#i miss it so much - that one hag who will not stop talking about middle school years (2) after bac. graduation

[derpinette]

i need a girl to be tomboys with soon. or i will Die

[wzrd-wheezes]

Love Language - Fred Weasley x Reader

A/N - Hey! Sorry I’ve been inactive for a little while, I’ve been super busy with work and stuff, but here’s a fluffy Freddie fic.

Request:  Hi! Can I have a Fred Weasley x reader where they’ve been dating for a while and they have a love touch relationship where they always have to be touching in some way. Then umbridge comes in and makes the boys and girls can’t be within 8inches rule

1.3k words

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Hogwarts was unbearable for Y/N at the minute. Professor Umbridge had begun to take over the entire school. Every class that she sat in was tense, some of her teachers had lost their jobs, all of the clubs had been banned. But everything seemed okay when Y/N was with Fred. They had been dating for a while now and barely spent a second apart from each other. George used to often make jokes about Fred getting aggravated if he and Y/N weren’t constantly touching. They were basically joined at the hip.

All of that ended one day when a particularly loud noise rang through the halls of Hogwarts. Y/N and Fred were on their way to their Transfiguration class when they heard it.

             “Boys and girls are not permitted to be within eight inches of each other.” Umbridge’s voice echoed through the corridor. Y/N’s heart sank immediately, and she looked down at her and Fred’s entangled fingers.

             “Don’t worry, love, what’s she going to do? Chop our fingers off?” Fred laughed, shaking his head, “she’s a right hag, isn’t she? Old Umbridge.” Y/N tried to laugh but there was a dull ache in the pit of her stomach, she couldn’t think of anything worse than her and Fred getting into trouble just for holding hands.

             “Yeah, I suppose,” she smiled, “We’ll just have to try and be careful, Freddie.”

 “Being careful” to Fred meant stolen kisses in the corridors when he thought that no one was looking. He would often grab Y/N’s hand and pull her into a deserted corridor and give her a quick peck on the lips before dashing off as soon as he caught a glimpse of either Filch or Umbridge. They were walking back from Quidditch practice one evening when Fred quickly yanked Y/N’s arm.

             “What was that for?”

             “That bloody cat,” he yanked his head in the direction of Mrs. Norris who was fast approaching them.

             “Shit.”

Without a second thought, Fred grabbed her hand and pulled her into the broom closet down the next corridor.

             “Fred! What the hell were you thinking?” she hissed, “if we get caught in here we’ll be in twice as much trouble,”

             “I’m sorry,” he said, “I panicked. I barely get to be with you anymore now,”

             “We’re together all the time, Freddie,”

             “Yeah, but not like together, Merlin, I can’t remember the last time I properly hugged you or held your hand. I hate all of this sneaking around,”

             “I know, I hate it too,” Y/N frowned.

             “I mean, if it was just me that was going to get into trouble then I’d parade around the corridors holding your hand and kissing you every five minutes,” he smiled, “I’d just hate for you to get into trouble for it.”

Fred gazed into her eyes for a moment, taking in all the features of his girlfriend’s face. He placed one of his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him. She looked up at him and smiled. God, he would take a hundred detentions with Umbridge just to see her smiling at him. There was a loud creak as the closet door opened abruptly.

             “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Filch drawled.

Y/N and Fred were frogmarched to Umbridge’s office, where she sat at her desk smiling sweetly at them.

             “Care to tell me why you and Miss Y/L/N were in the broom closet together, Mr Weasley?” She smiled grimly. Y/N shifted on her feet, glancing at Fred out of the corner of her eye.

             “Well, you see,” Fred began, “Y/N here is my girlfriend and you know, this ‘eight inches’ rule isn’t really working out for us,” he glared at her. Umbridge giggled.

             “I’m sure you know, Mr Weasley, that this is an educational environment and those kind of relationships aren’t exactly appropriate,” she was still grinning, “a week’s worth of detentions for the both of you should be sufficient then?”

             “But-” Fred interrupted.

             “No buts. You can start tonight. Take a seat.” She gestured to the chairs in front of her desk where two black quills lay menacingly. Y/N didn’t have the strength to protest, she felt defeated. She felt guilty about feeling a bit angry at Fred for getting them into this mess. However, she sat down and proceeded writing the lines that had been set for them. It wasn’t her first detention with Umbridge and after she had written a few lines, she felt the familiar stinging, burning sensation on the back of her hand.

 It was late when her and Fred arrived back to the Common Room. Neither of them spoke a word to each other on the way back. They didn’t speak to each other the next morning either. It wasn’t until they were having dinner that the silence was finally broken.

             “Is it a bit frosty at the dining table this evening, or is it just me?” George joked, looking at the pair.

             “Just you I reckon, Georgie,” Fred replied snarkily.

             “Stop being rude,” Y/N nudged him under the table.

             “I think you two need to go talk about whatever is going on,” George said, “Fred’s angst is getting all over my apple pie and custard and I can’t take it any longer,”

             “You want to go for a walk?” Y/N stood up, going to reach her hand out for Fred before smiling sadly and tucking it into one of the pockets of her robe instead.

They walked out of the Great Hall and started wandering down the corridors.

             “I’m sorry if I’ve been being grumpy, Y/N,” Fred said, glancing at her, “I’m just finding it really difficult not being able to be with you properly,”

             “I know,” she smiled at him, pushing her hair out of her face, “George said that you’d been being a bit tetchy, I thought you were just mad at me or something.”

             “What?” he stopped in his tracks, “I could never be mad at you, sweetheart,”

Tears started welling up in her eyes, she fiddled with the sleeves of her jumper as she looked at Fred. She could really do with a hug off of him right now, but she didn’t want to risk another detention.

             “Erm, Y/N, turn around…”

She was half expecting to see Umbridge pacing towards them and was bracing herself for another argument. Instead, she turned around to face a large, ornate wooden door.

             “That wasn’t there before… was it?” she asked, walking towards it cautiously.

             “It’s the Room of Requirement, I reckon,” Fred said, placing his hand of the handle, “It only appears to people who really need it.”

 Y/N and Fred entered the room. It was decorated plainly, a large plush sofa sat in the middle of the room in front of a roaring fire. Fred threw himself down and pulled Y/N onto his lap. Fred’s touch seemed to linger on her skin, his fingers felt warm as he stroked them up and down her arm comfortingly.

             “This is better, isn’t it love?” he smiled, cupping her cheek in his hand and pulling her in for a kiss. Fred’s lips were warm and soft, he kissed her tenderly, playing with a strand of her hair. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, trying to get as close to him as possible. Y/N buried her face in his hair, breathing in the fresh, clean smell that she had missed so much. It felt good to be close to Fred again. She had missed lazily playing with his hair as he napped in the common room, how his fingers were constantly intertwined with hers.

             “I never, ever want to leave here, Freddie,” she whispered.

             “Me either.” He tucked his face into the crook of her neck, and she could feel him smiling against her skin. In that moment, everything seemed okay. As long as she was with Fred, everything always would be.

[thisisarcanereverie]

Should’ve Known Chapter 11

A/N: 

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Wanda or Steve they are owned by Marvel, I don’t own the gif either.

WARNINGS:Angst, Swearing, the stages of grief, loss, dark themes, 18 + from here on out.

WORDS : 4,910

SUMMARY: the Final Battle ensues, and tearful goodbyes are made as finally this chapter of your life closes for good. 

In case you missed last chapter

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“(Y/n)...” Wanda whispered under her breath. She whipped her head to where Agatha was previously. She watched as your double disappeared in a ploom of red smoke. It was an illusion, her illusion. In her desperation she hadn’t noticed, but now she could see it clearly. Her head tilted dangerously, her green eyes narrowing. 

“Nice to see you again Hagatha,” You greeted as you felt the dark haired woman’s breath on your neck. “I see you’re doing well.” 

“Better than you at least,” Agatha quipped. Wanda’s hands raised as she stared menacingly at Agatha. Her hands were already enveloped in a scarlet hue. 

“Let her go.”

“Now, now Wanda,” Agatha tutted as you felt her magic wrap itself around your neck. “You don’t want to risk hurting her do you? I mean....she is expecting after all.” You felt your heart stop as Wanda’s hands lowered ever so slightly. 

“What does she mean (Y/n)?”

“Oh my,” Agatha gasped mockingly as you shake ever so slightly, “you still haven’t told her (Y/n)? This is so awkward, well I guess once the cats out of the bag you can’t very well put it back in can you” 

“Wand-” You barely got through her name when you felt all the air leave your body and the tightness around your throat burned furiously. You clawed frantically at your neck hoping somehow to relieve the pressure and burning. Your eyes lose focus, and just when your vision is going dark. You crumpled to your knees and breathed in heavy gulps of hair, coughing dryly as you did. You suddenly feel familiar hands wrap themselves around your body protectively. 

Your eyes met a familiar green. Wanda’s face was that mixed with worry and anger and something else you couldn’t quite place. 

“Are you ok?” Wanda asked frantically, her eyes quickly scanning your body. Her eyes and hands linger on your slightly swollen abdomen. Her eyes became watery as she stared at it. 

“I’m ok Wands.”

“She wasn’t lying.” Wanda whispered, almost talking to herself. 

“Wanda,” you whisper to her, she didn’t respond instead her hands and eyes stared at your stomach. Your hand reached to cup her cheek and you gently forced her to meet your eyes. “We will talk about it later, I promise, but right now there is a 330 year old murderous hag that needs to be taken care of.”

Wanda nodded after a moment. She rose to her feet and helped you onto yours, never letting go of your hand and her eyes never deviating from your form. 

“You need to go.” Wanda said, panic began to bubble it’s way to your throat. 

“Not without you.” 

“Listen to your lover, lover girl.” You hear Agatha quip as your eyes find her. Her hands were surrounded in purple light. Your eyes tear themselves away from her and to Wanda, whose jaw is set and glared at Agatha more vehetimesly than before. Her hands moved from yours and to your shoulders protectively. 

“Don’t worry about me Солнечный свет” Wanda assured you. She tore her eyes away from Agatha to yours, the poisonous look before melted away at the sight of you. “I’m going to send you to Steve, he’ll protect you.” 

“Wanda-” and with that you suddenly find yourself in the middle of town, Steve right beside you. 

“Doll?” Steve asked his eyes searching yours, for once it seemed as though the real him was there with you. The red mist in his eyes was gone, instead it was just him. baby blue eyes and all. 

You don’t know who hugged who first, but suddenly you find yourself enveloped in his arms. You felt your heart crumble ever so slightly at the action of his arms flexing around you. After a few seconds you try to break away, only to have him resist you. 

“Steve, you can let go now.” 

“If I let you go, how can I be sure that Wanda won’t replace you again?” 

You felt lead settle at your stomach as you processed his words. 

“So you know.” 

“I’ve known for a while now, doll,” Steve said, releasing his hold on you slightly. Just enough to look at his face. His face was contorted into a bittersweet expression. A face you knew all too well. Flashes of that day came and went in your mind. 

“How?”

“It started around the same time you started waking up as well. Although I wasn’t fully awake by the time you were, I had doubts. It wasn’t until I came home and found a new you that I remember what happened the day this,” he motioned around him, “happened.”

Just as you were to probe further, you saw Steve’s eyes move away from your form and to the sky. You followed his eyes to see Agatha flying above, as well as Vision and someone cloaked in white. 

You looked back at Steve and him at you. Without words he understood. 

“You sure you’re up to it ?” He asked, hands gracing your stomach. You couldn’t ask how he knew, there wasn’t time. You’ll have to talk to him later, if there is time. 

“Why? feeling tired Gramps.” You teased as you moved away from his embrace. He sent you a wink before you both took off in seperate directions. While the rest were fighting in the air, you and Steve quickly cleared the streets of Westview residents. You placed them in the one area you were certain they would be safest. The theater. 

You had nearly gotten everyone when you saw Wanda fly to the ground. Her eyes made eye contact with you for a mere second before she suddenly face planted on the concrete under her. 

“(Y/n),” Steve called, bringing your attention back to the task at hand. You knew the priority was to get people to safety and that Wanda could take care of herself. You just were worried that Agatha might be too much for Wanda to take on alone. 

Reluctantly you carried out the rest of your task, you got every civilian you could to a safe place where they most likely wouldn’t be harmed. 

“I’M NOT WHAT YOU SAY I AM!” You heard Wanda yell at Agatha, you turn your head and before you know it you see Agatha flick her wrist and suddenly every civilian is back out and crowding Wanda. 

You didn’t bother listening as Steve yelled at you to stay back, you knew Wanda didn’t do well in crowds. And these people looked ready to tear her apart. You didn’t care if you got hurt, you knew Wanda was already under enough emotional stress. You knew that this was Agatha’s plan, you knew Agatha knew Wanda’s powers were tied to her emotions. One meltdown resulted in the Hex after all. You were nervous about what another one might bring on. 

Just as you were closing in on the mob you heard Wanda wail. Suddenly the mob was to their knees, the familiar position that you were in a mere hour or so ago. Your feet pounded against the pavement until finally your arms enveloped the weeping woman. Your hand combed through her red hair and the other rubbed familiar soothing circles on her back. You often did this to calm her after her nightmares. 

“Wands,” You whisper in her ear, you silently shush her. “Wands breathe,” You encouraged, “breathe babe.” 

The red magic that suffocated the townspeople evaporated soon enough. You released your hold on Wanda. Tears ran down her face as she apologized profusely. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” Wanda repeated brokenly. 

“If you won’t let us go,” the blonde woman said, “let us die instead.” 

“I will,” Wanda said, her eyes searching the crowd, “I will let you go. I will. I will.” 

“What’s stopping you?” You turn to Agatha, “Use your power and do it now. Heroes don’t torture people.” 

“(Y/n) step back please.” Wanda said, You looked in her eyes and silently asked if she was sure. When you found no hesitancy you walked back to Steve, who stood there waiting for you.

Wanda let out a strained yell as she slowly disintegrated the scarlet walls of the hex. 

‘Go, now, all of you!” Wanda hurried with strain in her voice. The townspeople quickly scrambled to their knees, scattering in different directions. Steve held your hand firmly as you both watched the scene unfold. When you hear familiar laughter coming from the hag above a sinking feeling takes over. You could see in her eyes that you all were playing her game perfectly. Doing exactly as she wants you to. 

“Now you’ll see.” Agatha said ominously. 

You and Steve looked at each other in concern. 

“What do you think she means by-” Steve started before he clenched his chest, gripping the light cotton shirt in an iron grip. He falls to his knees beside you, his hold on your hand went slack as he tried to steady himself on the ground. 

“Steve?!” You exclaim as you kneel beside him. It took you a minute to notice him disintegrating before your eyes. Your heart begins to beat erratically against your chest as memories of the Snap play through your mind. Memories of your comrades turning to dust beside you. 

A moment later you hear a loud crash and turn to see Vision, very much in the same condition as Steve. 

You silently prayed and relieved through the horrific memories of the snap. You knew that this was different, but it looks so much like they were dusting away before your eyes. 

You see Vision stand and try to reach out to Wanda. Desperately seeking her out. You see Wanda gasp with even more tears in her eyes as she realizes what’s happening. 

You tore your eyes from Wanda to Agatha, who stood there smugly, watching as the scene unfolds. 

That vicious, lying cu-

“Now do you see,” Agatha started, “You tied your loves to this twisted world and now one can’t exist without the other.” Vision drops to his knees, but continues crawling to her. Steve holds onto your hand, pain evident in his eyes and it breaks your heart. 

“Save Westview or save your happily ever after...you’re choice.” 

Steve and Vision are half gone at this point, during the snap the dusting had been sudden, blink and you would have missed it. But this, this was torture. 

A moment later you notice Steve’s breathing becomes less labored as the broken parts of him start putting themselves back together. You tear your eyes away from the man to the red headed witch in front of you, she’s putting the Hex back together. Finally the red glow around her ceases and she drops to the ground. Once Vision is fully put together you see him jog towards Wanda. And your eyes return to the blonde man in front of you. 

You see him back in one piece, you cradle his face in your hands. 

You didn’t notice the ravenette muttering in latin until you heard Wanda shriek “NO!” before encasing all four of you in a shield. You watch as Agatha cackles and seemingly drains Wanda. You hear Wanda’s painful cries and before you could rush to her side, Steve holds you back. 

“Let me go!” 

“You go to her and Agatha will kill you.” Steve pointed out. You knew he was right, but that didn’t stop you from halfheartedly fighting your way out of his grasp. 

Finally the purple and red magic dissipate and you notice both of Wanda’s arms were dark gray and decaying. You recall Agatha saying she could drain even the most powerful beings of their life force and began to panic. If Wanda fought her, one on one, there was a very good chance of Wanda dying. 

You finally break out of Steve’s hold and practically drag him to where Wanda and Vision were. 

As soon as you get close enough you grasp her hands and check them, the ring on her finger sticking out amongst the decaying gray. 

“Wanda does it hurt?” You ask, she takes a moment to shake her head. 

“Oh how sweet.” Agatha remarks as she flies overhead. 

“Uhhh guys?” Steve called, you all turned your heads to see what looked to be a  white version of Vision. "What the heck is that?” 

You guess Haybitch figured it out. 

“Did you just say heck?” You teased, a small flush of embarrassment creeped onto his face. 

Suddenly your attention was drawn to the shrieking of wheels on pavement as you and the rest spot jeeps of S.W.O.R.D Agents. 

“Fuck me.” You mutter under your breath. 

“Later doll.” Steve teased. You were about to retort when you felt a sudden whoosh of wind and suddenly found Monica next to you and Wanda. 

“Monica?” You asked, Wanda looked over to you and silently worded ‘who’s Monica?’ in which you replied with a gesture to the curly haired woman. 

“I see I came just in time for some fun.” Monica observed. 

“How in the hell did you get here so fast?”

“Let’s just say I know who Jimmy’s witness in protection is now.” Monica replied. 

The agents open the doors and start pouring out of the jeeps. 

All but Haybitch. 

“Avengers,” Steve began eyeing you, Wanda, Vision, and Monica with a cheeky glint in his eyes. “A-”

“Assemble” You cut him off, a cheeky grin of your own. With a nod to Wanda and Vision, the magenta man flew off to the other Vision and crash landed into the library. 

Suddenly the group of Agents were encased in violet light and lifted to the air, You all turn your heads to Agatha with a bitter smirk on her face. 

“Same story different century.” Agatha remarked ruefully, “There will always be torches and pitchforks for ladies like us, Wanda.” finally the magic disappeared from her fingers and the agents were free falling to the ground. With a hurried flourish red light safely landed the agents to the ground. 

“Солнечный свет,” Wanda called to catch your attention. “Take care of the military, I’ll be right back.” With glare sent in Agatha’s way she takes off into the sky again. 

You turn your attention to the men with guns in front of you. Your hand gently touched your stomach, you hoped that the baby was ok. You promised yourself once Westview was over and done with, once you and Wanda talked things out, you’ll go to a doctor. You didn’t know which one yet, but that can be decided later. 

Steve must have noticed your hesitance and gently held your other hand. You looked at him for a moment, his blue eyes unwavering. You looked away from him and returned your attention to the men in front of you. Just as you were about to take a step forward you see a silver blur run past you and suddenly the agents in front of you were unarmed. 

“There’s a man in one of the Jeeps in front of us, I’m assuming he’s the boss-man.”  You whip your head around to see a handsome man with blue silver hair covered by a S.W.O.R.D cap and shades. In front of him were the agents missing weapons. 

There was a silent pause before you turned to Monica who was the only one unfazed by the man's sudden appearance. 

“I’m assuming this is the witness in protection?” 

“Correctamundo.” the man answered, reaching out a hand for a formal handshake. Just as you were about to shake his hand, he turned it into a fist and fist bumped you instead. “My name’s Ralph Bohner.” he slightly laughed as he introduced himself. Monica rolled her eyes. 

“His real name is Peter Maximoff,” You turned to her with your eyes narrowed quizzically. Before you could question her, her eyes had turned a glowing gold and jumped in front of you. You heard the gunshots and saw her body shake from the force. Just as you were about to scream you noticed her body become translucent and slowing down the bullets until they merely clicked to the pavement below. 

There was a moment of silence before Peter was suddenly beside you holding a bullet in front of your face. 

“Nice tricks.” 

“I like yours too.” Peter responded with a cheeky smile. Monica moved out of the way and you saw Hayward. Whose eyes widened once he caught your attention. Rage filled you when your eyes locked. This was the man who lied, and would’ve hurt the only family you had left. You were the one to take the first step, and once you did Hayward turned and ran as fast as he could to one of the unoccupied jeeps and peeled out of there like a bat out of hell. 

Good, he should be terrified. 

He wanted a monster. 

He was going to get one. 

Just as you were about to take off in a sprint a hand held you back, You turned and saw Steve. He pointed to the familiar,faded pink truck headed right towards the jeep until it collided t-bone style. You could see a familiar ravenette with glasses turn her ruby red lips in a sweet smile. 

Before you had a moment to appreciate the moment you heard glass shattering. You turn your head to see a white blur headed towards the sky and the familiar magenta synthezoid emerge from the undoubtedly ruined library. 

‘Vision!” You yelled as you ran to him. Feet pounding against the pavement toward the man, happy that the white version of him hadn’t torn him to pieces. 

“(Y/n),” he smiled. 

“You missed all the fun,” You teased once you reached him. “Darcy T-Boned Haybitch it was awesome.” 

“I like her.” You heard the silver blue man declare as he pointed at you. You saw Vision narrow his eyes at him. 

“Pietro is helping you?” 

“Peter, actually.” Peter explained. “I took the guns from those agents over there. Now they’re just standing around being useless.” 

“Speaking of you Peter,” You spoke up, “You said your name is Peter Maximoff right?” 

“Don’t wear it out.” He joked. 

“Are you and Wanda related?” 

“It’s a long story.” Peter said, “and there isn’t enough time to explain it all right now.” He pointed to Wanda throwing ball after ball of red magic at her. 

“No,” you silently whispered, “What is she doing?”

Vision followed your line of sight and immediately went to help his wife. However he was blocked by her creating a shield, You could see him trying to get past it but it just moved whenever he did. Your fists were clenched and wished more than ever before that you could fly. After all those experiments, why didn’t they make you fly? 

Your eyes pricked with tears as you saw the life from her slowly seep out of her with each flick of her wrist. Meanwhile Agatha looked as though she had already won. 

Maybe she already had. 

When Wanda ceased to move you felt everything crash around you. You screamed in grief, the pain of her death hitting you worse than before. You felt Steve’s arms wrap around you, holding you upright. 

You felt a tap on your shoulder, you drew back and saw Steve point to the sky. 

You never felt more relieved to see Wanda moving than in that movement. But that didn’t seem to be the case, she wasn’t just moving. A glowing red crown settled on her head, it matched her eyes. You could see Agatha was terrified, as she should be. This was Wanda, not holding back anymore. and she looked ethereal, like a goddess on some other plane. 

What she had been wearing before completely changed, her hair was down and flowing behind her in wild curls, framing her face beautifully. everything down to even her shoes, were in a deep scarlet color. It suited her well. You felt a surge of pride and awe when looking at her. You were so captivated by her that you hadn’t noticed the sad look in Steve’s eyes. 

You’ve never seen Wanda look so powerful before, and that included when she almost defeated Thanos. 

You see them gently floating down to the ground, Agatha’s body was limp and Wanda floated above her. 

Once they were on the ground, you and Vision rushed to her. You stopped just short of a few feet, giving her and Agatha some space. You were so relieved to see her that you nearly forgot, Wanda, although beautiful and incredibly gentle. Could be cruelest and without mercy to those who harmed those she loved. 

“Good girl,” You heard Agatha say sneering at her, “So, what now? Are you just going to lock me up somewhere?” 

“No,” Wanda said, “not somewhere, here.” 

A look of confusion passed over Agatha’s face. “Here?” She asked quizzically. 

Wanda hummed in agreement. Before stalking towards Agatha, the predator now turned prey. “I’ll give you the role you chose...the nosy neighbor.” 

A look of horror flashed through Agatha’s expression before muttering something under her breath. 

“No, please.” Agatha pleaded. 

“I’m sorry.” Wanda apologized. 

“No you’re not, you’re cruel.” Agatha spit back. Wanda only smiled, that’s the smile you always had chills from. The smile that looked so innocent but her eyes gave off a malevolent twinkle. 

“You...You have,” Agatha scrambled for words as Wanda neared closer to her, “you have no idea what you unleashed. You’re going to need me.” 

“If I do, I know where to find you.”

“Wait! wait wait wait!” Agatha pleaded before a red glow ran through her and changed her into someone you recognized. 

Agnes. 

“Hiya hun!” Agnes said cheerfully, You could see the pain in her eyes but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. Her smile stretched further as she eyes Wanda up and down. “Say, that’s some kind of get up you’re wearing. Did I leave the oven on or is that just you hot stuff?” 

“You live here now. No one will ever bother you.” Wanda promised. 

“Okey dokey artichokee.” 

“I’ll be seeing you Agnes,” Wanda smiled before turning to you and Vision. Her nose scrunching cutely, as though she didn’t just look like a god and enslaved a wicked woman a moment ago. 

“Wanda!” you exclaim as you run into her arms, nearly toppling her over. “Are you ok?! Are you hurt?!” 

“I’m fine,” Wanda assured pulling back from you to place a hand on your stomach. “Besides I should be asking you that question shouldn’t I?” 

You hold her hand hovering over your stomach as she smiles sadly at you. 

“So it would appear that our dream home has been reduced into a fixer upper.” you hear Vision mused behind you. You decide to give the couple they’re space and return to Steve who stood there waiting for you not so far away. 

You hug him, knowing well that it may be one of the last times you can. You feel him gently wrap his arms around you. 

“She’ll set everything right.” You hear Steve say as he watches the couple in front of him. 

“Just not for us.” You whisper as you hold onto him tighter. After a moment you pull away, only holding his hand. 

“Let’s go home.” Steve says as you both start the all too short walk back to your home. 

It’s like that day all over again, however this time, there wasn’t a pit in your stomach and your feet didn’t feel like lead. You both knew that you had to say goodbye. The sky got dark quickly, the last few rays of sunshine shining by the time you reach the blue door that leads into ‘your’ home. 

When you looked inside you could already feel the tears prick behind your eyes. It looked like the apartment you shared with him in New York. Simple, but nice looking. 

Steve excused himself to the bathroom while you went into the living room. You dug through the chairs until finally you found it right where you left it. The well worn, leather bound notebook. 

“What are you reading there?” 

You turned and saw the muscular man illuminated by the lamp light. He changed into a well worn flannel, his blonde hair combed back neatly, and his long lashes making his blue eyes all the more piercing. 

“Just some memoir that a soldier boy wrote.” You mused. Clutching the notebook tightly in your hands. You watched as he walked over to you. 

“I’m happy.” 

“About what?” You questioned. 

“I’m happy that you’ve found someone.” Steve explained as he went to hold your hands. “I’m happy you didn’t close yourself off, I’m happy that you’ve found something to fight for again.” his hands gently caressed against your stomach. 

“So you know?”

“I remember the day you came into Westview.” He said, “I remember '' one of his hands left your stomach and pointed to your chest. “coming from there. the thing I remember most vividly though, was wanting to see you.”

“and now?” You asked. 

“And now, I never want to look elsewhere.” Steve smiled. Tears ran down your face. 

