#but luckily the manga returns soon too so that should help

[sawamura-daichis-thighs]

hey lovelies, I hope you're all well! I should be back from my unintentional mini-hiatus after this week (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ this semester required a bit more energy from me than I anticipated so I kind of had to drop of the radar aside from occasional rb spree when I had the time.

anyway, I'll be on a small break for the next few weeks during which I really hope I can work on love's only demand and plant kisses like seeds since I've essentially neglected them for 3 months OTL

I'd love it if y'all could share your favorite songs that remind of you JJK or itafushi! music is kind of my go-to inspiration when I need a boost and I definitely do after so long. 🙏❤ tysm!

[ichigoromi]

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤 | 𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐲𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧

Who would be the most stubborn? I think you guys know who is the most stubborn one...

Personally, I'm the worst person to come for if you're sick. I'm good at nursing myself, but taking care of others, it's not my forte yet.

Let's get on with it!

Pairing (s): Sano Manjiro (Mikey), Ryuguji Ken (Draken), Mitsuya Takashi, Hanemiya Kazutora x fem reader! (she/her)

Genre: fluff

Warning (s): toman members being sick, some manga spoilers!

a/n- if I mention porridge, I meant by like congee!

Enjoy!

Sano Manjiro (Mikey)

a/n - assume y/n is taller than Mikey, like about 170-174 cm? Just for Mikey's.

He would insist that he is not that sick, but you and Draken did not have it.

Draken had something to do, so you were tasked to bring your stubborn boyfriend to the hospital.

Since he won't get out of bed, you help him out of bed and clean him up before carrying him on your back to get to the nearby hospital.

The doctor was glad that you brought him in on time and get him on an IV drip.

You went down to the pharmacy to collect his meds and get some breakfast for both of you.

Mikey finally realised where he was when he felt the nurse insert the IV needle, and he was slightly panicking when he didn't see you.

Then you appeared shortly, visibly short on breath, panting slightly.

You placed the food by the small side table and his meds on your lap.

"You idiot, why did you not come to the hospital earlier? I actually skipped school for you." When he heard that you skipped school for him, he smiled widely.

You two were polar opposite, your parents disapproved of him, but you continue to see Mikey because you like him for who he is. And, skipping school for a sick Mikey, you don't mind it since you have almost perfect attendance.

"It's nice to hear you rebel. Maybe I should be sick more often~." You smacked his head at that.

"You should take care of your health, okay? I prefer my boyfriend healthy. Now, get some sleep." He shook his head.

"I can only sleep on your lap." He whines, and you let out a sigh.

You got another chair so he can stretch out his legs, and you adjust your seat so he can lie his head on your lap. He soon falls into a deep slumber on your lap.

Seeing the peaceful expression on his face, you gently comb his blonde locks through your fingers, and he visibly became more relaxed. You let out a yawn and got yourself more comfortable.

And soon, you fell asleep too.

---

The nurse came into the room to replace the IV for Mikey and saw the two of you sleeping. Draken walked into the cute sight and requested the nurse for a blanket.

At least if he's busy, he can entrust Mikey to you.

He was glad that Mikey found someone that understands and can stand up to him at times when he needs to listen but he was stubborn.

The nurse passed him the blanket and he drapes the blanket over you two, and he saw Mikey snuggling closer to you for more warmth.

Ryuguji Ken (Draken)

a/n - Draken's headcanon would take place two years after Toman has disbanded! Enjoy!

2nd a/n - He deserves the world🥺

After a long day at work, he returned to his apartment, feeling achy and chills, and he knows he came down with something.

He can't ask the other girls in the brothel to take care of him since they are busy, so he has no choice but to call for you.

After Mikey, you're his best friend, and you worked part-time at a convenience store after school.

When you received his message for some help, you were extremely worried since he rarely falls sick.

Your manager noticed the worried expression on your face, and you explained to him that your best friend with whom you secretly have a huge crush is sick.

Luckily, you have a good manager who gave you a discount as you bought things to care for your sick friend.

"Y/n-chan! You're here this late? Is everything okay?" One of the girls pops out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I'll just go check on him and go home. Sorry for intruding~!" You knocked and head into his room.

You set your bag aside and took off your shoes. He tried to sit up, but his body felt so heavy, and he could not get up at all. You rolled up your sleeves and touched his forehead, and was shocked at how hot it was.

Draken peeks at you, making hot water and making a cold towel to wipe down his body.

"Ken-chan, how can you let yourself fall sick till this state?! If your fever doesn't go down, we might have to go to the hospital." You pat his face with the cold towel and measure his temperature.

By tonight, you were determined to bring down his fever.

"Okay, let's help you sit up first." You struggled against his large frame but got him to lie against his bed frame.

You sat down on the bed with the bowl of warm rice porridge in your hand. He wanted to eat by himself, but you shook your head. You blew on it and fed it to him; at first, he didn't have any appetite, but his appetite regained when you feed him.

Draken hates taking medicine.

Only his close friends know about it, and he rarely takes any medication unless needed.

"You have to take it. Don't be stubborn." He turns his head to the side, refusing to take the medication.

"Come on, stop being an idiot, or I'll force it down your throat." The serious expression on your face made him crack a smile and took the pills from you.

After he has taken medicine, you helped him laid back down and tuck him in. You sat down beside him, and he cocks a brow at you in confusion.

"Sleep. I'll leave when you fall asleep. Now, be a good boy and fall asleep." You pat his head, and he lets out a small smile before closing his eyes.

You knew that it would take him a while to actually fall asleep, so you got your assignments out and finished it up and do some revision while waiting for him to fall asleep.

---

Your tiny frame was slumped over the table, scattered with your assignments and textbooks. After a nap, he was feeling better, and he was surprised to find you still in his room.

He gently pries your arms off the table and carried you into his bed. You unconsciously pulls on his shirt, and he almost falls on top of you. Draken got into the bed, carefully moving you into a comfortable position in a bed that was too small for you two.

"I may not be ready for a relationship now, but I hope you know that I have feelings for you." He kisses your forehead and covers you two with the blanket.

As if you heard his words, you snuggled closer to him, and he drapes his arm around your waist and falls into a deep slumber with you.

Hanemiya Kazutora

a/n - Kazutora's one will be taking place in the timeskip!

At first, he was afraid to get into a relationship due to the trauma of his parents' horrendous relationship, but he met you.

With you, he felt a glimmer of hope that he wouldn't end up like his parents.

And you were the one that accompanied him to his therapy sessions and helped him to recover.

Although he tries to appear mature in front of you, you know he is a kid in his heart.

When he falls sick, he turns into a baby and clings to you.

No matter how you tried to convince him to let you go, he won't.

It took you a long time to convince him to go see a doctor.

You head toward the front door, and he goes straight into your arms. Since you had work today, you could not accompany him to the doctor, and you know he was feeling super sick.

"Want to take a bath first?" He nods, and you help him to the sofa while you go and run a bath for him.

Kazutora is forever grateful for Draken, who introduced you to him, and for you to accept him for who he is. You were going to make him something filling and light on the stomach while he took a bath.

But he has other plans.

"Can you take a bath with me?" He asks as he leans against the door frame. It's not you two have not seen each other's naked bodies. You're just a shy person, but it was his first time asking you to have a bath with him; you just can't reject him.

"Okay. Come on in; the bath's ready." He lets out a smile and helps you out of your clothes, and you do the same for him.

You got into the bathtub first, and he got in after you. He leaned his back to you, and you gently massaged his shoulders from the back.

"Is the water warm enough? Are you feeling better?" He nods his head and lets out a yawn.

With the massage that you're giving and the warm bath, he felt drowsier.

"I love you, you know that? You're the best." He mumbles as his head lulls back and forth. You rest his head on your shoulder, and he lets out a hum of satisfaction.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to me. Be it bad or good experiences, I love you nonetheless."

Mitsuya Takashi

He rarely gets sick, and when he is, he becomes really stubborn and tries to do dumb stuff.

Luna and Mana knew something was off about their older brother when he woke up this morning.

But he reassured them that he was fine and feeling fine to go to school.

He drops them off at their elementary school and heads to his middle school.

You were off at the broadcasting studio, doing the morning radio as per usual.

When you were done with your morning duties. You noticed how pale your boyfriend looked, and he was sleeping on his desk.

You felt his forehead, and it was hot.

But, he says that he would not go home and insists on staying until school ends.

And you couldn't convince him to go home since he is really stubborn now.

When the last bell rang, you dragged him out of the classroom, ignoring your friends and his friends.

He was so warm that you were about to send him to the hospital, but he refused.

So, you put him on your bicycle and drove him back to his home.

After that, you went and picked up the twins.

"Takashi, go take a warm shower first. I'll make something for you and the twins to eat." He was about to protest, but then he saw your glare.

Luna and Mana took out their assignments and started on them while you made some simple and light food for Takashi to ingest so he could take the fever medication.

"Nee-chan! Can you help out with our homework later?" Luna requested with her puppy eyes.

"Of course, but I have to get your brother to eat his medicine and rest first." They nodded their heads and circled the questions that they did not know how to do.

Mitsuya came out of the bathroom, and he immediately went to lie on his bed. You got a small bowl of porridge and the fever medication for him. He was feeling freezing, so he wrapped his arms around you, and you almost dropped the bowl on him.

You gently probe him, and he lets go of you. Somehow, he just becomes obedient around you. Mitsuya lets you feed him the porridge, and when he is done, you make him eat the medication.

"Okay, now sleep well." You tucked him into his futon and kissed his forehead.

The twins were eagerly waiting for you, so you helped them with their homework and made them dinner as well.

You took out your assignments and began to do them while the twins went to take a bath together. It has been a while since Mitsuya fell sick, and you were glad that he was not that stubborn with you.

Mitsuya did knock out after taking the fever medication, and he was grateful for you forcing him to stay at home instead of going to the meeting. If he did, he might just faint and cause more worries to you and his family.

The twins crept into the shared room with you behind. They were getting tired, and they asked you to put them to bed, and you stopped your assignments.

You sang to them and pats their small backs rhythmically, and they slowly fell asleep. Seeing the twins have fallen asleep, you went out again to finish your assignments and finish up some revision.

"Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be going home now?"

You turn around to find your boyfriend out of bed, and he sits down next to you. He wraps his arms around your waist and leans his cheek on your shoulder.

"I just want to make sure your fever is down. Oh! It's down now, but you still have to take the medication to be sure. Hold on, let me get them. It should be six hours by now..." You got up and went to get the medication for him.

He obediently takes it and snuggles close to you again.

"Do you want to sleep over tonight? Or do you want me to send you home?" You really want to stay over, but your parents are still kind of strict.

"I'll go home by myself. My parents are waiting." He shook his head. Alone? At this timing?

"I'll send you back. Don't worry, I'll call you when I reach home." He promised, and you nodded your head.

---

After he sent you home on his bike, fifteen minutes later, he sent you a text.

Mitsuya: I've reached home! Love you!

You: Rest well, my love; I love you too. Good night:)

Hehehe, another Toman headcanon! I hope you guys enjoyed this! Thank you for reading!

Stay safe and healthy!

With love,

Rosalie🍓

[blackcloverdatabase]

There’s Black Clover SD Chapters on YouTube! Here’s a Link and Summaries to Each!

Remember how I said there were chapters of Black Clover SD that were serialized in Saikyo Jump but were never released in any of its manga volumes? It turns out they were released as YouTube videos on Saikyo Jump’s channel! They don’t have any voice acting, but they have background music and sound effects, which I think is pretty neat!

There are five chapters of Black Clover SD on Saikyo Jump’s channel, each divided into three short videos. You can find the full playlist at -

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZlMwo93TWBwJF0zQFNbl1LV785YkGkrC

Here’s a short description of what each chapter is about, without spoiling the ending of any of them.

Videos 1-3: Find it! The Search for the Golden Kabuto Beetle!

I summarized the preview for this chapter before here. In short, Asta and Noelle tag along with Zora in search of the rumored golden kabuto beetle. While searching for this beetle, they meet a girl whose late father was the one who spotted this beetle. However, many people from her village didn’t believe her father and called him a liar, while others started looking for the beetle for nefarious purposes. Thus, Asta’s group teams up with her to help her prove her father’s words and protect her and the beetle from the people going after the beetle for profit.

Videos 4-6: Video Magic Panic!

A lot of magic knights have started making YouTube videos (called Maho Tube in this universe, which translates to “Magic Tube”). Asta gets addicted to watching these, and then decides he’s going to try to become a YouTuber. Luckily for Asta, Magna, Charmy, Zora, and Gauche have already been making YouTube videos for a while, so Asta joins their group’s channel. I’ll make a post covering all the YouTube channels from this chapter later.

Videos 7-9: Jack the Ripper and the Unbreakable Bond!

I translated the preview from Saikyo Jump here. The preview ended when Asta and Noelle make it back to the hideout only to discover that a baby magical beast accidentally clung to Asta instead of its parents. Of course, the baby is scared of them, so Asta and Noelle put on magical animal ears that allow them to understand what the baby is telling them and turns them into furries. Now able to talk with this magic beast, Asta and Noelle work to return him to his parents. Along the way, they run into Captain Jack and his squadmates Sekke and En. The baby animal is initially terrified of Jack, but between Jack’s feral personality and his good instincts in providing care for baby beasts, the baby starts idolizing him.

Videos 10-12: Asta is the prince, and the prince is Asta!?

Asta, Noelle, and Yami are given a mission to escort the prince of a small ally country to the Wizard King. They soon discover that this prince, named Atsa, looks just like Asta! However, they also discover that this prince is a total scaredy-cat. At the Wizard King’s office, Atsa explains that his parents disappeared a month ago, and an evil prime minister used that opening to start ruling the country. As prince, Atsa should fight him and take his rightful place as king, but he's too weak, both physically and mentally. Thus, Asta and Atsa switch places. Disguised as the prince, Asta, along with Noelle and Finral, head to the kingdom to keep the prime minister at bay, though Asta has a hard time pretending to be a prince. Meanwhile, Atsa stays behind at the Black Bulls’ hideout, where he learns to become a stronger person both inside and out.

Videos 13-15: The Black Bulls’ Horrifying Hideout!

Note: Video #14 and #15 will likely come out sometime this November.

Finral sees a terrifying apparition in the hideout. After telling Asta and Noelle of his experience, Asta recalls that he has seen some weird stuff happen to him, too. Thus, they decide to investigate the hideout and get to the bottom of this haunting. They run into a lot of false alarms thanks to their squadmates though.

If any of those sound interesting to you, click the playlist and check it out! Maybe more views will mean we get more spin-off content in the future…

[sproutsgcrden]

sentinel of naruhata | chapter three

koichi's very bad, no good day

warnings: descriptions of violence, manga spoilers for my hero academia: vigilantes

previous chapter | masterlist | read on ao3 | next chapter

want to be tagged? send in an ask and let me know!

“So… you’re Haimawari Koichi, age 19, freshman at Hitonami College… I’ll just call you Koichi, then. Unless you like the sound of Nice Guy better.”

Izuku laughed at Haimawari’s sputtering reaction, clutching his stomach as he leaned back against the cool floor of Koichi’s little one-room apartment. After the incident with the return of those thugs, Izuku and Knuckleduster followed Koichi back to his home. Knuckleduster was determined to recruit the both of them, and Izuku just… didn’t have anywhere else to be. He was sure that Eraserhead was already done with patrol by the time their skirmish ended.

Luckily, Koichi didn’t seem to mind too much when Izuku mentioned dying his hair. He felt the black suited him nicely, even if it was still a little damp. He didn’t need Tomura or Kurogiri making a surprise appearance and immediately picking out his green curls from the crowd.

“Don’t go through my stuff, crazy old man!” Koichi reached over to grab his student I.D. and his wallet from Knuckleduster’s grasp.

The veteran vigilante ignored him as he turned to face Izuku. “And what should we call you, kid?”

“Izuku.” The young boy had stopped laughing, but he was still laying on the floor.

“What, no last name? Running away from home?”

“What’s it to you?”

Koichi leaned over him, glancing down with concerned eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to live off of the streets… No wonder you bought a weird amount of junk at the store.”

Izuku grimaced, sitting up and pushing the older kid out of his space. “I’m fine. Can we change subjects?”

Knuckleduster nodded, sending a small smirk Izuku’s way. “Okay. Why are you looking for Eraserhead?”

Koichi blinked, ignoring Izuku’s frustrated groan. “Who’s Eraserhead?”

“He’s an underground hero. He can erase quirks, barring any mutations, and he practically fights quirkless. He’s a badass.” Izuku was talking animatedly, moving his hands around wildly.

“Oh. Wait. Is he your dad?”

“Why would he be my father?!”

“You have the exact same quirk don’t you?”

Izuku slumped, flitting his gaze towards the floor. “It’s similar. I want him to train me how to be a hero. Plus I need his help with something, not that I’m gonna tell you losers what that is.”

Koichi let out an offended grunt while Knuckleduster heartily chuckled.

“Anyways. The two of you will be calling me Master.” Knuckleduster moved from the table to the small mini fridge in the corner of the room, opening it up to find it full of beer.

“Didn’t we tell you that we weren’t going to be your apprentices?” Koichi glared as the man opened a can of beer and began to chug it. “And would you get out already? This is my house!”

The old man ignored Koichi’s protests in favor of grabbing another can of beer. “The drug is called Trigger. It’s a quirk-booster; it also weakens the user’s ability to reason. Basically, this drug turns regular folk into instant villains.”

Izuku glared at the table, clenching his hands into tight fists. He knew all too well what Trigger was capable of. He shuddered as he dared to think what could happen if his father forced Tomura to take the drug. Japan would be completely decimated.

“So, why not just let the heroes do something about it? Or call the police.” Koichi let his head drop to the table, bored and frustrated at the fact that Knuckleduster was refusing to leave him alone.

Knuckleduster barked out a short laugh. “Ain’t gonna happen, kid. These pop-up villains on trigger can emerge from any crowd, at any time. Cops and heroes are always forced to play catch-up.”

“Oh. So they blend in with everyone else?”

“Exactly. And that’s where we come in!” Shocking the two boys into backing up, Knuckleduster hopped to his feet, hand clenched into a fist.

Izuku shook out of the state first, glaring at the older man. “Did you just say ‘we’?”

“That’s right, kid! The three of us are gonna go out, stop suspicious looking characters, and check their tongues!”

“Okay, even if we wanted to go with you, why are you allowing a nine-year old to accompany you? That seems pretty crazy to me.”

“Oh please. He’s more advanced in quirk usage and hand to hand than you, just based on last night. Plus, if he’s hiding from his parents, he’s got nothing else to do. He’s already a deviant in the law’s eyes.”

Izuku could do nothing but reluctantly nod his head at that.

“Trigger turns the user’s tongue black, so we’re gonna give those losers a beat down and make them spill the details on their dealer. That’s the only way to put an end to this whole drug trade.”

Koichi sweat dropped, shaking his head. “So you just want us to go around punching people?”

“Exactly!”

“I thought you were just joking! What the hell, man!” Koichi screamed as he hung off of Knuckleduster’s left arm. Izuku laughed maniacally as he hung off of the vigilante’s neck. He was punching people with his right hand and checking their tongues.

Koichi could admit he was a great multitasker. But holy shit, this man was insane.

The three of them were causing quite the commotion; people were screaming and running away from a man carrying a college student and a little kid who was also throttling everyone he was in range of. It wouldn’t be too long before a hero showed up to stop whatever was happening.

In a desperate attempt to stop Knuckleduster’s shenanigans, Koichi called out to the group closest to them. “Please! Give us a peek at your tongues! Stick ‘em out a little and this will all be over!” The guy closest to them stuck out his, thankfully, normal looking tongue. Koichi tried not to be too offended when the man also flipped him off.

It was hard to hear over Izuku’s laughter, which only increased in volume after getting the finger, but Koichi’s ear perked up at the sound of boots hitting the metal above them. With a glance upwards, the hoodie-clad vigilante felt his eyes soften in relief. “Pop Step!”

“What the hell are you losers doing?” The pink haired idol-in-the-making jumped down to the ground as soon as Kunckleduster threw both Koichi and Izuku on a nearby bench. They landed harshly, Izuku’s laughter tapering off within an instant. Koichi immediately shook it off, and stalked over to a nearby vending machine, selecting a coffee for himself and a juice for Izuku.

“Why don’t you ask the old man? He was the one chasing after innocent bystanders like a lunatic.” Koichi mosied back over to the bench, tossing Izuku the juice as he plopped down beside him.

“I’m nine, not a toddler. What if I wanted a coffee?”

“If they cooperated, I wouldn’t have to look like a lunatic now would I?”

Koichi ignored the both of them as he opened his coffee, taking a well-deserved sip after lowering his mask. He leaned his head back in a rare moment of reprieve, trying to block out the weirdness he somehow chose to surround himself with. He only blinked back into the present when Pop Step aggressively leaned on his arm.

“So you’re looking for junkies and dealers, huh?” Her thoughtful expression drooped into a grimace as she looked away from Knuckleduster. “Thanks for showing up last night, pops. Provided me with a distraction so I could slip away from that idiot.”

“Whatever.”

“Shouldn’t you be thanking me?!”

Pop Step shrugged, stepping back and throwing her hands on her hips. “Why’s the runt still following you around?”

Izuku, who was absentmindedly sipping on the juice that Koichi had gotten him, slowly looked up at Pop Step with narrowed eyes. “I’m not following them. I’ve just got nowhere else to be at the moment and it’s entertaining to see these two create chaos.”

“Right… and that Eraserdude you were looking for?”

“I won’t even be able to start searching for him until night falls. I’m just passing the time.”

Pop blinked a few times before turning back to Koichi. “So, Nice Guy!”

“You can just call me Koichi.”

“Koichi? Is that your real name?” Pop Step hopped in place, her large grin very apparent. “Why are you going along with this, Koichi?

The college student paused, the can of coffee held up to his lips as if he was ready to take another sip. He slowly moved it down, allowing it to rest against his thigh instead. “I just… if I don’t keep an eye on the guy, he’ll beat up every last person on the streets.”

“Nah. I start with the most suspicious ones… like youngsters who can’t stop messing around.”

Koichi ignored the statement, along with Izuku’s snort, as he continued. “And who knows what kind of trouble the kid’ll get up to without a responsible adult nearby!”

“Responsible? Says the dude who’s only item in his fridge is a case of beer!”

“You all are morons!” Pop stomped her foot against the ground. “Going at it so randomly is never going to work. Why don’t you use your heads!!”

Koichi looked up at the girl from his spot on the bench, eyes blank in confusion. “Our heads?”

Pop Step rolled her eyes, sitting on the edge of the bench and pulling out her phone. “Whenever a villain shows up, someone’s bound to snap a pic!”

“That’s right!” Izuku shot up, bringing his phone out as well. “The hero forums are always swimming with pictures of recent attacks.”

“All you need to do is refine the search to ‘unknown’ or ‘sudden’ villains. That’ll mean less legwork for you clowns!”

Koichi blinked, “That’s clever.”

“The photo search or calling you clowns?”

Izuku’s cackle rang out, echoing in Koichi’s ears as he glared at the girl sitting next to him. The three of them nearly missed it when Knuckleduster shot up from his seat in pursuit of a new target.

“Hey! Stick your tongue!”

“Oh, not this again!!” Koichi ran out in front of Knuckleduster, coming to the newcomer’s defense. “C’mon man, this guy is clearly just your average salaryman! He’s not even bothering anyone!”

In his rush to save the seemingly innocent man from getting punched in the face, Koichi barely came to a stop before nearly running into the newcomer. In shock, the man dropped his briefcase, crying out when hero themed action figures came tumbling out.

“See! I told you the guy was fishy! What kind of adult carries around dolls in a briefcase!”

Izuku and Pop Step had just caught up, exchanging concerned and bewildered looks. The young boy pulled his mask over his face and bent down to help the man pick up the toys.

“I- I’m sorry! I work at a toy company, these are just prototypes.”

“See! Nothing suspicious about that! He’s just a hardworking guy!” Koichi’s voice rang out as he tried to push Knuckleduster back.

The elder vigilante wasn’t having it, however, and pushed forward to grab onto the man’s lapel. “That’s what I’m trying to prove! So cooperate, or else.” His free hand cocked back, gloved fingers positioned into a tight fist.

Before Knuckleduster’s fist could land a hit on the poor businessman, a white cloth wrapped itself around his arm, effectively preventing his attack. Knuckleduster grunted as his arm was pulled back, and his eyes narrowed at the figure behind him. Izuku gasped, eyes widened as he took in the hero before them.

