#also his hair is a darker ginger and his skin is Worse especially in the previously detached arm

[rockeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

updated darstry height chart + some design changes

[themrswallace]

My first OC: An intro to Amelia.

As some of ya’ll know, Wallace and Gromit was what got me writing, literally, soon as i saw the movie all my chubby 10 year old butt wanted to do was make my own episode for the show and while I knew I was too little to work for Aardman Animations, that didn’t stop me writing fanfiction and beginning a fun and disturbing trot into the fandom world.  Amy, was my first character, the one who started it all and yes, her story, is not one of cute mishaps and crime solving like that of her husbands (Well, husband’s dog but you know), it’s not twisted but it’s not light either, she is and always has been hella un-canon to the series, to the world they reside in and sure, as a kid I was told Mr Park wouldn’t touch such a mature plot-line with a barge pole, but it didn’t stop me and here we are today.  Amelia Quartermaine:  Age: 28 Gender: Female.  Height: 5/11. Description: Pale skin, ginger/reddish hair with your stereotype freckles across the nose area of the face with piercing hazel eyes, larger than most cartoon creators like but not technically unhealthy, a physical blend of muscle and squish, huntress thicc, slight hourglass figure but the weight is a little wider than commonly described.  --- Amelia begins as a brief glace during a routine visit to her almost stepmother/aunt figure, Totty, as I mentioned earlier, she’s appeared on the specific day to collect the last of Hutch’s things since he’s now living with her family, it’s not an idea situation and Lady T is less than okay with losing her one real link to Wallace, a missed love interest who declined her marriage/business proposal, but knowing of Amelia fondness for him and dedication to animals (Philip the dog, the family’s various large frightening birds and imported Vampire deer happily scattered around Victor’s less impressive manor house) she accepts the idea he’ll be happier there and leaves the matter at that.  Speaking of love, it’s obviously Cupid firing arrows at a solid wall, nothing gets through for a while until Wallace suffers a minor injury during a tour of the Quartermaine estate, caused by Lady Tottington asking for his company on a visit to her ex boyfriends estate to attend a live auction of Victor’s hunting gear, various expensive/rare guns and weaponry finally being taken away from his weak grasp following the whole being beaten to a pulp by the angry mob and left needing rehab/reconstructive surgery on his legs/right shoulder.  Don’t get confused, this isn’t a choice he’s made, no no, it’s his children, Amelia and her brothers, seeing his altered state and lack of ability to properly hold a rifle and deciding the best option is to save Victor from himself and remove temptation from his home, keeping the good shit for themselves but making sure he can’t get his mitts on any random weapons to use against animals, people, Wallace, you get the idea. He’s a cranky old man at this point and will happily deck the one who put him in crutches/permanent knee brace so what’s safer than remove 99% of all his shooty shoot toys.  After said auction, Amelia walks her aunt and Wallace through the hand planted woodland, ranging 500 years old and full of some of the freakiest birds you ever saw, along with the little vampire deers that aren’t actually scary and really like people and small corn snacks, no sooner have they cleared a path and entered the most beautiful memorial pond area for the girls mother, Wallace trips over something and ends face down in the dirt with a vamp deer climbing on his back to reach a random grub on a nearby tree, the whole fiasco causes Tottys almost step-daughter to burst out laughing and thus begins the inevitable woo of the Quartermaine girl as any man capable of making even the coldest of people laugh must be one worth knowing.  