#oh boy transitioning my whole twitch is gonna be a PROCESS

[mageofcolors]

goodbye therealsomajesticdonki, hello mageofcolors!!! 💚💖💙💛💜

[purefrostbyte]

Mina - Love Yourself

Mina Ashido

Rating: sexual content (Not smut)

 Love Yourself

 Ever since you manifested your quirk people have ran away from you. You couldn’t blame them, sharp horns on your head, devil tail and claws, you were a monster. It was the reason why your parents had forced you to become a hero saying, “We won’t have a villain for a daughter.” Hell even they were afraid of you.

You got into UA fairly easily, your quirk increasing your general strength and speed while also giving you wings. You had landed second behind Bakugo, not that you really cared. You saw no point in all this, you doubted UA would keep you for long. The minute they find out the full extent of your quirk they’ll kick you, you thought.

That’s why it was so surprising to you when you found yourself moving into the dorms during break. After Bakugo had been kidnapped the school, your class especially, to move on campus for safety measures. You didn’t mind, you saw it as freedom from your parents, though they were hesitant to let you go.

You had didn’t bother making friends with anyone, you doubted they wanted to be your friend in the first place. That didn’t stop a certain pink girl from trying though. She was constantly around you, inviting you to lunch or just for girl time. You had never accepted, and ended up avoiding her where ever you went. You had developed a crush on the bubblegum girl and you figured avoiding her would be better for both of you.

It was currently weekend at the dorms, and you didn’t bother going home. You didn’t feel like listening to your parents nag at you, or the disappointed look in their eyes whenever you were around. Your heart clenched at the thought, your quirk made you unlovable to even your family. You had filled your day with small chores, cleaning up your room or reorganizing things. It kept your mind busy, which was what you desperately needed at this point.

The sun was setting, your Saturday afternoon transitioning into night. You sighed, stomach growling. You had a tenacity to not eat, it started when you just didn’t want to come out of your room and see that look in your parent’s eyes. You got up and headed down stairs, figuring you might as well eat something. Plus you thought everyone had gone home.

You were wrong.

Walking into the common room you were greeted with the loud shouting of Denki and Bakugo who appeared to be playing some video game. “Stop being a coward and help me fucking kill this bitch,” Bakugo yelled as he smashed buttons on his controller. The whole Bakusquad was sat in the lounge playing video games, snacks and glasses sprawled around them. Mina looked up to see you, a smile gracing her face, “Hi Y/n, wanna join?” you shook your head, stuffing your hands in your hoodie as you quietly made your way to the kitchen.

Mina frowned, she had been trying so hard to befriend you and all you seemed to do was avoid her. Hell she was pretty sure you had spoken more words to Mineta than her. Kirishima noticed the frown on his pink friends face, turning to watch you make yourself food. “Yo Y/n,” he called leaning over the couch. The Bakusquad watched silently, confused as to what Kirishima could possibly be up to. “We’re gonna watch a horror movie later, you should join.”

You froze on the spot before turning slowly to face him, the whole squad staring back at you. Jirou caught on quickly, knowing Mina’s desperate attempts to befriend and even flirt with you. “Yeah, not like there’s anything else to do around here.”

You stared for a bit before turning back to your food, your silence annoying a certain blonde. The whole squad knew Mina had a crush on you, and even if you weren’t into girls she still wanted to befriend you. He didn’t want to listen to Mina’s whining, that and he actually did care for his group of idiots (though he would never admit it). “Sit your ass down, or I’m gonna blow your door down and tie you to the couch.”

Everyone was shocked by Bakugo’s claim. You and Bakugo shared an understanding and mutual respect for each other, you weren’t perturbed by his loud attitude and he couldn’t care less about your stupid quirk. You rolled your eyes at him, “Whatever you say Boom Boi.” A tick mark appeared and Bakugo’s forehead, but the minute you actually sat down to join them it faded away. Soon Denki and Bakugo were playing and yelling again, while the others attempted to help them.

“Left!” Kirishima said as an enemy came at Denki and soon the screen flashed showing Denki had died. “Man this game sucks,” he pouted as he crossed his arms. “Maybe it’s the player and not the game,” Shinsou said, he had recently moved to the Hero course. You watched them argue before deciding to reach over and grab the remote. Mina watched as you respawned and instantly killed half the enemies in the room, fingers gliding gracefully over the controller. “Wow Y/n your super good at this!” She chirped, drawing the other’s attention. You and Bakugo had cleared the floor and where moving to find health potions and ammo. “Use to play a lot at home,” you mumbled, “Never had anything better to do.”

The class didn’t know much about you, let alone any hobbies or personal life details. Sero couldn’t help but make an observation, “So how come you never leave the dorms?” You froze slightly, eyes not leaving the TV, “Family.” You didn’t say much else, but it spiked curiosity in them. “Oh, do they live far away?” Denki asked switching places with Mina so she could be closer to you. “I wish.” You sighed as you and Bakugo run into the boss room. Mina furrows her eyebrows at how you responded, did you and your family not get along?

“Dodge and go for the back,” you directed as the boss charged at you both in full force. Bakugo grunted, the both of you taking down the boss fairly easy. “Fuck yeah!” Bakugo yelled as the screen faded to back, signally the end of the mission. You took a bite from your sandwich as Bakugo, Kirishima, Denki and Sero rejoiced. “Thanks Y/n, we’ve been trying for weeks now to finish this mission. Honestly if it wasn’t for Bakugo’s motivation we would have quit.” Sero rubbed the back of his head and you simply nodded, “It is one of the more complex levels, took me a week before I got it.”

Soon the game was discarded and Bakugo was in the kitchen fixing up dinner, because if anyone else cooked they would probably burn down the kitchen. Jirou, Denki and Kirishima started cleaning up the mess of bowls while Shinsou and Sero went to get blankets and stuff for the movie. That left you alone with Mina. “Hey,” she said softly, as if approaching an injured animal, “You know, it was really nice of you to help us. Thanks.” She smiled and your heart fluttered, tail subconsciously swaying in happiness.

Mina found it cute how your tail moved, twitching when you were annoyed, swaying when happy or just curly slightly when you were highly focused. “It wasn’t a big deal,” you mumble, setting the controllers away. Mina giggled, your tail lightly swiped against her thigh. It wasn’t on purpose but Mina couldn’t help but clench her thighs together, she wondered what else that tail of yours could do.