“Violent acts in full view of the public… you’re hardly a model citizen.” A gruff voice, harsh from sleep deprivation, sounded out from behind the group. Pop Step and Koichi backed up behind Izuku and Knuckleduster, shocked looks on their faces. “You must be one of those instant villains of late.”

Knuckleduster guffawed, “Hey kid! Looks like it’s your lucky day, huh?”

The newcomer’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, locking on to the young boy who seemed to be hyperventilating out of excitement.

Izuku’s green eyes sparkled in delight, holding his hands up in hopes of proving he wasn’t a threat. “You’re the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead! You lead the underground in both villain captures and civilian rescues, but you never stay long enough to actually gain any credit! Your fighting style is incredible! I always wondered if your capture weapon worked in tandem with your quirk- your hair floats when you use it, yeah? Does it negate small amounts of gravity near you? That would explain why your scarf seems to deny the laws of physics!” His voice carried on, causing those around him to stop and stare.

“Did you know the kid was so…”

“I’ve never heard him speak more than necessary. This is definitely new.”

Eraserhead was the first to snap out of the trance, tightening his grip on his capture weapon as he lowered himself into a battle stance. “I’m not sure how you got such vital information- I work very hard to make sure there isn’t much coverage on my exploits.”

Izuku nodded, standing in place. “There are only two clips I was able to find- but I’ve been looking for you for some time now! We’re not here to cause trouble, promise!”

“Either way, I’m off duty today. Just being a good samaritan.”

Knuckleduster grinned, turning to face the hero fully. “So we got that in common.”

Koichi backed away further, hands high in the air. “No way does he think we’re villains, right?”

“Hey, hey! Don’t lump me in with these guys!” Pop Step jumped, using her quirk to land a few yards backwards.

There was a tense moment of silence before disaster struck. Izuku, sensing trouble out of the corner of his eye, cursed as Knuckleduster rushed towards Eraserhead. The hero, now fully prepared for battle, dropped the sack he was holding. Cat food and jelly pouches flew out of the bag, bursting open against the hard pavement. Knuckleduster chose to go high, fist ready and aimed for Eraserhead’s face.

Izuku sighed, ignoring the shouts from Koichi and Pop Step as he jumped into the fray.

Yeah… this is the most idiotic thing he’s ever done.

[asian-hero]

Number 14 ("Would you like to put the star on the very top of the tree?") is SO CUTE. I picture this with Eri and class 1a! Could you make a drabble (or whatever you like) in which the reader is in class 1a and Eri is particularly attached to her (like a big sister or something) and she ships reader with Mirio or Todoroki?

A/N: You have to have known that I would absolutely say that Eri ships the reader with Todoroki, I mean, c’mon, look at my blog (but seriously, this is such a cute idea, thank you for sharing)

I would also like to thank Kim Taehyung for releasing “Snow Flower” because it was the sole reason I could get one final story out for Christmas :) Merry Christmas everyone!

Wait also I know that in the manga she dressed up for Christmas, but let’s just pretend it’s her first Christmas and it was before Aizawa had explained anything to her okay? :)

"Would you like to put the star on the very top of the tree?" from Tis the Season prompt list 

Summary: What better way to celebrate the holiday season then with the rest of your class and a cute little girl? You may even get a boyfriend out of it

Words: 2,286

Christmas. A holiday where you spend time with those who you love the most, and where children and adults alike get excited to open the presents under the tree. It’s a holiday beloved by all, if not only for the material reasons, then for the memories and love the holiday brings.

However, one certain little girl at U.A. had never known of Christmas, and your class wanted to fix that this year.

You had all found out that Eri had no idea what Christmas was when Aizawa had left her in your class’ care for a few hours, with the excuse that he needed to attend an important meeting, and he wasn’t allowed to bring her along. So, while you and the other girls were fawning over her, the subject of Christmas had been brought up, which had caught the attention of Kaminari, who suggested that you all should decorate the dorm for the festive season. As your classmates had gotten more and more into the Christmas spirit, with Yaoyorozu even stating that there was no reason to go out and buy decorations, since she could probably make enough for the dorm, you felt a slight tug on your sleeve. 

Turning your head, you were met with the most adorable, inquisitive eyes you’d ever been graced with looking at. Kneeling down to match Eri’s height, you tilted your head, a small smile on your lips. “What’s up?”

“What’s Christmas?”

At first, you were confused. You weren’t sure how anyone could not know about Christmas, especially someone her age. However, as your brain had caught up with the situation, you let out a short hum, trying to think of the best way to describe the holiday.

“Well, it’s a holiday in winter that’s about being around those you love and enjoying things like making gingerbread houses, eating good food, and opening presents,” Deciding that you would bestow upon her the white lie that every parent told their children, you spoke, “There’s also a man named ‘Santa,’ and he looks at your behavior for the year and decides if you’ve been naughty or nice. For all the nice children, he travels around the world to give them presents that they wish for,”

Her bottom lip jutted out slightly, a sign that she was thinking about something, “What kind of presents?”

“Well, you usually write a letter to him, telling him what you want and he’ll try to get you what you want,” Seeing how her eyes sparkled a bit when you told her, you felt your smile grow larger, “How about next time you come and visit, we’ll write our letter’s to Santa together, yeah?”

You let out a giggle when she enthusiastically nodded her head.

Soon enough, Aizawa had returned from his meeting, picking up Eri and bidding you all a good night, but not before you and a few other students had asked him if she could come back later to write her letter to Santa and to help decorate the tree. Thankfully, your teacher thought it was a good idea for her to have some fun during the holiday season, and agreed that she could come the following weekend.

So, giving the little girl a tight hug with the promise to do all the fun Christmas activities soon, you bid her good bye. 

Little did you know, as you were gushing over how cute Eri was to the other girls, a certain candy cane haired boy’s eyes had never left your figure once, neither had the small flush that decorated his cheeks.

As the weekend slowly approached, all of your classmates had chipped in to buy all of the items you’d need in order to make Eri’s first Christmas the best it could be. Your class had decided that it would be most efficient if you were all divided into teams so everything would get done on time. A few of your classmates had gone out to buy decorations, while others went to go get ingredients to bake some gingerbread cookies for the little girl. Kirishima and Kaminari had insisted on being the ones to go and get the tree, which therefore meant that Sero and Bakugou had tagged along in order to make sure that those two wouldn’t get hurt, or get something that was too big for the room. 

Once all of the items had been bought, you, Todoroki, Midoriya, and Uraraka were in charge of setting up some of the decorations, like the string lights that would hang all around the common area, and setting up the tree and putting down the tree skirt. You were sure that the girls wanted to tease you and Uraraka, since you were fairly certain that neither Todoroki or Midoriya were good decorators, but you decided to put aside your tiny crush on Todoroki in order to make this the best Christmas you could.

Grunting slightly, you stood on your tiptoes, trying to make yourself even taller, though you were already standing on a ladder, in order to hang the final string lights in the corner. While you knew it wasn’t the smartest idea you had, your brain was simply focused on finishing your task. In fact, you were so focused that you didn’t even notice that the ladder began to shake beneath you, the uneven distribution of your weight taking a toll on the stability. It wasn’t until the ladder began to slip from underneath you that you finally noticed how dumb you were being.

Luckily for you, a hand reached out, stabilizing the ladder before it had any chance to fall. Breathing in a sigh of relief, you turned your head, locking eyes with a pair of heterochromatic ones.

“You should be more careful,” Todoroki chastised, not taking his hands off the ladder, “It doesn’t matter if these lights are perfect,”

Smiling, you shook your head, moving to quickly set up the lights before stepping off the ladder, “It’s Eri’s first Christmas, I want it to be special,”

As you moved to get the decorations out of the second box you noticed that Todoroki still lingered behind you, most likely worried that you’d end up hurting yourself. 

“Well, at least let me do the other lights,” He spoke, taking the string out of your hands, “I don’t think she’d appreciate her favorite person getting hurt over something like this,”

Before you could even protest, Todoroki was already gone, moving to the next section of the room. With a small smile, you allowed your heart to beat just a bit faster, and for your eyes to linger on him for just a moment longer.

Soon after the common room had been decorated, except for the Christmas tree, it was finally the weekend. Aizawa had dropped off Eri in the morning with the warning that all of you should be on your best behavior, otherwise there’d be consequences. However, the way his eyes softened just a bit when she immediately ran into your arms told you that he wasn’t completely serious. 

Once he’d left, you took Eri over to the common room and sat down at the coffee table beside her. Your classmates had left out some pieces of colorful paper out, along with some envelopes, pens, and stickers for her to use to write to Santa. At first, she seemed hesitant about writing, and when you asked why, she told you that she wasn’t sure what she should put down. 

“Well, think about some of the things that you really want, and write them down for him,” You paused in your own “letter,” a small smile on your face, “If you aren’t sure of what you want, you can just tell him about what things you like, to give him some idea of what you might like,”

The two of you sat in silence for a while, writing your letters in peace when you noticed someone walking towards you. Looking up from your letter, you smiled at Todoroki’s curious demeanor. 

Once he realized that your eyes were on him, he cleared his throat, looking even more curious. “What are you doing?”

“Writing letters to Santa, is it not obvious?” You spoke, a teasing lit to your voice.

“Letters to,” He paused, his eyebrows rising, “‘Santa’?”

You hummed in confirmation, patting a spot beside you. “Come and write one with us, it’ll be fun.”

After a few seconds of him standing there like a statue, you were sure that he was going to reject your offer. However, after you had turned your attention back to your letter, you felt a slight thump next to you, followed by a warm presence by your shoulder. Turning your head, you noticed Todoroki sitting next to you, leaning a bit too close to be friendly.

“You’ll have to help me out too,” He started, grabbing one of the colorful pieces of paper on the table, “I’ve never done this before,”

Smiling at him, you nodded your head, and for the next ten minutes, you three had written and addressed your letters to Santa, and you promised Eri that you’d deliver hers to the jolly man personally, and to Todoroki that you wouldn’t read his.

Finally, with the help of the entirety of class 1-A, you had begun to decorate the Christmas tree that sat in the middle of the room. You would never forget the look of astonishment on Eri’s face when you showed her the bag of ornaments you all had bought, nor would you forget the soft smile that lit up Todoroki’s face when he noticed just how excited she was for decorating the tree.

For a while, all of you helped Eri with decorating, helping her reach the taller branches and watching as she piled many of the cat themed ornaments towards the front of the tree. You had even watched Bakugou lift her on his shoulders to reach the top of the tree, and though his face screamed of his pretend anger, you could tell that the small girl had even wriggled her way into his grinch heart as well.

Though, the moment that you would remember for quite a while was when you pulled out the showstopper: a simplistic golden star topper. 

When you pulled the star from the bag you could hear a quiet gasp come from the little girl. Looking over at her, you gave her a warm smile, extending your hand. “Would you like to put the star on the very top of the tree?”

Though she didn’t answer you verbally, the look of excitement made it very clear what her answer was. Squatting down slightly, you hoisted her onto your shoulders, making sure she was secure before moving to grab the star, though a certain boy had beat you to it.

“Looking for this?” Todoroki asked, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Letting out a quiet laugh, you thanked him before taking the star out of his hands and handing it to Eri. Heading towards the tree, you pointed towards the one upright branch at the top. “Go ahead, give the tree it’s hat,”

With a bit of fumbling, she finally placed the star at the top, cute giggles escaping her lips as she clapped for joy, and though you couldn’t see it, a big smile had found its way to her face. Setting her back down onto the ground, you gave her a gentle high five before she ran over to the rest of your classmates. As you turned around, you found yourself face to face with Todoroki, who continued to look at you with a gaze you couldn’t quite place. Though, as he gave you a small smile, you didn’t really pay attention to anything else.

You didn’t even notice the small plant that Eri had pulled out of one of the bags, nor did you notice Uraraka use her quirk on it.

“So,” You asked, moving a bit closer to the boy who caught your attention, “Was this a successful Christmas?”

He nodded, the soft gaze not leaving his features, “I would say so, she seems happy.”

Just as you opened your mouth to speak, you could hear your classmates begin to giggle. Turning around, you gave them a look, not understanding what they found to be so funny. When Kaminari had pointed up, you could feel your heart stop in your chest. 

Hesitantly, you looked up, not surprised to find some mistletoe floating between the two of you. Snapping your gaze to the boy in front of you, you sighed at the confused look on Todoroki’s face that had resurfaced. 

“What does this mean—“

Steeling your nerves, you leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. As you pulled away, you could feel the heat lick up your cheeks. 

“When two people are under the mistletoe, it usually means that they have to kiss,” You explained, not quite looking him in the eyes, “Sorry about that,”

As you were about to leave, you felt him grab your hand, squeezing it gently. Moving to look at him, you noticed a teasing glint flicker in his eyes.

“Well then,” He spoke, pulling you in closer, “We better follow tradition then, right?”

He didn’t even let you answer as he pressed his lips to yours. But you were sure that even if you could speak, nothing would come out.

As the two of you pulled apart, the cheers from you classmates filled the room, with your friends expressing their relief that they’d never have to hear you complain about how he didn’t like you.

While you could feel your cheeks heating up from embarrassment, you supposed that the Christmas gift you’d received made it worthwhile.

[jisungsplatforms]

Insecure

Pairing: Yang Jeongin x gn! reader

Genre: fluff, angst if you squint; nonidolau, friends to soon-to-be lovers, mutual pining

Warning: Sad Jeongin hours, mentions of insecurity on Jeongin’s part

Spending time with you was Jeongin’s favorite thing to do in the world. Whether you guys go out for food, go to the arcade to play, go take a walk in the park, or even just staying at each other’s houses to spend your lazy days together; Jeongin loves it all. He just loves your presence so much that if he had to choose between spending his last moments with the boys or you, he’d pick you in a heartbeat; to which his friends took great offense to while you laughed at their faces. This time, the two of you went to the bookstore just because since neither of you particularly even read books for fun.

The two of you walked around the store, checking out all the different genres of books, occasionally pointing at the ugliest character you could find, telling each other “that’s you”. This was fun, not because of the books- in fact, if you both had the choice, you wouldn’t even dare as far as look at one- but because you were together. The blandest of days could be the best as long as you had each other. Jeongin stood at the manga section, looking at the Black Clover volumes before he heard your surprised voice from the other aisle.

“Ah! Yeonjun?”

Hearing you say another man’s name, he instantly put the book down, quickly, but quietly, moving to where you were. Peeking, he saw you standing in front of a tall, black haired man. “How are you? Haven’t seen you for a while,” you said, smiling, reaching up to hug him. “I missed you!” Jeongin’s heart stopped for a moment. The annoyingly handsome man grinned, returning your hug.

“Hey, Y/n! I missed you too! I’ve been doing well, thanks,” Yeonjun said as he separated from you. “How about you? Are you here alone?”

You shook your head. “No, I’m actually here with my best friend!”

Best friend.

Jeongin’s heart couldn’t help but drop at the word. He knows he should be ecstatic knowing that you trust him enough to call him your best friend after knowing each other for a little over two years but knew that he wanted much more than that. Jeongin watched as you whipped your head around, looking for him. Your eyes finally met his when you turned around.

“Oh, there he is!” You enthusiastically said. You beckoned him. “Innie! Come over here!”

Jeongin begrudgingly moved from his spot, standing up straight. He walked towards you to stand right beside you. “Innie, this is Yeonjun. Jun, this is Jeongin.”

“Hello,” he murmured, bowing out of politeness. Yeonjun’s eyes widened a little before returning back to his small smile, an action both of you didn’t miss.

“Jeongin-ah, hello,” Yeonjun said, bowing as well. He took his eyes off of Jeongin to go back to talking to you. You continued to smile during your conversation with Yeonjun, Jeongin’s chest aching the entire time.

Yeonjun was tall, handsome, well-dressed, and polite, as much as Jeongin hated to admit. You know that one video of Liam Payne saying “you’re insecure” on loop? That is exactly what was going on in poor Innie’s mind.

He couldn’t stop himself. He really couldn’t.

“How do you guys know each other?” he blurted. He felt a little embarrassed asking, but he was curious; he just had to know your relationship with each other. Your eyes widened at the blunt question. You glanced back at Yeonjun, silently asking him to answer instead. Yeonjun, luckily, merely laughed.

“Ah, that. We actually used to date.” Jeongin’s world crumbled. Glancing back and forth between you and Yeonjun in shock, he asked, “Oh, really?”

You nodded a little awkwardly. “Yeah, actually. For a while we did,” you said. “But this was before the two of us met.”

Oh.

“Hmm, okay. Cool,” Jeongin mumbled, looking down. So these are the type of guys you like, he thought, sadly. If he wasnt so busy sulking in his own little world, he would’ve heard the rest of your conversation with Yeonjun.

“Sooo,” Yeonjun smirked. “Yang Jeongin, huh? Finally got your hands on him, I see. Are you sure you two are ‘just friends‘?” You blushed.

“Shut up. I’m working on it!” you aggressively whispered to him, glancing at Jeongin to see if he was listening. Yeonjun laughed.

“Okay, okay! Good luck over there then,” he patted your shoulder. “I’m rooting for you two!”

You laughed, embarrassed, blushing even more. “Thanks, Jun.”

“Alright, I’ll see you both later!” the 6’ foot man said, snapping Jeongin back to reality. “It was nice meeting you, Jeongin!”

“Y-yeah. You too,” Jeongin feigned a smile.

“Bye!” Yeonjun said one last time, winking at you.

“Bye.” the both of you said. It was awkwardly quiet between the two of you. You tried going back to flipping through the books to get your mind straight. You noticed though how Jeongin just stood in his place, looking down. “Innie, you good?” you worriedly asked. Jeongin slowly looked up.

“Uh, yeah,” he said with an unconvincing smile. “Yeah. I’m okay, don’t you worry about it.”

You hesitantly walked towards him, putting your hand on his shoulder. He looked at you, wide-eyed, while you gave him an adorable smile.

“Hey, don’t you worry about anything,” you said. “No one’s taking me away from you; I’m all yours.” Both yours and Jeongin’s hearts fluttered at your words. Finally letting out a genuine smile, he took your hand into both his own.

“Yeah, I know,” he laughed, blushing slightly. Your face turned red. You smiled at one another, continuing your day together.

Yeah, I should confess sooner, you both simultaneously thought.

A/N: HAHA SO THIS WAS TOTALLY BASED OFF OF YEONJUN’S CAMEO IN ‘LIVE ON’ (and the rest TXT’s tiktok clowning him ALSJDLSLK)

[jemmahazelnut]

A roommate obsessed with tidiness

Summary: Laxus is looking for an apartment and finds the ideal place with the ideal roommate (as well as the boyfriend of his dreams). Too bad he's engaged. [Freed/Laxus]

Links: AO3 - Fanfiction

I tried to write something a little longer about these two lovely guys. Hope you like it :) As always, sorry for my English, I try to do my best.

P.S. There are references to sex, but nothing explicit.

A roommate obsessed with tidiness

-1-

It had been Bickslow who had told him that a friend of his was looking for a roommate to cover the bills, and since Laxus really needed an apartment, he had agreed. He had struggled enough to find a place to stay, a little for bad luck and a little for his character. The first time he had fought heavily with his roommates, so after a while he was gone. The second apartment he had been in had turned out to be a disaster: the lift didn’t work, the boiler had continuous problems and the washing machine was broken. It was actually his fault, such a low price should have alerted him.

So, he hoped that at least that third try would go well. From what Bickslow had told him, Freed was a quiet guy, they would get along well and the apartment in the photos didn't look like a mess. Despite this, Laxus was by no means positive, not after his first experiences.

He rang the bell and after a while a short woman with long blond hair came to open the door. If Laxus hadn't known that she was the homeowner, he would have mistaken her for a girl his age, if not younger.

“Hi, you must be Laxus, right?” she asked with a gentle smile. The blond nodded as the woman introduced herself. Her name was Mavis and as she led him into the building, she began chatting quietly asking him what he was doing. Laxus explained that he was a college student, second year of engineering, and was surprised at how easy it was to talk to that woman. She immediately took him to the second floor apartment to show him, and as soon as Laxus entered he was quite relieved. He looked really good, and the fact that he was tidy proved that his roommate had to be a nice guy. Unless he just did it that day.

He entered directly into a small sitting room, with a sofa in the center and a small table in front. On the front wall there was a television and some shelves. The style was modern, simple and clean. Mavis guided him to the various rooms showing him everything there and his bedroom. It was small, but Laxus was just fine. The price seemed adequate and he really liked the apartment. Despite that, he already knew it was all too good to be true, surely something bad was going to happen, and now Laxus really wanted to get to know this roommate and make sure for himself that he wasn't a freak. Although, to tell the truth, he probably would have accepted the same. He didn't really want to look for another apartment.

“The other tenant?” he then asked.

“He should be here in a moment, in the meantime we can discuss the last things” the woman told him. Laxus nodded and followed her into her living room, but just then they heard the house keys turn. “It must be him” Mavis said. In fact, shortly after the door opened and a boy with long green hair entered. Quite a handsome guy, to be honest. Laxus was honest with himself, that, at least physically, would have been his ideal type. He smiled at them and immediately introduced himself.

“Hi Mavis. Hi, I'm Freed” he said, closing the door behind him.

“Laxus” the blond introduced himself immediately. He gave it a quick look. Except for his hair so green it looked straight out of a manga, he looked like a normal guy. He must have just returned from university, because he had a computer on hand and some books in a bag. He set them aside and walked over to them, offering to make coffee for everyone, while Mavis and Laxus sat on the sofa and discussed the latest things. Laxus was more and more convinced that he wanted to accept the position, not that he had much of a choice.

When Freed returned to the living room with three coffee mugs and a small tray of pastries, Laxus almost thought that was too good to be true. He couldn’t believe he had finally found a decent apartment, with practically the boy of his dreams of him sitting on the other side of the sofa. A guy who also seemed kind. There was certainly a deception.

-2-

The deception was obviously there, but it was nothing so serious. After two weeks living under the same roof, Laxus had found out more about his roommate. Meanwhile, that he was engaged, with a bit of disappointment for the blond who, however, immediately pushed the thought out of his mind. Luckily Freed was very discreet, and those few times his boyfriend stopped to sleep didn't make a mess.

Then, he discovered that Freed had a real fixation for cleanliness. Which shouldn't have been a downside, but when he moved Laxus' things the blonde couldn't help but get annoyed. Laxus was not untidy, he just put the keys on the cabinet in the hall, and promptly Freed moved them on the shelf to the left. What difference it made, Laxus didn't know. Or, he couldn't even place a sweatshirt on the sofa for a moment, which Freed took it and hung it on the coat hanger. And he did that for every little thing, and if Laxus hadn't said anything at first, now he was starting to get on his nerves.

Another vice of Freed was that no matter how tidy he was and how much he always cleaned everything, that didn't apply to the moka pot. No, that was always in the sink, and Laxus always had to wash it before using it. Quite annoying, especially in the morning when he was in a hurry. Another thing that bothered him was that every time Freed came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, he felt like entering a sauna. Laxus wasn't kidding at all, he didn't understand what the hell he was doing in the bathroom for so long, it was probably because of his long hair that he took hours.

And that had happened that day too. Freed had just come out of the bathroom, his damp hair pulled back into a high ponytail leaving a cloud of steam inside him. Laxus stared at the completely fogged mirror and then walked out, turning to his roommate.

“What are you doing in there, the sauna?” he asked. Freed turned in surprise to him.

“I like to take a hot shower” he replied with a shrug. Laxus snorted.

“Well, you could at least open the window when you finish” he pointed out. Freed nodded absently and leaned over to the sofa, where Laxus had momentarily placed his sweatshirt. That boy really had a fixation. “Can you leave it there and stop moving my things around?” he blurted out nervously. Freed immediately pulled his arm back and snorted lightly.

“I can't stand the mess” he said frowning. “There’s a coat rack if you hadn't noticed it. It's right there” he added pointing it out.

“Fuck, I just put it down, two minutes and I'll take it” Laxus objected.

“No, you didn't just put it down” Freed retorted. “It's been here since before I went into the bathroom, so it's been here for at least twenty minutes” he pointed out. “And this is not only true for the sweatshirt, but also for the glasses you leave in the sink, what does it cost you to wash them? I always have to do it myself” he asked.

“Nobody tells you to do it, maybe if I leave them there, there is a reason. You know, I get thirsty several times a day, I don't wash a glass every five minutes”.

