#shigaraki might just change sides

[toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp]

Hello and welcome to Day 24 of "Let's Explore My Plot Bunnies"

Sorry if this is posted a bit late, I have been feeling bad in the last 2 days. Maybe I caught a cold? Who knows...

Either way, for today, I have a very old fic idea to talk about. This is once again a My Hero Academia plot bunny.

Before I get into the idea itself, I need to say this: I have been obsessed with music related anime and games for a long time. This only got worse when I got into K-pop during college because of my best friend. I was fully expecting, at one point or another, to have the idea I wanna talk about. What I did not expect is for one tiny idea to get so big in length inside my head. (I am sure I have over 30 chapters planned for this... and it's not even remotely close to finish)

With that being said, I present to you:

"V/H - Stepping into the Spotlight." - a MHA Idol AU

In this story, I want to make Izuku change his views a bit. In my eyes, Izuku's status as a Quirkless person led to his obsession with Pro-Heroes. And it got to the point where if he can't be a Pro-Hero, he might as well not exist. And this is baaaaad. Like bad bad. Especially for his mental health. The fact Izuku never had any other hobby than "hero analyzing" is also very tragic. He got to a point where he couldn't even ask himself a very important question: "Just because I don't physically save someone, does that mean I can't be called a hero?".

There are people all around the world struggling with something and feeling like they don't belong or that they don't need to exist. These people's mental health can benefit from small things like a song that makes them happy, a drawing they saw and adore, a book they started to read, video games that give them some hours of escaping realiy, hell - even just a "thank you for your help" or "good job with this" can help them somewhat. Personally, just having my friends around to talk with or fangirl about a song/book/anime/fanfic is just such a relief - they may not have had to physically save me from a villain's clutches, but they are no less than heroes in my eyes. They saved me from loneliness and from my own depression. Here, in this fic, I want to give Izuku something like this - friends that will save Izuku from himself - and help Izuku do the same to others.

How, you may ask? By giving Izuku the chance to meet someone who doesn't care about becoming a hero; what that someone wants is to create music that can save others and can touch someone's heart. And because of this meeting, Izuku rethinks his life until then and, later on, chooses to share that person's dream. In this fic, Izuku will realize that you don't have to physically save someone to become their hero.

On a different note, am I the only one who believes the whole "All Might leaves Izuku on the rooftop of a building" situation to be a plot hole? Like, Japan (as far as I know) is notorious for having their rooftops not available to the public. This usually means they are locked. So how the hell did Izuku get down? Like, how did he get down and not have the cops called on him? A child on a rooftop will raise red flags for everyone. I don't believe that would have happened without the police getting involved and Inko being called. (And All Might would also be in trouble because he left a kid on a freaking rooftop. Like, Toshinori why?)

So to combat that little plot hole, meet Miyuki Haruto, a 13 years old child and a resident of the building All Might leaves Izuku on the rooftop of. He has a bit of a bad habit: he secretly goes on the rooftop of the apartment building he lives in all the time, even though it is technically illegal. And this time, when he goes to the rooftop he end up hearing the last part of Izuku's conversation with All Might - when All Might tells Izuku to be "realistic" and "think of another job". Haruto is both pissed off at All Might for the words ("Couldn't you have chosen less harsh words when letting someone's dreams shatter?") and worried because: 1. Izuku is crying and 2. they are on a rooftop - a lot can happen on a rooftop.

Out of worry of Izuku jumping, he approaches and tries to give Izuku comfort the only way he knows how - humming a song while waiting for Izuku's tears to dry. After that, Haruto assures Izuku that if he doesn't want to, he does not need to explain anything and says that he is more concerned about Izuku than how he got there in the first place. Still worried, Haruto offers to walk Izuku home and Izuku, who, for the first time, is treated nicely by someone other than his mother, accepts.

On the way to Izuku's home, Haruto hears a bit more about Izuku - like how he is Quirkless (Haruto sees no problem with that and Izuku.exe has stopped working at that point), how he was attacked by a villain today (now it's Haruto.exe that stops working) and how Izuku is bullied at school. Of course, Izuku downplay all of these facts, but Haruto is not dumb; he knows deflection when he sees it. He just doesn't call Izuku out on that cause he doesn't want Izuku to be uncomfortable or, worse, panic. So what Haruto does is listen and give advice: "Why don't you tell your mother about the bullying? You mentioned she is really nice. Don't you think she will be sad if you choose to stay at that school and continue to be hurt like this?"

Before Izuku has the time to respond, they both hear the battle with the Sludge Villain that is trying to take over Bakugou's body. Instead of blindly rushing in, like in canon, Izuku has a panic attack here. Remember, Izuku had a very bad day, was attacked by the same villain just a while ago (so trauma) and is mentally drained from crying his eyes out. Haruto take him out of the public reach, and as All Might appears again and saves Bakugou and the day, Haruto is doing "The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique" to calm Izuku down.

After all this, they finally get to Izuku’s house safe and sound, even though Izuku is even more mentally and emotionally exhausted. Haruto just tells Izuku to think about telling his mother about what he is going through and what he feels. "It is worth a shot" is what Haruto says. Izuku, reluctantly, agrees and they part ways.

The next day, which is a Saturday, Izuku decides to take a leap of faith and talk with Inko. The talk ends with both of them in tears, and with Inko telling Izuku that he can move schools if he wants since his 2nd year of middle school just started. Izuku agrees and the following weeks are full of them making preparations to transfer Izuku somewhere else.

That somewhere else ends up being Kanamizawa Middle School - a school where using Quirks is forbidden (and enforced by the teachers), with a very good record when it comes to studies and this school also has a vocational studies program that students can choose to attend outside of the general school hours. All in all, Inko thinks (and prays) this school will be good for Izuku.

The transfer is successful, and in the 2nd month after the beginning of the school year, Izuku started attending Kanamizawa Middle School. Which turns out to be Miyuki Haruto's school as well.

Haruto, not only glad that Izuku actually listened to him and transfered but also excited to have him as his new classmate, is all about showing Izuku around the school - from the best places to study in peace to where you can get some awesome food. Haruto even ends up introducing Izuku to some other students - specifically one Manami Kyosuke, the resident cat dad of the school who knows and feeds all the stray cats around, including a very affectionate ginger cat named Pumpkin.

Things are going great for Izuku and his improving mental health now. His second year was way more peaceful than he expected, and he even made friends. In his 3rd year, Izuku is required to join one of the vocational courses - be it music, creative writing, painting, or sports - because he needs some credits in that department. Generally, all students do a vocational course in their 1st year there, and then they can choose whether they want to continue it or just focus on their studies.

Izuku, knowing Haruto and Kyosuke are in the music course, chooses to attend that class. And it turns out he has a pretty good voice for someone who never sang before. As the year passes, Izuku finds himself more and more fascinated by music, composition, and how easy it is to express his feelings with them. Izuku fully accepted that he can't become a hero now, but he finds himself drawn to the idea of singing on the stage with Haruto and Kyosuke. And this time around, while this dream is hard to achieve, it is not impossible for someone Quirkless like him.

And so Izuku trains to be accepted in the same high school as Haruto and Kyosuke, where all of them hope to make their dream of becoming idols true.

Some details I wanna add:

Haruto has a Quirk that let's him control small amounts of fire. He can't create the fire but he can control it if it is already there.

Kyosuke has a Quirk that let's him create ice around him in a circle and he should be able, by Izuku's understanding of his Quirk, to actually make the ice into different shapes around himself with enough control.

When the 3 go to high school, they basically enter a trainee idol program. The school trains them, and they can choose to start their idol work either after they graduate or during high school (mostly on the internet with a performance being scheduled depending on their sucess. Their high school basically has the role of an agency for the students. They can choose when they debut. Izuku, Kyosuke, and Haruto make their debut as a unit under the name 3M (because all of their last names start with M) during their 1st year.

Izuku works extra hard to catch up with the other two during middle school. It pays off since not only does he get accepted with Haruto and Kyosuke into the high school, but he is also able to keep up the two of them now.

During high school, 3M makes friends that they end up in an idol group with (the other characters' names are not fully made up in my brain yet). The group has 8 members in total, and their name is "V/H." The name is mostly a reference to the "Villains or Heroes, which are we?" idea. The idea stems from Izuku thinking that both sides can influence the public in their own way, but the public chooses which one is the "villain" of the story and which one is the "hero." So basically, they want the people to choose how they see them.

The whole fic idea started initially because I found out Diaki Yamashita (aka Izuku's VA) also voiced Sakuma Ritsu from the group Knights in Ensemble Stars. Now I can't unhear Izuku anytime I hear Ritsu singing. This also gave legitimacy to my "Izuku can sing" canon.

Because Izuku doesn't go to UA, Mirio gets One for All. But Izuku still saves Eri and Kota, tho differently from the canon. Izuku bumps into Eri after she runs away from Chiaki and brings her to a police station since he recognized the signs of an abused child. What Izuku doesn't know is that Eri heard his voice on a radio show and that his voice calms her down so much - for her, Izuku was her hero even before finding her. Meanwhile, for Kota, well... Sosaki Shino (aka Mandalay), though it will help Kota to have some fun experiences and brought him to a performance of 3M. Kota got lost and Izuku helped him, and, after finding out that Kota's parents died recently and how he feels about it all, Izuku gives Kota the same advice Haruto gave him before: "Talk with your aunt. Unless you tell her how you feel about everything, she will make assumptions about it. And the assumptions will start hurting you. So, trust me. Talking and letting your feelings out is the better option. Crying is not a weakness, nor is it something bad. Letting all the hurt out will definitely make you feel better - I experienced that myself." So, Izuku is again Kota's hero without the need to face Muscular.

It would be hilarious if after 3M or V/H debuts (1st or 2nd year of high school), Jiro and Denki start listening to their music. Jirou's bias is Haruto, while Denki's is Izuku. The two are absolutely in love with the group as a whole and with their biases. And after 1-A gets into the dorms, imagine these 2 introduce the rest of the class to their new boy group obsession. Katsuki's face once he sees Izuku on stage would be hilarious.

Speaking of dorms, from the very beginning of their 1st high school year, Izuku, Haruto, and Kyosuke (as well as the rest of the student body) are moved into dormitories Izuku and Haruto share a room, while Kyousuke is with another future member of V/H.

Izuku and Haruto have a duo unit as well named "Eclipse" - Haruto named this one cause he feels like Izuku is a little ray of sunshine while he is more akin to a moon.

Honestly, the songs that I can see the members of V/H singing are more K-pop oriented (like Stray Kids, TxT, Ateez, and so on) while 3M has a more 3Racha vibe to their songs (aka rap group - let's be fair, Izuku would be a good rapper), and Eclipse (and other units with the other members + solos) fall into the J-Pop category (songs from like Idolish7, Uta no Prince-sama, Ensemble Stars and other anime that have songs I like). This is just how I find myself thinking of the groups and units in this fic idea.

There will be other groups as well - both boy and girl groups. We are gonna have some be in Izuku’s year while others are older than them or (later on) younger than them.

I wanna put an emphasis on the fact that you don't need a Quirk to have a life. The media finding out about Izuku being Quirkless would be a good way to promote awareness towards Quirkless Discrimination and give other Quirkless kids some hope through Izuku.

Because of this, however, All Might's image might suffer - specifically, imagine All Might is asked what he thinks of someone being a Quirkless Hero on TV because the interviewer had Izuku and his group before on the show and she was curious about what would the No.1 Pro Hero think - afterall there are heroes that fight in hand-to-hand combat because their Quirks are not combat oriented, so it's like they fight quirkless). All Might (the stupid idiot) says the same thing he told Izuku - that it is not feasible and that people shouldn't encourage this. Cue to a lot of people (who pay attention to details of other Heroes), bringing up those with non-combative Quirks and starting to not like All Might as much. Then there is Aizawa and Nedzu who are both pissed off at All Might for saying this - not to mention Gran Torino who is like "Why in the world would YOU of ALL PEOPLE say this, you dumbass". Needless to say, All Might doesn't have the best time here.

One last little detail: Shigaraki Tomura ends up as a V/H fan. Having Tomura fanboying over a boy group (and some other groups from the same agency V/H is) is both reassuring and concerning to Kurogiri's Inner!Oboro because: 1. Tomura needs a hobby, and if said hobby is listening to music, then that is great, and 2. Inner!Oboro is very much concerned about the group members if Tomura ever meets them since Tomura can be a bit.... extreme, to say the least. Now, imagine that Tomura's new interest in music leads (someway) to him distrusting All For One, and he (and most of the other villains) change sides. Like, really, Tomura is smart. Give him some therapy in the form of music, and maybe, just maybe, we can have Tomura change sides before the war fully begins. All of this is possible because Haruto found Izuku on that rooftop.

P.S.: I have some art I made a long time ago of Izuku, Kyosuke, and Haruto - they are not the best but I tried. (And yes, I am also @ayameakuma on this, but I decided to open a new account, so I have one specifically for fanfic ideas)

And this is about it for this idea.

So, what do you think? Good? Bad? Let me know!

This was a blog that turned out longer than I thought it would be, and it is currently almost midnight where I live, so I am gonna go to sleep.

Hope you guys enjoyed this idea! Have a great day/night and take care!

See you tomorrow,

-TooManyPlotBunnies-Send Help

[bbluefllame]

hcs on how I think mha characters sleep

contains: pure silly stupidness

characters: tomura shigaraki, touya todoroki, keigo takami, izuku midoriya, toga himiko, plus one katsuki hc😭

note: LISTEN GANG I WAS SLEEPY BUT I COULDNT SKEEP SO I WAS LIKE OH EM GEE!!! keigo's went out of hand 😔😔😔

tomura shigaraki

- he usually sleeps in his normal attire, he has no energy to get up and change

- sleeps 4 hrs MAX

- his thumbs are always I mean always are covered by the rest of his fingers tightly, he probably decays mattresses every couple of months by accident

- either super light sleeper or super heavy no in-between, probably doesn't even sleep most of the time

- there's no pre-sleep routine. mf just plops down into the bed and blacks out OR he sleeps in his gaming chair😭

- if you're sleeping next to him, he would make sure he's facing the opposite side with his hands dangling at the edge of the bed just to make sure nothing happens to you.

- one thing that makes him black out is playing with his hair, like blackout like snore mimimimi type shit

- he's so still in his sleep, barely moves to the point you might think he's dead if he wasn't breathing‼️

- Overall he'd be a pretty good person to sleep next to (if he even sleeps) just make sure he doesn't have nightmares or everything is done and dusted (literally)

touya todoroki

- he either sleeps naked or something that can't snag on the staples/ irritate his scars (probably naked bcs have you seen his room?? ITS EMPTY EMPTY THERES NOTHING BESIDES HIS USUAL CLOTHES)

- I give him 5-6 hrs maybe then he wakes up but on nights where he's in too much pain, he takes a shit ton of painkillers and tries to sleep just to wake up 2 hrs later

-biggest snorer out there, complete opposite of tomura. esp w those lungs of his omg.

- you could be sleeping and BOOM 🚉 SNOREEEEEE HONKKKK you need earplugs with him, then he wakes up and goes "I don't snore, fuck you mean??"

- he tosses and turns 24/7 also he will 100% steal the blanket and kick you off, at this point it'd be more comfortable to sleep on the ground than to sleep next to him

- yk those videos where it's like someone tweaking while sleeping, like they roll around steal blankets and kick and stuff and do the craziest shit, yeah that's touya

- idk if he has a pre sleep routine I'm leaning towards it depends? he usually just makes sure his scars are clean so he doesn't get an infection and yk die!

- I conclude, a horrible person to sleep next to. Would much rather kms than tolerate a night of his torture!

keigo takami

- this bitch has 2 options, blackout the second he gets home in his hero attire, or if it's a day where he has to recover from an injury or something, these specific navy blue sweatpants and a black t-shirt

- depends on the day he's sleeping either 3 hrs or 9 hrs

- he doesn't snore but he talks in his sleep about the weirdest shit ever "noooo pls don't put me in the airfryer" he 100% has the weirdest fucking dreams to ever exist

- he never sleeps on his back, literally always on his stomach so his wings don't get in the way

- also on the topic of his wings, during said weird dreams if he's running away or something they start flapping and shit😭 it'd be so annoying to sleep next to him

- he sleepwalks 100% you look at that face and tell me he DOESNT?? he's a really light sleeper as well esp for nights where he might be called in

- definitely has a pre sleep routine (if he doesn't immediately blackout) ESP if you're living tg oh em gee, he'd have a longer skincare routine than you (tbf the skincare routine is kind of obligation from him to appeal to the civilians nd shit)

- he'd have a headband on his head pushing his hair back, washing his face, using a toner etcetera, and then going "baaaaaabeeee where'd you put my cosrx snail mucin, I know you used it" and he'd be all sassy and shit (twink cough cough sorry)

- if he's having a calm day, he's being the clingiest cutest little shit, you wanna go to eat? "nooo 5 minutes" . You wanna go to the bathroom? "Ugh be quick" while he's guarding the door waiting to tackle you and drag you back to bed. He's such a little (loving) shit

- he just lays there on top of you not willing to let go with a serene expression on his face, those days are rare though (fuck the commission 😠)

- random but he has some of the worst bed head you could ever see

- overall, kind of annoying to sleep next to (funny as well) but for him, who wouldn't tolerate it 🙏🏼

izuku midoriya

- before OFA bro used to get no sleep he'd have the most fucked up sleep schedule to ever exist ‼️‼️ like during weekends no sleep at all just staying up analyzing new heroes

- w OFA he's sleeping healthily or too much with the amount of energy he uses ESP in the first seasons when he breaks his bones a shit ton

- HIS SLEEP WEAR LMAOAOA funniest thing I've seen i don't have to say anything abt it 😭 a fucking shirt w " t-shirt" on it or sumn

- doesn't snore but moves a lot, and not even kicking?? just flipping side to side or clutching the blanket like he's a woman clutching her purse in the 1800s (no one's taking it from you calm down lil bro)

- occasionally he might talk but it's like 2 words then he flips to the other side

- no pre-sleep routine but that's bc he doesn't need one, his pre-sleep routine is studying or training, BUT bro has to be like wrapping his arms and hands at night or something bcs he's in pain (his arms are fucked up there's no way he doesn't have chronic pain)

- if you're forced to sleep next to each other (insert ur own fanfic idea of why) he would be so tense he'd have his hands by his side tryna not sleep so he doesn't annoy you, at this point, you'd be annoyed by how tense he is

- he's not a bad person to sleep next to tbf, just like he might be kinda annoying that's it

Toga Himiko

- she has pink pj's and everything she's such a cutie (some have blood on them but whoops accident!)

