#i just thought his hair looked very nice but knowing this league the chop is incoming

[sidsthekid]

it all comes down to this...

[hotwings0203]

Decided to do a part 2 (due courtesy of @an-ambivalent and @definitetrashlord for motivating me to even continue this series HEHE���)

Pt. 1

Tw: manipulation, dubcon, language

It isn’t the cum that slides down your legs continuously, nor the black and blue marks that so obviously covers the expanse of your neck at all times, no.

It’s the constant surveillance you’re under, it’s the lack of conversation you get from your comrades, it’s the way you mold and shift for however he wants you to be that solidifies his hold on you.

The attack from three weeks ago feels like yesterday, the way he held your head up by your hair after he was done ruining you and crooned in your ear that you were his now, and you’d be suicidal if you continued to lash out on his godsent decision plays like a broken record in your head.

You can’t look him in the eyes now, only meekly staring at his feet when he orders you to stand in front of him. Sometimes he’ll circle you and invade in your personal space, standing behind you and leaning in close behind your ear, simply inhaling you and saying nothing. Other times when no one’s around he’ll lounge back on the couch with a beer in his hand, spreading his knees wide while he lazily orders you to dance for him, slowly stripping away your self esteem and clothes simultaneously.

He doesn’t seem to outwardly mind the silence that seeps from you anymore, now that he has your body and attention focused solely on him.

Even Tomura has stopped talking to you just for fun. He’ll try and make a snipe at you, fruitlessly expecting your once-usual comebacks, but all you can do is blearily smile at him.

It makes everyone uneasy how quickly you’ve been reduced to nothing.

You couldn’t leave even if you tried to. Your medical skills were too valuable to be rejected, and Dabi’s scrutinizing tabs on you wouldn’t allow for even a foot stepped outside if not for Shigaraki’s missions.

Even your meals are meager at best, mainly consisting of copious amounts of alcohol and shitty ambiguous burnt food that pops up on the counters randomly.

You feel dirty, like a disease-infested rat. No amount is showering from the dingy stalls, no amount of cheap soap bars wittled down on your body erases the feeling of being used.

Dabi has never been in more love than he has now.

He hopes you like the food he makes, secretly placing it on the bar counter seconds before you sit down. Sure, the food might be a little burnt, but it’s still your favorite right?

It doesn’t matter how expensive the shower products are, he thinks they smell nice and that they’d smell even better on you. Shigaraki can fuck off, he’s not spending too much revenue on his girl, it’s the bare minimum he can do to show you how much he appreciates you playing by his rules...even if he can never say it out loud.

And his favorite part at the end of every day is putting his surely-misplaced words of affection into action, where he can scream with his body against yours how long he’s wanted you for, how thankful he is to any deity that exists that you’ve been placed in his care.

Dabi might be in love, but he’s not stupid though.

He sees the way your body becomes more and more deteriorated, notices the small change of you hesitation to answer him, the way you can never truly look at him, how you retreat to his room more and more(your room has just become a guest room now after he burned all your belongings, rendering you completely dependent on him to supply you with scratchy clothes and feminine products, no matter how embarrassing it is for you). It’s so frustrating to him- you’re not actually doing anything wrong, but you’re not doing it right either. How long does he have to keep threatening you for? Why can’t you just be happy with him? At least pretend like he’s not the villain for once.

He just feels so passionately for you, a word he never thought would be used in his vocabulary. It all bottles up, and sometimes he feels like he isn’t expressing his feelings of love, jealousy at you not giving him enough attention at times, concern over your quiet demeanor, and wanting of you enough.

You’ve never been more broken than you are now.

If it wasn’t bad enough that you bend at his every beck and call, he expects you to understand his body language and cravings without him even saying anything, which is more so often than not. He just stares at you for so, so long. You originally tried to get up and leave after he dragged you over to the couch and plopped you down, but immediately stilled after smoke began curling from his wrists.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing.”

You look at him incredulously, but his lids are lowered at you as he smokes a blunt. And so you exhale in annoyance and run a hand through your hair, closing your eyes to avoid looking into his unnerving glacial eyes.

It’s too bad you don’t see the big red hearts in them that break when you turn away from him.

You’re just so pretty, how can you expect him not to stare?

He tries to get you to do weird things too when you guys are alone and he’s not plowing you into the mattress.

Once on a cool winter night a majority of the League was out hunting for recruits. Dabi, you, and Spinner had done your quotas already-or,rather, Dabi had yanked you by your wrist alongside him through the dark alleyways, growling at you to “Keep your mouth shut and let me do the talking. If I see you looking at any one of these trash kindlings I’ll burn the whole alley up and force you to watch”.

And so while the rest of the party was out, Spinner had mumbled something about needing to take a piss with a pointed glare from Dabi and you were left alone again with your...boyfriend?

He sits down on the crumbling leather and gives you a once over, not saying anything.

You fidget in place, thinking he was going to make you give him another slutty show.

Moments pass, and he snaps, “Well?”

“W-well what?”

“Are you just gonna stand there like some braindead bitch? Sit down.” He leers at you.

You drop into the loveseat at the other end, looking down at your lap. You can’t see his expression, but he scoffs in disbelief.

“Are you actually slow? Get the fuck over here, it’s cold as shit.”

And so you scooch over to him regrettably, knees touching with his as you squirm.

He leans forward and turns to face you, reaching out a hand to brush a strand of hair behind your ear. He notices you trembling and squeezing your eyes shut, so he stops midway.

He sits back again and as soon as you feel his presence retreat you let out our breath.

It hurts his heart to hear it.

You solely turn to face him when he doesn’t say anything, and he points to one of the grimy blankets strewn over the side of the tv. He grunts, and you catch his drift.

You get up to retrieve it, and hear his gravelly voice. “Get the remote too.”

When both items are brought back, Dabi snatches the blanket from you and drapes it over himself contentedly.

What am I, an errand girl?

He tosses the remote at you to your surprise, and you look at him with raised eyebrows.

He props his cheek against a fist and stares briefly at the tv.

You take your chances and press the on button on the remote.

The ancient monitor comes to life, and it takes a few minutes of scrolling through the channels and glancing at Dabi’s face to decide the appropriate one to watch. You settle on some old slasher finally after seeing the scowl on his face lessen at the sight of a rusted blade chopping through some guy’s shoulders.

It’s weird to be sitting there with your bully-turned-beau, watching a horror flick as if your relationship with him was normal. You’re surprised he hasn’t jumped your bones yet, it’s what he always wants to do these days as if you’re planning on leaving and it’s his last dying wish to fuck you.

But he does nothing except for sit there, gazing at the screen with unblinking eyes, bouncing his knee.

He wants you near him.

What, does he have to spell it out for you? Why do you think he even sat you next to him with a blanket and a shitty movie?

Dabi expected you to snuggle up to him the moment you say back down. It’s rather insulting that you haven’t so far, if he’s being honest. Why would a fire user like him need a blanket to keep warm? That was for you.

And the horror movie? The only reason he allowed you to put it on is because he wanted you to jump, scream, flinch-hell, do something so he can put an arm around you and tease you for being scared!

But you just sit there. Stock-still, like a deer caught in headlights. Hands in your lap, back straight up, it bothers him that you’re not relaxing around him.

“Aren’t you cold?” You jump at the break in silence.

Indeed it is cold, the chilly winter draft seeping through the crumbling foundations of the old bar. But you’d resist, not wanting to know where he was going with this.

“Uh, no, I’m good thanks.”

He looks at you like you’re crazy. “You’re literally shaking cold, doll. Come here.”

You turn to him beseechingly, very much not wanting to prolong this. “Dabi...”

You’re met with an icy glare.

And so you begrudgingly scoot closer to him, barely a few inches away. Gingerly picking up the corner of the blanket, you place it over your lap in a faux effort to warm yourself.

Dabi rolls his eyes when he sees this, and pulls you by your arms to fall against his chest.

You gasp lightly at how warm his torso is, and can’t help the shiver that passes over you.

Unable to stop yourself from chasing the warmth amidst the cold night, you huddle closer to him, pressing your palms against his chest to feel more of his heat.

He looks down at your head and gives the slightest twitch of his lips.

His heart swells, and he hopes you don’t hear how embarrassingly loud it’s pounding against your hands.

You slowly start melting in his hold, shifting your leg up adjoining his to seek out more heat, and it makes his cock twitch slightly. He likes you like this: pliant, easy, comfortable. He just wishes you’d talk more, and with less of that apprehension and fear in your eyes

Some minutes pass, the slasher fic having been ended and changing to a rom-com. Dabi doesn’t remember the last time he saw one of those. It must have been back when he was Touya, back when his mom would bake his favorite cookies and him and Fuyumi-chan and Natsu would chase each other around-

You stir in his arms, mumbling a bit from dozing off. Dabi gazes at you, wondering when the day would be when you bake him his favorite meals, when he gets to chase you around and make you giggle instead of chasing you like prey and making you scream.

He rubs up and down you arms soothingly with hot palms as you murmur and begin to wake up. You sit up from his chest and rub your eyes, yawning widely all the while.

It’s only when you focus on him smirking down at you that you jump back as if you’ve been electrocuted.

His smile drops at that.

You scowl at his proximity, mentally face-palming at how you could’ve been lulled to sleep so easily by this dickhead. It wasn’t even that cold, how could you have warmed up so easily to him?

A blast of icy air seemingly coming from nowhere settled over your bones and you shivered violently, rubbing your arms that were warm a minute ago.

Okay, maybe it was a bit cold. But you’d be damned if you willingly became vulnerable for him any more than you had to.

“Is someone tired?” He teased, his white teeth gleaming with his sickening grin.

“Whatever, I’m going to bed,” you mutter and avert your eyes, getting up to go upstairs.

“Good idea, I think I’ll come too.” You don’t need to turn around to hear the smug laughter in his voice, knowing full well that he was making fun of you.

You grumble and stalk upstairs with him right at your heels. At one point he lifts his gaze just to see your cute ass sashaying side-to-side with every step you took up.

He can’t help himself when he reaches a hand out and squeezes the flesh there, causing you to yelp and shoot up the stairs even faster.

Dabi shakes his head and snickers to himself, beelining after you to his quarters.

It’s a medium size-room, not meant for two people but that doesn’t stop him from cramming you in here every night.

You’re already glowering at his sheets, yanking them back and getting ready to dive in when a sudden thought strikes him.

“Have you eaten yet?” He leans against the door, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

“Yes.” Comes your muddled answer from beneath the comforter.

You did not, in fact, eat anything for almost a day and a half. You couldn’t do it, your stomach was constantly in knots from his presence.

“Don’t lie to me,” his nostrils flare and he glares at you.

“I said I ate already.”

“Yeah? When exactly? ‘Cause if I remember right, i haven’t seen you leave my sight for almost 36 hours now, and none of that time includes when you ate.”

You stay silent, fuming underneath the covers. Why the hell was he so concerned about you? It pisses you off that he’s putting up a fake act of caring about you, just so that he feels less guilty about raping you.

He sighs and shifts to open the door. “Stop being such a bratty little shit. You were doing so well earlier, so keep it that way unless you wanna piss me off.”

Dabi turns the knob and takes a step out of the room. “I’ll ask you one last time before I choose myself- what do you wanna eat?”

“Eat shit.”

It’s so faint and muffled, but he hears it. His eyes widen marginally, his jaw clenches and the brass knob under his inflamed palm starts to steam and bubble.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?”

“I said eat shit!” You throw the covers off and glare at him full on. “Stop pretending like you actually like me, or that you care about me. You’re a crazy fucking rapist, you’re not my father for gods’ sake, so stop trying to be this fake good person!”

The only sound around the room is your soft panting and the squeaking of bubbling metal. Then, it stop.

He steps forward, and speaks softly. “You want me to be the villain so bad?”

Another step forward, and you instinctively retract your legs from the edge of the bed.

“Fine. We’ll play your little game. You’re not leaving this room until I say so, or eating until I give you permission, since that’s what you wanted anyways. Wanna act like a stone cold bitch? Be my guest.”

His posture immediately relaxes, and his smug smile returns as he crosses the room to flip onto the bed.

You look at him in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?”

He turns over and scrolls through his phone.

There’s no way he’s serious. Is he actually planning on keeping you in this room? You’re already limited to the base as it is with him breathing down your back, no way in hell you’d tolerate even more confinement.

Just to check his bluff, you slowly slip off the bed and pad towards the door, one eye over your shoulder to check that he hadn’t turned around. But the second your hand outreaches for the disfigured blob of cooling metal on the door, a massive wave of blue flames lash out mere inches from your hand and between the knob.

You scream and clutch your hand, leaping backwards.

“What the fuck, Dabi?!”

He says nothing, but continues to smirk at his phone.

You take a deep breath and are about to try to open it again his his raspy voice calls out, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. My nursing skills aren’t as good as yours. And even if you do manage to sever your hand and try again, if you leave then I’ll personally make sure Shigaraki withdraws all your missions here on out.”

You pause at that, cursing under your breath. As much as you knew he’d never admit it to your face, your leader needed Dabi for long distance combat. He was the second most powerful member in the group, so his word was scripture after Shigaraki’s himself. He would do anything Dabi would say if it meant keeping him in the League. You, however, were expendable at the end of the day.

Sighing, you trudge your way back to the rickety bed, grumbling under your breath. He says nothing, simply continuing to scroll through his phone as if he didn’t blast hellfire at you seconds before.

Sleep did not come easily. Even after Dabi put his phone away, he didn’t press up against you like he usually did at night. The empty space behind you was growing colder and harder to ignore.

You tossed and turned for a couple minutes, contemplating what to do. Apparently he was serious when he said he wouldn’t let you leave the room until he said so. So when was he gonna give you the all-clear?

Your stomach rumbled loudly, and you winced clutching it. Damn it. If only you had taken up his offer instead of throwing a tantrum.

Finally, after an excruciating 10 minutes more of deafening silence save for your weeping stomach, you cave in.

“Dabi.”

Silence.

“Dabi, you awake?” You prop yourself up on an elbow and peek over his shoulder. His eyes are closed, but his chest is moving too fast for a slumber.

“Look, I’m...I’m sorry I didn’t listen, okay? I should’ve eaten when you told me to.”

Nothing again.

“Hey.” You lightly shake his shoulder, but no response comes from him.

You sigh in frustration, tapping your fingers on the pillowcase. Suddenly, an idea comes to you, but it makes your stomach recoil in disgust and quiet down its grumbling. Desperation is a bitch.

“Can I make it up to you...?”

And finally, he turns around to face you, one cheek propped against his palm, a lazy grin complimenting his salacious gaze.

“Well, why didn’t you just say so earlier doll?”

You grimace in disgust, mixed emotions at your plan working.

“So what exactly did you have in mind, hmm?” He pouts condescendingly down at you, and you grit your teeth before letting him in on it.

“Um, well..I thought maybe I could...um, y’know, like..I wanna, um...” Oh god. This was more embarrassing than you thought. How are you supposed to ask your captor if you can suck his dick? Usually he just took you fighting tooth and nail, you never fully submitted like this before.

And he knows it too, based on the way his eyes gleam in the silver moonlight and shadows of lust cross his face while looking at your wide eyes and bitten bottom lip, your fidgeting fingers showing nothing but needing pure guidance.

But this isn’t supposed to be easy, he doesn’t want you to feel comfortable, he wants you to feel bad and make it up to him.

To give you a little push, however, he gives toga slight hint as he sits up and leans back against the rickety bedrest, folding his arms behind his head.

“So, what’s it gonna be sweetheart? ‘Gonna stare at me like that all night or are you gonna tell me how you’re gonna make this up to me?”

You look up at him, conflicted for a moment before solidifying your resolve. You shyly reach out a hand and touch the outside of his thigh, slowly rubbing and moving it closer up to the tent in his pelvis.

Oh, this is precious.

“What?” He sneers. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. You were pushing me away earlier, but now you wanna suck my dick? Make up your mind, babe.”

You wince and continue, not backing down from his mean comment. You knew he wanted this, he expected this from you. That’s why even though he’s spitting venom from his lips, his hips are bucking up into your hand as you stroke over his member.

Your fingers move nimbly up and down, around and under his thighs and dick, with him softly cursing in the background as he grows harder and harder.

“Stop being a tease and get to sucking. It’s what you were made for, anyways,” Dabi’s low voice comes out from in between little moans.

Your hand shakes a little bit as you fumble with the drawstrings on his pj’s, and he snickers at your inexperience. When you finally free his length, it bounces out like its on fucking hydraulics, precum beading up at the tip, his shaft coated with an intimidation Jacob’s Ladder.

He watches you lick your lips and he groans under his breath. You’re nervous and scared, but he’s wondering whose heart is beating faster right now. The hand which you use to hesitantly start pumping him is so much softer than his own, and even though he’s gotten fairly accustomed to your body and the feel of it, the sensations multiply tenfold when you do it willingly for him.

Dabi has half a mind to shove your head down onto his shaft when he feels like you’re stalling with your hands, however good they feel. He wants to see you sloppy with saliva dribbling down your chin like a baby.

But he waits. As excruciatingly painful as it is, he wants to see what you’re like when you do things at your own pace, and at your own...comfort? If you can even call it that.

Finally, finally after caving in from his silent flower you get the idea to put it in your mouth.

Your face contorts in disgust as you slowly lower your head and latch your lips onto the slippery bulb, hollowing your cheeks out and sucking hard at the tip.

Dabi hisses and juts his hips up into your mouth, furiously chewing at his burnt lower lip as he holds back a pornographic moan. He knows you’d be startled and embarrassed by it, so he refrains...for now.

That doesn’t mean he’s not gonna tell you what to do, though.

“Yeah, just like that. Suck it like an ice-pop. No, don’t use your teeth idiot. And fondle my balls while you’re at it, too.”

Instructions pour into your ears, one after another as you fumble around trying to satiate his needs. You’re clumsy, which makes it even messier and hotter for him. Various fluids coat your hand and the lower half of your face as you work on him, doing exactly what he says. Sucking and kitten-licking the tip, even going so far as to dip your tongue into the crevice of his tiny hole and rapidly lick up the massive amounts of pre bubbling up after doing so, spiraling your tongue down the piercings and on his shaft until you circle around his balls. Your spit helps as lube to slick up his dick as you pump your hand while nursing on his plush balls.

Dabi, of course, has a hand woven through your hair and randomly jerks down on your head when you hit a good spot. You can tell he’s trying his best to hold back from his way his body and arms shake in self restraint, so you know it’s time to finish things up before his control snaps.

You start stroking him even faster, squeezing a little harder when you move up on his tip and massaging his balls. The soft schlick schlick sounds echo throughout the quiet room, the rustling of his sheets as his legs move to their own accord mute the thudding of both your hearts.

You can tell his orgasm is about to come from the way his cheeks puff up and his chest heaves. Pulling away is futile, as the second he sees recognition in your eyes he finally does what he’s been wanting to do, and slams your head all the way down his length.

He starts actually face-fucking you now, all 7 1/2 inches tightly cramming in your throat. You retch and cry out around his dick, trying to pull your head back but he’s not having it; he pounds the back of your canal and you swear you’ll wake up with a bruised esophagus in the morning.

“Fuck, fuckfuckfuck yes doll, fuck, just a little more, you’re doing so good, my little cumdump huh? You love me, yeah? Of course you do, of course you love your daddy, you’re never gonna leave me you’re gonna stay right here under me like the good little girl you are-“

Filth pours from his mouth as white ropes leave his cock, your already-filled throat flooding with his seed and leaking out of your strained mouth.

You squeeze your eyes shut as he waits for a moment or two, calming his breath down by taking deep inhales in place of his rapid panting. His breath deepens after a minute or two, but he still has an iron grip on the back of your head sealed so tight that the cum is trapped on the inside of your stretched lips.

“Mmmfh!” You cry out and beat at his knee. He finally looks down at focuses on you, squinting and laughing at your predicament.

“Aww what’s wrong, don’t wanna gargle my kids? Would you rather have them someplace else?” He shakes your head back and forth on his softening cock and more seed spills out over your mouth and around his groin.

You painfully pull your head up, and Dabi revels in how you look.

Teary-eyed, your hair a mess, cum and spit coating your mouth like a fucking whore.

You’ve never looked more beautiful to him than you have at that moment.

“Come on, clean me up,” he gestures to the mess on his body, and you grimace.

“Do I have to? I just did what you wanted me to-“

“I thought you were trying to make it up to me?” He raises an eyebrow and looks you up and down.

You sigh and try to do it quickly, ingesting the vile contents and avoiding his cruel grin.

After what seemed like a lifetime, you finish him off and flop down in bed, catching your breath.

“So, was that good enough? Can I go outside now?”

“It’s the middle of the night, where the hell would you go right now?” He fluffs up his pillow and pulls his pants back up, getting ready to actually sleep this time.

“Well, I mean yeah, but...you know what I mean, in the morning you’ll let me go out, right?”

He rolls over to face you, and you can’t decipher what emotion crosses his face as his position blocks out the moonlight. From his body rolled over, the light reflecting off the side of his head would almost make it seem like he had white hair.

“Who said anything about letting you go out?”

You gape at him for a moment, then chuckle nervously. “Come on, don’t freak me out like that. You said that if I made it up to you-“

“I said make it up to me, as in apologize for your bitchy attitude. I didn’t say anything about you leaving. You’re gonna have to do more than a shitty blowjob if you wanna leave this room.”

“Dabi!”

“What? I’m just complying with what you wanted. You didn’t wanna go with me, right? So, I’m playing by your rules.” He says simply, shrugging as if it’s no big deal.

Tears brim up in your eyes. “You’re an asshole.”

“Exactly. Which is why you’re not leaving until I say so.”

You turn over and scoot away from him, ignoring his scoff. But you suppose you couldn’t be too mad, after all.

You don’t know what you were expecting from a villain anyways.

[trashytummiez]

Story prompt: Izuku and Ochako are sharing a meal, but since they're both dorks, it gets rather awkward, so they try to distract themselves from the embarrassment by eating more food. This only serves to make them bloated and gassy, which makes the awkwardness worse, thus sparking a vicious cycle.

This one ended up being huuuuuuuge :o

Warning: contains arousal belly kink bloating burps burp kink tummy rubs

Since he first joined UA Izuku was always really close to Ochako. The two of them were of best friends ever since that first practical hero exam they took with all those robots. As their journey continued the two only became closer and closer. Both had made lots of friends within the school and had their own lives but they never lost touch with each other as their academic and heroic adventures progressed.

So when Ochako invited Izuku over to her dorm to cook together Izuku was thrilled to do so. They'd spent tons of time already cooking together at summer camp before the league invaded and ruined everything so this was like putting on an old glove for them. One that slipped on just as easily as when they first started.

Of course because the two of them were so lost in talking with each other and just hanging out as they cooked they ended up making a lot more food than they originally expected they would.

Well, at least they'd have plenty of leftovers right?

They both eventually sat at the table and put everything they cooked together at the center. Obviously there was way more food than either one intended to eat but at least they could just pick at whatever they wanted if whatever was on their plates wasn't enough.

The two teenagers quickly started eating and straight away their faces lit up at how good everything tasted.

“Mmmm wow this is delicious Ochako!” Izuku praised and took in another pretty big mouthful. After swallowing it down with a pretty hearty gulp Izuku smiled back at Ochako. “You're a really great cook!”

Ochako blushed and took a bite herself unable to gush at the flavor. She gulped and waved her hand modestly. “Oh I just followed the recipe. It was a lot easier than usual with how fast you prepped all the ingredients. I guess with all those muscles chopping meat and veggies is a lot easier huh.”

It was Izuku's turn to blush when he heard that which made him turn to his food. He instinctively ate more to mask his blush. Ochako couldn't help but notice the way Izuku ate. For such a gentle boy Izuku had one of the biggest appetites in the entire school. He could often eat more than most of his most gluttonous classmates. And as he ate here Ochako noticed that he was taking really big mouthfuls and gulping them so heavily that she could practically hear his throat squelching from across the table. Her eyes couldn't help but follow the sizable lumps that emerged and pushed down his throat before disappearing behind his chest.

For some reason that sight made Ochako blush a little more. So she in turn ate more as if to distract herself. Though even then Ochako noticed that Izuky had just the cutest smile on his face when he ate. It was absolutely adorable. There really was such an endearingly boyish quality to Izuku. An innocence and adorability no other student at the school had. Though why she was thinking about that now she didnt know. Which might explain why she once again started eating more to take her mind off of her wandering thoughts.

Izuku finished in record time. He leaned back and sighed contently. “Ahh that was so good,” he said rubbing his stomach contently.