“Then take it to your room and don't leave it in the kitchen” Freed snapped. Okay, Laxus hadn't expected that from a single comment Freed would start throwing everything at him. Well, sometimes he forgot to put things in the dishwasher, but it's not like he was creating chaos around. It was just a damn glass.

“Well, you always leave the moka pot in the sink” he pointed out, just to have something to throw at him too.

“Because it's morning and I'm tired. And anyway, it's the only thing I mess up. It doesn't seem like a big thing to complain about” the roommate objected. Laxus raised an eyebrow.

“You always move everything around and every time you come out of the bathroom it's... like this” he said, pointing to the small room still full of steam. Freed crossed his arms. “And you never open the window” the blond added.

“I just forgot today” Freed defended. It wasn't true, and Laxus was about to tell him, but the green-haired boy preceded him. “And you could still go and open the door when you order food? Every holy night I have to go, because you always have those damn headphones on” he told him. Well, Freed was right about that, Laxus couldn't say anything. And in any case, he didn't want to fight, Freed wasn't really bad as a roommate compared to the people he had found himself with the first time. He took a deep breath.

“Look, I don't want to fight. You're not bad as a roommate, I'll try to put the keys in their place, just… don't move my stuff” he told him trying to be more understanding. The last thing he wanted was to live with tension in that apartment. Freed seemed to calm down at that point.

“Okay” he agreed. “And I'll try to clean the moka pot in the morning” he muttered. Laxus smiled slightly, relieved that they hadn't made things worse.

“And the window in the bathroom” he reminded him as he entered the sauna. Freed rolled his eyes and Laxus heard him mutter something. He didn't answer him and shut himself in, starting to undress to get into the shower. Actually, he didn't think Freed was so bothered by the glasses he left in the sink. Well, even if Laxus thought it was bullshit, he would have forced himself to be more careful. But when he was in the shower and heard the doorbell ring, he remembered ordering the kebab.

“You have already broken the pact!” Freed yelled at him from outside.

Damn, Laxus thought. That timing really sucked.

-3-

The next evening Freed had offered to make him dinner, as he had noticed that the blonde almost always ordered take-out. So Laxus was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for it to be ready. The boy had told him that he would make him an Italian dish, Laxus just hoped he was capable of it, but since Freed spent a lot of time in the kitchen, he assumed he would.

“Where did you learn to cook Italian?” Laxus asked.

“I have relatives who moved there” the boy explained, draining the spaghetti and then throwing them back into the pot with the eggs and bacon and starting to mix. Laxus watched him curiously, until the roommate brought the pasta to the table and put a large portion on his plate.

“So, have you ever eaten carbonara?” Freed asked. Laxus nodded.

“Yes, I think. I don't know if it was like this, since I've never been to Italy” he said as he began to pick up the spaghetti. He had to admit, it was really good. Freed smiled.

“Well, this is the recipe my cousin gave me. When I go there she always makes me taste something new” he revealed.

“You’re lucky” Laxus commented. “Do you often go there?”. Freed began to tell him that he had gone more often when he was younger, usually it was his cousin who came to him. Laxus began to find out more about the boy, and told something about himself as well. They had never talked for so long. Not that they hated each other before, on the contrary, simply everyone had their own commitments and they had never found themselves alone for long. The argument suddenly ended in Bickslow, the friend they had in common.

“By the way, this Saturday we're going bowling. We are three, if you want to join us you’re welcome, so we make two teams” Freed told him. Laxus nodded, he had nothing else to do and maybe it would have been fun. So, he agreed and then started washing the pots and dishes, as Freed had cooked.

“Have you ever watched 'Fiore’s kingdom'?” Freed asked, getting up and starting to dry the pots.

“To tell you the truth no, it's that fantasy series that's going a lot right now, right?” he asked as he passed the sponge over the pot. Freed nodded.

“Yes, they do the first episode tonight. You can see it, if it inspires you” Freed said. Laxus nodded. Why not? Anyway, his alternative was to stay in the room listening to music on headphones until he fell asleep. So, after finishing cleaning, he moved to the living room and the two boys sat next to each other. Laxus put his feet comfortably on the coffee table as Freed fiddled with the remote. They chatted a little longer before the episode began, and then concentrated on TV.

Laxus immediately found himself immersed in the story, and even though Freed had already seen the first season, he didn't seem bothered to have to see it again. Indeed, according to him, he enjoyed watching the episodes several times to capture every detail. Neither of them knew yet, but that would become their routine in the next month.

-4-

Saturday night arrived and Laxus and Freed went to bowling together. When they got there, they already found Bickslow and a girl Laxus had never known. In any case, she didn't seem ready for a bowling night as she wore heeled ankle boots and an overly elegant blouse.

“Finally, guys, we've been waiting for you” Bickslow greeted them. The girl turned to Laxus and introduced herself.

“Evergreen, you’re Laxus, right?” she asked. The blond nodded. “So, what's it like to live with Freed? Is he still stressful and obsessed with tidiness?” she asked as she entered the room. Laxus smiled, then it wasn't just his impression. Freed rolled his eyes and sure he was ready to argue but Laxus anticipated him.

“Actually yes, I can't put anything anywhere even for two seconds that he curses me” he joked.

“I know the situation” Evergreen chuckled.

“You're just messy and you don't want to admit it, that's all” Freed objected.

“No Freed, if everyone says you're exaggerated, then you are” Evergreen pointed out. The boy didn’t reply because the four went to the counter to request a lane. When they got to theirs, they changed their shoes and looked around, on Saturday night the place was always full. If Bickslow hadn't booked they probably wouldn't have found a place.

“So, how do we split up?” Bickslow asked. Laxus shrugged, it was the same for him.

“It's enough for me not to be with Freed” Evergreen commented.

“Same” said the boy concerned.

“Well, then I'll be with Freed, while Laxus with Ever” Bickslow decided for everyone. So, the boys split up and began to take the balloons. “Oh Laxus, I forgot to tell you, we usually make those who lose the game pay for a drink” he warned him with a grin. Laxus raised an eyebrow.

“You could have said that before you teamed me up with her”. He realized too late that it wasn't really something nice to say, and the girl immediately frowned at him.

“What do you have against me?”

“Nothing. Just... you came here in heels” Laxus muttered a little embarrassed, while Freed and Bickslow smiled in amusement.

“Yes, because I always have to be perfect. Don't underestimate me, and mind you, if we lose because of you, I'll make you weigh it” she said.

“Listen to her, she can be really competitive, that's why I hate being with her on the team” Freed told him.

“Why does she fuck you every time you make a pitiful figure?” he couldn't help but ask Laxus with an arrogant smile. Freed gave him a dirty look.

“You're underestimating too many people tonight” he commented. Laxus grinned.

“Okok, I'm not saying anything more” he said as a sign of peace. Anyway, he would find out everything soon.

Laxus had really misjudged Evergreen. Other than competitive, that girl didn’t accept losing and she was good too. Definitely a good bowling partner, they were giving the other two guys a hard time. The first three games had been won by Bickslow and Freed, but those last two were his and Evergreen’s. They were still at a disadvantage, but only by one, and ultimately the evening was fun. At the end of each game, they would order drinks and something to munch on and, Laxus had to admit to himself at least, it wasn't bad at all to see his roommate play. This was thanks to those jeans that wrapped around his backside, on which Laxus was now focusing his eyes on almost every shot of him. At the umpteenth strike Freed turned to him, with an amused and satisfied smile on his face.

“Tsk. I admit, you're not as mediocre as I thought” Laxus then told him, slightly amused. Yeah, because even though he was losing -and he hated losing- he was still in a good mood, maybe it was Freed's view, or maybe the fact that for the first time in a while he was having fun with other guys. He and Evergreen lost the game and went back to the counter to order more beers and two plates of chips.

“So, you were Freed's roommate too?” Laxus asked. The brunette nodded.

“For a while, I honestly don't know how you can handle it. He always took the make-up I left in the bathroom and hid them from me just to annoy me” she told him “He thought that this way I understood that I shouldn't leave them lying around, until I made him understand that he should no longer allow himself to touch my stuff even if we were friends” she explained. Laxus nodded.

“I understand. Well, considering the terrible roommates I've had before, he's not bad” the blond commented. Evergreen smiled.

“I think we all have stories to tell about roommates. Anyway, let's get Freed something heavy” he said, ordering a cocktail for his friend. Laxus raised an eyebrow.

“Why?” It seemed to him that Freed wanted a beer. Evergreen smiled devilishly.

“Because if he drinks, he'll start to miss shots” she explained. Laxus laughed.

“You play dirty, I like you” he escaped and Evergreen chuckled. Then the two returned with everything they had ordered from the two boys, who were talking to each other.

“Ohhh, here are the losers!” Bickslow exclaimed theatrically.

“Not for long, Bix” Laxus said, handing the cocktail to Freed, who accepted it willingly with an amused smirk on his face. He strangely didn't ask any questions and the boys started the next game. They went on to play for a while, and with each round new glasses arrived. Time passed quickly and Laxus found that Evergreen was right, Freed's shots were getting worse and worse, and Laxus enjoyed seeing him tipsy. Freed was throwing the ball and as always Laxus's eyes were on him, on his arms on which he had rolled up his sleeves and on his backside. Damn, he was handsome. Honestly, if he hadn't been engaged and if he hadn't been his roommate, Laxus would have hit him. Freed completely missed the shot and the ball went out of the lane hitting no pins. The boy snorted and sat down next to the blond, who laughed loudly.

“Nice scene, really. How many pins have you hit? Because I still see them all there” he teased.

“Just because you made me drink” Freed objected. Laxus chuckled.

“You can't handle alcohol much, you only drank a few beers” he continued with a mocking vein.

“Actually, it's the third time Ever has brought me something weird, I don't even know what this stuff is” he said, taking the glass and observing the dark contents. Laxus laughed heartily and Freed turned surprised a little red in the face.

“Did you really go out with a few drinks?” he asked amused.

“Hey, you only had a few beers. Ever gave me this stuff” the boy said offended and Laxus smiled to see him like that.

“Let's say you can't accept defeat”.

“Actually, it turns out to me that we're ahead” Freed said.

“Not anymore” Evergreen trilled indicate the score on the scoreboard. Laxus looked up, actually the girl was right: they were even. He glanced at Freed, but he still seemed to be focusing on the writing. After a few seconds he snorted.

“You play against the rules” he said. Laxus patted him on the shoulder.

“Sure, in the meantime, go get something to drink. Try not to trip over your feet, even if it would be fun to see” he told him. Freed stood up giving him a dirty look, then walked with Bickslow towards the bar. Laxus stretched his legs out in front of him, stretching before hearing the girl laugh. He looked up confused.

“You missed the scene of Freed about to stumble on the steps” he told him. Laxus smiled and turned, but apparently the boy had already recovered, because he was walking towards the bar. He was sorry he missed the scene, but if he stared a little longer then one of the two friends would have suspected something. He had been glancing at him all the time, it was really time to stop it. “I think they're closing” muttered the brunette. Laxus only realized then that in fact they were practically the only ones left there. Shortly thereafter Freed and Bickslow returned empty-handed.

“The bar is closing. Do you want to play one last quick game in order to declare who is the overall winner or shall we get out of here?” Bickslow asked. Evergreen was about to answer, but Freed hit the coffee table and wobbled it with all the glasses on it. “Hey look out” the friend next to him warned him.

“You're really drunk” the brunette chuckled.

“I'm only slightly tipsy, and then it's your fault. How many drinks did you make me drink?” Freed complained running a hand through his hair.

“Maybe I exaggerated” laughed Evergreen, who on the contrary had only taken soft drinks after the first three laps, not wanting to have a hangover the next day.

“Well, I guess we'll have to stop the game here, or it risks rolling with the ball” Laxus said.

“I can go on” Freed replied immediately “And anyway we have to establish a winner, even if, considering that you played dirty, I can already say that we won”.

“Played dirty? We all drank” Evergreen said.

“No, you took fruit juices” Freed objected. Bickslow rolled her eyes and eventually a girl from the club came to warn them that they were closing, so they were forced out of there. They said goodbye and Laxus and Freed made their way to their apartment, which thankfully was not far from there on foot. Laxus threw an amused look at the roommate, who was more likeable when tipsy, since he chatted more than usual and was more relaxed. They arrived at the building and Freed threw himself into the elevator, while Laxus rolled his eyes.

“Are you really that lazy? It's just two flights of stairs” he said as he entered.

“Honestly I'm not sure I can do them without tipping over” he muttered, leaning his head against the wall.

“Yeah, Evergreen told me I missed the scene you tripped over” he chuckled.

“I've never tripped, I just got my foot badly for a moment” Freed immediately retorted.

“You mean you tripped” Laxus insisted.

“No, there's a big difference ... have you ever played 'The Elevator Game'?” he asked changing the subject completely. Laxus turned to him.

“Never heard of it” he replied.

“Of course? It's a fun game, Bickslow and I used to play it when we were kids. It’s more a ritual than a game, it allows you to reach the Otherworld with an elevator, as long as it reaches ten floors or more. Too bad this building is small or we could do it. You basically have to go to the fourth floor first, then the second, and then the seventh. Or maybe it was the sixth. No, maybe you have to start with the sixth and…” he said thoughtfully. Laxus stared at him amused and perplexed. The elevator had arrived.

“Maybe you can explain it to me tomorrow, huh?” he amused himself by stepping out and pushing Freed out with a hand on his shoulder. Freed got carried away with no problem continuing to mumble something about that game, or ritual, or whatever it was.

“Anyway, at a certain point you will meet a woman who will ask you where you are going and eventually you will reach the Otherworld. The point is that once you get there, it's very difficult to get back to reality” Freed finished as Laxus opened the door.

“Did you really do this shit as a kid?” he asked skeptically.

“Sure, I even had a Ouija board” Freed said and Laxus found himself laughing as he pushed Freed into the apartment.

“Seriously? I didn't really expect that from you” he commented as he closed the door behind him. “But now stop talking about these things and go to sleep” he told him. Freed turned to him with a soft smile on his face and placed a hand on his chest. Laxus tensed slightly and stared at him a little surprised, trying to ignore that closeness and the warmth of his hand.

“I like you, you know? You're a good roommate, even though I always complain” he told him. Laxus stared at him again in surprise, and for a moment he thought about how good those words sounded. He smiled trying to ignore that vague feeling of warmth that was starting to build inside him.

“I'll remind you tomorrow” he told him with a half laugh, trying to hide his embarrassment. Freed chuckled.

“No, don't do that” he told him and then took his hand away from his body, much to Laxus' chagrin, and walked away to his bedroom. As soon as he closed in, Laxus sighed and closed his eyes. Whatever he was feeling he had better stop.

-5-

Laxus and Freed had been living together for two months now and it was getting better and better. Freed had learned to open the window after taking a shower, and Laxus was trying not to mess with anything. Furthermore, watching the TV series on the sofa and having dinner together had become a habit. Quite a nice habit, to tell the truth. It was weird but Laxus liked Freed's company, he liked chatting stupid things with him and listening to weird rituals he had done as a child. He liked to discuss books and movies that they both liked. And he also discovered that they had the same tastes in music, they both listened to the same band. Freed would occasionally come up with some weird recipes and they would often hang out with Evergreen and Bickslow, either going bowling or having fun in other ways. It was really good.

Except for one small detail, Laxus didn't like Freed's boyfriend. The reason was actually pretty obvious, he just didn't like the fact that Freed had a boyfriend, even though he didn't come often. Usually, it was Freed who went to his house, and anyway they were always very respectful, besides a few giggles he didn't hear much. They didn't bother him in the least.

Except that evening. That night the two were wreaking havoc, and they were clearly fucking in the next room. Actually, Laxus was quite convinced that Freed didn't know he was there, since the blonde had told him that he would go to see a friend and that he would be back late. In the end, however, Mirajane had stood him up and Laxus had returned earlier than expected, and now that he was lying on the bed, he could hear almost everything. He was pretty sure that if he knocked on the wall the two would calm down, as they weren't usually that loud. But Laxus still hadn't.

Partly because he felt guilty, Freed had had to organize that evening with the boy taking advantage of the fact that he wasn't there and he thought they would finish shortly, partly because... because ok, imagining Freed doing certain things was quite intriguing. Sure, if he had been more honest with himself, he would have admitted that he would have preferred to be in that room, but he tried not to think too much about it. To tell the truth, it was also dangerous to imagine Freed in certain situations.

At that point, however, it was too late to think about it, because the two had finished having fun. Thankfully, so Laxus could stop imagining Freed's face, or his body, or his lips and, okay, Laxus just had to stop thinking about Freed and be done with it. He had a boyfriend, what the fuck.

He closed his eyes trying to think about the least sexy thing in the world when he heard a door slam. He frowned and opened his eyes again.

“Well, then I'm going home to sleep!” he heard screaming.

“Why do you have to do this?” Laxus heard Freed ask aloud.

“Maybe because you're an asshole”.

Okay, the last thing Laxus wanted to do was go about Freed’s business and see a fight. But if he left the room, he would admit he heard everything, and that was equally embarrassing. Fuck, that shouldn't have happened. He should have just been out of the house.

“You're misrepresenting all my words, why can't we have a quiet evening without fighting over some bullshit?” Freed snapped on the other side.

“Bullshit?” he yelled that. Laxus, however, only heard an incomprehensible mutter, because Freed must have lowered his voice. Better this way, he thought. After a while he heard the front door open and close, and then total nothing. Well, that must have been a shit night for Freed. Laxus didn't want to think about it anyway. He turned over in bed, now tired, and closed his eyes, after a while he fell asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, Laxus found the moka pot on the stove and a note.

“The coffee is ready, you just have to turn it on. I'm sorry I bothered you last night, I didn't think you were home.

P.S. Your keys are hanging in the new wall key holder I bought”.

Laxus was quite surprised. So, Freed knew he was there, he must have noticed when he went into the living room and saw his keys on the usual cabinet where Laxus left them. He put a hand through his hair, understanding why the two boys had lowered their voices at one point. He lit up his coffee and sat down wearily at the table, just hoping that Freed wouldn't come up with the conversation anymore.

-6-

Fortunately, the speech never came out. Laxus hadn't asked for anything and Freed hadn't talked about it, things were exactly the same as before. The only thing that had changed was that Laxus no longer saw Freed's boyfriend around, every now and then he was tempted to ask him if they were still together, but it seemed really bad as a thing to do, so in the end he kept silent and kept his doubts for himself. And things were fine like that. Maybe he would get Bickslow to tell him later. Speaking of Bickslow, he had just written to him.

“Wait, do you play the guitar?” Laxus asked surprised opening the photo that his friend had just sent him. Freed looked up from the book he was reading. He had a puzzled expression and Laxus turned the phone towards him. The photo showed Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen when they were teenagers. Freed had the guitar in his hand, Evergreen the bass and Bickslow was on the drums. The boy's face turned red and Freed covered it with his hand.

“I'll have to kill Bickslow” he moaned. Laxus laughed and looked at the photo again. All three of them were younger. Evergreen had much frizzier hair, Bickslow had a faded blue crest, while Freed had hair down to just below the shoulders. And all three were dressed as if they were part of a punk band. Freed had a red leather jacket and a rock band shirt, Bickslow a studded jacket and Evergreen a bright green miniskirt.

“Were you really serious, did you want to start a punk band?” Laxus asked.

“Please, I don't want to think about that time” Freed mumbled embarrassed as he looked down at the book again. Laxus, however, had no intention of stopping there. He zoomed in on Freed's photo and chuckled.

“You even decorated your guitar” he noted.

“I said I don't want to talk about it” Freed snapped.

“Okay, then I'll ask Bickslow” Laxus said with a smirk. Freed at that sentence jerked his head up.

“No” he said right away. Laxus grinned.

“So can you tell me something about this?” he asked curiously. Freed rolled his eyes.

“Well, we wanted to form a band. We had also decided on the name, but… in the end luckily, we didn't do anything with it. Are you happy now?” he said shortly.

“Hey, I want to know more. Have you played around? Wrote your songs?” Laxus asked.

“Yes, we played around the streets. No, we haven't written any songs. We did covers, or at least… we tried” Freed said. “Now that's enough, I won't say a word more” he decided dryly.

“Come on, I'm curious to hear something. Sure you recorded your covers” Laxus insisted.

“Yes, but I eliminated them all” Freed said dryly. Laxus raised an eyebrow.

“So, if I ask Bickslow he doesn't have them...”.

“Why do you care so much about it?” Laxus's phone vibrated and the blonde looked down at the message, as soon as he saw it his smile widened.

“He sent me an audio”.

“Oh God, no” Freed snapped and leaned over to grab his phone, but Laxus moved his arm faster. “Laxus, don't... I swear that if you start that audio, I'll make your life hell here” he threatened him. The blond chuckled.

“Why are you so upset? Relax” he said raising his arm so Freed couldn't get there. The boy was obviously annoyed by this, and Laxus was just happy with it. The phone vibrated again.

“What the hell is that jerk sending you again?” Freed snapped. Laxus looked up at the phone and watched. It was a message: “Bickslow: Freed still has his guitar, if you ask him to play you something I'm sure he will ;)”

“So, do you have a guitar?” Laxus asked.

“I’ll kill him, I’ll kill him in the worst way” he blurted out more and more irritated without answering the question.

“If you don't play me, I'll ask Bickslow to send me all the photos and recordings from that period” Laxus said at that point. Freed's expression became shocked.

“Don't you dare” he said only worried.

“Hell, I'm really tempted now” Laxus laughed. “So, would you rather play me something or put the threat into action?”

“I don't have a guitar here”.

“Too bad” Laxus said, turning his gaze to the phone and starting to write. Freed grabbed his arm and tried in vain to pull him down.

“Okay okay. I'll play something, but please shut the damn phone. Blocks Bickslow directly” Freed told him probably anxiously gripped. Laxus locked the phone and slipped it into his pocket satisfied. He sat on the sofa while Freed went to retrieve the guitar in his room. Laxus looked at her curiously. There was a drawing of a lightning bolt above, and the word 'Thunder'.

“Don't comment, I was 13” Freed ordered badly. Laxus raised his hands in peace. Freed snorted as he began to tune the guitar.

“You still play it, right?” Laxus asked. If Freed kept her in that apartment, there must be a reason. The boy shrugged.

“Sometimes” he admitted sitting on the arm of the sofa. Laxus looked at him curiously. For him who had always been passionate about music, it was nice to be able to hear someone play. He had never had the opportunity to learn how to do it, and he doubted he even had the patience for it. “Well, if you want, I'll play you an old Phantom Lord song” he told him. Laxus nodded, he was fine with anything. Freed began to play a song that the blond recognized immediately. Indeed, the boy had to play often, as his fingers moved safely on the strings.

“Aren't you singing?” Laxus asked him suddenly. Freed stiffened.

“No” he said dryly.

“Who sang among you three?” Laxus asked.

“Ever” dry reply again. “And sometimes I” he admitted after a moment's pause. Laxus chuckled in amusement.

“Are you out of tune or do you not like to sing?”.

“I'm terribly out of tune. This is why we never continued. Bickslow didn't sing too busy playing drums, Evergreen doesn't like to sing and I'm not capable of it. Honestly, I tried. And I suck, I know for myself and before you ask me, I won't sing” he clarified. Laxus smiled.

“Now I'm curious” he retorted. “I think the audio Bickslow sent me is really a cover of yours, who knows, maybe you sang it yourself” he then commented slyly.

“Laxus, no” Freed warned him. “I'm serious, I don't want to hear that stuff, whatever it is”.

“Then sing me a song” Laxus urged him “Come on, don't be a brat”.

“Settle for the guitar, what the fuck. I'm already playing for you”.

“I don't think I've ever heard you swear as much as tonight” Laxus teased, settling himself comfortably on the sofa. Freed gave him a dirty look and then smiled.

“You sing” he told him. Laxus raised an eyebrow in surprise at that request. “After all, you’re always with headphones on, sometimes I hear you sing”. Laxus snorted but nodded. He had no problem singing.

