#please can some hawks fan explain why | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kyojurismo · 1 year ago

Note

Could I please have some Hawks x F!Reader

Reader and Keigo get into a heated argument, and within that argument they are yelling at each other and they get closer to each other and boom they have heated angry sex 😩

Please and thank you uwu

character : keigo takami / hawks

tags : fem!reader, nsfw, crying, make up sex, biting, fingering, spanking, unprotected sex, half of this is not proofread lol + i take this opportunity to remind that english isn’t my first language so i’m sorry in advance.

notes : i’m deeply sorry it took me so long >_< i was super unsure about this piece & i had problems writing it lsksn, i hope you’ll enjoy it <3

you knew keigo. you knew him pretty well after more than a year of being together. but damn, it stung like the first times.

you gripped the magazine between your hands, staring at the pictures of keigo with multiple girls. they were all smiling and hugging him a bit too closely, practically pushing their breasts close to his face.

but you knew keigo.

“the public opinion is important for a pro-hero, y’know,” that’s what he usually said when you brought up the numerous tabloids and magazines for teenagers. it means nothing to keigo, they’re just young girls taking pictures with a pro hero, he has to be kind and accept because that’s also his work.

“bullshit!” you threw it away and got up from the couch, deciding to go prepare something for lunch.

you were tired, and maybe you were in the wrong too, but not being the one next to him after more than a year of being officials made your heart clench in your chest. it was unfair to see your boyfriend act like that and not being able to hold hands in public without getting “assaulted” by multiple people just because he’s the no. 2 pro hero.

after a couple of hours, as you were sitting on the couch watching a show, keigo came home. he announced he was back but you ignored him, not answering. well, that was surprising.

you would usually come running, leaving whatever you were doing, and hug him before kissing him. he entered the kitchen and noticed you left his dinner on the counter, and it was cold now. maybe you got distracted by something and forgot to put it in the oven. he grabbed the plate and walked to the living room, smiling when he noticed you.

“hey babe,” he said and sat beside you, going in to kiss you. as you used your hand to stop and push him away he frowned, not really expecting it. “the hell?” he held the plate and was about to start eating when you decided to speak.

“the hero magazine came out today, i found it in mailbox this morning,” you said while keeping your eyes glued on the tv screen, even though you weren’t following what was actually going on in the show. “okay??” keigo glanced at you in confusion, trying to understand what was going on and why you looked so upset.

“that’s all you have to say?” you spat, clenching your fists. “babe, i don’t know what you’re talking about. can you explain so i’ll see if i can fix it?” he kept his tone calm as he wasn’t really the type to yell or anything. “you don’t– are you for real?” you suddenly got up, grabbed the magazine from the bin and literally threw it his way, everything under keigo’s confused gaze.

he glanced at the magazine, checking the cover and noticed there was a picture of him in a corner, on the right. endeavor took the whole cover, he was no. 1 after all. “you’re mad because i’m not the poster boy?” he asked in an amused tone, taking another bite of his food. that irritated you even more, so you grabbed it and opened it to the page showing keigo with multiple girls. he caught glimpse of the pages way before you threw it at him once more, staring down at him.

“they’re hawks fans,” he explained nonchalantly, resuming eating. was he gonna ignore the elephant in the room? “keigo,” you stared at him with cold eyes. “jeez, just tell me what’s the matter alright? i’m tired [y/n], i just got home from a mission. go easy on me, yeah?” he sighed while tilting his head against the back of the couch, a bit annoyed by the situation. “go easy on me? you’re away most of the time and when you’re not on missions you have all these young girls jumping at you, trying to kiss you and touch you! have you ever imagined how i feel seeing my lover in such situations and having some shitty magazine spit the pictures at my face?!”

“so that’s your problem. you’re just jealous,” keigo glanced at you before resuming eating. you felt your chest tightening at his words, because well yes, you were a bit jealous but it wasn’t enough to make you act like that. “just jealous… you can’t be serious! you don’t even try pushing them away, keigo! you have a fucking girlfriend waiting for you at home! you’re being a piece of shit because ‘public’s opinion is important for my work’ so you’re authorised to make me feel like i’m nothing! i’m just another piece of furniture into your house, aren’t i?!” tears formed in your eyes as you shouted all that, deeply hurt and deluded by his behaviour.

“you’re being childish, we already talked about it and you said it was fine, that you understood my position. i wonder what changed now,” his reply was emotionless, his eyes glanced at the magazine once again before moving to your face. “you’re so selfish! do you actually know how to love someone who’s not yourself and what it means to do so?!” you nervously wiped away the tears, then you noticed how he seemed unfazed by all that. he was sure you wouldn’t leave, it was just the stress getting the best of you. it wasn’t the first argument, he knew you just needed to let it out.

“i can’t take it anymore, keigo. i’m done,” you spoke in a much calmer tone, but your voice sounded cold and distant now. keigo shivered and checked your face for a sign that you were joking. “hah, what?” he chuckled nervously as you walked towards your bedroom.

keigo got up quickly and followed you, watching how you pulled out a bunch of bags and started gathering your stuff. panic filled his body and he went to grab your wrist to stop you.

“hey, no. wait, okay? stop,” he pleaded now, understanding the seriousness of the situation. “lemme go,” you muttered, not even looking at his face. “don’t leave, we can fix it,” he said, keigo’s eyes were desperately searching yours. “i’m tired of being treated like i’m nothing for you! i don’t wanna live like this!” you pushed him away, a fresh wave of tears made your eyes sting. you tried to grab your clothes when keigo stopped you once more.

“[y/n], it’s not funny. we can solve it, i swear!” his hands cupped your face frantically, his voice seemed on edge. keigo seemed scared about the idea of you leaving him. “you’re being childish,” you mimicked him, words filled with hatred. his heart stopped beating for a second and he gulped down nervously, before trying to make you look at him. “please, babe look at me. okay, listen.”

you rolled your eyes before trying to free yourself from his hold, ignoring him. “i’ll change!” he shouted then, surprising you. you were quick to regain your composure, not wanting to give him any satisfaction. “i swear to you, i’ll act differently. you’ll be the one all over me in the pictures! you’re gonna be the one i’m kissing!” he grabbed your forearm and shook you a little.

you finally decided to look at his face and noticed his teary eyes, the fear clear on his features as he desperately held you there in front of him. you tried to fight against your feelings, your heart longing for him, and convince yourself that leaving him was for the better.

“i’m sorry, i’m deeply sorry,” he added and you groaned, before pushing him away once more. “you only act when things get out of your hands, huh?!” you hit his chest before turning around, you needed to get away from him. “hey!” keigo followed after you and grabbed your hips, before pushing you against the wall, making you gasp. you were surprised by his sudden actions as he leaned closer and started kissing your lips, disorienting you.

the kiss was sudden, keigo’s hands reached your face and cupped your cheeks. a part of you tried to resist, simply because you knew it wasn’t the right way to solve it. but at the same time, the way his lips moved against your own, the taste of this heated kiss, made you feel so euphoric that you found yourself hugging his neck as you finally returned the kiss, gasping.

keigo groaned as his hips met yours, he pulled you towards the bed and the moment your back hit the mattress his body covered yours. his lips moved down to your neck, his teeth sank into your skin and left a couple of bites, before his tongue traced them and made you shiver. you tilted your head back and bit your lips, trying to hold back any sound. keigo grunted and moved lower, pulling the collar of your tshirt further down to expose more of your skin to his skilled mouth.

after some moments he started to undress you, showing how impatient he was. you tried to do the same but he stopped your hands and went back to kiss your lips, distracting you from one of his hands sneaking between your legs to push them further open. his fingers caressed your lips, then moved to your warm hole, gathering some slick before going to rub your clit. “so wet already,” he smirked, his voice cocky.

you moaned right into his mouth, as his fingers made your legs tremble. his fingers moved rapidly, your clit throbbed and you clenched around nothing, more and more juices gushing out.

“kei– w-wait!” you arched your back and found it embarrassing how he was able to get you so close to release in such a short time. “hm? what’s the matter?” he clearly mocked you, slowing down the movements of his fingers just a bit. “are you gonna cum?” he asked before playfully bite your neck, making you whimper.

you shook your head, but it was futile. both of you knew that you were close, you just didn’t want to give him satisfaction.

“okay then,” he murmured and stopped touching you completely, he pulled back and stripped off his clothes. his warm hands grabbed your hips before turning your body over to lie on your stomach. you were about to ask him what he was doing before his hand made contact with your ass, hard. you whined and tried to move further up on the bed to escape him. “where you think you’re going?” he chuckled lowly before pulling you back to him, caressing your other cheek and then spanking you, you gripped the sheets as the skin started to sting.

two of his fingers slipped into you, making you gasp. he thrusted them deep, aiming at a particular spot that made you clench hard around him as you moaned against the pillow. “you thought i didn’t notice?” his voice was deep and laced with desire, as you desperately humped your hips, seeking that sweet release. “c’mon… say it,” he kept moving his fingers while his other hand spanked you once again.

you fought to not give in, you were still mad at him and he was avoiding talking with you about the whole situation. you squeezed you eyes shut, gripping the sheets. you were so close, so damn close.

“please… fuck me,” you whispered into the pillow, pushing your ass up as a way to expose your center to him, clit throbbing and begging to get attention. keigo’s fingers slipped out and gave a couple of flicks to it, just to hear you gasp loudly. he knew your body so well. “can you repeat that?” he leaned over and his mouth was close to your ear, before biting your earlobe playfully. “hm?” his hands caressed your hips gently, a deep contrast to his current behaviour. “please keigo… fuck me! i need you,” you repeated, speaking a bit louder. “that’s my good girl,” he kissed your shoulder.

you two moaned at the unison when he finally slipped inside. one of keigo’s hands found yours and intertwined your fingers together, as the other grabbed your hip. he bottomed out inside you, you felt so full as his fast breaths hit your neck. “you feel so fucking good,” he groaned as he started thrusting in and out.

keigo started moving at a quick pace, rubbing against your sweet spot hard with every single thrust. most of the sounds filling the room came from where you two were connected, his grunts and your whimpers accompanying them. you desperately gripped the sheets, feeling that familiar sensation growing in your lower belly. “give it to me, baby. c’mon,” he breathed right into your ear, the warmth of his chest right against your back. you didn’t need to be asked twice, as you reached your peak and gushed around his cock. the way you were clenching around him made him gasp louder, as he hid his flushed face into your neck.

one of his arms wrapped around your middle and held you close, his hips losing rhythm as keigo was simply seeking his own release now. you drooled all over the cushions as his tip bullied your cervix, making you arch your back and cry his name louder and louder. “gonna fill you up so good– ngh, gonna–” keigo rambling stopped as he stilled his hips and emptied inside of you, spurts of cum filling you as you two moaned together.

keigo collapsed on top of you, holding you as close as possible as you cockwarmed him. his lips peppered your neck and shoulders as you two tried to calm down your breathing. “i’m sorry,” he said in a low tone, fingers drawing circles on your skin. “i know it’s been a mess, but i promise i’ll fix this. i’ll make you happy,” you just nodded, not trusting your own voice.

“i promise i will,” he repeated after a while, holding you tightly. you searched his hand and grabbed it, squeezing it a couple of times so that he knew you decided to trust him.

#📂 — writing !!#keigo takami x reader #keigo takami x you #keigo takami x y/n #hawks x reader #hawks x you #hawks x y/n #keigo takami imagine #keigo takami one shot #keigo takami smut #hawks imagine #hawks one shot #hawks smut #mha hawks #mha keigo takami #my hero academia x reader #my hero academia #my hero academia fanfic #boku no hero academia

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filipinoizukuu · 10 months ago

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what comes next though? (MHA ch. 413)

// major spoilers for mha ch. 413 since its leaks, so please stop reading if you arent quite caught up. i havent written one of these in a LONGGG while lmao.

ANYWAY, with all that being said.... this week's leaks huh?

We saw it coming a long time ago, we speculated it to hell and back, we made aus and fics, and now it's finally here. The conclusion we've reached and the one that's been hinted at since the release of Heroes Rising in 2019:

bnha is going to end with deku giving up one for all and becoming quirkless.

(LOTS of words under the cut -- youve been warned.)

For those who are a little lost; the basic premise of the ending we are hurtling towards is that Kudou (the 2nd user of ofa) has a plan to take down Shigaraki. With AfO dead and gone + Shigaraki becoming so powerful he is essentially invincible -- theres no other choice for the heroes other than destroying him inside out; the plan being the equivalent of charging a battery so much it explodes.

the way they're going to go about this is by essentially, feeding Shigaraki bits of One for All until he's given all of it -- then allowing the vestiges of the previous wielders to create a massive revolt similar to what SnS did until they can successfully tear him apart from inside the "quirk realm" and shut him out. Kudou volunteers to go next since danger sense has already been taken, and if Shigaraki uses gearshift again after Deku already used it twice, Tomura's body will likely shutdown and receive twice the backlash Deku does when he uses kudou's quirk.

(sidenote: funny as fuck that deku only understood once kudou equated the strategy to bkg throwing papers at him. bro stupid af.)

its a sensible(ish) idea. one that seems plausible given the context of the last hundred or so chapters with heroes like Hawks and SnS having their quirks revolt against both AfO and Shigaraki in a way that makes it clear that its not uniquely OfA that animates the souls of peoples quirks. Its inherent. Quote, Nana Shimura, "romantic" even.

(let it be known though that i think hori absolutely did not plan on delving into this plot point as much as he is now. ill explain in a bit, but heroes rising was 100% a major factor of why he moved in this direction.)

That being said, the conclusion of the plan (and subsequently, the major plot of bnha) is as follows: Deku gives up One for All to Shigaraki. One for All unites with All for One within Shigaraki and destroys it in one final clash between Yoichi and his brother. The break in the barrier of Shigaraki's hatred will part, letting him find the consciousness of Shimura Tenko behind it after years.

Shigaraki dies, taking OfA and AfO down with him,

and then Deku is quirkless once more.

Sad conclusion aside for now, I firmly believe that no matter what way you look at it; Deku was always meant to end the story without a quirk. Given some of the original drafts of bnha where Deku was never supposed to be given a quirk in the first place, this is clearly unsurprising. What's more is my favorite piece of information relative to katsuki and deku's character development:

the fact that heroes rising was (one of the) ideas for the original ending of bnha.

a refresher for some of you: heroes rising is about class 1a going to the isolated village of nabu island and defending it against an upcoming big bad villain named "nine" with a quirk that is essentially a scaled down version of all for one. katsuki and deku eventually resolve the conflict together via brute force by deku giving katsuki ofa, them rushing in while the quirk is transferring and both of them have it, and then ultimately defeating nine at the end. the movie then of course circles back on deku losing one for all, undoing that consequence by saying the transfer never completed bc ofa chose him over katsuki and they all move on to the endeavor agency arc with katsuki remembering absolutely nothing of the final battle.

many fans often misunderstand one of horikoshi's quotes about the movie in that it was, without a doubt, the original ending of bnha. for the sake of accuracy, that is not what horikoshi really said; what he ACTUALLY said was something closer and to the tune of of how it was "one OF the endings" he planned on using for bnha, but his original idea for how the story ends "has not changed one bit."

obviously disregarding the cop out where ofa sticks back to izuku in order for the series to continue as normal; this can only confirm that bnha was going to end with midoriya izuku quirkless whether katsuki was involved or not.

so what's different this time?

its hard to figure out how far horikoshi had planned the ending of bnha with heroes rising's prototype conclusion in mind. if heroes rising never pulled through and horikoshi had planned on bnha ending with the shared ofa transfer and katsuki continuing deku's legacy -- then that means katsuki wouldve died an early death because of all might's confirmation that only quirkless people can hold on to one for all without dying young, meaning he either intended on katsuki dying soon after the story ends or only planned that plot point after heroes rising was released.

the plot as well of heroes rising's conclusion cannot have been thought of all that early on because of ANOTHER tidbit of information that changes perspective of the entire series: in that,

bakugou katsuki was never supposed to be a major character to begin with. (keep an eye on this link; i reference this interview a LOT)

he was not supposed to have an arc. he was not supposed to become a major focal point of the series. he was not meant to be the hero he is in the story today. bakugou katsuki was not written with the intention of being a major narrative this late into the story -- instead originally only existing as a character that deku would surpass within the first few arcs.

but then katsuki cried, and deku apologized, and then opened his big fat mouth, and then told him a secret he didnt even tell his own mother -- and suddenly bakugou katsuki was not just another footnote in deku's story, but a legitimate character that grew and created one of the most loved (and hated) character turnarounds in shonen history. he started of as a literal EXTRA before snowballing into the very same character horikoshi decided would defeat all for one, the original scariest antagonist of the entire series. someone not even ALL MIGHT could defeat.

but circling back, yeah. heroes rising was definitely not the ending horikoshi thought of first, nor was it the ending he thought of last. ultimately, it was simply another route he couldve taken into wrapping up deku's fate into what it was (probably) always meant to be:

deku was gonna lose one for all no matter what.

it's kind of fitting, honestly -- for this to be the ultimate conclusion to the series. it makes the most sense, since what sent deku down this path so many years ago was his mother apologizing to deku for being quirkless; as if being quirkless meant he was born inferior to those who had quirks. people, after all according to deku's famous beginning monologue, are not born equal.