Of course, with all his love interests, this one holds an unspoken truth Gromit wishes to solve fast, especially given her status, and even with Hutch acting as a comforting example Amelia can be kind, he needs to uncover the other side, when things get tough, how many skeletons fall from the closet?  ---- Now: A little background.  Amelia is one of three children, being the youngest while her brothers, twins Marcus (Short for Machello) and Dametre are joint first, all birthed via Victors first wife and only love, Giovanna, who was lost to a long running genetic condition with no known cure or explanation.  Amelia grew up under the wing of her father, favoring hunting/taxidermy/general gruesome hobbies as the twins preferred a variety of tailoring, cooking, knitting, gardening and lighter crafts, similar to Gromit.  They were equally close to each parent although you get the idea that Victor held a certain admiration for his daughter given their shared blood lust, the familiar craving of the hunt and urge to display their kills for the world to see, plus being of similar mind yet him being the obviously weaker of the pair, Amelia dutifully going through with the plan while he either got angry with all the complicated steps or just failed to follow up.  Victor, as a younger man, was very much one of those snobby “I’ll kill it, eat it and show you it’s skin because I’m hella macho”, while his daughter, was...well, a killer, a darker presence his weakness clung to, like a mother unable to let go of her son due to fear his partner will replace her in his heart, lack of power, lack of ones own worth so he taught her to be the best, the hunter capable of a big kill, no fear, all confidence and knowledge of entitlement and worth.  No surprise, though never actually murdering a person, Amelia was a skilled fighter, handy with a sword, steady with a pistol and indestructible, mentally and physically....at least, until the death of her mother.  Although staying strong, it left a rift, a rift concealed by a large vault door and locked tight so nobody could see just how sad it was to lose the only rational/in tact person in her life.  Yes, she loved her father but Victor was a proud man, a proud father, giddy over having a child so devoted to the hunt just as he was, as his own father and grandfather, having someone to carry on not just the bloodline but that legacy, that path, despite loving his daughter, his sons, Victor was not someone you could actually...talk to.  Giovanna was, she was that small hint of sanity in a strange, abnormal world, riddled in blood and destruction, she was that light at the end, the warm water washing away the deeds of the day, the listening ear and giver of advice, the forgiving hug, the confessional Amelia could tell her sins to with all the promise of them never seeing the outside.  Regardless of being a hunter, Amelia also cared about animals, and her relationship with the forest was a complicated sort, it was hypocritical and ironic but she refused to engage that part of herself, she wanted to have her cake and eat it too, no matter of the internal struggles between just and evil.  After the mothers death, the brothers took over, Amelia hunted but the twins were her protectors, the homemakers and general kindness of the estate as Victor got more into his cruel habits and needing of money, he did it all for them, but at the same time, he also did it to ease the heartache, the loss, the pain of having his wife around, without her being with him. He believed that the ones you loved never left, but at the same time, never seeing their faces was enough to put all those feelings to the test, all that faith, all that sense out the window.  --- Back to the present: With her father’s condition now requiring support/aid, Amelia has taken position as one of the estates breadwinners, next to her brother Dam while Marcus stays home and looks after Victor, the arrangement is stable but with the intro of Hutch and her sudden taking to Wallace, things are looking...rocky, soon to become worse as Gromit gets involved to uncover just how much of her childhood has stuck. (Spoiler: SHE DECKS A BEAR AND PUTS THE VICAR THROUGH A PEW!)  Welp Imma end this here, prob gonna do another story post at some point but for now I need a pee and my ass hurts from sitting so long