“Okay, but you first. I'm two seconds playing that audio” he reminded him. Freed snorted and blushed slightly as Laxus curiously watched him. After a few seconds he began to sing. Laxus stared at him in surprise. Actually, he wasn't quite as in tune, but not as terrible as he had said. And, Laxus couldn't do anything about it, he felt his stomach flutter. Freed had his eyes on the ropes fortunately, so he couldn’t see the expression Laxus had on his face. Because Laxus was completely fascinated by him, by his voice, by his fingers moving, by his hair set to one side, by his whole being. And damn it, Laxus wanted to kiss him. He wanted to take his face in his hands and join their lips, run his fingers through his hair and hold him close. He wanted to stretch out on that couch with him and spend all night there, no matter what, he just wanted to be with Freed. His throat went dry, and when Freed finished singing, he tried to make himself feel good.

“Your turn” Freed said, looking up at him. Laxus found himself blushing for no reason, just from catching his gaze.

“Uh... sure” he grunted awkwardly, just hoping that his friend thought he was in those states for the fact that he was forced to sing, and for nothing else. Freed looked at him in surprise.

“Strange that you haven't made any comment on my intonation” he said then amused.

“You... you're not bad” Laxus muttered. He felt more heat radiate on his face and just hoped it wasn't too visible. The expression on Freed's face changed softening and for a few seconds he remained silent looking at him. The desire to kiss him grew more and more. Laxus didn't even realize it but he was pushing towards Freed, closing the distance and only when he was close enough to smell his shampoo clearly, he realized how far he had moved. Too close. Too much, he could feel his friend's breath on his face. But then Freed jumped off the couch.

“I… sorry… I forgot about an appointment” Freed said agitatedly. Laxus sat stiffly on the sofa.

“Yes sure”.

“Sorry, Rufus... he's waiting for me” Freed stammered gesturing like crazy. At that name Laxus stiffened. Fuck. Freed had a boyfriend. How the hell had he forgotten it? “Ye… see you, huh” Freed said. A moment later he took his jacket and left the house. Laxus stood there, feeling like an idiot.

-7-

Laxus and Freed hadn't talked about it. In reality they pretended that nothing had happened, unfortunately they were forced to see each other at home but the conversations had become much shorter. They no longer dined together, and Laxus had started ordering food again and their TV series had been abandoned. Or at least, Laxus had abandoned it, he didn't want to look it without Freed. It seemed silly to be honest, but he'd tried it once and it just wasn't the same. Not without his friend's comments. Not without the popcorn they enjoyed making together. So Laxus was concentrating on his study, still trying to have as normal conversations as possible, even though he clearly felt a certain nervousness and tension when they were together in the same room. And the worst part was that Laxus had no idea what to do to improve it. He hadn't wanted them to get to that point, why the fuck had he had to come forward that night? It would have been better to be silent and still as usual, instead he had had to push himself towards him like an idiot.

Even the outings with Evergreen and Bickslow had dwindled, and usually, if he went, Freed wasn't there, and if Freed did, Laxus avoided showing up. If the two friends had noticed anything they hadn't said anything.

Annoyed he opened the book to study, until he noticed that his phone had been vibrating for too long now. He took it and saw it was Bickslow.

“Hey” he greeted him.

“Hey, hi Laxus. Listen, is Freed alive?” the friend asked. Laxus raised an eyebrow.

“Yes” he replied dryly. He had seen him that morning before he left the house.

“So, can you pass him to me? He hasn't answered me for days!” he exclaimed. Laxus made a face, the last thing he wanted was to talk to his roommate.

“He's studying” he said lowering his voice, hoping Freed wouldn't hear. After all, if Freed didn't want to talk to Bickslow, he wouldn't have to. He heard his friend snort loudly on the other side of the phone.

“I hate him when he does that” the boy muttered.

“As well as?” Laxus asked.

“He broke up with Rufus, and now he's closing in on his silence and refusing to talk to anyone about it” Bickslow explained. Laxus was silent. He didn’t know what to think of what his friend had just told him. Had they broken up because of him? No, it was all too presumptuous to think about it and after all nothing had ever happened between them. Moreover, from what little he knew about them, the two had already been arguing for a while.

“Are you alive?” Bickslow asked.

“I… yes, look, I have to study. I'll tell Freed to call you back” he told him. He greeted his friend and closed the call. Maybe he would have preferred not to know, because now he was doing too many mental journeys and it wasn't his business. He closed the book knowing that he wouldn't be able to think of anything and put his fingers to his temples. As much as one part of him was happy that those two had broken up -one part rather bitchy, he considered- the other was thinking about what Freed was going through. It was never easy to deal with a breakup, right?

He snorted and got up from his chair entering the living room and hearing that Freed was fumbling in the kitchen. Laxus was already about to order something to eat but finally decided to talk to the roommate first. So, he walked over to the kitchen door and leaned his shoulder against the door jamb.

“Hey, Bickslow called and asked for you” he told him. Freed glanced at him, then turned back to the pan on the stove.

“He just doesn't mind his own business” muttered the roommate with some irritation in his voice. Laxus stared at him in silence for a few minutes.

“He's worried” he said after a while.

“Well, you can tell him I'm alive” Freed said dryly.

“I think you should tell him” Laxus objected. “Look… I'm sorry for you and your boyfriend. If you want to talk about it, well…” he said vaguely, not quite knowing how to continue the sentence. Freed whirled towards him, as if he had said something he shouldn't have. He glared at him, then turned back to the pan.

“Of course he told you” he growled in a low voice. “Well, I'm not sick anyway. As you can see I’m alive, I eat and I continue to do the things I’ve always done. I'm not a teenager with the first crush” he then added aloud. Laxus stared at him puzzled.

“You know there’s nothing wrong with admitting...”.

“Do you need anything else?” Freed snapped interrupting him. Laxus fell silent.

“No” he just said, then left the kitchen and went to order himself something to take away.

-8-

Laxus had just taken an exam, it also went well for him so he was very satisfied. Although the situation with Freed had not improved, in fact, since he had told him about the boyfriend, it had even gotten worse. Despite this Laxus continued to move on with his life. A little more boring and a little sadder, but he couldn't do anything about it. Freed had become a wall.

Laxus walked into the house and as soon as he stepped inside, he saw that something was wrong. Freed's shoes were in the middle of the hall, and there was an empty plate on the coffee table in the living room. Freed never left anything messed up, so that was kind of weird. Laxus put the keys down partly closing the door behind him and took two steps into the living room, noticing only at that moment that Freed was lying on the sofa and sleeping. Laxus frowned as he approached him, looking at him a little surprised. Since they had lived together, he had never caught him even taking a little nap.

He glanced over his figure, he was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and his hair was loose and untidy, Laxus smiled slightly at the sight, at least until he saw a thermometer beside his arm. At that point he bent down and placed a hand on his forehead, only to feel it was actually hot. Surely he had a fever, and this explains the mess. At that point Laxus went to get a blanket from his room and covered it, then took the plate and went to the kitchen to clean it. Once finished and back in the living room he noticed that Freed had woken up, and he was yawning sitting on the couch.

“Alright?” Laxus asked him. Freed turned confused to him and ran a hand through his hair.

“I haven't had a fever for years, thanks for the blanket” he muttered hoarsely. Laxus smiled slightly.

“I asked you if you’re okay” he pointed out, as the roommate had avoided his question.

“Yes, just a little headache and cold” he replied, hugging the blanket. “For once you’re the one to put in order what I leave around” he commented.

“Yep, you're really messy. Shoes in the middle of the hall and flat on the coffee table” Laxus teased. Freed snorted.

“I know without even turning around that you didn't hang the keys in their place” he retorted. Laxus laughed slightly.

“Indeed” he admitted.

“Put them in place, it bothers me”.

“You don't even see them, it can't bother you” Laxus retorted. Freed yawned again. “Do you need something? Tachipirina, moment ...?”.

“No, I don't like taking medicine. I just need to sleep” Freed mumbled standing up with the blanket on, but immediately sat back on the sofa and hid his face in his hands. Laxus approached a little worried.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked him.

“Yes, just a dizziness. Come on now, I just need to sleep. Fuck, I never get a fever and I’ve an exam in two days” he snapped. “I guess I'll really have to fill myself with medicine” he said with a grimace.

“Eh, this is bad luck” Laxus commented “Come on, I'll make you something hot.”

“Why? Can you cook?” Freed teased him.

“You're sick but you're still whiny” Laxus commented with a smile. As much as he wasn't happy that the roommate was sick, he was happy to be able to talk to each other normally again. “And anyway, yes, I can cook. I just don't like it. Stay on the sofa, I'll be right back” he said and went back into the kitchen. When he returned with a plate of hot rice and vegetables, Freed made a smirk.

“You should have made a broth” he told him. Laxus rolled his eyes as he sat down beside him.

“You don't feel so bad if you keep complaining” he noted, observing his friend's pale face as he began to nibble without appetite.

“Admit you don't know how to cook broth”.

“Hey, stop complaining, or I'll mess up the whole apartment” he told him. Freed smiled faintly, continuing to nibble on small bites. Laxus finished ahead of him and set the plate down on the coffee table. After a few minutes Freed put the plate down with some more food on it, simply because he had no appetite, although he joked that if Laxus cooked better he would finish it. Then he took the thermometer again and measured his fever, which seemed to have subsided. At that point the boy got up, he was obviously tired and just wanted to sleep, even though he had already done so in the afternoon. Laxus took the dishes to wash them, relieved that they had talked a little about the last few days. He turned to go to the kitchen but Freed called him.

“Look” Laxus looked back at Freed. “I'm sorry about how I've treated you these days. I just don't like talking about my stuff, and I tend to close in on myself when something is wrong, I don't like people minding my business” he told him. Laxus noticed how stiff he was, a sign that it wasn't easy for him to talk about those things.

“Ok, you know I didn't want to mind your business, right? Just… well, if you needed a shoulder” he told him then.

“I know. I know, I just… I don't like talking about it anyway” Freed repeated. Laxus nodded slowly, scrutinizing his friend, who was evidently not well, and not just because of the fever.

“Sometimes it's good to let off steam, you know?”.

“I guess so” Freed whispered. “Just… saying things out loud makes me feel like an idiot. I mean, I'm not a teenager at the first crush and anyway it wasn't good between us, but still, it's not nice” he threw out.

“I'm sorry” he said not knowing what else to say. Freed shrugged.

“We haven't even been together for so long, just... it doesn't matter, anyway, I guess it just takes some time” he added with a small hint of a smile. “And you’ve some dishes to wash” he added then. Laxus smiled.

“Yes, as soon as you recover, know that I'll give all the work to you” he said with a hint of amusement.

“Sure” Freed said walking towards his room with the blanket still wrapped around him, and the blond chuckled at the view. The friend turned to him, frowning. “What do you have now?”.

“Oh, nothing, you know you're walking around with a blanket, right?” he teased him.

“Yes, and know that I won't give it back to you until I'm healed, it's hot and I'm not going to get out of here” Freed declared seriously, stealing another laugh from Laxus. Freed smiled faintly. “Thanks for everything, goodnight” he told him and then shut himself in his room.

“Night” Laxus whispered and returned to the kitchen with a smile. That had definitely been a good day.

-9-

“You mean you've never done an Escape Room?” Freed asked surprised. Laxus rolled his eyes.

“Never. I'm not crazy about that bullshit with demons and zombies and weird rituals, or whatever is in there” he said.

“Is that another way of saying you're afraid?” his friend teased him and Laxus rolled his eyes and gave him a grim look.

“I'm not afraid, it's just not things that amuse me” he objected. Freed, however, had a smirk on his face and didn’t seem to want to give up.

“Well, if you're afraid there are rooms with other themes, mostly they are logic games, they don't have to be horror themed. However, you shouldn't worry anyway, you know, zombies are fake”.

“I never would have imagined it” Laxus said ironically. Freed grinned as he pulled on his jacket.

“Come on let's go, Bickslow and Evergreen are waiting for us”. Laxus shook his head in amusement and put on his coat, then left the house and followed Freed, who was already walking down the stairs. He began to tease him that he shouldn't be scared, even though ghosts could appear from time to time because they were attracted to the horror-themed rooms. Laxus found himself listening to the boy with a smile on his face. That game didn't inspire him much, but the idea of spending an entire afternoon with Freed wasn't bad at all.

In the end it was more fun than expected. Mainly for the company, Freed was definitely the most into those things, while Bickslow had more fun fooling around with all the items he found around the room. Evergreen was equally into that game, perhaps she even reached Freed’s enthusiasm. Laxus smiled slightly as he saw the roommate struggling with a code to decode, while the girl looked for an image of a sun somewhere.

“How are you with that code?” Laxus asked him.

“Ah, I think I understand how to decode it, I just need a pen and paper”. Laxus handed him a sheet. “Your usefulness in this game is great” Freed said ironically taking it and the blond chuckled.

“You were the one who dragged me here” he pointed out. Freed looked up at him and Laxus saw a glint of concern in his eyes. “Come on, tell me how you're decoding this stuff” he said before he cared if he was having a good time. Freed for a moment showed some uncertainty, but then he began to explain to him and Laxus found himself being dragged by his friend into the game. Eventually they came out early to the great satisfaction of Freed and Evergreen.

“We’re too smart” commented the girl “Not many manage to get out within the allotted time, you know?” she asked Laxus, who glanced at Freed.

“Well, I guess we couldn't expect anything else with a nerd” The boy concerned gave an amused smile.

“I'll take that as a compliment” he decided. Laxus giggled and then they said goodbye to Bickslow and Evergreen to go back to the apartment. They got into Freed's car, which he started and began to calmly walk through the streets. He turned on the radio at a low volume, leaving the music that was passing by.

“Did you have fun? I don't get offended if you say no, you know” Freed said after a while. Laxus turned towards him in surprise and noticed that the boy had stiffened a bit. He was almost imperceptible, but the blond now knew enough to understand him.

“Sure” he replied truthfully “I mean, I’d never go alone, but if you're with the right group of people you have fun everywhere, right?” he added. Freed nodded slowly and Laxus noticed that he was nervously nibbling his lip. “What's up?” she asked him. Freed gave him a surprised look without saying anything. “Come on, there's something you're worried about” Laxus said.

“Well… it's nothing, I just didn't want to have dragged you on a boring afternoon” he admitted. Laxus smiled faintly at his concern.

“Well, it's a little hard to get bored when you have a brat next to you who shoots bullshit one after another” he retorted. Freed frowned.

“The brat would be Bickslow, right?”

“No, that would be you” Laxus laughed.

-10-

Laxus cursed as he heard the doorbell ring. Who the fuck rang the doorbell at three in the morning? Extremely irritated he got out of bed, whoever the asshole was he would have yelled at him about everything. Annoyed, he went to the intercom.

“Who the fuck are you?” he growled without any moderation. Not that he wasn't justified, he was sleeping so well before that guy woke him up.

“It's me” he heard him mutter from the other side and Laxus widened his eyes: that was Freed's voice. “I forgot the keys” he added with a sneer. “I'm so sorry” he added. Laxus took a deep breath.

“You're drunk?” he asked him.

“No... just a little tipsy”. Only from the tone of his voice did Laxus realize that he was more than just tipsy. Annoyed, he opened the gate for him.

“Wait for me there. The elevator is broken and I'm sure you’d overturn from the stairs, even if you deserve it” he grunted. He put on his shoes and left the apartment, going down the stairs cursing over and over again, until he got to the ground floor. Freed was standing with his back against the wall, his eyes closed and his head dangling from side to side.

“How the fuck did you drink?” Laxus snapped as he approached. The roommate opened his eyes.

“I don’t know. Bickslow kept ordering stuff” he mumbled. Laxus rolled his eyes and grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him towards the stairs.

“You owe me a favor, and expect revenge. You fucking woke me up” he blurted out as he climbed the stairs with his friend staggering in front of him. “My goodness, I've never seen you so drunk. You weren't like that in bowling either” he commented.

“It's Bickslow's fault, he wanted to make a challenge. But I won” he added with a smirk.

“I doubt you won, Bickslow has more resistance than you” Laxus retorted annoyed.

“No, that wasn't the challenge” Freed chuckled. “He said I'd be a stupid drunk. Obviously, he was wrong, I recited the time table of seven and I solved a physics problem perfectly” he declared with great satisfaction. Laxus shook his head in resignation as he held him straight so he didn't squash his face to the ground.

“Too bad you can't walk straight” he grunted he still irritated by what he had to do at that time. Freed laughed and Laxus just hoped no one would come out complaining.

“I can recite you the whole monologue from the Lord of the Rings opening” Freed said.

“Please, no” Laxus begged, but Freed didn't listen to him and began to mumble.

“It began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf-Lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings…” Laxus nevertheless found himself smiling amused. Freed didn't walk straight, but he really had memorized that monologue. When they arrived at the door, the friend was still talking, and the blonde let him do it wondering if he was going to play the whole movie for him too. He pushed his friend into the apartment and after a couple of seconds the boy fell silent.

“See, I've said it all. Without slackening or missing a single word” he declared with great satisfaction. Laxus ran a hand wearily over his face.

“You're weird” he mumbled and Freed chuckled again. He had to admit it though, seeing him like this was fun. Finally, he had broken down all the walls, his usual composed and mostly impassive expression was gone.

“I'm hungry, do you want some popcorn? I make them for both of us” Freed said.

“It's three in the morning, I'm not hungry. Go to sleep” Laxus told him. But Freed ignored him and headed for the kitchen.

“So, I know you eat them later!” he exclaimed.

“Don't fucking scream, people are sleeping” Laxus warned, following him into the kitchen. He would have gladly gone to sleep, but Freed had tipped some popcorn out of the pan and forgot to take the lid off. “So, they'll blow up all over the kitchen, and tomorrow you'll complain about how dirty you've got it all” he pointed out.

“I'll clean it all up” Freed retorted, lighting the gas. Laxus finally agreed that it was best to stay there and make sure he wasn't in trouble. He put a lid on the pan and forced him to sit down. Luckily Freed didn't reply and sat down at the table, resting his head on his hands.

“I thought you were more responsible, you know?” said the blond. Freed looked up at him.

“I'm responsible” he said immediately. “It was just a fun night, you could have come too, it would have been more fun” he added. Laxus found himself surprised to hear those words.

“It was a guy's birthday party I've never seen before” he reminded him. Freed shrugged.

“It would have been more fun anyway. You missed Bickslow doing karaoke, a rather pitiful scene” he said in amusement.

“Didn't you do it? That would have been fun” Laxus commented.

“No, as I said I’m responsible. I knew I was going to make a fool of myself, and I pretended to go to the bathroom when Bickslow wanted to drag me onto the stage” he said. Laxus smiled as he imagined the scene, then fell silent in the kitchen. The popcorn began to pop and when they were ready the blond transferred it to a bowl, mixed it with the salt and then put it on the table. Satisfied Freed began to eat while he told him what else Bickslow had done. Laxus listened amused. A little bit he regretted not going, it would have been really fun to see Freed playing darts when his coordination was pitiful with alcohol in his body. But it was just as nice to see him like that.

When the popcorn was finished Laxus was no longer tired, by dint of talking and listening to his friend he had woken up, so he cleaned the bowl and the pan while Freed talked to him about the game of billiards and how they had all lost to Evergreen. Once he finished cleaning the kitchen, he heard his friend yawn.

“You're finally tired, huh?” he commented turning to Freed, who had risen from his chair and was closer than he expected. The friend smiled and placed a hand on his chest.

“Thank you very much. And I'm sorry for waking you up and keeping you awake, you didn't have to” he said sincerely grateful. Laxus softened his gaze trying not to focus on how far their bodies were now inches apart.

“I know. But I'm not an asshole like you, who surely would have left me out of the building” he said and Freed chuckled.

“I wouldn't have done that, I’d have helped you. I probably would have been less willing to make popcorn and would have insulted you a lot more than you did me, but I'm not bad enough to leave you in the cold”.

“Yeah, you probably would have told me to exhaustion how irresponsible I am.”

“That I definitely would have done” Freed agreed and then smiled warmly at him. Laxus felt slightly agitated under the intense gaze of his friend, who suddenly fell silent and just looked at him. Then Freed grabbed him by the collar and pushed him towards him, bringing their lips together.

Laxus didn't take long to respond to the kiss, although he hadn't expected it. Although he felt it was wrong, because Freed was drunk. And he knew it, he should have stopped it before it got too much. But it was already too much and the feeling of Freed's lips on his thrilled him enormously. Freed put a hand through his hair, while Laxus wrapped his arms around his back. The kiss became more intense, deeper and both pushed against each other. Now Laxus could feel Freed's hand descend along the undershirt and rise under him, touching his bare skin. Too much. It was definitely too much.

Before they pushed past Laxus broke away, slightly panting and staring in surprise as Freed kept running his hand up his abs. Something that Laxus wouldn't have wanted to stop, because the feel of their bodies so close sent flashes of excitement down his body. But he had to stop it. He took his wrist and took his hand away. Freed looked up at him surprised and disappointed.

“Don't...” Laxus's voice came out hoarse. “You're drunk” he said.

“Yes, but it's something I've wanted for a while. Since you almost kissed me two months ago” Freed replied. Laxus opened his eyes slightly, while a feeling similar to euphoria filled him. “I wanted to reciprocate, but… it felt wrong” he said. Laxus swallowed hard, for now his self-control was wavering. He wanted to take his face in his hands and kiss him, because that was a statement, but Freed was still drunk anyway.

“And it was, because you had a boyfriend” he decided to say after a few seconds. Freed looked up at him. “Freed, I like you, seriously, but you're drunk, I don't want that to happen now. We can talk about it in the morning” he revealed with a hint of courage. He saw a smile open on the boy's face.

“Ok” he whispered. Laxus smiled in turn.

“Ok” he repeated. They looked at each other for a few seconds in silence, both red-faced and smiling. “Let's go to sleep” Laxus said after a while, because he was sure, if he had stayed there, he would have risked kissing him again and never stop. And he didn't want it. Not like that. Freed nodded and pulled away from him. Then they both went back to their rooms, and Laxus fell asleep with a smile.

-11-

When he woke up the next day it took him a few seconds to remember what had happened and he felt anxiety fill his chest. He was obviously happy, but now doubts assailed him. Freed had been drunk the night before, maybe he didn't really mean what he said. Obviously, he was stupid to think so, it's not that he was completely out of his mind and damn, Freed had recited the entire monologue of ‘The lord of the rings’. He obviously thought about what he said. But that didn't help him calm down. Laxus put his hands to his face and forced himself to get out of bed, when he came out of the room he smelled an inviting smell, but he forced himself to go to the bathroom and wash himself before entering the kitchen. Freed was cooking pancakes. He turned to him with his lips folded in a slight smile.

“I made you coffee” he told him, pointing to the moka pot. Laxus came over, muttering a thank you and pouring it into his cup, trying not to look too much at his friend. He definitely didn't know what to say and almost hoped he was the one doing it. He took a sip and leaned his back to the fridge, barely glancing at Freed who was placing pancakes on a plate. When he finished he turned to him and spoke.

“I'm sorry about last night” he said. Laxus just nodded and Freed went on “I haven't drunk that much in a long time, I didn't really want to wake you up, and you were kind nonetheless”.

“You've been forgiven” Laxus said, pointing to the pancakes and coffee, which he threw down in another gulp and then set the cup on the counter. Freed nodded.

“Yeah, well, I hope so” he added. The silence fell again and Laxus met his eyes for a moment, Freed was thoughtful, as if he were considering something. “About what happened next ... I didn't lie, I've wanted to do it for quite a while. Doing it drunk was stupid but… I didn't regret it. I like you Laxus, and I'd really like to try dating you” he said. A slight blush colored his cheeks, and it was evident that he was a little insecure, even if he didn’t show it openly. Laxus felt a sensation of relief and adrenaline filling his stomach. Knowing that Freed reciprocated was all too exciting. A smile broke on his face without Laxus being able to hold it back.

“Well... yes. I mean, I want to go out with you too” he said. Freed's face relaxed and a tiny smile appeared. After that Laxus put an arm around his waist and pushed him towards him kissing him. And that was even better than their first kiss. Because now there was no doubt about what they both wanted. And that sweet coffee-flavored kiss proved it.

[mageofseven]

The Brothers’ Reaction to MC smuggling in a pet from the Human World

Depressed MC asking the brothers to let her back into the human world to “grab something important” but won’t say what it is. Once back from the human world, they reveal that the item of importance is actually her pet. Let the battle to keep it commence!

Lucifer:

Being the observant guy he is, Luce notices MC’s change in mood rather quickly

Thinking maybe you were just having an off day, he didn’t say anything about it

But then the end of the week came and you still seemed out of it, lacking your usual enthusiasm 

When finally approached about it, you wouldn’t meet his eyes

“There’s...something I need to get from home. Back in the human world...”

