#do you know how much it hurts seeing him cower behind everyone and hide away when the lov attack?????

[starryluminary]

Knowing what I know about Aoyama and rereading some of the manga is causing me physical pain

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Imagine trying Yves’ darling trying to talk to their parents about him, like they are telling them about how they are seeing someone new and their parents are like “okay cool how old is he?” And darling is just at a lost for words because they genuinely don’t know. “What’s his full name?” “Well-“ “where is he from? What is his background” “um-“

Yes any sane parents would be unnerved by this. Most likely your parents would even encourage you to not continue this relationship with Yves. You know nothing about him but he knows everything about you, seems dangerous, isn't it?

That is why you should bring Yves along with you, even the biggest skeptics will end up being charmed. With Yves honeyed words and pleasant demeanor, he will distract your parents so much that they may even be convinced he's a long time family friend. They see how he treats you, he prepares your plate of food, he refills them when you want seconds. Reminds you to drink water, being an overall caregiver.

Even if you have fathers or mothers who tend to threaten potential spouses with the barrel of their shotgun, he will stare straight into the eyes of death and sip on his drink. Continuing to make pleasant small talk, totally ignoring the life ending weapon pointed between his eyes. Maybe that will earn your parents' respect, maybe that would unnerve them even more. But for certain, they would know not to mess with him.

It definitely helps to know that he comes from money. Just one glance at how he carries himself, what he wears, and what he drives is enough to know he has at least six digits in the bank. And, bizarrely, it also appeared that he came from a less well-off background too. He understands why your family does certain things or doesn't, Yves will gladly partake in doing chores and money-saving endeavors without complaint. He wouldn't flaunt his wealth, but if anyone had the guts to ask him for help financially, he would. Just make sure to talk to them, he doesn't like his kindness being taken advantage of.

He has this menacing vibe that repels children and pets. They wouldn't get hostile, they will either hide behind other adult's legs or avoid him altogether. When you ask your younger cousins or siblings what they thought of him, they will shudder out of fear. They can't put a finger on it, but he feels like he could and would hurt them and get away with it. That isn't far from the truth, but Yves isn't a bully. He is definitely a disciplinarian.

Your relatives will wonder why the children aren't as rowdy as usual, sitting with their mouths zipped and eating neatly at their tables. No childish giggling or screaming can be heard, it's almost eerie. It only happens if Yves is present. The siblings who are always constantly fighting will work together to get away from Yves, the family dog who hovers around the table in hopes of gobbling up dropped food, is cowering at the corner; whimpering when Yves gets remotely close.

Even the little terror of the family who breaks everything yanks on everyone's hair, blows out everyone's birthday candles, and spits on food became the most well-rounded, politest child. Imagine the surprise on your aunt's face when he managed to discipline her child whom she claims to be 'impossible' to tame. Yves doesn't need to whip him with his belt, he doesn't need to shout, he doesn't even need to use his words. It was 'just' a stern glare that seemed to zap some sense into your cousin.

You should definitely check what your cousin ate or drank. Or even inhaled. Or touched.

Yves doesn't mind being seen as the monster that eats children who misbehave. Parents could use him as a threat to get their children to act right. Even your rebellious teenage cousins became clean when threatened to sic Yves on them, he just has that effect on them. However, they must meet him at least once for him to be scary.

For some odd reason, the children would be sympathetic to you. They pity you for having to be with Yves no matter how much you try to convince them that he's a joy to be around, just that he looks grumpy.

Yves has a least hated genre of children, which are those who are glued to their smartphones or digital tablets. They're quiet, passive, and stationed in one place. He couldn't give a damn about their development, as long as they're not bothering him, he is alright with their existence. But as soon as kids begin to act like normal kids, he will start traumatizing everyone in retaliation.

Adults don't have this sixth sense, they're instead enamored by him. They fall into his charms and tell him more things about themselves than they should have. He knows humans are inherently narcissistic, Yves doesn't even need to lie, he just needs to give some vague answers before returning the focus back to them.

It just takes a few tailored compliments, the fluttering of eyelashes, and some beats of silence from his side to know all the juiciest, most scandalous family drama. Things that you weren't even aware of, he could coax it out of anyone. You're offended, you've been part of this family for decades, yet they're telling all the secrets to a mere stranger with a Hermes Birkin bag, but never to you.

You keep having your aunts come up to you, raving on and on about how lucky you are to have snagged Yves. Apparently, he talks as if he was just made to love you. Not very interested in talking about himself, just about how much he adores you to death and what you like. The air seems different too when it comes to the topic of you, it becomes lighter, friendlier, and more connected.

They will gush over how affectionate he is over you. Making you realize that you weren't paying attention or you were taking him for granted. You didn't know that he was fixing your outfit for you, he was combing your hair with his fingers each time he got close, but you didn't notice him. They would only dream of having their husbands grab them their favorite drink without asking. He reminds you to take your medication and/or hydrate yourself, you ask him where your belongings are, he picks up after you, He fills up your medical and legal forms for you and so much more.

Yves is babying you instead of the other way around. And dear god do the women in your family yearn for that treatment.

He wouldn't hesitate to defend you when a relative says something catty, he would say something equally as snide, embarrassing them and teaching them a lesson. If one of them is revealing an embarrassing memory of you that you didn't want to be revealed, he isn't afraid of making the atmosphere tense, he will make a passing remark that will make the entire table laugh but hit the offender like a sack of bricks. How the hell does Yves know that they're sleeping with a coworker? They will beg him in private not to break up their family afterward. Their fate will depend on how merciful he is feeling and how satisfied they are with their punishment.

Judging you on your self-expression? Oh, he is saying the nastiest insults in the nicest, most subtle way, entertaining the crowd while making them run to the bathroom and sob. The same goes for those who are rude to his personhood. Yves can be horrifyingly vicious.

Yves has a lot of enemies he made over the years, whats one more? No ally of his gets to poke fun at the one he loves. He is immune to awkwardness and bad blood.

Yves will leave your parents or guardians feeling like they're old buddies but simultaneously know nothing about him at all.

But under that charismatic, elegant mask, he is an evil, messy bitch who loves gossip and rumors. Definitely a monster in law if you look closer. But that side of him only comes out if the slightest hint of disrespect comes your way or his way.

[sovio-studio]

Day 7: Weapon

Every day weaponry

Word count: 1247

Desc: When Danny is unavailable and a ghost targets the whole school, the others have to improvise. Really improvise.

~~~

Sam and Tucker dove into the next classroom, slamming the door shut behind them. They immediately locked eyes with a gang of their classmates bundled together in the corner of the room on full alert. Dash quickly tried to replace his nervous stare with his usual confident one, while Paulina and Star just seemed to become agitated.

"What are you losers doing in here, this is our hiding spot."

"Noone owns hiding spots!" Sam snapped back before turning her gaze back to the door to back away cautiously. They watched them both in uncertainty for a second before someone spoke.

"Did you lead the fucking ghost to us!?" One of the football players exclaimed. Half of the group held their breath at the sudden anticipation while the others glared daggers at the pair.

"Tucker, message him." Sam muttered through her teeth.

"But I thought-"

"Just do it."

Without another word Tucker pulled out his phone, immediately bumping into a desk as they were still backing up. He almost fell into the front of the huddle, three people trying to shove him away again.

Just as Dash finally regained enough composure to speak without giving away his nerves, the door burst open. Despite their ability to pass through anything, many of the ghosts seemed to like a dramatic entrance. A young adult spirit dressed like a teacher they'd never seen before marched inside smiling widely.

"Are the little kiddies playing hide and seek? How cute." She hummed, her smile seeming to grow brighter but eerily more threatening. "But it's time to come back to learning now."

She held up a hand and a mess of green string shot out towards them in an instant, breaking the quiet with a chorus of gasps and screams as everyone cowered. After most of them realised they weren't hurt, they slowly peeked up again to see that Star was now gripped tightly by the rope, pulled back towards the woman who held onto the other end tightly. Star was squirming as much as it'd let her, breathing frantically.

The fear in her eyes shook Paulina to her core.

"Get away from my bestie!" She screamed, barely thinking and grabbing the closest item to her.

"Hey what are you-"

She lobbed the item as fast as she could at the ghost, not really knowing or caring if it hit. She just felt like she had to do something in the moment.

"Ow! Shit!"

Star yelped as the ropes dissipated and she was dropped to the ground. She looked back at Paulina, who was just blinking bewildered at her.

"How did that-"

"Who cares why it worked, let's go!" Sam shouted, seeming to snap everyone back to reality. She and Tucker didn't hesitate to head for the exit behind the ghost, who was now bent over with a hand over its eye. Star did the same, first grabbing Paulina's wrist, who was basically running on all adrenaline no thoughts right now.

Everyone in the classroom followed, people dragging along anyone who seemed too frozen in place. Tucker went to grab his phone as they passed, Sam reprimanding him and yanking him back to his feet so they could keep moving. As the first few reached the door, a low growl echoed from behind them. Everyone got faster.

The door was too much of a chokepoint, and a few of the back were captured. Their sacrifice did however give everyone else the time, as rather than chase the escapees, she dragged her prey down the hall in the other direction, likely to wherever she had taken everyone else.

The new group made it all the way to the bend in the corridor where the main entrance would come into view. When they got there however, they were met with what can only be described as life sized ghostly wooden puppets, hung by green strings that faded into nothing in the air. A couple noticed them there and began hobbling towards them like zombies.

"Oh what the hell!" Dash exclaimed, turning around to run back.

"Wait!" Sam took charge again. Despite her 'loser' social status she could be quite authoritative when she wanted to be. "She's back that way remember! And don't you think the other exits will be guarded too?"

"How are we meant to get to it through them!" He gestured to the hoard that they were now having to swiftly back away from.

"Tucker, you haven't changed your phone since Technus last infected it right?"

"No, why?"

"It's contaminated. I think that's why it hurt the ghost despite being a normal object."

"There's no way no matter what happened to it that that thing hurt it that much!" Someone else interjected.

"It did hit it in the eye." Tucker pointed out.

"Then let's test it." Sam decided, speaking over him and yanking his phone.

The device smacked a puppet in the head, and the thing promptly stubbled backwards onto the floor, as if it had been hit with something far heavier.

"Not again…" Tucker complained quietly, "But hey, it works."

"Pretty well too." Sam observed proudly. "Does anyone have anything that a ghost has interacted with. Anything more than just holding it should do."

After a moment of no one moving, a few people made quiet theories or notes to themselves.

"Maybe…"

"Yeah I might do."

"Now that you mention it…"

"Oh that!"

"Well let's split into teams based on where your lockers are and go get your stuff, whatever it is." Sam explained

Dash inhaled as if he was about to object to following orders from her, but ultimately decided against it.

After sectioning people oft as best she could, she and Tucker set off quickly, seperating from the pack despite some of them heading in the same direction.

"Why don't we just use the weapons in our lockers?" He asked now he actually had the chance.

"We are doing. I don't want to deal with those idiots deciding that they also deserve ecto weapons just because we have some."

"Oh, good point."

Before they even got close, they found themselves abruptly stopped in place, bound in green strings.

"Now kiddos," a silky voice called from behind them, "What's the rules about running in the halls."

"Shit."

~~~

Danny took the spare thermos from Tucker and inspected it in disbelief.

"Let me get this straight. You guys got captured, so a bunch of regular teenagers broke everyone free using… a pair of trainers, a makeup kit, a regular thermos, a ruler, the torn off door of a locker, four mobile phones, and about twenty boxes?"

Sam and Tucker glanced at one another before Sam shrugged, smiling reluctantly.

"I don't really believe it either, but yeah. Other than the actual capturing part they did most of the work."

Danny chuckled "I guess everything can be a weapon if you use it wrong enough… maybe keep your actual weapons nearby next time though."

"But your weapons are regular objects now apparently." Danny noted, still amused by that. He was about to ask if they had any more details on it before Sam interjected.

"Hey, it's not like we can just take them to class with us." Tucker retorted, "Unlike you, our weapons aren't our hands."

"Speaking of, can you like leave my boots in the ghost zone for a day or something? I'd really enjoy getting to roundhouse kick a ghost for once."

