#i mean it will be adding jobs (4000 of them!) but it will also be pushing out the small music scenes that benefits small independent artists

[imblueeforyuu]

Yandere naga x janitor reader 

You were broke, living in a car and constantly having to take odd jobs was the norm. It wasn’t that bad actually, living in a car means you can pack up and leave whatever city you're staying in anytime. But recently you’ve gotten a job offer no one can refuse. 1000 a week to clean some snakes' cage for some billionaire. And that’s the only description  you got for the job. But damn you’d be a fool to refuse. So of course you took the job, and now you were at this gigantic mansion. 

You felt out of place. Everyone had their own uniform with the name embedded into it. And you were stuck in your cheap ass clothes. Looking at the walls you notice way too many paintings of mythical creatures. Like one or two is already a creepy amount, but this person had hallways on hallways of art of such creatures. There were none of the billionaires, which was odd, aren’t rich people supposed to be super egotistical and have one to many art of themselves? A butler led you to A fancy door, was the reptile in there? 

“The master is just in there ready to ask you some questions,” the butler said blankly. Oh, an interview, right. Dang you're not ready for an interrogation. Sigh. You walked into the room to see a very burly woman and a big ass glass wall which seemed to have the enclosure of the snake behind it. 

“Oh, you're the new piece of meat.” She smirked. What an odd way to describe you. But for 1000 a week you’ll take any abuse. The woman got up and started to examine you. You froze, you don’t really like people in your personal space especially like this. 

“Hm, you're perfect,” the lady said. So does that mean you got the job? Yaya!

she handed you a broom and sent you on your way into the enclosure. When you stepped in it was like transporting into the deep jungle. The sky was eerily realistic, there were little animals and bugs scuttling around. But no snake yet, not that you minded you’d prefer to do the job silently and quickly. Unfortunately your boss said no phone, so you couldn’t listen to music. 

Your job went as quickly as it could. You didn’t run into the snake at all which was strange because you thought it would be pretty big but apparently not. Whatever, you walk out of the cage and into the office room. Seeing your phone grabbing it and walking out of the office, the harsh reality of the never ending hallways hit you as soon as you walked out of the room. Thankfully there was another butler looking dude, dusting. You walk over towards him. He seemed shocked to see you. But got over it as soon as you asked for directions. Now you finally get to relax. The next day was pretty much the same thing. There was no snake and you just gotta chill, you convinced your boss to let you listen to music.

A month passed and you were 4000 dollars richer! And with the added bonus of free food you were finally closing a deal on a real house, well apartment. You’ve also done your job too many times. It takes like an hour max to fully clean the cage. Which is perfect because you’ve taken on a new hobby called sleeping in the cage. How could you not? It was so peaceful the sound of crickets chirping always lulled you to sleep. But one day your peaceful sleep was interrupted by an overgrown snake. 

   “Stupid human falling asleep in my presence, does he know who I am?” I said. Hating humans was always a part of who I was. Taken from my home when I was just a child and sold off towards a crazy old woman who I’m pretty sure wants to fuck me pretty much solidified that hatred. but gosh I couldn’t kill it, it was kinda cute. I slithered towards the human who was taking a nap. 

Towering over it I pause, I’ve been having trouble killing this exact human.  Normally I would eat them whenever they turned their back. But this one was different. Like there was a force pulling me closer to him. so I’ve just taken to staring at him. He’s so interesting looking, I reach my hand out and touch his hair. The human twitches slightly, I quickly pull my hand back and before I was able to hide back into the bushes he noticed me. 

Your eyes widened, why the fuck is there a 8ft snake monster just staring at you. Backing up quickly, the snake comes closer to you glaring. It looked like it wanted to murder you, and it probably did. The snake man lunged towards your neck and bit it. You scream and try to push him off. But it didn’t work. He was just a wall of mussels. Now you are a pretty strong guy. You go to the gym every other day! But this guy was on a whole different planet! You still try and push him off of course but whatever he bit you with was starting to make you sluggish and you fall back asleep. 

You wake up in a cold sweat, you try to stretch and move but something is squeezing you. Thrashing around as soon as the dread of being touched all over set in, you hated when people were too close but touching is on another planet of hate. 

“Stop struggling human,” a voice hissed out. quickly you turn your head to see whatever was holding you so close. It was the snake man. 

“There’s no point,” he continued, stretching his arms. “You're stuck with me forever,” he smirked.

 Oh well guess this is your life now, stuck with a ginormous snake man who hasn’t quite figured out the concept of personal space. 

[this-hopeless-war]

i haven't been online so here's some headcanons idk if i've posted before im eepy

(tw talking about sh, kinda dark so don't read if that's triggering, that part will be at the end and separated so you can easily skip it)

Ace fucking loves snow

Dallas has shitty vision but he doesn't want nor can he afford glasses (and let's be honest, he'd break em within a day)

When Pony turned 15 Soda started teaching him about cars and etc, when pony was 16 he got a job at the DX 

Due to them working together Pony started to like Steve more

Darry hates when it rains because it means he can't do his roofing gig and he'll come home stressed/grumpy over missing a day of his paycheck

Dally can go a scary long time without sleep, he'll be up for 2 days straight and still be socializing and shit

Dally and Two-Bit once had a drinking contest that didn't end well for anyone involved 

Two-Bit took high school drama (thinking about this is genuinely how I get through the day at school)

During the week Pony was gone, Soda vented to Steve a lot, they honestly grew a lot closer

The first time he was alone after Pony and Johnny got back, Steve cried from relief

⬇️warning here's where talk of sh starts (also added some resources at the end if you read them then feel distress😨)

Steve has had issues with sh (OUGH I love him)

And because of it being in an environment where mental health isn't really talked about at all or very understood, he doesn't really know that sh is, like, an actual thing, he just considers it a way to take out emotion when fighting isn't doing it

And no one ever really acknowledged it (they can see scars on his arm)

Though i'm toying around with headcanons for a bit in my head where (TW) he relapses at the back of the DX after a REALLY bad night where his dad said and did some not-so-handy-dandy things and Soda walks in (Spoiler alert: Steve gets a hug and cries but Soda doesn't cause he thinks he should be tough abt it or something, when he gets home he does though)

After that Steve is at the Curtis's even more and Soda even goes over to the Randle's a couple times cause when Steve is feeling really horrible he calls him up

I also have vague ideas for a bit with Evie

Where she, like, does smt abt it cause she's worried and he's always dodged questions

not 100% sure how it'll work yet though

This is a post of a list of hotlines for the USA, if you found this triggering or are in distress in general please message/call one

⬆️There are help lines everywhere, please done hesitate to search up the numbers for your country and call/text them

And here's just some websites or apps that can help you in times of distress

Have a handy dandy day!

[squiddy-god]

ANNOUNCEMENTS!!! Please read ♥︎

OK OK so a few things!! Since we are getting closer to the end of October/end of the year!

First! Trick or treating is open! This can work two ways ;

The first is you send an ask of "trick or treat" and I respond heheh very cute very demure. The second is the same but you also give me a fandom and I'll write either a little treat or a little trick hehe this is open to all of the fandoms on my list! Please check out the pinned post for the full list and all the navigation!!

Second! New fandoms coming to the list!! :

Mdzs/Mo dao zu shi/grandmaster of demonic cultivation

Svsss/Scum villains self saving system

Heaven officials blessing

Blue lock

Vampire hunter D

Sirius the Yeager

The case study of vanitas

Magi/legend of Sinbad

Stardew valley

And possibly other manhua/novels you want me to read and write for.

I've noticed a lack of male reader content in fandoms where I feel like it would/should be more common... For example mdzs, svsss, heaven official's blessing, etc. And since I've been doing a lot of male/masc reader lately I am excited to work on some more personal projects including more male/masc/ftm reader fics. Heavy on the ftm trans reader fics because if there are none then I shall make them :)

I'd also like to apologize for the long waits on my fics but I also now have a job too, so I'll write/upload in my free time!

remember that I value all of you who support me, and I love when you guys interact with my stuff through comments and asks!

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

Future events!

Halloween event- a small Halloween event, both the trick or treat, but also if you want short hcs of little Halloween/spooky themed fics I will prioritize those, this means MONSTER MAYHEM!!! Request with monster boys/girls get priority along with spooky/fall prompts. I don't like thanksgiving so I consider November part of Halloween too!

Possible 700/1000 follower event!- currently at 670 as of October the 20th 2024, on my old blog I have almost 4000, but since this is a blog from scratch, let's go!!! I am thinking of doing something for 700 and 1000, but I need ideas tbh. This will include a squiddy Q&A where you can ask absolutely anything! (You can already do that but shhhh)

Winter wonderland/DDD- ok so two events for December/late November... The first is that winter prompts/request get priority, the second is DDD or destroy dick December, meaning smut fics lol not one everyday but definitely alot

New years events!- just some fun new years events, ask games and perhaps fics.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

As a reminder, you guys can feel free to recommend me things to watch/read/play! Especially if you want it added to the fandom list!

[fairydustedtheory]

I guess it's time for a new life update and pinned post on my blog. If you've been following me for a while, you know that this year has been a bit of a struggle, to put it lightly. I'll put everything under a read more because I know most people don't want to read that.

tldr: I'm f***ing poor. Here is my Kofi account and my kid's christmas amazon wishlist

Long story short, I've had to go to court twice to see the judge to protect my kid from her father and his new girlfriend who are pretty toxic to her. (I can share more in private but basically we've been and are still going through it). My kid has had a hell of year. Both of our mental healths have greatly suffered and are still suffering but we're trying to heal and hopefully will end the year in better shape than what we've got to experience thus far.

At the end of last year, I finished my paid course which I hoped would mean I'd get a nice job but sadly it hasn't been the case because there aren't many jobs available where I live and the ones I got interviewed for were simply given to people who knew people. And nobody hides that fact. So yeah that sucks and i feel guilty about not being able to earn more money and i feel guilty that i am exhausted. but I don't feel guilty that I put my kid's mental health needs first and that I try to protect her from the bad things that happened to her. But now with all the added expenses for my kid's therapy and some health and lawyer bills that weren't part of the financial aid I got, a tight budget can only get tighter. On top of that, my kid's father decided to stop paying all child support for over a year now, because he's a neat guy like that so that's about €4000 that he owes and I don't know when that will be sorted out. It's not money issues on his part because he comes from a wealthy family and owns several restaurants. Everything's been adding up and making it pretty difficult for me. I'm fairly good at budgetting on small finances as this is how life has always been for me but all the unexpected drama has been a lot.

Like for anyone who says don't have kids if you can't afford them... well, without publicly diagnosing my ex on the internet, let's just say he was very shitty but also very convincing and I was in no way prepared to get dumped basically after giving birth. I don't regret having my daughter, she's the love of my life and even though the world keeps putting obstacles on my way, I keep the hope that we'll get to a good life for the two of us sometime.

Soooo yeah, I know the overall state of the world is bad for everyone and my problems are definitely not the worst problems that exist. I'm grateful for what I do have and I'm not expecting miracles or anything but I keep trying to convince myself that there's no shame in struggling.

I'll share my Kofi account again if anyone feels like donating a couple bucks to my dumpster fire of a life. Anything helps and will go towards paying the rent (which was raised over €50 without the landlord informing me, just to make it more fun) and groceries.

Also, in case anyone feels like being a Secret Santa for my kid, here is an amazon wishlist. We didn't celebrate her birthday the way we usually do because money and mental health weren't with us at the time but it would mean the world to me if she could still feel some Christmas magic somehow. Her first choice is a telescope because she's been fascinated by space and stars lately, so I'm going to do my hardest to save up enough to have it under the tree at Christmas.

I know I'm barely on here anymore, I don't host any events anymore and I barely talk to anyone so I don't even know who is still around but at least I got some of that off my chest and trying to manifest a good end of the year, if only in good vibes ha

[1ddotdhq]

🍌Wed 2 Dec ‘20💚

Harry Styles Reacts to Banana Innuendo Rumors by Making EVEN MORE Banana Innuendos part TWO

Good morning/evening/night to Harry’s post and Harry’s post ONLY! (Okay that’s not true but it was definitely a highlight of my day). In case people haven’t seen it yet, it’s Harry in a light blue custom made suit putting a penis banana in his mouth. The picture is captioned “Bring Back Manly Men” so take a suck on THAT Candace Owens! It was only one of many great pictures in his variety shoot (including another, um, fruity picture of him biting into a pomegranate okay Persephone we get it), but Harry did indeed choose That One to post on This, the day after banana necklace dickscourse, BLESS. Harry’s interview was a little more in depth than they have been in the past, touching upon his feelings on race (“Historically, I can’t think of any industry that’s benefited more off of Black culture than music. There are discussions that need to happen about this long history of not being paid fairly. It’s a time for listening, and hopefully, people will come out humbled, educated and willing to learn and change”), as well as his tattoos (the only time he regrets them is in the DWD makeup chair), his love of reading, fashion and art, his exercise routine (Kid Harpoon couldn’t keep up!),  and his feelings on success and acclaim (“It’s never why I do anything...it's always nice to know that people like what you’re doing, but ultimately — and especially working in a subjective field — I don’t put too much weight on that stuff...Fans are the best A&R”). 

The problems arose - as they so often do - when One Direction was mentioned. The article said that “The proof [of the band’s benefits] is in the relatively seamless solo transitions of at least three of its members- Payne, Malik and Horan in addition to Styles- each of whom has landed hit singles on charts in the U.K., the U.S. and beyond”. Leaving aside the bad math (that's 4 people!) one name, of course, is notably missing: Louis has in fact enjoyed quite a lot of success both with Walls (remember when his album went #1 on iTunes in the UK AND the US literally 2 months ago?) and his pre-Walls singles like “Back To You” and “Just Hold On”. It got worse because the author tried to back up her claim with Harry’s quote, “When you look at the history of people coming out of bands and starting solo careers, they feel this need to apologize for being in the band...but we loved being in the band...I think there’s a wont to pit people against each other. And I think it’s never been about that for us. It’s about a next step in evolution. The fact that we’ve all achieved different things outside of the band says a lot about how hard we worked in it”. By linking her own words with Harry's quote she made it seem as though Harry said it to agree with her biased take, which we'd know he didn't even if we hadn't heard him say this exact quote without that slant multiple times before. Fans were quick to point out both to the author and to Variety that they were wrong (to describe the reaction mildly), and the author rather than fixing the mistake, doubled down and began blocking fans. Plenty of people were quick to say that of course HSHQ and Harry had approved this content, despite more knowledgeable fans trying to be heard protesting that that is not how it works. (Remember how just recently Vogue got Harry’s whole ass FAMILY situation wrong and it was not corrected until after print, for example?) In fact, even the magazine didn't really proofread this- the print version of the article is different and says, “The proof is in the relatively seamless solo transitions of at least three of its members - Styles, Malik and Horan”, effectively erasing both Louis AND Liam. It's an annoying take either way, but it's one the author more than likely picked up by doing her research on harrie twitter, not on orders from Jeff.

And because we DO NOT STAND FOR LILO ERASURE ON THIS BLOG, let’s talk about Liam’s Web Summit panel! It was 25 minutes of Liam and Marian Dicus (VP of Spotify) being interviewed about the current and future state of the music industry. Both of them, of course, noted that things had changed very quickly in their careers back at the beginning of lockdown, and how it had seemed surreal, at first, but that Liam had found that the way he was operating now (with Veeps and Tik Tok and Instagram lives) had made his platform a two way interaction with his fans. “For a long time I've been living in a dream world where I thought I was speaking with my fans but really I was just talking at them whereas we as artists ask a lot of rhetorical questions... I wanted to start a conversation”. Marian discussed how engaging fans differently WAS one of the most difficult things to puzzle out at the beginning, but that as months have passed, it seems artists like Liam have found a viable virtual future in the music industry (Liam tells us that he's been doing “stadium size shows” on Veeps which is an exciting clue about the mystery of how many tickets they're selling). They also went into the way music trends change as a response to social and political occurrences, how comfort songs gave way to protest songs this summer. Liam said, “People want their artists to have an opinion nowadays it's not that we can stay out of the conversation anymore-- and nor do we feel that we should in many places-- but for me it's a fine line because I realize what I do for people is an escape, people don't want things rammed down their throats every day and news messages from me about things that they don't want to hear about if they've come to listen to music, so its a real fine line that we kind of teeter on”. And about his opening acts, he acknowledges that his fanbase are mostly young women (based on the data breakdowns he gets from his team), and so he feels a responsibility to mentor young female artists in the industry so that more people like his fans have a voice. In an interview full of really fascinating music and technical discussions, this remained my favorite moment from Liam. Just like we won’t erase HIM, he refuses to erase US! And let's not forget our Liam alarm of the day-- it starts out absolutely adorable (“good moooorning!”), is hilarious in that apparently he just rambled completely unscripted and then they awkwardly cut it into 25 parts, but today's installment is frankly not relaxing! “only 23 sleeps til christmas have you done your shopping are you prepared” excuse me Liam YOU ARE STRESSING ME OUT. The promised relaxing sleep story affirmations are still 'coming soon'-- hurry up please I need them to decompress after that alarm!

Now for a lightning round of epic proportions: DWD darling pictures and vids keep comin’ and Harry and Florence are both looking GORGEOUS as Jack and Alice,  after the Variety shoot dropped ‘THE CAPTION’, ‘BRING BACK MANLY MEN’, and ‘LOUIS IS SUCCESSFUL’ trended worldwide on twitter, Tan France said “yes please” to Harry's banana post, Harry reiterated that London was home and he didn’t want to be in LA for longer than he needed to,Variety has its virtual show tomorrow at 5 pm PST so see you there! Veeps is sending out emails promoting Louis’ show to people who bought LP show tickets, fans have already started to receive their Louis Tomlinson Live From London merch, Trinity College in Dublin’s Law society presented Niall with an award for, uh, his Irishness, I guess? (Just kidding, it’s for “his incredible talent and work ethics which is famously underscored by a distinct humility despite unthinkable success”). It looks like he will be giving a talk when he’s presented with it, and I’m honestly really interested to see what it’s all about - is he...gonna be talking to law students? Idk but tune in on December 7th at 12 pm GMT to find out!

[reasonschillplace]

I’ve written over 1000 pages of script for my original story in the last two years, have begun a character blog to follow the timeline real time, have been house hunting for the last two months (tho tbf it’s to follow this job) and before THAT spent 2017-2020 developing a Homestuck fan adventure I decided to walk away from last year.

And also got all my work done while also getting ready to take over all office responsibilities. If I get all my work out of the way first thing, about two hours of my day is babysitting phones.

[trashyswitch]

The Auction

Nico is running an auction to see who might buy some animatronics. Sure enough, tons of people come! Especially parents with kids!

For everyone featured in the fanfic!

I hope you all enjoy!

“Patton: The fatherly animatronic. He can make ice cream, he can run with the kids! He’s been programmed to hug and develop friendships with all children. He can teach good life lessons! And he can even make balloon creatures for them.” Nico explained.

“And...Roman?” The person asked.

“Aah, yes. Roman is a fighter. He’s a stage actor with a love for being the hero! And his sketchy brother, with the iron mace. They are not sold separately.” Nico told them.

“Interesting...How much is Patton on for?” The person asked.

“$5000.” He replied.

“Hm...Not bad.” The person looked at Patton curiously and smiled. “Does he have any flaws?” The man asked.

“There have been instances of following the kids home till he shuts down...And there have been moments when he hugs too hard. But other than that, he’s in really good shape.” Nico told him.

The guy smiled and placed a hand onto Patton’s cheek. Suddenly, Patton closed his eyes. “Awww…”

The man gasped and pulled his hand away. “Oh god he’s on?!”

Nico giggled. “He is on, sir.”

Patton looked at the guy and smiled. “I’m Patton! You can call me Pat if you want.” Patton explained.

“Yes. He also goes by Pat if that’s easier. He’ll even scan mispronounciations of his name and react to those as well.” Nico explained. “An example of this is ‘Pabbin.”

“Yes?” Patton turned his head to Nico.

“See?” Nico smiled, patting his shoulder. “He’s a good one.”

Patton giggled and hugged Nico eagerly.

Patton let Nico go and looked at the other person there. “And what’s your name?” Patton asked the person.

“I’m Violet.” They introduced.

“Ooooh! Like purple!” Patton declared, clapping his hands and jumping up and down.

“Yeah, like purple. I like green too.” Violet told him.

Patton gasped and turned to Remus. “Ooooh REEEMUUUUS!”

Violet widened their eyes. No way…

“Violet likes green!” Patton declared.

Remus looked down at his own clothes and fist pumped the air. “YESSSS!”

Violet giggled at this reaction.

“Wise competition for the GREEEEEN!” Remus said, running up to the two of them with his mace in hand.

“Is this real?” Violet asked Remus.

Remus ripped it from her hands. “Yes! And no touchy!” Remus ordered.

“Remus, be nice! Or else you’re not gonna get sold.” Nico ordered.

“Have you ever considered that maybe I don’t wanna be sold to a stranger?” Remus asked.

Patton walked around the auction, looking around for the kids. Suddenly, one of the kids ran up to the animatronic!

“Awww! Hello little girl! And what’s your name?” Patton asked.

“Ashy!” She replied.

“Ashy, huh? Like Ashy, dashy flashy?” Patton teased.

Ashy giggled into her hand.

“My name is Patton!” The animatronic told her. “Say, are you ticklish by any chance?” Patton asked.

“Noooo!” She giggled.

“Noooo? Are you sure about that?” Patton teased before poking her sides and belly.

