#so :)) my favorite animal hands down is orcas

[florida3exclamationpoints]

Yall wanna hear about smth? good im gonna rant in the tags anyway

[faekishi]

This was... suppose to be chibis. In the end it did not became that or got into this hybrid thing. This was still fun to draw if not difficult as whale anatomy is a bit tricky even though it looked simple. But, still had a lot of fun cause I love merfolk. <3 Going to attempt this again and also do different kind of merfolk forms. Cause seriously, out of all the mystical creatures, merfolk are indeed my biggest favorite. Idea Time!

So I made Hizashi into a blue whale. Which is a very large and very fast whale. I was thinking of doing humpback. But, while they do sing very beautifully. I was like big fast whale that will smash into enemies. Shouta is the homicidal oreo of the sea. Otherwise known as the Orca. Great hunters with a high intelligence. Which is why ithought perfect for Shouta. Izuku is a spotted dolphin! Also intelligent and show off the the freckles that Izuku has. I have thoughts that even if merfolk look a lot like whales. They can breath through their gills in water or air through their noses/blow holes.

Also, baby mers will cling to the back of their parents when they get too tired swimming. Just like how baby whales or dolphins will go on their parents backs whenever they get tired of swimming. But, I had a few ideas when I was drawing this. One idea I had was that being very abnormal orca merman. He hates other merfolk of his nature and is mated with a very much larger whale that his kind would honestly hunted down. Even stranger was the fact he took in a baby dolphin mer. (if yall ever seen documentaries of orcas you know that them plus dolphins usually doesn't end well for the dolphin.)

So Shouta and Hizashi trying to figure out how to parent. With Shouta literally trying to murder anything that breathes around his kid. While Izuku keeps getting himself into trouble cause he's curious. When they 'sleep' out in the open ocean Shouta and Hizashi take shifts to ensure predators don't try to get the upper hand on them. But, if they're closer to sand beds. Then Hizashi will start digging into the sand to make a whole that can fit Shouta and Izuku. He'll then proceed to lay over them. Many predators don't tend to bother merfolk of Hizashi's size unless in groups or in dire hunger. But, any sight of Izuku and they will risk it. The three a very much a migratory group. Hizashi is too large to realistically stay in one place for too long. But, sometimes they are able to spend time in spot for a few months before heading on. I also thought of Izuku have a hurt fin. Just like his arms in the anime. His fins were hurt due a predator hunting Izuku when he found himself lost and alone. Izuku can only swim a certain amount of time before becoming exhausted and in pain. Which makes Shouta even more protective of little one. Shouta is vicious while he is attacking and is the best hunter of the group. Hizashi though has bodily slammed someone hard enough they died. So when it's time to hunt Shouta goes off to get food and Hizashi takes care of Izuku. But, if there are large schools of fish Hisashi will use his massive size to bulldoze and stun the fish. Allowing Shouta and even Izuku to easily pick them off.

That's all I have for now. I will definitely have more down the road. I been really wanting to make mer stuff for MHA. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed!

[eldritchamy]

amy... amy what's going on. are you into bats now? are we done with The Crocodilians?

I CAN'T LIKE OTHER THINGS? WILL I BE FOREVER REMEMBERED AS THE CROCODILE GIRL? IS THAT ALL I AM TO YOU?

I love bats. Bats are adorable. I also like bears! Bears are some of my favorite animals. I'm also quite fond of the scaly-foot gastropod, Chrysomallon squamiferum. And tardigrades. And cats of all kinds. And CUTTLEFISH! Do you remember when my blog pic was a goofy little cuttlefish with rainbow eyes that I drew myself and her name was Squirt the Cuddlefish?

DO YOU SPIT UPON THE MEMORY OF BELOVED SQUIRT? HOW DARE YOU.

LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE, YOU MADE HER CRY!

Am I not large to you? Do I not contain multitudes? Must you boil me down to a handful of posts I typed in a rabid fugue state that got way more notes than they should have because I yelled about megafauna and how crocodilian teeth are arranged or argued with a person who thought orcas had a higher bite force (preposterous)?

NAY! I am beyond such trivialities. You cannot see my horizons.

I am so much more than this.

I am ALSO the girl who yelled about hippos sweating pink and spreading a lot of accidental misinformation about cone snails, or explaining in much detail how a Certain Alleged President managed to fail his way to success through the absurd way things like Atlantic City worked out behind the scenes, or several posts about the mechanisms of ADHD.

FOOL. OF COURSE I LOVE BATS. LOOK AT THEM. THEY'RE ADORABLE. YOU WOULD BESMIRCH THE NOBLE ORDER OF CHIROPTERA WITH YOUR DOUBTS?

BAH!

No bananas and fruit chunks for you!

[fakevariety]

i'm not handwriting these down because i'm lazy but i want to do these so

5. your name sophie <3

6. your birthday december 5th, 2009

7. where you live right now i live in baltimore, not giving anymore info lol

8. where you were born baltimore

9. today’s date 1/15/24

10. current time 11:27 am

11. relationship status singleee

12. the first 5 words that come to your mind ginormous, jackass, follower, tiger, hello

13. your number of followers 145 !!

14. the number of blogs you’re following 47

17. describe the latest post on your dashboard it is someone's poll that is asking what color they should paint their nails

18. favorite band(s), musician(s) boygenius, lucy dacus, big thief

19. favorite song(s) not strong enough, real love, brando, ringside

20. favorite lyric(s) lucy dacus - going going gone the color filtered out like pulling teeth out of a cloud lucy dacus - nonbeliever you shook my hand and said "goodbye" lucy dacus - vbs sedentary secrets like peach pits in your gut locked away like jam jars in the cellar of your heart

21. favorite album(s) the record - boygenius boygenius (ep) home video - lucy dacus little oblivions - julien baker masterpiece - big thief

22. favorite color(s) green and gray and blue

23. celebrity crushes LUCY DACUSSSSS and boygenius in general

24. favorite food FRENCH FRIES <333333

25. favorite beverage lemonade

26. favorite TV show(s) currently ted lasso, and pjo

27. favorite movie(s) all the bright places, good will hunting, remember the titans

28. favorite actors or actresses idk i love leah sava jeffries she does an incredible job with annabeth

29. describe what you’re wearing right now an oversize t-shirt and gray sweat pants (i'm in my pajamas)

31. ships? idk i love a lot of ships percabeth, april and andy, nico and will, etc (there's more that i can't think of)

32. favorite season(s) fall

33. favorite ice cream flavor(s) mint chocolate chip 'chocolate love' which is made by the taharka brothers which is the best ice cream brand in the world

34. a place you wanna go on holiday brazil !!!

35. favorite number 5 and 21

36. favorite meme(s) idrk

37. favorite animal(s) orcas

38. favorite quote(s) i have some but i can't think of them

39. a random fact about yourself i am currently addicted to pirate's booty

Handwriting Asks

Send me a number and I’ll handwrite the answer for you!

1. write your URL

2. write the URL of the person who sent the ask

3. write your blog title

4. write the blog title of the person who sent the ask

5. your name

6. your birthday

7. where you live right now

8. where you were born

9. today’s date

10. current time

11. relationship status

12. the first 5 words that come to your mind

13. your number of followers

14. the number of blogs you’re following

15. the URLs of your tumblr crushes

16. draw your tumblr activity graph :)

17. describe the latest post on your dashboard

18. favorite band(s), musician(s)

19. favorite song(s)

20. favorite lyric(s)

21. favorite album(s)

22. favorite color(s)

23. celebrity crushes

24. favorite food

25. favorite beverage

26. favorite TV show(s)

27. favorite movie(s)

28. favorite actors or actresses

29. describe what you’re wearing right now

30. write something for the person who sent the ask

31. ships?

32. favorite season(s)

33. favorite ice cream flavor(s)

34. a place you wanna go on holiday

35. favorite number

36. favorite meme(s)

37. favorite animal(s)

38. favorite quote(s)

39. a random fact about yourself

40. write your name with your non-dominant hand

41. handwrite a message to your followers

42. something of your choice (specify in ask)

[cloudyskies-starryheavens]

The Quest Begins

by Erin Hunter

Basic Info

Book 1 of Seekers Year published: 2008 Page Length: 293 Genre: Fantasy Goodreads Link

Personal Info

Dates Read: 7/27/24-7/29/24 Read or Listened to?: Listened to How many times have I read this book before?: 1

Plot Summary (Spoiler Free)

Three bears, three stories. One black, one brown and one polar, each cub finds themselves on their own journey after being separated from their families. This quest will ultimately bring them together so they can fulfill their true destinies.

Full spoiler review under the cut!

Overall Look

Why I Chose to Read This Book: Well, I've read this book--and a few of its sequels--some years ago, and I remember quite enjoying them. Like many series I've started in the past, I simply began reading this series, and dropped it for no particular reason. I'd like to rectify this, and finish the story once and for all. Otherwise, I am a sucker for animal stories. I'm not the biggest fan of bears, but from what I can remember, the Warriors series by the Erin Hunter team was a little to overwhelming for little ten-year-old me. And Seekers only had around eight books or so out at the time, and I thought it would be an easier portal into the Erin Hunter books. Years later, I still remember it fondly, and chose to revisit it.

Overall Impression: I quite liked this book! It's one of those books that is broken up into the perspectives of each main character. The three bears really don't meet in this book (aside from Lusa finally finding Toklo at the very end). Each cub goes on his or her own journey, and the three perspectives change every three chapters. We start with Kallik the polar bear, go to Lusa the black bear, and finish with Toklo the grizzly bear, until we start over again and the cycle repeats. I have to say that I liked Kallik's story the least, but I was absolutely captivated by Lusa's adorable, loveable character. The story left me excited for more, and eager to see more of these characters!

Plot Notes:

Character Notes: Kallik: - Bio: Kallik is a polar bear living with her mother and brother in the frozen Hudson Bay. When Kallik's mother is suddenly killed by an orca, she is separated from her brother and forced to survive on her own. - How I Feel About Her: I'll be blunt, Kallik falls a little flat for me. I couldn't really get a sense of her personality, especially in this book. She's generally kind, and she's very driven to find her brother, but other than that, there isn't much more to her. I'll give her some grace since, for the entirety of the story, she is absolutely fighting for survival and almost utterly isolated, but I still wish we could have gotten a little more.

Lusa: - Bio: Lusa is a black bear living in the Vancouver Zoo in what is known as "The Bear Bowl". She lives with her mother, father, and a few other black bears in the exhibit with her. Intrigued by the idea of The Wild, Lusa escapes from the zoo after promising a mysterious grizzly bear that she would find her son. - How I Feel About Her: I love Lusa, she's hands down my favorite character. She's sweet, smart, compassionate, a little naive, and just all around a great character.

Toklo: - Bio: Toklo is a grizzly bear traveling the forests of southwestern Canada with his mother and sickly brother. After his brother dies, Toklo's mother disowns him, and abandons him to survive by himself. Haunted by his mother and brother, Toklo makes his way through the wilderness, where he discovers a strange, magical, slightly annoying, orphaned brown bear cub. - How I Feel About Him: I'm a little conflicted on Toklo. On one hand, I love how he's a little morally gray. He resents his sick and disabled brother for all the attention his mother gives him. And it's totally believable and heartbreaking to see this child character take out his frustrations about his mentally ill mother's neglect on his younger brother. His character fascinates me, and, even though I've read this book before, I was utterly not expecting to find something like him in this story. Yet, Toklo's signature bristly-ness can make him genuinely hard to actually like. He lashes out at other bears and is continuously rude to his only friend, Ujurak. I'm sure he'll get more development as the series goes on, but sometimes his ableist thoughts and fractious nature just irks me. But I love it?

Ujurak: - Bio: Ujurak is a shapeshifter who prefers to live as a bear. He is able to transform into any animal (even human) and learn more about them. He is on an important, mystical journey to a mysterious place of legend, and convinces Toklo to come along with him. - How I Feel About Him: Ujurak is a very intriguing character. Shrouded in mystery, Ujurak doesn't join the story until the last third, which surprised me. He's a sweet bear cub, and a great companion for Toklo, even if he does end up receiving the brunt of Toklo's verbal abuse. I actually forgot that he was a shapeshifter until it happened. I vaguely remembered his character, but what I remembered the most was me fighting with my friend over how to pronounce his name 😅. I'm very interested in what's to come with him!

What I Liked/What Worked: This is a great introduction to the story at large. The author(s) take their time building up the backstories of these bears and don't rush to throw them together. Each story had its own pace, although I will say that I enjoyed some a little more than others. Lusa and Toklo are standout characters for me, and I enjoyed many of the scenes they were involved in. The story ended with an excellent cliff hanger that had me itching for the sequel.

What I Didn't Like/What Didn't Work: This is a very solid story, although I will say that split-perspective books are generally not my favorites. My main issue with them is that one story is usually way more interesting to me than the other, and I'm forced to read the less interesting story(ies) so I can get to the story(ies) that I'm actually here for. Unfortunately, this book falls into that same trap.

Kallik's story was certainly the weakest for me. I think what set it back is that she had so little direction, and she's just too similar to Lusa. For Kallik, early on, she loses her mother and brother and vows to herself to find her brother. The problem is that she has no idea where her brother is, and she doesn't even know if he's alive or not. Therefore, she spends the entirety of her story in this book wandering northern Canada aimlessly, constantly on the brink of starving to death. Sure, she additionally has a vague notion of finding the legendary place of everlasting ice, as well as going on small side adventures. But it's just feels like a lot of nothing for me.

For Lusa, we spend a lot of time with her at the Bear Bowl and getting acquainted with her family. After meeting Toklo's mother, Oka, she decides to go off by herself into the wild (Canada), wandering somewhat aimlessly, on the hunt for Toklo, who, by the way, she has no idea where he is. And yet, with Lusa's character and the slow, steady build up of her story, it ends up being so much better for me than Kallik's. I genuinely think Kallik started her journey to find her brother/the land of everlasting ice way too early in the story with way too little direction. Her chapters felt like a drag to get through, with the same reports over and over. One thing I will say, though, is that I recently read Kathryn Lasky's Bears of the Ice series (the first three books that are out currently). That story also includes two polar bear cubs getting separated from their mother and going on a quest to find and save her. So a small part of my dislike for this story likely stems from the fact that it's very similar to me when compared with Bears of the Ice, even though this book came out long before those books did. Unfortunately, I did read Lasky's books before my reread of this one, but suffice to say, I'm just a little tired of the plotline.

The most notable thing that happens to Kallik, for me, is when she gets captured by humans and meets Nanuk. Now, I really liked the idea of Nanuk. Kallik is a poor, bedraggled orphan doomed to her own solitiude. Nanuk is a motherly bear who immediately takes Kallik under her wing and comforts her. I would have loved to have seen multiple chapters with Kallik and Nanuk traveling together. Kallik can serve as a daughter figure to Nanuk while Nanuk plays as a mother figure to Kallik, and this way, Nanuk can teach Kallik how to hunt (the constantly starving baby bear details were a little much for me as well, by the way), they can help each other to heal a little bit, and generally Nanuk could have just provided way more opportunities for Kallik to display her personality and character traits, while growing as a character. I would have loved Nanuk way more than that fox that followed Kallik for some time. But no, sadly we only get Nanuk for about two or three chapters, when she suddenly dies in a helicopter crash. Yeah. I'm not making this up. I could go on about the wasted potential Nanuk's character is, and how much more meaningful her death could have been if she'd just stuck around for a couple more chapters, but I don't want this to get too long.

A bit more of a lighthearted note here, I just wanted to say that when I read this book for the first time, I was absolutely stumped for the longest time about what the "Black Paths" and "firebeasts" were. I just could not get what they were supposed to be, and it drove me crazy for the longest time. I understood eventually, but I got embarrassingly far into the story before I realized that BlackPaths are roads and firebeasts are cars. I felt so stupid! I was so baffled as to what they were talking about, I actually thought they might be talking about either canon balls being fired or maybe that dragons were the firebeasts. And I thought to myself, "Why, if there are dragons in this book, are we focusing on bears??" Anyway, all this to say, sometimes the code-speak in these books aggravate me. Like, I can appreciate coming up with different terms for human things that animals don't understand. I love when they're clever work-arounds for bears or wolves or whatever-have-you who don't comprehend human creations. It makes sense that "car" might not be a word in the language of bears. But I don't know, sometimes I think the authors just assume we know what they're talking about and forget that some people (me) are kinda dumb sometimes. I remember it really taking me out of the story lol. So yeah, I wish we could have gotten more of a description, at least. You don't even need to say the word "car", just describe a car in a way that the goofy kids in the back can figure out. Anyway, I'm probably alone in this and I'm just outing myself for being dumb. I'll stop talking now.

The Theme(s) or Message(s) of This Book: People/humans are abusing our planet and make it hard for wildlife to live like they're meant to. We need to take a step back as a species and stop being so selfish by pursuing our own desires and disregarding the natural world that hurts as a result.

The Feelings This Book Evoked In Me: Intrigue and nostalgia. I loved the set up for the mysteries and journeys ahead. And being able to come back to this series is a great hit to my middle school memories, mindset, and interests.

Listening Experience: No real notes here, I thought the narrator did her job well. Sometimes her deep voice for big bears sounded a little silly to me, which made it hard for me to take them seriously, but otherwise, she did a good job! I especially loved the voice she gave Lusa, it's so cute!

Final Notes

Favorite Parts/Quotes/Passages: I think my favorite part was when Toklo meets Ujurak for the first time. It caught me so off guard! I genuinely forgot that there was magic in this book, and Ujurak's introduction to this story upped my interest and enjoyment in this book tenfold. I also really liked the part when Lusa escapes from the zoo. It was like a mini heist story!

Enjoyability: 7/10

Would I Ever Reread This Book?: Maybe. I'm not planning to any time soon, but I'm not wholly against it. I'm mostly just excited to continue reading the series and seeing how this story ends, as well as taking the journey to get there.

Do I Recommend This Book?: Yes! If it sounds like something you'd like, totally give it a read!

Who Would I Recommend This Book To? What Would I Like For Them To Take Away From It?: I would recommend this book to middle grade readers who like animal fantasy stories. Those who like Warriors, Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Wings of Fire, etc. All I'd like for these people to take away from this story is enjoyment. I ate this subgenre up as a middle school wolf girl, and while I'm not sure if that's still an ongoing phenomenon, those who are like little me would love this story. Also the themes of environmentalism and respect for the wild are obviously important as well.

Overall Rating: 6/10

[lolawassad]

Dream

this honking sucks

Characters are all above 18, reader is 5'7 bakugo is 5'10 shoto is 5'11 gang orca is 6'8

MINORS DNI, reader shoto n katsuki r 19 gang orca is 35

Im gonna say that everyone is kinda ooc, i also wanna say i used banana's because thats what i heard people used to see if ghosts would reply if you offer them fruits? And where im from almost everyone always owns banana's, so im using banana's! Sorry if you don't like them.

Also this is awful lol

MINORS DNI nsfw fic, mommy kink, reader is targeted by a OFC villain named Miss Magic

Bakugo x reader x todoroki x gang orca

3rd pov

You yawn when you look at the time and notice its already night, you turn on your nightlight and then turn off the normal light, you set the televisions sound lower and get in bed

As you close your eyes you feel your phone vibrate next to your head, you grab it and turn it on silent before replying to izuku's goodnight text "nightnight my favorite greenette!" to the class groupchat

You put your phone down again and turn around in bed, your face facing the wall knees pulled up a little and hand resting between your thighs, stuffed animal cuddled into your arm and pulled to your chest

~dream pov~

You wake up and look around only to notice a banana on the floor, you frown and go to put it in the mini fridge in your room, when you walk past the second bed in your room you notice another banana laying on the bed

You put the other banana next to the other and go to your bed you sit on your knees legs slightly spread, you look confused at the bed before you see the banana is thrown "i-is someome th-there?" you ask

You barely finish the question and a gorgeous dark skinned woman in a red jumpsuit is in front of you "hey baby, thank you for inviting me" she beams before her hand goes between your thighs "may i?" she asks making you nod

She smirks and her hand slides into your panties, she softly rubs circles on your clit leaving you wanting more, you let out a few mewls before she decides to give you more, she slides two fingers inside of you, her hands go to your chest and she pushes you to lay down, she still continues moving her fingers in and out of you and softly kisses you "you gonna cum for mommy? Come on cum for mommy"

Knock knock

You look at the back door of your room before the knocking gets louder

~awake pov~

You blink a few times before looking at what you have on, you quickly grab your robes and put it on, you open the door to your room and in walks a really tall guy, you sputter out questions but he ignores you

He walks to your desk and takes a few things and walks back out of your room "I JUST GOT ROBBED?!?" you yell out into the hallway still looking at the tall man walking away, a door slams open

Its iida! He looks at you before he speeds over to you and lifts you bridal style before he dashes after the person who just robbed you "you are lucky its seven am and that bakugo is working out at that time, otherwise he wouldve been really angry at you" iida scolds

You sheepishly smile at him "im sorry, i just woke up to knocking and- thats him!" you say while pointing to the man now standing with pro heros endeavor and hawks

"y/l/n thats pro hero gang orca, why would be rob you" he asks with hand chops after putting you down, "i dont know iida-san, he just barged into my room" you say making him nod suspiciously before he walks back into the UA building

Gang orca notices you standing there and storms over, the other two pro heros quickly following "where did you get this, you villain" he accuses while holding up a necklace you have never seen

"i-i dont know i have never seen that" you stutter out, he scoffs "it was on your desk so what it just magically appeared?" he demands, you shrink back slightly before feeling a cold hand on the small of your back

"y/l/n is this man bothering you?" you hear the monotone voice of shoto todoroki speak up "son, step away from the villain" endeavor demands shoto but the latter just rolls his eyes

"y/l/n is not a villain, she isnt made for seeing blood, she also could never harm anyone, she apologizes for five minutes when she accidentally bumps into someone, stop accusing her of things she didn't do" shoto sneers, his hand goes from the small of your back to the plush of your tummy and pulls you into his side

"y/l/n did you have a weird dream earlier?" hawks asks making you nod quickly, the smaller hero turns to the two large heros "shes back" he concludes making the others nod

"y/l/n, im gonna need to bring you to my agency and i need to ask you some questions, i also want to apologize for calling you a villain" gang orca says

Shoto glares at the pro hero before he stands infront of me making me look at him "you okay with that y/l/n?" you nod "also i told you to call me y/n" you say softly making him give one of his rare smiles "be careful y/n, you want me to come with you and wait outside?" he asks

"i-if its not a burden yes please" you say making him ruffle your hair softly "lets go then y/n" he says, his arm goes around your waist pulling you into him again and he starts following gang orca

You pull out your phone and see the class A groupchat blew up "hey guys im fine :)!! Just a misunderstanding.. im hoping! going to gang orca's agency, lets hope rumi🐰 isnt gonna be there because she will tear him a new one for bothering her favorite intern, also thank you iida for helping me! <3"

You are quick to get a text from bakugo "so what, you and iida? You couldve fucking called me to help you" he texts making you frown you go to reply but he sends another text "ill fucking be there too, dont want you there alone, fucking extra"

Shoto pulls out his phone aswell and texts the group "y/n and me will be getting to the bottom of this, im thinking she was the victim to a villain but i have no idea how they got into UA" he texts before sending "🤔" right after

Bakugo scoffs after reading that text and blasts a punching bag across the gym and he storms out, making his way back to his dorm so he can shower and change before going to gang orca's agency

When you reach gang orca's office shoto grabs your hand and kisses it "ill be right outside, you need anything you come get me" he says making you nod before walking into the office

Gang orca closes the door behind you before he pulls out a chair for you, when you sit down he walks over to his giant office chair and sits down

"im going to need you to tell me everything about the dream" he says getting straight to business, you're eyes widen and you look away flustered "it was.. Kinda.. Yknow" you say using hand movements, he frowns "y/l/n, i need every detail" he says

You start quickly speaking telling everything that happened in the dream, speeding up at the nsfw part, he nods "i am going to need to do what she did to you, y/n, this villain works in a weird way, one time she slept with someone in their dreams and.. Well she hid something inside of them, we need to make sure she didnt do that with you too"

You stand up before dashing out of the office, you find a wall and softly bash your head into it, bakugo, who has now joined todoroki, frowns and jumps up, his hand going on the wall so you bash your head into his hand instead

"fuck is wrong with you" he demands making you shake your head, you turn and burry your head into his chest making a blush appear on his cheeks, shoto walks up behind you "y/n whats wrong?"