[365daysoftododeku]

14th May 2019

Author: Rasha

Admin’s Note: This story is a sequel from @hetawriter​‘s April 20 post! 

Warning: Angst, Blood

________________________________________________________________

God’s Cruel Joke (Part 2)

Years passed and Shouto was never the same.

It didn’t take long for Toshinori to convince his wife that caring for two orphans in need was better than praying for a child that had never come to them. Bakugo and Midoriya were happy there.

Bakugo had taken a liking to the town guard after a while, off on adventures across town. Whenever Aizawa and Nemuri had to leave the town for whatever reason he was always the first to volunteer. He saw it as his way of giving back to the people who saved him.

Midoriya was different, taking an immediate liking to his new guardians. He spent a lot of time around the inner town, a silent shadow behind Toshinori. That also meant that he spent a lot of time with Shouto the apprentice.

At first, it was awkward, especially when Midoriya was forced to stay outside the gate when Toshinori was forced to care for the Sohma family specifically. It confused Shouto the first time. Midoriya knew about Iida the dog? Why couldn’t he know about the rest of them?

It just took one word for those questions to be silenced.

Seita.

Toshinori believed in self-learning. Often the two would spend the morning together, and the afternoon was for Shouto’s own experiences. A morning of caring for the ill with Toshinori and an afternoon in Toshinori’s personal library. Shouto had always learned better from books than he did touch or hearing so the separation was a mutual affair.

One afternoon Shouto was in Toshinori’s library. Shouto was invested in a book on bone setting and had just discovered a passage about tooth worms. Not something for the faint of heart, yet Midoriya popped his head in any way.

“What are you doing?” Midoriya asked. In his hands was a tray with two cups of tea on it. He set one down next to Shouto. Any other time Shouto would have downed the drink right then and there, but with the contents of his book, he couldn’t stomach it just yet.

“Working.”

“Oh.” Midoriya hesitated for a moment before finding his own spot next to Shouto and sitting. He sipped his tea while watching the other boy work. He sat close to Shouto, almost too close for someone Shouto barely knew.

They didn’t speak. Not again. They didn’t move. Shouto wondered if he wanted to.

Midoriya watched. Shouto worked.

And when the tea was gone, Midoriya picked up both cups and left.

That interaction happened again and again. Sometimes the conversation ended with Shouto’s curt responses. Sometimes Midoriya filled the air with his thoughts. His thoughts about Bakugo’s new interests with the guards. His worries about being left behind. His opinions on the colors of the flowers that Shouto ground between stones. Or a new character he learned from Toshinori’s books, letting the word slip from his tongue over and over again until he knew it by heart. He worried about not knowing what to do with his life.

One day Shouto was reading a boring book about roots and how to identify them in the wild. He hadn’t heard Midoriya come in, but he had felt it. There was a tension that hadn’t been there before. Something that made Shouto’s spine tingle as he heard the creaking of the wooden planks beneath Midoriya’s feet. Shouto felt the warmth of Midoriya’s ghost touch as they brushed fingers, the first touch since that night all those years ago when they shared a bed.

Midoriya retracted suddenly, knocking the cup so it wobbled in its place before settling. He left Shouto’s cup of tea behind. For the first time in months, Midoriya didn’t stay.

Shouto couldn’t focus on his studies for the rest of the day. Something important had just happened, but Shouto was unsure what that was.

Interactions like that became common. Stilted, and decrepit. As though a barrier had erected itself between the two boys. Shouto wondered if he had done something wrong. He feared he had pushed Midoriya away without meaning to.

Midoriya came by one day and Shouto reached out for his wrist. He caught the other boy by surprise, a cup of tea falling to the ground.

“Did I do something?” Shouto asked. Shouto kept his gaze leveled with Midoriya’s. One of Midoriya’s eyes was darker than the other, something that no one would notice unless they looked carefully.

“No!” Midoriya’s response was too quick, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks.

“I must have,” Shouto said. “You don’t- you don’t stay anymore.”

“Aren’t I a bother?” Midoriya retracted, pulling his hand out of Shouto’s softening grip.

“No, I miss… seeing you.” Shouto didn’t know what he was saying. Did he miss Midoriya? Someone he still saw every day? Even though they didn’t talk anymore he was still there with Toshinori in the mornings, he still came by with tea in the afternoon. Yet Shouto had grown to miss Midoriya all the same.

“Oh?” Midoriya pushed some of his fraying hair behind his ear. “I always thought that I was bugging you. That you didn’t like it when I was- when I got close.”

“Not at all.”

A silence consumed them and Shouto wondered if he had ever seen such a soft blush on someone. Perhaps he was doing the same.

“I’ll get us some tea,” Midoriya said picking up the cup from the ground and retreating back to the kitchen.

Shouto found a rag to clean up the mess. By the time the floor was dry Midoriya had returned. This time with two cups.

Shouto went back to his reading and Midoriya sat next to him.

“What’s that word?” Midoriya asked, practically leaning on Shouto.

“Ginger.”

“And that one?”

“Poultice.”

The conversation continued on. Shouto’s shoulder pressed firmly against Midoriya’s. When the tea was gone Midoriya still stayed, this time watching in silence. He only left when Toshinori came to check up on them, pulling away quickly as a child stuck with his hand in the cookie jar.