“I’ll never have a chance to tell you this again,” you said, wiping the tears from your eyes. “I loved you so much, so much that it hurt. However, when you left I tried so hard to push everything that reminded me of you away. Because however much I loved you, is how much it hurt me to watch you leave me when I never would’ve left you. I pushed everything that I ever had of you away, so when I found out that you left a piece of you with me. Something I couldn’t so easily throw away, part of me wanted you to have somehow known so that way it would make it easier for me to hate you.” tears started to form in those blue eyes. “but” you continued, “I don’t think I could ever hate you. I think I can hurt when I think about you, I think I want to punch your face whenever I think about you. But I think a part of me will always love you.” He leaned his forehead against yours. “would you have stayed if you knew?” You asked. 

There was a moment of silence before a reply. 

“I would’ve,” Steve said, “I would’ve done anything for you and for them had I known.” 

“Would you have resented me?”

“I don’t think I ever could.” Steve responded. Steve gently brushed his thumb over your slightly swollen stomach before continuing. “We don’t have much time left.” He said, “before I go I need to know. What am I?” 

You look into his eyes, you both knew he wasn’t the real Steve. Much like Vision isn’t the real Vision. This entire time Steve must have struggled much like Vision, on who he was if not Steve Rogers. You pressed a kiss to his forehead and took in his clean scent one last time. 

“You... are Steve Rogers, the boy from Brooklyn. With a heart much bigger than the rest of him, who didn’t ask for a fight but always fought it anyways because it was the right thing to do. You are the Steve that I fell in love with. You are the Steve that gave me hope when I was hopeless, who loved me when I thought I was unlovable, who fought for me when no one else would.”

You both looked outside, seeing the red barrier caving in, in mere moments. You’ll lose Steve again. However this time, you feel more prepared, more ready for it. 

“We don’t have much time.”

“A man out of time never does, does he.” You mused, You felt him smile beside you. You felt him move your head from the widow and to him. You carefully study his face, taking in how defined his cheeks and jawline were. How there’s a tiny scar above his brow, faded but still there. His long, thick lashes you were always envious of, covering his soft blue eyes that held a little bit of green. Some freckles dusting over his nose. Small imperfections that made Steve, Steve. 

“We’ll be fine,” You assure him. 

You close your eyes as you feel his lips on you. This kiss wasn’t like the sweet kisses from before, or a kiss to memorize the feeling of your lips together. But it was a kiss that felt more like an ending. It was bittersweet, and it felt all too short as you pulled away, the feeling of his soft and gentle kiss lingering on your lips. He was most light at that point, not dusting away or disintegrating like before, it was more like he was fluttering away. You see his eyes crinkle and give you one last smile. 

“Live a good life doll.” 

And with that he was gone, and you were beside Wanda. Right where you were a few weeks ago, like nothing ever happened at all. In front of you was the notebook you had forgotten, You knelt to the ground and picked it up. Dusting away the slight rubble that gathered on top of it. 

You looked to Wanda, whose eyes were now dry, she looked at you and grabbed your hand and led you to the car. 

“So,” You began, “which one of us is driving?”

[jadelynlace]

I have some question/ideas for dear ink drinker ivar if you don't mind 😊

-Idk if I missed something but I'd like to know how and when the both of them decided its officially and serious with them and not just a fling?

-more info about his previous relationship with the hag would be interesting

-is he a good dancer?

-does he have some odd fears?

that's my ideas for now, maybe theyre helping you? have a good day ❤️

Hello anon! I never mind, thank you for asking!

To answer your first question: that was chapter two!

Now, buckle the fuck up. It gets bad.

I have some things here and here about Freydis, and some additional parts of her cunt-ness (yes that’s a word), here. But when it comes to the bottom line between them, it was awful.

Now, what you guys don’t know (yet) is that Ivar has a trust fund from Ragnar. With a lot of zeros at the end of the number, and he was due to get it when he turned twenty one. (Ragnar refused to give it to any of his boys at eighteen because they “weren’t mature enough at that age for the responsibility”. As if Ragnar was mature enough to even be in their lives.) As much as he tried to keep this from Freydis, she found out. She always found out. And that was why she stayed with Ivar as long as she did, even when she hated everything he did. She hated when he would sit and draw. She hates his tattoos. She hated his geeky side. She made fun of his suicide attempt, his psychological ED. How he was a weak man. She hated everything—she wanted to change him. But, she wanted that money a bit more.

Now dear Floki, dear Floki did a few things and one of those things may or may not have been tampering with the funds, and giving misinformation to the bank so that it took longer to get to Ivar. And with taking longer, Freydis was finally fed up and left. Floki may or may not have threatened a few not so nice things at the woman, too, but we’ll never know. Ivar was free afterwards; he was a mess, but he was free. The first time he called Aiden, since they weren’t speaking when he was with Freydis, Aiden stopped what he was doing. He was driving, and he pulled right over.

“Math nerd? Ivar?”

“….Hey,” Ivar sniffles.

“What’s going on?” Aiden asks.

“She left—Freydis left,” Ivar admits and if Aiden wasn’t at the mercy of his seatbelt, he’d be dancing.

“Ivar I would offer my condolences but I can’t. She abused you,”

“I know,” Ivar croaks.

“Ivar, did she hit you?” Aiden suddenly asks.

“You know the answer to that,” Ivar replies and Aiden suddenly has one urge, and it’s to commit murder.

“I’ll book a flight today, and I’ll be out there tomorrow, alright?”

“You don’t have to do that,” Ivar tries.

“Too late,” Aiden smirks.

The first time Ivar sat down to draw, he stopped, immediately thinking “Freydis doesn’t like when I do this”, and then he started to tear up. Not out of being sad because she was gone, but because he was finally free to draw. Every blond woman he saw out made him stop momentarily, it made him panic thinking it was her, but it never was. He started to flinch at small noises, changes in tones when he was talking to his brothers. He wouldn’t eat certain foods, and hung on to those behaviors. He was thin—far thinner than you know of him now, his “bulk” wasn’t there. (I have a picture of his FC that resembles how I saw him after this time period):

You see him in the black? There’s nothing to him. No bulging biceps, no wide shoulders, muscular abs, no curl of his lip with a sarcastic comment. He was a shell of himself, as Hvitserk always said, but he was free. He spent the next two weeks with his mom, sleeping and crying mostly, and trying to get back into a normal mind set. Aslaug bought sketchbook after sketchbook for him, and fed him like he was a starving child.

But the panic didn’t cease, the weird behaviors didn’t cease, and Ivar thought he was doomed to be alone forever. And he was alright with that—love was too messy, and who would even love him? He called Floki in the middle of the night once, incoherent.

“Ivar?”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Where are you?” Floki asks.

“At home—why did she leave? What’s wrong with me?”

“Ivar, nothing is wrong with you,” Floki starts. “You know why she left—because she couldn’t change you into the person she wanted you to be. Because you aren’t that person,”

“Why did she leave?” Ivar whimpers again and Floki can’t lie to the boy like this.

“Because you never got your trust fund,”

“Yes I did—it’s in my account,” Ivar replies.

“It is, now,” Floki corrects. “Not while she was waiting for it,”

“She wanted my money?” Ivar asks.

“And nothing more,” Floki replies, and Ivar starts crying again.

Floki kisses Helga while she’s still sleeping, mumbling something about heading to Ivar and he’s there at two in the morning. Ivar’s a mess, and cries against the man’s shoulder for the better part of the night—hard enough to where he pukes on more than one occasion. And Floki just lets him; lets him get it all out because he knows Ivar needs to. And he knows Ivar’s free.

“You’ll meet the right person, Ivar,” Floki tries.

“I don’t want to—I want to be alone forever, it’s easier,” He croaks.

“Easier, perhaps. Better? No,”

“I don’t want to love anymore, Floki. My heart is broken,”

And they leave it at that. They leave it at that and this is where Floki takes his time to show Ivar how to do the one thing Ivar did fall in love with: tattooing. He starts an apprenticeship under Floki (The Master Of All Trades) and in six months he’s on his own, with his own chair and growing clientele. And you’re starting with Hvitserk at the station and you’re so convinced you’re going to be alone after leaving the man who was so mean to you, too. And you think you’re alright with that. And yes, you see many instances when you’re with Ivar that make you realize how awful this woman was. When you stop over and he’s playing video games, he all but jolts up and stops as if you’ve caught him watching porn.

“I’ll stop!”

“You don’t have to,” You say back. “Actually, can I watch you play?” And Ivar is stunned.

Or when he’s nerding out with Aiden, playing DND and he almost throws the set up when you get over there.

“Keep playing, I’m going to shower,” You say, kissing his head and Aiden only smiles to Ivar.

Even just sitting in the room drawing, you ask if you can sit next to him and read and the man almost starts crying.

Alright, now that we’re all sad, back to the rest!

Ivar dancing—the man is about a coordinated as a newborn giraffe going down an escalator. He really can’t dance, per se. Alcohol brings out another side of him, and I have a boatload of TikToks that resemble how I envision him dancing. He can certainly swing his hips on the dance floor as long as you’re pressed up against him and grinding on him. Some of the best foreplay has been that alone—his hands holding you against him as his whispers in your ear all of the things he’s going to do with you when you’re both home. His lips on your neck, your ass on his groin, the beat of the club’s music moving the two of you. He can kinda dance. It’s all about the hips, and he’s….no stranger to their movement after he meets you.

Odd fears? Yes. A few. One being birds. Remember Floki’s chickens? The rooster chases him. Floki has a video. He has a weird phobia of large bodies of water, thanks to Ubbe throwing him off their father’s yacht as kids. And throwing him off after telling the story about serpents. After his accident, he has an intense fear of driving, and seeing trucks in the on coming lane. He develops a fear of the doctor’s office, after his hospital stay and rehab, and when he’s due for more reconstructive surgeries. There’s another instance where he almost ignores a serious medical problem he develops because of this fear—more on that, later.

Thank you for asking, anon. They have certainly helped to spark inspiration. (If it’s not obvious this answer is like a book, I’m so sorry.)

Reader more Ink Drinker here.

[torikengel]

Thomas Hewitt x Reader (Part 1)

a/n: thank you so much for your support <3 you make me motivated to continue, parts 2/3 and 4 are already on my profile <3

You were traveling with a group of friends across Texas. You were all from a big city, so they decided to go on a road trip. There were five of you in total, two girls, two guys, and you. At first, you refused to go and wondered why they even bothered taking you because they were two couples and you were just the fifth wheel. Well, you weren’t very familiar with one of the couples, but you knew the other one. At least you knew the girl, cause she was the one to invite you to this trip. It was known that you were well off and they desperately needed more money for gas and food on this trip. You weren’t dumb and it was very clear soon enough that the sum of money you were required to bring was much higher than the one of your so-called friends. So why you decided to go? You thought some adventure in your life wouldn’t hurt and you were yearning for some fresh air outside of the city. And it wouldn’t be bad to make some friends along the way, you thought. But soon you realized that wasn’t going to happen. The boys were eyeing you up and down and the girls weren’t happy about you. You would like to think that you were fairly pretty with an attractive face and a nice body. And since Texas is hot you were simply wearing a tank top and shorts. You were sitting in the back seat, buckled up, and looking out of the window as your companions didn’t seem keen on talking with you. “Hey, Emma, can we stop for a while, I need to go… you know,” said Chloe who was sitting next to you in the back seat with her boyfriend Matt to the driver, Emma. “Sure,” Emma responded slightly annoyed. You stopped in a remote town in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t seem that many people were still living there. Emma drove to the nearest shop and parked. The place was swarming with bikers and as soon as Chloe stepped out of the vehicle they whistled at her. “Wait babe, I am coming too,” Matt said as he spotted their sly smirks and how they hungrily looked at his girlfriend. “Y/n? Are you coming too?” Emma scoffed, “I am definitely not stopping again just because of you.” And she vanished in the shop as her boyfriend Chris followed right after her.

Someone should stay in the car and guard our stuff, you thought for yourself. But you really needed to drink something, so in the end, you grabbed your purse and walked in the store as the bikers kept catcalling you on your way. On your way there you saw Chloe and Matt whispering to each other, well if it could be considered whispering, cause you heard them. “Look at that old hag! Bet she never stepped out of this hell hole. Jeez, this town smells bad.” Chloe laughed and Matt added “Yeah, disgusting, now imagine living here babe, I bet they are all diseased.” You turned to the elderly woman behind the counter, you intuitively knew she could hear everything. You grabbed a soda and went to the counter, “I am very sorry.” You said with your head down as you didn’t dare to look her in the eyes. “Don’t worry ‘bout that darlin’, my family is used to this.” When you finally dared to look at her, you could see that her eyes were traveling up and down, scanning your body. Oh well, your clothes weren’t the most appropriate for this traditional part of Texas. “My name is y/n…” you said giving her the money for your soda. “Please keep the change.” You added as you wanted to vanish into thin air from embarrassment. The change you were talking about was like triple the price of soda. “Oh no, m’dear, I can’t accept that.” She finally smiled at your generosity and politeness. “Please, I insist… Mrs.?” You stuttered. “Luda Mae,” she helped you out. “Mrs. Luda Mae”, you repeated, smiling back at her. “Come already, we don’t have the whole day to wait… or we will leave you here!” Chloe shouted from the car and Emma honked. You jumped up and rushed to them while waving at Luda Mae, cause who knows, they might actually leave you there.

Emma was driving and chatting with her friends, not paying attention to you, even though it was she who invited you on this trip. And not only she wasn’t paying attention to you, but to the road as well, because she didn’t notice the spike strips across the road. Everyone yelped and held their breath when the van slid across the road and fell to the pit on its side… on your side. In the brief moment of despair, you regretted not being buckled up for the first few minutes of the trip. Your cheek smashed on the window that broke into shards, cutting up your skin. The worst part was that both Chloe and Matt fell on top of you as well. You squirmed under their weight but to no avail. “Shit, shit, shit, shit,” Emma screamed as she lost control of the vehicle and saw her boyfriend falling head forward on a sharp shard of glass, piercing his flesh. After a few minutes of shock, Emma got out of the car, seemingly okay, and helped Chloe and Matt. After that, they all hurried to help Chris. Nobody cared about you. You could feel the blood gushing out of your wounds on your arm and cheek. In the end, you managed to scramble the last bits of your strength and got out of the car without any help… Emma was in utter shock as she felt that her boyfriend didn’t show any signs of life. You didn’t know how to react, because you didn’t feel any pity. They didn’t help you and wouldn’t mind letting you die there on that backseat. You just shook your head and turned away, confused at what’s about to happen. “What’s wrong with you y/n! You look completely unphase by all this, explain yourself!” Emma screamed at you suddenly, letting out all of her anger on you. Before she could insult you any further you heard police sirens. “Thank god,” she calmed down a bit. Chloe was just shaking in Matt’s arms. The hope you all felt as the police car made its way towards you was slowly exchanged with fear. An older man with a sheriff’s uniform stepped out of the car with a shotgun. “So what do we have here… a bunch of lowly cowards it seems.” He spat on the ground and aimed the gun at you. “Get into the car, now!” he pointed at the police car, “The big guy in the back with two girls and this sexy babe in the passenger seat.” He aimed the shotgun at your head. “Wait, mister Hoyt, there’s my boyfriend still in the van!” Emma walked up to him trembling, apparently not grasping that this man isn’t here to help you. “My, my, do you think I care about your fucking boyfriend, bitch?” he turned down her request and took her by the wrist, “Maybe I will just take you next to me since you are so dumb, you need a lesson.” He tightened his grip on her wrist. “W-wait m-mister.” She stuttered, fear enveloping her. “T-take her instead… I swear we won’t tell anyone; you can do anything you want with her, even kill her, we will make something up, please just don’t hurt us.” She pointed her dirty finger at you and looked at Chloe and Matt, still in a tight embrace. “R-right guys? We won’t tell…” she desperately looked for a sign of approval from them. “Y-yes! We definitely won’t tell! I mean look, she’s way prettier for you sir!” Chloe added, throwing her pride behind her, Matt followed with a quick nod. “My, my what a friend you have,” Hoyt nearly died from laughter. He threw her aside on the hot ground. She slowly exhaled as she thought this was his way of saying yes. “I don’t like these types of bitches.” Without any hesitation, he shot Emma in the leg. She squealed and held her leg close to her, “You old bastard! We had a deal!” He only laughed a bit more before turning to the rest of you. “Now get in the car if you want to live. NOW!” he shouted and aimed the gun at Chloe and Matt who protectively stood in front of Chloe. “We have another hero here it seems.” Another shot followed, straight into Matt’s shoulder. He dropped to his knees in pain. “Who else?” he looked at you. After thinking for a few seconds, you dropped your eyes to the ground and went to the passenger’s seat of Hoyt’s police car. You decided to be smart about it. You didn’t dare to look back at him, all you heard were screams until everything was quiet again. Hoyt dragged your so-called friends’ bodies to the backseat. They were all breathing, just unconscious, their heads bloody. He probably hit them to make them easier to transport. He dragged Chris’s dead body out of the van as well, putting him into the trunk. After that, he sat in the driver’s seat next to you. “Come on, look at me. I don’ bite.” He licked his lips as you turned to face him. “Good girlie.” He said as he pressed some cloth over your nose and lips. You struggled for air, but then finally gave up and passed out as well.

You open your eyes to an unbearable headache which made you wish to never wake up at all. Where am I… shot through your mind as you tried to recall what led to your current situation. Right, your so-called friends tried to use you as their ticket out of this, as a bribe, as if you were a piece of meat. Your eyes were swollen and weak, so it was awfully hard to keep them open. You tried your best to inspect your situation a bit more. You couldn’t move your limbs, that’s for sure. So, you looked around again, adjusting your eyes to the dark atmosphere. It must’ve been a basement of some kind as there were no windows. You could see other metal tables except for the one you were tied to. There were various shiny metal tools around you consisting of cleavers, knives, and other stuff. Then you glanced above you to the ceiling. What you saw made you gag in disgust. Meat hooks, and on them two bodies hanging… Matt and Chloe. Then it hit you… out of confusion and tiredness, you didn’t pay attention to it before, but the whole basement smelled like death, rotting flesh, vomit, blood… everything mixed. Matt was missing half of his body and under him was a pool of blood, he was already dead. Chloe was missing one leg and one arm, seemingly still breathing, but not for long you thought for yourself. Sure, you were scared, because the same thing was going to happen to you, but you felt slight happiness in the back of your mind, no pity to be found. They abandoned you, they emotionally abused you, they used you for money, they would let you be raped and killed in exchange for their pathetic lives. They didn’t care about you. And now, despite their best efforts, you were here, alive, with all of your limbs, breathing while they were all almost dead. You couldn’t help to wonder why you were the last one to be butchered. You smiled for yourself “That’s what you get… even though I am going to be next, I still outlived you for long enough to laugh last.” And also, you didn’t know them before this trip except for Emma who wasn’t there right now. After these thoughts dispersed in your mind, you realized you could hear voices from above you. When you woke up, you were a bit groggy and didn’t pay attention to all of your senses right away. You recognized the female voice; without a doubt, it was Emma squealing in pain and disgust. “Let me go, let me go you ugly old bastard!” she screamed so loud it was piercing your ears. Instead of pitying her, it was more annoying to you, because you wanted the last minutes of your life to be as peaceful as possible. “Shut up, stupid bitch, or I will make you!” a familiar voice shouted back. Hoyt. Yeah, it must’ve been that guy, Sheriff Hoyt. Even though you assumed he wasn’t the real sheriff. You figured out what was happening upstairs. From the moment you met this Hoyt guy, you knew he was a pervert and a violent one. Even though he spared you in a way when he didn’t shoot you, well, you complied so he had no reason to. Then you realized that you checked your surroundings to the best of your ability while you didn’t even look at the state you were in. Your wrists and ankles hurt real bad. The leather cuffs were rubbing tightly against your sensitive red skin. Your cheek hurt as well as your arm. You weren’t sure if the glass shards were still in your arm or if someone took them out. You tried to position yourself in a way you could see the cut. It was deep and your skin was all bruised. Your whole body felt squished and sore, because of how Matt and Chloe fell on you during the accident. You were so tired… the screams above you got quieter and quieter each second as you fell into sleep again.

Loud footsteps in the basement woke you up and when you managed to lift your eyelids a huge man was towering over your lying body. He was wearing a bloody apron, shirt, and tie… very neat you thought for yourself. He smelled bad and there was a human-like mask on his face. He had greasy black hair that reached to his shoulders and partially hid his face. What captured your attention were his piercing blue eyes. He was scanning you, but you did the same as you stared deep into his eyes. He expected you to try to jump up, squirm, or make disgusted faces. He was used to it. All his life people called him names and bullied him, from his childhood to his teen years, and while he worked in the factory as an adult. He was always a monster, animal, disgusting freak in their eyes. Women made gagging noises when they saw him and then laughed in his face. Men picked on him, tried to fight him to get him in trouble. He suffered through it all until he finally unleashed all the pain and anger. Since then he saw people as either family or food, there was nothing in-between. You could see it in his eyes, the awaiting of your scream. But it never came, even after you noticed the cleaver in his hand. You had a neutral expression on your face while watching him. The pain was undeniable in his eyes. He wanted you to scream as it made it easier, so much easier… if you just called him a freak, if you tried to spit in his face… too easy. Finally, your lips parted, air leaving your mouth as you exhaled. He hated it, everything you did, he hated it because you made it hard. You had a beautiful face, perfect skin, attractive body, silky h/c hair, and shiny e/c eyes. You looked like one of the girls that would make fun of him and kick him again when he was already down. All the memories kept flooding into his mind as he raised the cleaver and prepared to swing. Now he expected you to squirm, shout and plead for your life, to at least cry or call him something nasty. But you peacefully smiled at him. “This is my end isn’t it?” you accepted your fate from the moment you woke up for the first time in this basement. You closed your eyes and prepared for the pain that would inevitably come with the blow. The man was confused like never in his life. Your sweet smile towards him melted his resolve. Here he was standing, all bloody with a cleaver ready to end your life and your perfect form was just lying under him in a dignified position without regrets. His eyes were full of sorrow. Nobody smiled at him before, laughed yes, mocked him too, but he never got that smile, smile without any prejudice in your then open eyes. There was no pain, just a wet feeling on your hurt cheek. For the first time, you yelped at the sudden touch and shot your eyes open again. There he was, standing over you, wiping the dry blood off your face with a wet rug. He stepped back, startled by your reaction. You could see how hurt he was… you couldn’t believe yourself. In this situation, with a murderer in a room with you, your instinct was telling you to pity him more than the couple hanging from the meat hooks. ”Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that; I just didn’t expect it… thank you.” You murmured under your breath. His eyes widened, first that innocent smile, now the honest tone in your voice as you apologized for being held captive. “My name is y/n. But I guess you don’t need to know that as you know…” your eyes pointed to the cleaver that was on the other table now. He didn’t say anything, but he shook his head. You didn’t know if that meant you would be spared or that he was content with knowing your name, you figured it was the latter though. After he calmed down, he stepped up again to clean your face and arm. You hissed a bit, but he knew it wasn’t at him, but at the pain. You didn’t know why he did all that when you are certainly going to be killed, if not by this man then by that Hoyt.

“What’s your name, if you don’t mind?” you broke the awkward silence. He shrugged, not replying. “You can’t speak?” you figure it wouldn’t hurt to ask and you wanted to know if he couldn’t or simply didn’t want to talk. You got a slight nod from him. “I see… But I can try and guess if you help me.” You came up with a solution. “I will say the alphabet and when I will get to the first letter of your name, you should touch the palm of my hand.” He seemed unsure but nodded again in the end. “A, B, C…” you continued until you got to T. He softly put a finger on your palm. “T…” you repeated, “That could be Tim, Tony, Thomas.” You wanted to continue, but he grabbed your finger when you said Thomas. “Thomas… Tommy.” You smiled at him. You didn’t know what got into you, but you were enjoying this sweet, tender moment. He was very gentle with you and didn’t kill you yet. Maybe it was because of how different your behavior was from everyone else.

He didn’t believe it. What was he doing, what were you doing, what were you doing to him? You were supposed to be another meal, just food, a piece of meat. But he couldn’t treat you like that when you were the first person outside of his family who treated him like a human being, without disgust and hate. Even Charlie and Monty sometimes treat him like a dog. He could sense that you were sincere. Some girls tried to seduce him before to save their lives and then stab him in the back. Once he fell for it, only for the first time though, he learned his lesson. But you didn’t try, you accepted that you were going to die here, and he couldn’t bring himself to end your life on his own.

“Damn what’s taking you so long down there, boy?” Hoyt opened the door to the basement and threw something on the stairs. “Don’ tell me you were able to finally man up?” Thomas seemed to be a bit lost, but you knew what he meant by that. “Anyhow, I am finished with it, it’s all yours now.” Hoyt pointed on the floor. You weren’t sure what he threw in the basement until now. It was Emma and she was still alive. Her mouth taped shut and hands tied behind her back. Hoyt descended into the basement and got rid of the tape on her lips. “You liked it bitch, didn’t ya?” he squeezed her cheeks and put a finger into her open mouth. She bit him as soon as she got the chance. A loud slap followed and he walked back up cussing her out. Hoyt was so focused on his finger, that he didn’t seem to care about why you were still alive. “Oh y/n! Help me, help me, please!” she trembled and smiled at you in disbelief. She obviously thought you were dead. Then she looked around to see her dead friends and screamed. Thomas grabbed her with his huge hands ready to hang her on the meat hook next to her friends. “You ugly fat bastard, let me go, stop it, you animal!” she kicked him wherever she could with both of her legs as they were tied together. You couldn’t hold back your laughter. However, your laughter stabbed Thomas in the back. So, you were the same after all. He thought about it and then realized it was for the better. But then you spoke “She looks like a fish out of the water, doesn’t she?” you giggled a bit more and then finally stopped. Thomas smiled under his mask before he realized what were the consequences. You indirectly stood up to him and it was funny and clever as well. “What… why would you laugh y/n? We are both going to die you dumb slut!” as the last word left her lips a shriek of pain echoed as Thomas stabbed the hook into her back. With the last strength, she spat in his face. “F-filthy animal, m-murderer, you and your damn fucking family can all burn in hell…” she mumbled. “I bet he would be a better friend than you.” Before she could come up with a comeback of any kind, he slit her skull with a cleaver. He grabbed a chainsaw and started dismembering her. You actively watched, fascinated by the situation. You weren’t a sadist, not at all, but it just all seemed like a weird nightmare to you. Maybe you passed out during the car crash and you are still dreaming. However, the smell of blood brought you back into reality. After Thomas was done, he turned back to you, freshly bloodied. He expected to see a disgusted face, tears, fear. He did it on purpose… to make you scream, to make you hate him like everyone else. “To be honest… she deserved it. Imagine, she tried to give me to Hoyt to save herself. She wouldn’t mind killing me.” You shrugged as you were very stiff from holding your head on the side. 