You sputter out what happened and shoto frowns "we uh, bakugo and me we could, do that instead of gang orca if that would make you more comfortable" he offers, his cheeks bright red

You nod into bakugo's chest "yes please"

Bakugo softly lifts you bridal style as shoto storms into the office, holding open the door for you and katsuki before they both sit down

"you will not be touching OUR girl, we shall do that" katsuki sneers "you're girl?" you softly ask making him send a look that says "dont question me"

"i will have to watch to see if you guys arent just gonna use this as an excuse to have coitus with the lovely lady" gang orca says making shoto nod "we understand sir, but she will not be naked in front of your eyes, that view is only for bakugo and me"

"i will give you guys a moment to get ready then" gang orca says with a wink to you and walks out of his office

"sinc-since when am i yours" you ask flustered making both boys smirk "since the second we laid eyes on you, remember when we fought all the time? It was because we didnt want the other to have you, but we can share if thats okay with you, snowflake" shoto says making you nod

Katsuki pecks you're forehead "i dont like that hes gonna be watching, fucking creep" he sneers out "ill blast him into next eternity if he even tries to touch you"

You bite your lip and dont look at either of the men infront of you, shoto frowns and grabs your chin and makes you look at him "whats wrong?" he asks

"i.. Im nervous" you confess "i have never actually-" you say trailing off, shoto coos softly "aw, my little snowflake"

Bakugo tsks "course you havent, you where saving yourself for us werent you? What a good girl" he says while also getting closer to you

The door slams open and gang orca walks in again "ready to preform the test?" he asks, you nod making the guys nod aswell

[shoutaaizawas]

↳ keigo takami x fem!reader → ❝shiny things❞

summary: hawks has more bird-like tendencies than you initially thought. he likes to present you with odd items as gifts and finally you figure out why word count: 2,406 tags/warnings: fluff, hawks being a bird a/n: uhh i don’t know i love the bird man

sequel “preening”

masterlist

Dating Hawks was unusual for a list of reasons. He was a pro hero so that meant he was very busy, in the public eye, and couldn’t tell you everything. Then there was the way Hawks had been raised. After a while of dating, he trusted you enough to open up and tell you about his childhood. It shed a lot of light on the things he did in your relationship. But perhaps the least expected thing was his bird-like habits.

It wasn’t unusual for people with animal-like quirks the show similar traits to said animal. Selkie and Gang Orca came to mind although they looked more like their animal counterparts than Hawks did. Perhaps that was why you didn’t expect it from him.

At first, you thought he was joking. You had been dating for a while enough to know each other well enough to start to develop feelings. Hawks flew in to meet you for a coffee date in between work. The wind-blown hair and charming smile always made your heart skip a beat.

“Look what I found.” He said, his tone of voice sounded like an excited kid. He held out his hand present the shiny blue marble. You glanced up at him wondering if he was joking but he looked happy to present this offering. The last thing you wanted to do was hurt his feelings even if you didn’t quite understand.

“Wow, where’d you find this?” You asked taking it and holding it up in the light to examine it.

“I found it on patrol.” He said. “It was shining in the light and caught my eye. Don’t worry I washed it off.” He reassured. That almost made you laugh.

“It’s pretty.” You said. That wasn’t a lie, in its own way it was pretty but you could honestly say you had never met someone over the age of ten present a marble with such excitement.

“It’s for you.” He said with a smile that melted your heart. The sentiment wasn’t lost on you even if you were trying to wrap your head around it.

“Thank you, you’re too sweet.” You told him before pressing a kiss to his cheek.

The next time that happened you were more prepared for it. It was a perfect day, the sky was clear, and the weather cool. The salty breeze from the ocean filled the air around you as you walked hand in hand with your boyfriend. The sun was sinking into the horizon leaving a beautiful sunset.

Hawks spotted something, his eyes widening as he let go of your hand and rushed forward. He leaned down picking up something from the ground. Brushing it off he stood and returned to your side.

“Look!” He said in an excited voice holding his open hand up to you. You smiled at the way his wings fluttered in excitement behind him.

“What is it?” You asked putting one hand underneath his as you looked. There was a small shiny green object, it almost looked like a rock.

“It’s a piece of sea glass! It’s normal glass that ends up in the ocean, it takes like fifty years of tumbling around in the water to look like this.” He said. Looking at it, it was pretty. The frosted texture was unique you realized as you picked it up. He closed your hand over it. “Keep it.” He smiled.

You smiled at him sliding the sea glass in your pocket for safekeeping. This wasn’t the last time that he gave you an odd gift with a genuine spirit. You always smiled when he presented the items with pride and excitement, his feathers puffed up.

It was a night that you were spending with Hawks at his fancy apartment when things started to make more sense. You had made him dinner and were enjoying a bottle of wine now.

Hawks wasn’t a drinker but since you met him you had gotten him to like wine. It wasn’t unusual for you to share a bottle. It always amused you the pink tint on his cheeks and how relaxed he got.

The view from Hawks balcony was nice, a perfect city skyline. The love seat there was comfy and so was your position resting against Hawks, one of his winds draped around you keeping you close and protecting you from the cold night. The candles lit around you gave off a dim glow.

You looked at your empty glass and his. As much as you didn’t want to get up you did want more wine so you would have to sacrifice your comfort for a moment.

“Let me get you more.” You said taking his glass in your hand before standing up. He made a noise of complaint at the loss of contact.

“I can get it.” He said. You leaned forward pressing a kiss against his lips, your free hand grazing his cheek.

“Let me, relax here. I’ll be right back.” You said before walking into the apartment. You entered his nice kitchen grabbing the bottle on the counter. There was enough for one glass. You looked at the full bottle on the counter. It wouldn’t hurt to open up another, you could always save the rest if you didn’t finish it.

Opening a drawer you looked for the wine opener. This one had normal utensils in it. The one below it had towels. It was the third drawer down that was odd.

It was full of random items, rocks, stray earrings, buttons, and other odds and ends. It wasn’t your usual junk drawer. All of the items had a certain shine to them. Your mind was immediately pulled to the random things Hawks had presented to you so happily.

You let out a small gasp as it all clicked. He was a bird. Well, not literally but it seemed he shared more traits with the animal than you had originally guessed. Looking at all the items you knew that he cared for them enough to keep them in his house.

A smile met your lips thinking about how excited he always was as he handed you the shiny thing he had found. It was so sweet that he gave them to you instead of keeping it for his own collection. Had he even been keeping anything for himself since he met you?

Your heart felt full as you closed the drawer and looked for the wine opener. Hawks was already so sweet and somehow this odd quirk of his added on to it.

Returning to the balcony you sat down next to him handing him his glass before pulling him in for a deep kiss. Your free hand tangled in his feathers and you could feel him sigh against your lips.

“What was that for?” He questioned pulling back with pink cheeks and a content smirk.

“Nothing, I just really like you.” You smiled.

“Well, I really like you too.” He said before pulling you in for another kiss.

“So I gave her this shiny rock and she was so happy, I love the way she smiles when I give her stuff.” Hawks gushed about you to Mirko often. The rabbit hero was patient in listening to him but would often roll her eyes at how head over heels he was.

“Wait, so you’re telling me the kind of gifts you’ve been giving her are shiny rocks and marbles?” She questioned. “Please don’t tell me you’ve stolen french fries from tourists to give to her.” Hawks gave her a questioning look.

“I always give her the shiny stuff I find now.” He said.

“And she hasn’t dumped you?” She questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Wow, she must really like like you.”

“What do you mean?”

“A lot of girls like shiny things but they usually prefer bracelets, necklaces, rings, or even cars if you’re really trying to spoiler her. Maybe a designer pair of shoes or a purse.” She said thoughtfully. “Most girls would have left by now if they were given shiny debris from their boyfriend.”

Hawks stood there frozen trying to process what she was saying.

“Trust me, I get it, Hawks. The animal tendencies can be strong but you have to recognize them and adjust. Find a way to fill that urge but in a way that your partner will appreciate more.”

“I didn’t even realize it.” Hawks said in a quiet voice. “Oh no she’s probably hated all the stuff I’ve been giving her and has just been nice to me.” He groaned.

Mirko patted him on the shoulder.

“Happens to the best of us. I nibbled on my first crushes sleeve. There are some things you’ll never forget how embarrassing they were.” She sighed, staring off in her memory.

“That’s rough.” Hawks said. “I’m just glad you told me before she got too weirded out. I really like her, I don’t want to ruin it with her.”

“That’s what friends are for to help you with your blind spots.” She explained. “And Hawks, if she stuck around this long I don’t think you’re scaring her off with shiny marbles.” She teased.

Hawks felt so embarrassed. He had no relationship experience. His childhood had not been a normal one, he didn’t go to middle school or high school. He didn’t go on awkward dates or take someone to prom. It was uncharted territory. He never even intended on dating anyone his life was too complicated then he met you and every excuse he had to date someone was out the window.

He had to make it up to you, he had to explain himself but he was trying to figure out the best way to do that. He recalled you telling him a story about earrings that you had really wanted to buy once at a boutique on vacation but you had ended up not buying them for one reason or another. He had made note of that hoping to look for one similar to what you described but hadn’t gotten around to it.

Now was finally his time, surprisingly it wasn’t that hard to find something that matched your description. He hoped it was close enough for you. Hawks texted you asking if he could come over tonight when you were home and you agreed.

After patrol, he picked up your favorite take out and headed over to your place. He landed on the balcony walking in as you told him he could. You sat on the couch wearing a cute pair of sweatpants and a sweater.

“Hey, babe.” You said standing up and walking over to him, greeting him with a kiss.

“Hey, little bird.” He said returning the kiss.

“Is that what I think it is?” You questioned.

“Your favorite.” He smiled. The two of you sat down at the couch opening up the bag of food and digging in.

“What’s the special occasion?” You asked as you finished up your food.

“I wanted to talk.” He answered, immediately he saw you face drop. “Nothing bad, I promise.”

“Oh.” You sighed in relief.

“Actually I wanted to apologize.” He started, his wings looked tense.

“For what?” You asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The gifts I’ve given you, my friend pointed out that they’re weird and not something you should give your girlfriend.

“Hawks-” You tried to interrupt but he continued.

“I’m sorry, it’s just something I’ve done since I was a kid. I see something shiny and I take it, I’ve had a collection forever and I don’t know I never questioned it until Mirko pointed it out. I just would always get so excited when I saw stuff I kept it. When I started dating you I’d see something and I would think this is so pretty I have to share it with her, I don’t want to keep it to myself-”

“Hawks.” You said taking his hand in yours. “Don’t apologize. Look.”

He watched as you leaned to your coffee table grabbing the small box on it and setting it in between the two of you. Opening it he realized it was full of all the things he had given you.

“I’ll admit I was a little confused at first but even then I saw how happy you were and it was so cute. How could I deny or be upset about you giving me something that made you so happy.” You explained, brushing your hand over the piece of sea glass he gave you. “Eventually I figured it out, I saw the drawer at your place and I put it together. Honestly, the fact that you gave me these means far more than expensive jewelry would mean to me.”

Hawks stared at you in disbelief. How had he ever found someone as amazing as you? He fought the tears that threatened to well up in his eyes. You had understood him without him ever having to explain.

“Actually, I just remembered.” You said standing up and moving to your purse by the door. You looked through it for a moment before finding what you were looking for. Sitting down you held your hand out presenting a shiny vintage key. “I saw this today at a little store I stopped at on my break. I don’t know if it will fit into your collection but-”

Before you could even finish your sentence Hawks had nearly tackled you into a kiss. His arms wrapped around you pulling you close as his wings fluttered. He pulled back looking into your eyes.

“I love you.” The words came out before he could stop them. He already felt so much for you but this had pushed it over the edge.

“Keigo, I-I love you too.” You returned not expecting anything that had just happened.

“I got you a gift, a proper gift this time.” He said reaching into his pocket. “The earrings you talked about, I hope they are close enough to the ones you wanted.”

“Keigo, they’re perfect.” You said pulling him in for another kiss. “Thank you.”

Hawks was more than just a pretty face and you had seen through that. Getting to know him, the real him, not the person the media presented or the child that had been raised into a weapon, was something you had enjoyed. Not only did you get to know the real Hawks but you had fallen deeply in love with him, bird traits, and all.

taglist:  @sugarmaplewings-fics @lilkiwisfinest @ewwis @kandy1410 @moonlightaangel @winnies-headcannons @bakugousidehoe @paintedr0ses1 @toobsessedsstuff @spellboundxizi @ourladyofseijoh  @x0doodlebug0x @katsushimaa @mooncademia

[keilemlucent]

I saw your requests were open and this thought has been on my mind FOREVER- I saw you wanted some Gang Orca asks and I'm his slut so- He has a mutant quirk which gives him animal characteristics like how it does with Hawks right? Okay now hear me out; Gang Orca going into rut. How does his demeanor change? Does he stoically sort it out himself or does he call y/n and ask you to come over? What is his behavior like pre and post rut? 👀 Okay- thanks for thinking with me 💀(I love you btw, thanks♡)

okay first off, THANK U for this request, i once again get to indulge my monster-fucker tendencies

second off, THANK YOU for the love, i tried to fulfill this one with a bit of world building!!!

warnings: rut cycles, a wittle monsterfucking, no actual smut, opulent interior design

----

You swallowed down your anxieties as you stood in front of the door to Kugo’s quiet, residential home. The gardens were preened to perfection, the walkup clear of any fallen leaves or seeds.

You had a small suitcase with you, all of your essentials and several outfits, though based on what Kugo described to you, they were inconsequential at the end of the day.

It was unlikely you’d be wearing anything most of the month you were staying with him. 

It was scary, at first, when Kugo sat you down and explained more of the intricacies of his anatomy. You’d seen his cock already, but you didn’t truly know how far his animalistic traits ran at that point. 

You worked at Kugo’s agency as a PA for his publicist, so it wasn’t hard for him to pull some strings and get you an entire month off to be there for his summertime rut. 

You’d learned, through his rolling bass and gentle words, that the whole biological process was one of the reasons he wasn’t higher on the hero charts. Being knocked out out of the field for nearly five weeks each year took a toll on his numbers and popularity, especially since he wasn’t particularly open about the reasons for his absence. 

It was all daunting, but you stepped up to help your partner without question.

Kugo had prepped the week prior, calling you at least once a day to sweetly ask your preferences and opinions on particularly... weird things. 

“What are your favorite smells? Textures?”

“Do you have an aversion to any types of tastes?”

“How good is your hearing on a scale of one to ten?”

You’d been exercising more at his request as well, slowly pushing your stamina to be at least a bit more solid.

(Not like it was going to matter, Kugo was going to break and ruin you even if he tried him damndest to be gentle and cautious. You knew that going in.)

Once again, you swallowed, this time forcing your fear back down your throat.

You rang his doorbell.

It only took a moment for him to answer, the door opening with more force than you’d expect. 

You both took sharp inhales.

Kugo was barely dressed, just a tight-fitting t-shirt and sports joggers. You tried not to stare, you really did, but when you caught the outline of his tapered cock, your breath caught hard in the back of your throat.

“(Y/N),” He gestured inside. “Come in, please.”

He’d leased a new home for his rut this year. He wouldn’t tell you why, but as soon as you stepped in the door, you understood.

The house seemed to be one floor, all rooms off a main atrium and living space. It was grandiose, well-furnished with hard-looking stone and bright fixtures. The center of the room held the focal of it all.

A massive pool.

Gurgling, blue-lit water swirled in the tiled pool, different lips and varying heights of cement visible underneath the ripples. There was a floating basket tethered to one of the side. Even from your distance, you could see the large bottle of oil-based lube, differently elegant bottles of oils, ear plugs and other assorted and very necessary items.

(This did include, you noted, a slick black collar you and Kugo had used a few times. You rubbed your thighs together at the thought.)

You leaned into Kugo’s side, staring the opulence of the whole set up, “This is... amazing, Kugo.”

He hummed, seemingly calm, but you could feel the sweat coating his skin already, “Overwhelmed, I assume?”

“A little, but it’ll pass,” You leaned up on your tiptoes to press a kiss to his slick cheek, though you weren’t able to pull away much. Kugo’s hands, clawed and curled, circled your waist and dragged you close. You could feel his cock, hard and writhing against your thigh.

You gulped as your feet were lifted off the ground, Kugo nuzzling into your neck and nipping, though the pressure and sharpness of his teeth were more than enough to get you gasping and squirming.

“It will,” He placed a kiss under your ear. He palmed as your ass, rolling his hips lightly against your own as you hooked your thighs around his waist.

There was something heady about it all, warmth prickling over your skin as your eyes went half-lidded. You vaguely noticed you were already dripping slick, despite hardly being touched.

Kugo sharply inhaled, growling and gripping under your ass, squeezing and walking into the threshold of the atrium as you clung to him.

“Let me show you how well I can take of you, dear,” Despite the sweetness of his words, his tone was low and rumbling. You keened, tucking into his neck as he slowly descended into the pool, not even bothering to disrobe.

You had no doubt he’d show you plenty during that month. 

[mushiewrites]

Hi Mushie! <3

I saw you rb'd a post about anons sending you questions so I am sending you some questions... except Im not on anon :P

If you don't feel like answering (all of) these thats completely fine too!! These were just off the top of my head! (Btw sorry for how long this ask is, you can't put readmore's in asks sadly)

1. What would you say is your fav color/ are your top three fav colors?

2. Sunrises or sunsets?

3. Fav animals as a kid vs now?

4. Current fav song if you have one atm/ how often do you listen to music?

5. Do you like to sing?

6. What do you like most about your art? What got you into drawing?

7. Whats the best season/weather?

8. Do you like thunderstorms? Do you like snow?

9. Do you have plants? If yes, how many?

10. Did you drink enough water today? If no, drink some rn this is a threath!

Juno 💗🥺 I love long asks so no need to apologize! For whatever reason mobile also doesn’t ever let me do the “read more” thingy so, I’m used to it 😂 The questions are a welcoming distraction so thank you, I appreciate you so much 😭

1. Okay my all time favorite color is like a teal blue-green? Like if you look up “blue green crayola crayon” that’s my favorite 😂 But second and third favs would have to be probably lavender and mint green maybe? Black also tbh

2. I am literally obsessed with the sky at any time of day, but I prefer evening / nights. I love cotton candy sunsets and starry nights ✨

3. When I was little I think it went in order from giraffe to elephants to wolves to cows to sharks to orcas….I still love all of them now but I’d say cats, orcas and sharks are my top 3. I have tattoos of an orca and a cat, I’m gonna get one of a shark too! (*an extra bit of mushie lore: I have a half sleeve on my left forearm that’s just all animals so rn I have the cat and orca, a moth, and a snake! My next one is gonna be the shark for sure)

4. OOF music related questions. More ~mushie lore~, I was a music nerd. I was in band, choir, advanced choir, music theory, marching band, theatre…..etc. I also was a music major in college 😬 So you can imagine how often I’m surrounded by music. I listen to it every single day, I don’t know how people go without it. I’d say right now, I’m currently just listening to Sabrina Carpenters new album “emails I can’t send” on repeat. But from THAT album, I’d say “because I liked a boy” OR “how many things” are the two I listen to the most! All time fav song…..that is genuinely so hard to pick but maybe “I love you” by Billie Eilish bc it always hurts me in the best way

5. I do be singing literally daily 😂 I used to get leads in musicals and stuff but I also don’t think I’m very good. BUT that being said I’ve had multiple people try and make me audition for shows like the x factor lmfao so do whatever you’d like with that information

6. So at the moment I’m not really sure there’s anything I like about my art. I’m kind of in a funk where I think everything I do just isn’t really that good. Which is dumb and not true! Because I know that I’ve been proud of things I’ve made. But yeah…I’m not sure. How I got into art was actually through my dad. He would always have canvases at his house and he would always encourage me to create stuff. So when I was younger and throughout like grade school I was really good, I was in advanced art classes and groups and in art shows and all that. But I kind of got out of it for a bit and just started up again in 2020. And I’m definitely more of a painter now, although I have been mainly drawing to try and get skill back

7. best season hands down is autumn. My favorite weather is stormy and cloudy, a little chilly so I can just wear a big sweater or hoodie and feel nice and cozy

8. Oop, I kind of answered the thunderstorm question. As for snow…..not really. I think it’s beautiful to look at and I love when it’s cold outside, but I don’t like being outside in it or driving in it

9. I have HELLA plants. Except they’re all fake 😎 I have probably around 20-30 in my room, I have an issue

10. It’s 9AM but I haven’t slept in like 36 hours so I don’t know what counts as today and what doesn’t….I have coffee currently and I have water!

Juno you are a lovely human and I am so grateful to have you in my inbox 💗

[oligbia]

Rat- Chapter 1

Mirio TogataXreader

The sun peeked through the windows of your room, curtains dancing as the light breeze flowed in the room. It was too hot in Musutafu, and you weren't fond of the heat. The way it made everything warm and made your body sticky with sweat- you much preferred being inside. You wanted to be somewhere cool. Young kids played in the streets, learning how to use their newly found quirks. Some kid down the street was clearly training himself- explosions sounding out as additional waves of heat fell through the air. A glass of iced tea sat on your bedside table, the ice melting quickly, condensation slipping down the glass.

You sat at your desk, notes and designs spread across her desk. You sat unconventionally in your chair, one leg dangling above the ground, one pulled into her chest. Your chin sat on your knee, tounge slightly sticking out as you studied the documents in front of you. The extra lessons weren’t curriculum for your middle school, and they definitely weren’t required for the summer break remediation. You had passed her last year of middle school with flying colors, top of your class. These were for your own good. You had one goal for the future, and a dozen back up plans, and if this goal fell through, you had to rely on your brains to figure the rest out. If you didn’t get into this school, the school, you weren't sure exactly what you would do.  

You were pulled away from your thoughts when a soft knock was followed by the soft creak of the door. Your grandfather peaked through the door’s opening.

“Y/N dear, you aren’t working too hard, are you?” The older man had a soft smile and short stature. He was clearly losing hair, his comb over thinning out. His eyes were dark, the wrinkles of his face drawing them further into his head.

“No, just some personal learning. I thought if maybe I got into UA, it would be good to know what stuff I want in my hero costume, so I’m looking into the way Present Mic’s uniform works. I think I want mine to be like his-”

Your grandfather scuttled over to you and placed an envelope at the corner of your desk. It was larger than a traditional envelope, it was more like a package. On the back of the white envelope, it was sealed with a large sticker, the UA crest. You looked at your grandfather with large excited eyes. You felt your pulse quicken and your hands shook slightly. You went to grab the envelope, your grandfather taking your hands in his grip softly.

“Whatever happens, Y/N, I am incredibly proud of you- and your parents would be too. I will do everything we can to make sure your future is as bright as you.”

Small tears threatened to overflow from your eyes as you looked into the gentle eyes of your grandfather. You nodded slowly before removing your hands from his grip and returning to the envelope in front of you. You slowly opened it, afraid of ripping the seal. Inside was a small box. You placed the box gently on the desk, a large screen appearing in front of you. A heroic typed melody played as a small animal-like creature appeared on the screen. You honestly weren’t sure if her was a mouse or cat- but what you knew was he was someone of importance based on what he was wearing.

“Good day students, I hope this letter finds you in good health. We would like to congratulate you on completing the acceptance exam for UA, even if you didn’t make the cut to our school, the test is no easy test. It was designed to figure out the best of the best, and was written by some of the best heroes in our world today. Now, to the part you are really looking forward to- the decision regarding your acceptance into our school...”

Your grandfather placed his hands on your shoulders in reassurance. Your heart hadn’t stopped pounding, the anticipation ringing in your ears. This was not just a decision about a highschool- this would decide your future. You knew you passed the written exam with flying colors- there was no way you hadn’t. But the hero part- you admittedly didn’t have a super flashy quirk and had minimal quirk training, you were unsure if you had managed to complete that part adequately.  

“You have been accepted into the hero course 1-A! This is one of two hero classes. We are looking forward to seeing you on the first day of classes. Have a wonderful day, and remember, to go beyond plus ultra!” The mouse-man waved a goodbye before the screen condensed itself.

You felt your body sink, disbelief taking over you. Your grandfather looked down at you, tears spilling down his face. “I am so proud of you. Your parents would be too, Y/N” You hugged him gently, tears falling from your eyes.

As your summer break passed by, you grew more anxious about your upcoming school year. You found out no one else in your middle school had been accepted into UA, so this was a completely new experience for you. You spent a lot of time training, hoping to get a better grasp on your quirk before transferring into the school. It was a safe bet to assume that these other kids had quirks better than yours, and falling behind was not an option. You weren't trying to be a number one hero- but you would be a hero, and a pretty damn good on at that. On the first day of classes, your grandfather saw you out the door. Your new uniform was pressed and ironed clean, the white shirt and grey skirt matched with black knee highs. Your grandfather tied your tie for you, smiling the whole time. You stared holes into your shoes, nerves clogging your mind.

“There is no reason to be nervous, you are there for a reason.”

