#S&B Chapter 9 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

red-riot-unbreakable-heart · 16 days ago

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Shoto Todoroki x Reader | First Kiss ❄️🔥💋 PART 9

Previous Chapter: Part 8 | Next Chapter: Part 10 Coming Soon!

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Ship: Shoto Todoroki x Fem Reader! 💋

Genre: Fluff, Romance, S*xual Tension, Smut

🚫🔞THIS IS AN ADULT BLOG CONTAINING EXPLICIT CONTENT. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, A18+ ONLY.🔞🚫

CW: MDNI!, A18+, kissing, romance, sexual tension, spicy scenes

Ten minutes later, you rejoin the party feeling refreshed. It seems that you haven’t missed much in the half hour that you were gone – everyone is munching on sweets and chatting animatedly. The vibe is happy and your peers are still buzzing with delight from the spin the bottle game.

You cruise through the common area where classmates are lounging with friends on the couches and across the floor. You see a few couples necking in the corners, and one in particular catches your eye. Tucked under the window towards the back are Hitoshi Shinsou and Nieto Monoma, locked in an amorous embrace.

Hitoshi is sitting with his back against the wall, Monoma in his lap. They’re making out lazily, blissed out and wrapped up in their own world. The purple haired hero has one hand at the nape of Monoma’s neck, the other creeping up under the hem of his shirt. Nieto has his hands cupping Shinsou’s delicate face. The blonde’s eyes glued shut as he presses his mouth to Hitoshi’s lips again and again and again. It looks as if he can’t believe his luck – he kisses Hitoshi as if they’re locked in a dream and he might wake up at any moment.

You smile quietly; glad to see that the night is going well in the romance department for others aside from you. With a start, you think of Mina and scan the crowd in search of a pink head of hair. You don’t see her on any of the couches or in the hallway. Instead, you find Toru in the kitchen chatting with Tsu and Ochaco, still giggling over her kiss with Oiiro.

“Y/N!” She squeals as she grabs your arm and pulls you into the little group of girls. “Did you see it happen? Oh my GOD wasn’t it romantic!?” She gushes. You grin and nod as she rates the softness of Ojiro’s lips (a solid 8 out of 10) and wonders how defined his abs are under his simple grey t-shirt (since the guy spends most of his off time training in a dojo, you all guess that his abs are likely a 10 out of 10).

Someone passes you a slice of cake on a neat blue All Might plate. You suspect that Midoriya was tasked with the party supply-shopping list. You take a look around the kitchen and sure enough…All Might branded party wear as far as the eye can see. Your teacher’s beefy figure adorns every paper cup, napkin and plate within a ten-foot radius. Note to self – for the next party, put someone cool in charge of party supplies (Jirou is the obvious future choice).

As you munch on the cake and listen to Toru analyze Ojiro’s body language during their kiss, you glance around the rest of the room. Members of Classes A and B are chilling around the space chatting and laughing. It looks like this party will go well into the night. You’re proud of all that you’ve accomplished with your friends – your dream party has finally gotten off the ground! Then you remember why you were scouting out the kitchen in the first place.

You interrupt Toru’s gushing. “Have you seen Mina?”

Toru turns to you, her invisible hands gesturing towards the hallway. “She went off with Kirishima.” She says slyly. “I wonder what they’re up to…I bet it’s more kissing.” She makes a bunch of smoochy noises and Ochaco and Tsu laugh good-naturedly.

“It’s true – we saw them walk off a half hour ago, I think they were going for a walk along the grounds, ribbit.” Tsu says in her usual warbley tone.

“Thanks guys – I’m gonna go look for her!” You call over your shoulder as you move swiftly towards the exit.

As you walk back into the common room, a familiar flash of red and white catches your eye. You see Shoto standing in the corner chatting with Tokoyami and Midoriya. He’s wearing a freshly laundered set of black joggers with a white t-shirt. The joggers fit his trim frame so well you almost salivate at the way they hang off his hips. He feels your gaze and glances your way, and your eyes lock. For a moment, the air between you feels like pure heat. You suck in a slow breath, willing your pussy to chill the fuck out for a minute – you need to go check on your friend! You shoot Shoto a grin before breezing out into the hall and towards Mina’s room. You feel the heat of his eyes on your back as you leave, sending goose bumps up your spine. You hope the other guys don’t notice the way he’s watching your ass as you turn the corner.

Mina’s dorm room is on the fourth floor, so you need to jog up a few flights of stairs to get to her. When you finally knock on her colorful, magnet-covered door, you get no response.

“Mina, it’s me! Open up!” You pound a little harder on the door with your fist. You hear a light sniffle come from the other side of the wall. “I know you’re in there!”

Finally, after a few minutes of begging and cajoling, Mina opens up the door to pull you inside. She looks a mess – tear-streaked makeup runs down her cheeks and there are mascara stains on her cute crop top. Her hair is rumpled and her dark eyes aren’t as bright as usual.

“Mina – are you alright!?” You’re shocked at her disheveled appearance. Mina has always been the type of person who stays upbeat no matter the circumstance. You’ve seen her fight villains and fail math tests and still keep the good vibes going. She’s never looked so utterly defeated.

Your friend locks the door behind you and sinks into a fuzzy pink beanbag near her desk. “I think I messed up big time, Y/N.” She chokes out as she starts to cry. Thinking quickly, you grab a tissue box off of her bedside table and toss a few tissues in her direction. She catches them gratefully and blows her nose thickly into one of the squares.

You pretend you have no idea what happened. How would you even explain to her that you overheard her argument with Kirishima while you were holed up in a utility closet with Shoto? No way are you ready to have that conversation with your friend. You aren’t ready to talk about your whole Shoto situation with anyone. Maybe someday, but not right now. You decide the best thing to do is to play dumb.

“What do you mean?”

“Kirishima…he’s r-really pissed at me. I shouldn’t have pulled a stunt and kissed him like that. It’s not what he w-w-wanted!” She stifles a sob with her hand. “I think I crossed a major boundary with him and fucked up absolutely everything.”

You pat her back as she cries and offer her another tissue. She gratefully accepts as you mull over what you want to say to her. “I’m sure that everything is fine! You know Kirishima! He’s a ball of sunshine I’m sure he’s already over it. How could he be mad – he got to kiss the coolest girl in our year!” You try to sound upbeat. You’re fairly certain that after Kirishima cools down he’ll get over this and want to reconcile with Mina. Holding a grudge just isn’t in his nature.

“You don’t get it Y/N – you didn’t see his face when we were talking. He looked devastated.” She blows her nose again. “He wanted his first kiss – our first kiss – to be special. And I blew it by making a big scene, as per usual.” She wipes at her eyes pathetically. “I don’t think there’s a way to come back from this.”

You wrap your arm around Mina, letting her cry for a few minutes before you propose a solution. “I think that what Kirishima needs is some time alone to process his feelings. Once he’s ready – I think you give him a sincere apology. Tell him you understand where he’s coming from, and you should have taken his feelings into consideration. Don’t be flirty about it, just be honest. And then if he accepts your apology, you ask for a do-over.”

“A do-over?” Mina asks, mascara still smudged across her bright pink cheeks.

“A do-over. Ask him for every single detail of what he envisioned for your first kiss together. Then, you bring it to life for him. You plan the perfect first do-over kiss and you make it the most romantic, manly kiss he could ever dream of. Do everything exactly the way he wants. Tell him the first kiss was a fluke since everyone was watching – tell him that the kiss that matters is the one that only the two of you know about.”

Mina is silent for a moment as she contemplates this, fat tears still rolling down her bright cheeks.

“Oh wow. You’re good.” Mina says in disbelief, wiping her eyes with the heels of her hands. “That might actually work!?” She peers up at you as if seeing you for the first time. “Are you some kind of secret romance expert?”

You laugh loudly at this. “No way! Have you ever known me to get involved with romance? All I got out of spin the bottle was a kiss on the cheek.” You lie, hoping to cover your butt. You start to worry that all of these lies are going to catch up to you soon. If your friends find out about you and Shoto…they are going to be royally pissed off.

“I don’t know…” Mina says suspiciously. “There’s been something off about you lately.”

“W-what?” Oh crap.

“Yeah – ever since you started texting with Honenuki you’ve been a little flustered. You must really like him.” She waggles her eyebrows, already coming back to her usual teasing self. You sigh, exasperated. You take a measured breath, thinking through what you’re about to say.

“Listen, Mina. If I tell you something private – will you clean yourself up and get back to having fun at the party?” You say slowly, trying to keep your face arranged in a serious expression.

Mina practically hits the ceiling she jumps up off of the beanbag chair so fast.

“Absolutely!! What juicy secrets have you been keeping from me, girl!?”

“Nothing juicy! It’s just that…I don’t like Honenuki that way. Sure, he’s very sweet and friendly and he’s kinda cute – but I’m not interested in him like that. Actually…I have a crush on someone in the hero course. Someone else. But that’s all that you’re getting out of me right now!” You wave your hands dismissively. You’ve told her all she needs to know for now. You can’t reveal anything about Shoto just yet – not until you both are on the same page about other people knowing.

Mina squeals something unintelligible and hops around you. “A crush! A crush! A crush! We should make vision boards about this!” You laugh at her enthusiasm, marveling at the way nothing can keep Mina down for long. You’ll tell her about Shoto eventually. You’ll have to – she and Toru are your best friends in the world. How could you keep such a massive secret from them!?

Mina is a good friend. Despite her overenthusiastic approach to, well, everything, she respects your wish not to divulge any additional information about your crush. You refocus back to Mina’s needs. You help Mina clean herself up – she removes her runny makeup with a washcloth and reapplies a fresh coat of mascara to her lashes. Once she dawns a final swipe of cherry lip smackers, you know she’s mostly back to normal.

“You ready to get back out there?” You ask her, checking your own reflection in the mirror and making sure your hair isn’t rumbled from your romp in the closet with Shoto.

She looks at you through the reflection of the mirror and makes a simpering face. “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to.”

You both laugh. “But yeah – I’m ready. Let’s get back to it. I’m dying to see how Hitoshi is acting around Neito now that they’ve publically sucked face.” She says enthusiastically. You open the door and usher her through.

“Oh just you wait.” You say conspiratorially, a giggle rising up in your throat. “Hitoshi can’t keep his hands off of Neito. He’s like an octopus.”

“No. Fuckin’. Way.” Mina says, breathless. “I love it when a ship works out.”

“Yeah Monoma is so lucky!” You close her dorm door behind you. “Wow, what a night!” The lock clicks into place and you start to make your way down the hall, following in Mina’s springy footsteps. “This party business is truly exhausting.”

“Yeah…I think we’ve done enough spin the bottle for one night.” She concedes, fluffing up her hair as the two of you stroll down the hallway and back towards the common area.

“Oh! Speaking of which, I have a question for you.” You reach out and grab her arm to pull her back lightly. She comes to a stop and looks back at you, her dark eyes sparkling curiously in the fluorescent hall light.

“What’s up?”

“How did you rig ‘Spin The Bottle’ to ensure that all of your ships had to kiss? And don’t lie to me, I know you set the whole thing up somehow. Shinsou and Monoma. Toru and Ojiro. Kaminari and Jirou. You and Kirishima and all the rest – there’s no possible way that those match ups all happened by chance.” You give her an appraising look, still not comprehending how she pulled the whole thing off.

Mina grins, eyes glinting. “Oh, that. Yeah, you got me. So listen to this - you know that girl I invited from the General Studies Course? The one who kissed Shoto?”

You nod, feeling a bit of a sting in your heart as you recall the sweet little kiss Shoto bestowed on the pretty General Studies girl.

“Well…” Mina continues, really drawing out the reveal. “Her quirk is light telekinesis. She can control inanimate objects that weigh a few pounds. Not a super heroic quirk, but a pretty useful power when it comes down to it. She was the one making sure that the bottle landed on the right person each time. I gave her a list of all of the potential Spin The Bottle pairings I wanted to make happen, and she made sure every single one came to fruition. Any time someone spun the bottle, she used her quirk to have it land on specific people.”

Your jaw drops. The two of you stare at each other for a moment – Mina preening while you stand in stunned silence.

“Oh my goodness. Mina…that’s insane. Genius, but insane. How did you even think of this? How did you meet her? And why didn’t you tell me and Toru!?” So many questions are swirling around your head. Usually the three of you share everything. Mina is a notorious gossip – so how did she manage to pull this off without letting any info slip to you and Toru? It looks like you’re not the only friend in this group with secrets

“Okay, don’t be mad.” Mina holds up her hands as if in surrender. She can see your brain working overtime to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. “I had to keep it a secret – she didn’t want anyone else to know she was involved beforehand and run the risk of getting in trouble if we got caught during the planning stages of the party. Apparently Fujita is in talks for a prestigious internship program and she’s trying to be extra careful so that she doesn’t jeopardize her chance to get chosen. In fact, I think she dipped as soon as the game was done.”

“As for how I met her…well, remember how I’ve been working on a new Ultimate Move lately? A few weeks ago, I realized that I needed better Support Items in order to execute the new move. I really wanted a more supportive sneaker that would allow me to shoot out acid and glide around, you know? So I went to the Support workshop looking for some help and that’s where I met her. We immediately hit it off – she’s super friendly and cool! She was doing some research on how to market Support gear and was asking Hatsume some questions about her work. We all started chatting about our quirks and stuff pretty naturally…and then the three of us started saying hello in the hallways and becoming friendlier. I was thinking about our Spin The Bottle plan during class one day, and wondering how on Earth I would make sure that I got to kiss Kirishima and his gorgeous face. And the idea just came to me. I asked her a few days later and she said she’d do it, but for a price.” Mina raises her eyebrows and looks at you expectantly, waiting for you to piece things together.

“She wanted a kiss from Shoto.” You breathe out.

“Bingo!” Mina says, pointing your way. She starts to walk down the hall again, pulling you along with her. “Ever since the Sports Festival, she’s had a huge crush on our Icy Hot classmate. I guess he went to the Support Lab, too, asking for some items and they chatted a bit. She’s, like, head over heels for his ass. So I told her that I would set up the situation at the party where she’d get a shot at kissing Shoto. And, obviously, she agreed!”

“Huh. Wow. Um…just curious, what specifically does she like about Todoroki?” You try to sound casual but you feel yourself starting to sweat. Don’t be to obvious!

“What isn’t there to like about Shoto!?” Mina practically squeals. “I did ask her, though. She likes his intensity and his attention to detail. Also his hands.”

“His hands!?” You blurt out before you can stop yourself.

“Yeah.” Mina holds out her own hands before her face thoughtfully. “She was really embarrassed about it, but she said she likes how big his hands are. Said it was Hot with a capital H. And that got me thinking…Kirishima’s hands are pretty fuckin’ hot too. Like, he’s just so strong. Imagine what he could do with those bulky hands of his in bed.” She cackles.

“MINA!” You say, scandalized.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” She says, dropping her arms to her sides as she giggles, seemingly back to normal. You have a feeling she’s not kidding though.

“As for why I didn’t tell you and Toru…I wanted it to be a surprise. Toru’s been dying to kiss Ojiro and I wanted to give you a shot at something fun with Honenuki since he seemed really interested in you lately. But my bad for pushing you towards him since you’re obviously into someone else. Maybe I should have told you guys upfront.” She’s quiet for a long moment, thoughtful. “This is like what Kirishima was upset about, isn’t it? Maybe…maybe sometimes I just move forward with things without thinking about how it will impact others. I need to consider that everyone’s feelings are just as important, if not more important than my own. Especially when it comes to people I care about. That’s a lesson I really need to take to heart.”

“We all have things we need to work on.” You say kindly. “We are just high schoolers. We’re all changing and learning every day. Isn’t that the whole point of growing up?”

Mina smiles at you, all teeth. “You know, you’re pretty wise Y/N. For a dumbass.”

“I could say the same about you, Pinky.”

The two of you laugh as you turn the corner back into the common area.

“In any case…I’m sorry if I put you in an uncomfortable position. I was too excited for my own good about the whole Spin The Bottle shipping thing. Can you forgive me?” She looks at you pleadingly with her wide, black eyes.

“Of course.” You say. And it’s true – you do forgive her. “I’m thinking maybe we don’t tell the rest of the class about the way you rigged Spin the Bottle. Apologizing for that might cause a lot more harm than good.”

Mina frowns. “I feel guilty now, though. Did I trick everyone?”

“Hmm…I think that if we stop the game here, we’re fine. A few of our friends definitely weren’t thrilled about participating…Tokoyami, Momo and Shoto all come to mind. Maybe you can just give them each a quick apology and tell them you’re sorry you pushed things so far.”

“Hmmm…yeah.” Mina’s face flushes with embarrassment as she recalls the way that she essentially forced your classmates to participate in the game. “That was so dumb of me, I really shouldn’t have made everyone uncomfortable. What kind of hero does something like that?”

“Hey. Hey, it’s fine Mina! You’re fine! Remember what I said…we’re learning and growing. We’re allowed to make mistakes as long as we own up to them and try to be better next time. It’s alright.” You reach out and wrap an arm around her shoulders and squeeze. She sighs and glances over at you, her face still pinker than normal.

“Ugh I just feel so guilty. And poor Kirishima…he’s so mad.” Mina groans, leaning into your hug.

“I have confidence you’ll find a way to make things right.” You give her a squeeze and then let go. “Honestly…I think you did put some great couples together. A lot of people were thrilled with how the game went. I bet Kaminari is walking on air right now.”

“Oh god. Yeah I forgot about that.” Mina lets out a rough laugh. “Do you think we should we tell Toru?”

“Yeah, let’s fill her in later. I think she’d want to know. And I don’t think she’ll be mad about it.” You start walking again towards the common room. “A few minutes ago she was rating the softness of Ojiro’s lips, so I think she’s pretty pleased with how the whole thing shook out.”

“Ha…yeah, I knew she’d be excited about Tailman.” Mina grins as you round the corner and re-enter the party. You look around the common area and see that everyone is gathered around Ochaco who is proudly holding a brightly colored box aloft.

“Who want’s to play Twister!?” She calls out and everyone cheers. It’s a good night.

A large group of your friends flock over to Monoma who starts laying out the Twister mat. You watch from a far, smirking as Izuku grabs the spinner and starts calling out instructions to the others. Everyone’s scrambling across the slick plastic, laughing and slipping and having fun.

You and Mina wade through the rest of the crowd on the hunt for Toru. Mina veers off towards the kitchen to grab a coke while you scan the common area. On your trek across the room, you see your phone lying abandoned on the ground next to one of the couches.

“Oh, shit – there’s my phone!” You hadn’t realized that you’d left it on the floor during the game. You bend down to scoop it up, clicking open the lock screen and see a series of frantic texts.

Hatsume: Time’s up!

Hatsume: That was a lot of fun, let’s do it again sometime! I learned so much from Mr. King and can’t wait to make some modifications to my drone babies.

Hatsume: Are you seeing these? Mr. King will probably be at the dorms in 5 minutes.

Hatsume: No one else is answering their phones. Remind me to give you all smart watches next time we do something like this – I have a brand new design I’ve been working on that would be absolutely perfect for a situation like this. Here, I’m attaching the schematics in case you want to take a look!

Hatsume: I hope that you were able to break up the party before Mr. King arrived. Thanks again for the awesome testing opportunity for my babies!

Your eyes grow wider with each text you read. You feel panic rising in your chest – you have to say something. You need to tell everyone to leave! But you’re so overwhelmed and you didn’t come up with a party evacuation plan (how stupid of you!!) and now you can’t seem to get a sound past your lips.

At some point Toru has arrived and come to stand next to you.

“Y/N?” Toru says slowly, reaching out to shake your shoulder with an invisible hand.

“Toru – where’s your phone!?” Is the first thing your brain and mouth can agree on saying. The words fly from your lips so quickly it comes out as a garbled mess. Toru stands silently, her invisible face likely sporting a gob smacked expression.

“What?”

“Your. Phone.” You try to stay calm and annunciate, but your mind is flying. Everywhere you look there’s evidence that a party is taking place – there’s decorations and bowls of chips and riotous partying UA students. It would be impossible to clean up everything in under a minute.

“Oh! I think I left it on the charger in the kitchen. Remember you plugged it in and admonished me for now having charged it? I bet if I had left it be it would still be in my pocket with a decent charge.” You realize she’s absolutely right – you had taken her phone away from her to charge. You curse yourself silently, looking around desperately for Mina in the crowd.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” Toru grabs your phone out of your hands and her eyes fly across the messages.

“Oh, shit.” She says frantically, waving her arms around in that characteristic frenzied way of hers. “Um. Um! Everybody! Mr. King is on his way! We gotta get out of here - !”

But no one can hear her over Hitoshi and Neito’s Cloak and Dagger Melodies party playlist. The music is bumping and everyone is chatting and having a great time. You desperately search for a hint of glossy blonde hair – where the hell is Neito? You need to pause this goddamn playlist ASAP and get everyone’s attention.

You scan the crowd frantically, and your heart leaps when you see a tuft of purple gelled hair off to your right.

“Toru – go find Mina! Tell her what’s going on! And tell people to go and hide in Class A’s dorm rooms!” You quickly shove her away.

You march your way through the dancing crowd, pushing friends and classmates aside as you stomp towards a slim, purple haired figure. As you get closer, you’re exasperated to see that Neito and Hitoshi have resumed their make out session. They’re standing in the center of the makeshift dance floor; swaying softly to the beat of whatever 80s New Wave song is playing. Hitoshi’s large hands are gripping Neito’s cute waist as he lavishes slow, deliberate kisses on your friend. For his part, Neito has his fingers wrapped up in Hitoshi’s thick hair. He looks like he’s ascending to heaven.

“Oh my GOD – guys! Cut it out!” You screech, reaching to grab at Neito’s shoulders so you can pull him away from Hitoshi.

“Y/N…?” Neito gasps as he shakes his head and comes back to himself. He looks absolutely punch drunk with glazed eyes and a blissful expression.

Hitoshi glares at you, annoyance dancing in his dark irises. “Homophobic, much?” He says sarcastically, hands angling to grab Neito’s face so he can get back to work kissing the blonde senseless.

“Guys. Guys!” You throw up your hands in a fine impression of Toru. “Cut the music. Mr. King is on his way over!”

Neito and Hitoshi stare at you as your words register. It only takes a moment for Neito to start panicking. He pushes Hitoshi away from him with a flourish, the purple haired boy stumbling backwards as he scrambles to pull his phone from his tight jeans pocket.

“What do you mean Mr. King is on his way over!?” Neito shrieks, grabbing you by the shoulders and giving you a haphazard shake. “I thought Hatsume had this covered!”

“You know as well as I do that she was only going to be able to buy us a bit of time.” You say, flustered. “Now we need to focus on party evacuation!”

Hitoshi finally fishes his phone out of his tight jeans pocket and hits pause on the Spotify playlist. His expression matches Neito’s – eyes wide with panic. You can almost read his mind here – he worked so hard to get into the Hero Course. Was he going to be caught and kicked out for attending this little shindig? You feel guilt flood your stomach at the thought.

The speaker across the room goes silent, but no one seems to notice. Classes A and B are all babbling and laughing and chatting across the common area and kitchen. Not good. You had been hoping that turning off the music would get everyone’s attention.

Okay okay okay…you can do this! You’re a hero in training! You can come up with a plan!

Your eyes search the crowded room wildly and land on Momo. She’s chatting animatedly to Kendo a few feet to your left. An idea crackles into your brain – you scurry over to her.

“Momo!” You grab her arm and yank her away from Kendo. “I need you to make something really fast. Mr. King is on his way and we need a way to get everyone’s attention.”

Momo stares at you for a moment, gathering her thoughts. She opens and closes her mouth quickly, seemingly at a loss for words.

“Come on, Momo!” You grab her bare, muscled arm and give it a tiny shake. “It’s go time!”

“Right!” She says more to herself than to you. She raises her arm above her head and a small cannon noise fills the room as confetti explodes from her bare elbow. Okay! This is good! You can work with this! Thank God for Momo and her quick thinking.

The entire room goes silent and heads turn to look at you and Momo.

“The teachers are on their way! Everyone choose a buddy from Class A and go hide in their dorm for a bit. We’ll send out a text once the coast is clear.” Momo calls out, ever the strategist.

No one moves. It’s so quiet; you could hear a limited edition mini All Might action figure drop to the ground. Your nerves are absolutely fried.

“Why isn’t everyone moving!?” You call out at them desperately. Everyone looks at you with blank expressions. You search their faces – Neito’s eyes are wide with panic, he looks like he may faint. When your eyes lock, he raises a shaky hand to point behind you.

Slowly, you turn around to face the doorway, following his sightline.

Mr. Vlad King stands tall in the door, a hulking figure casting a shadow across the party. In one massive hand he holds the crushed remains of one of Hatsume’s drones. In the other, he’s holding up a cowering Mineta by one of his purple head balls.

Oh no.

“Hello, class.” He says in that signature growl of his. “I’m going to need someone to explain what’s going on here.”

He drops the drone and it hits the hardwood floor with a tiny “clang!”

You’re all in deep shit.

The room is absolutely silent. Mr. King places Mineta on the ground softly and your classmate scampers into the crowd to stand next to Shoji. The little guy looks fine – he’s completely unscathed from Hatsume’s distraction.

Mr. King looks around slowly, his eyes trained on each of his students as he waits for an answer. He lets his gaze linger on Kendo – as the class rep; she would typically be the first to speak up in a situation like this. But even her bright eyes are downcast and her mouth is clamped shut in a thin, guilty line.

“Well?”

No one says anything. The silence is deafening.

There’s a beat, then Neito steps forward.

“I’m sorry, King Sensei. I organized this illegal party and I asked Hatsume to help distract you. I’ve been incredibly dishonest and I fully accept responsibility and punishment for this.”

Vlad King’s jaw practically drops in shock. Classes A and B look on and a general air of astonishment washes over the room. Neito Monoma is not one to take on the blame for anything, let alone an illegal party involving his peers.

“Neito…you did this? And you’re…taking responsibility?” Mr. King looks downright proud.

Neito smiles softly, nervously. “Yeah.”

Mr. King blinks and then looks around at the room, taking in the faces of his and Aizawa’s students. Everyone looks uncomfortable and guilty. He looks back at Neito thoughtfully. “We’re going to have a long talk about this.”

Neito nods, accepting his fate. His expression is surprisingly serene. He doesn’t try to defend his actions or distract Mr. King by waxing poetic about how superior Class B is. He just stands there, willing to accept whatever punishment or disappointment Mr. King is going to waylay him with.

