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kaoru-takaida · 3 years ago

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MHA Collab Fanfic

CHAPTER 3: The Meaning of Strength

When the bus stops at the rest stop, two Pro Heroes with cat outfits reveal themselves to the class. Ones Kaoru is very familiar with. Both Kaoru and Midoriya gasp in excitement. "Oh wow! My Uncle is a big fan!" Kaoru tells Bakugou. Bakugou seems distracted however. "Hm?" Kaoru looks over at him. "Is something wrong?"

"Why'd we stop in the middle of nowhere?" He asks. Before they knew what was happening, the other students were bolting towards the bus.

"Eh?" And in the blink of an eye, all of Kaoru's classmates had been swept over the cliffside by a wave of dirt and earth. Even Kaoru lost their footing but before they could stumble over the cliff, Aizawa uses his capture scarf to snag Kaoru. It winds around them and he yanks Kaoru back up, holding them up like a fish on a hook. "Mr. Aizawa?"

"Before you go off with the rest of them, I need to have a little chat with you." He says. Kaoru keeps a perplexed look on their face. He holds up his cellphone showing multiple missed calls. "Your uncle has been trying to call me… consistently…"

Kaoru grimaces nervously, recognizing the number. "He left a message saying he wanted you to come back home. Be honest, should I listen to him?"

Kaoru looks away for a second. "I, uh." They hesitate. "I'm not sure what you're asking." Kaoru replies.

Aizawa sighs. "I'm asking if there's a reason why he'd be worried and whether or not I should drag you back by force."

Kaoru clenches thier fist. Down on the ground as everyone fights a dirt clod created by Pixie Bob in the form of a beast, Bakugou and Kirishima take a second to look up at the cliff where Aizawa has Kaoru dangling by his scarf, talking. He scowls. "Wonder what they're talking about." Kirishima says. Bakugou scoffs.

"Like I care." He says, looking for the next threat. He charges into the fold. Kirishima takes one last glance at Kaoru and Aizawa and follows Bakugou.

Aizawa's eyes are wide at Kaoru's explanation. They give him a look that he can only place as a mixture of concern, sadness, and pleading. "You're kidding me…" He says.

Kaoru's scowls a bit now. "Mr. Aizawa… " Kaoru clenches their fists at their side. "I… want to be a Hero. I want to get stronger, train harder." They look at the ground below them. "I would be on my hands and knees begging you, but…" They look up at him, eyebrows pursed. "Please, sir, let me stay."

Aizawa looks at Kaoru for a good long moment, contemplating what to do. This kid… He closes his eyes now. "Alright. I'll call and let him know you're staying." He looks off at the distance, no doubt where the camp base was in the middle of the forest. "Besides, you're as safe as you're gonna get. Only a select few knows where we'll be." He gives Kaoru one last look. "Not even the League should be able to find us"

Kaoru sighs in relief. "Thank you so much." They say, bowing their head a bit. Aizawa gently lowers Kaoru to the ground below.

"Now get going." He orders.

They nod, giving him a determined smile. "Yes, sir!" They say. Kaoru runs off to catch up with their classmates. Aizawa rubs the back of his neck watching Kaoru a moment.

I'll have to keep my eye on them… He thinks to himself. His cellphone starts to ring and he looks at the number. "Of course."

Kaoru tries to keep their cool, but can't help but feel their blood boil at the thought of their uncle harassing their teacher. They sprint through the forest. I don't care what Uncle thinks. Kaoru spots a huge dirt clod monster as they catch up with the other students. They activate their Quirk, sprinting even faster as energy builds within their fox paw feet. They spring upward and drop onto the dirt clod monster's head. An explosion rings out and a small puff of flames makes the beast's head burst as Kaoru kicks down on it with both paws. I WILL become a hero. No matter what. Kaoru flips backward and lands on all fours with a soft landing. The beast crumbles away. They watch as the chunks of dirt fall. And then I'll find out the whole truth behind my existence.

After reaching the camp a little after 5pm, Kaoru collapses next to Kaminari and Sero. Kaoru pants, exhausted, covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. Sero and Kaminari give them a wide eyed look of surprise. "Wow, Kaoru. You really pushed yourself out there, huh?" Sero asks. Kaoru sits up, tucking their legs under them and their skirt.

"Yeah." They take a deep breath, wiping dirt from their cheek. "My Quirk only allows me to amplify my output of energy by combining my own strength with the energy I take in. As a result, endurance matches and drawn out battles aren't really my forte."

Kaminari puts a hand to his chin. "I guess that makes sense. Even your Quirk has its limits."

Aizawa walks up behind the three of them. "Kaoru's limit is a bit easier to hit than the rest of you students." Aizawa explains. "Over in the U.S., few schools tailor their teaching of Quirks individually like we do." Kaminari and Sero frown. "Instead they'll focus on what all Quirks have in common and teach in ways that everyone could benefit." Aizawa puts a hand out, gesturing to Kaoru who doesn't look too pleased remembering this fact. "Think about it as the difference between regular school and prestigious academies. Kaoru, having only studied in regular education for a year and being home schooled a majority of their life, is severely behind compared to the rest of you."

Kaoru's ears drop down and they give a bitter and embarrassed glance to Sero and Kaminari. "I had to study like crazy to pass the special transfer exam for U.A." Kaoru admits. "It was the only thing I focused on for months. And my uncle practically beat the lessons into me. And then, I still had to keep in shape and focus on my Quirk for the physical aptitude exam."

Aizawa nods. "In the physical exam, there was a lot of wasted effort and things that could definitely be improved on." Kaoru glances at Kaminari and Sero. Then they look around at the rest of the class.

He's right. Everyone here is ahead of me by a whole semester. They've survived the USJ attack where they had to fight for their lives with villains. Kaoru looks down at their hands on the ground. And then they all proved how skilled and talented they were in the sports festival. I need to catch up, or else I'll be left behind. Kaoru pouts a bit, looking away.

Kaminari looked up at Mr. Aizawa. "That's right. Kaoru mentioned something about taking a special physical practical exam before. I'm curious. What exactly did that mean?" He asks.

Aizawa smiles now with a scary, almost sadistic smile. "They had to go toe to toe with yours truly to see if they were worthy to pass." Kaoru grimaces and tenses, shuddering at the memory.

Sero and Kaminari give them a panicked look. "That sounds horrifying!" They say in unison.

Kaoru sighs to themself, leaving the girl's room. After carrying their stuff in, they were starving. "Hey, idiot." Bakugou's voice says. Kaoru sees him walking toward them, hands in his uniform's pants pockets. Just like them, Bakugou was all battered and bruised from fighting the monster dirt clods in the forest. Kaoru's eyes light up.

"Oh. Bakugou. Got all your stuff in the boys' room?" Kaoru asks.

Bakugou scoffs. "Of course I did. It was a piece of cake." Kaoru blinks as he grows quiet. "I wanted to say that you didn't need to defend me when Aizawa was about to punish me the other day."

Kaoru purses their eyebrows. "But, Bakugou, that was all my fault. You didn't deserve to be punished."

Bakugou sighs. "I did. I acted like an ass. So…" He scowls. "Just take it, okay?"

Kaoru cocks an eyebrow, tilting their head to the side, ears perked. "Take what?" Kaoru asks after a few seconds of awkward silence . "I'm confused."

Bakugou purses his lips into a small frown, looking a bit irritated. "I... didn't need your apology either… Not when I was the one who needed to apologize first. But you went and did it anyway. Just like how you defended me." He says softly.

Kaoru's eyes widened with realization. He's trying to say "thank you", huh? Kaoru smiles a small smile. And trying to apologize, too… What a weirdo. He can't just say it, can he? Kaoru thinks. "Oh. I see." Kaoru gives him a bigger, brighter smile. "Yeah. You're right. You didn't need me to. But I did anyway."

Bakugou's eyebrow twitches slightly and he grimaces. "What's with that stupid look on your face?" He hisses.

Kaoru laughs lightly. "Oh. It's nothing."

Bakugou scoffs again. "Whatever, dumbass." He turns and waves for Kaoru to follow. "Anyway, those weird cat ladies are serving dinner. Let's get some food before there's none left, moron."

Kaoru catches up to him. "You know what! To make it up to me, why don't you let me call you Kacchan?"

"What?! No way in hell!"

"Aw. Please?"

"I said no."

"Pretty please?"

"Ugh. If I let you, will you leave me the hell alone?"

"Probably not."

"Then the answer is still no!"

"Nah, I think I'll call you Kacchan anyway."

"Do it and I'll kill you!"

"Haha!"

"So, why do you want to be a Hero?" Kaoru asks Bakugou. He stops eating, halting his chopsticks.

"Huh?"

Kaoru smiles. "I'm curious. What made you want to be a hero?" Kaoru takes a sip of their tea. "I can't really imagine you wanting to be anything else. So it makes me curious."

Bakugou scoffs. "Why would I tell you that?" He says, taking another bite, clearly dodging the question. Kaoru shrugs and takes a bite of their own rice. Bakugou looks over, chewing his food quietly. He swallows and then very nonchalantly asks. "What about you?" Kaoru looks up at him, mid chew. They point to themself. "Why would you want to be a hero?" Bakugou asks.

Kaoru considers it a moment before swallowing their food. "I… can't really explain it." Kaoru begins. "A part of me just yearns to be a hero. And then another part of me wants to be strong." Kaoru places their bowl onto the table. They look around to double check if any of the other students were listening. They were all going about with their meals. It was just Kaoru and Bakugou at this table, so Kaoru sighs a bit before looking at him. "To be honest, this is a secret, but I've been running from something big for as long as I can remember." Bakugou's eyebrow clenched into a concerned scowl. Kaoru looks down at the scars on their hands. "A group of people are after me from what my uncle told me. I… actually have no memory of my childhood. The first memory I actually have is of the night my uncle found me."

"Found you?" Bakugou asks.

Kaoru nods. They smile a sad smile. "My uncle is actually my adoptive parent. My guardian." Kaoru closes their eyes. "I guess he found me in a very very dangerous situation, and saved me before I could be killed." Kaoru clenches their fists. "I don't remember much. But he took me in and took care of me." Kaoru smiles a sad smile at Bakugou now. "I want to be a Hero who can save people. The way my uncle saved me."

Kaoru leaves the girl's locker room at the hot springs. They'd decided to turn in early, but is caught by surprise as Mr. Aizawa walks up to them. "Teacher…" Kaoru says.

He points behind him with his thumb. "You have a moment?" Moments later, Kaoru and Aizawa are seated in the lobby area. Aizawa hands Kaoru a canned coffee with milk and sugar from the vending machine.

They give a little bow with their head before taking it. "Thank you, teacher." They say. Aizawa pulls a chair back and sits across the table from them. He opens his own can of black coffee and takes a sip. Kaoru opens their own can and takes a sip.

"The other students have a general idea of how to progress their Quirks." Aizawa begins. "I pulled you aside to ask you how you'd like to improve yours." Aizawa sets his can down on the table now. "It's important because what you do to improve your Quirk here will greatly impact how you use it in the future. And coming from a schooling system that lacked individuality, you're far behind in the progression of your Quirk compared to the students here." Kaoru rubs the side of their coffee can with one finger, looking rather discouraged. "I'm not saying this to make you feel inadequate. U.A. accepts only the best and brightest. And you got in with flying colors." Kaoru doesn't respond, looking very upset. Aizawa lifts his eyebrows slightly. "Do you need help finding a way? Or…" He then gives them a concerned look. "Was there something bothering you?"

Kirishima walks away from the boy's locker room towards the lobby. He stops, hearing voices. "I'm sorry I'm causing so much trouble." Kaoru's voice says. Kirishima stays put, just around the corner, curious. "It seems like that's all I've been doing since I transferred to U.A."

Aizawa shakes his head. "With a school and class like the one you're in, things are bound to get complicated and hard." Aizawa crosses his arms. "Think you can tell me why you're really in U.A.?" Kirishima cocks an eyebrow. "You told me about a group of people who are after you." Kirishima feels his heart sink.

People are after Kaoru? Should I be eavesdropping? I mean in retrospect, eavesdropping isn't really all that manly but…

"But having seen the news about the USJ incident, directly involving our class, why did you choose class A?" Aizawa asks Kaoru.

Kirishima's interest is piqued further by the question. He holds his ground, his back against the wall. He's talking about the League of Villains attacking the USJ. He's right. If people are after Kaoru, why'd they decided to join our class specifically knowing they might be put in danger? Kirishima wonders.

Kaoru swallows hard. Looking down, their eyes hidden in shadow. "I want to get stronger to become a Hero." Kaoru says. They grip their pajama pants now. "My uncle doesn't want me here because he thinks I'm in danger and that I can't take care of myself and that I need protecting. But…"

When Kaoru doesn't finish the sentence, Aizawa presses them. "'But'?"

Kaoru looks up at Aizawa, scowling. "I want to be strong! Like All Might!" Aizawa's eyes widened. Kirishima feels his jaw drop. "I'm tired of not being able to do anything to help or even be able to fend for myself!" Kirishima chokes a bit, those words sinking in and making him see Kaoru completely differently. Someone he could relate to. "I want to save people, and do so without needing to be saved myself!" Kaoru clenches their fists. "All I've ever known is being protected and cared for by Uncle. But I don't want that anymore." Kaoru grasps at their hoodie, at their heart. "I want to be able to take care of Uncle too! To be strong enough to take care of others and save others!" They look away, a bitter look on their face as they clench their teeth, the grip on their shirt tightening. "But I can't do that if I'm weak and need to be saved or taken care of." Kaoru lifts a fist with their free hand. "I want my power to be used to save others and help the ones who need it. I want my power to be used to be a Hero." Kaoru smiles. "I chose class 1A because I saw how your students were in the Sports Festival."

Aizawa gives Kaoru a questionable look. "The Sports festival, huh?"

Kaoru nods. "I heard your commentary and saw how determined Class 1A was. That's when I decided to join this class. I saw this class, and wanted to be right there with them all." Kaoru claps their fist into the palm of their hand. "I want to see them become heroes too! And I want to be a hero!"

Kirishima can't help but smile to himself at hearing this. We're pretty similar in more ways than I thought. Kirishima thinks. Kirishima decides to walk away now, satisfied with hearing Kaoru's declaration and resolve. Hearing Kaoru say those things makes me even more determined to improve. He clenches his fists, lifting them up, looking at them in front of him as he walks. I know they said they prefer neutral or female pronouns but I gotta admit. That speech of theirs was pretty manly. He drops his fists, walking towards the boy's room. I can't let them show me up! I'll get stronger too! I can't wait!

Back in the lobby, Aizawa gives the fox girl an intrigued grin. "There you go." He tells them. "That's the conviction I needed to see from you." He points at Kaoru. "So do you know how you want to improve?"

Kaoru nods. "Yes, sir!" They smile at him. "Thank you, Teacher." They look down at their hands. "I guess saying things out loud like that can help you work through a problem. I'll have to remember that."

Aizawa nods. "Your teachers and I want you and all of your classmates to succeed to become the best heroes you can be. Just remember that." Kaoru nods. He sighs. "For you… that starts with calling your Uncle."

Kaoru gives him a spacey look, completely not expecting that. "Eh?"

Aizawa gives Kaoru a threatening glare. "For the love of God, call that man and get him to stop calling me."

Kaoru shivers, cowering a little, their ears pulled back in fear as their tail tucks between their legs. "Okay. W-Will do, sir."

#mha oc #bnha oc #my hero academia oc #boku no hero acadamia oc #my hero Academia fanfiction #mha fanfiction #boku no hero academy fanfiction #bnha fanfiction #Kaoru Takaida #my mha oc #my bnha oc

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karukos · 4 years ago

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Mirrors: Ao3 | FF.Net Last Chapter: Here

"... the handcuffs are a rather recent development in the whole hero business. They suppress most power quirks the moment the wrist rings snap together, however, Darlings, remember that people with mutation quirks are largely unaffected! Still, they are quite sturdy, so there should be no problem with putting them onto a villain, even if they got a cute squirrel tail!"

Ms. Midnight explained, with a smile, using her riding crop to point at the picture of the anti-quirk handcuffs on the whiteboard, holding her notes in the other. Coming to the end of her explanation she looked into the class, before asking:

"So who of you can summarise how the handcuffs work?"

Immediately hands shot up into the air to answer the question, mostly the usual suspects, but notably Mineta's too, probably to score himself some sort of attention by the beautiful teacher. Unfortunately for him, the question still went to Iida, who instantly shot up from his chair.

"The handcuffs were introduced about 10 years ago by the Shiamoto Security Corporation. They emit electromagnetic waves through the wrist rings and activate when they are locked in place. They only work on activated quirks only but are still sufficiently practical as useful as normal handcuffs!"

"Good boy, sit!" Midnight answered, a small wink downwards with her crop accentuating what she was saying.

Putting her down her notes onto the table she continued on: "So much for theory! I want you to get into your gym clothes and I see you down at field B for some practice."

She let the tip of her crop smack against the flat of her hands, the sound being the sign for the students to scramble to their feet and quickly do as they were told!

Ten minutes later, the class had assembled down on the training field, standing in a neat half circle around their teacher, who had rolled out a small cart with a few pairs of anti-quirk handcuffs.

"Ok, split into groups of two, we are going to practice putting the handcuffs on! Those, who don't have a mutation quirk, feel free to try and use your powers regardless! It's good to see how that kind of thing feels!" Midnight explained, as she looked over their students. "No need to fight just yet, we are just getting familiar with these."

Honestly, Izuku couldn't really take his eyes off them. There were many questions he had in his head. Sure, he had paid attention in class, everybody reacted differently to it and some quirks were even totally unaffected, most of which were those that changed your body, but how would it work with him? Did it affect One for All? After all it was something that was put on him later. How was it with those quirks that had the effect on the mind of the user... So many questions...

"Midoriya, I would appreciate it if you could focus on training instead of mumbling to yourself."

With that Iida was bringing his training partner back from the long winded corridors of his own mind. It was almost embarrassing, Izuku laughing awkwardly as he lowered his hand from his mouth, folding them apologetically in front of him.

"Sorry about that! So who is going to start with putting them on?" he asked carefully, being mindful to not get distracted by his own inner monologue again.

It was basically a coin toss, before they decided that Izuku should be the first, picking up the handcuffs from the cart. They were definitely a bit heavier than he anticipated. He could imagine that somebody could use them as light dumbbells for starting out, before he turned them around in his hands.

There were some helpful buttons on the thing, towards the center, allowing it to spread further apart or tighter together. Also some sliders to make the cuff parts bigger or smaller as well as an auto adjust button. Really a neat tool!"

Practice itself was somewhat unsurprising while using it in Iida. Putting him in handcuffs was fun enough, the self-adjust function being particularly useful in making sure you were closing the cuffs quickly around anybody's wrist, even if they were as thick as Iida's. Unsurprisingly, it was pretty much impossible for his friend to rev up the engines on his legs.

For a moment, Izuku saw Iida's eyes gloss over as he was trying really hard to get everything moving before he soberly noted: "As expected, no matter how hard you try, it is not possible to activate your quirk. What an impressive piece of technology."

Izuku couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the way his friend was phrasing that, before he was undoing the handcuffs and handing them to him. With that, Deku held out his hands, waiting for Iida to get the settings right, as he let him try around and experiment as well. After all, they wanted to become more familiar with that tool.

"Alright" the runner muttered as he laid the cuffs over Izuku's wrist. Checking if everything was right he then quickly snapped them shut over his wrist.

The effects were pretty immediate. Deku could feel a slight warmth creep over his wrist that definitely felt irritating at first. The feeling quickly crept over his whole body, getting worse and worse bit by bit until finally coming to an halt at his stomach. Slightly nauseous. As if he had lain in bed and jumped too fast?ENot bothersome but definitely uncomfortable.