A moment of silent passes.

“Would you care to elaborate on what that may be?”

Avoided answering like the plague. Instead, a day of constant begging ensues.

This man is usually pretty resistant to such a thing, thanks to his brothers (especially Mammon).

Still, your their low mood mixed with his mild curiosity led him to give in.

Next day, he agreed to let you go, under the condition that you show him whatever items you took as soon as you’re back.

He never expected that the “something important” was going to be a small, chubby dog. 

Cue the frustration

“MC, you are well aware that no animals are allowed in the dorm--”

“BUT YOU HAVE CERBERUS!”

“Cerberus doesn’t live in the dorm with us and actually serves a purpose--”

Angry Dog Mom™️ activated

For once, Lucifer is the one on the receiving end of the lecture as you list all of your dog’s important qualities and why you need your furbaby with you.

Man is stressed out just wants to be down with the conversation; time to choose his battles. Spoiler: he doesn’t choose this one.

Negotiation ensues. Outcome? Two weeks. MC gets a trial run for two weeks. If they can take care of the dog by themselves for two weeks without any major issues caused by the dog while also taking up the grocery shopping for the next month, the dog can stay.

This man does not have high hopes for the dog, but will humor MC for the time being.

Mammon:

Of course he’d know when his human was feeling down. Who do you think he is?

In truth, it took him about a day and half to realize that they were feeling sad and not just too busy to hang out.

To his credit, he didn’t wait around for MC to perk up on their own.

“Yo, what’s the big idea? If you’re sad, just say so!”

Don’t bother denying it; the poor boy is already worried.

“Mammon... I kinda need a favor...”

Boy wouldn’t admit it, but he was eager to do what ever he could to cheer you up

Until you say you need to get to the human world to grab something

He already knows he’ll be hanging from the ceiling when Lucifer finds out, but this boy just can’t say no to you.

Makes a few deals with some witches and has you out there the next day

Is confused as hell when you bring back a cage

“What even is that thing??”

“It’s my chinchilla, Kiwi.”

This boy is dead when Lucifer finds out, by hey, at least the little rodent is kinda cute?

Leviathan:

This boy was too absorbed in the anime to really notice anything wrong with you at first.

He was a big fan of the manga series the anime was based off so when he heard they made the anime for, Levi needed you to watch it with him.

When he had paused it to rant about an inconsistency between the manga and the anime however, he noticed you were spaced out

Poor boy is instantly insecure.

“Of course you’d ignore a waste-of-space otaku like me...”

“No, no! I’m sorry! It’s just...”

It takes a moment to explain why you zoned out.

“Levi...can you please help me get home? Just long enough to get what I need!”

Boy is lowkey worried that you actually plan to leave and not come back. After spending time reassuring him that you really do just mean a quick trip to grab something important from your home, he’s a little more comfortable with helping.

Luckily, your goals seem to align with his.

He recently found out that his favorite mangaka  is doing a book signing in the human world, but Lucifer had already refused his request because he didn’t trust Levi to go alone.

So guess whose making this trip a reality? You!

The two of you go to Lucifer right away to beg him to let you to go to the human world just for a day.

Though still a bit iffy about his decision, he did eventually agree since he knew if Levi were to fall out of line for some reason and do something he shouldn’t, MC could use the power of their pact to bring his actions to a halt.

Mission one success!

Two days later, the two of you are on the way to the human world.

You had to spend the first couple hours of it in line at the manga shop so Levi could get his book signed.

Not as boring as you may think. You got to talk to Levi for a while and it was really cute seeing him all excited.

Once the boy got his book signed though, he was too absorbed in the fact that his favorite manga artist wrote on his book cover that he forget his end of the deal. This dude was totally ready to head home till you reminded him about why you’re here.

Right, onward to MC’s house.

Awkward boy is awkward. He waited outside as you rushed into your house so he didn’t have to deal with uncomfortable conversation with your family.

You eventually come out with a backpack full of who-knows-what and a fish bowl with a tiny, almost translucent fish.

“Okay, I got her! Let’s go home!”

“Wait, you have a fish too??”

You two would get in trouble if Lucifer found out you made an unapproved stop at home, so you decided to pretend that the fish is Levi’s for now.

He’s actually glad to know you both have another thing in common.

Satan:

It was just a normal Sunday afternoon. You were relaxing with Satan as you both read your individual books.

However, he looked up from his book to find your eyes staring out the window instead of on your book.

Satan knew since he saw you at breakfast earlier that morning that you were upset about something, but decided to wait and see if you’d to come to him first.

So far, that hasn’t happened yet. He sighed and lowered his book.

“Okay. So what is the problem?”

Denying it just receives an eyebrow raise from the blonde. Try again.

“Look...there something from home that I miss. Like, a lot.”

Even after asking a series of question about this ‘something’, all he got in return was a sad shrug.

“Do you think...is there any way I could go home and get it?”

Satan questions if the item is truly that important, but of course you say yes.

Only Diavolo and Lucifer can activate the teleport magic in the student council room because of a series of issues that took play like 50 years (three of them were Mammon’s while one was Levi’s) so now all of the brothers are locked out without explicit permission. Satan was never particularly interested in going to the human world before, but once Lucifer decided he wasn’t allowed to anymore, Satan started searching for a way to do so.

And he succeeded. Lucky you.

It took three days for the perfect opening. Lucifer had to handle some legal matters with Diavolo further to the west of the Devildom. He let everyone know at breakfast that he wouldn’t be back till later that evening.

The two got to MC’s house without any problems (well, except for Beel, but a promise to get him something from Madam Screams when they got back helped him to ‘forget’ the comment MC made about their trip before they left)

Your family was out when you got there so the two of you entered the house without distraction.

As soon as you entered, you started searching under the couches, behind the TV, in your room under your bed, various different spots.

Satan raised an eyebrow at your actions, curious about what you were searching for, but didn’t ask. After all, you already decided not to tell him earlier. He just had to be patient and see for himself.

While you did that, Satan wandered into the kitchen to see more of the house. That’s when he spied an orange ball of fluff on top of the fridge.

He smiled at the cat as it jumped down to counter to meet with him. Reaching out to pet the orange tabby, it purred against his hand.

“CHEESE!”

MC raced into the kitchen to embrace the cat.

“Cheese?”

“Yeah, her name’s Cheese.”

So this was what you were looking for. Hmm. That explains the secrecy, he supposed.

Not sure how you both are gonna hide the cat from Lucifer back at House of Lamentation, but hey, Satan’s all for cats.

Asmodeus: 

Asmo was actually pretty observant when it came to your mood change.

He didn’t really ask about it though. Instead, he launched into just comforting and cheering up.

As soon as he saw the mood shift, it was officially a spa day; he had you take a nice relaxing bubble bath, lit scented candles, and even gave you a makeover. Picked out an outfit that he had been practically dying to see you in and did your hair and make up too. 

Honestly, you did feel a lot better. All the attention Asmo was giving you really did help you cheer up and you even felt extra beautiful by the end of the night.

It was while he was doing your nails and you both were talking about anything and everything when you finally confessed to why you were so sad today.

“It just hurts, ya know? I know I really didn’t have a chance to bring it with me, but still...”

Before you even a chance to say what ‘it’ is, this boy already saying you should just go get it. As if it’s that easy.

Or is it?

The next day, he talks Lucifer into letting you both go grab a few things from your home in the human world.

Honestly, things should not have worked out as well as they did, but no complaints here.

When you get there, this boy is exploring every little corner of your house and isn’t even being subtle about.

Oh well, you start packing up different items from your room as he judges the brand of shampoo and skincare products in your bathroom.

Wasn’t as surprised you might think to find a ball python snake in your tub.

Boy has obviously dealt with bigger snakes in the past.

Decides to the charm the little boop noodle and comes into your bedroom with the snake on his shoulders.

“MC, look at this! Isn't this the cutest little thing I could find?”

“Oh nice! You found Lyla!” You smile. “She always finds away out of her tank, but I was worried about how far she made it.”

Asmo wasn’t particularly interested in helping you carrying the tank back so you had to call Beel to come help you.

You two are basically in trouble the moment you walk in to the door and Lucifer sees the snake.

You have to do the dishes for the next two weeks and Asmo has to pick up more days to cook dinner, but you somehow manage to keep the snake here with you.

Beelzebub:

Another brother who notices your sad mood fairly quickly

But he doesn’t really know what to do about or what to say

So he basically just tries to spend more time with you when he can so you aren’t stuck being sad and alone.

Starts walking you to class and doing homework with you more. He even skips his workouts some days so he can take you out some where and keep you away from your room.

He takes you out to eat a lot over the next week and you have to admit, it really does cheer you up when you see him happily munching on his favorite meal.

Beel’s presence is a mostly quiet one, but very comforting.

Still, you can’t help but to miss a certain piece of your home.

When the weekend comes, you finally confess to Beel about what has you down.

“Can’t I just...just real quick? I just want to stop at home to get something.”

He tries to ask about what it is specifically that you need, but you just get all fidgety and deflect from his question.

Poor boy is worried that he just upset you more by asking so he drops it.

Helps you get permission from Lucifer, who relents that it wouldn’t hurt for you to have more personal items here with you during your stay in the Devildom.

In the human world, you hadn’t even put your key in the lock before barking was heard from inside. As soon as the door opened, an excited husky jumped you.

You give out a big laugh as the dog puts its front paws on your shoulders and licks your face.

“Chaos, down! Down boy!” You say between laughs. I takes a minute for the good boy to settle down and put all his paws on the ground.

Beel’s original surprise melted away to a sweet smile.

The three of you went inside. As you went to grab a bag and gather different items, Beel sat on the couch (after his offer to help was rejected and he was told to relax).

The slightest movement made by the demon made the fluffy boy jump and let out small barks; he wants to play!

Beel finds a ball on the other side of the room and starts throwing it for the husky. The good boy duo plays fetch!

Eventually, MC comes back in the room, beaming at the sight.

“Aww you’re such good friends now!” You say before picking up a leash and calling Chaos to you. “Come on, boy; you get to come back with me.”

“...What?”

You explain to him that you came all this way for Chaos because you missed your big fluffy furbaby so much.

Sweet boy doesn’t have the heart to tell you no, that Chaos can’t come back with you.

Lucifer, on the other hand, had no issue telling you such when you got back

And, in fairness, its kinda hard to sell the idea that a dog named Chaos won’t cause any trouble in the dorm.

Beel steps up and says he’ll help you take care of the dog.

Lucifer let’s the dog stay

...for now

But if the dog does anything at all wrong, both of you are expected to take responsibly (and punishment) for it.

Belphie:

This boy noticed you started sleeping more, which was the telltale sign that you were feeling sad to him.

Believe me, this boy gets it

And honestly, seeing you turn down spending time with his brothers just hide away in your room to sleep, it hurt to much to see and really hit close to home

Like, only he is allowed to be that depressed. You’re suppose to be cheerfully buzzing around the house like always.

At first, he just kinda inserted himself in your nap times

I mean, he always felt a little better when you or Beel joined him, so it was a good place to start.

He was honestly kinda hurt when you rejected his offer and said you just wanted to be alone for a while.

It only made Sleepy Boy a bit grumpy though. He still laid right beside ya and wrapped an arm around you.

Sleepy Boy wasn’t accepting a no from you

Belphie wasn’t going to leave you alone because he knew all too well that just because you said it, doesn’t mean you actually want it.

“Watching you be like this is just making me sick. I’m not leaving you.”

So yeah, cuddle time is non-negotiable.

One day, you laid there, but couldn't really sleep.

Your problem was just spinning through your head. You wonder if you told Belphie... would help you? Could he help you?

"Hey, Belphie?"

Opens an eye just slightly to look at you.

"Is...is there anyway I could go home? A way that doesn't....doesn't involve Lucifer knowing?"

That got his attention and the boy wasn't too pleased. Opens both of his eyes.

"You've only been back for like a month and you already want to leave us?"

"No! Just...look."

You explain to him the situation and how you just want to grab something from home, but you know Lucifer wouldn't allow you to bring back what you need.

A chance to go behind Lucifer's back and piss him off? Well, why didn't you say so?

Gets help from the other member of the F.A.L.L. (Former Anti-Lucifer League), aka Satan.

Basically gets you home the same way you did in the Satan scenario, but with Belphie tagging along instead.

When you get to your house, you raced inside with Belphie just trailing behind.

Doesn't make it passed your living room, just kinda lays on your couch till you're done grabbing things from your room.

Has to be woken up from his nap when you're ready to leave.

You decide to wake him up in a cute way.

Sleepy boy wakes up to find a fluffy long-earred creature on his stomach.

"What the hell am I looking at?" He yawns.

"Its my bunny, Bella." You grin. "She says 'hi'."

He reaches out to pet the bun's soft fur.

Doesn't really ask anything about it.

I mean, if all it takes is a rabbit to make you happy then it's nothing to question.

Not sure how you'll be able to KEEP the rabbit with you in the Devildom, but hey, that's your problem when you both get back.

~

Masterlist

[klvbxlove]

boldness (iida x gn! reader)

a/n: ok i’ll be honest. i have no idea how this idea came into mind; it just did. it was also pretty different than what i usually do, so it was interesting to go through the process of writing it. it’s probably just gonna be a onetime thing, ‘cause i mostly prefer to write fluffy stuff (-w-)

(i’m sorry, but this gif of iida had me feeling certain things. LOOK AT HIM OH MY GOD *insert me literally crying over how beautiful but hot iida is*)

reader-type: gender neutral

genre: romance, lime (**ngl, i don’t know what would be considered lime, but i think this drabble is one**)

trigger warning(s): slightly suggestive content

summary: despite already dating you, iida hasn’t exactly gotten used to showing you affection. however, he decided he was going to change that. the only catch? you didn’t expect this kind of affection, nor did you expect him to be this bold.

word count: 1.2k words

♡ ♡ ♡ (ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*) ♡ ♡ ♡

key:

(y/n) = your name (f/b) = favorite book

♡ ♡ ♡ (ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*) ♡ ♡ ♡

   Iida was making use of his time by reading (F/B), the one you recommended to him a few days back. At first glance, he wasn’t exactly sure why you liked this book. However, the more chapters he read, the more he understood why. 

   The house in which the blue-haired man shared with you was dead quiet, aside from the rain drizzling outside. Despite the weather, it didn’t stop the plans of you and your friends to hang out for the afternoon. Iida wasn’t a controlling person by all means, but he wished he could’ve stopped you from going out. If he had done that, you would’ve been by his side cuddling with him as he read.

   That’s when the realization hit Iida. He’s never shown you much affection before. It wasn’t because he was a cold-hearted person who loathed it. He didn’t know how to show it without being awkward. When you were the one showing affection, Iida would sometimes feel himself going stiff.

   He would think that after months of dating you, he would’ve gotten accustomed to affection. Nope. He was pretty much new to the whole thing. Luckily, you never pestered him for it. But even still, Iida felt like he wasn’t being a good boyfriend to you. Today, he wanted to change himself. 

   Hearing the front door open and then close from downstairs made Iida smile, as it signified that you were home now. “I’m home!” you called out. You removed your shoes and placed them near the front door, which was proceeded by you taking off your jacket. A tired sigh escaped your lips. You were pretty much exhausted today, although you still had fun with your friends.

   Putting down the book, Iida exited the bedroom and walked downstairs to see you. “Welcome back.” He greeted you. “Did you have fun?” he asked. 

   You nodded. “Yep! I’m pretty tired, though, so I’ll go change.” 

   Iida watched as you walked past him and towards the staircase. He ran a finger through his hair, slightly out of frustration. Iida should’ve started by at least giving you a hug or something! Instead, he just greeted you with words and nothing else. It’s okay, he thought to himself. This is not the end of the world. He had plenty of time to open himself up!

    Iida walked back upstairs and stopped at the front door of the bedroom to knock on it. “Did you finish changing, my love?” he asked. 

   “Almost!” you replied. “I just needa change my shirt!”

   You were able to change fairly quickly, so only a few seconds passed before you finished. “Okay, you can come in!” 

   At that, Iida opened the door and walked inside. He stopped in the middle of the doorway as he caught sight of you wearing one of his navy blue sweatshirts. A blush covered his cheeks. Since you were smaller than him, it was a little big on your body, not that you were bothered by it. You liked oversized clothes, anyway. 

   “Something wrong?” you tilted your head, concerned after your boyfriend hadn’t said anything. 

   “N-No, it’s nothing,” Iida shook his head and cleared his throat. 

   “Hmm, if you say so!” you smiled and walked over to the bookshelf to pull out a volume of your favorite manga series that you haven’t finished. You crawled into your side of the king-sized bed and pulled out the bookmark, starting to read. 

   Iida picked up (F/B) and proceeded to crawl into bed with you. He spent the next few minutes trying to read rather than steal glances at you. How was he supposed to help himself, though? You looked so adorable right now! (Well, you look adorable every day). With how small you looked in his sweater (which he knew you would get mad if he said that out loud) as you silently read, smiling every once in a while. If anything, all Iida wanted to do was kiss you.

   But how was he going to do that?

   After putting the book back on the nightstand standing next to your bed, Iida took a small glance at you before scooting closer. He hesitated at first, but he slowly wrapped his arm around your shoulder. You let out a sound of surprise but smiled nonetheless and continued to read. 

   Glancing over the pages, Iida had no idea what was going on in the volume you were reading. It didn’t matter right now, anyway. So far, he already got his arm around you. Now, what should he do next? 

  ‘Hmm, maybe this.��

  You turned your head towards Iida when he lightly patted your shoulder with his hand. As soon as you were facing him, he used his free hand to place his hand on your chin, slightly brushing your bottom lip with his thumb.

   Meanwhile, you felt yourself blush. You didn’t know how to explain it, but there was somewhat of a look of love and lust in his eyes. The moment Iida started to slowly inch his face towards you, you were internally freaking out. You had no time to think about what was happening before he placed his lips on yours, engulfing you in a kiss.

   Iida removed his arm from your shoulder to your waist, pulling you closer. Wrapping his other hand around your waist, he refused to let you go. Your eyes widened in surprise. On one hand, you didn’t expect Iida to kiss you without hesitation. On the other hand, however, you liked it. You couldn’t leave Iida hanging, so you closed your eyes and returned the kiss. 

   You moved from your spot in the bed and crawled into his lap, pretty much making out with him at this point. You ran your hand through his dark blue hair, your touch prompting him to let out a small groan of pleasure. Your tongues practically wrestled to ensure dominance, but in the end, Iida won. One of his hands found itself underneath the sweatshirt you were wearing, and he started to rub it against your bare skin; his touch sent shivers down your spine. 

   Iida, at this moment, felt bold for making the first move. Something simple as wrapping his arm around your shoulder led to him having you on his lap, your lips pretty much glued into a heated make-out session. With another bolt of courage going through him, Iida carefully turned himself over, and now you were lying underneath him. 

   A few minutes passed before Iida decided to break away from the kiss, a string of saliva already connecting your mouths. He looked down at you and watched as you were practically panting to catch your breath. “I-I apologize, darling.” he apologized, the lust, you noticed, almost fading. “Was that too much for you?”

  “No, it’s okay!” you reassured him with a smile. “I just didn’t expect you to be so bold to kiss me, let alone get us into this make-out session.” you wiggled your eyebrows teasingly. 

   “Me either,” Iida admitted, scratching his cheek nervously. “All I just wanted was to show you some affection because I felt as though as your boyfriend, I didn’t show enough. I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable with that. If you were, I’ll tone down my level of affection!”

   “I told you, it’s fine,” you said. “You know I’m not bothered by you being unaffectionate twenty-four-seven, but if you want to show me any, I’ll more than gladly allow it. I mean, I’m your (s/o), right?”

   Iida blushed but nodded. “Y-Yes, that’s right.” 

   “With that out of the way,” you smirked. “don’t you think we should finish what you started?”

   Iida had to admit he liked where this was going. After he smirked back at you, you took no hesitation to bring his face closer to you and connected your lips. 

[indulgenthoax]

Wallflower

Sir Stranger x F!Reader

Content - Mystery, Nobility AU

WC - 1.5k

Warnings - None!

Summary - You finally have a chance to debut in society at the Princess's ball, but a masked stranger catches your interest.

Ax's Note - I have read so many like nobility mangas i am obsessed so heres one for ya

“Stay still! This debut ball may be for the Princess, but that doesn’t mean you can’t shine just as bright.”

“This dress is impossible! How do I even dance in this? I might just become a wallflower.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! This is one of the best chances to find yourself a good partner. Who knows, maybe you might be able to fulfill your dream of becoming the Prince’s bride.”

While being chided by your personal handmaid wasn’t the most pleasant experience, you were secretly excited to finally debut. Your parents, the Count and Countess Silver, were fortunately wealthy enough to allow you to travel to the capital to attend the Princess’s debut ball and debut on your own. You may be the daughter of a count, but you’ve read the commoner’s stories about loving princes and terrifying dragons. Though you’ve grown up, you were still thrilled to be in high society, even if only for a day.

Your dress and matching mask was chosen months ago for this occasion. Your father called a skilled tailor to ensure quality for his daughter. It was a beautiful deep blue, with small jewels dotted around the skirt and bodice. Black tulle with woven silver thread lined the neckline and the hem of the dress. Small silver flowers were scattered across the dress, with some spots holding three or four of them. The mask was a beautiful piece of workmanship. Silver braids along the edge of the blue mask shone in any light, and decorative feathers and lace added elegance. Your hairstyle was perfectly suited to match the rest of your outfit, and the jewelry you wore only added to your beauty. Soon, it was time to finally attend the ball.

Arriving at the ballroom, you allowed a servant to announce your presence before you entered. The room was dazzling. The chandelier reflected light so much it sparkled like the ocean at sunrise. The floor was polished to perfection, and the walls were decorated with brilliant ribbons and flowers. You would have loved to stop in the middle of the stairs and take in your surroundings, but people were coming in behind you. You moved to one of the less occupied walls so you could stare at the décor for as long as you wished.

Soon, everyone was present, and the King and Queen Ojiro announced the Princess to the room. They declared the start of the ball and cued the musicians to start playing. Everyone found a partner and began to dance on the floor. You also wanted to dance, but you didn’t have an escort to dance with. Standing against the wall, you fulfilled the ‘wall’ part of your previous statement of being a wallflower.

Another person seemed to think you fulfilled the ‘flower’ part of the word exquisitely.

④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④

Fed up with just watching everyone dance, you made your way to the balcony. It was beautiful outside. The palace gardens were wonderfully maintained, and the night sky shone as brilliantly as your dress. However, your feet were tired from standing all night. Luckily, there was a bench outside. You sat down and began massaging your feet.

“These shoes truly are a menace,” you sighed.

“With you saying so, I’m glad I don’t have to wear them.”

You jumped with a squeak. Looking around quickly, you spot a man standing across the balcony. “Who are you? When did you get here?!”

The man approached you. He was wearing a tailored black suit with white accents. White ribbons and string decorated the seams and buttons. White leather gloves fit his hands well enough to the point that you might think they were his real hands. A thick, black and white striped ribbon connected his belt to his shoulder. A stunning brooch with dozens of gems hung from his chest pocket. Upon his face was an amazingly sculpted fox head. The muted orange head even had tufts of white fur in the ears! You knew this was a masquerade ball, but did his mask truly have to cover his whole head?

His chuckle snapped you out of your thoughts. “Did I say that out loud? Please forgive me.” You bowed your head. You may not know who he is, but you know your manners.

“You may raise your head. I realize most masks at balls only cover the eyes, but I would like to remain anonymous for now.”

“I see.. I won’t ask for your name, but may I ask why you are here?”

“I wanted some time away from the crowd.”

You nodded along. “I felt the same way when I came outside.” A few moments of comfortable silence passes as you both look up at the stars.

“I noticed you lining the walls earlier.” You looked at him, shocked. “Please don’t think I’ve been following you. It’s my hobby to watch people, and you passed under my eyes as I scanned the room.”

“Why have you followed me then, Sir?”

He chuckled. “When you left your wallflower position, you dropped this.” He handed you your handkerchief. You must have dropped it without realizing.

“Thank you for returning this to me. How could I return the favor?”

The man thought for a moment before speaking up, “Will you keep me company and chat with me? I won’t tell you who I am just yet, but I promise I can be a good conversationalist.”

You giggled. “I can certainly do that, Sir Stranger. What would you like to talk about?”

