can look at Mark as well. "Since I can't do my homework now, you guys converse instead." "Wait, why? Where are you going?" Melanie asked her sister with a confused expression. "Yeah, Serena, where are you going?" Mark echoed. "We're supposed to work on our Chinese assignment together. Remember?" "No, I don't recall as I don't remember, Mark. Sorry!" Serena smiled at him before facing Melanie.

"I need a nap. You can continue to talk to Mark and help him with his homework or whatever." She then faced the idol. "Your break should be over by now. Go back to practice. Later, Mark." Serena waved at him as she muttered the last part to her sister. "Don't disturb me." She then headed off to her bedroom for a well-deserve nap. "Wow." Mark simply let out as Melanie laughed and sat down. "Yeah, that's just Serena being Serena for you." "Yeah, I'm beginning to understand that little by little." "Anyways, I don't think I can help you with your Chinese homework at all." Melanie informed the male. "I'm not that fluent and only know basic, and I do mean basic, Chinese." Mark dismissed it. "It's all good, Melanie. I liked to annoy your sister about the homework anyways. I finished that yesterday." "Oh, then why did you tell her that you guys still needed to work on it?"

"It was just a lie to see what she was up to." Mark explained with a smile. "And to see if you guys were free tonight." "Well, it's just me and Serena. Jeannie and Jasmine are busy with other things." Melanie told him as she continued to eat the melon gummi. "Is there a reason why you're asking?" "Oh, well, it's nothing big or anything like that." "Well, I'm sure whatever it is, you still have your practice that will tie you guys up." "Oh yeah about that, well, practice actually ended earlier than usual." He laughed as Melanie shook her head with a smile. "Wow." Mark was about to say more, but someone appeared and blocked his view and replaced Mark's face with theirs. "Hi Yugyeom." Melanie greeted the youngest member. "Hi, Melanie." He greeted back in English as Melanie tilted her head. "Or should I call you Chris?" "Chris is nice. How are you?" "I'm good. You?" "I'm fine. Thank you." "Welcome."

Another person decided to butt in. "Hello, Lani." BamBam greeted the female in Thai with a smile. "How are you?" "I"m good, Bam." Melanie switched to Thai with a shake of her as BamBam looked for the others still speaking in Thai. "Where's everyone?" "Nhi and Minh are busy and aren't coming over. Lina just went to sleep just now." "Oh." A fourth person appeared. "Hi, Chaewon noona." Youngjae greeted Melanie with a wave and a bright smile as the conversation switched to Korean. "Hi Youngjae." Melanie greeted back as she was still wrapping her mind about how casual the conversation was going with one of her favorite K-Pop groups. "What are you doing, noona?" Youngjae asked her as Melanie held up the now half-empty bag of melon gummi. "Eating. Thank you guys by the way." "Oh yeah, you're welcome!" The youngest trio exclaimed.

Somehow in the process Mark's phone was snatched from out of his hand and in control of the younger members as the trio walked off to show Melanie the practice room. Mark shook his head with a tired smile as he still wasn't able to ask Melanie the real question he had contacted Serena in the first place. "What's wrong with you, hyung?" Jackson asked coming up to him. "Why are you smiling over here like an idiot?" Mark just shot him a look. "Sorry I asked." Jackson backed off while putting up his hands. "But what did they say?" "I didn't get the chance to ask them." "Hyung, you were on the phone for like half an hour. What were you doing then?" "Not even, Jackson. We were just talking. Anyways, the kids took my phone before I could actually ask them the actual question." "So? Just ask for it back so you can asked." "Oh, right."

Mark beckoned for the trio to returned with his phone. "But we're not done talking with Chaewon noona." Youngjae replied dejectedly. "She wants to ask JB hyung something." Yugyeom said as he handed Mark's phone over to Jaebeom who began speaking with Melanie about something with one of his buddies from Konkuk. "Just tell JB to ask her the question." Mark suggested to Jackson. "Since he knows Melanie better." "Why can't you just ask him to ask her?" "Because you're the one that keeps bothering me about it. So just go do it, Jackson." "Ugh, fine, Mark. I will." Jackson huffed as he made his way over to Jaebeom dramatically as Mark just shook his head with a wry laugh at his friend's behavior. Jackson whispered the idea to Jaebeom as the older male then asked Melanie the question. "Sure, that's fine. See you guys later tonight." She answered before ending the call.

~~~~~~~

Serena woke to the smell of something cooking. Not like in the deliciousness sort of smell, but the kind that had a strong scent and it needed to be aired out kind of smell. She hated that kind of smell the most where she felt like she couldn't breathe. She groggily got out of bed, stumbled out of her room, and slowly made her way to the kitchen. "Mel," Serena began as she leaned on the wall that separated the kitchen and living room. "It smells. Open the window or turn on the fan." She then focused her eyes on the figure. "It's too strong." Serena squinted to make out the back of what she assumed was her sister and realized that it wasn't Melanie she was staring at as the person had wide shoulders. "Who are you?" The person turned around to look at her and Serena looked at Jaebeom in confusion. "JB?" "Hi, Jyongri noona." He greeted awkwardly with a slight bow of his head.

"What are you doing here?" Serena asked the idol in Korean. "Making kimchi stew." Jaebeom answered. "It's almost done, noona." "Okay." She let out slowly as she rubbed at her eyes thinking she was still in her sleepy state, but knew that she wasn't. "Why are you making kimchi stew again?" "Because he wanted to make dinner because of White Day." Melanie responded instead as she appeared beside her sister and then pointed towards the living room. "Go say hi." Serena followed to where her sister was pointing and saw six other blurry figures. "Wait, why is GOT7 here?" Serena switched to English to have a private conversation with her sister. "To have dinner." "But why?" "White Day. Stop asking questions and go say hi and be nice." "No."

Melanie watched as her sister walked towards the bathroom instead of greeting the male idols. "Don't worry about Jyongri unnie. She's being weird and dumb right now." Melanie told the six males in Korean with a smile as she joined Jaebeom in the kitchen to prepare some snacks for the rest as they waited for his stew to be done. "I'm really beginning to think that Jyongri noona doesn't really like us." Youngjae voiced his opinion out loud. "Me, too." BamBam agreed with a nod. "Just try to be nice." Mark advised them as Jinyoung interjected. "It might just be a defense mechanism." "For what?" Jackson asked confused. "To defend herself from what?" "Not from what, but maybe from who. Maybe you, hyung." Yugyeom joked as he directed it towards Jackson who shot the younger male a look. "I'm an awesome person. I get along with everybody." He boasted. "Everybody loves me."

"What a joke." Serena commented in English although it wasn't directed at Jackson, but the idol didn't know that. "Excuse me?" Jackson let out a bit offended upon hearing that comment from Serena while also using English. "What did you say, Serena?" "Huh?" She let out distracted while squinting at the males. "Say what?" "That I'm a joke." "When?" "Just now." Serena looked at the blurry figures in confusion. "I didn't say you were a joke." "Yeah, you did." "I-" Serena paused as she looked down at her phone when she felt the vibration and realized the situation. "Oh, I wasn't talking about you. I was just talking to myself about what my co-worker had just messaged me just now. Sorry." She apologized as she walked towards the group of six and pointed at Mark. "Um, what's your face. Oh yeah, Mark. Can you hand me my bag please."

"Did you really just call me 'what's your face' right now, Serena?" Mark scoffed as he grabbed a hold of the blue and white stripped backpack, but didn't hand it to the female. "Yeah, sorry, but can I have my backpack please? I really need to get going." "Where are you going, noona?" Youngjae asked in Korean. "You have to stay for Jaebeom hyung's kimchi stew. It's super delicious!" "Maybe later, Youngjae." Serena cast him a tired smile as she was close enough to all of them to distinguish each figure better. "It's work related so I can't eat it with you guys. I'm the closes one because they can't reach any of the other managers at the moment." "Where do you work, noona?" Yugyeom asked curiously. "A pet center." "Can we come?" BamBam asked as Serena shook her head. "No. Because I don't want to explain how I know you guys." She admitted with a laugh and then focused her attention onto Mark. "My backpack, please?"

Mark eventually passed Serena her bag as she took it with a smile and made her way back to her bedroom. Melanie returned shortly afterwards as she set a bowl of popcorn and a plate of freshly baked oreo and chocolate chip stuffed cookies onto the coffee table after she had cleaned it up earlier. "Where's unnie? I heard her talking a few seconds ago." "She said something about work." Jinyoung replied as he picked up a cookie. "Again? That's annoying." Melanie scrunched up her face. "Anyways, I'll be back with more snacks and a variety of drinks." Just then Serena spotted her sister while wearing a pair of glasses this time around and in a different set of clothes as she exited her bedroom. "I really have to go, Mel. Tell JB and the others sorry about the soup and White Day."

"Okay, dude, sure. Later." Melanie replied as she headed towards the kitchen again as Serena didn't look in the other six's direction and cast them a short wave while speaking briefly. "Sorry and bye. Happy White Day." Serena was out the door before any of them could respond back. Jaebeom and Melanie entered the living room with the main entree and other things. "Let's eat." Jaebeom exclaimed excitedly to direct the attention away from Serena's departure after what Melanie had informed him about a minute ago. The group of eight proceeded to eat while watching a movie and talked in-between every now and then. After that the idols helped cleaned up once they were done and called it a night as it was getting super late and they all had schedules to take care of the next day. Serena didn't return home until four in the morning. She was too exhausted to eat and just went to bed.

[thundercracer]

“Family” Bakumomo Fic Part 3

Part 3 of my Bakumomo fic where the two reluctantly adopt a kid??

NOTE: So I saw something going around that Tumblr is getting rid of posts with links in them... Normally I would link the previous parts of the fic plus my AO3, but for the time being I’m gonna play it safe. You can find the previous installments in my writing tag and find me on AO3 under the same username. 

Chapter 3

Momo woke up, feeling as though she’d been hit by a truck. Her body was sore and her mind fuzzy. She felt something gripping the front of her nightgown tightly and looked down to see Itsuki, fist balled in the fabric. He was curled against her front, also lazily blinking the sleep from his eyes.

“Morning, Mama,” he mumbled slightly, giving her a warm smile. She had no idea when the last time the little boy had gotten a bath, warm food, and a warm bed. Momo felt a twinge of sadness at the thought but also felt relief that he wouldn’t be returned to that lifestyle ever again.

“Good morning, Itsuki,” she greeted warmly, petting the boy’s hair. “Did you sleep well?”

He nodded excitedly, his smile bright and infectious. “Your bed is so big! I don't think I’ve ever slept on a mattress not on the floor! And it’s so clean!”

She grit her teeth slightly, but maintained her cheery disposition. “That’s wonderful! I’m glad you liked it. You’ll never have to sleep on a dirty mattress on the floor again, I promise.”

“You really mean it?”

She patted his arm, dotingly, “I really do. Now, how does breakfast sound to you, little man?”

He seemed bewildered for a moment, before asking, “We get dinner and breakfast here? Mama… did I die when those bad guys took me? Is this heaven?”

“... No, Itsuki. Where you were was not a good or normal place. It’s typical for people to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. You’re a growing boy, so we need to make sure you’re eating, okay?”

He smiled like the sun as he nodded his head up and down at a rate that almost made Momo worry he might break his neck. “Okay mama! Let’s hurry! Papa might be down the stairs already!”

“P-papa?” Oh, Katsuki was not going to like this.

“Yeah! The man from yesterday! You’re mama, he’s papa! You’re both heroes!”

He ran over to the door and looked to her excitedly. Confused as to why she wasn’t bounding after him, he shot her a curious look. She beckoned him to follow her.

“We’ll go shopping properly later… But the people from the office we went to last night let us borrow these clothes for you. We’ll go down for breakfast once you’ve gotten changed for the day.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… we change out of our pjs before we go down and meet everyone else. I also need you to comb your hair. Do you need help with it?”

Befuddled, Itsuki played with one of his shaggy locks. “Brush it?”

“We washed it last night, but you have to brush it every day…”

“Every day?”

Momo felt angry again. The villains apparently hadn’t taught the boy an inch of grooming skills. She took out a soft brush and sat the boy in front of her on the bed.

“Yes, every day. We brush our teeth every day. We bathe every day. We change our clothes every day. We eat three meals and some snacks every single day.”

“That’s… a lot of stuff to do every day, mama. Do we have to? I didn’t do that stuff before…”

“I know… But things are going to be a little different from now on. Well…” she sighed. “Very different. It’s good for you to be clean and to take care of yourself.”

