#i came running 10 minutes to catch this train you dumbass

[brokoala-soup]

I hate people who block other's way because they are in a hurry like bitch you're slow so atleast give way to the others. It's peak hours ofc everyone has somewhere to go. You're not special

[escapenightmare]

FIRST DATE PROBLEMS

izuku, shoto, katsuki x gn!reader

cw. izuku anxiety, mentions of food, slight angst mostly fluff, cursing.

izuku midoriya ― arriving too early / running late

showing up almost an hour earlier than the scheduled time was probably a bad idea, but he was already at the door to the café and it was too late to turn back. well, he could bolt it out the door before anyone inside sees him but damn it, there's people behind him waiting for him to go in! why is he worried anyways? it's not like you are already there, right? wait, what if you're already here and you caught him coming in an hour earlier like a crazy person? but that just means you came there earlier than him ri- "hey kid, can you move?"

a gruff voice calls out from behind him and he jumps up, startled, "i-i'm sorry, sir!" izuku bows his head in 'sorry' before he enters the café properly. spying a free table in the corner, he makes a beeline to the table, dumping his book bag on the chair beside him as he slumps into one of the other seats, he picks up a napkin on the table and starts fidgeting with it. thoughts filled his head, the worst case scenarios at that. what if you don't show up? what if you get annoyed of him half way through? what if he starts mumbling in that so called weird way of his?

the what ifs were endless and he kept on thinking about it for about 70 minutes.

he checked the time, it's been 10 minutes since the time you were supposed to be here. you haven't flaked on him, right? no way, you aren't the type to flake, at least izuku doesn't think so. letting the paper napkin he'd torn to pieces by picking on it, fall to the table, he checks his phone again, no texts. none. not from you, his friends or his classmates. more time goes by, it's been 30 minutes. he's about to leave it and go home; he's been here for over what- almost 2 hours? and the workers at the café have been giving him weird looks. at least they haven't kicked him out yet, he thinks, going to stand up and leave just when a new crowd of people come into the shop.

among them is you, in all your glory. hair swept to the side because of the wind, wide eyes looking everywhere hoping izuku was still here. he lets out a breath of relief, thanking all might the heavens that you hadn't stood him up. when you catch his eye, he grins - his worries all gone - and he beckons you over. he watches closely as you dump your bag next to his and sit on the chair opposite him, "i'm so sorry i got late! i missed the train and my phone died right as i was about to text you."

shoto todoroki ― reservation error (thanks for helping my dumbass figure this out @uwu-bxtch)

he was sure he'd booked a table for his first date with you. he even made sure to buy himself a new suit just for this one night, he also asked you to wear your most formal clothing (hastily adding "you can wear something casual if you want to, but i think formal fits the restaurant"), he'd talked to you about how this date was going to be amazing - although he didn't show it with facial expressions that much, he couldn't help but smile slightly every time he told you how it was going to be, in his words; extravagant. he'd hyped you up, hyped himself up, even hyped up midoriya who wasn't even coming with you two on the date!

on the night itself, he'd gotten ready and had met you outside the expensive restaurant. he'd complimented you, taken your hand and lead you inside the restaurant, walking up to the worker who was checking in everyone and pointing them towards their respective tables. the worker stood up straight when he noticed the son of the current number one hero in front of him, clearing his throat and managing to appear even stiffer than he was before, "um, what can i do for you, sir?" his voice came out squeaky and you stifled a giggle at the effect shoto had on people just by being someone's son.

"i have a reservation, it's under todoroki," shoto said, keeping a steady gaze at the worker, not realizing he was intimidating the poor guy who gulped and scrambled to check the page for a reservation under todoroki. he reached the end of the first page, flipped it to the other side, his eyes scanning the paper as he brushed it to the side and checked the next page. squinting and staring in confusion before clearing his throat for the second time and shaking his head. "there isn't any reservation under todoroki, sorry."

shoto looks at the man in evident confusion, "that can't be. i made the reservation a week ago." when he got no reply he asked, "are there any free tables? i can pay double," he offered, shaking his head when you came to protest. the worker nodded, "there's exactly one free table." shoto ended up paying double and you had a nice dinner, before you ditched your coats and jackets and ran around the city rading random stores with silliest stuff you've ever seen.

katsuki bakugou ― getting rained out

"fuck the weather-man," he grumbled. his entire date - that he spent about 15 minutes planning - went downhill when it started to rain. he checked the weather forecast on the news report, on his phone, on a newspaper that was all about the weather AND he checked it about three times before he left his house for the date. clad in shorts, a tank top and flip-flops, he'd met you at the beach. it didn't help that there were no rainclouds or anything before it actually started to rain. he had went to get a popsicle, telling you how you didn't have to come with him but you insisted you came anyways.

just as he gave you your popsicle and you tore open the wrapper, eager to have something cold on a day as hot as this; there was a gust of wind, and the sky darkened. the white clouds were replaced by clouds as black as charcoal and the wind became stronger, realizing it was probably going to start raining any second, you exchange a glance and sprint back to where you left your bags. once you get there and grab your bags, you start running to the closest shelter just as it started to pour. quickly melting ice-creams and bags in hand, you make it to the shelter, drenched.

by the time you catch your breath and sit down on the bench with a roof above it- the only thing remaining from the popsicle was the stick. katsuki groans and throws away the stick, damp and wet his hair stuck to his forehead, water droplets flowing down from his hair line to his chin. he shrugged off his backpack and watched as you sulk in despair of your ice-cream melting. your wet bag placed on the wooden bench beside you, your hair just as damp as his, as you brush your fingers through it. "sorry for taking you on a fucked up date," he says when you catch his eye.

you shake your head, "eh no worries, we'll be stuck here together for an hour at most and i don't mind." you lean against the arm you propped up on your knee. staying like that for a few minutes before snapping your head up when you realize something, your voice loud as you yelled over the heavy rain, the moans of the wind and the sound of sand flying everywhere because of the wind. "is your bag waterproof?" his eyes wide, katsuki groans, "fuck the weather-man."

[connieshusband]

Fucking hate you, love to fuck you

Hate sex

Oikawa x fem!reader

"fuck you!" "Is that a promise?"

4k

reader was the captain and ace of the girls team, reader goes to Aoba Josai, reader is also Kag's cousin

Degradation, Slight Feminization Kink, Praise Kink, Fluffy Ending, Fluff and Angst, I'm not very good at writing smut, I also got tired while writing so its short... sorry, Sir Kink: but very minor, no beta we die like men

-cross posted on my ao3:  https://archiveofourown.org/works/31932412

MINORS DNI

Summary:

You hadn't registered that you'd slapped him until he look at you holding his red cheek with his large hand.

And you certainly hadn't registered that he had his tongue down your throat not a moment later. An honest to god moan leaving your lips which he smugly ate up.

___

Degration as well as any kink should have the full consent of all parties involved every time!!

I'm not very good at e2l so be gentle 🤩

I'm such a simp lmao

Oikawa could never figure out why you hated him when you both entered your first year of high school. Having come from a different middle school than you, he figured you'd be like the rest of the people in your grade level and fall all over him.

He wanted to ask why you had such a large stick up your ass during your first group project but chickened out. He assumed you'd at least get along as you were captain of the girls volleyball team and known for your powerful spikes. The setter in him really wanted to find out your perfect toss.

But it wasn't until your 3rd year when he came to despise you too.

He'd overheard you telling your best friend that your cousin made it onto his high schools volleyball team. Being the nosey Nelly that he is, he made the mistake of asking which school your cousin attended.

"Karasuno," you said, your chest puffed out.

It clicked: the black hair, intense expression, the last name even. He could practically see his protégé in the reflection of your eyes. He mentally slapped himself for not seeing it sooner.

His eyes narrowed, matching yours as tension of your silent beat down had to be cut by Iwazumi.

_____

You set down your suitcase, giving your aunt a big hug as she greeted you in the doorway. You give Tobio a fist bump as he helps you carry your things into the spare bedroom.

Your aunt had graciously allowed you to stay with her so you could be closer to school for your final year.

"I can't believe you're dropping volleyball club just as I'm about to join," Tobio whined, setting a suitcase on a chair in the corner of the room.

"I know," you said sullenly. You hadn't wanted to, but being captain and a 3rd year just wasn't going to be practical. Not being the best student, you thought it would be a wise decision.

Having always been close your your cousin on your dad's side came with its perks, including but not limited to drama. Ever since Tobio had joined volleyball in middle school he'd talked about Oikawa, usually brushing off some of the down right nasty things he'd said. But you hadn't. You took it upon yourself to help him train harder and harder to be able to defeat his bully when he'd found out he couldn't attend Aoba Josai with you.

Being an ace had its advantages when teaching Tobio about different techniques on how to set up a spiker best. Often gossiping about the smug bastard as you worked.

Of course, there was no escaping the pretty boy at school either. When your best friend, Ryu, had started dating his best friend Iwaizumi, being the 3rd and 4th wheel at hangouts became increasingly awkward.

And even worse when she mentioned your current math grade. Damn that ginger setter. And Mr. Perfect boasting about his grades to you. Which had lead you to your current situation.

Sitting in his bedroom.

Listening to him drawl on and on with rapidly decreasing interest.

While he looked hot as fuck.

What?!

With new found annoyance you scoffed at him snapping his fingers in your face.

"earth to y/n, I know I'm ravishing, but now it's math time." He said, a smirk decorating his lips.

“I ignored you on purpose, dumbass. Don't you get that I hate you?"

"I'm not asking you to stay, besides this has nothing to do with me?? Its calculus..."

"narcissist," you mumbled under your breath.

"must be your type," he shot back, "gawking at me for the last hour."

"aren't you dating whats-her-face from English?" You retorted, feeling your face heat up.

"yeah??" he said, confused.

You mocked his confusion, ""yeah" God, then stop flirting with me."

He scoffed, an eyebrow disappearing into bangs, "you must be a narcissist if you think I'm flirting with you because wow, it almost like I can't stand the sight of you, y/n," he rolled his eyes in disgust, sitting up in his chair indignantly.

You push him back into his chair, turning on your heels, saying nothing more.

"good!! I was going to kick you out anyway!"

____

You notice his current girlfriend wasn't hanging out with him at lunch nor sitting in his lap during English. In fact. He hadn't found new arm candy by the time your next session rolled around the following week.

___

After begrudgingly agreeing to do another tutoring session and making him promise no funny business, that rule was broken when he had his sleeves rolled up of his blue silk shirt, he glasses laying forgotten on the table, fingers rubbing his tired eyes as he tried to explain a difficult problem to you.

How could Tooru Oikawa be so fucking sexy and such a fucking dick at the same time?

Asking myself this a lot while writing

"fuck you, Oikawa! I don't need your bullshit!"

"fine! Fucking go then!" Giving you a light shove towards the door.

You hadn't registered that you'd slapped him until he look at you holding his red cheek with his large hand.

And you certainly hadn't registered that he had his tongue down your throat not a moment later. An honest to god moan leaving your lips which he smugly ate up.

You shoved him against his bed, your own smugness drinking up his moan.

You pulled your tank top off as you climbed on top of him. "You have condoms?" You asked, cringing at your breathless voice.

He flipped your position, hot breath fanning your ear, "don't you want to be filled with my cum, baby?"

Rolling your eyes, you flipped the position again, "the last thing the world needs is more of you running around."

He considered it before saying with a shrug "top drawer."

Leaning over, your legs still gripping his hips, you pulled out a condom wrapper and tossed it at his face. His nose scrunching cutely.

"pull some weight, lazykawa," you said, yanking his pants and underwear to his ankles. He was already fully hard and you took great satisfaction in wordlessly teasing him.

Trying to ignore you, a blush creeping up around his ears as he hurriedly rolling the condom onto his thick length, as you remove your bra. He flips your position once more, hovering over you, a taunting smirk plastered over his lips.

"can't go 10 minutes without getting your greedy pussy fucked?"

"Can't that mouth do anything besides half-assed insults, Shittykawa?" You mocked, he raised a cheeky eye brow at you.

He lowered his face to you heat, "want to find out?" You grip his hair harshly and shove his face between your thighs.

He rips off you panties and eagerly laps around your cunt before catching himself, slowing his ministrations.

He gripped your thighs as he buried his face in your heat. Alternating between sucking in your clit and finger fucking you, never letting you get both at the same time.

You bit your tongue, doing your best to avoid begging for more - a futile endeavor.

"C'mon babygirl, I know you want it," he sing-songed

You swallowed your pride, "please Tooru."

"sorry couldn't hear you, your legs were busy clamping around my ears.

Your legs shook in frustration and pleasure as he lazily drummed his finger on your sweet spot.

He leaned overtop of you, sucking harshly in your neck as his other hand massages your ass.

"please, Tooru! Please sir!"

"oo~" he remarks, returning between your legs, 3 fingers entering you suddenly as he nibbled along your thigh, quickly returning to sucking on your clit.

You come hard and without warning.

"delicious," he remarks, sitting up and licking his fingers clean, "and so many lewd noises too."

"You have a knack for bringing out the worst in people," you attempt to sound threatening but only succeeding in boosting his ego.

"Oh no~ I hate to find out what the best would be..." He unbuttons his blue silk shirt, allowing you to drink up the full show of his abs. "Not talking so big now, eh, Kageyama?"

You scowl at him before grunting a "just fuck me already".

"don't mind if I do."

You connected your lips with his, enjoying the noises he made as his neglected cock became engulfed in your warmth.

Neither of you lasted long.

He emptied himself into the rubber with a sexy grunt lining up with your moan.

After care he collapsed on top of you, his deep breaths matching yours.

Your hands still resting on his back, feeling scratches from your nails decorating his skin.

He had pressed his forehead to yours, you looked up to meet his eyes which were flitting between the purple marks on your neck and your eyes.

He hadn't held your gaze for more than a second when the realization of what just happened hit both of you at once. Pushing your bodies apart, you shamefully picked up your clothes from the floor leaving the room quickly.

____

It had been weeks since that day. You hadn't gone back for another tutoring session, claiming to Ryu that your grades had improved.

The free time had allowed you to be a better supporter for your cousin, getting a chance to meet his teammates and his friends.

You meet Karasuno's Ryu and think to yourself how well he and your Ryu would get along

While hanging out with your cousin at the spring tournament, you were enjoying a lunch break with a vibrant ginger, his best friend Hinata and a mutual friend with spiky hair. Bokuto, you had learned, was in your year and had a ton in common with you.

Maybe you'd gotten carried away returning his flirty looks and laughing a little too hard at his jokes. He remarked often how different your personality was from your cousin. After exchanging numbers to practice volleyball sometime (him being excited to practice with another captain/ace) an unfortunately familiar voice pulled you away from your fun.

"y/n?"

"what?" You roll your eyes, at Oikawa. You knew he had been watch you and the rest of Karasuno after they had win their first game. Beside you, you can feel the 3 boys, especially Tobio fuming.

"I have a question about the math assignment."

"I'm busy."

"too bad."

Recognizing that he wasn't going to go away until you give in, you stand up, brushing the dust from your bottoms. He leads the way out of sight from your new friends.

He harshly pushes you against the wall, "what do you think you're doing princess?"

You flip your position, he winced as his back connects with the concrete wall. "You ask you the same thing, princess."

His hand instinctively wrapped around your muscular arm submissively.

"you like that don't you?" You asked.

He nervously glanced around him for on lookers. Luckily he'd chosen a pretty secluded spot

"wouldn't want your fan girls to see you being treated like the pretty white you are?" You smirked.

He nodded shyly.

You grabbed his ass, earning a submissive squeak from him.

"such a good princess, getting his flat ass groped," you smile, you see him swallow a moan as his eyes flutter shut.

You begin painfully slowly palming him through his shorts, feeling him grow under you.

"I hope you lose," you whisper sensually into his ear.

He scowls at you as you pull away completely. Leaving him hard, exposed, and blushing as you return to your new friends.

______

The cheers from Karasuno's supporters hadn't quieted down as the team packed up. Still high on adrenaline and pride for your baby cousin, you took the time to use the bathroom before the long drive home.

Rounding the corner you heard voices, recognizing one to be Oikawa and the other belonging to a deep voiced man.

Sneaking a peak your eyes go wide. He was face to face with Ushiwaka. The former not fairing well in the conversation. You didn't think a man could look for upset than the way Oikawa looked right now.

As the conversation comes to a close, you wait until Oikawa has gone out if sight to chase after him. Accidentally running into Ushiwaka.

"sorry" you mumble, attempting to move past.

"you're with karasuno, yes?" Ushiwaka asks.

Your mind didn't really register him, instead giving him a quick pat on the shoulder and a "that's great, buddy," as you run after the brunette.

Hearing an "I look forward to playing them." In the distance.

"Hey!"

He was too far ahead to really hear you, pushing past the front doors.

"HEY!" You yell, nearly at his heels. You stand in the doorway breathing hard, "TOORU!"

He turns to face you, Iwaizumi annoyed that he can't convince their captain to just get on the bus already.

You beckon him over and he skeptically approaches you.

"here to gloat?" He asks, his voice lacking the usual sharpness.

"Tobio is staying at Hinata's tonight and my aunt is out is town for the next two days," you say.

You see the cogs working as he pieces together what you're offering. His mouth forming an 'o' shape as he realizes.

You smile smugly before running back to where Karasuno's bus is parked, giving Tobio a running jump hug, which he awkwardly returned.

__

If nothing else, Oikawa was punctual. Arriving at exactly at 7:30. You hadn't done anything special, just heated up 2 frozen pizzas that your aunt had left. Watching his form as he quietly ate his 3 cheese. He hadn't said a word besides "thank you" after you'd served him. While yes, apart of you meant when you'd said that you hoped he lose but the guilt of seeing the cocky bastard looking so small on the other side of the table, nibbling on the crust. Pity maybe?

"You played really we-"

His eyes were red, his pride keeping him from crying in front of you. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You want to have sex?"

he hesitated before asking, "can we be nice?"

You nodded. Making your way to his chair, straddling his hips and cupping his face. You kissed him slow and deliberate. You don't kiss long before you start to feel his dick springing to life. You stand up pulling him, walking backwards, towards your room accidentally walking into the partially open door.

"Graceful," he commented, a hint of his salty tone under his words as he resumed kissing you.

You grinded against each other for a few moments, drinking in each others moans. You pulled away momentarily, his cheeks dusted pink, breathing heavy, his dick straining in his pants.

"You're so beautiful," you said. He blushed harder, his cock twitching in it's confines. Your fingers dip under the waistband of his pants and pull them down, licking your lips when his cock hits his stomach. You're about to press your lips to his tip when you feel pressure on your forehead.

"y-you don't have to..." he says. You cock your head to one side, your lips parted as you gaze up at him. "I-I get it you know... I don't hold it against you..."

"I want to," you say, "if you want me to."

He nods slowly, his eyes fluttering shut as he enters your warm mouth.

Out of all the sex you'd had, this moment with Tooru didn't feel like sex. It felt like making love.

After he got close, you popped your mouth off and had ridden him. His muscles still sore from his games. Your lips danced with his as his hips met yours. Both of you reaching your climax simultaneously.

Tired in the best way, you cuddle up to his bare chest, kissing his cheek, "don't think this means I like you, flatass."

"of course," he says, relaxing into your touch.

"good."

"it was the fact that my dick was down your throat that made be think that."

You punch him in the ribs, earning an 'ouch' followed by a quiet, "let me have one win today." Followed by an even quieter "sorry" from you.

You place a gentle kiss on his cheek again before returning to your snuggle position. He wraps his arms around your waist as you both drift off to sleep.

______

It's been a number of days and neither if you had spoken about it. You wanted to text him a simple 'good morning' but the image of him quietly shuffling out of your room at the crack of dawn when he thought you were still sleeping, placing a gentle kiss on your temple. You didn't want to seem too eager or somehow let on that not only were you awake but had enjoyed when he'd done it.

After the girls had lost to Fukurodani's girls in the semi finals, Ryu had insisted on dragging you out to play volleyball with her and some 'friends'. You secretly hope it's the other girls from your team. You find yourself not disappointed that it's Iwaizumi and Oikawa.

"Warm up 'Yama!" Oikawa yells at you, serving the ball in your direction as you and Ryu approach.

Caught off guard for a moment, you return the ball back at him, hitting his face lightly with an oof.

Of course, Ryu wanted to set for her boyfriend, leaving you with Oikawa.

You made a pretty good team, he picked up your style quickly, the ball exactly where you wanted it without having to tell him anything. Not to mention that Oikawa had racked up a third of the points on service aces alone, Iwaizumi finally adjusting to being on the receiving end on them. He and Ryu had made a magnificent comeback, clearly having practiced with each other before. You were lucky if you could get a piece of one of Iwa's spikes, Tooru faired better but they quickly took the lead. You grab Oikawa's arm, causing him to look at you curiously.

"set it to me, but I'll set it back. You spike it," you said, finishing your sentence by looking at him.

He considers it.

"break it up love birds!" Iwa shouted at you. Ryu making obnoxious kissing noises behind him. You quickly let go of his arm to flip her off, causing her to burst out laughing.

Iwa serves.

"it's mine!" Tooru yells. Mid jump, he faces you, the subtlest of winks as the ball flies into the air.

Smiling, you angle your body for a spike, Ryu taking the bait, but at the last moment, your hand sent the ball perpendicular to the net, straight into Oikawa's hand. The ball whizzing past Iwa's ear.

The adrenaline getting the better of you as you both embrace, celebrating a successful kill.

You revel in you best friend and her stoic boyfriend exchanging a bewildered look.

At the end of the game Oikawa offers to drive you home, when out of the way of prying eyes, he leans against his car. "Before your cousin goes to nationals, he and shorty should play against us."

"Yeah and maybe Tobio can set for me one round," you say, playing with the hem of his shirt, "but if there's any funny business from you, I'm calling it off."

"Who, me??" he jokes, aware of his history with your family.

You don't respond, opting to gently press your lips to his. He returns the kiss, cupping your face.

________________

Did I write myself into the story? ┐( ∵ )┌ Maybe a little...

I'm also not opposed to doing a part two, so lemme know in the comments ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

Also not me writing my first Haikyuu fic be Oikawa when I wanna break his knees 🥴🤚 (couldn't resist tho he's been on my mind, especially with glasses 🥵🤒)

Also also not me writing this from 1:30 am to 8am then had half my work deleted so I had to redo it the following night 🤪👈

[minruko]

Last minute Christmas shopping

Mini chats- this was so funny to me, I’m like lemme just, this is inspired by the cute little party they have so like 😗

I like to think i’m funny <3

but like this may be my biggest crack post yet

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

IZUKU MIDORIYA

↳ So like he honestly lost track of time with training with One for All n whatnot

↳You just scrambled into his room askin him if he wanted to join you on a last minute shopping trip for Kaminari

↳He smiled at you and nodded cause he honestly needed to buy a gift too

↳Y’all walked around the store before it hit you, maybe he would want something from the electronic section

↳He just stared at you before processing it he told you “Y/N are you sure you want to go in there? It’s a war zone”

↳ “Oh right.” Thinking you backed down he breathed a sigh of relief UNTIL he saw you putting yo damn bonnet on

↳ “Y/N-”

↳ You cut him off and said “Be ready to dip when I come back runnin.” You left before he even got to protest

↳Now when you got to the isle you saw two people fighting over some switch customization kit or whateva

↳ “Do y’all want that or??” , the woman snapped at you and said “What do you think?”

↳You did that thing where you brush your tongue ova your teeth and nodded your head and said “Okay okay”

↳You turned around and used your quirk to keep them in place then grabbed the box and bolted

↳You hopped in the cart and told him to step on in, he was confused as hell but just started to run “Hey, hun which isle should w-“ “SELF CHECKOUT”

↳ “What about Uraraka’a gift?” You stuck your hand out and grabbed some mochi on a passing rack, “Bam done and done”

↳Mane I don’t think he has eva seen you in such a rush, you had to swipe the item 10 times cause you were goin too fast

↳When yall got out the store you looked at him and said “What’s the fastest way back.”

↳Yall made it back in one piece ✨

Bonus cause I think I’m funny💛:

↳It was the day of the party, y’all had the TV on in the background while y’all opened gifts

↳You gave your gift to Kaminari and told him “Here you go, it was uh a ride getting this.” ON QUEUE

↳The fuckin news channel came on and the news report was

↳ “Student uses quirk to snag last minute deal!”

↳Mina was like “Hey Y/N that looks like your bonnet.”

↳Everyone turned to look at you and you said “Mane what y’all staring at dont yall got gifts to open?”

KATSUKI BAKUGO

↳Honestly he really didn’t feel like going out so he kept on pushing it to the side until the deadline came closer

↳He just walked up to you in the dorms and asked you if you wanted to go shoppin with him

↳ You had to get a gift for Satou so you agreed

↳Gettin a gift for him seemed simple maybe something related to baking will do

↳ Bakugo finished his shopping pretty quickly he just picked up a book on common sense for Mineta and called it a day

↳ You on the other hand, we’re making a plan to conquer the kitchen isle

↳To which he called you a dumbass and you said “Memo to me beat yo ass later” you said jokingly of course

↳He told you to just go in there and grab your item, you sighed and just walked up to the isle

↳You walked into the isle and just grabbed the mixer, you were about to head out until someone behind you cleared their throat

↳You turned around and raised your brow, you were gonna talk some sense into them but that was way beyond your black ass

↳They put their hand on your shoulder and you sighed with irritation “Listen I got places to be so like if you could not touch me.”

↳They told you “Who are you talking to?”

↳You sighed “I didn’t wanna pull this card but-“

↳You called for help playin the helpless child card, when someone came to help you, you smiled sweetly, when the person who was agruing with you was getting scolded you flicked them off with a smile

SHOUTO TODOROKI

↳ He put I’d off cause he didn’t really know what to get Mina for their little Christmas party

↳ And your lazy ass not wanting to go do the damn store you lazy hoe get up

↳You asked him if he wanted to join you, he said yes and said he took y’all to some mall and you stood there like 🧍🏾 WITH WHAT MONEY

↳Next store yall walked into the next store and as soon as y’all walked through the doors there was a crowd fight yall both said “😐😑😐”

↳And fuckin left eventually he settled for some shoes for Mina remembering how she loved to dance

↳You walked into a store with with some cute Teddy bears which you assumed Yaomomo would like

↳Todoroki looked at you and asked you if you found anything and pointed to a big bear, and soon as you grabbed it a fight broke out with someone shouting “THERES ANOTHER ONE” you yelled “YALL DEADASS?”

↳You gave Todoroki the bear and told him to run to the cash register knowin full well people scrambling ova a sale don’t wanna catch a case against a rich person

↳Went this big ass crowd came running up to you, you shrugged and said “ I don’t have it y’all.”

↳ When they left cause they spotted a store clerk you sighed a breath of relief

↳You smiled to yourself as you walked over to meet Todoroki at the register

Hehe bonus:

↳At the party you gave Momo the teddy’s bear and she smiled and said “Aww thanks Y/N, it would go great with the hundred others I have at home!”

↳You done said 😐😑😐

↳You sucked your teeth and said “Where my bonnet at.”

↳Todoroki guided you away from Momo knowing full well you were pissed cause you almost got trampled over a damn bear

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Taglist: @mixfi​ @thebatwrangler​ @vangoghmusings​ @lunabby010​ @photosbyameil​ @strawberry-ice​  @wafflenpie​ @myhoodacademia​ @mythiccheroacademia​ @bnhainthewoo​ 

[rins-joint]

"Repressed Emotions" Bakugou x gn!reader

A/n- Just something short i got bored so yeah hope u enjoy it (reblogs are always appreciated)

Tw: one swear word but other than that just fluff

Summary- Life is tough and sometimes it's just nice to get it all out and having a close friend with you makes it a whole lot better.

Word count- 0.4k

Bakugou pushed you down onto your bed then flopped down beside you. “You’re such a dumbass” he rolled his eyes at you.

“Ok, but I’m a dumbass with ideas…”

“Your ideas scare me but go ahead.” Life had been tough for you lately with your parent’s divorce and your recent breakup with your ex, not only that but the stress of school. “I need to let out a good scream because life is cruel...so we could wait till the next train comes by and just scream while it passes by my house.”

“Yah know y/n that’s not a half-bad idea.”

To pass time till the next train came by your house, you and Bakugou watched a movie. You weren’t even paying attention to what you were watching, you were just trying to resist beating the shit out of Bakugou, because of all the suppressed emotional build-up. You ended up dozing off, so Bakguou just put a blanket over you and let you sleep.

The sun had set and the stars started to show up in the deep velvet blue sky. Bakugou woke you up, “Oi y/n the train will be here in 10 minutes so get your ass up”

“Ok ok I’m up” you rubbed your eyes to adjust to the brightness of the room. “How long was I out for?”

“Probably 3 hours”

“What the fuck? All this time and you didn’t think to wake me up?”

He just rolled his eyes and walked out of the house

“OI BAKU I'M TALKING TO YOU” You jumped up and threw on your slides and ran outside after him. “The train will be here in a minute or two come on”

The sound of the train grew louder till it finally rushed past both of you. You screamed with tears running down your face. They weren't sad tears, but tears of relief. Your chest was burning and your lungs felt as if they were going to explode. The last carriage of the train passed you and Bakugou. You collapsed onto the ground, violently sobbing. “Hey, hey y/n are you ok” He bent down next to you and rubbed your back.

You looked up at him with a puffy red face. “I just feel free I guess, it feels nice to get all of that...you know emotion”

“I guess it is...you dumbass. Now get back inside before you catch a cold.”

[notchesandbullets]

Gifts From the Heart (Soft!Ojiro x Wolf!Reader)

Art credit: Pixiv ID 4177162

Requested by anon: Saw the word Ojiro, came running. Can I request fluffy, wholesome Ojiro x Fem!Reader where Ojiro makes the reader a gift?

A/N: This is a chapter from my unpublished Ojiro x reader book that will be uploaded all at once very soon xD. Stay tuned!! there needs to be more ojiro content out there, this boy is so underrated

[anon, i got so carried away the full fanfic is at 50k words and its climbing im so sorry it took me so long to post what you requested, it spurred on my creativity and now i have a fanfic sitting in my docs waiting to be shown to the world lol]

✨Edit: this is part 10 of Ojiro’s fanfic series titled “Saving Her”. Masterlist for it found here!! ✨

Words: 3.8k

It was a lazy Sunday and everyone was lounging around the Heights Alliance dormitory. Aoyama was sitting at one of the tables with Midoriya, Iida and Uraraka, serving hors d’oeuvres.

It made a great accompaniment to Yaoyorozu’s herbal tea. 

Ojiro gathered what he would need in order to make you your gift. It was almost done, but it was missing a few key finishing touches.

Throughout the time you had spent with them, he had found himself growing more and more attached to you and given your past, he wanted to show you just how much you were welcome here.

Alright, maybe it was a little bit more than that. Maybe it was more along the lines of wanting to confess to you badly, but if he went in with that idea, he was sure he would get rejected. Not to mention, he lacked the courage.

He had roped in the assistance of Yaoyorozu and Hagakure. They were the only ones who knew of his feelings and his plan for your gift, but they roped in the rest of the girls to keep you distracted while he put his plan into motion.

He had been surprised when Hagakure suggested it to him, since he wasn’t able to get you anything from that day at the mall when you all went. You didn’t want anything but what once was bewildering gave him an idea for your next present.

He was the only one who hadn’t gotten you anything, desperately wanting it to be perfect before he gave it to you. 

His lack of creativity was soon solved by one simple thing as his eyes fell on what you had discarded on his bed the day before.

While you were distracted by the girls upstairs, he got to work. Pushing up his sleeves alongside Sato and Koda, he started to prepare what he needed.

Meanwhile, you were having a blast.

Yaoyorozu was teaching you how to braid your own hair so it wouldn’t get in the way and so that your fluffy ears would be shown off and not hidden. You and Asui were talking about the upcoming week where they were going to get trained for the provisional licensing exam. Since you were so new, you wouldn’t be able to take it at the same time as everyone else but that didn’t deter you.

If anything, you were even more pumped to catch up to them.

Things had been rough. You had narrowly escaped a bad situation only for Ojiro to save you. Since then, things had started to snowball one after another, but in the best way possible. Aizawa had arranged a temporary agreement with Principal Nezu concerning your enrollment into UA which also enabled you to stay at the dorms. 

But what once was supposed to be temporary solidified into a permanent situation as Aizawa adopted you and now you were hoping that they would let you stay.

Overtime, you had grown close to all of them. The paperwork had all been filled out but you were nervous if they would all really be okay with letting you join their ranks. You just had to ask your fellow classmates if they would accept you. 

Orjio had been particularly nice to you, taking you under his wing and letting you explore your new surroundings with a safety net that he provided.

You gulped. Just thinking about him made your heart flutter and tail wag. 

“Oooo, Y/N’s thinking about him again.” Ashido teased, sidling over to you from her closet to where you were sitting on the floor by the window. 

“Huh?” You blinked, your fluffy ears twitching. “Who?”

Uraraka swatted your arm playfully, mischief gleaming in her eyes. “Oh come on!! You don’t expect us to fall for that again after all this time!! Who do you take us for?!”

You flushed, gaze dropping into your lap where your hands were folded neatly. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

Trailing off with a nervous mumble, you fiddled with your tail as Yaoyorozu shot you an empathetic smile. 

“It’s alright, Y/N-chan,” She reassured kindly. “You don’t have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“But Yao-Momo!!” Ashido pouted. “She was about to admit her feelings for him!!”

“No I wasn’t!!” You protested, then clapped a hand over your mouth but it was too late.

The damage had been done.

Squeals burst out all around you and you had the sudden urge to take refuge in your room, no longer wanting to be a part of this humiliating conversation. 

“How long?!” Ashido shrieked in your ear, tugging on your arm, wanting to know the exact time it started.

“I don’t know!!” You cried out, burying your face in your hands, utterly embarrassed.