Even still, i thought to note: deku never stopped wanting to be a hero. we all know this, obviously. this was his driving force -- but then when you REALLY think about the implications, you have to ask. what the heck was deku even planning to do?!

he had ideas. he had hope. he wrote notebooks for the future and thought of his costume for being a hero -- but not once do i remember him writing about his hero experience as if he was suddenly going to develop a quirk. he was planning on saving people quirkless -- an extremely interesting motivation especially when he couldve so easily chosen to walk the path of being a doctor or engineer instead if he wanted to save people so badly. its a story about conviction, about doing the things you wanna do in the way you wanna do it no matter what ANYONE else says and hey wait a minute that sounds familiar

it doesnt quite read that way at first, especially because of how izuku almost listened to all might about "being realistic" when the first met and nearly gave up on becoming a hero entirely, but izuku is a lot similar to katsuki in the sense that no matter what gets in his way -- he is determined to achieve his dreams in the way HE CHOOSES, and not the way that is more "convenient".

even when you look at just his name, "deku" in the way that uraraka had interpreted it (dekiru -- "you can do it!") and the way deku reexplains it to katsuki in deku vs kacchan 1 ("the deku that doesn't give up!") you can so easily tell that deku from the very beginning has only ever needed the slightest push to pursue being a hero, quirk-or-not-be-damned. hell, we even see a glimpse of this possibility in the sports festival race when deku absolutely DECIMATES not just bakugou but also TODOROKI (as well as every single other damn student participating in the festival) with nothing but robot scraps and his balls of steel. it just so happens that until the promise of one for all, no such encouragement or push was ever given to deku in his pursuit of heroicism, most especially in comparison to katsuki who had been receiving praise and validation for his goals his whole life.

i'd argue that deku's conviction is even stronger than katsuki in a way no other person seems to recognize (except maybe katsuki himself). katsuki had received only positive feedback and zero competition for his goals growing up while deku received nothing but discouragement. both of them kept the conviction of being a hero for TEN YEARS; neither wavering til the day of the sludge incident.

that aside; what comes next?

we know the story after that. deku gets his quirk, he goes to school, he fights, he drops out, he fights some more, and now he's standing before shigaraki tomura with every quirk of one for all unlocked and over twice the power that all might had in his prime -- fully knowing he's about to lose EVERYTHING in order to defeat shigaraki.

this is deku we're talking about. he doesn't care. he knows the implications and what that will mean for his dream -- but his goal right now is in front of him. his goal is shigaraki, consumed by hatred, threatening to take down the world izuku loves most into a pit of misery and decay because society failed people like them. does he care? probably. will he refuse to give up his power if it means not saving the world and fulfilling one for all's purpose? absolutely not.

deku has made all might's quirk his own, but one for all does not belong to him. it belongs to yoichi. and kudou. and bruce and nana and all of the other users who built that quirk for generations in hopes that one day, someday, someone would be able to yield it all and bring down the monstrosity that created it in the first place. deku will not hesitate, but also deku knows what he will lose.

i have... a few things i dislike about this.

Admittedly, i do think that this is a better resolution than the simple brute strength approach of Heroes Rising. For one, while i do love heroes rising with my entire heart and soul, i firmly believe it would not have been a satisfying conclusion to the core lessons and teachings bnha tries to impart throughout the story. simply outnumbering and outpowering afo/shigaraki would not be enough to close yoichi's story and one for all -- much less the story of shigaraki himself as tenko, the boy consumed by hatred.

Still, this new ending that horikoshi has laid out leaves me with more questions; as well as large expectations for how izuku's character will close out. its complicated, because deku's evolution and development is subtle and intricate in a way i havent seen from other shonen protagonists and i worry about doing it justice.

but most of my problems have to do with bakugou katsuki.

(aint that the truth)

i know i mentioned that bakugou was never intended to be a major character, but i want it to be known that that was only in the beginning. season 1, maybe even season 2 -- but horikoshi had said it best himself in that bakugou katsuki, against his permission, had gained a life of his own and inserted himself into the very grain of mha's story. you cannot deny this.

he is the series deuteroganist inarguably. one of the most beloved characters and one of the most attentively-written development arcs in the whole series. katsuki in and of himself embodies major themes in bnha that make it so that ditching his development and impact last minute after defeating all for one would reflect poorly upon the conclusion of the story itself. he and deku are intertwined in arcs -- even if they do have separate paths at the end of the day. katsuki is the one izuku told about the quirk. the one who followed izuku during the paranormal liberation arc. the one who understands one for all and is determined to learn about it more than anyone else barring all might and deku himself. the one who is closer to izuku than anyone else.

it can't be over for their arc, no matter what way you see it. friends? rivals? hero partners? what comes next, when the smoke clears? what comes next when izuku gives shigaraki hell, like katsuki told him to?

katsuki's atoned. we accept that, have known it since chapter 285 and have continued to know it until the iconic apology in the rain. that's not where katsuki stops however, because we know that its not all about begging for izuku's forgiveness nor atoning for himself. its about catching up to izuku -- the last words he uttered before shigaraki crushed his heard say it all.

"can i still catch up to you, izuku?"

since the moment katsuki died, we've been given a metric ton of material to read through what he and izuku have become in the story. firstly, the point of katsuki being the person closest to izuku. what does this mean? what does that say about katsuki? is he supposedly the person izuku loves the most? the person izuku believes in the most? i'd argue these two criterion would easily fit his mother or all might a lot better -- not his childhood friend turned bully turned rival turned barely-friend. katsuki sure as hell didn't believe he was the person closest to izuku before shigaraki brought it up as evidenced by the fact that he let IIDA bring deku back to UA -- and neither does izuku as far as i bet. what was shigaraki's intention?

katsuki heard that statement. he hasnt said anything, but he definitely heard it. its an open end that is left entirely unanswered PRECISELY because katsuki fought afo on his own and izuku is about to tackle shigaraki without katsuki by his side. if it was heroes rising's ending wherein they would both fight shigaraki and take him down together -- then that statement would easily be answered by how their strength and bond is the one thing that gave them an upper hand in the final battle. other than that... i'm not entirely sure how they're going to have katsuki and izuku acknowledge katsuki's brief "death" and Tomura's reasons thereof.

But fine, lets ignore that for the time being and move on to what happened when Katsuki came back.

katsuki answered izuku's cry for help. he came back to life in the last moment to save all might when izuku was too busy fighting tooth and nail to win. they are the penultimate example of two sides of a hero; the win and save. not one without the other. every single parallel thus far between izuku and katsuki have always been to draw attention over and over to each of their stubborn convictions to win and save under all might's tutelage.

katsuki has chosen to prioritize winning and fighting over saving and rescuing over. and over. and over. and over again. at every single opportunity from the very beginning of the series. in usj, in sports festival, in the final exam, every choice he's made up until --

chapter 285 - bakugou katsuki: rising.

he chooses to save izuku in this instant. as he says, his body moved on its own -- or in other words, he felt like how izuku has always did since the sludge villain incident. this is bakugou katsuki catching up to midoriya izuku. its katsuki realizing that he needs to save so deku can win, and actually being okay with that for once. it's a major turning point in his character that clearly tells even horikoshi that there's absolutely no way katsuki can go back to being a side character within the plot of bnha after a development like this.

and then, after this instance, we notice it happen again and again. katsuki choosing to save to win instead of winning to save. katsuki protecting best jeanist against the nomu. katsuki coming to chase after izuku when he runs away from UA. katsuki (in a way) saving aoyama when its revealed he's the traitor. hell, katsuki saving ALL MIGHT as soon as izuku -- the savior -- begs someone to save his idol when he can't because he's too focused on trying to win.

so what changed?

what changed since the moment of chapter 285 was katsuki accepting his fears and anxieties. katsuki letting go of his aversity to working with deku. the reason katsuki started accepting the path of saving to win was because he TRUSTED deku to win where he couldnt.

this is katsuki accepting that him and izuku already surpassed all might together.

but katsuki said it himself. it's not over. he accepts that him and izuku are finally on equal footing -- hell, he admits he's the one who needs to play catch up. it's not about katsuki conceding to weakness, but katsuki being able to trust in izuku to finish the job. the point is that they both will break and break until they win the way they choose to, and the other will be there to win while they save and save while they win. moreso, katsuki still wants to be number 1. he still wants to catch up and surpass deku. he wants to fight by deku's side. but ... as we've established:

deku will be quirkless soon.

my problem (or, i guess, curiosity?) with the path horikoshi seems to be going down for the end of this story is what happens to this end? what happens to the wonder duo? i believe in a quirkless deku plot as much as the next person -- but any reader would find it easy to see that once deku loses one for all, he will not be nearly as efficient nor quick nor capable of a hero as he once was. especially not against a developed katsuki with mastery over cluster explosions.

he will lose one for all and he won't ever be the pro-hero he was going to be before the final war arc. katsuki will get number 1 surely, but will he be happy about this resolution? i don't think so. All Might himself had said it when Katsuki spoke to him about his relationship to Izuku; that the twin stars reminded All Might very much of his own rivalry with Endeavor and the bitter feelings it created.

endeavor expressed regret and a bitter end to their rivalry; the acknowledgement of the bitter truth that the only reason he was the number one hero is because all might lost his own quirk. he knew he didn't deserve the mantle all might had held for a long time before him. he knew that he was still only just playing catch up with the wisdom and understanding of heroicism that all might had in his heart from the beginning. endeavor will likely retire from being a pro-hero unsatisfied with this truth and his own victory at becoming the no.1 at the very end -- never feeling like he truly surpassed all might of his own accord. both enji and toshinori -- victims of their destiny.

is this the fate that will befall katsuki once izuku is quirkless for good?

There are many questions I have in wake of the recent chapter. The end of the series is here, and that's a whole can of worms i haven't touched in and of itself. We all saw this coming; some of us know that this was always going to be Izuku's fate since the beginning of the series. But now that it's more than just izuku's character involved in his dreams of being a hero -- i dont know how this series is going to conclude and if it will be satisfying to any means. there's a lot of questions i still have; bakugous arc feeling incomplete ever since he came back to life, the conclusion of all might and one for all's dreams now that they will disappear altogether. where does deku go after this? where does bakugou go? where do any of them?

i guess i gotta wait and see lol

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha #bakugou katsuki #toshinori yagi #all might #midoriya izuku #deku #kacchan #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha meta #bnha meta #this was a long one ouf #anyway this is ship free technically; its just mostly me going BUT KACCHAN?

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branwendaughterofllyr · 1 month ago

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hiii, I just read both of your fics, and I’m going crazy because they’re not finished!!! do you have a d!scord or tw!tter account for spoilers? please save your impatient fan, Im losing my mind lol (seriously, whose body is ‘the body forgotten’?? Is robyn reswell from the stark family tree related to our robyn? how does aemond marry alyssa? how does aegon react when he learns the truth about the fire at harrenhal? why your joffery arryn's mother is a royce? I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about these, really)

Hi! So excited to hear how much you liked my fics. I dont have a twitter or a private discord server, but I do hang out a lot at the Braavos server run by the lovely @visenyasdragon and can be induced to talk about spoilers there fairly often lol.

The title of "the body forgotten" is loosely taken from a poem by Ono no Komachi (translated by Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani) that goes like this:

Since this body was forgotten by the one who promised to come my only thought is wondering whether it even exists

I have always really enjoyed the themes of existentialism that permeates Heian poetry, and I often turn to it for fic titles, haha.

I think the body in question could be Sybelle's, who is very much trapped in her own head, but it could refer to her dead sister, Irinna's, or to any of the various long forgotten tombs in the barrowlands. I also picked it after reading H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, specifically this passage.

You want the hawk to eat the food you hold – it’s the first step in reclaiming her that will end with you being hunting partners. But the space between the fear and the food is a vast, vast gulf, and you have to cross it together. I thought, once, that you did it by being infinitely patient. But no: it is more than that. You must become invisible. Imagine: you’re in a darkened room. You are sitting with a hawk on your fist. She is as immobile, as tense and sprung as a catapult at full stretch. Underneath her huge, thorny feet is a chunk of raw steak. You’re trying to get her to look at the steak, not at you, because you know – though you haven’t looked – that her eyes are fixed in horror at your profile. All you can hear is the wet click, click, click of her blinking.

The idea that you must become invisible, nothing, so that the hawk learns not fear you, that you forget even yourself. Hawking is going to feature pretty majorly in "the body forgotten," so I thought it fit.

In my head, the canonical Robyn Ryswells is probably descended from Sybelle's brother, who will go on to be the next lord, rather than from Sybelle herself, whose only child right now is an Umber, not a Ryswell. But I did use her as the name inspiration for Birdy, since I try to use canon names where I can.

To answer "how do Aemond and Alyssa get married" and "how does Oldgon react when he learns the truth about the fire," well, I can't really, bc spoilers, haha. I will say that my take on the Fire in Harrenhal is going to be different than the show's, and it should be coming up relatively soon in the fic. Such drama.

And for Joffrey Arryn's Royce mother, the answer is I wanted higher stakes for the Vale, and to partly explain why Jeyne Arryn chose Joffrey over closer relations. Jeyne Arryn had a very good relationship with the Royces, particularly her regent, so her choosing his grandson was a safe choice for her and showed how much faith she had in them. But also, not nearly enough families were torn apart by the Dance, and I really wanted that element. For a civil war, families themselves and even whole regions were remarkably united (especially compared to the Blackfyre Rebellions and the War of the Five Kings), so I wanted to add in some higher stakes by having Joffrey's Royce cousins ultimately choosing to back Eldric Arryn (as the Royces did in canon) and move the war in the Vale up, so it actually happens during the Dance. Joffrey Arryn and his Royce cousin will be making an appearance at some point before the Dance, to keep us updated on Vale politics, lol. Also, I wanted Rhea's death to actually have some relevance, and to make it a point of conflict for the Royce-Arryn alliance, so making Joffrey's mother one of Rhea's canonical unnamed sisters was my solution to that.

Hope this answered some of your questions!

#branwen answers #a poison tree #the body forgotten

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kianji · 2 months ago

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So since BioWare (and possibly other studios) have finally gotten the message that fans will appreciate pansexual characters who can romance anyone no matter gender, race or sex (unless there’s a valid reason in their backstory for them to NOT chose to romance someone) can we eventually see an option for polyamory?

And before anyone brings up the “not EvErYoNe Is PaNsExUaL” argument, I would like to remind you that this post is specifically talking about a group of (very well drawn and animated) piXELS THAT ARE NOT REAL PEOPLE AND THAT I AM IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM IMPLYING THAT IT WORK THAT WAY IN REAL LIFE.

Again.

This is a cluster of PIXELS that someone animated, input a code, and is a completely FICTIONAL WORK that has no real impact against the world outside of the game. It’s meant to be fun and enjoyable and an escape. If you can’t learn to separate the two you’ve got bigger problems to be concerned about.

We briefly see the potential in DAO with Zevran and Isabela in The Pearl and from research there’s apparently a full blown polyamory option in Hades with Megaera and Thanatos.

Not that I can speak on quality of the romance as I haven’t played the game, but for it to be an option to fully romance two characters, at the same time, and both accept the romance without issue is fantastic no matter the execution. At least at this point.

Personally I think it’s be an amazing addition as an OPTION for someone who WANTS TO PURSUE SUCH A THING. If you don’t like it or aren’t interested it WOULDN’T PERTAIN TO YOU AND COULD BE SKIPPED JUST LIKE ANY OTHER OPTION YOU AREN’T INTERESTED IN. Hence why it is an OPTION NOT A REQUIREMENT.

Are there mods out there that allow you to romance more than one character?

Yes.

But I don’t want to have to download a mod especially when (as well written as the mod may be) it likely doesn’t change dialogue, or other character interactions with one another meaning it isn’t REALLY what I’m meaning when I talk about a polyamorous relationship. Not to mention the fact that not everyone CAN download a mod.

I just think it would be nifty to be able to have that choice. To romance more than one person and at the least be ameniable to it. On that same note it would also be nice if there was an option to also have they also romance each other. Some characters when not romance by the player will seek out others anyways. It wouldn’t necessarily be that much of a difficult notion for some to be interested in BOTH.

In the wise words of a girl in an Old El Paso commercial, ¿Por qué no los dos?

Should it necessarily be an option for every character?

No.

That wouldn’t make sense in a number of situations varying from the way a character is written to a characters backstory and history, to their beliefs and involvement with certain organizations.

Could it work for certain characters?

Without question.

Fenris, Isabela and Hawke in DA2 would have been a perfect example in a BioWare game for an opportunity for a polyamorous relationship. I’m sure there are plenty of other pairings and games that the same can be said for.

It would be a good way to give representation to something that many people honestly still think of as taboo or only in a strictly sexual manner. And while polyamory in a sexual manner isn’t a dirty or bad thing, it would be nice to see it in an almost domestic type of situation as well, I guess you could call it for my lack of better way to explain it.

Side note: apparently Baldur’s Gate 3 apparently has a few options for polyamory but as I also have not yet played BG3 (NO SPOILERS IT IS ON MY LIST OF GAMES TO PLAY AS SOON AS I FINISH DRAGON AGE) I also can’t attest to what is truly included with their devotion of a polyamorous relationship.

Apparently a character you meet in Act 3 will ask you out when you meet and depending upon who your other or “main” LI is they will be open to the idea or support it. Others will allow it but not be pleased and the rest are completely against the notion (WHICH IS FINE AND A REALLY A GOOD THING AS IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE FOR EVERYONE TO JUST BE ALRIGHT WITH IT). However it truly is a nice touch for someone who wants that.