Surprisingly Ochako finished shortly after he did. She huffed very softly and smiled back at Izuku. “You said it Deku! This tasted better than usual for some reason!” She said and patted her tummy happily with both hands. Suddenly she hiccuped making her blush and very quickly cover her mouth. “Oops! Heh excuse me. Think I ate a little faster than usual there.”

“I noticed,” Izuku said with a blush of his own. “Maybe you were hungrier than you thought?”

“M-Maybe,” Ochako conceded. Then she turned to the food still at the table and smiled innocently. “Well good thing there's still so much more right?” She quickly loaded her plate with more food to distract herself.

“G-Good point. No reason we can't enjoy a little more when everything's still fresh,” Izuku said and joined Ochako in reloading his plate.

There was noticeably more on both of their plates than the first go especially Izuku's. The two teens quickly started eating more and seemed to relax a little when they did so. Everything just tasted that good.

Once again when she ate Ochako couldn't take her eyes off of Izuku. He wasn't ravenous like so many other boys in school when he ate. But something about watching him eat so much gave her a funny feeling. She couldn't peg what it was though. The hums he gave were so cute as was his smile. But the way she could see each gulp send a lump protruding down his throat and get capped with a very soft and subtle huff from the boy only stirred Ochako in a way she couldn't describe. But it certainly made her blush which only led to her eating even more to distract herself.

Something else caught Ochako's eye.

Izuku was eating so much that after a while his normally flat and muscular stomach looked like it was beginning to stick out. It wasn't entirely noticeable but his t-shirt was definitely looking noticeably more snug around the middle than it usually did. Why was that detail making her cheeks so warm?

Izuku's thoughts weren't much better. He couldn't not notice Ochako as she ate or how fast she was eating. It was surprising that a girl like her could eat so much and so quickly. And something about that fact caused a stir in Izuku's tummy. Almost like butterflies. Especially when he noticed her own flat tummy beginning to poke out from how much she was eating at so fast a pace.

Why did that detail catch his attention so much?

To take his mind off of that Izuku plowed through his second plate and eventually polished it off. Izuku huffed to himself and rubbed his belly. He still looked satisfied but also had a hint of weariness when he rubbed. Something about seeing Izuku massaging his tummy stirred Ochako even further prompting her to eat faster. Izuku appeared strained for a moment which made his rubbing stop. Instead his fingers tightened against his stomach and he held a fist up to his mouth in time to give a deep closed mouth burp. Even muffled the rumbling sound was pretty loud.

Izuku blushed and smiled sheepishly at Ochako. “...E-Excuse me.”

Ochako giggled and said “You're excused” playfully. But even her giggle didn't hide the fact that the sound had her blushing even more. What was wrong with her?

To Ochako's surprise Izuku quickly loaded his plate with even more food.

“Wow Deku you really are hungry aren't you,” she said.

“M-Maybe a little,” Izuku lied.

Ochako finished her own plate and followed suit. Both teens quickly distracted themselves with more food. Something about eating together without Iida there felt foreign to them. Not unwelcome but oddly anxiety inducing. It was hard to really describe because they both loved each others company and cared deeply for one another. Yet being alone and dining together felt...strange to them. Especially the act itself of just seeing each other eat. Was there something the two had in common and didn't realize until now?

By the time they finished their third plates both were noticeably more full than the first and second go. “Whew. Oh wow. This stuff is almost too good not to keep eating,” Izuku praised as he leaned back and rubbed his belly. It was definitely more noticeably bloated than it was before.

Ochako huffed in a slightly more exhausted way when she leaned back in her chair and held her bulging tummy in both hands. “Ohh man you're not kidding Deku. I'm so full,” Ochako said. And clearly she was even fuller than she realized because without warning Ochako burped loudly. Her face turned as red as Red Riot's dyed hair when she clamped her mouth shut with both hands and went completely wide-eyed. “Oh g-gosh excuse me! I'm so sorry!” She sputtered with embarrassment.

Izuku looked genuinely surprised to hear Ochako of all people give such an impressive burp. But he nonetheless giggled with genuine amusement and said, “Don't be sorry that was a good one!”

“Yeah but that was so unladylike and gross!” Ochako whined in a humiliated way.

“It's only natural. We both ate a lot and ate it real fast. Of course you're gonna have a lot of air in your tummy,” Izuku explained blushing a bit at saying the word 'tummy' out loud which even Ochako smiled somewhat at hearing despite her embarrassment.

Just to prove his point Izuku leaned back in his chair and patted his belly which caused a loud echoing burp to roll out of Izuku's mouth. He normally held them in which was why his closed mouth burps always rumbled so hard . But when he let them out freely they were some of the loudest a person could give.

Ochako was naturally taken back since Izuku was so well mannered. But not only did seeing him let loose so loudly dispel her embarrassment it also had her cheeks blushing for a different reason.

Izuku blushed after. Clearly even he wasn't used to letting out an eruption like that but he nonetheless giggled and smiled back at Ochako. “See?”

She couldn't help but smile gratefully at him for doing that just to make Ochako feel less embarrassed. “Thanks Deku.”

He simply beamed preciously back at her. Then a thought occurred to him. “Can I ask you something Ochako? Don't you usually go off campus with Tsu and Mina most weekend nights to eat out together?”

“Yeah but we've both been so busy these days I thought it might be nice if we could catch up. Just the two of us,” Ochako replied.

Izuku smiled softly. “I'm really glad you did. I always love getting to spend time with you.”

Ochako smiled right back in a very fond and familiar sort of way. “Me too Deku.”

Then Izuku said the quiet part out loud when he scratched the back of his mop of hair and innocently said, “You know from an outside perspective this would almost look like a date!”

The silence between them was deafening.

But the freakout was hilarious.

“A w-w-w-WHAT?!?!” Ochako sputtered with eyes like baseballs.

“AHHH! I-I DIDN'T MEAN LikE-O-OF COURSE THIS ISN'T A DATE!!!” Izuku flailed hysterically while laughing nervously. “JUST TWO FRIENDS HAVING DINNER RIGHT?!”

“R-RIGHT! N-NOTHING ROMANTIC ABOUT THAT!!” Ochako insisted while laughing just as nervously and loudly as Izuku was.

“OF COURSE NOT! FRIENDS DO THAT ALL THE TIME DON'T THEY?”

“ALL THE TIME! JUST-A-ALL THE TIME! EVERY TIME!!!”

“EXACTLY!!”

“RIGHT!!! AND FRIENDS GET FUNNY FEELINGS WATCHING THEIR FRIENDS EAT ALL THE TIME TOO-” Ochako froze in place when she realized she said that part out loud.

Izuku was frozen in place mid-freakout. And in a hilariously deadpanned way he asked, “...What was that last part?”

Ochako's face looked like it was steaming. She sputtered in her inability to think of anything to say. So instead she turned to the food still at the table. “Y-You know I think I'm just really hungry! I'm just gonna go ahead and help myself!”

“G-Good call!” Izuku concurred and loaded his own plate with as much food as it could fit just as Ochako did. “It's still fresh after all! Tastes best going down when it's fresh right?”

“E-Exactly!” Ochako agreed and both immediately stuffed their faces with as much food as they could cram down their gullets at once. Absolutely anything they could do to shut themselves up before admitting anything else out loud.

It didn't matter how full either one was they just kept on eating and eating. Anything to get over the immense embarrassment both felt at admitting anything like romantic feelings towards one another. Such talk was absolute crazy talk after all. It had to be. At least that's what both teens convinced themselves in between swallowing one giant mouthful of food after another.

And the whole while they continued stuffing themselves their tummies continued to expand with the sudden rush of food going down their throats all at once. Both of their stomachs only continued to press and round out more and more with every few hearty gulps both took. Ochako's tummy was getting so big that her bare flesh was beginning to peak out from underneath her shirt. Izuku's tummy was even bigger revealing more of his pale stomach beneath his t-shirt and almost starting to ride up around his belly button. Their embarrassment was thus that they couldn't help just shoveling more and more food down their gullets without any train of thought to it beyond the same thought of “why did I say that?!” playing on loop in their heads respectively.

If these two were at a national eating contest they would win in a heartbeat at the rate they were eating.

The good news was that they had eventually gotten over their embarrassment in the midst of their flustered feeding frenzy. Unfortunately that only happened when the two of them had finished every bit of food they had prepped which left them both incredibly bloated and overstuffed beyond reason.

"Unnnngh...I can't believe we ate so much..." Ochako moaned scooting her chair back and rubbing her incredibly bloated tummy all over with both hands. She looked like she swallowed a beach ball with how round her belly had become in her embarrassment fueled binge.

Her big tummy gave a big grumble which caused an even bigger gas bubble to rush up her throat. Her cheeks puffed as she covered her mouth to try and hold it in but the force of it was so strong that she blew her hand back with a huge absolutely unladylike burp.

HHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUURRRRAAAAAAAAHHHPPP!!!!!!

She blushed immensely and covered her mouth after that powerful eruption ripped past her lush lips.

"...Ex-cuuuUUUuu-se...m-me-eurp-oh god..." Ochako's embarrassment was made even worse when she tried to excuse herself but accidentally burped in the middle of it.

Fortunately her embarrassment was short lived. The immensely overstuffed Izuku held his huge pregnant looking belly with both hands and let loose a giant burp that somehow dwarfed Ochako's in length and volume and practically echoed throughout her whole living quarters.

BBBRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUURRRRRHHHRRREEEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOORRRRLPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ochako could seriously feel that record breaking eructation Izuku let loose rattle in her own bones. To say nothing of the blood it sent rushing both to her increasingly red face and her loins.

Izuku panted breathlessly. His huge belly rose and fell with his strained breathing after having so much air ripped out of him all at once like that. He tried to speak but grew strained. Instead he patted the side of his round bare belly hard and gave another burp. It wasn't as deafening as that monster he just let out but it still extended for a few seconds straight.

After Izuku leaned back in his chair and sighed while he ran his hands across his vast pale tummy. "Ohhhh man I'm ssssooo full..." Izuku moaned then brought a fist up to his mouth to give a deep closed mouth after burp.

He was so gassy and Ochako was loving it even if she wasn't faring any better.

The two teenagers struggled under the weight of their own tummies. But they fortunately managed to push themselves up and get themselves sitting down on Ochako's couch together. They sat down next to each other and their immensely stuffed tummies churned and grumbled noisily like washing machines.

Both them looked completely spent. They both groaned and massaged their overstuffed tummies which were gurgling heavier than they'd ever gurgled before.

"Ungh my tummy is killing me..." Ochako whined while she nursed her aching belly smoothly with her hands running up and down her tight bloated flesh. "...Why did we eat so much...?"

Izuku kneaded his much larger tummy until he gave another long throaty burp. Ochako blushed heavily at how she could feel it vibrate through the couch.

"...Wow you sure are burping a lot Deku," Ochako noted in a quieted tone of voice. Like she was doing her best to hide how much it was turning her on.

"Sorry I know it's gross but-"

"-I-I don't mind you can keep doing it!" Ochako blurted and blushed even more. She hoped she didn't sound too desperate when she said that.

Izuku scratched the back of his head whilst still massaging his churning tummy with one hand. "Well I was gonna say it's helping to ease some of the pressure in my tummy. You should let a few out too. It might make your own tummy hurt less."

To illustrate his point Izuku thumped his chest and gave another heavy burp that left him moaning after at how good it felt. Ochako watched Izuku knead and push down on his large round tummy really kneading his fingers into his flesh. And every time he did a really hearty burp would roll out of his throat so forcefully at times he'd even drool a little.

He normally would've been embarrassed about burping so much and so loudly around others especially Ochako. But he'd eaten so much that it was the only way he could settle his stomach down without getting sick.

Little did he realize how much Ochako was enjoying the show.

Ochako's blush wasn't going away anytime soon. She could've just sat there watching Izuku burp well into the night but she was still suffering a pretty bad tummyache herself. So she at least tried to take Izuku's advice to heart. Ochako kneaded her tummy trying to apply pressure that would force more gas out. After doing some kneading she was rewarded with a thick burp that tore out of her mouth.

HHUUUAAAAARRRRRRUUUUUHP!!!!!

It was pretty strong and left her huffing but didn't bring her the relief she was hoping it would. Especially when her tummy gave an even thicker grumble that made her cringe uncomfortably.

"There you go. Feel any better?" Izuku asked.

Ochako pushed down on her tummy again and managed to squeeze another burp out but it was a lot lighter and more strained.

"Ungh I think they're stuck..."

Izuku bit his lips and blushed himself. "...Can I...give you a hand...?" He suggested holding up his hand and gesturing to Ochako's belly.

His face was as red as hers in that moment. But Ochako quietly nodded and leaned back against the couch which made her big round tummy stick out more.

Izuku bit his lower lip and very hesitantly placed his hands on Ochako's belly. He almost whimpered at the way Ochako's bare skin felt beneath his fingers. Her flesh was smooth and soft yet as tight as his from how bloated they both were. He'd always fantasized rubbing ochako's tummy before but never imagined he'd get the chance to actually do so.

He was legitimately overwhelmed.

But once his nerves settled Izuku proceeded to rub Ochako's troubled tummy in smooth circles. Her stomach felt so warm from her natural warmth and the massive amount of fresh food she managed to eat all in one go like that. There was a light wobble to her tummy that caused everything inside of Ochako to slosh lightly with Izuku's hand movements.

Though Ochako's face was red at having Izuku touch her, she groaned at how good that touch felt against her utterly bloated stomach. That only made Izuku blush even more but he continued to rub. Izuku practically lost himself in the feeling of Ochako's tummy. He rubbed his hands across her tummy from the softer thicker bottom all the way to the rounded top of her stomach. The boy almost had to resist the urge to rest his ear against her belly and listen to it gurgling away.

While he rubbed he felt tense portions of skin where gas was brewing and pressed down on Ochako's belly carefully but firmly enough to dislodge the gas. His push was stronger than Ochako's meaning he got a larger portion of gas out. The result of which was a loud really deep burp that sounded like it came from the very depths of Ochako's stomach.

BWROOOUUUUUUUURRRAAAAHP!!!!!!!!

Ochako gasped heavily and covered her mouth out of instinct.

Izuku giggled softly and blushed himself. "Heh hey don't be sorry. A lot of the guys would probably be jealous if they could hear that. But did that at least help?"

"Yeah actually, it kind of relieved some of that tight painful pressure in my tummy," Ochako admitted.

Izuku couldn't help but smile at not being the only one who used the word 'tummy' in the room. "Should I keep going then?"

Ochako hummed and nodded a little more comfortably eager for Izuku's touch.

He continued rubbing her belly all over and using his fingers to push into her flesh. Izuku occasionally just got lost in marveling at Ochako's beautiful belly. The little freckles across her lower tummy and that unbelievably perfect looking belly button. He couldn't help placing his palm just over her navel and blushed furiously when he felt it up. Though when he applied pressure to it Ochako lurched with a sizable gas bubble working its way up her throat.

She instinctively covered her mouth and went wide eyed unsure if she was about to throw up at first.

Instead her hand was blown back as Ochako gave a massive burp that caused some drips of spittle to fly out of her delicate mouth.

HUUUUUUUUUAAAARRRRRRRUUUUUURRRAAAAAAAAHHHP!!!!!!!

As soon as that considerable gas pocket rushed out of Ochako another huge throaty burp followed almost instantly and jostled her tummy slightly in Izuku's trembling hands.

BBBRRRREEEEEEEEUUUUUUUURRRROOOOOOOORRRRAAAAAAAUUUP!!!!!!!

Izuku was kind of stunned. He'd never heard a girl burp so loudly or so frequently in his life, not even Mina. And the absolute last person he expected to hear such sounds from was Ochako.

It was incredibly surprising...and surprisingly hot at the same time. Especially the way her tummy felt like it was jiggling in his hands as the burps rolled out of her.

He smiled and gave the side of her tummy a few pats. "There you go just get it all out," he said.

And Ochako certainly didn't have any problem with that. The more Izuku kneaded her belly the more Ochako found herself burping frequently and quite loudly. There had to be a lot of pressure in her tummy to see her burping so much and so hard.

After a really long eruption rolled out of the girl she slumped back against the couch panting breathlessly. The relief she felt was incredible.

"Ungh...ohhh...w-ooOOOOOoooowwW!!!" Ochako blushed even more despite her decidedly crass onslaught of expulsions just a moment ago. She thought she got it all out but ended up burping the word 'wow' out unexpectedly.

But Izuku saw her embarrassment and grinned. He kneaded his own tummy and gave it a firm pat to burp his response right back.

GooOOod...

...ooOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNEEEE!!!!!!

UUUUURRRRrrrhpp!!!!

Ochako looked surprised to hear sweet Izuku burp talk the response "good one" back at her before just letting out a deep burp at the end. She managed a strained giggle but was blushing furiously.

"I did that on accident...you can burp-talk on command like that?" Ochako asked looking visibly flustered which Izuku didn't seem to catch onto.

"Heh yep! Trick I picked up on as a kid but I don't do it much these days since it's pretty childish."

Between the relief Izuku provided having his hands all over her tummy and her burping her brains out moments ago Ochako's thirst crept up and got the best of her.

"...Well it is just us...besides," Ochako reached over and sneaked herself a feel of Izuku's belly by giving it a playful pat making the much larger tummy ripple a little as everything inside sloshed around and gurgled. "It sounds to me like your tummy could use a little relief too."

Izuku hiccuped from the patting and then Ochako began to gently rub Izuku's much larger belly in a more sensual way. Her touch made him shiver. But it also made his tummy gurgle richly. He grunted and rubbed his chest tenderly.

"Nrf good point. Do you want me to say anything?"

She knew almost right away what she wanted to hear and nudged that large swollen tummy of his insistently when she answered. "...Could you try...burping my name?"

Her thirst was so palpable at that point that even sweet and oblivious Izuku finally picked up on what she was asking and why. There was a slight flicker in his big adorable eyes. Izuku grinned and took in some air until he couldn't take anymore in. Then he leaned in a little closer and gave Ochako exactly what she wanted.

OoooooooooooooOOooooooooo-

chAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaak...

...ooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRrrmmmph!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Izuku burped out Ochako's name straining in the middle until he massively burped out the last syllable in her name stretching it out for as long as he could until he intentionally closed his mouth at the end and let it turn into a big closed mouth burp that Ochako could hear rumbling right in her ear until it ended.

To say that Ochako's arousal reached a fever high would be the ultimate understatement.

Izuku subtly blew the gas out from the side of his mouth and gave his blushing friend a smile that was a cross between sultry and cheeky.

"We should do this again sometime," Izuku said and gently ran his hand over Ochako's burbling tummy.

Ochako leaned in and caught Izuku by surprise by planting her lips onto his. Clearly she couldn't agree fast enough.

[its-karma-bitches-00]

ENDGAME

Chapter 2: Gone

Description: So... I know many Daminette fans don't like Damian being younger than Marinette so 🚨SPoiler AleRT 🚨 Damian is gonna be younger for a while but an event happens that gets their ages exchanged. (Sort of)

Warning; swearing, angst.

Summary: Where half the population fades away.

-----

Previously:

"Check the international news" Damian said appearing out of nowhere, Marinette nodded switching her tabs to international news

"What the fuck is that?" Chloe asked pointing at the phone

Boy... the world was in for a life changing ride.

***

"It's a spaceship" Marinette answered listening carefully at the reporter "In New York"

"Should we help or something?" Chloe asked

"No, the Avengers seem to have it under control, besides I think the adults will take care of it." Tim reassured "I don't think there's any of anything to worry about this literally happens all the Time!"

"For once, Drake is right I don't think we should waste our time on this." Damien added

"I guess..." Marinette nodded hesitantly but deep down,  something told her that something bad was gonna happen.

"Why is it donut shaped?" Chloe asked as Damian facepalmed.

***

"So are you dating Damian or Tim?"

Marinette choked on her water as Chloe burst into laughter. The rest just stared unable to understand what was so funny.

"What's so funny?" Tim walked towards them voicing everyone's thoughts

"Is that coffee?" Marinette interrupted, eyes shining at the cup in Tim's hand

"Yes..." he said, narrowing his eyes

"Please gimme" Marinette very 'kindly' requested. now, she had this look that clearly said 'if you dare deny my wishes, you're totally dead'

The entire group of friends 'ooh'ed and "ahhh"ed but Tim wasn't gonna back down.

"Oh, you want this?" Tim asked waving the cup around

"Mmm-hmm, weren't you saying that Chivalry isn't dead? You can prove that by handing me the cup" Marinette smiled cunningly.

"Hmm you're right" Tim nodded taking a sip before spitting it back in and handing it to her, bowing "sorry, I had to check if it was sweet enough for my lady"

The boys in the group howled and whistled, Marinette looked at him in absolute disgust "This is why I won't date you"

"I never asked you on a date" Tim smirked "And I have a girlfriend so.."

"Ugh, I swear I threw up a bit and swallowed it" a red haired girl named Margret gagged.

"Same here" Chloe scrunched her nose

The loud laughter soon died down, it turned Into hushed conversations about the spaceship in New York

"Do you think we're are gonna die?!"

"No" Tim denied "It left earth long ago so...No."

"What do you think it didn't destruct the world like all the other times?"

"maybe they just wanted to plant so they could regroup food for the rest of their planet?"

"Could be" Marinette giggled as the bell rang signaling the end of the lunch break "meet you guys at the lockers after school?" Everyone agreed, waving goodbye to each other.

School ended pretty fast, some teachers even gave updates about the spacecraft, which was long gone and there wasn't anything to worry about. "Schools officially done" Chloe yawned "Now I gonna go to the manor, take a nice warm bath and have my beauty sleep"

"Yeah, today was weirdly boring and tiring, being head boy sucks!"

"Speak for yourself" Chloe snorted "at least you don't have to keep dancing saying 'Go Gothamites!' "

"I don't know today seemed pretty fun" Marinette smiled

"everyday is fun for you." Tim and Chloe deadpanned

"Hey losers." Damian said walking towards them with no emotions...as usual "Except for you angel you're an absolute win-win." Damian remarked, sending her finger guns

"Oh great! Now I have to listen to his unbearable flirting!" Tim threw his hands up in frustration

Marinette sighed "here they go. Again." Before any of them could speak a black limo pulled up in front of them, the window rolled open revealing Jason wearing sunglasses.

"Get in losers, we're going shop- I mean, home!".

Damian rolled his eyes "Why are you wearing sunglasses in a car with black tinted glasses?"

"Where's Alfred? He usually comes to pick us up." Marinette asked making herself comfortable in the car "We thought we'd give you a ride" Dick smiled at her "how was school?"

"Fine" Damian answered "what about the alien spacecraft?"

"Gone" Jason informed "with Iron guy, spider guy and another guy."

"Another guy?" Chloe asked

"Some wizard. don't worry, justice league is already searching for them" Dick smiled again "you guys want to buy anything-"

"Coffee!" Tim and Marinette yelled in unison interrupting the old robin

"-except something you're addicted to like coffee, nail polish or katanas and bloody murder?" Dick blinked at them

"No" all of the huffed

"Awwwwww you kids are so cute!" Jason gushed before leaning back to ruffle their hair

"God! what is hell is wrong with you? it took me so much time to get this perfect hair!"

"Jason I swear to God no more croissants for a month"

"Dude, what the fuck?!"

"Touch me again Todd, I will chop your fingers off."

"You still think they're cute?" Dick asked

Jason shook his head no.

***

Marinette slumped against the soft mattress at Wayne manor relaxing herself the doors suddenly opened and a monkey barged in, jumping on her. And as monkey she meant Stephanie Brown

"Lets do something funnnnnnnn!"

"Steph I'm sorry, I'm tired. go hangout with you're boyfriend." Marinette whined, pushing her off.

"But whyyyy?"

"I'm tired Steph and why are you acting like a kid?, you have a boyfriend. Go make out with him or something"

"But Timmy is busy" she whined

A knock on the door interrupted Marinette "come in."

The door pushed open and Titus ran in jumping on the bed and licking Marinette's face "Titus!" She laughed "Good boy"

"Dinners ready" Damian said from the door way.

"We'll be there" Marinette smiled

"Where my affection when I need it?" The blonde next to Marinette asked to no one in particular, before standing up and walking towards the Damian "lets go! For a delicious dinner awaits us"

Marinette, Stephanie and Damian entered the dining room together, where everyone was seated laughing and talking. "Hey kids" Selina smiled a glass of water in her hands "didn't get to see you all day."