"As much as I'd love to see that, I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"Damn."

~~~

I wrote this in one go and barely checked it so it might be a mess. Sorry I didn't actually include the rescue part, I wasn't sure exactly how to tackle that, but I will say I think they'd use any cardboard boxes as makeshift armour. Who knows how effective that'd be, even if contaminated, but it's funny.

[hellishvxbes]

          .　　. ˚　. ╳ ⊹ ―  𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀 𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑, he had sworn to himself a long time ago that he would never let himself feel like prey ever again. As a boy, back when the white folks would sneer at him, and call him and his mother names. The shame was brought onto him knowing he had a white father who never wanted him. Every day he woke up && wondered if he was going to see his mother when he came home from school. Where one wrong word and wrong glance could very well cost him life. Alastor had grown up learning how to live based on survival.

          The people he came into contact with were not nice, they prowled && circled him like vultures. Waiting for him to fail, so they could all charge and pick at the pieces he left behind. He vowed to himself he would never let that happen, no one would ever gain power over him. He would remain two steps ahead, he would keep his distance from everyone. Emotions && feelings only ever lead to one's descent. His mother was the only person he had ever loved, and that was more than enough for him. The only person who knew how to tame the rage he buried deep inside, the parts of himself that wanted to make all the ones who ever spat or tried to hurt them pay. A touch so gentle, so nurturing, those arms were the only place he had ever felt safe. Where he could let it all down and he could lay his head in her lap and listen to her sing softly as she ran her fingers through his hair and he drifted off to sleep. 

               POOR ALASTOR ╱ ONCE A TALL, VALIANT STAG now he cowered against the door in Angel's dressing room like a frightened little fawn. He felt like he was being preyed on in a whole new way, Angel was coming after his heart && for the first time he didn't know how to combat those feelings. The moment Angel had accidentally torn through his clothes, he had felt his back hit the door, his fingers clutching at the ripped fabric and he wished he could finish what Angel started. Use his claws to tear through his chest to rip out his heart and feed it to the buzzards. Toss the wretched thing so far away he never had to feel what he was feeling now. Which was perplexity, an ache that made his stomach feel sick and empty like he hadn't eaten anything in weeks. Much like his battered clothing, he felt like his entire identity was coming apart at the seams. Those stitches in his smile unraveled, leaving him in a state that wasn't his most pleasing. 

                      EVERYTHING, instinct was telling him to tuck his tail and run. Run far away from that delicate touch that brushed against his hands. The soft and concerned gaze in Angel's eyes only seemed to work their magic in drawing him in. He tells himself to run, he SHOULD run, but he doesn't. Instead, he finds himself powerless to do anything. This was a part of him he never wanted Angel to see, what he hid under a nice outfit && a wide smile. The horror of his death is displayed for Angel to see. Jagged and torn flesh, poorly pieced back together. Scars and teeth marks decorated nearly every inch of his skin, and he felt thankful Angel could only see his chest. 

                                      RUN, RUN JUST LEAVE. END IT. 

                       But Alastor didn't want to leave, that look on Angel's face taking him to a place he never thought he'd ever see in himself. Those emotions came washing over him like a wave, drowning him under the intense pressure. Thinking back to every moment they had shared up until now, those long talks on the roof, meeting in secret simply to have a conversation. How much Alastor had grown to deeply love and look forward to them. Oh, it would have been easier to break Angel's heart, it was harder to stay. He had never felt this way before, wanting to pull him into an embrace, to hold him. 

            OH MY DEAR YOU POOR THING, DON'T YOU KNOW LOVE IS THE DEATH OF DUTY?? 

        Alastor doesn't hide the shiver he gets when Angel touches him, tracing over the many scars on his chest. ❛ It's ugly ❜ he says finally, breaking through the silence like smashing through glass. Alastor can't bring himself to face him, his head turning away. ❛ Angel, this isn't going to work. ❜ You'll be the death of me.

TO  LOVE  SUCH  A  MAN  WAS  AKIN  TO  TASTING  A  PRAYER  ON  THE  BACK  OF  HIS  TONGUE,  with no god for the begging words to go to. it is as hopeless as it is romantic, as bloodied as it is sweet, as addicting as it is virulent, and angel dust wants to rot in the feeling of it all.  IT  OVERWHELMS  HIM,  suffocates him in sleepless nights and lingering questions.  hell  ⸺  a year ago, he would barely even be able to tell you the radio demon’s  name.  a year ago, he’d been  JUST  ANOTHER  FACE  at the hazbin hotel.  the personification of the shadows,  the mystery on the airways.      BUT  NOW  . . . 

NOW,   he could trace the outlines of the radio demon’s curious eyes with a purposeful and lovestruck stare, turning his gaze away when the other glanced in his direction.  he is a teenage boy wrapped in hot butterflies and hellfire.  he is burning in the same sin that had clutched his heart in a white - hot grip a hundred years ago, before death had claimed  ANTHONY BORRELLI  and visciously spat  ANGEL DUST  into the pit of eternal punishment.

HELL  ALONE  WAS  NOT  ANGEL’S  ETERNAL  PUNISHMENT.   perhaps he would’ve been able to deal with another century of flames and neon lights, bodysuits and too - high skirts.   NO   -   true hell was adoring what was not meant to be adored.  waiting for the love to pass like a bad high  /  WATCHING  IT  NEVER  LEAVE  YOUR  SYSTEM.  true hell was seeing an audience of hundreds,  waiting  for  your  performance,  and only being able to search the crowd with anxious eyes until your gaze locked onto  HIS.     (  angel  could  see  him  in  the  back  of  the  room,  like  he’s  intent  on  not  being  seen  at  all,  and  it  makes  him  want  to  tear  himself  apart  for  all  to  see   /    LOOK  AT  ME  NOW,  LOOK  WHAT  YOU’VE  DONE  TO  ME  !   )

a week without conversation, without as much as an explanation, and alastor was back in his dressing room when the show was over. perhaps a part of angel was wishing he’d  SAY  SOMETHING.  the lovesick heat that burned heavy in his stomach turned into an inferno of almost  BIBLICAL  RAGE. 

❝  what - 'ya think 'ya can just act like nothin' happened? what the fuck did i do to'ya to piss 'ya off so much, huh ? fuckin' -    ❞

he’s walking away  -   THE  BASTARD -   and it doesn’t take much for angel to reach forward and grab ahold of the front of alastor’s shirt, nails digging into the fabric in a vain attempt to pull him right back.  instead, the fabric tears, leaving a gaping hole in the radio demon’s chest, revealing  BARE,  GRAY  SKIN  in its place. 

ANGEL  FELT  THE  AIR  LEAVE  HIS  LUNGS  ALL  AT  ONCE.   beneath the place where the fabric once was, alastor’s skin was adorned with a multitude of  dark  markings  ;  jagged scars that lined his bony chest without any particular pattern to them.  these  are  the  marks  of  a   life  not  lived  in  many  dawns.   the etchings of gnashing teeth, of wicked claws, of a story untold by the overlord’s tongue.  he is quick to cover the space of skin with his shaking hands,  but before he can turn to leave, angel’s grapping his wrist and pulling him right back like he doesn’t fear the consequences of doing so.

AND  THEY  ARE  CLOSE  /  FAR  TOO  CLOSE.   he’s almost hesitant to reach forward and touch him.   (  HOW  UNLIKE  YOU,  ANGEL  DUST,  AFRAID  TO  MEET  YOUR  SKIN  WITH  ANOTHER’S  -   )     angel moves with the gentle slowness that he would use while reaching for a frightened animal, carefully moving closer, closer, until his fingertips are pulling alastor’s hands from his chest, staring. 

he does not think as he traces his fingers over the lines of alastor’s scarred body, like he is following the pathways of a map. softly, he rests his hands over the places where the pain goes to rot.

[devildomwriter]

They React to Elf on the Shelf Headcanons

Lucifer

• “What is this creature?”

• “It’s not a demon?”

• Uses it to scare mammon

• Suggests to Diavolo that they use it as a spying mechanism

• “Its smile is so fake it reminds me of Satan…”

Mammon

• “Oh hell no, what the fuck is that!?”

• Won’t go near it

• He’s convinced it’s staring into his “soul”

• If you move it while he sleeps he will try to burn it

• If you place it by his pillow he will actually cry in fear

• He hates the thing and now Lucifer is using it to his advantage

Leviathan

• “What kind of final boss minion thing is this?”

• Won’t go near it

• Mammon throws it at him in fear and Levi actually hisses at it and cowers away

• “It knows I’m a worthless good for nothing trashy otaku and it’s judging me! Look at those eyes! I don’t need its judgment I know already! Take it away!”

• If he finds it in his room he will summon Lotan on it

Satan

• “….”

• “….”

• “No.”

• Tries to set it on fire but Lucifer takes it away before he can.

• He finds out that you can buy pets for it and gets the cats but otherwise has nothing to do with it

• Considers pranking Lucifer with it but it doesn’t work and settles for subtly moving it to screw with Mammon and everyone else.

Asmodeus

• “This is the most uncute thing I have ever seen! Take it far away from me!”

• He won’t touch it so if you don’t take it away from him he will throw something at it

• “I don’t like it! I feel like it’s watching me!”

• He’s absolutely terrified especially when he feels like it’s actually moving around

• “Its accessories aren’t cute either!” — Looked it up for some reason

• Will cry if you chase him with it or he sees it move

Beelzebub

• “…”

• “…”

• “…”

• “I…I don’t like it…”

• Visibly disturbed

• To test how much he fears it, Lucifer covered it in syrup.

• Beelzebub still did not go near it

• Lucifer is now convinced it can be useful to him

Belphegor

• No visible reaction. He’s probably in shock.

• Can’t fall asleep when it’s nearby.

• Will get into a staring contest because he’s convinced it’ll blink

• After a few days of testing the thing, he says “No.”

• Proceeds to throw it into the fireplace

• Lucifer just buys a replacement

Solomon

• “Oh, these things. They’re creepy, aren’t they? Why do children enjoy this? Kids weren’t as deranged in my days…”

• Immediately decides to screw with everyone and buys multiple. He places them in the demon lord's castle, the house of lamentation, and the purgatory hall without anyone knowing.

• Uses Magic to move them around and after great reaction decides to do it in the human world too

• He’s now behind a rumor of the dolls being cursed and a reason sales have sufficiently declined

Simeon

• “Did Diavolo make these?”

• “Humans did?”

• “For their…children?”

• “Humans lying to their children about Santa is one thing but moving these around in the middle of the night as a way of threatening them to be good….this is a little demented…”

• He does not like them for their appearance or their purpose

• Actively avoids the one that Solomon brought to the house

• Has to scold Solomon when it keeps scaring Luke

Luke

• Instinctively turns into an angel and hides himself behind his wings. No demon has ever gotten him to react like that.

• “I-I-it’s r-really not a-a-a d-demon???”

• Less scared than before. Simeon calms him down and assures him I can’t hurt him

• Sees it move in the middle of the night, stand in the middle of his open door and slowly blink at him

• Loses it

• Hears Solomon laughing and Simeon actually slap him upside the head

• Has lasting trauma

Barbatos

• If it were alive it would've died from the glare Barbatos gave it

• It’s supposed to be cheery but supremely failing and Barbatos does not like that its smile is so fake it gives off a sense of foreboding doom

• Lucifer pitches the idea of using it to spy and he immediately buys lots of them

• When they suddenly move in the middle of the night and cause Diavolo alarm he knows who’s to blame and prevents them from being enchanted by Solomon again

• He does genuinely believe that it seems too creepy to have been invented by humans and wonders if a demon pitched the idea

Diavolo

• He smiles right back at it, his smile just as fake as the doll deeply unnerves him

• “Barbatos please burn this.”

• Lucifer convinced him they could be useful by providing proof of his brothers behaving better with the elf around

• “Is that why humans bring these into their home? To frighten children with obedience? How cruel.”

• “So you’ll keep them around?” - Lucifer

• “No please destroy it—“

• Is finally convinced to use them to spy until one stands on him in the middle of the night and he reflexively combusts it and calls on Barbatos who discovers it was merely Solomon’s idea of a prank

Michael

• “…”

• “…”

• Cuts it in half with his sword

• “You have nothing more to fear, I have discarded of the frightening item.”

• Cannot fathom why human children like them or why human parents buy them

[clairecrive]

hi! I just recently found your account and I've been spending all my time reading everything you've written, and I wanted to tell you that I absolutely adore your writing! it's so beautiful.

I also wanted to request a friends to lovers nikolai x reader fic (you don't have to make it friends to lovers if you don't want to!) something along the lines of this: they get seperated after the battle with the darkling at the end of siege and storm and reader has to go with alina but they finally reunite? and everyone is super smug because they knew it would happen.

sorry for such a long ask and no worries if you decide not to do it! I hope you're doing well!!

Fools, pistols blazing and shock

A/n: a promise is a promise and the second most requested fic was Nikolai and angst and so here it is! friends to lovers is not my favorite trope but I enjoyed writing this. I hope you will too x

Thank you so much for your beautiful words btw, they mean the world <3<3

tags: @jupiterandbutterflies , @agentsofsheilds , @for-bebbanburg , @randomoutsiders , @hannaxmaria , @vintagebitc , @story-scribbler , @crowssixof , @odetostep , @lizzie-he4rts , @korol-lantsov , @subjecta13-thefangirl ,@gallysonegoodlung , @a-c-lee , @mriddlemethis , @carnationworld , @thanossexual , @luvxginger , @sanna2020 , @partiesandblurrypolaroids , @edithsvoice , @wafflesandschemingfaces , @snugleo , @sugarmelonwater , @dobwhore, @sassybadqueen , @anything-forourmoony, @snokoi, @imaginingimagines, @vintagebitc_,

SHADOW AND BONE MASTERLIST

"So," he twirled around, "how do I look?" With a theatrical gesture, he stopped in front of you.

You looked at him, head to toe, before saying, "Like a fool I know."

He was imperturbable, by the smirk on his face one would think that you had paid him a compliment. "The answer was far simpler: handsome."

"You look like a prince," you conceded, " but so does your brother so take that as you will." And with that, you walked to your assigned post leaving a scandalized Nikolai behind.

The dinner went by smoothly even if you had to bear Vasily being his annoying self. So far so good. The important thing was that the people around the table were under no threat. The rest was bearable.

And no, it had nothing to do with Nikolai winking at you from time to time. Flirting was second nature to him and Alina's presence by his side was a cold reminder of how things were.

It took one look at her for your face to go as blank as Mal's on the other side of the room.

You had disconnected from the conversation at the table for a second, your attention going to the exit where a Grisha soldier had just walked in to talk to Zoya. If you had been paying attention to Nikolai, you would have known what to expect.

But you hadn't and so the next few seconds were pure chaos.

The unthinkable happened.

Black shadows filled the room, leaving no chance to the people they had appeared before. The Queen's scream brought your attention back to the table and consequently to the Vasily. Or rather, to what was left of him.

Beside him, the kind had crouched down to hide and was cowering behind the throne. The Queen clutched her son's body to her chest wailing and screaming. Then your eyes fell on him, standing tall in front of his parents shooting away.

You didn't know what you were going to do. You didn't think. You just acted and the next thing you knew, you were running towards him shooting fire at whatever tendrils of shadows you could see.

"Nikolai!"

In a moment, you reached his side, covering his back for every possible attack.

"You need to go," you urged him over the sounds of crying and shooting. A shot of light filled the room blinking you for a moment and panic shot through you at the possibility of Alina being hurt.

"Take your parents and Alina and go Nikolai. You can't stay here!" You insisted again, still back to back, unwilling to let anything happen to him. If he meant to argue you didn't know. You heard him speak but his words went unheard over the chaos in the room.

You turned around just in time to see one of those things trying to make their way to him. The tendrils of fire that shot through you slowed it down but it was only a shot of wind coming from a squaller that did the trick and sent it away.

Nodding in the squaller's direction you took Nikolai's shoulders and turned him towards the secret exit behind the throne.

"Stop playing hero and just go for Saint's sake!" Under normal circumstances, he was stronger than you. And well, he still was but too busy worrying about getting his family to safety and covering your back, he ended up succumbing to your shoves.

"I can't leave you here!"

"You can and you surely will! I'll make sure that Alina is safe," ushering him and his parents towards the exit, you didn't give him time to argue. Once they were through the door, you closed it behind them and melted the lock.

You allowed yourself only a moment to worry about him, to mourn him if things were to go downhill for you. Only a second for you to mourn the future that you knew you were never going to get with him.

Then it was over. Your heart locked away and your mind focused solely on the battle ahead. You needed to make sure that Alina was alive and get her to safety whilst also trying to save as many as you could along the way.

A piece of cake.

*+*+*+*+*+*

You knew that he had made it out of Os Alta alive. You had gotten word that he had arrived safe and sound to one of his hiding spots scattered around the country.

Alina and a group of other Grisha, including yourself, had managed to make it out alive out of the capital as well.

All was as well as it could be under these gloomy circumstances. And yet, you couldn't help but feel like you had lost.

Too many had fallen under the Darkling's wrath. Too many had given up their lives in honor of Ravka's freedom. Too many sacrifices for you all to be hiding in the tunnels like scared cats.

But you had a plan. You just needed to be in the same room as Alina, all of you at once, and you were going to make your way up.

It was only a matter of time before you were going to see him again.

*+*+*+*+*+*

It turned out that you were right. It was a matter of time indeed before you saw Nikolai again.

As always, he couldn't help but make a grand entrance while praising his good looks. For once, your eyes didn't roll in mock annoyance. The joy of seeing him again, safe and sound while also saving your asses, prevailed.

And the moment his eyes met yours? Priceless.

Despite being in the middle of running away and fighting the first army's soldiers, you felt like there was only the two of you. Nothing mattered besides Nikolai, his stupid smirk that shone brighter than all the stars combined.

It turned out that that moment came with a price indeed. Your distraction paved the way for an almost fatal mistake.

Too lost in Nikolai's eyes and restraining yourself from throwing yourself at him, you didn't notice the soldier sneaking up behind him. Or well, you didn't until it was too late.

The movement caught your eyes, but the bastard had his pistol already drawn. You had the presence of the spirit of pushing Nikolai out of the way before a shot was fired.

Focusing on the bullet you tried all your might to melt it, but you knew it was a desperate attempt since you had noticed it too late. Trying and losing was better than not trying at all so trying you did.

However, what turned out to be life-saving was Nikolai's counterattack. While you exercised the small science, Nikolai quickly drew his own pistol and shoot at the soldier.

Time seemed to slow down as you stared in front of him, hands in the air while Nikolai moved behind you. Right before your brain registered that while you had indeed managed to burn the bullet, it was still coming your way at high speed, another object entered your field vision.

At that moment you didn't exactly decipher what had happened, you blinked and the bullet was not there anymore. However, your stupor was short-lived as other soldiers were coming your way after hearing the noise.

At that point, Nikolai tugged you away and towards his awaiting ship knowing that the soldiers would surely outnumber you.

It all happened in a blink. One moment you were on the ground hellbent on not dying, and the other you were up in the air.

That, combined with the stress of the last couple of weeks. exhaustion and dehydration put you in a state of shock. Resulting in you staring numbly ahead of you.

Then, when you felt a hand on your face, your brain started working again and your eyes slowly began to focus.

"Are you injured?"

Nikolai was moving your head left and right to check for wounds and after that, he moved down on your neck and vital points. But you weren't hurt.

"It's so typically you to swoop in and save the day in the most dramatic way possible that I shouldn't even be surprised."

Your sarcasm reassured him that you were fine more than the absence of physical wounds. Leaning back on his haunches, he gave you a lazy smirk. "You know me, always read to save damsels in distress."

You almost hated how handsome he looked in that moment but the fact that he basically had saved your life made it really hard for you to get mad at him.

"Not a damsel and not in distress but I appreciated your gesture," you fired back falling naturally into your usual easy banter. "Thank you, Kolya."

"You shouldn't be thanking me. I did it for a whole selfish reason." His features morphed into seriousness which was usually something he left for meetings or that kind of stuff. Seeing it now directed at you, seriously worried you.

"Since when does Nikolai Lanstov shy away from gratefulness and compliments?" You tried to jest but to no avail.

"I'm serious."

"Alright, so why did you do it? You have tons of other Grisha available."

"Because a world without you is not a world I want to live in."

Well, damn. Trust Nikolai to make you completely speechless.

"That must be the shock talking," you murmured still taken back by his words.

"I've almost lost you, y/n, I'm not going to waste any more time avoiding my feelings." Crossing his arms on his chest, Nikolai lightly shook his head. Damn, there was no smirk on his face, no twinkle in his eyes. He must be serious.

"I should be having an epiphany moment since I was the one who almost died," you protested.

"Feel free to declare your undying love for me then."

"Ass. Now I'm tempted not to do it just to prove you wrong," you glared at him but sighed knowing what you needed to do. "But, as much as it pains me, you're right."

Your eyes flickered between yours and the sheer intensity of them gave you enough confidence to bear your heart to him, "I do love you, you know."

"Well, let's be honest, who wouldn't. I'm amazing," with a careless shrug, Nikolai gestured to himself. Which, of course, made you glare at him.

"Joking, I take it back. You're insufferable." Your mock-annoyance did nothing but amuse him to no end. However untruthful they might be, Nikolai played along with your words. While also progressively leaning closer to you.

"Nope, can't do that love. You signed your destiny, you're mine." You would have retired, of course you would have, but the truth is, his lips were more interesting than any witty comeback ever could.

[lolita-lollipop]

Hizashi and Aizawa kidnapping a young teenage girl, and her bonding and quickly finding comfort with Hizashi, leaving Aizawa to awkwardly attempt at being super soft and all the more gentle to his sensitive little girl, his heart panging with pain every time she flinches or cowers away from him. “You don’t need to be scared of me, kitten.. please”

your little acts of favoritism weren’t necessarily intentional, you hated both of them. they were your brothers teachers, and whoop dee doo, they kidnapped you. but... you liked hizashi more.

it was just something about him that made you believe he was some form of comfort item, probably because he wasnt brooding, and didnt have a mean face, and he was the first human yud ever seen in this place, that all combined into one and he became your rock, your shoulder to cry on. he was just... so nice, although his quirk was loud, somehow he managed to speak softly with you. it was such a bright contrast to at home where two firey blondes always scream at each other, and your father tries to calm it down.

on your first night ever here, you had tried to jump out the window, and were captured by the thick scarves you once admired, hed lectured you, yelled at yiuu even, all you could see were those red eyes of his, and hear his voice. and he scared you, he scared you so much. i guess it justtranslates to now, first impressions are everything, and to you, he looked like a big scary man who would yell at you.

eventually, you stopped caring about how you hated him, or how you wanted to leave, as you clearly never were. so, instead of glaring at them, or crying, you accepted the fact that he was taking care of you. hizashi, hizashi was taking care of you... aizawa though? no way in hell, he was just so... you'd never seen him with a smile, he never tried to talk to you, he just kinda watched you, and it freaked you out, at some point you started believing he was trying to kill you, don't even ask how you came up with that conclusion.

you just couldn't manage to warm up to hi as you'd done so quickly with hizashi, and it showed. you were always tense when alone with him, like he was going to jump out at you any second and stab you, you didnt talk to him , sometimes you felt so anxious around him that you would outright start crying, shaking in some form of fear, or hide yourself under a blanket. although hizashi was proud that you loved him so much, he knew that this was hurting his husband, that his own little girl was scared of him.

so he would always try to coax you into doing things with him, saying things like "can your papa come and help" or "how about we have papa do this with you while I make lunch?", just trying to get him included so you would feel just as comfortable around him as you were with his own self. Sometimes he just left the room to let you have alone time with him. He’d even lectured his husband about how he always looked angry, and that he has to smile form time to time, and not the creepy “I’m gonna kill a villain” smile.

And so Aizawa started trying, not trying to be like hizashi, even that was too much for him, but trying to be nicer, he was a gentle person when he wanted to be, so this came with ease for him, he would tuck you in at night, read you stories, hold you if you cried, feed you, help you bathe (which you usually liked hizashi to do, and in general, inserted himself as a gentle roger in your life. You would expect taht this would work, that because he was so nice to you, because he was so sweet like hizashi, you would accept him as your father.

But nope! Again, first impressions are everything to you, and now, he was written off as the villain of you story, now, you jsut ran off to papa whenever he was around, and didn’t even give him the chance to hang around you, it just made it worse honestly, because now, not only did he look scary, but he also looked fake, which is never good. Every time he would try to if you, you would clutch onto hizashi for dear life, acting like his hand would do nothing but burn you.

Tears would cloud your vision, and he would pulle back, not wanting to cause you any more pain, and jsut stare in. Pure jealousy at his husband, who cooed and gave you a hug.and guess what? You hugged him back, and hid yourself in his chest, willingly, without a fight, without a tear, instead with a smile, most of the times mic wouldn’t interfere, wbatigg ns this to everyone a safe space for you, a place where you should naturally do things, but sometimes, he would give you little bushes int he right direction. Like disappearing completely for my he house so you’ll be forced to talk to Aizawa.