Ashy giggled and laughed as she backed up little by little. “Nohohohoho! Pahahahahat!” Ashy told him.

“Oh, alright.” Patton stopped tickling her and started to stand up. But Patton froze in place the moment someone hugged his leg. Looking down, Patton realized it was Ashy trying to tell him something. “Ihihi didn’t want you to stop…” She admitted.

“Patton smiled widely and picked up the little girl. “Well if that’s the case:” Patton started throwing her up into the air and catching her. After the third catch, Patton started tickling her sides, and ribs. “Tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle!”

Ashy was laughing, snorting and giggling all over the place as she sat in his arms.

Nico was about to intervene, when someone stopped him. “It’s alright. She really likes it.” She told him.

Nico let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness…

Patton soon stopped tickling her and hugged her tightly before giving her a gentle squeeze.

“Yay! Mommy, mommy, can we keep him?” Ashy asked as she was put down.

“Maybe, sweetheart…He’s kinda expensive.” The mom admitted.

“I don’t know hunny…$5000 for an animatronic big forever babysitter is not bad.” her father admitted. “My headphones were crappy and were sold for $300.” He explained.

Patton looked around the auction room at all the tables and posters everywhere. It was so decorated and pretty!

A guy walked up to the broken yellow and grey animatronic. “What does this do?” The person asked.

“Ah, that’s Janus: a...dangerous animatronic, to be honest. He was scrapped after he allowed kids to use knives and matches.” The doctor told him.

“Cooool…” He reacted, grabbing the animatronic. “I like it! How much?”

2500. He’s not nearly as expensive because he’s fairly broken. But if you wanna use him for spare parts-”

“I’m not using him for spare anything.” Alex grabbed his own hat and replaced the wrecked black hat on the animatronic’s head. “I’m gonna fix him up.” Alex told him with a smirk.

Nico walked away before he could get caught up in Alex’s questionable shenanigans.

Roman growled and pushed a person’s hand away.

“This animatronic is threatening…” The person said.

“Yeah...No touching me.” Roman ordered. “Only Nico can touch.”

“Now now, Roman...that’s not how you get buyers.” Nico told him.

“Why don’t you wanna keep us?” Roman asked. “Are we not good enough for you? Or, perhaps too much for you?” Roman asked.

“We’re giving you to actual owners who will wanna keep you for other jobs. See it as adoption.” Nico told him.

“Except I’m being sold for $4000. Why is Patton more expensive than me?”

“Because you’re a little more dangerous than Patton is. And because everyone has been flocking to Patton.” Nico explained.

Roman huffed and looked down.

“I like this one. He’s sassy.” the same person admitted from earlier.

“I do too.” Another person admitted.

“Can I have your names please?” Nico asked.

“Shannon.” The first person said.

“Sayge.” The other person said.

“Alright. I’m putting your names into the hat.” Nico told them, placing two names in.

“Alright.” Shannon told him.

“What does this one do?” Sayge asked.

“He’s a fighter. But he likes other things like costumes. He’s a theatre animatronic.” Nico explained.

“Are they meant to have personalities?”’ Shannon asked.

“Well…”

“Excuse me?!” Roman reacted.

“YES...He was.” Nico replied. “We are quite surprised at how strongly the personalities effect the animatronics, however.” Nico added.

“I see…” Shannon responded.

“Do you have spare swords?” Sayge asked.

“Yes we do.” Nico got Sayge a sword. “What for?”

Sayge ran up to Roman and started dueling with him. “EN GARDE, ROMAN!”

“EN GARDE!” Roman yelled back, perrying the sword.

Shannon giggled at this while Nico sighed in slight annoyance. Of all the things to start during the auction…

Soon, people started flocking up to the human and the animatronic, and started watching with curiosity and excitement. It didn’t take long before people split themselves into separate cheerers. Some of them cheered for Roman, others cheered for ‘Roman’s Foe’.

Roman smiled and winked at Nico before spinning the other sword out of Sayge’s hand. Sayge jumped and put his hands up as Roman pointed his sword to him. “Give up, mortal.”

Sayge, feeling there was no other way out, grabbed onto the sword and pulled it out of his hand. Funnily enough, the sword slid right out of Roman’s grip! It was like he had no grip at all! “How about now?”

Roman widened his eyes and put his hands up. “Okay okay, I give up! I give up! Mercy, oh powerful one! Mercy!” Roman begged.

“Alright.” Sayge smiled and started to bow as cheers filled the room.

Shannon widened her eyes. “Saaaay...this gives me some ideas:” Shannon turned to Nico. “I am a costume designer, and I would like to use Roman as my costume dummy.”

Roman turned to her with his jaw dropped. “DUMMY?! WHO ARE yU CALLING DUMMY?!”

Shannon jumped and put her hands up. “I mean tester! My costume wearer! Or mannequin!” Shannon explained.

“Oh...Continue.” Roman told her.

“Okay…” Shannon hummed and looked back to Nico and Roman. “I would like to take Roman to be my mannequin for my business.” She explained. “Now, is Roman able to be gender neutral in any way?” Shannon asked.

“You can say that, yes. I can give him a more round chin and a different shaped nose, if you prefer.” Nico offered.

“Cause I would like to put dresses onto Roman as well.” Shannon explained.

“DRESSES?!” Roman gasped and clapped his hands. “HECK YES YOU CAN PUT A DRESS ON MY GORGEOUS BODY!” Roman made a sexy pose.

Shannon giggled. “Good! I’ll happily adopt Roman then.” Shannon told Nico.

“Wonderful!”

“HA! I got adopted before Patton!” Roman declared, as if being bought was a challenge. “Take that!”

Shannon handed over the money and started to explain to Roman all that she had planned for the next coming weeks for costumes and acting roles.

Meanwhile, a guy was looking at Logan and quizzing him. “How tall am I?” Andrew asked.

Logan looked at Andrew, looked him up and down and smiled. “You are 164 centimeters, or 5ft 4 inches.” Logan replied.

“Wow! And what is 150 x 38?” Andrew asked.

Logan smiled and turned his head a bit. “5700.”

Andrew grabbed out his calculator, and checked the answer. Sure enough, he was right. “That’s amazing!”

“Logan was a creation made to counteract the manipulative Janus. He knows plenty of facts, can educate many, and has never told a lie.” Nico told Andrew.

“Would you ever consider making Logan a teacher?” Andrew asked.

Nico widened his eyes. “I never thought of that!”

Logan turned to Andrew. “Can you make me a teacher?” Logan asked, sounding unusually eager.

“I can...It’ll take some steps, but it’s worth the try.” Andrew replied. “I think you would make a great teacher. Or a great professor!” Andrew told him.

Logan smiled at the thought.

Andrew soon walked over to the guy working in the back, listening to headphones. “Hey.” Andrew greeted.

The guy removed his earbuds. “Hi, how can I help you?” Virgil asked.

“Oh nothing. Nothing. What are you listening to?” Andrew asked.

“Wanna listen?” he asked.

“Sure!” Andrew replied.

Virgil and Andrew would be seen listening to music through the rest of the auction together. They would even wind up exchanging phone numbers so they could stay connected with each other! Talk about a match made in emo heaven!

Meanwhile, Patton was showing off his hairstyling skills to a lady with long, wavy hair. “And that’s how you do a big bow out of your hair!” Patton told them, showing her the hair-made bow with a mirror.

The girl smiled proudly and showed it off. “You did amazing!” The girl told him.

“Thank you Mela!” Patton replied. “Thanks for being my hair mannequin!” Patton told her.

“No problem!” Mela replied.

Suddenly, an army of kids came sprinting to Patton, knocking him over. “PAAAATTOOOON!” They shouted!

“Ohohoho myhyhyhy gohohoodnehehess! WOHOHOW!” Patton reacted.

“Really, Fizzy?” Mela asked, referring to one of the kids.

“YES!” Fizz replied. “Is Patton ticklish?” Fizz quickly asked as they clicked a few buttons.

Patton giggled and squirmed a bit, but widened his eyes as he felt his sensitivity increasing more and more! What in the world-

“Hey! Get off him! Be careful what you’re clicking!” Nico ordered.

“There’s arrows for sensitivity! Uuuup-” The kid kept clicking the up arrow, throwing Patton into laughter and hysterics. At first it felt like nothing. But now it felt like every hair and material on the kids’ skins and clothes were tickling every inch of his body! Patton quickly fell into hysterics.

“Aaaaaand doooowwwn!” The kid said, clicking the arrow button only a couple times. “But we all want Patty’s sensitivity UUUP!” They said happily.

Patton laughed and giggled hysterically as he was tickled and doggy piled by kids. “GUHUHUHUHUYS! PLEHEHEHEHEHEASE!” Patton begged.

“Off off off off off.” Nico ordered. “I will not have Patton get broken by a bunch of evil kids.”

“EEEVIL?!” Fizz smirked and casually walked away. As Nico started walking away, Fizz grabbed his foot and pulled, making Nico faceplant the ground! Nico squealed and yelled loudly for the kid to let go while Fizz whistled innocently and tickled his foot.

“AAAEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE! KIHIHIHID WAHAHAHAHAIT!”

“Yeah! Cheer up old man!” Fizz teased.

“Tickle Patton!” a kid declared.

“Lee Patton!” Ashlee declared, having joined the group.

“Senit ivee’tee!” a toddler said.

Patton and Nico both bursted out laughing as kids started piling on the robot and the human, and started tickling, tickling, tickling! It was probably really embarrassing for Nico’s case. But for Patton, this was all part of the job. Kids just loved being silly and playful! And he was created perfectly for the kiddies!

Roman got a recording of the whole thing, and sent it to Virgil through text.

[How much you wanna bet Patton’s gonna be sold?]

Virgil looked down at his phone and chuckled while he texted back:

[I bet $10 bucks one of the kids parents buys them.]

...Sure enough, a daycare lady ended up purchasing Patton as a fellow worker at a local daycare! With a little bit of fixing, Patton was gonna be the greatest entertainer!

Sorry Ro!

[sup-hoes-its-me]

Before You Go (All Might x Reader)

Part One/Part Two

A/N: okay, so this is gonna be pretty sad all around. Ultimately, Young!All Might x reader, but with Aizawa Shota undertones. Aizawa was giving me some mad professor snape vibes in this, and I sincerely apologize for that. I love him too but this isnt his story.

word count:4000

“Y/N, you seriously need to sign up with that energy quirk hero’s agency...shit what’s his name? It’s on the tip of my tongue,” Yamada remarked, tapping his chin as if that might help him remember. He sat at the lunch table with the rest of his friends, Shota and Oboro. Y/N was right beside him, but it seemed his words, despite being loud as usual, went through one ear and out the other. 

“Don’t bother. She’s a lost cause.” Aizawa replied tiredly. 

They all followed her gaze, only for their eyes to land on Toshinori Yagi. The blond walked by, carrying his food to his lunch table with his friends, people Y/N didn’t know, nor could she ever even hope to know. To be honest, Y/N was kinda sorta a loser. She was lucky that she even had friends considering she was awkward beyond belief.

“He’s too full of himself to notice you, Y/N. I’d just give up on that one,” the dark haired boy added, bumping his shoulder with the girl’s. She frowned, shaking her head to get back to reality. Aizawa was right. Not even once had the blond glanced at her or said hello. He was too cool for her. He was going to be one of the best heroes to ever exist and she was just average at best. None of her teachers ever saw potential in her, just saying that her strength was great, just that the side effects of her quirk were far too destructive.

She took a hefty scoop of rice and shoved it into her mouth, chewing grumpily. 

“Come on, Y/N! It’s alright. You could just date me or Yamada!” Oboro laughed, clapping a hand on her shoulder from where he sat across from the girl. 

“You don’t have to ruin my fantasies, Aizawa-kun. I know I don’t have a chance, but it’s nice to think about,” she snapped, sending a sideways glance at her friend who shrugged. He tried to tell himself it didn’t matter if Y/N obsessed over that muscle-head, but it bothered him. She was their friend: she should pay attention to them, no ogle over some narcissist. “He’s going to be the greatest hero this world has ever seen, I just know it. There’s something special about him, his quirk-”

“We get it. Toshinori this, Toshinori that. You know, if you like him so much, why don’t you go talk to him?” Yamada suggested. He wasn’t upset with her talking on and on about her crush, but he just knew Aizawa was about to burst with a couple more remarks. When she didn’t make an effort to move, he smiled knowingly. “You’re such a scaredy cat, Y/N. What’s he gonna do, bite you? If he’s a nice guy, it wouldn’t be a problem-”

“If it’s so easy, Yamada, why don’t you go find Nemuri and tell her how you feel?”

That shut him up very fast, as expected. Their cloud quirk friend broke through the tension swiftly, “Well, instead of talking about stupid crushes, why don’t we talk about our plans for this weekend? Karaoke and Barbeque, dudes! It’s gonna be awesome.”

“Oh my God, I totally forgot about that!” Y/N exclaimed, shoving more rice in her mouth so it bulged in her cheek like a squirrel. She probably should take smaller bites, but it was more fun to see how many grains she could fit in her mouth at one time. “Hizashi, I swear if you eat all the spicy pork again...”

“That only happened once-”

“Twice, actually!” she corrected, poking him on the forehead with the end of her chopstick. They laughed and all was well again, if not for her lowering self-esteem. If only Aizawa believed in her. He was her best friend, the only one who’d been there since the beginning. If he pushed her to talk to Toshinori maybe she would have the courage to actually do it. 

But that wasn’t important. She had friends who actually enjoyed her company, and that’s what mattered.

The weekend was two days away, and a lot could happen in those 48 hours, she found. 

_____________________________________

“Fucking useless. So weak,” Y/N cursed, staring down at her burning hands. Blisters had yet to form, but she could feel the pain of her training. She could accumulate heat from her surroundings and expel that from any part of her body. Yet, it seemed that there were more downsides than perks with this quirk she inherited from her parents. Firstly, she could not consciously choose to concentrate the heat in any one area. Usually, it did come from her hands, but often she would find other parts of her body scalding to the touch when she was using her power. Secondly, using her power at high heat would leave her with terrible burns. 

Thankfully, her mother gave her bits of a regeneration quirk, meaning the burns only lasted for a couple days, most of the time less than that. Hopefully, with time, she could control the quirk so the damage wouldn’t be so bad.

She hated her quirk. It sucked. She couldn’t do anything much with it or else she would hurt herself and have to stop. Once she was burned so badly that the hospital almost had to amputate one of her limbs just from that. 

Sadly, she fell to her knees on the sandy training grounds, just staring down at her hands hopelessly. How could she ever become a pro hero like this? She’d never be able to compete with the other UA students, especially people like Toshinori or Todoroki or even Aizawa. 

“Shit,” she shouted angrily, shutting her eyes and slamming her hands against the sand. Her hands lit up a bright red for a quick moment as heat ran through them into the ground. Sand blew up all around her face and rocks were sent flying in all directions. As the dust cleared, she could see a small crater in the ground where she channeled her energy, it wasn’t huge, maybe enough for a person to lay in, but not much bigger. 

Her hands stung terribly, and blisters started to bubble up on her skin. She was so full of adrenaline and hate for herself that the pain hadn’t entered her mind. She was just so fucking angry. She would never be good enough. Why even go to UA if she was just gonna get a job outside of the quirk realm? If anything, she’d probably get left behind to be a civilian while everyone she knew got rich and famous from quirk work.

“Hey, are you okay?” a familiar voice asked from somewhere behind her. She turned her head, tears stuck in the corners of her eyes as she drifted out of her reality into the real world. If it didn’t sting so badly, maybe she would have been more excited to see Toshinori Yagi walking in her direction. She hissed, turning back around and shaking her hands to get some cool air on them. 

He jogged to her side, kneeling beside her. His eyes widened at the sight of her hands, but also at the hole she left in the ground. “That looks really, really bad. We should get you to Recovery Girl-”

“It doesn’t matter.”

He looked up to her face, his brows raised in surprise. Why would she deny going to the infirmary for an injury like this? She had to be insane, he thought. “What? Why?”

“It’ll heal soon.”

“Do you have a regeneration quirk?” he asked, but as he did so, he gently took her hands in his, which were in comparison, freezing cold. He felt like he was touching fire, but he knew his body was strong enough to handle a little heat. Her skin was already blood red, but him touching her so delicately left her feeling faint. The school’s star pupil was holding her hands. She couldn’t believe it. Even through the pain, she felt bashful.

She nodded. “Yeah, but it will take a day or two.”

“Well then, we’re going now.” He didn’t even wait for her to say anything in reply before picking her up in his arms, one behind her shoulders and the other under her knees. In shock, she could only lay there limp, her burnt hands face up in her lap. “How’d you do that anyway? You have a heat quirk, right?”

“Yeah. I just put too much energy into my hands. I have to use my quirk in moderation,” she explained. “Also, I can walk. It’s fine, you don’t need to-”

“No! You need to save as much of your strength so you can heal your wounds. Recovery Girl can’t heal you completely, I’m sure.” 

“Okay. Thank you.”

He walked inside the school building and started talking again. She didn’t know for sure why he was giving her so much of his time and effort. She could have taken herself to the nurse or easily gone home. It was after class. He might have been coming out to train himself, actually. Either way, he was being extremely kind.

“I’m Toshinori Yagi. I’ve seen you around school before, you always hang with the boy with that erasing quirk.”

“Yep. He’s one of my best friends.”

“If I remember right, you’re L/N Y/N? Heat manipulation quirk? You were 4th in this year’s sport’s festival,” he smiled down at her, and she felt herself light on fire once again. How did he remember her? She was such a background character, and even if she did mildly well, her quirk and face weren’t much to remember. “You were super impressive out there, I was surprised. You seem so shy, but really you’re a powerhouse.”

“Not really. I have to hurt myself to do anything good.”

“If you could learn to control your quirk, imagine what you could do with your power?! You made that giant hole in the ground out there in a matter of seconds.” That made her feel good. People normally brought her down, telling her that she would just have to deal with it, that it was a condition of her power. For some reason, this boy believed in her. It made a bit of a smile come to her lips. 

His grin felt contagious, and it only grew brighter seeing her lips curl up. 

“I guess so.”

“You should let me help you out. I know a lot about control from my own quirk. We’d be a good pair, I think.”

That was when her heart officially stopped beating. He wanted to spend even more time together? He wanted to take time out his day to help her improve? She began to rethink what her friends said about the boy. He didn’t seem full of himself at all. He was generous and kind from the looks of it. 

And to think she had a crush on him before. Now she felt her heart swelling up in her chest so much it might explode.

“Really?”

“Yeah, of course.”

That’s how Y/N met the famous All Might, and the moment she started her downward spiral in love with him.

_________________________________

Y/N sat at the lunch table once again with her normal squad of friends, Aizawa to her right as usual. She had one of her books sitting out on the table, a textbook Toshinori gave to her. He said that his own mentor had given that to him to help learn control and moderation of his quirk. She studied it religiously, and surprisingly, it was beginning to work. She had less and less incidents where she had to go to the infirmary or have to extensively heal herself. The training still hurt like hell, but it was less serious.

“Y/N, you’ve been studying a lot lately. Something up?”

“Just trying to get over my weaknesses. Figured I wasn’t working hard enough.” 

Just as Aizawa was about to say something else, a loud, excitable voice yelled from a few meters away. “Y/N!”

It was The Toshinori Yagi, the best student at UA. To think two weeks ago, they were telling her he would never know her name. Turns out he already knew, and apparently they were friendly with each other. Oboro’s eyes widened and he elbowed Hizashi beside him, who was jamming on his headphones. Aizawa’s eyes only narrowed. 

Her eyes lit up at the sight of the blond boy. He walked over to her seat and leaned his hip on the table, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “You’re really studying that book I gave you, huh? Even at lunch?”

“Of course! I have to do all I can before training.”

“You’ll be fine. You’ve been improving like crazy these past few weeks.”

These past few weeks? Just how long had they been talking?

He smiled kindly at her, and she blushed, hiding her face toward the table. It was weird for the boys to see their little Y/N talking with a boy other than them. And while two of them were ecstatic she seemed to have bagged the hottest boy in the school, one was particularly stormy about it.

“Well, I just stopped by to tell you, you look really beautiful today! You’ve been practically glowing with confidence lately; it’s a really good look on you.”

“O-Oh, thanks, Toshi-kun.”

“I just call it like I see it, Y/N,” he winked, and that sent her heart into overdrive. “Well, I’ve got to go eat, but I’ll meet you outside class later?”

“Yep.”

He left for his table with his super cool friends, leaving her sitting there a flustered, awkward mess. She shoved some rice into her mouth and chewed, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Sooo, you gonna explain what that was?!” Yamada cried out, clutching at his chest. “Your vibes were too intense, I almost couldn’t handle it.”

She waved the boy off with her hand, trying to downplay it all. ‘It’s really nothing. He’s just helping me train. He has a really good handle on damage control, since we both have stockpile type quirks. I’ve actually gotten somewhat better since then.”

“Seemed like more than that, L/N-chan,”

“I’m telling you, he's just a really, really friendly guy. That compliment was just a friendly one.”

Aizawa sighed, leaning back in his chair. “You’re so dumb, Y/N. He seems like he’s playing with you.” He said it so matter-of-factly, and she glared at him. 

“I’ll have you know he’s been helping me a lot with my training but also my healing. He’s very kind and always helps me with anything. He’s never once shown signs he’s not genuine.”

“That’s what a narcissist does to get you comfortable with them, stupid.”