"Ok now for trying to..." The moment he started pulling from his quirk it was like he had been gut punched. Nausea rose up his chest, he felt like he was about to throw up. The stronger he fought the feeling, the harder he tried to activate his quirk the worse it got. Then it got stuck in his throat, giving him absolutely no relief, his belly feeling like it was about to convulse but it just couldn't build up the strength to push him over the edge and fire out that thing that made him sick.

After a few more seconds of trying, he just gave up, sweat rolling down his forehead as the more he pulled back, the better he started feeling again. Looking up Iida, he gave him a slight nod before his cuffs were once again unlocked and this uncomfortable warmth disappeared.

"That was certainly... an experience..." Deku announced. Iida just nodded in agreement. There was little more to say to that. Still feeling the remnants of that uncomfortable feeling in his gut, he looked around. It was clear, some were definitely taken to this better than others. Somewhere having the same glazed gaze that he had seen on Iida's face. Others were just doing quite fine. Minetta was looking both amused and frustrated that the cuffs had difficulties becoming small enough for his thin arms. Overall, a mixed bag of reactions."

"Ok boys and girls! Now that everybody got their taste with the cuffs, we are going to do the next step. One of you will play the villain, the other one playing the hero and you will try and put handcuffs on each other. First without quirks, then with them! But no holding back, I want to see you trying!"

Midnight announced the moment she felt like they had enough time to really experiment around. Izuku would have preferred if she had given them a bit more time, because a threatening aura started to build up behind him, starting to loom over him, bit by bit, drawing closer.

"As you are holding the handcuffs right now, Midoriya, let's make this quick. I will play the villain at first!" Iida announced in his usual bombastic fashion. Izuku himself only turned slowly to face him, a clot building up in his throat as he felt his friend getting into his villain persona for these kinds of exercises. "Oh boy" Izu whispered under his breath as he got himself ready for this...

______________

"I am very sorry, Midoriya! I did not mean to go that far" At a perfect angle Iida was bowing before the couch, in the same strict and proper manner that one was used to from him by now. On said couch laid a very distraught Izuku, two cooling bags on his shoulders after the training. Definitely not the worst injury he had endured over the last year or so, but it still hurt.

Regardless, with an awkward smile he was just waving his hand. "It's fine. I know you had the best intentions." Midoriya said with a forgiving smile as he felt the cool sooth his overexerted joints. Having Iida as partner in a Hero/Villain training usually bore the risk of going just a tad bit too far.

Ochaco could only sympathetically smile at the two, knowing all too well, that if it didn't hit Izuku she would be the one that would lie on that very couch now, complaining about her aching shoulders. One day, Iida would learn not to give 110% all the time. Today was not that day.

"At least we got a free schedule this afternoon. Any plans you guys had?" she asked her friends, switching away from the topic of having a pair of aching shoulders.

Both boys didn't even get time to think about their response. Leaning over the back of the couch Denki inserted himself into the conversation:

"The gang and me are looking at the new arcade near the mall today. If you wanna you can tag along."

The Deku squad exchanged a few glances between each other before they just shrugged (a little ouch from Deku for that) before they agreed to come along. It sounded like a fun time at least.

With that decided they started packing up for the little trip, Izuku letting Iida do him the favor of grabbing his stuff while he was enjoying the last few minutes with the cooling bags soothing his pain before they got ready to go.

In the next few minutes all were lined up at the bos stop of the campus. Denki, Mina, Bakugo, Sero, Jiru, Eijiro, Izuku, Ochaco... and with that IIda was done counting the number of participants. Maybe some of them started regretting bringing their class rep along. Either way, they were on the bus sooner rather than later?On the way to the arcade!

"It's been a while since I've been at an arcade. Used to have one nearby where I lived when I was in middle school still" Sero started recounting. "It closed though, shortly before I graduated. Was a shame, really."

"We also had one nearby our school. But I really only went there with Kacchan when we were little." Deku chimed in from behind Serofs seat, somewhat timidly while he fondly remembered those few early birthday parties, when he was still invited, that ended before rows of gaming cabinets.

"Deku is the worst person to invite to the arcade," Bakugo boomed from the back row of the bus. gFirst, he will do absolutely nothing all day and cling to you like a leech until he finds one machine and then hogs that machine for the rest of the day! And even when you go home, he will still only talk about nothing else but that one damn game!?EClearly, he was remembering those times just as vividly as Izuku.

There were some giggles, most of them somewhat awkward over how tense the relationship between the two still was. Some were just giggling because of how?Ewell, Deku it was. It was not difficult to imagine that Izuku out of all people would sink himself way too deep into one game.

But the bus went on and as the chatter moved away from the past, they arrived at the mall and moved to the arcade as a closed group. Deku trailed at the back with Iida. Iida of course looking out so nobody was left behind.

Izuku, on the other hand, felt more like keeping a bit on the downlow. Sure, it wasn't really embarrassing what Kacchan revealed about him. Heck, even the fact that some laughed actually didn't hurt really. After all, he could tell there were no ill intentions. It was more the uncomfortable realization that he had done something like that without ever having really realized that. One might even call it guilt but from a time long gone" It was difficult to explain.

Either way, they ended up at the entrance of the arcade, everybody lining up nicely to charge up their point cards (Iida was pleased with how orderly everything was going) before they arranged the rest of their little adventure:

Everybody was allowed to go where they pleased. Should any issues arise, they would send it into the group chat. At 6 PM they would meet back up right there at the counter, where they were currently talking in front of.

And with that the group dispersed into the long halls of the arcade, disappearing into the land of games and gimmicks, each into their small, little groups. That left behind Iida, Ochaco and Izuku.

"Well, I guess we get going too?" Uraraka suggested as she started to lead the two boys into the dim hall of the arcade. Discussions started pretty immediately, which games she should decide on.

"... I didn't buy as many points. I wanna make them count!" She explained with her face in concentrated furrows as she stood in front of a "Dance Dance Revolution" machine, looking at the two foot pads... It was really fun she knew that. But playing alone? No way, and asking either of those two.... no, that might come across as weird.

"You know, you could have asked, if you wanted to loan. We are out to have fun and you do not need to hold back."Izuku offered with his ever kind smile on his face. Really, it would not be a big deal and he already knew what her response would be?Ebut it felt wrong not to mention it at least.

"Ah, no, no worries. It would feel wrong to borrow money for something so trivial." she shot the offer down with a handwave, a somewhat awkward smile on her face. This felt a bit played in at this point, a small ritual they practiced each time they went out somewhere. It was one of these strange ticks of wanting to help and somebody who doesn't want to be helped.

"Let's move on or we are going to take root here." Iida said after a moment of contemplation as they continued through the narrow hallways, flanked by potentially interesting games on either side. Talking was becoming increasingly difficult, though. The space between the arcade machines was rather narrow and only could comfortably fit two people walking next to each other.

And then there was the fact that walls were swallowing a lot of sound. If you were not right next to each other it was really hard to understand what the other person was saying. So all things considered, this was perfect for a pair of two to enjoy their day at the arcade, undisturbed by the many people that were around them... strangely intimate.

However, right now, it made Izuku feely strangely isolated. As it was right now, Iida and Ochaco were the pair walking next to each other. In part, because Iida was more prone to talk, in other part, because after what he heard on the bus, Izuku tried his hardest to not repeat the sins of the past... and somehow that meant that when they were walking he ended up trailing behind his two friends.

It was somewhat ironic. Over the last few months, he had definitely started gaining a lot more confidence and he felt more and more at home with his friends. Still, old habits seem to die hard. Especially when you brought up the past. His mind wandered back a little, knowing he was a bit too stuck in his own mind... yet he hardly could help himself. Before he even realized it really he had fallen behind a few steps behind his friends, who were seemingly debating something very intensely.

He stepped forward, about to call out to the two, when suddenly a hand started to run around his face, pushing onto his mouth. He could hardly even react, think before something round and hard was pressing into his back. it didn't need much to figure out what was pressing into his back. Instantly, Izuku raised his hands, showing that he was unharmed while he could feel the barrel of the gun rub against his spine.

"It's so good to see you, Izu~~~" a sweet, excited voice purred right into his ear from behind. A voice he knew... especially in situations like that...

"Himiko Toga?" he muttered carefully into her hand, just earning himself a giggle while she gently lowered her hand from his mouth down to his throat. "Say that again, please~" she cooed

Feeling sweat running down his skin, he took a deep breath. Might as well humor her... it worked before.

"Himiko To-'' he started before he heard a quiet squee coming from the girl standing behind him, feeling her breath against his neck as she leaned a bit closer, feeling the edge of the gun press a bit harder into him. "Uhuhuhu~, i like it when you say my name."

Just as she was saying that, something went through his head. This was Himiko Toga. He had never seen her use a gun. And it was not just one instance of meeting her. She always used a knife, didn't she? She used one last time too...

Carefully Izuku strained his eyes to look as much to the side as he possibly could... From the corner of his vision he could see a cabinet for a rail shooter. Maybe it was a bit of a gamble, but if he would look down, he was pretty sure that one of the toy guns they use for controls would be missing... and the cable they were attached to would lead right to the girl behind him.

He took a deep breath, his hands shaking from all the adrenalin basically boiling in his blood. It was a bit of a gamble but what he was about to do. "I am going to move..." he announced.

Slowly he moved his hands, reaching to his throat, where he could still feel her fingers curled around his neck, not enough to hurt, for now, but definitely made him think twice about moving fast. Gently, slowly, he laid his hand over hers. He exhaled, realizing he had held his breath up until now, before deciding to push forward the moment he noticed no resistance coming from the girl behind him.

"I am going to turn around." he added after a moment. Leading her hand away from his neck he started diving under his own arm as he kept holding onto her hand as he turned bit by bit until he finally faced her. Golden eyes stared at him, her smile becoming wider and wider... somehow he got the feeling she was expecting something. For a moment, he was lost, just staring back at her as the only thing going through his head was the relief of seeing that she was indeed just holding a toy gun.

A moment passed and Toga just seemed content with looking at him, letting all that just had happened sink in, before suddenly purred out: "I also like it when Izu's holding my hand~"

Like a hammer, that strange realization hit Izuku right in the gut, his eyes widening, his heart skipping a beat. The strange realization that he was holding hands with her came some out of nowhere that it threw him for a loop. He already could feel blood rushing up into his head, his cheeks start glowing bright red, while he tried to let go of her hand, but it did not seem like Toga was going to give him that luxury. With a wide smile on her face she held tight onto him, humming happily as she scooted just a little bit closer.

"What are you doing here?" Izuku kind of blurted out of nowhere, his eyes frantically checking between her face and their hands. Just when he thought he was sweating before... Honestly, you would think that knowing that you are not in immediate danger would calm you down, but if anything his heartbeat was just increasing with every passing moment.

"Oh Izu~" she really liked saying his name, it seemed. "I could ask you the same thing."

Somehow, that was quite the surprising answer. He had no idea why, but the thought that a villain would go somewhere for amusement and fun... it did not occur to him before.

"S-so..." he tried to continue, but honestly he had nothing. What was he supposed to say now? He still stood there with her pretty close to him, his fingers still intertwined with hers. He was not sure if he had suddenly dropped out of all nervousness or if his anxiety had transcended to the point, where he was just looking at her with his mouth agape, wrestling for words.

Then the thought occurred to him that somebody could see them like that together. Would they know? What if his friends were seeing him like this? They WOULD know that he was sure now. How could he explain to him what happened. Could he explain it? Sure, this was very much a similar situation to that he was in just before the training camp but... really that was not it.

He probably had been silent for a little bit too long, because she was tilting her head, clearly trying to get in his head somehow. There was at least the distinct feeling that she was looking right through him right now. But he couldn't do the same. He stared in her golden eyes and just... he couldn't quite understand what was going on behind them. If anything, there was just the distinct feeling that he was not actually in danger right now, that holding a toy gun to his back was just her sense of humor...

But apparently, Toga had had it with just waiting around. With a hum she turned slightly towards the booth, tugging on his hand until he came closer to her once more, still feeling the anxiety but at this point he was just complicit.

"So... since introductions are out of the way. Have you ever played this game?" She asked, as she twirled the toy gun in her hands, standing just a tiny bit behind him to lean a bit closer to him.

It took him a bit of looking. But honestly, it didn't take a genius to figure out what this game was about even if he hadn't heard of it before. A rail shooter, for one or two players, since there were two controllers. From the look of the banner, he could guess something along the lines of a military shooter, where you would play as some action star. Not usually the kind of game he would go for.

"Can't say that I have." he admitted. He thought about maybe elaborating on it, but he didn't even get to finish that thought as Toga pushed the controller into his hands, putting her palms around his fingers to make him grab the gun with a big, toothy grin. "Then let's try it out, Izuuu~"

Before he could really say anything she had snuck behind him and laid her arms around him and her chin onto his shoulder. It felt a little bit weird. After all he was a bit taller than her, meaning she had to balance herself on her toes. Well and then there was the fact that she was pushing herself against his back in such an... intimate way. The way she put her weight on him, trusting him to not just suddenly move or step aside.

Somewhere in his head he just came to the conclusion that he felt way more nervous about this than he should be. But it didn't really help that; "I am not really that good at shooter games..." he confessed as she pushed the controller into his hands, closing her fingers around his hands. This was not helping at all!

"They are still fun, right?" Toga asked, more so whispering in his ear instead of saying out loud. Izuku stopped for a moment, thinking. She had a point, he supposed. Trying to reason back was haard, because he got nothing really. Were they fun? He hadn't tried playing anything like this for such a long time that he honestly had no idea, really!

"Not really sure." He finally managed to press out. In response, Toga just raised her hands, wordlessly starting up the game for the both of them. The game loudly announced its title and went to a screen, just the stereotypical image of someplace in an arid desert. In the middle of the screen appeared a crosshair that started following the movements of the controller, right now bobbing in place from Izuku's shaking hands. Well, it seemed like Toga made him figure out if those kinds of games were fun to him!

The first enemies started to appear on screen, his hands jerking in the right direction to press the trigger on the toy gun. Bang! and that soldier keeled over dramatically, earning him a giggle into his ear, by the girl learning so close to him. Before he could even process that giggle, she had moved his hand into position for the next enemy appearing, leaving him to only have to push the trigger once more.

Somehow this was the way their teamwork was going to work out. She moved the gun and Izuku would jerk to shoot. Here and there he earned himself a giggle from her, tickling the back of his ears, especially when there was a particularly gory kill on screen. There was some enjoyment in hearing her laugh like that even if it was maybe not what he would call wholesome. It was just a different kind of carefree, a shred of humanity that he had not experienced to this degree. After all, there was nobody here to fool, like she might have had to last time.

Though, like all good things, this too had to come to an end. As well as they might work together, here and there an enemy appeared faster than they could react and shot them before they could do him the favor. GAME OVER!!! Well it was certainly fun as long as it lasted. Their points flashed across the screen. The leaderboard asked for the 3 letters to indicate how well they matched up to everyone else.

Before he could even think about it, Toga had already positioned the toy, hammering in IZU into the machine before finally, and quickly, let go of his hands, positively as she was practically vibrating in place. "That was fun! Is there anything you come out here to play?"

Izuku was just in the process of putting back the controller, still thinking on what just happened, as he mindlessly aped: "Anything I want to play?"

He honestly didn't really think about it. Just like everybody else in his group he had come here with no expectation with what this arcade had to offer, so that question left him a bit off balance. The fact that she implied that she was now with him somehow managed to fly completely over his head.

"I got nothing planned, really" he admitted. For a moment she just smiled widely, before reaching once more for his hand, dragging him away without needing to say another word. Walking along the cabinets she would stop here and there, looking around then looking at him, her eyes wide open in excitement. Somehow that reminded him a bit of cats, walking in front of you but stopping ever so often if you were following them despite being just a footstep behind them.

While she was clearly keeping her eyes out for something, something came to Izuku's mind, making him look around attentively as they essentially retraced his steps before she had found him. A few cabinets he had already seen along the way, a rhythm game or two, whose flashy logos had stuck in his mind... Oh!

Toga almost fell backwards as Izuku abruptly stopped in his tracks. Seemed like he had found something. Standing in front of the dancing platform, he chewed on his words a lit bit before asking: "Would you like to try this one out with me?"

A light blush appeared on his face as the realization of what he had just asked went through his head. It kinda had just come out in that moment without any thought, thinking only about that it might be fun... but of course there was more to it. This was what turned this accidental, little uncomfortable meeting into something else entirely.

It was not lost on her either. A flush on her cheeks and that wide grin on her face again; She definitely got the message he had unintentionally and thoughtlessly sent. Her fingers curled a little bit tighter around his hand and with a quick "Yes, of course!" they were already on top of the dancing pads, looking at the shared screen.

"Any song you would like to try?" Izuku asked, gallantly trying to ask for her favorites before his own, whatever those might turn out to be. He was fairly confident in his ability to dance, thinking back to the choreography they had practiced in for the culture festival. Even if that had been a hasty affair back then.

After a little bit of consideration. Toga just shook her head. "Anything that you are okay with, I am too!" Meanwhile, with her hands on the railing, she already was testing the foot pedals a little, hearing the satisfying register sound. Seemed like she was more than eager to start!

Flicking through the list, they settled, or rather he asked about it and she enthusiastically nodded, on a rather generic rock song that he had occasionally heard on the radio. It seemed easy enough.

The song started playing, the screen jumped to a split screen for the both of them as a countdown started flashing in rhythm. Then arrows. Many many arrows! And quite fast too! It seriously caught Izuku off guard at first, not hitting the first few inputs, leaving him to struggle to get back into the rhythm for a few moments before he finally got a hang of it, just in the knick of time before the health bar on top of his screen fell to zero.

Quickly he started to realize why there was a railing behind the platform. Holding onto it, it was a lot easier to quickly move your feet since you didn't have to move all of your weight to step on the buttons. It felt like at times it was otherwise downright impossible to move quickly enough. Leaning back more and more, he was practically sitting on it as he fought to make not too many mistakes.

By the time the song was over, he had started working up a bit of a sweat, feeling his breath deepening a little already. He really didn't expect that this game, and particularly this song, was so intense...

"Oh, that was fun!" Toga announced from the side, standing there with a positively elated expression on her face. Sure, she too had worked up a bit of sweat running down her brow, but she seemed to take to this much quicker than Izuku.

Still left a little bit breathless, Izuku looked over to this excited bundle of energy that Toga currently was and just offered. "Want to try a song on your own?"

He was not sure if that was okay with her. After all, she seemed somewhat insistent before doing things together. But as worried as he might be that she was not going to like it, it seemed like she was quite open to the idea.

Finger against her chin, she scrolled to the different songs. For a moment there was a wordless silence as the different song previews blared from the speakers. It took her a little, hovering over one particular song before she shook her head and moving on.

"What would you like to see me dance to?" she asked after a few more moments of scrolling around aimlessly.

Izuku was taken aback for a moment. That simply sounded so wrong. Somewhat suggestive even. There was a bit of excitement bubbling up inside of him and in equal, maybe bigger, parts shame for even thinking of it in that way.

"Uhm... I... no idea." He more-or-less blurted out before taking a good look at the screen again. There were a bunch of good songs, of course, but it seemed like she had put all the way of the decision onto him, as if it was his enjoyment that mattered. And that made him feel weird all over again.

"How about you try that one?" He sugged rather meekshily as he scrolled to the song in question for her, earning him a grin and a wink as she pressed the button to select the song and stood up straight again, hands going away from the railing and instead straight away from her body while cooing:

"Watch me closely, Izu~!" just when the song started up its into and the first arrows started to appear on screen.

So he did. He watched as she put on a concentrated pout and started stepping around, dancing about on the little dance square square provided. Watching the many hits and the few misses, but most importantly, he was watching her.

There were a few things that occurred to him in that moment: For one, Toga was actually pretty cute. Somehow in his guts he had of course always known it. However, normally his brain was so occupied by the danger she exuded, that the thought that he could feel himself getting drawn to her somehow did not register.