Uraraka and Hagakure let out a gasp at your indirect confession but squealed excitedly as realization finally hit them.

“You guys would be so cute together!!” Hagakure gushed.

Uraraka’s eyes crinkled up joyously. “Aww!! I can already picture them out on their first date!!”

“Guys, give her space to breathe.” Jirou said, rolling her eyes at her overexcited friends as she freed you from their grasp.

Yaoyorozu seconded that, even though she was equally as excited as her friends at this new information. 

“I didn’t know you had feelings for Ojiro-san.” She lightly teased with a soft smile on her face, patting your back like an older sister would.

“I don’t!!” You denied but winced at the collective glare that was thrown your way. “... Maybe…”

Ashido sprang up to her feet. “She’s totally crushing on him!!”

You grabbed onto her arm to prevent her from leaving the room, finding Ojiro and outing your secret. “No I’m not!!”

“Are too!!”

“Am not!!”

“ARE TOO!!!!!”

“NO!!!!”

The both of you fell back on top of the bed, bouncing a couple of times on the mattress as the other girls forced the two of you to sit down. 

Even Asui seemed on board. 

“I think you would be able to make him very happy, kero.” She relayed, a finger resting on her chin. “He already thinks very highly of you.”

You couldn’t help but blush at that, wiggling around uncomfortably as your heartbeat echoed loudly in your ears. 

“W-What…?”

Hagakure shoved your shoulder and you nearly toppled over, not expecting her to do that.

“Y/N!!” She chastised, wagging a finger at you. “You can’t be serious!! Haven’t you noticed it?!”

You were lost. “Noticed what??”

“Oh dear.” Yaoyorozu commented, gazing at you sympathetically.

“Someone tell her or else I’m going to explode!!!” Ashido shouted, throwing her hands up in the air.

You opened your mouth to ask just what was going on when the door suddenly opened and everybody fell silent. 

Todoroki didn’t do or say anything. He simply inclined his head to the side and the girls who were so docile for a few seconds burst into action. 

You weren’t sure exactly what happened but within the next minute, you were being shoved outside and hastily instructed to go downstairs in exactly five minutes while they all raced out, Ashido dragging a reluctant Todoroki along with them.

Since you left your phone back in Ojiro’s room and you didn’t want to be rude and barge in just to get it, you stayed outside in the hallway, counting the seconds that passed until five minutes had passed.

You lagged behind, not really sure what to expect. They had never acted like this around you before. 

Maybe Aizawa had told them of your permanent stay at Heights Alliance and they were all against it. 

But that didn’t make much sense since they went to such lengths to be so friendly and open with. 

Shaking your head to clear the muddled thoughts, you continued on down the staircase until you reached the first floor.

When you arrived, it was dark. All the lights were turned off, which was strange because you vividly recalled Iida saying something about how important it was to keep the lights on 24/7 so that none of the students tripped or anything. 

Mostly for your benefit since you tended to trip over air.

Claws sliding out, you narrowed your eyes, baring your canines threatening as you scanned for any signs of movement. 

Putting into the play the training Aizawa had taught you, you crouched low to the ground, slinking along the abandoned corridor. 

Adrenaline pumping through your veins, you crept around the corner, coming to halt just before the common room. 

Here goes nothing. 

You stepped out.

Then, several things happened at once. 

You were blinded as the lights suddenly flashed on and you shrieked, jumping on the nearest person out of instinct. 

“What the fuck, dumbass!!!” Bakugou raged as he caught you when you tunneled into him. 

You squeaked frightfully, backpedaling until you were a sufficient distance away from the group of twenty now standing in front of you, clearly seeing them for the first time.

“I told you she would get scared!!” Jirou chastised, smacking the sheepish-looking pikachu on the head.

“I’m sorry, I thought it would be fine!!” Kaminari argued back, gripping his head in pain. “Ow!! That hurts!!”

“Serves you right!!” She snapped back.

You retracted your claws, reverting back to the adorable wolf that they all knew and loved now that you realized there wasn’t any threat. Your ears perked up and your lips curled into a smile of disbelief.

Beaming happily as Ashido smothered you in a hug, you blinked back tears as your eyes fell on the banner that said, “Welcome Home!!!”, in bright lettering above the entire class of 1-A.

You couldn’t believe your eyes. “You guys did all of this for me?”

Uraraka gestured to the pile of presents behind Shoji and Tokoyami. 

“It was Ojiro-kun’s idea for the presents and Hagakure’s for a party.” She told you cheekily, pointing to the embarrassed boy hiding behind the counter to make himself appear smaller. “We just all pitched in to help.”

“You didn’t have to do all of this for me…” You said softly, in awe and vastly overwhelmed.

“You’re staying with us from now on.” Todoroki quipped plainly from the back row. “This was in order.”

Hagakure rushed over to you. “Do you like it?! Are you surprised?!”

You nodded and squeezed her tightly, thanking her before making your way over to Ojiro, who had yet to acknowledge you. At least, with words. 

He couldn’t tear his gaze away from you, completely under your spell as you padded over to him. 

Blushing, you tucked a lock of hair behind your ear, then cursed yourself for doing something so embarrassing in front of your long-time crush. 

“Mashirao?” You said curiously, noticing his arms were hidden behind his back.

Man, he was never going to get tired of hearing your sweet voice saying his name in such an intimate way.

Winding his tail around your waist, he tugged you closer until you fell into his chest. You shivered as you felt one of his arms snake around you, as if shielding you from the people who were crowding around you.

Your face burned and you were thankful it was hidden from all of your classmates as they ‘awwed’ at the two of you. Vaguely, you heard someone slyly note how cute the two of you were and you swore, feeling more self-conscious than ever. 

You didn’t get a chance to wiggle out of his hold to smack Ashido on the head for her comment since Ojiro decided to give you what was behind his back.

It was a small, carefully wrapped gift box, not impressive on the outside by any means, but your eyes sparkled and your heart skipped a beat. 

Seeing the expression on your face, his shoulders shook with laughter. Your eyes were shining in excitement at seeing his present as opposed to all the other ones that were much larger than his. 

He strangely felt touched by it. 

You placed it on the kitchen island, running your fingers over the velvet bow and pretty gift wrap. You almost didn’t want to ruin it. 

“Oh come on,” Ashido squealed in frustration the longer you prolonged it and everyone else crowded around you. “Open it already!!”

You shot her a playful glare, taking your time despite the many groans that sounded around you as you carefully unwrapped the neatly decorated box. By the time you finally finished taking off all the wrapping paper, everyone, even Bakugou, was leaning forward in anticipation. 

Taking off the lid so that it covered whatever was in the box from their prying eyes, even though there were several loud protests, your eyes widened as you saw what was nestled inside several layers of crinkled paper.

Reaching in eagerly, you pulled it out and held it up. 

It was a lion plushie. A beautifully crafted, complete with whiskers and a fluffy mane, stuffed lion. And you already adored it. 

There were some disappointed complaints that his present didn’t live up to the hype they were expected to believe, but Ojiro didn’t hear them, only having eyes for you. As they started to disperse throughout the living room, you couldn’t tear your gaze from the cute lion.

“I seem to recall someone getting ahold of the giraffe in my room.” Ojiro teased with a knowing smile. “You seemed to like to have something to hold onto at night, so I figured another stuffed animal couldn’t hurt, right?”

Your ears swiveled happily as you heard him say that and you couldn’t refrain from bouncing in place, tail swishing behind you. 

“It was so long ago, I would’ve thought you had forgotten by now.” You beamed, smiling from ear to ear as you tested out its squishiness. “Where in the world did you get this?! It’s so plushy!!”

When he didn’t answer you right away, you paused your shower of adoration over the beloved lion, tilting your head curiously at Ojiro, who was now bright red and mumbling something under his breath.

“Huh?” You squeaked, unsure if you really heard him right.

His throat bobbed as he swallowed, grinning at you sheepishly. “Well, it’s just— The stores didn’t really have any lions that looked cute enough when I took my sister to the mall and that’s when she suggested making one for you.”

Your jaw dropped to the floor.

“I remember you saying that you liked lions because… well, you said they reminded you of me so I really wanted to get you a lion.” Ojiro continued, not noticing your reaction, too caught up in his rambling. 

You had told him one night after playing with his tail to calm you down after you had a nightmare and he hadn’t forgotten it since.

“Holly-chan helped me sew it, I got the materials from Aizawa-sensei and Shoji helped me attach the tail and the mane and everything else.” He told you, pointing out all of the features that were carefully crafted together with the utmost love.

Your heart skipped a beat.

He hesitated, now picking up on the fact that you had yet to say anything. “Is… Do you like it?”

You would’ve punched him for his obliviousness if it weren’t for the fact that you didn’t want to let your lion go in order to do so. “Are you kidding?! I love it!!”

Ojiro’s chest deflated as he released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding in, scratching the back of his neck. “Oh, thank All Might.”

“You could’ve done this in private, you know.” You lightly teased, brushing your fingers over the soft material in awe. “I’m sure it would’ve been less stressful for you.”

He made it for you. You’ve never had anyone buy anything for you for the longest time, let alone make something for you with their own two hands. The time and energy it must’ve taken, not to mention the thought he put into it. 

That was it. You were going to explode with happiness.

“I was going to.” He said, shooting a look over your shoulder at a satisfied Shoji and a smug Tokoyami gazing at you from the sidelines while everyone else wrecked havoc on the common floor. “But everybody kind of wanted to see what it was. And your reaction.”

You giggled, hugging it tightly to your chest. “Thank you, I love it, Mashirao.”

He kissed your forehead, murmuring, “I’m really glad you do, Y/N.”

Your heart skipped a beat and you bit your lip to stop your smile from getting too wide. It was too much. You felt like you were going to burst.

“Y/N?” Ojiro asked worriedly, cupping your chin and furrowed his eyebrows. “Your face is all red.”

“Dummy!!” You pouted, pushing him away and clutching the lion plushie tighter. “It’s your fault, you know!!”

He chuckled, patting your head. Your lashes fluttered shut at the stimulation, throaty growl emitting in approval at the affectionate gesture. 

Ojiro’s gaze softened, brimming with love. He couldn’t believe how far you came from being that shy, wary girl back then.

You raised the stuffed animal up, tapping it on its nose. “Your name will be Koko!!”

Squeezing it tightly to your chest, you rocked back and forth on your heels, gazing at it with adoring eyes when you held it up. 

Ojiro’s heart melted at seeing you so happy. 

Your other friends insisted that you open their gifts next, nearly dragging you over the table. Everyone had given you something, even Bakugou. 

You objected to their generosity, protesting that they spent too much on you already the first time around but it was like all of them went deaf and ignored your objections, shoving box after box in your hands. 

Sato had made sure to have enough food on hand for moments exactly like these, when everybody got swept up in the energy of it all and were literally bouncing off the walls. 

Somehow, somewhere, Aizawa was found and dragged out of his cave to join his students in the party. But he mostly was out of the way, watching from afar as you were handed gift after gift.

Aoyama had gotten ahold of a painted tea set that looked very fragile and it was paired with Yaoyorozu’s jasmine tea she had gifted you. 

It took a couple of turns for you to realize that they had collaborated when giving you things. 

Sato’s cookbook filled with a couple of his own added recipes he knew you loved went with the polished pots and pans Shoji gave you. Tokoyami and Asui’s were combined into a patterned quilt that everyone had pitched in to help with. 

The two tickets you got for the autumn festival stumped you but that mystery was soon cleared up when Todoroki gave you what looked to be an extremely expensive, embroidered kimono.

“When you two finally go on a date.” He said monotonously, pointing a finger at Midoriya and Jirou. “They said that you two will have to confess first, though.”

Your jaw dropped and you and Ojiro both turned opposite ways, unable to look each other in the eye in case that claim wasn’t true.

You had to physically push Ashido and Hagakure away when they made kissing sounds at you, embarrassed beyond belief.

Ojiro had to fight to keep Shoji at bay but his friend was much stronger than him and the tailed teenager ended up losing his balance and careened into you.

You yelped as your face ended up right in front of his, a millimeter away. Breath catching in your throat, your heart stopped and he audibly gulped at your proximity.

Neither one of you moved. 

It wasn’t until you shakily held up the tickets Kirishima had given you did he blink.

“Would…” You swallowed hard, gathering your courage. “Would you like to go with me?”

Ojiro didn’t even think of saying no. 

A huge smile broke out on your face as he said yes and you covered your face with your hands as Uraraka and Ashido squealed, instantly hiding into Ojiro’s chest out of instinct.

He didn’t mind but the heat that was creeping up his neck turned into a full-fledged blush as he hugged you, keeping you close even after Shoji and Tokoyami sent him a pointed glance.

Mouthing for them to mind their own business, he held you until you collected yourself enough to face them. Even then, he kept you seated on his lap, running his fingers through your fluffy tail as you opened the rest of your gifts. 

He knew you were going to cry by the end of the night, most likely when the two of you were alone, but he couldn’t help but agree with everything that his classmates had thought of for you.

You had been without love for so long that when you saw it, you didn’t know what to do. He would take every opportunity to show you how much you meant to him and how precious your life was.

After hours of playing video games, eating Sato’s delicious cooking and getting caught up in Kaminari’s schemes as he tried to push you and Ojiro together not-so-discreetly before Jirou bonked him on the head, you were so tired you felt like you could fall asleep standing up. 

Aizawa had left a while ago, once Bakugou destroyed the TV remote, lacking the energy to deal with his students outside of the classroom. 

You had run up to him, begging cutely for a hug and he hesitated but didn’t refuse you. 

Everyone except for Ojiro’s jaws dropped as you called him dad so nonchalantly but they were even more shocked when Aizawa simply ruffled your hair and told you not to stay up too late. 

You had made your way back into Ojiro’s arms as soon as the older man left his student to their craziness, and you tumbled onto an empty sofa with him cushioning your fall.

He smiled at you fondly, eyes softening as he swept the hair away from your eyes, his heart stopping as you nuzzled into his chest. 

“Princess…” He murmured, tucking a lock behind your ear, as he had seen you do earlier. “Are you happy?”

A smile curled against his neck. 

“Mmhm…” You hummed happily. “Thank you, Mashirao.”

For the rest of the night, you didn’t let go of the stuffed lion he gave you once, eventually falling asleep on the couch with your new present tucked safely in your arms. 

He wrapped his arms around your waist, squeezing you once as he used his tail to pull a blanket over the both of you. 

“Anything for you, Y/N.”

Taglist: @katsukis-sad-angel​

[iamtheempress]

Lets Talk

She nursed a nice bruise on her face in the bathroom, one that bloomed from her cheek to the top of her brow, extending a green fingertip to her cheek to heal it slowly, hopefully bringing back some natural skin tone to her cheek again.

 A normal practice for treating her wounds all her life, all while keeping herself awake and conscious with an energy drink that was half empty and the ever present feeling of anticipation. The source of anticipation lingering on that phone beside her, a burner phone she bought at the beginning of the day.

Chiaki's eyes flickered to her burner phone right next to her, waiting for a reply from a face shed only met during a fight earlier that morning with her father. 

Heroes against Villains, that old fight that will seemingly never ever cease, she cant remember why the incident happened but she just knew that she and her father were first responders along with a handful of other heroes.

 She inspects the faded mark on her face and closes the door to the bathroom, quietly as to not wake her mother who had tried to quell her worried eldest daughter, Aoi had retired to bed about an hour ago… the media had picked up on the travesty of a fight that happened earlier that day. Causing a nasty uproar from civilians and the media alike.

It was everywhere, newspapers, radio stations, the internet and she can hear the newscaster announce it clearly. "Pro Hero Witch is in the Literal Hot Seat today, is she someone we need to keep an eye on? Her power was in full effect keeping a fifteen-story building from crushing her and her battered teammate, FullCharge. Who had beaten the negligent heroin enough to make her heal him, after she did this the building she was supporting fell upon her and 5 other civilian lives, after letting the villain come to know as Dabi escape-'' she turned off the tv sick and tired of hearing of how useless she’s been, the ensuing argument she had with her family left scars on her psyche she wouldn't bat an eyelash at, she couldn't care about her reputation when she let people die on her watch. 

Useless. Lazy. A joke. 

She let those 5 civilians die so callously, she didn't know them and yet she doesn't feel as bad, atleast not right now. Casualties are a norm for heros, right?

The icing on the cake was to hear the media call her that word negatively again. 

Witch… 

A name she used to take her power back from a horrible nickname in her childhood. Now once again weighing on her like chains to the floor.

 She walked to bed holding the phone and lamenting, falling to her bed with a resounding flop.. It's her fault.. she let Dabi go, and everyone saw it.

 She let everyone down and even had her phone blown up by her friends. She turned her attention to the group chat and took a peek from behind the iron curtain of guilt. Bakugou's name was the first to catch her eye.

Bakugou: Chili. Hey dumbass answer us! We have been trying to call you all day and you leave us on read. Answer us goddammit! We don't want to confront you ourselves and see what your deal is but we will if you don't answer us for the rest of the night.

Midoriya: We will give you another 30 and we're coming over, we promise we're not going to gang up on you, Chili…That wouldn't be right. 

Chiaki: How can i trust that, you all saw my situation, no one did a damn thing to help me, i get im also the healer but that includes people defending me in order to heal at a distance or else I HAVE THE TARGET on me. I cant face any of you. 

Bakugou, Izuku, Shouto and more are typing…

She wept rubbing her eyes with her sleeve and making her tear up. Out of everyone… she assumed someone would understand but they all seemed to give her the same look, it made her heart stop. Once again she's the bad guy in a situation she lost control over. With guilt in her heart, she recalled the last moments before he got away. 

Dabi got her father off of her. No hesitation, blasted him clean off of her with enough force it could have singed her head to toe, but he didn’t. She went to get up and saw her father immolated in blue flames as she turned to see the same man she was sent to apprehend was standing fixed about 10 feet from her, his eyes trained solid on her. She looks up at the buildinh started to grown from the integrity being lost from the fight, it began to collapse down on them until she suspended it above the both of them, mere feet from his head; they stared at one another like deer in headlights. A sinister smirk spread across his features before disappearing from her view, in the kick up of dirt and rubble, 

Chiaki couldn’t bring herself to apprehend him. 

Why..? Did he see the desperation in her eyes or the fact that she barely had a leg to stand on when her own father took her down a size, when he saw insubordination over saving herself and not her father who was completely fine? Or was there another ulterior motive to keeping her alive?

Upon trying to close her eyes, and hopefully forget about this whole day.  

The burner phone buzzed to life. 

The screen could have been the brightest thing in the room, a beacon in the night beckoning her. Distant thunder rumbled to indicate the dire decision she's made, as well as a storm that was approaching.

 Her heart stopped, she lifted the phone slightly and slid her thumb over the screen. To see the text message from an unavailable number. 

“How is that eye feeling, Witch?” 

The text read, her fingers flew across the keyboard. 

“It’s been better, I fixed it up. Is this really Dabi?” upon sending the message the text came up as read. Is she really thinking of doing this… he messaged her back quickly. “Maybe I am, I have seen the news today and that shot of you and I standing before the building collapsed on us was cinematic so I have to give you props for that. I’m guessing the reason you wanted to speak to me was not make pleasantries and talk about our days.” 

“You want to join the League.” 

There it is. The question that lain heavily upon her mind. Shed never considered it as much as she has recently. The ridicule of her graduating class, her power seen as something not all heroes should use for good. She proved time and time again how she is not something to worry about.. But here she was.. Being abused and taken advantage of by the people she cared for. 

“Yes. I do.” She sent it with no hesitation and sat up in her bed looking down upon the phone, he made quick work of messaging her back, again. 

“We havent recruited anyone worth our time in a while. From what I saw recently as well as today. We were considering reaching out to you..but this works much better. Meet tonight?” Her golden eyes widened and her mouth popped open out of sheer shock. “Around what time? Ill be there” She stands up, with a loud crack of lightning the rain poured outside, she cursed and saw a location pop up on her phone.

An old and run down apartment complex outside of city limits. “Now. Get going. Text me when you're close.” Chiaki sprung out of bed without a second thought. Redressing herself in simple attire, something to not be seen on the streets so easily especially at night. Black leggings, worn in combat boots her mother gave her, a large black hoodie and that burner phone.

 While tying her hair up in a bun she saw her phone, the one with her best friends messaging her… and Midoriya’s name front and center..

Izuku: “Hey, cmon, Chili. We know you’re there.. We saw what happened and we want to know if your alright…We can see you reading our messages”

Izuku: What happened with your dad wasn't right but something doesn't add up from that fight, Chili.”

Bakugou: “It makes just as little sense to me too dumbass! Why did he spare you and go for FullCharge.”

Bakugou: “You better not have done something youll regret dumbass we cant lose you!”

Kiri: “I already have Shouto were on our way to talk to you, Spooky, were not mad..”

Her heart stopped in her throat as she started typing to them. She could see them all stop typing in unison. 

“Theres nothing to talk about. You all have made up your mind about me..i can see it. I sound like im just a problem to all of you. Consider me gone.” Chiaki tossed her old phone to the bed and scrawled a note. 

“I loved you all.. I'm sorry I'm not who you wanted me to be.”

With one message her phone began to blow up. Without looking back, she was gone. Hopping from her window to the road below with a splash into a puddle and starting her jog, leaving the only home she's known her whole damn life, as well as leaving her hero life behind her.

About a solid 30 minutes later she noticed she saw the buildings become more and more dilapidated marked with graffiti as sirens shrieked down streets and seedy characters crept behind alleyways, the city limits were within a mile away, and so was the old apartment building. 

Impatient and eager to meet him face to face, she messaged him.. "About a block or two away." she pulled her hood up as she exited a mini markets awning that was closed, rain started to shower down upon her, her light hair hidden beneath the oversized hood, the old marquis sign coming into sight. 

The phone vibrated in her pocket, Chiaki pulled it out and the words shone bright across her face. “You better not be some spy.. I won’t be too happy. So in your best interest, i'd be 100% transparent with me.”  She texts back quickly. “I am an open book and got little to hide.”

The text was read and the old marquis was above her, “No turning back now… the guys will be looking for me in no time.” She said to herself and entered the lobby of the closed apartment building, through the heavy wooden doors. It looked like it used to be grand but now it was so in disrepair that the wallpaper was torn back from walls and holes were created from years of neglect. 

Chiaki pulled her hood back and looked around, listening to the silence of the apartment, she took a breath and emanated a glow from her hands, her fingers and thumb lit up like bright green glow sticks.

From behind a darkened figure glided his scarred palm across the tattered wall approaching her slowly, he speaks up, cutting the silence and startling her. "Ah..There you are, you certainly didn't waste your time, Witch" she gasped and whipped around to see him, Dabi. She let out a nervous laugh and took a step forward, if she were not in this situation she wouldn't hesitate to take him down but this instance she felt on equal ground to him so she felt no threat.

 "I don’t dodge opportunities, especially ones like this, I would have contacted someone sooner but I wanted a reason to do this.. And you seemed like someone I wanted to contact first hand." Dabi approaches her until he is within mere feet of Chiaki, his feet shuffling with each stride, he's easily taller than her by more than a couple inches, being 5”2’ is sometimes a hindrance.

He blows air out of his nose with a laugh. “You were in luck then.. I had my eye on you for a while and finding intel for you was far more complicated than we expected. Chiaki Nakamura is it?”  one hand stuffed into his pants pocket and the other out to gesture towards her, his scarred hand fanned out, talking with his hands was natural for him to do it seems. His cyan blue eyes raking down her front and back to her eyes. Unblinking and just as dark and spellbinding as before, all the while being intensely overwhelming in every aspect physical. Chiaki’s heart bounced in her chest to her throat. 

His head lulls to the side.

 "Thats my name..” The young pro speaks softly, Dabi noticed the apprehension in her voice,"Oh are you nervous little Witch..?"  he didn't need her scurrying off or anything so he took to sauntering slowly around her, sizing her up like a hungry shark. She didn’t speak but caught his eyes through his black hair that curtained his eyes. “Just a bit but if i were any more scared i wouldn’t be here..” He looked upon her glowing green hands, it made her mildly conscious of the fact that they were shaking.

“Then my reputation precedes me even to fresh faces like you.” He says with a hoarse chuckle, he backs up with his arms spread open, she catches a glimpse of his long scarred arms, they flopped back down to his sides, She laughs gently in turn, her eyes fixed on his face, being this close she could see the gold sheen to the staples on his mouth and under his eyes. 

“If that nervous behavior is because you’re scared and having second thoughts about this.. And want to go back to playing around as a hero, i won't hesitate to fry you where you stand, but i'm hoping you're using that common sense of yours so i don't have to.” She listens intently, unwavering and dimming her hands back down, as to not allow her quirk to radiate outside the building.. Dabi’s mouth doesn’t even move beyond a normal straight line but his eyes say everything: He doesn’t see her as a stranger.. Despite this being their first time meeting amicably.

 “rest assured i won’t hurt you, from what I have seen already we need someone with a quirk like yours around, but when it comes to me bringing you back to the bar.. They won’t allow you in unless I check you for a wire, lift your arms.” He instructs and she lifts her arms just enough for him.

 His hands starting to traverse her arms and waist make her face swell with heat, a much more embarrassing position to be in… He was thorough and rough with the patdown, his face remained the same unchanging and stoic, her eyes trained on his face and the rough scars that covered the bottom portion of his face to the part directly under his tear ducts. Besides that he doesn't look bad.. The scars only add that intense look to him, the reason why people were scared of his looks. 

“I wanted to know something..” She caught his attention with a low hum, his brow raising and his lips curling upward. “What was the deal with you getting my father off of me..why didnt you attack me.” His hands finished patting down her body and he tuts her pulling the burner phone from her pocket.

 “You see.. That moment was televised and the moments leading up were not, and if they were, they didn't televise your abuse period or the reason behind it. It was pretty tragic, I heard your father's harsh words.. even more brutal pounding id say, he blocked all of your defences, your little friends didn't come for your rescue, they stood around." She stood stock still listening to him,

"Our Pro Hero lil Witch being ‘saved’ by me when i had enough of seeing someone who is more useful then her partners let on, being beaten to a pulp, and then when things seemed to be working in your favor and the fabled heroes would have gotten me, you in turn...stopped an entire highrise building from squishing me to death.” He leans forward and drops his voice an octave, dipping into a form of seductive and joking. 

“Kinda humiliating isn’t it? Being saved by a well known villain isn't really what the public wants to see.." he shrugs and steps back looks down at his palm, his long fingers moving around trying to catch her attention like he could light a flame at any moment,  with the other hand in his pocket. "I saw someone who needed help in more ways than one.” Her eyes widened as he stuffed the phone into his pocket “I saw someone who I had my eye on for a while being beaten for not doing something as useful as aiding her teammate… and for her own safety right?” He questions as he leans back against the wall adjacent to her.

 “Yeah.. that's right.. How do you know all that? I mean like, not alot of people know that about my quirk, i cant heal at a distance and provide backup unless i have backup...” He snaps his fingers and points at her. “Exactly my point. Your dear old dad didn't take his much more volatile daughter into account and only used you as a support to him, fueling his ego and making you look bad to the rest of the world.” his demeanor was so foreign to her, he spoke so eloquently and with conviction, a sadistic and perverse form of understanding that drew her in like a super magnet.

 She stood blanched, thunderstruck by how he's describing the situation to her, It's like he's in her head reading every emotion as plain on her face. “Yes. He never took me seriously… as a hero.. No one really ever did.” Dabi's eyes softened as their eyes remained locked in a stare of...mutual understanding on his part… she knew little of his past or who he was, but the weight of not being good enough or a lost cause caused his fists to clench.. he not dare ask anything personal yet.. he has a job to do and earn her trust and read her and her situation like a book. Foreshadowing the type of person she was made to be over years of unfair treatment and situations outside of their control.

 “Getting closer.. Go on, Witch.” She swallowed air and kept spilling her guts..  “I use my quirk to even help anyone or… do something for the good of others and its never highlighted in the slightest, no job well done or whatever. No sort of fanfare or recognition, i come home and.. get judged and told I'm not as good as… as him, from him.” SHe clasps her hands together and opens them up again, Dabi’s eyes watching the little light show from her fingertips and then fade away again. The more his eyes looked to her hands the more he wanted to see the beautiful little auras again, it was then Dabi realized her quirk is easy to be triggered, or atleast constantly active. “But when… i do one thing thats out of character for a… normal pro hero… all eyes are on you..and I was treated like a...pariah” 

Dabi nods his head and his smooth voice lulled her ears “Understand now? They only want you when you're useful to them, you're treated as backup, but in the right hands you could be so much more..” Her head hung low, like she just discovered it, that despite her power and the fact shes equally as dangerous maybe even more so she's treated as lesser than everyone else. 

Dabi mentally kicked himself, making such a pretty face sulk and look dour, he couldn't just stand there and allow her to beat herself up over how others treat her. Dabi took a step forward to her and found himself raising his hand to her chin and made her look right up at him, her chin betwixt the pads of his forefinger and thumb. “Come on now… don't be so down on yourself, they might see you as only an asset and a tool to use and expand upon themselves, as nothing more then a battery that never quits, but with us, you can reach a version of yourself you have never seen before.. And we can help you with that. We will make sure you surpass your expectations'' She caught herself staring. 

Eyes glazed over in tears that threatened to fall, and with a blink they were gone. “Excuse my ignorance but… you're serious like you can do that?” She asked with trepidation and abit of excitement that she had to cage off to not seem too eager. 

“It's not a promise, Nakamura. Its a fact that is going to be a reality. Now..” He turned on his heel and gave them some distance in the lobby, he was almost shrouded in darkness. “Give me a demonstration on what you can do.” He instructs. 

Chiaki blinks and becomes blanched. A demonstration. In here? She clasps her hands together and pulls them apart that green glow emanating from her hands to her elbows, pretty gold and green eyes enveloped in pure green with irises, her hands splayed out fingers slowly dancing and expanding outward, like licks of fire.

 “Brace yourself.” She curled in her fingers to drain the energy from surrounding lights and power, making the environment for everyone else but her heavy and sluggish. Dabi had a bead of sweat roll down his face and a headache grow slowly. “And just as it was pulled away I can give it back on my own terms.” She points a manicured finger at Dabi. The headache vanishes without a trace and his energy restored , almost knocking him on his ass from the dizzying feeling of having the wind knocked into you.

 The lights and the power entirely shut down for a full block and the bulbs bust outside. She holds a ball of concentrated energy in her palm and absorbs it into her skin, a content smile spreading across her delicate features and bowing forward and standing back up straight.

 “Oh yeah, they're going to thank me for insisting you be our new recruit... Warn me before you use your quirk on me again, will you?” She snorts and cocks a brow up at him. “So.. do it again later and knock you on your ass?” Chiaki giggled, Dabi quizzically tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, as if he's breaking down her words in his head, he flipped his black hair from his face as chuckles amused.

 “I knew I liked you for a reason, sarcastic little thing. ” she blushes and covers her mouth embarrassed. “I think it would be smart if we left.. I don't know if my friends are out looking for me or not..and honestly i would rather not face them head on yet.. And i don't want you to be hurt.” Chiaki looks back at him and blushes not realizing how worried she was for his safety, "What already thinking of me? Don't get so soft on me now, Nakamura.." Dabi chuckles and his hands return to his pockets and with a half turn he nods his head in the opposite direction of her, signalling her to follow him towards the exit of the building, he stops before the door. 

"Wait..you mean those UA kids..? trust me, Nakamura.. they arent your friends.. i don't need to know what you went through today after our little scene, you know as well as i that they're already plotting against you from what you did.." his words rang true along with his velveteen voice, the tall and slender Villain seemed to know more than he let on.

Chiaki became quiet and more confident with her decision. She made this choice, and she really didn't regret a damn thing. "And that very thing you have done today, Chiaki.." he slammed his hand into the wall, anchored his hand beside her head, making her damn near jump out of her skin. Lightning cracked outside illuminating the scars that adorned his features.

  The trench coat splaying open and just a bit of his shirt collar dipping down to reveal the purple scar stretches to his chest, gold tint staples fixed secure into what skin he had left to him that remained unscarred.

 Her eyes wandered from his chest back to his brilliant blue eyes. "Made me realize that you were worth contacting. Trust me, Nakamura.. we will bring out the best in you, UA would have easily tainted your view on the world and how ‘justice’ is delivered; but it seems like you know the world for what it really is." he gave her cheek a pat and a pinch, his gaze remained on her and a sickly grin twisted on his features when he notices her eyes wandering to the purple skin and his pronounced collar dipping further down his chest.. His hand engulfed her chin, capturing it and making her look him in the eyes. 

"Yknow, staring at people in the League will getcha in trouble or hurt, Not me though.. just don't get too used to it, anyone who stares  that long at me i consider mice…but honestly i don't see you scurrying off anytime soon." He backs off when she blushes brighter and gives him a shove. 

"Ah quit! Its kinda hard to not stare if you haven't noticed, Dabi." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started texting someone facing the heavy door, when he received a reply he put it back into his pocket, and sighed opening the heavy metal door with a creak, rain poured down into the street as he spoke up so she could hear him. "its what we ugly folk are used to i'm afraid." Chiaki merely scoffs and pulls back up the hood and opened her palm flat and above his and her head together she created a translucent green umbrella like barrier protecting them from the downpour,  "Ugly is abit of a stretch, Dabi..." she mutters and follows him into the alley where the rain continued ro shower down bouncing off the barrier, a singular street lamp illuminating the barren street leaving the only city she had ever known, Dabi replayed that phrase in his head and he momentarily closed his eyes.

 Its been years since he got compliments.. it was strange but not unwelcome. "Ohhhh little mouse, your gonna get along very well with me.. stick by my side and everyone will like you… eventually.. Your about to meet one of them anyway." As he said this casually as the street became a black and purple haze, a portal opened up and swirled as a literal exit from the city.. to wherever the hell she was going next. 

Chiaki gasped and took an apprehensive step forward.