This is one of those times.

Yo been wandering the house for about ten minutes now, waking up form a nap, to find mic absent from his usual place in the rocking chair at your bedside. It was a little after lunchtime, and they’d only given you a small cup of fruit for breakfast (intentional, from mic), you were fairly hungry, and usually he was there to give you food, but you had no idea where he was, you had heard the… other one on the phone in their shared office, but you did not want to talk to him right now.

Aizawa could tell you were awake by the fact that all of the cats were meowing like crazy, and little pattering footsteps had followed his hearing around, mic had left abruptly, probably some little plan of mischief again, he was hizashi after all. He was just waiting for you to either 1: go back to bed, or 2: come to him for help. Mic had specifically told him to follow these rules for after nap time, so he did. And grew progressively more worried as over twenty minutes, trying to read through his students grading work, too distracted by the urge to go find you to accomplish anything.

His worries dissipated though when he saw your little head poking through the door, cat in hand, confused and tired looking, small tears beginning to prick th corners of your eyes, little sniffling sounds left you. His wha specked up form the desk, you’d given up walking around the whole house, your restarting had slowly pent up, you couldn’t manage to find him, and you were so hungry.

“Oh- hey honey, I didn’t know you were up. Do you need something?” He questioned, smiling intently at you, you just inched back into the door frame, breathing heavier by the moment, your hands shook and your head felt like it was going to explode at any point. Youbcontenoajted runnign back to your room and waiting till mic came out where you could hear him, but your stomach grumbled, reminding you how hungry you really are.

“I’m- im looking for daddy. Where is he.” You spoke, a very hushed tone overtook your words, making them almost inaudible for him. His face sunk slowly, he tougher you were actually gonna come for him, but the he remembered taht patience is key, and that he shouldn’t get mad, because it is t your fault taht you’re just a little sensitive, too fragile to handle more than one attachment, he gets it. He jsut at least wanted you to look at him, instead did your little feet, I’m Ayer if you could meet his eyes the. You would see how much he loves you.

“Oh, he left a. Little while ago. Is there something you need from him? Your papa can give him a call if you want, you could even talk to him!” He exclaimed excitedly, plastering that happy smile across his face to seem more inviting, liek mic had told him to do. He stood out of his chair, rounding up the papers and putting them in his file folders.you tried to sink back furthers, almost disappearing behind the doorway, you shook your head aggressively, almost running off, then yet again, your stomach made another noise, and forced you to stay.

“I- no. I’m- im hungry-“ you spluttered, not caring if it was embarrassing that you were stuttering so much, you just wanted food. And calling mic would just get you a lecture on how you could’ve just asked your papa, the same thing would happen whenever you went to uncnecesary lengths to avoid the man, your daddy would make sure you knew that it made him feel bad, while you’d at there bored. Not caring, at all.

“Oh- well you should’ve told me sooner kitten, if I’d known I would be up already. Cmon, let’s go to the kitchen, your daddy made you some food earlier” he spoke, rising from his chair slowly, you cowered slightly as he walked over, clutching the little kitten right to you for comfort, he mewed and snuggled closer, completely asleep. The man sighed when he saw you backing away from his grasp, he knew you were still scared. But he was just so impatient… he was tired of waiting, he wanted to hold you, even if it was jsut foena few minutes. He needed it feel you there with him.

Is he acted quickly, moving in a matter of seconds, he swooped his arm under your leg, and hooked his other around your torso, pulling you straight up into his grasp. Youu huh froze, his hands felt cold as ice on your skin, like they were burning you, immediately after he started walking, it snapped you out of it and you threw a fit. You dig your fingernails into his skin, and kicked and flailed in a panic, still trying to keep the little kitten in your lap safe. A full blown panic washed over you, clogging all your senses.

The dam holding back tears form your eyes crashed, and immediately you were sobbing, biting at his shoulder to let you go, he tried to rub your back to calm you down a bit, but just made it worse, as his hands felt like living anxiety creeping up and down your spine. He didn’t know what to do, let you ride it out, andkk no possibly have you get sick because of how much your crying in an empty stomach? Or let you down and go straight back to square one.

Your veined felt like pure ice had flooded in them, and it felt liek someone was repeatedly jabbing you in the head with tiny needes, fear was jsut so prominent in your sense, it overcame you, and made you whimper and scream.

“Whoah, breath for me alright? I just want to hold you. I’m not going to hurt you okay? I would never hurt you. Kitten… you don’t have to be scared of me” he spoke, trying to keep a proper computers, he wanted to cry with you, he wasn’t a very soft or emotional man but honestly, he was so upset with himself already, this was jsut pushing him for the edge. You cried, and cried, at some point you weren’t even crying and screaming at him, more with him. He held you close, you’d stopped the struggle almost five minutes ago, letting him hold you. It was odd. It almost felt… nice.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m being stupid again” You alien through your remaining little hiccups, shove my your face into his shirt, smelling the woody scent he carried around with him. He cooed, letting you hide yourself from him, savouring this soft moment was of top priorirty in his head… you jsut looked so sweet, so different from those harsh cries that would sound usually whenever he came around.

Who would think, shouts aizawas hand couldn’t feel nice? The same ones that had just been burning you, the ones that made you scream, felt like a breeze on a spring day, he actually felt warm, he felt like happiness, like contentment.

“No hon, it’s not stupid. Your scared. I know that, we all get scared and it’s not a bad thing, I love you, I really, really love you kitten. Just know that” he continued on with his little speech, leaving down to kiss you in the forehead, Jsut to be suprised when you didn’t flinfh, you were too tired to be scared; and too hungry, plus, he was really warm, the cat had pretty much snuggled up to him already, who says you shouldn’t.

“I- um- I love you… to?” You spoke, more of a question than anything, you’d spent so long Harding him that you didn’t know if you even could love him, it didn’t even feel possible, then again, you litterally cling to hizashi like a koala, and your mental state has relaly said “swoopity swoop” and scattered itself everywhere. Maybe having two comfort items was actually better than one… huh.

“Well, let’s go eat then. All taht crying probably made you tired, I’ll let you watch a movie in my office, you can watch pinto again, I know you love taht one. Cmon, let’s go” he spoke, and started walking again, you cuddled closer to him as he did, smiling slightly at the warmth. Hizashi was very extravagant, exiting, and hyper, this man felt very cool, calm, it was such a dark contrast, but it worked so well. You jsut… you Jsut liked it.

Well… now we’ll just have to wait and see who’s the favorite

———————————————————————————————————

Thank you for requesting! It was super fun to write and had me feeling super happy when I finished :)

I’m thinking about doing yandere todoroki family asks, because I’m litterally in love with @i-cant-sing one… so, requests are open for those if you want to put them in (please do I’m begging)

Anywho, have the most wonderful to days today! Goodbye!

[ninjastormhawkkat]

Alex seemed to read Matthew's thoughts. "Gene wanted to give the old place a fresh new start given its history under its previous owner." Matthew fully noted the jab Alex gave him, yet another though came to mind. "Is..Professor Terror still around?" Matthew hesitantly asked. "No he is not." Alex growled. His demeanor calming down a bit when he noticed Becky flinching from his harsh tone. "He is a villain again, but with a different gimmick. He didn't become one on his own free will this time." Alex spoke with a solemn expression. Matthew, Carl, and Steven looked at him with alarm expressions. Tristan interrupted the others while still holding onto Becky and Bob. "It's best for you to see yourselves rather than just explain it. Let's go inside now." Carl and Steven glanced at each other with worry. Carl thought back to Alex's words earlier about how Gene was not in the best condition. 'Was Gene being made into a villain again somehow connected to that?' Carl thought with dread. He really hoped things weren't bad as Alex said they were. Unfortunately he would be proven wrong.

Dr. Two Brains paced around the lair, looking very apprehensive and nervous. He still had so many questions, but he knew he had to wait until Tristan and Alex came back with Bob and those other people. 'I really hate waiting.' Dr. Two Brains thought with a gruff. Near him the chaotic four, Jenkins' boyfriend Joe, Tristan's brother Alan, and his henchmen were staring at the pacing mad scientist with worry and concern. Jenkins didn't want the mad scientist getting worked up again, but he knew there wasn't much to do while they waited for Tristan and Alex to return, so he let the mad scientist pace. Soon the garage door opened up causing everyone to freeze and turn towards the sound. Jenkins soon saw it was Tristan and Alex who were back with the three men and...'Wait a second is that Bob?' Jenkins thought with sudden shock as he could now finally see the monkey that was in Tristan's grasp. The poor monkey looked like Frankenstein's monster with all that stitching and metal stuff poking out from his flesh. A shiver ran down Jenkins' spine, fueled by anger and horror. 'Just what were Becky and Bob put through? What kind of monster would do that to an animal?' Jenkins was so wrapped up in his emotions and thoughts that were focused on Bob, that he didn't notice the fearful and trembling expressions his best friend Archie and boyfriend Joe were displaying as their gaze was focused on one figure in particular. A loud voice soon directed everyone's attention to the little monkey girl that was standing there with Tristan

"B..BECKY!" Dr. Two Brains yelled with elated joy. He couldn't believe it. His daughter was alive! He kicked himself for not recognizing her on the screen earlier. The mad scientist had no idea why she looked more like a monkey now, but he didn't care. 'My pinky's back!' Dr. Two Brains thought joyously. He didn't notice the condition of Bob nor did he pay close attention to the other three men in the room. Dr. Two Brains raced towards his daughter, eager to scoop her up in his arms and hold her close, never letting her out of his sight again. Dr. Two Brains reunion with his pinky was stopped midway when Becky let out a frightened monkey screech. She leaped out of Tristan's grasp and scurried away to hide behind one of the man. Dr. Two Brains stopped in his tracks. His expression filled with confusion and hurt. Why did his pinky run away from him? Why did she look at him with such a terrified and fearful look. Why was she hiding behind one of the.. Dr. Two Brains froze, stunned. He finally got a good look at the man his daughter was cowering behind. "YOU!" Dr. Two Brains growled. On instinct, we immediately whipped out a ray he had on him and aimed it directly towards the man. "I don't know how you got out or what you are doing here, but step away from my pinky right now or I will send you to a cheese filled grave!" Dr. Two Brains gave off a frightening visage. His teeth bared with a fierce and enraged expression. Eye glaring at Matthew filled with anger and hate toward the man who Two Brains had the unfortunate circumstance of sharing genetics with. Matthew blinked with a stunned expression as he now recognized the mad scientist standing before him. "Gene? Is that you?" Matthew spoke with a shocked tone. Dr. Two Brains continued to glare, but a malicious smirk began to form on the corner of his lips. "Sorry Maddrix, Gene's not here right now. But I Dr. Two Brains would be glad to deal with you on his behalf." Dr. Two Brains taunted, letting out a small, evil chuckle. @dualnaturedscientist

Fair City vs The Facility Revised

Matthew felt someone tug at his clothes. He looked down and saw an anthropomorphic monkey girl stare at him with pleading eyes. Matthew sighed. "Really again?" He asked in a slightly annoyed tone of voice. The little girl didn't seem to notice and just nodded her head vigorously. "Okay hop on." Matthew spoke in a defeated tone as he bent down and let the monkey girl climb on his back. The little girl put her arms around Matthew's neck gently but firmly so as to not fall of while he walked. Matthew tenderly got up and began to catch up with the other members of the party who had stopped when they noticed him and the girl lagging a bit behind. "Everything alright?" Carl asked with some concern. Matthew just gave a shrug towards his former partner. "She wanted another piggy back ride. She's probably getting tired again." Matthew stated. He didn't mind giving the strange child a piggy back ride. It brought back fond memories of when he did it with his own kids. But that was back when he was younger and didn't have to walk for so many miles on foot. Carl gave him a sympathetic look. He knew that they were all getting exhausted and a bit hungry as well. It didn't help that he and Matthew were both old men in their sixties. His nephew Steven, the young girl, and the bizarre looking monkey could make it on foot better than they could. Sadly even the youngest members of their group were also feeling the effects of hunger. Unfortunately none of them could right now afford the luxuries of finding a place to stop and eat nor hitchhiking with a kind stranger. For good reasons. They had fled a week and a half ago from a horrible place that could be described as hell on earth. A well hidden lab facility where each of them were taken and basically kept as prisoners. 'Well in Matthew's case it was more of a transfer.' Carl thought. Though deep down he still dreaded to think what would have happened to Matthew if they were still back there. He and Steven were kidnapped and forced to work for that facility twenty years ago. They were treated no better than the prisoners with the exception of not becoming latest test subjects if they behaved. Matthew was transferred there about a month back which was how he met his ex again. Carl was aghast and more enraged with these people. Were his tormentors not only power hungry but also stupid? Carl would soon realize that his views of the facility would be very accurate. Sometime ago an explosion had occurred at the facility. During the chaos and confusion, Matthew broke out and rescued Carl and Steven. None of the trio of men knew what was causing this outbreak until they ran into a young girl. Not only was her abnormal monkey appearance a surprise, but the fact that she was floating in mid air like nothing also caught them off guard. Carl believed he and the others shared the idea that this poor girl had caused the explosion that lead to their escape. Who knows how long she was a prisoner at that awful place. The three men were able to escape with her and were soon joined by a genetically altered monkey who seemed to take particular interest in protecting the child. The group set off to find a way to get to a safer location and far away from that facility as possible. They had to avoid any help out of slight fear of running into people that worked at the facility who survived. It was also difficult to seek aid due to the appearance of the monkey and Matthew who would for sure cause an unnecessary mass panic. Carl also had another mission in mind. He hoped to find the family of the little girl and her monkey friend. That too proved difficult as she couldn't speak in human tongue nor did she seem to understand much of what they said. Carl and the others took note with both anger and sorrow that the young girl and monkey seemed wary and fearful of Carl and Steven at first. Carl didn't realize why until he looked at Steven and his own lab gear. He saw how the girl and monkey seemed to be transfixed in fear at the clothing. @erraticeris @dualnaturedscientist

[xoxo-teddybear]

Nothing But a Bet - Bakugou Katsuki- pt.2

Bakugou x f!reader

Warnings: Angst, Cursing, Fluff, not spell checked

Summary: Bakugou has been so broken. Nothings been the same for him but he’s been doing everything he can to get you back...but when will it be enough to win you back?

BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST

Pt.1 Pt.2

“Hey..Y/N it’s me...please answer your phone.”

“Hi Princess..I saw you during your training session..you did amazing like always..take care of yourself..And I love you.”

“Hi...I was wondering if you wanted to talk about this whole thing...please?”

“Teddy Bear I’m so sorry for what happened but just please let me explain everything before you make any final decisions.”

“Y/N please come back to me.”

“...I miss you.”

Bakugou sent voicemail after voicemail, text after text, and letter after letter. He tried to call you hundreds of times in the past week but they all went straight to voicemail. He tried to reach out to you through social media but you blocked him everywhere. He was lucky that you didn’t block his number. You were both hero trainees and if an emergency were to happen, you would need every resource available and Bakugou might be one of them so you had to keep his number.

Bakugou’s been so fucked for the past week. When you left him that night, he cried into your pillow. He fell asleep in your room to have some sort of comfort that night but awoke to nobody. He looked around the room and saw the previous night’s disaster date and cried some more. He even waited a few more hours in your room before he came to the conclusion that you wouldn’t return until he left. You probably hated his guts right now and Bakugou couldn’t even be mad at you. You had every right but at least let him explain everything. Please.

“Bakugou, you can’t keep doing this every night man.” The red head said. Kirishima had been walking into the common room when he found his friend on the couch again for the 7th night in a row. Bakugou’s been doing everything he can to talk to you but you’ve always brushed him off. Even so, he still waits for you to get back from training every night just in case you would break one day and allow him to speak to you. Unfortunately, that night hasn’t come yet, and Bakugou still waits to hear your voice speak to him.

“....I’m gonna get her back,” Bakugou said as he continued to stare at the door, waiting for it to open.

“But what if she doesn’t want you anymore?” Kirishima argued.

“She does!...I know she does..she left me because I did something stupid, not because she doesn’t feel anything towards me anymore.” Bakugou took a breather as he felt tears pool into his eyes once more. He shook them off before he spoke again. “..She has to still love me...I won’t be the same if she doesn’t.”

Kirishima looked towards his friend with sad eyes as he heard the slight break in his voice. His friend really hasn’t been the same since the horrible breakup and it’s been worrying him. Getting his dream girl back is the only way to fix Bakugou Katsuki.

After a few minutes, the door opens up to reveal your beauty. You walked in to find another waiting Bakugou and watched as Kirishima left as he knew what was coming. You looked at the blonde with a nonchalant face as he ran up to you.

“Y/N! Hey! ...” he never really knew what to say after that. He was always too nervous to say anything else in fear of upsetting you. You rolled your eyes at him before you attempted to walk away but he ran in-front of you to stop you from going. “Uh..do you need help with that?”

He pointed to your workout bag but you just shook your head ‘no’ as you continued to walk but before you could get far, Bakugou spun you around to speak to you again.

“Hey! Did you know..uh, there’s this great new place that opened up. I wanted to know if you want to...um..go there sometime..maybe we could talk about what happened and-“

Before he could continue you walked away again. Bakugou grew frantic as he didn’t know what to do. This would be the 7th night in a row where you just ignore him and he doesn’t know if he could go through with more disappointment tonight. He could feel himself begin to shake as his heart grew nervous. Out of fear he grabbed onto your hand before you could get away. You didn’t turn to face him but you did allow him to continue.

“Please don’t go...please talk to me and please let me explain everything. I miss you so much Teddy Bear and I lov-“

Your body stilled for a second and you ran away to your room before he could finish that sentence. You couldn’t forgive him. Not yet. You ran with tears in your eyes as you tried to shake away the thoughts filling your heard. You left behind a crying Bakugou as he watched you run away. He didn’t even try to go after you. He knew it wouldn’t make any difference. He dropped his head and sniffled as he allowed the tears to fall. He walked his way back to his dorm and cried into his own pillow when he checked the time. 9:14. It was a school night and he had to get up early tomorrow. He would have to try again the next day. And so again, with a heavy heart, he went to bed without his Teddy Bear in his arms.

—

It was morning. Another day another sad Katsuki. The blonde rose out of bed with tired bags under his eyes. He looked horrible and anyone could see that. Shit just hasn’t been the same for him. Not without her. He got up and got dressed in his school uniform and went straight to class. He just had to see you again. The more he saw you, the more chances he got at getting you back.

Bakugou didn’t really have a plan on how to get Y/N back. He just worked and tried everything he could on the spot once he saw you. Once he sat down in his seat, he awaited for your arrival. You always came in pretty early and so the second you walked in he was up on his feet.

“Y/N! Hey!”

You watched as the blonde came up to you. You looked around and noticed there were only a few students in the room. So even though this would probably hurt you in the end, you decided to drop the silent treatment.

“.....Hi..Bakugou,” you said as you both continued to stand. You gave him a quick smile before dropping it and looking everywhere but at him. Bakugou smiled at the sound of your voice and grew excited.

“..Uh- I was wondering..if you wanted to..train after school? You know like we used to?” You looked at him with a raised brow and crossed arms. Did he really think you would wanna train with him?

“It’s just- I noticed you’re reflexes have been a little off,” at that you raised both brows at him and that’s when he panicked and began rambling, “no, no, no, no! I didn’t mean it like that! You’re great! Amazing! You always are dumbass- Y/N! I meant Y/N...yeah..yeah but the point is-“

“Okay, if I say yes will you let me go to my seat?” You quickly asked.

“YES! Ehem, mm, I mean yes. Yes, I’d like that very much and I will let you..take your...your seat...” he said awkwardly but surely. You just nodded your head slowly and walked by him. Bakugou quickly and silently celebrated behind your back but stopped once you looked at him. Seeing him all excited just to hang out with you made you laugh to yourself but you quickly shut that down as you remembered who it was you were laughing at but your smile and laughter didn’t go unnoticed by the blonde. He sat down in his seat and continued to stare at you like a happy puppy.

Soon enough, more students came into the room. The bell finally rang and Aizawa walked in to let class begin. Time went by and eventually, lunch came and you can definitely guess that Bakugou, once again, tried to get you to sit with him. This time, instead of ignoring him, you simply said “no,” and kept walking.

This of course put Bakugou into a mood but he didn’t want to be stingy. You had already agreed to train with him and you always kept to your word. He was grateful but he couldn’t hide the sadness on his face.

He and the rest of the Bakusquad sat at their table and spoke amongst each other but they of course noticed their sad friend. Now everyone knew Bakugou and Y/N had broken up but only Kirishima had known why. So questions came up and Kirishima thought it would be a wise idea for Bakugou’s other friends to help.

“What’s up with McBlasty?” Sero asked, not even earning a snarl from Bakugou at the crude nickname. “Still not over the breakup?”

“It’s not a breakup!” Bakugou countered. “It’s just...a break okay?”

“Right, cuz a break involves her giving you the cold shoulder,” Mina added on. “What happened to you guys anyway? You seemed like the perfect couple.”

Bakugou cringed at her words. They were the perfect couple. And he missed his perfect girlfriend. He looked towards Kirishima to see that he was giving him the same look he always did when it came to the Bakusquad. He wanted him to tell them the truth. Bakugou sighed as he realized it was probably time for them to know.

“Y/N left me because she found out about the bet.”

Kaminari and Sero looked at each other in shock and fear. They remember exactly what happened. They were speaking on their relationship and the bet when they heard Y/N’s door slam shut. They realized she probably heard what they had said but assumed everything would be okay! They didn’t think it would cause a breakup! But who knows!? Maybe Bakugou was speaking of a different bet.

“Umm..what bet?” Kaminari asked but Bakugou only looked at him with a confused face. How could he not remember?

“The bet we made almost a year ago. The bet that ruined my perfect relationship with the love of my life. The bet that you gave me! You know? The bet where you told me to date Y/N and not fall in love with her, which I obviously failed.” Bakugou said as he straightened up at the memory. He noticed how the two idiots remained oddly silent and how they looked like they were cowering (more than usual) at the sight of him. “Why’re you acting like that?”

The boys stayed silent before Sero spoke up. “Bakugou..we have something to tell you.”

At the tall boy’s words, the whole table gave him their attention but Kaminari only looked at him with wide eyes, hinting at him to stop what he was about to do. Sero only punched Kaminari in the shoulder as the electric blonde finally gave in.

“Bakugou,” Kaminari said, “Sero and I are the reason why Y/N found out it was a bet.”

In that moment, Bakugou’s face dropped. His eyes grew wide and silence grew around the table. Bakugou’s face went from extreme shock to extreme anger. He quickly stood up and went to attack the two boys but Kirishima was quick to hold him back.

“Let go of me!!!” Bakugou screamed.

“Bakugou! You need to relax!” Kirishima realized he wouldn’t be able to hold Bakugou back himself and called for reinforcements. “Midoriya! Todoroki!”

The two boys came running and at once glance at the situation, they knew what they had to do. Midoriya and Todoroki grabbed onto Bakugou, hooking their arms under his shoulders while Kirishima stood front. The whole scene grabbed everyone’s attention, including Y/N’s.

“This is all your fault!” Bakugou screamed with slight tears in his eyes. “I lost Y/N because of you idiots! All because you couldn’t keep your mouths shut?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Bakugou said fighting against his human restraints.

“We’re sorry! We didn’t know she heard us! It’s not like we intentionally tried to ruin you two! It was an accident!” Kaminari said behind the protection of Mina.

“I DONT GIVE A FUCK! You fucking idiots ruined everything for me!” Bakugou said as his hands began to spark. He sent an explosion their way but Y/N was quick to react and get in the middle. She used her quirk to stop his explosion and everyone settled once they saw her.

“Y/N...” Bakugou whispered out as he stopped fighting. He stood still but the three boys still kept their hold on him just in case.

“It doesn’t matter how I found out or who told me Bakugou. The only thing that matters is that you and Kaminari used me as part of a bet. Do you understand that I felt like I was just a piece of a game?” Y/N explained.

“But you’re not Y/N! You’re so much more than that!” Bakugou argued.

“So then why was I even considered to be part of that bet?” You asked. The entire room grew silent as Bakugou let his tears fall. He had no answer for you. “Right.”

You picked up your bag and walked by the group, Bakugou never taking his eyes off of you. “I’ll see you in the gym later, Bakugou.” And with that, you walked off.