He seemed to contemplate this. “Does this mean it won’t be itchy all the time anymore?”

“... You will definitely be less itchy if you wash yourself and change your clothes regularly, yes.”

Itsuki brightened once more. “Ok, I’ll do it then. Being itchy is really annoying.”

Upon finishing up with that task, the two of them made their way down the stairs until they found themselves in the common area on the first floor. A few of the others were already busying themselves with breakfast and getting ready for activities for the day. It was the weekend, so they didn’t have class, but a majority of them were probably heading into town for the day.

Itsuki clung to her skirt, suddenly anxious at the sight of the other people. All the people who were… staring at him now. Strangers who… were… looking right at him…

Then he saw Katsuki and he raced right over to him, leaping into the blond’s lap. Ignoring his other, more reluctant, caretaker’s shout of surprise he waved Momo over.

“Mama! I told you papa was already downstairs! Hurry!”

Katsuki shot her a look, as if the boy calling him ‘papa’ was her fault in the slightest. I knew he wouldn’t like it…

“Good morning, Bakugou.”

“Ponytail, why is the brat in my lap.”

“Itsuki,” she chose to ignore him, “what would you like for breakfast?” At his look of confusion, she quickly figured he would eat whatever was placed in front of him. “Bagels it is then.”

Katsuki tried maneuvering his miso soup around the kid in his lap, and he was quickly becoming annoyed with how difficult it was. But he wouldn’t yell at the boy. He would complain, and gripe, and throw stink eyes at Ponytail all day long. But he wasn’t going to turn any of that, any of his aggression, on this small child. Though… he was seconds away from throwing a tantrum at their stupid, dumbass classmates who thought it was appropriate to stare openly at them.

“The fuck are you all looking at?”

“Bakugou!”

“... The hell are you all looking at?”

Momo huffed and shot Itsuki a look. “Do not repeat what Bakugou says, Itsuki. No bad words.”

Itsuki giggled. “Papa says bad words.”

“Yes he does. Do not repeat them. Bakugou-”

“I’ll say whatever the fuck I want, Princess. Now what in the hell are you freaks all looking at!?” he growled at the group that had settled themselves nearby at the tables in the dining area.

“Who’s the kid, dude?” Kirishima questioned, looking over the young boy in his best friend’s lap. “I didn’t know you had a kid?”

“Are you a moron?” Bakugou grumbled. “The kid’s six. I’m 18. How am I gonna have a six year old brat, dumbass.” He sighed, heavy and agitated. “Ponytail, tell them what’s with the kid. I don’t want to deal with this.”

Momo walked back over, breakfast for herself and Itsuki on two plates. Itsuki began grabbing eagerly for his food, Momo chiding him over table manners for a moment before looking to all her classmates.

“This is Itsuki. He’s a bit shy, so please be patient with him.”

“Itsuki as in… Katsuki?” Ochako grinned. “What a coincidence you have there.”

“Shut it you oversized balloon,” Katsuki grumbled. “Anyways, the kid’s staying with us for a bit. Don’t bug him.”

“Yeah…” Sero said. “But… what’s his deal? Where’d you guys get him from?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Mina called out. “He’s calling you mama and papa and everything! What’s the deal with that?” She looked all too excited at the prospect, her romance radar going off the rails.

“We rescued him on our patrol yesterday,” Momo said, wiping a bit of cream cheese from Ituski’s mouth. “He was taken by a group of villains. We’re keeping him safe and protected at UA until his birth family is found.”

Katsuki huffed, noting how Momo didn’t feel it necessary to tell them about the possibility of adopting the kid permanently after graduation. They didn’t know if they’d find the real family… but hey, he wasn’t going to tell them if she didn’t. He took another large spoonful of miso, making sure there was a good amount of tofu.

“So he’s gonna be living here?” Ochako asked. “With us?”

“Yes,” Momo said. “Well, with Bakugou and I. At least… if that’s what Itsuki wants-”

Itsuki suddenly looked panicked. “I don’t have to stay with people other than you and papa, right!? I don’t wanna! I wanna stay with you-”

“And you will. No one’s taking you away, Itsuki. You just got here.” Momo cupped his cheek. “You’re safe, alright?”

“Okay…”

“Now keep on with your breakfast. Good job.”

The others were grinning and Kaminari said, “You’re so lucky, kid! Yaomomo’s like all of our mom, so you’re lucky for her to be like… your mom too.”

Itsuki regarded Kaminari for a moment… before ducking next to Momo, where she sat next to Bakugou, sandwiching himself between the two of them.

“You two look like a cute little family,” Kyouka commented snarkily, a shit eating grin on her face. “Just picture perfect.”

“Shut it, earphones,” Bakugou growled out. “None of you jerks go around talking about ‘family’ or any of that crap, got it?”

“Sure,” they said, none of them looking or sounding convincing in the slightest. Momo could already tell how excited they all were to have fun with the predicament. She sent them all a look, knowing they’d be more inclined to take her seriously. She didn’t mind their teasing, as long as they left Itsuki out of it.

"But still, they let Bakugou in charge of a kid?" Sero chuckled. "That doesn't seem super smart to me."

"He's gonna be cussing up a storm in no time!" Kaminari added, jovially.

"I don't think that's quite correct..." Momo piped up, catching them off guard. "Bakugou is sweet and considerate; in his own way. Everyone has different ways to show love and care. His may be different, but that doesn't take away his meaning behind them."

Their classmates exchanged looks of surprise before they shifted into warm understanding. Or, at least they thought they understood.

"Yaomomo is so nice!"

Kirishima elbowed Katsuki in the shoulder. He understood where she was coming from completely. "She's got you there, Bakugou-"

He stopped in his tracks at the bewildered look on his self proclaimed best friend's face. Katsuki stared, somewhat openly, at Momo in what appeared to be awe. Momo turned to look back at him, offering him a kind, casual smile. As though she hadn't just sparked the beginning of something bigger. Kirishima lowered his arm, watching the exchange in quiet contemplation.

Aizawa came around shortly after. Most of their classmates had already cleared out by then, finishing breakfast. Itsuki greeted him, warmer than the others since he recognized the older man from the previous day.

“Hey, Mister.”

“Hey, kid.”

Momo and Katsuki listened intently when their teacher began instructing them on their routines for the next day. “So, while you guys are in class, Itsuki is going to be taking his own lessons or training his quirk. Then, you’ll pick him up and bring him back. That’s pretty much it. You might wanna head into town yourselves, today.”

He handed the two of them an envelope.

“What’s this?”

“Money for the kid. He’s going to need more than what the bureau gave him yesterday. Clothes, grooming stuff, some toys probably. I don’t know, whatever kids need.”

“Ah…” Momo looked down at the envelope. “I can’t say I’m particularly experienced with children and what they need…”

Katsuki was quiet, but he agreed. The two of them were an only child and a rich girl; they probably didn’t have the same experiences as most children anyways. He could at least relate to having been a little boy. Or a normal child at all, albeit aggressive.

“It’ll be fine. You don’t wanna make the stuff yourself anyways,” he knew she didn’t like making things she could buy unless she had to, “so we’ll just head into town and browse for a bit. Maybe research some stuff he’ll need and the rest can be fun.” He suddenly felt the need to reassure her. To let her know things would work out. Even though he didn’t really want a part in this… It seemed to calm her anyway, making him feel a bit better as well.

The three of them made their way out of the dorms and, with the money and the permission slip from Aizawa, they hopped on a tram into town.

Opening the envelope, they discovered a large sum of money. Even Momo was surprised. “What on earth are we supposed to buy with all this?” she wondered.

“Hell,” Katsuki gripped the cash intently, “we can buy this kid a bike with even just the leftovers… damn. We could buy this kid like… ten bikes.”

“Bikes!” Itsuki cheered.

“We won’t be buying ten bikes,” Momo scolded halfheartedly, seeing the two of them pout. “But we can probably afford to get a bike. Let’s focus on clothes and sneakers first.”

“Oh!” Itsuki got excited again. “Sneakers!”

Momo thought to Itsuki’s barefoot form from the day before, angry once more with the tattered clothes and dirtiness. She would give this boy a healthy environment to grow up in if it was the last thing she did.

They quickly found a shop for children’s clothes and Katsuki, at Momo’s strong urgings, called his mom, not entirely sure what to look for.

“Katsuki?”

“Hey, hag.”

“Stop calling me that, you little shit. What’s the matter? You never call.”

“What shit do kids need?”

The other line went quiet for a moment. “What?”

“Yeah, what stuff do kids need? Like, shirts and junk I know but what kind of underwear do-”

“Bakugou Katsuki, did you get a girl pregnant?”

“What!?” His cheeks flared up in both anger and embarrassment. “No, you psycho! I did not get a girl pregnant!”

Momo looked over in concern at the sudden yelling, feeling a little silly with the Pikachu themed hoodie she was showing Itsuki. The little boy seemed enthralled with it, however, commenting that it looked like “that weird yellow guy from this morning.”

“Then why are you discussing children with me right now? Over the phone?”

“Look, it’s a long story but me and my classmate are in charge of this kid temporarily. We’re out buying him stuff and neither of us have a single clue on what to get him.”

“... I expect you to bring him and the girl over soon.”

“Stop.”

“Okay, so you’re going to need…” and she began to tell him all the essentials of a little boy’s closet and household. Toys, clothes, pjs, his own plates and utensils, coloring books, school supplies…

“Shit… kids are more than I thought,” Katsuki grumbled quietly to Momo as Itsuki changed into another pair of shorts in the dressing room.

Momo laughed lightly. “Well, I think as far as kids go, this one is well behaved. We just need to make sure he’s well taken care of for the time being.”

He looked over her. Her dark hair was surprisingly down, cascading in a black curtain down her back. Her features were soft and feminine, making her namesake of a peach very fitting. She smiled warmly as Itsuki brought her over another thing he wanted to try on, very excited about being allowed to pick out all these clothes he could wear. The very concept of light up sneakers was clearly blowing the kid’s mind.

Katsuki had always figured Momo would be one of those people that motherhood would look good on. He underestimated that. Angrily, he shook his head. He didn’t have time to be dragged down by shit like this. He couldn’t argue that Momo was insanely attractive; nearly everyone in their class if not their school appreciated the young woman’s good looks and charms.

He thought himself better than that though.

But now…

“Are we almost done here?” He dragged a hand down his face roughly, hoping to make it seem from boredom rather than trying to rub the sudden heat growing in his cheeks.

“Yeah, papa, we’re done!”

“Kid, you’re gonna have to stop-”

“Next is the toy shop then. We need to look into getting you that bike!” Momo cut him off, heading over to the counter with all of their purchases. The cashier looked somewhat confused at what she perceived as a young couple paying for a huge haul for their somehow six year old son.

“Alright. Kid, we’re gonna get you the sickest bike you’ve ever seen.”

[quicksilversquared]

How to Fake a Marriage Ch. 18

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(AO3) (FF.net)

Now that Marinette and Adrien knew each other's secret identities, Plagg saw absolutely no reason to be remotely subtle with his pranks, much to Adrien's exasperation. His only comfort was that Plagg did at least refrain from constant references to "your wife" and any crush that he thought Adrien might have on Marinette... at least for the most part. For now, at least.

"Adrien, why do you have this tucked under one of the couch pillows?" Marinette called, and Adrien frowned as he set his laptop back down on his bed and headed back into the living room. What on Earth could Marinette possibly be talking about? He didn't keep anything besides a few pillows and a spare blanket on the couch. He was pretty positive that he hadn't accidentally left anything else there.

In the living room, Adrien found Marinette holding up a printed photo of the "wedding" kiss and was looking very, very perplexed. Adrien groaned loudly.

"Plagg, get your ass out here!"

There was a grumble, and after a pause Plagg came floating very slowly into view. "Whaddya want?"

Adrien narrowed his eyes at the kwami. "I thought I told you to quit it with the hiding pictures all over the place."

There was a quiet 'Aha!' from Marinette. Plagg just snickered.

"That stopped being funny months ago, Plagg," Adrien scolded, still irritated. "If anyone else had found that, I wouldn't be able to explain it."

Plagg shrugged. "But they didn't."

"So are you gonna stop doing that, then?" Adrien demanded. "You're going to make my printer run out of ink again. And that stuff isn't exactly cheap, you know. Especially the colored stuff."