But Mr. King doesn’t press any harsh words onto Monoma or the rest of his students. He just looks out at the class a bit sadly and says: “Alright. Let’s clean this place up – everyone pitch in.” He doesn’t sound angry, just very tired. The deep lines of his face are creased from exhaustion. You see a light scratch across his left cheek – did Hatsume’s drones do that? Suddenly you feel a deep sense of remorse. It was unfair of you to think of Mr. King as just an authority figure to avoid and trick. You look at the tired teacher and realize with a jolt that you had forgotten his humanity, and you weren’t feeling very heroic about it. Perhaps you and your friends had gone too far in pursuit of a silly party.

Classes A and B are silent as they take down the decorations and clean the floor, tossing plastic plates and cutlery in the trash. There are so many people crowded into the space – it only takes a few minutes to return the room to its former UA glory. Shoji and Tokoyami remove all of the dark tablecloths from the windows, and Tsu uses her tongue to take down the streamers and hanging decorations.

Without all of the décor, you can see the stars winking brightly through the tall windows. You feel a deep sense of regret as you think back to how just a few hours earlier you and your friends were running and laughing, carefree, under that same night sky. You’d give anything to turn back the clock and go back to that moment.

“Alright. Class A – go to your dorm rooms. I’ll be back to check on everyone – I do not want anyone back in the common area until morning. Class B, walk with me. We’re headed back to your dorm building.” Mr. King waits for Class A to disperse – you all trudge towards your rooms, heads hung low with guilt.

As you pass Honenuki, he reaches out lightly to grab your hand and give it the tiniest of squeezes. Your eyes lock with his for a moment, you’re surprised at the warmth in his expression. It’s like being hugged.

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

When you finally reach your room, you’re grateful to be alone. You close the door soundly behind you and turn the lock before you let the tears come. You’re embarrassed and ashamed and…well, honestly you’re pretty scared. You have no idea what Mr. Aizawa will do or say when he returns and hears about the horrible mess of a party you and your friends have organized. It was kind of Neito to take the blame, but the truth will come out eventually. There’s no way you’ll let him take the fall for all of this. You wonder if what you’ve done is grounds for expulsion. Mr. Aizawa has expelled students for far less…

You shake your head and try to breathe deeply as the tears roll down your face. Your phone starts to buzz – it’s a FaceTime request from Mina. You quickly click it open and see that Toru is on the line as well. Mina’s face is pale with shock, Toru (as per usual) hovers invisibly in the tiny video square, and you are the only one crying.

Mina breaks the silence immediately.

“WOW WOW WOW OKAY!” Mina practically screams into the phone. “We need to get our stories straight, like, now.”

“How did we not see that coming? How did we not think of an escape plan!?” Toru cries out into the phone, all emotion. Huh, maybe she’s crying too. It’s hard to tell since she’s invisible.

“I know. I feel like we screwed up big time, y’all.” You sniffle, whipping your nose with the back of your hand.

“I left my phone in my room like an idiot!” Mina pulls at her curly hair in irritation.

“And I left mine in the kitchen on the charger! I can’t believe I didn’t have it on me during the party. I’m an idiot” Toru shakes her phone for good measure, and her tiny image on your screen vibrates with the motion.

“I just got too distracted by the party. I didn’t even think to check my phone once the party was in full swing. Y’all…as heroes, we lost focus during the mission. We let ourselves get sidetracked and caught up in the action.” You grumble guiltily. “We didn’t spend time thinking through the big picture.”

“Ugh, you’re so right Y/N.” Toru whimpers. “We should have treated this like a full class mission and planned out our exit/extraction.”

“Well. I guess that’s another lesson learned for tonight.” Mina sighs out. “Now let’s get our stories together.Just what are we going to tell Mr. King and Mr. Aizawa when they start asking questions? It was nice of Neito to take the fall initially, but eventually the teachers are going to want the full story.”

“Ugh. You’re right.” You groan, face palming. “We’ll really need to think this through.”

You hear a knock at your door and you stiffen. Has Vlad King really returned from the Class B dorms this quickly?

“Hold on guys.” You place your phone down and rise to answer the door. When you turn the knob and wrench it open, you’re surprised to find Hitoshi Shinsou standing in your doorway.

“I have a plan.” He says simply, pushing past you and into your room. From the ground, you can hear Mina and Toru arguing loudly over FaceTime. Shinsou bends down and scoops up the phone, holding it so that his pale face is on camera. “I know how we can potentially get out of this. We need to get Neito on the line as soon as he’s back in his room.”

Shinsou sends a hasty text to Neito from his own phone, and the four of you wait in silence for a few minutes. Finally, after what seems like ages, Neito requests to join the FaceTime.

His tiny face pops up on the screen. His blonde hair is still neatly gelled, but it’s clear that he’s changed into his pajamas since you saw him ten minutes ago.

“Great job, Neito.” You praise and he beams. Who would have guessed that he’d be so ready to take the fall for the party?

“Yeah – I can’t believe you did that!” Toru squeals out in admiration. “That was so cool of you!”

“Alright – quit stroking his ego.” Hitoshi smirks, crowding next to you so that your faces are squished together on camera.

“Shinsou said that he has a plan.” You fill in Neito as Mina and Toru go on mute. You pass your phone to your purple haired classmate and duck out of the frame. “It’s all you, Mind Jack.”

Shinsou rolls his eyes at the use of his hero name and holds the phone at eye level.

“So here’s what I think we need to say…”

As it turns out, Mr. Aizawa and Mr. King had been trying to figure out a way to bring both of the classes together for a long while. They hated the growing division between Classes A and B. In past years, the classes had never been so at odds. But, the events of the year had lead to Class A being thrown in the spotlight, and Class B feeling some sort of way about it. Mr. Aizawa had brought this up on occasion to Shinsou during their extra training sessions. Apparently, he often liked to pick Hitoshi’s brain and get his opinions on lesson planning and class issues. It was good to have a teen on the inside.

“Hitoshi…you’re a genius.” Mina’s voice crackles over the phone as she unmutes herself. “Alright, so we’re all on the same page here? As long as we don’t mention the alcohol I don’t think we should get in too much trouble.”

Since you had all so meticulously removed the brand label from the bottle, there really isn’t a way to prove that alcohol had been involved. Plus, no one had imbibed enough to actually get drunk, sick or sloppy.

“But what about Hatsume’s involvement?” Neito chimes in.

“We don’t know how much Mr. King knows yet. He might not have even seen her. And maybe they won’t be able to trace those drones back to her?” You say hopefully, looking over at Hitoshi for input.

“Let’s try to get the teachers to do most of the talking tomorrow so we can deduce how much they’ve put together. Then we lean into the whole ‘building inter-class camaraderie” theme hard. Maybe Mr. Aizawa will be proud of Mineta stepping up and taking one for the team as the distraction.” Hitoshi shrugs. “To be honest, Aizawa doesn’t care much for Mineta so maybe he’d be impressed by his ‘act of selflessness.’”

“Well…” Toru says nervously into the phone.

“What?” Hitoshi says blankly, turning to you for an explanation about your friend’s uneasiness with that piece of the plan.

“So. Um. Mineta didn’t volunteer to be our distraction out of the kindness of his heart.” You say awkwardly as Hitoshi’s tired eyes bore into your own. “We promised him that he’d get to kiss me in exchange for his services as bait for Mr. Vlad.”

“Damn. Offering sexual favors in exchange for services rendered? You guys are way more hardcore than I thought.” Hitoshi actually looks impressed. “So hopefully Mineta didn’t say anything about that fun little bargain to Mr. King after he got caught. Sexual Quid Pro Quo is definitely grounds for some kind of legal action or punishment.”

The blood in your veins goes cold. Shit.

“But it was his idea!” Mina shrieks through the phone’s tiny speakers. You wince at the sound. You feel shaky like you might start crying again.

“Yeah but you all agreed to it. And Mineta held up his end of the bargain. This could be really bad if the school found out about it.”

Neito mouths something angrily on the screen and the corner of Hitoshi’s mouth quirks upwards fondly.

“Neito…you’re on mute, babe.” He says in that gravely voice of his.

Monoma quickly unmutes himself and repeats what he was saying:

“But it’s only a kiss! It’s not like we promised Y/N would sleep with him or anything!” He says, gesturing wildly. His face is a bit pink in response to Hitoshi’s using such an unexpected term of endearment.

“It doesn’t matter…you still made a trade of a physical favor for a service. I don’t know what kind of punishment they’d slap you with, but this sort of thing would definitely rub the UA administration the wrong way if they found out about it. Let’s just hope Mineta didn’t say anything too incriminating. I can stop by his dorm and ask him before I got to bed, if you’d like.” Hitoshi smirks. “I think he’s afraid of me, so I’d probably be the best person to do it.”

“Could you, please?” You say in a strained voice. Hitoshi looks over and sees how pale you’ve gone, he awkwardly pats your shoulder in what he must think is a reassuring way.

“Yeah, for sure. It’ll be fine. You’ll see.” He retracts his hand from your shoulder and gives you a thumbs up.

“Alright. I think we’ve mostly got our story straight. Don’t mention the alcohol. Don’t mention me needing to kiss Mineta. Don’t mention Hatsume. Don’t mention Spin The Bottle. Say we wanted to throw a game night to promote unity and bonding between Classes A and B. We good?” You quickly recap, counting off your fingers as you make each statement. “Dang, that’s a lot to keep track of.”

Everyone nods to confirm that they’re aligned (Toru doesn’t say anything to indicate that she’s not aligned, so you assume she’s invisibly nodding).

A message appears at the top of your phone screen from Shoto, a tiny preview of his text reads out in a bubble:

Shoto: You doing alright?

You quickly move to swipe the bubble away, hyperaware that Hitoshi can see any message that flashes across your screen. You remind yourself that it’s not weird for your classmates to check up on you - you’re one of the party ringmasters, after all! And the message Shoto had sent was completely innocent, so…

Another message from Shoto scrolls across the screen as Toru rattles off a list of questions for Hitoshi to ask Mineta. You try to swipe the message away but you accidentally pull up the text screen over your friend’s FaceTime faces.

Shoto: This sounds awful to say, but getting to sneak away with you to the janitor’s closet almost makes getting caught worth it.

You swipe desperately to get the text screen to disappear and after a moment succeed. Toru is still speaking, saying something about Hatsume’s drones. You throw a terrified glance at Hitoshi’s direction. He’s looking at you, violet eyes wide with shock. His eyebrows are comically far up his forehead.

Oh yeah, he definitely just got a glance at Shoto’s text.

Oh God.

He knows.

“Alright, Hagakure.” Hitoshi quickly turns back to the screen and nods in agreement at whatever your friend is saying. His facial expression instantly falls back to neutral – his eyebrows relaxing and his eyes narrowing back to their usual lazy squint. You stare straight ahead and try to keep all of your blood from rushing to your face. You feel hot all over but in a bad way. You don’t know Hitoshi super well, but you know he’s a good person. He wouldn’t spill your biggest secret to the world, right?

Hitoshi seemingly ignores you as he continues talking into the FaceTime. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Alright, I’ll ask him all of that. I think we’re all on the same page – get a good night’s sleep everyone.”

Good nights are exchanged, and one by one your friends drop off the call. Hitoshi clicks off your phone so that the screen goes back. He slowly turns to you, his expression flips back to one of uncharacteristic surprise. But his voice is as even and measured as ever when he says:

“Holy shit, Y/N. How long have you been fucking Shoto Todoroki?”

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

You stare at Hitoshi, frozen in horror.

He stares back at you, thick purple eyebrows raised as he waits for your reply.

Finally, you manage to wrap your tongue around a sentence.

“I am not hooking up with Todoroki.” Your voice quavers at the end of the sentence and you know you don’t sound at all convincing.

Hitoshi crosses his arms in front of him, a smile pulling at his lips. He’s going to enjoy pulling this information out of you. Suddenly you realize something about Hitoshi Shinsou – he loves drama. He’s got to – he has the hots for Neito Monoma of all people. He must eat up theatrics for breakfast.

“Come to think of it, you and Todoroki did disappear around the same time tonight. I was looking for him earlier. I wanted to ask him to train. No one seemed to know where he’d disappeared. Kendo said the last time she’d seen him, he was hanging back from dessert to talk to you.” Hitoshi barks a low laugh. It’s not an unkind sound, but you flinch nonetheless.

“You can’t tell anyone.” The words tumble from your mouth before you can stop them. You look up at him, fear etched across every inch of your face. You must look terrified, because he starts to look worried.

“What’s wrong?” He drops his arms to his sides and leans forward, his face painted in concern. “Is something bad happening? Are you alright? Take a deep breath, Y/N. It’s okay.” He reaches out a hand and plants it on your shoulder. You didn’t realize that you were starting to hyperventilate, and his touch anchors you.

You suck in a deep, rattling breath and force yourself to match his slow and even breathing pattern. The two of you sit like that for a few minutes, eyes locked and breathing deeply. He guides you through it, extending his breaths in and out and prompting you to follow his lead. After a few minutes, you start to feel better and the adrenaline of being caught fizzles away.

Hitoshi lightly kneads at your shoulder with his hand before drawing it back. “You’re okay.” He reassures you. He slowly gets to his feet. “Where do you keep your pajamas?” You point wordlessly at your dresser, indicating the second drawer. Hitoshi walks over and slowly opens the drawer, pulling out a pair of cozy sweatpants and an oversized band t-shirt.

“You like My Chemical Romance?” He asks, his dimple showing as he grins down at the black skeleton covered t-shirt and walks back to you. “Here, put these on. I’ll turn around.”

You do so. You’re absolutely exhausted and coming down off of the adrenaline of the night. You’ve been through seemingly a thousand trials this evening – setting up the diversion for Mr. King. The party. Spin The Bottle. Shoto kissing Fujita. Honenuki kissing you. Having feelings about all of it.Shoto getting jealous and finger fucking you in the closet. Helping Mina sort through her feelings and her attention issues. T majority of Classes A & B being caught having an illegal party. And then, to top it all off, Hitoshi Shinsou discovering that you’ve been hooking up with UA’s most eligible bachelor. It’s far too much, and you’re starting to shut down.

You pull on your MCR t-shirt and look gratefully at the back of Hitoshi’s head as he stands chivalrously in the corner of the room while you change. He seems to understand that you’re in the middle of an adrenaline crash combined with a freak out. And he’s being…surprisingly cool about it!? He’s extending you the grace and understanding that you’d given Mina earlier that night. You feel a small glow form in your chest as you realize that Hitoshi may be a new friend, but he is a friend nonetheless.

“Hitoshi.” You say once you’ve climbed into your fluffy sweatpants and cast your party outfit to the side. “You can turn around now. I’m sorry I freaked out. Please - you can’t tell anyone. We cannot get caught.”

Hitoshi turns around slowly, and once he confirms you’re decent he steps across the room and back towards you. He points to the bed and says simply: “Sit.” You do.

He scoops your water bottle off of your nightstand and shakes it once to ensure that it’s full of liquid. He holds it out to you and issues another command: “Drink.” You grab the bottle and untwist the top, tipping it back to take a deep gulp of the cool water inside. You didn’t realize how thirsty you’ve been. You haven’t had something to drink since you were in the kitchen setting up the party with your friends, and that was hours ago. You gratefully suck down a few more gulps.

While you’re drinking, you feel the mattress dip as Hitoshi climbs up next to you. He scoots backwards so that he can lean back against the wall.

“Tell me what’s going on.” He says simply. And you do – you tell him everything. Well, almost everything. You spare the gory, sexy details. Hitoshi Shinsou does not need to know about the way Shoto’s hands feel on your tits, nor does he need to hear about how hot Shoto’s hard cock can be when you’re stroking him through an orgasm. Obviously you leave those juicy pornographic details out of your story.

But you do tell him about how Shoto initially approached you in the library, how he had been distracted and thought the solution was a quick smooch in his dorm room. For his part, Hitoshi is an excellent listener. Your earlier theory is reinforced – the purple haired bastard loves some good drama.

“I’m sorry, back up.” Hitoshi lets out a laugh and holds up his hands to stop you as you narrate the story. “Todoroki just approached you in the library one day and straight up said ‘I think we should kiss’ in that serious fucking tone of his…and you just…agreed?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” You say, grinning weakly. “I didn’t see any downsides.”

“And then he told you that he did ‘research?’ That’s too much.” Hitoshi is loving this, and you can’t help but start to laugh too.

“Yeah he watched some romantic comedies to get an idea of what kissing techniques were in style.”

“I should be taking notes. He’s a true master.” Hitoshi says almost seriously. “When I had my first kiss last year I completely panicked and we ended up knocking our teeth together.”

You hold in a peal of laughter. “Oh crap, that’s happened to Shoto and I too a few times. Wait! Who was your first kiss with!?” You whack his leg with your hand a few times excitedly and he bites his lip, debating if he should share. “I’m spilling my guts here about my illicit affair with the Number Two Heroes’ son – the very least you can do is tell me who you kissed for the first time.” You say slyly.

Hitoshi shrugs. “I don’t think this day can get much crazier, so why not?” He takes a deep breath then turns so he can look you directly in the eyes. “It was Sero.”

“Sero!?” You gasp out, hands over your mouth. Talk about hot gossip! “I thought Sero was straight?”

“Well, he could be. We weren’t exactly discussing the finer points of sexual identity when he stuck his tongue down my throat.”

“Fair.” You say, nodding. “How did it happen?”

“I had just transferred into Class A and we were hanging out, playing video games. He asked if I wanted to make out and of course I said yes. Dude’s hot as fuck.”

“I mean…I guess?” You make a face, having never had thought about Hanta Sero in a sexual context. “Hold on…Sero and Neito both have that slim pretty boy look. Oh my God Hitoshi, you have a type!”

Hitoshi furrows his eyebrows. “Oh shit. You’re right. Fuck.” Hitoshi sticks his hands in his messy hair as he processes this revelation.

“You didn’t realize this!?”

“I guess I love twinks! Sue me!” Hitoshi says, but he’s cracking up again. “He sort of leaned forward and I panicked and didn’t know what to do and I kind of jumped on him and our teeth just, like….clang!”

“Ugh.” You wince at the thought. “I mean, to be fair Hanta has great teeth. I bet that kid didn’t need braces in middle school like the rest of us. But that sounds so awkward.”

“It’s fine, we laughed it out and figured it out after a minute. We ended up making out for like two hours and by the end I had stripped him down to his underwear. It was super hot.”

“And what happened between you two?”

“We hooked up a few times. But eventually when the thrill of hooking up kind of faded we realized we’d rather just stay friends. I didn’t really feel anything for Sero aside from physically attracted to him, you know?” Hitoshi looks at you thoughtfully. “So tell me more about you and Shoto. How’d the first kiss go?”

You tell him. You explain that Shoto thought that one kiss would cure him and that he’d be able to move on from you. In the end, he had become insatiable. You tell him about how you had snuck out of Shoto’s room by climbing down the side of the building, and Hitoshi had looked fairly impressed. You mentioned meeting Endeavor in the common room as well.

“What was he like?” Hitoshi asks, intrigued to hear about Japan’s Number Two Hero.

“Why, are you a fan?”

Hitoshi shakes his head. “He was never a favorite of mine growing up. I liked the underground heroes more than anything. I like a scrappy hero who relies on their wits instead of a flashy quirk.”

“That tracks. Well…Endeavor is kind of the worst.” You say, thinking back to that awkward encounter with Shoto’s dad. “I get the impression that he’s not a very good dad.” You try to keep things vague, it’s really none of Hitoshi’s business and you don’t want to betray Shoto’s trust by giving away the finer details of his upbringing. You don’t have enough evidence to fully say that Shoto has been abused by his father, and you don’t want to go around gossiping about it. Shoto barely understands his family dynamic, the last thing you need is for someone else to get involved and confuse him even more with unsolicited advice.

“That sucks. I didn’t really have a solid father figure growing up either.” Hitoshi says, empathizing. “But that makes sense. Shoto is so damn formal all the time and he has strange reactions sometimes. He seems to have had an extremely sheltered upbringing that lacked socialization with kids his age.”

“Well Endeavor tried to keep Shoto from meeting up with me again later to study. But in the end, Shoto found me and we hooked up again. And we decided we’d keep seeing each other in private. Then the next day…Aizawa announces the school’s stance on dating and relationships.”

“That’s really odd timing.” Hitoshi muses, zoning out a bit. “But I think the whole dating ban was mostly for Class B. They’re horny motherfuckers and it’s causing a ton of drama in their class.”

“That’s what I heard!” You say excitedly. “Okay, it’s good to have a second source confirm that. I was so paranoid that Aizawa somehow knew that I was making out with Shoto when he knocked on the door? He just seems to have a sixth sense about shit like that!?”

“I mean you’re not wrong. Aizawa is perceptive as fuck.” Hitoshi snorts, mocking his mentor. “But Neito told me that Mr. King is fed up with all the hooking up that goes on in Class B. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he went to the Principal himself and had the rule instated.”

“Wow. That’s a god damn relief.”

“Heh. So is that why you’re hiding your thing with Todoroki from everyone? The school’s dumb rule?” Hitoshi points at you with a lazy finger before grabbing one of your plushies. He wraps his arms around a round squishmallow with bright blue eyes and squeezes it to his chest. Cute.

“Well…” It’s more complicated than that, isn’t it? “Yeah. I don’t want us to get in trouble or get told we need to stop.”

“And I’m assuming based on the horrified look you gave me when I saw that text earlier that you haven’t told your friends about this?”

“You’re very perceptive.” You groan. “I’ve been meaning to tell them, but…I don’t know! I want to keep this for myself a little bit longer. Why does anyone else need to know?”

“You were bound to get caught eventually.” Hitoshi says, continuing to squish the plush this way and that. “There is close to zero privacy here, everyone is gossipy and dramatic, and the walls are thin.”

“You’re right. Of course you’re right…I just like having this one private, special thing. And sneaking around has been so goddamn hot…and…and…”

“And you’re not ready to admit to others how much you like Todoroki?” Hitoshi cuts in. You stop dead and look at him, your mouth hanging open in surprise. “I get it. Why do you think it took me so long to admit my feelings for Neito?”

“Excuse me! What do you mean? How long have you had a crush on Monoma!?” You scramble closer to your purple haired classmate, plushies flying off the bed with abandon. Hitoshi winces and scoots out of your reach, holding his plush defensively.

“Since I met him.”

“What!? And you only just kissed him tonight!?”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been real busy training to get into the hero course lately! I didn’t exactly have extra time to dedicate towards dating and courting Neito’s dramatic ass.”

“Okay. You’ve got a point there. But tonight…you were so confident when you kissed him. You didn’t give a crap about what everyone else was thinking!”

Hitoshi shrugs and doesn’t meet your gaze. “I’ve been sorting through how I feel for Neito for so damn long, I came to the conclusion that I’d rather have all of him all the time than just a little in the shadows. When I heard about the Spin The Bottle thing, I made a deal with myself. If I somehow were to get the opportunity to kiss Neito – I would take it without being afraid.”

“Also – screw anyone who judges me for liking him. I want people to know he’s mine. I’m tired of hiding parts of me away because I feel like I’m not good enough. Neito deserves to be loved loudly and in daylight. I don’t give a crap about the school’s rules. What are they gonna do, stop me from talking to Neito between classes? Stop us from training together? Let’s be realistic. They have no power over us.”

“Oh. I didn’t think of it that way.” You say slowly as you realize that he’s right. What would be the consequences of having a relationship with a classmate? It’s not like they would expel the top hero course students. Especially not when villains are running rampant around Japan. At most, you’d get a slap on the wrist in public while continuing your shenanigans in private.

“So I think that the real question here…” Hitoshi says, snapping his fingers to get your attention once more. “Is how do you really feel about Shoto? Do you want a relationship with him? Or is this just a hot secret hookup?”

Huh. How do you feel about Shoto? You certainly feel possessive of him – you’ve established that you don’t want him hooking up with other people. You’re definitely attracted to him (your clit twitches just at the thought of him touching you below the belt). And you like being around him – he’s so easy to talk to, his quiet steady presence brings you a sense of calm that you can never quite tap into with other people. He’s so charming and precious and sheltered - you want to make him smile and help him explore the world around him. You want to continue to watch him bloom in private and in public. And earlier, when he was kissing that other girl…you wished he was kissing you in front of the entirety of Classes A and B. You wanted everyone to know that he belonged with you.

Oh God.

That sounds like you want a relationship doesn’t it?

You suck in a harsh breath and Hitoshi chuckles.

“You want to date him for real, don’t you?”

“Oh my God. I think that I do.” You gasp out, and Hitoshi reaches across you to grab your water bottle once more. He shoves it towards you in a clear command to take a sip. You do, gulping down a fresh stream of water as you process this new revelation.

You want Shoto Todoroki to be your goddamn boyfriend. In the back of your mind, you always knew this to be true.

“Do you know why I like Neito so much?” Hitoshi’s steady voice pulls you from your crazy brain spiral. You look up at him with wild eyes and screw the cap back onto your water bottle as you finish your last gulp. Hitoshi shifts the plush into his lap and stretches his arms high over his head towards the ceiling. What an interesting question – you’re honestly not sure. There are so many likeable things about Neito once you get to know him – he’s smart and crafty and makes lunchtime ten times funnier with that theatrical flair of his.

“Is it because he’s dramatic?” You say bluntly, but you snort at the end so that Shinsou knows you’re joking. He doesn’t immediately answer. He looks at you thoughtfully, his mouth shifting into an easy grin of straight white teeth.

“Nah. But I do appreciate his theatricality. I love seeing him rile people up with his spectacle in battle. He’s gonna be unstoppable when we all go Pro. The public will eat him up.” Hitoshi’s eyes shine warmly and damn is this man whipped for your friend. You make a mental note to text Neito about this later.

You’ve never heard Hitoshi talk so openly, so fondly. You’re a bit uncomfortable exploring this new territory with a classmate with which you previously did not spend a lot of time interacting. But it’s been a weird as hell day, so fuck it! Let’s continue this unexpected deep convo with Hitoshi Shinsou!

“What is it then?” You prompt, interested to see how much Hitoshi is comfortable with revealing to you.

“It’s his confidence. The way he takes what he deserves. He knows he has a quirk that some may see as “impractical,” yet he keeps forging a path for himself in the Hero Course all the while proving people wrong about him. He’s stronger than me that way. He identifies what he wants, and he takes it. He makes things happen by sheer force of will.” Hitoshi sighs. “And I’ve admired these things about him for so long. He’s proven that there’s no such thing as an impractical quirk…it’s all how you apply it.”