You wondered where the others were, probably washing up or helping Bakugo. Mina took a deep breath, deciding it go for it like her friends had tried convincing her. “You’re really pretty Y/n.” she said and you froze in shock. You wiped your head towards her, not caring about the blush on your cheeks. “What?” you were dumbfounded, “You’re really pretty,” Mina repeated, “I also think your tail is cute, you know how it twitches and stuff.” You shook your head, “You’re crazy.”

Mina frowned, “What, why?” you looked at her before sighing. “Look, my quirk literally makes me a devil, and you’re tell me I’m pretty, cute? Don’t pull my leg.” You rolled your eyes before looking away. Mina tilted her head, “But you are pretty, quirks don’t matter. You should love yourself regardless.” She gave you smile and you couldn’t help what you did next.

You pressed your lips to hers, she tasted of bubblegum. You pulled away and stared at Mina’s shocked face. The weight of what you just did crashed down on you. You blushed before attempting you get up and leave, not wanting to embarrass yourself more. Mina moved faster, moving to straddle your legs and pulling you into an open mouth kiss. The taste of bubblegum filled your mouth and you flipped her over so that you were hovering over her. Her hands wondered up your sides before wrapping around your shoulders to pull you closer.

“We got the, Oh Shit!!” Sero yelled as he walked in on you and Mina making out. You both pulled away out of shock, faces fully red. You got off Mina, moving to create some distance. “You go Mina,” Sero chuckled causing Mina to throw a pillow at him, “Shut up!” she yelled embarrassed and the commotion made the others come to the common room. “What’s going on?” Kirishima asked confused, Sero smirked, “Mina’s getting some that’s what.”

Kirishima and Denki both started cheering, getting a pillow thrown at both of them by Mina, “Shut up you idiots.” You were still processing what had happened, you and Mina had kiss, hell fully made out and one of her friends had caught you. You pulled you knees to your chest, hiding your flushed face. Finally Mina had managed to shoo them away, not before receiving a few encouraging remarks form her friends. She turned to you when they had left, taking in your embarrassed form. “You ok?” she asked causing you to peak your head out from your legs. “Yeah…” your voice trailed off, you couldn’t really look at her with your mind wondering to what had happened moments prior.

Mina didn’t like you avoiding her so she took action, pouncing on you so that she straddled you form. You gawked up at her, “What are you-“ Mina hushed you with a kissed. She soon pulled away, “Don’t ignore me, please.” Her voice was soft and it made you weak. You sat up, bringing Mina closer to you, “Why me?” you whispered, “Out of everyone you could chose, why me?”

Mina wrapped her arms around your neck bringing your body flush against hers, “Because you deserve love Y/n, and I will make you see that.” She smiled and you pulled her into a soft kiss.

[bigsnzstanacct]

D/ream Da/ddy SnzFic M*t 1

More of the DD story I started. This is the last one I have written so far.

Mat 1

Okay. Going to a concert. That is a thing people do. That is a thing I can do. I’ve been to concerts, I’ve been cool at concerts, I’ve been popular. at. concerts. And I was great at going to the last concert with Mat! How crazy can it be to go to another one? Granted, aside from that one concert with Mat it’s been… well, we don’t need to count how many years it’s been since I’ve been to a concert that wasn’t full of glitter, scream-crying, and gyrating nineteen year old boys dancing in sync—heh—and arguably singing. Arguably. The point is, I’ve been to concerts, I go to concerts, and I’m cool enough to go to this concert with incredibly cool Mat and his incredibly cool hair, and his incredibly cool band knowledge and his incredibly cool face. Here goes nothing…

I go to knock on Mat’s door—meeting him at his place this time, instead of the coffee shop, cause we’re Super Tight—only he opens the door at the same time I go to knock and I end up knocking on his… chest? He looks at me, head tilted slightly to the side, lips quirking like he’s not entirely sure whether he should laugh or not, and try to extricate my hand from his chest as gracefully as possible. (You cannot extricate your hand from knocking on someone’s chest gracefully.)

“I think I should follow this up with some kind of knock-knock joke maybe?” I offer, after achieving the ungraceful extrication. I can salvage this situation with a classic Dad Joke, right? There must be a way to make this happen…

“Like…” Mat’s seriously contemplating this, he’s deep in thought. Then he comes out with: “Like maybe, knock knock, who’s there, Mat’s chest. Mat’s chest who? Mat’s ‘jest opening the door at the same time as you?”

See, this is the best thing about Mat. (Well, one of the many best things about Mat.) I guess because he’s nearly as awkward as I am—or so he says, I’ve yet to see him be anything but adorable—he rolls with my awkward. It’s like our awkward cancels out to become our own private brand of cool, like multiplying a negative… or is it adding a negative to a negative… I have no idea how Amanda and I got through Algebra. Tenth grade was an adventure.

“Like that exactly,” I say, smiling at him. “Sorry for um, knocking on your chest?”

“No need to apologize, you can knock me any time you want… aaaaaaaand that sounded wrong. Sorry, I…”

“What are you talking about? That sounded just right to me.” I’m not exactly sure if I’m trying to flirt or not? There may or may not have been an eyebrow waggle, but also I wasn’t fully committed to it and a not-fully-committed eyebrow waggle is one of the most awkward things known to man, and even Mat’s superhuman awkward-canceling powers might not be able to overcome this one…

“SO WHAT BAND ARE WE SEEING TONIGHT?” I ask, considerably too loudly, but Mat seems grateful for the change of subject, and so am I. We start to walk towards the venue as he talks.

“The Comfortable Barstools,” he says, “it’s kind of a… indie singer-songwriter vibe, but with a house twist? Just these two guys, one sings and plays the piano and the other one mans a turntable and a computer that does all kinds of magic. Really, it’s a great outfit, I think you’ll enjoy them. They’re cool guys too. I jammed with Scott once—he’s the piano-playing one. I’m not technological enough to jam with Austin.”

“Well I mean what are you gonna do, wail on the Macbook?”

“Dude, I shred on the Dell.”

“Yeah, I bet you crush on the Hewlitt-Packard.”