#bioware #dragon age #dragon age origins #dragon age inquisition #dragon age 2 #baldurs gate 3 #hades game #polyamory #pansexual #just a thought #or is it…#just a thot #dragon age veilguard

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skeeverboy · 9 months ago

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hi i'm skeeverboy and here's my review of every tfb album (not including singles or eps but maybe i will at some point)

I Hate My Friends (2008)

despite being their first and least finished albums, it is one of my fav albums of all time. it's unique and definitely not for everyone, but the garage/basement sound and unique vocals are so charming. it has this whole immature feeling in both instrumentation and lyrics that i'm just obsessed with. i really like the background vocals and the entire shouty kind of singing this one has.

fav track: push-ups

rating: 9.5/10

My Grandma Vs. Pneumonia (2009)

very similar in sound and vibe to IHMF, with the same acoustic recorded-in-someone's-basement feeling (this is because both albums were in fact recorded in random basements and garages). it feels a little more finished than IHMF, and the songs have a bit of a different vibe that i don't know how to explain. ultimately though i put it in the same category as IHMF and frequently forget which songs are in which albums.

fav track: the bass is too loud

rating: 9/10

The Front Bottoms (2011)

absolutely amazing album. it has all the charm of the first 2, with significantly more development and more of a finished feeling. it starts off with an amazing first track and there's really not a dud on this album at all. both versions of the cover art are beautiful. the lyrics in this album are just like some of my favorite of all time and often times soul crushing. i love it. enough said.

fav track: looking like you just woke up

rating: 10/10

Talon of the Hawk (2013)

another absolute banger. it has a lot of the same vibes as self titled, though it started getting a lot higher energy. while still angsty and gut-punching, it's also a lot easier to jam out to than their self-titled, with more electric guitar featured and absolutely banger choruses. maybe a little bit overrated, but a great album nonetheless.

fav track: santa monica

rating: 9/10

Back On Top (2015)

another one of my favorites. it's nearly completely abandoned the more acoustic feeling, aside from chunks of songs like the beginning of West Virginia. pretty much every song can be either cried to or rocked out to in the car. even though there is one song on this album that i kind of hate (summer shandy) the rest of them more than make up for it. fun electric guitar parts, the epic wind section in 2YL, the hard hitting lyrics in songs like Plastic Flowers, it's all just amazing.

fav track: ginger

rating: 10/10

Going Grey (2017)

everyone hates me for my opinion on this album but ultimately it's just kind of meh for me. it's not bad, but it's my least favorite TFB album. the entire sound of the album isn't my favorite, and at times the vocals feel a little dull, which i mean the vocals are like the number one reason why i love the front bottoms. some of the lyrics leave something to be desired, especially considering past songs.

i don't hate the album though. it's high energy, really transitioned TFB into IS&IF and YAWYHOW smoothly. it has a lot of good songs while remaining pretty true to the core TFB sound.

fav track: trampoline

rating: 7.5/10 (don't crucify me please)

In Sickness & In Flames (2020)

ok on my tier list i admit i ranked this one way too low. it pushed the band into a new direction, with the autotune and the way more developed and finished sounding instrumentals. pretty much every song is high energy and catchy. it strays way more into the pop side of tfb's pop punk/emo sound, which is fine but not exactly my thing. i think they do it in a really graceful way though and most songs on here are bangers

fav track: bus beat

rating: 8/10

You Are Who You Hang Out With (2023)

this one is significant for me because it was their first full-length album they released while i was actively a huge fan. it was exciting and i heard a few of the songs before the album's release live, so i'm definitely biased in this one. the autotune is a little weird, but it works for me. the mix between brian's unique voice and the autotune and just the general sound of it are really good.

i'll admit it did take me a minute for it to grow on me, especially as an early tfb girlie, but grow on me it did. outlook and batman both feel like really nice tie-backs to the older sound, almost sounding like they're from TOTH or back on top?? and the newer, weirder songs (i'm looking at you Paris) work really well with the sound of album and such.

fav track: batman

rating: 9.5/10

#picking a fav track from every album was so fucking hard #the front bottoms #tfb #front bottoms #brian sella #mat uychich #midwest emo #emo #album review #i hate my friends #my grandma vs pneumonia #talon of the hawk #back on top #going grey #in sickness and in flames #you are who you hang out with #yawyhow #toth

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soap-lady · 2 years ago

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I was going to post this Saturday..

Hey everyone!

I didn’t want anyone to think I was playing a prank so I decided to wait until today. Hope you enjoy chapter 22 of Worthy Opponent.

Taglist:

@fantasiame, @g-arya, @lavenderjunes, @charlietheepic7, @ahenix, @delectablycoolscientist, @kaseykay17, @vio-march-0327, @mewwitch, @vixen-uchiha, @coolspidermanmusicflower, @lady-bee-fechin, @raeuberprinzessin, @symwinter, @frieddonutsweets, @seraphkitty, @friendsofthefairies, @nickristus-dreamer, @khneltea, @jumpingjoy82, @fan-written, @woe-is-me0,@corporeal-terrestrial, @queenmjean, @theymakeupfairies, @dorkus-minimus, @idk-j-go-with-it, @aespades, @swiftie-miraculer13,@moongoddesskiana, @arty-shadow-morningstar, @ahalloweengirl, @the-navistar-carol, @bigpicklebananatree, @novicevoice, @nerd-nowandforever, @certainmuffinbagelcalzone, @irontimetravelflower, @jjmjjktth, @dopefestsuit, @morning-wolf-designs, @alcoholic-barney, @just-living5, @chocolatecatstheron, @another-cancer, @hammalammadamdam, @ichigorose

Worthy Opponent Chapter 22

Ladybug surveyed the Liberty before coming aboard. Ankara was off; Luka had told her once on Wednesdays his mother volunteered at a women’s shelter to teach self-defense. Luka was practicing, the notes from his guitar wafted up from his cabin below deck and flitted through her ears. She took a few minutes to take in his beautiful music before knocking politely on the porthole outside his cabin.

The strumming abruptly stopped and Luka stuck his head out of the porthole. He looked surprised to see her but not unpleasantly so. “Hey, Ladybug.” He opened the porthole. “Would you care to come in?”

She looked at the porthole doubtfully. “I’d probably get stuck.”

“Right. I’ll come up and let you in.” He smiled at her and she’d be a liar if she said her heart didn’t flutter, at least a little.

Luka opened the door leading below decks and motioned for her to come downstairs. She followed him and closed the door behind her.

He led the way down the stairs and to his newly private bedroom. Anarka had emptied out a storeroom to give her children the privacy they craved. It also meant they no longer walked in on each other changing or, in Luka’s case, seeing his sister make out with her girlfriend.

He pointed at his bed and did a “please sit” gesture before sitting in the chair across from the bed. She sat down with a grateful smile and he folded his hands in his lap as he waited for his guest to get comfortable.

Once she was settled he said, “I’m assuming this is hero business and not a social call.” He leaned forward and gave her a gentle smile. “So, what can I do for you, Ladybug?”

He was always so perceptive and understanding. She lov-liked that about him and appreciated the fact he wasn’t throwing questions at him and allowed her to bring up the subject herself. It felt disloyal to think it but in some ways he was a better hero than Alya had been. She knew she was making the right choice.

She cleared her throat and started to explain. “Well, now that Hawk Moth knows the identities of the temporary holders, we can’t bring any of the old heroes back.”

He frowned a little. “Well, you told me that already. So, if you don’t mind my asking, why are you here?”

She sighed and fidgeted. She had a grandiose speech she had rehearsed in her head and with Tikki but of course when it came time to recite it to Luka, she’d forgotten it. She decided to wing it instead. He wouldn’t judge her.

Ladybug slid a finger over the top of her yo-yo. It opened and slid apart. Through the glow she pulled out a black choker with a red bead in the middle. Luka’s eyes widened as he watched her. “Well, just because you can’t be Viperion any more doesn’t mean you can’t be some other kind of hero.”

He smiled and looked excited and it was all she could do not to melt. He was so cute!

She straightened up and tried to look professional. “Luka Couffaine,” she held the Miraculous out to him. “This is the Miraculous of the Dragon, which grants the power of The Elements. You will use it for the greater good.”

He nodded and she gingerly placed the choker in his hand. A ball of light erupted from the necklace and circled his head twice before the light faded and a familiar dragon kwami appeared in front of him.

Luka smiled. As much as he loved being a musician and lately an actor, he’d be lying to himself if he said he didn’t enjoy being a hero. Not just protecting his family and friends but Paris. That and there was just something about Ladybug that resonated with him. Had circumstances been different, he could have easily fallen for her and that would have made him disloyal to Marinette. Not to mention causing tension with the team and Chat Noir.

He ignored what might have been and looked at the little creature in front of him. “Hi,” he said to them, “I love the spikes.”

The being preened. “I can see you are a young man of exquisite taste,” they said. “I am Longg and I am to be your kwami. Together we shall do great deeds with style and aplomb.” They bowed and he bowed back.

“Once the mission is done,” she took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. “You will keep the Miraculous and guard it with your life. Can I trust you?”

Luka was about to put the choker around his neck and then paused. “Wait, what?”

Ladybug met and held his gaze. He couldn’t have looked away if he were on fire. “Just because Hawk Moth hasn’t been as active lately doesn’t mean he’s gone. We need allies but we won’t always have the time to hunt for someone worthy so it’s better to have one or two people standing by at all times.”

He didn’t say anything at first, just stared at the necklace in his hands. It was an overwhelming honor to be chosen as even a temporary hero but for Ladybug to trust him enough to make him a permanent hero was mind blowing.

Long floated in front of his face to catch his attention. “Ladybug did not make this decision lightly nor did she make it alone.” They smiled proudly. “I have been observing you in secret to see if you had what it takes to be my Wielder and you did.” They chuckled as they saw the surprise on the boy’s face. “Sass spoke quite fondly of you as well and said you were kind, trustworthy, brave and responsible. A perfect candidate.”

Luka looked sad when Longg mentioned his former kwami. “That was kind of him.” He looked over at the spotted hero. “Thank him for me, will you? And tell him I enjoyed working with him.”

She nodded and smiled. “I will,” she promised.

Longg took over the conversation. “You have three elements to choose from; wind, water, and lightning. Once all three are discharged your power will be at an end until you recharge my abilities.”

Both the kwami and the heroine smiled at the boy and he felt warmed by their faith in him. For a moment Marinette’s face flashed into his mind and he remembered how she looked at him when he finally perfected a new song and wanted her to be the first to hear it.

He finished putting on the choker and turned to Longg. “So, new partner, what do I do?”

The dragon kwami was very pleased to be addressed as an equal. “All you need to say is, ‘Longg, bring the storm.’ “

Luka stood up and spread his arms. “Longg, bring the storm!”

Longg became sucked into the Miraculous and in a flash of red light Luka was gone and a new hero stood in his place. He grinned and looked at his reflection in the mirror attached to his door.

“Wow!”

“Wow” was right. Gone was the spandex that had been Ryuuko’s trademark and instead he wore a motorcycle jacket with spiked shoulder pads and studded trim. He wore padded fingerless gloves on his hands and black with red trim motorcycle boots. His hair was black with red tips and styled into short spikes. He had horns that emerged from the top of his forehead and then curved backwards like a dragon illustration he’d seen in a book years ago.

He did a circle as Ladybug watched, loving the look of wonder on his face as he took in his new appearance. “Hey! Is the jacket removable?” Before she could answer he pulled it off and looked at himself again. “It is!” he exclaimed.

The heroine swallowed. Hard. The shirt was sleeveless and black, like thin kevlar. In the middle of the chest were the symbols for water, wind, and lightning, circling each other in a blood red ring. The pants match the jacket and the boots and flared a bit at the bottom. Clearly making all those deliveries had made his arms and legs toned and strong.

She shook her head and was glad he hadn’t noticed her staring and couldn’t hear her heart racing. Or her less than pure thoughts. “So, uh…” she paused and waited for him to tell her his new hero name.

“Wyvern,” he said. He put the jacket back on As Jagged would say, he looked very rock and roll. He wondered if he could get away with taking a picture to show Juleka when she got home. He looked over his shoulder at Ladybug. “Call me ‘Wyvern’ “.

She tilted her head and thought. “Wyvern. I like it.” She stood up and tried to regain a hold of herself and the situation. “So, Wyvern, are you up for a little training?” She grinned up at him. He was so damn cute. “Maybe get to know these new powers?”

“I’d love to,” he swept his hand towards the door. “After you, of course.”

*****

Chat Noir observed the Tsurugi compound from a safe distance. Clearly Mme. Tsurugi had the money and influence to have a traditional Japanese style home built in the middle of Paris. He was impressed, even though it reminded him of something his father would do if he suddenly found himself living in Tokyo.

The house was mostly dark and peaceful but he wasn’t stupid. He knew the Tsurugis had a complex security system with sentry drones and invisible lasers. However he had something equally important: Kagami’s phone number.

CNOIR: Can you sneak outside? It’s important. Lady_Sumo: Who are you? CNOIR: It’s Chat Noir. I’m here on official superhero business. Adrien gave me your number. Lady_Sumo: If that is so, what’s the password? CNOIR: Chihiro

There were a series of ellipses and he sighed. Chihiro was the main character of Kagami’s favorite movie as a child, “Spirited Away”. They’d had a long, engaged conversation about Miyasaki’s use of Japanese folklore in his movies. He was sure she remembered.

There was some movement and Chat watched as a sentry drone was deactivated and a slim figure in dark blue made their way over the fence and near the tree he was perched on. She almost had a sixth sense when it came to finding him. Maybe that was one reason they were such a good couple.

He knew just how to get her attention. “Ryuuko?” he whispered.

Her head shot up and even though it was dark and she didn’t have his night vision, she knew exactly where he was. That girl was incredible. Her eyes narrowed up at him, almost daring him to attack. When she was sure he wasn’t an enemy her shoulders relaxed a bit and she smiled. “Hello, Chat Noir.” She stood almost at attention and her serious expression returned. “You said something about official superhero business.” Her eyes looked sad. “I thought Ryuuko and the rest of your allies were retired due to Chloe exposing our identities to Hawk Moth.”

Chat Noir rubbed the back of his neck, a habit he��d carried over from his civilian identity. He stopped himself once he realized what he was doing. “Yeah. About that.”

He extended his baton and held out his hand. “Shall we continue this conversation a bit more privately?”

She looked skeptical and he felt a bit hurt; she didn’t instantly trust him. He tried to remember he wasn’t Adrien right now and although she thought of Chat Noir as a teammate, she probably liked and trusted Ladybug more. He couldn’t blame her; he also liked Ladybug more.

He held up his right hand. “I’m just here to talk to you about whether or not you’d be willing to be a hero again. You’re free to say no and I’ll leave, no hard feelings. I promise to be a complete gentlecat the whole time. If you don’t believe me or would be more comfortable with Ladybug,” he showed her his baton. “I’d be glad to call her right now and she can tell you herself.”

Kagami said nothing, she just stared up at him as if trying to read his mind. He tried to look earnest and credible but his girlfriend was incredibly hot when she was being strong and trying to determine an opponent’s weaknesses.

Finally she relented and took his hand. “I will trust you,” she gave him a rare smile and then glared. “But I’ll hold you to your promise of good behavior. Just remember,” she shook her finger in his face. “I own swords and I’m spoken for.”

He saluted her. “Yes, mademoiselle.”

*****

He took her to the roof of his old college, Francois Dupont. He didn’t always have good memories of this place but it was quiet and in a safe neighborhood so he didn’t have to worry about muggers while they talked. He didn’t want to have to visit his girlfriend in jail after she was convicted of manslaughter.

She took in her surroundings, her only emotional response was a brief tightening of her lips. She looked up at him. “You mentioned superhero business?” The skeptical look was back but it wasn’t hostile. “Hawk Moth knows our identities. I fail to see how I can possibly be Ryuuko again.”

“Oh, but that’s just it!” He couldn’t wait to tell her. Ladybug’s solution was so simple but brilliant he was surprised he hadn’t thought of it himself. Sure, he’d been busy over the summer but not nearly as busy as someone like Marinette. “Okay, so maybe you can’t be Ryuuko again,” he pulled the Snake Miraculous out of the zipper pocket in his suit. “But that doesn’t prevent you from being a new hero, right?”

Kagami recognized that bracelet. It was the one worn by Viperion. She had liked him; he was calm and relaxed, but a reliable teammate who never became flustered if a plan went wrong or an akuma was especially difficult.

She felt ashamed for a moment. Was she being asked to replace Viperion? She understood that Team Miraculous could not continue as it had in the past but surely there was a Miraculous in the box that hadn’t been used yet. To have her replace such a valuable ally felt disrespectful.

Her face was as stoic as always but Chat could read her moods through her eyes and tried not to smile. She was feeling sorry for Viperion, who she thought had been discarded. “Don’t worry. Ladybug had decided to give Viperion a different Miraculous.”

Her guilt eased and she reached for the bracelet only to have Chat pull it away from her.

“Um, sorry,” his laugh was high and nervous. “I’ve never done this before. Let me do it right.” He cleared his throat and began to recite a speech she was sure he’d practiced for hours.

“Kagami Tsurugi, here is the Miraculous of the Snake, which grants the power of Second Chance.” Was that what Ladybug always said? It sounded right. “You will use it for the greater good. Once the job is done, you will guard it and keep it safe. Can I trust you?” Her eyes widened as she realized he was making her a permanent holder.

He held out the bracelet again and she took it. Her fingers shook a little and she hoped he didn’t notice she’d hesitated slightly. She couldn’t help feeling a bit disloyal to Longg, even if the kwami had known hundreds of Chosen before she was born.

A familiar ball of light floated up from the bracelet, circled her head and then turned into a teal cobra with green-yellow eyes. He looked up at her with a calm, even expression. The creature did not appear shocked or disappointed to see her. She chose to see this as a good sign.

“Greetingsss, young lady. My name is Sasss and I am to be your kwami.” He gave her a little bow, which she returned. “Please, take good care of me from now on.”

“I will do so to the best of my abilities, Sass-sama,” she answered, “and I ask the same of you.” She looked at Chat Noir. “If I may ask, why are you pairing us?”

“With all due ressspect, Miss, that was my decissssion,” Sass interrupted. He ignored the surprised look on Chat’s face and went on. “The Guardian felt my skillsss were needed and I had the right to choossse my Wielder. You have proven to have a logical mind, one that can be trusssted not to missusse my abilities.” He felt honored that the young Guardian had such faith in his assessment. It was refreshing to have one’s wisdom acknowledged.

Kagami smiled, flattered at his praise and the kwami was instantly charmed. “Now I am especially honored.” She bowed again, this time at a perfect thirty degree bow. “I will do all that I can to prove worthy of your faith in me, Sass-sama.”

The kwami bowed just as deeply. “I have every faith in you, Miss Kagami.”

She looked from Chat back to Sass. “What must I do now?”

“Once you trigger Sssecond Chance, you will have five minutesss before my power wanesss and I musst recharge.” This she already knew. “Now, all you have to sssay isss: ‘Sass, scales ssslither,” he told her.

Kagami felt the familiar shiver of excitement she felt right before she transformed into Ryuuko. It felt good to know she could be a hero again! Patrolling the city, saving others, showing her mother she was her own person…

No, she was chosen because Sass thought she would not misuse her powers. She would not prove him wrong. She struck a pose and said, “Sass, scales slither!”

Sass disappeared into the ring and felt his power wash over her, not the tingling she was used to but calm, almost cool, like waves gently lapping at the shore. She looked down at herself and wished she had a mirror.

Chat gave a low whistle. He’s always appreciated how good Kagami looked in red but this was a cool look too.

The teal and gray coloration reminded him of a piebald snake; bold swirls from her head to her hips and gradually fading as it reached her legs and feet.

There was a sports jacket with a scale pattern she removed so she could get a better look at her armor. The base of her suit reminded her of a jumpsuit or a flight suit with armor attachments. Sode protected her shoulders while kote and tekko protected her arms and hands respectively. A fairly modern chestplate protected her vitals and an uwa-obi circled her waist. Suneate covered her from the knees to the calves. She rather liked the steel toed boots as well.

