#and also a vigilante

[junionigiri]

Peony Pink and Cherry Blossom Tea Ch 9: Still A Crybaby

Summary: Do they talk this time??? Eh.

Relationship(s): Todoroki Shouto/Uraraka Ochako; the Todoroki siblings

Rating: T (canon-typical violence)

Warnings/Notes: Hi to the 5 people still reading this! :)

Shouto remembers the night that Touya-nii ran away.

He doesn’t see his big brother a lot, so he doesn’t remember a lot about him. Shouto knows that he’s tall, and has red hair and blue eyes like the left part of himself. When they posed for a picture with Mom that one time, Shouto remembers his skin feeling cold, like his own right side.

He also knows that like him, Touya is always wrapped in bandages. But he’s always smiling when he plays with Fuyumi and Natsuo, like they don’t hurt. It makes him look cool, and Shouto wants to look cool like that one day.

It’s late, maybe past midnight when Shouto wakes up from another bad dream and feels very thirsty. Not wanting to wake anyone up, he decides to go down to the kitchen himself.

At first he’s scared because it’s dark and he might fall. But to his surprise there are lights near the front door. And voices.

“... are you sure about this, Touya?” That’s Fuyumi-nee, and her voice sounds weird. It sounds weak and froggy, like it does sometimes when she sees Shouto after a hard day of training with Dad.

“Yeah…” Touya-nii. He isn’t whispering, but his voice is really soft. “I can’t do what he wants anymore. I’d rather die.”

“Yeah, but… running away… where will you go? What if you get hurt? I mean, maybe we can try talking to Dad about you and...”

“Fuyumi-nee, there’s no other way if it’s Dad. You know that.” Natsu-nii is also there. Shouto peeks from the hallway and sees his silver hair and Touya’s Samurai Blue duffel bag in his hands. “But nii-san… you’ll try to keep in touch with us, right?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Touya is silent for some time as he ties his shoes. It’s weird that he’s putting on his shoes even though it’s dark outside. Shouto kind of wants to ask why, but he doesn’t know if it’s okay to talk with him. Or any of them.

(Dad was extra mad today, so maybe he shouldn’t.)

But before he can turn around and leave, he sees Touya stop and slowly turn to him. Bright blue eyes land on his, wide like he’s scared at first, before they change into something else. “Shouto.”

Fuyumi and Natsuo look at him too. They don’t move for a while, and Shouto is suddenly too afraid to move too.

Touya breaks the silence among them. He smiles and puts his arms out to Shouto. “Don’t just stand there, Shou. Wanna come here?”

He nods and quietly pads over the tatami and then next to his older brother. He doesn’t understand why he hugs him, but he does, and Touya does the same thing. When Shouto feels his arms with their messy bandages around them, he wonders why they feel like coals instead of ice.

“Where are you going, Touya-nii?”

Touya smirks. “Dunno. An adventure. An awesome one.”

“That sounds fun,” Shouto says in awe. Touya is so cool. He’s big and strong and he can do whatever he likes without feeling scared. “I wanna go too.”

Fuyumi bites her lower lip and shakes her head. “No… Shoucchan, come here, okay? It’s way past your bedtime, and… and Dad will be mad if he sees that you’re not sleeping.”

Natsuo starts to look weird too. “I dunno nee-san… Maybe Shou could go with him? Maybe--”

“No!” She whispers so that no-one will hear, but she sounds angry. She pulls Shouto from Touya’s arms and holds him close. “You can’t take him too… he’s too little, it’ll be too scary…”

“And what Dad does to him isn’t scary?” Natsuo’s whisper is louder and angrier. “I don’t like watching Shou go through the same thing as nii-san, you know?”

“But Touya doesn’t even know where he’s going,” Fuyumi hisses. Her grip on Shouto becomes tighter. “What if they get hurt out there?”

“They’re… already getting hurt here.”

They fall silent after that. Shouto doesn’t know why they’re worried about him and Touya-nii. Training hurts, but Dad says that once they’re the best, nothing will hurt anymore. So all they have to do is train more, until he and Touya-nii become the strongest heroes, and then everything will be okay, right?

“It’s fine. Doesn’t hurt that much.” Touya stands up and ruffles Shouto’s hair. “Anyways, Shou, crybabies aren’t allowed in adventures, so I can’t take you. You’re just gonna get in my way.”

“I’m not a crybaby,” he says with a pout. He hasn’t cried in a while, not even when Dad hit him in the tummy after breakfast.

“Yeah? Who cried when Natsuo blew out the candle on his birthday cake, huh?”

Shouto puffs his cheeks. “That was last year.”

A long time ago. Shouto doesn’t remember the last time someone had a birthday party at their house. Touya’s eyes suddenly look sad. “Yeah… last year, huh. Oh well.” He takes his bag from Natsuo and slings it over his shoulder. “Anyways, I’m outta this joint. You brats better take care of that crybaby, you hear? Or else I’m going back and takin’ him with me, no matter what you say.”