You looked up at your grandfather, taken back by his ability to tell how distracted you were. You smiled at him as he removed his hands from your now tied tie. He smiled, placing a gentle kiss on your forehead. “Good luck today, Y/N.” You nodded and left out the door, walking to UA.

It wasn’t a long walk, it was about twenty minutes. You walked through your small neighborhood, your neighbors waving as you walked. Word had gotten around that the small orphaned girl had gotten into UA, and they were perhaps more excited than you. You appreciated their support and hoped you could be their favorite hero one day.

You looked up at the stairs of UA in front of you, the anxiety growing in you gut. You felt your jaw clench in tension, the pressure of a new school year in such a large and elite building threatening to cause you to hurll. You once agains began to question your worth. Could someone with such a small quirk really be good enough for such an intense school? Some of the kids you had seen at your entrance exam had flashy quirks that some of the current heros could even envy. You took in a deep breath and accepted that if you were here you were meant to be here and you had earned your place here. You would train hard enough to catch up to the others. Despite feeling as anxious as you did, you would fake your confidence. You fixed your posture, trying to release the held tension in your shoulders and jaw, and made your way inside the building.

Once you found your class, you noticed a lot of other students sitting in their seats looking about as distant as you, clearly as anxious. A few students were already speaking as if they were friends, they likely came from the same middle schools. You found a open chair in the second row from the back on the outside row, closest to the door. You sat down and looked down at your folded hands, fidgeting with your nails and fingers. You heard rustling next to you, someone sitting down.

“Hi! My name is Nejire Hado!”

Your heart caught in your throat, a bit startled.”

“L/N Y/N.” You looked at the girl who had seated herself next to you. She was a bit shorter than average height, but she was more midsized, a combination of being more developed than others your age and her trained body. Her hair was long and thick, its sky blue color working in unison with her deep blue eyes. Her smile was big, her demeanor warm and inviting.

“L/N?” She cocks her head to the side, inquisitive. “I think we were in the same entrance exam…” She wasn’t able to finish her thought before getting distracted by another student sitting down behind her. He was much taller than Hado, however he was much more reserved than her. His eyes looked down the entire time, slouched down over his seats. His hair was done upward and was a deep purple, however you could see the soft point of his ears through his hair.

“Amajikii! I’m so glad we get to be in the same class!”

Tamaki Amajiki didn’t bother to look up at her, his voice was soft, barley above a mumble.

“Yea, me too.”

“Amajiki, this is L/N, she was in the hero exam with us! L/N, Amajiki and I ended up working together during the physical bit of the entrance exam. I’m so glad that three of us ended up together!”

You gave her a small nod, a bit overwhelmed. The new environment of the new school and Hado’s constant pep was unfamiliar to you. You weren’t necessarily shy like Amajiki was, but you were more reserved. You didn’t have many friends growing up, you always saw something like school as a place to learn, not really a place to play.

Hado kept talking, her conversations following sporadic trains of thought. She was rambling on about your new teacher, wondering who it could be. She listed off popular heroes at the time, Gang Orca, Grand Torino- she seemed to be the most excited out of all the students there, most of them seemed to be just as anxious as you and Amajiki. What you didn’t expect, however, was Eraserhead to wander into class.

“Hello everyone, I’m Shotua Aizawa, I’ll be your teacher.” His voice was mono-toned and deep, like how you imagine someone would sound after waking up from a nap. His eyes were red and swollen, large bags under his eyes. His hair was long and seemingly unkept, his face sHado wed with the stubble on his chin and upper lip. From the initial look of him, you felt your face almost completely turn up at him. He didn’t seem to be a teacher, never-the-less a Pro Hero. You glanced at some of the other students in your class, most of them sharing a common look of confusion. A few seemed to recognize Mr.Aizawa, but you couldn’t remember him being a hero of any sort of major significance, not a top 10 hero.

Mr.Aizawa started class off by going over some general rules and a somewhat underwhelming welcome to UA. It was very apparent that he didn’t see your time at UA to be a time to make friends, it was a time to become a hero. You agreed with him, in the end you will have to be better than your peers if you want to be at the top, you can’t make friends just to turn around and stab them in the back. He took down the seating chart, securing your neighborship to Hado and Amajiki. He informed you that it was time to start your physical hero training- he wanted you to learn more about each other's quirks. He led you all to the gym locker rooms and explained that the gym uniforms you would be wearing were inside.

The uniform wasn’t exactly the most flattering thing, it was a blue short-sleeved zip up with matching blue pants, the whole ensemble making the UA logo. You wore a black t-shirt underneath and pulled your hair out of your face. You were curious to see the quirks of your peers and wondered how yours would compare. Your quirk wasn’t traditional, but it was a good one. Your grandfather always said it would come to be a quirk liked by all and it showed a lot about you as a person. It was a unique quirk that was an attachment to you, like it or not.

All the students lined up outside, two large floor mats were in the field in front of you. Soon after, a second class of students appeared outside, their uniforms matching yours. They seemed to be the same age as you. They were escorted by Pro Hero Vlad King, who was presumably their teacher. Vlad King made his way over to Aizawa and exchanged an attempt at pleasantries, one Mr.Aizawa didn’t seem to want to return.

“Class, this is Pro Hero Vlad King, but in school he is Mr.Kan. He is class 1-Bs teacher. Class 1 B is also in the hero course, just like yourselves.”

Mr.Kan smirked, his underfangs poking up through the corner of his mouth. His build was much larger than Aizawa’s, he was built of more muscle and height.

“Class 1-A, it is a pleasure to meet you all, good luck in your training. Mr.Aizawa isn’t easy.”

Hado placed a hand on your shoulder lightly. You hadn’t even noticed she was next to you. She whispered into your ear, her eyes wide.

“Do you think this is going to be a hard exercise? It’s only the first day-”

You shrugged at her, noticing Amajiki cowering behind her. Mr.Aizawa returned his attention back to your class and looked at Amajiki dead on, daggers piercing from his gaze.  “Amajiki, you scored the highest on the entrance exam- you’ll go first.”

The class turned to look at Amajiki, the poor boy visibly shaking. He felt himself coward down, the glares from his peers enough to make him want to disappear. He felt a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, coming from Hado, of course. Amajiki made his way to the front of the class, his posture leaving his shoulder pushed forward, his eyes burning holes into the ground he was walking on.

Aizawa pushed a small button, a large wall growing behind the mat. It was probably 6 feet tall and made of concrete bricks. “Your task is to break this wall down. It’s made from concrete. You have to remain on this outering of the mat. Good luck.”

Amajiki took a deep breath and started to use his quirk. His arm began to dissipate, turning into a large tentacle. Amajiki didn’t even look up from the ground before sending his new appendage hurling at the wall. A small crack formed in it, but it wasn’t enough to break it completely. Amajiki groaned and looked even more visibly nervous. He retreated back to where he was standing at the back.

“Aw, poor Amajiki, that's too bad.” Hado pouted a bit. She smiled at Amajiki when he reached her again. “Good try Amajiki! You almost made it!” You looked over at them both in a side glance, noticing Tamki’s arm hadn’t completely returned back to its original kind, it was just a smaller tentacle.

Mr.Aizawa looked at the damage of the wall and made his decision. “Amajiki didn’t break it enough to give anyone an advantage, L/N can go next, you were the top score on the written exam.”

It was your turn to be the center of attention. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, wandering forward. You hadn’t known you had scored the highest on the written exam, you had only had a feeling you did. You wandered onto the mat, trying to get an idea of what you were dealing with. The wall was clearly going to be heavy, but it didn’t seem super long. It was only 4 or 5 feet across.

You let out a high pitched whistle and watched dozens of small rodents scurry towards you. Some of your peers looked down below them, remarks of confusion rising as a soft murmur. You concentrated your thoughts, trying to desperately focus on the task at hand. It was hard to focus on hundreds of rats when you felt the gaze of 20 kids, those kids all murmuring. The growing pressure from Aizawas wasn’t helping either. You hated your quirk for this reason, it wasn’t discreet. People were going to notice it, and they were going to know you were the source. You were able to get a message to the rats, your quirk allowing you to provide them with short commands, assuming they can hear your whistle and you can focus on them.

The rats began to shimmy themself through the opening between the wall and the mat. It had only been a few centimeters tall, but it was enough you could notice it and hope the rats would fit under it. The remaining rats began to scale the wall, creating an unbalance of weight on the side of the wall. You took a deep breath and let out one last whistle. You watched as the wall slowly toppled over. The bottom few rows remained tacked, but the top few walls fell off, hitting the ground. You let out a breath you weren’t sure you were holding in. The class behind you began to speak louder, but you weren’t interested in what they had to say. You whistled again and watched the rats scurry away into places you couldn’t see.

“Very good, L/N, but you have a lot to work on.”

You nodded before retreating to the back of the group again. Your peers parted for you, their gazes heavier than when you started. You reached the back, only to be bombarded by dozens of questions by Nejire. She asked you about your quirk, when you found out you had it, and if it only worked for rats. You tried answering her as she spoke, hardly able to keep up. Most of the students had shifted their gaze off you, their attention restored on the new students demonstrating on a reset wall. However, you could still sense you were being watched from someone.

You turned to look at class 1-B. They were working on training like yours, but they seemed to be doing something different. Their training seemed more adapted to their quirks. You were able to trace the gaze back to someone standing in the middle of their class, his eyes focused on you. His eyes were big and a deep blue, his expression seemed puzzled as he watched you. You locked eyes with him, cocking an eyebrow at him. He looked flustered and moved his gaze away from you and back to the training happening in front of him. His hair was blond and was pulled into a short ponytail behind his head. He was a bit shorter than Amajiki, but his build was much larger, and he had well developed muscles. You had no idea who he was or why he was watching you.

You were pulled out of your observation when Hado was poking your shoulder. “Y/N, do you have a lunch plan?”

You shook your head. “I hadn’t thought about it-”

She grabbed your hands in hers, swinging them around a bit. “Sit with me! Amajiki says he has a friend from middle school to sit with- but I want you to come.”

You thought about what Aizawa had said. The idea of getting close to anyone seemed bad. But, at the same time, spending 3 years alone would be difficult. And Amajiki had a quirk you wanted to study. You looked at her, her eyes wide with wonder. “Yea okay.”

Hado threw her hands up in joy, and you felt the gaze from the blond boy in 1-B return again, but you didn’t look back at him. Amajiki spoke up, his voice still hardly above a whisper. “I think you are going soon Hado-”

Hado dropped your hands and returned her focus back to the mat. You felt a soft smile grow on your face watching her. She practically radiated a welcoming warmth. Even if you didn’t want a friend, you couldn’t have avoided her.

➡  Chapter 2  ➡

[thelazyhermits]

Touching Hearts

As I mentioned in this post, I’ve finally started watching season 4 of the anime, and because of that, I’m remembering things I had forgotten about since it’s been a while since I last read about those arcs in the manga.

One such thing I forgot about was how beat up Todoroki and Bakugou get from their provisional license training, which is mentioned at the beginning of the Overhaul arc, so I decided to write a scene focused on that which takes place directly after chapter 38 of TABF.

I hope y’all enjoy it! ^-^

After you convince Yagi to meet with Nighteye, the retired hero nervously calls his former sidekick in hopes to arrange a meeting with him. Much to his surprise, Nighteye quickly agrees and says you both can come by tomorrow afternoon.

Of course, you aren’t nearly as surprised as Yagi is. After all, there’s no way a diehard All Might fan like Nighteye could ever turn down a request from the former number one hero himself. Plus, you’re sure that he was happy to hear that Yagi wanted to speak with him, even though you bet he’s wondering what the reason behind the visit is since Yagi didn’t go into details.

Once that meeting has been set up and you’ve properly cleaned your tear-stained face, you and Yagi make arrangements to set up a meeting with Nedzu and Aizawa to let them know about the current situation at hand.

As expected, neither Nedzu or Aizawa are thrilled when they hear the news of Nighteye’s impending death, and the latter especially dislikes the thought of you trying to prevent it because of your drawback. 

Thankfully, in the end, you and Yagi manage to convince him to allow you both to meet with Nighteye tomorrow since you can’t just ignore your vision. You have to do something.

However, it takes a while to do that, so by the time you finally start heading back to the dorm, you’re completely exhausted, emotionally because of that horrific vision you had about Nighteye, mentally because of that meeting with Aizawa, and physically since you had training with Shinsou after that meeting finally concluded. 

That’s why you have every intention to go to bed early tonight, so you’ll be well-rested for tomorrow’s meeting with Nighteye. And you’re honestly just too tired to do anything besides cook dinner at this point, well anything except for giving Midoriya a big hug, of course, since you know he had an equally rough day and you will never be too tired to shower him with the affection and support he deserves. Plus, hugging him always makes you feel better, so it’s only natural that you take every opportunity to do so, especially on a day like today.

While you follow through with your plan to hug Midoriya once you return to the dorm, your plans to turn in early tonight end up changing when dinner comes and goes without you seeing Bakugou or Todoroki. Apparently, since it’s Sunday, today’s provisional license training is an all day affair.

Aizawa had told you as much earlier today, but you didn’t think he literally meant all day, considering how early the boys left this morning. Naturally, that just makes you wonder what kind of training they are going through that lasts from sunrise to sunset, obviously the really intense kind.

No doubt Todoroki and Bakugou will be exhausted by the time they return to the dorm. You just hope they won’t be too battered and beaten since you heard from the other UA teachers that Ganga Orca is a tough instructor.

Since you’re worried about your students, you can’t bring yourself to go to bed until they safely return to the dorm. That’s why, when everyone else turns in for the night, you remain in the living room and wait for the boys.

Fortunately, you don’t have to wait long since Bakugou and Todoroki both arrive shortly after their classmates turn in for the night. When they do, you discover that your wish for them to not be too battered and beaten was in vain.

With a gasp, you hurry over to the surprised boys, so you can get a better look at their injuries. “Are you two alright?! I heard Ganga Orca was a tough instructor, but I didn’t think you two would come back looking this beat up!”

Todoroki blinks, “We’re alright. None of our injuries are serious.”

He tilts his head. “What are you doing still up, Sensei? I thought everyone would be asleep by now.”

Frowning, you gently cup his injured cheek as you examine the damage done to his handsome face. “I didn’t want to go to bed before you two got home, and I’m glad I didn’t since you both need to get these injuries treated before you go to bed.”

Bakugou huffs, “You’re overreacting. These are just scratches. They’re nothing to make a big deal about.”

“Even so, we can’t ignore them.” You reply as you pull your hand away from Todoroki’s face. “So, after you two have eaten dinner, I’ll help you take care of them.”

Just as you turn to head for the kitchen, a question comes to mind, making you pause. “Or do you guys need to take a shower first?”

Todoroki shakes his head. “They had shower stalls at the building where our training was held, so we took showers after we changed out of our hero costumes.”

“Good.” You resume heading toward the kitchen. “In that case, just take a seat at the dining table, and I’ll bring out the food I set aside for you two.”

Rather than oblige, Bakugou drops the briefcase carrying his hero costume and follows after you. “I can carry my own fucking food. You don’t need to bring it to me.”

After Todoroki copies his classmate’s actions, he adds, “I can carry mine too. You don’t have to go out of your way for our sake, Sensei.”

Obviously, these two aren’t as exhausted as you first thought if they have enough energy to argue with you. You suppose you should take that as a good sign.

“Alright.” You huff, “I’ll show you what all I set aside for you in the fridge, and then, I’ll take care of getting some drinks for us.”

Not long after that, the three of you find yourselves at the dining table. While your students eat their food, you just drink from the water bottle you grabbed for yourself.

Rather than try talking to your students, you just watch them devour the food you prepared for them since they’re obviously more interesting in eating than chatting. You had expected they would have strong appetites after the long day they had, and you were right. It’s a good thing you made sure to prepare ample portions for them.

Once he has gotten through half of his meal, Shouto finally takes notice of what Bakugou is eating and tilts his head curiously. “I didn’t notice this earlier, but Bakugou and I are eating completely different meals. Why is that? Shouldn’t these just be leftovers from tonight’s dinner?”

Apparently, Bakugou didn’t notice that either, judging from the way he pauses his eating to examine his and his classmate’s dinner. When the blond later turns to raise an eyebrow at you, you chuckle, “Those aren’t leftovers from tonight’s dinner. Those are dishes I made after dinner.”

A grin forms on your lips. “I wanted to make you each your favorite foods once I realized what a long day you would be having since I wanted to make sure your day ended on a good note. After all, nothing’s better than eating food that you love after a long day, right?”

The corners of Todoroki’s lips tilt slightly upwards. “That’s true. My day definitely improved thanks to your delicious soba. Thank you, Sensei.”

As you return the ice user’s smile, Bakugou returns his attention to his food. “Your spicy food still isn’t anywhere near the level of spiciness my cooking has, but it’s not bad.”

An amused huff escapes you. “Thanks, and I’ll be sure to keep the spice level in mind the next time I make something spicy for you.”

Once that conversion concludes, the boys resume eating. Since it shouldn’t be long until they finish, you leave the table to collect the first aid kit that’s kept in the kitchen, so you can be ready to treat their injuries once they finish eating.

Fortunately, even though you know Bakugou finds your mothering to be annoying, he doesn’t try to make a break for it as soon as he and Todoroki finish eating. Instead, the blond takes care of cleaning his dishes and throws away his trash like his classmate does before returning to the dining table.

When you give him an approving smile after he takes a seat at the table, Bakugou scowls at you in return, but thankfully, he doesn’t do anything else. Still, you know he’ll be far from a model patient, so you decide to save him for last since you know Todoroki won’t give you any trouble.

Just as you expected, Todoroki just quietly sits at the table as you begin treating all of his injuries, only speaking whenever you ask him if he’s in any pain. Each time you ask him if your actions are hurting him, he assures you that he’s fine much to your relief.

That relief quickly turns tino frustration when you begin treating the scrapes on Todoroki’s face. “Honestly, what was Ganga Orca thinking, allowing such a handsome face to get injured like this? If the ladies of Japan saw you looking like this, they would all cry!”

Todoroki’s eyes widen slightly. “Really? How come?”

While Bakugou rolls his eyes, you answer, “Because nothing is sadder to a girl than seeing a handsome guy’s face get ruined! Looks like yours should be treasured, not treated like this! Doesn’t Ganga Orca realize a face like yours will eventually become one of Japan’s greatest treasures?!”

He continues to stare at you in amazement. “I didn’t realize my face was so important.”

Bakugou scoffs, “It’s not. Sensei’s just exaggerating. The only thing that stands out about your face is how fucking annoying it is.”

Just as you’re about to scold the hothead for his words, an idea comes to mind, making you grin. “Aw, Bakugou, is that jealousy I hear? Are you upset that I'm complimenting Todoroki’s face and not yours?”

His face reddens. “Hah?! Don’t be stupid! Like I give a fuck about that!”

Your grin grows. “I dunno. You sure sounded jealous to me.”

“There’s no need to be jealous, Bakugou.” Todoroki calmly says, “You have a nice face too.”

While you snort at Todoroki’s innocent compliment, Bakugou glowers at him. “Are you trying to pick a fight with me, Half-and-Half?! I’ll kill you!”

Confused, Todoroki tilts his head. “No? Why would you think that?”

Before Bakugou can retort, you intervene. “Todoroki is right, though. You do have a handsome face just like he does, Bakugou.”

With a grin, you add, “Although, I’m worried about it going to waste, considering how much you’re always scowling. You know, if you keep making faces like that, your face might get stuck like that forever.”

Todoroki frowns, “That wouldn’t be good. You should be careful, Bakugou, so that won’t happen.”

As you fight the urge to laugh at the stoic boy’s show of genuine concern, Bakugou’s scowl deepens. “It won’t! So, fuck off! Nobody asked for either of your opinions!”

Chuckling, you finish up bandaging the rest of Todoroki’s injuries. “Just giving you a friendly warning. After all, you want to surpass All Might, don’t you?”

Bakugou raises an eyebrow at you. “What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”

Once you’ve taken care of Todoroki, you begin tending to the blond’s injuries, taking full advantage of his distraction caused by your earlier comment. “In order to fully surpass All Might, you have to beat him in all aspects, right? Well, that obviously means you’ll have to have a smile that can outshine his, don’t you think?”

“That makes sense.” Todoroki agrees, “After all, when anyone thinks of All Might, one of the first things that come to mind is his smile since it’s so iconic.”

You give him a wink. “Exactly! If anyone ever hopes to beat All Might, then they better have a smile that can rival his. Otherwise, he’ll always remain number one in that category.”

When you return your focus to Bakugou, you see him frowning, wearing a contemplative expression. Obviously, he’s taking your words into serious consideration. 

Smiling, you finish bandaging one of his scrapes before ruffling his hair, making him scowl. “You’re amazing, Bakugou. There’s no question about that. You’re strong, smart, and talented among many other things.”

“However,” You raise a finger. “there is one important ability you and Todoroki both need to master before either of you can become the kind of pro hero who can surpass All Might.”

While Bakugou raises an eyebrow at you, Todoroki curiously asks, “And what ability is that?” 

Your earlier smile returns as you turn to point at his and Bakugou’s chests. “The ability to capture people’s hearts by touching their hearts and making your own hearts more apparent to the people you’re trying to protect.”

Noticing their twin looks of confusion, you elaborate, “The reason All Might was such an amazing hero wasn’t just because he was strong and talented. It was because he was amazing at touching people’s hearts by showing them his own.”

You rest a hand over your heart. “All Might gave people hope because they knew that no matter what he would always protect them, not just because he was the strongest but because he genuinely cared about everyone. Everyone could tell that he would always go beyond Plus Ultra to protect them because he considered them all equally important.”

Your expression softens. “That’s how I felt whenever I watched him on TV and in my visions. I could see how much he cared about others and how nothing was more important to him than maintaining the peace and giving others hope.”

When you lift your gaze to look at your students, you see them watching you intently, wearing contemplative expressions, proving that they’re deeply considering your words.

“Real heroes have the ability to not only save people’s lives but also their hearts,” You softly say, “and to some people, the latter is the most important ability a hero can have.”

“And that includes you?” Bakugou solemnly asks as he holds your gaze.

The corners of your lips curve upwards. “It does, because I wouldn’t have made it this far if it weren’t for heroes that could save people’s hearts. That’s why I hope that you promising heroes-to-be will one day master that ability too.”

“I use the term ‘master’ because I’ve already experienced firsthand you both using such an ability. Although, I’m sure it wasn’t really intentional on either of your parts.” You add, earning some surprised looks from your students.

As you’re speaking, you think back to the I-Island incident and how Todoroki refused to leave your side and was determined to get you the medical attention you needed. Then, your memories drift toward the villain attack at the summer camp and how Bakugou refused to abandon you, even though it meant putting himself at risk.

Your smile softens. “One day, you both will able to intentionally touch people’s hearts in the same way you did mine. I have complete confidence in both of you since I know there’s nothing you two can’t do if you put your minds to it, so I have no doubt that you’ll both become amazing heroes that can outshine even All Might.”

For several seconds, your students just stare at you with slightly widened eyes, and then, Bakugou smirks, “Of course, I fucking will! I’m the guy who’s gonna be the next number one hero who surpasses All Might in every shape and form! I’ll master every fucking aspect of being a hero there is, so I’ll be the unequivocal number one!”

Todoroki nods, “I’ll work hard too, Sensei, to become a hero who can save lives and hearts. I won’t let you down.”

Grinning, you reach over to ruffle their hair. “I know. You two are always meeting and surpassing my expectations. This time won’t be any different.”

Both boys’ eyes gain a pleased gleam at your words, but Bakugou tries to hide it by averting his gaze. Rather than tease him about it, you just resume taking care of the rest of his injuries. 

As you’re doing this, Todoroki asks, “Do you think our training for our provisional licenses will help us get a better understanding of touching people’s hearts, or is that something we’re supposed to learn during our lessons here at UA?”

You hum thoughtfully. “I’m not sure what all the training for your provisional licenses entails, so I can’t say for sure about that. But as far as your school lessons are concerned, I’m sure you’ll eventually get lessons focused on that aspect of heroics. Although, I would think heroes-in-training would mostly get those kinds of lessons when they’re out in the field.”

Bakugou tilts his head. “Because it means interacting with actual civilians?”

Nodding, you give him an approving smile. “Exactly. The best way for heroes to touch people’s hearts is by learning how to understand the people they’re protecting, which happens by getting closer to them. Doing this helps both parties come to learn more about each other, which leads to trust building between them.”

After you finish tending to the last of Bakugou’s injuries, you begin putting up everything that you took out of the first aid kit. “Trust is key to touching people’s hearts. It’s important that you both become the kind of hero that people know they can trust and rely on no matter what happens.”

