#so many of this lines this week are so mean to eris!!!!!! killing and biting and maiming him

[erismornsgf]

that's it. this is the last straw, Immaru

[pan-fangirl-345]

You Have A Visitor!

Summary: Denki needs a boost. Luckily, there’s a visitors day coming up and you, being the loving girlfriend that you are, decide this is a good time to catch up with your boyfriend.

Trigger Warnings: Swearing, because Bakugou, some suggestive thought, and the reader had divorced parents and an alcoholic father, not to mention some low self-esteem. If there’s anything I missed, please tell me!

A/N: I have no idea what the hell made me write this but whatever, I have nothing else better to be doing like the chorus assignment that was due a week ago, and the outline for a paper, and then the actual paper. Oops.

Also, I realized quite belatedly, that I never told you guys that (Y/N) means your full name, both first and last. Sorry about that!

“Hey baby girl,” Denki said, sounding tired.

“Hey, are you okay?” you inquired, flopping onto your bed.

“Yeah, I just got my grades back and I can’t say they’re great. I even studied this time!”

“I’m sure they’re fine, Denki,” you assured him, wishing you could wrap your arms around him.

“I’ve missed you,” he admitted. “It’s been so hard being away from you for this long. And I don’t mean to be clingy, but I could really use a hug from you.”

You could hear it in his voice, he was having a bad day. He was normally very peppy and chipper, but there were days when he just couldn’t muster the energy for it.

“I know Sparky,” you said. “I miss you too. Where’s Kirishima? Can’t he give you a hug?”

“Nah, he’s in the gym with the steel guy from Class B.”

“I was almost 100% sure you were going to say he was with the explosion guy, Bakugou,” you said smiling.

“Can . . . can I FaceTime you?” he inquired softly.

“Of course Denks, I’m honestly a little surprised it took you this long to ask me,” you teased, trying to bring a smile to his face.

“Well, I know how you feel about being on camera.”

“Yeah, but it’s different when I’m talking to you,” you told him.

When he called you again, you answered, smiling at him.

“Hey Denki,” you said.

He looked tired, there were bags under his eyes, and he was flopped against his bed, body riddled with tension.

“Hey love,” he said, giving you a tired smile. “It’s so good to see your adorable face.”

“Right back at you Sparky,” you retorted, smiling at him. “I really wish I was there with you. Maybe I could help.”

“This is helping,” he told you. “Just being able to talk to you.”

“Bad day?”

He nodded, sighing. “I’m sore, I’m tired, I feel like an idiot, and I miss you on top of everything else.”

“I’m sorry, I wish I could see you. When’s the next visitors’ day?” you inquired, moving to look at your calendar.

“Like, two weeks from now, on Saturday. Why?”

“I’m gonna come visit you silly,” you teased, smiling at him. “I have to work that Saturday, but it’s only until noon. I’ll come see you after that, yeah?”

“Seriously? You’re gonna come see me?” he asked, sitting up. Little lines of electricity started to run up his body and you laughed.

“Yeah, course I am Sparky,” you said.

“I can’t wait to see you! And introduce you to my friends! And-”

The lights flickered in his room for a few moments before they turned back on.

“Kaminari!” someone shouted in the distance and he flushed.

“Sorry!” he shouted, making you laugh.

“Did you just short circuit the lights in your dorms?” you questioned.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he said, cheeks bright red.

“It’s okay, it let’s me know that you really are excited to see me,” you told him. “I know that there are a lot of other girls there that are probably prettier than I am.”

“Angel, listen to me,” Denki demanded, making you pause. It was very rare that he ever sounded that serious. “You are beautiful, inside and out, and I would rather spend an hour with you than a hundred years with them, understand?”

“You’re such a sap,” you muttered, suddenly remembering why you loved him so much. “I love you Denks.”

“I love you too, (Y/F/N), don’t ever forget that,” he said, face as serious as you had ever seen it.

“I won’t. Don’t forget that I love you either, alright?”

“I think I can handle that,” he said, flashing you that one million watt smile that you loved to see.

“Good,” you retorted, smiling back at him.

Someone shouted in the background again and Denki sighed.

“I have to go, it’s time for dinner, but I’ll call you again tomorrow night, okay?”

“Okay, I love you Denki Kaminari,” you told him.

“I love you too (Y/N).”

You smiled at him again before you hung up, sighing.

You missed Denki, you really did. It was hard sometimes, dating Denki long distance, even if he was still in the country. He was only about fifteen minutes away, but the security was so tight that it was hard for you to go see him, especially since you worked part time at the local library.