 "Scared?" Dabi asked, with a little smirk on his lips. "Just a bit…" Dabi extended his hand for her, inviting her with him "Cmon. Trust me. Trust a burnt man with nothing to lose." He chides playfully. Chiaki accepts his invitation, his hand warm and textured with the staples.. Dabis heart skipped a beat at the contact.

 Soft and small hands engulfed by his own as he guided her through the portal, stunning blue eyes never deviating from her gold and green ones.. like they were captivated by one another.. before she knew it, she was in a completely different location. She blinked and looked around, thunderstruck almost by the environment.

A bar that reeked of booze and smoke of different varieties. "Welcome home, for now." He says in a flat tone, she pulled off her hood and looked around.

 Dabi still had his back to her and looked at his palm for a moment that felt like an eternity, the ghost of her hand remaining in his own, strange emotions bubbled up from nowhere, he shoved them back down and spoke up. 

"Everyone seems to be out by now, usually the bar is never empty. The person who summoned that portal is here...Kurogiri, which means our leader Shigaraki is here. He’ll meet you at some point..when he's not on his damn video games." he nudged her shoulder with his elbow and shook his wet hair out. Turning to look down at her, "Nice place...you guys bounce from place to place often?" She asks in what felt like a shy whisper, the resounding echo from the hall made her feel like she was shouting. 

"Haven't in a while.. hoping we won't have too again. Wont say where because it doesn't matter. Anyway, wanna come up to my room? There's an old couch up there you can crash on. Unless you want my bed, heh.. Wouldn't mind you in bed with me.” He breathily chuckles and pinches her chin starting to lead the way, “Don't get any ideas! I'm just tired.. I haven't had any sleep and its like.. Almost 2:30 in the morning.” She yawned and dragged her feet behind him.

Chiaki follows him up the stairs and down the long corridor to the last door on the left, he opened it to find a bedroom with a king sized mattress pushed to the wall and the windows covered in blackout curtains, an old couch directly under it and  a flat screen across the room as well as his own computer and cans of empty energy drinks by it, as well as an ashtray that looked like it was used normally. 

“This room is mine, go ‘head.” He invites her in, noting the tired look on her face, he found it almost innocent if it weren't for the remnants of blush still ghosted on the apples of her cheeks.

Dabi had booted the door closed behind him as she kicked off her boots, he spoke up again, watching her movements, as they seemed to have gotten lazier. “Not much of an interior decorator but it works for me, sprucing the room up would be too much effort.” 

Making himself comfortable he sheds the trench coat and shuffles through a cabinet in the desk where his computer is located,”I'm getting pretty tired and by the looks of it you are too, so im afraid im gonna have to restrain you. Cmere.” He says, pulling out a pair of handcuffs that catches Chiaki’s attention, her brow instantly rising in confusion and a hint of worry. Dabis eyes flicker up to her when she whips around at the chain jingling as he approaches her, twirling the cuffs around his finger 

 “W-wait why do you need to restrain me?” She asks a little wary, “Its so you dont pull anything while I'm sleeping… can't be too careful, little mouse.” He states clasping the cuffs around her wrists in the front, they clicked almost to the point where he could get two fingers under them. Chiaki looked at him with big innocent eyes and then down to the cuffs on her wrists. “Tsk..you do this to all the new recruits or am i just that special.” He chuckles and turns his back to her. “You’re a first, to both be cuffed and able to sleep in my bed. Consider yourself ‘special’”

She looks back up to find Dabi stripping his white shirt off and tossing it to the couch, a blush forming on her face and a pang in her heart as she looks at him closely, hes much better looking up close… fit and lean, along with the added look of his scars that dressed his torso into his pants only made him 2 times more appealing and more her type. “Holy shit..” She says out loud with her jaw slacked abit. “Checking me out, little mouse? Remember what I said about staring.” He chuckled and laid back in bed exhausted, pulling the sheets up her body comfortably. “Sorry was just admiring the view, Dabi.” She teased rolling her eyes and settling into bed, Dabi’s eyes widened briefly and felt that sweet warm feeling creeping up his chest again, this time he let it simmer there.

“im going to sleep.. Too tired to think, that energy drink i had acouple hours ago finally wore off." Chiaki yawned and stretched, facing away from him to ease the situation, that situation being she wanted to face him and find comfort from him. 

A sort of comfort she longed for for years, acceptance and safety.. Funny she found safety with a villain.. With villains alike. This caused her to giggle to herself, he raises a brow and looked over to her with his arms tucked behind his head 

Instead as Dabi turned off the light and the distant thunder rolled she spoke up “Dabi..” “Hm?” She turned back over and some light from the opened part of the black out curtains illuminated her eyes, Dabi once again caught himself peering into them wistfully finding himself looking her over. 

 A genuine glow in her eye, appreciation and a connection the two have never felt before, “Thank you, for bringing me in.. you wont regret it,” She brings her bound hands up to pull the pillow further up under her head, and licked her lips, swallowing her fear and letting a wall down, even just alittle bit to him. Dabi mused and observed her closely, finally seeing the opposite end of what its like to have someone in need go to him of all people. “i haven't felt anything beyond disappointment for a long long time, so to say i feel comfortable with someone i was fighting not even a day ago says anything, i hope you understand and i'm not stepping over any boundaries.” He grinned, and responded with an amused chuckle. “Getting soft on me again, better not make that a habit with anyone else here, I just might get jealous.” Dabi grazed his finger against her cheek, she leaned against his hand and smiled angelically.

“I'm starting to like that fire in your eye. ” He ghosts his knuckles down her cheek as her eyes closed slowly, blinking exausted as the cold air kicked on from the ac unit above them, she shivered and threw all caution to the wind, Dabi stiffened as she moved closer to his end of the bed, she ducked her head abit beneath the blanket to snuggle against his warm chest, his heart hammered with nerves he still couldnt place a name too, the same hand that stroked her cheek rested on her shoulder, his thumb rubbing slow circles into the sweatshirts fabric. 

Comforting and confusing thoughts swirled through the villains mind as he soon came to realize he remained awake for all but another 20 minutes, the soft rise and fall of her chest and side indicated she had long fallen asleep in his arms. 

Dabi rested his chin against her head and attempted to find the sleep he had long since forgotten in his past life. Acceptance and comfort from someone. 

He sighed and whispered in a husky tone of voice.

“Glad we had that talk, Little Mouse…”

XXX~

Hey yall its my first MHA fic. You might see more of her and Dabi in the future cuz honestly this was fun!

[myblueeyedbuggers]

My Boys

Chapter 10

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14

Pairings: Reader x Steve Rogers (best friend) Reader x Bucky Barnes

Word Count:1843

Warnings: Slow Start, Language.

Summary: After being abandoned by her parents in Brooklyn in 1929, y/n makes a living for herself by working for the Црни лабуд gang until she meets two boys in a back alley and her life slowing begins to change.

Annnddd I’m back! so I know it’s been a while since the last update and I just wanna thank you all for having patience with me while I finished up with college, just a warning this chapter may feel a little awkward to read due to me just getting back into my writing mind so apologises in advance for this one. Anyways I’ll quit blabbering, Enjoy everyone! :)

This was my day of reckoning, my punishment for all the bad deeds I’d done over the past couple of years…I was finally being sent to school. Okay maybe that was a tad dramatic, but can you blame me? I mean who wants to be trapped in a building against their will for 7 hours straight learning about dead guys?! No sane person would willingly agree to that crap!

I’ve tried just about everything to avoid my approaching doom, hell I even went as far as hiding in the basement surrounded by cobwebs to try and get out of this, but as per usual neither Steve or Bucky took mercy on me, hence why in currently trapped between the two. “You are aware I’m perfectly capable of walkin’ by myself aren’t ya? The looping of the arms is not needed boys” I swear down these two are being more annoying than usual, and I didn’t think that was humanly possible cause these two are basically the living embodiment of annoyance. Steve turned and raised his eyebrows at me, shaking his head as he let out a small laugh, “Yeah there’s absolutely no way I’m fallin’ for that again, last time that happened it look me and Buck an hour to get you outta that tree”. Ah crap there goes that plan.

I’m pretty sure the noise I made wasn’t even human, it was a mix between a seal and a possessed monkey “I’m not gonna get outta this am I?” “Nope” and que another frustrated groan. “Is this payback for the time I placed that bucket of flour above your bedroom door and watched the both of you turn into ghosts? If it is then I want you to know I regret nothin’” both of them stopped and glared at me, for some reason they didn’t find that as funny as I did, and I have no idea why. Okay whatever you do y/n don’t laugh, even if Steve’s face looks like a slapped arse don’t laugh! A snicker slipped past my lips and a few seconds later I was full on laughin’.  Goddamn it.

Both of em just let out a bunch of sighs and started draggin’ my butt along the street, wait there’s somethin’ I haven’t tried yet…in hindsight this is completely stupid but screw it. “OH MY GOD LOOK A SPACESHIP!” I’m pretty sure poor Bucky jumped outta his skin, Steve ended up trippin’ up and falling down, I’ll admit that I felt bad about but hey may plan worked! So why am I still standin’ there?… maybe we try this thing called running y/n! I quickly pulled my arm away from Bucky and used my new-found freedom to run in the opposite direction of them, I could hear the shouts of protest from the both of them, so I decided to kindly ignore them and absolutely leg it.  “GODAMMN IT Y/N! THIS IS THE FIFTH TIME THIS MORNIN’!” when were the boys gonna catch on that I didn’t wanna go? Do I need to prepare a firework show and blast it in their faces or somethin’…probably.  

I know I probably shouldn’t be smiling, but the feeling of the wind flowing through my hair as my feet hit the ground made me feel free, after so many years I could finally begin acting my age and enjoy my childhood. I finally felt content with my life, which is probably the opposite of what I should be feeling at this moment in time, considering I was currently making my grand escape. And to completely honest I’ve got no bloody clue as to where I am. I glanced behind me to see where the hell those idiots were, to my surprise Steve was directly behind me, Buck was somewhere in the back holdin’ his knee and I’m guessing the daft sod decked it. Why am I not surprised? Okay maybe I should of kept my mouth shut cause literally a second later my foot tripped over a rock and, you guessed correctly, I landed on my ass for the thousandth time!

“Sh*t! Cr*p! B*lls! That f**king hurt!” and that ladies and gentlemen is my fine command of the queens English, a groan of pain made me loose my train of thought as I turned my head to Steve, to put it simply he was laid flat on his back with his eye closed. Well there’s the rush of guilt I’ve been waiting for, “Sh*t Steve I’m sorry, you okay down there tough guy?” I quickly offered him my hand to help him up, I mean it’s the least I could do. Steve’s hand grabbed mine, a not so quiet grunt of pain made me feel even worse, quick question why am I such an assh*le at times? “Yeah, I’m fine y/n, don’t worry about it you know for a fact I’ve had worse” a quiet sigh left my lips as I brought him in for a hug, which was a tiny bit awkward due to the height difference. Once we pulled away from each other, I couldn’t supress the need to check him for anymore injuries, much to Steve’s embarrassment and Bucky’s amusement, “Jesus I’m gonna have to start wrapping ya up in blankets and pillows, Steve how the hell did you manage to get a bruise on your ear?!”

The sudden gasp behind me pretty much answered the question for me, it’s safe to say barney boy is in trouble…for the first in my life Bucky looks pretty f**king terrified of me, perfect. Slowly I started inching towards him, the glare I was sending him would probably make a demon cry for his mum…so yeah imma go kill the boy. I didn’t even have to say anything, he just started runnin’, “IT’S NOT MY FAULT HE STOLE MY FR**KING PUDDIN’ AND THE PUNK KNOWS I LOVE MY PUDDIN!’” YEP DEFINITELY KILLIN’ HIM “HE IS A SMALL AND GENTLE BOY HOW IN THE NAME OF HELL CAN YOU EVEN THINK OF LAYIN’ A HAND ON ‘IM?!” god this sounds like a bleeding soap opera.

 At this point I wouldn’t be surprised of someone called the cops on us, all everyone woulda seen was a big lad runnin’ for his life as a small lass tried to murder him while a smaller lad ran after the pair yellin’ for em to quit it.  Now that I think about, that’s actually hilarious. Wait, where was I? ah yes the murdering of one James Barnes…okay that is not a normal sentence I am aware. “HE.STOLE.MY.PUDDIN’! THAT A CRIME WORTHY OF DEATH!” oh for f**ksake “HOW THE HELL DO YA KNOW IT WAS HIM?! DID YOU NOT THINK IT COULDA BE BECCA?!” I think he made a sudden realisation, cause the dumbass stopped running and BOOM I was on the freakin’ floor. Again. We both groaned, mine was mostly in annoyance more than anything, but seriously the bloody floor is quickly becoming me best mate! “…. It just dawned on me that that could be a possibility…” if my neck twisted any quicker I’m 100% sure that I’d end up doin’ that weird owl thing “Oh now you realise?! Ya gonna say sorry to Steve or not?” a few seconds of silence gave me my answer. “Don’t give me that look y/n! I ain’t doing s**t till I’ve got some evidence so he’s still under my list of suspects!” oh my Jesus Christ this is gonna be the day I get arrested for murder isn’t it?

“Barnaby…you have exactly five seconds to run for your life so I highly recommend you get your affairs in order and kiss ya ass goodbye” oh hey look at that I didn’t yell at him! Well done me I’m so proud! “could you two quit trying to kill each other for 5 minutes?! We’re already late enough as is it and I ain’t explainin’ to the teacher why Buck’s outta it on the floor!” my f**kin god Steve just yelled! At me! why do I never have a camera when this s**t happens?  “Jeez, alright I’ll murder him later, calm your damn t*ts Rogers” and cue the sound of barely contained frustration in 3,2,1….

“I’m beginning to get the feelin’ that you don’t like me y/n” oh really? I wonder what gave that away “wow you catch on quickly don’t ya Barnaby?” by the looks of things I’m really doing wonders for his ego, buck’s head looks like it’s gotten smaller so the risk of him turning into a hot air balloon’s gone down. The feeling of a pair of eyes glaring at the back of my head once again reminded me that the blonde boy was quickly getting tired of our crap, my worst fears were confirmed once I met Steve’s surprisingly intimidating glare…how he manages to be both adorable and beyond f**king terrifying is a mystery to me. “Okay I’m comin’ just stop staring at me like I just murdered your kitten!” and the little s**t has the nerve to smirk and look pleased with himself, ugh he’s been hanging ‘round me and Bucky too long that’s for sure.

“Ya know Buck and you are gonna be the death of me” right do I be offended or pleased with that statement? “actually, if anything it’s gonna be the pair of you that send me to an early grave cause god knows the both of ya don’t know how to stay outta trouble” two muffled sounds of protest came from my left and from behind me, “what’s that supposed to mean?!” once again the point has been missed “do you really wanna know the answer to that? I’ve got my report and presentation ready on how you two are a pair of numpties”.

Maybe that was a tad harsh…okay wait never mind it seems I’ve learned how to fly again with the assistance of one James Buchannan Barnes. “this is coming from the girl who can’t walk five feet without fallin’ over somethin’?” as much as I hate to admit it the walking embodiment of frustration and annoyance has a point “what you call fallin’ I call floor hugs, now how about you pUT ME DOWN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!” wait when did Steve walk off? See this is what happens when an overgrown ape demands attention. I don’t even have to look at Buck to know he’s givin’ me that look that says, “what the hell?” and “I’m not surprised by this” at the same time, “Nah I don’t think that’s gonna happen doll” the temptation to kick ‘im where the sun doesn’t shine is too much to bare for me at this point. “And you wonder why I love Steve more that you” Buck’s face kinda looked like someone just shoved a whole lemon in his mouth, I’m almost certain that he woulda dropped me on my ass if it wasn’t for the fact that Steve came over and dragged us both through the gates of hell.

This is gonna be so much fun!……said no-one ever.  

Okay…maybe it didn’t suck as much a thought it did, hopefully my skills as a writer will come back for the next couple of chapters XD Thanks for reading ! :)

Rose xxx

[shackermanwrites]

Lifetime

Summary: When everything’s falling apart in your life, and you don’t know what to do anymore, maybe asking the universe for something isn’t a bad idea after all. In which Sol Reader finds herself in another reality after begging the universe for something. Everything is going well not until she was put into Levi’s squad.

Chapter 5 -> Chapter 6

Lifetime Masterlist

Before the sun even starts to set in the sky, you were already wide-awake staring at the wood ceiling above you. You barely got any sleep since you basically stared at the same concrete last night for hours. Rest just doesn’t like you, does it?

You slowly pull yourself up from your bed. Rather than wasting the time that you have in your hand you decided to start your day early. You fish through your closet to grab a pair of uniform and essentials you need before heading outside to take a quick shower. The shared bathroom for girls is not that far from your room, so you took your time to walk and gently kick some small rocks along the way.

As you walk outside the building, you can’t help but appreciate and smile as the cold wind hugs your body. It's already October that is why it is often chilly, especially early in the morning and at night.

You went inside the bathroom and entered a cubicle to shower. It was hard at first to contain yourself as your skin made contact with the cold water that almost made you scream as you shiver.

You took your precious time to clean yourself that the sun was already set when you exited the bathroom. There are also some people now on the grounds carrying woods, sweeping the leaves the fell on the ground, basically starting the day.

The peaceful scene beside you as you walk kept you company for a while that you didn’t noticed that a person was running towards behind you.

“Sol!” you turn your head to see Jean running towards you. He is holding some clothes and towels and his essentials.

You stopped walking to let him catch up. Both of you are wearing your uniforms except for your jackets.

“Morning Jean you're up early?”

“Morning, fucking Eren kicked me while he’s asleep that’s why I woke up earlier than usual.”

“Well, so much for having a roommate. Good thing I don’t have one.” You cheekily smiled at him as the two of you slowly stroll.

-

Your body fell in your bed while you let your jacket cover your face. You just realized that it’s still too damn early to even do things. You still have two hours before training starts.

Lazy as you feel, you manage to pull yourself up and marched your way outside your room to wake Mikasa up before meeting up with jean since both of you decided to go the market rather than spending the time in the dining hall to eat breakfast.

You like buying and looking at things that will catch your attention, while Jean just likes to stroll around the town area. That is why spending your time in town is equivalent to your hangouts. Back in the orphanage, there were not many people in there since it is located in a secluded area that is why you always visit the town if you had the chance. A thirty-minute ride from the headquarters is nothing compared to a four-hour ride from the orphanage.

“Mikasa, are you decent? I'm coming in.” You knocked on the door before opening it. You saw Mikasa adjusting the strap in her thighs while sitting on the side of her bed.

“Hey, good morning. Jean and I are going to town to look at some things in the market. Wanna join us?”

“Ah, I wish, but I have to go to the library. I need to return some books.” She replied while dusting off her jacket.

“Oh, that’s fine, ill see you in training later.” Mikasa smiled at you while she waves her hand as you exit her room.

People never really liked Mikasa in your training days, they are intimidated by her, and you can't deny that so were you. She was and still is seen with a book in her hand. The moment both of you had a first conversation always brings a smile to your face.

It was the day when you saw a book lying around the bench after your morning training. You thought that someone abandoned their book there, but you still waited for half an hour for its owner to retrieve it, but no one came. You brought the book to your dorm and read a couple of chapters. The book was so good and catchy to you, so you sketch on the book's first page. Later that night, you read it while eating dinner at the dining hall and that was when Mikasa approached you, saying that it was her book. She ended up liking the sketch you made on her book when she saw it and after that, she always sat with you.

“Took you long enough. What did you do there make out with Mikasa?” Jean teased as soon as you approached him.

“Yeah we did actually, idiot. Let's go were wasting time I want to buy some pens.” You didn’t think twice when you grab Jean’s wrist and drag him to the stables. Both of you ran like your lives depend on it.

You can't admit that this is basically a waste of time. Instead of sleeping and eating breakfast, you choose to stroll around the market to pass the time. You can't help it, in your trainee days you were basically worked up, there was no time to even breathe, you were waking up at 4 am and trained the whole day like a mad man until 6 pm and after that, you need to do specific tasks given to each person. The job can be cleaning stables even in the dark, cleaning the dining hall, lighting up torches around the headquarters, and even arranging rifles and guns to the storage room.

It was exhausting.

Both of you ride along with the cold wind that softly kisses your face and strands of hair. You glanced at Jean and it was the same with him. His eye is strictly glued to the road.

-

“Damn it Jean, just grab anything that you like, and I’ll pay for it, dumbass.” You muttered while you put bread in a paper bag provided to you.

“You sure? How much money do you have right now? I’ll pay you back when we get our pay, I promise Sol.” He didn’t even hide the apologetic tone from his voice while he eyes the bread and pastries in front of him while he rubs the back of his neck.

Both of you grew up in the orphanage, so Jean grew up without anything but luckily for you, your aunt has money and it is more than enough. She left you tons of money even when you were still a child, not that you can buy something from it back then, but she said that it could help you start when you grow up.

And here you are buying unnecessary things.

“Yeah, pay me by kissing Eren.” You replied as you wait for him to finish picking whatever pastries he likes.

“Please don’t joke like that next time.” He scrunches his nose, feeling disgusted by your remarks.

“Oh shoot, let's buy something for Mikasa too. She went to the library so she won't be eating breakfast too.” You quickly grabbed another paper bag and grabbed some bread and some sweet pastries for Mikasa since it is her likings.

You don’t know, but you suddenly thought of Captain Levi at the back of your head. It's not like a bad thing to get bread for him but you also consider that he is now your Captain and it would be weird if the three of you are eating some nicely baked slices of bread and he is just there watching the three of you devour it.

You stared at the foods in front of you as you carefully choose what you should get for him.

“You could never go wrong with cheese bread.” You mumbled under your breath.

-

You arrived back at the headquarters 10 minutes before the call time. You don’t need to stop by your room since you only bought food and a couple of pens.

On the other hand, Jean needed to went to his room back since he bought hair gels and a jacket that needed to be put away before training, so here you are silently sitting on the bench in front of your Captain’s office.

Absentmindedly, you gently swing your feet on the ground kicking small rocks.

“Reader.”

You straightened your back and stood up from your seat to face Levi. You didn’t even notice that he’s here. You didn’t hear any footsteps.

“Captain Levi, Good morning I'm sorry if I was sitting here.”

You carefully pick up the paper bags sitting on the bench while looking around to find other bars.

“Well idiot, they are here for a reason. Follow me, we will have a short meeting before training.” He tilts his head to the side, signaling for you to follow him.

You obediently followed him, staying behind him while hugging the bags in your chest.

Heart beating really fast as you were nervous about the training. You heard rumors that the Captain can be very rough when it comes to training since being in his squad only requires two training a week so it is acceptable that he will make the most out of it.

Both of you stopped at the familiar office you were in yesterday. The same smell and atmosphere of the room greeted you as soon as Levi opens the door for you.

You softly smiled at him before entering his office.

Instead of sitting in front of his desk, he ordered for you to sit on the couch before disappearing from your sight.

The office is quite spacious. There’s his office desk with two chairs in front of it, a couch with a small glass table, there are also two doors which you don’t know where it leads.

Not long before Levi came back with several papers in his right hand and pens on his left hand.

“Where are the others?” He put the pens and papers on the table and sat beside you, which caught you off guard.

You're not uncomfortable, just nervous especially being around him.

“Mikasa is running errands, but she’ll be back any minute now, sir and Jean went back to his room to drop his uh well hair supplies.” you didn’t know how to put the last words you said, so it made your tone of voice awkward.

You didn’t hear any reply from the Captain so you shift your gaze to the bags sitting on your thighs.

It's probably the best time to give it to him.

“Sir-“ you start before looking at him.

He was sitting casually on the couch, arms folded in his chest and lazily looking directly in front before turning his head to meet your eyes.

“Well, Jean and I went to town earlier, and we bought some foods for ourselves and for Mikasa so I also got you this.”

You handed him the bag, but he only exchanged his gaze to you and the bag you're holding.

‘I knew this was a bad idea.’ You scolded yourself in your head.

“It's cheese bread. This is good, especially in the morni-“ you didn’t finish your sentence when he cut you off.

“Why?” he softly asked you.

“What do you mean why? Its food captain.” Maybe it was a bad idea to also get him something since he can see it as an unprofessional act but being generous to things you can afford is something you should do.

His eyes did not leave yours for a couple of seconds before he slowly took the bag from you.

“You don’t have to, don’t do it next time, brat.” He rolled his eyes at you before peaking into the bag.

Levi felt uneasy and new to the feeling of being included in something. He grew up providing things he needed for himself without anyone’s help. That is why a small gesture, especially from a person he’s not closed with made him sentimental.

He didn’t have to say how thankful he was for that small gesture since you already figured it out while looking at his eyes.

Soon, Jean and Mikasa arrived at his office. You gave the bag to Mikasa as soon as she sat beside you on your right side while Jean sat beside Mikasa.

“Brats, take a paper and a pen in front of you and write your name and some shit, just write a sentence, anything.” He ordered to the three of you.

Jean was the first to get his hand on the papers and pen so he passed it to Mikasa and you being the last one to have a piece.

The three of you leaned forward to the table to start writing that is assigned to you.

‘Sol Reader, headquarters, I wish I could paint again, trees, flower.’

The three of you handed it to your Captain, and he immediately inspects it.

“You call this writing Kirstein? Unbelievable, even my horse can write better than you.” He hissed at him, causing Jean to lower his head in embarrassment.

It was only between yours and Mikasa’s paper. He holds the paper with each hand exchanging glances between it.

“Kirstein and Ackerman, go to the training grounds and don’t stop until I say so. Reader, stay here I need to talk to you.” He said in a casual tone.

You stayed seated while they gave him a salute before exiting the room.

“I don’t normally do this, but I figured that I have no choice. You have the best handwriting among the three of you and I needed an assistant when doing paper works and running errands. I hope you're okay with that?”

It's fine for you. You would have gladly and wholeheartedly accepted the task given to you.

But his voice, he was challenging you. With the tone of his voice and the way he narrows his eyes while looking at you, you are confident that he thinks that you cannot do it.

‘Motherfucker’

“I’ll even start today.” You hardly replied to him.

“Who said that you would start tomorrow?” Levi stood up from the seat and marched over to his desk, grabbing a shit ton of pile of papers.

“Deliver this to Hange’s office and make sure to do it quickly.” He stated as he placed the pile of papers in front of you.

‘Easy, I’ll show you that I can do this.’ You thought to yourself before starting to run errands.

-

You can’t do this anymore.

You placed your hands on your knees while you try to catch your breath.

The stock office is on the fifth floor of the building, and you are currently walking down the stairs after retrieving the papers Levi wants you to get yet your sore feet and calves are preventing you from doing so.

It is now 5 in the afternoon and you have been running errands the whole day now without a break.

You thought that you were only bringing papers for a couple of persons but no. You probably met all of the people in headquarters since you have been running all day delivering papers from Levi and getting papers for him.

‘Get this paper, deliver this paper, retrieve this, retrieve that, request for this request for that.’ It was the only words that came out of the Captain’s mouth the whole day.

You didn’t have the time to eat and drink, and you're so close to forgetting how to breathe.

You put your thoughts aside and pushed your body to walk down the stairs as you try to ignore the pain you're feeling throughout your whole body.

Maybe it was a bad idea to agree but thinking about it now, you also didn’t want to rat out Mikasa into this.

As soon as you reached Levi’s office, you didn’t bother knocking on his door before entering.

“Took you long enough for that one, do you min-“

You didn’t let him finish his sentence. You were already tired and just wanted to get this done.

“Can you just give me all the papers and I will deliver them in one go? Please just give them to me and I will make sure that it will get to them before the sun sets.”

Levi noticed the softness in your voice, not to mention how exhausted you look right now. He was surprised that you were not quitting despite running all day carrying piles of papers.

This doesn’t usually happen every day, he just wanted to test your patience and it is a surprise to him that you're now mad at him for bossing you around.

“I was about to ask if you mind having tea with me, sit.” He ordered while pointing to the chair in front of his desk.

You were taken aback by the words that came out of his mouth. You dragged your feet towards his desk and sat on the chair obediently.

You watched him pour tea on a clean white teacup with a gold lining on top of it.

“You're don’t for today. I'm honestly impressed that you manage to stand still.” There was no hint of mocking on his voice.

“I can manage more running but not just like this, sir. I need breaks too. I'll do better next time.”

You might have thought that you said something wrong by the sudden change of Levi’s facial expression. If your guess was correct, he was confused for a moment.

And you are right.

“You're unpredictable, Reader.” He shakes his head slightly as he places the teacup in front of you.

“I'll take that as a compliment sir, but I can assure you I feel the same about you.”

Carefully picking up the cup, you smelled at a hint of the fresh and bitter scent of the tea. You gently blow on it to cool it down a bit before sipping on it. The taste of bitterness welcomes your thirsty tastebuds.

“You can go back to your room after that. I'm calling it a day.” Levi grabbed another pile of papers from the floor and he immediately read the first paper while holding a pen in his right hand.

You watched him as he concentrates while he reads the paper and how his eyebrows are gently furrowed and how he absentmindedly plays with the pen on his hand by rolling it with his index finger and thumb.

“I bet I could already make a building with how much paperwork you have.” Those words left your mouth without thinking of it.

You cover your mouth as you look at him.

“I'm sorry sir, it's just you have lots of that, and it looks exhausting.” You shrugged your shoulders before drinking your tea again.

“Tch, that is why you're here, brat.”

You don’t know why but those words made you smile like a kid who just got their first toy. The feeling of being needed consumes you, and it makes you happy.

“Well then, I will do my best. Thank you for the tea captain.” You gently placed the cup near his and gave him a salute before exiting his office with contentment feeling in your heart.

[chaoslaura]

Tchaikovsky or Led Zeppelin (or both?)

Ballet!Reggie Fluff with his friends

Warnings: None

Word count: 2,693

„Hand on the bar, chin up, shoulders down, stomach in, looking straight ahead. Don’t forget to straighten your inner leg at all times, most important before you go into relevé. Toni, leave you heel flat on the floor. What kind of arm movement is that supposed to display, Marcus?” Mrs. Petrow gave a few tututut noises while going around the room, inspecting every student, attentive for every minimalistic mistake.

‘The arm is not round enough, point the foot more, pay attention to where the little toe points, the gaze follows the arm.’ Every little detail was observed by Mrs. Petrow and nothing escaped her even with twenty students scattered around the room. She found something to complain about with everyone, like every lesson, every week, for years. You get the notion. When she reached Reggie, she merely put her index finger under his chin und lifted it up a bit, otherwise saying nothing and Reggie felt proud he didn’t make a mistake for once. Rare occurrence.

Clapping her hands once, the dance teacher signalled the end of the exercise “You all have to focus more, the performance must be perfect, but in the current state you’re all in I would never let you on stage.” Mrs. Petrow was as kind as always, never holding back with her dissatisfaction, Reggie sighed.

“Now to the grand battement jeté, hurry up. And one and two and three.” With every jeté she clapped her hands in sync with the piano music. Reggie loathed this exercise, his leg wouldn’t comply with going higher, no matter how often Reggie trained, and he knew his teacher wasn’t satisfied either.

After their exercises on the bar they would go over to routines in the middle of the room, alone or pairing up with the girls. Pirouettes were Reggie’s passion. He could spin and turn around the room and would never stop when his head wouldn’t complain at one point, getting dizzy and his vision turning with the room. But there was something so deeply connecting him with the music, how his body would sway with the rhythm, letting it fill his mind. He could follow the moves with his eyes closed, concentrating on every little muscle, the emotions flowing through him to the tips of his fingers.

But today they would train for their performance in pas de deux and Reggie looked out for his partner Toni. She came over with a smile on her lips, ready to gossip about their teacher when she wasn’t looking. It was their favourite activity to pass the time and a way to get rid of the stress. Mrs. Petrow would be lecturing them for their giggling in no time. Too much fun wasn’t allowed withing these walls. It was a tragic story and their faces had to portray that too, each little smile was out of place.

But with Toni he didn’t mind. She was as goofy as him outside of practice and they had gotten along really good since the beginning when he started dancing at age 7 and she was 8. Now he was 17 and still going.

For their teacher’s sake both of them pushed their jokes to the back of their minds and got to their start position. Reggie always loved how the men were playing an essential part as a supporting role for the women and weren’t in the spotlight for once unless they had a solo, but they could never reach the level of gracefulness female ballet dancers achieved.

So, he picked Toni up with his hands on her waist and lifted her up, her legs straight while she moved her arms around in a precise manner. Letting her down again he twirled her once before she got into an attitude. When she was on her point shoes, she protruded him just two inches, but she never stopped teasing him about it since he hit his last growth spurt and would never catch up with her again. (Him and Luke had gotten in enough fights over their heights he didn’t need another person teasing him about it.)

When they were finally allowed to leave, his white shirt clung to his skin, sweat running down his back. His muscles were tired and riding his bicycle seemed like an impossible task. His body was all mushy from the stretches but at least he had a pause for two days before the cycle began again.

Changing into his street clothes and packing his shirt, tights, and ballet slippers into his bag, he met with Toni at the entrance again, they were always waiting for each other for a quick chat.

“You feel like grabbing a bite? Training put a hole in my stomach, I was afraid Mrs. Petrow would hear it grumbling and scold me for it, for making the act unbelievable.” Toni asked him, her own bag slung over her shoulder.

Reggie shook his head, regretting his last minute made plans. “Well, I would love to, but I also have practice with the band in a minute. No time, sorry.”

Toni gave him a bewildered look. “Now? After training? Sometimes I wonder how you fit everything under your hat. Must be a pretty big one. No wonder you like cowboy hats.” As everyone else of his friends Toni picked up his passion for Country pretty early but never made fun of him because of that. Might be another reason why he liked her so much.

“There should really be a cowboy themed ballet. Imagine a magical story between a cowboy and his beloved horse, going on an adventure together, maybe meeting a woman along the way but in the end he realizes that his one true love is his freedom and his horse.”