“Can’t you just believe that my crush actually wants to be friends with me and help me? That he’s not just some malicious monster?” When he rolled his eyes, she stood up abruptly, grabbing her book and shoving it into her bag. He sat up quickly and went to grab her wrist, but she moved out of the way swiftly. 

“Aw, come on, L/N. Dudette-” Yamada whined, but he knew that Aizawa’s jealousy was getting to the tipping point for the girl. Years went by of him just pushing her away from other guys who liked her and were genuinely kind. Whatever Toshinori was doing with her seemed to give her enough strength to reject the boy’s malice words.

A little bit of him was even proud, the loudmouth admitted to himself. 

 She kept her head held high, eyes glaring down at the long-haired scruffy boy. He’d never seen her like this: standing up for herself. If she were angry at anyone else, he would be cheering her on, but now he just felt furious. How could she be angry with him? He’d been there since they were children and she just leaves because of some blond himbo. 

Her words cut clear in the bustling lunchroom. “I don’t need any negativity right now, Aizawa. If all you want to do is bring me down, then so be it.” After slinging her bag over her shoulder and grabbing her tray, she waved and walked away. As they watched her, she approached the table of her new friend, who greeted her happily. She sat next to Toshinori with a smile on her face, one that Aizawa hadn’t seen directed at him in weeks. 

Maybe he was wrong to be bitter, but he just couldn’t believe there wasn’t some conspiracy to all this. How is it that the coolest guy in school goes for Y/N? He thought she was amazing, he had for years, but no one else ever thought that. 

Whatever, it didn’t matter anyway. She could do whatever she wanted, and if she got her feelings hurt, so be it.

_________________________________

The pair sat outside the school as always. She munched on an icecream bar from the cafeteria while he leaned back, arm across her shoulders and his eyes drawn to the sky, fading from dimmed orange into deep violet. He had guilt hanging over his head the past few weeks, and it was finally time for him to explain himself. 

“I can’t believe we’re done. School went by too quick.”

“I think it goes by faster when you’re fighting evil a couple days a week.”

She nodded, humming in agreement. Her senior year was full of battles, emotional and physical. She was broken to bits when her friend Oboro died or when Toshinori was left to mourn his mentor and they only had each other. Being a hero comes with a cost, but no one expects to be 17 and watch the people they love die all around them. It’s worse when you’re strong enough that you know you could have saved them but you just didn’t. “It was worse than I imagined. I know we’re going to do this for our whole lives, but I don’t want it to hurt as much.”

“That’s why you have to always be better than the villains, Y/N. I know I’m going to be.”

 She tucked the clean popsicle stick into her bookbag when she was done with it, not wanting to throw it on the ground. Her hand found its way to his, curling her smaller fingers gently around his. Her smile was all too bright, a trait of his that seemed to grow on her the longer they spent together. “We’ll do it together, right? You and me on top of the charts, just like we dreamed of?”.

He relished in the warmth of her hand pressed to his, even if it was just a friendly. He was going to miss moments like this, dreams of the two of them...All that planning for nothing. He sighed, his eyes going from the sky to the dirt beneath their feet. “Y/N, I have something to tell you.”

With a furrowed brow, she asked, “What’s up?” It couldn’t be bad...

“Tomorrow I’m leaving for America. I don’t know how long.”

“What do you mean you’re leaving for America tomorrow?” Y/N asked her best friend, eyes wide with fear. He knew he should have told her earlier, but he couldn’t explain why he was leaving, and he knew the more time she knew the greater chance he would reveal the reason. She couldn’t know about All For One. It would only put her in danger.

He sighed, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder. “I have to go to America. I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you before-”

“I can’t believe this. You waited until the day before to tell me I’ll basically never see you again. You expect me to be satisfied with a two minute goodbye today and just forget about you- about everything?” she asked, a stone sinking to the pit of her stomach. She felt like she was going to cry or get sick. How could he do this to her? 

“I know. I know. I should have told you sooner but I couldn’t.”

“Why?”

“Y/N, I’m sorry, I just can’t tell you.”

That answer wasn’t good enough. It was wrong to pry, but the betrayal was too much for her to handle rationally.

She turned her head away from him, staring bitterly at the wall beside her. She refused to meet his eyes. “I thought I could trust you.You’re one of my closest friends, Toshi, but now I know you don’t care. If you cared you would have at least given me a heads up, maybe spent more time with me before you just decide to abandon me,” she sneered, the anger building up in her chest. “You’re too good for someone like me. Shota-kun was right this whole time. Everytime he told me you were just playing with me, that you didn’t actually care about me; he was right, wasn’t he?”

All Might shook his head, trying to reach out to grab her, bring her back to his side. He didn’t want her to turn against him now. He didn’t want to say goodbye with her hating him, her last memory of him being so terrible. Still, she jumped away from her seat, stumbling over her feet to get away from him. “Don’t touch me.”

“Y/N, please. I just want this goodbye to be happy.”

“Goodbyes are never fucking happy, Yagi. You’re so stupid.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“How could you not?” Y/N bit back her sadness, letting anger take over. “Just forget it. It’s not worth fighting over. You’re leaving, so goodbye. Maybe we’ll see each other again, maybe not. But just know, I would have done anything to stay by your side if you really cared about me.” With those words lingering in the air, she turned on her heel and started to walk away. 

“Y/N, please don’t go yet,” he paused, trying to gather himself. She was walking away, her back turned and her head hung.  “I love you.”

But she didn’t turn around. What was the point now? She’d lost him already, no use in saying anything back or confessing her love as well. He would still be leaving tomorrow, and they would probably never see each other again. It would break her heart to run back there and hug him, confess her long time feelings to the boy. They were never an item. Maybe if he stayed, they could have been something more. 

If he really loved her, he wouldn’t leave her behind. If he really loved her, he would have shut his mouth before those three little words, and saved her the broken heart.

Part Two is up!

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Mysterious person' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Mysterious person"

Chapter Summary : Yirina is coming back with the team to the safehouse with Sonya...ready to be interrogated....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +4000

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Sonya Kuzmin was an relative to Stitch himself and targeting them was maybe going to bring us some big troubles & attention.....that would have prefer to keep away from us but the occasion to put our hands on them was something we couldn't let get away. Thanks to Zasha's last intels they managed to intercept before we met again in three years, we were able to formate an plan to kidnap Sonya right into the center of West-Berlin in the Tiergarten neighborhood since they were always spotted into that sector and it was all perfect....our plan was too perfect to succeed correctly....

And then, out of nowhere and with us who couldn't understand what just happened, another group decided to step forwards from us and do their own moves to kidnap Sonya for themselves. It could have been some local thugs, an Perseus task force because maybe Sonya did fucked up somewhere, maybe it was Stone's mens that wanted to force them to track us down, maybe it could have been the KGB itself or worse, it could have been someone who was working with the West like the BND or big worse, the CIA itself....if so, we're kinda fucked.

However, it was bad for them as we managed to crash their van....well, Garrett & Garrett managed to do that and thanks to that, we were able to put our hands on Sonya, not forgetting that Zasha killed one of the others kidnapers to save me and then, we quickly got away from the scene, hearing the first police cars sirens arriving next to the place. 10 minutes later, we all get back to the safehouse in one car since Garrett or Greta trashed the car they used. Once we were there, I got out first.

"Okay, Zasha, you help me with Greta & Garrett. Park, you take Sonya to the basement." I ordered as I stepped out of the car with Zasha at the same time, I was more like acting like an superior as only me, Zasha & Park were fully operational while the two other....were more dazed by the crash, can still walk normally but it's better to get them well.

"Sounds good." Park exclaimed as she got out of the car, leaving Zasha with free will to act to help Garrett go out of the car, before she got next to the car trunk, hidden from the street sight as Zasha parked the car backwards. "Let's get you somewhere quiet." She added as she was taking Sonya with her, to enter the house from behind as for me, I walked to open the door from Greta's side.

"You're okay, Greta ?" I asked, rhetorically to her as I help her to get out of the car, she was an bit dazed more than Garrett but still awake.

"Mmhm...." She groaned like an yes to me and I know that she was lying an little, seeing her numerous cuts on her face. I helped her by putting her right arm behind me to hold her up and we started to walk to get to the front door, with Zasha helping Garrett in front of me.

"Everything good, Garrett ?" I asked to him and I could see him nodding to me from behind as the two, him & Zasha, arrived in the front porch of the house "We put them in the living room, Zed." I said as we start to enter the house with me closing the door behind before we entered the living room, Zasha already starting to get Garrett on an couch as I moved to get Greta on the other one. "Okay, you two stay here." I pointed at the two their respectives couchs before I looked at Zasha. "Come with me, gonna take everything to heal them."

"Good, lead the way." Zasha told me as I was leaving the living room with them to get to the bathroom upstairs, followed by them. It was there that everything medical has been put for us in case of an mission that goes wrong. We arrived in the bathroom with Zasha staying near the door frame as I was getting everything out. "Like in the good old days, Yirina." They said, crossing their arms.

"Yeah." I grinned as I was getting some dressings out of the drawer. "Well, did we have to patch up someone because they decide to ram their car into a van ?" I asked them, focused and I could see them shook their head.

"No, you were the one who had to patch me in October 1980." They fully replied, getting my attention on them for an second as it was something I didn't know.

"Tell me what happened that day." I demanded with them knowning that all my memories didn't come back and it could help me in case.

"Let's just say I have an knife fight with an Perseus member  who left me the few littles scar I have still now." They showed me the scar they had on their right cheek at their jaw level. "I didn't remember what happened next, however."

"Shit...well, can say that you're still alive to tell me that." I scoffed making them laugh and me too as I was getting the wound disinfectant from the drawer before I decided to show them something that they didn't see : my scars at my heart. I removed the concerned part of the shirt, showing them the cross I have now. "You know the Ku Klux Klan ?" They nodded to me slowly, seeing my scars. "Fucker named Remi Duvall...did this to me before receiving an bullet right into his head."

"Damnit." They whispered, stunned to see that in fact before I put my shirt back in place myself, finishing to have everything out.

"What an life !" I breathed, putting my hands on the dresser and looking myself on the mirror above the sink. "Anyway, let's get this downstairs before two people passed out." I suggested, starting to take some meds in my hands as Zasha was helping me to get some too on their hands before we left the bathroom.

We returned back downstairs quickly, not wanting to deal with two peoples passing out on their couchs as me & Zasha were almost busy to talk and we got back into the living room, Garrett & Greta still operational and needed to be heal. As Zasha took care of Garrett, I decided to take care of Greta by myself. It was a bit hard at the beginning as she was almost complicating my work on her face before I managed to not make her move her head again.

5 minutes I have started, Park came back from the basement, learning to us that Sonya was still knocked out but still alive and now, we just needed to wait that they woke up from the accident by watching an little monitor that I wasn't aware of that was just in the living room, hidden behind the dashboard. Park also gave me an hand to finish to heal Greta well and 10 minutes after that, we were finished to heal the two, now finding themselves laid down on their couchs.

"So...." I started as I leaned myself against the wall next to Garrett couch. I was wondering of something about the event. "Who got the idea to ram the van ?" I asked to Garrett & Greta who pointed at each other. "Oh my god." I whispered to myself, making myself an facepalm.

"What ? It was your idea !" Garrett exclaimed, looking at Greta, his voice sounding low as he was still recovering.

"I just suggested to you to do this, not to make you fully do this." Greta defended, using the same voice as him....it was like two children having an argument and I could see Zasha smiling from it as me & Park were like watching an whole scene of two childrens.

"Maybe but it was your idea." Garrett repeated, sounding relieved that Greta maybe unwillingly said it was her idea.

"Maybe but you're the one who did this." Greta told him before she moved to look away from him. "How I'm going to explain to the BND that my MI6 friend trashed an car from them ?" She questioned to herself.

"Okay, kids, time's up !" Park stepped in, having an bit enough to see the two like fighting, even if she was liking it, putting herself between the two couch. "Anyway, we got Sonya....so mission accomplished, right ?" We all nodded to her.

"Hello ?" We could hear an voice coming through the hidden monitor, meaning that Sonya was finally awake from the accident. "Is there anyone here ?" They asked, sounding pleading.

"They're awake !" I exclaimed as I see Park getting to the dashboard, moving it away to reveal the monitor on, seeing Sonya tied up to an chair with in front of them an table and another chair in the basement. "Time for us to interrogate them."

"You might want to do it, Yirina ?" Park proposed to me as she was finished to move the dashboard away.

"Of course." I replied with an smile before she started to walk towards me.

"Zasha, keep the two under control until I come back....don't want them to have another argument." She ordered to them, mentioning Garrett & Greta as she was taking Sonya's records file on the table before she got next to me. "Follow me." She then start to walk away from the living room, with me behind to get to the basement entrance that was just below the stairs. "Okay, so you try to find anything about Perseus or Stone." She handed me their file.

"Yeah...anything." I looked at their file before I put my free hand on Park's arm that was going to return to the living room. "Uhm....if they're maybe recognizing me....should I play 'Bell' ?" I asked as I didn't know if I really met Sonya before and for that, it was better to take some precautions.

"Okay." She whispered before she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Be aware, okay ?" I nodded to her as she left me to get to the living room, leaving me alone to talk to Sonya.

I took a deep breath as I put my hand on the door handle before I decided myself to open the door, leading to stairs going down. It was going to be my first time that I got into that room, the only room I didn't stepped in since we got here as it was either Garrett or Greta who was doing this part of the job but since the two are trying to recover, it was mine to do. I go down the stairs, each step getting louder in my ears, wondering to myself what could happen in that room.

Was Sonya going to be able to recognize me ? Did we actually met before what happened in Trabzon ? All of these questions inside my head as I was getting closer to get on the basement but all I know now is that I needed to prepare 'Bell' to intervene in case that they're able to have an hint on me. I shook my head rapidly as I arrived down, another door separating me from Sonya. No deep breath and I entered the room, seeing them, looking in front of them, having heard me coming.

"Who are you ?" They asked me sounding curious and angry at the same time as I closed the door behind before I put my eyes on them.

"Is this important to you to know that ?" I said as I approached the table, sitting myself on the free chair and putting the opened file between me & them before I looked around to check the camera that was just behind me at my left. "It's you that needs to talk, not me." I affirmed to them, poking the file.

"Fuck off." They told to me...very rude as I can say....no need to be angry, that's serving to nothing. "Ain't going to tell you shit."

"We will see." I snorted before I looked back at their file, fainting to discovering it for the first time. "Sonya Kuzmin, born in Russia, exact place of birth is classified, relative to Vikhor Kuzmin also said 'Stitch', worked for Perseus....."

"Okay, that's nice from you to read up my records." They smirked at me, stopping at reading their file again that I put back on the table. "I'm flattered but...uhm....where does that bring you exactly ?" They questioned me.

"In fact, we need you to talk about an lot of things because we have plenty of time for you." I replied, affirming my position as I crossed my arms on the table. "It will be very long until Stitch tries to save you."

"Pfff....my brother ?" They sniffed at hearing me saying that. "He's more going to act like an little girl.....I remember an story that said that someone broke his arm in half." They added, making me an very small grin as in the inside, I was quite surprised to hear the story of having break Stitch arm did make an lot of noises inside Perseus....my name never mentioned, that's better. "And to say, he's kinda dumb."

"Anyway." I whispered harshly, taking back my seriousness. "You might want to talk about Harry Stone to me."

"That british cunt used to be an fucking SAS soldier ?" They started, biting an part of their lips and looking away with their eyes. "You want me to tell you that he's only stupid as hell and more dumber than my brother." They continued, smiling about that as for me, I was keeping an straight face to them...staying serious. "Guy can't even act normally with those who worked for him....can say that the MI6 really want to get his ass down." My eyes went wide at this. "By that, your accent....betrayed you."

"At least, you know about that but it isn't the subject here." I admitted as I streched my fingers inside my arms. "What is he preparing exactly ?" I asked as they breathed away. "What is he doing with 2 nuclears bombs that he stoled ?"

"Aaah....might be the only thing I will say clearly about him..." They said, surprising me as they stated that they wouldn't talk to me. "Stone has given one of the nukes to Stitch as he kept one for his personal use." They responded, giving an chill in me : bringing down Stone will only save an city or an big place as Stitch has been given another bomb. "But now, Stitch is busy torturing the man who got his left eye out instead of playing with the bomb." They added, referring to Adler.

"Where's Stone and where's Adler ?" I asked, saying his name directly and they laughed

"Like I'm going to tell you, redhead bitch !" They told me with an sarcastic voice, wanting me to punch them but in fact, I wasn't going to play their games....but they were going to play one, thinking of something.

"If you don't want to say an thing about that...."  I started, slowly rolling my eyes to the ceilling before leaning myself on the chair. "Maybe, we can talk about.....Freya Helvig said....'Wraith'." I smiled at them as their eyes goes wide, I would have like to see the reactions from the other upstairs but better to stay focused. "Tell me, when you two have started dating ?"

"What ? I don't even know....."

"Don't bullshitting me, Sonya." I cut them straight gently, sounding calm. "We heard your calls to Stone & Freya today." I added, looking sure as they were stressed to be here. "So, answer my question."

"Well..." They looked away for an second before looking back at me, taking a deep breath. "Since you heard me, we started dating four years ago. Why do you want to know ?"

"To say, we were quite surprised to hear that you were with Wraith." I responded as I wanted to know more....but it could have exposed me to them....better to take things slow. "I heard rumors that explained that Wraith was with someone else before you, it's right ?" I asked, holding my head with my right hand, looking curious.....even if I already know the response in me.

"It's just rumors..." They breathed and in me, I was like trying to not get myself angry.....why I should be even if Sonya at that time stole Freya from me ?...all of this were the past now for me.....They then start to laugh slowly. "To say that one day, I could say to her that I was rescued by the MI6 from the CIA." My eyes went wide again at hearing this.....are the people in the van CIA ?

"What do you mean ?" I questioned her, finding myself like frozen in place.

"What ? You didn't know ?" They smiled at me, happy about that. "You didn't even realize that you foiled an CIA kidnapping on me and instead, it's the MI6 who are doing this." After I heard this from them, I started to hear someone getting downstairs and the door behind me quickly opened, revealing Zash, a bit panicked.

"Got an problem upstairs !" They exclaimed, holding the door with one hand. "Let's just say that the CIA tracked us down." I closed my eyes, meaning that we're in deep shit....Zasha killed an CIA agent and we didn't know that. I got up from my chairs, opening back my eyes as I see Sonya getting stressed to learn that the CIA was here.

"Keep yourselves down." I ordered them, pointing at them before I walked away from the table, taking their file with me as I joined Zasha to get back upstairs, leaving Sonya alone.

During the way back on top, I could see Zasha stressed as hell, having just learned that the person they killed was in fact an CIA agent and with now, the CIA knowning that we're here, we could all say that we were in an big trouble....just wondering about how the CIA was able to track us down here but they were either able to follow us or...well, I couldn't think right as we got back on the ground level, leaving the basement stairs and going to the living room. There were at least 4 CIA agents in here : two staying near the front door and two in the living room.

"Do you realize that you foiled an important CIA operation ?" An CIA agent with sunglasses...not Adler....adressed himself to Park, standing up and facing her upfront. "Sonya Kuzmin is an important asset for-...."

"It's not our fault if you are not capable of showing us that you were working on them." Park defended us from him, angry. "Your agents tried to kill us."

"Oh, yeah ?" The man shouted to her face. "So, explain why one of my agents is dead with 3 bullets in him ?" I could see him clenching his fists before I stepped in, putting myself between her and him.

"Maybe because they were stubborn to tell us they were CIA." I exclaimed, now with me facing the guy, angry. I could see the angriness on his face too. "You were the one who foiled an MI6 operation and the one to blame."

"Oh, you must be the brainwashed russian bitch that Adler...." He didn't have time to finish that he received an punch....by Park herself right into the guts, making him fall back until the other CIA agent tried to reach for his gun but Garrett acted first, jumping from its couch as he was laid down on it, getting right into the other agent path, having draw his gun to him.

"Deep breath, son." Garrett whispered to the guy who stopped himself in his path, getting holded at gunpoint right between the eyes.

"Why are they here ?" I asked to Park as I looked to the CIA agent that she just punched in the chest.

"They want Sonya to go with them." She replied, sounding in an low voice.

"It's impossible, we worked our asses since last day and...and they're in the MI6 custody now." Zasha protested against that as they have intels about Sonya since days.

"Oh, you think so ?" The CIA chief returned back to his feets, looking at Zasha with an smirk. "Who are you by the way ?" He asked them.

"That's not your interest, dipshit." I proclaimed to his face with him knowning that we can all punch him now.....but an bloodbath here is not an good idea. "Why do you want Sonya ?"

"That mission was prepared for days...orders from Jason Hudson !" He responded and to be honest, I knew that Hudson was going to fuck us one day....must have been following our mission. "Sonya Kuzmin can tell us where's Russell Adler and we leave this place with them, end of the story !" He confirmed his point of view to us, finding ourselves blocked : we got Sonya by ourselves but the CIA is pressuring us to have them back. In me, I was laughing as these guys hoped to make Sonya talk. "So, you gave them to us before we stormed this place with our guns and blame your deaths on Perseus."

"That's blackmailling ?"Park seems offusqued by that and faced the man again, me moving asie for her "I almost got my friends killed for nothing ?"

"Yes so you have 5 minutes to let us have Sonya before we put our plan in motion." He repeated to her face, smirking as Park looked away, sniffing and troubled....I could see that she got no other choices.