But now that he could see it this obviously: A girl so excitable, so energetic.... he couldn't help but stare a little, being drawn in by the way she danced around the platform. A few more thoughts were going through to his. A few more things that he could neither describe nor put into words, while the song was coming to its last beats. A few more steps and she was done, holding her balance on her toe tips as she waited for her score in eager anticipation.

Izuku felt the heat in his face rise out of nowhere. He could not quite place his finger onto why. Maybe the aftereffect of resting after dancing so much. The tingling in his belly told him almost immediately that he was lying to himself.

The screen flashed for a moment before displaying her score in bold letters. With a big grin on her face, she turned towards him, holding up her hands in victory. "Well, how did I do~?" She asked with cheeky confidence.

There was probably something smart to say in this situation, maybe something witty, but nothing would to his mind right now. He just felt the flush on his face rise further ,every part of his body pulling around his heart as if it was trying to try and stop it from growing three times just from looking at this girl.

Out of nowhere he suddenly felt like he was jerked back to reality harshly. Right, she was still waiting for his response, didn't she? Hastily looking at her score then back to her, he just blurted out: "Amazing!"

Probably a bit louder than necessary, but he preferred it over letting her sit in awkward silence even if he felt even more weird now.

"Well, that was fun. Come, Izuku, let's try some other games too!" Toga announced with a satisfied grin on her face. Walking over to him she expected her to just grab his arm and drag him off like had done before, but no... Holding out her hand she impatiently happened from one foot to the other.

Once more their fingers entwined, the third time now... just that it felt different to the other two times for Izuku. This time it felt warmer, more... appreciated. Sure, there was still nervousness and the fact that there was a certain discomfort in the closeness, but it felt good to walk with her hand in hand.

"How often do you come to the mall?" Izuku asked after a few moments of quietly searching the next game they could enjoy together. He didn't really know why he asked. Did he want to see her more or less? Come here more often or avoid it altogether for safety...

"Whenever i have time and money. So not that often. If people see me anywhere too regularly, it would become too much of a hassle, so I am here sporadically." She explained surprisingly freely and casually. The implications... the situation she was in; none of that was lost on him right now.

For a moment, he thought of bringing it up to her more clearly but he decided against it. He already understood; there was no point for asking for any further clarification.

"Any other places you usually go to?" He inquired instead, stopping in front of a puzzle game, looking at it with interest for a moment before moving on. He was in company. Not the time for a puzzle game.

"There is this burger restaurant somewhere on the edge of the mall... I have been there only once, but... the burgers there were so good. Really juicy too~ It was also nice and dim there, so I could stay around for a bit longer instead of just having to stop and go as fast as I could."

Izuku had known before that she was excitable, but this was just a bit different. Mostly, because what they were having right now was an actual, real conversation. Not some kind of play pretend. No mother would believe that she was his girlfriend or anybody else. Just her talking about something she liked to him.

"Haven't been there before..." He replied, a gentle smile sneaking onto his lips. "Maybe..."

That was about as far as he got with his words, with his thoughts. A loud cry disturbed the two, the sound of a tiny body dropping onto the floor. Izuku instantly started looking around. It didn't take long for him to find the source of those noises. To his left, right in the middle of a crossway a little boy had thrown himself onto the ground in frustration, his whole body quaking as he tried to keep the wailing inside, even if it seemed like it could burst out at any moment.

Without losing even a moment of thought about it, he was by the boy's side, one hand gently on his back. It was clear the toddler couldn't hold it any longer. Tears streamed down that tiny face, his mouth twitched all the way down and just before the bawling began, he started reaching to the closest thing for comfort... which in this case was, of course, Izuku.

Clinging to him like a little monkey, couldn't help but pick him up, consoling by stroking him gently over his head, rocking him gently while he tried to make him as comfortable as possible. Looking back at Toga, he found an unreadable expression on her face, her golden eyes seemingly having gone twice as wide as before, observing him and the boy close... to an uncomfortable degree. Honestly, he just hoped that he didn't just piss her off by suddenly jumping into action.

"I want my mommy!!!" The cry went off right next to his ear like a bomb. He knew that no matter what, that this kid demanded his full attention right now and no was not an answer anymore. An apologetic glance towards the girl he started patting the boy's back while rocking him up and down gently.

"Hey, hey... it's okay. Can you tell us where your mom might be?" Izuku asked calmly over the constant "Weh!" that was seemingly overshadowing every other sound in the arcade. Again he tried to repeat his question but he couldn't get a single bit of info out of the boy. At least until...

"I think I found something..." he felt somebody tugging at his shirt, drawing his attention away from the toddler. Once more he was looking at those wide, golden eyes, with no idea how to read what was happening behind them. But her gaze made him follow hers, down to the belt of the boy.

A small shield was attached there, a number handwritten onto it with a small message: "Hello, my name is Chonchi. I've lost my mom. Please call at this number:"

WHat a smart mother! Also probably meant, that this was probably not the first time this happened. Still, an easy solution to their problem!

"Great job, Toga!" he praised her, a wide, beaming smile on his face. "Can you call her for me, while I try to keep him calm?"

The corners of her mouth twitched lightly, not as much as he was to though. Shaking her head though, she explained: "Can't. I don't have my phone on me." Still showing that puzzling expression.

"Oh, no problem. You can use mine. It's in my left pocket." He explained turning the side towards her while she just wordlessly nodded. A little bit of eye contact, her expression changed back to that wide, toothy grin and a twinkle of mischief shone through her eyes as she reached for his phone.

The moment he felt her touch on the inside of his pocket he realized how strange what he said was. The twinkle of mischief had told him as much, honestly. Just for that moment his hero attitude wavered, giving for the part of him that was still a teenage boy that just offered a girl, he just found out was really, really cute, rummaging in his pocket for his phone... and she actually went for it.

The fact that she was taking longer than necessary just made his blood rough through his body even faster. Despite the toddler blaring and screaming at full lungs right next to his ear, his focus was entirely absorbed by the subtle touch against his thigh, the rush of his heat and the tingle that exploded from every single spot up into his belly.

While Toga successfully pulled out his phone, all he could do was stand there, mechanically rocking the boy up and down, aping the notion of trying to calm the child down. His mind, however, lingered on the feeling in his stomach. On the one hand, he definitely liked maybe this went too far... on the other hand, fireworks and volcanoes were the orchestra in his guts to the rapid drumming of his heart.

In the meantime, Toga had started fumbling with his phone. Maybe a little longer than he expected. With a concentration expression on her face she pushed on the screen as she struggled to make a call with it, it seemed.

"If you swipe to the right in the lock screen, it should give you a number pad." Izuku explained after a few more moments, earning him an atypical sweet smile. With that figured out she hammered in the number and pressed the phone against her ear, looking at him in awkward anticipation, while he tried to keep the toddler as quiet as he could.

"Yes? Hello, we have a toddler here, with your number on his belt... yes... of course... yes... yes... no, no problem.... yes... yes, we can go there." So it seemed like Toga was very decent at handling the phone call, her expression imitating somebody with a lot more maturity than either of them had. Mouth pulled down and brows pulled up with a polite smile finishing the look.

If the situation would have been different he might have found that amusing. Like that he was more so occupied bouncing in place while he watched her finish the call, eager to figure out what had been said on the other side of the line.

With a little sigh, she finally put the phone down, looking right at him before explaining: "The mom is going to wait at the claw machine cause they apparently are at an easy to spot location because they are one end of the arcade hall."

She made a short pause, eye contract unbroken still as she raised the phone back up. "Do you want me to hold onto it for the time being or do you want me to stuff it back in?"

Instantly he felt blood rush into his head, like steam was going to explode from his ears. Not only because he realized how much she was clearly flirting with him, but she pretty much confirmed that she noticed how much getting the phone had gotten to him.

"I-if you... you could hold onto it... I would... I would really appreciate that." he managed to stutter awkwardly, feeling like his collar was suddenly a tad bit too tight. Somehow she seemed happy about that response. But with that out of the way he turned to leave, looking for the claw machine... maybe also just trying to change the topic.

Going through the rows of machines for a little, it seemed like Toga quickly got tired of just walking next to Izuku. Not even though that kid was still crying tears and snot into his shoulder, that would not stop her from being close to him. Even if he had no hand free, she could still hook herself under his arm, leaning onto him as much as possible.

He could feel how much she was pushing him. It was pretty clear that was getting into his comfort zone, whichever way she could think of without scaring him off or getting the child to become even louder. Honestly, he did not really really know when she would overstep his limits. Conflicting emotions... on the one hand, it was uncomfortable , on the other, incredibly exhilarating, incredibly intimate like wading together through the dark, seeing when they would finally hit a wall. At what point did she push too far? Not even himself knew.

However, true enough, the claw machines were really not hard to find. Basically just walking away from the entrance the whole time made him find a whole row of them on the wall. Now, it was just a question of either finding the mom or waiting for her right there.

"At least, he stopped crying" Toga mentioned somewhat dryly, still clinging to Izuku's arm while looking at the kid with his whole face sunk against his shoulder, small hands bunched up around the cloth of his shirt. ONly an occasional hiccup showed that the kid had not fallen asleep.

"He probably had to get all that out of his system. Now he just tired." Izuku guessed, still occasionally rocking him lightly up and down, although he had to admit his arms started to ache somewhat from carrying the toddler around. But he didn't want to risk stirring the kid up by putting him down somewhere.

"We kinda look cute this way, aren't we?" Toga asked after a few too many minutes of waiting, having changed to leaning more so against one of the plastic boxes, hands crossed behind her back while she impatiently shifted her weight around heels. Clearly, that was getting boring very quickly to her.

"What do you mean?" he followed up, standing there attentively looking out for a woman that looked somehow similar to the kid in his arms, maybe somebody that looked a bit more distressed. Admittedly, he got a little bit bored, so talking with Toga was more than welcomed. Now, if only the first words coming from her mouth wouldn't immediately turn his cheeks bright red.

"Oh you know, when we were walking... me on one arm and a child in the other. Like a teenager that went too far too quickly but they stuck it out together either way." She explained herself, with her hands suddenly bashfully pressed against her cheeks, framing her face. Somehow he had the feeling that she was teasing him... and well, it was working. Then again, there was a light bit of red on her face, making him wonder if that was something she was actually fantasising about... that he did not know how to feel about.

"I-if you say so..." was the only thing he reasonably could respond to this. Well, despite everything it was still Toga. He better kept that in mind, even if that image of her was shifting even as they just stood there.

"I think I am seeing someone" she interrupted his thoughts before he could come to any kind of conclusion. Following her gaze, the woman really jumped out to him too, now that he had seen her. A rather small woman, pushing herself through the crowd, bouncing up and down as she tried to look over the shoulders of the people in front of her to orientate herself... somehow she reminded Izuku of his own mother a little bit.

As she came closer and closer, the reason for this whole mishap became quite clear, quite quickly. Pulled along by her was another child, maybe a year or two older than what he presumed was the sibling of the toddler he was holding. It did not much to imagine the situation of one kid going one way and the other staying behind or walking the other way... probably the nightmare of any parent, but unfortunately somewhat unavoidable at times.

The moment she spotted the teens she hurried over to them, while they were just waving and (at least Toga) jumping up and down to make sure she could not miss them. The exchange afterwards was quick and painless. The mother thanked them and apologized for bothering them by not looking after her child properly, before they slowly pried the now sleeping kid off of Izuku's shoulder before they could part ways.

"Well, that was something..." Toga noted, the moment the little family was out of earshot, her expression having gone from polite girl to something... a bit more annoyed. It kinda just occurred to Izuku, that she was cooperative to the whole affair way more because of him, than because of her own drive. Something that he was not sure how to feel about, but something deep down basically seemed to either gloss over the fact or forgave her immediately.

"Yup... definitely... So what now?" he asked, rolling his aching shoulder a little bit. Not a good day for his favorite pair of joints.

"We are already here, aren't we?" She noted, the happy energy from before quickly returning to her as she nodded over her shoulder towards the claw machines. "You could make this a proper date and get me something, Izu~"

And there she went and said out loud, what was quietly the undercurrent of this whole thing. Yep, this was a date alright. It might have started out somewhat weirdly but it was a date without doubt. Even if it left him suddenly holding his breath as if she was going to say "Just kidding" at any moment now.

But the "just kidding" didn't come. So he was left there, standing in the realization that this was his first proper date with any girl as he turned towards the many, many claw machines behind them. Rows of toys and plushes lining the area.

"Anything in particular you want?" he resolved himself to ask, feeling tingly all over as he realized he basically just admitted to date now fully, without any wiggle room for just making it "an accidental meeting" or anything of sorts. No, this was implicitly and explicitly a date.

"Hmmm..." she hummed looking through the row of boxes before pointing. "How about that one?" She asked, with a grin, pointing towards a plush of an orange cat with golden eyes. Honestly, he wondered why that didn't jump out to him immediately as well.

"... al-alright then." he stepped closer to the machine, letting the card charge the points. "Wish me luck... i guess?" Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew he was starting to behave weirdly. On the other hand. He really had not much control over it. There was so much to process at once the moment, she got a bit more explicit. Of course, he should not be surprised given their other interactions, but... he was agreeing to it right now. That was the part that really threw him for a loop.

With a lot of jingles, the machine came to life, the claw started to move... With a deep breath, Izuku started to concentrate, carefully pressing the buttons while he tried to commit himself to the task at hand. Maybe that could banish the whirlwind going through his head at that moment. At least momentarily...

Maybe it was better that he did. After all, claw machines were... something. Incredibly difficult, unpredictable, sometimes moving in ways that you would not expect and other descriptors of that likeness; with a big frown on his face he had made several attempts to get that golden eyed cat, while Toga was casually coming closer and closer, softly cheering him on from the side.

"Almost got it~! Next time you get it for sure." She purred into his ear until finally, with his fingers starting to feeling kinda tingly, he started to make promises to her encouragement. The claw finally had hooked itself into one of the paws, slowly dragging it upwards, slowly carefully. With shaky motions it was slowly hovering itself towards the reward chute.

Thunk, click, clack... at this point, Izuku already had started to relax. The cat dropped down, the sensor opened the chute and there it was! This had been way more stressful than he had expected from such a silly little machine. Who made them this difficult? This was stupid!

"You did it! You did it!" he heard from the side as he felt a pair of arms wrapping tight around his chest, pulling him close, a warm embrace mixed with the sudden up and down as Toga was bouncing in place. And there it rushed all back into him.

There was only so much distraction could do to let you ignore the fact that your heart was beating up your throat, the fact that all the time a cold sweat was trying to contain the heat that was rushing through your entire body and the butterflies that were flying around your belly in a rapid frenzy. Honestly, he did not even mind it that much. There was a dopey smile on his face as he bounced a little bit with her, just as there was a healthy sum of fear of the feelings that were boiling up in him.

With shaky hands, he reached into the machine and carefully pulled out the stuffed toy like it was a prized treasure. It was really just a simple thing, but it was something he had seen in movies, something he had glanced at when passing the TV, or what he read in mangas while he was trying to act like romance was not that interesting to him, when he was in that age... and now he was doing that himself.

Maybe he was overthinking this, of course, but honestly, he could not stop thinking about these things when he turned towards the blond haired girl that had started conjuring all this up for him.

"F-for you..." he said with the biggest case of "speaking before thinking" as he held the orange cat out for her.

Toga just replied with a big grin on her face, her eyes softening from their usual expression to a gentle expression he had not really seen on her before. Gently she hugged it, pressing it against her cheek and let the softness grace her skin. For a moment, she was focused on that feeling before she looked back to Izuku, stepping closer.

"Thank you, Izu~" she purred into his ear as she leaned so close her mouth was right next to his ear, before turning slightly to press a kiss onto his cheek.

He thought he knew what fires could rage in his body. He thought he knew how his blood could boil. He thought he knew hard everything in the body could squeeze together... but nothing quite could have prepared him for the onstorm of what just happened. He went stiff in a second, every muscle tensed, color shot up into his head so fast he had no idea that was even physically possible while his heart felt like it was leaping out of his chest, green sparks suddenly flying for a split second... Any more and he probably would have jumped through the roof of the building, catapulted by the sudden explosion going off in his heart.

"S-so what e-else would you want to do?" For the third time, he tried the tactic of distracting himself, but... already he could tell he was not exactly working. His hand traced his cheek again and again, making his whole body shiver at that memory that was burning itself into his brain permanently.

"Mmmh, don't know. Let's look around!" The simplest answer from her. Fingers locked together and time became a whirl. Flashing colors, moving pieces and so many more things that made his head spin. Toga did know how to press his buttons, to keep him on edge with the way she was keeping to him, and keeping him paying attention to her, no matter how much he shied away from it at first.

When the time came for it to stop, he already felt lightheaded. In a great many ways, he was exhausted, but at the same time brimming with energy. But the clock didn't lie... finishing the last game, he confirmed that the numbers on the screen of his phone were indeed showing the correct time.

"I think I need to go..." he announced in a weird voice. Suddenly he felt... deflated. Reality slowly had found its way back into his head. There was a world outside of these games and a place where the fact that he was standing peacefully next to Toga would have raised more than a few eyebrows. A world, where this cute girl next to him was a coldblooded killer. And it was not like he did not know that. It just came back to him at this very inopportune time.

"Awww, well, I should probably go too. The others probably already wondered what I am up to." And it sounded so normal, if it wasn't for the fact, that the 'others' were the most dangerous group of terrorists and villains in the country. So what to do from there? Should he do something, probably, but... there was a certain weight on his heart about that.

"So... yeah..." What should he say to her now? Goodbye? See you around? Until next time? All of these seemed terribly morbid all of the sudden. Maybe he should do that anyways, just to not ruin the mood completely? The fact that there was a switch inside of him, that flicked so quickly from euphoria to anxiety somewhat worried him.

"I had a lot of fun today, Izu~" she started out, gently drawing close to him, arms stretched out already to him. "Maybe one day, we will be able to repeat it."

With that she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a hug, something she hesitantly reciprocated. This was, not that bad really. It just felt all kinds of weird right now. Although he had to admit, the cat plush that was currently pressing into the small of his back, was so much more preferable to the knives, to the toy gun... It was much softer. And somehow his mind latched onto that a little.

"Yeah maybe." he answered with his voice feeling weirdly heavy. Toga grinned her typical grin, from one ear to the other with mischief written all over her face as they parted, giving him a small wave. And as soon as he blinked... she was gone. He could not quite tell how she did it, but she had stepped into the crowd and disappeared completely.

Somehow the room, despite all the people he was surrounded by, suddenly felt strangely lonely. Once again he looked down at the clock on his phone... yeah it was time. Maybe, when he was back with his friends, this little pit in his heart would disappear... And with that he navigated back to their meeting point.

#midoriya izuku #Deku #Toga #Himiko Toga #Boku no hero academia #BNHA #MHA #My Hero Academia #Romance #TodaDeku #Frame of Mind #my writing

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shels-kpop-main · 5 years ago

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Hera & Zeus: Origins (The Pantheon AU)

The origin story of The Pantheon’s favorite power couple.

Word Count: 3,850

Warnings: Injury (broken bones, gunshot wounds), little bit of angst, brief mentions of sex

Hera tried to be happy when Zeus graduated. She tried to be happy for her dearest friend, and to cheer enthusiastically as he crossed the stage to receive his diploma. And she gave Zeus as genuine a smile as she could when he found her after the ceremony. His graduation cap was knocked off as she tackled him for a hug, arms going around his neck in a tight embrace. Zeus kissed the side of her head, and Hera felt tears sting the corners of her eyes.

“Don’t you cry, love,” Zeus murmured, reading her like a book. He brushed her cheek with his fingertips.

“I’m really happy for you,” she insisted weakly. Zeus gave her a knowing look in response.

“Two years is a long time,” Hera admitted, looking up at him with glassy eyes. Zeus nodded solemnly.

