#and I have a DEEP PERSONAL RESPECT for anyone who takes up that gauntlet

[batsinurbelfrey]

Stephen Johns appreciation post

Photos : Sean Berry 

[makeste]

the mortifying ordeal of being known... and rejected

or, how to create a self-fulfilling prophecy and get yourself stuck in a hole you’re too scared to try and pull yourself out of (by Bakugou Katsuki).

here is an observation: Bakugou often processes/hides/disguises fear...

uncertainty...

and even grief/guilt...

as anger.

the why, obviously, is because like most humans, he’s afraid of opening up and being vulnerable. but this post isn’t really about discussing the why. rather, it’s about the natural conclusion we can draw from this: that if the majority of Bakugou’s anger is in fact just his way of covering for his “weaker”, more vulnerable feelings, his doubts and fears, then that says a ton about Bakugou’s relationship with the one person he has always displayed the most hostility and aggression towards throughout his life.

so let’s talk about Bakugou’s actual feelings towards Deku.

disclaimer: I am not a therapist, or someone with any kind of psychology expertise; I am just a person that likes to read manga and think too much about fictional characters. so please keep in mind that even though I might not preface every single sentence here with “I think...” or “in my opinion...” obviously these are still just my guesses and interpretations and they may very well be wrong! the only one who knows for sure is the guy over in Japan drawing doodles of sentient flowers in his spare time, and I can’t very well ask him, so for now this will have to do.

so Katsuki and Izuku were childhood friends. let’s take this all the way back to the start. here we have two very young children who are introduced to each other at an age when they’re still young enough to have absolutely no secrets. they’re young enough to have not yet learned to be shy or self-conscious, or to downplay their enthusiasm so as not to let others know they care. kids that young don’t hide anything. they don’t lie or deceive. they don’t have agendas, and they assume that others don’t either. it is, in short, a very pure type of relationship in the sense that it’s honest and uncomplicated, that it is exactly what it appears to be at face value. their personalities are fully out there with no attempt at reining anything in. Katsuki witnesses the full force of Izuku’s boundless hero-worshipping energy and enthusiasm. Izuku witnesses the full extent of Katsuki’s relentless confidence and Peter Pan cockiness. both boys see each other for who they are in their entirety, and accept each other.

this is a fundamental bond. there is trust built between the two of them at a critical, formative age. it’s a relationship formed so early on that it’s likely that neither of them can actually recall a time before they met the other. they are and have always been a constant in each other’s lives. they’re a lot like siblings in terms of that kind of closeness and complete understanding of the other, both the good and the bad. in fact I’d say that Izuku’s use of “Kacchan” (and Katsuki’s automatic acceptance of it) isn’t that different from a younger brother’s use of “Niisan” for his older brother. it’s very revealing of the type of relationship they have. and that includes the typical sibling squabbles as well. it’s very much a relationship that’s taken for granted; there’s no filter, no effort to hold back, no attempt at trying to tone down their behavior around one another. there is whining and bragging and squabbling and name-calling and tears, just as much as there is cooperation and respect and trust. because at the end of the day, the assumption is that the relationship will endure no matter what, so they can go at each other as hard as they can and it doesn’t matter. the other one’s presence is just a given. that’s the kind of relationship that this term “childhood friends” really encapsulates, I think.

what I am trying to say here is that although it’s often viewed by fandom as an imbalanced relationship at best, and a toxic/broken one at worst, I think this is an incredibly important bond to the two of them. this is a relationship that has deep, irreplaceable value. the value lies in being known without having to suffer through the whole mortifying ordeal part. in the absolute, taken-for-granted surety that the other will always be there; in the constant, reassuring, and familiar presence; and in the security of knowing where they stand.

and what that in turn all means is that when four-year-old Bakugou Katsuki is struck by the thought that this relationship is being threatened, that the status quo may not always be quo, that the bond he’s come to rely on may have been built on a crumbling foundation, the emotional response which we are actually seeing here is not anger.

it’s fear.

this is the person who knows him better than anyone else does, and who, knowing all that, has always seemingly found something to admire in him. this is the person who’s always followed him no matter what. this is someone who looked up to him and believed in him, and whose belief and admiration perhaps more than anyone else’s filled him with pride and confidence. so the sudden fear, however ridiculous or unfounded (because at the end of the day he was just a preschooler, and that’s important to remember -- the fact that this fear, misplaced as it is, was based off of a scared four-year-old’s logic, and was incredibly real and overwhelming to said four-year-old), that Katsuki might lose this relationship -- or worse, the fear that the relationship was never real to begin with and was based on a lie and was unreciprocated and he was being strung along and laughed at behind his back the whole time -- is absolutely crushing to him.

because what he realizes in this moment is that in some ways, Izuku is already better than him at being a hero. and this realization, along with the fact that Izuku tries to help him and Katsuki misinterprets that as a gesture of pity or scorn, leads to a sudden cascade of other disastrous fears, including (1) the fear that Izuku is a sudden obstacle to his dream of becoming the number one hero, (2) fear that Izuku is looking down on him and not taking him seriously, and (3) fear that he won’t be able to catch up, because he doesn’t understand this mysterious quality that Izuku has, because that something isn’t physical strength, and that’s the only thing he’s ever considered up until now. and the one thing he does understand is that whatever it is (hint hint, it’s actually heart, and the determination to save and protect others), it’s something he himself lacks.

these are the fears which rise to the surface in this instant, and the fears which Katsuki is on some level at least aware of, and subsequently these are the fears which actually get confessed during Deku VS Kacchan Part 2 and are finally addressed. so all this is stuff we more or less already knew. 

but here’s another thought: I believe that this whole time, there was actually a fourth underlying fear which has actually been at the core of all those other fears from the beginning, and which has stayed with him this entire time, and which is such a profoundly upsetting thought to him that he refuses to consciously acknowledge it at all, and yet at the same time also reconstructs his entire personality around it. and that fear is simply this: that Izuku is going to leave him behind.

that’s it. he fears being left behind and discarded by the one person who has always been there. and yeah, okay, I do realize that this is a particular take that will probably have some people going, “uh, what” and gesturing towards THE ENTIRETY OF BAKUGOU’S BEHAVIOR TOWARD DEKU THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE SERIES and raising their eyebrows. and look, yeah, I get it. the fuck kind of fanficcy, melodramatic “deep down the two of them were closer than anything” take is this. “you’re telling me Katsuki’s absolutely reprehensible behavior toward Izuku for a full ten years of their lives had less to do with him being full of himself and hating on Izuku for being quirkless, and more to do with him being sad and fearful and upset over the thought of losing his closest friend?”

but... yeah. that’s exactly what I’m telling you. because for starters, his reaction is about 50 times too over-the-top for it to be anything else. but because also, his reaction to this one fear is so starkly different from the way we’ve seen him react to all of those other fears. usually, when Katsuki is faced with a challenge, he has a very specific response:

so why, then, would his reaction toward Izuku throwing down the gauntlet be any different? hell, we’ve seen how he reacts toward people that are stronger than him (Todoroki), and towards people he thinks aren’t taking him seriously (again, Todoroki), and it’s completely different from how he treated Izuku. his entire personality shifted from being cocky and confident and nearly always having a grin plastered on his face, to him being hostile and defensive and antisocial and almost never, ever smiling. in fact he doesn’t ever really seem be happy at all.

so yeah. this is my take. he fears being left behind. it’s not just that he fears losing to Izuku; it’s that he fears losing Izuku. because of course he does, because given the significance of that bond as explained above, that’s the natural thing to fear. the two of them have always been together. he’s never not had Izuku there. and so he might bitch about it and act like he doesn’t care about it, but in truth it’s because he fears the loss of it so much that he lashes out defensively -- no you can’t push me away, if you even try I’m going to push you away first so you can’t hurt me.

because that’s what it is, isn’t it? bullying Izuku every time he gets too close. telling him over and over again to stop following him, and to not try and get into UA. Izuku, from his perspective, is looking down on him, so at the end of the day it’s just easier for him to convince himself that he doesn’t even like Izuku, that he’s just someone who’s in his way, and that Izuku isn’t the one leaving him behind, fuck that, he’s the one who’s going to leave Izuku behind. that it’s his choice. it just hurts less. fear as anger, because anger is just easier to deal with; anger gets you fired up and helps motivate you; and anger doesn’t leave you feeling as hollow inside. or at least it can help distract you from that feeling.

so. this is all pretty goddamn miserable, all things considered. and so it goes for the next decade of their lives. except Izuku never does go away. and then one day he goes and saves his life, and from there on out we basically know the rest.

fast forward to the present! or I guess technically three months ago, since as of chapter 257 the present is now Late March/DAWN OF THE FINAL DAY (24 HOURS REMAIN), apparently, and what I actually want to talk about now is the internship, and its impact on their relationship as seen since then.

I’ve already talked about the internship’s general impact on Katsuki in a previous essay, so I won’t really get into it at length again here, but basically the short version is that I think (or am at least hoping) that over the course of this whole thing, Katsuki finally started to broaden his perspective to be a little less self-focused. and as a result of that, I think that seeing Endeavor’s broken relationship with his family, and in particular watching Endeavor apologize to Natsuo and tell him “you don’t need to forgive me” (and Natsu being all WELL YEAH, I WASN’T GONNA) was kind of a much-needed kick in the pants for him as far as making him realize that his relationship with Deku, newly renovated and given a fresh coat of paint after the whole Ground Beta fight, and finally starting to look a bit like its old self again after all this time... maybe isn’t actually quite as sound as he thought it was.

and isn’t that a fun thought. because here they were finally starting to fix that shit after all this fucking time. after a decade of constantly worrying about Izuku surpassing him and passing him on by, he finally realized that this fear was unfounded the whole time... only to subsequently realize that there’s another reason now why that relationship might still be in jeopardy. that being the small fact that, oh right, Katsuki has been a straight up dick to him for the past ten years. oh shit.

this is something he never once thought about before. because previously he was too blinded by his own fears, and his conviction that he was the one being looked down on, and that Izuku was the one who instigated everything. and then once he finally realized he’d gotten it wrong, I think there was a delay before it finally hit him just how much hurt and harm he actually caused, simply because he’s not used to examining things from anyone else’s perspective other than his own. and then there’s also the fact that this entire time, Izuku has never once really shown any kind of lingering bitterness or hostility toward him in spite of everything. in fact he’s been seemingly overjoyed to finally have that friendship rekindled again, and he’s been more admiring toward Katsuki than ever.

in short, I’m pretty sure that up until very recently, Katsuki has just sort of been taking Izuku’s forgiveness for granted. just assuming that he already had been forgiven, even though yeah, okay, he was pretty bad. he just had no reason to think otherwise, because Izuku’s personality is so kind and accepting and understanding that he never even showed a hint of harboring any kind of bad feelings toward him over it. not to mention that all of the really bad stuff happened so long ago -- going on two years now! -- and Izuku has never once said anything about it! and so Katsuki, being the dumbass he is (and also subconsciously wanting to avoid the guilt, no doubt, because hoo boy, that is not a pleasant emotion at all), just sort of assumed that it was all right. that they were past it.

but... is that actually true? are they, really? or is he just telling himself that because it’s what he wants to think? after all, he did recently learn that he interpreted every single one of Izuku’s actions pretty much 100% wrong for about a dozen years. so fair to say he might not be so good at reading him. and, well... what he did to him was really bad. he was really fucking awful. regardless of how generous and kindhearted Izuku might be, Katsuki really has no right to just expect forgiveness, actually. he has no idea what kind of feelings are actually lurking there beneath that freckly surface. just look at all the resentment Endeavor’s kids have bottled up toward him for what he did. and maybe Izuku is only trying so hard to get along with him now because of what All Might said, about how the two of them are supposed to try and learn from each other. and isn’t it possible, and maybe even likely, that deep down he actually hates him as much as Natsuo hates Endeavor?

so there’s the bitter irony: Katsuki spent a dozen years believing that Izuku spited him, and trying his best to push him away so as not to feel the hurt of being spited, only to finally realize that the enmity between them was all in his head, and that in truth, he was the one driving the wedge in between them and chipping away at the cracks the entire time. that in reality he was the one doing the damage. that the thing he was so afraid of was never actually a real possibility until he brought it into existence, but that it does exist, now -- the possibility that their bond really might have been destroyed. and that it’s entirely his fault. that he created his own demons and dragged them into the light.

so now he’s afraid all over again, except that this time, he has absolutely no idea what to do. if he tries to push Izuku away again, he’ll only bring about the worst-case possible outcome that much faster. not to mention that he already played that song for more than a decade, and if there’s one thing it taught him, it’s that he hates that tune almost as much as the alternative.

so then what he should do, clearly, is apologize. that’s the right thing, obviously. the heroic thing. and I don’t think he’s incapable of moving past his pride in order to do it. and on top of that, I think he probably wants to apologize because he actually is sorry! but I do think there is something else that’s currently holding him back. and that something, once again, is fear.

Katsuki is normally one to face his fears head on. in fact, I’ve previously gone on record as saying that he would apologize without hesitation once he realized how badly he fucked up, because he’s not one to shy away from accepting responsibility no matter what the consequences. but now, though, I think that I was wrong. it’s not that he doesn’t want to take responsibility, or that he doesn’t think an apology is owed. rather, I think I underestimated just how great this one, last, biggest fear of his is. the fear of that possible rejection. the idea that Izuku might not accept. that he might say no. that it might simply be too little, too late.

it’s the one thing Katsuki has never been able to face. the fear that started this all to begin with. it’s the one fear that has shaped him since his childhood, and the one fear that he stands frozen and powerless against. the fear of having the one person who’s always admired him no matter what revealing that in truth, he doesn’t. the fear of having all his deepest doubts and fears confirmed. if he isn’t seen as redeemable or worthy to Izuku, who knows him best, who’s seen him at both his highest and lowest and understands him to a degree which one else does, not All Might (whose approval, by the way, also runs through Deku and which he also stands to lose) or his parents or teachers or his other friends... if he’s seen as beyond forgiveness by him, then that’s a blow he can’t recover from.

so now he’s stuck here in this precarious position with Izuku where he doesn’t want to take a step backwards again, but is too afraid to try and move forward. which brings us to the current chapter, where for the time being it seems like he’s decided to simply embrace the status quo, which in his mind is “rivals.”

so he’s leaning hard into that now, and simply pretending like things between him and Izuku have already been fixed, without actually taking the steps necessary to really move past it, because in the end it’s just easier. and I think that he will continue as is until that status quo either becomes too difficult or painful to maintain (i.e. the guilt becomes too much to bear), or until something happens to finally trigger a boost of courage in him, or a realization that he needs to stop being selfish and own up to his actions.

but eventually that will happen. and I think he knows that deep down. if nothing else, this is something that’s currently standing in the way of him becoming the number one. he has no right to ever call himself a hero if he can’t even muster up the courage to apologize, and to accept whatever consequences may come with that, just as Endeavor did, even if it potentially means being shut down and cast aside. he has no right to expect or demand anything else.

but at the end of the day, Katsuki is still only human, and still a young one at that. and he has only just gotten his friend back. and I can tell you right now that Izuku is not the only one who feels relief and even gratitude at being able to have a “normal-ish” conversation with the other after all this time, regardless of whether or not Katsuki might deny it. and really, there’s no rush. he’ll have to face it soon enough, and he knows.

but for now, this is nice.

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch19. Cut Off One Head…

Summary: The Avengers have been tracking Hydra for a number of months now, systematically making their way through each base that their intel provides them…but a routine business trip turns out to be something far more sinister than Katie and Tony were planning for…

Warnings: Violence, kidnapping, bad language, angst… 18+

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: The next few chapters take a bit of DARK turn…warnings will be detailed. @angrybirdcr​ provided a special banner for these next three chapters, and another wonderful edit...

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 18

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

 September 2014

“I’m not saying that I’m not open to the idea, I just don’t understand why you think we need to buy the firm.” Katie said for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. Tony glared at her and simply shook his head as he sat waiting in the reception area of the office block in Minnesota. “I’m not even gonna ask what you were doing that kept you up so late you clearly didn’t get enough sleep last night you cranky brat.” Katie rolled her eyes but she felt a small smirk pulling at her lips as she remembered very well the events of last night as Steve had quite frankly lost his shit at the fact she was wearing the new baby blue lace matching underwear set he had bought her just because he wanted to, but she caught herself. “Sleep or lack of, has nothing to do with it. I’m serious, Tony. We don’t need it”. “Investing” he said holding his finger up “building the brand. That’s what business is all about.” She groaned “Thanks for the lesson on running a business, you know, in case I didn’t know how to, but that is NOT the vision I have for SIP.” “Look, you said yourself when this proposal landed on your desk you were curious.” “I am!” She protested, and she was. From the research they had done, the company that had approached them, Hall General Publishers LTD, held the same ideas as SIP, except they focused on Biographies that were published in series magazines. They had reached out to SIP for a potential collaboration on a fiction series that they had been approached to run and felt it was out of their field, but they were keen to see if they could join forces. It had instantly caught Katie’s attention and imagination but as usual Tony had gone off on one and suggested they buy the smaller company out. “I’m curious about their proposal, and the potential to do business, collaborate yes, but not take over!” “Look, it’s a day out of the office, chance to forget about Tin Man and Hydra” Tony shrugged and Katie gave a groan of frustration again. “And their profits are pretty impressive. We can use them, keep their brand…” “Whatever.” She glanced around at the foyer. It was clinical, white, all clean lines. Nothing like the entrance to Stark, sorry Avengers Tower as it was now called .Mind you, that was to be expected from a ‘rent an office’. Eddie Hall, the MD of HGP had requested the meeting take place away from either of their offices to avoid anyone catching news of the potential collaboration and had arranged to hire a room at block some 10 miles outside of Saint Paul. Tony had shrugged when Katie questioned it, saying it wasn’t unusual for people to hire external meeting venues in order to keep things under the radar. “Miss Stark, Mr Stark, I’m so sorry,” the dark haired man hurrying across the foyer said. He was about 6 foot tall, slim, and was wearing a sharp black suit. Both Katie and Tony stood up, Tony extending a hand.

“Mr Hall I presume?”

 “Yes.” The man said, shaking both their hands, his manner flustered. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to ensure the room was ready.”

“It’s only a few minutes.” Katie said smiled at him, “No apologies necessary.”

 They followed him into the elevator and he selected the top floor and turned to the siblings

“Thank you for coming out here. I know the cloak and dagger thing is probably a bit much but I don’t want people getting wind of it. There’s a few changes coming at the company and I don’t want any of them making any assumptions…” “Understandable.” Tony sniffed, looking around the elevator.

They emerged onto the top floor, and he led them left down the corridor. Katie looked around, the whole place smelt of paint and there was decorating equipment dotted around. She frowned. “It’s a new office facility.” Hall explained, looking at her. “Owned by a friend of mine and they’re still kitting it all out. But he said this was the best room to use. It’s mocked up like a board room you see…” Katie nodded and shared a look with Tony, she was starting to feel ever so slightly uneasy. Tony just shook his head and patted his pocket where his trusty Iron gauntlet cuff sat. Neither of them had come with their suits, this was supposed to be a straight forward business meeting after all. But she took a deep breath, she was probably just being over sensitive after everything that had happened recently…

Hall stopped outside a door to the left and opened the room, revealing nothing but darkness. “Oh, sorry,” Hall let out a sigh of frustration, sweeping into the room. “Yes. Let me just… find the lights.” Tony looked at Katie, arching an eyebrow. 

No window? He mouthed at her, his hand slipping into his pocket as they stepped into the room, Katie not quite sure they should be to be honest. “Yes. Here we go,” the man said brightly, flipping on the light and flooding the small room with light as the door slammed shut behind them.

That’s why it didn’t have a window. It was a fucking storage room. And it contained three men in dark suits standing before them, each with a rifle trained on their chests. Katie instantly stopped, drawing a deep breath of shock. Besides her she saw Tony in the corner of her eye quickly move to pull the cuff from the depth of his pocket, but he suddenly stumbled forward and fell immediately, the cuff flying out of his hand as the man they knew as Mr Hall stepped round them both and leaned against the wall to their right.

Katie spun round to see another man to the left and her eyes widened as she instantly recognised him.

“Grant?”  She frowned, looking up at the face of her ex "What… what’s going on? "You know, I thought when you dumped all those files on the internet you might have actually read them.” He smirked, stepping forward and glancing down at Tony who had sat up and was watching him, his face contorted with hatred and rage. Katie swallowed as she took in his words before she shook her head as her eyes grew wide in sudden understanding.

“Heil HYDRA.” Ward’s smile spread further across his face.

The agents around the room started to close in. One of them, a larger built man who reminded her a little of Rumlow spoke in a deep voice.

“This is the one you say we need?” Ward nodded and at that point Tony slowly got to his feet, backing up, placing himself between his sister and the man who is advancing on her, the two of them backing towards the door.

“Need me for what?” Katie said, her voice soft as her back hit the wooden surface.

“Answers.” The large man said, looking bored at Tony’s display of protectiveness.

 “About what?” She said, a bit louder this time.

“Well, you see Kay…” Ward smirked and Katie turned to her left to look at him as Tony emitted a low growl in his throat at the use of his old pet name for her, Ward chuckled before he started again “We’ve had a bit of a problem since you and your boyfriend, sorry fiancée, congratulations on that by the way.” He smiled, and she glared at him in response “Yes, ever since you took down SHIELD, we’ve been a little bit on the back foot, constantly watching our backs, trying to figure out where SHIELD or the Avengers are going to pop up next. So we figured, we needed a bit of inside intel.” The larger officer yanked Katie’s arm and pulled her out from between the door and Tony, flinging her into the middle of the room where another one of the agents grabbed her. Another one stepped quickly in front of her brother, blocking his path to her.

 “Ok, stop…” Tony held his hands up, turning back to Ward and the other man. “If you want someone, take me. I’m more involved in the Avengers anyway…“

His voice was level but Katie could hear a level of desperation.

“Yeah, much as I’d love to take you in for a kicking Tony, the problem is she’s the only one of you who knows he’s alive and what he’s likely to be doing so…” “Knows who is alive?” Tony frowned as Katie swallowed thickly. Coulson, that’s the only person they could be talking about. But before she could say anything one of the agents butt Tony hard in the back of the head with the handle of his gun and he fell to the floor.

 Katie yelled out and started towards him, but the Agent holding her tightened his grip on her arm to the point of it being painful.

 “Now you’re gonna come with us, out of this building, quietly, no fuss and no escape attempts” The big man spoke to her “Otherwise Ward here is gonna put a bullet in your dearest bro’s head.” “And how do I know you’re not gonna do that anyway?” Katie whispered through her tears.

“Because it’s more trouble than its worth.” Ward shrugged. “And frankly, the thought of him alive, worrying about you is far more satisfying.” Katie glanced down at her brother, who was starting to push himself up, until Ward kicked him hard in the ribs and he collapsed, groaning, as Ward hit him on the back of the head again, knocking him out.

“Alright, alright!” She protested, her voice cracking. “I’ll come. Just leave him alone.” She was shoved harshly forward, her heeled feet slipping slightly as the door was pulled open. She stopped suddenly, turning to Ward. “You better watch your back .When Steve and the rest of the team finds out about this you’re a dead man.” Ward chuckled. “Quaking in my boots, Sugar.” She was shoved forward again, and managed one glance over her shoulder at Tony who was sprawled on the floor before she was shoved out of the room.

***** Tony groaned, as he pushed himself up slowly, the room spinning.

 “Kiddo?” he croaked, as he looked around. He was alone, no sign of anyone. He scrambled across the floor, and tried the door which was locked, before he slumped heavily against it, his trembling hands started to feel his suit pockets. His phone was gone, of course, as was his cuff and Katie’s laptop. He lay his head back against the door as he started to piece together what had happened. It was an ambush, Ward…HYDRA…

 Hydra had his sister. For information. About someone no one knew was alive? Were they referring to Fury? He ran his hand over his face again, and was just about to think about screaming in the vain hope they heard him on reception, but he stopped, suddenly. They hadn’t taken his watch.

Thick HYDRA bastards. 

With shaky fingers he pressed the button at the side and the face lit up orange.

 "Yes, sir?“ JARVIS spoke and Tony almost gave a sob of relief before he spoke a simple instruction, all he can think to blurt out before he gives into the throbbing in his head once more.

“Alert Captain Rogers. Send help.”

***** Steve was in the now finished training room with Thor. The pair of them were currently debating if the large room would stand up to them trying out a new move- Thor hitting Steve’s shield with his hammer to create the same wave it had done in the forest that time. It was useful, and Steve was thinking about perfecting it, seeing if it could be directed in anyway.

