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linkemon · 4 months ago

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Crazy, noisy, bizzare town (Higashikata Jōsuke x Reader)

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here. Consider supporting me on Ko-fi. You can also check out my commissions if you’re interested.

Other oneshots can be found here.

ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴏʀʏ ᴏꜰ [ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ], ʜɪɢᴀꜱʜɪᴋᴀᴛᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱ ᴛʀʏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ɢᴇᴛ ɪᴄᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ. ᴜɴꜰᴏʀᴛᴜɴᴀᴛᴇʟʏ, ᴀꜱ ᴡᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴋɴᴏᴡ, ꜱᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴜꜱᴇʀꜱ ᴀᴛᴛʀᴀᴄᴛ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴜꜱᴜᴀʟʟʏ ꜱᴛɪʀꜱ ᴛʀᴏᴜʙʟᴇ…

ᴀᴅᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: 1. ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀɴᴅꜱ ɪɴ ᴊᴏᴊᴏ ᴘᴀʀᴛ 4 ᴀʀᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇᴅ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴏɴɢꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴀɴᴅꜱ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ 90ꜱ. ɪ ꜰᴏʟʟᴏᴡᴇᴅ ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜰᴏʀᴍᴜʟᴀ.

Mori-Mori-Mori-Mori Morioh Cho Radio! This is your favourite neighbour Kai Harada! It's going to be a beautiful, sunny morning. Remember to bring hats and a bottle of water. I wish everyone a tasty coffee accompanied by the best songs from the top of playlists. We'll see you again in an hour. The topic of the day will be the mysterious disappearances of dogs. Stay with us!

Yoshikage Kira stretched. Satisfied, he reached for a cup of dark brown liquid. He took a sip of the pleasantly hot liquid. It burned his tongue a little but that's what he loved. He glanced at the clock. He still had a few minutes to go. As a decent office worker, he did not allow himself to be late.

He thought about what he heard on the radio. Undoubtedly, some stand user has just attracted attention. He smiled happily. This will only distract any attention from him. It was going to be another great day.

— Come on, honey — he said caressingly.

He grabbed a delicate hand, twisted his nose at the rotten stench. The hand was almost completely dead. He sprayed it with flower spray, grabbed his briefcase and left. He will have to find a new woman. But that could wait. Leaning out at this point could end badly. So he went to the office, hugging his beloved.

***

[Reader] rushed out the school door, clutching her bag tightly. She almost hit a young middle school student. She waited impatiently for the bell to ring and then she was detained after class. No matter how hard she tried, she was fifteen minutes late.

The heat in Morioh was becoming unbearable. The stronger the sun shone, the more tourists came. And that meant ice cream prices were going up. Recently, she and boys found a place where they could get them quite cheaply. In the afternoon, the best ones were often already sold out. Therefore, it was necessary to run as fast as possible.

— [Reader], what's taking you so long? — Okuyasu kicked a pebble impatiently.

— Were you attacked by an enemy stand? — Kōichi looked at her. — Just a moment and we would go looking for you.

— I'm fine. — She waved her hand dismissively. — It's all Kūjō-san's fault.

Higashikata smiled widely when he saw her. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. He was slightly confused, as he always was when she showed him affection in public places. Immediately afterwards, however, he eagerly grabbed her hand and they headed towards the store.

— But what does Mr. Kūjō have to do with you being late? — Nijimura never thought too fast.

The only time he really shined was in fights. Apart from them, he couldn't be expected to handle something his brother always did for him. Now that he had only his father left, he had to rely on his friends. The girl sometimes wondered how he would cope without them.

However, JoJo immediately understood what she meant. He sighed softly and muttered the customary: Yare yare greato daze. He didn't like the situation they were in either. They couldn't do anything with it. As usual, it all came down to Yoshikage Kira and the danger hanging in the air.

— I was late because Shizuka-san asked me to set her up with Jōsuke. You have no idea how difficult it was to get her off. All because your uncle — she pointed an accusing finger at her boyfriend — forbade us to show anyone that we were together.

— I'd rather not hide it either — he admitted — but I guess we don't have a choice.

— You aren't hiding now. — Okuyasu scratched his head thoughtfully.

You could almost hear the gears turning in his mind.

— Because he was only talking about school, so technically we're not breaking the ban at all — [Reader] blurted out.

She high-fived her 'partner in crime'. They had always shared a clever way of dealing with life's awkward situations. Lately, it had come in handy more often than they would have liked.

The heat pouring from the sky was becoming more and more noticeable. She was glad to be walking on the side of the sidewalk where the trees sheltered her. On the right, JoJo was blocking the sun. With his height, he created a perfect shadow the entire way.

When they saw the store, they rushed towards it. There was a nice cool air conditioning coming from inside. For a moment they just stood and breathed in the beneficial, cold air.

— Who pays today? — Hirose asked the usual question.

The three of them turned their eyes towards Higashikata. It was his turn.

— I don't have money anymore. — He scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

— You've just won the lottery! What did you spend that money on? — The short friend looked at him in disbelief.

— My mother froze my account until I was an adult — he sighed.

One million six hundred and sixty-six thousand and six hundred and sixty-six yen had been floating around in his head for two weeks. It was useless to follow Shigechi across half the city. When he finally got the check, Tomoko said she wouldn't let him spend that much money. So he said goodbye to the vision of luxury.

— Fortunately, my father can't take my money. — Nijimura laughed and went inside with Kōichi.

The building was tiny. Four people couldn't fit in it. Maybe that's why the prices are so low. It's also possible that the old man behind the counter simply didn't know much about business.

The girl leaned against the building. There was no one on the street. Most people were at work at this time. Tourists marched to the beach, and school students returned home.

A quiet footstep broke the undisturbed silence. She glanced at the direction it was coming from. A tiny dog was running across the road. Luckily for it, there were no cars. It had a red collar that jingled softly with every step. The white chihuahua moved its paws as fast as it could.

It was only after a while that she noticed the owner chasing him. The breathless woman stopped in front of her. She recognized her as a distant neighbour. She was holding the leash. The hair on her head was already starting to turn gray. By wearing a pencil skirt and high boots, she doomed herself to failure. In such an outfit, she had no chance of catching the animal.

— Have you seen my dog? — she asked, then described his appearance.

JoJo nodded.

— It ran through here a moment ago. — He pointed in the direction.

— How did she get up so quickly? Where did he get so much strength from? — she muttered.

[Reader] exchanged a knowing look with Jōsuke. It wasn't right to leave her in need. There went the quiet afternoon.

— We might help you look for her? — she suggested.

— It would be great. Her name is Kiki. — She left her phone number and then ran away.

They had quite a run in the heat before them.

***

The girl sent Butterfly ahead. Sometimes she wished she could, like her boyfriend, just punch the enemy. The group of butterflies was great for searching and tracking. However, it could not replace the brutal strength that even Star Platinum had at its disposal. The Joestar family always said that power is only as good as its user. Yet throwing a colourful insect at someone could only disgust them. The only advantage was the distance at which she could control the stand. Fifty meters usually happened with self-controlled entities.

When she finally managed to pick up the trail, she followed him with Higashikata. The other two separated fifteen minutes ago, hoping to find Kiki on the other side of the intersection. They didn't want to waste time. Especially since the whole thing smelled strongly of mysterious disappearances of animals from the area. They called Mr. Kūjō from a nearby payphone to let him know how things were going, and went deeper into the forest.

At first the route looked promising. The wide, beaten path through the trees looked familiar. Sometimes they went for walks here. However, the further they went, the more they had to stray from the well-traveled trail. The soft ground was covered with green needles and moss. The trees cast ominous shadows among the low bushes. They grew more and more densely. The couple stopped running. It became impossible. They responded to every sound of a breaking branch or slight breeze with readiness to attack.

That's why they lost the dog again. She must have gotten far enough away that the butterflies couldn't see her. They came back and started circling around the owner.

So they continued heading in the direction Kiki had been heading before. Morioh is a small town. They should be able to walk through the forest within an hour and come out on the other side. As long as they don't get lost.

— Did you hear that? — [Reader] stopped for the first time in a long time.

She sincerely hoped her ears weren't deceiving her. The rustling of the leaves seemed to increase.

JoJo didn't answer. Slowly and quietly he looked around. He summoned Crazy Diamond and waited.

Butterfly flew forward and stopped nearby. A boar was roaming under one of the spreading trees. For a moment it seemed to be looking for food. It snorted quietly and put its snout to the ground. But when it raised its fangs, it turned towards the travelers. It was as if it had been looking for them all along.

— Back away slowly — she whispered, trying to get out of the boar's way.

But it didn't help. A war cry announced a murderous charge. Several dozen kilograms rushed towards them.

Jōsuke spotted a tree with low-growing branches. Without thinking, he started climbing, aided by his stand. [Reader] wasn't doing that well. The bark tore her fingers until they bled. She mentally cursed her stupid uniform skirt. That's why she was doing so poorly. The boy grabbed her hand just in time. Just after she had safely grabbed onto the thick trunk, the boar hit the wood. Splinters fell. The world staggered slightly for a moment.

— Crazy Diamond!

A purple fist met a brown snout. One attack wasn't enough. Slightly stunned, the animal turned and charged again. Higashikata waited for it to run up and then rained down a barrage of blows on it. It was moments like these that he regretted that his range was only two meters. He had to go lower, risking a close encounter with the fangs.

The tired, battered boar finally gave up. With its tail between its legs, it limped as far away as he could.

— Do you think they are under protection?

— Is that really what you're worried about now? — [Reader] laughed in disbelief.

— I don't have money for a fine. — He rubbed his temple thoughtfully.

Suddenly something white flashed in the bushes.

— Over there! — she shouted, pointing in the direction.

She clumsily slid down the tree and ran towards where she saw movement. She stepped straight into the mud almost immediately. Or at least that's what she preferred to think. She didn't want to assume the worst. Brown, smelly goo stuck to the shoe. Wiping the nasty stuff in the letter didn't do much good. She cursed quietly under her breath.

At least she finally found it.

— There you are, Kiki. — She slowly extended her hand towards her.

The Chihuahua tentatively sniffed her fingers. She nuzzled her trustingly. Satisfied, she took her in her arms. JoJo shouted something but she didn't hear him. She immediately felt a terrible pain in her ear. Blood flooded her eye. Instinctively she reached out her hand towards it. The red liquid was flowing at an alarming rate. Only then did she realize that the dog had bitten her.

— You damn…— She didn't finish the sentence.

The little enemy attacked the ankle. She didn't look down. She was afraid that she would throw up her breakfast at the sight of flesh.

Jōsuke caught Kiki struggling and healed her wounds with Crazy Diamond. However, the momentary peace did not last long. They saw a man in strange fur. Immediately afterwards, a snake rushed towards the boy with stunning speed. He managed to catch it but the two deadly fangs left tiny red wounds. It hurt. He knew he didn't have much time. He squeezed the reptile tightly. The stand user had no choice. He separated himself and stood before them. Higashikata held him by the throat to be sure. Enough that he couldn't move. However, this caused the animal to slip away and crawl away into the trees.

— Don't hurt me! — the enemy squeaked thinly. — You need me. Only I ca-ca-can bring him back. Without the antidote, you'll die from the v-v-venom — he stammered.

JoJo frowned. He always did this when he was worried. This didn't happen often. But now he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't heal himself. This was the biggest drawback to his power. He had to endure every injury like a normal person.

— We don't need you at all — [Reader] said in a firm voice. — You didn't notice but I chased you to the edge of the forest.

The opponent looked back in panic.

— I also sent butterflies to find Kūjō-san. He'll be here in a minute and it's only ten minutes to the hospital. We'll make it. — She smiled defiantly.

— It can't be... you mean you did it when I was a wild boar? — His eyes widened.

— I'm the one asking the questions here. Who are you? Did Kira's father send you here? — [Reader] stuck her finger into his chest.

— My name is Ka-Ka-Kameko Hiroto — he sobbed. — Yoshihiro-san said I can do whatever I want. He called me a coward because I refused to kill people. I was too a-a-afraid.

The girl looked at him more closely. She seemed to recognize him from somewhere. However, the brown hair, small blue eyes and plain face brought no answer. In Morioh you knew almost everyone, unless they were tourists. The coat attracted the most attention. It consisted of fur pieces. Brown, black, white and gray. Dotted and spotted. They created a strange composition. The longer she looked, the more she felt sick. This is where all the missing dogs from Morioh were. He wore them as hideous clothes.

Hiroto had loved 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians' since he was a child. Every evening, his mother took a worn-out book from the shelf. There were also many others on the bookcase but she read this one to him every day. Otherwise, he simply wouldn't fall asleep. He knew the words by heart. He could recite them at every moment. Any time of day and night.

When he grew up, he started breeding fur ferrets. He studied hard, so he was accepted as an employee in a well-known and respected company. All this to look like Cruella De Vil, his idol. He wanted to create his own coat. Even if it couldn't be with white and black dots. However, it turned out that it was not that simple. He only managed to steal one piece of leather. The business was looked after with the greatest caution. He was fired pretty quickly for financial losses and animal abuse.

Bitter and angry, he moved to Morioh. The small, quiet town was supposed to give him peace. Here, where no one knew him, he decided to forget about his dream. He blended in with the crowd, toiling at the grocery store around the corner. He also rented a tiny apartment and found a fiancée. So he lived a normal life. Until fate gave him a chance — a stand that allowed him to take on the role of animals and control them. Desire overshadowed reason.

— Mercy! — he howled.

Kameko felt salty drops running down his face. Snot was coming out of his nose. He couldn't even wipe it off. He felt terrible. Until now, he had managed to reconcile his passion with the life of an average person. He was so close to achieving his goal and finishing the outfit he dreamed of. He hated the two people in front of him. He sincerely hoped they would die. If not now, then later, at the hands of the city's best assassin.

For a moment he wanted to beg for mercy again. After all, even if that little shit was bluffing, they were almost out of the forest. They outnumbered him. The situation is terrible. But through his tears, he saw his chance. It was floating a few meters away. He could barely contain the smile that spread across his lips.

— Loosen your grip! I'm choking! — he wheezed as hard as he could.

He knew it would work. He met JoJo once in a store. He was actually a soft man. Not like his creepy uncle. The only problem with him was that he never allowed you to owe a yen. He found this type of customer particularly annoying. It wouldn't save them if he let go sometimes. Because of it, he had to go to other cashiers. The brat probably had plenty of money anyway. After all, he was constantly buying hair care lotions. All the sprays and gels must have been quite an expense. Hiroto always thought it made no sense. The customer looked strange. He was wasting money.

— Just no tricks! — the boy warned him.

Kameko reached out with his mind towards a butterfly flying alone. Fate favored him by giving him this opportunity.

— Wild Animal! — He recalled his stand. — Bye, losers! Higashikata, someone must have hit you over the head once because you're a gullible idiot with a crap haircut! — He felt like he was on cloud nine shouting it.

Although he knew that he would not avoid abandoning Morioh but it was better than death. He will start over, somewhere far away. He will fly towards the blue sky and that's all they will see.

To his surprise, however, nothing happened. He should feel connected to his animal. Meanwhile, he was still stuck in Crazy Diamond's iron grip.

The girl held out her hand. The insect calmly sat on it.

— I had a feeling you might want to do that. Did you really think I would let any animal stay around? — The swallowtail butterfly flapped its wings. — I separated that butterfly from the group and changed its species while you weren't looking. You cannot bond with it because it is not a living organism. — She snapped her fingers. — Jōsuke, tell him something.

She saw that he wanted this very much. The Joestar family never left an opponent without a word. She found it funny but she didn't question the habits.

They had to hurry. The venom was slowly taking its toll. Beads of sweat ran down the back of his neck. His legs were starting to tremble slightly.

— First of all, you disrespected my girlfriend. — He pointed an accusing finger at him. — Secondly, you insulted my hair. This is unforgivable!

Crazy Diamond with a joyful Dora dora dora plunged his fist into Hiroto's face. There were screams, protests and pleas for help. However, they were of no use. After damaging his hair, Higashikata became extremely irritable. Blood was shed. It looked like it wouldn't end with a few broken teeth and a terribly bruised cheek.

However, he was interrupted by a quiet but firm voice:

— Yare yare daze.

In front of him, wearing his favourite hat, stood Mr. Kūjō. As always, he handled the situation with stoic calm. He didn't look happy.

JoJo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him. It's true that he has to explain why he and [Reader] are together, since classes have ended a long time ago. However, he will deal with this later. The snake deprived him of his strength. He was barely holding himself together. After all, he could leave everything in the hands of others. He pushed his opponent into a tree. His head was now inside the trunk and his back was sticking out. Immediately after that, his strength left him and he fell to the ground.

Okuyasu and Hirose were the last to arrive. They panicked when they saw their friend's condition. They offered to watch the bastard until the Speedwagon Foundation took him over. They had no doubt that the Star Platinum user would be better able to transport the patient to Budogaoka Hospital. They also called Kiki's owner.

[Reader] shuffled after the older man.

— Don't look at me like that. It's embarrassing — she muttered.

She still couldn't understand how he was so different from the boy he carried on his back. It was hard to read anything in his eyes. No emotions.

— Good job — he said quietly.

She smiled. You couldn't count on more from him.

— But will we still get the lecture? — she asked.

There was a slight chance that they would get away with it. She allowed herself to dream.

— Yare yare daze.

— So we're screwed. — Resigned, she left the forest.

She looked up. The sun was already setting on the horizon. Purple mixed with pink, orange and yellow. The colours painted a beautiful picture. The heat of the day slowly faded away. A light sea breeze blew invitingly. Tourists covered in sand were returning from the beach. They gave her curious glances but said nothing. But the neighbours picked her up faster than she would have liked to tend to her remaining wounds. She had to leave her boyfriend in the hands of her uncle. However, she had no doubt that they would soon be able to spend a quiet afternoon with their friends. She was going to get the ice cream on sale no matter what.

Still, it was a good day in a crazy, noisy, bizzare town.

***

Landmarks in Morioh:

No. 31 — Haunted Forest — Locals claim that dangerous animals live there. There is also a Tree Spirit roaming around there. Sometimes on hot summer afternoons you can hear his desperate screams and calls for help.

#josuke higashikata x reader #jojo x reader #jojo part 4 #oneshot x reader #hirose koichi #nijimura okuyasu #jotaro kujo

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clementineofmine · 4 months ago

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Hey friends, I've been working super hard to finish this s3 spec fic series, Same Weird Family, that I've been working on for....uh...well if you count both part 1 and part 2, about 4 years. (I started about 5 minutes after s2 dropped.)

Only one chapter left, it's already drafted, so here I am taking bets about if I can get it edited and out before S4....

Anywho I've appreciated the uptick in the fandom lately, really motivating for writing. So, here I am, doing my best to contribute to the fun. And by fun, I mean whump. So....here you go, please enjoy a snip of what I'm working on -

She hit the button again, knowing it was useless, but compelled to do something. Because being trapped in an elevator with Diego and five of his siblings, including one rather worse for wear former Commission Agent, Five Hargreeves, was, Lila decided, a new definition of hell.

“Will this bloody ride ever end?” Lila cursed as they rode the slowest elevator in the known universe up from the basement.

Lila had long since gone on the record that she did not like Five Hargreeves. He had killed her parents. He had a…complicated relationship with her mother. Sure, he was Diego's brother and that counted for something, but the two former Commission agents had now fought, both with words and with fists, more times than she felt like counting.

A cast iron skillet to the head had been the least he deserved.

Still. Seeing him, seeing anyone in this much pain, so much that it was currently radiating out from him in waves, bouncing off the walls of the tiny elevator, was...uncomfortable.

Lila had seen her share of injuries, even death. Death didn't faze her.

A day ago, if you would have asked her, Lila would have told you that nothing could have broken Five Hargreeves. He was an institution. Legendary, if she was being honest.

But as the six of them stared helplessly at Five leaning against the damn elevator wall, his skin pale and mottled, as they watched him wheeze for every breath...

Five looked like a shell of himself. Almost…broken.

And now… she grimaced as she watched his chest heave and his mouth move silently. Praying, maybe?

She scoffed at the idea. What kind of god would even listen to such a Grade A asshole?

“Fives not doing so well,” she whispered to Diego.

“No shit,” he said, not taking his eyes off his brother.

“What did the two of you talk about earlier?” she asked.

He blinked slowly, then got a far away look in his eyes.

“Nothing. Stuff from when we were kids.”

He stopped talking again then, so she took his hand and squeezed it.

He squeezed back, and her heart thumped.

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myrandomfandomramblings · 1 year ago

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In which Plagg's aversion to Adrienette's sweet talk leads to an Identity Reveal - A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic

“You’re so cute,” Adrien smiles reaching up to brush ice cream from Marinette’s cheek.

“Not as cute as you,” she blushes.

“No, you’re the cutest,” they say in unison, “Jinx,” they continue their harmony then break into giggles.

“Double jinx,” they once again say at once then divulge into laughter.

Once they’ve recovered Marinette looks at Adrien, “I love you.”

“I love you more,” he retorts.

“I love you most,” she counters.

That was it! Plagg had spent the last two hours sitting in Adrien’s gym bag listening to him and Marinette gush about each other endlesslessly. He couldn’t take it anymore. That much sugary sweetness was sickening. So he figured before he lost his temper, and accidentally destroyed the world, it would be best to simply remove himself from the situation. The kid would be fine without him for an hour.

As he flew from Adrien’s bag, he was already picturing the Camembert he could “borrow” from a nice shop just across the square from where they were sitting. Consider it a tax for all the times he’s saved Paris.

He was so distracted by his fantasy he didn’t notice that the sweet talk, he was trying to escape, had suddenly cut off behind him,

“Plagg,” Marinette gasped as she stood up stumbling over her words,

“I’ve got to- stay, you- go- here. Something to do. Be back right,” she yelled as she ran after Plagg, waving to Adrien as she left him sitting there, alone and confused.

“Plagg,” she whisper yelled as she caught up with him in the alley behind the cheese shop. “What are you doing here? Did something happen to Chat Noir?”

It took a second for Plagg to realize what was going on. 1) Marinette had noticed him fly across the square. That made sense because unlike other humans that catch a quick glimpse of a kwami, assume it’s a bug or bird and think nothing of it, Marinette is a miraculous holder and guardian, meaning she is acutely aware of kwamis and their presence. 2) Marinette doesn’t know that Adrien, her boyfriend, is Chat Noir, her superhero partner. Meaning she doesn’t know that Plagg is simply there because that’s where his holder is. She thinks he’s there to find her because there is some sort of emergency and his holder is out of commission.

Now, he’d like to just tell her the truth, let her get back to her sickly sweet date and let him get back to his cheese hunt, but of course it’s not that simple. Because Marinette and Adrien, or more accurately Ladybug and Chat Noir, can’t know each other’s secret identities without putting the entire world in danger. Blah Blah Blah. Always the dramatics. Plagg’s at least 50% sure the world would be just fine if this revelation were to come to light. And if not? Well, Plagg’s seen the world end before. It’s not that bad. Exciting even. Anything beats listening to more Adrienette date conversation. But Tikki’s peaking out of Marinette’s purse shaking her head at him and he can’t disappoint his sugar cube.

“Chat Noir’s fine,” Plagg reassures her, “I’m just here for the best Camembert in Paris,” he finishes gesturing to the cheese shop beside them.

“Oh- ah- alright then,” Marinette nods as her adrenaline starts to dissipate. “But you should probably stay closer to Chat, you never know when he’ll need to transform.”

“Can’t, he’s on a date with his girlfriend and all the lovey-dovey stuff is making me sick,” Plagg gags, earning a stern look from Tikki.

“So his relationship is going well? He’s happy?” Marinette asks the kwami.

“Ya the kid’s doing good,” Plagg confirms, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with some cheese,” he continues disappearing through the cheese shop wall.

“Plagg,” Marinette hisses after him, but he’s already gone.

----

“Everything Ok,” Adrien asks as Marinette sits back down beside him.

“Ah- ya- false alarm. I thought I saw a friend in trouble. Ah- but he’s fine,” she stammers.

“So who’s Plagg,” Adrien asks fixing her with a knowing smirk that’s oddly familiar, “you called his name just before you ran off.”

Marinette pales, “Plagg? Plagg who? I don’t know a Plagg. I know the bubonic plague. It’s bad,” she finishes laughing nervously. Then through her panic a second thought hits her: How does he know WHO Plagg is? That HE’S a WHO at all. Anyone that heard Plagg would think plague: Black Death, ancient pandemic. Anyone except those that have held or guarded the black cat miraculous and thus met it’s kwami.

When she looks back at Adrien he’s still looking at her with that same familiar teasing expression, and the pieces fall into place in her mind: A black mask falls across his eyes as black ears poke out of his messy blond hair.

“Kitty?” She breathes and his entire face lights up.

“It really is you, M’lady,” he beams as he tackles a still stunned Marinette into a hug.

“I know it’s supposed to be a secret, but when you ran off and I realized you were chasing after Plagg, who you recognized and knew by name, well, all the pieces just clicked. All the similarities between you and Ladybug. And I just-had to know for sure. That my girlfriend and best friend, first love and true love were one and the same.” He’s standing with his hands on her shoulders, staring at her in absolute awe, but as he finishes he pulls away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have dropped that all on you, I should have considered the dangers of us knowing each others secret identities. I just- got excited,” he finishes rubbing the back of his neck as he sneaks a peek up at Marinette.

Marinette is trying to listen to Adrien. The concerns he’s voicing are valid and she’s spent most of the year reinforcing them, but she can’t really focus on anything he’s saying because she’s using all her energy to keep herself from laughing, and failing miserably.

“What’s so funny?” he asks.

“I just can’t stop thinking about how we kept rejecting each other because we were in love with each other,” Marinette laughs, “and I know that’s not the important take away here.”

Then Adrien laughs too. “Or the times we thought we were protecting each other but were actually just preventing the other from transforming.”

Marinette laughs harder, “Oh my gosh, we were such disasters.”

“On the contrary,” Adrien smiles, “we made a pretty good team… No matter the combination.”

Marinette nods, “Maybe that’s why I’m not scared anymore. Whatever the consequences of us knowing each other’s secret identities are, we will figure them out. Together.”

“Like always,” Adrien replies holding out his fist.

“Pound it,” they say in unison as the fist bump morphs into a kiss.

#miraculous ladybug #adrienette #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #plagg #tikki #identity reveal

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shewasverynice · 2 months ago

Text

Fandom: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga) WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Major Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Non-Consensual Drug Use

Full tags/warnings on Chapter links post

Major Characters: Original Characters, Takami Keigo | Hawks, Hero Public Safety Commission, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead

. . . . . ╰──╮꒰ Behave! - Part 1 ꒱ ╭──╯ . . . . .

It felt like a collective sigh of relief as that second week of spring finally released its grip over the avians at Nest. The heroes all seemed to feel lighter, more themselves as the hormones in their bodies finally calmed down and they could relax again. Well... At least some of them could.

"Sit up straight," Hummingbird snapped, slapping her hand on the coffee table.

"Pfff, you're not my mom," Halcyon snapped right back, slouching further in her seat just to prove her point.

This was the new drama going on at Nest. Hummingbird's latest mission in life. Taming Halcyon. Not just for her own good and for Hummingbird's satisfaction, but because the HPSC demanded it as well.

As Hawks watched the two of them bicker, his mind wandered back to how they had ended up in this whole mess in the first place. It wasn’t the first time Halcyon had stirred things up, but this latest stunt was… well, it was something else.

The memory came flooding back, making his wings twitch in reflexive embarrassment. He had been doing his usual post-mission interview, nothing out of the ordinary for someone like him. The scene had been chaotic—an out-of-control quirk causing damage in the city center. Hawks had arrived in the nick of time to shut things down before they could escalate further, and now he was in front of the cameras easing the public’s nerves just like he always did.

Hawks had been in his element, as usual. His charming grin, the easy-going manner, the practiced lines about how volatile quirks didn’t always mean danger. He could do this in his sleep. "Everything’s under control," he had said, waving off the fear, "Sometimes, quirks flare up, but that’s why we’re here—to keep everyone safe."

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her. Halcyon.

She had been helping with the aftermath, handling things on her end with that casual disregard she was known for, but Hawks had hoped—prayed, even—that she wouldn’t get pulled into the media circus.

But of course the reporter, all bright-eyed and curious, had spotted her. “Oh! Halcyon!” they’d called out, beckoning her over with a wave, “Come join us for a moment, would you?”

Hawks had barely managed to hide his immediate surprise, his smile freezing ever so slightly. His heart fluttered when he saw the look on Halcyon’s face—her eyes glinting with mischief, that familiar smirk curling her lips. She strode over with her usual swagger, not a care in the world, and leaned lazily on his shoulder with her arm slung across him like she owned the space.

"Great. Just great," he had thought, already knowing this was about to go downhill fast. Was it bad that he was already laughing a little?

The reporter, completely oblivious to the impending disaster, had turned to Halcyon with a bright smile. “Halcyon, what are your thoughts on the quirk that was causing all this trouble today?”

Hawks had felt the shift in the air, that split second of anticipation before the storm hit. He should’ve stopped it right there—steered the conversation away, distracted her, something. But he was too slow, too used to letting her run loose. And well, maybe he wanted to hear what she had to say? Before he could react Halcyon had leaned forward just a bit, looking directly at the camera with her smirk spreading wider.

“Oh, that quirk?” she had said, eyes gleaming, “Yeah, that was basically just a big-ass fart. People need to calm the fuck down.”

The words hung in the air like a bomb. Hawks could feel the reporter’s stunned silence beside him, the way the crowd around them tensed. For a moment, there was nothing but pure, shocked stillness.

And then, slowly, Hawks had brought a hand to his face, dragging it down as he tried not to laugh. Of all the ways she could’ve answered, of all the things she could’ve said to calm the situation, that’s what she went with. A big-ass fart. On live TV.

The reporter, flustered and stammering, had tried to regain control of the conversation. “Uh, w-well, that’s certainly one way to put it! But, uh—”

Halcyon had just laughed, still leaning against Hawks like she hadn’t just detonated a public relations landmine. Hawks hadn’t even needed to look at her to know she was loving every second of it. Her whole body radiated smug satisfaction.

“Really?” Hawks had muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for her to hear, “A fart?”

She’d shrugged, still snickering, “What? I’m not wrong.”

He had wanted to facepalm again, but instead, he had just stood there, eyes fixed forward as the cameras kept rolling and he tried not to encourage her. After the interview, when the cameras were finally off and the media had scattered, Hawks had turned to her with a grin.

“You just had to go there, didn’t you?”

Halcyon had given him an innocent look—well, as innocent as she could manage. “I thought you wanted me to stop running from the cameras?”

Hawks shook his head, trying to fight the laughter even as he remembered the scene. The Hero Public Safety Commission had not been amused. Calls were made. Meetings were scheduled. And now, here they were—Hummingbird chasing Halcyon around Nest, trying to wrangle her into some semblance of proper behavior.

He wasn’t mad, not really. Sure, it was a headache, and the HPSC had been breathing down his neck about it, but that was just how things were with Halcyon. She thrived on pushing buttons, especially his. And, well, as much as he’d cringe about it later, there was something about that reckless, unfiltered honesty of hers that he couldn’t help but love.

Hummingbird's patience was wearing thin, watching Halcyon slouching dramatically on one of the low couches in the atrium, rolling her eyes with exaggerated gusto. She picked at the hem of her black tank top, not even pretending to listen.

"I'm comfortable here," she drawled, her voice laced with insolence. She stretched her arms over her head, then flopped sideways like a bored cat.

Hawks stifled a laugh, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Halcyon, I said get up. You need to be on time for your mission briefing," Hummingbird insisted, her foot tapping against the floor. Her bright blue eyes narrowed in a way that would've made anyone straighten up immediately. Pure angry mom energy on full display.

But Halcyon wasn’t just anyone. She smiled sweetly—too sweetly—her eyes gleaming with mischief. "Oh, no! The briefing! I totally forgot. Well I guess they can just come to me afterwards or whatever."

"You will go where you are needed," Hummingbird snapped, her tiny wings flaring out in frustration. Despite her size, she was a force to be reckoned with and the tension in the air was growing thicker by the second. Still, Hawks could see the cracks in her otherwise unshakable demeanor. Halcyon always knew exactly which buttons to press and she was enjoying every second of it.

"Oh, come on, Hummingbird, cut her some slack," Hawks called out from his spot. "Maybe she’s just not feeling it today." His voice was laced with mock sympathy, but his smirk gave him away.

Hummingbird shot him a sharp look, her feathers ruffling visibly as she turned back to Halcyon. "She has responsibilities, Hawks. Unlike some people who shirk theirs."

He raised his hands defensively, still grinning. "Hey, hey, I’m just saying, maybe she needs a break. Poor thing’s been through so much." His wings fluttered slightly, betraying his amusement.

Halcyon, catching on to his teasing tone, gave a playful wink in his direction. "See? Birdy gets it. I’ll just skip this one, then. No harm done, right?"

Hummingbird’s tiny wings buzzed angrily, and she took a deep breath. "You are not skipping anything. Get up right now, or I’ll—"

Before she could finish, Halcyon flopped over again, spreading her arms wide in mock surrender. "Alright, alright, you win, Mom. I’ll go," she said, slowly dragging herself off the couch with an exaggerated sigh, "But only because you’ve been such a delightful babysitter today."