“I even like him for his flaws. Yes he’s insecure and that can cause him to be a little mean. But we talk about it, and he’s working on that. He wants to be better. He makes an effort to be better. He’s always leveling himself up. And Y/N - I am so in to him that I want everyone to know about it. I want everyone to see him the way that I see him. That’s why I didn’t hide my enthusiasm him during the game tonight. That’s why I’m talking to you about him right now. I’ve spent all of middle school and most of high school being afraid to be my true self – but when I’m with Neito, I can just be.”

“If Shoto makes you feel that way, then I think you should tell him. You should ask him to take things public with you. Hiding is only going to make things difficult for you two. And, inevitably, you’re going to get caught by someone else who can’t keep a secret. Wouldn’t it be better to do things on your own terms?”

Hitoshi is right.

You know he’s right. But what he’s saying sounds next to impossible. There are so many things you’d need to do to get things out in the open.

Firstly, you’d need to talk to Shoto. Does he even want a relationship? Sure, he wants to hookup with you exclusively and he likes spending time with you. But those two things do not a relationship make. There’s also the fact that neither of you have ever been in a relationship – so how would you even go about it? All you have to work off of are RomCom tropes.

Secondly, you’d need to tell your friends. And oh boy are they gonna be pissed when they find out that you’ve been keeping this massive juicy secret from them! What if they never forgive you? What if they hold a grudge the size of All Might’s biceps over your head for the rest of time!? How would you even approach that conversation. “Hey guys! Guess what? I’ve been hooking up with the hottest guy in school in secret and we are maybe in a relationship so I thought it might be time to tell you!” Hmmm. Yeah that’s sure to go over well!

Thirdly, everyone else will eventually find out. And that’s fine I guess. That’s part of dating…but everyone in the class finding out means that Mr. Aizawa will eventually find out and that is a whole can of worms that you don’t want to open up with the world’s sharpest can opener. Sure, the school can’t technically do anything terrible to you for dating Shoto Todoroki. But they can make your life awkward as all hell.

You think over this list, your brain wandering the pros and cons of asking Shoto to be your boyfriend. In all honesty, you’re probably going to just go for it. And everything here sounds extremely figureoutable, just awkward and uncomfortable.

“Hello? You still with me Y/N?” Histoshi baps you with the plush he’s holding and you come back to Earth.

“Jeez, Hitoshi. I think I want to be in a relationship with Todoroki.” You stumble over the words. Your eyes are wide as saucers as you look up at him. “You can’t tell anyone!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Hitoshi says, booping your nose with the plush’s tiny paw.

“I’m fairly certain that Todoroki wants to date you just as badly. When you’re in the same room, he can’t stop staring at you with that dead ass intense gaze of his.” You laugh as Hitoshi does a near-perfect mimic Shoto’s penetrating stare.

“You really think he’s into me that way?” You ask hopefully as you ignore the Hitoshi’s continued poking with the plush.

“Oh yeah. He’s whipped AF.” Hitoshi laughs, finally abandoning the plush and getting to his feet. “Alright, that’s enough drama for today. Get some sleep. Text me if you ever wanna talk through more of this bullshit.”

“Thanks Hitoshi. You’re a good friend. And Neito is lucky to have you as more than a friend.”

This makes Hitoshi’s cheeks glow with a tinge of pink. He can’t suppress the little smile that blooms in response to your offer of friendship. “Thanks, Y/N. Goodnight.”

“Good night.” He leaves – checking that the coast is clear in the hallway before he slips out into the corridor. Your dorm door shuts lightly behind him.

You reach for the phone and type out a reply to Shoto.

Shoto: This sounds awful to say, but getting to sneak away with you to the janitor’s closet almost makes getting caught worth it.

Y/N: Oh yeah, definitely worth it. Goodnight Sho.

Shoto: Goodnight.

He adds a string of whale emojis and you smile to yourself as you set your alarm and turn out the light. Shoto Todoroki is such boyfriend material.

Maybe that’s what you’ll tell him.

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

After a brief stop to chat with Mineta down the hall, Hitoshi slouches his way back to his own room.

He’s bone tired. Hitoshi is an introvert. Everyone knows this. Hallmarks of his introversion include a notoriously short social battery and an even shorter tolerance for nonsense. Understandably, this whole party business has him at his absolute limit.

He quietly unlocks his dorm door and slips inside, hoping that Mr. King is still patrolling the Class B dorm building. He clicks the lock gratefully and sighs, thrilled to be back in the gentle quiet of his room. He looks around at the space and feels his chest fill with warmth. Sometimes he can’t believe how lucky he is to have his own room in the Hero Course dorms – the four walls surrounding him are completely his own.

He wants to slip under the covers, put in his ear buds and quietly jam until he falls asleep. There are so many things he needs to process and think about – Aizawa is going to absolutely go ballistic tomorrow when he hears about the party. Hitoshi isn’t really sure how they’re going to get away with this, but he’s hopeful that the whole “class unity” suggestion will hold some merit with their cranky, sleep deprived teacher.

But that’s not what his brain wants to focus on right now. No, right now all he wants to think about is Neito Monoma and his perfect hair and lips and body. God, Hitoshi wants to absolutely destroy him.

He thinks back to his long talk with Y/N. Talking to Y/N about Neito, finally getting his feelings out in the open and sharing them with someone else had felt so good, so freeing. And Y/N had really cared. She had seemed to want to hear all about his feelings and thoughts and desires. This is all still so new to him – having friends. Being cared for.

It’s funny…he never planned on making friends in the Hero Course. In fact, he had been hoping to keep his head down and focus on his studies and training. His dream of being a hero finally feels within his grasp. It’s all he’s ever wanted, really.

That is…until he started making friends. It started with Izuku at the Sport’s Festival. Despite being in General Studies, Izuku had treated Hitoshi like an equal. He had even claimed to understand the pain that Hitoshi felt in his heart – pursuing a heroic path despite being told he shouldn’t. He had tried to ignore the way Izuku’s acknowledgement had felt…the way it had warmed him inside and made him feel like he was understood. Like he wasn’t alone.

Then Mr. Aizawa had offered to mentor him. It was strange – now there was a second person seemed to believe in Hitoshi and understand how he felt. As Aizawa began to ready Hitoshi for the hero course and bring him into joint training sessions with Classes A and B, things began to snowball. Denki was suddenly texting him memes, Sero inviting him to game online, and Eijirou offering to spot him in the gym. Neito would seek him out at lunchtime to chat or to study. Suddenly, he was surrounded by an enthusiastic group of friends and mentors who could not be deterred. And shockingly, they genuinely seemed to enjoy his company. No one had ever paid much attention to him before. And now he has friends who enjoy his jokes and actively cheer him on. He never could have imagined how good it would feel to be so…loved.

And now, with this whole party situation, suddenly his circle of friends has expanded yet again to include Y/N, Mina and Toru. A year ago, Hitoshi never would have predicted that he would be having a relationship heart to heart with a girl from the hero course in the early hours of the morning. He’s still wrapping his brain around the fact that he really, genuinely likes being a good friend. And he seems to excel at it?

He marvels at it all, confused at how the universe ended up putting him in such a great spot with so many wonderful things: UA. The Hero Course. A Mentor. A Group of Close Friends. Neito.

He strips down, grabbing a pair of comfy sweatpants off of his bed to change into. Before he drops his shirt into the hamper, he holds it to his nose and inhales deeply.

It smells like Neito - a sweet, sharp scent like cinnamon.

Neito is truly something else. He’s the person Hitoshi feels most comfortable around at UA. And he drives Hitoshi absolutely insane – Hitoshi has been insanely attracted to the goofy, dramatic blonde for quite some time now. Being able to finally kiss him, to claim him in front of everyone with his lips…

Hitoshi feels a wave of heat course through him at the thought of Neito’s smooth lips pressed against his own. He replays their spin-the-bottle-kiss in his head over and over. The way he had leaned forward and slipped his hand under Neito’s chin to bring their lips together. He had felt so smooth and suave like some rom com character. He could hear their classmates wolf whistling and cheering as he kissed Neito again and again and again – but at the same time, it felt like the world had gone quiet. All that had mattered in that moment was Hitoshi and Neito and their boundless enthusiasm for each other’s mouths. When Hitoshi had pulled away, Neito had looked up at him with those big indigo eyes and Hitoshi thought that his heart might explode into a million tiny fireworks. He screenshots the moment in his mind – he never wants to forget how goddamn pretty Neito is when he’s freshly kissed.

God he wishes that Neito were here with him now. Better yet – he wishes Neito were in his bed. There are so many things he wants to do with Neito. To try together. He wants to take Monoma apart with deliberate kisses and licks and bites…he wants to absolutely devour him.

He grabs his phone and before he can lose his nerve he hits Monoma’s contact. The phone rings twice before Neito picks up.

“Hitoshi?” The voice is surprised and sleepy, he was probably just drifting off to bed.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Hitoshi says, feeling dumb. He really should have thought this through.

“What’s up? Did you have another idea for our cover story?” Neito asks, muffling a yawn with his hand.

“No, I…I just wanted to tell you that I had fun tonight.”

“Oh, me too! That was certainly a wild party.” Even through the phone, he can hear Neito’s smile.

“Yeah the party was great. But I had fun spending it with you.” Hitoshi feels the need to convey to Neito just how much he likes him, just how much their kissing really meant. God, is he being cringe right now? He honestly can’t tell. Maybe he’s gotta clarify? “I know you get in your head about things sometimes, so I just wanted to let you know that…the kiss. It meant something. For me.”

“Oh I knew that.” Neito laughs.

“What?”

“You think you’re so smooth and mysterious, don’t you Mr. Cloak and Dagger Melodies?” Neito laughs and there’s a rustling noise as if he’s turning over to the more comfortable side of his pillow. “You don’t just kiss a person like that and have it mean nothing.”

“Are you serious.”

“Listen, Hitoshi. I think we should kiss again. Maybe we should kiss all the time, I don’t know.” His voice drops to a whisper. “If Mr. King wasn’t patrolling the area right now, I’d tell you to come over here and finish what you started.”

Hitoshi’s heart drops into his stomach, and he’s instantly hard. He moves his hand down over his boxers, drawing his hand along the outline of his dick. Fuck.

He needs to gulp and compose himself before he replies. “Is that so? Guess we’ll need a rain check, then.”

“Guess we will.” Neito hums into the phone receiver sounding infuriatingly cocky. He’s a lot braver when he’s hidden behind his cell phone. “I was thinking…”

Jesus.

“Thinking about…?” Hitoshi supplies, loving the sly tone of Neito’s sweet voice.

“I was thinking about how it might feel to have you kiss down my neck.” Neito’s smiling. Hitoshi can hear him goddamn smiling through the phone. He slides his hand down his boxers and fumbles the base of his dick. Is it wrong to jerk off like this? Neito has got to know what he’s doing right now, right!?

“I could do that.” Hitoshi says too quickly. Fuck it – he’s horny and talking to the object of his horniness. With Neito, there’s never been any reason to hide who he truly is. Might as well be upfront about it. “Fuck, Neito. You’re turning me on.”

Neito laughs, delighted. His cackle crackles through the receiver of Hitoshi’s cell. The purple haired hero in training shifts from foot to foot uncomfortably, desperate to hear more.

“Of course you like dirty talk.” Neito breathes quietly into his phone. “If I were with you right now…what would you want to do to me?”

Hitoshi starts to work at himself, hand jumping up and down his hard cock with a fervor even he’s surprised by.

“I’d take off your shirt. Throw you on my bed. Run my tongue across that infuriatingly chatty mouth of yours.” The words spill out of Hitoshi so quickly that they’re running together. The thrill of speaking to Neito like this – so illicit and dirty – it’s going to make him cum before he can even truly get started.

“Mmm I’d like that.” Neito hums, his voice dripping with honey. “I want to feel your bare chest against me, Hitoshi. I want you to absolutely take me apart.”

Hitoshi can’t respond, his mind is going blank. His cock throbs in one palm as he struggles to keep a grip on his phone with the other. He presses the device into the cool curve of his cheek as he continues to furiously jack himself off.

Neito seems to realize he has a captive audience, because he just keeps going. “I want to touch you, Hitoshi. I want to feel all of you. I want to copy your quirk and ask you a fucking question.”

Hotoshi nearly stops breathing. Why is that is the single hottest thing anyone has ever said to him?

God. He wants to get off so badly…but at the same time, he wants Neito here with him when he does it.

Reluctantly, he releases his dick and moves so he can flop backwards onto his bed.

“I like you.” He says flatly into the phone. “I really, really like you.”

Neito notices the tonal shift and moves easily with him.

“I like you, too. I have for a while.”

“I know.”

“Then why did it take us this long to do something about it?” Neito asks thoughtfully. Hitoshi can hear him drumming his fingers against his bedside table. He grunts noncommittally into the phone and stares up at his ceiling, his dick still pulsing with need. He ignores it.

“So are we going to do this?” Neito asks, his voice a bit uncertain. “I love our friendship. I want more than friendship, obviously. But we’re so busy with the Hero Course and there’s that stupid school rule about dating and…if it’s all too much right now, we can wait. Stay friends. Sort it all out later on.”

He’s rambling. He does that when he’s nervous. He also does that when he’s confident. Neito is a yapper through and through.

“Neito.” Hitoshi smiles softly as he cuts off the blonde. “I want to explore this. With you. Not in the future - in the present.”

“Alright. Good. Me too.” Neito sighs out a breath of relief. “I just know how much the Hero Course means to both of us. I would never ask you to divide your attention between working to become a hero and…well, romance, I guess.” He lets out a chuckle and Hitoshi’s heart goes all warm and fuzzy inside. Oh, god, he’s got a metaphorical boner now, too. Neito wants to prove he can be a hero just as badly as Hitoshi does. They both have odd quirks – quirks that wouldn’t typically put someone on the Pro Hero track. And yet, here they are. They’ve found a school and peers that accept and support them. And now…they’ve found each other.

Hitoshi lets out a loud laugh, unable to contain the rare spitfire spark of joy that’s welling up in his chest. He must sound insane. He wonders briefly if he’s woken up his dorm neighbors with the sudden outburst.

“Hitoshiiiii.” Neito squeaks out in surprise at the noise, but Hitoshi can’t stop laughing. He’s just so goddman happy for once. He must look like an absolute maniac – naked and hard and laughing alone in his dark room.

He takes a breath. Screw calm, cool and collected.

“Sorry, sorry.” He apologizes, his voice still tinged with mirth. “I’m just…I’m really happy right now, Neito. I never thought I’d be blessed enough to in the UA Hero Course and to find someone who I like so much who likes me back.”

“You idiot.” Neito says, but his voice is laced with affection. “Go the fuck to bed.”

“Alright.” Hitoshi concedes, finally coming down from his giggle fest. “I’ll text you in the morning?”

“You better.” Neito says warmly before clicking off the phone.

Hitoshi sits in the cool darkness of the room for a moment, basking in the glow of liking a boy who likes you back. After a beat, he places his phone on his bedside charger. He then opens his bedside table drawer and pulls out a small tube of lotion. It doesn’t take long for him to cum – he replays his conversation with Neito over and over in his head until he gets off to Neito’s smooth and unexpected dirty talk. Fuck he can’t wait to get the blonde alone.

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

The Next Day

In the morning, the sun rises per usual. It’s warm glow radiates warmth across your face as you drowsily blink awake. The day feels new and golden and you’ve slept about 7 hours so your body is humming peacefully. You stretch out your muscles and sit up, blinking sleepily at the room around you. Everything is neatly in its place, your desk is clean and your floor is tidy.

What a wonderful way to start the - Ughhhh crap!

Suddenly all of the previous day’s events come rushing into your mind like lightening striking a cell phone tower pole. It’s a sharp clang! in your head as you rapid-fire remember the party, Spin The Bottle the kisses, the hookup, the missed texts, Mr. Vlad King, the FaceTime, and The Big Emotional Feelings Talk with Hitoshi.

And on top of all of that…you want a full-blown relationship with Shoto Todoroki.

Fuck what a weekend! You slump back down into your warm bed and are instantly grateful to be hidden away and comfy for a moment. You tuck yourself in beneath the covers and turn your phone over so that it rests face down on the bed beside you. Everything is fine. Nothing truly bad has happened just yet. You probably have a full hour of snuggling into your bed before a teacher summons you to their office for the talking to of the century. You wonder what fresh horrors the day will hold since Mr. Vlad King caught Classes A and B having a little shindig in the common room.

You’re right – an hour later your phone buzzes with an email. Your heart sinks like a stone when you see that it’s a message from Mr. Aizawa to the entire class. He’s come back to campus early, abandoning his mission to come home and punish his class. His message is short and to the point:

Common Room. Noon.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhok!

Within seconds, your phone is going absolutely wild in your hand. Texts and pings come in from all directions.

Class 1A Group Chat:

Kaminari: Oh Shit! DadZawa is gonna ground us for all eternity!

Iida: And rightfully so! We broke many rules last night and deserve just punishment!

Tsu: Calm down Iida.

Sero: Maybe it will all be fine! It’s not like we all got wasted last night. If you really think about it, we basically just had a board game night with Class 1B.

Kaminari: Love the way you casually left out all of the horny kissing

Iida: Please have some decorum in the group chat and refrain from using perverse terms!!

Kaminari: Horny isn’t perverse. I’ll even site my sources, Class Rep.

Denki sends a screenshot from an online dictionary to the group chat. It says:

horn·y

/ˈhôrnē/

adjective

1. of or resembling horn.

"a horny beak"

Kaminari: Also…I know someone who had a horny beak last night…

Kirishima: Jesus Christ.

Tokoyami: …

Tokoyami has left the chat.

Jiro: Omg you guys are so immature I can’t

Iida: Kaminari you are a disgrace to the hero course and I will remove you from this group chat if you continue to behave in this manner. Please go apologize to Tokoyami.

Kaminari: L

Kaminari: Ugh FINE. I’m going I’m going

Midoriya: Hey guys! Just catching up here – are we all talking about Mr. Aizawa’s email? Or are we talking about horny toads for that upcoming biology assignment…? Sorry, I haven’t fully read through the chat yet.

Sero: HORNY. TOADS.

Kaminari: Omg I’m crashing out Izuku HORNY TOADS!?

Bakugo: Learn to read your fuckin’ texts you damn nerd

Kirishima: My man Bakugo has entered the chat!!! Hey best buddy! Hey BakuBro!

Kaminari: Omg that’s a cute nickname can I use it too!?

Bakugo: Die.

Kaminari: Bakubroooooo

Iida: Kaminari.

Kaminari: ALRIGHT IM WALKING TO TOKOYAMIS ROOM RN SHEESH MOM

Iida: I’m not your mother.

Sero: You do got those mommy milkers thoooo

Iida: ?

Kirishima: Excuse me

Midoriya: I’m so confused

Sero: Am I the only one who saw Iida shirtless in the gym last week!? Iida you’re literally so beefy like your chest is INSANE. Pls send your workout routine!

Iida: Thank you Hanta. That is a very kind compliment. I can show you my routine next time we are at the gym.

Midoriya: …what’s a mommy milker tho

Sero: I’ll tell you when you’re older.

Uraraka: Ok. Moving on.

Uraraka: So are we all just wearing pajamas for this meeting or should I put on actual clothes?

Iida: Given the severity of our crimes against UA, I would recommend the latter.

Uraraka: Alright, leggings and a hoodie it is!

Kaminari: I’m with Tokoyami rn – we’re all good!

Tokoyami has been added to the chat.

Kaminari: Sorry for being a dumbass

Uraraka: Welcome back Tokoyami! We missed youuuu

Sero: It was a tough 5 minutes surviving in this chat without our coolest classmate

Tokoyami: 🖤

Midoriya: I JUST GOOGLED MOMMY MILKERS AND ITS NOT WHAT I THOUGHT

Kirishima: WHAT DID YOU THINK IT WOULD BE…!?

Shoto: Why is everyone yelling

A new group chat has emerged on your phone as well. One encompassing Mina, Toru, Neito, Hitoshi and, to your surprise…Mineta.

Mina: Alright fam. Everyone better keep their stories straight.

Toru: Class unity. We LOVE class unity!

Neito: We are now SO unified, it HURTS!!!

Mineta: As long as I get my kiss, I’ll say whatever you need me to say 😉

Hitoshi: No.

Mineta: ??? You weren’t involved with our deal?

Hitoshi: We talked about this last night. If Aizawa asks, you VOLUNTEERED to be the distraction out of the goodness of your heart.

Toru: FOR CLASS UNITY.

Mineta: Ugh.

Hitoshi: Is this really a game you want to play.

Mineta: Typing

Mineta: I volunteered to be the distraction because I love class unity.

Hitoshi: There we go.

Neito: God you’re hot when you’re intimidating people

Mina: PUBLIC CHAT NEITO

Neito: Oh I know 😉

Toru: You guys are so CUUUUUTE

Neito: 💕💕💕

Hitoshi: ty

UM EXCUSE ME!?!

Does that mean what you think it means!?

Did Hitoshi Shinsou get you out of that goddamn kiss pact with Mineta!?

Wow. You scroll back up and heart every message Hitoshi has sent to the group chat.

Becoming BFFs with Neito and Hitoshi was definitely not on this year’s bingo card. What an unexpectedly wonderful surprise. You pull out your phone and type a quick thank you directly to Hitoshi. He gives you a thumbs up emoji and leaves it at that – the guy is the definition simple, but effective.

A moment later, Hitoshi starts another group chat with all of your friends – Mineta is noticeably absent from this one.

Hitoshi: Alright. I had a chat with Mineta last night.

Y/N: ?????

Mina: ???!?!????

Toru: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Neito: Am I the only one capable of text in this group

Neito: How did it go?

Hitoshi: You guys saw in the other group chat – he agreed to say that he volunteered to be bait. He dropped the whole kiss thing. Y/N should be fine now.

Y/N: THANKUTHANKUTHANKU 🙏 🙏 🙏

Toru: Our chivalrous hero!!

Neito: A hero. A hunk. A hero hunk. 🤤

Hitoshi: np

Hitoshi: Just don’t go making a deal like that again, guys. You could literally get expelled.

Mina: 👽👍

Toru: We’ll be good! No kissing in exchange for goods or services!

Hitoshi: Also. I asked him what went down with Mr. King and Hatsume last night.

Y/N: Oh!? 👀

Hitoshi: From what I’ve gathered – Mr. King showed up and fought off Hatsume’s drones for quite some time. It sounds like the booby traps she loaded into those things were quite…effective. She got a few scratches on Mr. King, but nothing terrible. Once he flattened most of them and was able to get Mineta down, Hatsume retreated. Mr. King never saw her, but he’s smart enough to put all of the pieces together and figure out who rigged all of those drones. And once Mr. King saw the safety harness Hatsume had rigged up for Mineta, it became clear pretty quickly that Mineta was in on the whole thing.

Mina: Shit. Well, Hatsume def kept her promise and bought us time.

Toru: I can’t believe she managed to hurt Mr. King – I hope he’s ok!!!

Neito: What happened next? What did Mineta tell Mr. King?

Hitoshi: So apparently...

Hitoshi: Mr. King asks Mineta what he’s doing strapped to the pole surrounded by drones and the little shit says

Hitoshi: It’s for a school project.

Neito: Excuse me. 👁👄👁

Toru: What

Hitoshi: Yeah.

Hitoshi: Mineta told Mr. King that he was trying to train and see how sticky his…balls…could be and if he could use them to hold himself up on the pole for an extended amount of time. He wanted to see how altitude, stress levels, etc. impacted his quirk. He said he had borrowed the drones from a friend in order to film the project, but they had gone haywire and started attacking him an hour into the experiment.

Y/N: You want me to believe that Mineta of all people made up that alibi on the fly!?

Mina: I’m so confused.

Y/N: What did Mr. King say?????

Hitoshi: So Mr. King obviously sees through all of that bullshit and a minute later Mineta is confessing that he’s just the distraction for a big Class A and Class B party in Heights Alliance.

Hitoshi: Mr. King didn’t bother investigating the drones further. He grabbed Mineta and hauled ass to the Class A dorm. Where, of course, he found the party. And shut it down.

Y/N: So Mineta didn’t spill anything major?

Hitoshi: It would seem not.

Mina: I’m almost insulted!

Y/N: Shut up this is a good thing!!

Toru: Ok so now we just need see what Mr. Aizawa says…

Y/N: I think the only thing that could truly get us in trouble is the alcohol. But we made sure to clean the bottle and remove the label and I THINK that someone hid it when the party got busted.

Neito: Can confirm. I saw Todoroki roll it under the couch. It’s probably still there?

Mina: Oh, word? Todoroki doing us a solid!?

Hitoshi: He’s a good egg.

Hitoshi: 🥚

Toru: HAHAHA

Y/N: Do you think we could get in trouble for playing Spin The Bottle?

Neito: Not if Aizawa never finds out about it!

Mina: We’d better get to the common area for this big convo…

Neito: LMK what happens, okay!!?!???

Y/N: Ofc! 🤞

You close out the chat, only for the OG group chat that you have going with Neito, Mina and Toru to light up. Dang everyone is chatty today!

Neito: I just want to let everyone know that Hitoshi Shinsou is a sex god and that I worship at his feet.

Toru: OMG

Mina: Did you go and fuck him after we all FaceTimed!?!?!?

Neito: NO I JUST WANTED EVERYONE TO KNOW HOW HOT HE IS AND THAT AT THE FIRST POSSIBLE CHANCE YEAH 🔥🤤

Neito: ILL FUCK ‘EM RAW

Neito: ITS WHAT HE DESERVES. AS THE HOTTEST MAN ALIVE.

Toru: Jesus

Neito: Yeah and I’ll make him see God, too. 😏

Mina: Neito I am thrilled for you! Hitoshi is hot AF!!!! It looks like he’s a good kisser too!!!

Mina: But you better not spend all of your free time humping Hitoshi. We have more chaos to inflict on the Hero Course together and we demand at least some of your attention as friends.

Toru: Mina we need to handle the fallout from one party before we plan another!!!

Y/N: CLASS. FUCKIN. UNITY!!!!!

Neito: I love you guys 💕

Mina texts you seperatly a minute later.

Mina: After this Aizawa meeting goes down…I’m going to talk to Eijirou.

Y/N: Oh yeah? Do you feel ready for that?