You were proud of him, and you wouldn’t trade him for all the money in the world, but you missed him.

Him and his dumb pickup lines, him and those dumb cat memes he used to send you, him and those awesome hugs whenever you had a bad day.

You had hated Denki when you had first met in middle school. You thought he was immature, way too loud, and you hated how little he paid attention in class.

But then you got paired up for a project and you learned that sometimes Denki didn’t realize he was being loud, or that his quirk was making things go haywire.

Denki had a lot of friends, he made them wherever he went, he was like that, but a lot of the time they were fake. 

You had learned how to help him remember things from class, you were there when he started to get a little too loud, and you were there when he was rejected for the first time.

You remembered tapping his arm whenever his noise level was becoming too much, or kicking him when he was unintentionally making someone uncomfortable, stepping in when someone tried to get him to do something that would get him in trouble.

He had asked you out through your third year of middle school. At first you had thought it was a prank, a dare maybe, but he had been adamant that he really wanted to be with you.

It had been weird at first, neither of you really knowing how this changed things, until you realized that nothing had to change. You could still do what you normally did together, but there was more hand holding and cheesy compliments involved.

He had gotten accepted into U.A., and you had been happy for him, but you would be going to different high schools, and when everything had started to get more dangerous there, you had panicked about Denki. You didn’t get to see him as often, and he had even tried to break up with you, worried about your safety.

But you had worked it out, you had talked about it, you called each other regularly and you sent each other small gifts every now and then when missing each other became almost unbearable.

There were small amounts of time when you worried more than usual, when they had training camps and weren’t allowed to have their phones, or when they had exams and you weren’t there to make sure that he was eating and getting enough sleep, but other than that, your relationship with him was relatively easy, everything considered.

The next two weeks were slow, but talking with Denki ever night made it better than you would’ve thought.

He assured you that his new friends would love you, though you were suspicious about Bakugou, that he wanted you to meet Eri, that everything was going to be fine, and that he couldn’t wait to hug you again.

“C’mon sweetheart, it’ll be fine! The only one you might have to worry about it Mineta, and I can promise that he won’t get anywhere near you,” Denki said, laughing.

“Why hasn’t the school kicked him out yet?” you inquired, nose wrinkled.

“That’s a good question,” Denki admitted. “I guess he just hasn’t done it in front of the teachers enough.”

“I would’ve killed him by now, I feel so bad for the girls that have to deal with him,” you said, shuddering.

“I know you would’ve,” he said, smiling. “But seriously, how was your day?”

“The same as usual, except there was this really cute little girl in the library today who tried climbing the shelves to get to a book she wanted. She was so cute! She got really high up though and I was terrified that she was going to hurt herself.”

He listened to you talk about your day, smiling as you talked.

“I’m really excited to see you tomorrow,” he said when you were done.

“I know, I’m excited too. I can’t wait to see you.”

‘I’ve missed you,” he said, getting a sad look on his face.

“Hey, no sadness remember?” you told him. You wanted so badly to reach out to him, to hold him, to run your hands through his hair while he held you. “I’ve missed you too, but we’re gonna see each other tomorrow. And I promise that I’ll give you as many cuddles as you want.”

“If that’s the case you wouldn’t be leaving the couch,” he said, smiling at you. “If you thought I was clingy before it’s only going to be worse tomorrow.”

“Trust me, if you weren’t clingy, I would be,” you assured him, making him laugh.

“You do realize that no one is going to understand how we’re in a relationship right?”

“Fuck ‘em,” you said. “It’s not really any of their business anyway. It’s a healthy relationship.”

“That’s my girl,” Denki said, smirking.

“You’re gonna be a smug bastard tomorrow aren’t you?” you inquired, making him cackle.

“You had no idea. Most of the squad doesn’t think you exist,” he said. “And when I say that, I mean that only Mina believes me because she walked in on my talking to you one night.”

“We’ll change their opinions tomorrow,” you promised, biting your lip. “I’m really excited to see you tomorrow Denki. It’s been too long.”

“I know! Don’t remind me,” he whined, making you chuckle.

“Do you want me to bring anything with me tomorrow?”

“Just your sparkling personality and enough hugs to hold me over until the time you can visit. And maybe some cupcakes or something, I’m craving sugar,” he muttered, the last part more to himself than to you.

Someone shouted in the background, and Denki sighed. “I have to go, but I love you, and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

“I love you Denki, sleep well,” you told him.

“You too,” he said, ending the call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Denki couldn’t stop pacing as people streamed into the dorms, trying to find the people they were there to visit. It was only nine, and he was already anxious to see her again.