When Midoriya was out of earshot Toshinori gave a worried look to Shouto.

“Be careful,” he warned.

“Of what?”

Toshinori’s lips twitched into a smile. “Of love.”

For months Midoriya continued to have his tea with Shouto. They stayed close, leaning against one another. Touching each other in the most familiar of ways. Toshinori’s warning a long forgotten memory.

Shouto never expected- never thought-

But when Midoriya leaned over to ask about a word months later everything changed. Shouto felt their eyes lock in a way that he had felt before. He could feel Midoriya’s breath on his cheek. Shouto could count the constellations on Midoriya’s skin if he wanted. Time stopped. Midoriya just had to lean in an inch, a breath, more.

More! Shouto’s mind screamed. He wanted more! He wanted that moment.

Shouto’s sharp intake of breath was all Midoriya needed. Midoriya leaned in, his own breath stopped, his eyes began to close.

If Shouto did nothing he would get what he wanted more than anything. But Toshinori’s warning. Seita’s anger. No, Seita’s rage. Seita’s rage against Midoriya.

“I can’t,” Shouto said, his head turning away.

“Oh- oh no. I’m so sorry I thought that-“

“No, it’s not that!” Shouto’s heart was breaking as he spoke. He could only just see Midoriya out of the corner of his eyes. “I just can’t.”

Midoriya’s eyes were spilling with hurt as he nodded, pulling away from Shouto completely. Midoriya stood in a rush, his chair scraping against the floor. He spun ready to run away from the rejection but Shouto stopped him with a hand. Shouto wrapped his arms around Midoriya’s back, pulling him into a loose embrace, something that Midoriya could leave without a fight. Shouto had no living memory of embracing anyone before or being embraced aside from the one time with Nemuri.

Shouto waited for Midoriya to pull away but it didn’t happen.

“Midoriya,” Shouto whispered. “My family would never allow us.”

“Don’t worry about them,” Midoriya whispered back, his hands reaching up to run across Shouto’s skin. “If this is- If I’m what you want don’t let them get in the way.”

“It’s not that simple. Seita is powerful. He would never forgive-“

“Love?”

Shouto squeezed Midoriya at the word. Love. Toshinori’s warning came back to the forefront of his mind. Shouto nodded.

“Would it change if I were a woman?” Midoriya asked.

“Yes,” Shouto replied. The word a curse on his tongue. “Yes, but it would be so much worse.”

Midoriya pushed away and nodded. His back still to Shouto.

“It’s not what you think- I can’t be with anyone.”

Midoriya stayed still for a moment, his heart pulling him in one direction and his emotions in another. “Anyone?”

Shouto nodded. “Especially not a woman.”

“Are you promised to someone?”

Shouto hesitated before shaking his head. If he ever wanted to be with someone- the thought of Uraraka or Inasa made his skin shiver. He didn’t want his cousins, not the way that Hana and Tashi were. Not the way Toshinori and Inko were. He wanted-

“No, I’m not. No promises, no desires. I want you,” Shouto said. “I want to be with you. But Seita would never allow it. He… hordes us. Like we’re toys or delicacies. And if we dared to imagine what it would be like without him? I just can’t.”

Midoriya nodded. “I think I understand.” Midoriya’s hands went to his face, wiping away any unseen tears before escaping.

Midoriya returned the next day, but he didn’t stay long again. He maybe sat around for a few minutes, trying to have a stilted conversation before leaving. The cycle continued for months. Midoriya entered. Midoriya left.

Perhaps it was just too painful for him to be around someone he could never have. Shouto felt the same. His heart panged in his chest whenever Midoriya entered the same room. It cried when Midoriya left the room. It yearned for Midoriya.

Months later was the first time Midoriya was let inside the inner compound since he first arrived. Hana was in labor and Toshinori needed an extra set of hands. Midoriya wasn’t ‘in’ on the secret, but he had an inkling and Toshinori needed all the help he could get. At first, Seita wasn’t going to accept the request, but when Tashi came down with a fever from an accident days before Seita was left with no choice.