Hummingbird’s jaw clenched, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she turned sharply on her heel and marched off, clearly having had enough.

As funny as it was, Hawks did pity Hummingbird. She'd just come back from her jail time and had already tasked herself with the impossible. It was actually one of the first things she'd set out to do, having watched Halcyon on TV while incarcerated.

She'd chastised everyone for not doing something sooner, giving everyone the whole "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch" speech and "Halcyon makes us look boorish and crude". So it worked out when Hawks mentioned that the HPSC had wanted her behavior to be curbed as well, especially since he had no desire to attempt anything like that.

Hawks stood with his arms crossed, watching Halcyon with a bemused smile as she stretched lazily in the hallway on the way to her briefing. He was about to throw out another teasing remark when Hummingbird’s soft flutter of wings interrupted him. Her small figure hovered in the doorway, her expression serious.

“Hawks,” she said, her tone polite but firm, “I need to speak with you. Privately.”

Hawks raised an eyebrow, surprised by the request but nodding anyway. “Sure thing, Hummingbird.” He glanced at Halcyon, who was now watching the interaction with mild curiosity, but she made no move to follow. She shrugged and gave Hawks a two-fingered salute before wandering off, leaving him alone with Hummingbird.

Hummingbird landed gently, folding her green-feathered wings neatly against her back. Despite her small stature, she commanded the space with an air of professionalism. “Thank you for your time,” she began, her voice steady. Hawks was used to her being strict and no-nonsense, but something about her demeanor now was different—softer, perhaps, and more thoughtful.

“Of course,” Hawks replied, feeling a slight shift in the atmosphere. He leaned casually against the wall, crossing his arms, “What’s on your mind?”

Hummingbird paused, gathering her thoughts before she spoke. “I’ve been watching Halcyon since I've come back. Her behavior, her mannerisms—there’s something I’ve noticed, something I feel is important to address," she said carefully.

Hawks furrowed his brow, genuinely curious. He knew Halcyon had a knack for rubbing people the wrong way, but Hummingbird’s tone suggested she had picked up on something deeper. “Go on,” he said.

“Is she receiving any help for her DID?” Hummingbird asked, her sharp gaze fixing on Hawks.

He blinked, momentarily stunned. “You… noticed it too?” he asked.

Hummingbird nodded, her expression unreadable. “It wasn’t hard to recognize once I paid attention. She’s not just being difficult for the sake of it. The way she switches personalities—between her forms specifically. It’s too distinct to be an act. If it was, she would’ve slipped up by now.”

Hawks exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. He hadn’t expected anyone, least of all Hummingbird, to pick up on Halcyon’s dissociative identity disorder so quickly. It had taken him months to fully understand it, and even longer to realize that Halcyon was barely aware of it being an issue herself.

“She isn't,” Hawks finally said, his voice low, "I'd like to, but you know how she is—doesn’t trust easily, and she fights help every step of the way.”

Hummingbird nodded again, absorbing his words before she continued. “I believe that's also part of the problem," she said, "She’s still acting as if she needs to fight every day, as if the world’s out to get her.”

Hawks frowned, his gaze shifting down the hall where Halcyon had disappeared. “Yeah," he sighed, "She’s always on edge, always defensive. But she’s been through a lot. Can’t blame her for it.”

“I’m not blaming her,” Hummingbird replied softly, and Hawks was surprised by the compassion in her voice. She took a breath before continuing, her eyes narrowing slightly as she spoke. “What I’m saying is that her behavior—the abrasiveness, the defensiveness—it’s her way of coping. She doesn’t understand yet that her life isn’t in danger anymore. She’s still in survival mode. And that’s not going to change unless someone helps her realize it.”

Hawks was silent for a moment, letting her words sink in. He hadn’t expected this level of understanding from Hummingbird, of all people. Sure, she was observant and strict, but this kind of emotional insight was new. He glanced at her, brow furrowed. “You really see all that? I didn’t think you had much sympathy for people like her.”

Hummingbird’s expression softened, her wings lowering slightly as she glanced away for a moment. “I didn’t,” she admitted quietly. “Not before… well, before I was locked up. I hadn't seen people clearly until I'd been on the other side with them. Villains, I mean. A lot of them aren’t bad people. They’re just lost, confused, or stuck in survival mode—like Halcyon. They’ve spent so long thinking the world is out to get them that they don’t know how to be anything else.”

“I see,” Hawks said slowly, nodding, “I guess you’ve been thinking about this for a while, huh?”

“I have,” Hummingbird replied, meeting his gaze again, “I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure. But I’m bringing it up now because of Halcyon’s antics—they can’t continue the way they do. Not just because it’s dangerous, but because it's still hurting her. She can’t keep living like she’s at war with everyone around her.”

Hawks sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I know. Believe me, I know," he chuckled darkly, "She’s been a handful since day one. But it’s hard to get her to see that she needs help. She doesn’t trust anyone enough to let them in.”

“That’s why we need to push her,” Hummingbird said firmly, her voice taking on that no-nonsense tone Hawks was more familiar with, “She needs to understand that if she wants to be a hero, she has to behave a certain way. There are standards. But more than that, she needs to realize that she’s not alone anymore. She doesn’t have to fight by herself.”

Hawks looked at her, surprised yet again by the compassion laced in her words. He had always seen Hummingbird as strict, maybe even harsh at times, but this side of her… this was something new. Something he hadn’t expected.

“I didn’t think you’d be the one to say all this,” he admitted, a half-smile forming on his lips, “But I’m glad you did. I’ve been trying to help her, but maybe I’ve been too easy on her. Maybe I’ve let her get away with too much because I know what she’s been through.”

Hummingbird’s gaze softened as she nodded. “It’s easy to do that when you care about someone. But sometimes, caring means being firm. She needs that from you, Hawks. She needs to know that someone’s there to guide her, not just put up with her.”

Hawks sighed again, but this time it was lighter, as if some of the weight had been lifted. “You’re right. I’ll talk to her. But uhhh... I’m gonna need more help too. She’s… well, you know how she is with me sometimes.”

Hummingbird gave a small smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling slightly. “Yes, well young love can be complicated.”

Hawks felt the heat creeping up his neck and onto his cheeks and he mumbled, "That is not what I meant."

Hummingbird straightened up, changing the subject, "In any case, as a group we'll all need to be more firm with her. I am no stranger to playing the bad guy, so I'll take the lead. We'll get this girl together whether she likes it or not."

· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·

Hawks leaned casually against the doorframe of Halcyon’s room, watching as Hummingbird paced in front of Halcyon, her tiny wings fluttering as she gave orders. The small woman’s voice was sharp but calm, the tone of a mother scolding a child. Meanwhile, Halcyon stood with her arms crossed, glaring defiantly at Hummingbird, her room a mess of scattered clothes and empty cans. Hawks had seen it before, but Hummingbird’s determination to make her clean up was… unexpected.

“You have to clean up this mess,” Hummingbird said, her voice steady and unwavering.

“It’s just my room,” Halcyon shot back, her eyes narrowing, “It doesn't matter.”

Hummingbird’s expression didn’t falter. “It does matter. You need to take care of your space. It’s part of being a hero, part of being responsible. If you can’t even manage your own room, how can you manage out in the field?”

Halcyon’s fists clenched, and Hawks could feel the tension rising. He stayed quiet, just as Hummingbird had asked him to, though he was beginning to wonder why he was even there. He felt a bit useless, standing by as the two women faced off, his role reduced to “keeping the peace,” though he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to do that.

“You can’t make me do anything,” Halcyon growled, taking a step closer to Hummingbird. She towered over the small woman and not much else, but the threat was clear in her posture. “Don’t push me.”

Hawks tensed, ready to intervene if things escalated, but Hummingbird didn’t budge. She stood her ground, her small frame practically radiating authority. “I’m not pushing you. I’m telling you. Clean. Your. Room.”

Halcyon’s glare deepened, her green eyes burning with frustration. “I’m serious. Leave. Both of you.”

Hummingbird didn’t move, and Hawks felt the pressure of the moment growing, thickening the air in the room. “No,” Hummingbird replied simply. “I won’t.”

Halcyon’s hands dropped to her sides, fists balled as she gritted her teeth. “Stop treating me like a child!”

“Then stop acting like one,” Hummingbird shot back, her voice sharp as a knife.

The room fell into a heavy silence. Hawks kept his mouth shut, though inwardly he was impressed. Hummingbird had nerves of steel, standing there, unfazed, while Halcyon fumed in front of her. The tension stretched on for what felt like forever before Halcyon finally let out a frustrated huff, turning on her heel and storming out of the room.

The sound of her stomps echoed down the hallway, growing quieter with each step. Only once Halcyon was out of earshot did Hummingbird relax, her shoulders easing as she let out a small sigh. Hawks uncrossed his arms and took a step closer, unsure of what to say. “Well… that went about as well as expected,” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

To his surprise, Hummingbird didn’t respond. Instead, she immediately began searching through Halcyon’s things, moving with purpose as she rifled through piles of clothes, old boxes, and random trinkets. Hawks blinked, confused. “Uh, what are you doing?”

Hummingbird didn’t look up, her movements precise as she opened the closet and started pulling items out. She rummaged deeper into the closet until, finally, she stopped, her hands still. "I thought so," she said softly.

Hawks stepped forward, peering over her shoulder. Inside the closet, hidden beneath a pile of clothes and junk, was a stash of empty liquor bottles—more than he expected. His eyes widened as the realization hit him. He even recognized some of the bottles as his own, including the one he had caught Halcyon trying to sneak out of his penthouse a few weeks back. A cold chill settled in his chest.

“Hummingbird…” he began, his voice low, uncertain. “How'd you know?”

Hummingbird nodded, her face calm but grave. “I suspected. The mood swings, the defiance—it’s all signs of something more than just anger and DID. I thought maybe it was stress, but now… now I’m sure. She’s been hiding this for a while.”

Hawks exhaled, staring at the bottles. He glanced at Hummingbird, his mind racing. “So… what do we do?”

Hummingbird stood up, brushing off her hands as she met his gaze. “We let it go for now. Pushing her on this right away will only make things worse. We need to focus on building some kind of stability for her first. Then we can deal with the drinking.”

Hawks nodded, though his chest tightened at the thought. Halcyon was difficult enough on a good day. Tackling her alcoholism, on top of everything else, felt like an impossible task. “You think she’ll even listen to us?” he asked, doubtful.

“She will,” Hummingbird said firmly, “But only if she feels like she has some control. We have to be patient with her.”

Hawks sighed, glancing around the room, still cluttered with clothes and mess. “So… what’s the plan?”

“I’ll start by washing and folding her clothes,” Hummingbird said, already moving toward the pile. She started gathering the scattered garments into a neat stack, her movements quick and efficient. “And you,” she added, glancing at him, “are going to get her some furniture. A proper bed frame, a dresser, maybe a chair or two. I’m not letting her live like this any longer. She’s not a barbarian.”

Hawks blinked, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You’re really not giving her a choice, are you?”

“No,” Hummingbird replied with a faint smile of her own, “She’ll complain, but she’ll get over it. She needs structure and she needs people who care enough to give it to her, even when she doesn’t want it.”

Hawks nodded, feeling a strange sense of gratitude toward the tiny woman as she continued to work, folding Halcyon’s clothes with care.

"Anything else you need me to get?" Hawks asked, helping her collect the clothes off the floor.

"No, this is fine for now," she said, just before her lips set into a thin line as she concentrated.

· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·

Hawks sprinted down the hallway, his heart pounding, though not from exertion but from the mental exhaustion of wrangling Halcyon. He needed Kiwi. Kiwi had a knack for diffusing situations, especially when it came to Halcyon. But more than that, she was just… strong. And he needed someone with that level of muscle right now.

As he approached the break room, Hawks skid around the corner with a flurry of feathers, almost tripping over his own boots in his haste. Kiwi was lounging in a chair, casually flipping through a magazine, her legs kicked up on the table. She looked up as he burst in, her round caramel eyes widening at his disheveled state.

“Oi, what’s got your feathers in a twist?” she asked, one eyebrow arching as a grin tugged at the corners of her lips. She already looked amused, like she knew this was going to be good.

“Kiwi!” Hawks blurted, slightly out of breath, “I need your help. Like, right now. Emergency.”

Kiwi leaned back, crossing her arms as her grin widened. “An emergency? At Nest?" she said with a chuckle, "Something that's got you all fluffed up too? Color me interested."

Hawks narrowed his eyes, not appreciating the glint of amusement in hers. “Stop laughing. This is serious," he grunted.

Kiwi threw her legs off the table and stood, the height difference between them suddenly very noticeable as she loomed over him. “Alright, alright," she nodded, "Lead the way, boss man.”

Without wasting another second, Hawks turned on his heel and practically flew back down the hallway, with Kiwi right behind him. It didn’t take long before the sounds of muffled cursing reached their ears—Halcyon’s voice, loud and livid, mixed with Hummingbird’s calm but firm tone.

Kiwi shot Hawks a questioning glance as they reached Halcyon’s room, the door slightly ajar. “What’s going on in there?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” Hawks muttered, bracing himself.

Pushing the door open, the scene inside was exactly what Hawks had expected—but somehow worse. Hummingbird, ever the picture of patience, was standing with a pair of scissors in her hand, trying to cut Halcyon’s unruly, tousled hair. But Halcyon, true to form, was making it nearly impossible, squirming in the chair like a child avoiding a shot at the doctor’s office. The furniture in the break room was up turned from the initial chaos and how Hummingbird had managed to get Halcyon back in the chair, Hawks would never figure out.

“Stop moving!” Hummingbird snapped, her tiny wings buzzing in irritation as she tried to grab a handful of Halcyon’s hair.

“Fuck off!” Halcyon growled, batting Hummingbird’s hand away, “I can cut my own damn hair!”

“You most certainly cannot,” Hummingbird retorted sharply, “Last time you tried, you left half of it uneven and then wore a hood for a month to hide it. If you think I didn't see that while I was in prison, you underestimated me.”

Kiwi, standing in the doorway beside Hawks, snorted, “Oh, this is good.”

Halcyon shot Kiwi a venomous glare. “What the hell are you laughing at?” she gritted.

Kiwi just chuckled, arms folded over her chest, “You, obviously. Don't like Mama cutting your hair?”

Halcyon rolled her eyes and turned back to Hummingbird, the fight far from over. “I don’t care. I’ll cut it myself, and if it looks like shit, I’ll just deal with it. Let me go.”

“Absolutely not,” Hummingbird said firmly, her grip on the scissors tightening, “You’ve already made a mess of yourself. Now sit still.”

Halcyon crossed her arms defiantly, glaring daggers at the small woman, her lips curling into a snarl, “You’re not my mother. I don’t need you hovering over me.”

Hummingbird’s wings fluttered in irritation, but before she could reply, Kiwi stepped forward with a grin, “Need some help?”

Hummingbird, looking more relieved than she probably wanted to admit, glanced over at Kiwi. “Please. She’s being impossible," she said with a click of her tongue.

Without missing a beat, Kiwi strode over and, with a casual ease that only someone with her level of strength could manage, placed her hands firmly on Halcyon’s shoulders, pinning her to the chair.

“What the hell!?” Halcyon sputtered, trying to wriggle free, but Kiwi’s grip was ironclad, “Traitor!! Let me go!”

“Not until you let Hummingbird cut your hair,” Kiwi replied cheerfully, clearly enjoying herself, “You’re making this way harder than it needs to be.”

Halcyon glared up at Kiwi, her frustration evident. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” she growled.

Kiwi grinned wider, “Oh, absolutely.”

“Traitors,” Halcyon muttered, her eyes darting to Hawks, who was standing by the door, trying (and failing) to look innocent. "Birdy, are you seriously just going to stand there and let this happen?”

Hawks raised his hands in mock surrender, backing toward the door slowly. “Hey, you’re on your own here. I know better than to get in the middle of this," he said with a smirk.

“You’re such a coward,” Halcyon snapped, her eyes narrowing at his apparent betrayal.

“Yup,” Hawks replied with a grin, his wings fluttering as he retreated further, “Good luck.”

· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·

Later that afternoon, Hawks strolled past the front steps of Nest HQ, his wings lightly brushing the air with each step. He had just finished up paperwork and was thinking about grabbing something to eat when he spotted a familiar figure sulking outside. Halcyon sat on the steps, knees pulled up, glaring at nothing in particular with an unmistakable pout on her face. Her freshly trimmed hair fell neatly around her shoulders, though the frown she wore threatened to undo any semblance of composure.

Hawks couldn't help but smile as he approached her. “Hey,” he called casually, his tone light, “Nice haircut.”

Halcyon’s eyes flicked up to meet his for a brief second, then immediately turned away, her lips pressing into a tighter line. She huffed in response, clearly still not over the earlier incident. “Don’t patronize me," she grumbled.

“I’m not,” Hawks insisted, feigning innocence as he sat down beside her, though he kept his distance, “I’m serious. It looks good on you.”

She scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest, “Whatever.”

For a moment, Hawks simply observed her in silence, watching as she fidgeted with the black parole bracelet strapped tightly around her wrist. She twisted it around absently, the slight clink of the device a constant reminder of her confinement. Finally, after a beat, he asked, “So, why are you sitting out here?”

Halcyon didn’t answer immediately, choosing instead to rattle the bracelet for emphasis. The quiet clinking said more than words ever could. Hawks nodded in understanding, glancing down at her wrist. The bracelet symbolized more than just her parole—it was a tether, a reminder that her life wasn’t entirely her own.

He leaned back on his hands, looking up at the sky, giving her space. “Yeah, that thing’s pretty annoying, huh?”

She didn’t respond, just stared straight ahead, but there was a flicker of something behind her eyes—resentment, maybe. Frustration. Whatever it was, it wasn’t as buried as it usually was.

After another beat of silence, Hawks asked, “Wanna get out of here?”

Halcyon finally turned her head, eyeing him suspiciously. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said, shrugging. “We could blow off some steam, take a break from all the... you know,” he gestured vaguely back toward the building, where Kiwi and Hummingbird were no doubt still discussing her like she wasn’t fully capable of hearing every word. “Hummingbird and all that fun stuff. Just take a walk, fly around a bit—whatever you need.”

Her eyes narrowed, as if she was trying to figure out what game he was playing. Hawks could see the hesitation there. Trust wasn’t something Halcyon gave easily, if at all, and she wasn’t one to let her guard down without a reason. Still, there was a flicker of something—curiosity, maybe. Or the desire for a little bit of freedom, however brief.

“And why would you want to do that?” she asked, her tone challenging, but not as biting as usual.

Hawks shrugged again, keeping his tone casual, even though his mind was already racing with ideas. “I dunno, maybe I just want to hang out. Maybe I figure you’ve been through enough today and deserve to blow off some steam.” He tilted his head toward her, giving her a soft smile, “Or maybe I’m just hoping to spend some time with you.”

Halcyon looked away, her brow furrowing, clearly still suspicious. But she didn’t shoot him down outright, which was a win in Hawks�� book. He waited, letting the offer hang in the air, hoping she would take it.

After a long, tense moment, she sighed, the sound heavy with reluctance. “Fine,” she muttered, pushing herself off the step, “But if you start annoying me, I’m out.”

Hawks grinned, rising to his feet. “Deal.”

They started walking, Hawks leading her toward the back exit of Nest HQ where the courtyard opened up into a wide expanse, perfect for a quiet flight or stroll. The sky was painted with the last hues of the setting sun, streaks of pink and orange softening the usual harshness of the city skyline.

As they walked, Hawks kept his hands in his pockets, occasionally sneaking glances at Halcyon out of the corner of his eye. She was quieter than usual, though that wasn’t entirely uncommon for her. Still, there was something about the way she carried herself—her shoulders weren’t as tense, her steps weren’t as aggressive. It was as if she was allowing herself, even for a brief moment, to relax.

After a few minutes, Hawks broke the silence. “You know,” he said, his tone light, “you can tell me to shut up anytime if I'm just yappin' at you. I won’t be offended.”

Halcyon snorted, “Yeah, right.”

“No, seriously,” Hawks insisted with a grin. “I’ve been told I talk too much. Figured I’d give you the chance to throw a punch if you need to.”

She side-eyed him, her lips twitching ever so slightly.

Hawks chuckled, feeling the tension between them ease, if only a little. He could tell that she was still guarded, but there was a crack in the wall she’d built around herself. It was small, but it was there.

As they walked, Hawks kept the conversation light, letting her dictate the pace. He didn’t push her to talk, but he hoped that maybe she would open up a little more. He’d caught glimpses of the real Halcyon before—the gentleness and the occasional flashes of vulnerability—but they were fleeting, always buried beneath layers of sarcasm and anger.

Maybe tonight, he’d catch another glimpse.

⤶ Prev Main Next ↪

#fanfiction #writing #a03 fanfic #hawks #bnha hawks #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #takami keigo

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abyssaloite · 2 years ago

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uhhh forgot to post this but (revamps my oldest splatoon oc)

shes also agent 3/captain !! their outfit is a bit modified to my aesthetic bc shes my sona in a way so lolol

#shes here and shes already out of commission by the end of wave 1 in salmon run #xinocs #hydra valentine #splatoon oc #splatoon #oc art

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2jaeh · 4 years ago

Text

FREAKS THE PREQUEL : TAEYONG X TEN X READER

genre: smut, humor

warnings: poly themes, alcohol, some drug use, threesome, oral M and F receiving, semi-public, fxm, mxm, just a lot of smut related tags tbh

word count : 11,8 K

AUTHOR SIN

Everyone had heard of you but where did the story begin ?

This is the prequel to FREAKS (Jaehyun x reader) a story of why the entire campus were almost certain that you Taeyong and Ten were in a poly affair.

A/N: before anyone asks I will be doing a part two of Freaks w Jaehyun, I needed to get this part out first! Also commissions are open on my fiverr and let me know in my inbox what you think of this series!

0. Prequel

1. Freaks pt 1

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You always wondered what it was like to fit in. Whether people rarely stared, that It didn’t matter what music you listened to or how you dressed as long as you followed the quota you were good. But four months into university made you quickly realise that it wasn’t easy making friends as people made it out to be. Being in the art department, you took notice of a few people that met your requirements but after an exchange or two the conversation fell flat and it would feel like you were back to square one.

You sat your sketchbook down on the wooden table situated at the back of the fine arts classroom and slumped into the chair waiting for class to begin. Your eyes watched every person that sauntered through those indigo doors. Hippies, wannabe tattoo artists, rich kids who took art just to prove they’re cultured, and the ones who weren’t worth remembering.

“Today we will explore life drawings so pull out the items I asked you to collect and partner up with the person seated next to you” your lecturer clapped his hands as the classroom filled with shuffling of seats and small greetings.

You turned to your left and noticed a black haired boy with a mullet cut passed out on the desk. You had seen him at a few parties but you’ve only exchanged less than a sentence with him.

Grabbing your pencil you poked his exposed arm until he groaned and stretched his arms out in front of him yawning, “Are we done already ?”

“We just started, and were partners” you faked a smile and shifted your desk closer to him.

“Oh shit sorry, you’re y/n right ?” He asked, his voice was soft and friendly. His cat-like eyes blinked cutely as he adjusted his loose shirt and turned his body to face you, “you were at Jungwoo’s party last week.”

“Oh yeah I was” you chuckled scratching the back of your head, “You…are Ten Lee, I remember your strip club design project. It was pretty awesome”

Ten’s eyes lit up at your words and you felt a sense of warmth emanating from him. It felt genuine unlike most people on this campus and you couldn’t believe it took you this long to even talk to him.

“I tend to see how far I can go before the faculty calls my parents in” he snickered and began pulling out his drawing equipment from his overly decorated tote bag. You mimicked his actions and in turn pulled out the items your lecturer had asked you to collect. Personal trinkets he said, three items that you think represented you.

You looked around at the nearby desks and noticed a lot of the same items placed on everyone's desk. Candles, AirPods, tea boxes, vinyls and anything else you would find on ‘art hoe Tumblr 101’. You annoyingly rolled your eyes as you looked down at your own equipment.

A rusty old key you had found in your room, the cigarette butt of the last one you smoked since you’d quit, and of course the grand finale, an anime figurine of a woman with boobs bigger than her head. Perfect.

“Hentai is…..your identifier ?” Ten stifled his laughter as he grabbed the figurine from your desk and closely examined her clothing, or lack thereof.

“I actually stole that from the store my ex worked at but yeah we can go with that, what is yours ?”

You watched Ten remove the items from his bag and your eyes widened at one item in particular, “dude is that a vibrator ?” You questioned and Ten grinned, holding up the palm sized gadget and switched it on briefly before turning it off and flinging it on his desk, “yeah I identify strongly with it” he shrugged.

“How exactly?” You quizzed him as the boy, still poker faced, played with the rings on his fingers.

“Vibrators pleasure people, and I do the same, there's no lore to it y/n”

“Good to know I guess” you pressed your lips together and you felt Ten tug on your arm until his lips were against your ear,

“You wanna skip and try it out in the bathroom ?”

———————————————————————————————————

You had no idea what the fuck was going on but within minutes you and Ten were walking down the hall to the nearest bathroom after he explained to the lecturer that the two of you had to hand in a business assignment a couple doors down. Ten pulled you into the girls bathroom and looked under each stall until he realised you two were the only ones in here.

“What the fuck is happening right now” you walked hand in hand with him into the last stall and leaned against the cold tiled wall.

“You about to get one of the best orgasms ever that's what” Ten bit down on his lip cheekily and found the slit of your floral skirt and pushed it to the side, revealing your black laced panties on full display for him.

As Ten’s fingers slowly began making its way to your core you smacked his hand, causing him to look up with wide eyes, “What ?”

“At least kiss me first, how am I supposed to get in the…mood?” Ten chuckled at your words and raised his hands amusingly, “Okay Okay I didn’t think this would be a whole ordeal”

You rolled your eyes and pulled Ten by his neck into a deep kiss that actually surprised the both of you. Each side was filled with lust as your tongue moved against his and fought for dominance. Ten pressed his body against you roughly, earning a moan from both of you once you felt your bodies connect in the most passionate way. Kissing him was different, It completely changed the way you looked and felt about him. He went from being the cute cat boy in your class to probably one of the sexiest people you had ever met. Ten roughly bit your lip and smirked into the kiss when he felt your nails dig into his shoulder. He quickly used the opportunity to slip his hands in-between your legs which you politely parted for him and ran a finger over your core.

“Oh shit” you breathed against his lips as he moved the material out of the way and slipped his finger inside with ease. His finger moved slowly in and out of you while his lips were still attached to yours not missing a second of that mouth-watering kiss. You had no idea when his finger was replaced with the vibrator but the sensation made you break away from the kiss and throw your head back in ecstasy, not knowing when was the last time you even felt like this. The combination of Ten’s wet kisses on your neck and the vibrator completely destroying you, it was happening. The orgasm of the fucking century was approaching. You would like to believe that you were only at your breaking point because you hadn’t hooked up with anyone in a while not because Ten was this good. But he was. He was fucking amazing and this was just a taste, just an introduction to him.

Ten increased the speed of the vibrator until your legs were shaking and clasped his hand over your mouth to prevent the whole department from hearing you coming undone.

“Fuck..” You sighed, holding onto his shoulders for support as you tried catching your breath, “yeah the whole pleasure analogy between you and the vibrator….I get it.”

“Glad to be of service” Ten stuck his tongue in his cheek and began neatening his outfit before hooking arms with you and walking out of the bathroom. You already had no intention of going back to class anytime soon so the two of you ended up wandering the halls of the pristine campus, hoping the day would pass away.

“Y/n” you heard a voice call from behind you, not your favourite voice in the world.

“Fuck” you sighed and turned around, watching the tall black haired man make his way over to you. You watched a cocky smile spread across his face as he came over, his tall frame standing over you and Ten.

“What do you want Jinyoung ?” you asked, raising your eyebrow at him and folded your arms.

The boy bit down on his lip and moved his hair out of his face, “I just came to say hi y/n do you have to be so rude ?” He scoffed and raised his eyebrow at Ten, “got a new boy toy ?”

“What Ten and I do is honestly none of your business” you responded coldly, Ten immediately putting two and two together and stifled a laughter before smiling up at Jinyoung,

“Oh you’re the ex boyfriend ? Is this the one who finishes in 10 seconds ?” Tens words caught you off guard causing you to let out a chuckle and Jinyoung to shift uncomfortably in his spot. He tried his best to stay composed but his red ears told a different story.

“That’s probably someone else, you know she’s been around the block” he licked his lips and folded his arms across his chest.

“Anyway do you want something ? We gotta go back to class” you rolled your eyes and rested your head on Tens shoulder.

“Come out with me tonight, you know I always get guestlist to varsity parties” Jinyoung said and Ten waved his hand in front of his face startling Jinyoung, “I have plans with her, so maybe next time” Ten pulled you down the hall before Jinyoung could get in another word. You couldn’t help but turn back and take in his dumbstruck frame as the two of you furthered away from him and headed back to class.

“We have plans ?” You asked as the two of you slipped back into your seats and Ten propped his legs up on the table and leaned back,

“Yeah there’s a party at that guy Wooyoung's place tonight and we’re going” Ten stretched his arms above his head, “wear something sexy so I’m not standing out.”

————————————————————————-

Of Course listening to Tens words and knowing the kind of closet you were working with it wasn’t that hard to not stand out. You opted for a cute little baby blue mini dress that was tight enough to show off your curves and a pair of holographic combat boots. Your favourite part was always getting to match your eye make up to your outfit. Drawing on an intricate design that accentuated your big round eyes almost made you doll-like.

You retrieved your phone and noticed you received a text from Ten, who had already updated an outfit pic on story. A very low buttoned down black shirt and black shiny pants that had a fucking garter around his leg ?

Yeah he was hot and the both of you knew it.

You grabbed the last of your things and made your way downstairs to Ten who was waiting at the dorm house entrance. Unconsciously biting on your lip you were welcomed by his slender figure posted up against the fence with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He looked straight out of a movie.

“God finally….holy shit you look hot!” He whistled and pulled you into a tight hug before pulling you into a kiss and grabbed your waist. The kiss was indeed surprising even though earlier that day he was practically fucking your brains out.

His lips were soft and sweet, laced with a hint of the menthol cigarette from earlier. Ten finally pulled away and he gave your ass a cheeky squeeze before handing you his half burnt cigarette,

“Let’s have a wild fucking night then shall we ?”

Taking the cigarette from him you took a drag and blew the smoke up into the air forgetting about your sobriety and watched it disappear in the night sky, “let’s go.”

The night was cold but quite a few people were all over the residence roads, making their way to various parties or down to the bars where the rowdiness had already begun.

“Shit I really should’ve brought something to pre drink” Ten sighed and pulled out his phone.

“Who are you texting ?” You asked, trying to match his quick footsteps as yall began nearing the busy part of the street.

“Yuta, you know that tattoo guy ? He always has a bottle on him” Ten explained as you followed him into a narrow corner and saw a group of people gathered at the steps of the building. You noticed a few people from your department hanging around but the most noticeable person was in fact Yuta Nakamoto. His long black hair, pierced ears and tatted up body was hard to miss. You got a tattoo from him once and it almost ended with him making out with you on his work desk.

But that was a story both of you agreed to forget.

“Ten and y/n, weird combination but I’m not really surprised, what’s up ?” Yuta grinned and handed Ten the bottle of vodka while pulling you into a quick hug.

“Yeah it’s called matching each other’s energy” Ten winked at you and took a shot of vodka straight out of the bottle before handing it to you. You eyed the clear bottle up and down knowing your kidneys were screaming at you right now but fuck you hated walking into a party without a slight buzz going. You took the bottle and took a shot before wincing at the bitter taste and the fiery sensation that was now running down your throat. “You ready ?” Ten grinned holding out his hand and you placed your hand in his, nodding a thank you to Yuta and his friends before entering the chaotic party.

There were people of all kinds inside. Some from your department, some from God knows where. All you could see were lingering eyes on you and Ten as you stepped inside. Some people made it obvious that they were staring, hoping that maybe you’d strike up a conversation with them. Others just peeked and gossiped amongst their friends as they stared at the outfits that you and Ten adorned.

“What else do you expect from people who sleep around with drug dealers” you and Ten overheard a girl say as the two of you made your way over the kitchen for drinks.

“Drug Dealers ? Geez that’s the first” Ten scoffed and sifted for a cider in the cooler.

“None of that bothers you does it ?” You smiled, intrigued as the cat-eyed boy barely noticed a few people checking him out from behind the counter.

Ten handed you a drink and leaned up against the counter taking a sip of the cold liquid before shrugging,

“Why should I let it bother me ? It’s not like their lives are interesting that I want to fit in with them, I mean their lives revolve around talking shit about me” Ten giggled and took another sip of his drink.

His confidence was extremely attractive and his words resonated with you. It made you wonder if maybe you thought too much about it at times even though you didn’t care to conform to society norms of an average varsity student. Hanging out with Ten for just one day already gave you more life, more energy than anyone prior in your university. Ten wasn’t hesitant to show you that he felt the same way either. To him it was fate that he had sat next to you earlier today because he finally found someone worth keeping his attention.

“There’s something about you y/n I just feel like we get each other” he scratched his head and looked over at you, “it’s so easy just hanging out with you without feeling so fucking drained.”

“I feel the exact same way, like don’t get me wrong I like hanging out with the likes of Yuta and that guy Hendery in our class, but it’s different with you” You grabbed Tens hand and he squeezed your hand tightly,

“Here’s to tolerating only each other.”