Once everything has been put away, you turn to face your students and smile, “You both have already proven to me that you’re strong and capable heroes that I can rely on and trust. Now, you just have to figure out how to do that with everyone else. It won’t be easy since social interactions aren’t really either of your forte, but I know you both can do it.”

While Todoroki gives you a determined nod, Bakugou just averts his gaze with a huff. “Obviously.”

Getting an idea, you cheerfully clap your hands together. “However, as your teacher, I shouldn’t make you do all that hard work without, at least, first imparting a little helpful advice.”

Once you have their undivided attention, you continue, “Obviously, as I mentioned before, one of the main things you both need to do is develop your own hero smile, so by the time you guys graduate, you must have a smile that can put everyone’s hearts at ease.”

As expected, Bakugou makes a face at your words while Todoroki just gives you another nod. Obviously, that one task in itself is going to be difficult for them due their personalities and typical demeanors, but you know smiling isn’t impossible for them. It’s just not something they choose to often do.

There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, as far as their daily lives are concerned. It’s only when they’re on the field, working as pro heroes, that they need to be able to implement what you consider to be one of a hero’s most important assets.

Once you’ve reaffirmed the importance of that ability, you decide to share the idea you came up with earlier. “Another important thing you two should work on is communicating with the people you’re supposed to protect in a way that will assure them that everything will be alright now that you’re there for them.”

With a grin, you wink, “And you should also make good use of those good looks you both have while you’re at it to win their hearts over even more.”

While Bakugou raises an eyebrow at you, Todoroki gives you a curious look. “How do we do that?”

Your grin grows. “I’ll show you! Just pretend you’re a civilian who got caught up in a villain attack, alright?”

Once you get a nod from him, you grab Todoroki’s hands and hold them in between yours. As he stares at you with a mixture of surprise and confusion, you hold his gaze and give him the most reassuring smile you can muster. “It’ll be alright. You’re safe now. I’m here, so you don’t need to worry anymore. I’ll protect you no matter what. I won’t let anyone lay a single finger on you.”’

You give his hands a reassuring squeeze as your smile softens. “So, don’t be scared. A look like that doesn’t suit your handsome face. The world would be much better off if you were smiling instead since a smile like yours can make even the darkest of days seem bright. That’s why I’ll fight with everything I have to protect that precious smile; I won’t let anyone ever take it away, I promise.”

While Bakugou gapes at you, Todoroki stares at you with slightly widened eyes. Obviously, you caught them both completely off guard with your performance.

When a few seconds pass without a response, you release Todoroki’s hands and grin, “So, what do you think, Todoroki? Did I make your heart skip a beat just now?”

He rests a hand over his heart. “There weren’t any irregularities with my heartbeat, but…”

“But?” You parrot, tilting your head curiously.

“My chest feels very warm now, all of a sudden.” Todoroki replies, “How strange.”

Giggling, you ruffle his hair. “That’s what it means to touch people’s hearts, Todoroki. That’s the kind of reaction you should be aiming for when you interact with the people you’re trying to protect.”

His expression appears thoughtful. “Come to think of it, I remember feeling similarly whenever I watched All Might on TV when I was a child. So, this is what it means to touch people’s hearts.”

Todoroki lifts his gaze to meet yours and gives you a small smile. “Thank you for showing me that, Sensei. I promise I’ll make good use of your example and your advice.”

“I have no doubt that you will.” You pat his head. “I have high hopes for you, Todoroki.”

When you later pull your hand away from his head, Todoroki adds, “I promise I’ll also take better care of my face in the future since I don’t want you or any of the other ladies of Japan to cry.”

A laugh escapes you. “Good to hear! You gotta take good care of that face of yours since it’s gonna be one of your greatest assets when you’re a pro hero.”

Bakugou, who has been quiet all this time, finally breaks his silence with a scoff. “Only if he ever learns how to stop being so fucking annoying all the time.”

While you give him an exasperated look, Bakugou rises to his feet and asks, “Are we done here, Sensei?”

With a sigh, you nod, “Yeah, I’m done treating both of your injuries, so you two are free to go. Sorry for keeping you both up when I’m sure you’re both beyond exhausted.”

Todoroki shakes his head. “You don’t need to apologize. If anything, we should be thanking you for staying up late for our sake. Right, Bakugou?”

The blond clicks his tongue. “Whatever.”

While the boys move to collect their briefcases containing their hero costumes, you quickly return the first aid kit to the kitchen before rejoining them in the living room. As you all begin heading for the elevators, you ask, “So, what did you think of the example I provided for Todoroki, Bakugou? Do you think that’s something you can do?”

“Of course, I can!” Bakugou huffs, “There’s nothing I can’t do, so I won’t have any issue doing something like that.”

Even though he says that, you have a feeling accomplishing such a task will be more difficult than he thinks once he finally tries it out, considering his less than ideal social skills. While you have full faith in him, there’s no doubt in your mind that he’ll struggle with this aspect of heroics for at least a little while since it’s completely foreign territory to him.

“I’m not as confident as Bakuguou since I’m not used to doing something like that, but I’m going to work hard.” Todoroki comments, “Hopefully, by the time we get our provisional licenses, I’ll be ready to try touching people’s hearts.”

“It might take you a little while, but you’ll definitely get there, Todoroki.” You assure him. “Until then, just keep working hard and doing your best like you always do.”

Around that time, the three of you come to a stop in front of the elevators. Just as you’re about to hit the button for the elevator you’ll be taking, you suddenly realize you had almost forgotten something very important. “I almost forgot!”

Both Todoroki and Bakugou, who were about to enter the elevator which will take them to the boys’ side of the dorm, pause at your exclamation. 

Before either of them can question you, you reach over to pat their heads, smiling all the while. “Welcome home, Bakugou, Todoroki. Good work today. I’m proud of you both.”

The two stare at you with surprise for a brief moment, and then, their features relax.

A slight smile rises to Todoroki’s lips. “I’m home, Sensei. Also, thank you for dinner and for taking care of my injuries.”

Bakugou averts his gaze. “I’m home.”

After a brief pause, he then mutters, “And thanks.”

Immediately, after those two words passes his lips, Bakugou hurries into the elevator before you can say anything else. Not wanting to be left behind, Todoroki quickly follows after him. 

Chuckling, you give them a parting wave. “Good night, you two. See you in the morning.”

Just before the elevator door closes, Todoroki returns the parting. You don’t hear anything from Bakugou, but you figure that’s to be expected. 

With a smile, you turn to enter the elevator that will take you to the girls’ side of the dorm. As you’re riding the elevator, you think back to the discussion you had with Todoroki and Bakugou.

Those two definitely both have the potential to become the kinds of heroes that can save people’s hearts. It won’t be easy, but I have full faith that they can overcome any obstacles that come their way.

Just as you think that, your Quirk activates, showing you a vision of your students in the midst of their provisional license training.

Feeling a mixture of amused and surprised, you watch as Ganga Orca declares that Bakugou, Todoroki, Inasa, and the girl Toga impersonated, Utsushimi  Camie, all have to participate in a special training where they have to win the hearts of a bunch of primary schoolers since he says what the heroes-in-training need is “heart”.

Seems like Ganga Orca and I were on the same page. What are the chances?

Looks like Todoroki will be getting a lesson on touching people’s hearts during his provisional license training after all. Unfortunately for him, it won’t be an easy lesson, considering how those primary schoolers have no interest in listening to anyone, not even the teacher they came with.

Of course, you still believe that your students can accomplish such a lofty task. You just have no idea how since you hadn’t considered giving them lessons on how to talk to small children.

That’s why you’re very eager to see what happens next in this vision since you want to see what your students will do. Just how will they win these children’s hearts?

Unfortunately, you don’t get all the details you were hoping for since a time skip occurs in your vision, preventing you from seeing how Todoroki and Bakugou will react to the crazy situation Ganga Orca has put them in.

Your disappointment doesn’t last long, however, when, after the time skip, you see all the children happily playing with the four students in charge of winning them over. 

All you can do is smile when you see all the smiling primary schoolers playing on large ice slides that were obviously made by Todoroki. Those are some great smiles you put on their faces, Todoroki. Good job. I knew you could do it.

Your smile grows when you see Bakugou telling a kid that he won’t be able to recognize his own weaknesses if he’s always looking down on others. Well said, Bakugou. I’m so proud of how far you’ve come.

Around that time, your vision comes to an end, just as the elevator doors open. As you move to exit the elevator, an immense rush of pride washes over you, making you beam.

You’re amazing, Todoroki, Bakugou. You two really can do anything when you set your minds to it. Looks like you’re gonna soon be one step closer to becoming the heroes you’re both striving to become.

And you couldn’t be more proud.

[mshomestyle]

I'm so glad you're okay with dad stuff!! That's my absolute favorite 'genre' f story to read! Not the Gang Orca anon, but I have dad requests too now that I know you like it. Can you do a Natsuo one? I haven't read any Natsuo dad fics, and he's an underrated Todoroki tbh. He deserves more stories than what he has. Like the years of his child's life. The milestones! If thats okay of course. Natsuo would be a fantastic dad, and nobody has written that yet. Sad really

I would love to do that! I love writing about MHA characters with their little babies. Like, it’s too precious for words, you know? Also, you’re right! Natsuo needs more love!

Natsuo x Reader: Natsuo as a Dad through different Milestones:

When your child is a new born baby:

(I made it a boy because, IDK man)

You smile softly as you watch the tiny baby in your arms sleeping peacefully. His cute little breathing sounding soft the gentle. As all of attention was on the tiny bundle in your arms, you barely notice the slight movement next to you, indicating that someone has just sat down. “He certainly has your features, Natsuo,” you say, not even tuning to look at the man next to you. Natuso chuckles softly.

“How are you feeling? I mean, we just brought him home today, I’m sure you’re still sore,” he spoke, reaching out and gently brushing his thumb against his son’s tiny cheek.

“I’m fine,” you assure, before passing the little baby over to his father. Natsuo happily took his son, eyes widening in surprise as he does so. You knew that he was still getting over the fact that he was a father now, but even though he was still at that stage, you knew that he loves your child immensely.

When your child is a toddler:

Natsuo scurries throughout the room, trying to find out where you had put the diapers. His one and a half year old son, was still rubbing at his tired eyes while he tries to figure out what his father was doing. “Daddy…?” he cooes, stuffed animal in his little arms.

“Found them!” Natuso says in triumph before picking the little sleepy toddler up and out of his crib. He was an expert at changing diapers, and he makes quick work of his son’s dirty one before getting a fresh one on him. After the diaper, came the clothes, and soon enough his son was ready for the day. “Now, let’s just bring you to mommy, so that you can get some fresh milk!” He bounces his son, happily, delighting in the giggles and coos that he gave off.

“Miiilk! Milk!” his son happily says. Natsuo can’t help but to laugh at how cute he thought that was.

Developing his quirk:

Your son is about three years old when his quirk develops, and of course Natsuo is rather proud and happy to see that he had inherited his ice quirk. “Daddy, look!” your son is so proud to show off the little ice cubes he’s making, and you watch him fondly.

“Oh, you’re getting much better at it!” Natuso praises his son as he picks him up high in the air before bringing him back down and kissing all over his little face. The three-year-old giggles happily at this.

First day of school:

You smile, taking a picture of your son all decked out in his school clothes. You were happy that he was taking this step in his life, and you know that your son is excited for this as well…There just one thing…

“Are you sure he’s ready for this?” Natsuo asks. He just wasn’t ready to let his baby boy go just yet, and he made that more than apparent as throughout the process of enrolling your son and getting him ready for this day, Natuso had been very vocal about the possibility of waiting just one more year.

“He’s fine, honey,” you assure, before snapping another picture. Natsuo turns from you to look at his son.

“You don’t have to go today! You can wait as long as you need if you’re not ready!” You almost want to laugh at his words. This wasn’t anything that you were surprised about, though.

“I’m ready!” your son says while giving a shake with his head. After dropping your son off, Natuso still went on about how he was probably too young for this. You let him vent out his sadness before finally stepping in.

“Sweetie, this is natural, alright? He’s fine, he’s ready, and he’s a good kid,” you assure him, “It will be alright.” Natuso looks over at you, before letting out a sigh and turning his attention back to the road in front of him.

“I just…He’s growing up way too fast.” You can’t help but to smile at that.

“Well, we have a new child on the way for you to spoil,” you tell him as you put a hand on your growing tummy.

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Bonus Chapter 4

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 16,518

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

Lea gave a low thoughtful hum as he zipped up the back of my dress. "Well lessee here… the sound of dry leaves crunching under my shoes… the smell of movie theater popcorn… that specific shade of deep red the sky turns at sunset…" A brief pause and another quiet hum as he gently finger-combed and played with my hair, eliciting a small shiver from me. "Oh! Let's not forget the feel of the first breeze of summer warming my skin."

My eyelids drooped as I shot a look over my shoulder at where he sat at the edge of his bed in skinny jeans and topless. "...I was more looking for things you liked that maybe, sort of… had a price tag?"

He chuckled, his arm hugging my waist from behind, pulling me back towards him so he could press a kiss to my shoulder. "Trynta figure out what to get me for my birthday, hm?"

"Now whatever would give you a silly idea like that?" one corner of my lips tugged up as my hand covered his, toying with his fingers. "Perhaps I was simply making polite and completely theoretical small talk."

"Oh-ho, I see. Well if you were theoretically fishing for gift ideas for the birthday boy, how 'bout this?" A tiny yelp escaped me as he suddenly yanked me backward, my spine hitting the mattress. He hovered over me now in all his shirtless glory, his hands finding mine as he pinned them to the bed to either side of my head. Smirking down at me with hooded eyes, the tip of his nose brushed mine and his breath warmed my lips as he purred, "You. Me. Locked in my room from dawn to dusk while I just worship every last inch of your body."

Face warming, I looked away, pressing my cheek to his comforter as I gave a small scoff. "This is for your birthday, not mine, remember?"

He did not hesitate to take advantage of the easier access I'd just given him to my throat, nibbling down it. "Funnily enough, I was actually thinking the exact same deal for your birthday as well. It's a win-win for both of us, really."

I cleared my throat, trying not to get distracted as he teeth now lightly nipped at my earlobe. "Come on, there's got to be something you want besides just… that."

"Honestly?" he pulled back a bit and my gaze met his once more as he playfully waggled his eyebrows. "Getting to see you naked is the second greatest gift you could give me."

Snorting, I narrowed my eyes up at him suspiciously. "...what would be the first then?"

Lea nuzzled our noses together as he cooed, "Your love," before capturing my lips with his.

I laughed against his mouth, breaking the kiss. "Have I mentioned what a sap you are?"

"Mm, it may of come up once or twice," he nodded solemnly before burying his face into the side of my neck again, only this time to blow a raspberry. I gasped and spasmed under him, managing to free one of my hands so I could swat at his shoulder. This only seemed to encourage him to do it again as his chest rumbled in amusement. But then his whole body deflated on top of mine as he released a soft, grumbling sigh. "Damn this motherfucking econ exam I hafta take today. I'd call in sick in a heartbeat if it wouldn't flunk me outta the whole course for missing it." With a groan, he planted a quick peck to my forehead before reluctantly pushing himself up off the bed and onto his feet as he began a hunt for a clean shirt.

Sitting up myself, my fingers set to work weaving my pale hair into a loose braid. "Seriously, I need ideas for what to get you."

"Seriously, I know you'll figure out something awesome on your own." He grabbed a tee that was hanging from the brim of his hamper, giving it a quick sniff. Guess it passed the smell test, for he then tugged it on over his head. The front bore a circle with a curved grid, yellow on the inside with a thick red ring border and large, bold but faded text wrapping around it proclaiming, THE POWER IS YOURS! Then he grinned big at me, "I mean, the first gift ya ever got me was perfect after all!"

My brow furrowed. "...my first gift?"

I'd gotten him something before?

Since when?

Both eyebrows reached for his hairline and he dramatically clutched at his chest. "Don't tell me you forgot about Bubbles!"

Um…

"...Bubbles?"

He snerked then moved over to one of his tall, cluttered bookcases where he plucked something from the top shelf - a spot of honor, no doubt - before holding it out in front of me. "Bubbles," he repeated by way of explanation.

In his hands was the toy from Wandering Oaken's Trading Post - the orca robot with a machine gun. A little derisive huff blew out my nose as I took it from him. "This? It doesn't count as a gift. I didn't even pay for it."

"Ya tried to. Not your fault if the cashier let it go for freesies." Snatching one of his Converse up off the floor, he started hopping up and down on one foot as he tugged it onto the other before setting to work tying it. "'Sides, spending munny doesn't necessarily make something a gift. Some of the best presents out there can't be bought in a store."

"But I didn't even pick this out for you," I continued to argue with a small sour twist to my lips. "You did."

Finished donning both his shoes now, he snagged his messenger bag off its wall hook and started hastily stuffing it with whatever supplies he'd need for his test. "But you saw that I liked it, thus ya got it for me. That right there was some superb gift decision-making! And I'll have you know outta everything in this room, it's my most favorite."

I wrinkled my nose and frowned down at the cheap toy in my hands. "...really?"

"Mm-hm! 'Cept for you, of course!" he chirped, bending forward and bracing his hands on the bed to either side of me as he pressed his lips to mine. I rolled my eyes but bit back a grin as he straightened back up. "And I have the utmost faith that you'll be able to find something else I like without even breaking a sweat, babe. 'Sides, whatever it's gonna be, I'll love it no matter what cuz it'll be from you!" Slinging his bag strap over his head to hang across his chest, Lea unplugged his phone from the charger and pocketed it. Then he squinted up at the ceiling and tapped a curled finger to his lips before snapping his fingers, "Ah! Mustn't forget Marshmallow!"

He crossed his bedroom to open the door only to be immediately greeted by the sight of Saïx standing on the other side. In his arms was the big ball of white fluff in question, poofy tail enthusiastically wagging as his tongue lapped away at Saïx's chin. The show of puppy-dog affection did not seem to be wholly appreciated, if Saïx's dull scowl was any indicator.

"Oh! Heh… mornin', big guy!" Lea said brightly. "Thanks for keeping an eye on the pooch last night! Hope the lil furball didn't give ya too much tr-"

His words were swallowed in a grunt as Saïx just shoved Marshmallow into his chest, then wordlessly turned to stalk off into his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. Eyes fixed on where Saïx had just disappeared, Marshmallow immediately began to whimper and squirm in Lea's arms.

Struggling to maintain his hold on him, Lea grumbled, "Aw c'mon, what am I, chopped liver? Where's my doggy smooches? You're my pupper after all!"

Marshmallow's reply came in the form of gnawing on Lea's thumb.

Sighing, he put him down. "I tell ya, Mr D of W, I am this close to kicking your fuzzy ass to the curb where you'll hafta turn tricks for Scooby Snacks just to survive."

The threat fell on deaf ears as Marshmallow came running over to me, demanding attention. I hummed a laugh and reached a hand down to pet him, glancing towards Lea out of the corner of my eye, "I think Saïx is one puppy-sitting session away from murdering you with a Scooby Snack."

"Nah. He puts on a grumpy front, but he loves that lil slobber-factory. I saw the two together last night. There were cuddles. There were snuggles. There were even," here he paused, dropping his voice low for dramatic effect, "...belly rubs."

I mock gasped. "The scandal."

"Right?" Removing the hair-tie that was around his wrist, he handed it to me before nudging Marshmallow over to make room and plopping down on the floor himself, using my knees as a backrest as he tucked his feet in under him to sit cross-legged. As I set to work running my fingers through his hair and gathering all his crimson spikes together, he went on, "Now I should only be gone a few hours. Dog food's under the sink in the kitchen and the lil fellah will probably wanna go for walkies soon. Bruni's already gotta full belly so all good there, but some time outta the terrarium might be nice and-"

"I know all this already. This isn't my first time watching them, you know," I snorted, finishing his ponytail and pressing my lips lightly to the top of his head to let him know I was done.

"Sorry, can't help it. I just take my responsibilities as a pet dad very seriously," he chuckled, standing up once more and spinning around to smirk down at me. "Unlike some people who strangle imaginary animals during acting class."

My hand shot out to pinch him, but he hopped back out of my reach with a laugh. I huffed, "Don't you have a test to be getting to?"

"Yeah, yeah. But first," he braved stepping closer to me once more, eyes crinkling as he reached down to take my hands in his, "c'mere and gimme some sugar, sweet thang." I let him pull me up to my feet as he brought my hands up to clasp behind his neck. Then he slipped his arms around my waist, pulling me close for a kiss.

Marshmallow circled our legs with a small growl. Pulling away, Lea stuck his tongue out at the dog, "Don't be jelly. I saw her first." Then he was turning a soft smile towards me, cupping my cheek with his hand as he rested his forehead against mine and murmured, "I love you."

Still wasn't used to hearing that. Still wasn't used to the way it made my heart jolt nor the explosion of butterflies it set off in my stomach. And definitely still wasn't used to saying it back.

And so…

Clap.

The sound of my hand flying up to cover his eyes.

"El, c'mon," Lea pouted.

My lips pursed to one side. After some hesitation, I slowly pivoted my hand so it was only over one of his eyes now.

It helped. Don't ask me why or how. It just did.

As he blinked it open and half his green gaze settled on me, my face grew uncomfortably hot as I mumbled, "Love you too."

There it was again. That big, dorky grin. "There ya go! Progress! Now I only hafta be a pirate for you to tell me that, yar!" Planting a swift peck to my cheek, he released me and headed towards the door. "Gotta run, wish me luck!"

"Good luck," I smiled after him as he closed the door.

Save for the sound of Marshmallow happily panting away from his seat next to my feet, the room fell abruptly quiet.

For a grand total of two seconds.

Then-

The door banged open and in Lea rushed once more. I tipped my head to one side, "Did you forget-"

He took me in his arms and dipped me backwards, kissing me long and slow and deep. I was breathless when he at last broke it off and straightened us both back up. "Kay, bye for real this time," he winked before bolting out the door, clicking it shut behind him again.

Fighting the upward pull I felt at one side of my mouth, I ran my hands down my dress to smooth the nonexistent wrinkles out and cleared my throat.

Right. Back to the matter at hand.

That matter being I still had no clue what to get Lea for his birthday.

Since the boy himself had been absolutely zero help, it might only be natural to assume the next best step would be to ask his closest friends and family. But Saïx had just gone to bed and as nice as he could be during his regular awake hours, the thought of disturbing him while he was just settling in to get some sleep seemed like a bit of a deathwish. Ruling him out for the moment, I supposed the next best options would be Xion and Roxas, but…

Was it wrong for me to feel so… self-conscious about going to them for present ideas? I mean, I was the girlfriend after all. Wasn't it my job to know these things? Shouldn't his friends be the ones coming to me for advice on what to get Lea, not the other way around? I know it was totally silly, but I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for not just… automatically knowing the answer. I simply wasn't quite ready to put my shame on display like that in front of his friends. Not just yet, at least.

Luckily, there was another I could turn to without any fear of judgement.

"So tell me," I began conversationally as I crouched down next to the terrarium, one elbow propped on my knee as I cradled my chin in my palm, "of the three of us in this room right now, you've known Lea the longest. What would you suggest I get for him?"

Bruni blinked back up at me. Then lashed his tongue out and flicked it over his eyeball.

I gave a soft snerk at that. "That's just your answer to everything, isn't it?" I sighed, straightening back up to my full height and setting the enclosure's lamps aside before opening it and reaching inside. Scooping the little salamander up, I turned and walked back towards the bed, Marshmallow trotting along behind me with his tail going a mile a minute.

"It's just… well, you know how Lea is," I told Bruni as I took a seat on the mattress and rested my head back into the pillows. "So impulsive… anytime he sees something he wants, he just buys it on the spot. It makes it very hard to find something he'll like that he hasn't already purchased himself."

As I stroked the reptile's head with a fingertip, a whimper from next to the bed drew my attention down to Marshmallow, who was staring up at me with forlorn puppy eyes. Smiling, I pat my free hand to the blankets. Needing no further invitation, the pup sprung up onto the bed and flopped his full weight down onto my belly, forcing a small grunt out of me. Making a noise that was half wheeze, half laugh, I said, "Marshmallow, I think you're getting too big for that."

He tilted his head at me with a tiny huff and doggy frown.

"Oh, well then, my mistake. Consider the comment withdrawn," I grinned softly, my fingers scritching behind his ear. The grin slowly faded however as I shifted my gaze up towards the ceiling. "...I suppose I've just never really been a fan of the whole gift giving thing. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of giving something to someone you care about that you'll know they'll love. It's everything else around it that I dislike… the agonizing over hundreds of options in search of the perfect gift, the uncertainty that comes with finally making a decision of whether it was even the right one, the anxiety as they open the gift and the fear of a negative reaction… and even after all that's finally over and done with, there's a lingering wonder of if they even really liked the present or if they just said they did to spare your feelings when really they were disappointed with the absolute crud you gave them…"

When the only response I received was a soft snuffling noise, I glanced back down to see Marshmallow curiously but gently sniffing at Bruni. Nothing to be concerned over. Marshmallow had long ago learned that Bruni was friend, not food. Still, my eyelids drooped, "Hey, you even listening to me?"