No, no, no, no, no… it was all wrong. Thomas’ heart raced as he looked at you in disbelief, your e/c eyes piercing his soul. You saw him kill your friend, well at the very least your companion and then you also witnessed al the gory stuff that came with it, but you looked unphased, maybe a bit satisfied with his work... you didn’t scream, didn’t curse, didn’t hate him. He grabbed the cleaver and held it above you, then swung and…

[littlesniggy]

The Chosen One

Anon: Hey! I saw you did a request for Blackbeard and I know you don’t really like writing for him but would you do a scenario where he and his crew are on an island and in a bar or whatever and there is this dancer and he just needs to have her? Could you make it nsfw and maybe dark? If not it’s okay too! I love your writing ! 💖

I don't know if I should be worried about you for requesting nsfw Blackbeard or worried about me for actually writing OVER 2000 words! On the one hand I'm happy that someone requested something different but on the other hand...it's Blackbeard 😂 Anyways, I will still keep writing for him cause he is just the perfect character for non-con scenarios though I know that it's not everyone's cup of tea. Hope you still enjoy it.

Warning: 18+, nsfw, non-con, blowjob

Paring: Blackbeard x female reader

Word count: 2.6k (please kill me)

On the way to Hachinosu Blackbeard and his crew made a stop at another island known to be a paradise to pirates and outlaws, being completely abandoned by the navy and world government. Drunk men and women were gathering in the streets, liquor spilling out of their mouths while they tried to stay on their feet. Two women immediately staggered over to him and his crew, knowing full well who he was. They pressed their half-naked bodies against his, trying to get him to spend money on them in the form of booze or maybe even jewelry. But he pushed them away quite forcefully, making his way through the crowd and into a bar that advertised with sexy and luxurious ladies. None of them were either – at least in his memory.

Blackbeard let himself fall down on a chair, yelling to the bartender to better hurry up and get him his booze. Part of his crew joined him; the rest was scattered around the island. “I hope Glitter is here today! Can’t wait for her to dance for me! Wiihahahahaha!” Burgess laughed, grabbing the mug filled with beer and emptying it in one go. “That ugly, old hag? You have a terrible taste in women. Zehahahaha!” his captain retorted, letting his eyes wander through the bar and the dancing ladies.

“Better than that annoying brat you tormented last time, captain! At least Glitter knew what she was doing. Yours was just screaming and begging you to stop! I thought you would break her! Wiihahahahaha!” the rest of his crew joined in in Burgess laughter at the memory of their last stay at this island. Blackbeard chuckled darkly, taking a deep slug of his booze.

“She just couldn’t handle an emperor of the sea.” His crew’s laughter grew louder, other costumers eyeing them from the side but too afraid to actually say something.

“Oi! Bartender! Where are all your pretty ladies?!” Blackbeard yelled, making the bartender flinch where he stood. “This is the first shift. The second one will come in about an hour.” He informed them but Blackbeard was having none of it. “Make them come out now!” he demanded. “And tell Glitter to come out!” Burgess added, already drinking his second mug.

“As I said, the next shift wi-“, but he was interrupted by Blackbeard. Dark shadows started surrounding him, a malicious grin formed on his lips, exposing his missing teeth. “Do you really want to argue with us?” he asked. The whole atmosphere had changed in an instant and the air was thick as ice. The bartender shook his head and hurried to the back, not wanting to cause any more trouble. “At least he knows what’s best for him.” Shiryu chimed in, ordering another mug as well. “Let’s see what they have to offer today.”

It didn’t take long for the women to come out and most of them were the same as last time. Blackbeard was unsatisfied even though he had already suspected as much. And that chick from last time wasn’t here either. How rude!

Sulking, he grabbed Shiryu’s mug he had just ordered and downed in one go, spilling half of it on his beard and chest. “Another one!” he yelled, throwing the empty mug against the wall next to the bartender’s head. The women who had just come out schrieked in surprise and wanted to run to the back again, but Blackbeard stopped them. “Shut up and start dancing, you ugly hags!” he yelled, his mood dropping by the minute.

“Don’t be too harsh with them, captain. It’s not their fault they’re not your type.” Burgess laughed, his eyes already glued to Glitter, one of the blonde dancers. Blackbeard huffed, his eyes skimming the other women once again in the hopes that he might’ve missed one of them.

And apparently, he had! In the furthest back, barely visible, was this one, beautiful young women, starting to sway her hips to the music playing and all of a sudden his anger was blown away. A huge, grin re-appeared in his lips and he leaned back in content, watching her move to the beat. His crew wasn’t stupid; they had noticed their captain’s change in behavior and one look at the dancer in the back gave the answer as to why.

“Seems like captain’s gonna get some fun tonight after all, isn’t that right?” Burgess chuckled in amusement but didn’t say anything beyond that, too occupied with staring at the blonde dancer in the front.

Blackbeard was entranced by her performance; her graceful moves, her soft-looking hair, her glistering lips – oh, how much he wanted to feel them around his dick while he grabbed those perfectly soft locks to guide her to his thrusts. He swallowed hard, his primal instincts taking over the longer he watched her.

It was no surprise he couldn’t wait until the performance was over. He got up from his chair and ambled over, interrupting the other women. “H-hey! What are you doing?” one asked disgusted but she almost immediately shut her mouth when he glared at her over his shoulder. “Did you say anything, tramp?” he asked but the woman backed off already, holding her hands up in defense. “I-it was nothing. I’m sorry.” He apologized and watched him corner the object of his desire against a wall.

“C-can I help you?” she asked, obviously scared shitless. Blackbeard chuckled and held out his hand, showing off the variety of rings on his hand while he did. But she didn’t see it, too occupied with trying to find a way out of this situation. Usually, the bartender and her boss were enough to scare anyone who tried to do anything to them away but he was Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach, emperor of the seas – he wouldn’t be scared away by two middle-aged men with guns.

“I want you to come with me.” The pirate said and she pressed her body against the cold wall behind her, wishing she could just disappear. But this was impossible. “I-I’m working at the moment. C-could you wait until….until we’re done?” she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to reject him out loud cause an angry Blackbeard was a scary Blackbeard. She didn’t want to agree to go with him either which should be obvious why. So, the best option was to buy some time – if he let her.

Blackbeard’s grin grew wider and he lowered his hand. “Of course. And when you’re done you’re gonna come to me and become my woman, okay?” he asked. Well, it wasn’t a question rather than an order and she knew she couldn’t refuse, couldn’t turn him down. She was trapped. Maye she could try and sneak away somehow but she feared that it would be almost impossible. Meanwhile, the captain of the Blackbeard pirates was walking back to his seat, his crew members laughing at him getting ‘turned down’ again. After a few insults the music started playing again. All the dancers were scared but had to try and look as if nothing happened, giving costumers suggestive glances to get more tips.

Blackbeard’s eyes never left her body and she knew there was no way out. The other women even agreed on dancing more than usual, just for her to maybe find a way out. But when the very last song had ended and tips could be collected from the floor she knew she was screwed (or was about to get screwed).

“Just try and get out the back, Y/n.” one whispered but she had already noticed how one of his crewmembers, the one with the cigar, had left and was probably waiting for her in the back, just in case she chose to make a run for it. So, she did the only thing she could think of – surrender to her fate and slowly walk over to where the feared pirate was sitting.

His crew’s eyes widened when they saw her walking over, everyone expecting her to try and sneak away. “There you are. Haven’t I told you, you bastards? She came!” he yelled excitedly, almost like a little child who got the toy he had wished for for his birthday. She tried to look confident but her trembling body was betraying her.

“Seems like she didn’t come cause she liked you so much, captain! Wiihahahaha!” Burgess laughed. Blackbeard huffed and ignored him, grabbing her wrist instead and pulling her closer until she was pressed against his naked torso. “Do you wanna be my woman?” he asked, his breath reeking of alcohol and she had to crinkle her nose in disgust. “Zehahahaha….I know you want to. Don’t be shy.”

She felt his other hand move over her back and down to her ass, squeezing it in his big palm. She yelped in response, trying to get away from his hand by instinct but pressing her body further against his in the process. “That’s a good girl! Already showing her captain how much she wants him!” Blackbeard raised his hand to the bartender to catch his attention. “Oi! I’m gonna take her with me!” he just announced before he got up, pulling her with him out of the bar much to her dismay. She could faintly hear the bartender try and call him back but she was sure Blackbeard’s crew would stop him from coming after them.

She was brought to his ship of all places; some of his crewmembers who haven’t left the ship were still there and were leering at her with hungry eyes but not daring to make any comments since she was the captain’s. Blackbeard dragged her to his room which was smelling badly. It smelled like alcohol and sweat, mixed with his personal odor.

“Here we are, Y/n.” He announced, closing the door behind him. On the way he was the one mostly talking, asking for her name which she gave him in fear. She looked around the room, intuitively inching closer to the wall next to her. Blackbeard’s eyes were scanning her body, slowly coming closer and cornering her once again against the wall. He looked at her like a hungry dog looking at a piece of fresh meat and she could swear he was almost drooling. She didn’t want to be here. At all. But she couldn’t run away either. He fate had been sealed the moment he had laid his eyes on her.

“Ne, Y/n. Since you’re my woman now why don’t you show me how much you want me?” he suggested. He lifted his hand and gently stroked her cheek, feeling the wet tears that were running down her face. “No need to cry. If you’re good to me I’m gonna be good to you.” A threat no less and she couldn’t help but fall to the floor, burying her face in her hands and sobbing uncontrollably. This was too much for her. Why did he have to choose her? Why did she have to come with him? Why did she have to be his woman?

“Zehahahaha. Don’t cry. You’re gonna have it good with me. I’ll take care of you, Y/n.” she heard him walk away and a soft sound, indicating him sitting down on his huge bed. She didn’t raise her head but when she heard him speak up again she had to. “Come over here, Y/n.” he ordered, his voice sweet as honey but unforgiving like iron.

When she didn’t move, she heard him grumble in annoyance. “Oi, woman! I said come over here!” he repeated himself impatiently. Slowly, she got up and moved closer until she was standing right in front of him. Contently, he grinned again, taking her chin between his fingers, making her look up at him. “Good girl.” His thumb stroked over her jaw, over her lips before pushing between them and into her mouth. She pressed her eyes shut, tasting his salty skin on her tongue.

He moved his finger in and out, watching it in amazement while listening to the queit but wet sounds it was making. His other hand moved down to his pants, opening them and freeing his already erect member. She didn’t dare look down when he started to stroke himself in the same rhythm he was moving his finger, soon adding another one. He pushed them further down her mouth, pressing down on her tongue until her gag reflex kicked in and she made gagging sound, trying to suppress the feeling of throwing up.

“Zehahahaha. This is gonna be fun.” He mused before pushing her to the ground between his legs. She knew what he wanted but she couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth for him. She smelled his dick; at least it wasn’t as bad as she had expected but it was far from the clean smell she had hoped for. He slapped his dick against her cheek and smeared some pre-cum on it before he caressed her lips with his thick mushroom head. “Open up, woman.” He said in a low voice, his eyes glistering in excitement.

Taking her time, she opened her mouth, accepting that he wouldn’t let her get out of this situation either way. At least he wouldn’t have a reason to be mad at her if she obliged – at least she hoped. His dick pushed forward, gliding over her tongue and all the way to the back of her throat, ready to choke her on his dick. She pressed her nails into his thighs, trying to push herself away from his member but his hand was already buried in her lock, pressing her down onto his crotch. “Hngh!” she protested but he didn’t care.

A deep groan left his throat and he threw his head back, eyes closed in pleasure. He didn’t wait for her to adjust to his size and simply started moving her head on his own, pressing her down in him with each thrust, his hot dick filling her mouth out completely. More tears were running down her face and she tried to take a deep breath in every time she got the chance to.

His deep and shameless moans echoed through his room and could probably be heard by his crew outside. But he obviously didn’t care. To her relief, if she wanted to call it that, he didn’t demand of her to show some effort from her side; he was simply mouth fucking her the minute they had started. It wasn’t pleasant whatsoever but at least he did all the work and she just had to let him use her mouth.

“Fuck…what a good girl you are…your throat his so tight…! Fuck!” he praised, his hand grabbing tighter at her hair, pulling it almost violently as he moved her head on his dick. Her nails kept digging into his thighs as some sort of ‘punishment’ for him though she doubted he even noticed. She felt his dick pulse inside her mouth and she was thankful he wouldn’t last much longer.

With a few more thrusts he came deep inside her mouth, his sperm running down her throat, giving her a hard time not to take in a deep breath that was much needed. She didn’t taste a lot of his cum but what she tasted wasn’t nice at all. He was definitely drinking too much and his diet was unhealthy as well.

With an audible ‘plop’ he pulled his dick out of her mouth, saliva dripping down onto her thighs. He was panting in exhaustion, his hand still buried in her hair, making her look up at him again. “That was good, don’t you think, Y/n?” he asked, expecting her to agree. She nodded hesitantly, hoping he wouldn’t want anything else from her. “Later, we’re gonna go for round two so I can see how good your pussy can take me.”

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

Well ain’t that one hell of a wake up call :)

      They all settle into Virgil’s room, sitting on the circular mattress of foreign, soft material. 

      After Roman sets him down onto the bed, Virgil pulls him down by the arm, manhandling him into a seated position so Virgil can drag himself into his lap. This is not the first time he’s done this, but it still makes Roman blush. (And, the whispers taunting him with the possibility of it being a romantic gesture are not helping, in that regard)

      “So, we need to talk about what happened last night.” Logan asserts aloud, knocking Roman back out of his flustered headspace.

      “First, how did you two get so hurt so quickly??” Patton frowns, “I know we were in dangerous territory, but I was only separated from Virgil and Logan for a few minutes!”

      Then, an onslaught of whispers explaining the situation. 

      Roman catches bits and pieces where he is mentioned, though he wishes he could block his ears to it and pretend the whole thing never happened… 

      “Roman, is that true?” Patton gasps, clutching the sleeves of his cardigan. Roman hates the look on his face — some horrible, gut-wrenching mix of pity and horror — but he doesn’t look away. A Paladin faces the consequences of his actions. 

      Roman nods,

      “It…was my fault. I’m sorry.” 

      Roman is keenly aware of the shift against his chest, of Virgil’s gaze on him, but he can’t look down to meet his eyes. He barrels on, unable to stop his rambling, 

      “I was being reckless and petty. I put all of you in danger, and I nearly got everyone killed. I-…I killed—”

      “Shut the fuck up.” Virgil grumbles, glaring up at him. Roman snaps his jaw shut, surprised. 

      (I mean, he had expected Virgil to be angry with him, but that isn’t exactly the sentence Roman had been anticipating.)

      “Pardon?”

      “I said shut up! Gods, do you actually believe that?!” Virgil frowns, “That wasn’t your fault. You didn’t put anyone in danger.”

      “I beg to differ.” Logan frowns, and Virgil’s icy glare immediately snaps to him while Roman’s heart turns to stone and drops to his stomach. This was a reaction he had been expecting, but that didn’t make it feel any better.

      “If he hadn’t ran off on his own on some ridiculous quest to slay a monster, none of that encounter would have happened. He snuck away in the middle of the night to confront her after repeatedly being advised against it. He shouldn’t be surprised that the situation went downhill from there.” Logan chides, “He was being foolhardy.”

      “Yeah, running off on his own was stupid, but that doesn’t make what happened afterward his fault! It’s not like he could help it!” Virgil snaps, “And he wasn’t the only one being reckless! Don’t think it escaped my attention that you went hunting around for hag’s eyes instead of the rest of the group! —And you voluntarily made a deal with that bitch!” 

      “There were no better ways to resolve the situation at my disposal. Roman had a brainslug!”

      “Yeah, and you sound like you’re blaming him for it!” 

      Logan is caught off guard at that. 

      He turns to Roman, eyes wide, though his frown is still present. Roman shrinks a little under his stare, and Virgil squares his shoulders, putting himself between the two. 

      Roman realizes with a start why Virgil had seated them the way he did; he’s made himself into a barrier.

      “It’s okay. I get it!” Roman interjects, trying to sound less crushed than he is to get Virgil to back down. He doesn’t want a fight to break out here.

      “No, Roman, wait.” Logan pinches the bridge of his nose, swearing under his breath in Elven, “It wasn’t my intention to imply… —You should take responsibility for running off without a word, because that was irresponsible of you!”

      Roman nods, waiting for the kick… But, instead, Logan gives Roman a soft look. Roman is almost certain he hates this pseudo-guilt more than the anger.

      “You put yourself in danger. That is what I was trying to say.” Logan sighs.

      “I am angry with you for that, but I don’t blame you for what happened to you afterwards. Or Virgil. That was not your fault, that was the Coven’s.”

      …Roman isn’t quite sure he agrees with that, but he gets the distinct impression Virgil will yell at him if he disagrees, so he keeps his mouth shut. 

      Patton gives Logan an encouraging smile, then reaches over to pat Roman’s leg, sighing,

      “Roman, I love that you’re courageous and gallant and all, but you worry us to death when you go out picking fights you aren’t ready for! Logan was scared for you. We all were.”

      “I know why you did it, but you can’t do that again, man.” Virgil nods, deflating slightly. He and Logan share an exhausted look, and luckily, neither of them seem to be angry at the other about the miscommunication. (That’s good, because if Roman had found himself secondhand ruining their friendship, he would cry.)

      “I wish I could promise that I won’t.” Roman frowns, feeling ice run through his veins as he awaits their response, “—I mean, I won’t go running back to her any time soon, but if there’s some other menace out there that I am prepared to handle… I mean, protecting people from evil is my duty, I can’t just let those things be! I tried to warn you before, but I really can’t just leave it alone if I know I could solve the problem!”

      “I’m not asking you to leave it alone.” Virgil groans the words like it pains him, (and honestly, it probably does,) 

      “But I am telling you not to go alone. Not again. We go together, so you don’t end up dead and alone in the woods somewhere.”

      “Agreed!” Patton grins, and Logan nods, 

      “If we can’t stop you, at least let us keep you from getting yourself killed in vain.”

      Roman feels a familiar warmth bubble up in his chest, with the two of them smiling at him like that. He’s not sure if he wants them putting themselves in danger to help him, but damn if he’s not flattered by their loyalty; he wants nothing more than to embrace it. 

      So, Roman nods, barely suppressing his own smile of relief.

      “Now, what happened after that?” Virgil frowns, leaning his head back against Roman’s shoulder and closing his eyes. His breathing is deep and shallow; he’s trying to get as much essential conversation in as he can before he passes out again.

      “You revived me. —Are you guys okay?! No one here hurt you, right?”

      “No, we’re fine~! Some dirty looks, but that was it.” Patton smiles, reaching over to hold Virgil’s hand.

      “We were led here by soldiers who recognized you.” Logan explains, “They led us to your Empress, and she and your Lady helped us with the ritual. The Empress called Eilistraee for aid, and we discussed your…situation.”

      Virgil groans and covers his face with his hand, “Please tell me you didn’t embarrass yourselves in front of them.”

      “On the contrary, I think our conversations were very enlightening!” Logan smiles, completely missing the point. “I have a better idea of what you will require going forward, for our classes. …Though, Eilistraee suggested that we should also find you a Sorcerer for mentorship. And, she had implied that one would find us promptly..?”

      Virgil snaps to attention. He uncovers his face and nods,

      “I know a guy. He’s looking for me. If we’re going to be sitting ducks here for a while, while my body remembers how to function, he should catch up to us. I, uhh…” 

      Virgil coughs, his voice quieting slightly, “I think you guys already…know each other? His name’s Dee?”

      Hearing the poorly disguised excitement in his voice at the idea, Patton and Logan both try not to look agitated… Roman seems pleased, though, and smiles,

      “Mama needs me and Remus to meet her in town, so our groups were going to be converging at some point, anyway! —I told you guys it was fate that we should meet~!! Everything’s coming together!”

      “Wait, I thought Dee was a wizard?” Patton frowns, and Virgil shakes his head,

      “No, that’s a cover. —If we’re all going to be working together, you should probably get used to the idea of him being less than honest. Almost everything that comes out of his mouth is total bullshit.”

      “Oh, we are well aware.” Logan grumbles.

      “Wait, before we get too far from the subject,” Patton frowns, and Roman doesn’t like the sad look returning to his face one bit, “…What were you talking about, before, Ro? ‘Petty?’ What made you sneak off like that?”

      Roman blanches. 

      Virgil must feel him stiffen — or maybe he remembers their short, incredibly one-sided conversation in the woods — and speaks up in his stead,

      “That wasn’t his fault, it was mine. We were going to wind up there regardless.” 

      ...And, once again, he has completely astounded Roman. He needs to stop expecting things from this man.

      “How is that possible?” Logan frowns, just as confused.

      “It’s a long story I’m too tired to be embarrassed about…” Virgil shrugs,

      “I made a deal with Granny a few years ago, to save a bystander. She said she would spare their life, but I would owe her one the next time I returned to her wood. The next time I saw her, she would take a member of my party.” 

      “What?!” Patton and Roman yell in unison, and Virgil’s ears flatten to his head for a moment as he frowns in distaste.

      “And you didn’t think to mention that?!” Roman whines, scandalized.

      “I didn’t expect you to run off!” Virgil elbows Roman in return, then looks up at him, “…And…I didn’t want you to think less of me. For taking the easy way out… That was before I got all fucked up. Honestly, I could have killed her if I wanted to, and been done with all of this. But I was too scared. I’m not…like you.” 

      There is an unexpected, strikingly soft tone to his voice as Virgil admits this. He seems surprised by it himself, after it’s out in the air. Virgil quickly barrels forward, waving his hand dismissively, 

      “Honestly, I’m relieved the one she meant was mine. I would have felt bad if I had gotten someone else damned for my mistake. —It doesn’t matter now, anyway. She killed me; she got her reward.”

      “Not quite,” Logan frowns, “We had to break her claim to revive you. Logically, that should mean the deal is broken, but she may not see it that way. In fact, I would bet that she still considers you to be in debt.”

      “Well, good thing none of us plan on going back into her territory!” Patton smiles, with a less than pointed look at Roman. Roman blushes and nods, but Virgil’s gone stock still. 

      Roman hears his breathing quicken, and though he can’t see his face, Roman can see the slight yellow glow reflecting on his white hair. Virgil grips Roman’s arm, claws digging painfully into his skin,

      "Oh my god. Annie.” Virgil whispers fearfully.

      An onslaught of whispers hits them then, warning of some giant wolf called Jasper (Roman thinks he remembers Virgil mentioning someone like that before, but he wasn’t paying attention) who is apparently gunning for their little nereid. Patton and Roman both pale as Virgil starts to ramble,

      “Annie! Oh my god, she’s gonna kill her! Fuck!! No, no—”

      “No, she won’t.” Logan promises sternly, a flash of magic in his eyes when he speaks. He lays his hand over Virgil’s, and Virgil relaxes his grip, but only slightly.

      “I am going to go get her.” 

      “What did we just say about splitting up?!” Virgil hisses, the Calm Emotions charm just barely keeping hold on him. Logan shakes his head,

      “This is different, and you know that. I am not sneaking off without a word, and we don’t have another option. You are too weak to travel, and if we wait any longer to cross back into the Prime Material, we may reach her too late. Besides, I am the only one of us who can ferry messages back and forth, and I can only do that from outside of the city.”

      Roman is aghast at this, and shakes his head vehemently,

      “Then I’m coming with you!”

      “No you are not!” Logan and Virgil both say — or shout, in Virgil’s case — at once. Logan elaborates first,

      “You are also too weak to travel, and you two are the only ones of us who have encountered Jasper! He would sniff you out immediately.”

      “You’re the weakest and slowest member of our party, and he’s a wolf shifter!” Virgil shakes his head, “He’ll still hear you, and he’ll hunt you down like a newborn deer!” 

      Logan smiles at him. Roman assumes he’s trying to be soothing, but he knows that mad scientist glint to his eyes when he sees it…

      “Not if I cast Silence. Besides, he has no reason to suspect me more than any other townsperson, and the Hag only has her power over the town because she pretends to be their protector. He wouldn’t be allowed to kill citizens at random.”

      “Then it’s settled! Me and Logan will get Annie.” Patton nods, and Roman whines. Logan and Virgil look no less pleased.

      “You will be going nowhere!” Logan frowns, “I can’t allow you to put yourself in danger any more than Roman or Virgil. You are still…ill.”

      “Oh, you did not just pull that card!” Patton gasps, slapping Logan’s arm, (He pulls it, of course, but it still hurts a little,)

      “I’ve been doing just fine this entire trip, and I am a grown man! I can handle being ‘a little ill’!“

      “Patton, I didn’t mean to—”

      “You invited me on this whole adventure because you needed protection, and you knew I could keep us both safe!” Patton huffs, furious, “The last time I split from you three, one of you ended up dead. None of us are going on any side quests or rescue missions solo anymore! I’m coming with you, and that’s the end of it!”

      “Yes, fine, alright.” Logan sighs, knowing he isn’t going to win this one. This just makes Roman more upset, and he shouts in frustration,

      “No! You two aren’t going anywhere without me!”

      “That’s rich.” Logan notes offhandedly, and wow, that stings, but Roman doesn’t have time to be sad about it, because they aren’t listening,

      “I mean it!” Roman demands desperately, trying his best to convey how serious he is without giving up his secret, “You can’t go anywhere I can’t follow you— I can’t protect you! You can’t leave me behind, I’m coming with you!” 

      “No!” Virgil demands again, shaking his head and redoubling his grip on Roman’s arm. It hurts a lot, but Roman is suddenly more concerned with the near-delirious look on his face. His eyes are starting to glow again as he works back up into a panic,

      “No, Roman, you can’t! Not ag— Not all of you.” Virgil shakes his head, closing his eyes tight when he feels the sparks starting to build there. His tone is rushed and shaken, like he’s trying to make sense of his thoughts as he says them aloud, 

      “You’re hurt too, and you still don’t know how to use your sword! You won’t make it out there! You can’t leave me alone, If you leave I’ll— I need you to stay here!”

      …Okay, there is definitely something wrong here. But still, Roman feels that all-too-familiar tug at his core at Virgil’s last statements…

      Roman looks up between Logan and Patton for a moment. 

      They look just as confused and distressed as Roman is, but under that, they…really do look well rested. And he’s seen them in action before; Logan is nothing if not a competent magician, and despite how he looks, Patton is even stronger than Roman is. If any of them could make it out on a last-ditch rescue effort, it would have to be them. With his current state, and everything he’s accomplished lately, Roman’s certain he would be more of a hindrance to the mission then anything… It hurts to let them go, but it’s the only thing he can do.

      “Virgil…” Roman sighs, already knowing the answer, “Are you asking for my help?”

      “Yes. —I don’t want to! I don’t kn—…I’m sorry.” Virgil grumbles while shaking his head, the picture of contradiction. He hugs his legs to his chest, and his eyes open again, though his pupils are still yellow.

      “…Virgil?”

      “You have to stay.” He nods resolutely, “…But I still don’t like this.” he growls, letting his head thud against his knees. Either out of frustration, or because he’s gotten too tired to hold it up.

      “I don’t want any of you to go. This sucks ass. I can’t… I just got back, you know?!”

      Patton scoots over and gives Virgil a crushing hug, which he gladly leans in to. 

      “I know, kiddo. But I’m sure it will all turn out fine!” Patton soothes him softly, “Now we know exactly where to go and where to avoid, and Logan can report back to you guys all the time so you know we’re okay! We’ll just run to grab her and be right back, as quick as we can. In the meantime, you two get some rest!”