Not unless he wanted the horse spirit and the dragon spirit to die on the same night.

Midoriya was forced to run back and forth between the labor room and the sick room. He brought water, medicines, clothes to anyone who needed help. Toshinori and Shouto ran the labor room with a waiting wet-nurse and another male doctor from another town was called in to take care of Tashi.

It was hectic. Mad. Insane. It was as though every push from Hana’s newborn brought Tashi closer to death. Midoriya came back with a message from the other doctor, one whispered in his father’s ear.

Tashi would not last the night.

That was when Shouto sent the wet-nurse away. Toshinori opened his mouth to argue before realizing exactly what was happening. Tashi was dying in the other room while his wife was set to give birth. Tashi would be reborn as his own son.

“I don’t want him,” Hana begged, her eyes locked with Shouto’s. “I don’t want this babe. He can’t be real. He can’t.”

Hana screamed. The baby screamed. Tashi breathed his last.

“It’s a boy,” Toshinori whispered, washing the flesh from the child’s skin.

Hana only sobbed. When the baby was placed in her arms and no one changed the sobbing turned into shrieks.

Shouto rushed out of the room, emptying his stomach in the grass outside. It was a sick joke that had been played on two unsuspecting parents. One dead and the other left to care for his reincarnation. At least Aizawa and Nemuri wouldn’t have to hunt for a cursed child this time.

Midoriya placed a comforting hand on Shouto’s back. He rubbed his friend’s back in calming motions until Shouto’s own illness stopped.

“You’ll never be a doctor if you can’t deliver a baby without barfing,” Midoriya jested. His own laughter was stilted.

“God plays cruel jokes on us,” Shouto responded. His eyes glancing back up at the main building. Did Seita know?

“He does,” Midoriya agreed. “But what can we do? We’re… born to die. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t make a difference here. We can help Hana, she…”

“Her husband just died and she just gave birth. I can’t imagine something worse.”

“She loved him.” Midoriya didn’t question it. He had never met them before but the shrieks that they could hear weren’t physical pain.

“Yes.” Shouto paused long enough to see something flash in Midoriya’s eyes. He could feel the truth sitting there. “She does.”

“Do you think she’ll ever love again?”

“No. She’ll always long for him.”

“Shouto-“

“Todoroki. You should call me by my last name. You do know nothing has changed. We still can’t be together. As much as we- as much as I want.”

“I don’t care.” Midoriya reached over and placed his hand on the side of Shouto’s face, his thumb tracing the edge of Shouto’s scar. “Please, let me love you.”

Shouto leaned into the hand. It was dangerous. It was unwise. Seita would be furious. Against all better judgment, Shouto nodded. “Do you love me?”

Midoriya nodded. “I think I’ve always loved you.”

Shouto’s eyes filled with tears and he started to cry.

Midoriya leaned in again and Shouto pulled back.

“Not here,” he said. “The walls have eyes and… my mouth is quite foul.”

Midoriya pressed his lips but nodded.

The two returned to the birthing chamber to comforting the mourning mother.  

As the sun began to rise the majority of work was done. The world was wronged by the previous night. But that didn’t mean that it didn’t keep spinning.

Shouto went to Toshinori’s practice the next day and waited by a book he could not pay attention to. When Midoriya came with tea they did not speak for there were no words.

Shouto was the one to lean forward first. Midoriya followed suit.

If Shouto were to give two words to his first kiss he would use the words ‘long awaited.’ In another word, he’d use ‘impatient.’ In a third, ‘perfect.’

Midoriya was warm. His lips were smooth and his tongue was firm against Shouto’s. The entire kiss Shouto felt like he was flying, there wasn’t anything impossible. Midoriya’s hands wrapped around Shouto’s waist, pulling him close until they were pressed against one another. Shouto was always warned by his family that this would never be possible. That he would never be able to hold the people he loved, but Shouto had circumvented their expectations in the best way imaginable.