"Yeah" Marinette smiled taking the empty seat between Chloe and Dick, she looked around at the wonderful sight, a year ago Marinette would have never believed that she would be living at Wayne manor, eating mashed potatoes with them. "You okay?" Chloe asked

"I'm fine." Marinette smiled before remembering "Bruce? What-"

"Uh...guys?!" Cassandra's panicked voice exclaimed, everyone snapped their heads towards her fading hand. "Oh God" Dick gasped as he too started fading away

"Bruce" Selina called before completely fading out. The same happened to Steph, Cass, Chloe, Alfred, Dick, Duke, Kate and lastly...

Marinette.

That day, Half the world was wiped out because of the infinity stones.

Never to return ever again.

-----

THIS STORY IS FROM MY WATTPAD ACCOUNT

@Aquaqueen2020

[itsjustmyfantasyroom]

Direct threat

Warnings: Fluff, SVU crimes, episode based

WC: 2777

Enjoy x

 “My crew is loyal to me in here and out there, just thought I’ll let you know that, Detective Y/L/N”

“Tell your client to keep his mouth shut” Rafael spat out slightly raising his voice.

“No, it’s ok Counselor. You’re really going to threaten me in front of the Assistant District Attorney when we have proof that you ordered the hit. Go ahead see where that gets you” You snarled across the table.

You had just walked into Rafael’s apartment with a suit case, looking around the dull space. It was very minimal, more like a show home.

“Are you sure you live here Barba?”

Rafael scoffed at you as he shrugged off his suit jacket to hang it up.

“I’ll give you a tour Detective, follow me”

You smiled and followed him. It was a 3 bedroom apartment. It had a master bedroom, walk in and ensuite. The smaller one of the two other rooms had a double bed and one bedside table. The other his at home office. With another smaller bathroom between the main and spare room.

“Put your bag in your room Detective, make yourself at home” Rafael smiled at you.

There had been a gang war around the streets. All of the squad had been called multiple times to different hospitals to question victims who had all been attacked while walking home. It was all linking back to one gang, BX9, who were targeting female family members or girlfriends of the other gangs.

The last attack was a gang rape. The rape kit showed 3 samples of sperm, one being the leader of the gang OG. You and Amanda paid a visit to his “loyal” girlfriend which in turn got somewhat of a confession when he called her that afternoon to clam her down after your visit, not thinking all phone calls are recorded.

Liv had asked you to go to Rikers with Rafael to have a chat with OG and his lawyer. Little did you know, Rafael had asked Liv if she would send you to go with him, using some excuse about you being on the case from the beginning, which you all had, but he was wanting to spend some more time with you alone. Secretly you were bursting with joy, you had never gotten to spend any time with the ADA alone. It was always small smiles when you caught each other staring or the little giggles when you each would say something funny that no one else was amused by.

You picked Rafael up from his office. You had messaged to say you were waiting for him when a song came on the radio you really liked and you turned it up, not being able to hear much that was going on around you, well really not paying attention because you were so wrapped up in the song. You were singing along slightly loud and tapping the steering wheel when you saw something out of the corner of your eye sit next to you and you gasped,

“Don’t stop on my account Detective, you’re actually not a bad singer” he smiled at you.

“Barba, how long you been there?” you frowned at him

“Long enough. Let’s go it’s getting late”

----

“You can’t go back to your place by yourself, you need a detail that was a direct threat”

“You need to clam down Counselor, Amanda is 5 minutes away and Sonny is 10- I’ll be fine, I’ll just call them if I need to”

“And you think you will have time to call someone if something happens?” Rafael snapped at you “You can come and stay with me till the case is closed. I have a spare room”

“You are joking right?” you raised your eye brows at him.

“No I’m not. I’ll call Liv, Carisi and Fin can meet us at your apartment so you can pack, then they can drive us back to mine. It’s not a request Detective.” Rafael said firmly to you.

Your first night in Rafael’s apartment wasn’t the best, you hadn’t gotten much sleep. You weren’t used to the bed, you were out of your space and a lot of the time you laid there thinking about Rafael in his bed in the next room. What you didn’t know was Rafael had somewhat of the same night. Nothing to do with the bed or the space, but he laid there thinking about you in his spare bed next door.

The week went smoothly, there was a lot of late nights working on the case, which meant a lot of take out. Most nights that week you spent at Rafael’s office waiting for him to finish work because he didn’t want you alone if you never needed to be.

Finally it was Friday afternoon. You had got a message from Rafael to say he would be finishing early and if you could get dropped off at home rather than the office. Sonny was going to drive you back after your shift. You wanted to do something nice for Rafael after him letting you stay. It was going to be like this for a couple of weeks. Liv wanted you to stay at Rafael’s for a little while after the case closed as well, just to make sure it was clear. So you asked Sonny to take you past the grocery store to get some stuff for dinner and some things for the weekend.

“Do you really think Barba is going to be happy with flowers and candles in his apartment?” Sonny was standing next to you in the lift helping you take the bags up.

“Oh well, he will get over it. The candle will with a bit of luck help him relax a little, really if that’s even possible” you both burst out laughing.

It was almost two hours after you had got back that Rafael finally walked in the door. His sense where in over drive as soon as he walked in. The amazing smells hitting his nose, you must have been cooking and there was hints of lavender in the air. He could hear you talking on the phone. He didn’t want to be a snoop but he held back to hear what you were talking about.

“Amanda Rollins, you sure know how to make a lady blush……As if Rafael would have feelings for me, he is just a nice guy……Yeah I know, but it’s just a crush though, it would never happen, I would rather have things the way they are now then get rejected……..I think you need to get some this weekend and stop trying to live through me with something that will never happen……..ok I’ll see you Monday”

Rafael’s stomach flipped, he couldn’t believe what he had just over heard. He took in a deep breath and made his way into the kitchen. You weren’t paying attention cutting up some vegetables quietly singing along to the song that was now coming from your phone. He had never had a lady in his kitchen and it was sight he pretty much fell in love with on the spot.

“Hey Y/N” you jumped at his voice dropping the knife on the bench with a loud clang.

“Oh My God Rafael, you scared me” you tried to slow you’re breathing down and giggling at the same time

“Sorry, you alright?”

“Yeah all good” you smiled at him

You watched as he looked around the kitchen. You had found his Grandmother’s vase and it was filled with different coloured snap dragons and greenery at one end of the bench near the sink and up the other end a candle was lit sending out the scent of lavender.

“I like what you done with the place” he smirked at you.

“Hope you don’t mind”

“No not at all. What’s cooking?” he step closer to the bench and lent over it looking into the oven.

“Oven baked Chicken and mushroom risotto and homemade garlic bread. I’ am just making a salad and I made a cheese cake for dessert” You smile over at him.

“Wow Detective, singer and a cook, who would have thought” you burst out laughing

“I’ am no singer, but I did some cooking classes after I became a Detective. I wanted a hobby other than catching bad guys. And I wanted to say thank you for letting me stay here during all this. And also on the weekend until I can go home, I don’t want you to think you have to baby sit me or anything. If you have anything planned or wanted someone to come over, I can go and stay with Amanda Friday and Saturday nights so you can have some space or if I get to much then I’ll just go to Amanda’s till I can go home.”

“Who do you think would be coming over on weekends?” Rafael half smiled rising one eye brow at you.

“That’s what you take from all that Counselor?” he laughed at you.

“Your fine Detective, I don’t have much a social life, so having you here over the weekend is good company. And you could of just asked if I had a girlfriend, which I don’t just so you know” he winked at you causing you to blush, as he walked into his bedroom to shower and get changed.

When Rafael walked out of his bedroom after showering, with damp hair, in black track pants and a grey tight t shirt, you had to stop yourself from staring. You had never seen him look so causal and if it was possible looked sexier than he did in his three piece suits. Rafael was sitting on the couch watching the news when you placed everything on the table telling him dinner was ready.

Small talk was made and he complimented your cooking more than once.

“I’ll cook tomorrow and Sunday as well if you’re happy for me too” you smiled over at him

“That would be amazing, I could get used to this Y/N”

****

“Do you like board games?”

“I do actually, Cluedo is my favourite. My friends and I used to play drunk Cluedo on our quite weekends” you smiled at Rafael as you finished cutting up the vegetables to put in the oven with the pork chops, Rafael standing at the bench watching you.

“Drunk Cluedo?” Rafael raised his eye brows at you.

“Yeah” you laughed “When you take a guess and it’s wrong, you take a shot”

“Interesting. I do have a Cluedo board and I think I have a new bottle of vodka if you’re up for it?” You nodded at Rafael with a smile.

The dinner table was cleaned up and everything in the dish washer when you both settled at the table with the set up Cluedo board, two shot glasses and a full bottle of vodka.

“So are there any rules I need to know?” Rafael asked as he poured the vodka into the shot glasses

“Not really, just no cheating and a wrong guess is a shot”

“Game on Detective”

“Game on Counselor” you laughed back

Half an hour later, you were bent over in a fit of laughter after Rafael told you a story of his little league days. You were both pretty buzzed after having 4 shots each in a short amount of time. It seemed like you guys where just taking guesses to have shots now. You had finally settled your laughing wiping tears from your eyes when Rafael looked over at you.

“You know, I’ am happy you’re here” He smiled at you

“That’s the shots talking, but thank you for having me”

You reached over and squeezed his hand resting on the table. Rafael placed his other hand on top of yours and lent further onto the top of the table trying to get closer.

“You know, I heard your conversation when I came home yesterday”

“What conve----Oh shit, no.”

You jumped up off your chair pulling your hand out of Rafael’s hand and rushed into the bed room shutting the door behind you.

****

It was early hours of the morning when you woke up busting to pee and needing a drink. You turned the bedside light on, it wasn’t a very bright lamp and it still left most of the room in darkness. It was 3 am, you knew by now Rafael should be asleep so you didn’t need to face him. You slowly opened the door and tip toed to the bathroom and then went to get a glass of water. You sighed to yourself thinking about what had happened that night, embarrassed you weren’t more careful, not sure how you would handle all this in the morning. When you looked at the dining table, the board game was still set up how you left it and the shot glasses still in the places you left them.

As you tip toed back to the bed room looking down at your feet, something caught your eye again and you looked up to see someone standing in your door way, you screamed and dropped your glass smashing it and water going everywhere.

“Are you ok? Y/N it’s just me. Don’t move, there is glass everywhere” Rafael had slippers on, he rushed around you to get a towel and a broom.

“For a Detective you startle so easily” Rafael was sweeping up the glass.

“To many light as a feather stiff as a board nights growing up” 

Rafael snorted back at you.

“I’ am going to have to vacuum, don’t move” Before you knew it, Rafael had swept you up bridal style, walked you into his room and sat you on his bed.

“My room is that way Rafael”

“We need to talk when I’ am done”

“What? It’s 3am”

“We are both awake now” he scoffed at you as you crossed your arms in front of yourself.  

Rafael finally came back in after cleaning up the mess. You were still sitting on his bed and he stood in the door way looking over at you.

‘Why did you react like that earlier?”

“Wow, straight to the point” you shot back at him, causing him to frown at you.

“Well yeah, we are adults aren’t we?” you rolled your eyes at him “Why didn’t you talk to me about how you felt?”

“Talk to you? -Talk to you about my little girlish crush that you would laugh at and tell all your big ADA buddies that the littlest SVU Detective has a crush on you. Yeah right” you shot back.

“Come on Y/N, I’ am not like that. Why would you think I would reject you?”

You looked down and didn’t say anything. Rafael walked slowly towards you and knelt down in front of you placing a hand on either side of you on the bed. He titled his head down and to the side, so he could look you directly in the eyes.  

“You wouldn’t have rejected me?” you said just over a whisper.

“Of course not. I feel the same”

“Since when?” a small smile came to your face. Rafael got up off his knees and sat next to you on the bed.

“The night we all went out for Thanks Giving weekend. You looked stunning in that navy dress. I remember looking over at you laughing at something I said that no one else thought was funny. That’s when I knew. But I didn’t think you felt the same, till I walked in and heard you on the phone to Rollins”

“Rafael that was my third week. I have been here for 8 months”

“I know, and I wasted all that time” he grabbed your hand and held it in his.

“Well if it makes you feel any better, I have liked you since my third day, when you walked into the squad room in that ridiculous cream two piece suit and brown tie with the warrant I had to fight you on my first day” he laughed at you and kissed the back of your hand. “I’ am sorry I reacted the way I did, I was just embarrassed that you over heard me”

Rafael reached up with his free hand and tucked your hair behind your ear. He lightly let his fingers run down the side of your cheek, across your jaw line, stopping at your lips. He cupped your face and ran his thumb over your bottom lip and looked into your eyes.

“I think we need to make up for lost time, don’t you?” he said with a wink.

Tags: @detective-giggles​ @beccabarba​ @thatesqcrush​ @the-baby-bookworm​ @dianilaws​ @scarletsoldierrr​ @lv7867​ @permanentlydizzy​ @averyhotchner​

[psycoweeb]

Amber/Momo Yaoyorozu

Color Prompt: Amber(Most of this was meant to happen in front of a fire...)

Fluff☁

Warnings: Tooth rotting fluff, cheesy confession, hiking, and my bad writing ❤

Disclaimer: I do not own bnha or any of its characters. Only the story written below.

A/N: I am SO SORRY this took so long! To make a long story short I basically dropped all of my hobbies in order to focus on the last bit of my school semester😅