- she sleeps with plushies (her room is adorable. search it up pleek‼️), changes the plushie every night so "every single one of them feels loved"

- she sleeps pretty healthily although on the low side 6-7 hrs prolly, she's told by compress "You're a growing girl, you need your sleep" or something similar when she wakes up too early

- she's more giggles in her sleep rather than anything, maybe whispers a name then goes teehehehe, she's pretty calm in her sleep honestly

- she has a pre-sleep routine and it's adorable, if it's in the broke era she steals face masks (specifically hello kitty ones), moisturizers, toners, face washes and skips back to the base with a smile on her face

- has 100% forced a couple of the league members to use the face masks

- has music blasting (for some reason I see her playing like a g6 and bopping her head while putting stuff on) at 10 pm, she 100% has been forced to turn it off bcs it woke everyone up

- she's such a cuddly person as well but in the best way possible, before sleeping though 100% there's gonna be gossiping or just yapping tg

overall my favorite !! silliest girl to ever exist I luv her

bonus katsuki

- bro sleeps like a Victorian child dying from the plague, waiting for a true loves kiss type shit you'd see him and go "wtf okay disney princess😟"

[codenamesazanka]

The park flashback/scene where Tenko plays with Mikkun and Tomo-chan in Chapter 418 first takes place in early afternoon, as evidenced by the clock reading almost 2:00 PM.

The art in the scene confirms this: clear bright skies, and the shadows under the children are short.

However, the time in the scene changes after Mikkun and Tomo-chan tells Tenko he should be All Might (the moment Tenko decides he wants to be a Hero, as he tells his mom in Chapter 235). Suddenly it's evening: the clock shows 6:13 PM, and the sky darkening because it's nearing sunset.

When Shigaraki/Tenko thinks of the League, he and the League (and Deku) all have long shadows, the kind you see when the sun is low in the sky.

＊

The context:

Sunset is the time to go home. Children who have been playing outside, in playgrounds, at the park, are supposed to go home, to get back in time for dinner, back to their families.

In Japan, many cities and towns have a bell/chime/song that plays from public loudspeakers at around 5:00 PM. It's a daily test of an emergency broadcast system, but it has also come to be seen as the evening bell, a 'go home' signal, especially for children, telling them to go home before it gets dark.

In manga and anime, all these elements have become common imagery and symbolism, associated with each other: red-orangey colors, sunset, long shadows, the chime, children saying goodbye to their playmates for the day, the idea of home and return.

(from Mushishi)

＊

Putting it all together:

When the park scene first shows up, it's Tenko memory of playing with Mikkun and Tomo-chan, likely exactly how it had occurred in real life: it's early afternoon, the sun is shining bright, their shadows are short, they're at the park, they're playing Heroes, and when the kids tell Tenko that he should be All Might, Tenko is overjoyed.

But this isn't the scene 15-16 years ago; this is a memory. Tenko is also Shigaraki here. He has just had his core pried open by Deku, and given relief. The Crying Child has been symbolically saved, but the past, the massacre, the Walk still all happened.

So it's suddenly 6:13 PM, it's sunset now, because it's way past proper time (5:00 PM) to go home - because Shigaraki/Tenko can't go home to the Shimura house. It's too late. It's been long over.

Shigaraki/Tenko then looks away from Mikkun and Tomo-chan, to the side, and say, 'Nah' to their suggestion, because besides it being late, he also no longer wants to be All Might. He's deciding he's a Villain, he still holds malice and he still destroys.

So, the scene changes again to contains the League now, all six of them (plus Deku). They exist in this sunset time, hence their long shadows. They exist with current Shigaraki/Tenko, they exist in the now - and arguably, the League would be the home he would return to at sunset.

-

Up to interpretation, of course, but the sunset/going home context is real.

Japanese tweets about it (translated):

[When Tenko got the words he wanted, his eyes lit up, but it was past time to go home so I'm guessing that means "it's too late."]

[It is just heartening that the League members are the place where Tomura would return to when it was "time to go home." I'm sobbing]

[In the scene where Tenko is at the park, the clock is already past 6:00 PM, the time when good kids go home, so if he had met Deku a little earlier, Deku might have been able to stop him, but this seems to show that they're past that stage now, which is good.]

[rivalsforlife]

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Announced

At the Nintendo Direct today, news I have been tirelessly waiting six years for arrived: The Ace Attorney Investigations games are coming to all modern consoles! This includes Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (now officially known as Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Gambit), after THIRTEEN YEARS of being a Japan-exclusive game!

Now everyone gets to experience Debeste Ace Attorney games! ... The Winner Ace Attorney Games!

Key Information

The collection is coming out on September 6, 2024 to the Nintendo Switch, PS4, XBOX One, Windows, and Steam. It will be available in Japanese, English, French, German, Korean, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese, with new voice dubs. Most of the information in this post will be coming from the official website, which you can check out for more details.

The reveal trailer is as follows:

There's lots of information here, so let's break it down:

New Features

Since these were originally Nintendo DS games, there's a massive jump in graphic quality to HD! This includes a new interface for Logic, the court record, and redone full-body sprites. But if you prefer the classic look, the AAI collection will let you swap between the sprite styles:

Similarly to the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and 456 Collection, the AAI Collection includes story mode, dialogue history, a gallery containing concept and special art, and music including orchestral arrangements of the soundtrack.

You can also change the in-game soundtrack to rearranged tracks! This applies to Confrontation - Allegro, Confrontation - Presto, Objection 2009, and Pursuit - Chase Down The Truth (commonly known as Lying Coldly) with and without the intro.

Pre-Order Bonuses

Much like the AAI tracks, AAI2 arranged tracks can play in game, but these are currently restricted to pre-order bonuses (though this might change in the future). This includes Confrontation - Allegro 2011, Confrontation - Presto 2011, Objection 2011, and the intro and non-intro versions of Pursuit - Uncover The Truth (commonly known as Wanting To Find The Truth).

That's all on the English side, but much like the 456 collection, Japan has a physical collector's edition called the Mitsurugi (Edgeworth) Checkmate Set. This includes an arranged mini-album of songs by other composers, and new album art by Tatsuro Iwamoto.

The new songs include "Objections of Different Eras" (seemingly a remix of Objections 2009 and 2011), "Raven that Pursues The Truth" (remix of Kay's theme), "It's Time for Action!" (remix of Gumshoe's theme), "Howling Echoes" (remix of Lang's theme), and "Unveiling the Truth" (remix of the Pursuit songs).

This collection also includes a diorama set:

The set has two backgrounds (the rooftop of the Grand Tower and Edgeworth's office), and has standees of Edgeworth, Kay, Gumshoe, Franziska, Lang, Gregory, and... Verity and Eustace.

Which is a good segue into:

Localization Differences

Since most AA fans will be familiar with the fantastic AAI2 fan translation, the new names will likely be an adjustment for all of us. Characters in AAI (like Kay and Lang) will not have their names changed, just characters that were previously exclusive to AAI2.

Known name changes include:

Yumihiko Ichiyanagi / Sebastian Debeste -> Eustace Winner

Hakari Mikagami / Justine Courtney -> Verity Gavèlle

Tateyuki Shigaraki / Raymond Shields -> Eddie Fender

We also know that Manosuke Naito / Horace Knightley's new last name is Knight, and Gai Tojiro / Ethan Rooke's last name is Rook, which isn't much of a departure from fan translation names. We also know that Mikiko Hayami / Nicole Swift's new last name is Lloyd. I will provide updates on more names when they become available!

Regardless of your feelings on the new names - it's going to be an adjustment for everyone used to the fan translation that has been around ten years now - let's all keep in mind that despite the new names, the characters behind the names will be the same. And personally, as a massive fan of AAI2, I think the adjustment will be worth it if it means that more people get to experience my favorite ace attorney game for themselves.

With this announcement, all canonical ace attorney games have been ported to modern consoles and given an English translation. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, this announcement is thirteen years in the making for AAI2! This is an unprecedented time for the popularity and accessibility of Ace Attorney.

(All we need now is the Layton crossover...)

Thank you all for joining me in this excitement and I look forward to collecting and sharing more updates as they arrive!

[butterfly-writer]

Ello! I just read your Dabi x Mother figure reader and I really really really loved it a lot! I was wondering if you could make a similar fic with the premise of Shigaraki x an older male reader who is a father figure towards him? You don't have to of course, I just really liked that Dabi fic and thought it was sweet!

A Father’s Love

Shigaraki x Male!Reader [PLATONIC]

Summary: Shigaraki grew up with an abusive father and a weak mother. He was traumatized after killing his whole family, and ended up living with All For One. It didn’t do any good for him, All For One was a controlling father figure who acted like he was doing what was best for him. All changed after recruiting a man with a unique Quirk.

★☽A/N: To be completely honest, A Mother’s Love is definitely one of my favorites!! That and Unexpected Interest. If you guys noticed my writing is slightly different, it’s either because I’m lazy, have improved, or have Writer’s Block… ANYWAYS, ENJOYYY!! <333

Contents: FLUFF & SLIGHT ANGST?

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The League of Villains is a dangerous organization, known for their evil crimes. All orchestrated by All For One himself, a centuries old threat to Japan’s society. His successor, Tomura Shigaraki, isn’t much different from his mentor.

Tomura Shigaraki grew up with an abusive father and a weak mother. At age 4, he killed his whole family, leaving him alone with no guardian and ended up living with All For One. It didn’t do any good for him, All For One was a controlling father figure who acted like he was doing what was best for him.

All changed after recruiting a man with a unique Quirk.

He was an old soul, a man in his 40’s with a unique Quirk. His name was Y/N L/N, known by society as Poker Face for his card-related Quirk. He was recruited by Dabi a couple days ago and he had already made his impact in the League.

The reason why he was invited to the league was because of his Quirk, which allows him to have any ability to extract any meaning from a card and use it to his advantage. Despite being called Poker Face, the cards that he can only use are tarots cards.

Dabi deemed his Quirk useful and recruited him to the team. With time, he slowly went up the ranks and was side by side with the main league. He was hard-working and focused at any task he was given. He was an impressive addition to the team.

By the time he joined the main league, he became very well known in the LOV. Known for his fatherly aura. He used to have a daughter that would’ve been Shigaraki’s age if she hadn’t died in an accident. An accident that All Might failed to save everyone in. Because of this, his hatred towards All Might was born and it grew everyday by the amount of people praising him for his work.

Toga absolutely loved him! Her parents had always found her weird as a child. Y/N? He doesn’t give two shits about her quirks. “You want to drink my blood? Okay, just don’t drink it all!” He would say with a big smile on his face, offering his arm towards her. “You want me to find a bird to drink all its blood? Give me the whole afternoon and I’ll find you a juicy one!” Another thing he would say, a huge smile on his face.

Of course, his treatment towards her is different since he’s a girl dad inside and out.

Dabi was a bit defensive around him. Although he was the one who recruited him, he only did it for the sake of the LOV. (Shocking!) But, with time, he grew to love the man as a father who supported his dreams. Touya grew up with Endeavour as a child, who filled him with so much hope and expectations, only to tell him to give up because of his Quirk. Y/N wasn’t like that. Anything Dabi suggested, he would give a pat on his back and tell him “it’s a great idea!” with a thumbs up. He was like any old dad. But to Dabi, he was the best.

Due to Shigaraki’s past, he learned to not trust people. The only people he trusted were the main league, Kurogiri and “Master.” All For One wasn’t exactly the best father figure after his late father died. He wasn’t abusive, surprisingly, but was controlling and manipulative. He always said that he was doing what was best for Tomura and to trust him.

All these years, Tomura was brainwashed to think that All For One was the best thing that happened to him.

But he was wrong.

When Y/N greeted himself, Tomura saw him as a disgusting old man. He thought, How could an old man like him be so great? with a scoff. He didn’t even shake his hand!

Shigaraki was bothered every single day by the older man. Everytime he was having a tough time, he found it annoying that L/N would go out of his way to comfort him. Everytime he was motivated or had done something successfully, he was there to cheer him on.

Slowly, even though it was unintended, his trust in Y/N increased. He found it trustworthy enough to handle things on his own without having to report anything to him.

And by now, he trusted Y/N with all his heart. All For One did not like this “new recruit.” He found him distracting towards Shigaraki. He despised how Y/N was basically stealing his successor.

Shigaraki didn't know that he saw Y/N as a father figure. He was caring and much more considered than All For One. He couldn't believe he was comparing Y/N with All For One! The very being who saved him.

But he wasn't considering his opinions, he never was there when he was having his breakdowns.

Y/N was. In one of his breakdowns, he scratched his neck to the point it was red and blood started to seep out. All For One wasn't there, but Y/N was. He quickly helped him, stopping him from causing more damage to his skin. He helped him calm down and regain control over his emotions again.

He was kind enough to put some ointment or cream to treat his wounds. He was still shaking but Y/N didn't mind. He just smiled at him and reassured him that everything was fine.

That was probably the first time in ages. The first time he cried, sobbed, in ages.

He couldn't stop the tears from falling from his eyes. His body shook even more as tears started to flood his vision.

He didn't know if this was from relief or what. He didn't know why he was crying, he just was.

Y/N sort of panicked when he suddenly cried in front of him. He rushed to comfort him with a comically sweaty state. “Hey, hey, it's okay!” He embraced him and patted his back.

Shigaraki couldn't move, he didn't even hug him back. He just sobbed the entire time, wetting Y/N's shirt in the process. Y/N was still shocked by this reaction, unable to react except trying to soothe him by rubbing his back.

Let’s just say that Y/N is his favorite person now. More than All For One.. (AFO is definitely angry about this revelation).

Oh! And he’s not afraid to call Y/N “dad.” <33

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[habken]

Izuku and Katsuki Hospital Comic - Thoughts and Process

I wanted to talk about the process and my thoughts while making this comic! Cause it was A Lot of planning and I feel like talking about how I went about it could maybe be helpful for other people who wanna make comics too ?

Also I just like talking and I've had So Many thoughts about it over the last few months, I just need to get them all out lol

everything is under the cut (it's Very Long) ↓↓↓

Initial Thoughts

I started planning the comic in January, around the time the chapter with the second user's plan to transfer ofa to shigaraki came out. I remember feeling so anxious and sad seeing how devastated Deku was to lose the 'gift' that All Might had passed to him :'((

It made me start thinking about what it would be like to not only go from having all this insane power at your fingertips back to nothing, but also how it would feel to lose the vestiges, which had been his advisers, yapping in his ear and keeping him company for months. How it would feel to go from constantly having people looking over your shoulder back to silence.

Then I thought about what that would mean for his and Bakugou's relationship, which has developed so much over the series. How Bakugou would feel about Deku no longer having ofa, how the two of them would wrestle with old feelings now that Deku would be quirkless again. Bakugou having to face the kid he bullied and Deku going back to a state where the world saw him as "useless" with dreams too big for somebody without a quirk.

I feel like sometimes it's not really taken into account how Deku's past affects him in the present, and that goes for in the actual series as well. Considering he's the main character, it's funny that we never really get too much of a peak inside his mind lol, especially not recently, which is most likely intentional, but I digress.

What I really wanted to do for this comic was circle back to Deku's question to All Might at the start of the series, "can I become a hero without a quirk" because while yes, deku can be a hero, he had to get a quirk to do so. So what happens now that he no longer has it? After all of Bakugou and Deku's development, would Bakugou's opinion on deku pursuing his dreams while quirkless change?

I really didn't want that answer to be no. I didn't want to believe that Deku would have to give up and "be realistic" again, it just didn't feel right for that to be the answer after 400 chapters.

So I wanted to make something that would encapsulate those thoughts! And I felt like the best way to fully get that out was through a scene in the aftermath of the battle, the two of them in the hospital with nothing to do but talk about their feelings.

It was important to me that the doubts they both felt about the future were stomped out, and for there to be reassurance that things between them wouldn't snap back to how it was before UA. That Deku could still reach his dreams even if they did become harder to obtain.

I also felt like narratively it would be a good parallel if Bakugou were to lose something tied to his power too, and with his arm being so bad off in canon, I thought it made sense that there was a chance he could lose it forever.

So it's like they're both coming out of the final battle worse off with huge losses, but no matter what, they're going to fight to achieve their dreams, and they're going to do it side by side :')

At its core, it’s very self indulgent lmao, I didn’t think that we’d get something that sappy and gross in canon (😳) so I wanted to make something for myself :')

Planning

So then I made a first draft!

When I’m making bigger comics, thumbnails are super helpful! They help me see the full picture of what it could look like, and let me change things without putting in too much commitment. So most of the drawings are loose, but occasionally I’ll put in a little extra detail into things that I want to make sure are included in the final work.

There’s three main things I consider when thumbnailing for comics; expression, composition, and dialogue. Each of these things have a huge influence on each other, so keeping them all in mind when roughing out your drawings is important!

How it usually works is I play out the scene in my head like a movie and roughly come up with dialogue, then I draw characters and expressions based on that dialogue and the visions I had. Simultaneously I plan out approximately where those drawings will go/how much space they'll take up and finally, I add in the dialogue and move things around as needed so everything fits nice together.

Having the dialogue there in the draft lets me know around how big the speech bubbles are gonna be which is a massive help when figuring out paneling. It lets me plan around the bubbles and make sure nothing is too squished!

General tips:

Something I learnt from storyboarding is that establishing a setting for your scene at the start is really important! Most of my comics will start with a long shot or include one early on for this reason. It’s good for making sure readers aren’t confused on where everything is taking place!

Having a variety of shots is good for keeping your story engaging! This comic has a lot of closeups, but I tried to add variety where I could and used a lot of different angles to keep things entertaining even if there isn't that much going on

Final thoughts on this draft:

At this stage, the ending was really different from the final version I ended up with. It was a lot more focused on Bakugou's losses too and the vibe was kinda "well we're both nerfed now but that's chill we can still be heroes." I axed most of that cause I thought it was dumb and wasn’t really the conclusion I wanted lol

After the rough draft, I started sketching everything out and adding in panels based on the composition from the og thumbnails. I also changed the dialogue as I went, focusing on making it sound more natural and easy to read.

This is where the nuances in movement and expression became a bit more refined and speech bubbles where better planned out.

At this stage, establishing clarity and imagining how readers are going to move their eye along the page is really important. Comics are generally read left to right, but you can’t just assume people are going to automatically read it in the order you want, which is why panels and speech bubble locations are so important.