Bakugou shoved the 3 boys off of him as he glared at Kaminari and Sero. The boys kept their heads down as a way of apologizing to their friend but they realized they would have to do much more than that to truly make it up to their friend. As the bell rang and everyone was dismissed, Kaminari and Sero walked out together and discussed their apology plan.

—

Bakugou had skipped out on the rest of the day. He didn’t know if he would be able to hold himself back if he saw Kaminari or Sero again. He had decided he would give himself some time to cool off before he had to meet with Y/N in the gym.

At that memory he decided it was best for him to look on the bright side. He got to train with Y/N again. It would be just like old times and who knows? Maybe she’ll finally listen to him and what he has to say. Maybe she’ll take him back. Bakugou had set an alarm for himself and in the meantime took the opportunity to rest up.

—

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *click!*

Bakugou woke up from his nap and looked at the time. 1:55 p.m. Just about 20 minutes for him to get ready and meet with Y/N in gym gamma. He got up, changed into a sleeveless hoodie, sweats, and some combat boots. He grabbed his gym bag and went down to find Y/N.

Just as he stepped out of the dormitory he saw Y/N walking his way. Was he still dreaming or is that actually his dream girl walking up towards him.

“Hey, Bakugou, at least wait for me to get ready.” You said while hooking both your arms. Bakugou held a shocked expression as he looked down at where you both were linked and looked back up towards you.

“Uh..H-Hey Y/N! Uh..sorry, did you want me to wait for you?” He said still shocked.

“Uhhh yeah? I won’t take that long, c’mon Blasty.” You said so naturally as you dragged him to your room. Bakugou blushed at the old nickname but smiled as he was quick to walk by your side. On the way to your dorm, he tried to make small talk and this time you actually spoke back! You laughed with him (or more so at his shaky and nervous behavior) and smiled more. He waited for you on the outside to get ready and you guys walked back to the gym. Again, on the way there you both had fun loving conversations. It was almost like nothing changed.

You both entered the gym and began stretching.

“So what exactly is the problem with my reflexes, Blasty?” You asked while stretching. Bakugou froze mid stretch as he realized he lowkey disrespected Y/N by saying her reflexes had faltered. And he didn’t even mean it! He just said it because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Umm...you know...I’m not saying that- that there’s something wrong with your reflexes. You’re perfect!” He laughed out but froze at what he said again. He snapped his head towards you and saw you paused your stretching to give him a look. “No! Not perfect! Your reflexes are perfect! You know? You’re not perfect, your reflexes are!”

Again, you gave him another look and he froze up again. “No, no, no! I mean-“

“You just wanted to get me in here with you?”

“Yup.”

“Mm,” you said as you nodded your head and continued warming up. Bakugou sighed as he dropped his head back and groaned towards the ceiling. He hated how being around you now turned him into a pile of bleh.

You guys finally began a little sparring match. Bakugou may be a mess around you but you can always be sure that he has his head in the game. You were always a calm, cool, and collected person no matter what happened so your fight style never weakened.

You and Bakugou had been going on for awhile. You threw punches, kicks, and quirks and it was 3 to 2, with you in the lead. You guys had several rounds with different rules. No quirks, quirks only, stealth matches, and even a no rules battle.

Finally, it was the last fight and you and Bakugou were clearly exhausted. Bakugou wanted to end it now due to exhaustion and so he ran towards you and pounced. You failed to stop him and just allowed him to drop you. You both ended up tumbling around until he finally pinned you down with his face close to your.

“I-.....I win...” he said with a tired but victorious grin. He stared at your face as you did that cute little nose-scrunch thing that he loved whenever he beat you.

“What-...whatever. I let you win..Blasty,” you breathed out as he just laughed at you. You began to laugh too and you both stayed there for a little until his gaze remained on yours. You both stared at each other in awe and want as Bakugou released his hold on your wrist and placed his hands on the ground at the side of your head. He leaned in a little and you allowed your hands to wrap around his neck. You pulled him in until your lips met and softly danced across each other.

Bakugou slightly opened his eyes to look down at you and smiled as he realized you finally gave in. He closed his eyes once more and just enjoyed the moment. The kiss would’ve gone on forever if the need for oxygen didn’t exist. You both separated with a hazy look in your eyes. A string of saliva connected you both as your heavy breaths grew and a blush covered across your faces.

“..heh...” was all that Bakugou said as he sat up on his knees and allowed you to sit straight. He sat down next to you as silence filled the room. “Soo...that happened..”

You remained silent as the blush on your face remained and you got lost in thought. Bakugou looked at you in concern as he thought you were regretting the kiss until you spoke up.

“...I’ve missed you Katsuki....and...I forgive you.”

Bakugou’s eyes went wide as he smiled. He stood up and brought you along with him. He picked you up and held you in his arms as he spun you around. You squealed in excitement and joy as Katsuki held you tight and once he placed you on the ground again, he gave you a quick kiss.

“I’m not saying I don’t like whats happening but...why?” He asked with a smile and confused look in his eyes. You only smiled at him and settled down before you spoke.

“..Sero and Kaminari came and talked to me. They told me everything.” Bakugou’s eyes went wide at the mention of the two morons who ruined his relationship. But he smiled as he realized they were the reason you were talking to him again. He would have to thank their dumbasses later. “They’ve been telling me how upset you’ve been and how you actually did love me.” You explained.

“Did and still do,” he corrected and you laughed at his reply.

“Right. Anyway, I’m not gonna lie, it was wrong for you to place a bet on me but..you spent almost a whole year with me..and they told me it was only supposed to be for a few weeks. I guess that means...”

“That I really do love you? That I really do want to be with you for the rest of my life? That I do need you in my life as mine to be sane? Yeah, I know.” He laughed as he wrapped him arms around your waist and held you closer while you giggled back.

“Heh..yeah.” You said. Bakugou pressed his forehead against yours as you both reveled in the comforting feeling of each other. You stayed in the loving embrace of his arms as you smiled even more.

“I’m so sorry for doing that to you, Y/N. I should’ve never placed some stupid bet on you but I’m kinda glad I did....it brought me to the perfect one for me. I really, really love you, Teddy Bear.”

Bakugou softly kissed the crown of your head as he whispered loving words to you.

“You’re mine again.”

“Yeah Suki..I’m yours.”

A/N: I’m sorry if the ending felt rushed😖 I feel like this could’ve been better but I think im reaching a writer’s block. 

[osamustar]

i saw your reqs were open, so can i request michael with an underweight gf? (if your comfortable w it obviously!) i dont see many hcs like this tbh :(

either smut and/or fluff is fine! btw i love your headcanons your literally so good at writing them??

My first request! Ahh, so exciting. Thank you so much, I try to make him act like he does in the movies to the best of my ability. This will purely be fluff, my first one at that. Thank you for the amazing request! I’m a thick woman myself, so I tried my best with what I know.

Michael with an Underweight Girlfriend

NO TRIGGER WARNINGS CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK

You were extremely small and fragile.

All of your clothes were baggy to hide your small figure, making you appear bigger.

When Michael first saw you he felt pity. You were like glass. A single touch and you’d shatter.

He saw how insecure you were, how you hid yourself from the world. Arms wrapped around your body, ashamed.

He felt the need to kill you, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

He understood you.

All you wanted to do was hide in your large clothes. Michael hid behind a mask.

People shunned you for who you were. Michael was hated and misunderstood by the entire town.

He could read every single emotion and thought in your eyes as you cowered beneath him. Fear mostly, but he could see desire. You wanted him to kill you.

He lowered his knife, letting it clatter against the ground. He kneeled down to your level, his head tilting to the side as he lifted your chin. You sniffled, looking right into his eyes. You were shaking, lip quivering.

“Just kill me… No one will notice. Y-You can get away with it…”

Michael didn’t kill you that night. No matter how hard you cried out wishing that he did. He dragged you out of that hell hole of a house, and took you in as his own.

He killed everyone that had ever said anything to hurt you. Including your parents. Who were they to constantly shun you? They were no family, that’s for sure.

Michael developed feelings for you. Something he didn’t think he was capable of. Something about you was special. Perhaps it was the mutual understanding of each other that you two held?

Michael asked you out through a small piece of paper, that had awful chicken scratch writing.

“Be girlfriend?” It read.

Well how could you say no to that?

Throughout the relationship Michael learned many things.

For one, watch how much force he uses when handling you.

If he were any normal man, it would be no issue.

You were so light, Michael almost threw you several times trying to pick you up. You would always laugh it off, but sometimes it made you sad.

Michael helped you realize that it was out of your control. It was not your fault that he was so unnaturally strong. And it wasn’t your fault that you were your size. It was something he could get used to. Something he wanted to get used to. For you.

He learned to be a gentle giant.

When he first saw you without baggy clothes he was surprised. You were so beautiful. He just couldn’t take his eyes off of you.

This boosted your ego.

You started wearing tighter clothes around him. He was quite thankful, being able to stare at your beauty all day.

Michael could read your mind. He would immediately know when you were sad. He would come running to the rescue.

He couldn’t have his beloved feeling down. It was against his rules.

Whatever you needed, you got it.

Michael would help you eat.

Three meals a day, no less.

Don’t refuse to eat. He’ll force it down your throat one way or another.

He wasn’t the most amazing cook, but he managed.

You enjoyed it nonetheless.

You got cold easily.

Solution? Michael was a literal human heater.

He would bury you guys underneath all of the blankets on the bed, and hold you close to him.

Don’t expect much more, his brain is already hard at work trying it’s best to show affection.

You got sick easily.

Michael would keep his hands clean at all times to keep this from happening. He would never go near you after a night out. He made sure to shower first.

Yes, he started showering for you.

Michael would try his hardest to take care of you while maintaining his distance. Poor baby’s hustling.

Hope you like canned chicken noodle soup, because that’s all you’re gonna get.

When you and Michael got more serious, you discussed having children with him.

He thought this was a great idea. A child? With you? You would make the best mother, he thought.

This was quickly shut down after you talked to your doctor.

You came home, broken. Michael had no clue what was going on. Why were you so hurt? What news could you possibly bear that led to this.

You couldn’t have children. At least not at your weight. It was too far of a risk for the baby.

Adoption was an option, until you realized Michael was a literal serial killer. He had to hide. He couldn’t just show up with you to the center and pretend to be a worthy guardian. He couldn’t even speak for fuck’s sake.

Michael ended up getting you a cat to help with your depression.

And then another.

And another…

You had three furry babies now. Three furry babies that helped you forget the sadness you held from being incapable of having a baby.

If anything, they were the same as having a child. They cry when they’re hungry, you clean their piss and shit, and you have to play with them.

Well, pretty close.

Michael was jealous of the babies. You had so much love and attention for them. He tried long and hard to lose the jealousy, but it never left.

You took notice to this, and started making sure he had enough of you before tending to the felines.

He never had enough of you. He was addicted.

He loved you.

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

The Hell he’s been through;

The Knights have no clue of the suffering Merlin has endured… until one day, they do.

TW: Scars, panic attacks, nightmares, PTSD except they don’t have a word for that, non-graphic description of scars/injuries

Part 2(final part)

It was the height of summer, the bright blue sky was utterly free of clouds and the noon sun beat viciously down onto the training field.

Only the central six knights, their King, and Merlin braved the exhausting heat, the other knights had chosen to train later in the day, when it was cooler, so the field was empty of anyone else. Merlin was sat cross-legged in the shade of a tree, jacket and neckerchief removed (not that Arth- anyone noticed. Definitely not.), though his sleeves were still pulled low over his wrists and his tunic was fastened high up his neck. Despite that, the lack of an extra layer definitely displayed Merlin’s surprisingly broad shoulders more than normal (another thing that Ar-no one noticed). 

The knights were shirtless, despite Merlin’s warning of sunburn, sparring semi-playfully with wooden dummy swords, the type squires train with, and no armour.

Merlin rubs absent-mindedly at the dull, almost gone ache in his ribs, just below his armpit, as he rolls his shoulder. The injury, if it could even be called that, had never been serious and hadn’t even hurt that much when he’d gotten it on the last patrol (a stray mace swing from a bandit just clipped him), at least, not compared to other injuries he’s sustained over the years, but it was an annoyance that made his shoulder stiff on occasion.

Unfortunately, the movement caught Arthur’s eye, and the King frowns, stopping his observation of Elyan and Mordred’s spar to lay a crudely hidden concerned gaze upon his manservant. 

He’d fussed endlessly when he found that Merlin had bandaged his own torso after the fight, demanding that he let someone help next time; Merlin just rolled his eyes at that. The other knights had wisely chosen not to comment, knowing that the attack, and Merlin’s subsequent injury, had already put Arthur in a bad enough mood; though admittedly, the only thing stopping Gwaine from ruthlessly taking the piss out of Arthur’s mother-hen tendencies all the way home was Percival harshly clamping a hand over his mouth and pushing him away.

Merlin looks up to see Arthur staring at him, and the King quickly covers his concern with a look of annoyance when the manservant raises an eyebrow:

“If you’re not going to do anything useful Merlin, get up here, you clearly can’t be trusted to even cower effectively, so you’re going to have to learn to defend yourself.”

Merlin’s eyebrow just rises higher as the rest of the knights’ attention is drawn to the conversation. Lancelot and Mordred hide knowing smiles, well aware than Merlin was more than capable of defending himself, if he really needed to. Gwaine went to open his mouth with teasing grin, though quickly pouts when Percival punches him on the shoulder, and Leon and Elyan smirk at each other before moving their amused gazes to Arthur.

When Merlin doesn’t move, just stares at him disbelievingly, Arthur rolls his eyes and gestures at the half-empty rack of wooden swords:

“Come on, Merlin, up on your feet, grab a sword.”

Merlin just snorts in amusement and shakes his head, settling back against the tree trunk even more:

“Absolutely not. I can handle myself just fine, thank you very much.”

The knights (bar Lancelot and Mordred of course) raise their own eyebrows. Gwaine snorts out loud, stepping up next to Arthur and dropping an overly-friendly hand on his shoulder, much to The King’s displeasure:

“I know you can hold your own in a tavern brawl Merls, but that’s not the same thing as facing bandits and assassins and shit. Princess is right, it might be worth it for you to at least know how to use a sword.”

Arthur turns an accusing gaze on Gwaine, shrugging his hand off as he says:

“And I presume all the tavern brawls Merlin has apparently been getting into are your fault?”

Gwaine grimaces slightly before shrugging with a smirk, and Merlin hides his laughter with a cough before inserting:

“Entirely his fault. Gwaine starts the fights, promptly passes out, and I have to finish them.”

Arthur laughs incredulously; Mordred has to hide the angry clench of his jaw and Lancelot has to hide his sorrow when Arthur replies in a taunting tone:

“I’m meant to believe that you are regularly winning Gwaine’s unfinished fights, am I?”

Merlin shrugs in mock defeat, a grin on his face:

“Believe what you want, Sire, I’ve faced worse than you lot and come out singing, I don’t need training.”

Arthur resists the urge to smirk at the appealing way Merlin manages to make his title sound insulting, and he instead raises his eyebrows:

“You’re not getting out of this, Merlin. I can’t have you bruising yourself every time we leave the city.”

Merlin takes in a deep breath, settling a disconcertingly assessing gaze on The King for a few moments before he sighs and stands up, walking towards the equipment and picking up a sword before turning back to Arthur:

“I suppose you’re right, I doubt any of the other servants would be willing to put up with you if I got too injured. Who would you like me to spar, My Lord?”

Arthur scoffs and shakes his head as the others step back, looking upon the whole scene with fond amusement, bar, once again, Lancelot and Mordred, who are looking an odd mix between concerned and proud. They know that Merlin is capable of more than he lets on, even with a wooden blade.

“You can’t spar with any of us, Merlin, that would be far too dangerous. We’ll start with some basic moves, and then maybe we can move on to a slow, choreographed spar.”

Merlin twirls the sword expertly in his hand, and he’s vaguely away of Gwaine nodding approvingly and Leon raising an eyebrow out the corner of his eye, though he pays them no mind, raising an eyebrow of his own at Arthur:

“Surely starting with a simple spar will tell you my exact skill levels so you can tailor the lessons? You need to know how crap I am before we start.”

Lancelot hides a snort behind a hand, knowing full well that Merlin is just trying to goad Arthur into letting the servant show off his skills without too much effort beforehand. Or without giving Arthur the satisfaction of thinking that he was the one who taught Merlin how to fight. Thankfully, Arthur takes Lance’s snort as a teasing one aimed at Merlin, as opposed to what it really is, so waves him into the ring with a smirk.

Merlin just rolls his eyes, moving to stand opposite his best friend and muttering, just loud enough for everyone to hear:

“Fine, but I’m not taking my shirt off, I’m not as arrogant as you lot.”

Lancelot widens his eyes as Arthur freezes, dread growing in his stomach at the knowledge that The King would take that as a challenge. Arthur turns slowly, a shit-eating grin on his face, and Lancelot grimaces as Arthur claps his hands together:

“Right! I wasn’t going to mention it, but you do have a point, Merlin, if you are to train, you must train as one of us. Come on, tunic off.”

Elyan, Percival, and Gwaine just laugh, but Leon rolls his eyes exasperatedly, and Mordred and Lancelot frown in concern. Neither of them have seen Merlin’s scars in their entirety before, but knowing about the servant’s secret second life had definitely made them more observant than the others, and they had seen hints of old injuries here and there. That’s not even mentioning the times he’s shown up in their chambers, bloody and bruised and in need of treatment, but not wanting to worry Gaius.

Merlin just flushed and stared at him indignantly and Arthur’s teasing grin grew:

“Don’t be shy, Merlin, I’m sure whatever horrific mole or ugly birth mark you’re ashamed of isn’t that bad.”

Merlin rolls his eyes, stepping away from Arthur when he moves towards him. The demand to de-robe, even partially, had immediately put him on edge, and he had gone from playfully annoyed to genuinely irate in a split second. He crosses his arms over his chest protectively when Arthur gestures at him demandingly:

“I don’t have a weird mole, Arthur, you Clotpole, but unlike you lot, I’m not all that keen to show off my old scars.”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Merlin was hoping that mentioning his scars in passing would appeal to the knights’ warrior sides, would make them sympathetic to his… shy-ness. It did not. It just made them laugh, even Leon, and they all began to point out various scars they had on their chests and back, remarking that he couldn’t have worse than them. 

Gwaine twisted to the side, patting a pink, jagged circle halfway down his back, a grin on his face:

“This beauty is from when I propositioned a lovely fella who was, apparently, already taken. Man’s wife smashed her bottle on the counter and damn near took my eye out with it.”

Elyan cackles at Gwaine’s story, pointing to a perfectly square burn on his shoulder-blade:

“Yeah, well at least you didn’t fall back into a red hot brand at the ripe old age of fifteen because a girl smiled at you.”

Merlin’s back-up plan, which was sneakily sulking off whilst the knights compared their most embarrassing scars, was cut short basically immediately when he heard Arthur yell out:

“Absolutely not, Merlin, I’ve already told you that you’re not getting out of this. Tunic off, spar Lancelot.”

Merlin huffs, annoyed, feeling rather like he was backed into a corner, and Mordred walks forward, to be between him and The King, quietly saying:

“You don’t have to Merlin, just fight with it on.”

Arthur narrows his eyes in suspicion, but before he can say anything, Merlin squares his shoulders and looks at him defiantly, dropping his sword to the floor as he begins unlacing his tunic, his words coming out harshly, his tone dark:

“No, no it’s fine. The King wants to see my scars, and we all know that The King gets whatever he wants.”

The smiles melt rather quickly off the knights’ faces as Merlin speaks, and Arthur flinches slightly at his tone, starting to realise with just a little guilt that maybe this wasn’t funny anymore. He opens his mouth to take it back, to tell Merlin that he was only teasing and he could keep the tunic on if he really wanted to, but before any words come out, Merlin is gripping the collar of his shirt, pulling it over his head swiftly and screwing it up before tossing it to the side, not once breaking his stare on the now pale King.

Arthur lets out a sharp breath at the patchwork of scars that cover Merlin’s chest, and he’s vaguely aware of the various low cries and gasps of outrage coming from the knights behind him. There are so many, some are large and some are small, some look to be from clumsiness, but others look like they should have been fatal. Arthur’s eyes can’t focus on just one, he’s barely taking in each scar before his gaze is drawn to another, and then another, and then another; it’s a little overwhelming, and it’s only when he starts to feel a little woozy that he remembers to breath.

When he finally comes to the conclusion that his brain isn’t going to able to process this for a while, he looks up to Merlin’s face, instead taking in his resolute expression and hard eyes:

“Merlin, what… what happened to you?”

Merlin raises a slow, mocking eyebrow before breaking his statue-like stillness and picking his sword up again, turning to face a distraught looking Lancelot. This movement only reveals the second mosaic of scars covering his back, but he speaks over the next round of gasps and muffled curses, his tone still unbearably dark as he gestures Lance to get into position:

“I told you, I’ve faced worse than you lot and come out singing.”

The knights are so distracted by the myriad of scars covering Merlin’s torso that it takes the servant’s first harsh, well-aimed blow with his sword to break them out of their stupor. They watch the ensuing spar with morbid fascination, finding that not only can Merlin hold his own, he’s winning. Lancelot loses his breath and rhythm much quicker than Merlin does, and the fast-paced spar only lasts around three minutes before Merlin lands a strong punch to the centre of Lance’s chest and the knight stumbles back in shock, lowering his sword just enough for Merlin to step forward and trip him up.

The scarred servant’s chest rises and falls deeply, but not too rapidly as he lowers his sword and offers a hand down to the beaten knight. Lancelot takes it with a slightly shocked smile, patting Merlin on the shoulder as he stands. Merlin flinches away from the touch, no one misses it, clearly not too fond of people touching his bare skin, and Lance drops his hand rapidly, frowning only briefly before he smiles again:

“Bloody hell, Merlin. I knew you were good, but not that good.”

Merlin gives him a strained smile, grateful for the distraction. Everyone sees the moment Merlin’s mask goes up again; he gives Lance a smug grin and twirls his sword once again as he shrugs mockingly:

“I’ve been watching you lot train for ten years, and I’ve been in a few sword fights in my time. I picked up a few things.”

Arthur finally reacts, scoffing as he shakes his head in disbelief, scars momentarily forgotten:

“There’s no way that you can- that was a fluke.-”

He looks smug as he says it, like he’s figured out some great secret, and Mordred lets out a low, annoyed growl; no one notices thankfully, but Merlin shoots him a quick frustrated line across their mental link:

“Please try not to antagonise him any further.”

Mordred looks to him, keeping his face blank as he nods almost imperceptibly. Lancelot and Gwaine look openly disapproving of Arthur’s assertion, but Leon, Percival, and Elyan look almost convinced. Arthur nods decisively, picking up his sword once again and waving it in Merlin’s direction:

“-My turn. And once I’ve beaten you, you’re going to tell us about all of… that.”

Merlin’s eye twitches, but he doesn’t say anything, just nods slightly as he holds a placating hand out in Lancelot’s direction when it becomes obvious that his best friend is going to start trying to defend him.

Arthur takes Lancelot’s place in the ring and Merlin grips his sword tightly, his shoulders tense and his face showing only mild annoyance, despite the anger that Lancelot and Mordred were sure was simmering under his façade. At Arthur’s nod, Leon reluctantly counts them in, and the match begins.

This one is somehow even more fast-paced, though no one is surprised. The last ten minutes had caught Arthur extremely off-guard. An off-guard Arthur is a grumpy Arthur, and a grumpy Arthur is, unfortunately, still the type to take his frustrations out on others. Arthur wasn’t good at dealing with his emotions, meaning the disturbing mix of horror, guilt, and anger at Merlin’s scars, slight… shock, (because he refuses to call it anything else) at his deceptively strong physique, and surprise that apparently his servant can take out one of his best knights without all that much effort, all together have The King bursting with adrenaline. 

He throws blow after blow, but Merlin’s defence is incredibly strong, and Arthur has yet to land a hit anywhere other than the opposing sword. After a couple of minutes, Merlin switches styles, and Arthur almost trips when he realises his servant has, in the space of a second, gone from fighting like Arthur, to fighting like Leon. The knights notice it as well; Gwaine lets out a low whistle and Elyan smacks Leon on the shoulder, pointing incredulously at a sequence of complicated footwork that usually only the First Knight can manage so gracefully. Apparently Merlin can do it too.

Arthur adapts to this quickly; Leon was his sparring partner most often, meaning that he was accustomed to switching between their styles, and they were the most similar fighters in all the group. 

Another minute passes, and the pair still don’t slow, seemingly unbothered by their dumbfounded audience and the sweltering heat, and this time Merlin suddenly starts fighting more like Gwaine. Instead of staying on the defensive and trying to trip Arthur up, he goes on the attack, landing heavier and heavier hits as The King barely manages to defend himself in time.