Mat doesn’t exactly belly laugh at that one—he shouldn’t; it wasn’t that funny—but he does give one of his soft smiles. I try to collect those little smiles like tokens when I’m out with Mat. It’s how you know he’s having a good time. And if I sometimes let myself think those smiles mean something special about me, or about our relationship or whatever… well, what? I’m human, aren’t I? CAN’T A GUY DREAM?

And he is starting to tell me more of his old music stories. I never push, he’d hate that but… he just drops little stories like that, pretty often actually. It’s… it’s really sweet honestly. And if it encourages me in my little daydreams about our relationship, well… that’s just a bonus.

Mat looks serious all of a sudden, and for a second I’m afraid I’ve done something wrong.

“But uh, I have something to tell you…”

Oh god, this is it. I daydreamed too much. He caught me. He can tell. I’m not being a cool friend, I’m being… what do the kids call it? I’m being thirsty and he can tell and he’s gonna tell me to cut it out or find another friend…

“I’m really sorry but…”

Oh geez, here it comes.

“We can totally be friends!” I blurt at exactly the same time as he says, “Jonathan Jones is opening again.”

“Wait, what?” We say in unison.

“Oh I mean I just said… we can totally still be friends,” I say, trying to make a smooth recovery, “even though you’re putting my ears through the Jonathan Jones torment again.” Nice, nice recovery. Although, moment of intense awkwardness past, I fully process what he said. Jonathan Jones and the Speakeasy Choir? Again? The single most unpleasant collection of noise I have heard in my life? Oh geez. Well, for Mat. And For Music!

“Sorry,” Mat said, shuffling awkwardly, eyes down at the ground. “I just uh, I didn’t want to go to this one alone? I know I should have told you.”

“Ah, Mat, don’t worry about it. I’d sit through a whole Jonathan Jones concert for you.”

“Wow. Th-that’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in like a year.”

“Well, you know, I’m probably the nicest guy you’ve met all year, sooooo…”

“Haha. You probably are.”

We chat some, swap daughter stories, acquire some Beers. Maybe we have more Beer than we did last time, but I start feeling pretty buzzed. And I may or may not have gotten a little bold and suggested a shot or two. Mat seemed to hesitate for a second, and I hoped I wasn’t pushing him but after he eagerly downed his shot and ordered our next round of drinks, I was pretty sure he was cool with it. At least until I saw his face begin to waver, a look of… uncertainty on his face? And that uncertainty rapidly collapsed into something approaching panic. Had I done something wrong? Was I scaring him off? Mat could be skittish, like a deer with incredibly cool hair. But before I knew it he was turning away from me, raising his arm and…

“HEHTttssccchhh! HEHTtscchhhhh! HEHTschhh! HEHTscch! hehh… hehHHH… HEEHHTSCCccchhhhhh!”

Was that a sneeze? That certainly was not a Dad Sneeze. Leave it to Mat, World’s Coolest Dad, to have a normal Regular Man sneeze, unlike my great galumphing roars.

“Bless you, Mat, for those very un-Dad-like sneezes.”

Mat blushed, and looked at me bit quizzically before he choked out a sneezy “w-wait a mineehhhhh… ahhhhh…” and again he turned away from me, brought up his elbow to his face and…

“ehhttscchhhoOOO! EHTscchhhHH! huh… HUH-EHHHHT-Scccchhhhhuuhhh!” That last one had some force behind it, as he tried to clear out whatever was irritating his sinuses. But it still wasn’t really loud enough even to be heard over the noise of the room. Meanwhile, I’d probably drown out the band if I sneezed as many times as Mat had.

“Geez, Mat, you okay?”

“Y-yeah…” he said, smiling up at me as he turned back towards me, blushing a bit, nose slightly red. How did he manage to look so cute post-sneeze? “I um… the alcohol, actually. If I drink too much I get… oh geez… hehh… here it… heh-heh-hehh-hehhH… comes…” he said, chest swelling with air, head tipping back, voice going high pitched as the sneeze distorted his voice before he… “HEEHHHHHTT-sccchhhhhhh! Oh, geez! Whew!” he said, sniffing, as he reacted to the sneeze, which apparently had come on too strongly for him to properly execute the Vampire Dab Elbow Sneeze. He bent forward with the sneeze, pretty far, slowly recovering from what had, apparently, been a big sneeze for him.

“That was a big one!” He chuckled, saying as much.

“You call that a big one?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Mat, if I were capable of sneezing with even _half_ your level of chill…”

“Your… sneezes… aren’t chill?” Mat asked, smiling a bit.

“NO! My sneezes aren’t chill! I have horrible Dad Sneezes! I sneeze with the fury of a thousand Dads! I sneeze so loud, and so hard, that I once made not one, not two, not three, but seven toddlers cry from sheer shock. I can’t control it, I can’t manage it, it just…”

“eht-SHOO! ahhh… heettscchhOOO! HEHTschhhhhooo! hehh… EHTTTsscchhhh!” Mat sneezed again, his nose thankfully interrupting my sneeze-related ramblings. “Sorry I… I was listening it was just all that talk about sneezing must have made my nose itch.” He said, twitching it around experimentally, checking his nose for sneezes like one might rattling a jar for coins. “Sorry, I’m gonna be doing that all night. My alcohol thing once it… hehh… once it starts it just… comes back again and… EHTSCCHOOO!” He sneezed, another of his more forceful ones. I thought I glimpsed a glimmer of Dad Sneeze potential but… Mat was hiding his light under a bushel, alas. Of course it was probably good when one owned a food-service establishment not to be constantly sneezing loudly enough to strike terror into the hearts of all your quiet Macbooking coffeeshop-goers.

“Sorry,” Mat said, slightly bleary-eyed as he recovered from the heavy sneeze. “You were saying…?”

“Just… I have big sneezes, I guess. Wish they were a little more manageable like yours.”

“Manageable? I think I just sneezed twelve times in the span of five minutes. You call that manageable?”

“Compared to a true Dad Sneeze? Yes. Compared to mine? Mat… it is a fearsome and terrible sight. And sound.” I said solemnly. “I pray you never have to witness it.”

Mat rolled his eyes and laughed me off, and somehow flawlessly transitioned his eyeroll into turning away from me for another bout of properly dabbed “ehhttscchhuuhh! ‘scchhuh! TTttsccchhhuh! eeehhhTTCchuhh! HEHtchhhhh!”