Y/N: Do you think he might need more time and space?

Mina: IDK, I’ll ask him when I see him. And if he’s not ready to talk I’ll leave him alone.

Mina: But I’m going to try to really listen and see what he needs from me rn.

Y/N: Proud of you ❤️

Y/N: lmk how it goes?

Mina: ofc 💕

Lastly, you have a text from Shoto. Your heart does a little dance in your chest when you see his name pop up on your screen. You hastily click open the tiny message window.

Shoto: Are you ready for this meeting with Mr. Aizawa?

Y/N: No. Absolutely not. Not in a thousand years!!!

Y/N: Also heard you hid the alcohol bottle when Mr. King busted up the party?

Shoto: Yes. I slid it under the middle couch while everyone was taking down the decorations.

Y/N: Shoto you are a LIFESAVER.

Shoto: Well I do want to be a hero someday.

Y/N: You’re my hero rn

Shoto: ❤️

Shoto: What are you most worried about regarding Mr. Aizawa?

Y/N: I’m worried he’s going to punish the entire class. Last time he imposed a curfew. This time he’ll probably make our lives even worse and the whole class will blame me, Mina and Toru!

Shoto: And Monoma.

Y/N: SHOTO THAT IS NOT HELPFUL !!!

Shoto: Okay.

Shoto: A more helpful thought – everyone willingly participated in the party last night. They’ll need to accept the consequences that come with that.

Y/N: I know, but…

Shoto: It will all work out, Y/N. Mr. Aizawa likes everyone in our class. He will probably be very annoyed, but remember what you told me last night – we are just kids figuring things out. It’s alright for us to make mistakes every once and a while.

Shoto: No one got hurt or in terrible trouble.

Y/N: I think that one of Hatsume’s drones may have cut Mr. King…

Shoto: Okay no one got seriously hurt, then. I think it will all be fine.

Y/N: I really hope you’re right.

Y/N: Oh, wait I have something to tell you. You’ll really like this.

Y/N: Hitoshi talked to Mineta and got me out of the whole kiss thing.

Shoto: Really?

Y/N: Yeah! I guess Mineta is afraid of him!? It sounds like Hitoshi told him the deal was off!!! I’M A FREE WOMAN! 🙏

Shoto: Oh

Y/N: What???

Shoto: Well. Of course I don’t want you to kiss Mineta.

Shoto: But I liked being able to…

Shoto: This is embarrassing to type

Y/N: YOU GOTTA TELL ME NOW

Shoto: Why are you yelling

Y/N: TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME

Shoto: …

Y/N: Shoto Todoroki – do you WANT me to kiss goddamn MINETA!?

Y/N: You made it VERY clear yesterday that you didn’t want me to while you were FINGERBANGING ME IN A FUCKIN CLOSET!!!

Shoto: Firstly

Shoto: What is fingerbanging?

Y/N: !!!!

Y/N: I think you’re smart enough to figure out what that means.

Shoto: Fair.

Shoto: Secondly. No, I don’t want you to kiss Mineta.

Shoto: But.

Y/N: BUT!?!?!?

Shoto: You’re yelling at me again.

Y/N: Ok. Jeez. Sorry. But!?

Shoto: But…I enjoyed being a little jealous and getting to…

Shoto: Punish you?

Oh. Oh wow. Okay. So Shoto was a hell of a lot kinkier than the two of you had ever thought? He did seem super into it last night.

Y/N: Oh, really?

Shoto: Yes.

Shoto: But when I say punish. You know I mean it in a fun, consensual way?

Y/N: Yes Shoto I understand that you mean it in a fun consensual sexy way and not in a scary controlling way. Dude. At this point, I know you pretty well.

Shoto: Okay I was just making sure.

Y/N: We can def explore that Sho 😏

Shoto: I’d like that.

Y/N: See you in the common room for Aizawa’s scary meeting?

He gives your message a thumbs up react and you will yourself to roll out of bed so you can make yourself look presentable.

You grab a protein bar and scarf it down haphazardly as you pull out a clean pair of black leggings from your closet. You chew the sticky oat bar thoughtfully as you grab a basic tee and a cute hoodie as well. Might as well be comfy as Aizawa verbally tears you apart in front of your peers!

Once you’re dressed you head out to the common room. It’s 11:45am, and Hitoshi Shinsou has been the first one to arrive. He gives you a lazy wave from a couch under the windows, and you pad across the room to join him.

“Thanks for talking to Mineta. And for talking with me last night. It was…really helpful.”

Hitoshi shrugs and turns to stare out the window. “It’s no big deal. I like helping people. Especially…my friends.”

You smile as the two of you sit in silence. Friends. Your tiny group of close friends has certainly expanded a lot lately, hasn’t it?

Members of the class start to trickle in – Midoriya, Iida, Ochaco, Momo, Tsu and Sato make their way in nervously, all grabbing spots on the couches around you. Other students drift in as the clock ticks closer to noon. Everyone knows how strict Mr. Aizawa can be…and so everyone is punctual.

You bounce your leg nervously as you all wait in silence. The tension in the room is only broken when Kaminari and Jirou enter the room – holding hands.

“OMG OMG OMG!” Ochaco gasps out, looking frantically between the two. “Are you two, like, together!?” She’s hopping up and down, on the verge of crashing out over this.

Kaminari beams. Jirou drops his hand and stomps across the room to sit next to you and Hitoshi on the couch.

“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal!” She says under her breath, crossing her arms in front of her.

“Yes!” Kaminari ignores her and gushes to Ochaco. He grabs her hands in his own and huddles his head towards her conspiratorially. “We’re together! We’re officially a couple!” He drops Ochaco’s stunned hands and points across the room at Jirou and shouts loudly. “That’s my GIRLFRIEND and she’s AMAZING!”

Jirou groans and covers her blushing face with her hands, mortified.

The tone of the room lightens – everyone is thrilled for them. Immediately, most members of the class are buzzing with a mix of questions and congratulations. You’re thrilled for them, of course! But also a little jealous. Now that you know you want Shoto to be your significant other, seeing the happy couple makes you question if you and Shoto could ever be like that. Public. Unafraid. You wonder what Mr. Aizawa will do when he finds out about Kaminari and Jirou (it’s only a matter of time before he finds out – the man knows absolutely everything and Kaminari is not a subtle person the way that Shoto is). Will he punish them? Make them break up? You worry for them, stressed about the whole “no dating, no sex” policy.

Your eyes scan the room quickly for any remnants of the party from the night before. Your class was, of course, meticulous with their Mr. King-supervised-Party-clean up. Aside from Kaminari and Jirou’s newly established relationship, no trace of the party seems to exist. You stare at the couch across the room that you know is concealing the abandoned alcohol bottle Shoto stashed the night before. Should you dash over and try and grab it now? You check your phone. 11:50am. Nah, you’d be cutting it too close. Best not to be seen near the scene of the crime with a mysterious empty bottle.

A moment later, Kirishima shuffles into the room alongside Bakugo. Eijirou’s usual positive vibe is off – his face looks drawn and tired, and he looks kind of pissy. Actually…his expression practically mirror’s Bakugo’s default expression. They both look incredibly unhappy to be present in the common room.

“Hey, Bakubro – where were you last night? You missed my big moment with Jirou!” Kaminari calls out as Bakugo and Kirishima slump onto one of the other couches.

“I was goddamn sleeping, you idiot. Unlike the rest of you losers, I got up to train this morning.” Katsuki practically spits out, his eyebrows drawn angrily. “I didn’t participate in your stupid excuse for a party, so I don’t see why I even need to be here.”

Oh, that’s right…Katsuki was nowhere to be found last night. Your stomach sinks a little bit – Katsuki’s a jerk, but you’d feel bad if he got punished alongside the rest of the class for a party he didn’t even participate in.

“You’re so dedicated to your training, Kacchan.” Midoriya pipes up, looking at Katsuki admiringly. “I hope we didn’t keep you up with all of the noise from the party.”

Katsuki shrugs. “I better not get in trouble because of you idiots.”

The room dips back into a nervous silence. Mina arrives a moment later with Toru and the two of them cram onto the couch with you, Jirou and Hitoshi. Everyone is squished but it’s not horrible. Mina glances over at Eijirou hopefully, but he pointedly ignores her. He scowls down at his phone as he scrolls through Instagram.

After a few more minutes, the rest of the class has drifted into the room and taken seats. Shoto strolls in at 11:58 and seats himself next to Midoriya. He flashes a gentle grin in your direction before turning to quietly chat with Izuku. You glance around to make sure no one else has noticed – but Hitoshi catches your eye and gives you a perceptive look. You roll your eyes at him. Luckily, everyone else seems preoccupied as they wonder allowed what Aizawa’s punishment will be.

The clock strikes noon and nothing happens.

You and your classmates all exchange nervous looks with one another as you wait. When you hear heavy footsteps from up the hall, you start to panic a bit. Ugh, crap, you really hope that you haven’t gotten your class into too much trouble. The anticipation of this whole Aizawa ordeal is just killing you – your stomach is churning and you’re adrenaline is already pumping.

A moment later, Mr. Aizawa appears, sweeping around the corner in his dark uniform, his capture weapon wrapped around his neck. He strides into the room with purpose and stops to stand before his class.

“Class.” He acknowledges you all quietly, eyes darting around the room to quickly count heads.

He looks absolutely exhausted with those tired, red eyes. You remember with a start that he’s been out on a mission and likely hasn’t slept in quite some time. A few days’ worth of stubble dots his pale chin, and his hair is as unkempt as usual. It’s funny – you and your friends have often discussed how Shota Aizawa would be drop dead gorgeous if he just took better care of himself. His raven hair is thick and long and if he just brushed if every once and a while he would be an absolute smoke show. But – he’s an underground hero and a teacher. His appearance obviously isn’t a priority. You’ve often wondered if Mr. Aizawa has someone special in his life. You assume that if this were the case, he’d clean himself up a little more. Most people didn’t go for that scruffy, dirty, exhausted look – right?

“Hello, Mr. Aizawa.” The class intones nervously. He nods absentmindedly in response.

“We have a few important things to discuss today.” He says briskly, rubbing at his temples like he has a deep headache. “Mr. King called me this morning and filled me in on what’s been going on.” He glances around the room, searching everyone’s faces carefully. You sit up straight between Hitoshi and Jirou, trying not to look too guilty. “Luckily for all of you, my mission ended early and I was already back on campus last night when Mr. King called me at 3 am. There would have been hell to pay had I been called away in the middle of a job.”

He pauses as the class takes in that information. Part of you is relieved that your shenanigans didn’t ruin Mr. Aizawa’s mission. Maybe that’s something you should have thought more about during the party planning process…if you had gotten caught you might have jeopardized your teacher’s mission (and jeopardized the lives of any people depending on him during said mission). In retrospect…the party was much more selfish than you had intended.

“So here’s what I know. There was a party in this room last night involving most of Classes A and B. The party was pre-planned because there were decorations and baked goods. Neito Monoma apparently took credit for the whole thing. And Mineta aided him as a distraction on the quad.” He rattles off the list, unblinking. His tone is even, not necessarily accusatory.

You shift uncomfortably in your seat, eyes darting around to take in the guilty looks of your fellow classmates. Mineta sits towards the back of the room, looking absolutely terrified. You feel a little pity for him. Sure, he’s shitty most of the time, but he did help pull off the greatest party distraction ever known to Heights Alliance. He probably deserves a little bit of credit for that, right? Then you remember the way he talked you into promising to kiss him in exchange for his help. Eh, fuck the credit. He’s still scummy as hell. You refocus on Aizawa.

“Here are a few things I put together on my own. It looks like some kind of tech was used to distract Vlad. So I’m assuming that Hatsume from the Support Course was involved. The drone he brought back with him seems to be her style. The rest of the tech she was using seemed to have disappeared when Vlad went back to investigate. I’m also fairly certain that the ring leaders of the party were from our class.” His eyes hover on you before slowly moving to rest on Mina and Toru in turn. “I can’t even begin to say how disappointed I am in you all. I explicitly banned any kind of social gathering from happening while I was away, and I instated a curfew after the last ‘party’ incident.”

The entire class sits in an uncomfortable silence, and it feels like the air has been sucked out of the room. Mr. Aizawa’s words weigh heavily on you all, and his quiet, matter-of-fact dissatisfaction is almost worse than him yelling. His sunken eyes continue to wander the room, bestowing each student with an individual dose of disappointment. Katsuki is the only one who holds Aizawa’s steely gaze. That’s right, he didn’t participate in the party. There’s no reason for him to shoulder the weight of Aizawa’s displeasure.

“But as disappointed as I am that you all blatantly disobeyed my rules…I’m actually a little impressed by what you managed to accomplish.” Aizawa sighs, slowly unwinding his capture weapon from his shoulders and wrapping it neatly around his elbow. It looks like he’s taking it off for the day.

“Wait. What.” Kaminari blurts out stupidly. “That’s not what I was expecting you to say.”

“Yeah we’re gonna need some further explanation here.” Sero pipes up, sounding equally surprised. Mina glances at you hopefully, her dark eyes wide with astonishment. All around you, your classmates start to babble and mutter to each other – everyone wondering what the hell Mr. Aizawa is talking about.

“Everyone quiet down!” Iida calls out, ever the class rep. “Mr. Aizawa! Please continue!” The engine hero chops the air with his hand and gestures for Mr. Aizawa to keep talking.

Aizawa presses two fingers to the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes for a moment. He takes a deep, steadying breath before his eyelids flutter open around those dry, red eyes. He stares out at you all and seems to be willing himself to stay awake.

“I took some time this morning to review video footage from around campus. Ashido. Hagakure. Y/N. The three of you collaborated with Monoma, Mineta, and Hatsume on the quad and developed a fairly successful plan to delay Vlad King while you threw the party.”

Your stomach drops. You didn’t realize that UA was crawling with surveillance cameras – but in retrospect, it totally makes sense. The UA campus is one of the best-protected institutions in Japan – of course they have a state of the art security system in place. You feel foolish for not thinking there would be some method of surveillance observing your every move.

“Answer this for me…how long did you take to plan this distraction?” Aizawa looks directly at you. No sense in lying now, not when he’s caught you red handed on camera.

“Maybe a week?” You say uncertainly, avoiding his gaze.

“You seemed to have missed a few key factors in your planning process – you neglected to circumvent the security cameras, one of your teammates managed to get caught, and Vlad managed to get ahold of a piece of your equipment as well. Let’s use this as a learning experience.” He pauses; making sure everyone in the class is listening. All mumbling has ceased – all eyes are now concentrated intensely on Aizawa. “When you go on a covert mission, you need to ensure that no team member is left behind. You need to account for every possible scenario – always assume that you are being recorded or filmed somehow, especially these days when cameras are everywhere. And lastly, if you need to leave a mission in a hurry, at least try to destroy any hero support gear rather than leave it behind. You don’t want powerful or proprietary technology to get into enemy hands.”

You all stare at Aizawa in disbelief. Of course this man would find some way to turn this into a lecture. All of a sudden the party was turning into a weird learning experience. You can practically hear Iida’s voice in your mind saying “I’d expect nothing less from a top educational institution like UA!”

Aizawa continues on, leaving his capture weapon wrapped around his arm and tucking his hands deep into his pockets. “This is a great example of how, despite your best attempts at preparation, fieldwork missions rarely go to plan. Remember this phrase we discussed in strategy class – “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.” That means that things will rarely go as we intended, despite our best efforts.” He pauses there, taking in the class’s shocked expressions. You can see the ghost of a smile on his face. No one was really expecting Aizawa to turn this situation into a teachable moment.

“Now, what was another blind spot in your plan?” His gaze lingers again on you, Toru and Mina. Mina slowly raises her manicured pink hand, looking uncertain.

“Yes, Ashido.” Aizawa calls on her as if you’re all just sitting through a normal class lecture.

“We didn’t have a contingency plan. Or a way to shut down the party quickly if Mr. King was on his way to the dorm.” Mina says in a small voice, looking anywhere but Aizawa’s face. “We also didn’t have a reliable stream of communication set up with Mineta and Hatsume. We should have been communicating with both of them throughout the party, but we all got distracted.”

“Right. When planning a mission, you need to think through all possible scenarios. And you need to make sure that every member of your team has support. In this situation, Hatsume and Mineta didn’t have backup, and you didn’t have an exit strategy for the rest of the class. Let’s pretend that Mr. King was a villain and the rest of Classes A and B were civilians that you were protecting. Hatsume and Mineta were holding off the villain the best they could while you tended to the civilians. In this instance, you weren’t able to evacuate the civilians quickly enough and chaos ensued. The villain won.”

“You need to have a plan but also learn to be flexible and think quickly on your feet. I’m disappointed that Vlad caught you all. I’m assuming that Hatsume gave you ample warning to clear out the party? She doesn’t seem like one to leave loose ends.”

“She did.” You say guiltily, hanging your head. “She texted us, but we all managed to get caught up and miss the message.”

“There’s another lesson – stay focused on the mission. You can’t afford to get distracted in the field.” Mr. Aizawa surveys the class with shrewd eyes. “Alright, so we’ve reviewed what you can improve on. Next I want to commend you all for something…”

“Mr. King was deeply impressed with the way that Monoma took responsibility for the party. He was willing to take the fall for the entire operation, and that is no small feat. We all know that Monoma has been…difficult…since the first year Sports Festival. Last time you tried to throw a get together he’s went out of his way to get it shut down. But this time - it seems like Classes A and B were finally able to find some common ground. And that is something Vlad and I have been hoping would happen. Your peers in Class B will be your colleagues in the field someday. You need them. It’s important that you form a rapport with them now while you’re students. We want you to learn from each other, to trust one another.”

Hot damn, Aizawa is the one who’s bringing up CLASS UNITY!!!! You give Hitoshi a sidelong glance, but he ignores you. He keeps his gaze trained on Aizawa.

What your teacher says next is truly shocking.

“I think that perhaps we’ve been training you all so hard that we forgot to give you some time to decompress with your peers. So moving forward…I’m lifting the curfew.”

The entire class cheers at the unexpected news.

“Sensei that’s sick! Thank you!” Kaminari calls out, pumping his fist into the air.

“So manly!” Kirishima calls out, his sour mood lifted.

“Isn’t this amazing, Kacchan? We can all play video games together again!” Izuku says happily, and Katsuki smirks.

“It’ll be good to put you nerds in your place again when we play Mario Kart.”

“That’s the spirit, Bakugo.” Sero laughs, clapping him on the back.

“This is wonderful, ribbit!” Tsu croaks out and Ochaco cheers alongside her.

Aizawa’s eyes flash red as his quirk activates, and everyone goes quiet again to hear what he’ll say next.

“You can choose one night a month to organize a gathering in the common rooms with Class B and any other members of your Year. The school will provide some board games and snacks; Class reps Iida and Yaoyorozu can work on forming a social committee to take the lead with these events.” Mr. Aizawa rattles off the rules (of course there are terms and conditions to this – he’s a real stickler for order!). “Now remember – this is a perk and you’ll all need to show me you’re doing your best in classes and in training for these gatherings to continue. If I catch anyone slipping, I will take away this privilege.”

It’s all too good to be true! Aizawa actually wants you to have parties!?

“It’s important for you to take care of your bodies and your minds as we continue our intense training this year. Your social development is key to that as well. You’ll be encouraged to continue hanging out and forming relationships with students in other classmates. After all, like I said earlier - they’ll be your co-workers, support techs and marketing managers someday when you’re all Pro Heroes. It’s basic networking.”

He pauses, kneading at his temples again with the pads of his fingers. Wow, he must really not be feeling great. “And speaking of networking…this week in class we’ll start to discuss this year’s internship program. It’s an important step in your training and development, so please use the rest of the day to prepare for the big week ahead.”

He stops there, looking around at the class to make sure everyone has absorbed all that he’s shared. He looks dead tired, and you almost wish he were in his yellow sleeping back right now so he could just keel over into a nap. He shifts on his feet unsteadily, like he’s getting ready to leave.

“Whoa, what are internships!?” Kaminari calls out loudly and everyone turns to look at him. “You’re just gonna mic drop and head out without giving us more details?”

“He has a point. This sounds like something we should know more about.” Tsu says thoughtfully, finger to her chin as she stares at Mr. Aizawa with those wide, froggy eyes of hers.

“Sounds exciting!” Toru calls out, shimmying on the couch with enthusiasm. The couch cushion bounces under her, rattling Hitoshi and Jirou alongside you.

“You’ll need to wait until we get back to class tomorrow for more information. I’m too tired to get into this right now.” Aizawa intones as he brings up his hand to shield his eyes from the florescent lights.

“Alright, go and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Get out of my sight.” Mr. Aizawa says, turning away from you all. You can’t help but hear the fondness in his voice as he dismisses the group. “I’m going to sleep for the next twelve hours, so don’t do anything stupid that I’ll need to wake up for.”

“Understood, sir!” Kaminari calls out as Aizawa makes a hasty exit. “Sleep well!”

“Dude, don’t say that to our teacher that’s weird!” Kirishima admonishes.

Aizawa disappears into the hallway and you look around at your classmates in awe. Everyone is absolutely buzzing – high on excitement now that Aizawa has promised a future filled with parties and social breaks. You all can’t believe that you got away with the previous night’s debaucherous shindig.

“Oh my GOD! You’re all idiots!” Bakugo stomps into the hallway and back towards his dorm room. “What a waste of fuckin’ time. I could be halfway done with my English homework by now.”

“Wait for me, Bakugo! I need help with my homework!” Kaminari calls out, scrambling after him.

“Ask pony tail girl for help! I’m not some charity tutor!” You hear Bakugo yell down the hall.

Mina and Toru jump up and down in front of your couch, beaming (well, you assume Toru is beaming. Invisibly.).

“We did it, Y/N! We’re freeeee!” Toru squeals, spinning around in a circle.

Mina bounces up and down on the balls of her feet. “He practically congratulated us for pulling off the party! CLASS UNITY!”

You and Toru chant a rousing chorus of “Class Unity!” as well, and Jirou cackles as Toru does a little pirouette around the couch. Hitoshi’s smiling down at his phone, no doubt giving Neito an update on the whole situation.

“How’s everyone’s favorite Phantom Thief?” You ask the purple haired boy, tilting your head with interest.

“Oh he’s just thrilled that the teachers suddenly think so highly of him for ‘going through a major character growth moment.’ He’s preening.”

“Of course he is.” Mina rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “Wow, wow, wow I cannot believe we actually managed to get away with this. I thought we were cooked for sure.”

“I know!” You say, feeling giddy with relief. “What are the odds of this happening!?”

“I told you.” Hitoshi says smugly. “This is something Aizawa and King have wanted since the beginning. He’s taking his wins where he can with our class.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” You say, batting at him with your hands. “And now I guess this means you’ll get more unfettered face sucking time with a certain blonde member of Class B.”

“Shut up.” Hitoshi says, cheeks glowing a tiny bit pink. But he’s smiling.

Mina looks down at you, hands on her hips. She’s got a nervous, frenetic energy about her. “Alright well now that that’s over…I’ve got a few last loose ends to tie up.” You know she’s talking about apologizing to Eijirou. You flash her a thumbs up. “I’ll see you guys later.”

“Alright, girl. Let us know if you need anything!” Toru calls out after her as she exits the common room. Clearly she has been filled in on the Kirishima situation via text.

“I can’t believe you guys actually pulled that off.” Jirou says in amazement as she gets to her feet. “That was punk rock as all hell.”

“We just got lucky, honestly.” Toru says humbly. “Mr. Aizawa would have had every right to punish us. But I’m sure glad he didn’t!”

Out of the corner of your eye, you watch Shoto and Izuku exit the common room, chatting.

“Hey, guys? I gotta go, um, take care of something, too. I’ll catch up with y’all later?” You wave to your friends as you follow Shoto and Izuku out into the hall.

“Something’s up with her.” Toru says once you’re out of earshot. “She’s been acting really weird lately.”

“Maybe she has a crush on someone.” Jirou says. “She’s been a little flighty lately, hasn’t she?”

“Since when are you an expert on dating?” Hitoshi quirks an eyebrow at her, making her blush and look away.

“Well I have a boyfriend now, don’t I?” She says defensively, her mouth in a flat line.

“Fair enough.” Hitoshi laughs, but Toru seems flabbergasted.

“What!?” She says, hopping up and down before flopping back n the couch. “You think our Y/N has a crush? On who!? OMG I bet it’s Honenuki!?”

“It’s not Honenuki.” Hitoshi snorts, rolling his eyes. Toru turns slowly to look at Hitoshi.

“You know something about this…don’t you?” She says accusingly.

Hitoshi’s eyes widen a fraction before he masters himself. His expression instantly bounces back to neutral.

“What are you talking about?”

“You just said ‘it’s not Honenuki’ way too confidentially. You know who Y/N has a crush on, don’t you? Jirou, help me out!!” Toru cries out, waving an invisible arm at Jirou to include her in the conversation.

“Yeah. It did sound a little suspicious.” Jirou says, leveling Hitoshi with a distrustful look.

“Guys, chill out.” Hitoshi says, his brain grasping at straws as he tries to come up with a plausible excuse for why you wouldn’t be interested in Honenuki. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“Don’t gaslight us!” Toru shrieks, thwacking him lightly with her transparent hands while Jirou laughs.

“Look. All I’m saying is that…Y/N probably isn’t into Honenuki because (a) he can’t really kiss with his current facial set up. And (b) she doesn’t even know him that well. I just can’t see someone like Y/N going for a guy she’s barely talked to.”

“They’ve been texting, though!” Toru says, waving her own phone in Hitoshi’s face. He grimaces and shifts away from her. He doesn’t really love his personal space being invaded so aggressively. But he supposes that’s a part of friendship. “I saw it! They send music back and forth to each other.”

“Also not everyone is as obsessed with kissing as you are.” Jirou grins teasingly. “We all saw you playing tonsil hockey with Monoma last night like some kind of heathen.”

“Then maybe I’m wrong, alright? Jeez, lay off guys. I’m sorry.” Hitoshi grumbles, getting to his feet and ambling away from the girls. Jirou and Toru laugh at his discomfort as he makes his exit from the common area.

“I wonder if it Y/N does have a crush onHonenuki, though. She’s been kinda distant since she started texting him more. And that kiss last night that he gave her…well it was sort of intimate despite the fact that he doesn’t have lips.” Toru wonders aloud, looking to Jirou for additional insight.

“Listen, I’ve barely had a boyfriend for twelve hours. I am not the one to talk to about romance.”