Natsuo nods and does a salute like they do in the Gundam animes they watch together. Shouto tries to do the same. “Yes, cap’n.” His voice sounds weird, like Fuyumi’s, but he smiles.

Touya salutes back, and goes for the door. It opens and it closes, as doors tend to do, and the house becomes unnaturally silent. Shouto remembers staring at it and wondering if he’ll see Touya again in the morning, playing football with Fuyumi and Natsuo like nothing happened.

By the time the weeping Fuyumi takes him upstairs with a cup of tea though, he suddenly understands that he’ll never see Touya outside his window again.

Shouto isn’t a crybaby anymore, but he sleeps with a saltwater-soaked pillowcase that night.

*

The weeks have been hard for Shouto.

He hasn’t been able to sleep well, eat well. Work had been terribly busy thanks to the upsurge in villain activity. He can’t complain; he doesn’t have the energy to. His days are spent in the OR, his nights spent collapsing on the bed or on the couch or on the floor, wherever his mood and energy levels take him.

People stare at him. At the empty space next to him. Then back at him, as if adding two and two together. It was only a matter of time before the rumors circulate. And they do, with a vengeance.

He doesn’t care, although it becomes extra troublesome when Endeavor catches wind of them and asks him questions about it. Leaving him on read is a simple matter, but it’s a little difficult when Fuyumi-nee starts to ask, and Natsu-nii.

Mom has been quiet about it, but her eyes look a little down when they do their video calls. She’s happy enough seeing him, she says, and she can’t wait for his next visit.

He doesn’t want Mom to be sad. She shouldn’t be, because Shouto’s been alone all this time. He isn’t technically any different from the time he went to see her and everyone else in Shizuoka.

(It’s just that now, he doesn’t have any of Ochako’s stories to listen to.)

But. He doesn’t recall being alone--truly alone this time, without the shield of a fake relationship to distract him--ever felt like this: a confusing state of too wide, too narrow. Too noisy, too quiet. Too much of himself, and too little at the same time.

He doesn’t enjoy it. But he doesn’t suffer in it either. He doesn’t know what to do with himself while in it.

There’s lots of space to take a good look at himself. All his scars and cracks and soft spots. Most days he doesn’t like what he sees, doesn’t like the stories that the sight of each blemish gives him.

Other times he doesn’t care. Those times are okay. He doesn’t have to hate Endeavor or himself as much. The past weeks aren’t any different from most of his life, in retrospect.

The short time with Ochako just made him believe that maybe a life other than that is possible. Even though it was pretend from the start.

Tonight is two weeks… three weeks? since they last spoke. He’s tired and alone and his hands are shaking and freezing and burning again. It’s not different from any other bad nights, but there’s a period of lucidity that makes him conclude:

This isn’t right. Being alone like this isn’t right.

He… needs help.

Real professional help.

Maybe… just this once, he can ask for it. Endeavor isn’t around to tell him that he can’t.

Fuyumi could help. Or Natsuo. Mom needed help, and was helped before, right? It wouldn’t be so bad. It would be logical to ask.

Maybe there’s someone in the psychiatry department that can help him. Shinsou works with them frequently because of his quirk. He’s a trustworthy guy, and quiet. Maybe he can ask him too.

He stares at into the emptiness of his apartment, and at his shaking hands. It’s silly, but just thinking of that feels like a breakthrough. That there’s a way out of this odd despondence that he has plunged head-first in.

Strange, that out of nowhere he wants to tell her. Maybe just to let her know that he doesn’t know if there’s a meaning to all of these things he’s feeling, but he found a way to find out, at least.

It’s way past midnight of a busy day. Shouto stares at his phone and begins to compose a message.

*

Ochako (0032H): hey, so about last time, im sorry. if ur not busy lets talk for real this time

Me (0032H): Can we see each other soon?

Me (0033H): …

Ochako (0033H): …

Ochako (0034H): haha

Ochako (0034H): at the same time… r u kidding me

Me (0035H): Yes.

Me (0035H): It’s pretty… amusing.

Me (0036H): I’m surprised that you’re still awake at this hour.

Ochako (0038H): ur not sleeping yet either

Me (0039H): No… I’m not. Not at all.

Ochako (0041H): so

Me (0041H): so

Ochako (0042H): again? Hahaha

Me (0043H): Yes, it’s uncanny.

Me (0045H): You said you wanted to talk?

Ochako (0046H): … yea, i do

Ochako (0047H): i mean,, i know we havent been… since that time

Ochako (0049H): i think i have things i want to say to you. And to myself too.

Me (0051H): I understand.

Me (0052H): It’s the same for me.

Me (0053H): Is tomorrow all right?

Me (0054H): I am free in the morning. But we don’t have to meet that soon, if you’re not ready.

Me (0056H): I understand if you aren’t comfortable yet.

Ochako (0059H): no, it’s okay.

Ochako (0100H): tomorrow’s perfect.

Me (0103H): …

Ochako (0105H): i’m not kidding. It is.