"Fine !" She whispered to him, looking at her feets. "They're in the basement, you got 2 minutes to take them with you before I change my mind." She added, snorting as she decided to get sit on an free seat next to Garrett couch as both CIA agents start to leave the living room to get to the basement and us....staying in the living room as we could see Sonya get taken away, a bag on their head before the CIA douchebags left this place....and us alive and kinda angry. "I'm sorry." Park breathed to us, blaming herself to have let the CIA win the argument.

"Those fuckers never change, it's not your fault, Park !" Garrett intervened, getting back on his couch, not even angry about Park's decision. "Always thinking that they're rulling everywhere."

"He's right." Greta added to his statement. "Because of them, all of our work today was for nothing...and it's not our fault." She continued, reassuring a bit Park.

"Yeah but....we are now almost without an perfect lead against Stone & Perseus." Park expressed before I moved next to her.

"No, we still have Portnova in Moscow...and now, we know that Stitch has an nuke, given by Stone." I affirmed to her, tapping her shoulder in an lovely way, giving her an smile before I moved to get to the dashboard. "She can tell us about what Stone is planning." I looked at Zasha, a bit stressed at talking about Portnova. "You're okay to come back to Moscow ?"

"Well, since I'm with you, I'm more than just okay. I'm in." They replied, sure of themselves as I smiled about it. We both couldn't come back to the USSR without having Perseus eyes on us and since we got Park and her friends with us, those eyes will have an hard time to find us."If I can find my Yiri again...."

"Then, we can prepare ourselves to go to Moscow." Park proposed as she got up from her own seat and we all nodded to her as Garrett & Greta start to slowly move from their couchs to get up as I moved away from the dashboard to get next to Park, taking a deep breath of the day we just had....an long and unexpected one to be honest. We just needed now to focus no more on what happened with the CIA in this place.....

"Well....it's time for us to go back to the east side of the Iron Curtain !"

[ms-demeanor]

SOMEONE HAS ASKED ME FOR HELP TRANSLATING OLD ENGLISH (OE). WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT LANGUAGES AND I’M EXCITED.

I CAN’T TRANSLATE INTO OLD ENGLISH BUT I’M STILL EXCITED.

Okay, so, this was partially based on my recent, completely hilarious, translation of the first verse of Baby Got Back into Middle English.

I did that because I’m a complete slut for Middle English (ME). I am, in fact, such a slut for ME that I decided to make a free translation of the Canterbury Tales for people who were more advanced readers than most high-school level translations could help but who had trouble reading ME because its grammar is WEIRD and FUCKED. (I only got through the general prologue and six tales and my analytical asides are insufferable but good job baby Alli I’m so proud of you for wanting to make a free translation you little punk fucking shit up you; now fucking finish it you ADHD gremlin)

SO ANYWAY. Chaucer is Middle English. What you’re currently reading if you’re reading this blog post is Modern English (ModE). POP QUIZ!

What language did Shakespeare write in?

*Final Jeopardy countdown tune*

Wrong! (probably, statistically speaking, you were wrong about that. I’m sorry, I set you up)

Shakespeare wrote in Modern English! It’s Early Modern English, sure, but it is nonetheless the same language that you are reading and speaking and writing today.

BASICALLY

What I’m trying to say is that Lizzo (2019) has more linguistic overlap with Shakespeare (1616) than Shakespeare did with Chaucer (1400) in spite of the fact that Shakespeare and Chaucer were only about 200 years apart and Shakespeare and Lizzo are 400 years apart. That’s because Samuel Johnson was an Absolute Lad in 1755.

(THE PRINTED WORD IS FUCKIGN AMAZING; DICTIONARIES ARE THE SHIT)

Anyway when I was first on tumblr I made a VERY embarrassing mistake and insisted I knew something about OE grammar that I extremely did not (I think this had to do with possession confusion when writing about two people of the same gender and I jumped in with a very bad take) because being a slut for ME doesn’t mean you know shit about OE.

Because Old English is OLD. Like. Really Old.

Like it probably came to England in around 450CE. OLD.

OE is basically Old German. (The development of Modern German is as weird or weirder as the development of Modern English and is no-shit heavily built on work of the Grimm Brothers. The Fairytale dudes.) But also kind of Old Scandinavian? And Frisian. Oh the Frisian. (English speakers: break your brain and listen to this video. Frisian is really closely related to ModE and spoken Frisian sounds infuriatingly close to comprehensible for most English speakers) and basically it’s a messy amalgam of the tribal languages of the various vikings who were continually taking the place over plus all the Brittonic languages plus Latin because of the Romans.

Anyway part of what I’m getting at is that OE was kind of a giant mess (just like ModE!) and translating into OE is also a mess.

Also because OE wasn’t just one language, it was four major dialects and constant moving goalposts as various groups gained and lost power. England didn’t even have a single monarch until almost 200 years after Beowulf was (maybe, probably) written.

So 1066 a somewhat-French dude fought a war with the King of Norway and a bunch of English dudes and long story short that’s how Norman French (which is French with a heavy salting of Scandinavian languages and a soupcon of Celtic) started beating up Old English and eventually turned into ME. (In the General Prologue of the Canterbury tales Chaucer makes a joke that the Prioress’s French is more of Normandy than Paris which is a joke because she’s claiming to be educated in Fancy French but she’s really educated in the form of French that’s like hootin’ and hollerin’ down by the crick can I get a yeehaw).

The deal is that we’re now approximately 4000 permutations away from whatever resembled a lingua franca in England before the Norman Conquest. Our surviving stock of Old English manuscripts is minuscule. Tolkein probably wrote more words in the languages he constructed than exist in OE.

OE is dead. We’ve reconstructed it as best we can and have an okay idea of how the language worked but our understanding of the vocabulary is. A little weird. There are some extremely specific words that kind of just don’t translate to the modern world (“bag specifically for carrying stolen goods” is a decent example). There are some words for which the context is kind of fucked (so if you wanted to translate a proposal it’s hard to ask someone to be your wife if “wife” and “woman” are the same word and “wif” is added to a lot of words to make them apply to women (we retain this in “housewife,” but generally don’t use things like “fishwife” anymore))

But, say you want to learn and translate anyway, what do you do? You make friends with a bunch of nerds and we’ll share our hoarded dictionaries with you. Even the really old ones.

REALLY old.

Actually I don’t have my 1820s Old English dictionary handy so have this one from 1916 instead.

Here’s a site that will translate ModE to OE or OE to ModE as you choose.

The University of Texas at Austen Linguistics Research Center has an online course for learning OE.

Here’s a whole-ass OE textbook.

Some nerds made a podcast about learning OE.

And here’s a very, very short look at the language if you’re thinking of looking into it more.

But if you don’t have time to study a whole new language and want to get something translated fast I recommend finding someone on their way to Kalamazoo and offering them twenty bucks because it’s a hard economy out there for Medieval Studies grad students.

Uh.

Anyway.

[a-forgotten-spirit]

Love Isn’t An Illusion (3)

Pairing: Todoroki x Bakugou, Todoroki x Reader x Bakugou, VERY SLOW BUILD

Summary: Picking your hero agency, training and going on patrol. Hospitals times and talking to the one and only Hero Killer Stain.

Words: +-6600

Warnings: Being a sidekick, bad parenting, parents yelling, parent tried to hit you, agencies trying to take you, training, hero costumes, going on patrol, fighting Nomus, Hero Killer Stain, saving Hero Killer Stains life, going to a hospital, video of you helping, talking to Stain.

Tagged:  @kittycatspervertedheart​ @lemorrite​ @gwendlynn​ @marleps​ @thicctati2​ @saitamastamaticsoup​ @succulent-momma​ @aurorahoneybuns​ @imjusttireddudes​ @misconceptualised​ @ochabby​ @katsukisuwus​ @gayverlinq​ @star-witchs-blog​

A/N:  I wrote this for the fans. I do not own My Hero academia or the characters, I don’t own most of the plot for this story, I had watched the show and re-written the dialogue and plot as if the reader was the main character. Everything is centred around the reader. Please comment, makes me happy. Ask if you wish to be tagged. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAKUGOU

Masterlist 

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3

The ride home was short and quick when inside the house, no one was home. Perfect for what had to be done. Making my way to my room I placed my bags down and looked through the paper, twenty-three numbers could fit my needs. 

Rubbing my eyes in exhaustion “Sorry I will not be used as a tool, thank you” I quickly hung up and sighed. I was glad I had placed my phone on private. The extent some of these people will go to get me to be an intern. I threw my phone onto my desk, my head falling back. My spirit had been lowered but with a slap to my cheeks and a smile. I looked at the rest of the names, a few I knew I wouldn't fit not liking what they focused on. 

Then I saw Snipe. The teacher who was in the lounge with Aizawa. He had been highlighted, I sighed but called nonetheless. “Hello, this is Snipe Agency” I let out a silent breath. 

“I think you’re expecting my call” I smiled, I wanted to make the conversation light-hearted. I could hear noise around him, then a shuffle, a bell and finally nothing. He must have been out “Look I'll get to the point. I’ve turned down over 4000 people and yelled at fifteen Pro heroes in the past hour for trying to bribe me. You heard my terms in the room. Make your choice, I have a lot more people to call” I know I was being rude but this was my future. This was who I wanted to be. I wasn’t going to be taken lightly. 

“Y/N I would be honoured to have you as my sidekick for a week. I am situated in the city, I will take you from school to my agency and get you started immediately” his offer was all I had been waiting for. I kinda wished he had just asked me in the room I was glad I made those phone calls, now every hero knows what I'm like. “If you would like to be my sidekick” he finished and I noticed his voice wasn’t the strange one it usually was. 

“I’ll turn in my paperwork tomorrow. I won’t let you down Snipe” I promised, a few more words and the conversation was over. I saved his number. Taking my phone off private I smiled and then threw my arms into the air. “I’m training with a real Pro and they called me their sidekick” I screamed and jumped up feeling more energised than ever. 

Over the coming days, I handed in my paperwork and smiled at Snipe whenever I saw him at the campus. I was beyond excited, Monday couldn’t come fast enough. All I wanted to do was to be worth something to society. I knew this was meant to be a time where I trained and things but I could train while on the job. I had my costume change slightly to be a bit more suitable and then at the weekend. The weekend was long and a lot of fights broke out. 

“What do you mean you aren’t coming to this interview” my mother shrieked hair and makeup flawless, clothing expensive and ironed. Even if I did go, it wasn’t about her anyway. I doubted she even be let into the interview. She had been yelling at me for over half an hour now. 

“I already said, I can’t it's against school rules. It’s not my fault you don’t listen to me” I answered as my father looked just as mad at me. I was trying to get ready for Monday, I was excited. They were ruining my mood, I wasn't impressed. 

“How dare you take that tone with me” she yelled stepping forward and my eyes narrowed in anger and hate. I wasn’t going to allow her to yell at me for doing something I didn’t want to do. She did not own me. “Answer me this second” she yelled and her hand came out, it stopped in mid-air. She looked scared as my eyes moved to her own. 

“Don’t touch me” I threw her hand at her she rubbed her wrist though I knew I hadn’t hurt her or I should say the illusion didn’t. Her hair was moving now, strands wild. I hated her quirk, it brought a lot of unwanted memories. “Go use your quirk, wouldn’t be the first time” I grit my teeth and then I smiled “I don’t want to talk to you anymore” with that I disappeared and began to walk up the stairs. 

“Y/N get back here this second” I heard a yell and then slammed my bedroom door making sure to turn the lock. She was always self-centred. We didn’t talk for the rest of the weekend and when I said I'd be gone for a week she waved me off. Good, I didn’t want to see you either. 

“Everyone has their costumes right,” Aizawa asked as we all stood in front of him. My backpack laid heavy on my back but I smiled nonetheless. I was so excited. This is the first day of a new me. “Remember you don’t have permission to wear them out in public yet. Don’t lose them or anything” I was so excited. I gripped my case tighter and nodded frantically. With a happy yell from Ashido, Aizawa sighed “Speak properly, it’s yes Sir. Ashido” she followed his instructions and I watched and Snipe walked out from a room. My heart raced. I was so close to being in the field. “Make sure you mind your manners to other heroes during your internship, now get to it” a chorus of yes’ and I walked walking ahead. 

“Y/N” I turned seeing the class “Who did you pick,” Kaminari asked. Everyone was listening in and I smiled widely. “You had so many, so I'm quite interested” a few nodded and I squared my shoulders and puffed my chest. 

“Snipe” I smiled and I saw a few jaws drop as he came up next to me and nodded a humming sound being heard. I could see impressed and amazed faces. 

“Wow getting an internship with Snipe. You’re so lucky” Ashido jumped around smiling. She always had so much energy, I wondered where she got it from. I had apologised to her over the last few days and she said it was fine just a shock was all which I was grateful for. 

“In Y/N’s case is not an internship” everyone went silent and I could even see Aizawa lean towards the conversation “She made it clear she didn’t want to sit on the sidelines for the next week and possibly more. She’s my sidekick” that’s when I heard the screaming. 

“Omg that's so cool”

“Only she could do that” 

“I’m so jealous”

“And with Snipe, that’s amazing”  

“And friend” he added with what I heard to be a smile. I nodded and held my case tighter. “We will be off. Come on” as he turned I waved to my class and I was off. Getting into his car I placed my things in the back and sighed out. 

The car ride would be a least a few hours but Snipe didn’t like to travel by train which I had to agree with. I hated public transport. “Snipe,” I asked out of the blue, he hummed. “Thank you for allowing me this chance to prove myself” 

“No worries kid, I should be thanking you. For the next week, I have some help” he laughed and I did too “You did amazing in the festival and what you said to Aizawa” he nodded to himself “You’ve got guts. I’ve had a few calls of agencies begging me to stop by with you so they can try and get you on their team” people wanted me that bad, happiness blossomed in my heart for that little second. “For the next week I will call you Illusionist in front of people and in the field and we will be training and patrolling the city, together” I was going to go on patrol, this was a dream come true. 

“I have to tell you something about my quirk” his head turned me for a moment and he nodded “And no one can know, not even Aizawa, not All Might not even Principal Nezu” at the red light he looked over and he took his mask off looking at me. He was quite handsome, different than what I expected but he put the mask down. 

“I am your partner, if it need be I will take the information to my grave” his cowboyish nature shone through without the mask, accent thick and his eyes showed honesty. “That is a promise” he nodded. 

“My quirk allows illusions but it also allows illusions of the mind, I can make something appear in someone’s head if I try hard enough but with my physical attacks there is a catch” we were driving again the light has changed. I had to tell him, we had to have ultimate trust in each other. 

“Go on” he whispered and turned on his indicator changing lanes before sparing a look at my face. He was interested, good. I wanted this to be an open friendship. I was placing my life in his hands, I was still in school. Even though I knew I had a lot of training to do he had to look out for me. 

“I need a name. Physical attacks only work on people if I know a name. It can be first name, last name, nickname whatever I need to be able to put a name to a face otherwise the illusions will phase through them” My big secret he seemed very impressed as he turned eyes wide and mouth open. “I have an amazing memory, it takes me a moment but I can remember names quite easily. There are only two other people who know about that part of my quirks limitations. Todoroki and Bakugou in my class. I would like to keep it that way” I said seriously and it felt like the car was getting very intense. 

“Your secret is safe with me. I will get you files of everyone in my agency, and villains in the area” I nodded and we continued to talk about work. I felt like a real hero and during the ride he thanked me for telling him such vital information. 

When the car ride was over I grabbed my things and I was shown through his building, I was given a badge. I was allowed anywhere I wished, I was his sidekick was the answer when someone asked. I felt special and important. I took everything from my bag I could need and then moved on with him to a training room. From there we practised and I showed him how my quirk looked, felt and came across. He was impressed. I had gotten into a more comfortable outfit and we were sparing. Quick and easy, he was using rubber bullets the worst they would leave was a small bruise. 

I created multiple of me and then walked along the side of the room “My quirk can become sound cancelling if I wish” I called out the voice coming from every direction “It’s difficult to know where to shoot or attack when you have no idea where they are” the copies fell into mist as he shot them. Until I came up behind him, grabbing his wrist and throwing away the gun. I flipped him onto the floor and the illusion died. “I win” I smiled. 

Helping him up, I breathed out “You will make an amazing hero” he began and I smiled wide. Praise, praise from a real, well-known Pro hero. This was a dream come true. It was too much for my heart to take. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had your own agency” he added. I had gotten used to the accent and didn’t mind it too much. 

A knock came to the door and a woman walked in “I apologise Sir. Other agencies are here for the girl” she looked at me apologetically. Snipe sighed and I shook my head to him. 

“I can deal with this” the confidence from being myself coming back. When I was picking my hero name I was in a state of panic, I didn’t want people looking at me but pride and adrenaline running through my system I stomped from the room following the woman through the maze of hallways. I came to the front of the building, not only seeing Pros but paparazzi trying to take photos. As I walked over sweat clinging to my skin and a blank face. 

People began to talk and I could see people trying to interview me through the window trying to get it to the building, they were being held back. I put my hand up and everyone went quiet “As flattering as it is you all came here. I am on duty and don’t appreciate my time being wasted with this when I could be training. Not to mention you are disrupting everyone in this building and my partner and I” I called out as everyone seemed to stand in silence. I felt Snipe come up next to me, more photos, videoing and offers. “I have picked my place, if you wish for an interview, please call my school” with that I smiled and then turned to walk away with Snipe as people were pushed out the doors. “A fallback of being a hero” scratching my neck I sighed. 

“You still handled it well. Back to training now” walking back to the room. I quickly got a drink and then nodded at Snipe. We spared for a while more, I hadn’t been shot once and I had won more than my fair share. I allowed Snipe to bring in someone as I had a conversation with them but in reality, I stood with Snipe. 

“My quirk requires a lot of thinking. If I make one wrong move the illusion will fail and I will be found out. So while I talk to you another part of my brain is having a conversation with that guy” I smiled and Snipes’ eyes quickly darted over to seeing my illusion talking and seeming to have a really important conversation. “My quirk is all logic and stamina even though it may not look like it” with that the illusion fell in mist and the guy looked over as I waved. 

“Your quirk is utterly amazing and the thinking behind it. I can see why you’re coming first in class” Pride, so much pride ran through my body. I was so happy, someone who was treating me like a real partner. This is all I could have asked for. 

Dinner and then more training. He was on patrol within the next few days and I was beyond excited. Moving across the road to the hotel, we got our keys and made our way up. Going into our separate rooms, I saw my bags and walked over. Opening my costume box I looked at my new outfit and silently screamed. How exciting, I had to put it away otherwise my body would wish to wear the fabric. I couldn’t, not yet. Maybe tomorrow or the day after. Another day, soon. Smiling I closed the box and grabbed my sleeping wear then moved to the bathroom. I wanted to shower, I had been training since the morning and I wanted to not smell. The shower was nice, hot and had good pressure. When I was done, I placed my phone on charge, it was well into the night by this time. Nothing posted in the class chat not that I minded. The bed was overly comfortable and the blankets were soft and I could sleep in here forever. Late into the night and I was staring at the ceiling having clicked the button to turn the lights off, I had to get up early tomorrow. 

-

Another day of training, working on precision. Snipes’ quirk was entirely on precision. I worked on attacking and speed. Sure my illusions were fast but my real body still mattered. I had a lot to work on. Pushing my body to the absolute limit during our training. I was getting faster, the illusions helping to shield and work. I could create physical walls around me as they were being used for me. A loophole of my quirk if I didn’t know the name of the person. 

“We’re going out tonight” Snipe breathed when we stopped to get a drink. I was breathing heavily, chest moving in rhythm and my hands resting perched on my knees. I was still trying to get all the oxygen back into my lungs. He was fast, far too fast for me right now. “We’re going on patrol” my head whipped up and he nodded. “Go shower, eat something and meet back at the building in an hour. Costume on” I was gone within seconds. 

Just as I had been told I showered then shovelled food into my mouth quickly. An hour, only an hour then I was on the streets. While eating I was looking through the files of villains, creating a picture. If I needed it, I could bring up the illusion of the files and know their names. Anyone in the spotlight loved their names being featured. Easier for me at least. The main villain right now was called ‘Hero Killer Stain’ that was a scary name. Seeming to be a mass killer all over Japan. How disgusting. 

Once I had finished eating I opened my costume box and smiled holding it up. I saw a note under the main fabric and picked it up “Dear Illusionist” that was me, they used my hero name. “We made all the adjustments you require but we changed the fabric to fit your needs. If you ever need anything make sure to drop by” I whispered and smiled. 

I was wearing a one-piece suit. The only part it didn’t cover was my face had come up my neck. It was skin-tight, just what I needed. The feet non-tearable, so I could run and not worry. I asked them to make it that wherever I needed to go the fabric would get thicker or thinner. Micro holes to allow illusions on my body if I needed them. The fabric was strong and I looked down smiling. Leaning forward to pick up my mask, I placed it against my face, sticking comfortably. The mask looked to be made of mist, if you looked close enough it seemed to move. Smoke rising into the air at the corners. I got the inspiration from Endeavor and Bakugous’ masks. I moved to the mirror and smiled in happiness. It was a black costume, with a very slight holographic look, deception. Giving off the illusion of different colours. This was all I need. The costume zipped up as the back but on the side of the thigh, my phone could sit. Slipping it in was easy and it looked like the pocket simply disappeared. The holes in the suit would lock up of coming into contact with water, nothing would be damaged, a temperature suit to not allow my body to get overheated or freeze. I couldn’t ask for a better suit. 

