#and like. internalizing that it's okay to put a pin in a question you genuinely don't have the tools to investigate further yet

[the-moogle-of-your-nightmares]

tbh will never forgive radfems for appropriating 'why don't you think about why you feel that way :)' as 'do it until you're Fixed and don't feel that way anymore'--especially when often they use it for conversion therapy in particular 🙃--because as a genuine, good faith, open-ended question to guide a toolset of other questions, it has brought me not only a lot of insight but SO much peace in processing things my brain would eat itself over otherwise

[lemon-russ]

Today's parade of fleas comes with a complementary/ optional musical accompaniment

BABY SAID - Måneskin

Lots of this was written at 3am on my phone and deep in my Unwell (tm) brain land. I love putting them in situations.

Part 5/ ???

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 7.5 :: 8

Cato Sicarius x F!Reader

(Cato POV 3rd person this time though)

CW: Talks about sex, Cato being a bully (verbally)

Summary: Cato does not want to talk about the events occurring from the discovery of the new emotion of horny

word count: 2,096

He couldn't even begin to explain to himself why he just did that. He sits on the floor of the cave, staring ahead with a blank, tense look, thinking about how sometimes, he does things, and sometimes, they have consequences. Like this awkward, confused silence.

The ambassador sits a few feet away, sharing a similar look. She was flushed still, hair a mess, dress barely holding on after the rock wall of the cave shredded the back of it. By the throne she looked good like this- No, stop that, doesn't he learn? This whole thing was insane and now he's going to have to live with it, and yet he's still sitting here daydreaming of how she'd look on her back and fully naked next time.

But there isn't going to be a next time, because that was a moment of insanity. They had been arguing, why did he kiss her? Okay, he knows why, but he doesn't want to actually think about that, because it's a stupid reason. She'd been insisting he didn't care about her- which is correct- but for some reason some sort of madness overcame him and he wanted her to think he did care. Okay, maybe he cared like, a little. Not anything weird, it's not sentimental to not actively wish death on someone. He'd go so far as to say it wasn't even overly familiar to wish someone does not die.

But that feels like a long leap between I'd be displeased if you perished and pinning her to a wall and fucking her mindless. Which he will admit, he did do. And he was excellent at it, of course. Cato Sicarius is the greatest at all feats of combat, and what is sex but really sticky awkward combat? He smirks to himself a bit. Another grand mastery to mark down, even if it was one he might prefer to keep to himself. But, unfortunately, unlike regular combat, your fighting partner here stays very much alive- hopefully- and can do things like ask you what was that about and what the actual fuck was that about Cato, no, seriously, what was that. He grimaces and takes a deep breath, letting it out tiredly. Not physically tired of course, he was superior in all things, including this, and was not so weak as to tire so fast- not that that matters, because, again, it won't happen again. But if it did, it could happen right now. Theoretically. Space marine stamina was second to none.

She glances over at him, expression mirroring his internal conflicts. “So….” She says softly, a small frown tugging the corners of her mouth. He clears his throat. “So.” He returns, frowning back. Emperor this was awkward. Truly a fitting punishment, to be forced to endure such banal things like talking about feelings after sex. He shudders to himself.

She frowns a bit deeper. “Are we going toooo…. Talk about that or….” She asks in a nervous voice.

Ah, excellent, she was giving him a choice. He sighs in relief, smiling genuinely for the first time in what feels like a week. “No, thank you.” He says politely, standing and brushing off his pants. What a weight off his mind, maybe he could do this sex thing more often-

“Cato.” She says, displeased. He frowns. He didn't know it was a trick question, but apparently he'd gotten it wrong. He groans. “Can't we just, pretend it didn't happen?” He pleads with an exasperated look. “What happens on dirt rock planet stays on dirt rock planet or something?” He grumbles, checking outside for the armies. Night had fallen, but he didn't see anything new at least.

“You seriously aren't going to explain what that was about?” She says, growing more frustrated. His eye twitches. This, this is why astartes are not supposed to take women to their beds. They can't move on from things and need to talk about unimportant drivel like motivations and futures and labels. Uhg. He rolls his eyes, giving her an annoyed look. “What's there to say? Your face when you got angry was attractive and I fell to baser reactions after a long and stressful day of saving you from perils.” He said dryly, crossing his arms and leaning against the cave wall, facing out and keeping watch.

She groans, “That's your excuse? You just, decided today was the day to grow a heart and feel human needs and you take it out on me?” She says tiredly.

He huffs out his nose, frowning over his shoulder at her. “I have two hearts, actually. Maybe you should read up more on the superior anatomy of an astartes and spend less time droning on about weather with nobles.” He frowns back out at the landscape. Was that a light…?

She growls in frustration. “Unbelievable. No, actually, very believable. It's my fault, really, for fucking you and thinking maybe you were having some sort of emotional breakthrough-” he hushes her, making her fluster in anger, but his eyes are trained on the light outside, and she catches the hint and just huffs out her nose a little. She quietly scootches over to see what he's looking at. Daft woman, a mortal's eyes can't see that far in the dark.

“I don't see anything…” she murmurs. No shit. Maybe he shook the last cobwebs of intelligence from her skull when he slammed her against that wall. He just hushes her again, making her pout. He glances at her annoyed little face and briefly considers repeating his misstep- no, focus Cato, there's enemies around. And he's pretty sure she can't take being fucked any dumber before she loses her ability to form speech. He smirks to himself at his little internal diss as he scans the landscape again.

He sees a search party now, combing the area back and forth in lines. Fuck. That is very, very bad for them. “Time to go” he says quietly, scooping her up onto his shoulder, making her squeak as air was knocked out of her a little. He frowns a little and glances at her kicking and annoyed little form. Well, maybe there was a few minutes before that party found them- no, no she cries like a banshee when she comes, they'd find them in minutes.

He sighs, moving her onto his shoulder upright. “hold onto my armor” he instructs, standing with her clinging to the neck of his armor, sitting on his power pack like he's giving her a piggy back ride. He puts his helmet on, “We're going to be running and calling for a pickup.” he says, ducking out of the cave and into the cold desert night. She shivers and he grimaces. Right, she barely has clothes on. Not that he cares if she's cold, but, it’s probably not great for their cover if her teeth chatter. He sighs and reluctantly tugs his cape off its holds on his back. “Here. Your ridiculous outfit choice once again forces me to do everything for you, wrap yourself in this.” He grumbles. She blinks at him, expression something he couldn't read, and takes the cape, using it like a blanket and tying it around herself. She smiles a little at him and he grimaces. “Stop that.” He demands. “Don't look at me like that. It freaks me out.”

She raises her brow and sighs. “Lets just get home.” She says, rubbing the bridge of her nose, mumbling something about mixed messages. That's stupid. His messages were very clear. He never mixes them. He huffs and starts heading away from the search party into open dark desert.

He moves at a light jog, and after a few minutes, she makes a sharp noise, making him stop and look up at her. Shes frowning, “ah- sorry, don't mind me, I'm just sore from… well… the power pack is a little hard to sit on right now.” She mumbles, glancing away awkwardly.

He sighs. “squishy, breakable mortal.” He says tiredly, pulling her off his back with a squeak. “Aren't you meant to push children out of there? How could I so damage you by doing what nature intended for it.” He grumbles as he moves to cradle her bridal style instead.

She's surprised a moment as he holds her, then frowns a bit. “I don't think astartes count as things nature intended to happen to it…” she grumbles, pink staining her cheeks as she glances away. He chuckles to himself as he starts jogging again, “Ah yes, nature could not predict the perfection of the space marine. Maybe we should create genetic enhancements for women, allowing them to not break the moment they are touched in any capacity.” He speculates to himself. “The basics, really, hardened bones, healing, sturdier flesh, some spare organs. Maybe increased pelvic capacity so an astartes lover doesn't rend you more useless than usual.” He says, smirking down at her behind his helmet. “Then I wouldn't have to work so hard this whole trip to just keep bullets out of you. It has been a huge trouble for me, you know.” He says with slight annoyance.

She groaned and rolled her eyes. “Are you seriously still doing this? You admitted to me already that you care about me and didn't like seeing me hurt.” She says with a tired scowl.

He nods, “Yes, which is also deeply disturbing. Now I have to keep you free of holes and breaks, because if I don't-” he stuttered in his gait, taking a small breath. He was thankful for the helmet, it was hard to school his expression right now, and it hid the terrified grimace that assaulted his face muscles at the thought of her becoming injured. He let out a tense sigh. “Well, it is quite annoying that for some reason I will be the one to suffer if great harm comes to you.” He grumbles a bit.

She blinks up at him- ah, there's that stupid puzzled look again. It'd be cute almost if it wasn't so agitating that she could apparently not comprehend simple thoughts at random. He sighed. “What is that face for? Shall I say it slower with smaller words?” He asks dryly.

She frowns and knits her brow, but was still looking at him like he'd grown another head like a chaos spawn. “You are possibly the most stubborn or most dense man I've ever met, and I can't decide which it is. Maybe both.” She says, shaking her head. The action makes some of her hair fluff around her face and he scolds himself when he thinks it's cute. “What in the Emperor's name are you on about now, you senseless creature?” He asks in exasperation.

She rolls her eyes. “I don't think I have the time or crayons to explain the entirety of the concept of interpersonal relationships and emotions to you right now, Cato.” She says tiredly, laying her head against his chest plate. He smiles at her cuddling to him- wait stop that she insulted you, do not smile- he forces a frown. “You do not need to explain these things to me. I know them well.” He huffs indignantly. “I am Cato Sicarius, master of many things, including psychology.” He says, pouting under his helmet. He already solved psychology this morning.

She chuckles for some warp damned reason, actually laughing at emperor knows what. He frowns down at her as she giggles herself into a fit. “I fear your mind may have sustained one too many hits, knocking what's left of your brain against the inside of your ceramite skull.” He says with a small scowl. “You seem to be losing more and more of your senses every passing moment. Perhaps it is good I did not actually render you unconscious to make you easier to handle. You probably wouldn't be able to speak again.” He says with an annoyed tone as he picks up the pace and voxes an SOS signal with their location up to the flagship.

She laughs more, snorting a little and shaking in his arms. It makes him crack a smile himself against his will. “You are mad, Woman.” He grumbles, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. That's what it all comes down to, he decides. Women are simply all completely mad. Boom, he solved women, the eternal enigma. He smiles to himself. He was on a roll today, but that's expected. He's Cato Sicarius, there is no mystery he cannot unravel.

[the-oc-lass]

Nimona OC - Charlotte Swiftheart/Corova

And so we continue!

First, Previous, Next

Leaving the giant mace stuck in the table, Nimona leaps off of it and grabs a hook hanging from the ceiling, swinging and twirling on it toward the wall she'd been working on while Charlotte hung lights. "The murder wall" she'd called it, despite Charlotte assuring her that there would be no murdering happening.

"Aaaaand I updated your murder wall," she says, landing in a pose and gesturing to the wall. She kicks the generator behind her, which illuminates the little nook in red light. One picture flutters off the wall, and Nimona quickly notices. "Oops." As she stoops down to pick it up, Ballister rises from the sofa and starts moving toward the wall. Nimona brushes off the piece of paper and pins it back in place. A picture of Ambrosius, and the word "nemesis" painted in big letters above it. Charlotte watches from the couch as Ballister moves closer, looking up at the wall as Nimona proudly presents her work. "Plus, I drew up plans for revenge, and torment, and good old general malfeasance." After staring at the wall for several seconds, Ballister utters out one word.

"Rhinoceros." He turns his head toward Nimona, looking at her with wide eyes. Oh, that's not good.

"You look freaked," Nimona says. She shifts to point a finger at Ballister. "You promised you'd hold it together."

"You're not human," Ballister says, taking a step back and reaching for his hip. Oh, no.

"You looking for something?" Nimona asks, but the tone of her voice says that she knows exactly what Ballister is searching for. Charlotte quickly rises from the sofa, starting to move toward the two of them.

"My sword," Ballister says, crouching slightly as he backs away a bit.

"It exploded. Remember?" Nimona asks, taking a step forward. Ballister moves away again, and there's fear in his eyes. Charlotte sighs internally. She knows that this is the way that most of the kingdom was raised, to fear what's different, but that doesn't mean it doesn't bother her.

"You're a mo-" Ballister stumbles over the end of the word as Nimona continues to move closer.

"What? Marsupial? Mariachi? Meatball?" Nimona says, emphasizing each word. Ballister's back hits the wall, and he's effectively trapped.

"You're a monster," he says. Charlotte sees the way Nimona's shoulders raise.

"Do not call me that!" she snaps. Thunder crashes, and Charlotte carefully sets a hand on Nimona's shoulder.

"Hey, hey, look at me," she says. Nimona's head turns toward her slightly, but her gaze remains on Ballister. "Of course you're not, Nim. We know that." Charlotte's gaze lifts to Ballister, and her eyes narrow in a protective glare. "Right, Bal?" His eyes widen slightly, and he looks back at Nimona.

"No. No, no, no. Of course not. You're obviously not a massive fire-breathing, you know- But you do do the shifty-shift-shifting-shape thing. And you're a girl who can turn into-" He pauses for a moment, then finally exhales, shoulders sagging as he looks at Nimona. "What are you?"

"I'm Nimona," she says, arms crossed. Charlotte squeezes her shoulder slightly. She's only had to defend Nimona to a few people, and it was never with Nimona actually present. She never likes how it makes her feel, to hear that word said about her. Monster.

"No, no, that's not an answer. People don't just turn into things," Ballister says. Nimona continues to glare at him.

"I do."

"Okay. Fine. Then I have a million questions." He's still shrunk up against the wall, and Nimona stares at him for a few seconds.

"You get one," she says, snatching one of the breakfast tacos off the tray Ballister is still holding. Charlotte releases her shoulder and lets Nimona move away, her back facing Ballister as she takes a bite of the taco. Charlotte crosses her arms and scowls slightly when Ballister gives her a helpless look. After a moment, he puts the tray aside and asks a genuine question.

"Why are you helping me?" Nimona shrugs, still not looking at him.

"Because I'm bored." She pauses, and her shoulders sag as she lets out a barely audible sigh. "And everybody hates you too." At that, Charlotte's gaze softens, and she uncrosses her arms as she slowly moves toward Nimona. She sets a hand softly on her back, then crouches down to be closer to where Nimona is looking.

"I'm sorry," she says softly, reaching up to once again squeeze Nimona's shoulder. As Nimona finishes her taco, Charlotte reaches up with her other hand to brush some hair out of Nimona's face, finally getting her friend to look at her. For just a moment, there's vulnerability in her eyes, and she looks so incredibly young. Charlotte wishes so badly that she could protect Nimona from the hatred and cruelty that is unfairly cast on her. It's not fair. It's not right. After a moment, though, the vulnerability is gone, and Nimona smiles a bit and pushes Charlotte's hand away from her face.

"The squire has to know something," Ballister suddenly says. Charlotte looks over at him, starting to rise as Nimona turns to look at him too. "He's the one that gave me the sword. The sword that...that..." His gaze lands on the picture of the queen, and he's unable to finish the sentence. The sword that killed the queen.

"You need the squire? Then let's go kill-" Ballister's head snaps toward Nimona, and she quickly changes her words. "Get him. Let's go get him. You and me." She gestures between herself and Ballister, and Ballister...Rolls his eyes?!

"No, absolutely not," he says, holding up his hands. "That thing you do? It's too much. No." Charlotte sets a hand on her hip, scowl returning to her face. It's getting harder and harder to defend Ballister to herself with every second that he keeps talking.

"I think what you're trying to say is, 'Thanks for saving my life.' Three times, if you're keeping score," Nimona says, holding up three fingers, before giving a slight shrug and starting to move away. "But you're right. I'm sure you can do this alone, with every knight in the entire kingdom gunning for you. Good luck." Ballister glances at Charlotte again as Nimona gets closer to the door, and Charlotte gives him a shrug and an unamused look. She watches him rapidly weigh pros and cons in his head, then brace himself as he sucks in a breath.

"Wait," he calls. Charlotte's mouth twitches slightly as she resists the urge to smirk.

"Yeeeeees, Evil Larry?" Nimona's voice replies. Ballister sighs.

"I-" He barely gets a word out before Nimona is back in front of him.

"I'm in." His eyes widen for a moment, then he looks toward the door, obviously confused as to how she got across the room so quickly. "But here's the thing. When we clear your name, then I am your official sidekick forever and ever. No take backsies. Deal?" She holds out her hand, and Ballister looks at her with a conflicted expression.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that-"

"Don't overthink it," Nimona says, waving her hand a bit. Ballister makes a bit of a face, glancing between Nimona's hand and her face. After a moment, though, he lifts his mechanical hand and reaches toward hers...Only for her to shift into a shark at the last moment. He pulls his hand back a bit in surprise, and Charlotte watches in amusement.

"Can you just be...you please?" he asks. He's in for a very drastic learning curve, isn't he?

"I don't follow," Nimona replies. Ballister's hand falls back to his side.

"Girl...You." He rocks on the balls of his feet slightly, and Nimona lowers her offered fin.

"But I'm not a girl." Charlotte waits. "I'm a shark." Nimona snaps her teeth, and Charlotte chuckles softly. Ballister sighs as Nimona offers her fin again, this time lifting his human hand instead. He hesitates, and eventually Nimona throws her fin up into his hand, and Ballister grasps it lightly with his fingers to give it a shake. "Hey. You ever put your head in the mouth of one of these?" Nimona opens her mouth wide and gestures to it with her fins, and Ballister looks entirely unamused.

"Should've just stayed in jail," he says, walking around her. Nimona drops her fins, but her mouth stays open.

"Come on!" She turns to trot after him. "You know you wanna!" Charlotte chuckles a bit, then moves to follow after them. This is going to work out, she thinks. And if it doesn't? Well, they'll figure that out later.