 “What metal is it made from anyway?”  Steve nodded to Mjolnir as Thor was throwing it up and down.

 “It was forged from the heart of a dying star- Nidevalir…” Thor said, as Steve picked up his shield.

 “It’s made from a star?”

 “No, metal, which was forged by a star.” Thor corrected.

Steve was about to comment that he still hadn’t answered the question when a red light started flashing in the corner of the room, along with a low siren, and Jarvis’ voice cut across them.

“Captain Rogers, Mr Stark has just sent a distress signal.”

 Steve instantly looked at Thor, swallowing slightly. “A distress…they were on a business trip. “I’ve no other details other than to alert you and send help.” There was a loud clap of thunder and Steve turned to see Thor was now clad in his armour and the God nodded at him as the two of them sprinted from the room. Steve’s mouth was dry and his mind was running overtime about what trouble they could possibly be in, but as they headed down the corridor to the armoury he found his voice.

“JARVIS, tell everyone to suit up and meet at the jet, now.” “Of course Captain. I’ve patched the location through to the jet.”

“I’m sure they will be fine.” Thor offered as some attempt at re-assurance. But as Steve shrugged on the top half of his uniform and grabbed his utility belt, he didn’t feel very re-assured.

Maria Hill met them in the hangar “I heard the signal, is everything ok?” “Tony and Katie…” Steve informed her. “They were at a business meeting but Tony just sent out a distress signal.” Maria looked at him and then nodded “I’ll start doing some digging into who they were meeting.”

 He nodded, and strode up the ramp to the jet. They’d been in the air about 30 minutes when Maria patched through to them

 “I don’t know who they were meeting but it isn’t Eddie Hill” she sighed “He was reported missing three days ago by his wife.”

 “So whoever took them got to him first.” Nat looked at Steve. “Took him out, replaced him with an imposter”

“And it’s probably safe to assume he’s dead.” Steve said, flatly. “Hill, start doing some digging. Into Hall…anything that might help.”

“On it Cap.”

It took them approximately another ten minutes to get to the location JARVIS had programmed for them. And it felt like ten years. Ever since receiving the distress call the entire team had been on tenterhooks, Steve especially, remaining stoic and unyielding, although he felt anything but, knowing his girl could be in trouble.

 The receptionists face was a picture when the Avengers, led by a focussed, stern looking Captain America stormed into the building and demanded to know what room the Starks were in. Tony heard them shouting on the corridor, Thor kicking over paint cans as he went, and he yelled, banging on the door.

 “Stand back…” Steve’s voice was loud before he aimed a huge kick at the door, breaking it easily along with the frame which splintered out of the wall.

“Where’s Katie?” Steve asked, swallowing and looking round, almost as if he expected her to be hiding somewhere.

“They took her.” Tony said, pacing in front of him “I tried to stop them but…”

“Who?” Steve looked at him and Tony sighed, his eyes brimming “Tony, who took her?” Steve’s voice was desperate.

“HYDRA.” he bit out, and Steve felt his mouth drop open before he took a deep breath and ran his hand over his face. “I don’t understand…“ Thor began, but Tony cut him off. “And you think I do?” he shouted at the God, his entire body trembling as he stopped pacing in front of him “I… we…” He stopped, unable to speak, his breaths coming in short, rapid bursts. Steve was too preoccupied to notice. He was simply staring down at the floor, his posture slumped as he removed his helmet which felt like it was suffocating him, his head kept replaying what Tony had told him.

 HYDRA had her. They had her.

 Banner grabbed Tony by the shoulders and gave him a single shake before he looked at him “Tony, focus on me, ok, keep breathing…”

 Tony slumped to the floor and Banner knelt down with him. “How did this happen?” Steve’s voice was thick as he turned to look at him. Tony swallowed and Bruce squeezed his shoulder “It was a trap. The man, Hall. We came to meet him only Ward and…” “Ward?” Clint’s head snapped round at the sound of that name, frowning “Ward is Hydra?”

Tony nodded and Steve let out a lowly growl of frustration.

“They wanted her, said they needed inside intel. I told them to take me, I said, take me instead, but they wouldn’t, Ward said that she’s the only one who knows…knows that someone is alive and what he’s likely to be doing…”

 At that Steve’s mind started whirring. Ward- she’d worked that last case with him and Coulson. She was the only Avenger that knew Coulson was alive, bar him, and no one knew she’d told him. Other than Fury that is.

 “Who’s alive, who were they talking about?” Natasha frowned.

“I don’t know!” Tony bellowed.

“Maybe they meant Fury?” Banner suggested, looking up.

Steve’s voice was quiet as he looked up. “They mean Coulson.”

 “What?” Tony wheeled round to face him “Coulson? He’s…he was killed, they buried him! We were at the funeral!” Steve shook his head before looking up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath “He’s alive. The last case Katie worked at SHIELD, the Asgardian staff case…” “The what?” Thor frowned, but Steve ignored him as he continued.

 “It was Coulson’s team she worked with. Ward was part of it.” “And you didn’t think to tell us?” Clint frowned at Steve

“What good would it have done Barton?” Steve snapped, before once more his hands ran over his face. The room fell silent until Nat spoke again.

“Ok, so even if he is alive, that doesn’t explain why they think she knows something.” she pressed “What do they think she knows that’s so important they’d risk taking her?” Steve grit his teeth “I’ve no idea. But I bet Fury does.”

“I’ll get Hill to find him.” Natasha says, pulling out her phone and leaving the room.

“I need to get to back to New York to access everything.” Tony said, suddenly “Start searching our intel, anything…” “What about the media?” Bruce suddenly said. “Should we release her photo?” Tony looked up but before he could speak Steve answered.

 "No. If we do that…” He shook his head. “The press’ll start digging and it could flush them further underground.” “Cap” Clint protested gently. “If we can get her picture out there, have more people on the lookout…”

 Steve shook his head, a miserable yet stubborn pout pulling at his bottom lip. “No.” “We are in the dark here!” Barton snapped.

 Steve turned on him, puffing out his chest. “There’s no way they did this and didn’t leave any sort of trail.”

 “A trail? Jesus Cap, these bastards grew within SHIELD for over seventy fucking years and no one noticed!” Clint snapped

 “I KNOW!” Steve roared.

Thor, who had been watching the exchange quietly up until that point stepped forward, placing his large hand on the Captain’s shoulder.

 “I know it is hard, but you need to remain calm Captain.” he said. Steve looked up at him, giving him a nod, taking a deep breath. Thor turned to Barton “I agree that we should have everyone we can hunting for little Stark, but maybe not straight away. We should regroup, get as much information as we can.” Clint nodded. “I’ll go see if they have CCTV. Maybe we can identify who else was with Ward.” Steve nodded at him as he turned and left the room.

 “I’m going to see if I can find anything outside.” Thor said “tracks, a trail…” he released his hold on the Captain leaving him in the room with just Bruce and Tony.

 Bruce had both his hands on Tony’s shoulders as the man sank to the floor, burying his face in his hands. “I tried to stop them…” Tony sobbed, his head rocking back and forth “I tried, I really did.”

Steve said nothing. He couldn’t. Instead he stood impossibly still despite the ground feeling ready to crumble beneath him.

*****

Thor’s search drew a blank. So after quizzing the staff who were distraught when they realised what had happened, they took the CCTV footage and headed back to base. The jet was silent, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

Steve was trying to make connections. What was Coulson doing, and why did HYDRA, mistakenly, think Katie knew about it? Why had no one told them Ward was Hydra? There was no logic in any of this, other than the fact they were desperate, broken and desperate to take the one person they knew for sure had a link to the assumed dead agent. And as that thought echoed in his head, he realised Barton was right. If he had told the rest of the Avengers about Coulson, then maybe they would have taken anyone else. The fact that he found himself wishing it was one of the others instead of her made him feel slightly ashamed but he couldn’t help it. Suddenly, the jet became hot and he felt the bile rising in his throat. He spun up out of his chair and just made it to the small bathroom at the back of the jet before he threw up.

They arrived back at base just after 2 in the afternoon, and immediately went into overdrive, running facial recognition on the CCTV, Tony instructing Jarvis to sift through the files for any mention of Ward in the vain hope it would give them a clue as to where they might have taken her.

Steve was numb, for once he was failing to direct his team, so Clint took it upon himself to organise everyone, which he was grateful for. Suddenly he felt his phone ring, and he pulled it out of his pocket as fast as he could, a low grown of frustration coming from his throat when he saw it was Sam.

 “Sam, I need to keep the line clear.” He answered, sharply.

“Woah, Cap…what’s going down?”

“Katie…” Steve stumbled over his words “She’s…she’s been taken, by HYDRA.” There was a pause and then the man spoke again, four words, before he hung up.

 “I’m on my way.”

Steve slid his phone back into his pocket and took a deep breath. He needed to focus. He was no good to Katie like this. He glanced over at his team, locked eyes with Thor who gave him a nod, and he strode across to see if there was anything he could help with.

It was an hour or so before they made any decent progress.

 "We got a positive ID on one of the Agents.” Hill said as she strode into the common room, handing Steve a file. He took it and glanced down, moving the surveillance photos they had extracted from the CCTV footage to one side, reading the information in it as Bruce continued. “Eric Jones. Ex SHIELD enforcer, clearly still active in Hydra. He worked out of one of the Canadian bases SHIELD had in Toronto, it fell when SHIELD did. We’re still running facial for the others, but I’ve told JARVIS to focus on the guy that Tony said was posing as Hall.” Steve nodded.

“We have a home address for Jones.” Hill added “But we’ve no idea if he’s been there recently or…” “We’ll check it out.” Nat stood up, patting Clint on his chest with the back of her hand. He nodded and stood up just as Steve spoke again.

“How did Ward know?” he looked up and turned to Tony “how did any of them know that you were gonna be there?”

Tony didn’t look away from the window as he replied "I don’t know. The company is real, we did all our research. They’re based in Saint Paul, not far from where we were.”

 “So either Ward got wind of it and took it as an opportunity or Hall was in on it from the start.”

 “If he was in on it then why kill him?” Thor asked gravely.

“Maybe they were worried he was going to blab.” Clint shrugged.

 “When we’ve been to Jones’ we’ll head over there, see if we can dig anything up.” Clint looked at Steve who gave him a nod before JARVIS cut across them.

 “Mr Stark. Director Fury and Agent Coulson are here.” “Send them up J.” Tony said, standing up.

 Steve took a deep breath and looked at Clint and Natasha “You two wait and see what he has to say before you go. It might help.”

*****

The news Fury and Coulson gave was received as well as could be anticipated. Thor let out a loud growl, turning over his chair in anger whilst the rest of the group started to angrily chatter amongst themselves, all except Steve. He simply looked at Fury, then got up from his chair, the anger radiating from every inch of his body as he strode towards him, jaw clenching.

“Rogers…” he began but shut up immediately as the Captain’s fist connected with the former Director’s nose with a satisfying crack which rang around the now silent room. Fury stumbled backwards, falling to the floor, and he wiped at his face, eyeing the trickle of blood from his shattered nose as waved away Hill away who had stepped forwards to help him.

 “Come on…” Thor patted Steve’s chest, “this isn’t helping anyone.”

 “You knew?” Steve glared down at the director. “You knew they had the damned thing and didn’t think to tell any of us that you were tracking it?”

 “It would have blown Coulson’s cover.” Fury staggered to his feet, wiping his nose. “What he is doing has to go under the radar…” “And because of that they took her.” Steve spat “Because Ward knows she knows he…”he pointed to Coulson “is alive, and because we worked with you to take them down, they think she knows something!”

 “Let’s just break this down…” Tony sighed, rubbing his face “How did they get it? I thought the Sceptre was on Asgard?” Tony frowned, looking at Thor. “You took it with Loki.”

 “No, I took the tesseract.” Thor said. “The sceptre was taken by err…not SHIELD, well a part of SHIELD but…”

 “Why did you not tell us about this?” Clint snapped, his usual placid mannerisms now spiked with anger as he turned to Maria. “Why has it taken us raiding fuck knows how many bases, and Nova getting taken for us to find out?”

“Barton, The rubble of the Triskelion took ages to sort out, the other SHIELD strongholds had been obliterated or infiltrated at the same time” she explained “Hundreds if not thousands of things have gone missing. Files, hard drives, laptops, alien artefacts, security badges, flash drives… the list keeps growing. We didn’t know it was missing until recently!” “Recently? How recent?” “Last week.” She looked down and Steve gave a snort as Clint growled.

“You should have destroyed it.” Steve looked at Fury, “Just like everything else you had in that god-damned lab.”

“We couldn’t” Coulson looked at him, and then Steve gave a sarcastic laugh as he understood perfectly what the man was saying.

“Of course not, because you never had it in the first place did you?” “What, I thought…” Tony began but Natasha cut him off.

“Sitwell and STRIKE collected the sceptre. They were HYDRA, they’ve had it right from the start.“

The room fell silent bar silent and a large clap of thunder started outside, making them jump.

“Sorry.” Thor grumbled.

“Fuck this shit.” Clint suddenly spat out, “Nat come on, we got somewhere to be.” he turned to Steve “If we find anything we’ll let you know.” Steve nodded as the arched clapped him on the shoulder and he left.

Nat turned to him, as if she was going to say something, but she didn’t. She swallowed and gave him a nod, before hurrying after her friend. Steve looked down at the floor, which was once more spinning under his feet. Hydra would be trying to get information out of Katie that she simply didn’t have. And the thought of what they would be doing… one more he felt the bile rise in his stomach and he turned, rushing from the room and made it down the corridor to the rest rooms. He pushed open the door of a cubicle, and threw the contents of his stomach up before slumping to the floor, his knees tucked to his chest, and he let out a loud cry of frustration, anger, his chest constricting around him as the tears began to fall.

*****

 Natasha and Clint’s re-con turned up something interesting.

 “Nothing at Jones’ place, it looks like it hasn’t been lived in for months, however, when we spoke to the Deputy CEO who’s running the gaff in Hall’s absence, he recognised the guy posing as Hall.” Clint looked at him “Peter Jackson their head of IT. Ran his face through the system and turns out he’s also known as Gary Jepson, ex SHIELD technician.”

 Steve ran his hand over his face, scratching the stubble on his chin as he glanced down at the photo. He hadn’t shaved since God knows when.

 “So there’s our connection.” He breathed out and Natasha nodded

“Apparently he got the job a few months ago. Timeline tallies with when HYDRA fell. Apparently he and Mr Hall had a mutual love of American Football, they hit it off, used to go for beers at lunch occasionally”

 Tony’s head hurt “I still don’t understand where Ward fits into this?”

“They both worked out of the Fridge.” Natasha said, “At the same time. They must know each other that way.”

 “From what Coulson told us, Ward has been rallying round people he knew.” Clint spoke “And, this is all supposition, but if you ask me Jepson probably tried to go legit, melted into the background post SHIELD falling but when he gets a call from his old friend, who tells him they’re not as dead as they could he reaches out. And then when he hears about the potential deal with SIP…”

 And then it clicked in Steve’s mind. .

 “I don’t think he did hear about it.” He swallowed. “You just said he was their head of IT….” “He could have easily sent those emails from Hall’s account.” Tony gave a groan. “It was all a set up from the start.”

 *****

 It was the week before Christmas. He’d been home from university for 2 weeks and his Dad was already pissing him off. Tonight, both parents were out and Tony was babysitting. He should be out himself, he knew that, Rhodey had invited him to a party, but when Katie had turned those green eyes on him and told him she didn’t want the babysitter she wanted him to stay and ‘hang’ with her (yes, he was especially proud he’d taught his 5 year old sister the word hang) just like he used to before he went away, he’d melted and told his parents to cancel the sitter.

 They’d played a board game- Snakes and Ladders. She won the tie breaker (even though he could have beaten her). They’d then watched The Snowman (well, it was nearly Christmas), Tony doing his best Choir boy impression to make her giggle, they’d had hot chocolate and marshmallows with a candy cane stuck out of the top (yes, he knew she wasn’t allowed it after 6pm but like he gave a shit) he’d then done the whole bedtime routine of supervising whilst she brushed her teeth, but she shoved him out of the room when she needed to pee. Then he’d read her a story, tucked her in well over an hour and a half after she was supposed to be in bed, and was now relaxing with a stolen glass of his dad’s scotch (cheers Dad) in front of Die Hard.  He was about halfway through the film when he heard a small sniff in the hall and she padded into the living room clutching her Winnie the Pooh teddy.

 “What are you doing out of bed?” Tony looked at his sister “I already let you stay up way later than Mom said you could!”

“Bad dream” she sobbed. With a little sigh, he opened his arms and she clambered onto his lap. “There’s a monster under my bed.”

“Nah, I killed it last week, remember?”

“It’s a new one.” She shook her head,  looking at him.

“That so…right…” He stood up.“This calls for the Monster Killer…”

AKA the Vacuum.

Grabbing it, he marched up the stairs and plugged it in. Once it was on he dived under the bed “Get here you son of a…arrrgh…” He made a big deal of thumping the floor and yelling. Eventually he stilled and emerged, turning it off.

“Got it!”

Katie smiled and her hands went up in the air in celebration “My hero, Tones!” before she wrapped her small arms around his neck and he hugged her back.

“I’ll always protect you, Kiddo, what are big brothers for?” "Tony?” His entire body jumped as he looked up and realised it was Pepper. He shifted slightly and let out a small breath. ”Yeah?”

 "It’s late.” She told him simply, but no unkindly. "Come back to bed.”

He shook his head and looked back down at the laptop on his knee. 

“You have to get some sleep.” she sighed, crossing the room before she dropped onto the dark leather sofa besides him “I know it’s hard right now, but – “ "Hard?” he interrupted with a scoff, “Hard? Great description.”

Pepper ignored his jibe and sighed “You haven’t slept in days. We can’t take a step back to where we were after New York. You need to sleep.“

 “I need to keep up with SIP.” he said, shaking his head. “She’s got so many potential authors and projects going…I mean, I can’t let her company crash…what do I tell them all anyway? What do I tell her work force?” “I had an email sent out from HR yesterday.” Pepper said

“Saying what?” Tony rounded on her.

 “That she was on extended leave for the foreseeable.” Pepper said “In the meantime, they’re all reporting into Jenny Jones.” “Who the fuck is Jenny Jones?” Tony looked at her. Pepper took a deep breath.

“She’s the General Manager.” Pepper said “Katie hired her last week.”

He looked at Pepper before the tears sprung into his eyes “the foreseeable…” “I’m sorry.” Pepper says, “I didn’t know what to say.”

 "The foreseeable, until they realise she doesn’t know anything…and they kill her too.” “You don’t know that,” Pepper said, and her voice for the first time trembled.

 Tony looked at her for a moment, before he broke.

*****

The days bled into weeks. And nothing.  They had identified every goddamned HYDRA agent on that CCTV footage now, but they had still found nothing. When Sam had arrived they’d gone back and re-raided every fucking Hydra base they could think of. Nothing. They were stabbing in the dark, and with every day that passed they knew the chances of them finding Katie were getting thinner and thinner.

Steve had a headache. A bad one. One that felt like it was going to split his head in two. He pressed the heel of his palm to the space between his eyes in a desperate attempt to quell the pain.

“Shit, steady on Cap…”

 Steve looked up and stopped before he walked straight into Tony.

“You okay?” Tony asked.

“No.” Steve bit back, before he sighed “Sorry, headache…” He looked at his fiancé’s brother, the worry evident in Tony’s face as well. In fact, it seemed the pair of them now sported that expression constantly, and had done since Katie had gone missing just over 3 weeks ago.

“I thought you were going to get some sleep” Tony said as his eyes scanned down Steve’s body, taking in the fact he was in the same jeans and T-shirt he had been at their meeting last night. Another useless meeting.

He lets out a long breath. “Couldn’t.”

“Me neither.” Tony shook his head, shrugging “Kinda hard… “

“I know.” Steve nodded, looking at Tony.

"I just…I just keep thinking,” Tony swallowed. “I keep thinking about… how I could’ve avoided this. How I should have spotted it was a trap, how I couldn’t stop them taking her…” “This isn’t your fault Tony.” Steve shook his head, thankful that he could now say this honestly. At first he had been angry, angry that the man hadn’t been quicker or able to protect his sister, but that anger had fast dissipated. Without the Iron Man suit, Tony wasn’t a trained fighter. He was physically fit, yes, but not everyone had super serum coursing through their veins. The man was as broken as he was at her being gone, his sister, daughter even, gone, without a trace.

 "I miss her,” Tony said, his soft words still cut harshly into the surrounding quiet. “I just… miss her.”

Steve dropped his gaze. He missed her, God did he miss her. They’d only been engaged, for what? Coming up three months when she was taken and were still in that excited phase of it. They hadn’t gotten down to any planning of any sorts, but that hadn’t stopped their late night, post love making discussions about it. Katie gently teasing him and stating all the things she was going to get, like doves, and fire eaters…utter bullshit of course, because she had no desire for any of that showy crap.

He missed her so much it hurt. Her laugh, her smile, the way she looked at him, her bantering with everyone in the common room, the way he would walk into a room where she was speaking with Natasha and the pair of them looked at him and broke into giggles making him paranoid, the way she kissed him, the way she felt, her hands running through his hair.

Tony cleared his throat harshly and Steve looked at him. “Me too Tony, me too.”

**** Chapter 20

**Original Posting**

[dadgonedeku]

When Someone Catcalls Their S/O Hcs...Pt. 1

🥤~SFW & GN!Reader

🥤~Characters: baku, kiri, & todo for pt. 1!! only because these are kinda long...

🥤~Warnings: cursing, catcalling, pervertedness, nasty wasty 🤢, protective bnha boyfriends-

🥤~Yes the emoji is a drink because these boys be drinking their respect women (& everyone else) juice...

Katsuki Bakugou💥

💥~ Oh he’s angy....

💥~ Like ANGY angy...

💥~ “The fuck did you just say to my s/o?!”

💥~ Like how DARE someone have the AUDACITY to say those things to you-

💥~ Someone is getting their ass whooped, period point blank.

💥~ He doesn’t care who they are, what position they’re in, or where they stand, someone even so much as speaks rude things in YOUR DIRECTION and they’re getting their A S S W H O O P E D!

💥~ “I said that they got a nice ass, and those thighs too! Don’t even get me-“

💥~ “SHUT UPPPP!!!”

💥~ Explosions ring out and a familiar popping sound echoes from his palms and you have to hold him back before he starts a scene.

💥~ Oop- too late said pervert is already on the ground with tears in their eyes-

💥~ He grabs you gently and pulls you into a intimate kiss afterward, showing everyone that you’re his and his alone.

💥~ If he sees that you’re uncomfortable or teary eyed after the encounter a switch flips and suddenly he goes from 100 to 0.

💥~ “Fuck s/o, are you okay?” He asks as he pulls you into an area where the two of you can have some privacy, if you’re crying he’ll pull you close into a protective hug, assuring you that you’re safe and that he’ll never let anything like that happen to you again.

💥~ “You shouldn’t have to deal with asshats like that, I promise you I’ll kill every single one of ‘em for ya, got it?”

Eijirou Kirishima🥊

🥊~ Overprotective boyfriend mode ACTIVATED-

🥊~ AND TARGET LOCKED-

🥊~ Kiri don’t P L A Y when it comes to you, and especially your comfort and safety.

🥊~ So when someone DARES to catcall you, especially in front of him, bet your bootay he’s got you behind him and his quirk activated ready to THROW HANDS-

🥊~ This boy is all about chivalry, so when someone isn’t being respectful or ‘manly’, he calls them out on it no matter who they are.

🥊~ “Excuse me? What did you just say to my s/o?” His voice lowers a couple octaves and your eyes can’t help but widen.

🥊~ “Did you not hear me!? They’ve got a Rockin’ bod man! Ooo what I would give to just squeeze-“

🥊~ “That’s enough!” You don’t even get a chance to stop him before he’s running towards them at breakneck speed, and before you know it they’re on the ground writhing in pain from his Red Gauntlet.

🥊~ “It’s not manly or respectful to say things like that to people, especially when you don’t know them, and double especially when you see them with someone else. I’m their boyfriend dude, and if I ever catch you saying anything like what you said to my s/o to anyone else again, you’ll be sorry.”

🥊~ He doesn’t even care to hear the pitiful response before he’s instantly on his way back towards you to make sure you’re okay.

🥊~ He instantly pulls you into a hug, strong arms wrapping around your shoulders and lower back as he kisses your forehead.

🥊~ “I’m so sorry s/o, I promise I won’t let anything happen to you again, you can bet on that one!” He says before drying your welled up eyes with his thumbs and pressing another gentle kiss to your lips.