You and Ten toasted and downed the last of the cider before heading to the dance floor filled with people who either despised you or wanted to be you.

As the two of you danced it felt like the room was moving in slow motion, the mixture of the smoke filled room to the loud music and alcohol in your system made you feel euphoric. As you danced the night away, you had no idea when you and Ten had separated on the dance floor but a sudden tug on your arm snapped you out of your daydream to face a harsh reality.

Jinyoung.

“Please leave me alone” you groaned as he wrapped his arms around your waist and placed his mouth against your ear,

“Baby I’m sorry when are we going to put all that shit behind us ?” He groaned, slipping his hands to your sides and squeezed gently.

“You cheated on me asshole did you forget ?” You shrugged out of his grip and pushed by the bodies of people trying to make your way to the backyard for fresh air.

The small garden was filled with people having intimate conversations and someone throwing up in a bush at the back. Normal house party shenanigans.

You rolled your eyes when you noticed Jinyoung had followed you out already trying to put his hands on you once again. “Would you stop ? Why don’t you run after the girl you had in your bed when we were together” you spat and headed for a bench.

“You know what, keep resisting, that’s why your ass is sitting here alone” Jinyoung retorted and pushed his way back into the party.

You groaned and sat on the empty seat far away from the party, finally able to hear yourself think and breath in fresh air. You were about to slip back into a calmer state when you felt someone drop in the seat next to you and as your thoughts expected it was Jinyoung, it ended up being a boy you had never seen before.

“Hi, sorry I didn’t mean to startle you” the boy said, his big round eyes sparkled under the night sky. His body was petite like Ten but he was broader in the shoulder department and had the most innocent face you’d ever seen.

“Oh it’s not a problem” you replied, still taking in his striking features. The boy brought a small metal flask to his lips and took a shot before offering the drink to you,

“It’s tequila” he smiled and you mouthed a thank you before shooting back a bit of the drink and handed it back to him.

“I’m y/n….I haven’t seen you around before” you quizzed as the boy set down his flask and ran his fingers through his blonde hair.

“I’m Taeyong, I’m actually new here” he replied and wet his lips with his tongue, “I’ll start in the art and design department on Monday.”

“I’m in that department, well welcome to hell” you grinned and held out your hand. Taeyong grinned and took your hand in his and gave you a firm handshake before scooting closer. As much as you convinced yourself he had the most adorable and innocent face you’d ever seen, there was a hint of mischief in his eyes.

“I just came here to get drunk and get laid but like everyone’s looking at me weird” Taeyong goofily laughed and you joined in, “can’t help you there, I’ve been in that position for a few months now” Taeyongs eyebrows raised at your words and jumped to his feet, holding out his hand for you to take,

“We both have nothing better to do so let’s get wasted.”

You and Taeyong set up a couple shots and downed everything in one go, not bothering about anyone around you or what they had to say. Taeyong was hilarious, his face was animated as he talked which made you laugh, something about him drew you in like a moth to a flame.

The two of you went from casual talk to dancing together and you didn’t mind the closeness, especially when he danced so fucking well against your body. You had no idea when it happened but Taeyong had spun you to face him while the two of you danced and your bodies were practically merged together as Taeyongs lips inched closer and closer until you felt him practically getting dragged away.

“Yo what the fuck man” Taeyong shouted as Jinyoung had a fist full of Taeyongs shirt and escorted him outside. A few people pushed past you to see the commotion before you processed what the hell had just happened.

Making your way through the curious crowd you watched as Taeyong and Jinyoung squared up in the middle of the garden for everyone to see.

“What the hell are you doing with my girl, man ?” Jinyoung shoved Taeyong who stumbled back, the alcohol not helping his balance in any way. You rushed toward them as Taeyong found his footing and pushed Jinyoung right back, he was definitely way stronger than he looked.

“Jinyoung I’m not your girl you moron” you snapped and tried to stand in front of Taeyong before things got any worse.

Jinyoung scoffed and took a step forward, challenging you but you stood your ground even though your head was spinning from the amount of alcohol in your system.

“You’re defending this nobody ? Y/n you’ve really hit rock bottom now haven’t you ?” Jinyoung said, loud enough for every person to hear. This was one of his traits that you hated most.

Gaslighting.

When Jinyoung knew he had lost you it resulted in insults, manipulation, making you feel like you needed him more than he needed you. But it never worked and it drove him insane.

“Hey it’s not her fault she decided to drop the dead weight in her life” Taeyong shrugged and took a step forward, “don’t worry I’ll make sure she gets satisfied in any way she wants.”

Before you could even respond Jinyoung swung at Taeyong, hitting him right in the jaw before two other men stepped in and held him back. You rushed over to check on Taeyong who instead of showing signs of anger or pain, was laughing.

Laughing with a bruise on the side of his jaw, unphased by what had just happened. Jinyoung muttered curses as the guys dragged him away from the garden and the crowds of people finally dispersed, unsatisfied with the lackluster of the fight.

“Are you okay ?” You sighed helping him up and took him to the side of the house where it was more secluded from the public. You shone your phone light to get a better look at his bruise and Taeyong winced at both the sudden light and the throb from the hit.

“I’m fine I’m fine, it’s really okay” he chuckled and leaned against the wall pulling you with until you were inches away from his face.

You had no idea why, especially considering you just saw him get hit in the face, you leaned in to kiss him. Whether it be the alcohol or the adrenaline from the fight you just found Taeyong to be so goddamn hot in this moment. Taeyong moaned into the kiss as he slipped his tongue into your mouth and massaged circles on your lower back. Your lips moved against his slowly and passionately, smirking into the kiss when he bit down on your lip cheekily.

“God there you are”

Your kiss quickly broke when you heard the high tone of Tens voice and he made his way over to you and Taeyong.

“What the hell happened, I heard that idiot Jinyoung was harassing you again and-“ Tens eyes turned to Taeyong against the wall and pointed to him with his index finger, “who the heck is this ?”

“Uh this is Taeyong, he helped me with the Jinyoung issue” you scratched your head and Taeyong half waved at Ten before clutching his jaw.

“Uhm okay” Ten pressed his lips together, “let’s go back to my dorm I’ve had enough of these Neanderthals...Taeyong you can come too.”

————————————————————————-

The three of you finally arrived at Ten’s dorm in silence. You and Taeyong shifted awkwardly in the middle of Ten’s bedroom, not knowing exactly what to do. Looking around you noticed Ten had an eye for interior design. His furniture was quite outlandish for a dorm room yet it was surprisingly homey.

“God please sit or do something you guys are making me uncomfortable” Ten groaned, kicking off his boots and discarding his shirt. Taeyong opted for the office chair near Ten’s desk and you took a seat at the very edge of Ten’s single sleeper while he lay on his back next to you on his phone.

“You guys like sushi ? I'm feeling for sushi” Ten hummed scrolling through a food ordering app completely oblivious to the awkwardness that still sat in the room.

“Sushis good” you nodded,

“Yeah I don't mind either” Taeyong added but winced when he felt the sharp, still very prominent pain in his jaw.

“Ten you got an ice pack or something ?” You sighed, jumping off the bed and rummaged through Ten’s mini fridge. “Yeah right at the back” Ten replied, still trying to place his order for the late night meal. You retrieved the ice pack and knelt down in front of Taeyong who smiled shyly as you placed the ice pack over his swollen jaw. Taeyong silently thanked you for your kindness and applied pressure to his jaw as you decided to take a seat beside his chair, to make him feel a little more comfortable in your friends bedroom.

“Okay” Ten threw his phone aside and sat up to look at the two of you with inquisitive eyes,” yall gonna tell me what happened here ?”

“Well I lost you on the dancefloor and Jinyoung found me” you began, Ten already rolling his eyes at the sound of Jinyoung’s name,

“I went outside and Taeyong approached me, he’s going to be starting at our department on Monday and he didn't know anybody, so I offered my friendship in a form of alcohol and having a good time” you smiled and Ten scoffed.

“Jinyoung saw you guys just drinking and decided to rearrange his face ?” Ten raised his eyebrow, he definitely knew there was more to it considering the two of you were sucking each other's faces off in a dark alley.

“Okay so we were quite close, and honestly does Jinyoung need any other reason ? He wanted to punch you this morning” you groaned.

“Yeah but I was literally fucking you in a bathroom stall with my vibrator y/n”

Taeyong’s eyes widened at Ten’s words and looked between the two of you frantically, “Wait you guys are together, I mean hooking up ? Why did you kiss me ?” he questioned while Ten just laughed it off and turned on his bluetooth speaker.

“Chill, we're not together you can have a little relationship if you want to” Ten smirked, stretching his arms above his head, “honestly if you wanna hook up now I like watching.”

“God shut up, and none of us want a relationship. We just got there to have fun and Jinyoung ruined everything” you groaned, leaning your head back against Taeyong’s leg as he finally returned to tend to his bruise.

“All this aside do you guys mind if I hang out with you ? you’re honestly the only fucking normal people on this campus” Taeyong pouted and you and Ten shared a quick glance before grinning from ear to ear.

“Okay he’s cute I get it” Ten sighed and held out his hand to Taeyong, “I'm Ten, y/n and I only started hanging out this morning, neither of us have close friends on campus and frankly everyone finds us annoying, welcome to the club.”

Taeyong smiled cutely and shook Ten’s hand, setting down his ice pack and got to his feet, “Well i'm Taeyong, I too don't give a shit what people have to say about me, I like doing whatever I want with whomever I want and I'm pretty sure after tonight people aren't gonna like me either, so I guess i'm in.”

Before you could even say your part to this little club initiation your phone began to blow up with message alerts and story updates from practically everyone on campus tagging you in a specific video.

“What the hell is going on ?” you frowned as you opened instagram and noticed that the account that everyone was tagging you in was a burner account with a few videos and two pictures. Ten and Taeyong stood on either side of you as you opened up the first video and noticed that it was taken in the hallway earlier that day with you and Ten linking arms. The second video was at the party, you and Ten dancing with each other and the video cutting to you and Taeyong dancing together. The last video on the account was a blurry video of you and Taeyong making out and Ten walking in, with the ending obviously being the three of you leaving together.

“Why is this account posting videos of us ?” Taeyong asked, noticing that he too was tagged by people who he didn't know at all. Ten pulled up the account on his own phone when the account refreshed and a new post appeared, this time it was text only.

“It's probably Jinyoung I’ll just call him and-” You were cut off by Ten grabbing your phone and tossing it on his bed, “dude what the hell ?” you protested but Ten silenced you with his finger.

“This is garbage right ? like what do our lives and how we live it got anything to do with any of these assholes ?” Ten bit down on his lip and looked between you and Taeyong, “They are so obsessed with us, wondering if the three of us are fucking right now ? really ? well let's give it to them.”

“You want the three of us to fuck ?” Taeyong quirked his eyebrow, his large eyes still hazy from the party.

“I want them to believe we are!” Ten grabbed Taeyong by his shoulders and looked back at you, “any publicity is good publicity. We get to be ourselves and we get to piss people off for free.”

“Would be pretty funny to see all of this blow up in Jinyoung's face honestly” you agreed, and Ten’s face lit up before moving his attention back to Taeyong, “What do you say pretty boy ?” Taeyong scratched his head and shrugged, “All this pretending and I don't get any action here ? doesn't feel like a win at all” You tried to hold in your laughter as Ten groaned at the blonde boy’s words and held his face between his hands before pulling him into a kiss, you watched Taeyong’s tense shoulders finally drop as he leaned more into the kiss and wrapped his hands lightly around Ten’s waist.

Ten pulled away and swiped Taeyong’s lips with his thumb, smiling at the doe-eyed boy, “we will have to make it convincing right ?”

“Okay im in” Taeyong smiled brightly and the three of you held hands in the middle of the bedroom, sharing mischievous glances with each other, anticipating the fucking whirlwind of chaos that was about to hit the campus.

“Good, well I guess the only thing left to do is upload our first post of the official poly club” Ten smirked and pulled the both of you onto his bed. Ten sat in between you and Taeyong and turned on the video mode of instagram stories. First he showed his face then turned to you, pulling you into a soft sensual kiss before moving to Taeyong next to him and did the same. After breaking the kiss with Taeyong, Ten nudged you to move over to the other side of him, putting you right onto Taeyongs lap. Ten focused on the two of you as you lifted Taeyong’s chin with your index finger and bit down on his lip, slightly pulling, teasing him as he brought his hand up to wrap around your neck. Ten zoomed in as you and Taeyong shared a very scandalous kiss for everyone to see. Your tongues darting in each other's mouth while the music drowned out your subtle moans.

“Done!” Ten chirped and uploaded his story, making sure to tag the burner account in every single clip. There was no going back now and every moment of this escapade excited you. The comfort you felt around Ten and Taeyong was something that you’d been craving for a long time. As cheesy as it was to say, and especially since it was only Day One, they felt like your soulmates.

“Man I fucking love this campus” Taeyong threw his head back and groaned while you and Ten burst out laughing.

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Monday quickly approached and as soon as you and Ten stepped on campus all eyes were on you. It gave you an incredible sense of confidence and you had no idea why. Heads turned with every step, everyone was whispering as the two of you walked hand in hand through the hallway keeping your head up high and not giving a shit about anyone. Taeyong was waiting for you guys at the end of the hall, adorning a buttoned down printed shirt and ripped jeans that snatched his waist in the right way. Taeyong was leaning against the wall with a lollipop in his mouth and dark sunglasses while everyone who passed him did a double take.

“Hey babes” he smirked and placed a kiss on your cheek and Tens before joining your walk towards your first class for the day.

It was so surreal going from everyone ignoring your existence to every single person watching the three of you, anticipating what was going to happen next. You found your seats in the middle of the lecture, giving everyone the best possible view of course. The professor cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and Ten tried to stifle a laughter as the people who stated they didn't give a shit about you guys clearly paid a lot of attention now.

“Give them a show bestie” Ten whispered in your ear before gesturing to Taeyong who sat on the other side of you, slumped down in his seat with his legs spread apart deliciously. You nodded and slowly reached over to Taeyong, caressing his thigh and he bit down on his lip while keeping his eyes on the lecture slides in front of him. You noticed two guys shuffling behind you and one pulled out his phone, waiting to record the next escapade of the campus’s new favourite stars.

You danced your fingers up Taeyong’s thigh and inched closer to rest your hand on his crotch as his breathing hitched. Leaning forward you made your movements less suspicious to the professor and everyone around you except the camera that was now focusing on your actions. Taeyong sunk further in the chair awaiting for you to quit teasing him and touch him where he needed you most. You obliged to his needs and palmed him through his jeans and you heard the guy behind you curse under his breath as you began rubbing Taeyong’s member. It felt so fucking powerful to do whatever you wanted after being so cautious on this campus for so long. The ironic part was all that shit about you being notorious on campus was a fucking lie. No you weren't a saint but you were not sleeping around every other day since you hated about 90% of the people that attended the university. Now with that burner account claiming to know more about your sex life than you did, what was holding you back now from doing what you wanted ?

Taeyong undid the button on his jeans and pulled down his zip enough for you to slip your hands inside his pants with ease. A gasp from Ten made a shiver run down your spine, coming to your senses that you were giving Taeyong a handjob in the middle of a 10am lecture.

“Shit he's walking up” you chuckled and pulled your hand out of Taeyong’s pants and quickly pretended to be involved in your studies as the professor began walking around the room. Taeyong groaned loud enough for most of the front row to turn around and look at him in annoyance.

“Is something wrong Mr Lee ?” The professor raised his eyebrow as Taeyong quickly redid his pants and hid his prominent boner from his professor.

“One of the questions is a little….hard” Taeyong groaned while you and Ten covered your mouths trying to hide your laughter.

The professor shook his head and went on his way as you and Ten watched Taeyong struggle with his boner for the next thirty minutes of the class. Finally the lecture wrapped up and as soon as the three of you made your way to the hallway you felt Taeyong tug on your arm and began leading you into the girls bathroom, into the nearest stall. A few girls in the bathroom frowned at Ten sauntering into the bathroom straight after, setting down his bag on the counter and began fiddling with his hair.

“Uh this is the girls bathroom ?” a girl snapped, folding her arms and made eye contact with Ten through the mirror.

“So what ? I saw a vag before love, and just because i'm a guy doesn't mean I want yours” Ten shrugged and the girl cursed and stormed out of the bathroom. Meanwhile your mouth was practically merged with Taeyong’s as he pressed his still very hard member against your stomach and nibbled on your bottom lip.

“Was giving me blue balls for thirty minutes worth all of that ?” Taeyong growled as he grabbed your ass roughly, causing you to moan in his mouth. “I'm sorry baby let me make it up to you” you purred and dropped to your knees while Taeyong braced himself against the ceramic wall for what’s to come.

You undid Taeyongs jeans and pulled it down along with his boxers, allowing his member to spring free still hard as ever. You looked up at him, eyes big as you began stroking him slowly before spitting on his tip in order to lubricate him.

“Fucking hell” Taeyong yelled.

A girl on the outside jumped at his words and looked back at the stall then looked at Ten, who was just waiting on the two of you.

“Exam season huh ?” Ten pressed his lips together as the awkward girl quickly dried her hands and rushed out of the bathroom as soon as possible.

You began bobbing your head on Taeyongs member, fully taking him until he reached the back of your throat causing you to gag. Taeyong marveled at the way your plump lips wrapped around his tip, he couldn't help but grab your hair and slowly pull you off him just to take in the sight of your messed up lipstick. You gave him a cheeky smirk before locking your hands behind your back and giving him full control of his movements. Taeyong took full control, his dark eyes narrowed and he sucked his bottom lip between his teeth before thrusting inside of you at a rapid pace. You felt your throat burn at the way he fucked your mouth rapidly but it turned you on so much that you waited until he finally came inside your mouth and you swallowed every bit of him. Taeyong pulled you to your feet and kissed you passionately, his tongue tasting remnants of himself.

“Thanks baby” Taeyong cooed in your ear before exiting the stall, stuffing himself back into his pants while a few girls looked at him absolutely horrified. You followed him, neatening your hair and washing off your mouth and borrowed a lip balm from Ten.

“Had fun you two ?” Ten smirked, leaning against the sink as you and Taeyong made yourself a little more presentable before making your way out of the bathroom. Upon exiting the three of you noticed the two guys who were filming in the lecture room quickly run after you.

“Don't we get the ending to what went down in the lecture room ?” the one boy snickered like an immature school child as his friend kept the camera on the three of you making your way out of the art department block,

“She swallowed, the end” Taeyong threw his arms around both you and Ten leaving both boys dumbstruck at his words.

You playfully nudged Taeyong who just shot you a cheeky smile as you made your way to a little bench under a willow tree. This was where you usually sat on your own, when you didn't have the energy to socialize with the rest of the art students. Now, it felt a little more complete with Ten and Taeyong accompanying you.

“So my lovelies there's this afterparty happening after the final football game of the season next month” Ten said twirling his ice coffee in his hand as he took in the afternoon sun.

“What do you have in mind ?” you crinkled your nose as you sifted through your unappetizing salad in a box.

“Okay so you guys heard of Onlyfans right ?” Ten looked between you and Taeyong.

“That site that pays for nudes and shit ?” Taeyong quizzed and Ten nodded brightly and leaned in, “I was thinking let's capitalize a bit of this leading up to the party” Ten responded and pulled up an invitation on his phone,

“The afterparty is being held at Jinyoung’s frat house, him and his idiotic friends are making people pay in order to decorate their football recreational room or some stupid shit like that.”

You took a closer look at the invite and rolled your eyes at the ridiculous pricing, as if their parties were worth going to anyway. Jinyoung was incredibly full of himself and he knew a lot of people worshipped him on campus thanks to his parents being higher ups and the poster boy for the football team. Going for his pride, knocking him where it hurts would be fucking bliss.

“We open an onlyfans, nothing too scandalous but it's gonna get people interested enough to pay forward and we use that cash to host our own party on the same night, free entrance of course” Ten continued and already started setting up the OnlyFans account.

“We should make the party crazy as hell too so nobody would resist coming over” Taeyong added and began going through his contacts, “there's this guy called Seungyoun, he’s a fourth year and knows that DJ from that enigma club from downtown.”

“That's perfect, and we will get Yuta and his tattooist buddies to do temporary sets for us, also my friend Chaeyoung in fashion can help with decor” Ten squealed, already messaging whoever he can.

“My friend Hendery has...uh happy pills if you're interested” you mentioned, knowing that everyone knew Hendery on campus for selling shit, not strong stuff but able to keep you going for a good amount of time.

“Yes! Anything to create hype and watch those preppy idiots sit in an empty house come game night” Ten replied and showed off the OnlyFans page he attached to his instagram account.

“Okay, so what now ?” Taeyong’s large eyes looked between the two of you.

“Now” Ten threw his phone in his bag and got to his feet, “we go back to my dorm and take some naughty pics.”

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“I don't think my ass looks good in that” you whined as you got off Taeyong’s lap and took a look at Ten’s camera viewfinder. Taeyong grumbled, sitting in nothing but leather pants on Ten’s office chair, “your ass looks great trust me” he smirked and reached to pull you back onto his lap.

“Come on, just a few more then you can take pics of Taeyong and I” Ten pointed his ring light where Taeyong had a grip on your ass that adorned very pretty pink lingerie. After a few more angles and more compromising positions, Ten finally got what he needed and handed you the camera,

“Make us look cute” He winked and pulled Taeyong to his feet.

“What are we gonna-” Taeyong’s words were cut off by Ten shoving his hand down his pants, “okaaaay” Taeyong pressed his lips together as you began snapping pics of the two of them.

They were so beautiful to you. Every picture you snapped looked better than the last and they needed no direction at all, just enveloped each other with their ridiculous sexual energy, filling the room with their pheromones.

“Done, you guys look sexy as fuck” you purred earning a kiss from Taeyong who was obviously horny from the entire ordeal, but when the fuck was his dick not hard.

You felt yourself being tugged away and Taeyong whined when Ten handed the camera to him and pushed you down to lie on his bed. You felt a shiver run down your spine when Ten positioned himself between your legs and moved his body down until his face was level with your core.

“Taeyong, stand above y/n and shoot down from this angle” Ten instructed to which Taeyong obeyed and his shadow casted over you.

Ten leaned in and kissed you softly on your mound as the room echoed with the camera shutters and your deep breaths. You desperately wanted to run your fingers through his hair but you’d only ruin a perfect shot. It was agonizing but you had to stay still while Ten had his way with you.

Ten moved the piece of fabric to the side and peppered kisses all along your inner thigh and around your core. You were unable to see his face thanks to Taeyong hovering over you but you pictured that smug smile spread across his face as you restrained yourself. You sucked in another deep breath when you felt his tongue dart out and take a slow lick before placing his mouth on your mound and ate you out like an expert.

“Fucking hell” you sighed as you felt his tongue inside you, exploring every part imaginable. You could tell the scene was getting to Taeyong too, as he stood there one hand on the camera and the other hand on his hardened member, watching Ten eat you out.

“Did you get the shots ?” Ten suddenly said, pulling away from your core as you squirmed out of protest.

“Uh..yeah I did,” Taeyong muttered, still staring down at your legs spread wide apart and his member practically screaming through his restricted pants.

“I hope you're not planning to wrap this shit up right now Ten” you groaned, reaching your hand down to your core in order to finish what he had left off.

Ten snickered and slapped your hand away, “of course my lovelies, I never quit a job halfway.” Ten gestured for Taeyong to stand next to the bed while he inserted a finger in you, causing you to moan his name out loud. As you got accustomed to his finger you managed to sit up a little and watched as Ten rubbed Taeyong’s boner through his pants. God you had never been in a situation like this before. How the hell did you get so lucky, meeting two men willing to fuck you and each other.

Ten entered another finger inside you as Taeyong undid his pants and Ten’s mouth was pressed against Taeyong’s member while pumping his length. Taeyong’s eyes were on your figure as he moaned when Ten took him fully in and his fingers were now destroying your core.

“God im so close” Taeyong whined and Ten slowly took his length out of his mouth and looked up at him and then down at you,

“I think you should cum on y/n, she wants it” Ten licked his lips and looked at you with hooded eyes.

“Y-yeah Taeyong….just do it” you squirmed as Ten’s fingers slowed down, holding you back from your orgasm.

Taeyong uttered a few curses and Ten quickly returned to pumping his member until he was at his breaking point. Ten removed his hand from Taeyong and gave you his full attention, attaching both his mouth and three of his fingers inside of your core. Taeyong stood over you with dark eyes as you reached out to run your hand down his exposed thigh.

Taeyong grunted as he released, you felt the warm liquid all over your stomach and breasts while Ten was still recklessly fingering you until you had one of the craziest orgasms of your life. You couldn't process when Taeyong had pressed his lips to yours and Ten had left to get tissues for the mess the three of you made.

“That was some content our viewers missed out on” Taeyong sighed, still trying to catch his breath. You chuckled and went over to the bathroom to quickly shower off the mess and returned in Ten’s oversized shirt, taking a seat between the two of them in bed.

“Okay I uploaded a few previews and linked the onlyfans subscription link” Ten announced as he uploaded three of the explicit versions on the paid side of Onlyfans, “we will get a notification when someone has subscribed and our earnings are on this page.”

The three of you sat, mouths dropped open as you watched subscription after subscription start to fill the page. The comments were flooding in too, and someone even left a hefty tip in a matter of minutes. Ten switched to the earnings page and the account was already sitting at a triple digit.

“What the actual fuck” you gasped as more people began visiting the page and your followings on instagram began skyrocketing.

“This was way easier than I thought it was” Taeyong marveled, also noticing many people start dming him on instagram.

“Well Jinyoung and his goons wanted a party, well here’s the party of the fucking century” Ten smirked and hi5ed the both of you as absolute chaos ensued all over social media in real time.

Just like that in the next couple of days the three of you were watched by the entire campus. It was like Jinyoung wanted. To show the campus that you were notorious, and nobody should get involved with any of you. But that's where his plan was flawed.

Every single person on the campus besides his legion of preppy followers were obsessed with the three of you and craved more. Despite the onlyfans pictures containing no nudity, people still subscribed, they still tipped, they would do anything to see more.

It was in the middle of the afternoon and Ten had confirmed the account had garnered enough money for the party. It had been about three weeks since the very first post on the onlyfans account and now the account stood at a staggering 850 subscribers, each paying for the monthly subscribed content plus tipping generously from time to time. In the midst of all of this the three of you were also preparing for the party that was going to be held on the big day. Taeil, a friend of Taeyong's, allowed you to use his frat house for the event since it would look good for student rentals later on. Yuta and his friends prepared alcohol and a temporary tattoo station to appease drunk girls to get matching tattoos and frat boys to bet their friends to tattoo a dick on their faces. Chaeyoung, Ten’s friend from fashion completely transformed the house into an instagrammable masterpiece, channeling one of those fancy hollywood parties that nobody could ever get into. Seungyoun, the fourth year who was friends with a lot of musicians and DJs from downtown spread the word on campus radio, letting everyone know about Ten’s huge announcement that was about to happen Tuesday afternoon, 2:30PM.

“Alright you thirsty hoes, I see you all made it” Ten said into a karaoke microphone he found from God knows where. Ten got up on the table in the courtyard, standing in front of a huge crowd of students who quickly gathered ready for the grand announcement that was the talk of the town for the last week now.

“We would just like to say that we're so grateful for all your support on our….craft and in order to honor that, were going to host the best party of the fucking semester” Ten shouted while people cheered from the front all the way to the back of the crowd.

“If you look at the link under Ten’s instagram bio, it should take you to a little preview of what’s in store come saturday” Taeyong explained, leaning into the mic while the crowd murmured in confusion.

“Saturday after the big game ? Isn't Jinyoung having a party that night ?” someone in the crowd said followed by more confused chatter.

“That's right, I am having a party after the game” Jinyoung said, moving through the crowd accompanied by two of his frat members and sneered at the sight of the three of you,

“What ? Are you guys planning an orgy or something for your onlyfans ?”

“If you want to suck my dick all you gotta do is ask Jinyoung” Taeyong mused and a few people giggled while Jinyoung shifted uncomfortably and gritted his teeth.

“Listen, you freaks are not having a party on the same night as me” Jinyoung spat and took a step forward, “save yourself the embarrassment of nobody showing up and cancel it.”

You approached him slowly, chuckling darkly as he watched your fingers dance up his arm and up to his jaw, caressing his cheek, “Sweety are you threatened ? You're afraid everybody is gonna ditch your little frat party and come to mine ?”

Jinyoung tried keeping his cool while you stared up at him, playing with him like a little toy in front of everyone to see.

“Are you afraid if people come over i'm going to hook up with everyone who gives me attention ?” Jinyoung avoided your eyes when you recited the words he wrote about you on that burner account. You smirked up at him when you noticed how he still wasn't man enough to own up to his actions.

“Well, our party is FREE by the way” you continued, stepping away and now addressed the crowd in front of you, “So if you’d rather go over to Jinyoungs then go ahead, but if you wanna come play with us…”

You walked up to Taeyong and gave him a sloppy kiss as he grabbed your ass in front of the entire campus to see, “we will see you Saturday night.” The crowd cheered and Jinyoung growled, taking one more glare at you before storming off with his frat boys away from the cheering crowds.

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It was D day and everyone who helped with the party gathered in the kitchen, drink in hand and took a final glance back at the rager that was mere minutes away from opening up.

“I can't thank you all enough, actually I did, with all that onlyfans money” Ten stuck his tongue out and Seungyoun whistled while everyone clapped.

“No but seriously, thank you guys….revenge never felt sweeter” you smiled and Hendery put his arm around you as you leaned into him, “if nobody shows up well more for us!”

“Cheers, freaks¨" Taeyong yelled and Ten nudging him in his abdomen,

“Really ? I'm pretty sure Jinyoung’s little nickname for us isn't a compliment” Ten rolled his eyes playfully.

“Its a compliment to us, fuck it im a freak and proud of it” Yuta raised his glass, and a few others joined in.

“Fine Freaks club it is, cheers everyone!” Ten raised his glass and everyone clinked glasses before downing their respectful drinks.

It wasn't long before people began pouring in, it wasn't a large number but it was still something. Most people were from the music and arts departments, and you noticed a few girls from your business lecture drop by as well.

“You think the rest all went to Jinyoung ?” You bit down on your lip as you and Ten monitored the crowds of people while having a drink.

“Maybe ? doesn't matter though, our party is way cooler” Ten shrugged and threw back his drink, “but if you really want me to pull one last move hey just say the word.”

You looked over at the black haired boy and frowned while a cheeky smile spread across his face and he pulled out his phone. You watched him text a few paragraphs and slip his phone in his back pocket before returning to his drink.

About 20 minutes later Taeyong emerged from the crowd to join the two of you in the kitchen, a confused look spread across his face.

“What's wrong ?” you quizzed him.

“Some of those basketball guys are here, they brought over like fifty more people” Taeyong pointed to the entrance and you and Ten watched the guys who the campus worshipped next to the football team enter the party, followed by their fangirls and whoever else wished to be in their presence.

“What the heck did you do ?” your eyes widened as the small party now turned into a whole fucking campus rager.

“Oh I told Johnny Suh that I'd give him a lap dance in front of everyone if he came over with his friends” Ten smiled, waving at the tall brown haired boy with a goofy grin spread across his face.

“Johnny Suh ?! as in the captain of the varsity basketball team ?” you were still confused as to how and when Ten had started talking to one of the most popular guys on campus.

“Yes him, now if you would excuse me, I have a deal to seal” you and Taeyong watched Ten down his drink and make his way over to the lounge where Johnny stood excitedly.

Ten spoke to the DJ and the DJ had the crowd clear up the center of the room while everyone exchanged confused glances as to what the hell was about to go down. Ten placed a chair in the middle of the room and pushed Johnny’s large frame down until he was seated, legs apart and that goofy smile never leaving his face. His teammates whistled as Ten used a piece of cloth to cover Johnny’s eyes, and took off his belt in order to retrain his hands behind his back.

“I gotta give it to Ten, he sure knows how to put on a show” Taeyong wrapped his arm around your waist as the two of you watched Ten fuck around with the captain of the basketball team.

The room was filled with flashing lights, everyone recording the moment as Ten gave Johnny the lap dance he was promised. Johnny slumped in the chair allowing Ten to grind into his hips, and you're pretty sure if the music wasn't so goddamn loud the whole campus would've heard Johnny moan in Ten’s touch. Ten ended it off with a cheeky kiss and untied Johnny, whose face was absolutely red as all of his friends cheered them on, all of them attacking him with hi5s.

That definitely sealed the deal, because after a few uploads of the clip, almost everyone was at your party and Jinyoung’s was most likely empty right now. The party was so big that people were on the street, everybody having the time of their life.

“We did it” Ten threw his arms around you and Taeyong as you stood on the balcony, overlooking the party from above.

“Yeah, we really did” you chuckled and sighed deeply, “I wish I could look at Jinyoung’s face right now.”

“Oh you didn't see ?”

You and Ten turned to Taeyong as he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his gallery. You and Ten burst out laughing when a video of Jinyoung sitting in his empty estate with a few of his preppy friends looking absolutely miserable.

“Fuck thats brilliant” you leaned your head on Ten’s shoulder, completely satisfied with how the night turned out.

“Hey you guys wanna go back to my dorm ? I'm kinda over this” Ten yawned and placed a peck on your forehead.