The two laugh and go get to get a snack from the kitchen, where some of your classmates are celebrating Aizawa’s leniency.

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

Meanwhile, you’ve followed Izuku and Shoto back towards the boy’s side of the dorm at a relatively safe distance. When the two say their goodbyes and go to their separate rooms, you dash up to Shoto’s dorm door.

You knock on the door and don’t wait for his reply, bursting into his room jubilantly. He gives you a look of surprise, his bright eyes wide as he opens his mouth to greet you. You fly to him, throwing your arms around his neck and sealing your lips together with a sound smek!

Shoto doesn’t question his good fortune; he just closes his eyes and leans into the kiss as he wraps his arms around your waist. Within minutes he’s rolled out his palette bed and has you straddling him, his hands squeezing your solid hips.

“I can’t believe Aizawa let us get away with the party.” Shoto says between kisses. He lets his hands travel up your body and under your shirt, leaving goose bumps in their wake. His palms settle around your breasts, his fingertips squeezing and massaging.

“Fuck.” You say as he pinches at one of your nipples over the padding of your bra. “I know, I’m like riding a high right now. I can’t believe we didn’t get into trouble.”

Shoto presses your lips together again to shut you up and you all but melt into him. You feel giddy and relieved as you kiss and kiss and kiss, glad that you don’t have detention or another terrible punishment hanging over your head. Wow, you really pulled it off!

“I wasn’t expecting that at all from our teacher.” Shoto says as you pause to take a breath. His mouth quirks up into a gentle smile. “I’m glad you didn’t get the class in trouble. I didn’t really enjoy having a curfew.”

“Hey – you participated in that party just as much as the rest of the class. In fact, you hid the liquor bottle under the couch. You’re an accomplice.” You protest. “If we would have been punished it wouldn’t have been all my fault.”

“You’re right.” Shoto says, sliding his hands under your bra so he can play with your bare breasts. “I’m your party crime accomplice.”

“And don’t you forget it.” You sigh in contentment as he rolls a nipples between his thumb and forefinger. It’s only been a few minutes of sitting on top of Shoto and your panties are thoroughly soaked. You grind against him, trying to line up his hardness with your aching core despite the layers of clothing between you. After a moment of repositioning, you find a great angle and settle in. You roll your hips slowly, feeling the hard line of Shoto’s cock flex against your leggings.

Shoto groans lightly at the contact, pulling his hands back down from your breasts so he can guide your hips. He looks up at you with heavily lidded, lusty eyes as he helps you to grind on his hardness.

You reach down and pull at the hem of his shirt. “This needs to come off right now.”

He grins up at you and holds up his arms so that you can strip him of his expensive name brand t-shirt. You pull it up and over his head, messing up his two toned hair in the process. You toss the shirt over your shoulder and hear it quietly hit the floor behind you.

“God I love to just look at you.” You sigh, taking in Shoto’s perfect muscular form. You smooth your palms over the pale skin of his chest, allowing yourself to appreciate the hard muscle he’s gained over the past year of training with the Hero Course. Shoto glimmers under the contact, clearly appreciating your appreciation. You smile down at him before leaning in for another kiss.

You make out lazily for a while, working each other up with your lips and hands. Finally, Shoto breaks away to gaze up at you with those pretty eyes of his.

“Y/N.” Shoto whispers, his voice husky in your ear as he reaches for your waist. “Y/N, I want to touch you again. Can I?” He sounds almost desperate for it. And who are you to deny Shoto Todoroki the pleasure of touching your pussy?

“Yes. Literally any time.” You say excitedly, letting him reposition you for easier access. He helps you off of him, pulling you down onto the bedroll beside him so that he can wrap his arms around you. And that’s how Shoto ends up behind you, your back flush against his chest as he spoons you.

His fingers slide down your stomach, easily slipping beneath the thick band of your leggings that covers your stomach. He brushes against the waistline of your underwear with his fingertips, playing with it. Ghosting along the thick waistband. Your pussy is sopping wet, dripping with anticipation. He snaps the elastic against the delicate skin of your stomach and you whimper.

“Did you like that?” He whispers, letting his fingers slip a bit lower over the soft fabric of your underwear. Heat pools in between your legs at the tinge of excitement in his voice as he teases you. Suddenly you recall his texts from the night before and you’re struck with an idea. You bite your lip for a moment as you think through what you want to say.

“Shoto, I’ve been such a bad girl. Maybe you should punish me?” You say in a simpering little voice. You’re not sure if this will do it for him, but when he snaps the elastic again you know you’ve gotten his attention.

“What did you do this time, Y/N?” He says, his voice almost harsh in your ear as he drifts his finger lightly over your underwear, your clit throbbing underneath. “Did you make a deal to kiss another one of our classmates in exchange for a favor?”

Okay, Shoto, go off!?

You flex your hips in an attempt to grind into his fingers, but he pulls his hand away.

“Answer the question, Y/N.” He presses a wet, open-mouthed kiss to the hollow beneath your ear and you flush. He continues to lavish your neck with hot kisses as your tongue works itself around an answer.

“Yeah.” You invent wildly. “I told Mr. Aizawa that I’d kiss him if he let us off without any punishment.”

Shoto’s kisses still. He absolutely knows that you’re making this up for the sake of fantasy, but he’s a bit shocked that this fictional hookup involves your teacher of all people. He quickly gets his head back in the game and resumes kissing his way across the sensitive skin of your neck, bringing his fingers back down to ghost across your clothed pussy. You’ve seen him refocus himself similarly in battle when he’s caught off guard – he’s adaptable.

“…and did he accept the kiss?” He asks slowly, driving you crazy with his barely-there touches.

“Well, we got away with the party, didn’t we?” You bite back, grinning as his fingers flutter over your clit again. You raise your hips to chase his touch, but he pulls his hand away again. He’s really making you earn it.

“You’re right.” Shoto says as he continues to plant hot kisses along your collarbone. “You’ve been so,” kiss. “Terribly.” Another kiss. “bad.” Shoto says, his voice deep and breathless. “Letting your teacher kiss you to avoid detention? Heroes don’t trade sexual favors in order to get what they want.”

“Well maybe this hero does.” You say, straining to get closer to him. You feel like your body is on fire with need, and Shoto is a bucket of satisfying water. You want him to absolutely drench you.

“Not on my watch.” He finally slips his hand underneath your underwear, his pointer finger sweeping across your soft pussy to gather up your arousal.

“Oh, Shoto!” Shoto slides the pads of his fingers down into your folds, wasting no time in finding your swollen clit. He circles it greedily, slipping and sliding in your wetness.

“Fuck.” Shoto curses under his breath and your heart sings at the swear. It’s so rare that he uses foul language, but your pussy always seems to draw that roughness out of him. He closes his eyes as he continues to move his fingers around your wetness, getting a feel for you. He’s concentrating hard, trying to get a handle on the terrain. He’s only done this once the night before and it was so rushed and hot and quick. This time, he wants to spend a little more time getting a lay of the land before he takes you apart. He smooths his fingers around your clit and then slowly down your dripping slit, taking care to ensure that you’re comfortable as he does so. He drops the dirty talk so he can focus on your pleasure.

“How’s this?” He asks curiously, drawing the pads of his fingers across your entrance questioningly. You scoot a back a bit and part your legs to give him better access.

“It’s nice. You can go inside if you want.” You say, your breath catching in your throat as he begins to softly pulse his pointer finger against your hole. The steady rhythm feels good and intoxicating. Your core pulses with need - with each gentle thrum of his finger against your wetness, your body is craves to be filled, to have him move inside.

“That would be alright?” He asks softly, in awe of your body. When you nod enthusiastically, he gently pulses the tip of his pointer finger inside. He takes it slowly, allowing your body to adjust and pull him in a few centimeters at a time. This is much more gentle and deliberate than last night in the janitor’s closet. You let out a soft moan as he manages to slide most of his finger inside of you. He begins to pulse it, trying to gauge what feels good for you.

“I’ve been wondering how this would feel if I used my penis instead of my fingers.” He says thoughtfully, sliding his finger into you more fully and twisting. You gasp at the motion, dripping wet. Once he feels you’re comfortable and enjoying yourself, he layers in a bit more dirty talk. Your body and brain fizzle with appreciation. “Do you think you’d be able to handle it? It is a bit larger than my fingers, after all…”

Your pussy pulses at his words. Oh god. What would it be like to be filled up with Shoto Todoroki’s thick cock? It would probably feel just like heaven, right?

You’ve definitely thought about it. After all, how could a girl jerk off Shoto Todoroki’s hot dick and not fantasize about how it would feel inside of her!?

“Ah.” You sigh out as he continues to pleasure you, bringing his free hand around to slide down your leggings and play with your clit as his other penetrates you deeply. “You’re right. Your cock is just so big. I don’t know if it would fit right away.”

“We can work our way up to it, then.” He says in a strained voice, fingers moving faster in time with his rapidly beating heart.

“How would you want to fuck me, Sho?” You ask, voice strangled as he continues to do wonderful things with his fingertips. “Would you want me on top? Or maybe you’d want to take me from behind?”

This is new territory for you both – unabashed dirty talk. Discussing the possibility of straight up fucking. It’s intoxicating to be speaking so openly about how badly your body wants and needs Shoto.

Shoto lets out a harsh breath as he presses further into you, your bodies intertwined deliciously. “Oh my God Y/N. I don’t know…I’d let you have me any way you’d want. I bet I could make you feel so good. I’d fill you up so well. I don’t think you’d be able to keep quiet. Everyone would know that we’re fucking.”

He’s talking nonsense. You awkwardly bend your arm behind your back to palm at his cock through his pants. He’s hard as all hell. You wonder if he’ll cum in his underwear again.

“You know, I had a sex dream about you recently.” He repositions himself to be a bit more comfortable, dragging his left hand away from your clit so he can use it to better prop himself up. Your brain is fuzzy with horny-ness, but somehow you’re able to process his words. You’re a bit shocked about two things – (a) Shoto has had a sex dream about you and (b) he’s so willing to talk about it.

“You did?” You gasp out as he gains momentum and hits a particularly good spot deep inside of you. His words are driving you just as crazy as his hands at this point.

“Yeah.” He breathes. You buck your hips backwards and grind against his hardness.

“Tell me about it?”

“Alright.” Shoto says, slowly drawing his finger out from inside of you so that he can zigzagging his fingers around your pussy lips. Your core shudders at the loss of him inside of you, but you try to concentrate on what he’s saying instead. He teases you – running his finger slowly around the rim of your hole, dragging it softly up and around your clit.

Finally, he presses back into you and you make a small noise of pleasure as he settles himself inside. “We were at my family’s vacation home. We woke up in bed together in the sun…and we made love.”

“Oh!” Your breath catches in your chest, your heart pounding in time with the drag of Shoto’s finger deep inside of you. “Can you tell me more?”

“Yes.” Shoto says shortly, his breath a bit labored as he tries to concentrate on your pussy while you grind against him. “You felt so good, so soft. You were wearing a t-shirt. No underwear. It was so easy to just lift it up and…and I woke up wishing I was inside of you for real.”

“God that’s so hot, Shoto.” You say as he increases his pace, flexing his finger against your gummy walls. “God I want you inside of me.”

“I am inside of you.” He teases, flexing his finger to remind you.

“You know what I mean.”

You’re so wet you’re certain your pants are soaked through. All of this hooking up with Shoto has you going through detergent and laundry supplies like crazy – it’s becoming an expensive habit. Clearly you just need to start getting naked off the bat to avoid soaking through your panties and jeans in the future…

You grind back into Shoto again, butt cheeks bouncing against his cock. He lets out a whine.

“Y/N…I’m gonna…I can’t help myself…I need to…” He says, sounding completely undone. You love the way he starts babbling when he’s close to cumming.

“It’s alright, Sho. you can cum.” You throw your head back into his chest and grind your ass back against him as he continues to finger you. He lets out a strangled moan as he cums in his underwear for the second time in 24 hours. Man this guy is an absolute freak for your wet pussy.

“Next time I’ll make you cum with my fingers, how ‘bout?” You promise as his breathing evens out.

“I’ll cum however you’ll let me.” Shoto sighs into your ear, continuing to finger fuck your pussy with vigor. There’s something about the desperate way he says that, all strung out and woozy that just about drives you over the edge. You feel the orgasm swell in your core, ballooning out and expanding to encompass your entire body…

“Shoto…Shoto, I’m gonna - !”

Shoto melds against you, pulling you into him with one hand as his other continues to fuck into you enthusiastically with the other. Holy fucking shit the room is spinning and you’re on the precipice of falling into paradise.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Out of nowhere, a rapid staccato of a knock hits Shoto’s dorm door, causing you both still.

Blood is rushing in your ears and you can’t help at the way your hips automatically buck up in an attempt to get Shoto to move again. You’re so fucking close – filled up with golden ichor and a pulsing need to finish around Shoto’s sweet fucking fingers.

Shoto remains frozen, his gaze flickering uncertainly towards the door.

It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine. After all, you’ve had this happen a few times before. Remember that time early on when Mina and Toru were at the door while you got Shoto off? And you just kind of lied and told them you didn’t feel well until they eventually left? Or when Aizawa was behind the door, telling Shoto his father was visiting in the common room?

You’ll just keep quiet and ignore the door - whoever’s trying to see Shoto will eventually give up move on. Soon they’ll realize that Shoto isn’t coming to answer the door and they’ll leave, simple as that.

For some reason, though, this time is different.

The knocker doesn’t wait for Shoto to reply, and they don’t leave either.

The doorknob rattles briefly as the intruder PUSHES THE DOOR WIDE OPEN. The door flies out of the doorjamb, hinges squeaking in the stunned silence of the dorm room.

With a wave of sickening panic – you realize that you both forgot to lock the door!!!!

There’s no time to think or move or pull away from Shoto. Your back is flush against him, your limbs tangled up – and his hand is firmly, immovably down the front of your leggings. His fingers tucked inside your tight heat.

“Todoroki – I found that All Might Silver Age manga we were talking about earlier and I wanted to bring it over. You can borrow it, if you’d like! Of course, you can probably find an illegally uploaded copy online but I really like to support the artists who work so hard to draw everything out! And the only real way to do that is to buy the manga directly from the artist or from an indie manga store and –

Izuku Fucking Midoriya throws open the door wide and stands in the threshold of the dorm room, babbling incessantly about manga. In his hand, he holds a short stack of red white and gold comic books plastered with images of a younger, hotter All Might.

What happens next seems to occur in slow motion – Izuku slowly looks up from his pile of manga and locks eyes with you and Shoto. His facial expression changes from one of cheerful excitement to absolute horror, his jaw dropping and his eyes bulging in complete shock as he takes in the scene.

“Holy Whoa!”

Shoto is shirtless – his expensive branded t-shirt laying abandoned on the floor somewhere by your shoes. His hair is mussed and standing on end, his perfect part is fucked up – red hair blending with white. And somehow in the span of five minutes, he’s already hard again. So incredibly hard in his jeans – you can feel his rigid cock pressed against your butt even through the layers of underwear and pants. He’s laying on his side on the plush bedroll, supporting himself on his left elbow, while his right arm is draped around your waist, his left hand dipped low into your leggings. His fingers are still firmly lodged in your throbbing fucking pussy.

Izuku lets out a low, frantic sound. Something akin to an animal being cornered by a predator. His hands fly up to cover his eyes and the stack of All Might manga hits the ground with a firm “flump!” The individual issues of glossy manga fan out across the ground, pages fluttering as the booklets scatter across Shoto’s usually immaculately clean floor.

Izuku holds his hands flush to his face so he can’t see and he tries to turn to leave the room. He walks squarely into the door with a squeak. He lets his hands fall so he can feel his way out of the room with his eyes still shut.

“I, um, didn’t see anything! Okay! Bye Todoroki! Bye Y/N! I mean! Bye no one! Enjoy the manga!” Midoriya turns on his heel and stiffly closes the door behind him; you can hear him bumping into something in the hallway (he probably forgot to open his eyes). After a moment, his footsteps fade.

You push away from Shoto, both of you lock eyes in the silence. He hastily pulls his fingers out of you with a soft squelch!

Fuck.

Izuku fucking Midoriya caught you getting goddamn fingerbanged by Shoto Todoroki. Who, you think with a pang, is very much publically not your boyfriend.

And now Izuku Midoriya knows.

Within the span of a few hours, the circle of people who know about you and Shoto has increased to 4.

Ughhhhh what the hell are you gonna do!?

You turn to Shoto with wide, terror filled eyes. He looks back up at you with that classic Shoto stare of his from where he’s still laying on his bedroll, stunned.

The two of you sit like that for a few moments, eyes locked in a panicked sort of silence.

“Well…” He says quietly, gulping to clear the nervous lump in his throat. “It was nice of him to leave the manga.”

End of Chapter 9

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Author's Notes:

wow ok that was wild I'm gonna go sleep for a hundred years now

Okayyyy so this is the largest single chapter I've ever written EVER!! I thought about breaking it up into 3 parts but honestly I also just wanted it out in the world because I'm very excited about how the story is progressing!!! The next update will probably be a quarter of the size of this - I need to set more manageable chapter expectations! But at the same time...writing this doesn't stress me out. It thrills me. So we'll see what the next month of writing brings for Shoto's First Kiss!

I hope y'all enjoyed the different directions the fic is taking! I feel like if it were just Shoto x Reader all the time it would get boring (and be soooo much shorter!). I'm liking the different character interactions and growth and my absolute favorite arc here is the way the Reader's friend group is expanding and growing. Also - can you tell I've been consuming hella MHA SMAUs lately!? I wanted to include a few silly text convos for the fun of it. The horny toad / mommy milkers texts had me rolling. I re-read them during editing and was like...what was I thinking when I wrote this!? It's so silly. And if you've been following me for a bit you know I love silly!

Anyways, I really hope that this chapter was worth the almost 2 month wait. I've been really thoughtful with my approach to writing Shoto's First Kiss, but I've also been trying to blow off steam with shorter one shot fics in between. I hope to publish some fun smutty one shots in the next few weeks involving Best Jeanist/EdgeShot and Izuku/Katsuki :) And maybe eventually I'll get back around to writing some Kirishima nonsense (the original goal of this freakin' blog). Idk, now I'm just rambling!

Thanks for reading and for joining me on this journey. All of your comments, requests, and votes on my stupid polls mean the world to me and bring me a lot of freakin' joy. I love writing and I really feel like I'm growing and developing my style through these fics. Maybe one day I'll write an original novel of my own or something. But at least for now...well, it was nice of him to leave the manga :)

XOXO,

Red Riot Unbreakable Heart ❤️

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❄️🔥THE ICYTHOTS🔥❄️

Want to join or be removed from the tag list - let me know! Once again, this is an ADULT ONLY blog. The IcyThot club is exclusively dedicated to the Shoto's First Kiss series and will only include A18+. Do not request to be added unless you are over 18. If your blog is ageless/your age isn't listed in the bio you cannot be an IcyThot member! I'm also adding the "sexual content" label/tags.

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aethon-recs · 3 months ago

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This Week (x2) in Tomarrymort (8 – 21 November 2024)

Hello! We have three multi-chaptered fics finishing this week, highlighted below. In addition, I made a rec list for Tomarrymort Necrophilia Fics 💀🤍 in support of the Tomarrymort Necro Fest hosted by @magical-menagerie-server, which kicks off in January.

Completed Fic:

Memories of a Killer by @chemfreak89 (M, 47k, complete) Age catches up with everyone. The infamous serial killer Voldemort now spends his time reading newspapers and making trips to the local library in search of a new crime novel. But one day he makes an interesting new acquaintance that shakes his quiet life and rekindles old flames and unknown desires. What quickens me is the violence in thee by @i-dream-of-libraries (M, 17k, complete) Harry is sold at auction to a man who is clearly in some kind of disguise - Lord Riddle isn't as charming as he looks, and the way he looks at Harry... A Regency AU inspired by the magnificent artwork of @stolenviolet. If I were you by @onehitpleb (E, 9k, complete) It is 1945 and Tom is eighteen, freshly graduated, and working a non-reputable job as a store clerk in Knockturn Alley. Somehow, he grows attached to the worst sort of person - an idiot.

In addition, a recap of the author notes from last week! (Please feel free to add some extra context to your fic update in the reblog, such as a little bit about the chapter(s) updated, and I’ll throw it in the update for next week!)

A Simple Request by @shyinsunlight (E, 70k, WIP) “As for the new chapter of A Simple Request, Harry tries and (unsurprisingly) fails to keep his personal life private. Some are having the time of their life, some others, not so much. Lifts can take you up, but going down is more interesting.” Wish by @sri-verse (E, 3k, WIP) “Wish is set after Harry's fifth year where he gets the ownership of Bellatrix's vault along side the Black vault. Looking at a gold goblet, he remembers his childhood wish of buying a gold cauldron and brings back Helga Hufflepuff's cup with him to fulfill that desire, unaware that he has freed the horcrux living in it.” To the Hilt by @izharmilgram (E, 28k, WIP) “To The Hilt is a royal arranged marriage au featuring nontraditional a/b/o, political schemes, ancient greek and abrahamic religion references, feral harry potter, and lots of power play and worship. It's neither only tomarry or only harrymort, but tomarrymort—meaning the core relationship is Tom/Harry/Voldemort. This includes Tom/Voldemort.” we made universes out of bitten lips and broken hands by @boyneptunee (M, 50k, WIP) “The consequences of Harry's Time Travel seem inconsequential, at first. Until they stare right back at him with vicious eyes. There's trouble brewing in every direction, and the Future is not as certain and set in stone as one might think.” Time Stumbler by @wintumnly (T, 102k, WIP) “Harry is stuck in 1937 and spends the holidays with almost-eleven-year-old Tom Riddle. On the first day of Christmas, they both anxiously wait for Tom's Hogwarts letter together. Fluff, humor, and Tom Riddle is not good with feelings." 7 by @moontearpensfic (E, 44k, WIP) “Harry goes back in time to raise Tom AU: the boys discuss what might have happened to make Voldemort go to "sleep."” Anytime, Anywhere, Always by @moontearpensfic (E, 22k, WIP) “Harry corrupts Tom AU: Tom and Harry celebrate Christmas--and something more! Your Wish, My Command by @moontearpensfic (E, 8k, WIP) “Hinny adopts Tom AU: Tom finally gets Harry to crack. 🔥”

Tomarrymort One Shots and Completed Fic

Complete | Chapters 8 and 9 of Memories of a Killer by @chemfreak89

Complete | Chapter 6 of What quickens me is the violence in thee by @i-dream-of-libraries

Complete | Chapter 4 of If I were you by @onehitpleb

Complete | Chapter 19 of Sits the wind in that quarter by @mosiva

One Shot | To be Imagined by @cyandenial

One Shot | god's hands by @curioushabitforarivergod

One Shot | bad behaviour by @milkandmoon-ao3

One Shot | two ways of being: the noun & the verb by cycloalkane

One Shot | set my soul on fire by @wynnefic

One Shot | Beach Episode by @crowcrowcrowthing

One Shot | First Duel by @being-luminous

Tomarrymort Ongoing Fics

Chapter 12 of Ills of Murder by @shadow-of-the-eclipse

Chapters 7 through 11 of in the silence by @satflesk22

Chapter 4 of friend of the devil (a friend of mine) by @shyinsunlight

Chapter 15 of Embryo by @cannibalinc

Chapter 4 of As It Begins by @duplicitywrites @moontearpensfic

Chapters 7 and 8 of Stygian by @crowcrowcrowthing

Chapters 15 through 17 of Saint Harry by @alenablack @chaos-bear

Chapter 1 of the night is cold in the kingdom by @girl-with-goats

Chapters 5 and 6 of you speak of the devil (like he's not your friend) by @amuria

Chapters 131 through 134 of Liquida Tenebris (Remastered) by @dymis

Chapters 1 and 2 of Small Mistakes by Crisis_Brewing

Chapter 5 of Hit 'N Run by @dragonaireabsolvare

Chapter 11 of Days always end in sunsets by @d00medbythenarrative

Chapter 25 of Time Stumbler by @wintumnly

Chapters 8 and 9 of Venom or Valor by @lightningant

Chapter 21 of Outrunning the Villain in You by @zenyteehee

Chapters 6 through 8 of To the Hilt by @izharmilgram

Chapter 9 of Do It Over by @marrythemonstersao3

Chapter 2 of Infinite by @moontearpensfic

Chapter 2 of Prizefighter by @dragonaireabsolvare

Chapter 8 of Fetters of the Damned by @sc0rpiflow3r

Chapters 13 and 14 of Hole in the Wall by tomrddle

Chapters 23 and 24 of Learning to love by @l-archiduchesse

Chapter 13 of He Who Shall Not Be Changed by @moontimefilter

Chapter 17 of Last Son of Black by @treacleteacups

Chapter 6 of Dreams Beyond Blood by @hikarimeroperiddle

#tomarry #tomarrymort #harrymort #tomarrymort recs #aethon recs #tomarry recs #ao3 recs #fanfic recs #hp fic recs #harrymort recs #tomarry weekly #this week in tomarrymort

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stromuprisahat · 2 years ago

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theweeklydiscourse:

Had Alina reflected on Aleksander’s words to her, she might have been able to reconsider her own prejudice and how that could impact her fragile self-image and the lives of others. Alina is like a giant who is unaware of her size, she continues as she always has without any regard for her surroundings or the potentially catastrophic consequences of her actions (or inaction). When she runs from the little palace, she briefly considers the enormity of her actions and how it could affect the country before dismissing those thoughts on the basis of “Well the Darkling is clearly evil and I know in my heart that Baghra was right”. Her biased thoughts are literally RIGHT THERE but are never truly unpacked after Shadow and Bone.

Bardugo was SO CLOSE to creating this compelling narrative about the heroine realizing her internalized prejudice and going on to become a heroic figure who could save her long lost community. But, she instead opted for a far more shallow narrative that fails to grapples with the social issues she included in the story!

The Darkling decided early on how much he would disclose to Alina about his plans for the coup based on a conversation they had on the way to the palace.

I like to look back at this scene from Shadow and Bone that takes place after Alina was seconds away from being killed by a Fjerdan assassin. She denies that she is Grisha, pointing to her plain and scrawny appearance for proof of her certainty and Aleksander responds with a remark about how Alina doesn’t understand what being Grisha even means.