4/4

Lovely tagged people:

@ammonitetheseaserpent @perfectkittystranger @madlad06 @xxlunadrawsstuffxx

[kiyomai]

Your characterization for literally everyone is phenomenal. I read for both anime’s and you write the characters true to themselves and more, making them have a billion times more substance. If it’s not too much of a bother, could you write something along the lines of “are you bored of me?” with Dabi? Again I love your work!

Are You Bored of Me?

Dabi x GN!Reader

Word Count: 734

Hurt/Comfort

Navigation // Taglist

It's at night where Dabi falls victim to those overbearing thoughts, lying in bed while you cling onto him, watching the slight flutter of your eyes as you succumb to sleep.

If he's lucky (and tired enough), Dabi ignores those questions circling his head, simply closing his eyes and waiting for the moment to come before he has to leave again. But he's not so lucky tonight. So instead, he's stuck in your room, unable to shut his eyes, mind spinning left and right, all while the room gets hotter and hotter.

The sudden stuffiness wakes you up, confusion written all over your dazed face while you move your blankets. Dabi tries to play it off, pretending to be asleep even as you call out to him, letting out a groan when you nudge him.

"Are you okay? The room is getting hot."

"Had to do something to pry you off of me," he smirks. "Figured a little heat would do you some good."

Dating someone like Dabi isn't the same as dating some random guy. You have to pick up on his traits and little quirks to get even remotely close to him. You know your boyfriend; he produces enough heat not to wake you up when it does indeed get cold at night. Dabi lets you wrap yourself around him, and the two of you fall asleep that way. Teasing isn't far off from how he usually acts, but you've learned to tell when it's genuine versus when it's all an act.

"Is this your way of saying you don't want me near you?" It's easier to find out what's wrong with him when you avoid the million-dollar question. You've learned that asking him straight on only results in him ignoring you and then dodging you for a few days before he hops back into his usual flow.

"Don't start reading into things, Y/N," he rolls his eyes. "You're gonna hurt your pretty little head." You slap his hand away when he taps on your forehead, chuckling before closing his eyes. In Dabi's mind, he answered your question, internally scoffing at how dramatic you are. Of course, he wants to be near you. The real question is do you want to be near him.

It's quiet for a while, nothing but the controlled breaths Dabi's taking, assuming that you're not paying attention. You're still sitting up, glancing at him from time to time, trying to figure out how best to help him. Words are nothing more than white noise for Dabi. You can say anything to him, and it'll go in one ear and out the other.

"What're you doing?" Action is what your boyfriend responds to, so it's not hard to climb on top of him, effectively trapping him beneath you.

"I can't sleep."

"And that's my problem how?" He catches your wrists before you can harm him.

"It's my boyfriend's job to take care of me in my time of need," you exaggerate. "And right now, I need you." You don't miss the surprise in his eyes despite how quick he is to put his mask back on.

No matter, you never were one to give up so quickly. To make your point, you proceed to repeat how much you need him, followed by a kiss on his face. Dabi doesn't say anything, only accepting his fate and listening to those sweet words. It's when you run out of places to kiss that he speaks up.

"You're not bored of me, right?" His tone suggested he was only teasing, but you noted how he almost hesitated to say it aloud. You slid your hand into his, bringing it up towards your lips before pressing a kiss onto it.

"Not even a little."

"You don't mind only hanging out at your house?"

"As cliché as it may sound, I'm happy to just be with you." You move to find comfort between the crook of his neck, but at the same time, Dabi moves to pin you down, this time trapping you. He hides the smile that threatens to grow at your struggling.

"God, I'm dating the lamest person on this planet."

"I'd say you're very lucky to have this privilege."

He is lucky. The both of you know these doubts won't ever leave Dabi's mind, but he's lucky to spend one more night learning that you aren't bored of him.

a/n: anon!! Omg thank you!! This was so sweet and it really warms my heart to hear this! That is the biggest compliment ever, i love you!! I haven’t written for dabi in so long omg! I hope this is as close to his character as possible. likes, comments and reblogs are welcome and appreciated <33

[prismaticpichu]

OKAY prompts!

How bout Zack finding out about an embarrassing hobby that Seph enjoys? We need wholesome content!

Oml what an adorable idea!!! <3

(This is so much longer than it needs to be. Sorrryy!)

x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

On Pins and Needles

Zack had woken up at 6:00 in the morning.

This was a miracle, astronomical, a day where the stars aligned in such a way that the young SOLDIER's cocoon of dreams splintered earlier than usual. Two hours earlier, to be exact.

He tried counting sheep, he tried reciting the alphabet backwards, he tried naming all breakfast foods... but whatever spirit wanted him up was very adamant in doing so. It seemed better to start the day vitalized rather than zombie-hobbling out of bed, so after a small internal grapple, Zack did just that.

And good thing he did! Now he was waltzing down the corridor, blue eyes aglow and charcoal hair dancing with his frivolous steps. A smile bloomed on the SOLDIER's lips; Seph would be so proud to see him kicking early.

The poor guy rose every morning when dawn smeared the sky, sifting through files and reports until Zack joined him hours later. Sure, Seph had the stamina of a mechanical bull with a plugged in wire, but after months of working with the General, it was clear that some of his energy actually did bleed out.

Not today it wouldn't! Zack grasped the doorknob, scintillating like silver in the artificial light, and turned it aside.

“Goooood morning, bud! You got an early package to...!"

His voice trailed off like rising smoke as, with widening eyes, Zack took in the sight before him. Seph was there alright, and he was islanded in paperwork... though there was another object in the sea: not a pen, not a stapler, not even polish for Masamune, but a spool. A spool. Lustrous black thread was twined around the device, sandwiched between two beige plates like hamburger buns; a single black thread snaked around the desk, weaving through keyboard keys, tarring papers, until finally, rivering into the cascade of string that was spilling down a pair of scissored needles.

Sephiroth's entire body stiffened. His laser focus was shattered in those unfortunate seconds, his head whipping towards the door where he just stared, paralyzed, like a viper had crunched into his thigh.
Zack shut the door behind him, slow and hesitant. Suddenly it felt like his presence was very unwanted.

"Whatcha doing, Seph?" he blinked, trying to sound as neutral as possible.

Sephiroth set down the needles, burying them under his documents in hopes Zack would mistake them for a mirage—or at least neglect their existence. "Work," he answered dryly, schooling his features as the warrior straightened from his slouched position.

Ok, Zack may have thought the sun was a planet, or put tin foil in the microwave, but he wasn't amnesic. "Seepph," the brunet smirked, starting towards his friend's desk. "Whatcha dooooing?"

“Why are you up?" Sephiroth dodged the question, glossing over with his natural authority.

"Wasn't tired!" Zack chirped, then folded his arms over the workspace. His visage melted into genuine curiosity. "I didn't know you like to knit, Seph!"

Zack never saw Seph's cheeks flush so coral—actually, he never saw Seph's cheeks flush coral. Must be a full moon.

Busted, Seph tried veiling it all with his bangs, duckling his head so that the mercury tresses would spill over. "Hmph..." he grunted. "I am surprised you had the strength to resist sleeping in.”

“C'mon, Seph." Zack’s amusement was ebbing, replaced by nothing but warm and earnest sincerity. Seph was being reclusive again, like a silvery glass statue… and in this fragile state, Zack knew better than to laugh. Just a little push against the shell. "I won't judge, bud. Promise.”

He knew that much. Sephiroth closed his eyes, letting the sincerity of Zack's words sink in; it was like his body fighting off allergies, his immune system battling and antagonizing emotions that meant no harm, going through security, checking for doubts. For loop holes.

But then he remembered that this was Zack.

"...I've been doing it for almost a year now," Sephiroth admitted quietly. "I wanted something else.”

In Angeal and Genesis's time, it became apparent that his two old companions weren't as strictly devoted to the company as he was. Their spare time didn't consist of swordwork, and for them, the borders between practice and combat weren't vague. He wasn't quite sure how long it took Sephiroth to realize, but the man eventually came to an epiphany: Angeal and Genesis had lives outside of ShinRa. Genesis enjoyed swordplay and poetry; Angeal enjoyed swordplay and cooking.

And he, General Sephiroth, thought it appropriate to knit. He always had exceptional dexterity, and being able to create something that was his, from his own two hands...? No barking scientists. No directions. Tools wielded with his own hands at his own pace.

Him, General Sephiroth.

Him, General Sephiroth…

“Seph?" Zack blinked. "You okay?"

“What am I doing…?” Sephiroth massaged the bridge of his nose, his words riding on a tired sigh. Feline pupils traveled to the mass of inky yarn, boneless and freckled with knots, undefined in shape. Time for nothing. A waste. Unfitting and unnecessary.

Zack also stared at the ball of obsidian, indistinct and full of potential, snarled up with trial and error, loose, but intact all the same. He gaze returned to Seph, a tender heart twisting at the man’s conflicted expression.

"Hey." Zack lowered to his friend's line of sight, offering a gentle smile. "I think it's amazing! Sure it's a little messy, but that's okay! You put so much time into it, and you can't stop now!"

Sephiroth lifted his chin, the emerald eyes rippling with a vulnerability that both broke and healed Zack's heart. Seph felt safe around him. It was all he could ever ask for. His grin broadened as he scooped up Seph's project, ticklish strings filtering through his fingers. "I'm so glad you have a hobby, Seph."

Sephiroth canted his head, almost confused. "...You are?"

“Of course!" Zack beamed. "I'm always bugging ya to get out of the office."

“I'm still in the office."

“You know what I mean!" Zack draped the yarn around his neck, toying with the loose end. "The office or the training room or anything! Sure you're General Sephiroth, ShinRa's rough-tough star, but you're also a person! And every person has hobbies. Keeps them healthy in the head." Zack rapped his knuckles against his skull, flashing a derpy smile; Seph shook his head, clearly trying to resist chuckling. Score!

He sobered then, just a bit, meeting his friend’s gaze. “And Seph,” Zack started, “you know you don’t ever have to hide things from me… right?” There was an undertone of plea laced in his voice, as if it was another barrier the boy needed to climb in their friendship. A newly discovered one.

It was a wall Sephiroth had made himself, unintentional, and now he would shatter it. “….Of course,” Sephiroth inclined his head. Starting now, of course.

Zack’s smile rejuvenated, more blissful than ever. He continued to wrap the fabric around his collar like a little leash, though thankfully, Seph didn’t make the parallel. “Hey, this thing makes a neat scarf y'know! Just needs a bit more, er… scarfing!”

Sephiroth stifled another chuckle, so unsurprised. He watched his best friend flaunt his knitting as if it was prized jewelry, the azure eyes beaming through the scarf and into his own. Blue eyes that pooled with a rainbow of emotions: joy, pride, gratitude… acceptance. Sephiroth supposed he could only smile back, because the message was clear.

Zack would always love him, no matter what he enjoyed. He always did.

“Well then,” Sephiroth smirked. “I will try my best to make it into a scarf for you."

[sleepdeprivedsloth]

Cold Foot

[MHA - Midoriya, Todoroki]

summary: Todoroki is caught walking around with a sock covering only one of his feet. Midoriya is determined to figure out the reasoning behind his unusual clothing choices. (platonic TodoDeku tickle fic)

potential warnings: tickling

words: 1.4 k

a/n: haha finally branching out into the dekusquad characters bc they are so sweet and i love them!! but yeah i hope you all enjoy reading this, much love <<33

--

The first time Todoroki walked out of his dorm room with a sock on only one of his feet, everyone thought it was just a silly oversight. It was still pretty early in the morning; maybe his brain just needed a bit more time to fully wake up and realize that he hadn’t exactly finished getting dressed.

The second time he was caught walking around half-barefoot, Todoroki received a few confused glances, but the majority of his peers chose to cut him some slack and let him be. It was a Saturday after all; maybe he was just too lazy to be bothered.

However, when his classmates passed through the common area and saw Todoroki lounging on the couch, both feet outstretched but only one wearing a plain white sock for the third time, they started to suspect that these occurrences weren’t accidental. Most had paused for a moment to take in Todoroki’s abnormal clothing choices, looking upon the scene with complete and utter confusion, but ultimately decided that it was best to just let the fire and ice hero-in-training do his own thing.

Not Midoriya though. Much like his peers, the green-haired boy had stopped and stared for a few seconds to internally ponder on the different possibilities as to why Todoroki chose to only cover up one foot, but it didn’t take long for his curiosity to inevitably get the better of him.

Midoriya casually made his way towards Todoroki and settled himself on the couch, sitting beside the intriguingly half-socked feet. Feeling the cushions shift from the added weight, Todoroki looked up from his phone and peered at Midoriya expectantly. “Can I help you with something, Midoriya?”

“Why are you wearing a sock on only one of your feet?” Midoriya promptly asked, as if he was anxiously waiting for his friend to acknowledge his presence. His green eyes subconsciously moved their curious gaze to the feet in question. “At first, I thought that the need to put on the other sock just slipped your mind, but you’re more attentive than that. You wouldn’t have missed something as simple as a missing sock. But then again-” Midoriya looked back up sheepishly as he stopped himself from going on a full-on rant, having to mentally refocus himself on the matter at hand. “A-anyways, I was just wondering why you only wear one sock, that’s all.”

Todoroki’s lips curled up slightly when Midoriya pulled himself out of his rambling. “Since the right side of my body can manipulate ice, my right foot doesn’t get cold like my left one does. There just simply is no need for me to wear a sock on that foot.”

And with that, Midoriya’s brain switched into research mode. He reached out and grabbed onto Todoroki’s right, unsocked foot, turning it around in his hands as he started inspecting it. “Huh, I never thought of it like that. But it does make sense, more so than the far-fetched theories that I had come up with..” 

In his peripheral vision, Midoriya saw Todoroki tense up, his nervous eyes trained on the foot that was trapped in Midoriya’s grasp. The green-haired boy could just barely make out the slightest hint of a giddy smile on his friend’s lips.

It didn’t take long for Midoriya to piece the subtle signs together. A mischievous glint flashed across his playful eyes as he set his new plan into motion. “Hey Todoroki, you wouldn’t mind if I were to experiment a bit with this new found information, right? It would be a great addition to my notes on your unique half and half quirk.”

Todoroki looked a bit uneasy at the thought of Midoriya performing hands-on research on him, but inevitably agreed. “Sure, I don’t mind.” He tried to relax himself and picked up his phone, resuming his mindless scrolling from before. Midoriya just wanted more accurate and detailed notes, that’s all. What was the worst that could happen?

“Great~” Midoriya laid a hand across Todoroki’s ankles, effectively pinning them down against the couch cushions. 

Todoroki’s head shot up to look at his trapped feet, eyes widening in surprise. “W-wait, Midoriya, what are you-”

“We already know that your fire side is more sensitive to the cold, but I wonder if it’s also more sensitive to touch…” Midoriya slowly dragged a finger down the length of Todoroki’s socked foot, starting just underneath his toes and traveling down to the heel. Up and down, over and over, again and again.

Todoroki choked on the laughter that was trying to force its way out of his throat as he instinctively tried to pull his feet away from the soft touches. Unfortunately for him, both feet were kept firmly in place by Midoriya’s strong hold. A small string of giggles escaped his lips when the torturous finger swiped against a particularly sensitive spot in the middle of his arch. “Nohohohoho! Midohohoriyahahaha!!”

Midoriya smiled at the sweet sound of his friend’s rare laughter, but he couldn’t break character just yet. “How does this feel? What would you rate the sensations on a scale from one to ten?”

With his mind being preoccupied with the soft, tickly feelings on his left foot, Todoroki genuinely couldn’t tell if Midoriya was purposefully teasing him or was just honestly curious about how much he could feel the sensations. Either way, the green-haired boy’s words caused a light blush to spread across his grinning face. “I dohohon’t knohow?”

Midoriya stopped the light tracing in favor of gently scribbling his five fingers against the socked sole. “How about now?”

Todoroki’s laughter raised an octave as his squirming became more desperate. “Ohokahahay okahahahay! Mahahahaybe a seheheven?”

“Hmm, interesting…” Midoriya momentarily stilled his fingers, allowing his friend a quick breather. “Let’s check your other foot now, shall we?”

A fresh wave of giddy panic flowed through Todoroki’s body. “Noho need! Haven’t yohou done enohough experimenting?” He started to lean forward and reach towards Midoriya, trying to grab ahold of his troublesome hands, but immediately fell back down the moment he felt fingers fluttering against his bare foot. “NOHOHOHOHO!!”

“Sorry, but we must compare the ratings of both feet to get the most accurate results,” Midoriya explained sympathetically, but both boys knew that he wasn’t really sorry. “Now, how would you rate the sensations on this foot?”

Todoroki tugged desperately at his feet, but Midoriya’s hold seemed unbreakable, especially since his own strength had been weakened from all of the squirming and laughing. He wrapped his arms tightly around his torso, as if to hold in the uncontrollable flow of laughter that left his face-splitting smile. “MIDOHOHOHORIYAHAHA PLEHEHEHEASE, IHIHIHIHIT TIHIHIHICKLES! LEHEHEHEHET GOHOHOHOHO!!”

“My research isn’t complete yet, Todoroki!” Midoriya wiggled his fingers in between Todoroki’s scrunched toes. The fire and ice student threw his head back, his roars of laughter becoming even more hysterical. Midoriya beamed fondly at the sight of his friend finally letting loose from his much-too-serious persona. “If you would just rate how this feels, it would all be over~”

“AHAHAHAHA TEHEHEHEN! IHIHIHIHIT’S AHAHAHA TEHEHEN! PLEHEHEASE STAHAHAHAHAP!!” Todoroki called out, eyes squeezed shut to prevent his mirthful tears from spilling onto his flushed cheeks.

Midoriya stopped his tickling and brought both arms back down into his lap, giving his friend’s feet the freedom to move. Todoroki instantly brought his legs against his heaving chest and wrapped his arms around them protectively, resting his head on top of his knees.

With a victorious smile, Midoriya exclaimed, “Based on all of the research you have so generously helped me gather, I can now confidently conclude that your ice foot is definitely more sensitive to touch than your fire foot!”