The new suit was much more practical than her old one but felt just as light. Magic, she supposed. The only weight was on her back. She reached behind her and pulled off a traditional stringed instrument covered in snakeskin; a sanshin. She plucked the strings and was pleased with the sound. Her mother would approve. Some instinct told her to pull on the instrument’s neck and was surprised to unsheath a sword. Very practical and she would be able to contribute more than just her power to battles.

“You look fantastic!” He knew he was biased and didn’t care but Kagami really could look cute in anything. “Completely ready to kick Hawky’s butt and anyone else who gets in your way.” She hoped her mask concealed her blush; he was almost as complimentary as Adrien.

She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him the eye roll she had learned from Marinette. “I do hope you’re not flirting, koneko-chan.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it…” he broke off and raised his eyebrows at her, looking expectant.

“Ah, yes. I suppose I will need a new superhero name.” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully and then exclaimed, “Mamushi! It is a venomous snake native to Japan.”

“It’s perfect.” Chat Noir grinned because he welcomed any chance to spend extra time with his girlfriend. Now Ladybug had handed him an opportunity practically gift wrapped. She was the best friend he could ask for.

“Race you to Montmartre!” Chat Noir called out and jumped off the room with Mamushi close behind him.

******

Felix set his teacup back down into its saucer and looked his mother straight in the eyes across the table. “Mom, I’m a superhero.”

Amelie didn’t even pause as she continued to spread lemon curd onto her scone. “Of course you are, dear,” she answered vaguely.

He blinked. “What? Do you believe me? Just like that?”

She carefully cut the scone halves in two half-moons and took a bite before answering. “Well, darling, you’re already an actor and a director so why not a superhero as well?

His eyes narrowed. “You’re humoring me,” he said flatly.

She opened her mouth to argue, closed it, and sighed. “Yes, I probably am.” She finished off her scone. “Far be it for me to criticize but the scones from the hotel bakery are a smidge dry compared to the ones back home.” She took another sip of tea. “Then again, anything made on a commercially wide scale would pale compared to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.”

“Oh, darling, don’t make that face,” she pouted at him and he rolled his eyes. He wasn’t doing anything. “You are the most important thing in the world to me and I’ve noticed you’ve been a bit…furtive in the past few weeks. You’re spending more and more time with your friends lately, something I’d usually applaud, but,” she went to take a last sip of tea but both the cup and the pot were empty. She sighed again. “I wish you would confide in me like you used to. I know you miss your father and the last few months have been stressful, especially with all the troubles on set.” She leaned forward and looked him in the eyes. Her expression was sincere and a little somber. “Trust me, sweetheart.”

Felix crossed his arms and huffed in the time honored tradition of teenagers everywhere. “Mom…I do trust you and I am trying to confide in you. It’s why I insisted we have breakfast in our room and not in the downstairs dining room.” He bent his head down and spoke into his vest pocket. “Griff? Would you like to come out now?”

“At last! Young Squire, it is past time you introduced me to your mother. Really, one would think you were ashamed of…one…of…us…” they broke off and stared wide-eyed at Amelie. “Noble lady…” they whispered.

Felix looked from his kwami to his mother. Both looked equally surprised and awed. “As I was trying to tell you earlier, I’m a superhero. And this,” he pointed at the tiny griffin, “is Griff, the source of my powers.”

*****

Griff and Amelie stared at each other for several minutes. Their pupils were both so large they were practically dilated. They practically mirrored each other; wide-eyed, jaw dropped. The silence stretched between them long enough for Felix to become just a little uncomfortable and he decided to break the silence.

“So…this is not quite the reaction I expected,” he muttered to himself. He cleared his throat and then looked from his kwami to his mother. “Would you like to be left alone? I’d hate to interrupt your courtship but there’s more to the story than just ‘Hey, Dad left me a cool magical creature that will help me fight crime or something’. There’s more magical creatures for you to meet. Plus, one hell of a backstory.”

Amelie pulled herself out of her stupor at the mention of her husband. “Geralt? Geralt left you a magical being? Why didn’t he ever mention it? Why did you wait until now to tell me?”

“Well, Dad probably didn’t know-” he began but Griff interrupted, eager to talk to Amelie. “I and my siblings were created by the Druid Bodh Mall and entrusted to House Carrick, the precursors to House Chapman. The young Squire…er…your son…has told me your faithful husband, may his soul be at peace, was somewhat estranged from his family and perhaps none who remembered would tell him of his legacy.”

“That does sound like dear Geralt’s family,” Amelie sighed. “They never approved of his career choice, our marriage or anything that brought anyone happiness unless it was according to their plan.” Her tone sounded unusually bitter. “I’m surprised they gave him any sort of heirloom. They probably thought it was worthless junk.”

“Which, according to Helen, is how they viewed my father,” Felix added, equally bitterly.

Mother and son glared at nothing, absorbed in painful memories. Griff gave them a few minutes to themselves and then changed the subject. “I and my siblings are what are known as kwami; small gods who are the embodiment of a concept given form. I am the Kwami of Valor. For the last one hundred years I have slept in the signet ring that has been passed down through House Chapman.” He pointed a claw at the ring Felix wore. Amelie’s eyes lit up as she realized she’d had magic under her roof for two decades without realizing it. “My companions in the Heraldry box are the Kwami of Fortitude, Healing and Courage, Ferocity, and Prophecy.” Their feathers drooped. “There used to be more of us, but they were stolen.”

Amelie looked properly impressed and a bit sad for the tiny being. “Now that you mention it, you do look like the griffon in the Chapman coat of arms. Geralt showed me once.I’m sorry you’ve lost some of your friends,” she told them with gentle sorrow, “but I look forward to meeting the rest of them, especially if they’re half as cute as you are.” She gave the kwami a cute flirty wink and held out a hand for Griff to perch on.

Felix pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers but Griff was charmed and flew to the offered hand. Felix was surprised when Griff allowed his mother to pet him. “You’re so cute,” she cooed and Griff almost giggled.

Felix facepalmed and hoped his mother wasn’t going to seduce his kwami. “Mother, can we focus?”

Amelie frowned. “Oh dear. You only call me ‘Mother’ when you’re annoyed with me.”

“Or I’m trying to focus your attention, Mum,” he snarked. Once he had control of the situation (Griff was debatable because they were now preening their feathers to show off for Amelie), he began to explain.

“You see, kwami are magical beings and bestow their powers on their wielders.”

“If and only if they’re worthy,” Griff put in while they groomed their feathers.

Felix ignored him. “And the Heraldry Box, so named because it was inspired by animals from British Heraldry, contained four other kwami and the jewelry they lived in. Now that Griff was awakened, they woke up too and chose wielders of their own.”

“But who-” Amelie began and then answered her own question. “Yes, of course. You wouldn’t trust family heirlooms to just anyone, magical or not. You would only trust those closest to you.”

“True,” Felix smiled and pulled out his phone. “I think you’ll want to see this for yourself.”

*****

The Quantic Kids and Chloe were quickly ushered into the executive suite and the door was locked behind them. After everyone was seated comfortably Felix opened his mouth to speak.

Claude looked from Felix’s deliberately blank face to his mother’s bright, excited eyes and stated flatly, “you told her, huh?”

Chloe glared. “You couldn’t wait to tell her until we were all together, Fefe?”

Felix tried to defend himself but Allen defended him. “He probably didn’t want her to be overwhelmed the way we were,” he explained. “I mean…Claude freaked out and with good reason. There’s non-human sentient beings on this planet who grant superpowers.” He shrugged. “It’s a lot to take in.”

It wasn’t how Felix would have put it but at least Allen saved him the trouble. “Thanks, Allen.”

His friend held up a hand. “Sorry if I took over your meeting.”

Felix shrugged. He wasn’t mad because he knew Allen was genuinely trying to help. “It’s fine.”

Allen nodded and sat back, waiting to hear what Felix had to say. The others took their cue from Allen (it had to be that calm vibe he had going) and quieted down.

“Isn’t it exciting?” Amelie burst out.

Well, everyone but his mom quieted down.

He wanted to interrupt but she barrelled through. “Such cute but powerful little creatures! And they’ll give you the ability to run around the city like Ladybird and Chat Noir! Or those American chaps!” She clasped her hands and pouted cutely. “Are there any more?”

“Ladybug,” Chloe muttered under her breath to correct Amelie. No one seemed to hear her.

Felix dearly wished he could tell his mother that yes, there was another kwami just waiting to make her a hero as well. Alas, there wasn’t, at least until they could do some research into the missing Miraculi and perhaps buy back the others. He was sure Griff and the others could describe the last known appearances of their comrades.

He allowed his expression to become gentle and apologetic. “I’m sorry, Mom, but five is all there is, counting mine. According to what Griff said, the others were lost or sold.”

“Treated as mere ornamentation or trapped under glass to be displayed as a show of wealth no doubt.” Griff’s feathers drooped as he allowed Amelie to stroke him.

“I’m so sorry, dear,” Amelie soothed as she turned the proud, haughty creature into a cuddly pet. Griff purred at her touch. “We’ll do everything we can to find your friends, won’t we?” She looked around the room and everyone nodded at her.

“I’ve already told Griff and the others we would,” Felix replied.

Amelie immediately lit up. “Oh! Yes! There are other little..kwami?...for me to meet. Shall we?”

Honestly, his mother looked like a kid at Christmas. As annoyed as he was at the thought of her seducing his kwami away from him, he loved to see her happy and interested. After the movie wrapped he would need something for her to focus on so she didn’t sink back into depression. Having a magical companion was as good as anything else he could think of.

Felix looked at his friends. “Would you like to introduce your kwami, or let them do that themselves?”

“I’ll let my kwami introduce herself if she wants to,” Chloe sounded generous but really she didn’t want to get in another fight Milvii over “disrespecting her autonomy” or some crap. Okay, fine, she wasn’t Pollen and Chloe shouldn’t expect servitude. She’d appreciate a little respect though.

“I’ll do the same for my kwami,” Allegra agreed and the two boys nodded as well.

“So, Hatchling, you can be taught after all!” The Kwami of Prophecy rose up from the nest she’d made for herself in Chloe’s purse and faced Amelie. Chloe tried not to roll her eyes so they wouldn’t get stuck in the back of her head. It was the closest thing to a compliment the thing had given her since they met. Allen would have told her to accept the small victories. He’d been reading books by dead guys again so she wasn’t sure what to make of his advice.

The kwami addressed Amelie. “I am Milvii, The Kwami of Prophecy and I’m training this impudent hatchling to not only use a bow but be a little less selfish.”

Amelie smiled. “It’s very nice to meet you, Milvii. I’ve always thought Chloe had tremendous potential. Please take good care of her.” She beamed at the girl. “Chloe hasn’t been fortunate enough to have many good influences in her life. Perhaps you’ll be one of them.”

Milvii harrumphed but it wasn’t as harsh as usual. “I will do what I always do. My best.” She extended her wings and Amelie stopped stroking Griff long enough to look Milvii over. “Your wings are lovely. I adore bronze.”

“Quite right so you should,” the kwami agreed but the raised feathers on her neck eased slightly.

“I hope no one minds if I take my turn next,” the unicorn kwami emerged from Allegra’s top pocket. “Ladies first and all that.” She looked at Amelie and curtsied, no doubt sensing that while the teens were the heroes, Amelie was clearly the matriarch and obviously in charge. She liked that.

“I am Alii, Kwami of Healing and Miracles. The young maiden Allegra is my charge.”

Amelie’s eyes looked misty. “Oh my!” She cuddled Griff a bit closer but it was obvious she wanted to hold Alii as well. “When I was a little girl, all I wanted was for unicorns to be real.” She almost glowed with happiness. “And here you are!”

The kwami blushed and looked down, trying to be modest and not milk the attention. “I am pleased my species has your favor, Lady.”

Felix’s mom was clearly charmed. “Amelie, please.”

Alii corrected herself. “Lady Amelie. Of course.”

Before Amelie could protest that she was not technically nobility, Haart made his presence known. “Please, do not think me rude,” he rumbled, “I am Haart, Kwami of Fortitude. My young prince is Claude. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady Amelie.” He gave her a deep bow.

She bowed her head back. “Likewise.” She looked Haart. “You’re rather handsome, like The Prince of the Forest.”

He gave her a rumbling laugh. “So I am a prince, Lady. After a fashion.”

She chuckled. “Then, welcome to my temporary home, Your Highness.”

Claude leaned in and whispered to Allegra. “I think Aunt Amelie is seducing my kwami.”

“Mine too,” Allegra whispered back. “I hope I don’t have to fight her for Alii.”

“If it were me, I’d lose.”

“Me too.”

“Am I last then? So be it.” Lavii emerged from Allen’s messenger bag and floated over, pushing past his fellow kwami. They protested and he ignored them. “You are addressing Lavii, Kwami of Ferocity.” He puffed out his chest and straightened his posture. His gold eyes flicked over Amelie. “You’re the mother of Griff’s squire?” He almost scoffed. “You look like a soft thing of silks and fluff. But you’re rather comely.”

Human and kwami alike squawked and growled in protest but Amelie just raised a hand for silence. Once everyone had quieted down she addressed the lion-like creature.

“Why yes, I am rather attractive,” she agreed and gave Lavii the same grin she’d given his friends. “And I must look soft and weak to a…soldier like yourself.” Lavii raised his head at her praise.

Suddenly the smile dropped and Amelie looked at the creature with the most intensely burning gaze he’d ever seen. “But…I’ve learned to use my looks and demeanor against people who would underestimate me.” She smirked when Lavii realized he’d been had. “I love the looks on their faces when they realize they’ve lost to…how did you put it…silken fluff.”

Lavii looked flabbergasted and then roared with laughter. “Well played, Lady!” He gave a deep bow and a salute to the woman. “I know when I am bested and your strategy is a cunning one.”

Amelie flicked her hair. “I’ve turned a disadvantage into an advantage. People never took me seriously because I’m pretty and soft so now I use their preconceptions against them.” She giggled. “It’s fun.”

“And surprisingly effective,” Amelie grinned mischievously, looking very much like her son. She recalled all the business meetings where she had easily turned the tables on investors and competitors alike. “I could tell you stories…” she blinked and shook her head. “Perhaps another time.” She gently gave Griff back to Felix and stood up, looking around at everyone. “So?”

“So?” echoed Allen.

Amelie clasped her hands together and bounced on her toes. Her eyes shone with excitement; cheeks flushed. “So…show me your transformations!” She looked around the room in eager anticipation. “I can’t wait to see what your costumes look like!”

“Well…usually my cubs choose armor of some kind…” Lavii began but Allegra spoke over him. “Y’know, we’ve been training as much as we can but I don’t think we’ve ever transformed.” She looked at Alii. “How do we do that?”

“Oh, heavens!” Alii clapped her hooves together and looked at her fellow kwami. “How could we have forgotten?” She looked up at her Chosen. “You need but to -” she arranged her limbs dramatically as she spoke. “Strike a heroic pose and recite our transformation phrase. Each phrase is different for each of us,” she told everyone.

The five teens looked at each other and began to speak at once.

“I’m not sure I’m traditional hero material.”

“This sounds lame.”

“I’m up for it if everyone else is.”

“Sounds like fun. I’m in.”

“Hey, what the hell? I’ll do it.”

“Not exactly a consensus but the majority seems in favor,” Amelie smiled. She pointed at her son. “Why don’t you go first, dearest?”

He opened his mouth to protest but his mother cut him off with a gentle but firm, “because I said so.”

Felix sighed, surrendering to what his mother wanted. “As you wish.” He looked at Griff, who was still hovering over the table near where Amelie had been sitting. “So, what’s your transformation phrase? Please,” he added because he knew the creature took manners very seriously.

“Heroic pose first,” Griff prompted, pointing a wing at his Squire.

He tried not to sigh again as he put his hands on his hips and stood with his feet shoulder width apart. “Better?”

“Quite. Griff took to the air and posed, clearly showing off for Amelie, who giggled with delight. “Now, say ‘Griff, soar and defend.”

Felix nodded. “Griff, soar and defend!”

The signet ring on his finger glowed and suddenly Griff was sucked into it. Soothing warmth swept over his body and he was left feeling stronger, powerful, and even a little excited.

Everyone around him oohed and aahed and he made his way over to the full length mirror on the closet door. He just stood and stared, amazed at his new appearance.

The armor he now wore nearly covered all of him and was surprisingly light and easy to move in. Magic, no doubt. It was blue chainmail covered by a gold half-plate. His shoulders were covered by pauldrons and his hands by gauntlets. His head was covered by a Corinthian helmet but the nose piece was shaped like a beak. Sabatons and greaves protected his feet and calves and when he turned around he could catch glimpses of a blue cape shaped like a pair of wings.

He wanted to say something dignified and profound to mark the occasion but all that came out was “Wow!”

Felix walked over to his mother and did a turn for her. “So…how do I look?”

She just stared at him with one hand clasped over her mouth. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes and for a heartbreaking moment he thought he had upset her somehow.

His fears were relieved when she suddenly charged towards him and hugged him tightly. “You look just like Sir Galahad!” She burst out. “A true Knight of the Round Table.” She went to kiss his cheek and when she realized she couldn’t she just said, “Your father would be so impressed if he could see you right now.”

Felix smiled at her. The reference to his father didn’t hurt as much as it used to. “Yeah. I think so too.”

*****

Mother and son embraced while Allegra and Claude competed with “rock, paper, scissors” to see who would transform next. Allegra won and struck a pose; one hand was extended in front of her as if holding a sword and she glanced at her kwami. “Phrase, please?”

Alii nickered softly, looking pleased. “The phrase is, “Alii, perform miracles.”

“Alii, perform miracles!” Allegra actually giggled, giddy at the thought of being a knight in shining armor.

There was a soft violet glow that washed over her and when it faded, Alii was gone and Allegra was covered in silver full plate. She also made her way to the mirror and admired her reflection. She was strongly reminded of the armor worn by Cate Blanchett in the movie “Elizabeth”. She even had a little collar to protect her neck. The breastplate was covered in delicate filigree and decorated with amethysts. It was feminine without being boobplate or showing skin. She loved it, right down to the skirt-like tasset.

Unlike Felix she had no helmet or cape but on her head was a silver crown of braided metal with a purple gem in the middle. A unicorn’s horn extended out from the gem and goggles covered her eyes without obscuring her vision.

She loved it.

Allegra backed away from the mirror and made her way back towards Claude. Like Felix she did a complete turn before looking at her boyfriend and smiling. “Thoughts?”