🥊~ “Let’s go get your favorite food, yeah?” He says in an attempt to take your mind off of the situation as he slings a stern arm around your waist.

🥊~ If you’re still all worked up he’ll just carry you around with your legs wrapped around his waist in front of him and arms around his neck. He doesn’t give a fuck what other people think and you shouldn’t either. You’re beautiful just the way you are, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you feel safe, comfortable, and happy.

Shouto Todoroki❄️🔥

❄️~ oH he is LIVIDDDDD

🔥~ Like LIVID LIVID

❄️~ He stops himself and you right in your tracks, and squeezes your hand in his.

🔥~ He only turns his head at first, not his body...but his HEAD-

❄️~ THATS HOW YOU KNOW HOW LIVID HE IS-

🔥~ How DARE someone say such rude and awful things to you, HIS S/O??? Like don’t they know that it’s invasive and uncomfortable? And if he starts to see you cRY oh boy someone is getting their ASS W H O O P E D-

❄️~ The culprit is instantly met with his heterochromatic eyes, an icy stare and a fiery one all at once.

🔥~ He releases you from his hand before his temperature goes awry, and he makes sure you’re safe before addressing the catcaller any further.

❄️~ “I mean just look at that ass man! And those legs? Beautiful. What I would give to just-“

🔥~ “That’s enough out of you.” He says with a low, deep intimidating tone. Your eyes widen in surprise and he’s already off before you can stop him...not that you could’ve anyways-

❄️~ Seconds go by before the person is all caught in his ice, and your boyfriend lets out a small puff of air from his lips before raising his right hand out to them...directly in their face.

🔥~ “I expect an apology, not to me, but to them...admit your actions, and repent for making my s/o uncomfortable.”

❄️~ “GAh- I’m...IM SORRY- PLEASE- please forgive me-“

🔥~ He turns his head back towards you and his expression of anger softens at the sight of you, shivering and teary eyed. “s/o...?”

❄️~ “It’s fine...let’s just go Sho...”

🔥~ He leaves the person in the ice, his only focus now going towards you and calming you down, he encases you in a protective hold and runs a warm hand through your hair, easing your tense muscles and reassuring you that you’re safe in his arms...

❄️~ “It’s wrong for people to feel like they can do that to you, I apologize s/o. I won’t let it happen again, promise.”

[prismatales]

Late Bloomer: Faltering (Part 1)

Word Count: 3.3K

Bingo slot: Free

Pairings: None

Tag/Warnings: Slight angst.

Synopsis: Sometimes, life throws some unexpected circumstances that can bring doubts.

Here's Part 2 of Late bloomer!

Unfortunately, as much as I would've loved to make this chapter longer in order to introduce Dabi at once, I've been struggling with some heavy writer's block and burnout for these past weeks, but when I said part 2 would be out this week it was a promise, hopefully you guys will enjoy it!

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Isn’t it strange that the most gentle of hearts belong to all the souls on fire?

-Michelle Schaper

“That will be all for today’s lessons. Make sure to enjoy your break, everyone!” Midnight exclaimed, a cheerful smile on her face while all her students were busy packing their stuff, eager to leave and prepare everything they needed for the school break. If luck was on your side, maybe you would be able to plan something out with your siblings once Shouto came back from the training camp. 

“Todoroki. Before you leave, principal Nezu would like to speak with you.”...Or maybe not.

“...Is this about what happened during the exam?” you couldn’t help asking the teacher, nervous about the idea of being in trouble for the little stunt that occurred during your exam. But that couldn’t be the reason the principal was calling, right?

“He just told me to send you to his office. But if this helps out, I think your father was there too.”

“…Of course he is.” You had to hold back the urge to groan in front of the teacher. Blood already warming up just by the mention of your father of all people being in the principal’s office, if this was another attempt to make you switch classes, you’d be having none of it. 

“Did you put confetti in Bakugo’s gauntlets again?” Ren and Hatsume approached you after class, both of them snickered when they remembered the look on the blond’s face as he chased you around the school like a wild beast. The attempt to muffle the laughter failed miserably by the reminder.

“Nope. But if my dear old man’s there, I know what this is about. Anyway, see you next Monday, guys!” They both waved cheerfully before walking away, their figures became smaller and smaller with each step taken until eventually they could no longer be recognized from afar. 

As soon as you began heading towards the principal’s office, a small knot began growing into the pit of your stomach from the nerves. Once you finally stood in front of the door, the first thing you did was knock twice, staying put before the principal’s voice called out through the other side. “Come in!” 

The door was slightly pushed, just enough to peek inside the office. Just as Midnight said, principal Nezu was sitting on his chair and your beloved father was standing nearby with arms crossed. Both of them turned to look in your direction before the principal welcomed you with his characteristic smile.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” You ask out of formality, partially nervous about the attention. 

“Yes, please come take a seat!” He didn’t move from his spot, and neither did your father as they both watched you step inside the office and advance forwards before stopping in front of the principal’s desk. Quietly, you pulled a chair in order to sit down, effortlessly ignoring your father’s presence as subtly as possible.

“There’s something we’d like to discuss with you. It’s not about the exam if that’s what you’re worried about.” You couldn’t help placing a hand over your chest, exhaling in relief with eyes closed. Endeavor’s stare could almost dig a hole at the back of your skull from that reaction, but he’s ignored in favor of looking at the principal. “It’s about your quirk...It’s already been a few weeks after the sports festival, but it appears you’re still having some difficulties controlling it...don’t you?” 

For someone who had as much authority as him, the principal’s question didn’t hold a single speck of malice or mockery behind it, almost sounded like he’s talking to a small child. Which made the situation way more uncomfortable in your eyes, because not only was he mentioning a fact you’ve been trying to so hard to hide, but he was also mentioning all of this in front of the last person you’d want to find out.

Insecurity grew deep inside as you looked down, avoiding eye contact with both males for as long as possible, gripping the fabric of your skirt with a firm grip that dug your nails painfully harsh into the flesh of your thighs.

“The principal’s asking you a question.” Just hearing your father’s voice was enough to make your blood feel like it was boiling, if any of them were able to see under the bangs hiding your face from view they would’ve seen a pair of glowing eyes. Nobody was supposed to know about the lack of control you’ve been struggling with for the past weeks, but it seems that it was more obvious than you thought.

When you looked back at the principal with doubtful eyes, they were no longer filled with that golden light that had already vanished. Hesitating, you finally answered the question.

“Yes, sir…”

“And you didn’t tell anyone this, because?”

“Because, I thought it would be something temporary...and eventually, I would be able to control it on my own.” He observed you with unpredictable eyes, pondering for a moment.

“That’s understandable,” he gave a slight nod with eyes closed “but you have to consider that as a school, it’s our responsibility to help the students grow and this includes helping them learn to control their quirks. There’s also another factor to consider…” 

This time he looked at you straight in the eye. “Remember what happened during the sports festival?” How could you ever forget it? The day your quirk manifested will forever be branded into your memories. “As harsh as this may sound, we’re concerned that this difficulty may end up with something similar happening in the future. Please don’t take it personally.”

It’s understandable that the principal worried about the risk of somebody getting hurt. And yet that didn’t soothe the ache growing inside you. Distracted by these thoughts, you didn’t pay attention to the rest of the conversation between the principal and your father. 

“My suggestion would be for her to attend the training camp alongside the hero department, the training could be a perfect opportunity to learn to control her quirk.” The principal turned his attention back towards you “While it’s not our place to make this kind of decision on a student’s behalf, this is a special case. I hope you understand our reasons, Todoroki-san.”

Nodding silently, your lips were pressed into a thin line in resignation over the school’s decision. But when you thought about it through the adult’s eyes, they were right. It could be dangerous to lose control and potentially getting someone hurt because you decided to be stubborn and handle this on your own.

But who could blame you when that’s pretty much how you grew up? Becoming independent at such a young age in order to lessen the burden on your sibling’s lives. 

“Well then, it’s decided. Look at the bright side, at least your brother will be there as well!” Nezu made an attempt to light up the situation, and you appreciated it. Kind of ironic how someone that’s not even related to you is doing more than your own father. who somehow, had such a feeling of pride radiating from him that if it wasn’t for who was in the room as well, you would have smacked him right in the face with your belt.

After the final arrangements were done, you and your father walked out of the principal’s office, but unlike him, the look on your face was so very sour that it could make a lemon taste sweeter than honey.

You didn’t have the chance to say anything to the man walking in front of you, since he began talking first.

“Before you accuse me of talking the principal into this. They were the ones who called concerning this situation.” He wouldn’t even turn around and it made you feel even more bitter than before, realizing you were the only one to blame for this.

“I do not care if you had anything to do with it. It’s obvious this is just an excuse to try moving me into the hero department.” In an angry fit, you stopped and glared at his back “I said this before and I’ll say it again; Nothing you can do will change my mind, camp or not, I’m staying in the support class!”

Unfortunately for you, that small fit of rage was enough for the ends of your hair to light up, right at the same time he turned to give you a look. “Focus on getting control over that power and then you can say that again with your head held high.”

With fists clenched into a fist, you just marched away with a huff. As much as you’d love to give him a piece of your mind, it was time to prepare everything for the trip.

A few days later, you stood near everyone from class 1-A, getting on the bus that would take everyone to the training camp. At least Shouto’s classmates were kind enough not to make you feel like an outcast, and it really helped out that you already met them before. After they saw you talking with your brother about his new costume and making fun of the first one, much to his embarrassment.

“Can I ask you something?” Shouto asked quietly from beside you, trying to avoid catching the other’s attention.

“Mhm.” You looked up from the screen of your phone, where a meme was displayed, courtesy of Mina who had quickly added your phone number into the group chat.

“You were doing so well the first time we trained together...so what happened?” He noticed the way your hand clenched around the device harshly, with a little more strength the screen would’ve almost cracked.

Nervously, you turned away from him with a nervous look all over your features but still managed to smile softly at him despite everything going through your head at that moment.

“I’d rather not talk about it...please?” The small plead caught him off guard, but Shouto still respected your wish...

The bus finally stopped in the middle of nowhere, it gave everyone the chance to walk out and stretch their bodies after sitting inside such a cramped seat for hours. 

And then, a pair of women showed up to greet everyone. Watching their costumes made your eyes light up in joy once you recognized the pair standing in front of everyone. But unlike Midoriya, you could only fangirl silently at the sight of the wild wild pussycats, or at least at the sight of the two that were talking in front of the whole class.

“I thought Hawks was your favorite?” your brother had to cough into his fist to hide the laughter when he saw the look on his twin’s face, that quickly turned into embarrassment when some of his classmates heard their banter.

“S-Shut up!” You shoved him by the shoulder at the same time your whole face got warm all the way down to the neck, it quickly began getting warmer the moment most of the girls overheard Shouto’s comment and gave you a teasing look. Now it would be impossible to live that down. “This is why Natsuo’s my favorite brother!”

That was the last thing you could tell him before the ground began moving underneath everyone’s feet, courtesy of pixie bob’s quirk. Everyone quickly tried to get back inside the bus to no avail, for all of you had been thrown into the forest. The last thing you heard from Mandalay was how those unable to reach the camp before noon would not be allowed to have lunch. 

While everyone fell down, some people noticed you quickly pulling your shirt open, and you could have sworn at least one of them yelled out panicked until they noticed a black tank top under the uniform. And also a familiar belt from the sports festival.

Quickly, two metallic claws sprung out from the back of the artifact, digging their way deep into the wall so they could slow down the impact. 

You were probably going to get an earful from Aizawa, but wearing this belt and the trusty bracelet over your right hand became a habit too hard to avoid, these ‘babies’ -yes, Hatsume had become quite an influence- were like a part of you, something you spent so much blood, sweat and tears developing from scratch.

Once your feet reached the floor again, the claws retreated back inside the belt. “Is everyone alright?!” You called out as the others dug their way out from the layers of dirt, luckily nobody had gotten injured during the fall and even if they had, it was a good thing there was a healer among them.

A thunderous roar could be heard, making you look at the direction where it came from, just to see this horrendous creature towering over the smallest guy from the group, what was his name? ah yes...Mineta.

After Koda tried using his quirk to calm down the creature, you realized they were not living creatures, most likely controlled by one of the pro-heroes supervising the school trip.

As soon as Midoriya managed to rescue his classmate and get rid of the first creature, another three appeared right after. This race against time was going to be harder than everyone thought. So might as well hurry up and lend everyone a hand.

“(Y/n)! behind you!” Turning around, you came face to face with another beast. Quickly, your hair began glowing with energy, growing until it reached the lower back and your arms became surrounded with a reddish aura, that somehow was acting differently than before, it started flickering wildly rather than flowing into smooth waves.

The beast lunged forwards, instantly being hit by an attack that ignited into flames as soon as it came in contact with it. Burning its whole body in a matter of seconds.

The more you kept running, the more of these creatures appeared and were taken care of just as fast. You had to admit it, everyone in the hero course was incredible in their own way.

It was strange using your quirk this long after spending so much time trying to avoid it. But if it meant no longer worrying about losing control, then you’d go through as much training as you had to endure.

Finally, after a long struggle in the forest, everyone managed to come out in one piece. But after using your quirk for so long, the only thing that didn’t hurt was your eyelashes. Every muscle in your body cried out in agony, exhausted, and begging for some rest, the same thing could be said about your irritated eyes.

“Arriving at noon my ass…” Nobody said a thing when you dropped face down on the floor, muttering a bizarre combination between nonsense and profanities. Too tired to pay attention to everything happening around you, like the moment poor Midoriya got punched in the crotch by Mandalay’s nephew, Kouta.

“Shouto, if you drag me inside I’ll treat you to the cafe for a whole month…”

“...Sorry, but you’re on your own.” 

“...You traitor.”

The meals were exquisite, every dish could almost be on pair with your sister’s cooking. And just as you expected, right before leaving for the hot springs, Aizawa made sure to confiscate your belt and any equipment you had left.

“All of it, Todoroki.” 

“...” 

With a defeated grumble, you took off the earrings as well before following after the girls.

The hot water felt heavenly against your sore body the more you sank down in the spring. If it could be possible, you’d stay underwater forever if it wasn’t for this little thing called ‘oxygen’. Swiftly your body rose up to the neck, leaning back against the edge of the spring between Jirou and Hagakure with a relaxed smile adorning your whole face.

“Ahhh, this feels so nice˜” your hands brushed some stray, damp locks away from your soaked face. The girl’s chatter was a pleasant noise in the background as every thought slipped away into nothing but a white noise inside your head.

“(y/n)?” Uraraka’s voice snapped you out from the little daze you fell in, when you turned to look at her it wasn’t only the brunette looking at you, but all of the girl’s attention was focused on you.

“Yes? What is it?” The grogginess in your voice and face was too funny to ignore, judging by their fits of giggles.

“How did you come up with the idea to make your equipment to subtle? It’s amazing!” Mina was the first one to speak, there was a glint of excitement in her eyes just thinking about the gadgets you used during the sports festival. In fact, all of them seemed interested in the subject, leaving you amazed by their reactions.

A huge smile appeared on your face upon realizing how fascinated they seemed about the equipment.

“Well, I know that sometimes equipment can make a difference for heroes, but it can also get in the way if it’s something too bulky or difficult to handle.” You explained to the small audience, not even aware that in the middle of the explanation, your hands wouldn’t stop moving all over the place as you spoke with enthusiasm.

Or how small ambers of gold began escaping through the corners of your eyes the more ecstatic you became during the explanation.

“So I thought of creating something that could be both subtle and practical at the same time, like-” 

“Ummm, (y/n)? Your quirk is going off again?” Jirou’s voice had a hint of concern, that made the words die instantly at the back of your throat when you looked at the reflection in the water and in fact, the glow in your eyes just kept growing.

They kept watching in silence, worried as you curled into a small ball at the edge of the spring, taking deep breaths that aided with the focus, until they specks of golden light finally disappeared.

“I…I’m sorry.” You couldn’t muster enough courage to look at any of them. Feeling ashamed of yourself, like a burden for everyone because you were unable to do something as simple.

“Wait, we didn’t mean it like that!” Looking up, you were met with many pairs of worried gazes that reminded you of the day everyone at school found out there was more than one Todoroki at U.A. but at the same time, it was a complete contrast as well.

Because these people were genuinely worried about you.

“Please don’t think you’re being a burden to anyone here, (y/n)“ Momo approached your curled self in an attempt to be reassuring. As a matter of fact, everyone else was doing her best to help out. “Besides that’s why you’re here with us. And if there’s anything we can do to help, we will!” 

Everyone else nodded and you’d be lying if you’d say their actions didn’t make something warm stir deep inside. It was...nice to know that including your friends in class, there were more people out there trying to help out.

With a grateful smile, you looked at every single one of the girls sitting around the spring “Thank you, guys….”

Soon you were all engaged into some playful chatter, from stuff like school, trying to get better grades on a certain subject -which you and Momo eagerly offered to help with- to being curious about tomorrow’s training….and other things as well…

In the midst of all the chatter, you were able to hear some commotion from the boy’s side of the baths. It was pretty vague, but Iida’s screams of “Restrain yourself!” were easily a hint of the chaos about to unfold.

And then Kouta’s small figure appeared at the top of the wall that faced the guy’s side of the baths.

“Learn what it means to be a dignified human being before aiming to become a hero.” The little boy spoke with such indifference as he pushed Mineta away.

“Do you guys deal with that every day?” You had to ask, and when more than one girl nodded their response left you perplexed enough to sink back into the warm water.

“Some week this is gonna be.”

You had no idea just how hard the following days would really be...

@bnhabookclub @gallickingun @godtieruwu @hanniejji @mysticalite @samanthaa-leanne @savagetrickster @shoobirino @bnha-ra @hawks-senseis @sugacookiies @unbreakableeiji @wesparklebitch

[notalwaysthevillian]

My Whirlpool of a Life

Ships: Kaminari/OC

Word Count: ~2.4k

I will not be doing a tag list for this fic.

Masterlist

Chapter 7: Test Day

Exam day was here before we knew it.

“Alright! Everyone on the bus!” Iida called out as we staggered out of the dorms.

“Iida. Inside voice.” I shushed, rubbing my eyes.

Kaminari stumbled behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “‘M tired.”

“Me too.”

“You can nap on the bus!” Iida shouted, making the two of us jump.

Grumbling about how loud it was, I dragged Kaminari with me to the back. We collapsed into one of the seats, him letting me have the aisle seat.

I fell asleep almost immediately, using him as my pillow.

“ Dew Drop. Wake up. ”

I took a deep breath, stretching my arms. “We’re here?”

“Yeah, come on. They’re gonna think we’re up to something.” He teased, grabbing my hand.

We walked off the bus and gathered up with the rest of the class. The arena looked pretty cool, with a top that seemed like it could close if it rained. With my quirk, I hoped they would keep it open, but I was willing to bet that wasn’t the case.

“What if I don’t get my license?!” I heard Mineta panicking.

“Mineta.” Mr. Aizawa leaned down to his height. “Don’t ask if you can. Say you will.”

“Right! Sure! I’ve so got this!”

Mr. Aizawa turned to the rest of us. “If you can pass this test and get your provisional licenses, then you novice eggs will hatch into chicks. You’ll be semi-pros. I expect your best.”

“Alright! I can’t wait to be a heroic chicken!” Kaminari yelled out, firing up the class.

“Let’s call out the usual you guys!” Kirishima held up a fist. “On my mark. Plus -”

“ULTRA!”

I jumped as a boy yelled with us, appearing right next to me. His uniform was different. He must’ve been from another school.

“You know, it’s pretty rude to barge into other people’s conversations like that, Inasa.”

“Pardon me! I am so extremely sorry!” He bowed so deeply his head grazed the concrete.

“Who is this guy?” Kaminari pointed at him. “It’s too early for this much enthusiasm.”

I elbowed him. “Be nice! When we’re pros there’s a chance we may end up working with some of them. Not everyone comes from UA.”

“UA in the east, Shiketsu in the west.” Bakugo scoffed.

“I wanted to say it just once!” Inasa stood back up. “Plus Ultra!”

“Plus Ultra!” I echoed back, giving everyone from Shiketsu a friendly smile. “I look forward to competing today!”

“I’m honored to compete against such incredible students. I’m looking forward to it!”

The Shiketsu students continued on into the building, a few of them giving me a quick wave.

“Inasa Yoarashi.”

“Do you know that guy, Mr. Aizawa?” Hagakure asked.

“Yes. He’s strong. He’s the same year as you, and received the top scores for students admitted through recommendations. But for some reason, he turned down his acceptance to UA and went to Shiketsu.”

“Wait, he’s our age?!”

I nudged Kaminari. “I thought Momo had the top score.”

“Must’ve just been the top score for UA.”

Mina looked after the students, watching them walk off. “What a weirdo.”

“Maybe, but he’s the real deal. Keep an eye on him.” Mr. Aizawa looked at me then. “Nima, keep your quirk a secret until necessary.”

“Why?”

“Trust me.”

“Eraser?!” A female voice called out to us, making Mr. Aizawa cringe. “I’d know that scowl anywhere. I saw you on TV and at the sports festival. Been a while since we were this close in person!”

A realization hit me like a freight train. “Oh no.”

Mina and Kaminari both looked at me in confusion.

“Guys, your sports festival aired live.”

More confused looks.

“Which means that almost everyone here knows what your quirks are.”

Todoroki sighed. “We’re at a disadvantage.”

“Not entirely.” I crossed my arms behind my back. “I wasn’t at the sports festival. They don’t know what I can do.”

“You’re our only advantage then.” Mina pointed out. “That’s probably why Mr. Aizawa told you to keep your quirk a secret.”

“Over here everyone!” The woman who was talking to Mr. Aizawa waved some students over. “This is UA.”

“Whoa! It’s Class A!”

“That’s amazing! I’ve seen them on TV before!”

“Second years from Ketsubutsu Academy. This is Class 2. They’re my students.” The woman said.

One boy ran up to Midoriya. “Hey, I’m Shindo. Seems like UA’s had a lotta trouble this year. Must’ve been tough for you.”

“Uh, yeah.”

The boy moved to Kaminari, grabbing his hands. “But even so, you’re all still aiming to become pro heroes, despite those hardships.”

He moved to me. “It’s wonderful!”

Before he could grab my hands, I took a step back. “Thanks.”

“Hearts full of fortitude. I believe that’s what every hero in the world needs to have.”

He gave me a sparkling smile. Something about it felt off.

“This pretty boy is gonna steal our girls.”

I threaded my finger’s through Kami’s. “Not me.”

He gave me a kiss on the forehead. “You’re too good for me.”

I saw Shindo talking to Bakugo, who slapped his hand away. “Stop pretending. What you say doesn’t match the look in your eyes.”

“Man, don’t be rude!” Kiri called him out.

The others apologized to Shindo, but I slipped out of Kami’s grip and over to our resident stick of dynamite. “You’re absolutely right. He’s faking it.”

“Glad to know you have some common sense.” He huffed, glaring at Shindo. “Stick with me today. You’re strong.”

I was confused, but nodded before moving back to Kami’s side.

“Hey. Get your costumes on and head to orientation. There’s no time to waste.”

“Yes, sir!”

Jirou fell into step with me. “It’s weird. I always forget we’re famous to other schools.”

“We’re basically celebrities when it comes to hero course students.”

We got into our costumes and were briefed by the Heroes Public Safety Commisson guy. I tuned out most of it. We had balls, we had to hit targets. Easy peasy. My Tidal Wave would come in handy here.

The walls of the room we were in folded down, revealing the rest of the arena, covered in various terrains.

“Everyone!” Midoriya addressed us. “Stay close together. We’ll fight them as a group.”

“Yeah right. This isn’t a field trip.” Bakugo gave me and Kiri a look before running off.

I followed, knowing Kami would be right behind me.

“Idiot! Wait up!” Kiri called, chasing after us.

Bakugo headed to the city terrain. I knew he’d do well there, with so many buildings to use as perches. Hopefully there was a fake water tower or two I could steal from.

I heard what sounded like an earthquake behind us. “What the hell was that?”

“Doesn’t matter. Keep moving.”

I could hear people being knocked out of the running left and right. Further away, I saw an ice wall go up, and then heard some explosions.

“Looks like Todoroki is doing well.”

“Shut up!”

About half the spots were taken by the time we were climbing up a fire escape.

“Hey Kaminari. Why’d you follow us?” Kiri asked.

“You guys started running, and you stole my girlfriend. Of course I was gonna follow you. Where are we going?”

“Shut up!”

“Why do you always sound so mad?”

“I told you to chill out Bakugo.” Kiri sighed. “It looks like there’s a lot of people up there, so let’s work together.”

“Go die.”