Ochako (0106H): my shift is in the afternoon, so… we can just see each other early?

Me (0109H): All right.

Me (0110H): We can have coffee, if you like.

Ochako (0111H): that would be cool, im ok with just 7-11 hehe

Me (0112H): No. The coffee there is terrible.

Me (0113H): You aren’t drinking any of those awful drinks if I can help it.

Ochako (0114H): omg lol i figured,,, u boujee

Me (0115H): … boujee?

Ochako (0117H): u rich kid. ur just like yaomomo

Ochako (0118H): haha but ok, we can maybe go to bakugous place if u want good coffee

Me (0119H): Oh. Will that place be okay for you?

Ochako (0120H): ah

Ochako (0121H): … yeah…. Bakugous scary, but… i mean he’s cool and his cafe is near the hosp, and if doesn’t matter if you, before… i mean, i rly dont mind going there

Me (0122H): All right. :) I’ll see you tomorrow, then.

Ochako (0125H): !!!!!!!

Ochako (0126H): is that smiley… real

Me (0127H): ? Did I use it correctly?

Ochako (0129H): oh! Yes. Yes you did

Ochako (0130H): lmao i must be dreaming its so late

Me (0132H): It is, haha.

Ochako (0133H): and now ur goin haha

Ochako (0134H): i think ur brain is also shuttin down shouto

Me (0135H): I don’t know about that.

Me (0136H): I don’t feel as terrible as I have a few hours ago.

Ochako (0138H): thats great… hehe

Ochako (0140H): so… im getting sleepy…

Ochako (0141H): im dizzy too… kinda too drunk, maybe

Me (0142H): … all right.

Me (0145H): I’ll let you sleep it off.

Me (0146H): Good night, Ochako.

*

The sun has just risen when Shouto sees her in the hospital lobby.

He sees her on most days, although he hasn’t looked her in the eye for a long time now. Ochako is in her scrub suit and a Hosu Gen jacket. Her hair is a little messy and is mostly up in a messy bun, exposing the back of her neck. Her eyes look a little tired, but they’re as bright and brown as he remembers them.

She smiles quietly. A little dizzily. Maybe she's hungover. It's not as off-putting as it should be.

“Hey,” he says.

The smile brightens and somehow reach her eyes. “Good morning, Doctoroki. It’s been a while.”

He nods and stares at her, instantly forgetting his script, not quite knowing what to do next.

“So… Bakugou or Jirou aren’t here yet to open the cafe, and we don’t have anywhere else to go,” she says with an awkward laugh. Maybe she notices how he doesn’t seem to know what to do next.

“It’s fine.” There are a few people walking by, with more important things to do. They don’t spare them a second glance. “We can start talking here.”

So they flop down on the worn lobby couch determinedly and stare each other down. Open their mouths, and close them again at the same time. It’s funny how they do that often.

“I’ll start,” Ochako says with an amused glow of her pink cheeks. They’re also as round as Shouto remembers them. A surge of nostalgia overwhelms him. “So… um, first of all… I’m sorry, I messed up. You didn’t deserve the things I said to you last time we saw each other.”

She pauses and assesses the look on his face. “I really am, okay? I was… am, insecure. I kinda got mad at you for things that I had no right to be mad at, and I didn’t even give you a chance to explain yourself. I was too focused on myself, but even then I sucked at focusing on myself because I didn’t really understand what I wanted and what I was afraid of. Like… maybe it’s just a perpetual fear of being alone and discarded and unwanted, because I had a lot of that in the past, and maybe… maybe I need to know for myself how to deal with that first, before I even think about you, and...”

She stops for a breath and laughs humorlessly. “And… you’re just staring at me like that. I really don’t know what you’re thinking.”

“Oh,” he says apologetically. “I didn’t want to distract you. I am listening, promise.”

She makes a cute little whining noise. “I know, just… urgh, I feel ridiculous, just monologuing like this. I’m beggin’ ya to stop me, ya know?!”

His mouth twists upward. “I kind of don’t want to. It’s nice listening to you talk.”

Her cheeks flush and puff and he realizes how long it’s been since he last saw that. How he missed it. How he missed her.

“You have to talk too, Doctoroki,” she says, jabbing him at the side with a finger. “I’m not the only one screwed in the head here, ya know?”

He catches her hand and forces it down on her side. She freezes at the feel of his hand on hers, and he does too, for a moment.

It’s nice, but he shouldn’t be distracted. “You’re right. I am… not okay.”

It’s a little hard to continue, with the look of warmth and concern on her face, like she’s ready to do anything for him again and he knows that’s what got them into trouble in the first place.

Well, he has to say words properly this time, so no misunderstanding occurs. “... I feel exactly the same way about myself. After thinking about it, I think the best thing for me to do is--”

Alarm spikes in his gut, so sharp he flinches.

Ochako stares at him with wide eyes. “Shouto? What’s wrong?”