Thankfully, it was Tikki that spoke up next. "Plagg, you really shouldn't do that. It might have been a little funny this time, but you know how often Adrien has people over."

Unsurprisingly, Plagg scoffed, completely unrepentant. "How often he has people over? He doesn't! If he studies with other people, he does it at school, not here. Marinette has people visit more often, and they mostly pop into her apartment and only for a short while to talk about work. No one was gonna find it except her."

"Which would have been awkward if she hadn't found out about you!" Tikki argued. "And don't try to tell me that you only started after Marinette found out, because it's obvious that you didn't!"

"He was doing that back in the fall," Adrien said with a sigh, plucking the picture out of Marinette's fingers and tossing it in the recycling. "I swear I found at least two or three a day, and I was terrified that Mari might find one and think I was a giant weirdo."

Marinette giggled. "You are a giant weirdo," she told him fondly. "A giant punny weirdo. But yeah, I would have thought it was really weird. I did think it was really weird."

Adrien had the sudden urge to murder Plagg for that. If Marinette had found those photos before, when he couldn't tell her about Plagg being the one to blame...

(He just really, really didn't like the idea of Ladybug thinking that he was actually weird. He could deal with goofy-weird, just not creepy-weird.)

"You know, I think I liked it better before the reveal," Adrien announced loudly, giving Plagg a stink-eye. "Then Plagg actually hid and didn't annoy me when Marinette was over. It was nice and quiet then."

Marinette sniggered. Plagg only shrugged, unaffected.

"Yeah, but then you wasted your time going out to run around with Ladybug after you had seen her all day instead of, oh, I don't know, sleeping."

"Plagg, you don't actually care about how much sleep I get. You just don't want to work," Adrien pointed out dryly. "And it wasn't a waste of time. I liked getting out and running around."

"But he does have a point," Marinette said, making Adrien pout at her. Was she really taking Plagg's side over his? "You have all sorts of papers and projects due soon, and if we hadn't figured out each other's identities, you can't tell me that you wouldn't have not gone out until your finals were over, even if it meant sacrificing some of your sleep."

Adrien opened his mouth, ready to argue that. He would have done the responsible thing- he would have gone to bed, he would have done his homework- after all, he had done it before- but then he paused.

Could he honestly say that he wouldn't have pushed himself to the limit to see Ladybug, when he hadn't yet known that Ladybug would be staying in London for another year? There was no way of knowing how soon she would have remembered to bring it up, and if she only mentioned it after the school year was over, he totally would have lost time going out to meet up with her. Maybe he would have tried to schedule get-togethers for nights that would work better for him, but he would definitely have tried to go see Ladybug. That was just what he did.

"Yeah, he can't even deny it," Plagg scoffed. "He would go out of his way to see yommmph."

Adrien laughed at the disgruntled look on Plagg's face. Clearly the kwami didn't appreciate having his taunting cut off with a chunk of cheese shoved in his mouth. Still, he couldn't help but wish that Marinette had maybe done that a little sooner, considering that Plagg seemed intent on revealing information about Adrien that would make him seem like a lovesick kitten.

He was a lovesick kitten, but Marinette didn't need to know that.

"Well, it's good that you don't have to waste time right now, at least," Marinette pointed out as Plagg floated grumpily down the hall and away into Adrien's bedroom to sulk- or, more likely, take a nap. "Don't you have a few projects due next week?"

"Yeah, I do," Adrien admitted. "As much as I wish I had more time, it's good to get it over with before I really have to dive in with studying for finals. I'll probably be pulling some late nights later in the week to get everything done."

Marinette let out a quiet, playful hum. "Funny thing, I remember you saying something last semester about irresponsible classmates having to scramble last-minute to get things done and how you were never going to do that."

"I'm not pulling all-nighters. There's a difference," Adrien called over his shoulder as he headed back into his bedroom to grab his laptop again. "I just had a little more homework than planned last week, and then there was the concert that we went to that I hadn't taken into account. I'll be a little rushed, but I have everything under control, I promise."

  By Thursday evening, Adrien was wishing that he hadn't been so confident earlier in the week. Everything that could go wrong with his projects did go wrong- or, well, almost everything. Thankfully the files hadn't been lost and he hadn't forgotten any of his numerous projects, but books had been misplaced, his notes had fallen off of the table and had gotten into complete disarray, and several of the papers and articles online that he had marked on his computer had somehow vanished completely from his bookmarks and it took several hours of sifting through his site history before he found them all again. That meant that Adrien had pulled more late-night study sessions than he had anticipated, and he wasn't even able to see Marinette as much since she was going back to her own apartment after they finished cleaning up from dinner so that Adrien could focus better.

While being alone definitely forced Adrien to actually work instead of talking with his best friend, having no one to talk to (Plagg had been strongly suggested into going to bed early, meaning that Adrien wouldn't get distracted by him, either) meant that his mind sometimes drifted off a little more than it should.

A light knock at the door followed by the sound of it opening shook Adrien out of the light doze he had accidentally slipped into. He jolted upright, grabbed onto his computer to steady it, and glanced up from the screen to see Marinette slipping in through the door, wrapped in a bathrobe. She was probably wearing pajamas underneath, but the robe was tied shut securely to ward off the eyes of any too-nosy neighbors. She raised an eyebrow as she caught sight of Adrien in front of his computer. "Adrien? I thought you were going to bed early tonight."

"I was," Adrien admitted, even as he glanced down at his computer. "But I have a couple finishing touches to put on the project that I have due tomorrow. It's not much, just proofreading and then sticking in a few details that I remembered today during class. But I hope to be in bed by one. Go on ahead- that's what you came over for, right?"

Marinette's cheeks turned pink and she looked a little sheepish. "I- I mean, yes, but if you're going to be busy, I don't want to hog your bed, I can sleep in my own-"

Adrien snickered. "You're too small to hog my bed, My Lady. And go on ahead, I'll be there soon enough." He had to admit, seeing Marinette flustered about sharing his bed- even though they did it regularly, and there was nothing remotely inappropriate about it- was adorable. "Go on and warm up the sheets for me."

"You don't want company while you finish that up?"

"As much as I love your company, I think you'd be more of a distraction than anything," Adrien assured her. "And you need to sleep. Shoo, little bug."

Marinette shooed. Adrien smiled to himself as he listened to the rustle of fabric as Marinette took her bathrobe off and hung it up on his closet door, then the click of a light switch and more rustling as she crawled into his bed. He let the sound distract him for a few minutes, and then he refocused on his paper. Right. Editing. The sooner he got done with this, the sooner he could go join Marinette for a well-deserved night's sleep. The thought spurred him on, and it didn't take long at all for Adrien to make the last change, save the document, and send the finished paper to his professor. He was about to congratulate himself with a hard-earned chocolate-chip cookie (baked fresh only hours earlier) when a note in his planner made him freeze. Because right there, written under the assignment that he had just completed, was another note.

Data sheet marking- due at noon! Summary + write-up.

Adrien knew exactly what assignment that was. He knew what class it was for, he knew what he had to do for it...

...and to the best of his recollection, he hadn't finished it. Not even close.

It wasn't as though the assignment was particularly difficult, Adrien reflected as he reopened his computer. It was just using a computer program to mark a bunch of old scanned datasheets into categories based on the amount of time it had taken each datasheet to run, and then it would take maybe a minute after everything was marked to run the data through a program that would summarize everything nicely. The process was so easy that anyone could do it, and Adrien hadn't had any trouble with the program when he did the first few pages. It was just that it would take a whole lot of time to go through everything.

Except he didn't have a whole lot of time anymore, because he had been a complete freaking idiot and forgotten about the assignment until last minute. Unless his memory was seriously failing him, the project was due in less than thirteen hours.

In short, he was screwed.

"I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot," Adrien groaned as he opened the program and confirmed that yes, he had in fact forgotten to go through most of the data. He had done a handful of the pages- maybe a couple dozen, tops- but that left hundreds of pages to go. He was going to have to stay up most of the night, and he had already had a short night of sleep the previous night after he stayed up late studying a concept that he was having a bit of trouble with and then had to wake up early for an eight o'clock class. This was the worst possible night to find out that he had an assignment he hadn't done due the next day.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. How on earth had it managed to slip through the cracks? Adrien knew that he had had a crazy number of projects to do that semester, plus he had gotten that crash course in applying to and interviewing for jobs partway through the semester and that had definitely added to his workload, especially since he had had to look into whether or not he needed a work visa and especially especially because he had never applied to a job before. He had had to keep calling Marinette over to help explain things to him. Still, even with all he was trying to juggle, he shouldn't have forgotten a project entirely. That was just plain irresponsible.

With a growl, Adrien buckled down to plow through the pages. He could do it, he could do it, he could do it...

  He couldn't do it. Several hours later, Adrien was bored out of his mind from staring at one nearly-identical page after another. He had perked up a little an hour in after inhaling nearly half a dozen cookies, but the sugar high had long since worn off and left him plodding miserably through his assignment.

Adrien yawned again before forcing himself to focus on his screen. He was really starting to drag now, he could tell, but he couldn't go to bed yet. He still had a solid hour of data left, at the least, and more if he kept slowing down like he was now.

He really had to stop thinking about how much his bed was calling him, soft and already warm with Marinette sleeping there already...

Adrien shook himself yet again and refocused on the screen. If he weren't worried about waking Marinette up, he'd make himself some coffee to jolt himself awake. Maybe he should invest in some green tea in case this happened in the future.

Of course, he'd have to either worry about the teapot whistling or he would have to make it in the microwave like a heathen. Maybe he should ask Marinette if he could borrow the extra key to her flat so he could make his coffee in her place when she stayed over...

A noise down the hallway made Adrien jump. He glanced down towards the bedroom and saw Marinette exiting his bedroom, hair messy and eyes bleary. She blinked at him before meandering down the hall towards him.

"I didn't wake you up, did I?" Adrien asked, reaching out an arm to pull Marinette down onto the couch next to him. She plopped down and snuggled up against his side without missing a beat. "I've been trying not to make any noise, but-" he yawned and clapped a hand over his mouth. He glanced sheepishly over at her. "I'm sorry, I really did want to go to bed earlier."

"I thought you were going to come to bed by one?" Marinette glanced down at the time on Adrien's computer screen. "Adrien, it's already past three."

Adrien cringed at the reminder. It was really getting ridiculously late. He was fairly certain that he had never stayed up so late before, with the only possible exception of him having to get up in the middle of the night to fight an akuma. "Yeah, I know. But I remembered that I had this thing due tomorrow at noon, and since I have class until eleven, I need to get this done. I forgot about it with all of the other projects-" he yawned again, long and loud "-all the other projects that I had. It's not hard, just really time-consuming."

Marinette leaned over to watch as Adrien did a couple pages. "So what are you doing?"

"These are the results from this experiment people have done over the last few years. We're summarizing the data by tagging each of these sheets with what time category they fall in- you know, like how long it took for the experiment to run."

Marinette curled into his side a bit more and peered at the screen. "There's several times, though?"

"Yeah, each page has several runs on it. I'm supposed to tag all of them, because not everyone did the same number of runs in different years and so the averages would be not as accurate...or something." Adrien yawned again. He was so tired that it was questionable if he could even get a decent write-up done later. If he went to bed now he could probably get just enough sleep to function decently well until after all of his classes were finished, but that wasn't going to happen.

He was definitely going to have to be more careful about keeping track of his projects after this, even if that meant programming every single last one into his calendar so that he would get a dozen reminders a month about each and every one.

"And then I run them through a program that compiles all the tags and gives me a summary of the data, and then I do a short write-up about it and turn it in with the summary sheet." Adrien let his head drop onto Marinette's, relaxing for a long moment. "I completely forgot about it. It wouldn't be a problem normally."

"Is that it? Just tagging?"

"Yeah. It's just that there's so much to do." Adrien yawned again. He was about to fall asleep right here, right now, with his head resting against Marinette's. He really needed to sit up and get back to work before he conked out just like that. "I probably have at least another hour just with the tagging, and then running the summary sheet will only take a couple minutes after that. I was planning on doing the write-up after my last morning class and before lunch, just so I can get some sleep."

"I can tag things, Adrien. You go to sleep." Marinette nudged Adrien's side, then nudged harder when he didn't respond. "Seriously. I'm more awake than you are right now. Go get some sleep. It'll only be, like, four hours, but it's better than nothing. You can run the summary in the morning or before lunch. Shoo."