It’s a telling scene because it shows just how surface-level Alina’s view of Grisha is. To her, Grisha are shiny, beautiful and strong and they are prioritized over the common folk soldiers she once belonged with. Of course, Aleksander knows that there is so much more to being Grisha than just beauty, but realizes that there’s so much to unpack with Alina’s statement he doesn’t even know where to start.

This exchange explains one of the reasons why he didn’t disclose his true plans to Alina, much less his ultimate secret. If Alina has such a shallow understanding of Grisha identity, she will also have a shallow understanding of just how much is at stake in this conflict. Alina is no ordinary Grisha, so it hasn’t quite sunk in that she has skin in the game and is more significant than she realizes. Her denial of her Grisha identity (despite obvious evidence proving otherwise) Alina is staunch in her assertion that she is just a normal girl. It is that same denial that tells Aleksander that Alina cannot be viewed as reliable just yet, time needs to be taken to teach her a better understanding of the Grisha first.

This next exchange is the second reason why Aleksander doesn’t tell her. Although Alina herself may not have said that superstition out loud, but it demonstrates how Alina was exposed to those views during her formative years. It raises his suspicion that Alina may hold some remnants of the Serf’s ideas and perhaps compels him to think ahead to assess if this could grow into a potential threat. He ABSOLUTELY cannot tell her the truth anytime soon if there is even the slightest possibility that she believes that he’s soulless and “truly evil”. If Alina snitched on him, his entire operation could be shut down for good and set the Grisha back decades. Not to mention the fact that it could get a lot of Grisha killed.

“You didn’t hurt his feelings.” Dear Reader, this was only the beginning of Alina denying Aleksander’s humanity in order to avoid taking responsibility for her prejudice and to avoid the complex reality of the situation. You can almost hear the incorrect answer buzzer go off in Aleksander’s mind as Alina tells him her answer, I can almost feel his pure disappointment through the page.

Because Aleksander poses an important question that reveals one of Alina’s central conflicts that will continue throughout the trilogy. Alina is still deeply uncomfortable with the idea of Grisha powers after spending her life among people who call them unnatural and strange. To the point that it wasn’t just the fact that the assassin was sliced in two that bothered her, but because of the magic that sliced him. Why on earth would he trust her with his greatest secret when she reacts with such hesitation? He was testing her to gauge how long it would be before Alina could be trusted as an ally to Grisha and received an answer that told him it might take a while. If Alina can’t handle her the idea of her own powers, she cannot be trusted with a secret that could determine the future of Ravka.

I don’t know about you, but I fully believe that Aleksander had every intention of telling Alina the truth, it’s just that considering his personal relationship with her over the safety of his people was a risk he couldn’t take. This gets a bit muddled later on because Alina’s narration seems to care more about her personal feelings of betrayal than the consequences this plan could have on the country. She never takes a moment to look at the bigger picture and consider the consequences of her reckless actions.

I know that I’m just breaking the scene down and explaining what’s happening in it, but it truly is such an informative scene that hints at a potentially fascinating storyline.

#Grishaverse #S&B Chapter 5 #Alina Starkov #The Darkling #S&B Chapter 7 #S&B Chapter 9 #Darklina #self centred and paranoid #Genya Safin #Grisha #S&B Chapter 16 #Shadow and Bone (book)#grishanalyticritical #anti Leigh Bardugo #It's already here

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hellishjoel · 2 years ago

Text

off to the races

6.3k / dbf!joel x f!reader

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

pt. 1 pt. 2 pt. 3 pt. 4

series summary: You and your parents rent a lakeside cabin, Joel and Sarah Miller are your neighbors. You’re all grown up, and you’ll do anything to prove to Joel you’re a woman now.

warnings/information: MA 18+ (minors DNI), NO OUTBREAK, neighbor!joel, age gap (reader is in their early 20’s while Joel is in his 40’s), alcohol consumption, slight daddy issues lol, cursing, use of pet names, dominant!joel, maybe a lil brat tamer!joel, oral sex (m receiving), a lil praise kink, a lil degradation kink, facial, etc. you know ;)

A/N: needed to get cool slutty daddy out of my system. He’s just a Lana coded man!! I plan on turning this into a series, I hope it get's some love! let me know what you think by sending me an ask!

Your desperate eyes met his, trying to gauge what he thought. You hated how you looked like you wanted him so bad. He was your neighbor, your friend’s dad, but you wanted him to be something for you too. “I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doin-” His words made your chest go tight and your eyes filled with pure horror. What have you done?! “But you need to be the one to walk away, because I don’t think I can.”

Summers in Danbury were what you looked forward to all year long when you were younger. You would love the long drive to the lakeside cabin, swimming in the dazzling blue water all day, and catching fireflies at night before ending it with roasting s'mores over the campfire.

Now, all Danbury reminded you of were your parents stripping your feeling of independence as soon as you stepped in their embrace and the lack of cell service.

It wasn’t all that bad, though. Who were you to complain about an all-expense paid vacation on the water? Your parents were fine, you just graduated from university, everything was just.. good. It almost made you a little bored, thinking about the impending summer.

The warm sun’s kiss on your skin was a welcomed greeting after spending the past 9 months away at school out of state, your eyes twinkling below your sunglasses as you stepped out of the car. It was good to be back in Texas.

“Look, there she is!” Your dad cooed as he was eager to point out the sign that sat beside the entrance of the cabin that read ‘Life is Better at the Cabin’. Cheesy. It wasn’t your choice of decor since it was just a rental property, but still. You also despised the ‘The Secret Ingredient is Always Love’ sign in the kitchen.

You plopped your bags down at the end of your bed, the one just down the hall from your parents, quick to plug in your phone charger though it made little difference with your lack of a strong signal.

You turned your head to the window, seeing an old, beaten pickup truck turn onto gravel, a small smile peaking on your lips.

“Hey, look who it is!” Your dad cheered eagerly from the living room, appearing to also be gazing out the window at the sight coming down the road and pulling into the house next to yours.

The truck in question belonged to Joel Miller and his daughter, Sarah. Sarah had been your close friend each and every summer since you were little. You two were attached at the hip once your family started vacationing here, despite her being a fair five years younger. You two got along nonetheless.

You stepped outside to greet them, as your mother and father were already out doing, your face lighting up as Sarah made a b-line to your embrace. “Oh my god! Look at you!” She praised, her eyes lighting up at your appearance.

You two didn’t get the chance to spend the past few summers together due to business with school or internships on your part, so her surprise in seeing you a few years grown up was warranted.

“Look at me? Look at you!” You said through punched lungs as she hugged you so tight you were losing your breath.

If you thought Sarah’s tight hug was bad, you weren’t prepared to see what was waiting on the other side of the pickup truck.

Your lips parted at the sight of Joel Miller. He was sort of… handsome. Was that wrong to think that? I mean, he was so much older than you, someone’s dad, Sarah’s dad. You tried not to let your eyes linger for too long but his voice pitched into the conversation and you had been caught.

“Hey, Skids.” Ugh. That dreaded nickname you had yet to wear off. “Haven’t seen you these past few summers. Happy to be done with school?” Joel’s southern drawl was a shock to your system after being up in the Midwest for school.

He was tall and rugged, so unkempt. His hair was tousled everywhere and his beard was growing with salt and pepper stippling through the landscape of his jawline. He looked hot, the faint glisten and stain of sweat marking the collar of his shirt and at the sides of his biceps.

You blinked a few times before a graceful smile fluttered on your lips.

“Hi, Mr. Miller.” You gently cooed. What? If he could call you by that horrid nickname he had given you when you were barely ten, you could call him by his surname. Your eyes caught his own shift, his jaw twitching at his name being called like that. It was just his name after all, right?

“Joel.” He corrected with a raised eyebrow, your eyes finally dragging themselves away from his handsome character as they turned to your parents, who were obsessing over Sarah. She was about to go into her senior year of high school, so of course, they had all of the basic questions to ask her. Are you taking any advanced classes? Are you still on the swim team? Do you know where you want to go to college?

You tried to look interested, but you could still feel Joel’s gravitating stare in your direction.

You were just imagining things, right? He was looking one foot over, to Sarah and your family. Except he wasn’t. You know because you snuck a casual glance over to him, and he was still on you. His gaze alone made a shiver travel up your spine.

While Sarah and your parents were nestled in their own world of conversation, you take a few subtle steps away and join him by his truck. It still felt warm, the engine relaxing after a good drive in the Texas heat.

“You need a new truck. She looks like she’s on her deathbed.” You point out, the one corner of his mouth tugging up as he kept his eye on Sarah and your folks with his arms crossed in front of his broad chest.

“She’s just fine.” He retorts nonchalantly. You hated that about him. You could never figure out what he was thinking, unpredictable but not exactly chaotic.

“She?” You asked with raised eyebrows. “I always knew you had a special woman in your life. Didn’t know she was so old, though.” You egged him on, your favorite pastime in the summers; Grinding the gears of an old man who had a bigger attitude than you most days.

“You still have quite the mouth on you. Glad to see that hasn’t changed.” Joel said sarcastically as he pushed himself off the front of the truck with his hip, his head nodding off to the side in a silent way of telling you to follow him. You watched as he pulled down the tailgate, rust screeching until it stopped with a generous thump.

“Supposed to be Sarah helping me with this, but since she’s busy being Miss Danbury, you can help me.” He said as he pointed to some firewood and other bigger pieces of wood in varying sizes.

“What do you plan on doing with all this wood anyway? I think the Amazon is looking for it.” You huffed but climbed up into the back of the truck bed without him asking you to. His protective hand instinctively guided your hip for stability, and you felt a rush of air pump through your lungs. “Thanks.” You murmur before you start reaching for stacks you could handle.

“Sarah wanted to throw y'all a bonfire with it being your first day back for the summer or what have you.” Before you could stop yourself, you were already cooing at him as you jumped down from the tailgate, watching as Joel gave a tight face of annoyance. Don’t do that, you’re gonna get yourself hurt.

It took Joel all of two seconds to grab two of the larger cut pieces, throwing each of them onto his shoulders. You couldn’t help but stare at his biceps that cradled the wood, the tan skin and muscles popping out of the dark green t-shirt he wore. Focus, focus, focus, focus, focusfocusfocus.

“And the bigger pieces? What are those for?” You asked out of sheer curiosity now once he threw them down in the back of his lawn, the sight of your parents and Sarah long gone.

He shrugged and shook his head, his hands on his hips as a layer of sweat started to build up around his hairline. “Just carvin’ projects. The rest can be used for scrap lumber around the lake properties.” His head finally turned to look at you, his eyes raking you up and down for a moment before nodding to your lake house rental. “Doin’ property maintenance over the summer on the houses ‘round here.”

“So if we need maintenance, we call you now?” You asked with a dubious face, to which he nodded.

This man never stopped. It made sense, you supposed. You reflected on the summers in the past, knowing Joel to manage his own contracting business and picking up odd jobs around town. You remember one summer, he redid the flooring of an old bakery in town and then built custom shelves for the loaves of bread and bagels. Another summer, he repaved people’s driveways with blacktop. He was a laborer, a blue-collar man through and through.

“That’s right, Skids.” The nickname made you scowl at him again, but you wouldn’t mind seeing Joel Miller laid under your kitchen sink or repairing the window in your bedroom so it could finally let in some fresh air. Frankly, you just wouldn’t mind seeing Joel Miller.

After Joel reclaimed his daughter from your parents with a snarky yet subtle, Thanks for all your help, kiddo to Sarah, he said goodbye to you and your family as everyone parted ways back to their own homes.

You were tired from the drive, but you didn’t lack attendance to the bonfire Sarah was putting together specifically for you in a welcome back to Danbury! sort of celebration. She invited the other nearby neighbors, so by the time you finally joined, it was packed with people sitting around the fire. People who lived on the lake loved a good party, anything with beer to keep them occupied.

It was a lot of talking and bottles clinking, marshmallows on sticks, and a crackling fire blazing at the center of everyone. You weren’t one for beer but Sarah insisted on feeding you bottle after bottle.

She liked sharing secrets with you, away from her dad. She considered you someone she could tell anything to. And you felt the same way. So not more than half an hour later, you two were giggling and sitting on the tailgate of Joel’s old pickup truck when you saw him start to saunter over. You saw him coming first, snatching Sarah’s bottle out of her hand and taking a sharp inhale as you hid away your own. Sarah’s secret, right?

“Dad,” she playfully whined when he came over to bust their little party.

He was silent for a moment before he looked at the dwindling flames. “Fire’s gettin’ low.” He pointed out, looking between the two of you.

His face was lit up in a mix of gold hue from the fire and silver from the moon. His face had this intensity, a bucked-out jawline, cheekbone, and nose. It was like he was carved from stone.

Sarah was silent, not wanting to leave behind her friends at the bonfire to shuffle over more wood. You softly nodded as you took a swig of her beer bottle in your hand before setting it down once you hopped off the truck bed.

“I can help.” You offered. Joel looked down at you hesitantly, sneaking a glance to where your parents sat around the growing circle of people.

“Yeah.. yeah, ‘lright.” Joel said as the two of you walked off to the dividing line on his property, the wood you had dropped carelessly earlier in the day now in a neat stack. You certainly weren’t drunk, but slamming Sarah’s beer along with the other ones she ushered you before was now messing with your head, the edges of your vision a little fuzzy, especially in the dark since the glow of the bonfire was at such a distance.

Before you knew it, you were stacking the wood into your arms, too much maybe. Joel called out your name in a warning tone.

“No, I got it! See?” You tried to reason with a cocky smile as he shook his head.

“You don’t like to listen.” He gruffly said as he started picking up the smaller pieces as they fell out of your arms.

You couldn’t help the playful scoff that left your lips, still insistent on stacking more in your arms, going as far as tucking some in your elbows but all they did was drop at your feet once you went to reach for more.

“Stop bein’ so damn difficult.” He piped up again as he snagged your wrist, halting your movements.

“Yeah? I thought you liked difficult women.” Your words were fast like a whip, your eyes challenging his own as the two of you shared unnecessarily long eye contact.

“Drop-- the wood. Stop bein’ a-”

“A what?” You challenged. The distance between you two suddenly felt like it was becoming air-tight, his eyes narrowing on yours as his features hardened. He didn’t look mad, lord knows you’d never want to actually make Joel Miller mad. He just looked-- provoked.

“A brat.” He finally bit, your teeth clenching at the name. The shock of it all made your arms finally burst open like a dam breaching with water, all of them falling to your feet as you let out an involuntary squeal. God, you did not want him to hear that noise leave you like that.

You finally tugged away your wrist from his hand, your eyes leaving his daggered gaze to examine your palm that had a decent size splinter plunged into the center of it.

“Shit,” You swore, feeling whatever heat you had left in your body pooling to your stringing finger.

You heard Joel let out a debated sigh before he took you by your wrist, much more gentle this time, and tried to bring it up closer to his eyes to examine it.

“Can’t see for shit out here.” He grumbled. You couldn’t see it either but you could feel right where it spread searing pain through the rest of your hand.

“I got some tweezers in my workshop, I’ll get it out.” Joel offered as he started walking a few paces but you let out an involuntary whimper at the sound of him taking it out.

“You don’t want that to get infected, do you?” He asked with a true voice of reason, to which you let out a sigh of agreement and followed him to his workshop.

You had only been inside Joel’s workshop a handful of times. You remember once your dad dragged you over so he could talk to Joel about his truck, and you had to wait there and wait there until they finished gabbing. Another time was when you explored it on your own, your eyes fascinated by the little world he surrounded himself in. It wasn’t all wood like you’d expect it to be. He had old guns mounted on the wall, ladders hung up in the rafters, and dusty old fishing plaques that made you disgusted at the sight. It housed his tools, the same ones he had been using for years. He knew where they were by heart, not even looking when he reached for something. Everything had its place, down to the tweezers he immediately found in an old little toolbox.

“Here,” he said as he pointed to an old metal stool as tall as your waist. You sat down on the cold metal, a little hiss of discomfort leaving you as he sighed. “Always somethin’.” Joel shook his head and offered you a spare dusty blanket, shaking your head.

“Just-- fix my hand. Please.” You said as you displayed your palm to him, now seeing it in the light for the first time. Okay.. it didn’t actually look as bad as it felt. Joel actually smiled as he looked at the tiny sliver shoved into the skin.

“..Might have to amputate it.” He said with a half-serious tone, as joking as Joel could sound. But there was a little glint in his eye, one of satisfaction from his own joke.

“Joel Miller has a sense of humor? I’m surprised. And pleasantly delighted.” You teased as he huffed and shook his head, the smile that graced his lips already came and gone. Sort of. He just looked down at your hand so you couldn’t directly see it anymore.

It took you until now to see that he changed out of his dark green shirt from this afternoon and into an old 80’s rock band shirt with a worn dark navy flannel over it. He must have showered after laboring in the Texas heat. The thought made your stomach churn in excitement.

You shivered at how cold you felt all of a sudden, no longer by the warm fire and on this damn metal stool. You shifted uncomfortably on it, cursing yourself for wearing jean shorts.

Joel let out an exasperated sigh as he stood up straighter and shoved off his flannel, your eyes softening at the sight.

“You want me to take tweezers to your hand but you keep... shiftin’ around. Stand up.” He directed, and this time you didn’t debate with him. You hopped off the metal stool and he laid down the flannel. It was a nice gesture and you were grateful. You hoped the goosebumps were from the temperature, not how close he was.

Joel pulled up another metal stool so he could steady himself, reeling himself in as close as he could and holding your palm open in his as his eyes squinted a little bit.

You felt frozen in place, your lips parting as you slowly looked down to one of his knees that parted between your own legs. Fuck. You weren’t sure if it was the little buzz of beer still in your system but something drove you to have enough courage to gently lay your hand just above his kneecap.

His eyes flicked up to yours, trying to read what was behind your thought process right now. He looked so confident, you feared you looked all shifty.

You could feel the worn denim of his jeans under your palm but underneath, he was warm. He was as hot as a furnace as your body craved it.

“The sliver.” You pointed back out, your voice smaller since you two were in such close proximity. You watched his chest heave as he took a deep breath, grumbling something under his breath before he focused back to his initial task.

You pursed your lips as you both watched and felt the tweezers line up to the red and irritated skin, his movements precise and patient until you watched him clench the tool closed.

You let out an involuntary breath of both relief and anticipation, just wanting it out already.

“Hold on, just gotta make sure I..” Joel’s voice trailed off as he slowly pulled the tiny sliver from your palm, an uncomfortable whine leaving the back of your throat.

His thigh twitched under your palm at the sound, not even realizing your hand had sunk higher up his jean-clad thigh.

“Got it.” He finally said, swiping the tip of the tweezer on the table to display the nasty little piece of wood that had caused you all this grief. You let out a breath through your nostrils and nodded.

“Thank God, no amputation.” You joked, to which he awarded you a small smile.

“I’ll call the surgeon and tell ‘em to turn around. We’re good here.” Joel said as he gently released your wrist. You watched his features carefully, seeing his lips part as he glanced down to his leg that your hand still held for balance.

“What’er you doin’?” He finally asked, his voice dropping an octave at the question. Shit.

Don’t read this wrong, or this will be the most awkward interaction you and Joel have had to date. This is worse than when he saw you fall out of the inner tube while boating, worse than when some kid tripped you at the town barbeque, worse than when you fell off Sarah’s scooter so hard that he gave you the nickname Skids.

“Woah, Skids! Better slow down!” God, that was so many years ago. His chuckle still echoed in your ears.

Now you were older, you were a woman. You had long legs and glowing skin, and a smile that knocked guy’s out of the fuckin’ park! But he was older too, older than you, younger than your dad but god, not by much. You were so close to him, you could inhale the distant smell of the bonfire, the one he probably made instead of Sarah. He also smelled like an old spice deodorant and fucking cigarettes.

He was stingy, and greasy, and hot, and Joel.

Your years of anticipation thinking about him like this was over.

You bit down on your lower lip, your mind was foggy with the rushing in your heart, feeling your ears pound and your palm still seared. He was a head taller than you while you sat together, and before you could stop yourself, you were leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to his pulse.

Your lips lingered around his neck for a moment, the sensitive skin of your mouth feeling beard stubble and tasting distant cologne. Your breath fanned over the skin, clammy but sweet with his sweat.

He didn’t stop you, his eyes merely watching you carefully.

“What’er you doin’?” He asked again, but this time, his words sounded more-- goading. Do it, I know you won’t. You’re chicken shit. If you know what you want, do it.

Your heart raced as you nearly leaped off the stool, closing the distance between you two as you stood between his legs. Your hand moved higher on his thigh, so close that you were nearly touching the leather of his belt. Your mouth returned to the sweet spot of his pulse while your injured hand reached up to the opposite side of his neck to gently hold him there.

“Joel,” you whispered his name breathlessly, asking him for more, feeling his head drop down beside yours. You feared you embarrassed yourself, he wasn’t reciprocating, he wasn’t--

The thoughts brewing in your head bubbled down to a boil as his firm arm wrapped itself low around your waist, keeping you to his front as he pulled down to look at you with a stern look on his face.. You were so fucked.

“I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doin-”

His words made your chest go tight and your eyes filled with pure horror. What have you done?!

“But you need to be the one to walk away, because I don’t think I can.”

His words surprised you. He didn’t think he could walk away from you right now? Holy shit.

Your heart was pumping so hard under his watchful gaze, seeing his eyes look from yours to your parted lips. But he didn’t kiss you, you don’t think you would let him. It felt too intimate. You just didn’t want another boring summer in Danbury and you were determined to have a fling.

Who knew it would be with Joel Miller. But you wanted him.

Your brave hands took him by the chest of his shirt, your mouth moving to his jawline as you balanced the tightrope of kissing and nibbling on the skin before your hands moved south to find his belt buckle.

His legs naturally parted for you, catching a brief smirk on his lips as you took control of the situation.

“Dirty girl goin’ right for my fuckin’ cock.” He whispered against the shell of your ear, a desperate nod leaving you while your cheek involuntarily rubbed against the stubble of his beard. You didn’t know he talked like that.

You initiated more space for yourself, nudging the inside of his thighs with your own legs as you had his back up against his drafting table with you no longer on his side but standing in front of him.

Your quick fingers desperately undid his belt, feeling the old leather under your fingers. You didn’t have the balls to look at him and frankly, you were afraid you would lose your nerve if you did.

His hands were encouraging for your nervous system, firm palms planted into your hips and even going as far as to squeeze the flesh that sat under your jean shorts. His body warmed you up, his eyes admiring you as you plucked open the button on his jeans.

You pushed your tongue against your cheek in concentration, all of a sudden desperate at the thought of having him in your mouth. You dragged down the zipper, the relaxed denim exposing the black briefs he wore underneath that hugged his tan hips.

You slowly sunk to your knees before him, as if you were worshiping a God. Maybe you were, it was Joel Miller, after all.

“This what you were learnin’ off at school?” Joel belittled, your head doing a few quick nods as a flush stained your cheeks. God. Something about Joel calling you a slut had you in a tailspin. You couldn’t wait anymore.

Your fingers delicately felt over the impressive growth that his briefs held down, biting down on your bottom lip as you let your pointer finger make the outline of his girth.

He let out an audible grunt at the action, his jaw jutted out, and his eyes filled with lust. “Lemme see that pretty mouth.” He practically purred, your chest rising and falling in anticipation as you slowly opened your mouth for him. You felt the intrusion of his thumb, a guttural moan leaving your throat as your big eyes stayed on his. He pinched at the inside of your cheek for a moment, your eyes twinging closed and opening back up with twinkling tears on the brim of flowing.

“Good girl, keep that mouth open for me.” He encouraged as he pushed two fingers past your lips, testing you. And you were more than willing to accept his little challenge. His fingers pushed on the back of your tongue, feeling your lips graze all the way to his knuckle as you worked on breathing through the feeling of his fingers shoved down your throat.

You were determined for him not to get the best of you, to prove how you had some experience under your belt. Your tongue willingly swirled around his digits, humming softly as you suckled. Now it was his turn to look like he was ready to fold. You felt him swell in your hand, the hand still stroking over his erection in his briefs.

He ripped back his fingers, leaving them with a pop to your lips. Holy shit. You took a few deep breaths and swallowed, blinking back the tears that his fingers provoked from going so far down.

“Damn, baby, look so pretty down on your knees for me. Don’t make me wait ‘ny longer.” Joel’s breaths were heavy, his southern drawl exaggerated in his lust-filled state.

A proud smirk laced on your lips, his eyes on you as he watched you pry down the material of his briefs, watching as he lightly lifted his hips off the stool and using the drafting table behind him as leverage to let his jeans and boxers rest comfortably around the top of his thighs. What you had been craving slapped eagerly into the palm of your uninjured hand, an unexpected little moan leaving you.

You studied his cock with anticipation, the glowing pinkish-red tip glistening with pre-cum from all the anticipation. He was generous in size, he would be the biggest you had ever taken. He was just… grown. You let out a satisfied little mmm, smirking up at him as your fist wrapped delicately around the base as you pumped over just the bottom half of him.

Your hand came up to push some hair behind your ear but Joel was quick to handle that for you, stroking the stray pieces back behind your ear and then planting his palm right on the top side of your head. He tried to guide you closer but you just continued to smirk at him, a desperate grunt leaving the back of his throat.

“Don’t play with me, kitten.” The nickname had you fawning, much better than the other nickname he had given you in the past. Maybe this new one would replace the old, the girl he dismissed before now a woman whose attention he craved.

You guided his tip to gently tap at your flattened tongue, using his base to guide him until you generously wrapped your mouth around his leaking head. He let out a satisfied hiss which made you smirk, knowing you were the one making him dance on the line between pain and pleasure.

You let out an involuntary mewl as the fist he had made in the back of your hair forced you further down his rigid member, feeling wet tears threatening to spill over your waterline as his tip nudged against the back of your throat. He said not to play with him and you disobeyed.

Your palms flattened to the front of his thighs as you pushed yourself off of him, gasping for air as you swallowed the mixture of your spit and his leakage that clogged your throat.

“So fuckin’ pretty chokin’ on me like that, such a pretty face.” He sneered, referring to your teary eyes. But the compliment made you blush and the choking and sobbing was all of a sudden worth it for the praise.

After that, you craved to take all of him just like he wanted. Your head worked in subtle bobs, taking inch by inch of him at a time. Sometimes his hand in your hair guided you, allowing you to take him with confidence as he let out disgusting groans and low moans.

Your gluck, gluck, glucks filled the shed, hot pants leaving your mouth around him but not willing to let your head up. Trails of your saliva attached themselves from his balls to your lips, the sight being a trophy for your hard earned deep throating. He was already so close, you couldn’t bear not to taste the prize you had worked so hard for.