Claude looked dumbstruck and stared at her like he’d never seen her before. “You’re…amazing. You look so powerful and strong.” His voice was almost a whisper. “Like a princess.”

She laughed and kissed him. “Feel free to bow.”

He smirked, looking a bit more like his normal self. “I always knew you wanted me on my knees.”

*****

While the lovebirds were being disgusting and FeFe was taking some time with Aunt Amelie, Chloe decided to get on with it. “Taking my turn now! Sorry not sorry.”

She looked at Milvii and her first instinct was to demand the transformation phrase. She decided not to for two reasons: Milvii might decide to give up on her and switch to Amelie, and Chloe didn’t feel like looking like an ass in front of the few people on the planet she likes and respected these days. She decided to try a little tact.

“Noble Kwami of Prophecy,” Chloe bowed a little. No more than she had to. “Please tell me your transformation phrase so we can…I dunno…help people and protect the few I care about?”

Milvii pretended to consider her request and Chloe tried not to give in to the urge to strangle her. “Very well. Your entreaty has convinced me.” She made a chirping laugh and then flew near her Wielder’s face. “Repeat after me, my chick. ‘Milvii, rake your talons.’” She gestured with a wing. “No need to strike a heroic pose. I know you are working on being a hero.”

Chloe didn’t know whether or not she was being a sarcastic asshole but she didn’t want to start a fight right now. “Milvii, rake your talons.”

The sensation that washed over her was tepid, almost cold. She stalked off to the mirror and liked what she saw, even if she tried to hide it.

Well, she didn’t have to wear a suit of armor. That looked cool on someone like Allegra, but she would have looked like a douche. Instead she wore bronze studded leather with buckled enclosures down the front. She vaguely remembered Allen showing her pictures of armor her character might wear in D&D and remembered this was called a brigantine. She touched the garment and felt the armor plating inside. It wasn’t as impressive as plate mail but she was sure it would stop a bullet or at least a knife. She mimed drawing a bow and was pleased to see it was very flexible. So it wouldn’t hinder her movements. Good.

Chloe looked at her hands and was pleased to see padded archery gloves covered her from her hands to nearly her elbow, leaving her fingers nearly bare. Wrap-around sunglasses protected her eyes and her identity. Her hair was braided and coiled around her head to keep it out of her face and her leggings were bronze colored leather too, save for armored knee pads and shin guards worn over her brown boots. Unlike the others there was a huge bow slung over her back. Milvii no doubt wanted her ready to battle at a moment’s notice. She also wore a dark red cape that fluttered around her like wings, similar to Felix.

It wasn’t the bright yellow “Hey, look at me!” outfit she had worn as Queen Bee but it was much more practical and she liked it better. It suited her, especially the new person she was trying to become.

*****

Claude looked at Haart, then at Allen. He enjoyed watching everyone transform, especially Allegra. His girlfriend now looked like the beautiful, heroic protector he’d always known her to be. Now he had to share her with the outside world and he was only a little bit jealous. After all, he got to be a badass knight alongside her. They’d watch each other’s back and be hero partners. It was gonna be great.

Allegra was off talking to Chloe about something or other so he decided to sidle over to Allen and discuss something with him.

His usual instinct was to bounce into the center of the room and transform with all eyes on him. He was thought of as the life of the party, the clown, the attention seeker. It was practically expected of him by now and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy his role most of the time. He was glad of his place in his friend group dynamic and happy he had friends who welcomed his exuberance.

Then again, Allen rarely if ever got the spotlight. Allen was, in Claude’s admittedly biased opinion, fucking awesome. He was probably one of the best looking people Claude had ever met in his life and definitely one of the smartest. He was kind, talented, and the most level-headed, even-tempered guy in show business. Claude liked to sit near him whenever he needed a calming vibe.

But the spotlight was always stolen by Claude or sometimes Felix. Allen rarely had all eyes on him and didn’t everyone deserve to be the center of attention once in a while? Maybe it was finally Allen’s turn.

“You can go ahead and transform before me if you want to, Allen,” Claude told his friend.

He thought he sounded generous but Allen just smiled at him. The smile was gentle but knowing and Claude wondered if he came off patronizing. “C’mon, Claude. You’re not fooling anyone. Allen grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “Not everyone needs to be the center of attention to breathe, y’know.”

Claude tried to nod but stopped and said, “but…you never get to be the main event so I thought…”

“That you would just give me the spotlight? No thanks.” Allen grinned. “I don’t like being the focus of everyone’s attention unless I’m talking about music or something I’m confident about. So go ahead and show off for everyone.”

Claude tried one more time. “Only if you’re sure but you don’t always get the credit you deserve so I wanted to give you the chance-”

“I get all the credit and attention from those that matter,” Allen reassured him. He looked bitter for a moment. “Anyone else? I don’t give a shit anymore.”

He frowned but Allen forcibly turned him towards their friends and gave him a push. “Do your thing, Claude.”

He smiled over his shoulder, understanding what his friend was saying. “Unlike me, you don’t have an ego to bruise.”

Allen huffed. “I’m not a Vulcan, but at least you quoted ‘Wrath of Khan’. ”

“Yes you are. Just like that American bloke, Barack Obama.”

*****

Claude took a step towards his other friends, then stopped and returned to Allen’s side. “Hey, Allen. Let’s transform together.”

Allen raised a brow and Claude refrained from telling him he looked like Spock or maybe Tuvok. “Didn’t I just say I didn’t need the spotlight?”

“Well, yeah…but…” Claude looked at his already transformed friends then back at Allen. They were admiring each other’s armor and he was sure Aunt Amelie had already taken a few pics with her phone. Everyone was probably too excited to notice her. He lowered his voice. “Look at them. They all look so…heroic and cool.”

Allen’s expression softened. “Don’t you think you’ll look heroic and cool too?”

Claude didn’t answer and fidgeted a little. Allen understood. Claude was so used to being “the funny guy”. Everyone wanted him to be “always on”, to keep everyone laughing and raise their morale when filming wasn’t going well or during a long shoot. Very few people outside their friend circle knew about Claude’s empathy or sensitivity. Or maybe they just didn’t notice his softer side because they only saw the clown.

Claude shrugged. “Probably? I guess so.” He went silent and just stared at his friend.

Allen understood. “You’re nervous about the whole being a hero business.” Claude’s little gestures and body language was obvious to anyone paying attention. And Allen was very, very observant.

Claude fidgeted again. “I don’t want to look stupid in front of everyone. Especially Allegra.” He knew she wouldn’t judge him if he screwed up during filming or an interview but this was real life. Someone could die if he was a shitty hero. He thought he might be less prone to screwing up if he started off right.

Allen grinned. “Yeah, if it helps you, we can do our transformation sequence together.” He nudged Claude’s shoulder. “As long as we can do a Power Rangers pose.”

Claude just shook his head. “Dude, I can’t believe you like that old campy show.”

Allen shrugged. “Hey, I was conceived on Power Rangers sheets.”

Claude paused, thought about what his friend just said, and shook his head to rid it of disturbing thoughts. “Gross.”

*****

Claude and Allen rejoined the others. “Okay, we’re ready.”

Chloe huffed and pretended to be mad. “Took ya long enough.” She’d taken enough pictures of Claude to know even he suffered from stage fright every so often. Then she gave him a tiny half smile. “You just wanted it to be the grand finale didn’t you?”

He gave her a little half-bow. “What can I say? I can’t help myself sometimes.” He looked at Allen. “We can begin whenever you’re ready.”

“I’ll be ready as soon as Lavii is,” Allen looked at his kwami. “So, what’s your transformation phrase, Sarge?”

The lion kwami puffed out his chest a bit. His cub had explained to him that “Sarge” was a nickname soldiers of his time would give to their mentors as a sign of respect and affection. “Listen well, Cub. Your phrase is ‘Lavii, prepare for battle’.”

Allen gave his kwami a respectful salute and glanced at Claude. “Your turn.”

Claude turned to Haart. “So, um, may I know your transformation phrase, Your Highness? Please?” He put his hands together as if in prayer and gave his kwami his most winning smile.

Haart laughed gently. “Of course, Young Prince.” He floated a little closer to his charge. “All you need to say is ‘Haart, Sanctuary.”

The two boys nodded, then to no one’s surprise but Chloe’s, began to pose. Allen slid into a sideways lunge. He held his fists in front of him as if in preparation for attack. “Lavii, prepare for battle!”

Claude copied him exactly and stood back to back with his friend as much as he could. “Haart, Sanctuary!”

Allegra facepalmed when she realized Allen, of all people, had talked her boyfriend into doing this. Then again, he was also a huge D&D nerd so she shouldn’t be surprised.

Chloe leaned over and whispered in Allegra’s ear. “What the hell was that about?”

Allegra whispered back. “Remind me to tell you the sheet story sometime.”

A dark green light swept over Claude and Allegra’s jaw dropped as she stared at her boyfriend. “Damn.”

Claude now wore a green cuirass of hardened leather over a matching tunic. The pauldrons on his shoulders were shaped like leaves and so were the rerebraces that covered his arms. He wore green and brown archery gloves and like Chloe there was a bow on his back. His leggings were green, leaf-shaped greaves protected his knees and his thick leather boots were brown.

Claude was glad he could see his reflection in the mirror. He had the same sort of wrap-around goggles Chloe wore and the crown of braided vines like Allegra. His jewel was green and there was a ring of antlers surrounding the jewel. He looked like all the things he’d want in a hero; brave, competent, strong.

He broke his Power Ranger pose to look back at Allen and for once in his life, couldn’t think of anything to say.

Allen was…

Regal. Badass. Smoking hot.

Everyone else had stopped talking and surrounded Allen to get a good look at his armor. Amelie didn’t know if she should dance with joy or swoon at the sight of one of her son’s dearest friends in armor.

Chloe’s fingers itched as she wished she’d brought her camera. Allegra clasped her hands behind her back to keep herself from touching Allen’s armor. Felix felt a touch jealous of his friend for probably one of the first times in his life.

Allen was fully covered by black and tawny armor. The full helmet was shaped like a lion’s face complete with mane. The pauldrons were tawny but the rerebrace, vambrace and breastplate were all black except for the gold etched lion in the middle of the chest. His gauntlets were also gold and tipped with claws.

The lower body armor continued the black coloring throughout the cuisses, poleyns and greaves but the sabatons were as tawny as the shoulder armor and also ended in claws. At his side was a golden sword in a black scabbard and a polearm was strapped to his back.

Overspecialize and you breed in weakness, Cub, Allen remembered Lavii telling him. It's a slow death. A warrior must be versatile in battle.

He noticed everyone was looking at him and it made him a little nervous. “So? So I look okay?”

“Okay?” Felix echoed. He looked at the others. “Did he just ask me if he looked okay?”

“Yep,” Chloe answered. “It’s probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard Allen say.”

Allegra gave in to the impulse to run over and give her friend a side hug. “You look amazing! Like some legendary hero in a painting! Or a tapestry!”

“I’m getting strong Lion-O vibes from that show I watched as a kid,” Claude spoke up. “You think your sword can give you sight beyond sight?”

“I don’t need it to tell me you’re a twat,” Allen snarked back.

Claude gasped and held his hand to his chest as if injured. Amelie decided to intervene before an argument could break out.

“Oh, my dear darlings!” she exclaimed as she clasped her hands. “You look wonderful and I so wish I could take pictures of you to share online. You all look astonishing. Like modern Knights of the Round Table.” She pouted cutely, knowing she had their attention. “But now that you’ve transformed, what shall you do now?”

Everyone looked at each other and back at her. They hadn’t a clue. They were so busy having fun with their transformations they hadn’t thought of a practical use.

Chloe facepalmed. “Um, solve crimes of course.” She looked at the others. “With Hawk Dick less active right now, ordinary criminals are getting bold because they think the heroes can’t be bothered with regular crimes. Ladybug and Chat Noir only show up for akuma and no one’s seen any of her sidekicks in weeks.” Her fault but moving on. “Why don’t we turn on the tv or look up crimes in progress on our phones?”

Amelie frowned and brought out her phone. “From what I understand, it’s now considered treason to break the law with a supervillain running around the city.” She began scrolling for local news. “Because of the drain on police resources caused by Hawk Moth.”

“So why don’t we give the police a hand by catching some arseholes?” Felix suggested.

There were nods of assent and Claude spoke up. “Sure but shouldn’t we pick our superhero names first? In case someone asks?”

“Oh, please,” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Like we haven’t already done that weeks ago.” She smirked at Claude. “So what name did you pick out and does it coordinate with Allegra’s?”

“Of course it does.” Allegra pointed at her boyfriend then herself. “I’m Isolde and he’s Tristan.”

“Galahad, naturally.” Felix managed to smirk, even with most of his face covered.

“I’ve always been partial to Percival,” Allen said and he struck a more traditional heroic pose for effect.

Amelie smiled at Chloe. “And what did you pick, dearest?”

Chloe didn’t hesitate. “There weren’t any female knights and Guinevere didn’t fight so…” she and Milvii had debated names for days. “I’m going with Morrigan, Celtic Goddess of War.”

Allen scrolled through his phone. “I have a burglary in progress at a jewelry store.”

Everyone began looking on their own phones. “Small fire at a cafe.”

“Good places to start,” Felix nodded to himself. “We can go in groups or on our own. Griff told me our weapons also work as phones so we can keep in touch.”

“Let’s go, Knights of the Round,” Allen strode over to the window and opened it. He looked from Chloe to Felix. “Do either of you mind giving me a ride until I’m used to leaping around the city?”

“I will,” Chloe volunteered. “But I’m not going out a window. Let’s go to the balcony and take off like civilized people.”

“Allegra and I are together,” Claude announced and she grabbed his hand with a smile. “We have no problem taking a leap together.”

“I’ll go solo,” Felix announced and looked at his mom. “We’ll be careful and keep each other safe. I promise.”

“I know you will, dear,” Amelie kissed what she could of his face and smiled, hoping she didn’t look worried.

The new team waved at her and then took off.

She waved and then shut the balcony door with a sigh. She hoped she’d done the right thing by encouraging them to become knights. A sigh escaped her.

She wished she could go with them.

*****

Kagami showed up on time to her meeting with Chat Noir. In fact, she had been five minutes early and was waiting for him. She watched the horizon for a sign of him and saw a dark shape moving towards her. Her first instinct was to hide in case it was an akuma or Hawk Moth but pride forced her to stand her ground.

Chat Noir landed in front of her and collapsed his staff before tucking it into its usual spot on his back. He looked her over and then fidgeted. “Hey, Mamushi,” he greeted. He looked at his feet and then back at her. “Hope I’m not late.”

He was as nervous as a boy on his first date. It was a little endearing. “I’m early.” She bowed. “I look forward to learning from you.”

Chat Noir bowed back and smiled. “I think you have a good grasp on this whole hero thing already. I’m just here to help you get used to your new powers.” He cleared his throat and his expression became a little more serious. “Hawk Moth has been weirdly quiet over the summer but we still get an occasional akuma. Plus, patrolling is always a good idea.”

“To keep your skills and training sharp.” Kagami approved. “Very wise.”

He laughed and his voice sounded a bit higher than normal. “I wish I could take the credit but to tell the truth it was Ladybug’s idea.” He explained, “True, it keeps us sharp but there’s plenty of emergencies, accidents, or even normal crimes that need to be dealt with. The Prefecture of Police of Paris are decent but we’re a lot more mobile than they are so we might get to a crime scene faster. Then we call for backup or an ambulance and then go from there.”

He really was an idiot sometimes. He was acting like he was afraid to be alone with Kagami, his own girlfriend! No, she was Adrien’s girlfriend. Chat Noir didn’t have a girlfriend. He forced himself to relax and to remember how he’d treated Rena or Carapace when they first became heroes.

His heart winced a little when he thought of Rena and Carapace. Or rather, his best bud Nino and Alya. They could never be heroes again, not when Hawk Moth knew who they were. Well, technically neither could Kagami but Hawky was expecting Ryuuko, not Mamushi. And to be fair, Nino and Alya were pretty busy this summer so maybe Ladybug was waiting to see how Kagami did and whoever LB chose did with their new kwami before handing out any more Miraculous.

Chat Noir was unsure how to act around Mamushi. He knew who she was behind the mask so it was entirely possible she could figure out who he was if he wasn’t careful. He wanted to be friendly and professional but was afraid he’d just come off as flirty. That was how he had acted towards his partner and he didn’t want to act that way again. His father’s face flashed in his mind; professional and coldly distant. That could work. He forced his posture straight and made his face blank. When he spoke again he sounded very much like Gabriel.

“Ladybug and her new trainee are patrolling the north and east parts of Paris so we’ll tackle the south and west.” He looked at Mamushi to see her reaction. “Is that alright with you?”

Her eyes went wide then dark with hurt. Mamushi was expecting a friendly night of training with a team member, not his impression of his father. Suddenly she straightened and her friendly expression was gone. Now she looked just like she did when she was training with her mother. She nodded. “I will take your lead until I’m comfortable with my new kwami.” She told him. She didn’t smile, her face was a mask and he couldn’t tell what she was thinking.. “I will ask you to refrain from flirting with me as I’ve seen you do with Ladybug in the past.” She raised her chin proudly. “I have a boyfriend.”

“I know…Adrien Agreste.” He tried to appear formal and in control. “I saw both of you on tv.” He couldn’t tell if she believed him or not. “You seemed…happy. Right for each other.”

Her smile returned for a moment and his breath caught in his throat. She was so beautiful. Then it dimmed and faded as she seemed lost in thought for a moment. Then she shook it off and looked up at him “I think so too.” She went to the ledge and looked over her shoulder at him. “Shall we begin?”” Without waiting for him to reply, she leaped off and into the night.

He shook his head in wonder then jumped after her. He had a good feeling about tonight.

*****

He was very very wrong.

Mamushi didn’t exactly do anything wrong, it was just she was used to the elemental powers of the Dragon. She loved offense while the Snake’s strength was more defense. She never hesitated but the Snake had to sit back and observe, reflect, then attack or help plan.

Perhaps she wasn’t right for the Snake but Second Chance had saved their collective asses too many times for him to count. They needed a new Snake and there were very few people nearby they could trust with a Miraculous. Most of the former Wielders were out of town or busy.

He could tell she was becoming frustrated. He knew her well enough to read the signs. Her lips thinned and her mouth became a grim line. Her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed. He could feel her glaring at him when she thought he wasn’t looking.