Merlin is quickly growing tired, his stamina not nearly as good as Arthur’s, but The King grows complacent, even with the vicious pace, certain that he just has to wait Merlin out. He was wrong. Arthur finally gets an attack of his own in but Merlin dives to the side instead of blocking it, rolling and coming up to Arthur’s left before the blonde has time to regain his balance and turn around. He freezes in place when Merlin touches his wooden sword to the side of Arthur’s neck. He can feel it shaking, but it’s undoubtedly a killing blow, and when Merlin drops the sword to the floor in favour of bending over, one hand on his knee and the other on his side again as he pants, Arthur turns around faster than he thinks he’s ever moved before:

“How the fuck did you do that?”

Merlin is vaguely aware of the knights all clapping and shouting encouragement at him, but he doesn’t look up, just waves dismissively in Arthur’s direction:

“I told you, I’ve been watching you lot train for years. It’s easy to imitate you after a little practice.”

Arthur just stares at him in disbelief, but Leon hands the servant a water-skin, ripping his gaze from the whip marks on his back with clenched teeth before schooling his tone and face into something more friendly:

“Merlin, you switched styles twice in as many minutes… you beat the best swordsman in the Kingdom after already being tired from another spar, that’s… that’s incredible.”

Merlin drinks the entire skin as Leon speaks, looking up with another playful mask on his face:

“Well believe me, I’m so sore I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do it again.”

Merlin’s smile drops when he realises everyone is back to staring at him, more specifically, his scars. He steps away from the curly-haired knight, who furrows his brows in concern and resists the urge to reach a comforting hand out to him. Merlin crosses his arms over his chest defensively, hunching his broad shoulders slightly as he frowns at the floor.

Lancelot quickly throws his tunic to him, and Merlin scrambles to pull it on as quickly as possible, but before he can even get his arms through the right holes, Arthur snatches it away, a stern, angry look on his face. Though every one of then can see the badly hidden concern as well:

“No, you agreed to tell us.”

Merlin makes a move for his tunic, but Arthur jumps out of his reach. The servant huffs, annoyed and close to tears all of a sudden as he petulantly replies:

“Actually, you said once you beat me, I had to tell you. I won.”

Arthur raises an eyebrow, taking another step back:

“I’m happy to go another round if you are, Merlin?”

Merlin glares at him angrily for another few moments before completely sagging, staring at the floor with sad, tired eyes as his arms drop to dangle at his sides. Arthur and the knights are completely taken aback at Merlin’s sudden change of disposition, though it heartbreakingly strikes them as less of a change and more of a... reveal. A reveal of some kind of sadness that’s been there all along. How did they not notice this??

Arthur’s breath hitches and his tight clutch on Merlin’s tunic loosens slightly as he all but whispers:

“Merlin... who did this to you?”

Merlin finally looks up at him, letting out a humourless chuckle as he rakes a hand through his sweat-dampened hair roughly:

“Does it matter? Most of them are dead, I-”

His eyes narrow and his voice lowers. The knights hear it nonetheless:

“... I made sure of that .”

Arthur lets out a huff of frustration, not bothering to hide the desperation in his eyes as he pleads:

“Please, Merlin, you’re my... subject, you’re meant to be under my protection. And don’t lie, none of these are more than eleven or twelve years old at most and you got here ten years ago, so they happened in Camelot, under my watch. Please, Merlin.”

Merlin sighs, walking towards the tree’s shade once again. For a moment Arthur panics, thinking he’d pushed Merlin too far as he turned away, knowing that if this conversation wasn’t had now, their relationship would never be the same. But before The King can say anything, the servant slumps back into place against the tree trunk, sitting cross-legged again and biting his lip as he looks at Arthur expectantly.

Before anyone else can move, Mordred and Lancelot take the places either side of Merlin, sitting protectively close. Lance gives Mordred a pointed look, to which the younger knight nods before settling a blank expression on the side of Merlin’s head. Merlin doesn’t look back at him, but pats the knight’s knee as the corner of his mouth turns up briefly in a barely-there smile.

Arthur narrows his eyes, but stores that odd exchange in the back of his mind to deal with at a later date before sitting across from Merlin; the other knights look to each other, worried, before settling in the empty spaces to complete the circle. The group is silent for a while, all staring at a statue-still Merlin who in turn is staring at the grass in front of him; he doesn’t move even when Lancelot brings his hand into his lap, stroking his thumb over the servant’s knuckles absent-mindedly.

It’s Percival that finally breaks the silence, asking in a quiet voice:

“What happened, Merlin?”

Merlin looks up suddenly, as if he had forgotten he had company, taking in a deep breath and tightening his grip on Lance’s hand. He gulps before once again running his free hand through his hair, shrugging slightly as he mutters:

“I don’t recall all of them in perfect detail, just ask about... whatever catches your eye I guess, and we’ll see what I can remember.”

The knights all nod, looking to each other expectantly, no one really wanting to go first. Eventually Leon clears his throat, his voice gentle:

“Why don’t we start with the whip marks on your back?”

Merlin nods, grateful that they were at least starting off with the non-magical injuries. He doesn’t make eye contact with anyone as he speaks, his voice croaky and quiet:

“The newer ones are from Cenred, from a few years ago. He wanted information and I spat at his feet and told him to fuck off. He... he didn’t take too kindly to that.”

Gwaine lets out a quiet curse, and Arthur sits up straight, saying in a crackingly authoritative voice:

“Merlin, if anyone ever tries to extract information from you again, you give them anything. Everything. We’ll deal with the fall-out afterwards, it is not your job to withstand torture.”

The other knights nod approvingly but Merlin just looks up at The King with a raised eyebrow:

“Like hell. I can put up with a remarkable amount, I’d never sell Camelot, or you, out. Never, Arthur.”

Arthur huffs and resolutely ignores the tears gathering in his eyes, but Elyan beats him to the mark:

“That’s not... you shouldn’t have to put up with anything Merlin, it’s not necessary. You just... keep yourself safe. We’ll worry about everything else.”

The other knights nod again, but Merlin scowls and tenses even further, even as Lancelot squeezes his hand comfortingly:

“I’ve been through literal hell, multiple times, in order to protect my home and the people that are important to me. I’m not going to stop that just because it makes you lot uncomfortable, and you have no right to tell me to it’s not my place.”

Everyone looks desperate to argue, but they can’t deny that, after what they’ve seen today, in the last half a candle-mark only, Merlin is evidently a lot stronger than they’ve ever given him credit for. Both physically and mentally. Leon just gives Merlin a small smile and nods; he’s the only one here who has known Merlin just as long as Arthur, and he may not be as close to the younger man as The King or Lance or Gwaine or Mordred, but he’s seen his loyalty in action several times over the years:

“You said the newer ones were from Cenred. You’ve been flogged more than once?”

Merlin nods at the knight, grateful for his understanding and change of subject, even if said change of subject was back to his scars. His expression turns slightly guilty as his gaze moves to Arthur, and The King has a feeling he’s going to feel incredibly terrible at whatever it is Merlin is about to say:

“The others are from... uh.... Uther.-”

Arthur takes in a sharp breath as the tears he had just about managed to get under control gather again. The other knights just look angry, bar Leon, who, though miserable, looks as though he sort of expected it:

“-He didn’t like me very much.”

Arthur whispers his response:

“When? Merlin, when and why did my father have you flogged, and how did I not know about it?”

Merlin tenses his jaw, going from guilty to angry in a split second, snapping his response:

“Why do you think?!-”

Arthur recoils and Merlin closes his eyes briefly as he takes a deep breath, looking back to Arthur with a blank mask and speaking in a monotone voice:

“What did you think he would do every time I took the blame for you missing a meeting or a meal or a training session because you were entertaining a woman or pissing about with your knights? I had to walk into the council room and apologise for your absence because I slept in or I forgot to tell you or I sent you on a hunt on the wrong day. Uther was in the habit of burning people and chopping off an alarming number of heads, did you really think I would get away with it punishment free??

Arthur goes pale as a sheet and his hands tremble with the understanding. He shakes his head slightly as he looks to his lap, ignoring the tears on his cheeks as he murmurs:

“Merlin I am so sorry, I didn’t... I didn’t think... if I had known I would have duelled him in the damn town square to protect you.-”

Arthur looks up sharply, wiping his face clean as he settles an assessing gaze on his servant, ignoring Gwaine’s murderous glare as he slowly continues:

“-... which is exactly why you never told me, isn’t it?”

Merlin shrugs, a small smile on his face:

“You may never admit it, Arthur, but you were protective of me, even then.”

Arthur flushes slightly, before frowning again and shaking his head:

“You should have told me, it’s my job to protect you.”

Merlin raises an eyebrow, smirking slightly:

“I think we’ve already had this conversation.”

Arthur huffs and narrows his eyes again, good-naturedly this time, and Merlin just rolls his eyes before seeming to sag again, speaking quietly:

“Come on, next one.”

Elyan raises his hand slightly before pointing to the centre of Merlin’s chest:

“How the hell did you get a burn like that?”

Merlin tenses, rubbing a hand over the roughly circular, pink and white scar in the centre of his chest. The flesh looked melted in places, white scar tissue spider-webbing out from his sternum, beginning to fade just before it stretched around his sides, and stopping a few inches above his naval:

“Witch threw a fireball at me. Hurt like hell, but there was quite a lot of adrenaline at the time so I didn’t really notice the pain until later.”

Gwaine raises an eyebrow, evidently trying to control his anger as he asks, in a shaking, though forceful, voice:

“And what were you doing fighting a witch powerful enough to throw fire around?”

Merlin stops rubbing at the scar when Lancelot tugs his hand and Mordred mutters “You’re going to hurt yourself, Merlin.” in his head, curling his hand tightly in his lap instead and speaking slowly, as if he were choosing each word individually:

“Only Leon and Arthur were in Camelot for that. Arthur was dying from the Questing Beast bite, I... went to the Isle of the Blessed to speak to the followers of the Old Religion. There was said to be someone there who had power over life and death and I... Arthur was dying, I had to try.-”

Arthur’s eyes widened at Merlin’s words, mostly the mention of such a power, but stays silent, nodding at him to continue:

“-But the Old Religion requires balance, a life for a life,-”

Leon releases a deep breath, looking to the floor at the implication with his eyes closed, and Arthur lets out a whispered whimper, knowing the depths of Merlin’s loyalty:

“-I offered my own in exchange for Arthur’s. She, Nimueh, that is, accepted,-”

Arthur opens his mouth to say something, he’s not sure what, but before he can yell about Merlin’s self preservation, he notices the darkness on his dearest friend’s face and his voice catches in his throat. Merlin stares at the floor, his face drawn and angry and his voice stormy and clipped:

“-but she tried to trick me. I didn’t appreciate that, we fought, she died. Her life for Arthur’s: the deal was done.”

An audible gasp goes up around the circle, and Percival, who is (other than Merlin and Mordred of course) the most well versed in Magic Info, responds breathlessly:

“Merlin... Nimueh is a High Priestess, The master over Life and Death, she’s very very powerful.”

Merlin looks up at the gentle giant sharply, his gaze unforgiving and his tone harsh:

“Yeah, and she’s also very very dead, because she pissed me off.”

Percival gulps and lowers his gaze, but Arthur seems to have missed everything the two of them just said as he stares blankly at his servant:

“You’d barely known me a year, and I’ll admit that I was an arse back then, and you tried to give your life for mine. Why?”

Merlin looks at him curiously, not responding for a few moments as his anger dies down and his pride grows:

“I had it on good authority that you would become a Great King one day. It only took a little squinting to see it, you were a good man, a man I was, and still am, prepared to sacrifice myself for. You were an arse, yes, you still sort of are, but I have faith in you, always have, always will.”

Lancelot and Mordred smile fondly at him as the other knights stare dumbfounded, but Arthur clenches his jaw, ignoring the shaking in his voice as he says:

“Well, I... I forbid it. You are officially forbidden from sacrificing yourself for me, legally.”

Gwaine perks up slightly:

“Out of curiosity, do we all get the same-”

Arthur interrupts him with a forceful, though slightly amused:

“Shut up, Gwaine. And no, you’re a knight, your entire job description is to jump head first into danger so I don’t have to. I have every faith that you’ll die for me one day.”

Everyone lets out quiet snorts at that, bar Gwaine of course, who looks jokingly affronted before he nods and shrugs, quietly muttering “Yeah, fair enough,-”, the rest of his sentence (”especially considering you’re in love with him but not any of us.”) goes unheard and unchallenged.

Merlin chooses not to respond to Arthur’s demand, but everyone knows that’s his way of not committing to anything, knowing full well that Merlin had never listened to Arthur’s orders before, and sure as shit wasn’t going to start now.

“Next one.”

Merlin’s face had fallen slightly, knowing he wasn’t going to get away with explaining only two sets of scars, and Gwaine asks next, his eyes being drawn to Merlin’s gesturing hand:

“The red bands around your wrists and neck. They look like burns, but not very deep ones. How did they scar if they weren’t deep?”

Merlin looks down at the scars on his wrists, resisting the urge to absent-mindedly claw at the one he knows sits low on his neck. They’re about two inches wide, pale pink and almost impossible to see in the dark but impossible not to see in the light of the noon sun, even sat in the shade. The edges were clean cut and perfectly straight, and Merlin winced slightly at the memory of his magic being contained in such a way.

He looks around the circle, speaking easily. Though it was painful, it was no where near the worst Merlin has ever had, and even if he couldn’t tell the full truth, it felt sort of nice not to have to hide these ones:

“Some sort of enchanted chains, they drained my energy, made me sick and tired, but the magic in the metal sort of... stung, I guess. I don’t really know. I’d been captured by Morgause (is Morgana not mentioned in this entire fic but still Good? Yes.) again and I suppose she didn’t want to take any chances.”

Everyone looks shocked at his casual admission, and Leon is the first to break the tense silence:

“When were you captured by Morgause?”

Before Merlin can respond, Arthur pipes up incredulously:

“Again. You said again. Merlin, how many times have you been kidnapped by Morgause without anyone realising? How many times have you been kidnapped in general?!”

Merlin winces slightly, speaking in a slightly defensive tone as he stares at Arthur as though the answer is obvious:

“Arthur... I’m The King’s personal manservant. I have the power to overrule the Steward and the Housekeeper if I wanted to; as far as servant’s go, I have the most authority, even more than some low level nobles, especially when it comes to running the citadel. I’m sort of... a big deal. I have access to pretty much any information I could want, even more than this lot-”

He gestures to the knights around the circle. Mordred and Lancelot look a little proud once again, Leon is staring at Arthur, shocked that The King didn’t know this, and everyone else stares at Merlin, only just realising that... Merlin was right. None of them have considered it before, but he practically runs the castle.

“-most of the time, and I’m the only one who knows every single state secret, simply from my proximity to you and your council and your paperwork. That is rather... desirable to people like Morgause, people who want to attack Camelot.”

Merlin purses his lips awkwardly as everyone stares at him blankly, but Gwaine is the first to break the silence:

“... and we’ve just been letting you walk around, unprotected.”

Merlin raises as eyebrow:

“I think we’ve already established I don’t need protection.”

Arthur huffs and throws his hands up awkwardly:

“Well you obviously do, if you’re getting kidnapped so often. When even was this?? You haven’t disappeared for a while, and we haven’t had any trouble from Morgause in months.”

Merlin’s face falls, and the knights are taken aback at the reappearance of the... cruel darkness in his expression:

“Believe me, I know. She... won’t be bothering us any longer, I wasn’t fond of her repeated attempts to kill me or you so I... took care of it.”

The knights go pale at Merlin’s casual admittance of killing yet another High Priestess of the Old Religion. He smirks into his lap briefly until Lance once again squeezes his hand, as if reminding him of the mask he should be wearing. Arthur stares at his servant and long time friend, struggling to reconcile the clumsy ideal he has in his head with this... hardened, tortured protector:

“How? Nimueh and Morgause... just... how??”

Merlin’s eyes slowly move up to meet Arthur’s gaze, and The King gulps at the assessing way the servant tilts his head:

“Playing the role of clumsy rural idiot can be a little demeaning sometimes, but it also means that people tend to underestimate me. They think I’m an easy target, and by the time they realise I’ve played them, it’s too late.”

Arthur recoils slightly, and Merlin once again changes dispositions, shrugging casually and smiling easily, his tone light:

“You can get away with a remarkable amount when people think you’re stupid.”

The circle lets out an in-sync breath. All of them knew that Merlin wasn’t stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but they didn’t realise just how smart he is. None of them would admit it, but Elyan, Leon, Percival, Arthur, and even Gwaine on some level, still subconsciously considered Merlin “just a servant” in the back of their minds. At least... they did. 

(Not that that old thought process made them think any less of him, they just didn’t think of him as complicated, as a warrior.)

Merlin takes a deep breath, knowing that his friends would never see him in the same way, but sort of hoping that that was a good thing, gesturing vaguely to the circle once again. Arthur asks the next question, touching his hand to the back of his own neck softly:

“There’s a cut on the back of your neck. It looks deep, like it was reopened over and over, what is it?”

Merlin grimaces slightly, wiping his free hand over his face in exhaustion as Lancelot squeezes his other hand, and Mordred pats his knee comfortingly:

“That one was a few years ago, courtesy of Morgause again. She put something called a Fomorrah in me-”

Percival gasped slightly, harshly whispering “Gods.” under his breath. Arthur spares him a quick glance, making a mental note to question how his knight seems to know so much about sorcery at a later date:

“-so she could try to make me kill Arthur; it sort of... controls you. Makes you only able to focus on whatever instruction you’re given when it’s first put in you. Gaius kept having to cut it out of me, it wouldn’t stop re-growing until we killed the rest of it’s body, and that was with Morgause somewhere out of the city.”

Arthur looked a little outraged, hiding the worry of “I now know that Merlin could kill me without any trouble at all so how the fuck am I alive?”. Apparently he doesn’t hide it well; Merlin gives him a comforting smile and shrugs his shoulders slightly:

“I fought the compulsion pretty well, kept coming up with increasingly complicated assassination plans instead of just... stabbing you in your sleep or something.”

Arthur goes to respond, but he’s interrupted by Leon loudly cursing, his eyes wide as he stares at Merlin with flushed cheeks:

“I just... gave you a crossbow!! You said you were going to kill Arthur and I thought you were joking and I let you walk out the armoury with a crossbow and a handful of bolts!!”

Merlin chuckles, a blush of his own rising as he responds, rubbing the back of his neck again:

“Yeah... I don’t really remember it, but Gaius and Gwen filled me in on what had happened. To be fair, it’s kind of flattering that you never considered that I was the assassin, despite the repeated attempts being made on Arthur’s life and the fact that I admitted it to your face.”

Leon stares at the floor with wide eyes, seemingly trying to process the fact that he had pointed a would be assassin in the right direction, muttering something along the lines of “oh my Gods oh my Gods oh my Gods” over and over until Elyan awkwardly patted him on the back, breaking him from his embarrassed horror.

Arthur clears his throat, staring at Merlin with an almost unreadable expression:

“I did wonder why the attempts just... stopped?”

Merlin understands the question in his tone and nods slightly before replying:

“Hmm. Gaius and Gwen figured out it was me, found a way to paralyse the thing in my neck until I managed to get back to Morgause’s little lair and kill the main body.”

Arthur nods distractedly. How many times had this happened? “This” being something entirely ridiculous and/or incredibly dangerous right under his nose.

Percival clears his throat and Merlin looks to the nervous man, nodding at him to ask whatever it was that was on his mind, despite his growing discomfort:

“There’s... on your back, it looks like a stab wound but... worse. The veins around it are black and it looks painful despite it’s obvious age and... well... it looks like a Serket Sting, but it... it can’t be, right?”

Merlin tenses, back to looking as exhausted and scared and as ready to bolt as he had at the beginning of the conversation. Lancelot squeezes his hand again, tightly this time, and Mordred takes his other to stop him from clenching it too harshly, murmuring:

“You don’t have to, Merlin, not this one.”

Arthur clenches his jaw at the knowledge that two of his knights had known about this. Had known the collage of agony on Merlin’s body, had known what he’d been through and done nothing. Hadn’t prevented it, hadn’t brought it to Arthur, hadn’t protected him. But equally, with how protective and loyal and secretive Merlin is, and how heartbroken the two of them had looked when Merlin first took his tunic off, they likely hadn’t known the full extent of damage.

Merlin just sighs and shakes his head, sensing the curious stares of the others before rising to his knees and turning around, running a shaking hand over the scar briefly before dropping his hand to his side again. The others stare, astounded. They’d only caught brief glimpses of it before, but now they could see it properly it was undoubtedly a Serket Sting. 

The deep puncture mark on his lower back had closed up, but the skin was still sunken in slightly, red and angry looking with hints of purple towards the middle. Percival was right: dark veins, as if permanently poisoned, stretched out from the centre of the wound, dipping below the waistband of his trousers and fading about halfway up his back. 

After a few moments, Merlin turns around again and sits back down, placing his still shaking hand back in Lance’s lap without prompting. Arthur’s one-word question is whispered and cracked, and no one judges him for the tears in his eyes; most of them have tears of their own gathering and falling at their friend’s pain:

“How?”

Merlin gulps, not looking up as he leans slightly into Mordred’s shoulder. The young knight presses back, knowing how fond the servant is of warm pressure, not minding the sticky sweatiness of their still uncovered torsos in the noon heat:

“Morgause again. She got annoyed with me always ruining her plans, getting in the way. Left me chained up in the middle of a nest of... in the middle of a nest.”

Leon takes a deep breath, rubbing his eyes harshly and sniffing before asking, his voice strong despite the slight waver:

“How did you survive that? I’ve... I’ve seen men get stung by serkets and it’s not... nice.”

Merlin breathes shakily, his mouth open slightly as he stares at the floor, memories flashing through his mind and the scar on his back twinging uncomfortably. Again, Percival was right, despite it’s age, it did still hurt. He takes one last deep breath, clenching his eyes shut tightly before looking up at the curly-haired knight, not quite making eye-contact:

“I uh... a lot of screaming, and the help of an... old friend. I was out of Camelot for a few days whilst I recovered, my friend didn’t fancy being executed for helping me, for just existing.”

Arthur furrows his brows but the others, bar Leon, nod in understanding, looking only slightly guilty and not looking to The King as he asks:

“What do you mean? If someone has found a way to cure a Serket sting then they most definitely wouldn’t be executed for it.”

Elyan snorts and Mordred and Lancelot frown at the floor as Merlin stares at Arthur with poorly concealed contempt:

“Arthur... the cure for a Serket sting has been around for centuries, it just involves very strong, very complicated magic. I didn’t fancy dying in absolute agony, and my friend didn’t fancy being executed for the act of saving my life so we stayed away from the city whilst he treated me.”

Arthur looks at his servant, dumbfounded and confused, and the knights stay silent in their awkwardness. Leon, a lifelong citizen of Camelot, is the only other person to look surprised at Merlin’s explanation, though he nods after a few moments, conceding that it... makes sense. Of course it does.

Mordred frowns when he notices Merlin’s knee begin to bounce up and down slightly, but it’s the way he gulps and tightens his grip on Lance’s hand that has the two knights begin to properly worry. They share a quick look, obviously agreeing on something, before Mordred takes Merlin’s other hand and settles a soft touch on his vibrating knee whilst Lancelot looks to Arthur:

“I think we’re done for the day. This has been... a lot.”

Merlin is getting paler by the second and Mordred can sense the man’s distress, shooting Lance a desperate look before subtly trying to shuffle closer to Merlin, who leans even further into his touch. Arthur doesn’t seem to notice, looking annoyed at Lancelot’s assertion and rolling his eyes before moving his gaze back to Merlin’s quivering form:

“No, Merlin’s suffered and I need to know why. There are mace wounds on both your shoulders, I remember one, but not the-”

Arthur is interrupted by a low whine from the back of Merlin’s throat as he thumps his head back against the tree, eyes still shut tightly. His words out come quietly and broken, as if it were a struggle to breathe, let alone speak:

“Can we please stop now?”

Mordred ignores Arthur, moving to kneel in front of the servant whilst Lancelot glares at The King. Arthur just huffs slightly, though he obviously completely underestimates the distress his friend is in, looking concerned, but not letting up:

“Merlin, we’ve barely gone through a third of them, we can’t stop-”

Lancelot lets out a low growl, letting go of Merlin’s hand and moving towards Arthur, glaring as he says:

“Arthur, we need to stop. Now.”

The young King looks taken aback, though the argument is stopped in his throat when Mordred’s quiet voice interrupts him:

“Merlin, you need to breathe.-”

He peers around the young knight as best he can, but Lance’s still vicious glare stops him from moving too close. Mordred brings one of Merlin’s hands up, pressing it against his chest and continuing his soft instructions:

“-Copy my breathing, alright? Can you tell me where you are right now, Merlin?”

The knights all stare on in horror at Merlin’s pale skin and ragged breathing, staying still in their places when Lancelot gestures at them firmly. It’s Merlin’s next word, cracked and whispered, that trigger another round of tears to gather in their eyes:

“C...cave.”

Mordred shakes his head slowly and Lancelot curses under his breath, kneeling back next to Mordred and retaking Merlin’s other hand, holding it between his own securely. Mordred’s soft voice floats in the wind, and if the knights weren’t so distracted by their friend’s pain, they would think it sounds almost magical:

“No, you’re safe, Merlin. Think, listen, feel. Can you try to tell me where you are again?

Merlin shakes his head roughly, his still-shut eyes not stopping the tears from squeezing out as he flinches, strikes of lightening-like agony shooting out from the scar on his lower back. Lance worries his lip between his teeth, rubbing one of his hands up and down Merlin’s shivering arm; a nod from Mordred has Lance speak, his words soft and low despite the waver in his voice:

“Merlin, you know where you are, and me and Mordred are right here with you. You need to open your eyes buddy, tell us where we are.”

Merlin’s breathing instantly seems to calm a little at Lancelot’s voice, and he cracks his bloodshot eyes open, immediately sighing when his blurry gaze lands on the canopy above him, whispering:

“Tree... sky... Camelot.”

The others can see Mordred let out a relieved sigh, and they force themselves to relax slightly. Merlin’s body sags again and Lance frowns, but the young servant’s stuttering words as he stares blankly up into the tree interrupt any reassurance he could have offered:

“Please, I can’t... I don’t... please don’t make me-”

Lance stills his hand on Merlin’s shoulder, not even paying the slightest bit of attention to anyone else as he replies:

“No one’s going to make you, Merlin, we can carry on another day-”

Arthur’s interrupted “But-” is quickly shut down when Lance turns around to glare at him, a sharp “-I said we’re done for the day.” sent his way.

Merlin flinches again, the pain in his back getting worse and worse and making it harder to keep a grasp on reality, so damning the consequences, Mordred presses a hand to his forehead, closing his eyes and he mouths the words to a sleeping spell as quietly as he can. Thankfully, everyone’s attention is on the glaring contest between Lancelot and The King, so no one immediately notices the way Merlin falls forwards into Mordred’s arms, not until he nudges Lance in the leg and mutters:

“He passed out. We should get him to Gaius, he needs proper rest and pain medication.”

Lancelot nods his head firmly, back to ignoring Arthur and the others as he moves to Merlin’s side, pulling his arm over his shoulder as Mordred does the same on the servant’s other side. Mordred’s eyes scan over the knights, searching for whoever looks the most likely to help without question; his gaze stills on a terribly worried looking Gwaine:

“Gwaine, run ahead to warn Gaius, tell him that Merlin had a really bad episode and then passed out.”

Gwaine gulps but nods, gathering his tunic in quick hands and putting it on haphazardly as he sprints back to the castle. Mordred and Lancelot adjust their grips, standing and bringing Merlin up with them as they turn in the direction Gwaine had ran and begin the careful journey back to the citadel. The knights follow behind them closely, hastily dressing themselves and desperate to ask questions, but knowing that now was not the time. Elyan jogs ahead of them to open doors and clear a path, and Percival had grabbed Merlin, Lancelot, and Mordred’s tunics as Leon put all of the swords away before catching up.

Thankfully they don’t come across many people, though Lance and Mordred still do their best to conceal Merlin between them, knowing that he would be distraught if anyone else saw his scars. They make good time to Gaius’ chambers, and they find the Physician preparing a few strong pain potions and sleeping draughts as Gwaine paced.

Gaius looks incredibly worried, but unsurprised, and Lance and Mordred carry Merlin up to his room without prompting; the sick feeling in Arthur’s stomach tells him that they’re practiced at this. The King goes to follow them, but they kick the door shut behind them so they can have at least a little privacy whilst they settle their friend in his bed. They leave the covers off, knowing that he’d just overheat or kick them off in the nightmares that they know are coming. Lance nods knowingly at Mordred, and the younger of the two moves swiftly back into the main room, shutting the door behind him again softly, avoiding eye contact with anyone bar Gaius, even as Percival hands him his tunic.

The elderly Physician raises an eyebrow, and Mordred answers the wordless question quietly, though not quiet enough for the other knights to not hear him:

“Not yet, but soon, he’ll definitely need a sleeping draught to get him through it. It was his back, so he’ll need the strongest pain one you’ve got.”

Gaius nods, picking up two of the many concoctions he had prepared, not reacting to Arthur’s desperate questions, leaving the conversation to Mordred:

“What are you talking about? Get through what??”

Mordred sighs and frowns slightly, unable to get over all of his anger at the King for pushing Merlin so far:

“The nightmares. He always gets them, especially after an episode that bad.”

Arthur recoils, just a little horrified, but Gwaine beats him to the mark, asking in a shaking voice:

“Episode??”

Mordred moves his gaze to the worried knight, a little more sympathetic to the man he knew was more loyal to Merlin than he was to The King:

“Flashbacks, panic attacks. Merlin has been through... a lot. Chronic pain or difficult conversations sometimes trigger a sort of... breakdown, he struggles to differentiate between memories and reality. Normally he can just wait it out with a little help. When it’s really bad we put him to sleep, it’s the only way to stop him from hurting himself accidentally.”

Everyone looks horrified at that, their focus on Mordred rather than Gaius, who was stealthily ascending the steps to Merlin’s room, potions in hand. Arthur is the first to break the tense silence:

“How long? How long as he been getting these episodes, and why the hell did no one think to tell me?!”

Mordred moves his harsh gaze back to The angry King, glaring at him when his voice rose:

“With all due respect, My Lord, lower your voice. Merlin needs rest, he needs to not be disturbed.”

Arthur looks annoyed, though still heartbroken, but nods slightly, almost whispering as he responds:

“You didn’t answer my questions. How long, and why wasn’t I told?”

Mordred sighs, looking to the floor briefly as he crosses his arms over his chest . After a few moments of considering his answer, he finally looks up again, suddenly appearing exhausted and resigned as he replies softly:

“I don’t really know. He didn’t tell us, we just... found out. It took us a while to convince him to explain it properly and let us help. He didn’t want anyone worrying or treating him like glass; it doesn’t happen very often at all, and this is... this is the worst one I’ve ever seen.”

Arthur frowns and shakes his head slightly, but it’s Leon that speaks next:

“Why not tell us, at least? What if something had happened and you weren’t with us? We wouldn’t have known what was wrong.”

Mordred takes a deep breath and shrugs, nodding slightly, obviously aware that he couldn’t tell them about his and Merlin’s mental link:

“We tried telling him that, but he wouldn’t have it. We were maybe one more conversation away from convincing him to tell Gwaine or Guinevere, but I guess that’s not necessary anymore.”

Arthur pushes down the twinge of jealousy that Merlin had never even considered telling him, but it obviously shows on his face; Mordred scowls slightly, clenching his hands to try and cover his annoyance. Before either men can say anything, Lancelot comes back down from Merlin’s room, leaving Gaius with the young servant:

“It’s starting, Mordred we need to go, everyone else, out.”

Percival throws Lance’s tunic to him as the knights move to the door, albeit reluctantly, but Arthur doesn’t move, glaring down at Mordred angrily when the younger man stops him from going into Merlin’s room:

“He’s my manservant, I want to be there when he wakes up.”

Mordred narrows his eyes, and Arthur kicks himself for never realising how much Merlin meant to him before now, but before the knight can say anything, Lancelot steps up next to him, answering in his stead:

“No, me and Mordred will be there, that’s all he needs. You need to go, My Lord.”

Arthur gears up to argue, to pull rank, squaring his shoulders and snarling slightly, but an angry Lancelot is something he’s never seen and never had to deal with before, so he’s far too surprised to say anything when the knight interrupts his posturing:

“I said no, Arthur. He has to pretend in front of you. You’ve already done this to him,-”

He gestures angrily to the door to Merlin’s room:

“-he needs to not tense up and stress out immediately upon waking up.”

Arthur steps back slightly, but clears his throat, pushing through the slight heartbreak and guilt to argue:

“Oh, and he doesn’t have to pretend in front of you two?”

Mordred rolls his eyes, giving Lancelot a pointed look before stalking up to Merlin’s room, leaving the older knight to deal with the angry King. Lance clenches his jaw and lets out a harsh breath, looking away briefly, as if trying to stop himself from saying anything cruel, before giving up and glaring back at Arthur:

“No. He doesn’t. Because we, and Gaius, are the only people who actually know the first thing about Merlin, and he trusts us. He needs space, and time to heal, and comfort, not the demanding presence of a King whose already pushed him too far, who treats him like shit and forces him to think he has to hide who he is. For God’s sake, Arthur, can you please, for once, think of anyone but yourself.”

Arthur widens his eyes, and though Lancelot looks a little like he regrets what he said, he doesn’t back down, nodding to the door behind Arthur and not moving away until The King steps back again. Arthur takes a deep breath, turning to exit the Physician’s chambers before the knight could see the guilt on his face and the tears in his eyes. He leaves without looking back, ignoring the gaggle of knights waiting worriedly in the hall and stalking straight to his chambers, only just managing to shut the door behind him before the tears finally started falling.

Back in Merlin’s room, the servant thrashes in his sleep, whimpering despite Mordred’s comforting whispers in his head, Gaius’ hand in his hair, and Lancelot’s soft lap as a pillow. 

This... was going to be a tough one.

~

The End of part 1!!!

This was legit supposed to only be one part buuuuuuut we can all see how that went. Part two will follow on really quickly, but it was getting far too long to leave all as one 😅

I hope y’all enjoyed it, link to part 2(the final part) at the top!! :)

[stanmammon]

Can you do the bros with an MC who is nervous around Belphegor? It's understandable given how he murdered them. Twice. Once in front of them.

Either platonic, romantic, or both!

(I’m just gonna rearrange it to being almost murdered just so it makes more sense)

Asmodeus: 

It almost feels like Asmo is talking down to you when he tells you that Belphie is harmless as he had proven he was very much not harmless, but you supposed that’s what happens when you live with a group of demons. Giving Asmo the cold shoulder for a few days has him finally giving in, admitting that things were different because of Belphie being back, but that he wanted you to realize that you were safer than you ever were as everyone single brother in the house would be looking out for you just in case he did lash out again. He promised to never let Belphie get that close again, holding you in his arms as he insisted that his great love for you would repel any negativity Belphie threw your way. 

Beelzebub: 

It truly hurts Beel the most as he loved Belphie, his twin, so much that knowing you were afraid of him could be a deal breaker. He would try the hardest to repair the relationship between you and Belphie which only seems to further your distrust, telling Beel that he can’t just force you to get over almost having your life taken. He understands it, he had been just as mad at Belphegor for striking out against you when you were so kind and innocent, but he still secretly hoped that you would be able to move past it. Belphie had long since accepted you as he could see how much Beel loved you and he would never do anything to hurt his twin, feeling immensely guilty for even doing so in the first place. 

Leviathan: 

Levi had really thought it was game over, bad end locked in, but was thankful that you managed to come back from your zero health state. He had held you even closer since then, more protective over you than he had ever been as he didn’t know what he might do if you were taken away from him. He had scolded Belphie at the time but he had also understood that his feelings came from anger at Lucifer, and that you had just gotten stuck in the crossfire. He doesn’t blame you for your relationship bar with Belphegor being in the negative but he hopes with time the distrust will decay; as long as you’re still afraid though Levi will be there to hold your hand, reassuring that nothing bad would happen to you again. 

Lucifer: 

Lucifer is quietly distressed to see that you’re still frightened of Belphie despite the constant reassurance that Belphie now respected who you were. He understood that such a traumatic experience would probably leave you wary of the demon for the rest of your days but he hoped it would come to the point where the two of you could at least live together without you cowering behind Lucifer whenever Belphegor entered a room. He had come to an understanding with his younger brother to never address you without someone else around until you were comfortable with him, not wanting Belphegor to get frustrated and lash out. 

Mammon: 

Mammon is, understandably, a little on edge as the image of your bloodied form in his arms had haunted his nightmares for weeks after. He hadn’t lost you in that moment but there was another him in a parallel timeline who might have had to deal with the grief of losing you before he had ever managed to confess his feelings (Levi had planted that thought in his head from some sci-fi anime and it had unfortunately plagued Mammon). He didn’t want to be afraid of what Belphie might do forever, especially since peace seemed to return to the house, but he’s still wary whenever he sees Belphie in a bad mood about keeping himself between the two of you. 

Satan: 

Satan is notably distraught about the entire situation, unhappy that you feel unsafe and that you constantly feel the need to hide behind him whenever Belphie enters a room. He wants to repair the root problem but has no idea how to go about it, trying to read up on how to form a bond between a human and demon (which doesn’t provide him with exactly what he needs as most relationships like that aren’t made to be friendly in nature). He doesn’t try to force it but he is subtly encouraging, telling you that there’s nothing to fear and that he’s here to protect you without a doubt.  

[fandom-imagines]

Sweet little darling~

Fandom: House of Wax (2005)

Pairing: Bo Sinclair X Fem!Reader

Warnings: Canon typical violence, domestic abuse (abusive relationship; not Bo) Kind of out-of-character Bo, depends on how you headcanon him for liking someone! Also not proofread yet.

Words: 2.55k 

Summary: Kindness can get you killed, but it can also get you out of a sticky situation.

Part Two!

To anybody that saw their relationship, it was evident that the feeling wasn’t mutual. Perhaps it once had been, but it no longer was, and for good reason.

“You fucking bitch!” The scream echoed throughout the building, one body looming over a small, cowering young woman.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, doing her best to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.  “Please don’t hurt m-“ her pleas were cut short as a tight hand grasped her arm and tugged her onto her feet, a harsh slap hitting her cheek shortly afterwards.

“Please don’t hurt me,” he cruelly laughed, mimicking her frightened and desperate tone. “How pathetic.”

“I’m sorry,”

With one final laugh, her boyfriend tossed her to the ground.

*

Laughter filled the truck the group of friends were currently seated in, music blaring through the speakers of a radio one of them had brought but their drunk selves were unable to remember who.

Four of the friends engaged in conversation about anything their clouded minds could think of, whilst the final friend lay against the side of the car, desperately avoiding the demanding gaze her boyfriend was giving her and had been giving her the entire night.

It was clear what he wanted.

Eyes fixated on the green of the grass beneath her, Y/N noticed an approaching truck. Choosing not to say anything, she silently waited for somebody else to notice the vehicle.

“Guys,” Lucy, a close friend of Y/N’s boyfriends, called. “Who is that?”

By now the headlights of the truck were focused on the gang who were circled around the campfire, narrowly avoiding Y/N’s figure.

“James, do something?” Y/N winced as she watched another of the girls grasp onto her boyfriends muscular arm, her blonde hair rubbing against his bare chest.

“Can we help you?” He yelled over the sound of the roaring engine, their music having been paused the second they had notice the driver. “Look dude, this isn’t funny. Just fuck off!”

James’s final sentence was one that made his girlfriend cringe, body remembering the way he had hurt her the night before using that exact same tone; it almost made her cry.

Deciding to stop him before this escalated any further, Y/N made her way towards James before placing a hand on his chest to signal him to back down. This seemed to only anger him further, something that was clear by the way his hands balled into fists. Nobody noticed, except one other person.

“Leave it,” she whispered into his ear, hand dropping from his body to hopefully ease his anger.

James’s hand reach out to her, grabbing his own with a bruising force and tugging her into him as he leaned down to her ear, ignoring the whistles from his friends who assumed he was saying something sexual.

“Just you wait till I get you alone,” James snarled in her ear, unaware of the way an unknown man glared at him before driving away.

*

“Are you fucking kidding me?” James spat, smashing his hand against the cars hood. “It’s busted, the fan belt is fucked.”

His anger seemed to put everybody on edge as they all fell into an uncomfortable silence, something that was uncommon for them.

“You needed a new one anyway,” Y/N mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear.

“Don’t you fucking start,” while his words were directed towards his girlfriend, the others assumed it was aimed at the car in sarcasm; ignorance is bliss after all.

“I can help y’all.” A seemingly kind voice yelled from behind them, having heard the entire conversation. “Sorry, couldn’t help but overhear ya. There’s a town not to far from here. A guy, Bo, runs a gas stop, I’m sure he’d have some.”

Before James could rudely decline this man, Y/N decided to respond. “Do you know how to get there?”

“I’ll drive ya! Truck can only fit two of you though,”

“That’d be great!” She gave the unnamed man a gentle smile, one which he gladly returned. “When are you ready?”

“Now is good,”

She simply nodded, rushing towards the car without giving James a chance to say anything, only leaving him time to follow her, but not before a “fuck sake,” left his lips.

*

“Thank you so much, Lester!” She grinned once again as she hopped from his truck.

“It was no bother, pleasure to meet you Y/N,” he smiled back at her, ruffling her hair slightly before realising the angered look on James’s face. “And you of course,” he nodded awkwardly whilst his hand dropped back to his side. “You two take care now,” and with those words, he drove away.

“Fucking slutting yourself out to weird men, typical,” James spat as he tugged Y/N’s hand so that she was following him into the town, ignoring how she almost tripped in the process.

“I’m sorry, I was just being nice. He was helping us!” She all but yelled, silently praying for him to loosen his grip so that she doesn’t have to use all of her concealer hiding, yet another, mark from him.

“Sure he was. He didn’t just want to get into your pants or anything, huh?”

Ignoring his hurtful words, Y/N began to look around the town.

It was quiet, too quiet. But when she began to think, it was Sunday and there was a Church up ahead at the end of the road which would make more sense, especially considering how early in the morning it was.

“There’s the garage,” James said, dropping her hand to instead point at the small garage not far from them. “Let’s go,”

Y/N followed him, quickly striding to keep up with his large legs.

“There’s nobody here,” she sighed, watching as James just barged his way into the unoccupied garage. “You can’t just go in there! That’s rude.”

“Do I give a fuck? Wait out there for all I care,”

So she chose to do just that.

*

“Oh, hi!” A tall man in a suit gave Y/N a bright grin, accidentally startling her slightly. “You need something?”

“O-oh, hi! Uhm, my boyfriend is in there, I’m sorry I told him not too, he needs a fan belt? I have no idea what one of them is but I-“

The man chuckled, smiling once again as he put his arm around her waist to guide her inside. “Don’t worry, darling. I got ya,” his words were somewhat calming, as though he was offering to protect her from James, despite not knowing what was going on, or perhaps he did.

“You finally grew a p-“James’s words fell short as he turned to see a man, who was significantly taller than him, stood beside his girlfriend. “Hello?”

“Hi, names Bo,” Bo’s tone was a lot blunter than the charming one he had been using previously. “You need something?” He repeated his previous words, instead this time to James and less kind. “You are in my garage after all.”

Despite knowing that Bo could easily subdue him, James chose to get angry anyway. “You got a problem with me? Don’t leave it unlocked if you don’t want people coming in,”

“James leave it,” Y/N gently pushed herself between Bo and James as James began to try get into his face. “Just ask him for what you need and let’s go.”

“Fine, we need a fan belt. Fifteen inch.”

“I might be able to do that, but you’ve already had a look so let me know what I’ve got,” Bo smirked at the angered expression on the mans face at his words.

So maybe he did have a problem with James, a problem neither of the couple knew of.

“Not a fifteen,”

“Then they’re back at the house,”

“The house? Why would they be there?”

“Deliveries are delivered there, easier for everyone really.”

Y/N watched as the two men interacted, Bo incredibly calm whilst James was boiling with anger. Part of her was scared of how he would react, his threat about ‘waiting till they’re alone’ floating around in her mind, yet some strange part of her felt safe knowing that Bo was there. Perhaps it was the fact that he could fight him with ease, or maybe that James would, most likely, never harm her in front of another person.

“Let’s just go,” She pleaded, desperation swimming in her Y/E/C orbs.

“No, I’ll stay, you go.” James seemed pleased with this idea, smirking at the way his girlfriends body tensed; he enjoyed the fear he caused her.

“That’s fine with me,” Bo chimed in, offering Y/N a smile. “That fine with you?”

“Yeah, yeah that’s fine.”

“Let me just lock up,” Bo said, leading the visitors out into the street, much to James’s dismay, before locking up. “Let’s go then.” He gave James one last sarcastic smile before leading Y/N away from him.

*

“Do you live with anyone here?”

Y/N and Bo had been talking for a while now, having chosen to take a slow walk instead. He was nice, to her anyway. She felt as though he understood her, despite not knowing a thing about her.

“Nah, I live with my brother,” Came his response, winking at the girl as he ran a hand through his dark hair, enjoying the way she blushed under his gaze.

She knew it was wrong, finding him both attractive and sweet. But he was both of those, and James was neither, not to her at least. Maybe it was because he was the first person to be this kind to her in a long time, or maybe it was the feeling of safety she felt around him, but she was enjoying his company more than anyone else’s.

“Oh, that must be fun!”

Bo chuckled at her enthusiasm, “I suppose so,”

The pair walked up to Bo’s home, guilt filling the girl’s chest each time she let Bo’s hand brush against her own. She simply enjoyed the sparks flying throughout her body, forgetting about the pain she would receive later as a punishment.

“We’re here,” Bo’s words pulled Y/N from her thoughts, almost tripping over a rock as she came back to reality. “Easy there,” Bo shook his head whilst smiling as he caught her, sneakily pulling her body into his own without her realising it was not an accident.

“Thank you,” she blushed, unknowingly allowing herself to melt into his touch, feeling the need to savour every kind and gentle touch she was getting from a stranger.

“No problem, darling,” he smirked, once again enjoying the way she blushed at the nickname he had given her.

Hand still around her waist, Bo guided her into his home.

“Take a seat, I need to get out of this horrible suit.” His words caused a giggle to leave Y/N’s lips, her head nodding as she took a seat on the faded leather couch, watching Bo leave the room to go change.

*

“Sorry to keep ya waiting, Darl.” Bo’s voice startled Y/N, her body jolting in a way that made Bo feel slightly guilty, something that he rarely felt. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, it’s okay. It was my fault,” she offered him a weak smile, twiddling with the hem of her short-sleeved t-shirt when he seated himself beside her.

“That looks painful,” his hands cautiously reached out to gently take her hand, fingers lightly running across a hand-shaped bruise that had began to form. “You shouldn’t let him treat you like that,” Bo’s spare hand reached up to her face, hand cupping one cheek which made her flinch, Bo frowning at the action.

“S-sorry,”  

Bo had no idea why she was apolgoising to him. It had been him that touched her, but it all made sense in his head.

“Does he hit you?”

Her lack of response was enough for him to understand to full situation.

“I’m sorry,”

“Don’t be, darling.” He sighed, hand moving from her cheek to her neck to pull her head towards his lips, planting a soft kiss on it, something that made her almost cry along with his sweet words.

“Thank you,” her own arms wrapped around his torso, grateful to be given affection without it feeling forced.

*

“You took your time,” James spat as Y/N walked towards him, Bo having quickly headed to the gas station for something that she couldn’t remember the name of. “Were you shagging him or something?”

“N-no,” the nervousness in her voice was something that caused Y/N to cringe, knowing that he wouldn’t believe her.

“Oh, you were.” James’s hands balled into fists as he stalked towards her, ready to attack.

“No, I had to get changed,” Bo’s deep voice startled both of them, James’s fists unclenching immediately.

“Sorry, man. Can’t be too careful with girls like these, can you?” He laughed, trying to play off his previous words as a joke.

“Can’t be too careful with men like yourself either, can you?” Bo’s words seemed innocent, despite having a deeper meaning.

“What?” James snapped. “You told him about us?” He yelled as he turned to face Y/N whose breathing was becoming laboured in fear. “You little bitch!”

As James began to march towards his girlfriend, a tight hand grabbed his fist, spinning him to face the holder only to not be able to see because of a hard punch hitting him in the jaw. The only thing he could hear was a gasp from Y/N and the ringing in his ears as he dropped to the ground.

“Not so tough now, are you?” Bo sniggered. “You can hit a woman but the second a man touches you, you’re out cold. Pathetic,”

Y/N stood frozen to the spot, unsure of how to react.

She hadn’t expected Bo to attack him. In fact, she hadn’t expected him to do anything at all to him or about her situation. Those who knew didn’t care, so why would a stranger?

“You fucking dick!” James screamed, climbing back onto his feet to throw a punch at Bo, one that he barely reacted to.

“Leave him alone!” Y/N yelled, darting between James and Bo, shoving James away from him to the best of her ability.

“You fucking whore. I should’ve known this is what would’ve happened. Actually, I guess I already did.” His words were fast, but his fist moved towards her faster.

Bo was quicker however, grabbing the man’s fist and twisting it behind his back before kicking his legs from beneath him, effectively knocking him to the ground again.

“Vincent!” Bo yelled. “Got one for ya,” both Y/N and James were confused at his words, fear filling them both as a masked man came running out into the street, knife in hand.

Bo took Y/N’s hand, pushing her behind his hand so that she couldn’t see the horror that Vincent was committing to her boyfriend in full glory.

“Y-you killed him…” Her words were quiet, watching from one eye as the man, who she assumed to be Vincent, tugged away the lifeless body. “Are you going to kill me too?”

“You’re safe here, Y/N.” Bo’s words were quiet, praying nobody else heard his true self speaking. “I’ll take care of you. Nobody will ever hurt you again, my sweet little darling.”  

[alaskasmonsters]

Gentle Hands | Shigaraki Tomura