I tapped on Bakugo’s boot. “Hey, you asked me to be here.”

“I didn’t think I’d get Spark Plug too.”

“Dude, we’re dating, what did you think was gonna happen?”

“Come on man.”

Something swung at us. Kirishima shoved me forward. “Look out!”

“Kirishima!”

He was squashed into a little ball of flesh. I couldn’t help but gag. “That’s disgusting.”

“What the crap?” Kaminari pulled me behind him. “Did that really just happen?”

“All I know is that bastard looks like he’s to blame.”

A Shiketsu student stood in the road, tons of flesh balls around him. One of my hands rested on Kami’s back as I stepped closer to him. “Careful.”

“I’ll kill him!”

“I’m from Shiketsu.” The boy started, and I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes. Of course he would monologue.

“Please notice, my school keeps our hats on when we’re working. Why’s that? Because. Each and every one of our movements is crowned by the legacy and honor of our school.” He dropped Kirishima on the ground, making the worst noise ever. “This is a demonstration. Proof of the difference in level between my peers and your vulgar classes. We value obligation and dignity - things that appear to be sorely lacking among you.”

Bakugo laughed. “I really hate your type.”

“He’s hard to follow.”

“He’s saying he thinks he’s better than we are.” I explained. “How about we show him otherwise?”

“Maybe don’t provoke this guy?! Look what he did to Kirishima!”

I pecked Kami on the cheek. “Bug, we can handle him.”

“UA High. I have respect for your school. I take pride in the fact that our institutions are treated as equals. But your class is shameful. You act in ways that disgrace heroes!”

Giant fingers appeared from behind his back.

“He’s attacking again!”

I took a step back. “I don’t want to be gross!”

“Shut up!” Bakugo snapped. “Obligation”? “Dignity”? You just like to hear yourself talk. I don’t see any proof. Show us with your actions, not your cheap words! If you can.”

“You’re worst of all, Bakugo!”

The fingers separated from him, flying towards Bakugo. I pulled the water from my belt, ready to grab them with my whip and pull them away from us if necessary.

Bakugo ran forward, setting up for his special AP shot move. He shot the fingers out of the sky, before lowering his gauntlet.

“I had to make a weak version so I didn’t kill anyone.”

“You know, this is why everyone is terrified of you - you’re way too hardcore.”

The fingers started forming back on the boy’s arms. “Okay, so they float back to him. Disgusting.”

“I see now. I’ll teach you a lesson by breaking you. This will show you what it means to be dignified and behave like a hero!”

The fingers started coming at us again. I stepped back, knowing that someone from a place like Shiketsu wouldn’t just do the same move again.

“He thinks he’s better than us!” Bakugo started running towards him. He started taking out more fingers with his AP shot.

I jumped forward to help, keeping a small whirlpool rotating around me. I’d be able to sense something hitting me from the back, if that was the plan.

“Let’s just get this fight over with. Maybe this will speed things along!”

Two of Kami’s discs shot out, hitting the wall next to the boy as he dodged. “Crap!”

“Work on your aim, and your look. Maybe I can make you something more appealing!”

“Enough talk! Die!”

Bakugo shot out some explosions and smoke filled the area. Just as it cleared, I saw a finger come out from the side, inches from Bakugo’s neck.

“No!”

I threw a wave forward but it was too late. Bakugo was grabbed.

“Once I touch you, you’re my plaything.”

“Bakugo!”

“Idiots,” he grumbled as he was morphed. “Fix this!”

He threw something toward Kaminari, but the boy didn’t notice as I drew my wave back. I moved to Kami’s side, letting the whirlpool swirl around our feet.

“Can you make it bigger?”

I tried pulling moisture from the air, my heart pounding when I realized that it wasn’t working. “The air is too dry, and we’re not close enough to any other bodies of water. This is all I have.”

“This is a demonstration. The test has an unusually low passing rate. At first this seemed counterintuitive given our current world.”

As he started to monologue again, I whispered, “I can soak him, but it’ll leave us vulnerable.”

“Wait for my signal.”

“I decided to thin the herd myself.” The boy continued.

“You’re ignoring the test because you think you’re superior?”

I let the water swirl faster. “You’re crazy. The world needs heroes that can do as they’re asked, not do what they want.”

“I’m simply separating the mediocre from the extraordinary.” He stepped forward, leaning his weight on Kirishima. “By the way. Your comrades here still feel pain in this form. Your untamed electricity will torture your friends if you use it. And you don’t seem to have enough water to hurt me as well as you could. You’re stuck.”

“You’ve been doing nothing but hurling insults at us this entire time.” Kami put a hand to his forehead. I’m kind of starting to take it personally, ya know.”

“Then you’re more self aware than I thought. Take some time to reflect on your failure!”

Kami reached behind him, throwing something. “Reflect on this!”

An explosion rocked behind him, distracting the boy.

“It’s not just a fashion statement. He can use that gear along with his nitro sweat to create simple grenades.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “He tossed it to you.”

Kami nodded at me, and I wrapped the water around the boy, soaking him to the bone.

“By the way, big shot. You stumbled into a really killer spot!” Electricity arced off of Kami’s finger, straight toward the disc.

His electricity, combined with being soaked, shocked him worse than I anticipated. He gasped, falling to his knees.

“Listen up. Bakugo might seem like a jerk on the surface, but he’s actually trying hard to be a pro-hero. He threw that grenade to me while being attacked. That was a result of calm judgement and planning.”

I nodded, noticing our friends were starting to come out of flesh ball form. “And Kirishima is such a good guy that he shoved me out of the way, taking the hit himself!”

“You only know bits and pieces of information about them. Don’t insult what you don’t know!”

The boy stood, fingers appearing around him again. “I’ll teach you to be more aware of your place! You degenerate!”

Kirishima activated his quirk, punching him in the stomach as Bakugo came in and blasted him.

“The more damage he takes, the more people get released.” Kiri pointed out.

Bakugo stood in front of all of us. “No wonder he was only using long distance attacks.”

Kiri nodded at us. “Thanks for the save, you two.”

“What took so long?!”

“You’re so mean! No one’s gonna like you if you -”

“Sorry to interrupt, but could we get our points and get out of here?” I asked, gesturing to the many people that were coming out of ball form. “Before they get us?”

Bakugo licked his lips.

“We’ve got targets.”

[magenta-llama]

Avengers Assemble Season 1: the stoniest

List: 

ep. 1-2 “The Avengers Protocol”

ep. 6  “Super Adaptoid”

ep. 13 “In Deep”

ep. 17 “Savages”

ep. 25 “Exodus”

ep. 26 “The Final Showdown”

Episodes 1-2: The Avengers Protocol

"You lead. I'll follow." (Steve Rogers)

What can I say, the show is gay from the start. Like, Tony is missing his team so much that he stalks them over his morning coffee on a daily basis. And yeah, sure, he stalks all of them and Steve is the last one he gets to, but come on, this show is so transparent (thank you, whoever made it this way. You make my life better every day. I love you.) And like, idk, I, personally, often leave the thing I am truly interested in to be the last one as well. Like, you never start with what worries you most when you don’t want to look suspicious.  And excuse me, what exactly was Red Skull’s “So Iron Man has a heart after all” about? I MEAN, AFTER IT LOOKS LIKE HE KILLS STEVE AND TONY GOES “NOOOOO” AND GETS KINDA ANGRY? Really, I think he is the biggest Stony shipper of the show (after Clint maybe).  And then again, “So you left the rest of your team behind - for me?” (Not that he doesn’t have a point, because the moment Tony sees Cap’s signature? He forgets everything). I tell you, he has an ao3 account, and he posts stony fics every night when MODOK is not around.

And the moment Tony frees Cap-Skull? He just wouldn't stop TALKING because he'd MISSED Steve so much TT 

Then goes part 2 - yep, the one with Steve’s “show-off” face. 

Like, he is biting his lip right there, I don’t take criticism.  He literally offers his body to Tony Stark at the very beginning of the show.

And Steve carrying Tony around in his arms? (Steve carrying Tony is a thing of this show in general - no matter whose hands are free, no matter the fact that Thor and Hulk are stronger than Steve and can move faster than him while carrying heavy stuff, Steve never lets anyone else carry his Tony. Ever.) The tender looks and shiny smiles Steve gives him? The non-stop flirting? I mean, if "Careful. Keep leading like that and we might actually stick together." was not a Captain America pick-up line I don't know what is. 

And the way Steve and Tony are right by each other's side, all the time, they just can't bear being farther than 1 meter's distance from each other. 

Do they have to be so close? There's plenty of space in Tony's house! And given that Tony was the first to turn and walk down it looks like Steve just ran after him to stick close again. 

Episode 6: Super Adaptoid

"There are a few old-fashioned things worth keeping around." (Tony Stark)

This one is just my favourite. I think I've rewatched it at least four times already. This whole trope with Tony's Modern Tech vs Steve's Old Fashioned Gut, learning to actually listen to each other and becoming closer in the end? Love it.   The way they just outright flirt and fool around from the first minute of the show? The way Tony is genuinely worried about Steve being hurt and tries to make him wear armour?

I personally find the whole concept of Tony making a suit for Steve really hot. And yes, it's always Steve. Not Clint or Natasha, who don't even have super strength. Just Steve. Tony wants to protect him so, so badly I want to cry.

I also love how Tony and Steve sit a bit apart from the others on their way home. Like, alright, Tony's piloting the jet (which actually JARVIS can do) but what is Steve doing? Just sitting there by his side and what, watching him? What had he been doing before he asked about the readings? He just likes spending time with Tony so, so much. I tell you, the only reason Cap wasn't sitting on his lap at that moment was that it's a kids' show. 

And Steve “never missing an issue” of Futura? That magazine with Tony on the cover? No, I can respect that he can just have interests of his own, but I like to think that he reads things like that to understand his boyfriend better. Or maybe impress him, who knows. He did impress him in the end :3

Also, why does Cap know how to use Iron Man's gauntlet? It didn't take him long to figure it out. Well, I actually made a fanart on that one, you can find it by “my art” or “stony” tag, I don’t know which one helps, tumblr messes with the tag search all the time.

And of course, the last scene. Oh, that last scene. That peaceful walk down the corridor while Tony's drying his hair. I have so many questions about that one scene. Like, what, were they taking a shower together? Were they going to spar? But then why do they take a shower before that..? But I've already written a post about that one, too.

Episode 13: In Deep

“So are you pals gonna hug now or what?" (Clint Barton)

The stoniest episode of the season. Possibly, of the whole show. Like, the whole episode is entirely stony. Undercover mission while gazing tenderly into each other's eyes? Trying to play bad guys, but keeping flirting and looking after each other's backs all the time? Really, the whole episode is just Steve and Tony being:

Yeah, I made a post about that one, too.

The "Tony's not following Steve's plan and Steve's pissed but in the end, they steal each other’s moves" trope? The "I know you're enjoying the role-playing thing"? I mean, how does he know Tony’s enjoying ‘the role-playing thing’? Oh, we all know how.  And Steve telling Tony how amazing he is? @tonysbubblebutt​ has already made a post about this, too. And COME ON, "Step 3 - we enjoy the view"? ENJOY THE VIEW, STEVE? REALLY?

(The view:)

Also, Tony's face when Steve hit him. For a moment, he really thought his babe was gonna hurt him, omg. 

And I like how everything is censored and yet so obvious. Like Tony putting a photo of his butt into the armour, but in pants - because kids'  show. Or Steve saying "billionaire, genius" and then trailing off - because kids' show. And Clint’s "So are you pals gonna HUG now or what?”  I mean, really?

Episode 17: Savages

"You know me, and I know Tony" (Steve Rogers)

The Camping! trope episode. Seriously, I've come up with at least three fanfiction ideas while watching this one. 

The first thing you should understand is that Tony and Steve had had a very good morning sex before the events. Or maybe not that good, because Tony just kept throwing Steve around the room and tried to make him “test drive his next invention”. Maybe he wanted to top and Steve didn’t let him, idk. Anyway, there is no other explanation for them beaming at each other for 20 minutes straight.

Really, the bet should have been about Tony and Steve being unable to go a day without eye-sexing every time one of them starts talking or, idk, moving. But just look at how wide their smiles are all the time - it makes it hard for them to even talk at all. 

But yeah, making bets. There’s actually an amazing fic about that, it’s called Quit While You’re Ahead by  @magicasen​ (ao3 work 3067199), I highly recommend you read it.

And the way they tease each other, oh my gosh. And the mysterious "next *fingers-up-in-a-scissoring-gesture* invention" Tony expects Steve to test drive- 

And both of them running around like two happy puppies when it’s time to set up their camping. 

And yes, Steve knowing Tony all so well and having so much faith in him? I love it. 

Episode 25: Exodus, Episode 26: The Final Showdown

"Sorry to break this romance" (Clint Barton)

These are just worth watching for Tony and Steve holding hands (I stopwatched 6 seconds, and those were only those shown), Steve carrying Tony on his shoulder while holding him under his butt and just Steve's "You're amazing, Tony" and Tony's "No, you are amazing. I am also amazing, but that's because you make me amazing with how amazing you are yourself, Steve." 24/7.

Bonus: Steve carrying Tony around - Season 1 edition (tell me if I missed anything)

[katsukikitten]

Irritated 2

A chorus of bangs ring out on the cold metal door echoing in the small space of your hotel room. At first you jump, your nerves frayed as memories flood the forefront of your thoughts. That is until you take a deep breath knowing full well who is impatient enough to beat on a woman's hotel door. Irritation paints your features as you finish touching up your makeup in the bathroom mirror.

"Oi!" The culprit calls out, his voice pulling you out of your ritual head space causing a vein to pop up in your forehead.

"I'm coming!! Damn." You shout back slamming the tube of mascara onto the vanity top giving yourself a once over in your hero suit. It's a body con black suit, nothing fancy, no modifications. A zipper in the front that can stop at your navel. But you never unzipped it past the beginning of your cleavage. It was just a suit fit for summer that is breathable and wicks sweat. You twist this way and that as you over look your body thinking only of the comments made about it.

Did you look too thicc in your suit? Were you leading males on just because a tight suit benefited easier movements?

Hell no you weren't leading anyone on. You blow a kiss to your reflection before flipping your French braid behind your shoulder stalking out of the room with a card and a tube of chap stick angrily.

You open the door just as Katuski was about to bang on it. He either cannot or does not, stop his fist from following through the motion and it lands harshly on your shoulder, his gauntlet rattles from the force.

If only it put you out of your misery.

You look at Katsuki with the most annoyed face you can muster, shoving his arm away as Deku stands behind him offering a sheepish smile and small wave.

"Uh hello Y/N." He all but squeaks. His hero suit, now all black, is snug over his chest and stomach, his mask pulled off of his face resting on at the top of his sternum while his cowl lies unused on his back.

"Hello." You say dryly looking at both of their costumes. Deku doesn't seem to have pockets or at least pockets large enough to hold your items as well. Leaving you to glare at the man in front of you. His uniform all black for stealth, having long lost the little orange and black flair that comes off of his mask. His muscle tank is snug as well, hugging every line of his muscles leading to a set of almost lose black pants tucked into his combat boots. He still has his utility belt of mass destruction and his knee pads for cracking teeth with.

You grimace as the gods have decided your fate on who you will have to stick more closely too. You sigh audibly thinking for a fraction of a second that maybe his pockets are bigger but you know they are not.

You hold out your chapstick, a must as you would rather die than not have your beeswax chapstick, your card, and your phone to an exasperated ash blonde.

"The hell is this?" He snarls and your eyes narrow to slits as you pick his left pocket to shove your items in knowing full well he keeps his phone in his right.

"OI!" A blush so faint dusts his cheeks but you mistake it for rising blood pressure as you smooth your hands over your hips.

Where pockets should fucking be but honestly they would fuck up the aesthetic.

"No pockets." You shrug shoving past him as you guide the way, "So you're stuck with me."

Izuku shares a look with Bakugou before he shrugs his shoulders falling in step behind you as scarlet watches your fading back.

××××××××××

The crowd outside erupts as the three of you make your way into the convention center, a building that dwarfs the block. You wave and smile, stopping here and there to sign somethings for many female fans.

And the occasional male that looks decent.

Izuku takes the time to sign a few items for fans too and even begins fangirling with one over a limited edition All Might magazine the fan wanted to share with him as Bakugou sticks closely to you.

Offering a grimace to many of his squealing fans but it does nothing but encourage them more.

"Please take a selfie with me!!" One screams loud enough that it catches his attention. He smirks when he sees the grenade gauntlet tattoos she has on her forearms and snatches her phone. He sets it to selfie mood but is smart enough to be at least a foot away. He offers his deadliest smirk, throwing up three fingers getting mostly himself and the tattooed fan in the picture. He returns to phone to her hand and she freezes before exploding into a fangirl scream.

Sometimes he loved to make women scream.

"Please have my babies Ground Zero Sama!!!" She yells and for whatever reason he is not bothered by her. So he throws a rare bone to her.

"Maybe one day." His voice comes out gruff and majority of the crowd by him SWOONS. Panties SOAKED for sure.

You roll your eyes but cannot fight back the smile that paints your lips or the butterflies in your stomach from his interaction.

The excitement is infectious.

"Tejina over here over here!" A male shouts and you grab the pen and sign a tasteful magazine photo of you, avoiding everyone who has screenshot pictures of your Instagram printed out.

"Gosh I love you so much! My sister has a similar quirk and thought it was lame until she saw you!" He beams as he watches you make the pen dance across the inked page.

"I'm glad I can help. No quirk is lame. Make sure she knows that too." You offer a genuine smile and suddenly the fan feels different about you. His respect amplifies as he stands frozen. You try to move to the next screaming fan who happens to be another male, you're trying your best to be fair despite your past track record.

"Tejina, this is what the meet and greet is for." The security guard places his arm between you and the fan.

"But!"

"This is what the meet and greet is for. They will keep you here all day." He says sternly as he guides you toward the doors.

"She is always such a bitch don't you think?!" The now jaded fan shouts. You start as if jabbed after hearing the comment and some of them yell in agreement but they are drowned out by the excitement for Bakugou and Izuku.

At least you drowned out to all but you.

And a hot head who walks behind you, baring his teeth at the fan who snaps his mouth shut after seeing the death glare.

The colors of the convention quickly lift your spirits as you see memorabilia and paraphernalia of heroes current and past. Fans pause at various stations all dressed as various heroes. All Might of course being the biggest and first life sized cardboard cut out that you see.

Izuku shoves his phone into your hands as he shouts.

"Oooo take a picture of me with it!"

Your laughter rings out while Katsuki rolls his eyes.

"Dont you have tea with him like every other day?" You ask but pull up the camera for him, "Move closer."

"Yea you useless Deku you see the real thing all the time."

"But you guys know..." He trails off and you make a gesture with your finger for him to smile. He drops his sad thought and beams as the camera.

And not with his weird imitation smile he so badly wanted to use. No he used his true smile, the one he wears so well to save people with.

Slowly becoming the hope of the nation but people enjoy a badass hero equally as much. Speaking of him.

"Hey he was your sensei too right? Get in there...Kaachan." You tease with the nickname and he glares daggers. Flushed cheeks from rising blood pressure.

"I'll kill you." He says but makes no effort to keep his steel toed combat boots planted as he walks towards the cut out. Izuku keeps the same pose and smile as Bakugou crosses his arms, standing a little ways away from the cut out like a brooding teenager would his father in a forced picture. You snap it happy and yet not just content with it.

"Get closer and smile!" You whine as incoming fans begin to form a line, "Others are waiting!"

He looks your way to see five or six people waiting before he gets closer. He looks up towards the cut out and feels something familiar burning in his stomach. Awe, respect, and sheer arrogant determination to outshine him one day. He faces the camera with the smile and you capture it perfectly.

The smile does something to you but you push it down as you quickly send the pictures to yourself slipping Izuku back his phone as you spy something that catches your eye.

"I need it!" Is all you say as you drag the boys before either can look at the photos properly. They find themselves in front of a soft pink booth with a wide eyed artist who seems to be struggling to speak as you look over the work.

The same artist who drew fan art of you with Midnight, and you with your cat posting it to her Instagram account. Not daring to tag you but some other fan had and you couldn't thank them enough.

"Ah here it is!" You hold up the prints of your favorite drawings in cool and warm colored pastels. You make a gimme motion to Bakugou. It takes him a moment before he rolls his eyes fishing for your card from that he since placed in his own wallet for fear of losing it.

"Ah Tejina. Please you do not have to p...pay me." The artist finally croaks out and you whirl on the sweet little bean faster than she can blink.

"Are you not an artist?"

"I...uh I am."

"And are you not charging anyone else?"

"Oh no I am charging them."

"Then you're charging me. I want one of everything. I love your work." Her eyes water as she looks up at you.

"Are you...are you sure. Some of it has..." Her eyes trail to the hot head beside you and you smile.

"Yes I'm sure. Somehow you've even made *him* seem tasteful." You smile and she hesitantly takes your card before placing items into a large black backpack that has a dreamy, almost sleepy looking Bakugou in soft blues staring up at the viewer. She passes you the bag and you wonder how she could capture a side of a person that you're sure no one has ever seen. Something about the image causes a stir in your stomach. You chalk it up to nerves as you make eye contact.

"Th..thank you." She stammers and you smile so brightly.

"No thank you. I adore your work." You give a small bow before giving your bag and your card back to Bakugou who glares at you furiously.

Yet he slides the backpack onto his broad shoulders as he slips your bank card back between his own. He rolls his eyes as Izuku now leads your little party to a group of cosplayers.

"They're us!" He shouts excitedly, fussing over the cosplayers.

"No shit, Deku." The real and fake Bakugou snarl in unison before the real one smiles cocky at the imitation. The fake glares at him, internally fangirling before adding harshly.

"The fuck you lookin at?" The real one cracks a smile as he steps closer, noting not only his assholeish attitude but the attention to detail of his suit.

"Heh." He cracks before crossing his arms, "I'll allow you to parade around as the best. But remember a copy is just a copy."

You go to repramand him but find yourself curiouser as the male fan blushes, fighting to keep his glare as if he was paid the best compliment. The two Izuku's gush politely to one another before you and your fake share photos of your cats.

*"Attention: The cosplay contest will be starting in building B in five minutes."*

"Fuck we're late!" Fake Bakugou exclaims grabbing the wrist of Tejina, "Come on babe."

Katsuki's eyes widen as he watches your and his own carbon copy rush toward the other building both blushing and yelling in excitement about meeting their heroes.

"Good luck!" You call out before they totally fade away. The three of you aimlessly wandering through the buildings. Buying things here and there, Izuku being the worst. Who has a large almigh book bag stuffed to the brim of items. You let your eyes rove over stations buying fan art here and there. Something of Azaiwa holding the fattest cat you've ever seen to even art of every day heroes you've interacted with solely for the purpose that their art makes them seem so normal.

Doing normal everyday things, the simplicity of attempting to capture their vulnerable sides you know they must posses but what you and the artist have never seen.

Izuku fangirls with another All Might collector Bakugou growls to no one in particular as he grows impatient with his rival. You quickly lose interest in the comversation and something catches. You squint unsure as to what the stand is selling until you actually see it causing you to burst out laughing.

Hard enough for tears to well in your eyes.

"I'm dying!" You exlaim, gasping for breath as Bakugou says what the fuck about four times.

"I'll show you." You wheeze grabbing onto his hand to guide him through the crowd. He feels stunned by your touch, his cheeks heat for some stupid fucking reason again as he looks at you. He's frustrated, irritated even but he is thankful that most of the fans believe you three to be cosplayers.

"This." You hold out the body pillow to him to show him a panting version of himself in a torn shirt and looking needy with heavily blushed cheeks. Large hand in hair while the other trails down his own abs.

"No." He says in horror as you can't help but bust out laughing again.

"Oh fuck I might just have to buy one. This Bakugou seems sweet." You can barely finish your sentence as you attempt to reach for his wallet to get your card but he takes a step back. Mortified before a malice laced smile pants his lips, you swallow thickly.

"Yea well this Y/N seems more submissive than the real one." He cocks an eyebrow as he produces an even more needy version of yourself with your hero suit unzipped to your pierced navel, the sides trying to fall away to reveal your breast. The expression they have of you is a few faces away from ahegao. You're panting, one hand behind your head while the other hovers over the space between your legs.

"Hmm must be accurate since they got the belly button ring." Scarlet eyes trail your torso and stop at the tiny bump that shows through indicating the truth about the pillow. You did have a belly button ring but you had to REALLY be looking to see it.

Your face burns as you stare at the pillow while his comment now haunts you, embarrassment rips up your throat.