“I know. It will fly by, though. Just focus on your classes, and I’ll be there when you’re done.”

“I’m going to have to train alone. I won’t know anyone,” Hera almost whispered.

“That’s not true.” Zeus hugged her again.

“Even if I make friends, they won’t be y--”

“I’ll wait for you,” Zeus said in a rush of words. Hera leaned back to look at him in confusion. Her fingers tapped nervously on his sides.

“What?”

“I’ll wait for you. I promise.” And he meant it. But Hera shook her head.

“That’s not your choice to make, John.”

“Zeus,” he corrected her. “And I’ll find a way. I’ll talk to the Titans. Prometheus will understand.”

And that was the promise he left her with, his words hanging in the air around Hera’s ears for the two years she spent alone.

….

Zeus walked through the hall as calmly and confidently as he could. He was spurred on by the sound of his own footsteps, heels clacking against the marble tiles leading to Prometheus’ office. He had put on his neatest black suit, newly gifted to him by the Pantheon as part of his induction.

It was his second day back at Mount Olympus, three days after his graduation. And Zeus figured it was as good a time as any to ask for a massive favor from the most powerful man in Southern Europe.

He was waved in by the two armed guards at the double-doors of Prometheus’ office. Zeus wrung his hands nervously as he passed through them, but let his hands fall to his sides when he fully entered the room.

Prometheus was reclining comfortably in his chair, a lit cigarette dangling from his right hand. A relaxed expression graced his features, and Zeus could see why.

Hyperion was sitting on the edge of the large, wooden desk, chuckling at something Prometheus had just said. Zeus stared straight ahead, as brave as any eighteen-year-old could be. When he came to a stop several feet away from the two men, Prometheus sat up straighter.

“Come closer, darling,” he told Zeus in a clear, commanding voice. “I can barely see you from over there.”

Hyperion chuckled, watching Zeus inch forward nervously. But when Zeus looked up at him in a moment of bravery, he saw a hint of kindness behind the Titan’s eyes.

“Hello, young Zeus,” Hyperion offered, in a voice that matched his eyes. Zeus nodded respectfully to him.

“Thank you for taking the time to see me, Your Divinities.”

“And how can we help you, young man?” These words came from Prometheus, just before he took a long drag from his cigarette. Zeus swallowed hard, and took a deep breath.

“I would like to delay my training.” It was a miracle that Zeus didn’t stumble over his words. A tiny bead of sweat rolled down the side of his neck, and he prayed the Titans couldn’t see it.

“And why is that?” Prometheus studied him, but there was no indication of hostility on his face.

Zeus hesitated. He didn’t know how to explain himself. Prometheus and Hyperion exchanged knowing glances, and the former smiled at Zeus.

“Might it have something to do with a certain goddess from whom you’ve been recently parted?”

Zeus nodded again, feeling blood rushing to his cheeks. But he forced himself to look at Prometheus. If he would ever be brave for anything, it would be this. She was his best friend. And the closest thing to family he had since the passing of his parents.

“Fair enough. The two of you are quite close, aren’t you, darling?”

“She’s my best friend,” Zeus answered quickly. “She’s all I’ve got.”

Prometheus frowned, and looked over at his husband. Hyperion leaned towards him and murmured something that Zeus couldn’t hear.

“Oh, darling. I didn’t realize Helios and Selene were your parents.”

John looked at the floor briefly. There, he noticed a small, white cat with grey markings peeking from around the corner of the desk. The cat gave a small mew, then laid down to watch the exchange.

Prometheus stood up and walked around the desk. When he stood in front of John, he gave the younger man a pat on the shoulder.

“I greatly admired and respected them. I understand your wanting to keep loved ones close.”

“Thank you, my lord.” Zeus looked back up at Prometheus, bracing himself for the rejection. But the Titan smiled.

“You may put off your training for no more than two years. At which point the young Hera will join you, and you will both train as planned.”

“My lord?”

“Mm, yes. But in the meantime, let’s find something for you to do, shall we?”

“Of course, my lord, anything,” Zeus rushed to say, exhaling in relief. Prometheus grinned at Hyperion.

“As it so happens, I am in need of a secretary.”

….

As Zeus had predicted, the two remaining years of Hera’s high school did pass by relatively quickly. That was just to say, they didn’t drag along as slowly and painfully as Hera thought they would. And finally, the countdown on her calendar dwindled down to months instead of years, weeks instead of months, and days instead of weeks.

Hera woke with a start on the day of her graduation, her eyes shooting open at the thought of Zeus waiting for her after the ceremony.

Waiting to take her home.

They had exchanged many letters in the twenty-three months since he left their boarding school. Hera had visited Mount Olympus twice, once for Christmas and once during her summer vacation. John--no, Zeus-- had welcomed her with open arms both times. He had showed her his rooms, his office, and all of the updates and renovations that had occurred since she visited last. And he had called her on her seventeenth and eighteenth birthdays to offer his congratulations.

But it was no replacement for the nights they stayed up reading and talking, for the time they spent at each others’ sides for the first two years of Hera’s secondary schooling. The distance was painful, but that was the price she paid for befriending someone two years older than her. Looking back on it, it was a price she would pay over again, every time.

When Hera burst through the doors of the auditorium, she nearly sprinted onto the green lawn of the school. Her eyes flitted around, looking for one person. And then she heard him.

He was calling her name--her real name, not her alias. It was the best thing she’d ever heard.

Hera whirled around to find the source of the voice, and saw John standing next to her parents. He was holding a bundle of scarlet and pink lilies, and a grin lit up his face.

Hera nearly knocked him over when she ran into him, hugging him tightly and laughing. Zeus’s arms went around her waist, and Hera felt herself being lifted off the ground. He spun her around, laughing with her, until Hera’s parents insisted they break apart.

….

They started training a week after Hera’s return to Mount Olympus. The two Olympians were plunged into a rigorous schedule of classes in psychology, business management, firearms technology, as well as physical lessons in hand-to-hand combat, survival and endurance, and shooting.

It was odd for Zeus to be the only twenty-year-old in a cohort of twelve people, the rest of whom were still eighteen. But he had been well-prepared for the crowded schedule and stresses of life in the Pantheon by his time spent working for Prometheus.

Zeus and Hera paired up for training, as most of their lessons and exercises required partners. Neither of them pulled any punches, each challenging the other to improve their skills both in the fighting ring, and on the firing range.

One day, the Titans came to the gymnasium to watch the cohort work on their hand-to-hand combat training. The paired fighters were split up into different groups, and had to train with new people to gain versatility. So Zeus and Hera were split up, and paired with new trainees.

Zeus was matched with a wiry, freckle-faced guy around his height, so he had an easy enough time winning roughly half the matches. But Hera had been paired with Orion, a 200-pound giant of a man, who towered over her and did not go easy on his smaller counterpart. And after four rounds, Orion jumped the gun and swung at Hera before the bell sounded to indicate the beginning of the fifth round.

Zeus heard Hera’s scream from across the gym. It was a shrill, strangled screech that he had never heard before, but it was Hera without a doubt. John shoved his freckled partner away from him, and bolted in the direction of the noise.

He pushed his way through the ring of people that had started to gather around her, his breath stopping in his throat when he reached the center of the mat. Hera was laying on the floor, bent in half at the middle. Tears streamed down her face, which was contorted in agony as she clutched at her side. She opened her eyes briefly, and found Zeus kneeling next to her. He couldn’t keep the abject terror off of his face.

“I can’t breathe,” she whimpered between sobs. John looked around wildly just as Prometheus and Hyperion joined them in the ring. Everything had gone deadly quiet, save for Hera’s cries.

“Your Divinities,” John gasped as Prometheus knelt next to him. The Titan lifted Hera’s arm to look at her ribcage, then gestured to the instructor.

“Fetch a medic. Tell them to bring a stretcher.”

The instructor nodded, and took off in the direction of the gym’s office (and phone). Hyperion looked around at all the trainees, children in his eyes, and clapped his hands sharply.

“Everyone, out. Classes are canceled for the day,” he commanded. The students began to shuffle out, stealing glances at Hera’s weeping form as they went. Zeus didn’t move.

“I can’t breathe,” Hera told him, still crying. “I felt a pop.”

“They’re bringing a medic,” Zeus answered, cradling her face. “You’ll be okay, love.”

“Orion!” Prometheus’ voice boomed through the empty gymnasium. The trainee named Orion stopped just short of the door, and turned to face the Titan.

“Yes, Your Divinity.”

“What happened?”

“She wasn’t paying attention. She could have blocked my swing.” His voice was flippant, and he shrugged as he spoke. John was livid, but still thinking clearly enough to notice Hyperion’s eyes narrow at the aggressor.

“You’re dismissed. For now.” Prometheus turned back to Hera, whose eyelids had begun to flicker shut.

The medics arrived shortly thereafter, pulling Hera onto a stretcher and wheeling her off to the hospital ward.

Zeus watched them take her, hands balled into fists at his sides. Prometheus and Hyperion stepped up next to him, one on either side.

“My darling, you were watching that fight, no?” The tone of Prometheus’ voice made it clear he wasn’t talking to Zeus.

“I was,” Hyperion answered smoothly.

“What would you say happened here?”

“It seems to me,” the taller Titan grumbled, “that Orion swung before the bell.” The two men looked at Zeus, who was visibly shaking.

“It looked like a broken rib, darling,” Prometheus tried to soothe him. “She’ll be alright.” “Yes, my lord,” was Zeus’ terse answer.

“Young man, do you know the meaning of the phrase, temporary immunity? For instance, immunity from criminal prosecution for a period of twenty-four hours?”

Zeus looked at Prometheus, and understood his meaning. Hyperion chuckled behind him.

“Good God, Prometheus, don’t go giving him ideas,” he chided, but then smiled. “And certainly don’t tell him that Orion works out alone in the evenings.”

Zeus then looked at Hyperion, who raised his eyebrows in a challenge. The young Olympian nodded, more to himself than the Titans.

“I understand. May I go to the hospital now?” He asked quietly. Prometheus nodded, a hint of mischief gleaming in his eyes.

As Zeus would find out later that day, Hera had indeed suffered a broken rib. Although it was only a hairline fracture, the swelling induced by the punch put pressure on her lung. So she was out of commission for physical training for at least two weeks.

Hera was released the evening after the incident, with bandages around her middle, and a small bottle of pain pills. She was lying on the bed, talking to one of the nurses about when to take her medicine, when a horrendous wailing could be heard from down the hall. The shouting grew louder and louder, until the doors of the medical ward burst open and Orion all but hurled himself into the unit.

He was clutching his right hand, which was bleeding profusely at the knuckles. Hera grimaced as he wailed, noticing at least one of his fingers was twisted the wrong way.

Two nurses went to him immediately, and began fussing over his hand, which had been effectively mangled. Orion only stopped whimpering when a doctor placed an IV line on him and injected a clear liquid into it. Several moments later, he was slumped on a gurney across from Hera.

Amidst all the chaos, Zeus strolled into the hospital to escort Hera back to her room. His face was calm, but Hera could have sworn she saw something gleeful in his eyes. His hair was lightly tousled, though he appeared to be put together otherwise.

But as he helped her to sit up in her bed, she glimpsed the smooth, tapered handle of a crowbar peeking out from his bookbag.

Hera didn’t question Zeus on it for another year, but she always knew. And that was the first time she felt the pangs of attraction swelling in her stomach. As he leaned over her to help her get up, she paid new attention to the curve of his lips and the unusual color of his eyes. At the time, she chalked it up to just being high on pain meds, but looking back on it… That was the moment Hera knew she was falling.

….

One year later, the two were closer than ever. They had each passed their first year of classes and training with high marks, and moved on to the second (and final) year at the Pantheon’s boot camp. And although neither of them had dared to say anything, the feelings developing between the two were reaching a peak.

Both Zeus and Hera had dated around within their cohort, occasionally drinking too much and going home with other trainees. But it was an open secret that none of their flings ever lasted long because the two only had eyes for each other.

“Oh, come on, old man,” Hera teased, as Zeus struggled to line up a shot. The pair were in the indoor firing range, and Hera was giving much unwanted (and very unhelpful advice) to Zeus.

“Shut up,” Zeus muttered, trying too hard to focus on the gun in his hand. He knew his way around a gun, but always failed when it came to the precision of his shot grouping. Hera, of course, could shoot five bullets through the same hole from sixteen meters. And she never failed to remind Zeus of this at every available opportunity.

“Do you want help?”

“No.”

Hera rolled her eyes, and put her noise-blocking headphones on again. She stood in the booth next to Zeus, raised her gun, and delivered six shots to the head of the practice dummy at the end of the range. She smirked to herself, then put her gun back in its holster. Upon rounding the corner into Zeus’ booth, she was met with a frown.

“Now you’re just showing off,” Zeus told her. Hera chuckled, and walked to him.

“Here, turn around,” she instructed, turning him gently with a hand on his waist. Zeus did as she said, trying not to pay attention to her touch through his shirt. Hera’s hand moved from his waist to his elbow. She tugged on his sleeve gently.

“Don’t lock your elbow. It’s making you too tense.”

“Okay,” he muttered, suddenly aware that his headphones were still around his neck. It seemed as if Hera read his mind, because she reached up and pushed the headphones back up to his head. She pulled one behind his right ear so he could still hear her.

Hera’s hands then fell to the space between Zeus’ shoulder blades.

“You’re holding a lot of tension here,” she remarked, her breath tickling the back of his neck. “Just let go of it.”

Zeus exhaled as Hera stepped away, pushing the remaining headphone over his ear. He took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. Once, twice, three times. The outline of an enemy drawn on the long slip of paper shook three times as the bullets ripped through it.

“Not bad,” Hera commented behind him, not that he could hear it. Zeus pulled his headphones off and set them on the counter in front of him as the paper zoomed forward on the pulley to present his results.

Three shots to the head. Tight grouping.

Zeus smiled to himself before turning around. Hera was grinning at him triumphantly.

“Pretty good for a senior citizen,” she remarked. Zeus rolled his eyes and poked at her side (the one that hadn’t been injured a year ago). Hera noticed this, and leaned against the counter of the booth, her face turned to him.

“You never did forget that,” she said softly, gesturing to the ribs on her left side. Zeus’ gaze followed the gesture, but his eyes quickly flitted back to Hera’s face. She had pulled her hair back loosely so that strands still framed her face. It contrasted with the TEC-9 strapped to her waist, and the two things caused an attraction that Zeus knew he wouldn’t be able to keep to himself for long.

“How could I? That day was horrific,” Zeus answered as nonchalantly as he could. But the memory of his best friend, lying on the floor crying, was a traumatic event for both of them. Hera eyed him as he put his gun away, trying to keep the question from leaving her mouth. She failed miserably.

“Do you still have the crowbar?”

Zeus looked at her, surprised by the question. But he gave her a crooked smile, and left the question unanswered.

“Counter-question,” he said, looking at her pointedly. Hera tilted her head, signaling for him to continue.

“Why did you shoot Nilus and Acheron last week?”

Hera’s jaw dropped. How did he know?

“You need to work on your poker face,” Zeus chuckled. “I saw you sneaking into the armory last week. And stashing the rifle under your bed.”

Dammit. Hera glanced up at the ceiling before facing him.

“I had my reasons,” she answered calmly. Zeus squinted at her.

“They said something about me, didn’t they?” It wasn’t a question. Hera chewed her lip, but looked him in the eye.

“Yes.”

“So you knee-capped them?”

“Also yes.”

Zeus studied her face. Hera stood with her arms folded, defiant as ever. Zeus grinned at her, and Hera could feel it without looking at him.

“What did they say? Out of curiosity,” he nudged her elbow with his own. Hera hesitated, and inhaled deeply.

“Nilus asked why you started training at the age of twenty,” she began. Zeus waited, leaning against the counter next to her.

“And Acheron replied that it was probably because you were…” Hera trailed off, unsure of how to put it. Zeus got the message, though, and laughed without humor.

“Acheron made a comment on my mental competence?” He guessed.

“Yes,” was Hera’s curt reply once again. “And Nilus laughed.”

Zeus nodded, putting the pieces together in his head.

“They didn’t know you were standing there. So you waited for them to walk somewhere out in the open, and you sniped them. One shot to each kneecap.”

“Mm-hmm,” Hera nodded.

“I’m guessing you only did one kneecap on each guy, in the interest of time.”

“Correct. Neither of them saw it coming. Neither of them saw my face,” Hera confirmed.

“And you did it off-grounds so that the Titans wouldn’t come looking for you,” Zeus finished.

Hera gave him a wry smile, looking nothing short of satisfied. She was proud of her first two hits, even if they didn’t result in death.

“Why did you do that?”

Hera shrugged. “I told you, they were saying mean things about you.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Zeus replied softly. “Why did you do it?”

There was a pause, a brief moment of thought.

“The same reason you broke Orion’s hand,” Hera answered, looking Zeus dead in the eyes. Her admission knocked the breath out of him. Her stare was almost a challenge; he swore she could look right through him.

But Hera continued, swaying her head to the side in thought.

“And I felt guilty.”

“For what?”

“Because you waited for me. It’s my fault they have a reason to talk about you in the first place.”

“So?” Was the only word John could think to say. Hera’s face fell, and she reached out to fidget with a loose string on one of Zeus’ rolled up sleeves.

“So, what if I wasn’t worth it?”

Her question hung in the air and settled on Zeus’ shoulders like a lead weight. And he needed desperately to lift it.

“That’s ridiculous,” he stated bluntly. “You’ve always been worth it.”

Hera’s gaze slid up his arm, over his shoulder, and to his eyes. At the same time, her hand fell to his own, and his fingers curled loosely around hers.

“You sure about that?” She nearly whispered it. John’s answer was immediate.

“Absolutely.”

And he kissed her.

Hera was waiting for him to, of course, and met his mouth with parted lips. She leaned into his touch as John reached up to hold her face. It was soft yet desperate. It was inevitable. It was perfect.

The two Olympians stood there in the gun range, hidden by four walls of reinforced concrete. Neither of them had ever felt more safe. They both knew, even then, that something good had fallen into place.

Mob Taglist: @deacytits, @anotheronebitesthedeaks, @rogers-sweatbands, @briarrose26, @lovehelpmewrite, @zodiacal-dust-and-curls, @lv7867, @dreamer821, @happy-at-home, @doyoudobroadway

#the pantheon au #queen mob au #zeus #hera

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jadewing-realms · 6 years ago

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“You should have seen it.”

Fictober 2018 - Day 18

Yeah you could be Someone special You've got bright in your brains and Lightning in your veins You'll go higher then they've ever gone In you I see Someone special You've got fire in your eyes and When you realize You'll go further then we've ever gone (look) Just turn it on

~ Miracles (Coldplay)

Sasuke has been in Izuku’s room a hundred times at this point. They’re thirteen now, they’ve been friends since second grade, and they basically live in each others’ houses by now. Everything in his house is familiar to Izuku, and everything in Izuku’s is familiar to him. Sasuke can always notice if something new appears, always asks about it or admires it out loud. That said, the Midoriya household is generally very constant—steadfast, predictable. Bargain interior decorations, as Mrs. Midoriya has scruples, and more practical items than anything else. With… the exception of Izuku’s room. Every long now and again, like today, Sasuke feels the need to stop in the doorway and let his gaze drift over the overwhelming amount of red, white, blue and yellow plastered in every available bit of wall or shelf space.

The sheer volume of All Might memorabilia sometimes hits him square between the eyes and makes him feel like he needs to blink, rapidly, for a minute or two. Or several.

Sasuke shakes the compulsion away and sets his backpack down next to Izuku’s yellow one. More yellow… I forget he uses the color so much. Izuku’s already on his way back out into the main living space, squeezing past Sasuke when both of them occupy the space in the doorframe for a brief second.

“We were almost late,” Izuku huffs with obvious relief. “We made it back just in time!” He scampers off down the hallway and calls, louder here than he ever is at school. “Ready, Mom!”