with a quirk like shigaraki’s, physical touch had never been something another person had trusted him with. the fear of what he could do proved to be too great to get close enough. everyone was scared to touch him...everyone but you.

part two 

pairing: shigaraki tomura x gn!reader

w.c: 3. 223

warnings: canon-typical violence, mentions of blood, descriptions of injuries, shigs is touch-starved :c

a.n: this took me way too long to turn out like this...i seriously don’t know what happened along the way but this was meant to go an entirely different direction...idek.

Shigaraki’s room was enveloped in darkness. The only source of light coming from where you had carefully cracked the door open after several unanswered knocks. It barely illuminated the small space inside, only revealing the silhouettes and rough placement of the furniture.

You’d never been inside of Shigaraki’s room before. There had never been a reason.

As the league’s personal medical support (or nurse, something Dabi liked to refer you to) you’d mostly only talked to any of them if there was an emergency that required your help. Then they’d meet you in the “living room” (you hesitated using homey words like that in connection to the hovel the members of the league had resided in the last few months).

Not that you didn’t get along with them, but you couldn’t really say you were particularly close with any of them. Criminals liked to keep their distance. Distance meant safety, it was the first rule in the handbook basically. Shigaraki was no different. He was the most mysterious of them you’d say, even more distanced with you it seemed. Saying there was no reason to grow attached to a NPC, like you were a dog that would be returned to their rightful owner soon anyway.

It didn’t bother you much. You knew the man needed his personal space, he had his reasons to be suspicious of new people, to be hesitant to let anyone too close...they all had.

That’s the price they paid in a life like that, or maybe they had already been like this before they ever became villains.

Entering Shigaraki’s room now and without permission was probably the closest you’ve ever come to being disintegrated, you thought as you carefully peeked inside. The guilt from intruding already crawled up your stomach. You wouldn’t normally do this, but you were worried after Kurogiri had told you about an “incident” this morning.

It had left Shigaraki badly injured and hiding himself in the darkness of his own four walls, since they had returned. Kurogiri hadn’t told you any details, but you could tell whatever happened had been bad, judging by his concerned tone when he’d requested you to look after the man. He asked you to heal him even if he were to refuse and you had agreed immediately, although you doubted you’d get close enough to Shigaraki if he didn’t want it.

The darkness was thick before your eyes, you could hardly tell the difference between the bed and the rest of the room. Not even the tv’s light was burning...you had expected Shigaraki to play a game if he really were as frustrated as Kurogiri had made it sound like.

The only reason you spotted a glimpse of where the man was located was due to the way the light reflected off the white strands of his hair. He was on the ground behind his bed.

“Shigaraki?” you called his name softly, not sure if he’d already noticed you or if maybe he’d fallen asleep.

You got no answer.

“Kurogiri sent me. Can I come in?”

You waited a minute, probably longer, but when there was still no answer you let out a heavy sigh.

“I’ll take that as a “I don’t mind either way”.”

You squeezed through the small space between the frame and the door, not daring to expose the man to more of the light he seemed to be so sensitive to. At least you guessed that that was the reason he was sitting in the darkness. Maybe he was just feeling emo, Shigaraki seemed the type.

You closed the door behind you, plunging the room into darkness again. This turned out to be a bad idea, since now you were both without sight and you had to slowly and carefully approach where you remembered the bed to be. You could only speak of luck you hadn’t bumped into anything before you made contact with the bedframe, using it to navigate closer to where you suspected Shigaraki to cower at, sliding down to sit on the ground as well.

You sat in silence for a while, making sure he didn’t want you to leave after all, but Shigaraki stayed quiet, the only sign he was still next to you was the sound of his ragged breathing.

You debated what would be the best approach. Should you scoot closer? Maybe you should start with telling him Kurogiri had sent you? Or maybe you could let the two of you stay in silence for a little while?

Approaching Shigaraki when he was in a vulnerable state was similar to a wild animal that had been injured. You had to be careful about it.

“You hurt your hands,” the words slipped your mouth.

Not careful enough.

Had you seriously gone with the worst approach you could have possibly chosen? Good job, Y/n!

Shigaraki didn’t curse you out so you guessed it was fine after all. Maybe his hands were off worse than you had initially thought...

“I want to fix them, if that’s alright but i’d need a little bit of light to do so,” you explained, keeping your voice quiet and calm.

There wasn’t an answer for several minutes. You started to grow restless, thinking that maybe you had overstepped a line, maybe it was better if you left again…

Before you could though you heard a grumbling agreement, barely audible, much closer than you had expected. A second later a dim light illuminated the small room.

You had to close your eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness before you could finally look at Shigaraki, who was sitting a few feet away from you, his back leaned against the matratze of his bed.

He looked miserable, his face was lowered so he couldn’t meet your eyes and his features were hidden by the messy white locks.

But what shocked you most was his hands. He had spread his fingers, palms up, on his lap so you saw the actual damage that the attacker had done.

His palms were blood-smeared, cut open, some cuts running so deep you thought you could see parts of the bone peaking out from between the damaged skin.

You felt bile rise up your throat at the view.

It looked painful, cruel. As if someone had tried to ruin his hands in the most painful way possible.

You inched closer, eyes trained on the damage.

Shigaraki tensed up as you scooted closer and you stopped immediately, looking up into his face, making sure you didn’t overstep again.

He was still avoidant of your eyes, shrunken in on himself with his shoulders hunched. He looked like a scared child to you...

“May I?” you asked him, desperately hoping he’d say yes.

His eyes only flickered between you and his hands once before he gave a soft nod.

You carefully reached out to grab the backside of his hands, meaning to pull them closer for you to inspect. The way Shugaraki froze at your touch made you pause and you realized with dread that you had forgotten to ask if it was okay to touch him. He must be in pain, of course he was.

You quickly removed your hands again, giving him a concerned look.

“I’m sorry Shigaraki-kun, did i hurt you?”

He frowned at your question, eyes quickly jumping between your expression and your hands just inches beneath his, waiting to reach out again if he’d allowed it.

He seemed conflicted for a second, but then he shook his head.

You chose not to question it, only giving a soft nod in response before reaching out again. This time you gently wrapped your fingers around his wrists instead, drawing his hands closer so you could inspect them better.

The light was still too dim to see the most gruesome parts of the injury, but even without it you could easily get an idea of what had occured.

The wounds were too deep, the blood that came out of the slashes in a dark flow...this wasn’t caused by a normal knife. Rather by another person’s quirk, one related to mutilation because how else would you describe the cruelty of the wounds inflicted.

It probably made it impossible to heal by itself, too.

Whoever did this had wanted to make Shigaraki’s quirk absolutely useless, damaging his hands beyond repair in the most cruel way.

And while you did know he’d caused a lot of pain with those hands, the idea someone had tried to mutilate them made you sick to your stomach.

You let out a deep breath, trying to calm yourself down as you leaned down to hover just above Shigaraki’s hands.

Thankfully the league of villains had you and your quirk, seeing as you could heal almost everything, as long as the wound was still fresh and cells weren’t too damaged to manipulate.

Dabi had been the one to introduce you since he’d found you years before when you first started helping him with his unfit quirk. You weren’t a villain, only by association, but you’d always had a soft spot for difficult cases. You hadn’t been able to heal his scars then, since the cells were already dead and the injuries were old and your quirk wouldn’t let you revive anything. But you’d suggested to take care of all the newer wounds

Now you were working with the league of villains or maybe helped out was a better way to phrase it, considering the only method of payment you’d receive was fast food.

You focused your attention on Shigaraki’s injuries, leaning even closer to be able to see everything up close. It was necessary to use your quirk appropriately.

“Ready?” you asked, eyes searching for Shigaraki.

They were wide and attentive. He looked nervous if you had to guess, although he would have denied it if you had asked.

He gave you a nod and you smiled at him, giving his wrists a reassuring squeeze. You decided to ignore the way his eyebrows knit together at the gesture. You imagined he didn’t like touch very much.

You shift your attention to his left palm first, removing your hand from where they had gripped the man’s wrist to let it hover over the injured skin. The tell-tale sign of buzzing spread through your skin as you focused all your senses on the damage you’d been inspecting.

The sight of the cuts running oh so deep, the smell of iron stinging your nose, the feeling of broken and ruined skin and bones and muscles.

A green light, slowly growing brighter and bigger, more intense in color too formed and enveloped your hand. Your fingers inching closer and closer to the bloodied and ripped skin. Just right before your hand would touch his you stopped, the light now extending until it was enveloping his hand as well.

Shigaraki’s fingers twitched, his wrist tensed under your touch. You pressed down on the juncture to reassure him you’d hurry up.

You watched his skin pulling bac, his hands shaking a little when you concentrated on repairing the muscles that have been torn apart before.

It was a slow process, you knew that. You were known for officiency not speed, after all. And you were aware it hurt, probably just as terrible as when the blade had ripped through his skin in the first place. Regenerating injuries like this would usually take weeks and months, a dozen operations and it still would never go back to the way it once was. Doing it your way, basically forcing the cells to regenerate, speeding up the natural process and enhancing it...it took energy from both you and him.

His breathing was ragged, his arm was shaking in your grip, more intense than before and you hated it, hated knowing he was hurting and you couldn’t do anything to make the process go smoother for him, make it hurt any less.

All you could think of was running your thumb over the inside of his wrists, trying to reassure him like that. Trying to signal him that it would be over soon.

You didn’t know if it helped but you certainly felt his body freeze up for a moment. Maybe that was just because of the procedure though.

You watched the skin grow over again, slowly, and leave behind a slightly bloodied but smooth skinned palm. Shigaraki sank back into his seat, letting out a small huff as the pain stopped.

You took the time to inspect his palm, letting your fingers glide over the smooth skin and noting how it all seemed to be back to how they were originally with joy.

“Does your left hand feel okay? Flex your fingers a little.”

When he stayed still you looked up, Shigaraki’s gaze already focused on your face. There was something unreadable in the way he looked at you. He almost looked confused.

You bit your lip, glancing between his hands and his face as dread slowly rose in your stomach.

“You can flex your fingers...right?” you asked nervously.

What if you made a mistake? What if you messed up with his muscles?

Shigaraki’s finger twitched, before he bent them. Spreading them apart before creating a fist. You quickly pulled your hand away to leave him the room to move around a little, returning to tap his skin once more when you saw he was done.

“You feel that?” you asked, less nervous now that you knew that he could still move it.

The only answer you got was a grunt but that’s all you needed.

You moved on to his right hand then. Clasping his wrist with one hand to stabilize him and raising your other just above his palm. You repeated the procedure once more, green light enveloping both your hands as your face was set into a deep frown of concentration.

You stroked his wrist with your thumb once more as soon as you felt Shigaraki tense up again.

He was trembling even harder this time and you couldn’t tell if it was only because he was already exhausted or because this hand had been through more damage.

All you could feel was that the level of damage must be similar, the time it took you to fix the connections of the muscles felt about the same. Then his skin grew over slowly.

You repeated your check up, smoothing your fingers over the skin of his palm and telling him to flex his fingers. He reacted quicker this time, clenching and unclenching his fist a few times.

You gave his wrist a last squeeze before you let go, satisfied and happy you’d done a good job. Of course you wouldn’t know for sure until a few days later when Shigaraki was able to tell you if his hands were giving him any problems. But for now Shigaraki looked a lot better.

His pale face had filled with a little bit of color again, although his eyes were weirdly unfocused as he lowered his head to inspect his hands. You watched him in confusion, as he flexed his fingers again. Wasn’t he sure if you’ve done a good job? Did he feel pain?

“Is everything alright? Wait, lemme see again.”

You leaned forward, softly gripping his hands to pull them closer to inspect once more. Shigaraki froze up at the contact again and you frowned when you saw that the skin was all smooth and fixed, giving no reason for the man to act so tensed up.

You searched his eyes, only finding him already staring at you with an undefinable look in his eyes. You were just about to open your mouth to ask him about it. Not necessarily why he was acting so weirdly, but more specifically what haunted him.

Before you could do that, he surprised you with pulling his hands back before opening his palms which were facing upwards.

You watched in confusion.

He stretched his fingers, raising his hand upwards. The motion made you cock your head to the side. He was looking at you with narrowed eyes, clearly expecting something from you. Thinking you knew what he tried to ask of you you placed your hand on top of his, noticing him spreading his thumb apart to not touch you with all five of his fingers.

Shigaraki searched your face for a reaction but you didn’t know what kind of reaction that was supposed to be.

“I knew you were kinda crazy but that’s another level.”

“Excuse me?” you gaped at him.

“Only a crazy person wouldn’t be afraid to touch me.”

Gears started turning in your head and your cheeks heated up at the realization that that had been the reason why he’d frozen up. He wasn’t used to touch. He had been probably overwhelmed having your hands all over him.

“Oh...I guess I trust you wouldn’t disintegrate my hands.”

He raised an eyebrow at you.

“I’m useful aren’t i? Maybe I'd be more worried about a foot or knee cap but I kinda need my hands for the healing.”

He hummed in agreement, seemingly satisfied knowing you weren’t a total moron.

Although to be quite honest you weren’t so sure if you’d flinch from his touch even if it was directed towards your face. You didn’t know if you had it in you to mistrust him. When it had come to this point you didn’t know, somewhere along the way you had just stopped questioning your growing positive feelings towards the leader of the league of villains (and the other members as well).

Sometimes you liked to think both of you had mutual respect for each other. Enough to not randomly disintegrate the other person, that was.

“I’m sorry i made you uncomfortable, though. I should have asked beforehand.”

He snorted, fingers flexing under your grip, bending to run them over the palms of your hand.

“I don’t mind,” he muttered.

You didn’t think it was all he had wanted to say, but whatever else tried to leave his mouth was held back by Shigaraki biting his lip. You didn’t question it.

The man continued exploring your skin and you  spread your fingers a little wider to give him more access. It was fascinating to you, how curiously he was exploring your skin, like a small child eager to experience new sensations. He had cocked his head to the side, eyeing you from beneath his hair, calculating, waiting.

He reached for your hand and you let him. Let him grip and turn it, until he could easily intertwine his fingers with yours, hesitant and careful to touch you, mindful to spread his pinky to not touch your skin.

You felt your cheeks heat up at the gesture, curiously glancing up at the man that was so hesistant with physical touch usually.

“Shigaraki-kun?”

He shook his head, eyes focused on your hands

“Tomura.”

You smiled, surprised but satisfied for some reason.

“Tomura,” you whispered, closing your grip around his hands.

Taglist: @crystal-lilac​

[beccascribbles]

hcs series detailing what it is like to be a manager for the various haikyuu teams

karasuno | seijoh |

warnings - swearing, karasuno being their usual selves with the addition of a chaotic manager

word count - 1.7k

being their manager was chaotic enough without the addition of the new first years

you were a second year, joining as a manager in your first year at the insistence of ennoshita, who had not wanted to deal with the likes of tanaka and nishinoya by himself

however, while kiyoko was the calming presence that warmed the boys hearts, you were her more chaotic counterpart

often, you could be found playing pranks on the boys, filling the club room with volleyballs, hiding the bibs

kiyoko was the one to rope you in, stop you from messing around too much, especially when your pranks had increased after the broom incident. you had just wanted to cheer everyone up, but it had only annoyed them

daichi had become irritable and snappy, while sugawara, despite the smile, looked exasperated

tanaka was the only one who didn’t seem too annoyed, giving your hair an affection ruffle

anyway, with the arrival of the new first years, you were determined to turn over a new leaf, make a good first impression

that plan didn’t work out

expecting it to be tanaka, ennoshita, kinoshita and narita walking towards the gym, you had hidden yourself in preparation to scare them (how you managed to mistake the sound of two people for four was beyond you but you did)

you leapt out from your hiding place, letting out a loud roar only to be greeted by a blonde beanpole with glasses and a freckled boy cowering behind him

you then proceeded to let loose a torrent of swear swords

“shit. fuck. sorry. shit. i can’t believe i did that. can we start over?”

you stuck out your hand towards them, the blonde looking at it with disdain while the other moved forward and grasped your hand

“i’m l/n y/n, and i’m one of the managers of the volleyball club,” you said, giving his hand a firm shake, a grin on your face. “this wasn’t how i planned to introduce myself. i thought you were the second years and i wanted to scare them. i promise i’m not always like this.”

cue sugawara piping up from seemingly nowhere, the rest of the team trailing behind, “don’t be fooled. she’s always like this”

“kiyoko is the responsible, lovely manager,” sighed tanaka, causing you to shoot him a glare, “and y/n is the chaotic one but we love her anyway”

“speak for yourself,” scoffed daichi, the ruffling of your hair as he walked past enough to tell you he was only teasing

“rude,” you mumbled before turning back to the two first years with a grin. “anyway, what are your names?”

the freckled one gave you a grin in response, introducing himself as yamaguchi and saying he was pleased to be playing for the team. the blonde refused to reply, walking past with a haughty tilt to his chin, though yamaguchi was quick to introduce him as tsukishima

but you were quick to wear him down, his coldness towards you gradually thawing the more you talked (although he insisted you were just being annoying)

he clearly wasn’t that annoyed as he would often share his music playlist with you

yamaguchi was quick to warm to you after the little scare. you were one of the first he told about wanting to learn the jump floater serve and happily encouraged him

meeting the monster duo of kageyama and hinata went much smoother, considering you had bribed sugawara for information on the pair before you met

the key to kageyama’s heart was milk, so when you introduced yourself and gave him a cartoon, he already knew you would be a great manager

honestly the boy is probably going to become a bit attached to you, constantly asking you to toss the ball to him to practice

definitely asks you to help tutor him as well if he knows you are good at school. kageyama feels far more comfortable with you than tsukishima

hinata was just a literal ball of sunshine, enthusiastically greeting you

probably comes to look up to you a lot and will help you play pranks so long as it doesn’t interfere too much with volleyball practice (you teach him all he needs to know, and enlist his help in executing the great balloon fiasco at the end of your third year)

all the third years definitely see you as a little sister

daichi is fiercely protective over you, steering you away from any volleyball boys who show an interest. literally stares down kuroo when he speaks to you at the training camp

sugawara is definitely the more relaxed one, sitting with you as you gossip about boys. he knows about all your crushes before anyone else. has let it slip on occasion but only to tease you (and to see the way daichi will immediately list off everything wrong about the person and why they don’t deserve you)

asahi is so soft for you. if you’re thirsty, he will scramble for a water bottle. you’re feeling tired? he will give you a piggyback. you don’t even need to ask him directly as he will just do it on instinct at this point (although he was very hurt after you told him off for abandoning the team)

you and the second years are the ultimate friend group, equal parts bitchy and calm

your group chat is constantly pinging, whether you’re in class or not (this is mainly due to tanaka and nishinoya being very bored and deciding to play games together. you will occasionally join in if it’s bowling or pool)

kinoshita and narita know all the gossip. they are your gossip buddies. tanaka walked into a wall while staring at kiyoko? they’ve got photographic proof and a whole video

if you want to know who’s talking shit about who, go to them. honestly, it pays to be quiet sometimes. the stuff daichi lets slip when he thinks no one is listening…

ennoshita is the group mum. he’s responsible for getting you all to practice, though this mainly includes tanaka and nishinoya. the rest of you are very responsible

in ennoshita’s mind, however, you are clubbed in with the two idiots. he believes that without his constant reminders, you’d never be anywhere on time. this is true but you aren’t going to tell him that

the dynamic between you, tanaka and nishinoya is so chaotic. for one, you’re all simps. you indulge their kiyoko obsession and they will listen to you thirst over the people you find attractive. no judgement goes on in these simping sessions, though you do use it as ammunition when you annoy each other

also definitely overprotective of you as well, though constantly show you and the other managers off to other teams to demonstrate karasuno’s superiority

kind of pisses you off and, while kiyoko walks off with yachi, you will hit them on the backs of their heads and tell them to shut up

they would prefer it to be kiyoko but both ultimately agree that you are hot when you are angry so will find out ways to do it more often

yachi and you get on well. personally, you think she’s an adorable mess (the perfect compliment to your chaotic energy)

though she is mainly kiyoko’s responsibility (daichi agreed with kiyoko when she said it would be better that you didn’t show yachi the ropes), you are the one to make her feel more at ease with voicing her opinion. she’s seen you rant at the boys enough times to know they won’t be offended

team sleepovers are a mess (honestly, you wonder why you still host them. answer - team bonding and tradition)

after hinata and kageyama tried to play volleyball with a cushion in your living room, resulting in sending a coffee table and all the glasses it was holding clattering to the floor, you refused to hold them at your place

this is also the reason why daichi, along with kiyoko, requested permission to hold a sleepover at the gym every two months

truth or dare gets crazy, though daichi draws the line when you are dared to strip and run around the school

“tanaka,” he barks, shooting the boy a glare, “that is very dangerous. it is cold. do you want y/n to get hypothermia?”

he will look sheepish and amend the dare to something a bit more tame and school friendly

there is always arguments on who gets to sleep where. when nishinoya and tanaka tried to sleep either side of kiyoko, daichi declared, while ennoshita pulled them away, that boys and girls would slip on opposite sides

you poked your tongue out at a pouting nishinoya and tanaka. you got to sleep next to the love of their lives. you were oblivious to the pout hinata was sending your way. he’d wanted to sleep next to his senpai and was now sandwiched between tsukishima and kageyama

sometimes you will prepare snacks for the boys, much to their horror (while you like to pretend you can cook, rock hard rice is not edible)

surprisingly, the only one honest about it is kageyama, who will hold the food away with a frown. “what is this shit?”

he’ll be hit over the head by tanaka, who shoots you a scared look. he was too slow and kageyama is now at risk of your anger

you plaster a sickly sweet smile on your face. “i won’t be tossing to you for extra practice today”

the worst punishment you can give him. he has to secretly ask the others until yachi finally agrees, too soft for her own good

you and the team are like a family, a messy family that argues and fights, but a family none the less

when the third years left, you may have shed a tear while you were crushed in a group hug and made them promise to keep in touch (which they were obviously going to do)

and, when you and the second years left the year after, you promised that you would keep in touch, that you’d be waiting to see kageyama and hinata on the world stage, threatening tsukishima to ensure he would reply to your messages, crushing yamaguchi and yachi in a hug. ennoshita had to pull you away otherwise you probably wouldn’t have left

[unloved-cadillac]

Maybe something like fem reader getting in a bad accident one day and losing her memory but Levi is the only thing she remembers, so she’s clinging on to him like a lost puppy while he tries to help her regain her memories

C/n: “a lost puppy” why is that so adorable? Thanks for requesting and I hope that you enjoy🤍

——————————————————————————

Remember You. (Levi x Reader)

It was just a stupid training exercise. A stupid field day where nothing bad was supposed to happen.

But cadets, who were no older than 15, were bound to make mistakes and fuck up a couple of times before getting the handle of a 30kg gear. You stood on a branch, munching an apple while watching the new recruits shoot across the forest. “Pick it up! Activate your gas if you need to! Watch your sides and don’t slow down!” You shout and take a bite of your apple. “How ya doin’, Y/n?” Jin asks as he lands next to you. “Alright. They need to work on their speed though.”

Jin was about to reply but a young girl, who was named Christa, shouted as her gear stopped mid air. You acted quickly and shot your gears towards her. “Hey now. Don’t panic.” You say as you fiddle with her anchor shooters and unjam it. “Alright. Shoot it there and when you’re done, go straight to squad leader Hange. She’ll help you sort your gear out.” You smile and Christa nods. When she leaves, you were about to go to the parallel branch but then you heard a loud “WHOA! WATCH OUT!”

But this person slammed into you, and instead of saving yourself, you became a human cushion to save the person from slamming into a tree. You did though and you hit your head first and got knocked out cold.