Tips:

A general rule is that along with going from left to right, speech bubbles should be in descending order. This can be broken a bit, but it’s important to remember that the rule is there in the first place for clarity's sake. So if you do plan on breaking it, make sure it's not at the sacrifice of legibility. The human eye is lazy and will jump to whatever seems most logical, so planning things out in a confusing manner is going to make your comic hard to read!

This is another thing I picked up from storyboarding, but keeping in mind the 180° rule is good for clarity as well! In the simplest of terms, if you have two characters in a scene, it’s good to keep character A on one side and character B on the other, and not switch those sides willy-nilly, otherwise it can get confusing. This isn't as important in comics as it is in film/television, but I still like keeping it in mind.

Final thoughts:

I hated the original ending but I couldn't exactly figure out how I wanted it to go, and I was too busy at that point to dedicate the time I needed towards it, so it stayed as these four panels for while :’)

During the period I stopped working on it, Deku lost his arms which had me panicking lmao, so much of the comic was devoted to his emotions and body language, specifically in his hands. I just went "am I gonna have to redo everything? Do I give him prosthetics?" and I was fully ready to rework the entire thing but Eri came in clutch for Deku (and me) <3

After Deku started getting hurt, I didn't really like the idea of him being discharged and sitting with a still injured Katsuki, and wanted it to be clear that they were both still in the hospital, so I had to axe poor Deku's "hospital gown" shirt for actual hospital garb </3

At some point during april-ish, I finally added in a new beginning and end, which took the comic from four pages to seven. I felt like the new parts added a lot more levity and humour which were needed, and I think it helped make Izuku and Katsuki feel closer than before.

For these pages, I skipped the thumbnail stage and jumped straight into full page stuff, which felt easier because they were kind of just add-ons.

Something I specifically liked were the first two panels in the last page. Fun fact, but a few days after I sketched those out, horikoshi released that art of to two of them smiling together and I went !! That's the vibe I wanted !! Me and Horikoshi are on the same wavelength! That was a good day lmao.

At this point, though, while new parts added a lot more to the story and brought it closer to the vibe I wanted, they also messed with the tone and overall pacing and it ended up feeling really off. Deku was now doing this weird 180 from being super sad and upset to then immediately joking around and goofing off with no acknowledgement of anything Katsuki was saying, which had been fine enough when it was just 4 panels, but very off-putting once I made the comic longer

...So I decided to add even more panels :')

I went back to my original ideas, and part of what I wanted to get across originally was the doubts about Izuku's future from here on out, and the worry that things would go back to how they were before he got ofa. I realized those initial things which had fueled the comic were no longer really part of it, and I wanted to change that.

When I thought up the idea of visuals surrounding their middle school selves, I felt so smart LMAO. I think it ended up being the thing that brought the entire comic together.

Izuku reverting back to that anxious, unconfident state, spiralling into himself, and mumbling out all his insecurities, including his fears about losing Katsuki's friendship (and yet still somehow more worried about Katsuki's feelings than his own). And in turn, Katsuki remembering and seeing Izuku as that kid again, and his own fears of becoming a bully once more.

It better explored what I wanted to originally get across and delved more into their feelings, so that the jokes and levity at the end felt like they were earned, rather than being a rapid shift in tone.

(The only other thing that changed was the some of the panels in the first page. I changed up the speech bubbles and got rid of a panel so it would be less cramped and easier to read.)

At this point, I was still having trouble figuring out how to tie everything in and segway pages 6-7 into the ending organically, so it sat like this for around a month.

Then chapter 423 released and the battle was over and I realized how little time I actually had to get the comic out. I knew that the next chapter could possibly make my entire comic obsolete, so I hauled ass :D

These were the final plans before I cleaned everything up! I changed around some of the panels to make the story flow better, I figured out how to tie everything in, and I finalized the dialogue!

At this point all the panelling was redone because I wanted more space in between them. Before, it felt really cramped and I think adding in more breathing room made it feel slightly less overwhelming for readers.

The biggest changes from the previous draft:

First, obviously, I finished the middle school stuff and figured out how to get from one part to the next. This was the hardest part of the planning, but I ended up deciding that Deku would spiral, Bakugou would kind of bring him out of that, they'd hug and then Bakugou would reassure him. I also included motifs relating to their childhood to be reminiscent of The Apology, and Katsuki's thoughts going back to them sharing the special All Might cards, them at the lake, etc. As if this was another healing moment for each part of them; their current selves, their MS selves, and their childhood selves too

I then changed some of the panels in the first page. I switched the direction of the diagonal line in the first few panels because I thought it made it more clear which way to start reading and made the comic flow better.

In the fourth page, I added a panel after Deku starts crying, because I felt like it worked better with the dialogue, and brought in more of Katsuki's POV into the story

The sixth page doesn't really look different, but there was a lot of resizing going on panel-wise. The bottom panel doesn't take up as much space and the panels up top are a little bigger

The final big change was the eighth page. I added in an extra panel and changed up a lot of expressions/dialogue so there was more of a natural transition between the heartfelt moments and the two goofing off

I then made some final changes and drawover notes before I started a week of cleanup and colouring!

Cleanup/Colouring Stage

Cleaning up my sketches usually just means duplicating the layer, putting the original layer at 5% opacity and.. cleaning it until it looks nice lol. It's the easiest way for me to work because I hate doing lineart.

This is what my sketch vs final usually looks like. The biggest change was adding in bandages into all the drawings lol.

For speech bubbles, I drew them all by hand, created a flat colour layer underneath in white, duplicated that and filled it in with black and shifted it with the transformation tool to make a drop shadow effect.

It took me two days to colour the whole thing :')

Usually when I colour, I work in a pretty painterly way, but I thought flats/cell shading would be a lot faster for this. I was right but it still took Very Long.

The smartest thing I did was put colour swatches of each colour I was using on a separate layer above everything else so I could easily use the eyedropper and get the right colour without having to reference them from another page. It was a big time saver!

I colour all on a single layer so I don't have progress photos to show, but for each drawing, I roughly added in all the colours in the approximate locations they'd be, and once I did that for every single panel, I went back and cleaned them up one by one.

And that's that! After colouring was done, I added my signature, posted it, and took the nap of the century.

Final, Final Thoughts

I worked... Very Hard to get the comic out before leaks night and even if it was just a few hours, I'm so glad I was able to do it cause when I saw the actual chapter I lost my mindddd

I feel like as the comic progressed, Katsuki's feelings took a backseat and if I was to redo it, I'd probably put a bit more emphasis on that than I did in the final version. I feel like his ~inner turmoil~ didn't fully come through the way I wanted it to. I didn't want it to be an immediate acceptance — I wanted the fact that he was struggling with his past to be evident too — but with the focus being so heavily on Izuku, Katsuki's inner thoughts get a bit lost which is too bad </3 Good thing is Horikoshi had the exact opposite idea as me, so it all worked out :D

I'm really proud of how the comic turned out, and I'm so happy to have gotten such a positive response to it! Thank you for reading if you got this far and thank you for reading my silly self-indulgent hospital comic :)

[stillness-in-green]

Not-Really Chapter Thoughts BNHA 424

You know, I really think there should be a point at which Deku rushing in with no plan and doing whatever he thinks feels right should become Heroic Malpractice.

Just me?

Because, like, Shouto had a plan. He spent the time between the two war arcs specifically developing a brand-new combat technique that he planned to use to shut down Dabi's combat advantage without killing him. He convinced his dad not to change the plan like Endeavor was hesitantly sounding him out about[1]; he went out and talked and asked questions, and even if they weren't the right words every single time, he did his best and he did it with intention. If Dabi proves to be dead, it won't be because of anything Shouto did to him; it'll be because Dabi himself chose to stand back up, take a warp gate across the country, pick a fight with the guy who doesn't have the power set to shut him down without unduly hurting him, and try to replicate an Ultimate Move specifically tailored for someone with a balanced power set Dabi doesn't have.[2]

And if Dabi lives, it's still going to be because Shouto booked it across the country and used that same technique to stop him again.

1: Dabi surely would have preferred to fight Endeavor from the start, and it probably would have been the more "just" choice if it had to be one or the other, but Shouto is the nominal focal character between the three of them, so, critiques of the broader Hero-side decisions aside, Shouto's arc has to come first. This is one of those places where you can clearly see how much the decision to let Endeavor survive where Horikoshi originally planned for him to die hurts the shape of the later story.

2: Obviously ultimately if Dabi dies, it's going to be because his family and Team Hero made repeated choices to ignore and neglect him, culminating in the entire family swearing to deal with Touya together only to passively accept a battle plan that involved splitting them all and letting the kid who knows Touya the least be the one to fight him. But like, in the context of that fight, Shouto isn't the reason Dabi takes all that hurt.

Uraraka may or may not have had much of a plan, but at least the words she said to Toga reflected that she had been seriously thinking about Toga in the here and now, what Toga's told her, what Toga needs. If Toga dies, it will be because Toga chose to give Uraraka an unsupervised blood transfusion with no intention of stopping it. (With the same general caveats as in Footnote 2.)

But Deku? From the very beginning, Deku has been valorized by the manga for how much he doesn't plan. All Might tells him specifically that it's a sign of greatness shown by future "top Heroes" that, in some crisis situation, their bodies moved before they could think. Bakugou's Rising chapter is defined by him reaching that same state.

Deku claimed he wanted to save Shigaraki; he's sad in the latest chapter that he couldn't save Tenko's[3] life. But did he ever have a real plan to do that? With all the quirks he had at his disposal - both his own and those who would be in the flying coffin with him, or classmates whose presence he could specifically request - did he think hard and come up with a technique that would let him stop Shigaraki without harming him? Did he try to connect with the Shigaraki right in front of him by citing to the future?

3: And I have nothing but scorn for Deku's insistence on that name when "Tenko" goes out very pointedly calling himself Shigaraki Tomura.

Well, no. Deku obstinately yelled at the phantasms in Shigaraki's mindscape that he had no plan whatsoever. The only plans we saw him carry out were ones handed to him by the OFA collective that involved "breaking" Shigaraki's psyche; the only plans he came up with himself involved more efficiently breaking Shigaraki's body.

Way back in Chapter 130, Nighteye harshly scolded Deku by saying that his way of thinking was arrogant. He said, "Go after him haphazardly and he'll slip through our fingers. You're not so special as to be able to save who you want, when you want. (...) This world is not so accommodating that you can act the Hero because you feel like it."

It felt like something that Deku should have taken to heart, a lesson to be learned and applied later, but I never much got the feeling that he did. Nothing he did in that moment, in that arc, or anywhere else in the series afterward indicates that he thought Nighteye was right. He just chose not to talk back, and the arc ended with Nighteye dead and no longer around to pose objections to Deku's mode of heroism.

But Nighteye was right. Three hundred chapters later, Shigaraki is dead because Deku could not be arsed to plan for how he could stop Shigaraki without killing him. Because he let Gran Fucking Torino give him the intellectual out that killing someone could be a means of saving them. Because he followed his gut instincts of prioritizing the phantom Crying Child that he always saw as more valid and real than the human being standing in front of him.

Because he haphazardly acted the Hero and let his body move without thinking.

And he wants to act sad about it now? I hope Nighteye materializes in his bedroom to sneer at him every night for the rest of his life.

--

Incidentally, fuck All Might, seriously. "Wow, Deku and Bakugou, you two are the greatest Heroes ever. Fuck me and everyone else who fought tooth and nail, arm and leg, eye and earjack, life and death, to contribute to the pile of damage that was necessary to kill and/or save Shigaraki and All For One. You two got the last blows in, so you're the only ones who get the credit for it in my eyes. Hero Society is definitely going to be different and better with you two around."

[arceus-insanity]

The more I think about it the more I feel shortening the Pro heroes side to the heroes is misleading and disingenuous. Even if it is more intuitive

As myself and many of my mutuals have pointed out, the pros are incredibly hypocritical, corrupt and just plain bad/failing at being heroes. But they are great at the PRO part. The vast majority of them (including the students) feel like they only care about the pro part in practice

The most blatant examples are Endeavor and Bakugou, but they are far from the only ones

If Endeavor was focused on being a hero and not a pro he wouldn't have only cared about getting the number one spot, his focus would actually be on being the best hero he can be. Instead, we have the whole Todofamily shitshow of him buying his wife like livestock, making her pop out kids until he had his perfect quirk baby, neglecting his non-instant perfect quirk kids, and abusing all of them when he isn't neglecting them. He wouldn't be so eager to kill both villains and vigilantes (seen in the Vigilantes series, the nomu attack, and the high-end nomu fight) as well as being more mindful of how much property damage he causes. (I already have so many posts on this bastard, so I'll end this here)

Bakugou's goal in the whole series is to be the number one hero, not a good hero. As I have said with Endeavor many times before, it's not his behaviour that has truly changed, it's people's reactions to them (and it was already shit). He genuinely tried to kill Midoriya for getting into UA in the battle trials, and instead of being rightfully expelled, Midoriya after school, so not in the heat of the moment, tells him part of the One for All secret. He calls the Bakusquad, his supposed friends, demeaning names, same as everyone else. Everyone focuses on how he tells Midoriya to kill himself in the first episode, but later that same day he tells his 'friends' off for suggesting they go to a bar because if he gets caught he can't get into UA. So he had no problem telling someone to kill himself when there wasn't an obvious risk of it affecting him, but a bar where he could get caught suddenly cares. His first proposal for a hero name, and his full official hero name both contain the word Murder. He is violent, at best shouting, every time even the slightest thing doesn't go his way. Aizawa himself states (a guy who constantly praises him) says that the reason he won't join the villains is because he sees the heroes as the winners (chapter 86, and he reaffirms the goal of top hero for me as well)

We see Best Jeanist call outing Endeavor's abuse as airing dirty laundry, Hawks murdering Twice & calling for Toga Himiko's death as well, Gran Torino telling All Might & Deku to get rid of Shigaraki, Burnin outright saying she doesn't care if her boss is an abuser, cause he's good at his JOB. None of the pros who learn Lady Nagant was an assassin for the commission, care. Deku doesn't care when he sees two armed men attacking a woman for being visibly different, and that she had been denied entry from multiple shelters for that same reason, because oh, UA is an exception, so everything's ok, doesn't even help her get to the school, nor does All Might. Both Deku and Tentacole's arguments against villains are basically 'I suffered silently, and now I'm in the #1 Hero school! I'm going to inspire everyone to be nicer, just by being a (generic) hero (who will never rock the boat). So if you can't do that you're worse than your abusers and deserve it!'

I think Uraraka is the only one who is focusing at all at being a good hero, and not a pro, and she doesn't know how to fix any of this.

What the PRO heroes are is a combination of cops and influencers, who have all the corruption and toxicity of both

[bicheetopuff]

(Ch. 336)

You know, this panel has always made me a little curious. Every other time we saw Izuku sparring with Katsuki (before the war started at least), he’d use blackwhip to defend himself, hence ‘catch-a-kacchan’ so I found it weird how Izuku didn’t even try to grab Katsuki. For like 100 chapters prior to this, he used blackwhip for everything and would eventually just leave it out incase he needed it quickly kinda like how Hawks utilized his feathers (when he had them) so I kinda just made a mental note about how weird it was that Izuku chose to evade instead of defend when he easily could’ve.

I also found it weird how quickly Izuku wanted to change the topic along with the distress on his face. I thought it was just a cheap and ooc way of explaining Todoroki’s new power quickly but, since it’s now confirmed that Izuku has PTSD about Katsuki’s sacrifice, what if Katsuki’s cluster move triggers that trauma response too?

The next time we see cluster used with Izuku present, Izuku actually does respond with blackwhip.

(Ch. 404)

He doesn’t use it in defense though, he uses it in almost possessive way by securing their hands together with it. But also, he doesn’t speak for this entire chapter. It could be explained away by the side effect of using gearshift and him not being able to breath but before now, he’s been more focused while in distress and was also speaking just fine before. Though, in these panels, and through the entire chapter, he seems almost delirious and in shock. He’s not even reacting to the lack of oxygen anymore.

He even starts ignoring Shigaraki in these moments. He’s stunned and mesmerized but now I’m starting to question whether he’s amazed or scared out of his mind for what might happen. With that uncertainty, all that I can say confidently is that he’s distracted.

(Season 7 ep. 4)

Arguably after chapter 404, he stops thinking straight and, honestly, gets a little sloppy. A few chapters after this, is when gets danger sense stolen and starts getting truly injured. He makes the decision to give away OFA and loses his arms. He reverts right back into his “I don’t care what happens to me” mentality that his class has been trying to get him to grow out of for a while.

He wasn’t mentally prepared for something to go wrong in this fight. He wasn’t mentally prepared to be pulled away, leaving Katsuki with Shigaraki. I thought it was just iffy writing that he’d mentally regress after Katsuki woke up instead of before but, it honestly makes a lot more sense now. He cared about what happened to himself because he needed to stay alive to ensure Katsuki’s revival. Once Katsuki woke up and he watched him fight AFO, he started being reckless again. He went back to viewing himself as nothing but a vessel for OFA because he believes OFA is the only thing that can beat AFO, hence why he trusted the vestiges when they said “we can fight him from the inside” (which I think was a silly decision. It’s noble in theory but it amounted to nothing because Izuku can’t win in this regressive state of self sacrifice anymore. Or at least, he shouldn’t since it’s such a big part of his arc.).

And now, with the most recent chapter with most of his classmates present it seems like he’s regretting that decision because he’s being reminded that people care about him. They showed up to support him regardless of already being hurt because he can’t win on his own. Eri mutilated herself to help him and if that doesn’t tell him that fighting without the intent of not dying is stupid, idk what will.

(Ch. 421)

He was about to just throw himself back into the fight with the same mindset as before if Aizawa didn’t stop him. He looks frustrated because he realizes the weight of what he’s been doing and how looking up to AM and the previous vestiges shouldn’t be his role models right now considering all of their fates. He’d just be continuing OFAs curse like Katsuki’s been worried about for a hundred something chapters.

In conclusion, this post was very unfocused but I can’t wait to see Izuku kick ass and for Katsuki to show back up because with the impact he’s had on Izuku, I DESPERATELY need them to talk. Most of this post may have very well been a stretch but, let me be delusional please.