Puffing out a low snort through his snoot, the dog blinked up at me.

"That's better," I lightly tapped his nose before depositing Bruni on top of his head. As the salamander began to explore his new white, fluffy terrain, the dog hardly seemed to notice or mind as he just rested his chin on my chest. Idly ruffly the fur at his cheek, I muttered, "Then of course there's also what to even do for his birthday. I mean, Xion and Roxas have that surprise party planned, but that doesn't start until mid-afternoon, so it's up to me to keep Lea busy until then. And not just busy… I want to do something nice for him. Something he'll really like." My teeth gnawed at my bottom lip. "...I mean, I've already made plans for something… and I think he'll enjoy it, but I don't know. It's so simple… maybe too simple… maybe he'll think I put little to no thought into it because I didn't really care enough…"

Marshmallow yawned deeply, lazily licking his chops while Bruni graced me with the sight of his tail-end as he started crawling down Marshmallow's back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I boring you two?" I chuckled, my hand moving to block Bruni's path before he wandered off too far. Then my face scrunched slightly before I conceded with a nod, "But you're right. I've made a decision there already. It's done, so no use second-guessing myself over it. My time and energy would be better spent on what I haven't figured out yet: the present."

Settling Bruni back on his throne - aka the spot between Marshmallow's ears - I then reached over for Bubbles, picking it up from where I'd left it lying on the mattress. I held the little robot up in front of my face, squinting at it. Lea had called it a great present, but…

...why?

"Reveal unto me your hidden and untold wisdom on picking the perfect gift, oh great and powerful plastic one," I implored Bubbles.

The toy just stared blankly back at me and remained stoically silent.

My eyes narrowed. "Fine then. Keep your secrets."

...was I really resorting to asking an inanimate object for advice now?

I really was hopeless.

But I couldn't help it, I was really that clueless when it came to gift giving, especially for a boyfriend. You'd think I'd have years of experience from when I'd dated Hans, but gifts between him and me had never really… mattered. There had never been any substantial meaning behind the presents, no real sentiment… it'd just been stuff like the most expensive, latest model of wristwatch for him, or some fancy, glittery bit of jewelry for me. It'd all been about putting on a show of looking like a happy couple, just like everything else had always been between us. But for Lea, I actually cared about getting something he'd like. I just really didn't want to screw this up. I just… I wanted to make him happy.

"Ugh, maybe I should just cave and ask Roxas and Xion for help," I grumbled under my breath.

Marshmallow snored, apparently having elected to take a nap.

Bruni had made a break for it and was halfway to the foot of the bed by now. The little fugitive.

Deciding not to disturb Marshmallow until it was absolutely necessary, I let the salamander continue his adventure. If it looked like the little guy was going to take a swan dive for the floor, then I'd leap into action. For now, I just glanced at Bubbles again with a tiny frown. "...what's your deal anyhow?" I whispered. "A firearm-toting, killer-whale-transforming robot must have some sort of story behind it, right?"

Putting the action figure back down on the comforter, I snatched up my phone. Pulling up Google, I pursed my lips to one side as I stared at the empty search bar for a few seconds before deciding the bluntest, most direct course would be best and simply typed in "orca robot with machine gun toy." It actually didn't take long to find exactly what I was looking for and-

My eyes widened and I gasped, sitting up straight and knocking Marshmallow out of his beauty rest with a disgruntled huff.

I knew now.

I knew exactly what to get Lea for his birthday.

"Now turning down Market Street. And directly on our left, dear sightseers, you'll find a candy store, accessories boutique, and local post office."

"Are you sure you can't see at all?" I grumbled as I stopped Lea's car at a red light, glancing at him dubiously out of the corner of my narrowed eyes.

"Yup!" he chirped, turning his head to look at me. Or rather… not look, seeing as how he was currently blindfolded with a black strip of cloth. "Blinder than a bat with vertigo after a twenty-hour bender at a tequila bar! But I know Twilight Town like the back o' my hand, babydoll! Could navigate these streets with my eyes closed." He smirked, pointing at the blindfold, "As demonstrated."

My lips twisted sourly as the light became green and my foot pressed on the gas.

The day had arrived. His birthday. I was currently chauffeuring him to the destination I'd picked out to kick off celebrating the big day. A destination that was supposed to be a surprise, thus the blindfold. A fat lot a good that was doing though. I muttered, "You should consider getting your own circus sideshow, your recall skills are so freakishly good."

"What can I say, I know how to get it memorized," he declared cockily, poking a fingertip to his temple. "'Sides, never can be too careful. This lil party trick could save my life one day."

I snorted as I checked the rearview. "Sure it could."

He waggled his index finger, "You scoff now, but just you wait. When I get kidnapped but know exactly where my abductors have taken me despite having a sack thrown over my head to keep me in the dark, we'll see who has the last laugh. We'll see," he taunted, pointing two digits at his covered eyes then pointing them at me. Well… more like at the space in front of me, aka the steering wheel. While he had the uncanny ability to pinpoint his own precise location on a map without the use of his vision, it seemed he was a little bit foggier on where exactly I was.

"When you get kidnapped?" I echoed. "Not if?"

"Trust me, it's an inevitability at this point."

A grin tugged at my lips. "...what if your captors take you outside of Twilight Town?"

"Well then, I'm fucked," he shrugged.

"Very well," I hummed a soft laugh. "If someone manages to overpower and get the drop on a behemoth like you, and if they put a bag over your head, kidnap you and throw you in a car, and if they take you hostage somewhere within the city limits... then and only then, in that absurd and oddly specific scenario, will I concede that you may have had a valid point."

"Thank you," he lifted his chin with a lofty sniff. "Oo, now we turn down Station Heights, huh? The plot thickens."

On seeing that the street sign we'd just passed confirmed his words, I said nothing, just growled low in my throat.

He chuckled. "I think we can both agree that this," his hands reached for his blindfold, tugging at the knot in back, "is really just a formality at this point and is doing jackshit, so may as well just-"

"Ah-ah! Leave it," I snapped, jabbing a warning finger in his direction, even though I knew he (allegedly) couldn't see it.

"Mm, love it when ya get bossy. Your wish is my command, mistress," he waggled his eyebrows with a click of his tongue, hands dropping back into his lap. "Gotta say, El, when ya started off the morning by handing me this thing, I thought today's activities were gonna be lil more hitting the sheets, lil less hitting the streets."

Shifting my grip on the steering wheel, I dropped a casual, "Who's to say that's not the plan for the blindfold later?"

Who me? Trying to distract him from mentally tracking our whereabouts by appealing to his baser urges? I would never!

"Woman, don't tease me if ya don't plan to make good on it."

"Who's to say I won't?" I quirked a cheeky eyebrow.

Lea "looked" towards me again with a toothy, lopsided grin. When he next spoke however, it wasn't to comment on that. Instead, he furrowed his brow and cocked his head. "...be mindful of that tram."

I blinked. "Okay, one, I was nowhere near that thing. And two, pretty sure you're messing with me and can one hundred percent see."

"Nope!" he said brightly before tapping his ear. "Heard the ol' gal chuggin' along. She has a very distinctive thrum. I tell ya, El, take away my sight and I become a regular Daredevil - what I hear is what I see, clear as goddamn day."

"Right," my eyelids drooped.

"Like that! Right there! From the skepticism in that one word alone, I can see the perturbed look on your beautiful face, Love," he cooed, leaning over towards me with lips puckered. Presumably, the intended target was my cheek. Instead, the smooch landed on the headrest of my car seat. He pulled back, "My, how leathery you taste today."

I snorted. "Huh. Must have forgot to moisturize this morning."

"Must've," he agreed. Then, "Hey, ever wonder where totes wackadoodle streets like Where Nothing Gathers Way come from?"

My left eye twitched as we pulled up to a stop sign at that very road. "Streets? As in, more than one?"

Lea beamed, "Oh yeah! There's loads of 'em out there in the world! Don't tell me ya've never heard of the infamous Bucket of Blood Street."

"That's a real street name?" I scrunched up my nose as I flicked on the turn signal.

"Mm-hm!" he nodded. "Over in Arizona. Named after a shootout in the 1800s at a saloon located there. Then of course, if you're lookin' for some class, we can skip our happy asses on over to Vegas and take a stroll down Hanky Panky Street."

I scoffed. "Now I know you're making these up."

"Am not! I'll prove it to ya!" he jammed his hand down his pocket, digging out his phone. I watched out of my peripheral as he swiped the lockscreen away before his thumbs became a blur of typing.

Okay seriously, if he could successfully google this while blindfolded, I'd eat my own braid.

Just as I pressed down on the brakes for a crosswalk, Lea shoved his phone in my face with an all too pleased, "Read 'em and weep, sweetcheeks."

I was greeted by the sight of the search results for a string of characters and numbers that were just a complete mishmash on nonsensical gibberish.

Kudos for actually being able to pull up the search app at all, but I think I could consider my braid safely off the menu.

To him, I just deadpanned, "I stand corrected."

"Bam!" he smugly retracted his phone, moving to sheath it at his hip once more. "Game, set and... shit," he hissed out under his breath as the phone missed his pocket and fell down the crack between his chair and the center console, followed by a muted thunk from somewhere below.

Shifting lanes, I lightly singsonged, "Gone forever."

"You mock - quite cruelly, I might add - but it actually very well could be, " he grumbled, sticking his hand down there after it to blindly fumble around for the thing. "People think the Bermuda Triangle is in the Atlantic, but nope. Nu-uh. It's here, right under my goddamn car seat. You don't even know half the crap that's disappeared down here, never to see the light o' day again."

Alright, I'll bite. "...like?"

"Does the name Amelia Earhart ring a bell?"

"Please," I rolled my eyes with a soft huff, fighting a grin. "There are no historically famous female pilots lost in the black void beneath your car seat."

He razzed his tongue at me, hand still rooting around under his chair. ""Scuse you, but outta the two of us, pretty sure I'd be more the authority on what important figures from history may or may not of gone missing in my car, thank you very much."

Shaking my head, I reached a hand over to gently squeeze at his shoulder. "You can stop, I'll find it for you after we park."

"Spoken like the black hole below's soon-to-be next victim," he harrumphed, giving up on his search and straightening back up in his chair. "Now lessee, where were we?" he muttered, tapping his chin as he "stared" up at the ceiling. Then he brightened, snapped his fingers and pointed at me, "Psychopath."

"Uh…" Both eyebrows shot up my forehead as I slowed for a pedestrian. "...pardon?"

He held up a pair of digits, "Two words. Psycho..." insert pause, "...path. Psycho Path. 'Nother weirdo street name out there."

I tipped my head to one side, one corner of my lips lifting as I drove forward once more. "Okay, that one's pretty clever, actually."

"Right? Definitely way more fun and interesting than dumb, boring ol' Sunset Terrace."

I scowled.

Guess what road I'd just turned the car onto.

Go on, just take one look at Lea's shit-eating grin and guess.

...let's see what we can do about wiping it off that dumb, gorgeous face of his, shall we?

The tires loudly screeched as I made a sharp turn without warning into a massive grocery store parking lot, ignoring the blaring honks from the vehicle I had cut off in the process. Lea yelped as the momentum threw him into his car door. "Crap! The hell?! El, wha-"

I jerked the steering wheel into another hard left and his words were swallowed in a grunt as his shoulder hit his door again. Pressing my lips into a flat, determined line, I said nothing, just zoomed down the parking aisle. Now Lea laughed, "Oh-ho, I see how it is. You're trynta discombobulate me, get me all turned around so I dunno left from right, up from down. Nice try, but I gotta mind like a steel trap, babe. Ya won't get me lost that-"

Another abrupt turn tossed and silenced him.

We'll see about that, bucko. We'll see.

I weaved the car in a high-speed, winding path around the parking lot, making sudden jerky stops here, driving in reverse through empty parking spaces into the next aisle there, just constantly and unpredictably on the move. Lea remained quiet now, a crease forming between his eyebrows just above the blindfold - most likely concentrating on keeping his sense of direction and where we were intact. After a minute or two of this - right about when I saw what looked to be an annoyed employee emerging from the supermarket, probably aiming to put a stop to my recklessness - I maneuvered the car towards a different exit than the one we'd come in through and floored it, propelling us out of the lot and back onto the streets.

"That all ya got?" Lea shot me a half-smirk.

My eyes settled on what was coming up on the road ahead. Then a wicked grin twitched at the corner of my lips. "Hardly. We're just getting started."

That's when I drove the car into the roundabout.

A risky move, yes. There probably weren't a lot of roundabouts in Twilight Town and given his track record thus far, there was a good chance Lea knew every last one of them.

Didn't mean he'd know which direction I'd exit out of it.

Not if I raced around it eight times, anyhow. Or was it nine? Honestly, I'd lost count.

"Devil woman," Lea hissed, bracing one hand on the dashboard and the other to the door, steadying himself against the centripetal force.

My nose crinkled in amusement as we started our tenth (eleventh?) lap. "You like it."

"I really do."

Finally I picked a road at random and turned off the roundabout onto it. From there, I swerved down a few more lanes and side alleys for good measure, hoping to further throw his internal GPS out of whack. At last, I puffed out a sigh as I started driving like a sane person again, glancing towards my phone. The map app (sound muted so Lea wouldn't hear street directions from it) was going a bit haywire trying to adjust and correct course for our destination after that wild ride I'd just taken us on.

Lea chuckled, interlocking his fingers behind his head and leaning back in his seat. "Ya got moxie, kid, I'll give ya that. Tell me, is the rest of Red Nocturne Avenue as in awe of you right now as I am?"

I was this close to smacking his shoulder when I caught sight of the street sign and my hand froze.

This wasn't Red Nocturne Avenue.

This was Dragoon Drive.

...had I really done it? Did he actually not know where we were anymore?

I gave him a sideways squint, holding my tongue as I steered us into a right turn.

"Speechless, huh?" his grin ticked wider. "Yeah, the pure and unadulterated awesomeness that is yours truly has a tendency to do that to the ladies. Not to mention all o' the pretty sights Powerwild Court has to offer."

Wrong again. We were now on Dancer Boulevard.

Smiling as I basked in the glory of my tiny victory, I did my best to mask it with a soft hmph. "Fine, you win. Guess there's no fooling you."

"Damn skippy!"

It didn't take much to get us back on track and heading in the right direction again. From there, it was just a few minutes and several more incorrect street names from Lea before we'd arrived at the final address.

"Conduit Way? Really?" Lea arched an eyebrow as I finished parallel parking. "Ain't nothing here but sewage treatment facilities. Babe, I love ya, you know I do, but hate to break it to ya… a tour of one of those icky places isn't exactly my idea of b-day fun."

Luckily for him, we weren't on Conduit Way. I merely smiled, "You'd be surprised. Out… and ah, not yet! Blindfold stays."

His hands dropped from where they'd been trying to remove it again and he just grinned and shrugged before unbuckling his seatbelt and opening his door over the sidewalk. By the time I'd made my way around to his side of the car, he'd managed to climb out without tripping over the curb.

I pressed a quick peck to his cheek before turning and crouching down to start patting my hand around under his chair, trying to locate his phone. My fingers finally bumped into something, closing around it. I frowned.

...whatever it was, it was most definitely not a phone.

I pulled the object out to discover a tiny troll doll with neon pink hair, goggles and a little scarf wrapped around its neck. I held it up to Lea, "And this would be?"

His hands fumbled with it for a second, feeling the thing out before his face lit up. "Amelia Earhart! Ya found her!"

I shot him a small, withering look. Though it was more so only for my benefit, since he couldn't see it. "You're just messing with me. I refuse to believe that it's actually named that."

"You don't know!"

I gave a snort and shook my head as my hand plunged into the dusty shadows beneath the car seat once more. This time I successfully fished out his phone.

"Thanks, boo. Dunno what'd I ever do without ya," he chirped as I handed it to him.

"Probably not be blindfolded and thus dropping your phone in the first place?" I suggested, rising to my feet once more and dusting off my dress.

"Touché." Then he bent down to reward me with a smooch, right smack dab on-

"That was my eyeball, thanks," I deadpanned, screwing my face up a bit as he pulled back.

He beamed. "Meant to do that! Peepers need love too, ya know!"

"I'll take your word for it," I shook my head as one side of my mouth quirked up. Taking the troll doll back from him, I set it on top of the car's dash before closing and locking the car. Then I tucked my hand into Lea's elbow and began leading him over towards the building's entrance. Halfway to those doors, something on the sidewalk caught my attention and my eyes crinkled. "Little to your right," I told him, gently veering him with my grip.

The sharp crunch of brittle leaves being crushed beneath his Converse filled the air. He perked an ear up at the sound, then he flashed his dimples down at me. "D'aaawww, you remembered!" Again, he was ducking down. I think this time the aim had been to press his lips to mine. Instead…

"And I suppose nostrils need love as well?" I half grimaced, half grinned as I swiped the back of my hand across said nostril that had been the unwitting recipient of his affections.

"Absolutely! But what's that?" he cupped a hand to one ear. "...do I detect a note of discontent to my maiden fair's lovely voice? What oh what could the problem be, I do wonder!" Then he snapped his fingers with an evil smirk. "Ah! Not enough tongue. Gotta fix that," he started bowing towards my nose again, mouth open and tongue snaking in and out of it.

A clamped a hand over his whole face and shoved him back, grumbling, "Dork."

"Mm-hm!" he hummed, kissing my palm before freeing his head from my grasp. "And proudly so!"

We reached the entrance and I pulled open one of the doors with my free hand, using the other to tug Lea over the threshold. Once inside, I directed him off to one side so we wouldn't be in other people's way before pulling us both to a complete stop. His head pivoted to and fro curiously, even though the black strip of cloth was still covering his eyes. Then he sniffed the air, "...popcorn?" He cocked one eyebrow then pointed to his blindfold, silently requesting permission.

I bit down on my bottom lip, chilly uncertainty spiking in my chest, tiny but sharp.

This was it.

The moment of truth.

Time to find out if this had been a halfway decent plan or if I should just be crawling under a rock already to die of embarrassment over what a pathetic idea my useless brain had come up with.

I gave him a tentative nod. A full two seconds ticked by before I remembered he couldn't see it. Reaching up to squeeze at my braid, I voiced a small, "Yes."

He untied and removed it, blinking a couple times as his eyes adjusted to the light. Then he glanced around, taking it all in: the massive lobby we stood in now with its walls regally embellished with gold, curly trim. The plush red carpet beneath our feet leading to a wide, old-timey looking concession stand that looked like it'd been yanked straight out of the 50s. The noisy, vintage popcorn maker behind it, paired with a retro yet newly-polished soda pop machine. The black-and-white posters lining the walls boasting popular movies from various decades long past. He squinted at one of those in particular, right between Giantland on its left and Mickey's Circus to its right. "Classic Kingdom Theater?" he read off slowly.

"Mm," I hummed in confirmation, giving my braid one final yank before releasing it and instead fidgeting with the pendent on my necklace. "It's a movie theater, but not a normal one. It only screens old films. Every week, they pick a few from a certain decade to play. This week is the 90s which is apparently the cut-off for what they'll consider a classic, but some weeks they'll have movies from as far back as the 30s."

"This is… How did I not know about this place?" his forehead wrinkled as he glanced over his shoulder towards the glass doors that led back out onto the streets. Then his eyes widened slightly as a lightbulb seemingly flashed in his brain. "Wait… we aren't on Conduit Way. Which means we're… hang on, gimme a sec, I know this place..." Another pause as his eyes swept the room with a thoughtful frown before he tapped the side of his fist into his palm. "Got it. This used to be that defunct and abandoned tram lot warehouse."

Nodding, I said, "It only had its grand opening a little less than a month ago. Apparently some local billionaire bought the place and renovated it into this." I smiled softly, "Looks like there's someone who might quite possibly like the classics more than you, if such a thing is even possible."

"Local billionaire, huh?" he rubbed his chin. "Not a lotta those running around. Betcha it's the same one that owns Le Grand Bistrot."

"And Ice Palace too, I think," I agreed. Then I hesitated, licking my dry lips. "...so… what do you think? ...do you… like it? I hope you like it. I mean, you should like it." I blanched at my word choice, then hastily amended, "N-not that I'm telling you what you should or shouldn't like, I just meant that you, uh… you like… movies." I winced, fingers fiddling with my necklace more frantically. "Of course you like movies. Duh, everyone likes movies. Wait… no, not everyone exactly, I suppose, that's a bit of a broad generalization…"

Please like it.

"...but what I'm trying to say is that you in particular… you like the sappy classics. Although…" I frowned, tucking in my bottom lip,"...not even sure if they're showing anything sappy this week… but they're still classics, so that's something at least, right? Something you'll… like? Hopefully? Or… was this a bad idea?"

Please be happy.

" ...what am I saying, of course this was a bad idea," I was quick to answer my own question, saving him the trouble. "Such a bad, awful, uninspired idea. I should have come up with something else. Something to do with… dogs! Because you love dogs. I should have taken you to a dog… show. Yes, a dog show. Or… or a toy show, or a… car show? Because you like your car, so you'd like a car show, right? Do they even host car shows in Twilight Town? If they don't, then something else to do with cars, like… go-karts! Yeah, we could've gone to Disney Town Speedway or-"

Lea's hand cupped the nape of my neck, yanking me forward and shutting me up by otherwise occupying my mouth with his.

...fudge, I'd been doing it again, hadn't I? The whole anxiety-fueled rambling thing?

Lea had learned fairly early on in our budding relationship that sometimes this was the only way he could get a word in edgewise.

I gripped at the front of his shirt and he inhaled deeply before finally pulling away, but only by about an inch so he could press his forehead to mine. His fingers brushing my bangs behind one ear, he murmured, "You're right. It was a huge mistake bringing me here."

My heart plummeted and I stared hard down at my feet. I knew it. This had been such a dumb idea. Stupid, stupid, stupid-

"Cuz now that I know this place exists, I'm gonna be dragging ya here all the time. So when you inevitably get sick of it, just remember this is all your fault."

My eyes snapped up to meet his, which were crinkling at the corners. "...really? You… actually like it?"

"Like? No. I love it. Thank you for bringing me here, couldn't think of a better way to kick off my birthday," he pressed his lips to the tip of my nose. Then he straightened up, lacing our fingers together with a big grin and tugging me towards where tickets could be purchased. "Now c'mon, let's go find out what flicks you're treating me to."

I snorted, arching an eyebrow, "Wow, you're going to actually let me pay for you for once?"

He chuckled, "Course! Today is Lea Day after all and on this most blessed and holy of days, you're supposta spoil me rotten! Plus, I'm yo date and like I told ya before, I ain't a cheap one. You'll see that for yourself soon enough when we head on over to concessions. Now let's have a look at our options here…" he scrutinized the movie listings overhead. "Clueless… The Sandlot… Oo, Edward Scissorhands…"

I watched him as he idly rattled off a few more movie titles, slightly tipping my head to one side.

...he'd meant it… right?

He actually liked that I'd surprised him with this? He wasn't just saying that to calm me down or so that I wouldn't feel bad? I mean, I guess I never really could be sure when it came to stuff like this and I'd just have to learn accept that and take people's words for it, but-

"Holy shit, The Mummy with Brendan Fraser?! Oh hell yeah!" he excitedly tugged at my hand several times, pointing. "Babe, that's it! That's the one!"

...okay, I actually think I could be pretty sure in this case he was being genuine.

Don't think it would be possible to fake that much enthusiasm for a cheesy action-fantasy blockbuster from the 90s.

A pleasant tingle bubbled inside my chest and I couldn't hide my growing smile as I stepped forward to buy our tickets.

Guess I could consider the morning birthday activity a success.

Now to hope I would do even just half as well on the birthday present later.

We actually managed to squeeze in seeing two movies, considering we'd gotten there early enough in the morning. Good thing too seeing as how I don't think I would have gotten much say in the matter anyway, not with the way Lea had all but dragged me into Groundhog Day once he'd found out I'd never seen it after we'd exited the first movie. By the time we were finally leaving the theater, it was getting close to 1PM - perfect for lunch. Not that we were starving. We'd both filled up plenty on popcorn and candy, Lea especially. But now we could get something more substantial in our stomachs, or so I'd told him. Thus once we were on the road again, I couldn't help a tiny smile as I checked my phone and confirmed we were right on schedule for-

"Turning off Mako Lane onto Avalanche Street, huh? Must mean it's time for the surprise b-day bash Xion and Rox planned for me at 7th Heaven," Lea clapped and rubbed his hands together, a smirk emerging beneath where the blindfold was tied firmly in place once more.