He kept checking for her (Y/H/C) hair among the sea of people, even though he knew she wouldn’t be there yet.

He had already told his classmates that she was coming to see him today, most of them playing it off as a ploy for attention and sympathy. Both of his parents were working today, so they weren’t coming to see him, and his little sister had had a sleepover the night before and was probably sleeping it off at home with their cat.

(Y/F/N) had texted him that morning and he had been glued to his phone ever since smiling whenever she sent him a funny picture or a reminder of how much she loved him.

Mina had been waiting for months to meet his girlfriend, and while the others didn’t believe she existed, he was going to be proud to show her off.

He wasn’t anxious about seeing her again, he was looking forward to that, but what if she didn’t like his friends? What if they didn’t like her? What if-?

“Denki!”

His head whipped up at the sound of her voice, and he zeroed in on her.

Was he hallucinating? He was hallucinating, right? There was no way she was there-

She ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him over.

He definitely wasn’t hallucinating.

“Denki,” she breathed, burying her face in his neck as she twisted her fingers into the back of his t-shirt.

“(Y/F/N), I thought you weren’t coming until noon,” he said, clinging to her.

“I haven’t seen you in like, three months, and that’s all you have to say to me?” she inquired, flashing him that smile that he loved so much as she pulled back a little, just enough to see his face.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, kissing her.

Yeah, he definitely wasn’t hallucinating.

It had been so long since he had touched her, it felt like he had stuck his hand in a fire. She was warm against him and they couldn’t stop smiling at each other between kisses.

“I missed you,” she whispered, burying her hands in his hair.

He slid one hand up her back, touching her face lovingly with the other as they stared at each other, (Y/E/C) eyes meeting amber.

“I missed you too, sweet pea,” he assured her, kissing her again.

“WHAT THE FUCK? FUCKING PIKACHU ACTUALLY HAS A GIRLFRIEND?”

“Shut up Blasty!” Mina hissed, swatting him with her hands.

(Y/F/N) pulled away, cheeks tinged pink as the Bakusquad stared at them.

“You must be Bakugou,” she said, smiling at him. “And, for the record, I’m not a girlfriend, I’m the girlfriend.”

“I told you guys she was real!” Mina shouted, making you laugh.

“It’s nice to meet you all, I’m (Y/N), I’m also Denki’s girlfriend.”

“Clearly,” Sero said, making her chuckle.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you!” Mina said, throwing her arms around (Y/F/N), catching her by surprise, though she hugged back after a moment.

“You must be Mina. It’s so nice to meet you too. I’ve hear so much about all of you.”

“Pikachu, you have some fucking explaining to do,” Bakugou snapped.

“Gladly,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You know, I never would’ve thought you would have the patience to deal with someone like Kami, (Y/L/N),” Kirishima said.

“What can I say? Apparently I have a soft spot for dumbasses,” you said, making Denki protest.

“I can’t be that bad,” he muttered into your neck.

He hadn’t let go of you since you had arrived, there was an arm around your shoulders or your waist, a hand in yours or on your back, and now he had you seated in his lap, his arms around your waist as he fiddled with your fingers.

“How did you even get here this early? I thought you said you weren’t coming until noon.”

“I told my boss that I was going to see you today and he let me out early so that I could spend more time with you. I don’t know how you got him to like you so much, he hates everyone.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” Denki pointed out.

“Yes, but that’s because I actually do my job correctly and because I have more invested in that library than the founder does!” you told him.

“(Y/F/N) really likes to read,” Denki admitted. “It’s one of the reasons she’s so smart.”

“I’m an only child with parents who both had to work a lot before they divorced, I had to find ways to entertain myself when they weren’t home and when they were too busy screaming at each other to pay attention to me,” you muttered.

Denki’s arms tightened around you subconsciously.

He had met both of your parents, and hadn’t taken well to your father, who had a tendency to love alcohol more than he loved you. It had made you a lot harder on yourself than you had to be, and your father had hated Denki from the moment they had met.

He thought your mother was a saint though, and she was for putting up with your father for so long.

“Yikes, that sounds rough,” Sero said.

You shrugged. “When you grow up like I did, it makes you used to certain things. I got used to someone always putting me down. I got used to having to do a lot of things myself. I mean, it sucked, and there was a time when I had a bag packed in my closet, but it made me who I am.”

“You never told me about the bag thing darling,” Denki said, frowning.

“I mean, I was . . . eight or nine I think, long before we were ever even friends,” you told him. You kissed his cheek lightly. “Besides, I never had to use it.”