[acc--deactivated]

𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙢𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧

„you like it?“

your voice is a siren's call, your eyes a sinful curse and he can not help himself when he grabs you

synopsis: the boys reacting to you wearing swimwear

featuring: shigaraki tomura, dabi, takami keigo

cw: vaginal fingering, blowjobs, dirty talk, praise, mirror sex, possessive behaviour, public, name-calling, creampie, degradation

18+ content - MDNI

───────────────────

SHIGARAKI TOMURA

he forgets to breathe for a few seconds when you walk out of the changing rooms, absolutely starstruck by your appearance. your skin is glistening in the setting sun, shoulders, thighs and cheeks shimmering a little with the sunscreen you put on and his eyes are glued to the tight swimsuit hugging your curves, clinging impossibly tight to your skin.

it makes it so hard for him to look at your face, the smile you give him and he doesn't know what to say when you ask him if everything is fine.

he just scoffs at you, turns his body and his gaze away before he can stare any longer and loses complete control over the immense pressure building between his legs.

sitting it out, however, is not an option, he quickly realizes.

the peaks of your breasts shimmer through the fabric of the swimsuit after you and toga take a dip in the water and he has to lean his head back, taking a rather deep breath as he stares straight into the sun, wishes to turn blind for a while so that he would finally fucking stop staring at you.

but before he can keep on burning his eyes away, he hears your voice, close in front of him. and when he looks at you, you smile at him again, soft and sweet and brighter than the stupid sun and your swimsuit is still wet and clinging to you and he thinks he's going insane.

what the hell is he even doing in this place, standing in the sun, wearing nothing but swim shorts like a fucking idiot?

just because you suggested to go to the beach and the rest of the league cheered because all of them know he can not deny you any wish. because you're a cunning little vixxen that has him wrapped around its finger.

and you look at him just like that, a sweet little thing, with soft eyes and long lashes, only the light slyness in your smile a hint that you might be aware of the effect you have on him.

„you wanna get a drink with me, tomura? the others want to stay in the water.“

he furrows his brows, narrows his eyes a little as he observes you, tries to decide if spending more time by your side will relieve his ache or make it worse.

he already knows the answer, but he thinks about it anyway.

„you got a set of two healthy feet. you can go on your own.“

you shrug your shoulders, lightly fluttering your lashes at him.

„i could, but i don't want to.“

there it is again, something that you want, or in this case, don't want. and he can not say no to you, can't pull his eyes away from you and goes with you as you turn your body to walk through the mass of people.

you don't get drinks, simply pass the gastronomy area a little further behind the shore and eventually, you find yourself on the other, unoccupied side of the beach, right behind some small huts used for storing boats.

neither of you knows who starts moving first, and it doesn't matter in the end. all that matters is his mouth on yours, his lips bruising yours in harsh, desperate kisses and his hands roaming your body, partially gloved fingers of each hand greedily digging into your soft skin, trying to pull you even closer.

he growls into your mouth, grinds against you as he pushes you against the wall of the hut, his fingers sliding over your thighs, your hips, your waist, your ribcage, stealing more of your breath, making you whine against his lips.

his fingers never stop, restless and eager on your skin and you gasp in surprise when he hooks them into the suit seam curving beneath your arm, pulling it towards your sternum to release one of your breasts, not hesitating to repeat the gesture on the other side.

the feeling of the spandex digging into the skin of your cleavage and the sudden exposure of your body only increases the heat inside of you and you can not help the slightly louder whine that leaves you as soon as his fingers grab your breasts, kneading the flesh in a rough, yet pleasuring way, making you lean your head back with a shivering exhale.

„such a little slut, aren't you? giving in to me so easily.“

his words are husked exhales, carried by a deep tone out of his chest while he leans forward, plants a few kisses against your exposed throat, before his teeth nip at the thin skin.

„bet you wanted this the entire time, didn't you? flashing so much skin in front of me, basically begging me to fuck you stupid.“

you whine at his words, can't even answer properly because he sadly isn't wrong. you'd have to lie if you said you didn't crave his attention the entire day, his eyes lingering on your body in a hunger that sent shivers down your spine.

his left hand stays at your chest, fingers teasingly rolling against its peak and making you shudder once more in pure bliss, while his right strays down, over the area of the suit covering your stomach, your lower body, your pubic bone.

and then his fingers pull the elastic textile to the side, push against your centre and the wetness clinging to your skin.

„fuck, look at you, all ready and dripping for me.“

your answer consists only of a strangled breath, one that quickly peaks into a little squeal when he roughly shoves two of his fingers into you, starts thrusting up into the warmth of your wonderfully soft walls, creating a rhythm of slick sounds whenever his knuckles meet your skin.

„i'm gonna make you feel real good, baby.“

his words sound like threat and promise at the same time and you can not tell if the smirk on his lips is caused by anticipation or pure sadism, can't even bring yourself to think much about it while his fingers thrust into you, hit you in the most perfect way, make your knees tremble.

„gonna fuck you just how a slut like you needs it when we're back in the hideout.“

your heart jumps at that, the imagination of him grabbing you, filling you, taking you however he wants filling you with anticipation.

you feel so close, barely feel how you dig your nails into the pale skin of his shoulders, hold onto him because you are not sure if your legs are even able to carry you. and just when you part your lips to beg him not to stop, to never stop because his fingers fill you so perfectly, they suddenly slide out of you, leave you empty and shaking.

he comments your pleading whine with a grin, before he grabs your chin between his fingers again, pulls you in until your mouth is hovering against his, his eyes simmering down onto you.

„i'll finish that later when you're stuffed with my cock. have to keep you a little bit excited, don't i?“

the slight pout you give isn't enough to convince him to continue, only makes his smirk widen while he looks down onto you.

„on your knees.“

even though the words are barely more than deep breaths, his voice sounds so deep, coming so deep from his throat and sending shivers down your spine.

you look up into his eyes, contact never ending as you slowly slide down, rest your knees in the sand beneath you and run your right hand up his thigh, slightly pulling yourself closer towards him.

his skin smells of sunscreen and sand and the scent lulls you in while you lean your cheek against his thigh, gently nuzzling his skin, still looking up at him while your middlefinger hooks into the hem of his shorts, slightly tugging at the textile.

pleasant contentment fuels the grin on his lips and you feel your heart skip a beat again when he runs his fingers through your hair, nods at you in demand, encouraging you to go on.

so you do, use your right hand to pull down his shorts, while the left caresses his thigh, fingertips drawing impatient circles on his skin.

biting your lip, you run your eyes over his cock, feel yourself squirming again at the thought of having him inside you.

the sound of your name makes you look back to him again and you hum a little at the way he slides his fingers through your hair, eventually lightly grips onto them.

„better hurry up, sweet thing. we don't want anyone finding you in such an embarrassing situation, don't we?“

you only shake your head in soft submission, before you raise your hand to wrap it around him, hear a little gasp from him at the touch and the sound makes you so giddy and excited that you can not help but wrap your lips around him, slowly sliding him over your tongue.

he tastes of saltwater and shower gel and you can not help but hum as you look up at him with soft doe eyes, watch him tremble and gasp a little when you suck on him.

it doesn't take long for him to start guiding your head, fingers mercilessly holding onto your hair, moving you against him in a fluent, but pleasant pace.

the way he slides down your throat feels like heaven and you whimper around him, spit and precum collecting in your mouth, slipping past your lips, starting to run down your chin.

you feel so dirty and so pretty at the same time, feel so so good and right with his cock inside your mouth, like this is your sole purpose of existing.

and you can not help but chirp in joy when tomura lets out a deep, guttural groan, a shiver going through him at the way you slide your tongue around his tip.

„yeees, just like that, baby. knew you'd be good at this.“

his words slither into your bloodstream, make you clench your thighs and hum again when his grip around your hair tightens and he slowly builds up his pace, a small sample of how rough he'll be once the two of you get back to the hideout.

DABI

he doesn't even manage to keep his fingers to himself, doesn't manage to wait for you two to arrive at the beach, his patience thin like a thread whenever he sees your bikini set shine through the white textile of your oversized shirt.

even though he picked it out for you, you didn't allow him to take a look at it yet, just for the sake of teasing.

it frustrates him, almost pisses him off that he can only get a veiled peek at the thin textile beneath your shirt. but above all that, it makes his dick unbearably hard.

just as the two of you are on your way to the beach, already hear the chatters of other people your age partying and drinking, he suddenly grabs your hand, pulls you into a public bathroom near the shore and quickly makes work on the door to keep it closed, before he fists his fingers around some strands of your hair, pulling you into a rough kiss.

despite your surprise, the buzzing of adrenaline in your body, you allow yourself to melt into him, don't even bother to check if the stalls around you two are empty.

dabi's fingers quickly slip beneath your shirt, pull it over your head to reveal your bikini set, to finally see what exactly he picked out for you there. he didn't deem it possible, but you look even hotter in it than he imagined, the thin textile of the thong sitting perfectly on your hips, the harness-inspired strings of the top digging into your skin.

when he notices how you bite your lip, gently move both of your hands to trail your fingertips over the textile sitting between your breasts, he thinks he's about to lose it.

„you like it?“

your voice is a siren's call, your eyes a sinful curse and he can not help himself when he grabs you, turns your body to push you against the sink of the bathroom, makes you look at your reflected self in the mirror.

his mouth rests against your ear, husks out „how could i not like it? knew this would look perfect on you“, while his fingers slip between your legs, draw circles around your clit that make you lean your head back against his shoulder, a blissful sigh escaping your lips.

„play with your tits, baby. show me how good you feel like this.“

his words force a trembling breath out of you, before you loosen your hands from the edge of the sink and start to trail your fingers to your breasts, slipping beneath the cups of the top piece and kneading the sensitive flesh, rolling their peaks between your fingertips, while he keeps on rubbing your clit, makes you tremble against him.

„shit, look at you, looking like a fucking goddess.“

he slips two of his fingers into you, makes you arch your back against him, makes you send a high moan to the ceiling while his eyes keep on staring into yours in the mirror.

„guys on the beach are gonna drool over you, gonna look at nothing but you. pathetic fucking losers who wish they could fuck a girl like you.“

his low words echo in your head, trail through your throat, through your belly, end up spilling from your middle, sweet wetness coating his fingers and you can't take it anymore, start moving your hips to meet the thrusts of his hand.

„want your cock- dabi, please-“

his breath heaves at your words and he doesn't hesitate to push down his shorts, doesn't hesitate to push you forward, make you lean over the sink and place your hand on the mirror for support while he runs his cock through the wetness of your centre a few times, teasingly slipping past your entrance and making you whine as you give him a begging look in the mirror.

and then he pushes into you, stuffs you so fast and so full that you can't help but arch your back, fingers holding onto the sink for support as he bullies his cock into you over and over again, his mouth still resting on your ear, his heavy breaths making you shiver.

„maybe i'll fuck you a second time at the beach later, in front of everyone, showing everyone that you're my little slut, showing everyone that they don't have a chance with you.“

you can not help the smile spreading on your lips at his words, the amused exhale that mixes with a lovely whimper when his rapid thrusts hit your g-spot and his fingers grab your hair, lightly pulling your head back.

„you'd like that, wouldn't you? would love to show everyone how much of a whore you are.“

you manage to nod, push your body further against his, make him slip deeper into you and force a deep growl from his chest.

„hmmhm, i'd love that. wanna show everyone that i'm yours.“

your whimpers seem to be appealing enough for him, given the way his fingers slide out of your hair and down your spine. his eyes are still staring into yours in the mirror, hooded by his long lashes when he lightly dips his head, pushes a kiss against your bare shoulder.

his hand ends up resting on your hip, holding you steady, before the other one reaches around your body, indexfinger finding your clit in a trained, nonchalant movement.

the touch sends a shock through your body, forces a higher whine out of you and you feel your legs shaking, knees trembling beneath his thrusts as you stand on your tip toes, desperate to keep up the position that makes him slide so wonderfully deep into you.

„want your cum leaking out of me, want everyone to see it running down my thighs“

his answer to your whimpers is a deep, throaty chuckle that makes your lower body boil even more, almost makes your eyes roll back when he rubs your clit a little harder.

a gasp breaks from your throat when his hand looses from your waist, comes down on your ass in a slap instead. the stinging sensation mingles with your arousal, makes your already sensitive nerves burn.

„fucking hell, i buy you new swimwear and you wanna ruin it within the first hour of wearing it. ungrateful little slut.“

his heavy voice mixes with the wet sounds of his thrusts echoing through the room and you feel your own liquids run down the insides of your legs, the sensation only making you feel hotter, making you grip the sink even harder as you feel your own orgasm approaching.

stars start flickering in your brain, the air feels heavier around you and you feel your eyes fluttering, your sanity slowly melting beneath the way he keeps on circling your clit.

„gonna fill you so fucking good, just like you want it, baby.“

his voice trembles a little along with his breath, makes you let out a whimper fueled by pure love as you run your eyes over his face in the mirror, the way he grits his teeth, scrunches his eyebrows and tenses his jaw.

and then a deep growl surges from his throat, his nails dig into the flesh of your ass, hold you as steady as possible on your trembling legs while he roughs up his thrusts for a few last times, before he stops and pushes you even further against the sink, his body pressed so close to you that you find yourself gasping, the pressure of his finger against your clit so much that you can not take it anymore.

you let out a little yell, your brain buzzing with euphoria as little spasms go through your body, almost knock you off your feet. you feel so full with him, feel his heat inside of you and you think you could come again, can't help but sigh in bliss when he gently runs his nose over your neck, makes you shiver and arch your back again when you feel his breath against your ear, find his eyes still glaring deeply into yours in the glass of the mirror.

„there you go. stuffed nice and full, darling.“

trying to breathe, you still feel your body spasming around his cock, unable to pull your eyes away from him.

the little „thank you, dabi“ you let out causes a smirk to spread on his lips.

in that moment, dabi decides that the next thing he'll buy for you will be a new set of lingerie, just for the sake of tearing it off of you.

TAKAMI KEIGO - HAWKS

you know exactly what effect you have on him, how to make him breath and speechless.

and he knows you're playing with him, knows that you're not as innocent as you act when you loosen the band of your bikini top on your back, turn to look at him over your shoulder.

„keigo? can you help me with the sunscreen?“

your voice is honey-sweet, eyes soft and wide and his gaze immediately trails to the middle of your back, where all of your skin is revealed, a paradise of sweet flesh offered to him.

he doesn't hesitate to nod, walk over towards you and stop in front of the large towel you sit on, looking up at him with an expression that can only be described as satisfied.

it makes him lick his lips, unable to keep a smile off of them.

“sure, sweetheart.”

you hand him the bottle with sunscreen, in a slow, seductive manner, your fingertips gently gracing his skin, eyes constantly locked with his.

only when you move your body, stretch your legs to lay down on your stomach, your gazes break apart and keigo's eyes trail over your neck and your spine, your lower back and behind, the thin strings holding the lower piece of your bikini on your body.

he imagines simply undoing the knots resting on your waist, thinks about hoisting up your hips and lowering his body onto yours to sink into your sweet warmth, despite the few other people resting on their towels a little further away from you, despite the sun burning down onto his back and his wings.

but instead, he pours sunscreen into his palms and slightly rubs them against each other, before resting them on your shoulder blades, making you hum a little at the contact as you cross your arms on the towel, resting your head on it.

the heels of his hands move in soft, massaging circles over your back, beneath your shoulder blades and your spine, further and further down.

his mind slowly starts spinning as his palms rest on your ass and he hears the little gasp you let out at the touch.

no matter how much he'd love to keep his hands there in that exact spot, on soft, sunkissed flesh, he trails them back up to your lower back, continues his massage there before forcing himself further up.

it's a tease for the both of you, you hold your breath every time his fingers trail down and you can not help but smile before raising your voice.

“i actually just needed you to put on sunscreen. didn't know i'd get a massage for free.”

keigo snickers, shifts his weight a little while he kneels over your thighs, slightly leaning forward.

“don't act like you make me do this for the sunscreen, baby.”

a certain darkness is grounded in his voice and it makes you hold your breath, makes your heart skip a beat. you feel how his wings throw shadows over your body as he spreads them a little, feel a little shiver going through you at the lack of sunlight.

and just as you become aware of the fact that his feathers shield you a little from the view of other people on the beach, both of his hands trail back to your hips, fingers playing with the strings of the lower bikini piece.

a chuckle is caught in your throat, comes out as a gasp instead when his hand cups your ass, kneading the soft flesh between his fingers.

“trying to seduce me in the middle of a beach... you're so naughty.”

his words make you clench your thighs a little, make you aware of the wetness between your legs and you press your lips together, kiss your teeth while his hands keep on massaging your skin, long fingers spreading and grabbing your ass, his thumbs slowly drawing circles inward, slowly moving further to the spot where you need it, crave it.

lightly lifting your torso onto your elbows, you lean your head back a little, a soft smile curving your lips.

“and? is it working?”

you feel him shift, feel how his wings bury you further in their shadows as he slightly leans in closer towards your body.

“take a wild guess.”

his voice is so deep, so sinful and you clench your fingers, try to bear the rush of arousal that floods your veins and your brain. yet before you are able to calm down, his right thumb pushes away the textile between your legs, pushes directly against your slit and forces you to catch a whine behind your teeth.

an exhaled chuckle echoes behind you, rumbling deep and full from his chest.

“be quiet for me, yeah? I know you can do that.”

his thumb slips into you as the last word still echoes in your ear, easily, with no resistance. you hear the wet sound as your body welcomes the anticipated and desired intrusion, can't help but sigh in bliss when he builds up a slow rhythm by sliding in and out of you.

“oh, shit- keigo-”

you push your mouth against your arm, bring up all of your willpower to keep the noises inside, to enjoy in silence, no matter how much you'd love to show him how good he makes you feel.

his thumb slides in to the knuckle of his hand, a slow and steady rhythm that already has you seeing stars, while the palm of his other hand lightly keeps on massaging your back, makes you melt right into the towel beneath your body.

“you picked that swimwear on purpose, didn't you? wanted me to do this to you, huh?”

his voice is calm and placid as he speaks, the movements of his fingers steady and dedicated, a stark contrast to your shivering and gasping state.

his thumb slips out of you and before you can protest, can beg him to continue the fulfilling feeling, his index and middlefinger slide into you, fierce and deep, immediately curling, reaching for the spot that has your body writhing, your back arching.

your hips snap, twitch upwards, more into the feeling, but his other hand quickly rests on your tailbone, pushes you back down, holds you there while his fingers pick up their pace, low, wet sounds echoing in your ears by the pressure of his fingers against your walls.