"OOOOKAY!" You try to snatch the pillow but Bakugou takes delight in your discomfort as you did him. He plans to use this pillow to torture you further. It would be more than worth the embarrassment of owning it.

"I'll take this please." He states as he reaches for his wallet.

"Like hell!!" But he holds it high in his hands and you have to press against the pillow and Bakugou to attempt to reach it. You take in a sharp a breath to yell but it sticks in your throat as you smell something almost hypnotic.

Like deep spices and burnt sugar. You blink furiously as he side steps you to hand the vendor cash

"What about you little lady?" The older man asks in a gravely voice. Bakugou attempts to answer for him but snatch his wallet and spy your card quickly.

"Yes please." You pass him your card, fending off Bakugou as you wrap up your transaction.

"All yours." He offers you both a creepy smile as he lingers on you, "Enjoy."

You visibly shutter and you squeeze the Bakugou pillow closer to you before mirroring the real one's body language. He holds the pillow mockingly as if it were his date.

"Y/N I think we should move onto the next booth." He teases as he walks with pillow in hand and you match his stride never falling behind him.

It becomes quickly apparent that the two of you were venturing into the very NSFW 18+ section of the convention as the hero art become more and more lewd. Yourself, Momo, Midnight and many other heroines were lining the laws as banners. You all mostly undressed if not naked with stars or hearts over your goods.

"Is that her?" A vendor whispers and you catch his green eyes. He holds eye contact not daring to look away.

Bakugou's face sours harshly at the art works, the vendors comment going unnoticed by him and he turns to you. When he sees you looking down with that solemn expression on your face something causes his gut to twist.

"Oi." He nudges you, "Look."

He points out the most embarrassing thing there, himself. Full on ahegao face with the likes of Kirishima and even Deku.

It earns a small smile until you see yourself depicted on your own sheet next to the odd combinations of his own.

"We never speak of this part of the con again?" He asks placing his hand on the small of your back as his guides you and yalls pillows to the safer more PG rated version of the con.

You still feel those green eyes boring into your back but you don't want to let it bother you. You tell yourself its nothing.

"Why, you don't want people to know you actually make that face?" The jab is half hearted he can tell but he pretends to be flustered over it. You laugh when you see his angry face and how his lips curl over sharp teeth.

"I'm hungry let's gooooo!!!" You whine, this time pressing further towards the food court, "Text Izuku-kun we won't have much time to eat!"

"Yea they might run out of food too if you're eating." He teases pulling his phone from his pocket as you stick your tongue out at him, your nose honest to God guiding you towards food stands. But before Bakugou can finish his text a familiar voice rings out.

"Bakugou! Y/N!" Izuku sounds happy and deep as it nears closer before it changes an octave, "Oh my Kami! Do you know what's on the back of those?!

Izuku blushes furiously as a security guard stands impatiently next to him. The two of you blanche having never thought about the fact that most body pillows like this had two sides. You both flip yours at the same time and DIE laughing. Both of you depicted in lewd positions and faces. Clothes more torn than before almost revealing too much on either of you.

"Oh man this side is better." You wipe away a tear, "I'm bringing this to the interview."

"You will not!" Katsuki exclaims, his laughter dying quickly.

"Actually this nice gentleman was sent by Yami to pick up our things and take them to the room." Your eyes follow Izuku's hand to see it pointing to a little wagon. You set your pillow in there nicely as Bakugou come closer setting his own blackmail pillow and your book bag of items into the cart.

"Thank you!" The three of you bow as he grunts wheeling away towards the hotel.

You three walk past a few straggling booths before starting to get into the food area as you do so you spot a tumbler cup with a cute cat being held by Aizawa. Both the cat and Aizawa look bored, irritated at the viewer and MOOD in written in caps beneath.

"Suki my card!" You half shout digging into his right pocket with his wallet.

"Oi you need a purse." He growls but makes no move to stop you as you rush with your card away from them barely in sight.

"This please!" You say holding out the cup and placing it for them to ring up. They pass you back your card while they gently wrap the cup up in paper. As you wait the hairs on the back of your neck stand straight up just before you feel a hand ghost over the small of your back, hip and even cupping the cheek of your ass. You turn to see green eyes and suddenly you feel unsettled.

"Watch your fucking hands." You seethe with a shaking whisper of a voice as you quickly flee back to the boys.

"Where's the cup you needed so badly?" Bakugou asks angrily wondering why you're empty handed after making such a big fuss. You place the card into his open palm unable to look him in the eye right now.

You feel like a coward, you need just a moment to yourself so you can collect your composure and spot the bathroom.

"Oh let me use the bathroom right quick I'll be right back." You say as you cross the busy convention traffic to the restrooms. Thankfully few women are in there allowing you to take a moment to breathe. You splash your face a few times with cold water before watching it drip off of your reflection. You stare yourself in the eyes and purse your lips. Snatching paper towels to dry your face figuring you've been in there long enough. You toss them into the trash as you exit the restroom.

"Oh sor... " But the apology dies in your throat when you see the same green eyes again. You squeeze your hand shut to keep your power from flinging him into the opposite wall.

"Ah excuse me." You say tightly as the anger begins to seep back into your bones calling on your power. Your heart pounds as half moons begin to eclipse red in your palm. He does not move and he is close enough you can feel his stale cigarette breath fanning your face before you feel a light pressure on your stomach.

His fingers just barely brushing agaisnt your belly button ring, you watch his eyes gleam with ecstasy as he fingered the ring. You see red, about to explode before you're brought back to earth with a memory.

*"I'll fucking sue you for damages and ruin your career if you don't at least give me one of your worn, dirty suits. Look at me?! I'm bleeding and my arm is broken."*

*"Who will they believe?! An established man in this community or a recluse upcoming desperate heroine."*

You bite the inside of your lip until you taste copper. You swallow your pride, your anger and choke on them as you struggle to speak around the lump in your throat.

"People are expecting me. You have me confused." You manage to slip past him and fight the urge to run. That always makes it look worse to the crowd. As if you're guilty and it would do everything for the green eyed male. As that would give way to his instinct to chase.

Relief floods you when you spy Bakugou, you latch onto his bare muscled arm seemingly nonchalant all the while bitching about how hungry you are. His skin and agitated voice have never been more soothing.

He looks down at you and doesn't miss your odd behavior. Sure you've been touching him here and there but you've never held onto him like this. Maybe Deku, but never him.

And you may think that you are hiding it well and maybe you are to everyone else. But not him. He sees the soft, almost unnoticeable glow to your eyes that hints you have or want to use your powers. It's a telltale sign only he's picked up on from battles and one v ones with you. No one else can ever seem to notice and he doesn't miss you glancing over your shoulder as you would on a mission if you were bait or suspected being followed.

No...something was definitely wrong with you and the fact that you wouldn't even think to share it with him or hell at least Deku, had ire BURNING in his stomach and hands. He flexes his arm confirming that you're keeping your hand tense and squeezing into his bicep for reasons unknown but it was answer enough for him. He resists the urge to give your suspicion away by glancing over his shoulder although it may be for the best that he didnt. Because Bakugou knew that if he did whoever he found your eyes land on...well let's just say they wouldn't make it through the weekend.

[risingmoonyue]

Batman/P5 Crossover

-Sometime before Akechi but after Futaba or Haru

-Damian is sent to Tokyo to check it out for whatever reason (maybe they had a fight, or he’s going stir crazy, or he’s just the only one they can send at the time and didn't bother with all that "you're not old enough" business)

-Dami is younger than Futaba by a year or three or four

-He is baby

-He is transferred to Shujin as a child prodigy where he also immediately joins the "outcast" community because of his attitude and intelligence

-Talia goes too, manages to cut off all his communications with the Batfam, and is planning to take him home in a month whether he likes it or not

-For whatever reason, Batfam doesn't realize this??? (Like, either she's faking reports or they're too busy (think fight or chaos in Gotham scenario maybe???))

-Anyways, obviously Dami doesn't want this

-Somehow the Phantom Thieves hear about the situation

-Maybe he was assigned to shadow Makoto for a while, and they managed to overhear a phone conversation either to Talia or Dami trying to get in touch with the Batfam and nothing really working

-And eventually they outright see him fighting with his mother with him at some point (either in person or over a phone call) mentioning that she already disowned him, he's happy with his Father's family, and that he will head her family business over his dead body—and oh would you look at that, you already managed that, care to try again Mother?

-The PT's are understandably alarmed

-And learn her name from Damian (from Makoto maybe or someone else he bonded a little with) (MORGANA) (THEY GAVE HIM MONA FOR A DAY AND NOW THEY KNOW EVERYTHING FROM HIS MANY PETS TO HIS LEAST TO MOST FAVORITE SIBLINGS STARTING FROM TIM TO DICK TO HIS FAVORITE FOODS TO EVERYONE IN HIS FAMILY’S NAMES TO HOW STUPID HE FINDS EVERYONE AND WHY THEY'RE STUPID TO HIS FAVORITE MUSIC TO WHY ANIMALS ARE SUPERIOR TO HUMANS AND MONA’S LIKE OMG TMI BUT LOVED IT THERE BECAUSE HE WAS PAMPERED LIKE NO TOMORROW GOT ONLY THE BEST FOOD AND THE BEST BEDS AND TOYS THAT HE GOT TO TAKE WITH HIM BACK TO LEBLANC AND NOW AKIRA AND SOJIRO ARE LIKE DUDE WHY AND MONA’S LIKE IM KEEPING HIM THIS HUMAN IS GOOD SORRY AKIRA YOU’RE DEMOTED)

-The palace is basically a fortress full of assasin ninjas and clones

-Dunno what her keywords are tho

-Or her what her palace actually is

-Help?????????

-Cognitive Bruce, Ra's, Damian, Dami clones, and Jason (maybe rest of batfam??? Idk)

-Long story short, the traps are so assassin-y that they need someone who knows the actual Talia because egads, this is the closest they have all come to actually dying

-And they didn't really want to do it and were just gonna power through

-But Dami manages to find out and get in and of course uses his background to help out whether they like it or not

(-he's slightly off put by Joker's name, but then decides to just solely call Gotham!Joker "The Clown")

-At some point they are captured by the Shadow Talia who is decked out in super fancy traditional Arab clothing and probably every conceivable hidden weapon known to man

-Talia says Damian won't and can't ever change from who he "is meant to be", referring to him as her Alexander and basically brutally addresses all of his insecurities concerning the batfam and people and society in general

-And all this is kinda killing him cause he still loves Talia despite the fact that she killed him and had a violent citywide custody battle with Batman but he also loves the batfam too even if he would absolutely never admit it (except to maybe Grayson)

-Joker does his emotional kick-start thing and/or Dami is like Makoto and just gets so mad he triggers it himself, but either way, lo and behold, Damian is now a persona user, usurping Futaba's place as the baby of the team

-The outfit is kinda inspired by his future adult league outfit with the top and bottom and gold jewelry, but has a raggedy cloak with dull gold edges, a Robin mask and gauntlets, and his main weapons are batarang-sword hybrids

---acknowledging his past and moving on with his present

-Persona: Aladdin, Tsun Zu, Ali Baba, somone else???? Need ideas plz help

-Probably the fastest member of the group

-His small body makes his hits not as strong, but hoo boy can that kid move around

-Hits a lot and dodges most

-Most of his Persona abilities are physical and have high crit and/or are status affects

-Downside is he has not a lot of SP (compared to the rest of the group)

-And he has pretty good HP

-Those good ol' “superior genetics” have to be good for something after all

-Anyways they escape to find the treasure another day

-And Dami is all smug because HA you definitely can't stop me now

-And the PTs are just resigned to keeping an eye on the extremely competent snotty assassin/vigilante child

-They do like him though so it's not too bad (comes with learning all his darkest secrets via his mother and thought processes that tends to accompany watching someone at their lowest get a persona)

(-They do manage to temper him a bit and help him adjust better to actual society too that's nice)

-As such, they also know about Batman and Robin and his whoooole family. Both sides.

-Damian decided not to tell batfam because he does agree with the whole "most adults suck" mentality that the Phantom Thieves have; despite his deep, deep respect for his father and mother and Grayson, they all do kinda suck

-And he’s rather not get pulled out as he surely would if he told them

(-On a side note, he likes Sojiro

-The man gives him coffee, curry, and leaves him mostly to his own devices

-Instant win)

-He is dubbed "Mockingbird" apon return to the metaverse because of his freaky talented vocal skills in mimicking anyone and everyone's voice

-Eventually, they beat Talia

-She doesn't publicly confess to all her sins unlike everyone else

-PTs don't realize it worked until Damian came into school with a genuine smile on his face, and more relaxed than he'd been since he got there

-PTs are confused until Damian's like, this works out because hey, don't want to have several people assassinated and draw the entire freaking league to Tokyo

(-Which was probably why Talia didn't)

-They agree

-But she does break down to tears in Dami's arms and promise to ACTUALLY TALK CIVILLY with Bruce to try and make up for everything and try to fix up the league

-He stays for the rest of p5

-But steers all his reports very much away from the Phantom Thieves

-If anything, he downplays absolutely everything, and makes it seem like it's nothing super big but he's gonna stay a while to keep and eye out because y'alls are busy and I like it here and I haven't gotten expelled so there

-The PTs like to add funny stuff on there just to see if they’ll notice

-Like, Akira likes to have Dami describe his day in excruciating detail. Like, recounting the entirety of his nine or so months to Sae during police interrogation, excruciating

-Mona is pushing for the shiny stuff

-Yusuke just likes to put in bursts of randomness (Dami once mentioned that an acquaintance made another acquaintance T-pose in a church for art lol)

-Ann loves to rant about food

-Haru is always insisting on about feelings

-Ryuji likes to complain about everything and puts in ridiculous requests

-Futaba is just putting in every gen-z thing ever

-Makoto is actually responsible and tries to get him to talk about his progress in school and his social life

-And Akechi is absolutely nowhere near any of this and doesn’t know it exists

-When they have the Tokyo/Japan-wide calling card, Batfam sees it too because let's face it, that's totally the sorta thing that they would keep an eye out for even if he didn't look at the news in the entirety of the time Dami was in Tokyo

-And they send a message to Damian (the first actual communication they've had since before Talia) saying "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON OVER THERE????"

-And with the entirety of the Phantom Thieves looking over his shoulder, Damian's just like "Chill dudes, everything's fiiiiiiiiiine"

-And they're like "UH WHAT PART OF THIS IS FINE????" because they've dug around a bit and found every news report, and oh hey, this isn't anywhere near as calm as Damian described and he’s being super OOC and what’s going on?!?!?!?!?!

-And Damian, being egged on by the most of the PTs, just sends a winky face

-Just

-😉

-And he's smug, because it's still chaos over there so they can't actually come get him and try to pull him out because he's being super ooc

-Which means he's free to do what he wants/needs in the meantime

-Cue the end of the game

-And Dami is going with them on their summer road trip and cackling because the batfam is scrambling to find him in Tokyo but lol nope he's in a van the Japanese government tried and fail to follow

-And he found all the trackers like, a year ago

-Every

-Single

-One

-They eventually track him down to Akira's house where they're calmly eating dinner (and they've been expecting this for the past week so Mona was keeping watch just so they could pull this off) and talking about how uneventful the school year was

-Cue mass confusion in the batfam

-As the PTs enjoy just confusing them so much

-By talking to Mona

-Talking normal then crazy then normal again

-And just generally being their normal selves lol

-They explain absolutely nothing beyond gushing about how much progress socially and academically he’s made (gotta embarrass the baby of the group somehow) and making sure that if Dami absolutely has to go home that he's able to stay in touch

(-Later, Damian forms his own hero persona outside of Batman and Robin)

(-He names it Mockingbird)

(-Batfam proceeds to have a brain aneurysm while the PTs dab their happy proud tears out of their eyes on their regularly scheduled tea time at the Wayne Manor)

(-Damian sends a private plane every week or two lol)

(Bonus: ARTTTTTTT)

(Psst if you guys have ideas for art, outfits, interactions or scenarios, let me know)

[aurification]

I can be a handful, but that's why you have two hands.

basics —

FACECLAIM: Peter Gadiot FULL NAME: Michael Jon Carter NICKNAMES: Mikey ALIAS: Booster Gold BIRTHDATE: December 29th, 2442 BIRTHPLACE: Gotham City AGE: 35 HEIGHT: 6’5” HAIR COLOR: Blond EYE COLOR: Blue FAMILY: Jon Carter (father), Ellen Carter (mother, deceased), Michelle Carter (twin sister), Rip Hunter (son), Rani Carter (adopted daughter), Daniel Carter (21st century ancestor), Rose Levin (21st century ancestor), Skeets (robotic sidekick) AFFILIATIONS: Justice League, Time Masters OCCUPATION: Model / Socialite   MBTI: ESFP SEXUALITY: Bisexual MARITAL STATUS: Divorced → Michael was married to an older woman named Gladys who was his sugar mama. Their marriage didn’t last long before he asked for a divorce. IDENTITY STATUS: Public RELIGIOUS BELIEFS: Atheist

powers / abilities —

LEGION FLIGHT RING: provides him with the ability of flight.

POWER SUIT: uses an advanced microcircuitry-powered all-purpose combat suit that allows him a wide range of options to use in combat.

ENHANCED DURABILITY: the suit is extremely durable and very lightweight. It’s able to withstand bullets without losing its integrity but getting shot will still hurt.

SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH: the microcircuitry woven into the mesh affords him a high measure of super-strength, enough to easily shift twenty tons - and a great deal more if he exerts himself.

FORCE FIELD GENERATION: the suit is capable of generating a force-field that was powerful enough to take a direct punch from doomsday and leave him intact.

TIME TRAVEL CIRCUITRY:  time-travel circuitry is built into his suit, enabling him to travel through the time stream, both into the past and the future. the suit has also been been upgraded by rip hunter to enable michael to traverse chronal anomalies without any adverse effects.

GAUNTLETS: able to provide powerful energy blasts via blasters in the suit’s gauntlets. at the highest setting they can plow through two feet of concrete. they also allow him to create an absorbing field which acts similar to a tractor beam, in which he can grab hold of objects and move them about or hurdle them at foes.

VISOR DEVICES: his visor is outfitted with sensory amplification devices for auditory and visual. also has an hud for targeting and indentifying threats.

ENHANCED VISION: the visor can scan along the electromagnetic spectrum, provide infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray vision.

ENHANCED HEARING: amplified to super human levels allowing him to hear sounds and frequencies no other human can hear.

HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT.

ATHLETICISM.

headcanons —

Four years ago back in his universe, Michael rescued a Daxamite child from the planet Daxam while Darkseid was invading it. Her parents were killed, and unfortunately witnessed the traumatic event. He took her back to Earth since she didn’t have any friends or family left after what Darkseid did done to her planet. The child quickly became attached to Michael, that much was obvious — even carrying around a teddy bear dressed up as him around the house. Michael adopted her shortly after, her new name now Rani Carter. She’s thirteen years old now in the present and has grown comfortable enough to call him dad. Now since she’s a Daxamite, that means she has powers similar to Kryptonians under a yellow sun. This surely keeps everything interesting for Booster.

Michael isn’t from this universe but is actually from an alternate timeline. Everything is the same for the most part except for one thing. His Ted Kord is dead because of what Maxwell Lord had done. It has been seven years since losing his best friend. This spiraled into him getting sole ownership of Kord Industries and taking on Jaime Reyes as a mentoree to respect his best friend’s wishes. How he ended up here will be explained in his biography at the end of this!

Normally Booster would always be clean-shaven but has grown a beard in recent years after falling into a deep depression. His daughter has never seen him without it. He does make sure to trim it when necessary but hasn’t thought about getting rid of the beard since this is just part of his look now.

personality traits —

- RECKLESS. Michael has a tendency to think with his heart sometimes and act on his own personal interests. He doesn’t care about being respected, being the greatest hero you’ve never heard of for a reason so this impacts his decisions in being impulsive or putting himself in a dangerous position.

- ECCENTRIC. Some might think of his sense of humor to be rather strange. He tends to laugh at the wrong times and not say the right thing when it’s important to be serious. He always thinks this makes him unique but it might be annoying instead to others.

+ AMIABLE.  He’s always friendly and upbeat unless given a reason not to be. This has been harder since his his best friend died and Rip told him there was no way to go back and save him. He’s starting to slowly become his old self again with each day though. You wouldn’t know that meeting him since he keeps the lighthearted attitude when talking to a friend or a stranger. He’s an optimist despite the tragedy filling his past.

+ CONFIDENT. He’s charismatic and has confidence in his abilities. This isn’t only just applied to what he does as Booster Gold but also with his modeling career also. The charisma is applied to conversations too, no matter how stupid his ideas might be there’s no hesitation in throwing them out there to someone.

biography for the last seven years —

When the ban started here in this universe, Michael had still been in his own attending a funeral. His best friend was gone and this made him fall into a deep depression. They had two memorial services — one for the businessman everyone knew Ted to be and another for the hero he was. Booster ended up being the last person to arrive at the service and didn’t know what to say when it was his turn to speak in front of the rest of the Justice League. He didn’t believe in anything ever getting better after that but it was with the support of his sister that there was a glimmer of hope. It was hard, really hard. The hardest thing he ever did to not go back and try rewriting history.

His life has been busy since, putting most of his efforts toward either helping the rest of the Justice League or keeping history intact. It does him good having something to do, keeping his mind occupied on how empty the world seemed. It wasn’t until four years ago after adopting Rani that Michael started to experience what it felt to be happy again.

Now bringing it all to the present, a few weeks ago Michael was helping some other heroes fight a creature terrorizing New York. His daughter was a teenager now and recently was gifted one of Michelle’s old Goldstar uniforms for sentimental reasons. Rani wants to be her father’s sidekick but Michael couldn’t lost anyone else. He’s always firm with saying no. She appeared at the scene begging to help but just as they were bickering the creature bursted through a nearby building. Skeets informed them that it was coming right for them. Michael did the only thing any father would do — whatever it takes to protect his family.

He used his time travel technology in his suit to take them away from the destruction coming for them. He meant to only hop a few minutes into the future but something went wrong and they crash landed in a different universe. The not-so-glamorous landing busted the device so there’s no way of getting home but at least Rani and Skeets were okay. This was all he cared about at the end of the day. Maybe it could be possible to build a life here until figuring out a way to fix his suit but seems unlikely right now. Michael realized the Booster Gold of this universe hasn’t been around for a while but has a history of being a model too just like him. He uses this as an easy way to get some work while they’re here.

[50shadesofmittens]

So this is the previous Rapunzel-inspired thing, but edited. I decided not to put it on ao3, so you lot get it here. Enjoy.

//////////////////////////////////////

At the base of the silver Tower, on the back of a rented camel, one lone Custodian disguised as a mutant Tzeentch worshipper (read: wearing a paper-mache mask over his helmet and a T-shirt over his armor that proclaims “I <3 Change”) sat planning the next step of his daring assault.

Then a red lasso grabs him and yanks him up to the highest floor, in through a hole in the liquid-solid walls that closes as soon as the Custodian is deposited on the floors.

“Are you absolutely, completely, burn-your-soul-out, bugger-all to fuck-world and back insane?”

“Nice to see you too, Magnus.” The Custodian groaned as he got up from the floor.

“Do you realize what will happen if even a single daemon finds you here? I’ve found you here! Tzeentch has to know by now, and if you’re still here that means this is all one of his ‘plans.’ Probably to end with your humiliating death or corruption!”

“Was that a hair-lasso you grabbed me with?”

“Don’t change the subject! And yes, shapeshifting is the easiest spell for me to cast if I don’t want to be seen.” Magnus replied, his hair rapidly shortening back to its usual length. “Not that it works completely- there are some forces which can, if they/she/it/whatever the squid is right now choose so, can see everything I see. And since I’m on probation/house arrest, again, I’m being watched fairly closely right now.

“Which would be obvious to anyone or moderate intelligence who thought things through for more than thirty seconds, and I know you’re well beyond moderate intelligence, so we’re back to the ‘insane’ theory. Gods only know what disasters might’ve already been put in motion just from you coming here- and Gods knowing is exactly the problem.”

The Custodian sighed. “Rest assured, I do have a plan. A very… flexible one, yes, but I didn’t just come in, guns blazing. And if needs be I can throw it out the window and work with what I have to improvise. You know I can.”

Magnus shook his head. “That’s exactly what I’m worried about. This place, and everyone on it, belongs to the lord of plans- whatever you have in mind, he’s already well aware of. So if we’re going to get you off planet alive-”

“We’re not leaving the planet.” Magnus startled as the Custodian continued, “We’re staying here, and taking this planet out of the Warp.”