      Virgil closes his eyes and hums in acknowledgement. After a bit of silence, he grumbles, pushing himself away from Patton,

      “Roman, can you get me my bags from that drawer? The first one.” He flicks his hand roughly towards the entire left side of the room (which, thankfully, has one only one dresser). Roman does as he’s asked, watching Virgil rifle through his satchels. 

      Virgil pulls out two daggers, both wrapped in leather. He unsheathes one of them, to show off the odd violet sheen to the black metal. Virgil nods to himself, then hands one to Patton. He hands the other to Logan, and mumbles,

      “Take my cloak too, teach. You’ll need it.”

      “What are these?” Patton muses giddily, fastening the blade’s frog to his pack. 

      “Poisoned. Heavily.” Virgil snaps sternly, “The toxin will only take on the first use, and it will kill on contact. Use them very carefully, and do not accidentally cut yourself with it.”

      Virgil leans back against Roman’s shoulder, clearly struggling to stay awake.

      “Jasper is the head of the pack, and the one who gives them Granny’s orders. If he falls, they run back home for instruction. He’s grey with red eyes, nearly five and a half feet tall at the shoulder. You can’t miss him”

      Logan and Patton nod. One of Virgil’s eyes winks open, under no small effort, to give the two’s general direction a very serious stare.

      “If you find him?” Virgil muses, more of a statement then a question, 

      “Kill him.”

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Ask 102      (( @renee-niles , @amazonprimebox , @gayerplease , @sjrose1217 , @asailboatinthewindow , @maya-tl , @sparkleydoggy-main , @kiapet2 , @error-i-dunno-what-went-wrong , @emissary-of-stuff ))

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Game Start

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Rules

Most Recent Recap, in case you feel like you missed something!

Available for questions: Logan, Roman, Patton, and Virgil!

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Ohh dear, it looks like we’re splitting the party again! I guess it couldn’t have lasted forever...

This time, though, they’re split into smaller parties instead of solo players, so you will get to see both groups’ adventures!

The only question now is...

Who will you follow First?

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((If you missed the blog announcement, check it here!))

[lavaffair]

Just Admit It

Inukag Fluff Week Prompts: Touch and Pining

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33211216

Having a crush on someone can be wonderful, but also incredibly unfair. The hours spent daydreaming about the person who gives your stomach butterflies seem to be more fun than having the actual crush. Experiencing this vulnerable feeling because of a person is actually quite terrifying and painful. Most of the time, crushes lead to heartbreak and letting go of the person who never gave you a chance.

Being in love with a person can be extremely intense, almost obsessive, and beautiful if done right. When someone’s feelings reach this level, it begins to cut deeper beyond the surface, into dangerous and uncharted territory. Especially if the person you are in love with has absolutely no idea of your true feelings towards them.

For Kagome Higurashi, her feelings towards her best friend Inuyasha Taisho went way beyond a crush. She was in love with her best friend, so in love that it hurt her, and she was too afraid to ever tell him about them.

The risk of ruining her lifelong friendship of 16 years was too scary to think about. Kagome could never think of her life without Inuyasha, he was always there to annoy her, get her angry, protect her, and support her whenever and wherever. When he yelled at the bigger kids for making fun of her name when they were five, or afterward when she pushed someone away from him when they pulled on his ears, they made a pack to back each other up. The friendship just blossomed after that.

Of course, they made more friends along the way, which included Sango and Miroku; whom they met in middle school, but their friendship never changed. They knew each other better than anyone else, and they have had the uncomfortable and awkward conversations that come up between teenagers, and so they have seen it all.

They have been there for each other when their hearts have been broken, when they had fights with others, and when they have personal issues. The bond between them was so strong that even the idea of it breaking caused Kagome a ton of stress. She could not do it and would not do it. At the end of the day, they will be in each other’s friend zone and they will die in the friend zone.

She was convinced that Inuyasha had zero feelings for her. He has seen her at her worst, and probably only looks at her like a sister. There was no way he could feel anything more for her.

This is why seeing him flustered and awkward about having to share a bed together did not raise any suspicions. It was obvious he was just a bit uncomfortable with the situation since it has been years since they have shared a bed with each other. They are both in their early twenties now, and sharing a bed was very intimate at this age compared to at 13.

“Yash, I could go downstairs right now and ask for another room. You look like you’re going to have a heart attack.” Kagome grinned at him, trying her best to suppress her shyness.

“Tch. We tried that already! That old hag wasn’t budgin’. This is the last time we let Miroku make hotel reservations.” He anxiously paced around the room.

“I can’t believe they don’t have any rooms with two beds. It’s not like it’s a special weekend or anything, it’s not even that busy this time of year.” She could not help but bite her bottom lip while watching him pace the room. His anxiety was getting to her.

“Well. We’re stuck here now, I tried all of my tricks but that lady wouldn't budge. We just gotta figure this out.”

He disappeared into the closet and pulled out an extra blanket provided by the hotel and placed it on the ground beside the huge bed. It was soft and fluffy enough to provide some comfort, but Kagome knew his back was going to hurt tomorrow and beyond that. They are staying at this hotel for the next few days, and until they can find a new room, they will have to make due.

“Inuyasha, we can just share the bed.” She tried speaking logic into him.

Inuyasha hoped she missed the way his body jolted at her offer because it was an intense one. Share a bed? With his best friend, whom he also harbored feelings for? Not a chance. Not when it was hard for him to even look at her without thinking about all the ways he could hold her.

He was down bad, he just refused to make it obvious. Instead, he played off his feelings for her by being extra rude sometimes. It helped mask his feelings and it was believable because he was naturally a huge jerk. Of course, he has gotten softer because of Kagome, but he turns it on when he needs it. Right now, he was too flustered to even pretend to act like a cocky bastard.

He and Kagome have not shared a bed since they were pre-teens, and that was before puberty kicked in. It took him a while to notice it at first, but when Inuyasha realized he had developed feelings for his best friend, he knew he had to shut it down immediately. He saw the changes she went through, and how she went from this annoying, loud, bossy little girl into this independent and beautiful woman. It was too much for him, and it happened overnight. He sucks at handling his feelings, he is not the best with women, and thus concludes him knowing he is not good for her.

Kagome deserved better, she deserved more than him. Some guy who can talk about his feelings and does not want to punch almost every frustrating person in the face. He was in love with her, so in love, he would sacrifice his chance of happiness just to see her happy with someone else. He will support her from the sidelines, like any good best friend, while his heart tears away at the idea of a love that did not get a chance.

Her friendship was enough for him. That is what he told himself every day.

“No.” He replied flatly. “You probably still kick in your sleep.”

“I do not kick!” He heard her shout.

He laughed, “Tell that to my legs. I think they’re still bruised.”

Of course, he did not miss the way she scoffed as she got the bed ready to sleep in. He could hear her breathing from across the room, her sweet, natural scent filling the space every time she moved around and it was intoxicating.

“Don’t be such a big baby!” She padded the pillows for extra fluff. “You’re a demon, my kicks don’t even hurt you.”

He poked his head out from the closet, looking for anything extra to put on his makeshift bed other than bath towels. “Half demon,” he corrected. “And yes they do.”

She blew out some air from her lungs and padded over towards him, her little feet tip-tapping on the carpet floor. “Inuyashaaaa,” she whined. “If I promise to not kick you, will you please sleep on the bed?”

He swallowed hard, his nerves getting the best of him as he cleared his throat. It took him a second to compose himself before exploding, and then he put on his best face. He raised an eyebrow at her, a smirk playing on his lips with a little fang poking out.

“So you admit that you do kick now. huh?”

Kagome rolled her eyes, immediately walking away from him with her arms crossed against her chest. “You’re impossible!”

After a few seconds of comfortable silence, he heard her zip and unzip her luggage and heave a sigh. “I’m going to change really quickly. I’ll be right back.”

He grunted in return and quickly changed into some sweats and a loose-fit tee shirt. His makeshift bed was as good as it was going to get, the fluffy comforter folded on the ground providing some back support. There were no more extra blankets, but Kagome always brought an extra for traveling, so he would just use hers to sleep in.

Little sounds were coming out from the bathroom and he knew she was doing her nightly routine of skincare and hair brushing. Out of all the women he has ever met, Kagome was the one always on top of her routines. He knew she had one in the morning and one at night, and the only reason why she was not taking her nightly shower was because of how tired she was after a long travel day.

The sound of clothes coming off and then rustling back on her skin was extremely distracting, so he decided to focus on the interesting floor lamp in the corner of the room. It had a rustic-colored body, with a cream-colored lampshade over the light bulb, and it was as boring as any other floor lamp in existence.

The door to the bathroom clicked open, and the sweet scent that was Kagome hit his nose instantly. It was never enough for him and he was so selfish he always wished for more. The citrusy scent mixed with vanilla was expected after she stayed in the bathroom for so long, but he did not expect his heart to skip a beat when he laid eyes on her in her pajamas. To anyone else, it would just be plain sleepwear, but seeing her in a pink tee-shirt and shorts set was driving him insane. There were little white stars decorating the entire ensemble, and Inuyasha could not believe Kagome could get any cuter.

“Nice PJs, what are you, five?” He teased, if only she knew he was dying inside.

She glared at him in return, “At least my pajamas are more fun. You’re in the same thing you always wear.”

“Kagome, you never see me when I’m going to bed.” He was trying really hard to stop himself from stuttering.

“You’re right, but I see you in the mornings when you’re a grump. You don’t change out of them unless you have somewhere to go.”

“I didn’t come here to get chastised for my taste in sweatpants, Kags.”

She giggled and it sent a jolt of electricity into his system. “That may be true, but when we get back home I’m buying you new pajamas. I’ll get some cute ones for you.”

The half-demon narrowed his amber eyes at her, “You’re gonna get matching onesies ain't ya?”

Shrugging her shoulders and shooting him a cheeky little smile, she skipped to her giant bed and left his question unanswered. Choosing to turn off the lights instead, and leaving the duo in the dark.

Cheeky wench he thought.

There was nothing else for either of them to do but get comfortable in bed to sleep. Everyone in the group had had a long day, and he was sure Sango and Miroku were already asleep in the room across from theirs. He was thankful the universe spared him from having to listen to anything that was not snoring.

“What time do you think we’ll all be up by tomorrow?” He heard Kagome ask from above him.

As he made himself comfortable on the floor with the fluffy pillow Kagome had given him he answered, “Hopefully not at noon. I’ll push you off the bed and bang on their door until yer all awake.”

She laughed, “You’ll get us kicked out if you do that.”

“Yeah?” Well, maybe we can find a hotel that has rooms with two beds.” He grumbled.

“Sharing a bed is not a big deal!” Kagome lied, because to her it would definitely be a big deal.

To the blushing half-demon sleeping on the ground, it was also a very big deal. “Goodnight Kagome.”

Kagome pouted, thankful that he could not see the disappointment on her face. “Fine, don’t be extra grumpy when your back hurts tomorrow.”

They flipped on their sides facing away from each other and attempted to sleep. Kagome was doing well, the giant bed was super comfortable and it would bring her to sleep in no time. Except, she could listen to Inuyasha shuffling over on the floor knowing he was trying to find a comfortable position.

A frustrated grunt had her fluttering her eyes open and groggy from sleep. She wondered how long she had been out, and she would ask Inuyasha but he was still tossing and turning on the floor. She rubbed her eyes and let out a tiny yawn before scooting over to the side to look at him.

At the moment, he was fighting with Kagome’s blanket and was one minute closer to taking the car keys and sleeping inside the car.

“Inuyasha?” he heard her ask. Her voice was soft and sounded small, she looked tired and in much need of sleep.

“Kags? Hey, sorry for waking you.” He said apologetically.

She shook her head with a little smile to show him she felt no animosity towards him. “Yash, you’re uncomfortable. Please come to bed.”

“You say that like it’s easy..” he muttered over his beating heart. She was so tired, and yet here she was still concerned over him and putting his needs before her own.

“It’s not easy.” She replied sleepily.

“What?” He sat up from his floor bed and looked at her. Her eyes were glossed over, and a little smile was painted on her face. “Kags, what do you mean?”

She shrugged awkwardly in her laying down position and yawned again. “I like you, so, it’s not easy for me to tell you that.. but you can’t sleep on the floor.”

Inuyasha’s face heated up instantly, a blush so red and deep that he could make tomatoes jealous of its color. There was no way she was telling him the truth. There was absolutely no way she was reciprocating his feelings right now, because this all seems too good to be true, and nothing this amazing ever happens to him. He was already lucky enough to call her his best friend, but for her to like him back when he had never told her was more than he could have asked for.

Her words processed rather quickly, and Kagome shot up from the bed. suddenly wide awake. There was absolutely no way she just said that to him. Every second that passed caused her to overthink everything, and she felt like her friendship with him was slipping out of her fingers the more time passed.

“I- I mean! Um.. no? Uh. I didn’t say that! Forget what I said!” She laughed nervously, “Haha funny joke!”

Her stuttering was going through one fluffy ear and out of the other because he was still trying to process what she said. He could see her better than she could see him, and her blushing face did not match the denial she was spewing at him.

“Would you laugh too if I told you I felt the same way?” His voice wavered during his confession while his stomach made flips.

“You…” Kagome paused and took a deep breath in a failed attempt to get herself to relax. “You like me too?”

“Yep.”

“..For how long?”

“Since I turned 13 and saw you in that one blue dress at the school dance.” There was no going back for him now.

She remembered that day pretty easily because it was one of her most cherished memories. It was the middle school dance, and everyone was super excited to find someone to go with. Naturally Kagome went with Inuyasha since they were so inseparable, and she wanted to surprise him and go in her new blue dress. That whole night Inuyasha was acting weirder than usual, but she thought it was because of the school dance, not because of her or her blue dress.

“What about you?” His question dragged her out of her thoughts.

“Around the same time as you, except it was after the dance. Yura cut off some of my hair because she was kinda obsessed with it, and mama had to even it out afterward. It was so short, and I hated it! But you came up to me when I was crying and told me I was pretty with my short hair, and then you yelled at Yura the next day.

“That’s when I sort of figured I liked you more than just as my best friend.” She admitted.

The two best friends stared at each other in bewilderment due to their confessions. The words they shared are still floating above them like small clouds. The fear of their feelings staying one-sided was nothing but a fluke now, because their feelings were reciprocated.

“Do you um..” Kagome coughed, “Wanna get off the floor and talk about it some more?” She padded the mattress for emphasis.

He was sure he looked like an idiot with how fast he got up from the carpet. Maybe she did not see it that way, but he sure did feel that way. He felt like he was floating even with his body now firmly on the large bed. He left a small space between them, on the off chance that he was reading into it too much.

It was quiet between them and sleep was still creeping onto them like a predator watching its prey.

“You know I expected my confession to you to be kinda dramatic.” Kagome laughed, “Like, we have a huge fight and we’re yelling at each other from across the room and then you say something stupid and I just kinda scream it out.”

The half-demon raised a brow at her in amusement. “You watch way too many movies, Kagome.”

She pushed on his shoulder in mock offense, “Don’t pretend like you don’t sit there and watch them with me!”

“That’s because you force me to watch them with you. How many times have we seen the Notebook? I lost count!”

“Okay, okay, first of all, we haven’t seen the Notebook since high school. I’ll admit we saw it too often, but not recently!”

“Yeah?” He grinned at her, his fang poking out only adding to the effect he has on her. “Doesn’t mean we haven’t seen similar movies.”

She huffed, “I’m a sucker for romance. You can’t blame me for that.”

Inuyasha watched as her lips turned out into a little pout and she puffed out her chest. Those same lips he has always caught himself staring too hard at, the ones he thought about kissing everyday but knew he never could. Well, here was his chance; and she was sitting right in front of him.

Before he could back out of it, he leaned in closer to her face and stared directly into her dark brown eyes. Her breath caught in her throat and the little gasp she let out echoed his ears. Her breath fawned over his lips as she realized how close they were to touching. Her eyes flicked from his golden ones to his lips, and then back to his eyes again.

“Can I kiss you?” He asked her breathlessly. He was totally enthralled by her and her full, parted lips.

She nodded in anticipation knowing that her voice would fail her if she tried to speak.

His lips were on hers instantly as he drank her in like water. They were as soft and plush as he expected them to be but they were also even more than that. Their lips molded against each other so easily it was strange to think about why he waited so long to do this in the first place. The kiss they shared was sweet and cautious but still electrifying. He did not want to scare her away in case she backed out of it, but little did he know she was savoring this moment between them.

Slowly, they parted ways as they tried to catch their breath. Inuyasha noted how cute she looked with pink-tinted cheeks, kiss swollen lips, and sparkling eyes as she looked at him. He could not stop the grin from showing up on his face after finally being able to kiss the girl of his dreams, the same girl that was a bit too far from him at the moment.

“Come ‘ere.” He slurred, his voice deep and rich with admiration. He extended his arms to her and beckoned her towards him with a blush still on his cheeks.

Without saying a word she crawled over to him and broke the remaining space they had between them. She fit into his lap so perfectly and she never wanted to live a life where she could not do this again. The butterflies in her stomach were eating her alive but she powered through the feeling and laid her head on his shoulder. His strong arms embraced her small figure and pressed her into him while he fought the nerves in his body to relax. This was still extremely new to the both of them, but suddenly they wanted to be as close to each other as possible.

They sat together like this for a few minutes until Inuyasha noticed that Kagome was starting to drift away into sleep again. Even the excitement of a love confession was not strong enough against the pull of sleep.

“Kags,” he whispered. “Let’s lay down. You need to sleep more comfortably.”

She protested, “But I’m comfy here.”

Before she could say anything more he quickly changed their position and laid down on the bed. With one arm still holding Kagome snuggly on him, he used the other to bring up the giant comforter to cover the both of them. He was glad they both decided to leave the lights off during the entire ordeal they had earlier so he did not have to get up and ruin her comfortable position.

Kagome was thankful for the lights staying off too because she was not going to let Inuyasha go even for a second. Miroku and Sango might be extremely confused tomorrow morning when they notice the change in dynamic but that will be tackled when they get to it. Right now, she is way more content with her head on his chest and his hand on her back.

Before she officially dozed off into slumber, she kissed his chin and snuggled into him. With her head on his chest, she could hear the erratic beating of his heart after her surprise kiss. He said nothing as he listened to her breathing steadily with every minute that passed until her grip on his arm went slack.

Inuyasha had not expected so much to happen between them in a span of a few hours. Their dynamic now changed forever. He was aware that they still had more to talk about, but for now, he was going to cherish this moment with her. He kissed her forehead one more time out of pure need and desire before settling in to catch some sleep.

He would never deny sharing the bed with her ever again.

[schrijverr]

The Fear of God... Or Auntie in this Case

5 Times Midoriya and Bakugo Mentioned their Auntie & 1 Time Everyone Met Them

Bakugo and Midoriya are childhood friends, while they don't always act like it, they have their moments where it's undeniable.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: none, but tell me if I missed any!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Midoriya was in the kitchen with Iida and Uraraka drinking something after hero classes. They had fought other classmates and Midoriya had gotten his ass handed by Bakugo, who had perfected a new ultimate move.

Bakugo entered the kitchen and Midoriya smiled and waved: “Hi, Kacchan!”

“What was that pitiful performance today, Deku?” Bakugo spat as greeting, “If this is your best, I’ll be the No. 1 hero unopposed easily. It was pathetic.”

“I will work hard and beat you next time, Kacchan!” Midoriya was unbothered by Bakugo’s harshness, “Your new move was effective, but not unbeatable. I’ll get you next time.”

“You’d better try, don’t need more extra’s in my life,” Bakugo huffed.

To anyone else it would seem like an insult, but Midoriya only heard that so far he wasn’t considered an extra, which was high praise from Bakugo. So, he just smiled: “I’ll try. Also mom wants to know what you want to eat next Friday.”

“Tell her to make her super spicy curry,” Bakugo replied.

“But it’s so hot,” Midoriya whined.

“You can take it, I’ve seen you eat it without blinking before, Deku,” he huffed, “Besides, we ate katsudon last time, you don’t get to complain.”

Midoriya’s smile returned at that and he agreed: “That’s true, I’ll text her.”

“You’re eating together on the weekend you get to go home?” Uraraka asked from where she and Iida had followed the conversation from the sidelines.

“Huh, yeah, why wouldn’t we?” Midoriya said confused.

“Oh, you just don’t seem to like each other very much, that’s all,” Uraraka squeaked.

“What do you know, round-face,” Bakugo shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away.

“Don’t be rude, Kacchan,” Midoriya scolded.

“Their fault for being stupid,” Bakugo shrugged then walked off, while Midoriya rolled his eyes at his actions.

When Bakugo hadleft he turned back to Iida and Uraraka and explained: “It’s a bit of a tradition to eat together on Fridays. Our moms used to be very close and Kacchan’s parents would work late on Fridays, so mom would get me and Kacchan from school and we’d eat together, because Kacchan’s parents would be home late and that way they didn’t have to cook. In return they would bring me to school on Monday mornings when my mom had to work.”

“And why are still doing it?” Uraraka asked, “Not to be rude, I just don’t get it, since you’re always fighting.”

“Ah, well, we didn’t do it in Middle School anymore, but when we both got into UA mom and auntie picked up contact again and she wanted to see me too when we got back from the dorms and mom had the same with Kacchan, so we started again,” Midoriya told her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“And you’re okay with that?”

“What?” Midoriya stuttered.

“Uraraka, don’t be intrusive, it’s unbecoming of a hero to pry into other people’s business,” Iida was seemingly back online and in scolding mode.

“Ah, sorry,” she quickly apologized.

“Don’t worry, Uraraka!” Midoriya smiled, “I guess it was weird at first, but me and Kacchan have known each other since before we could walk. We’re good now.”

And with that Midoriya left, not noticing that both Iida and Uraraka had difficulty wrapping their heads around the fact that despite everything, Midoriya and Bakugo still shared a close bond that included eating dinner with the other’s parents regularly.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t known they were childhood friends, but with how they could be around each other and how their relationship had been at the start of the year, it was sometimes hard to connect that to their classmates.

However, the dorms were shedding more light on the vast amount of time the two had spend together throughout their life.

Another instance like this happened a few weeks later. Midoriya had worked till late the day before and wasn’t up by the time most were already eating their breakfast.

Bakugo entered the kitchen and asked: “Where’s Deku? That dumbass is usually here way too early, did he already leave of something?”

Tsu said: “He went to bed late last night, I think he’s still in bed, kero.”

“Stupid,” Bakugo huffed, before grabbing a bowl, pan and some ingredients, apparently done with the topic and starting breakfast for himself.

He was plating the final pancake, everyone confused why he’d made two plates, when Midoriya stumbled into the kitchen, his uniform looking a mess as he wrestled with his hair. As he walked, he noticed the plate and his eyes lit up: “Pancakes!”

“Don’t ruin them with that stupid syrup,” Bakugo only replied as if it was completely normal that he made breakfast for Midoriya when the boy was running late.

“Syrup doesn’t ruin them, you with your boring only butter just don’t know taste,” he stuck out his tongue, swiping one of the plates.

“Oi, I can take those back, Deku,” Bakugo threatened.

“Sorry, Kacchan, thank you for the pancakes,” Midoriya bowed, quickly retreating with his prize, but not before snatching the syrup off the counter.

“Idiot,” Bakugo huffed.

Kaminari broke the confused silence with: “Since when do you make breakfast for anyone?”

“I don’t make breakfast for anyone,” Bakugo said, “I just want auntie to murder me because Deku is too stupid to make breakfast for himself and dies.”

“Auntie?” Mina asked, but she was ignored by Bakugo, who went back to eating his own pancakes and scowling at the world.

Sadly for Bakugo, his friends were a lot nosier than Midoriya’s, so when they encountered a snippet of a side of Bakugo that they didn’t know, they wanted to get to the bottom of it.

They tried asking Bakugo about it, but the boy just grumbled about them being nosy and it not being a big deal. Asking Midoriya didn’t help much either, he just shrugged that pancakes were his favorite and he and Kacchan were childhood friends.

That explained little and only added more questions.

Naturally they pestered Bokugo after that, popping up to ask questions like: “When did you two meet?” “Don’t know, too young to remember.” “Are there pictures of you two?” “None of your business.” “Is that a yes?” “Leave me the fuck alone before I blow you face off.”

So, they were pouting in the common room, brainstorming ideas when a situation arose naturally, since Midoriya was on a nearby couch playing a board game with Momo and Tokoroki.

“Can I play red?” he asked, “It’s my favorite color.”

“Sure, I want the black one, it’s stylish,” Momo said.

“Favorite color?” Tokoroki asked.

“Yeah,” Midoriya smiled, “What’s yours?”

“Never thought about it, I suppose,” Tokoroki said.

“Really?” Momo asked.

Tokoroki shrugged, while Midoriya offered: “You can pick a favorite color now. Which color do you like the best? Any color bring you joy?”

At that Tokoroki pulled a thinking face, obviously putting a bit too much thought in a such a silly question as what’s your favorite color.

It was at this moment that Bakugo entered. He spotted the unstarted board game and Tokoroki’s extreme thinking face and yelled: “Oi, Icy-Hot, what are you thinking so hard about? Finding start really that hard?”

“Don’t be mean, Kacchan,” Midoriya called back, “Tokoroki is picking a favorite color, that’s important.”

“Pshh, favorite colors are stupid and for babies, I don’t have one,” Bakugo said.

“Oh, really?” Midoriya asked, a shit eating tone creeping into his voice that made Bakugo and the others look up with suspicion, “I vaguely remember something about green being your favorite color.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Deku,” Bakugo’s tone was threateningand trying to stop the conversation.

“Really?” Midoriya said, before doing an impression of what was presumably a small Bakugo, “Please, auntie, can you make me a green birthday cake? It’s the bestest color and I want a cake with leaves on it, please, auntie?”

“Shut up!” Bakugo launched himself over the couch to tackle Midoriya, who shrieked as he tried to get away to no avail.

Bakugo mercilessly tickled him as he tried to fight him off through the giggles. Meanwhile Todoroki said: “I think I like blue best,” not noticing or caring about the spectacle that was Bakugo and Midoriya.

After the other had been threatened, Bakugo stomped off, while Midoriya could only give them the reason of being childhood friends for all this.

It was a reasonable explanation, but it was slightly unbelievable that Midoriya had only been mildly maimed in that encounter. The two of them shouldn’t work as friends, no matter how long they’d spend together.

They just shouldn’t.

There must be another reason for them to be close enough for these random encounters to happen, they just had to find it.

So, a small group was on high alert whenever the two were in the same room. They watched like hawks for something to happen that could explain their friendship, so when Bakugo got a call from his mother, no one left the room, just in case Midoriya walked in. Instead they just pretended to be absorbed in whatever they were doing while they waited.

After a few minutes their patience was rewarded, because Midoriya walked into the room right as Bakugo was saying: “Yes, I’m eating just fine, you old hag.”

“Auntie?” he asked with a shine in his eyes.

Bakugo lowered the phone for a second and rolled his eyes: “Yeah, it’s her,” before going back to the conversation with a, “I’m listening, I’m listening, geez, Izu wanted to know if it was you,” a small silence, “Yes, he’s here.”

Midoriya leaned over the back of the couch next to Bakugo on the side of the phone and called out: “Hi, auntie, how are you? Everything good with the business, I hope?”

With a sigh, Bakugo angled the phone so that both could listen to whatever his mother was saying, not even that annoyed that his private phone call got hijacked.