“hey, hey, no squirming baby. we don't want anyone to know what we're doing here.”

his low voice is like wax on your spine, trickling hot and dangerously down your whirls, making you feel so warmer against his touch and beneath the summer sun.

you feel how he leans in slightly closer towards you, feel how the sudden proxamity makes your breath hitch.

and the way he husks a “don't we?” out into your neck doesn't help with that, makes you melt further into the towel and the sand, makes you aware that you are basically drenching his fingers in your juices, unable to control the immense wetness between your legs.

you shake your head at his question, feel your eyes flutter, your heart skip a beat and your breath stall in your throat when he reaches your g-spot, keeps on fingering you into oblivion right there in the middle of the bench, his shielding wings the only thing allowing you to roll your eyes back, not having to hide the heat in your face and aroused expression in your features.

[kitkat13001]

˚˖𓍢ִ໋𝜗𝜚 𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚙𝚜𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎

come out and haunt me, i know that you want me “‘til death do we part…”

>> tomura shigaraki / tenko shimura x nomu!reader

>> reader and tenko are childhood friends, mentions of death!! implied character death (reader thinks tenko died), reader dies!!! and is resurrected (kinda, reader gets brought back as a nomu like kurogiri), brief talk about grief n stuff, titled after the tim burton film, lyrics from cigarettes after sex’s “apocalypse”

tenko had promised you once, when you were both very young, that he would always look out for you. that he would always be by your side. 

it was the kind of childish promise most kids make with their best friends, but at the time he had no intention of breaking it. 

but baby tenko at the time had no way of accounting for the horrors of the real world. 

you remember how strange it was for you to arrive to school that morning, the seat beside you empty for the first time in…probably forever. 

you remember the unease in your stomach when you asked your mother if something had happened to tenko, and you remembered crying after you overheard your teacher talking to your parents and saying that he would not be coming back. 

you never connected with anyone else the way you had with him. he was your best friend. people in school had branded you a loner after that, despite your kind heart. you were all too young—you to deal with that grief and them to understand what you were going through. 

your kindness never waivered, determined to be someone who could help others because you couldn’t help him when he needed you. 

and you never forgot about him. his face haunted your dreams, and his picture was tucked neatly into your diary, hidden in your desk. no one ever talked about it anymore and with his entire family gone, it felt like there was no one left to remember tenko shimura. 

but not you. you had shared his promise, and even though he couldn’t be by your side anymore, he would always be in your heart. 

you were in your late teenage years when the unthinkable happens. you’ve heard that grief can lead you to see ghosts, but you would think you’d have seen them ages ago. that’s why you’re utterly bewildered when you see tenko on the street one night on your way home. 

he looks different. older, obviously, and taller. his hair is a curious shade of powder blue. but it’s unmistakable. you would know his face anywhere. you see it every night in your dreams.

you gape in utter disbelief at the phantom standing just a few yards in front of you, thinking it might be a hallucination. but you feel that inexplicable tug in your stomach and you know that it’s tenko, that he’s alive. you had never given up on him, some part of you always holding out a tiny spark of hope that he was out there somewhere.

and he is. he’s here. you want to call out, to scream his name until your throat is raw, but your legs are frozen to the ground and your voice is stuck somewhere in your throat.

he’s seen you, you think, catching a glimpse of vibrant scarlet eyes from across the way.

but he’s gone, practically vanished into the mist before you can even react. 

you never forgot about that, not even years later. 

it seems like the time has passed both lightning quick and painfully slow. your twentieth birthday had come and gone with the changing of seasons and here you were, a young adult in the big, wide world. 

today would’ve been tenko’s twentieth birthday. you’re sitting on the swings in the park by your old elementary school where you used to come on playdates with him when the ground lurches beneath your feet. 

the metal frame of the swingset shudders and screams erupt in the air. you whip around, getting to your feet immediately and see a building collapse in the near distance behind some trees. 

fear strikes your heart as more shouts ensue, along with sirens and another quake of the ground under you. a child’s cry from the other side of the park has you springing into action, stumbling into a run across the sand. 

there’s a group of children huddled under the play structure, watching with wide, glassy eyes at the destruction going down nearby. 

you’re quick to corral them, leading them by the hands in the opposite direction of the chaos and telling them to stay put while you go back to make sure no one was left behind. 

your feet pound against the concrete as you run down the street and the ground heaves again when another building comes down. 

you stumble, coughing in the dusty wreckage. the screaming is only getting louder, and your heart jumps as the thud of hundreds of footsteps approaches. 

your mouth goes dry when you see the horde of screaming civilians running away from the collapsing buildings and falling debris. 

they’re headed straight for you. 

you feel like a pebble getting tossed around in a rip current as the crowd buffets against you. you cry out as you catch an elbow to the ribs, to the head. your feet are being stepped on and you’re being shoved away from one person and into the next. you can’t see anything in the dust except for the rush of people in the stampede as they clobber you in their haste to run away. 

one particular harsh shove has you falling to the ground with a cry, your aching body succumbing to the overpowering horde of people. you can’t do anything but lie there as they trample you, staring up at the sky in pathetic helplessness. you wonder for a moment if they’ll all forget you like they did tenko. 

and then everything goes dark. 

shigaraki finds you in the street, broken body splayed out like an angel fallen from the sky. 

he stands, paralyzed, as a wave of memories hits him like a fucking tsunami. 

your kind smile on the first day of school. your soft voice asking if he wants to play with you, sit with you, walk with you. your tiny hand in his tiny hand. 

you were the light of his life at only five years old. 

another memory tugs at him. your same kind eyes, wide with shock that night that he saw you for the first time in years. 

a part of him regrets not saying anything to you. but when it comes down to it, would it really have changed anything? 

would it have changed the fact that he’s standing here, staring in horror at your broken, dead body? 

he doesn’t realize he’s crying until the tears are rolling down his cheeks and hitting the dirt. he didn’t even think he was still capable of it, to be completely honest. the salt stings his agitated skin. 

this feels wrong. 

you were too kind, too beautiful and good to be lying here in the street like an animal. 

he doesn’t really know why he does it, other than the fact that he simply can’t leave you like that. so he scoops up your broken body and carries you home. 

you don’t remember anything when you come to. 

the doctor told tomura this would be the case. he didn’t have any issue with this. it might be for the best. he doesn’t know if he could subject you to his true self, his current self. 

the doctor also told tomura that he was lucky he got you here in time, and that your quirk was compatible with the process. 

it’s kind of strange to see you like this, tomura thinks. he still sees the sweet kid he was best friends with when he looks at you, at your reanimated body and vacant eyes. 

it’s your turn to be the phantom now. you’re quite similar to kurogiri, an ethereal and haunting presence as you flit about the bar. 

that’s where he keeps you. you’re not quite as experienced of a nomu as kurogiri is, so tomura typically keeps you here with him in the hideout. maybe one day he’ll take you out to see the world, tell you about how things used to be. 

you’d be useful on missions. the doctor made sure of that, amplifying your quirk and adding others into a wickedly powerful force within you. 

you’d be a wonderful protector, same as kurogiri. maybe more. 

but for now, tomura is still your protector. and he’d prefer to keep you all to himself here in your little corner of this cruel world.

after all, he’s got a promise to keep, doesn’t he?

this got away from me LMAO. but i actually kind of love it. dividers by @anitalenia

[thr0wnawayy]

"Canon" Perception: Why MHA's World Building SUCKS!

I figured I'd make this post because it's about time I discussed my views on "Canon" or as I like to call it

The Vanilla-verse

Why?

Because Hori's version of events feel like he opened a choose your own adventure game and clicked the most straight forward options available.

Quirk Awakenings Make No Sense (JJK mentioned)

@bibibbon might like this one.

It's no secret MHA's world building is, lackluster. It feels empty.

Characters not allowed to speak out or back against favored ones, Plot lines dropped, Victims shuffled off to the side.

But where Hori fails most of all is his power system:

But first Jujitsu Kaisen

Similar to Hori, Gege (I hope I spelled that right) also struggles with world building.

Firstly the concept of Cursed Spirits.

Monsters being created from "bad" or negative emotions can work as a concept. But it also heavily depends what is considered bad.

It could allow for the tackling of what makes emotions "bad" and tie in with the shows setting of a restrictive society that forces people to either mold to the pressure or be crushed by it.

Suppressing their true selves and emotions in favor of fitting in with the norm. (to evade social subjugation)

Instead, it demonizes what is a fundamentally intrinsic part of human existence, if nor most sapient life.

It also brings up too many questions that go unanswered: Like the historical implications. If spirits have been around for so long, then why aren't places like Japan (with it's bloody history and bleak present) overrun with then.

Why are spirits trying to replace humanity if humans act as the sole reason for their existance. After all: No Humans = No Cursed Energy = No Sprits

What exactly counts as a "negative" emotion and how much does it take to give birth to a cursed spirit. Stuff like that doesn't seem to have an answer.

[This is also coming from someone who has never interacted with JJK in their life]

Similarly Hori has the same problem with almost every detail in the Vanilla-verse. Stuff like: Eri's bullets, Quirk Singularity, Trigger and so, so much more is never elaborated on.

So pray tell, why did I chose Quirk Awakenings to be the subject of this section.

Because they prove that Hori has no idea what he is doing.

Quirk Awakening or QA's might just he the most frustrating thing in MHA. Doesn't matter if it's in Hori's-verse or someone else's.

It hardly fucking ends well and that's because it's so broad.

Take Himiko's quirk awakening.

At first glance, it seems alright. A tad off but not something to raise hell about.

That is until you look at her quirk.

Transformation is a quirk that relies on blood to work, Himiko cannot copy quirks partially because quirks are stored in the DNA of an individual and Transform can only copy the outward appearance of a person.

She needs to learn the individuals mannerisms and habits on her own, she doesn't achieve those by the default of her quirk.

(The same could be argued for her voice, it would be much more impressive if she trained it)

It would make much more sense then, for the evolution of her quirk to allow her to better mimic people. Expanding the scope of who and what she could change into and how accurately she could become a subject.

It also would fit the theme of 'becoming who you love' with the saying 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'

Instead, though. Hori decided to make her AFO lite and it is broken.

If she copies AFO, does she obtain his quirks?

Would her quirk awakening account for other quirk awakenings. Say she transforms into Shigaraki would she be as strong as him post MVA or would she be stuck with USJ-level Decay?

Ignoring the blatant retcon-ex machina of it being dependent on Himiko's connection (not like it mattered during the Forest Camp Raid!), It is massively over powered and it doesn't fit Himiko's themes.

Now, let's look at Twice.

Twice's quirk (Double) allows him to produce identical copies of anyone through a sludge like substance that excretes from the palms of both his hands.

Each copy is a little weaker than the original, if a copy makes a copy then that fragility doubles.

Twice's quirk is ties to his character by his trauma. To the point he's so fearful of turning to sludge, that he actively goes out of his way to avoid conflict.

This guy had to watch himself kill himself, clone against clone and until MVA, Twice isn't even sure he's the original.

Twice's quirk awakening works.

It works solely because of Twice's character and themes, it simply fits.

It makes sense, Twice was so traumatized that he actively suppressed a part of himself and by breaking through that barrier he can begin to grow stronger by accepting himself.

Twice's quirk awakening works because the peice were always there. It wasn't that Twice pulled this out of his ass, he earned it.

He not only unlocked a part of himself, he came back stronger. In this way the formula works

Quirk + Effort/ Character Growth = Stronger Quirk.

Rather than replace or rebuild, Twice's QA works with what was already present and it comes off wonderfully.

I wish I could say the same for our next "challenger"

I have plenty of complaints about Shigaraki as a character, plenty.

His quirk awakening is certainly up there, not on the top. But it's up there.

It takes the weaker aspects of what I mentioned above and uses it as a crutch.

Besides Shigaraki remembering and accepting his past, this QA has nothing going for it.

It's almost boring.

There's only so much you can do with a quirk like Decay.

All it does is expand the speed and radius. And while that works for what Decay is, a quirk made to destroy things. It's really boring from a story perspective.

Seeing Deika and later Jaku was cool, but just that, cool. It only really served to push things forward and what it pushed was horrendous.

Stepping away from the narrative side, let's discuss the In-Universe side.

Post MVA Decay has two advantages. It spreads really fast and it makes things explode:

So why doesn't it work like Twice's did?

Themes. Nothing about Shigaraki's QA ties in with the themes expressed in MVA.

As the protagonist of the arc, we should feel a connection with Shigaraki, but we never do. Mainly because we don't get that much time with him.

Besided the bonding he does with the LOV we are given little reason as to why Shigaraki ticks like he does, there's little to no theme-ing with Shigaraki.

Doctor Garaki says it best with this line:

What does Shigaraki have to show us outside of his past and the PLF.

Hardly anything.

We know he's an avid gamer and likes to destroy things.

That's it.

Even Magne had something before she died, somekind of concrete goal that aligned with her character.

Tomura has nothing we can attach that to and as such his QA falls flat.

And this set the standard for every other quirk awakening in the series, no I'm not counting that monstrosity Hori bulled with Bakugo .

Uraraka's, Midoriya's, Shoto's (implied) Awakening, they all fall flat because they don't match the themes that were set literal years ago. Hori doesn't know how QA work despite having written them.

If your at the point where you, as a writer, don't understand your own in-universe system. Then maybe it's time you take away some stuff.

Why Shigaraki fails as a antagonist (featuring: Nine and Hana)

I already brushed the surface of this topic in the last segment. I'll elaborate on it here.

Shigaraki sucks as an antagonist. I don't like to use Reddit due to the attitudes on there but had found something while looking for information.

I managed to find a post that I think sums up my issues with Shigaraki pretty well, even if I don't agree the rest of the post (mainly blaming Shigaraki for Hori's failures)

The main one being what is the LOV even doing?

Spinner brings up a good point why do they even follow Shigaraki, what can he provide them as a leader that they can't get by sticking it out on their own.

Shigaraki is spoon fed practically everything and once you notice, it kills any possibility of him being taken seriously.

Let's see:

Dabi, Himiko: brought in by Giran, AFO's associate.

Spinner, Mangne, Compress: Came aboard under the false pretense that Shigaraki had cooperated with Stain.

Gigantomechia: Kurogiri has to draw him out, gets arrested while doing so.

The MLA: Has to gain a quirk awakening just to match ReDestro's output and ReDestro hands him the keys almost immediately. Only reason the merger happens is because ReDestro and Spinner planned it.

Every single goddamn thing in this story is because of factors external to Shigaraki. He literally stands around until Garaki gives him a new quest-line like a fucking Bethesda NPC.

It was understandable in the USJ because Shigaraki needed to be introduced. He was at his base form and needed to grow, except that growth never happens.

The story just dances around him, he doesn't need to try because Hori will just force things to happen.

The entire Jaku arc is him throwing a tantrum and the benefits just falling onto his lap. It is sheer luck that the public made that correlation.

Because the Nomu's behavior don't line up at all with Stains ideals. Nor does Shigaraki's "philosophy", and that was what partly triggered the whole Hosu arc in the first place!

Realistically nearly every member of the LOV should have turned tail the moment they met Shigaraki in person and spent time with him for over five minutes.

The LOV only exists and works because Shigaraki takes the backseat.

The entire Camp Raid, the focus is on everyone but Shigaraki who does fuck-all until Bakugo gets captured and we see him at the bar.

You could pluck Shigaraki from the arc and nothing would change because the central focus was on Dabi and the Vanguard Action Squad. How is anyone supposed to take Shigaraki seriously, when he is second fiddle to his own team.

And it's pretty much the same in the Overhaul Arc what does he direct contribute?

Again, nothing. I've heard the term 'Talk no jujitsu' used and it perfectly encapsulates his response to Himiko's anger.

No one in the LOV has any reason to believe him, to put faith in him because the fuck up was so colossal.

Let's review:

Shigaraki knew someone (someone important, a villain) was coming, made no plan if things went south. Dabi had actually left the base to recruit on Shigaraki's orders! Meaning that Shigaraki is primarily to blame for the casualties dealt during this fight.

Already bad, but maybe he does something to reaffirm their belief in him as a leader. Nope.

His revenge plan hinged on Overhaul not deciding to kill two of his team members on a whim, or use them as bargaining chips. Sends them directly into enemy territory with no resources.

Put his teammates on a position where they are forced to kill a hero in order to evade capture, making them a priority target for society at large* and further pushing them away from possible resources. (*A society, mind you that openly mutilates and kills outlaws)

His relationship with his team members is near non existant: from the Reddit Post

Spinner. Shigaraki plays videogames with him off-screen. Never even shows any concern for his whereabouts after Spinner starts losing his mind and almost goes full Nomu off of his quirks.

Kurogiri. Shigaraki never shows any wonder or comment as to Kurogiri's presence, despite the fact that Kurogiri was his babysitter for a long time and he apparently missed him after his capture.

Mr. Compress. Shigaraki never shows any wonder or concern as to his capture.

Dabi. Shigaraki never interacts with him in any way that suggests real friendship.

Toga. Shigaraki never interacts with her in any way that suggests real friendship.

Twice. Shigaraki never shows any kind of wonder or any concern as to his death.

Magne. Shigaraki never interacts with her in a way that suggests real friendship. Side Note: he never really reacts to her death either.

Y'wanna know who does have a relationship with his team?

Nine:

Nine might be one of the few characters Hori has ever created that managed to make me give a shit about them outside of alternative (or fanon) materials.

He is everything Shigaraki tried to be as a character:

A solid goal: To create an ideal world for his allies and himself where their idea of the 'strongest' rule.

Connections: Everything Nine does, he does himself. His teammates ate intertwined with hin through their history, he actually saved Chimera's life and it's implied he also did this for Slice and Mummy.

Effort: Nine puts himself in harms way numerous times for the sake of his allies and their mission. He even goes through with Garaki's experiments knowing he will likely wind up as the experiment himself.

Nine is phenomenal for what he was: A character from a spinoff movie.

And then he was killed.

God Fucking Damn it Hori.

===============================

Something that always bothered me about the defaced All Might statue was the laziness of it all.

In a way it reflected the direction MHA was headed, headlong into a kerosene coatdd dumpster.

I Am Not Here.

That's the best thing you could come up with? The falling action of the Arc and all you could conjure was that!?

When MHA ended, I said no, no fuck that and began putting some of the concepts I had made during MHA's decline to good use.

The logical conclusions went into Crownless Monarchy. Which serves as a continuation to what Hori failed for finish.

The rest?

The rest had been going into a side project of mine called:

I Am Nowhere

Or Nowhere for short.

Total Timeline Derailment is a phenomenon I noticed pop up in specfic works.

It occurs when an author throws out all stages of canon in favor of crafting their own story and shedding the limitations of the source material.

The story of Nowhere starts off modestly, following an alternative line of events where Hana's quirk causes a much larger scale massacre upon it's blossoming and the expands to show just how different this universe really is.