Adrien straightened up and blinked at her, startled. "Mari, this is my homework, I can't ask you to do it for me-"

"You aren't asking. I'm telling you I'll help." Marinette wrapped an arm around his waist and gave Adrien a hug. "And you helped out when we were in a pinch at Fashion Week. Let me help you now."

Adrien blinked blearily at his computer. Marinette was right, she definitely wouldn't have any trouble with the tagging. She was smart, she could figure out the tagging pretty fast. He'd get to sleep- well, not a decent amount, but a passable amount- and actually would be able to function the next day. He'd have to take a nap in the afternoon before he could get any productive studying done, but at least he could do that and didn't have classes all day, just in the morning-

Wait.

"You have to work tomorrow," Adrien protested, even as Marinette slid his laptop from his lap to her own. "I can nap in the afternoon, you can't-"

"Adrien, I've been sleeping since ten. I've already gotten five hours of sleep. You said that this will take an hour, so I'll be back in bed a little past four. I can go into work a little late if I really need to, so I'll get another two or three hours of sleep. I'll be fine." Marinette pushed at his back. "I've got this, I promise. Shoo."

Adrien shooed.

He was asleep the minute his head hit the pillow. Adrien woke up briefly around four when Marinette crawled into bed next to him, and then he was sleeping again until his alarm went off at seven. He groaned his way out of bed and out of the bedroom, rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he got ready as fast as he could. Adrien could smell breakfast cooking in the kitchen- Marinette must have decided to just cook at his place so both of them could eat, she was an actual lifesaver- so he hurried out to the kitchen as fast as he could.

"You are amazing, have I told you that yet?" Adrien said as he hung over the short dividing wall to the kitchen. Marinette was piling toast onto a plate and had jam and butter already on the table with a small bowl of chopped fruit. The smell of coffee filled the morning air, along with the smell of cooking bacon. "Wow, you really went all out."

Marinette turned and grinned at him. "Hardly! The fruit is from last night, the toast was easy, and the bacon and coffee were both quick. I figured you might need it this morning."

"Yeah, I really do. I slept in as much as I could. I don't even have time for a shower this morning." Adrien ran one hand through his hair, wincing. It wasn't as though his hair was greasy or anything, but he could feel the traces of product left over from the previous day. It wasn't a particularly pleasant feeling.

Marinette laughed at that as she came to the table with the plate of bacon. "You'll survive. Besides, you can wash your pretty-boy hair this afternoon once you've finished class." She reached over and ruffled his hair, ignoring his laughing protests as he tried to bat her away.

"Plagg, the mean woman is making fun of me," Adrien managed to mock-whine between his snickers, batting Marinette's hands away. "Make her stooooop."

Plagg, who had been lounging on top of the refrigerator with a chunk of cheese, peered down at them and made a face. "Ugh. You're so gross together."

Adrien made a face at Plagg in response as he rearranged his hair into something that would less resemble a bird's nest. He and Marinette weren't gross. They were just friends having fun.

"Any problems with the data tagging last night?" Adrien asked Marinette as she started to spread jam on her toast.

Marinette shook her head. "Not at all. It was easy."

Adrien let out a sigh of relief. "Fantastic. Thank you so much for doing that, by the way. I probably would have taken forever and then had to run on an hour of sleep."

"It's not a problem. You do still have to run the summary sheet, though. I didn't want to do that and mess everything up somehow."

"Oh, that's fine," Adrien reassured her hastily. "I've done that before in class- with smaller data sets, of course- so it'll only take a couple minutes for me to do. I'll try to get it done before I leave, and then I can think about what I want to write during class." He chanced a glance at the clock and winced. He'd be cutting it close with the bus, probably, but he could always run to the station.

Marinette caught his glance and followed his gaze. She looked a little concerned. "Maybe you should do that now and then eat your breakfast while you're walking. You won't be cutting it as close that way."

"Right, right, of course. Mari, have I ever told you how much of a lifesaver you are?"

  Predictably, Plagg didn't stay quiet for long after they left the flat.

"So your wife helped you out with your homework last night, hmm? How domestic!"

Adrien groaned quietly as he hurried down the street, toast in hand. "Plagg."

"What? It's true!"

Adrien really couldn't debate that. Marinette had made him breakfast, after all, and they had slept in the same bed together like it was normal- which it was for them, he reminded himself- and then she had made sure that he had everything before he left for school. The kiss that she had pressed to his cheek as he raced out the door only added fuel to Plagg's arsenal.

"So domestic," Plagg sighed. Then he made a small retching noise. "It makes me sick."

"You could stop thinking about it all the time," Adrien suggested. For someone who claimed to hate romance, Plagg sure seemed to be incredibly interested in his own love life. Adrien guessed that he might never figure that little mystery out.

Plagg blew a raspberry at Adrien.

The morning flew by, and soon Adrien was handing in his project. The summary sheet wasn't quite up to his normal standard, but it was good enough to get his a pretty good grade. There were more than a few other people in the class that looked a little bleary-eyed, which made Adrien suspect that he wasn't the only one who had forgotten the project until last minute. He just happened to be incredibly lucky that he had Marinette willing to sacrifice her own precious sleep to help him.

He had the best friend in the world, honestly. Adrien was pretty positive that most people would have given him a coffee and a few encouraging words before going right back to bed.

Class dragged on, and Adrien did his best to pay attention when his eyelids felt like lead and every blink was an effort to force his eyes back open. Finally class was over and he was done for the day, and Adrien hopped on the bus back to his neighborhood. The ride woke him up a bit- well, the ride and the small iced coffee drink he had picked up on campus so he wouldn't do anything stupid like falling asleep on the bus- so he decided that before he went back to his apartment to sleep, he should do something nice for Marinette. After all, she still had several hours of work left before she could get back to the apartment and take a nap herself.

What to do...what to do...

Just when Adrien was just about to give up for the moment and go home to sleep on it and figure out a solution later, he caught a whiff of something delicious. It smelled warm and welcoming, like baking bread and sugar.

Of course! Their favorite bakery (at least, favorite in London; Marinette's parent's bakery and the pastry stall from the festival up north ranked a bit higher) was nearby. Marinette would no doubt welcome something warm and sugary, since it was still a bit cool outside and really, when wouldn't something warm and sugary be welcome?

Six minutes later, Adrien headed down the sidewalk, pastry bag in one hand and carrier of hot chocolates in the other. He hoped he wouldn't be interrupting anything- he hadn't texted Marinette to let her know he was coming, and maybe he should have- but his luck had held out so far. And if she were busy- well, Adrien didn't have to stay for long. He could just drop off one chocolate-filled croissant and Marinette's hot chocolate at her desk, or have another worker bring them to her.

Luckily for him, Marinette was busy at her desk. A sketch of what looked like a lovely summer dress filled her computer screen, and she was busy making notes in a small notebook. Adrien tried to crane his head to get a peek- was she coming up with a list of fabric she would need? Was she making notes about current fashion trends?- but before he could see anything, Marinette noticed the movement behind her and spun around.

"Hey, Adrien! I didn't know that you were coming in to visit today!"

"It was a bit spur-of-the-moment," Adrien admitted, setting the hot chocolates and pastry bag down on a clear spot on her desk. "I wanted to thank you for helping me last night- well, early this morning. And I figured that you might start to drag sometime soon, so I got some sugar to help."

"Sugar is always appreciated," Marinette said, peering into the bag and sniffing appreciatively. "This looks fabulous."

"I can just drop it and leave you to eat if you're busy," Adrien said, glancing at Marinette's computer screen again. It definitely looked like an in-progress sketch, which meant that if she was on a roll, he was just in the way. "I'll just snitch a croissant-"

"You can stay!" Marinette said hastily. "I'm not really in the middle of much anything. I've been trying to get into a groove with the dress, but I'm having a little trouble," she said when she caught Adrien's glance towards the computer. "I'm having a bit of a creative block right now. I might have to go do something else for a bit and come back to it later."

"The lack of sleep probably isn't helping much, huh?" Adrien asked, feeling a bit guilty. As much as he appreciated Marinette's help (a ton), he couldn't just ignore that her having to be up in the middle of the night and then getting up early to get breakfast for him cut into her sleep time, which probably was affecting her productivity. "I'm really sorry about that, honestly-"

Marinette snorted. "I didn't miss out on that much sleep. You're making it sound like I was running on three hours of sleep instead of, like, seven. This design has been giving me trouble for days."

"Really?" Adrien had always rather thought that designs gushed out of Marinette freely. She certainly had been drawing new things easily enough when he saw her at home, but maybe that was because she was drawing things that she wanted to wear, not things that were new and fresh enough to be carried by a fashion house. He supposed that there were probably a lot of designs that got scrapped or cast aside without ever making it to production. And when he took that level of pressure into account...yeah, it made a little more sense that Marinette might be struggling a bit from time to time. Besides, he vaguely remembered a few discussion about the creating process that they had had before, and yeah, Marinette had definitely mentioned occasionally having designer's block then. He just was too tired to remember those full conversations.

"I'm just not quite happy with it. I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong, but there's just something..." She glanced at the computer screen again. "It doesn't quite have the oomph factor to it, you know?"

"Maybe it could be made with a fabric with some sort of pattern?" Adrien suggested as Marinette pulled her pastry out of the bag and passed it back to him. "You could use some of those patterns that you thought up earlier in the year, they're all gorgeous."

Marinette froze, pain au chocolate caught between her lips, and then she lunged for her drawing tablet, sitting on her desk behind her computer. Still mid-bite, she pressed a button and frantically started searching through the drafted fabric patterns she had saved on it. Adrien watched, torn between amusement and concern as she flipped through one design after another, finally settling on one with a happy noise. Seconds later, the pattern showed up on her computer screen. Marinette made a satisfied noise at that, then grabbed her sketchpad, flipping to the page with the dress design on it before flinging open a desk drawer and yanking out some colored pencils. It was only once she had started coloring the design that she froze, put the pencil down, and sheepishly turned to Adrien, pulling her pain au chocolate out of her mouth as she did.

"Sudden burst of inspiration?" Adrien suggested, amused. "I can go. Don't feel bad about kicking me out," he added when Marinette looked like she might protest. "I need a nap anyway. My plans for this afternoon were eat, sleep, shower, in that order, and I wasn't planning on bothering you for long anyway."

"I don't want to seem ungrateful," Marinette said, finally taking a bite of her pastry. Her eyes closed in momentary enjoyment before she focused on him again. "Really, I love the food, and the hot chocolate, and thanks so much for getting me back on track with the design, I really needed that suggestion-"

"But now you need to get that idea all sketched out before you forget it," Adrien finished, getting up and immediately bending down to press a quick kiss to Marinette's forehead before gathering up his pain au chocolate and hot chocolate. "I get it, I promise. I'll see you at home."

"See you later," Marinette responded absently, attention already back on her design as she picked up a colored pencil and started filling in the design with a rough representation of the fabric pattern, pastry forgotten on a napkin on her desk. Adrien smiled at her back for a moment, just watching her draw. It was admirable how focused she got when she was hit by a burst of inspiration for a design. She forgot about the rest of the world for however long it took for her to get her design sketched out. Strands of hair were falling out of her bun and into her face, but Marinette was so far into the zone that she didn't even bother to brush them aside.

When he heard a giggle, Adrien quickly turned and glanced around. Several of Marinette's coworkers were watching him watch her, and they looked rather amused. Trying not to blush, Adrien nodded a greeting to the giggling duo before making a hasty exit.

Yeah, he definitely needed a nap if he was openly staring at Marinette like that.

[tyrantdk]

Tyrant Story time!

So, yall are gonna get a long ass post here. I'm on mobile & I've finally gotten over my aversion to talking about this. I've made mention in pms before about a losing a friend & that I couldn't quite tall about it bc said friend follows me on here.

Well, I haven't heard from her (we'll call her BA) in a few months. After 3 or 4 years of no contact I have allowed her to contact me here, but the conversations remind me too much of the past. And I'm at the point of not caring any more. So here we go!

I met BA when we were about 9, toward the end of 4th grade. We were partners for a project to help the 5th graders for their testing. Nothing of import here, but it was the first time we met. Nothing in 5th grade. We were in different classes, but you could hear her teach yelling from the classroom.

6th grade came & a new school with it. We were in band together, so we spent an entire class together. This started the beginnings of my troubles. My parents divorced by the end of the school year. I was also diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure).