With a smirk that holds more fondness than Sasuke intends, he follows after his friend.

Whenever he comes over after a long school day, it’s become a tradition of sorts to help Mrs. Midoriya make dinner. Sasuke’s never minded; not when he’s adding to her work with his presence. It’s always seemed fair that he contribute for himself. Mrs. Midoriya turns on some music—usually oldies; her music tastes are charmingly outdated, and growing up with this musical influence made it rub off on Izuku—and then she’ll assign each of the boys a portion of the cooking. Usually something simple and straightforward, like chopping vegetables, or cooking the rice, boiling noodles. She always handles the more difficult tasks, and still finds time to give them guidance with their tasks.

Then, when they’re all finished and the food is steaming and ready to serve, they all sit around the table and Mrs. Midoriya asks them how their day was. About their classes, their favorite part of the day, anything special that happened. They fill her in, give her details, leave some out—mostly Izuku refrains from any mention of whatever torment he had to endure that day at the hands of the sheep-headed masses who follow the example set by the likes of Bakugou Katsuki. Yes, today goes by much the same way every other day does.

When they finish eating, as usual, they load up the dishwasher together and, once it’s running, the boys are free to retreat to Izuku’s room. Today’s a Friday; tomorrow is Saturday and Sasuke’s gotten permission to stay the night for the first time in a while, so long as they finish their homework. They had spent the whole of the walk home from school coming up with things they could do this time.

Usually, they study, they talk Heroes, they watch YouTube videos, they talk more Heroes. Izuku brainstorms his Hero costume, Sasuke brainstorms his tech.

Again, though, Sasuke finds himself pausing a minute to look over the posters on Izuku’s walls… the figurines on his shelf… the notebooks stacked on his desk. Then he looks to his friend, who’s nose is still buried in his textbook as he does what their mothers requested, and can’t help but think…

He doesn’t need a Quirk.

Nobody else seems willing to tell him that though. Izuku’s told him (and only him) of what his mother said to him the day they found out about his lack of powers. And Sasuke’s witnessed first hand the way he’s treated in class… sometimes by the teachers themselves.

It’s true, despite his somewhat mediocre existence here at home, Izuku’s not ‘normal,’ not by a long shot. He is... unique. Fun. Outstanding, even. So he doesn’t have this One Thing that eighty percent of the population does. Sasuke understands that, understands it’s uncommon. What he doesn’t understand is why, exactly, that’s looked at as a negative thing.

Izuku has plenty of other amazing things he can do, even things he’s better at than most people.

Like homework. Izuku tears through it like a starving man inhales a loaf of bread. Every time, too. He’s as fast as Sasuke, and his grades are just as good. Midoriya Izuku is smarter than the average person.

Once they finish their studies up like good students aiming for futures in Hero work, they dive to the computer. As per tradition, the first thing they watch is Izuku’s old favorite. The classic throwback, of one of All Might’s debut rescues.

After that, they get lost in suggested views, allowing themselves to spiral deep down the YouTube rabbit hole… for science. Izuku takes notes, as usual.

Except… it’s really not normal in a general sense, is it? Sasuke’s never met anyone as dedicated to Heroism as Izuku.

Even if the likes of Bakugou Katsuki would try to insist otherwise.

Nah, Bakugou Katsuki is basic. Average. The usual. Boring. Not to mention annoying as h***, and a narcissist to boot. Why does someone outstanding like Izuku waste his efforts on somebody like that? Sasuke just shakes his head.

“Hm?” Uh oh, Izuku notices. Wait, Sasuke actually shook his head? Whoops… “What’s wrong?”

Sasuke blinks against the glare of light from the screen. He… well, now he needs to think of something to actually say. Something useful, thought-provoking, since they only do this to better their instincts and understanding of their chosen craft…

“I feel like we’ve seen all these already,” he points out. And it’s true. Everything they’ve been watching, he’s almost positive they’ve watched at least once before, if not more often. He knows what’s going to happen before it does, and as much as he does like these Heroes and their escapades captured for all to see via some idiotic bystander’s camera phone, he can’t say he’s feeling ‘the usual’ so much tonight.

Not when he’s being hounded by constructs of society like some middle-aged philosopher during a full moon.

“Hmmm…” Izuku scrolls away from the video right when Death Arms is mid-uppercut, searching for… something. Anything, Sasuke supposes. Something they haven’t seen before. Then suddenly, he sits straight, face lighting up as a thought occurs. “Oh! Did you see what happened just the other day?”

Sasuke raises an eyebrow. “What other day?”

“Oh, I dunno… it was, like, last weekend? Over in Minato, All Might took down a crazy villain. I got to watch from the street corner!”

“I heard something about that from the gossips in class, but no, I haven’t seen anything.” Sasuke shifts in his seat, tucking one foot underneath him. “We were visiting my grandma. She doesn’t have internet.”

Izuku’s eyebrows jump. “No inter—gosh, how can you even function without—”

“Nobody knows.”

With a quick headshake, Izuku hunches over the keyboard and lets his fingers fly. “Lemme see if I can find some footage; there’s gotta be something up by now.”

Indeed, when he searches ‘all might minato fight’ a great selection of results come up. Several have high view counts but are from months past, but the top result is from just a few days ago. It’s title reads ‘CRAZY All Might battle vs ROCK MONSTER (actuall footage).’

“Ah, a grammarian,” Sasuke murmurs with a fair dose of sarcasm.

Izuku giggles, but abruptly silences himself as the video begins to play. A click and it fills the screen, expanding the blurry view of a city street, from the perspective of a phone that appears to be bouncing. From the wind and puffing sounds, not to mention the violent jerking of the footage, the person holding it is running, down the sidewalk, and comes upon a crowd of people at the corner. Several others have their phones out and over their heads.

Halfway down the block, visible once the camera’s jittering stills somewhat, a massive villain made of stone looms, swinging its arm like a giant mace at the spangley hero that’s currently launching himself through said villain’s personal space. The bystanders are all murmuring, some shouting, cheering, the guy behind the camera is uttering expletives of pure awe and wonder, and above it all, All Might’s raucous laughter booms over the rumble of heavy rock.

“IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT, BIG GUY!?” the hero trumpets just before he delivers a Washington Smash to the underside of the rock monster’s jaw. The crowd goes wild. Sasuke leans forward in his seat, trying to see through the camera blurs despite knowing there’s no way he’ll be able to get a better look at the action.

Then the moron drops his phone, there’s a harried curse and the crunch of plastic on concrete, the hushed fumble of fingers, and the video ends.

Izuku whimpers a little. “Dang it, that was so short…”

“You could probably describe what happened to me better than any video.” Easing out of his investment, Sasuke leans back in his chair and levels his friend with a steady, expectant stare.

Come on. Do your thing.

Izuku laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. “I dunno, probably not, but… I can try!”

With a sudden vigor belying his previous hesitation, he then launches into a detailed eye-witness account of a rock monster that tried to attack the Number One Hero’s agency building like a total idiot and of how that Number One Hero launched right out of said building to engage with the monster himself. He lays the scene out play by play, describing each of All Might’s moves and counter moves with a level of specificity that’s more than enough to convince Sasuke that it happened exactly as Izuku tells it.

“He had the thing ambling around in circles!” he says, hands splaying animatedly in his retelling. “He was so fast! The rock villain brought his arm down like a pile-driver and All Might just swung off his arm—not an ounce of fear! For every time the villain missed, All Might would land a hit like it was nothing. And he was laughing the whole time! The rock villain got so frustrated, he didn’t even know which way to look. Then All Might finished him off with a Texas Smash that threw him a whole block down the street! You should have seen it!”

Sasuke doubts Izuku notices that whenever he talks about All Might, he looks just as fearless. Whether that makes All Might a crutch… or just means Izuku’s that passionate and dedicated to this dream, Sasuke’s not sure but he’d like to believe it’s the latter. He’s used to being surrounded by… well, depression. Grim reality. That’ll happen when the brother you looked up to and idolized (much like how Izuku looks up to All Might, actually…) turns out to be a psycho killer and takes your Heroic father away from you and widows your mother.

But Izuku… it’s like, no matter what he’s been through, he can still smile and fanboy like this—without fear. Sure, he hasn’t been through quite what Sasuke has… but that’s good, he supposes. Better to be average in that area.

Izuku meets his gaze and stills his laughter, looking a bit confused at the fact that Sasuke, as he now realizes, is staring.

“What?” Izuku blinks. “What’s that look for?”

Sasuke snorts, and his answer comes a bit more easily this time. “You really like All Might, don’t you?”

“I… I mean…” Izuku glances around his room, at the computer screen, and finally at his lap, and a small smile creeps across his lips, milder and more hesitant than the grin that had beamed from his face just seconds before. “Well, yeah. He’s… he’s the reason I want to become a Hero in the first place. He’s why I keep… trying. Hoping. I just… I can only dream that maybe, some day… I can be even a fraction of the Hero he is. He’s… he’s extraordinary.”

“Hm…” Sasuke follows the path of Izuku’s previous glance. All Might’s smiling face surrounds them, to an almost unnerving degree, his presence radiating from the walls. And he thinks… that if Izuku has these in here not only as a shrine to his ultimate inspiration, but also as a ward to keep the poisonous barbs from the outside World of Mediocrity from sticking to him once he crosses the threshold of this space… that makes All Might cooler than any villain fight.

And it makes Izuku pretty d*** cool too.

“Yeah, I guess he is.” Sasuke returns his attention back to his friend, who’s staring now at the notebook he has on the desk top between them. He’s opened it to his sketch page, where his concept drawings for his Hero costume are. Sasuke taps the page. “He’d be cooler without the rabbit ears, though.”

Izuku gasps like Sasuke just uttered the bitterest of heresies and he needs a cross to shove in his face or something. “No, the ears are iconic!!”

“Izuku, the guy’s the definition of an icon, and I doubt he’d be any less of one if he nixxed the weird haircut.”

“Noooo, he needs the haircut. It makes him approachable.”

“Uh-huh. Well, in that case, don’t you think you’re bordering on plagiarism with your bunny hood, there?”

“What!? D-Do you really think—”

As Izuku launches to his own defense, Sasuke just smiles to himself. Partly in amusement, and with just a hint of fondness.

No, Izuku, I don’t really think that. I just think you’ll be fine being Just You.

#fictober18 #my hero academia #naruto #crossover #fix-it au #sasuke uchiha #izuku midoriya #deku #fluff #sentimental sasuke

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theredquccn · 6 years ago

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Over the Bend, Entirely Bonkers || Self-Para

Where: An asylum in Bulgaria.

When: June 2014-August 2015

Notes: Valentina forcibly brought to an asylum secretly run by her mother. She fights for her life for the next year alongside someone who was closer to her than she thought.

Warnings: Psychological torture, abuse, mental illness, suicide attempt, murder, death. Please read at your own discretion.

Valentina was taken in the middle of the night, she kicked, she screamed. She begged and pleaded to Mr. and Mrs. Maldette, clung onto their beautiful curtains as they fought her mother’s bodyguards to not manhandle the poor fragile girl. She acknowledged their attempts to save her, but she was her mother’s daughter and whatever Tatia said, went. She remembers tearfully hugging her best friend before being ripped away--she told her not to fight with her powers as she already risked exposure thanks to Tatia. It was a painful goodbye that still sat at the back of her throat as she boarded the plane. She wanted to breathe a sigh of relief that the long flight was without her mother, but held her breath around the bodyguards that watched her like a hawk. She didn’t sleep and when her mother ordered them to make her sleep, she managed to fight them off and lock herself in the bathroom long enough to take a short slumber.

She woke up pinned to a bed, orderlies hovering over her. Some of them she was sure were just as old as she was. She asked what she was being treated for to get the reply, "Schizophrenia". Her eyes widened as the doctor came in…she recognized the man. Her mother's lover. He tried to pry her mouth open to force feed her anti-psychotics as she bit him, she struggled, she writhed violently against the bed. He slapped her hard enough to cause her to gasp and she was force fed the medicine. She fell asleep again. She woke up to see the sun out. The orderlies said she had been asleep for two days and that she was malnourished. She promised she'd behave if they let her eat. She used her father's charm to get them to say yes. It worked. They brought her food and convinced her to cooperate. To take her medication like a good girl, to oblige to the doctor's orders and they'd let her out to interact with the other patrons of the asylum.

She obliged. She had to make it look convincing. The more convincing it was, the more she could lie, she could escape. Valentina's survival instincts kicked in quickly. They prescribed her the wrong medication each time and she had known some of the effects from her psychology class. After the first day she took the antipsychotics, she took note that her side effects were blurred vision and restlessness. It was worth the lack of sleep, but she had to make it appear that she slept, while at night, her mind would roam wild, figuring out thousands of ways to escape safely to seek refuge. After the eighth day, Dr. Miroslav decided it would be time for her to mingle with everyone else, but Valentina fell ill, the side effects of the medication had taken a toll on her, but she was able to lay in bed without cuffs for the first time and finally got a good night's rest--for the next 48 hours

When she awoke, s.he was ushered into the hallway and she adjusted to the blinding bright light, she walked slowly, taking everything in. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks upon seeing the picture of her mother and the doctor, Dr. Alexei Miroslav, shaking hands. This was purposely set up to torture her and anyone who had wronged her mother. When the orderly looked back she smiled weakly and continued walking as her eyes wandered. That was until she bumped into someone. Someone that looked exactly like her. Valentina was sure the anti-psychotics made her hallucinate this. She scooted back carefully as the other girl did the same. She began to cry and started screaming, "те ме клонират! те ме клонират!" // They cloned me, they cloned me! The orderlies quickly rushed to her side as she began to kick and scream as they hauled her away.

For the next month, she didn't see the girl, but Valentina did mingle with a few people that had wronged her mother in the past, from high school friends to former business partners. With cameras around, she spoke Italian to communicate with the grand majority, especially with discovering that her file was under her grandfather's last name as "Valentina Cappitelli". She wasn't sure if it was a trap, to keep the press from discovering or to make herself unsearchable. All she knew was that communication was key and so as best as she could, she spoke Italian, even learning from the native Italian people that were there with her. She managed to make a few "allies" because the word "friend" was feeble. She had been tattled on for taking an extra pudding cup already, so she had to play her cards right if she was going to escape. What caught Valentina off-guard, however, was when an orderly had called her "Liv." She didn't answer as the orderly chased after her and pinned her down, but it was her glare that made him realize, she was not this "Liv". After that, the orderly was gone. From what others had said, he had been "let go", but it was less than a coincidence that he was found with a bullet hole in his temple by his car and a gun planted next to him.

Finally, the mysterious girl was released. She not only resembled Valentina, the two were practically clones. She was about half an inch shorter with the same brown hair, slightly sunken doe eyes from the lack of sleep, same facial structure, many found it to be eerie. She had a slight limp when she walked after the torture she had endured, but she walked into the room and everyone's head turned, including Valentina's. The two locked gazes, dazed gazes, confused gazes. While the others looked on in-between the two. There was more than enough evidence to say the two were twins, separated at birth. The girl knew it and so did Valentina. When Dr. Miroslav came in however, he brushed it off as a mere coincidence. That the two were simply long-lost doppelgangers. He laughed it off and that made Valentina very, very pissed off. So she'd make it her mission to see who this mysterious girl was after "therapy", that consisted of Miroslav boasting about his triumphs and ridiculing those with mental illness. Valentina did have leverage by the end of therapy upon discovering the girl's name, Olivia…also known as Liv.

Another month passed in between therapy, pretending to take medications, and mingling with others. There was an activity day that was going on which gave Valentina an opportunity to talk to Olivia. Olivia was hesitant at first, shying away from Valentina. She had tattled to an orderly that Valentina had kept glaring at her and looked too threatening. The other brunette was sent straight off to bed without her evening meal, but she was determined. She had to know who she was and she wasn't going to stop until she did. This time, she used an indirect approach in the morning, where they were allowed to watch one hour of television. She tuned into a re-run of Jersey Shore, mocking the show in English as she mimicked their accents, making all the others around her laugh. Olivia seemed to buy it, Val wanted to laugh at how gullible she was, until she uttered in perfect English,

"How could you mock people you barely know?"

Valentina then fired back, "Ah, she speaks."

"You didn't answer my question," She responded stubbornly, crossing her arms. The other brunette smirked, crossing over to her as she crossed her arms in the exact same fashion.

"Being young, rich, and reckless is a privilege worth mocking, princess."

Olivia couldn't help but scoff and thus, began the beginning of a sibling rivalry. The two often competed against each other with Valentina always leading the competition. She wanted to test Olivia, who turned out to be a kinder, sweeter version of herself. A version of herself that she had always wondered about. Sure, it sounded selfish, perhaps narcissistic to even think of, but perhaps Olivia was an alternate universe version of herself. The thought of it made Valentina's head spin whenever she thought it, but finally, the two called a truce around Christmas as Olivia had decided to leave their little Christmas event early and Valentina, followed.

"Hey, Olivia?" Valentina called out.

"I'm not in the mood today, Valentina. Please, just leave me alone," Her voice had cracked. The other brunette could hear the sadness in the girl's voice.

"My parents are fucking assholes, too. My friends…I thought they cared but, I didn't even get a single letter. I'm alone here, too," She said softly.

"Please. You've had everything. I know your story. Valentina Cappitelli, daughter of a mafioso with paranoid schizophreni--" She began to say until she was abruptly cut off, the other brunette pulling her into a corner where no one could hear or see them.

"Ще игнорирате ли факта, че сме сестри? Че моето име е Валентина Николаевна и вие сте Оливия Николаевна?" // Are you going to ignore the fact that we're sisters? That my name is Valentina Nikolaevna and you are Olivia Nikolaevna? // Valentina shot back. Olivia was stunned to silence.

"Не можем да бъдем сестри. Не те познавам и не ме познаваш…" // We can't be sisters. You don't know me and I don't know you. //

"Мама ни е разделила по някаква причина." // Mama separated us for a reason. //

"Тя ми обеща, че ще се върне за мен." // She promised me that she'd come back for me. //

"За сметка на моя живот." // At the expense of my life. //

"Знам ... те ме обучаваха да стана теб и не мога да направя това. Исках майка да ме обича за мен и не беше достатъчно добра. // I know...they were training me to become you and, I can't do that. I wanted mama to love me for me and it wasn't good enough. //

"Nothing is good enough for her," Valentina then said with a sigh. Olivia began to cry. For the first time the two girls hugged, tightly.

As the months rolled on, the two were inseparable, they ate together, they sat together, they often tricked orderlies with the age-old switcharoo prank. Valentina would do her hair like Olivia, straight and sleek, whereas Olivia would wear her hair in natural waves. For the first time in months, they were both happy--for the first time in months, Valentina was happy. So happy, that suddenly, her plans to escape were no longer a solo mission. She'd have Olivia escape with her. She could have the girl tell her story to the world, finally expose Tatia Nikolaevna for the monster that she was. Shipping her daughter away to lock her up in an asylum until she could kill the daughter she kept. It was the perfect plan. So perfect, that when Valentina brought up the plan to Olivia on their birthday; the two began to hatch a plan to escape.

They first had to orchestrate a fight against the other, giving the illusion that they hated each other only to be confined together. The two girls knew that the cameras in the dormitories would shut off between the hours of 12-7am and that was when the two silently planned each night for a few hours as the months rolled on. They continued the façade of hating each other to the very cores of their beings, but were thick as thieves behind closed doors. When word that WDPA would be starting up again within the next couple weeks, Valentina figured her mother would be busy writing paperwork that her daughter will either A) No longer be attending the academy or B) Will attend at a later time. Either way, there was a distraction, making it a perfect time to set the plan in motion.