Toni let out a loud laugh, holding her stomach and laid a hand on Reggie’s shoulder, squeezing it shortly. She was clearly amused. “You watched Brokeback Mountain one too many times I would say.”

Reggie gave a scandalized look. “I said freedom not men. Don’t read between the lines where there is nothing to be found.” He scoffed once again but he knew Toni was just making fun of him.

Taking her hand back from his shoulder, she instead pulled him into a hug as a goodbye. “Well then, have fun tonight, say hello to the boys and Julie for me, haven’t seen them in a while.”

Reggie put his arms around Toni’s waist and gave a last squeeze before letting loose. “I’ll bring them to the premier if they want to or not. They’re in debt after the accident at the pier and I will use this favour to drag them to the show.”

“Can’t wait. Bye Reg, I really have to go now or my stomach will eat itself.” As on cue a grumbling was heard, and Toni clutched at her tummy before continuing in a dramatic voice “See, it’s too late. I will die a horrible death, tell Alex that I always appreciated his advices, and Bobby’s dating tips, Julie is just amazing and has great style, and most importantly tell Luke he’s a dumbass.”

Reggie chuckled at the last comment. “Will do, but what’s with me? Don’t say I wasn’t important enough to get a last goodbye. I never let you fall when I held you, you should appreciate that” A pout decorated Reggie’s face and he was ready to sulk at such injustice.

“Oh thanks Reggie, really. Thank you for not harming me, the bare minimum. You won’t get a thanks for that and now go before your boys start searching for you.”

“Alright, kiss a meatball sub for me. “ With a last wave Reggie turned around and walked in the opposite direction, he wasn’t entirely sure if he locked his bike over there, or maybe around the corner? Oh thank god, there it was, he was in no condition to walk to their studio or how Alex would call it ‘a rundown garage at best’.

The wind that passed him as he paddled down the road, cooled down his flushed skin, and left him feeling more alive than half an hour ago. The lights at the garage were already on when Reggie turned into the driveway, leaning his bike against the wall and grabbing his bag. Luckily for him his bass had found a permanent residency at the studio, the thought of having to drag it around too, no thanks, his arm muscles were aching enough.

He opened the creaking door to reveal his four bandmates standing around the room, doing various things. Luke looked up from his notebook, what else would he be doing.

“Toni said I should tell you you’re a dumbass Luke.” Reggie said as a greeting and slumped down on the couch, feeling the soft material and sighed at how comfortable it was.

Luke sputtered and gave him a confused and questioning look, coming over and joining him on the couch, instantly crossing his arms and started pouting. “What did I do?”

Luke seemed really upset and Reggie felt sorry for saying it like that. “Luke, it was a joke! You know how Toni is, we were just joking around.”

Luke had gone from sad back to upbeat in a second and stood up again to retrieve his notebook, a pencil was still clamped behind his ear. “Oh good, and I thought I forgot something I did.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Ales smiled sweetly at Luke from where he was already seated behind his drum kit, giving a snickering Julie a bro fist, who was always in to drag Luke. It was their little game. How everyone else but them could see how much it counted as flirting was astonishing, but well, what could they do besides follow the play?

“Back to Toni. How’s it going with her?” Bobby asked then, repeatingly raising his eyebrows in a seemingly suggesting manner, a lopsided grin plastered on his face.

“What do you mean?” Reggie was seriously confused at that question. “She’s fine if that is what you wanted to know.”

Alex groaned in the background. There was oblivious Reggie again, how they knew and loved him. Luke sprung in, helping Bobby out. “What Bobby wanted to know is if you finally made a move on Toni. You know, like asking her out on a date?”

Reggie’s mouth popped open. He had never been thinking about going on a date with Toni, not even considering it. That concept was weird, they were just really good friends. “Why would I ask her out? She’s just a friend.” He said so.

Julie put the mic she had been holding until now into the stand and turned to Reggie. “First of all, you know each other for 10 years. Second, you two have the same personality and interests, you two fit so good together. When she’s around, your happiness is bouncing off the balls, much like Luke after a gig. And to wrap it up, she looks gorgeous, you love her style, you said so yourself.” Great, now Julie had conspired against him too.

Reggie raised an eyebrow, was that it? “And? We all share interests, we’re in a band together, and Luke and I have known each other since we’re 10 and I can say with confidence that you all look good, but have I asked any of you out yet? No. So why would I do that with Toni?”

“I’m honoured for being called good-looking.” Alex said. “But Reggie, if you don’t want to you don’t have to ask Toni out. We just thought you two really liked each other, we thought it was obvious, sorry.” Reggie couldn’t stay mad long at Alex; he was just too sweet. He sighed, stood up from the couch and doubled over, stretching his knees. It was never a good idea to sit down after training.

“I will never get over how flexible you are.” Reggie looked up and saw Bobby staring at him with amazement.

Reggie grinned at the hidden compliment. “If you wouldn’t skip PE all the time, you might get there one day.”

Julie hollered, satisfied with where this was going. “Yes, call him out for what he is, a lazy pazy, abandoning us in gym hell.”

Luke meanwhile stopped scribbling in his book again and gave an annoyed expression. “Guys, we said no school talk during band time.” There was nothing new with Luke’s hate of school. For him it was just another distraction in his music career, another way to waste precious song writing time.

Reggie stretched his arms a last time, rolling his shoulder blades, and made a beeline for his bass. He loved practice time with his friends, but he was ready for this day to be over, but hoped it wasn’t too obvious. Not that his friends got the impression he didn’t like spending time with them. Luke picked up on his exhaustion though.

“Why you seem so tired today? You look like you’re done with the day and it’s only 8.”

Reggie wasn’t sure if that was a serious question and needed a second. “You can try giving your everything in ballet with Mrs. Petrow for two and a half hours and see how fresh you’re looking afterwards.”

Luke’s eyes got soft again. “Sorry, didn’t know you had practice beforehand.” He apologized and then as another thought crossed his mind “- Wait, didn’t you were at practice two days ago?”

“I have practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It has always been like this before a performance.” How could Luke had never catch up on that?

“What?? You’re training three days a week on top of schoolwork and band practice almost every day a week?” Bobby let out like it was implausible, showing the same baffled look as Luke.

Reggie was looking between the two. “Yeah?” He wasn’t sure what they wanted him to say.

All four seemed impressed at that and Alex sympathetic smile greeted him when Reggie looked his way. “When you’re tired, we can call it off for today and just watch a movie or something.” He proposed and everyone else agreed, even Luke, who pushed them the hardest.

Reggie was quick to jump on that opportunity and before someone else could chime in with ideas he picked up a DVD from his Star Wars collection, hearing a collective groaning behind him, but he didn’t care. It was his feel-good escape.

Bobby tousled his hair when he walked past him where the TV sat and laughed at Reggie’s disgruntled look. “You don’t look as threatening as you want, you’re just too cute.” Fantastic, just what he liked to hear. Pulling his hair back again that had fallen in his face from Bobby’s action, Alex called out to him.

“Hey Reg, do a pair of spins to the TV.”

Reggie didn’t need to be told twice before he started turning to where he wanted to go, fixating a point on the wall, his leg going into a passé on every turn. Landing in perfect position in front of the older telly, he gave his audience one bow and got applause in return, eliciting a smile from him.

When they were all seated on a pile of cushions and surrounded with blankets, a cuddling mess on the floor, Reggie remembered what he wanted to ask them. “Hey, would you like to come to the premier? It’s in two weeks. It’s okay if you have plans already, it’s not as important, I wouldn’t be mad, I just wan-“

Alex hand was placed on his arm, interrupting his nervous rambling. “Of course we’ll come Reg. Right guys?” The other three were quick to agree and Reggie beamed at them.

“I’ll sit front row and whistle every time you come on stage.” Luke added. Reggie was not keen on finding out if Luke was serious and made a mental note to place Luke in the back of the venue.

When the credits scrolled down on the screen later, Reggie was already fast asleep, laying between his friends, who just pulled the blanked higher on him and tried to be as silent as possible while chatting quietly.

[softweebqueen]

Can I get uhhhhh, baku x reader with so secret flirting from bakugou and the reader is like scared and everyone around them are like questioning, probably leads to a date with bakugou trying to be more open,. Thanks In advance

~ So this was a wack one to write because I had zero motivation. I honestly am not in love with this but I knew if I kept trying to fix it, I’d only make it worse. So I hope I didn’t do too awful with this. ~

Today was like any other training day. The class was training for a hostage situation. You and Mina were the villains while Bakugou and Kaminari were the heroes. You agreed to stay back with the hostage, Asui, while Mina went to scout out the rest of the building. 

“I feel kind of bad for this.” A small laugh escaped your lips as you tied her to her chair and put the gag in her mouth. She only gave you a small shrug in response. You weren't supposed to be talking to her but you couldn’t help it. It was so boring to just sit there and wait while Mina was doing all the fun work. As time passed on, you plopped down on the ground next to Asui, assuming you weren’t going to see any action. You were wrong. 

The sound of an explosion filled your ears as the only door in and out of the room flew off its hinges. You didn’t have enough time to react before Bakugou had you pinned to the ground. You totally fucked up. If you had been standing, you could have at least put up a good fight but here you were squirming around on the ground underneath him. Your face turned bright pink realizing who was on top of you. You prayed that All Might would call off the exercise. It was obvious that you and Mina had lost the fight. 

“Hey, dumbass, how are you going to free the hostage if you have to keep me pinned down?” You raised your eyebrow, looking up at his face. He had your hands pinned above your head and was straddling your waist, putting all of his weight on you. Your face scrunched up as you glared at him, getting annoyed that you were stuck in this position. If it were a different situation then maybe you wouldn’t be upset, but right now all of your classmates could see you in the observation room. 

“Stop that.” He grumbled and looked up at where the door used to be, waiting for his teammate. His eyes returned to your face. “Your face is so stupid…. So stupidly perfect.” His voice was so quiet that you weren’t sure if you had heard him correctly. You glanced over to Asui to see if she had heard what he said. Your face quickly became a dark crimson color when you looked back at the boy. 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  

Your classmates began to notice that ever since that day you tried your best to avoid Bakugou. If you couldn’t avoid him, it was almost certain that your face would turn as red as a cherry. No one was able to figure out what he had said to you that day but they continued to attempt at putting the puzzle pieces together. It proved to be difficult. They didn’t expect Bakugou to be the type of person to flirt. 

You were sitting at your desk, doodling on a scrap piece of paper. This was the only place that you couldn’t get away from Bakugou in. His desk is right behind yours, making it impossible. He hadn’t managed to corner you earlier in the day and you planned to keep it that way. However while in the middle of coming up with a plan on how to avoid him during lunch, a pair of familiar hands came into your field of vision. Bakugou was leaning in close to your face, only a few inches away. You were terrified that he might kiss you. He was attractive but he scared the hell out of you. 

“You’re an airhead.” His tone was harsh but his voice was barely above a whisper. “I like that about you.” Bakugou kept this up for weeks. Whenever you were cornered, he would insult you then follow it with a compliment. The whole situation confused and scared you. You had no idea what his actual intentions were. Was he just screwing around with you?  Was he trying to get in your head? Or did he actually like you? 

“Y/N?” A hand grabbed onto your shoulder as you were trying to enjoy your lunch in peace. Your gaze followed the hand up to Mina’s face. You almost groaned. Of course, he was sending the people that hung around him to do his dirty work now. “What’s going on between you and Bakugou? Everyone is dying to know.” Her puppy dog eyes made you feel guilty. The guilt didn’t stop you from being suspicious. 

“What do you mean?” You furrowed your eyebrows together trying to figure out if this was some messed up plan of Bakugou’s. If Mina was in his group, then why didn’t she know. 

“Well ever since the hostage training, you’ve been avoiding him and any time he talks to you, you turn bright red! And we all saw how red you were when he had you pinned on the ground. So we want to know if you guys are together. Or do you like him?” Mina beamed and folded her arms across her chest. Everyone at your table leaned in closer to hear your answer. They were all curious about your situation. You weren’t sure if you should answer honestly or not. 

“Why do you want to know?” You tilted your head to the side, trying your best to get more information from her. You didn’t want to screw yourself over by falling for a trap if it was one. 

“We’re just curious! You have to tell us! Are you guys dating? What has he been saying to you?” Mina’s excitement only grew. Your cheeks became very hot. 

“I-It’s nothing. He’s only been insulting me.” You didn’t lie but you also didn’t tell the whole truth. You got up from your seat. “I’ve got to go.” You walked briskly out of the dining area before anyone could stop you. You didn’t know what was going on between Bakugou and you. And why anyone would want to be involved in it flabbergasted you. 

You were pulled to a stop and pinned against the wall in the hallway. Your hands were being held above your head. The position feeling oddly familiar. You glanced up to see who was holding you in your place. It was like an instant flashback when you saw his face. Bakugou’s hot breath brushed against your skin as he leaned in close to your ear. 

“You are so damn cute today.” His gruff voice whispered in your ear. You were glad that you two were the only ones in the hallway. You did not want anyone to see you like this.  “I’m going to have to punch you in the face or else I’m going to be kissing you in under a minute.” That finally pushed you over the edge. You were sick of the bullshit you had to go through to avoid him and the stupid insults. 

“Are you trying to fuck me or fight me?” You growled and pulled your hands out of his grip. The change in your attitude shocked the boy. It only lasted a moment before a smirk formed on his lips. 

“I can do both.” He winked at you before walking away. You took that moment of alone time to cover your face with your arms and scream into your sleeves. 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

The rest of your day was spent thinking about the last thing Bakugou had said to you. Did he want to fuck or did he want to fight? Why did he say he could do both? Has he always been this confusing? Did you want to fight or fuck him? He was quite attractive. However, he pissed you off all the god damn time. He was annoying and arrogant. You would have thought it all night, staring at your ceiling while lying in bed, if a note hadn’t been slipped under your door. You stared at the paper on the floor for a few moments, deciding that maybe you should read it. You lazily dragged yourself out of bed and to where the note laid on the ground. ‘Meet me outside. 10:30’ The handwriting was sloppy like the note had been written in a hurry. You glanced at the clock. 10:27. You had three minutes to get down there. You quickly pulled on a jacket not bothering to change out of your pajamas. You had an idea of who had slipped the note under your door. You were positive that if it was who you thought it was, it was going to be the night you and Bakugou got in a real fight. 

Bakugou was waiting impatiently outside the front doors at the bottom of the steps. He had finally told Kirishima about what was going on. Even though he was trying to flirt with you, he kept scaring you off. After laughing at the blonde for being so stupid, Kirishima suggested that he take you out on a date and just tell you how he really felt. However, no matter how many times he’d try to talk to you after running into you in the hallway, you’d just runoff. It made it impossible to talk to you so he tried sliding a note under your door. 

His head snapped up at the sound of the doors opening. You shuffled out and shut the door behind you. A small smile tugged at his lips when he noticed that you were still in your pajamas. The way you looked gave him butterflies but he just thought that he was starting to feel sick

“Hey, idiot.” He muttered and turned away from you. “Follow me.” He kept a quick pace, not allowing you anytime to catch up. You had no idea where you were going and that fact scared you. 

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Bakugou’s voice wasn’t very reassuring. He was leading you further and further away from the dorms. It felt like you had been walking forever. The sight of Ground Beta came into view, making you more sure that he was going to fight you. 

“Look Bakugou, I really do not want to fight you.” You grabbed his wrist and stopped him before he could walk through the gate. “We can just back to the dorms, I’ll throw on some bandages, and you can just say that you won.” You sighed, tiredness filled your mind. This was crazy. You looked up at his face to see if you had changed his mind. It seemed as though he was blushing but it was too dark to tell. 

He pulled away from your grasp. “You’re such a dipshit. I’m not going to fight you.” He grumbled. “Now will you just be quiet and follow me for a little bit longer?” You reluctantly followed him as he weaved his way between the buildings. If he wasn’t going to fight you then why the hell would he bring you to Ground Beta. It wasn’t long until Bakugou stopped in front of a building and held the door open for you. 

“What the hell is going on?” You inquired not liking where this was heading. 

“Tch. You really don’t know how to shut those pretty lips of yours do you?” His words were harsh but they still manage to make you flustered. You followed behind him up the stairs of the building. You were kind of upset that he made you walk up so many flights of stairs this late at night. The sight on the roof made up for the slight work out. There was a blanket laid out along with a wide array of pillows. Snacks were set off to the side of the blanket. 

“Is this a joke?” Your question obviously pissed Bakugou off. You just couldn’t believe that this hothead could pull something like this together. It was too sweet. Too romantic. 

“No! It’s a date, you idiot!” He raised his voice and glared at you for only a second. “Look I really like you. So would just lay with me and watch the stupid stars?” He let out a frustrated sigh, his voice much softer now. You couldn’t take him seriously though. 

“You... You like me?”

He groaned. “Isn’t that what I just said?” His angry tone made you laugh. Instead of saying anything, you sat on the blanket and patted the spot next to you. Bakugou hesitantly sat next to you. 

“You’re such a dork.” You smiled as you laid on the pillows, staring up at the night sky. The stars shined bright enough to illuminate the rooftop. “I like you too but you scared me. It was terrifying to be insulted by you.”

“Well if you weren’t such an idiot, you would have realized I was flirting.” He uttered and laid down next to you. Neither of you had anything else to say. The pleasant silence filled the air as you two laid there. Bakugou’s fingers brushing against yours. 

“Just hold my hand.” Your voice was soft as you grabbed his hand. Both of you spent the rest of the night sharing snacks and watching the stars. It didn’t take long for the two of you to fall asleep. Neither of you woke up in time for class the next morning. It didn’t matter much though. In fact, you were kind of glad that you both ended up being put on house arrest.

[let-it-raines]

Catch Me If You Can (10/?)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

A/N: Happy Day, you guys! I’m giving you a quick update here! I hope you enjoy!

Thank you to @resident-of-storybrooke for being a really awesome beta❤️

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

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Tag list: @royalswan @shey-starsfury @sals86 @iam2307 @ashley-knightingale  @karenfrommisthaven @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @emmas-storybook @ultimiflos @jamif @idristardis @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @tiganasummertree @wellhellotragic @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog @ultraluckycatnd @cs-forlife @andiirivera @jonirobinson64 @mariakov81 @galaxyzxstark @qualitycoffeethings @thejollyroger-writer

-/-

Emma: Do you know if we’re getting food on this flight?

Killian:It’s seven thirty in the morning.

Emma: And your point? That’s breakfast time.

Emma: I usually stock up on snacks because I am a bottomless pit, but I didn’t have time to this morning. Do you have anything?

Killian: I have an apple. I can very clearly see that Rob has a box of Wheat Thins in his backpack though. You want me to smuggle some for you?

Emma: How would that even work?

Killian: Easy. I steal the box from Rob and then chunk it three rows up to you.

Emma: That won’t be obvious at all.

Killian: I’m very stealthy, love.

“It’s not even eight in the morning,” Robin groans, reaching for the lever on his seat to recline back in the very little space that they’re given. “Who in the world are you texting that much?”

“Liam,” he lies, heat rising to his cheeks. He has texted Liam this morning, but he’s most definitely not texting his brother right now. It’s a half-truth, really. “He’s trying to nail me down for some dinner plans once we get back home. I haven’t gotten to see them much lately, and he and Elsa always get antsy whenever that happens.”

“You’re pretty much their third child.”

“I feel like I’m their third child but also your second.”

“No,” Robin huffs, reaching down into his bag to grab his crackers, “that’s most definitely Will.”

“I can hear you,” Will mumbles from the seat in front of them as he stretches out and snuggles further into his pillow. Will could sleep on any plane at any time. It’s damn impressive. “And I’m not a child just because you all feel the need to baby me, Professor Jones.”

“So not a child but a baby then?” he teases.

Will sticks his middle finger up in between the seats, not even bothering to open his eyes as he murmurs, “fuck off.”

“I love you too, man.”

“Don’t worry,” Robin placates, a smirk on his face, “he’s only mean to you because he likes you.”

“That’s a load of bullshit.”

“For me, yeah, because I say things when I feel them.” Will pops his head in between the seats, his eyes widened but sleep heavy now. “But I think Emma is so pissy toward you because she does actually think you’re hot.”

Woah. Where did that even come from?

“Is that what she said?” he questions like he’s a fifteen-year-old boy worried about Chrissy Stephens liking him back and not like a grown man who knows that the woman he fancies is also interested in him.

What a world that he lives in that Emma Swan is interested in him.

That or she’s been very good at faking it for the last two weeks. God, he hopes that she hasn’t been faking it, but that seems like a hell of a lot of effort when they’ve talked nearly every day. Sometimes it’s just a few texts, a passing word in the hallway, an interview or a press conference question. Other times it’s a phone call late at night or Emma dropping by his place for an hour to eat dinner. He can tell that she’s still terrified by the whole thing, nervous energy practically radiating off of her when she first starts talking to him, but once they get into the groove of things, he believes that she feels comfortable.

Her wanting this and being willing to try is beyond his wildest dreams, and a part of him still thinks he’s going to be hit in the head with a baseball and wake up from whatever kind of concussion-induced dream that he’s under.

So much shit has gone down in his life, things from years past still haunting him, and he’s clinging to this good thing even if it’s far too early for any of that. He hasn’t done this relationship thing in a long time, and he’s still not entirely sure that’s what it is. They haven’t talked about it, and he imagines Emma is not going to be the person to bring it up first.

If ever.

They could be getting married, and she still might not want to discuss things.

Woah, woah, woah. That is thinking too far ahead for about a million different reasons. He is not going there.

Will’s eyes narrow at him, thick brows pushing together all the while Killian can practically feel Robin’s stare covering every inch of him. “Why do you care?”

He shrugs, his fingers fidgeting with the window shade to let some light in before immediately shutting that away. “I like to know what’s being said about me.”

“She’s sitting right up there. Why don’t you ask her, Professor Jones?”

“Because that sounds like a dumbass idea that will get me in all kinds of trouble.”

“It’s true,” Robin sighs. “You should not be talking to Emma Swan about anything other than baseball.”

His heart drops into his right calf at that. He didn’t know that was possible, but it is. Why would Robin think something like that?

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t want to piss her off anymore. She could flip the narrative on you so quickly that you’d get whiplash and all the sudden you’d be back to who you were four years ago.”

His defenses rise, words on the tip of his tongue at the ready to defend Emma. He doesn’t like that Robin thinks she would do that. They’ve all spent time around Emma. They know that even if she can be a little guarded, she’s got their best interests at heart. Even when they’ve screwed up, him especially, she’s never done anything to wrong them.

“That wouldn’t happen. She’s a professional. You know that. She’s not going to pull shit like that,” he says quietly, wondering how in the world he can change this conversation to something else so as not to show all of the metaphorical cards in his hands. “Can I have some of those crackers, Rob?”

Robin eyes him for a moment before handing him the box. Killian doesn’t even really want these, but he’s thankful for them as the conversation dies down and Will goes back to sleeping after under two minutes of trying and Robin keeps watching his movie, typing a long text to Carol for something having to do with Roland. He doesn’t want to pry, so he tries not to look, reluctantly eating the Wheat Thins before snapping a picture of them and sending it to Emma.

Killian: I can throw these across the plane if you’re ready to catch them.

Emma: Hit me with your best shot.

Emma: Not really.

Emma: Please don’t throw food on the plane. I saw that there are snacks in the back, and I’m going to pilfer them.

Before he knows it, he sees Emma’s blonde head rise up as she gets out of her seat and walks down the aisle past him. She doesn’t look at him, her eyes staring straight ahead, but that doesn’t keep him from looking as she sweetly asks a flight attendant for a packet of cookies. It looks like she’s learned since the last time they flew.

When she comes back toward him, he turns in his seat and goes back to flipping through the movies, pretending like he wasn’t just staring her down. Hopefully she didn’t notice that. She may like him, but everyone has their limits.

Emma: The red-headed flight attendant thinks you’re hot.

Killian: I’ve been reliably told that you think the same thing, and I care much more about that.

Emma: Who told you that?

Killian: You’re not the only one who can have sources.

Emma: At least mine are reliable.

Killian: So you don’t think I’m hot?

Emma: I didn’t say that.

Killian: I knew you thought I was sexy, Swan. You flatter a man.

Emma: Shut up and eat your Wheat Thins.

-/-

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fucking hell.

Small pinpricks of pain are spreading down his arm while his shoulder stings. Someone might as well be out here stabbing him with a knife. It would likely be less painful than this.

Not again.

Not tonight.

He’s been doing so well, his shoulder not bothering him, all of his physical therapy working to keep his muscles strengthening and his body in check, and then shit like this happens. There’s no way he can make it past the inning, and even if he wasn’t about to call it, he knows that Al is going to pull him off the mound in no less than three minutes with how many runs he’s giving up.

It’s…not good. They’re down 2-8 in the bottom of the fourth, and he might as well be dying out here under the Florida sunshine and the humidity that has his bones weighing twice their normal weight. Spring Training never prepares him for this when it’s this muggy outside.

He might as well be in a damn swamp. Tropicana field sounds so cheery, so pleasant, but he’s dying inside. Why the hell do teams agree to name their fields things like Tropicana and Minute Maid? How much exactly are they getting paid to suffer like that?

How much is he getting paid to suffer like this?

Taking a deep breath, he tries to focus on what’s in front of him. That’s all he can do when his body is failing him like this, and with a quick windup, he releases the ball from his grip and watches it fly right into Will’s glove.

Strike three. Byrd’s out.

Immediately, he jogs to the dugout, opening the small gate and going straight for the water cooler, gulping down a cup before pouring himself another one and covering his head to try to cool himself down. He’s so damn mad at himself for playing like this, for having a body that’s failing him when his body has always been his livelihood and the thing he maintained with precision and dedication, and all he wants is to punch every single member of the Rays even though none of them have ever actually wronged him.

Anger takes its way out in strange places.

“You’re done, Jones,” Al tells him, his voice clipped.

“Good.”

He tosses his cup to the ground in annoyance and turns to make his way to the bench, figuring he’ll suffer out here for a little while longer, only to see Emma standing with her bottom lip tugged between her teeth and her phone in her hand.

Right.

She’s sitting in the dugout with them tonight recording videos and doing fun little segments for her Instagram and Twitter, and he’s probably looked like an ass in all of them.

Because he is an ass.

“You okay?” she mouths.

He doesn’t respond with more than a shake of his head no before he’s turning away and heading toward the tunnels that will take him back to the locker room so he can get this damn shoulder massaged and have Archie yell at him once again for trying to keep all of this under wraps.

-/-

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Killian sighs into his phone as he runs the towel over his waist, drying his body as much as he can before knotting it over his hip. His brother doesn’t seem to understand that people are busy and life is busy and maybe he wants to shower for fifteen minutes simply so everyone will leave him alone.

It’s been three hours since he left the field after the game, and it’s still not enough time to let him simmer in his thoughts.

“Are you sure because you kept grimacing and – ”

“I know what happened, Liam. God, I…” He runs his hands through his damp hair, water droplets falling over his face and tracing the lines where the beginnings of a sunburn are forming. “My shoulder hurt today. You know it, and I know it. There’s no point in denying it. I just don’t want to talk about it anymore when I already got my ass handed to me by Archie and Al.”

“I’m worried about you,” Liam laments, the sound of his television in the background. The girls should be asleep by now, so it must be Elsa sitting quietly listening in to their conversation while she pretends that she isn’t. He doesn’t know why she does that when she and Liam don’t keep anything to themselves when it comes to him, their honorary third child. “You have been nothing but healthy you’re entire life, and then I convinced you to go sailing with me and – ”

“Please do not blame yourself for that accident anymore.”

“Why not? I’m the one who insisted we go on the weekend trip. I’m the one who – ”

“For fuck’s sake, Liam, it’s not your fault. The drunks who ran into us are the only people who have any kind of fault. We probably should have died that day, and we didn’t. I just got a fucked-up arm. I’ll take that over anything else. You don’t have to act like you’re my father taking responsibility for all of my actions.”

The moment he says the words, he regrets them.

How could he not?

Comparing Liam to their father is the absolute last thing that he wants to do. Liam, even with his faults and his judgmental ways, is nothing like Brennan. Brennan Jones never cared unless it benefitted himself, and Liam cares because it’s what good family does. It’s what people who love each other do.

His brother is the greatest man that he knows, and yet here he is taking all of his anger out on him because he can’t always play the sport that he loves like he used to.

“Our father never took any responsibility for our actions.”

“God,” he groans, running his hands through his hair again and yanking at the strands, “I don’t know why I said that. I just – ”

“You’re angry right now.” The way Liam says the words calmly, like they’re talking about the weather or a lunch up on the rooftop of his building, weirdly calms him down and makes his heart beat a little less erratically. “I would be angry too if the accident had kept me from doing something I love the way I had done it before. You got hurt, and I got a small scar on my knee. It’s not fair, and you can be angry. Just…don’t let that anger ruin your relationship with others.”

“I hate that you’re so wise sometimes.”

“It’s only some of the time,” Elsa pipes in, confirming his thought that she was in there simply listening in. “He’s an idiot most of the time, actually, and it drives me insane that the girls think he is the smartest man alive.”

“Hi, Els,” he laughs, opening the door to the bathroom to let some of the steam out and walking back into his hotel room. “You should really announce yourself before you start listening in on a conversation. I know you’re there.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want you to think I’m too nosy.”

Killian barks out a laugh at that because there’s no other word he could describe Elsa as other than nosy at this moment. Compassionate and kind also come to mind, but right now she’s nosy.

Shuffling through the room, he sits down at the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping down underneath his weight, and picks up the remote to turn the television if only because he wants some background noise, so he doesn’t get too lost in his own thoughts.

“You and my brother are a packaged deal, darling,” he sighs, “and Addy and Lucy. I know that you are all far too much into my business.”

“It’s only because we care, little brother.”

“Younger, you asshole.”

“Language,” Elsa scolds.

“I’m twenty-eight years old and sitting in a hotel room by myself. I think I can say the word asshole.”

“Sorry, force of habit.”

“You’re such a mom,” he groans, falling back against the mattress, his towel coming undone the slightest bit.

“I did not push those two children out of my vagina to go by any other name.”

“Oh my God, stop. I don’t like to think about how those two were created.”

“Killian, childbirth is natural.”

“I’m talking about the creating, not the delivering.”

Liam and Elsa both start coughing before their coughs turn into laughter, the two of them sputtering and bickering back and forth with each other, and he sits up on the bed and starts mindlessly flipping through the channels until he finds a Dodgers game. Why is he watching baseball when he’s trying to get away from it all?

Because it is his life.

“You know, little  brother,” Liam chokes out, emphasizing the little because he is, indeed, an asshole, “if you had a girlfriend, you would probably feel more comfortable talking about sex.”

“I am perfectly comfortable talking about sex. Just not yours.”

“I know but – ”

There’s a knock at the door, and he feels like he’s saved by the bell (or the knuckles) at the sound, not really wanting to have this conversation with Liam even if he goaded them into it and if it’s more pleasant than talking about his shoulder.

“Hey, guys,” he starts, already getting up and tying his towel a little tighter around his waist, “there’s someone at my door. I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Let us know if you need to talk,” Elsa sighs, quietly echoed by Liam. “We love you.”

“Love you guys too.”

He hangs up the phone and places it on his dresser before crossing the room and looking through the peephole to see who is knocking on his door.

It’s Emma.

She’s standing just outside his door in an oversized white sweater and a pair of leggings, her hair pulled up in a messy bun, and he can tell by the way that she’s unable to stand still that she’s anxious. Immediately, he twists all of the locks and swings open the door, catching it before it slams into the wall.

“Swan,” he smiles, already reaching forward and tugging her inside, looking from side to side in the hallway to make sure no one is around.

“Hey, so I – ”

He stops her before she can finish her sentence, closing the door behind them and quickly dipping his head down to slide his lips over hers, just the barest hint of a touch in greeting but enough to make all of his body begin to stand at attention.

“Hi,” he whispers when he pulls back.

Emma’s lashes flutter as she looks up at him, a little redness of her cheeks. “Hi. I’m guessing you don’t mind that I dropped by then.”

“Truthfully, I’m very upset about it.”

“You’re a liar,” she laughs, adjusting the bag that she’s holding. Wow, he didn’t even notice the bag. His mind is all over the place tonight. “You’re also not wearing any clothes. Why are you not wearing any clothes?”

A shiver runs down his spine as Emma’s eyes glance over him, very obviously cataloging his body in the same way that he’s done to hers in the past. The room is more heated, the steam from the bathroom permeating into the bedroom, and he knows that it would be so damn easy to step a little bit more into Emma’s space and capture her mouth with his as his hands explored her body the way that her eyes are exploring him. It would be so damn easy to forget about the difficulties of this day, to forget about the ache in his shoulder, and let his body do all of the talking that it couldn’t do today.

He could prove that his body still works, that he can still do good with it, that he can still bring himself pleasure, bring Emma pleasure.

…but he can’t do that. Not yet.

It’s not the right time when he’s riddled in self-doubt and frustration, and even if Emma was ready, he wants to do this right. He doesn’t want to use her and his affections for her to make him forget everything for a night.

They need more time to get to know each other.

When the hell was the last time he wanted to get to know a woman well before he slept with her?

Why would he even ask himself that question when he knows the answer?

“Well, darling,” he finally sighs, backing up from her to give himself room to breathe all the while he makes sure to flash her a grin, “I did this thing called showering, and I don’t often do it with clothes.” “That’s smart. It’d probably get a little messy like that.”

“Most definitely. What’s in the bag?”

“Oh,” she gasps, her shoulders shrugging up the slightest bit as her eyes light up, the darkness turning back to light green. “So, I didn’t mean to be presumptuous or whatever by coming here, but you didn’t seem to have the best day, and I figured I would bring you, like, a snack or whatever to help you out. Then I thought maybe I could stay for a bit, but if you want to tell me to fuck off, I can be back in my room in a minute.”

How in the world does he find everything she does so charming? He was in a piss-poor mood, still is, and even though he wasn’t exceptionally friendly to her when she was doing interviews in the locker room, she’s being more than kind to him.