It was only when Midoriya pulled away that Shouto realized how precious air was.

“Wow,” Midoriya gasped. “That was worth the wait.”

Shouto’s lips twitched into a grin before ducking down for another kiss.

Shouto didn’t learn anything that day.

It was weeks before the honeymoon stage was brought to an abrupt end. Toshinori was guiding Shouto through a new pain relief technique when the subject was broached.

“I’m happy for the both of you,” Toshinori said. “But you have to understand that he won’t be.”

Shouto’s hands stilled. “Are you going to tell him?”

“Will you?”

“Must I?”

Toshinori’s face was grim as he nodded.

“He’s going to kill me,” Shouto whispered.

“I don’t think he’d go that far.”

“Then he’ll kill Izuku.” Shouto’s heart stopped. Shouto could live with Seita’s decisions if it was just himself that would be harmed in the process, but the idea of Seita even near Midoriya sent shivers down Shouto’s spine.

“I hope not,” Toshinori said. “He will not be happy, that’s for certain.”

Shouto nodded, his heart leaping to his throat. “Is there anything I can do?”

Toshinori was silent, the cogs in his head visibly spinning.

“The sooner you tell him the better. Ask for permission. Don’t ask for forgiveness. If Seita tells you to leave, then do it. We both know what he’s like.”

Shouto saw what Seita was like any time he looked at the half-blind Aizawa.

“I need to tell him,” Shouto said. “I’ll talk to Seita tomorrow, but I have to talk to Midoriya first.”

Toshinori nodded. “Be honest with him, but keep your secret close.”

Shouto nodded. When it came time for Shouto to devote himself to his studies Shouto didn’t open any books. He waited for Midoriya.

“I love you,” Shouto said before Midoriya was even inside the room.

Midoriya stopped, a look of confusion crossing his face for a moment before it broke into a grin. The smile was so large that it must have hurt, his cheeks highlighting Shouto’s favorite freckles.

“I lo-“

“Wait,” Shouto said. “I think we need to talk. Or rather I need to talk, and you need to listen.”

The two sat down and Shouto spoke. He talked about his family dynamics, that his house was run under an iron fist. Seita’s actions filled Shouto’s mouth with cotton. Shouto spoke about burns, bruises, cuts. He warned about a cruel man who played god with a vengeance. He warned Midoriya about what was to come.

“I’m in love with you,” Shouto finished. “But I can’t subject you to his torture. I need to tell him if he finds out from anyone else I can’t imagine what you’ll go through. I can’t put you through that.”

Midoriya sat through Shouto’s words in silence. Every so often he would lose all color or shake with emotion. But he waited through Shouto’s words all the same.

Finally, Midoriya nodded. He finally seemed to understand exactly what Shouto had been trying to warn against for all these years. Or maybe he didn’t.

“I’m coming,” Midoriya said.

“What? No, this is my fight.”

“It’s our fight Todoroki. We’re fighting for us. For us to be together. I want to be there.”

Shouto opened his mouth to respond but Midoriya was too quick.

“It’s your life, not his. Even if he has all this power over you it’s still just your life.”

That- that felt right. All this time Shouto had been treating himself as the rat incarnate. But if Midoriya was right- no Midoriya was right. Shouto had his own life.

“Ok,” Shouto said. He reached out for Midoriya’s hand and felt the warmth. He felt comfort. “Tomorrow, meet me at the gate at dawn. We’ll face him together.”

The next day Shouto woke up ill. He knew that his sickness was only in the mind. He brewed a cup of ginger tea, hoping it would settle his unease before going out to wait at the gate.

Midoriya knocked once just as the sun peaked over the horizon and Shouto lead him in.

“How are you feeling?” Midoriya asked. His fingers tracing Shouto’s unburnt cheek.

“Horrible,” Shouto said. “But it doesn’t matter. I sent a message at dinner yesterday that I wished to speak with him.”

“Will we be eating with him?”

“Are you hungry? Because I wouldn’t count on being fed.”

Midoriya nodded. He paused for a moment, looking at the steps that lead to the main building. His eyes were lost for a moment before shaking off his nerves.