I heaved a low sigh through my nose but chuckled as I steered his car into the parking lot. "You know what? I'm not even going to fight it anymore. Just please at least try and act surprised when we get inside?"

"Always do!" he flashed his pearly whites.

After pulling his car into a parking space close to the bar and shutting down the engine, we both climbed out. I went to the trunk first, pulling out the present I'd gotten for him - a tall box covered in ice cream print gift wrap. I'd snuck it back there earlier this morning after the blindfold had first been donned. Holding it against my hip, I then took Lea's hand in mine and led him towards 7th Heaven, carefully guiding him up those wooden steps onto the wraparound patio and through the front entrance.

"Golly gee, I wonder where it is you've taken me now, El, cuz I really haven't the foggiest!" Lea announced as we walked in, delivering the line loudly and with all the emotion and believability of cardboard.

My eyelids drooped at him before I shook my head and glanced around. Gosh, Lea had a lot of friends, all of them gathered here right now, shushing each other and struggling to stifle their giggles as they watched us step further into the room. Saïx could even be seen off to one side of the group, looking positively pleased as punch (not) at being included in the festivities - guess his brother's birthday was one of those three days a year he begrudgingly endured daylight. I also spotted Anna and Kristoff, his arm draped around her shoulders as she excitedly yet quietly waved to me from the crowd. It came as little surprise to see Riku and Rayne next to them, along with Kairi and Sora.

And of course, standing front and center of the small mob were the masterminds and orchestrators of this little shindig themselves: Xion and Roxas. I glanced towards them, arching one eyebrow in silent question. Both grinning ear to ear, they nodded their heads rapidly, giving me the okay. Temporarily setting my gift down on the nearest table, I then moved behind Lea and reached up to undo his blindfold. Just as I slipped it off him and his eyes fluttered open-

"SURPRISE!" erupted from every corner of the room accompanied by party blowers and poppers, filling the air with a whole rainbow of streamers and confetti.

Lea dramatically clutched at his chest with both hands, gasped and made choking noises, then fell over backwards, collapsing to the floor with a loud THUMP!

I blinked, then squeezed my eyes shut and hung my head with a sigh, pressing my fingertips to the spot between my eyebrows.

For the love of… I'd said to act surprised, you big doofus, not like you'd had a friggin' heart attack.

As everyone else around us devolved into laughter and chatter, Roxas's shoulders sagged and he groaned, "Goddamn it, Lea, you knew again?!"

Xion glared at his prone form, stomping over towards him. "This happens every year, you stupid jerk!" she huffed, kicking his foot with hers.

"Rude!" Lea harrumphed, sitting up and crossing his arms as he shot a flat look up at her. "Is that anyway to treat your friend who just suffered cardiac arrest, not to mention is the birthday boy?"

She threw up her hands, so done with him as she turned to walk away, "That's it! No more surprise birthday parties for you since you always ruin them!"

"What?!" He scrambled to stand now and chase after her, "Aw, but I love surprise parties!"

"How would you know, seeing as you've never really had one? Not one that's actually surprised you, anyway," Xion grumbled as she rejoined Roxas and matched the pouty scowl he was shooting at Lea for the double whammy.

"C'mon, kiddos, ya almost had me this year, I swear! No doubt you'll get me good next birthday, I'm sure of it!" Lea did his best to placate them, but judging by the zero change to their sour expressions, they were unmoved. He chuckled sheepishly, rubbing at the nape of his neck for a second before his face brightened as he seemed to recall something. "Hey! Guess who turned up?" he asked them as his hand dove into the pocket of his skinny jeans, pulling out-

"Amelia Earhart!" Roxas's eyes immediately lit up on seeing the troll doll emerge.

Seriously?! Okay, no, I still wasn't buying it. This had to be a bit. The three of them had to have planned the whole silly thing at my expense. There was no way that thing was actually named Amelia Earhart.

"You finally managed to rescue her from the Bermuda Triangle!" Xion laughed, taking the little toy from him.

"Actually, it was El." Just as I had my gift for him in hand once more, he reached back towards me to snag my other hand and tug me forward to join the three of them. Smiling down at me, he went on, "She fearlessly braved the dreaded unknown beneath my car seat, sticking her hand under there and risking life and literal limb to bring our tiny, intrepid heroine home and-" He abruptly stopped mid-sentence, seemingly noticing for the first time that I was carrying something. "Hey, what's that?"

Holding it behind me and out of his sight, I asked innocently, "What's what?"

"You know what," he smirked as he stepped closer to me, bringing us toe-to-toe and invading my personal bubble while he tried to reach around my side for it. "The thing you're hiding behind your back. The suspiciously birthday present shaped thing."

I stretched my arm away, keeping it out of his reach as I grinned back at him, teasing, "Well if it looks like a present and is shaped like a present…"

Crooked smirk twitching wider, he caught me around the waist with one arm, pulling me up against him - all the better to reach the cheerfully wrapped box with, of course. I don't think he was trying all that hard however, not really. His arms were easily longer than mine, so if he really wanted the thing he should've had no problem getting it. And yet I was able to keep it out of his grasp. He didn't seem to mind, his eyes hooding and his lips a breath away from mine as he murmured, "But I thought the blindfold was your gift to me."

I snorted softly at that. "Really? What kind of gift would that be?"

"A fantastic one. Or so you'll find out later tonight," his eyebrows slyly bounced.

"It certainly doesn't take much to make you happy," I crinkled my nose at him, one corner of my mouth curving up.

"It really doesn't," he agreed, pressing a lingering kiss to the hollow where my neck met my shoulder that left a little tingle in its wake while at the same time his hand casually reached for the present again. "Now gimme."

An audible gag at our antics - courtesy of Roxas - reminded me that we weren't alone. As Xion sniggered, I cleared my throat, disentangled myself from Lea's grip and took a step back. "You'll just have to wait and open it up with the rest of your gifts later."

"But-"

"Happy birthday, Lea!" Anna suddenly appeared at my side, clinging to my arm with a giggle and almost making me drop the present.

"You're getting old, Red! How's that social security treatin' ya?" Rayne beamed cheekily as she latched onto my other arm, which did make me drop it. She was quick to catch it for me however and once I had it back, I hugged it protectively to my chest.

Lea scoffed, "I'm not old, ya twerps, I'm-"

"Decrepit, we know!" Roxas supplied, barely ducking in time as Lea took a swat at him and coming back up with an impish gleam in his eye. "Now grab your walker and c'mon, ya old coot, cuz it's time you make your rounds and receive all your birthday punches!"

Fingers waggling as his hands reached for the precious cargo in my arms once more, Lea said, "Be with ya in just a sec, I just wanna-"

Xion stepped forward, putting herself between him and his coveted prize, "But you're the guest of honor! You can't leave all your adoring fans hanging like that, for shame!" She shoved the troll doll into his face, "Amelia and her glorious flamingo hair judge you!"

He snerked at that, brushing the toy aside. "Amelia should learn not to get her non-existent lil panties in such a twist."

The troll immediately snapped back up, nose to teeny, plastic nose with him now as Xion coaxed in a light singsong, "Come with us. You know you want to. You'll be the center of attention." She gave the thing a slight wiggle for emphasis.

"...I do love being the center of attention," he slowly, almost begrudgingly allowed as he glanced past her, still eyeing the gift in my hands.

"We know ya do, big guy," Roxas slugged his shoulder - the first of the aforementioned birthday punches, perhaps? "And just think… the sooner the whole meet-and-greet is done, the sooner there can be cake!"

That caught Lea's full attention. "Cake, you say?"

"Mm-hm! Your favorite, bud: strawberry and sea salt ice cream cake!"

"Well, why didn't ya say so? Musn't keep my public waiting!" Turning to the face everyone else in the bar, Lea grinned big, threw out his arms wide and called out, "Who here's ready to celebrate the birthday boy?!"

The crowd cheered as he strode forward, disappearing into the throng with Roxas hot on his heels. Xion shot me a tiny wink before she went after them. Anna and Rayne - still hooked to either of my elbows - laughed as they spun all three of us around into a rather sloppy about-face and all but charged us towards the presents table, me stumbling to keep up with them.

Once I'd deposited mine with the others, I glanced around 7th Heaven with a small smile. "The place looks great. Do we have it all to ourselves?"

"Yup!" Rayne said brightly as she handed Anna what looked to be a big box of party favors to unpack and distribute. "We've rented it out for the rest of the day and beyond. Trust me, this party is gonna be going until the wee hours of the night."

I crossed my arms as I continued to take it all in. "Roxas and Xion really did a wonderful job with everything."

She quirked an eyebrow at that with an odd little smirk. "Did they now? Like what?"

My head tipped to one side. "Um… well, like the-" I was interrupted by a squeal of delight from Anna, who'd just finished opening the box. She pulled out a brightly colored conical hat with a tinsel poof at the top and swiftly put it on my head. Wincing as the elastic snapped under my chin, I then pointed up at the thing, "Like the birthday hats?"

"I brought those," Rayne grinned, seemingly pleased that they were already such a hit.

"Oh? Well, then the streamers and par-" once again, I got cut off, this time by Anna shoving a party horn in my mouth that furled out and whistled. Rolling my eyes at my sister as she bit back a snerk, I removed the thing and finished, "Party blowers."

"Me as well," Rayne declared chipperly yet also somewhat distractedly as she started rearranging the presents into a more aesthetically pleasing display.

My brow furrowed, then I looked around the room again. "...the decorations?" I asked, pointing to where the giant, prismatic cut-out letters declaring "Happy Birthday!" were strung up across the back wall, surrounded by dancing fairy lights.

"Me yet again."

"Huh… guess that'd explain that one then," I gestured towards where another string of letters were hung, these ones spelling out "It's a boy!" Seemingly as a last minute afterthought, a sheet of bright red construction paper had been taped up between "a" and "boy" with the word "birthday" scrawled across it in sharpie.

Rayne shrugged, patting her swollen tummy, "Bought that before we knew jellybean here was a girl. Had to find some use for the thing!"

A low huff of amusement escaped my nose before I shook my head. "So why did you end up being prime party planner?"

"Why else?" she chuckled. "Practice for my own baby's future birthday parties! I volunteered and Xion and Rox were only too happy to let me take over."

I snorted as Anna continued to pile party favors on me. I was now also sporting several cheap, beaded necklaces, some glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and a pair of comically large sunglasses with lenses that were almost as big as my head. I was basically a walking advertisement for a party store at this point. When Anna had been given the job of distribution, I somehow got the feeling she wasn't supposed to distribute all of it to me. Ignoring her for the time being, I said to Rayne, "I don't think throwing a party for your kid and throwing a party for Lea are quite the same thing. Not unless you're planning on giving birth to a fully grown, twenty-six year old man."

She pulled a face at that. "First of all, ouch. Painful. Don't even joke about that. Second of all, pffft, you. Trynta act like your man isn't basically an oversized toddler."

"Hey!" I tried to be indignant for my boyfriend. But then my lips pursed to one side, "...alright no, that's fair." Then I frowned slightly, "Why didn't you tell me you were organizing the whole thing? I could have helped."

"Don't worry about it!" Rayne brushed off. "You had your hands full with keeping him busy for the first half of the day."

"Yeah, keeping him busy," Anna echoed, suggestively waggling her eyebrows as she slipped a "Party Girl" plastic headband onto my head behind the birthday hat.

I narrowed my eyes at my sister. I think the humongous sunglasses made it lose its impact however. "I took him to the movies."

"Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?" Rayne sniggered with a wicked smirk. "Well I'll be taking Riku to the movies," she made air quotes with her fingers, "later tonight, if ya know what I'm saying. Taking him to the movies all night long."

Ew.

TMI, Rayne. TMI.

"What about the movies?" Riku (speak of the devil) grinned at his wife as he walked past carrying a box of what would presumably be more party supplies, slowing to a stop beside her.

"Nothing, hon. You'll find out later," she winked at him, planting a kiss on his lips.

A slow grin spread across his face as he murmured back, "Alright, looking forward to it." Then he turned to call back over his shoulder, "Hey! Am I the only one working on getting all this stuff inside?"

Sora suddenly came running past carrying a box almost as big as he was, huffing and puffing out a hasty, "Sorry!"

"And you're just as lazy as he is," Riku grumbled to Kairi as she came in next with two smaller boxes, one stacked on top of the other.

"So you noticed!" she giggled as she too jogged past him, spotting the top box was about to topple off and shifting her hand up to steady it as she went.

Rolling his eyes, Riku just readjusted his grip on the container he was carrying so he could secure a better hold on it before following after the other two.

"I see you've put the hubby and the hubby's friends to work," I snorted dryly as I watched them go, before turning my attention on my roomie once more. "Did Xion and Roxas actually end up doing anything to help with party prep?"

"They usually take care of it all in previous years, just this time they were nice enough to let me be in charge of everything so I could get as much birthday planning experience as possible! I wanna be the mom that throws the best parties!" She paused thoughtfully for a moment then. "They did pick the place though," she gestured around the pub, "and also helped blow up all the balloons."

"I brought the cake!" Anna happily announced as she tried to press a "Make a wish!" sticker to my cheek. My hand caught her wrist, stopping her in her tracks as I drooped my eyelids at her.

Had to draw the line somewhere.

"No, I brought the cake," Kristoff abruptly appeared at her shoulder to correct her. Come to think of it, strawberry and sea salt ice cream cake did sound like something that could probably be custom ordered from the Ice Palace. He playfully grinned down at her, "You I had to keep from eating the thing on the whole ride over."

Anna gave an offended gasp, "Hey! So not true!" One side of her mouth lifted as she threw up her dukes before him, "Them's fightin' words, buddy!"

He grunted out a laugh as she socked his shoulder. "Woah there, Feisty Pants. Easy," he caught her fists, one in each of his hands, and used his hold to spin her around so he was now hugging her from behind.

"I helped," Anna insisted with a halfhearted pout.

"You most certainly did. You helped by successfully not eating the cake before we could get it here," he agreed, pressing his lips to her cheek. She cracked a smile then, seemingly mollified.

"Today's the day, Tifa!" Lea's voice suddenly cut through the hubbub of the festivities all around us. We turned as the crowd parted to reveal the redhead, cocky smirk twisting his lips as he thrusted a finger towards the person standing across the table from him, none other than Tifa herself. "That bottomless ale for a year is mine!"

She chuckled, cracking her knuckles. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just cuz it's your birthday, beanpole."

"Would never expect ya to," he shot back as he threw himself down into a chair, slamming his elbow on the table and holding his hand up, fingers curled and smirk widening.

"What's that all about?" Anna asked quietly as a hush fell over the room. She'd set to work on getting Kristoff all decked out now in birthday finery, complete with stickers. Surprisingly (or maybe not really) he let her.

"Tifa - the woman he's challenging - owns the bar and has a deal going where if you can beat her at arm wrestling, you get your drink of choice free of charge for a whole year," I whispered back, not taking my eyes off the two contenders.

"Really?" Anna's lips formed a tiny 'o' as she paused mid-snapping a hat onto her boyfriend's head. Then she glanced back towards Tifa. "...wouldn't that put her out of business?"

Rayne made a noise through her nose that was somewhere between a snerk and a scoff. "Please. The woman hasn't lost to a challenger yet."

"Hafta warn ya," Lea was telling his opponent now as she settled into the seat opposite the table from him, "I've been doing extra reps at the gym. Gotta new trainer too. Name's Phil… perhaps you've heard of him?" The last part came out a touch smug.

"That old, washed-up has-been? You should demand your munny back," she flashed a half-grin as her elbow planted on the table as well and she clasped his hand with hers. "You sure about this? Not too late to back out. Hate to make a grown man cry on his birthday."

He barked out a laugh at that. "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. 'Sides, it's a matter of manly pride to me at this point. You're going down, girl. Now go!"

WHAM!

That, my friends, had been the sound of Tifa taking a grand total of zero-point-three seconds to totally and utterly obliterate Lea's "manly pride.".

"Better luck next time, beanpole," Tifa winked as she stood up, dusted her hands together and walked away.

"Crap, can't believe ya'd humiliate a guy like that on his birthday of all days!" he called after her, sulking and hissing through his teeth as he shook some blood flow back into his hand.

His moping was short-lived however as Roxas and Xion rolled out the ginormous cake a minute later. The customary song was sung, the candles were blown out, and presumably a wish was made. Then slices were divvied out, Lea of course happily taking the largest piece whereas I opted for what was quite possibly the smallest, given that I still wasn't exactly sea salt ice cream's number one fan. I will admit however, the strawberries helped.

Shortly after that, karaoke started up. And shockingly, I may or may not have been the one to get the karaoke ball rolling. Willingly, no less! It'd even been my own idea, no one had to drag me up there or anything this time! Perhaps taking part in Wicked has gotten me more comfortable with performing on stage. Or maybe that college acting course I was taking with Lea now was already starting to work its magic on me. True, the semester had only just begun and we were just a couple classes into it, but hey… every little bit helped, didn't it?

In any case, I went with a song I'd picked out especially for this occasion and especially with Lea in mind… Jodi Benson's Happy Birthday, Princess. I thought it suited Lea quite perfectly actually as I smirked over the mic at where he sat in the audience, cheering me on. Of course once I was done, I was quick to exit the stage to avoid any sort of encore performance.

One song was enough for lil ol' awkward, misanthropic me, thanks.

But still… baby steps. I count this as a win.

From the relative safety of the back of the room, I watched as several more people took their turns at the mic next, each with varying degrees of success. As I now fought a small smile watching Anna lug Kristoff up to karaoke so he could sing Ain't No Mountain High Enough with her, I felt arms slip around to encircle my waist from behind while a faint but familiar boyish cinnamon scent reached my nose. "So here's where my lil hermit disappeared to after her big number, hiding tucked away in a dark corner," Lea's voice murmured against my ear, his breath tickling a bit.

My hands covered his as I leaned back slightly, settling comfortably into his chest. "I wouldn't say hiding so much as… enjoying the ambiance."

"Mm," I felt more than heard his hum of acknowledgement as he rested his chin atop my head. "Why're you all by yourself? Where are Raindrop and Riku?"

"They slipped off a few minutes ago in the direction of the restrooms." My face scrunched up a tad. "There's a good chance they've locked themselves in one and are making out like a pair of hormonal teenagers in it."

"Shit, they beat us to the punch," he chuckled and I elbowed him in the ribs for the comment, which only seemed to make him laugh harder. "Can't believe they left ya alone like this though. They're fired, let's find ya some new friends to hang out with."

I smiled, knowing he was only joking. "I'm good, thanks. Anna and Kristoff will be done and back in just a few minutes anyway."

His fingers idly played with mine, weaving and unweaving them only to weave them together again. "Aw c'mon, lemme help ya find a new posse, it'll be fun! Lessee, who do we got here…?" He used his hold around my middle to pivot us both, forcing my gaze away from where Anna was having no shame getting overly flirty with her lines on stage which in turn was causing Kristoff to get all flustered and horribly butcher his half of the song. I instead glanced about the room now, which was still quite packed - I think even more people had shown up since we'd arrived. Many were faces I recognized from Friday night drinks or laser tag or just from around the mall in general. There were also several that were unfamiliar to me sprinkled in amongst the rest.

It was one such stranger that Lea now directed my view towards with a, "Ah-ha! How 'bout that guy? Mr Broody McBrood Face over there with the blonde, spiky hair doing the cool-mystery-guy lean against the bar. That's Cloud. He and Tifa go waaaaay back.

"And that other dude that he's angrily eye fucking from the across the bar?" He steered us now to look at said dude. "The one with the long, white Fabio locks and looks like the whole Halloween Town store threw up on him? That's Sephiroth, or Sephy for short - take note, he's a real huge fan o' that nickname. Anyhoo, the two of 'em are locked in an eternal battle to be the one true champion supreme over Darkness."

I blinked. "...Darkness?"

Now Lea turned us to face the pub's small arcade section. "Name of one of the pinball machines over there. Those knuckleheads are always fighting over who holds the high score. Currently, Sephy is top dog on the scoreboards, so he's standing guard to make sure Cloud doesn't steal the number one spot out from under his nose. Yeah, they take that game way too seriously… so whaddya say, do they sound like prime bestie material for ya or what?"

"Or what," I wrinkled my nose and shook my head. "Think I'll pass."

"Alright, not your cup of tea, got it. Maybe this next bunch will be more your speed. See that gang over there, butting heads with Hayner, Olette, and Pence?" He swept me around to point me in another direction now, causing a tiny laugh to escape me. I spotted four people - a guy (who appeared to be the leader) with a scar across his face and wearing a beanie engaged in what looked to be a rather heated debate with Hayner, a girl with red eyes and half her face hidden behind bangs, a tan muscle-bound guy, and… well, I really couldn't make out whatever the deal was with the fourth one. Not with that large coat they were practically drowning in and the large brimmed hat shrouding their face.

"That's Seifer and crew," Lea went on to explain. "Or the Dusk Town Center Disciplinary Committee, aka the fancy lil title they gave themselves that basically means glorified mall security. Don't let the sneers fool ya tho, they're a real sweet lot… all warm and friendly-like. You'll fit right in with 'em!"

"Shut your mouth, chicken wuss!" Seifer suddenly shouted as he grabbed Hayner by the front of the shirt, who shoved him away with a snarl.

"Oh yeah… super friendly..." I deadpanned. "Not sure they're exactly my crowd though."

He gave a low chuckle, his arms tightening around my waist. "No? Dang, thought they'd be a shoe-in for sure. Hmm, who here can meet your impossibly high standards?" he teased. I would've reached back to tickle him for that remark if it weren't for his fingers gently squeezing mine now, holding them captive. He then turned us to face an occupied booth across the way.

"Got it this time for sure! That guy right there is Tarzan. He works over at that jungle-themed café at the mall. And the chick he's with? His girlfriend, Jane. She's hella smart, like step-aside-Einstein-there's-a-new-brainiac-in-town kinda smart. She's an anthro major over at Twilight U. Dunno what that girl sees in her neanderthal boyfriend. Don't get me wrong, he's nice and all, but dude's a total ape. Seriously, I legit think he was raised by gorillas." As if on cue, the man in long dreads grinned and proceeded to stand and beat his chest with his fists, cracking up the brunette he was sitting with. "See? See?" Lea pressed triumphantly.

I snorted softly as I watched the couple. "They do actually look kind of sweet… but no thanks. Wouldn't want to be a third wheel."

"Fine then, guess there's just no pleasin' ya, Lil Miss Wallflower," he cooed, nuzzling his nose into my cheek. I squirmed, closing one eye against it as I fought a grin. "If making friends is off the table, we'll just hafta find something else for ya to do. Hmm… oh! You can come sing a duet with me!"

"Sorry," I shook my head, "but I've already performed my one song for the day."

"What?! Aw man, I didn't know it was a one-and-done kinda deal, no fair!" I could hear the pout coloring his words. "C'mon, I love your voice. Just one more for me? You can't deny me on Lea Day, that's sacrilege!"

An amused huff escaped me. "I think I'll take my chances."

"The impudence! You're lucky you're so cute, otherwise there'd be a reckoning," he gave a halfhearted harrumph. Then, "Fine, ya don't gotta sing. Just come up on stage with me while I devote a love ballad to you."

"No thanks."

Ugh, so cheesy.

I could already feel my face warming at the very idea.

"C'mon, it'll be romantic. Let me serenade you," his voice dropped low as he started trailing light kisses down the side of my neck.

Well… I guess maybe… one lil song wouldn't h-

Hold it!

Oh-ho, no. Nu-uh. Nice try, bucko, but you're not going to get me that way!

"And I'm sure it'll be just as romantic if you serenade me while I'm sitting at a table in the audience," I said sweetly back.

A chuckle hummed in his throat. "Alright then, have it your way," he released me so he could spin me around and plant a smooch to my forehead. There was a wicked gleam in his eye now. Perhaps it should have set off warning alarms in my head.

But it didn't.

"Just remember… you asked for it," he smirked and winked before disappearing into the crowd in the direction of the karaoke stage.

Maybe his parting words should have filled me with a sense of dread and foreboding.

But they didn't.

Ah, what a naive little fool I was. It's true what they say. Ignorance really is bliss.

Anna and Kristoff soon finished their song and I clapped with everyone else as they stepped off the stage, making their way back towards me. It was just as we were finding an empty table that my blissful ignorance was shattered and tragedy struck.