“Love, the absolute last thing I would do is tell you to fuck off. I’m glad you decided to come see me even if I don’t know how you know my room number.”

She winks before turning around and placing the paper bag down. “You’re not the only one who knows how to charm people to get information.”

“Apparently not. What kind of spoils have you brought me?”

“Totally ignoring the fact that you said spoils,” she laughs, pulling out a bag of salt and vinegar chips and then several snack cakes. And then one banana which doesn’t seem to fit at all. “But I raided a vending machine and also the hotel front desk for the banana, and figured maybe we could pig out a bit since I know for a fact both of us are going running tomorrow.”

“Do you have strawberry short cakes in that pile?”

He steps closer to her, and she holds up a package of Pop-Tarts, strawberry flavored. “Is this close enough?”

“Only because we’re in a pinch.” Killian takes it out of her hand, and tosses it over to the bed before picking up his bag of clothes and sliding it into the bathroom. “I’m just going to put on some pants and then we’ll – ”

There’s another knock on his door, and this time he’s not saved by the bell. He doesn’t want this conversation to end. Emma stops what she’s doing, dropping the chips she’s holding back onto the desk, and she turns to look at him with wide eyes and parted lips, panic written across all of her features.

“What do we do?” she whispers, her voice probably echoing from here all the way back up to the east coast.

“I’m just going to ignore it,” he says quietly, stepping back over to the door to look to see who it is. “Oh shit.”

“What?” Emma whispers, stepping closer only for him to hold out his arm in front of her.

There’s another knock, this time really more of a pounding, and then Ariel’s voice comes through the wood. “I know you’re in your room, Killian. Open the door.”

Emma’s eyes widen even more, and if he wasn’t currently freaking out over what to do, he’d laugh at the comic relief over the whole thing. “Get in the bathroom, love.”

She nods her head, quickly picking up the food she brought in and scrambling into the bathroom, closing the door behind her at the same time that he opens his hotel door, his hand furiously scratching at his ear.

“What, A?”

“Well, that’s a way to greet me.” She immediately moves past him and into the room, never one for understanding personal space. “Why do you have a package of Pop-Tarts on your bed?”

“I got it from the vending machine,” he lies, closing his door behind her and walking back over to his bed. “I was hungry but didn’t feel like ordering anything in. Why are you here? Where’s Eric?”

Ariel rolls her eyes and stretches out onto his bed, picking up the remote and immediately changing the TV from the game he was watching. “Believe it or not, I am capable of being in a separate space than my husband.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

She simply waves him away. “Whatever. I just wanted to check on you. I know you get all moody after losses, and you didn’t come join everyone for dinner. Also, can you put some clothes on while we have this conversation? I love you, but I don’t need to see every bit of you.”

“You’re the one who came barging into my room,” he groans as his mind runs through about fifteen scenarios on how to get Ariel out of his room, “but fine. I’ll go change.”

Killian steps away from his bed and walks the few steps to the bathroom door, quietly opening it up and immediately shutting it behind him in case Ariel for some reason decided to move behind him.

This is by far the weirdest thing that has happened to him this year. He’s hiding his girlfri – he’s hiding Emma in his hotel bathroom.

And she’s sitting on the countertop with her legs crossed over each other eating the bag of chips like that’s not the loudest food she could have chosen.

“What are you doing?” she hisses. Putting the chips down.

“Ariel has requested I put on some clothes.”  

“But there’s no place for me to move in here so you can do that.”

Killian rolls his eyes at her flustered movements and far too loud hushed voice. It’s what has him turning on the sink before he leans forward and presses a kiss to Emma’s cheek. “I can slip my sweatpants on under my towel. I promise I’m not going to scar you.”

“You wouldn’t scar me. I just – ”

He reaches down to his bag, grabbing a pair of pants and pulling them on underneath his towel, his mind fighting with him to think of every delicious and dirty thought about having Emma in the shower, and tugs them up before dropping his towel to the ground and finding a t-shirt to wear. How is his bag so disorganized?

“What was that now, love?”

“Nothing,” she hisses, blushing. “How long am I supposed to stay in here? I’m kind of freaking out.”

“You’ve got food, water, and a bathroom. I think you’ll be good for a week or two.”

“Asshole.”

“I try.” He flashes her a grin before leaning forward and quickly gliding his lips over hers and tasting the salt and vinegar of her kiss. Damn does he love that he can do that. “I’ll try to get her to leave as soon as possible, okay? Be quiet on your chip eating.”

Emma scrunches up her nose before sticking her tongue out at him and grabbing another chip with one hand while the other turns the faucet off. He sighs, amused and exasperated all at once, before opening the bathroom door and stepping out only to find Ariel eating the Pop-Tarts.

He kind of wanted those even if there are a million better ways to consume five hundred calories.

“Why’d you turn your water on?”

“Didn’t want you to hear me pee.”

“Fair enough.” She shrugs her shoulders and pats the spot on his bed next to her. He takes the small desk chair instead. “Tell me why you’re in such a bad mood.”

“I’m not.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not a liar.”

(He is a liar.)

“Okay,” Ariel murmurs as she takes another bite, “so if you’re not in a bad mood, would you at least like to explain why you didn’t come to dinner?”

He swivels in the chair a bit, his legs antsy to tap and stay moving, but that’ll make him seem anxious to Ariel. That’s the last thing that he wants when he is, indeed, anxious for her to get out of the room.

“I – I felt like I let everyone down today,” he admits, leaving out his own self-loathing about his injury. Half-truths. He’s always speaking in half-truths. “I played a shitty game. I was in a bad mood. I was awful company and didn’t want anything to do with anyone. So, I kind of figured I’d come back here and work that out on my own instead of making everyone else miserable.”

“Killian Jones, you know for a fact that we are not miserable around you. At least Eric and I aren’t. Neither are Robin or Will or even August. The only person who would take issue with you being all pissy is Arthur and that’s because he’s got his own set of issues.”

He scoffs and closes his eyes as he stretches his legs out. She’s right. He knows that she is because she’s always right. She’s basically another version of Elsa in that aspect.

“I know. I’m…you know how I get, A. I’ll be fine. Tomorrow, I’ll come to whatever team-mandated meal you arrange.”

“That’s all I ask.” She rises from the bed, picking up the Pop-Tart she hasn’t eaten, and walks over to him to briefly press her lips against his temple. “I’m going to let you wallow, okay? But tomorrow after you’ve finished your practice, we have to talk about your calendar for the rest of May and June. I’ve got some charity stuff lined up for you.”

“I will be at your beck and call.”

“As you should be. Text me if you need anything, okay?”

“Will do.”

Ariel nods her head and smiles before walking out the door, letting it slam shut behind her. Letting out a sigh of relief, he places his face in his hands and simply takes a moment to breathe and let his mind stop racing about how horrible of a human being he is for lying to everyone.

He’s the worst, isn’t he? He has to be.

When he’s finished with his little pity party, he sits up and raises his fist to the wall, banging on it to let Emma know that she can come out of the bathroom.

The door clicks, and she emerges, flipping the locks on his door and then walking toward him, stepping into his space until he’s pulling her in by the hips to stand in the open space between his legs, his head resting against her stomach.

Maybe he’s not quite finished with his pity party.

“So,” Emma hums, her feet moving into his line of vision as her hands scratch at that back of his head, which may very well be the best fucking feeling in the world, “apparently everyone in the world knows you’re in a bad mood, and you don’t want to talk to any of us about it.”

“Do you want to talk every time you’re in a bad mood?”

“Hell no.”

“Exactly.” He leans back in the chair, the loss of her touch immediate. “I think I just…you want to watch a movie with me or something?”

“Can I pick it out?”

“Yeah, Swan, you can.”

They settle down onto the mattress, pulling the thin sheet that’s at the bottom of the bed over them instead of settling under the covers, and Emma tucks herself into his side so that her head rests on his collarbone and her hand is covering his stomach, a leg tucked between his. In all of the time they’ve spent together in the past two weeks, he thinks this is the most comfortable she’s ever been around him.

He likes it.

It’s…refreshing. He keeps thinking that, thinking about how this is so different than how he’s been the past few years. If he was with a woman, it was to sleep with her, to scratch an itch. It was not to settle down and watch Men in Black because despite insisting that she wanted to pick the movie, Emma refused to let him pay for them to rent a newer movie.

And obviously he wants to sleep with Emma, his mind racing with thoughts of what exactly that would be like to do to her, but he’s good just like this.

This is by far the best part of his day, and Florida isn’t seeming like such a hell hole anymore as his fingers play with the wisps of her hair that have fallen out of her bun and her hands toy with his mom’s ring that’s fallen outside of his t-shirt. He doesn’t even think she realizes that she’s doing it.

“The ring was my mom’s.”

Emma stops her movements, her fingers stilling, before looking up at him, her face only lightened by the glow of the television now that the sun has set, and everything is covered in darkness. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to mess with it.”

“Swan, it’s fine,” he promises, reaching down to take her hand and place it back against his chest and against the ring. He smiles a little, the left side of his lips curving up, to try to reassure her of the fact that it is fine. He doesn’t mind. “I simply figured you wanted to know why I wear a ring around my neck. Wouldn’t want you to think I’m secretly married.”

“Well, I wasn’t thinking that until right about now.”

Later. He’ll tell her about Milah later. He can already tell that he’s about to tell her too much about his family tonight. She doesn’t need to know about his ex-girlfriend too.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“I know.” She pats his chest and readjusts herself so that she can look at him a little better. How are her eyes so green? “So, tell me about your mom. If you want to.”

“Her name was Amelia,” he starts out, scooting down a little further so that he and Emma are nearly eye to eye, “and she was just…she was amazing. I have a terrible memory, so I don’t remember much, but I remember that she had this red hair that would make Ariel jealous and this big belly laugh that kind of reminds me of Liam. I don’t – I guess I never thought about it before, but she was really into baking, which is probably why I eventually came around to it. That’s likely the only thing I got from her other than the red in my beard.”

He knows that it’s not true, that he is more like her than he’s willing to admit, but it’s not what he usually thinks about. It’s not what Liam talks about either even though he was seventeen when she died.

“How did she – ”

“Cancer,” he murmurs, tracing Emma’s pointer finger until he lifts their hands and treads his fingers through hers, squeezing their hands together. “It was very sudden, not a lot of time to say goodbye, you know?”

Emma presses forward and brushes a kiss to his knuckles. He’s sure it’s because no one ever knows what to say that, and Emma is likely no exception. “She would be so proud of you, I think. I know that’s probably overstepping my boundaries to say that, but I don’t see how anyone could not be proud of you for working so hard to achieve your dreams and for being so good to your family.”

Maybe she’s the exception then.

He’s not sure that his mom would be proud of him, not lately.

“Thank you, darling. I’m not sure if that’s true, but thank you.”

Emma’s brows pinch, her lips pursing. “How could that not be true, twenty-nine?”

Because he’s a self-loathing bastard who can never seem to bury his demons even when he needs to.

“Do you want to know part of the reason why I was in such a shitty mood today?”

He can’t tell her the full truth, but the half truth seems okay today.

“Only if you want to tell me.”

He gulps, nodding his head and inching further down to bed to tangle his legs with Emma’s and nearly brush his nose against hers. He’s twenty-eight, but there’s something akin to a childlike belief running through him that nothing can invade the quietness of this hotel room right now.

“I haven’t spoken to my father since I was nineteen years old,” he admits, bringing their hands up to rest between their chests. “That seems like a shitty thing to do when I was only down to one parent, but my dad is an asshole, you know? He was the one who signed me up to play little league ball, and every single day I was outside running or practicing my batting or pitching once I changed to that track. He pushed me so damn hard, which I always thought was a good thing, until I’d lose a game or be a minute slow on my run and he’d make me do everything all over again. I was eleven, and the man had me on a meal plan to make sure I was developing with the sole purpose of playing ball.”

He takes a breath, blinking away the tears that aren’t there but might as well be.

“He became obsessed. Completely and totally obsessed. And since Liam was long gone from the house, he was my only influence. I did what he said when he said it and played it off as it all being part of the game that I loved. But he pushed and pushed and pushed until I hated waking up every day. He screamed at me, calling me a pathetic fucker, told me that I was ruining his life by not being good enough. It was just this constant stream of hatred spewing out of his mouth, and when I got to Vandy, he started betting on my games, started taking bribes and offers and so many things that could have taken the game away from me forever. He’s a piss poor excuse for a dad, and it took me nineteen years to realize that I didn’t have to be subjected to his shit. So, I just…I cut him off. Liam and I both did. And today I – I was mad about how I played, and I took it out on Liam by saying he was not my father and some other stuff. That always kind of spirals us, and that’s why I was so annoyed when you first got here.”

That was too much.

That was far too much.

Killian should have kept his mouth shut, should have never let all of that out even if it’s skimming the surface. Emma likely already thinks he’s insane, that he’s got enough issues, and he just revealed so many more.

Good things in his life do not stay, and Emma is most definitely a good thing.

And he’s not even telling her about his arm.

“Your dad is a fucking asshole,” she spits, untangling their hands and running her palms up over the skin at his neck until she’s softly gliding her thumb underneath his eye. “I can’t imagine how much that has to mess you up in your mind. He took something you loved and twisted it. He was not what a parent should be, and you have every right to be upset about that. I’ve never met Liam, but I know that he loves you and that he understands how you tick. I’m sure he’s not mad at you for being upset with him when he understands your anger was coming from something else.”

Tell her, tell her, tell her.

His mind is screaming at him, but he can under no circumstances tell her everything. Not about Milah, not about his arm, not about all of his thoughts and feelings.

In time.

He’ll tell her in time.

They’re so early in this thing that they’re doing, and even if it’s been awhile for him, he knows that two weeks in is not the time to dumb every bit of baggage that he’s carrying.

“Thank you, love,” he sighs, closing his eyes and pressing forward to slowly guide his lips over hers, another silent thank you for simply being here. It’s nice to have someone on the road with him. Honestly and truly. “I’m sure this is not how you imagined this night going.”

“What?” Emma laughs, a tentative smile curling on her lips. “You think I didn’t come in here expecting you to tell me about your shitty dad as we watch Will Smith kill some aliens? I feel like that’s a pretty normal night.” “So this is normal for you then?”

“Staying in bed as much as possible?”

“Absolutely.”

He hums, inching closer and closer to her so that their foreheads brush together and his nose is pressing into her cheek as he speaks. “I think I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

[cloverhighfivewritestoo]

Feline Fine - OC version

👉Read this on Ao3  Tumblr - 👉female!reader insert   👉male!reader insert (fluff only)

21k [divided in 12 chapters + epilogue]

Dean x Female!OC (Sarah) (established), Sam, other original characters (villains, victims and such).

Case fic – Dean has gone missing. While Sam and Sarah are trying to figure out what’s happened, a panther turns up on the bunker’s doorstep. Meanwhile, bodies are turning up a few towns over. There seems to be all sorts of various villains working together (or not?). What the hell is going on?

Warnings – Fluff. Smut optional : if you’re not into smut, just stop at the nice fancy border break. If you’re only into smut, well... you know where it is, now. Haha!

Extra/Prompt – This fanfic was first published in August 2018 (my first “big” fic), because @waywardbaby and @imma-winchester-addict​ were comparing Dean to a cat. Now this is the female!OC version, for @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover

1. Missing

 Sarah woke up late in the morning to an empty bed. Dean had probably woken up early and had even made his side of the bed. “Awww,” Sarah thought to herself lovingly, “he’s so sweet.”

 Sarah went through her morning routine, dressed up in jeans and a t-shirt, and headed to the kitchen.

“Hey Sam, already deep in research?”

Sam didn’t look up. “Yeah, I found a probable case a few towns over. I’m getting more info.”

“Cool. It’ll be fun to kill something. I’m bored.”

Sam darted a concerned gaze at Sarah. Sarah shrugged.

 Sarah shuffled to the fridge, took out some stuff, shuffled to the toaster, waited for the toast, put some stuff on the toast, poured a cup of coffee, shuffled to the table, sat down like she weighted a ton and started chewing on her toast.

Sam had looked at her the whole time, his expression unreadable.

“What?” Sarah enquired.

“Dean’s still sleeping? It’s pretty late. Is he OK?”

“I dunno where Dean is. He was gone when I got up. You didn’t see him?”

“No…” Sam looked annoyed. “Let’s call him.” He took his phone out and dialed.

Sarah slurped her coffee. “Don’t you think it’s a bit overdramatic to call him, like, right now? I mean, it’s just 10 a.m., he’s probably gone on a food run or something.”

The phone rang and nobody picked up. It went to voicemail. Sam looked at Sarah and let out an annoyed sigh just before leaving a message. He hung up and looked at Sarah. “A food run? The fridge is full.”

“I said: Or something. Come on. The guy is a freaking menace to just about anything that’s out there. He can handle a run in town.” Sarah smirked at Sam’s very annoyed frown.

Sam went back to his computer, Sarah went back to her breakfast. They sat in silence between her chewing and slurping sounds, and Sam’s typing on the laptop.

 While Sarah was cleaning her dishes, she turned to Sam, “Hey, I’m gonna head to town as well, I need new boots. Do you need something?”

“I need Dean to come back so we can head out for this case here. I have all the info we need.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Alright. Well, I won’t be long anyway, so maybe Dean and I will be back at the same time or maybe I’ll even bump into him. I’m taking the motorcycle.”

“OK. I’ll go for a little jog then. Since I have time.”

“Be my guest.”

 Sarah got out of the bunker on the bike, passed the Impala that was parked outside in front of the bunker’s door, and…

Wait. What?

The Impala is here, that means Dean is back!

Sam got out of the bunker in jogging attire. “Hey, you’re still here?”

Sarah gestured to the car. “The Impala’s here. You saw Dean inside?”

“No…”

Sarah drove by the hood, put her hand on to feel it. “The car is cold. It must have been here the whole time. And no other car is missing from the garage.”

Sam’s gears were running. “Something’s off.”

Sarah turned off the bike and took her helmet off. They looked around. No one. She got her hand on her gun and called out. “DEAN?!!” No answer. They looked around again. Listened. Nothing.

“Call him again.”

Sam reached for his phone, and, while looking down at it while dialing, something caught his eye on the ground. He reached down and picked up “The keys. They were…”

Sam and Sarah looked at each other, panic rising in their eyes.

The call went to voicemail.

“Shit.”

“Shit.”

 Back in the bunker, Sam was trying to piece together what they knew, pacing about the room. “OK, so, when’s the last time you saw him?”

“Um… Come to think of it… I don’t remember him coming to bed last night. And I slept right through. Wait. His side of the bed was made this morning… Maybe… Maybe he didn’t come in at all.”

“Damn. So… That means, the last time you saw him is…?”

“Last night, we were all here in the library, he went out to fetch something in the car, remember?”

“Yeah, just as we were calling it a night.”

“Exactly.”

“You didn’t worry when he didn’t come back?”

“Well our training in the afternoon was a bit challenging. So I pretty much passed out.”

“Yeah… Me too. Went out like a light.”

“I’m going to look for more clues outside.” Sarah headed out, followed by Sam, who tried Dean’s phone again – to voicemail.

 The day would be busy and stressful. They’d found tracks outside that didn’t match any of the vehicles from the bunker nor the car from the pizza boy, but couldn’t deduct much from it, except the brand of tires and about 30 types of cars they could be on. They’d found footprints that didn’t match any of the footwear from the boys nor Sarah, but all they could figure out was they were from 3 different people.

 Sam had gone into town to ask around while Sarah waited at the bunker, checking whatnots on the laptop. Every call to Dean’s phone invariably went to voicemail. Nothing turned up in town, nothing turned up on the computer.

 2. Finding

 Early the following afternoon, Sam came in from driving around the countryside. He called from the top of the stairs. “Sarah? YOU HERE?”

Sarah called from the kitchen, “YEAH! HEEERE!”

Sam called again. “COME HERE YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!”

“IS IT DEAN?” Sarah called, as she ran to the stairs.

“No,” Sam said, somewhere between anxious and surprised, while she climbed the stairs, “um… just… come out with me.” He opened the door, Sarah behind him. “Just… be calm, be careful, no sudden moves.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows. “What?”

Sam made an impatient gesture. “Just… Just… Trust me on this.” He opened the door to the outside. They stepped out and stood there, right by the door, transfixed.

 A magnificent panther was lying lazily in front of the Impala. When it saw Sam and Sarah come out, it quickly sat up, curled its tail around itself and fixed its gaze upon them. It seemed it had stopped moving. It seemed it had stopped breathing.

 Sarah spoke softly to Sam, as if she didn’t want the panther to hear. “Should we call the nature rangers or what’s their name…”

Sam spoke the same way, trying to conceal his words. “Panthers are not endemic to Kansas, Sarah.”

“So…?”

“So it’s not a wild animal. It’s either from a zoo or it’s someone’s pet.” They looked at the big cat in silence, who looked back at them, going from Sam, to Sarah, and Sam. Sam added, “I don’t know… Look at it. It seems to be here for a reason… if that doesn’t sound too… weird.”

Again, some mutual staring.

Sarah whispered, “Did you notice the panther looking at me when I talk and then looking at you when you talk?”

“Yes…”

“It just did it again.”

“Yes…”

The panther took a deep breath, let it out, looked up, blinked, and fixed Sam and Sarah again.

“Did it… sigh at us?” Sam remarked.

The panther got up, paced in a circle, head low, throwing glances sideways at Sam and Sarah, then resumed its sitting position. It let out another sigh.

“It can sigh all it wants, I don’t know what to do with a panther. Maybe we should call a veterinarian,” Sarah suggested, “they’ll know what to do.”

The panther growled.

Sam and Sarah took a step back, but bumped into the wall behind them.

The panther got up, walked deliberately, slowly towards Sam and Sarah, its gaze going from one to the other. Stuck between surprise, curiosity and sheer panic, Sam and Sarah couldn’t move.

About halfway, the panther stopped dead in its tracks, eyes wide. Sam and Sarah didn’t move. The panther closed its eyes, shook its head. Sam and Sarah looked at each other sideways, and, seeing they both had no clue what was going on, quickly turned their attention back to the panther.

It was scratching the ground. It turned this way and that and seemed to have a purpose to its scratching. It took a minute or two.

It then looked at Sam and Sarah, looked to the ground, stepped back a bit, did it again, and retreated a few meters away. It layed down and looked back and forth between the scratchings and Sam and Sarah.

Sam was the first to catch on. “Um, I think we should go look at the scratches.”

“What?”

“Come on.”

“What??” But Sarah followed.

 I’m Dean, dumbasses.

Sam’s first reaction was surprise, but one look at the panther and he made an annoyed frown and a sigh in no specific direction. He then looked at Sarah.

She, on the other hand, had her mouth open in disbelief. She turned to the panther. “You… what??”

The panther looked at her and blinked. And it… purred? She turned to Sam. “Did you hear it purr?” She turned to the panther. “Are you purring?”

Sam looked at the panther. “So you’re Dean.” The panther nodded.

“OH FUCK IT NODDED.” Sarah screamed.

Sam jumped. He took Sarah by the shoulders. “Calm down! It’s DEAN.”

“But it nodded! The panther nodded!”

“Yes, because it’s Dean.”

“How can you be sure it’s Dean? Anybody could write ‘I’m Dean’. We just have to believe the cat?”

Sam couldn’t believe he just heard someone say ‘We just have to believe the cat’.

Sarah pressed on, talking too fast. “Well, a cat who knows how to write, sure, it’s weird, but we’re used to weird, so ok, I can get that, but then, the next logical thing – if we want to bother with logic – is we have to believe everything just because we accept that the cat maybe has a human inside?”

The panther growled. Sam shot a look at it and came back to Sarah. “Do you think anyone but Dean could call us dumbasses while trying to get us to help him?”

Sarah froze, thinking about what Sam said. She looked at the panther, who was lying down and looking calmly yet intensely at her. Then, suddenly, she relaxed. Sam let go of her shoulders. The panther got up and walked towards her. She waited quietly. The panther sat right in front of her and looked up.

“Dean… is it really you…”

He made a soft nod, blinked, and purred. She couldn’t help but run her hand in his fur on his head. He was so soft... He closed his eyes and pushed against her hand so she’d continue, but she stopped. “Good lord. What happened?” Dean shook his head. He let out a sigh, looking in the distance. His face became angry and he growled at the horizon.

 She looked at him. The panther – Dean – was huge. Sitting straight, his head came almost chest high with Sarah. His fur was black, his eyes green, surprisingly close to the green of his own eyes. He licked his nose and his mouth, revealing impressive fangs. He cocked his head and waited. Sarah noticed the fur was matted on his neck. She approached a hand to check, but Dean, as a reflex, moved just out of reach. “You’re hurt…” Dean kept out of reach, looking at her sideways, flattening his ears. “Come on, let me look.” He slowly got closer. She bent down a little and, very gently, touched the fur where it was matted. “OK, it doesn’t look so bad. Come inside, we’ll take care of it.”

 While Sarah was cleaning Dean’s wound, Sam was thinking out loud. “Of course, you can’t talk, but we really need to know what’s going on, cause… well, look at you.” Dean let out a huff. “Communicating with you is going to be a challenge.” Dean let out another huff.

 “Alright, all clean.” Sarah announced, putting the wet cloth away. “I can’t do more than that. It’s not like I can put a band-aid on it or anything. So it’ll have to heal on its own. It’s not that bad, really.” Dean closed his eyes and rubbed his head against Sarah, purring.

Sarah got up and went to the fridge. “I don’t know about you, Sam, but I need a drink.”

“I’m good, thanks.”

Dean bounced his way to Sarah, and leaned his weight against her. “Oh dear, you must be hungry.” Dean licked his mouth and looked up. “Alright, what do you want?” Dean cut in front of Sarah and stretched his panther body up on its hind legs. He surveyed the fridge and grabbed a few things – all meat. “Duh, of course,” Sarah said, laughing. She grabbed a beer.

 3. Talking

 Sam tried to find a way to communicate with Dean. It was frustrating for both of them. Sam tried to come up with yes/no questions, but invariably diverged with more complex ones. Meanwhile, Sarah thought it was a bit funny, what with Dean having sat his panther self on a chair – like a cat would – opposite Sam at the table. Sam was actually having a conversation with a cat, or trying to, at least. Dean did the best he could to be as expressive as possible, but still, they weren’t words.

“OK, we’ll go through the creatures. Yes or no.”

Blink.

“Was it a Wendigo?”

Stare.

“Come on, we’ll be thorough, so we’ll know for sure.”

Stare.

“Dean… Wendigo?”

Eyes to the skies, shake of the head. No.

“Werewolf?”

Stare. Intense.

“Dean.”

He opened his eyes wide, made a point of looking at himself, and looked back at Sam with the same wide eyes, shaking his head once. No. Idiot. I’m a fucking cat.

“OK, I’ll go with the probably more obvious.”

Eyeroll. Repositioning. Straight, solid, ready.

“Witch?”

Teeth bared – which was more frightening than what Dean thought was a smile. A vigorous nod. Yes!

 Watching them, Sarah remembered the potion the boys had told her about when they were on a case where the only witness was a dog, allowing Dean to understand the dog. It seemed strange Sam didn’t think of it. Probably the stress. She asked Sam where their father’s journal was and went off.

 “So you escaped!”

Nod. Yes.

“They didn’t actually let you go.”

Shake. No.

“Where had they taken you?”

Nod. Yes.

“Yes???”

Eyes half closed, shoulders slumped. Idiot.

“Oh. Yeah. Um.”

Head turned to the side, sideways look. Yeah? And what now?

Sam got up. “Lemme get a map.”

Dean nodded and repositioned on the chair. Being a panther was not easy; that big four-legged body wasn’t made for chairs. Or, chairs weren’t made for big four-legged bodies. He hopped on the table and laid down.

 Sarah came back to the table with 2 glasses filled halfway with a brownish red unappetizing liquid. She snipped some fur from Dean, who perked up. He smiled as she put fur in both glasses and stirred – he remembered the foul taste of the potion.

 Sam came back with the map. He saw the glasses. “What’s this?”

“Remember when Dean had to mind-meld with a dog for a case?” She smiled a big, proud smile.

Sam’s shoulders dropped. He made the most flat expression Sarah had ever seen. “I cannot believe I forgot that.”

Sarah raised her glass. “Cheers!” They drank and said the incantation.

Dean loved watching them wince and blergh at the taste. Pussies. He had just downed it like a man.

 Dean purred, growled and looked bored until Sam and Sarah heard, “Sam likes to wax his legs. Sam has lady shampoo. Sam doesn’t watch porn cause he doesn’t understand the plot. Sam –“ “HEY!” Sam was not amused. Sarah was laughing. Dean brightened. “Oh, so the potion is working! Good.”

 “So do tell us, Dean,” said Sarah.

“I got out of the bunker and got jumped by 3 witches, all women. Couldn’t see their face. They cast some spell on me and I woke up locked in a cage, with a panther in another cage next to me. The witches cut me and the panther for some blood and did some ritual. I woke up looking at myself in the other cage… I was into the panther. So that meant the panther was in me.”

 Dean went on telling how the panther in its new body didn’t know what to make of it, and so it was thrashing about violently. Dean, on the other hand, sat still, watching his body being flung about, bruised and cut. He had listened to his voice screaming. He’d felt genuinely worried. But then the witches had come, cast a spell on Dean’s body and taken it elsewhere. They’d left Dean-in-panther alone.

 The panther body being much more stronger than a man’s, Dean-in-panther had tried its strength to its full force in trying to pry the cage open – which had worked. And thus he’d escaped. It was dark but he saw he had been kept in a shack in the woods that didn’t seem to be connected to the road. He mostly kept to the forest as much as he could on his way to the bunker. He had a vague idea of where he had been taken, and so he pointed to it on the map.

 He didn’t know what the witches’ plan was, but, while the ritual was being prepared, he had heard a name: Brandon Hatley.

 Sam drummed his fingers on the table. Everyone was deep in thought. Dean licked his paw.

Sarah looked at Dean, slightly surprised. “Um, I know you’re basically a cat, but… you feel the need to lick yourself?”

Dean’s eyes widened and he stopped his move, with his tongue still out, halfway through a lick. He looked up at Sarah, put his paw down, licked his nose and let out a low huff. He looked up at her. “You don’t? Cause when I did the mind-meld with the dog, I was acting a lot like a dog.”

Sam remembered. “It’s true. And yet… I don’t feel any feline urge.” “Me neither,” said Sarah. They turned to Dean. “Hey, don’t look at me, I don’t know.”

Sam suggested, “Maybe because his mind is not a cat’s mind… maybe because there’s the two of us on the same spell, so it kind of dilutes it… maybe…” 

“Maybe we’re just not as receptive as Dean was,” said Sarah. She added, “Sam, do you feel like a beer? Pizza? Porn?” 

Sam was confused. “No. What? No…. What?” 

“Me neither,” Sarah said, “so that means we’re not mind-melding with Dean either.” 

Sam let out a sigh. “Thanks for that.”

 4. Researching

 Sam got up, got the laptop and came back. “OK, Brandon Hatley…”

While he was typing, Sarah pulled the map to her side of the table. “Hey, Sam, where was the case you found yesterday morning?”

Sam crooked his neck and pointed to a town. Sarah and Dean looked down. “Uhn, it’s as far as where Dean was taken, but… right on the other side of us. Hmm… That’s weird.”

Dean interjected. “What? What are you saying? What case?”

Sarah just continued. “I don’t know… Seems too much of a coincidence, a case to work on in exactly the opposite direction, and about the same distance, the day Dean was taken. It’s too… clean. Too symmetrical.”

“Huh, weird indeed,” said Sam. “As for the info I gathered, the deaths were sudden. There were no previous open cases in the area or deaths that fit the pattern.”

Dean asked again. “What case?”

Sarah looked at him. “Yeah, he didn’t tell me either. Things kind of happened fast.”

Sam didn’t look up from the computer. “Something that looked like vampires. Sloppy ones. Or sloppy, just the one. We had yet to find out. OK. So now, Hatley –”

 Without any warning, Dean jumped off the table and walked towards the staircase. Sarah and Sam gave a start. “Dean!” cried Sam, “What are you doing?”

Dean stopped, turned around. “To go get the vampire! Come on!”

Sarah objected. “Dean! We have to work your case. We’re not going off on a vampire hunt right now!”

But Sam knew how Dean felt, from years of saving people. “No, Sarah, he’s right. And if it’s a lone vampire, it’s a milk run. We’ll be in and out in a flash.”

“Plus,” Dean said, “since I’m stuck in this cat for a while, I wanna try it out. It’s really strong. I hear really good. And I can see in the dark!” He sat and smiled.

“Babe,” said Sarah, “when you smile like that, you’re rather terrifying.”

“Oh, come on!”

 “And,” she added, a slight panic in her voice, “what do you mean, ‘stuck in a cat for a while’? No, no, no! How can you talk about milk runs? We have to switch Dean back! What if he’s stuck in there forever?” She was really panicking now.

Sam and Dean looked at each other blankly. Dean got up and walked over to Sarah, rubbing his head against her tummy. “Hey, sweetie, we’ll figure it out.” He looked up at her. “But we gotta save people, you know? I swear, it’s going to be real quick.”

“But… the Hatley dude… we have a lead…”

“Alright, alright,” said Sam. “Here, let me tell you what I’ve got on Hatley.” Sarah and Dean came back to the table.

 “Hatley. Interesting. The man is the owner of about half the town where the vampire case is. He owns a lot of property and he is the chair of the local industry.”

“So… he’s killing off competition?” asked Sarah.

“Doesn’t seem like it at all. For the real estate, I pulled some records: the tenant turnover is normal, no outstanding deaths – except the ones for the case – and everything seems normal tax-wise. The acquisitions were made at various times over 30 years, with more investments in the last 20. As for the local industry, there doesn’t seem to be anything fishy either.”

“And you call that interesting,” said Dean, flatly.