“You wanna leave your own party ?” Taeyong scoffed, shoving his hands in his pocket.

“This” Ten gestured to the three of you, “This is my party, let's take it back to my room.”

You and Taeyong both obliged and without anyone knowing the three of you escaped the party and made your way over to Ten’s dorm room hand in hand. Upon entering Ten threw off his shirt and kicked off his boots and Taeyong did the same, the two boys grabbing alcohol from the mini fridge and set them up on Tens desk.

“Oh by the way I have something” your words had both the boys turn to face you and you held out your hand, holding three small blue pills,

“Hendery gave them to me, Its not that strong and the high will only last for an hour or two but fuck its good way to end the night off right ?”

“I'm in” Taeyong grabbed the pill and handed you a drink, the three of you washed the pill with beer and Ten switched on a playlist before joining you and Taeyong on his bed.

“I know we've only known each other for like 2-3 months now but I fucking love you guys” you sighed, running your hands through your hair and looked between the two boys.

“This group, us, was the best thing that ever happened to me” Taeyong replied, “you two whores mean the world to me.” “Very sentimental Taeyong” Ten chuckled before reaching out to caress your cheek, “I love you too babe, both of you, were soulmates, if like the devil decided to link people together or something.”

The three of you chuckled and the laughter quickly switched to Taeyong rubbing Ten’s thigh and looked over at you with dark eyes. You had no idea if it was the drug, or the alcohol but there was a desperation within you. Grabbing Taeyong’s face, you pulled him into a sloppy kiss, and quickly switched to Ten, giving him the same energy as Taeyong pushed your shirt over your head and sucked on your exposed skin.

Ten unclasped your bra and massaged your breast as Taeyong kissed the other, each boy stimulating you in the best way possible. Taeyong growled and tossed you onto your back, pulling your skirt off and began sharing a passionate kiss with Ten who was already down to his boxers.

Once Taeyong pulled away from Ten he moved on top of you, grabbing you by your throat and rubbed his hips against your core, the friction sending you into a frenzy. Your thoughts were so focused on Taeyong you had no idea when Ten had got on his knees beside you and began kneading your breasts and rubbing his length with his free hand.

“Who do you wanna fuck first ?” Taeyong growled in your ear that made you so wet you had no fucking clue who you wanted, you just needed someone inside of you at this moment.

“I think it's fair if I go first, I've waited long enough” Ten smirked and switched positions with Taeyong who jumped off the bed to get rid of his pants.

You watched Ten’s dark eyes take in your body, and his beautiful body looked so fucking alluring under the dim lighting of his bedroom. Ten rid you of your soaked panties and wasted no time in inserting two fingers in your wetness.

“Baby girl has been waiting for this for a while huh” Ten purred while Taeyong grabbed your jaw, pulling you into a kiss before making you sit up enough for his member to meet your lips. Just as you took Taeyong in your mouth Ten had already replaced his fingers with his member and began thrusting into you at a rapid pace.

“Oh fuck” you groaned as Taeyong guided your movements on his member with a fistful of your hair. All three of you were so in tune with each other, rough when needed to be and delicate straight after.

As Ten fucked you he leaned forward enough for Taeyong to bend down and meet his lips, the two of them sharing a dirty kiss while they fucked you senseless. Ten pulled away from Taeyong and rammed into you until you came all over his member. “Come on open wide” He mewled and pulled you up and shoved his length in your mouth until he came, making you swallow every bit of him.

“Get on top of me” Taeyong demanded and you did as he said, climbing on top of him and sitting on his length. Taeyong let out a groan, finally feeling you around his length and you felt Ten sit behind you, his hands cupping your breasts as you bounced on Taeyongs member.

“You think you can take both of us ?” Ten whispered in your ear and his request somehow made you wetter than you already were. You had only tried it once, but never in a situation like this. You quickly nodded and Ten caressed your body, leaving sweet kisses all over shoulder and neck before jumping off the bed to rummage in his closet.

Taeyong, not knowing or caring what was going on, carried on slamming himself inside of you, his nails digging into your ass as you rode him like a pro.

Ten returned with what you assumed to be a bottle of lube and bent you over slightly, making sure his touches were careful and delicate. Taeyong finally caught on and slowed his pace despite almost being at his orgasm, in order to make the process easier for you.

“If it's too much just let me know” Ten pecked your cheek and inserted a finger inside your ass, the new sensation was odd but extremely satisfying. Ten continued lubing you up while Taeyong stroked your thighs and made sure your body was relaxed in their care.

“I'm ready, just do it, I want to feel both of you already” you whined and both boys cursed at your words, each anticipating this new experience.

Ten inserted himself and gave you a moment to adjust to him and Taeyong, before slowly moving his hips, keeping his touches light.

“Oh God that feels so good” you moaned as Taeyong picked up his pace and the both of them began fucking you at the same time, something you always wished would happen eventually. Ten returned to his roughness and bent you a little more, allowing Taeyong to lean up and capture your lips, his tongue entangling with yours as the new position only got him back to chasing his raging orgasm.

“Fuck im gonna cum” Taeyong groaned, slightly mad that he couldnt hold onto this feeling any longer.

“You wanna cum inside her mouth ?” Ten asked in between his grunts as he felt himself also reaching his second orgasm.

“No I wanna cum in yours” Taeyong replied darkly, and Ten’s thrusts stopped abruptly to look down at Taeyong.

“Well...fuck okay” Ten finally said and pulled out of you, allowing Taeyong to move to the side of the bed while Ten flipped you on your back and inserted himself in your core. Taeyong stood on the bed for Ten to get better access to his length as you screamed Ten’s name who was quite literally destroying your core at this point.

Taeyong yanked on Ten’s hair causing him to slow his thrusts and you watched the delicious sight of Taeyong slipping his length into Ten’s mouth and Ten swallowing every bit of him. It was quite possibly the hottest thing you'd seen in your life. Ten wiped his mouth as Taeyong slowly pulled out of him with a groan he returned to slamming his hips into yours. “I'm so close Ten” you groaned as Ten crouched over you, allowing you to wrap your legs around his waist as he brought both of you to your climax and let out a huge sigh when he finally came undone with you following shortly after.

“How much money do you think we would've made on onlyfans for that ?” Ten breathed as he collapsed in the bed next to you and Taeyong crawled on your naked body, resting his head on your chest as the three of you tried to catch your breath.

“Probably enough to drop out” Taeyong hummed, his eyes drooping as he made himself a little more comfortable.

“Yeah but hey it's time to end the notorious onlyfans account now don't you think ?” your eyes shifted to Ten who nodded at your words and got up and grabbed his phone from his desk,

“Tae-Ten-Y/N onlyfans era has now come to an end, thank you everyone who tuned in” Ten said, falling back into bed and showing the account that was now deactivated.

“Kinda surprised you are willing to end the onlyfans era Ten, this doesn't have anything to do with Johnny Suh now does it ?” Taeyong raised his eyebrow and you also joined in, looking at the black haired boy with curious eyes.

“Maybe,” Ten sighed, rolling his eyes as you and Taeyong mimicked kissing sounds, “Ugh anyway, they have a game next week, I want you guys to come with.”

“Fine, i’ll ask Johnny how it felt to taste my c-”

“Shut up Taeyong.”

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ONE WEEK LATER

“I have no idea what the hell is going on but Johnny is so hot” Ten sighed as the three of you sat in the bleachers of a varsity basketball game.

“Athletes are not my type these days” you shrugged taking a bite of your corn dog, watching Taeyong play some game on his phone.

“Oh shit they're almost there” Ten pulled you to your feet as the crowd all stood up around you cheering on the varsity team as the time began running out. You watched Johnny run across the court and throw the ball to a boy with chestnut coloured hair, and upon receiving the ball, the boy threw the ball straight into the hoop at the last second, taking his team to victory.

“Fuck….who is he ?” you gulped, as his teammates carried him on their shoulders and his lips curled into a tight grin, showing off a beautiful set of dimples. “That my dear friend” Ten patted your shoulder, “That's Jung Jaehyun.”

#nct smut #wayv smut #nct scenarios #wayv scenarios #taeyong smut #ten smut #taeten smut #taeten #jaehyun freaks au #freaks au #nct x reader #taeyong x reader #ten x reader #nct au #wayv au #nct fanfic

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andypantsx3 · 4 years ago

Text

statistically significant | 2 | bakugou/reader

length: 23,490 words | 7 chapters

summary: You’re the scientist who developed a neural net to model the value of assists. Now that your work is feeding into the hero rankings, pro hero Ground Zero has a bone to pick with your results.

tags: romance, enemies to lovers, sexual tension, reader-insert

warnings: aged up characters, eventual smut, m/f threats of violence, problematic behavior

note: I cannot overemphasize that this interpretation of Bakugou is based on season 1 Bakugou, which means he behaves very questionably at the beginning. Please heed the warnings!

Present day

Miruko’s agency was large, much larger than you had expected.

From the street, it had looked unobtrusive enough, a moderately-sized office building with a modern-looking glass front. You could see into a large reception area on the ground floor, and open workspaces on the next few floors, conjoined desks piled high with paperwork and slightly wilted-looking office plants. If not for Miruko’s name emblazoned over the entry in bold, metallic letters, you could have taken it for just another office building.

Once inside, however, the building became much more than that. After checking in at reception, you were led deep into the building, and gestured into an elevator that took you tens of floors down. When the doors opened, they let out into a cavernous space, stretching under what must have been the entire block. The floor was equipped with a gym, several reinforced training spaces the size of office buildings themselves, and what appeared to be a surveillance room where footage from the training spaces could be replayed.

Your mouth dropped open. Did all hero agencies hide deep underground like this? How many other underground floors were there? How big was Miruko Agency, really?

Your guide had enough tact to ignore your inelegant expression, instead leading you towards a training room. A huge, clear window tens of meters across looked into the space, but you would bet anything that it was made of some material much stronger than glass, which was especially evidenced by what you could see going on beyond the window.

Rubble littered the room, scattered in towering piles that gave the appearance of a post-doomsday cityscape. You didn’t know if the room had been set up this way, or if the rubble was the result of the battle going on within; there were two heroes that you could see darting around the space, both appearing to be causing maximum chaos.

Closest to you, a woman with wild pink curls was emitting a powerful stream of some cement-colored substance that ate away at anything it touched, causing it to smoke and hiss and crumble. She melted a huge hole in a pile of rubble, and a man with a shock of golden-yellow hair leapt away from what had probably been his hiding place, backpedaling wildly.

You perked up when you realized who they were--Ashido Mina, the number twenty-nine hero Pinky, and Kaminari Denki, the number thirty-three hero Chargebolt.

Kaminari threw out a hand, and a crackling wave of lightning struck out at Ashido. The lights flickered out briefly, and even behind the window, you could feel your hair stand on end. You blinked past the powerful flash that had temporarily blinded you, casting about for Ashido who had surely been struck down, only to choke on a laugh when you caught sight of her flashing Kaminari the middle finger, sliding away from a huge chunk of rubble she’d dislodged with her acid to use as a shield.

“They’re idiots,” a voice intoned from your side.

You nearly jumped out of your skin, turning to find Miruko herself standing next to you, powerful arms crossed over her chest. Despite her words, a little fond-looking smile flickered at the edges of her mouth.

You schooled your slack jawed expression into a smile. “I don’t know--their personalities are mostly why they’re so popular, so they must be doing something right. I did a little digging into everyone’s results before I got here, and they stood out among a lot of the rest.”

Miruko’s gaze flicked over you. She was short, maybe even shorter than you, but her keen red eyes and very lethal-looking biceps more than made up for her stature. She was intimidating in person, an air about her that told you she could snap and turn on you at any second. Despite the fact that she had asked you here herself, you felt like she might seize you and bodily throw you out of her agency.

“And that’s why they’re idiots. Their results are buoyed by their personalities,” Miruko sniffed. “They need work.”

You prickled a little, feeling like you should say something in their defense, but the truth of it was, you were here to help them work on things.

Some weeks ago, Miruko had contacted the Public Safety Hero Commission with interest in the ranking model. Your version had been in production for close to a year, and you had recently been making scholarly noises about feedback loops, asking for permission to provide pro heroes with individual results breakdowns. Miruko had caught wind of this and demanded on site assessments for her “team of frigging clowns” as she had so eloquently put it. And so you had been loaned out, with the idea of helping to direct the training for the heroes at Miruko Agency, providing them a real time comparison of their training footage to the generic hero ranking model results.

If this trial run was successful, if you could help any of the heroes measurably jump ranks, then the Commission had committed to providing individualized results for the thousands of heroes employed today. The Commission had also expressed interest in your idea of creating and packaging smaller models that took less technical skill to operate, for heroes to use to direct their own training. They had even seemed receptive to giving you a small team of research scientists and software engineers to build such a product, so you would be looking at a pretty sick promotion, not to mention.

Miruko made her way over to the surveillance room, beckoning you after her, and you watched as she leaned over a desk, pressing down a button with one gloved finger.

A crackling sound echoed overhead and her voice followed. “Alright, brats, recess is over. Anyone not heading out on patrol, meet in the surveillance room now.”

The flickering light from Kaminari’s lightning fizzled out, and the door to the training room opened not long after, Kaminari and Ashido spilling out in a chaotic whirlwind of limbs and petty squabbling. They were the first to arrive at the surveillance room, and Kaminari visibility perked up when he saw you.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, interrupting himself on a gasp when Ashido’s elbow caught him in the ribs. “What the fuck, Mina--! Why are your elbows so sharp? Can you just not--?” He grabbed her elbow. “Stop, look, it’s stats girl! From the Awards!”

You startled a little, shocked that he had remembered you. That had been almost a year ago, and you’d only exchanged a couple quick comments in the stairwell.

Ashido looked up from where she appeared to be attempting to crack one of his ribs, her expression shifting into something altogether too interested. You flushed when a sharp grin broke out over her pretty features.

“Oh my god, you’re stats girl? I have been waiting forever. It’s an absolute honor to meet you.” She held out a palm, waggling her rosy fingers expectantly.

A rising sense of horror grew within you. Did...did Kaminari remember you so clearly because he’d told people about the incident? What exactly had he mentioned to her? Who else had he spread the tale to?

“Um, yeah that’s me,” you managed, trying to tamp down your embarrassment.

Ashido grinned wider, leaning forward. “I was totally convinced Denki and Eijirou made you up, except that Katsuki wouldn’t stop plotting revenge out loud for months. You’re, like, a legend. Do you do autographs?”

You gaped at her, your mind sticking on the phrase Katsuki wouldn’t stop plotting revenge out loud for months. A nervous, hunted energy crept over you. Revenge...for months.

Miruko’s rabbit ears twitched and she turned to you, frowning. “I wasn’t aware you’d already met some of my circus monkeys. Is this going to be a problem?”

You dithered nervously, not actually sure if it would be. You’d known Bakugou worked at her agency, considering you had done a fair amount of pre-work collecting everyone's results. But you’d honestly put off thinking about this. Bakugou had been in quite the rage at the Hero Awards, but that had been almost a year ago. And Ashido had phrased his revenge plans in the past tense… Surely he didn’t still hold as much of a grudge now?

Miruko eyed you suspiciously for a moment, but she was distracted when the scuffle of boots indicated the approach of other heroes, and a pair of burly men with curling satyr horns rounded the corner, one of them leaning forward to speak to her. Ashido sent you a wink when Miruko turned her back, mouthing something that looked suspiciously like later.

In the next few minutes, a small group of heroes assembled, ranging from relatively well-known heroes like Ashido and Kaminari, to a couple of heroes who ranked deep in the hundreds--you only knew some of their faces because Miruko had provided you with a list of her employees for preparatory research purposes. They formed a small crescent around the surveillance area, chattering lowly to themselves and eyeing you with speculative curiosity.

To your eternal relief, her most famously explosive employee was conspicuously absent, and you felt yourself relax when it seemed like everyone had turned up who was going to.

When it seemed like the crowd size was finally large enough to please her, Miruko barked a loud “SHUT UP” at them. The din of low voices instantly died down.

“Alright brats. Over the next few months, Y/N will be working here at the agency with us. She has been invited on behalf of the commission, and will be analyzing your quirks, your methods, and your recent work,” Miruko said. “She has individualized results pulled from the current hero rankings that can inform you how to improve. I expect you to take full advantage of this opportunity.”

She gestured to you, giving you a meaningful look as if she expected you to introduce yourself. You gave a little wave, glancing at the heroes around you.

“Um, hi,” you said. “As Miruko-san said, I can give you a little advice based on your current results breakdown. I also plan to analyze video of your training in the coming weeks, and build parallel models to simulate future results given your performance. We can compare those to the current rankings for an idea of how much work you will have to put into particular skills for you to move up in the ranks.”

A small murmur went through the crowd at the prospect of moving up in the ranks. Some gazes sharpened in interest.

You continued, “This is also a good chance to work on specific growth areas -- I can train smaller models on subsets of videos so you can compare your skills more directly with each other or with other heroes from other agencies. Please let me know if there is anything special any of you would like to focus on.”

Miruko stepped back in front of you. “Y/N is going to set up in the surveillance room for the next few weeks. I’ve already established checkpoints for all of you to meet with her, but I encourage you to meet with her more often if you can.”

There were a couple of nods, and a few interested whispers from somewhere at the back of the crowd. Miruko took a breath like she was going to say more, but then--

“Hard pass,” a voice growled from your left. Your hackles instantly raised, and it took your brain a couple seconds to catch up with your instincts. You whipped around wildly when you realized you knew that voice, and you almost jumped a full foot in the air when you caught sight of those familiar blonde spikes over another hero’s shoulder.

You hadn’t noticed his approach, but Bakugou had clearly returned from a fight only minutes ago. His hair drooped a little with sweat, there was dirt streaking the points of his high cheekbones, and his costume was shredded by a thousand tiny tears, like he’d been thrown through a glass window. And...was that blood on his gauntlets? Was it his?

You were torn between immediate annoyance and something like concern at the sight of him so obviously roughed up.

“The meetings are not optional,” Miruko’s voice took on a hard edge.

“I already know what this fucking nerd has to say,” Bakugou drawled dismissively. “And I don’t give a shit. I don’t need assists if I’m the one busy saving the fucking day.”

Your mood edged cleanly into annoyance. It seemed he hadn’t changed any, then.

Miruko’s face darkened. “It wasn’t a suggestion.”

Bakugou bared his teeth. They gleamed almost blindingly white against the dark dirt on his face. “No.”

A wild look entered Miruko’s eye at the challenge. “Everyone is dismissed. Except Katsuki,” she uttered in a low, dangerous tone.

There was a small pause. The heroes around you looked at her askance, and her features darkened even further. “I said scram. NOW!”

The effect was immediate. It felt like no sooner had you blinked than the hall was suddenly clear. The sight of Kaminari and Ashido wheeling around the corner was all the proof you had that the team hadn’t suddenly vanished from existence.

Bakugou snorted and propped himself lazily against a column, affecting a slouch, one pale eyebrow raised over his insouciant expression. It looked almost too perfectly arrogant, and you wondered if he practiced it in the mirror sometimes.

“I said the meetings are not optional, Katsuki,” Miruko hissed, taking a step closer to him. “You can ignore her suggestions all you want, but you will attend them.”

Close as they were, you could see she was almost a full head shorter than him, but the force of her anger seemed to make her larger somehow--she wasn’t towering over him, but she was certainly terrifying. Towering under, your mind supplied unhelpfully.

Bakugou, for his part, held his ground. His mouth curled disdainfully. “What’s the fucking point? The nerd’s just gonna tell me stupid shit. And I’m not going to listen.”

Your fingers twitched in irritation. Data wasn’t stupid shit -- it was mathmatical fact, almost as divorced from human bias as it was possible to be. How was it humanly possible that he hadn’t learned anything or grown even the littlest bit? How was it possible that he was just as infuriating as he was a year ago?

But fine. He could have things his way if that’s what he wanted.

Miruko’s face twisted in a scowl, and she took a deep breath like she was ready to start yelling. But you got there first.

“He has a point,” you said, giving him a hard look over the top of Miruko’s head. “I would hate to waste my time on someone who’s been stalled in the rankings for a year now. He wouldn’t know how to implement my advice even if I were to give it.”

You paused, letting an uncharacteristic smirk curl your mouth, trying your best to channel his disdainful energy. “Isn’t that right, Number Eight?”

Bakugou’s gaze sharpened over Miruko’s silver hair, twin pinpricks of red narrowing in on you. He abandoned his slouch, his body tensing like a hound that smelled blood. “What did you just say?”

You pushed down the petty satisfaction that rose within you at his reaction. He was so fucking prideful, so easy to bait.

“Hmm, cognitive delays,” you said, pretending to tap your chin thoughtfully. “Very worrying. Further evidence he wouldn’t be able to process the information, though. No, I think it’s best if we don’t meet.”

Bakugou pushed himself off the column, edging around Miruko as his mouth drew into a snarl. You were immediately reminded of the Hero Awards, that same overwhelming prickle of power edging over you as he stalked closer, the same scent like caramel and gunpowder.

Miruko’s eyes flicked between the two of you curiously, an eyebrow raised in interest. You hoped it meant she was interested enough in your data analysis to intervene if Bakugou tried to sauté you like an onion.

“If you melt through this blazer I really will sabotage the hero rankings and dip you all the way to number five hundred,” you threatened, edging away from Bakugou as he drew closer. “And also you owe me money for that dress.”

“I’m not gonna fucking give you shit,” he announced, looming over you when he’d decided he was close enough to intimidate. He was near enough that you could feel the heat of him, but he hadn’t put his hands to you yet. It seemed Miruko was enough of a deterrent to curb his bad behavior. “And I’m not gonna meet with you.”

“Good, then we agree,” you said, tipping your head back to look him in the eye. “You’re not good enough to do better anyways.”

Bakugou growled, the phrase clearly still enough to tick him off a year later. “Fuck you, I’m the best.”

“That’s not what your ranking tells me,” you clicked your tongue, feigning disinterest. With the dirt and scratches all over him he looked wilder than ever and you would be a fool to ignore it, but Miruko’s presence made you bold. And something else, some latent streak of frustration and pettiness told you to keep going, to keep pressing the buttons that were getting this reaction from him.

“Your ranking tells me you haven’t even improved the tiniest bit in an entire year. At this rate, you’ll never even hit the top three, never mind be the best. I don’t think you could improve even if you wanted to,” you said.

Bakugou looked like he wanted nothing more than to tear your head off with his teeth. “I can do whatever the fuck I want.”

You opened your mouth to reply but there was a sudden motion at the edge of your vision, something pink and blurry and wild. You glanced past Bakugou’s shoulder to find Ashido leaning around the wall, waving a hand frantically and mouthing something at you. You squinted, watching her lips shape themselves carefully: make a bet.

What? Make a bet?

She wanted you to make a bet?

You looked back up at Bakugou, taking in the oppositional expression, the angry curl of his mouth, the straight slope of his nose, and those keen, blood red eyes glaring down at you. This was certainly the face of a man who wouldn’t be told what to do, who couldn’t be told what to do.

But despite your words and your inherent distaste, there was no denying he was actually your best shot, the cleanest pathway to your promotion. Bakugou was smart, driven, and absolutely lethal. If anyone could turn around a rank at top speed it was him.

But he couldn’t be made to do it. He had to want to do it.

Ashido waved in the corner of your vision again, enunciating with exaggerated facial expressions. Make a bet.

Things clicked into place.

“Hmm, I wouldn’t be so sure,” you looked away from Ashido, inspecting your nails casually, like your focus would rather be anywhere than on this conversation. “In fact, I would bet almost anything that you wouldn’t know how to implement my suggestions, even if you tried.”

Bakugou froze, red eyes passing over you curiously. For one heart stopping moment, you thought he was on to you, but he just leaned down instead, putting his face close to yours.

“I’ll fucking take that bet.”

You tried to push down your sudden swell of excitement, fighting to keep your expression neutral. You knew he wouldn’t cooperate if he thought you were happy about this.

“Fine. You have two months to jump a rank,” you said. “Or I win. And you’ll pay me what you owe me for the dress.”

Bakugou smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. This had the effect of emphasizing both the tears in his shirt and the swell of his biceps.You quickly attached your eyes firmly to his face--that was so not what you needed to be focused on right now.

“I’ll do it in one,” he said. “And then I win, you smug fucking nerd.”

You gazed at him steadily. “Agreed. Miruko’s number seven--you think you can beat your own boss with just a month of work? You’ll never.”

“You haven’t heard what I win yet,” he said.

You stared at him, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “You go up in rank. That’s what you win.”

Bakugou’s handsome face shifted into an uneven smirk. “Oh no. This is twice now you’ve opened your little know-it-all mouth and acted like you know what the fuck you’re talking about. When I win, you’ll tell me I’m the best and I was right all along.”

You suppressed an eye roll. If he moved up a rank, the point would very obviously be that you were right all along. Was he really so unreasonably competitive and spiteful that he needed to be told he was right?

Then you remembered he’d quite literally dragged you into a stairwell and implied he'd fry you to a crisp when he found out he was number eight. Of course he was.

Well, a few throwaway words were worth nothing compared to the promotion you’d be getting. He could have his sense of self satisfaction when you were knee deep in software engineers and fat stacks of money.

You took a deep breath, holding out a hand. “Okay. If you win, which is a very big if, then I’ll admit it. Deal?”

Bakugou considered you for a long moment, red eyes watching you closely, before a calloused hand engulfed yours. “Deal," he growled, a crooked grin flickering at the edge of his mouth. "Get ready to eat shit, nerd.”

You suppressed another eye roll, hoping to god this was going to be worth it.

This was going to be the longest month of your life.

#bakugou x reader #bakugou katsuki #bakugou katsuki x reader #bnha x reader #my hero academia #bnha #katsuki bakugou x reader #katsuki bakugou #tw threats #tw gendered violence

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getyouasenju · 4 years ago

Text

Dragging It In.

Part 3/3 to the “Dragging” series

Part 1 “Dragging Along”

Part 2 “Dragging Away”

Warnings: some small spoilers, curse words, some suggestive themes, angst, (maybe some spelling errors I’m sorry!).

Word Count: 3.7k

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹

“(Y/N)”

I could hear my name being called from my slumber. I felt sore all over, my head was throbbing and my throat was entirely too dry to function. Being a shinobi I was no stranger to the scratchy unbelievably tightly tucked sheets and the sterile smell. I was in a hospital for what ever reason. I hear my name being softly called again. Forcing my sore eyes open I see my pink haired friend peering over my bed. Scrunching my eyes in reaction the sudden change of lighting caused a searing pain in my head. Crossing her arms and glaring at me, Sakura spoke sarcastically, “It hurts doesn’t it? That’s what happens when you leave a head injury untreated after a mission”. My eyes widen and I stared at her cheekily. She smiled sweetly back at me... too sweet for the friend I know. I didn’t even get a chance to brace myself before she struck me.

“CHA!”

I hiss and grab my now stinging shoulder. “God damn it Sakura, I’m in a hospital bed for fucks sake! Do you strike all your patients?” She crossed her arms and smiled at me, “Only the ones I’m best friends with that promise to see me in the morning to get checked out and then never show up! I mean come on (Y/N), how hard of a hit did you take on that mission to have to put you out of commission like this?” I thought back to the rainy mission and sighed, rubbing my shoulder I looked at my friend “Not that hard... only hard enough to lose consciousness..” grinning I laughed nervously as she started balling her fist again.

“Hey! you can’t hit me again, I have a head injury Sakura- god!” I cried out bracing myself this time. “That shoulder looks pretty fine to me!” Sakura replies brushing some of her hair out of her face. “Not-uh it’s pretty bruised now if you ask me.” I whined back, praying she doesn’t strike again. Can I get a new nurse that isn’t my worried friend? “That’s why you have two shoulders!” I paled as my eyes widened. “Sakura, please!” She quickly put one hand on her hip, the other pointing at me “Don’t Sakura me! You could’ve done some real damage (Y/N)! and don’t think I don’t see that your ring is missing!” So all of our friends are just gonna get dragged into this mess huh? .... Maybe I should just simply pass out again.

Between our bickering the door croaked open and in walks the shadow man. Sakura whips around placing her hands on her hips. “Excuse me Shikamaru, It’s not visitors hours yet, you just can’t waltz in here anytime you like, fiancé’s included!” I scoffed laying back and tugging the blankets further up my body. Didn’t just mention she noticed the missing ring? I already told him I didn’t want to speak with him... and he still smelled like cigarettes! This was a hospital, he’s gonna give someone an asthma attack. I turned my head to fully examine the Nara. He looked as bad as I felt, dark circles an unbuttoned vest and a loosened ponytail. As he should!

Sighing deeply while still holding the door handle, Shikamaru looks at Sakura pleading with his eyes. Taking her hands off her hips, Sakura looks at me then back at Shikamaru, I could see the gears turning in her head. Crossing her arms and sighing, “Just this once Nara! I’ll be back later (Y/N), I’ll bring an ice pack for that shoulder!” She laughs while giving my hand a friendly squeeze. Giving me her signature smile, she departs waving at Shikamaru on the way out.

As he watches her close the door, he turns to the right and grabs the chair in the corner. The sound of the dragging was highly irritating and I rolled my eyes as I fought the urge to pull the blankets over my head and just ignore the man. He pulls the chair to my bedside and sits down trying to make eye contact with me andI was refusing to give it to him. Sighing again he leaned back in the chair.

“You had some head injuries, you should be fine but you should’ve went to the hospital immediately after that mission, and that fall made it worse.” He sounded strained. I just nodded at him, thinking back to the mission and how outnumbered my team was. “You know, I was terrified when you went down like that.” He let out a shaky sigh putting his hands together in his lap. “Why didn’t you go in (Y/N)- god” He drags his hands down his face, “Are you doing this to spite me? Not going to be seen, then going and asking for a dangerous mission. Are you trying to get yourself killed?” I sat up straight in my bed and finally made the eye contact that he was searching for.

“I went home first because I missed you, I hadn’t seen you in over a fucking month!” letting out a humorless laugh I continued, “I didn’t avoid being seen to spite you, I went home first instead of being seen because you’re my first priority- but apparently I wasn’t yours.” Asking for that mission though was just a tad bit spiteful though, but I’m in no position to admit to that! By the end of my rant I wanted him out, I was tempted to hit the call button. I could feel the anger in the air from both of us. He broke the silence first. “You should trust me, you know nothing would ever happen between Temari and I, I’m with you, I’ve been with you for the last four fucking years!” I was livid, trust him? I do fucking trust him!

“I trust you Shikamaru, you don’t trust me because if you trusted me, you would’ve told me why you went to see her and you wouldn’t of left without making things right with me first.” He reaches for my hand, but I snatched it away shoving it under the blankets, he looked so crestfallen. He opens and closes his mouth several times before scooting his chair closer to my bed.

“Please give me your hand, (Y/N). Please don’t make me beg.”

I was hesitant, I didn’t know if I wanted to be touched by him at the moment but, he looked determined and I was nervous. I pulled my hand from under the blanket and he quickly reached for it. Grabbing my smaller hand in his larger calloused one, he let out a content sigh slowly rubbing circles on the back of my hand, moving almost impossibly slower when grazing over the bare left ring finger. “What do I have to do to get this ring back where it belongs.”

“Shikamaru I question your IQ everyday, don’t play stupid with me.”

I slowly start to retract my hand but his grip on me tightens ever so slightly. “I already have a head injury, can you stop making my brain hurt more? Either tell me why you ran to her side or let me and my hand go. Now.” I groaned out, I was getting annoyed, and fast. When was Sakura coming back with that ice pack again? The pain in my shoulder was dull now, but boy can that girl pack a punch and Shikamaru might as well be punching me in my brain right now.

When he suddenly let go of my hand, my heart started to race. Was he going to leave again? If he left me again then I knew for sure that we just weren’t meant to be. I laid back, I just wanted to curl into a ball and disappear. More so, I want him to stop dragging this out. I opened my mouth to dismiss him when he suddenly spoke “Rasa”.

...Rasa, the fourth Kazekage. Also the father of the sand siblings, but what about him. I was just outright confused now. “Shikamaru, can you elaborate?” He straightened up looking for that eye contact again, this time I granted it to him. “It was the anniversary of Rasa’s death” grabbing for my hand again he continued. “Temari is here on the account of business between the leaf and the sand. This is the first time she wasn’t with Gaara and Kankuro during this time.” he sighed deeply.

“He wasn’t always the best father but he was all they had, not being with her siblings for this affected her deeply. She’s the eldest and her siblings mean everything to her, they always have, she wants them to be able to depend on her. I’m the person she’s closest to in the leaf, so she called me.” he finished. Now I was even more confused. Why didn’t he just say that? “So you left me without explanation for what? You couldn’t just say this to me?”.

“I didn’t think you would understand.” I was baffled. He thought of all people that I wouldn’t understand. “You didn’t think I would understand, or is it that you didn’t want me to understand, Shikamaru.” I snatch my hand back again, this time for good. “I watched you mourn for your father after the war. You held it together on the field but I saw what it did to you after!” I rushed the words out so fast I felt like I was running out of breath but I went on, “I held Yoshino as she cried, I saw what it did to her, how it drained her, how it almost ruined her!” My head was throbbing again but I wasn’t done yet. “Tell me Shikamaru, did you run into my parents on the way here? how about someone from my clan, some siblings of mine? Please tell me they came to see me in my time of need Shikamaru!” I let out a pitiful laugh, “It’d be a miracle if you did, considering they’re all six feet under.” I let my shoulders drop as I leaned back staring straight ahead of me. There had to be more to it than this.