He knows what this is. Even though it’s been years since the last time he was out on the field as a pro, his body remembers. All his nerves are alight, his muscles tense. His brain tells him to calm down, look around, find out what it is that’s wrong about this situation.

When the rumbling starts, he’s already pushing Ochako’s head down and facing the glass windows. An ice shield is already up before the floor in front of them collapses, and the people start to scream.

He hears a lot of things shattering beyond the wall, likely the glass and concrete. He hopes it isn’t his ice.

“Run,” he tells Ochako sternly, standing his ground. “Help everyone else get out of here.”

“But--wh-what is that, what’s going on?”

“Doesn’t matter. Evacuate.”

More shattering noises. A black shadow is on the other side, getting closer and closer. He wills fire to form on his hand, burning the sleeve of his coat.

Ochako, pale as a ghost, finally nods. With the people screaming around her, she starts to yell, “Everyone, please follow me, the fire exit is this way--”

The moment the ice shatters, Shouto’s hand bursts into flame. He targets the brunt of the heat onto the black thing’s face, not even bothering to see if it’s human or not. He can only target focus so much heat and smoke before the sprinklers come on, so he has to do as much damage with one blow.

He knows he applied enough heat to melt human flesh. But the thing that stares back at him--vacant, and only mildly offended by the fire--is obviously not.

A hand made of pure power starts to go down, fingers twitching as if to clutch him. It’s too close, he doesn’t have time to roll away or to fight back.

“Todoroki!”

Silver and black fill his vision, as do the sounds of metal hitting metal. When he opens his eyes, he’s up in the ceiling, and a person made of steel is in his place, holding back against a fist to the top of his head.

“Fuck, that hurts what the hell!” Tetsutetsu screams. Next to him, Shoji and Awase yell their expletives, a mass array of randomly fused bits of steel in their hands. “Let’s kill this thing you guys!”

Shouto stares at this bug-eyed before he realizes that he’s going down. In the next moment, he drops to the ground, the dark matter around him unraveling until it’s in the shape of a crow, floating next to Tokoyami Fumikage. “Todoroki, are you all right?"

“Yeah,” Shouto says, half in awe, half in panic. “What are you doing here? Everyone’s supposed to be evacuating.”

“Shouto!” Ochako yells from behind him. She is panting, along with Kendo, Honenuki, and Shiozaki, who are followed by a rather large group of pale-faced civilians. “There’s no way out. There’s more of them out there roaming the streets.”

“... a whole lot more of them,” Honenuki adds, with a swallow. “I saw at least five of them trying to break in here when we tried to evacuate just now. I made them sink to the ground, but it’s only a matter of time before they make their way out. They seem strong.”

Five more of these. He looks away from them briefly to form a wall between the fight and the civilians.

“We called the police, but I’m not sure how quickly they’ll respond,” says Kendo, as more shattering and rumbling noises emerge from around them. “And the pros too, but…”

Shiozaki sniffles. She’s a little paler than everyone else when she speaks. “I… called Emily. She’s responding to the call, but… it’s not just Hosu that’s suffering from the wrath of these beasts. Nomus, she called these abominations.” Her trembling hands are clasped in front of her, as if in deep prayer. “Who are these sinners who would dare play god like this, and terrorize so many innocents?”

The League of Villains, Shouto thinks in despair. Is this another stupid war against heroes? Another war against the number one hero?

Endeavor’s face flashes in his mind briefly, along with a concerning rush of emotions he cannot name. He shakes these off and stands up. “We have no time to waste, whatever this is,” he mutters, before running back to the fray, with fire and ice in his hands.

“Shouto!!!”

He noticed something while he was fighting the Nomu. There are people all around them, but it only seemed to target Shouto first. Its arms curl, as if in an effort to grab him. When Tokoyami caught him, its eyes went from Dark Shadow to Tokoyami, and were it not for Tetsutetsu distracting it with his steel skin, then it would have chased after the two of them…

This Nomu has targets, it seems. Shouto, Tokoyami, and Tetsutetsu are among some of them.

“Todoroki, watch out!” Shoji shouts, as he himself is thrown backwards with a blow to the stomach.

Is it because of their quirks? Is the League of Villains collecting innocent civilians with destructive quirks? What are they going to do with them?

The answers aren’t very important right now , Shouto reprimands himself as he throws more fire and ice against the Nomu.

“Todoroki! What the hell are you doing?!” Awase screams, as Shouto catches the Nomu’s eye with a small fireball to the face.

“Distracting it,” Shouto says evenly. “It comes after you if it sees you use a quirk. I’ll lead it away from everyone else--”

“No, don’t be stupid!” Tetsutetsu chokes, even as he bleeds from broken skin at his head. Ochako, who hears everything, pales more than ever and begins to move towards him. Kendo thankfully has the sense to hold her back with a normal-sized hand.

“--and when it’s far away, Shiozaki should form a barrier all around the lobby with her quirk. I’ll reinforce it with ice from outside.”