“And I’m now reverting to my original theory: you have gone completely mental.” Magnus barked out a laugh. “I should’ve known when you thought it was a good idea to come out here, alone, with just yourself and- was that a camel?”

“Right behind you.” Sure enough, the camel had followed its rider up the tower. This rider gave her many head-pats and good oat snacks. She liked head-pats.

“The fuck- how did that thing even get in here? Without exploding?”

“According to the sales pitch, she’s a specially commissioned used camel with warp-terrain capabilities and double-Primarch capacity.” The Custodian shrugged. “If that makes any sense to you then you understand her better than I do. I have no clue what she’s capable of.”

Magnus shook his head. “Never mind. The point is, you have to go, before whatever scheme you have in mind gets too complicated for me to pull you out.”

“And what if sending me away is the scheme? Hm?” The Custodian shrugged. “It’s not like you can prepare for every plan Tz- that one has. Weren’t you the one who decided that it was better to just work with what we had, than to think too hard about how to win?”

“That was a very different scenario. Besides which, I’m not trying to win- I’m just trying to get by. For now,” Magnus added hastily, “once I’m in a better position I can-”

“Stop. Just- before you tell me what your long-term goals, are tell me this: how do you plan to get into this ‘better position’ in the first place?”

“I’ll work with what I have, exactly what you yourself just said you planned to do!”

“So, what, Tzeentch mentions he wants this subsector conquered, you work on it, get further into his good graces, and just keep going until he’ll let you be free?” The Custodian shook his head. “We both know it’s not going to work like that.”

“I don’t expect my privileges to go that far. I just need enough leeway to make things… better.”

“You’re mixing your goals up. You’re planning too far ahead where you should be thinking about the now, and you make your immediate plans where you should be thinking about the long-term.”

“At least I’m doing something.” Magnus snapped. “Isn’t that enough? I used to just wait, wait, wait, planning every step and making every choice based on a thousand pre-existing factors, until I got too lost in my own head. You helped me break out of that- and I’m grateful, really, I am. I’m so, so glad I met you.

“But please,” and Magnus took the Custodian’s gauntlets into his own hands, “don’t destroy yourself trying to save me. You already have- in more ways than you’ll ever know. If I’m to live with the memories of you as my guide, don’t make one of those memories be your death. That’s not how I want to repay you.

“Go home, [R E D A C T E D]. The other Custodes need their Captain General, and the Imperium needs its leader. Don’t throw all that you’ve accomplished away. I’m not worth it.”

“I’d debate you on several of those points,” the Captain General said, “but for now, I’ll settle on this question: are your sons worth it? Are your people?”

“Don’t.” Magnus pulled away, and he turned away. “Don’t ask that. You don’t tell me to choose- between the one thing that’s led me to be someone I’m proud to be and the duty that I’ve only just really started to love again.”

“You love them?”

Magnus hesitated, but he nodded. “Ever since I got back, I keep seeing all the amazing things I knew before but kept missing or mistaking for something worse. ‘We humans have a peculiar ability to turn the worst, stupidest dystopian situation into stuff we can laugh grimly at, I appreciate that.’”

“Quote from the-nothing-maker, early second millennium assorted internet. Volume, Tumblr.” The Captain General said, “I read you that one.”

“You use my words against me, I use your quotes against you.” Magnus said, though there was no bite in his words. “You know, in the few times I haven’t been alone here, everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy. That you were tricking me into neglecting my kingdom so it’d fall into disarray, or were going to tell me to burn it all down so we could start over later.” Magnus sniffed. “It’s all rubbish. There might’ve been some downturns while I was gone, but the working infrastructure hasn’t exactly collapsed without me. Which is more than most daemon planets could say. Besides which, it’s not like I’ve been doing much governing since I got back.

“And when I see you again the first offer you make is to save the planet- though if you were a daemon or another Tz-“ The Captain General made a loud noise of protest to keep Magnus from saying the whole name, “-follower, I could believe that it’s some plan to destroy the planet, but… that’s not you. That’s the farthest thing from you. That’s why I- I can’t sit by while you’re destroyed.”

“That’s not-”

“No just-” Magnus swallowed hard and looked the Captain General in the eye. “Just listen to me. Please. Let me finish.

“It- it’s crazy but… if I died there would be another war, big fucking whoop it must be Tuesday, but… if you died, I think the galaxy would become a little colder. Because every time I look at you and try to decipher what sort of man you are, I find something wonderful there. Every time. And you can be petty, hypocritical, and cowardly, but even when you are those things that… kindness, that spark that makes you shine is still there. It doesn’t shine consistently, but it never vanishes completely. And… there’s nothing else I’ve seen or heard of in this galaxy that can match that. Not the Gods, not my Father, and certainly not me.”

“Magnus…” Against the speaker’s intentions, the word came out as a whisper.

“I know you still think, somewhere deep down, that you’re not worth it, or that you could be replaced. But I’m telling you, you can’t.”

“Magnus.” The Captain General said, louder now, but something scratchy in his voice as though he was holding back tears. “I didn’t come here to die. I know you think- that the place you’re in and the person you are makes it impossible to get out but- you keep forgetting one key thing, in the way it most counts. Who you are.

“You’re the person who saved hundreds of thousands of entire civilizations worth of culture and history- through negotiation and diplomacy, and just giving them respect. If it wasn’t you, someone else would’ve done it, and they wouldn’t have been anywhere near as kind. We both know by now that the kindest thing would’ve been to have left the galaxy alone, but that wasn’t gonna happen, so you made it happen your way. No matter what anyone else said, or did, or how they mocked you for it- you did what you thought was right. Just like in the Heresy, your sons were kept from the war because you fought back against the poison in your soul, and kept them as far from the madness as you could.

“You’ve done a lot of evil, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you otherwise and I’m never going to lie to you about that, but you’ve got a lot of drive to do good- and you’ve done a lot of good, over and over, from the moment you got the chance. What you did for me, during [REDACTED INCIDENT]

“[REDACTED INCIDENT]

“[REDACTED INC-] But you showed me that you want to go farther- and you are going farther, from the twisted paths that came before. You managed to hold out longer than any of your brothers (exceptmaybeMortarionI’mnotclearonthetimeline) when it came to corruption.”

“You...” Magnus said, with a small smile, “are the only person in the galaxy who truly believes that intentions have any value.”

“Maybe that’s because the galaxy doesn’t value people’s hearts enough. That life is so disposable nobody bothers trying to help the hurting. I think that’s bullshit. And Magnus, you stood up with me against the indecisive squid once before, and with your help I won. Now, I’m asking you to stand with me once again.

“Please.” The Captain General held out his hand, “trust me?”

And Magnus closed his eye, sighed deeply, shook his head, opened his eye, then reached out and took his hand. “Okay.” He said, voice breaking, “Okay. What must I do?”

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are weird “Commander”

Alright guys, you have all been encouraging me that it’s ok to write more, and so I am trying it out. This story has to do with Captain Vir being promoted to Commander, and it’s written completely in my preferred style and length . If you are one of those people that doesn’t follow the plot-line but is just here for weird humans, you can ignore. I hope you all enjoy. I’d love to do more writing like this later on if anyone is interested :)

Captain Vir stared out the window of UNSC headquarters watching as a mass crowd of people trickled onto the staging ground. His ship sat over the horizon, large, dark, and imposing, Christened the U.S.S Harbinger for all military purposes, though it would always have a different name in his heart. He had made it a point to paint over the U.S.S Stabby BEFORE landing back on Earth, and he was glad that he did. He wasn’t sure how the president of the UN would have felt about the moniker dubbing a military vessel after a two thousand year old meme. When he came back for the ranking ceremony, he had assumed it would be a small affair in front of UNSC, GA, and military representatives. But it looked like most of North America had shown up to watch. The entire staging ground had been surrounded by towering stadiums.

He was already beginning to feel nauseous.

“Forgot to mention that we invited a few other people.” Captain Vir turned around to find Vice Admiral Kelly standing behind him hands resting lightly behind her back in her ramrod straight uniform. Behind her stood another woman, tall, dark skinned, and grey with age but with hard steely eyes. He quickly snapped to attention, for the Fleet admiral. In recent years it had become necessary to fuse air-force and navy into one body. Sure they were flying, but they were using ships to do it, but Vir understood the meaning of Fleet Admiral as much as he knew the meaning of those five stars on her uniform.

“At ease.” She commanded, and he feel into an at-ease position as easily as he would have during his days at the flight academy. They waved him down, and he turned back to the window, “A few people?”

A hand rested on his shoulder, and he looked up  to find the Fleet Admiral standing next to him staring out the window, surveying the seen like a hawk or an eagle, “Captain, you are a folk hero at the forefront of a new age, ushering in changes that we have no experienced in thousands of years. At this moment in time you belong to the people weather you like the idea or not. Your success or failure may well be an indicator of the success or failure of humanity.”

He felt the blood drain from his face. He was having sudden and aggressive doubts, “That’s flattering, but I….. I’m not some folk hero. I’m not exceptionally brave, or smart, or… or anything else. I’m just lucky, and sometimes I’m….”

She held up a hand, “Captain, I said you were a folk hero not infallible. That Luck of yours may have ushered you here in a golden carriage, but now you have to prove to these people that you are worth something beyond that, so buck up and stop being modest…..” She stepped in front of him and looked him in the eye. He reckoned she was actually a little taller than he was, and her personality was quite imposing, “Tell me captain, can you handle this assignment?”

He took a deep breath standing a little taller, “Yes, Admiral.”

“And why?”

He paused, “Because I am the most experienced man on the fleet.” She seemed to be waiting for something else. He took a shot in the dark, “And…. I am an excellent Captain.”

The corner of her mouth twitched, “There it is. Now, down to the staging area with you. The ceremony is ready to commence.” He did as told executing an immediate about face and almost crashing into a doorframe before scuttling, flustered out of the room. The warm flush on his face and the ringing in his ears was enough that he had trouble distinguishing if he heard a chuckle or not

It turned out he did, and behind him, the Fleet admiral was shaking her head in mild amusement as was the Vice Admiral. Captain Vir was a strange man. A good man, but a strange man.

***

Sunny was standing by the door when captain Vir came down with her clan of warriors. In one of her hands she held her mother’s massive war staff, and she had clad herself in Drev ceremonial armor like her other counterparts. Captain Vir had to admit she looked very impressive, regal even, better than her mother had. Other members of his crew were there as well, but they would be reading themselves for the staging grounds. No one really knew where to put Sunny and her clan, so he had suggested a course of action.

He gave her a weak smile as he stood by the door, and she watched and listened as the crowd outside swelled. Sunny worried about him, he looked almost ill. Then the crowd began to still, she could hear the call of brass instruments somewhere as thousands of people stood. More trumpet blasts, and they could all heart the thundering of marching feet on the ground. Glancing out the window, they watched as fifteen crews of men and women displayed themselves on the staging grounds in perfect rows. Drums rattled as they marched forming into their lines and ranks. They were hundreds of them all together as each ship could contain a sizable crew. The captains followed after splaying themselves in triple rows of five. There were seven women and eight men in those lines, and ALL of them were older than captain Vir some of them by a good ten years or more. All of them had the faces of combat veterans who had seen too much and were ready for more.

Captain Vir took a deep breath closing his eyes and then opening them again as he continued to watch the display. The flags were brought in down the center of the crews. With the size of the staging field, it took a good few minutes for the flag to make its way up the center, the flag of the UN right next to the newly sewn flag of the GA. Aliens didn’t tend to understand human customs, but they had adopted the idea of a flag. Both flags were slotted next to each other, and a command was given. The soldiers saluted in unison the clapping of their heels rattling the windowpanes. Humans sure did like to make it a point to demonstrate their perfect synchronization. Above them, the civilians took to their feet, adopting the ancient custom of the Americas placing their hands over their hearts.

A line of men and women exited form a different door taking their positions. Not a one of them had anything lower than a star on his or her shoulder, accept for a single man. He was older with greying blond hair and stern steel eyes, he wore the patch of a sergeant with all the pride of any of the admirals unintimidated by his presence within them. Vir quickly struck the back of his hand across his eyes in a quick gesture seeing his father out there. The man had served during the last PanAsian war when he was only Vir’s age or younger. He had always been proud to support the unification of Earth.

A cue was signaled somewhere, and the Drev marched out in their rank and file. They had been practicing their marching in the way that humans had, and found that it was particularly intimidating. They enjoyed the practice. With Sunny at their head, they marched in two double columns stopping and splitting apart with a clatter of weaponry. The crowd grew quiet, a few gasps echoed through the staging area. Sunny called a command in her native tongue powerful voice echoing easily towards the furthest reaches of the staging ground. Camera crews zoomed in on them as the Drev lifted their weapons in a sign of respect ramming them on the ground three times before drawing very still.

The man that stepped from the building was definitely the Captain, accept wiped of all nerves. The man that walked from that building held his head high marching with the strict and precise movements of a machine. The look on his face made him look almost five years older than he truly was. His squared shoulders gave the idea of height and power as he walked down the gauntlet of Drev soldiers. As he moved past, they raised their weapons to him, a salute to their clan chief.

Their Captain was here.

As he exited the line of Drev, he turned sharply right heels pressing together at a perfect 45 degree angle. The crew of the U.S.S Harbinger saluted at the call of their Lieutenant Commander. The captain returned the gesture hand snapping up to the brim of his cap, crisp and sharp. He returned the hand to his side and the crew was ordered to an at-ease.

Still with precision, he turned again and moved his way over to stand in front of the line of high ranking officers. His father snapped to attention first, Vir second, and the admirals third. Vir’s father broke from the line on some unknown command stepped a few feet out and made the gesture to the line of admirals. He turned to face his son, and the two looked each other in the eye for a long moment. Vir stood still as the man stepped forward and removed the captain���s bars from his uniform front turning towards the admirals, one of which now held a small, open black box with a set of finely polished silver wings spread wide. He took them and replaced them with the Captain’s bars before turning and with great ceremony, gave his son wings.

Once attached, the man stepped back into line eyes glittering with moisture as the entire group made the exchange again.

Fleet Commander Vir turned to the staging ground, and another call came out. The captains snapped to attention with a clatter that heralded the same response from the rest of the open field. Even the Drev again raised their weapons in salute.

…And then they had to sit through another hour of speeches. It was dry and boring and ho. At least two soldiers collapsed on the ground having made the mistake of locking their knees at attention. They were quickly escorted from the field. Commander Vir kept his stance steady the entire time staring out at his new fleet of men and women sizing up the captains even as they did the same to him.

Eventually the podium was handed over, and he took a step up. He paused there, hands on either side of the lectern gloves hiding just how clammy his hands were, “Less than ten years ago there were many who thought that aliens didn’t exist, that humanity was alone on this plane of existence. Now, a little over five years since my commissioning in the United Nations Space Corpse, and we are members of the Galactic Assembly, by ways of a more seamless integration than we could have imagined.

During my life I have lived through the times were we didn’t believe, I flew as a crewman of the enterprise on her maiden voyage, I fought in the Drev war, I lost my leg, battled Post Traumatic Stress, recovered, and returned to be commissioned as a captain on the first vessel to fly on behalf of the Galactic assembly and the UNSC. Since then, it has been my mission to make peaceful contact with as many sentient lifeforms as I can. I have…… made mistakes and nearly died more times that I can count. Space is the Wild West, the final frontier. Humanity has always attempted to conquer the unknown, but instead of turning to the sea, we turned to the sky. I don’t know if it’s some form of Manifest Destiny, or something else, but I know that it was an inevitability.” Commander Vir paused to look at the crowd.

“When Vice Admiral Kelly told me they were organizing he first true Fleet for the UNSC and that my name was on top of the list to lead those men, I admittedly questioned the decision. Why would they pick me when I am young, inexperienced in life, and known to have made mistakes in the past...? I have come to discover since that conversation that that is precisely why they have given me the job. There is not a mistake, an erroneous conclusion, or a foul up that I haven’t made, but that means despite less life experience, I have the most out of any man who has experience traveling the galaxy.” He turned to address the captains now, “Perhaps you may be already questioning my leadership, either because of my age or my reputation, but I can tell you now… You are not ready for this assignment. You will never be ready. Things will happen to you that don’t make sense, that shouldn’t make sense and that will make you question whether you really want this job or not. I bet some of you are only a few months away from quitting, and you haven’t even started yet. I have been given this job because if anyone can help you survive, thrive, and maybe even enjoy this assignment, it’s me.” His voice rose a little, “Despite hesitation on my part, I must leave you with a warning. We represent humanity, you are the first humans some out there will meet, and it is your example that will mold how others see is. IF you compromise our good faith with the Galactic assembly, if you behave in a way that is contrary to the values of the UNSC or to the TRUE virtue of humanity, I will be personally obligated to remove you, permanently from my fleet. I may be younger than some of you but I will not compromise on poor behavior.”

He nodded to the admirals and stepped down. The entire crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief and began to clap. It was time to go find some air conditioning.

***

Commander Vir had retreated into the air conditioned building as soon as was prudent. It really was hot as hell out there, and inside the formalwear of his uniform he was hot, irritable and dehydrated, but despite these feelings, he was still forced to shake a thousand hands as other passed into the building. If this continued, he was sure his hand would go numb and just fall off.

Another part of him, the less cynical and more mid-twenties- average guy was sort of just freaking out. He was the Commander of an entire fleet of ships, and an entire fleet that had an average of AT LEAST five years on him in areas of command if not far more. Did he really have any idea what he was doing? How the hell did a person like him end up with so much responsibility? He still wore an eyepatch because he thought it was “cool” did he really have any place leading an entire fleet of battle-ready space aircraft carriers.

The thought was making him nauseous.  A nausea that got a little better when his family stopped by. His father was still wearing his old army uniform and was beaming with his face fit to split in half. It seemed that the older he got, the more he realized his father was a real person with real emotions. He had been a great father when he was a kid, but he hadn’t exactly been emotionally forthcoming. His mother was how she always was throwing her arms around him and hugging him close. She was so proud, he was going to do great, and she had always known he would make something of himself. She was even in a good enough mood to grace Sunny with a stiff smile.

All of his siblings were there, his sister with Kimber and their growing baby boy, David with his partner Jordan and their son, adopted at two years old, who looked at captain Vir with wide brown eyes, sure the two of them could have commissioned one of those designer babies based on their own DNA instead of adopting, but David had always been opposed to that idea. As long as there were still orphans in the world he was determined to give them a good home. Jordan didn’t seem to mind, and Vir was glad to see the two of them were happy. Jeremy was with his girlfriend, the newest one in a long line of girlfriends, and Vir wondered how long he would manage to hold onto this one, she seemed like a sweet girl, she would be good for Jeremy if he didn’t manage to screw it up. Tomas…… well Tomas was Thomas and that was another can of worms.

He was forced to cut their little reunion short as a group of fifteen people marched their way up the corridor. The bars on their uniforms glittered in the light, and he had to step away from his mother to face them. The captains stopped in a group and gave him a rather unnecessary salute. A quick look over their faces wasn’t enough to tell him what he needed to know, but it was enough to tell him some things. There was no open hostility towards him, but some of them moved more sharply than others, covering what seemed to be resentful attitudes. There were about five of those, the next five were rather wary of him and the last five went from ambivalent to downright welcoming. Surprisingly, the oldest captain seemed to be the most pleased to see him. He had silver hair, bright blue eyes and a charming smile. He would probably have been a real ladies man back in his day and could probably still manage now. Aging had been remarkably kind to him. Vir would have estimated him to be in his sixties, but he had the body of a man half that age, so his age was rather indeterminate. When the salute was over the man walked over, and rather than shaking his hand he clapped him on the back, “Commander.”

“Vir will be fine,” He said in response,

“Vir than, A pleasure to be working under you. Always good to see younger people taking initiative.” He glanced over at Vir’s parents, “I can already tell he comes from good stock.” Damn, the guy was just as charming as his face suggested. He had that sort of old cowboy feel about him, perhaps it was the hint of a southern drawl. Vir couldn’t help but being a little jealous, he wished he was that good with people. The other captains were a little more reserved.  The next person to walk up was a rather petite Asian woman with a serious face, but after greeting, he found her to be rather affable and with a descent sense of humor.

The others were a bit harder to read, they had the strong silent captain, with the patch on his shoulder indicating that he hailed form one of their units out of Africa. The guy was a flipping mountain. What vir wouldn’t have given to have his physique?  There were others of course, and they hailed from all over. At least one other from somewhere in Asia, he wasn’t able to read the patch, one from Russia, one from India, and one from Brazil. There were others whose tags he was unable to read.

It had been years since anyone identified themselves based on national ideals. The last war had brought China into the UN once and for all uniting planet earth as one cohesive body of humanity with a single governing body, but the old love still remained. It was hard to take Russia out of a Russian or America an American. Thousands of years later, and they still couldn’t give up their old selves, but that was alright with Vir as long as they made sure to put earth first.

He still wasn’t totally sure about them, and he wasn’t sure about their crews. You never truly understood someone until you gave them a chance to do something stupid and or aggressive, and he had some plans in the works. He wanted to know who he was hiring on before he put the fleet to work.

As the Captain’s walked away, Commander Vir motioned Sunny over and leaned in, “Tell the crew to start setup.”

“What did the admiral say?”

“She thought it was weird, but she agreed when I gave my reasoning.”

***

What was this plan that captain Vir had in mind? Well It was sort of crafty but rather genius is sunny did say so herself. The man wanted to know who was on his crew, and he wanted to know who was on the other crews, so he had designed to set up a little bit of a party. His reasoning, people get dumb at parties, and if I can see them at their dumbest, I can weed out the troublemakers early on. Plus he also wanted to have a little fun, but that was only collateral.

In essence, His plan was threefold have fun, examine the men, and see how the crew would accept him when he wasn’t wearing the uniform. The commander didn’t lead in his military greys, and there were some people who had a problem with that. If he could catch the captains true feelings about him early on, than he could deal with them early on.  So he invited all available crew members from the fleets, they had music set up, and drinks and gambling tables. There was something for everyone, and Vir intended to use it. He intended to put these men and women into a great place to do something stupid. Additionally, he had ordered the Drev members of his crew to mingle with the crowd. If these men could not handle contact with the Drev than they would have to go. Commander Vir was both a clan chief, and the main human ambassador to the Drev world, so he would not tolerate any sort of alien hostility. If they couldn’t handle the drev he couldn’t be sure that they would be proper to a more delicate, less indestructible alien race. The rest of his crew would be doing the same noting down any major problems they saw and making sure that everyone stayed in line. Not everyone was going to make it out of this night and still have a job.

***

By the time the crewmen started filtering in, Sunny already had the music up and running. Vir had to admit that she was one damn good DJ. The crewman of the other fifteen ships seemed surprised when they saw the bright blue Drev and her green headphones running the systems with some pretty good classic rock, a genre that could never really die. There was hardly any hesitation from most of them, there was drinks, descent music and the uniforms of earlier had been replace with casual ware often intended to attract other humans. This was the night before their first deployment and they intended to make the most of it.

With fifteen crews to accommodate, it didn’t take long for the place to fill up. Of course there would be men and women skipping to stay with their families, but Vir wasn’t particularly worried about them. He was worried about the kind of people that are attracted to trouble. And while, parties are fun and not everyone who goes to them is a troublemaker, they did tend to foster very specific enviornment for behavior the Commander could not abide. The Drev were deployed once the human entries had gone down to a slow trickle, they entered the room in pairs to keep eyes on each other. Some of these men had been involved with the Drev war, so they couldn’t be sure if those men would still harbor anger towards this other species.

Watching from a discreet upper window, Commander Vir saw the hesitation in the humans as the Drev entered, but there was nothing overtly hostile towards his crew members. He would have to wait though, it was early in the night, and no one was drunk just yet.

***

Krill stared out the little observation window next to the Commander, thankful the walls were thick enough to block the thundering human music. He could still feel the beat through the floor and past the pain of glass, the thudding beat made him dizzy, the Vrul’s cortical pathways were’t known to tolerate and complex patterns like the humans specifically auditory ones. His brain always desperately tried to keep up with the beats, and it took most of his concentration not to go into a passed-out trance as he tried to follow the music. He would argue though, that the humans were not that much better. Down on the floor they rolled and churned in a single mass hands in the air writhing and spinning in disjointed jerks and sways. Their eyes were closed, they pressed close to each other as if unaware how strange their behavior seemed to an outsider. The way their bodies moved with the music was something he had only seen from humans and the Drev. Matching their movements to a background beat as they did. It wasn’t as pretty as actual dancing, but it was an impossible feat for anyone not human or Drev.