In a small voice I whispered to him, “You don’t think I have it in my heart to let someone who has experienced a loss have some comfort?”. I wanted to cry, more importantly I wanted him gone, at least my head did. He said nothing, but he doesn’t get to sit at my bedside in silence after this. I spoke again, still looking straight ahead, “Get out Shikamaru. You have my permission to leave this time, I won’t be mad. You’re giving me a migraine,” He still doesn’t move, so I whip my head around, I was tired. “Why are you pretending to fight so hard for us? Just admit you’re not as in love with me as you think you are”. I could hear my own heartbeat as I looked at Shikamaru. “It’s okay If you’re in love with Temari, I’ll be fine Shika. You can let me go.” If I had to let him go for his happiness, I was okay with that. He finally snaps his eyes me.

“I’m not in love with Temari, (Y/N).” How can he sit here and be so fucking vague with me? I felt not only emotionally exposed but physically as well with the tiny hospital gown. I wrap my arms around myself since I was the only comfort I’ve had these past few days. “There’s something there , I just wish you would be honest with me. If you’re not happy with me, then just let me go.” I was speaking as softly as I could, trying best to keep my voice from shaking. What kind of person did he think I was if he thought I lacked that much sympathy? I was a shinobi, but I wasn’t heartless. I at the very least expected him to know that.

“Temari will always have a spot in my heart,”

There it was, I didn’t want to hear anymore of it. when I said let me go, I didn’t mean give me a speech to verbally break my heart, he could easily just leave the room. Did he think I was going to listen to his confessions? wrong! I reach my hand out for the call button, if Sakura wasn’t coming back anytime soon, then someone else needed to come and rescue me, immediately. I felt his warm hand gently grab mine. “no more running, no more arguing, no more beating around the bush. Just you and I.” he sighed as he looked right into my eyes. He stands up and nudges me, signaling for me to scoot over giving him a spot on the bed. I felt conflicted, I really did love this man. We’ve shared our love and our lives for four years, but even before that I loved him. He could sense my hesitation and smoothes my hair down gently with his hand while gently nudging me over again. I give into the raven haired man and slowly slid to the right side of the bed making sure my IV’s were out of his way, the motion causing the back of my gown to open a bit to which I quickly pulled closed.

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before” He smirked at me. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks as I ball the blanket in my hands. This isn’t the time for cheeky jokes! I was flustered and honestly feeling pretty vulnerable. His chuckle wasn’t helping the situation too much either. How dare he joke with me at a time like this! My shoulder was still throbbing but that didn’t stop me from attempting to smack the man. I winced as my hand hit something hard and glared at Shikamaru. Looking at me warily, he pulled out the pack of cigarettes and rubbed the back of his neck “You know I smoke when I’m stressed.” I remember when he picked up the nasty habit, and then I remembered why he did. I felt immediately guilty for contributing to that... but still the smell of cigarettes was just so gross.

He leans back, slowly starting to snake his arm around my waist while watching my facial expressions for a reaction. When he saw me make no attempt to remove him, he sighed and pulled my body into his. “I missed you.” he quietly tells me... funny how he misses me, but me missing him is what got us into this entire situation. I decide to keep my thoughts to myself and train my eyes on the corner of the blanket I was currently picking at. I could feel him staring at me.

“I remember when Asuma died.” My breath caught in my throat and I immediately dropped the blanket I was picking at. I didn’t know where this was going, but I knew it was going to be a painful ride. I felt him tilt his head as he continued, “I held it in for a long time. It took my father to pull it out of me.” I knew the story, I wasn’t too close with Shikamaru at the time, but a bond between a student and their sensei is strong. I didn’t have to know them, to know that. “Point of the story is I didn’t feel comfort in anyone... so I held it in, I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. I didn’t want anyone to coddle me, not even Temari and at that point in time, I was in love with her. I think I’ve only ever cried twice in my life in front of an audience.” He let out a sigh. By now I was fully looking up at him with curious eyes.

“When my father died in the war, I wanted to do the same. I held that pain in for my comrades, I didn’t want my fathers, nor Ino’s, deaths to be in vain.” He takes his other hand and grips my chin continuing on. “When the war was over I didn’t want to face it, but I had you. If it weren’t for you and Naruto, I don’t know how my mother would’ve made it another day.” He starts to smile a bit at me, “and suddenly I wanted to be coddled. I wanted you to hold me, to talk to me, to force me to eat when I didn’t want to, to be there when I slept and when I woke. I found comfort in you, and I still do.” He was stroking my cheek by now. “You made me realize that sometimes, It’s okay to coddle those in need. That sometimes even the strongest shinobi need a hug, need to shed some tears or just simply need some comfort. So, yes I went to comfort Temari but that was it, I finally understood how to give what you give me everyday.”

He moved me almost impossibly closer to him “I was a fool to think the most comforting woman in the world wouldn’t understand grief when she has had a handful of it herself.” By the end of his speech my head injury was long forgotten, I had an aching heart. “I can’t believe I let the most important person in my life down. The person who gives me the most security asked for just a bit of it and I refused it to give it to her like an idiot.”

“Please hear me when I say this, there was a time in my life where I thought Temari and I were meant to be, but I know there is a lifetime where you and I belong together. You are it for me, nothing happened.” He tilted my head, searching my face for a reaction when the first tear ran down my face. Shikamaru was taken back and seemed a little panicky at the sight of me crying. I’d have to be heartless to not shed a tear for that confession, this man was everything I’ve ever wanted and I’d be lost- I’d been lost without him.

I reach arms up and around his neck as he brushes the tears from my eyes. “Shikamaru please don’t scare me like that ever again, I won’t make it to the wedding day if I die of a heart attack.” Burying my face into his shoulder, I ignore the smell of cigarettes. I could feel him release a breath of air at my proclamation, squeezing me tighter in return. Suddenly he’s pushing me off and scrambling off the bed, but I didn’t understand. I thought we were making up and there he goes running off again! “Shika, didn’t I just tell you not to scare me again? Hey! get back over here!” I told him slightly out of breath from the change in position and pouting.

I had put myself in an upright position watching as he frantically searched through his pockets with his back to me. Sighing in relief as he finally found what he was looking for, he quickly turned back to me and dropped to his knee. My ring! “(Y/N), please don’t ever make me take this ring back again, I don’t know if my heart could take it. Will you please be my fiancée again?” He was proposing to me again! I quickly nod my head shoving my bare ring finger in the cloud gazing man’s face as he returned it back to its rightful spot and we sealed it with a kiss. A knock at the door separated us.

Sakura came in pushing a cart, “Just coming by to change (Y/N)’s IV dressing!” Shikamaru takes a step back, taking a seat in the chair by my bedside as Sakura moves in close. Gently grabbing my hand, she started changing the IV dressing, of course it was the left one. I could feel her smirking at my hand. “That’s a nice ring there (Y/N), is it new!?” the medical genius teased me snickering. She knew we would make up. I couldn’t help but laugh with her. “Yeah, Shikamaru just gave it to me, isn’t it cute?” I joked back. letting out a complete and full laugh now, the pink haired woman agreed while Shikamaru face palmed. “Who knew you’d be able to get two proposals out of this lazy one!” Shikamaru was full on groaning at this point.

Another knock on the door lead to a huge bouquet with some legs poking out from under it! Ino! “I didn’t know which arrangement you’d like best so I decided to bring you all of them!” Ino was the sweetest girl and I was grateful that Shikamaru had brought us together. “Here Shikamaru, hold these!” Ino drops the bouquet into the Nara’s lap and moved to hug Sakura and then me. Another loud groan was released from the shadow man. “Was all of this really necessary Ino? (Y/N) is getting discharged tomorrow.” Shikamaru complains holding onto the heavy arrangements.

“Get used to looking at arrangements Shika! You’ll get your fair share when we’re planning our wedding.” I smirk and wink at my fiancé dearest as the two women shriek and join hands. “You’re starting the wedding planning?!” Sakura says dreamily as I nod, “Yep, want to start my lifetime with that one soon”. I reply smirking at my soon to be husband. “About time! I’m on flower duty!” Ino proclaims. I just nod my head in agreement, stuck in a staring contest with Shikamaru.

“How troublesome... you two are going to turn my girlfriend into a bridezilla.” He smirks and lets out his typical sigh.

“Not-uh, I’m not your girlfriend Shikamaru, I’m your fiancée, remember?” Using his own line on him I giggled. We smiled so hard at each other that I swore my cheeks were going to cave in.

“How about a spring wedding?!” Sakura shrieks, “With roses!” Ino excitedly adds.

I was so grateful for everyone in that room, and I couldn’t wait to drag Shikamaru back into our home where we belonged, together.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹

The Final part of the “Dragging” series guys! I’m still new and learning so Imma just apologize If you hated it lolll. Not sure if I’ll do anything else with this series, I might do a different series! feel free to message me!

Until Next Time! xxo (▰∀◕)ﾉ

#naruto imagine #naruto imagines #shikamara nara #shika #shikamaru #angst #shikamaru angst #shikamaru nara angst #shikamaru angst imagines #shikamaru nara imagine #shikamaru nara imagines #shikamaru Imagine #naruto angst #anime #anime imagine #shikamaru x reader #shikamaru nara x reader #shikamaru x y/n

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h2bakugou · 4 years ago

Note

Hewoo I saw requests were open and this really cute idea popped in my head can get a lot of fluff with Denki where he surprises his s/o on they're anniversary in front of the whole school

a/n: hiii!! ooo this is so cute omg, we stan denki. please i- i love him so much i cant

summary: with your one-year anniversary coming up soon, kaminari had every intention of making it big, he’d been dating you for a whole year! however, his plan may or may get a little out of his hands when he ends up confessing in front of nearly the whole school.

key: (y/n) - your name / (f/n) - first name / (l/n) - last name / (e/c) - eye color / (h/c) - hair color / (y/q) - your quirk

warnings: swearing, fluff, a camp rock line(i never watched high school musical sorry)

word count: 1.8k

;cut for length;

»»————-　★　————-««

Kaminari had met you in secondary school, the year before you both got into U.A. It was coincidentally on a whim when your class collaborated with his on a debate project on some literature project.

You were paired together, four students from your class on a team with four from his class.

He was goofy, light-hearted, kind, and way too flirty for his age, but you ignored his cheesy pick-up lines until you won the debate.

He’d asked to exchange numbers at the very least since you’d become friends. And that friendship kindled over time, so much so, that you were both over the moon about applying to U.A. together.

And before you knew it, Kaminari was walking hand-in-hand with you home from the park, or from the grocery store, the two of you often hanging out together over break, excited to be making dinner one night, or happy to help out over at his house.

Needless to say, a few of those long summer nights when you spent time in the pool alone with him, you couldn’t help but let out how you really feel, the two of you eventually establishing something more than a friendship.

You headed to the entrance exams as a couple, and you were both too happy to speak when you saw one another in class the following week.

And now you sat in the Class 1-A dormitory common room, Kaminari’s body between your legs as you put up his hair, a face mask applied to both of your faces as you giggled and reminisced about your time together, your anniversary of being together for one year coming up soon.

“Remember the one time you had to go to the ER because of the shopping cart accident?” Kaminari brought up a rather embarrassing story.

“That poor old lady was petrified, she thought she’d killed me.” You and Kaminari had been goofing off in the grocery store parking lot, returning the cart to its drop-off when an old lady backed out into the cart you were standing on.

It tilted back and you saved yourself from landing face-first on the asphalt at the expense of your right arm. It hurt like a bitch and you had to wear a cast for about a month before your arm healed up enough to do much more.

“You were so worried.” You teased, braiding his yellow hair between your fingers. He lifted his head to look up at you, a pout on his lips.

“I thought you died too!” Kaminari cooed, pressing a kiss to your knee as he turned back around to let you continue playing with his hair.

“You’re an idiot.” Bakugou mumbled. Kirishima sat beside you, along with Sero, who also had face masks on. They begged to be included in the self-care session and were happily enjoying themselves listening to all your stories.

“So final jam’s coming up.” Kaminari blurted.

“What?!” You laughed, confused at his words.

“T-The final jam?” Kaminari turned back around to stare at you with puppy dog eyes.

“Are you referring to our anniversary as the final jam?” You glared at the yellow-blonde.

“I’m sorry! I had to.” Kaminari stood up and grabbed your hand, yanking you off of the couch.

“That’s right, you’ve been together for a while now huh?” Sero mentioned, glancing over at Bakugou who seemed to be interested in the idea of Kaminari holding a relationship longer than a week.

“One whole year.” Kaminari stared at you with adoration in his eyes, and you were worried if he stared any harder his eyes would pop out. Your face was hot at his words.

You felt all giddy and warm inside. You really did love Kaminari, and getting to this point felt so amazing, so refreshing.

“That’s awesome! Congrats!” Kirishima was quick to congratulate you both on the seemingly wild accomplishment.

Later during the night, after washing off the face mask and finishing up your routine, you walked back to your dorm with Kaminari.

“I really couldn’t be more excited for our anniversary.” Kaminari’s hands rested in yours as he pulled you in for a hug.

“I know, I’m excited too. You gonna take me out on a big date?” You tease, hugging him.

“I’m broke!” Kaminari whines, pressing a tender kiss to your cheek.

“I’m kidding. I just wanna spend the day with you, playing video games and-”

“Cuddling.” Kaminari offers, his eyes sparkling.

“Cuddling.” You agree, leaning in, pressing your lips to his. It’s a short kiss, but it’s meaningful, and tender, and passionate. It holds just enough emotion to convey how warm you feel inside. It’s electrifying, pun intended.

“I love you, sweet dreams.” Kaminari whispers as you begin to open your dorm door. You smile and wave.

“I love you too, goodnight.” You reply, closing the door after he leaves.

That night you tuck yourself into bed, happier than usual. You’re almost too excited to even sleep. But eventually, your dreams call you and you’re drifting away before you can even realize it.

The day of your anniversary, you’re a giddy mess. Kaminari and you are practically in each other’s arms the entire morning, hoping that you aren’t being that annoying couple. You’re keeping the PDA down to simple hand-holding even though you’d much rather embrace him and kiss him until you couldn’t breathe.

But you had classes. The mushy-gushy stuff could wait till later. When Aizawa couldn’t yell at you.

During the day, Kaminari and you both ended up surprising one another with little gifts, tiny trinkets just to show that you were thinking of each other. Kaminari of course bought you a bouquet of your favorite flowers, whereas you managed to snag a pretty rose for him and a new game for his console.

He was over the moon about the rose and claimed he was going to cherish it forever. It was so sweet.

That was until lunch rolled around.

“There the love birds are!” Mina cheered as you and Kaminari sat down at the table. Almost the entire class was aware of what was today, and a few peers congratulated you on being together for one year.

“Hush!” Your face burned with embarrassment as you nuzzled into Kaminari’s shoulder, swatting away at your pink-haired friend.

“You guys are so cute!” She teased, taking another bite of her lunch.

Lunch was abruptly interrupted when Kaminari said he had to go somewhere. You were a bit surprised by his exclamation but you said goodbye as he left.

“What’s with that?” You asked, a defeated sigh coming from your lips.

“Don’t know. Maybe he’s got another gift for you.” Mina nudged your side. You shook your head and covered your face.

“Please! I can’t take any more gifts from him, I just wanna spend quality time with him and do stupid lovey-dovey couple’s crap.” You groan.

Kaminari was racing toward the AV room where he had agreed to meet another student for something he had commissioned for you. It was a delicate glass frame with a picture of you and him embossed into it.

Of course by the time he arrived, he was running late. He blamed you for being so captivating, of course though, it wasn’t an issue that he was late, the student was there, happy as could be to have been commissioned for a project.

And the result was beautiful. It was truly wonderful, and Kaminari was almost in tears at how delicate and amazing it looked. Kaminari had already paid the student when he brought up the idea, and now he was finally here to get it.

It was wrapped in a beautiful box, carefully surrounded with bio-degradable filler to prevent it from breaking.

“Thank you so much for doing this, it’s so important to me.” Kaminari placed the box down on the table in the AV room, unaware that he’d set it down on the button that turned on the intercom for student news, etc.

Kaminari had set it down because he was afraid he’d drop it on a whim somehow.

“They’re just so important to me, I can’t explain it. They’re the one, ya know?” Kaminari’s voice rang throughout the intercom system.

Your ears perked up, your face begging to sear with heat.

“I think I’ve always loved (Y/n). When we met I could just feel the world stop and all I could see was them. And from there I knew, I wanted to spend every waking moment with them.” Kaminari was completely unaware that his words were now being heard throughout the entire school building.

“Oh my god.” Kirishima looked at you. Everyone that knew you, was staring at you. You couldn’t help but feel touched. You could feel your eyes swelling with tears, happy tears.

“I live to see them smile, and their laugh? It’s music to my ears. I’m so in love with them. I’d spend a million years of my life with them, today marks one.” Kaminari’s words were cut short by a teacher barging through the door. Quickly turning to see the commotion, Kaminari was confused when the teacher started yelling about using the intercom for personal reasons.

That’s when Kaminari’s eyes shot down to where he’d sat the box, and now noticed the blinking red light that confirmed the intercom was actively broadcasting.

Blush spread like fire across his face and ears, as he quickly grabbed the box and stormed back to the cafeteria where you were still eating lunch.

Barging in, you lifted your head, smiling like an idiot as he ran toward you.

“I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that I- It was true, all of it, but I didn’t mean to embarrass you or or-”

Your lips on his shut him up as your rested your hands on his shoulders, completely silencing him. His hands held onto the box in front of him, his lips moving together against yours.

A few cheers and ‘woos’ came from fellow students but you couldn’t hear them. You were completely capsulated by Kaminari and the electric love blossoming between the two of you.

Pulling away in a haze, all you could see was him.

“I love you so much.” You smiled.

Later, after a decent scolding from Aizawa and another teacher, you were let go and finally allowed to go to your dorm.

Placing the delicate glass picture up on your shelf you then pulled Kaminari onto your bed, nuzzling into his side.

“This is what I was waiting for.” Kaminari cuddled into you, wrapping around you like a sloth as you laid on his stomach doing the same.

“This is an average Tuesday for us.” You mumbled, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Well, I like my average Tuesdays with you, dummy.” Kaminari smiled, clicking on your tv to watch something as you cuddled.

The anniversary was a success. And who cared if nearly the whole school knew about how strongly you felt for one another. You were happy, Kaminari was happy, and you couldn’t wait to spend more time with him.

»»————-　★　————-««

masterlist

#kaminari #denki #denki kaminari #kaminari denki #kaminari x reader #denki x reader #kaminari denki x reader #denki kaminari x reader #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha #bnha #my hero academia x reader #boku no hero academia x reader #mha x reader #bnha x reader

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ground-riot-jack · 3 years ago

Text

Number 1 |k. bakugo| chapter 2

ok so chapter 2 is here!! Please enjoy and feel free to give feedback or just come say hi in my inbox!!

summary: you’re pro hero Angel, you work at an agency your boyfriend, Katsuki Bakugo, created. When you finally hit number one your world seems to crash around you.

"Angel? You have a case,"

You look up from your desk and see your secretary standing there with a case file pointed towards you. You stand from your reports and walk towards her.

"Give me the run down," You say opening the file and looking at it.

"The Hero Commission has been surveilling an underground group of villains, their mission is plain and simple destruction, to cause mass panic. The commission believes it's a much smaller and less organized branch of the league of villains since some members have been seen communicating." She begins as you walk to the conference room where the agency's team goes over cases.

"It says here their preferred method is mass shootings? Why hasn't the police already handled this?"

"Because the leaders' quirk is gunfire, hands made out of guns and as long as he can breathe he can make bullets" Kirishima interrupts, joining you in your walk to the conference room.

"So this is an open and shut case? Stop the bad guys before they get a chance to shoot and take them into a quirk-free facility?" Why do we need the whole team?" You question as you walk into the room.

"Because while the leader is the one doing all the shooting the rest of the group is inciting the panic, taking out police on the scene, killing victims who manage to survive, and making things a lot more complicated" Kiri sighs, taking his seat. You nod in understanding and take a seat beside him.

"Have you talked to him?" Kiri whispers as the rest of the agency's team begins filing in their seats.

"I'm not sure what to say Eji, if he wants to make things better he will apologize, until then, I don't know how we can go on." You sigh, you hadn't gone back home even though it's been 3 days, of course, you still go to work but today will be your first time seeing Bakugo since the fight. He hasn't reached out to you and you know it's because of his ego, but you weren't here to get into a pissing contest with your boyfriend.

"Y/n he is sorry, you know-"

"Alright, everyone here's what we know" Kirishima is interrupted by Bakugo's thundering voice entering the room. His eyes quickly scan and land on yours, but you look away.

While he goes over basic intel, you stare at the pictures of the group in your case file, trying to avoid his glare. You can feel it but trying to combat Katsuki head-on in a large setting like this will cause nothing but trouble.

"Angel, you, me, and red riot will be second. Once our target is in sight, we get him. I want that bastard in custody alive, can you handle that?" You pipe up at the mention of your hero name. You give a quick yes and shut off your feelings. You had a job to do, people to save, you can’t let your relationship drama jeopardize that.

"RED, He's heading towards you, me and ground zero will cut him off on the right!" You speak into your headset as you fly into action with Bakugo.

"Copy"

"I can get him, watch my back."

"Wait, I have a better vantage point, he won't see me coming."

"I said-"

"Now is not the time Katsuki, your explosions are too noisy, he’ll know who's coming and from where if you go.'

"Damn right, gives him time to be scared" He growls

"Just cover me and when I give you the signal, blast him. That's an order Ground Zero." You both hated when you ordered each other around, but you don't have time for Bakugo's pettiness when it's the middle of a battle.

"Whatever angel."

You fly up and head in the direction of the alley where Kiri is waiting, there one entry point but 2 exits so it's important you do this right. You watch as the leader of the group runs into the alleyway, you slip into the right exit and blast him with light. He fires his guns at you as you dodge them. Then he does something unexpected, he runs into a door in the alleyway.

"Ground Zero! He just entered a door that leads down somewhere, I'm going after him.

You hear Kiri say wait in your comms but focus on chasing the villain. You stop in an empty room, you can hear the rumbling of the battle going on above you on the street. You look around cautiously trying to find him.

"Oh angel, for a number one hero, you sure are naive." You hear a disembodied voice. You blast light from your hands like flashlights to look around

"Come out coward, we don't want you dead, but ill do it if I have to." You keep searching the room but can't find anything.

"Oh, feisty, that's not very holy of you angel." You spin around at the voice but find nothing. You hear an explosion back from where you came, you turn around to go find bakugo but as you're running you're snatched from the side.

You begin kicking and moving your wings as much as possible, causing the attacker to drop you. You spin around and find the Gunman with 2 other men, where had they come from. You decide to attack the gunman first and dive into a heavy fistfight. You’re flying around dodging not only his hands but the bullets that fly from them. You hear another explosion and the ceiling begins to crumble, you look for an exit but can't find one, where did you come in from anyway? You fly away from the men firing at you and try to exit from a rusted door but the stairs have been blocked by rubble. You try to radio someone, anyone but the lines have gone dead.

Another explosion goes off and the room begins collapsing, you look up and see light, an exit. You fly quickly but a large price of rubble falls and smashes your wing in between rocks. You pull and pull as the room continues to crumble finally ripping a large piece of your wing off. You scream in agonizing pain but try your best to fly towards the hole that’s getting smaller. As you approach it smaller rocks fly at you, hitting your face and body, some leaving scratches and others staying lodged in your skin.

You manage to exit and find yourself in another alley. Your legs hurt too much to stand so you try to crawl but your arms fail you. You lay on your back and let a tear fall, this isn’t how you end, is it? Bakugo would find you, he always does. Your vision blurs and your head is pounding, you let out a final deep breath before falling unconscious.

Muffled sounds stir you from your sleep. You open your eyes and sigh. Maybe someone’s come to help you, your heart begins to pick up at the prospect of being saved. You attempt to move but still seem to hurt to move more than your toes and fingers. Your tired eyes move back to where you heard the sounds but you can’t see anything other than the hidden alley you’re splayed out in.

“T-That’s her wing!” It’s Katsuki! You’d recognize that voice anywhere. Finally, your love has come for you, you’re already imagining the warm bath you’ll take when you get back to the comfort of your home. You begin to speak, but your voice won’t rise above a raspy whisper.

Then as if the nightmare wasn’t bad enough, another voice speaks.

“You’ve done the right thing Ground Zero, you belong in that number 1 spot, and to get there sometimes you have to do bad things for the sake of the greater good. Angel was a threat that needed to be eliminated, and the commission will not forget your assistance and continuous efforts. Congratulations” You hear the man pat Bakugo and walk away, before another set of footsteps, presumably Katsukis, follow after.

Tears fall from your eyes as you whisper scream in intense agony. It couldn’t be true, he would never do that, would he?

“It’s best you try to speak” A voice whispers beside you. You turn your head too fast and your vision blurs.

“W-who are you?” You whisper, gasping for air in between waves of pain.

“Don’t worry. Just rest, you’ll feel better when you wake up.”

#bnha imagines #bnha x reader #bnha smau #katsuki bakugo imagine #bakugou imagine #bakugou #bakugou x reader #katsuki x y/n #katsuki bakugō #katsuki bakugou #katsuki bakugo x reader #katsuki x reader

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all-the-dabihawks · 3 years ago

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Quills -Chapter 4

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3

Pairing: Dabihawks

Format: RP

Length: Way too long (multiple chaps 100k+)

Warnings: enemies to lovers, eventual smut, eventual happy ending, multichap, hawks acting like a bird, dabi being a shit, hawks being a shit, hawks has a spring season, smut 18+ minors dni, eventual spoilers, hurt/comfort, the commission is evil

Summary: Hawks’ new mission is to join the LOV. Dabi’s not an idiot. Until he is.

🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶

Pretty swirls of smoke are blown out of Dabi’s mouth as he holds a cigarette between two fingers. He’s fumbling with a shiny new burner phone in the other hand, struggling to input Hawks’ number into it.

Unknown Number: Hey dumbass, you left something.

[Attached: Picture of the book]

The wing hero is perched on a building, on patrol when his phone buzzes. He digs it out of his flight jacket to thumb it open.

Is he insane? Hawks immediately deletes the incriminating picture.

Birdass: Wondered where that went.

Dabi snorts, grinning wildly at his phone.

Unknown Number: Got too distracted and forgot about it, hmm?

Unknown Number: KFC when? >;)

Admittedly, emotes were incredibly out of character for Dabi, but… Well, he found he didn’t mind being a little playful with Hawks. It led to some interesting banter. And besides, no one would ever believe Hawks if he told.

KFC? That perks his interest a hell of a lot more than the stuffy book. And what is that? A weird little smiley face. Even Hawks doesn't use those.

Birdass: Priorities. Had something sharp at my throat.

Birdass: I'm off at 9.

What the fuck? Was Hawks actually taking him up on KFC? He thought that had been a joke. How is this guy for real? Dabi laughs, and honest to god laugh, typing back instantly.

Unknown Number: It’s a date then, huh? Where are we meeting?

A date? Hawks almost falls off the building, wings fluttering to catch himself. He peers around furtively. Thank god no one saw that.

A date?

He uncharacteristically blanks for a full minute on how to reply.

Birdass: KFC isn't a date, cripsy.

Birdass: The one on 3rd.

Dabi quirks an eyebrow, taking another drag from his cigarette.

Unknown Number: That so? You’re the one that recommended it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a date.

Unknown Number: See you at 9.

Hawks shoves his phone back into his jacket with a little more force than necessary. Why does Dabi leave him so damned offbalance. And why is this suddenly a date?

--------------------------------------------------

Hawks strolls into the KFC with his hands in his pockets. He's not sure why the villain chose such a public spot for their meeting. Is it a trust thing? He smirks. Maybe he doesn't trust himself not to try something again. Number two hero comes with a lot of perks, not the least of which is fans trying to climb him like a tree on a regular basis.

He stops to offer a trademark grin to an excited child at one of the tables, waving at the little girl as she throws chicken nuggets across the table. Her parents are more restrained, or maybe just a little more shocked than the kid. When he finally makes it to the front counter he orders their biggest bucket. Shoot him, he's starving and Dabi's stick thin, hecan probably put it away.

Hawks settles at a table with his spoils to wait for his contact.

Dabi hadn’t intended for this to become an actual meetup. Not at first, at least. Hell, it was obvious he was joking. It wasn’t his fault Hawks was too clueless to pick up on it. The exchange happened so quickly, Hawks had told him he was free after 9, and Dabi jokingly agreed to the “date”.

It was a joke. This absolutely was not an actual date.

So why the fuck didn’t he clarify? He should have made fun of Hawks for not picking up on his teasing and been done with it. But here he was, standing in front of a fucking KFC, hoodie zipped all the way up, mask covering the scars below his mouth, and hood casting a shadow over his eyes.

He was surprised to see Hawks already there, assuming he’d be a little late if he had just gotten off a shift.

Speed hero, right.

Dabi didn’t pay a glance to anyone else in the restaurant, wanting to keep to himself as much as possible. He strolls up to Hawks’ table and slinks into the seat.

“The fuck is this? Thought I was supposed to pay.” The grin is hidden behind his mask, but the way the corners of his eyes lift is a dead giveaway.

Hawks barely looks up when the villain sits down. He slides a plate over with a piece of chicken. "I've seen where you live. I doubt you have the money for it." He tucks into another drumstick with a satisfied hum. There's already a plate full of bones beside him.

"'Sides," he ambles between bites. "Why would you be paying?" Is that a thing? Was he serious about this being a date? Isn't that how it works? Whoever invites pays? He takes another toothy bite of his chicken, completely at ease in the familiar restaurant.

“I’ve got money.” Dabi counters. It’s true! It wasn’t exactly acquired honestly, but hey! Money’s money, no matter where it came from.

Dabi quirks an eyebrow at the bucket of chicken. Was this some form of cannibalism?

Regardless, he lowers his mask and pulls the plate closer to himself. “Isn’t that what you said? ‘Gotta but me dinner first’? I would’ve been willing to go for something way nicer but you set the bar pretty low when you said you were worth KFC.”

It’s ridiculous that Hawks hasn’t picked up on the reference yet, and he grins in amusement before taking a bite of chicken. “So what’re you thinkin’? Your place or mine?”

He stops chewing, golden blinking dumbly at the man sitting across from him.

...you set the bar pretty low...

Hawks promptly chokes on his chicken.

When he gets the coughing under control, he manages to swallow what's in his mouth along with some water.

"I paid." Fuck. He can't believe Dabi was listening when he'd said that. None of his sidekicks ever listened to his incessant chatter. "That means you didn't buy me dinner." he points out. And why is he arguing this point? It's not like he was serious when he said it. It's not like he goes around sleeping with people for drumsticks and thighs.

Dabi brings the back of his hand up to cover his mouth while he laughs and nearly chokes on his own chicken. He had been seriously doubting this awkward hangout, but seeing Hawks thrown completely off like that made it worth it instantly.

“So you did. Guess I’ll have to show up faster next time.” He hums in satisfaction, reaching over to snatch another piece of chicken. Hey, if Hawks bought, Dabi had no problem helping himself.

“Y’know, I thought the KFC thing was a joke, but you seem way too into that bucket of chicken. You actually like this place?”

He wrinkles his nose at the way the villain is laughing at him, even more offended when he takes one of the hero's favorite drumsticks. Hawks piles a couple of ribs on Dabi's plate to prevent any further theft. He doesn't miss it - next time. That shouldn't feel good to hear.

He shrugs at the question. It's not like it's secret info, it's on all his fansites. "I like chicken." Fried isn't his favorite. But it's the best he can do. "I'm a hawk. We're carnivores." He puts a hand over his mouth, immediately regretting that little tidbit. Dabi doesn't need to know his dietary requirements.

Dabi eyes the way Hawks practically bristles at his drumstick theft and very obviously tries to keep him content with the ribs he piled onto his plate. Normally, that would be enough. But knowing that his theft had gotten a reaction out of him? Oh no. Only Hawks’ chicken will do now.

His eye glints mischievously.

“That so? You only eat meat, or you just need to make sure you get enough meat?” It’s hardly the weirdest side effect he’s seen. He works with all kinds of freaks with odd quirks.

“Got any other weird quirk drawbacks?” He asks. It’s just to gather more Intel on him, he tells himself, but he can’t quell the genuine interest of what sort of weird, secret bird traits the number two hero might have.

He doesn't like the way Dabi is eyeing his bucket of chicken, like he knows what Hawks is thinking. Shrewd bastard. No wonder he's their recruiter. The notion crosses his mind to wonder if Dabi tries to fuck all his new recruits. Or maybe it's just the pretty ones. Hawks clutches his bucket closer with a gloved hand.

He shrugs again at the question. "Meat. Eggs. I can eat other stuff but only protein really-" satisfies him. That's what he was going to say. And that's not on the fansites. He flashes a toothy grin. "What can I say? I just love chicken."

He shakes his head at the villain's further prying, deciding it's none of his business. The last thing he needs is some derogatory mutant remarks from the arsonist. His wings fluff up reflexively at the lie. Even if he doesn't voice it.

“A giant chicken eating chicken. That’s some fuckin’ bird on bird violence.” Dabi leans over the table just a bit, tapping the surface with his fingers.