BA liked to greet me at the beginning of our class by jumping onto my back, trying to hug me (I was NOT a touchy person then), and scaring me. I hated it. I made this known by yelling for her to get off me, pushing her off, & telling her to stop.

This didn't stop. Sometimes it was so bad our band teacher would have to make her leave me be. I had other teachers that would do the same. By 8th grade it was so bad I would have to hide until BA found a seat away from me. I couldn't sit with other friends if she came over.

BA would lay on me, no matter how many times I or teachers told her not to. One time we got separated, & it was the best day of my life in middle school. The reason why she laid on me? To be like the popular girls, who I didn't like & like I said, I hated having anyone touch me then.

Before we move on, let me tell you about the time she trapped me in a bus seat.

My band class was on the way to our after school band practice. We were loading the bus up. I couldn't stand anyone but one person sharing the seat with me. BA was not that person. She had been bugging me about sharing the seat. I said no, but that she could sit in the one in front or behind mine.

She sat in a seat & before I had my stuff in the seat beside me, there she was. I got heated. I told her to let me out or move. I don't remember what the other kids where yelling, I was too busy trying to get out of the seat.

It finally took me yelling to let me out, or I would climb over the seat for the bus driver to make her let me out. The rest of the ride I got the stink eye from a few classmates. It doesn't fucking matter that BA has ADD & other issues! You literally let a girl trap another in a position they didn't want to be in bc she has issues! -waves middle fingers-

9th was hell. BA & I were in every class but one for most of the year. This was when she thought yelling things, told to her in confidence, in a crowded classroom was funny! This is also when I hit back. Sometimes literally. I also got told I could win a fight between us.

10th I was made to sit beside BA in Spanish. Aced that shit, but was constantly in hell. It was not my job to keep you quiet, BA. Oh wait, it was. When I sat beside another friend, away from you, that was heaven. But then our Spanish teach couldn't do her job right.

11th & 12th were fine, until you tried to snap my bra. Joke was on you. I wore nothing but sports bras then. Also our Vice principal getting on you for that? That was beautiful.

College was great. I found friends better than you, BA. Friends that have shown me what best friends really are. Then came the blow up. The end of our friendship.

That was jr year. I remember it very clearly. No contact for months after I found BA had been cutting. I had to send a message to make sure she was still alive. You know what I got back? A 'I thought you got the hint. You're a bad influence. I'm ok & have a boyfriend.'

I replied with an 'I guess we're going in two different ways & we can't be friends right now.' I tried to pull away when I got called a bad influence, but did end there? No. After that, I was cyber harassed.

BA left a comment on a picture of myself & my supervisor for my work study. On my college's Facebook page. My best friend got involved then. She's very protective. They went back and forth bc I just wanted to be left alone.

The comment happened while I was staying over at said friend's house for the weekend. Her fam was away. I became afraid to go home.

BA had shown up twice to my house with no warning. My degree is in CJ w/a minor in psych. I felt like I was being cyber stalked too. I know stalker psychology, & BA showed it. I'm still scared to this day of being alone in my house, but I have a Blue heeler. She'll bite your ass.

It took our mothers calling each other for it to stop.

I still have issues from the things BA said to me. A lot of what happened to us, I've come to recognize as abuse in some form or other. Mostly from her to me.

I have horrible anxiety when I make my friends mad. I constantly wonder if I said something wrong. I'm quieter than I used to be and I hate it. I also have a bolt of fear go through me when I see BA in public.

Long story short: Become a friend out of sympathy, get fucked over for life.

[ghost-chance]

Blocked : Hair

Ghost is gone. Cold's gone. There's supposed to be no one else in the Thomas-Chance house now except for Donnie...but the gruesome discovery in the parlor makes him worry he's not alone, but trapped with a sick killer.

         Hey there, Ladies and Gents! Ghost here with a special announcement. "Blocked" now has an official playlist! You can find it on Spotify by way of the link here; in between chapters of the story, you can get your fix by listening to music related to this crack-tastic story, and you can also find other story-related playlists on the same profile. Hope to see y'all soon, and hope y'all're havin' a great March!      

                 The official "Blocked" playlist on Spotify    

                    Hair

It came out of nowhere. At least, Donnie felt, he was sure he never saw it coming. Something in the small house in the suburbs was different and he wasn't sure what it was, or what it meant. All he knew for certain were a few seemingly unrelated things.

Fact: Cold left for his manufacturing job early, intent on getting his taxes done beforehand. Fact: Ghost endured a repetitive headache-bordering-on-migraine every single day for the last two-and-a-half weeks which no medication or rest improved. Fact: Ghost stormed out without fanfare that morning, hair bound into a single meticulously woven braid, with only a rather cantankerous note stating "I'll be back later, don't blow anything up." Finally, the final fact: there was a stranger in the house—a very heavyset stranger with short, wavy brown hair cut neatly just above her shoulders—a stranger who reeked of some overly expensive salon chemicals and putrid cigar smoke and seemed intent on raiding Ghost's tea stash.

Worried, confused, and increasingly alarmed, Donnie edged nearer to the kitchen in hopes of catching a glimpse of the stranger's face. As she snatched the whistling tea kettle off the stove and poured boiling water over her choice teabag—by the scent of it, an expensive brand of oolong Ghost saved for special occasions and major SHTF moments—the mutant crept past the kitchen to the living room. It hadn't escaped his notice that the stranger brought something with her, a familiar bottle of fine Scotch whisky. Fresh and unopened, the bottle waited on the kitchen counter still cluttered from Cold's rushed pre-work lunch-making.

In the dark, silent parlor, Ghost's cellphone waited helpfully on the scuffed coffee table amidst Missouri Conservationist magazines and junk-mail, probably forgotten…and it wasn't alone. Something sat beside it—something small and dark, wrapped in a plastic grocery bag. The bag drew Donnie, an ominous prickle creeping along the tender scales at the back of his neck. Repeatedly glancing back to the kitchen and the stranger savoring his host's fanciest tea, he reached out for the bag. His lungs refused to cooperate as he carefully untied the fastened handles, unwrapping the contents slowly so as to avoid detection.

Ghost sighed wearily, staring down into the Celadon hued tea filling her favorite teacup. Normally she saved the Revolution Blackberry Jasmine Oolong—and the vintage china cup decked with blooming herbs—for special occasions or moments when she was in dire need of a mental vacation, but after that afternoon, she absolutely needed the moment. After all, no matter how psychotic her father became in public, the commercials lie—spouting "Calgon, take me away!" never accomplished anything more than earning her strange looks.

Her father…as if it could ever be anything else. This time, he hadn't thrown any punches or toddler-tantrums…instead he proceeded to make some really off-color remarks about the young man who waited their table—a rather attractive black gentleman with unusual bright blue eyes. Normally, even her father wouldn't bat an eye over the server but the blue eyes completely disabled his brain-to-mouth filter and tore him away from shooting scowls at the lesbian couple a table away.

Ghost shook her head, scowling down at the memory. Honestly, there was enough unrest in the country as it was without her father being a bigoted cad. Sane and civilized men didn't bitch in public about someone's eyes being 'freakier than a rug-munching ninny,' much less at full volume. Years before, he wouldn't have said anything like it either…alas, ever since the knock on his noggin, her father was increasingly prone to bigotry, judgmental behavior, and thoughtless, cringe-worthy rants. Fortunately, Ghost's parents raised her correctly before her father became a cad…and because of that, she excused herself to the ladies' on the way out, sought out the server then the lesbian couple, apologized for her father's off-color remarks, and personally paid for the ladies' meals and added to the meager tip the elder left for his own meal…all that, and they hadn't even heard him.

Now, frustrated and stinking of her father's cheap cigars but finally free of the weight on her shoulders, she stood in her small, cluttered kitchen, hopeful for at least a short break from reality—just a few minutes to commune with her tea and become more human again before she wound up biting some poor sucker's head off! Apparently, someone up there found this want completely unreasonable and interfered: a blood-curdling shriek rang out in the supposedly empty parlor. She nearly dropped the tea cup in her hurry to arm herself for what she nightmare might find.

The bag lay open, the macabre trophy inside half-spilled onto the table. Paralyzed with fear and dread, Donnie cowered in the corner, too afraid to even take his eyes off of it. Without warning the stranger appeared in the doorway, bespectacled blue-green eyes wild, one hand clutching a lit lighter and the other a can of bug spray. Primed to fry the supposed home invader with her improvised flamethrower, she froze in the doorway and searched the parlor to no avail. The moment she registered Donnie and followed his gaze to the bag on the table, everything became clear.

"What the flyin' fuck, Donnie?" she spouted in a surprisingly familiar voice and accent. "Ya had me thinkin' someone was gettin' murdered!" Hazel eyes fixed on her, their owner forcing a noisy swallow and glancing around frantically for something he could use as a weapon.

"Who are you?!" he demanded shrilly. "What've you done with Ghost?! Why do you have her hair?!" The woman blinked in surprise, tilted her head in confusion, then, clearly coming to the conclusion that he was serious, she set down her cargo and strode over to the table. Without a single word, she gathered her hair into a stumpy bundle with one hand and held the severed foot-and-a-half braid up to her neck with the other, visibly waiting for him to connect the dots. Sure enough, blinking and staring, he did just that. "Wha…Ghost? That's you? What—what happened?"

"Nothin' out'a the ordinary," Ghost explained with a shrug and passed him a folded up sheet of paper from the bag the braid came out of. "I've got really thick hair—when it gets too long, I get headaches from it, so when I had a headache for a week straight I knew it was time to get it all lopped off again." Donnie looked over the paper in silent bemusement. "Here," Ghost smirked tossing the braid into his lap. "Have a dead animal." To her disappointment, he didn't even notice much less jump and squeal.

"Locks…of Love?" he read aloud slowly then met her eyes. "You grow your hair out...so you can donate it?"

"Every time," she admitted awkwardly, embarrassed by the discussion. She wasn't normally one to toot her own horn—she believed when you tell others of your good deeds, it lessens the impact of that good deed. Donnie, however, wanted answers, and there was no point in hiding what was obvious. "They make wigs for kids who lose their hair from cancer, an' what they can't use, they sell to raise money for donation. I'm lazy 'bout getting' my hair cut, an' it's not like that hair's doin' any good goin' in the rubbish, right?"

It had absolutely nothing to do with losing relatives to cancer, nothing to do with Uncle Bob's ongoing losing battle with cancer, and even more nothing to do with a certain childhood classmate who died of leukemia. No, it had nothing to do with any of those sob-stories, or at least, so she told herself. After all, she couldn't focus on the reason behind the habit—the reason she continually grew out her hair, struggled and fought to keep it long and healthy, cursed it in one moment and coddled it the next, all to hack it all off and pay postage to have it shipped away. She couldn't focus on the painful truths or she'd go mad from hurt. How could she appreciate a well-executed side-braid while recalling the bald heads of those she lost to cancer? Denial wasn't a healthy reaction to anything, but it certainly could improve one's sense of humor.

"I…guess not," Donnie mumbled, wincing as he finally noticed the braid draped over one crossed thigh. His snout a little crinkled from awkward disgust, he lifted the braid to pass it back to her only to startle. In visible disbelief he hefted the braided length calculating its weight. "Holy heck—this thing must weigh two-point-fifty-seven pounds!"

"Try three," Ghost countered with a shrug, pretending she wasn't inwardly girly-squealing over his nerdy proclamation. Damn, that turtle was tempting. "Stylist weighed it. I have stupid-thick hair. Used to be worse, too—used to be I had to have my hair thinned out regularly. Now I'm gettin' old an' it's gettin' thinner but the weight's still enough to give me headaches. Just leave the rodent on the table, I'll mail it later."

Without another backward glance, she strode back into the kitchen; sure enough, another pair of feet softly padded after her, bringing a dorky grin to her face. No, she reminded herself firmly, no touchie! He's taken and so're you! She tried to physically shake off the unwelcome thoughts—and urges, unfortunately—and as so often before, wound up reaching for the only thing that made sense in those moments.

Donnie watched silently as Ghost drained the last of her tea, rinsed her cup, and cracked open the brand new bottle of Scotch to pour herself a couple fingers' worth. Although the change startled him, he was glad for it—in moments like this, savoring her whisky with an almost serene smile that was out of place on her face, she looked so much like Amber it hurt. At least with her hair short she couldn't keep it braided…at least without the braids, she might not resemble Amber so closely and it mightn't hurt so much to see her.