“Yeah, he’s eating his greens,” Midoriya chirped, earning him a glare, but Bakugo didn’t shove him off, “Still not eating the turnips though.”

“They’re gross, I don’t care what you think,” Bakugo complained, “And Izu is staying up late to do his homework.”

“That’s mean,” Midoriya pouted, before assuring Bakugo’s mother, “He’s lying, it’s just much work, but nothing unreasonable. And the only reason he knows, is because he’s still up as well. So, if I’m late, so is he.”

That did earn him a small slap from Bakugo and he exclaimed: “Ouch! Kacchan!”

There was an incomprehensible sound from the phone and with a shit eating grin, Midoriya said: “Yes, he’s hitting me, auntie. He hits hard.”

“He- he deserved that!” Bakugo protested, “And it wasn’t that hard, he’s sticking his tongue out at me.”

“No, I’m not,” Midoriya lied.

“You don’t get to team up against me with my mother,” Bakugo said.

“It’s not teaming up if you’re misbehaving,” Midoriya told him.

That was the limit for Bakugo who threw up his hands and pushed the phone in Midoriya’s grip as he got up and said: “I’m done, apparently she likes you better, you talk to her.”

Midoriya blinked a few times, before something Bakugo’s mother said snapped him out of it and he said: “Kacchan just walked off, yeah. I’ll make sure he says goodbye properly. He probably just didn’t wanna say that he loves you with the others here.”

Something Mitsuki answered made him laugh and he agreed: “He’s always been sensitive. But how are you, I feel like we haven’t talked in a while, say hi to uncle from me and to mom.”

And with that Midoriya spiraled into small talk, starting to walk around while he talked until he disappeared up the stairs, presumably to force Bakugo to say goodbye to his mom.

The people in the room were gobsmacked that Bakugo would trust Midoriya enough with his phone to just leave it with him while he stalked off, or that Midoriya would just throw Bakugo under the bus like that in front of his mother and got away with it.

Everyone who had witnessed it were now incredibly curious to what exactly happened, what their childhood must have been like. They still refused to believe that there hadn’t been anything big, but it really had just been the little things that built up.

~

The first time it happened both boys were four and walking back from school with Mitsuki. It was a hot summer day with the sun beating down, causing them all to sweat. So, the two little kids wanted ice cream.

Finally Kacchan decided that his friend’s miserable looks were too much, so when they passed an ice cream cart he asked his mom: “Mom, can we get ice cream?”

His mother had been dotting the last i’s on something in her phone and only vaguely picked up the noise, not actively registering the words. She snapped back into reality and said: “Hey, why don’t you boys go get some ice cream while I finish this?”

The two cheered and smiled as she handed them some money, keeping one eye on them while the other focused on her task.

“How did you do that, Kacchan?” Izu asked.

“Do what?”

“Make auntie think it was her idea to let us get ice cream,” he explained, “That was so cool!”

Kacchan realized that this was an opportunity to look cool, so he said: “I’m just awesome like that, maybe it’s my quirk. I suggest something and someone else then offers it.”

“Really!” Izu had big eyes.

“Maybe,” Kacchan shrugged, “Can you do a handstand?”

Izu felt no urge to do it, but he didn’t want to disappoint his friend, so he said: “Why don’t I do a handstand?” then after a beat, “I don’t feel anything.”

“Hmm,” Kacchan hummed, “Oh, I know, hey, do a handstand.”

“You know, I should do a handstand,” Izu still felt nothing, but he was having fun thinking of new ways to say this.

“While you’re at it, maybe do a handstand,” Kacchan giggled, he also was aware that it probably wouldn’t be his quirk and it was a fun game to do with his friend.

The two boys walked back to Mitsuki while playing their game and after that it became a thing. Whenever one had to do something and said it out loud, it was the other’s cue to jump in and suggest whatever the first had said back to them in a different way.

~

Midoriya and Bakugo hadn’t done it in forever, but living in the dorm had made both more comfortable around each other. So when Bakugo got up on a study evening stating that he had to grab a new pen, Midoriya didn’t even register that he countered: “Hey, why don’t you go get a new pen?”

Bakugo looked surprised for a moment then, smirked: “I was thinking of getting a new pen.”

“While you’re at it, grab a new pen as well,” Midoriya was still looking at his homework, more doing it on reflex then anything else.

“Hey, I think I’m getting a new pen.”

“Great suggestion, get a new pen too, okay?”

“I could grab a new pen now that I’m up.”

“Now that you’re up, why don’t you grab a new pen?”

“What are you two doing?” Momo interrupted them.

“Yes, you are distracting the whole class, who are trying to study,” Iida back her up with a lot of chopping movements.

Midoriya looked startled, then blushed heavily, while Bakugo grinned and left the room to grab saidnew pen. Now Midoriya was alone in front of everyone’s curious gazes.

He shrugged and said: “It’s a long story and it’s not even that funny actually. We got ice cream and stuff, but we asked auntie and then she said it and then we thought it was Kacchans quirk and I didn’t do a handstand, but we did the repeating stuff and it was funny…” he petered off into muttering, explaining nothing.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” Iida said.

“It’s an inside joke,” Midoriya settled on, not thinking he’d be able to explain.

“An inside joke!” Mina repeated loudly.

The door opened and Bakugo came back with the pen in hand and Mina whipper her head around to him, making him freeze in his spot.

“Bro, not manly to lie,” Kirishima whined, “You told me, you didn’t do inside jokes.”

“And I don’t,” Bakugo told him.

“But-” Kirishima was cut off by Bakugo: “Izu is the exception, now get the fuck back to your math, you suck at it.”

“Brooo.”

After that Bakugo refused to engage with anyone and ignored the looks. Midoriya had a harder time, but he managed on the warmth of the return of the childhood nickname.

After the call with auntie, Bakugo had started calling him Izu here and there again. Midoriya was sure, he hadn’t wanted to call him Deku in front of his mom, but Midoriya felt weird, so he had settled on Izu, but after that, he had tried to not call him Deku anymore.

They were going back to when they were good, when they were equals and friends who had stupid fun. And Midoriya couldn’t be more excited.

Most accepted that neither wanted to comment on it and went back to their work. A few, however, filed this away and kept a closer eye on them.

There would be a few more instances where they found the two repeated the same thing back at eachother, or when they were getting along, or made a comment that would be weird if the other didn’t react like it wasn’t completely normal or entirely hilarious.

But they wouldn’t get any insight into why they worked as friends until both of them got hurt in a street fight.

They weren’t badly hurt, hadn’t even needed a hospital, but the fight had been televised, so after Aizawa had cleared them he said: “Your mom’s are coming over to check on you. They were worried after seeing the fight, so reassure them.”

The two immediately turned to the other with wide eyes as Aizawa left. Then class 1-A witnessed the weirdest thing to date, almost in sync the two proclaimed: “You came with the idea.”

“I said it first,” Bakugo exclaimed.

“Nu-uh, I did,” Midoriya said.

“First off, no you didn’t. Second off, even if you did, it wouldn’t make it true.”

“You threw the first punch!” Midoriya yelled.

“And you wanted to help them.”

“You did too.”

“Yeah, but you suggested it.”

“Noooo, Kacchan, auntie will scold me,” Midoriya whined.

“Yeah, but my auntie will be sad and she has the same eyes as you and I’ll feel bad,” Bakugo countered.

“What’s going on with you two?” Mina got between them, “It’s just your mothers being worried about you. You’re lucky they care so much.”

“You don’t underst-” Midoriya began, only to be cut off by the door slamming open to reveal two ladies.

“Do you two have any idea how scared I was when I saw the news,” the smaller, green haired one began, “You know I can’t watch that kind of stuff, but then it was you two as well? You will give me a heart condition if you go on like this.”

She shook both their shoulders violently, while tears streamed down her face. Neither boy could react to her, however, due to the shaking.

Mitsuki stepped in: “Hey, Inko, relax, don’t injure them with the shaking. The teachers said they were fine,” the two sighed in relief when they were released, so she added: “Don’t think you’re both not getting the scolding of a lifetime.”

Both had been pulled into a hug by Inko, so they just looked chastised over her shoulders at Mitsuki, who seemed satisfied at that.

“First injuries, though,” she said, “I know Inko won’t be able to sleep otherwise.”

Bakugo had the most visible injury of a cut on his face, so Inko started with him. She gently cupped his cheek and inspected the cut. Everyone expected him to push her off or get mad, but instead he leaned into her hands and softly greeted: “Hi, auntie.”

“Hi, sweetheart,” she said, “Your head feeling okay? The teachers said you didn’t have a concussion, but make sure to tell Izukuif you feel woozy, yeah?”

“I will auntie, it’s fine. Looks worse than it is,” he assured her.

“Did they clean this properly?” she replied.

“Yeah,” Bakugo nodded.

“Sting?”

“A bit, but it’s fine.”

“I think he’s alright, Suki,” Inko told the other woman.

While she had been checking over Bakugo, Mitsuki had taken upon her the task of scolding Midoriya: “What were you thinking, dragging Kat into a street fight with you? I know you both got your licenses and you’re proud of it, but it is not an excuse to mix yourself in every fight.”

“But Kacchan jump-” Midoriya started to protest.

Now Inko involved herself in the conversation: “No buts, young man. I support you, but I asked you to not needlessly endanger yourself.”

“And you,” Mitsuki directed herself to Bakugo assured that he was fine, “You should know better. I know you are also responsible for half the shit you got up in your childhood, but I thought you had grown out of it. I really wish you two weren’t such trouble magnets.”

“That was very irresponsible indeed,” Inko told him and while she looked like a hurt puppy, Bakugo did a pretty accurate impression in reply.

“Kacchan jumped in first,” Midoriya defended, finally getting the whole sentence of throwing Bakugo under the bus out without being interrupted.

“And you suggested it first, right?” Mitsuki didn’t even seem phased or surprised as she presented Midoriya as the prime instigator between him and Bakugo like it was a fact.

Midoriya didn’t respond so she said: “I’m taking that as a yes. You always were a sneaky one that got the two of you in trouble.”

“The ant incident was only partly my idea. Kacchan was the most adventurous, not me. He came up with a lot too,” Midoriya protested.

“That’s not true,” Bakugo said, “The ant incident was completely your fault. I still fell them crawling sometimes.” He shuddered.

“Boys, concentrate, the ant incident is in the past,” Inko interrupted them, “I don’t care who suggested it first and who threw the first punch. You both behaved recklessly and worried me. We know you’re in the hero business, but you could’ve least called to tell us you were okay.”

“Sorry, mom.”

“Sorry, auntie.”

Both were looking like properly scolded young boys, ten years being shaved off under the worried gaze of their mothers and suddenly their friendship didn’t seem so weird anymore.

With Midoriya also appointed as a trouble maker and Bakugo an unwilling victim of their own bullshit, they could see how two adventurous little kids got up to so much trouble that their mothers scolding invoked a fear that made them rush to blame the other for whatever had happened.

A lot can happen to break friendships and a lot can leave him beyond repair, but not a lot of feelings can compare to sitting in front of your mother after getting in trouble with your friend that you enjoyed too much to truly regret.

Seeing that the message had sunk in, the stern expression faded from their faces and Mitsuki asked: “I saw you landed a bit rough on the end there, Izuku. Your ankles alright?”

“Yeah, my boots protected me from most of the damage,” Midoriya assured her.

“Good,” she nodded more to herself as she checked both of themover again.

“You’ll tell a teacher if you start to feel bad, won’t you?” Inko asked.

“Yes, mom,” Midoriya said.

“And you’ll eat enough?” Mitsuki checked.

“Yes, old hag,” Bakugo rolled his eyes, with the scolding over, he was reverting back to his usual self.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook, young man. Your dad is also very mad, but he couldn’t make it, so you are just lucky,” the blonde said.

“Say hi to uncle from me,” Midoriya smiled, his mom now having pulled him into a hug.

“I will, but don’t think you’re not getting a scolding come next Friday,” she said, before hugging Bakugo and then him, giving both a kiss on the cheek before the two moms said their goodbyes.

Once they were out the door, Kaminari said: “So, what’s the ant incident?”

“WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE ANT INCIDENT!” Bakugo roared.

[katsukis-sad-angel]

Thorns

Pairing: Alpha!Katsuki Bakugou x F!Omega!Reader

Word Count: 1.5K

Summary: Two clans have been at war for generations, one obviously more superior to the other, but that didn’t stop the constant bloodshed and turf wars. Being a tiny omega has its benefits and its struggles, but one day when you finally get banished, an aggressive blonde alpha takes you for his own.

Warnings: a/b/o dynamics, swearing, mentions of abandonment, bakugou’s thicc shoulders

A/N: My first tumblr series!! UGH. I hope this isn’t too bad. I’ve been working on this for a while so I hope you enjoy it. I’m super excited for chapter 2!

Chapter 1 💖 Chapter 2 💖 Chapter 3 💖 Chapter 4 💖 Chapter 5 💖 Chapter 6 💖 Chapter 7 💖

Chapter 1; Thorns

Gnats clouded your vision, each tiny bug making a dive for your tearstained face and getting caught in vicious swipes of your stained hands. The sound of running water was nearby, but each thicket of needle-like plants didn’t bring the calming noise any closer. Your trembling arms were ripped to shreds by the spines jutting from each branch. 

That’s probably why the bugs were bothering you. 

You had been traveling for days with no real sense of direction; the only thing you did know was you had to get as far away from your family lands as fast as possible. 

The wind ruffled your tangly, (h/c) hair and blew your shredded dress around your bloody ankles. Your bare feet were scraped up as well, but you hardly noticed it when the sun came out. Its rays warmed your skin and gave you small comfort in your dire situation. The horrid clouds of insects dissipated quickly and you took a deep breath for the first time in hours.

A scent, it was of wood smoke and bubbling caramel, caught in the wind and invaded your nostrils.

An alpha.

No. 

No. 

No.

Your teary eyes widened and you looked around, hoping to get a glimpse of the owner of the scent. 

No luck.

Had they smelled you? No, impossible. That morning, you had taken the utmost precautions and scrubbed your glands with clay and silt from a tiny stream. 

A growl, deep and guttural met your ears from close by accompanied by the crackle of breaking twigs. 

Scared, you tried to fight your way into a small clearing not too far ahead. Your scent going from a sweet meld of lavender and honey to the stench of dead roses made the alpha in your pursuit wrinkle his nose and pause where he crouched. He considered his options; grab you, grab you and knock you out, or let you go free. This was his clan’s territory! Just because you were an omega didn’t change that you were from an enemy clan! That’s why he had been tracking your movements. He couldn’t let your people get the upper hand.

You continued your frantic, yet futile attempts to escape the alpha. His bloodlust and anger were practically tangible. Thorn bushes tore across your limbs, sticks and rocks poked your sore feet but with the adrenaline pumping through your veins, you didn’t even feel the pain.

Nettles. 

Mistaking it for a cluster of mint leaves, you plowed through it and immediately realized your fatal mistake. It felt like millions of tiny knives embedded themselves in your calves and feet. With a blood-curdling scream, you tripped over your own feet and fell face-first into the clearing you’d been aiming for.

Your poor legs, however, weren’t as lucky. From mid-thigh to your feet, nettle plants pressed their tiny hairs into your calf, raising welts as big as walnuts on the bloodied skin.

Sharp cries left your lips until you were able to worm your way into the clearing completely, lifting your skirt to see the damage done by the stupid leaves.

You had completely forgotten about the alpha. When he came out of the brush, his red eyes were fixed on you. Your sad cries faltered as your dilated, frightened orbs met his own. He approached you, fists clenched, vermillion cape fluttering by his feet, a thick fur collar settled around his throat, necklaces made of teeth and colored beads clattering and jingling against his broad chest as he moved.  He was broad-shouldered and extremely muscular, but his face still held a childlike pudge, despite the weathered skin adorning them. 

In short, he was very intimidating and very handsome.

Now he stood above you, glaring harshly with a scowl contorting his lips. 

“Why the hell are you in our lands? You got a death wish or sum shit? Don’t you know what we do to people from your clan?” His tone was as harsh as the look in his eyes.

You cowered against a tree, fearful of what he would do. He didn’t look much older than you were but something in his stare told you he wouldn’t have a problem with fucking you raw and then slitting your throat.

“I-I’m s-sorry,” You whimpered, “I d-didn’t know I entered this part of the country! Please, f-forgive me! I mean n-no harm! I was exiled b-by my cl-clan!” 

The alpha narrowed his eyes.

“Why the fuck should I trust you?” He leaned down so you were forced to meet and hold his iron gaze. The scent of fear emanating from your glands made him flare his nostrils in disgust. “You a spy?” 

Pressing yourself further into the trunk, you shook your head vigorously.

He leaned closer, “Merchant? You sellin’ shit? Where’s your cart?”

Again, you shook your head.

His musk was suffocating; the smell boiling sugar over a smoky fire rolled over you in waves, making it difficult to focus, let alone breathe.

“Please… please d-don’t hurt me a-alpha.” 

He growled in response. 

“You got a name?”

“Y… Y/n.” Your voice was barely above a whisper.

“Tch-”

Suddenly the world went upside down. You squealed loudly when you realized what had just happened. The alpha had grabbed you and flipped you over his shoulder as though you weighed nothing. When you began to squirm, he nipped at the flesh of your thigh as a warning so you went still.

“Where… where are you t-taking me?” You whimper as he stood and began to walk through the trees.

“I’m the one asking the damn questions.” He snapped. After a moment of silence, you heard him sigh. 

“Why the hell would they exile you? From what I’ve seen, your lame-ass tribe needs all the help they can get!” He snickered at the expense of your people, shaking his head at the mere thought of the last battle. His clan had defeated yours in less than 24 hours, killing all of the strongest alphas and pushing you even further back into the land of your fathers. 

“I’m a runt.” You replied in a small voice.

“‘Scuse me?”

“I’m a runt. The s-smallest of the litter. I c-couldn’t speak for the first s-six years of my life b-because my v-vocal cords were underdeveloped. I’ve been an embarrassment to m-my clan since the b-beginning and they t-turned m-me away when I screwed up the rite of passage meal.”

“Never seen one of those.” He mused, “A runt? Hold on, deku is a bitchy little runt.” He adjusted his arm over your knees, “You are kinda shrimpy though.”

You wilted.

“Thanks.”

After a few more minutes of bird-serenaded travel, he spoke again, “Are runts supposed to be this thin?”

“I’m always the last in line for food and I eat whatever’s left.”

A hawk screeched overhead.

“And that would be…?”

“Not much.”

It was quiet again, no sound except the distant rush and bubble of water and birds chirping. The alpha wasn’t as bad as you thought; crude when he spoke, rough when he moved, and a cocky asshole, but there was something endearing about him. It was frightening.

“Alright dummy, don’t fucking move or show your face. Can’t let anyone see you. You’re mine.” 

“Y-Yours?”

“Damn right.”

The sun licked your back, warming your tattered limbs and stinging legs. You smelled fire, metal, and cooking meat. Voices could be heard as well, children playing, men talking, and women gossiping.

Suddenly someone shouted, “Katsuki! You’re back!”

He grunted in response, but you knew he was smirking.

“What do you want?” He barked, “I’m busy!”

“We missed you!” Three voices said in unison. They were young girls.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! Hey, what’cha got there?”

“Mine.”

“Ooh! Is it an omega? Did you finally get a girl?”

“Maybe he’s gay! Is it a boy? Huh? Huh? Huh?”

“Back up! Stay away!” 

The alpha was growling now, turning from left to right as people heard their conversation and became interested.

“He finally found an omega?”

“Took him long enough.”

“Wonder who she is.”

“She looks real thin, is she dead?”

“He’s bonding with a corpse? What the-”

“MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS!” He screeched.

You could hear him growling. He began to move quickly through the growing crowds of people, all of them trying to catch a glimpse of the prince’s omega.

After deeming all omega maidens of his clan, ‘gross’ he’d been searching for months to find a suitable mate. If he didn’t find a mate soon, he wouldn’t get to become the leader of his clan. 

You were perfect.

You feared him.

Despite your injuries and excessive thinness, you were gorgeous.

You were ripe for the picking; a young, fertile female who would be his, who would carry his pups despite your origins.

You were submissive.

You depended on him.

He loved it.

Reaching the tent in the middle of if the camp, he tore back one of the curtains and entered the expensively decorated and well-lit room.

Kneeling spitefully before his parents, he lay you on the ground before them like an offering.

“Hey hag. Found one.”

--

Main Masterlist

@seiiblue , @bean-queen-606​

[yodawgiherd]

You Were Never Truly Gone ch2

>>>Read on AO3<<<

Well, you guys asked for it, so enjoy a few chapters of my post-canon world. Thank you all so much for the lovely comments/kudos, I appreciate every single one of you <3 So for you all, I'm writing this - The end that I would want for Eren and Mikasa :)

It was a beautiful day today. Looking over the waves at the rapidly approaching Paradis shore, Armin couldn’t keep the excited smile away from his face. Soon, he would be seeing Historia again, and they would work together to achieve peace. But that was not all, he reminded himself, fist clenching over the feather in his hand.

Today he would see Mikasa and remember Eren with her.

It would mark three years since the end of the war and his sacrifice, and Armin couldn’t help it – he felt anxious. Mikasa was doing great usually, she was her own person and not a shadow in the past. But this day, when all of them gathered around the grave to thank the person that saved them, was always a trial by fire. He would be there for her, he and everyone else, they would help her push past and return to her normal self. That he swore, both to himself and his dead best friend.

“What are you thinking about?”, Annie’s voice from behind made him jump a bit in surprise.

“N-Nothing. Or well, the anniversary I guess…”

“I could say, anytime you are worried you get a wrinkle.”, Annie reached out, tapping the center of Armin’s forehead, “Rrrrrright here.”

With a smile he swiped her hand with his own, letting their fingers intertwine. The edge of Annie’s engagement ring felt cold against his skin, reminding Armin of the day when he finally gathered his courage and asked her the question. It still felt surreal sometimes, that he was engaged to her. Too good to be true.

“Can you two stop being so disgustingly in love?”, Pieck appeared on the deck, “I don’t want to throw up.”

She lit up a cigarette, watching the shore grow closer. Armin was tempted to let go of Annie’s hand because of Pieck’s request, but she tightened the hold and wouldn’t let him. Yea, Annie was never the one to let herself be pushed around.

“Are the guys ready?”, Armin asked instead, “We will be meeting the queen soon.”

“Jean keeps styling his hair and Connie is teasing Reiner because of the letter sniffing.”, she let out a large puff, watching the smoke curl in the salty sea air, “But other than that, we are good to go.”

Their work was important. Being a group from both the scouts and warriors they were the peacemakers, the ones that kept traveling between the nations to try and keep the fragile ceasefire brought upon by Eren’s actions. Armin’s mood turned sour. Eighty percent of the world was destroyed and still, the leaders were at each other’s throats. The sacrifice gave them chance, but it didn’t magically fix everything, there was still a lot of work to be done.

When the ship finally pulled into a harbor the rest of their group stepped out of the cabin. Jean, looking slick as ever, Reiner tailed by smirking Connie. Pieck threw the cigarette butt into the ocean, dusting herself off before meeting Armin’s eyes.

“Shall we?”

He nodded, throwing the feather into the ocean too. Over the gangway and down, Armin took a moment to help Annie jump down, help she didn’t need but appreciated nevertheless. The others noticed of course, and Jean was the one who spoke up.

“You get engaged and suddenly you are a gentleman, is that it?”, he grinned, “Whipped even before marriage, what a way to go.”

“Ah, as if you are the one to talk.”, Pieck pushed past him with a smile of her own, “I’m pretty sure you weren’t working so hard on your hair for the “history books”, were you?”

“It’s not like that…”

Ignoring whatever excuse he tried to voice, Pieck joined Armin and Annie on the shore, and soon they were gathered again. Then it was finally time to walk over to where Historia was standing in front of her honor guard, flanked by Kiyomi on her right.

“Ambassador Arlert,” rang the queen’s voice, loud and clear, “It is my pleasure to welcome you back to the Paradis island.”

“It is an honor, your majesty.”, bowing deep, Armin was mirrored on both sides by his friends, and when he straightened there was a spark of amusement in Historia’s eyes.

But protocol was protocol.

“I’m sure that you must be tired after your journey,”, the queen said, “Join me for some refreshment.”

Not waiting for an answer, as she was the queen, Historia turned and walked in the direction of the large tent, her guard splitting flawlessly to let her pass. It was a demonstration of military discipline and an effective one at that, making Armin frown. So much death, and it was not enough.

As soon as they were inside, away from the public eye, Historia changed immediately. Throwing herself onto him, she hugged Armin tight, grinning like a maniac.

“I missed you so much!”, she practically squealed, pulling back to look at the others, “All of you too!”

Catching up felt like regressing towards the old times. Armin was almost tempted to say careless, but that was never the truth with them. There was always something – first the titans, then the rumbling, and now whatever this fragile peace was. But there would be time to worry later, so Armin relaxed instead, letting Historia’s cheerfulness infect him. They talked about everything, about Armin and Annie’s engagement and Historia admired the ring on Annie’s finger, modeled after the one with a secret blade she used to wear. Jean recounted the events of their travels after, all the cities that they visited, and all the wonders that they saw since their last meeting.

But then the stories were told and it was time to get down to business.

“Historia,”, Armin said,” how is the situation here?”

Her happy smile soured immediately.

“Bad. The army holds a very important position in the government, and they are not giving it up. The Yeagerists and growing with every single month and I have no idea how to stop them.”, she frowned, “Every time I’m in the city I swear that I can hear them chanting that Fight, Fight.”

“Do you think that they planning to overthrow you?”, Reiner spoke up, but Historia shook her head.

“No, they have no reason to. I am not much more than a puppet queen at this point, they have most of the control, and keeping me as a figurehead lets them work in the background.”

“Can’t Kiyomi help you?”, Pieck asked, “Hizuru military is recovering well, from what I’ve heard.”

“She could, but she is not going to.”

“Why is that?”

“Kiyomi wants Mikasa, she wants her to come to Hizuru, marry and become shogun’s wife, continue the bloodline.”, Historia was annoyed, and it showed in her voice, “She expects me to tie Mikasa up, stuff her in a shipping crate and send her against her will. The hag.”

It made sense that the queen was extra against anything like that, her being in similar situation years back.

“And since I told her that she can go stuff it and I would never force Mikasa into that, Kiyomi grew sort of cold towards me.”

She sighed.

“But we can talk about that tomorrow when the formal meeting happens. Today you guys have other plans.”

“That’s true.”, Annie nodded, “We have to see Mikasa.”

“And Eren.”, Connie added.

“I wish I could go with you, but unfortunately I have a lot to do before we meet tomorrow.”, Historia walked over to Armin, hugging him again, “Give her my love, okay?”

She moved over to the exit, only stopping to add: “And him too.”

With the queen gone the group left the shore, ignoring the stares of the soldiers. Some called them traitors, Armin knew, the Yeagerist faction condemned their peace-making efforts as cowardness.

“Hey,”, Annie squeezed his hand, “Don’t mind them. They are fools.”

He smiled at his girlf-… fiancé. Damn.

“I know, but they are fools with power, and that’s dangerous.”

“I wonder if they would be this warmongering if they knew what Eren’s true goal was.”, Jean said, “All he wanted was peace.”