④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④④

It seemed like a couple hours passed by in an instant. He was indeed a good conversationalist. You even shared some childhood memories with each other. His memory of his sister’s antics made you laugh; your dreams of being a prince’s bride made him hum in amusement.

“What would you do if you could marry the Prince?”

“I’m merely the daughter of a count. I would not have the necessary training to become the Prince’s bride. Even if I were to receive lessons now, the Prince should already have a fiancée considering his position as the first heir to the throne.”

“And if he doesn’t love his fiancée? Or if his fiancée already loves another man?”

“As much as I would love to take over the position if that were to happen, it simply won’t. My marriage to someone as authoritative as the Prince could only happen in fiction, especially because our marriage wouldn’t be beneficial. I am glad that I can dream about what I like, however. I may have romanticized it, but I do believe I could help the Prince run the kingdom at least a little should fantasy play out.”

Sir Stranger looked at you for a bit. Unfortunately, you couldn’t see his expression, so you didn’t know how to react.

He huffed a laugh under his breath. Somehow you can hear the smirk in his voice. “Lady Silver, the statements you are making seem almost treasonous. Should I report this to the guards?”

You could feel heat rush to your face. “Please do not tell them! These- these words are simply the delusions of a young lady! I would never do such a thing as to take away the fiancé of another lady! Please ignore all that I have said this evening! I-”

You pause for a moment after hearing a few giggles coming from the fox mask. You looked at him incredulously for a minute. He looked back at you and quickly straightened himself out. He started to speak, but you just huffed and stood up.

As you began to walk back to the ballroom, he panicked and spoke out, “Please wait! Come back! I apologize for laughing at you. Let me make it up to you?”

You turned his way and asked, “Why should I give you the chance?”

“... Because I can make your dreams come true?” he said thoughtfully.

You immediately spun around again, but you were stopped by a hand on your wrist this time.

“I apologize again. I’ll stop teasing you if you would only dance with me once, my Lady?” He seemed genuine in his apology this time, so you decided to agree to the dance. Relieved, he held out his arm for you to hold. You accepted his invitation to be escorted back to the ballroom.

As you both made your way back inside, the music for the current dance ended. He led you to the middle of the floor as the music began. You thought that he might have not been good at dancing, but he was doing well as your partner. You felt like the only two in the world whilst he held you close. With every step, you felt weightless in his arms. The music swayed your bodies to the rhythm, and your feet gilded together perfectly along the floor. This all felt like a dream. Though your dreams usually featured a man whose face you could see.

You looked at his mask. “May I finally know who you are, Sir Stranger?”

He leaned down to your ear as the dance ended. He lifted the mask enough to reveal his mouth to everyone but you, and whispered:

“Your dreams.”

BONUS ROUND

WC - 200

Warnings - you have a child

You couldn’t believe it. He seemed to be crazy. What was he thinking? How could he do this? Why was this happening? What stars and planets aligned for this to happen to you?

How could your husband and child make such a mess together??

“Aran. How in the world did this happen?”

He looked up sheepishly. “Sorry, my love. We wanted to surprise you with flowers, but we got carried away…”

“Don’t lie to her, Papa! You made this mess cuz you got scared of a little buggie!”

Laughing, you scooped up your child in your arms. “Now, now, Aran. Is it befitting of a king to be scared of little buggies?”

“I was not! I simply wanted these flowers to look presentable! I can’t give my lovely wallflower bug-infested plants!” He pouted up at you.

You leaned down and kissed his cute face. “Thank you very much, love. I know you tried your best to get me the prettiest flowers.”

“Mama! Me too! I want a kissie!” Your child wailed.

“I want another one first!” Your childish husband also wailed.

Soon the room was filled with the giggles and happiness of the King and Queen and their child.

Ax's Xtra Notes - Hope you liked it! and i also hope you liked who it was about ;)

[hiro-gari]

Something I realized just now at 3 AM..

We usually headcanoned Zenko and Tareo would be the ones who connected Garou with Badd, the fact that both of the kids knowing them (also Tareo now have met Badd in the manga, maybe again soon at the end of battle?).

But let me tell you about this: Remember in webcomic, King accidentally found Garou when he was meditated in the middle of woods, right? And in the manga version, King goes with Badd towards the battlefield, right? What if King becomes the one person who could connect Badd with Garou?? 👀👀✨

King is one of Badd’s coworker who can be trusted on keeping secrets better than any other fellow heroes. Not only that, now he went to the battle location together with Badd and probably must watching over the reckless delinquent hero during combat the whole time until it was ended with the defeat of Garou.

If the headcanon of Badd defending Garou will becomes true (hopefully), King would also be there to witness it, too.

Now imagine when King accidentally encountered the newly redeemed Garou in the middle of forest and Garou noticed him, reassured King that he wont do the whole hero hunting anymore. He just want to talk with King for awhile about two things:

“Is the little brat (Tareo) alright?”

“Is Metal Bat okay?”

Garou asked those things because he knew King was the person who saved Tareo from Monster Assosiation, also the person who came with Badd together and has the responsibility to keep an eye for him.

I was imagining a composed Garou and a frightened King sitting side-by-side near the river, all in a tranquil peaceful forest setting, with Garou calmly asking the questions to King because he was curious and genuinely worried about those two.

Garou regretted the fact he still couldn’t see Tareo again, at least in his current situation, to say thank you for always believing in him and even stood up for him so bravely. He was so proud of the little brat.

On the other hand, Garou was worried about Badd because he rebelled against both his own S-Class coworkers and the higher ups in Hero Association just to defend Garou. Telling them that they went too far and too quick to judge someone from a false assumption. Especially when there’s an innocent honest witness who knows Garou truly, confessing the whole things about the real truth of the Hero Hunter.

Then Badd allowed Garou to escape from the battlefield, resulting in angering most of S-Class heroes.

At that time, Garou realized that Badd endangered himself, risking his job reputation as an S-Class Hero for fraternizing a supposed enemy and rejecting the Hero Association’s order. That’s why Garou asked King if the delinquent hero was okay after the incident happened.

Carefully, King telling him that unfortunately because of the incident, it put a strain between Badd and Hero Association. Badd calling out all of Hero Association’s bullshits about the whole things regarding Garou’s situation. From what King had witnessed in the meeting room, it was like hell during the post-war report meeting.

The whole debate between Badd and HA’s execs finally culminated with Badd walking out from Hero Association in silent fury, declaring he had enough of them and wanted to resign from Hero Association as soon as possible once he finished writing the resignation letter. The next day, Badd was officially not Hero Association member anymore. Then several heroes also one by one following his steps, too.

Listening to King’s explanation, Garou was shocked at how far Badd would sacrificed himself because he helped the Human Monster escaped from the wrath of S-Class heroes. It made Garou felt guilty for making so many troubles in the hero’s life: forcing Badd to fight him against his will at the first meeting, putting him into hospital with heavy wounded body, then destroying him again in their rematch. Now he was indirectly ruined his job, too.

Despite all of those things, the hero still willing to defend Garou to the extent putting himself in “me against the world” situation with the entire Hero Association members. The unwavering strong determination of Badd, Garou really admired it and also being very grateful for him. Because of Tareo and Badd, he still can survive.

In the end, Garou thanked King for telling him the truth, also for listening to Tareo’s message to not bullying him like the most heroes did. Garou respects King because of that.

Before they parted way again, Garou asked King to let Badd know that he was alive and doinb well now, that he wanted to thanking Badd for everything Badd has done for the sake of him.

And he wanted to say, that to him, Badd is his Hero. His ideal Hero.

Garou letting out a gentle but genuine smile when he said that, seems like he was happy to finally finding someone he had been searching for since he was a kid. An ideal hero who has a heart of gold, who has unwavering “Fighting Spirit” and a belief of fairness. Who never afraid to call out people’s bullshits and hate bullying, just like Garou does.

If only Garou could meet Badd in a totally different situation, he wanted to be on Badd’s side. As frienemies, or bestfriends, or partners, or maybe more.. They would be great together. If only Fate allowed them..

King understood Garou’s message and promised he would relay it to Badd once he could find him, since they were not coworkers anymore. But luckily, King has Badd’s phone contact so he would try to notify him soon.

After thanking and wishing eachother the best, King finally left Garou continuing his soul-purifying meditation in the middle of woods and started heading back home quickly as soon as possible. It was so nerve-wracking for King to have a deep talk directly with the (ex) Hero Hunter, not to mention listening to his entire “love confession” for his own (ex) coworker in just a few metres from him, what the hell..

Such a weird day for King, but strangely he was so happy for them both. Now he understand that Garou is not like what his fellow heroes said. Maybe someday Garou would get a second chance (or third?) to meet Badd again and reconciliated with him so they could have much better relationship than before..

—————-

Bonus headcanon:

It would be so good if Garou offering King for martial art training, since King also wanted to strengthen himself. As long as there is a determination, even from a weak man, Garou really appreciated the spirit. He would definitely gives the best martial art training course for King. Maybe the end result wasn’t so good, but at least King was willing to try and that’s what matters.

In return, Garou would ask any new information from Badd. From what King have seen, Garou is like a highschooler boy who got a big crush on his classmate but didn’t have any clue what should he do, at all. Seems like Badd is Garou’s first love, considering everything Badd has done for the ex Hero Hunter made Garou becomes so enamored of him.

King couldn’t help but giving some wise advice for him in case someday Garou comes back to the city to meet Badd again. He hoped his advice would helped Garou on figuring out his true feeling for Badd. How could Garou be able to learn and analyze enemies’ fighting style in a matter of seconds, when he couldn’t even analyze his own feeling himself?? Huge migraine coming through King’s head as he realized his new job as a love consultant for Garou.

On the other hand, King also keep befriending Badd despite they’re technically not coworkers anymore. And I think Badd wouldn’t judge King about him committing a fraud, even he would supporting King wholeheartedly after hearing King wanted to be a better man. Sometimes Badd would hangouts on King’s place playing some games with King and Saitama, or chatting with Genos who happens to accompany Saitama at King’s place.

When King telling Badd about his encounter with Garou, Badd immediately asking him if Garou was okay as he worried so much for that wolfman since he fled from the battlefield. King reassured Badd that Garou was alright and currently still hiding from the public for awhile until the situation good enough for his coming back.

Then King explained all the things Garou had said about Badd, in which made the delinquent hero very flustered. Not expecting Garou would say something sweet like that and even harbouring a crush on him, too! From watching Badd’s reaction, King guessed this is the first time Badd receiving some genuine appreciation and love confession at the same time. Gotta make these “love inexperience” teenagers’ relationship works out fine, then.

There he was. King being a good friend (also a cupid) for both Badd and Garou, relaying messages to both of them regularly: to Garou whenever he has martial art training session with Garou, and to Badd whenever Badd is not busy working for Neo Heroes.

Garou refused to give away his hideout place to Badd as he wasn’t ready to meet Badd yet, no matter how much Badd been wanting to see him. Badd was determinated to find Garou and kick his ass himself for making him worried, and also because he missed Garou so much. While King just wanted all of these teenagers’ love drama ended well so he could rest soon.

At some point, Badd had decided to find Garou himself as he went towards Garou’s supposed location. But once he arrived on there, Garou has already gone. Not only that, King also couldn’t track Garou anymore since probably he probably had guessed that Badd would come to search for him.

Feeling deeply disappointed because he couldn’t see Garou or even heard his voice, Badd returned back to home with heavy heart. Badd was just wanted Garou to say those sweet love confession by himself in front of him. So, Badd could give immediate answer Garou could listen directly that Badd would accept Garou for what he is, and that he was willing to help Garou getting a better life.

But since Garou wasn’t ready yet, what Badd could do?

At the same time on the downtown area of some city, a certain wolfman just starting his first part-time job. Garou hoped this could be a good beginning of his new life as a changed man. He would proved Badd that he can be a better person, because of him..

—————————

—- THE END —–

—————————

Notes:

At first, this headcanon supposed to be a short one but I got carried away, lol! 😂

I noticed King was kinda underappreciated, so why not giving him an important role since he got involved with both of them in canon (although we still haven’t know yet at how much interaction between Garou and King at that webcomic chapter, we only could assumed the probability).

We have seen the impact of King’s genuine wise advice on Saitama, that’s such very good trait from him. Seeing how it turned out well for Saitama, why not King becomes love consultant for these dumbass-in-love teenagers? 😚💕

I apologized if this headcanon looks sucks waaaah forgive me, I start writing this at 4 AM and just finished at 6 AM with a little to no sleep, I’m so sorry 😅🙇💦

Any other thought about this headcanon, anyone? 👀✨😳👉👈 @hiro-gari @the-goddessfighter @garous-nipple

Thank you so much for reading this another silly headcanon! I hope you enjoyed it 😭🙏💕💞💖💝💐

Also thank you, Lilia, for always putting up with me and the whole random dumbass writings of mine! You’re the best, ilysm 😘💖

Have a nice day, guys! 🍀🌻

-Little1993lamb-

—————————

~Lilia:

Awe my goodness yeesss, some love for King!! He fits the role of confidant SO perfectly, he’s never really judgmental except of himself 😔, and seems like he’d be a great listener. Although yeah he’d be terrified of Garou at first 😭😂 but once he realizes his questions are those of someone genuinely concerned, he chills out a bit *King Engine quiets slightly*

Garou being worried about Tareo and grateful that he stood up for him 😢 aww my heart.. I so hope for a reunion between them after Garou’s through being awakened and all

And Garou learning about the hell Badd raised after the fact 😩 like he’s already feeling shitty and taking a Long Shower to clear his head, now he’s feeling responsible for getting his ideal Hero fired basically :// it’s the perfect conditions for him to just confess everything to King don’t let him find out he’s bff’s with Saitama yet tho 😳 awkward

This bonus headcanon!! Yes!! I was reading the webcomic and getting so sad that no one would genuinely take the time to even consider training King 😩 I was like, there’s a perfectly good martial artist right!! there!! waiting for a redemption arc!! Even if he doesn’t end up being the best at it, maybe Garou could at least help with boosting King’s confidence a little bit aww... and in return he’s just like passing little love notes between them because they’re clueless teenagers 😂 But he seems like the romantic type, I doubt he’d mind too much 😌 but I’m sure that witnessing their terrible awkwardness would get frustrating askdkdksk NOW KISS ALREADY

Thank you anon, I always appreciate your writings so much 😚💗💕🌸 you never fail to brighten my day ILY!!

[bemybstar]

Pairing: Legosi x Female!Wolf!Reader

Summary: It’s your turn to manage the garden club while your friend, Haru is busy. You think it’s just going to be another day with you and the flowers but an unexpected student greets your presence. Will your interaction develop into a friendship or perhaps something more?

Warnings: Spoilers for the anime Beastars since I haven’t finished the manga yet.

A/N: This is my first Beastars imagine and I will now be taking requests so ask away! Hope y’all enjoy and as always feedback is appreciated! Let me know if anyone reading would like to be tagged! Gif is not mine!

Out of all the things that Cherryton Academy has to offer, the garden was easily one of your favorites. The sights, sounds, and most importantly smells are what made this elaborate place your comfort zone. Hundreds of flowers from daisys to roses heighten your senses and made you appreciate the little things life has to offer.

You were attending to your usually hobbies of watering the back plants after they got some extra sun. You soon heard a sweet voice that made your ears perk up in excitement, it was your closest friend and leader of the Garden club, Haru the dwarf rabbit. She was waiting for you by the shed as you placed the watering can back down to the ground and entered through the sliding door.

“I’m all done watering the plants for today, Haru. Is there anything else you need me for?” You asked as she looked up to answer you.

“I’m so glad you asked, Y/N. There is one small favor I have to ask of you, if you don’t mind that is.”

“Uhh sure. What is it?” You asked as she grabbed her bag from the coat rack.

“I need you to stay here and wait until two students arrive to pick up the flowers for the welcomeing ceremony,” Haru informs you. “I was planning to do it myself but I’ve got a biology project to work on that’s due soon. If it’s too much to handle I understand...”

“No, it’s okay I can handle it,” You encourage her with a confident smile. Maybe this could be your opportunity to get to know the students better and hopefully Haru can leave you in charge of club duties more often. “I promise I won’t let you down,” you tell her as she gives you a hopeful smirk.

“Thanks so much, Y/N.” She exclaims while going in for a hug but you end up having to bend down because of the obvious height difference. “I’ll make it up to you at lunch, promise.” Haru says as you wave goodbye and watch her head out to the staircase.

A whole hour soon passes and you begin to grow inpatient and a bit worried on how long it was taking them to show up. You let out a huff as you turned away to no longer face the door but that all changes when you come into contact with two students, one a herbivore and the another a carnivore. But not just any carnivore, one that happens to be of your own kind, a grey wolf.

He looked to be a lot taller than you and held this awkward presence judging by the way he was slouching and the look on his face. He was accompanied by a grey anyeater which was odd but understandable since carnivores tend to get a bad rap as it is. You assumed the anteater was there for moral support which prompt you to give the grey wolf the benefit of the doubt.

“Can I help you?” You managed to speak out hoping either one of them were willing to ask about the order on the flowers. A pause of silence broke out making you feel as if they didn’t have everything going according to their plan. The male wolf managed to stutter something out but was quickly shot down by his friend who needed to run an errand.

“Excuse me. Aren’t you guys here to pick up the flowers for the welcome ceremony or uhh..?”

“Yeah it’s just...” the wolf tells you but his friend barges in to say, “This wolf will take care of it!” As he leaves in a flash making his friend seem anxious to the sudden change of events.

Now you were alone with him...

His back is still turned from you as you catch him slowly let go of the door knob. You clear your throat to ask him something, “You can follow me to the back now if you want. That way you can show me what you’d like.”

“Uhh okay,” You guess he’s not that much of a talker but everyone’s a little shy when they first get to know someone after all. He follows your direction and hands you a large piece of paper once you finally stop at the flower beds. It opens up to reveal a beautiful design of the auditorium entrance covered top to bottom in pink roses. Luckily for them you had plenty to give.

“So what club are you in?” You ask him doing your best to engage in small talk. “Drama club... on the stage crew. We need the flowers to decorate the auditorium,” he answers. “That’s cool,” you reply shortly right after you say. “Before I do give away these beauties do you mind helping me carry those to the back?” You say pointing to the plants next to the shed.

He does as you wish and follows you to the back where you start spraying each flower with a squirt of water. “Where’s everyone else?” He questions curiously.

“The last member graduated four years ago. Now it’s just me and my friend, Haru but she’s busy with school work and wanted me to take over for today. Do you know her by any chance?” You say as you watch him crouch down to gently place the pot next to the others against the fence.

Unbeknownst to you he did know Haru but it was the way he knew Haru you never expected. He was the cause for that cut on her arm, the reason why she wore that bandage, and more importantly the reason why she’s alive right now. “No I don’t think I do,” was his answer to you. “Well no matter what anyone tries to tell you she’s the nicest animal I’ve ever met.” Leaving him with that notion you continue to water the rest of the flowers before you both returned back to the shed to cool off.

“Thanks a lot for helping me. I’m sure they’ll get healthier now that their in a sunny, happy spot. I want to pay you back. How’s lunch sound?”

“Uhh lunch?” He sounds unsure of himself. “Yeah. What do you like to eat?”

“Uhh well...” You giggle at his response. “Well while your figuring it out, here,” you hand him a piece of paper with your building and room number on it as you watch him take it and blush lightly when his fur brushes against yours. “That way you know where to find me,” you chime in playfully. “T-thanks. Does tomorrow work for you?”

“Uhh yeah that works,” you say trying to hold in your excitement but the wagging of your tail seems to be a dead giveaway. “O-okay well I should probably get going. Hope you have a good day and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Uh-huh see you t-tomo-tomorrow... hahaha why am I stammering?!” You magage to whisper out that last part right after he heads back outside, leaving you alone with your thoughts once again.

You didn’t think today was going to be the day you’d stay crushing on a boy you never met or even know his name but the garden is a place of change after all. Maybe this change was meant to happen for a reason...

———

Let me know if y’all want a part two or want to be tagged in any beastars related imagines! As always requests are open and feedback is welcomed! Thanks for reading!

[chucklegigglechortlesnort]

“Levi’s”

👉👈 i wrote this a while ago and... it’s been sitting in my drafts for a few weeks bc i’m not really sure about it but i mean it’s something right???

this concept popped into my brain after i bought a levi’s hoodie and connected the dots a little later

i hope it’s enjoyable

warnings: minor angst to fluff

Shoving open the door to your room, you flopped onto your bed with a dramatic huff.

You had spent the day in the human world, having accompanied Lucifer and Diavolo on business and the days events had left you completely drained.

Well, almost completely.

You still had enough left in you to spend some time with Levi, who you had promised earlier that day that you’d at least start a new anime that he’d been excited to watch.

You were exhausted and running on fumes but you couldn’t bring yourself to cancel on him last minute. He was just so excited about it and you didn’t want to ruin that by going back on your plans.

You pushed yourself up with a huff, rummaging through the bag of belongings you had managed to convince Diavolo and Lucifer (more so Lucifer - Diavolo was actually curious to see where you lived and therefore easy to convince) to let you snag from your apartment before you returned home to the Devildom.

You quickly shed your daytime wear for an over-sized hoodie and a pair of pajama shorts. Vastly more comfortable, you stepped in front of the mirror - more out of habit than anything else - to check your appearance. The hoodie you had chosen had a large “Levi’s” logo displayed on the front and you snickered to yourself. It was by pure coincidence that you had it, but you couldn’t help but snag it when you saw it hanging in your closet. It was too perfect to pass up and you figured you’d wear it as a joke, even if it wasn’t that funny.

You completed the look with a pair of fuzzy socks before leaving for his room.

When you reached his room, you knocked three times followed by two taps and a jiggle of the doorknob.

“What’s the pass-code?”

“No matter how deep the night -”

“- It always turns to day eventually.” 

There was a click and the doorway opened a crack. Levi peers out, looking around before yanking you into his room. You roll your eyes at his theatrics but allow a smile to creep onto your face as he shuts the door behind you.

“Ready to get this party started?” You asked.

Immediately his face lit up in excitement. It was cute how enthusiastic he was about every new anime or game he started and you couldn’t help but share it. He launched into rambling about how many rave reviews it had gotten, and how it was animated by one of his favorite studios and written by one of his favorite manga authors.

A giggle escaped you on accident and Levi glanced up to defend himself, but any retort quickly died in his throat as soon as his gaze landed on your hoodie. 

A flush rose to his cheeks as he stared at the Levi’s logo splayed across your chest. 

“Levi? Hello? You-”

“Y-your shirt- it- why does it have my name on it?”

You glance down, having momentarily forgotten about your little joke. You let out another giggle, much to Levi’s dismay. 

“Oh, yeah! It’s a popular brand up in the human world and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Funny right?”

Funny.

Levi guessed one would consider that an amusing coincidence, if they weren’t him. 

Or if they didn’t have a massive, ugly crush on you.

Or if the fact that you were basically wearing an item of clothing that declared you as his didn’t nearly send them into a cardiac arrest.

Then yeah he guessed that maybe ‘funny’ would be a way to describe this particular coincidence.

“Y-yeah. Sure.”

The oddly curt response caught you slightly off guard as he turned to stiffly stride over to the gigantic bean bag stationed in front of the obscenely large flat screen that sat opposite of it. You were slow to trail after him, hesitant after the rather cold exchange.

You plopped yourself down beside him on the beanbag moving in to cuddle up to his side, as usual (it had taken him a while to get used to this in the beginning, but luckily he had warmed up to the affection and was often reluctant to let go at the end of the night). However, he not-so-subtly scooted away from you, much to your disappointment.

Had your joke really been that bad?

You knew he may not have found it that funny but... still. You had at least expected a ‘dumb normie’ comment or something.

The terribly familiar concoction of anxiety and shame crept up on you as you settled into your seat, grabbing a pillow from nearby and hugging it to your chest to try and muffle the feeling. You crushed the cushion against you and wrapped your arms around your knees as Levi grabbed the remote and started the anime.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t bring yourself to pay attention, your brain was too occupied with picking apart and replaying the scenario. The soft flashing images only encouraged this hypnotizing lull of negative thoughts and none of your efforts to snap yourself out of it seemed to work. Somewhere in your mind you knew you should stop and that it was ridiculous to get so worked up about such a small issue - if you could even call it that - but the mindset to put that into action eluded you.

At some point your gaze had drifted over to Levi, who was seemingly fine, as well as completely engrossed in the show.

It must’ve been just you then. 