It's litterly 12am rn so sorry if it seems a bit off at the end (this fic DEFINITELY did not go the way I planned😂I kina like it tho)

~~~•∆•~~~

You tried to keep up as you walked the trail, ducking and dodging branches. 'Why am I here again?' you thought starting to feel your fatigue slowly building.

It was nearing the end of class when Aizawa sensei randomly announced a surprise four day "field trip" that would take place two days later, and it wasn't an option. We ended up rushing to get our parents permission, and pack up.

You were pulled out of your thoughts as you heard Mina groaning loudly. "FINALLY!" The pink haired girl exclaimed sounding relieved. She had good reason to be, Aizawa Sensei had the entire class take a SIX HOUR hike instead of taking the bus up the very obvious road.

You dragged yourself to the clearing along with the rest of the class toward Aizawa sensei, who some how made it up before all of you. And didn't seem the least bit tired??? After giving the class a few hours to rest, thank goodness, Aizawa sensei stood up to speak.

"I'm glad to see you all made it in one piece, however I can't promise you'll leave that way" Everyone internally groaned at this. "starting today we have survival training" He said with a bored expression.

Iida stepped forward, confused by his teachers statment "With all do respect sir, why would we need that type of training? We'll most likely be working as heros in the city, correct?"

"While that may be true" The teacher said turning to him "we don't want other incidents like the USJ. We don't know the extent of their power, therefore we dont know where or how far they can teleport someone. And it was made clear how much you all are lacking in this type of environment at the training camp"

He continued "None of you are used to fighting in a closed off environment with obstacles everywhere you turn, that's what this training camps main objective is, to get you ready for anything. Today we have survival lessons and tomorrow we work on combat, we'll switch off between the days. That means you have two days to learn how to survive in a forest and two days to learn combat in a forest, good luck"

~~•∆(Timeskip by: Momo's delightful tea∆•~~

Everyone sat in silence waiting for their teachers instruction... And by silence I mean bakusqaud was quoting vines while Bakubro yells at them to shut up. (but with more✨𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠✨)

Dekusquad was thinking about random strategies they should use if they were ever ambushed (don't jinx it) while also thinking about what they would eat once they get back.

And the rest of the class are sitting in silence minus some mumbling about cold soba and a few poems.

At some point, in the middle of all this, Midoriya decides it's been long enough. "It seems like Aizawa sensei doesn't have any intention of helping us figure out what to do"

"I do believe it's time that we take charge of the situation." Said Iida "yeah but who?" Kirishima asked quizzically

"What do you mean? " Ojiro inquires

"Who should take charge?" You nodded at his answer

"He has a point" You started "It would be to chaotic if we all 'took charge' of ourselves."

"I vote Iida and Momo!" Hagakure beamed "They aren't the class president and vice president for nothing!" she exclaimed, running over to hug Momo's arm.

"Yeah that sounds good"

"I have no qualms with it"

"Yeah"

"I don't see why not"

"I can get behind that"

Mutual agreeance flowed over the crowd of teens in the form of nods and over exclaimed confirmation.

"Okay then" Momo said, sounding slightly nervous.

"ALL RIGHT THEN" exclaimed Iida unconsciously chopping the air, beginning to bark out a few plans and ideas.

×ו∆Timeskip by: Mina's killer moves∆•××

You walk through the trees, glancing around at the ground every once in awhile to make sure you're not skipping over any decently sized sticks.

"How many do you have so far?" You yelled out, not in any particular direction.

"Not enough" Momo yelled back, obviously preoccupied with finding sticks big enough for the fire you both were tasked with building. And by fire you mean bonfire, I mean, it is meant for about 22 people.

So you were kind of disappointed when you found out Momo couldn't use her quirk to make your jobs easier since sticks were considered living things.

You continued to walk forward until you came across a log with a few decent sized sticks protruding from the sides. You snapped them off the log, deciding what you had combined was enough, you both quickly started heading back the direction you came, hoping to get back before it gets dark.

Now, listen. The camp was generally pretty big. I mean, it IS meant for 21 students plus 1 teacher. That being said... why couldn't you find it?!?

You DID come from this direction... RIGHT???

Or.. Was it that way....oh no

"Whats wrong?" Momo walked a bit closer, noticing your hesitant steps.

"Oh nothin', just got a bit turned around" Your voice got higher, trying, and failing, to brush off her question

"Wait so...we're lost???"

"Hey! I never said 'lost'...but uh" You cleared your throat "Yes"

And that my friend... Is when panic set in. You'll never be able to graduate or even try to beat Bakugo and his damn near perfect grades!

"Um... Y/N"

Forget about being a hero! You can't even save YOUR SELF! FrOm TrEeS!

"Uhh"

I'll never be able tell her

That.. That is when you made the worst mistake of your life, you looked at her.

And saw Momo's confused, borderline sad face. You had been speaking out loud this whole time.

'Well, I was mumbling what are the chances she ACTUALLY understood what I was saying??? Maybe I could play it off?'

"Tell who what?"

'Dang it!'

You thought you were packing before? Ohh you haven't seen anything yet!

This is the WORST time to confess! It's not romantic AT ALL and your covered head to toe in sweat! And now, you either have to confess your undying love for the girl you and been borderline stalking for MONTHS! Or let her go on believing something that MY NOT EVEN BE TRUE!

You took in a sharp breath. "Well" She gestured for you to continue "There's this girl, she's smart, pretty, nice, well tempered, a good leader, and most likely WAY out of my league... " You had started rambling "A-and I kind of have a massive crush on her... "

With every word Momo's face slowly fell until she was completely looking at the ground

"Well, it sounds like you really like her"

"I do" You looked toward the sky dreamily

'Wait.She doesn't think. She couldn't really. Oh no.. '

You stopped dead in your tracks and turned toward your classmate.

There is NO WAY are you letting the classic: mIsuNDErsTAnDInG tRouPE get in the way of you possibly being able to get a date with the girl you've had a crush on for basically the whole school year!

"Momo Yaoyorozu!" You unintentionally shouted with sudden confidence. She jumped in surprise "You are the most amazing person I have had the pleasure of meeting and will no doubt become an even more amazing Hero"

You paused "I don't want to end this year knowing that I had the chance to have someone so beautiful in my life, possibly forever, and passed it up." You grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes, she was blushing... HARD.

You low key felt proud of yourself. "Momo, YOU are the girl I like. Would you please consider becoming my girlfriend?" You could feel her grip on your hands tighten.

"Do you really think I'm all those things?" She mumbled. "Of course" You answered without thinking, a confused look on your face.

"Strong, stubborn, creative," She spoke softly, gaining confidence with every word.

"good looking, encouraging, and always able to calm down a bad situation while still being able to bring energy into a room just by walking in"

"That's what you are to me." She was now looking you in the eyes. A bright smile on her face. "So when you ask me if I would consider being your girlfriend, the answer is, I already have. And there is nothing I want more"

Your eyes we're now glossed over with tears, but you didn't feel embarrassed because you could see that hers were too.

You both started to lean in and closed your eyes. Soon enough your lips met. It was as if time had stopped. As if the universe itself wanted to sit and appreciate the beautiful and unforgettable moment.

Even when you consider everything that happened that you didn't exactly enjoy. Even though you were still lost and BAKUGOU of all people was sent to find you. That was the most memorable and magical night you had ever experienced as a student of UA.

[stillchaoticlogic]

Stumbling: Chapter 10

Pairing: Raihan X Reader X Leon

Your life hadn’t gone exactly as you planned…

This is why when an old rival walks into the coffee shop you work at he gives you an offer you just can’t refuse. Finally, a chance at the League. Suddenly you are thrust into the spotlight and a world you thought you had left behind. Dreams aren’t always what they are cracked up to be though, especially when you find yourself the tangled up with the champion and a certain gym leader.

Has all your dreams come true?

Or is this your worst nightmare?

Masterlist

Chapter 10: Hit Me with Your Best Shot You gaze into the sunrise taking in the colors with your sweater wrapped around you for warmth. Zuko lays curled next to you as a source of heat and protection, the little fire lizard yawns and stretches as he blinks up at you. You glance down at him as you giggle to yourself and pull a few berries out for him to eat. He happily snatched them from your hands and eats them as he too watches the colors dance across the morning sky. You had been up for a couple of hours now, allowing the guys to get some sleep. 

You watch as the quiet is broken by the Pokémon in the tall grass and the little pond slowly stirring to start their day. You are a little surprised when an apple is suddenly sitting next to you, also gazing up into the sunset. You blink as you look down at it and it turns to look at you. 

“An Applin…” you mutter to yourself. 

“Your Applin,” says a voice behind you. 

You whip your head around and you’re surprised to see Raihan sitting in the entrance to the tent. 

“My Applin?” You ask turning to fully face him.

“I caught him for you yesterday, I figured he would be a good addition to your team and…”

“And?”

“And I wanted you to know that I’ll always be here for you. I know you have a lot going on right now so I don’t expect you to…”

“To what, Rai?”

“Return my-“ Raihan is interrupted as Leon shoves him aside and walks out of the tent yawning. 

“Hey what was that for?!” Raihan yells after his friend and rival. 

“You were blocking the exit of the tent,” Leon says innocently, maybe a little too innocently.

You glance back and forth between the two of them in confusion. 

“What is going on between you two?” You ask in exasperation.

“Nothing!” They both exclaim a bit too forcefully. 

“Whatever, let’s eat breakfast and get going,” you grumble to them. 

The air is filled with the sounds of Raihan packing up the tent, Leon feeding the pokemon and you fixing breakfast for the three of you. Oatmeal is your breakfast of choice today, so while it’s cooking you chop up some berries, get the seasoning ready as well any other topping you have on hand. 

“We’re going to need to grab food while we are in Hulbury,” you tell the guys. 

They just grunt in answer as they continue to focus on the task at hand. You have a feeling that whatever is going on between the two of them is a big part of the silence. You ignore them as you complete your task and announce that breakfast is ready. They finish up quickly before they rush over to grab their respective bowls. 

The three of you set out towards Hulbury the minute that the dishes are washed and put away. You gaze up at the blue sky as you walk along a little behind the duo. The clouds in the sky lazily float over the sun casting shadows every once in a while. Your newest team member is resting on your shoulder while he chirps up at the sky, clearly happy to travel along with you. 

“What are you going to name him?” Raihan asks, clearly enjoying the sight of the Applin he got you resting on your shoulder. 

“I don’t know… I’ve been thinking about it all morning.”

You think you hear Leon huff from in front of you and Raihan but you decide not to pay him any attention. 

Raihan sends him a look before he returns his attention to you. 

“So Raihan…” you start glancing over at the Dragon trainer beside you, “You know about the rumor for Applin right?” 

He glances over at you, “Sure do.”

You just nod with a soft blush on your face, “Okay I wanted to make sure…”

“Don’t worry princess, I gave him to you on purpose, but things are crazy now and…”

“I know…”

“It’s cool if you don’t feel the same you can still keep him…”

“I don’t really know how I feel… things have been very overwhelming recently.”

“I understand.”

“How about… once the League challenge is over we… talk about this more?” You ask hesitantly.

“I’d like that… Plus I technically can’t get involved with competitors soooo…”

You laugh, “So what was the point of this?”

“I want you to know that you’re supported and no matter what you have someone even when this is all over.”

“Thanks, Raihan. I needed to hear that… I’ve been doing everything on my own for so long that it’s nice to know that I have someone there for me…”

You share a smile with Raihan as he slings his arm around your shoulder. You notice how stiff Leon’s shoulders are and you wonder what has gotten into him lately. 

Hulbury is upon you by the afternoon and you head to the pokemon center to get your Pokemon healed up. You notice a few shady characters loitering around the alleys as you exit the center and head towards the gym. A crowd outside of the arena blocks the entrance and you raise your brows as you watch a kid rush out and smirk at the crowd. 

“Fan favorite?” you wonder aloud as you watch the kid sign autographs and give an interview to the reporters standing by. 

You continue your way toward the doors and you’re surprised when shouts of “There she is!” rise up among the crowd. Before you know it they are rushing towards you and you are surrounded by a group of fans and reporters are shoving a microphone into your face. You blink in surprise as you are bombarded with questions. You can feel yourself being overwhelmed as you stumble back. 

“Hey!” A forceful voice cuts through the crowd and everyone stops to stare in shock at Nessa standing on the front steps of her gym. 

“Could you give my challenger some room please?” she asks in an icy voice as she approaches you, the crowd parts like the sea as she does so.

You heave a sigh of relief as you smile at your friend, “Thanks,” you mutter as you step in line beside her. 

“Don’t mention it!” She says as she makes her way into the gym the reporters and crowd following closely behind in order to watch the battle that will soon unfold. 

You head over to registration after waving bye to your friend and get signed in. You find out there are a couple of challengers in front of you so you head to the locker room to wait your turn. 

Sitting on the bench watching the battles take place on screen you almost don’t notice the person that plops down next to you. 

“Well look who it is!”

 Turning you to your right you see Sonia sitting next to you.

“When did you get there?!” you exclaim in surprise. 

“A minute ago! Nessa has been helping me with some research but when she texted me that you were challenging her I knew I had to come to see you for myself!”

You chuckle as you gaze up at the screen showing the battle taking place before you. You sigh as you look down at your team on your belt. 

“Nervous?” Sonia asks. 

“Yeah… Things have been a lot lately… And Raihan kinda just confessed to me…”

“Raihan?! Really? What about-”

“Challenger (Name)! You’re up next please take your place,” a referee interrupts. 

“I’ll talk to you later okay? I have a battle to win.”

“O-kay…” 

You don’t pay attention to Sonia as you rush to the starting area and race to complete the puzzle to get you there. 

By the time you make it to the arena, your clothes are sopping wet and you basically feel like a drowned Ratatta…  

You shiver as a gust of air from the interlock doors assault your senses before you make your way down the hallway towards the field. Once you step out onto the green you feel yourself straighten up as you head towards the center at the same time that Nessa is. You meet in the middle and shake hands before turning and walking towards your respective sides. 

“I’ve been waiting for you, you know…”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“You’re Leon’s chosen one, so clearly you must be good! Don’t worry though, I’m better,” she says with a smirk while she flips her hair over her shoulder. 

“We’ll see about that…” you smirk as you ready your first pokemon. 

Nessa sends our Goldeen as you release Axel your sweet baby throwing his fists onto the ground as he regards the fish Pokemon before him. 

“Axel, are you ready to play? Acid!”

“Goldeen! Use Agility then Water Pulse!”

You see sparks jumping from Axel’s skin before he sprays the general area with the acid. Goldeen dodges just in time and hits Axel with a blast of water. He Flails about out of habit hitting Goldeen and sending her to the ground. 

“Nuzzle!” you yell as the fish pokemon leaps up. 

Axel throws his arms out and wraps them around the fish Pokemon sending electric currents through her body. 

“Whirlpool! You have to get away!”

“Acid! Spray the water!”

You watch as the poison from Axel’s Acid attack mixes with the water swirling around the two of them. They both get swept up into the current, however, due to the paralysis and the poison now running through Goldeen’s system she is rendered useless. Once the whirlpool has subsided both pokemon lands harshly on the floor and you wait with bated breath to see if one of them is getting up. 

Axel sits up and shakes his head, water flying everywhere with a look of confusion. 

“Round one goes to (Name)!”

“Yes!” you exclaim as you throw your hands up and Axel throws his fists into the air. 

“Not bad… Let’s see how you handle Arrokuda!” Nessa releases her next pokemon and you know that Axel can’t survive this battle as well. Hopefully, he will be able to paralysis his opponent before you switch him out. 

“I know what you’re thinking!” Nessa says, “And it’s not going to work!”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking…”

“Don’t I? Aquajet Arrokuda!”

You curse under your breath, “Acid then Nuzzle, Axel!”

You know that Axel’s speed isn’t anything near this Arrokuda’s so your only hope is to slow it down. 

Dodging the acid from Axel Arrokuda slows down enough for Axel to catch him right as he’s hit with a Nuzzle. Axel falls backward knocked out from the move and you frown as you call him back. 

“Great job sweet boy… you deserve a nap.”

“Not bad… you still managed to get me…”

You frown, “I was hoping he would have survived at least one attack, your Arrokuda is stronger than I thought…”

“Serenity! Let’s go!”

Serenity readies herself as she glares at her opponent. 

“Bite Arrokuda!”

“Oh no, you don’t! Confusion then Magical Leaf!”

The attack knocks Arrokuda back as the paralyzed pokemon attempts to get up leaves whip up from nowhere and fly towards the fish pokemon. She takes a direct hit and is down for the count. 

“Impressive…”

“Oh, I’m just getting started…”

“Now we’re talking! Drednaw, go!”

“Return Serenity! Go Arum!”

Arum your Steenee dances across the field as the Drednaw roars.

“You ready?” Nessa asks.

You can hear the music pick up and the fans are already going wild for the Dynamax battle about to happen. 

“Let’s do this…”

Your bands activate and both of you return your pokemon before the Pokeball enlarges and you throw it behind you. Arum is released and grows about 10 times her normal size. She thrills as she glares at the roaring Pokemon before her. 

“Max Overgrowth!”

“Max Geyser!”

Both Pokemon release their moves simultaneously. You watch as the root-like vines fight to cut through the cannon of water blasting at it. You smile as the floor becomes grassy and flowers blossom right before your eyes. 

“AGAIN!” you yell hoping that Arum has what it takes to overtake the Drednaw before her. She dances around missing another blast of the Geyser just as it begins to rain. She sends the vines across the field with a direct hit sending out a shockwave of explosions as the Drednaw shrinks to its normal size before returning to its home. 

You laugh as you leap into the air in excitement before you turn to Arum who is shrinking to regular size again. She runs up to you and jumps into your arms as Serenity pops from her Pokeball to join in on the hugging as well. 

“We got our second badge!” 

“Great job, (Name). I knew that Leon’s original rival had to be something. Looking forward to battling you in the finals!” 

You take the badge from Nessa and the two of you shake hands as you give her a watery smile. Suddenly overcome with emotion you hide your face from the cameras as you make your way off the field. You throw your fist into the air one more time and grin as the crowd goes wild.

You inhale the sea air as you step out of the gym. You aren’t surprised when several people flock to you and for once you’re prepared for the onslaught. Kids ask for your autograph and you’re surprised at how many young women call you an inspiration. Young men blush as they ask for your autograph and several ask how Davine and Hades are doing. 

“When are we going to get to see them battle!?” a little girl of 10 asks. 

“When they are ready. Davine went through a lot and while she’s definitely improving I’m afraid the arena may be too much for her, same with Hades. He can’t see so loud noises still disorient him. They both need more training before I bring them out for a league battle.”

“That makes sense… I didn’t think of that… But they are doing good?”

“Yes! They are doing well!”

“You should put up videos on your trainer account!” says a fifteen-year-old girl. 

“Huh? My what?”

“Your trainer account! All trainers have one! It’s connected to your ID number so that fans can keep track of you on social media! You can upload pictures and videos of you and your pokemon!”

“Oh… Can you show me?”

“Sure!”

 She takes your phone and shows you the app and how to use it. She asks you to pull out your badges so you hand them to her. She holds the ring up to the sky, so the blue is the background and snaps a picture. You watch fascinated as she captions the post and tags it before she posts the photo. 

“Seems simple enough…”

“Here! I’ll follow you!” She says happily as she pulls her own phone out, “The names Sunny!”

“Me too!”

“Same!”

“Post great updates!”

You’re surprised when the entire crowd pulls out their phones to follow you and you’re pretty surprised to watch the count go up right before your eyes. In less than a minute you have about 50 followers. You chuckle when you notice both Leon and Raihan’s username float across your screen. 

“She’s being followed by the Champion! And Raihan!”

“Hey look! Nessa too!” 

You chuckle as Raihan comments, “About time!” on your photo. 

“The second badge already?!” comments Leon.

“They’re commenting!!!!” squeals one of the girls. 

You laugh as you turn back to Sunny, “Thanks for your help! How do I follow you back?”

She happily shows you how to follow people and you smile as you follow back everyone in the area and thank them for their support. 

“We’re rooting for you!”

“You’re going to crush them in the finals!”

You giggle as you walk away from the fans and head towards the hotel that you are staying in. You are greeted by Leon and Raihan as you walk in through the door. 

“TA-DA!” They exclaim as they show you the celebratory spread they bought. 

“Wow!! So much food!”

“We wanted to surprise you, plus the seafood here is the best!” Leon says. 

“And what if I had lost?”

“Food always works both ways! In celebration or in comfort! It’s always a win-win!” Raihan chuckles. 

“True! Let’s eat!” 

You all sit down at the table and eat to your heart’s content. For the first time, the past few days things between Leon and Raihan seem to be at least at peace. You decide not to question it and just enjoy the moment. Right now you are victorious and one step closer to being the champion. 

“Kabu is next, you think you’re ready?” Raihan asks. 

“I need to get Nile ready for that battle.” 

“Do you think Nile can take Kabu’s team by himself?” Leon asks. 

“Not right now… I may have to test the waters with Hades or Serenity.”

“You’ll figure it out!” Leon says encouragingly. 

“I know but I think it would be good to take some time and train a little before we head to the next gym.”

“Whatever you need Princess…” Raihan says with a smile. 

You feel yourself blush remembering your earlier conversation with Raihan. 

“Whatever I need? What if I need an Ice stone?” you joke.

“Then your wish is our command.”

You chuckle at him. 

Glancing up you notice the way that Leon seems upset and refuses to meet your eyes. He’s playing with his food and you can’t help but wonder what is bothering him. 

Your thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door. You get up and open the door to find Sonia and Nessa on the other side. 

“Hey! We heard there’s food!” Sonia says as she makes her way into the room. 

“Plenty for everyone!” Raihan exclaims as he pulls you back down beside him, “Even if my plans to seduce you are ruined…”

“Raihan!” you yelp as you swat at him. 

He laughs as he lets you go and you notice the look that Nessa is sending you. 

‘Get that,’ she mouths before taking a bite of the shrimp on her plate. 

You roll your eyes with a shake of your head. 

You all fall into easy banter and you have to admit it’s nice having the girls around. 

“You know when I’ve had enough of the testosterone, the three of us should go on an adventure. Girls only!” you joke as you take a bite of the kale salad before you. 

“Hey, that’s a great idea! You can help me with my research!” Sonia exclaims.

“Plus the challengers will be finished in a month or so I could use an adventure!”

“Plus the guys are going to eventually have to back to their duties, Raihan’s going to have challengers to battle,” Sonia reasons. 

“Are you two suggesting that I leave my favorite girl to fend for herself?” Raihan asks with false outrage. 

“She can handle herself!” Nessa exclaims, “We’ll be there too!”

“No. It’s too dangerous,” Leon says in an angry tone. 

You all look over to Leon, who had been quiet up until this moment.

“Leon…” Sonia starts. 

“I said no,” he says before he gets up and storms from the room.

“What just happened?” asked Nessa looking after the champion. 

Sonia frowns before she gets up to follow behind him. A moment after she disappears behind the door you all hear the two of them arguing before Sonia bursts from the room looking angrier than you’ve ever seen her before. 

“Let’s go, Nessa,” She says as she makes her way to the door, “I’ll call you later (Name).”

You and Raihan blink as you look from one door to the next. 

“What the hell…” you grumble as you begin to clean up the plates. 

“Hey, I got it… why don’t you go check on grumpy? I have a feeling he wants to talk to you…”

“I don’t think so…”

“He does… Go talk to him.”

You frown before you knock hesitantly on the door before you enter. Leon is sitting on the bed with his back to the door. 

“Leon… what’s wrong?” you ask in a small voice. 

He heaves a heavy sigh, “I’m sorry… I ruined your night…”

“I don’t care about that… I just want to know you’re okay…”

“I’m not…”

“Why? What happened? Is it you and Sonia? Did you break up? What just happened?”

“Break up? Sonia and I are just friends…”

“What do you mean? Aren’t you two together?”

“No! I don’t see her like that! She’s like my sister!”

“But… when we were younger…”

“I lied…”

“You lied?”

“That day you asked me who I liked I lied to you because I was too afraid to tell you how I felt.”

“How you felt?”

“I had the biggest crush on you when we were younger… I regretted not telling you how I felt after I set out on my journey so I promised myself that once we faced one another in the league that I would tell you how I felt…”

“But I never made it…”

“No… And then when I came back home you weren’t there and no one knew where you were… Your parents didn’t even know…”

“I remember that year… You wouldn’t have liked me very much then… I didn’t like me very much then…”

“I would have liked you… I have for a very long time.”

“Leon…”

“Raihan confessed… If you want me to leave so that…”

“No, I don’t want you to leave! How could you say that?”

“Don’t you want to be with him?”

“I don’t… know what I want…” 

“I made this whole thing worse didn’t I?”

“No… I just want us all to be together… Things can’t change right now, there is too much at stake.”

“You’re right… We have a band of thieves to apprehend and you have finals to get to.”

You chuckle as you look away…

“I had a crush on you too…”

“Had?”

“I thought you liked Sonia! I thought you wanted to be with her and you finally got what you want so I don’t really know how to feel right now.”

“If I could go back and tell young me…”

“Stop… We wouldn’t be who are today if anything had happened any differently. Our paths have shaped us and it’s not always been an easy path, but I love who I am in this moment with the people that I care about supporting me. I wouldn’t change my shitty life for anything ever.”

“Only you…”

You just shrug as you smirk at him, “Good night Leon. Oh and apologize to Sonia for yelling at her.”

He winces as he recalls his earlier actions, “Will do… Good night…”

You step out the door and Raihan is waiting on the other side. 

“So now you know our secret…”

“That’s what you two have been fighting about? Me?”

“We both like you, but we both want to make sure you’re safe. So we’ve just been co-existing while trying to get you to figure it out. You’re kinda dense when it comes to flirting you know that right?”

“I literally thought you were joking this entire time…”

Raihan chuckled, “Nope! Dragons always go for what they want Princess and believe me when I say I want you. I know you have history with Leon, but trust me when I say I’m not giving up to a man who didn’t have the balls to asks you out when he had the chance.”

“I believe you Raihan.”

“Good, now let’s head to bed, you’ve got training in the morning and I have to prove I’m the better man for you.”

You roll your eyes as he winks at you, but you can’t help the giggle that escapes as you head to your own room. When you pull out your forgotten phone from your bag you notice two text messages one for Sonia and one from Nessa. 

Sonia: You know that Leon likes you right?

Nessa: You know that Raihan likes you right?

You heave an exhausted sigh, “Thanks for the heads up ladies…”

You flop back onto your bed and close your eyes vaguely wondering what the future will hold now that everything is out in the open.