On the night of August 12th, Carlo and Vincenzo were the ones to be trusted enough to cause a diversion enough for Valentina and Olivia to sneak past the security detail. They quickly changed out of their patient clothes into their normal everyday clothes again as they continued to silently sneak out, but Tatia once again, had the upper hand. The woman managed to keep the camera rolling without having the light on to watch her beloved twins mingle with each other and act like beloved sisters, but, being the coward that she was, she was never there to confront them. Instead, she sent her henchmen after them and the two had to send them on a wild goose chase around the facility. The two vowed to never split up and ran together. The two fought off a young guard together, leaving him unconscious, while they walked away with minor scrapes and cuts, until they made it down a small corridor. They thought they were safe as they made it down. They could see the faint glow of the streetlights. To be on the safe side, Olivia and Valentina set up a barricade for the guards to not enter and the two walked with the same sinister smirks on their faces until a violent blast threw them back. Valentina shut her eyes as she heard murmurs as they walked past. She could hear them say that they were nowhere to be found. Thanking her lucky stars that the rubble hid them from being seen. Once the murmuring and footsteps were gone, Val opened her eyes slowly and groaned. The two had dressed like the other to divert their mother's bodyguards and so when Val croaked,

"Please tell me you didn't get blood on my jacket," there was no response. Slowly, she turned to be found with a pool of blood next to her sister's head, a sigh escaping her when she noticed her head can been hit, badly.

" …Olivia…" She breathed out. "Oh god…I'm so sorry," She croaked out as she scrambled to her knees, cradling her twin sister's lifeless body. "Oh my god, I'm so fucking sorry, Olivia. I'm sorry…" She whispered, rocking her back and forth as the tears began to fall. "I'm sorry, sister. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have dragged you into this," She had her blood all over her sister's dress and her jacket, but most importantly, on her hands. She had no choice but to run, but as she laid Olivia carefully back down, she pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Ще ви отмъстя, сестро моя." // I will avenge you, my sister. //

With that, she hesitantly left her sister there and walked out into the streets of Bulgaria and with that, she left behind a memory that she could never bring herself to share. After that...Valentina went mad and she never looked back.

#sp #massive trigger warning

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wastedkookies · 7 years ago

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sequestered - final

genre: fluff // angst // secretly dating au pairing: yoongi x reader summary: the OG linguistics queen and the self-proclaimed photography hipster absolutely love - I mean loathe each other words: 2.5k a/n: finally finished this series after such a long time!! but i really enjoyed writing it and i hope you enjoyed reading it too :-)

read on ao3 // previous chapters

Adrenaline has never felt so great. To just barely slip past the sights of your sister before shutting yourselves in some random broom closet has left the both of you breathless. Yoongi chuckles, his warm breath fanning against your lips, and you poke his dimple, causing him to swat your hands away.

“Do you think it’s funny?” He asks, but you can’t overlook the mischievous glint in his eye. “Well, it’s not. Because if we get caught, you’re gonna get disowned.”

“If we get caught, we’ll both get slaughtered.”

“Let’s not get caught then.”

Talk about foolish, the two of you flitting around in this “paradise” during your first year of dating, running around the campus, squeezing yourselves into tight spaces in the nick of time before someone caught the both of you making out in the hallways. Sure, it was most certainly reckless, but who could deny the exhilaration coursing through your veins during those moments?

You sigh, taking a sip of coffee and sinking into your seat after studying for a good four hours. You glance at the clock that read 1.08AM in bright red letters and shake your head.

It hasn’t been the same since you broke up with Yoongi.

Subconsciously listening out for the sound of keys forcing itself into the rusty lock, gazing at the front door as you make your usual cup of coffee, dragging a chair to your table just before you start studying… You find yourself waiting for Yoongi to silently sneak into your room when your roommate heads out.

You groan, sitting up straight and taking out a new piece of paper to start on the next chapter. Now was not the time to be thinking of Yoongi. In fact, you should never have to think about Yoongi. He’s doesn’t matter. He’s not your boyfriend anymore.

Your days fly past like nobody’s business, and for some strange reason, you never bump into Yoongi while walking across the courtyard. You’d always see Taehyung and Jimin, who’d smile and give you a little wave, but not once have you ever seen Yoongi with them since that day. You frequently see Jin in the library, the both of you cracking bad jokes and laughing a little too loudly to the librarian’s liking, but not once did you ask about Yoongi.

You shouldn’t have to, but you can’t help but wonder what happened to him.

There’s a little pause just as one song ends, before the familiar melody of Yoongi’s track fills your ears. You whip your head to look at your laptop screen, immediately pulling out your earphones and throwing them onto your desk. The cover art takes up a quarter of your laptop screen, and you shut it without any hesitation whatsoever.

“It can be our chill song, yeah?”

You slam your fist against your desk, letting out a frustrated groan in the process. Your roommate comes running in to find you panting heavily, and your fist clenched so tightly to the point where your knuckles are white.

“Are you alright? Is there something bothering you?”

You turn to look at her, a shaky sigh leaving your lips as you shake your head. “No, it’s fine. Sorry if I woke you up.”

She casts you a look, nodding as she heads back into her room. The tears that had been welling up in your eyes start to spill and roll down your cheeks, and you bury your face in your hands, sobbing silently.

Why is it, that no matter where you go, you’re always finding traces of Yoongi? He’s the warmth of the sun in contrast to the chilly, autumnal weather. He’s the jester in your literature books. He’s the dead leaves falling off the huge tree in the middle of the courtyard.

You sigh, hoping that you’ll get to bump into him soon.

You don’t see Yoongi for the rest of the semester.

The professor concludes the last class and you let out a sigh of relief when you receive a decent score on your test. It was hard, most definitely, especially since Yoongi wasn’t there to help you destress during exam period like he always did. It nearly came to the point where you wanted to call him and beg him to come over but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it.

You had already broken up with him. You shouldn’t be giving him false hope. Besides, it had already been made clear that being together would just make things worse.

“How’d you do?” Namjoon asks, flashing you a small smile.

“Pretty okay, but I know I could’ve done better,” you shrug, stuffing your pencil case and folder into your already filled bag. “It was a stressful exam week.”

Namjoon chuckles, giving you a gentle pat on your shoulder. “Had a stressful exam week? That’s unlike you. Usually you would be on the ball and kicking all that stress away.”

That’s because Yoongi was there to endure it with me.

“I don’t know,” you shrug once more. “Maybe it was more stressful than usual?”

He smiles, leaning in close and whispers so only you could hear him. “Or maybe it’s because Yoongi wasn’t with you.”

You stare at him, horrified. How did he know? When did he find out? Namjoon grins, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “The two of you make it really obvious during your ‘fights’, y’know. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Have a good winter break, linguistics queen.”

Have a good winter break indeed! All of your friends left the campus to go back home while you slave away at the library to finish your upcoming projects. You knew there was no point going home, especially since your parents were likely to be busy at work and it wouldn’t have made a difference if you had been back anyway. Your sister left as well, embarking on a road trip with her friends to some place far out that you have never heard before.

Oh well, you can just go back for Christmas.

“Hey!”

You hear a voice call out as you walk back to your dorm, turning around and squinting at the figure who’s running towards you. Jin appears with quite a number of plastic bags, and you help him with his groceries right away.

“Jin! Aren’t you going back home for the holidays?” You ask, placing both hands on his shoulders when he nearly stumbles and falls.

He shakes his head cheerily. “Nope! I figured Yoongi wouldn’t be going back home so I decided to stay! Besides, I want to work on my cooking before I head back during Christmas so I can wow everyone not just with my handsome looks, but also my incredible cooking!”

You giggle at his exaggerated gestures and his attempt to blow a kiss while holding a plastic bag filled with a jug of milk and two cartons of juice, making his wheeze when he holds them up. The two of you walk back to his dorm, laughing and cracking jokes. You rolling your eyes when he makes another bad pun, and his clear ha ha ha filling the air.

“So, uh, how’s Yoongi?” You say softly, even though there’s no one on campus except the both of you.

Jin gives you a reassuring smile. “He’s been alright, though he did cry a lot the first few nights.”

You feel your heart sink. “Oh.”

“But he got his shit back together and even put together an ‘exemplary two thousand word essay’, according to our professor,” Jin continues. “Yet, he still seems a bit off, like he’s not as sassy as he was, and he’s leaving the dorms far earlier than usual even though he may not have classes.”

You and Jin reach his front door, and you carry in the bags of groceries into the tiny kitchen as Jin goes and looks for Yoongi. You start to unpack the groceries, placing the milk and juice into the fridge when Jin dashes back in and says, “Yoongi’s gone.”

“What?” Your eyes widen as Jin hands you a slip of paper with contents that was written in Yoongi’s usual scrawl.

Leaving for a bit. I’ll come back either when I accomplish my goal, or get kicked to the curb.

You reach into your pocket and take your phone out, dialling Yoongi’s number.

The picture of you and him shows up on his phone, and Yoongi tilts his head, wondering why you’d be calling him even though you never tried to contact him throughout the rest of the semester. It hurts though, to see the picture of the two of you with wide grins, each holding a sparkler. Yoongi contemplates as to whether he should answer your call.

“Hello?”

“Yoongi, where are you?! We saw your note and what the fuck did you mean by you’ll come back either when you accomplish your goal or kicked to the curb? Are you alright?”

It had been so long since he had heard your voice. He can picture you sobbing — it’s evident in the way your voice cracks and the soft hiccups that he catches as you wait for him to respond.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” he says, a sad smile on his lips.

His grip on the phone tightens when he hears you whisper, “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t, princess,” he replies.

“Promise you’ll come home soon?”

“I’ll try.”

He hears you sniffling, and Yoongi closes his eyes in attempt to stop himself from crying as well. When he opens his eyes, he focuses on the trees that pass by him in a blur, but his grip on his phone does not loosen.

“Yoongi, I— I want to be with you,” you tell him. Ah, the words that he longed to hear ever since you left him at the beach. “Breaking up was a mistake and this whole semester has been so hard—”

He shushes you when you start to sob again, wishing that he were there with you right now so he could hold you close. “We’ll see how it goes when I come back, alright, princess? I need to go now, but I want you to know that I love you.”

You let out a soft ‘okay’ and Yoongi ends the call.

He plugs his earphones in and shuffles his playlist, recoiling back into his seat. His track plays, and he can’t help but chuckle. Maybe it’s fate, that the two of you were meant to be? He shuts his eyes and lets the music wash over him.

Yeah, he’ll believe that it’s fate.

It’s been an entire week and Yoongi still hasn’t come back. You’ve been staying over at Jin’s dorm since then, sleeping in Yoongi’s bed and burying your nose in his blanket to make it seem as if he’s right beside you. You spend the week looking at Yoongi’s little knick-knacks and cuddling his sweaters, but also leaving his room to watch Jin cook.

You volunteer to wash the dishes today, and Jin smiles at you gratefully before retreating to his room to complete his homework. Your phone buzzes, and you dry your hands with a towel and rush to look at the caller ID.

It isn’t Yoongi, but instead, your father.

“Hello?” You answer, biting your lip.

“Did you date Min Yoongi?”

A gasp leaves your lips, and you sink to your knees. You feel yourself trembling, but you know that you can’t lie — especially not about this.

“I… I did.” You squeeze your eyes shut, feeling the impending doom that would be placed upon you in a matter of seconds. This is it, you’re about to get disowned by your father and everything’s over.

You hear him huff, and you whimper, your hand balling up into a fist.

“So you went against our rules and dated him even though we clearly stated that no one was to be involved with that family again?!” He bellows.

“I’m really sorry! I couldn’t help it—”

“Your mother and I are disappointed in you.”

You feel your world crashing down the moment he says those words, and you just know what’s coming next.

“But I suppose Yoongi does love you despite it all.”

“Huh?” You open your eyes, furrowing your brow, unable to comprehend what your father just said.

“He took a train all the way to our household,” he explains, letting out a little chuckle. “The little brat went down on his hands and knees and begged us to allow your relationship. Even though we kept kicking him out he still came back everyday, got on his hands and knees, and asked for our approval.Your mother and I decided to allow it, since he’s so passionate in what he studies, and how he’s very loyal towards you. We also talked to your sister about it, and she decided to give him a chance.

“Listen,” your father continues. “I don’t like how you went behind our backs and got involved with that family even though we told you no. But I suppose you made the right choice this time.”

“So I can be with Yoongi?” You ask, still unable to believe that this is actually happening.

He sighs. “Yes, you can. But the moment he hurts you we’re kicking him out for good, y’hear?”

You jump up. “Yes, yes, yes! Thank you so much!”

“Alright. Be sure to come back for Christmas.”

“Will do! Love you.”

The call ends, and you hear someone forcefully jamming their keys into the rusty lock. There’s a soft ‘click’, and you turn around to see a tired-looking Yoongi. His eyes meet yours, and time stops. A huge grin spreads across his lips as he runs over to hug you, picking you up and spinning you around. You laugh, wrapping your arms around his neck.

He sets you down, pressing his lips against yours, and you sigh as you feel his cool lips touch yours, his hands letting go of yours and placing one on your hip and another on your cheek. Your hands are on his shoulders, pulling him closer. His breath is warm and sweet, like it should be. You feel him smile into the kiss as he brings you closer to him.

There’s the sound of a shutter going off, and a bright flash. The two of you pull apart to see Jin smiling at the both of you, Yoongi’s polaroid in his hands.

“So are the two of you back in hiding?” He asks, leaning against the wall.

Yoongi shakes his head, a toothy grin upon his face. “Nope, we’re officially out in the open. Her parents gave the okay.”

You giggle, burying your face into his chest, not wanting anyone to see the tears of happiness rolling down your cheeks. Yoongi presses a soft kiss at the crown of your head, stroking your hair affectionately. Jin passes the developed photo to Yoongi before heading back into his room, and Yoongi stares at the picture of the two of you.

You pull away to look at him, and Yoongi wipes away the tears on your cheeks.

“I love you, linguistics queen.”

“And I love you, self-proclaimed photography hipster.”

masterlist // request // ao3

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pinkfan-gurl · 7 years ago

Text

Center Stage

Unwanted Adoption

Hiyori was glad that she picked the farthest spot in the cafeteria for the two of them to sit.

Sure, Yato might have been cute but his table manners were terrible and she might have literally died of embarrassment if her classmates caught her hanging out with the biggest loser in the entire theatre department. His little break-up with Mayu had also hit the halls of the school which didn't help boost his popularity much either.

Just a little bit longer, she kept telling herself. It was the only thing she could do to keep herself sane. Just a little bit longer and Yato would finally hold up his end of their bargain and she'd have a secured spot in the college of her dreams.

Still, she couldn't help asking him again. "So, Yato...when are you going to mention me to your dad?"

Yato paused mid-spoonful to his mouth, looking quite offended. He set the utensil down and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "I told you, I can't ask him until I know I have a better shot at being casted in the new production." His eyes flicked to her, and Hiyori instantly knew he was about to ask the question that she was tired of hearing. "We could speed up the process if someone were to get me a copy of the script."

Hiyori leveled her eyes at him. "You know I can't do that. The stage crew want my head on a stake as it is now that they know that I'm friends with an actor."

Yato shrugged and returned to his food. "Then I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you should just try to get into college the way everyone else-"

"Shut up." Hiyori balled up her napkin and tossed it onto the table top. "Fine," she sighed, lifting up her gaze to meet Yato's stupid grin. "If we hurry now, we should be able to get a copy from the theatre room before they get back from lunch."

As she reached down to grab her bag, she saw Yato fist bumping the air in triumph. She clucked her tongue with a slight eyeroll. "Don't get used to it, okay?"

Yato pushed his chair back and stood up, his pompous grin still on his face. "On the contrary. Actors are meant to get special treatment."

Hiyori could practically see the stars in his eyes. "Let me remind you that you're a struggling high school actor that hasn't even been casted in a role that has more than three lines," she deadpanned. The stars in his eyes dimmed. He made a move to protect his pride, but she cut him off. "Don't argue with me; I went back and looked at all of the scripts you've done in the last few years and you've only spoken twelve lines all together and one of them was improved because you messed up the first one!"

Yato crossed his arms, pouting like a child. "Are we going to get the script or what?"

Hiyori shouldered her bag, a smug grin replacing her irritated scowl from before. "Yes. Let's."

No one was in the hallways since it was still lunch time and most of the other classes were still in session. It kind of made Hiyori uncomfortable, especially with Yato moonwalking next to her while humming theme music that he claimed to have written himself. It was clearly from Get Smart, so she didn't know who he thought he was fooling but she chose not to comment.

She was just afraid that they were going to get caught. If not by administration for walking the halls aimlessly then it would be for pinching a copy of the script, both of which would most likely be caused by Yato for being too loud.

"Okay, wait out here," Hiyori said, stopping outside of the theatre room. "No one should be in there, but just in case."

Yato cocked his head to the side, sort of looking like a kicked puppy. She felt bad for a second, but it quickly faded. "You don't want to be seen with me?"

"You know how strict the Unspoken Rules are," she reminded him. "I'll be right back."

Hiyori inhaled deeply, then pushed the door open and slipped inside. She tried to cushion the echo of it closing as best she could, but it didn't seem to do much. She winced, standing completely still until she was certain no one was around.

She scanned the room; there really wasn't much in it really. The wall on the far side had a bunch of signatures of previous students who had graduated with a mirror on the side which made the room look bigger than it actually was. The desks were all pushed out to the perimeter of the room, creating a huge open space in the middle.

Standing in place, Hiyori considered checking the props closet for the scripts even though she was perfectly aware they were sitting in a neat pile in the top left drawer of Mr. Kuguha's desk. Yes, they were exactly where he showed them to her three days ago…

Panic clawed at her stomach and Hiyori was afraid that she was about to vomit on the floor. She really didn't want to just take the script, but Yato had made his point clear about him not being able to do anything until he got a peek at it. Not to mention that she knew that Viina had already seen at least two scenes of the script and had commit it to memory.

She picked at the frayed cuff of her jacket sleeve. She could do this.

Finally regaining her lost breath, Hiyori crossed the space and settled behind the desk, taking care to keep her head down in case someone came in. The scripts were exactly where she last saw them. Quickly closing the drawer, Hiyori breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she would get away clean after all!

She was in the dead middle of the room when a door behind her clicked open and her heart dropped. She forgot about the auditorium entrance! "Hey!" a gruff voice scolded from behind.

Hiyori turned around slowly, maneuvering her hands so that the script was hidden behind her back and then put on her best smile. This was going to be a disaster. "Oh, h-hi!"

The girl who had walked in was rather big, with a frog like face. Her hair was dyed blue and yellow, which was quite gaudy. Hiyori instantly recognized her as one of the stage crew who hated her. Hiyori's confidence in her clean get away suddenly spiraled.

The girl strode up to Hiyori and stared at her. Hiyori felt like she was looking into the sky, the girl was so tall. "What are you doing in here?" her frog lips spat. "You don't have this hour and no one is due back for another ten minutes."

Hiyori was afraid that her sweaty hands were going to destroy the paper. "I could say the same for you."

The girl rolled her neck on her shoulders smugly. "Had to run an errand for Mr. Kuguha. Guess he forgot to give a pen back to Mr. Ebisu or something and he asked me to get it."

Hiyori nodded, trying to figure out a fib. "I had to-" she noticed the girl's eyes falling to her hands behind her back and she instantly knew what to say. "I had to grab a script because Mr. Kuguha asked me to make a small change in a scene." She pulled out the slab of paper from behind her back and put it on display.

The girl sneered down at her skeptically. "Why would he do that? The script is perfect. Besides, I haven't seen you stop by all day."

"He asked me yesterday," Hiyori replied coolly, keeping her composure despite how hot her skin felt. "He likes the script but he wanted me to try rewriting a small portion of scene six because I gave him an idea the other day that he wanted to try out."

That part wasn't a lie, thank God.

The girl still didn't look overly convinced. Hiyori scowled at her. "I don't get why you're being so mean to me! I'm older than you too! Show me some respect!" Hiyori snapped.