“Bless you, Mat. Maybe enough drinks for now?” I offered, putting my hand on his shoulder. It felt warm.

He turned back to me and smiled. “Yeah, maybe enough drinks for now. Although you-know-who is coming up in a second. We might need just one more Beer. Might make them a little more bearable.”

“Bartender?”

— I had polished off more than half of my Beer—and Mat had fired off two or three more rounds of his tight, itchy sneezes, and we still had yet to be aurally assaulted by the dreaded Speakeasy Choir. It seemed as though Mat’s nose had calmed down for the moment. Perhaps he’d acclimated to the Beer. I just wished my nose would acclimate to tree pollen, cats, dogs, ragweed, hamsters (the way I traumatized Amanda’s class hamster… I still shudder to think about it), cut grass, all flowers, most perfumes, a few cleaning supplies and/or tomatoes. Alas… the Dad Sneeze was relentless. At least, mine were.

The Dad Bladder, by contrast… was shrinking. Shrinking every day. And that meant that even with only 65ish percent of my Beer consumed… a trip to the can, the head, the little boys’ room, the water closet, the pee-pee palace was in order.

“Hey, Mat, I gotta head to the pee-pee… I mean the restroom!” Damn my internal monologue.

“Oh, uh, actually I could stand to drain the snake myself.” (I was definitely not thinking about Mat’s “snake” the instant he mentioned it.)

“You sure you don’t want to wait until the Speakeasy Choir is up? The bathroom may be our only refuge once they start playing.”

“Oh, that won’t help. You can hear them through the walls. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

I could only sigh, as Mat and I headed towards the restroom, dodging teenagers the whole way. Of course, they all wanted to greet Mat, who continued being impossibly cool. They mostly bumped into me.

We reached the restroom at last, and it occurred to me that it was perhaps a little odd to go to the restroom with someone you were definitely just hanging out as dads, as dudes, as dudefriends, guypals, daddudebuddies… but maybe also you had a little crush on and…

I had stopped at the first urinal, while Mat, observing proper ManCode(tm) chose the open urinal furthest from me, which was of course the correct ManCode(tm) choice, which was relieving as I occasionally had the slightest bit of stage fright and you didn’t want somebody eyeing your one eyed monster while it tried to cry—wait no that’s a terrible metaphor—but anyway maybe I did want him eyeing my crying monster—wait no that’s even worse—

And suddenly a great cry went up from the Teenagers.

“oh no.” Mat and I said at once. And then before we could say, or even think anything else, a wall of incomprehensible noise assaulted us. Was that a kazoo? A banjo? A live bleating goat?

“YOU’RE RIGHT!” I tried to scream at Mat over the noise, “I CAN HEAR THEM THROUGH THE WALLS!”

“WHAT?!” Mat yelled back, as he zipped up and headed for the sinks.

“I CAN HEAR THEM THROUGH THE WALLS!”

“WHAT?!”

“I CAN HEAR—”

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU ALL I CAN HEAR IS THE MUSIC THROUGH THE WALLS!”

“WHAT?!”

We probably would have gone on like that for some time, even as I joined him at the sinks, but suddenly a youngster walked in who had clearly bathed in some variety of Teen Body Spray. And the instant I caught a whiff of it, my blood ran cold.

“Take cover, Mat.” was all I could say before the urge was upon me.

I was going to Dad Sneeze.

But it wasn’t going to be any ordinary Dad Sneeze, oh no, not even for me. I’d always been allergic to those damned body sprays, even when I was a youngster attempting to cover up all the funk of adolescence with pounds of chemicals myself. It caused me to collapse into a sneezing fit on my first date with Amanda’s Mom. Luckily that was before my Dad Sneeze powers emerged. It was still incredibly embarrassing, but at least no one was hurt.

Now… someone was definitely going to be hurt. Because I was about to have a Dad Sneeze Attack.

I could feel the sneeze attack taking over, filling my lungs, erasing every other thought, overwhelming my senses with the primal urge to roar like a rare animal on a nature show attempting to intimidate a much larger and scarier animal it probably couldn’t take on in a fight but hey maybe if we’re loud enough it’ll go away (I figure that’s what my nose was thinking as the sneeze built up). My breaths came in great heaving pants like I had just climbed three, maybe four flights of stairs. My chest swelled against the maybe-slightly-too-tight-for-me-but-I-still-have-abs-sorta-right? t-shirt I’d chosen for the occasion. Every sniff took in more of that accursed Body Spray scent, like loading gunpowder into… whatever explosive device that you load gunpowder into.

I could barely even hear Mat asking what was wrong, could barely see him looking at me with his ordinary quizzical look, half a smile, a smile that was soon to be wiped off his face—especially because he was in the line of fire. And with the sneeze I felt building up, it was clearly either going to blow him into the wall or blast me into orbit… and I couldn’t take a chance with either. With my last burst of non-sneeze-occupied brain power, I desperately stumbled towards the bathroom door, and no sooner had I crossed the threshold than it came roaring up from my toes with a great, monstrous, uncontrollable, epic…

“GGGGGAAAARRRRRSSSSPPPPPPLLLLAAAAAAATTTTTSSSSCCCHHHHEEEEERRRRRRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

It was as big a Dad Sneeze as I’d ever done. But I felt no relief. The urge to sneeze was just as strong, stronger even. I barely had time to open my eyes to see the surprised faces of the Speakeasy Choir as I reeled back for another:

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSJJJDDKKKKKKKKKAAAAAASSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEWWWWWWYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!”

I vaguely felt Mat’s hand on my shoulder, barely heard his cry of “Man, are  you okay?” before yet another hurricane of a Dad Sneeze overwhelmed me. And they kept coming. Again, and again, and again, I submitted to the Dad Sneeze Attack, and prayed the bar would still be standing when it at last released me from its grip.

But gradually, through the fog of the Sneeze Attack, I heard… clapping? And more importantly I didn’t hear… goat bleating? And then Mat… “I.. I can’t believe it. You did it. You… you’re drowning them out. I…” and then he was practically cheering, “keep going! Keep going, I think they’re giving up. I think…”

I could only hear bits and pieces. Most of my attention was consumed with the Sneeze Attack. But it seemed as though…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSPPPPPPPPPPPPLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSPPPPPPPFFFFFFFF!!!”

At last the final sneeze launched itself from me. Bleary-eyed, I attempted to recover, and tried to imagine how I would possibly apologize to Mat but as I opened my eyes I saw him… beaming?

And everyone around was clapping, staring not at the stage, but at me, cheering.

Mat was shaking his head, and before long he was tipping his head back in a beautiful, open-mouthed laugh. I was unclear as to how it was possible for a man to have a beautiful Adam’s Apple, but the plain fact was that Mat’s Adam’s Apple was beautiful so it must be possible—

“You did it! I can’t believe you did it! Hahahahahahaha! You warned me you had an epic Dad Sneeze but… I might have to bring you and some of that spray to every concert.”

“Wha—?” I asked, still unclear as to what had happened.

“Cary, you—you—hahahahahahahaha—” Mat was still falling into peals of laughter, which made it difficult to understand what exactly he was saying. But eventually he managed to choke out: “you sneezed the Speakeasy Choir off the stage! I can’t believe it!”

“I did… what?”

“Cary. You sneezed so loud you drowned out the Speakeasy Choir. And you sneezed so many times, they got bored and left the stage!”

“I… oh. I mean uh… I did that on purpose?”

Mat just laughed harder at me, and ushered me over towards the bar. “Cmon. You deserve a seat, and a Beer. For once, I don’t have to survive an entire Speakeasy set to hear the band I actually came here for.” Mat said as we sat down. And suddenly he turned that megawatt smile on me, and I swear my insides turned immediately to pudding as he said, “you’re my hero, man.”

And that’s how we spent the next hour sitting at the bar, me assuring Mat that clearly, I wasn’t exaggerating when I said my sneezes were a fearsome sight to behold, him joking about how I was the only thing on earth louder than the Speakeasy Choir, and the occasional teen (or twentysomething, I know I couldn’t tell the difference) coming by to—I believe the term is—dap me up? And provide reviews of my Dad Sneeze Attack which included “the Dadliest Dad Sneeze that ever a Dad did Sneeze” and “extremely metal, brah” and “woah.”

I’d never thought that my sneezes could be a force for good but Mat was happy, I was a minor celebrity among the cool music teens, and we got to enjoy what was all in all a pretty great concert. And I was Mat’s hero, man. That’s all I need for a great night.

[happybeeme0514]

Irreversible Ch. 12

Chapter 12- Rats

Hours pass.

The thirteen of us loiter on and around the veranda, talking and having a good time. Huedhaut even brings out the wine he makes, merlot, Riesling, and Malbec, to name a few.

As the gods go about picking their favorite flavors, I notice Zyglavis eyeing one bottle longingly.

“You like this one?” I ask, reaching out and picking it up. The bottle is dated 1042, making me raise my eyebrows. “Wow. He lets these ferment for a long time, doesn’t he?”

“That’s what makes them so good,” Leon says as he leisurely sips on the dark wine he had chosen. “The alcohol is so strong most humans wouldn’t be able to take one or two sips before they’d be completely hammered.”

“It’s get us gods trashed,” Partheno adds. “Which is saying a lot, because most other alcohols don’t affect us.” I nod, looking back down at the bottle.

Interesting.

“Why don’t you have some, then, Zyglavis?” He gives me a look.

“Can I?”

The other gods get quiet, their curiosities peaked as well. I cock my head.

“Why couldn’t you? It’s not like it’s poison.”

“Can vampires consume foodstuffs?” Huedhaut asks in place of Zyglavis. “Can your bodies process it?”

“I know we can at least drink things,” I reply. “My creator did it all the time. I don’t know if taste is altered, because I never did it, but you could at least try if you wanted.”

I pop off the cork as easily as if it was just sitting loosely on the bottle and pour the dark red liquid into a glass for Zyglavis. The rich aroma of plum fills my nose, along with notes of tea-leaf and damp earth. It smells good, at the very least.

When I hand the glass to him, Zyglavis seems hesitant, eyeing it doubtfully. To a novus, blood feels like the only thing that would ever sound remotely good, even above the things he or she loved in their human—or god—years. He swirls the alcohol lightly, watching as it delicately splashes around. Twelve pairs of eyes are glued on him, waiting with baited breath.

He lightly sniffs at it, and seems pleased that the smell hasn’t changed; I see the corners of his mouth turn the slightest bit.

And then he tilts the edge of the glass to his lips, taking a small sip.

This time when he smiles, it’s a large, blooming smile that shows all his teeth, including his new fangs. Everyone who hasn’t seen them seems unsettled at first, but Zyglavis is blissfully unaware as he happily takes another drink, deeper this time.

“It’s still good?” I ask, smiling myself.

“Very much so,” He replies. “Actually, I think it tastes even better now.”

“Interesting,” Huedhaut muses. “It seems your taste buds don’t wither, but instead become enhanced…at least, with beverages.”

“Maybe your wine is just that good.” Leon says as he reaches for his second glass.

“All I gotta say is, I’m glad you’re back, Ziggy,” Ichthys says from beside Dui. “I was so worried, I couldn’t get any pranking done!”

“Yeah, like that’s what we were worried about, ya dumbbell,” Scorpio growls.

“Seriously! You know it’s bad when I don’t prank. Like, at all.”

Ichthys’ eyes, the color of bright silver, are wide set in his head, and adorably honest. I can’t help but giggle. Zyglavis elbows me.

“Don’t encourage him.” He mutters.

“And I’ve had so many ideas, too! Do you think I could do any of ‘em? Nope!”

“Ikky, c’mon.” Teorus says, rolling his melting honey colored eyes.

“Oh, just wait. You may be a vampire, Zig, but don’t think that’s gonna stop me.”

“I honestly didn’t think it would.” Zyglavis sighs, slumping back in his seat. I lightly pat his leg.

Ichthys looks to Dui, sitting on his right, and continues,

“Did you know that the basement of the palace has rats?”

I stiffen.

“Rats?” Dui repeats. “Is that what was in that wriggling sack you had in your room? Ichthys, that’s gross!”

I feel an unpleasant shiver run down my spine. The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end, my mind already trying to choose between fight or flight. Rats.