He doesn’t know why his voice is so calm and distant when he speaks. All eyes are on him as the Nomu blindly chases after him, seeking out his fire like a moth to a flame, too fast, too fast. He forms ice under his feet and slides out of the building on freezing waves.

In a matter of seconds, he’s outside of the building, the Nomu stumbling after him. As soon as they’re out in the sun, vines begin to emerge from the ground, forming a wall. To his relief, even though Tetsutetsu and Awase run to stop him, the vines seal them safely inside the lobby.

Now, he just has to deal with the Nomu by himself.

He hits the monster with fire and ice, but it’s difficult because his stance is unsteady, and it’s not doing his aim any favors. There are holes in the concrete, all manner of things falling around him as buildings crumble. There are screams and gunshots and blasts and rumbles of thunder from a distance.

He needs to fight. Fire, in his hand, now.

It doesn’t form. Something hits him at the back of his head.

It’s heavy and it comes from above, accompanied by a body falling somewhere close by. Debris, he realizes. He hopes that the person thrown is still alive. He hopes that it isn’t a civilian. Or a pro.

But there isn’t time to worry about someone else. His vision goes blurry, nausea filling his senses in waves. He tries to form ice when he can’t aim the fire anymore. The glaciers are hollow and weak, easily breaking when the monster moves.

The Nomu tilts its head at him curiously, hands going for his neck.

“Shouto!! Move!!”

Out of nowhere, the nausea at the pit of his stomach blooms into a complete weightlessness. Someone’s arms are around him. The Nomu misses and looks up at them, temporarily at a loss on what to do.

He looks at the owner of the voice. And the arms. And the reason why he’s floating. “Ochako.”

He means to sound angry, because he really is. He wants to tell her that she isn’t supposed to be here and why is she putting herself in danger for him when she was already safe inside? But his head still feels odd, and he only manages a slightly befuddled question aimed vaguely at all.

“We have to get you out of here,” she tells him in a voice that sounds too far away. They’re twenty feet in the air, and the higher they get the greener Ochako’s face becomes. “We can hide up the roof until the pros--”

She doesn’t even have the time to scream as the monster leaps from the ground and gets a hold of their legs. The tug jars them both, and despite zero gravity, they find themselves being pulled to the ground.

Ochako hisses in pain as her ankle is violently pulled down. “Shit! Get off me, you--”

He struggles and kicks and tries to burn and/or freeze the monster’s arms off. But he can only do so much without burning their own legs off. He can’t think straight, can’t aim well, can’t do anything--

When they sink, they’re suddenly engulfed in blue flame. It’s so hot he wonders if they’ve descended to hell.

The monster screeches like a pterodactyl and lets them go. Ochako appears beyond her limit of using her quirk and releases them as soon as they’re on concrete that’s not burning.

He crawls to her, coughing from the smoke and ashes billowing around them. He tries to form ice around them and then holds her with his right hand. “Ochako,” he calls out, weakly.

She stares at the flames in front of them, eyes as wide as saucers. “It’s… you,” she says weakly.

Amidst the chaos all around them, Shouto wonders why it’s the first thing that comes out of her mouth. And then he looks at the person she’s talking to: jet-black hair, burnt skin, stitches that make him look like a patchwork doll rather than a human. Flames are sprouting out of his hands, blue and hot that it stings his skin from a distance.

Blue eyes, cold with anger, stare down at the Nomu and then at the two of them. “Get outta here. Take Shouto with you.”

“Wh… who are you?” How does he know his name? Why does Ochako know who he is? How is this fire possible?

Does he know him?

The man glares at him for a split second before turning his attention back to the Nomu. The temperature is so high, the blasts so loud that the steel bars sticking out of broken concrete begin to wilt like flowers. His skin begins to burn, his ice quirk at his state can only do so much to counteract the heat.

“Shouto, let’s go,” Ochako says urgently, tugging at his sleeve. She’s burning up too, even though he’s trying to cover them in frost. “I can still make us float, just hold on to me, okay?”

He knows that leaving is the best thing to do right now, and that Ochako is their best bet. The Nomu looks like it’s in pain, its movements duller and slower. If they had to escape, it has to be now.

He knows that, but it’s then that something comes back to him. It’s trivial, but it’s when he sees how the blue of the man’s eyes matches the blue of the flames. It’s when he thinks of the way he says Shouto. It’s in the dark of his clothes, the fighting stance, the way his jaw clenches in excruciating pain when he incinerates the monster--

Kodai’s voice in his head: Todoroki-san… are you related to a vigilante named Dabi?

As powerful as it is, the man’s fire isn’t enough to hold the Nomu back. It hits him square in the jaw, making him fly in a smoking heap towards the wall of vines.

Shouto’s eyes snap open from the haze. “Touya-nii!”

His right hand moves without thinking. Another wave of ice emerges from the ground and in between him and the Nomu. There’s fire all around, the hissing heat enough to crack the shield, just enough to slow it down. Shouto moves to form another one, ignoring the dizziness of rapid temperature change around him, all efforts directed on saving him.