"You lost all of my respect when you became a traitor to the Phantoms and started talking to those, those, those...stuck up actors! You're one of them now!"

"Like it or not, I'm still part of the backstage work," Hiyori said, "and not an actor. Which means that I have a job to do and editing this script is one of them."

"You're half and half then. We're never going to take you back."

Hiyori fought off the urge to tell this underclassmen off, but it wasn't like her to do something so impulsive. Besides, the girl seemed like she was going to let her leave without any more hassles so there was no point of starting an argument that might get her busted. She was about to leave when the door flung open and Yato leaned in and hissed, "Yo, Hiyori? You got the script yet?"

Hiyori's breathing stopped and she was pretty sure she felt her legs nearly cave beneath her. Yato's jaw dropped when he noticed the phantom girl but his quick protests were drowned out by the girl's shrilled, "I KNEW YOU WERE A LYING BITCH."

"Bitch?" Hiyori whirled around, because those be fightin words, but Yato let out a small squeak and dove for her hand.

Hiyori stuffed the script into her bag as they charged down the hallway, the heavy footsteps and curse words of the girl chasing after them. "What the heck, Yato!" she yelled, "I wanted to-"

"What?" Yato let out a small laugh. "Fight her? Do you know what she would do to you? Do you even know how to fight?"

Hiyori stayed silent, because he was right. She had been to caught up in the moment. She would have really regretted it if she had thrown a punch. She would have probably stood there in shock at her terrible behavior and would have gotten her own lights pounded out. Maybe she owed Yato for this one.

Yato's hand slipped from around her wrist to her hand as they rounded a corner. This was where things were going to get difficult. The theatre room was on the relatively deserted side of the school, and now they were going to be running through highly inhabited hallways. Where were they going to hide?

"Yato?" Hiyori glanced over her shoulder at the girl who was pouring on the speed. Not only that, but Hiyori's stamina was pretty low and she felt a stitch forming in her side. "Where are we—"

"We'll run to boy's dorm," he said breathlessly. She was surprised at how much endurance he had. "School's over in two hours anyway. We can afford one absence in class."

"Yeah, but—"

Smack!

Hiyori stumbled back, massaging her head with her free hand. Yato had just run them straight into a blonde kid. "Oh I'm so sorry," she apologized quickly.

The boy shifted his annoyed frown from Yato to Hiyori, but it quickly melted into a shy smile. "I-it was just an accident. Don't worry about it."

"There they are!" The girl who was chasing them now had a buddy with her that Hiyori also recognized from the stage crew.

"Oh shit!" Yato tightened his grip on her hand and grabbed the wrist of the kid who they had just plowed into. "Time to go peasants!"

"Peasants?" the boy exclaimed as they were towed down the hallway.

Hiyori almost felt like laughing, the situation was so ridiculous. Were they really about to attempt ditching school and dragging along some poor freshman all while being chased by two crazy girls? Yep, definitely laughable.

"Where are we going?" the boy panted.

"Boys dorms!" Yato said back a little loud.

"Why?"

"Because this genius," Hiyori indicated to Yato, "got us caught!"

The bell rang, and the hallways started to fill up with people which was a bit of a relief. Despite having to slow their pace, Yato managed to guide them to the staircase where they hid for a few minutes in silence until they knew they had lost their pursuers. Then Yato pulled them up the stairs and across the building until they were standing on the third floor of the boy's dorm room.

"What the hell just happened?" The blonde freshman was doubled over with his hands on his knees, his breaths heavy.

Yato leaned against the wall. Despite the endurance Hiyori had admired in him before, he was panting hard now as well. "Phantoms."

The blonde's eyes went wide. "What?"

Hiyori tapped his shoulder and shook her head since she couldn't form a sentence yet. The last thing this kid needed was to think that ghosts haunted the school. Once she caught her breath, Hiyori related the entire story of how they got caught.

"Phantoms are just a fancy term we use for people who work behind the scenes in our productions," she explained between huffs. "They hate the actors and refuse to associate with them. I was technically one of them since I do behind the scenes type stuff, but they all hate me now because I've been hanging out with Yato."

The blonde, who had introduced himself as Yukine, looked unamused. "You mean they're going to hate me now too just by association with you?"

The question should have been aimed at both of them, but Hiyori was getting the feeling that Yukine blamed Yato for this problem more than her. Which seemed fair since Yato was the one who ran into him.

Yato nodded. "More or less. It's better if you were to stick with us for the time being."

"Us?" Yukine repeated. His eyes flicked to Hiyori, and his cheeks flushed. "I was under the impression that you two weren't friends."

"Well…" Hiyori wasn't sure how to answer, but all of a sudden Yato's arm was draped around her shoulder in a hug.

"You kidding me?" he bragged. "This girl can't get enough of me! She insists that we eat lunch together everyday and—"

Hiyori shoved him off of her. "—and it's not like I have much of a choice since we made a deal." She turned to Yukine and smiled. "But it would be nice if you were to join us from time to time if you didn't want to be with us all of the time."

Yukine looked at the ground, and for a moment she wondered if she had said something to offend him, but then he whispered, "I guess that would be alright."

Hiyori smiled. "I'm glad."

"Say, uh, Yukine." Yato was leaning up against the door at the end of the hall. Yukine turned towards him a smidge. "I'm not really good with keeping the underclassmen straight, but I'm pretty sure I haven't seen you around the boys' dorm until today."

Yukine shrugged. "It's my first day, okay?"

"But it's already the middle of October!" Hiyori pointed out.

"Family stuff," he answered. Hiyori decided not to push the issue further and for once Yato's thought aligned with hers.

"Do you have a roommate yet?" Yato asked. Yukine shook his head. Yato grinned and shoved open the door he had been standing against. "Good! Then you can room with me!"

Yukine looked so annoyed that Hiyori had to hold back a laugh. "What? I thought that that was a closet!"

This time Hiyori did laughed. Yato pouted in the childlike manner she had become accustomed. "It may not be the biggest dorm room, but they are letting me stay in it for way cheaper. Plus we have our own private bathroom which is way better than the community ones!"

Yukine peeked his head in the door and his frown became even more defined. "That's not a bathroom! That's just a toilet in a corner with a shower curtain in front of it!"

"Beggars can't be choosers, Yukine." Yato clapped his hands as if he was getting dust off of them.

Yukine sighed, leaning back against the wall on the opposite side of the doorway. "At least you have a microwave."

"Oh that doesn't work," Yato said cheerfully. "I just kept it to put stuff on top of it. I also hide my scripts in there.. Oh! Speaking of scripts, Hiyori~"

"There's no way I'm rooming with you, you hobo!" Yukine exclaimed.

Hiyori silently wondered if this was how her life was going to be from here on out.

#noragami #noragami fanfiction #yato #hiyori #yukine #yato x hiyori #yatori #my fanfiction

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bolbianddolanhouse · 6 years ago

Text

BHNA AU [self insert]

Nani the heck is this? read here!

Chapter 2: Ass-Whoopin’ Boogaloo

I’ve been at UA for 3 weeks now and I’m getting the hang of everything! My new found friendship with Jin and Mimi has gotten stronger to where we can share our back stories. My stance in the hero course, its a bit tough and tense since Iida told everyone about our incident. Going in that class everyday has me on guard for anymore unwanted heroics. I now eat lunch in the Intelligence commons room with all my fellow intelligence course classmates. Midnight and Aizawa sensei have really made my anxiety and feelings be heard. There’s always a smile and calmness in my face when I go to school now, like how I was when I was in America. I still get homesick but I don’t cry as much.

-Tuesday, in homeroom-

“Yo do y’all ass still hurt from yesterday?”

“ugh YES and I want to remove my ass!”

“I hate butts but mine craves D E A T H~”

“jeez Jin, it don’t hurt that much”

“yeah, it was just a slap”

“it wasn’t fair! my opponent slapped me twice so hard it made my soul vibrate”

“God I wish that were me”

“Mimi please! we’re in class!”

“OKAY CLASS LETS GET STARTED!” Diya sensei bellowed, as he was not in the mood today. It’s result day to see where we need improvement and our strong suits for combat groups later in the semester.

“As you all may know” as he lifts up a thick file “it’s result day. All those tests on conceal and carry, endurance, strategy and weaponry are in a personalized packet to see where you fucked up”

Oof, guess the class didn’t do so well as a whole.

“Plus, there’s a class ranking, for guts and glory to those who did well. The rest of you slackers need to refresh on conduct and holding a gun correctly! I’ll pass out the packets first in no particular order.”

Jin turned to me, “I hope we did well! We kept our cool in the physical and weapons”

“I hope so, I just know my non-quirk usage run was absolute garbage!”

Mimi shuttered “yea, you tripped over your own feet in front of the entire 1st year intelligence class”

We get our results packet and to my surprise, I get a passing result on the physical. A whole 93% success, my place to improve on is speed on gun shooting and weapon stability.

“I’m going to put the class ranking on the overhead, so those who fucked up get to see just how bad” Diya sensei said as he turned on the projector.

We wait in total anxiety to see who ranked on the top. When the sheet appeared, the our class ranking was of the left and the whole 1st year intelligence class ranking on the right. Out of the whole class, I got 3rd, closely followed by Mimi and Jin. In the other list, I was number 5. Not only that but I was the only international student in the top bracket, Mimi and Jin were in the lower 10s in rank. I didn’t know what to say! I didn’t know how to feel about my placement aside from relief that I passed.

“As you can see, our class has about a 10 point difference between the top students and the fuck ups. And you can see that our kind and determined American, Miss Palma, has placed in the top 5. All praise and glory to them!” He said in gusto as the class applauded me. Suddenly, my scraped knees and palms from my fall didn’t seem so bad.

“oh thank you sensei! Glad to make my class proud and I’ll continue to work hard”

“you’re too modest Miss Palma! You didn’t just make the class proud, the whole district and staff here know about your achievement. Because your the first international student in 10 years that made top bracket.”

“oh jeez really? the whole staff here knows? Thats a big deal to carry with the title” I said with less enthusiasm. I suddenly don’t want to leave the classroom to go to my other classes.

We have weapons class and it was mostly for the ones that didn’t do well in that portion of the exam. All I did was practice aim with hand guns, Mimi helped me out with that. Before we had to get dressed to go to next class, our PE clothes came in and I was so happy I got mine but the shorts on mine were a little too low on the waist. Curse my big ass! So I got re-measured and had to wait another week to get my full set. I got dressed quickly and teleported to my next class. I wasn’t late but I didn’t want any of the staff to talk to me about my achievement. I walk in and everyone starts clapping, FUCK i thought, Aizawa told them huh?

“brava to our brilliant American Student!” said Aizawa

“What an honor to hold Palma-san!” said Aoyama-san

“I’m impressed! We have to see you in action!” Sero said excitedly

“Actually, we can today”

“what do you mean sensei?”

“we’re going to the gym to do one on ones today”

“oh I was just there! alright ummm you want me to meet you guys there?”

“oh you were? sorry about that but if you’d like, go on ahead, I have to do some disciplinary things for the class”

“ok got it, see yall out there!” I said before teleporting out.

I got dressed out in my new jacket but with my black basketball shorts. To them, I probably look like I ripped my bottoms. I walk to the gym, nobody here yet, guess I’ll start my stretches. I put on my hypebeast playlist as I do stretches and quirk warmups. And a thought comes to mind, I don’t actually use my 2nd quirk like I should and I just pretend that it doesn’t exist. But then again, my quirks are on my file, if Aizawa finds me out I’m fucced because I HATE touching other people’s faces. I didn’t realize it but the class was watching me as I do my t-pose flips with the music on full blast. When I saw them I got embarrassed.

“WOAH Palma-san, didn’t know you listened to hype music” said Jiro

“oh yea hehe I listen to it when I work out and train, it gets me in my fighting element”

“fighting element? who you fighting often to have that?” said a very confused Mineta

“Oh i have an older and younger sibling back home and they’re blessed with double and powerful quirks. As the middle child, I have to stand against them when they get violent over the last slice of pizza”

“couldn’t you just, share and use your words instead of fighting all the time?” said Uraraka like she just my solved problem.

“you wouldn’t say that when your older sister has an anger fueled quirk plus fire and your little brother has the same temper but with the ability to stretch and fly, I HAVE to square up and throw a punch or 10 at my siblings to get what I want”

“thats terrible! what do your parents think about that?” said Tokoyami

“they stopped trying to prevent or stop the fights, they just let us at it as long as nothing catches on fire”

Everyone just looked at me like I survived a war or something. I assumed everyone was just an only child if they didn’t understand my reasoning.

“ok everyone, do we have anyone that wants to go first?” said Aizawa has he cut through us to the sparring circle.

“um I’ll go first!” I spoke up with a bit of restraint.

“oh good! your opponent is Bakugo, please get in position”

I have never craved death in my life more than this moment, with Bakugo?! I already didn’t like him as a person and his power is on par with my sister but with braincells. Doesn’t matter now, I take my side of the circle.

“tch, your just my warmup, don’t get your hopes up America-san” Bakugo spat out as he gave me the once over.

“Ok, round 1, Bakugo vs Palma, BEGIN” said an automated voice.

I put my fists up and get in my low stance. I think out my strategy that if I give him a dead leg and teleport him a few feet up while he’s dazed, I can suplex him to my victory. Because there was no way I could get him out of the circle to win. He charges toward me so aggressively and I barely evade him. I take my chance to give him dead leg but he threw in his punches before I could. A minute of trying to get him in the air passes and he got me on the ground and I stagger myself to look up, I had too much fight in me to give up now.

“PAUSE TIME” say Aizawa “Palma-san, use your other quirk”

“what? I-”

“no excuses, the old you is dead, reinvent yourself” he said right before I stood up “RESUME TIME”

Bakugo got a sickly, evil smile on his face and said “when I’m done, I’ll make you wish you never left home from mommy and daddy” as he inched closer.

That triggered the aggressive part of my psyche.

“shut up”

“what did you say?”

��I said SHUT UP!” as a swung in for the open hand slap to the face, “you don’t know me or what I did to end up here you aggressive twink!”

“you catty bitch, using slaps like my old hag, DIE” as he lunged toward me.

“GET AWAY FROM ME BOTTOM!” as I hold my hands out to unleash an explosion hard enough to send him out of bounds.

“Round 1, over, Palma wins” said the automated voice as I see Bakugo on his knees a good 10 ft away. I turn to my classmates and sensei, they’re in states of shock and awe. Sensei was proud of me and gave me the thumbs up. I turn to Bakugo, he’s still in shock.

“oh jeez, um you alright? Here let me-” I said as I teleported to him, assuming I hurt him or something.

“I get it! I lost! you don’t have to rub it in my face!” he growled as I teleported in front of him.

“Are you hurt? can you stand?” I said as I held my hand out.

He looked at my hand then my face, confused he said “you’re helping me? even after what I said to you? Aren’t you mad at me?”

“I was but I wanted to make sure you were alright, I left my family behind in America, not my human decency” I said genuinely as he took my hand to lift himself up.

“EY amazing job Palma-san!” said Midoriya “just one question, for my notes on everyone’s fighting style, whats a twink?”

I start laughing “oh goodness um its-” I whisper what a twink is in his ear.

“EEEEEHH?! thats so mean, but accurate! Kacchan is an aggressive twink” then he writes under Bakugo’s page according to Palma-san’s one on one with Kacchan, he’s an aggressive twink. Palma-san doesn’t say lies in battle.

After a few more one on ones, Kaminari spoke up “hey sensei, can I go against Palma-san?”

“if they’re alright with it, I don’t see why not”

“yea, I can go another round” I say like I’m being offered a second round of sushi.

“then take your places”

“Round 8, Kaminari vs Palma, BEGIN!”

Before I could go into my strategy, he starts talking like he has a motive,

“lets make a wager, If I win, you have to go on a date with me~”

“BOLD of you to assume I want to date you”

the class goes ballistic with the roasting I gave him!

“But if I win, you have to buy me coffee for a week”

“ok you’re on cutie” he said with a wink.

I gave a disgusted face as I wait for him to start shooting his sparks. He goes for it and I teleport behind him. He stopped his attack when he noticed I wasn’t there, a little too late boy. Gave one swift low sweep to knock him down and distract him from phase 2 of my plan. I quickly unzip my jacket, took it off and threw it on him as he got up.

“oi whats with the tricks?!” as he tried to wrestle out of my jacket. Just as according to plan. Now to intrigue him into phase 3, the finisher.

“aww, its like you’re not even trying!” I whined as I grab my jacket sleeves toward me, slinging him to my person. “maybe if I- cut out the middle man, you’ll fight me like a man!”

I made my ‘kiss me!’ eyes as I slightly puckered up. The fool fell for it and closed his eyes as he leaned in for the kiss. I couldn’t see the class but I’m pretty sure they had their jaws on the floor with the shit I was pulling off. Before our lips met, I did a quick dodge to his left ear as our chests touched and whispered ‘sike bitch you thot!’ and teleported us 15ft upwards. That bided me time to flip him and put him in a Diving Hurricanrana. He rolls forward and out of bounds.

“Round 8 over, Palma wins”

The class roars with amazement! I get a little thrown off by the noise. Then I hear Kaminari groan, shit I forgot to tone it with the wrestling moves.

“Hey you good?”

“Can’t believe you pulled a fast one on me!” he said as he took my hand to stand up, “I really thought I was gonna get lucky”

“oh Kaminari!” I said as I put my hand on his cheek “I like my coffee black with no cream and half a packet of sugar.”

“oh right, our wager” he said sadly, trying to not to blush in front of me.

“thanks again! I should wager for coffee more often” as I boop him on the nose, sending a light shock.

I walk back to the rest of the class and Midoriya runs up to me,

“Palma-san! that was- I’ve never seen that ending move before in my life! and the tactical taunts! How did you know he was going to fall for that kiss fake out?”

“thanks hehe that move is a lucha libre finisher called the Diving Hurricanrana and Kaminari-san is kinda predictable if he made his intentions clear in the beginning. The moment he said going on a date with him, I knew that was virgin code for ‘I want to have my first kiss already’ and I went for the kill”

Midoriya then writes in on my section of his notes ‘fights a mix of martial arts, lucha libre and trickery. Full strategy going into fights. Can read their opponent well’

“Good job kid,” Aizawa said while scribbling on his score sheet “up for another round? You have another challenger” he said pointing behind him with his pen.

I looked over and saw Todoroki staring at me with serious eyes, I’d be a fool to not take this fight, win or lose.

“Yea I’ll have another go”

“Thats the spirit, take your positions”

“Round 9, Todoroki vs Palma, BEGIN”

He doesn’t waste time to rush me with his ice, but I had a plan. If I could get him to the center of the circle, I can go in at close range combat and, depending how he falls, I can get him in an submission hold and it will all end.

“Your tricks won’t work on me” he told me bluntly “I can counter anything you throw at me.”

“Bold statement coming from somebody within slapping range”

“I won’t give you the pleasure of touching me”

“Oof wrong choice of words dude, gotta work on that”

The class chuckled and Todoroki got flustered because he didn’t know what he said that made them laugh. He blasted his next attack and I do a quick dip and vertical jump into T-pose, onto phase 2, the lure. I hover over him like I’m going to drop my weight on him so he can move to the center, he moves 5 steps in the right direction. All according to plan, I do a head kick fake out to get him to the middle and he jump dodges right where I wanted him. Phase 3, close combat, I teleport 2 feet in front of him and started my attack. As I execute my slap fake-out to gut upper cut, I ended up touching his face any ways. Slight change of plans, I can potentially freeze him in place. As I activate the quirk, a familiar sensation rose in my body. A secret quirk? I was tricked! He wanted me to touch him to mess up my plan! My body trembled and half of my body sprouted ice pillars, the other side had a perfectly controlled flame in my hand. FOOL he unknowingly gave me the upper hand!

“Wow, fire and ice? All the makings to be a powerful hero and you chose to hide the fire part of you” I said in awe “then you and me aren’t so different after all.”