Notes: So a lot happened... Thoughts? Opinions? Concerns? Names for our sweet Applin? What does this mean for our crew? Things are probably going to get worse before they better... I’m just saying... BUT you should like and comment and reblog! As always if you want to be tagged drop an ask! I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Also, this isn’t fully edited... I was excited to get it out tonight...

@Ichigokage @pinktowne @marina-and-the-memes @ssskeletonsoffun @secretly-a-weeb @duizhangdeluxe @swiftly-heart @invaderbekk @crowkie @narees17 @skinklady @nerdyeldritchhorror @wthyuta @serendipityseoul @crescentrax @ninjarose23 @chiizwiz @cherryrocks505 @just-a-dregular @bonniestreet @theofficialkanekibarbie @maryry24 @zea-is-amazing @loch-monsta @artisticchihuahua @hadeselegy @rociomz @emeraldluna

@shinsvu-talks @eeveesjourney @cherryrocks505 @exoticxchicken8 @spilltheearlgrey @marydragneell @quincymaru @zebrabaker @ct9ner

[redhawtriot]

Two Birds on a Wire (Hawks x Reader)

Tip Jar ☕- Not expected but always appreciated💞

Based off “two birds on a wire” by Regina Spektor

I wrote this to see how Hawks would react to falling in love with a criminal while being a double agent, and how he would fair with eventually having to betray her and become her downfall.

It ended up being really long so I decided to chop it up into three little pieces-- a trilogy.

HnM💕

Part 1:

Hawks figured that it was just about time to visit the “liberated” city of Deika to see exactly how large the League’s influence had grown. It took a little more effort than usual to convince Dabi that he was no threat, but eventually, he could visit inside of their operational quarters. 

You were just completing a visit of your own as Hawks entered the building. You payed no attention to the winged man as your eyes shifted quickly from the scorched villain that accompanied him, back to the ground in front of you. You desperately attempted to avoid making eye contact with Dabi as it usually ended with some sort of “favor.”  

A “favor” usually meant that your petty errands that you would typically complete for the league would upgrade to a full-on mission that usually ended up with you getting injured or almost arrested. You tried to walk past the two men, but a burnt hand extended itself in front of you, “Dovely! Just the girl I wanted to see!” he evenly called out.

You groaned to the ceiling in annoyance as your shoulders rolled themselves back. 

Hawks slightly raised an eyebrow at you as he took in your appearance, the feathery protrusions on your cheekbones and wings were dark in color, “Dove? you didn’t think Raven or Crow might fit a little better?” he joked with a light-hearted smile. 

You immediately snapped you head toward him, acknowledging his presence for the first time, “Oh, I’m sorry. I have never seen a “Hawk” with tomato-red wings before,” you heatedly barked at him; however, he could only laugh at your quit witted remark,

“Touché,” he smiled.

You dramatically leaned over to your fiery co-worker, “Uh, Dabi? The fuck is this guy doing here?” You whispered loudly so that Hawks could hear. The number two hero most certainly wouldn’t hang out with the most wanted criminal organization in the country for booze and laughs. 

“He’s working for me,” Dabi coolly explained, “Shigaraki hasn't met up with him and doesn't plan on it, so I need you to keep an eye on him for second while I handle some business upstairs.” Oop. And there it was. The dreaded favor. 

Your mouth instantly flew open to protest, “Are you kidding me?! Look at him! Everything about this man is screaming narc,” you wildly gestured to the Hawks, who simply threw a small wave in reply. 

Dabi, leaned closely into you, his height towering above you. You immediately felt his feverish radiation coat the surface of your skin as he began to lowly speak to you, “Sounds like you don’t trust me,” he said very flatly. You knew that this was meant to be a threat of sorts. Normally, you would blow his threats off since your wind tearing screeches could have any man on their ass’s within seconds, but you were defenseless right now since your vocal chords were still healing from his last favor, and he knew it. You certainly didn’t have the physical capabilities to fight with him. You snapped your mouth shut, sending a resentful glare to Hawks.

“Okay,” you huffed, looking back up to Dabi, who still hadn't backed away from you yet. You used the proximity to your advantage as you replied quietly, “Remember this cute face, because as soon as he betrays y’all, I’m outta here.”

Dabi leaned back, not surprised at all by your cooperativeness, “Fair enough. You two play nice,” he called out as he walked away, “No Cock fights,” he dryly joked.

“Ha. Ha. Bird jokes,” you rolled your eyes, “Is that why you asked me to babysit?” you called out. 

“Birds of a feather and all that?” you saw his retreating figure shrug.

“That’s racist. I’d like to talk to HR,” you huffed as Dabi turned a corner of the building, disappearing from your view. You watched where he had just been for a few moments before the sound of someone clearing their throat snapped you out of your trance. 

You whipped around toward the smug looking Hawks, causing you to instantly harden your face into a glare as you snarled at his presence. You threw your back against a nearby wall and silently glared at him, fulfilling your babysitting duty. 

Hawks took the hint and put little resistance up to changing the silence, however, after almost an hour passed, there was still no sign of Dabi. You found yourself dying from boredom. 

Your body hardly had time to react as words naturally flew out of your mouth toward the man in front of you, “Dove was... a childhood name,” Hawks, who had found himself  sitting down on the floor next to you snapped his head up, his eyebrows slightly raising at your sudden speech as you continued,  “My feathers used to be white. I actually dyed them,” you further explained.

You expected some sort of witty or corny remark out of the man but found none. He could only stare at you with complete disbelief written on his face. You furrowed your eyebrows, “What?” Don’t give me that look! People dye their hair all the time. It’s basically the same thing,” you tried to defend yourself.

Hawks wet his lips as he found himself biting down on them to hold himself from laughing, “I guess you’re right,” he smiled.

“Stick around and you’ll find I am hardly wrong,” you joked with a quickly fading smile, “assuming you don’t stab poor, crusty Shigaraki in the back,” you deadpanned, alerting Hawks.

Without missing a beat, he replied, “You know, I’d like to call myself a pretty perceptive person,” he prefaced before shifting the conversation away from him,  “Sorry if I am over stepping here, but you don’t seem to enjoy your job very much.”

You gave a short chortle, “No matter how perceptive you think you are, I promise you I am more,” you glared at him as if looks could kill,  “Just a heads up: I can end your weaselly life with just a single scream,” you smirked at the thought, “so whatever show you’re acting in better not end with me getting fucked over or I will literally scramble your brain so hard that your last thoughts will be dripping out of your ears,” you deadpanned, all traces of a smile gone from your expression.

Hawks knew that you were being completely serious, but he could still barely fight the smile attempting to take over his expression as he observed how adorable you were when you were angry. He looked down toward the ground in front of him, hardly trying to get his face under control again. 

The two of you remained in silence until Dabi returned, however, the man couldn’t help but steal glances at you every now and then. 

He honestly stole more glances than he needed, because he would actually encounter you again not much longer after your first clash.

The rapid firing of gunshots within the bank was almost instantly ended as a barrage of red feathers zipped through the building, knocking the guns away from the assailants, “Fuck!” one of the four robbers who had been holding up the banks exclaimed, before angrily whipping his head around toward you, “I thought that you said this district was hero free right now, you bitch!”

“There wasn’t supposed to be any heroes right now!!” You screamed as the you and your three accomplices sprinted past the back door into an alley, the sound of sirens becoming louder. God dammit! This entire block was supposed to be free from any heroes on patrol for a whole forty-two minutes exactly! You had made sure of it!

“Dovely! Nice to see you, again!” You winced at the familiar voice. You snapped your gaze up to see that damn idiot narc hovering right above you all. One of the criminals you were with instantly snatched you slammed you into a building by the throat,

“You know Hawks!? Y-you set us up, you bitch!”

You screamed as you felt a burning object enter your body through your left shoulder. The man had impaled you all the way into the building with his “spear hands” quirk.

Hawks instantly took control of the situation, sending his feathers to knock out the men that you were with. All three easily fell to the ground with a thud, but the spear that he had used to attack you with was still wedged into your flesh, pinning you against the building.

You loudly moaned in pain as tears threatened to fall from your eyes. Hawks flew down and walked up to you as you cursed at the excruciating fire in your shoulder,

“Can they tie you back to back to the League?”

Words could barely even make their way out of your mouth as your brain struggled to focus on anything else but the pain, “I.. ungh.. fuck. you.”

“I’m not the one who did this,” Hawks looked very seriously at you. The sight of you in such agony caused an unexpected anger within him. He quickly snapped the spear into smaller sections and effectively freed you from the wall, “You’re the little birdie who got her wings stuck in the middle of a bank heist.”

You wish that you had the energy to beat his ass, but there was no way you could defend yourself like this. Your screeching voice hadn’t even healed yet.

Fuck.

Your overwhelmed body failed to support you as you slid down the wall, leaving a trail of blood down the brick.

This was... so pathetic. After all the bullshit you had been through, this measly bank heist was gonna be your end? You gave a sharp cry in frustration, before forcing yourself to look up at the hero. However, Hawks only nodded his head away from the alley.

Was he telling you to… leave?

“Y-your not gonna bust me?” the sight of you struggling to stand to your feet made his heart ache in a way that it shouldn’t have. Nevertheless, he wanted nothing more than to scoop you up into his arms and fly you to safety himself.

But that couldn’t happen.

He would have to suck his emotions up and pretend like they never existed in the first place-- like he always did, “Just go.”

You could only slightly nod with widened eyes before turning away from him and scurrying away, contemplating on what dream you must be having. There was no way that just happened.

He was a hard fucking man to read. What the hell is his deal?

[fanficwriter013]

The Tower: The Queen of Asgard - 20

The Tower: The Queen of Asgard An Avengers Fanfic

Series Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Pairing:  Avengers x OFC, Bruce Banner x Bucky Barnes x Clint Barton x Wanda Maximoff x Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff x Tony Stark x Thor x Sam Wilson x OFC (Elly Cooper)

Word Count: 2684

Warnings: hangovers, talk of sex

Synopsis: The twins are now three and while the Avengers know that Clint and Thor are the biological father’s none of them know or care which blond, blue-eyed baby is related to which man.  When Riley gets the power to control wind and it becomes evident that she is the heir to the Asgardian throne, Elly, Steve, Thor, and Tony take the twins to Asgard to train her.

Not every Asgardian is happy with their king’s choice of consort, nor the impurity of the heir’s blood.  While others expect Thor to make things more official.  What’s clear is, the role of Queen of Asgard is not easily filled.

Author’s Note:  Written with the only good mom I have @avengerscompound​, whom I almost forgot to tag

Chapter 20: Potions and Apples

Fandral led the way down to the healers carrying Sam like he was a baby.  I followed with Wanda, letting her lean against me as we walked.  She held her head and occasionally her eyes would glow pink for a moment before returning to normal.

“Can you not walk too bumpily?”  Sam groaned, shifting in Fandral’s arms a little.

“No one has ever complained about my gait before,” Fandral said, sounding amused.

“I’m sick,”  Sam whined.  “I’ll puke on you.”

“Alright, my lord.  I’ll be more careful.”  Fandral teased.

“So, Fandral,”  I said, as Fandral shifted Sam so he was being held a little closer to him.  “What’s the deal with you and Loki?”

Fandral chuckled.  “Do you want me to lose my life?”

“You were both thinking some pretty explicit thoughts before,” Wanda said.

“We are … complicated.”  Fandral explained. “Loki tolerates few you may have noticed.”

“The babies,”  Wanda said.  “And that’s about it.”

An affectionate smile crossed over Fandral’s face.  “Oh, yes.  The babes hold the largest portion of Loki’s affection.”  He said.  “The thing about Loki is most don’t understand him.  I think it’s just a case of, I can see what his thought processes are like.”  He gave us a sly look and quirked an eyebrow.  “Not to mention, I am very easy, ladies.  I have no expectation that Loki will have any interest in me tomorrow and nor do I have any desire to be tied down.”

“Uh-huh,” Wanda said sounding unconvinced.

“It’s the truth, my lady,”  Fandal said.  “Asgard is not like Midgard and you are hardly in a typical relationship yourself, even for Asgardian standards.  We don’t define it.  I do, however, like romance.  I could romance you if you liked.”

Wanda pulled herself up straight.  “I am out of your league.”

I burst out laughing and Fandral feigned shock.  “My lady, you wound me.”

“What?”  Wanda said, taking my hand.  “It’s true.”

“So sharp with your words.  I am not without feelings.”  He teased and gestured to a door.  “But we are here.”

I opened it for him and Fandral carried Sam inside.  It was dark with black stone walls and dim lights that glowed softly.  A group of five women in long robes approached us and three of them took Sam away without a word.  One of the remaining women turned to us.  “Can we help either of you, your highnesses?”

“Um, yes,” Wanda said, and I could tell she wasn’t sure how to explain what was wrong.

“Wanda is a telepath, and with all the drinking…”  I said.

The woman nodded and gestured for us to follow.   Wanda lay down on a table and the three women stood around it.  A cage of light surrounded Wanda and they began to shift the beams around.

“What is that?”  Wanda asked.

“It’s a soul forge.”  The woman answered as she continued her work.  As they moved the beams Wanda seemed to relax more.  “How is that?”

“Much better,” Wanda said, almost sounding a little sleep drunk.

“We have corrected for the thoughts you were receiving,”  She said turning the forge off.  “When you go back they will return.  We have something that will block your telepathy if you wish.  It’s is a diadem, so the effects will only last while you wear it.”

“Okay,” Wanda said with an uncertain nod.

One of the healers left and returned with an intricate silver diadem.  The silver had been forged into delicate scrollwork that sat low on Wanda’s brow and right in the middle of her forehead sat a deep blue crystal.

Wanda blinked when it was in place.  “It went really quiet.”

“Is that good or bad?”  I asked.

“I do not know.  It is strange.”  She said.  “I haven't been alone in my thoughts for so long, it's both a relief and scary.  I don't like not being able to feel you.”

“It is only to guard against the hangovers.  You are free to remove it at any time.”  The healer said.

“Thank you,” Wanda said and slid off the table.

We went out to the first room to wait for Sam.  It wasn’t long before Sam came out with Fandral.  He looked much more human and happy.  “Oh wow, Wanda.  Look at you.  You’re an actual princess.”  He said coming over to her and tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.

“It blocks my telepathy.  I don’t know if I like it.”  Wanda said.

Sam pressed a kiss to her brow.  “It won’t be for long.”

“You feeling better then?”  I asked.

“Like it never happened.  I am so hungry now.”  He said putting his arm around Wanda.  He held up a bottle of liquid.  “They gave me this to give the others too.”

“Oh good, hopefully, that saves a lot of whining today,” I said.

“And I won’t have to wear this for too long,”  Wanda added, tapping the jewel on the diadem.

Fandal led us back to our rooms and he was immediately set on by Sif as we came through the door.  “There you are.”  She snapped.  “What the hell?”

“I was taking them to the healers as requested, my lady,” Fandral said.

“Kidnapping three of the royal family and leaving the children alone.”

Fandral laughed.  “What is Hogun?  Chopped liver?”  He snarked.  “Stop being so dramatic and drink this.”

Sam offered her the bottle and she took a drink.  “Okay, good.  I’m taking this to Volstagg.”

She disappeared into the bedroom they’d put Volstagg in as we came inside properly.  The food had been delivered and Hogun was supervising the twins with their breakfast.

“Food!”  Sam said and grabbed a plate and started to load it up.  I went to get one too and Riley started to eat directly off her plate like a dog.

“Honey,” Wanda sighed.  “Use a fork.”

“Daj,” Riley whined.  “I ead good.”

“You eat all over yourself,” Wanda said.

“Das otay.  Vows - Vowstaag… he do too.”  She said.

Wanda approached her and wiped her face clean.  “Volstagg isn’t the ruler of the nine realms, sweetie.”

“I’s a unicorn,” Riley said and went back to eating right off the plate.

Sam stifled a laugh while Wanda sighed and went and helped herself to some food.

“Don’t worry about it, Wan,” Sam said.  “I’ll give her a bath after.”

The three of us sat down on the couch, snuggled in together as we ate.  “So do you know what you’re going to do with the bonding?”  I asked.

Sam shook his head.  “I think I’ll do it.  It’s a long time to live but some of us don’t get a choice about that.  Maybe the right thing to do is to agree to go through that with them.”

I nodded.  “I keep getting stuck on the ‘having to watch Piet die’ thing.  I’ve worried about how losing everyone would affect Steve, Bucky, Nat, and Bruce for a long time.  And now the choice is being given to me and I’m scared.”

“Yes, I already lost my brother.  I don’t want to have to outlive my son.”  Wanda agreed.

“Plus everyone else.  How many friends do we outlive before I stop being able to form bonds with people because I know it’s only going to end with me watching them die?”

“You would never be able to do that,” Sam said.  “Elly, you have the biggest heart.”

“Which just means it’s going to be painful every single time,” I said.  “How much hurt can I survive?”

“All of it,” Sam said.  “You’re strong, El.”

“If Piet were out of the equation.  If he was like Riley, would that make it easier?”  Wanda asked.

I wiped my eyes.  “I think mostly.  I think if I didn’t have to worry about Piet I’d say yes.”  I said.  “It’s just…”

“What is it, princess?”  Sam asked.

“You guys chose me because I was just a normal person.  If this makes me immortal and gives me powers, then I won’t be who you wanted.”

“Oh, Elly,”  Sam said putting his plate down.  He wrapped his arm around me and kissed my temple tenderly.  “We love you for what’s in here -” he tapped my chest and then my forehead.  “- and in here.  That’s much more than just you being a regular person.  There are billions of regular people in the world.  There’s only one you.”

I swallowed and nodded, trying not to completely break down.

“We love you, El.  And Thor loves you and wants to keep you forever.  He hasn’t even asked me to bond with him.”  Sam said.

“You need him to ask?”  I said.

“It would be nice.  I dunno.  Maybe I don’t need it because if you and Wanda do, and Nat, Steve, and Buck already are going to basically live forever, I would stick around for all of you, but it would be nice if Thor let me know he wanted me too.”

“That makes sense.  I totally get that.  I told him I thought he loved us like people loved dogs.”  I said.  “He needs to show you all that you aren’t just friends-with-benefits to him.”

Sam let out a breath.  “Yeah.  ‘Cause I do love him.”

Riley climbed off the chair and toddled over and climbed into Sam’s lap.  “Did you eat, bug?”  Sam asked.

“Yes, daddy.”  She practically snarked.

“What was that?”  Sam said, trying not to laugh.  “Was that sarcasm?”

I laughed.  “Sounded like it.”

“My goodness,” Sam said.  “Such an advanced three-year-old.”

I got up and stretched.  “I might go take a bath.  You two okay with the kids?”  I asked.

“I think we can handle it,” Sam said.

I headed into the bathroom and ran the water.  I had just let my slip fall to the floor when Loki barged into the room.

“Loki!” I squawked, grabbing the slip and pulling it back up.

He waved me off dismissively.  “You have nothing I haven’t seen thousands of times before.”

I rolled my eyes.  “What do you want?”

“The reason you have been unable to decide about the bonding is because of Pietro, correct?”  He asked.

“Yes.  Mostly because of Pietro.”  I agreed.

“I found the book I had been looking for.”  He said.  “There is something called the Golden Apple.  The Goddess Idunn oversees them on Alfheim.  The apple can grant longevity to whoever eats it.”

I froze and looked up into Loki’s eyes.  “This is a real thing?  You can find it?”

“I assure you it is real.  I have sent an envoy to Alfheim.”  Loki said.  “The child will have to be of age and make the decision himself, but he has the choice.  Is that enough for you?”

“I just… this… I don’t…”  I babbled.

Loki rolled her eyes. “Use your words.”

“This changes everything.”

“You’ll agree to the bonding then?”

I took a deep breath and nodded, shifting on my feet.  “Loki.  Can I hug you?”

“What do I get out of it?”  Loki asked.

“You can tell me your terms as I hug you,” I said, taking a step forward.  He opened his arms up and I moved into them, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head against his chest as he closed his arms around me.  “No stabbing me either.”

Loki chuckled.  “I did not do this for you, you know?”

I nodded against his chest.  “I know.”

“Call off your attack spider would you.  She keeps making comments about me having feelings.”  Loki said.

I giggled.  “Done and done.”  I pulled back and looked up at him. “Thank you.”

“Now, would you please tell my brother ‘yes’ so he can stop bothering me?”  He said.

“I will.  Let me wash up first.”

Loki went to the door and paused.  “If anyone is looking for me, I’ll be having sex.  I’m taking Fandral with me.  I haven’t had any since you were attacked and that is unusual.”

“Aww Loki, you do have feelings.”  I teased.

He smirked.  “I will stab you.”

“Yeah, yeah.  Go on then. Get laid.  When I see you again I promise I’ll have said yes to Thor.”

He nodded and left and I took my bath.  I rushed a little as I wanted to go and speak to Thor and tell him what Loki had said.  When I was clean I wrapped myself in a robe and took the potion from Sif who was back to guarding the door with Volstagg.  I went into my room where Thor, Steve, Bucky, Clint, Tony, Natasha, and Bruce were all sleeping in a tangled pile of limbs.  Feet were in faces and people were clinging to each other.  It was quite funny to look at.

I changed into a fresh gown and went and sat next to Thor and shook him a little.  “Thor?”  He opened his eyes and squinted at me.  “Here, my love,” I said holding the bottle to his lips.

He blinked a few times before starting to drink.  After a few swallows of the liquid, he lay back down and I put the stopper back into the bottle and put it down.

“Mmm, thank you, mea vida.”  He said.  He rubbed my hip slowly and sat up.  “I feel much better.”

“You’re welcome, my love,” I said, leaning over and kissing him.  He hummed softly and pulled me a little closer to him.

“Thor,”  I said pulling back.  “Loki found something.”

“What is it?”  He said, sitting up straighter and looking a little more alert.

“He found a book.  It has information about a fruit that grants the person who eats it longevity.”  I explained.

“What?”

“It’s guarded by a goddess.  Iona?  Isola?  I forget. He has a book.”

“Okay.  So Pietro will have his own choice?”  Thor asked.

“Yes,” I said and put my hand on his.  “Ask me.”

Thor tilted his head and looked me over for a moment.  He nodded and got up kneeling on the ground in front of me and taking my hand.  “Elise, my life, will you bond with me?”

“Yes, I will,” I said.

He smiled and got up pulling me into his arms and kissing me deeply.  I melted into him, letting him hold my weight.

“We will have to start the preparations.  You need a gown.”  Thor said as he pulled back.

“Thor, there’s one more thing,” I said.

He tilted his head and looked at me with concern.  “That doesn’t sound good.”

I gave his hand a squeeze.  “You need to propose to them.  And when you do you need to explain it.  All they have heard is the not quite clear version of events from me.  Bucky and Steve will do it regardless.  Tony and I will too because we were there.  The others you need to at least speak to and make them know what this means and that you want it with them.”

“Oh,” Thor said softly.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded and sat back down on the bed.  I sat beside him and he curled up, putting his head on my lap. “I didn’t realize how closed off I was being with them. It hurts to know they don’t know how I feel.”

I stroked his hair and massaged the back of your neck.  “We all love you. But it has been hard because we don’t see you often, and when we do you try and be the strong happy man who has nothing to worry about.  Time to change that and now’s your chance.  Be honest with them.  But more importantly, ask them.  Make sure they know you want this with them.”

“I will.  When everyone is awake I will propose.”  He said.

“Good,” I said and rubbed his chest.  “You are loved, Thor.  Don’t doubt that.  I want to spend as much of the next 5000 years as I possibly can, Thor. ”

Thor smiled softly.  “I want that too.”

I leaned down and kissed him and he made a contented rumbling noise against my lips.  We were starting a new chapter as of now and I wasn’t scared at all anymore.

// NEXT

[iphoenixrising]

I was thinking about the Titans working with the Avengers Kon and Bart still a little ticked at how Tim was treated brag about how fast Tim bonded with the Avengers. How Tony is seconds away from adopting Tim. How Bucky and Tim have come so close that he is in agreement with Tony to kidnap their new son. How they had to drag Tim out of Tony's lab where he and Peter were playing with DUM-E. To add insult Cass shows up and says how happy Tim is. Dick & Jason are off to get their baby bird back.

Hi babe.

WELP. This is not exactly what you were thinking of, but dammit. Dammit. Angst, you know?

But I mean, I really do enjoy two things: Tony Stark taking Tim in the Tower so they can literally wreck ALL the things; also, the Bats realizing the absolute fuckery of how Tim pretty much got booted out of the role as Robin, then running elbows over assholes trying to get him back and make up for it.

So, I kind of thought it might start out like this maybe...

**

“How do we look, Tin Man?”

“We look fantastic as always, Klondike. Sexy is our aesthetic. See anything from your perch?”

“You know what I’m looking at, Tones.” The Winter Soldier only partly means the view in Gotham.

And yes, Iron Man already has JARVIS focused on the two vigilantes walking around their Robin’s penthouse apartment. He knew letting Tim come back to Gotham was a bad idea, but dammit Steve had been adamant, saying they shouldn’t try to sway the kid.

“He needs to make his own decisions, Tony. We want him to come back because he wants to, not because we’re pressuring him, right?”

Tony and Buck had immediately called bullshit, but couldn’t argue when Tim himself, old backpack and worn hoodie, no mask over his eyes or utility belt around his hips, just a 19 year old kid that looked so much younger, so timid, so broken without his alter ego.

“It’s time for me to go back,” he’d said quietly to the gathered Avengers, a whole different kid without the mask. “I just wanted to say good-bye.”

His eyes are violet-blue and soft when he looks around at them, seemingly satisfied he’d single-handedly brought the team back together after the shit show that was Civil War. He can leave now since the mission he’d set out to do is accomplished, and is apparent since they’re all gathered in New York City once again, leaving the Compound for the new incarnation of SHIELD with Fury at the helm, pretty much infiltrating the Tower to start the road back to becoming the family they used to be.

(And God is it crazy, fighting and living together with the insanity that is their lives.)

It started with a broken metal arm, alien invasions, and a plate of superior nachos.

It ended up with the team saving each other’s asses, coming to an understanding, fighting it out, then crying it out.

It ended with Wanda sobbing in Tony’s chest while his arms around her are almost as tight as Peitro’s once were, with Steve red-eyed on Tony’s other side, whispering in his hair how never again – together means together, with Bucky’s forehead against the back of his neck and tears streaming down his face, with Bruce and Nat holding hands while their legs tangled with Tony’s, Steve’s, and Vision’s, with Sam laughing at them all while he’s wiping his eyes, with the whole group literally jumping on Thor the minute he touches down with the new haircut and air of perpetual weariness, with them taking up a big table in their favorite 24-hour diner feeding each other and telling stories about what they’ve all been up to since that awful thing at the airport.  

Red Robin’s run with them started with fractured friendships and ends with them tripping all over each other during meals and movie nights. Bruce’s curry, Nat’s homemade dressing for the salad, Thor dipping in to snatch bites from everyone’s contribution. But this time around, it’s Sam and Wanda chopping vegetables while Bucky directs a sleepy Tony to a barstool close but out of the traffic, turning around to let the mechanic tie up his hair for him before he joins the cooking fiasco.

A week after they all move back in, he feels good leaving them with the rooms in the living quarters of Avengers Tower full of light and voices and warmth, just like it should have been. He’s giving himself a million vigilante points for this one – even if he’s going back out with no team and no safety net. It’s fine. He’s fine. He can’t stay forever anyway.