The next wave of ice from him is still weak. But the one after that is large and strong, and doesn’t come from him.

“Nii-san! Shou!” a familiar voice screams from behind them.

Shouto momentarily wonders if all he’s seeing is a mirage, because out of nowhere Natsu-nii is running in the scene, dressed in his physical therapist scrubs and bare arms white with frost. He brakes in front of Shouto, onyx eyes shining with worry. “Ochako-chan, go and float! I’ll take care of nii-san!”

“Okay!” Ochako yells, moving to touch Shouto, but he stops her.

“Shouto--”

It’s not the best place for confrontations. He knows that, but his brain’s too jumbled up to care. “Natsu-nii, you knew… you knew that Touya-nii was--”

“We’ll talk after we survive, okay? Just get outta here already!” Natsuo turns away and sends shards of ice careening towards the monster. He’s able to distract the monster enough to get to the dark-haired Touya’s side and to help him up.

“Shouto,” Ochako says, her voice edging at a sob. “Please, your… your brothers are letting us escape, we have to go now . ”

Shouto stares at the scene in front of him, hardly believing it. Natsuo touches Touya in practiced movements, cooling down very specific areas on his arms, face and chest hit the worst by the blue flame. After which, Touya becomes functional enough to shove him aside and throw another pillar of fire at the Nomu, and its friend--

Shit. There are two Nomus now.

Ochako sees this too, and tenses. She looks at him, opening her mouth to probably stop him from doing what he wants to do.

But he doesn’t stop. He stands up, ice and fire forming over both sides. His clothes are all but destroyed now, but he can’t care.

Running forward with a cry, he throws all that he has within him and directs them at the monsters threatening his brothers’ lives. At the same time, great pillars of ice and blue flame cover the two Nomus, leaving them screaming in an inferno of extremes.

It takes a while for the ice to completely shatter and the fire to die down. When they do eventually, one Nomu lies unmoving on the concrete. The other is still standing, but it twitches and trills, arms frozen in mid-air.

Shouto falls to his knees, suddenly too weak to move. Across from him, Touya does the same, steam rising from his skin. Natsuo also has to lean against the wall, his face covered in frost, breath coming out thick and white through chattering teeth.

It turns to Shouto. Blue flames begin to emerge from within--is this a copy quirk?--running at full speed, ready to burn him--

“RELEASE!!!”

A meteor shower falls over the Nomu, burying it under boulders and rubble. The pile shudders once, and remains still.

Silence falls over them. He hears Ochako gasp and fall next to him, feels her soft arms around him and her sigh of relief.

“Oh my god… I can’t believe that worked,” she says, voice cracking, eyes leaking with tears. “D-don’t ever do that again, Shouto, don’t you dare-- ”

“I’m sorry,” he says, holding her close. “It’s… it’s over now. We survived.”

“Really?” she sniffs.

“Yeah. Really. You saved us, Ochako-chan.” Natsuo and Touya stumble in their direction, looking like they’d fall over if they weren’t leaning on each other.

His… brothers.

Shouto is on his feet before he knows it, looking up into blue eyes and black hair and burning skin. His mouth opens and closes. He probably stares for too long, because he can’t believe what he’s seeing.

The man looks back at him, tired as hell, but still smirking.

“Don’t just stand there, Shou. Wanna come here?”

He nods, and embraces him. The smell of ash fills his nostrils and almost chokes him, pushing tears out of his eyes. He’s so weak and spent that his entire body starts to shake, and--

“Geez. Still a crybaby, huh, Shouto.”

“Stupid nii-san,” he grumbles. He has too many things to say, but he can’t think of anything else right now except how his older brother is alive and well and breathing in his arms.

Touya chuckles and ruffles his hair. “Okay, that’s enough, yeah? I think the pros are here, so I gotta get outta here before they catch me doing a better job of protecting the city than them.”

True enough, people in colorful suits suddenly rush the scene, falling down on the monsters littering the streets like arrows. The turn of the tide is visible and dramatic, with heroes of all shapes and sizes plucking civilians from the streets and/or pummeling Nomus to the ground.

“We gotta get you out of here, nii-san. It’ll be harder to keep you outta sight if we stay here,” Natsuo says, mustering up enough energy to lift him more decidedly by the shoulder.

Shouto looks up at them meaningfully.

Touya rolls his eyes. “Are ya really gonna throw a tantrum about me running away from home years and years ago? Right now? ”

Despite the situation, he hears Ochako snort behind him. Natsuo huffs, giving Shouto an amused smile. “We’ll talk later, promise. Right now, you and Ochako have to help out all the injured and--”

A flash of light cuts off his sentence.

“LOOK! Up in the sky!!!”

Simultaneously, they turn to the sky, the mess of people around them doing the same thing.

At the center of the Hosu skyline, the vision of an exploding star rises. Orange and green and blue flames as hot as the sun, expanding twenty meters in all directions. Shouto sees the gaudy blue and orange of his suit, the flashy flames of his face bursting with the rest of the flashfire.