“Well, not the fact that nothing stands out –”

“Except the deaths. Those stand out.”

“Yeah, but it’s the guy the witches talked about, and it’s the town with the vampire deaths. That’s interesting. But I see no motive. So it might not be him behind this, or it might be something else the witches were talking about, not related to our problem.”

Dean shook his head. “With us, it’s always related.”

“Yeah.”

Sarah was thinking out loud. “OK. It’s all related… 30 years, uhn?”

“Yeah.”

“So the man is, at bare minimum, 50.”

“He’s 62.”

“Hmm… What could a 62-year-old man with fortune and power in a quiet town want with witches? And,” she said, looking at the panther, “with Dean? And how does the vampire fit in?”

Dean offered, “Maybe he pissed off the witches and they sent the vampire to piss him off.”

Sam sat back in his chair. “Witches don’t do that. They’d curse him or something.”

“Then I have no idea where the vampire comes in,” said Sarah.

“Me neither.”

They looked at Dean. He shook his head – he had no idea either.

Sam spoke up. “Well, at least we can take the opportunity to talk to Hatley while in town, so there’s that.”

They all agreed.

 It had been decided they’d go on the vampire case later, when it’ll be dark, as to not arise suspition driving around with a panther. They could at least wipe that fiend off while they figure things out. They ate, and, since they had a couple hours left before sundown, they turned in for a nap.

 Sarah got in the bedroom, followed by a nonchalant Dean. She sat on the bed, took her boots off. Dean hopped on the bed.

"What are you... You're not thinking of sleeping on the bed."

Dean cocked his head, looked around at the bed, then back at Sarah.

"Come on, you're too big. And you're going to get cat hair all over the sheets. You know how you hate that."

Dean squinted, and flopped down on the bed, his back to her. He was taking up quite a bit of space indeed – and clearly made a point of taking up all the space he could.

Sarah shook her head, got under the sheets fully dressed, tried to get comfortable.

"Deaaaan... you're really too big."

She heard jerky huffs. "Are you... laughing?"

He lifted his head “I’ve waited so long to hear you say that…” He laughed again.

"Idiot. Come on, scoot..."

“Hey, don’t tell me you don’t want a piece of this fine feline ass…” He winked. “You know this tongue is rough, I could – “

“Oh my god, Dean! No!” She slapped him – which couldn’t hurt him. “Scoot, idiot!” She pushed him – not that it made him move at all.

Dean laughed and he obliged. Sarah tossed and turned a bit and, as soon as she quieted down, noticed the soft breathing from the panther next to her. She scooted over and put an arm around him, burying her face in his fur. She fell asleep to the rhythm of Dean's feline body taking the air in and out.

 5. Hunting

 As the sun was setting, they took off in the Impala.

Sarah was driving. “I can’t believe I’m driving.”

“Haha! Enjoy! I can’t believe I’m in the back seat,” Sam said, not without sarcasm.

“Ah, that’s what you get for being a giant,” said Dean.

Sam shook his head, amused. “I can’t believe Dean managed to call shotgun.”

“What, you’re surprised?” Sarah said, laughing, while Dean bared his fangs – again, in an attempt to smile. He was lounging comfortably, taking almost all the space left on the front seat.

 En route, Sam explained how sloppy the vampire was – or the vampires were. “Look, all the deaths follow a simple pattern. It’s the first apartment from the lowest street number of all the apartment buildings Hatley owns. Then, apartment #2 from the next lowest address, and so on.”

“What do you mean, and so on? How many deaths were there?” asked Sarah.

“Yesterday morning, there was 2. Now, there’s 4. Again, a pattern. So, tonight, we should be able to stop murders 5 and 6, hopefully.”

“It’s really a milk run,” Sarah reflected.

“From the reports, it seems like a vampire attack, but we’ll have to break into the morgue first to check and make sure.”

“Yippee.”

 When they got to their destination, they headed for the morgue. Dean agreed to stay in the car while Sam and Sarah went it to check on the corpses. They came back out 10 minutes later with answers. Yes, it was a vampire, and just the one. The teeth marks were all identical.

 They headed to the next address on Sam's list of Hatley-owned apartment buildings. Sarah first passed by slowly. Everything was quiet. She turned and parked the car. The three of them surveyed the place.

"Which apartment is it?" Sarah asked.

"If it follows the pattern, it's #5."

She counted, pointing right to left and going up, "...#1, #2, #3, #4... #5 should be 3rd floor left, then."

"Right."

Three pairs of eyes fixed the dark patio door.

"Yeah... Maybe we should go inside and wait for the vamp?"

Sam grabbed the door handle. "Yep."

"Wait... What about Dean?"

Dean put a paw on his door handle. “Oh, I’m coming.”

Sam frowned. "I'm not sure if you should come, Dean."

“What?” said Dean. “You know I am stronger than you, I hear and see better than you. And…” Dean put a paw up and slowly revealed his claws. Sarah's eyes widened. "Oh shit. Wow. That's one hell of a good argument, too."

"Alright." Sarah got out and Sam let Dean out.

 Once they were in front of apartment #5, Sam put his ear to the door.

Sarah whispered, “What are you listening for?”

“If I can hear snoring or something.”

“And?”

Sam held his breath. After a moment, he let it out. “Nothing.”

Sarah turned to Dean. “And?”

Dean’s head snapped around and his ears perked up.

Sam and Sarah looked around, but there was nothing to see – or hear. They looked at Dean enquiringly. Dean turned and got on the next stair landing in two bounds. Sarah let out a “Oh, shhhhhiii-” and both her and Sam followed.

The next minute they heard the front door open and footsteps coming up.

Dean had positioned himself in front of Sam and Sarah. Crouching on the floor, shoulder blades standing out, the tip of his tail wagging, he was observing below between the stairs.

 The vampire could hear every heartbeat in the building. He could hear everyone breathing or snoring. But it was only when he’d got to the apartment door that he realized some heartbeats and breathing didn’t come from behind a door. The moment he’d whip his head around in exactly the trio’s direction, Dean rushed down the stairs and attacked.

 The vampire was as much a predator as Dean. The surprise of being attacked by a panther didn’t phase it. It clawed, hit and bit Dean, trying to pin him down to finish him. Dean struck it with a swift blow with his claws out, ripping the vampire’s flesh on its chest. He clawed at its chest and face a few more times until it was gushing blood from every wound, then pinned it down and bent to rip its neck to finish it. Sarah screamed as she and Sam ran down : “NO! DON’T BITE!!”

Dean turned to them, squinting, ears flipped back. “What?” The vampire was too damaged to have the strength to push Dean off. It was bleeding out. It still hit him feebly.

Sarah said, as Sam got his machete ready, “Don’t bite him. He’s bit you and if you drink his blood, you’ll – “

Dean’s eyes widened. He looked at the vampire and took a step back.

Sam asked Dean, “Is it too damaged to talk?” Dean shook his head. “Yeah… I think I tore into it a little too much. Sorry.” Sam sighed. And he cut its head.

 Behind a door, they heard a loud and panicked “OH MY GOD”. All three snapped their heads up, looked at each other and in the direction of either door.

Sam nodded at Sarah and Dean. “I got this.” And, a bit louder, “It’s fine. We’re FBI. We were tracking the killer responsible for the murders of the last 2 days.” He gestured at Sarah. They took their badges out, showed them towards one door, then the other.

“Is that a panther?” came from apartment #5.

Sam sighed. His brow was furrowed. “Well, um, yes. It’s trained.” Dean sat with a thud and looked at Sam his eyes half-closed. Sam continued, “We’re a very specialized branch of FBI. New methods. The panther is not dangerous to you.”

“Holy fuck! You cut that guy’s head off!!”, came from apartment #6. All three sighed.

“Look, stay inside your apartments, we’re cleaning up and leaving. You’re safe now.”

Two weak “OK” came from behind both doors.

 Back in the car, they regrouped.

Sarah started. “OK, so we have taken care of the vamp.”

“Yup,” said Dean, “and it was awesome!”

“And now we have to clean you, Dean,” she said, turning to him. He had his tongue half out, his paw stopped in mid-air. He darted a look at Sarah. “Dean, don’t lick that! The vampire blood!”

“Fuck!” He put his paw down.

“Look, Sarah, I think it takes live blood. Dried-up blood won’t turn him.”

Sarah turned to face Sam, her eyes merely slits. “You want to take the chance?”

“Um, no.”

She turned to Dean. “You?”

Dean was looking down at his paws, turning them to inspect them better. “No, of course not.”

Sarah declared, “Alright. Off to the motel.”

 6. Longing

 The night, in fact, was still young – especially since they’d had a nap earlier. It was only 11:30. Sam had taken out his tablet while Sarah was in the bathroom with Dean.

 Dean was sitting in the bathtub and Sarah, kneeling on the floor, was using the shower head to drench his paws. They were both silent and calm, looking at the streaks of blood going to the drain.

“Gimme your paw”, she said softly. She took it in her hand and sprayed water between his toes. She turned the paw, sprayed thoroughly every furry nook.

“Get your claws out.” She was talking softly, like she was telling him what she’s going to do next. She cleaned his claws.

“The other paw.” And they repeated the gestures.

“Now, your face. Chin up.” He closed his eyes. Water running down his face, his neck. She stroke his fur to make sure it got cleaned. He flinched. “Oh, the vampire bite. I’ll clean that too.” She gently ran some water on it.

“What about your belly?”

“I think it’s alright.” Dean sat up on his hind legs, balancing with a paw on the side of the tub. They both looked at his underside. Sarah ran her fingers through the fur. “No, you’re good. Let’s get you dried up then.”

 Dean stepped out of the bathtub and Sarah dried his paws with a towel. She then dried his head, his neck. With the towel still around his shoulders, she stopped and looked in his eyes. “I know you’ve been a panther only a little over 2 days, and I know I can talk to you, but I miss you. Having half of you is… it’s weird. It’s worse than when we’re apart a few days. It’s like you’re here with me, but I can’t be with you. It’s you, but it’s not.” She looked at his body. “It’s you inside, I know, but it feels… off. Like you’re far away. I miss you, the whole you. I miss your touch.” She sighed, looking at the ground. "I miss you, Dean."

Dean put his head in the crook of her neck and gave little rubs, finally resting his head heavily, eyes closed. “I’m here, sweetie pie. But I know. I miss you too.”

Sarah put her arms around him and laid her cheek on his head. “Damn you’re soft, though.”

Dean made little huffs. He was laughing. Sadness tainted Sarah's faint smile.

 7. Enquiring

 Sarah and Dean stepped out of the bathroom. Sam looked up. “Hey, I found more info on Hatley.”

“Oh? Interesting info… this time?” She looked at Dean and giggled. Dean made laughy huffs and headed to the bed, on which he lied down like a sphinx. Sarah sat on the corner of the bed, rested a hand on a paw. Dean gave a tiny lick.

Sam sighed. “Very funny.” He raised his eyebrows. “It turns out, Hatley has a wife.”

“Ohhh! What a turn of events!” More giggles and huffs.

Sam sat back. “Really?”

“Sorry,” said Sarah. “Go on. Mrs Hatley.”

“According to what I found, she owns the plant where Hatley is chair. She doesn’t sit on the committee – her husband does, but she owns the plant. Also, she owns about a third of the real estate that is in her husband’s name.”

“That doesn’t make sense. It’s in his name.”

“She’s listed as co-owner on quite a few properties.”

“Oh. Right. So… Are you saying she’s got more money than him? Is the plant worth more than his real estate share?”

“Yes.”

“OK. So we have Hatley. He is the less fortunate of the two. Murders have been perpetrated on his property. Were they his buildings only, or shared ownership ones?”

“Um…” Sam looked something up. “Ah! He is the sole owner. Hmm…”

“Maybe she’s got something to do with this.”

“But what? She’s richer than him.”

“Power?”

“What power? She owns the workforce and part of the town. I’d say she’s powerful already.”

Sarah looked aimlessly at various spots on the carpet, lost in thought. Sam read up on his tablet.

“Then there’s only one thing left,” she said. Dean and Sam looked at her, waiting for her to continue. “He cheated on her.”

“Hm, could be.”

“If it’s not money, if it’s not power, it’s sex. Or love. Either he cheated on her, or he wants a divorce or something. Either way, she’s unhappy with him and wants revenge.”

“Could be,” Sam said as he turned his tablet off. “Alright. That gives us some direction for tomorrow. Now I guess we should question them both. Which one first?”

Sarah folded her arms. “You know what? I think we do them at the same time, so they don’t know we’re also talking to the other when we see them. You do her, I do him. Maybe you could charm her into giving you info. And me charm him. Who knows?”

Sam got up. “That’s a bit twisted.”

“Thank you.”

 8. Investigating

 After a relatively good night’s sleep – Sarah cuddled against Dean, who was sleeping on top of the covers – Sam went to get some breakfast. He came back with a bit more than usual.

“That’s a big bag,” Sarah commented. Dean perked up. He hopped down and got closer. “What you got?”

“That place got breakfast wraps and sandwiches. I got a few sausage-only wraps for Dean. And since he’s…” he looked over at the panther, “pretty big, I got 4 just for him. I hope it’s enough.”

“Probably not,” Dean said, “but I’ll take it.” He licked his nose.

The food was distributed and eaten in silence – in Dean’s case, wolfed down pretty fast.

FBI suits were donned, and they left a “Don’t disturb” on the door. Nobody wants to deal with a maid walking in on a panther.

 Sam was driving. He pulled in the police station’s parking lot.

“And why are we here?”, Sarah asked.

“Cause we always hit the cops first…” Sam said, like it was standard procedure. “Plus, they might tell us where to find Mr. and Mrs Hatley if they’re not at the plant. I figure she wouldn’t be, since she doesn’t sit on the committee, so I wonder where we’d find her.”

“I don’t know… home?”

“And if she’s not?”

“What, the police doesn’t keep tabs on every civilian.”

“With all their real estate and them owning the plant, I’m pretty sure both the Hatleys know the police and vice-versa. So there might be something. Or something to learn about the vampire killings. Something.”

“Alright, then. Let’s do that.”

 In the station, they were directed to a certain Wilson. After pleasantries and showing badges, Sam took the floor.

“So, you’re the one working on the multiple murders case.”

“Yes. I’m surprised the FBI got here that fast.”

“Oh, we didn’t only get here, we got the murderer.”

“What, you caught him?”

“Right as he was about to strike again. So you can add that to your file and tell your people.”

“I’m… wow. Seriously?”

Sarah interjected. “Sir, are you questioning the FBI’s efficiency?”

“No! No, no, no… It’s just… It’s like you came in and saved the day. The FBI never does that. Well, they didn’t last time.”

Sam and Sarah frowned, and Sam went, “Last time?”

“Yes. We had 3 murders on our hands within the same week, one in town and 2 on the outskirts. Never got solved. Never got any help either. Super weird case.”

“When was that?”

“Um, about 10 years ago?”

Sam and Sarah glanced at each other in surprise.

Sam turned to Wilson. “Do you have the reports?”

“Yes, I’ll get them for you.”

 Wilson left the room. Sam and Sarah turned to each other.

Sarah whispered, “Oh my god, 10 years? A demon? What the hell?”

“That could be a completely different thing, though.”

Sarah looked at Sam with raised eyebrows, arms open in disbelief.

“No,” Sam said, “of course not. Those things always end up related.” He sighed. She sighed.

“Plus, how come you didn’t find this case? I thought you could find everything and hack in any records.”

“But I did check. There was nothing.”

 Wilson came back with a slim file. “I made you a copy. We didn’t have much, so here you are.”

Sam took the file, gave it to Sarah, who started reading while Sam continued. “Thanks a lot. Could you tell me, why wasn’t this case in the system?”

“What? It’s in the system. Everything always goes in the system. It’s procedure.” He got around his desk, sat and checked on his computer. “See, right – wait.” He typed some more. He sat back, looked at Sam in surprise. “It’s not here. I don’t get it.” He paused, staring at his screen. “I swear, I remember reviewing the file in the system. I even remember, there was one – “

Sam cut him. “Hey, it’s alright, we have a physical file, we have something we can work with, it’s OK.”

Wilson couldn’t believe what he just heard. “What, the FBI… will let this slide?”

Sarah took this one. “No, sir, the FBI will not let this… slide, as you say. You will get the file re-entered in the system. We will need it to be there when we fill the form to close the case.” Sam darted a look at Sarah.

Wilson seemed to fall back in familiar territory. “Oh, right. Yes, right on it, M’am.”

 While Sarah leafed through the file, Sam got to what they had come in for. “Before we leave, we have to ask you if you know where we could find Mr. and Mrs Hatley.”

“From Hatley Corp.?”

“Yes.”

Wilson was visibly taken aback by this request. “Um, Mr. Hatley is usually at the plant. He’s the boss there.”

“We know that.”

“Oh, OK. And Mrs Hatley… I guess she’s home? I know she’ll be at the charity dinner tonight for our Vets. She organized the whole thing. So I guess at the moment she’s home?” He looked at the clock. 9:40. “Still pretty early. I guess she’s home. Want me to call?”

“No, it’s fine. And where would that charity event take place?”

“The Community Center. We had it built for events like this, ceremonies and various activities. It’s pretty big.”

“Thanks, Wilson,” Sam said, extending his hand, “we’ll be on ou-”

 Sarah cut Sam. “Wait. Wilson, why do you say this case was weird? And why do you say they’re murders? All I see here are animal attacks. Even the photos are quite clear.” Sam leaned over to see while Wilson answered. The pictures showed bodies with clear lacerations, so many the victim quickly bled to death from the wounds. There were also bite marks on the necks. Sam and Sarah looked at each other, recognizing the type of wounds. But they wanted to hear it from Wilson.

“Because of the animal. The coroner found all three victims were attacked by a large cat. Now, cats will tackle their preys with their paws to bring them down but then they’ll break their necks. This particular breed of cat here actually crushes the skull of its preys with its fangs. But cats never shred them like this and leave them. Plus, the victims were found far enough from each other that the cat needed a faster mode of transport than just running. To me, that’s weird enough to call it murder.”

Sarah cut in. “Maybe it wasn’t the same – “

But Wilson waved a finger. “No, no. They’re all from the same animal. All the marks were measured and they matched.”

Sarah flipped a few pages. “Ah, found it. ‘…indicate a single adult black jaguar.’” Her eyes went up to Wilson. “Black jaguar?”

“Yeah, or, a panther.”

 Back in the car, Sam took his tablet out.

“Whatcha looking up?”

“Black jaguar distribution. I’m pretty sure they’re not endemic to Kansas.”

“But you knew that when you saw Dean. You told me.”

“Yeah and I do confirm. They’re not.”

Sam turned his tablet off and set it down on the seat. Both Sam and Sarah had their eyes fixed on nothing in particular on the dash. Sam blinked. “So that means…”

“Yeah. That means it’s really Dean. Well, not Dean, but the same cat.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

Sam took a deep breath. He started the car. “Did they find any big cat owner? Does the file say?”

“It specifies they didn’t find any. They checked.”

“Let’s go and ask the Hatleys if they like cats, then.”

 Sam had dropped Sarah at the plant before heading to the Hatley’s domicile.

Mrs Hatley answered the door. “Yes?” She was clearly ready for her day ahead, dressed in a tailored long skirt and coat, hair neatly up in an elaborate braid at the nape of her neck. She presented a look between classic and modern.

“Sorry to disturb you at such an early hour,” Sam said, while showing his badge, “I am agent Ridgeley, I would like to ask you a few questions. It’s regarding the recent macabre events in town.”

Mrs Hatley looked at him a moment, brows furrowed. “Your name again?”

“Agent Ridgeley.” Sam suddenly remembered, he should be a bit charming, because, like Sarah said, who knows? So he relaxed his composure and made a warm smile, looking Mrs Hatley in the eyes.

Mrs Hatley made a little smile. She gestured to him. “Do come in, agent Ridgeley.”

 The house was huge. From the front, it didn’t seem so big, but, once inside, one realized the house was build to be long. They walked the hallway. Sam noticed an old wedding picture on a side table – Mr. and Mrs Hatley, surely. He didn’t have time to look at it closely, for Mrs Hatley was taking him past the living room, a staircase, and the kitchen. She picked up a mug and lead Sam out to the patio. The backyard was neatly maintained, much like an English garden. On a table, a coffee pot was resting on a heat plate, with 2 mugs – both empty – sugar, milk, and the morning paper, neatly folded.

“Would you like some coffee, agent?”

“Yes, thank you. Very kind of you.”

“Please do sit. We can’t take long, for I have to be at the Community Center as soon as possible – I’m hosting an event for our veterans tonight and there is so much to do – but let’s make the little time we have as comfortable as possible. Sugar? Milk? It’s almond milk.”

“Just a splash, please. Thanks.”

“My pleasure. Here.” She handed him his cup and sat down. “So, what is it you need to ask me?”

Sam flipped his notepad open. “We noticed that the, um, events took place in buildings owned by your husband.”

“Indeed. It is very bad for business. The tenants of those buildings want to be compensated for the trauma, or so they say. Actually, one argues the place is unsafe and wants us to lower the rent.”

“’Us’? Aren’t those buildings your husband’s?”

“Oh, sorry. Force of habit. My husband owns a number of buildings, but there are quite a few we co-own. I manage all the buildings.”

“But you own the plant.”

“Yes, but he manages it. See, we’ve learned early on each of us had specific strengths. So we invest our money and let the best of us bring the endeavour to fruition.”

Sam raised an eyebrow in approval and looked around, nodding. “It seems you’ve found the right formula and your endeavours are, indeed, fruitful.”

“Why thank you.”

“I suppose Mr. Hatley spends a lot of time outside the home, though.”

“It’s not that bad. I’m pretty busy myself, you know. And we manage to spend our nights and most of our weekends together, and book nice vacations in the south in the winter. I dare say, I think we found the formula to a fruitful marriage as well.” She laughed a little, and Sam smiled.

“So, any children?”

Her smile faded, but she didn’t seem to mind the question. “No, unfortunately.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think –“

“Oh, it’s alright.”

“So… who is going to inherit everything?” And Sam realized how gloomy this was, so he added, “You know, a long time from now, in the future?” He attempted a smile.

She laughed. “Of course. Well, it’s all going back to the community.”

“How so?”

“The apartment buildings will all become co-ops – managed by the tenants – and the plant will be given to the employees through shares.”

“There must be someone who’s not happy with this.”

“Sure, like always. But it’s what we have planned. It’s all on paper already, all the legal aspects have been addressed. So whatever happens, it’s all locked anyway.”

“I mean, what I’m looking for, here, is someone who could be your enemy, or want to do you harm. You or your… endeavours.”

“Oh!! Good question.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “To be honest, I can’t see who. I’m very sorry.”

“Someone on the plant’s committee maybe?”

“No… Shares will be divided to keep the company running as is. Everyone will keep their current jobs.”

Sam wrote a few things down. Mrs Hatley looked at her watch and gasped. “My! Agent Ridgeley, I’m so sorry, but I really must go.”

“Oh! I’m sorry. Of course.”

Mrs Hatley and Sam got up. She led him along the hallway.

Once at the front door, Sam remembered the cat thing. “Just before we leave, I have one last question.”

“Yes, but please do make it quick.”

“Between you and Mr. Hatley, you must know a lot of people.”

“Oh, almost everyone in town!”

“Do you know of anyone who is fond of, or would own a big wild cat? Or has owned one in the past?”

Mrs Hatley looked like her brain had stopped working. “A …what?”

“Big wild cat. A black jaguar, to be exact.”

She stared at Sam a moment. “A black jaguar.”

“Yes, a panther, if you will. A big one, too.”

“But… aren’t those things dangerous?”

“Very.”

“Was it a panther that killed all those poor people?”

“I am not at liberty to discuss the details of the case, I’m sorry. But the murders have been stopped. We found the guilty party and proceeded. So, do you –“

Mrs Hatley blinked rapidly. “You caught them?”

“Yes. There is nothing to fear, now. All is back to normal.”

She stared at Sam, and let out a sigh. “Oh thanks. That’s good news.” She blinked, remembered his question. “And no, I… I’m sorry, I don’t know anyone who would have a panther. Not in our apartment buildings, that’s for sure. Nor anyone else. That’s the kind of thing we’d know. I think.”

“Probably. Someone owning such a cat would probably be proud of it.”

“I suppose. And no, I don’t know anyone who has or had a panther.”

Sam wrote something down and put his notepad back in his pocket. “Thank you, Mrs Hatley. Sorry for the inconvenience. You’ve been very helpful.”

“Oh. You’re welcome.”

“Here’s my card if something comes up. Anything.”

“Ah. Thank you.”

Sam gave a nod and a smile, and left.

 Sam picked up Sarah at the plant.

“So, how was it?”

“For one thing, he’s in love with his wife, so the whole cheating slash jealousy slash revenge thing is out the window.”

“Yeah, I got that feeling too. And for the panther, I got nothing.”

“Me neither. The very question seemed to scare him.”

“Mrs Hatley was quite shaken too. She thought the panther had killed her tenants.”

“…’her tenants’? Aren’t the buildings his?”

Sam explained the couple’s arrangements and their plans for their legacy. “What did you talk about?”

“Oh, plant and business stuff. He talks like everyone is happy. It’s eerie.”

“Maybe they are.”

Sarah turned to Sam and said flatly, “We have 3 murders 10 years ago and 4 this week. Woop-tee-doo, I’m dancing with joy.”

Sam pursed his lips. “I know.”

 Sam and Sarah stopped to get some lunch and make a detour by the grocery store to get Dean a big piece of actual raw meat.

“You know, I’m used to Dean and his burgers,” Sam said, looking at the beef roast Sarah had in her hands, “but this is something else. It’s weird to think it’s Dean who is going to eat this.”

“Probably in one sitting, too.” She weighed the package in her hands. “Which is impressive.”

“I think we’ll have to look up a bit more on black jaguars to see what he needs. We can’t feed him a roast that big every meal.”

Sarah felt like she needed to protect Dean. “You should know, cats are obligate carnivores.”

Sam just sighed. “Yeah, I know that. But it’s a lot of food, even for a big cat.”

She pouted. “But he’s going to be so happy.” She lifted the roast to accentuate her statement.

Sam shook his head.

 Back at the motel, Dean was indeed happy about the meat. He chewed on it his eyes half-closed, licking his mouth and nose between each bite. Once he seemed more disposed to listening to Sam and Sarah, they brought him up to speed on their investigations.

 They gathered to throw ideas around.

A vampire was never a loner, but it was decided they wouldn’t go after its nest. Too time consuming, and the probability of the remaining vampires cooperating too low.

Going back to where Dean had been taken, try to find the witches and have them put Dean back seemed to lack some crucial info. Why did the witches switch Dean and the black jaguar in the first place? They would need to know more before they barge in. Of course, Dean favoured the barging in option, taking the witches prisoner and force them to switch him back. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t drive the car. So he was left to follow suit. Dean was not a happy kitty.

Sam turned his tablet on, trying to see if he could find something about a missing black jaguar or panther in the classifieds or anywhere, really.

 9. Knowing

 Sam was still looking up classifieds on his tablet when Sarah’s phone rang. She put it on speaker. “Agent Michael speaking.”

“Um, hi. This is Mr. Hatley from this morning.” He seemed stressed.

Sam and Sarah exchanged glances. Sarah’s tone was relaxed. “Yes, Mr. Hatley. Do you have something new for me?”

“Yes. I think we need to talk. Where can I meet you?”

Sarah gave him the address of the motel.

 There was a faint knock at the door. Dean hid in the bathroom, sitting by the door, able to see and hear but not be seen, while Sarah opened. “Mr. Hatley, please come in.”

Hatley thanked her and walked in. As she closed the door behind him, he froze in place, looking at Sam.

Sam frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Hatley blinked and looked to the ground. He looked back at Sarah. “I didn’t know you had… You’re…”

Sarah tried to fill in. “He’s my partner, yes.”

Hatley turned to Sam. “Agent…?”

“Ridgeley.”

Hatley seemed surprised.

“I know, it’s not a common name.” He glared subtly at Sarah, who had a smirk on her face. “Please, sir, have a seat. Coffee?”

Hatley sat. “Um, no, thanks.”

Sarah sat by Sam, facing Hatley. His leg was restless. His shoulders gave little jolts. He fumbled with his tie.

Sarah tried to make him comfortable. “It’s alright, you can talk to us.”

Sam added, “Even if you think it might be a bit… strange.”

Hatley turned to Sam, suddenly still and calm. He looked Sam in the eye. “I know.”

Sam and Sarah looked at each other, than Sam slowly turned to Hatley. “What do you mean, you know?”

Hatley flattened his tie, sat up, a resigned look in his eye. “Look. I came here to see if I could trick agent Michael here in telling me more about what she knows on the case and tell her the panther is in fact mine, so when she’d find it she’d tell me so I could collect it.”

Sam and Sarah sat back, eyes wide. Sarah spoke up. “Wait. The panther is yours?”

“Kind of. Yes. I mean… No, it’s not. It’s complicated.”

Sam’s brows were furrowed. He squinted. “But you said, ‘I know.’ You know… who the black jaguar belongs to? I’m lost here.”

Hatley sighed loudly. “No. Yes, but it’s not that. I know you’re not agent Ridgeley. You’re Sam Winchester.”

 Sam and Sarah almost fell off their chairs. They echoed, “What?”

“We know who you are, Mr. Winchester. We’ve been informed. We’ve seen a picture of you and your brother. We don’t know who she is,” he pointed his chin at Sarah, “but we know who you are and what you do. So yeah, I know I can tell you about strange stuff. I came to try to get the panther back. Which, by the way, we have no idea how you know about, because, as we all know, the murders in my blocks were carried out by a vampire. Which you took out. That almost went according to plan, but we’re missing a panther, so it’s a damn mess now. So fuck it. I really hope you can help us.”

Sam and Sarah stared at Hatley, mouths opened. Sam was the first to shake the surprise off. “Who informed you of who we are? What do you mean, we can help you?”

Sarah added, “Yeah, and about the panther, too. Is it yours or is it not?” She instinctively looked towards the bathroom. Dean had opened the door a little and was watching through the crack. You could only see one eye, and it was fixing intensely the back of Hatley’s head.

Hatley took a deep breath, looked at Sam. “The demon told us about you guys. That’s who.”

 Sam leaned over the table, resting on his arms. “The demon?”

Hatley folded his hands in his lap. “Yes. He wanted Dean on a silver plate, so he showed us your pictures and explained you were hunters. Getting Dean would be very hard, he said. But it was the price to pay, so we hired some witches – “

“Wait wait wait.” Sam put a hand up. “The price to pay for what? Usually, demons demand the dealer’s soul. Not other humans’. Plus, they can’t collect a soul without a contract. Dean has no contract.”

“Though you gotta admit, Dean is worth a lot for demons,” Sarah said, “so I guess they still try.”

Hatley cut in. “Yeah, that’s what the demon said. He said he could collect Dean if he wanted to. We wondered why he didn’t get him himself, but he said something about his body being guarded or something.”

Sam looked at Sarah. “Ah, the tattoo.” Sarah nodded.

“What?” Hatley was the one confused now.

Sam and Sarah undid a few buttons of their shirts and pulled at their collars. Sam explained. “It’s a warding against demon possession.”

Hatley was impressed. “I should have gotten something like that.”

“Well it depends,” Sam explained, “if you think you need to be guarded against demon possession. Do you?”

“No, actually, no.” Hatley lowered his head. “It’s hellhounds I’m worried about.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows. “Ahhh… So that’s where you think we could help you.”

“Hopefully.”

“Boy, hellhounds… That’s a hard one. When are you due?”

“Tonight, midnight.”

Sarah looked at Sam. “That should explain the other murders. 10 years… the cat…”

Hatley just looked at Sarah under his eyebrows.

Sam crossed his arms. “Better start from the top, then. We’ll need to know everything.”

 And Hatley explained. 30 years ago, they started investing their money, but things dragged on and didn’t really go well. They met with a financial advisor who gave them tips for investing and it’s been doing great from that point on.

“Let me guess,” Sarah said, “it’s been doing really great, but your luck ran out exactly 10 years later.”

“Yes. The way he worded his advice, he’d gotten us to sell him our souls. We just didn’t believe it until we heard the hellhound coming.”

“And how did you get out of that one? Nobody ever gets out of that. No civilian, at least.”

“I killed it.”

Sam and Sarah gasped. Sam spoke. “What? How?”

“A very lucky accident. I was in the kitchen for a late snack. I heard the hellhound and grabbed my biggest knife. I ran, and tried to hide, but of course it didn’t work. When it came for me, I just defended myself and got it.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. My wife couldn’t believe it either. We were in shock. But the next moment the demon was in our kitchen, and he was furious. Long story short, we bargained with it. The new deal was we had to kill the hunters in the area and he’d grant us 10 more years.”

Sarah nodded. “Voilà! We got our 3 murders solved.”

“Yeah. How d’you know about that? We had the data erased from the system.”

Sam raised his eyebrows. “Well, unfortunately for you, someone remembered the case at the station. And still had a paper copy of the file. He was very happy we’d solved the current case, he hoped we could help with that old one.”

“Shit.”

Sam smiled and nodded.

Sarah perked up. “But wait. The hunters were killed by the panther, weren’t they? The very same panther you’re looking for.”

“Oh, so that’s where you learned about the panther.”

Sam made a half-smile and returned to his neutral expression just as fast.

Hatley thought about it. “Yes, it’s the same panther. At least, I think.”

Sarah pressed on. ���Don’t just think. Talk.”

Hatley took a deep breath. “Well, as it turns out, we have witches in town…”

Sarah said, under her breath, “It’s a fucking freak show, this place.” Sam glared at her, but talked to Hatley. “Sorry. Carry on.”