“That’s nohot exactly accurate,” Todoroki argued, mindlessly tracing along the veins in the top of his right foot with an index finger. “My ‘ice foot,’ as you like to call it, was unsocked during the whole experiment. So of course it was going to be more sensitive than my-” Todoroki caught his mistake too late as he cautiously brought his gaze back up to look at Midoriya’s reaction. To his dismay, he was immediately met with the same mischievous green eyes from before.

“You’re absolutely right, Todoroki!” Midoriya agreed, slowly inching himself closer to his classmate. “We just simply need more data and then-”

Todoroki didn’t waste another precious second. He instantly leaped off of the couch and bolted out of the common area towards the elevator, already giggling uncontrollably as he heard Midoriya’s teasing words not too far behind him.

--

a/n: thanks for reading everyone! ler midoriya is just *chef’s kiss* i love him okay? omg and when characters who don’t really smile much (cough cough todo and baku) genuinely laugh it is so cute i can’t!! lol anyways good night/day yall :)

[just--another--daydreamer]

How they realize that they are in love

» Katsuki Bakugo // Shoto Todoroki // Izuku Midoriya x gn!reader (no pronouns used)

» Genre: Fluff & Angst » Summary: Just some HCs about Baku, Todo & Deku (seperately) and how they realize that they are in love » Warnings: fighting, death, injuries & swearing (Bakugo) implied abuse (Todoroki) panic attacks, overthinking & mentions of fighting (Midoriya) » Words: ~1.7k » Author's Note: These were fun to write, if you’d like to see them for any other characters, feel free to ask! This was inspired by @/costellos, check their stuff out

You can find a link to my Masterlist etc in my bio and pinned post

⋘ ──────── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──────── ⋙

» Katsuki Bakugo:

Bakugo realizes that he is in love with you when you put yourself in danger to help him

Usually, Bakugo would be furious if someone else saw him as a person in need of help and tried supporting or even protecting him in a dangerous situation, but this time it feels different

Instead of anger boiling deep within Bakugo, close to making him explode, he feels an unusual numbness at first, while he watches your body fall to the ground after taking a hit for him. Even though he is often unable to identify his own feelings and is out of touch with them, he notices that change withing himself

The numbness quickly gives way to fear. He tumbles forward as he screams your name. For the first time in a while he is not sure what to do; he wants to check if you are alright, if you are alive, if you are still with him. But he also wants to charge forward and rip the person who hurt you to shreds

He feels helpless, unable to decide and unable to push those sudden overwhelming feelings aside. Instead, shock is freezing his whole body, only allowing his arms and legs to tremble. His mind is racing and screaming and calling him weak. Weak for needing your help, weak for not being able to protect you, weak for not killing this damn bastard in front of him

“Bakugo!” Your voice is feeble and barely audible over the sounds of the fight, but he can still hear you. You reach him through the clouds in his mind, through his own voice in his head tormenting him

He regains control over his body and it only takes him a few blows to knock out the enemy

In the next moment, he is cowering next to you, pulling you close, checking your vitals. Once again, his fingers tremble. You are alive, but in dire need of help

Bakugo hates being afraid and he pushes the feeling down with full force, trying to let his anger take over once again. The anger that numbs his senses, makes him care less about the people around him, makes him unapproachable and lets him keep everyone at a distance

“You damn fool!” His voice cracks. “I didn’t ask for your fucking help!” You look up at him with half-lidded eyes. “Baku-” “Shut up!” The pain in his throat from screaming is a welcome one. “Just shut the fuck up! I didn’t need you to save me, dammit!” A lump forms in his throat, taking his ability to speak. He can feel tears in his eyes, but he wipes them away before they can fall

Bakugo leans down and puts his arms under your body to carry you to an ambulance. Under his breath, he mutters, “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

  » Shoto Todoroki:

Todoroki realizes that he is in love with you when you are patient with him

Most people in Todoroki’s life expect a lot from him, if not way too much. His father expects him to be the perfect hero and successor to him since the day his quirk awoke, UA expects him to always be one step ahead of everyone else and he puts those expectations on himself as well. Even though it is not hard for him to be all those things at this point in his life, having someone around who is patient with him and does not care if he fails or lets himself go from time to time is a relief

Like on most days, Todoroki and you walk home together after class, since you have to go into a similar direction. Most of the time both of you walk in silence or you try making conversation with Todoroki only to be met with silence or short answers

Todoroki knows that he is not the best person to be around at all times, that he does not always get jokes or acts distant with people – he just does not know what to say and how to react to certain things

Having friends is hard for him. Either he overshares about his past or keeps people at a safe distance. Todoroki needs time to figure out this new thing called friendship for himself. Can he even call his classmates friends? Can he call Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka friends? Can he call you a friend? What do you and the others call your relationship from your perspectives?

He has known you for a while now and you walk together every single day and you talk and you text, so you are his friend, right?

“Todoroki?” you catch him a little off-guard. “Hm?” “Would you like to hang out some time?”

He looks up at you and tries reading your expression. A friendly smile, waiting for his answer. It is his decision. You are not deciding for him, you are not demanding anything from him. Not many people have ever asked him to decide things for himself in the past. Everyone always decided in his place, especially when it came to big things like becoming a hero. It is a simple yes or no question over a small thing, yet Todoroki has trouble coming up with an answer

You seem to notice his hesitation. “It’s totally fine if you don’t want to hang out,” you calmly tell him. There is no undertone in your voice, only genuine kindness. “You can take your time deciding, you can take your time getting comfortable with having friends, or even just the idea of it.” Did you have another secret quirk that allowed you to read minds? Todoroki pushed that thought away. “Take your time. I promise that whatever you say, I won’t be mad or hurt by it. Alright?”

Even though you do not say anything to compliment or embarrass Todoroki, he feels himself blushing. Just a little, but he turns his face away to not let you notice. You are patient with him. You want him to be comfortable with you, you do not want to push anything on him. A warm feeling spreads through his body and for a second, Todoroki thinks that he is losing control of his fire quirk, but he quickly realizes that it is something else – something nice and good

“Yes, I’d love that, actually.” “Okay, great! I’ll text you then?” “Yeah.”

The two of you part ways but the warm feeling stays

  » Izuku Midoriya

Midoriya realizes that he is in love with you when you comfort him

Whenever something goes wrong during a mission or a patrol, that he goes on during his internship, Midoriya is quick to blame himself for what happened. He himself and everyone around him makes him think that he needs to be a perfect hero even though he is only an intern and a student

It starts with overthinking his steps, replaying the scene in his head again and again, and sometimes even ends in panic attacks. Most of the time he tries to deal with those things alone and disappears in his dorm room, but over time you have learned to see the signs that Midoriya is not doing well and you have been trying to find ways to comfort him

You both sit on his bed as Midoriya talks about what happened earlier. The civilians that got hurt, the villain who got away, his own inability to save everyone and stop the bastard. His voice is weak, tears run down his cheeks and sobs shake his body every now and then

He goes on and on about the mistakes he made until you interrupt him

“Midoriya.” Your voice is soothing yet insistent. “Not everything that happened today is your fault. Maybe even nothing. You are still in training, there are adults who are responsible for you. Putting someone as young as you and me out there is a risk, because we make mistakes. But that’s a way to learn. We learn from our past mistakes and become stronger. The next time you are in a situation like this, you’ll be able to handle it just fine.”

Some more tears run down his face, so you pull him into an embrace. Midoriya appreciates your words. He really does. But for now, he has lost his ability to speak

“You are not alone with this. And it’s not your fault.”

Another choked sob leaves Midoriya. He hugs you back, clings to your shirt and buries his face in the crook of your neck. The way your hands draw patterns on his back soothe him until he eventually stops crying. But he does not want to let go just yet

“Thank you,” he whispers after a while. “Thank you so much.” He is not alone. He knows that he can talk to you about this, about anything. He just wishes he had the courage to open up more often

You stay like this until it gets dark, until all the other lights have gone out. Until everything is silent and Midoriya can only hear your and his own breathing. He feels oddly warm and safe in your arms, so he hopes that you will never get up to go to your room, but he knows that you have to, eventually

Suddenly, one of your hands is on the back of his head, your fingers running through his hair. Midoriya has a hard time stopping himself from leaning into your touch more. “I hope you know that I’m here for you, Izuku.” You never call him by his first name. Midoriya’s heart skips a beat and heat rises to his cheeks. He is glad that you cannot see his face right now because he is sure that it is as red as a tomato

“The same goes for you.” And he wholeheartedly means it

You linger there for another moment before finally pulling away. Midoriya does not want you to, he wants you to stay there, with him, forever. But he cannot have that. Not yet at least. And even though the circumstances that lead to this are not the best, he wishes for this to happen again soon

[lucidtobio]

falling for you !

who knew falling a million times on ice would bring two people together?

[ fluff , gn!reader ]

class 1-A had planned a whole-class get together on the weekend. it was planned to be a relaxing change from the field trips that always ended up in villain attacks. while everyone had a wide range of suggestions, it was ultimately decided to listen to ochako and go ice skating.

at around 4:37 pm, the last pair of people finally showed up at the rink; even though it was over 30 minutes past the agreed meeting time. (cough kaminari and mineta cough)

"alright, let's get this party started!" mina cheered, sero and kaminari joining in her glee.

the skate rental counter was surrounded by the various students, all eagerly waiting to start standing on blades instead of their feet. you lingered towards the back of the crowd, not wanting to push and shove for a pair of skates.

"hey."

you nearly jumped out of your skin at the sound of a rumbling voice by your ear. turning around quickly, you saw kirishima grinning sheepishly at you. the tips of your ears turned red at the proximity between you two. hell, even him talking to you so suddenly added to your flustered state.

"don't scare me like that, kiri. i died for a second there," you teased while letting out an exaggerated breath. the boy laughed, his shark teeth staying visible for a while longer. your heart swelled at the noise like it did everytime you heard it.

fiddling with your fingers, your mind raced with something to ask kirishima to fill the small silence. luckily, he got there first. "are you any good at ice skating?" he asked while tilting his head slightly. pursing your lips, you tried to think of the last time you skated.

"i would like to think so, but probably not as well as you or aoyama," you offered. eijirou's chest fluttered at the subtle compliment from you. he quickly internally kicked himself for allowing a crush on an amazing person like you flourish. kirishima genuinely believed you were way too good for him.

the line in front of you had dwindled in the short time you were talking with kirishima. finally reaching the counter, you requested your size skate while kirishima got his as well. taking the shoes to the provided benches to put them on, you marveled at the size difference between yours and kirishima's.

"how are your feet so freakishly large?" you questioned, amusement lacing your tone. kirishima let out a small gasp of mock offense. "me? have big feet? i don't know what you're talking about, (y/n)."

narrowing your eyes at him, you lined up your foot next to his. "see! it's like, twice the size of mine," you exclaimed triumphantly. kirishima rolled his eyes with a smile dancing on his lips.

"let me see your hand," he insisted, raising his own. lifting your hand up, your palm pressed against his. you swore you felt sparks at the contact, but brushed it off to poke fun at the boy more.

eijirou couldn't deny it. your hand was way smaller than his. your smooth, slender fingers against his rougher ones felt calming. kirishima was 0.2 seconds away from intertwining his fingers with yours until you spoke up.

"whatever, titan hands."

the playful banter continued as you laced up the faux leather skates. jirou and kaminari looked on, seeing you two wrapped up in your own world. "how much you wanna bet they're going to be dating by the time we leave?" kaminari snickered, nudging jirou's side.

"nah, (y/n) won't do it," she concluded after a moment of thought. kaminari's eyebrows raised as they shook hands, sealing the bet.

once you had your skates secured on your feet, mina was pulling you up by your elbow. "come on (y/n)! i want you to go with me," she beamed, starting to move towards the entrance. you didn't really want to leave kirishima behind, but you knew mina would be upset if you ditched her.

"if you drag me down with you, we're not friends anymore," you giggled, linking elbows with her and waddling towards the entrance. looking over your shoulder one last time, you sent kirishima a faint smile and wave. his cheeks tinged pink as he weakly raised his hand to wave back, but you had already turned around.

after falling multiple times with mina, you had started to get the hang of ice skating. looking ahead you could see kirishima skating side by side with bakugou. unsurprisingly, bakugou was a natural while kirishima was struggling.

"i'm going to go by kiri for a second, okay?" you informed ashido. mina nodded at you in confirmation as her skates swerved right into midoriya's back. stifling laughter, you glided next to the red haired boy.

"oh, hey (y/n)! did you leave mina by herself?" eijirou asked, eyebrows furrowing slightly. you nodded in confirmation, eyeing kirishima’s death grip on bakugou’s arm.

“you good over there?” you asked, motioning toward where they were connected. bakugou rolled his eyes in annoyance. “tch, as if. shitty hair can’t ice skate for his life,” bakugou mumbled. at the same time, eijirou’s balance faltered and he started to fall before clinging onto the blonde.

“dumbass-!” bakugou shouted before they both ended up succumbing to gravity and falling to the ice. your hand flew to your mouth as laughter escaped your lips.

bending down, you reached out your hand to kirishima first and helped him up. once he was upright you moved to help bakugou, only to be met by his scowling expression and hand batting yours away. "i don't need your help, damn extra."

you and kirishima exchanged a look before bursting into laughter. bakugou quickly righted himself and skated away, mumbling curses under his breath.

starting to move away from that spot, you swiveled around when you realised that kirishima wasn't next to you. the red head was still in the same position, staring after you. when eijirou saw he got caught, his face turned the same shade as his hair

"sorry for staring (y/n)! i just, um, spaced out for a second," kirishima exclaimed, covering his face with his hands. a grin spread across your lips as you moved closer to him. gently prying off his hands from his face, you started to pull him forward while you skated backwards. (silently praying that you didn't fall on your butt-)

ochako and asui passed you at the same moment. "aww, tsu look how cute they are!" ochako cooed, trying to be quiet. asui nodded in agreement while saying you did make a cute couple. embarrassment flooded over you, your flustered state causing you to fall yet again. but this time, kirishima fell with you.

to be more precise, on top of you.

his weight pressed you further into the ice, making you wince. eijirou's hands were still loosely wrapped around your wrists which gave the impression to onlookers that he was pinning you down. one of kirishima's legs was between yours, causing more trouble while getting up.

scrambling apart, you finally seperated from the red head. you both sported flushed cheeks as you stood up again. "how unmanly," eijirou mumbled under his breath.

"maybe this time i'll just hold your hand," you huffed, reaching for kirishima's hand. there were no complaints from the boy in question. fingers tightly intertwined, you started skating forward again.

"maybe next time we do this, it'll be a bit more romantic," kirishima said, turning to you with a smile. who were you to turn down a date with him?

the ice was cold, but with kirishima by your side, you had never felt warmer.

a/n: part 187 of mars doesn't know how to end their writing

⤿ written 4.12.2021

⤿ masterlist

[unknown-writing]

The boys reacting to their s/o pulling themselves out of a Bad Depressive Relapse:

Warning(s): Mentions of depression, Intrusive thoughts, self-destructive behavior’s

A/N: I’m very proud of myself for pulling myself out of my bad depressive relapse episode this morning so, it’s time to write some comfort!

This man is pretty dense when it comes to dealing with other people’s internal suffering tbh.

Like, unless your outwardly showing signs of pain, he won’t fully get it.

He noticed that you were...Not your usual self for a while. A long while at that, it started to worry him that you weren’t laughing with him anymore for that period of your slump.

But, one morning, an early morning that is, you had snuck out of your room that you shared with the girls to find Luffy for some much needed Cuddling.

Ever so quietly moving towards his bed, you slowly climbed in. Him feeling movement on top of him startled him awake but, he kept quiet.

Seeing that you were the one crawling in his bed, literally made him have the biggest grin on his dorky face you’ve ever seen.

“Welcome back y/n-san” He whispered as he pulled you in for a tighter cuddle session, you couldn’t help but chuckle but, you kept quiet to avoid waking the other boys.

Soon enough, it was morning, and the rest of the crew saw that you two were finally cuddling again after your depressive slump.

Nami so took a picture with the Camera-snail for blackmail evidence to tease you with.

Seeing you severely depressed drove him Mad.

Not because he was mad /at you/ But because he was mad at /himself/ for not noticing it sooner than he should have.

Robin tried telling him about your depressive slump but, Zoro was completely clueless on what she was getting at.

“My y/n? Depressed? Why? She looks perfectly fine to me.”

That line was a big mistake on his part since you accidentally heard that, which sort of drove you over the edge again

Ngl, it took him quite a while for him to start making it up to you again after that night. His guilty conscious refused to let him rest peacefully until things where settled between you two again

Weeks went by, and even though most of the Straw Hats assumed you where still depressed, Zoro sensed otherwise.

It seemed like to him that you were finally starting to shed your light again, even if it was a slow start at first.

One day though, while the two of you were on grocery duties to help Sanji since he took the role of guard duty this round. You grabbed his arm and hugged it tightly.

it startled him at first because he thought he was being kidnapped or something, but once he saw that you had just grabbed onto it and acted so casually about it

This mans started to blush a pink hue. A brief silenced filled the air between you two before he spoke up,

“...Y/n-san....” He paused before turning towards you, “Is everything ok now? And I don’t mean that fake bullshit ‘Ok’ either...” he asked while looking concerned

You looked up to him, with the biggest smile he’d ever seen. Even if it was a small one, the fact that you smiled again after so long of not smiling, it drove him Wild.

“Yeah...........Yeah.......Everything’s gonna be ok now.” You started off before holding his hand firmly, “I have my Nakama...And I have you by my side. So, I’m no longer alone anymore.” You smiled again while looking up to Zoro, who still had the blush but, a genuine smile back

“That’s my girl.” Zoro just says while bending down to give you a quick peck on the forehead, which made you blush a deep crimson red seeing as you two were in public still.

Okay but, you /KNOW/ this idiot is gonna think it’s his fault your depressed.

He’ll constantly blame himself for your sadness, as it’s not something that could be easily cured with affection or food.

He’s even more sad when he can’t dote on you so much because it makes you feel even worse.

You have to keep reminding him that this was just how your brain worked sometimes.