Krill was very much under the impression that enviornment like this were specifically designed to increase the human’s desire for mating. The Commander hadn’t argued with him when he pointed this out. Clubs and bars were the sort of places that humans went for that kind of thing. In an entirely new mass of people, it was easy to lose your identity and inhibition making your actions more obvious and more reckless.  But it was also a perfect time to root out the people Vir did not care for, bullies, sexual predators, violent drunks, etc. The crews had no idea what was waiting for them.

***

Captain Vir walked into the room with all the confidence of a man who knew exactly what he was doing. It wasn’t far from the truth, he was comfortable in enviornment like this loud, exciting, and with lots of people, but he wasn’t totally here for the fun. With Cannon at his side, he walked into the maze of tables set up with decks of cards and sets of gambling chips.

He was dressed down as casual as he could manage jeans, a boot, shoes didn’t fit on his prosthetic anymore, and a brown leather bomber jacket over a white T-shirt. He had removed the uncomfortable fake eye and replaced it with his preferred eye-patch. The thundering beat drifted in from the other room, a constant background of chaos just under the rise of voices through the room. He scanned the crowd finding what he was looking for and walked over pulling up a chair at one of the tables and taking a seat.

The Captain’s, at least six of them, looked up with surprise at their intruders, one of them being aver nine feet tall at the least. The next table over seated one or two of the captains giving him nine out of the fifteen in total. He could see by the looks on their faces, that they didn’t recognize him at first. He pulled aside the lapel of his jacket so they could see a replica of one of the wings pinned onto the inside, “Mind if we join?” He asked casually.

They sat back in surprise, “Commander.”

“Adam or Vir would be fine, none of us are working.” He eyed them, singular, as they looked at him. There was surprise, ambivalence, welcoming and…. Ah ha, some narrowed eyes. He casually reached for the deck, cut it and shuffled it speedily, “Thought I might as well come to get and know the men and women I in my fleet. Seems as good a time as any.”

One of the captains stood up and went to walk away. The Commander could tell by his actions that he was not interested in hanging around. He shuffled the cards back into a pile, “SIT down, Captain.” He allowed the smile to fall from his face, and his voice to deepen copping his father, a man who could be very intimidating when his four boys got out of hand.

The Captain stopped, turned around, but did not take his seat.

Commander Vir turned to his cards examining them with a critical eye, “I assume you know what the word sit means?” Cannon shifted in his seat next to the Commander, and the captain sat mouth twitching a little. Commander Vir tapped the table with two fingers and then looked up as his turn passed, “You don’t like me very much, and I find that a bit odd seeing as we haven’t even formally introduced ourselves.”

“I never said that, Commander.” The man said icily. The entire table shifted rather nervously.

“I may be young, but I’m not stupid. Standing up and walking away angrily immediately after someone sits down is the universal sign for not liking someone. If you were trying to be discrete about it you may need to brush up on the rules of human body language, and if you did it on purpose, you wanted me to know, but you didn’t plan on getting called out for it, so either you tell me what it is that’s bothering you right here and now, or you can stop behaving like a petulant child.” That comment seemed to have stung coming from a younger man and going to an older man.

“Permission to speak freely then?” The man asked after a few moments. The commander folded and cut his losses tossing his stack of cards to the side as he looked at the other man, “Of course, that’s why we’re here isn’t it.”

The man paused then, “I think you’re a joke.”

The commander tilted his head, “A Funny one I hope?”

Teeth ground against teeth, “That’s the root of the problem. You’re too young to take anything seriously. That position should have gone to someone with more experience. You were only promoted to captain a few years ago, and now they have you commanding a fleet. Something seems wrong to me, favoritism or bribery.”

The Commander tilted his head thoughtfully in the other direction, “Who do you think should have taken the position….. someone like…… you?”

The man floundered for a moment in response, and Captain Vir leaned a little forward resting his elbow on the table, “No honestly, I’m listening. Suppose you were promoted to Commander, I assume you have studied alien culture extensively, or you have personal experience. You know what NOT to do to be thrown in a Rundi prison, or that a Tesraki doesn’t consider it morally wrong to lie during a business deal, or the proper rituals for greeting another Drev commander?”

Around the table, the captains shifted uncomfortably. The instigator remained silent.

“I also assume that you know a Starborn’s Telekinetic waves will disrupt the warp systems of a space vessel, and that you need to change the frequency on the signals.” He glanced at his cards again, “You may have more experience in war, and commanding men, Captain, but I’ve already made the mistakes necessary to know what I am doing when it comes to space travel.” He threw a chip into the center of the table, “If you can’t let go of your pride and admit that I might have more experience in this area than you, than we aren’t likely to get along, and I enjoy getting along with people.” They threw down their cards, and one of the other captains won, she pulled them towards her.

He looked up, “Well, keep going, I want to get it all out in the air BEFORE I have to work with you. I need you to trust my command and respect me if this is going to work out, and that’s not going to happen if you are harboring thoughts like this.”

Another pause, and the Commander refused to look away until another concern was raised, “It’s hard to see you as a proper commander, when you dress like a space pirate and act like an eccentric movie character. It very much seems like you are trying to ‘be cool’ to impress other people, but you aren’t doing it in an adult way you are doing it in a way that makes it seem you are trying to look like some edgy movie character who is supposed to be the ‘cool guy’. It makes you seem weak and desperate for other people to see you as something you aren’t.”

The commander smiled, “A stunning psychoanalysis of my motives.” He paused tapping one of the poker chips on the table, “You’re right.” The entire table seemed a little surprised, “I love old movies, I love cool movie characters. I think the eyepatch makes me look dashing and roguish, but you do have one thing wrong.” They waited, “I don’t where this eyepatch to impress you, I wear it because I think it’s fun and I’ll be damned if I have to remove it to impress you. If I truly was so desperate for people to see me as cool, I would go change into my uniform right now in order to demonstrate to everyone at this table with how serious and task oriented I am.”

He leaned back in his chair waiting again, “Well, go on, I am sure we can come up with some worthwhile concern.”

A soft, but stern voice raised from the other table, “I think, Commander that you try too hard to be friends with your crew, and in turn you lose some credibility as a leader. It’s fine to be someone’s friend, but you have to let some of that go in order to lead properly.”

He turned in his chair and took a deep breath as if he was going to say something paused and then, “Alright, that one hurt, so it must be true. Go on.”

That hour was when the commander learned he wasn’t totally ok with taking criticism. He thought he was, and it was fine when what the captains were saying wasn’t true, or they had something wrong about his intentions, but it was an entirely different matter when he sensed some truth in what they were saying. He tried to listen, tried to learn, but after a while he just couldn’t anymore and excused himself from the table with a nod, and a, “I will think about what you all said, but I have a few other matters to attend to before the night is over.” He tried not to look stiff as he walked away ruminating silently on what they had said to him. He may have at least gained their respect, but at what cost.

He glanced over at cannon, “Do you think I’m insecure?”

Cannon looked down at him with a raised eyebrow, “Is that supposed to be a question?”

“F**k Cannon, yes it was a question.”

Cannon Shrugged his large shoulders, “What, do you want me to do, lie to you?”

The captain stepped in front of the Drev and stalked onto the lit dance floor, suddenly feeling very stupid in his eye patch and jacket. This night wasn’t supposed to have ended up like this. He scanned the crowd and found Sunny at her DJ position seeming quite pleased with herself. He pushed through the crowd leaving Cannon behind and walked up to her.

She gave him one good look and paused, “What’s wrong!” She yelled over the thundering beat

He sighed and leaned back against the wall, “I just got all of my insecurities, issues, and flaws dissected by people I barely know, and now I feel like shit.”

She laughed at him.

“Well thanks, Sunny, So glad I came to you for help. Such a supportive friend.”

She grinned again then grabbed him by the hand, “Come on grumpy; let’s dance.”

***

He had recovered reasonably by the end of the night, and there were other issues to deal with anyway. At least seven of their new men had attempted to gang up on one of the Drev who had gone out to get some air. They had their asses handed to them in swift fashion as the Drev had almost as many limbs to fight them with as there were people attacking. There were at least three cases of sexual harassment, not an issue humanity had managed to get over, yeah they had managed to shatter the glass ceiling and equalize the sexes, but now EVERYONE participated in equal measure, so that had to be dealt with. Regarding other issues such as fighting, aggressive behavior and excessive drug use, they ended up kicking out nearly twenty people and putting at least forty others on probation. Sure there were people that argued, but the Commander refused to budge on these areas, and told them exactly where to stick their complaints.

The Captain’s weren’t exactly happy with some of the people getting kicked off their crews, but now they were at least willing to listen to him, as he had managed to listen to them.

The problem now would be managing to put his ego back together enough that he could rationally take a look at himself and decide if what they said was true.

That was going to take a while.

[antman-56]

The Long Night Pt. 12

***The Next Day***

Tai : So, we have a USB and some support from the local king pin is what i'm getting out of this.

Raven : Pretty much.

The twins were lucky that Tai helped them out, so they told him everything first when he caught them last night. He lied to Summer that they came back a few minutes after fell asleep. 

They decided to tell her what they learned later with Tai's help, so they don't get yelled at as much.

They were now in the cafeteria still deciding what to do next and waiting for Summer to get them their weapons.

They forgot about combat class and left them at their dorm.

Raven : What is taking her so long?

Qrow : Gee a 4 foot girl carrying a broad sword her size, a Odachi with it's sheaths, her own weapon and all the ammo for those weapons should be here in 5 minutes no less.

Raven : Fine. I'll go help her.

Tai : Thank you my love.

Qrow : Gross.

The boys watched Raven walk out of the cafeteria.

Tai (smirking) : Not as gross as you and Summer almost kissing.

Qrow spits out his drink.

Qrow (flustered) : What?

Tai : I saw what you two were about to do and I got to ask . . .

Qrow : And you want me to back off or something?

Tai (throws spoon full of corn at him)  : Let other people finish before you assume. And I am not against it, just be careful with her.

Qrow : Or you'll kill me?

Tai : No, she can do it before I could.

Qrow : Well don't worry we aren't dating. It just happened.

Tai : I know that feeling, but she may like you.

Qrow just looked at Tai.

Tai had his trademark dopey smile. It always helped anyone get into a better mood no matter how down they were.

They noticed a pile of weapons moving towards them with Raven behind it.

Summer : I can't believe you guys forgot your weapons!

Qrow : Sorry.

Summer : You are lucky that Raven is helping with the ammo. Now get ready you two because Major Jones will take no excuses if were late.

***Combat Room***

The Combat Room was something special. It was a large room with cubes stacked into obstacles that varied from trees to buildings. Near the ceiling their was a peanut gallery.

Their were 32 students following Major Jones into the peanut gallery.

Scarlet : Alright Maggots, since your mothers decided not to swallow you this is your Hell. This is not Beacon , Haven, Signal or any other Combat School. This is Atlas, the best of the best.

Everyone of the transfer students were caught of guard. The Atlas students seemed unfazed by her intro.

Scarlet : Now we do this like the Vytal Festival. 4 on 4, 2 on 2, then singles. So, who wants to volunteer out of the lot of you?

Silence.

Scarlet (sigh) : Okay then. LION, BLAD congrats you fight first.

Team BLAD (Blade) and Team LION left to go to their respective sides, they were told to go, of the room.

Team BLAD is composed of Ben Miller, Lenny Mcormick, Alvin Duke, and Damien Steel.

Team LION is composed of Leonie Song, Issack Murr, Olivia Strong, and Nicole Small.

As team BLAD was leaving to their side Alvin winked at Summer before he left.

It did NOT go unnoticed.

Scarlet : Now the rest of you can watch the fight or homework. The choice is yours.

Summer : I'm ma go watch the fight. Would anyone else like to join me or . . .

Raven got up and started to drag Summer by her hood to the window panels.

(// like when Ruby and Weiss first teamed up )

Tai : How about you Qrow? Like to join me and the Queens.

Qrow : Nope.

Tai : Really why? I can keep Raven busy and leave you and you know who alone~

Qrow : First off, gross. Second their is nothing their and third I want to catch up on sleep if i'm going to be at my best.

Tai left after he got his answer. Thinking of other plans to help his best friend.

Qrow on the other hand put a book on his face as a blindfold and made himself more comfortable in his seat.

Team LION was renowned for being a up and coming brawler team. They mostly focused on hand to hand combat, but that didn't stop them from being a good team.

The leader of LION was Leonie Song. A fiery red head with a personality of her teams name. Her semblance was Fire Bending, albeit she has a limit for how long she can use it and she is extremely weak against water. Her weapon of choice are fire dusted brass knuckles and steel boots that enhanced her semblance.

Isack Murr looked like the average guy everyone knew, but didn’t know. He had no weapon just two small shield, one on each arm. Each shield was equipped with dust canisters that would explode a variety of dust when met with enough force to trigger it or whenever he decided to attack. His semblance was Never Stand Down, it helped him not stagger, but it has a limit to how much force he can receive before he falls.

Olivia Strong was a powerhouse of a woman. She was a giant close to 8 feet tall and had the muscles every body builder wished to achieve.She had short brown hair and looked more  akin to the stereotypical Valkyrie. She had a great battle axe that would return to her if she threw or lost it. If it didn’t come back, she was more than capable to defend herself. Her semblance was Rage, it blocks out all pain, she can only use it when in a dire situation and cannot tell who is friend or foe.

Nicole Small was a small girl like Summer, but in the life of a huntsmen looks can be deceiving. She had dark purple hair kept as a pony tail and wore a black corset suit with a purple trim which is connected to her gray tights and black knee-high boots (///Ayane from Dead of Alive 6) . She had no weapon, but she was somehow able to utilize her aura as one. She was more gifted in hand to hand combat and could probably beat Tai in singles. Her semblance was Exploit, she can see weak points on her opponent, even the ones they didn’t know they have. However, it can be used against her.

Team BLAD was one of the three teams that had their eyes on team STRQ since the incident. They were a mix bag of kids that everyone thought wouldn’t get along when they met.

Ben Miller was the the leader of team BLAD. He was a well built man with a lazy eye and a Mohawk. He was in the punk phase right now and he made sure everyone knew. He had tattoos with various Grimm and one that said “No ragrets” on the back of his neck. His weapon was a zhanmadao, that can turn into a small katana. His semblance is Telepathy, he can tell give teammates orders without saying them, although is a one sided communication

Lenny McCormick was a failed ladies man. He looked like a knockoff version of prince Charming doll that you want to throw away, but you can’t. He did very little for hygiene and tries to impress girls with the expensive stuff he buys for himself. His weapon of choice was a longsword that can turn into a whip. (///Think of the sword of creation in Fire Emblem : Three houses) His semblance is Counter, any physical attack can be reflected back at the source. It takes a lot of aura to pull off and is very dangerous if done incorrectly.

Alvin Duke is a chipmunk faunus. He hides his ears with a red beanie and long unkempt brown hair. Nobody knows he’s a faunus except his team and he would like to keep it that way. His weapon of choice was amplifier microphone around his neck, that he wears like a scarf. His semblance is Scream, he can let out sonic scream attacks at any frequency, the cut off being it hurts his voice if done without his Aura. 

Damian Steel was the strongest of the team. If their was a new diet or new way to exercise then he was invested in it. He had a shaved head and wore only khaki shorts that went past his knees. He was considered to be in the same boat as most of the most physique huntsmen on campus. His weapon of choice was a drill like gauntlet. His semblance was Harden, it would harden his skin to be as harder than steel.

Both teams were now at the bottom floor waiting for the doors to open.

Scarlet (intercom) : Now you all know the rules. Aura drops below 20% your out. No suicide sacrifices, no human shields, and no friendly fire. 

“Now Begin” 

BLD advanced towards LION. Alvin stayed behind and it looked like he was coughing.

Damien was fighting Olivia, Lenny against Isack, and Ben was keeping Nicole and Leonie occupied.

Olivia was on the offensive and was not letting Damien breath. Damien was blocking every strike Olivia delivered with little difficulty. That soon changed when she started to add more force into her strikes.

Damien (grunting) : That all you got?

Olivia smiled.

Damien was caught off guard when she added more force behind her next strike that it left him wide open. Olivia took advantage and went for a punch to the face, but immediately when her fist made contact she winced in pain. Damien activated his semblance at the last second.

Seeing her retreat, he immediately counter attacked with  a series of strikes.

Lenny was winning against his fight with Isack. He had him at a distance and was striking him with his whip sword. Isack could only move slowly towards Lenny as he was able to block his attacks. 

Nicole and Leonie were trying to get past Ben, so they could get to Alvin. Between the two girls Ben was struggling with Nicole. She kept going to his left side while Leonie was attacking his right. She kept pushing or grabbing his blade whenever they made contact.

Ben just blocked an attack from Nicole and was now about to strike Leonie. She blocked the blade and activated her semblance. She made a fire ball to blast him in the chest. Sending him off flying to the nearest wall.

As the 2 women were advancing a whip hit Nicole. Leonie turned to see Lenny, Lenny left himself open for Isack when he decided to help. Isack ran towards Lenny tackling him and began his punching him when he was on the floor. 

Nicole got up from the attack and was again helping Leonie. Ben threw his weapon at them and it hit Leonie in the back.

Nicole was right a few feet away from Alvin and was about to go for his throat.

That was when Alvin was done taking a deep breaths and let out a high note.

Team LION quickly covered their ears to try to decrease the noise. 

Team BLAD quickly took advantage of the situation when team LION left themselves wide open. 

Ben attacked Leonie and Nicole. Lenny pushed Isack off of him, picked up his sword and started striking Isack down when he was on the floor. Damein started a number of combos on Olivia who couldn’t even activate her semblance.

The match was over before anyone could yell out a Boo.

The foreign exchange students were in an uproar that a dirty trick was used when they were sparring. while the Atlas students stayed quiet.

Team BLAD saw the commotion in the peanut gallery and bowed at them. Making the students more mad. 

Scarlet :Students! Quite! (Sigh) 

                                 (BOOM)   

Silence.

Scarlet : Now I know the tactic that Team BLAD used was unsportsmanlike, but I must ask you. Do you think your enemy will play fair? Are you that naive?

The students looked at one another, to see if anyone disagreed with her.

Scarlet : No, they won’t. Human combatants will show no honor in a fight and like the Grimm, they will not wait for you to be ready to kill them. This is an example of “Whatever it takes to win”. Take this as a lesson, to never underestimate your enemy. (darkly) Even if they are your peers.

The students dispersed back into their previous seats and waited for their turn in the match. 

Tai : That was still bullshit tho.

Raven : I understand it. This just shows that we need to do the same in our match. Right Qrow?

Qrow was snoring peacefully in his seat . The book on his face fell off and he had a saliva trail falling off his face.

Summer sighed, got up and did her usual thing that got her teammates up if they weren’t awake.

She gave him a wet willie.

Qrow “ ARGH . . . What the hell? 

Summer : Wake up and watch the next match between team SLVR and team STAR. 

Raven : Or we can talk about the Screaming Kid.

Tai : Like how his balls went back into his body or how he winked at Summer?

Qrow : Wait what?

Summer (Blushing) : He didn’t wink at me! He may have had something in his eye?

Tai : No it was a wink.

Tai looked at Qrow to see a reaction. He wanted to see if what Qrow said earlier was true. So far nothing.

Summer : Anyway lets get back onto the matter at hand. How are we gonna win our match? 

[the-mjolnir-owner]

Here comes the post™ about the movie™ no one asked for

I’ve been postponing this due to spoilers, but I think it’s time now.

Those of you who already know me and who I speak to daily already know my opinion about EG and maybe I was expecting it to to change in some weeks, but it didn’t.

It’s not a surprise to anyone that Thor’s my favorite character who I’ve been playing for at least seven years. He brought me joy, helped me to find friends for life and gave me strength when I was down.

It’s not a surprise that I feel betrayed and disappointed by how his story was dealt in this last movie and I’m willing to ignore parts of it and replace it with my own canon. It’s not that I had faith in the production to begin with, but still I was let down with all of this disrespect.

Don’t read it if you haven’t watched the movie, heavy spoilers ahead.

My thoughts:

-          Thor didn’t get anyone back. I wasn’t expecting those who were killed to return, but maybe those who got dusted could include Sif at least, but they’re not known to respect women at all. He fought for everyone’s else happy ending but his, and although this is in character, it’s still sad

-          There was no satisfactory ending to Thor/Loki relationship. Everyone who bothered to watch Thor’s movies know that Thor and Loki share a deep, complicated bond. It’s a love/hate relationship and they were working to mend it when Loki had one of the most gruesome, unnecessary deaths I’ve ever seen on screen. They never shared a hug on screen and they didn’t use Tom/Loki’s popularity for anything. The death of a character who struggled their whole life by the hands of their abuser? No thank you, you can keep it

-          Thor went back to Asgard and didn’t even visit Loki. I didn’t understand their time travel rules but I know they were confusing. Thor normally doesn’t play by human’s laws and I wished his approach to Loki was different. That was the last time he was seeing his brother and I understand him losing it when he meets Frigga, maybe one of the best scenes he has in the entire shitshow

-          Thor’s love life sucks. Everybody had their happy dance, their happy marriage with kids, but Thor, who was left with no family at all. I don’t ship Thor/Jane but it’s clear he loves her deeply, she was an important person in his life who opened his eyes and taught him to be less arrogant, selfish and more human. I don’t want them to be a couple anymore, but they could at least respect this relationship. They did them dirty since TDW but that’s another subject. I don’t want Thor/Jane anymore when we have a whole Thorkyrie meal waiting to happen, but they could at least address this subject and show that Thor/Jane can still be friends

-          They really said fuck asgardian lives.  I wasn’t expecting anyone to return, but have Steve going back in time to have his happy ending was a bit selfish imo, considering Thor was left to live his own reality where everybody is dead but him. They didn’t have to save Asgard or prevent the elves from attacking, but they could have changed Thanos’ attack to their deteriorated ship and the massacre that followed. I thought Thor could meet his sister somehow and bring back the fallen asgardians. That would be better. He could have used the gauntlet himself to fix this shit, but Thor was a second rate character in EG

-          I was told there was a Thorkyrie kiss scene in Ragnarok and now I understand why it was cut. Valkyrie could have a pivotal role in not allowing Thor to succumb in a spiral of self hatred and lethargy, sharing the burden of leading a collapsed civilization and helping Thor out of his drunk state, in the same way he helped her, brought her home and gave her life a new purpose. It was a conscious decision to take everything from Thor, especially his development. 

If I was mad they let Valkyrie be King instead of Thor, who was grown to rule? Not at all. He wouldn’t be able to do anything considering his mental state, trauma and self image, he needs to recover and heal and it takes time. 

He was king for about 8 hours and he had to witness his family, his friends and his people being slaughtered in front of him and we know he carries this blame like an anchor. Valkyrie at least managed to lead the escape pods to Earth and probably lead them while Thor was fighting in IW. She’s the only one left he can count on, and their scenes together were disappointing

-          Talking about trauma.  I knew he wouldn’t be ok considering what happened to him in the recent movies. He lost his mom, his brother, his lover, his father, all of his friends, his eye, his hammer, his hair, his sister, his planet, his army, his people, his battle. We know since AoU that his worst fear was losing them all and he had to witness all of this foreshowed carnificina (remember they weren’t snapped, a quick and painless death, no, they were all butchered one by one in front of Thor) without getting a break or some time to react or grieve or anything in response to it. 

I’ve read before he’s a safe choice when it comes to trauma, nothing should affect him because he’s a god. But it does, he may be a god but he’s still made of flesh and bones and a beating heart that is way too big and too soft. 

We watched his desperate attempts to make things right in IW, his desperate attempts to end his own life. We watched him ready to die by Loki’s side when the ship was about to explode. We watched him taking the full blast of a star, forging an ax by the cost of his own life. Bless Hemsworth for all of Thor’s emotional scenes, every time he cried I cried as well because I could understand and relate to his struggle of trying to remain fine for his friends’ sake while his heart was shattered

-          That trauma reflected on his self image. He couldn’t go through all of this unscatched, and it’s ok. I understand his recluse, his effort to shut down the world outside and deal with things by the only way he knows how to deal with any inner turmoil: drowning his sorrow in alcohol. He’s always been a heavy drinker and it’s a normal, accepted asgardian behavior to drink entire casks of ale (see Valkyrie). You know what’s not ok? Using his problems as a fucking three hours joke.

-          He’s the only character whose pain isn’t treated like a real problem. As if he’s being dramatic when he can’t say a name or tell a story without losing it or going through a panic attack. Skinny characters are worthy compassion, thicc characters aren’t and I see your fatphobia, @marvel

-         Fucking three hour joke. I’ve seen someone point on twitter that there are two stances to weight in EG: Tiny gets stranded in space for weeks, when he returns to earth he’s malnourished, thin, sick. People immediately tend to him, he’s hospitalized, it’s heartbreaking to see him like this and it’s obvious he has been through too much. All the characters involved react to him with sympathy. The same can’t be told about Thor. He has a weight problem too, he’s dissociating and he doesn’t care what he looks like anymore. I know people who went through the same ordeal. 