“It’s Endeavor! We’re saved!” Someone screams in relief from below.

“The old man’s still at it, huh.” Touya’s voice is ragged and cold, his smile sardonic. Still, he’s looking up at the sky, watching the fight. Natsuo, too. His mouth is twisted as if he’s tasted something bitter, but he can’t take his eyes off the sky, the sun.

All of them are watching him.

People are screaming, cheering for him. He’s never heard such a strong approval of him. He wonders how he’s going to flaunt this after all this chaos is over…

And then, it happens. It probably lasts a second, but Shouto sees the moment stretched out, painful and slow.

Something gleams, pointed and silver, from the Nomu’s hand. It’s strong, and aims for the middle of Endeavor’s forehead. It misses.

It hits the side of his neck instead.

And as quickly as the brilliant sunfire comes, they disappear. Endeavor falls like a comet from the sky, a streak of crimson trailing from his neck as it does. He crashes into the side of an office building, the sound of crushed glass and steel and stone echoing across the sky, onto the street.

The silence that follows is deafening.

[spectral-honey]

AU where Jason gets his revenge by becoming a lawyer and getting joker sentenced to the death penalty

Bruce is conflicted about it but any time he tries to say anything on the subject Alfred just talks over him like "oh we're so proud of you master Jason you finished college and you didn't even use your father's extensive resources that could've easily gotten someone in this family a degree aren't we so proud master Bruce that Jason got himself a respectable profession--"

[batcavescolony]

The fandom would be so much better if everyone realized that Batman's kids are just like that. None of them are normal! This is what they were doing before/directly after meeting Bruce:

Dick wanted to kill Anthony Zucco and avenge he parents death.

Jason uncovered a crime front in the troubled youth school he was sent to.

Tim stalked Batman, Nightwing AND the Teen Titans.

Stephanie created a whole vigilante persona to mess with her dad.

Damian and Cass are trained assassin children that can get anywhere.

Duke joined and lead the 'we are Robin movement' along with being a vigilante before he was Signal.

Bruce doesn't control them, he has tried to stop them, they don't listen. They aren't vigilantes because Bruce forced them to, I'm pretty sure they would have done that without his help, they're chaos incarnate!

[nbnaruto]

For the older grayson brother danny au, realistically Danny would meet all of Dick's younger siblings gradually but the idea all of them meeting him all at once is so funny to me. Even better if none of them knew Dick had an older brother (and 2 older sisters), Dick just mentions he can't hang out with one of them in the gc because he's hanging out with his older brother and all the batkids are like "wtf are you talking about?" Dick swears he's mentioned Danny (and jazz and ellie) at least once but all of them swear they've never heard those names before. Cue the meeting, they've decided to meet at Mcdonald's or sumn and right before they get to the mcdonalds Dick stresses that they should be on their best behaviour cuz Danny and Co aren't from Gotham and they are Normal Civilians TM, they turn the corner and see McDonalds is getting robbed, they rush in to find Danny beating the shit out of the thief with a napkin holder like outta that scene in shameless, Jazz is getting a first aid kit ready and Ellie is cheering in the background

[jasontoddsguns]

Acknowledging that Robin is inherently a child-solider even with the complicated situation surrounding it 🤝 understanding that it’s fictional and that it’s the younger readers self-insert.

[nocusbonkus]

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘬'𝘴 𝘖𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳🐍🐍🐍

[38across]

EXTRATERRESTRIAL (2014) — KYLE unREAL (2015 - 2016) — ADAM CROMWELL     ➥ SEASON ONE     ➥ SEASON TWO TIME AFTER TIME (2017) — H.G. WELLS THE CREW (2021) — JAKE MARTIN PEACEMAKER (2022) — ADRIAN CHASE/VIGILANTE

Freddie Stroma & the contractual obligation to remove his shirt 😩

[allgremlinart]

how am I supposed to read this in any way other than "Clark introducing his bf to his parents" ???

[gojifan97]

#hold on#before the attack on jakku tomura and the lov's highest body count was in deika#meaning the lov had killed more VILLAINS than heroes!#what losers!#even chisaki killed nighteye!

AU where the LoV sucks so much at their job that they keep mistaken for heroes.

Oh my, this’ll be fun.

It first happens when Kurogiri is unavailable so they use a different warp quirk to bring most of the Villains into the USJ. Tomura and Kurogiri finally arrive when the fight is fully underway. This leads one of the villains who'd been just about to murder one of the students to jump at him, thinking he was a Hero coming to help. Tomura dusts him, then gets into a fight with some of his ticked off friends while AM defeats the Nomu.

In the aftermath, Tomura is believed to be a violent vigilante. He's furious and thinking of ways to get back at them, so he finally organizes the Hosu attack. However, he sees Stain attacking some Hero brats and decides that now's the perfect time to get payback on that guy. He lunges at Stain from behind, causing him to break off an attack that might have killed Iida. He's paralyzed and kicked to the curb and kinda forgotten about until Kurogiri drags him away like a sullen kindergartner. He's kept out of the media, but the Heroes assume he's a vigilante who worked to once again save the Hero students.