It wasn’t until Nami and Chopper explaining it to him properly, is when he started to finally understand that some people just feel down and needed some space for a bit.

Even when he was giving you your personal space, he still made you your favorite foods, making sure that you had stuff to drink and eat even if you were cooped up in your bedroom for a long time.

He won’t admit it directly but, he genuinely misses you. He misses your smell, your touch, your face, your body, your everything.

He especially misses the way you can easily fluster him and make him feel like a King, but he’ll deny those feelings if you asked him though.

A couple of month’s had gone by of this depressive state of yours. it was starting to take a mental tole on himself, knowing that you were stuck in those same four walls, missing everything that was happening, being unable to help you at all during this.

Just as he was about to head towards the sleeping cabin area to drop off your next meal, he’d noticed that your door was slightly open. He blinked, confused and worried that somebody had tried sneaking inside of it somehow.

But soon enough, you had popped out, yawning as you’d just woken up that morning. Nothing had harmed you physically from the looks of it, he looked up and down for a while before placing the food tray on a nightstand to avoid spilling the food.

You turn after hearing the tray clink against the wooden surface, “Oh? Morning Sanji-sa--Ouf!” You where cut off from a tackle hug.

Sanji had wrapped his arms around you tightly, holding you so close to him you were practically choking on his hair. “S-Sanji?? Is everything alright?” You asked, patting his back gently

Your eyes widened as the next thing he did was give you a big passionate kiss on your lips. You felt salty fluids on his face. “Oh.” You thought as you realized what was happening

“I missed you so fucking much y/n-chan.” Sanji says after the kiss. Hearing him say that so bluntly made /you/ turn red-faced and start to stutter.

“....Yeah....I missed you too Sanji-san.” You admitted while smiling again after so long of not showing your smile to anybody. Poor Sanji nearly fainted.

Law knew something was off about you even before you realized it yourself.

You were grumpy, snippy, more “tired” than normal. You had constant mood swings that showed up out of the blue. Everything was just...Off.

It didn’t take much for him to realize that you were dealing with Depression. Although he knew very little of your past, he knew that something was eating at you.

Once your downward spiral of your mental suffering began, you stayed in your bedroom for the majority of the time, refusing to go out even if it was for a general meeting for a mission, or even for food.

Law wasn’t the best at communicating his own feelings towards somebody, so helping his crush with her depression was a little bit harder to do than he thought.

He didn’t realize that you would get so bad that you just woke up absolutely /screaming/ at the top of your lungs during a nightmare. The only reason he knew what was happening was because Bepo went to drop off some food for you, and then ran once he heard the screaming.

After a while of some studying on Depression, Law tried everything that he could to at least /try/ to get you to speak with him...But, after a few weeks of this, he started to get tired of chasing you.

“Y/n-ya...At least let me check for injuries.” He said as he sat on the floor, leaning against your bedroom door with a frown....No response.

He could hear silent sobbing and hiccups behind him, which hurt because he didn’t know how to help you! it drove him Mad!

He was about to give up, sighing in irritation. As he started to walk away, he heard the bedroom door start to click open. You peaked your head out tiredly, face stained with dried and fresh tears, your face all red from not just crying but from stress as well.

Seeing you so Broken hurt him. He’s been there before, he’d never wish to see his friends be broken like this...Let alone his crush.

You opened the door wider so that way he could come in, “...sorry....For the mess...” You weakly spoke, allowing him to enter your room.

Once the two of you were in your room, you had shut the door, then locked it behind you...Eventually turning to face Law, the next moved startled him

You were so tired from the depression night terrors, the screaming, the crying and well...Everything else...That you just fainted into his arms! “Y-Y/n-ya??” He questioned as he stood still. No response...Well, nothing with words anyways. A soft snore leaked passed your slightly open mouth

You had fallen asleep, quite literally in his arms. And he didn’t know how to handle it. You were his crush after all! What was he supposed to do!? Move you away!? Fuck.

He calmed down and carried you bridal style in his arms, thanking God that you were a heavy sleeper, and shuffled his way onto your messy bed, kicking his shoes off at least before getting comfortable.

Another week had passed since that night, and throughout that week, law would give orders to Bepo and Penguin to take control of the ship while he stayed put. he would only move to take a piss/shit or a quick shower before rushing to your side again. He’d forgo the shower if waking you would cause you to feel alone and start crying again.

Once that week had passed though, you had woken up to feel a body underneath you. Blinking, you were confused as to what was happening. You then blushed a deep crimson red seeing Law underneath you, holding you so tightly to him that you could hardly breathe properly because of it.

Law had woken up after feeling your movements to try and get out of bed and take a shower, since you hadn’t taken a proper one in the past three weeks due to your depressive state hitting you like a two ton truck.

You then felt an arm snake around your lower waste, pinning you down of sorts, which made you jump a bit and turn to see who’s it was. Only to see Law wide awake and looking upwards at you

A brief silence filled the room before Law had spoke. “Y/n-ya......You’re Ok.” he says quietly, trying not to startle you...Soon, the memories of what you went through during your depressive state had hit you. You saw everything that happened. And then you saw that Law had tried his hardest to get you to feel ok.

You started to cry again, which made him frown in worry, only to . be taken aback by the sudden tackle hug you were doing, “Law!” You kept muttering in between your hiccupped sobs as you held him.

All Law did was rub your head gently and held you close to him again. He didn’t know how to respond. “....You saved me.....” You commented, now hovering over him with a shaky smile.

Those words. Those three single words made his heart melt with pure happiness. A feeling he hasn’t had in a LONG while. Despite the fact that he hated being called a Hero, if he could save /you/ from death? Then he’ll take being called a Hero by you any day.

You just kept hiccupping as you cried of happiness, but that was easily silenced with Law’s next action. You felt Law’s rougher lips against your own, which easily made you stop crying. He broke the kiss after a while and smiled back, “...I’m glad that your Ok y/n-ya.” he says before pulling you down for another kiss

[lubdubsworld]

Change of Heart

Pairing : Taehyung x OC

[ Summary :

Times are changing.

After years of being oppressed, werewolves are taking a stand against humans , demanding equal rights and fair treatment. Heading the movement is Kim Taehyung, the breathtaking heir to the Kim fortune and one of the few remaining Alpha werewolves in the country. His disdain for the human race is well known and well warranted. They killed his family after all…..

He wants to change the world , to put humans in their place but when his five year old daughter takes a shine to their very human neighbor , maybe he has to start with a change of heart , first.  ]

Pairing : Taehyung x OC

Genre : Romance, Explicit Content.

Warnings : None. ( Some mild violence but mostly off screen )

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3

Chapter 4

The Preserve had originally been an isolated island about 50 miles off the coast of the mainland.  Over the decades, the land had been expanded with man made floats serving to support the extra buildings and complexes that cropped up to cater to the small human population that stuck around to help out. 

The wolves still kept to the interiors, most of them having built huge cottage-villas which could house the entire pack, territories marked out clearly to avoid disputes. A few of the very traditional ones lived on the huge mountains that lined the northern end, opting to stay in their wolf-forms most of the time. 

The island itself was beautiful, rich vegetation , a thriving fauna and a landscape that was lined with beautifully stark cliffs up high and private little coves and beaches scattered below. 

Taehyung and his daughter lived on a beautiful beach side villa, which had its own vegetable garden , a staff of over 8 to take care of everything, a private jetty for trips to the mainland and a helipad/ airstrip. 

True to his word, Taehyung did not stay around most days. He was busy with his campaign and I spent the first week recovering. The doctor visited everyday and by the end of the week, most of the internal injuries were healing well, the pain well managed with meds.

Luna had moved into my room, pretty much and I spent the days with her curled into my side, reading from her favorite books, stopping when she encountered a particularly difficult word, ebony eyes turning to mine for help. We read countless books, and she introduced me to all her best friends : Mr. Ted the bear, Kihyun the bunny and Momo the panda. The stuffed animals had a small baby carrier of their own and she liked carting them all around the house. 

“She was really pretty. Mama....” Luna whispered one night, as we lay curled on the window seat in my room, a fur throw covering us up as we stared out into the rocky beach far below. 

I felt my heart lurch in shared grief. 

“Was she? What else do you remember about her....?” I asked softly.

“Her scent. “ Luna said quickly. “ She smelled just like you. Like home and fresh cookies with sugar sprinkles. And rainy puddles you can jump in.” 

I bit my lips, mindful that Luna was just listing her favorite things. I didn’t know much about how weres scented other weres or humans. But i supposed it made sense that her mother’s scent should remind her of things that offered her comfort and joy. 

But her next words threw me for a loop. 

“Daddy didn’t like her much....” She said suddenly and I felt my throat close up . 

“Oh-Oh?” I was genuinely shocked. Taehyung had looked devastated when he had told me about his wife’s passing.... 

Luna shook her head. 

“My friend from school, Mina? Her mommy’s still alive and her daddy likes her. They kiss and stay in the same room. Mommy and Daddy never kissed. Mommy lived on the east wing.... That’s on the other side. Near the rose gardens.”

I bit my lips, feeling incredibly guilty for some reason. This information felt somehow private and not for stranger’s ears. I didn’t want Luna to get into trouble for saying this to me . 

“I miss her sometimes. I’m glad you’re here.” She sniffled and i felt my heart crack in two. The girl was replacing her mom with me, I thought miserably. I couldn’t in good conscience let this happen. 

But as the days stretched into weeks, with Taehyung out and busy most of the time, i couldn’t bring myself to leave. Luna did appear to be calmer, more grounded and happier with me around. She liked staying close to me, at touching distance and she often buried her nose into my neck, sniffing till I had to gently pry her off. 

Although, absent physically, Taehyung called every day. He facetimed his daughter twice at least and I got a call every night at exactly nine. It was usually curt and formal but he did tell me what he was upto.

“The elections are coming up soon.... I need to work a bit more on the immediate reforms we’re planning to launch...I won’t be available this week, Luna’s keeping well?” 

“Yes, she is. We made a modern recreation of red riding hood and the wolf today with play dough.” 

Silence.

“Interesting choice of fairy tale, Mi Rae ssi...” He drawled. 

I flushed at how my name sounded in that voice.

“It’s a bit different plot wise. In this case, the granny is just a meanie who likes to order Red about and the wolf is the one who rescues her.” I grinned.

He chuckled amicably.

“Bit of a stretch , that. But I’m glad you’re happy. I didn’t want to pressure you too much and i know its asking way too much of you . But Ms. Lee says that Luna is happier than she’s ever been and I do believe you’re the one I have to thank for that. “

I bit my lips. I wanted to tell him that Luna was getting way too attached. That I was afraid of what would happen when it was time for me to leave, but already i could hear voices in the background, people calling for his attention and I remembered that he was doing something important.

 He was trying to build a better world for his little girl. 

In the long run, all of this would be for Luna’s benefit only. 

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

it had been nearly a month since I’d last seen Taehyung . A whole three months since I’d moved into his villa. My paycheck as a nanny was three times what I was paid as a lab tech. But I hadn’t stopped working at the research facility either. I spent the days there, when Luna was busy with her school work . The vaccine had been successful but somehow, my father’s company had pulled some sort of nonsense with the patenting and not everyone had got the shorts. 

I stared out into the murky blue waters as they crashed into the jagged black rocks that lined the private beach. The huge bay windows in the living space offered an unfettered view of the rocky beach. 

Next to me, Luna was pretty much bouncing around, trying to find all her beach day toys. I watched her fondly, feeling something squeeze my heart when I thought about not seeing her again. The elections were done, the results were due any day now and Taehyung had already told me that he was looking to end this arrangement soon. 

Luna had a mind like no other. A vibrantly curious child with the most incredible questions, it was clear that she adored her father more than anything else in the world. In the evenings, she liked to play near the small water inlet that fed into the Ocean. The water was shallow, barely an inch or so deep, the terrain covered in small smooth pebbles in every shade of brown of grey.  

Luna and I  spent most of the weekends exploring the small beach around the villa, foraging around in the coves while her caregiver watched me covertly from a distance. She clearly didn’t trust me much, but I tried not to let it get to me.

I wasn’t here to stay. Taehyung had sent me a mail the previous week, letting me know that I was no longer had to babysit, because he was planning to move to Seoul himself. He would be renting out a condominium there and hiring a full time nanny. 

And that was fine. it wasn’t like i hadn’t seen that coming. I had a life of my own and i had to get back to it. My cottage near the research facility was fixed now and I was looking forward to getting back to my life, no matter how much it hurt to leave Luna behind. 

 I was a little upset that he had sent an impersonal mail to me instead of talking to me in person. Or maybe spoken about it over the phone at least. But I knew that he was just trying to make it easier for me to cut all ties. 

Okay, fine, maybe I was a little bit bitter that Taehyung hadn’t even offered to hire me to take care of Luna .  I wasn’t qualified , yes, but so far Luna had been a dream to stay with. She was so inquisitive and bright, so full of sunshine and happiness. 

After three months of her unconditional love for me,  the idea of not coming home to her vibrant laugh and endless giggles, it just felt so painful. 

“Rae Rae, let’s gooooo....” Her voice broke me out of my thoughts . Despite endless protests from Ms. Lee, Luna insisted on calling me Rae Rae and I found it adorable. 

I jumped a little, hastily moving to grab the sunscreen, the hat and gloves. While Luna did heal quickly courtesy her wolf-y genes, she was also incredibly prone to sunburn. The first few times, she had promptly shifted into her wolf form when i tried to put it on her, snipping my fingers angrily. The chemical was supposed to be unscented but her sensitive nose had clearly picked it up anyway. 

It took a lot of bribing with delicious meat patties and steak bites, for the girl to shift back and let me apply it on her.

But now she was comfortable with letting me apply it on her when we went to the beach. 

She picked up her backpack, a baby blue fur lined affair with twin bunny ears near the handle , and the small tote bag full of her collection of seashells and skipped out of the room happily. I finished packing the rest of her beach stuff : towels, napkins, hair pins and a change of clothes just in case. 

We were just climbing down the huge stairwell, when Taehyung’s voice rang through the foyer, startling me badly. i hadn’t seen him in a long time and against my better judgement I almost half ran back to put some make up on at least. I probably looked like an ogre with smeared sunscreen and my hair uncombed and in a bun. 

“Lu - Lu? Baby???” He called out, his deep voice pretty much reverberating off the walls .

“DAAAADAAAAAA” 

I watched her almost tumble headlong the stairs in her rush to get into her father’s arms and I hung back, letting them have their reunion. 

I waited till Taehyung called out for me, before moving to greet him as well. 

The first thing that stuck me was how incredibly handsome he looked, hair now fully black, swept straight back from his forehead. He was dressed in skinny jeans and a loose black shirt, buttons undone to show the lines of his pecs and a pair of dangly earrings caught the light as he turned to stare at me. 

“Mi Rae ssi....i see you’re all ready for Beach day?” He grinned softly.

There was something radiant about him, a definite lack of anxiety. He looked relaxed almost.

“You won?” i blurted out. “ You won didn’t you?”

Taehyung’s eyes glinted .

“Its not officially announced yet, but yes, the Commission called me today . They think I’ve won by a landslide.

Before I could rethink my impulse, I flung myself into his arms, genuinely thrilled beyond belief.

“RThat’s so incredible, Taehyung ssi...i’m so happy for you and-”

“Tae? Should I get the other suitcase?” 

The female voice made me jolt, and I pulled away, arm still arapped around his neck, intensely aware of his hands on my waist.

Three feet away from us , stood an incredibly beautiful young woman. She was almost as tall as Tae, probably the same age as him and her eyes flashed red when she looked at me. 

I flinched, stepping back like i’d been scalded.

“Just leave it sweetheart, one of my men will get it. Come meet my little girl.” Taehyung said casually, shooting me one brief intense look of.....anger? annoyance? I couldn’t figure it out.

 Sweetheart? did he just call her-

Luna had shuffled to hide behind my legs now, her fingers gripping my waist as she refused to greet the newcomer.

“Luna, this is Ms Jihyun. She’s a very good friend of mine.”

Jihyun dropped to her knees, eyes flashing red again as she smiled a tight lipped smile.

“Hello, Luna. How are you doing?” She said seriously. Luna’s grip on me tightened.

“She’s a little shy.” I choked out, trying to tamp down the rising sense of heartbreak. No. i had actively fought against feeling this way. Every night here, I had told myself that I would not think about Kim Taehyung. Admiring him for what he did , for how hard he worked for his kind....that was one thing ....but this. This was madness. 

Taehyung reached out around me to lift Luna up into her arms. 

“How about we go to the beach with Jihyun and Ms Lee today?” He said casually, holding his hand out to me.

I almost did something stupid, like press my hand into his before realizing that he was asking for the bag i had over my shoulders. Wordlessly, I handed it over. 

“I want to go with Rae Rae....” Luna said sharply, lips jutting out in a petulant little pout.  

“Well, Appa and Ms. Rae need to talk about something and once we’re done, I’ll join you there okay?” He ruffled her hair softly and then gently placed her back down. 

Luna gave me an imploring look.

“Are you leaving me?” Her lips wobbled.

I shook my head instinctively.

“Of course not baby, I’ll be right there. Just a few minutes, okay? Don't forget your sunscreen.” I smiled and Luna pouted again but moved to Ms. Lee’s side hesitantly. 

Taehyung waited till the three of them began leaving before turning to me. 

“Thank you.” He said quietly , gaze moving to me with the same intensity, and this time I knew what he was doing. He was trying to gauge what I was thinking and I remembered, weakly that Alpha wolves could sometimes sense moods, changes in a person’s body temperatures and things like that. It wasn’t like mind reading or anything but a perceptive enough werewolf could definitely guess what kind of mood someone was in.

I fought to keep my face neutral. There wasn’t much I could do about how clammy and cold my entire body had gone after meeting Jihyun. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to guess why I didn’t l;ike Jihyun there.

“It’s not you.” He said gently.

I swallowed.

“Sorry?”