They were watching a small jewelry store. The owner was an old man who was training his young granddaughter to take his place one day. Two men were watching the place, waiting for the store to close and for the pair to come out the back door where they were waiting. They were probably going to overpower them then threaten the girl to get the old man to open the safe. They were probably planning to kill or at least severely injure the pair once they were done to prevent identification.

Chat Noir knew they would have to act fast. “All right. We don’t have much time. I need you to activate ‘Second Chance’ when I tell you to. Then I’ll fight off these guys and get the civilians to safety.”

Mamushi looked at him. Her face was as expressionless as a Noh mask. “Is there anything else I need to do?”

He shook his head. “No. Stay here and activate your power if anything goes wrong. That’s the most valuable thing you can do to help.”

She looked him right in the eye while she flicked the snake on the bracelet she wore. “Second Chance”

Chat Noir immediately freaked out. “Ka-I mean-Mamushi! Didn’t I just say ‘wait until I tell you to’? You’re going to ruin-”

“No. I refuse to continue without having my say.” She stopped him from speaking with a look before he could protest. She sighed and continued to speak.

“I admit. I am…struggling with the abilities of the Snake. They do not come as easily to me as the Dragon did. I…also acknowledge that I can also be a bit impulsive. Staying back and waiting does not come naturally to me.”

“I-” he tried to say but she just stopped him with a hand. “I can also say you are not helping me adjust.” She looked him in the eye and even though her face remained impassive her eyes were sad and hurt.

“You are not a good instructor. You expect perfection on the first try. Something you’ve never demanded before. Neither you nor Ladybug were ever displeased with Ryuuko,” she reminded him. “Why is Mamushi different?”

His shoulders slumped and he let his Gabriel persona drop. “You’re right and I’m sorry.” He sighed and continued. “Being the Dragon leans more into your fighting experience and your…um..your first instinct is always to attack and that doesn’t always work with the Snake. You need to step back and watch for an opening or a way to defeat your opponent, human or akuma.”

“Look, I know these new powers might not seem like a good fit at first but I trust you and so does Ladybug.” He gave her one of his usual smiles and softened his tone. He hated the way his father spoke to him, why did he think it was a good way to talk to Kagami? “We…I…know you have the maturity to handle the responsibility of time manipulation. You just…need more time.” He tried to laugh. “Pun intended, to adjust.”

She didn’t smile or laugh but she did not seem angry either. “Thank you for your honesty and faith in my abilities.” She scowled a bit. “But this conversation isn’t over. It’s just postponed until after our mission is complete.” She reset the bracelet and looked down into the alleyway. The door knob turned and was about to open. The robbers were in place. The heroes tensed and prepared themselves to go to work.

*****

The cafe fire wasn’t big so Galahad went to work. He left the actual fighting of the fire to the experts while he quietly ferried trapped customers out of the building. They were too overcome with smoke and carbon monoxide to notice he wasn’t a firefighter so he was able to evacuate most of the people while the professionals tried to bring the flames under control.

A sudden whoosh alerted him that the flames had reached the grease trap in the sink and he hoped the kitchen stove ran on electricity and not gas. He was debating whether or not he should grab a fire extinguisher when he heard a scream coming from a room above the cafe.

“Maman! Papa! Save me!”

A young voice cried out for help. Dammit. He’d forgotten how many people lived above their shops in this city. The cafe owners obviously had a young child trapped in their living quarters. Why hadn’t they told anyone?

He irritably took to the air. Really, the owners or employees couldn’t tell the firefighters there was a child or children trapped upstairs? Honestly. Some people should never be parents…

He broke off his silent criticism when he saw a few people on stretchers. Two were unconscious. They were wearing long aprons with some sort of logo or script. Hmm. Well, if they were the cafe owners then it made sense they hadn’t alerted the authorities. He felt a little bad about thinking the worst of them.

Well, that didn’t matter at the moment. He had a child to save.

Fortunately there was a window near where he’d heard the child’s voice. He tugged at it. The window was locked but thankfully not barred so with his newly enhanced strength he could easily get it open.

He rushed inside and found a little boy hunched on the floor near the window. The child’s eyes widened when he saw his rescuer.

The little boy crossed himself. “Are-are you an angel? Am I dead?” He didn’t seem afraid, just curious. He glanced behind him. “Is Alice dead too? Can you save her if she isn’t?” Suddenly he grabbed Galahad’s leg. “Please save her! She’s just a baby, she can’t go to Heaven yet!”

The knight followed the boy’s gaze and saw an adorable pink and white baby cot in the corner. The infant made no sound. She was either sleeping despite the fire and chaos all around her or…overcome by carbon monoxide.

“I’m not an angel, merely a knight. You’re not dead and I promise to get you and your sister out of here.”

“Thank you!”

He scooped the boy up and strode over to the cot. The little girl had lovely auburn curls and healthy pink cheeks. He hoped he wasn’t too late. No more funerals.

Galahad shook off his macabre thoughts and cradled the baby in the crook of his arm. He looked at the little boy who was staring at him as if he was something wonderful. Like a real hero.

“What’s your name?”

The boy looked a little awed at being addressed. “Jean-Luc, sir.”

“A good name. I like it. You’re a good big brother, Jean-Luc. And brave.” The little girl shifted a little in his arms and he sighed in relief. She was alive. For now.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Galahad kicked open the window and flew out to the roof. He looked out towards the ambulance. “Jean-Luc, I’m sure a brave boy like you has good eyesight too. Can you see your parents down there?”

“Yes!” The boy pointed to the woman on the stretch. “That’s my maman!” He squinted as he tried to see better. “Is she sleeping? Why is she sleeping?”

“Sometimes fire can make bad air that can make people sleepy.” Galahad tried to explain in a way a four year old could understand. “She’ll be better after the hospital. Now, let’s get you down-”

The knight’s words were cut off as the fire hit the gas line and the little building rocked from the explosion. There were shouts from the firefighters as they tried to clear the area of spectators. Galahad and his charges were blown off the roof. Little Jean-Luc clung to his neck in fear. He missed being able to breathe freely but now a hand was free and he was able to catch himself by grabbing the neighboring building. It was an old small chapel and solidly built. He dug in with his claws until he regained his balance, then took to the air.

The boy shrieked, from delight or fear Galahad couldn’t tell but he resolved to set him down as quickly and quietly as possible.

He located the stretcher with Jean-Luc and Alice’s mother on it. The paramedic was otherwise occupied with putting a shock blanket on a man who kept praying under his breath and neither saw nor heard them. He gently set the infant on her mother’s chest and whispered to Jean-Luc, “I have to go now. More people to save. You’re an incredible big brother. Alice is lucky to have you.”

The boy was covered in soot but he smiled gratefully. “What’s your name, M. Knight?”

“I am Sir Galahad,” he bowed to the boy. “Be safe, Jean-Luc.”

He spread his wings and shot into the night sky. He hid on a roof and watched as the boy ran up to the man the paramedic was helping with cries of “Papa!”

The scene of love between father and son warmed him but something in his chest also tightened and he felt that he was just as big a voyeur as the gawkers. With one last look to make sure the paramedic was treating Alice he flew off.

#worthy opponent au #quantic kids #amelie graham de vanily #marinette dupain cheng #felix graham de vanily #luka couffaine #adrien agreste #original kwami #kagami tsurugi

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fl5793 · 2 years ago

Text

Karini: Whaf if...

Part 4: Stole the show

All out series Part 1 part 2 part 3 part 5

Hawks x Blasian OC

✫彡☆彡✫彡☆彡✫彡☆彡✫彡☆彡✫彡

“Hero by day mysterious woman by night we have gotten a chance to meet the new pro hero Angela,” A woman says on Emily’s screen

Emily walks to a cat cafe cause she needs something cute in life

“Welcome to JP Entertainment I’m Ayaka Wild Where we spread our opinion on the drama while also spreading it ourselves,” Ayaka says as an intro screen plays

Emily was never interested in drama because she knew damn well she was the drama

Wherever Emily goes she has to know every little detail about everything thing interesting or she will explode

A waitress goes to her table where a cat pops up next to her and sits on her lap

“Hello I would like a mango boba tea with a mochi donuts please?” Emily asks and the waitress writes it down

“Okay and would you like to donate a dollar to charity?” The waitress asks

“No- Ouch!” Emily looks down and notes that the cat poked at her hand

“I mean Yes,” Emily says and took out a dollar to give to the waitress

“I’m not a fan of children and I quite frankly don’t care if they die cause they’re poor or cause they’re abused. Shoulda died at the womb makes life easier for them,” Emily says to the cat while holding it up

The cat pokes Emily again making Emily pout.

“Meow if you think I’m being a jerk right now,” Emily commands

“Meow,” Someone else says and the cat Meows right back

Emily looks to her left and sees a gorgeous BLACK guy next to her looking at her in disgust

“ZAAAAMMMMNNN~ Who is that?” Emily asks watching the guy walk by

Emily was intrigued by him but then remembers the show that was playing

“Angela has have this thing for keeping her identity a secret to the whole world,” Ayaka says

“ Probably a p*rn star,” Another guy says

“Jett what tells you she could be a p*orn star? I mean she obviously knows what she knows what she’s doing I mean look at her causing chaos. She obviously knows how to be a terrible hero,” Ayaka says laughing with Jett

“Well obviously, since this girl isn’t even made for the job I mean look at her do she even know her times tables. Not only that have you seen those shaky legs what dirty buissness have she been doing to for her legs to be shaking while standing still,” Jett explains while Ayaka looks at her in shock and Emily looks at them both in disbelief

“Never would I have ever thought I a person would look at me a say p*rn star,” Emily says to herself

“She could probably be the Allison chick you know from that j pop group. I mean didn’t she model for play boy at some point?” Ayaka asked

“Yeah your right besides they both have big personalities so why not it be Allison,” Jett suggested and Ayaka rolled her eyes

“ So you think just anybody with a curvy body could be her? How perverted of you to look at her that way,” Ayaka says crossing her arms

“Yeah Jett that’s very perverted of you,” Emily says and the waitress hands her the food

“Thank you,” Emily says making a mini heart with her fingers

Emily sees the smoke and fans it with her Sensu fan

“Wait a minute I know that fan you was here before wasn’t you?” The waitress asked Emily not noticing her angry reaction

“You left without paying the last time,” The waitress says and Emily turns towards her

Emily touches her arm and looks at her name tag

“Sakura why would I ever steal from a friend. I mean we’ve known each other since high school. Besides your the one that said I can keep the money,” Emily lies as the color violet circles her eyes

“Why would I-“ Emily interrupts Sakura

“Because we are friends now I hope you understand why I didn’t have to pay you then and even now,” Emily says and Sakura blinks multiple amounts of times

“Wait what are you doing?” Emily asks when she just suddenly collapsed on the ground

Emily was still holding her arm and she just let go

Sakura was coughing out blood nonstop

Emily called for 911 while more waiters and waitress went to help

The cat that was with Emily jumped onto Sakura and tried licking her head

“What the hell was going on?” Emily asked

Friday night

“Oh so now you think your the reason she’s possibly dead?” Hawks asked and Emily nodded

Emily (so far) has never killed anyone before because it was a scary thing for her to do

Emily was scared that she committed a murder and Hawks held her hand

“I just don’t want to go to jail right when everything was going good,” Emily admits and looks at him in fear

“Don’t use this quirk on people is you expect an outcome like this,” Hawks told her

“But that’s the whole point I didn’t know all this would happen cause it takes three times for a person to go insane,” Emily explains

“Well maybe she tried fighting back and in return she broke her brain,” Hawks says and Emily looks at him confused

“God no one knows what happened and how it happened it’s just…off?” Emily worriedly says and looks away from him

It was quiet for a few seconds but then…

“Hey have you heard what happened on JP Entertainment?” Hawks asked as the waiter gave them both their plates off food

“Yeah they called me a-“ Emily got distracted by the fact that the waiter had on a blue cat head with matching gloves

Emily and Hawks were speechless because of what they saw

“What? don’t act like you’ve never seen a person with a cat head before,” The waiter said and walked off

Emily recognized that voice as the same guy who worked at the restaurant

Only because she heard that he got fired

“Continue,” Emily said coming back to her senses

”JP Entertainment has just nominated for the hottest person award and us for being the hottest couple,” Hawks says with such confidence Emily rolls her eyes

“Hottest person that’s extreme (ᵉᵛᵉⁿ ᵗʰᵒᵘᵍʰ ⁱᵗ’ˢ ᵗʳᵘᵉ) But still we literally just started dating and we’re considered the hottest couple even if they don’t know?“ Emily was confused but of course Hawks looked like he was loving the situation

“So I see you want to continue these dates~“ Hawks says in a flirtacious way while Emily cringes

“Nope not at all,“ Emily thinks

“ Yo of course and especially after you still consoled me even if I possibly killed someone. So just know I ain’t leavin’ you that easily,“ Emily with fake hearts in her eyes

“Where did you get that accent from?“ Hawks asked

“What accent?“ Emily asked but then Hawks got a call

Meanwhile Emily looked away and saw cat face dude take off his mask while sitting in an empty seat

Emily was mesmerized while looking at him

“Why do these men got me acting like this?“ Emily thinks to herself putting her face in her hand

“Hey Emily I’m sorry but I have to go,“ Hawks says in a disappointed voice

“Wait what? But we just got our food,“ Emily says confused as to why he’s leaving

“I’m sorry but work stuff turns out a criminal was spotted somewhere and I gotta be there,“ Hawks says then leaves her there

“Guess your having a fun time too aren’t you,“ Kenji says just randomly appearing in a seat across from her

“Kenji I actually am really sorry about you losing your job but I just wasn’t gonna pay-“ Kenji interrupted her

“Relax it’s fine. I just needed that job so I’d live a much more normal life. Cause being an assassin is B.S in real life,“ Kenji admitted leaning back against

“ Word cause I knew the stuff going on was like greusome but ’bout to become every horror movie killer combined,“ Emily says oddly enough connecting to him

“ Still after that freak accident didn’t think you would want to come and join us,“ Kenji says and starts eating the remainder of Hawks plate

“Why the hell not when the pay is hella good. Makes me consider actually staying,“ Emily admits which surprises him

“Stayin wit’ us was decision to make before you joined. Now you stuck wit’ us like how you stuck wit’ your little birdie friend,“ Kenji jokes when Emily blurts out something

“ As long as I’m with you I don’t see and problem with staying in the defenders,“ Emily playfully admits and Kenji swallows hardly

“What now?“ Kenji asked blushing a little

“Let me be real with you I liked you ever since I first met you cause you liked to take charge. You being handsome was the extra ten you needed to be a 20 out of 10~“ Emily blindly admits and turns pink entirely

They were actually both quiet when Kenji suddenly started laughing

“I’m so sorry it just what came to mind I-I didn’t mean to say it out loud,“ Emily says embarrassingly

“Don’t worry it’s and to be honest wit you the has been less borin ever since you’ve joined~“ Kenji says with a smirk and Emily blushes even harder

“Wow um so like will you go out with me?“ Emily asked

“Thought it was obvious,“ Kenji said with one eyebrow up

Emily gulped hard and just thought to herself

“Yep I truly know how to get any guy I want,“ Emily thought to herself

Years later

“You’re always getting yourself into weird situations and then your actually proud of having two boyfriends,” Courtney says finishing writing up her questions

“Well back then you know me and Hawks weren’t really a real thing so like why not get a real boyfriend since I decided to change from dating girls to guys,” Emily said lowering her voice on the last part

“How many girls have you dated?” Courtney asked and Emily was quiet

“W-w-well there’s actually t-too much to count,” Emily rubs the back of her neck

“Too much to count? You was 19 how many people did you date?” Courtney asked

“Okay it was one but let’s not go crazy over that-“ Emily was stopped by Courtney

“That’s not important right now what’s important is for me to understand is what happened to the supposedly dead girl?” Courtney asked and Emily’s face turned white

“Well you see that’s a story for another time,” Emily says

“What the hell you mean another time? We have 30 minutes EXPLAIN!” Courtney demanded

“Fine I’ll continue just know it’s not gonna make sense,” Emily gave in and continued her story

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hero-dwelling · 1 month ago

Note

But yeah, in the end it is weird Hori focused souch on the "society" part in his story, when he didnt want to show any real change and keep the status qou.

Especially when he could just have it be a personal story of Izukus individual struggles (and a few of his classmates too) and then there wouldnt be this whiplash when there is no big change in how it all works at the end, just a feel good story of a kid archieving his dream

Not even saying I would find that really compelling just that it would atleast work, not like what we got.

But I think the real culprit of it all where some behind the scenes reasons that are hard to gauge - like was it the editors, was it the negative reaction of japanese fans to many events that demotivated Hori, was it his health and general fatigue that made him apathetic? We'll never know - well atleast if nobody spills the tea

The manga had a hard enough time focusing on the school part. I appreciate criticism that the manga would have become boring if each year repeated the same events--school orientation, sports festival, exams, school festival, graduation--and just add more and more characters that the story then can’t focus on. But also, I’m a greedy academic who wants my school story to be about teaching and learning.

I’m not sure how much I have addressed this already, but, yeah, a significant problem for My Hero Academia is that there was too much to tackle. It has to explain the setting, which means that, when little changes in that setting, it feels like a missed opportunity. There are so many characters in just Class 1-A that it doesn’t even feel like a Pixar film (I know I’ve brought up that comparison before) where each supporting character has an arc, however small, and gets one moment in the spotlight to help bring about the resolution of the story: the shoe-horning of Sero, Sato, and Ojiro against All For One felt like too little, too late.

And, spoilers for the fourth film, it doesn’t get better: is this really all we can show for each character’s desires? I appreciate giving Tokoyami a moment to shine, but it is so random that has to be him--and, in my cynicism, it is done just to prop up Hawks yet again when he doesn’t need it. Can we please have one film where the stars are not Izuku, Todoroki, and the angry explosion guy--there are other student heroes who could handle their own film.

So, yeah, maybe if more of Izuku’s storyline had a clearer narrative focus. Like I said above, the fourth film doesn’t really do much to state what his goals are beyond “be a hero like All Might”--he’s done that, over and over again--what is the next step for him? I don’t want to go back to the debate about whether Izuku becoming a teacher and supposedly single were good or bad for him--but it would have helped to have telegraphed this stuff earlier. Even Treasure Planet made sure to have Amelia mention quickly in passing she’ll recommend Jim for the naval academy so that we aren’t shocked why Jim returns home now as a naval cadet--we couldn’t have used that recent one-shot tie-in manga to the fourth film to have someone tell Izuku, “You should be a teacher” so that his post-Pro Hero life isn’t such a swerve?