Levi must’ve felt your gaze burning into the side of his skull, because his own eyes flicked over to meet yours and his face went crimson.

“What are you staring at?”

The bite in his voice only managed to strike you deeper.

You felt a tightness in your throat and a stinging sensation beginning to rise behind your eyes.

Nonononono this wasn’t happening. Not over something this freaking stupid.

‘It’s not a big deal.’ You told yourself. ‘You’re reading way too much into it, just stop you idiot.’

However, much to your further disappointment in yourself, you couldn’t manage to hold back your tears.

You tightened your hold on the pillow and buried your face into it in order to muffle your sniffles. The patheticness of your situation did absolutely nothing to improve your mood and all you wanted to do was leave and go to bed so you could cry yourself to sleep like a loser and forget about it in the morning. And probably never where this hoodie again.

This stupid hoodie.

You could feel your sinuses plugging up with mucus and the urge to sniffle came once again, except this time you forgot to hide it with your pillow.

Levi’s gaze fell on you once again at the sound. How were you crying already? You were only on episode three and nothing major happened- it was a slice of life for hell’s sake. It took him a second to register that your eyes weren’t even on the screen and that they were glued to somewhere on the floor and as soon as he saw the welled up tears in your eyes, he panicked.

“_-_____? W-what the hell are you crying for?!”

That’s it. You were absolutely mortified.

“I-it’s nothing, I’m fine, Leviathan. I’m probably overtired. I think I’m just gonna call it a night, okay?” Your voice came out rushed and cracked as you uttered ‘fine’ but you didn’t waste any time dwelling on it as you slid off the bean bag.

Oh. Oh no. You used his full name. You only ever used his full name when you were upset. With him. Oh god oh fuck what had he done.

You were already halfway across the room when he had finally worked up the nerve to chase after you. 

“Wait! _____, I-”

“-Was my joke really that bad?”

Levi froze as you turned around to face him, eyes glossed over with tears and directed anywhere but back at him.

“Huh? No!”

“Well then are you mad at me because we had to postpone tonight a bit because I went to the human world? I thought you were fine with that.”

“No that’s not-”

“Then, why?” Your eyes finally met his, but Levi wasn’t sure if he was relieved or if he just felt worse.

The avatar of envy’s mouth snapped shut and he thought over his next words carefully.

“Why... what?”

Nice. Good one Levi.

Your shoulders dropped and you stepped away.

“...Never mind. Goodnight, Leviathan.”

Levi flinched at the use of his full name, watching as you turned toward the door and crossed the rest of the room.

You placed your hand on the door knob, gently turning it with fatigue that showed in your every move. 

The way your shoulders sagged and the hecitance in your step caused a heavy dread to settle in Levi’s gut and in less than a second he had crossed the remainder of the room, wrapping his arms around you from behind and tugging you into his chest. His face settled in the junction of your neck and shoulder and you had to keep yourself from shuddering when his breath hit your skin.

“Levi-”

“I’m sorry.”

It was barely a whisper but you had heard it perfectly clear.

“I’m sorry for being mean, and for not laughing at your joke, because it was really c-cute and you’re really cute and- um I guess I just didn’t know how to react but that’s because I’m just a stupid shut in and I don’t want you to think that I’m an icky creep or something even though I’m probably not doing that great a job of convincing you other wise and I’m sorry about that too- “

“-Levi.”

“Y-yeah?”

“You’re not just a stupid, creepy shut-in, okay? And I definitely don’t think you are.”

His grip loosens around your shoulders and you wiggle around in his grasp to face him. Your eyes are glazed over and tired, but despite that he can see sparks of something akin to adoration shining in them.

“You don’t?”

“Mm mm.” You hum, shaking your head.

It’s at this point that Levi realizes that your faces are inches apart, and the entirety of your body is pressed flush against his. His face is immediately overtaken with red and he slowly eases away from you. His large hand wraps around your smaller one and he grazes his thumb back and forth over your palm.

“D-do you... want to stay the night?”

You nod softly, a smile gracing your features once again, much to Levi’s relief.

“Yeah, sure.”

He’s quick to tug you back over to the plush bean back in front of the TV, figuring it’s a bit more spacious than his bathtub. He plops down and pulls you into his lap before he can chicken out, wrapping his arms around your waist so you’re pressed against his chest once again.

There are a few beats of silence before Levi’s voice rings softly in your ears, mumbling groggily as he drifts off to sleep.

“...You should wear that hoodie again.”

“...Hm... mabe I will.”

. . .

“Oh, and Levi?”

“Hm.”

“Apology accepted.”

The next thing Levi feels is a pair of lips ghost across his neck, but not a second later you’re out like a light.

You were certainly, with out a doubt, going to be the death of him.

[thewildomega]

Star in the sand Ch.5

Getting to the inn he was surprised to find Bonez sitting outside in the small sitting area. Walking up to him he saw him raise his eyes from the pistol he was busy cleaning and look to him. "You are still here?" he asked.

"Wasn't ready to call it a night just yet, your room is the one on the end." he said in a deep voice before his eyes dropped to the woman standing close to Crocodile's side. Taking note of her strange clothing and bag he blinked. "Already found a new crew member sir?"

Taking a deep breath he looked down to y/n "Yes and no, this is y/n l/n. Y/n this is Daz Bonez." he told her even though he was sure she already knew.

"Hello." you said in a kind but soft voice looking to the man.

Nodding his head to the woman he turned his attention back to Crocodile.

"I will return to speak with you in a moment." he told the man and saw him nod. Taking a step towards the room he gently placed a hand on y/n's back, urging her to follow him. Opening the door to the room he did a quick glance over to make sure there was no danger inside before allowing her to enter the room. Closing the door softly behind him he saw her standing there looking over everything with her curious eyes. It was by no means a grand room, a decent sized bed with a small sitting area and table along with a bathroom. Lighting the lamp he saw her still standing int he same place. Clearing his throat he saw her turn to look at him. "I have to go speak to Bonez about some business matters so you go ahead and get some rest. Tomorrow I will help get you situated, alright?" he asked and saw her nod. He could tell she was still anxious and slowly moved over to stand in front of her, "I know this is overwhelming but try and rest. I'll be right outside if you need me." he told her and saw her nod again, a tiny grin lifting the corners of her mouth. Going to rub her shoulder he stopped short and stepped back, giving her a stiff nod before leaving her to her own.

Watching the door close behind him you took a deep breath and then looked back towards the rest of the room. Slowly walking over you removed your book bag and placed it on the floor beside the couch. Unzipping your jacket you laid it over the back and then removed your boots, sitting them neatly beside your bag. Going to the bathroom you relieved your bladder and then turned on the water to wash your hands and face, rubbing the cold water onto the back of your neck and closing your eyes as everything sunk in. You were in the One Piece world. You were in a manga story. A story that included pirates with super powers, most of wish were extremely dangerous. Were you going to die? No. No, Crocodile had said he would let anything happen to you and you believed him. You trusted him. Letting out a sigh you turned off the water and left the room. Looking at the single bed you bit your lip. This was his room, it was his bed. Walking to the small sofa you grabbed your jacket and rolled it up to form a makeshift pillow. Laying down you placed it under your head and curled up some so your feet would fit as well. Wrapping your arms around you you closed your eyes and tried to relax. Luckily for you your body and mind seemed to be exhausted from the hiking and then the other world travel and soon you were drifting to sleep.

.............................

Sitting with Bonez outside he quickly figured out, without telling the man everything, that he had returned to the exact same day and time he had left. It was like he never left even though he knew he had been in y/n's world for two weeks.

'You have two weeks...'

Hearing the old woman's voice echo in his head he turned his head to look around him but didn't see anything.

"This woman, y/n, what did you mean by she is and is not apart of the crew?" Bonez asked.

Letting out a puff of smoke he sighed, "She will be joining us yes but she will not be apart of the crew." When he noticed the man blank look towards him he narrowed his eyes, "What is it?" he asked.

"Is she your soulmate?" he asked and saw Crocodile's body stiffen.

"No." he answered quickly and firmly.

Nodding he looked back down to the gun in his hand. "What about a ship?"

Looking out towards the sea he rose his chin. "I will take care of that. I want you to start looking around for some possible crew members tomorrow." he told him and saw the man nod again.

"Yes sir."

Tapping out his cigar he stood and walked towards the room, opening the door and quietly shutting it behind him. Locking the bolt he removed his shoes and glanced towards the bed but didn't see her there and had a moment of worry come over him before he looked to the sofa and saw her there. Walking over towards her he furrowed his brows at the position she was in, her body looking even smaller, curled up into a ball with her arms wrapped around her. He hadn't meant for her to take the sofa, apparently he should have said as much. Noticing she was using her jacket as a pillow, leaving her with no extra warmth of any kind he removed his coat from his shoulders and gently covered her with it. Grinning when he saw her let out a small sigh he reached towards her and brushed back the hair that had fallen to her face, letting his fingers linger in her soft locks for a moment more than was needed. Breathing out he finally stood back straight and moved to the bed, removing his hook, belt and shirt to sleep. Laying down in the bed he stared up at the ceiling and thought back to Bonez's question. Brushing his fingertips over where he knew the soul tattoo was he glanced towards the woman sleeping on the sofa in thought. If only for a moment he allowed himself to hope before his common knowledge took back control and he shook his head, rolling over to face away from her. No, there was no way, soulmates weren't even a thing in her world. He couldn't allow himself false hope, he had given up finding his other half decades ago.

..............................

"Okay." you said, going to stand in front of Crocodile, biting the inside of your lip and looking down.

Dropping the newspaper he was reading he looked to the woman and saw her uncomfortable looking, glancing to the clothes in her hands he saw what looked to be one shirt and one pair of pants... nothing else. Looking up to her face he rose a brow, taking the clothes from her he placed them on his knee and lifted the paper again, "Now go find you some clothes." he told her.

Knitting your brows you looked to him, noticing how when he was sitting he was only a little bit taller than you. "I did, that's what I..."

"A single shirt and pants are not an acceptable wardrobe." he told her.

"I can mana..."

Sighing he stood and folded his paper, leaving in the seat along with the two articles of clothing she had already picked out. Walking over to the women's clothing area he looked over some of the choices available, not the best but it was the only thing he would be able to get until they went to another island. Seeing as she had already picked out a pair of black pants and she was currently wearing her jeans he scanned over the rack for something different. A dark blue material caught his eye and he grinned as he pulled it out to look it over. Holding it out for her he saw her eyes go a bit wide, her bottom lip get bit between her teeth a little. Tilting his head he felt his grin drop, "You do not like it?" he asked.

Quickly looking up to him you licked your lips, "No I do I just... well I can't pull off dresses very well." you admitted, your eyes dropping from his face in embarrassment.

Knitting his brows he glanced down to the dress and then to her, he didn't think there was anything she couldn't pull off. Hanging it on his hook he turned back to the racks and grabbed a grey tunic style blouse that matched his own outfit and would look nice with her black pants. Lastly he looked to the area with the women's undergarments and then back to her, "Go pick out your undergarments while I find you some pajamas." He told her, leaving no room for discussion.

Hearing how deep his voice was you sighed as he turned towards the lounge clothes. Looking to the underwear section you slowly walked over and scanned through the merchandise until you found one that caught your eye. Lifting the black lace you were amazed at how light the material was. The pattern was lovely and you allowed yourself the second to wonder if it was something he would find attractive, if you could pull it off. When your fingers hit the price tag you turned your head to look at it and then instantly placed it back down. No way. Plain black one it was. Grabbing two pairs of panties you turned back to the massive man and walked over to him, seeing him holding something new that looked like satin you tilted your head and tried to inspect it some but he quickly ushered you to the counter where it was tallied up and placed in a brown bag before you could actually look at it. The woman didn't have time to tell you the price before he held out a large bill making you bite your lip, you hoped it wasn't that much.

Taking his change he glanced down at her and saw her shoulders curled up some, her lip bit between her teeth like she did when she was anxious or upset.

"Thank you, have a great day." The woman behind the counter said.

Looking back up to her you gave her a small grin and mumbled out a "You too." Going to grab the bag you were surprised when Crocodile took it into his one hand and then looked down at you with soft eyes.

"Come on, back to the inn." he said and saw her nod. Leading the way he saw her eyes still looking around at this and that but he could tell she still looked upset. Did she not like the clothes? When they got back to the room he handed her the bag and got his answer.

"Thank you." you told him, looking down you licked your lips. "Is there something I can do to pay you back? Do you need help with anything?" you asked, slowly looking up at him from under your lashes.

Raising a brow he tilted his head some. "Why are you like this?" he asked and saw her brows lower along with her shoulders. "You did everything you could to help me, to take care of me while I was in your world but now that I try and do the same for you you think it is some tremendous act." Watching her look down he furrowed his brows. He was coming to realized that she did not think she was worthy of anything and he was determined to change that. Letting out a sigh he stood straight and curled his finger under her chin to lift her eyes to his, "You must stop being so blind to your own value."

Hearing how deep and low his voice was made you want to close your eyes but his silver eyes were staring into what felt like your soul. A sudden knock at the door startled you and you felt his warm fingers drop from your chin. Not another word was said as he walked to the door and opened a small amount, his deep voice speaking low to whoever was on the other side before he turned back towards you and shut the door.

Taking a few steps towards her he saw her look back towards him. "I must attend to some business. I will not be back until later in the evening but I would like you to stay in here until I return." Walking to the small table he found a small pad of paper and a pen, taking it to her he held it out. "I want you to write down anything else you think you may need or anything you want. When I get back we will have dinner." he told her and saw her nod. "Lock the door behind me and do not by any means let anyone in this room that is not myself or Bonez understand?" he asked, and again she nodded, a small grin gracing her lips. Sighing he restrained himself from reaching out and placing his hand on her head but he did give her a grin and nod before walking towards the door. Waiting to make sure she locked it like he had instructed her to do he looked over to see Bonez waiting for him.

After locking the door behind Crocodile you let out a long sigh and turned back to the room. Walking over to the brown bag you started taking out the new clothes and folding them before placing them neatly in your book bag that was now a suitcase. Looking over the blouse he had picked out you tilted your head and grinned. It was nice and airy feeling too. Next you looked over the pajamas he had picked out, a satin sleeping set that consisted of a emerald green button up shirt with short sleeves, shorts and pants that all matched. Smiling you folded them up and placed them in the bag. Not bothering with folding the panties you left one pair out and finally you came to the dress. Holding it up you bit your lip. It was a dark blue dress with long loose fitting sleeves and it looked like it would end at about your mid thigh. It was casual but also very nice looking with a flowy design and a modest V-neck. The dress it's self was very pretty you were just worried how it would look on you. Crocodile had said the two of you would have dinner when he got back so maybe you could wear this, he did pick it out so didn't that mean he thought it would look nice? Taking a deep breath you grabbed that and the black panties, heading towards the bathroom to shower.

...............................

When he got back to the room the sun was already setting and the small town was quieting down. Tapping out his cigar he knocked on the door and heard her soft footsteps coming to open it. When the door opened he looked down at her and felt his breath hitch in his throat. She was wearing the dress he had bought her, she had been completely wrong, she most certainly could pull off this dress. The dark blue dress fit her beautifully, her red hair was hanging down her back in waves and her eyes shinning up at him. Doing a quick glance over he felt his neck heat up at the sight of her skin. Clearing his throat he snapped his eyes back to hers, "I see the dress fits."  

Grinning you looked down and blushed, brushing your hair back behind your ear, "Yes, you have good taste." you told him and then giggled lightly, "You know if you ever wanted to retire form pirating you could always be a fashion designer." you told him.

Laughing he smiled and dipped his head to her. "I will take that as a compliment. Now, are you ready to go to dinner?" When she nodded he held out his arm and felt a warming in his chest when she took it. Taking her to a small cafe' he sat in front of her, at the table in the back of the place and ordered them both some wine, which seemed to surprise her. "Are you not a fan of wine?" he asked.

"I have actually never had it." you told him, glancing down at the menu.

"You worked in a bar and you have never had wine..."

"You saw that place. Did it look like a place that sold wine to you?" you giggled and saw him grin.

"I suppose not." he hummed as he too looked over the menu. "How long did you work there?"

"I started when I was sixteen."

Twelve years. "Was being a bartender what you wanted to do?"

"No but it paid my bills and kept me from starving to death." You told him just as the woman came over and took your order. Ordering a fish meal that wasn't expensive you placed took the wine glass into your hand and looked down at the red liquid curiously.

"Well what did you want to do?" He asked her once the waitress had left them alone again.

"Um well when I was little I wanted to be a mermaid." you told him with a small smile and then tilted your head. "But after realizing I couldn't grow a tail I dreamed of becoming a artist, one that traveled the world and drew everything I saw along the way." you told him in a soft voice, looking down at your drink. "Pretty stupid now that I actually said it out loud." you sighed, biting the inside of your lip, great now you sounded like a fool.

Knitting his brows he looked at her, "I do not think it is stupid."

Hearing his soothing deep voice you looked up to him and saw his eyes serious. Feeling a fluttering in your chest you grinned and brought the glass to your lips, "What about you? Did you always want to be a pirate?" you asked, keeping your voice low so no one would hear you but him.

Humming he took a deep breath. "Yes, like most young boys I wanted to be the next pirate king." he had never told anyone that but for some reason talking to her came easy.

"What about now?"

"Now I only want to stay out of prison." he told her and saw her smile. Once their food arrived they ate in a comfortable silence. He had been a little offended when her meal had come and he saw she had only ordered a pan seared fish filet and a side of vegetables, the dish costing not even half of what he had ordered. To his understanding though she was trying to be as cost effecting as possible. Didn't keep him from asking her if that was really what she wanted though.

"Yes this is fine, it's actually really good."

Sighing he made a mental note to force her to try the more expensive things in life. The whole mindset was strange to him, the women he had let accompany him before normally tried to drain his wallet dry but she was different. After finishing their meal he led her out of the cafe' and towards the beach. Seeing her eyes light up at the sight of the sea he grinned softly. Thankfully there was no one around and he found himself relaxing with her walking by his side down the moon lit beach. They were playing their normal game of asking each other questions, "Ketchup." he answered when she asked his least favorite thing to eat.

"What? What is wrong with you ketchup is amazing. It's how you cover up bad tasting food." you giggled.

"Or you could simply not eat said bad tasting food." he told her with one brow raised and the corner of his lip pulled up. "What about you?"

"Sauerkraut. I hate that stuff with a fiery passion. The head mother at the orphanage used to give us that shit constantly and I refused to eat it, went on a hunger strike and everything." you told him, hearing him chuckle. Looking out at the beach you smiled at the sight of the tiny sea turtles that were digging their way out of the nest and awkwardly moving towards the shore.

Noticing what had caught her eye he moved them to the large rocks to sit on so she could watch them. Thinking on something he lit his cigar and inhaled a large breath of smoke, thinking on how to ask, "You told me that the owner of the bar, Vick, had saved your life, what did you mean?"

Biting your lip you kept your eyes on the turtle hatch-lings. "Well I told you I got in trouble stealing food and stuff... when I was a teenager I was living on the streets, I'd steal food and clothes, I was barely making it by when winter came, One night I got desperate, I was freezing and tired and hungry so I sneaked into the bar and found the stock room. Vick used to cook every now and again so there was a little bit of food there and it was warm. Before I knew it I had fallen asleep. When morning came I left before he got there but at closing time I sneaked back in again. Did this for four nights in a row. On the fifth night I walked into that stockroom and found a plate of food sitting there along with a blanket and pillow set up on a small cot. I was so scared, he knew I was staying there, that I was breaking in and I was certain it was all just some trick and he would call and have me arrested. you told him and then grinned, "But he didn't. When I went to leave he was sitting at the bar and asked me how the food was." Shrugging your shoulders you watched the turtles disappear into the water. "He gave me a job, set me up in that house I was living in and took the rent out of my check. He helped me get on my feet and start my own life."

Furrowing his brows he glanced down at her and felt a ache in his chest at the thought of her like that. "He sounds like he was a kind man." he said lowly.

"He was." you nodded. Taking a deep breath you looked up to him, "So what is you plan to do now? I heard Bonez say something to you about a crew, planning on getting Baroque Works back together, Mr. 0?" you asked him with a grin.

Raising a brow he huffed out, "No."

"Aww but I liked Bon Clay, he's so funny."

"He's an imbosol." he said with a roll of his eyes and heard her giggle lightly. "Who was your least favorite of my employees?"

Tilting your head you raised your brows, "I wasn't really too fond of any of them except for Bon Clay, Bonez and Miss Goldenweek. I really didn't like Mr. 3 or Miss merry Chirstmas though."

Humming he nodded and continued puffing on his cigar. Seeing all the turtles gone he stood and held his hand out ot help her down.

Placing your hand in his huge on you thanked him as he helped you down.

"Come, I want to show you something." he told her.

Choosing to walk closer to the water this time you grinned at the feel of the sand beneath your toes. "What the devil fruit you ate look like?" you asked as you walked beside him.

"Roundish with a bumpy texture, about the same color as sand. Tasted horrible, probably the worst thing I have ever eaten."

"Bet you wished you had some ketchup then huh?"

Laughing he heard her giggling beside him and licked his lips. "The man's clothes you let me borrow, you said he was your ex, what was his name?" he asked.

Shocked by his question you flicked your brows but focused on the little waves kissing your feet. "John."

John. What kind of name was John? "What happened between you both?"

Licking your lips you felt a blush tint your cheeks, you could lie, he wouldn't know the difference but you didn't want to lie to him, as far as you knew he had never lied to you. Taking a deep breath you looked out towards the sea. "He was ready for intimacy, I wasn't."

That had not been what he was expecting. Glancing to her out of the corner of his eye he saw her eyes focused on the sea. He found himself biting down on his cigar as a strange feeling bubbled inside of his gut. "How long were you together?" he gritted out, trying to keep his voice void of the emotion he was feeling.

"A couple months." you shrugged, wrapping your arms around your body when the wind picked up.

Frowning he lifted his chin, "He expected that after only two months?" he scoffed.

"I guess we both had different ideas about what we wanted. Should have known better anyway." you told him with a huff.

"Why do you say that?"

"Nina is the one who convinced me to give him a shot. He was her cousin and he only came down every two weeks. I'm pretty sure you know more about me than he did."

Well that made him feel a little better but still, the knowledge that this man had tried to get her into bed with him made his temper flare. Looking back down at her and seeing her arms wrapped around her body and the dress blowing in the wind he removed his coat and folded part of it down before placing it over her shoulders.

Gasping a little at the heavy weight you looked to see he had put his coat on your shoulders. Looking up to him you furrowed your brows and went to give it back to him but he only it around you.

"I don't need you getting sick." he told her in a deep voice, leaving no room for discussion. When she stopped fighting he finally glanced down at her and felt that warmth spreading, his heart beating a little quicker. Something about the sight of her tiny form wrapped in his too large coat did something to him. Adjusting the cigar he looked up as a shadow came over the beach some and saw y/n look up at the ship. "That is my next plan." he told her and saw her look up to him. Grinning he wrapped his arm around her, "Don't scream." was all he said before he was lifting them up onto the empty deck.

Gasping you tensed up as the sand flew around you but did as he said and didn't scream. As soon as you were on the deck of the ship you watched his body reform to stand beside you, his arm still holding you in his side. " A little more warning next time if you please." you told him and saw him smile. Looking around the dark, empty desk you saw it was all mostly dark wood. "Would you be surprised if I told you I had never been on a ship before?" you said in a soft voice.

Raising his brows he slowly removed his hand from her side and watched as she cautiously walked towards the railing. Moving beside her he saw her eyes meet his, "Then allow me to give you the grand tour my dear." placing his hand on her back to start leading her around his new ship.

[karasuno-academia]

The Broken Wall

warnings: implied / refferenced child abuse, angst/ with a happy ending, bruises and blood mention (no detail) semi is a bit of an asshole 

relationships: ushiten 

word count: 3457

summary: 

All his life, Ushijima was conditioned to believe that expressing his emotions was a sign of inferiority and weakness. He was made to believe he was a burden and a disappointment because he was left-handed.But with the help of his boyfriend and teammates (Semi included), the broken wall that made up Ushijima Wakatoshi . . .. . . Could finally be rebuilt.

Everybody was surprised that the unstoppable Shiratorizawa could be stopped by anybody in the prefecture.

What was even more surprising was that they were thrown off the pedestal by none other than Karasuno. 