Besides, Kon and Bart have been trying to find him again, so it’s time to move on before they get too close. And really, he’s got no other excuses to stay. Bucky’s arm is maintained regularly, the broken team is working and the Accords (thankfully had been attacked on more than one side, thanks to big industries like WE and Queen, Inc. alongside Stark Industries) are modified to protect superheroes rather than stop them from doing what they do best.

All-in-all, he’d say the mission has been a success.

“Tim,” and the Captain moves away from Tony and Bucky’s side, one hand automatically out toward him, “you absolutely don’t have to go.”

“I appreciate the offer,” and he clears his suddenly tight throat, making sure the hood and too-long hair obscure his face. “But, it’s time.”

It only takes a glance back at the full team crowded around the communal floor television while the four player Mario Kart game stays on pause. The faces full of devastation make the message clear enough. With a decisive nod at the silent statement going through the team, Steve turns back to try arguing, the teenager is just–

–gone.

Tony, however, can’t shake the feeling of wrongness in the abrupt departure, and absolutely starts tracking the second he can pull away from the team to set-up protocols to trace the steps of their vigilante.

He listened to Steve’s half-hearted, “you know we can’t interfere with the Justice League, Tony. And Batman? Gotham is his territory. We go there, and there’s no guarantee we’ll be making it out if we even get past city limits.”

“Those guys might have the whole city wired with traps,” Natasha grudgingly admits. “Everyone knows the capes are unpredictable and terrifying. We should at least go through proper channels to get permission. Even if he’s still–”

“Oracle has nothing on me,” Tony’s eyes are all for the blipping red dot on his floating holo-screen.

Steve and Bucky exchange a glance behind Tony’s back, eyes meeting with a silent message. Bucky smirks and slides the muzzle up his face. Steve briskly turns on a heel and leaves the workshop with a plan already forming on how he’s going to run interference with the JLA so Tony and Bucky could sneak into Gotham without making a fuss.  

Bucky strides the opposite way, hand on Tony’s bicep, leaning in to talk low, “tell me ya got something more stealthy than red n’ gold, Doll. That or yer gonna play my Oracle, and get me in the kid’s penthouse from somewhere safe n’ sound.”

“Oh hell no. You’re not going anywhere without me. I’ve got a trick up my sleeve, Buckeroo, and it’s going to get us an audience with our disappearing vigilante.”

Tony’s satisfied grin makes him look adorable enough that Bucky has to literally bite down on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from kissing (their) the engineer until he begs.

(Not like this. Steve had to be there when they were finally ready to tell Tony how they felt about him. Soon, they’d agreed last night after finding the exhausted mechanic asleep on the kitchen table with a tablet clutched in his hand and could finally admit to themselves how much he made them want.)

“I’ll bite. What d’ya got?”

“Just a little something super waiting in the wings. JJ, fire up the Quinjet. We’ve got a Robin to visit.”

With the Winter Soldier watching the two vigilantes facing Tim through his scope, Tony stands on a closer rooftop with the very new, very nice stealth armor, recording the footage of Nightwing and the Red Hood. His blood heats when it looks like they’re yelling at Red Robin while the younger is obviously bandaging himself up after a bad run-in.

And they’re not even helping him for fuck’s sake.

“Wow, that’s cold,” Bucky says softly while the comm in their ears are giving them the whole conversation. Something about Tim taking on a guy named Bane by himself. Seems to Buck like the kid took the asshole down, so the ass-chewing the other vigilantes are handing him seems to be pretty fucking ungrateful.

“They don’t deserve him. We have more sciency things for him to do. Crime fighting is always fun, but why not build amazing shit in-between?”

“Aw, c’mon Tones. Gotta let ‘im outta the lab so’s we can spar. Kid’s always got tricks. Makes fer some fun.”

“I know that’s why you like him so much, Barnes.”

“What, like I ain’t seen you fightin’ outside the suit before?”

“I’m not teenage vigilante kind of street-smart. I will punch the hell out of you, make some nifty explosions, re-configure your systems...oh.”

“Finally gettin’ it are ya?” And he can’t help it when his tone drops a little, watching Nightwing’s arms flail. “S’why I like ‘im. Reminds me of you, Doll.”

“...you might actually make me blush, Soldier. How novel.”

“If it helps, Steve never believed ya were just a guy in a suit. Not from the moment he met ya.”

“Where the hell did that come from?”

“Like I ain’t hung out with ya the past few months? I know how ya think, Stark, and ya ain’t just the armor.”

“Sure, sure. In all actuality, I’m the most well-paid consultant that ever lived.”

The Winter Soldier’s eyes flicker over where the Mark XXI is ducked in the shadows, jaw clenching because Tony’s odd self-deprecating tendencies bothers him just as much as it bothers Stevie. At some point, they’re going to address it with Tony, face-to-face. Not now, but that day is going to come, so help him.

In the meantime, Bucky tunes back in on the conversation happening inside, flips the safety on his rifle, and starts moving closer to Tony’s roof since they might not even need Plan B after all.

“What does that even mean, Timmy?”

“Calm it down, Big Wing. Pretender, look–”

“Do you see a fucking R on my chest, Hood?” And even from where he’s trucking over rooftops, Bucky can see the tension in Tim’s spine, the fast, angry movements as he tapes gauze pads to obviously fresh stitches. “I’m not ‘pretending’ fuck anymore. So how about you fuck off with that ‘Pretender’ shit.”

“...all right. That’s fair, so my bad. But lookit, B is all about ya coming ta the yearlies, you feel me?”

“What part of ‘it’s not my place’ isn’t clear here?”

The sigh from Nightwing is loud enough to hear it over the microphone Tony planted when they touched down.

“You have got to get over this thing,Tim. Dami’s been Robin for–”

“That’s what you think? That I’m fucking jealous, Dick?”

“He was a kid. He’s not still crying about the past–”

“Get. The Fuck. Out.”

The quiet calm of Tim’s tone is enough to make Bucky pause, and the sleek black Iron Man armor to step out of the shadows.

“I’m serious Tim! Listen–”

“I’m done. Done with you, done with the Bats, I’m fucking done. So do us both a favor and forget you were ever here.”

Nightwing flinches, his shoulders and back getting tight by the time Bucky is beside Iron Man, frowning behind the muzzle.

“I think we’ve heard about enough,” is distorted but still so Tony through the suit’s synthesizers. “Want a ride, Red Dawn? We can show up and be the likeable ones for once.”

“Really, Iron Man? I thought only Cap got special rides.”

“Well, I will always make an exception for my Bucky Bear, you know,” and he wiggles an arm, sighs a little as the Winter Soldier steps up against the suit, stepping up on to the rocket boots.

Having Bucky against him is something he can keep locked in the secret file in his brain he pulls up when he has bad days. Things like Steve hugging him, trips to the ball field, Bucky hanging out with him in the workshop while Steve drew or read or did paperwork on his tablet.

(Things he can never have. Sure, he can want, but he can’t let it get too real. Locking it away is safer for everyone.)

Knocking on the door of Tim’s balcony, shaking up the Bats, is really much more satisfying than Tony would have thought ten seconds ago.

He knows Tim is shocked, had probably been expected the big, bad Bat at his door rather than two Avengers waiting for entrance.

In his black and gold stealth armor, Tony waves metal fingers when the curtains pull back and Tim’s mouth drops open on the other side.

The door is wrenched open, and they can both hear, “we ain’t done here, Tim,” from inside, but Tim absolutely ignores it to stare wide-eyed at Iron Man and the Winter Soldier just, you know, hanging out on his balcony of all the fucking places.

“Tony. Bucky, what the hell–”

“Leave you alone for a few minutes, and you’re all kinds of hurt. Why am I not shocked? Winter Wonderland, are you shocked?” Tony gives no shits about interrupting this cute little family get-together and absolutely pushes his way in to Tim’s penthouse without a fuck to give.

As normal, Bucky is more of a doer than a talker when he’s in the mask, so Tony gets to watch him do that incredibly sexy murder strut right over the threshhold and grab a hold of Tim’s elbow. He snickers at the older vigilantes obviously gawking as the Winter Soldier pushes the third Robin down in a seat at his kitchen table right by the open first-aid kit.

“Zadnitsa,” the Winter soldier snarls in rebuke, already digging out more gauze pads.

“I missed you too, Frosty,” Tim shoots back, obliging the dangerous assassin by holding still while the gauze pads are taped down and more alcohol wipes are used to disinfect a serious slice on Tim’s shoulder blade.

Honestly, Tony has no idea how he even managed to stitch it himself, but the helmet swings over to the two surprised vigilantes.

“This sure as hell ain’t a good way to show it, y’know,” Bucky pulls the goggles off but leaves the mask, metal arm moving seamlessly while he gently pats the remaining slice with disinfectant.  

“Well, I didn’t expect you two to just drop in or anything. Or else, I might have a nice psycho for you to take down.”

“Well, shows you, don’t it?”

“I guess so. But I do have a bag full of plums in the fridge, so you’re in luck.”

“Hell yeah, Red.”

The faceplate of the helmet kicks up and Tony is grinning beneath it, “aww, plums for our favorite murder bot? What about coffee for your best engineer friend–”

Bucky pauses abruptly, and Tony sees the movement, a soft sigh of sound, but only just. The knife as long as his forearm is just suddenly out, metal hand on Tim’s good shoulder, holding him down, some automatic instinct to protect the kid makes Tony bite the inside of his cheek so he isn’t smiling.

The other vigilantes, however, are really intimidated in their own right since Red Hood has twin .45s in his gloved hands and Nightwing’s escrima sticks spark a few times for good measure.

“Tim, get up slowly and step back,” Nightwing’s voice is just this side of dangerous.

“We gotcha back, Tim, you feel me?” Hood’s thumbs flick the safety, a whole lot of not fuckin’ around happening right here.

“Do me a personal favor,” the unmasked vigilante deadpans, “and go fuck yourselves.” Tim wiggles out from under the hold on his shoulder and stands, gingerly puts a hand on Bucky’s brandishing the knife. He waits for those blue-gray eyes to slide over to him.

“C’mon, Bucky,” Tim tries to cajole softly, “these guys aren’t a threat. The knife is very nice. Is it new? You know I like to look at new weapons, but you can put it away. Promise.”

“Malyutka,” is a question more than a statement.

Tim huffs in annoyance because honestly, he’s not a kid.  (Welp, take into account, 100+ year old assassin, and maybe he can see the point.)

“My apartment, my rules, and if anyone, anyone,” he stresses, glaring at the two tense vigilantes, “gets blood on my floors or walls, then it’s fucking on. Everyone get that?”

“You’ll have to forgive us for being jumpy,” Nightwing deadpans, “we have a tendency to treat legendary assassins with immediate attention when one’s in our city, right Hood?”

The stiff angle of the guns doesn’t waver, nor does the helmet move. “Gotta say,” Hood’s voice is deep, even with the synths, “always thought this might go down different if our paths ever crossed again, Soldier.”

From behind the muzzle, Bucky’s teeth flash white, a terrifying smile, “last time my Handler wouldn’t let me kill you, Red Hood. Wanna to give it a go now that I don’t have one?”

“Sounds like a fucking party to me, sweetheart. Ya gimmie a time n’ I’ll bring the motherfuckin’ confetti.”

“Any. Fuckin’. Time–”

“As entertaining as this is,” Tony interjects, the soft haaa when the armor opens up to let him step out, “our host absolutely said no blood, right boys?”

Slowly, weapons lower, but the tension is high in the room, only broken when Bucky points a gloved finger back to the chair Tim was previously in.

(And during the time Tim had spent with the Avengers, none of them knew the Winter Soldier and Red Hood had met before. He’s going to want some details on that little scuffle.)

“Thank-you. I’m glad good manners are winning out over bullshit posturing,” and Tony pours on his media smile, giving Nightwing and the Red Hood something else to look at while Bucky gently finishes up with their vigilante. “Because really. We’re literally all on the same side here. We just happen to go through legal channels to beat the shit out of bad guys. Not as much fun, but you can’t beat the tax breaks.”

“Mmhm, I’m really hoping you aren’t in Gotham as Iron Man, Mr. Stark. You know there are rules about being in this city.”

And Tony would bet his entire fortune Nightwing has a listening device somewhere in that ridiculously tight suit for the Dark Knight to monitor what’s happening in Red Robin’s apartment right this moment.

(Especially the fact they know his civilian identity and are comfortable enough calling him by his real name. They probably aren’t going to be on any Justice League party invites for a while after this. He wonders how Steve is doing with Superman and Wonder Woman right about now.)

“I asked them to come,” Tim interjects, not bothering to glance at either vigilante, “they’re here to help me with a case. My lead is a dead-end, so we’re all going to be out of Gotham as soon as fucking possible. The Batman will have to deal with it.”

Tony hums, crosses his arms over his chest. He meets Bucky’s quick glance, quirks a grin since maybe they could convince him to come to New York instead. Or, if his Plan B is still waiting in the wings, they could do something altogether different.

(There’s a whole floor available in the Tower, and wouldn’t that be some incentive for Tim to get it together and land somewhere more permanent?)

“Tim…” and the wealth of warning there isn’t enough to earn Nightwing the youngest vigilante’s attention after the last gauze pad goes on.

But the youngest of the vigilantes stands from his chair, turns to give them the same fuck you and the zip line you rode in on attitude, “don’t fucking even with me, N.”

“You can’t come to the yearly gathering for one night, but you can pal around with the Avengers?”

And oh! Is that jealousy he hears? Tony has to bite down on the inside of his cheek to keep from smirking because wow, Nightwing does not sound very happy.

“It’s none of your fucking business–” and that tension is back in the square of Tim’s bare shoulders, the flex of his forearms.

Tony easily picks up his discarded nerd shirt, pointedly steps between him and the glowering vigilantes, shoves the shirt over the kid’s head and ignores his sputtering.

“I’m sure nothing that would interest you,” Tony makes a point to stay between the two groups, “I mean, you don’t work with Red Robin anymore, right? So he’s a free agent. Believe me, he’s been super helpful with us in New York, I don’t know if we'd all be in the same room without him.”

Tony is being absolutely innocent about it, letting Tim shove his arms in the right places while he grins at the obviously unhappy vigilantes over his shoulder.

The glare Tim levels at him would have probably withered anyone else. Good thing Tony has very, very little shame, and between him and Steve, the best troll in the Avengers award is still undecided. This might just put him over the top. He doesn’t need Bucky to remove his mask to know there’s a smirk underneath.

“I’m sorry, what now?” The whiteouts swing from Tim to Tony, “since when don’t we work together? We only have since you were twelve–”

“And we haven’t since your Robin kicked me the fuck out of my home. I’ve been out of the Cave, out of this city, and out of your life since then, so don’t come here with some attitude about it.” Tim’s eyes slide to the Red Hood. “You two coming here to ask me about the yearlies? Like I’ve been there for the last three? Like I haven’t come back unless someone called me in because, let’s face it, I’m just another body to fight the good fight, right? So this? Acting like I’m just going to forgive and forget? You can both absolutely go fuck yourselves.”

And some tiny part of Tony feels utterly proud in that moment, feels somewhat vindicated at how cold and calm Tim is, how he’s just laying it all out on the table, no bullshit, no contingencies, no taking the high road, no giving in, and it’s so much the Tim he knows, squaring his shoulders and facing both older vigilantes with anger so cold it burns.

“I–I mean, Tim–”

“There is literally nothing you could say right now that I’d want to hear, Nightwing. Nothing. All those years of fighting together, of being partners? I never would have guessed you’d be the one to stab me in the back, but I guarantee you won’t get another chance.”

But, the night gets that much better when Nightwing and the Red Hood gives them the death glare of doom before Tim pretty much kicks them out of his apartment.

Tony isn’t cheering out loud, but wow does he want to.

“Timmy,” Nightwing gives it one last, desperate try, turning at an impossible angle with one leg out the window to face the de-masked vigilante, tone low and serious.

“You’re a few years too late, Nightwing. Now get the fuck out.”

Tim had flicked his hand out behind him, a flat palm telling Tony and Bucky to stay back when he pretty much forced both vigilantes out of his apartment with a sneer of disdain and a promise to set his security protocols to shock the utter fuck out of them if they ever tried to come back to his last hold-over in Gotham. By the way the Red Hood stood shock still, and Nightwing’s frown deepened, they apparently believed him.

While Tim shuts the windows, locking them with finality, Bucky finally pulls off his muzzle and goggles, exchanges a worried glance with Tony when he realizes Tim’s hands are shaking.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Is soft but firm, is obvious Tim is trying to put himself back together.

“Well, as I said earlier–”

“Don’t bullshit me, Tony. There’s no case.”

With how empty and cold Tim sounds, how his hands are fisted at his sides, the tremble going through him, Tony pauses to take in the rest of the signs. He catches Bucky’s eyes and makes an executive decision.

Plan B it is.

“Okay, you’re right. No case. But, what I do have for you is more interesting and important than a case right now. Meaning, I still need your help with it.”

And when the kid finally turns to face him, face them, Tony can see the effects of dealing with Nightwing and the Red Hood in the clench of Tim’s jaw and the way he won’t really meet Tony’s eyes. A distraction is exactly what he needs, a reason to get the hell out of this city before he drowns in his own misery.

Instead, Tony turns his head toward a window, “all right, kid. Time to make your dramatic entrance!”

The super speed never gets old.

Not to mention the fact, Superboy is absolutely adorable when he’s just suddenly there, grabbing Tim around the waist and hugging him a little desperately.

“Oh my God, Kon?!”

Blue eyes blown wide, Tim’s eyes go from the meta-human wrapped around him to Tony’s soft smile to Bucky’s gentle smirk.

“Tim, Tim I can’t– I just! I...I missed you so much, Tim. We all missed you so much,” and Kon-El’s voice is barely a croak, heavy and thick with emotion, his face buried in the side of Tim’s throat, his back hunched over the smaller vigilante. “I needed to see you. Sorry about this, but...I’m not really.”

Like muscle memory, Tim’s brings a hand to the back of his best friend’s neck, making small circles against the tight tendons with his finger tips, still looking more shocked than pissed.

Tony is absolutely going to take it as a win.

**zadnitsa means ass or asshole kind of. Thanks Google Translate :D

[pushspacetocontinue]

Furious Blades

A story for Russell’s Pokemon Verse, for how he ended up losing his right arm and subsequently getting a replacement. Some violence in this one, but yeah. Also, it’s long, you’ve been warned.

It was just meant to be a quick walk from one route to the next. Russell had made sure to check the map and he was confident that he would be able to get to the next town without much trouble. 

Russell had been moving swiftly, but carefully, his hands tucked into his pockets and his ears peeled for any signs of danger.

“Sir!” a young man’s voice caught his attention, and Russell turned his gaze onto the new person. The red uniform was recognisable. 

“You, you want a battle?” Russell asked. It was what they usually wanted. They often found themselves bored on the job. 

“No, sir. Not now. But I can see why you would assume that,” the ranger replied, “We really need you to turn back from this area. We have a swarm of Scyther moving through the route and due to it being their mating season, they are hostile to passers-by. While we can recommend watching from a distance, you’ll need to take the alternative path so you’ll be on the higher levels, this way.”

The man gestured, and Russell nodded. 

“Th-thanks,” Russell said, as he started to follow, “That’s…” 

But then a scream erupted in the air; unmistakably a human’s. It was shrill and high. The shout was followed by the frantic shouts of a name.

“Molly!” 

“Molly! You have to get out of there!”

Russell’s eyes widened in alarm, and he pushed past the ranger without any hesitance. Through the bushes, he could already see a young girl, no older than ten, was surrounded by the Pokemon. Her curly blonde hair had leaves and twigs in it. The colour had drained from her dark face, leaving it a greyer shade. 

She must have slid down the steep dunes by accident and ended up right in their midst. Judging by their glares, they were far from happy. Molly didn’t appear to know where to look, but she knew the danger she was in.

“Oh no…” the ranger only said.

Russell didn’t think anything else. His feet seemed to carry him forward without any thought. In a swift sprint, he had reached Molly just as the closet Scyther swung its blades.

He ducked, and took Molly in his left arm as he did, never stopping in his movements at all. 

“Hold, hold on tight!” he instructed. Molly instantly did as she was told, and put her arounds his neck to better support herself. 

If he could get back to the ranger, he could hand over Molly and then hopefully get Thor out to defend himself. A good power gem from Ampharos would surely send the swarm packing. 

But the Scyther were fast, even with the element of surprise he had given them, and they were now out for his blood. 

Russell met eyes with the ranger, and he seemed to realise his plan. But then a Scyther suddenly landed in front of him and swung its blade. Russell found himself lifting his right arm instinctively to protect his face. A thud hit his ears, but he barely registered it. 

He couldn’t go to the ranger. He instead took off running in the opposite direction. 

Molly let out another high pitched scream.

“It’s, it’s gonna, it’s gonna be okay,” Russell said, between pants. 

“Your arm!” Molly wailed, pointing. 

Russell glanced back. His eyes widened and his blood turned to ice when he realised that his own arm was indeed on the ground. He found himself looking at where it should have been. Just below the elbow, it had been severed entirely, and the stump was heavily bleeding.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! 

He couldn’t give up. One more look was spared as one of the Scyther impaled the disembodied limb on one of its own. It waved the arm, as though to taunt them, before chopping it into slices. Russell knew what it was saying; they were next. 

Not if he could help it. 

But no matter where they turned, it seemed that more members of the swarm would block them from going anywhere. Eventually, they were back where Molly started; at the bottom of a steep dune that they had no hope of climbing up. 

“D-damn it. They, they were, they were herding us like, like Mareep…” Russell said, as he panted.

“They’re smart enough to do that?” Molly moaned.

“Looking like it,” Russell said, as he carefully put Molly down. 

“Don’t let them hurt me,” the little girl said.

“I, I won’t,” Russell said, as the swarm drew closer around them, “G-get behind me.”

“You’re, you’re looking bad,” Molly said.

She wasn’t wrong. Russell’s face had grown considerably paler, and his movements were weaker and heavier as he tried to move. His hand was shaking, and sweat had formed on his upper lip. 

“I’m, I’m fine,” Russell said. 

He had to get Thor out of her pokeball. She was their best chance to escape. Russell started to reach onto his belt with the hand he had left. But one of the bug Pokemon darted forward and swung its blades across his chest, leaving an x-shaped tear in his clothing and skin. The pain was unbearable and Russell staggered backwards a few steps from the force of the blow. 

The belt was cut, and his pokeballs scattered around his feet. He quickly dropped to his knees to find Thor. There was still a chance. But then his heart sank when he realised the button of one must have been pressed by accident.

Hestia, the smaller Larvesta, was far from his intended Pokemon to use.

“H-Hestia,” Russell’s words were a struggle to push out of his mouth, “It’s, it’s okay… get, get back in your ball… it’s, it’s gonna be okay...” 

The rest of the Scyther were still approaching, and the one that had attacked him was rubbing its blades together. The wings on the others vibrated, making a sinister buzz ring through the air. 

Hestia seemed to be staring the creatures down. On hearing Russell talk, she briefly turned her eyes to him, taking in his condition. Russell made a move to stand up, holding up the empty ball. 

“H-Hestia, re-” the command to return died on his lips when the smaller bug was suddenly cloaked in a harsh white light. Her shape changed and she grew larger. A harsh heat enveloped the air, and the light became fire before she emerged anew. 

Hestia had evolved. The larger moth-like creature flapped its wings. Its small limbs twitched, and it blinked once. There was a brief lull, then it fired the attack it had been preparing. Flames shot out from its wings, covering all in front of it in a wave of red fire. Grass was charred, the heat was almost unbearable, and the Scyther got the brunt of the blast. 

When it faded, all the Scyther around them collapsed. The only few that there were left standing had the sense to flee while they still could. Hestia watched them go, only then turning around when she finally heard her beloved trainer fall to the ground. The grass below him rapidly started turning red.  

“M-Mister…” Molly’s eyes were filling with tears as she stared down at Russell’s unconscious body, “Please wake up… please…”

Russell groaned as his eyes slowly opened. He blinked when the ceiling lights met his eyes. What the hell happened? Russell slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings. He was in a bed, hooked to a machine to monitor his vitals. His bag had been placed on a table nearby. 

Russell gasped when he saw what was left of his right arm. The memories came flooding back in an instant. The little girl in the Scyther pit. He had run to save her. Then Hestia had evolved to save their lives!

“Hestia... I owe her…”

But then the door opened and a doctor walked in. Her eyes widened when she saw that Russell was awake. 

“Mister Tolbert. Good to see you’ve come around,” she then said, before carefully checking his limb, “It looks the Alomomola mucus has done well to heal the residual limb as well…”

“Y-yeah…” Russell said, ignoring the itching he felt beneath his elbow. Phantom limb was bound to happen, “How, how long was I out? Is, is the girl okay? The, the girl I, I went to, to help…”

“Yes, Molly is fine,” the doctor replied, “She was very shaken up, but ultimately unharmed. And you were out for three days. It was touch and go. You’re very lucky to be alive.”

“Y-yeah,” Russell said.

Mom’s gonna be pissed… I was meant to be challenging the league in a week. I’ll have to ask the staff not to let her in.

But then Russell was brought out of his thoughts by a knock. The person didn’t wait for an answer and walked in. 

The man was dressed in a very smart suit. His eyes were a warm brown, as was his skin. His hair had been slicked back with gel. He was carrying a long case as well.

“Oh wonderful, you’re awake,” he said, “I’ve been wanting to talk to you, Mister Tolbert, about my daughter, and how you very bravely rescued her. I’m Marlon De Vulkner.”

“Um, n-nice to meet you, Mr De Vulkner” Russell said, “And well, I um, I just did it because I had, I had the chance, even if, if it didn’t go to plan…”

“Your Volcarona was very brave in the end, and so were you,” De Vulkner said, “But I wanted to find a way to repair you. You see, you might have guessed that we have a lot of money, and we have been working with Macro Cosmos in Galar, to produce new technology for trainers in need. We felt that perhaps along with helping with physical rehabilitation, that this will also help you along your way.”

He opened the box then, and Russell’s eyes widened.

“I can’t, I can’t accept this, it’s…”

It was perfect. The metal prosthetic had been crafted with utmost care. The arm would also fit perfectly for him. It had been crafted with the best tech imaginable and was practically flawless in design. The official logo of Macro Cosmos on the inside of the lid told everyone who had made it. 

Surely someone else would be more deserving of such a fine arm.

“It would be more than an honour if you accepted, Mister Tolbert,” De Vulkner added then, “It’s the very least we can do for you.”

Russell was silent for a while, his heart pounding in his chest. But then he looked up and nodded.

“All right. I would, I would love to, to have it. Th-thank you, Mister Vulkner.”

“You are more than welcome, Mister Tolbert.” 

[insomniac-dot-ink]

Toward the Sun

Summary: A music teacher in a wealthy household starts taking tea with the families eldest son after he returns from college. Unfortunately for Mathias plants start sprouting out of his skin at the sight of the young lord and there’s not enough places to hide, burn, and banish the sprouts to hide his feelings.

Short story loosely based off of @stutterhug art here 

                                  ≿————-　❈　————-≾

There was once a young man who taught music in the grand house at the border between the Druid Hinterlands and the humans domain. 

The family was the wealthiest in the county and the matriarch was certain her family was bound for ascendancy. She sent her son to the college with the largest trophy case and whispered in the night to her daughter about opera houses and theaters and stadiums come to hear her sing.

Mathias arrived and summoned all of his knowledge of their world to bow at the youngest daughter. She sniffed loudly and waved him closer, ‘you better be good.’ The little lady Rachel said back with the authority of a matador to a bull.