It struck in the form of Lea's voice coming through the overhead speakers singing, "Oh-oh-oh-oo-OOH!" to the opening notes of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

My face paled, my spine snapped rigid, and I whipped around to see him standing on the karaoke stage now with the cordless mic up to his lips. He made direct eye contact with me and flashed a wide cheshire grin as he kept crooning away at the song's intro, beckoning me with a crook of his finger. It seemed my presence was requested on stage.

I gulped, rapidly shook my head and crossed my arms as I sat down in my chair with more force than intended.

Nu-uh. No way. Not on your life, pal.

He was undeterred. In fact, his toothy grin only broadened as he hopped down off the stage, singing the gaga-ooh-la-la's now as he came charging straight across the bar towards me.

So I, of course, did the only logical and mature thing I could do in response.

I squeaked and scrambled to try and hide under the table.

Problem solving at its finest.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough and he'd snagged my wrist before I could safely get under full cover. As he dragged me back out into the open, I snapped, "You said it would be romantic! This song is not romantic!"

"You lost your chance at romance when ya refused to come on stage with me, babydoll! Now suffer for the birthday boy!" he cackled as he pressed me back down into my chair. I tried to stand up again, but his hand on my shoulder held me firmly in my seat. Then he raised the mic to his mouth once more, picking the lyrics back up as if he'd never been interrupted in the first place and started to dance around me in a way that was… hrm… how shall I put this? ...provocative, but... so exaggerated to the point of extreme silliness and absolutely absurdity. As people around us started clapping in time with the music with whoops and whistles, I looked down and buried my face in my hands.

Don't worry, I wasn't feeling mortified…

...merely homicidal.

I was seriously going to murder him for this.

But no. I couldn't. Not today. Not on his birthday, of all days. Surely, I could give him a pass, just this once.

I'd slaughter him tomorrow instead.

That's right, yuck it up while you can, you giant dork. Your days are numbered.

Also, I didn't know whether to be disturbed or impressed by the fact that he seemed to know this song by heart and didn't need that little karaoke TV to remind him what the next line was going to be.

As the chorus began now, he straddled my legs for a crude approximation of what might be considered in the very absolute loosest sense of the term a lap dance. He whipped his free arm around over his head - oh gosh, was that dope doing The Lasso? - and Anna managed to wheeze out between her peels of laughter, "Oh my gawd, just how friggin' hammered is he?"

"Pretty sure he hasn't touched a single drop yet," I turned my head away from Lea, bringing up a hand to shield my face as I pretended I was anywhere but here right now.

"You mean this is him sober?!" she busted up all over again and nearly fell out of her chair, clinging to Kristoff's arm for support.

Any retort I might've made to that was swiftly forgotten as Lea, still singing away, spun around to give me a front row, up close and personal seat to his gyrating rear end. Rolling my eyes, I used both hands to shove the thing out of my face. A sharp gasp from Anna had me looking at her again. Swallowing splutters and snerks, she chided, "Sis, behave yourself! You're in public!" She tsked, still struggling to keep a straight face. "Groping a guy like that, so unladylike… what would Mom and Dad say?"

I blinked. What was she even-?

...oh.

Oh god.

I basically, technically, for all intents and purposes and with the whole world to bear witness (or at the very least, the whole bar)... had just grabbed my boyfriend's butt.

Okay. Now I was mortified.

Thanks a lot, hands. You little harlots, you… you… jezebels, you-

Whump!

Annnnd now Lea had flopped over backwards on top of our table. Just where exactly was he going with this next? Did I even want to know? I mean, really?

Whether I did or not, it seemed I had little choice in the matter. It was kind of like a scene out of a classic black-and-white film, where a sultry bombshell in a slinky dress would be stretched out seductively on top of a piano while sing-schmoozing the pianist. Except there was a table instead of a piano, Lea instead of the bombshell, leaving me as the sing-schmoozing recipient.

All still to Bad Romance, mind you.

Which is just every girl's dream, am I right, ladies?

My eyelids drooped as I fixed him with a dull stare. I was determined to not give him anything. Zero reaction. Zilch. Nothing. There was a tiny gleam to his eyes now as they crinkled, sending a clear message: Challenge accepted. In the end, it actually didn't take much to break my resolve. Just him hooking a finger into my necklace, drawing me close so he could "whisper" (if it could even be called that, considering the mic was still broadcasting his singing) into my ear the lyrics, "You know that I want you… and you know that I need you… I want it bad, your bad romance."

That's when it happened.

A mutinous little snort rushed out my nostrils. Then I was cracking up laughing and shoving his face away. Beaming in victory, he hopped up off the table to resume singing and dancing around me like an idiot. And for the record, he seemed to take way too much delight in the parts of the song where he got to shout, "I'm a free bitch, baby!"

The buffoonery thankfully only lasted another minute or two before the song came to an end. After he gave several flourishing bows to the loud round of applause for his performance, Lea handed off the mic to someone else. I did not envy the next person up for karaoke who had to follow that act. Then Lea flashed a grin as he leaned over where I was still seated, bracing himself with a hand on the table. "Well now, I hope we learned our lesson!"

I crossed my arms, smirking up at him. "We most certainly did."

"Good. So next time I wanna serenade ya on the karaoke stage, you…" he trailed off, waiting for me to fill in the blank.

My smirk widened. "...barricade myself in the bathroom until the song is over."

He gave a soft pft at that. "It's adorable that ya think I couldn't just bust that door straight off its hinges and-"

"Lea! Get your ass over here!" Xion suddenly came bursting through the crowd, skidding to a stop in front of him with a giggle. "It's that time at last!"

He whipped his head towards her, blinking a couple times. "Huh?"

She snerked, "Don't gimme that dumb look! It's Present Time!"

His whole face lit up before he glanced towards me slyly. "Oh goody, and I know exactly whose I'm gonna open up first!"

...fudge.

My hands were already reaching to tug and twist at me braid as I frowned. "Or, uh… or maybe you could start with… some of the other gifts? That way-"

-I could secretly compare what other people had got him to what I'd got him and then-

"-you, um… you wouldn't be playing favorites! Yeah! And, er…"

-if I thought my present terrible by comparison, I could maybe covertly remove it from the pile and-

"...that just wouldn't be... fair! You know… to the other gifts!"

-sneak out, buy him something better, return and slip the new one into the stack with everyone here none the wiser, least of all Lea!

"...which might hurt their… their feelings! And you wouldn't want to go around hurting the other gifts' feelings, now would you?"

Wait, what was I going on about?

Ugh, mouth… I leave you unsupervised for two seconds and this is what I come back to?

Well, at least you tried. A for effort… No, you know what? C-minus. Do better next time.

Lea pressed his lips to my cheek and ruffled my bangs. "Well, all the other presents will just hafta put on their big boy pants and suck it up," he playfully teased before going with Xion to where his treasure horde awaited him. I grimaced slightly before slowly following behind.

Most of the partygoers had already gathered in a circle around the present table. I squeezed into a spot between my sister and (a somewhat disheveled but thoroughly satisfied-looking) Rayne. The chatter around us was shushed as Lea approached the small mountain of colorfully wrapped boxes. He immediately zeroed in on mine, yanking it out and raising it high over his head to be met with cheers from the whole room. Then he held it up to his ear, giving it a little shake and arching his eyebrow with a grin.

Oh gosh, what if he didn't like it?

I mean, I'd felt so… so sure when I'd first laid eyes on it. So confident in my decision when I'd made the purchase. So certain as I'd wrapped it, zero doubt in my mind that he'd absolutely love it - which was so out of character for one such as myself who'd second guessed every gift decision I'd ever made in my entire life. Well, now I was second guessing this one too. Up until a minute ago, it'd seemed so perfect. But now all of a sudden, it just seemed so… so stupid and-

-and oh god, he was ripping it open!

I couldn't watch!

My hands flew up to cover my eyes.

Ahhhhh, much better! Now I had absolutely no clue what was going on!

...except now I had absolutely no clue what was going on. Oh dear, had he finished removing all the wrapping paper? Had he opened the box? Was he looking inside this very second? What was his reaction? Was he happy? Confused? Indifferent? Underwhelmed? Disappointed? Crestfallen? So unimpressed by what a mundane, thoughtless gift it was to the point of taking offense and throwing it in the nearest trash can, lighting it on fire and- dear lord, not knowing what was going on was worse. So, so much more worse! Why wasn't he even saying anything? If he'd just say something, maybe I could at least get some sense of his-

"Holy shit."

...yeah, I didn't know what to do with that.

Was that a good "holy shit" or a bad "holy shit"?

Or maybe a wow-this-present-sucks-so-much-that-I'm-breaking-up-with-you "holy shit"?

Perhaps if he just said one more thing-

"Holy shit."

...preferably something else and that was maybe a bit more descriptive.

Ugh, screw it. I couldn't take this anymore.

I parted my fingers ever so slightly, just enough so I could peek between them. There he stood now with an action figure in molded plastic packaging in one hand while the other reached inside the open cardboard box on the table in front of him, still with bits of shredded gift wrap taped to it. Out came a second toy similar to the one he was already holding and just as brightly packaged. Other than both of his eyebrows reaching for his hairline, Lea's expression was unreadable as he glanced from one to the other.

"He's part of a set," someone suddenly blurted out.

Took me a second to realize it was me.

As Lea's gaze locked on mine, I bit my bottom lip and wrung my hands together for a second. Then, "Bubbles, I mean. He's… They're… all of them together, that is... they make a set." I hesitated for another beat before finally stepping forward to reach inside the cardboard box, pulling out the third and final one so I could hold it up to him as well. Heart thudding in my ears, I hastily began to explain, "Besides the orca you already had, there's also robots for a great white shark, a dolphin and a whale shark. And they all have machine guns too!" I tacked on with a bit of nervous excitement, then frowned. "...for… some… bizarre reason." I shrugged, "Anyway, now you have them all. Bubbles has, er… has been reunited with his brothers! Or… sisters, maybe? I mean, far be it from me to assume the gender of a," I paused, squinting at the toy's packaging for a second and slowly reading off,"...royal sea dinosaur deformation robot." I wrinkled my nose. Yeesh, what a mouthful. Clearing my throat and suppressing a tiny grimace, I then uncertainly asked the question that I was dreading the answer to. "So… what do you think?"

Still, Lea said nothing, just pursed his lips to one side as he scrutinized the action figures again. But then he uttered one single, solitary word. "Riptide."

I blinked. "Uh…?"

...was that a good "riptide" or a bad "riptide"?

A smile broke out across his face now as he tapped a fingertip to the plastic encasing the one in my hands - the whale shark. "Riptide," he said again. Then he lifted the great white, his hand giving it a little wiggle, "And this one's Whirlpool."

Oh! He was naming them.

That was a good sign, right? Was the present a success? Had I done it? Had I achieved the dream?

"This is great, now the kiddos and I can play with 'em all together!" he laughed. "Xion will be Riptide, Rox Whirlpool, and I of course will control Bubbles."

One side of my mouth quirked up. "Then I guess that makes that one for Saïx," I nodded towards the dolphin.

"You kidding? Saïx wouldn't be caught dead playing with toy robots," Lea razzed his tongue in his brother's direction, whose only reply was to fix him with a dull stare. "Then again, who knows, once in a blue moon he might surprise us. In that case, he can borrow it, but only if he asks ya nicely first."

"Me?" I furrowed my brow at him.

His infamous dimple emerged. "Course! Cuz that's the one you'll normally play!"

"Oh." I'd been assigned one of the robots. Was it odd that that made me a teensy bit giddy? Trading him the whale shark for the dolphin, I inspected it with a small grin. "So what's this one's name then?"

"Craig."

My eyes snapped up to meet his again and I echoed incredulously, "Craig?"

He nodded firmly, "Mm-hm. Craig."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "...so their names are Bubbles, Riptide, Whirlpool… and Craig."

"What? He looks like a Craig!" Lea defended.

"Don't be silly, how on earth could an aquatic robot toy possibly look like a-" I cut myself off as I glanced at the little figurine in my hands again. I blinked once, then twice. "...actually, he kind of does look like a Craig." My head tipped to one side with a thoughtful frown, "Huh."

Lea then hooked his finger under my chin, lifting it and drawing my attention back to him so he could kiss me before murmuring against my lips, "These are amazing, El, I love them. Thank you."

My face warmed as I bit back a small smile and nodded. "You're welcome. Glad you like them."

Tucking them all with care back into the big cardboard box, Lea called out, "And now, the show must go on! So lil time, so many presents to get through! Onward to the next tribute celebrating the greatness that is me! Minions!" he pointed to Roxas and Xion. "Bring me the next offering forthwith! Chop, chop!" he clapped his hands together twice.

They both just drooped their eyelids at him as Roxas deadpanned, "Yeah, no. Not happening."

"Ugh, fine! Guess the birthday boy's just gotta do everything himself!" Lea harrumphed before walking over to pluck the next gift from the top of the pile and thrusting it up above his head again for another round of cheers from everyone gathered to watch.

I observed for a while longer with everyone else as he gradually made his way through the stack. Amongst other things, he got a video game rated M for extreme violence, blood and gore from Roxas, a DVD box set for some series that looked old, sappy and right up Lea's alley from Xion, and a big, heavy hardcover book from Saïx that was difficult to discern from the title whether it was a novel or some sort of academic text. Lea quickly hid the flicker of a grimace at the last one, thanking his brother all the same. Towards the end as the heap began to dwindle, the crowd and press of people started to get to be a little too much for me and so I decided to slip outside for a few minutes for a quick breather. There were only a few presents left anyhow, so I was sure I wouldn't miss much.

Dusk was beginning to fall as I stepped out onto 7th Heaven's deck. I was the only one out here as I moved to take a seat at one of the picnic tables, closing my eyes and relaxing on the wooden bench. After all the hubbub inside, the solitude and quiet was a welcome change. The cool autumn gust felt good on my skin and I breathed it in as it toyed with my braid.

Not sure how long I stayed like that. Probably only a few minutes before I could hear the murmur from the festivities once more as the bar's door opened briefly before closing again. Then the sound of approaching footsteps on the patio before the bench creaked under the weight of someone taking a seat next to me, their knee brushing against mine.

"You all good?" his voice reached my ears.

I opened my eyes now, turning my head to look at Lea. He was slouched comfortably where he sat, propped up by his elbows on the tabletop behind him, flashing me a gentle grin. I smiled warmly back and nodded. "I'm fine. Just wanted some fresh air. You should get back to enjoying the party, I'll be right behind you."

The corner of his eyes crinkled before he slung an arm around my shoulders, hugging me tightly into his side. His teeth lightly nipped at the tip of my nose before he rested his cheek against my hair. "Lil fresh air sounds good. I'll head back inside in a minute."

As I settled my head into the crook of his neck, I hummed a contented sigh. Then I pointed out towards the sunset, simply telling him, "Look."

I felt a small chuckle rumble through his chest. "That certainly is a lovely shade of red."

"Mm," I agreed softly. "...I unfortunately can't do anything about a summer breeze for you though. Not until next year anyway."

"Don't worry 'bout it. Three outta four ain't too shabby."

I gave a low snort at that. Then, "So… you having a good birthday so far?"

"The best," he nodded against my hair. There was a smirk in his tone as he added, "I mean, course it's no locking us in my room together, worshipping every last inch of your body, that whole shebang, but still… pretty damn good."

A blush creeped into my cheeks as I hesitated before saying, "Good thing that's the plan for tomorrow then."

I felt him tense beside me. Then he was lifting his head off mine as he pulled away slightly to fish his phone out of his pocket. He tapped his thumb to "Work" under his contacts before bringing it up to his ear as he beamed big at me.

"Welp," he delightedly chirped, "Looks like I'm callin' in sick for tomorrow!"

Author's note: BE WARNED! Extra long chapter gets extra long Author's Note! Keep reading at your own peril xD It's all just basically fun facts and me explaining the random inner workings of my oddball brain as I wrote this chapter, so if none of that interests you, then just skip it all, no skin off my nose xP

Early on in writing "Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza", I decided I wanted to figure out when Lea's and Elsa's birthdays were for no other reason than just because I could! So with the help of several "what the day you were born on says about you" websites, I spent days poring over the meaning of more birthdates than I care to admit before finally deciding on (insert drum roll) August 3rd for Lea's bday! It was a really silly thing to spend all those hours on cuz at the time I had no plans for their birthdays to ever come up in the story at all, it was just a random fact I wanted to know about both my characters xD But then as I was writing these bonus chapters, I suddenly remembered figuring out those birthdays and realized Lea's big day was coming up between 2 chapters I had planned and I was all, "well shit, I should probably write it!" And whew, I tell ya, for starting out this chapter having absolutely ZERO CLUE what to write, I certainly came up with a lot of BS to fill it with, making it my longest chapter yet xD Hehe, guess I overcompensated, oops! Hopefully it was all fun to read tho! I'll probably get around to writing an Elsa bday chapter too, but hers isn't until February 5th, so we have a lil bit before we get there. Also, timeline is getting a lil vague, wibbly-wobbly with these bonus chapters, but if I try to line this chapter up calendar-date-wise with whatever the date was exactly that Elsa ran away at the start of this story, pretty sure at this point I have to say that Oaken ALWAYS has a big summer blowout going on in his store, no matter WHAT time of year it is xD

Hopefully strawberries and sea salt ice cream cake sounds good :P According to the internet, it should be delicious, I'm just not sure if it SOUNDS delicious to the reader haha! I just thought plain old sea salt ice cream cake would be too basic bitch for someone like Lea on his BIRTHDAY of all days, so I went too far in the other direction at first (still sea salt cuz DUH, but I think there was also chocolate and blackberries involved? Again, the internet said it would taste PHENOMENAL, but it didn't SOUND phenomenal xD) before toning it back to just strawberries xD Anyhoo, another chapter jam-packed with references! Some might have been more subtle than others tho, so I wonder if you guys were able to catch them all? I brought Tifa back for a proper cameo this chapter, since I didn't really do her justice back in chapter 12 - hopefully this made up for it xD I even came up with a lame twist on Cloud and Sephy's whole Darkness bit from the KH games - I know it's a lil off since Sephiroth is supposed to BE Cloud's darkness, but shhh, close enough, dang it! On another note, I spent way too long trying to figure out what song Elsa would sing at karaoke, especially for what amounted to just one friggin' sentence lol! I wanted a birthday song that wasn't the standard one, but everything I could find was either too sexy or too sappy for El, either of which would have made her too flustered to sing in front of a bunch of people xD I almost went with one of the birthday songs by either The Backstreet Boys or NSYNC cuz she actually probably would have been the most comfortable with their lyrics, but I just couldn't bring myself to write Elsa singing goddamn Backstreet Boys or NSYNC x'D Just when I'd been about to give up all hope of ever finding the right song, I happened upon "Happy Birthday Princess" sung by Jodi Benson, which I felt Elsa would not be embarrassed singing to Lea while at the same time letting her be a lil cheeky about it xP It's a song on an album entitled "Disney Princess Tea Party" and Jodi Benson is actually Ariel's voice actor! Fun Fact: I imagine in the "Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza" universe, people like Jodi Benson and Idina Menzel still exist just instead of being voice actors, they're singers equivalent to Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga fame. Speaking of Lady Gaga… xD THAT happened cuz, due to circumstances beyond my control, Bad Romance has been playing on loop in my household almost constantly for like 2 weeks while I was writing this chapter haha! You'd think I'd get sick of the song, but actually it got me pretty hooked - and I'd liked the song before, but you know I never actually LISTENED to the lyrics until I heard it nonstop and lemme tell you, that is one surprisingly HORNY song xP In any case, my brain eventually warped it into me totally being able to see Lea singing it at karaoke and being a total dope about it too xD But hey… at least I didn't include the full lyrics to the song this time! We've finally reached a point in the story where someone singing isn't pivotal to their character growth and thus I can gloss over it, huzzah! On one final note, those action figures are real! I think I mentioned that about the orca robot back in chapter 30, but the whole set is a real thing! And I know, honestly maybe it would make more sense as a gift you'd give to Demyx since they're all sea life themed, but I could definitely see Lea going totally bonkers over them too just cuz their weird AF which, let's face it, is Lea's brand xD

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

Next bonus chapter is once again gonna be focused on Lea and something going on in his life, but is gonna be a lil less mindless nonsense and a lil more serious… but still flavored with my odd brand of humor tho, cuz it's me and that's just how I roll! And the hint will be… car keys! Ooo, how are THOSE involved?! Stay tuned!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[buckyscrystalqueen]

Little Soul Mate

Pairings: Crowley x Reader, Crowley x Age Regressed Reader

Warnings: Swearing??? IDK I put it for everything. Age regression.

Word Count: 4,597

A/N: So this story is a paused fic I have had in my files for two years that doesn’t really have a set ending because I couldn’t come up with anything else. I just want to give y’all some more content I guess. Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terrified didn’t even begin to describe what you were feeling. You sat as deep into the corner of your apartment complex’s laundry room as physically possible as something monstrous clawed at the thankfully steel doors to get to you. Your two personalities raged in your brain, as tears streamed down your face. You tried to scream for help but the sound caught in your throat each time.  You managed to squeak out ‘Daddy’ for a man that hadn’t existed in your life in months as the monster finally burst through the door. You closed your eyes, and curled up into yourself a little more as the beast lunged toward you before a gun shot rang out through the room.

You continued to sob and shake as the beast landed at your feet, spraying blood from the hole in his jugular across your baby Tigger slippers, your jean overalls, and the orange long sleeved, off shoulder sweater shirt you had on. You could barely hear someone ask if you were alright as adult you sobbed and slowly slipped away, and little you screamed in your mind in sheer terror, but you yelped when someone touched your knee. Your head whipped back and forth as you began to rock and beg your daddy to come back.

“What’s she saying?” Dean asked his brother as the pair of them watched you cover your ears. Sam shrugged his shoulders.

“We gotta get her out of here.” Sam said as he looked at the werewolf at his feet.

“Dude. She’s fucking crazy.” Dean said as he kicked the beast with the toe of his boot.

“She was just attacked by a fucking werewolf, of course she’s a little crazy.”

“Are you lot really going to just stand around with your thumbs up your asses all bloody day?” Crowley asked as he leaned in the door way, always up for annoying the boys. His eyebrows cocked as he looked at you, huddled in the corner. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Don’t know.” Dean said as he pocketed his gun. “Found her like this.” The King’s brow furrowed as he took a step closer to hear what you were mumbling. His brow furrowed further as he listened to the conflicting yet parallel thoughts in your head, and he quickly made the wolf disappear, as a need to comfort filled his twisted soul for the first time in decades.

“I’ve got her, boys.” He said as he came over and crouched down in front of you. “Hello, little one.” He said softly as Sam and Dean cleared out. “What’s wrong?” You shook your head as your pleas for help fell silent on your lips. “Alright. How about you come with me, and we can get you out of those filthy clothes. I don’t think Tigger appreciates the yuck, does he?” You shook your head again and looked up at him through your lashes with a sniffle. He smiled at you and held out his hand, patiently.

“I’m scared.” You whispered as you looked over at the broken door. “It’s scary.”

“I know it is.” Crowley agreed with a nod. “But I promise, I can protect you from that mean, scary beast.” You were so terrified, the concept of trusting this man at face value with your deepest, darkest secret didn’t even cross your mind. Very slowly, you reached out and slipped your blood splattered hand into his. “There’s a good girl. How about we go find a cup of milk and some cartoons, huh?”

“Chocolate?” You whispered as he pulled you to your feet. 

“That sounds wonderful, little one.”

——

Crowley watched you in awe as you sat on the floor of your pastel pink spare bedroom, coloring in a ‘My Little Pony’ coloring book, surrounded by stuffed animals to keep you safe. He pushed himself back and forth in your rocking chair, trying to figure out just why he, a soulless, narcissistic prick, gave a damn about the strange woman in front of him. He wasn’t any sort of caregiver; nothing like the man that you had been crying for in the basement. He also wasn’t a complete asshole like that man either. But he couldn’t help but consider the idea. But how he would go about being a caregiver in his position?

“Look it!” You said, pridefully as you picked up the book, and showed it to him.

“You did that?” He asked as he stopped rocking, and leaned forward in the chair. “That’s incredible!”

“That’s Pinkie Pie.” You said as you scooted toward him, and pointed out the characters. “And that’s Applejack. See, she’s here, too!” You said, excitedly, as you handed him the book, and grabbed the stuffed animal version of your drawing from the pile. “She’s my favorite pony.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Applejack.” Crowley said with a smile as he reached out, and shook the stuffed animal’s leg before he even thought the action through.

“She likes you.” You said as you sat back on your heels in front of him, and looked at your pony. “She thinks you seem trustable. She didn’t…” You said before your voice fell off. You bit your lip, and tears welled in your eyes as your adult brain tried to protect your innocent little side from the memory of your ex.