Making my way down through the hotel, I was getting some looks but everyone seemed impressed. I crossed the street and Snipe was talking to someone. Noticing me their eyes opened and Snipe turned the conversation ends. 

“I’m ready” I nodded and stood tall, my hands resting on my hips. He looked the costume up and down as did his associate and he nodded. I was going to be a real hero. I was going to show the world just what the name Illusionist meant. 

“That costume looks good, very fitting for your quirk” I thanked him and then we were off. Walking down the street and watching people. “The crime and villain rate has been low but because of the Hero Killer Stain. We make sure to have someone patrolling at all times” he explained and I took in every single word. 

A few waves from fans and a couple of sneaky photos from them I was smiling ear to ear. I felt like a Pro, this is what I had waited all my life to do. This was my calling, this was me. I walked beside Snipe making our way through the city. It was peaceful, the sun was setting and people were out with friends or family. Couples holding hands, would I be able to date? I put all my effort into becoming a hero I hadn’t thought about having a personal life. My home life wasn’t the best and I put all my effort into becoming a hero. 

Then screaming was heard, loud deafening. I came back to reality as a building was on fire. I was running with Snipe immediately. “Get people to safety” Pros were yelling and within seconds. I could see fire and that big thing, the Nomus’. There were two, why was there two. They were different from the one at USJ one I had seen being put into a van. I had been teleported into a room that day, I felt useless but I had captured so many villains that day. 

“Illusionist” I heard the yell of Snipe. “I need you to use your quirk. I want to see it all, I’ll be moving people. Be a hero” he yelled and I nodded sprinting towards the fire. They were names Nomu, I could use physical attacks. A-Pro was about to be stomped on, with a pull from my hand they were pulled out of the way as I jumped up spinning and kicking the creature in the jaw. I landed and flipped backward to dodge from a hit. 

I was letting out so many eyes, thinking of everyone in danger, I was putting up blocks and dodging. Pulling Pros out of the way and trying to hold down the Nomu’s. That had insane power from what I had heard, I was flipping and running trying to keep it under control. I didn’t have time to think. One was flying, holding someone. I couldn’t grab the person but I could get the Nomu. Throwing my arms forward I grabbed the Nomu with chains then wrapped it around my arms and dug my feet into the ground. 

I was holding the creature, for now. Placing up a wall to stop from the other one hitting my body. They were so strong, there were three of them. Where did they come from? Where is the league of villains, would they come now. I put a wall around the other two. It was a lot of power but not so much I wouldn’t be able to do this. Wrapping the chain around my arm again I pulled the Nomu down as the creature crashed into the ground. 

I had all three under my control, for now. Three of them. I had all three of them “Get people to safety” I yelled and turned to place all of the Nomus’ in thick walls, they wouldn’t break. When they tried to argue I turned and yelled “I said to get people to safety. I have them, there’s no point if the people aren't safe. Do your job” I yelled and they were off. 

I moved to the ground placing my hands down and feeling the Nomu’s they weren’t happy. Banging and desperately trying to get out. I sighed out and then stood to put my hands into fists and the walls grew stronger. I moved the three of them into my field of vision. The person who was held by the flying one had gotten to safety. Having been dropped, prying his body from the beast before I flung him into the ground. They were all being held, I could do this. I had to hold them until more Pros’ arrived. But from what I had heard even All Might had problems fighting one of them. 

Each hit almost brought me to my knees. A lot was going on, they were so strong. I looked around, there wasn’t anyone near me and the civilians had been moved to safety. There were Pros’ near. 

“I can’t hold them for much longer” I yelled and turned around seeing maybe seven Pros. They got into position, knees bent and they nodded. I turned back and then within a second I let the walls drop but they couldn’t see. They were confused and groaning. “I’ve placed them into an illusion they can’t hear or see” with that information Pro’s ran in, desperately trying to lay hits. I kept them in the illusion until a hit came to my shoulder, the flying one was now off into the sky. It was minuscule but I held the other two. Looking down my outfit has repaired, just as I asked. Snipe was somewhere but he trusted me. “I can keep them in the illusion. I’ll go after the other” I yelled and then I was sprinting off. Throwing a chain at the creature I was now being dragged through the sky. 

I was keeping the others in the illusion, I had never tested distance but from what I knew, as long as I thought of them I could do this. I began to climb the chain sending another one down into the ground to hold the creature. I held the creature though it never tried to attack. I was then bringing myself down to the ground. Throwing the beast into another illusion as to not cause mass amounts of damage. Once I landed falling into my illusion I came face to face with the creature. 

The creature was angry and immediately tried to kill me. I let the other two go, this was more important. Sorry to the other Pros. I was staring right at it, I didn’t have time for this. Sending out many of myself I began to attack the beast. Hits coming forth in a flurry of speed and precision. I was going to take this thing on. It was still up and moving, I had to go more. I sent more, ropes holding him to the floor and then holding him down. I sighed out. I wasn’t focusing on the Pro’s watching me stand there my hands moving to tighten the ropes. I had to take care of this one. There was barely anyone in this street. His wing flew out and cut along my cheek. I let him go and he was off again. 

“Get back here” I yelled and then I was sprinting again. Sending power into my legs and latching onto his leg once more. I was then flying through the air, high and swinging around. I held tighter even though I knew I couldn’t fall, the chain was connected. But then we were descending and quickly. I let go looking down I saw the creature grab Midoriya. Once it was flying again I grabbed hold sending my feet into the ground as I landed. “Hold on” I yelled and tried to pull the thing towards me. Wind and dirt flying around only then it slowly started to fall. Midoriya, forcing the creature to pry its claws from Midoriya I had to be faster, running. Then with a wave of my hand, I caught him, gently placing him on the ground. 

I felt someone behind me but before I could see it, it was the Hero Killer. I held Midoriya to me, sending him behind me. I was clutching his arm and standing in front of him. The creature had been killed, so easily. This Hero Killer. He turned to Midoriya and me. 

“Endeavor” he was looking past us, eyes wild and enraged. I had never seen anything like this. Something so evil and murderous. He hadn’t even paused to kill that Nomu. Midoriya looked hurt, blood falling from him. I made two of myself holding him up. Hero Killer’s mask fell and I froze “False Hero” he yelled out. He looked so, there were no words to describe it. Utterly insane, there was nothing else “I’ll make this right” he stepped forward and I stepped back. “These streets must run red with the blood of hypocrites” his voice was raspy and deep. His eyes seemed to shine red, he loathed Endeavor from the look of it “Hero. I will reclaim that word” I stood in complete stillness, I couldn’t move, frozen. I wanted too, I could chain him down or something but my body wouldn’t move. “Come on just try and stop me you fake. There is only one man I'll let kill me” his eyes were moving to quickly I thought they would fall from his skull. His smile could put the Nomus’ to shame, wide and crazed, just like his eyes. “He is a true hero. All Might is worthy” he screamed, body tense and hands ready to fight. My heart sped up and I could feel Midoriya shaking behind me. 

Just as I thought he was going to kill me or someone behind me he froze, eyes blank and smile slightly lowered but still wide enough to be a sense of discomfort. Then he fell, I rushed forward a scream behind me to not move. I ripped his shirt placing my ear to his chest and waited, waiting for a beat, something, anything. He may be a villain, a killer but he was still a person. He had punctured a lung, a physical illusion in his lung to stop the bleeding.  

- 

I was told without me, he would have died. That was a lot for my mind to handle. He had woken up before the Paramedics and thanked me, Hero Killer Stain thanked me. He said I was a true hero, worthy. I was thanked by the paramedics and then moved on. I was checked out but I didn’t speak. I had saved so many people but I also was praised by a serial killer though I knew he wouldn’t have lived if I didn’t do anything and that I was the reason he was still breathing. 

Snipe had found me not too long after and I couldn’t help but bring him into my arms, I wasn’t crying but I needed something to ground me. He hugged back and sighed, he spoke of Pros saying what I had done and that without me many would have died. I was taken to the hospital with the boys for an examination and they wanted to help with the mental side of my night. 

Waking up the next morning I was in a room with the boys though I hadn’t slept, could I call it waking up? All I could think about was if I let him die, he was going to prison so he couldn’t hurt anyone and to him, I was worthy of being a Hero. It didn’t matter if he was still a person. I was across from Midoriya in the hospital. He had bandages on his arm and leg, Iida his arms and Todoroki his arm as well. They were talking about their fight with the Hero Killer and I listened in, not talking. Midoriya had profusely thanked me the previous night for helping him. I answered that’s what a hero is.

“Oh so the injured youngins are awake” Gran Torino walked in, he was quite short I had noticed but he did make a good hero when he was a Pro full time. From the smile on Midoriya’s face, they knew each other. I sat in silence. “Idiot I can yell at you for hours right now,” the man stomped over to a scared-looking green-haired boy. “Before I do, you’ve got a visitor” in walked the chief of police, tall and proud. 

Both Todoroki and Iida stood, I didn’t and Midoriya scrambled to get up “No no, stay seated. Woof” he barked out head held high as I turned to listen in. “So you’re the UA students who brought down the Hero Killer, huh. Stain had some serious injuries, severe burns and several broken bones, right now he’s in the hospital under strict guard. Here’s a lesson you should have already learned when quirks became the norm, the police force tried to keep the status quo. We decided we wouldn’t use quirks as weapons that’s when heroes came in, they could do what we couldn’t with a licence of course” he continued to go on about how this and how that. I was getting angrier by the second. Sure I didn’t have a license but Aizawa and Snipe trusted me to help. “None of you have the authority to harm the villain” I was gripping my hands in silence. He spoke of everyone and their superiors being punished. 

“Now wait a minute, if Iida had not stepped in Native would have been murdered and if not for Midoriya both of them would have been dead. No one else even realised the Hero Killer was in Hosu. Are you saying we should have stood by and watched people die” I had never seen Todoroki with so much passion and emotion? It was a lot to take it, I felt like I was seeing something forbidden and unseen. Like an extinct animal coming back. Something so new and strange, my heart clenched. 

“So it’s ok to break the law as long as it goes your way” The chief countered as Midoriya tried to coax Todoroki to calm down. There was a light fight and I stood up head down and body slightly swaying. 

“This is bullshit” I whispered out and heard the gasp of the chief. I looked up and shook my head “I was asked to help. I kept Heroes alive. I was the reason the Nomu were caught. I saved Midoriya and kept Hero Killer Stain alive and now I'm being punished. I may not have a licence but I did a lot more than some Pros last night” my hands were shaking, I was on a roll. Snipe would not be punished, he trusted me, had faith in me. I kept people alive, I saved people. I was a hero last night. 

“You are different” he started and my eyes narrowed “You have already gotten the press, online articles and Pros thanking you all over the net. Videos have been posted so there isn’t much I can do. You don’t have your license but you also didn’t hurt anyone, woof” he added and sighed his shoulders falling. “We can pretend the rest of you weren’t involved, thankfully there weren’t too many witnesses, woof. This could be the last you heard of any punishments, though it would mean no one would know about you though. It’s too late for Illusionist but as for the rest of you the choice is yours, I don’t want to damage any promising young careers” 

Iida apologised and got a little scolding as well as Todoroki but I didn’t apologize. I never would, but then they were thanked for their work. I was thanked for helping and I had to say I saw nothing. Endeavour got the credit and I was getting coverage but I was mad and didn’t comment. Snipe met up with us and I apologised to him but I was ignored and then thanked. 

“You were a hero” he praised. All I could think about was Hero Killer Stain. I had gotten a few messages from my class about seeing me on TV. Iida might have permanent damage to his left hand and the doctors ran more psychological damage, the thing that angered me was that they did the test in front of the boys. It wasn’t my proudest moment. 

I apologised to them all that I got coverage and they didn’t. I had gone online and it was viral, though Todoroki had made a joke which lightened the mood exponentially. I began to pack my things, fixing my bed and then going back to my phone. My parents hadn’t even messaged me but then again I didn’t doubt they had no idea who Illusionist was. The news expected that the League was with Hero Killer. 

When a doctor walked passed I stopped him “Where is Hero Killer Stain” everyone in the hallway went silent, it was only doctors and a few guards. “I need to see him” I begged and then a few more doctors and a guard walked over. “I’m the one that kept him alive,” I told them my breathing heavy. 

“Give me a moment” then the doctor ran off and I stayed in the doorway my head lowered and breathing laboured. I couldn’t even think at this point. I had to see him. I had seen that video, the video of his little show. I was standing in front of him and then when he fell the video continued as I ran forward and began to help him. It continued to get deleted then re-uploaded. I had to see him. 

After a fight with a few doctors and Snipe interjecting, I was allowed. Five minutes. I needed to know what he meant, I needed to know. His words were eating me alive. I left the room with the boys and was taken to where he was staying, he had woken up and wasn’t happy. 

“You will be accompanied by three guards” I was told, he wouldn’t speak if someone else was there, that much I knew. I needed to do this. Alone. I needed to know what he meant, why had he said that knowing it might have been his last words. 

“No” I shook my head in front of the door. “I need to do this. He is strapped to a bed, I have a quirk that could easily immobilise him. You aren’t following” with those words I pushed the doors open and Snipe held the guards back as I walked in. “Stain” I called out and his head turned eyes wide when he saw me. 

“You’re the girl who saved me” he licked his lips. His eyes didn’t hold the same vigour I saw back then, it was only two days ago but it was too much for me. “Why are you here?” his voice held something dark and twisted and I felt a shiver run down my spine. 

“What did you mean when you said I was worthy,” I asked, a smile coming to his features. I watched him roll his shoulders as I let out a breath, “I don’t understand” I added and walked forward. They said I wasn’t allowed within five meters. I was less than one right now. 

“The fact you’ve come in here alone should be enough proof” I tilted my head in confusion and gripped my hands tighter, I was scared but I wasn’t leaving until I had a real answer. “You aren’t fake. You want to help people. You helped someone who has murdered your kind” he was speaking so softly I didn’t recognise it was the same person, my shoulders relaxed and I nodded for him to continue. “You are worthy of being a true hero” he finished. That’s what I thought he had meant but I had to make sure. I had to hear it from him, my mind wasn’t enough and now having my answer I went to turn around. “You’ll make a great hero Illusionist” he whispered but I could hear the smirk. 

“I hope you get well soon” I whispered and walked from the room, people were standing there and watching as I walked passed them my shoulders back and head held high. My heart was racing, Snipe caught up to me “Let’s go train” I asked, I was met with a nod.

________________________________________________________________

Chapter 4 

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 215

October 12 Today was a day for cooking and cleaning, so that was at least a change from the last couple of days, plus my parents got to town, very fun! First thing this morning I went down to the big food bank and offloaded all of the stuff that was still in my van, including a surprise ninth case of Takis that I hadn't even noticed before. They did accept it, though I don't know what exactly they plan to do with it. Maybe if they can't give it away they'll just put it in the breakroom or something. But now I have my van back, full of lots of room for future unwise decisions! Yay!  Last night I stayed up super late because I was too tired to clean but too keyed up to go to bed. I mean I did clean, I cleaned the kitchen pretty well at least and that was the big job for the night. But then I decided that the broken recliner really, truly, absolutely needed to go, but it was too big, so I got out a scissors and used some elbow grease to rip the arms right off that sucker. Not as impressive as it sounds, since "semi-detached arms" was the biggest single symptom of brokenness already, but it did make me feel strong! The back of the chair came off without needing to be destroyed, which was less fun but much easier. Tonight my husband carried down the smaller pieces himself, and then he and I worked on getting the still-extremely-heavy center mass portion down the stairs and into the truck. I wound up sort of scooting down on my butt and hanging onto the back bar of the chair while he guided from the front, my mind filled with visions of the thing sledding down the stairs and running him over flat. But we got it done, so now we just need to take it out to the dump and rid ourselves of it forever. Hopefully the truck will still start when we turn it on.  My folks decided to go with an AirBnB about 20 minutes away from us for this trip, and it is super gorgeous. It's at least the size of our apartment with two bedrooms, a large living room/kitchen, and a center room devoted to a pool table. The kiddo is very excited about the pool table. We went down there and took them supper this evening because I had to go to election official training this evening and they didn't want to have to drive themselves back in the dark their first night here. Only trouble was, their place doesn't really have a kitchen, just a sink, microwave and fridge. No problem,  I broke out the crockpot and the emergency second crockpot I got at an auction and spent much of the afternoon cooking.  I made butternut squash soup, a perennial favorite I already talked about, and pulled pork. I was in a hurry because I got started late, so I splurged on a boneless pork loin, cut it into fist-size chunks or a little smaller, then seasoned them with rub and seared them with butter in a skillet till the outsides were brown and had little crunchy bits on them. Then I piled them into the crockpot and deglazed the pan with a sweet onion and a couple tablespoons of jarred minced garlic. Once those were soft and translucent, I added four cups of water to the skillet, stirred it around, and then poured the resultant broth into the crockpot as well. A little bit of liquid smoke, four hours on high, and voila! On a sesame roll with a little barbecue sauce, it was excellent. I showed the kiddo how to use a spiral pineapple cutter to turn a fresh pineapple into a hollow tube, and that made a pretty good dinner.  It's so good to see my folks again! I haven't lived in the same state as them for well over a decade now, but I still miss them a lot and we try to visit as often as we can. My sister lives much closer to me than to the old homestead and we have tried convincing them to move closer to us, but their house is so full of so many things, I doubt it will ever happen. Plus they like where they are and have many friends there, which at least makes me feel less guilty about being so far away. We only got to spend a couple of hours with them tonight, but tomorrow I'm springing the kiddo from virtual learning so we can hang out with them all day. It'll be fun!  This evening was election official training, this time at the auditorium at the middle school to provide lots of social distancing room. I have been to training several times before, but this is the first time I've gone to the advanced training. For this election I've been tapped as the procedural specialist for my precinct, which means I am responsible for reading the manual better than anybody else so that when weird stuff happens, I know what to do. This is especially important in regards to provisional and absentee ballots, which are usually not a big deal but may well be a HUGE deal in this year's election. Apparently nearly a third of the active voters in our county have already voted this year, with three weeks of early voting still left, so we will likely not have the huge surge in election day voters that a presidential election usually brings. But there are 4000 absentee ballots that have been sent out and not returned yet, and each of those is a potential hiccup on the big day.  Even back in June during the absolute nothingburger of a Republican primary that we had, we got a couple of people trying to bring in their absentee ballots, or vote despite getting one and not bringing it with them. Virginia has taken the sensible step of making every voting precinct also a drop-off point for absentee ballots on election day, so people will be able to hand-deliver with no problems. But a lot of people don't understand that once they get their absentee ballot, that's it, that's their ballot and they can't have another one unless they give back the one they've got. If they really want to vote in person, they can, but they have to bring in their absentee ballot and spoil it (fill in all the circles) and then give it to us in exchange for an in-person ballot. So if somebody with an absentee ballot comes in to vote without their ballot, they will have to vote provisionally, and I will be in charge of making that happen. I'll also be working the pollbook again, which means face mask and face shield. Ugh. I had been hoping they were going to set up some kind of barrier system, but apparently not.  Anyway, I've read through the most salient parts of the manual already, but I'll be doing most of the rest in another ten days or so. I can become an expert on just about anything, but the expertise doesn't last very long before it is overwritten with new information. I'd hate to learn all that stuff only to forget it by November 3. 

[makeste]

Top 10 Favorite Deku Moments

so it’s Deku’s birthday today!! and since he is the best boy in the world and I love him, I am going to do one of those “top ten favorite...” lists for him just like I did for Kacchan back in April. these are going to be in chronological order, and the last two will be spoilers, so I’ll label them to make sure no one gets caught unawares.

happy birthday Deku. and this post turned out to be super long, like 4000 words, so I’m sorry, but you deserve it though.

1. “Most of the top heroes show signs of greatness even as children.”

okay so before I get started, let me just warn y’all upfront that a full four out of ten of these moments will involve Bakugou. I’ve said before that the relationship between Izuku and Katsuki is full stop my favorite part of the series, and this is absolutely still true, so yeah.

that being said, what makes this particular scene one of my favorites isn’t just that it’s an important moment between them (I’ll get into that relationship more two entries down); it also just so happens that this is the crucial moment which everything else in the series can ultimately be traced back to. this is the moment that inspires All Might to hand his power down to a quirkless middle-schooler, because despite being virtually powerless, Izuku proves that he has the heart and soul of a hero. he moves without thinking, without any kind of plan. it’s extraordinarily stupid, and incredibly selfless. it doesn’t matter to him that he has no way to actually fight this villain. it doesn’t matter that less than an hour ago, Bakugou was taunting him and burning his notebook. it doesn’t matter that he could easily be hurt or killed. the only thing that matters is that someone needs help. that’s it. it’s that simple. 

what makes Izuku a hero is that he is literally incapable of standing by and not taking action in moments like this. he acts on reflex to save others. his instinct in moments of danger and despair is to help, in any way he can. that’s the core of his character. and it shines through in this moment, and All Might sees it immediately, and it spurs him to take action, and from here on out everything changes.

2. “He didn’t utilize his full power. He just concentrated it into his fingertip...!”

fast-forward to the first day of superhero school, and our boy finds himself immediately in a tight spot again because his teacher is a stern and unsympathetic asshole whose way of showing consideration for his students is to mercy-expel anyone he deems not up to par. problem is, Izuku can’t actually use his new quirk without blowing himself up from the inside out, and he’s competing against what is probably the most gifted group of students U.A. has ever had. this is what is commonly referred to as “a pickle.” a jam. a quandary, if you will. if he breaks all his bones to pass the test, Aizawa will flunk him anyway. what’s a little green hero to do.