“You’re beautiful. If we were.... the same kind of people.....I wouldn’t be saying this. But because of who we are.... I’m going to say it. It’s not a good idea.” He whispered.

I flushed, feeling like my entire body had been dipped in ice cold water.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I said evenly.

He hummed.

“If you leave today, there’s a job waiting for you in the Research Center. It’s a level up from what you’re doing right now. I’ve asked them to put up extra security around your cabin and I’ve talked with the wolves here. No one will come anywhere near you. “ 

I nodded bleakly.

“Thank you.” I said quietly. 

“You’re going to forget me and Luna in a few weeks. And I would rather that things end now, before Luna becomes more attached.”

I nodded.

“Can i talk to her before I leave?” I asked softly.

He hesitated. 

“I don’t.... I mean, I would rather not have Jihyun be present for that. She’s.... well she’s someone I’m getting to know and she may feel -”

I wanted to kick myself in the face for ever having agreed to this whole thing.

“I understand. I’ll be back tomorrow morning to get the rest of my stuff and to say goodbye to Luna.” I said shortly. 

Before he could reply, I brushed past him and ran up to my room. I had to get out of here as soon as I could.

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

Luna cried inconsolably and I was eternally grateful that no one else was there when I carefully unpacked the huge carton of snacks and toys , I’d packed for her. Taehyung had made things a little easier, by telling Luna that it wasn’t me who was leaving but it would be them. They were going to a new place so they would be leaving me behind because I had stuff to do here. 

“I’m not going to be gone completely. I’m going to come visit you as often as I can alright and look....” I pulled out the small phone I’d brought her.

She stopped sniffling and held her hand out. I placed the flip phone in her hands.

“Theres just two numbers there. See the picture of the wolf? Thats daddy..... And see the one with the flower.....that’s me. If you want to talk to either of us, all you need to do is press this button.”

Luna hesitated.

“Daddy said, I can’t have any phones.” She said hesitantly. What a wonderful child, i thought fondly.

“Yes, but this isn’t the kind of phone that could hurt your eyes. It’s just a talking phone. Besides, your daddy already knows and he’s okay with it.” I smiled. 

She nodded, turning the little device over and over in her hands.

“Daddy say’s we’re going to the city. Why don’t you want to come?” She said angrily and i sighed.

“Its not that I don’t want to come, baby. It’s just that my home is here. I help take care of the little pups here remember? Some of them get sick and I help make them better....” I smiled, ruffling her hair. 

She nodded.

“Good girl...Now how about we go see the sandcastle you built yesterday...? See if it’s still there?”

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

Life went on and I found myself busy enough to not dwell on Taehyung too much. The vaccines were rolling out much faster now and most of the cases were milder . i spent the days in the research center and went home to my cozy cabin. Taehyung had been true to his word an an electric fence ran around the perimeter , twelve feet tall . A security guard stayed near the gate at all times, a beta werewolf named Minjun. 

Two weeks after Taehyung had moved out of the island, a distraction arrived in the form of one Jeon Jungkook . He was a year younger than me and finishing his internship before becoming a radiologist. He was smart , handsome and an alpha wolf with a deceptively cute bunny like smile.

Jungkook liked following me around when we had free time and I found his incessant noona , noona...endearing. But I was also not an idiot. 

Jungkook was looking for a fuck buddy and I was convenient. The only female in the research center. Werewolves didn’t do one night stands with each other, because being intimate always left a scent and it would make things messy. So weres  generally went to humans for no strings attached sex. 

It wasn’t that I minded , but a part of me was terrified i would do something stupid. Like call him Taehyung in the middle of us fucking. 

But of course, stupid decisions were my forte. 

So I did end up sleeping with him. 

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

“Well, you look miserable.” Jimin commented mildly, as I stumbled forward to the counter. I hadn’t slept much the previous night and had nearly missed the ferry to the mainland in the morning.

“I’m fine oppa. Just frazzled. Give me something strong but sweet...” I begged, riffling through my bag for my wallet. Outside, the rain poured in torrents. I was still dripping water from my hair and my jacket, although I’d been out of the rain for a whole five minutes. 

“Taehyung’s been asking about you....Why don’t you pick his calls?” Jimin said casually and I flinched. 

“I did pick his calls. a couple of times....” I muttered . 

That had been a whole experience. Taehyung had called me two weeks back, frothing at the mouth about something. 

Apparently, Ji Hyun the lovely girlfriend that Kim Taehyung like flaunting all over town, was also the older sister on one Jeon Jungkook. And because we had had sex the previous night, Jungkook had smelled like me when he visited Taehyung and Ji hyun. Even Luna had picked up on the scent.

How on earth was i supposed to know? 

Taehyung had been so furious that I’d hung up the phone midway through. 

“And, what happened?”

I shrugged.

“And then I got busy. Why? I’ve been talking to Luna... I even met her a couple of times. It’s not like I have any other reason to talk to him.... “ I protested.

Jimin hummed.

“He’s still seeing that model. Jeon Ji hyun? I heard her brother works in the Research center?” Jimin raised an eyebrow, sliding my drink across the counter. I stepped out of the line but stayed near the counter, staring at him. Damn it. Had Taehyung actually told Jimin about it? 

“Jungkook? Yeah. He’s a doctor... He’s doing his MD , radiology and he’s here for exposure , apparently...”

“Alpha?” Jimin continued flitting about, making orders but his tone held a note of sympathy. 

I shrugged.

“Yeah, he is. But we don’t talk much. We went out one night but then he’s been aloof ever since.” I shrugged again hoping that Jimin was buying my nonchalant act. i still didn’t know how much he knew. 

Jungkook was a nice guy and I was a little peeved that he didn’t seem to want anything more than a friends with benefits thing. But that had less to do with him and more to do with the fact that men, in general, never seemed to consider me as a potential girlfriend. 

But then, the poor guy was in probably the most crucial part of his education. Relationships were probably the farthest thing from his mind. 

Jimin stopped when the last customer in the line left. He stared at me. 

“Taehyung told me Luna called you one morning and Jungkook picked the phone.” 

I froze.

“What?!” I hissed, completely thrown. This, I hadn’t known. 

“You went out? With Jungkook?  And he stayed over , I’m guessing....I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you guys did not play Jenga all night?” He glared at me. I flushed.

“Fine. We slept together. We are sleeping together....its just consensual sex between two willing parties,  . It’s no big deal.” I said flippantly.

“You don’t think that’s why Taehyung has been calling you? That’s his potential brother in law right there. It’s too messy. I think you should stop. ” He frowned. 

I rolled my eyes.

“Listen it has nothing to do with me. I’m not going to marry Jungkook okay? I’m not going to be calling Taehyung my brother in law either. Its not going to happen. i just had this...stupid king of crush on him and he knew about it. He turned me down too, did he tell you that. He told me him and I were too different.... meaning I wasn’t a were so he wouldn’t consider being with someone like me. ”

Jimin groaned. 

“you know why he feels that way. Don’t make this about you. It’s not personal.”

“Then why is it spilling into my personal life? I have no obligation to him. I can sleep with who I want.....”

Jimin rolled his eyes.

“Taehyung’s a were. He’s not going to see it that way.” 

“Well, I don’t give a damn how he sees it, I’m having sex with a handsome young man who is attracted to me. That’s a good time, right there and I’m not going to stop having a good time just because it offends Taehyung’s delicate sensibilities.” I snapped. 

Jimin shrugged.

“Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

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

When I went back to my cabin that evening, I found Minjun missing from his usual place near the gate. The gate was still locked so I didn’t think too much about it, merely slotting the rusty old key into the huge lock and prying it open. 

I made my way to the door, opening it carefully. 

i nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw who was there. 

“what the- Seo Joon?” I said in disbelief, stumbling back when the tall alpha stumbled to his feet from where he was lounging on the couch. 

“Well, look who’s here....if it isn’t the slutty little bitch who wants to sleep her way through every were on the island....First Taehyung and now Jungkook.....you sure know who to pick, huh.....? All powerful, influential wolves..... “ He slurred.

I stared at him. This wasn’t good. I turned on my heel, ready to run back out but he was faster than me. I groaned when he slammed into my back pinning me to the door with so much force that the wood splintered,. 

While my bruised ribs had healed, they still hurt a bit. And the force of his actions left my mind reeling from the pain. 

“Get off me!! “ I screamed, “ MINJUN!!!!! MINJUN HELP!!!” 

“SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU WHORING BITCH!!!”

He slapped me right across the face, the strength of it sending me crashing into the side table. I whimpered as I tried to get on my feet, fingers fumbling for my phone .

“it was you wasn’t it? I was supposed to be the deputy minister.... Taehyung’s supposed to be my fucking friend. instead i got fired like some lowly runt ...... It was you wasn’t it? you convinced him that humans are our fucking friends....” 

I shook my head, frantic.

“No...i swear I’ve not spoken to Taehyung...i didn’t say anything... Seo Joon please don’t...” I screamed when he reached down and grabbed my hair, yanking me to my feet till my scalp felt like it was on fire.

“Maybe I should fuck you too....since that's the thing people seem to be doing these days....Its because of your father isn’t it? That bastard has been all over the news,  talking these past few weeks about how his precious daughter is doing a lot of work for the welfare of wolves....Maybe I should fuck his daughter too....  ” He began, reaching for my blouse. 

I barely registered the nonsense about my father before a loud sound broke through the din. 

The door swung open and the sound of gunfire made me scream.

 I stared at the door only to see the security guard staring at us with wide eyes. 

Minjun , panicked and completely overwhelmed , had blindly opened fire on both of us. 

I felt the touch of the bullet to my shoulder, before the blinding explosion of pain.

 But he seemed to have hit Seo Joon as well, enough times for the were to let go of me and I crashed to floor, clutching my shoulder in agony. 

The sound of gunfire had attracted more people and through the throng I heard Jungkook’s voice.

“Noona.... Mirae noona is that you----???”

“Kookie!!” I croaked out desperately. Jungkook’s eyes went wide when he saw, me, pushing his way past the other wolves before letting out a snarl. The sound seemed to make the others cower and I remembered that he was an alpha too. 

I gripped his arms when he reached me. 

“Don’t tell Taehyung...” I gasped out, still clutching  my shoulder. 

“God, what the fuck.... We need to get you out of here...” He was already dialing for the ambulance. I waited for him to finish, gasping from the pain. Fuck, it hurt like hell. 

“We’re going to get you to the research center first.” Jungkook said frantically.  

I nodded, stumbling to my feet when he tried to lift me up. 

“It’s okay...just...get me something to …” But he was already peeling off his shirt, wadding up to press against the bleeding bullet hole .

“Hyung is going to kill Seo Joon.” He said grimly. 

For once, I didn’t particularly care. 

My mind raced because I hadn’t thought about my father in years. 

What did that tyrant want with me now??

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

Author’s Note : Me trying to finish all my fics and not lose my mind in the process :’( 

[disgruntledspacedad]

Aftershocks (2/5)

The Better Love Series 

pairing: Javier Peña x Fem!Reader (Ears). Part of the Better Love ‘verse. 

summary: That bomb fucked you up a little more than you thought. h/c, fluff.

words: 2.5k 

warnings: 18+ - canon typical violence, lots of medical stuff in this one.

a/n: unbeta’d. I had a surprise day off, so enjoy the second installment of Aftershocks much sooner than I had anticipated. More notes to follow!

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five 

MASTERLIST

You’re escorted beyond the heavy double doors of the emergency department in a hurry. It probably has a lot to do with Javi busting into the waiting area with you in his arms, flashing his DEA badge and barking out orders in irate Spanish. 

Honestly, you wish he wouldn’t make such a scene. Sitting still in the car had allowed you to catch your breath a little. You feel like shit, sure, but you’re pretty sure you aren’t actively dying.

Try telling him that, though.

The triage room is little more than a curtain masking a dimly lit corner. You’re answering what questions you can in halting Spanish, but Javi can see that you’re overwhelmed. 

“Ella habla ingles.” His tone earns him a dirty look, but the nurse nods, placing an oxygen probe on your finger and frowning up at the monitor. Both of you follow her gaze, noticing that the number reads 87. 

“The doctor will see you soon,” she says carefully. Her English is heavily accented, and suddenly, you’re grateful beyond words that you have Javi here to translate. “Here. You’ll wear this.” She winds the oxygen tubing beneath your chin and around your ears. The oxygen is dry, burning your nose and making your face twitch in annoyance, but you can’t deny that you feel better with it on.

The nurse leaves you then, pulling the curtain closed behind her. Javi continues to stare at the monitor with his arms folded across his chest as the number on the screen climbs to 89, then to 92, the soft tone of the blips rising in pitch with each subtle improvement.

He’s thinking again, you can tell. 

“Javi?” You reach for his hand, tugging at his fingers. Instinctively, you know that leaving him alone to stew right now cannot be a good thing.

He glances down at you, all dark, glittering eyes and terse expression, and worry clinches in your gut. “You okay?”

Javi snorts. “Really, Ears.” You can just see him fighting the urge to roll his eyes. “That’s a hell of a question, coming from you.”

You decide to shoot for levity. “I’m great, thanks for asking.”

That earns you a pathetic, lopsided lip twitch. You count it as a win anyway.

The doctor never shows. Javi grumbles and broods. A little while later, somebody comes with a wheelchair to whisk you away for an x-ray, and no matter how much blustering and badge-flashing and protesting he does, Javi is told firmly to stay put. 

He’s pacing agitatedly in the hallway when return. Apparently, it had felt like an eternity for him. 

In reality, you’d been gone less than twenty minutes.

It seems that your x-ray has earned you some attention, because things start happening a little faster now. People are in and out, one nurse bustling in to wordlessly draw an entire fistful of little color coded tubes of your blood, another working on IV access in your opposite arm. You take it all stoically, caught between watching in fascination as the nurse tapes the catheter in place with practiced efficiency and wondering why all of this can’t just happen in one stick. 

A little while later, the same nurse returns with a bag of fluid. “Seca,” she informs you as she stretches to hang it on the hook in the wall. 

“She says you’re dehydrated,” Javi translates. His face is a stone wall, the subtle clench of his jaw the only hint of the emotion that churns beneath. You can just imagine him kicking himself for not making you eat or drink. 

You bite back a shiver. The saline is cold in your arm.

They move you to a real room not long after that. It’s only marginally bigger than your corner in the emergency department, crammed with two rickey, uncomfortable beds separated by another dingy curtain. Thankfully, you don’t have a roommate for the moment.

You let Javi handle the paperwork as you change out of his sweats and into the itchy, open-backed gown that you’ve been provided with. Even with the oxygen, moving around still requires that you pause to catch your breath, and you’re grateful for the opportunity to sit when you’re done, even if the hospital bed you’re on is squeaky and uncomfortable.

Once the documents are signed and the nurses are gone, silence settles thickly between you. Javi is standing with his fingers fisted into his hips, glaring daggers at the clock on the wall. He hasn’t spoken in a long time.

Again, you feel that burning need to pull him out of his head. “Not really set up for visitors, is it?” you ask wryly. It’s a stupid, pointless thing to say, but you’re just trying to fill the void.

Javi glances around the room, raising his brows at what he observes. There’s no chair and no free space, nowhere for him to sit. Sighing deeply, he yanks back the curtain that divides the room and eases carefully onto the bed opposite of you, leaning forward with his arms folded on his knees.

You grit your teeth. Really, you wouldn’t have minded him settling down on your bed, but the more time you spend with Javi, the more you’re starting to realize that he withdraws when he’s feeling wrong-footed. As annoying as it is, the distance he’s putting between you is just par for the course, and it’s just not worth addressing right now.

“How are you feeling?” he asks softly, pinning you with a sharp, assessing stare.

“Better,” you answer automatically, forcing some cheerfulness into your tone. Honestly, you’re far more worried about him than you are about you. 

Javi raises a skeptical brow, clearly doubting you.

“No, really!” 

Your protest makes him shake his head in dark amusement. “What am I gonna do with you, Ears?” he wonders aloud.

You’re ready to supply several very detailed answers to that question, all of them interrupted as your doctor finally breezes into the room. 

“About fucking time,” Javi mutters under his breath as he rises to his feet.

“Hola, hola. I’m Dr. Perez.” Dr. Perez says, actually managing to sound a tiny bit apologetic. “Forgive the delay, por favor. I know it must seem that emergencies are the most non-emergent situation in the hospital, but, I promise you, we are working hard behind the scenes.”

 You decide immediately that you like Dr. Perez. He’s not a big man, compact and clean cut, with just the faintest dusting of silver at his temples and a warm, genuine smile. 

Javi must be thinking along similar lines, because he comes to stand just at the edge of your shoulder, looming dark and foreboding at your side as Dr. Perez approaches your bedside. 

Oh, now you’ll stick close, you think fondly, trying to find a little amusement in Javi’s behavior. Everything about this situation is entirely new, totally incongruous with the cool, suave Javier Peña that you thought you’d known, and a malicious, possessive part of your brain is just eating up the implications.

“I understand you were involved in the bombing in downtown Bogotá, correct?” Dr. Perez’s grip is firm and cool as he shakes your hand. 

“Yes, that’s correct.” You’re acutely aware of Javi standing stiffly beside you, watching your every move.

“Most unfortunate,” Perez shakes his head in a show of sympathy, and you manage to believe him. “And the breathing problems, they began later, no?”

“Yes,” you answer, surprised that he would guess with such accuracy. “I was okay afterward. Maybe a little bit sore. But not hurt.”

“Ella ha estado tosiendo sangre,” Javi interjects quickly. You’re not sure what he’s saying, but Dr. Perez’s eyes flicker in his direction, a swift, meaningful look passing between them. 

“Veo.” Dr. Perez says smoothly. He frowns down at you. “And how for were you from the blast zone?”

You think back, willing yourself to relive the memory of the morning in clinical detail. “I was crossing the street,” you say slowly.  “Headed home.” You do some quick mental math in your head, analyzing the width of Circular against the image of Emilio, waving. You’d been close enough to shout a greeting. “Forty feet. Maybe a little less.”

Beside you, Javi sucks in a sharp breath. 