“Little one.” Crowley said as he leaned forward, and rested his arms on his knees. “How’s about I put a movie in for you before you take a nap. Since I know you’re safe, I’ll leave you here for now. And, tomorrow, we can go out to dinner to get to know each other. Big or Little you, I’m fine with both.” You nodded your head slowly as the adult in you took over for a moment.

“Is that thing coming back?” You whispered as you looked up at him with tear filled eyes. 

“I swear to you, you are safe. I know my word means nothing yet but it’s the truth.” He reached out, and very gently wiped away your tears. You whispered ‘OK’ and nodded against his palm. “Alright, little one. Let’s see what cute pajamas you have.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Crowley sat on his throne, ignoring the rambling demon in front of him as he responded to little you and your unbelievable facts about orcas (because there was no way a whale weighed a gazillion tons) and big you regarding dinner plans that night. In less than twenty four hours, you had some how weaved your way into every inch of his brain. A small smirk pulled at the corner of his lips as Little sent another photo, introducing him to Perry the Porg (whatever a porg was. Looked more like a penguin to him), when Sam’s caller ID photo popped up on his screen. He sighed and stood up, walking out of his throne room in the middle of his minion’s sentence.

“What d’you want, Moose?”

“Hey, we’re trying to wrap up here in town. Did you give that girl the speech?”

“I’m taking care of it.” Crowley said as he glanced at his phone and the text from you about your hesitation on going out for dinner. 

“It’s no big deal.” Sam said. “We’re cleaning up now, and we can head over…”

“I said I fucking have it!” He snapped! “What part of that fucking sentence do you not understand?” He hung up the phone and pulled up your texts with a shake of his head. He waited a few minutes, sending you a couple more texts to make it appear that he was ‘driving over’ before transporting himself to your apartment. He made sure that he had a different tie on than the night before, and that the scent of sulfur was gone from his suit before knocking on your door. He huffed a laugh when he heard your small squeal, and took a step back to wait for you to open the door.

“You made it.” You said with a smile as you pulled on the side of your knee length, black dress. “Come in!”

“You look amazing, kitten.” He said as he stepped into your apartment. “You ready to go?” You nodded your head slightly.

“You’re sure it’s safe?” You asked as you looked at the open door.

“I promise you. It’s safe.” He reassured as he held out his arm for you. You nodded and took it hesitantly but with every step you took toward the door, your grip tightened. You made it to the threshold when the twisted face of your neighbor running toward you stopped you cold, and sent your mind reeling.

“No.” You said as you put on the breaks, and dug your heels into the carpeted floor. “No, I can’t. Daddy, please! Please!”

“OK. OK.” Crowley said as he moved in front of you and gently pushed you a step back into your place. He shushed you softly, and pushed your apartment door closed as you burst into tears. “Hey, you’re alright, kitten.”

“He’s gunna come back.” You gasped with a frantic shake of your head. “He’s coming…”

“Little love.” He cooed as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled your shaking body into his chest. “Breathe for me.”

“I can’t.” You gasped. Crowley nodded and slowly walked you back to your couch.

“Alright, here we go. Sit down for me.” You nodded and let him lead you into a seat. He sat down beside you with a sigh, wondering briefly just how Sam and Dean dealt with people after they learn about the supernatural on a regular basis. “There’s my girl. I was in the mood for a nice slice of pizza anyways. So we stay inside for our first date.” He smiled and ran his hand down your leg to take off your heels with a smile. “My vote is for peppers and mushrooms.” Your nose scrunched as he tossed your shoes aside, and pulled your legs across his lap.

“Eww.” Crowley laughed as he grabbed one of your many blankets from the shelf under your coffee table and spread it out across your lap.

“So what does my little girl want then?” He asked as he wrapped the blanket around you. 

“Cheese.” You whispered as you took the offered handkerchief from Crowley.

“Cheese it is.” He agreed. “I’ll place the order, while you find something on TV. Then we’ll talk after, alright?” You nodded your head as he passed you the remote before pulling out his phone to get one of his minions to pick-up a pizza for him. He smiled to himself as you scooted down on the couch beside him, and pulled up ‘Captain America: Civil War’. You set your remote aside and reached out to hold the side of Crowley’s suit jacket like a safety blanket. Once he hung up the phone, he held his arm out so you could scoot into it.

“You’re safe with me, little one.” He whispered as he kissed the top of your head, loving the smell of your coconut shampoo. “I know I just met you, but I swear to you, you are safe.” You nodded your head and laid your head on his chest for only a moment before someone knocked on your front door.

“Already?” You asked as You sat up while Crowley pulled the blanket off your lap. You headed over to the door, grabbing the cash Crowley held out to you on the way, and took a deep, steadying breath before opening it. Your head tilted the slighted bit to the side as a very tall man with long hair turned around with no pizza in his hands. “Can I help you?” You inquired as you held onto the door a little tighter, prepared to slam it closed if the man turned out to be a beast, too.

“Hi. My name is Sam. I umm… I was there yesterday when…” You heard Crowley sigh, loudly and you glanced over at him as he got up off your couch to come over to the door.

“Fucking part of ‘I’ve fucking got it’ did you not comprehend, Moose?” He asked as he put his hand on on the small of your back. “’s’alright, love. I know him.” Sam looked between the pair of you as you took a step back and partially hid behind Crowley. “You might as well come in. Bloody pain in my ass.” He very carefully turned you around and guided you back into the apartment as Sam shut the door behind him and followed you into the living room. 

“What is this?” You asked as Crowley guided you back to the couch.

“This.” He said as he turned off your TV. “Is the conversation I wanted to have after we ate. But apparently, some people are impatient.” He looked over, pointedly at Sam as he sat down on the other couch. Crowley sighed and looked back over at you, searching your (Y/E/C) eyes as he tried to find the words to say. 

“(Y/N), there is no easy way to say this, but it needs to be said. There are beasts in this world. Beasts that most people believe only exist in movies. Beasts like the werewolf that tried to attack you last night… and beasts like me.” Your brow furrowed as you tried to figure out just what he meant before he blinked and his eyes turned blood red. You were too stunned to move, too lost for words as Sam started to explain further. It took you a few moments as Crowley simply waited for your reaction.

“Are you gunna hurt me?” You whispered as tears welled in your eyes, not caring that Sam was talking at all.

“Never, kitten.” You nodded your head slowly as little moved your hand forward to brush your fingertips across his face beside his eye. His shoulders relaxed and he blinked his eyes back to their normal brown as Sam watched the exchange uncomfortably. 

“What are you?”

“A demon.” He answered honestly. “Actually, to be more specific, the King of Hell.”

“So… doesn’t that mean your dead?”

“Technically speaking.” He said with a nod. “But a few years past, Sam and his brother tried to cure me. So I have a partial soul.” You nodded your head slowly and glanced over at Sam.

“Do you sleep?” He smirked and shrugged his shoulders as he leaned against the back of the couch.

“Not typically. But I can fall asleep if I want.”

“Don’t demons like haunt people, and throw shit?” Crowley smiled as he ran his fingertips across your knee. 

“It’s our form of entertainment.” He chuckled. “But yes, I can make things move, and I can make myself invisible.” Your eyes went wide and a smile spread across your face as you shifted on the couch and crossed your legs.

“Do it! Pretty please?” With a slight nod and a huff, Crowley disappeared before your eyes. You could still feel his hand on your knee and could still see the impression of where he was sitting on the couch.

“When you’ve lived as long as I have.” His disembodied voice said as he made the vase on your table levitate. “You have to have some fun.” You gasped as the vase went flying across the room and hit Sam directly in the stomach. He grunted, and bent over double as the vase floated back to the table and Crowley reappeared with a smug smile. “Told you, I’d handle it.”

“Fuck you, Crowley.” Sam said as he got up. “I’d run, and run fast, (Y/N)…”

“Noted.” You said as someone else knocked on the door.

“I’ll see him out.” Crowley said as he picked up his money from the table. With a nod of your head, you sat back against the couch to try to wrap your head around the new news. After some yelling on Crowley’s part, he slammed your front door, and brought the pizza back for you with a smile. “It’s actually from Italy.” He said as he set it down on the table in front of you. “Perks of being the King.”

“Can I ask you something?” You said as you grabbed a slice and a tissue for a napkin. “Why would a demon show interest in someone like me?”

“Truthfully?” He said as he sat down beside you and crossed his legs. “I have no idea. Typically, I don’t tolerate people. But there’s something about you that I can’t walk away from even if I tried. And don’t ask what because I don’t have a bloody clue. You’re just something special. You’re too damn adorable.” Your face flushed and you curled into yourself as you tried to use your half eaten pizza to hide your face. “That doesn’t help your case, kitten.”

“Quit!” You whined as you poked his side with your toes. He chuckled as he reached out to rub your ankle.

“Sorry, kitten. Not possible.” You scrunched your nose at him and reached out to turn your TV back on with an embarrassed smile. You glanced over at his smiling face and turned a brighter shade of red.

“Will you quit!”

——

“She came around when I was in high school.” You said softly as you looked over at the closed spare bedroom door while leaning against Crowley’s side with your legs over his lap. “I was such a loner back then. My parents had gotten divorced the summer before my freshman year and started using me and my big sister as pawns in their divorce. It became a literal living hell and it got so bad, that my sister ran away. We haven’t seen or heard from here in years, and I got blamed for it. I didn’t know how to handle it all. So I started to regress.”

“Oh, kitten.” Crowley sighed as he brushed his hand up your shins.

“It’s OK.” You said with a shrug. “I survived it. And Little… well, she kinda just stuck around. I spend more time being little now a days than I do being big. It’s the only coping mechanism I know.”

“So what happened to your last ‘Daddy’?” He asked as he shifted a bit to see your face. You sighed deeply and ran your fingers through your hair as you met his eyes. 

“Michael was an asshole. He didn’t understand the concept of caregiver and basically just wanted a sex slave. He was a sweetheart to start out with but after a few months, being little got in the way. He wanted me to support him, wanted me to take care of him.” You scoffed and shook your head as you briefly relived the last fight you had before you locked him out of your apartment. “He wanted a woman that knew her fucking place in the world. And I wasn’t having it.”

“Good for you, kitten.” He said as he ran his fingers through your hair.

“I just… I had to protect the part of me that was there to protect me. It’s like a split personality but I’m aware of everything that happens in both mindsets and both mindsets are there all the time. Like now, the little half of me is singing the theme song to a classic show called ‘Popples’ on repeat. Which is annoying as hell but I just ignore it… usually. Sometime she’s insistent about it, though. And at that point, I just let her win.”

“She is quite the presence.” He chuckled. “Would you mind if I stuck around to get to know both of you? I don’t know much about this… hell, I’m not even sure I’d be good at it…”

“You would be.” You said with a nod. “Just the bit of protectiveness I’ve seen proves that.”

“Well thank you.” You nodded your head and gently pat his hand to get up to use the restroom.

“It takes a special someone to be a Daddy.” You said as you pulled the hair tie from your wrist and threw your hair up in a loose, messy bun. “It’s not for everyone.” If it was possible, Crowley’e heart stopped as he looked at the small, blob like, ‘L’ shaped birthmark on the back of your neck. It was something he never believed existed, no matter how many times he had looked at the exact same mark on his left arm for centuries on both his human body and his meat suit.

“Love, is that a birthmark?” Crowley asked as he gestured to the soul mate mark that explained everything about how he felt about you. You looked back at him as you reached back and rubbed your fingertip across the spot with a smile.

“That it is.” You said with a shrug as you paused in the doorway to the master bedroom. “I used to hate it because kids used to say it looked like a penis but I could never bring myself to have it removed. I’ll be right back. I wanna get out of this dress.” He nodded his head slowly as he reached up to absentmindedly press his thumb into his own mark.

“Well I’ll be fucking damned.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Guthrie what do you know about soulmates?” Crowley asked as he sat on his throne, scouring the internet for any sort of information on the apparently archaic concept. His second in command looked over at him from the clipboard in his hand with his eyebrows raised.

“Sir?” 

“I didn’t stutter.” He said as he exited out of another webpage with useless information.

“Well sir.” Guthrie breathed as he dropped the clipboard to his side. “When I was a boy, my mother used to tell us that they were called twin flames or twin souls. It translated to a single soul, split between two people, through multiple reincarnations to gain live experience, before meeting again in their final lifetime on the planet so that they may ascend together. Soul mates are different. They are part of a family that help you grow and evolve.”

“So twin flames are the common understanding of soulmates.” Crowley clarified as he switched his search to ‘twin flames’.

“As I understand it, yes.” The King nodded his head as he added ‘mark’ and ‘lore’ to the end of his search.

“Do you believe it could be possible that flames could transcend the realm of living and dead?” Guthrie looked back up from his clipboard as Crowley closed out another useless website.

“I don’t believe so, sir. It could be possible but since most of the deceased on Earth have no soul…” Crowley nodded his head as he turned off his screen and got up from his chair.

“You’re not helping.” He said before disappearing to the library of the Bunker. Sam barely glanced up from his research as Dean threw his book down on the table.

“Damn, and I was hoping to go one fucking day without seeing your face.”

“Shut it, Squirrel.” Crowley snapped as he quickly read the book titles on the shelves before walking over to grab the book he was looking for. Sam and Dean exchanged a glance as he pulled three books off the shelf, and headed over to one of the tables.

“What uh… what are you looking for?” Sam asked hesitantly.

“None of your bloody business.” Crowley snapped as he flipped through the first lore book for the information he wanted. He stopped when he found a page referencing soul marks. He let out a small sigh of relief as he picked up the book and started to read as he walked slowly toward the archway between the map room and the library. He leaned up against the pillar and made himself a drink as he tried to soak up every ounce of information he could.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Dean asked as he got up to see what Crowley was reading. He managed to get only part of one of the titles, before the books went flying across the room.

“Don’t be a nosy prat.” Crowley said, dismissively as he closed the book he was reading and grabbed it and the two others that were floating in mid air in front of him. “I’ll return these when I’m done with them.” He barely heard Sam’s sigh as he disappeared back to his personal chambers to finish reading until you texted him when you got home from your waitressing gig.

“Makes sense.” He mumbled as he sat down in front of his fireplace, and opened the next book that involved the Greek mythology book that he assumed would be able to expand on the  original knowledge he knew about soulmates. “Oh, kitten. What are we gunna do with all this?”

——

You hadn’t walked three feet into your apartment after yet another shitty day, when Crowley appeared directly in front of you. Your bottom lip popped out and tears welled in your eyes almost instantly as you dropped your purse on the ground. 

“They’re just so mean.” You cried as Crowley’s heart melted impossibly more.

“Come here, little one.” He cooed as he held open his arms. You nodded your head and shuffled forward as tears spilled from your eyes. He held you tight and kissed the top of your head with a smile. “Now what happened, kitten?”

“I got fired because I refused to spend another two hours after my shift ended doing someone else’s side work. I’m sick of being pushed around there!”

“Well then it’s a good thing you got fired, then, right?” He asked as he picked you up and carried you toward your bedroom to get you changed.

“Just another fucking job I can’t fucking do.” You squeaked.

“No, kitten.” He said as he set you down beside the bed. “It’s not that you can’t do the job… arms up.” You nodded your head and put your arms in the air as he tossed your old apron out of the bedroom. “You could do the job. It just shouldn’t have been your damn job to do other people’s work.” You nodded your head and sniffled as you held onto his shoulder and stepped out of you work shorts. “That is just asinine.”

“That’s what I said.” You agreed as he grabbed one of your many, blue, oversized sweaters and a pair of cloud patterned sleep shorts from your closet.

“Well you don’t need that, princess. You deserve so much better than that. Up.” You nodded your head in agreement as you lifted your arms in the air and let him put on your sweatshirt. “I brought you something.” You smiled at him and sniffled as he pulled the hem of your sweater into place over your shorts. He stood up straight and studied you for a moment before holding out his hand and making a tiny, stuffed turtle appear in his palm. “You didn’t have a turtle…” You squealed loudly and snatched the baby from his hand before he could even finish his sentence.

“He’s so cute!” You cooed as you cuddled the turtle to your chest like a baby. Crowley smiled and reached up to brush your hair back behind your ear.

“First, he needs a name.” He said. “Then, he needs to meet his brothers and sisters, right?” You nodded your head as you followed his lead into little space, letting the anxiety of losing yet another job slip away.

“Franklin.” You said as you looked up at him. He nodded his head and smiled at you with a small huff of a laugh.

“Franklin it is.”

[grimoireofwritings]

Hello and I hope you are doing well, is it okay (despite the fact you probably have a bit of matchup requests) if I could get a matchup for BNHA if that is okay?

Okay so the essentials, I am Male (trans) and Omniromantic Asexual (male/masculine leaning), 5'6ish, Capricon, INTJ, in between thin and chubby, brown eyes, red hair up to the cab muscles (henna dyed). My personality is hard to explain, every person has a different opinion of me but the main things I hear are intemidating, empathetic, kind, a serious & calm, and intelligent? (But nah the intelligence part is really only in spanish lol). I'm increadbly insecure in myself. Almost to the point where it becomes self deprecating and self humorous but I almost become hypocritical when it comes to other people feeling insecure/taking care of themselves, I'm also a self sacrificing freak in a way. However on the lighter topic, I believe I'm a good friend! I would offer my advice, comfort, food, help in the clothes of my own back, because of this I may be considered naive and people may see me as being flirtatious even if I believe I'm beings good friend. But all of that goes to dirt if I or anyone I was close to were to be insulted, I keep my friends incredibly dear to me. One more thing about myself, I am a emotional and a animal empath that can become very emotional when it comes to seeing riots/movements and just seeing a cute pupper. When it comes to this sensitivity I can also get overwhelmed by large crowds and by loud noises, usually what helps me is being in the dark and being held/constricted by something/someone. I just like the dark, it's comforting to me and I use it to my advantage. Now onto my likes, I have an interest in witchcraft/the supernatural and celestial, and as being someone that believes that everything exists in it's own way I have an open mind to these things as well as a few unnatural experiences. Naps...I don't get enough of em and that just makes my love stronger, I also really like cosplay and acting in general, and if drawing dark/vent art counts then count it right in! And if it helps my favorite animals in order are Wolves, Ravens, and Orcas. As to not end on a negative note I'll tell more things about myself. I'm very much into PDA if not in public then just in private at least, I want to be close to my significant other and I since I've been touched starved for a long time any touch of any kind I will accept. I am also sensitive to sound (if someone is raising their voice or yelling at me I will think they are yelling at me and try to run away) and light (I don't like very bright places it strains my eyes and hurts to be in for a while)

Hello! Thank you for requesting, you're actually the second request I've gotten for a matchup and the only one I had in my ask! I was super excited to write this for you!!

Your BNHA match is... Fumikage Tokoyami!

I passionately ship this already, I am positive it would be one of those relationships that helps both partners grow and they bring out the best in each other!!! I feel like he wouldn't be someone who feels intimidated by your outward personality - it sounds like you have a bit of a calm and collected exterior that people misunderstand or misinterpret, but you are deeply kind, gentle, and empathic underneath that. This is something he relates to a lot, and being misjudged or people making assumptions based on his dark appearance (his RBF) is normal, so I think if anything he'd be more attracted to you at first above all else and he actually finds your quiet nature very soothing.

He needs a deeply emotionally strong person and a supporter, he's very drawn to those who build others up and have kindness in their heart, so I feel that your relationship would always be full of lots of warmth, love, and a deep level of shared trust. He's very much a vocal person about his feelings in private and it's very important to him that both of you feel satisfied physically and emotionally with your shared affection; he's a cuddle bug but in a chill way, and this man can sweep you off your feet with the most beautiful poetic compliments and appraisal you've ever encountered in your life. Very chivalrous, and a believer in courting / staying persistent with his efforts even past the honeymoon phase. It definitely will help with your confidence in the relationship!

Speaking of which, physical appearance insecurities is something Tokoyami understands thoroughly. He has been aware since early childhood that he looks different than everyone around him for the most part, and despite a lot of diversity within quirks that's been integrated into society, he in particular got quite a physical variation and he always deep down fears he's not attractive enough or that he's too odd looking for a partner to stay interested in for very long. He thinks he's incapable of being handsome, and while he's pretty good at regulating these emotions and keeping them in-check, managing them gets difficult when he catches feelings for someone and he really gets into his head about rejection fears.

All in all, I feel like you both would relate and share some similar experiences in that area, and you could always build each other up and remind one another that you're beautiful inside and out.. and absolutely deserve the best treatment. He reminds you sometimes when needed to take care of yourself and set boundaries with others so that you keep your health as a priority.

Relationship Headcanons:

- 1000000% takes part in your witchcraft interests with you, he was utterly delighted when he found out about it and immediately offers to help you out in any way he can, even running errands to acquire supplies you may need. He wants to talk about it frequently and learn more ideas / in depth perspectives from you - you could teach him a thing or two, since he also practices!!

- After this is when he finally lets you see his room because he was kinda salty after class 1A saw it and made fun of him for it... Lol. But after that he knew you wouldn't judge him and now you both take frequent long naps in there on days off. He's very very cuddly and really enthused about being able to spoon you.

- He understands you have heightened senses and you may sometimes get overstimulated sensory-wise. He is constantly looking out for signs that you're overwhelmed, and always remains very aware and in-tune with how you're feeling. He's wonderful and super understanding - he took a lot of time learning exactly what to do and how to best assist you in these situations. If you get distressed by crowds, bright lights, or noises his first priority is to get you to a safe place and he will politely ask if he can comfort you in the ways you like; restriction probably with hugs and keeping you in a dark, quiet / calm environment so that your heightened state can relax and reset. He is patient and will never, ever punish you or get frustrated with you for needing a break.

- If you're also very tactile and find textures / certain sensations soothing, his bird like feathers / hair is very very soft... Feel free to touch and stroke whenever, he actually quite likes soft loving hands since I think he may also be a very affectionate person, and you're the only person he allows to do this.

- You'll always find gifts that he caters to your preferences in your room, with a poem or some heartfelt words on a note...He does it enough to remind you that you're worth the world and more, especially to him, but not excessively. He still wants it to be a special surprise every time!

- He never ridicules or judges your art, regardless of if it's dark vent art or not. If anything he always compliments your ability to put such emotion in your work and he likes them because it allows him to connect with you and understand you better.

- Overall he's a really aware, giving, supportive, attentive partner and he finds that your empathy and compassion has brought him healthy changes to his life, too. Y'all are goals!

[daredevilexchange]

Want to be featured here? Head to this page and fill in the form!

See what this is about here, or if you’re using the app here.

What’s your fannish ID? Nautika. My fannish name's origin: "Tika" has been my nickname for the last 17 years. There had been this anime about an orca whale called Tico and because Orcas are my favorite animals I got inspired. When I then joined ao3, to my dismay, the name had been already taken, so I added the "nau" and here we are!

What types of fanworks do you create?   I write fics :) Thinking about trying my hand on making vids. 

What are your favourite types of fanworks, when you're not creating? Fics and art. I love it when a fic has art in it. 

What do you like in particular about this fandom?  I absolutely love (identity) reveal fics. My favorite dynamic is Matt & Frank, but I'm also a sucker for Defenders Friendship. Basically I'm all for happy endings and nothing hurts (but some angst on the way is fine). 

Do you like participating in fan events? Offline I've been going to cons since 2003, so yeah :D I'd love to do more fan events (online and offline), as I'm always excited meeting new people. 

What about your creating process? Silence. I need silence. I write in the evening or at night. My stuff is always humorous, often bordering on crack-ish, so I go lie down on my bed, close my eyes and think about a situation to put my characters in, come up with the first and the last sentence of the chapter and some kind of conflict. Then I open my laptop and write, everything else is just kinda made up on the spot. I rarely have a Masterplan. 

Do you interact a lot with other fans?  Sometimes? I go to about four cons a year. 

Do you have other fandoms you'd like to talk about? My all-time favorite character is Nightwing and I love Batfam-stuff. As my favorite trope is Identity Reveal, well. Common ground with DD. (I'm also into science fiction, like doctor who and star trek and I live to talk about it, but I don't write for those fandoms. Yet.) 

Is there any particular piece you’d like to showcase for this post? I think I'd like to showcase "Five times Frank doesn't find out about Matt Murdock and one time he does" from the "I'm not daredevil, really" series. It's the second fic I wrote and it kinda kickstarted my writing, so it holds a special place in my heart. Also, I like the dynamic between Matt and Frank :) Where can your fanworks be found? https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nautika/works

Thank you, @nauticalypso !

banner by @context-is-for-kingpins !

[ID on a white background, four black triangles that look like spotlights from above. Each illuminates one of the Defenders silhouetted in white: Jessica, Luke, Danny, Matt. A hand on the left is holding a pen writing the words Content Creator Spotlight. There is a little Punisher skull on the pen. End ID]