“It’s not like we can tell them, they would never believe us.”, Pieck had a new cigarette hanging from her lips, the burning tip moving when she spoke, “To them, Eren was a God of War that paved the way to Paradis supremacy.”

They didn’t speak more after that, passing the soldiers and heading out of the harbor. The island nation had grown considerably in the three years, and buildings with concrete replaced the once green fields. Yet that didn’t go on forever, and before too long they were walking in nature’s embrace again.

“Maybe we should have taken a car,” Connie huffed as they walked, “Or a horse.”

“The exercise will do you good.”, Annie called over her shoulder with the typical cold expression.

“We do have a horse,”, Reiner tapped Jean’s shoulder, “Right here.”

“Hah, that was a good one, maybe you could make those jokes more often if you didn’t spend so long on sniffing the queen’s letters.”, Jean shot back.

Back and forth they bickered while Pieck smoked with an enigmatic smile, Armin and Annie leading the group while holding hands. There it was, the familiar field with trees, a lone hill in the middle. Excited to see Mikasa again, Armin let go of Annie and broke into a run, leaving his friends behind. They all ran like this, years back, with Eren in front and Mikasa right behind him, letting him take the lead. Armin was always hopelessly last in those races, but he never did mind hat. Now, he was the only one running.

Up and up, over the green grass and to the tree where Eren’s final resting place was. With a smile, Armin finally got high enough to get a view of that place, but the greeting shout on his lips died when he saw what was happening. Yes, Mikasa was indeed there, but that was not all. Far from it.

Stunned by the scene in front of him, Armin stared, watching the stranger kiss his friend with fervor. Their kissing was passionate and Mikasa was more than into it, her hands roaming all over the stranger's back. If that was not proof enough, Armin knew that she has the ears of a huntress and could easily hear him coming, but she was too deep in the moment to notice. Blushing slightly, feeling like he was intruding, Armin silently walked down the hill where the group just arrived, everyone looking at him with a question on their faces.

“What’s wrong?”, Reiner was the first one to speak, “Is Mikasa not there?”

“She is… it’s just…. I…”, Armin scratched the back of his neck, looking everywhere but not at his friends.

How was he supposed to explain this? Yet when Annie stepped closer, taking a hold of his cheek and forcing him to meet her gaze, her icy eyes speared right through and pinned him in place.

“Armin, what happened?”

Yeah, he could not hide the truth from her.

“Mikasa is there, but she’s not alone.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She is with… someone…”

Now everyone was speaking over one another.

“What?”

“Who?”

“What the…”

“Is she okay?”

“Is he…”

It would probably go on forever if Annie didn’t raise a hand, calming the mess. When they all fell silent, she fixed Armin with her famous stare, letting a single word fall from her lips.

“Talk.”

So, Armin took a deep breath. And talked.

“Mikasa is sitting near Eren’s grave but she’s not alone. She’s making out with someone, and from what I saw she’s enjoying it very much.”

A stunned silence followed, the cigarette falling from Pieck’s shocked mouth. Somewhere high overhead, a bird darted towards the endless horizon.

“Well, I… Uhm… Guess we should be happy that she’s finally moved on?”, the words were awkward, and Reiner knew that, but he pushed them out, “I’m glad that she.. you know... found someone?”

“I agree but does she have to do in front of Eren?”, Pieck said, her brows furled in a frown.

“That does not sound like her at all.”, Annie agreed.

“What, you guys think that he minds?”, Connie noted, “Like.. is he watching her or something?”

“It’s disrespectful, that’s what it is.”, Jean was staring at the tree, voice tense, “He doesn’t deserve that, having his girl kiss a stranger on his own grave.”

“Mikasa is not his girl,” Annie disagreed, “He doesn’t own her.”

“I didn’t mean it like that….”

“Regardless,” Pieck cut in, “I think that it would be best to let Mikasa speak for herself.”

Taking the lead, she took the first steps towards the tree.

“Let’s go.”, Annie agreed, following her friend.

Soon all of them were moving.

Mikasa was still there in the same position, Armin noticed, still in the arms of that stranger. His back was to them and her eyes were closed so she didn’t see them coming, immersed in the kissing, the whole situation made only worse by the small giggle that left her lips when the guy pulled back for a moment. Look, Armin loved seeing her happy, but watching it happen here felt… wrong.

The pair totally ignored them, lost in the kissing, neither of them noticing the group that was a few feet away from them. Finally fed up with it, Jean cleared his throat, loud enough for them to hear. Mikasa’s eyes shot open as she pulled back from the kiss, her cheeks reddening immediately. Her gaze shot between the stranger’s face and them, embarrassment evident.

Slowly, very slowly the guy untangled himself from her arms, standing up and pulling Mikasa to her feet too. Only then did he turn, and Armin’s mind went blank.

No.

There was a ghost in from of him. A blushing enemy of humanity with kiss-swollen lips that didn’t let go of Mikasa’s hand after helping her stand, keeping them linked. An island devil that looked at each and every member of their group with a fond smile. Next to that beast, Mikasa hid her face in the red scarf, eyes ticking between everyone. The grave was still there, Armin saw, the small headstone with those fond words on it, a few flowers lying on the patch of ground. And yet….

The dead man, the walking corpse, the impossible, he opened his mouth and spoke.

“Hey guys, long time no see.”

[bunnys-beetlejuice-blog]

bangs pots and pans together loudly FIC UPDATE COME GET YALL SOME JUICE

Apparently the vital, missing component to enjoying school was having a friend there. Go figure.

He and Kevin only have that first period class together, but they make the most of it, passing notes back and forth between the two of them, the teacher too tired that early in the morning to notice, or care. Lunch isn’t depressing anymore. They sit together under the shade tree, and Kevin does seem to also appreciate the view. “Can you even imagine working up a sweat, on purpose?” Betelgeuse pats his gut. “You know I can’t.”

“I can’t believe how little the track shorts are. That’s obscene. You think I’d look good in them?” “You join track and I’ll come to every meet, an’ it won’t be for th’ love of th’ sport.” He doesn’t think normal friends talk to each other like this, but he doesn’t actually know. Does everyone flirt with their friends? Are friends just cool people you wanna fuck but haven’t yet? Is it demon hormone bullshit, making him read into everything? Unclear.

It’s all going so good, until it isn’t, suddenly.

One lunch, two months into being there, Kevin pulls a huge and impressive old book from his backpack. “Look what I goooot,” he sing songs, waving it in Betelgeuse’s face, and he sneezes in response. “Smells old.” Emily and Lydia would love it. “It is. It’s very old,” Kevin confirms, and he moves so he’s sitting next to Betelgeuse, shoulder to shoulder, both their backs to the shade tree. “It’s about demons.”

Betelgeuse loses interest immediately, and focuses on not going pink at their shoulders touching, instead. “Z’at so?” he grunts. Kevin doesn’t seem to pick up on his moodiness, though. “It talks about all these ancient beings,” he explains, flipping pages. “Their summoning circles, their aspects,” he gives Betelgeuse a nudge at that, “all the things they can do for you, and the boons they grant.” He feels uncomfortable. “What’s with this? You obsessed with me, or somethin’?” He tries to play it as a joke, but that glint in Kevin’s eyes is back, and he doesn’t like it. “Of course, who wouldn’t be obsessed if they learned all this shit is actually true? It’s like there’s a whole secret world behind a locked door, and I’ve got the key.” Kevin looks back up at him.

He gets the feeling he’s the key. It’s not a good feeling.

“Where’d you even get this fuckin’ thing?” he lifts a finger, and the book slams closed in Kevin’s lap. His friend huffs. “Internet, of course.” “No, I mean… why were you lookin’ for somethin’ like this?” “I want to learn more. Don’t you?” Kev presses, and reopens the book. “I mean, what if there’s something amazing you can do, and you just don’t know, cause you’re not bothering to try?”

“So I’ll never know, so what?” Betelgeuse feels like this is a losing argument, but he tries anyways. “What’s so great about bein’ weird? You’re lucky you’re human.” “Dude, don’t even start with that. You can fly.” “So can humans,” he points out. “Wh- A plane and fucking levitating for fun are not the same, and you know it, BeetleJerk.” Kevin honestly can’t understand why he’s not excited over this. “I just mean… I’d rather be human, than this.” He blinks at his own words, because he’s never expressed that out loud before, ever. But it doesn’t feel untrue. “You’re out of your mind, more so than usual. Every human alive wants to feel special, and do the stuff you can do. Why are you acting like it’s so miserable all of a sudden? You use your powers all the time, I’ve seen you literally teleport five feet because you’re too lazy to walk.”

“You don’t get it.” He’s feeling sullen now, and he wiggles a little away from Kevin, and crosses his arms. “BJ, come on-” Betelgeuse teleports away to under the bleachers, and he eats his lunch there, until the bell rings.

He’s waiting for Emily after school, not feeling particularly friendly, when Kevin approaches. They stand there awkwardly. It feels tense, and weird, and he waits to see what the breather does. “Don’t be mad,” Kevin says, finally. “M’not mad.” “You sound mad.” “You know what mad on me looks like,” he finally turns to look at his friend, amber eyes burning with irritation. “First hand.”

Kevin looks down, and kicks at a rock that might not actually be there. “I thought you’d be excited. BJ, come on, I don’t wanna.. Not be friends over this.”

Betelgeuse signs, and scratches at the scruff on his chin. “It’s not like that,” he relents after a moment. “I just, I don’t care about that stuff. An’ I don’t wanna sit around, focusin’ on it. I don’t exactly like feelin’ different. Yeah, I do tricks an’ use my magic an’ stuff, but it’s hard to control. I lose my temper once an’ I could seriously destroy somethin’, or hurt my family. It doesn’t exactly feel good, knowin’ that. No one else my age can stand me, cause they can tell I’m weird. Before you, it was fuckin’ lonely, Kev.”

He feels a familiar pressure, because Kevin has taken his hand, and the human gives it a squeeze. He accepts it, melting a little against the other boy. “Still friends?” Kevin asks, and Betelgeuse purrs in response, resting his head on Kevin’s shoulder.

It’s not till later, at home, that he realizes Kevin never actually apologized.

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It’s like that, for a while. He knows Kevin still has the book. He knows he’s reading it, and sometimes Kevin will bring up demon stuff, but Betelgeuse has almost exactly a minute and a half of patience for answering questions or hearing about it. Still, Kev doesn’t stop. He might feel angrier if the breather wasn’t so god damn cute.

The air is starting to go cold, and leaves are beginning to fall. October is settling in, getting comfortable, and mom’s starting to break out the Halloween décor. It’s the middle of a kind of gloomy, Autumn day, when things get weird.

Kevin has the book open, much to Betelgeuse’s annoyance, and he’s blabbing away about a demon that supposedly grants wealth- “Do you think you could do that?” -when Betelgeuse looks down at the book, and sees Juno looking back at him. It’s not really her, it’s an illustration, but he’d recognize the bitch anywhere. She’s ink, glaring up from the page, those same age lines etched into her face, confirming his private theory that she’d been an old hag even when she was young. The slit neck is prominent, and as he stares, he sees smoke billow out of it. Oh, fuck no.

He grabs the book and slams it shut, startling Kevin, and then he teleports it directly under them, a mile down in the rock of the earth. Kev blinks for a moment, confused, before looking at his friend. “Wh.. Dude, WHAT?”

“Possessed book,” he croaks out, feeling tense, because he can smell cigarette smoke. “And you’re afraid of it? Why? You are also a literal fucking demon!” “That’s why I’m not messin’ with it!” Betelgeuse stands up, uneasy. The ground around the tree feels weird, now. He doesn’t like it here anymore. “Cause I actually understand why it’s a bad fuckin’ idea! God, you should have instincts that tell you not to mess with this stuff! You’re deficient, Kev, seriously.”

“Me deficient? Seriously?” Kev snaps, which hurts in a new, unexpected way. “Whatever, asshole. Give me my book back.” Kevin stands up, too, but he’s not uneasy, he’s angry.

“It’s better off where it is.”

“Which is where?”

Betelgeuse glances down. The grass around the tree is starting to wither. Kevin follows his gaze, but doesn’t seem to notice the dying vegetation. “You buried it? Come on!”

“Leave it, Kev.”

“This isn’t just your cool secret, anymore, it’s mine too!” Kevin glares at him. “You can’t keep me out of it, BJ. That’s not fair. God, at this point, I know more than you! You should be listening to me!”

He feels his volatile temper flare.

“Ex-fuckin’-scuze me?”

He waits for Kevin to take it back. Instead, his friend doubles down. “Demons have to listen to humans,” Kevin crosses his arms. “If they’re summoned. It’s in the book.” “Nobody summoned me,” Betelgeuse snarls, letting his real snake eyes show, an intimidation tactic that works for about half a second. Kevin’s too used to him, at this point. “I’m up here on a deal.” “Bet I could do it. I bet I could summon you. Then you’d have to listen to me.” “Yeah? Well, good luck without your stupid book!” He storms off, leaving Kevin standing there.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

The rest of the day sucks. He’s moody all day, annoyed in the car, grumpy in his room. He cranks metal and wishes he’d learned to play a guitar instead of his rinky, happy sounding ukulele. The instrument isn’t going to produce the noise he wants to express himself, right now. He throws it across the room, into a wall, where it smashes, and reforms a minute later, because… it’s still his favorite, after all. Even if it’s no good for expressing his teenage angst.

He can hear shuffling, and talking, outside his room, though he can’t make out what’s being said over the music. After a moment, though, there’s a knock at his door. “Hey, Bug?” Emily calls. “Can you come give me a hand with something?” He wants to tell her to piss off, go away, to leave him the hell alone, but.. It’s Emily. The CD player lets out a strangled choke and suddenly stops, and the door swings open, all without him moving from his flopped position on the bed. “Sup, ma?” he grunts. Emily peaks her head into the room, and smiles when she sees him, the expression radiating warmth and adoration and.. Oh, God/Satan, bless his sunbeam of a mother. “Just wondering if you’re free to do a little decorating?” She reaches behind her and grabs a fake severed bloody limb from the box he assumes she’s dragged into the hallway from the attic. “Don’t you worry it takes away from the “wow factor” to do Halloween twice a year?” He asks, standing and stretching, before apparating in the hallway behind her, and giving the decor box a nudge with his boot. “What? No way, there’s never enough Halloween!” Emily grins. “Get that, please.” The box floats along behind him as they head downstairs. They pause in the entryway, as Emily thinks out loud. “So, maybe the kitchen should be-” “Functional as a kitchen, please,” Charles calls from the living room. Emily rolls her eyes. “Okay, fine! Spoilsport! We’ll focus on the entryway for now,” she decides. “You wanna put up cobwebs in the rafters?” She gets on tiptoes to reach into the floating box, and he lowers it a bit for her, as she grabs the fake webbing. “I could just instantly decorate the whole room,” He takes to floating next to the box. “Could make sure it’s all normal human stuff, too,” He adds, before she can respond. “I know you can… But I like decorating,” Emily says brightly. “It’s not about getting it done quickly. It’s about, you know, doing it together.” “So why are dad and Lydia slacking?” Her smile doesn’t falter, but becomes softer. “It kinda felt like you needed some mom time, today,” She says simply. God, she can read him easier than Kev can read his stupid book. “We got in a fight,” he admits. She hums at that, because he only has one friend. It’s not hard to guess who he could possibly mean. “I’m sorry, Bug. What over?” He hesitates. So far he’s not let any of his family in on this book business. He’s been sort of hoping it could just go away on it’s own, and not be a thing. Kevin’s made it into a thing, though, and not telling even his mom feels… bad.

“He’s really into demons. Like, really, really into em,” He rasps, floating up and beginning to put up the spiderwebs, as his mother takes down the usual, sort of spooky wall hangings and trades them for her very intentionally spooky Halloween ones. “He’s got this book, an’ it’s all about demons an’ like, how to summon them, an’ their powers, an’ stuff… Sometimes th’ way he talks, it’s like.. Are we friends cause we’re friends, or friends cause you think I’m gonna be... useful?”

Maybe that doesn't make any sense, but that’s how it’s been feeling, like there’s an invisible shoe hanging midair, and it’s about to drop. His mother waits until he’s finished before looking up at him. “And you fought over that?” She prods. “Not exactly.” How the fuck can she even tell that, though? Damn her mom powers. He really, really didn’t want to talk about this, not to her, but… “I saw Juno. In th’ book,'' He lowers back down to the floor, and digs through the box, pulling out fake body parts. Back up he goes, to stick these in the fake webbing. “It was just a drawing of her, but it started like.. Billowing smoke-”

“From the neck,” His mother remembers, suppressing a shudder.

“Yeah. I could smell the smoke. So I got rid of the book, buried it in th’ school yard, but Kev got all pissy about it. He thinks he’s an expert on this shit, an’ he’s gonna mess with somethin’ big if he keeps this up.” “I’m sure you’ve told him that.” “He doesn’t listen. He gets this look in his eye, like it’s a game, or like… I dunno. Feels sometimes like he thinks he’s…” He searches for the words. “Like he thinks he oughta be the boss a’me, or somethin’.”

He rubs absentmindedly at the moss on his nose. It clings, stubborn as ever, same with the patches by his hairline, and he’s found it’s easier to just add another little layer to his glamour than try to do anything about it.

Maybe that’s indicative of a bigger problem. It’s easier to do a bit of magic and make everything look better than to actually fix the underlying problem. Ugh, introspection, how absolutely miserable. He wants to keep thoughts like that locked away tight, but they have a habit of slipping past his mental defenses and making him feel worse. Absolutely no one can make him feel shittier than he himself can. He sinks to the ground, going purple, and he’s instantly wrapped in his mother’s arms. “It’s okay, Beetlejuice,” Emily has both her hands on the back of his head, and he pushes his face into the crook of her neck. “I just.. I’ve only got the one friend,” he groans. “I don’t wanna stop bein’ his friend, but.. Fuck, ma.”

“I know.” Her voice is a soothing balm. She works her hands through the mess of purple hair at the back of his head. “I know, sweetheart. I know it’s lonely at school, but school isn’t forever,” she tries to assure him. “If your friend is treating you this way, well.. He’s not a very good friend. Do you want to be around someone who makes you feel this bad? Does it feel worth it, to you?”

He knows the correct answer is, “No,” but he’s not sure if his self esteem is high enough for that.

“I like him a lot,” He grumbles, and she hums again. “He’s handsome,” She says, and then pulls back far enough to pinch his nose. “But not as handsome as my son, of course,” and it’s silly enough to help knock away his mood, so that’s something, at least. “What should I do?” He doesn’t pull away from her, just soaks up the mom energy for as long as he can. “I think you need to have a talk,” Emily tells him. “Lay out how you’re feeling. Try to get his side of things, and make sure he hears your side, too. Then, at least you both tried, you know?”

It’s such a mom type answer. He groans again.

“I was worried you’d say some shit like that.” She fuzzes his hair, and he feels the tingle in his scalp that means it’s changed colors. Back to green, he assumes. “You know your moss changes color along with your hair? And your creepo-stache?” “Leave the stache alone, it’s tryin’ it’s best,” He pretends to be defensive.

“It makes you look like the founder of a forum for people who marry their cars,” Lydia offers, from the bottom step of the staircase, where she has apparently been just chilling and listening.

“Wh-! Mom, it’s not that bad, right?” Emily tilts her head to the side and gives what can only be described as a condescending smile. “Oh, you’re both in for it now.” He brings the various decor items to life to terrorize them, and then Charles joins his side, sympathizing with his son vis-à-vis bad teenage facial hair, and by the time the whole squabble is over, hardly any decorating has gotten done… But he does feel better. His family’s good like that.

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Monday rolls around, same as it always does, but there’s a weird feeling in the air. Halloween is a week away, barely missing getting a weekend date, but there’s some big Halloween bash the school is apparently throwing. There’s fliers for it everywhere, plastered all over lockers and bulletin boards. He’s not much of a participator, though, and his reaction to his locker being plastered over with invites to a party he doesn't care about is to snap his fingers. All the fliers on all the lockers up and down the hall, all instantly fall loose at once, littering the floor. A few students jump back, but no one looks his way, because why would they?

He’s grabbing his history textbook when he feels a tap on the shoulder, and when he turns, it’s a girl he recognizes, but her name is absolutely lost on him.

“You’re BJ, right?” Miffy askes, and he nods. “Yeah, s’right,” and Margo seems to wince at how gruff his voice is, before continuing. “Um, you and that guy Kevin, you’re like…” Milicent trails off, waiting for him to finish her thought, but sorry, baby, he can barely finish his own. “Like…?” He says, with his gravel voice copying her tone and inflection, and she huffs. “Together?” Marge asks, “Like, all of the time?”

He cocks his head, and squints at her, hands t-rexing at his sides, as Lydia likes to say.\

“Usually,” He concedes, and he gets the feeling he’s dragging this out much, much more than Mango clearly wants, because he spies a group of girls a little ways off, waiting for her. One of them is staring intently, more focused on him, but he pushes that thought aside.

“Look, okay, he’s gonna be out for a few days, and I’m just trying to see if you can take him his homework,” McGrubber has grown tired of having to stand here, talking to the chubby goth loser, apparently. “I’m a student aid in the office and they’re trying to make me do it, but I have track practice!” Thaaaat’s where he knows her from. She looks different, not bouncing and sweating and also not half a football field away. “Sure, fine, I’ll make sure Kev gets his work. Wouldn’t want you to miss out on running in a fuckin’ circle, Maria.” Her face sours. “It’s Blair.” So close. “Who fuckin’ cares,” He replies, and turns back to his locker. He can hear her rejoin her friend group, all of them fawning over her harrowing experience of having to speak to him in public. The last thing he hears from Blair is, “He’s just so goddamn weird,” and then the group rounds the corner.

He closes his locker harder than he maybe needs to.

Kevin isn’t in class that day, or the next, or even the one after. The shade tree has withered and died completely, it’s color sapped and gone, and even walking near it makes him feel uneasy. His new lonely lunch spot is under the bleachers, which feels even more voyeuristic of a spot to watch the track team, but even that activity feels tainted, somehow. He’s back to being lonely.

He can’t stand being lonely.

It gets so bad he contemplates sitting, wait for it, on the bleachers, and maybe even trying to strike up a conversation, but he’s too chicken shit. He’s been going to school with these kids for the past three years, and no one’s wanted to talk to him or chat with him in all that time. He can’t imagine that’s about to change.

Still, on Thursday, miserable and lonely, he gives it a try.

Sitting up here sucks. It’s just a hard metal seat on a gloomy day, and when he’d ventured up and sat down, other people had slowly moved away from him, until he was sitting by himself, all the breathers huddled in a different area, away from him. He'd tried talking, but hardly had a "Hey, how ya doin'?" grated out before the migration began.

Figures.

He finishes eating and lies on his back, resting his hands on his chest, eyes closed, and after a while he feels someone standing over him, and something laid over his hands. He opens his eyes. There’s the most beautiful girl staring down at him. She’s got long, bleach blonde hair, darker at the roots, which is hanging down in a halo around her face, and the biggest, clearest blue eyes he’s ever seen. He glances down, to see she’s placed a daisy over his hand. He looks back up at her, amber eyes questioning.

“You looked so still,” She smiles. Her voice is like music. He thinks he can hear harps. “With your hands folded like that. Kind of like an open casket.” He’d been forgetting to breathe, apparently, which happens sometimes. She thought he looked like a corpse, and she placed a flower over him.

“Sorry, if that’s weird. You’re.. BJ?” She asks, and he picks up the daisy, sits up, and nods. “Yeah, you’re…” “Barbara,” she fills him in. “You’re not so good with names.” “Mmm. Buffy tell you that?” He recognizes her now, from that group of girls. Barbara sits next to him, which makes zero sense. “It’s Blair,” she corrects him gently, but not without a giggle in her voice. “Oh, right.” Her name could be fuckin’ Moonpie and it��d make the same amount of difference to him, but he’d agree with anything Barbara said, if it meant she kept sitting there, talking to him. “Are you going to the Halloween party?” She asks. “Supposed to be pretty killer. It kind of seems like your scene.” “I’m not exactly a social butterfly,” which is the understatement of the god damn century, honestly, but she laughs and nudges her shoulder with his. “Well, I think you should come. I bet you’d have the coolest costume. Maybe think about it?”

“I guess, maybe..” He says lamely, because his brain is short circuiting from that small touch.

“Barb, come on!” someone calls to her from a ways away, on the track. Lunch is nearly over. She stands, and smooths down the long skirt she’s wearing, which is modest but flattering. “Later, BJ,” she smiles, and just like that, she’s gone, like an angel going back up to heaven in a beam of light, off to rejoin her friends. He can hear what she says to them, though. “You guys are mean, he’s not so bad. Just shy.”

He keeps the daisy in a little glass of water on his dresser, and strums love songs on his ukulele.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Thinking about Barbara and her smile and the way she nudged him is a fun distraction, at least for a little while, but when it’s Saturday, and he still hasn’t heard from Kevin, he decides it’s time to demon up and see what the fuck is happening with him. He’s been just teleporting Kev’s homework inside his room, and he’s sure it’s falling into a pile on the floor each time and startling him, but no one ever said how he had to deliver it. Today though, emboldened by the pretty girl on the bleachers, he appears at Kevin’s front door instead, holding Friday’s work, and he knocks. It takes a moment, but Mr. Loh answers.

Betelgeuse hasn’t had much chance to interact with Kev’s dad. He looks like a normal, tired dad, wholly unimpressive, and kinda short. Chuck could wrestle this guy to the mat, no problem.

“Oh, BJ,” Mr. Loh says, and then glances at what’s in his hands. “Kevin’s homework? Thank you. He’s holed up in his room… won’t come out.. Maybe,” and he suddenly looks hopeful. “You two are friends. Maybe you can try talking to him?”

Well, that’s what he was there to do anyways, so sure. “I gotcha, Mr. L,” he nods, stepping inside, and heading up the stairs and down the hall to Kevin’s room. The closer he gets to the door, though, the weirder he feels. Something stinks, figuratively and literally. It smells like… It smells like the waiting room. It’s that same, veil is thin type air that he can smell on Halloween night, but how the fuck is he smelling it here? He bangs on Kevin’s door. “Hey, Kev, it’s the B-Man,” he calls, trying to keep his tone playful, but he feels like he’s doing a poor job. What the hell is going on? “Come on, man, open up!” He tries again, when he receives no response. He thinks he can hear a shuffle behind the door. “Dude, I will bust this fuckin’ door down,” He growls, all the play gone from his tone. “You know I will. Better yet-”

He appears inside the bedroom, just in time for Kevin to slam shut the closet door. Kevin turns to look at him, back pressed to the wood. There’s a beat, both teens staring at each other, wide eyed, Betelgeuse in that weird way he does, and Kevin looking frazzled. “What,” the demon grates out, “the fuck, are you getting up to in here? It smells like the netherworld, Kev.” Unfortunately, that makes Kevin’s face light up. “It does? Oh my god, that’s perfect! It must be starting to work!” He crosses the bedroom, going to his desk, where an old book is sitting open. It’s not the same one he took from his friend, it can’t be, that book is still a mile down in presumably solid rock. “Another musty ass tome, great,” he growls, but Kevin ignores him, flipping through the book.

He hates feeling ignored.