Such changes include: Hana's quirk being named and shown:

Soundwave: evolution of Nana's quirk and takes inspiration from Hana's name meaning (Flower)

Present Mic and Jirou losing their quirks in their youth (or as an infant in Jirou's case)

Himiko's parents making a deal with the Symbol of Evil himself.

Expanding upon Doctor Garaki's past and friendship with AFO.

The Yakuza going a different route (Overhual gets a new brother)

An alternate USJ: Christmas came early

AFO and Garaki both having successors.

And a ton of other things I need to flesh out more!

One may wonder what this has to do with my critiques on Hori's canon.

Besides being a pitch of sorts, this allows me to elaborate on how Hori seems to make mistakes one wouldn't expect of someone with as many years under the belt as Hori.

The one thing Hori always forgets is consequences. In Nowhere, Consequences are everywhere.

Enji shipping Rei off to the mental ward to cover up his abuse?

AFO takes interest and decides to pull some strings to get Rei transferred to Jaku General.

UA slacks on security?

Ok! Just let Hana bring Warmonger (USJ Nomu) along and have her kill Thirteen and nearly kill All Might in the same hour. Oh, and Himiko is playing the insider (of her own volition)

Bakugo rejects Midoriya's hand?

His abuses attract the attention of the Pale Sculptor herself, leading to him loosing both his parents in a "gas leak" ignited when Marsaru clapped his hands and caused an mini explosion to occur. [They get Rei's version of Nomufication] setting Nomufication forward by a decade in the process.

Ideally this story won't leave things out. Speaking of that I have one last thing to discuss

The whole debacle with the Winged Nomu and how some people don't know that it's apparently supposed to be Tsubasa

(yk the obscure character who only shows up twice and who we didn't get a name for until said reveal)

"What a Bomb to Drop", yeah it would have been better to "drop" it without needing to cram it into volume extras.

That right there is what gets me about Hori's writing, the lack of storytelling.

We shouldn't have an entirety different series just to understand why a character is they way they are (I'm looking at you Oboro)

I will say Vigilantes is leagues above it's parent series, even with the glaring flaws that plauge it.

Moral of the story: LEARN TO WRITE!

[scary-grace]

Enough to Go By (Chapter 7) - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic

Your best friend vanished on the same night his family was murdered, and even though the world forgot about him, you never did. When a chance encounter brings you back into contact with Shimura Tenko, you'll do anything to make sure you don't lose him again. Keep his secrets? Sure. Aid the League of Villains? Of course. Sacrifice everything? You would - but as the battle between the League of Villains and hero society unfolds, it becomes clear that everything is far more than you or anyone else imagined it would be. (cross-posted to Ao3)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Kurogiri snatches you from the alleyway behind the clinic. You’re ready for it, or as ready as it’s possible to be when you don’t know what Tenko’s planning. When you reappear, you’re not in the bar – instead you’re in the hallway outside Tenko’s room, and the door to his room is open. He looks pleased to see you. The hand’s already down off his face.

“You’re here. Good,” he says – but his expression shifts from anticipation into something sharper almost instantly. “What is it? Are you –”

This has been the worst twenty-four hours you’ve had since the night you first saw Tenko again. Between the visit with your family and the news about Kazuo and your encounter with Tenko’s master, you don’t have it in you to pretend. You take an unsteady step closer to him. “Can I, um –”

“What?” Tenko asks, but some part of him must know, because his arms lift from his sides, opening to leave space between them. You take another step closer, until you’re well within the space, and you know when he realizes, because he takes a sharp breath. “Yeah, you can. Go ahead.”

He hugs you back too tightly, but you’re probably hugging him too tightly in the first place. He can’t decide where to put his hands. He keeps trying different spots, but no matter where he touches you, it’s never with more than three fingers down. For your part, you keep your hands still on his back, resisting the urge to run them over his shoulder blades or along his spine. He’s really thin. Almost malnourished thin. No wonder his wounds take so long to heal.

You let your head fall against his shoulder, let your eyes fall shut. “What happened?” Tenko asks. He adjusts his grip on you without fully letting go. “Why do you look like that?”

His master said not to tell Tenko – no, advised you not to tell Tomura. But he also said he’d have no further dealings with you. You don’t know where Kurogiri is, what Kurogiri might say, so you speak as quietly as you can, your mouth just below Tenko’s ear. “I met your master.”

Tenko stiffens. “What?”

“Kurogiri took me to him. I thought he was taking me to you, but –”

“What did he want?” Tenko asks. His voice is tense, already going flat. “What did you tell him?”

“He wanted to know how I knew you. I told him about how we met last year, when you came to the clinic.” You feel Tenko’s shoulders relax slightly at that. “I used the right name. I don’t –”

“Here.” Tenko pulls away from you, but only long enough to pull you through the door to his room and shut it behind you both. “What else did he ask?”

“About my quirk. He said he’d give me one, but he changed his mind.” You try to remember, but it’s hard verging on impossible. All you can think of is the hand closing over your face, the enormous figure looming over you. “He said I was your game piece, not his. What does that mean?”

You look up at Tenko. Tenko’s expression is somehow grim and calculating at the same time. “He says everything’s for me. Everything should be as I want it, so he won’t take you away,” he says. Then, almost to himself: “But he was suspicious. If he finds out –”

“Finds out what?”

“Here.” Tenko pulls you closer than before. This time you feel his chapped lips against your ear. “I was supposed to say goodbye to my old name. When he gave me my family to wear.”

His family to wear. His family – the hands. You almost throw up. Tenko keeps talking, faster now. “I didn’t think about it. I hadn’t in years, until – and I feel different when I hear it. Different than I’m supposed to. I want the same things, but more things. I don’t know how to say it.”

“You’re not supposed to be Tenko anymore.” You feel him nod. “You feel more like that when you’re with me.”

Tenko nods again. “You always know how to say it right.”

“I know you,” you say. His grip on you tightens. “You’re in trouble with him because of me.”

“No.” Tenko’s index finger taps a pattern on your back. “I feel better when you’re here.”

That doesn’t mean he’s not in trouble. It just means he cares about it less, or he’s less worried than you are. “Just be careful with my name,” he continues. “Call me Sensei’s name around everyone else, even Kurogiri. When it’s just us, like right now –”

“Tenko,” you say, and he nods. You feel a little better, maybe. You don’t know for sure. And you know you’ve been hugging him for way too long. You step back. “Sorry about this. I –”

“Don’t,” Tenko says. “I told you. I don’t mind.”

The two of you look at each other for a moment. In your peripheral vision, you can see that the room’s even cleaner than it was the last time you were here. The coffee table still has a pileup of games on it, but there’s also an open energy drink can sitting there. With a flower sticking out of it.

You fixate on the flower. “Where’d you get that?”

“I found it,” Tenko says, but he can’t hold your gaze, which means he’s lying and he probably stole it. “So you wouldn’t get confused this time.”

“About whether it’s a date?” you ask. He nods without looking at you. “Okay. It’s a date.”

“It’s a date right now,” Tenko corrects. “The new members of the League will be here at midnight. Do you have a disguise?”

“I think so.” You’ve been carrying it around in your bag, since you don’t have a way to predict when Tenko will call for you. “Do you want to see it?”

He nods. You fish both pieces of it out of your bag and put it on, situating the veil over your face and peering at Tenko through the filmy fabric. “Can you see my face?”

“Not really.” Tenko tilts his head, studying you. “What is it?”

“My friends and I dressed up as vampire brides last Halloween, but I went a little too hard on the bride part,” you say. “I was going to use a mask, but it was hard to breathe, and I couldn’t see very well. And the veil covers my hair, too.”

Tenko nods again. “What’s the crown made of?”

“It’s supposed to look like thorns.” You cringe a little bit. “Hirono made me wear it with the costume, and I still needed something to hold the veil in place. Does it work?”

Tenko comes closer. A lot closer. “Not at this range,” he says. You’d have to agree. If you can count his eyelashes through the veil, he can definitely see your face. “I’m not letting any of them that close to you or me. You can take it off now.”

You lift the crown off, and the veil after it, and Tenko takes them from you, setting them down on the end of the coffee table next to the hand he usually wears on his face. They look unbelievably weird laid out next to each other – like the costume pieces they are, things the two of you can take on and off whenever you want to instead of symbols of what Tenko already is, what you’re getting yourself into. “The others won’t be here for a few hours,” Tenko says. “Do you want to play a game?”

“Do you need to do anything to get ready for the meeting?” you ask. “It sounds important.”

“The plan’s already done. I’ll tell you about who will be there, but we don’t need anything else. Just –” Tenko lifts his head as if to scratch at his neck, then lowers it again. “I don’t want to think about it right now. I’ve thought about it enough. Can we –”

“Yeah,” you say at once. “Let’s just play.”

You play Call of Duty again, starting off in co-op mode this time. You were so worried that your skills would atrophy that you made Ryuhei and Mitsuru play with you until you got better, something Tenko remarks on right away. “I can’t believe you practiced.”

“I wouldn’t be much of a sidekick if I stayed dead weight,” you say. “Don’t worry. It won’t last long.”

The two of you still have a ways to go before the intermediate levels, and with the pressure off, Tenko starts telling you about the allies he’s collected. Mostly guys – for whatever reason, there aren’t a lot of female villains. The two women are Hiikishi, who goes by Magne, and Toga, who goes by Toga. Magne’s an adult with a serious record, and Toga would have a serious record if she was an adult, which she isn’t. “Seventeen?” you say, startled. “She’s just a kid.”

“She’s a Stain fan,” Tenko says. He rolls his eyes, then takes out an entire group of enemies advancing on the two of you without looking at the screen. “So are two of the others. One of them’s got a fire quirk. He’s an asshole. The other one – he’s hard to get a read on. Keep an eye on him.”

“I can do that,” you say. You see a solitary enemy sneaking up behind Tenko’s character, adjust your viewpoint minutely, and shoot them before they can shoot him. “Who else?”

Toga apparently isn’t the only kid who’s taking on a life of villainy. There’s another high school student, too, and you think about what Kazuo said, about the question of whether the creation of new villains can be prevented. Two of the other new allies fall into the category of those Kazuo said would be drawn to violence regardless. You recognize both names from the news, and you’ve listened to enough true-crime podcasts at Mitsuru’s behest to know that at least one of them is supposed to be behind bars. “Did you break them out?”

“Kurogiri’s doing that,” Tenko says, unworried. “They’re the distraction. Compress will be doing the real work.”

“Compress?”

“We were lucky to find him,” Tenko says. There’s a nasty grin on his face. “You’ll hear more about him when we go over the plan. We – dammit.”

The two of you leveled up while you were talking, and there are twice as many enemies as before. You decide to drop the line of questioning and focus on the game. Playing with Mitsuru and Ryuhei, you never got through the first of the intermediate levels. Tenko’s better than they are by a long shot, but you’ll need all your wits about you to avoid dragging him down.

You and Tenko play in silence for the most part, working together as a team, and you notice the two of you shifting closer together as the game continues, moving from your separate corners of the couch to the middle of it. You’re paying attention to the game, but every so often your mind drifts – to the flower in the energy drink can, to the fact that this is apparently a date, to the fact that Tenko let you hug him and hugged you back. If this is a date, if he keeps calling it a date, there must be something he wants from you that’s more than this, more than whatever the two of you are doing right now. You could ask what it is. Part of you doesn’t want to know.

You and Tenko clear one or two intermediate levels, but on the third one, you know the two of you are in deep trouble. You’re low on health already, courtesy of getting dinged a few times on the level before, and your skills, while improved, aren’t good enough to let you hold your own. Tenko’s having to protect you, just like you were worried he would, and in the process, he’s taking damage, too. Despite that, courtesy of Tenko’s skills and your weird accuracy, the two of you progress to the end of the level. Almost.

“Come on,” Tenko hisses. He’s two seconds away from disintegrating his controller. “We can make it.”

No, you can’t. Not both of you. But if Tenko can get through, he can get to a save point, and you can finish the level later. If you both die, you have to go back to the beginning. With that in mind, it’s an easy choice. You maneuver your character between Tenko’s and the enemies sneaking up on him from behind, and shoot as many of them as you can before they overwhelm you. Tenko turns to stare at you in horror. “You died?”

“You didn’t. Go!”

Tenko swears, shoots the enemies you couldn’t kill, and clears the level at speed. He saves his progress. Then he turns on you. “What happened?”

You point at the screen, which is showing a slow-motion replay of your character getting absolutely shredded by enemy fire. “You were blocking for me?” Tenko looks unhappy. “Idiot. We could have won.”

“I was slowing you down too much,” you say. “I could help you get through, so I did. Now you don’t have to start over.”

“But you do.”

“I’m the sidekick. It’s okay,” you say. You’re not sure why he’s looking at you like that. “And even if I wasn’t your sidekick – there’s no way I’d let my best friend lose.”

Tenko doesn’t say a word in response. Instead he sets his controller aside, then lifts yours out of your hands and does the same. You’re sitting really close together right now. He said this was a date. You make eye contact with Tenko, or try to. He’s not looking into your eyes. He’s looking at your mouth.

He’s being really obvious. You wonder if he knows. “Have you kissed anyone before?”

“Yeah. You.” Tenko doesn’t look away from your mouth. “Don’t you remember?”

For a moment you don’t. But then you remember the picture of the two of you on Valentine’s Day, and what happened after the picture was taken – you taking the valentine from him, planting a poorly-aimed kiss half on his mouth and half on his cheek, and promptly running away. You’re surprised he’s counting that. But you would count it, too, if it was the only thing you had to count.

“I remember,” you say. “So this is going to be our second kiss.”

“Who said I was going to kiss you?”

“You’ve been staring at my mouth for the last minute and a half. I’m not sure what else you could be doing,” you say. Tenko’s face turns red, which means you’re right, but he still doesn’t make a move. “Did you change your mind?”

“No.” Tenko shakes his head. “I don’t know where to put my hands.”

“Don’t do anything with them for now,” you suggest. Your heart is beating faster. “Let’s just try it and see how it goes.”

He’s leaning closer now, shifting position to close the gap even further. The flush in his cheeks is darker than before. “I’m not going to be good at it.”

“Hey, I was pretty bad at Call of Duty last time,” you say. Tenko starts to argue that kissing and Call of Duty have absolutely nothing in common, and you cut him off. “You know how I got better? I practiced.”

Tenko finally tears his eyes away from your mouth. “You wouldn’t have had anything to practice if I hadn’t taught you how. You should kiss me.”

“I kissed you the first time,” you say. “It’s your turn.”

It’s quiet for a second. “Fine,” Tenko says. He leans in and you tilt your head to the proper angle and your lips meet for the first time in fifteen years.

You really don’t want to count the kiss when you were five as your first kiss, but Tenko’s counting it, so you sort of have to. His lips are rough against yours, not in pressure but in texture, and you’re careful as you kiss him back. Careful for a whole host of reasons. His hands are curled into fists on his thighs, and you don’t want him to move without thinking. You don’t want him to pull away, either, which is what he’ll do if you go overboard. It’s not the hottest first kiss you’ve ever had, but it’s the most intense by far. The fact that your lips are the only point of contact makes it even more so.

You’re trying to be careful, but you’re not careful enough – Tenko’s lower lip splits, and you taste blood. You sit back in a hurry. “Sorry. I didn’t mean –”

“I don’t care.” Tenko closes the gap between you again, presses his lips against yours a second time. “Do you?”

“I don’t want to stop kissing you,” you admit. You feel Tenko’s lips curve into a smile, spilling more blood onto yours. “But you have to let me make it up to you.”

“How?”

You unfold your hands from your sides and raise them, setting them on Tenko’s shoulders. Tenko freezes. You risk dragging your thumbs slowly across his collarbones, too prominent just like his shoulder blades and vertebrae are, and see his eyes fall half-lidded. A slow shudder runs through him, shedding tension in its wake. “Do you mind?” you ask.

“No.” Tenko kisses you again.

Kissing Tenko is – strange. It’s not bad. Definitely not bad, and definitely not something you want to stop doing, but still, it feels strange. Part of it is the taste of his blood on your lips, the almost-starved ridges of his shoulders and spine under your hands, the fact that you can touch him but he can’t touch you. And part of it is the missing piece of time, those fifteen years where you would have known each other if this hadn’t happened to Tenko – whatever this was. It feels almost like a blink. When you look back in your memories, you’re little kids, linking pinkies on the way to school. Now you’re kissing on the bed in Tenko’s room with Call of Duty paused in the background. Or making out. If the total lack of daylight between your mouth and Tenko’s is anything to go by, you graduated to making out already.

You can’t get your tongue involved without tasting even more of his blood, but the sound he makes and the shudder that runs through him when you swipe your tongue across his lower lip to clear it away makes it almost worth it. His fists are no longer resting on his thighs – now they’re on yours, fingers uncurling and curling again. You dare to slide one hand upward, tracing the back of his neck, and Tenko groans, shudders. The thought comes to you, again, that you should be careful with him. He’s so thin, so shaky under your hands. If you push him too far, he might break apart.

Tenko’s trying to talk without disconnecting his mouth from yours. That’s not going to work. You wrap your arms around his neck so he knows you’re not going anywhere and sit back. “What is it?”

“I want to touch you.” Tenko’s eyes are locked on yours this time, and the hunger and desperation you see there takes you by surprise. “I don’t know how to make it safe. I don’t want –”

Something happens to him then. You don’t know how to describe it. Something flashes behind his eyes, and his shoulders tense beneath your hands, muscles turning so rigid and brittle that they feel as though they could shatter. “It’s okay,” you say quickly. You shift closer to him without asking first, halfway into his lap, trying to give him some of the contact he wants without getting his hands involved. “You could go slow. Or be careful. Or if you had gloves –”

Tenko’s eyes light up. “Wait here.”

You shift out of his lap as requested and he gets to his feet, heading for one corner of the room. You take a second to get composed.  You can still taste Tenko’s blood on your lips, and when you raise your hands to touch your cheeks, they feel hot. Kissing him feels good, is good – but you’ve always liked your makeouts a little more hands-on, and once Tenko’s able to touch you safely, you can’t vouch for how well you’ll behave yourself. Are you really the only one who’s ever kissed him? He must be a quick study. Even with his blood on your lips, you’re already missing the heat of his mouth on yours.

Tenko’s back a moment later. He has a pair of gloves on – gloves that are missing the first three fingers. It takes all five to activate his quirk, which means you’re safe, and he still has the chance to touch you directly. He hesitates before he sits down again. “Do you really want –”

“Yes.” You catch his hand – it’s safe to do that now – and pull him down beside you. He makes a startled sound, which you immediately muffle in a kiss. It’s cute, but there are sounds you like better. “I want you.”