Thor’s punishing himself for feeling like a failure and it reflects on his body. Yet, we are lead to feel sorry for one of them (Tiny) and laugh at the other (Thor). The audience is lead to have compassion by one character going through a difficult phase and being grossed out/amused by another character who is going through the same thing, if not worse.

-          It’s not woke nor progressive to have a fit man wearing a badly made fat suit to badly portray a fat person.  It was literally made to entertain, to be a comic relief, not to raise awareness of how mental health problems can cause physical problems as well and it’s a missed opportunity to have an approach to it, on how men are supposed to be fit all the time, on how superhero bodies can be in all shapes and sizes. It’s all about fat-shaming and fatphobia. 

I love and appreciate Thor in all shapes and forms, but what they did to him wasn’t a body positive view and if they mean to keep fat Thor in their next projects, they better hire an actual plus size actor. The sole purpose of chubby Thor was to degrade the character and strip him of sympathy because he “did that to himself”

-          This mockery comes from other superheroes.  What are we teaching young audiences when they watch the Avengers making fun of a debilitated person? That it’s ok to laugh at a fat, depressed person who has panic attacks? Thor gets mocked, teased and fat shamed by people who are dear to him, by the only “friends” he has left - friends whom he knows for at least 6+ years - friends he defended and saved countless times before. By his own mother to some degree. 

They don’t show him the same sympathy and just like Odin, Thor’s only seen worthy by how hard he can strike, by how powerful he can be. A weapon, not a person, and when said weapon loses its sharpness, it’s not worthy fixing anymore. Thor’s a war hound and that’s the only aspect the Avengers value in him. 

It’s important to remember Thor treated the Hulk differently, like a person, and supported Bruce when he didn’t want to turn into the Hulk. He treated Valkyrie differently, too, when he realized she had alcohol problems and carried an immense grief. Thor’s often betrayed by people whom he loves and trusts, but this is too much of an insult to people going through the same problems in the audience. It’s sad to see all the other characters (except Bruce/Hulk) denying emphathy and compassion to Thor, knowing Thor would never deny emphathy and compassion to anyone else

-          Thor isn’t lazily eating/drinking after a broke up, no. He was traumatized from seeing everyone he had ever loved die in front of him then being blamed for not stopping Thanos, or going to the head. He hopes that by chopping Thanos’ head off he’d feel better, but he doesn’t. Thor lost more people than any of the others and Cap goes to group theraphy sessions (never bothers to invite Thor), Tiny gets hospitalized but Thor doesn’t have a fit boy anymore, he doesn’t deserve simpathy, he’s lazy for letting it happen to him and that’s how they want us to feel. Amused by Thor’s pain that’s less important now because he lost his 8 pack

-          He died to forge a weapon and it wasn’t enough. He did an herculean job to make a weapon strong enough to kill Thanos, not only did he fail but he also survived to tell. If he had died trying, then his ticket to Valhalla would be granted, but he lost it as well. 

Not only he carries a huge survivor guilt, but the certainty he isn’t worthy anything anymore, not even the golden halls of Valhalla wait for him. And he tries time and time again to live a glorious death that doesn’t come

-          His drunkenness is ooc. They contradicted their own canon by claiming that Thor can get drunk on weak midgardian ale. He can’t. He could really drink that amount of beer, but it wouldn’t affect him. Not even physically. Thor has a fast metabolism and it would take him some hundred years to become that chubby on weak beer or other beverages. They ignored their own canon to insist in this joke, that had greenlight from everybody involved

-          Marvel’s efforts to hide chubby Thor. In the trailers, in the posters, in the action figures and promotional images, we see the usual Thor, fit. It’s supposed to be a big surprise to see Thor like this, people told me. I think it’s all about sending a message that chubby heroes don’t sell and they hid this information purposely. There’s no action figures of fat Thor. He isn’t made to promote the movie, awareness or sell anything. Because a fat person serves only for fun, they think, not to sell, his role in this movie is to be mocked. But it’s on them, because in this house we love and respect chubby Thor and I can’t wait to buy his fluffly plush doll

-          Thor’s weakened. Stormbreaker is used as a bottle opener and they seem to forget how powerful it was. Everything that Taika did, the Russos undid. The whole point of Ragnarok (the best Thor movie imo) was showing Thor and the audience he doesn’t need a weapon to be powerful. In IW he gets his eye back and makes an ax, forgetting all of this, and in EG he has his hammer back. Not only one, but he’s wielding two magical weapons and is still beaten? No way. I can’t believe I paid actual money to watch it. Thor could have used the gauntlet and he’d still be fine and alive, it would be so much better imo

-          He is back to using a weapon to tell him he has value. He was over mjolnir’s standards on what’s worthy anymore and he’s finally free of its magical whims. Now he trusts in the hammer judgment of him again because what else does he have? Who else does he have?

-          They never wanted us to feel bad about Thor. They mixed Thor’s sadness with shots of his body to entertain from the fact that he’s dead inside. His arc is made for laughs. We’re lead to think it’s funny. If they wanted us to feel bad about fat Thor, they would make him thin like Tiny who got all the sympathy he deserved. Bless Chris for the emotion he conveyed though

-          Thor leaving with the Guardians was a conflicting point. I’d love to see Thor with the GoTG and I love the previous GoTG movies. But it won’t solve his problems. I wanted him to heal, and if the Guardians will help him with it, instead of the Avengers, then it’s ok. He should accept there are things he can’t change and it’s not his fault, he should try and change the things he can and look forward to something, anything, that would give him hope again

-          In the end, at least, everybody was rooting for him to recover and it was good. He wasn’t magically made thin again and all the time I was waiting for a Rocky Balboa sequence with Thor lifting weight or jogging, but it didn’t happen, and at least it served to show us that he’s still worthy, a hero and himself in spite of how he looks or how much he weighs

-          It hurts to see an optimistic, caring character losing it.  I know he wouldn’t leave unscatched, but it’s sad to lose my ray of sunshine Thor, who always had hope and fought for what was right. Seeing my favorite character lethargic, apathetic and not being the protagonist of his own life is very hard. Thor always brought me inspiration and he instills the best in people: he supports Sif when she wants to be a warrior, he shows Jane she’s right in her researches, shows Valkyrie she’s not her failure, helps Bruce out of panic attacks in an alien planet, tries to reach for Loki time and time again, he trusts the Avengers and works with them in order to save a world that isn’t even his. He saved the world at least four times. 

And they all let him down. It’s not a satisfactory conclusion, but I didn’t hope they’d make it differently. I still hope I’ll see my Thor again and even if I don’t, I’ll write him with faithful friends I met along the way. He deserves it and I won’t let him down

Any positive points after miles of salt?

Thor chopping off Thanos’ head and probably using it as a mug was nice.

I liked his Viking looks with braids in his hair and beard and how he weilded two magical weapons.

Sharing them with Cap, who is one of his best friends, is great too.

Having Thor leaving with the Guardians was a nice choice because I like the Guardians and I know Thor will return better after this vacation to assume his throne.

 Leaving the throne for Valkyrie means she’s his Queen in his eyes and you’ll have to pry Thorkyrie from my cold, dead hands. 

There’s a bitter taste, yeah, but things can be better in the future when the sun will shine on us again.

[duraxxor]

Prelude of Myotis - Part 2 Dathuro Deathcleave

The combination of hammer slammed across metal possessed many meanings. For some, it was no more than a consistent percussion. To other's, it was a telltale sign of labor in construction. There was something rhythmic from that silent delay to clanking collision of metal against metal, whether it be iron or steel. But for other's it was the tidings of war production, something that was quite common amongst the denizens of Azeroth. And for a lone, orc death knight, it was a means to calm the storm within his plagued heart. 

CLINK! CLINK! CLINK!

Dathuro Deathcleave. A name that had occasionally graced the lips of Daevara himself for several circumstances. A Blackrock clansman that had chosen not to partake in the demonic blood like most of his kin. However, this did not save him from a future associated with death as he fell to the Lich King's grasp. Despite his unlife, Dathuro continued to uphold his art of craftsmanship, evolving further and further. And if not for a pact made with none other than Duraxxor many moons ago, he may not have the pleasure of continuing his work. Now, the time has come for Dathuro to rejoin his ally as Benjamin Lewinters seeks out Deathcleave. . .

Even in the warmest times of the year, Icecrown's winds chilled deep down to the marrow, shelter or not. And while Bolvar has chosen to remain inactive in most cases, the restless dead speak otherwise. Yet, Deathcleave had found refuge within one of the destroyed spires upon it's northern most gate known as Aldru'thar. Accompanying him was none other than a pack of geists that the death knight commanded to assist him in his endeavors. Many weapons and armor pieces were on display and most appeared to be quite the professional take. However, Dathuro was not satisfied in even his best work. Each clash represented his inner frustrations as he sought the perfect combination to his work. Each grunt and growl resonated within his hallow throat, occasionally spooking his accomplices who occasionally peered back as a reassurance this orc would not go on a rampage. 

CLINK! CLINK! 

" Slaughter them all. Take up our axe and cleave their souls in twine. You know you want to, Dathuro. " A sinister thought plagued the orc's grizzled features. Hog-like tusks clenched tightly at the gnawing irritation that began to bristle. Blackened veins began to sparkle with the runic magics that were infused deep within the orc's flesh. " Cease this endless work. Remove their head's and drink the blood straight from their socket. . . " The whispers grew louder, only dulled by the sound of the hammer that struck the runeforged metal upon the smith's table. The geists all began to stare directly at the master as his anger began to boil over. Some already retreating to hide their bodies while other's froze, bearing witness to a war veteran's torment. . . 

CLINK! CLINK! Clunk. . .

The rhythm of Dathuro's toll ceased, interrupted by the orc’s poor strike against the piece of metal, creating a crack upon it's surface. Oh how that imperfection infuriated Deathcleave to the point that the lichfire eyes ignited much like the azure flames of the runeforge before him. And without a second thought, Dathuro grabbed ahold of the weapon table and picked it up off the ground, tossing it across the entire hall to clash directly at the doorway. The very act was reminiscent of the primitive ogres tossing boulders to crush their foes. Geists scattered, murmuring in cacophonous distraught as they fumbled for safety. Their was the even the rancid scent of soiled drawers that clearly needed proper disposal. 

" Do you always make such a fuss when you make a mistake, Deathcleave? " A ragged voice called to him just beyond the remains of what was once a table and Dathuro's mistake. The hooded creature looked at though his tattered sleeves dangled with icicles from Icecrown's frigid cold. The chill itself suited the hobbling man as he began to make his approach within this hideaway beneath the saronite ceiling. " Honestly. You can't be getting upset from such a miniscule thought. Otherwise Lord Daevara will see you as nothing more than a blundering behemoth. " The mockery in his voice was as clear as the crystalline ice that began to fall off of his form. " You are much bigger than I was told though, I'll give you that. " 

The orc instantly grinded his teeth with great disdain as the man's smell coated his nostrils. " Either one of my geists fell into a batch of acid or I smell embalming fluid. " The orc's retort was clearly meant to strike at the Forsaken's disposition. It was true that other than the obviousness of his condition, there were dribbles of formaldehyde mixture that were practically amber-like from the dropped temperatures. Even the geists began to slow crawl from the dark hideaways as their master ceased his primal rage. Curiosity claimed one as he stepped in closely to examine the figure with his single stare. " And you speak of a dead man, have you come seeking some sort of offering. Well you can forget it, corpse. I'm not interested in anything except war and craftsmanship. "

Lewinters sighed heavily as he brought one of his boney digits to caress a pairs of spectacles in readjustment beneath the hood. " The pot calling the kettle ebony, aren't we? Actually, Duraxxor Daevara is very much alive. Well, as alive as someone who has died twice can be. And he has sent me to bring you to him while he attends to his own business. And trust me, friend. . . " A brief delay in his sentence was graced with a disgusting grin which contained crooked, rotting teeth with degrading gums. ". . . I wouldn't keep him waiting. Clearly he needs a beast of your talents. And for your information, it's nothing personal, but an orc was responsible for my death so I'm not particularly fond of the kind that go around  beheading people. " 

As if it wasn't bad enough that the orc himself could hardly contain his own echoing laughter, the geists joined in the merriment, creating an orchestra of humor in the process. There was even one who giggled like some sort of choked goose. " You fear me, dead man? You are wise in doing so. " With a instant reach of his powerful arm, he grasped the handle of his runic axe and anchored it upon his massive shoulders, slowly bringing himself towards this individual with heavy, metallic bootstep. The very sound familiar to the orc and his minions who organized themselves beside and behind their creator. Dathuro came to a halt two paces in front of Benjamin, narrowing his lichfire eyes with questioning. " Do you have history with elven warlord? " 

The Forsaken's exposed jaw grew slack on the left side, showing a hint of intrigue that the brute would even consider asking such things. " In a time where I'm guessing you, Daevara, and I breathed, you could say that we helped one another out of some tight situations. But after his fall, I came across him when he was in a state of his own confusion, much like you and I experienced. Undeath is not kind to anyone. And Daevara was reborn as one of the worst creatures Arthas had conjured into existence. " The mandible of his jaw creaked occasionally with every other word. The mention of Arthas brought distaste to the other party however as the geists grumbled alongside their master. " When I found him, he was quite the emaciated mess. No memory. He had nothing but a body and an empty heart. With a few pulled strings and a fresh meal, I guided him back to his family. Or at least what's left of it. Now, that debt has been heavily paid for considering he once again saved me from the sacking of the Undercity. " The wooden cane tapped the saronite floors twice before he gave the orc the floor. " And you, Dathuro Deathcleave... forgive my manners, I am Benjamin Lewinters. But, what about you? "

Deathcleave brought his chin to raise as the name rang familiar in his head, remembering a time where Duraxxor himself had mentioned such a name. " Throm'ka, Benjamin Lewinters. As for the story of how the warlord and I became allies, well. . . It once started as a rivalry. The Blackrock clan came into contact with the elves a few times and there was something about how the wars occasionally brought his blade and my axe to collide. Each Mak'gora, one might say, always ended in a draw and we always carried a battle scar from each one. But those times came to an end when the Lich King claimed us both from segregated events. " The iron gauntlets tightened around his mighty weapons handle, thankful that it was reinforced by an even stronger substance. The deathly stare gazed across the halls of Aldru'thar in remembrance for the souls that cried both in agony and battle the day the Ashen Verdict alongside the Horde and Alliance clashed with the Scourge. It was when Deathcleave gestured to the battered cage in some remote corner that the story began to connect. " For some reason, Duraxxor was imprisoned within those bars of reinforced saronite, left by his brothers and sisters to rot. I was tasked with another group of the Ebon Blade to make sure there were no survivors that would ambush us. And just when the bloodthirst began to settle in my eyes without a single thought of mercy for the prisoner, he pointed a sharp talon behind me as one of the other knights had attempted betrayal. " Blood still stained the floors around them even after all this time as one of the geists whimpered. " The traitor had killed my comrades and decomposed them with insidious plague magic. If Duraxxor had not of motioned in that moment, my own head would've endured the fate you spoke of. So when the scum was disposed of, I released him. I told him to run and find his path. I told him to not be like the rest of the San'layn filth. And so he did. " 

Silence descended upon chamber as if there was a brilliant respect tethered to the two creatures of death. To which, Lewinters had his own commentary. " So because of you, he was given the opportunity to find me. What a small world after all. So how did you reunite with him and why are you not under the wing of the Ebon Blade? " 

A good question, indeed. One that Dathuro had no issue explaining. " During the Siege of Orgrimmar, We both were deployed in the same unit. He was posing as a death knight under the decree of your Dark Lady while I was a Horde Ebon Blade. After Garrosh was dismantled of his father's legacy, I decided it was time I pulled myself away from the faction conflict, much like Daevara had. I called him a warlord because him and I share a similar regard to battle. We would rather continue to fight a powerful adversary rather than end the fight in an instant. " Behind the large, right tusk, a faint smirk could be seen from the dark-skinned orc. 

Benjamin huffed at that obvious statement. " By all that is unholy, it's true. The man could go on for hours about how he embraced through the pain and the iron will of those that were worthy of his slow deaths. " A single tap was given from the cane as the wayward geist had attempted to grab upon the object with wonder. " So will you come with me and assist him? Do you believe me? " He sounded as if he were truly exhausted at this point from all the constant acitivity as of late. 

The orc considered it for a moment before he brought one of his thick, sausage like fingers to prod the Forsaken's face. " I believe you speak with truth. And while I would normally rather fight one to see if they truly speak from their honest mouth, you seem to b- " The orc was suddenly cut off as his finger caused Benjamin's jaw to snap open even further. Never had anyone seen those yellow orbs turn violet so swiftly as this Forsaken brought his cane to beat the larger being upside the head. 

" Gerd ferking dom-it! Your ooverpoowered oof! " The forsaken shouted with anger as the geists began to cackle like a pack of hyenas at their master's punishment. His other limb reaching to support the mandible back in place so he could at the very least speak more clearly. " Son of a... Hrngh. We're leaving now before you sever my head with a simple push! " Never in the undead's life had he created such a fast portal to their next destination. Arcane tethers fizzled, causing the geists to jump up and down as if they were a pack of monkeys that had found some sort of shiny object. " Get the hell in there before I change my mind about you, Deathcleave! " And so, with a series of grumbles and a caress of his forehead, the death knight and his minions stepped through the portcullis to the next rendezvous point. But before Lewinters made his own departure, he couldn't help but wonder, what exactly did Duraxxor have planned? " Project Myotis, aye, Daevara? I hope you aren't going in over your head this time, friend. " The forsaken turned around and slowly began to materialize as the particles of his small rift began to fade away, leaving the Deathcleave hideout silent other than the chilling winds that never ceased deep in the heart of Northrend.

[crqstalite]

drabble, slow dancing in the dark (elara dorne && xev’heng)

a quick drabble for elara and xev because i’m a sucker for angst and i recently played through the gauntlet storyline for the trooper. it was supposed to be 600 words or less but i like describing things.

i lied when i said the alts weren’t present in this timeline. i may find a reason that xev is no longer on the thunderclap-

written: 8.6.19. posted to tumblr: 8.7.19. word count: 1,373

════ ⋆★⋆ ════ character song: true kinda love, estelle && zach callison

character file: captain xev'heng lumere, lieutenant elara dorne

-

they’ve never danced together before. it’s rare they spend much time alone, with the preparations for the attack on the gauntlet and all.

but somehow, she has her head on his shoulder, and they sway back and forth together to the old music. the notes flow over them, they’re horribly off time with the music, but like on the battlefield, they’re in sync. he hasn’t stepped on her toes, she hasn’t stumbled into him.

it’s far from perfect, he knows that.

but it’s good. and that’s all he can ask for.

he intertwines his verdant green hands with her pale, callused palms. they fit together beautifully as she lets him guide her around the small med bay.

xev is afraid he won’t see her again. “a man can’t go his whole life without dancing with a woman.” his sister would say, however old-fashioned it may have sounded, he believed it. the gauntlet could end both their lives, and he’d never get to take her on a proper date. out to a nice restaurant on coruscant, spending the night looking upon the stars, telling each other how much they adore the person they’ve spend the evening with.

if he died, it would be serving the republic. he knows that. he’s dedicated his life to it. but, just…one more day with elara. that’d be perfect.

vscyla would then sarcastically laugh, tossing one of her lekku over her shoulder, “not like my big, regulated brother could get a woman anyways.” before taking another swig of wine straight from the bottle. “not like either of us could find happiness anywhere in this damned galaxy.”

maybe it’s that she’s a gorgeous, human, woman worthy of adoration. that she’s so prim and proper that he was drawn to her. that while she deflected just about every advance he made, she would smile and give him some offhanded comment that would make his heart flutter. dating and flirting was never his strong suit, and never would be. why would it be? he was never the object of anyone’s affection back at the academy, he was the troublemaker, the ruffian, the alien.

“because we’re twi'leks, right? because we’re the aliens, the ones that the republic couldn’t give a shit about?” he would then take the bottle from her and sip from it. it’s bitter, but he chugs it down.

“bingo.”

but she was wrong. his dropout of a sister was wrong, and while it makes him feel horrible for thinking such a thing, his heart swells with happiness. with affection. elara loves him. she’s fond of him. every moment they spend together, whether on the firing range, sparring together, or she’s patching him up for the fifth time that week, is magic. every time he hears her laugh, hears her speak, makes him think he’s on cloud nine.

how it was so unexpected when after a particularily difficult mission, once they’d let the othesr walk ahead of them, she’d kissed him lightly on the cheek before disappearing to help aric with something. he’d frozen for a moment, before smiling to himself.

the song comes to a close, singing out it’s final notes. they come to a soft halt as she steps back from him. they’re both in their lounge clothes, sweatpants with havoc’s symbol emblanzoned on the leg and matching black tank tops. without pounds and pounds of durasteel between them, he can feel that she’s cool, not cold, but cool. cooler than him at least, and it brings him a sort of peace that he can warm her.

she lifts her head, her blue eyes meet his. their lips meet, and it feels as if…as if he’s finally loved. he’s finally found the person who respects him as he is.

xev finally has something, someone, to live for.

-

which is why, when he sees the sniper take aim for his girlfriend, he doesn’t even think before dashing in the line of fire. he knows his armor can take it, he prays his armor can take it he holds her in his arms. there’s not enough time to move, and as the shot pierces his armor anyways, her eyes widen as she screams his name.

he wants to tell her it’s going to be okay, but he can already feel the liquid pooling inside his armor. she scrambles to get them behind cover as the imperials takes shots at the crates they hide behind. his vision is getting blurry as she takes her helmet off and slips the offending armor piece off. her colbalt blue eyes are a pool of tears as she whispers something inelligible as his world fades into darkness.

-

she can’t hear anything. she keeps a firm finger against the side of his throat the whole time. the shot that was meant for her, pierced only a few inches away from his heart, an exit wound on the edge of his lungs.

damn those imperials with their armor-piercing sniper rifles!

damn her…her boyfriend for being the hero yet again.

elara can’t stop telling him she loves him, that she’s got him. that’s she’ll save him. that he’ll be okay, that he’s going to be just fine. the others won’t be done for a long while, she knows that. her commanding officer is out being a hero, but she just wishes that she’d be back soon. that they could leave this wretched place behind and get lumere- her xev'heng- on the mend and in the medbay as quickly as possible.

elara tries her best not to cry, but here and there a tear betrays her as she works. applying kolto where she can, staunching the bleeding as it spreads on the towels. it’s not the first time she’s had his blood on her hands, and it wouldn’t be the last.

stars, she prays it won’t be the last.

the shooting stops. she raises her head as the alarm starts. “pull out! the op is a success, and i want to see you all back on the thunderclap in the next ten minutes!” the imperials are pulling away as hakio’s voice rings out over the holocom.

“xev, lumere!” she’s trying her best not to jolt him, but he hasn’t regained conciousness. even she knows she won’t be able to lift on the way back. “xev, please…”

turning her holocom on, she steadies her voice. “forex, i require your assistance in getting the captain back to the ship. he’s lost conciousness.”

“understood, sir! however, lieutenant jorgan also requires medical attention! we’ve arrived near the airlock, but he’s sustained heavy injuries.”

stars above. not jorgan too. “i will head for your location, forex. i will need you to retrieve captain lumere as well.”

“roger that!”

-

she should be comfortable here. it’s a medical facility, she’s good in these places. sterile, white, smelling of antiseptic.

she should be.

but for the last two weeks, she sits in a waiting room. she does tests, she runs diagnostics. everything is relatively green across the board with not only the lieutenant but also the captain. jorgan is to be discharged in the next couple of days.

hakio is happy. she’s ecstatic, even if she tries to hide it from elara. she doesn’t blame her. she and the lieutenant are close, and she’s already prepping for his return to the thunderclap. he’ll recover quickly once he back among havoc.

xev'heng, he’s barely out of bed. among other injuries, he’s being kept for his blaster wound. there were moments elara was terrified he’d never wake up, even if they keep assuring her that he will. his slow breathing scares her, the scars that mar his face. they’re rough underneath her fingers as he weakly holds onto her.

their song plays again over the hospital speakers. slow, soft. beautiful. she leans into his weak touch as it brushes her cheek. “why did you have to go and be the hero again, xev?”

“because…” he shifts a bit to a take a deep breath in, “i love you, elara.”

she prays it won’t be the last time she holds his hand in hers as he drifts to a restless sleep.