A black and white striped arm sprouts from Kevin’s desk, and slams the book shut, which makes the breather turn and glare at him. “Get out of my room, BJ,” is all Kevin says, and Betelgeuse ignores that, instead crossing the floor to get a look at that book. “Where th’ hell do you keep finding these fuckin’ things?”

“This one I bought from a one armed man living out of a 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale,” Kevin recites. Betelgeuse squints at him, top teeth over bottom lip. “You’re too gay to know what that means,” he says, plainly, and Kevin shrugs. “He wouldn’t stop talking about his stupid car. I now know more about that antique than I know about geography.” It feels fun, for a second, like this drama isn’t happening, and they’re just having a conversation. It doesn’t last, though. He can’t let Kev off the hook.

“So you bought a second cursed book, this time from some amputee homeless guy, and you’re just, doing the rituals inside of it? And this seems like a super good idea to you?”

“I’m practicing,” Kevin replies.

“So what’s in the closet, Kevin?”

“Get out of my room, Betelgeuse.”

The way Kevin says his name is weird. It doesn’t feel like how it normally feels when a breather says the full thing. He shakes it off, and gives his friend a defiant look, before waving a hand and throwing open the closet door. There’s a cleared spot, in the middle of the closet floor, and a fucking summoning circle in what smells like, “Pig’s blood? Couldn’t get human?” He turns to look at Kevin, who is glaring at him intently. He matches the look.

“Betelgeuse Shoggoth, get out of my room.”

That gets his attention. It feels like an invisible hand is pushing him, and he stumbles back out of the room, confused. “W-what?” Kevin is just standing there, staring at him, and Betelgeuse stares back, eyes wild. “You motherfucker,” he hisses, eyes in snake slits, teeth sharp, claws extended. “You wanna do that “real name” bullshit with me? That the choice you’re makin’ here, Kev?”

Kevin doesn’t even look phased. “I’m working on gaining a bit more control, but looks like that works, for now.”

“You’re cracked!” Betelgeuse growls, absolutely furious. “You’re really tryin’ to summon me? Are you out of your head!?”

“You’re wasting your powers,” Kevin storms forward. “You’re a supernatural being, and you go to school and play your stupid ukulele, and don’t even try to do anything bigger. You could be stepping on everyone under you,” his former friend is going red in the face. “You could be leading, you could be ruling, but you just jerk off in your room and play pretend at being human. But someone might as well profit, here. Why not me?”

“I thought.. I thought we were friends,” is all the demon can say, lamely, and Kevin’s smile is the meanest thing he’s ever seen on a breather. “Once you’re fully listening to me, we can be friends again. Betelgeuse Shoggoth, get out of my house.”

He feels that same invisible pull, and he thinks maybe if he was stronger he could resist it, but a demon’s true name is like a lead on a dog, meant to control them, and unfortunately, Kevin has a tight hand on his leash. He makes it to the front door, and stumbles out, covering his face until he can calm himself enough to reapply his glamour.

Shit, he thinks, straightening up, and staring up at Kevin’s bedroom window. He is so fucked. ``````````````````````````````````````````````` Posted this chapter and another over at Ao3. You can read it right here

[klutzyzombie]

Image Impaired

Summary: From a young age, Bakugou Katsuki is told his hearing will continue to fade with use of his explosive quirk. He's given hearing aids to help when he reaches high school but refuses to wear them because what pro hero wears those? It takes some red-headed courage to convince him otherwise.  Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Eijirou Kirishima, Ashido Mina, Denki Kaminari, Sero Hanta Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki & Kirishima Eijirou (KiriBaku) Rating: General Warnings: N/A Words: 6,701 Notes: So this is my first official fic for this fandom and I don't exactly have anyone to proofread this so I sincerely apologize if it's out of character and for the errors! This was written from my own experiences with going deaf and requiring hearing aids and how I felt about it when I was first told. It seemed like something Bakugou may have also felt so you'll have to excuse me projecting~

**Please note that when a character is signing, it will be italicized.

Ao3: [click here!]

He started losing his hearing in grade school. He had been about eight when his family took him to get his ears checked when his grades slipped and he continued to miss things said at home. From there he was bounced from doctor to doctor but the general consensus was the same; his quirk was causing him to go deaf. It made sense really; continued exposure to loud constant boom’s. Like playing a rock concert next to the amp turned up all the way. It was bound to happen the second his quirk manifested and the decision to be a pro hero was made.

They recommended easing down on use of his quirk unless the situation called for it to try and put off the inevitable, but that wasn’t about to happen. Pro heroes in training needed to have master over their own quirks! So they also suggested hearing aids which Katsuki was against. What pro hero wore those tacky things?! For now, his hearing loss was manageable, but if Katsuki was keen on becoming a hero (and he was; even eight year old Katsuki knew this) then the doctors expected his hearing to be practically gone by the time he was in his late teens.

So the Bakugou family learned sign language as a safety net and as he grew, his hearing faded more and more as expected. It became Katsuki’s new normal for things to be a little jumbled and almost like people were talking underwater if they weren’t close enough or if they soft spoken. Maybe that was why as got older he had a tendency to yell constantly, his voice growing a little more gruff with age as well. He’d also picked up on lip reading which was immensely helpful in middle school as he refused to tell a teacher he couldn’t hear them or ask to sit in the front. It wasn’t going to be the future he imagined when he was a kid, but hey, he was Bakugou fucking Katsuki! He wasn’t about to let something like hearing loss stop him from becoming the next number one hero! He was nothing but goal driven from a young age, refusing to tell anyone about what he deemed to be his biggest weakness, preferring to make due with his lip reading. When his acceptance into U.A. was announced, his parents made a decision and while he fought tooth and nail – literally – he was fitted for a pair of hearing aids.

U.A. was everything he had hoped it would be as a child (though he could have done without the damn nerd also getting in and sitting right behind him) and much to his utter chagrin, he even made a few friends despite the fact that he’d never refer to them as such. They were more like a few idiots who wouldn't know how to fuck off if their lives depended on it. One such of these idiots and the biggest offender was Kirishima who, from day one, seemed to latch on to Katsuki. It was annoying at first; sure he had ‘friends’ in middle school but they were more afraid of him and only followed him as some sort of leader or popularity magnet. Kirishima just- liked him. For him! There wasn’t any fear and he damn sure wasn’t getting popular by hanging around Katsuki. If anything that was reversed since the stupid idiot seemed to be friends with just about everyone to varying degrees.

And Katsuki wanted to hate it- hate HIM because he didn’t need friends let alone overly enthusiastic idiot friends and with Kirishima deeming him ‘friendly’, the rest of the idiot brigade followed suit. Before Katsuki knew what had happened, Kaminari had wormed his way into his and Kirishima’s study sessions, Ashido had started tugging on his arm in her bubbly excitement at something or another, and Sero had taken too confining in him about whatever trouble had been on his mind. Bakugou Katsuki had actual honest to god friends and it was Kirishima’s fault. It hit him one night after moving into the dorms after he’d been dragged to watch a movie in Kirishima’s room. Like, forcefully dragged and as they sat there, watching as Iron Man and Captain America did some epic team up move on some aliens, he realized he was actually enjoying himself around these idiots.

He wasn’t supposed to be fond of the dunces. He didn’t need anyone and after the hero exam he and Todoroki failed, he tried to go back to how things were. Katsuki didn’t need friends and Kirishima and Kaminari passing while he failed was proof of that. So he separated himself from them. Well, he tried to at least. It wasn’t easy to do since the clingy idiots couldn’t take a hint if he stapled it to their faces. It was exhausting and when he did finally manage it, about a week into his granted alone time he was miserable and angry and ended up back on Kirishima’s bed while he and Kaminari played some game on Kaminari’s Switch.

He couldn’t shake the idiots he unwillingly befriended and he whole heartedly blamed Kirishima for all of it. On a rare weekend home, he was bitching to his mom about the annoyances who kept blowing up his phone with their stupid ‘Bakusquad’ group text. Mitsuki was sitting at the kitchen table with designs and fabrics spread out while Katsuki ranted on. She hadn’t known her comment about him being popular due to his phone’s continued dinging would lead to this, but now it was hard to stop the small smile building as he went on and on about them. Something he pointed out to her with annoyance.

‘Sorry, it’s just nice to know you have actual friends! Finally.’

“I can fuckin’ hear you, hag!” Katsuki snapped.

‘Are you sure? I don’t see your hearing aids in.’

His response to that was to simply flip her off as he marched out of the room. “I’m not going to wear those fuckin’ things.”

“Katsuki!” They had this argument so many times now he could almost recite it word for word. It was what she always said since the moment they picked up the stupid devices. 'Wear them!' 'Are you wearing them?' 'How is training with the hearing aids working out?' Every damn time she called it was the same song and dance and it was getting more and more irritating every time she brought the damn things up! He could picture her pushing away from the table and marching after him so it wasn’t a surprise when her raised voice shouted after him. “We spent good money-“

“’-on those things so the least I could do is wear them’! Get a new speech! I don't fuckin' need them because I can still hear just fine!” There was an uncharacteristic pause after that and he wheeled around to glare at her, to see what she was trying to prove, only to see Mitsuki giving him a pointed look. “What?!”

‘I said if that was true, then you would be able to hear me.’ She signed while speaking. Well, he assumed she was. Her lips were moving and he could hear a faint sound that was in teh same tone as her voice, but couldn't quite make out the words. Katsuki stood there, red eyes narrowed at her which was a look she was mirroring back at him for all of a few seconds before she sighed, expression softening. ‘Katsuki, it’s gotten worse since you started high school. I’ve been practically yelling at you just so you’d hear me since you got home.’ The look on his face must have been horrified because his mom’s melted from fond annoyance to one of almost-pity. She lifted her hands to sign something else but he quickly turned and marched back up to his room to finish getting ready to head back to the dorms. He hated that look on her. Hated that look on anyone and he didn't need her to see that she was right. That his hearing really had gotten worse. It would make sense that it had, he guessed. He went from only training with his quirk a few times a week to preserve his hearing to using it about daily for hours on end.

So then why hadn’t he noticed it?

He guessed the whole ‘it’s a gradual process’ thing could be a factor and if he thought about it, he was having a harder time hearing Aizawa now. Deku’s muttering had also seemed to bother him less as of late and it damn sure wasn’t because the nerd had suddenly stopped the habit he’d had since they were kids. His hearing really had faded drastically in just under a year and that was a reality check.

One he also apparently wasn’t great at hiding because a few days back in school had Kirishima draping an arm across his shoulders in the locker room. He had a habit of doing that no matter what murderous look was on Katsuki's face and today when he went to shoot a glare at the red head - one he knew would just be ignored- he was met with a concerned look on Kirishima's face. “Yo man, you good? You’ve seemed kinda…”

“Extra murder-y.” Kaminari supplied.

Katsuki and Kirishima shot him a look, Katsuki’s much more threatening, but he went on. “Is everything alright? You know you can always talk to me!”

“Fuck off, I’m fine.” Was his eloquent reply and he knew Kirishima wasn’t convinced, but the red head knew enough about him to know to drop it. The look that now shifted across his face was proof he knew something was up, but he turned back to talking about some new show with Kaminari and Sero to make sure nobody else tried to take the opportunity to ask Katsuki about his oh so chipper mood. Kirishima was good at reading him like that. He seemed to always know what Katsuki meant or needed in the moment. It would be endearing if it wasn’t also equal parts annoying. Sometimes he wished the idiot would remember how damn powerful Katsuki was! But then again, Kirishima was also the perfect foil to him.

He watched as said boy grinned and laughed at something Kaminari had said, head tilting back slightly from the force of it. He was so stupidly friendly and he seemed to really want to be Katsuki’s friend if not his best one. He liked to proclaim as such at least and he guessed it was true to a degree. Kirishima knew him better than anyone else probably did and just how that happened should be concering. Just when had he allowed the idiot to figure him out so well?

Katsuki looked back at his locker with a huff, not about to give Kirishima another reason to ask about his mood again. He looked at his mask and the orange and black wing tips behind it. Looked at the orange X crossing the otherwise all black uniform. Looked at the matching heavy-duty boots and belt that housed mini versions of his quirk. Looked at how the entire ensemble represented everything he wanted to become and how his stupid hearing was likely to take all of that away.

He slammed the locker shut with more force than needed, meeting Kirishima’s gaze as he glanced over at the sound. “Meet me after dinner.” He said simply, walking off before he could see or hear the red head’s reaction.

---

Katsuki was a proud person and that was a fact that was well know. He never needed and never asked for help. He was self-sufficient and refused to lean on others to get to where he wanted to be. So reaching out to Kirishima about this was going to be a challenge. Said teen had been in his room for going on ten minutes, silently watching and waiting, sitting in his deskchair backwards as Katsuki glared daggers at the ground. It would be unnerving to have the talkative bastard so quiet if it wasn’t once again proof how well Kirishimia knew him; knew whatever was on his mind was heavy enough to make him clearly agitated and extra moody. This fact had him glance up so red eyes could meet red and at Kirishima’s concerned but patient face, he sighed and looked away.

“I can barely fuckin’ hear.” He admitted like it was the biggest secret he’d ever be forced to admit because to him, it was.

“Yeah?” Kirishima sounded confused but not in the way he had been anticipating. He was confused like you had just told him Ashido’s favorite color was pink. Like what Katsuki had just said was common knowledge.

This had Katsuki whipping his head back to look at him. “’Yeah’?! The fuck does that mean?!”

Kirishima tilted his head like he did when he could tell Katsuki was upset with him but didn’t know why. “It means yeah? Like, yeah I know?”

It was Katsuki’s turn to be confused now. “You know?”

“Dude, if it was supposed to be a secret, your awful at hiding it!” Kirishima laughed and he glared at him for it. This was supposed to be his close kept secret! His weakness nobody, except for maybe Deku, knew! Kirishima seemed to understand his inner turmoil (because of course he would) and gave the teen a small smile, moving to rub the back of his neck. “Well, maybe it just was to me? I dunno, man. I noticed from the quirk assessment we had on the first day.”

“How?!” His voice sounded more confused than annoyed.

Kirishima shrugged and moved his toe against the floor a bit to slightly spin the chair he was sitting on. A nervous habit he’d get when he was the center of attention, Katsuki noted. “You just weren’t responding to anyone. First I thought you were just kinda an asshole and ignoring people, ya know?” He looked back up at him with a grin. “But then when Aizawa-Sensei would repeat something louder and you’d respond and I saw your quirk in action, I guess I just put two-and-two together. I didn’t know it was some big secret though.”

“It’s not!” Katsuki was quick to snap but that wasn’t really true. It clearly was or his heart wouldn’t have dropped when he realized Kirishima had figured it out within hours of meeting him. He huffed to himself, not wanting to snap at Kirishima over his own overlook and looked away again, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Does anyone else know?”

Kirishima hummed in thought, looking up at the ceiling. “I think all of us kinda know somethings up to varying degrees.” He must have heard the speed at which Katsuki whipped his head around because Kirishima quickly clarified, “I mean those of us in the squad. Kaminari talks louder when he’s around us. Ashido and Sero started too as well after they hung out with us for a while. I suppose it also helps that the four of us are naturally loud anyway, but they definatley talk up and more clear when they're with us.”

Katsuki just looked at him stunned. They had all figured it out? And they hadn’t ever commented on it? Made it a point to make a joke about it? Tease him about it like they endlessly teased him about everything else? They had just started to talk louder for his sake?! Here he thought they were just obnoxious assholes…

Kirishima seemed to notice his lack of anger and response and crossed his arms over the back of the chair he was sitting on, resting his head on them as he studied Katsuki carefully. “Is this what’s been bothering you?”

Katsuki shot him a glare before huffing and looking away again. A nonverbal yes before he sighed, eyes closing. His mind was still reeling from the knowledge that not only did the other idiots figure it out, but that they had all apparently silently just decided to not talk about it and simply speak up and clearer so he could hear them all better. He had a plan going into this. He was going to tell Kirishima he was hard of hearing, tell him he’d known it was coming, and how he was supposed to wear hearing aids. He had planned for questions and for almost snapping at Kirishima for giving him a pitying look before quickly covering it up because Kirishima knew he hated pity. He had expected this conversation to go the opposite direction it had gone and now he was at a loss.

“They…" How was he supposed to proceed now?! "I’m supposed to wear hearing aids.” He blurted out quietly, almost hoping Kirishima didn’t hear him.

But of course he did. “So why don’t you?”

“Are you stupid?!” Kirishima frowned. It wasn’t pity on his face but almost like disappointment? That look was somehow worse and Katsuki quickly looked away from him again. “I can’t be number one like that.”

“So you’d rather just not be at your best then?”

Wellp. Anger was back. Least that was familiar over the weird sensation knowing his friends never brought up his hearing had left him with. He jerked back to face Kirishima, on his feet before he even registered he’d moved. Kirishima just looked at him with same look he had on earlier. “What?!”

“You can’t be your best if you aren’t even going to work with something that improves your skills.” Kirishima repeated, apparently oblivious to the absolute inferno of anger his words had lit. “Dude, you can’t stand there and tell me with a straight face you’d be at your absolute best going into situations as you are when you could be going in with your senses heightened. That would be like fighting with one hand tied behind you back all the time! It doesn’t make any sense, man!”

Katsuki stood where he was, keeping Kirishima’s gaze which had narrowed. It wasn’t anger, but the look he got when determination had set in and he wasn’t about to even think about budging on something. Katsuki liked to imagine it was the look he had when he tried to convince their classmates to come to Kamino Ward. What made it worse this go around was that, well, Katsuki knew he was right. “Tch.” He turned and stalked back to his bed before slumping down on it, glaring up at the ceiling as if it had personally wronged him. “What pro hero do you know wears hearing aids, shitty hair?”

“You?” That answer had Katsuki turn to shoot him a ‘stop bullshitting’ look but Kirishima’s face was so purely earnest the words died on his tongue. “Sure none of the current pros do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be the first! I bet they’ll even make some with little orange X’s on them! That would be so cool!” He gave Katsuki one of those toothy grins that rivaled the sun in brightness and it took all Katsuki had not to smile at him in return.

He scoffed and looked away instead. “You’re an idiot.”

“Maybe, but I’m right about this!” Kirishima stood up and moved to sit beside his feet on the bed. “You always are the first and best at everything. Wouldn't it be super manly to be the representation to little kids you want now?” Katsuki didn’t say anything, afraid speaking might betray how hot his face was starting to feel at Kirishima’s unbridled admiration. “Besides think of all the cool ways you could make them look! I bet you could get them like, orange to match your uniform or-!”

“They’re already orange.” Kirishima turned to look at him and Katsuki rolled his eyes at the awe on the red heads face. He knew what was coming without Kirishima even asking so he sat up to pull a small box from the far corner of his nightstand. He tossed it to Kirishima who caught and opened it, eyes growing wide.

“Dude, these look so cool!”

“No they fuckin’ don’t. Don’t lie to me-“

“I’m not, man! Dude, picture this.” He picked one of them up and held it so Katsuki could see before splaying his other fingers out behind it. “You could have them as part of you mask! I bet support could even make some super badass ones that could have another dual factor! Maybe even like Mic’s speaker thing? No, I guess that wouldn’t make sense. But maybe they can block out certain things? Like Shinsou’s quirk! Oh man, you’re an even better match for him now! Just turn them off and you can’t even hear him!” Kirishima went into a rant about all the things he thought the stupid device in his hand could be used for and honestly Katsuki wasn’t hearing any of it but not because of the hearing loss. He just watched the idiot talk, watched his lips move and hands gesture. Watched as he’d occasionally laugh at something he’d thought of and how his smile reached his eyes when he did. How he was so excited just to sit here and come up with dumb ideas and how happy he was that Katsuki was potentially going to be an even better hero.

That thought alone made Katsuki’s heart jump again. Kirishima had really meant it about being an example. He really did think wearing the stupid devices would make him a better hero. Didn’t think it would make him any less of a person or any less of a pro. Kirishima genuinely didn’t think less or pity him for it and it actually seemed like he was furious that Katsuki would risk throwing his own dream of being a hero away just because of two tiny devices that would help him.

It was almost too much for him.

“You’re an idiot.” He repeated. Kirishima stopped talking and looked at him. He was still smiling and Katsuki was willing to bet that he was too if the slight tug at his lips was any indicator. “Fuckin’-! Fine, you rambling moron. I’ll wear the damn things tomorrow.”

The grin he got in return had to rival the brightest light in the galaxy and before he could open his mouth to warn against it, Kirishima tackled him back on the bed. The curses and explosions he sent in return were simply laughed off and otherwise ignored.

---

True to his word, Katsuki stood in front of his mirror with the small devices in his hand. He looked at his reflection without them, took in the way he looked one last time as if he could never go back to this look before sliding them in and turning them on as he remembered the doctor demonstrating. He winced at the resistance he was met with as they flickered to life but looked back at his reflection once they were snugly in and properly adjusted. His hair hid them for the most part, ash blond strands hanging low enough that unless he really looked, he couldn’t see them. Maybe that meant nobody else would since he was actually looking for them. He let out a sigh and turned to grab his bag. He doubted that severely. He swore quietly to himself, ignoring how it actually wasn't as quiet as he thought, and started the trek to class.

The walk out of the dorms and into the school was… different? He could hear things he hadn’t otherwise heard before. He could hear birds chirping in the trees he walked under, bits and pieces of conversations of the people he passed, that one weirdo from 1-B saying something and even the faint smack that followed as that orange haired chick apologized for him. It was almost like he’d been listening to the TV volume only turned up to 2 and now suddenly it was changed to 10. It would be overwhelming if he were anyone else, he guessed. Katsuki imagined this is what those videos of colorblind people wearing those special glasses was like. To experience the world with a sense that was dulled for so long only to be informed that said sense could be much better.

He’d spent so much time glaring at the stupid things and then fiddling with them to get them adjusted that he’d been beaten to class by the self proclaimed ‘Bakusquad’. Kirishima was sitting on Sero's desk facing the door and when he spotted Katsuki, broke back out into that same grin he did that rivaled the light flickering in from the windows. “Hey, Bakugou!” He raised an arm in greeting, grabbing the attention of the other idiots who all turned to greet him though not as enthusiastically as Kirishima. Not much of a surprise considering the red head was very clearly the only morning person among them.

Katsuki tsk'ed in greeting but Kirishima seemed to be studying him harder than usual and it was pretty clear what he was searching for. So with a roll of his eyes, Katsuki turned his head slightly so Kirishima could see the small bit of orange poking out from under his hair and if the smile he was greeted with was bright, this one was blinding. He didn’t say anything much to Katsuki's relief, just looked back at Kaminari despite his grin not fading as Katsuki walked over to his desk and tossed his bag down. Such a stupid little thing and Kirishima was grinning like he'd won the lottery.

Class was almost night and day.

He could hear Aizawa’s lazy tone easily, better than he had ever remembered being able to. He didn't need to rely on his handouts and the board to take notes. It was considerably easier to understand Ectoplasm now too and, much to his sheer and utter annoyance, he could hear Deku muttering to himself again. It was annoying, sure, and he almost considered taking the stupid things out to prevent it, but the fact that he actually could stopped him. Even Deku's muttering couldn't quite distract from the almost wonder he had. He could also pick up on Kaminari and Kirishima whispering though he coldn't make out what. (Probably about the math problem Ectoplasm just wrote down.)

The lunchroom was another experience. He hadn’t ever heard it this loud and he muttered to Sero if something special was happening because of the noise before Sero eyed him confused and said it was always this loud. Huh. He knew it should be considering the amount of teenagers cramed into it, but the thought hadn't really ever crossed his mind just how loud it should be. It was almost painful. Their usual table was at least a little quieter since it was in the far back. Katsuki was actually able to hear Kaminari approaching without relying on the slight ting of electricity in the air that usually was his give away. He looked up and watched as he and Kirishima stepped over towards them, caught up in some conversation about something, only stopping when Kirishima moved away and took his usual spot beside Katsuki while Kaminari went to sit in front of him.

“Hey, Bakubro! You look-“

Katsuki winced. “Fuck, can you maybe not talk so damn loud?!” He brought his hands up to his ears, wincing as they gave off feedback which he assumed was due to the mentioned static Kaminari gave off. Maybe he really should speak to support about upgrading them if he was going to start using them more. Wait, was that going to be a thing? He'd told Kirishima he'd wear them today; not from then on. When had he decided this was going to be a permanent thing?

He was lost in his own thoughts about if this so he missed the way Sero, Ashido, and Kaminari looked at each other, then at him, then back to one another. “Uh? He’s talking like he usually does. Which yeah, it’s loud, but it’s his usual volume.” Sero defended, looking all the world like Katsuki had just started sprouting a second head.

Shit.

Katsuki huffed and looked down pointedly at his lunch, taking a bite of rice to further avoid meeting their gaze. “Well tone it the fuck down, dunce-face.”

Kirishima was pointedly quiet while the three others sat in silence for a joyous and nerve wracking moment. He wondered briefly if they would just drop it, but no, he was never that lucky. He heard a gasp, knew it was Ashido, and jerked his gaze back up just as she leaned across the table and reached over to move his hair aside. “You got hearing aids!”

“Fuckin’-! Don’t touch me!” He swatted her hand away but the damage was done.

She was grinning from ear to ear and practically bouncing in her seat. “Oh my gosh, they look so good! That color is going to match your uniform perfectly!”

“Nice, dude! When did you get those?”

“Does this mean you’ll answer when I ask you for help now?”

“I think he was just always ignoring you, Kami.”

"What? No! Why would he do that?"

"Because you ask him for answers on every problem rather than how to solve it?"

Bakugou watched the three teens in front of him suddenly turn on Kaminari, laughing at the other blond’s expense. They hadn’t even flinched at him wearing them! No jokes, no sympathetic looks, nothing! They just took it in stride as if he’d said the weather outside was cool. He looked over at Kirishima to get confirmation that he wasn’t insane and they had really found out what he deemed his weakness. Kirishima met his gaze with a knowing grin and a shrug of his shoulders, a silent ‘I-told-you-it-wasn’t-a-big-deal’ look on his face. Katsuki shot him a glare but turned back to his meal to try and hide the smile he knew would betray any small amount of anger it may have had.

They didn't seem to care. He'd spent so much of his life dreading the day he'd have to wear these stupid things. Dreading the way people would look at or perceive him. He was Bakugou Katsuki and the only way he should be looked at was with admiration or fear; not pity or sympathy, and he whole heartedly believed that was going to be the outcome wearing these would bring. He expected the three idiots in front of him to make a huge ordeal about it, but they just seemed relieved and excited. Just like Kirishima had been.

Maybe having friends wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

---

After that, Katsuki wore them daily. They became second nature from then on and he wanted to be surprised that nobody seemed to even flinch at them, but after seeing his friend’s reactions, he really wasn't. What was supposed to be a weakness was nothing more than another area he could work with. Something Katsuki could train and hone like his quirk. He’d even followed Kirishima’s idea and got a pair that would work with his mask. They got upgraded to protect his remaining hearing from his explosions while enhancing it. His regular ones got an upgrade as well so they’d stop sending him feedback every time Kaminari got within a foot of him which spared Kaminari getting threatened and snapped at so it was a win for him as well. (Both pairs were returned black with an orange X printed on them and Kirishima swore he knew nothing about it.)