“You ok?”

“Just remembering last time I was here. Aizawa was kind. But that doesn’t- it doesn’t sit well for me what happened. I never knew it was Seita.”

Shouto nodded. “Now isn’t the time. We should keep moving.”

Midoriya opened his mouth, whether to argue or to agree Shouto was unsure. They were interrupted all the same.

Hana was waiting for them, a toddler on her hip.

“Hello Hana, Koda.” Shouto nodded his head in greeting. “What are you both doing out so early?”

“Seita asked us to get you,” Hana said. His eyes glancing between the two men. “He didn’t mention that you were bringing… an outsider.”

Shouto’s response was to grasp Midoriya’s hand.

“I see,” she said. “Is he worth it?”

“Yes.”

“He’s in the courtyard,” Hana said.

The walk to the courtyard was short and tense. Midoriya was kind enough to not speak or let go of Shouto’s hand until they were facing Seita. Seita was sitting beneath a willow tree, facing the rising sun. His eyes seemed to scan the horizon, even though Shouto knew that the years had taken Seita’s sight from him completely. Was it wish fulfillment? Was he just pretending?

The years had not been kind to him. What was once an old man was now an ancient man. His eyes dropped, his hair was gone. Every breath looked to cause him pain.

“I’ll leave you now,” Hana said, walking away as fast as she could. She knew what was going to happen and didn’t want to be a witness.

“Shouto,” the man called. A hand reaching up to summon him closer.

Shouto took a step forward and felt his hand slip from Midoriya’s grasp.

Shouto kneeled beside Seita and took his hand, a hand wrapped with knots and pain. Shouto kissed one of the liver spots and massaged where he knew Seita’s worst aches were.

“You’re being kind,” Seita murmured. “That’s unusual.”

“I have a favor to ask,” Shouto said.

Seita nodded, his age made him appear far more sagely than usual. “I hear a third person. Who is it? Inasa?”

“No,” Shouto said. “This is Toshinori’s son, the one that Aizawa brought back. I’ve come to ask if- I love him.”

Seita removed his hand, pulling away violently. Seita’s face mangled in rage as he brought the back of his hand across Shouto’s cheek. His aim was good for someone who was blind.

“And so you thought to come and ask for what? You can’t be with him!”

“He’s a man,” Shouto argued. “He’d never- we’d never-“

“You think that’s the problem? That he’d never learn? You’re more a fool than I thought!” Seita reached down and pulled Shouto up by his hair.

“Stop it!” Midoriya cried rushing to Shouto’s side. He reached out for Seita’s hand, trying to pry it off of Shouto.

Seita snarled and threw Midoriya back, his strength unworldly for his age. Midoriya fell on his side, a set of cuts the shape of Seita’s nails appearing across Midoriya’s cheek.

“You want to be with him?” The grip on Shouto’s hair tightened. “A stranger? An outsider?”

Seita threw Shouto back, a chunk of hair caught between Seita’s fingers.

“Did you tell him what you look like? Does he know what you are?”

“No,” Shouto said.

“Why? Do you think he’ll stop loving you? He never loved you to begin with.”

“Stop it,” Midoriya shouted. He crawled over to Shouto and put his hand on the back of Shouto’s head trying to stop the bleeding.

“Change,” Seita ordered.

Shouto’s heart stopped. “I- you can’t.”

“Change!” Seita screamed.

“It doesn’t work like that!”

“Oh, I know. But you’re going to.”

Shouto looked up at Midoriya with fear in his eyes. Midoriya would understand. He knew about Iida. He must have suspected, thought something. He knew how precious Iida was to the family. He saw, but if he didn’t. If he couldn’t.

“Trust me,” Shouto mouthed.

Midoriya nodded panic racing through his eyes. He knew it would be bad, but this…

“If he can- if he can love me will you let us be?” Shouto asked.

“No,” Seita snarled.

“Then I won’t.”

“Then he’ll never love you.”