As for focusing on just a handful of the supporting characters: I honestly wouldn’t mind if every last single character got their own arc--but Horikoshi didn’t have the time in one manga to do it, and unfortunately the spinoffs haven’t helped. Present Mic gets pushed to the side despite how integral he is to Aizawa and Kurogiri and Midnight’s stories. I’d even take something equivalent to the finale of Deep Space Nine, a montage that suggests we had meaningful arcs to the characters, even if we didn’t really: “Oh, yeah, I remember that one chapter of Team-Up Missions--huh, I guess that was a good encapsulation of this character’s entire arc, so, yeah, I got closure for them.”

We agree that Horikoshi did not show the kind of change to the status quo that we would want the story to show.

I guess I’m still confused why the status quo stays the same.

I wonder how much of this is, as I have argued before, because, as with numerous superhero stories, the status quo has to be maintained so that you keep having the same familiar characters who don’t get older, don’t get married, don’t have kids, and you can keep them in the same stage of life with the same adventures to sell the same merchandise.

Or, I wonder how much of this is because this is Horikoshi’s habit.

Granted, Barrage never had a decent conclusion, but from how My Hero Academia turned out, I would not be surprised if the monarchy persisted as it did since the beginning, rather than the story confronting that maybe the King and his soldiers like Tiamat were refusing to confront the need for change.

But then again, Oumagadoki Zoo seemed like a story about change. I mean, sure, the “deaths” of the animals (they sacrifice their ability to transform to re-empower Shiina so he can win the fight) were overturned almost immediately (Shiina just had to give the magic back--there, done). But the zoo went through changes, the animals from the other locations (the aquarium and the circus) showed the capacity for change, emphasized in the last pages when Hana sees Shikuma start to resume his human appearance despite his villainous nature.

And as you said, we have only conjecture as to what factors influenced Horikoshi and his editors to wrap up the manga as they did. I really hope it was not criticism against focusing on the Villains--which, if that was a factor, I can’t see it on the page, because even the final arc is so focused on wrapping up the stories for Shigaraki, Spinner, Toga, and Dabi that, at best, it’s giving me what I want to wrap up their stories (even if I don’t like how they wrapped up) and, at worst, a big middle finger for those readers who (wrongly) criticized focusing on the villains.

#dwells whines #long post

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pocketramblr · 3 years ago

Note

5+ ask game: An AU where somehow, Izuku got AFO and Tomura got OFA but Izuku is still a hero with All Might and Tomura is still a villain with AFO, please.

1- Izuku has always been a fan of the quirkless hero, All Might, ranked number 8. Probably because for a very long time, he also thought he was quirkless. His quirk didn't manifest until he was fourteen and he was attacked by a villain. All Might arrives, running, and sees the sludge transfer into the boy, who starts melting, and a panicked naked man run off. He keeps going and tries to help the kid, who is panicking, and accidently gives Toshi the sludge quirk. Thirty minutes of trouble later and the sludge quirk is back in the original owner, izuku is shell shocked until he gets to ramble fanboyism at Toshi, who decides this kid is just too earnest he needs help training both with his quirk and without, so he offers it.

2- Meanwhile, Toshi never met Nana. Nana died before she could, cornered with her husband and son by AfO, who said that Nana could decide which of them would keep OfA, and the other two he'd kill. She gave Kotaro OfA, told him to find uncle Sorahiko, and threw him as far as she could. Then AfO,,, ya know. Watched Gran teach Kotaro just enough to not kill him, then hid him and told him to never use it. He hates heroes, and then when AfO kills him later by capsizing the house, gives OfA in his last moments to the person closest to him, Tenko.

3- AfO is so happy about having OfA and keeps trying to take it from Tomura. Tomura keeps trying to give it to him, but the vestiges keep yeeting back into him because a kinda crusty teenage edgelord is better then staying with Big Brother. The other quirks are tightly locked up in the vault though, and they won't let him use them, though they are happy to talk to him in his dreams about how horrible his Sensei is. Tomura hates OfA because it's cursed, keeps breaking him when he tries to use it, won't do what he says, makes Sensei mad, and gives him bad dreams full of lies.

4- Toshi is kinda oblivious when it comes to why all the other heroes get nervous when he asks if his student can practice with their quirk and training. He doesn't have a quirk of his own, and young Midoriya is just such a good kid, why would they go pale at the thought of lending it to help him out? Izuku knows why and tries to explain but it just doesn't work. Thankfully, some heroes really don't mind after getting to know him, and Izuku even gets a few offers of what he can borrow for the entrance exam!

5- less thankfully, the HPSC also heard about the constant thorn in their side, Yagi, taking in a kid who is a mini AfO, the other constant thorn in their side, and try to do everything they can to stop him. Which isn't much, because Nedzu happily admits him, but still. Hawks ends up feeling bad as he spreads nasty rumors to other top heroes to get them to stop helping this kid- at least, he feels bad once he's convinced that Izuku isn't a spy or trap from AfO.

+1- All Might was actually one of the few heroes AfO could stand, since he caused so many problems and seemed like the kind of hero that both AfO and Yoichi would have had fun discussing. He was even pretty content and bemused to fuel Izuku's All Might merch obsession, and never targeted him or his sidekicks specifically. But how does All Might repay him for that??? By stealing his son????? Making him a target??? All Might has earned his wrath and he doesn't even know it, or why.

#Toshi isn't even convinced AfO the guy exists so he's just kinda like. there #and not getting it at all when AfO decides that Toshi is his absolute worst enemy #anyway pls imagine Toshi convincing Ryukyuu to let Izuku play with the dragon quirk for like ten minutes so they can train transformation #type quirks and such #i know ryukyuu and manual would say yes and i think Toshi could appeal to rocklock's dad-ness as well #no he doesn't even try to ask number one hero endeavor #gentrychild #pocket talks to people #ask game

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pleasantanathema · 4 years ago

Text

Pleasant’s Writer Recs!

I’ve gotten a few asks in my inbox over the past few weeks asking me for writer recs, so I thought the best way to do this was to compile a list of my fav authors on tumblr and rec my favorite fic of theirs! A lot of these amazing authors are moots—I’m very lucky to call many of them close friends. This list could be much longer, and I could go on for days about every single author, but I’ll try to keep it brief. Most all of these authors, like myself, write 18+ only content. Hopefully this can be a useful tool for authors and readers alike looking for amazing fanfic 💕

@bakatenshii | Angel is so phenomenal with her writing that I almost can’t put her style and amazing ability into words (but I’ll try). Angel’s work is beautiful, masterful, full of poetry, elegance, and smut that will all leave you gasping. Fav Fic: Blitz [Ushijima x Reader]

@blahkugo | Sunnt, Thunnth, Sunny, whatever you call her, she is brilliant. No one writes Tsukishima quite like she does. She is beyond creative and her writing style flows like the sexiest water, it’ll make you thirsty and quench your aches. Fav Fic: Tower [Tsukishima x Reader]

@deathcab4daddy | Tay is all about details, details, details. She fills in every gap and paints gorgeous, sexy pictures and situations for the reader to feel immersed in. Fav Fic: Cerulean Blue [Akaashi x Reader]

@dymphnasprose | Dymphna is all about fun, sex, and slowly filling out her holy bible of smut. She’s amazing at creating realistic sub/dom relationships and her smut almost always comes with a healthy dose of build-up. Fav Fic: Green Scrunchies [Ukai x Reader]

@enjifuckersupreme | Ketsl reigns supreme over pure, unadulterated porn. They are phenomenal at making me the reader wet, and every fic is crafted with so much care. Enji fuckers should bow down at their feet, no one loves and writes Enji like Ketsl. Fav Fic: Attitude Adjustment [Enji x Reader]

@hisoknen | Raph is one of the first dark blogs I ever started reading, and she never, ever disappoints. She writes pieces that chill you to the bone, but warms your sex- her writing is casual, smooth, and realistic, always giving you everything you need, but leaving you wanting a little more. Fav Fic: Sleeping Beauty [Dabi x Reader]

@hoe-doroki | Ana is one of the sweetest writers I know. Every time I talk to her, she’s working on comfort requests or beta-reading for other people. Her writing is such a pleasure to read, as you can tell she pours love and consideration into every fic for her readers. Fav Fic: Can’t Find My Breath [Bakugou x Reader]

@joyousandverywarlike | Zo...holy fucking shit. Zo is a writer who consistently blows me out of the water with her skill. This woman is a novelist blessing us with juicy, rich smut and love stories like no one else can. She is incredibly poetic and her writing is an absolute joy to read; she also writes amazing fics for black readers and has an amazing voice that she uses for asmr audios! Fav Fic: How We Met [Ushijima x Reader]

@lemonlordleah-shinzawa-kitten | Leah is an author who takes immense care with her work. She works incredibly hard to craft sexy, healthy bdsm fics for bnha. She is a great blog to go to for bdsm education, and she’s also got a side blog @lemonlordleah-extra-sour for all you extra naughty readers who like the darker side of fanfic. You should also check out her Patreon! Fav Fic: Between the Evergreen [Aizawa x Reader]

@linestrider | Nyki’s work is like smooth water, it’s calming, refreshing, but she also adds a nice, chill bite to it as well with her darker style. Nyki puts such an impressive amount of care into her work; a word is never out of place, every sentence has meaning, every paragraph gives you something new. It was very hard to choose just one fic to recommend. Fav Fic: What’s Said is Said [Hawks x Reader]

@lookslikeleese | Leese is one of the most fun writers on Tumblr, and by that I mean you just have a shitload of fun reading her fics. They are like little, sexy treats to take in right before bed and feel a little more full than you were before. She is also the Cucking Queen. Fav Fic: Cola [Enji x Reader]

@messwriting | Lee is also another fun writer! Her writing is exhilarating to read, and you’d never guess she’s a sexy Brazilian whose second language is English based on how well she writes. She’s a little sex goddess who will give you everything you want and more in every fic. Fav Fic: What We Could’ve Been [Tsukishima x Reader]

@mindninjax | Marquie is a full on sweetie with a sexy side. She. Is. So. Creative. Every fic of hers is so unique and her masterlist is a whole reading experience. She writes Bakugou Katsuki so damn well, she’s a master at characterization, even in au’s. She also writes beautiful fics for black readers. Fav Fic: Bound to You [Bakugou x Reader]

@nekokoafanfictions | I first found Ai on Ao3, and then was fortunate enough to come across their blog here on Tumblr! I’ve said this before in previous rec lists, and I’ll say it again, I still read their fics some nights to fall asleep to, they are just that good, every fic will have you coming back at some point to read it again. Fav Fic: City Lights [Enji x Reader]

@present-mel | The. Queen. Of. Dialogue. Mel is a master at making her fanfic feel real, gritty, sexy, and beautiful all at the same time. This woman pours her heart and soul into fanfic, especially into her Erwin series Fragments of Memories. I was so captivated by her work that I just had to become her friend, her work is enchanting and thrilling. Fav Fic: Until the Fire Played [Enji x Reader]

@rat-suki | Annie makes me horny. Like, real horny. Her smut is fantastic and are often little thrill rides within themselves. Fuck rollercoasters, just go to Annie’s masterlist to find a joy ride. Fav Fic: Hell Fire [Enji x Reader]

@rivendell101 | I’m such a big fan of Alisha, that I sent her a request months ago before we even became friends. This author knows how to craft a story, her work is very meticulous with details and her plots are always so spot on. Fav Fic: Sweet Thing [Natsuo x Reader]

@smutbardpeach | Smutbard is the most accurate title for Peach, as her fics read like poetry and song, filled with beautiful language, imagery, and allusions to the brim. If you’re ever looking for something romantic, sensual, delightful, and just overall magnificent to read, this is the blog to go to. Peach’s work is like reading poetry and classics right off the shelf. Fav Fic: Truth in Wine [Hizashi x Reader]

@spicyness | Are you thirsty? Do you like fun, sexy headcanons? Ness is the author for you. Ness is so, so fun and sweet, and is active with her followers and is always posting something new and creative for us to nibble at. Her blog is full of fun thirsts and she’s always a joy to see pop-up on my dash. Fav Fic: Pride [Bakugou x Reader]

@sugardaddykenma | Lin has the most amazing brain. I wish I could just...see and understand how she thinks. Her blog is full to the brim with hilarious, iconic, and down right fucking true headcanons for haikyuu characters. Many nights I have stayed up laughing my ass off and saying “why is that so true?” while reading through her astonishingly creative work. Fav Fic: Haikyuu on Drugs

@thewheezingwyvern | Wyv is a writer who gets straight to the point; her words are poignant, meaningful, and always paint a very clear picture. She is a Shinsou and Aizawa lover/fucker all the way to her core, and she’s amazing at bringing those characters to life in her work. Fav Fic: Salt Lines [Aizawa & Shinsou x Reader]

@thisisthehardestthing | Claudia is one of the most talented writers I have ever met. Period. She has a vocabulary, a depth, an ability to craft the most intense, alluring, and magnificent fanfic you’ve ever read. Most of her work doesn’t even seem like fanfic, it reads like love letters stuffed into the pages of a book that stand the test of time with her marvelous writing abilities. She always awes me, as every single fic is unique and powerful it its own way. Fav Fic: Tocka [Tanaka x Reader]

@tomurasprincess | The Queen of Darkness herself, Mari is amazing at fulfilling all of your dark desires. I’ve never met anyone else who is as active as she is with her followers, as she’s constantly pushing herself to answer requests and give people exactly what they want to see. She has such an expansive masterlist, any dark fic lover can find something worthwhile from her! She’s almost made a Shigaraki fucker out of me, almost. Fav Fic: Wraith’s Touch [Shigaraki x Reader]

@undermattsun | Miki taught me what a skate rat is. Do I understand it yet? Not really, but I fucking like it. Miki is so much fun and is always active with her followers, giving out awesome thirsts, visuals, and headcanons for her fav haikyuu characters. Fav Fic: Flavor of the Month [Matsukawa x Reader]

@vixen-scribbles | Vixen is someone who cares about everyone around her, and her blog reflects that. Amongst all her amazing writing, you’ll always find her recommending her friends and supporting other writers. Her writing is fucking sexy, she knows her way around the bedroom when it comes to fics, and she’s got a lengthy masterlist to fawn over. Fav Fic: Take All of Me [Ushijima x Reader]

@whats-her-quirk | Truly, the best has been saved for last. June’s work is the heart and soul of classic, fucking amazing fanfic. I can’t even explain how much I love her fics, like they will put the biggest smile on your face and have your thighs rubbing together in anticipation. June is writing her fantasies and having fun, and we are privileged to enjoy the ride with her. She knocked kinktober out of the fucking park, with each fic being a new, fresh delight. Fav Fic: Once in a Blue Moon [Karasuno x Reader Gangbang]

This list could honestly be twice as long, and perhaps in the future I’ll make a companion to it as I meet new authors and read more amazing fanfic. Please give all these authors a follow or at least check out their blogs. 💖

#writer recs #bnha #haikyuu #attack on titan #fanfiction #bnha fanfic #hq fanfic #aot fanfiction #bnha x reader #haikyuu x reader #aot x reader #amazing writers #pleasant speaks #my hero academia #haikyuu!!#my hero academia fanfic

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shemarmooresfedora · 3 years ago

Text

Protective of the Princess

Summary: Jo comes home with some unexpected news and Spencer isn’t a fan. (This is a stand-alone one-shot of my completed ‘Rebuilding Family’ series)

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Content/Warnings: mentions of little kids kissing, spencer freaking out, fluff

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: based on this ask from @reidsbookclub and this ask from @samuel-de-champagne-problems

Masterlist

Spencer made it clear to Jo she could be anything she wanted to be growing up.

She would change her mind about her career path quite often but Spencer was always supportive. When she wanted to be a vet, she had a bunch of different stuffed animals to practice on. When she wanted to be an astronaut, you all built a rocket ship out of a cardboard box. When she wanted to be a scientist, Spencer got her a book set of kid’s science books.

One afternoon after school, Jo hopped up on the kitchen counter as Spencer was making her a snack and you were playing with the twins on the floor.

“Daddy, I can’t go to work any more,” Jo stated.

“Why not, Princess?” Spencer asked, sliding apple slices and peanut butter in front of her.

“I have a baby and husband now,” Jo explained.

“You got a baby and husband in one day?” you questioned.

“Thomas kissed me and then we got married under the slide at recess and now we have a baby. I don’t have time for work, Daddy,” Jo sounded exasperated.

“Thomas did WHAT?” Spencer gaped.

“He kissed me like you kiss Mommy every morning before work,” she demonstrated the little peck on her baby doll.

Spencer’s eyes widened, “Y/N, please help.”

You stood from the blanket where the twins were having tummy time.

“Jo, how about you wait until you’re a little older to start kissing people? A hug or high five can show love to. You can try that next time,” you suggested.

“Daddy says kissing is safer than handshakes though,” Jo reminded you.

“Nope! I lied! Kissing is very dangerous,” Spencer shook his head empathically, “Don’t kiss.”

“But we have a baby together,” Jo held up her baby doll.

“I see that. What’s their name?” you asked.

“This is Derek,” she informed you.

“You named him after your uncle? That’s very sweet,” you smiled.

“I want a real one so I can name it Penelope. I want to have a big belly like Mommy used to have. How are babies made?” she questioned.

Spencer grasped your hand, looking very pale, “Y/N, I need to lie down.”

“One second, love,” you squeezed his hand before turning back to Jo, “You can’t have a baby until you’re much older. Then, I’ll explain it to you, okay?”

Jo nodded.

“I need to take Daddy to bed. He’s feeling a little sick,” you told her, “You can play with the twins.”

“Actually,” Spencer slipped his hand out of yours, “I’m going to go for a drive. I’ll be back in a bit.”

You looked at him curiously as he leaned in for a kiss but then retreated under the watchful eyes of Jo.

You followed him into the entryway as he laced his converse up, “Where are you going?”

“I’ve never heard of a Thomas before until now. I need Penelope to check this kid out.”

“Check this kid out?” you laughed, “What are you expecting to find? A nine year old with a criminal record?”