Perez purses his lips. “Sí, eso lo haría.” He crosses the room, flicking a switch to illuminate a bright white panel built into the wall that you hadn’t noticed before. He shuffles through your chart, pulling out a dark film and pinning it to the light. 

It’s your chest x-ray. You can clearly see the curve of your ribs, stark white against the darker background of your lungs. In the middle of the film lies the dusky outline of what you assume is your heart. To the lower left, a patch of hazy, white blur mars the image. 

“This is the problem.” Perez points to the blur. “Pulmones magullados. Your lungs are bruised, see? This is common in blast zone survivors. The change in air pressure when the bomb ignites causes an injury to the lung tissue. You are bleeding just a little bit internally.”

You can damn near feel Javi gritting his teeth at that.

“But I felt fine,” you protest weakly, looking assentingly at the blob on the x-ray. It’s a pretty good size.

“Sí, you were fine.” Perez is nodding along with you, like he’d expected the argument. “That’s normal with this type of injury. You felt good immediately afterward because the bruise was new, the bleeding slight. But the bruise has gotten bigger, and you have gotten worse.” He indicates the oxygen that you are wearing with a grim nod. “You are a very lucky, mi amiga, to have walked away from that. Muy afortunada. Had you been closer…” Perez trails off, shaking his head somberly. “It does not bear thinking.”

He claps his hands, startling you away from the grisly images stirring in your mind. “There is good news, though!” Perez gestures toward the x-ray as a whole, circling over it with his index finger. “I see no rib fractures, nothing collapsed. Your breathing might get worse before it gets better, but it will get better. We will keep you under close watch until then.”

“Keep me?”

“Sí, you will be here.” Perez pins you with a no-nonsense stare, as if to curtail any protests before they come. “There’s another matter. You have a small concussion as well. To this area, here.” He taps the back of his own head with his hand. “From falling down, yes?”

You nod. The area he’s pointing to is right where your head hurts most, where you’d fallen backward after the blast. “Yes. It did knock me off my feet.” Apparently a with a little more force than you’d initially assumed.

Perez hums. “We will monitor that as well. You do not take blood thinners?”

“No, sir. No medications.”

“Bueno.” Dr. Perez seems genuinely pleased by this. “You’ve made my job very easy.” He gathers the film and shuffles it back into your chart, flopping it shut with a flourish. “Rest for you, Orejas. Time and sleep will do the best healing.”

“Orejas?” you can’t help but ask. It’s the name that Emilio had used for you, but you’re shocked that Perez knows it. 

Perez smiles. “I listen to my nurses. That is what they call you.”

“How much time?” Javi interrupts before you can respond. You’d nearly forgotten about him, as quiet as he’s been. 

Perez turns to address him for the first time. “It depends largely on her body. The concussion is small, and won’t require anything in the way of treatment. Her lungs, though…” Perez frowns down at the closed chart with a furrowed brow. “The contusion is still developing. A few days, a week, perhaps? I can say more tomorrow.” He turns back to you, sighing in sympathy. “I’m afraid you’re in for a stay, mi amiga.”

Well, fuck.

With that, Perez disappears just as quickly as he’d arrived, soft, quick footsteps echoing down the hallway, and silence falls once again over the room.

Javi doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. He’s standing very still, arms folded tightly across his chest with his thumbs digging into his armpits. The expression on his face is downright chilling. 

Your blood turns to ice.

“What the fuck, Ears?” he says very slowly, enunciating each syllable with deadly precision.

You glance up, suddenly hesitant to speak. The little movement must be enough to spur him on, though, because Javi fucking explodes. 

“Forty fucking feet!” he bites out, clawing angrily at his hair. He paces the tiny room, whirling as he runs out of space and pointing an accusing finger at you. “You told me you were across the street, Ears, not crossing it. There’s a big fucking difference.”

You blink at him, recalling the conversation you’d had in the embassy parking lot. 

Shit, he’s right.

“Why the hell did you lie to me?” There’s a subtle warble in his tone, a flicker of devastation in his eyes that’s quickly masked. 

Discomfort that has nothing to do with your injured lungs twinges in your chest. “I don’t know,” you answer miserably. You hadn’t thought of it as lying. At the time, you’d been overwhelmed by the situation and thoroughly confused by Javi’s erratic behavior, just desperate to get home and sleep off the worst morning of your life. “I didn’t want to upset you, I guess.” 

Javi laughs sarcastically. “Well, you’ve done a fucking fantastic job of that, haven’t you?” He throws his hands in the air, like he’s had it up to here with your shit. “Coughing up blood all over my kitchen floor. Christ, I should have known.”

Okay, now he’s being a little dramatic - the only blood you’d coughed up had been into your fingers, after all, but the protest is lost on you as you look him in the face. Javi’s eyes are deeply shadowed, his expression pained, his hair standing wildly from where he’s run his fingers through it. 

He looks thoroughly exhausted.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, dropping your gaze to the floor.

Javi huffs and looks away, clearly not ready to accept any apologies from you.

You don’t blame him. Throughout this entire screwed up relationship, you’ve done an absolutely piss poor job of putting yourself in Javi’s shoes, and it’s coming back to bite you in the ass.

You deserve his irritation, and more.

Javi’s pager beeps, the shrill sound of it slicing through the tension. He snatches it roughly off of his belt, frowning down at the display with squinted eyes.

You glance up at the clock on the wall. It’s pretty late, but given the day Javi’s had, it’s not outrageous to assume that somebody would need to be in touch with him at this hour.

 “I’ve got to take this,” Javi says tonelessly, hardly glancing up at you. If there’s any regret there, it’s buried very deeply. “I’ll see you later, Ears.”

He’s gone before you can get a word in edgewise.

♠

confessions/notes:

I speak one language poorly, and I’ve never extensively written a character who is not a primary English speaker (I’m not counting Javi here). Any critiques or corrections to my Spanish are very welcomed!

Up next: a look at things from Javi’s POV.

Spanish translations: 

She speaks English. 

Dry

She’s been coughing up blood.

I see. 

Yeah, that’ll do it.

ears

tags:@jedi-mando, @perropascal, @aerolanya, @pikemoreno, @bitchin-beskar, @mostly-megan, @huliabitch, @starsandmando, @starlight-starwrites​, @thirstworldproblemss, @knittingqueen13, @yespolkadotkitty​

Javier Peña tags: @magpie-to-the-morning, @tiffdawg, @danniburgh, @1800-fight-me​

To my taglist peeps, I’m sorry for tagging you guys three times in 24 hours. Again, chaotic jay cannot plan anything, like ever.

[siriusmydeer]

Oh and Hello to you today you fine and brilliantly skilled author who I have came to love and adore, you see I know I’d already recently requested something from you but I had a taste of your absolutely amazingly fine talent and just had to come back for more

Ya see, this person here (hem hem, me) would like to ask if she could request something dealing with Young Remus Lupin Remmy Boi being a sweet older brother during the summer to his adoptive sister who is almost his age and very gay and him letting her hang out with him and the Mauraders because her friends were douchbags and skippy skip to Remus letting her rant about it while they sit in his bed, her head in his lap while she’s curled up in a ball and he’s half-heartedly reading while talking to her about her douche-bag friends before he cuddles his sis to his chest and lets her sleep in his bed that night

Anywho, sorry for annoyin you again but I’ve had a shit day and wanted to relax with one of my fav authors and a cuppa tea

baby i was so excited to write this, my internal message to homophobes lies within this one shot. y/n’s vent gave me very “gia ranting her her friends about being bi and it should be nobodies business”

my little sister

brother!remus lupin x fem!reader, girlfriend!marlene mckinnon x fem!reader

warnings: homophobia, mentions of slurs, mentions of conversion camp, angst? but not rly, fluffy remus, WOLFSTAR💋, swearing, jokingly mentions of murder, big brother energy from remus, um mentions of penises and masterbating😭, lowkey ravenclaw slander (ONLY MALES I PROMISE) and y/n being a baddie

word count: 1.3k

you were.... happy. yes, not in a sarcastic way. you had finally found a girl that didn’t just want to be your friend, or hate crime you. you found a girl that you wanted to kiss, a girl you wanted to love and girl that reciprocated that love. but unfortunately for you, your love choices had consequences and everyone else thought it was there business, commenting on it.

“𝗼𝗶, 𝗹𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗻! 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗲’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝘆𝗲𝘁?”

“𝗰’𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗻, 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗲𝘁?”

“𝗶 𝗯𝗲𝘁 𝘆/𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿. 𝗶 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗲’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹.”

“𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗲, 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁? 𝗶 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗶’𝗺 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁.”

so to society, you weren’t normal. the worst part was you weren’t always the one hearing it, the girls in your dorm heard it, your brother heard about it and his best friends also happen to hear about it. that also never happened to stop them from shooting a hex or 20 in someone’s direction but, nonetheless, you “weren’t normal.”

you were sitting in the library studying next to your gorgeous girlfriend, marlene mckinnon. oh did something as innocent as studying get flipped into so much more, both of you working on mcgonagalls transfiguration homework. all fine and well until the 7th year ravenclaws decided to crawl up your butt and die.

“i see you two haven’t been sent away yet.”

“aw well if it isn’t the two girls who think they’re in love.”

“the two fa-“

one of the boys didn’t even get to finish his sentence before your wand was pinned against his neck, and suddenly he was speechless.

“‘m gonna say this as delicately as possible to spare your shit feelings but, before you finish your very derogatory sentence i would love for you to reconsider your words.” you started, “i personally think it’s hilarious that you gits are so bothered by whomst m’intimate with.”

“for being known as the smart house, you 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 are so bloody stupid. i could rip out my own brain and give it to you and it still wouldn’t be enough for you to learn how to mind your damn business.” you said firmly, “your 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗸 has sunken into the air, so me and my girlfriend are going to get going.”

you took your wand away from his neck before the 3 boys scrambled to the other side of the library, in fear. you gathered both you, and marlene’s things before slinging your bags over your shoulder and walking out of the library. before you could turn the corner, her other arm gripped your arm putting you both to a halt.

you turned towards her beet red face, and eyes shining in adoration. “dude, i think that was the hottest thing you have ever done.” she said before pulling you into a lip lock outside of the library. would you have been very nervous in any other situation?absolutely. i mean you were kissing a female, in public, at school, in 1975. but in this moment you couldn’t care less about anything or anyone, just the beautiful girl that you were besotted with kissing you right now.

“good.” you giggled as you pulled away before pulling her arm in the direction of one of the hidden corridors.

the next time you found yourself diminished over your sexuality, you went to people who you genuinely felt safe and comfortable with. you burst through the marauders dorm, forgetting to knock but quickly covering your eyes.

“i really hope none of you are masterbating right now, because i’m sure as not in the mood to see a penis.”

“c’mon mini-moony, you’re literally never in the mood to see a penis.” sirius replied, you uncovered your eyes and saw sirius walk over to remus’ bed and put his head on remus’ shoulder, and a light blush covered both of there faces. james on the other hand was on the floor writing lily, one of the only other people who supported you, another love letter.

“ok so let me start, sirius and remus please splash some cold water on your face. james, get off your arse and actually be a normal person and try and have a normal conversation with lily because i assure you she doesn’t even read those letters. and the grand finale, if i get called 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 one more damn time necks will be broken and body parts and fluids will scatter on the floor.” you huffed, and sat at end of remus’ bed nonchalantly.

at the part of your mini-monologue where you mentioned being called a slur, james and sirius happened to jump from where they were, surrounding you with questions. “who called you that?!” “i need names, now, mini-moony.” meanwhile remus aggressively grabbed his wand and made a bee-line to the door. “OI! BROTHER OF MINE.” remus stopped at the sound of your voice and turned around, his grip on the wand leaving his knuckles a shade of white. “sit. now.” he scoffed before sitting on the bed staring straight at you.

you debated for a moment, before looking at remus. “lucius malfoy and his toerag puppy dog, evan rosier.” you shrugged before all of them made a run at the door, messily grabbing their wands stomping down the stairs leading to the common room.

as fifth year came to an end, summer eventually came to a start. as you were unpacking your trunk and putting your clothes in there rightful spots in your dresser before you heard a knock at the door. “come in!”

remus opened the door, leaning against the frame. “hey, you okay?” he knew it was a stupid question to ask, but ever since you came into his family he felt a sense of protectiveness over you. he would always look at you like a little girl who needed her laces double knotted because she would trip on them, and how she needed to climb on furniture to grab something and especially when his little sister wasn’t his little sister anymore and became and illegal animagus for him.

“having your picture with nice little names on them, i’m brilliant.” you said sarcastically before sitting on your bed and remus following your lead. he leaned his back against the headboard as you threw your head on his lap, curling yourself to make yourself as tiny as possible. “i mean why the hell does anyone care anyways? it’s not like i’m intervening in there lives, i’m not killing anyone? it works the exact same except it’s a girl and not a boy. i just don’t understand why everyone thinks they should have an opinion on something that isn’t there business to start with.” you vented as he rubbed your back, while reading. “i mean, i understand.” you looked at him with a raised brow, “sirius?” he sheepishly looked up from his book and nodded before looking down at his book again and blushing.

“please, i could spot that from a mile away. i mean you aren’t exactly subtle, at the mere touch you both look like you got out of a sauna.” you said, matter of fact like and pointing your finger in the air sassily, “at least lily and james don’t care.” he mumbled trying to make you and him feel better. “everyone shouldn’t care, but then again everyone else in this universe is also a pest.” you sighed, as he continued reading but not before speaking.

“people are stupid.”

“you’re right, people are stupid.”

“but you know what makes us feel better?”

“what?”

“chocolate.”

“wow remus, it’s almost like i had no idea.”

“well i’m always right, so suck it up and take it.” he said shoving a chocolate bar in your face.

“i mean you could always have a sleepover with me where we eat chocolate and laugh at bad movies?” he said before looking down at you.

“remus, first yes, second how the hell does sirius put up with your ‘know-it-all-ness’?” you looked at him smirking, clearly he didn’t like that and he closed his book smacking it against your head.

“𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝘂𝘀!”

[meeko-mar]

Here's some pain;

Obviously this is way more fic fodder than an actual prediction of any sort,

What if, when Katsuki starts really going after Izuku do get through to him, and he gets Izuku pinned down...And Izuku still tries to get him to leave him alone.

What if he thinks that it will... drive Katsuki away to confess his feelings?

TW for feelings of internalized homophobia, and I guess perceived notions of homophobia?? Izuku is basically afraid of his feelings, as usual.

..

As part of the whole idea that he's suppressing, and sort of has internalized homophobia against his crush on Kacchan...So he assumes the logic that if he's afraid of his own feelings, Kacchan would probably be disgusted, enough to give up on him, to leave him. Or at least shatter his concentration enough for Izuku to escape. It will hurt, and it's his last resort, but if he wants Kacchan to keep his distance, he might have to just do it. Because he does love Kacchan and needs to keep him safe. (and he has tried literally everything else to get his classmates off him, to no avail)

So he screams it, right into Katsuki's face, because again, he's been pinned.

"Don't you get it?? I love you!! I always have!" He cries. "That's why I can't be near you!! My feelings are only going to get you killed!!" (he has related this to the rest of the class already, but this instance is specially for Katsuki, insert a mess of Izuku's emotions about Kacchan nearly dying for him once already)

But instead of disgust, and letting him go, Katsuki keeps a hold of him, and his eyes change. At first he is a bit blindsided, but quickly resumes his resolve.

"You...Asshole!!" Katsuki growls, also in Izuku's face. "So what, You want ME to have to Watch YOU fucking die instead cause you won't let anyone fucking help you?! Is that better? That's somehow ok?!"

"You fucking love me?? Bullshit!" (stay with me here)

"If you love me so fucking much, why don't you fucking act like it!! Why don't you think about how I feel watching you drive yourself into an early fucking grave like everyone who came before you!?"

His fists clench tighter around Izuku's tattered costume as tears start streaming down his own cheeks in the rain.

"What about how I feel about you, huh!? You think you're too good to wanna stick around long enough to find out??"

Izuku is obviously SHOOK(his ploy didn't work?? Kacchan isn't rejecting him?? Or is he?? What is happening here, he did not account for this response...)

Eventually they manage to wrangle him up. Take him home.

Katsuki hovers as he heals, making sure he doesn't bolt again. He seems to be looking at him with brand new eyes, though Izuku knows he's being considered a flight risk and thinks that might be the soul reason... but also there seems to be another new context to the look of those red eyes.

They have conversations, calmer, but they still skirt around *those feelings*, pretty awkwardly. The whole class can tell what's going on, too(I imagine that they at least heard the tail end of when Katsuki was yelling at Izuku about it)

Anyway, Izuku reluctantly...very reluctantly, agrees to work with UA and his friends. With many, many discussions that pretty much amount to Intervention and THERAPY talks with all involved(and after a lot of rest to get into a better mindset), he realizes how terribly they were worried about him, and are still worried. And eventually, that it's not fair to shut them all out when they are trained as much as he is and deciding for themselves to be involved.

He still doesn't like it, he is still terrified...He still believes/knows he's got to keep searching for AFO...but now accepts that his friends are going to try to help no matter what he says and accepts their help, accepts Katsuki's help. AM comes back and they make up, and AM ALSO tells him to make sure he's ok before taking care of everyone else again.

As Izuku slowly adapts to having a home base and becomes less of a flight-risk, Katsuki's still always lingering in the background, or acting by his side, like his right-hand man. I think once more paralleling the Second watching over Yoichi.

Izuku honestly can't tell what Katsuki actually thinks about the whole love confession, and he's actually afraid to ask and open that pandora's box again. So for a while he acts like it didn't happen. It all feels surreal and like it could have all been a panic-induced fever dream for all he knows.