“Yeah, I agree with her. We didn’t know about the witches, but they’d picked up on the demon and hellhound activity, and when they realized we were still alive, they showed up on our doorstep. Now, we had witches in our house asking us how we’d gotten out of the demon deal – we quickly learned that it was very valuable information – and meanwhile we had the hunter-killing problem. We had 3 days to carry out the murders. The least I could say was, we were quite overwhelmed. My wife tried to find ways to not kill the hunters, just fake it. The witches explained we couldn’t do that.”

“And the panther in all this?” Sarah’s patience was running out.

“Yes, this is where it comes into play. We… well, I made a deal with the witches. I asked them for help with the hunters murders in exchange for the information they wanted. They’re the ones who did it. Kill them, I mean. They had a panther and used it. They swapped the panther’s soul with one of the witches and got the hunters that way.”

Sarah was thinking out loud. “They must have done more than just unleash the panther. Hunters are usually good enough to get out of a panther attack. I mean, we fight vampires, werewolves, wendigos…”

Hatley’s eyes were wide. “Werewolves? And… what is a wendigo?” He looked at Sarah, then Sam, who opened his mouth to answer, but Hatley cut him. “No. I shouldn’t be surprised. And… Wendigos, I don’t want to know.”

Sam sat back. “Oh you really don’t.”

Hatley continued. “Yeah, I guess the witches used some magic, too. Makes sense, right? They got the hunters really fast, like, in the same night. But when I told them we got out of the demon deal out of luck, they were not happy.”

“I can’t wait to see how you got out of that one,” Sarah muttered.

“With a lot of money,” Hatley said, flatly.

“Like witches can’t get a lot of money by themselves,” Sarah said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well not a lot of legal money all at once,” Hatley answered, on the same tone.

Both Sam and Sarah went “Oh.”

 “So that was 10 years ago,” Sarah said, “and your problem got solved. For another 10 years. Which brings us to today. Well… this week.”

“Indeed,” Hatley said with a sigh, “but this time, the demon showed up without his hellhound. He’s the one who came to us with an offer.”

“Let me guess,” Sam said, “he wanted Dean.”

“Yes. In exchange for another 10 years.”

Sarah looked at Sam. She frowned, and turned to Hatley. “Only Dean? They usually want both Sam and Dean.”

“Well they know you boys,” Hatley said, looking at Sam. “They know if we get one, the other will go looking for him. All we needed to do was to get you where we wanted.”

“But we didn’t go to where Dean was taken.”

“Because that’s not where the witches wanted you. They said they’d rather deal with you separately, cause if you were in the same room, they’d probably all end up dead.”

Sarah smiled proudly and looked at Sam. “It’s fair.”

“So they put a spell on a vampire to do our bidding, and we arranged for some murders to catch your attention.”

Sarah’s smile quickly turned into an air of disgust. “You say that so matter-of-factly I’m going to be sick.”

Hatley pursed his lips and sighed. “But we lost the panther. The witches were supposed to be waiting for you when you go get the vampire and deal with you. But they were busy looking for the panther, so they missed you.”

“Wow, we’re lucky this organization is sloppy,” said Sarah.

Sam added, “And it’s interesting how they can locate a demon and a hellhound, but not a panther.”

“They’d hidden it magically from you guys. And their spell backfired on them, they couldn’t locate it.”

Sarah’s expression brightened. She looked at Sam. “Now, that’s hilarious.”

 But just as fast, she got serious and squinted at Hatley. “Now, all I see is that you want us to get you out of your demon deal and avoid going to hell. But you can’t give us Dean.”

“I can tell you where his body is and introduce you to the witches, maybe you can work something out.”

“Do give the address.” he did and she wrote it down. “But you seriously don’t think this is enough. We need Dean, not just his body.”

Hatley started fidgeting. “You really can’t help me? Maybe you could talk to the demon?”

“And say what?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You’re the pros, aren’t you? Maybe you can get us out of this.”

Sam sighed. Of course, he wasn’t about to let a human be dragged to hell, whatever he may have done. Even murder. Even premeditated, cold-blooded murder. Humans were humans.

“Look. We’ll help you,” he said.

“Oh thanks! Thank you thank you thank you! …how?”

“We’ll trap and kill the demon.”

“You can do that?”

“Yes. And then, we’ll work from there to sort out the rest.”

“I have one last question,” Sarah said, “What about your wife? Is she going to cooperate?”

“She’ll cooperate if it means getting out of the whole deal. She’s stuck with me in this because of the original demon deal, but she didn’t agree to the hunters murders and she didn’t approve of the vampire killings either.”

“Oh because you do?”

“Someone has to carry the guilt.”

 Sam got up. “Alright. You’re supposed to deliver Dean to the demon tonight, right?”

“Right.”

“I suppose, at the address where his body is – and where his soul, trapped in the black jaguar, was supposed to be.”

“Right.”

“OK. We leave right now. Call Mrs Hatley, we’re picking her up.”

“What?”

“You’re coming with us.”

“Why?”

“Cause we need to protect you. We can’t do that if you’re here.”

“But isn’t it more dangerous to get us close to the demon?”

Sarah winked. “Don’t worry. We’re the pros.”

 Sam started gathering their belongings. Sarah turned and nodded at Dean to come out. He opened the door with his paw and gracefully trotted into the room.

Hatley gave a start. “AH! You have the panther?!”

Dean sat in front of Hatley, who tried to back up in his chair. Sam and Sarah looked at the scene, amused. “Why didn’t you say you had the panther?”

Sam straigtened up. “Need-to-know basis. And we’re the ones who need to know. You, on the other hand, need to stay alive. So you need to listen. To us.” Sam gave him a sideways look, waiting for him to answer. Hatley only nodded, keeping his eyes on the panther.

“Oh,” Sarah added, “and it’s not ‘the panther’. It’s Dean.” Dean slowly blinked at Hatley. Hatley nodded.

 10. Preparing

 They picked up Mrs Hatley and headed to the bunker, the Hatleys in the backseat with Sam. Mr. Hatley brought his wife up to speed on everything the best he could. After the initial shock of seeing Sam and Sarah had the panther – um, Dean – she was mostly relieved and grateful for the help getting rid of the demon problem. She assured Sam and Sarah that they never wanted to sell their souls in the first place and she’d been doing every good deed she could think of all those years in the hopes it would erase the deal and get her a place in heaven instead.

“Unfortunately, that’s not how it works,” Sam explained, “a deal is a deal. And one with a demon is, to our knowledge, pretty much unbreakable. Unless you kill the demon.”

“And you know how to do that,” Mrs Hatley enquired.

Sarah looked at her in the rearview mirror. “Yes, we do. It’s the plan.”

“I guess there’s a reason the demon wanted you.”

“Oh you bet there is. A lot of reasons.”

 Back at the bunker, they ate, and Sam checked something on the computer. “Ha. It was hard to pinpoint, but I see why the demon wanted the hunters dead.”

“Don’t they all do? Want hunters dead? As a general rule?” Mr. Hatley asked.

“Not necessarily. Hunters hunt a lot of things, and demons are really not easy to find – and, we’re the only ones I know who can kill them. So demons are not too bothered with hunters in general.”

“Except you and your brother.”

“Yeah. So,” he pointed at the screen, “get this. After you killed the hunters, demon deals went up in the area. I’ve found a few people who had good, very good fortune and died exactly 10 years after.”

“There are not that many rich people in town. What do you mean?”

“Good fortune can be a number of things, including this couple here who’d tried to get pregnant for a long time and finally had a baby. You cross the obits with the classifieds or news articles 10 years back on the same date and you start seeing correlations.”

“My, that’s… grim.”

“My guess is those hunters knew how to get rid of demons. Because there is virtually nothing that fits the pattern for a very long time before the hunters died.”

 Sarah cleaned up after everyone was done eating. “So, those witches. Do tell. Cause we’re about to head out and meet up with them.”

There wasn’t much to tell, to Sam and Sarah’s disappointment. Three women in their thirties. Or so they said. The Hatleys didn’t know if they’d be any helpful, because they seemed happy to help getting the demon’s deed done. That’s what got them rich and what would get them richer this time again. And if they lost the deal with the Hatleys, they just might turn around and cut a deal with the demon instead.

“That’s why we’re killing the demon,” Sarah said.

 Sarah laid out a plan. “OK. So we go to the address you gave me. Then… um… We stall until the demon gets there. We kill the demon. Then, the Hatleys offer a load of money to the witches so they put Dean back in his body. How’s that?”

“I’m not sure,” said Sam. “They’re already paying them to carry out the demon’s demands. It will make the witches very nervous to see us try and kill the demon.”

“OK,” Sarah continued, “Then the Hatleys give them the money upfront for their word they’re not going to hurt Dean, then the same amount after Dean is safe and sound.”

“HEY!” Mr. Hatley protested.

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry? You’d rather rot in hell? Cause, you should know, you’re just postponing the inevitable with your deals.”

“No, you’re right.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Sam was pensive. “Yeah, that might work.”

Mrs Hatley was visibly nervous. “You’re really taking us with you to the witches’ place?”

Sam took his phone out. “No. The bunker is more secure, so you’ll stay here. I’ll record your offer to the witches to show them.”

 11. Saving

 The trio was back on the road in the Impala, with, again, Sam in the back and Dean by Sarah in the front.

Sarah glanced at Dean. “How are you doing? Sorry for all the human conversations, but we needed to get to the bottom of this.” “It’s fine,” Dean said, “I had time to… lick myself.” Sam and Sarah made a disgusted sound. Dean laughed.

 The place they were sent to was, of course, a house along a dirt road outside of a town. It was quite hidden in the forest, but it was in good shape. It was already dark and the porch light shone dimly down on the stairs. “Why do we always get to the places in the middle of nowhere?” Sarah reflected, as she parked the car beside an old Toyota. Sam craned his neck to take it all in. “The upside is if we have to fight, we won’t have to deal with neighbours or the police”, adding, “especially since we have a black jaguar with us.” Dean made a “what-he-said” head nod towards Sam. Sarah turned to look at Sam. “If we have to fight? IF?” Dean made a “what-she-said” head nod towards her.

 They got some things from the trunk and headed to the door. As Sarah and Sam were wondering whether they should knock, ring or just barge in, Dean’s ears perked up and he suddenly looked around, moving his ears to catch some sound. Sarah whispered, “I didn’t hear anything.” Sam just looked at her, shrugging. They all looked around.

 Without any warning sign, Dean took off. He was in the forest in an instant – you wouldn’t have heard him run, but only remembered the sound of the leaves after he’d passed, your brain mesmerized by the sheer force it took the massive cat to reach such speed so quickly and smoothly. Sam and Sarah didn’t really have time to realize what had happened when they heard some rustling of leaves, a muffled human sound, a branch snap, then nothing. Sam and Sarah tried to see in the dark in the general direction Dean had gone. “Dean!” Sam called in a loud whisper. “Dean!”

 “He’s right here,” said a woman’s voice from the forest, at normal volume. “No need to call. Oh, and thanks for the delivery.” They heard leaves rustling, branches snapping, the sounds fading as she obviously was walking away from them.

“HEY! Get back here!” Sarah called.

“I’m not that stupid, dear, so no!” the voice answered from farther.

Sam jumped in. “But we have an offer from the Hatleys! We came to talk!”

The rustling stopped. The voice came from right in front of them, a few paces from the stairs. “Sam, you have a machete. And you, whoever you are, you have a gun, probably loaded with something you invented that could hurt us. And you got more things hidden in your pockets.” They could see her in the shadow. She was fairly tall, of strong build, wearing normal jeans and a red hoodie. She had long blonde hair. Sarah had raised her gun, aiming at her, but the witch merely took the information in and turned back to Sam. “So, no, Sam. I’m not stupid. Congrats on trying to save the Hatleys, but this thing has to go down. And, need I remind you, we already have a deal with them.” Sarah aimed at the witch’s leg and shot. The sound of the gunshot resonated in the forest as the figure in front of them vanished in a wisp of smoke. “Damn astral projections.” Sarah was furious she’d lost a bullet for that.

 Sam and Sarah strained their ears to try to hear something, anything. But the forest had fallen silent again. Sam took his lockpicking kit out of his pocket. The best solution: barge in, but silently. 

Sarah protested, in a barely audible whisper. “What’s the point? She went into the forest! And Dean told us he had escaped from a kind of shack, not a proper house.” 

Sam was firm. “But this is the address the demon is going to come to. We can set traps for the demon. He’ll come after us anyway.” 

“Are you nuts? He’ll come after us after he’s done with Dean!” 

“We. Need. Clues. And this is the right address for the deal,” Sam said, as he pursed his lips and proceeded with the lockpick. He added, “unless you have a way of going in the forest silently.” He looked at his watch. “And it’s only 10:30. We have a little time still before the demon gets here.”

 They got in the house, got their flashlights on. It was a very normal house, clean and uncluttered. It felt like breaking and entering into a house where the occupants were sleeping. There was nothing special on the main floor so they went downstairs. The basement was simple and bare.

 They were about to give up on finding clues in the house when they heard a kind of breathing in a corner. Whipping their flashlights around, they only saw a big, low wooden casket. They looked at each other and listened again. Yes. Breathing, coming from inside the casket. Sam got by the lid, unlatched the lock, ready to open, Sarah in position to shoot should anything jump out. Sam lifted the lid.

 Sarah covered her mouth as she screamed. “DEAN!”

Sam just as soon put a hand in front of him to stop her from running towards the casket. “It’s not Dean! It’s not Dean! It’s his body.”

Her eyes went from Dean’s body to Sam and back again. She let her hand down as she spoke. “I know… my god… we have his body… That means it’s the panther inside. Is he tied up in some way?”

Sam looked. “Yes. His hands are tied. His feet too.”

They both looked at Dean’s sleeping body in silence, taking in the damages. Most of the exposed skin was either bruised or scratched. There was a fair amount of caked blood yet some wounds seemed fresh. Sarah couldn’t help but step closer. “My god, his hands…”

 Sam was more used to urgency than Sarah. “Look, he’s sound asleep. This is probably the best way still to contain him,” he said, as he closed and latched the lid, as Sarah looked at him in confused horror. “If we put him in the car, he’ll trash about, break the windows, and hurt himself more.”

“We can tie him down with the seatbelts.”

Sam seemed to think it was a good idea but decided against it. “We need demon traps and salt the windows. We need to protect the body from the demon coming in and taking him.”

Sarah looked at Sam blankly. “The witches can come in and take him elsewhere.”

“Well at least we won’t have to deal with the demon and the witches at the same time.” Sam took his paint spray can out. “Come on. While he’s still sleeping.”

She took her spray can out slowly, thinking. “But why don’t we draw a trap on the pavement and park the car in it with the body in it?”

Sam took a deep, impatient breath. “Because it would be too obvious. If we keep the body here and demon-proof the house, it gives us an advantage.”

Sarah looked up at Sam, a sad look in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I have not hunted for long, I’m not used to the fine details of…” She gestured vaguely.

Sam softened. “It’s alright. It was a good idea, but we need stealth. Come on.”

 After they’d done the demon-proofing, they checked on Dean’s body again. Sarah had taken some decorative cushions from the couch upstairs and fitted them around him, hoping the panther won’t hurt Dean’s body too much if it wakes up.

 “Oh, I see you’ve found the body.” Sam and Sarah whipped their head around at the voice, their flashlights on the witch. “No need for that.” She flicked the switch and the lights came on. It was the same witch as outside earlier. “Nice salting of the windows by the way. I suppose there are demon traps all over the place. Thanks for the vandalism. I’ll send you the cleaning bill.”

Sam was confused. “This is… your house?”

“Yes. Why? Had you known, you wouldn’t have spray-painted my hardwood floors?”

Sam was still confused. “What? No… I mean…”

“That’s what I thought.” She gestured to them. “Step aside.”

“No, wait,” Sam said, “I told you we can do this differently. Let me explain.”

The witch looked at the sheathed machete. “Yes, of course.” She raised an eyebrow. “I said, step aside.”

Sam put a hand up. “Please, please, hear us out.”

The witch took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “Look, Sam Winchester,” she said ‘Winchester’ like it was a vile, putrid word, “you Winchester boys and us witches, we are enemies. I have no intention in making a deal with you and certainly no intention in saving your brother. It’s a good deal for us. On all fronts.” She looked him in the eye. “Now. Step. Aside.”

Neither Sam nor Sarah moved.

“Look, from the bulge in your coat pockets, I know you have brought something to protect yourselves against magic. But I am not above physical violence.” She took out a gun. She saw Sarah raise hers. “Ah, yes. So you do have bullets that can hurt me. So it’s true.”

“Yes, it’s true. Witch-killing bullets.”

 The witch sighed and lowered her gun. “Alright. You do have the advantage here. Talk, but talk fast. My sisters will be worried if I’m not back with the body soon. So you have little time before they come and, believe me, us three together? Your little charms won’t hold.” A flash of panic went through Sam and Sarah.

 Sam showed the witch the video from the Hatleys.

“Not good enough,” she said, as Sam was putting his phone back in his pocket.

“What?” said Sam, in surprise.

“Look,” the witch explained, “you’re an intelligent man – otherwise, we wouldn’t have so much trouble with you Winchesters – so understand this. The Hatleys are stupid. They got themselves in trouble and they’re paying us very big money to help them meet the demon’s demands. So we plan on cashing in every 10 years. The deal they offer here is final. We prefer long-term partnerships. Plus, bonus, you Winchesters will finally be out of the picture.” She smiled, confident, proud, and her eyes became unfocused, savouring the future.

 “What you fail to see,” Sarah interjected, “is that after the demon has delivered Dean and Sam to hell, he’ll have no use for the Hatleys. He’ll collect their souls next time their number comes up. So this deal here? It’s double what you would have should you carry out the initial plan.”

 The conversation was cut short by the noise of people entering the house and running downstairs. Two women appeared, out of breath. They were of similar build and attire as the blonde one, but they had light brown hair. They stopped short at the bottom of the stairs, looking at Sam and Sarah.

 Sam and Sarah knew their time was up. Sam put his hands in the air and Sarah put her gun back in her belt and did the same. Sam broke the silence. “Hi… um… We were just talking.”

The blonde witch turned to her twin sisters. “They have witch-killing bullets. I agreed to listen.” She turned to Sam and Sarah. “You wait here. We’ll be back. And don’t try to escape. We took care of the exits.” She went upstairs and out with her sisters.

The witches came back after a while. The blonde talked. “OK, Sam Winchester. As much as I hate to see you boys live, we’ve decided the new deal is better.” Sam and Sarah let out a relieved sigh. “But,” she continued, “you get to deal with the demon first. And alone. We’re not getting our hands dirty. If you survive the demon, fine. Otherwise, we go back to the original plan.”

Sam let out an annoyed sigh. “You’re not going to help? At all?”

The three sisters shook their heads. The blonde one added, “The demon will be here shortly. He will be coming to the shack in the back, where we keep the actual Dean.”

 At that moment, they heard bumping and muffled screaming from the casket. The blonde witch nodded to her sisters, who went and took care of it. They opened the casket, said some incantation, and closed it. The room was quiet again.

Sarah asked, a tone of sadness in her voice, “Does he wake up often like this?”

The blonde witch answered, “Every 3 to 4 hours. Spells don’t take hold as well on hybrids. The body can be put to sleep, but the incantation doesn’t work as well on the soul if it’s not its body. So it fights back and we have to redo the spell every so often.”

 **

Dean opened his eyes. The charm had worn off. Again in a cage. Dammit! He saw the other cage, empty. Dammit! He leaned against the sides of his cage. Hmmm… seems more solid than last time. He sniffed the air. The human presences had not been gone long. He had time, but surely only little time. And so he started slamming against the cage, not caring for the pain. At any rate, this wasn’t his body. He didn’t care if he broke it beyond repair.

 **

The witch gestured to her sisters. “Come on, let’s bring the body to the shack.” She turned to Sam and Sarah. “You, follow us. We’ll leave you with Dean and his body, and the demon. We’ll wait in the house.”

Sarah protested, “What, you’ll leave all of Dean within the demon’s reach? What kind of deal is this?”

“And here I thought you were good hunters. Well, good luck. Come on, now.”

 **

Dean heard, in the distance, a patio door opening and closing. He gave a last blow to the cage and assessed the damages. The cage was looser. Maybe with a blow or two, it would give. His shoulders hurt badly but he didn’t care. He might even have a broken rib, but he didn’t care. He found a way to hide the blood on the floor as he laid down to fake sleeping.

 “No need, Dean. I know you’re awake,” said a male voice. Dean managed to stay still. The voice said, “Doesn’t matter. Let me introduce myself. My name is Brentley, demon, and I’m here to collect you.” Dean opened an eye and saw the demon looking around. “Where is your body? I need both parts. You know,” and he looked at Dean, “to ensure you don’t come back this time.” Dean stayed lying down, trying to look pitiful in the cage. “I know I’m a little early – I said I’d be here at midnight – but seriously, where is the rest? Your body, the witches, the Hatleys…” Brentley put his hands in his pockets, turned to Dean. “Ah, doesn’t matter! Tonight, I get souls. If it’s not yours, it’ll be the Hatleys’. Today’s a good day for business.” He took one hand out and patted the air beside him. Dean heard a low growl. His eyes widened and he backed up in a flash, cowering against the cage. Oh, fuck.

 The door opened. “Ah!”, said Brentley. In came the twins with Dean’s body levitating between them. “Finally!”, said Brentley. The twins stopped in surprise, but continued into the shack. Then Sam and Sarah came in. “What??”, said Brentley.

The blonde witch answered him, as she came in, “We found them at the house. Stupid Winchesters, always with their noses in other people’s business. Couldn’t leave them there, so we brought them.”

Brentley pointed at Sarah. “She’s a Winchester?”

The blonde witch answered, “Don’t know, don’t care.”

“Me neither, quite frankly,” Brentley said, as he gestured circles in the air. “Tie them up!”

 In the commotion of handling Sarah to tie her up – she was not giving in – Dean caught Sam’s eye. He warned him, “there’s a hellhound by the demon’s side.” But Sam looked confused. Dean repeated. Sam looked a bit panicked. Shit, the spell had worn off. Dean changed tactics. He made a head nod in the witches’ direction, trying to ask Sam if the deal with the Hatleys had gone down. Sam nodded and tapped his phone in his pocket to tell Dean he’d shown them the video. Somehow the brothers understood each other. Dean then looked around and understood what he had to do. And fast.

 He stepped back and slammed against the cage, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and stare at him. The cage hadn’t given. He went at it again, and the cage broke, with Dean rolling awkwardly on the floor. He got up, stood to his full height, then, bracing himself, he bent his head down, flattened his ears, closed his eyes until their were slits, focusing on the demon, looking him in the eye, bared his fangs and growled.

 But Brentley was not having it. He patted the air beside him. “Get him girl!”

That’s exactly what Dean wanted. Everyone looked horrified – Sam even more so, knowing full well what a hellhound is – as Dean fell to the ground under the most vicious yet invisible creature from hell. Sam took out his machete in the hopes of helping Dean, but the fight was moving too fast. Dog and cat growls tore through the night, and Dean suddenly flew this way and that, and started bleeding from a paw, his neck, his side. One could see his skin being stretched and torn and yet Dean, with the agility his panther body provided him, and his resilience, and his lack of care for pain and broken bones, sent black spurts of blood everywhere. He scratched at the air, bounced away, pounced back, bit the air. More black blood spurted, until Dean seemed to get his paws around something – the hellhound’s neck? – pin the invisible creature down, and tear at it once more. A pool of black blood is all that could be seen. Dean stepped back and looked the demon in the eye again, growling.

 Brentley was visibly in shock. And angry. He was looking at his dead hellhound and grinding his teeth as he looked at Dean. Sam looked at the twins holding Sarah. The twins and Sarah showed Sam Sarah was not tied up. Sam mouthed “water” to Sarah, who lightened up. She reached for the bottle in her jacket and, before the demon had time to form his next thought, splashed him. As the demon was screaming and writhing in pain, the witches nodded at each other. They chanted fast and the blonde witch, with her finger pointing to the ground, etched a demon trap in the floor. Dean bounced around the demon and pushed him inside.

 Brentley regained his composure and saw the trap. “Ah, fuck! Really?” He looked at the witches. “What the hell is going on?”

The blonde one answered, “The Hatleys gave us a better deal. You’re out.” She nodded at Sam.

Sam took out his demon knife – but had a moment of hesitation, knowing that if he stepped into the demon trap, the demon would take him. Dean caught Sam’s hesitation and jumped the demon from behind, pinning him face down to the ground. Sam understood Dean’s intention the moment he moved a muscle, so he was on the demon the instant he hit the ground and stabbed him, sending yellow sparks about.

 12. Homecoming

 The Hatleys had transferred all the promised money and were told they could go home.

 The witches made Sam promise to not go after them. Sam made them promise to not kill anyone. Dean was put back into his own body, only to find it in pretty bad shape. Not as much as he had left the panther’s, but he was very bruised and bloody. His hands hurt a lot. But… he didn’t care. He’d had much worse.

 On the ride back to the bunker, Sam was driving. Dean and Sarah were in the back, silent, numb, leaning on each other. “I think it’s my first real big big hunt with an actual big dangerous fight. I’m more spent than I thought I’d be. I didn’t even do much,” said Sarah, half to herself.

Sam looked at her in the rearview mirror, “It’s normal. It’s the nerves. With more hunts you’ll be able to understand situations better, and it’ll be easier.”

“You don’t get nervous anymore?”

“No, I still do. Danger is danger. But it’s different.”

Dean joined in the conversation. “It’s like anything else. It takes practice. When you know what to do, it’s different. The stress comes from the execution of the task, not from trying to choose what to do. You’ll get there.” He looked at her and his smile was tired, yet fond.

  The rest of the ride home was quiet. Dean had dozed off on Sarah’s shoulder. Sarah was relaxing, the low rumble of the Impala almost putting her to sleep. The street lights were coming at regular intervals. She gave the softest kiss on Dean’s cheek. He didn’t wake up.

Back at the bunker, everyone sleepily shuffled to their room, wishing each other goodnight. By then, it must have been 1 a.m.

 But Dean was too wounded and bloodied to go straight to bed. Sarah took their bathrobes from the bedroom, and brought a chair in the bathroom. “Strip, babe, I’m gonna help you clean up.”

Dean didn’t say a word, he simply slowly and painfully took his clothes off, starting with his shirts. She helped him with his boots. He finally sat there in his undies, slouched a bit. She slowly and gently cleaned off the blood, slowing down when Dean winced. “Are you bruised… everywhere?”

“It feels like it. But I don’t think so.”

“I’m sorry babe.”

“It’s alright. It feels good, what you’re doing.” His tired green eyes slowly blinked as he smiled softly. He sat up and reached for a kiss.

 After cleaning Dean up from the blood, they both hopped in the shower. Dean’s shoulders were hurting quite a bit, so Sarah helped him wash his hair. As he stood tall and moved his head to rinse, it hit her. Dean had been a panther for a few days. She’d missed him. And now he’s here, all of him. They won the fight. She didn’t lose him. It overwhelmed her. She wrapped her arms around Dean, her face against his chest, water running down their bodies. Dean leaned down a bit to rest his cheek against her forehead and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s alright, sweetie, I’m here,” he said. She looked up at him. She couldn’t help but get lost in his green eyes. She got on her tippy toes and kissed him gently. He leaned down and pressed his lips harder. It sent a spark through her. Soon they were kissing hard and strong, their tongues searching and finding each other.

 “Ouch!” Dean winced.

Sarah stepped back. “Oh I’m sorry babe… what did I do?”

“Nothing… It’s my ribs… I think one or two might be badly bruised. And…” He moved his shoulders and winced. “Anyway. Don’t worry. Come back here. You make me forget the pain.”

“Actually, I think we should move our… activities to bed. You’re bruised enough as it is.”

“Good call,” he laughed lightly, “shower sex is complicated enough as it is, no need to make it worse.”

 They got out of the shower, Sarah put a few bandages on Dean’s wounds, and they went to their bedroom. They slipped into the sheets naked and cuddled close. They laid there, her on her left side, her nose smooched against his jaw, him on his back, his arms around her. They stayed quiet for a moment, the little lamp on the bedside table still on. Their eyes were closed, their breathing slow.

 Sarah took a deeper breath. “Mmm… Are you still up for it or are you too comfy?”

She felt Dean’s jaw muscles move – he was smiling.

He took her hand in his and said in a low voice, “That kiss in the shower… I missed those.” And he moved her hand down until she could feel he was still under the kiss’ influence.

She smiled. “Mmm… hello there, Mr. Dean.” She stroked him softly, which only made him want more. “I’m so tired,” she said, “I don’t know if I can do this.”

Dean laughed, “if that is so, you’ll have to stop, cause I sure am not going to be able to sleep if you keep it up.”

She laughed. She stopped.

Dean shifted his body to face her a little.

She looked up at him and he made a pouty face.

She laughed. He laughed. He gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.

 She propped herself on her elbow and looked at Dean fondly. She ran her fingers in his hair, along his scruffy jaw, brushed his lips with her thumb. “Kiss me, babe, kiss me as much as you missed me. For sure, that’ll wake me up.”

Dean smiled softly and got lost in her eyes. He pulled her closer as he shifted his body so they’d be facing each other. He put a strand of her wet hair behind her ear. He looked at her face, kissed her nose, kissed her cheek. He rubbed his nose against hers, eyes closed, his lips barely brushing hers.

“You’re killing me, Dean Winchester,” she whispered, smiling. He smiled and kissed her very gently. She kissed him back, pecking at his lips, biting his bottom lip. He kissed her harder, tasting her, taking her, a devouring desire building inside him.

 He pulled her closer still. She felt the movement of his hips, pressing himself against her. He was big and hard. It sent electricity through her. She broke the kiss for some air while she wrapped her leg around him, pressing herself against him, moving her hips to stroke him. He kissed her neck and moaned softly; she was slick and it almost tickled more than it put actual pressure on him. It made his head spin. She tried to put more pressure but it wasn’t enough, far from it. It made her head spin.

 “How are your ribs?”

“Forget about my ribs.”

She smiled. She moved her hips to feel his length again. “And your shoulders?”

He buried his face in her neck. “Fuck…”

“Get on your back. I’m riding you. Right now.”

 She straddled him, but she laid down on him, kissing him, keeping her skin in contact with his skin, stroking him, her hips moving back and forth, putting more pressure. His hands on her waist, he tried to help her with the rhythm, although he was more gripping her than helping her. “God, sweetie, Goddd…”

 His breath was fast. He pushed her up a little, so he could look at her beauty. She sat up and smiled at him. He moved his hands slowly from her waist to her breasts. They were so soft… He gripped her butt and helped himself up to kiss her breasts – but his shoulders were on fire. He fell back down.

 “Let me get closer to you,” she said, as she bent down. He played with her nipples with his tongue, took a mouthful in a big kiss. He played with the other breast, pinching her nipple then licking it, and sucking it. She rotated her hips on him. He let out a high-pitched sound and buried his face in her breasts. She heard his muffled voice, “Good God, baby, ride me, please ride me…” He looked up at her. She got lost again. Damn those eyes, so green… Damn those eyelashes, so luscious and beautiful… Damn those lips, deep red, puffed from the kissing…

 She licked and kissed his neck as she positioned herself to take him in. Dean helped her, looking at her, a relaxed yet expectant look on his face, his eyes dark with lust. She slowly slid him in, taking the time to feel him completely, moving her hips slightly to get the right angle. He gripped her as he closed his eyes, taking a long breath in. She started to move up, but he opened his eyes, a little mischievous look in them. “Wait… stay there.”

 “What?” She was confused. And ready to ride. What?

“Don’t move,” he said, as he licked his thumb.

She realized what he had in mind. “Oh please, just let me ri-“

“No, no. And put your hands on your thighs and leave them there.”

She couldn’t help but smile when she protested, “You fucking bast- OOOOHH…”

He had not waited for her to finish what she was saying. He was rubbing her very lightly, and tickling her with her wetness.

She gripped her own thighs. “HOLY F-“

“SSsshh! You’ll wake Sam!” But he didn’t stop. He stroke lightly up and down all the way to himself, almost making a point of avoiding her clit or brushing it only slightly. She looked at him wide-eyed and made little high-pitched sounds. He put a little more pressure around her clit, brushing it as he passed over it. He could already feel her clench around him. He loved watching her breasts move as she breathed. He cupped one. So soft…

 But the clenching was building rapidly and he closed his eyes as he kept stroking her, now with both his thumbs, one keeping her clit well exposed and the other working on her. She tried to move her hips forward to get more pressure from his fingers, but he kept her in place. Soon he heard her moan as he heard himself moan and felt her legs trying to close at his sides as she was mercilessly exposed. He felt her coming around him, clenching hard in waves, sending him higher. Their hips jerked and they tried to get even deeper as they were losing all sense of self, their blood rushing so hard they were dizzy.

 At some point Dean realized he was hearing Sarah breathe deep but more slowly. He opened his eyes. She opened hers. They smiled at each other.

She bent down and kissed him. “You little jerk,” she said, laughing, as she kissed him again.

He smiled and laughed. “I’m a lazy jerk. We barely moved, hah! How about that!” He flashed a proud smile.

She smiled back at him. “Babe, you’re the best.”

“Ah, yes.” He kissed her, pulled her into him, replaced the sheets over them, and soon, in each other’s arms, their breathing slowed and they fell asleep.

     I’d love to hear from you!

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[medea10]

Medea Plays Pokemon Sword: Part IV

So since last time, I earned my eighth and final badge and so I can compete in the Challenger’s Cup.

So...no Elite Four?

Not to complain, but even Alola had an Elite Four.

Instead, we get something that’s almost similar to what the anime does during Pokemon League arcs. Whatever! Off to Wyndon...

You’re not fooling anybody. This is fucking London!

Huh.

I seem to recall obtaining an in-game trade during the Red/Blue games involving a Mr. Mime with that exact, same name.

Nice call-back, guys.

What the shit?

I would not put the fat squirrely with the apple pokemon in the same room.

Fat Squirrely can’t be trusted.

Well, before I go to the stadium, I think it’s time I do some last-minute training and exploring in the wild area again.