Months passed and it was hard to imagine he’d ever put up such a fight to wear the stupid things. They really did make a difference and it was even better knowing nobody felt the need to shout at him. Part of him wondered just how many people did but also didn’t think his pride could risk asking. It was like nothing had changed and while he wouldn’t ever admit it, it was apparent he had worried and put this off for absolutely no reason. His friends rolled with it like nothing had happened and that alone, while he refused to admit it, was the real reason he continued to keep it up after the first day. The idiots seemed to be full of surprises, especially Kirishima.

So it really shouldn’t have been a surprise what happened one night during the middle of their second year. The pair were up late in Bakugou’s room going over the latest math homework they’d been given. Well, more like Katsuki was going over Kirishima’s since his was already finished. At some point he’d taken his hearing aids out figuring he wouldn’t really need them in the quiet of his room.

He marked one last problem Kirishima needed to look over and handed the paper back. The red head took it then asked ‘Do you want to go get something to eat?’

“Yeah sure.”

He pushed himself up and brought an arm back behind his head to stretch it out and then it dawned on him. Kirishima hadn’t spoken. His lips hadn’t moved.

“What?!”

Kirishima startled at his yelling. “I asked-“

“I know what you asked!” Katsuki was pretty sure he must look strange because Kirishima was looking at him with sheer, utter confusion. “It’s- it’s how you asked it!”

The red head blinked at him in confusion, clearly not understanding why Katsuki was suddenly so upset. “What about it?”

“You signed!”

“Yeah?” He held the ‘ea’ sound out as if the pause would help him figure out what had happened. Katsuki could feel his face heating up. “Dude, I’m so confused right now. What’s wrong?”

“You-! You fuckin’ signed to me!”

“Yeah, you covered that part. What about it?”

“When the fuck did you learn it?!”

Kirishima still looked at him baffled. “Dude, I’ve known for years. My mom is hard of hearing.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Because I didn’t think I’d need to? I sign to you all the time, man!” Now it was Katsuki’s turn to look lost. He looked at the red head for a few minutes as if he’d just told him some world altering view, which he kinda did. “You good, bro?”

“No I’m not ‘good’! When the fuck have you ever signed to me?!” Though as the question left his lips, memories started replaying in his head. One’s of Kirishima casually signing ‘lunch?’ while verbally saying they should head to grab a bite to eat. Memories of Kirishima signing ‘that was awesome!’ after Katsuki did some impressive move in training. Of Kirishima’s fingers moving to ask him to pass his notes back over. Vision after vision of Kirishima slipping it into such casual setting from the first weeks he knew him and wow, okay that did something to his heart.

Why hadn’t he ever noticed it before? When the hell had Kirishima become such a casual part of his life that him speaking in a language hardly anyone knew became second nature? How had he learned so much about Katsuki without him ever knowing the red head was close enough to figure him out? Why did he decide to dedicate so much of his energy and time to be around him?!

“Dude?” He looked over at Kirishima who was now looking at him worried. “I was kinda kidding when I asked if you were good but now I’m actually worried. Are you alright? You look, like, sick."

Katsuki dropped to his knees in front of the red head who was looking even more concerned now. He opened his mouth, probably to once again ask if Katsuki was okay, when Katsuki put his hands on either side of his head and pulled him into a kiss. It wasn’t anything spectacular on the outside, just a chaste kiss, but it was an awakening for Katsuki who avoided feelings and distractions. Katsuki who had mentioned romance was the furthest thing on his mind when Ashido asked him back in first year if he was interested in anyone. So yeah, it wasn’t the most romantic of kisses as Katsuki hadn’t exactly kissed anyone aside from one or two people back in middle school and Kirishima hadn’t exactly moved or leaned into it let alone reacted.

Wait, shit. Kirishima hadn’t reacted.

That thought had him pulling back immediately, apology already forming but going unspoken as Kirishima mirrored the gesture of grabbing his face and pulling him into a kiss. Now it was Katsuki’s turn to be shocked but it faded in seconds, eyes closing on instinct as he moved to rest his hands on Kirishima’s hips. Kirishima in turn gently cupped the side of his face, guiding Katsuki’s head to tilt to the side slightly so he could deepen it. Alright, this one was much better than the pitiful one Katsuki had just done. Kirishima’s lips slid against his like they were meant to be connected and his hands lit Katsuki’s skin on fire. The feeling was like wearing his hearing aids for the first time. Like reawakening a sense that had been muted for years. He didn’t want it to end but after one last slow kiss, Kirishima pulled back, lips parted as he breathed.

Katsuki opened his eyes and blinked down at him, no doubt looking as kiss-drunk as the red head. Kirishima beamed back up at him, cheeks tinted red which Katsuki could feel his own face mimicking. He glanced away as if that would hide it, ignoring the way his heart rate picked up when Kirishima’s arms moved to wrap around his waist, head resting against his chest. He had about a billion things he wanted to say, knew Kirishima had about a billion he probably wanted to ask, but of course the red head knew him well enough to know he needed a minute before he spoke. Kirishima knew him so well. How did he not ever connect these dots and do this sooner?!

“So you like me.”

Alright, maybe not the elegant response he wanted but he earned a laugh from Kirishima. He shrugged and looked up at him so Katsuki could see his lips, smile still present. “What finally gave that away?”

Katsuki could feel his face flush anew. “’Finally’?”

“I haven’t exactly been trying to hide it from you.”

“You never fuckin’ said anything!”

“Again, never thought I’d need to.”

And alright, that was fair if he thought about it. He frowned but it was more at himself than at Kirishima and he ducked his head down to rest against the red head’s shoulder, the red head pulling him close. “You have awful taste.” He muttered to which Kirishima just hummed, lightly resting his head against the side of Katsuki’s.

They stayed like that for a while longer before Kirishima’s stomach made them remember what had started this whole ordeal in the first place. As they stood up and started to head out, Katsuki paused and turned grabbing his hearing aids and sliding them into place, ignoring the way Kirishima’s face lit up at the simple motion. He didn’t comment on it though, only taking Katsuki’s hand for a whole second before dropping it. Katsuki arched a brow, about to ask what was wrong.

‘I really, really like you, Katsuki.’

Katsuki was pretty sure his face was currently redder than the idiot in front of him’s hair and mumbled a quiet “Fuck you” as he lightly punched his shoulder. Kirishima laughed and caught Katsuki’s hand before it fell away. He went to lace their fingers together and tug him down the hall but Katsuki stayed rooted to the spot. Kirishima looked back at him, head tilting in the ‘whats-up’ way he did before Katsuki pulled his hand back.

‘You are an idiot, but I like you too.’

It shouldn’t be a surprise the way Kirishima’s eyes lit up. It shouldn’t be breath taking the blinding smile such a simple statement was met with. It shouldn’t make his heart skip when he was rewarded with another kiss. None of it should be but here Katsuki was, arms wrapped around this dumb, red headed ray of sunshine who managed to do the impossible.

[lyranova]

You are Beautiful Pt. II

Hi guys~! So here’s part 2 of my greyche fic i posted yesterday, i wasn’t planning a part 2 but i thought this would be something fun lol! This one is safe for minors to read and you don’t have to read part 1 to understand this fic (i hope)! Anyway I hope you all enjoy this 🥰!

Word Count: 1,466

Warnings: Language (maybe?)

———

Gauche was walking through the streets of the Capital with purpose, he was very angry. Last night, a couple of women had told Grey that she was plain and not very attractive and it upset her a lot. It really pissed him off that those women felt it was ok to put someone down because, in their opinion, they weren’t ‘beautiful’. Even thinking about it now made his blood boil. After Grey had told him he made it his mission to make her feel beautiful that entire night, which, in his opinion, he succeeded at. Well, he hoped he did anyway. He felt Grey holding onto the back of his shirt as they walked, he asked her to come with him so she could point the women out to him.

“ This is where you were sitting right?” He asked as they came to the courtyard where they had set up the food stand. He felt Grey let go of his shirt before she moved to stand next to him.

“ Y-Yeah, but Gauche, do you really h-have to do this? I mean, I’m ok now.” She stammered as she grabbed his arm, she should’ve known better than to tell him. She didn’t want him to be upset and cause a scene, it would be very embarrassing!

“ Yes I do. Those hags need to learn that their opinion is just that: an opinion, not gospel.” He told her as he looked around, he saw an elderly man cleaning up some trash and he walked over to him.

“ Hey old man! Were you here last night?” Gauche shouted as he walked up to the man, Grey followed closely behind, although she stayed hidden behind him.

“ Yes I was, why? Did you lose something?” The old man asked patiently, not seeming to mind Gauche’s gruff attitude.

“ No we’re looking for two ha-i mean women,” Gauche all but spat those words out. “ they were sitting over there, talking about my girlfriend behind her back. I’d just like to know their names so they can apologize to her.” He added as he crossed his arms, the old man seemed to think for a moment.

“ Oh, you’re probably looking for the Carrion sisters. They’re a rotten bunch I’ll tell you that.” The old man shook his head, apparently this wasn’t the first time these girls mouths have gotten them into trouble.

“ Where can we find these Carrion sisters?” Gauche asked Grey peered around Gauche to also look at the old man.

“ Probably at their dress shop, it's just down that street. You can’t miss it.” The old man directed. Gauche nodded in thanks and headed in that direction, Grey following behind.

As they came upon the dress shop Gauche felt his blood boil even more, he was about to walk inside when Grey grabbed onto the back of his shirt.

“ Y-You don’t have to do this Gauche! You’ll get in trouble i-if you go in there like this! I’m not worth it.” Grey pleaded, she didn’t want him to go back to prison for defending her, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if that happened. Gauche turned slightly and looked at her.

“ Grey, you are worth it. If I get in trouble for telling two old hags how stupid their opinions are, than so be it. I’m not going to let anyone think it's ok to hurt you, that it's ok to make you feel unworthy, that it's ok to try and break all the confidence you built up. I won’t let them get away with it!” He told her, Grey felt herself blush. Even though he acted cold and uncaring, he was actually the opposite. At least with her anyway.

Gauche walked inside the dress shop and saw a woman, who appeared to be in her late twenties, at the counter. The woman looked up and instantly a smile appeared on her face, it looked like it was supposed to be a flirtatious smile but it failed miserably in Gauche’s mind.

“ Hello there, how can I help you?” She asked sweetly as she leaned on the counter. Gauche walked up to it.

“ Are you one of the Carrion sisters?” He asked as he crossed his arms, Grey hidden behind him still with her face covered.

“ Yes I am.” The woman confirmed with a nod.

“ Good. Is your sister here? I need to speak with you both.” Gauche told her in a surprisingly calm voice, Grey had figured he would have started blowing up by now.

“ Of course, let me go get her.” The woman walked away and went to the back of the shop, Gauche and Grey could hear whispers and soft giggles. Gauche was beyond irritated at this point. Both girls walked out and stood behind the counter.

“ I’m Alyssum Carrion, and this is my sister Trillium. What exactly can we do for you?” The one called Alyssum asked in a seductive sounding voice, Gauche visibly rolled his eyes. These two were unbelievable.

“ Firstly; there is absolutely nothing you two can do for me,” he started, his voice beginning to get louder. “ Secondly; you two disrespected my girlfriend, you called her ‘plain’, ‘unattractive’, and ‘small chested’. All of those things are untrue!” Grey was silently hoping the floor would suddenly open up and swallow her whole as Gauche continued.

“ I understand everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but yours is stupid. Very stupid. Putting down another girl because she doesn’t meet your definition of ‘beautiful’ is absolutely disgusting! If anything you two are the plain and unattractive ones. Anyone who thinks it’s ok to put others down for their looks in order to make themselves feel better is a low and poor excuse for a human being, especially when the person you’re putting down is my girlfriend!” Gauche all but yelled as he slammed his hands onto their counter, the smiles were wiped clean off the women’s faces.

“ You two, heh, you’re both pathetic. You think talking about someone behind their back makes you so big and special, well guess what? It doesn’t. It makes you small and insignificant. I know you both aren’t going to apologize for what you said to Grey, you’re too much of a coward. But, if I ever, and I mean ever hear you two say something about Grey again. I will come back here, and I will make sure those plastic heads of yours roll.” Gauche glowered down at the women, they were terrified. The more Gauche had spoken the louder he got, disgust had been laced in every single word he uttered, he found these women beyond disgusting.

Grey, on the other hand, was standing behind him, her face as red as one of the dresses on display. She was beyond embarrassed! Why did he always have to make a scene? Although she would admit hearing him call her his ‘girlfriend’ did warm her heart a bit.

“ C’mon Grey let’s go.” Gauche said as he turned around, he took Grey’s hand in his and he pulled her out of the dress shop, leaving the two women stunned.

“ W-Why’d you do that Gauche? I told you, i-it was ok!” Grey stammered as he led her through the crowd that had gathered outside the shop, apparently they could all hear Gauche shouting from outside. He sighed before stopping to look at her.

“ And I told you that I wasn’t going to let them get away with talking about you like that! Every word I said in there about them was true and you know it! Do you really think I’d let anyone talk about someone I love that way?!” Gauche shouted, causing everyone to look at them. But Grey didn’t even notice, she was too stunned by what he said; he loved her? She watched a blush creep onto his cheeks.

“ Y-You love me?” She asked softly, Gauche rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“ Of course I love you, did you honestly doubt that? Especially after last night?” He muttered. Last night was one of the best nights of Grey’s life, he made her feel so warm, so loved, so safe, and, just like he promised, oh so very beautiful.

Grey quickly wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her face into his chest, she could tell this had surprised him as his body stiffened. But he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her and placed a gentle kiss on top of her head.

“ I love you too Gauche! I promise, I’ll try to defend you just like you defended me!” She told him with a firm nod, causing him to chuckle softly.

——-

I’m sorry it fell apart towards the end but I still hope you guys enjoyed this! Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a good day 🥰~!

Taglist: @eme-eleff

[cafedanslanuit]

Grow as we go || Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

Oh, who said it's true that the growing only happens on your own? / They don't know me and you

a/n: Finally, the last chapter! And the longest lol. I’m really happy you enjoyed this little series. I’ll see all of you around <3 tagging list~ @loeybk​ @animemelanie360​

Part One || Part Two || Part Three

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。 .❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。 .❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。 .❀。• *₊°。

Heroes got sick too. You knew that, but didn’t expect getting stuck in your room for two days was going to be as miserable as it was. Yes, you were thankful that pneumonia had receeded to a cold thanks to Recovery Girl but, somehow, this cold felt worse than being hit in training. On Monday you were supposed to go back to classes when the cold symptoms were gone, and even if it was only a weekend away, you couldn’t wait anymore. You had already finished the last book you had bought and has streamed all seasons of your favourite series. Having nothing to do plus the weight of knowing you were missing important lessons and trainings had put you in the worst mood to the point you had asked your father not to disturb you unless there was an active fire.

It was Friday afternoon and he had already gone into your room eight times. You chose a movie on Netflix and while the opening credits played, you looked at your door, thinking about the possibility of putting your bookshelf against the door to prevent it from opening. Would it be over the top? Yes. Would it help you be alone at least until your movie finished? Also yes. Before you could really decide, you heard him knocking your door once again. You rolled your eyes, exhausted.

“Dad, please, leave me alone” your door opened and you pressed the spacebar to pause the movie. Turning to your right, you saw your father entering your bedroom and your ex boyfriend following him. You squealed, covering yourself with your sheets, even if you were wearing pajamas.

“Dad!”

“Katsuki came to bring you some homework, I think?” he looked over at Bakugou, who just nodded. He was still in his U.A. uniform. “I’ll leave you too, can I bring you anything?”

“No, thank you” Bakugou said with a small bow. Your father smiled and left your room, closing the door behind him.

A tense silence between the two of you reigned. You weren’t sure if you were supposed to talk first, and if you were, you didn’t know what were you supposed to say. While grades were important in U.A., they mostly relayed on the final exams, which weren’t due in at least another month. There was no need for him to bring you homework and you couldn’t help but think it was an excuse for him to see you. The idea made your heart skip a beat, holding onto the last bit of hope you still had within you.

“Aizawa asked me to give you this” he grunted, opening his backpack and handing you his notebook. You parted your lips, looking at his notebook and then back at him. Of course.

“I knew Aizawa didn’t like me, but this is just sad” you said with a dry laugh. Taking Bakugou’s notebook, you opened it and started looking for the lessons you had missed. Since you figured he wouldn’t just stand there and wait for you to copy a two day’s worth of classes, you took your phone and started taking pictures of all the pages you needed to copy later.

While you did that, you saw with the corner of your eye how Bakugou started walking around your room. Even if he had been at your house a couple of times before, he had never been inside your bedroom. You both had always spent your time in the living room or in the kitchen if you felt hungry. Still, Bakugou would never let you cook as ‘you cut tofu in sticks rather than dices like a maniac’, so he always took the lead. Not that you complained, he knew his way around the kitchen, which made you love him a little bit more.

In one of those occasions, he had met your father. Bakugou had been stirring a pot of miso soup when your father’s keys opened the front door. You went to the living room and greeted him, informing him your boyfriend was visiting. You had talked to him about Bakugou before, since the both of you had been dating for four months. Your heart warmed when you saw your father greeting Bakugou as an old friend and asking what he was cooking. Bakugou’s tense expression was laughable, as he tried his best not to use swear words around him. 

Dinner had been great, you father doing his best to make Bakugou feel welcome, asking about school and praising him for such a delicious meal. Finally, your father gave you both some alone time as he went in to take a shower. You wasted no time in teasing Bakugou about being so tense around your father, but also confessed you were really happy you two had actually met. You thanked him for putting in some effort, earning a grump from him, which only made you smile further.

Having your father like Bakugou seemed like a blessing, but it only felt like torture now that he had let him in knowing you hadn’t been together in the last three months. When you talked about your situation with Bakugou with your father, he had asked you to give Bakugou another chance. You said you were waiting for him to sort out his mind and you had already accepted it could take more time than you wished for. ‘Why do you like him so much, anyway?’ you had asked, rolling your eyes. ‘He just seemed to care for you” your father had smiled sadly at you and changed the topic before you started crying once more.

“Weren’t you eighteen?”

You turned your head to Bakugou, who was holding your Jigglypuff plushie.

“I could say the same about your All Might posters” you countered. You looked at each other and, for the first time, the one who let out a snort was Bakugou. You expected him to shot back another comment, but instead he just kept looking around your room. “Denki actually bought it, you know?” you commented, your eyes fixated on Bakugou’s notebook

“What?” Bakugou snapped.

“He got it for Jirou saying it reminded him of her but she got mad and gave it to me” you chuckled at the memory, taking the final photo with your phone and closing Bakugou’s notebook. “Thanks for bringing this. I was already hating myself for getting this sick”

“Yeah, no shit” he muttered, putting his notebook back into his backpack. “How the fuck did you manage to do that?”

“Uhh, I may or may have not forgotten an umbrella on my way back home” you chuckled, scratching the back of your head.

“Why didn’t you see Recovery Girl?”

“I did! If I hadn’t I would have ended up with pneumonia. Now it’s just a cold. My body just needs to rest” you explained, shuffling in your seat. Now that his mission was over, you knew he had to get back, but you didn’t want him to. You hadn’t talked to each other outside of training since the gym incident happened. The first days were mostly because whenever you looked at him, you remembered the way his hands had held you against the wall, making you flustered and losing attention of any chore you were doing. You had been caught staring at nothing several times by your friends, playing Bakugou’s words over and over in your head.

‘I’d rather have this than nothing at all’

You couldn’t have agreed more with him. Even if he hadn’t approached you, you’d rather have him in your room, at least for a little while.

“When did--”

“My mother--”

A chuckle fell from your lips.

“Sorry, it wasn’t important. You were saying something about your mom?”

“That old hag asked me to give you this” he said, looking into his backpack again. He took out a soup thermos, an individual package of disposable chopsticks and handed it to you. Bakugou finally sat on the foot of your bed, his stern expression never leaving his face.

“That’s so nice of her” you smiled, taking the thermos and opening the lid. A smell of soup warmed your body. “Can I?” you asked, grabbing the chopsticks.

“What the fuck you think it’s for?” he rolled his eyes.

You started eating the soup, noticing how delicious it was. Not only that, it was your favourite kind: miso soup. You didn’t know if it was because you were sick, but it made you feel like you were on cloud nine. Humming contently, you picked a piece of tofu and noticed it was cut in sticks rather than dices.

“How did she know I prefer them in sticks?” you asked with an amused expression. Bakugou’s face turned red, and you watched him in awe as he opened his mouth but couldn’t say a thing. The truth suddenly hit you, making you grin widely at the boy in front of you.

“T-the fuck if I know how! Her cooking is shit and--”

“You remembered” you sighed, feeling your eyes burning. You bit your tongue, doing your best to avoid crying. You set the thermos aside and crawled on your bed, getting closer to Bakugou. You finally kneeled in front of him, his eyes watching you wide open while his eyebrows were still characteristically furrowed. “You actually remembered” you repeated in a small voice. His eyes darted sideways, a deep blush still covering his cheeks.

“Of fucking course I--”

You interrupted him by pressing your lips against hiss. Bakugou let out a surprised groan, but it wasn’t long until his hands were on the middle of your back, pulling you closer. You had his face between your hands, not being able to stop smiling as you were kissing him. It was amazing how much your body seemed to have craved him, even though it hadn’t been more than a month since you had last kissed.

Bakugou pulled away, setting his hands on your shoulders. Your smile fell a little when you realized he wasn’t smiling like you hoped: a preoccupied expression covered his face.

“I still haven’t figured it out” he muttered, looking you straight in the eyes. It took you a moment to understand what he was talking about, but your last conversation quickly popped in your mind.

“Oh. I…” you paused, sitting back and taking a deep breath. “I think you have, though”

“I still feel fucking frustrated. Especially now” he grunted, making you laugh.

“You’re just horny” you teased him. Bakugou flicked your forehead.

“Fuck off”

“Did you feel frustrated while you were making the soup?” you asked, changing your kneeling position to a sitting one, a leg bent while the other dangled from the bed. Bakugou stayed silent for a moment, his face scrunching, a tell-tale sign he was trying to concentrate. You remembered seeing that expression when you looked over at him while you were taking a test. Waiting for an answer made you feel uneasy, but you did your best to be patient.

“No” he said after a few moments. You felt the corner of your lip twitching upwards.

“What did you feel?” you saw Bakugou’s eyebrows scrunch again and quickly shook your head. “No, no, forget that. Just… did it feel good?”

“Yeah, I guess” Bakugou shrugged.

“You love me, then” you smile.

“Because I made you soup?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because you cooked my favourite soup, cut the tofu how I like it and then brought it to me. Yes, Katsuki, you love me” you grinned, pecking his cheek. You noticed how there was the tiniest of smiles on Bakugou’s face, a sight you had longed for weeks.

“Okay, I love you then”

Bakugou put his arms around you, your face nuzzling against his chest. The smell of caramel and cinnamon invading your senses, making the idea of taking a nap there really enticing. You had missed the feeling of his strong arms around you, making you feel protected, now even more that you knew he loved you. There were no longer idle thoughts wondering what did he think about your relationship or yourself. There was only him, Katsuki, making you feel the most loved you had ever felt. He pressed a kiss on top of your head and you thought you were going to melt right there.

“Wanna stay for a movie?” you asked, raising your head towards him.

“I’m not watching a chick flick” he warned.

“There’s this crime documentary on Netflix, how about that?” 

“Fine. But eat the damn soup, it’s going to get cold”

You went back to your original position on your bed, pulling the covers and grabbing the laptop that was left behind. Bakugou sat on your side, grabbing a pillow and using it to rest his back.

Once you two were settled, you pressed play and Bakugou handed you the soup thermos. You took out another tofu and giggled to yourself.

“You love me”

“Already regretting saying that” Bakugou grunted, putting his arm around your shoulders. He let out a sigh and paused the movie again, turning his head towards you. “Listen. I obviously feel a bunch of shit for you. But it’s still… was it that easy? I’ve been putting my fucking head through the wall trying to understand and suddenly the answer was soup?” he asked in disbelief. “I love you. I get that now, but… I’ve never felt that before. So everything is still fucking confusing, not gonna lie”.

You turned your head and pressed a kiss on his shoulder.

“It’s okay. We’re both kind of new at this, so please don’t take it so hard. I mean, yes, think about it, analyze your feelings just know that I’ll be right there” you smiled softly,

“Thought you broke up with me ‘cause I couldn’t sort out my fucking feelings” he reminded you.

“Yeah” you let out a small laugh. “I may have been a tad wrong. I mean, you were an asshole and you did need to sort out your feelings, but... trying to understand our feelings isn’t something that just stops. I think our feelings will always change through time. I think loving me now will feel different to loving me one year from now. But as long as, above all that, it is love... we’ll be okay. I just want to keep growing together, you know?”

“You’re so fucking cheesy” Bakugou sighed, but pulled you closer to him. You grinned and pressed a kiss against his cheek.

“But you loooove me” you teased him, making Bakugou roll his eyes at you. “You know, I may have to thank Aizawa for sending you here. I must have been wrong about him hating me”

“He sent Deku. I found that green shit outside of U.A., told him to fuck off and that I would do it myself” he grunted. You laughed loudly besides him, almost dropping the thermos on your lap.

“You’re so fucking cute”

“Shut up and resume the movie, asshole”

[its-ashleyreads]

Finished: 23/11/2021

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

In a way, it’s nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you’re walking away from a bus that’s just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it’s raining on top of everything else, most people might think that’s just really bad luck; when you’re a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.

Rating:  ★★★★☆

Summary:

Percy Jackson can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Once, he thought it was because of his ADHD, but now, after being chased by demons and mythical creatures, Percy knows it’s more than that. Percy Jackson is a half-blood. Half-human, half-god, Percy’s world will never be the same again, but finding out he’s the son of a god has its own complications, like having both the god of the sky and the god of the underworld out to get him for a crime he didn’t commit…

Review:

When I was a kid, I was a big reader but neither of my parents really fostered this appetite in me, so instead of buying me books or taking me to the library to get new reading material, I was forced to make do. I had a lot of picture books and things for really young kids, but I wanted something to challenge me and make me think. I found some old beaten-up copies of Nicholas Sparks books in my moms closet once, I had a dictionary that I read a few times, and that was pretty much it until high school when I got a job and was able to buy my own books. But by that time, I was already reading adult books and didn’t really want to “regress” in my reading by picking up something in the middle-grade section, even though one of my oldest friends could not stop talking about her favourite book series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

I was a book snob throughout highschool. I took pride in reading the longest books, the classics that everyone complained about, all of that super pretentious bullshit that I now hate. And because of that narrow-minded snobbery I missed out on reading this series when I think I really needed it. The themes in PJO are surprisingly heavy for a middle-grade book, but it’s so refreshing to see because sometimes, heavy shit happens when you’re a kid and it always seems like no one can relate. I am now 23 years old, and I know for a damn fact that little 13-year-old me would have been able to connect with Percy and maybe even gain some perspective on things that I didn’t even know I was dealing with at the time. Absentee parents and ADHD were things that I didn’t even start to examine in my own life until adulthood, but the thought that this series exists and that kids who have potentially had a parent leave or have ADHD or dyslexia or are in any way different, have this, warms my heart. I even mentioned that I was reading it to a friend, and the way that he lit up talking about it… 

Reading about Percy and his friends tackling this quest was fun, and shocking, and a pure delight, even at my age and I’m glad that I finally got around to reading it.