But, unbeknownst to Izuku, the reason Katsuki isn't really saying anything is because he's actually kind of assessing his own feelings. He knows he cares deeply about Izuku... but is it love, is it THAT kind of love? Can he properly even return those feelings, does he deserve to?? And then again, he's ALSO questioning if Izuku was genuine about his love confession or if it was some sort of fake out to get him to leave him alone or shock him. And if it was, he'd feel really stupid and pretty hurt if he came to confess only to be rejected by Izuku. (which, might happen anyway, because Izuku's still terrified that his love is going to get Katsuki killed)

Anyway, he's read Izuku horribly wrong in the past before, so he wants to really make sure he's reading the signals right.

The kids in their class, while obviously occupied with patrols, the ongoing tension of AFO lurking out there, communicating with the Heroes and the International reinforcements, etc etc, are absolutely AGGRAVATED by these two dancing around the issue, and for not giving all of the tea-seeking kids of their group closure after that dramatic day where they had fought Izuku and the two of them had SCREAMED at each other about feelings. (again)

Like even Ochako tries to (gently) get the truth out of Izuku cause she knows how crazy it can be to have a crush when you're preoccupied with saving the world.

Maybe one night Katsuki and Izuku are out, I'm thinking high up where they can see UA grounds...Maybe the roof of the building? Perhaps doing a look-out patrol.

And they start TALKING.

Katsuki straight up starts the conversation because he knows, and we all know, that Izuku would be tight-lipped about it still. He just straight up says "So are you ever going to tell me what the hell you meant that day?"

Izuku FREEZES, but he decides he's probably avoided this for long enough...can't put it off forever.

Katsuki looks at Izuku and finds him looking so, so insecure, confused, and grimacing with a blush as he looked away.

"Oi, Deku." He startles Izuku, "Were you....Were you lying to me?"

Izuku looks so bewildered by Katsuki's new tone. There's a hint of insecurity in his voice

"Sorry--I'm sorry... I shouldn't have...I shouldn't have said it like that," Izuku fumbles with the words. "I used those words to try to push you away...I thought you'd hate me, and if I could get you to hate me, you'd let me go, and I was so scared, and it was a really really desperate strategy..." he's doing his trademark muttering by now as panic sets in.

Katsuki steps closer, eyes burning with intensity as he looms over him. "But was it a lie."

"It was the wrong moment, for the wrong reason...But..." Izuku sucks in breath and feels his heart hammering. Forces himself to meet his eyes with Katsuki's. "It wasn't a lie."

Katsuki's eyes widen, and they both kind of stall in the moment as it all settles in and the wind blows between them.

"I'm sorry," Izuku blurts, and blushes furiously, starting to turn away. "I shouldn't have pushed this on you," He's giving in to his instinct to bolt.

Katsuki catches him by the wrist. Izuku turns, and meets Katsuki's smoldering eyes again. "Don't you go running off without hearing what I think again, damn nerd. Last time it nearly got you killed."

He runs a hand through is hair and looks away, and by now is also blushing. "Dammit. I'm still trying to figure out how to be around you. I'm still trying to relearn how to be your friend...At least, a friend who's actually worth a shit."

Izuku nods quietly, they've also had their discussion on their past/Katsuki's apologies by now, so Izuku is understanding of where Katsuki's feelings are coming from.

"And...Deku, you dumbass, why would I hate you for that??" Katsuki glares. Izuku flinches a bit.

"Well I..." Izuku mumbles. "It's obvious, right? I thought you'd be grossed out... I'm not a...Neither one of us is..."

"Not what, a girl!?" Katsuki scoffs. "Since when does that fucking matter?? You don't decide what the Hell grosses me out, Deku. " Izuku looks at him, SHOCKED, but his eyes shining.

The hand that has him by the wrist squeezes just gently, and feels really warm.

Katsuki sighs, and looks downward. "As long as you're not lying to me about something like that. Don't ever fucking lie about this kinda shit."

He finally looks at Izuku again, eyes large and shining. His hand pulls Izuku forward just gently.

"I don't know...Fuck...Give me time...Okay? There's still a lot I gotta do before I can..." He cuts off, still blushing and wrestling with the emotions. but the remaining words 'before I can say it back' basically hang, unsaid, in the air between them.

"But you gotta promise me you won't go and get your stupid ass killed before I get the chance, got it, nerd?!" Katsuki adds hastily.

Izuku feels his eyes start to burn as the warmth wells up inside him, and a smile spreads across his glowing face. He laughs a bit, feeling the nerves bubbling over, paired with a sudden sort of relief. Kacchan doesn't hate him for what he said, and even might return the feeling. What a good feeling. The best thing in a while. If not all the more terrifying.

"Okay, Kacchan" Katsuki blushes at how stupidly cute it looks for the light to be returning to Izuku's eyes, and that dumb smile lighting up freckled cheeks...Something that the Katsuki of a few weeks ago would have given anything in the world to see, right there in front of him.

Feeling the urge to bring back their previous mood, Katsuki grunts some sort of quasi-insult, like, "Don't get any more weird, backwards ideas like that, Deku. I'll kick your ass."

Izuku laughs again, But then suddenly, everything is ruined; A massive jolt to his head strikes him and he suddenly withdraws his hands from Katsuki, clutching his head and doubling over.

Danger Sense.

"Deku! Hey!" Katsuki grips him by the shoulders(partially in panic that Izuku might fly off by instinct without second thought to a plan of any sort, like old habits) "What is it!?"

Katsuki's legitimately scared as Izuku sinks to his knees; Izuku's had Danger Sense pings while staying within the walls of UA to heal before(that they had to CONVINCE him not to pay attention to, or rather send one of the other students out in his stead), but nothing this obviously severe.

Little Brother, The voice rings in Izuku's head again, and his blood runs cold.

Gritting his teeth, Izuku's eyes then shoot open, and look with terror to the horizon;

"It's him...He's coming..."

---

sorry this was long. probably imperfect.

but I had to get it out of my head.

And then somewhere in or in the aftermath of the final battle they actually share a kiss and Katsuki says it back. It's nice.

I really think, Katsuki would probably legit have few hang-ups about being gay, his attitude is "don't fake who you are or how you feel", Mr. "can't even fake it to survive a kidnapping encounter with villains and would rather try to explode them all even though he's outnumbered". He'd be like, "what, you like boys? fine, then, what's the problem?! Like boys all you want!"

In this scenario I think he's way more concerned over if he's a worthy partner for Izuku, or if he's able to reciprocate, rather than "am I actually gay and if so what does that mean"

And as of 320, let me just say that Izuku is SO FRIGGIN SCARED, it breaks my heart. Like he's legit terrified and I think our suspicions that he was deeply deeply traumatized by the war arc are exactly on the money. the line "AFO is going to take you all away from me" while flashing back to the losses in the war including Kacchan....JUST SHOOT ME, IT MIGHT BE LESS PAINFUL.

Can't wait for the main UA kids(IE, his closer friend circles) to have their turn trying to wrangle Izuku up.

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you liked this.

[loversamongus]

Lovers Among Us - atla smau

masterlist / part 17 / part 18 / part 19

a/n: Zuko and Y/n’s conversation under the cut!

With both crutches under your arms, you made your way to the door and opened it. Sure enough, Zuko was standing there just as he said. You caught a quick glimpse of him leaning against the hallway wall with his arms folded, but he immediately straightened up when his eyes met yours. You felt your stomach drop a little and you had the sudden inclination to worm your way back inside the room where your friends sat still watching the movie. Surely, a man with razor hands and a decaying face who kills you in your nightmares is less frightening than this leap you’re about to take. Zuko must have felt your apprehension though because he held the door wide to help you through it and rested his hand on your shoulder to guide you across the threshold.

“You know, once I get a boot instead of these crutches, this will be a lot easier,” you said, more of an attempt to calm the hurricane of butterflies boarding up in your gut. “I could probably kick Sokka pretty hard with the boot, now that I think about it.”

Zuko didn’t respond; he only smiled. You would not have thought much about such a small smile, but recently everything about Zuko seemed to become a permanent fixture in your mind.

For the first time, you noticed just how small Zuko’s smiles actually were. So small, in fact, that if someone were not looking close enough, they may just assume his face was resting in his typical trademark scowl. How wrong they’d be though, you thought. They’d just be searching for his smiles in the wrong place. His real smile was in his eyes. There was a glow and warmth in his eyes. It was both inviting and comforting like a steady fire on a cold winter day. Zuko quirked an eyebrow, which you noticed immediately as you had just then registered that you had been staring at him through that entire internal monologue. Suddenly the carpeted hallway became very interesting. And the heat on your cheeks? Definitely from the temperature in the hallway. Or the strain of crutching around. Yep. That’s it completely.

You were quiet the rest of the walk to the car. You were quiet for the car ride to the Jasmine Dragon. While you said nothing, your decided to be quite the chatterbox. In addition to noticing and now appreciating all of Zuko’s little quirks, you also began to reflect on memories of your friendship with Zuko. You remembered when you first became friends with him and almost pulling an all nighter just texting each other. You remembered going to the farmer’s market with the gang, and splitting up to cover more group. Zuko stayed with you and carried all the fresh produce you picked out. For months the two of you kept up an inside joke about the man at the cabbage stand. You remembered how much you missed him when he went home to the Fire Nation one summer. You remembered the instant joy you felt when he came back early and being stricken with concern when he said he won’t be going back home for awhile. You remembered when Iroh was sick and had to be hospitalized for some time and Zuko called you at 3 in the morning just so completely lost. You remembered how you did the same thing when your grandmother was died. He rushed over to your room immediately and just hugged you until you felt something again. And you did feel something back then. But what, you didn’t know. So you pushed it aside and carried on.

The car door opened, jolting you out of your thoughts. You turned to see Zuko offering his hand. “We’re here,” he said, and you took his hand which guided you out of the car. He had already taken your crutches out from the backseat and handed them to you.

Silently, you thanked the heavens for giving you a best friend who has his own set of keys to his uncle’s tea shop. It was late and the Jasmine Dragon had closed hours ago. While you still wished Freddy Krueger would just come and kill you now, you were glad that you and Zuko would at least have some privacy. He gestured for you to take a table while he flipped on a few lights and shuffled to the back to brew up some tea. Of course, he returned after some agonizing, nervous foot-tapping moments later with your favorite blend.

“So,” he said.

“So,” you echoed.

“I’m sorry for walking out earlier.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

It was quiet for a moment and you desperately sought to find something interesting to fixate on other than Zuko thrumming his fingers on the table. The tea. The tea is nice. Good, although Zuko definitely added too much honey. You smiled though, knowing that despite his subpar tea making skills, he always remembers what you like. You could have been happy just sitting there, but Zuko broke the silence.

“What are we doing?”

“Well, I’m trying to stomach this overly sweetened tea. What are you doing?”

“Y/N…” This time Zuko’s eye did not smile at your attempt for lightheartedness. Try as you might, this was going to be a serious conversation.

“I don’t know, Zuko.”

“You have to know something,” he scoffed. Looking up, you caught him rolling his eyes and leaning back in his chair so that he could cross his arms again.

“Don’t you scoff at me. You got us into this mess.”

“Me?” he asked incredulously. You could practically hear the yell he was biting back. An opening. He was frustrated. You could convince him that this wouldn’t work. That you’re better off as friends because your friendship has already survived fights and your stupidity. But anything more? What kind of stress could that put on the both of you? What if it created cracks in the foundation?

“Yes, you. If you hadn’t walked out and caused a scene, we’d be enjoying a movie night or killing Sokka again.”

“I just apologized for walking out!”

“And I said you have nothing to apologize for!”

“YOU JUST SAID I CAUSED A SCENE!” His voice rose and his hands fisted through his hair. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he tried again. This time his voice was much softer, gentler.

“Why are you pushing me away?”

A worthy counterattack. You could feel his tugging on your heart strings. But you are a fortress, you will not crumble. This is for the best of your friendship, you reminded yourself.

But then he looked up and you looked away quickly. He moved his head to try to recapture your attention.

“Y/N,” your name on his lips was almost a whisper, a prayer really. You hesitantly looked back at him. “Ask me when.”

“When what?”

“When I knew that I love you.”

You felt your eyebrows shoot up towards your hairline and your jaw slackened in shock. Immediately, that hurricane of butterflies roared again. In your stomach. In your heart. In your throat. Can a fortress withstand an army of thousands of butterflies?

“When?” Your voice was faint, but you heard the simple question fall from your lips.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“Zuko!” you groaned and facepalmed. “Why would you have me ask you that then?!”

“Because it wasn’t just one moment,” his voice had not changed from that soft tone. “There were so many moments that made me realize I love you.”

You could only gulp down a couple butterflies before he continued in a passion of communication.

“The first time I heard you laugh. When I see you hug my uncle. When you cried snot on my shoulder after watching Coco. I can’t narrow it down to one moment. All I know is when I’m with you, since I’ve met you, I’ve been genuinely happy. Hell, I look forward to just sitting next to you in class—“

“Why?” you interrupted.

“Why do I like sitting next to you in class?”

“No. Why do you love me?” Your voice was so quiet that a pin dropping to the floor would make more noise.

“I don’t think I could pick one reason either.”

“Try. Please.”

He paused for a moment to think, to choose the right words. All through his thinking, his eyes never left yours.

“You know me,” he said finally. “You listen to me and… you care about what I have to say. You know what will make me smile or what to say when I’m upset, even if I don’t want to talk. You know what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking. I love the way you lo—“ he caught himself and looked down at the table. “I love the way you care about me.”

Silence invaded the Jasmine Dragon again. It settled for a while between the two of you and you digested Zuko’s words. He said you know him but you have absolutely no idea what to say next.

“Okay,” Zuko the silence breaker spoke again. “I did all my talking. It’s your turn now.”

“My turn?” It was your turn to ask incredulously.

“Yes, your turn.”

“I don’t have anything to say.” Zuko’s words may have collapsed an area of the fortress but you began rebuilding brick by brick.

“Bullshit,” he almost laughed, but there was no mirth in his voice. “You wouldn’t have come to the door if you didn’t have anything to say.”

“Zuko, I--” you began, only to get cut off again.

“Don’t lie to me,” he said seriously. “Actually, I still have my fifth rule to use. Rule #5 is Y/n has to be honest with me.”

“Really?” you deadpanned. “Of all the possibilities, that’s what you come up with?”

“If it gets us to have this conversation, then yes.”

It was quiet again. Avoiding his gaze again, you look down at the table. Now you were most definitely pushed up against your last wall. A white flag would have to be raised. You were only tried to think up the words for your declaration of love surrender.

“Zuko, I--” you tried again. “I’m afraid.”

“Of me?”

“No,” you had to laugh. “No, of course not. I’m afraid of losing you.” Your honesty suddenly gave you a second wind, quiet and shaken voice be gone. Now you were animated in your best attempt to express yourself. “What if, what if we don’t work out?” you pleaded for him to understand. “What if it doesn’t work and you stop loving me and we start to hate each other and then we don’t want to even be in the same room as each other and then our friends will have to take sides and then the whole group falls apart?”

Zuko took a moment to take in your plea. You could tell her was considering what would be the best response. “Do you think that would happen if Sokka and Suki break up?”

“I already told Suki I’m taking her side no matter what so....”

You both laughed, and seeing Zuko smile again relieved some of your nervousness. It was so easy to talk to him. So easy to be honest with him. 

“I guess it depends then,” Zuko started up the conversation again. “If you maybe... felt the same way about me.” A small smile formed on his lips again but this time there was hesitancy in his eyes. You felt the urge to start rebuilding the fortress again but you promised to follow Zuko’s fifth rule of honesty. There was no turning back.

“I do,” you replied surely and you made it a point to make eye contact with him. You noticed the hesitancy slip away and the warmth and glow of his eyes returned. 

“Then you’re not going to lose me. If it doesn’t work, then fine. I’m your best friend first and foremost and you are mine. But I love you. And I want to see where that takes us.”

It wasn’t the first time he said he loved you during this conversation but for the first time, you felt complete ease overwhelm you. As if this was exactly where you were meant to be. With the person you were meant to be with. Fear and insecurity had washed away.

“Okay,” you smiled. “I love you, too.”

a/n: lol more to come, but back to screenshots for part 19 :) hope you enjoyed!

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[hcywards]

pool — jj maybank

summary: in which y/n finds a stranger floating in her pool

words: 1.7k+

t/w: mentions of abuse, swearing, a make out session

note: y’all seem to really like jj and i cant say that i blame you,,,, so here you go

     Y/N frowned, looking out of her window with the confused nervousness of a girl who could see a stranger in their pool at nine in the morning on a Saturday — because she could, and she wasn’t sure why he was there or how he’d managed to get there.

     The blonde boy was splayed out across a floatie, one arm covering his face from sight, and Y/N figured he was either asleep or had just woken up. His clothes were soaked — he must’ve gotten fully in the pool at some point, and, despite her fear, Y/N couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of him rolling off of the floatie in the middle of the night. 

     He didn’t look like he belonged on her side of the island. No, he was definitely a Pogue, and, from what little Y/N could see, an attractive one, too.

     But that was besides the point — the point was, there was a stranger in her pool when he hadn’t been the night before, and Y/N wasn’t sure if he was a murderer or not.

     She gulped as she tossed on an oversized shirt. not wanting to waste too much time getting dressed and potentially miss him as he got out. She didn’t take her eyes off of him as she backed out of her bedroom, and the second he was out of sight she was whirling, sprinting through the house with her heart hammering in her chest, thoughts clouded as she tried to get back to a place where she could see him again.

     By the time she made it out of the house, he was awake, back facing her as he tried to jump out of the deep end of the pool. Y/N watched with fear clogging up her throat, but she eventually managed to get out: “Hey! What the hell are you doing?”

     He jumped, falling back into the pool and spluttering as he whirled to face her. Now, Y/N knew for sure that he was attractive, and, under his wide-eyed stare, she couldn’t help but blush.

     “Fuck!” he exclaimed, knowing he’d been caught, and he turned away from her again, jumping up and out of the pool and starting to run through Y/N’s yard. Y/N rolled her eyes and began charging after him, and when he stumbled over a football, she managed to catch him, pinning him down to the floor and pulling her phone out from where she’d tucked it inside her bra. He winced as she moved around above him, and she frowned, but didn’t say anything, just stopped moving.