“I need to make sure my daughter is safe,” he looked up at you seriously.

“Okay,” you relented, “You’re a great dad albeit very protective,” you kissed him goodbye.

“Are we going to start having to only kiss in private now?” you smirked.

“I don’t want her seeing and copying it at school,” Spencer sighed, “The last thing I want is to get a phone call from her teacher that our daughter needs to stop kissing people.”

“Okay, sneaking around could be fun anyways,” you smiled, giving him another kiss, “Tell the team I say hi.”

“Who does this Thomas kid think he is?” Spencer grumbled to himself as he was in the elevator, “Kissing my sweet little precious daughter. I should have him arrested. Maybe I don’t have the grounds for an arrest but I can show him my badge and scare him off.”

His ranting stopped as he knocked on Penelope’s door.

“Who is it?” she chirped.

“Spencer,” he replied, “I brought you a croissant.”

“It’s open!”

Spencer opened the door and handed her the paper bag.

“And it’s still warm!” she squealed, “You must really love me.”

“I do but I also need a favor,” he spoke.

“Name it, boy wonder,” she readied herself at her keyboard.

“I need you to look up a boy named Thomas in Jo’s class.”

“Is this kid bullying her?” she gritted her teeth, “I swear to god, I will reign hell down on this kid if he is.”

“No, it’s the opposite actually. He kissed her,” Spencer sighed.

“She already got her first kiss?” Penelope gasped.

“I know! I didn’t even have mine until 25,” Spencer replied.

Penelope clicked away at her keys, “We’ve got two Thomases in her class but according to the attendance record, Thomas Jacobson was out sick today meaning Thomas Bennett is our guy.”

“What do we know about him?” Spencer asked, crouching down to look at Penelope’s screen.

“Plays on the town soccer team, has an allergy to shellfish, good report card,” Penelope stated.

“Anything else? Any visits to the principals? Sketchy friends?” he questioned.

“I guess the sketchiest friend he has would be his imaginary friend named Robby the cowboy according to his mom’s facebook. He’s got a squeaky clean school record.”

“Let me see what this kid looks like,” Spencer desperately demanded.

Penelope gave him a look.

“Please,” he added.

The group class pictures of the past 3 years popped up on to Penelope’s screen. Each year, Jo and Thomas were standing next to each other smiling and laughing in various poses.

“He doesn’t look like much of a threat to me,” Penelope stated.

“Why hasn’t she ever asked for him to come over on a playdate?” he asked.

“She was probably scared her dad was going to embarrass her,” Penelope chuckled.

“She’s in 3rd grade! No boys!” Spencer crossed his arms.

“That rule is setting you up for a rebellious stage later in life,” Penelope rolled her eyes.

“So I just let this happen?” Spencer sighed, dropping into the chair next to Penelope.

“Yes, you’re supposed to protect her but not from nice boys who make her happy.”

“But she’s just my sweet little girl,” Spencer started to tear up.

“And she always will be but you need to let her live her life,” Penelope explained.

“I know. Thanks Penelope.”

You heard the car pull in while you were making dinner. You lowered the setting on the stove and made your way over to the door.

“Hey,” you greeted him, wrapping your arms around him.

“Hi,” he snuggled into the crook of your nest.

“Did you find Thomas on the FBI’s most wanted list?” you joked.

“No, he’s a good kid,” Spencer sighed in defeat, “I just don’t like the thought of her growing up. Then, she’ll eventually have to leave us.”

“That’s what being a parent is,” you whispered, “You love them, care for them, and prepare them for the world as best you can but then you have to set them free. But, I have good news for you,” you smiled.

“What?”

“You’re stuck with me forever,” you grinned.

“Thank god,” Spencer squeezed you tighter.

“Daddy!” Jo ran into the room, “Lion King is playing in theaters tonight! We need to go!”

“Okay, Princess,” he looked to you for support and you squeezed his hand, “Do you think Thomas would want to come?”

“Yes! He loves Lion King!” Jo exclaimed, running to go get ready.

“You’re a great dad,” you reminded him once again.

“I’m still going to be watching this kid like a hawk,” Spencer admitted.

“As you should,” you grinned, kissing him.

Soon enough, Jo came home next week saying she wanted to be a congresswoman and they were back to their old adventures.

main taglist (just ask to be added/removed): @samuel-de-champagne-problems @ssacalumsg0lden @spencerreid9 @averyhotchner @coldlilheart @k-k0129 @ickleronniekinsemotionalrange @harrystylesandthegoobs @cmily @jswessie187 @hoodpankow @mochionly @spencerreid-187 @babymetaldoll @fics4arainyday @ssavanessa22 @all-tings-diego @idonotexiste @beepbooptoop @tvandfanfic @mggsprettygirl @big-galaxy-chaos @navs-bhat @spencerreidsmommy @this-is-doctor-and-its-calm @mggs-sidehoe @rexit-mo @hufflepuffhaze @thisismynerdyself @xoxospencerreid @wifeyprentiss @reidsbookclub @spencersrose @pinkdiamond1016 @muffin-cup @a-little-bit-of-everything19

one-shot only taglist: @strawberryspence @fbivestreid

#spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fic #spencer reid one shot #dr spencer reid #spencer reid #criminals minds #cm fic #cm fanfic

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ilikekidsshows · 3 years ago

Note

how much do you think Adrien and Marinette's relationship developed from season 1 to 3 ?

Very well, as a self-professed connoisseur of all things slowburn, let me go over the Adrinette development that has happened in the show up until the season three finale and educate this fandom on the subtle beauty that is the Adrinette arc. This is gonna be long, because, apparently, there's a lot of material to cover, because this relationship can fit so much development into it.

Let's go in chronological order (as far as I can tell). In 'Origins', Marinette first started becoming a stuttering mess around Adrien when he opened up to her about how he wanted to make friends, becoming infatuated with the sensitive side he showed. Meanwhile, Adrien is excited over the prospect of having made a friend.

In 'The Bubbler', Marinette only manages to get out an awkward "hey," at Adrien and Adrien mimics her, in lack of a better response. He barely seems to know her at this point.

Marinette begins her infatuation with Adrien by simply thinking about him and fantasizing about him. In 'Stormy Weather' we hear Marinette's daydream, fully fleshed out on the details of what their children should be named, but not sure what their pet should be. Adrien seems pleased to see Marinette, but doesn't seek her out, also maintaining some distance.

Then comes 'Mr. Pigeon'. Adrien finds out Marinette is into designing and is taken aback by her verbal floundering. He also didn't know Marinette's last name. When he introduces Marinette to his father, there's an awkward silence after, like he'd finished the sentence too early, because he did, he never said her last name. Adrien knew Marinette existed, and was interested to know more about her, but that's it. Meanwhile Marinette speaks complete nonsense to Adrien, unable to remember what words even are.

In 'Evillustrator' Adrien seeks Marinette out of his own volition, having the perfect conversation starter in her encounter with Cat Noir. He wants to know what she thinks of him. Meanwhile, Marinette manages to get full, coherent sentences out, but keeps saying contradicting things. Adrien responds to Marinette with a drawn out "okay," starting to learn to just go with it and, at the end of the interaction, pats Marinette's shoulder companionably as he leaves. He thinks they're familiar enough for him to touch her casually, he was just waiting for the chance because he’s so touch-starved.

'Horrificator' doesn't actually show Adrien and Marinette interacting directly outside the acting scenes, where Adrien is very receptive to having Marinette as his co-star, but Adrien gets to see Marinette at her best, helping people out and solving problems. This episode is where Adrien starts to form his opinion of Marinette as someone dependable.

In 'Animan', Adrien knows Nino likes Marinette and is fully supportive. He's convinced Marinette would be receptive to Nino just acting natural and not doing anything special, so he thinks Marinette is a kind and warm person. He has no reason to think Marinette is into him instead. Marinette fumbles around Adrien again, and this time Adrien doesn't react at all: he's used to it.

In 'Kung Food', Adrien rushed to help Marinette the instant he heard from Alya that Marinette needed help. Marinette manages to get her meaning across even as she fumbles. When they have a discussion about Marinette's uncle, Marinette doesn't stutter once, and Adrien holds Marinette's shoulders when he comforts her. They managed to keep to casual interactions during the episode because they have other things to focus on.

In 'Gamer', Adrien is very casual around Marinette, inviting himself over to practise the game and being pretty frank about his insecurity as Marinette's gaming partner. Marinette responds first in a way that devalues Adrien's feelings ("No, you're amazing, I'm bad"), but eventually gives Adrien the lucky charm as a gesture of accepting him as her partner, a gesture Adrien will treasure for several episodes to come. Also, this episode has more casual shoulder-touching from Adrien to Marinette. (Aside note: Cat Noir later mimics Tom's body language in the episode, so Marinette's parents really made a first impression that stuck.)

In 'Volpina', Marinette shields Adrien from Fu's suspicions, but does briefly entertain the thought that Adrien might be Hawk Moth. This could be part of her catastrophizing or realizing she doesn't know him well enough to know for sure. Marinette also saves Adrien from his father, for Adrien's sake, not even revealing her own involvement in the matter to get closer to him. Marinette just wanted to help him out.

'Despair Bear' has Adrien protect Marinette from making a scene and making herself look bad, something he'll do again later in 'Chameleon'. Adrien sees it as his place to interfere for Marinette's benefit in this way and he thinks about the possible repercussions Marinette might have gotten from accusing Chloé publically without evidence. Adrien also instantly gets the idea to ask Marinette to dance when she bumps into him and decides to just roll with him when Alya arranges them into the typical "slow dance" position. At the end of the episode we see the first instance of Adrien invading Marinette's personal space by leaning in to talk to her. All in all, Adrien is just very comfortable around Marinette in this episode.

'Gigantitan' is more about Marinette learning not to overthink, something she didn't entirely learn as she prefers to abort the entire mission rather than enter a scenario with Adrien she hadn't considered. But we see Adrien offering Marinette a ride home even when his bodyguard is impatient. He really wants to do a favor for her.

'Riposte' has the second attempt from Marinette to simply spend time with Adrien, after 'Gamer'. She went into a lot of effort to learn fencing on time for the try-outs. She accidentally compliments Adrien to his face, who is very grateful for the nice things Marinette said about him. Caught off guard, Marinette fumbles once more, but manages to recover. Adrien laughs in enjoyment of the occasion and Marinette shares the laugh. Adrien keeps showing how comfortable he is with touching Marinette when he tutors her. Meanwhile, Marinette is very flustered, but manages to focus on what she's doing, doing well enough for Adrien to notice.

Adrien also questions Marinette's call as the referee, not concerned with Marinette's possible negative reaction and Marinette does respond honestly, showing Adrien that he can trust her judgement. Adrien also gushes about Marinette to Kagami, when he insists that Marinette didn't deny her the point to be mean, and the affection in his glowing endorsement has Kagami immediately note that Adrien likes her a lot.

In 'Befana' Adrien admits that he always carries Marinette's lucky charm with him, which inspired him to make one for her as a gift. The episode even ends with him looking at his own charm fondly, as the narration brings up "the person giving (the gift)", signalling that Adrien is specifically thinking about Marinette, who gave him the charm.

When Adrien asks Marinette for a safe place to hide in 'Gorizilla', Marinette gets over her stuttering very quickly when she realizes Adrien is in trouble to help him. Even in the subway Marinette is able to focus on Adrien possibly getting into trouble at home instead of getting flustered again. Adrien sidesteps the concern by playing the situation down, reminding Marinette that he does, indeed, always carry the lucky charm he got from her with him. At the movies he's more upfront to her about the restrictions he's placed under and why the movie is so important to him. Also, at no point does he point out Marinette is in her PJs, even though he definitely noticed. He probably just thinks it's a Marinette Thing.

'Frozer' has Marinette go all out for Adrien's sake, not because she wants to be with him, but because she wants to see him happy. She gives him advice on how to pursue another girl and asks Luka out on a double date to be there for him. On this occasion Marinette also shows how she's not as selfish over Adrien here as she was back in 'Gamer', when she was very willing to rob Max of something he really wanted in order to spend more time with Adrien. Meanwhile, Adrien gets distracted from his actual date when he wants to make sure Marinette is okay. When Plagg accuses him of "going after Marinette", Adrien is surprised by the suggestion, and assured Plagg that Marinette is just a friend.

An interesting thing to note is that Adrien actually sounds uncertain in 'Frozer' when he calls Marinette a friend, the one time he does so (at least in the English dub). This is why, when Marinette asks him to go skating with her sometime, he does entertain the thought of it just being just the two of them (aka, a date). However, when Marinette assures him it would be a friendly outing with other people too, the moment passes, and Adrien forgets his doubts and agrees to a friend outing. Plagg put the idea in his head, and Marinette could have sealed the deal. This is another occasion where Adrien pats Marinette's shoulder.

'Troublemaker' is the episode where Marinette's self-sabotage really gets going, when she "reassures" Adrien that she'd never consider him attractive in a romantic way ever. Meanwhile, Adrien once again invades Marinette's personal space and implies he doesn't mind modeling if it's for Marinette as he invites her to a photoshoot and says he's glad to have her as one of his fans.

In 'Style Queen', Marinette is actually open with Adrien about her insecurities and Adrien reassures her, and he supports her in 'Queen Wasp'. He also says he'd be able to model for her if she made it in the business, repeating his desire to model for her specifically that he first stated in 'Troublemaker'.

In 'Reverser' Marinette panics when suddenly encountered with Adrien and having to explain what she's doing, but Adrien gets the gist of it, having learned to interpret most of the word vomit Marinette produces and astutely claims: "That's typical of you," about Marinette helping someone out and offers his assistance if she needs any.

In 'Maledictator', Adrien is brave enough to let Marinette know he disagreed with the reason she and everybody else was happy. He doesn't pretend to be fine with the "good riddance, Chloé '' party because, just as Adrien knew, Marinette doesn't judge him for being sad to see Chloé leave.

In 'Heroes' Day', Adrien admits he came to the picnic to tell Marinette just how highly he values her. He shows how much attention he pays to all the times Marinette has helped their classmates and gives the iconic line "You're our everyday Ladybug". Marinette manages to gather up her courage to kiss Adrien on the cheek in response. This is also a notable moment when Adrien opts out of the usual shoulder pat, implying the gesture is something Adrien does to cut away the physical distance between himself and Marinette, since such a thing wasn't necessary in 'Heroes' Day'. (This boy is touch-starved, guys!)

In 'Chameleon' Adrien starts trying to play mediator between Lila and Marinette but, when that didn't work out, he once again protects Marinette from making a bad call with an opponent out to wreck her reputation, but he also acknowledges that Marinette had been wronged and decided to personally support her by sitting next to her since she'd been having such a tough time that day. He just wanted to support her like a friend would.

'Backwarder' has Marinette try to take the easy route of confessing through a letter, which predictably ends up not going as planned. But, as Adrien said, he spent all weekend making sure he could help Marinette with something he thought she really needed help with. Adrien just really wants to be able to do things for Marinette.

'Weredad' gives us an interesting glimpse into how Adrien views Marinette in relation to romance, noting that he "didn't think Cat Noir was her type". He's most likely referring to Luka, since he's the only guy Adrien has seen Marinette with, and Luka is quiet, contained and thoughtful, nothing like how Adrien presents himself as Cat Noir. However, since Adrien doesn't consider himself a candidate, he does most likely consider himself more like Cat Noir than Luka, aka, not Marinette's type.

'Desperada' has one of Marinette's worst freakouts in a while. Adrien showed up suddenly, and Kagami challenged her directly by saying: "Are you here to watch your boyfriend practise?" Marinette also tries to shoehorn Adrien into every situation, be it a guitarist or superhero, possibly as a subconscious attempt to gain more control of the situation with Kagami. As Tikki said, Marinette has a troubled heart in this episode.

'Chrismaster' shows off the fact that Marinette has tons of presents prepared for Adrien in advance for different occasions. These were most likely prepared during the early stages of her infatuation, when she was admiring him from afar and fantasizing about him. Making presents "just in case" fits the fantasy model. At this point, she’s embarrassed over having done it.

In 'Startrain', Adrien immediately relaxes into sleep as well when Marinette falls asleep on his shoulder. This boy is touch-starved, guys, and Marinette's touch in particular calms and soothes him. Similarly, when Marinette wakes up in the middle of their nap, she settles right back to continue sleeping, no panic in sight.

'Stormy Weather 2' shows Adrien connecting Marinette's handwriting from the note on his homework with the valentine he got, and all of the misunderstandings together convince him he was mistaken. "She's just a friend who loves fashion," Adrien says with a downtrodden face, disappointed that Marinette couldn't care for him as more than "a friend who's also in fashion". He thinks of Marinette insisting that she'd never be into him, and of Marinette and Luka skating together, with obvious chemistry between them. And, in the end, when he says it's just someone with similar writing, he sounds wistful.

'Party Crasher' has Adrien insist Marinette is one of his guys, clearly missing her when he's hanging out with his school friends. In fact, when she does show up unexpectedly, he looks very pleased.

'Puppeteer 2' is an episode that sets up obstacles for Adrinette in addition to the misunderstandings listed in ‘Stormy Weather 2’. Marinette finds out Adrien is in love with someone else, and Adrien tries to share more parts of himself with Marinette, only for it to end very badly. Adrien has been getting braver about expressing himself to Marinette, but it's mostly been his opinions so far. In 'Puppeteer 2' Adrien tries to joke around with Marinette, only for Marinette to end up mortified and crying. This convinced Adrien that there's a part of him that Marinette won't be able to accept so he'll have to hold back with her.

Meanwhile, Marinette overcorrects because Manon, as kids are wont to do, keeps airing out all of her dirty laundry regarding Adrien, and so she convinces Adrien he's lucky she even kinda likes him. Adrien connects this with the fact that apparently his sense of humor is something that Marinette hates enough to cry over it.

The rest of season 3 stays on the course set by ‘Puppeteer 2’. Adrien still cares about Marinette immensely, even if he's convinced she doesn't like him nearly as much. He puts himself on the line to protect her from Lila in 'Ladybug', and neither he nor Kagami consider Marinette's presence on their outing third-wheeling in 'Heart Hunter'. Meanwhile, Marinette is pulling away, convinced Adrien and Kagami are the perfect match.

There you go, that's the Adrinette development, broken down step by step, during the first three seasons. As you can see, it's actually quite a lot, and some people might even notice more development tidbits.

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