Finally Tomura has a plot to put himself on the map, the attack on the UA summer camp! He and the LoV attack! But Gigantomachia arrives first, attracted by the scent of the Little Lord. Tomura and the others fight him until he kinda walks away. Oh and Compress snatches Bakugo while nobody's looking. Finally, people will know them as the monsters they are!

Cue UA reporting that a band of vigilantes saved several Hero students by fighting off a kaiju which tragically kidnapped one of the students and teachers. Tomura only holds back from dusting the bar by the threat of Kurogiri confiscating his video games.

They place an unconscious Bakugo in restraints and decide to ask him to join them. Unfortunately the Heroes arrive just as Bakugo wakes up and they undo his restraints, leading them to believe they were rescuing them. Them being forcibly warped to AFO's location (presumably so he can kill them), then warped away when AM arrives (so they can't join AM in defeating them) further proves that they are totally good guys!

They become famous in the media, who track their exploits. They help bring down a powerful Yakuza clan, saving an abused little girl and taking brutal vengeance on the scumbag who abused her, they fight a kaiju in the mountains, they even defeat an entire city of evil quirk supremacist terrorists, allowing the authorities to swoop in and arrest them.

Tomura is at the end of his rope and declares that they're going to do something so brazenly villainous that no one will mistake them for Heroes anymore, or else he's giving up on villainy and becoming a vigilante! They're going to destroy a hospital and an orphanage! Dabi says he knows just the locations.

The next day the papers are proclaiming how the noble vigilantes have successfully exposed and destroyed the wicked operations of Kyudai Garaki who was operating an orphanage to manipulate innocent children into his own weapons, even killing them to create undead monsters in the hospital.

Tomura: Screw it, we're vigilantes now.

[thisiswhereikeepdcthings]

If I do end up writing Batfam fics at some point, I really want to do one where Damian shows up at the manor determined to be the perfect heir to Batman, except he’s met with all these competent vigilantes/disaster humans that his father loves and comes to the conclusion that to be the perfect heir to his father, he too has to care for these dumpster fire train wrecks of human beings.

[xia0ming56]

This is the comic equivalent of a crack fic

[rileyclaw]

some doodles of my red dead vigilante AU !! been playing a lotta rdo lately

[genderpresentationmichael]

Top 10 Vigilantes Present Mics

#10: Bucktooth Mic. Young Mic eats a hot dog. That’s it

#9: Crowd Control Mic. The angle of this drawing gives him a unique expression of anguish.

#8: Muppet Mic. I think he hurt his wrist, because it’s merely a noodle now.

#7: Shrug Mic. A special shrug for when you’re just not that into him.

#6: Erased-Voice Mic. As well as this unique shocked expression, this panel has so many Present Mic Lore implications! A truly enriching manga panel.

#5: Trepanning Mic. The use of his speech bubble’s tail to represent the pain caused by his yelling is an especially fun use of panel layout. I have to respect that.

#4: Goggle Mic. If you ever wondered why Mic chose sunglasses for his hero costume/signature look, this panel makes it immediately obvious. (It also took me back to when I showed my friend a picture of Mic, and they immediately clocked him as a sexual predator. But I’ll post more on that another time.)

#3: Flying Mic. He levitates across for several panels like this. Not sure how! Good going, Mic! (Maybe, since they’re paneled together, he was launched by Aizawa!)

#2: Upside Down Mic. He probably posed like this to tease Aizawa about some of his usual moves? Maybe. Or for fun. Probably for fun.

#1: Spin-to-Win Mic. Three Mics, an intricate office chair maneuver, and the much gentler “yeah?” with a toned-down smile to match. This man is pulling out all the stops trying to get that dinner date. He may not have succeeded in-universe, but he definitely succeeded on this list.

[batcavescolony]

If you think Batman wouldn't help a crying child. If you think Batman wouldn't help his rogues. If you think Bruce Wayne wouldn't give someone a job if they wanted one.

You. Do. Not. Understand. The. Character.

[mattmurdeaux]

"Daredevil is our true public enemy!" - Wilson Fisk

The public enemy in question: 🥺

"There's a criminal I've employed. Matthew Murdock, an attorney."- Wilson Fisk

The criminal in question: 🙂

"Suspect Matthew Murdock considered armed and dangerous"

The suspect in question: 😩

In conclusion these allegations are ridiculous cause he's literally just a skrunkly depressed lil meow meow who deserves a 10-minute hug 🥺

[chandralia]

I think I’m gonna make this a whole post in case people didn’t see my reply, but this is the pace we’re going this season:

If we keep going like this, Bakugo’s sacrifice should be around episode 9, Deku’s Vigilante Arc around episode 16… and Bakugo’s apology around episode 22.

Also Tsuyu’s key visual for this season was the color page for chapter 320

and Bakugo’s apology is chapter 322.