Rats.

Rats…

“They’re cute, though! Like, look at this little guy!”

Then Ichthys snaps his fingers, and what should appear in his hand but—

A chorus of loud jeers goes out around the gods and Ichthys tries to insist how cute rats are. Until I react.

Air hisses up my throat, bursting out my lips like a threatened cat. Zyglavis’ head snaps to look at me a millisecond before everyone else’s does. It becomes dead quiet as my muscles tense, and I jerk off my seat as the thing in Ichthys’ palm looks at me with its tiny, beady little eyes.

“Eden?” There’s a raw edge to Zyglavis’ voice, but he stays frozen in his seat, like everyone else, absolutely stunned that I was the one to react this way.

My lips pull back from my teeth, my body jolting back toward the mouth of the veranda when the rat so much as twitches. Nobody moves. Nobody so much as breathes.

My mind is torn. Somewhere deep inside, I know I’m overreacting. I know it can’t hurt me anymore. But the simple, animalistic instincts I have demand that I snatch the disgusting rodent from Ichthys’ hand and twist it, crush it, mangle it and throw it away as far as I can. Another part of me screams to run. Don’t even touch it. Don’t even breathe the same air as that filthy, repulsive creature.

So I settle for the latter.

I spin on my heel and make a mad dash for the doors. I know I shouldn’t leave Zyglavis alone, but I can’t be near that sickening thing for one more second. Venom burns on my tongue as I run, my body a blur to everyone else.

…

My skin is still crawling even as I pace safe in Zyglavis’ room.

I scoff derisively at myself. Nothing but another vampire could hurt me now, and here I am, still afraid of a tiny, insignificant little rat.

I feel like I need to scrub myself. Do they make water hot enough?

The door opens as I rub my hands up and down my arms. I barely spare it a passing glance.

“Thank you, Scorpio.” Zyglavis says as he enters.

“No problem. I’ll deal with the problem child.”

He shuts the door quietly and turns to me, still fidgeting.

“Eden?” He asks softly, his eyes filled with worry. “What happened?”

“I’m…sorry,” I whisper, immense guilt flooding my system. “I know I shouldn’t have left you alone, but…but I can’t-I mean I just, I hate those-those…”

Zyglavis ghosts over to me, shushing me as he gently wraps his arms around me.

“It’s alright. Don’t worry about me, love. Do you have a phobia of rats?”

I nod silently against his chest, pressing myself as close as I can to him.

“Can you tell me why?”

I take a breath and twirl one of the tassels hanging from Zyglavis’ jacket in between my fingers.

“Because rats brought the Black Plague to Europe.”

…

“I was born in early May, around the year 1331,” I tell Zyglavis.

We lay on his bed, his arms around me and his chin resting on my head. I feel his fingers absent-mindedly play with my hair. “I had ten older brothers, seven of whom had married and moved to their own homes when…everything happened. The three youngest boys stayed behind to help father with his smith shop. It was late autumn, slowly turning into winter. We had heard stories of ‘death ships’ pulling into the harbors with most crew members dead and covered in black ooze, but we thought it nothing more than hearsay. People got sick. People died. That was an every day occurrence, something common folk like us were used to. A couple days after we heard the rumors, one of my brothers got bitten by a rat. He had caught it and was playing with it; he was always fascinated by wildlife and animals. Within the next twelve hours, he became gravely ill, spreading the disease to all of us. I remember trying to care for all five of them while I was sick myself. I would faint quite often. My throat was swollen to twice its normal size, I had a fever, and at times I could barely stand because my stomach hurt so badly,” I narrow my eyes. These are memories I haven’t allowed myself to think of for years. Zyglavis’ arms tighten around me. “Finally, I had to give up. The brothers that didn’t leave home died within three days, mother, father and I all lasting one more after. I don’t know what happened to my other brothers. I remember looking down at my fingers and seeing that they had turned black. It was terrifying, but at that point, I didn’t want to suffer anymore. I didn’t want my parents to. I wished for death.

“That’s when a plague doctor came. I thought it strange, considering the city had pretty much been abandoned save for the bodies in the streets, but he prayed with father and held mother’s hand until she passed. My father begged the doctor to save me, said he’d give his soul to the devil if that’s what it took. The doctor told him he’d do it, in the way ‘only he could’, and then, my father went. I was the only one left. He removed his mask and looked at me, completely unafraid to breathe the same infected air as me, and smiled. He had fangs.

“When he bit me, I didn’t really feel it. What I felt was heat, like I was standing over a fire. I couldn’t distinguish reality from nonreality, and it felt like my consciousness was flickering like the shutters of an old camera. I felt life holding me by one arm, death by the other, and they were both violently yanking me, both equal in strength, neither wanting to give me to the other. I kept being thrown around like a ragdoll. All the while, that heat lingered in the background. By the time I regained full consciousness, I was already halfway done with the transition. But I have to say, I was impressed when you were quiet the whole time you were changing, because the moment I came back to reality, all hell broke loose. I screamed. I thrashed. But no matter how hard or how loud I screamed, the only thing that would ease the pain was time. And finally, finally, it went away. There was no discomfort, no pain. My fingers weren’t black anymore. I could breathe.

“But my creator was…off. He scared me. He said that he couldn’t remember his real name, only that it began with Z, so that’s what he went by. He was cruel. Sadistic. He would put on that plague mask and wander around in London just to see the dead people. It brought him some sort of sick joy. He would kill just to kill. I only stayed with him for a few months before I ran.

“He followed me wherever I went. From the crowded streets of India to the dense jungles of the Amazon, it would never be too long before he found me. I ended up developing this sort of sense about three minutes before he would arrive. My skin would crawl and I would get this feeling of despair. That would always be my signal to run. He never caught me, but he never gave up his chase.”

My body shivers just thinking about it. Those dark violet eyes. The malignant, cold smirk.

Zyglavis’ arms tighten around me.

“Why is he so obsessed with you?” He whispers, more to himself than to me.

“My best guess is that he wanted me to be what I am for you.” I reply quietly. That thought makes a wave of dry nausea rock my gut, and I cuddle in closer to him. I feel his chest rumble.

“Is that right? Well,”

I blink. Zyglavis’ voice is surprisingly pleasant right now.