     She probably should’ve called the cops sooner, she thought, and she cursed herself internally as she tapped in the three digits.

     “Wait!” the blonde boy she had trapped beneath her blurted out, and she looked down at him with an arched eyebrow, thumb hovering over the green button threateningly. “Please, don’t call the cops. I’m sorry.”

     “Why would I not call the cops?” Y/N almost snorted. “Please, enlighten me.”      He gave her a smirk, and she rolled her eyes, turning back to her phone, and he whined beneath her, before blushing at the realisation of how that’d look to anyone who might’ve been watching.

     He’d have to leave that bit out when he told the Pogues about this later, if he didn’t want to be teased about it for the rest of his life.

     “Okay, sorry!” he pleaded. “I’m sorry. Please, don’t call the cops.”

     “Look, you’re going to have to give me a valid reason,” Y/N stated, and he sighed, nodding.

     “Yeah, yeah, I know, me being hot won’t cut it,” he bantered, and she hit him lightly in the ribs, causing pain to flare up across his side, spreading like a wildfire. He let out a yell, and then quickly clamped a hand down over his mouth. Fuck. The girl above him arched her brow even higher, giving him a silent question, and he sighed. How was he going to answer that believably? “Uh. . . I fell down the stairs?”

     Y/N sat up a little higher on her knees, so that no part of her body was touching his, and frowned. “Dude, I can tell that you’re lying. Tell me what happened.”

     “Why should I? You’re going to call the cops anyway,” JJ responded, but when Y/N just frowned a little more, he sighed. “Okay, I. . . got into a fight with Rafe.”

     “Bullshit, the Camerons are on vacation,” she shot back.

     JJ groaned, cursing himself for suddenly forgetting how to lie. “Right, they are.” He ran a hand over his face, trying to think of anything else to tell her. “If I told you it was actually Topper I got into a fight with, would you believe me?”

     Maybe it was the fact that she was straddling him that was impairing his ability to talk his way out of this. He liked to think that that was the case, though, really, he knew that it was because he’d been crushing on her since the day he first caught a glimpse of her at the Boneyard party a few years ago, laughing and talking with Sarah. Kie had been with them, too, as it’d been on her Kook year. JJ had only looked over to give his friend a grin, but having seen Y/N, he’d immediately forgotten what he was doing.

     They’d never had a proper conversation, of course. Every time he was mowing the L/N’s lawn, Y/N was out, and every time he was delivering food to the house, she was upstairs, and every Boneyard party, it was a boy getting drinks from JJ to bring to her. He wasn’t surprised she didn’t recognise him, if he were honest, but that didn’t upset him any less. After all, it kind of hurt to discover that he was nothing but a Pogue to her, when she was the girl he imagined every Touron was, and thought about when he went to sleep, and then again when he woke up.

     And of course it had to be her yard he decided to spend the night in.

     “No, JJ,” she responded, snapping him out of his thoughts. “I wouldn’t believe you.”

     “Great,” JJ muttered to himself, and let out a long, drawn out breath despite the stabbing at his side when he did so. “Okay.” It couldn’t hurt to tell her, right? After all, she didn’t know who he was. How could she tell anyone about it? And it wasn’t as if the cops didn’t already have their suspicions. “It was my dad. That’s why I’m here, actually — to get away from him.”

     Y/N sighed, putting her phone down and looking at him closely, wanting to make sure this wasn’t a lie. “That’s a hell of a story, pool boy. I guess I won’t call the cops.”

     Neither of them moved for a moment after that, seeming to forget where they were and what they were doing. Y/N couldn’t even feel the water seeping into her shorts, and JJ forgot that she was basically pinning him to the floor, her hands pressing down onto his. However, when he remembered this, all breath seemed to be taken from him, and suddenly he felt his cheeks heat up as he realised their close proximity — and it seemed to be getting smaller, though he was unsure which one of them was leaning in. Perhaps it was both, but suddenly her lips were on his, and his eyes were shut as her hands moved to his hair. 

     He forgot about his dad, forgot about the pain in his ribs and forgot about anything other than Y/N as his tongue slipped between her lips and his hands moved to pull her onto his lap properly.

     This was the exact same as all of his hookups, though it felt nothing like it. It felt right, like he was only ever meant to kiss her, and it felt passionate rather than lust driven, calming and overwhelming all at once. He couldn’t think of anything but her when he kissed her, and he didn’t want to, because, for once, he didn’t have to imagine his lips on hers. And sure, it could’ve been just teenagers being stupid, but it felt like a lot more than that.

     She gave his hair a light tug to pull away for air, and he smirked at her. Something inaudible slipped past his lips as he pressed a kiss to her neck, and she cursed quietly, grip on his hair tightening as she let out a gasp. He grinned against her skin at the reaction, never wanting this moment to end. He had to pull away again, though, looking up at her staring down at him with swollen lips and a pout.

     Holy fuck, he could get used to this.

     “Sorry to ruin the party, but I don’t usually have sex in someone’s backyard,” he joked — in reality, he just didn’t want to take his shirt off and reveal his bruises and scars to her. It wasn’t exactly a turn-on, to say the least.

     She nodded, laughing as she stood up and took his hand to pull him up. “I don’t have sex with boys who I don’t know the name of, anyways, stranger.”

     JJ laughed at that. “It’s JJ, and I know yours. Y/N.”

     Y/N nodded, not even questioning how he knew her name as she lead him into her house. “You need some new clothes, JJ, and I could make breakfast, if you’d like.”

     JJ grinned, suddenly aware of how hungry he was. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate. And Kook food? Who was he to turn down such an offer?

     “God, I really like you,” he suddenly blurted out, and then his eyes widened as she turned to him with a narrowed-eyed gaze.

     She laughed, though, and he nervously laughed with her. “That’s a hell of a declaration coming from someone I’ve just met, but thanks for the gratitude. And it’s nice to know I’m that good of a kisser.”

     JJ smiled, a genuine, happy smile, and he felt like a Kook with all of their forgotten troubles. It felt odd to him that, even though he’d only just met her, Y/N was making him feel as lightheaded and carefree as she was, but it felt great, and he didn’t want it to ever stop.

     Needless to say, JJ managed to get her number and a few more kisses that day — as well as a plan to meet up the next day, and an offer to stay at hers overnight.

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[evermorehaikyuu]

Day 3

Title: The Last One Standing

Note: I’m sorry this was a bit later than usual, everything’s been wild today but anyways, here it is! On the bright side, no one dies in this one! But it is kinda wack though, man, I’m kind of iffy about it, I won’t lie to you. I will make up for it in the future angst fics.

˜”*°•.˜”*°•.•°*”˜.•°*”˜

“Don’t come on our team, Tendou!”

A lacuna in his heart.

“Monsters aren’t allowed on human teams!”

A shell. 

“Yeah, he does look like a monster.”

Monster. An imaginary creature that was typically large, ugly, and frightening. He was only a child and he was already called a monster. Was it because he was good at guessing people’s steps? Was it because of his physical appearance? What was it about him that made people look away from him and talk about him behind his back? Tendou didn’t know what it was, but it stung. It stung that people would take a look at him and immediately scrunch their faces up in disgust.

The volleyball game that ensued, he came out victorious. He could only see the frustrated and desperate expression on the boy’s face and the feeling of power washed over him. A one touch wasn’t enough to feed into what he wanted, he needed more. 

Day after day, he kept practicing, trying to ignore all of the words that everyone would say about him. None of that was important. Getting better at guessing people’s actions was much more important. 

That’s how his life was until he met her. They met in high school and she had gone and opened her arms, welcoming him into her life without hesitating. Usually people wouldn’t welcome him into their lives unless they wanted something from him. Shiratorizawa saw his potential. The volleyball team had welcomed him, hell, Ushijima Wakatoshi himself invited him into this whole new world.

He was comfortable with everyone around him and when she walked into his life with a bright grin on her face, he couldn’t help but trust her on the spot.

Y/N L/N, his savior, the person who introduced him to the world again, reassuring him that not everyone was bad. There were a few aspects of this world that were horrendous, but with her by his side he could do anything.

At least, that was what he thought but he didn’t really expect it for the time being. He just wanted to be with her as long as he could.

However, some things don’t last as people wish they would. 

~

“Hey, Y/N, are you done with my manga yet?” Tendou asked, bounding into her house, not really expecting her to be done with the manga. If Ushijima could barely finish, he didn’t expect much of her but he’d be pleasantly surprised if she had. 

Y/N looked up at him, horror in her eyes. “Tell me you have the next volume, I’m not going to be stuck on this cliffhanger, Tendou!”

He stared at her and at the closed manga being gripped tightly in her hands. Her knuckles were turning white just from the force of her grip and he started smiling brightly. “You finished?!”

“Yeah! Now tell me you have the next volume, cliffhangers suck!”

“Well, lucky for you, I do have the next volume with me just in case you finished it quicker than Wakatoshi. He only reads the ads, it’s strange. But at least he tries, that’s what’s important.” He plucked the manga out of her hands, sliding the new volume into her empty palms. 

She grinned down at the new volume and flipped it open to the first page, scanning the page quickly, her eyes almost becoming a blur. “You want to eat anything? I’ve restocked on your snacks and you’re welcome to my Netflix account.”

Tendou ruffled her hair, internally warm from her hospitality. Moving over to the cupboard, he decided to inquire about the new volume. “So what’d you think about the fights? They were pretty cool, huh?”

“Yeah! They were so cool, I can’t wait to see them animated. But the villain is the absolute worst, his character development better not be messed with or else I’ll throw something.”

He couldn’t help but smile as he pulled out the snack he had been looking for, munching on it as he walked over to her. Sitting on the chair near her, he looked over at the page she was on and thought, Wow, she really does care. She cares about something I love so much that she’s chatting on about it and it seems genuine. Maybe I can let my guard down around her. 

One thing that he didn’t expect were his creeping insecurities coming for him. Nothing good was ever free in this life. You had to earn it and at the moment, he wasn’t sure if he had earned it. Either way, it was just an obstacle that he had to get through in his life. There wouldn’t be a problem. At least he hoped not.

Letting your guard down and being vulnerable around someone could bring bliss but it could also be the bane of your existence. There was no way no one in this life had their guard down completely. Once someone had ruined a person, there was no going back. It was all or nothing. Hurt was something unshakeable. Once it was there, once there was a new person in your life, you can’t help but lie like a prey waiting for its predator. The question that remains is always, “What’ll happen next? What’s their next movement? What if this is too good to be true?”

Some things were too good to be true, after all.

~

The last spike of the game, slamming down onto Shiratorizawa’s side of the court. The last spike made by Karasuno’s shortest middle blocker. The thud of the ball caused everything to be silent.

Y/N could only stare with the other spectators in the Shiratorizawa stands, nothing happening for a moment. Her eyes flickered over to Tendou, who was currently in shock, but his face wouldn’t reveal much. 

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Until Karasuno started screaming and cheering, the third years hugging each other and crying, everyone else on the team feeling like everything was surreal. 

The team members that were not on the regular roster stood out of the court, gasps lost in their throats as they stared at the defeated team. Tendou could only look at the court and whisper, “Farewell, my paradise” before looking over at Y/N with a thwarted beam.

That’s what broke Y/N’s heart. The only place where Tendou felt like he truly belonged, truly loved to be in and now he was leaving it because of a team. After everything was over and the major events finished, Y/N raced out of the stands, dodging through the crowd, trying to find Tendou and his team.

All of them were currently walking out of the gym and heading to the buses, quiet at their expense.  Y/N quickly said, “Hey, can I talk to Tendou for a second?”

Tendou walked after Y/N, slouching over until he felt a warm body pressed against his, arms around his waist. He stalled for a moment before wrapping his arms around Y/N as well. His heart was racing at the proximity, but he believed it was from the events of the game. 

“Listen. You did your best. You did everything you could in your power. I can’t tell you that it’ll be fine, because it won’t. You’ll probably look back at this moment as nationals escaping from your grip, but believe me, Tendou--” She pulled back, placing her hand on his cheek, smiling sadly at him. “No one blames you or anyone. You were absolutely amazing out there and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, okay? You stunned me with every block, you were spectacular.” She reached up to kiss his forehead and looked behind him. “You gotta go. Go get on the bus and you can come over later.” 

Looking at her receding back, he touched the spot she had kissed and his heart swelled with pure adoration for Y/N. It was rare when someone was genuine with him and wanted to be friends with him and not anything else. But it was extraordinary that someone had fallen for him, especially when he thought he was unlovable.

Maybe everything was going to be okay. 

~ 

About two or three years had passed since he had graduated. He was currently in college, studying something other than volleyball. Tendou wasn’t going to be a professional volleyball player but he had no idea what he wanted to do.

Y/N got home, sighing as she placed her shoes by the door. “God, today was so exhausting, I’m so tired.” She draped herself across his lap like a cat and he reached out to put her hair. 

“What happened today?”

“Eh, the normal, a ton of work for the weekend. I’ll start it tomorrow, let me take a nap here. Night, Satori.” She closed her eyes.

“It’s only 3 pm?” He stared down at her with an amused grin and she raised an eyebrow. 

“Your point being?” She replied playfully before drifting off to sleep.

Oh, what fun the two of them would have in their last year of being together.

~

“Isn’t that the Guess Monster?”

“Yeah, he’s kind of scary if you ask me, he was on Shiratorizawa.”

“That’s a powerhouse school, isn’t it? Well, he certainly looks like he could guess your next step and bite your head off.”

Tendou walked through these rumors with his head held high, a facade of him not being hurt put over his face. Why was he still being treated like an unearthly being when he was only human? As a human, it was logical that he’d get hurt by these words and people still had the audacity to spread rumors and talk behind his back. But soon, he had had enough: he started sprinting, trying to get away from the ties that fastened him to his dark and traumatic past.

He got home quickly, shutting the door as he leaned against it, sliding down and burying his face in his hands as he swallowed. “Am I really a monster?” He mumbled to himself. He stayed there before hearing keys jangle in the door and thinking, Y/N’s here.

Then his thoughts turned tenebrous as he stepped away from the door. Y/N was not there for him. She was only there because she wanted something from him, but the question was what. There was no way Y/N L/N, the most adored person in Shiratorizawa, had been with him for this long. There was no way.

Tendou Satori’s fatal flaw was letting his insecurities get to him. He made mistakes because of it. And all of those mistakes could lead to him losing what he loved most. 

“I’m home--Satori? What’s wrong?” One look at his voice and she was already worried. “You okay? What happened?” She put her stuff down and walked over to him, reaching for his hand.

But he nimbly pulled his hand away from hers. “Why are you still with me?”

“Huh? What do you mean? Satori, is this because of the rumors?” She tilted her head, squinting at him in confusion.

“How do you know about the rumors?” He demanded. “Did you start any of them? I bet you did, there is no way you could’ve stayed with me this long. You probably just stuck around to ridicule me just like everyone else! You were too good to be true.” Tendou turned away from her, not wanting to look her in the eyes, afraid that he would only see the maliciousness he had expected within them.

“Satori, I don’t know where you heard that, but I swear I’ve never started any rumors about you! I’ve tried to break them off, I’ve tried to help you out, I wanted everyone to give you a second chance. I gave you a do-over, I want them to see you as I see you!” She cried out.

“As what? A monster?” He scoffed before she could say anything. “There’s no way you wanted to just be around me because you liked me. Tell me this, Y/N, what do you get when people have been bullying you from a young age? You get hurt. I don’t want to be hurt by the person I love.”

“You think I’m trying to hurt you? I’ve been trying to help you all of these years, Satori! I’ve been by your side at all times! What’s making you talk like this?!”

Tendou deliberately ignored that last question. “Well, you didn’t have to! I don’t think you’d want to be with me. After all, I’m just a Guess Monster, I could probably guess your next move and swallow you in a minute, huh? Right? Am I right or not?” In a moment of boldness, he looked up at her, fury clear in his eyes. Hysteria was blinding him from the truth and so were his self-doubts.

“I stayed because I wanted to! I wouldn’t have stayed otherwise! You’re being overdramatic, why are you so blind as to my true motives?! I’m not them, I could never be them! Why do you even doubt me for a second that I don’t want anything bad happening to you!” She swallowed dryly, her voice shaking now. “If you want me to leave, tell me. Please, Satori, I don’t want to lose you.”

Tendou could not stop his next words. “Y/N. Just….go. I know what your true motives are. I don’t want you to be with a monster like me, a monster that you obviously never cared for. I’m so stupid to believe that you did. You’re dense if you think I’m falling for another trick of yours.”

Y/N clenched her fists, staring at the broken boy across from her. She picked up his pieces long enough. “I gave you your chance and you used it to stab me in the back. You’re just like everyone else. You’re not different.” With those words, she marched back around and opened the door, looking over her shoulder. “You know, maybe someone’ll come along and fix the mess neither of us could fix.”

With the closing of the door, Tendou’s metaphorical vision shattered. Every single word he had said came rushing back to him, making him double over as he realized what he did singlehandedly. He just made the person he loved him the most--and who he loved the most--run away from him. He wanted to tell her to come back, but Y/N, as loyal as she was, was also stubborn and ruthless.

Tendou sunk onto the floor, his hands in his hair, almost trying to yank it out as he started shuddering. “Oh God...what have I done?”

Tears started pooling in his eyes and he blinked, the droplets falling slowly down his cheeks and making miniscule puddles on the floor. It hurt. It hurt that the person he loved so much tried so hard to stay with him but he couldn’t blame Y/N for leaving him. After what he did, he didn’t expect anyone to love him the way she did.

Hysterical gasps of anguish started coming from his throat until he was full-on crying his eyes out, his eyes closed shut to hold the tears back only to open them and have them fall again. So much was going on, reality was smacking him in the face. She wasn’t there to help him. She would never do it again.

It was his fault.

He made sure she wouldn’t come back.

Now he had lost the greatest treasure in his life and there was no way he could fix that.

After all, his biggest rival was his prejudices. They had taken over his mind and now they had taken her away. 

Everything was broken.

~

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