You were going to be more specific with what you wanted – I want you sounds heavy as all hell when the two of you have only just gotten physical – but Tenko doesn’t give you the chance. He wraps his arms around you tightly, so tight that it’s almost hard to breathe, but he doesn’t hold you that way for long. Soon enough his hands are roaming across your back from shoulder to hip, freezing briefly when they encounter your bra through your shirt, all while he deepens the kiss to an almost unsustainable degree. It’s like he’s trying to steal the air out of your lungs.

Tenko’s hands seize your shoulder, your hip, and grip hard. You don’t like being handled roughly, but held – that’s something different. You swallow a gasp and press closer to him, almost in his lap again. His grip on you tightens further and he pulls you the rest of the way. Your lips unlock from his in the move, coming loose with a slurping sound that would probably make you cringe under other circumstances, with someone else. As it is, you seize the opportunity to catch your breath.

Tenko looks up at you. His fingers are pressing deeply into your skin, hard enough to bruise through your clothes. His chest rises and falls rapidly, pressing against your own, and his red eyes are wide, pupils dilated. When you shift, trying to get settled in his lap, he sucks in a sharp breath. “Hold still.”

You’re comfortable now. You don’t mind. You look at him, studying the small things, the ones you remember from before. The tousled, slightly messy texture of his hair. His eyelashes, always a little longer than you expect them to be. The birthmark at the corner of his mouth, which you lean in to kiss lightly. You’ve always wanted to do that. Half the reason your first kiss was so messy was because you couldn’t decide whether to aim for the birthmark or his lips.

When you draw back, you see a surprised look on Tenko’s face. “You like that?” he asks. You nod, and a strange expression flickers across his face. “My grandma had it too.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“My other one. I saw in a picture.” Tenko’s thumb moves in slow circles over your hip, like he’s rubbing a worry stone. You don’t think he even knows he’s doing it. “She was a hero.”

“Really?” You didn’t expect him to say that. He nods. “You never told me.”

“I was going to.” Tenko’s eyes shift away from yours. “I found out that day.”

That day. It takes you a second to parse that, but once you do, your blood runs cold. The question balances on the tip of your tongue, a question you’ve been asking yourself for fifteen years, a question you know you shouldn’t ask him. You don’t need to know what happened. You saw what happened. All you need to know is that he’s here.

“Hey,” you say softly. Tenko won’t look at you, so you reach out, cupping the curve of his cheek, turning him back to put you face to face, if not eye to eye. “I’m glad you told me now. Better late than never. It would have been good to know for our games.”

Tenko scoffs at that. “We used to play some stupid games.”

“I liked them,” you say. “I like any game I play with you.”

Tenko’s been avoiding eye contact, but now he looks at you, and your breath catches. You can’t let him look at you like that. You’ll say more than you mean to. “Do you want to keep talking?” you ask. “Or do you want to make out some more?”

For a second you think Tenko will opt for talking. He looks like he’s thinking about it. Then the hand on your shoulder shifts to wrap around the back of your neck, and he drags you down for another kiss.

This position seems like it works for the two of you. The difference in your heights is perfect for it, and it gives you a little more control over the kissing while giving Tenko the chance to put his hands wherever he wants. He keeps them well clear of anything too forward, and eventually he finds a place he likes for both of them – one on your lower back, beneath the hem of your shirt, and the other around the back of your neck. It keeps you close, as if there was any chance you’d pull away.

You’re kissing too deeply to talk, except for once, when Tenko pulls away to make eye contact. “No more dates with heroes.”

You only went on that one date with Sugimura. After the night on the rooftop in Hosu, you had to accept that your feelings were elsewhere. “None for you, either.”

Tenko snorts. Then, almost as an afterthought: “No more with anybody.”

“You’re trying to lock it down already?” you tease. “It’s only our second date.”

“I don’t care.” Tenko’s expression is serious. “I don’t want another sidekick. You shouldn’t want another –”

He trails off, searching for the word. The word that follows naturally is ‘hero’, but you understand why he won’t use it. “I don’t want that,” you say. “You can lock me down. As long as I get to lock you down. It’s only fair.”

When you’ve had talks with guys about exclusivity in the past, they’ve looked vaguely annoyed. Tenko actually looks pleased with the thought. Not that that stops him from ribbing you about it. “You’re the one with seven siblings. You don’t like sharing?”

“I hate it.” you say, and he laughs. “You would, too, if you were me.”

Tenko smirks. He leans back from you without loosening his grip. “Go ahead, then,” he says. “Lock me down.”

He really shouldn’t challenge you like that. It gives you ideas. You lean in like you’re going to kiss him again, diverting at the last second to kiss the side of his neck, and Tenko’s complaints about how you don’t get to lock him down if you won’t even kiss him evaporate in seconds. You keep kissing him anyway. He wants you to lock him down? Fine. You’ll make sure everybody who looks at him knows that he belongs to somebody, even if they don’t know who that somebody is.

His neck is sensitive, and he’s not the quiet type. As high as his pain tolerance supposedly is, he’s almost absurdly sensitive to pleasure, and you like the idea of making him feel good a little too much. You know it’s working when Tenko’s grip on you changes, when he starts scrabbling for purchase on your back or your hip rather than holding tight, but even better than that is the unsteady sound of his breathing in your ear, the little noises he makes. You like it when guys are vocal. After one sound that crosses the line into a moan, you stop, and speak without lifting your mouth from his skin. “Locked down enough for you?”

“Fuck,” Tenko mumbles. You draw back to look at him and find his face flushed. “Maybe a little more –”

You kiss his mouth this time. You’re getting used to the taste of blood.

You don’t hear footsteps in the hallway or hear the door open, but you absolutely hear Kurogiri’s voice issuing from the doorway. “Shigaraki Tomura. It is nearly midnight.”

You pull away from Tenko, but not completely enough – there’s a rope of saliva stretching between your lips and his, which you deal with by leaning in to kiss him again. Tenko’s clearly embarrassed by Kurogiri’s presence, but that doesn’t stop him from kissing you back before he pulls away. “Knock next time,” he snaps at Kurogiri. “Are they here?”

“I will retrieve them shortly. Once the two of you are presentable.” Kurogiri apparently doesn’t trust the two of you not to go back to making out. He stands in the doorway, watching as you scramble out of Tenko’s lap and Tenko gets to his feet. “So the date went well?”

There’s that syntax shift again. “Shut up,” Tenko mutters. “Don’t act like you didn’t break my rule. You took her to Sensei. You’re lucky I don’t kill you.”

“If his orders contradict yours, my instructions are to follow his,” Kurogiri says. Tenko’s head snaps up. “I thought you were aware.”

“Now I am.” Tenko straightens his shirt and settles the hand over his face. He turns to face you and you wince. “What?”

You’ve seen the sketch of him from the USJ incident. It’s been all over the news for the past few weeks. “The hands for your neck – you might want them. There’s, um, evidence.”

“Evidence?” Tenko repeats, puzzled. Then his face turns red around the hand. He hurries to the far corner of the room and lifts a set of hands out, quickly securing them around his neck. “Can you see it now?”

You shake your head. “It is well hidden,” Kurogiri remarks. He looks to you. “Your disguise?”

You forgot about that. You collect the veil and crown off the end of the coffee table and secure both over your head. “I will retrieve the others,” Kurogiri says. “But first, the two of you.”

Warp gates open beneath your feet and Tenko’s, and when they close, you find yourselves in the bar again. Kurogiri himself vanishes, and Tenko settles into his usual seat. You stand there awkwardly. “Where do you want me to be?”

“Sit here.” Tenko taps the bar, and you scramble up. “Watch everybody. Keep an eye on the Stain fans. Act like you already know the plan. I should have told you already. I just –”

“You had other things to think about.” Your veil hides your face better than the hand hides Tenko’s – your face can flush until you’re practically glowing and no one will be able to see it unless they’re right up close. “How will I know if you want me to step in?”

“You’ll know when, if you need to. I trust you.” Tenko looks left, then right – then down at his hands. “Fuck. I can’t wear these. They’ll –”

“Here.” You hold out your hands for Tenko’s, and when he extends them, you peel the gloves off and tuck them away. With the model hands on and all ten fingers exposed, he’s different. You’re not sure how to quantify it, but you know it’s there, and it prompts a question. “Should I call you Shigaraki or Tomura?”

“Shigaraki,” he says, and you nod – but then, as the first warp gates begin to appear, he changes his mind. “Tomura. You’re different than they are. They should know from the start.”

So he’s planning to make your status distinct from the others, right from the beginning. You don’t know if that’s a good idea, but before you can protest or push back even slightly, the first of the allies Tenko’s gathered step through the portals, and you fall silent. Unless something goes horrendously wrong, you’re going to stay that way for the duration of the meeting.

The first two villains to arrive are also the youngest – the girl, Toga, and the boy who named himself Mustard, after the gas. Next up is the fire quirk-user, notable because of his patchwork skin and the staples holding the living tissue to the dead. You stare from behind the safety of your veil. You have no idea how his body is holding together. It shouldn’t be possible.

Next is a heteromorph, green-skinned and purple-haired, wearing a Stain mask. He must be the one Tenko – no, Tomura – said was hard to get a read on. The one you’re supposed to watch.

Magne arrives, followed shortly afterwards by a masked man – Compress, definitely, because the two men who arrive last are the murderers Kurogiri must have just broken out of prison. They scare you in a way the others don’t, and you’re so wary of them that you almost miss the arrival of the last villain. And you really shouldn’t miss his arrival. After all, he’s the only villain here who you’ve met before.

“Twice?” you say, startled, and Tomura looks up at you. Luckily, everyone else is still getting their bearings, and at least you said it quietly. “Sorry.”

He shakes his head. “Tell me later,” he says, and then he faces the other villains.

You’re not sure what he’s going to say, where he’s going to start, but in spite of the hands and the crew of monsters he’s assembled, all you can see is your childhood friend when he speaks. He sounds like he always did, laying out the details of the story before the game begins. “The heroes have regained their confidence. Because they dealt with Stain, they think it’s all been solved. I know that at least a few of you have questioned the effectiveness of what the League’s done so far. So have I. So we’re going back to what worked last time. We’re going to attack UA.”

Your stomach lurches. No wonder Tenko didn’t tell you. He must have known you wouldn’t approve. “They’ve tightened up security since your last attack,” Toga pipes up. “I took a look around, like you said. Nobody noticed me, but the whole campus is locked up tight.”

“Good work,” Tomura says, and Toga grins. Her incisors are sharp. “Toga’s reconnaissance confirmed my conclusion: UA is impregnable for now, which is why we’re not attacking the school itself. They’re running a summer training camp at a remote location, with significantly less security. That’s where we’ll hit them.”

“Them,” the fire quirk-user repeats. “Not All Might.”

“Not yet. We need to level up before we take him on.” Tomura’s shoulders are tense. “Hitting the camp, threatening their precious students – if the heroes can’t even protect their own kind, they can’t claim to be capable of protecting everyone else. Besides, that’s not the only reason we’re going there. You all are a good start, but we’ll need more allies if we want to win.”

“Why do you need more?” Mustard asks. “You’ve got us. We’re not good enough?”

Based on the belligerence, this is a sore spot. If Tomura can’t navigate it, you’ll step in – but somewhere beneath the hands, Tomura’s still the kid who knew how to make everybody feel included. “We can’t fight a war on just one front,” he says. “You and the others will win the strategic battle by destroying UA’s sense of superiority. And while you’re doing that, Compress and Toga will collect what we need to win the PR battle as well.”

“Indeed,” Compress agrees. “Are there other students you’d like me to capture, Shigaraki? Or are you interested only in the victor from the Sports Festival?”

The explosion kid. You remember him – the one who was so batshit berserk that he had to be muzzled and chained to a pole for the award ceremony. Tomura wants him for the League? “Use your discretion,” Tomura says. “He’s the priority. If you see others who are better suited to us than to the heroes, take them, too.”

“And I’ll get the blood,” Toga chimes in. Everyone turns to stare at her. “My quirk lets me turn into the people whose blood I drink! I can make myself look like a student, and I can say anything I want.”

Like a living deepfake. You knew Tomura was smart, but this is verging on diabolical. “What about the rest of us, then?” Muscular asks. There’s a sharp smile on his face, and just like Tomura, he’s tense. “Are we supposed to just stand around?”

“There will be pro heroes present,” Tomura says. “Mustard will incapacitate the students, but the pros will be more difficult to handle.”

“Difficult? For me?” Muscular scoffs and takes a step forward. “Just because an underground hero handed you your ass doesn’t mean I’ll have a problem.”

“If Eraserhead cancels your quirk, you’ll be in the same spot as me,” Tomura says shortly. He gets to his feet. Not good. “If you think I’m that easy to defeat, try your luck.”

It looks like Muscular wants to. Tomura’s hands are open at his sides, rising slightly, and just like you did in the convenience store last year, you speak up. “Both of your records speak for themselves,” you say, and Muscular turns to stare at you. “Tomura recognizes that the pros pose a threat to the success of the plan. And he recognizes that you’re well-equipped to handle them. That’s why you’re here.”

It’s quiet for a second. Muscular doesn’t step back into line, and neither does Tomura – but neither of them make a move, and when Tomura speaks again, Muscular doesn’t interrupt. “If you haven’t been given a more specific assignment, your job is to sow chaos,” he says. “Dabi, Spinner, Magne, Muscular, Moonfish – deal with the pros. If you have the opportunity to kill them, do it, as slowly or as quickly as you’d like. If not, keep them out of the way.”

“What about the students?”

Moonfish sounds like he’s speaking through a mouthful of razors. It makes your skin crawl, but Tomura doesn’t flinch. “The focus needs to be on the heroes and their failings, not on a bunch of dead kids. If that happens, that’s all anyone will talk about,” Tomura says. “Hurt them. Don’t kill them. That goes for all of them – except one.”

“Which one?”

“Midoriya Izuku.”

“No.” The green-skinned heteromorph speaks up for the first time. “Not him.”

Tomura turns towards him, incredulous, and the heteromorph keeps talking. “Stain spared his life. He recognized him as a true hero. I won’t subvert Stain’s will like that.”

A joke pops into your head – Stain’s not gonna fuck you – and you clench your jaw shut. “Stain’s will?” Tomura repeats. “Stain lost.”

“His ideas still live,” the heteromorph – Spinner, you think – says. “Are you following in Stain’s footsteps or not?”

You see Tomura’s shoulders tense again and realize that you’ve got approximately three seconds before he blows his top. “Stain and Tomura share a belief that hero society is rotten to the core,” you say. “The fact that the only examples of true heroes Stain could find are All Might and a fifteen-year-old illustrates the decay. Don’t you think?”

You’ve put Tomura and Stain on the same conceptual level, and you’ve put Spinner on the spot – and most importantly, you’ve contained Tomura for the time being. “I guess,” Spinner says after a second. “I still don’t think –”

“If you’re worried about following in Stain’s footsteps, follow them by killing false heroes,” Tomura interrupts. “There will be plenty to choose from at the training camp. Don’t concern yourself with Midoriya Izuku. Act as your ideals demand.”

Tomura glances around the room. “That goes for all of you. Use what methods you’d like. Act as you see fit, so long as those actions don’t imperil our common goal. Disrupt the camp, disable any pro heroes who get in your way, kill them if you want, and assist Toga and Compress in completing their objectives.”

It’s quiet. You can tell Tomura’s waiting for an argument, and when one doesn’t come right away, he picks one. “Does anyone have issues with their assigned role?”

“I have an issue,” the fire quirk-user says. Dabi, you think. The one Tomura said was an asshole, and when he points one finger at you, you decide you agree with Tomura’s assessment. “What’s your role? Who are you?”

“Yeah,” Muscular says. “What’s under that veil? And why do you talk so much?”

“She’s our medic,” Tomura says. “She’s trustworthy.”

“She’s hiding her face.”

“So am I,” Twice pipes up. “And Compress. Shigaraki, too. Besides, it’s good to have a medic! If the medic’s good.”

You owe Twice for having your back, even if he doesn’t know you. Dabi doesn’t look convinced. “What’s your name?” he repeats.

“You get her name when I get yours,” Tomura says. “My alliance with her existed before the League did. She’s trustworthy.”

Toga squints at you, then takes a few steps closer. “I like your costume,” she says. “You look like a bride.”

“I can’t see your face at all,” Magne says. “Hopefully it’s cuter than the veil is.”

“I hope so, too,” you say. Magne laughs.

Tomura doesn’t like that. You can tell. “Kurogiri, bring the maps,” he orders. A warp gate opens in the middle of the room, disgorging a map taped to a rolling whiteboard. “I don’t know your quirks as well as you do. We’ll devise this attack plan collectively.”

Tomura wasn’t in school long enough to learn what a pain in the ass group project are, but given that villains don’t like being bossed around, it’s not the worst strategy. You hang back, physically and verbally, steering clear of Dabi and Muscular and only stepping in when the temperature needs to be turned down. You’re the least powerful person in a room full of people who think nothing of throwing their weight around. In some ways, it’s just like being at home with your family.

Tomura asked you to watch, and you start piecing together an understanding of the group’s dynamic. The most stable individuals in the group are Kurogiri, Magne, and Compress, all by a long shot. The most easily dysregulated is Mustard, and while you think Dabi and Muscular can probably control themselves, you also think they’ll choose not to. You have a pretty good grasp on Twice from your previous meeting. Moonfish doesn’t say enough for you to be able to tell, but he also doesn’t start fights, and Toga’s a dark horse. So is Spinner.

Spinner’s hard for you to figure. He’s got no criminal record, but unlike Toga and Mustard, he’s old enough to have collected one. He’s probably the biggest Stain fan of the group, the only one who pushed back against Tomura on ideological grounds, but he’s also something of a team player. His role in the attack gets settled early, and he shifts to the outskirts of the group. After a few minutes psyching yourself up to do it, you slide down from the bar and join him.

He glances over at you, then double-takes. “You look like a ghost in that thing,” he says. “It works, though. I’d hide my face if my face mattered.”

“How do you mean?” you ask. “You’re joining the League of Villains. Your face is about to get pretty famous if you don’t cover it up.”

Spinner laughs, but there’s a rueful note to it. “I’m not exactly breaking hearts by turning to a life of crime. At least this way I’m doing something with my life.”

Weird and weirder. “What were you before this? If it’s okay for me to ask.”