Monday morning—the most irritating of all weekdays, and for Donnie, the day he had to endure the most bitching from Cold about having to work. Honestly, the mutant thought with tight lips, he'd love to be able to work—to contribute to this odd little family who let him stay with them without question. Unfortunately, the pickings were slim…it was either do home repairs for the blind elderly lady next door and risk getting seen by the rest of the neighborhood or assist Ghost with their online sales. At least with him managing the card sales she could somewhat focus on her novel…and getting him home. So far, neither was getting anywhere.

An ominous creaking noise echoed down the dark hallway; a bolt of white and ginger followed—Woozle taking off like a bat out of hell with panic in his copper orange eyes. "Lil' Trai'er," a sleep-graveled voice reprimanded the spastic feline then paused for a loud yawn. "Keep pushin' it, yer stanky ass's due fer a bath." Out of the corner of his eye, Donnie caught sight of something out of his worst nightmares.

Donnie's startled yelp drew a dirty glare from Ghost—a glare that seemed unusually poisonous peeking through the sleep-mussed hair sticking out in every direction. "Short hair don't care," she grumbled at the frozen mutant and shuffled over to the coffee pot. "Suck it."

     WORDS:  

So're - So are

Trai'er - sleep-slurred 'Traitor'

Yer stanky ass's due fer a bath! - Your smelly ass is due for a bath! Yes, we bathe our cats a few times yearly - they're both indoor-only but they're incredibly lazy about grooming and Woozle gets dandruff if he's not regularly conditioned. They're both due for a dip but we're waiting for warmer weather...currently we've hit the middle of the Spring rainy season and we're too busy drowning to bathe the butts.

     Notes       

So. Let's just get this out of the way: Yes, I ended up hacking off almost all my hair recently because it was heavy enough to give me headaches again ALREADY. I endured a constant headache that lasted over a week - actually about a week-and-a-half - and decided the haircut just couldn’t wait any longer. Usually I have it in two braids when it get it cut off - last time they were both over a foot long - but this time it was about a foot in a single braid. For those not accustomed to long hair, dual-braids tend to be longer than single braids, sometimes almost twice as long, because they’re thinner. For that reason, while the single braid was only about a foot long, in twin braids, my hair was past my waist...and it was HEAVY.

Also, yes, the home-invasion bit IS fiction imitating reality...we actually live in an apartment complex and keeping firearms in the home wouldn't be safe. Therefore, anytime I start feeling like someone unwelcome has made it inside I go lighter-and-aerosol to torch their asses. Fortunately it's usually just Woozle being a creeper. ;D

[sweetlysilent]

That One Bet

Requested By: Anonymous

hi!! i jus honestly love ur imagines ❤️ but can u write something where peter & flash made bets and peter has been beating him at all of them until @ liz's party and peter sucks ass at beer pong until the reader comes in and helps him , u can end it however thank youuuu

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Description: The entire day Flash and Peter had been making bets, and from what you and Ned could conclude was that Peter was in the lead, until you arrived at Liz's party and saw Peter getting his ass whipped at beer pong, today, you would be the superhero.

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol, kinda fluffy I dunno

Word Count: 2,452

A/N: THIS WAS SO CUTE TO WRITE I'M LIVING, but it was super fun to create, it's super cheesy too aw. enjoy :)

"You do realize Flash literally almost ran you over right?" You appeared next to Peter as he glared at Flash who shouted 'Penis Parker!' as he drove away laughing.

"Yes, Y/N, I am aware I nearly died." Peter replied sarcastically with a dramatic eye roll, earning a hard shove from you into Peter's shoulder.

"Aye!" Peter shouted, holding his shoulder, seeing your intense glare at him, his eyes softened a bit, pulling you in for a hug.

"I'm sorry bug," He murmured into your hair as you hugged him back, relaxing at his touch, "I know you were just caring about my safety." He sighed, rubbing your back gently before you two broke apart.

"Yes. Therefore, you should be grateful." You replied back sarcastically, making Peter shake his head at you with a smile.

"Although, sometimes I wish you could go all Spidey on him and web his car up." You whispered, laughing, making Peter laugh along with you as you both entered the school.

The second school started you'd think world war three was happening, anytime you saw either Flash or Peter they were at a constant stage of war.

"Peter what are you doing?" You asked him when you ran into him in the hallway, he was out of breath, sweat dripping down his forehead as he looked around the hallway.

"Flash bet me that I couldn't run the entire school in under a minute, he was wrong, aka, I won." He smiled triumphantly, taking a bow, as you stood there unamused.

You weren't going to lie, you didn't understand this whole betting thing going on, all you knew was that it was starting to push your buttons.

But being the friend you were, you let it go, since Peter was having the time of his life beating his arch nemeses.

Therefore, you continued about your day, going to class, watching as Flash made a bet with Peter that he couldn't build a stink bomb and get the entire school to evacuate.

He did.

And you were beyond annoyed.

"Did you really have to bet that?" You sighed, looking at your best friend who was grinning at Flash who looked pissed as hell.

Flash hadn't one a bet yet, and you knew it was driving him insane, he wanted to crush Peter with everything he had.

"Yes Y/N, I wasn't going to loose." Peter laughed, but stopped once seeing your face, knowing you were far from happy.

You let out an annoyed huff, turning on your heel as they started allowing students back in the building.

Maybe you should stay away from him the rest of the day.

And that's exactly what you did.

And Peter noticed, big time.

Every time he won a bet, he'd go and look for you so he could brag about how he beat Flash again, but found that you were nowhere to be seen, peaking his curiosity.

This went on for the rest of the day, even at lunch.

"Hey Ned, how did the math test go? Was it hard? Or was it easy?" You rambled on, Ned watching you with an amused smile, he was also your best friend.

He knew how important studies were to you, you wanted to get into a high college where you could actually put your knowledge to something life changing.

"Honestly, you'll do great, it wasn't that bad, some problems were ehh, but besides that you should be fine." Ned replied, taking a bite of his sandwich as you visibly relaxed.

"Alright good, because I-" You were cut off as Flash and Peter came walking over, in a heated argument, making you roll your eyes.

"There is no way you have won all of these bets and I've won nothing!" Flash shouted, making Peter smirk in glory, infuriating Flash even more.

"Not my fault you can't keep up." Peter replied, making Flash's blood boil even more, his eyes narrowing at Peter.

"Liz is having a party tonight, we will continue this there." Flash pointed at Peter who raised his eyebrows.

"Be there, or else." Flash threatened, making Peter bite his lip and nod, laughing as Flash stormed off.

"Can you believe him?" Peter motioned towards Flash, before glancing between you and Ned.

"-Uh, guys, what's up?" Peter hesitantly questioned, seeing as both you and Ned had blank looks on your faces.

"Peter, we know that you're in the lead and all, and that you're having a blast with all these bets, but it's just not our thing." Ned shrugged slightly, as you continued to pick at your food.

"Oh. I didn't know." Peter replied quietly, looking at Ned, giving him a silent apology, before looking at you, who refused to look away from your food.

Peter had noticed you'd been distant the entire day, and now it all made sense, each time he came up to you excitedly to brag about winning a bet, you could never relate and the more he did it the smaller it made you feel.

Lunch soon ended, and you were quick to grab your belongings and get out as fast as you could, avoiding Peter the best you could.

You knew it was wrong, but you just couldn't take it anymore, sure you were proud of him standing up to Flash and winning all the bets, but what was it to you?

You didn't have any other friends besides Peter, Ned, Michelle and occasionally Liz when she felt like hanging out with you.

Therefore, you could never relate to what pure victory and happiness was, the only time you felt slight happiness was when you got a good grade on a paper or test, proving your dreams could potentially be something in the future.

You went on the rest of the day, avoiding Peter if you saw him in class or the hallway, he knew what you were doing too, and he knew it was his fault he had pushed you away without meaning to.

Ned told him you'd cool off soon, but Peter wasn't so sure, he'd never seen you this upset before.

"Ned, I think I really hit something with her, she doesn't normally ignore me this long with I mess up." Peter spoke nervously, walking to their last class, one that you were also in.

"Okay, so lets say you did, what are you going to do to fix it?" Ned questioned, making Peter stop and think for a moment.

"I can try to talk to her?" He spoke aloud, more as a question than a statement, making Ned shake his head and walk into class.

You sat at your normal seat, glancing up when you saw them walk in, your eyes locking with Peter's before you broke and looked down at your paper.

You hated doing this, but for the moment it was for the best, at least that was what you were telling yourself.

The rest of the day went on, and the last bell finally rang, and you were free, you had gotten invited to Liz's party by Liz herself, shocking you a bit, but you agreed.

You had arrived a bit early to help set up, something you enjoyed since you rarely spent time with Liz anymore.

"Okay, Y/N, what's going on between you and Peter?" She broke the silence, pulling out red cups, as you stood there in shock.

"W-What do you mean?" You stammered, making her smile and laugh at your reaction.

"I mean it's clear you both have a thing for each other, but you both somehow don't seem to see it." She poured out some chips into a bowl as you brought out more cups, placing them on the counter.

"Peter and I are just friends." You tried to convince her, but the more you thought about it, were you trying to convince yourself too?

Liz saw your hesitation, making her smirk at you, causing you to blush slightly, maybe she was right?

Her house was finally all set up, and people soon poured in, music becoming louder, people dancing and laughing.

And then they walked in.

Ned had a hat on, which did look pretty good if you did say so yourself, and then there was Peter who was looking around anxiously.

You both soon made eye contact, neither one of you breaking the stare until Flash came over, causing Peter to look away.

You stood there stunned for a moment, looking at Ned wide-eyed as if saying what the hell just happened?

He gave a shrug in return, making you run your fingers through your hair frustrated, you truly hated having emotions sometimes.

You decided to go get a snack, and process the 'moment' you just had with Peter, watching your surroundings and cringing at how drunk some of your classmates were getting.

Who knew so many people thought getting wasted was fun, you never really understood drinking, you knew it fogged your brain up for some time and you could let loose and have fun, but there were so many more consequences that followed.

Exactly why you never once drank in your life, you couldn't afford to risk everything you worked so hard for to go straight into the toilet, literally.

You were deep in thought until you heard chanting coming from the other room, peaking your interest you wandered over, seeing Flash and Peter playing beer pong.

Must be another one of their bets you thought to yourself, but you then noticed Peter was loosing, and he was freaking out.

You stood there unsure of what to do, you knew you had been avoiding him all day because of this very reason, but there was no way in hell you'd let him loose to Flash.

You squeezed through the crowd of people, walking up next to Peter, startling him, causing Flash to laugh.

"Shut it would ya?" You snapped at Flash, causing everyone to 'ooh' and make snide remarks, as Flash simply smiled.

"Y/N, what are you doing?" Peter questioned, clearly surprised you were talking to him again.

"I'm being the hero this time." You smiled slightly, creating a small smile to form on his lips.

"I'm loosing pretty bad Y/N, there isn't really anything that can help." Peter sighed in defeat, but you just smiled, a twinkle in your eye.

"Peter, if you win, we can go on a date." You whispered into his ear, making his eyes widen and his knees go weak for a split second.

"A-Are you s-serious?" He gulped nervously, making you giggle slightly and nod in response.

"But you have to win, or else Flash gets to take me on that date." You teased, watching as his jaw tensed at the thought.

You then stood to the side, watching as the game continued, and out of nowhere, Peter started gaining on Flash, and soon enough Peter was in the lead, and last thing you knew Peter had won.

Flash stood there in furry, claiming that he had cheated, but everyone knew he was just being a sore loser.

You clapped your hands slowly, watching as Peter's eyes lit up at the sight of you.

"Congratulations, you did it." You smiled, watching as Peter played it off like it was nothing.

"I always knew you could." You mumbled, watching his cheeks turn a light shade of pink at your comment.

"I'm really sorry about today, I didn't mean to make you feel like you weren't good enough or not important, I-I was just trying to impress you." Peter admitted, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Really?" You smiled, biting your lip as you watched Peter smile and nod back at you.

"I've liked you for so long Y/N, and it feels so good finally telling you that." Peter sighed, grabbing your hands before pulling you into a hug.

"I like you too Peter." You smiled, running your hands up and down his back gently.

You both stood there for a few moments, just taking in the new information, and each other.

"I'm so glad I did all those bets." Peter laughed, making you laugh along with him, he truly was the dorkiest person you knew.