Izuku solves this problem in a typical Izuku fashion, meaning that his solution is somehow reckless, self-sacrificing, and frankly brilliant in its simplicity. rather than break all of his bones, Izuku sacrifices one (1) bone in order to launch a baseball into space, thus proving he can adapt his quirk to be useful without taking himself out and just adding to the problem. it’s worth noting that this is only his second-ever time using One for All, too. the fact that he has never had a quirk in his life up til this point and yet manages to control OFA to this degree on just his second go-around is damn impressive.

but what’s even more impressive is the way he simply outsmarts the test here. he calmly takes in the situation, thinks about the options at his disposal, and arrives at a logical solution that most people wouldn’t even have considered, because it involves intentionally breaking his own finger, which is an absurdly self-destructive thing to do just to pass a damn fitness test. but it works!! and it impresses the shit out of Aizawa too. and I just really love this moment because it’s such a perfect example of Deku both being smart and also just plain not giving a fuck and being the plussest ultra ever omfg.

3. “I can’t say much. But you should know this, at least...!”

so now we come to the second moment on this list involving Kacchan, and already there is a pattern emerging here: namely, that these moments of conflict and then reconciliation between the two of them inevitably end up being some of the most pivotal moments in the series. this particular scene comes on the heels of their battle in All Might’s first hero class, during which Deku soundly defeats Bakugou and makes it clear beyond all doubt that HE IS HERE!! and not going anywhere and Bakugou is just going to have to deal. Bakugou does a very poor job of dealing, however, and spends the rest of the afternoon super-quiet and caught up in his inferiority complex and convinced that Deku has been hiding this from him their whole childhood just to fuck with him.

most people, when put in a similar situation, would be all “fucking serves you right tbh” and just brush it right off. but Izuku doesn’t. or more accurately, I should say that he can’t. once again he acts on pure instinct when Kacchan’s welfare is involved, and this time it results in him blurting out his biggest secret -- a secret he was sworn to by All Might himself -- simply because he can’t stand to see Kacchan so miserable and he can’t bear the thought of him believing that Izuku really had been tricking him.

this is so extraordinary to me for a number of reasons. first and foremost, because Izuku’s altruism knows absolutely no bounds. he and Kacchan are on possibly the worst terms any two people could be on. he has absolutely no obligation to tell him this. but he does, anyway! just to make him feel better! second, there’s the fact that he doesn’t intend to do it, but it just comes blurting out. Izuku’s feelings toward Kacchan are complicated, as we know. and yet whatever the reason may be, Izuku demonstrates again and again that it’s a relationship he wants to hold onto, and he does his best to protect and preserve what little pieces of it he can. 

and lastly, this is now the second example of what will become a well-established theme in the series of Izuku going out of his way to save Katsuki. he does this again and again. he tries to help him after he falls from the log bridge. he rushes to save him from the sludge monster. he tells him about his quirk. he nearly fails their final exam because he goes back for him after All Might knocks him out. he runs into a forest full of villains to try and save him in spite of having two broken arms. he goes to Kamino with Kirishima and the others knowing full well it could get him expelled. and he fights him at night in Ground Beta even though they get into trouble for it later, because he sees how much pain Katsuki is in and he can’t turn his back on him. 

over and over again he puts himself in harm’s way for Katsuki’s sake, fully expecting no gratification to ever come from it, but doing it anyway. because he’s a hero, and because heroes don’t ask whether or not someone deserves to be saved. they just save them. this to me is the most incredible aspect of Izuku’s character. his heart is just that big. he is exceptionally, impossibly selfless and forgiving and good. and that’s just who he is. and Bakugou is lucky enough to be on the receiving end of that, whether he likes it or not, and ultimately over the course of these repeated encounters, he ends up changing for the better himself. and this moment in particular will, eventually, lead to the two of them actually reconciling for realsies when Bakugou finally figures it out and is subsequently inducted into the OFA Scooby Squad of Destiny. so yeah. this scene is so fucking important I can’t even begin. god I really went off on a tangent there. anyways.

4. “And Todoroki... isn’t you!”

so here’s another battle which highlights Izuku’s willingness to go to absurd and horrifying lengths to sacrifice himself for the sake of others. this entire fight is nothing short of ridiculous. Deku is ridiculous. let me break it down for you. Todoroki comes up to Deku before this fight and is all “hey I made a vow to never use my left side in battle because my dad only had me to use me as a tool to defeat All Might and he basically ruined my life.” in response, Deku says he’s aiming to become the strongest hero and so he’ll definitely win. he then proceeds to break his own fingers to blast Todoroki with repeated OFA attacks, all the while screaming at him that everyone is going all out and doing their best, and it’s arrogant and disrespectful of Todo to think he can beat their determination with only half of his power. 

Deku has absolutely zero regard for his own well-being in this fight -- by the end of the battle his bones are in splinters -- and his teachers observe that even if he does win, he won’t be in any kind of shape to move on to the next match. basically, he throws aside all of his own ambitions and even his own sense of self-preservation (if he even has one; it’s honestly debatable at this point you guys), all for the sole purpose of helping Todoroki realize that his power is his own and not his father’s, and to break free of the revenge-tinted tunnel vision keeping him from following his own dreams. the whole thing leaves Todoroki awestruck, and even though Deku eventually loses the fight, he gains a friend for life, and Todo fans everywhere are in his debt. 

real fucked up what he did to his fingers, though. but it just goes to show that nobody is perfect.

5. “I’m here to save you, Iida!”

I freaking love this moment you guys, and I can’t even explain why. except that who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned last-minute shounen save? Iida is seconds away from meeting his death at the hands of the world’s most annoyingly long-winded Ninjas Turtles cosplayer when Deku drops in out of nowhere and just socks the guy square in the jaw. it is satisfying as fuck. honestly that would have been awesome enough, but what makes it even better is that Horikoshi goes into some detail to explain that Deku didn’t just coincidentally happen to find Iida at the exact crucial moment, but actually used his Big Hero Brain to deduce Iida’s location through a series of shrewd observations and insightful hunches. and he turns out to be bang on the money, and that moment where Stain is reeling from the punch and Iida is looking up at him like, “Midoriya?!” and Deku sticks the landing in slow motion and says “Bingo!” in fucking English is just so fucking badass, guys. not to mention that this is also the debut of his Shoot Style on top of everything else. to sum up, this is one of the best entrances in the entire series, and just one of the coolest things Deku has ever done, IMO. you’re cool, Deku.

6. “You clocked me with all of your heart.”

yeah so you may at this point be sensing a pattern with some of these moments. yet again Deku does something stupid and risky because he sees Kacchan in trouble and all logic and reason immediately fly out the window. in this case it’s even more ridiculous, because Katsuki is not actually in any real danger at all, and by going back for him Izuku completely loses sight of what Katsuki got himself all beat up for in the first place. and yet he does it anyway! again! without thinking! like, he makes it maybe two steps away, and then he overhears Kacchan’s teary-eyed overdramatic and determined speech, and he immediately goes “oh fuck this I can’t do this” and turns back and grins maniacally at All Might before soundly punching the shit out of him. it is complete nonsense. there is no reason for it. Katsuki himself is furious when he finds out about it later. but does Deku care?? no, he does not care. and do I? no I do not because it’s the best and I love it.

7. “Let’s do our best, okay?”

this scene is feels city you guys. feels o’clock. zero dark feels. I almost put the “you’re next” scene here instead, but in the end this scene won out because (1) hug!! and (2) this is really the continuation of all of those emotions anyway, and it’s where the catharsis is at.

so let’s break this down since there’s a ton going on here. Deku is wrestling with the grief of knowing that All Might the hero, the Symbol of Peace, is gone forever. the pillar he and the rest of the world relied on to always be there isn’t there, any more. that sense of security is gone. and that’s a hard enough thing to come to grips with on its own, but put it together with the knowledge that he is the one who needs to step up now and fill those shoes, before he ever expected to, before he’s ready, and I can only begin to imagine how overwhelmed he must feel. and then on top of that!! All Might tells him he’s proud of him and relieved that he made it out of Kamino unharmed! and he tells him that he’s going to be there for him and that they’ll face the challenges up ahead together.

so for poor Deku, when you put that all together, we’ve got (a) that sense of loss, (b) fear and anxiety over the unknown difficulties to come, (c) various imposter syndrome feelings that he might not be good enough to handle it, (d) whatever misplaced guilt he may be dealing with for being one of the reasons All Might lost his power, however inevitable it might have been, and last but not least, (e) the deeply profound and humbling feeling of being loved and supported by the man he loves like a father, and knowing that no matter how scary things get, he won’t have to do this alone. so in spite of everything else, there’s that sense of relief and gratitude there too. he can do this. it will be okay. his dad is there.

all of that emotion, packed in one tearful hug. no wonder the kid is crying his eyes out. I would be too. in fact I did, and have no shame in doing so, and I would do it again. good job Horikoshi.

8. “This fight may very well have been a meaningless one... but...”

motherfucker did I not warn you there would be four different BakuDeku moments in this?? and that’s with me reining myself in too to be quite frank. that’s just how it is. it’s my list!! 

anyway, so I’m not sure whether or not an entire fight counts as a “moment”, but I’m putting it out there anyway because I’m incapable of narrowing this down any more than that. I could have an entire separate list of Top Ten Deku VS Kacchan Part 2 Moments and I’m sure I would still wind up leaving something out. I love all of it. the whole damn thing. it’s such a huge turning point for them both. they finally sort everything out. truth bombs being hurled left and right. it’s so good. agh.

but here are some of Deku’s highlights: (1) immediately shifting from trying to talk Kacchan down to fighting him outright with no hesitation once he realizes what the fight is actually about, (2) despite knowing how Kacchan feels, allowing himself to be just a bit selfish for once and get caught up in his own rival feels and trying to prove his worth as All Might’s successor, (3) complimenting Kacchan in the middle of the fight because of course he does, (4) openly admitting how much he admired Kacchan growing up and that he thought he was amazing, (5) getting so worked up that he loses control for a moment and jumps to 8% in one of the most badass moments of the whole series, (6) acknowledging to himself that even though he really shouldn’t, he kinda digs Kacchan’s rougher “I’LL KILL YOU, ASSHOLE” side anyway and emulates it without thinking when he forgets himself and that Kacchan is his image of victory, and lastly, (7) being a sneaky bastard and throwing a punch in with his shoot style knowing full well it will catch Kacchan off guard, which it fucking does.

Deku goes hog wild in this fight. he has a grand old time and even manages to achieve a new power-up, because he and Kacchan always do manage to bring out the best in each other, when they’re not bringing out the worst. you can’t watch this fight and fail to notice how insanely fired up Deku is compared to his usual fights. he is into it. he is ready and willing to throw down. he is here to kick ass and take names!! this is the impact Kacchan has on him. thirty fucking seconds into his therapy fight and Deku's maximum power output has increased by a whopping 60%. holy shit. mad lads.

it’s something not lost on All Might, who wraps things up by patiently explaining to the two of them how much they can learn from each other. and the whole thing concludes with the two of them becoming, as All Might puts it, “proper rivals.” that’s right, their rivalry is now officially approved and sanctioned by the motherfucking Symbol of Peace. well done, boys. these two are going to be absolutely terrifying when they grow up.

***SPOILERS FOR THE MANGA PAST THIS POINT***

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9. “...But you were there.”

okay so I have this indecisive kind of thing going on with whether or not I think All Might is actually going to die, and whether or not I want to see it happen. some weeks, like this particular week, I am on the side of BITCH DON’T YOU DARE because everything is goddamn sad enough as it is, Horikoshi, and I don’t need any more reasons to lie awake at night crying over fictional characters! but then there are other days when I think about how devastatingly, breathtakingly heartbreaking it would be, and for some reason I think, shit, yeah, he’s gotta do it. go ahead and hurt us good. make us feel things. leave no survivors. just fucking wreck our shit, go on ahead.

but then I read this scene again and think, there’s something so incredibly powerful about the fact that All Might started out the series believing he was going to die and being resigned to that fate and making preparations for it, only to be completely blindsided by the love he has for this boy and what that ends up doing to him. his love for Izuku gives him the strength to fight against fate. it gives him the resolve to look the grim reaper in the eye and say “to hell with this, I’m going to live.” it’s his reason to keep going. it’s his purpose. and god but that’s some powerful shit. characters saying “fuck you” to destiny? I am weak as hell for that, hell yes give me more. give me all of that.

and then Deku in this scene. pleading with All Might to keep living. “you have to live to see that moment, when I can tell the world, ‘I am here!’” promising him that no matter what happens, when the time comes, they’ll bend fate together. “without fail.” and just, holy fuck. when he says it, you really believe they can do it. because if anyone can figure out a way to conquer the inevitable, it’s this kid.

10. “Senpai... if I said that I would give you my quirk, would you...?”

last but not least, today just happens to be Mirio’s birthday as well, so it only seems fitting to end with this moment, which in the span of a single page neatly sums up why both of these kids are worthy beyond a doubt of being the next Symbol of Peace. Deku selflessly tries to offer Mirio his quirk, and Mirio instantly rejects him. doesn’t even know what’s going on, really, but just rejects the offer out of hand. “no thanks. then you would be the one subjected to this hardship.” and we can’t very well fucking have that, now can we. nope. not on Mirio’s watch. never mind that he just lost his quirk and his mentor within the span of the past twenty four hours. he wastes no time in coming to Deku’s aid in spite of that, assuring him that he did great and that everything will be just fine. so just smile already!!

but the fact that Deku was even willing to make the offer just once again goes to show how astonishingly good he is. he knows better than anyone what it’s like to be quirkless and powerless. he knows exactly what Mirio is going through. what’s more, Mirio is absolutely right that Deku did fucking amazing and totally saved the day and without him they would have all been screwed! but all Deku can see in this moment is how deserving Mirio is, and so he decides that in order to help him, he’s prepared to make what for him is the ultimate sacrifice. the power that All Might gave him. his dream of becoming the greatest hero. everything he’s worked for up to this point. he’s prepared to throw all of that away if Mirio just says the word. there truly isn’t a selfish bone in this kid’s body.

but Mirio says no. because Mirio is also selfless. in conclusion we had just better hope the two of them never wind up reaching a door together at the same time, because the ensuing battle of who holds it open for whom could singlehandedly bring this series to a dead halt. the ultimate stalemate. they are too good and we don’t deserve them.

so anyways, that’s it! happy birthday kid. and here’s one more for the road.

11. “Dear Midoriya...”

a story in three acts. character development. growth. god bless.

[wayward-river]

Initiation

Sweet Pea x Reader 

AN: Alright this is a long one! I hope y’all enjoy! All mistakes are my own. I do not own the gif.

Warnings : Violence, fight scene, angst

AN 2: Thanks to @xserpentlife​ for going over and making sure everything looked good and for helping out when I got stuck!

So have exactly 4000 words! Enjoy!

Sweet Pea POV

 Sweet Pea smiled as he watched you lean across the bar talking with Toni about orders probably, you were on shift tonight. Even though you weren’t an official serpent your older brother Chris was, before a deal went wrong and Chris had paid the price with his life. Sweet Pea had never seen you so broken, in all the time he knew you it was only you and Chris no parents around which wasn’t out of the ordinary by any means on the southside. He spent months by your side, you would awake to the nightmares unable to get back to sleep without him.  The serpents took care of you, even more after Chris’s death they protect their own. So FP had given you a few shifts here and there at the Wyrm to help keep you in the trailer and pay the bills. You had also picked up a few shifts at Pops unknown to most, but Sweet Pea had caught you red handed one night when he went in after a late job and there you stood looking so beautiful in a Pops uniform. Not that you didn’t look any less beautiful out of it.

He was pulled out of his thoughts at the snap of a finger in front of his face. He looked to Fangs a scowl on his face.

“What?”

Fangs chuckled “It's your shot, she’s not going to disappear”

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes as he took a few shots glancing up ever so often his eyes searching for your neon green tank top as you fluttered around the scruffy old men and younger serpents who gave you flirty smiles as you refilled and talked with them.

You were making your way over to the pool tables so Sweet Pea took his eyes off you to make his shot. Hearing your giggle he glanced up as he watched you lean into Fangs and kiss his cheek.

Sweet Pea tensed at the small affection given to Fangs his hand clenched around the pool stick. Fangs was the only one that knew his actual feelings for you. He wasn’t able to hide it from him after one too many beers about a year ago. Unknown to him you had confessed to Fangs about two months ago about your feelings for the tall serpent. Fangs had spent multiple nights trying to convince the both of you to just come clean but so far nothing has been done. Toni knew of your feelings but she had yet to know of Sweet Peas.

You moved away from Fangs your y/e/c locking with Sweet Peas you moved and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear.

“Can I get you something Sweets?” your soft voice making him loosen his grip on the pool cue.

He watched as you got closer to him, bringing up your hand as it lightly touched his arm. Your Y/E/C staring into his making sure he was good.

Sweet Pea took a deep breath. He should be used to the contact by now you have been friends for years but lately he was unable to reign his feelings in.

Sweet Pea placed his hand over yours.

“I’m good princess, but how about a milkshake at Pops later?” His voice lowering so he didn’t let your secret out.

He couldn’t contain the smile on his face as he watched yours light up as you nodded gently squeezing his arm and walking back to the bar.

He shook his head his smile still plastered on his face as he ignored Fangs’s knowing smirk. You were the only girl he called princess being as your brother was FPs right hand man. Jughead had been adamant on you being his right hand not wanting to break the tradition but you wouldn’t have it until he let you do the Gauntlet instead of the dance. Jughead was just as stubborn as you were not letting you do it.

Sweet Pea watched as you ducked out the back heading to your next destination. He would follow shortly he just had to finish beating Fangs.

Y/N POV

It had been about an hour and a half into the late night shift, you sat at the counter picking at the chipping nail polish on your fingernails. The place was dead. You were just about to give in to doing some work in the back when the bell chimed and Sweet Pea sauntered in giving you that smile that made your knees weak as he took a seat in an empty booth. You gave him a quick wave as you tore off the order sheet and handed it back to Earl.

Why did he have to be so .. him? You thought to yourself as you wiped your hands nervously on your apron. Why were you so nervous, it was just Pea.

Seeing as the entire diner was just you two and Earl, you sat across from him as you waited for his milkshake to be done.

“Your milkshake should be up shortly.”  

Sweet Pea was silent as you watched him internally fight about something. Being slightly anxious every since you lost Chris you couldn’t help the way you tapped your fingers against the table, or the way you fidgeted with your hands as you sat in silence.

“I want to talk to you Y/N/N” Sweet Pea looked up at you finally grabbing your hand that was fidgeting on the table.

You gave a slight nod your eyes still downcasted at the table.

You heard a sigh leave Sweet Pea. “I want you to be an official serpent, and I know you want that too Y/N, so just please please do the damn dance”

Your eyes flew up to meet Sweet Peas the anger evident in them. Your jaw clenched as you ripped your hand out of his grip.

“No.”

“Y/N, come on just-” Sweet Pea started until you cut him off.

“I will not do the dance Pea. Its degrading, outdated, and should be banned. Some dance isn’t going to protect me when I get into a fight on a job, or get” your voice cracked as your eyes glossed over with unshed tears. “Ambushed by ghoulies.”

Sweet Pea dropped his head at your words, he was not winning this fight with you. You were dead set on doing this. There was no way around it, and no way of talking you out of it. Before he could get words out Earl yelled to you for the order.

You slid out of the booth your hands shaking as you walked to grab his milkshake bringing it over and setting it down on the table.

You stood at the front of the table. Your face set still pissed. “Can I get you anything else?”

“I’m good Y/N/N, but listen” Sweet Pea tried again.

“Unless the words out of your mouth are I’ll drop it or Okay, I don’t want to hear it Sweets”

Sweet Pea sat contemplating he knew you would do it with or without him. He grabbed a hold of your hands pulling you closer to him. “Okay, fine you win”

You let a small smile grace your face as you leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss against his cheek. “Thanks Pea” you whispered.

He nodded as he let go of your hands.

“I have to get some work done before my shift is up, but you are more than welcome to stay I just can’t sit with you”

Sweet Pea POV

Sweet Pea nodded again clearing his throat trying to calm his beating heart after having your soft lips pressed against him. It’s not like it hadn’t happened before so why was this working him up more than it normally did.

He watched as you cleaned offering his help but you declining every time swatting him with the wet rag until you were done and off for the night.

“Can I take you home?” Sweets asked as you took of your apron.

You smiled and nodded as Sweet Pea led you to his truck. He always took his truck on the nights you worked late knowing you were most likely going to drift off to sleep against him or the window.

The ride was silent, the old school country playing softly from the radio, not his favorite but it was yours. It seemed to calm you a trick he learned when he needed it the most.

He smiled as he heard you softly singing along as he pulled up to your trailer.

You slid over as you gave him an attempted hug. “Thanks Pea, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yes, go get some sleep princess” He responded as he playfully pushed you towards the truck door.

He stayed idled as he watched you unlock the door and disappear into your trailer.

Sweet Pea headed home knowing he had to do something difficult the next day.

-

Sweet Pea drove to Jugheads trailer the next morning banging on the door.

“Jones!”

Finally a messy haired Jughead appeared rubbing his eyes.

“What do you want Sweet Pea?”

“We need to talk about Y/N and her doing the gauntlet.” Sweet Pea mustered as he made his way inside the trailer.