All of a sudden, Joel stood up from his seat at the drafting table and you couldn’t help but show a look of disappointment. You thought he was done, going to leave you like a mess on the floor with bruises on your knees from the cold concrete and your slobbery mouth feeling his loss.

Your wet eyelashes fluttered as he returned to fist the hair at the top of your head and angled your face upward, watching as his other hand yanked on his member. The sight made your jaw drop.

“Where do you want me to finish?” His words were pained, stretched thin as he tried to hold out for an answer from you. But you wanted him to finish, you wanted to watch his face contort from the wake of his orgasm that you helped create.

“Mmm,” you hummed out as you purposefully prolonged his finish, watching as his chest puffed and his skin grew rosy from the heat flooding his body. Your cockiness was punished by a tighter grip in your hair, yanking your head closer to his shaft to force a real answer out of you. Your scalp stung but only a smile was on your face.

“You wanna cum on my face, Mr. Miller?” You asked in the most innocent tone you could muster, your mouth parting at the sight of him. He looked heavenly. The glow from his shed lights made him appear as if he had an angelic glow. But you knew he was hellish, nothing close to an angel.

Joel let out a scoffy little grunt at your question, a wicked smile gracing his lips as his hooded eyes slowly fell completely closed as the shock of his orgasm coursed through his body.

You eagerly watched and you hated how hungry you knew you looked right now. You licked your lips, eager for his taste, eager to make the Joel Miller cum. You were desperate.

His cock began twitching in his hand, watching as he methodically yanked out his own orgasm. His eyes lazily glanced between his shaft and to your large eyes, slowly smirking at the sight of you holding out for him.

“Let me see that tongue, darlin’.” His words were breathy, just on the edge of no return. You obeyed, dropping your jaw and flashing him your tongue as you fluttered your eyelashes. At the sight alone, he finished himself off with eager grunts and short moans, you swore one of them was your name.

His hot cum landed on your face, your eyes closing in satisfaction with a cocky smile. Most landed on your tongue, a few piping hot white strands splattered like paint on your cheeks and nose. All the air in your lungs left you as he tapped his pulsing tip eagerly against your tongue, watching with his jaw slack as he let the rest pool onto your tongue and down your throat.

You swallowed knowing he was watching, his hand in your hair relaxing. He tasted better than you expected, a new craving.

Instead of fisting your strands, he started stroking them away from your messy face, praising you as he tucked himself back into his pants.

Both no longer in the hot fantasy you swore you imagined once, you tried to collect yourselves. You shakily stood up from the ground, your knees cold from the concrete. You wipe off any dust or dirt they may have collected, sneaking glances at Joel as he fastened his belt around his waist once more and popping the button of his jeans back into place.

You glanced around for a tissue, your back to him as you cleaned up your face. Oh my god, you were wiping Joel Miller’s cum off your fucking face. As the two of you pieced yourselves back together, he reached for his discarded flannel that he had given you still resting on the metal chair you previously abandoned before settling between his legs.

“Said you were cold. Take it.” He said as he fisted some of the material and looked at you expectantly. You sighed before gently taking the material and wrapping yourself in its warmth.

As he placed a bandaid on your palm to cover your futile wound, you admired the flannel in all of its unknown beauty.

It was one of his older ones, you sort of felt bad because you could only assume it was one of his favorites. It adorned a few minor holes and rips, some of which were badly stitched back together in an attempt to salvage it for another few years. Despite its appearance, you melted into it because it smelled like him. It smelled smoky like his cigarettes or maybe that was just the residual smoke from the bonfire. As you walked outside, you could smell it clearer.

Sandalwood with a hint of cinnamon, you wondered what cologne he used.

Your head was lost in thought as you began to wander back towards the bonfire, a sharp clearing of his throat bringing you back to your senses. You whipped around, seeing as he pointed to the stray wood you had dropped from earlier.

“Oh-” you said bashfully as you returned to the pile with him, both of you knelt down picking up stray pieces. Once you started piling the wood in your arms again, he let out a short chuckle from deep inside him as he held your wrist from stacking more.

“That’s enough for now, just go.” You liked seeing his face lit up like that, knowing you were the cause of it being even better.

“Okay, Mr. Miller.” You cooed quietly, his face hardening at the name of adoration you had given him.

“Okay, Skids. I’ll be seein’ you.” He said with a tight nod of his head, his eyes directing you back to the fire. You set down the firewood by the rocks surrounding it as a barrier, clearing your throat as you returned to the tailgate. You could still taste his cum on your tongue.

No one seemed to notice your trip taking unexpectedly longer than necessary. Your parents were both swaying their heads and laughing, empty bottles by the legs of their folding lawn chairs to explain their obvious lack of awareness.

Sarah had joined up with other friends in your absence, but you didn’t mind.

You finally had a moment to reflect on what had just taken place in Joel’s shed. You let your vacation house neighbor cum in your mouth. Your older, stoic, stubborn ass of a neighbor.

As if on cue, Joel returned to the side of his truck with his body leaning against the tailgate. His jean-clad hip lightly grazed your thigh, glancing over to see him offering you a beer.

“Since you’re all grown up now.” He said with a little spark behind his eyes. You nodded and took the opened beer with a growing smile.

“Cheers.” He offered as he held out his bottle to clink with yours.

“Cheers to another summer in Danbury.” You tell him.

He cocked his eyebrow and glanced over to you one more time before he focused his eyes on the growing fire.

“This one ain’t quite like the rest.” It almost sounded like a promise from him. You hoped it was. Because you were wearing his flannel and you were on his knees for him tonight, you wondered what experience of Joel could offer you this summer.

---

read part 2 - dark paradise!

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stromuprisahat · 1 year ago

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What changes would you give to the Six of Crow duology, to fit it into a continuity where Darklina reunited and ruled Ravka? Honestly, aside from Nina's backstory, and a few other little tweaks, I don't think the duology would have huge changes. After all, Darklina can't change society that fast. I also think Nikolai Zoya and Genya could have appeared just as well. Simply Nikolai wouldn't be the king, but that wouldn't stop him from working with/for Darklina. And honestly, I've always found it a bit stupid that the king of Ravka goes on the road himself with two grisha when he has his own country to take care of.

Well yes, Nina wouldn't be on the road, but there's very little Grisha after the war, so we can get her some speeded-up training outside of Little Palace. Not abroad, maybe some station nearer the borders, where she'd be able to practice her linguistic skills talking to refugees, or interrogating captives.

Suli was best for missions in the northwest. Shu meant you’d be stuck translating diplomatic papers.

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 9

As you said, even a couple of powerful Grisha won't make their enemies behave in a day. Raids are to be expected. She could've been captured on Ravkan soil.

When drüskelle almost killed Alina on her way from Kribirsk to Os Alta, Matthias could be in a group infiltrating Ravka near Ulensk for example. It's both near Fjerda and the (remains of the) Fold, but then again, unexpected shenanigans would have to ensure to get them to Ketterdam.

West Ravka would be an easier choice then. They're likely to be unhappy about re-connection with their poorer, differently-thinking sibling. Show had openly admitted Westerners are selling Grisha to their enemies. Nina could be among them, except this time she'd still be a hormonal teenager with unfinished education.

KoS MCs would be more complicated.

Genya is still a traitor, and Aleksander's hardly the forgiving type. A veeeery big AU I've been thinking about for a while would be faking her change of heart to double-cross Alina. Picture a politically-shrewd spy, bleaching her own face for years to help overthrow her rapist... only for the Coup to go to hell.

A new variable appears, putting a greater value on her own peace and quiet than necassary change, and force failed to make her co-oparate. Loyalists boarded ship captained by a suspicious character, likely with agenda of his own... so the spy comes up with a sneaky strategy as the plan B, should it be necessary. When it becomes obvious Alina will slip through their fingers once again, an order comes to "stop her".

... and once everything's ready to take the throne, the Darkling with his forces secures the capital and plants his spy once again. Alina has a knack for escaping after all and who would have suspected mutilated girl, cowering in shadows?

That's one way to give Genya the recognition she deserves. Enter Evgenia Safina, the spymaster and/or ruthless, cunning delegate she should have become.

Zoya doesn't have much to offer, but quite a beef with the Darkling. He'll be always the one, who "killed" her aunt. And she's still just a replacable Squaller. If I were the Darkling, I'd use her as deterrent example. Public trial and fitting punishment.

Nikolai... well, the wisest course of action would be killing him off too. He's a possible competitor for the Throne, and he IS ambitious by himself, not merely in love with Ravka like we're told by the narrative.

Even discredited, there would be those preferring a bastard with a crown to the Saint-enslaving Satan.

It's true Sturmhond was useful to Ravka once, and could be so again, but how would we ensure that's what he'll remain?

And honestly, I've always found it a bit stupid that the king of Ravka goes on the road himself with two grisha when he has his own country to take care of.

That's to show he's a man of people! The boring kingly stuff's being done by itself!

Back to the start- SoC plot could remain almost the same, although it would offer a new storyline about how is Ravka trying to deal with the threat of parem. Or a mention here and there. Or nothing at all, if we're sticking with Crows-only POV and all their info would be Kaz's deductions and hearsay.

The Ravkan delegates in CK would simply be lead by Genya (See: above), so Wylan would get his face back, and the rest was mostly about collecting points for "well-known character appearance" anyway.

#reply #Grishaverse #What if/AU/...#Six of Crows duology #grishanalyticritical #Darklina #Nina Zenik #Genya Safin #Zoya Nazyalensky #Nikolai Lantsov #S&B Chapter 9 #books #quotes #Leigh Bardugo #anti Zoya #because there are people I'd rather avoid.

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loveharlow · 6 months ago

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SEVEN [SEASON 2] - 007 (PT 1)

PAIRING ‧₊˚ JJ Maybank x Fem!Reader

SYNOPSIS‧₊˚ [8.9k] based on Netflix's Outer Banks Season 2 Episode 9

WARNING(S)‧₊˚ swearing, general obx warnings, discussions of sexuality, mentions of suicide

NOW PLAYING‧₊˚

A/N‧₊˚ still love me?? not the biggest fan of this chapter but

˗ˏˋ series masterlist ˎˊ˗

PULLING UP TO THE BUNGALOW ON THE END OF THE STREET AND KILLING THE ENGINE, you and JJ were quick to jump out of the truck, calling out for his cousin, who owned the house in question.

“Ricky! Ricky!” You both shouted, helping Kiara drag Pope’s limp frame out of the backseat. The three of you helped walk Pope to the front door, JJ frantically rattling the handle and slamming his palm against the door before his cousin Ricky appeared — shirtless with a bowl of cereal in his hand.

“Hey, Ricky!” The blonde called through the window. “Look, I know you’re mad at me-”

“Remember the time you stole my ambulance?!” The dark-haired man argued through the glass, face turning red.

“Yeah, I know. I know you’re mad but - please, don’t do that!” JJ begged, watching as Ricky slammed the actual door in his face.

The rest of you begged and pleaded, voices creating a mess of protests behind the door. JJ was quick to hand his portion of Pope’s weight off to John B, walking towards one of the windows and banging on it.

“He’s a having a reaction, he needs help!” JJ screamed through the glass. Ricky was JJ’s EMT cousin, who also happened to be the cousin who’s ambulance he’d stolen to break John B out of jail, which failed anyway. “He can’t breathe, Ricky!”

Something one of you said must’ve gained some sympathy because it wasn’t long before the front door behind the glass screen was swinging open again. “Who can’t breathe-” Ricky’s word died in his throat as he took in Pope’s swollen face this time.

“Look at him!” You cried — you, Kiara, and John B holding up your friend. “He needs help.”

“...Alright.” The man caved, pushing the screen door open to allow you all in. “Jesus Christ…” You were quick to hand off Pope, rushing into the man’s house.

“Hi, nice to meet you. Sorry.” You quickly threw in Ricky’s direction, making a b-line for the first flat surface you saw and swiping everything to the floor. Your friends were trailing behind you, using their strength to lift Pope onto the now cleared island counter top.

“You know, I wouldn’t come to you if it wasn’t an emergency.” JJ clarified, being the last one inside of the house.

“What’s wrong with him?” The medic asked, placing two fingers against the side of his neck to feel for a pulse.

“Wasps.” Sarah and Kie replied in sync.

“Wasps?” Ricky repeated, asking for clarification. You all nodded. “Is he allergic to wasps?”

“We were kind of hoping you could figure that out for us.” You quickly replied, not wanting to be rude but wanting to speed up this procedure.

Ricky sighed, backing up from the table. “Hang tight, I gotta get my kit.”

“Hang tight?” JJ asked incredulously. “Hang tight, Ricky?!”

“It’s in here somewhere!” The older man called, disappearing near the bedrooms before re-emerging with nothing in his hands.

“Where’s your kit?!” You asked frantically — Kiara tending to Pope on the table as JJ and John B kept his legs elevated.

“If I knew I wouldn’t be looking for it-”

“What does it look like?” Sarah asked, the two of you intending to help the man look for his supplies.

“Like a duffel bag…” He offered, vanishing into his garage with his hands atop his head in distress. “Okay, I got it!” He returned after a few seconds — a navy blue med-kit clutched in his hands as he rushed towards the six of you.

He planted the bag on the counter top next to Pope, JJ scooting over to make room. “What do we do now?” The blonde boy asked.

“You don’t do anything because you’re not a paramedic. All you all can do is give me some space.” He said bluntly, the five of you backing up — similar expressions of distress etched on each of your faces. You watched as Ricky unzipped the duffel bag, pulling out a syringe and a small vial. “Here’s the thing,” He started, pushing the needle of the syringe into the vessel. “This a pediatric dose of epinephrine.”

He explained, extracting a precise amount of the medicine before removing the needle from the small glass bottle.

“Is that gonna be enough?” You questioned, motioning for your teenage, six-foot tall friend laid out on this man’s kitchen island. “He’s not a kid.”

“It is ten times the normal dose.” Ricky informed you, holding the syringe up between his fingers. “So…if it doesn’t stop his heart, it’ll help him.” He shrugged sheepishly. “But I gotta use the whole thing, or else it won’t work. And I’m not goin’ down if he dies.” He said firmly, shooting a pointed look at his cousin.

“...Okay, fine, do it.” JJ urged, pulling at the roots of his hair.

“Okay.” Ricky said, turning back to face Pope. “Okay....” He reiterated as the rest of you urged him to hurry. He seemed to mentally evaluate where to put the needle before settling on a spot on the boy’s bicep, pushing it in and injecting the dose before slowly pulling it out. “Alright, that’s it…” He said, setting the used needle down carefully.

“...Now what?” Kie asked, eyes flickering back and forth between the paramedic and her friend.

“Now, we wait.” He replied, chewing on his bottom lip.

You all stood around and no one said anything. Not a word as all eyes remained laser focused on Pope, waiting on something. Any sign of life. The TV played mindlessly in the back, the tribe of you waiting for something to happen. All you needed was a gasp or for his chest to move, hell, you would even accept the simple twitch of one of his fingers.

But ten seconds turned to twenty and then thirty, and still…nothing.

“...You killed him.” Kiara said, staring angrily down at Pope’s swollen features.

“No…” Ricky drawled out. “I didn’t do shit.”

“What did you do?” You asked angrily, eyes pinched as you searched Pope’s face for any sign of movement or life.

“I did exactly what you asked me to do.” JJ’s older cousin reprimanded. He was right and you all knew it.

“Pope.” JJ said, grabbing the boy’s shirt and shaking his limp frame on the tabletop. “Pope, c’mon!” His voice raised, shaking the boy harder as you all stood back, distressed. “Come on, bro!”

A second passed and suddenly Pope was breathing in a large gasp of air, his chest rising by inches off the table before he collapsed back down, taking in steady breaths.

You all let out sighs of relief, watching as Ricky almost fell to his knees. Pope began coughing, his frame lurching off the table as he hacked, eventually springing up to sit straight on the table, his face swelling already going down.

“There he is!” JJ cheered, the rest of you laughing or sighing with relief.

“It’s hot.” Pope wheezed out. “I’m really hot, guys…” He exasperated, the boy sliding off his patterned fleece jacket as he slid off the table, all five of you crowding around to help.

“Take it easy...” You instructed, helping the boy off the table as JJ helped him rid himself of the jacket.

“I gotta get outside.” Pope breathed, letting his jacket fall to floor and gently pushing you all off of him as he set out for the front door, the five of you trailing behind.

“I owe you.” JJ patted his cousin on the shoulder, Ricky still standing shell shocked at the turn of events.

“It’s hot!” Pope said again, this time sounding much more irritated as he stumbled through Ricky’s front yard like a baby deer learning to walk.

“Thank you so much.” You commended, looking back at JJ’s cousin before he closed the door. “Are there any side effects we should be concerned about?” You asked as he shut the door further and further.

“He’ll have a rocket up his ass for about half an hour.” He told you. “Then, he’ll be fine.” Was the last thing he said before closing the door, leaving you to turn around and watch your four friends chase Pope through the front yard like an unleashed puppy.

“WHOOOO!” Pope exclaimed, hands on the steering wheel of your Ford Bronco — driving down an empty road back to Freedman’s church just as the sun set and the street lights came on.

“Pope, you’re driving kind of fast…” Kie piped up from the backseat, in between Sarah and John B. JJ was in the passenger seat while you seemed to get booted to the trunk of your own car.

“Pope…” JJ started. “Last to judge, but I think you should slow down a little-”

“No.” He cut off the blonde. “That would definitely delay our arrival to the cross. We gotta get there.”

“Okay,” You piped up, shoving your face in between Kie and Sarah in the back seat. “As the primary driver and sole owner of this car, I’m saying you need to lighten up on the gas pedal, bud.” You advised from the trunk, wind whipping through your hair. “Why did we let him drive again?” You questioned. “And why is JJ in the passenger seat instead of me?”

“Because I said I’d rip your ears off.” Pope replied in a single breath.

“And because I fixed this piece of shit on wheels-”

“You call my car a piece of shit on wheels one more time and I’ll rip your ears off-” You warned, squinting at the blonde through the rearview mirror.

“Okayyyy,” JB spoke for the first time in minutes, interrupting the small dispute. “Pope, how’re you feeling?”

“Great.” The curly-haired boy smiled, continuing down the road at a constant, life-threatening speed. “I don’t know what JJ’s cousin gave me but I am movin’!” He exclaimed, taking one hand off the steering wheel to make a speeding motion with his free hand.

“We couldn’t tell...” Kiara smiled awkwardly, buckling her seatbelt.

“Okay, well, um, you’re going really fast right now.” John B tried to parent, leaning over the shoulder of Pope’s seat from where he sat directly behind him.

“Yeah, really fast!” Pope laughed, craning his neck to look back as he drove, the car swerving wildly between the two lanes.

“Woah!”

“Pope!”

You all panicked, grabbing whatever you could as the car continued to basically drive itself until Pope refocused his sights in front of him, speeding up the car to miles you didn’t know it had the capability of going.

“God, is he driving slow…” Pope sighed, attempting to pass the car in front of you all by swerving into the wrong lane, paying no mind to the car coming straight at him.

“You don’t need to pass-” Kie tried, sitting up straighter in her seat.

“Pope, if you crash my car-” You warned, gripping the edge of the backseat for stability as you slid around in the trunk.

“You don’t need to pass!” Kiara continued as the other car swerved into the grass just as Pope swerved into the correct lane, now in front of the car you were previously behind.

“Man, what an asshole. Am I right?” The boy in the driver’s seat scoffed.

“He was going the speed limit...” You huffed, straightening yourself out.

“We’re not gonna get to the cross if we’re dead, Pope!” JJ exclaimed from the passenger seat, holding onto the safety bar. The tires of your car screeched over the road, your headlights not focusing on one single thing for more than a second.

“We’re not gonna die. It’s our divine right to get that cross.” Pope dismissed, looking back as he spoke, the car swiftly making a sharp left.

“Pope, look at the road!” You screamed, watching helplessly as your car drove into the left lane before nose diving into the woods. Pope tried to make an attempt at turning the car which only made things worse, the side of the car slamming hard into one of the six-inch wide Oak Trees as the airbags deployed and your frame went flying over the side of the trunk, tumbling through the grass. The windshield shattered, leaving glass littered throughout the vehicle as you heard your friends groan in pain, the hiss of whatever was damaged under the hood sounding out in the woods.

You held your ribs in pain, rolling over a sizeable rock on your way down.

“Y/N!” You could hear your name being called in the distance, the sound of glass crunching, your friends coughing, and one of the car doors closing ringing in your ears. The voice called out for you again just as you’d found the strength to roll over on your stomach and push yourself up onto your knees.

“I’m over here!” You rasped, coughing.

It wasn’t long before the familiar sound of JJ’s heavy combat boots were heard crunching over branches and leaves, a warm hand finding home on your back as the other slid under your stomach, helping you stand. “Hey, you okay?” The blonde asked, turning your frame to face him as your hands grabbed his forearms.

“Perfectly fine.” You strained, stretching out your back a bit as the boy brushed hair and leaves from your face. “Are you okay?” You asked, your eyes finally zeroing in on him to find a small cut on one of his eyebrows as well as some red-splotching on his cheeks and forehead, most likely from the airbag.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” He assured when your own hand reached up to brush your finger against the small cut, one of his hands ceasing yours.

“Is everyone alright?” John B weak voice echoed out into the woods, both you and JJ turning to watch as your friends all climbed out of the vehicle before making your way towards them.

“I think so…” Sarah replied.

“That is the last time you drive, Pope.” JJ reprimanded.

“Look at my truck...” You pouted, examining the destroyed windshield and the odd ways it was bent, not ignoring the steam emitting from the hood.

“One word.” JJ spoke. “Totaled.” He cringed. “Yeah, I don’t think I can fix it this time, princess.”

“Well, we’re gonna have to walk the rest of the way.” Pope ignored the damaged vehicle.

You all shared a look of confusion and bewilderment.

“...Dude-” Sarah tried, watching as Pope tried to walk away, shoulder brushing against JB’s.

“I’m going to get my cross.” He stated.

“Hey,” John B piped up, gripping Pope's arm to stop him. “Just relax for a second.”

“Get off of me.” Pope said, snatching his arm away.

“No-”

“Move.”

“I am trying to help-”

“I am getting my cross.”

“You just crashed her car.” John B said as Pope managed to finally brush past him, walking aimlessly down the road as John B caught up. John B tried his best to restrain the boy once more, but Pope continued to brush him off, time and time again. “You’re gonna get hit by a car!” John B reprimanded, the sight of a huge semi-truck coming down the road going ignored by Pope, who was hell-bent on getting his family heirloom.

“Get off of me!” Pope yelled.

“Stop!” John B yelled back, Pope’s struggle suddenly ending when the truck passed, his dark-brown eyes stuck on whoever was in the vehicle. His eyes never left the vehicle and when it got far enough away from him and close enough to the rest of you, it only prompted the four of you standing behind to see what he was looking at...

Rafe and Renfield, Limbrey’s body guard, making direct eye contact with the six of you. Rafe was driving, a sick grin on his face as Renfield offered you all a salute.

The six of you watched as the semi-truck continued down the road, standing by as it got smaller and smaller. But if they were driving back the way you all were coming, then…

“No…” You sighed, face and shoulders falling.

“...We gotta get back to the church!” Pope screamed, all of you looking at him. “Now!” He ordered one last time before he took off running down the road, the rest of you following.

YOU ALL WERE TOO LATE. And the cross was gone. Arriving at the church and seeing the cross no longer splayed out on the wooden floors was the biggest loss of the day. And no one said anything as you all piled into Kiara’s, freshly stolen, SUV — the only operable vehicle left amongst the group with The Twinkie being parked at Ricky’s which was too far at the moment and your car being completely totaled.

If she got it back in time, he parents wouldn’t even notice it was gone.

“Oh, shit.” She cursed, slowing down as rapid flashing blue lights filled the car. “They found your truck.” She said, looking at you — you, JJ, JB, and Sarah squeezed into the backseat.

You all said nothing, watching as Shoupe approached the vehicle, flashlight in hand.

“Good Evening, officer.” Kiara greeted, the driver’s side window already being rolled down.

“Sheriff.” Shoupe corrected.

“Sheriff. Yeah...”

“...Speed kills, huh?” John B spoke from the backseat, you nudging him in the ribs as he let out a soft ‘ouch’.

Shoupe just eyed each of you individually before speaking. “I pulled the tags.” He said, dragging out the sentence. “I know whose truck that is.” He said bluntly, eyes landing sharply on you and you cringed and offered a small wave.

“Sheriff…” Pope started from the passenger seat. “I just wanna say that this is all my fault. She had nothing to do with this. I take one-hundred percent responsibility.”

“Nothing to do with it, huh?” Shoupe pondered. “...The car’s in your possession kid. I have no choice but to take you home.”

Your face twisted at that. “...Uh, in case you forgot, I don’t really have one of those, so…”

“You do now.” He replied. “The Carrera’s,” He emphasized, eyes drifting towards Kiara whose attention was grabbed by the mention of her parents. “...Have ever-so generously opened their home to you. DCS went through your file and saw they were listed as your Godparents and they agreed to foster you. Right after they mentioned that their car was gone and the keys were missing. “

Well, that was quick.

“I’m takin’ you home. The both of you.” He said firmly. “Or I can take you all in for leavin’ the scene of an accident.”

You and Kiara shared a look before silently agreeing with another and turning to Shoupe. “...Okay.” You both said simultaneously.

“Good.” The sheriff nodded. “Plumb?” He directed the female officer to remove you and Kie from the vehicle — the woman opening the driver’s side and back door. Kie exited the vehicle, looking down as she shut the door.

You spared your friends a glance before climbing over JJ’s lap to exit the car, one of the blonde’s hand finding a place on your waist, pausing your movements. Your eyes shot up to his and you held yourself up above him in the cramped space.

He didn’t say anything, just bored his sad, blue eyes into yours. You frowned pitifully and placed a soft hand on his cheek. “I’ll call you. Okay?” You said, tone hushed. He just sighed, eyes racing back and forth before caving in, nodding sadly. You nodded in a silent reply, leaving him with a soft kiss before climbing fully out of the vehicle, closing the door behind you.

“Come on,” Shoupe instructed you and Kie. “Let’s get y’all home.”

ARRIVING OUTSIDE OF THE CARRERA RESIDENCE FELT ODD. Or maybe it was being back on Figure Eight that felt the oddest. Or maybe it was the whole thing.