He looked at me like somebody finally understood him, it all clicked to me. He let me touch him not because of strategy but to see if I really DID understand his reason to hide his quirk. All because I displayed mine in my fight with Bakugo. But he’s still gonna get his ass whooped.

“But you made a grave mistake, I have a sister with the same fire power” I said unapologetically “I’ve been mastering my technique since I was a toddler! I played with fire and I’m not afraid of getting burned” I said as I raised my hand with the fire side. His face turned from hopeful to fearful so quick when he realized he didn’t have a full plan to take me down now. I blast a ring of fire that he narrowly avoided. The class is conflicted on who they wanted to win but they were telling Todoroki to use his fire. I drop down with my right foot out to do my fire spin. Todoroki is having trouble landing an attack on me.

“I’ve never seen such moves, not even from my father, I don’t know how to counter them!” he says in a panic. I go in for the kill.

“Thanks! If you survive this next attack, maybe I can teach you.” I say as I rise into T-pose and focus all my energy on the fire quirk. It was a risk but I made a perfect fire clone of myself. Everyone was in shock, even sensei had his mouth open.

“She made a fire clone” said Yayorozu

“With the way things are turning out,” Ojiro thought out loud “Todoroki doesn’t stand a chance against her.”

“DON’T SAY THAT! What if its just for show?” said Sato seconds before things were getting ugly for their Icy boy.

“Todoroki-san, meet Flam-ita! Flam-ita, this is Todoroki-san!” I said like I would introduce 2 friends “Why don’t you go play with him Flamita? I’ll be standing here, watching.”

I make Flamita skip toward him and the class gasped that I pulled the ultimate flex on them all. Todoroki made an ice wall to bide him time to think of a plan.

“oh? Are you shy Todoroki?” I mocked “your ice can’t stop Flamita!” Flamita then melts through the wall and walked Todoroki to the edge of the boundary. He propelled himself up with his ice just before the line, foolish move. I anticipate his flight path and teleport one foot in front of him to get him in the flying La Arkangelina and stuck the landing. Upon landing I feel his body go limp and I think oh my fucking god he fuckin ded! But I felt him breathe on my neck and felt relieved, he just passed out.

“Round 9 over, Palma wins”

I look out to the class, nobody was moving or saying anything. I gotta think fast.

“um I think this boy need some healing” as I levitate him off me and to the class, hoping someone will take him to Recovery Girl. Shoji gets him but everyone else still didn’t react.

“Oh Flamita! come over here! Take a bow for your amazing debut! Until next time, sayonara” I say as my fire clone bows and fades away. I then take my bow and walk off the sparring circle. As I walk, I see Midoriya and Iida run toward me and then everything went dark and cold.

Did I just pass out?

I wake up to the sound of a menacing Russian accent and the sound of shoes aggressively squeaking on tile. No doubt in my mind it was Mimi and Jin fighting somebody off, but who?

“WHAT PART OF DON’T LOOK AT HER DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND WALKING BROCCOLI!”

“YEA! Don’t mess with us! We got the power of GOD AND ANIME on our side!” said Jin as he was praising the lord.

“Jin? Mimi? is that you?”

“She has R I S E N!” they said in unison as they run toward my cot. I was in the nurse’s office. Guess I did pass out...

“Oh thank the stars you’re ok Palma-san!” said Iida

“THATS HIM! THATS THE GUY THAT DRAGGED ME DOWN THE HALL!”

“what-”

“You have some nerve to show your glasses wearing ass around us!”

“yee yee bucko, prepare to get” Jin said as he set up the perfect dab “fucko’d!”

Midoriya and Iida just stood and watched the 3 of us dab and whip in unison, wondering where Recovery Girl was to stop this chaos.

“Hello~ Is Itati awake?” said Midnight as she popped her head in to all the chaos.

Mimi stops and elbows Jin to stop too.

“Yea I’m up and well”

“Oh good!” she said relieved and walked in with a file under her arm and a large tupperware container in her hands. “I was going to give you this after school for a job well done on the ranking but looks like you might need this now.” She opens the container and inside was perfectly cut cubes of watermelon! I haven’t have any in months!

“Oh my goodness! how did you know I liked watermelon?”

“Well in your health and wellness file, your mother attached some pictures of you doing things that make you happy. One of them is a picture of you as a child eating a slice of watermelon half your size!” she gushed as she sat next to the cot and everyone gathered around. “here, take a look”

I open the file and I see a bunch of pictures I haven’t seen in ages! Theres a picture of me as a toddler, petting rabbits at the park. Another one where my family went to the beach and my sister was throwing 8 year old me into the water. Then I saw a picture of me spoon feeding yogurt to my shitzu Mr. Muffins, I remember that this was taken the summer before I entered high school. I miss my sweet lil muffin.

“wow Palma-san! You do have a big family, you look so much like your mother.” said Midoriya looking at my picture when I was 10, helping my mom cook Christmas dinner.

“you clearly came from a very loved household, my mother wouldn’t do this for me!” said Iida looking at the rare photo of my siblings and I getting along, we were sitting on the grass, drinking out of cracked coconuts.

I start eating the watermelon, I was REALLY hungry and was feeling so touched that everyone was looking through my photos. It’s like taking a peek at all the peaceful moments of my life without having to explain it. Recovery Girl came in eventually and said that I exhausted myself using my copy quirk. I was prescribed 3 days of rest, no quirk using or endurance training. Everyone that came to visit parted ways and I was released a bit before my last class of the day. As I get up, I see that Todoroki was in the cot behind the curtain, he was awake and drinking water.

“oh hi, are you doing ok?”

“Palma-san, I am thank you” he said a bit startled. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“When sensei said to use your 2nd quirk and he stopped you from saying something, what were you going to say?”

“I was going to say that I don’t want to, doing my copy quirk makes me look too over powered.” I said with a hint of sadness “I didn’t want the class to not like me because I was too powerful or be scared of what I might do next!”

“That’s what I admire about you” said Todoroki “you are genuinely kind and caring but strong and calculating.”

“oh thank you Todoroki-san, for your kind words”

“you can call me Shouto”

“oh alright then, you can call me Itati”

“can I call you Itati-senpai?”

“eww gross Shouto-san, what do I look like? a fuckin shonen manga?!”

“Ok ok! I pushed it a bit sorry” he said chuckling a bit “see you in class tomorrow.”

“see you then! bye.”

-the next day, in the hero wing, on the way to class-

“Thanks for escorting me to my class guys”

“No problem! we gotta stick together”

“yee, these heroes better step off when they see these sick moves”

We get to room 1-A and I turn to say see you later but Mimi tosses me over her shoulder and Jin entered the room.

“LISTEN UP YOU WANNABE HEROES! HURT OR MAKE OUR BABYGIRL CRY, WE WON’T HESITATE TO WHOOP YA ASS IN THE TRASH!” Jin said as Mimi walked in with me on her shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes. Everyone was confused on why and who are these kids? Mimi walks to my desk and lifts me off her by gripping my ribcage.

“ok have a good class session Ita, remember, we love you~”

“guys! you’re embarrassing me in front of people I won against, love you too tho”

They both portal out before Aizawa walked in. I sat down and I was taking my stuff out to take notes and I didn’t notice Kaminari getting up and putting an iced coffee on my desk. I look up and see him being goofy.

“Here’s a coffee as promised, the girl at the shop said you might like this, no idea whats the name of it but the girl was pretty cute”

“Oh cool, did you get her number?” I said as I took a sip, it was good but the coconut milk was a bit heavy handed.

He thought about it and exclaimed “dang it! I didn’t! now I feel dumb!”

“Hey Palma-san,”said Midoriya from his desk “can you teach me how to do that finishing move you did on Todoroki-kun?”

“YEAH! I’ve never heard of lucha libre fighting before!” Tokoyami butted in, “you make it look so powerful yet entertaining to look at”

“What other moves do you know? Who taught you? Your copy quirk is really powerful! How long did it take you to master your double powers? Come sit with us at lunch today! Can you teach me how to make those delicious cookies you gave us? Can you send me your hypebeast playlist?” I got so many questions that I lost track on who asked what. But I was happy because they want to include me in their circle, even after what I did to their classmates.

“ok everyone settle down, I have the grades for the one on one’s from yesterday. Since some you did more than one spar. I posted your best fight”

I look at the overhead, I got a 20 out of 15 for my best fight, the one with Todoroki.

“As you can see, Miss Palma got extra points for showmanship, confidence and technique” He said panning to me “But thats what I expect from one of the prodigies in the Intelligence Program.”

“oh thank you sensei! You give me too much praise!”

“YOU’RE IN SECRET SERVICE?!” yelled Kirishima “and those other two that escorted you in, are your classmates, aren’t they?”

“ummm yea why does that matter?”

“Kirishima, now is not the time to ask her questions. Sit down before I send you to the principals office”

I start sweating, everyone started to like me just a moment ago. Everything calmed down and class resumed as usual. I start packing to head out and I hear running from outside the classroom. Mimi and Jin rush in.

“We came as fast as we could to escort you to lunch!”

“I made tamago zushi~”

“OH HELL YEA!” I holler at the idea of having that good good sweet egg.

“wait Palma-san,” said Kirishima as he grabbed my shoulder “sorry for my out burst earlier, I didn’t know you were, one of those students.”

“its alright, I didn’t share with yall what program I was in so its a shock to hear”

Kirishima wasn’t good at hiding his true emotions, I could tell he didn’t tell me sorry because he was sorry. He told me sorry because he didn’t trust me and didn’t want to seem like THAT guy. I don’t blame him.

“well see you tomorrow!”

“yeah, see ya!”

As I walk with Mimi and Jin, I think about what going to happen next now that everyone in class knows. Who’s going to confront me next? Who’s going to stick by me regardless? Things just got spicy when I ordered semi-sweet. Oof.

-End Chapter 2-

#bnha #mha #self insert au #not canon #will update regularly #chapter 2 #ask me anything

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crearnykiss · 7 years ago

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united we stand, united we'll fall.

pairing: none. brotherly ot5

characters: min yoongi, kim seokjin, kim taehyung, kim namjoon, jung hoseok

genre: slight angst

word count: 1987

Late 1944. Circa September. Germany. Yoongi Min. Korean-American. 23 years of age. United States Army, Private First Class.

The winds grew strong and frightening as the group of five men huddled together in attempt to keep warm in the darkened, muggy tallgrass that littered the ground. Their hands were going numb, the cold seeping into their bones, tingling sensations taking control over their bodies that were never truly theirs. Even with the cold, they held their guns tightly against their chests, for no one could be prepared for the monsters that lay hidden-- waiting-- crouching like tigers as they seeked their unexpecting prey in the middle of abandoned prairie land.

“God fuckin’ damn. Nickals just had to surprise us, huh?” Yoongi Min, a 23 year old private muttered under his breath. “Fuck are we ‘spose to do now after he took the easy route out, going A.W.O.L. and all?”

Yoongi Min, to be fair, would rather be doing absolutely anything other than being a part of the war. He was in no way a pacifist, and deemed whatever those Nazi fucks were doing to be inhumane, but he was never one for the blood and guts that came with violence.

His whole family had immigrated in the late 20’s to Los Angeles while he was a young boy. He learned to speak english rather quickly in order to survive, however, he was never really keen on doing school work. To put it simply, Yoongi was average. As a result of his average lifestyle, it was a rather difficult blow once the Great Depression came around, but he learned to work hard and never wait to be saved. He wanted to help, and the only ‘acceptable’ way to do so was to enlist, to do one’s bit. He never wanted to see so many deaths.

“Damn Nazi’s could be anywhere at this point.” Beside him, another private, Hoseok Jung, cursed.

Hoseok happened to be the most similar to Yoongi within their small group. Hoseok could be deemed Yoongi’s closest friend, having joined along him from their hometown to serve their country, simply because he wholeheartedly believed it to be right to defend one’s country. He was never much for fighting, not one much for war in general, not having the heart to take the life of another, being more of a pacifist character, yet there he was in the middle of the crossfire along with Yoongi and the rest of their ‘crew’.

The small group could do nothing but wait. Wait to live, wait to die, for there were no other answers yet to be discovered. Their leader, Sergeant first class Phillip Nickals, had left them to their demise as they lay in unidentified territory.

The group of young men were left with nothing other than a few guns, practically no ammunition, and their trusty combat knives at their sides. Not only were their weapons limited, but their rations were running dangerously low as well. Their medic, a young man named Seokjin, was rummaging through their provisions before suddenly taking a seat, leaning back and sighing deeply, his eyebrows furrowed together in irritation as he gripped his head tightly, clearly frustrated. “We’re dead if we don’t find some food and water. I barely have any fucking supplies!” He quickly flailed his arms towards the direction of the bags, “What if we’re ambushed? We’ll be as good as dead and I won’t be able to do shit to save you guys.”

Seokjin was usually the most level headed; a man who could hold everything together perfectly until he reached a certain point. Back at home, he resided in New York City where he studied long and hard in order to become a doctor; a pediatrician. However, once news came out that the United States had entered the war, he did not hesitate to enlist. He was a very trusted man among the five, so once they saw how close he was to losing his cool… they realized how truly fucked they were.

The men could do nothing but sit quietly, wind causing the grass to rustle in sweeping motions from beneath them. How easily the world around them could continue on without a fault yet they stood still-- stuck in an endless cycle of confusion and anxiety without a known exist or solution anywhere in sight.

Hoseok sighed, lips pursed as he thought off into space, “How’s Nammie doin’?”

“Nam?” Seokjin’s mood suddenly lightened at the mention of the other man, looking over beside him listening to soft snores, “His wound is doing alright. No major damage yet to be seen.”

Their cartographer and interpreter, technician fifth grade Namjoon Kim, had just recently been hit by flying debri from a strategically placed bomb the Nazi’s had set up. A piece of shrapnel was deeply lodged into the side of his calf, causing Seokjin to use most of their supplies in attempt to remove any foreign material from his body and to stabilize him from the large amount of blood loss he had endured. He laid somewhere nearby, high off his mind with morphine as it was the only way to keep the poor man calm enough to sleep and go about his day.

“He can walk decently enough, but he needs to take his time.” Seokjin paused, looking towards Hoseok and Yoongi. “He’s straining himself trying to keep up with all of us,” Seokjin whispered, before continuing rather sadly, “I think he feels as if he’s dead weight.”

“Dead weight?” Hoseok arched an eyebrow, “Nam? Fuck no.”

“He got us out of that minefield faster than a bat out of hell,” Yoongi said matter of factly as he took out a pack of cigarettes, popping one out and letting it dangle between his bloodied, dried out lips soon passing it towards Hoseok.

Hearing a soft rustling in the distance, the three men quickly tensed and held their guns tightly against their chests, ready to shoot at any moment. A rush of adrenaline filled their entire bodies, their breathing becoming shallower in their chests as their lungs struggled to function. A storm of worries and thoughts and hopes passing through their minds with the lack of equipment at hand. Thoughts raced like wild horses, galloping in the fields of their fears before soon settling as they realized that the rustling in question was none other than private first class Taehyung Kim, their fifth and youngest member. Taehyung had left their small base a few minutes earlier in need of a piss, quietly leaving without informing his comrades, because he had thought he wouldn’t be long. However, he did not assume they would awake as he soon froze from tugging at the belt of his pants looking up, realizing all of his comrades were awake, pointing their guns directly at him.

“Uhh… Guess no one slept well?” He joked lightly in attempt to ease their worries.

“For fucks sakes! Come on, man, be more careful,” Seokjin groaned as they all stood down, dropping their guns and breathing a sigh of relief.

“We coulda blown your brains out, kid,” Yoongi frowned, clearly disappointed in the younger lad. “That’s something I honestly never want to do. Don’t fuck around.”

After being with someone for long periods of time, one tends to grow bonds. Bonds that slowly begin to sprout from within their heart and minds, subconsciously longing to protect, love, and care for one another. When you’re always with a man, that man turns into your comrade, that comrade becomes your brother, and you brother may eventually become your savior.

Yoongi was rightfully upset. They had all had their fair share of blood and guts. The constant sounds of ‘fireworks’ in the distance, yet no display of colors ever in sight. With the smell of fumes invading the air before one has any time to register what the everloving fuck is happening. With all the chaos that fills their world, the last thing anyone of them wants to do is shoot their brother, the youngest man with them, the man one swore to protect under an unspoken oath, simply because he was just like you in many ways meanwhile being completely different.

He couldn’t stay upset at Taehyung, though. There was reasoning behind it. He had made a mistake and that was it. Hopefully, and he prays, that a mistake will never cost him his life.

Taehyung was always a playful, sweet kid. Even from their first meeting, Yoongi knew he was something special yet not in the bad, demeaning way. He just saw how he had a way of making everything around him glow, while simultaneously making the room grow warmer. As friendly as he may have seemed, he was a quiet, reserved boy. Barely out of boot camp and from a lonely town in the Midwest, to put it simply: he had no friends. Being very similar to Hoseok, one would expect him to be the most outgoing, however, he carries himself like a child.

“Come on,” Hoseok ushered Taehyung towards his makeshift bed on the floor. “Don’t just stand there, let’s get some fuckin’ sleep meanwhile it’s calm out.”

“Don’t say that c-word,” Namjoon, who had finally awoken from his everlasting slumber, slurred as he sat upwards. “It’s bad luck, asshole.”

Taehyung and Hoseok couldn’t help but chuckle between themselves.

“Whatever, Joonie,” Hoseok said, playfully messing with Taehyung’s hair as they finally laid down to rest.

“How’re you feeling?” Seokjin made his way towards his friend.

“If I ignore the constant headache, pain, and soreness-- I would say I am doing pretty damn amazing!”

Seokjin couldn’t help but push him, making Namjoon groan.

“Stop trying to act like you’re made out of stone when you’re not,” Seokjin huffed.

“You did everything you could,” Yoongi interjected, “Give yourself a break. You’re not God--”

“I actually am God, for your information. I’m a medic; of course I am.”

“Well, God, Why in the hell would you try to kill an already injured man?” Namjoon groaned, pushing himself upwards again only to be pushed back down.

“Because God can do whatever he feels like doing. And God says you need to lay down and continue sleeping.”

“God sounds like he has a God complex,” Namjoon pouted while Yoongi finally let out a small laugh.

“Come on, you hit the hay, too, Seokjin.” He moved towards Seokjin, holding his blanket before handing it to him. “I can take first turn in keeping lookout.”

“Fine,” Seokjin quickly gave in, not denying the deep fatigue that draped his body. “If anything as much as makes a peep, don’t be scared to wake me up. Understand?”

“Roger dodger,” Yoongi jokingly saluted.

“Goodnight, Yoongi.” “Night, Jin.”

After watching his comrades slowly falling asleep, huddling close to one another in attempt to seek warmth and comfort from one another, Yoongi found the perfect spot by a patch of dirt and sat in silence as he looked outwards into the open land with his gun at hand, ready to charge at any given moment for he was prepared to die, to give the little life he had in him for his country, for his flag, and above all, for the men that laid down their lives alongside him day by day, night by night.

The grass around him swayed, slowly dancing in sync with each strand as if attempting to lull him to sleep. The world around him slowed just a second, with the stars glistening above their sad excuse of a campground, almost as if mocking them, yet it all kept moving. Moving without a second thought, without a thought of who laid right beneath the sky above, next to a patch of grass that may or may not hold their ultimate demise.

Yoongi simply looked on towards what may or may not lay ahead, with the constant fear of death in the back of his mind. Waiting to live, waiting to die. He sat until the sun rose, and another battle begun.

a/u: lol i wrote this little by little over a period of 3 months. im sorry if it sucks. unbeta'd bc we livin' the dangerous life

#bts writing #bangtan fanfic #bts drabble #alternative universe #world war 2 #hyung line #jungkook and jimin aren't in this #fanfic #fantasy #bts angst

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