And flee for my life! Gallade is a fast fucker. Meanwhile...

Gardevoir doesn’t chase me. I guess some pokemon aren’t scary in this area.

And then this happened...

A trainer by the name of Tracey gave me something in his pocket and disappeared.

*sniffles*

Life just loves to give me an invisible Tracey. Life, thou art cruel.

Oh yeah, because it was Thanksgiving a few days ago, I thought I would have a few family get-togethers.

Father Zoro and daughter Rei were quite peaceful during their time together.

Then I got a bunch of Eeveelutions together (they’re all brothers and sisters btw).

Mic liked what Leafy’s done with his hair.

And Bolt kept challenging everyone to a race.

Pokedex entry time?

Nice, you made that reference! At least this reference didn’t involve a Dubwool being turned inside-out like in South Park.

So...it’s doing self-harm in order to “play” the guitar. Dang!

Okay, time for Champion Cup!

FINALLY, SOMEONE AGREES WITH ME!

I have my own speculations of who the dude might be. Right now, the top choices are Professor Oak, Samson Oak, or that one guy at an anime convention that dresses like a buff Diglett.

First match is against Marnie. I kicked her butt.

And then I put Hop in his place (for the whatever number it was) time.

After two battles, the champion decided to pay us a visit.

Not before hamming it up for the peanut gallery. Hey, at least he’s treating us to dinner. However...

Turns out Leon is with the chairman.

This is awesome. Piers, Marnie, and the fat bastards of Team Yell are going to team up with us.

As expected, I can’t trust this bitch. And I was right to believe so because she has hired goons to “take care” of us at every turn.

And what have we learned from the Red/Blue games? Never trust a goon who’s staring at a wall or poster on a wall.

We end up at the monorail station with more of Oleana’s hired goons blocking our path. This looks like a job for Piers!

I just love how he pulls out a microphone out of literally nowhere and starts singing in the middle of the station.

It worked though.

See, even Marnie is suspicious. This guy has gotta be a shifty mother fucker!

Yeah, this is totally not an innocent meetup between Rose and Leon.

Oleana’s hired goons are totally threatening. I think the bloke on the right really wants my corpse.

Why, do you plan on throwing our bodies off the edge?

Your hired goons all had steel-type pokemon. My level 70 Cinderace laid waste to these fuckers in 5 minutes or less.

Jesus Shit!

Okay, if the anime ever gets to this plot, PLEASE have Oleana be played by Miki Itou.

See, I knew this woman and the chairman are full of garbage. And to add to my point...

This bitch has a pile of garbage as a dynamaxed pokemon.

Called it.

Lysandre and Cyrus vibes, guys! Come on, I called it months ago that this guy was going to be the bad guy!

Anyone else still trust this guy? Show of hands!

OH FUCK ME, NOT THIS TURD AGAIN!

Okay kid, let’s see if you can redeem yourself.

Blaming me for shit that was your own fault. Yeah, I still hate you. But you’re down a few tiers, so there’s an improvement.

But you’re still at the same shit-level as Dilandau Albatou. You two both desperately need a punch in the face.

After that little disruption, on with the actual battles.

Okay, I’m on board with shipping Sonia x Nessa.

After taking on Nessa. I took out Bea...

And Raihan’s selfie-obsessed ass!

So now it’s time to take on the big ham, Leon.

Or not!

Oh gee, this guy is the bad guy. Who could have seen this coming?

Um, I did. The second he was shown in the PV, I knew this fucker was bad news. I don’t mean to lay it on thick, but...

This.

Afterward...

Hop and I returned to that spot near Route 1 and run into legendary doggos.

And go grave-robbing (taking the sword/shield on the ground).

When we went to Hammerlocke, we came across some actual concern.

You sent literal hired goons to try and shut me down. I’ll deal with you later, lady. Right now, I gotta take down this genocidal dickhead.

I have to admit, I expected more from Chairman Rose and the Marco Cosmos group in this game. I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but it feels a little light compared to a lot of the other bad teams in the past, and that includes Team Skull and Aether Foundation.

So after I kicked the chairman’s ass in a battle, we came across this hammy dumbass doing something stupid.

He tried to catch a mythical beast in a regular pokeball.

This. This is what happens when you try to do that.

Plus, you’re up against Satan’s tapeworm here.

Now we gotta take care of this demonic fucker and I can’t even use an attack on it.

This looks like a job for the legendary doggos!

They take the rusted sword and shield and turned into the actual promotional legendaries we know them for.

And after a long battle, I caught it...

With what you’re supposed to use! Geez, even Brandon in Pokemon Generations had enough sense to use an Ultra Ball on a Deoxys.

I guess homie’s gonna be in the slammer for some time.

Oh well, on with the final match.

Take a seat, junior. It’s time for me to take your ass out to the cleaners.

Yeah, kinda make sure your pokemon are higher than this level.

Regardless, I still won.

I made a grown man cry!

Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I’m way older than Leon by at least 10-15 years. That would probably look bad, but whatever.

He shook it off.

Thank you. Now hopefully he’ll stop acting like a show-boating, ham every time he’s in front of a crowd.

Oh nice, my “mum” came with Munchlax.

I gotta do this.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

NO TIME FOR LOSERS

BECAUSE WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

Or is it?

To be continued.

[shar357]

It Had To Be You

So, until I get the AO3 invite, I guess I’ll post this here in honor of yesterday’s episode. NOTE: If you aren’t caught up on all of the current Hideout Raid Arc and the aftermath of it, don’t read because there are HEAVY SPOILERS for the next few episodes.

Train, past-midnight

Kirishima watched the scenery pass by as he left the destruction of Kamino Ward for the relative safety of Musutafu with his chin in his right hand and a quiet, sinking sadness in his heart. Right after Bakugou had grabbed his hand, he had been ecstatic - they had succeeded in rescuing his best bro. Bakugou was safe, grinning, physically fine, squeezing his hand and calling him an idiot... if Kirishima could’ve lived in the adrenaline of that moment forever, he would. 

However, moments pass, and now, watching the landscape pass, the cost of today’s battle hit him full force. Ragdoll was in critical condition, Best Jeanist might die, and Mt. Lady had been injured attempting to protect them. He’d let out a small sigh of relief when he saw Kamui Woods rescue the pro-heroes but it didn’t stop him from refreshing his news feed every few minutes for updates on their conditions. Still, while all of that was the source of his current anxiety, the source of his sadness was different. 

All of those people crushed by the floating villain boss in an instant and the feeling that the Age of the Symbol of Peace had just come to an end. There had been so much death and Kirishima gripped his shirt above his heart with his other hand as he remembered the visions on him dying with Iida, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Midoriya. Tears threatened to fall as he realized that they had gotten insanely lucky... if they were standing on the other side of the warehouse, they would have all been crushed in an instant like the civilians. Adults resting after a long day at work, teenagers  secretly texting their friends in darkened bedrooms, kids peacefully dreaming of being pro-heroes... was this what pro-heroes thought about on their hard days? Was this the burden All Might had to bear constantly? All of those people they couldn’t reach, dead before they could scream. Remembering back to one of the few history lessons he’d payed attention to in middle school, he wondered if this was what it felt like to be in Hiroshima or Nagasaki during the atomic bomb blasts.  

“.... excuse me. Young man, excuse me. Your phone’s been ringing for the past five minutes.” Kirishima jumped suddenly in his seat and looked up to see a balding businessman smiling sympathetically and holding out a tissue. Touching his cheek, he realized he’d been crying. Whispering a thanks, he worked on drying his face and checked his phone to realize he had around 10 missed calls from a number he vaguely recognized. 

“Also, young man,” Kirishima looked up to businessman again, “I don’t know what you went through today.... I suppose we all went through a lot, especially All Might. Whatever happened, whatever’s going to happen... I’m glad you’re alive.” Before Kirishima could reply, the stranger walked away and got off the train and he noticed some bruises on his neck and the ash covering his suit. Realizing that he’d probably just talked to a civilian who had survived the Kamino Ward explosion, Kirishima’s mood lifted slightly as it dawned on him that there were probably other survivors. 

‘I’m glad you’re alive, too,’ Kirishima thought as he watched a man with a beard run up and tearfully embrace the businessman on the train platform. Just then, his phone rang from the same number and Kirishima finally picked up. 

“Oi, shitty hair, what the fuck is the point of having a phone if you’re not going to answer it?!” Kirishima’s cheeks heated with embarrassment upon hearing Bakugou growl at him and he started rubbing the back of his neck.  

“Oh, sorry bro, I spaced out and didn’t hear it ringing. What number are you calling from, anyways?”

“It’s my dad’s. The police are checking my phone to see if the villains hacked it and found out the training camp location that way.” 

“Attention, we’re now pulling into downtown Musutafu. The next stop will be Shizuoka.” Kirishima started to make his way to the train exit. 

“You’re still not home, shitty hair? It’s 3 AM!” 

“The trains got backed up with everyone trying to leave Yokohama. I’ll catch a bus and be home in around 20 minutes.” 

“Just... just fucking let me know you get home or something.” Bakugou hung up. It was only later, while Kirishima was laying in his bed failing to fall asleep after letting Bakugou know he was home, that he realized he had no idea why Bakugou called. 

Next Evening, 6 PM

Kirishima was drinking a protein shake and reading a police statement regarding the injured/dead pro-heroes and civilians when the doorbell rang. Groaning, he got up and shuffled over to answer, surprised to find Bakugou’s dad at the door. 

“Oh! Hello, Mr. Bakugou!”

“Hi, Kirishima. Would it be alright if I came inside?” 

“Of course! Please, come in!” Kiriishima hurried to the kitchen make some coffee for the older man.  

Upon returning to the living room and handing over the steaming, black drink, Kirishima noticed the dark bags under the older man’s eyes had worsened as he accepted the coffee with a tired smile. Kirishima had practically lived at Bakugou’s house over the past few days and had seen firsthand the toll Bakugou’s kidnapping had taken on his parents. Still, he had hoped Bakugou’s parents would be resting more easily now that their son was safely back home. 

“Kirishima, when did you get home last night?” 

“Umm... pretty late. Around 3:25 AM... why?” 

“I heard Katsuki talking around then and couldn’t find my phone. I figured it had to be you.”

Kirishima was struck with a sense of déjà vu, as he remembered Midoriya’s plan from last night ‘It has to be you, Kirishima... but why did all these people who had known Bakugou for his whole life think it had to be him?’ He quickly pulled himself out of his confused thoughts when he realized that he and Bakugou’s late night call might be the reason for Mr. Bakugou’s lack of sleep and sheepishly averted his gaze. 

“I’m sorry if that kept you up, Mr. Bakugou. Really, I didn’t mean... “ Mr. Bakugou held up his hand. 

“No, no, don’t worry about it. Actually, I’m glad he called you. He... he hasn’t talked at all after giving his statement to the police. Except for calling you.” Kirishima blushed, once again wondering...

“Can I ask why he called you?” 

‘Was Bakugou’s dad some kind of mind-reader?!’ “I’m not sure, actually. He didn’t say.”

“Well, what did he say?” 

“Ah, not much. He mentioned the police had his phone, asked why I wasn’t home yet, and...” ‘and he asked me to let him know when I got home... he was worried about me. He called because he was worried.’ Kirishima felt his blush deepen at the realization. He knew Bakugou cared, beneath the constant death threats and explosions, but it was hard to read how much and it wasn’t often that Bakugou expressed it so blatantly. 

Mr. Bakugou smiled softly. “He cares about you a lot, Kirishima, though knowing my son, he probably doesn’t show it nearly as much as he should.” ‘Seriously, this man definitely has a mind-reading quirk on top of all the explosive sweat!’ 

It was silent for a few moments before Kirishima realized he had yet to respond.  “That’s alright. I know he cares and I care about him, too. He’s my best friend.” 

“I think your stunt last night made that pretty obvious. How long did your mom ground you for, again?” Kirishima winced as he remembered his mom’s steely gaze at breakfast earlier that morning as she outlined exactly why, while acknowledging the manliness of being there for one’s bro, the whole idea had been extremely dangerous. ‘At least she called it manly.’

“Two months... nothing but school stuff, gym, and home.” Kirishima sighed thinking about how he wouldn’t be hanging out with any of his friends for a while... no impromptu Mario Kart races with Kaminari, snack runs to the corner deli with Ashido, movie nights with Sero, or eating dinner at Bakugou’s...

“Do you want to come over for dinner, tonight? Actually, do you want to to stay over for a couple of days? We already cleared it with your parents.” Kirishima was surprised. His mom rarely had reason to ground him, but when she did she never budged. Still, who was he to question good luck. 

“I’d love to. Thank you for having me, Mr. Bakugou. I’ll go pack a bag.” 

Bakugou Household, 7 PM

Kirishima walked in the door and was immediately squeezed half to death by Mrs. Bakugou. 

“Kirishima! It’s good to see you safe. You worried the crap out of your mom and I, kid.” Kirishima felt a pang of guilt and squeezed her back.

“I’m sorry I worried you, Mrs. Bakugou.”

“No, I should be sorry. We’ve all been so stressed the last few days and relied on you so much. But none of us asked how you were doing. Just... damn it, it turned out ok, so that’s that. Thank you for saving my dumbass son but don’t pull that shit again or I’ll kick your ass to Mars and back.” Mrs. Bakugou released Kirishima and pulled Mr. Bakugou with her into the living room, turning on the news. 

Kirishima walked to the kitchen and saw Bakugou frying some gyoza on the stovetop. Bakugou turned his head, red eyes meeting red. Kirishima felt a huge knot in his stomach slowly unwind and smiled honestly for the first time since saving Bakugou last night. 

“I’m going to go put my stuff in your room.” While walking back in the hallway he overheard the news broadcast.

“... Rumors have been circulating like wildfire that the battle in Yokohama last night was All Might’s last. All Might was present as part of the rescue mission to save Bakugou Katsuki, a student at UA high school who was kidnapped by the League of Villains during a training camp run by the school. UA has come under heavy criticism regarding its safety standards recently after numerous student encounters with villains over the past year...”

Kirishima’s smile faded as he walked upstairs, unwilling to listen anymore. He dropped his bag on the floor and dropped his body on the bed. Turning on his side, he stared at the singular All Might poster and Bakugou’s framed UA acceptance letter above the desk. He felt tears threaten to fall as he remembered his classmates begging them not to go, Aizawa sensei bowing at the press conference, and Iida asking if his feelings didn’t matter. He hadn’t heard anything yet about his punishment from the school, but he was honestly just hoping none of them got expelled, remembering that Todoroki, Midoriya, and Iida were on thin ice with Aizawa sensei ever since the Hosu City incident for whatever reason. Maybe even more painful than the thought of expulsion was the silence in the class group chat ever since they visited Midoriya in the hospital. There were no memes from Kaminari or music recommendations from Jirou. None of the casual banter that typically resulted in notification after notification. He’d be devastated if he got kicked out of the school he’d always dreamt of attending, but Kirishima was too dead set on becoming a hero to let that stop him. What he couldn’t handle, as he sniffled his nose a little, was feeling like he destroyed the class dynamic. He knew, technically, they were right... it was a dumb, risky idea and they all could have died. But, fixating on a picture of a young Bakugou Katsuki with his parents at a baseball game on the top of the dresser, he knew that he’d do the exact same thing, one hundred times over. That didn’t stop that sadness he felt as he wondered if Class 1-A hated him.

“They don’t hate your dumb ass.” Startled, Kirishima sat up and saw Bakugou staring intently at him with narrowed eyes and a scowl, leaning against the door jamb and holding a plate of gyoza and two sets of chopsticks. While Bakugou set the gyoza down on the bedside and sat down on the bed, Kirishima wondered once again, if a mind-reading quirk was present in the family. Bakugou scoffed, startling him again.

“Nobody has a mind-reading quirk. You keep mumbling your thoughts out loud, idiot. Don’t turn into fucking Deku, jeez.” Kirishima blushed. Blushing was becoming a habit. 

“ ‘Fucking Deku’ was pretty useful last night while we were rescuing you.”

“Again. Not a rescue. You morons were just the best escape route at the time.”

Kirishima rolled his eyes at Bakugou’s stubborn nature. “Fine, whatever you say. Why did you bring all that gyoza upstairs?”

“... just eat your damn dinner.” Kirishima wanted to prod further, but his stomach was rumbling so he did as he was told. After finishing the plate, they sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments. Before Kirishima could say anything else, Bakugou decided to speak up. 

“I don’t want to talk to my fucking parents. That’s why.” Kirishima frowned upon hearing that. 

“They probably want to talk to you, though.”

“Yeah, shitty hair, I know. That’s fucking why they wanted you to come here.” Kirishima’s brow furrowed further trying to make the mental connection. 

“... seriously, do I have to spell it out for you? They think you’ll make me open up or some shit.” Kirishima snorted at the thought of anyone making Bakugou Katsuki do something he didn’t want to do. 

“Talk on your own time, man. I’m going to go get ready for bed.” 

Bakugou Household, 8:30 PM

By the time Kirishima got back, Bakugou was already laying down on his bed. Laying down next to him, Kirishima turned to stare at the All Might poster and his thoughts drifted back to thinking about whether or not All Might was really, honestly done. Kirishima supposed everything came to an end at some point, but for as long as he could remember, the Symbol of Peace had been the pillar of society. But if he was done... what would that mean? Would All Might keep working at UA if he did retire? Would Kirishima even be able to attend UA after last night? 

“Shitty hair, what did I say about all the mumbling?” Kirishima turned back around to see Bakugou’s bright eyes glaring at him and pouted.

“Sorry, dude, I didn’t know I was still doing it.” Bakugou rolled his eyes and flicked Kirishima on the forehead. 

“Thinking isn’t your strong suit. You’re dumb as rocks if you think UA is going to expel you.” Kirishima pouted more hearing that.

“It’s a pretty logical conclusion, actually.”

“No, it isn’t. If All Might’s really... done... then society needs heroes more than ever. They’re not going to expel you. Now would you fucking relax and go to sleep; you’re acting weird as crap.” 

“How am I being weird?! You’re the one who won’t even talk to your parents.”

“You’ve barely smiled since you got here, you look like you haven’t slept in days, you won’t stop mumbling and I came upstairs to find you lying on my bed and crying earlier. You’re being weird.” Kirishima started thinking about how weak Bakugou had to think he was if he saw all of that. Not like it wouldn’t be accurate assessment at the moment, though. 

Bakugou’s eyes managed to narrow further,“You’re not weak. You’re just worried about too much bullshit.” 

“I’m still mumbling then, huh?” Bakugou sighed. 

“You’re not mumbling, Kiri. You just always think that and I don’t fucking get it. You idiots had a dumb idea and you shouldn’t have done it, but it was manly as fuck that you went through with it.” Kirishima beamed hearing that.

“You really thought it was manly?” 

“And dumb. Don’t forget that part. You idiots all could’ve died.” Kirishima remembered the death visions, the destruction from yesterday, Best Jeanist’s wounds... suddenly Bakugou pulled him close and put Kirishima’s head onto his chest. 

“Stop shaking so much. I said you could’ve died. You didn’t die.”

“A lot of people died.” 

“Having a panic attack and refusing to sleep isn’t going to change that. Breathe, fucker. Then sleep.” It was silent for a few minutes while Kirishima counted his breaths and Bakugou ran his right hand through his red hair. 

“Hey... Bakugou?” Bakugou groaned. 

“Hnn... what is it now?”

“Thanks.” Now it was Bakugou’s turn to look confused.

“For what?”

“For staying alive, for fighting... just thanks.” Bakugou’s eyes darkened and he rubbed his throat with his left hand.

“That’s a stupid thing to thank me for. I shouldn’t have gotten fucking kidnapped in the first place.” Kirishima placed his left hand over Bakugou’s. 

“You know, you didn’t get kidnapped because you were weak. You’re not weak.”

“If I was stronger, I wouldn’t have been kidnapped. All Might could’ve fought at full power the entire time. Best Jeanist wouldn’t be on the brink of fucking death. All those civilians wouldn’t be dead. My parents wouldn’t look like they hadn’t slept in days. You wouldn’t be so damn sad.” Kirishima wiped a few angry tears from Bakugou’s cheeks.

“That’s not...”

“Yes, it fucking is true. All Might never would have gotten kidnapped.” Kirishima didn’t know what to say to that. “I’m the reason for this whole shitty mess so stop looking sad. This isn’t your fucking burden, Kiri.”

“Look... I don’t know what to say to get it through to you that you’re not weak. You’re the manliest dude I know. As far as me being sad, though, it was way worse the last few days when I didn’t know where you were or anything. I knew you’d fight whatever crap they tried to do to you and I was scared you were going to get hurt and I’d have to live the rest of my life knowing I was the useless idiot who did nothing while their best friend got kidnapped. I just missed you a lot and I’m really glad you’re back.” Bakugou mumbled something that Kirishima couldn’t quite hear. 

“What was that? Who is acting like Midoriya now, huh?” Bakugou stopped stroking his hair and immediately tried to explode his face. Kirishima was thankful for his quick reflexes with his hardening quirk. 

“Don’t compare me to Deku, shitty hair.” Kirishima pouted a bit at being demoted from ‘Kiri’ to ‘shitty hair’ again. “I said I missed you, too. Now go the fuck to sleep. We’re going over math all morning tomorrow.”

“What? Why? Do we have too?”

“You’re supposed to be grounded, Kiri. How the hell do you think I was able to convince your mom to let you come over?” Kirishima felt his blush return and started smiling, immediately causing Bakugou to blush in return. 

“... seriously, what is it now?”

“I know why it had to me.” 

“Huh? What the fuck are you even talking about?”

“Why it had to be me that reached out to you and why you called and everything... you don’t do anything you don’t want to do. It had to me because you wanted it to be me.” Everything stayed silent for a few moments.

“... where the fuck are you getting the idea that I wanted you there yesterday? I would have found a damn way to get out of there! You idiots were dumb but convenient. That’s it you....” Bakugou noticed Kirishima breathing had deepened and his eyes had closed.  

“... seriously, this idiot finally chooses to go to sleep now?” Bakugou let out an irritated huff, wrapped his arms around said idiot, pressed a kiss to his temple, and fell asleep. 

On the Other Side of Bakugou’s Bedroom Door

Bakugou’s mom let out a satisfied smirk  and went downstairs to call Kirishima’s mom.

“... yeah, the plan worked. Those two are finally getting some sleep. Did you get the notice about the boarding the kids? I figured we might be able to call in a favor regarding the room arrangements...”

And then Kirishima and Bakugou ended up as neighbors in the dorms and the rest of the story happened. Thanks for reading if you made it all the way down here.

[troubleisfree]

this is going to be like a very long, detailed, and mostly my personal observations and notes. as it was my first time seeing neymar and the brazil nt in person, i want to remember everything i can while its still fresh. it was a very exciting and at the same time surreal experience because i see those people all the time on tv games and now there they were few feet away from me...

i took the photos and videos. i am usually pretty good at that but i guess the excitement got the better of me because they did not come out fabulous. tumblr is being stupid with not letting me upload more then one video in a post, and i wanted everything together, so i ended up putting them up on youtube.

the hotel 9/3/2018.

so first i went to the hotel (very close to where i live) on monday 9/3. as it was labor day, i was off work and at a bbq/pool party abt 10 miles from home for the day. brazil nt was scheduled to leave the hotel for their first training at 4pm so i left the party early and, after some traffic drama, made it to the hotel little after 3.40pm. there were not too many people so i had a decent view but i also moved around a bit. some of the support staff was coming out already. a few minutes later, firmino was the first i saw, he waved and went straight to the bus.

then a group of marquinhos, douglas costa, fabinho etc came out together. only marquinhos paid any attention to the fans, waving and smiling but didnt stop.

then another group, including casemiro.

then alisson came out. he was really sweet, smiled, stopped with the fans, signed stuff. interacted the most of anyone else with the fans. 

then another group - i think richarlison (idk him really), filipe luis, thiago silva. thiago was just as nice as alisson, stopped with the fans, signed stuff. he looked to me a bit shorter irl then on tv...

willian came out alone next.

at this point, it was almost 4pm, my excitement had totally built up and i was so anxious to see my boy ney. i started thinking that maybe he will get there separately cuz i hadnt seen coutinho and tite either. but there he was! coming out last with barely a minute to spare before 4pm (the timestamp on my photo is 3:58:59pm lol). he was the very last one to come out, chewing on something, with his typical swagger. he waved but didnt stop and the bus left as soon as he got on. he looked just as hot in person as on tv, the cameras dont lie lol. really handsome and very very sexy! i mean, i expected it, i have seen his photos lol but omg he looks so damn good you cant help those dirty thoughts! i felt like an absolute fangirl! this is neither here or there, but he looked to me a little bigger then i expected. just kinda...fuller?

i only took one photo of him cuz i wanted to look at him with my own eyes rather than thru the camera ;)

it was such an incredible experience seeing neymar and the rest of the guys in person so close that i was shaking after! like for real my hands were shaking, my legs were shaking. and i couldnt stop grinning for a good half an hour after. i went to the boardwalk to calm down a bit and just absorb the experience. people passing by probably thought im crazy or reading love letters on my phone or something cuz i just couldnt stop grinning but i didnt give a flying fuck what they were thinking - i had just seen neymar!

my notes and impressions:

1. OMFG I SAW NEYMAR FROM FEW FEET AWAY. just that, my brain was really way too frazzled to process any other impressions lol

the game 9/7/2018

so after some c. drama, despite my initial hopes, i had accepted that i am not going to go to the game. and then the day before i find out I AM GOING!!! i was so freaked out with excitement lol!!!

getting there was so frustrating! first i had forgot to charge my phone before leaving work so i only had like 30% which was nowhere near good enough for my plans of copious pics and vids. so i had to run into a bodega to buy a charger for the car. then for some complicated reason we had to leave from the ues and fucking DRIVE. crosstown. on a friday. at 6pm. straight thru freakin time square with its gazillion tourists. on top of rush hour. even though the schedule said 8pm, the tickets said the event starts at 7.30 and i wanted to be there early to see the warmups and at 7.02 we were still not even inside lincoln tunnel ffs! i was FUMING and ready to jump outta the car and start yelling at the other cars to get a goddamn fucking move on i got places to be people to see! just ugh. so frustrating. the only upside of taking so long to get to the stadium was that by the time we got there my phone was almost 100%...

anyway, finally at 7.25pm we got there and thru all the checks etc (my joke of a miniature purse was shown as an example to another girl with a slightly bigger purse and praised by security for being perfect size which pissed me off because of their dumbass rules it had is smaller then my regular WALLET ffs and it barely even fits my phone so in no way is it a ‘perfect size’ except maybe for dolls or tiny aliens. but they had the stupid clear bag / tiny purse rule in effect and all i cared at that point was getting in so whatever. still, fucking terrorists. obviously also for more important reasons than just being the cause of my having to have a tiny purse but yeah fucking terrorists). 

the stadium was buzzing already. apparently the 7.30 start was for the warmups so perfect for me. this was the view from our seats.

when we got to our seats, the usa team was out already. and the canarinho was interacting with fans. and then brazil came out. 

ney was warming up with coutinho

after stretches, he did some practice shooting. this one didnt go in.

after that the team went back inside and the canarinho came behind the barriers to interact with the fans (photo below especially taken for a.)

time for the teams to come out. for some reason the tunnel was on my side of the stadium but the benches were on the other side and they lined up there for the anthems. (again, for a.)

then the us anthem and, since we dont do things here on a small scale, the flag rolled out was the size of the whole stadium lol

in the first half neymar was playing in front of me. in the beginning of the game i took a few photos and then i stopped because i wanted to watch the game and see with my own eyes not concentrate on the phone... still, here they are

here is the penalty. i didnt catch it go in because i was looking at it happening rather then my phone. i also removed the sound cuz there was screaming when it went in lol. it was a VERY soft penalty btw...

my notes and impressions:

1. it was a friendly so not surprisingly, it was not an edge-of-your-seat game. still brazil dominated the crap out of the usa team. the difference in class and quality was glaringly obvious.

2. it was strange not supporting my country’s team. but only when i thought about it. otherwise my soccering heart belongs to brazil 100%, without a doubt.

3. watching a game live vs tv: both have pros and cons. again, after watching every week on tv, seeing these guys live in person is simply incredible. just absolutely surreal. like, they are moving, running, kicking right in front of you. you can hear the ball being kicked. feel the tension. see what they are doing without the ball. watch their interactions away from the camera. feel the power of the crowd. its just so much more immersive. at the same time, watching at home the curated game content is... convenient. you get closeups. you get facts from the commentators. your bathroom is nearby (i did carefully time my liquid intake that day to avoid venturing into stadium bathrooms and thank god it worked lol). so imo, watching a game on tv is not really that much worse then watching it live. i always felt like i am getting a completely filtered version on tv and it is filtered but it is not horrible. yes, you are missing out on stuff but its not a total loss.

4. the stadium was about 40% full, 32k of 82k capacity. but it felt more like 2/3, probably because on the other side many sections were not even open so most everyone attending was spread out in one long side and the two goal sides.

5. brazil fans were out strong! i’d say about 70% of the people were brazil fans, and of those about 90% had on brazil jerseys. yellow galore lol. the usa fans were constantly chanting but when the brazil fans decided to make the effort they drowned them out easily and completely!

6. the usa fans were in the section behind one of the goals. throughout most of the game i thought oh cute they are constantly singing their hearts out supporting their clearly outplayed loosing team. then they did iceland’s viking chant. yes, it is a cool chant but its iceland’s. idk why so many have been plagiarizing it! first portugal did it in the wc, then i saw another, and now the american outlaws (the usa ultras)... let iceland have its thing people. i did not appreciate it but no big deal. BUT then they did something that pissed me off - few minutes before neymar was substituted in the 80 min they chanted fuck neymar. i was not best pleased to say the least! lick sweaty balls jealous motherfuckers!

7. we did a wave that went around the stadium like 4 times!

8. there was a small group of 13-14yo girls right behind us that whenever ney touched the ball or looked our way screamed ‘neymaaaarrr, neymaaaaarrrrrrrr, vaiiiiiii, vai neymaaaaaaarrrrrrrr’. one girl in particular was especially shrill and vociferous in her dedication to ney. no sense of decorum whatsoever lol. my bf was smirking at me and was like why dont you go sit with them. i on the other hand was thinking that while i wouldnt go sit with them, if some of my tumblr girls were here.... well those girls wouldnt even know what hit them!

9. i would definitely go to a game again! 

10. while the seats we had were really good, i wish there was an option to be even closer and still see the whole pitch. then again, for me it would probably only qualify as ‘close enough’ if im allowed to run along the sidelines lol. but then i wont really be able to watch the game. (hey maybe i can hang from the skycam hahaaaa!). yes, i am a neymar fan but i am also a fan of the game so i want both. i did not have any input in the choice of these seats but i think it was a good trade off - the closest where you can both see the guys and actual game. if i have to pick the tickets for the next game (hopefully i will go again some time!), i would be tempted by the lower levels but the barriers are pretty high so... i would probably go for the same - second level first row.

11. there was a guy sitting next to me with his date and he was trying to be all knowledgeable and impress the girl but half the stuff he was telling her was wrong lol! he kept pointing to douglas costa and telling her its firmino. i was cracking myself up listening to him talk complete bullshit but with such grand authority about technical game stuff.

12. at some point a loose ball ended up into the stands, some guy caught it, and 2 min later security came to take it away from him :/ why not let the guy just keep the ball?!? stupid. if it was me, i’d have made a fuss, maybe pretended that it hit me in the face and threatened to sue the stadium cuz they have not ensured the spectators’ safety or some such crap lol. see if they dont let me keep it to avoid a lawsuit.

13. the canarinho (for a.) - he was really great! interacting with the fans, dancing, hugging fans. really a fantastic mascot and absolute joy to watch! during the halftime he was out on the pitch, doing keepie uppies (in those shoes too!!! showing his brazilianness lol), and kicking balls into the stands

14. i was totally impressed by neymar. it was just so obvious how good he is and no, not because i am biased, which i admittedly am. i expected him to be good, duh, but to see it so clearly was amazing. he is not a fluke, he is the real deal. he stands out among even such quality peers as the rest of brazil nt! just something in the way he interacts with the ball, the way he moves, ‘sees’ his teammates without looking, turns on a dime, does the unexpected. i dont think he ‘thinks’ or ‘calculates’ at all his moves or that it is just a lot of practice, i think it is pure instinct in the moment, i.e. phenomenal natural talent. even though this was not one of his greatest games for sure, he just looked... special and different from the rest. most of the brazil players were displaying their clearly high quality but there is just something unique in the way neymar plays. even if you dont know who he is, what teams are playing, anything at all, you’d still pick him out and know that there is something extraordinary about this guy. if you unfocus your eyes so you see just all same yellow shirt figures, you would still be able to pick out which one is neymar. he did a bit of his skills and tricks and of course i wished he had done more. what i took away from watching him play live was that, in this average game, he looked as good playing live as he has in the past when i have watched his great games on tv. i dont know why. but watching neymar play live was an experience of its own. it felt like his average ‘live’ performance is as good as his great ‘tv’. i cant even imagine what it would be like watching one of his great performances live. while i dont feel im loosing so much watching games on tv vs live as mentioned above, i definitely feel that watching neymar in particular play live is on another level and im missing out when i watch him on tv instead of live. he is absolutely worth the price of admission. i was so disappointed in him for his wc antics but thats in the past now, and i have been reminded how right it feels to be his fan, not just for the nice things he does for kids/charity, his fun personality (and lets not forget the good looks, and oh boy they are SO GOOD lol) but his undeniably outstanding talent on the pitch. his game is just incredible. i hope he keeps healthy. i hope he gets his temper under control not just for a few games but for good. and i pray he always has the freedom to shine like he rightfully can. i am rooting for him to get the appreciation and acknowledgement he deserves, unadulterated by behavioral issues or personal drama.

ok, imma stop now. this post is huge, even by my standards.