In the middle of the night, pulling up to Kiara’s home in the back of a squad car as Deputy Plumb parked the SUV in the drive way and Shoupe let you and Kie out of the backseat of his patrol car. You wondered if the rest of your friends made it back to The Twinkie by now — the absence of the SUV leaving them with no other choice but to walk back to JJ’s cousin’s house and get it.

You and Kiara watched in silence as the headlights on her parents vehicle went dead, Plumb exiting the vehicle and walking over to drop the keys into the girl’s palm and walk off, getting into the passenger seat of the squad car.

“Well,” Shoupe exasperated, hands on his utility belt as he moved to stand in front of the two of you. “Y’all gon’ inside, now. ‘S gettin’ late.” He said, nodding his head once. “Stay safe.” Were his parting words as he walked away, shoes scuffling against the concrete and he rounded the squad car, got into the driver’s seat and drove off, leaving you and a nervous Kie alone in her driveway.

The girl stared up at the house, shaking one leg and taking a deep breath. “Look, before we go inside…” She started, eyes on you. “My parents are probably gonna be super intense. I know it’s been a while since you’ve really seen them…so, I’m just warning you.”

You shrugged, glancing at the house before looking back at her. “Can’t be any worse than my previous living situation.”

Kie just scoffed lightheartedly. “Trust me.” She said, shaking her head. “You have no idea…”

Just then, a creaking sound in the distance grabbed both of your attention — heads whipping up to find Mr. and Mrs. Carrera standing in the doorway of the front door, both of their arms crossed over their chests as they stared down the daughter.

“It’s time for you two to come inside.” Her mother said bluntly, offering no other words. You and Kie spared each other one last glance before walking up the length of the driveway, up the small staircase to the front door before stopping in front of her parents.

“It’s nice to see you again, Y/N.” Mr. Carrera greeted from behind his wife to which you nodded awkwardly.

“It’s nice to see you, too.” You replied simply as the man stepped to the side, making room for you and Kie to enter the house. Kie went first, not even a foot into the door before her mother’s voice stopped her.

“Nuh-uh.” She said, holding a palm out but still not looking at Kiara herself. “The keys.” She prompted, curling her hand in on itself. Kiara complied quickly, dropping the ring of metal into her mother’s hand and proceeding to enter the house, you right behind her.

You can’t remember the last time you’d been inside. Even when you lived on Figure Eight, most of your time was spent at home or at Sarah’s.

“Take a seat.” Her mother directed the both of you, the front door closing as she motioned for the couch in the living just feet away. You and Kiara did as you were told, walking over and taking a seat on the couch — her parents coming over and standing on the other side of the coffee table, right in front of the two of you. “There are two very important discussions to be had here.” Mrs.Carrera started, clapping her hands together. “Starting with you.” She said, pointing at her daughter.

“What you did tonight was…beyond unacceptable.” She began, hands moving wildly and blinking rapidly as she spoke. “Stealing the car?”

“I was bringing it back-” Kiara tried, voice small.

“It doesn’t matter, Kiara!” Her mother exclaimed, scoffing unbelievably and shaking her head. “Here you are, once again, making these stupid decisions against us, your parents, for some boys-”

“They're not some boys, they're my friends. Why can't you understand that-”

“Listen to your mother.” Her father cut in, fishing in his back pocket before pulling out what looked like pamphlet, letting it fall to the table.

Kiara’s eyes went between the paper and her father before picking it up — the words ‘KITTY HAWK’ etched into the front. “...What is this?” She asked, twirling the object in her hands.

“That’s your future, Kiara, if you don’t turn your shit around.” Her father said, pulling his lips into a thin line.

“You’re joking, right?” She asked, voice wavering. “This is like one of those places where they kidnap kids in the middle of the night. Do you know how many kids die in these places? O-or kill themselves?-”

“No, it’s a program for troubled teens with behavioral problems.” Her mother inserted herself, hands on her hips.

“...So, now I’m a troubled teen?”

“What the hell would you call it?” Her dad asked, face twisting. “You disappear for days, Kiara, and then when you do come back to the house, it’s to steal my truck.”

“...I thought my friends were dead.” Kie spat, the room falling silent. “And you guys just wanted me to go back to school like nothing happened-”

“That’s not what we wanted.”

“-Like everything was fine, nothing about that is fine!”

“Nothing about any of this is fine.”

“I’ll do whatever you want!” Kiara pleaded. “Okay, I’ll pull double shifts or whatever. But I don’t want you guys to think I was wrong to help them. Because I wasn’t. I was doing what I thought was right. And I didn’t mean to do all of that to you guys…And I’m sorry.” She explained, tears gathering in her eyes. “I’m sorry for sneaking out and skipping school. It was stupid and I…I’m sorry for going to Charleston. I’m sorry for stealing your truck. I-”

“Baby…” Her mother stopped her rambling, rounding the coffee table to crouch in front of her daughter, taking her hands in her own. “I know. Okay, I know.” She reassured. “We love you so much.” She told the girl before shaking her head. “...But sorry is not gonna cut it anymore.”

Kie’s face fell at her words, eyes drifting towards her father who stood firm in his spot — arms crossed over his chest. “Let me tell you what’s gonna happen.” He started. “No more sneaking out of the house, no more treasure hunts, and no more Pogues. Or you’re going to Kitty Hawk.” He said with finality before his eyes landed on you. “And Y/N, I know you just got here so this may be a lot, but these rules go for you, as well.”

“Yes.” Mrs.Carrera nodded, standing from where she was comforting her daughter to rejoin her husband. “We’ve cleared out a room for you upstairs, you’ll have your own bathroom as well. You’re welcome to work with us at The Wreck but that is completely up to you. Shoupe told us about your car when he got to the scene and if you’re okay with it, we’ll pay for you to get it fixed. Anything you need, you can ask us, don’t be afraid. We only ask that you just respect us, our home, and our rules.”

You understood their rules and expectations but you wondered if that was the only rule that went for you…What if you continuously broke them under their care? Would Kitty Hawk be held over your head, too?

“I completely understand and I appreciate it so much.” You said, trying to offer a polite smile. “Thank you for taking me in and I’ll do my best to help out at The Wreck.” You assured them. “But... I do have my dog, Marley, if you remember her. She’s at John B’s house…along with the rest of my stuff.”

The Carrera’s shared a look, seeming to have a silent conversation before turning back to you and Kie.

“We’ll take you.”

“FIFTEEN MINUTES. ANY LONGER AND WE’RE COMING TO GET YOU TWO.” Mr.Carrera said from the driver’s seat of his SUV.

“We got it, Dad.” Kiara sighed, opening her door and getting out, you following shortly after.

The gravel crunched under your sneakers, the porch light being the only source of light in the dark of night. You didn’t wait to make your way up the small staircase and to the front door, it already being unlocked due to John B’s lack in one’s basic sense of security.

Walking in, you were immediately graced with Marley’s presence — not having seen the animal in hours. You bent down, scratching the top of her head before looking back at Kie. “I don’t have much.” You said. “I shouldn’t be long.” You assured, standing up to your full height and walking into the guest room of The Chateau where you kept most of your belongings — that were mixed in with JJ’s.

“It’s fine.” Kie shrugged, the girl waiting in the living room with her hands in her back pockets. “Even if you do, they’ll just blame me like they do with everything…” You didn’t say anything, just continued gathering your things — throwing them into your heavy-duty backpack and zipping up the bag, throwing it over your shoulder as you walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, picking up Marley’s bowls, toys, and food. “...Can I ask you something?” Kiara said, voice small.

You sat your backpack on the kitchen table, eyeing the Carrera girl as she fiddled with her fingers. “You can ask me anything.” You laughed, a slight look of confusion on your face.

“Do you hate me?” She asked, eyes pinching together like the question brought her physical pain. “‘Cause, you know, I wouldn’t blame you if you did. After what I did…”

“Kie.” You started, pausing in your movements and letting your hands fall to your sides. “I know we haven’t been the best of friends lately, or, friends at all…But I could never hate you.”

She simply scoffed, running her fingers through her hair. “You say that now…”

“Because it’s true. We’ll always be friends, even if-”

“That.” She spat, laughing, but you could tell there was no real humor there. “That is my problem. And I don’t know how you can’t see it.” She said, shaking her head as her sad eyes met yours. “Can you not see how much…pain being your friend is causing me? And I know it’s not your fault, I know that-”

“What are you talking about?” You asked, mildly offended. “Being my friend is causing you pain?” You asked her, eyes wide in disbelief. “Kie, you kissed my boyfriend while you were with Pope. And you expect me to act like nothing happened? What about Pope? Have you even apologized to him?” You reprimanded.

“You-”

“I got kidnapped and drugged and all of sudden you have, what, some kind of epiphany about our friendship? Because up until then you were treating me like shit.”

“That’s not why I-”

“Then explain it to me-”

“I can’t!” She yelled, cheeks taking on a shade of red. “...Okay? I’m trying, I have been trying but I can’t. It’s like the words don’t match up or…or nothing checks out. None of it makes any sense.” She rambled, pulling her fingers as she paced on the spot. “It’s so much more complicated than you think and I feel like I should tell you but I could be ruining everything-”

“Just try.” You sighed, shoulders falling. “It’s just us here. We have a little over ten minutes before your parents come marching in. I won’t say a word.” You told her. “I promise, I’ll let you speak and I’ll listen. I just want to understand. I want to understand where our friendship went wrong.” You pleaded. “I miss you, Kie. But somewhere in this mess of what our lives have become, you and I fell apart and I can’t figure out why…”

“...I saw you.” She struggled out, failing to maintain eye contact as she spoke. “During John B’s memorial, I saw JJ kiss you.” She said. “And…I felt this, this pang of jealousy. And at first, I thought it was because things weren’t going great with Pope. But at some point, I realized it wasn’t that. So, I jumped to the next reasonable conclusion — that I liked JJ.” She sighed. “Seeing the way he looked at you, I thought maybe I wanted him to look at me like that. Y’know, maybe I had feelings for him and was just realizing it. That’s why I kissed him in Charleston.” She explained sadly, eyes finally meeting yours.

“It was a shitty thing, I know.” She scolded herself, hands waving wildly. “Kissing him to figure out my feelings while you two had something going on wasn’t cool, I know that. I hate myself for it. Because it was pointless.” She swallowed. “...I didn’t…feel anything. I kissed him and I felt nothing. And it didn’t hurt my feelings when he pushed me away and told me he didn’t see me that way. And I was so angry at myself but confused, too…” She said, almost like she was working out her thoughts as they left her lips. “Because if I didn’t like JJ, then why couldn’t I stomach the sight of you two together?”

You listened as she spoke and you were glad you were finally getting her side, truly. But the direction this was going…

“...And then, seeing you in Barry’s trailer. That’s when everything fell into place.” She said, a stray tear rolling down her cheek. “Seeing you like that made my entire world stop. I wanted to be the one to scoop you up and hold you and tell you everything would be okay. And my heart shattered when I realized that I couldn’t, not in the way I wanted to.” She confessed, taking one weary step in your direction. “I know it’s a weird way to come to a conclusion like that, but…I think that’s when I realized I wasn’t in love with Pope or JJ.” She said, shaking her head. “...I’m in love with you. I don’t know when it happened or how or…why…” She confessed, voice wavering.

“And I’m sorry.” She cried, wiping her eyes. “For being such a bitch and ruining our friendship over something so stupid. Because I know that it’s too late and even if it wasn’t, even if you weren’t with JJ — you and me would never be anything. And the thought kills me every time.” You didn’t know what to say, standing completely still and listening to her talk. Although, you weren’t sure if you were listening.

Your longest best friend was standing less than a foot in front of you, telling you how she was in love with you.

“So, if you hate me, I understand, okay?” She cried harder, pressing her hands into her eyes.

“I don’t hate you.” You finally spoke, voice flat and small as you made no move to comfort her. You didn’t know how. Would a hug make it worse? Would the touch of your hands on her skin make things better or worse? “Kie, I-” You stuttered to find a response. “I don’t know what to say…or do. Do you want a hug or…?”

There was no right way to go about this, you realized. You’d caused each other so much pain over the last few weeks — knowingly or unknowingly, justified or unjustified, it was all the same.

The brown-haired girl just shook her head, wiping her eyes clean. When she made eye contact with you, her eyes were red and slightly puffy as she nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “No, please, don’t.” She requested, voice breaking. “It’s my fault.”

Your face fell at her words, taking a single step in the girl’s direction. “Don’t say that.” You said softly. “You did some shitty things, for sure.” You laughed lightheartedly. “But…you can’t control how you feel. You can’t dictate who you love…”

You words only made her face twist further in sadness. “...I never wanted to hurt you.” She sighed sadly, eyes filling with tears once again. You simply gave her a tight-lipped smile of pity, gently taking one of her hands in your own.

“Neither did I.” You assured, your own voice wavering when the loud honking of a horn came from outside — the both of you jumping at the loud noise.

“Guess our time’s up…” Kiara spoke, avoiding your eyes once more as she let her hand fall from yours as she turned towards the door. You nodded to yourself, taking a breath and grabbing your bag from the table and securing it before throwing it over your shoulder once more, whistling for Marley who met you swiftly at the command.

Kiara opened the door, the Golden Retriever bolting out of the house and to the SUV, wagging her tail as she waited for you to open the door. You walked out of the door silently as Kie held it open, letting it close behind herself as you both walked back to the car, shoes crunching once more as you swiftly turned to face your friend, stopping her in her tracks.

“I…” You stuttered. You didn’t know what you wanted to say or planned to say. But you felt like you should say something. But no words would come out.

Kie just offered you a sad smile, patting your shoulder. “It’s okay.” She said to you. “I’m happy for you. Honestly, I am.” She spoke, voice low seeing as you standing right next to the vehicle with her parents inside. “You’ve been through so much and you deserve to be happy. You deserve to be with someone who makes you happy. And JJ is that person, not me. I can see it your eyes and his — you’re meant for each other. And one day, I’ll be fine with that.” She said, not waiting for you to speak as she went around the other side of the car, getting in.

You stood in silent contemplation for a few moments before snapping back to reality — opening your door for Marley to jump in as you threw your bag to the floor and jumped in, shutting the door as Mr.Carrera drove off, the radio playing lowly.

When did your life become such a mess?

IT WAS THE NEXT MORNING AND YOU WERE LISTENING TO MUSIC AS YOU STRAIGHTENED OUT YOUR BED SHEETS. You’ll admit, it was nice to have your own room again and have some normality as a teenage girl.

Some…

You and Kie hadn’t said more than two words to each other since last night — those two words being ‘good morning’ as you awkwardly passed each other on the way out of your rooms and downstairs to join the Carreras for breakfast.

The meal was awkward but mildly comforting. It was nice to feel part of a family again, even if deep down something was telling you this picture-perfect act wouldn’t last long.

You heard Mr. and Mrs.Carrera loud and clear — break their rules and it’s Camp for Cuckoos.

After breakfast, you’d freshened up and started to put your room together. Mrs.Carrera had generously gone and bought you a bed set, some new clothes, and even some small decorations to make the place feel less empty. She even went as far as to buy Marley, who was sunbathing in the middle of your floor, a new, much less worn and tattered, bed that was sitting in the corner of your newly furnished space.

Even if it was only temporary, you figured you could get used to this. It was still in the early hours of the morning as you played interior decorator — your music pausing on your bluetooth speaker as a call came through.

Picking up the device, a smile spread on your face from ear to ear as you answered. “Hi, Blondie.”

“Good mornin’ to you, princess.” JJ’s voice broke through the other end. “You sound wide awake. That’s a first.” He said, the sound of wind whipping by coming from his end.

“And you don’t sound like you’re home.” You pointed out skeptically.

“I’m never home.”

‘Y’know what I mean…” You pressed, sitting on your bed and rubbing your hand over the soft blanket.

“I’m with Bree, right now and we, uh, may need a little assistance, if you will.” He told you, voice sounding nervous even through the device.

“...What’s wrong now?” You asked.

“Well, uh, Rafe’s got the cross and Pope latched onto the back of his truck and went God knows where and Rose has Sarah and she’s taking her to some loading dock.” JJ explained quickly, hearing both boys curse as John B took a sharp turn, you assumed. “So, the two of us can’t really do this by ourselves but John B here is determined.”

You bit your lip in contemplation — breaking the rules on day one?

...Seemed pretty on brand.

“I’ll be there soon.” You assured before hanging up the phone. You stood in thought for a few moments, opening the Find My app on your phone to see how far your two friends were, trying to mentally decipher whether you could get away with just sneaking out or if you’d have to sneak out and sneak your car keys which were sitting on the counter downstairs…where Kie’s parents were.

A quick request from your location to JJ’s told you that without your car, the estimated distance would jump from a forty-five minute drive to a three-hour walk. You sighed and peeked out of your window. To your surprise, the Carrera’s SUV was gone, leaving only your freshly fixed Ford in the drive way, looking cleaner than ever.

A small smile of relief spread on your face as you quickly exited your room, skipping down the steps and heading for the kitchen only to find Mike and Anna downstairs — Mr. Carrera testing new recipes to add to the menu down at The Wreck while Mrs. Carrera cleaned up the dishes he left behind.

Both of the adults turned to you at the sound of your feet skidding to a stop.

“Good morning, again, Y/N.” Mrs. Anna smiled at you, dropping dishes into the sink. “Are we in your way? Did you need something?”

Your mouth gaped like a fish until you settled on a smile. “No, just…came down for a snack.” You lied, both of them sending you a polite smile in return as they returned to paying you no mind. Eyeing the arrangement of small chip bags conveniently placed next to the dish that held all the keys, you padded across the kitchen, noisily grabbing one of the bags to mask the jingling of the keys before shoving the metal in your pocket and heading upstairs.

Your face twisted as you ascended the staircase — if the Carrera’s were downstairs, where was their car?

Allowing your intuition to guide you, you skipped the door to your room to stand in front of Kie. A twist of the knob and a push of the door told you that the brown-haired girl who wasn’t occupying her room was responsible for the missing vehicle outside. You wondered where she went before remembering you had her location as well.

Closing her door softly, you pulled your phone out once more to see that she was driving in the middle of the woods. How long had she been gone and where was she going? Pinching your fingers to zoom out, you could see she was closer to Pope than any of you, that realization answering your question.

With the turn of events this morning was taking, you wouldn’t be in this nice house much longer before you and Kie were being shipped off to Kitty Hawk.

Entering your room, you closed the door gently and threw the bag of chips on your bed. Trotting over to the window, you lifted the glass and screen — the familiar North Carolina breeze hitting you as you did. You looked back at the bedroom door one last time, feeling bad for having to ruin something good. But these were your friends. Your family. Helping them wasn’t a question.

Tiptoeing onto the roof and closing the window, you quietly made your way down to the driveway — getting into the driver’s seat and quickly driving off.

“WHAT IS THAT?” You could hear John B’s hushed voice as you got closer to the sound you were emitting. “Dude! Turn that off! Why are you ringing?” He reprimanded his blonde friend as you approached the two of them from behind from where they were hiding behind a family of crates and boxes.

“It’s Y/N, I don’t know why she’s pinging me-”

“Hi.” you said quietly, standing in between your two best friends as they jumped at the sound of your voice. You tapped the button on your phone to stop JJ’s from making noise.

“Jesus!” JJ whisper-yelled, both boys sighing as they looked at you.

“You should find a better way to announce yourself when we’re on important missions.” John B told you, steading himself.

“Well, having your location doesn’t really help when your in a junky ass shipyard.” You sassed, shooting a grimace at the boy which he returned in full.

“We said the pinging was for emergencies only.” JJ told you, putting his phone on silent and shooting you a playful glare.

“It was!” You said, hushed. “I couldn’t find you and I had to hop the fence. What is this? A private dock?.”

“Guys,” John B grabbed your attention. “I think that’s their ship.” He said, pointing at the large boat the dock members were anchoring.

“Wait,” JJ started. “The Coastal Venture…” He thought to himself. “Dude, I know that ship. My dad did legs on her last summer, it’s a total tramp steamer. I worked on her in port…”

“There’s the cross.” You added, referring to the wooden crate being lifted with a pullet system — what look like Rafe with two unknown men standing and watching as they pulled it up.

“God, I hate that guy…” John B whispered as he eyed Rafe from afar. You couldn’t agree more. “There she is.” He piped up, eyes drifting to the side — Rose and Wheezie walking behind Sarah, who was being escorted roughly towards the ship. “Guys, we gotta come up with a plan.” John B urged to the two of you.

“I know.” JJ said. “We’re working on it.” He continued as your eyes scanned the ship, thinking of possibilities.

“Hey,” You cut in. “If we can get over that barge, we can go over. We’ll have to get in the water, though.”

“Then we’re gonna be sitting ducks-”

“Howdy.” Kie’s voice startled the trio of you, her and Pope’s footsteps coming to a stop as they appeared behind you three.

“Whoa!” JJ exclaimed, whipping around before realizing it was just his two friends. “I was about to stab your eyes out…How’d you guys even find us?”

“Geo-located your phone.” She said simply. You made brief eye contact with the girl before you both looked away, the action not going unnoticed by your observant boyfriend but he seemed to settle on saying nothing.

“Yo, Pope. You okay?” John B asked, a hand on the boy’s shoulder as you all looked at him — covered in dried mud and dirt and specks of blood. “What happened?”

“Rafe, round three.” Pope whispered, voice raspy.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Again?” JJ said angrily.

“This was a tie.” Pope told the blonde, calming his boiling rage. “Is that the cross?” He asked, eyes on the wooden crate across the shipyard. He sounded so focused and determined.

“Yeah…” You answered, sighing. “And they’re holding Sarah hostage.”

“We gotta get on that boat.” Kie worried, hand on her forehead.

“First, we gotta get past the Goon Squad.” JJ pointed out a crowd of workers and guards that would surely kick you all out.

“We gotta move.” John B urged, the four of you walking forward before he looked back and saw that Pope was going the opposite direction. “Pope, what’re you doing?”

“I have an idea.” He held out a cautious palm. “Just trust me.”

“No-”

“Trust me and go.” Pope called, walking away. “I’ll meet up with you guys.” He said before disappearing. But something was screaming at you to follow him, to not leave him alone. So, in the middle of your running, you quickly turned and headed the opposite way.

“Hey!” JJ called, eyeing you wildly. “Where are you goin’?”

“To help Pope.” You told him, never faltering in your steps. “He’s not thinking straight and it doesn’t feel right to leave him alone. Just go, okay? We’ll meet up with you guys.” You urged him before turning away and following Pope’s trail.

You arrived to the boy just in time to find him unscrewing the tops to a family of propane tanks. “Pope.” You whispered, creeping up to him to avoid being seen. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Creating a distraction.” He told you bluntly, stepping away once at least three of the tanks were hissing — the gas being released as he stood back, pulling a gun from his pocket.

“Jesus-!” Your eyes went wide, immediately stepping forward and grabbing the weapon from his hands. “I’m not going to ask questions about how or why…” You said, referring to the gun as you pushed him back with a firm hand on his chest. “But, Pope, you’re already caked in dirt and shit.” You pointed out. “...But, you are the brains of this shit so if you think causing an explosion will help us get on that boat, then fine. But you’re not getting whiplash after fighting.”

Turning away from the boy, you cocked the gun back — aiming it directly at the tanks.

“Y/N-”

“It’s fine, Pope.” You breathed, glancing back at him quickly. “We’re gonna get your cross.” You assured before refocusing your sights and pulling the trigger, barely having time to register your actions before you were blown back by the explosion, you and Pope landing on your backs as smoke filled your airways.

“Oh, shit…” You coughed, pushing yourself up as you heard a marching band of feet coming your way. “Pope, c’mon, we gotta go.” You urged, helping the boy up as you both ran from the scene and to your friends.

You both fell to a stop in front of the three of them, breathing heavily as you dropped the gun to the ground.

“What did you do?” JJ asked, worried, crouching down in front of you and brushing hair out of your face.

You just coughed before laughing and tapping the brim of his hat. “We were playing with guns.” You smiled, one last cough leaving your lungs as the blonde rolled his eyes and helped you up, fighting the smile growing on his face.

“You’re a dork.” He scoffed, placing a small kiss on your lips.

“Pope, what was that?” John B asked, helping up his friend.

Pope just ignored his question, pointing to The Coastal Venture. “Look. That’s container’s going on the ship. We can get in that way.” He told the five of you — John B wasting no time in charging for where Pope had pointed, the rest of you following.

Pope leaped into the back of the shipping container without hesitation, JJ being the first to speak up. “Hold up,” He urged, looking up at the curly-haired boy in the container. “Did you think this through?”

Pope didn’t even seem to think before answering, tone blunt and short. “Yes. This is the plan.”

“That’s a trap right there. You see that right?” JJ asked, pointing to the other shipping boxes. “We can’t get out once we get in-” The blonde panicked, John B stepping forward and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey,” He started, looking JJ in his eyes. “You guys don’t have to come, alright?” He offered, briefly glancing at you and Kie as well.

“Right.” Pope agreed, nodding his head at the three of you. “This is our fight.” He told you all — referring to himself and John B.

You, Kiara, and JJ shared a weary glance before JJ tossed his hands out and tilted his head, eyes on yours. “P4L?”

You glanced nervously inside the dark, tight space, cringing — were you claustrophobic? Because that’s what it felt like. Looking back at JJ, a groan rose from your throat. “P4L…” You exhausted, turning and sticking your hand up for Pope to help you up into the container — followed shortly by JJ, then Kie, then John B.

“Guess it’s better than boarding school…” Kie pondered, pulling her lips into a thin line.

The five of you bolted to the back of the container, crouching hiding behind the contents of the space. You and your friends watched, holding your breath, as a man came by and swiftly inspected the container with a flashlight before seemingly deciding nothing was amiss.

“Okay, she’s good to go. Lock her up.” He patted his hand against the metal.

Your breath shuddered as the men sealed the space shut, leaving you all with dim light and humid oxygen. Metal clanked and engines revved as you felt the container begin to sway — you were being lifted onto the ship. It was such an odd feeling, so much so it made your stomach turn in the oddest of ways — JJ taking notice and intertwining your fingers with his.

You shot the blonde an appreciative smile before looking straight ahead to calm yourself.

The five of you groaned as your heads and backs hit the walls of the container as it touched down, letting out breaths of relief.

There was no telling how this was going to play out or end, for that matter.

But hey, P4L, right?

next chapter>

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