“You lying to me, pigeon? Can’t be that bad. At least you look mostly human. Just wait ‘til you meet Spinner. Guy’s pretty much a giant lizard. Besides, you can’t help it if it’a apart of your quirk. Positives always come with negatives, and all that.” He’s droning on a bit more than he’s used to, equal parts interested in what Hawks has to say, and wanting to distract him long enough to…

A flicker of something smug flashes across Dabi’s face, and he lunges over the table, attempting to snatch another drumstick from Hawks’ bucket.

Lying? It annoys him that Dabi can tell. Stupid wings. How many times has he been punished for not controlling them better. Of course Dabi would notice.

Hawks tucks the offending appendages low against the back of the booth. It's uncomfortable and he knows he's gonna cramp, but at least the arsonist can't read them.

"The public doesn't like inhuman qualities." He tries for casual but his tone ends up somewhere less. He's parroting his handler's words. He shrugs. "Used to have them. Not anymore." Not when they file his talons and pluck the stray feathers from his hair. He can suppress the chirps and other quirk related behaviors, has been doing it for years.

When a scarred hand flashes out to steal another drumstick Hawks scowls. "So that's how it is? Distract me with questions so you can steal the hardworking hero's food?"

Dabi shrugs, completely unapologetic as he bites into the drumstick. “What can I say? I’m a rotten, thieving criminal. And what about you? I thought heroes were supposed to be generous. And here’s poor ol’ me. You said it yourself, I don’t have money, right?” He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, still smirking. He could get used to Hawks’ reactions.

He drops the bone onto his plate and begins to pick apart the ribs with his fingers. “Oh, and you know all of that is bullshit, right? Who gives a fuck what the public thinks? Hero society is such bullshit. Was it uncomfortable forcing yourself to train out of that stuff?”

The wings are now tucked back behind Hawks, and Dabi’s gaze shifts to them, lingering a bit. It’s significantly harder to read Hawks when they’re so animated. The hero must have picked up on that.

"I bought you dinner didn't I?" Hawks scoffs, not really expecting an answer.

He half listens to Dabi as he digs around the dwindling bucket for another drumstick. He'll need a new set of gloves when he's done. The only problem with eating greasy food outside of the comfort of his own place.

He looks up sharply when the other man questions his training. Hawks' wings twitch against the vinyl seat. "Who said I was trained out of that stuff?" he deflects, disliking the knowing way Dabi talks. He's a villain. What does he know about public image and rankings?

"I didn't force myself to do anything." That's the truth. It's his handlers who forced him. A parade of them from a young age, employing whatever punishments they saw fit. Still do. Doesn't matter much when you've got quirks that hide scars. They like to let the wounds heal naturally though before using them. Enforces the lesson. Better he's reminded when he screws up, young Hawks had a tendancy to forget. He's better now.

Dabi narrows his eyes. Of course this would be a tense subject. They won’t agree on anything involving hero society. Suddenly, the conversation feels tense again, like it did when they first met on the docks.

“Please, you’re not slick. Heroes are always doing stupid shit to appease the public and get their ratings up. Of course you’d train yourself out of anything ‘less than ideal’. I know how it is.”

Dabi’s body temperature begins to rise, thinking back on all the sacrifices his loving father made— His family’s love for his public image. Everything always came second. He always came second.

He’d love to spout more venom, share all the anecdotes from his childhood, but the words die on his tongue. They have to. He’s not ready for his identity to get out just yet.

He falls silent, unaware he’s now glaring blankly at the table. The mere mention of hero society, and Hawks quickly rushing to defend it, leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. He shoves the plate away from himself.

“Y’know what? This was a mistake.”

He lets silence reign at the table, not really sure what to say to that. It's normal to get rid of unsightly parts of yourself. They want the best for him, that's why they help him. Dabi's glare seems to suggest otherwise.

He blinks when the plate comes sliding back at him, half pulled apart ribs looking not so edible.

"What? Better stick to warehouses?" he jokes lamely. "Weren't you bringing me that boring looking book?" What does he mean mistake? He's the one that wanted to meet and apparently grill the number two hero.

“Yeah, I was.” Dabi is back to his cold exterior. Back to business. He hadn’t even realized how much he had been relaxing, having gotten lost in the fun of teasing Hawks. If he had, he wouldn’t have let that happen to begin with.

This outing was stupid. He should have just told Hawks to come get the damn thing from him.

The villain reaches inside his hoodie and pulls the book out, waving it back and forth a few times before unceremoniously tossing it onto the table with a thud.

“There’s your homework. Don’t forget about it again. Need you to get to it ASAP.”

Watching Dabi is like seeing a door shut. Hawks is great at reading people inasmuch as entertaining them, but even with the mask on he can see somethings changed. And for the life of him he doesn't know what it is. For a minute there things had almost been relaxed. Which was surprisingly nice. For all his airs, Hawks doesn't really relax around anyone.

"I was still hoping you'd read it to me." he tries, his smirk edging between genuine and professional. A little heat touches his eyes at the memory of the warehouse. Unconsciously a hand goes to fuss with the light scarf covering Dabi's marks, tugging it a little ways down.

Dabi’s eyes trail down and lock onto where he can still see the bite marks he left on his neck.

Fuck, shit. It was doing things to him.

He didn’t know what game Hawks was playing at. First he walks out on him after fully letting Dabi think he might actually fuck him, and then he completely rebuttals Dabi’s teasing about taking him home after their little “date”, and now… What, now he’s trying to tease him when he’s about to leave? String him along?

Hadn’t last time been humiliating enough?

I’m not one of your fucking fanboys. Dabi wanted to growl. You don’t get to charm me and leave me hot and cold whenever you damn well want.

Instead, he gives him a humorless smirk. “It’s like you said—You paid.” He rises from his seat and swings around the table to grab Hawks’ chin and lean in until their noses are almost bumping.

It was petty, the way he was trying to inflict as much damage as he could on the hero. There weren’t many people around to witness the little display, but he hoped it would be enough to circulate some kind of unwanted rumor.

“You wouldn’t know what to do with me if you had me, sweetheart.”

The villain's reaction to his half hearted flirting is a strange one and Hawks wonders vaguely again what he's done wrong. It isn't until he notices the direction of Dabi's gaze that he realizes his mistake and tucks his hand away from the scarf.

In the moment it takes him to do that the arsonist is on his feet and leaning over Hawks, so close they could share a breath. Just like the night before, his touch should invoke terror, instead Hawks straightens in his seat, his wings twitching to display as they lock eyes.

You wouldn't know what to do with me if you had me sweetheart.

Fuck- that does things to him. A wanted villain. Touching him like this, growling at him. It feels like his heart jumps to a mile a minute.

"Oh I don't know." He manages to keep his voice level, unaffected, despite the way his body centers around Dabi. His smirk reeks of confidence, as if he's determined to piss the other off. "I can think of a few things hot stuff."

Hawks was either really fuckin’ stupid, or really fuckin’ egotistical. Either way, it pisses Dabi off even more.

He hates Hawks, the villain decided.

Sure, he had thought about the night at the warehouse a little bit too much, had fantasized about completely wrecking his cute little ass. But there was a vast difference between lust and adoration. If Hawks stirred up any feelings in him, it was purely desire to shut his stupid fucking mouth up and leave behind all kinds of evidence of himself as marks of shame for a desperate, hedonistic hero.

His grip tightens on Hawks’ jaw, squeezing before his fingertips begin to heat up. He doesn’t ignite them, though the thought of how hilarious it would be to singe the sad, scruffy excuse for facial hair on his chin briefly crosses his mind. No, it’s a simple warning for now.

“I’m surprised that bird brain of yours can think at all. Coulda fooled me back at the warehouse.” Revenge is what he’s after, he reminds himself. In a swift movement, he closes the gap, pressing his mouth to Hawks’ and biting harshly into his lower lip.

Of all the things he's expecting in this not so crowded but still very public restaurant, Dabi kissing him is absolutely not one of them.

Just like the first time, any touch from the villain turns quickly to pain, the edges of his teeth that have had Hawks tossing and turning since it happened light up nerve endings the hero didn't know he had. It feels strange, the rough scarring of his bottom lip and the smooth softness of his top, punctuated by incisors in Hawks' flesh.

It shouldn't feel good, but it does.

The wing hero lets out a little trill of surprise. So much for all the training, the sound escapes him like it's meant to be there and he feels his face burn at the slip, attention split towards his own embarrassment and how damned good Dabi feels. The heated hand at his chin adds an edge of danger that has the hero practically panting into the other man's mouth.

He grips Dabi's wrist in warning, parting reluctantly from the kiss. Maybe the hood has saved them, dropped down low over the villain's face. He doesn't know and in the moment he's not entirely sure he cares.

Hawks means for his words to come out strong, confident, cocky, but they're just breathless and he's still flushed with shame. "Not here."

“Is there somewhere that’s acceptable?” Dabi breathes, almost unwilling to let Hawks end this. Seconds earlier, he was the one planning to end this and blue ball them both.

Damn the hero and that fucking noise that came out of him. If a single kiss earns a cute little sound like that, he can only imagine what lovely sounds he could pull with enough time—

Focus.

Dabi mentally scolds himself for how quickly he almost let go of his pride altogether and grounds himself back into his petty revenge plot.

A sly smirk spreads on his face. “Thanks for dinner, birdass.”

His other hand finds its way into the chicken bucket again, snatching whichever one his fingers come across first. He hopes it’s a good one.

He releases the grip on Hawks’ jaw and straightens up to his full height again.

The restaurant is mostly empty, but….

Turning his head, he grins at the family that is clearly trying to mind their own business, and waves smugly when he catches the wife peering at him from the corner of her eye.

Somewhere that's acceptable? Shit. He has no idea. Where is he supposed to take the villain? A hotel is out of the question. There's no way he's going back to that filthy warehouse with dozens of eyes right downstairs. That leaves - his penthouse. Again- he's authorized for this. But he'd hated the idea of that, of sleeping with the enemy because they told him to. Even if he always does what they tell him.

But this is different. He wants this. This is his choice. And taking Dabi back to his home would prove something wouldn't it? Make him more trustworthy in the villain's eyes.

He teeters on the last vestiges of shame and decision as Dabi helps himself to another piece of chicken. He's not used to being off balance like this.

The little wave Dabi gives the only other occupants of the restaurant seals the deal. Whatever they do, they can't stay here.

Chapter 5

#hawks x dabi #dabi x hawks #dabihawks #bnha hotwings #toukei

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lady-literature · 4 years ago

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for us to collide (part 4)

anyway who actually expected me to end this thing in 4 chapters lol

rip me ig

After the not-so-impromptu interrogation courtesy of her friends (because there was no way they hadn’t planned that, it was too coordinated) Robin doesn’t stop by for two weeks.

Which is… fine. Marinette is plenty busy anyways. The extra time she has free now that she isn’t entertaining a bratty vigilante, goes to more productive uses of her time. Like watching bad horror movies with her friends and jeering at the horrible acting and special effects.

(Red Hood stops by in the middle of watching Grizzly Rage and proceeds to rant for twenty minutes about ‘shitty, unrealistic blood splatters’. Marinette has long since passed the point of being worried about it.)

So, yeah. She doesn’t see Robin.

But Damian, oddly enough, seeks her out.

It’s early, and there isn’t anyone else in the studio right now which means Marinette has her music blasting and she’s humming along as she hand paints silk for Clara’s dress. It’s loud and she’s in her zone, so it’s only by Tikki warning her that she realizes someone entered her sanctuary.

Her eyebrows raise when she sees who it is.

“Uh, bonjour Damian," she greets confusedly, reaching over to lower the volume on her speakers. "I hadn’t expected to see you here. Is there something you need?”

He stops before her workstation, only slightly bigger than the ones the rest of her staff use due to the sheer amount of open commissions she normally has. She has an actual office on this floor, but Chloé uses it more than she does. Marinette likes the open space and being around her designers more than she likes the privacy.

His eyes catch on the two bouquets of flowers she’s yet to take home, neither of which have even begun to wilt—and likely won’t. (She’ll have to take them home soon before people start asking questions.)

“I was called here by Father, but he’s currently indisposed. I’ve been told to wait.”

She waits a moment for him to continue, and when he doesn’t, she asks, “So you came to visit me?”

“Yours is the only tolerable presence to be found.” His lips purse, and he crosses his arms. “And that includes that imbecile Drake who is no doubt still in his office like the pitiful insomniac he is.”

Her tongue is already halfway around a joke about excuses—she didn’t befriend Felix for nothing, okay? She knows how people like Damian work—when she realizes what he just said.

“Wait. Tim’s been here all night?”

Damian snorts. “He certainly didn’t return to the manor.”

She’s out of her seat in an instant, frowning and muttering up a storm as she rummages through the storage cubes pushed up against the far wall. She has a blanket, pillow and plain cotton shirt in her hands before Damian registers that she even moved.

“I’m going to kill your brother,” she says simply. “Would you like to come with?”

She’s gotten closer to Tim since working in Wayne Tower. He’s a notorious recluse and rarely leaves his office when he’s in the building, but Marinette makes it a point to visit him during lunch and before she leaves for the night.

He isn’t one of her Waynes, but he is a Wayne and her Waynes love and care for him so there’s not much of a difference really. She does like to think they might be something close to friends at this point though. And if the way Tim comes down to visit whenever he ventures out of his office means something, she might even be right.

Another thing that should be noted, is that Marinette is very much a ‘ride or die’ kind of person when it comes to the people she cares about. She will ruthlessly bully her loved ones into taking better care of themselves on threat of death because she is the semi-hypocritical mom friend and damn proud of it.

Damian looks her up and down, eyes lingering on the items in her hands and the determined set to her jaw and says, “Of course.” Then he’s plucking her things from her hands, offering her his arm and saying, “Shall we?”

Marinette laughs as she loops her arm with his. “We shall.”

***

She spends ten minutes scolding Tim before wrangling him onto the couch in his office and wrapping him up in the blanket so tightly he’d need to be an escape artist to get out of it. He tries to struggle anyway, but Marinette has too much practice at this and he doesn’t stand a chance in hell.

Damian stands at her shoulder and smirks the entire time, eyes dancing with amusement as she forces the CEO of Wayne Enterprises to take a fucking nap. Then, she’s treated to the sound of his surprised laughter as she begins switching out all of Tim’s regular coffee for magic-decaf—not that Damian knows it’s magic.

(By the devilish smirk playing at his lips, she’s starting to think that maybe Damian really is just as sadistic as Duke and Jason say he is.)

***

Damian starts dropping by more often after that (read: starts dropping by at all). Not that Marinette minds. She quite likes his company, actually.

He normally stops by first thing in the morning when Marinette is the only one in the workshop, walking in like he owns the place. For the first couple days, he asks about Ladybug and the rest of Paris’ Court, claiming that he’s curious about them.

She answers them, but only as far as she’d answer them for any reporter and is careful not to give away any sensitive information not known to the public. He gets a bit frustrated at one point, complaining that she must know more, but she stays stubbornly silent about it and, sometimes, steers the conversation deftly to the Great Bat and his Flock instead.

He eventually stops asking about the Parisian superheroes and instead their morning conversations turn to a thousand random things. Complaints and anecdotes and a silly back and forth between the two.

Marinette’s never been much of a morning person but having Damian there to keep her company is… nice.

She almost finds herself looking forward to mornings now.

***

When her Waynes learn that she’s started a food kitchen and makes a habit of spending her weekend there, they immediately insist on joining her, despite her protests.

“You guys really don’t have to do this,” she says even though the three of them are already in their aprons and Cass is eyeing the boucher, Vivian, and her collection of knives with glittering interest.

Duke grins at her, “We know, M. But we want to.”

Jason finally turns back to her from where he’s been staring at the kitchen with something just shy of awe on his face. “You’re downright incredible, you know that?” he waves a hand out at the seating area, and then at the people in the kitchen assembling the healthiest and cost-efficient meals she and Felix could find after days spent researching. “I would’ve killed for something like this when I was on the streets.”

“It’s not just me who’s got this up and running-” she tries protesting but then Fiona, the woman Marinette actually put in charge of this place, is at her side and all but shoving the four of them into stations.

Marinette ends up by the pastries, like always, and she can see Jason making sandwiches. Duke's been roped into making eggs and bean casseroles and Cass, by some grace, actually ended up by Vivian and is having a blast cutting up all the meats as fast as she can.

They don’t stop until lunch, all four of them helping prepare meals for the upcoming week in bulk. After, they all go out for ice cream by the pier and Jason smears chocolate on her nose and Duke carries her around on his back when she complains about being tired.

Cass takes pictures of it all and later, Marinette gets them all printed out.

It ends up being a really good day.

***

The buzz from the charity gala and all the press regarding her and Damian’s non-existent relationship had calmed down weeks ago. There was still the odd article about Marinette being seen with her odd assortment of Waynes and the newspapers still called her ridiculous names when they got a picture, but it was about as close to normal as she gets.

The quiet lulled her into a false sense of security.

Ice Prince and Sweetheart Finally Seen on Date: Fairy Tale Romance or Publicity Stunt?

The ‘date’ in question was a coffee and lunch run for her designers and also Tim (because kwami knew he'd work through lunch if allowed).

Damian normally didn’t stay past Lilliane arriving in the morning (the poor dear was chronically late and always the last to arrive) but he hadn’t shown up until after she came that day and overcompensated by hours—which she hadn't minded. He kept to the fringes of her workspace and didn't distract her, instead focusing on his own thing. She wasn’t quite sure what he was up to, but she knew he was switching between his computer and sketchpad every so often.

(She's pretty sure he was hiding from Dick for some reason. He’s the only Wayne brother who doesn’t visit her at work, seeing as they have their bi-weekly gymnastic sessions; recently, with the addition of Mar’i, who still calls her ‘twin’ and whom Marinette still adores.)

And then lunch had rolled around, and it was Marinette’s turn to go out so she brought Damian with since he was still there.

They were out together for forty-five minutes. Tops.

“Why me?” she whines into the surface of her desk.

Damian, the asshole, just laughs at her and she can’t even be mad about it because he’s only just started laughing around her and not hiding behind so many of his walls. He laughs and Marinette knows it's precious so instead of shooting him the glower he deserves, she finds herself having to hide the smile slowly creeping on her face.

***

They’re splashed across the papers again less than a week later, only this time she has her Waynes there too.

Marinette's wearing her bright red sundress and she's somehow convinced Damian to wear a jacket with elaborate crowns and snowflakes embroidered up the sides. Because, as Chloé says: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

They see the camera this time and the photo splashed across the page the next day is of Marinette laughing with Jason’s arm slung across her shoulders as both he and Damian flip off the camera. Meanwhile, Duke and Cass stand just far enough in frame to capture their expressions of pain and amusement respectively.

(Marinette makes a mental note to order apology gift baskets for the PR department.)

There are a lot of headlines the next day about Marinette’s ‘harem of Waynes’ and how she’s a ‘horrible influence on such bright children’. She spends about ten minutes trying to decide whether she should be horrified or laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it and eventually decides on both.

Adrien, the little shit, sees the headline and immediately prints it out to hang in her kitchen.

It reappears every time she tries to take it down.

***

Gotham does not smile upon daytime heroes.

Not to say that Gotham really smiles on anyone, but it’s especially vicious to those that think they’re owed anything. She’s heard the way Gothamites talk about Superman and The Flash—it’s not exactly what one would call adoring.

But Ladybug's been a daytime hero her entire career and it is not difficult to see that there's something distinctly different about the way daytime heroes and Gotham’s vigilantes operate.

Something more vicious, maybe; something more restrained.

Without the light of day and without the people’s eyes watching them at every moment, the Gotham Bats have become something else entirely.

Signal, their Daytime Protector, is especially strange.

A bat who's meta, straddling the line between day and night. The Day Patrol, trained by the night.

Sometimes, when she and Signal talk about heroing, there is such an odd type of disconnect that it throws her. Nothing horrible or major, but little things she’s sure she wouldn’t notice if she wasn’t so intimately familiar with it all herself.

They don’t always talk about heroing though. After two months, Ladybug is proud to say she seems to be worming her way past his outer shell nicely. He tried so hard to keep his distance from her, but Ladybug’s always liked a challenge, and it isn’t long before she has him relaxing around her.

Well, for a definition of relax anyway. He's still a bat after all.

But then, it’s pretty easy to get past Signal’s barriers when she’s already had practice breaking through the more stubborn bats like Robin and, to an extent, Hood. Not that Signal, or any of the bats, know that.

Which, speaking of the bats, isn’t it a bit weird she’s only met three spread across two of her alter egos? As Ladybug, she’d expect to be hounded by a few of them but the only one she’s met is Signal. She can’t decide if it’s because he’s the only one that operates in the daylight, or if they just don’t want to spook her into running or something.

Either way, they’re going to start giving her a complex. She’s heard so much about the rest of the Batfamily, and not one of them even wants to meet her? Either her?

(Maybe Marinette should ask Robin and Hood what’s up with that? The way they talk about how nosy Red Robin is, she’s surprised he didn’t drop by months ago and- is it weird that she’s offended by vigilantes not prying into her private life?

…Probably.)

***

Marinette blinks, stopping dead in her tracks.

Damian's on her fainting couch, sketchpad in his lap as he waits for her.

“Why are you wearing a beanie?” she blurts out instead of greeting him like a normal person. "You never wear beanies."

Luckily, Damian scowls at her question rather than at her. It’s a subtle but very important difference.

“Sorry,” she apologizes anyway, putting her bag down. “I haven't had coffee yet.”

He hums, then nods to her desk where she finds a steaming to-go mug. Her face lights up and she quickly snatches it, breathing deeply the lovely aroma. “You’re a godsend.”

That brings a quirk to his lips, closer to a smirk than a smile, but progress nonetheless.

After a moment, where she sips at her overly sugary monstrosity—just the way she likes it, when had Damian even noticed that?—and he continues sketching she asks again. “Okay but, I actually am kinda curious. What’s up with the hat?”

He sighs heavily, closing his pad. “It’s… better than the alternative.”

Marinette snorts. “Alternative to what? A top hat?” But instead of snapping back like she expects, he just continues to frown. Immediately, her lips turn down into a concerned frown. “Is there something wrong?”

“Yes,” he grounds out and Marinette puts her coffee down. She’s just about to open her mouth and say something else when he reaches up and rips the beanie off his head.

For the second time in less than five minutes, she stops dead.

Marinette opens her mouth. Closes it. Blinks, but the scene doesn't change.

His hair is still blue.

Damian Wayne's hair is blue.

Damian Wayne’s hair is vibrantly electric blue.

Her hand shoots up to cover her mouth as she tries to stifle her giggles.

Damian’s scowl deepens. He moves to shove his ridiculous beanie back on his head but her hand snaps out before he can.

“No! No, I’m sorry I just-” she giggles again. “You looked so upset by it and you took me by surprise. I like it!”

He glares up at her, still sat on the fainting couch so it’s her who has the height advantage for once.

“Don’t patronize me.”

She rolls her eyes, the hand that wasn’t settled on his arm reaching up to touch the bright strands. It's slow enough that he can stop her, but he, surprisingly, makes no move to.

His hair is a lot softer than she expects it to be. But she supposes he didn’t use that gel stuff today, planning on keeping his hair under a hat the whole time.

“It looks good on you,” she says softly.

He snorts disbelievingly and she smacks his shoulder lightly. “It’s true! I swear you could look good in any color.” She clicks her tongue longingly. “I wish I had your skin tone. I’m too pale to wear pastels like I want.”

He wrinkles his nose at her. “Pastels?”

“Oh you hush,” she quips, finally pulling her hand from his hair. “Anyway, if you don’t like it, why’d you dye it blue in the first place?”

“I… lost a wager with Todd.”

She laughs, starting to move around and get ready for the day. She doesn’t have any meetings scheduled, which means she gets the whole day to create. She’s pretty excited about it.

“I should’ve guessed it was Jason’s doing.”

Damian shrugs, settling back into the cushions. He drapes himself across them in a way that’s effortlessly elegant and like he’s ready to be photographed for a magazine cover or something. Must all her friends be so pretty? It’s playing hell on her self-esteem.

“But blue is your favorite color, right? So there’s that at least.”

Damian hums. “Todd had threatened to dye it pink or some other equally garish color.”

“Hey!” she exclaims in mock outrage. “What’s wrong with pink? I’ve been wanting to dye my hair pink for ages.”

“Nothing. It’s just simply not a color I appreciate.” He makes a face. “Like orange.”

Marinette huffs, but there’s a smile on her lips. It's quiet for a moment, for long enough that she thinks the conversation's been dropped. But then-

“Why don’t you?”

“Huh?”

“Why haven’t you dyed your hair?” he repeats. “Your friends—Couffaine and… Kubdel? They both have colored hair.”

Marinette shrugs. “I dunno. Never got around to it I guess. I suppose I could do it now. Dye mine in solidarity,” she jokes. “Oh! We could match even! Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“I thought you wanted pink?”

“Well, yeah. But blue is nice too. Besides,” she smiles wryly over her shoulder, “you just said pink was ‘garish’.”

Damian frowns slightly, shaking his head, “On me, perhaps. But I think you’d look very fetching in pink.”

“Oh,” Marinette pauses, feeling her face grow warm at the sudden compliment. “Well- Uh, pink it is, then.”

***

(Damian watches the blush rise on her cheeks as she turns away to try and hide it. Yes, he can’t help but think, fetching in pink, indeed.)

***

Luka insists on being the one to dye her hair, citing that he’s the one who had dibs all these years, but Alix and Jason both all but demand to be there too.

Her bathroom is not big enough for all four of them to sit in.

Not a single one of them cares.

Cass and Duke ask for progress pics along with Uncle Jay, and all her Parisian friends cycle through standing at the bathroom door to see how it's going.

The constant stream of people looking at her makes her feel not unlike an animal at a zoo. (When she wryly tells this to Alix, all she gets is her friend cackling on the ground.)

But, after all the bleaching and conditioning and waiting, she stares into the mirror with soft pink hair the color of bubblegum and thinks, yeah, it was worth it.

She thinks it again when Damian walks in the next day and almost trips over his own feet.

(She’s also wearing her Robin themed sundress, complete with hood, matching boots and personal touches not found on the mass-produced version—but Marinette doesn’t know why that would be relevant.)

Her favorite reaction to her new hair color though is, by far, Mar’i’s.

Marinette doesn’t see the young Grayson until a week later when she’s invited to the monthly family dinner Alfred insists all the Waynes attend—which includes her now, apparently (she tries not to show how pleased she is by that).

She arrived with Damian, who was kind enough to pick Tim and her up from work, and Mar’i takes one look at Damian and her standing next to one another before she starts babbling excitedly about Lilo and Stitch and Angel. A character who is—apparently—Stitch’s girlfriend and the complimentary pink to his blue.

Marinette is momentarily surprised, but Mar’i’s enthusiasm is contagious and it isn’t long before the rest of the Waynes are teasingly calling them Angel and Stitch. Marinette thinks it’s all very funny and adorable.

Damian, on the other hand, most certainly does not and threatens everyone who calls him that ‘ridiculous nickname’ with graphic depictions of bodily harm.

‘Angel’, oddly enough, sticks for Marinette. She finds she kind of likes it.

***

Later, Damian asks her about nicknames.

Well, he calls them ‘asinine titles’ and doesn’t so much ask as demand she explain why she allows anyone to call her by them seeing as she has a ‘perfectly serviceable name,’ in his opinion.

Ignoring the fact that she’s heard Dick call him multiple nicknames he hadn’t protested to, she says, “Well, I guess it’s that everyone uses Marinette. A nickname is something… special. A little more personal, I guess. And, I dunno. My parents named me Marinette, but it’s nice to share something between other people. And it shows they care.”

Damian looks confused after she’s done, but also thoughtful. He doesn’t say anything to that and Marinette doesn’t really expect anything to come of it.

She's proven wrong when, a week later, Damian calls her Starling instead of Marinette.

(And the transition from Dupain-Cheng to Marinette had been enough to make her beam—this is just ridiculous.)

***

When Robin disappears a second time, Marinette doesn’t get the chance to notice his absence on her own. He’s only stopped showing up four days ago—which is longer than normal, but not unheard of—when she hears unfamiliar voices on her balcony.

Looking out, she finds three semi-familiar individuals clustered around the plate of treats she leaves out for Robin and Hood.

Nightwing and Red Robin are both stuffing their faces full of the fruit tarts she had made while Spoiler glares at them and seems to be cursing the fact that her mask covers her mouth the same way Hood always does when she makes those raspberry scones he likes.

The scene is… odd. For many reasons but most pressingly that their arrival has come out of nowhere.

“Well,” Nightwing explains when she asks, “We wanted to visit ages ago, but baby bird threatened to stab us all if we tried.”

“He’s very… particular about you,” Red Robin tacks on while Spoiler nods sagely like she hasn’t crafted some strange straw monstrosity just so she can drink tea while still wearing her mask. Red Robin has one too, but his for the aesthetic rather than out of necessity.

Marinette stares at the three of them. “That… does not explain why you are here now.”

“Robin can’t stop us now, obviously,” Red Robin says casually, like he hasn't just kicked her heart into high gear with a few words.

“What? Why?” she demands, trying very hard not to sound panicked. “Is he okay? Was he hurt?”

Red Robin blinks, going quiet in that way Hood and Robin do when they’re judging her just a bit. She hates this family.

“No, he’s… fine.”

“B’s just benched him for the time being,” Nightwing helpfully supplies, amusement flickering at the edges of his lips. “He’s a little too… conspicuous at the moment.”

Marinette’s shoulders relax even as her brows furrow. Conspicuous? What in the world is that supposed to mean?

“Does that mean he won’t be coming around for a while?” she asks before she can think better of it.

The three vigilantes in front of her share a look before Spoiler says, “Probably. But the gremlin’s never been one to sit still so who knows?” she smiles, eyes crinkling at the corners as she leans toward Marinette conspiratorially. “But don’t worry. We can keep you company in the meantime!”

“We’re much better company than the demon anyway. Certainly less insulting.”

“Oh, he’s not that bad. He’s an ass, for sure, but you can tell when he means it and when he’s just stumbling over himself.” Marinette smiles fondly, “For someone so dignified, he trips over his tongue quite often.”

Now the vigilantes are really staring at her. She’s starting to feel pretty uncomfortable about it all when Nightwing beams at her, jumping up from his seat to sweep her into a hug. It startles her, but she doesn’t push him away, instead laughing at the sudden affection.

“Oh you really are perfect!” he exclaims, setting her down and still grinning like an absolute lunatic.

She’s smiling, because Nightwing’s joy is infectious, but she's even more confused than before. And then, before she can ask what he means, Red Robin’s wrist computer lights up—and damn, isn’t that cool? Marinette wonders if Tikki could do something like that for the Ladybug suit—and the three are moving to swing back out into the night.

She waves them off and they all promise to visit again.

Marinette shakes her head before going back inside with the empty pastry plate and four empty mugs.

***

Damian knows of Marinette’s friends of course. It'd take more effort not to when she talks about them every chance she gets and tells him all the wild stories about their escapades and misadventures.

(They also all came up in the background check he ran on her when they first met.)

Most of her friends are exceedingly normal oddly enough. Well, they’re all mildly famous and the leaders of their various fields, but they’re just civilians.

The only exceptions being, Bourgeois, Agreste, and Graham de Vanily.

Bourgeois is a former hero like Marinette, only she doesn't seem to still be in contact with the Parisian Court. All the articles he could find spoke about how Queen Bee was deemed unfit for her mantle and later replaced by the new bee hero, Ambrosia. Agreste was caught up in the scandal of his father being Hawkmoth, but he was found innocent and ignorant of his father's crimes (something Damian made sure to confirm). He now works at and is being groomed to own the bakery Marinette's parents run, seeing as their daughter has little interest to do it herself.

And finally, Graham de Vanily, Agreste's cousin, has a history of causing trouble wherever he goes. Nothing villainous, and rarely even malicious, but there's something about him that makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Not everything is as it seems with the Graham de Vanily heir.

Besides those three outliers, Marinette's friends seem to be untouched by the vigilante life. Which means he thinks they must be utterly boring.

Only, when her friends start coming around to visit and drag her out for lunch or some other random outing, Damian keeps finding himself baffled by each of them.

They act strangely and with a dangerous air none of them should possess, except for Tsurugi. The questions they ask him are strange and the jokes they make have no sense. He's been warned about how he better treat Marinette so many times, he's started to lose count. (Which is ridiculous. He treats her just fine and would never intentionally harm her. What are they trying to insinuate?)

But, by far, his most memorable encounter is with Lahiffe. A veritable wolf in sheep's clothing.

Marinette is excitedly babbling about her newest idea for her summer collection, pressed up against him on the chaise and practically shoving her sketches in his face as she demands his critique and thoughts.

Her hands are waving every which way and, on more than one occasion, he has to quickly lean back so she doesn't hit him in the face.

He’s focusing on what she’s saying so much—because she has a habit of forgetting things if she doesn’t write them down and needs someone to remind her of the ideas she had at a later time—that he doesn’t even realize Lahiffe is there until he clears his throat.

Marinette jumps, almost elbowing him in the stomach. “Nino!” she shouts, springing up and flinging herself at the other man who catches her like this is something she does often.

“Heya, Nettie.”