Jughead looked puzzled. “You have been the one who has been against this the most. What changed?”

“Y/N/N, she won’t do it unless it's that way. We protect her but it needs to be official. I know she wants it, hell you want her at your side.”  Sweet Pea rambled.

Jughead brought his hands up. “Okay, we need to have a meeting, everyone needs to be on board, it also needs to be a serpent only meeting”

Sweet Pea nodded as he pulled out his phone sending a few texts off.

“Soon Jones” Sweet Pea pleaded.

“Give me a few hours Sweet Pea”

Sweet Pea made his way out of the trailer and headed for the Wyrm, knowing it would be a few hours but he couldn’t just sit.

-

Sweet Pea watched as Jughead walked to the stage grabbing the microphone.

“Alright Serpents we have to have a vote on the status of Y/N L/N” Jughead informed the serpents in the Wyrm.

He began to hear the grumbles of all the serpents mostly mad thinking you were going to be exiled or not around.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa we need to talk about her becoming an official serpent” He added.

Sweet Pea smiled as the Wyrm bursted into whistles and cheers.

“Okay settle down the only way she will do it is if she does the gauntlet so all in favor” Jughead stated.

Everyone seemed to fall into an eerie silence a few people looking back to Sweet Pea.

Sweet Pea muttered a small fuck as he put his hand up and nudged Fangs to do the same. Pretty soon one by one the younger serpents had voted outnumbering a few of the older ones against it.

“Thats final Y/N will do the gauntlet, I will let her know she has done all of the other trials except for this one, so if she’s up for it she does it tonight.”

Sweet Pea smirked remembering the way you lost it on Jughead when he told you the final step, refusing to step foot onto that stage in that kind of manner.

Jughead made his way off the stage and over to Toni, Fangs, and Sweet Pea.

“Thanks Jones, but I need one more favor.” Sweet Pea started.

Jughead sighed as he brought his hand up covering his face. “What now Sweet Pea?”

“I can’t be at the end of the line” Sweet Pea lowered his voice making sure that only the group heard him.

Jughead began to argue, both him and Sweet Pea going back and forth.

“Why! Why can’t you do it Sweet Pea!” Jughead yelled

“BECAUSE I LOVE HER” Sweet Peas voice boomed throughout the Wyrm causing it to go silent.

Jughead stood processing, getting ready to apologize but unable to allow it. Before anything was said. Fangs spoke up.

“I’ll be at the end of the line”

Sweet Peas head whipped towards his bestfriend his eyes wide.

“It has to be someone close if not at Sweet Peas status, and a younger serpent, plus Sweet Pea trusts me. I’ll do it, don’t make him do it Jones” Fangs defended himself.

Jughead nodded. “You still use the brass knuckles.”

Fangs nodded as he turned and patted Sweet Peas shoulder walking out of the Wyrm not letting Sweet Pea talk him out of it.

-

Y/N POV

You walked into the Whyte Wyrm for your bar shift, luckily the Wyrm was all you were working tonight. As soon as you walked in all eyes seemed to turn to you, you gave an awkward smile as you continued your walk to the bar.

“Did I miss something today?” you asked Toni as you bent down to tie the small black apron across your waist.

Before Toni could answer. Jughead appeared asking you to meet him upstairs in the office. You gave a slight nod as your face went pale.

“It’s good babe I promise” Toni assured.

You made your way up the steps slowly until you came to the door. Knocking lightly you heard a faint come in.

You opened the door to see Jughead and Fangs in the office.

“Y/N come in, sit down” Jughead motioned to the spot next to Fangs. You took your seat and placed your hands in your lap, fidgeting slightly as your knee bounced up and down afraid of what was happening.

“Okay Y/N/N you wore me down, as well as Sweet Pea. We had a vote today, if you still want you do the gauntlet to finish out your trials.” Jughead paused. You looked at him with wide eyes until a smile stretched across your face.

“YES!, uh yes I want to, when can I?” You shouted bringing your voice back down as Jughead chuckled lightly.

“You can do it tonight … if you want, Fangs here will be at the end.” Jughead answered for you.

Your stomach dropped. Why wasn’t it Sweet Pea?

Fangs seemed to be able to sense your confusion as he placed his hand on your knee.

“He couldn’t do it. I offered.”

You nodded. “Tonight it is.” you slowly got up giving a small thanks to Jughead.

“Oh Y/N,” Jughead stopped you as you got to the door. “I want you by my side, like your brother was to my dad”

You nodded back at Jughead. “I want that too”

You made your way down the stairs as your eyes scanned the bar searching for Sweet Pea, you found him at the pool tables. You couldn’t control your anger as you marched over shoving him.

“YOU JUST HAD TO CHANGE SOMETHING HUH?” You shouted at him.

He stood there letting you hit him until he pulled you against his chest. “I can’t do that to you Y/N/N, I’m sorry I just, I can’t”

You pushed away from him still seething with anger. “Whatever Pea.”

You walked out of the Wyrm back to your trailer getting ready for the night.

-

You had chosen a small park near your trailer to do your gauntlet, the same place your brother had his.

You took a deep breath as you looked around at the serpents you’ve known pretty much your whole life, your breath catching as you locked eyes with Sweet Pea, you were so mad at him yet he still came to support you, a smile stretched across your face as you watched him give you a wink, your sign of you’ve got this.

You looked to Jughead “Y/N L/N you ready for this?”

Your face went stone cold as you braced yourself. “Let's do it”

Sweet Pea POV

I stood behind a few guys purposefully telling them to stop me if I tried anything. Toni had a grip on my arm as well telling me it was going to be fine. I winced as I watched Y/N take hit after hit, stumbling but never falling down. Finally after what seemed like the longest time in my life. She stood in front of Fangs.

He looked to her and then back to me. I gave him a small nod appreciating the small gesture.

I chuckled as I watched Y/N spit some blood onto the grass, and per usual sass Fangs.

“C’mon Fangsy give me your best shot”

I watched Fangs take a deep breath as he closed his eyes his hand clenching around the brass knuckles, I could see he didn’t want to do it but he had to. His arm raised grip tight to the cold metal wrapped around his fingers. He took the swing his hand connecting with the side of her face right along her cheek bone, blood spilling from her mouth once again but more this time as she fell to the bloody grass below her feet. The hit was one of the worst I’ve seen Fangs deliver to someone I was pissed to say the least as I watched her fall, but Y/N would’ve been pissed beyond belief if Fangs had held back. The grip on my arm tightened as I went to move forward, I looked down seeing “Don’t” fall from Tonis lips. As much as I wanted to run to her and pull her in my arms I knew that was not how this worked. So I watched helplessly, “c’mon Y/N/N get up” I muttered softly under my breath.

I released the breath I was holding as I watched her get up slowly, she smirked at Fangs, but I knew her better than anyone. I could see the concealment of the pain surging through her right now.

I watched as Jughead moved beside Fangs a jacket held in his hands but not just any jacket.

“We’ve kept this safe for you for awhile now, but after that you have earned it, you can have your own but your brother always told us it would be yours when he was gone.”

He watched as the tears fell down your cheeks the salty tears mixing with the blood and cuts as you brought your hand up to cover your mouth a choked sob coming from you as your knees went weak. Fangs acting fast as he gripped you.

Jughead placed the jacket around your shoulders as the serpents surrounded you patting your back and pulling you in for hugs.

I wasn’t getting anywhere near you yet so I walked over to Fangs.

“You just had to hold nothing back didn’t you!” I harshly whispered to him.

“Sweet Pea I had to do it the way I did, you know Y/N she would have known, she would have done the whole thing again!” Fangs defended.

Our argument going back and forth for a while not even noticing you standing a few feet away watching it all unfold.

Y/N POV

You stood shocked as you watched Sweet Pea berate Fangs for doing what he was supposed to. You gripped the jacket around me tighter as you scoffed. You were hoping you could finally tell Sweet Pea how you had felt, You had been so scared that he wouldn’t want you as you weren’t a full fledged serpent. You waited for a few minutes before deciding to slip away, heading home to take care of yourself. You had just made it home and grabbed my first aid kit when you heard the pounding on my front door.

You must not have been as sneaky as you thought you had been as you heard Sweets voice from the other side.

“C’mon Y/N/N let me in!”

You rolled your eyes. “I don’t need you Pea!” You shouted back.

“Fine! You want to do this the hard way, we can do this the hard way!”

“What is that even supposed to mean?!” You quipped back. You heard no response. What did he mean the hard way? What was he going to do break in? A small giggle escaped me as you thought about Sweet Pea trying to break in.

“Told you I’d do it the hard way”

You jumped letting out a small scream. “WHAT THE FUCK PEA?”

He moved towards you and grabbed the first aid kit off the floor where you had dropped it.

“I wasn’t leaving you all alone like this. Now sit, so I can patch you up.”

You crossed your arms grumbling a fine as you hopped onto the kitchen counter making it easier for Sweets to get to me.

He moved closer, settling in between my legs as he brought up the warm cloth to my face. As gently as he could he cleaned up my cuts on my face. Gently his thumb rubbed the spot where Fangs brass knuckles had connected with my cheek the purple already blooming. I closed my eyes at the touch.

“Pea?”

“Yeah” His response quiet his breath warm on my face.

“You shouldn’t have yelled at Fangs, he stood up and did the thing you weren’t able to do.” You paused, the question itching in the back of your mind “Why Pea? Why couldn’t you do it?”

Silence.

He looked down shaking his head. You knew deep down why he couldn’t do it. You’ve known it since you were in the third grade.

You took a deep breath, if you could handle the gauntlet, you could handle this. “I love you.”

His thumb stilled. His eyes locking with yours.

“If your lip wasn’t so busted open, I would kiss you right now” He muttered.

You grabbed the dog tags dangling from his neck and pulled him closer, and as soft as you could placed my lips against his. He kissed back tenderly before pulling away.

“You just wait until that lip is healed princess.”

You moved forward, wrapping my arms around him. “I can’t even begin to tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

Sweet Pea smiled. “I think I know princess, I think I know.”

-

A few weeks later you were sitting at the Wyrm. Your head leaned against Sweet Pea as you were surrounded by your friends. These last few weeks had been the best you’ve had in awhile. You had shared many stolen kisses, and received such elated responses when your friends found out about the two of you finally dating. You weren’t really sure how your life could get any better than this. You were pulled from your thoughts as Sweet Pea leaned in closer to you.

“Hey Princess”

“Hmmmm?”

“I have something for you.” You looked to Sweet Pea as he placed a small box in front of you. You looked around at your friends, there was no way they didn’t know what trick Sweet Pea had up his sleeve. You took your time opening the box knowing it annoyed Sweet Pea, slightly laughing when he nudged you to hurry up. You looked down into the box and found your brothers pair of brass knuckles staring back up at you.

You were speechless. You looked up to Sweet Pea noticing his eyes a little glossy as well.

He cleared his throat. “I know how much he meant to you Y/N/N and I know how much you miss him.”

You turned fully in the booth and threw your arms around Sweet Peas neck, mumbling a small thank you as the watery tears mixed of sadness and happiness cascaded down your cheeks.

“I - I thought he lost this in the deal”

Sweet Pea tightened his grip on you. “I went back for them when the coast was clear.”

You kissed the tattoo on his neck knowing what it did to him as a silent thank you.

Sweet Pea kissed the top of your head. “Anything for you princess.”

[reallookingfakebills]

Passport to Wealth

Have you ever 'failed' at Network Marketing, or any kind of home business? I admit that I have. I ended up sinking close to $10,000 into Herbalife...about half of that was getting started and buying $4000 worth of products for a 'Supervisor' order...and the rest, my coaches/upline dragooned me into buying into their ridiculously-overpriced advertising coop ($500 buy-in gets you 5 leads, and you were supposed to buy 3 or more of these 'wheel slots'!).

I might have had about $5000 in income come in...but I spent countless hours calling my overpriced leads, calling my downline's overpriced leads, and training my downline, most of whom disappeared because they weren't making any money.

So you need not feel embarrassed in my company, if you have ever been unsuccessful in network marketing.

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The financial fiasco with Herbalife taught me that although there IS a ton of money to be made with internet business, I needed to find the RIGHT business opportunity, and more importantly, the right Mentoring Group within that business to join.

A preliminary Google search revealed the Top-Tier Internet Businesses. Darren Gaudry's Passport to Wealth caught my attention immediately because of the products, which included a comprehensive suite of internet marketing software and resources, and the compensation plan: it is an Australian '2-up' plan, which means each new member you sign up will 'pass up' their first two sales to you, their sponsor. Their third sale, they keep 100% of the $997 profit.

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Thus I began to do some serious research into Passport to Wealth...I was NOT about to get scammed again. Well, technically I didn't get scammed by Herbalife...it IS an amazing product, but I did feel that my mentors ripped me off by selling me $4500 in 'wheel slots' that cost $500 a piece for a lousy 5 leads, who were little better than flipping through the phone book. Seriously, I had leads who thought they were applying for a job at a doctor's office...

So I searched every work-at-home forum and ranking site that I could find for details about Passport to Wealth. I was looking with a critical eye, for some little piece of negativity that would dissuade me from spending $997 to join.

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Passport to Wealth Cons

a) $997 to invest --Although this isn't so much of a barrier now, with the $600-$1200 tax rebates on the way as a result of the Economic Stimulus Plan, in the past this investment requirement could make it difficult for many aspiring entrepreneurs.

b) 2 Sales to Qualify --With Passport to Wealth, you pass-up your first two sales to your sponsor. Although this isn't actually a 'cash' expense, that is still $2000 that you are passing up to get qualified. Of course, if you can get two sales, you can get more...it's not the money itself that has the value, but the skills that you gained in the PROCESS of getting those first two sales.

Passport to Wealth Pros

a) No Phone Calling Required Coming from Herbalife, where the modus operandi is to 'Call your leads 3-4 times per day', it is SUCH a relief that I don't have to talk to people on the phone anymore. You can either have Professional Sales Associates (PSAs) call your prospects for you (for a commission on the sale), or if you join the Passport Mentors4U Team, the leaders call your prospects for you for FREE, as a service to members.

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c) The compensation plan is structured such that once you are qualified, each sale puts $997 in your pocket right away . If your downline is serious and motivated to Earn Money Online, they will succeed and pass up their first two sales to you, for another $2000 of pure profit for you. If your downline are bums and don't do anything or follow the instructions, then you still made $997! This solves the problem of spending countless hours trying to train your downline in the hopes that someday they will make sales and recover your advertising costs that you spent to recruit them!

d) Free Trial You can actually sign up for a free trial with Passport to Wealth and see the back office, access some of the products and software, and kick the tires so you really *know* what you are getting yourself into! Most of the other top-tier Internet Businesses wouldn't even TELL you about the details or the products unless you first paid an application fee! So, there are the pros and cons of the Passport to Wealth business opportunity itself...and although that might SOUND excellent, Real Looking Fake Bills I tell you that it is still not enough. I had learned the hard way from Herbalife that even more important than WHAT business opportunity you join is WHO you join with! It doesn't do you any good to have a powerful automated marketing system that can make sales while you sleep...if you don't know how to get interested prospects to your website! So after diligently researching the business, I began researching the Passport to Wealth mentoring teams with equal diligence. I continued to dig, Google Search, and investigate. I felt that I had learned very little in terms of network marketing from Herbalife, so this time I was going to choose which team I joined. I interviewed three potential sponsors, from the Passport Mentors4U Team and the Passport Gold Team. The Passport Gold Team seemed to have LOTS of help for new people...but only until they made their first two sales. After that, you were removed from the rotator and on your own for marketing. This sounded like the exact OPPOSITE of what I wanted...I didn't want anyone making my first two sales for me and then leaving me, because it was the SKILLS to create the first two sales that I needed, 

Real Looking Fake Bills not the sales themselves! The Mentors4U team, lead by Megan Vaillancourt and Stephanie Sammour, built their business around that exact principle. These two stay-at-home moms make incomes that make my own executive salary from my day job seem like chump-change. The Passport Mentors4U build you a lead capture page free of charge, complete with killer ad copy and integration into an autoresponder that sends out a series of educational emails complete with the occasional free gift to your prospects. These sales letters do the sorting and educating for you, and when the prospect is ready to hear more, the Mentors call them FOR you and close the sale! Since I joined Passport to Wealth 2 weeks ago, under the Mentors4U team, I have learned the fine internet marketing arts of Blogging, Article Marketing, Press Releases, Squidoo, Ezines, Craigslist, and more. I don't want to brag or make silly claims of my income, but to give you an idea, go to Google and type in 'MyInternetBusiness', and click on the 'Groundbreaking News...' ad (right now it is number three on page 1). Imagine...two weeks into this business and my site is already on the FIRST PAGE of Google! I'll leave it to the reader to determine the kind of business that is generating for me now...and the kind of business that could generate for you, too, but only if you join with the RIGHT MENTORING TEAM. So, in summary, Passport to Wealth , and the Mentors4U Team in particular, is definitely NOT a scam, and is in fact an incredible internet business opportunity where you can make $997 per month, or per week, or even per DAY once you get your search engine rankings high enough! To learn more, you may visit the link in the resource box below.

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[escapingreality1992]

Secret Pen Pals ch. 2

Keira's POV

My alarm went off at 8 a.m. sharp and I groaned as I scrunched up my face annoyed at the early hour. My hair fell in my face as I pushed myself up from lying on my stomach. Unfortunately, I couldn't go back to sleep because a client of mine was coming by to drop off her two golden retrievers to be watched for a week; She'd be here at 10 a.m. and I'd go over a couple things before having to leave the pups in the apartment two hours later in order to meet my friends for lunch.

An outward groan left my throat again, dreading the conversation I would have with them. If they had seen the advertisement for the pen pal event, I was sure that they'd have their own opinions about it. If they hadn't...well either way I planned to keep it a secret from them. I considered myself to be a romantic; to them, I'd be nothing more than a hopeless romantic, the idea that two people might fall in love through letters ridiculous in their minds.

My job was already a joke to them, a disappointing career to anyone close to me. The thing is I enjoyed what I did for a living. Dogs brought me joy to my life and today I planned on taking them for a swim at a local pool strictly for dogs. I released a content sigh thinking about it. In addition, I also wanted to stop by one of those unique specialty stores which sold anything from antiques to dolls, but more importantly the one I wanted to shop in had those instant Polaroid cameras. The reason behind this being that I had wrote Steve about sending him a picture of the coziness of my room, capturing the many blankets thrown across my bed.

Making a mental note to clean my room, I strode to the bathroom to take a shower in preparation for the day ahead of me. I let the hot water pour over my body, taking my time to cleanse it of the sweat that clung to it from the heat of the apartment. Fall came quick this year, meaning cooler nights and I had yet to make a thicker blanket to envelop me in warmth. Once finished with my usual routing in the shower, I stepped out into the coldness of the bathroom; I constantly let the fan run to avoid paint peeling off the walls from the steam that encased the entire room from the hot water. I wrapped a fluffy, light blue towel around my body - my arms and lower legs still exposed to the cool air - and ventured to the warm air of my bedroom.

Making my way to my closet, I chose an outfit consisting of a violet t-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers laying it across my unmade bed before grabbing undergarments from my dresser. Slipping those on, I dried my hair, leaving it slightly wet and pulling on the t-shirt and jeans before continuing the drying process. Since I had longer hair, it took a little while for it to get fully dry; I pulled it up in my usual ponytail and grabbed my current read and phone to sit on the couch while I waited for my client to arrive. At 10, a knock sounded at the my door, prompting me to put my bookmark in my book and set it aside to greet Andrea and Mark Peterson, the owners of the two golden retrievers; Jamie age 4 and Sherlock age 6.

"Good morning Keira. Thanks again for watching them. This trip to Paris is very important," Andrea greeted me. They were business partners who were trying to get word out for the wedding cakes they crafted from scratch. Andrea was a petite, 5'2" woman with honey blonde hair and brown eyes, while her husband stood at 6'3" with broad shoulders, dark hair and hazel eyes. They had no children apart from the dogs whom they sort of treated as such. They were humble and our first meeting involved picking out a cake for a friend's - well former friend's - wedding five years ago. They were a sweet couple and had seen my ad three weeks before that wedding, never needing to use my services until a month after; they went to travel to England for supplies for more extravagant decorations for their many delicious cakes. Now in the present, they became a regular client as their business continued to propel forward. They paid well, but it wasn't about the money for me. I loved taking care of each and every dog I watched.

"No problem. I enjoy having Jamie and Sherlock around. You said you were picking them up Saturday?" I told them, taking the leashes and walking the dogs to the couch, setting them loose once my apartment door was shut by Mark, who set down their dog bags.

"Can we pick up Sunday actually? Sunday night if possible. We'll be getting in pretty late Saturday and I have a feeling the jet lag is going to be horrendous," Andrea replied, pulling out her checkbook.

"Sunday is perfectly fine. Are you okay if I take them swimming? I'd be taking them to an indoor dog pool a few blocks from here,"

"Yes that sounds like a wonderful idea. I imagine they might enjoy that very much. If they stay until Sunday, how much more will that be?" Mark stated.

"Only 30 dollars more. Anything else I need to know about this week? Any questions about anything else?" I responded.

"30 dollars? Really? You know what, I'll give you a little more. I think 4000 should suffice," Andrea commented.

"Oh, but I only charge 2000 in most cases," I stated.