“Of course I love him!” Midoriya’s panic overruled his sensibilities as he clutched at Shouto. This was wrong. This was hurtful. This was evil.

“Do you know the depths of his secrets? Do you know his worst part of him? Do you know the best? They’re the same thing. They’re all the same thing, and if you never know them how can you say you love him?”

“Shouto is kind,” Midoriya said. Tears were stinging his eyes. “He is smart and studious. He’s gentle with those who need it and thoughtful. He protects people. He’s the best person I’ve ever met. I don’t care about whatever secrets you’re talking about.”

Shouto could cry.

“Pfft,” Seita snarled. “You hardly understand. Bring him here, and I’ll show you.” His hands opened and closed, grasping in the direction he had thrown Shouto.

Shouto pushed Midoriya away, letting the blood drip from his scalp.

“I’ll show him,” Shouto said. “And he’ll still love me. I know he will. I just- I want us to be together. That’s all I want.”

“Not without something from him. No, even if he doesn’t care I can’t just let him be. Is he strong?”

“Yes,” Shouto said.

“Brave?”

“Yes.”

Seita’s smile turned cruel. “Is he young?”

“Yes.”

“The army. Ten years.”

“What?”

“You heard me. If he loves you if he truly loves you ten years fighting as a mercenary for the Sohma family name should be enough.”

Shouto’s lip quivered. Midoriya could say no. He needed to say-

“Yes,” Midoriya agreed. “I can do that.”

“I can too,” Shouto said. He reached out and pressed his finger’s to Midoriya’s unharmed cheek. Ten years was such a long time. But if it was all that Seita asked of them.

Shouto crawled over to Seita. It was over before it began. Seita was familiar with what it took to transform a member of the zodiac. He knew their limits, his cruelty was without bounds.

Shouto was withering at Seita’s feet just moments later. A flash of blue smoke was all the warning that Midoriya got. Shouto was pathetic as a rat. He was a red and white spotted mouse with beady little eyes and a deep marring scar that covered half of his body. He knew he was ugly. He knew that he was weak.

He knew that Midoriya loved him.

His lover barely flinched as he watched Shouto transform into an animal.

“I still love him,” Midoriya said. “I don’t care that… he’s this.”

Seita spat. “Ten years,” he repeated.

“Ten years,” Shouto said in his rat form.

“And then he’s mine,” Midoriya snapped.

Shouto was in the garden years later with an arm full of herbs for his practice. His apprenticeship was long over and his practice was in full swing. He took patients from all across the township and beyond. Six days of the week he was on horseback traveling across the town and through the Sohma compound to cure whatever ails the people. But on the seventh day, he often spent it tending to his garden.

Shouto was in the middle of digging up his root vegetables when he felt something coming towards him.

Shouto lifted his head to see the young Iida pounding against the earth with his feet. He stopped in front of Shouto’s garden his chest rising and falling erratically.

“Who’s hurt?” Shouto asked jumping to his feet.

The boy shook his head, wide eyes explaining everything.

Shouto brought his hands to his mouth covering his open jaw. His blood ran cold and Shouto immediate wondered when he had last bathed. Did his breath smell funny? Was his face washed?

Iida turned around and started running for the inner circle gate and Shouto took off behind him.

The jog wasn’t far, just a few houses away passing by a stunned Uraraka without a breath of greetings. Shouto couldn’t stop until he reached the main gate, pulling it open with the younger man’s help.

There he was. Tired, with deep purple bags under his eyes and a harsh exterior. He was wearing a dark green armor with navy accents underneath, the colors of the Sohma household. On what little skin Shouto could see he spotted the welts and divots of scarred flesh, a sign of the many battles he must have endured.

“Hello,” Izuku Midoriya whispered. His voice deepened with age. “I’m back.”

Shouto couldn’t stop himself from throwing his arms around Izuku’s shoulders and pulling him into a tight hug. Ten years had passed since Shouto had last seen his beloved. Ten long years of never knowing if Izuku was alive or not. Ten years with hardly a letter to sooth the days between.

“Welcome home,” Shouto whispered through the tears as he pulled Izuku tight.

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