“Wait- what are you doing here? You’re not-” she jolts back to look at Lahiffe’s amused expression. “Oh kwami, is it time already? Shit. I wasn’t paying attention. I’m so sorry! I have to give this one thing to Publishing but then I promise we can go, okay? Like, just five minutes!”

She's already moving before she finishes speaking, sweeping up papers and rearranging files and putting things away with all the swiftness and agility of a speedster. Damian watches her go about her routine, occasionally handing her something she’s dropped or pointing out a thing she’s missed, weaving around her chaos with practiced ease.

Then she’s sweeping out of the office with a distracted “be right back!” and he’s alone with Lahiffe.

The second Marinette leaves, the man’s attention swings onto him with a strange weight. For a long moment, he doesn’t say anything and Damian’s hackles raise with every passing second.

He doesn’t snap at him though, because he’s one of Marinette’s friends. Insulting him would only serve to make her upset and that’s something Damian's been trying to avoid causing as of late.

“Man,” Lahiffe says at last. “Alix wasn’t kidding about the whole besotted thing, huh?”

Damian rears back, straightening up to his full height. “I beg your pardon?”

Lahiffe laughs and waves his hand about like that’s supposed to mean something. “Ah, no need to be embarrassed about it, dude. You’re far from the first of us to fall for her charms.”

“What.”

“Yeah, we've all been there. I think over half of the Paris crew crushed on her at some point, including myself. None of us are into her like that anymore, so as long as you treat her right, you got nothing to worry about."

“I’m not- I'm not interested in Marinette,” Damian tries to protest but Lahiffe just calmly steamrolls over him.

“Nah. Everyone loves Nettie. It’s universal law or something. First, there was me and Adrien, then Luka—who she actually liked back for a while there but are now practically siblings. Chloé liked her in collége, but she hadn’t really come to terms with that at the time. Alix might’ve, but she’s pretty grey-ace and fluctuates on the romance points, so who knows.

“Oh! And Nath. He also snagged a date with her, but he was an Akuma at the time so I’m not technically sure that it counts. And he’s with Marc now anyway. Thinking of adopting a kid, last I heard. Anyway- my point was: everyone loves Nettie. And don’t bother trying to fight it, because it only makes her pull of gravity worse.”

Lahiffe then claps him on the shoulder like their talk amiable and not the most confusing speech Damian’s ever heard.

And then he doesn’t even get to say anything to that because Marinette is sprinting back through the door, grabbing her jacket and bag, telling him goodbye, and dragging Lahiffe out to who knows where.

Damian stands there longer than he cares to admit trying to make the world make sense again.

***

A week and a half after she learned Robin was benched, Damian catches her staring off into space as she doodles tiny robins in the margins of her sketchbook.

He gives her an odd look when she scrambles to hide them, blushing hotly and babbling about how she’s “Just fine! Nothing to worry about! I’m just, maybe, perhaps, a little worried for a friend even though I shouldn’t be, because his family says he’s just fine and-”

He looks contemplative when he leaves that day, but he didn’t ask about her outburst, so she extends the same courtesy to him.

***

That night, Robin returns.

“What,” she says around the laughter threatening to bubble out of her throat, “are you wearing?”

Robin scowls from behind the full cowl he has on that she’s pretty sure belongs to Red Robin. It makes him look a whole ten years older and she can’t get over how ridiculous he looks. If he keeps doing stupid things with his face while wearing that monstrosity, she is definitely going to laugh at him.

“What are you wearing?” he shoots back petulantly.

She blinks in confusion, then realizes she’s still wearing her Red Hood inspired jacket right now. Tan colored fake leather with fuzzy, red inner lining, done with all the same pockets, buttons, and zippers Red Hood has on his own jacket. It looks almost exactly like the jacket she fixed for him all that time ago, except she's also added a soft, crimson hood and his own personal bat symbol stitched across her shoulder blades.

As far as things she's designed goes, this is one of her simpler ones. It's nothing like the elaborate creations she makes for the Ambrosia or Ryuko themed items.

But Red Hood was a simple kind of person, and she likes that it’s reflected in her work.

Robin doesn't seem to agree if the poorly concealed disdain on his face means anything.

“What?” she asks teasingly, “You jealous?”

He scoffs and looks off to the side. “Of course not. I simply do not understand why you’d want anything to do with that simpleton. Especially not when I know you have clothing articles referencing far superior individuals.”

She snorts good-naturedly, "What 'individuals'? You mean you?"

The way he raises his nose self importantly is answer enough, and she can't stop herself from rolling his eyes. "Well, it's certainly a start. But I'm not the only one."

"Oh, yeah? And who else is marvelous enough to stand on the same level as you?"

"Multimouse."

Her mouth goes dry, and she can tell Robin is pointedly not looking at her.

“Come inside,” she blurts in lieu of all the things she really wants to say—which are mostly just embarrassing variations of I missed you. “I can, uh, make us tea. If you want.”

It's the first time she’s ever invited him inside and she can see the small bit of shock on his face—well, what she can see of it anyway—before he schools it.

“Yes,” he says in a tone of voice that implies it was his idea in the first place. “That sounds… good.”

She steps aside, allowing him to pass her by into the flat. Only instead of just walking past her, he stops halfway through the doorway and stares at her. She’s about to ask what’s wrong when he reaches out with his hand to gently grab a lock of her hair.

“Pink suits you, by the way.”

She quirks her lips, “Yeah? You don’t think it’s… too much?”

The corners of his mouth turn down, “Absolutely not. You look…” he trails off, mouth flattening into a line and dropping his hand.

She blinks at the odd behavior. “Nice?” she offers tentatively.

He nods, but it’s a little jerky and strange. But before she can ask about it, he’s already turning to enter her flat like he owns the place, remarking about her choices of tea and if she’s finally acquired an ‘adequate teapot’.

She shakes off the moment and goes in to follow him before he wrecks her kitchen in his careless search for tea supplies.

***

MinnieMouse: COME GET YALL JUICE

and by juice i mean me

I still do not have an american license

JaneAustenStanAccount: what do we get out of it?

MinnieMouse: ???

the pleasure of my company??

also youre literally the one that invited me to watch megamind

JaneAustenStanAccount: and??

daisyduke: shut up jay

we all know youre soft for M stop tryin to play tough

MinnieMouse: this is why duke is my favorite

he’s a living callout post

swanlake: :(

MinnieMouse: second favorite

im so sorry cass ily

swanlake: :)

daisyduke: i aint even mad

JaneAustenStanAccount: I AM

guys wtf

MinnieMouse: you brought this on yourself

maybe you should be nicer to me

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

daisyduke: ‘get fucked jason’ -marinette 2k20

btw im omw for you now

MinnieMouse: thnx ur the best

also im bringing scones as movie snack

daisyduke: noice

swanlake: !!!

JaneAustenStanAccount: FUCK YEAH!!!

MinnieMouse: you dont get any Jay

JaneAustenStanAccount: >:(

i hate it here

***

Marinette doesn’t know a lot about Robin’s past, which she assumes is by design. Secret identities don’t lead well to handing out details and concrete information about one’s personal life.

But, she thinks, one would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to not see that whatever facsimile of a childhood Robin had was about eight different levels of fucked up.

It’s in the vague allusions to ‘training’ and the scorn filled way he says the word ‘mother’. It’s in the not-quite-confusion—because whatever family he has is better now, at least—of Marinette telling him about her own parents. About the happy memories she’s shared with them, of learning to bake bread and croissants and macaroons under the loving guidance of her father and practicing delicate designs and frosting techniques with her mother.

So, yeah. She knows he’s kind of messed up and definitely checks off the childhood trauma box that’s apparently one of the requirements for being her friend.

So when Robin suddenly decides to go against everything she’s learned about him up until this point and actually share something about himself—and when that thing he shares just so happens to be a story from his childhood—well… Marinette wouldn’t say she’s prepared, but she’s not- prepared.

He’s in her kitchen, because Marinette has learned her lesson about bleeding vigilantes on her couch, and she’s pretty sure he could’ve gone back to the Cave for this, but he came here for whatever reason. (Was closer, he said. Marinette doesn’t know if she believes him.)

She’s cleaning the knife wound on his arm, and she has his cape laid out across her island. There’s a hole in it she plans on sewing back up after she finishes sewing the hole in her reckless vigilante back up.

“You need to be more careful,” she scolds. “You’re lucky this didn’t nick something important.”

“It's hardly the worst wound I’ve ever acquired,” he tells her in a tone of voice that he probably thinks is reasonable. “At seven years old I had to dig a bullet out of my side in the middle of a Himilayan snowstorm while still making it back to base with time to spare after having successfully assassinated a Russian ambassador.”

Marinette pauses where she’s smoothing the gauze onto his bicep. Her eyes flick up to his, and she sees the exact moment he seems to realize what he just told her. He’s gone utterly still beneath her hands, with terror or worry or the effort it takes not to bolt out the window immediately, she doesn’t know.

“That’s horrifying,” she tells him as she finishes securing the obnoxiously bright bandage, “Never tell me that story again.”

She then drops a kiss onto his bicep, subtly imbuing it with enough luck that it will keep off any infection—the wound was filthy when he came in, seriously, was he in a sewer?—and pats his cheek warmly before moving to clean up all her supplies.

She feels his eyes on her the rest of the night, but every time she turns to him, she can’t tell what he’s thinking. All she knows is that he seems… softer, in a way.

***

Three days after Marinette’s unexpected look into Robin’s past, she finds a box on her desk. It’s a jewelry box, and the only reason she doesn’t immediately freak out is the fact that it lacks any of the miracle box markings.

Still, she opens it hesitantly, and inside, she finds a necklace. A completely normal, non-magical necklace that’s simple and pretty and very much shaped like a tiny toy mouse.

There is no note.

***

(Lahiffe was right.

The Earth spins around the sun. The sky is blue.

Everyone loves Marinette.)

***

The necklace is obviously supposed to be a reference to her Multimouse days, but that doesn’t exactly narrow down who could have left it for her.

Or well, it does, but all the people it narrows down to don’t make any sense.

Multimouse is a badly kept secret, but it’s still a secret. Most people outside Paris don’t know about her and the people in Paris didn’t exactly recognize her off the street either.

Her Court knows, obviously, and so do the Waynes and the bats. But her Court wouldn’t leave her mouse themed gifts, they tend toward ladybugs or their own animal motif as a gift (the amount of cat and bee themed items she owns is ludicrous).

Which leaves the Waynes and the bats.

But her Waynes wouldn’t leave the gift on her desk, and they certainly wouldn’t forget to put a note, so Duke, Jason, and Cass are out.

She must stand there thinking about it too long, because then Jeremy's walking in, just as bright and early as ever.

He sees her holding the box and his face turns a strange mix of curious and outraged. “Is it your birthday? I swear, Boss if you didn't tell us it was your birthday-”

“No, Jeremy,” she says, amused despite her confusion. “That’s not for a while yet. I found this when I walked in,” she shakes the box slightly for emphasis, “but there wasn’t a note.”

“Oh.” A smile slowly spreads across Jeremy’s face. “Oh?” he purrs, waggling his eyebrows at her. “Does the boss have a secret admirer?”

Marinette blinks and- what?

“What? No. I can’t- That doesn’t-” she splutters but Jeremy just laughs and walks over to his station to start setting up for the day, leaving Marinette to her breakdown.

Because this can’t have been left by a secret admirer. That’s just crazy.

There are exactly two people who could’ve left this for her and neither of them would be an admirer of any kind. And she wouldn’t want them to be anyway because that would be stupid and ridiculous and weird.

She doesn’t like Robin or Damian like that…

Right?

***

(It’s impossible not to love her, he realizes, mostly by accident.

She loves, wholeheartedly and unafraid and so much more than Damian had ever thought one person could. She loves with a ferocity and passion no person deserves or can match.

And Damian, foolishly, loves and wishes to be loved by her anyway.)

***

There are roses on her desk the next day, potted and still healthy.

The day after that, there’s a box of expensive chocolates. Like, the kind only Adrien, Felix, and Chloé buy without a second thought. The gossip has spread far enough that all of her designers know about the gifts and probably-admirer.

On the fourth day, there is a box full of high-quality pencils and a new sketchbook, one with nice thick drafting paper, but small enough to fit in her favored bag. Her name is embossed across the front, along with her personal motif of delicate apple blossoms.

On the fifth day, she shows up to find there is only a drawing, which should point to it being Damian, but drawing-her is holding a robin in her cupped palms which cannot be a coincidence. Drawing-her also looks serene and beautiful with her mouth curved slightly and her eyes gentle and soft and Marinette is as touched by the image as she is frustrated by it.

There are hair sticks on the sixth, and delicate pins shaped like flowers on the seventh. Another stunning drawing of her on the eighth, a bottle of wine older than Master Fu on the ninth, the softest cashmere blanket on the tenth, a basket of sweet floral lotions, a glass statue of a bird in flight—she gets so many gifts, Marinette has to stop keeping count.

It’s somewhere around day six that her designers must’ve ratted on her to either Felix or Chloé because it’s not long after that, that all of her friends learn about the gifts and start being terrifically unhelpful about the whole situation.

They each try to give her advice, which would be sweet if it wasn’t all equally terrible and conflicting.

They’re also placing bets on who they think her admirer is, Damian or Robin. They’re trying to be discreet about it—which means they’re failing miserably.

Marinette, admittedly, never expected any different from them.

***

Marinette begins watching Damian in the mornings with a newfound interest.

The gifts are always there before she arrives, which means they're also there before Damian arrives, so she’s in a prime position to catch his reaction.

Or, she would be, if he ever reacted. He barely glances at them and never says anything unless the gift is particularly obnoxious, like the giant stuffed mouse she found sitting in her chair last week. (It was almost as big as she was. Adrien, Nino, and Alix had ended up on the floor from laughing so hard when they’d seen it.)

Damian almost never comments on the gift she received that day, but whenever she uses or wears something that her mysterious admirer had gotten for her, he makes sure to compliment her. Which would be very suspicious except that Robin does the same thing.

It’s just- they’re both so frustratingly silent about it all! Marinette is this close to just grabbing one or both of them by the shoulders and just shaking until they tell the truth.

It’s driving her insane! Before the necklace appeared on her desk, she didn’t even know that she liked Robin and Damian.

And now she’s overanalyzing their nonreactions. She hates it.

It feels too much like she’s back in collège, trying to sort out her feelings for Adrien and Chat. (Who ended up being the same person—which was just very inconsiderate of him, really. The least he could do is let her angst have meaning dammit!)

And- ugh. What if she doesn't even like either of them? What if her mind is just making her think she does because the idea of them liking her was presented? What then? Or what about the fact that the two boys are also ridiculously similar when she thinks about it. What if she only likes one and is just projecting her feelings onto the other because her mind associates the two?

Oh, she doesn’t like that thought. That thought makes her feel upset and like she wants to cry into a tub of ice cream.

Nino happily indulges her and doesn't even complain when she eats her way through his stash of mint chip as she dramatically complains about stupidly confusing boys.

Honestly, she may as well be back in lycée.

***

(What Marinette does not realize in the midst of all her careful analysis of his reactions, is that it’s not the gifts he’s focused on.

When she wears the necklace and hair sticks, she misses the way his eyes linger on the slope of her neck. As she cares for her roses, she doesn’t notice the way he follows the easy nimbleness of her fingers. She uses her sketchbook and eats the expensive chocolates and doesn’t pay attention to the way he steals glances at her lips. She doesn't see the way his hands twitch when she ventures just near enough to touch.

(She exists next to him, in any form or light, and he is captivated by her very presence.)

Marinette looks, but it is in all the wrong places.)

***

Strangely enough, it’s Signal who helps her with her internal crisis—completely unintentionally and in a very roundabout way—but he helps all the same.

He’s taken an… interest, she supposes, in her magic. One that is entirely his own and has very little to do with that Bat from what she can tell.

His abilities and hers stem from different origins, but she would be lying if she said his weren’t oddly complementary to her own. His precognition abilities stemming from his photokinesis has been useful on more than one occasion regarding the experimental spell matrices she, Tikki, and Nooroo have been testing out.

The magic is normally invisible to people without a Miraculous, but Signal seems to have little trouble seeing what she’s doing, even if he can’t interact with it the way she can.

(There is also the fact that she seems… more when he is around. Days that he spends watching her do her work go by faster and smoother than when he is away. Her magic is easier, and her mind spins with ideas and creations faster.

It’s an odd phenomenon and Ladybug is looking into it.)

There has been more than one occasion where Signal had warned her of the matrix’s imminent collapse with enough time for her to prepare herself for its blowback.

The version she’s working on today is their fifth iteration. It’s supposed to pull the miasma out of the building, filter it through her and Tikki’s own magical energy, before flowing back into the brickwork. Marinette had thought of the idea while talking with Nooroo.

If she can get it to work, it will shift the misfortune into good luck and order and release it back into the environment. Then she’ll only need to cleanse strategic portions of the city in a lattice network, and the creative and destructive energies will mix from there, balancing themselves without much input from her at all.

Of course, that’s only if she can actually get it to work. It’s been almost a month and this is the fifth version and it’s already collapsed on her three times in the last hour. Signal must see the frustration on her face and has taken to trying to distract her with small talk.

She’s very thankful for it, actually. If he wasn’t doing that, she would probably start screaming right here and now, on this random rooftop in the residential district. Which would just be very startling and embarrassing for everyone involved, so. You know. Glad she doesn’t have to do that.

Eventually, she asks him, apropos of nothing, “You’re a detective right?”

He pauses, and blinks at her, likely trying to follow the train of thought that led her to that question. She assumes he did not find it because when he speaks, he still sounds confused.

“Yes? I guess that’s technically what I am.”

“So you’re good at figuring out who’s behind a crime?”

Signal only looks more confused. “Yeah? But Ladybug, what-”

“Great, so. Hypothetically, if you had two suspects for a—well it’s not a crime. A… thing? Situation. How would you figure out which one of them is actually behind the… situation?”

Signal’s lips quirk, just a bit despite his confusion. “I think I’m gonna need a little more to go on than just ‘a situation,’ LB.”

Ladybug purses her lips and stares down at the light weaving intricate patterns in the space between her palms. Slowly, carefully, she tells him, “There are items being left where a person can find them. But the identity of the person leaving them and their intentions are unknown.”

“Are the items dangerous?” he asks worriedly.

Ladybug shakes her head. “No. They're more like gifts.”

“Are the gifts unwanted or creepy? Unsettling? Threatening?”

Another head shake. “Just confusing and… thoughtful.”

“Someone is leaving you thoughtful gifts and you're worried about that… why?” Signal asks, slowly and disbelievingly.

“It’s because I- wait! I’m not the person!” she panics, causing the magic to spark dangerously in her hands but she barely notices. “The person doesn’t even exist. It was a hypothetical question!”

Signal stares at her. She can’t see his eyes or the top half of his face, but she just knows he’s raising his eyebrow judgingly at her.

“Stop that!” she snaps. “Stop being perceptive! I have enough perceptive people in my life so knock it off!”

Signal laughs like the horrible person he is. “But don’t you need me to be perceptive? That’s like, a requirement to be a detective.”

“Stop it,” she says again, mulishly and very childish.

And isn’t that an odd thought to have? Ladybug being childish.

How novel. Ladybug has never once been childish. She can’t afford to be, because when she is behind the mask, she is all the most important parts of herself. She is the Grand Guardian, is the one who must be in control at all times because she has an entire team to keep safe and alive.

Behind the mask, she’s all of her greatest responsibilities.

But here, in Gotham and with Signal, she is none of those things to him. She is simply another hero, that is his age and very much like him in ways so few are. Ladybug, in the moments she spends with Signal, is probably the closest she has ever been to carefree while in the mask.

It’s as comforting a thought as it is terrifying.

Signal raises his hands in surrender, but his lips are still quirked in amusement.

Ladybug regrets starting this conversation.

She regrets it even more when, five minutes later, Signal manages to pull the rest of the story from her… along with a name.

She realizes her mistake a second too late to stop herself, and then all she can do is watch.

She watches, with ever-growing horror, as Signal slowly puts the pieces together. She watches, as her whole secret identity starts unraveling around her for the first time ever. She watches, stricken, as Signal opens his mouth to speak.

And then she grabs both sides of his head and Orders him to sleep.

***

The second Marinette bespells him, she regrets it.

She was panicking, okay? And Marinette panicking is very different from Ladybug panicking and truly, she creates messes just by existing.

Nooroo flies out of his hiding place to make distressed noises at the now unconscious Signal with her, which is… actually kinda soothing, if not exactly helpful.

At least she knows she’s not the only one upset right now.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Nooroo frets, flitting around her head with agitated wings. Hers aren’t much better, if she’s being honest. “What are we going to do, Guardian? He knows who you are! This is bad.”

Marinette worries her thumb between her teeth, shifting her weight from foot to foot. With a thought, she's back in her civvies and Tikki is perched on her shoulder, blinking at the scene she’s suddenly a part of.

“Well,” Tikki says, sounding far too calm for the situation. “This isn’t ideal.”

The laugh that escapes Marinette is on the edge of hysterical. “You think?”

“It’s not ideal,” Tikki repeats firmly, “But neither is it a disaster.”

Nooroo lands on her other shoulder as she kneels down beside Signal to rearrange his limbs to not be so uncomfortable. “But he's unpredictable!” he argues, curling into the side of her neck like she will hide him from the world. “We don’t know what he’ll do with this information!”

Tikki hums thoughtfully. “Then we will have to ask. There are far worse people we could have been revealed to. We're lucky it was a friend rather than foe.”

“You think so?” Marinette asks softly, voice barely louder than a whisper.

She knows the Bat’s flock are good people. Many of them are her friends, or people she hopes to call friends soon.

But she doesn't know if these people Marinette calls friends could be Ladybug’s allies.

The bats hoard secrets like black holes, and perhaps they would keep hers just as well, but they could just as easily use it against her. Batman barely tolerates her presence, she can tell by the way Signal talks sometimes, and it is no small stretch of the imagination that he would use this to try and kick her out of Gotham.

Marinette cannot, as a Guardian, leave Gotham.

But more importantly, she doesn’t want to leave Gotham. It’s… her home now. Her friends are here. Her family is here. Robin and Hood and the other bats are here. Damian and all her Waynes are here.

Leaving Gotham would not only make her sick and jittery at the imbalance, but it would break her heart.

If, when Signal tells Batman, he reacts poorly, there is so much that Marinette is set up to lose. And that terrifies her.

Some of that thought process must show on her face—or perhaps Nooroo has just picked up on the turmoil in her chest—because the two Kwami are pressed on either side of her face, nuzzling and hugging as much of her as they can reach.

“We’ll make it through this, Marinette,” Tikki says firmly, no room for argument. “Don’t worry so much. Both of you. Everything will turn out just fine, you’ll see.”

***

@bluesimani @how-to-fuction-properly @chocolatecatstheron @mystery-5-5 @nickristus-dreamer @mochegato @thenillabean @animegirlweeb @novaloptr @darkdaysandfakesmiles @optimistically-pessimistic0524 @clumsy-owl-4178 @g-arya @undecisioned @smolplantmum @blackmagicforever @i-wanna-be-a-ninja @wannajointhecrabcult @paintedhope7 @redscarlet95 @roselynfey @ira-sairain @lozzybowe @tumbling-down-hills-and-stuff @2confused-2doanything @pepelachanel @too0bsessedformyowngood @miraculouspenta @itsmeevie01 @corabeth11 @jalaluvsu

#maribat #daminette #ml x dc #my typewriter #for us to collide

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pl-panda · 4 years ago

Text

The vines that bind us - Chapter 6

Chapter 1 || Previous || NEXT

Elevator took her all the way to the highest floor. When she exited, the floor was back to perfect condition and several more plants were awaiting her. She promised them silently to check on them soon and went to the main office. She knocked several times on the doors, but nobody answered. Hesitantly, she pushed the doors open, but no one was in the office. After double-checking with security, it turned out that Tim Drake did not show to work. She sighed. Looks like more work for her… Just like Nathalie said.

“Didn’t you cause enough drama…” Lila never got a chance to end that sentence, because Mari delivered a straight one strong enough to send her flying several feet back before she came crashing down. Blood pouring from her nose.

The girl was about to launch herself at the liar and pound her into the ground when two strong arms grabbed her. She noticed the characteristic spikes on the sides of black gloves and stated to trash around. “Let me go you overgrown furry!” She screamed. “I will mix her face with the concrete until it’s nice and even!”

She tried to wiggle herself out of his grip. Most of the class surrounded Lila and were trying to help her. It only served to irate Mari more. She kicked her leg back, hitting Batman’s shin. It was finally enough to let her go. The girl fell down... right into the embrace of Chloe and Adrien who managed to get to her on time. The two blondes hugged her tightly.

“There. It’s alright Goldie. You got her good. Rest.” The girl cooed and pressed her best friend to her chest, muffling the sobbing. Adrien was just silently there and hugged them both. When Batman tried to approach again, the boy sent him an angry glare. The warning was clear and the vigilante didn’t really need anything from the girl right now.

After a bit, Mari fell asleep in their embrace. The stress finally caught up to her and she couldn’t hold exhaustion at bay any longer. Chloe easily picked her up and started to walk toward a taxi that was conveniently parked nearby, waiting for them.

“What!?” Angry Alya looked from Lila who was now being cared for by a pair of paramedics. She turned to Commissioner Gordon who was discussing something with Batman. “You!”

The policeman looked at her curiously. Alya continued her shouting. “You’re letting her go just like that? She just assaulted Lila! She might’ve ruined her modeling career! Arrest her!”

“Miss.” Gordon shook his head. “These are some of the braves men and women in Gotham, but I doubt any of them would dare to try and arrest her right now. They don’t get paid enough.”

“What?!” Several kids started to protest, but Gordon just ignored them and directed Harvey to start taking statements. He wasn’t paid enough to deal with these brats.

--------

Bruce sighed as he exited the Batmobile. Almost immediately, he was swarmed by the rest of his family. Jason and Dick practically carried him, still in the suit, to the movie room.

“Now, Ladies and Gents, we have some of the greatest shows for you. We call it… The Demon Trashing!”

What followed was a clip taken from monitoring in the anteroom of the CEO office in Wayne Tower. He watched as Damian, dressed in civilian clothing, and carrying a simple ninjato on his back entered the room. He walked around for a moment before knocking on the main office doors, but whatever answer he got seemed to have irritated him given the scowl that formed on his face. He walked over to the PA’s desk that stood there, but no one was here. After a short moment, one could see the elevator doors open again and a small girl in a smart outfit walked in. Damian dashed to the shadows before she had a chance to notice him.

Bruce resisted the urge to facepalm. He could already see where this was going.

When the girl started to walk to the desk, his son suddenly reappeared with the sword drawn. He pressed the blade to her neck. From the angle, it was impossible to see either of them expressions. The man did not expect his son to kill a civilian for trespassing, but the amount of glee on Jason’s and Dick’s faces was suggesting that his headache hadn’t really started.

The girl suddenly grabbed the blade and pushed it away. Damian, probably acting on instinct, tried to cut her, but she just walked out of the way and disarmed his son before knocking him out. There was a short skip to when Jason and Dick entered the room. The small girl was clearly very much irritated with them from the start and when she reached her limits, she used a pencil as a projectile to open the elevator doors.

A small smirk made its way to Bruce’s face when he saw her storm past his three sons, carrying the ninjato through a tissue. The video ended with Damian waking up.

“And that’s how Drake’s new PA trashed a certain Demon Spawn. I swear, she could probably give Luthor’s bodyguard a run for her money when it comes to being a badass” Jason commented on the silent video in his typical fashion.

“Tt. She stole my sword.” Damian huffed.

“You mean the sword she later used to stab Riddler’s man before disarming him?”

“I still consider the best part of today when she called B. an overgrown furry,” Dick said trying to hold back on laugher.

“Wait. I have a new personal assistant?” Tim asked half-awake.

“Yeah. She was supposed to be an intern, but apparently, Sarah hired her on the spot and quit.”

“Oh… Cool.” Tim said and took a swing from his gargantuan cup.

“Did you manage to pull the video of her taking down Riddler?” Bruce asked.

“The cameras malfunctioned before she even entered.”

“It was me,” Tim confessed. “I was still in my office when the alarm sounded. I keep a separate copy of my suit in a hidden compartment. To save time I dressed there, but I had to disable the CCTV…”

“Yeah yeah. Whatever.” Jason shut him up. “I also got the part when Damian’s eyes roll back as my new screensaver.”

“Tt. You’re lucky I don’t have my sword.”

“Don’t think you’re getting it back any time soon,” Bruce said in a stern tone and sighed. “What exactly do we know about her?”

“She is from Gotham, but she lives in Paris for some years. She said she was practicing martial arts since she was five.” Dick started

“She is also one bada…”

Jason was interrupted by Alfred, who entered the room with a plate full of cookies and tea. “A young woman just called. She asked me to forward a message to young master Damian.”

“Tt. What is it?”

“I quote. ‘Good luck getting your sword back now. Police took it as evidence. Suck it, Wayne.’ I believe the woman was young miss Chloe Bourgeoise.”

Dick, Jason, and Tim were literally rolling on the floor laughing. Bruce just facepalmed.

“No, you can’t break into the evidence room. You might jeopardize the whole investigation if you taint the evidence.” Bruce said in an exasperated tone.

----------

It was late after midnight (or even early morning, depends on your definition) when the vigilantes returned from the patrol, only to meet Tim and Barbara working on something on Batcomputer in tandem. Whatever it was, they were completely devoted to it since neither realized they had company until Bruce made a coughing sound.

“Not now.”

“What exactly are you doing?” The father inside Bruce resisted the urge to force-feed Tim some sleeping meds.

“We’re doing the background check,” Barbara said while typing frantically.

“On my new personal assistant.” The boy supplied.

“oh?” Bruce raised an eyebrow.

“Like… from what we found she is either the worst bitch on the block or strongest badass around.”

“Langauge master Tim.” Alfred scolded him.

“Sorry. But like seriously! There are so many contradictions.”

“Check this out.” She pulled out a scan of a letter. It was largely creased, but still perfectly readable. “Her adopted parents one day disappeared, leaving her everything they owed sans some of their clothes. It was like they packed and left.”

“You suspect a foul play?”

“I’m not sure. The investigation was a joke and so was the follow-up proceeding. The interesting part is the custody battle that followed.”

“Jagged freaking Stone and Parisian Mayor.” Tim interrupted Babs. “It ended with a compromise that Jagged was lawfully named her uncle and Mayor became her guardian. She was the one who suggested it.”

“How can one be lawfully named someone’s uncle?”

“Apparently one can in France. Or they just made some concessions to a celebrity. Seen weirder things.” He shrugged. “She was also his designer for years now. You remember that mysterious MDC?”

“The one you used to fawn over?” Bruce asked.

“She is brilliant so sue me.” The boy huffed. “Also, it stands for Marigold Désign et Création. She runs an internet boutique where she takes commissions from both commoners and celebrities.”

“What does it have to do with anything?”

“I’m getting to that. Gee.”

“Maybe I will get there?” Babs tried to take over. “She’s been working part-time as a babysitter to get funds to buy materials for new clothes and received nothing but praise. She also became a class representative. A successful one at that. She also holds the national championship in U-17 Mechastrike.”

“How is that important exactly?”

“You wanted to know everything about her B., so we are giving you everything.” Tim sassed

“Just… get to the important parts.” He shook his head. What did he do to deserve this?

“Fine. Her school records are a mess. Skipping that they wouldn’t hold to any official inspection, they straight-up contradict each other.” Tim waved his hand in some undefined gesture. “On one hand, she receives nothing but praise from the teachers, but at the same time, there are multiple bullying reports and even several assaults in here. Most of them were met with harsh punishments.” Tim opened a separate file. “Too harsh according to the school charter.”

“It didn’t help that the letter from her parents also mentioned these kinds of things.” Babs chimed in, trying to regain control of the tale. Bruce just gave an exasperated sigh. He just gave up and allowed them to solve it, mentally already cataloging the information.

“Except! There were statements from several people that contradicted this. Especially Chloe Bourgeois. She said, ‘Puh-lease! Mari is the kindest doormat in the world. I was mean to her for years and she still welcomed me back with open arms.’ Given her track record, I’m inclined to believe it.”

“There was also this Drama, capital ‘D’, with MDC stealing designs. Several tabloids caught the wind of it and it even led to the police investigation. Only after Jagged Stone intervened, the thing quickly shut up.”

“Now onto the juicy parts!” Babs smiled.

“And that was what? An introduction?”

“Yup. She has a certified black belt in two different martial arts, is a master gymnast, has an IQ of over 130 and owns two separate businesses in Paris.” She quickly read. “As we mentioned, she is the honorary lawful niece of Jagged Stone, but also designed for Clara Nightingale, Nadia Chamack, worked with Gabriel Agreste, was offered an internship from Audrey Bourgeois before she became her ward. She was seen hanging out with Kagami Tsurugi, world-renowned fencer, and Luka Couffaine, the rising star under Jagged Stone’s tutelage.”

“That was fast.” Tim summarised.

“Yeah. Also, she was adopted some nine years ago. She originally comes from Gotham.”

“Do we know her biological parents?” Bruce asked, getting serious.

“That’s where it gets juicy. When I tried to pull out her adoption files, the computer shut down to avoid detection. There is some serious encryption on it. Probably due to who her father is. We got some of it. She described her mother as ‘wearing an outfit that showed more skin than her beachwear’, so we suspect she was a prostitute.”