Mathias only grinned and took her hand, ‘I will teach you everything I know.’ She only hummed deeply and pointed to the music room.

‘Show me.’

Mathias taught archaic choir songs in dead languages and operatic melodies with notes with no end and sheet music with high tremors and low valleys day in and day out. And for once, he thought he was safe.

But one day the eldest son returned from college to help his ailing father with the estate and he stopped to watch Mathias in the music room. And it was over.

He smiled at him as they finished and asked with a clever tone: ‘tell me, what is your favorite piece, young tutor?’

Mathias blinked several times and tried not to look at the young lord directly in the face, ‘anything by Tchaikovsky, my lord.’

He chuckled and stepped into the room, ‘good answer.’ He nodded and gestured toward the door, ‘once you’re done with my sister, would you want to take tea with me? I’m afraid I don’t know the new staff as well as I would like.’

Mathias nodded and tore his gaze away from the eldest sons golden eyes and the dent in his brow that rivaled ocean trenches. Mathias ignored the faint-headed stir in his chest. ‘I’ll see you there.’

He was officially Jack the Second or the Younger Jack, but everyone called him Jackie-boy and swore on their hearts he would do right by the tenants and staff and anyone he married. He was his mother’s golden sun and his father’s road map to the family’s future.

Mathias tread carefully- or at least, he tried to.

They took tea and it started slowly like drops of paint into clear water until it was all reds and blues and yellows so bright it hurt the eye.

They joked about other composers in the county who made their money making ballads for the king with ear-piercing cannons in the background for his ‘glory.’ They joked about the old housekeeper who swore at anyone who wasn’t directly paying her.

And Mathias laughed and pushed his thick hair back and then he worried.

That night a small sprout tentatively budded from the place on his chest. Mathias woke in a cold sweat the next morning and took a pair of skewers to it’s small head and tossed it into the cold box near the door.

He took tea with the Younger Jack that day too and they talked about the politics of the Druid Wars and the value of a quiet afternoon by the fire and favorite smells and childhood foolishness and everything else in between. By the time they had finished it was almost dinner and Jack plucked something from his pocket as the sun hit the horizon. ‘I almost forgot. Here,’ he cupped his hands. ‘I had them pick it up from the marketplace when I saw it.’

Mathias sat there without a single word left to his name. It was a silver music box that played The Sleeping Beauty Waltz from the ballet and a spinning little red rose sat in the center on a pedestal.

Mathias could only wipe his palms down on his breeches and smile, ‘thank you.’

He barely escaped the room before the head of a sunflower sprouted from his wrist. He tore it out with his hands and threw it out into the duck pond for the animals to devour.

Later, he closed his eyes and dreamt of songs and ballet and music he had never heard of before that night.

Mathias spent his days in a sweet daydream and a wild panic. He chopped and he cut and tore and wore too many layers in the summer to suppress the roses and dandelions and cherry blossoms that sprouted from his shins and rib cage and fingertips.

He was buttoned up all the way to the throat one morning when Rachel turned to him and glowered, ‘Another family came by to present their daughter to Jack.’ She said factually and gave Mathias a calculating look through her violet eyes.

Mathias smiled mildly, ‘did they get on?’ He lifted a hand from the sheet music, ‘was she lovely?’

‘She was lovely,’ Rachel nodded, ‘but brother turned her away.’

‘Oh,’ Mathias gulped. ‘Another one? What a shame.’

‘Tch,’ Rachel shook her thick curls. ‘He’s not going to wait forever.’

‘I’m sure a nice young lady will catch his eye.’ Mathias said with a dull muddy taste in his mouth and a sobering thud in his head. He was sure the bloom behind his ear from that morning was wilting. Good.

‘I suppose,’ Raechel said with a devilish grin. ‘But that would take for his eyes to be looking at them in the first place,’ She lifted her small proud chin up, ‘he won’t wait forever, teacher.’

Mathias sighed, ‘let’s do your basic scales from the top, Rachel.’

‘What?’ She groaned, ‘I was just pointing out the obvious! He lik-’

‘From the top!’

They did doreimei for ten minutes and Jack glanced curiously between the two of them when he came in to invite Mathias for tea that day.

He likes you.

Mathias could barely look at Jack that afternoon. 

‘Mathias,’ Jack waved a hand in front of his nose once the biscuits and drinks had been devoured. ‘You seem distracted. Did Rachel say something? She looked terse this morning too.’

Mathias drew back, ‘it’s nothing.’ He said quickly and tried to stand up before the morning glory behind his ear burst into a weaving vine. ‘I’m sure it’s only a passing thing.’

Jack’s golden eyes alighted over him. ‘She’s getting quite good.’

Mathias grinned softly. ‘She might fill theaters yet.’

Jack nodded slowly. ‘Will you stay for that?’

‘As long as you’ll have me,’ Mathias blurted out before he could stop himself. ‘As long as I’m needed really.’

Jack smiled with his shiny straight teeth and self-confident air, ‘good.’ He reached out and pushed a strand of his hair back from Mathias’s face. ‘Because you must know,’ he breathed softly, ‘I do enjoy your music.’

Mathias’s heart squeezed like a juiced lemon and he took a step back from his touch. ‘Of course… my lord.’

And then he ran.

-------------------

That night Mathias smothered every thought in his head and every excited pulse in his chest from his traitorous heart. He tossed and turned and even opened a bag and put two socks and brown riding pants in it.

At midnight he was still staring at the ceiling and the words haunted him with the bloody vengeance of a restless ghost: Will you stay...

A sprout budded on his collarbone and spread outward like flood water over flat plains. It was the biggest yet- reaching toward the ceiling with mad fury. ‘No!’ He tried to yank it out by the stem but it was rooted deep and refused to budge, ‘don’t!’

He ran through the enormous house: up and down the grand stairs, through the long dining halls, and kitchen pantries, along the garden paths and through the foyers. He ran until he found himself collapsed in the central parlor sitting room in front of the fireplace. He fumbled for the wood pieces in the corner and the flint.

It took several attempts but eventually he watched the kindling spark and blew on it until it roared to spitting life. ‘Enough of this,’ he whispered to himself and grabbed the sprout at the stem. ‘It can never be. He is a nobleman... and you are a crooked druid.’

He gasped as he tore out the plant roots and all and threw the soft multicolored wildflowers into the hungry red embers. It burst to light and Mathias exhaled. ‘No more.’

He watched it burn and then buried everything else left inside him among the ash. Nothing could be left.

Mathias wondered back to his room in a daze and crumpled listlessly into bed.  He dreamed of golden light and whispering dark nights.

Mathias woke up the next morning to a high-pitched scream, ‘bloody hell!’ Erupted Housekeeper Jane and another shout came. ‘What is that?’

Mathias burst fully awake as hurried footsteps squeaked in the hallway outside and he threw his blankets off and bolted outside in his nightwear. He stopped a passing kitchen boy as the halls were alive with bodies and confused murmurs.

‘What is it?’ He asked groggily.

‘It’s the house!’ The boy called over his shoulder. ‘Go see for yourself.’

Mathias rubbed his eyes until he saw spots and then heard a distinct sound: music. It flowed and gasped and played in ethereal trumpets and chimes and twittering voices- strange and unnatural melodies that could only be from one thing.

He was running before he knew it; Mathias tore outside on clumsy feet and skidded to a stop on the great lawn. His mouth fell open as he got a better look at the house: branches snaked out the windows and roots bursting from the ground and a glorious trunk grew directly from the central chimney.

The tree had soft pink feathery leaves, maroon bark, and grew unlike any other human plant. It molded itself into a playful unmistakable shape: upward, out, and softly inward in a delicate arch. The tree grew straight from the central chimney and formed a heart at the very top.

A towering pink heart that could be seen from leagues around.

‘No,’ Mathias fell to his knees. ‘Oh Freyja, no.’

In the branches were dark blue birds with stars in their wings, magnificent crests that were half their size, and long trailing tail feathers. Enchanted nightingales that must have been attracted by the sweet pink Lover’s Tree.

It was worse than he thought.

They sang one song and one alone: The Sleeping Beauty Waltz over and over again. Their voices boomed and filled the air with a lovely and chiming twittering that misted and settled over the land.

Mathias buried his face in his hands and the servants and people of the house all gaped at the display.

‘Evil!’ Someone shouted shrilly. ‘Druid magic, evil as the day.’

Mathias drooped and put his hands up. He had to leave now.

He turned toward the nearest maid and tugged on her skirt, ‘Jane?’ He asked quietly, ‘tell Jack… I’m sorry.’

‘Tell him your bloody self.’

Mathias turned around just as Jack rounded the house. His eyes glowed sunshine bright in the light and his expression was discerning and open.

‘No,’ Mathias scrambled to his feet and turned to run. A hand caught him by the wrist just in time.

‘Don’t.’ Jack said softly and spun him around. ‘I know.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Mathias said emptily and looked down at his shoes with his throat thick with emotion. ‘I should have told your family… what I was.’

Jack shook his head, ‘they knew. My mother bragged about it at all her private lunches. A druid as a music teacher.’ He huffed a laugh.

‘Oh,’ Mathias wilted. ‘It wasn’t,’ he stammered and face flushed red and the music swelled louder from the enchanted nightingales. ‘It wasn’t supposed to grow like that.’

Jack craned his neck back and stared up at the red tree grown into a perfect heart out of their house. He snorted gently, ‘And here I thought I was the one that was going to have to say something.’

‘Excuse me?’

Jack drew closer and closer. ‘It’s a lovely tree.’

Mathias found it in himself to flush a darker red, ‘we have to cut it down. It can’t be… Can it?’

Jack shrugged, ‘I’m a young lord. What if I want it?’

Mathias’s eyes went wide, ‘there may be no end to your troubles then, sir.’

‘Please,’ he took his hand and drew it up to his face. ‘Call me Jack.’ He kissed the soft of his knuckles and Mathias fell into him.

‘Okay.’He swept him closer, Mathias wrapped his arms around his neck, ‘Jack.’

The birds hit a high note in a silver sweeping cry that sent a ripple across the land and watching clouds above. Mathias closed his eyes and the roots took a deep and warm grip over his heart and he tilted his head back. The kiss spread bright and soft across his mouth. 

And the tree reached the sun.

--------------------

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[love-fireflysong]

Day 23: Camp

Fandom: Tales of Phantasia Character(s): Chester Burklight, Arche Klein, Mint Adenade, Cress Albane, Claus F. Lester, Suzu Fujibayashi Words: 2527 Rating: General Author’s Notes: Oh shit, that’s right. We finally dealing with the whole cast this time, and since the prompt is Camp, I think you know what to expect...

“So, whose turn is it to cook this time?”

Claus looked up from the book he was reading, and rubbed his fingers along the brim of his hat as he thought out loud. “Hmmm. Well, Mint cooked last night, I made some curry the night before, and Suzu did something before that, can’t remember what though. So it’s down to either Cress, Arche, or Chester.”

Arche’s head popped up from where she was digging around in her bag and opened her mouth, but Chester butt in before she could say anything. “I am not letting you cook anything. I will cook both tonight and tomorrow if it comes to it.”

“You say that as though your cooking is any better than mine!”

“It’s leagues better than anything you’ve ever done, and you know it!”

Before their argument could get anymore off the rails and attract some of the local beasts to their campsite, Cress interrupted. “I’ll cook tonight, if it’s fine with everyone.”

Everyone else murmured their agreements and nodded their heads, except for Arche who batted her eyes in Cress’s direction. “Oh, that’s so nice of you, Cress—”

“Laying it on a bit thick don’t you think?” Chester grumbled under his breath. 

“—you’re so much more of a gentleman than somebody I won’t name.”

“Oh, and who exactly is that supposed to be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you go ahead and guess, or are you too stupid to figure it out?”

Cress turned away from his best friend and the half-elf witch, ignoring their usual bantering and fighting, to look at Mint helping Suzu to start a fire. He smiled softly in her direction. “What ingredients do we still have on hand?” 

Mint paused her assistance with the young ninja to stand up and dig through the pouch of cooking supplied she always carried. “Well, we are beginning to run short on a few things. We used the last of the bread and eggs when we stopped for lunch after fighting that pack of Timber Wolves earlier in the day.”

Claus took her place next to Suzu, and helped to try and start the fire going. “Probably be a good idea to stock up again soon. Thankfully, Alvanista's only another day or so away, so we can at least fill back up on bread and eggs. We’re gonna be out of luck for if we want any quality seafood or fruit though.”

Cress thought for a bit. “We got the stuff for beef stew?”

Mint shook her head sadly. “Sorry Cress, but we ran out of potatoes a couple of days back when Claus made curry.”

“You made the curry too hot, Claus.” Suzu interjected casually. “You used way too many spices, so you should be more careful with that.”

He sighed. “It wasn’t that hot Suzu, everyone else was fine. Though I will try to lower the amount that I use for you.”

Suzu nodded, seemingly happy at the compromise and returned back to the fire.

“We still have some spices though, right?” Cress waited for Mint’s nod of approval and continued. “Well, what about spaghetti then?”

The cleric narrowed her eyes in concentration as she continued to dig around in the bag, before looking at him with clear victory in her eyes. “We still have a couple of tomatoes left, though this will definitely finish those off.”

Cress let out a sigh of relief and looked down at the still empty fire pit that Mint and Suzu had made. Squaring his shoulders, he turned back to Arche and Chester who had now started pulling at the others hair, while still calling the other names.

“She-demon!”

“Shifty eyes!”

“You’re so annoying you know that?!”

“Hey!” The two of them paused in their banter to look over at Cress, though they never actually let go of the other’s hair. “You think you can give us a hand with this fire, Arche?”

Chester just stared at him agog. “Are you nuts dude? She’ll burn the entire forest down if we’re not careful!”

Arche harrumphed as she let go of Chester, nearly shoving him backwards as she turned back to the fire. “I’ll show you...” she started to whisper words of arcane power under her breath as Cress, Mint, Suzu, and Claus all backed away from the the make-shift firepit. With a quick movement of her hands, the spell finished with a small, bright red spark cupped between her open palms. With a cry of  "Fireball!" she let the spark go and it expanded into a small, blazing ball of fire that collided into the dry twigs and leaves, and set it ablaze instantly. Victorious, she turned back to Chester, hands proudly resting on her hips. “Well? Got nothing to say with that smart mouth now?”

Chester snorted and rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You got lucky. Could have burned us all to a crisp if you weren’t careful.”

“Excuse you, I am always careful with my spells. I never miss my targets!”

“Really? So you were meaning to miss those Killer Bee’s and bean me in the back of the head with that Storm earlier?”

“Like I said, I never miss.”

“Why you—”

“They act like children sometimes, I swear.” Cress turned back to look at Claus shake his head in an odd mixture of exasperation and fondness. “Can’t take them anywhere together.”

Mint smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know, I think it’s sweet. I mean they never seem more alive or happy as when they’re teasing each other.”

Cress snorted and stuck his thumb over his shoulder at Arche and Chester who had begun to childishly pinch each other on their arms. “You call that happy? Or alive? I’m surprised that they haven’t tried to kill each other yet, honestly.”

Suzu shook her head in agreement. “I will never understand their relationship. I don’t understand why two people who are clearly very fond of each other would say such mean things.”

“You’ll understand one day, Suzu. Some people just show their affections differently that’s all.”

“Oh, you mean like you and Mirald, Claus?” Mint said innocently. Her smile only became more angelic when he pulled his hat further down to hide his red face.

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

Suzu just watched all of this nonplussed. “I don’t think I want to understand.”

Cress sighed in agreement, clapping his hand onto her shoulder as he began to collect the ingredients needed for spaghetti. “Neither do I Suzu, neither do I.” 

Seeing that Mint was busy with helping chop up some of the veggies for the sauce and Claus had returned back to his book, rubbing at one of the many, many rings on his fingers, and not having the energy to interrupt whatever it was that Chester and Arche were doing for a third time, he turned back to Suzu. “I think I remember seeing a creek or river or something a little further back, do you mind going to fill this pot up with water for me?”

Suzu leveled him with a serious look, nodded once, and in a swirl of leaves vanished from sight with the pot in her hands. With that done, he went to sit down beside Mint and joined her in cutting up veggies and peeling the tomatoes for the sauce. The soft, appreciative smile she gave him as he did so sent his stomach doing pleasant little flips. Arche and Chester could keep whatever it was they had going on, he thought that this was much nicer.

Speaking of, Cress turned his attention to the bickering duo when he started to stir the pot of peeled and crushed tomatoes and spices when he realized how quiet it had suddenly gotten. Only to see that they had stopped their arguing at some point, and were now going through their own packs. Chester stopped his rummaging and turned to his quiver.

“Hey, Cress? Do you remember how many arrows I started with today?”

Before Cress could respond that he wasn’t sure, Arche already had, not looking up from her own pack as she continued her own digging. “Thirty-two,” she replied matter-of-factly. “There are a few sticks over that way that you might be able to use to make some new arrows. I managed to save a couple of feathers from the various Chirpees and Scavengers we killed earlier that you can use for fletching, too.”

“Sweet, thanks Arche.” Chester turned his head to talk to her over his shoulder. “If you’re looking for that new spell book you found near Suzu’s village, you gave it to Mint to hold onto last night. It should be in her bag.”

“Oh right! I totally forgot!”

Cress just looked at Mint and Claus bemused, but both only shrugged at him as they continued their own duties for the night, but not before Mint handed Arche the Fire Storm spell book she had been looking for. Soon enough, Suzu returned with the pot full of water, and Cress placed it off to the side while she used her skill to once again vanish, this time appearing at the top of a tree. There she opened the scroll that they had bought off of the kunochi at the summit of Lone Valley.

The rest of the time passed in relative peace as Cress continued to make supper while Mint assisted him. Claus mumbled under his breath as he continued to twist at his rings and add new sections to his book while Suzu never moved from her spot in the tree above them. Chester sat on a nearby log as he slowly and methodically carved and fletched new arrows, and Arche sat behind him, leaning onto the log and resting her head on his back as she frantically flipped through pages of her spell book. All in all, it was as peaceful an evening as Cress could have hoped for. 

Finally though, the sauce finished and he was pleased to announce as such. “Alright guys, looks like it’s about done!”

“Finally,” Arche whined as she tucked her book under arm, accepting Chester’s hand to help her up. “Thought I was gonna die of starvation over here.”

Chester nodded solemnly. “It’s true. I could hear her stomach the entire I was making arrows. It was very distracting, almost stabbed myself with my knife a couple of times it was so loud.”

Once Mint handed Arche her bowl and fork, she didn’t hesitate to jab her fork into Chester’s side. “It’s not nice to take about a lady’s stomach like that.”

“What lady? The only lady I see here is Mint, and I’ve never once talked about her stomach.”

Claus groaned in exasperation. “Can we please have a meal in peace for once? You two can continue your flirting after we finish eating.”

Instead of appearing embarrassed though, Chester only laughed. “Who’d flirt with her? I’m not interested in shrill, annoying, pink, brats.”

Arche only nodded in agreement. “Exactly. My type is tall, dark, and handsome. Not blue, loud-mouthed, and hot-headed.”

“Who're you calling loud-mouthed?”

“Well, who were you calling annoying?”

Mint giggled quietly behind her hand as Cress gave out a serving of sauce to Suzu. Who looked askance at her bowl, and then at Cress. “You didn’t put in too many spices did you?”

He shook his head fondly and patted her on her own head. “No, I made sure to go light on them this time. You should be fine.”

“Good. Thank you.”

After getting his own bowl filled, Claus lifted the brim of his hat to take a look at the now very dark sky. “We should probably figure out our watch order while we eat. It’s getting late and we should all be heading to sleep pretty soon. I’ll take first watch though, I want to get some more writing done before I hit the hay.”

“I can take the final watch,” Suzu offered. She noticed Mint make a face of concern but raised her hand. “It’s fine. I’m used to early mornings anyhow. It’s when I do my training.”  She stuck a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth and made a satisfactory nod at the taste.

“Oh,” Mint said instead. “If you’re sure, Suzu... I can do third then.” She turned to Cress before he could say a word, giving him an uncharacteristically stern look. “You made supper tonight, Cress, not me. I only helped to cut some veggies so that doesn’t count. Which means you’re exempt from watch duty. It’s your own rule after all.” Cress shrunk back a little at that. She wasn’t wrong, she was just using the rule he had made for her when she had had to cook every night against him.

“Oh! I’ll take sch-econd vatch zen!” Arche butt in with an excited grin, mouth full of spaghetti that she frantically swallowed down. “Maybe I can finish reading my spell book tonight and have a new spell to try out in the morning.”

“Welp, guess it looks like I’m on second watch with you then.” Chester sighed like he was being put-upon to do this. “Someone’s gotta babysit you after all. Make sure you don’t get lost when you go out for a midnight flight or something.”

“I think if anyone here needs babysitting its you, but suit yourself.”

Cress, Mint, and Claus all shared a look of puzzlement. This was unusual, the two of them rarely agreed to take watch together, and if this was the only the first time it would be one thing. But it wasn’t. This was almost the fourth time in a row that they offered to do so. Something was up, and Cress wasn’t sure he wanted to know what.

With a confused shrug, Claus stuck a forkful of spaghetti and sauce in his mouth and made a face. “Are you sure you put enough spices in, Cress? This is kinda bland.”

Mint sighed as she handed the spice bag to Claus. “It’s harder then you think to make meals that both you and Suzu will eat, you know.”

“Yeah,” Chester butt in as he elbowed Arche with a snicker. “Why can’t you be like this one? She’ll eat anything as long as it’s vaguely edible.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you ever insult your own cooking like that, Chester.” Cress fired back casually from next to Mint as he picked at his bowl. “Not usually your style.”

Chester just stared dumbfounded at Cress while Arche nearly fell off the log she was sitting on she was laughing so hard. Even Claus snorted into his spaghetti and Mint hid a smile behind her fork as she took a bite. Suzu seemed to be the only one unaffected, but Cress could make out the amusement in her eyes and the slight upturn of her smile.

“Cress, dude. What the hell, man?”

Cress just shrugged with a grin on his face as he took his own bite of supper tonight. Sure, camping was chaotic whenever they had to do it, but it was definitely his favourite part of them travelling together. 

[bnha-bakusquad]

Today was the first day of school. I was in the official school grey and green uniform, though girls had to wear a skirt. I adjusted the red tie and looked myself in the mirror. My ash black hair, my sometimes purple sometimes dark eyes, the scar on the side of my right palm. I pulled the sleeve lower to hide it, to hide my shame. Im going to need to alter the uniform soon. I thought as I walked out.

Shouto was waiting for me, and like always, I was on his left side. I had the jacket tied around my waist I ended up loosing the tie to let it hand a bit loose. It felt a lot better. As we got to the gate I stopped looking up. "I'll meet you in there." I said not looking to him. He simply nodded and continued to walk in.

I looked down at my hand, the scar seemed uglier then normal. Theres a secret that a few people now about me. My family, my powers. I was informed that the teachers know about it, but are sworn to keep it a secret. My second quirk, the one I try to forget.

I walked up to the classroom, looking around not seeing too many kids. There was a boy with red spiky hair, a girl with purple hair, a pink girl with antler things, a boy with spiky ash blonde hair. Our eyes locked, and he stared me down as I took a seat next to Shouto. Again on his left.

Normally I'd say something when someone stared, but this was U.A.

More students began to trickle in, some getting friends with others quite quickly, others not so much.

"Its no surprise that you two will be attending U.A." Our teacher said. Shouto and I were standing next to each other, a plain look onto our face, as if this was old news.

"It will be to my father." I muttered looking over to Shouto. A sympathetic look on his face. "Don't give me that look." I said walking off.

"Why don't I come with you." He offered. I shoved my hands into my hoodie pocket.

"Nah, its ok. I should probably tell him alone. Besides whats the worst he can do?" I shrugged. Shoutouts stopped and took my hand.

"You know. He's done worst then just this." He said motioning to my right hand. I pulled my hand back.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I said walking off.

I was standing out side my home. Looking at the door, I see the light in the living room on, meaning he's home. I took a deep breath and walked in side.

The first thing you smell is smoke. His quirk is to control smoke/air, thats why he works with fire and rescue most of the time. My bother got his quirk, I got our uncles, holy fire. "Dad" I called out.

I heard the television turn off. So I walked there. He was sitting up on the couch, hunched over the paper. My acceptance letter.

"I thought we agreed you'd go to a local school." He said looking down at it.

"No, thats what you wanted." I said staring at him.

"You think this will make up for what you've done?" His voice was low, angry. "You think you can be a hero after what you've done?" He stood up taking my right hand. Squeezing it.

"You're hurting me." I grunted out trying to pull away.

"You hurt this family!" He yelled, gripping tighter. I put my flames on my hand trying to burn him enough to let go. He opens his other hand, sucking in the air.

"Stop." I tried to say, the air around me was being sucked from my lungs.

"You will never be a hero, you may have her quirk, but you will never be like her!" He yelled and continued to take my air away. The fire in my hand was out, not oxygen no fire. "You are your uncle! Fire Demon!" He continued to banter and dropped my hand.

I sunk to my knees, light headed while trying to take in a breath. But he still wouldn't let me breath. "Once you turn 18, you're out of this house. Out of this family. That scar on your hand will always be a render of what you truly are." He said walking away. "A scum villain" I Collapsed on the floor I looked at his feet walking away though blurry vision. I blacked out on the floor.

When I woke up, I took in air like I was a fish out of water. Tears running down my face, I sat there crying, I missed school that day, and Shouto came over. He's tried to convince me to let me stay at his house, but I don't think his dad would like that very much.

He has a love hate thing for me. Todoroki's father used to let me train with him and Shouto, seeing as how my fire was like his, he though that my presence would encourage Shout.

I haven't seen my father after that day. A blessing really then again, I tend to sneak in and out.

I was in this school for one thing and one thing only. To become a pro hero. Unlike Todoroki, I'm not looking to become number one. Just a pro, maybe even one of the top five. I won't be what everyone else expects me to be. I won't be a villain.

"Hello Im Shota Aizawa. Your teacher." A man with long black hair, a long thin scarf that circled his neck multiple times and black clothes said as he walked in. His face looked tired. "Right lets get to it. Put these on and head outside."

In his hand they looked like the schools official gyms clothes.

Everyone got up single file, thanks to the tall one with glasses karate chopping the air, we got our clothes and went into out respected bathrooms to change. The girls picked a locker, and mine was more towards the corner, it gave you a bit more privacy. Chatter among them was suggesting what we will be doing.

"What do you think- uh?" A girl with short brown hair asked, pausing for my name. I gave her a side glance, all the girls stopped to look at me, there was a large mark, just under my left breast, visible even with a sports bra on.