You both eventually pulled away, goofy grins on both of your faces as if everyone else around you didn't matter.

"So, how about that date?"

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: The Swiftest Course (Ao3) (Chapter 6/8)

Fandom: Flash, DC’s Legends Pairing: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart/Mick Rory, Eddie Thawne/Iris West Summary:

Barry of Allen is on his way to the capital of Tortall for the final part of his knight training, hiding a secret that could threaten his career there. He’s determined to keep his head down and not get into trouble.

He isn’t expecting to meet Len, Corus’ Rogue, or his right-hand man, Mick. Or meet Princess Iris and his new friends, Cisco and Caitlin.

He certainly wasn’t expecting to be roped into adventure.

(It’s the Gods’ fault, really.)

A/N: For joyous-lee, who purchased one of my stories for the FandomTrumpsHate event. She requested a Tortall AU, with Barry as Alanna. Thank you so much for your patience, and I hope you enjoy it!

——————————————————————————————–

Cisco and Caitlin end up being...totally fine with the whole mage thing.

"A mage? Really?" Caitlin says. "That's really interesting - have you given any thought to combining your abilities the way they used to in Good King Jonathan and Queen Thayet's day?"

"Of course you'd focus on the historical significance," Cisco says, rolling his eyes. "Seriously, Bar, you're a speedster mage? How could you not tell us that we could've all gotten our chores done in under ten minutes?"

"Because I'm not going to do your chores for you?" Barry suggests, smiling.

Cisco clutches at his heart dramatically. "I've been wronged!"

Barry sticks out his tongue.

Caitlin rolls her eyes and says "Boys!" and that's the end of it.

"So, only one question," Caitlin says. "Why now?"

"What do you mean?" Cisco asks her.

"Barry clearly had a reason for telling us now," she says. "I don't think it's coincidence that we're dealing with the Sweating Sickness and Barry is one of the few unaffected mages."

"It's not," Barry says, and tells them the rest: running through the streets to search for the caster's station, Faithful distracting him, the dead street, Malady, even Eddie's explanation about string magic.

Cisco and Caitlin exchange looks. "The hooded man?" he asks.

"The hooded man," she confirms.

Barry frowns at them, bewildered; his only consolation is that Iris looks just as lost. "What's that?"

"It's from the swamp-lands," Cisco explains. "From where Malady runs most free. They've invented an outfit that's called the hooded man - a special type of waxed clothing designed to keep out any liquid and most gases. People wear it all over to block any route for disease to come to you. My family's been working on importing it to try to make an improved rain gear, but there ought to be enough to make you a proper hooded man outfit."

"My mother sent me one of the masks to study," Caitlin adds. "It's a long, curved beak, with magic herbs and spells carved alongside the beak to permit only good air through. It's how you breathe in the suit."

"And you think that'll protect me?"

"The results until now have been pretty good," Caitlin says. "It's the best we've got."

The costume of the hooded man is intimidating, to say the least. It takes less than two days for Cisco to put together the outfit - boots and pants and coat and cloak, as many layers as a man going out to the mountains in winter - and for Caitlin to get the mask, which as she'd explained was a long, sinister-looking creation with bulbous black glass eyes and no gap for a mouth.

"I'm going to scare everybody I see," Barry says flatly. "You couldn't find a color other than red and yellow?"

"This is it," Caitlin says. "Unless you'd like to try your luck without it."

"Don't even think about it," Len says, here on one of his infrequent visits. He reaches out and rubs the heavy cloth between his fingers. "This is the good stuff, Barry - I've seen blood-cloth less resistant than this."

Caitlin nods, but Iris frowns. "Blood-cloth?"

"Butchers and surgeons wear it to repel blood that splashes onto their clothing," Caitlin explains.

"Not just those professions," Len murmurs with a smirk that fades as he looks at Barry. "I hate that it's gotta be you."

"I'm the only mage around who missed the initial rounds of infection," Barry replies with a sigh. He wishes it didn't have to be him, too. But he was going to be a knight, assuming any of them survived to graduation and the Chamber of the Ordeal, and risking his life for the good of many was something he'd have to get used to. It's quite literally part of the job.

That being said, Barry was secretly glad that Len, for all his slight touch of Sight, couldn't do it. He'd rather risk himself, any time.

"I've written letters to my parents," he tells his friends. "If I don't - well. Make sure they get them."

"I won't," Iris says. She's fighting back tears; Caitlin isn't even bothering with that much restraint. "Because you'll come back just fine."

"Iris."

"Oh, fine. If something happens, fine."

"Thank you."

"When you untie the string, don't let go," Len says.

They all turn to look at him.

"Follow it back to where it came from," he suggests.

Cisco nods thoughtfully. "The caster's base."

"We could find evidence of who it is," Caitlin adds.

"Or what else they've been up to," Iris murmurs, exchanging significant looks with Barry and Len.

Barry hugs them all, kisses Len twice - once extra for Mick, who wouldn't have appreciated a letter - and goes.

Once he's at city center, he holds up Faithful. "Go on," he says, his voice muffled by the mask.

Faithful squeaks and goes.

It's another dead street. Barry abruptly suspects, seeing Malady limp down the way, that Malady is maliciously retreading its steps, a small act of defiance against the orders it has been forced to follow.

Barry puts Faithful back inside his pocket in a flash of light, reaching all the way inside his heavy, hot layering. Then he adjusts his mask and goes to meet a Sorrow.

Malady stops and hisses at the sight of him. It's appearance is disgusting - a gigantic, disgusting rat, so swollen with disease that it seems almost ready to burst with it, like rotten fruit. Barry has to fight back a gag - only the perfumed herbs in his mask's beak, chosen for their nausea-fighting properties and spelled to be even stronger, keep his gorge from rising.

"I don't want to fight you," he says, vibrating extra fast in his nervousness. The vibrations in the mask muffles his voice, making it deeper, almost eerily so. "I want to unbind you."

Malady looks suspicious.

"I mean, yes, I'd like you to leave after that, but I'm being realistic here."

Malady huffs what almost seems like a laugh at that, suspicious glare fading, and it bows its head.

Swallowing, Barry kneels beside it and starts unwrapping the string as fast as he can.

It's very nearly not fast enough.

Even his slick suit isn't enough to repel the disintegration of the string that inches up the line as Barry hurries to loop it around Malady's head. Blackness and rot, stinking of putrid flesh, every loop Barry undoes is consumed, and it crawls up toward where his hands are and Barry is abruptly certain that if that decay touches him he will die, suit or no suit.

"How did he get this on?" Barry hisses, eyes fixed on the approaching decay as he pulls yet another loop off. He can barely do it in time, and he's a speedster mage! It seems endless, loop after loop after loop - the decay coming for him - his speed starting to falter, not enough practice after all his years of hiding it - him biting his lip near to bleeding because he can’t slow down - can't die - he has to get back to Len, to Mick, to his friends -

And then, suddenly, it's done.

Barry's holding the end of a long string, clasped tightly in his fingers, and the decayed part drops off only to vanish into the paved road, where all manner of bugs skitter out and away, plague-carriers every one.

Malady raises its head and regards Barry.

Barry, frozen, stares back.

Malady nods, head bowed low for just a moment, and then vanishes.

Barry exhales.

He really hopes they're right that this will stop the Sickness.

The string abruptly pulls tight, trying to escape his grasp, but Barry instinctively looped it around his own hand and is yanked up to his feet instead. It pulls painfully tight. He won’t be able to hold it for very long.

Barry turns in the direction the string is coming from and runs.

Whoever sent this Sickness upon Barry's city is going to pay.

Barry will make sure of it.

--

The string leads to the palace.

It tries to lose him, going through closed doors and looping back on itself, but Barry's high on the adrenaline of terror and the rush of rage and he's running faster than he ever did before, and suddenly he sees everything broken down into frozen dots, like a stylized painting, and he can leap through doors made of those dots with ease.

He's not sure how he's doing it, but he has to find the caster of this terrible spell. If he doesn't, they might try again. He can't let them try again.

The death toll of the Sickness has already been far too high.

And if this is Eobard or his ally, Darkh, that just makes it worse. Bespelling the royal family, subverting them, casting a sickness on them - Iris' mother and brother are bedridden, her father at their bedside - Iris herself spared only because she was away and stays away -

Caitlin had quietly suggested to Barry that since Iris survived their adventure in Gorilla City and helped broker a peace regardless of her young age, making her an impromptu hero to most of the country, the caster of the Sickness might have decided to keep her alive to marry her for legitimacy.

If it's Eobard, "nice" Eobard, then without the intervention of the secretive gorillas of the Hidden City, Iris wouldn't have realized the trap until her family was dead and her marriage announced.

Barry grinds his teeth and follows the string.

It leads to -

Barry snarls in anger.

Whatever casting device was used, it's hidden in Iris' quarters.

Her royal quarters, not the knight's barracks which she insisted on sharing with her classmates. She probably hasn't been back there for any longer than a brief moment to change into royal clothing in months, if not longer.

If Eobard's dares about the Hidden City had led to her death, her quarters would have been locked up in mourning, and no one would have ever found the casting.

Clever, if diabolical.

The string leads straight to some sort of magic-looking design that vaguely resembles the carvings on the great gate that Roger of Conté tried to use to send Tortall into the realms of Chaos all those years ago, albeit one made of string. Even as Barry arrives, the string pulls out of his hand and winds itself furiously, destroying the design before disappearing in a puff of foul yellow smoke.

Not a trace left. Of course.

But next to it is another working - a basket, this time, filled with dolls, covered by a cloth.

Barry's heard of that particular spell of Roger of Conté's, too.

Everyone has; you can't grow up in Tortall and not hear all the stories of Alanna the Lioness, her duel with Roger, and the subsequent revelation of her gender before all the court.

It’s a bewitching spell, just the same as the one that Roger of Conté used to hide his perfidy from the court until Alanna unmasked him.

But what to do about it?

He hears footsteps.

Someone is coming to this room. It's not Iris, Barry knows that much; she’s still in the camp and unable to enter the city. So it must be the caster of the spell.

Barry pulls his hooded beak down to make sure it covers his face and grabs the basket.

The door opens.

Thawne Eobard. Just as they'd all known.

And he looks angry, too.

Behind him - Damien Darkh, the King’s Mage, the one they'd all suspected, and Malcolm Lord Merlyn, the head of the elite knights' squad. Who they hadn't suspected at all.

Oh, shit, Barry thinks, and runs out. Luckily Eobard and his allies are a bit back from the doorway, enabling Barry to duck around them; all Barry needs is some clear space and he'll be free, no one will be able to catch him once he's at top speed.

Or so he thinks, right up until there's a crackle of lightning and suddenly there's someone else running right behind him.

It's Thawne Eobard.

He isn't just a mage-worker. He's a speedster mage!

Barry grits his teeth and runs faster, twisting and veering and dodging, but Eobard is catching up to him. He's smirking, too - he knows he's faster, Barry knows he's faster, and there's nothing Barry can do about how Eobard inexorably strides behind him, calm where Barry is already gasping for air, contemptuously demonstrating his mastery of their mutual art.

Just as Barry thinks he can run no further, just as Eobard reaches out to grasp the back of Barry's hood to yank him back, there's a brilliant flare of white light that hits Eobard dead on and knocks him back.

Cold white light.

Barry’s seen that light before, back in Gorilla City.

Len!

Len is standing outside of the Dancing Dove, his crossbow of ice held up to aim, the smirk on his face no less arrogant than Eobard's but far less cruel - and far more beloved.

Barry uses the opportunity to zip off behind the next building, but he slows, not wanting to leave Len alone.

It occurs to him a second later, seeing Eobard curse, that it also deprives Eobard of his trail of lightning.

And then he turns on Len, his face vibrating too fast to be recognizable to anyone but another speedster mage, and says, "You robbed me of my quarry."

His voice is distorted, echoing in itself. It's frightening even to Barry, who can do the same, but Len is unmoved and unafraid.

"If you can be robbed so easily," he drawls, "you don't deserve to keep it. Welcome to the streets of Corus – and the realm of the Rogue."

"The Rogue," Eobard says thoughtfully. He holds up a hand and begins to vibrate so fast that it hums in the air like a mage-powered saw. "Tell me, is it true that when I shred your heart in my hand, I become the Rogue after you."