Nobody had thought the wingless crows could be a threat in years, not since the old coach Ukai had retired. Going into the game, the Shiratorizawa volleyball team had not been worried about losing at all. In fact, they had full confidence that they could win in straight sets, but they were gravely mistaken because Karasuno had won the finals 3-2. 

This was the third year’s last chance to go to the nationals and they blew it with their arrogance. By thinking they could beat anyone. 

The bus back to Shiratorizawa was eerily silent and Ushijima did not like it a single bit. He was used to Tendou rambling to him about the newest manga he was reading or the new chocolate he had tried, but the outgoing redhead stared out the bus window, not speaking or even blinking. Even the first and second years were silent, disturbing Ushijima greatly. The younger years usually played games together on the bus ride home and yelled when they lost. Instead of the bus being filled with laughter and yelling, it was full of white noise that tightened around each of their throats. Especially Ushijima, who felt the weight of the loss against Karasuno the most. 

Ushijima glanced around the bus, taking everybody in. The first and second years sat on opposite sides of the coach, not even daring to look at each other. If they looked at each other they’d break. Ushijima knew how that felt, but never let it show. The third years sat at the back: Tendou beside Ushijima, glaring daggers out of the window and Reon in front of Tendou. Ushijima was surprised to see Reon sitting alone. Normally, Semi sat beside him to start multiple conversations with Tendou. Ushijima rarely joined in. He much ‘preferred’ to sit and listen. Although Ushijima would never admit it out loud, he wished he could engage more in conversations, but his mother taught him that if he were silent and obedient he would be wanted and loved, so he only spoke when he was spoken to. The only person he would start a conversation with was Tendou, because, for some reason, Tendou had managed to break most of his figurative walls down. 

Upon further inspection, Ushijima found Semi but he was not prepared for Semi staring at him with a malicious twinkle in his eyes that said he had done something to upset the former setter. 

Ushijima looked away from Semi to look out the window. Semis’s piercing eyes reminded him too much of his mother’s and it shook him to his very core. 

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After a long and suffocating bus ride, they had finally made it back to the school. They were greeted by multiple students who praised them for how hard they tried. Ushijima knew he had failed his team and that he was not a good enough ace so he did not understand why everybody was praising him for his effort. 

Everybody but Semi it seemed. 

Semi was still glaring daggers into him and it was starting to send him on edge. All he could think about was his mother punishing him by tying his left hand to his back and forcing him to do tasks with just his right hand whenever he used his left hand in front of her. To her, Wakatoshi was a disappointment to the Ushijima family name but Ushijima already knew that he was a disappointment to his team, his family, and himself. He knew this, so why did it bother him so much that Semi was giving him ‘the look’? 

Eventually, Ushijima had enough of the glares, they made him feel like he was drowning so he spoke up.

“Eita, I can’t help but notice that you have been staring at me the entire way back to the academy. Do you need to talk? Are you okay?” Ushijima spoke as softly as he could to the setter. He may not have good social skills but he knew that Semi would get even more upset with him if he spoke normally.

“You know exactly why, Mr. Stoic, do not play stupid with me,” Semi sneered.  

Upon hearing the harshness of Semis' tone, the whole team turned their attention to Ushijima, who was standing with a guarded expression, and Semi who had his hands balled into a fist. 

“I’m sorry, but I do not understand what you mean. I do not know why you are upset with me, that is why I asked.” Ushijima bluntly stated to the setter, who growled in return. He left him feeling even more confused. Had the captain missed something? If so, why was nobody telling him?

“Well, since you want to play stupid I will spell it out to you! If Oikawa was the setter of Shiratorizawa, then maybe you would have played your best today and maybe we would have won!” 

“Woah calm down Semi, it’s not entirely Ushiwaka's fault we lost, the other team was just better today, that’s it, now stop being such a whiny ass” Tendou snarled at Semi, who stood across from him and Ushijima. Tendou had firmly pressed his hand into Ushijima’s because he wanted to protect him from Semi’s harsh words, but he knew he couldn’t.

“Satori, it is fine you do not need to speak for me, '' Ushijima murmured in Tendou’s direction. He did not need Tendou to speak on his behalf. That would make him weak and Ushijima was not weak. He can't be. “However I’m afraid I do not understand what you mean Eita, I was playing at my best throughout the whole 5 sets but Karasuno won. The loss was not because of Shirabu being the setter, we lost because Karasuno was the better team. If you were the setter we still would have lost and that is that.” Ushijima replied. Semi looked like he was going to reply but he was not done explaining, he needed to get this out of his system before he lost all confidence.

“I can see you want to reply but I am not done explaining yet so I would appreciate it if you listened to me. Although I hate to admit it, I would have played worse if Oikawa was our official setter because Oikawa would not be able to read me and set the correct tosses. This is not Oikawa’s fault at all, I just follow textbook techniques whereas Oikawa likes to take risks, it wouldn’t work out so I do not know why you think I would be better if Oikawa was here with us.” Ushijima said. He spoke with as much confidence as he could muster but he was not feeling confident at all, especially because his comments seemed to have made Semi angrier than he was before. 

“Oh, would you just shut up making excuses! The only reason why we lost today was that you are not a good enough ace. You suck. You know if you were good enough, your mother might love you and be proud of you but no, you’re a stoic left-handed freak who let the whole team and school down. You don’t deserve to be on this team because you are a worthless piece of shit!” Semi screamed at Ushijima. The captain was too hurt to reply back so he averted his eyes and let go of Tendou’s hand. 

All of Wakatoshi’s fears had come true. He always knew he was a disappointment and a burden to his family, but not his team. He thought he had found a home with his team and boyfriend but he was wrong. If he was loved by his teammates, why did Semi call him a stoic freak? He knew he did not show emotions well but that was due to his upbringing. Ushijima’s mother taught him that showing negative emotions is a sign of weakness and that he should never show them to anybody or there would be consequences, so he buried his emotions deep within. If he did not show emotions, maybe his mother and team would love him. 

But he was wrong about that too.

There was so much he was wrong about and he did not know what to do. All he knew was he needed to get out of the car park before the mask slipped off his face and he broke in front of his ‘family.’

“I will not be holding the meeting that takes place in 10 minutes but feel free to meet together as a group without me,” Ushijima stated as quickly as he could without his voice breaking.

He needed to get out. Now.

 As he walked off he heard his teammates yell for him to come back but it was too late.

The mask had already slipped. 

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It had been approximately 30 minutes since Semi had yelled at Ushijima and he, along with the black eye he was wearing, regretted it greatly. As soon as Ushijima had walked off, Tendou had stormed over to him and punched him square in the face. Luckily for Semi, Reon managed to get Tendou away before he could do even more damage to his precious body.

The whole team was mad at him, even the coach who had overheard the argument. Semi knew he shouldn’t have taken his frustrations out on the stoic captain but he could not stop himself. Truth is, he was not mad at Ushijima. Rather he was mad at himself. He did not score enough when he was subbed in. He failed them all. But instead of talking to his friends about it, he took it out on Ushijima and broke him. 

He knew he should go and apologise, but the captain was nowhere to be seen. He had tried looking for him but he was not in his shared dorm. The only evidence Semi had that Ushijima had been in his room was that his phone was on his desk so that nobody could contact him to see where he resided. 

He had begun to panic until Tendou had put in the group chat that he knew where Ushijima was and that the rest of the team could stop looking for him. Relief washed over Semi. He knew his captain was safe, so he headed to his dorm to wallow in guilt and self-pity. 

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 Tendou knew his Ushijima enough to know where he was. Whilst they were in their first year, Ushijima had taken Tendou to the place Ushijima felt most safe in when he was upset. Tendou liked to call it ‘the cuddle zone’ (Ushijima hated the nickname). Wakatoshi had shown Tendou the place after the latter had witnessed an argument between Ushijima and his mum. Ushijima was really upset after the argument and he needed to calm down without anyone else seeing (not that he showed that he was upset, but Tendou could read him like he was an open book). It was a small hidden bathroom in the corner of the school. It was pretty secluded so nobody had ever found it. 

Nobody but Tendou and Ushijima. 

Once Tendou finally arrived at the secluded area he could hear Ushijima pacing and labored breathing. 

“Hey Toshi, can I come in? It’s just me. I told the others to go to their dorms so you don’t need to worry about anybody else being here.” Tendou softly murmured. His voice was always soft with Ushijima, he couldn’t help it! 

The pacing stopped.

“No, I want to be alone Satori” Ushijima whispered, but he could not hide the voice break no matter how hard he tried to. Tendou knew him too well. 

“Come on Toshi, let me comfort you”

“No, leave me alone. Please” Ushijima pleaded, he wanted nothing more than to let Tendou into the small bathroom with him but he couldn’t. If he did he would be proving Semi and his whole family right, that he was a frail freak who brought people down with his emotions. If he pushed Tendou away he could prove to everybody that he was not weak.

“Okay, Toshi, if that is what you want, I'll get some Hayashi Rice and mangas prepared for your arrival back to the dorms. Come back when you’re ready but you don’t have to hurt alone Toshi, I know you think showing that you’re hurt is weak but it is not. Hurting is human and you’re human, you deserve to be held and comforted when you want it and I know your mother never allowed you to have that and I will kill her for it but you can be comforted by me. You just need to ask.” 

With that, Tendou slowly made his way back to his dorm room. 

He knew forcing Ushijima to open up and talk would make him withdraw further into himself so he wanted Ushijima to come to him. Even though it hurt every part of him to know Ushijima was alone with his thoughts, hurting. 

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Once Ushijima was 100% sure that Tendou had gone he let the breath he had been holding out.  His mind was running 100 miles a minute. He felt conflicted. All his life he had been taught that displaying emotions to anybody made him weak and more of a freak than he already was. His mother had told him that him being left-handed was enough of a burden to carry so he must keep his emotions to himself and close off. If he did those two things maybe people could overlook his left-handedness and love him. 

Even when he closed off and stopped going to his mother crying, his mother still did not love him. She told him plenty of times that she hated him, that he spoiled the family name, and that she wished she had never had him. 

On the other hand, Tendou was gently telling him the opposite, he was telling him that he doesn’t have to be alone. That he could show Tendou all the pain he had been holding in. He had not let anybody in since his mother taught him to show no emotions, but Tendou wanted him to let him in. 

Ushijima was getting more and more upset by the minute. Why did Tendou have to tell him he could lean on him?! His mother had made it clear he had to handle everything alone. Why was he being told two different things at once?! 

Tendou had to be lying. He can’t prove his mother right. If he let Tendou in, he would laugh and leave him. Oh god, Ushijima didn’t want Tendou to leave him, Tendou was the only person who loved him, quirks and all.

Ushijima did not know what to do. His breathing sped up and he was pulling at his hair, trying to get rid of the aching buzz in his chest. but it was not working. Ushijima did the next best thing and swung his left hand into the nearest wall. When one punch wasn’t enough to relieve the ache in his chest, he hit the wall over and over again until his hand was bloody and bruised. 

Once the ache subsided, he looked at his hand and cursed under his breath. His knuckles were most likely broken, which meant he wouldn't be able to play volleyball for a few weeks until it heals. He couldn’t do the only thing he was useful in. 

With that thought, Ushijima couldn’t push down the lump in his throat anymore and he let out a choked sob. What was he going to do now that he was rendered useless because he could not handle his emotions? As soon as his mother found out, he is going to be in big trouble and he may not be able to play volleyball again because he let his stupid emotions get in the way. 

Ushijima could not stand being in his comfort space any longer. It had started to suffocate him. He wanted his bed. He wanted his Tendou.

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As soon as he got to his dorm room, he retreated to the bathroom to find the first aid box. The sooner he bandaged his hand, the sooner he could curl up in bed and cry. He wanted Tendou to come to cuddle him to sleep, but he knew he couldn’t ask him to come to his dorm. He was still too conflicted.

With great difficulty, Ushijima managed to clean and dress his wrecked dominant hand. He did not have any more energy left to change into his pajamas so he slid into bed in his volleyball jersey and shorts.

Once he was as comfortable as he could be he felt the lump in his throat form and tears sprang to his eyes. Ushijima knew he was alone and let out a soft sob. Ushijima’s mother had conditioned him into crying silently. If he did not make a sound nobody would realize he was upset and try to comfort him. This was the best way: if nobody knew he was upset and softly sobbing to himself then he was not weak. Ushijima put his hand over his mouth and pressed down hard to muffle his sobs. He did not want anybody hearing from the hallways. That would be both embarrassing and humiliating

After years of suppression and self-hatred, the backbone of Shiratorizawa Ushijima Wakatoshi, who laid with the weight of the world on top of his shoulders, finally broke.

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Tendou hadn't seen or heard from Ushijima since he left him alone in the bathroom. He had not come downstairs for the evening meal nor had he come to Tendou’s dorm for the rice and mangas and he was starting to worry. 

Tendou could not help but think of every single worst-case scenario. He knew he told Ushijima to come to him rather than Tendou going to Ushijima to comfort him, but he was concerned for his boyfriend. 

With every worst-case scenario still running through his head, Tendou took off to find Ushijima. He first checked the cuddle zone but found it empty and unlocked. Tendou knew Ushijima would not dare break curfew and leave the academy after hours, so that narrowed Tendou’s search down. Tendou searched in classrooms and the library for him but alas no luck. He was starting to panic and the only other place Tendou had not checked was Ushijima’s dorm room. 

Tendou ran as fast as he could to Ushijima’s dorm room, nearly knocking someone out on the way. But, he had no time to worry about that, and soon he found himself gasping for breath outside of Ushijima’s dorm room. Once he caught his breath, he could hear muffled sobs coming from the room and he could tell that it was Ushijima. Ushijima had never cried in front of him before, but he knew what Ushijimas roommate’s cries sounded like and they were decidedly not quiet and muffled.

Tendou could not wait any longer and slowly opened the dorm room. Ushijima often left it unlocked because Tendou would sneak in in the middle of the night after a nightmare to seek comfort in the captain. He quietly closed the door and made his way to his crying boyfriend.

Upon hearing footsteps, Ushijima had forced the sobs down and remained very still. If someone found him crying, he was done for. He didn’t know what to expect from the mystery person and it scared him. Not that he would let it show, though.

However, he was not expecting Tendou to climb into his bed, pull Ushijima onto his chest, and wrap his arms around his waist 

“How did you-” Ushijima whispered, voice just above a whisper. He was afraid he’d break then and there in his lover’s arms.

“Shhh Toshi, that doesn’t matter. I’m here now. It’s okay you can let it all out. I’m here love, I’ll put you back together I promise. Semi is an idiot. By the way, I gave him a black eye. Anyway, you were the reason we were able to go to nationals. You’re the best ace and the best boyfriend anyone could ever ask for”

After years of pain and suffering, Ushijima finally allowed himself to be comforted and break in his lover’s arms. 

All his life, Ushijima was conditioned to believe that expressing his emotions was a sign of inferiority and weakness. He was made to believe he was a burden and a disappointment because he was left-handed.

But with the help of his boyfriend and teammates (Semi included), the broken wall that made up Ushijima Wakatoshi . . .

. . . Could finally be rebuilt.

[lys-lilac]

The Realization of Importance

Part (2/3)

This was in my drafts for so long... So I thought not to let the cliffhanger stay for more time.

A/N: This is to say that all the characters and the main story line belong to Voltage Inc. Only the fictional story is a work of mine, as well the fictional characters, Hana, Touma and Akari. Also this story is based on dream event, because I had this as a dream many days ago. It might be a little different from the usual genre, a little more angsty, so this little girl wants to know your honest opinions about the work. Be honest and do let me know what you think. But, if it feels a little bit dreamy or weird, you can discontinue reading from here.

Part 1 II Part 3

                                                  Part (2/3)

Okay, now that I have cried so much and wiped away my tears, it's time to figure out things. How this all happened, or maybe I am still snoozing.

MC: But first, I need to find somewhere to live for now...

I can't probably return to my apartment, because the other me might be living there. Even if I go there, I will feel awkwardness surrounding me. So, I decide to take shelter in Asuka's home for tonight.

[Asuka’s Home] 

{A/N: This is not shown in the MS, so I just added a fictional place}

A surprised Asuka greets me at the door.

Asuka: MC?

MC: Hey Asuka, if it's not troublesome, can I stay here for the night?

Asuka: Of course, come in.

Relieved that Asuka didn't doubt me, I put the slippers on and sit on the sofa in the living room.

Asuka: Color me surprised though, what brings you here, and today itself?

MC: Hmm? Can't I visit your home and stay over like we did in university days? I was just hit with nostalgia and-

Asuka: That's not the case. Didn't you tell me during lunch that you and Dr. Kasumi are going home together for the first time in two weeks of exhaustive work?

MC: ...

Now that I think about it, I arrived here in the evening, so it might be possible that I didn't know about the schedule beforehand. For now, I have to find an excuse to convince her.

MC: Err... yeah! Kasumi had some post-OP scheduled with new interns, so he told me to leave early, but due to the weather...

Wiping my hair and damp clothes with a towel, Asuka nods her head as if she understood what I meant.

Asuka: Poor girl... You could just have given a call, so that I could have rushed there.

MC: Asukaa!! You are literally my paradis-

Asuka: But, that would have caused Dr. Kasumi to blame me for stealing his girl.

MC: Wha?

With her light banter, we both break out into a laughter. She is really a savior to me, even though she doesn’t know the situation now.

Getting into a pair of PJs that Asuka gave me, I lie down on the sofa. Events of the day start reeling in my mind. Now’s the time to figure out what exactly happened. Is it just a dream? But it’s too realistic... Or what if I am thrown to another world, just like what happens in mangas?

A little bit confused, I open up to do list on my cell phone to check the schedule, but the next sight leaves me agape.

MC: I am a new resident in cardiovascular surgery starting from tomorrow?! 

And my name is not MC, it’s... Hana? Well, it’s better this way, as anyone will not get confused anymore. After all, I am someone who is not meant to be here...

MC: Gahh! I will think about it tomorrow, otherwise who knows what will happen to my brain... I might as well get an ischemic stroke in this situation.

Putting a lid to my thoughts, I doze off to sleep.

{A/N: From here, actual MC is Hana, and the other MC is just MC. I just came with a random name for the MC.}

~

Sekai: MC, you will be all fine... Don’t worry...

Hana: Aww Sekai, thank you... You really are my- wait what? Why are you addressing me as MC?

With a shock, I sit up. 

Hana: Just a dream, huh... Guess I better hurry up.

With a short yawn, I prepare for the day.

[Morning: Dean’s Office]

Matsunaga: ...and therefore you will be assigned in the cardiovascular surgery starting from today.

Hana: ...

Matsunaga: Hana?

Hana: ! Ye-yes! I completely understand. It is a pleasure to be working with you all.

I bow deeply.

Matsunaga: Though I have to say, you really look like Dr. MC. Are you sure that you are not her long lost twin sister?

Hana: It’s a pure coincidence, haha. But I have a way to recognize both of us!

Matsunaga: Oh?

Hana: Yes. Look at this!

I show him the pearl beaded hair pin in my hair. I bought it when I went to the zoo with Kasumi. But, he might not remember this too.

Matsunaga: That’s a great way. You are really a smart girl!

Smiling on the approval, I bow once again, and leave the office to my work.

On my way to Cardiovascular medicine department, I decide to take a turn towards the EICU. After all the act I put there, I should at least apologize properly. It doesn’t matter if Kasumi doesn’t remember me now. Even though it hurts me to change my behavior towards him, just like strangers for now, I can never let the boy who suffered so much to lose his smile once again. Now, only my job matters!

[Seimei University Hospital EICU]

As expected, everyone is there for the morning briefing, including the other me. I take a deep breath and knock on the door, making all of their gazes turn towards me. The confusion would have all been over now.

Hana: Good morning, everyone. I am here to apologize for the mess I created here yesterday. I am sure I had hit my head somewhere yesterday that I-

Takado: Can I tell you a copycat? You are exactly the same as this one over here, talking without stopping...

Hana: ...

They didn’t blame me for yesterday. I guess that’s good for now.

Hosho: I am now starting to believe that miracles are true.

Hana: Wha?

Hosho: Yes. I have never in my life met people with such exact features. It’s interesting but confusing at the same time.

Hana: Oh, about that, I have a solution! Look at the hair-pin tucked here. You will recognize me. And it’s not like I will work in the EICU. I have been assigned to the Cardiovascular Surgery from today. So I will rarely visit here.

Kasumi: Oh.

What makes him say that... Well, I can’t think of that myself. Maybe his curiosity is piqued, that’s all.

Kyogoku: Drop by the Pediatrics if you need any help.

MC: We would appreciate your help in the ER too.

Ok, now what? WHAT THE WHAT?! The legendary bodyguard is lending me a hand if I get in any trouble? And the other me... she is like 100 times more sweeter than me. No wonder Kasumi deserves a better one like her, not someone like me who behaves like a child till now.

Ekuni: And, if you run out of snacks, I can recommend you some.

Why are they all so sweet? Keeping my fast beating heart to myself, I mutter a small ‘thanks’, bow once again and leave the EICU. But, I feel a gaze looking at me from behind. Maybe I am hallucinating...

[Seimei University Hospital Cardiovascular Medicine Department]

After some greetings in the Cardiovascular Surgery Dept., I get to work at once. Apparently due my good grades here too, I am immediately handed a case of a surgery. 

The patient is 11 year old, who is admitted today morning, has tetralogy of Fallot. This disease is generally congenital, which causes cyanosis, that is, bluish skin and oxygen-poor blood to flow out of the heart and to the rest of the body. If treatment is not done soon, it may become more severe.

Without any other delay, I head to the cabin where Touma is. Oh yes, Touma is the patient whose case I have been handed now.

[Seimei University Hospital Private Cabin]

When I enter the cabin, I see a gloom Touma sitting on the bed with his mother, Akari.

Hana: Good morning, Akari, Touma.

Akari: Good morning, Dr. Hana.

Even though she smiles, I can see her face washed with sadness. It’s okay, after handing so many cases with Kasumi, I have stabilized myself enough to deal with my anxiety. I reach out to her, and with my hand on her back, I look towards Touma, who is also a little bit scared.

Hana: How are you, Touma?

Touma: I- I am fine.

Hana: I know you came here way early in the morning. How about we go and get a drink for ourselves to cheer you up?

A little happy, he nods.

Touma’s treatment is starting from today afternoon, so luckily, saline and other devices have not been put on him for now. Means, he is free to move.

Holding his frail hand, I lead him to the refreshment zone.

[Refreshment zone]

I grab myself a can of coffee and give a bottle of orange juice to him.

Hana: So, what is Touma’s favorite activity? Hana is curious.

Touma: I like gardening, and going sightseeing.

Hana: Oh? You know how to plant flowers?

Touma: Yeah! Not only that, I know how to plant vegetables and fruits too! You know Hana, I harvested a lot of fruits, like strawberries, grapes last year that we had my friends and mama’s friends to finish it up.

Seeing Touma’s eyes sparkling, confiding in me and trusting me by calling my first name, I couldn’t help but smile.

Hana: Wow! You are really talented, little one! What about sightseeing? What places do you like? 

Touma: I like Hokkaido. The weather there is so beautiful! But... I know I couldn’t do that after the surgery.

The little sun who was brimming just now with happiness, looks like the flame of a flickering candle.

I hold his hand and say.

Hana: I know you can do it. With me here, you can share anything you want. You are strong to handle every problem that comes to you. I can get that from your passion of gardening. Even if a storm comes, you can do anything to protect your little space, right? I want that confidence of yours in you too. 

Touma goes silent. I see his face, surprised, and a little... flushed?

Touma: I brought some dandelions for you, Hana. I thought they could be my thank you gift to you for listening to me.

Hana: Thank you. That’s so sweet of you.

Oh my god. How sweet and mature he is! I was not even half of it during my teenage.

Touma: But, I have a favor to ask.

Hana: Sure, as long as it’s in my reach, I can do it for you.

Touma: After I recover, can you visit with me somewhere?

Hana: Where to?

Touma: I want to show you my garden.

Hana: Oh, sure. I would love to!

The happiness that left his face comes back.

Touma: It’s a date, then!

Hana: ...

What did I hear now? A. DATE. What?! But sighing, I put away the awkward thought and my lips curve upwards.

Touma: Although... Who is that guy behind you?

Surprised that I didn’t notice anyone, I turn backwards and see...

Hana: ?!!

~

This got a bit long, so I broke it further into two parts. Last part is on the last phase of editing. I will try to post it by tomorrow. Who do you think stands behind Hana? What will happen next?

Stay tuned.