“After we deal with Diefropos, we’ll just have to deal with your creator.”

“No.”

I pull my head back and narrow my eyes at Zyglavis, who frowns at me.

“And why not?” He shoots back.

“Because I don’t want you within one hundred miles of him, that’s why!” I exclaim. “I’m not going to pick any fights, okay? I mean, I’ve been away from the Earth for over four hundred years now. He probably thinks I’m dead, anyway.”

“What if he finds us when we’re on Earth hunting?”

Zyglavis catches me there. I hesitate for a moment, and he smirks, knowing he’s got a point.

“Knock it off,” I growl. “If that ever becomes the case, I’ll know it, and we’ll run, like I did before. Besides that, you’d probably need the king’s permission to kill him, and you know that.”

He huffs, a dimple of frustration forming on his left eyebrow.

“Don’t worry about things you don’t need to worry about,” I tell him as I reach up and run my fingers over his cheek. “One step at a time.”

He sighs dejectedly, but, knowing he can’t argue, lets it go. For now.

[hawkingbishop]

It took me over two hours and constantly drifting off while writing and having to reread the same section a hundred times before I understood it, but I finally copied over the snippet of my TULOMB rewrite into a Word document! Five and a half pages, single spaced.

PS. I’m changing a lot in this draft. For one, you see she’s Persephone now instead of Rebecca. It just didn’t seem right to have the same name. So, she’s Persephone Alexandra Rhodes. She’s a light skinned black girl. She has a darker skinned younger brother.

Marilynn is essentially the same as before, though she’s now a trans girl.

________________________

    Persephone found herself staring at Marilynn as she went up to grab their coffee order. She was wearing her curly ginger hair down, with a light blue cardigan covering a pink-blue-and-white striped shirt, a flowy light blue skirt with a white belt, pink tights, and black combat boots.

    Persephone was wearing a simple outfit of a jean jacket covered in band pins/patches, over a red flannel, black leggings, and an identical pair of black combat boots.

    She had a smile on as she watched her best friend-slash-crush. Persephone’s bright red lips nearly took up her entire tawny face. She brushed her wavy, russet hair out of her eyes. Her smile soon turned to a small frown, as she knew she could never act on her feelings, or else she might lose her friendship. Plus, it’s not like anything would happen anyway, since Marilynn’s straight…

    As Persephone was in her little reverie, Marilynn picked up the order of Lattes and turned toward their table. She saw Persephone’s gloomy face, and her own mouth twitched into a half frown.

    “Hey chica, what’cha thinkin’ about?” Marilynn asked while sitting down across from Persephone.

    That brought Persephone back to Earth. She slid her drink to herself and said, “…stuff.” And then she drank a long pull while looking away.

    “Stuff? Ooh, I like stuff!” exclaimed Marilynn. She then took a sip of her drink while waiting for Persephone to respond. Persephone was trying to think of something clever to say, but instead, answered with “oh, normal stuff that normal people think of, you know…”

    “Ooh, I see. But, since when have you been normal?” Marilynn joked, holding back giggles.

    Persephone laughed at that, then answered “oh, I’m so not. I’m just trying to see if I could pretend to be for a moment. Y’know, thinking about boys, and how I need to lose weight and look good for them.”

    Marilynn chuckled at that. “Oh, yeah, totally normal stuff. How was it?” She took another sip of her drink.

    Persephone toyed with her cup, sliding it back and forth between her hands. She smirked and then forced herself to frown, making a big exaggerated show of it. She said, “it was awful. I couldn’t do it for more than a second before I realized that ‘yep, I’m totally gay through and through, no doubts about it!’”

    Marilynn was in the process of drinking when she laughed uncontrollably, spitting her drink all over her cup and table.

    Persephone laughed harder at that and then got up to get napkins. She returned to the table to see Marilynn trying to wipe her mouth clean with just her dry hand. She gladly took some napkins and began cleaning herself off.

    Persephone helped, wiping down the table. As she crumpled the napkins and pushed them to the edge of their table, Persephone asked, “so, you excited for your very first college course? You look great, by the way. You’re gonna turn so many heads today!” She winked.

    Marilynn looked down at the table and a small smile crossed her lips. She responded, “thanks. I went through, like, 3 outfits before I settled on this one.” She held up a piece of the cardigan. After she released it and flattened it back down, she said, “and yeah. I actually am excited!”

She then reached into her bag and brought out a Mead Notebook. “I have all these new school supplies and I want to use them. My first class is Creative Writing, and I can’t wait to get going… I wanna work on my stories and poems and write new ones.”

    Her smile was so big; it took over her whole fair-skinned face. Her hazel eyes were bright and crinkled at the outer edges. Persephone loved how excited and enthusiastic she was when she talked about her writing. It was infectious. Persephone returned the great smile, her own light brown eyes bright and crinkled to match Marilynn’s.

    “Good,” she said, “your writing is amazing as it is, but I bet this class will help you write tons more stuff.” She was sitting on edge of her chair, hands on the table, palms down, fingers spread out. Then she pointed to Marilynn with her right hand. “Your professor is gonna love your work… and you.”

    Persephone didn’t think it possible, but Marilynn’s smile got even bigger. Marilynn said softly, “thanks, Seph, that really means a lot.” She reached over and touched Persephone’s left hand. She kept it there for a minute before she brought it back to her cup.

    During the hand-touching, Persephone’s smile faded into a smaller, sad one, eventually threatening to turn into a frown. It was hard for her—the contact, the closeness. She knew it was a friendly touch, but she wished it was much more than that. She wished Marilynn had felt like her. But, it’s a lost cause; Marilynn’s not into girls.

Plus, she reminded herself, I don’t want to jeopardize our friendship by bringing up my feelings.

Even if Marilynn felt the same way, Persephone was afraid of the relationship not working out, it might ruin their friendship. They had been best friends practically their whole lives.

Their parents were friends, so they always played together when their parents hung out. They were inseparable. They took baths together, played Barbies and action figures, played Legos. They loved each other.

When they started getting older, around 9 or 10, that’s when things changed… Not so much they’re friendship, but their lives; especially Marilynn’s. That’s when she came out to her parents as trans. She always felt like she was a girl, and was now anxious/afraid of puberty. She DIDN’T want to go through male puberty.