Len sneers. "Never," he says.

"Perhaps we should test that."

Len fires his crossbow, but Eobard is already dodging, appearing right in front of Len, and his hand is moving so fast - Barry can't go to Len, would never be able to stop Eobard in time, even if he didn't hold the future of the realm he's sworn to defend in his hands -

"Goodbye, Rogue," Eobard says.

But before he can move, there's another flash of light.

But not cold, oh no.

Hot.

Where Eobard was merely knocked back by Len's ice, shaking it off after a few moments, Mick's crossbow of flame - and it is Mick, standing off to the side, grinning broadly and savagely the way he always does when there's violence afoot, familiar and beloved to Barry's eyes - makes Eobard shriek in agony and dash back a few steps to avoid it.

Mick drives him back, and back, and back, until Eobard shouts some small bit of furious resistance, the words drowned out by the roar of the flames, but then Len steps forward and raises up his crossbow of ice and Eobard turns tail and flees back to the palace.

Mick pulls back his weapon, though Len keeps his out, a wary eye out on the street.

"Mick!" Barry calls, forgetting discretion now that Eobard is gone. "You're back!"

"I told you I wouldn't be long," Mick says gruffly.

"You said no such thing," Len snarks, but Barry sees the pleasure on his face and knows that Mick hasn't been back long at all. If he had been, Len would've mastered any trace of emotion by now.

Or maybe not, since it's Mick.

Barry reaches for Mick, wanting to embrace him, to kiss him -

"Barry!" Len snaps.

Barry freezes.

"Take that basket to Iris," Len says. "Decontaminate yourself. And only then come meet us at the usual place."

Oh, right. Malady, the race, the basket of dolls.

Barry's still wearing the hooded man's beaked mask!

Awkward.

"I'll be back," he promises, and runs.

His feet feel lighter than air.

--

Sadly, Barry ends up bringing Mick and Len and Eddie to the camp in a dizzying set of deliveries instead, because the work of saving the country trumps Barry's desire to greet his returned lover in person.

Barry sometimes wishes it didn't, but he knows his duty to his country.

"So Thawne Eobard is a speedster mage," Iris says, tapping her lip with a finger. "He sent the Sickness and bespelled - a lot of people."

"Unmasking the basket should break the spell," Barry says. "Per legend."

"We need to reveal him sooner rather than later," Len says. "He knows he's lost it; he may try another spell."

"You can't conflict spells like that," Iris says. "As long as this spell is still working, he can't cast another on the same people."

"Do you think he has Merlyn under such a spell?" Cisco asks. They've shown him and Caitlin the basket; it was enough to break the spell on them, little dolls dissolving inside of the cloth.

Now that they've had time to study it, it is what Iris proclaimed to be ingenious - based on Roger of Conté's original, of course, but improved. There is one main doll - Thawne Eobard – which is palm sized, and two others - Darkh and Merlyn - about two-thirds that size, and the rest are the size of pawns. And so, by the laws of magical symbolic transfer, they are pawns, willing pawns, to the games of Eobard and his allies.

"I don't think so," Iris says gently. "Eobard came for the first time four years ago - and that's when Merlyn first got permission to make his squads. Squads of the best of the best of our knights, bound together in secrecy and brotherhood, and sworn to serve his every order, no matter how unusual. They're not exactly what knights have traditionally been, you know."

Cisco sighs. "You're right," he says wistfully. "But it was something nice to aspire to."

"Darkh ascended to the position of the King’s Mage around the same time, didn't he?" Barry asks, thinking of his mother's letters.

"Shortly thereafter," Iris confirms.

"He comes to the north, sometimes," Caitlin says quietly. "There are Libraries there, in the City of the Gods; he was too impatient to go through the proper procedures before reading them, and they denied him access. But then he became the King’s Mage, and they couldn't deny him any longer even if he didn't follow procedure..."

"Four years," Eddie whispers. "That's before -" His voice fails him.

"Before what?" Iris asks him, automatically reaching for him and grasping his hand in hers.

"Before the massacre of the old Thawnes, of course," Len drawls. "Eobard needed allies in Tortall that would help him keep his new-found throne, and access to the King in order to quash any investigation."

"Of course," Iris says, though she looks a little puzzled. "That makes sense."

"It's time," Mick says.

"Time for what?" Barry asks, but Mick ignores him. He's looking at Eddie.

"Time to tell everyone what we already know," Len says. "Go on, Eddie."

Eddie bites his lip and ducks his head.

"You tell them," Len says mildly. "Or we will."

"You," Eddie says. He pulls his hand gently away from Iris. "I don't know how you figured it out, but - please."

"What is it?" Iris asks, looking between them, worry plain on her face. “Tell me.”

Len gestures at Eddie. "Iris, Princess of Tortall, allow me to introduce you to Thawne Edward, youngest son of the family that was slaughtered."

There's a moment of utter shock and silence.

Then -

"Really?!" Iris yelps.

"I didn't mean to mislead you, Iris," Eddie says miserably. "There just never seemed to be a good time to bring it up, and at any rate I had realized when I arrived that Tortall wasn't investigating as I'd hoped they were, so I'm disinherited anyway -"

"Not disinherited," Caitlin says. "Eddie, you're the rightful heir!"

"Well," Eddie says. "Not quite. My older brother survived, too. He's the heir."

"That's great!" Iris says.

He goggles at her. "It - is?"

"Not you lying to me by omission," Iris says briskly. "We'll talk about you making that up to me later. But the presence of a true-born Thawne will mean that Eobard's own men will not back him, not if we get you in front of him, and that will reduce the threat of war."

"Never did understand why a foreign leader was allowed to bring so many men," Cisco mutters. "Practically an army camped outside Corus' gates."

"An army we no longer have to worry about," Iris says. "More importantly, that means Eddie and I can marry, and not even my father will be able to object that it's not a properly strategic match."

"You - you'd still want to?" Eddie whispers. His eyes are wide and he looks as though all of his dreams had come true right when he had expected them to die forever. "You'll still take me?"

"I would've married you when you were still the Rogue's pawnshop owner," Iris declares. "This just makes it easier, that's all."

They all politely turn away for a moment to let the couple kiss passionately.

After a few moments, Iris clears her throat. "Um," she says. "Well, that's the problem of Eobard's army cleared up."

Everyone turns back. Most of them are smirking, though Len's nose is still scrunched up in disgust at the public display of affection. He's a private man.

“We still have to deal with Merlyn’s men,” Barry says, trying to hide his grin. “And Darkh. And Eobard!”

“Darkh especially,” Caitlin says, biting her lower lip. “We’re knights, and he’s the King’s Mage. I mean, we could probably gather up all the knights that aren’t sworn to Merlyn – we have the advantage of numbers, at least, since he insisted on having small, elite squads – but Darkh? Even if Barry is a speedster mage, all of his attention will have to go against Thawne Eo– against Eobard, I mean. None of us are mages, and even if we could collect the ones in Corus to help us, they’re all still sick and half-powered because of the Sickness.”

"Iris can handle Darkh," Mick says.

Iris smiles, though it's shaky. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mick. But I'm not a mage, either. The line of Conté used to be powerful mages, but the only thing left nowadays is the ability to use the Dominion Jewel. I can't help you."

"Sure you can," he replies.

"To go up against the top mage in the realm?" Caitlin says doubtfully.

"Sorry, Mick, it really does seem like something we need a mage for," Cisco agrees. "Unless you have one in your pocket or something."

"That ain't what I got in my pocket," Mick says smugly, and pulls out a leather wrapped parcel out of said pocket.

"If I'd known we were distributing gifts, I would've worn something nicer," Len drawls.

"This is what I went to get," Mick says, taking no offense at Len’s snark. He finishes unwrapping it.

It's - a jewel?

Big and purple and -

"Oh Goddess," Iris gasps. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Depends on what you think it is," Len says, looking a touch confused by the presence of the shiny object Mick is brandishing like it means something. "I'm gonna guess your first thought wasn't about its resale value..."

Sadly, that had been Barry's first thought too. His lovers were clearly a bad influence on him.

"It has no resale value, you thief!" Iris exclaims. "That's the Dominion Jewel!"

And then everyone is talking all at once, louder and louder until Len abruptly whistles long and shrill, deafening everyone around him.

"Ain't sure about the rest of you," he says, glaring. "But where I'm from we conduct our secret meetings quietly."

Everyone looks down and mumbles apologies. Len has a very effective disappointed look.

"Now, one at a time."

"Wasn't the Jewel lost?" Barry jumps in first. Speed powers were meant for exploiting, after all.

"Yep," Mick replies.

"But, like, really lost," Cisco says. "Not 'stuck up a mountain with a grumpy elemental' lost, more like 'threw itself in a volcano to punish Tortall's rulers for their overreach' sort of lost."

"Yep," Mick replies.

"Big, nasty, still-active volcano," Cisco adds.

"Yep."

"The sort with fiery lava in the -"

"What Cisco is trying to say," Caitlin interrupts, "is how? How did you find it?"

Mick shrugs. "I went to the volcano."

"What, and it was just lying there and nobody noticed?" Cisco says skeptically.

Len, however, is frowning. "Mick," he says, his voice perfectly smooth and even in the way it is when something is actually upsetting him. "Are you telling me you went inside the volcano?"

"I had to," Mick says apologetically. "S'where the Jewel was, and we needed the Jewel to fight the big bosses, and if we didn't beat them, bad things would happen. World was going to end, boss."

"You went inside a volcano," Len says stiffly. "No wonder you didn't tell me where you were going."

Barry winces. That tone does not speak well of Len's mood right now. From the look on Mick's face, he knows it, too.

"Len," Iris says. "Stop worrying retroactively when it'll do no one any good. He's alive, he's fine - that's what's important."

Len grudgingly nods.

Mick looks relieved.

"Uh, guys?" Cisco says. "No offense for breaking up the feelings moment but - how exactly did he survive? Kind of a key question here. The whole reason the Dominion Jewel picked a volcano to create and jump into is because the Gods can't really empower people to be flame-resistant. Well, maybe against magic flame, but not regular flame. None of the Gods can do that, except maybe the Black God."

"I ain't the Black God's get," Mick grumbles when they all turn to look at him. "Mom, not dad, remember?"

"But then - how?"

Mick looks embarrassed. "Apparently my mom's the fire. Guess that's one reason why the firebug fits came on me so early. And why I see useful things in the fire."

"The fire," Barry says blankly. There's no goddess of flames, not unless - "Mick, your mother was Mother Flame?! The mother of the Gods?!"

"You're a god?!" Cisco yelps.

"No!" Mick says. "Demi-god! My dad was a human - also prone to firebug fits, apparently - not a metaphysical concept!"

"You always did have to be special," Len drawls, but the ice in his tone is subsiding to more normal levels out of sheer amusement.

"Does that mean you're actually omniscient?" Iris asks.

"Wait, omniscient? How's that?" Cisco asks.

"Kinda?" Mick replies, shrugging helplessly. "I got access to all the info, it just - I only got a human brain to sort it all through. S'why I'm so slow, sometimes. Even info I learn the human way just gets lost in the mess."

"Wow," Caitlin says, looking around the group to make sure that they’re being serious. "Can we -"

"Let's focus on defeating the bad guys," Len cuts in. "Yeah? Iris, can you use the Jewel?"

"I should be able to," Iris replies. "As I said, that’s the only thing we can do, the line of Jonathan and Thayet – the only remaining mage ability we have is the ability to use the Jewel. I mean, I've never practiced - for obvious reasons - but...yeah. I think so."

"So we have Eddie to talk down the Bergen army," Len says. "Cisco and Caitlin to gather up good knights to fight Merlyn's knights. Barry and me to hold off Eobard - and that leaves Mick and Iris to fight off Darkh."

"I don't know if I can beat Eobard," Barry confesses. "He's faster than me, more experienced, everything."

Everyone else looks pretty ill at the scope of what they're up against, too.

Len rolls his eyes. "Come on now," he says briskly. "Have I ever gone after anything I wanted - really wanted, shut up, Mick - without a plan made to succeed?"

Everyone stops looking sick and starts smiling.

After all, every one of them has had an opportunity to see Len's planning skills at work.

"Okay," Len says, satisfied smirk stretching across his face. "So here's what we're going to do -"