~~~~

Levi stood watch as the doctors examined you. He leaves for five minutes and comes home to the news that you’ve been in an accident with a cadet. Apparently, Yeager was too caught up in his own world to watch where he was going and rammed straight into you. “I’ll see to it that Yeager is on stable duty.” Jin says and Levi nods. He didn’t care. He just wanted you awake.

The doctors said that you suffered a major concussion due to you taking the fall on your head. You were in a mild coma that should last a couple of days and when you wake up, you had to be on leave for a month to regain your strength.

Levi never left your side. Despite having duties a Captain has, he couldn’t bring himself to leave you. One night, Levi placed his head down and held your hand as he drifted off to sleep. Maybe he was too tired and sleep deprived, but he felt your hand squeeze his.

~~~~

The next morning, you slowly opened your eyes to bright lights. Where were you? What is this?

You looked down to see Levi facing you as he slept. He woke up as soon as he felt you shuffle and looked at you, wide eyed and smiled. “About time, brat.” He leans forward and cups your cheek. “How are you?” He asks in a hushed tone that could make you fall back to sleep.

“L-Levi. Where am I?”

“The infirmary. You took quite a knockout, my love.”

You furrow your eyebrows as he speaks. A knockout? You don’t remember a knockout. “How did that happen?”

As Levi was about to answer, the door slams open to reveal Hange. “Ah! Y/n! You’re awake!!” She squeals and you grip Levi’s hand harder. “Wh-Who are you? Who is she, Levi?” You turn to him and he tilts his head. “That’s..Hange, Y/n. Your best friend?”

“Yeah! It’s me!” She exclaims.

You lean closer to Levi as you eye her. “Levi is my best friend. I don’t know where I am or who you are but I know Levi is my boyfriend and best friend.” You pout and turn your head away and nuzzle Levi’s neck. He looks at Hange who looks back in the confusion. “I’ll get a doctor.”

~~~~

Short term memory loss.

That’s what you were diagnosed with. Apparently you knew nothing about the survey corps or how you got here. But you remembered him. How he saved you from a titan all those years ago but to you, it was a few months back.

You went with Levi back to your shared room and sat in the bed. “Comfy?” He asks as he fluffs up your pillow. You nod and he kisses your forehead. “You really don’t remember anything do you?”

“I remember you. That’s all that matters, right?” You smile as you cup his cheek. He takes your hand and kisses your palm. As much as he loved that, you were an important person to the Corps. A leader. Your squad needs you but now, your mindset is back to when you lived in the village and he rescued you.

“We need to do something to get your memory back. Let’s take a walk. I’ll be right with you.” He offers and you nod. “Okay.”

So now, Levi walked down the corridor with you on his arm. Many soldiers stood and saluted the both of you but you just hid your face in his arm. Levi jerks his head to dismiss them and continues your walk.

You both head to the mess hall where many soldiers sat and ate and talked. With you on his arm, everyone looked at you. They never saw him so open with affection with you before but it was different now.

You were a town girl. A civilian in your head.

Erwin stood up as you sat down with Levi at the table. “Y/n. How are you?” He asks as you hold Levi’s hand. “I’m ok. Thank you. You are?” You stick your hand to shake his. Erwin knew that you couldn’t remember him and he missed seeing the shy girl that used cling to Levi before. “Erwin Smith. Commander here at the Survey Corps. Lovely to meet you.”

Levi glares at Erwin as he used the same line he used back then. He looked at you to see you close your eyes and sigh. “You alright?” You look at Levi with a confused expression. “Yeah. I think.” Hange decides to make an appearance and sits next to you. “Hiya! I’m Hange! Hange Zoe. I see you and Levi are quite the couple.” She remarks and you blush.

“Yes. He makes me very happy. I’m glad to have met him.” You say as you lock eyes with Levi who smiled at you. Suddenly, many youngsters stand by you as they introduce themselves to you.

“I’m Eren Yeager! Lieutenant L/n, I’m so sorry for causing your injuries. I assure that I’m working harder on my control and speed on the ODM gear.” A young brown-haired boy says and you tilt your head. “Huh?”

Levi glares at Eren who cowers away. You smile at the bit when your head starts to pain. “O-Ow.” You cry as you hide in Levi’s shoulder, holding your head. “What happened?” He asks as he holds you. “M-My head. It hurts, Levi.” Levi eyes Hange who gives him a cup of water and he holds it to your lips. “Here, drink.” You quickly gulp down the liquid and then look at Levi.

“Le…vi?”

~~~~

A warm bed and strong arms surround you as you start to wake up. You look up to see Levi watching you. “Hi.” You greet and he hums as he kisses your head. “How’s your head?” He asks as he touches your cheek. “Much better apparently.” You tear away from his arms and wake up to stretch.

“Do you…remember how you got hurt, babe?”

You turn and face him as you rub your temple. “Uh..yeah. I helped a cadet and another came flying towards me. Then..I..,” you widen your eyes and look at Levi who had a small smile on his face. “Oh my god. Did I really do that?” He nods and you cover your face.

Levi gets up and hugs you from behind. “I really liked having all shy. Like we were first together and you were blushing.” He mumbles as he kisses your shoulder. “Did my squad see me like that?”

“Yeah. They had a really good laugh, by the way.”

Great. Now the whole army knows how much of a blushing girl you were before you became a hardcore lieutenant of the Survey Corps.

——————————————————————————

“Thomas Shelby. That’s it. That’s the post. Send tweet.”

🖤🤍Thanks for reading🤍🖤

-Caddy.