"We don't mind. You take care of them so often and so excellent that you deserve a big tip," Mark commented, smiling politely. I returned the smile and rubbed the head of Sherlock who had padded over to me and nudged the fingers of my right hand. Andrea ripped out the check and handed it to me, both owners waving goodbye to both goldens. My apartment door closed again and I turned to the pups.

"What do you say? Want to go for a walk before lunchtime?" I asked them. At this both dogs circled me jumping up to place their paws against my body.

"Okay, okay. First you two have to sit and wait so I can hook up your leashes," I told them, slipping on my sneakers. I grabbed a few poop bags, leashes and keys in the other hand before going outside for a walk. While walking, I couldn't help but wonder what Steve was up to at this very moment.

Steve's POV

Another 5 a.m. run, another training session, and another debriefing on the latest threat. That's how my day began. Not at all exciting, especially with debriefing, which wasn't even about a threat at all. It ended up being a report about the last enemy we defeated, a couple of paranormal entities, which we had to enlist Stephen Strange's help with. What followed the report was Tony discussing plans for an upcoming benefit we had to attend. As he droned on, I found myself aimlessly drawing on a piece of printer paper to stave off my boredom. Well, at least, I'll have something to send to Keira, I thought, focusing on the curvature of a ball of yarn I drew. Funny, I'm letting details of her first letter influence my sketches. Weird how it happened, I thought, a small smile creeping on my lips.

"What do you think Cap?" Tony's voice cut into my concentration.

"About what?" I answered, not even looking up, too involved in sketching out a dog's paw.

"I thought about showing up in my birthday suit and dancing all night," he stated. My pencil froze and I glanced up to see Tony grinning in pure amusement.

"I'm only joking. The theme, Steve, would be dark tones. Not necessarily black tie but shades of gray, black, maybe even white," he stated.

"No white. If you served red wine or colorful cocktails, there would be obvious stains should you spill anything on yourself. Shades of gray? Like the movies? Isn't that a little inappropriate?" I told him, my hand itching to get back to my drawing. Snorts of laughter went around the room as my friends glanced at each other.

"No, not the movies. The benefit is supposed to be formal. I didn't want it to be black tie again," Tony answered.

"Oh, alright. What is this for? Remind me,"

"Saving the world from total destruction and as it turns out paranormal beings. We're giving back to the community as well," Tony explained.

"Of course with a huge donation on your end," Natasha commented.

"We work hard and Stark Industries is doing pretty well in the technology department,"

"Maybe Strange is right. I don't see how that ego fits in..."

I barely registered Nat's entire quip at Tony, resuming my drawing as they bickered back and forth.

"You know Nat and Wanda could be having sex on the table right in front of us and you wouldn't notice. What's got you all distracted?" Bucky asked me, getting my attention by waving a hand in front of my face.

"Nothing. I hate these kind of debriefings. They're important but I find them dull and boring. At least the ones with missions have more excitement," I responded, flipping the pencil to use the eraser, correcting a mistake I made with the dog's body.

"Nothing? Seems like it's something since you've become super quiet. You must be really bored if you're drawing. What is it this time? More monkeys?" Bucky stated. He leaned over to see and I immediately moved another sheet over it to block his view.

"No. It's not finished. I'd rather not let anyone see it right now," I said, causing him to furrow his brows.

"What is it for anyway?"

"No one...I mean, it's not for anything. You know how I get when I'm bored. I doodle things instead of letting sleep take over. Especially in this meeting," I stated, a slight panic coming over me at revealing my pen pal. It's not like I didn't want to tell him but I didn't want anyone to poke fun at the idea. My friends wouldn't judge but I couldn't have them deter me from the exchange anyway. Plus, I wanted someone to talk to - write in this case - about anything I felt like. I wanted to have someone to interact with that wasn't involved in my world. Although I still had a recurring though of Keira already knowing who I am, though re-reading the letter it seemed like she didn't. If she did...maybe she hadn't revealed that fact yet, afraid to drive me away when she could have me to herself. Shaking my head, I tried to shove it away from my mind. Relax, Steve. Have some faith in this girl, I thought. Turning my attention to my best friend, I managed a small smile.

"Honestly it's a silly drawing. I wouldn't worry about it. I don't mean to be secretive about the beginnings of the sketch but I want to make sure it's perfect before I show anyone," I told him.

"That's understandable. That being said, are you sure nothing else is on your mind?"

"I'm sure, Buck. Thanks for your concern," I stated.

"That's a wrap everyone. On your way out of the room, grab a packet so you can review details of the benefit later this week," Tony informed us.

"This week? I thought it was next week," I commented, inwardly groaning.

"If you had been paying attention, you would have already known it's happening this week. Why the long face Cap? Afraid you can't get a date?" Tony mocked me. I frowned, standing up to approach the table where our packets lay.

"I'm not going with anyone. I forgot to purchase a suit to match the colors of this benefit. If you'll excuse me, I must go out and do so. Especially if I'm to be presentable for your taste," I remarked, almost hissing the last part. Tony and I had a different relationship, agreeing on some things, disagreeing on most. Today happened to be a day where the littlest of things could set me off. I could admit stress definitely was a factor, the only thing calming my mood being my pen pal and the eagerness of sending another letter growing in my heart. I picked up the packet, walking out in as much a calm manner as possible. I retreated to my room to place the packet on my desk before venturing out to a department store in order to pick up a suit for the benefit a few days later. After trying on a few suits and deciding on a charcoal gray suit with a tie that matched it, I chose to stop by a small jewelry store and purchased a birthday gift worthy for Keira. Unaware to me, Keira happened to be in the same area eating lunch; our paths wouldn't cross with each other on this day. I returned home to finish the small drawing of a dog playing with a ball of yarn and began constructing another letter for her.

Keira's POV

The golden retrievers and I returned from the walk tired and hungry; I also had sweat that accumulated on various parts of my body, deciding that I needed to take a final shower before meeting my friends. I set out bowls of dog food for Jamie and Sherlock before taking said shower, quickly going through the routine and drying off. I changed into a dark green, long sleeve blouse and black trousers remembering the restaurant we were going to was really nice. Not an overly expensive one you could see the elite dining in but one in which the prices were in a medium range. Pulling on a pair of heels that matched my blouse, I made sure my furry companions had water, giving them both a treat before heading out for lunch with my friends. Since the restaurant wasn't too far from my apartment, I decided to walk to it instead of taking a cab, the subway station out of the question being on the opposite side of where I needed to go. As usual, I ended up being 15 minutes early having to wait on the other three women to arrive. Thankfully, I always carried a book everywhere I went; the current read being about magic and wizards, the genre of fantasy drawing me into its fascinating world.

"Why is it whenever we meet up, you manage to have your nose in a book?" a voice interrupted my reading. The next to arrive was Charlotte Mathers with her red pixie cut, long legs, and green eyes. She enjoyed her job, which happened to be a general manager at a high end retail store. She got paid well, enough to live near Central Park in an amazing, huge, studio apartment, plus she had been born into a family that had a little more money than the average middle class. I smiled, trying not to be annoyed with her comment.

"Well Charlotte, I enjoy reading instead of having my face rooted to my phone," I answered her. Like she even heard me, her face locked onto her phone...this being a normal habit of hers.

"She never escapes from her fantastical world. How have you been Keira?" another voice stated. Oh good. Of course, Lena would be the next to get here, I thought. A woman with long blonde hair, a petite figure that mirrored mine and blue eyes was an accurate description of Lena Morrow. Lena had a job as a receptionist to a law firm. It was rare that she could out to lunch and we enjoyed her company whenever possible. She stayed busy exactly like Jana Elliot, who was the last to arrive. Jana was a nurse which is her schedule almost never matched Charlotte's and mine.

"I'm good Lena. I've got two dogs to watch this week which is pretty cool," I responded to the question, catching Jana's eyes as she walked in.

"Didn't you have one last week? What is it with you and babysitting dogs? It can't pay all that well," Jana greeted us.

"It pays pretty well actually. I keep getting requests from a lot of people who don't mind paying a lot. Plus, I charge 2000 for an entire week. Though for a few days it's only about 1500," I explained.

"Yeah, but you must not have enough to live anywhere nice," Lena commented.

"I live in Brooklyn. It's nice enough and save most of what I earn. Not to mention people give me tips after I watch their dogs. I even charge a little extra for training them if they need it. Sometimes I have the same dog or dogs for two weeks which gets me a lot of money," I stated.

"You're still earning money from doing book reviews right? What do they pay? 1300 per review?" Charlotte asked, looking up from her phone for the first time since she got here.

"Yes. It's more like 1500. Enough talk about my income. I'm hungry," I stated, feeling all the judgment from my friends. I loved them but there time I wondered why they bothered hanging out with me. Their comments seemed to get worse every time we met up, but I didn't want to seem like a hermit staying in my apartment, so I put up with it. They didn't bother me too much; occasionally someone would say something that rooted in me and stung a little but I never showed it until I got back to my apartment. We were seated and ordered spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer until we figured out what to have as a main course. Looking over the menu, I decided to go with a tuna poke, Lena, went with steak, Charlotte chose a salad and Jana went with a club sandwich.

"Did anyone see that advert in the bookstore downtown? An event for pen pals. Sounds ridiculous if you ask me," Charlotte said. My blood froze as Jana and Lena both nodded.

"Who would e-mail a complete stranger? What do they expect will happen? Someone falls in love with another person. Not likely," Lena replied.

"I heard it's supposed to be handwritten letters instead of e-mailing one another," I commented, nervously wringing my hands under the table.

"Oh good. Nothing like going back in time. I wonder if they had anyone sign up. Or maybe if they had any of the Avengers sign up," Lena continued, a scowl on her face.

"Maybe some might say it sounds kind of romantic. Having a connection with someone through letters of course. It doesn't have to be romance though. Some people could meet new friends," I stated. The three of them turned to glance at me; if I hadn't been judged before, then their expression certainly had judgment clearly etched out on their features.

"Did you sign up? You've always been a hopeless romantic. Sweetie, you should go out and meet someone real, not write to someone you can't even see," Jana suggested.

"No. I missed the deadline. As for meeting someone while I go out, it hasn't really worked for me," I snapped. Their eyebrows raised at the anger in my tone and decided to drop the subject. It was a quiet lunch, not much to say; I suppose my annoyance at them prevented anyone from speaking and for the first time I was happy to leave one of our outings.

Returning to my apartment, the retrievers greeted me by letting me scratch their heads, following me around while I prepared for our appointment at the dog pool. I changed into a black one piece, throwing on athletic shorts and a tank top with flip flops and leashed the dogs before exiting my home. This time, I loaded them in car and drove to midtown Manhattan, parking in the garage of the pool building, taking the elevator down to the pool. We would be the only ones there and I could eliminate the lunch from my mind as I swam around with Jamie and Sherlock. I had unleashed them and let them jump in while I pulled off my shorts and tank top, joining them immediately. We stayed there for two hours, swimming and playing, the tension I had melting away.

Packing up at the end of our session, I remembered to stop by the specialty shop that sold the Polaroid cameras for the purpose of keeping an old-fashioned theme to my letters. The shop in particular, accurately named Unique Peculiarities, allowed pets so I toted Jamie and Sherlock inside, browsing the various colors of the cameras, selecting a royal blue one and grabbing some film to prepare for my idea. I returned home and let the pups do their business before letting them loose in my apartment. I set to cleaning up and arranged my blankets in such a way to capture the coziness. I decided at the last minute to snap a picture of my bookshelves and added one of favorite books, Pride and Prejudice, for another picture. Once I got the pictures out the way, I sat down to construct another letter to Steve.

Four Days Later

Steve's POV

I spent most of the week preparing for the benefit and when it came, I still felt like something was missing, or rather someone. Maybe I was lonely and desired a companionship. Even now as I looked around at my friends, I wanted someone to hold, to kiss, to love. Most of my friends had someone; Natasha had Wanda - a surprise to all of us but we supported it - Tony had Pepper, Thor had Jane. The rest of us remained single but I couldn't help but to dream of having someone to care for. I didn't know if Keira would be the one for me. I hadn't even met the woman but still imagined what it'd be like with her.

"Can I get a beer please?" I asked the bartender, sitting down on the stools contemplating my decisions in life. I spent most days avenging the world and missed out on several opportunities to be fixed up on a date. Natasha had tried many times a few years ago but I rejected them all, set on working on missions. There was a brief relationship with Sharon Carter but it fell through pretty quickly and now I regretted not taking more chances with dating someone.

"Everything all right? You seem a bit down," Natasha's voice interrupted my thoughts as I sipped on my beer. I turned, managing a small grin.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking about some things,"

"Relationships you mean. What? I know you too well. Besides, I've been watching you tonight. You look at the couples and there's a hint of sadness in your eyes. Why don't you ask someone out?" she commented.

"I don't know. Sure, I'd like to date but the people I'm around are caught up in this world, avenging it and I don't want someone in the same line of work. I'd like to come home to some who can take my mind off this job. Other people see me as Captain America, not Steve Rogers. It's hard most days, seeing happiness of those around me when I can't provide it for myself,"

"Who knows? Maybe it'll happen to you one day. Don't give up hope,"

"Thanks Natasha," I told her. As the night died down, I wandered outside to get a breath of fresh air, hands in my pockets, the cool breeze of Autumn ruffling my hair. I reached the end of the drive and stopped by the mailbox. Mailbox. We haven't checked it in the last few days, I thought. Keira's name flashed across my mind as I opened the metal box and pulled out a stack of mail. I rifled through it on the way back to the compound. I was back inside the building when I saw it, the letter addressed to me. I set down the other mail on the coffee table and disappeared into my room, my fingers quickly opening the thick packaging of the envelope. I sat down on my bed, unfolding the letter, three Polaroid pictures facing me. One featured a bed with a multitude of colorful knitted blankets, the thickness of the material making me want to bury my body among them. The second picture had a view of three large bookshelves filled to the brim with all sorts of books ranging from fiction to nonfiction to young adult books. At the bottom of the Polaroid she had written - in Sharpie - 'Can you tell I'm a book collector?' followed by a winking face next to the question. A smile crept onto my lips as I picked up the final picture featuring Pride and Prejudice. The the end she had written 'My all time favorite.' Putting the pictures to the side, I began reading, kicking off my shoes and lying back on the sheets.

Steve,

As promised, I've sent you a picture of my cozy blankets. Don't they make you want to climb under them? They're ones for fall but there are more that I'm creating for winter. Definitely needing to stay warm, especially in this city. As a bonus, I've sent you a picture of bookshelves and one of my all time favorite book. I know, these are Polaroids but I thought it'd be kind of interesting to keep an nostalgic theme going here.

Pride and Prejudice is one story I've falling in love with ever since the eighth grade. I love the dynamic between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy and the love that happened to always be there. I read it every Christmas curled up in bed or on the couch, a cup of hot chocolate, or tea, in my hand. The blankets surrounding me of course. You'd think after a few years of living here, I'd be used to the cold, but I'm still a southern girl at heart and desire warmth.

In my last letter, I realized I forgot to tell you I'm originally from North Carolina. Greensboro to be exact. When I used to live there, we had crazy weather too, one day it'd be hot as blazes, the next cool and comfortable. During the winter, we'd freeze, not used to it. My parents still live there of course, but we don't get to visit each other much. I miss them and I'll be visiting the some time next month and for Christmas, so if you get a letter from North Carolina, that'll be why.

Currently, I'm watching two golden retrievers named Jamie and Sherlock. We went swimming earlier and as I'm write this, my hair is still a tangled, wet mess. I hope wherever you are, you're having a good day. I was until I met up with a couple friends of mine. I think I've mentioned I'm a total romantic. If not, then now you know.

Well that makes two of us, I thought. She already had me wanting to cozy up in that bed as well since I already viewed the picture. The only difference being I wanted to be under there with her. It's only the second letter. Am I starting to crush on her already?  Another thought popped up in my head as I continued reading.

Anyway, they saw the advertisement for this event and seemed to think it ridiculous. I rather think this is unique, a great opportunity to connect. Maybe all this could be is a friendship but maybe somewhere out there it could give someone to love. Is it silly? Maybe not ideal? Perhaps, but you never know. Things could miraculously happen.

No, it's not silly. I love the way your mind works,  I thought. I sat up to remove my jacket and tie picking up the letter again, settling back on the pillows.

If that wasn't bad enough, they sought out to judge me on my job. They don't think it pays well but you'd be surprised at the amount of people who request me to watch their dogs. Sometimes they also pay to have me train them. Not to mention a side job (which I forgot to mention last time) as a book reviewer. Apparently in this city, it pays well and it's a lot of fun.

The only things that calmed me today was the pool time with the pups and knowing I could come back write to you. I wish that we have met already; I desperately need a hug at the moment. For the time being, I'll just hold the goldens close and pet them. Maybe next week will be better. It'll be my birthday after all. Nothing can go wrong on your birthday.

Sorry for the complaining but I needed to get it off my chest and my mind. Writing and talking is the best way I know how to do just that and since I can't talk to anyone about this, writing to you seems to be my only option. It's the best option, trust me.

Looking forward to your letter,

Keira

I ran my fingers over her name, a longing in my heart starting to grow. I would've wrapped her in a hug so warm she'd never feel sad again. I sighed, getting up and placing the letter and the Polaroids in a box I set aside for this very purpose. I stripped out the rest of the suit, except for my boxers and turned off the lights in my room. I slipped into the warmth of my bed and fell into dreams of one day meeting Keira.

Keira's POV

My week with Jamie and Sherlock wasn't over yet. I spent more time sitting on the couch reading, taking them out on walks or just to their business when they needed it. We went swimming two more days and I collected the mail, letting it pile up, not checking it because I got busy training the pups a few times during the week. Today my phone rang while I sat on the couch, Sherlock in my lap, Jamie on the other end sleeping.

"Hello?" I answered, not checking the ID.

"Keira, it's Andrea. We need to stay another three days in Europe. We've been requested to head to London to check on the shop there. Are you okay to watch Jamie and Sherlock for a little longer?" Mrs. Peterson greeted me.

"Yeah, no problem. I don't have any other dogs coming until next Saturday," I told her her pushing my stack of mail over to get to my calendar. I marked down Jamie and Sherlock until the Wednesday coming up. The pile tipped over, spilling to the floor and I sighed, bending down to pick up the envelopes that fell; my hands paused when I saw the new letter from Steve.

"Great. We'll pay you when we get back. is an extra 3000 okay with you?" she commented.

"Uh huh. Sounds good. Have a safe trip," I said, ending the call and standing up. I hastily threw the other envelopes I picked up back on the kitchen counter, returning to the couch. I ripped open the envelope pulling out a sheet of notebook paper, unfolding it and started reading.

Keira,

I just finished up picking out a suit for a benefit I have to attend later this week. I forgot all about it until one of my friends told me about it during a meeting today. This meeting was dull and boring, not exciting like others. In the other letter you sent, you wanted to know a favorite memory of mine. I don't have many but I always remember the one when my best friend made me ride on a roller coaster at Coney Island which made me throw up. Gross, I know, but it's the one that comes to mind first. That and the engagement of another friend of mine. He had never been happier than in that moment. Another thing about me is something we both have in common. Reading is a favorite thing I love to do. Other than drawing. Speaking of, I sent you a drawing this time. I mentioned I doodle when I'm bored. So, this took place during the meeting.

I stopped briefly to pull out the piece of paper that got stuck in the envelope. I unfolded it and smiled at the pictured of a realistic looking dog pawing around a ball of yarn. He was definitely talented, the details standing out and catching the eye. I looked back to the letter and continued to read.

It's not much but it made me think of you. Your job sounds interesting and I'm pleased you're following your passion. Now, things I like to do for fun besides reading and drawing are going out with my friends to a bar. We tend to have a good time. I like running and going to the movies, even though I'm behind on a lot of them. I love the smell of coffee in the morning and the smell of rain whenever I go out in it. The rain is almost tranquil and I feel I can escape among those tiny droplets. You should see my mood during a thunderstorm. I'm very calm throughout it. I love watching the lightning in the dark with the curtains drawn.

Oh, we'd definitely get along then, I thought, touching my free fingers to my lips.

The description of your blankets makes me want a creation of yours. No pressure though. We're still strangers after all. Your description of yourself, however, makes me want to see that lovely face. You're beautiful, though I haven't seen you yet. If we ever get to the point where we'd want to see each other in person, I know I'd have my breath taken away. That's only my opinion though. I hope this benefit goes well. I'm not going with anyone but sometimes I get this lonely feeling. I want someone to hold and to love but I haven't found the right person yet and the people I'm around are in my line of work. I;d love to come home to someone who doesn't deal with the same things I do. I would love someone who could pull me from it, to distract me from it, if only for a few hours.

I don't mean to sound sad but I feel as though I can tell you anything and not get judged for it or at least not pushed into anything. This a good way to open up indeed. To tell someone about things you wouldn't normally share with even your closest friends. I want to hear more from you. Your favorite movie? Your ideal date? Your ideal day? Maybe your favorite memory? Anything. Everything. I hope the drawing brought you joy today.

Write to you soon,

Steve

My smile spread wider at the words on the paper. A thought popped in my mind that very instant. The thought being that I might start to like him only not in a friendship way. Though the friendship was off to a good start, other feelings began to dance around in my heart. Try not to fall in love with him yet. It's too early for that, I thought to myself. I folded up the letter and the drawing, sliding them into the envelope carefully and set it aside, continuing my book well into the late night, Steve on my mind. I made a mental note to get a frame for the drawing as I got up from the couch, allowing both dogs to join me in my bedroom. I changed into pajamas and slid under the coziness of my sheets, drifting off into dreamland.