It went from about a third was from the middle, and finished on the side. Like a slash, or a whip, fading. "Tsukihi." I said zipping up the sweat shirt. "These are gym clothes, so something physical? Lets the homeroom teacher get a feel for where we're at, what we do." I said pulling my hair out and fixing my shoes.

"My thoughts exactly." Another girl said with a side bang and a spiky like bun. I walked out meeting the other who finished on the field.

"Great everyones here. Today you will be doing a Quirk assessment test." Mr. Aizawa said.

Everyone repeated the last part in shock.

"But orientation, we're gonna miss it." The same girl from earlier said.

"If you really wanna make the Big Leagues, you can't waist time on pointless ceremonies." Aizawa said as some students gasped. "Here at U.A. we're not tethered to traditions. That means I get to run my class however I see fit. You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives. But you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before.

"The country is still trying to pretend where all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. Its not rational. One day, the Ministry of Education will learn. Bakugou you managed to get the most points on the entrance exam." The teacher said. Shouto and I gave each other a knowing look.

"What was your farthest distance through with a softball when you where in Junior High?"

"Sixty-seven meters I think." the blonde spiky haired kid, Bakugou, said.

"Right try doing it with your quirk." Aizawa said and he stepped forward. "Anything goes, just stay in the circle. Go on, you're waisting our time." He said as the kid just stared at him. Then began to stretch.

"Alright man, you asked for it." Bakugou said, the wound up the ball and threw it with force from his powers, yelling 'DIE' as he did so. I raised an eyebrow, he has a fire quirk too?

"All of you need to know your maximum capabilities. Its the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero." The teacher said holding up a phone with the number 705.2 on it. Most of the students gasped.

I won't lie, it was impressive, but it pissed me off. I squeezed my hands into fists, I was suppose to the fire one here. Not this other spiky headed, red eyes, lunatic. He caught my glare at him, as I crossed my arms looking away. "Now theres three?" I muttered to Shouto.

While I was in my head other where commenting about how 'fun' it looked.

"So this looks fun huh." Aizawa asked, "You have three years here to become a hero. You think its all gonna be games and play time? Idiots." He said it so creepy like. And that smile, made me straiten up a bit. "Today you'll compete in eight physical tests to gage your potential. Who ever comes in last has none, and will be expelled immediately."

This definitely got everyone attention. People where sulking, at least some where, others seemed more confident about it. "Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs." He moved his hair from his face, "Understand?" He asked. "If thats a problem you can head home right now."

I smirked. I know the power my quirk has, and I know how to use it. Growing up with Shouto, and his father, this will be easy. I look down at my hand, the only reason I was able to work with the number two hero, and his son. The scar will always be a reminder.

I ignored the rest until we stared, mentally preparing myself for anything.

"Now then. We're waisting time just talking. Let the games begin." Aizawa said. I smirked and nodded. Flexing my hands and fingers and doing my breathing exercises.

The first challenge was a race, a 50 meter dash to be exact. "My power has way more uses then anyone in this school." Bakugou said as I was walking by. I looked to him a slight frown on my face.

"I wouldn't judge others until you've seen what they can do." I said as I was next. I was put up against a boy with purple balls on his head. I took my shoes off before I positioned my hands in a running stance as I waited. Once the robot said go, with my powers, I used the fire on my feet to give me a boost, then using my hands as well. Crossing the line I got 4.09 seconds.

I had to walk back around to get my shoes. "Whoa nice quirk." a guy with yellow hair and a black zigzag line on it said giving me a thumbs up. I have him one back before standing with the others.

The second challenge was to grip a hand bar as hard as we can. My power wouldn't give me much of an advantage there, so I placed it on the floor letting the fire build up pressure. Then when it came to the release I took hold of it. Pressured fire can make an explosion, in turn giving it a false reading. And it worked it got 107 kilograms.

Third Challenge was a long jump. With this I did the same thing, run, build up pressure and release it, like a plane engine I lifted into the air, with speed and landed when I let the fire die off.

Fourth challenge was the repeated line stepping. The fire on my feet helped, but it wasn't much. I scored in the lower half for that one.

Fifth challenge was a ball through. Like Bakugou, I was going to use my quirk, build up pressure, and through. Making sure to stay in the circle I got it to 700 even.

I felt a sting on my hand. I gripped it, walking off, I must have pulled a muscle or I'm working the pressure factor too much. Either way, I need to lay off if it for a bit.

"Good or bad hand?" Shouto asked knowing.

"Bad." I said and he helped cool it down for me. "Thanks." I said feeling the sting fade. I smiled to him. Hearing a 'tss' I look over to the direction and see Bakugou looking away with a sour face.

The kid with messy green hair was next. "If Midoriya does'nt shape up soon, he's the one going home." Iida said, the really tall fast one.

"Huh? Of course he is. He's a quirkless loser." Bakugou said, pointing. Quirkless? In UA?

"He has a quirk." Iida said clearly surprised that the other kid didn't know. "Did you not hear about what he did in the entrance exam?"

"Huh?" Was all Bakugou said.

I looked over to the green haired kid. He's been getting the lowest marks today. Of course, I suppose no ones figured it out yet. They won't be getting expelled.

The green haired kid, threw the ball, very... unimpressively. The robot calling out 46 meters. I couldn't help but to try and suppress a chuckle. That was worst then the little purple ball kid. I put my hand over my mouth, so no one would hear, but I got a few looks.

Aizawa's scarf was floating around him, his hair all up in the air as well. "I erased your quirk. The judges for this exam were not rational enough. Someone like you should never be allowed to enroll in this school."

"Wait you did what to my-- ahh, Those goggles. I know you! You can look at someone and cancel out their powers. The Eraser hero. Eraser Head."

People began to mutter about who he was and what they knew of him. I on the other hand was more interested in why he was picking on that kid so much? I mean, I get it, he hasn't used his quirk all day, but to erase his quirk when he finally does? Why?

Wait...

I know him. Eraser Head. He was there, that day. I stumbled back, does he remember me?

"You're not ready. You don't have control over your power. Were you planning to break your bones again? Counting on someone else to save your useless body?" Aizawa must be talking about his entrance exam.

"No! Thats not what I was trying to do!" The kid yelled as the teacher pulled him in with his scarf.

"No matter what your intention are, you would be nothing more then a liability in battle. You have the same reckless passion as another overzealous hero I know" All Might, the one everyone loves. "One who saved 1,000 people by himself and became a legend. But even with that drive, you're worthless if you can only through a single punch before breaking down. Sorry, Midoriya. With your power there no way you can become a hero."

I closed my fist looking away. You can't say that, why'd you say that? Powers shouldn't determine if they can become a hero. How they use it should! I looked back over to the two. My heart going out for the boy.

I realized that as the others where taking I absentmindedly stepped closer. No one else heard him but me.

"I've returned your impractical quirk. Take your final throw. Hurry up, and get it over with."

I looked back over to the group, most where looking in anticipation, all but one. The blonde spiky haired fire boy.

There was a gust of wind, I gasped looking at the ball fly. He's had a quirk this strong and is only now using it? What the hell?

I walked up to our Home Room teacher. "Sir. If you're not going to excpell him, or anyone for that matter, why put him through that?" I asked. "I get you want everyone to do their best, making the stakes so high, but why single him out?" I asked. He didn't seem to remember me, was that a good thing? Then again that was years ago.

"So you've figured it out? Tenshi Tsukihi, correct. You got in on recommendation." He said and I nodded. But that was it, he never get me an answer, simple looked away.

705.3

He just beat Bakugou.

[angelic-guardienne]

Gladio + s/o with thick hair hc

I’m black. I have thick hair. I love Gladio. I’ve been meaning to write these headcanons for a good while, but never felt... qualified enough, in a weird way. I’ve had my hair natural for about a year now (I can’t believe it’s been that long, wow) and I still don’t feel like I’m knowledgeable enough to write these, because there’s still so much for me to learn. 

Still. Even if I’m certainly still learning the hows and whys of my hair, I wanted to write these. Took a solid month of time, and it definitely didn’t cover everything about the Experience (TM), but that’s mostly because I haven’t experienced it myself. Namely, anything with heat because heat damage was the reason I chopped off my hair and went natural, haha. 

Buuuut that’s enough from me. I want to get this posted before I have to start getting ready for work, so. Without further ado, here are the headcanons!

Tagging: @blindedstarlight @crazykruemel @ponkita @tales-of-a-fallen-star @valkyrieofardyn @insomniacapples @kawaiinekorose @glacian-apocalypse @honey-your-bee-puns-sting @neo-queen-alinity @singergurl91 @jaysfandomcorner @commitmentroses @linxsa99 @sakuraangel1 @tiniestofqueens @bestchocobois @magictactic200

---

Gladio absolutely adores your natural hair. Whether it’s curlier or wavier (or both if you’re like me and have mixed curl patterns rip), he adores it

He’s always kinda sad when you put it up or straighten it, he loves it more when you just wear it down and out and b i g

(though that being said, it’s not that he doesn’t love the other hairstyles, he just loves it more when your hair is out. that’s his favorite style, he loves seeing you embrace your natural self)

He wishes his hair could do the things that yours can do

(he jokingly says he might get a perm and you have to shut that down in an instant cause lord knows that man has zero impulse control)

On those days where your hair just won’t cooperate, he’s defo there to lend a helping hand (once he learns how to handle your hair, of course. as soon as he’s trusted with it, he loves loves loves helping you with it)

If you’re anything like me you’ve got an army of hair products and Gladio just l o v e s the way they all smell

Sometimes you’ll catch him in your products and you’re like “what do you need curl defining cream for, huh?” and he’s just like “it smells like you” and you can get mad at him but can you really when he says stuff like that

Speaking of, he steals all of your leave-in conditioner, all the time

If you let him play in your hair, his favorite thing to do is pull on a little curl and let it go and watch it bounce back into place

It makes him giggle like a child

One time he tried running his fingers through your hair and he was actually stuck (it’d been a while since you detangled it)

Speaking of “detangling,” he tries his best to learn all the terminology 

One time he falls asleep with a book about different hair types and their care routines open in his hands. it was the cutest image ever. you took a picture and made it your lockscreen

He will eagerly sit down and watch hair tutorials with you. In case you can’t do your own hair (or don’t want to) he wants to be able to help. Besides, it’s genuinely interesting to him that you can do so many different styles with your hair

(Again, he wants to try it on his own hair but it just doesn’t hold the same)

But yeah so he can’t run his fingers through your hair and at first he was a little sad about it but once he got used to the idea, he was just like “I can’t run my fingers through it but have you felt how soft it is?”

He's… obsessed with how soft your hair can get

he's obsessed with you (and your hair!) in general but yanno

It took him a minute to really truly understand the concept of shrinkage, so if your hair was straight when you met him, when he sees it natural he's like "oh man did you cut your hair? looks nice" and you have to explain it to him

Sometimes when he wants to surprise you, he'll pick up some hair products that you'd been longingly staring at (you couldn't get them yourself since they were outside of your price range at the time) 

Whenever you decide to get some stuff to try a hair mask or do some deep conditioning, you bet he’s right there beside you wanting to try it as well. You’ll have to make twice as much cause he’s a little heavy handed

Speaking of him being heavy-handed, you have to tell him to chill out when he’s doing your hair because even though he sometimes buys your products for you, they’re still not cheap and you’d like them to last a little longer

If y’all are showering together and you’re washing your hair, when you’re doing something a certain way he’ll ask why and then he gets a mini-lesson in the shower (if you’re up for it, that is)

Like, detangling from the ends to the roots, sectioning the hair for ease, wide-toothed combs, making sure you put in the leave-in conditioner while still in the shower, cowashes, etc etc 

If you let him wash your hair for you, good lord this man’s scalp massages are to die for

Eventually, curiosity gets the better of him and he starts using some of your advice for his own hair, and then he just? never shuts up about how much better his hair feels? he wants to tell everyone about it and he does, starting with Iris

He’s very much so the type to brag on his s/o and no one is excepted from hearing him wax poetic about them, he’s such a proud boi

(Iris just shakes her head fondly and is like “if you watched hair tutorials with me back when we were younger you would have been here already, but go off I guess”) 

Whenever you wash your hair, right after you get out of the shower and are dressed again (and sometimes before that) he’s just “What are you gonna do with your hair?” 

Sometimes he’ll pull up some hairstyles he found on the interwebs and show them to you, and you’ve actually done some of them but sometimes it’s way out of your league (or it’s something you would rather go to a salon to get done). Tell him, and eventually he’ll find that sweet sweet boundary between impossible and doable for suggested styles.

Once you told him you were gonna twist your hair and he had the most adorable look on his face when he asked what a twist was 

You were a little shocked that he’d never heard of it before but you showed him and he was just stoked to see your hair in a bunch of twists after that (and boyo, don’t get me started on the twist-out. This man is lovestruck)

When it’s a styling day (because sometimes it takes a whole day), Gladio will sit with you and just hang out with you while you do your hair. He’ll cook for you, too, because he knows having your arms above your head for hours on end is exhausting. 

Styling days are also movie days, if he can stay home! (usually you plan your styling days with his days off so you really can spend the day with him) Y’all just chill out and watch movies together and once you’re finished, you guys cuddle

The first time he used a shower cap he was literally amazed. Like he’d never really given them more than a passing thought, but like…. a cap. to protect your hair from getting wet in the shower. It’s ingenious. If he didn’t wanna get it wet he tried to put it up in a bun and hopped on the struggle bus

Suffice to say, he loves shower caps

If you have a hooded dryer at home, well. He’s not a fan of constant loud noises (or loud noises in general tbh) but he thinks it’s really cool that you can have a little piece of the salon with you at home, that you can still do certain things without having to drop the money

Speaking of the salon though. 

Your stylist loves and hates him because he’s super charming and they can tell just how in love you two are and they can tell how well he treats you and all of that, but good lord when the two of you talk you move your head a lot and that’s veeeery frustrating

As soon as Gladio notices he gives you a little kiss and goes over to the waiting area but it’s really not much longer before he’s trying to text you or trying to get your attention from across the room or something like that.

If you’re due to be bound to the stylist’s chair for a long while, he’s at your beck and call and will do anything you need while you’re stuck. Snacks? You got it. Thirsty? A drink, fit with a straw so you don’t have to bend your head anymore. Entertainment? He’ll ask if you want a book or a video game. Your phone is dying? He’s got a portable battery, babey

He always checks the weather and lets you know when it’s supposed to be humid, because humid days are your worst enemy. (He hates them too, but since he started dating you he’s become more aware of their frequency)

He’s bad about the bonnet. He really is. He really tries not to say it but it’s kind of like a mushroom top. He’s so bad about it. 

If you use a satin pillowcase, you’ll have to get another one because he wants to steal your pillow. He loves the way it feels against his face when he sleeps and he wants to feel it allllllll the time

But yes, all in all, as I said in the beginning, Gladio adores your natural hair and everything that comes with it and he embraces it and loves when you do the same. 

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 188: Hard Knocks Path to Redemption

Previously on BnHA: The Todoroki kids sans Shouto (and Dabi lulz) visited their mom at the hospital and awkwardly discussed Endeavor officially becoming the #1 hero. Shouto’s older brother Natsuo wasn’t happy about it, saying that the world doesn’t know about “what he did” and how he treated his family. But interestingly, Rei came to his defense, saying that things were more complex than that. She said she doesn’t know what’s going on in his heart, “but he hasn’t left us behind.” We then cut to Endeavor’s fight with the High Tide Noumu, which basically consisted of Endeavor hovering for a few seconds with his flames, and then getting very violently flung through a building. Like, he was basically used as a human laser saw to cut the top of this high rise clean off. A bunch of people nearly fell to their deaths, but thankfully Hawks saved them all with his ridiculously OP Mighty Wings quirk. Speaking of Hawks, idk but it sure is some shifty bullshit that Your Highness Noumu just happened to attack him and Endeavor in this building right when they were having a chitchat about Noumus. Something is definitely up you guys.

Today on BnHA: Endeavor continues to battle the High Heaven Noumu and pulls off some impressive feats, such as dicing a falling building into tiny pieces with his flames so that the spectators below don’t get crushed. Unfortunately these techniques come at a price, and he finds himself beginning to struggle due to the heat building up in his body. Meanwhile the High Hopes Noumu remains mostly unfazed, even dispatching a bunch of disgusting slimy clone things to wreak some havoc and distract Hawks and the other pros on the scene so that they can’t assist. Realizing he has no choice but to Go For It, Endeavor powers up his flames and hits the Noumu with massive flame attack: Prominence Burn. Unfortunately the Noumu anticipates his actions and is able to avoid being completely disintegrated. He regenerates, and then brutally slashes/stabs Endeavor in the most ironic spots possible -- his torso (nearly the same place where All Might was wounded by AFO), and his left eye (don’t think I have to explain this one lol). It’s all very violent, and probably not the sort of thing you’d want your child to witness on live television -- oh hey there Shouto. Didn’t see you there. Uh... well, shit.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 209 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

interesting title!

I wonder which of his four kids this is referring to? ngl I’ve been missing the U.A. kids for these past couple chapters so it would be nice to get Shouto back in here

holy shittttt

thiiiiiiiis is bad. that is some serious destruction. not something they can just shrug their shoulders about later, especially in BnHA where damage like this actually has lasting consequences

lol some other heroes are watching from a distance and they’re all “did Endeavor just Vidalia Chop Wizard that whole fucking building”

meanwhile Hawks is tumbling to safety on a nearby rooftop

and he’s referring here to Endeavor’s opening line in the chapter, “I’ll dice you up and burn you until there’s nothing left”

(ETA: in addition to being the first reluctant hero in the series, Hawks is also the quippiest we’ve had by far. Hawks is all your dialogue polished up by a Marvel screenwriting team or what)

I appreciate Hawks’s efforts at combat banter, but all I keep thinking is that those pieces actually did look remarkably neat and uniform, and that it wouldn’t kill him to show a little appreciation for what was honest to god one of the most insane quirk feats we’ve seen to date

also, looking at this picture more closely, my disbelief is gonna need a little more suspending, because I honestly don’t feel like either of them should currently be able to fly the way they’re doing lol. Hawks’s wings are in a pretty sorry state at the moment

and here comes High Treason Noumu back at them again, and he’s grumbling “bird...” like he’s all pissy at Hawks

lol what is this

what the hell is this quirk. does he shoot air gun fists or something. and this other guy has all of his fingers fucking disconnected for no apparent reason. like, what the hell is that even gonna do besides gross people out

(ETA: and isn’t this Tokage’s quirk as well. getting lazy are we Horikoshi)

now High Score Noumu is doing something disturbing oh god

ffffffffff WHAT IS THIS. WHY DO WE HAVE TO LOOK AT A CLOSE UP OF IT

Endeavor’s hitting it with another fire blast. thanks man

and now he’s doing a mental tally of the thing’s quirks

and don’t forget “can fucking talk.” not to mention what I still think is the most intriguing one of all, “has Kurogiri’s fucking face”

oh and I guess this is a new one

fucking gross ew fuck sick gross ugh!! why are they so gooey sob

I don’t really understand what’s going on but Endeavor seems to have it all figured out, so here

okay so he wants to fight strong opponents like Endeavor so he made some disgusting clones to deal with the small fries I guess

-- hold up. that muscle amplification quirk... that looks and sounds a whole lot like Muscular’s, though

is it just coincidence? that this Noumu just so happens to be so strikingly similar to not one but two captured villains previously associated with the League?? just what in the hell is going on here dammit

meanwhile, as Endeavor observed, the Noumus that emerged from his body look completely different and appear to be just your everyday run-of-the-mill Noumus

just a little grosser is all

Hawks is swooping down and taking them out without much effort. looks like he’s gotten most of his feathers back too

he’s telling everyone to keep evacuating

and he says that to be frank, power struggles aren’t his “forte”

so he’s acknowledging that he doesn’t have the All Might Factor, so to speak? that even though he’s strong and popular, he’s not at that level of always beating the big bads no matter what?

you know, that actually makes some sense. I can maybe understand a little better just why he was bothering Endeavor so much. that is, if it weren’t for the fact that I STILL DON’T TRUST YOU, HAWKS, YOU SUSPICIOUS LITTLE SERAPH

High Speed Noumu is asking Endeavor if he’s done shooting those red hot little slice-and-dice death rays

oh snap this thing really is smart

it’s not just talking and thinking, it’s fucking analyzing. there’s some real brainpower at work in this thing

now Endeavor is talking about his quirk, and I’m just gonna post the panel because like hell am I gonna try to summarize this

he was thinking this a few panels earlier, too. that he’s got a lot of heat built up now

and now he’s thinking about Rei and his kids with their ice powers

fuck me but every single time I start wanting to root for Endeavor he’s gotta go and remind us of this, though

also!? fourth kid alert!?? and this kid seems to have white hair just like all the others, and seems to be younger than Natsuo in this shot. which would seem to go against the prevailing theory? explain yourself, manga

(ETA: lol and I got an ask about this just today. I gotta give this some thought. but I still think it’s Dabi! maybe Endeavor is just confused about what his non-Shouto children looks like because he spent so much time ignoring them all!)

so now Highlander Noumu is making a crazy face and extending his arms or muscle fibers or whatever the fuck these things are again, and saying he wants to test out his new power on Endeavor

shiiiiiit this does not look good

this doesn’t seem like the kind of move he can maintain for very long given what he was saying earlier

he’s shouting at the Noumu that he’ll incinerate him until there’s nothing left, and his regeneration won’t be enough

well this has worked before, to be fair. back in Hosu

but why do I get the feeling that isn’t going to be the case this time, though

lollllll

is this the literal translation. is there some other meaning of “prominence” other than “famous and well-known” that I’m not thinking of. I guess it can also mean “something that sticks out a lot”, but I don’t see how that would apply to this attack

basically, to me this reads as “Endeavor’s I-Wanna-Be-Famous Big Fire Attack”

and damned if that just doesn’t say it all, though

he’s thinking back to what he said at the JP Hero Billboard thing. “just watch me”

and that he won’t disgrace himself by failing here

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit

HE WAS SO CLOSE

THIS THING IS REALLY FUCKING HARDCORE OMG

OH MY GOD

you’re telling me that Endeavor’s attack actually worked, but that he wasn’t able to disintegrate the whole Noumu because HE FUCKING RIPPED HIS OWN FUCKING HEAD OFF AND FRISBEE-D IT TO SAFETY AHEAD OF TIME!?

OH SHIT

goddamn -- fucking --

DAMMIT. COME ON ENDEAVOR. DON’T FUCKING DIE, DUDE. FUCKING GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND BEAT THIS HIGH FIVE NOUMU ALREADY, THE WORLD NEEDS YOU

ARE YOU SERIOUS

ARE YOU TELLING ME THE TWO OF THEM JUST HAPPENED TO BE WATCHING?? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS, SHIT

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

motherfucker oh shit you guysssss

(ETA: how does he even still have that eye though)

you guys. oh shit. this is so bad. you don’t understand

shit. because let me tell you, the very first thing that ran through my head was that he’s going to look so much hotter now and fuck, you guys. I KNOW THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO BE THINKING RIGHT NOW. BUT I CAN’T HELP IT. noooo what the hell is wrong with me I feel like slapping myself lmao

I fucking started laughing in real life at my own absurd reaction. I am ruining the mood of this chapter so damn fast

nooooooo

the parallels, though. oh shit. the same eye

and did Shouto’s quirk activate just now?? are those flames on his left side? oh shit

okay I need to get myself under control. fucking stop this now. stop thinking about how much hotter Endeavor is going to be with a big ol’ slashy scar along the left side of his face. and maybe an eyepatch. oh god. no, stop

(ETA: I really thought there was going to be an eyepatch. how does he still have that eye)

and now we’re cutting back to U.A. and Aizawa is gently telling Eri he’s gonna take her back to his room and I can’t you guys. first Endeavor losing his fucking eye and now Aizawa being a loving, protective parent on two counts, because LOOK WHAT HE SAYS RIGHT AFTER

now All Might is gripping at his stomach wound nooooo

seems like every big hero has That Moment, huh

oh fuckkkkk

fuuuuuck, Endeavor. going for that hard knocks path to redemption, huh

but I fucking can’t, though, because I just keep picturing Horikoshi’s creative process. like, you fucking troll, though. goes and creates the worst character of all time (not literally, I’m just being dramatic here just let me have this) and does his absolute fucking best to make him as terrible as possible, and then challenges himself to redeem him nonetheless. “how can I make readers actually feel sympathy for Todoroki fucking Enji in spite of everything? oh I know I’ll take away everything he ever wanted and make him finally start to realize what was really important and have him finally start trying to be a better husband and father. and then I’ll fucking murder him”

and like, I really need to stop laughing at this chapter, though. I’m ruining it, I know. if it helps, it’s not mirthful laughter though! the best way I can describe it is “haunted house laughter.” like, this is how I react when I’m walking through any sort of haunted attraction, and I’m really tense and excited and on edge. my weird natural response is usually to start laughing, possibly as my brain’s way of psyching myself up to be brave and reminding myself that it’s not real and they’re only actors. I feel like that, for some reason. and I don’t know why, but it’s actually a very positive thing, because this is the first time in quite a while that I’ve gotten this excited about the manga, actually

so I’m sorry, Endeavor. I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing because OH SHIT THIS IS GETTING GOOD and I’m really loving it. and also because Horikoshi has got some serious balls

(ETA: and because this is Kamino all over again. and I was fucking pumped. angst!! stakes!! tension!! there was just a ton of adrenaline all of a sudden and I didn’t really know what to do with it so my brain was like “well then let’s just do something really weird!”)

anyway, so we’re cutting back to Shouto and U.A., where Shouto is watching his dad die on live television

aaaaaand that’s the chapter end

my god. this went from “eh” to “epic” in like .06 seconds. is this the fight that anon was talking about a while back? because this was pretty damn good, I gotta say. fucking damn