“Only if it’s okay for me to ask how long you’ve known Shigaraki.”

You think about that. “Does ‘a long time’ count as an answer?”

“That depends. Is it months or years?” Spinner asks. You don’t know if you should answer that, and Spinner can tell. “I know I pissed him off earlier. You shut it down pretty fast. I figure either it’s your quirk or you just know him really well.”

“It’s not my quirk,” you say. You think back to the first time Tenko told you his new name. “Less than forever, more than a year.”

“I was a shut-in,” Spinner says, answering your question without responding to your answer to his. No wonder he’s got a record. It’s hard to get a record when you don’t leave your room. “That video of Stain’s is the first thing I ever saw that made sense. If you all have the same goal as Stain did, then I’m in the right spot.”

You nod. Someone is raising their voice in the group, and you key in – but it’s just one of the versions of Twice, getting excited about something. Spinner glances curiously at you. “You sure you don’t have an alias or something?”

You shake your head. You might be at a meeting of villains, wearing a disguise, listening to them plan to kidnap one high school student and traumatize the hell out of a few more, but picking out a name for yourself feels a little far. If Tomura thinks you need a name, he’ll probably give one to you.

The meeting breaks up two hours after midnight. You missed hearing the date the attack will take place, possibly on purpose, and when the group splits, leaving just you and Tomura and Kurogiri, you don’t ask what it was. Kurogiri pours drinks for you and Tomura. You sit down at the bar next to him, and he speaks without looking up from his glass. “What did you find out about Spinner?”

“He was a shut-in before. As long as you can tie your goals to Stain’s, he’ll follow along,” you say. Tomura nods. “How did the rest of it go?”

“I’m leaving some of the on-site planning to them. I’m not there to give orders, so they need to be able to adapt.” Tomura takes a sip of his drink. “Dabi’s a pain in the ass, like I thought, but I’m giving him temporary control of a Nomu to use during the fight. That should keep him quiet for now.”

He’s thought of everything. “You’re good at this stuff,” you say. “You barely needed me.”

Tomura looks up. “Yes, I do.”

It’s quiet for a little bit after that. You and Tomura drink, you staring down into your glass and Tomura staring at you, until you look up at the clock behind the bar and realize what time it is. “I have work in the morning. I have to go home.”

“Stay.” Tomura catches your sleeve with three fingers, but a small portal opens, depositing your bag a few feet away on the bar. “Kurogiri can take you to work from here.”

“I can’t show up in yesterday’s clothes. And I need to sleep. So do you.” You’re right, and Tomura knows it. He scowls anyway. He’s never happy when you leave, but right now he looks unhappier than usual. “What is it?’

“Once the attack happens, I can’t bring you back until things settle down.” Tomura’s looking unhappier by the second. “The brat can’t see you until I know he’s with us.”

“Oh,” you say. You wonder how long that will take. “That’s okay. I understand.”

“It’s not okay,” Tomura snaps. “It’s – take that thing off. I need to see you.”

You take it off quickly. “Kurogiri,” Tomura says. “Turn around.”

“I will return in five minutes.”

Kurogiri vanishes, and once he does, Tomura lowers the hand from his face, pries the other two from around his neck, and just like that, he’s Tenko again. “It’s not okay,” he repeats. “I need you with me. I feel different when you’re here.”

“Different than what?” you ask. He must think it’s a positive change, or he wouldn’t want you to stay. Tenko doesn’t answer. “Send Kurogiri to get me as soon as it’s safe, Ten. I’ll be waiting.”

You see his eyes light up ever so slightly, but it fades fast. “You’ll forget.”

Your heart aches, but this is something you can fix. “Let me show you something.”

The last forty-eight hours have been chaos, and you’ve spent most of it miserable, terrified, drunk, hungover, or making out with your childhood best friend on his couch. But somewhere in the middle of that, you managed to get into one of the two boxes you brought home from your parents’ purge and take something out. You couldn’t bring yourself to wear the locket, but you tucked it into your bag along with your disguise, and when you put your disguise away, you fish it out.

Tenko looks suspicious. “Who gave you that.”

“My parents, probably. That’s not the important part.” You close your eyes and struggle to come up with an explanation, one that doesn’t make you sound obsessed or insane or too invested in this, in him. “I found this in a box in my parents’ house. There was a lot of stuff in there about you and me.”

“Like what?”

“Pictures,” you say. “A birthday gift from you. The valentine you gave me. I put all that stuff in there when I was ten and taped it shut.”

“Why?”

“My parents were taking me to get my memory wiped the next day, so I really would forget.” You see Tenko’s eyes widen. “I hid that stuff from them, but I saved it for me. So even if the memory wipe worked, I could open it up and remember you again.”

You open the locket and hold it out for Tenko to inspect. You see his expression twist. “I never forgot about you,” you say. “When we saw each other again, that’s why I reacted that way. I always hoped you were alive. If I didn’t forget you in fifteen years, a few days or weeks or months isn’t going to make a difference.”

Tenko’s jaw is clenched. The tendons in his neck stand out, and his hands are curled into fists at his sides. You were trying to help, but it looks like you’ve made it worse. “I’m sorry,” you say. “I shouldn’t have –”

Tenko seizes you and yanks you into his arms. “Shut up,” he mumbles, his voice muffled by your shoulder, or maybe your chest. “How am I supposed to let you leave now?”

“You have to. It’ll be okay,” you say. “I did promise not to go on any dates with heroes.”

It’s quiet for a second. Your arms are around Tenko, and you feel his shoulders shake. “That’s not funny.”

You know that particular note in his voice. It makes you feel better. “Don’t laugh, then.”

Tenko snorts, hugs you closer and tighter. Then he lets you go. “Next time you’ll stay,” he says.

“If I have the next day off, sure,” you say, and Tenko smiles slightly. “We never got to have sleepovers before.”

It’s true. You asked and so did he, but your parents said you were too young, even though neither of you would have been farther from home than right across the street. You see Kurogiri reappear out of the corner of your eye and know you’re out of time. “Be careful,” you say to Tenko. “Come find me as soon as it’s safe.”

“I will.” Tenko gets to his feet. “Turn around, Kurogiri.”

“Believe me, there’s nothing going on over there that I want to see.”

One of these days you’re going to ask Tenko why Kurogiri’s like that, why he seems like he’s two people in one. Not tonight. There isn’t time. You have time for one more kiss with Tenko, but that’s all – and the instant the two of you separate to take a breath, Kurogiri warps you away, dropping you back in your apartment. Your bag lands on the couch next to you. You still have the locket clenched in one hand. There are still a few drops of Tenko’s blood on your lips.

You lick them away, feeling twenty kinds of insane as you do it. Your mind is crowded with dozens of questions, thoughts, images, memories, all of them demanding to be addressed at once. You kick off your shoes, move your bag to the floor, and lie back on the couch. Your eyelids are heavy the instant you’re horizontal, and by the time it occurs to you that you should let go of the locket or at least put it somewhere safe, you’re fast asleep.

[sapphic-agent]

As anti BKDK & anti Bakugou, can I ask why you hate him and Aizawa so much (at least I get it why you dislike Endevour)? Yes, Bakugou was bad at first, but he grew as character. Now, he is one of the best anime/manga character ever. When he 'died', many anti Bakugou overjoyed, but he came back alive !!

Why do you thing Bakugou as a character is so popular (beloved by non shippers and shippers)?

Are you anti BKDK because you dislike mlm shipping?

Thanks for your blog, I don't like to say rude things just because of fandom and fictional characters, but can I ask why you dislike Bakugou so much when he changed so much? Like, his devotion to Midoriya is real and he truly is a hero.

(Hope you don't mind to have follower who is Bakugou fan and BKDK shipper)

I have made a lot of posts about why I hate Bakugou.

It's not because he's a bad person. A bad person can be a great character. Shigaraki is one of my favorite characters in the series. I have a lot of issues with Bakugou as a character, not a person.

A big issue is probably how everyone treats him, especially in comparison to other characters. Bakugou can be as callous and spiteful as he wants and so many characters trip over themselves to praise him. Aizawa (I'll get to him in a second), All Might, and the other teachers don't see fit to correct his behavior, even when he's been violent towards his other classmates (mainly Izuku). Worse, Aizawa outright favors him.

Bakugou punched Izuku during the Final Exam and refused to cooperate. What did Aizawa do? Nothing. He passed him even though he failed Sero, who sacrificed himself to save Mineta. He doesn't even scold Bakugou for this even though he scolded Uraraka and Aoyama during the Training Camps.

Monoma isn't even half as bad as Bakugou. At worst, he gives 1A a hard time occasionally. But 1A absolutely can't stand him. Bakugou's friends- Kirishima and Sero- are Monoma's biggest critics.

Then there's how the narrative bends over backwards to make Bakugou seem like a better person. And why I hate Aizawa is that most of the time it's through him. Bakugou is accused of going too hard on Uraraka? Aizawa scolds the crowd to blatantly tell us- the viewers- that they don't know what they're talking about and that Bakugou respects Uraraka as an opponent.

Which isn't even true. He a) blatantly told Uraraka that she should have given up and b) assumed her plan was Izuku's doing. Aizawa was dead wrong, even though he's supposed to be a way to tell us what's going on. And this isn't even the only time he does this, he also defended Bakugou's behavior to the journalists and said that he would work on improving it.

Except he didn't. But this was a way to, once again, shut down criticism of Bakugou. Everyone who criticizes Bakugou even a little is antagonized to make him look better than he is: the pros at the Sports Festival, the journalists, Monoma, etc.

Izuku is also forced to be a tool to make Bakugou's development look better. He was forced to validate Bakugou's insecurities during Deku vs Kacchan Part 1. We're told, by All Might, that Izuku doesn't hold Bakugou's behavior against him. Even Bakugou's apology was less about Izuku- his victim- and more about making Bakugou look better. Izuku, as one of my favorite characters, deserves better than that.

Also, to me, Bakugou's "change" isn't all that significant. He still does most of the things he did before, it was just changed to be more comedic. Bakugou didn't actually change, he got a character shift to make it easier to redeem him. How can I say he's changed when none of the other characters hold him accountable?

I hate Aizawa because he's a bad teacher and a hypocrite. He's constantly scolding and berating Izuku, but says almost nothing to Bakugou. Accuses All Might of favoritism when he had a whole protege on the side he was trying to get into the hero course. Constantly berates his class for their faults while doing nothing to make them better.

Again, during the Final Exam, he had five other students who failed. Students he could have easily worked with prior to that exam. But he was fine bending over backwards to make sure Bakugou passed. He's a bad teacher that the series tries to make out to be better than he is.

Also, I do NOT hate mlm shipping. Zolu is one of my favorite ships ever. I hate yaoi shippers who feel the need to bash female characters for getting in the way of their ship (or being shipped with a male character in Katara's case). It's blatant misogyny, just because it's gay doesn't mean it's not prejudiced. Uraraka gets treated terribly by BakuDeku shippers, or she's shipped with Tsu or Toga, tucked away in a background sapphic ship where she can't interfere. That's just as bad as bashing her because it's using a sapphic ship as a tool to prop a gay ship.

I don't hate mlm shipping. I hate how some of my favorite characters are treated because of it. There's also an issue with it fetishizing gay men for straight women, but that's another issue entirely.

My hatred for BakuDeku is actually separate from this. It's a ship built off of abuse. The abuse even persists in their platonic relationship, it would absolutely maintain in a romantic relationship. BakuDeku benefits Bakugou and only Bakugou, not Izuku.

I think Bakugou is so well liked because his gimmick of tough and edgy entices a lot of people. He had a lot of fans before he started to get redeemed. And now with his "great" character development, it justifies a lot of people's love for him.

[linkspooky]

What ending would you have liked for the League villains in BNHA?

Well, there's two answers to this question. What would be my ideal ending to the League of Villains requires major story structure changes. To the point where it almost becomes an entirely different story,v venturing into fanfiction territory.

Basically keeping the story as it is until My Villain Academia, there's no longer a clear and distinct line between Hero and Villain. Shigaraki is now the real deuteragonist of the story, and the story is split between Deku's journey and Shigaraki's.

The league are no longer just an insane fringe element that doesn't deserve to be listened to or have their wrongs redressed. Since they now have the MLA they have public support behind them, they like become actual rebels against hero society with even public support. Either the War Arc doesn't happen, or the villains win and society is effectively destroyed so that the heroes no longer have their tight grasp.

A bunch of kids die in the war, because they weren't relevant and it's a consequence for UA raising child soldiers. The remaining relevant kids are forced to cope with two realities, number one they were violent enforcers of a broken system, number two the villains are right in some ways. A moment of the kids going "Are we the bad guys?" However, they can't agree with destroying everything so they have to fight to rebuild. The kids have lost faith in the adults, break off from them entirely so the adults no longer hog all the screentime and try to attempt to solve the problem on their own. Also, Enji dies in the war arc because Hori didn't do anything satisfying with his character beyond that part, and Dabi is hit with feelings of: oh no killing my father didn't fix my problem.

Then you'd basically have to have the narrative find a compromise between Shigaraki's complete radicalism but lack of any motivation to rebuild, and Deku's desire to save others but lack of self-awareness about the evils of his society and how the system can't be fixed as it is. Like a war between the opposite forces of preservation and destruction and Deku and Shgiaraki having to eventually work together to build their world. Maybe Deku even manages to convince Shigaraki there is a future, and save him from statements like "I don't care what happens next." The League of Villains and the reduced Class 1A are like two parallel groups in the manga running in tandem, and also Deku's bonds with his friends are closer now and actually shown in story they become a tight knit group so both sides are trying to protect the people they love too.

Here was my realistic ending I was expecting when the war started. The kids fight their respective villainous foils and then manage to talk them down and solve things with words instead of violence. Then the villains and heroes team up in order to save Shigaraki from AFO, which is the first step of redemption of the league, and also the kids realizing that the league love each other. At the end of the fight Deku tells Shigaraki what he's always wanted to hear when he was Tenko, "You can be a hero, too." bookending the story with the words All Might told him. The villains either get rehabilitated because they helped take down AFO, or they run off to become vigilantes.

What we got was everyone being sent to hell instead and that sure is something.

[chainelunaire]

how you know they love you

shigaraki

- he takes your side in any argument, even if he personally doesn’t agree with you. when you’re in public, he’s always on your side. which is big, since he is the leader. if you’ve made a mistake, he’ll made up a thousand excuses for you, even when you’re not really fond of the idea of not taking any responsibility. he expects same behaviour in return.

- often brings you with him, when he takes his long long walks through the night city. that’s where he can usually be somewhat affectionate in public, by taking your hand carefully. 

- he lets you do basically anything in his room, including bothering him directly. he doesn’t get annoyed in the slightest, you can clearly see how he’s pretending to be, but he’s really not. you are always welcomed in his room. prefferered even. 

- he encourages you in a very subtle ways, like sharing your hobbies, learning more abouth them, providing you with materials and therefore suggesting you to tell him more. he can get really invested and he just likes to listen to your ramblings. they soothe him and he has better sleep later.

- lets you win when you play videogames. he does this very discreetly, it actually looks like you’ve beat him, so you don’t get offended that he wasn’t even trying. he does this just to see you beaming with joy. it warms his heart.

- usually he’s sitting near you at the diner table. and before your relationship he never really ate with others. he was always alone.

- if asked well enough and if it’s really important for you, he might change his final decisions. and we’re talking big, like some serious stuff, where no one but him decides. it’s a big deal for him, for his reputation, he’s also very stubborn, so don’t overdo it or he might blame you later. he loves you almost as equally as being petty.

dabi

- he’s very brash and blunt by nature, so he tries to tone it down quite a bit. he knows he has the tendency saying things he doesn’t really mean, and it’s not to say he still won’t say them. he just really tries to be more gentle.

- turns out, he’s pretty touchstarved. good luck with that.

- he’s much more open with you. actually he’s really talkative, when the right topic, to the point that he talks so much you might think he just loves the sound of his own voice (which partly is true since in his childhood he was rarely heard and it all translates into his now present behaviour, he can’t get enough attention, ever). so he introduces you to all of his favourite books and tv shows and everything he loves, and he can’t just stop talking. he knows you like to hear about everything, so he delivers. also, great partner to gossip.  

- cleans your room for you, sometimes even cooks. all while scolding you for being so nasty and helpless. fascinating.

- if you fuck up, he’ll be the first who tells you you fucked up. he’ll be very honest and straightforward about almost everything. he also will help you fixing anything. 

- he brings you with him on his night outs and he’s keeping an eye on you at all times. he’ll always pick you up after party, no matter how much he whines about it. he'll put you in bed if you drunk and passed out. he’ll curse the life out of you, but he’ll still do it. 

- since he has great memory, remembers everything you’ve said to him, ever. sometimes it’s nice, sometimes it’s annoying. depends on a matter. usually it’s the most convinient to him, of course, he can tease you endlessly, but every once in a blue moon it’s actually useful.

- he’s actually not the easiest guy to make laugh, again, not humorous by nature, but he genuinely loves your jokes. the dorkier, the better. he laughs a lot with you.

hawks

- he’ll try his best to make time for you. he’s very busy and he puts his soul into his work, so appreciate it. it’s very big for him.

- one of his love languages is gift giving, and he’ll always bring you one after returning from a long mission. they’re not always fancy, most of them just simple stuff which reminded him of you when he was away. but, if it’s fancy, it’s usually jewellry. he likes shiny things a lot.

- he becomes much more quiet in your presence, letting you shine and all. but mostly it’s because he doesn’t feel pressured when near you. he can become himself, not the hero hawks.

- the more time he spends at home, the less he feels the need to cut off his sharp talons. he rarely wears his gloves. he takes off his lenses, which make his pupils more human-like, since he has very intense stare (because yk, he’s a bird of prey). 

- he talks about his future with you. what you both would want and all, what you’d do after war. like, you’ll definitely know he’s planning on spending his life with you.

- he’ll eat basically anything you’ve served him. he doesn’t care. he’ll compliment you anyway.

- he’ll let you touch his wings and take care of them. another big one, because one, he’s not touchy at all, two, he hates when others touch his wings in particular. he never gave anyone permission to do that, and he kinda gave up. he sort of takes his power back, when it’s so openly consensual.

- tries to be more open with you. he’s very secretitive and reserved, it’s hard for him to open up. at some point you’ll probably hear that he loves you out loud, but don’t rush it. the fact that he told you that he ‘was slightly injured at mission but it’s okay now don’t worry!’ is already a lot. because before you won’t even notice, he’s a great liar when he wants to be. with gentle encouragment, he’ll lean on you more and more.