And luckily her parents listened to her and wanted her to be happy. It definitely wasn’t easy for them to take at first, but they tried to not let it show. They were always supportive, and after much thought and talking with Marilynn and therapists, they realized they had to let her transition. She had always been kind of feminine, playing with Barbies and dolls, always playing as a girl…

So, much to Marilynn’s delight and relief, she was able to start puberty blockers and living as her true self, a trans girl named Marilynn.

And all along this time, Persephone was right beside Marilynn. She knew her friend was a girl. She was super supportive and always there for her. If anything, Marilynn’s transition strengthened their friendship. Now Marilynn could be included in all the “girl” things with Persephone. Like playing on the girls’ side in “Boys vs. Girls” games at school, shopping for clothes, doing each others’ hair, having slumber parties with other girls. And everyone in their families was really supportive through the entire process.

Also around this time, Persephone decided to come out, as well. Not as trans, but as gay. Persephone always imagined herself with a wife, never a husband. She had crushes on her favorite actresses and musicians. She knew she was a lesbian, and just like Marilynn’s parents, hers went out of the way to educate themselves and be supportive.

The girls went to a Youth LGBTQ Support Group twice a month and were active in their school’s GSA and other LGBTQ activities. They both grew up being completely out and proud. Sure, they had their bullies and disapproving teachers, or other adults in their lives that disapproved, but the girls and their parents confronted each disrespect and tried to quell it.

Growing up together, going to the same classes, working closely side-by-side in the GSA, Persephone eventually realized she had developed feelings for Marilynn as more than just best friends. She wanted to be girlfriends, and not in the way most straight girls use that term.

Persephone wanted to hold Marilynn’s hand, she wanted to hug her and smell her hair; she wanted to grow old with her. But Marilynn had never spoken up about her own sexuality in regards to girls. She talked about boys and Persephone listened and gave her some advice. Persephone talked about crushing on girls and Marilynn would give her advice, but never let on that she was into girls, herself. She was barely into boys, Persephone noticed. Sometimes she thought her talks on boys were forced heteronormativity. But she never brought up her desires, hopes, or thoughts. She waited for Marilynn to come to her. But she never did…

So, Persephone threw herself more into the friendship. And if that’s all they could ever be, that was okay with her. For the most part. Though when times like these happened, i.e. the hand-touching, it was difficult to remember that she’s fine with just being friends. But, as quickly as her frown appeared, it was replaced with a smile again.

“So, what about you? Are you ready for college?” Marilynn asked.

Persephone answered, “Yeah, I guess. I just hope I like my classes. Hopefully they’re not all boring. Remember Ms. Philipps’ AP Calculus class? Sooo boring. I’m glad I like math and read the book ahead of time, or else I would’ve failed for always falling asleep in class.” She chuckled. Marilynn joined her.

“Oh man, totally. Such a snooze fest. And yeah, I’m glad you read ahead too, so you could tutor me.” Marilynn laughed again.

Persephone turned serious for a minute.

“You think there’s gonna be many out lesbians at college? I know college is supposed to be more open and free and it’s where girls supposedly experiment… But I don’t know what happens at a Community College, it’s probably completely different than on-campus life…” Persephone wondered aloud.

Marilynn shrugged. “I don’t know. We should check out the LGBTQ Club in person and see what’s what. I’m psyched to go and meet new peeps in the community.”

Persephone agreed, “Definitely. After our classes today we should head over and talk to the club, let ‘em know we’re here, we’re queer, and ready to get into gear.”

Marilynn smirked at that and said, “You’re so lame,” and then threw one of the napkins at Persephone.

She caught it and threw it back, saying, “that’s why you love me.”

“No,” Marilynn contested while smoothing out the napkin on the table, “I love you because no one else will.”

“Ouch,” Persephone exclaimed while holding her hand to her chest, “Go straight for the heart why don’t’cha?”

“So,” Marilynn started.

She began ripping up her napkin.

“So?…” Persephone asked after about 30 seconds of silence.

“So, I’m kinda scared to start school. To be in this new place where practically nobody knows me. Should I go stealth? Should I be out and proud? I know we’ll be a part of the LGBTQ Club, but everyone won’t know that. They won’t know me. Should I be upfront about it to people, or stay quiet?”

The napkin was now in about 30 different pieces and she was still ripping.

Persephone donned her frown again and said, “well you know I can’t answer that for you, but I will say—just be you and everybody will love you. So what if you’re trans? If they can’t deal, then they’re not worth your time. So, yeah, maybe just go stealth, but if anyone asks, or you want to tell them, do it. Otherwise just live your normal life.” She shrugged at Marilynn before taking another drink of her Caramel Brulée Latte.

Marilynn crumpled the napkin pieces back together and set the mound aside with the rest. “I guess that makes sense. If they know, they know. If they don’t, oh well.”

“Yeah. Just be you and all the suitors will be fawning over you,” Persephone suggested.

Marilynn gave Persephone a skeptical look, “suitors?” she asked, “Really? What are we, in the fifties or something?”

Persephone blew the napkins over to Marilynn and responded, ”Oh shut up, you.”

“Seph…” Marilynn tried to talk.

“Yeah, Mars?” Persephone asked.

“I’m just worried they’ll all judge me and hate me and think I’m an ‘abomination’.”

Persephone reached her hand out and grabbed Marilynn’s and held it with both hands. “Mars Bar,” she smirked. “you are an amazing woman. Smart kid, beautiful, giving, and did I mention beautiful? Everyone will love you, whether they know you’re trans or not.”

Marilynn put her other hand on top of Persephone’s. She couldn’t make eye contact as she spoke, “Thanks Seph. And ditto. You’re the best friend a girl can have.

Persephone winced internally, but replied, “Damn Skippy. I’m awesome. And, hey, so are you. Never forget that. No matter what anybody says. You. Are. Awesome.” She punctuated the last statement by lifting their hands up and then dropping them back to the table in between each word.

Marilynn’s glowing smile emerged again and she said, “Thanks Seph. Really. I love you…”

She stroked Persephone’s hand as she said that.

“And I love you, Mars. Forever and always,” Persephone responded while internally headdesking.

Marilynn looked into Persephone’s eyes, almost peering into her soul. ”Forever and Always.”