“Hm… It’s not unheard of. You say she was with her mother until she was eight?”

“Between seven and nine the file said.”

“Hm… Do you think she is a threat?”

“No. But I have a different question. Why didn’t the league investigate Paris’ supervillain?”

“We were made aware of him only recently, after what our satellites mistook for Poison Ivy attack,” Batman said in an irritated tone. The fact that there was a supervillain running around for close to four years completely undetected grated on his nerves. “Diana Prince has been investigating for some time now. She has it under control.”

“The only problem I see is that she is only sixteen,” Barbara pointed.

“I mean I’m barely seventeen and I ran this company for two years now. And don’t act high and mighty. You started playing Batgirl at fifteen.”

“Played?!” She screamed.

“You wore a hoodie and carnival mask at first.”

This quickly developed into an insults contest until Bruce finally had enough. He just shook his head and left. Alfred silently followed him, carrying a plate of sandwiches.

-----

The next morning, Mari woke up in her bed, with Chloe and her curled together in a mess of limbs and clothes. Of course, she panicked and jumped up, waking the blonde.

“Honestly, Goldie, five more minutes. I need my beauty sleep!” She murmured.

“Um… Why are we in one bed?”

“Because you fell asleep hugging me yesterday and refused to let go at any point. I swear I wanted to get a crowbar. Ridiculous!”

“Sorry…” Mari gave her a sheepish smile.

“None of that! You ruined Lila’s face in one punch. Adrien texted me that in the end she lost seven teeth and will require plastic surgery for her nose not to look like a mashed potato.”

“No…!” Her eyes widened.

“Yup.” Chloe grinned, popping the ‘p’.

“That’s awful! I can already imagine how much the class will hate me now! And the employees that saw this! There were cameras there!”

“Some people actually applauded you. It could be also because you called Batman an overgrown Furry though…” Chloe’s voice wandered off. Mari collapsed onto the bed, head buried in the pillows.

“Kill me…”

“Can I kill you with hugs?”

“Fine…”

When the panicking bluenette finally calmed down, Chloe got her to sit down and showed her the headlines.

Brave WE employee saves dozens of lives!

A hero without a suit!

Civilian stopped Riddler!

Personal Assistant takes down a dangerous criminal!

They were all overly positive and showed much support. Only one tried to vilify her based on Lila’s comment and her being punched, but it quoted Ladyblog as a reliable source, so it was dismissed. The majority of the comments were also positive. The ‘overgrown Furry’ was already trending too.

Only one of the articles contained the list of names of people killed in the attack.

Ted Black - a security guard, put himself between the bullet and another employee Sigfried Osborne - a security guard, died when he tried to stop them from entering Molly Bishop - a PR specialist, called the police when she thought the guards were busy Heidi Dickson - a security guard, killed in crossfire Craig Lloyd - an HR employee, wrestled the gun from one of the henchmen before he was shot in the back. Ethel Arson - A lawyer, killed in crossfire Christian Thorn - a security guard, shot two of the riddler’s henchmen in defense of a group of hostages.

Their room had several live plants on the rail. Mari walked to them and allowed her powers to flow. Slowly, the flowers bloomed. She picked seven beautiful flowers and put them on the table.

“Mari… I’m sure they will understand if you don’t come to work today…” Chloe placed a hand on her best friend’s shoulder.

“No… No. I won’t be scared into hiding by Riddler of all people.” She said with determination and some coldness in her voice. She stood up and walked to her suitcase. From there, she gathered a different outfit. Now she would wear a red shirt, a black blazer with the Ladybug logo on her right breast, a black pencil skirt, and black leather ballet shoes (she still hated heels). But the greatest change was her hair and eyes. She let go of her twin pigtails and allowed her wavy hair to run free. It was no longer black, instead turning dark blue with purple highlights. Her eyes also changed. Her bluebell eyes also changed. The iridescent green she used to suppress was now mixed with the normal eye color, giving an entrancing effect that was hard to stop looking at.

“It’s time to rock this place.” She smiled at her best friend.

------- (Play ‘Confident’ by Demi Lovato) --------

Marigold and Chloe entered the Wayne Enterprises in full stride. Flashing her pass, she got them through control without the queue or checking, much to the shock of the class (who still had no idea Mari was now technically their boss). Adrien showed the girls thumbs up. Lila was seething, but neither Chloe nor Marigold paid her any mind and guards didn’t let her follow them and straight-up kicked her to the back of the queue.

Mari gave a nod to the receptionist, but they didn’t slow down. Elevator was about to close, but one of the employees held it for her. Once they entered, she quickly checked her tablet and the to-do list she had for that day. First stop: PR. Chloe was going to HR to receive a new mentor after… the previous day.

When she entered the Public Relations department, Mari didn’t stop to chat with the employee that looked at her in awe. Her goal was the department’s head office and that’s where she would go. Gently knocking on the doors before entering, she pushed the doors. While she was smiling kindly, her whole posture screamed professional.

“Hello. Mr. Drake will need the Friday press conference plan adjusted in response to what happened yesterday. There needs to be a mention of the event, as we won’t want to sound too detached. The press would tear us apart. Some gesture to show the public that we care…”

“Maybe a memory board in the lobby? And perhaps schedule Mr. Drake to visit each of the families somewhere next week?”

“I think it will be okay…” For a short moment, Mari allowed her confidence to drop, but she quickly gathered herself and made a note in her calendar.

“If that’s all…”

“I will also need a press statement no later than by lunch.” She said quickly. “Make it a priority and forward it to me to read before you post it.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The man smiled. Mari was about to leave when he spoke again. “And thank you for yesterday. Many people owe you their lives.”

She stopped in her tracks, unable to say a word. Finally, she regained her composure. “Thank you. I… I’m coping.”

As she left the office toward the elevator, Lila and Alya, who were interning in that department, tried to speak with her, but she didn’t even spare them a glance. Alya tried to grab her, but she was stopped by one of the older employees. As the elevator doors closed, Mari could see the girls receive a serious scolding. A grin made its way onto her face. Lila and Alya would have a really hard life for the next two months. Especially if she had anything to say about it.

Her next stop was the security office. She entered it with a neutral expression, but it lasted only maybe five steps from the elevator. She didn’t tear up. She was a Gothamite inside. Right as one walked out of the elevator, there was a small bar, behind which a board was filled with pictures. Some looked really old, black and white or even sepia, while some others were high-quality and new. Roughly half of them were the clean pictures one would attach to a resume. The other half were profile pictures from social media. Or a photo that was taken in the forest. One was even a detailed drawing of a person. There were maybe fifty of them in total.

“It’s a reminder. Guards who lost their lives since the founding of WE” An older man said. “Silas Wayne started the tradition after he served in the Great War. You’re here for something miss?”

“Oh… Yes. The security on Friday press conference. We must increase it by about fifty percent. And make sure that only those with invites can enter.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted her.

“Um…” Mari suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

“Don’t worry. It wasn’t your fault.” He said in a comforting voice.

“Thank you, sir.” She allowed a weak smile to enter her face before she left. Only two more stops.

The elevator next took her to the Legal Department. She had many things that needed to be done here. Chloe met her as soon as she exited the elevator. Mari managed to regain her professional posture and once more emanated the aura of confidence. She wasn’t sure how long she could keep it up, but she was determined to show that she was okay.

“I already forwarded your requests. At first, Madame McKinsley was reluctant, but apparently, our entrance is already the top corporate gossip. Good job Mari-bear.”

“Good. Thanks, Chlo. Now get back to work before someone sees me get friendly with an intern. I have a plan.” Before they separated, Marigold let a smile ghost her face. “One more thing. You’re free to unleash the foxes of war.”

Chloe lit up at that. Her whole demeanor changed to almost beaming light. She immediately started planning. Mari left her to the devious scheming and instead went to McKinsley office. The head of the Legal Department was a middle-aged woman with short, slightly graying brown hair and no-nonsense composure.

“Miss Bourgeoise informed me of your visit. I already had several documents prepared, but I will need clarification on several things.” She offered the young PA a chair, but Mari refused with a shake of her head. She opened her tablet and started to go through the list.

“First of all, the video that caused the attack was leaked by an intern. What actions exactly can be undertaken in response?”

“There are several options. We could terminate their contract entirely, but as it’s their first offense, it could’ve been seen as too harsh. It would also require to terminate all internships.” The woman was clearly unamused by the situation. Mari just raised her eyebrow and gave her a quizzing look.

“I’m not sure who in their right mind wrote their contracts, but when I track them down they are gonna get their ass demoted to toilet cleaner. It’s one big mess.”

“Don’t I know it…” Mari deadpanned. “So, other options?”

“We can move them between departments, so having them demoted to Toilet cleaners could also work, but it’s not exactly a legal punishment. The fact that it was Riddler really threw a wrench in any legal proceeding as he is clinically insane and the video was not directly calling him out and only speaking about him. I could give you the legal mumbo-jumbo, but the gist is that they are somewhat protected.”

“What about revoking their privileges?”

“Take that to HR.”

“Will do. Now, about the next matter.”

“It was much easier. She can’t do anything to you, not even forward the bill. You were in shock and there are several recordings showing her taunting you. If she pushes it, she will lose. You’re a public hero right now. Good job by the way.”

“I was only doing what had to be done.” Mari brushed it, doing her best to keep a professional face.

“Sure…” It was clear that McKinsley did not believe her.

“Now about the last thing?”

“Ah. The slander. I already directed it to our French and Italian departments, but it’s slow-going. That witch made it an international case. It will definitely bite her, but we have to be patient.”

“Brilliant. Thank you for your time.” Mari left the room with a grin on her face. Now onto the HR.

As she strode through the floor, people turned their heads to look at her. In the killing outfit, she looked older than she was and the aura of confidence and professionalism made her seem like a powerful woman. They had no idea just how powerful she was, but the way she carried herself was enough to make them shake in their shoes.

----

When the doors of the elevator opened, Juleka and Rose were waiting for her. Both looked furious. Before either got a chance to say anything though, Marigold silenced them with a murderous glare that took away their voice. She strode past them looking fabulous. Any other employee removed themselves from her path to avoid her ire. The rumors were already circulating and the fact that she took down Riddler before Batman even arrived did wonder to her image.

“Hello. I had an appointment.” She said when she entered the head of the department office.

“Yes. Miss Dupain-Cheng. I was told you forwarded a list of topics, but an intern lost it.”

“Was this intern from my class?” She asked in a cold voice.

“Um… Yes actually.” The woman said after checking a small post-it.

“Then it was probably sabotage.” Mari spat the words. “I asked to have a list of possible punishments in regards to the newest intern group prepared. Two of them were responsible for the leak. Sadly, as one of them is the class representative, she is quite popular.”

“Ah. Well…”

“First of all, both Alya Cesaire and Lila Rossi are to have all possible privileges revoked for breaking the rules. They leaked or were involved in the leak of video. Neither of them is to be handed anything more important than refilling a stapler or bringing someone coffee, to ensure they are no further threat to this company. They will also receive an official warning and an entry to their acts. They are also restricted to the lower floors. If possible, I want their access to electronic devices restricted. Maybe assign them a pager each so it doesn’t negatively impact their work.”

“Hm… I will see what can be done, Ma’am.” The woman replied, already going through her notes.

“Good. Onto the next business, while it pains me to do it so fast, we need to hire more security as soon as possible. But make sure to triple check their backgrounds.”

“Understandable.”

“And the last thing. Why was Damian Wayne allowed to bring a ninjato into the building?”

“There is actually no restriction on bringing swords ma’am. We’re trying to fix it, but we’ve been blocked at every turn even when Mr. Wayne was the CEO.”

“And whose permission is needed?” Mari allowed a small grin.

“Yours would do. Sarah was always too stuck up to even leave her desk unless forced so she didn’t care that much.”

“Consider my permission granted. Forward the paperwork to me.”

“And if Mr. Drake disagrees?”

“He can try.” She said coldly, remembering how close she came to being cut in half.

“Oh…”

“Last thing. When is the top floor scheduled for repairs?”

“It should be done already. It was made to withstand an assault from a much larger force, so we only had to replace the furniture. Following the instructions that were left, we repotted the plants into bigger and more decorative pots. As per your request, we added some more plants.”

“Thank you. Plants always calm me down.”

“I prefer cat pictures.” She pointed at the wall where a cheesy calendar with a cat giving her thumbs-up was hanged. It took all of Marigold’s willpower not to burst into laugher at the image of Chat Noir posing for such a calendar.

“Good. Thank you.” With that, she left. This time, Rose and Juleka did not try anything. They were too terrified of her.

----

#maribat au #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #redeemed!chloe #Good!Adrien Agreste #Batman #miraculous lb #miraculous ladybug #Miracuolous #DC #mlb x dc #Mother!Ivy

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levitatingbiscuits · 4 years ago

Note

Imagine how the Kaminoans would react to OB-1 rolling up in AotC. Would they even recognize him?

OB-1′s blood had gone cold when Dex told him where to find the bounty hunter that had been behind Senator Amidala’s failed assassination, though he waved off the Besalisk’s concerned query with a smile. Dex was one of the few beings, other than Anakin, who he could truly count as his friend rather than his template’s. He didn’t want to give him any reason to... suspect.

Stepping out of his fighter is like going back in time. OB-1 is fifteen years old, yet he feels only two. Going inside, seeing those sterile white walls, only makes it worse.

“Master Jedi,” an unfamiliar Kaminoan greets, before her dark eyes go wide when he removes his hood. OB-1 has to viciously tamp down on the urge to flinch. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he’d hoped.... but that was ridiculous. Kaminoans always recognized their own products.

“Why, you’re part of the OB series, aren’t you?” she asks, and the honest pleasure in her voice somehow makes everything worse. “I see the Jedi kept you. Your performance must be why they commissioned us again.”

Again? OB-1 keeps his face blank, carefully releasing his horror into the Force. The Force is clouded here, almost as badly as on Coruscant, but it swirls around him comfortingly when he reaches for it.

“The prime minister will be pleased to see how well you’ve served your masters, OB. It’s good to know that our liaison is already familiar with our techniques, though of course we will give you a tour so that you may report back accurately to your owners.”

OB-1 white-knuckles his way through the initial meeting with Lama Su, hiding his shaking hands in his sodden sleeves. He manages to awkwardly probe for more information on the Order’s latest commission, but he suspects his only saving grace is that the Kaminoans see their products as lacking full sentience and thus unable to lie.

“Before we begin the tour,” Lama Su says, and OB-1′s stomach sinks, “I would like to hear more about your performance. No complaints, I trust? No need to replace you with a newer model? You’re under warranty for another five years.”

Beside him, a little blaster-burnt boy only he can see touches OB-1′s sleeve. OB-1 pretends not to feel it.

“I have received no indication that such a thing is necessary,” OB-1 says, mouth dry. “Are--are the other OBs--”

“No, we decommissioned them according to Master Jinn’s instructions,” Lama Su says, and OB-1′s vision turns to static for a moment. He’s lucky they had offered him a chair, in deference to his current role as a Jedi. He hadn’t used Kaminoan furniture that wasn’t his tube, before. “How is your commissioner? Is he pleased with your performance?”

“The client joined the Force some time ago,” OB-1 whispers.

Train the boy. Tell no one.

Tell no one had been his guiding tenet under Qui-Gon’s supervision, recited more often than any meditation mantra, more often than the Code itself. His master even dug up old exhibition match footage and coursework for OB-1 to study, to more accurately reflect his Prime. But there was always the expectation that he would be better than Obi-Wan his template, more obedient, more quiet, more like the padawan Master Qui-Gon wanted him to be. That he would earn his place at Qui-Gon’s side, and prove that, of all 3 OBs that survived long enough to meet his master, he was the superior product.

After Qui-Gon’s death, train the boy had become just as important an edict. It was no surprise that Qui-Gon would find a natborn superior, by the end, even if OB-1′s template had fallen short of his expectations.

“That is unfortunate. But even so, you have done well, OB-1. I am sure you will continue to do so in the future. Now, let me show you the army.”

OB-1 listens intently to their explanations of the other clones’ training and growth (slower than his, though not by all that much), even as he marvels at the sight of so many together. Being an OB had been much more competitive, considering the client only needed one. If they were found in any way lacking, if they ever struggled to pick up a skill, they were immediately decommissioned. There were 10 total OBs decanted, but by the time OB-1 was one year old, half of them were gone.

As if reading his mind, Lama Su muses, “It is a shame that we didn’t keep the others. Even if they did not live up to the standard you set, it would be useful to have Force sensitive units these soldier units could train with.”

“Yes, that is unfortunate,” OB-1 manages. The scar tissue on the inside of his cheek is bleeding where he’s bitten through it. He hasn’t done that in years. Not since Qui-Gon’s death.

He’d always known, in the back of his mind, that his talents had doomed his brothers fellow OBs to die. If OB-1, the oldest and most unrefined clone, could consistently outperform his batchmates, then surely they had to be scrapped, improved upon, chemically and physically altered. If OB-1 had just allowed himself to falter, to perform a little worse than he knew he could, if he gave them the chance to equal him even once...

But OB-1 hadn’t. He’d been too scared, too desperate to leave Kamino, too eager to take a dead natborn’s place and live a life a clone normally never could. And the other OBs had paid the price.

The blaster-scorched child that dogs his steps frowns at him, as if sensing his distress. OB-1 looks away. He’d failed the OBs, but he wouldn’t fail Qui-Gon. He wouldn’t fail his template.

He would do what needed to be done.

#clone obi-wan au #my writing #angst #kamino #obi-wan kenobi #Anonymous

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n7punk · 4 years ago

Text

iHTWcyn Fic Notes

iHTWcyn is done! Here are my meta notes for the fic, as well as links to the other meta I’ve already posted.

Post-fic life summary:

There’s a pretty clear picture of this in the epilogue anyway, but Catra and Adora end up adopting three kittens, two littermates and one kitten who is two years younger (though they adopt her a year later, when she is a few months old). They have to build an extension onto the house for the kids’ rooms and playroom, but there is plenty of room to do so in the country.

Finn is not Finn’s legal name, originally they and C’yra both had very traditional magicat names, but the humans couldn’t say Finn’s name right, and Finn didn’t like how “fancy” it was anyway, so the nickname ended up sticking around even after adoption. In this AU, magicats have three genders socially, and Finn identifies with this third gender.

Finn and C’yra were 29 months when they were adopted, so they barely remember before (but they are magicats, so they remember their parents a little), and Mara was six months old, so she remembers nothing. All three know they are adopted, although Catra jokes often that she found them under the porch one day.

Finn, C’yra, and Mara grow up with Angel and Scorpia and Perfuma’s zoo of five kids, as well as Mermista’s daughter. Adora and Catra live on the farm for the rest of their lives. The kids love the country, and all three inherited Adora’s love of horses, although C’yra has a rebellious phase in her teenage years where she pretends to hate them. It doesn’t work very well considering it only makes Adora sad and Catra is indifferent either way, but she keeps it up for a while just to be stubborn, and she is the most indifferent to animals of the three of them.

Finn decides at a young age that they want to be a farrier like Uncle Bow, but they end up becoming a full-on blacksmith instead, and even learn swordsmithing, much to Adora’s delight. They end up a professional blacksmith, but they make some sculptures and weaponry for commission as a side-business that helps them build up a reputation, even if it is less profitable.

Mara stays on the farm. She loves the animals and ends up following in Adora’s steps to care for them. She also takes up equestrian riding and competes in it through college, though Adora works hard to make sure she never feels like she has to place.

C’yra and Mara both go to Bright Moon for college (Finn apprentices in town), and C’yra ends up staying in the city to work, though she visits the farm often and her parents come to see her as well. They are only about an hour apart.

Having the kids didn’t magically heal Catra’s PTSD, but it helps her to work through it, and especially to feel unconditionally loved. Catra feels like she has truly beaten Shadow Weaver the first time she holds one of the kittens in her arms - it was C’yra, who was crying when Catra first laid eyes on her. She didn’t understand where her mother had gone and had been under the care of humans for a few weeks. She knew Catra wasn’t her mom, but when Catra gently picked her up and began to purr for her, it was the kind of relief that makes you burst into a fresh wave of tears. It was the closest thing to comfort she had felt in too long. Finn didn’t understand what was happening, but eagerly tucked into Catra’s side and hugged her hips as the adoption agent told Adora “Yeah, I’ll prioritize the paperwork. These kids need you.”

Catra needed the kids as much as they needed her. I’m not saying kids are healing for everybody - I don’t think Catradora even end up having them in canon - but in this exact case, they were great for Catra.

Songs for this AU: Just have the whole playlist fuck it, it’s a banger anyway. PVRIS – Let Them In, PVRIS – Separate, YONAKA – Guilty, PVRIS – St. Patrick, FLETCHER – Sh… Don’t Say It, FLETCHER – Forever, Jonas Blue & AWA – Something Stupid, Sleeping Wolf – Take Me To Heaven.

Chapter 1: Moving out (in)

Fun fact: I wrote my initial notes for iHTWcyn on December 12th, I just have so many AUs it took me this long to get to it.

The town set up was inspired by a number of “holiday” towns, though I won’t say which to avoid revealing any places I have lived. Basically, during the week it’s a normal small town, but on the weekend the population nearly doubles (once Angella’s plan launches, at least).

The cat is, of course, Melog, but when I first wrote about the stray I hadn’t actually decided if Melog would be a barn cat or one of the horses that took a shine to Catra yet. The stray was a metaphor for Catra and Adora, as well as a direct showcase of the way Adora has trained animals before and thus decides to try to tame Catra in a similar way.

Chapter 2: Circles (round and round)

Neither seat belts nor speed limits exist on ranches. Locks are also questionable.

The stockades line is a reference to Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron. When they bring Little Creek into the fort, they say they are going to put him in the stockades before the General intervenes and says to put him on the post. This is also the time to mention that the title of the fic is a lyric from the Spirit soundtrack, but I purposefully didn’t source it because I wanted people to out themselves as horse girls in the comments by asking me about it lmao.

Chapter 3: Testing (limits)

Mara didn’t just up and die – her cancer got to a stage where she could no longer work and she moved back in with her parents so they could care for her. Angella, Adora, and the rest of the staff at the ranch kept up with her for the few months before she passed on.

All of Adora’s furniture, most of her hats, and some of her clothes belonged to Mara. Mara basically left everything behind, knowing she didn’t have long left, and told Adora to take anything she wanted and sell everything she didn’t. Adora ended up driving into Bright Moon to donate all the clothes that didn’t fit her, but she kept everything else. The style isn’t exactly her preferred one, but she never minded it.

Chapter 4: Panic (attack)

CW suicide mention: Oof this chapter. It went through many iterations. The final version is a toned-down version of the initial draft. The original draft was: Adora found herself lusting after Catra and turned on but trying to kill the thoughts because Catra wasn’t interested in that kind of relationship. She decided to quietly get off one night, but thoughts of Catra filtered through, and then Catra picked up that Adora was thinking about her while getting off. Adora immediately panicked and was sending her I’m sorry over and over again, but then that started overwhelming Catra. Adora decided fuck it, all my thoughts are bad and bothering her, and took two of her sleep/anxiety meds that are basically tranquilizers so she would pass out and not bother her.

I always try to provide CWs for any content that I think might need it, but sometimes it is difficult to do without also spoiling some story beats. Given how heavy the CW for this chapter was, I really wanted to fully prepare anyone who might need it. I came up with the solution of having the shallow CW at the start of the chapter and posting the more spoilery version under a Read More over on my Tumblr, which I think ended up working quite well from the feedback I got on it. If I have any other heavy CWs in future fics I will probably do this again.

CW prescription drugs mention: The whole medication situation is a mirror of how Adora has no regard for herself in the show. She is willing to do something that helps her, but only if it benefits someone else. The medication used to be pretty necessary for her in the first 2 years or so after she got out, so it ended up being a positive back then. In the last few years it has transformed more into drugging herself for Catra’s benefit.

Glimmer shook her as soon as she closed her eyes because she thought Adora was passing out again.

CW prescription drugs mention: Glimmer and Adora had an entire conversation about the pills, when Adora got them, how she uses them, and what happened while Catra was driving there, though Adora was only half-awake for it. Part of that conversation was Adora telling Glimmer she couldn’t hug her even though she really want to because she was worried about it affecting Catra, hence Glimmer putting herself in isolation over by the wall.

Adora really just wanted to play with Catra’s ear. She thought tugging on it would make Catra grumble (she knows magicat kittens pull on ears and tails as part of playfighting) but she didn’t predict the reaction she got at all. At that point, she still thought she made Catra uncomfortable on Wednesday night and was determined not to think about anything sexual with Catra.

Twenty Dollar Charlie is a racehorse ass name, but also a play on two buck chuck. Casta named that horse (She lives and works in Bright Moon). She’s the vodka aunt, but that doesn’t mean she can’t appreciate wine.

Chapter 5: Tell me (everything I don’t know)

The outline for the fic included relationship stages. In fact, the outline for the fic was largely the worldbuilding, a few scenes such as the beginning of chapter four, and then these stages as goalposts that I wrote with the goal of reaching. The stages are: "leave me alone" > you're allowed in my presence > tentative friends > falling in love.

Adora not reaching out on Wednesday night “felt noteworthy” because it was. Catra set a boundary and Adora respected it. That is kind of a new experience for Catra. Scorpia had been her best friend, but Scorpia became her friend because she decided she was going to be friends with Catra and then didn’t give her a say in the matter. Perfuma suffers from a syndrome of believing she knows the best thing for her friends and pushing them in that direction – and she may even be right, but it isn’t respecting boundaries. Entrapta tries, but she also is never sure where boundaries are. Even Adora, at first, was listening to Catra say “no” and still trying to figure out how to make them friends – although that was partially because she could tell Catra didn’t mean it. If Catra had been genuinely uncomfortable with one of her actions – like when she reached out at the beginning of chapter 4 or when she “forced” Catra into petting Swift Wind and Catra began to panic about being moved – then she would immediately stop. Catra knows this – especially after she tested it with Swift Wind – but experiencing it in relation to her emotional state rather than physical is still new.

In the suit scene, Catra is dressed for bending Adora over, if you’re curious.

Chapter 6: Heat (stroke)

Catra “demanding joint custody” of Melog with something like this: it was during lunch, meaning everyone was within earshot, even Angella. Catra complained that Adora doesn’t give Melog enough attention, to which Adora responded that Melog doesn’t want it from her, and Catra said she wasn’t treating Melog right and “I want joint custody”. Glimmer was drinking and her diet coke immediately went shooting out her nose, which distracted everybody because that shit burns. After things were calm and cleaned up, Adora told Catra she could have custody, but that she doesn’t think Melog would do well in an apartment. “I guess you’ll just have to come visit him at the stables :)”. She ain’t slick. Catra allowed it though.

Yes, Adora powered through her duties in record time because she was jealous of Melog getting to cuddle Catra, even if it was cute as hell to watch.

I went back and forth on including heat because I wasn’t really interested in writing it again after finishing otos, but the angle of Adora experiencing it too interested me. It was really just an excuse to move Catra into Adora’s house that they both took readily.

From the outline, because it amuses me: [catra “temporarily” moving in. Catra settles in to snuggle in adora’s bed.]

Adora actually knows more about heats related to the soulbond because there is plenty of human literature on it and she has researched. Catra only really knows about the average heat experience because that is what is largely taught and discussed.

Chapter 7: Jockeying (for time)

CW: prescription drug mention. If chapter four hadn’t happened, the situation with Lonnie absolutely would have led to Adora taking her pills when she got home, was alone with her thoughts, and would have started spiraling about losing respect for the ranch if she lost (even though literally no one but locals even knows this race exists, much less the results of it).

Glimmer looked like she wanted to say something during the “confrontation” because she wanted to point out that Adora called it “our relationship”, but she held it back because Adora was upset by what she had done (with good intentions, but it isn’t respecting privacy).

I’m realizing now I never linked a photo of Swift Wind before, so here (pinterest link) is a photo of a white arabian IRL. I also got this fantastic fanart of Swift Wind. People did some cool fanart for this fic, which can be found in my fic fanart tag.

Y’all really just let me have a typo in the chapter name until I happened to notice today huh. Alright.

Chapter 8: Racing (against the clock)

Adora is referred to as “Angella’s youngest”, despite being a year older than Glimmer, because she is the “newest” member of the family. Her age isn’t a factor.

I was intending from all the way back in December for this fic to include trans Bow, and I was starting to worry at this point that I wasn’t going to be able to squeeze it in until the kids discussion at the very end, so I was glad when I managed to bring it up here.

Melog’s backstory: Melog is actually a fairly young/juvenile cat. He was dumped at a young age after he was born with blue eyes and they never changed colours, leading the inexperienced cat owner (who never intended for their outdoor cat to get pregnant in the first place) to believe he was blind. After he failed some improvised “tests”, the owner concluded that he was blind and they wouldn’t be able to sell him. They dumped him on a road a ways outside town, not wanting the kitten to come wandering back into town and someone to be like “Hey, didn’t the Wilkins just have a litter of grey kittens?” upon spotting him. Melog survived, living along the sides of the road system by hunting and scavenging, until the road eventually led them to the ranch and he immediately settled in.

The “turn-overs” Adora mentions they are going to miss are the rather-infamous apple turnovers a grandma in town makes.

Here’s the outline for the final scene of the chapter, because I think it’s funny: [in bed that night: --“what are we?” --“Shut Up greyskull” (hits her with pillow) --*begrudgingly* “we’re soulmates” --*heart eyes* “yeah we are”]

Chapter 9: Two hearts (joined together)

I kind of consider Chapter 8 the end of the “main arc” of the fic with chapter 9 as the epilogue to that arc, and 10 as a bonus.

If you saw me change the chapter title three times no you didn’t <3 I was listening to the soundtrack and decided it made more sense to circle around on the source of the title as a way to “close the loop”. The lyric was also one of my initial contenders for the title of the fic. It’s from “Brothers Under The Sun”.

Glimmer and Bow do have rings, they just never wear them because they are dangerous to have on when it comes to farm work.

Catra thinking about Glimmer and Bow still goofing off and having a life - and especially in reference to them wearing horse masks - is a reference to this AMAZING comic meta did. They reblogged the tiktok that inspired it and I couldn’t get enough of it or stop thinking about it with HTW so they indulged me lol.

Scorpia and Catra kissed in college. Catra couldn’t be comfortable kissing a stranger until she kissed someone she trusted and wasn’t hurt by it, but there was also no feelings from either of them because, despite Scorpia having a crush on Catra initially, she was a huge believer in the romance of soulmates and her crush died once she found out Catra was “already spoken for”, despite Catra protesting otherwise (another example of Scorpia not listening to her friend). Adora didn’t feel it at the time because there was no desire or anything like that and the bond wasn’t strong enough for her to feel what Catra was doing. She felt Catra’s nerves, and that there was contact, but that was it.

Perfuma and Scorpia’s dog is Emily.

Through the final chapter (and, honestly, the rest of her life), Catra continues to have some bad days, though they get rarer. They become a bit more common again when first C’yra and then Mara go away to college, but she has come a long way, and eventually during those bad days she doesn’t need space from Adora, even if she has difficulty talking or being social. I didn’t show them in the final two chapters, merely referencing them, because I had shown them plenty throughout the fic, and especially in Chapter 8 showed how Adora handled them once they were living together, plus I wanted to focus on a) the comfortable moments of their life as Catra realizes how much she wants to be here/with Adora, and then b) the arc of Catra’s relationship with children.

Chapter 10: Kittens (Epilogue)

So this chapter actually started as a canon one-shot in my brain, but the problem is I just don’t really see them as having kids in canon. I woke up over a month ago, possessed with this idea, and wrote a 2k one-shot about it, and then looked at it like “I’m never posting this.”

... Until HTW. This was a fic where I could see Catra wanting to have kids one day, and especially getting a lot of closure from her own childhood by doing so.

I rewrote every scene in that initial fic, working my way through it and adding in more scenes to integrate it with the narrative within HTW, including adding the scene with the kittens at the end.

Just tacking on to the end to say if there was ever a term in this fic you didn’t understand, check this wikipedia page, because I got a lot of information off it (either directly, or from it leading me down a rabbit hole).

Original outline:

Like the majority of my fics, the first draft of the outline was angstier than the final version. Instead of Catra being transferred out, Entrapta was the one who got transferred to get a new assembly-line factory set up in the small town to transform it from a farm to a factory town. Catra moved out with her because she couldn’t afford to live on her own and got a delivery job that forced her to make runs out to the ranch often. (In this version, Scorpia and Perfuma were already living together).

I scrapped this because a) I didn’t like that direction for the town, b) ranches don’t really use Favor, and c) the “Catra raging about being transferred out” plotline came to me and I loved it. I wanted Catra to take on a role that would force her to be at the ranch often without actually forcing her and Adora together without them making an effort for it.

Most scenes from the original outline made it into the fic. The only major changes were that the fic was initially supposed to take place over a longer timespan (just with more time between all the events), but when I started writing it that just didn’t make sense. Catra was supposed to be reluctant to even talk to Adora for like two-three months, and that just didn’t happen while I was writing it.

Meta:

Ref #1: Hybrid cowboy hat

Extra #1: Soulmates

Extra #2: Half-Moon

Ref #2: Catra’s boots

Ref #3: Adora’s formal outfit

What’s Next:

Next is All She Gives (Not Enough), my escort/sugar mommy AU. I plan to start posting it some time in the next week.

#htw #ficmeta #fic notes

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