“I don’t think that’s the point,” Mina chimed in.

You shrugged, then said, “Oh yeah, my mother says hi baby. She would’ve come with me, but she had to work. Speaking of parents, where are yours?”

“Mom and Dad had to work today,” he explained, nuzzling your neck softly.

“Right, they told me that earlier,” you muttered.

“You talk to his parents?” Kirishima asked.

“Well, yeah. I mean, we’ve known each other since middle school. I used to go over to his house all the time. I used to babysit his sister with him. They’ve known me for a while, us dating just helped my relationship with them. Besides, whenever your school gets attacked, I always go over there. Makes me feel like I’m doing something useful.”

“I still can’t believe fucking Pikachu has a girlfriend,” Bakugou grumbled.

“Jealous?” you asked, wrinkling your nose. “Maybe if you acted less like you had rabies girls wouldn’t be so afraid to talk to you.”

“What did you just say to me?” he asked, palms crackling.

“You heard me,” you said, interlacing one of your hands with Denki’s.

“Do you wanna fucking go?” he snarled, standing up.

“Not particularly, I was just giving a suggestion. Do with it what you will,” you told him, melting back into Denki, who sighed contently.

“This is the calmest I’ve ever seen him,” Sero said, staring at Denki in wonder.

“I have that affect on him apparently,” you confessed, running your free hand through his hair. “You haven’t been sleeping well, have you?”

Denki shook his head. “Too many loud thoughts. Feel bad waking you up to deal with it.”

“Baby, that’s what I’m here for, besides, I’m up a lot of the time anyway,” you chided. “Call me, alright? It puts me to sleep too you know.”

“Mmhmm,” Denki mumbled, kissing your shoulder lightly.

“Cute,” you murmured, kissing his forehead. “You can go take a nap you know.”

“Wanna stay with you,” Denki said.

“C’mon baby, up we go,” you whispered, pulling away from him, hauling him up off the couch. “When was the last time you slept through the whole night?”

“Two weeks ago,” he admitted.

“Denki!”

“‘M sorry,” he whispered.

“Come on, you’re taking a nap, even if I have to-” You stopped what you had been about to say.

Tying him to the bed sounded sexual, and so did sleeping with him. Sitting on him just sounded bad.

“Come on Denki,” you told him. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“Wanna stay with you,” he repeated.

“I’ll stay with you, alright? Just please, get some sleep,” you said. “Where’s your room?”

He stumbled his way through the halls, leading you to his room where he flopped onto his bed.

“It’s so you,” you told him, looking around.

He made grabby hands for you and you chuckled, climbing under his covers with him.

“Missed you a lot,” he muttered.

“I missed you too,” you told him, burying your hands in his hair as he wrapped his arms around you.

He relaxed again, and you kissed his forehead as he fell asleep, rubbing your hands against his back.

“Love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too Denks,” you murmured, letting your own eyes shut as you listened to his breathing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are they still in there?” Sero asked as they made their way to Denki’s room.

“She didn’t leave,” Mina said.

“What the fuck are they doing in there?” Bakugou asked.

“I don’t hear anything,” Kirishima said. “This is really unmanly guys.”

“Open the door,” Mina pushed.

“Guys, no!” Kirishima hissed, but Bakugou had already opened the door.

“Aww,” Sero, Kirishima, and Mina muttered, seeing the two of them tangled together under the covers.

Denki’s arms were tight around her waist as they laid there together, her head tucked under his chin, like he was protecting her.

They all remembered the fierce way she carried herself, the way she would’ve defended him against anyone, even himself.

“They’re gonna get married one day,” Sero said, voicing what everyone was thinking.

“He deserves it,” Bakugou murmured, surprising everyone.

“Come on, let’s leave them be,” Kirishima muttered, closing the door soflty.

[izaswritings]

all that’s left in the world | chapter four

Title: all that’s left in the world—

Synopsis: —is me.

Neku’s been shot and Shibuya is threatening to go the same way as Shinjuku, but just because the first Game is over doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten how to play.

Or: Neku deals with a nightmare city and his most annoying (and mathematical) partner yet; Shiki and Joshua commit an escalating number of illegal moves, Beat and Eri hunt down a stray Reaper, and Rhyme watches and waits for the counter-attack. Shibuya refuses to go down easy.

Fandom: The World Ends With You | TWEWY

Warnings: cursing, references to past murder a la Reaper’s Game, mild body horror (in a Noise-human fusion case), and implied erasure. Nothing super graphic, but be warned! Please let me know if there’s anything I missed.

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AO3 Link is here!

Previous chapters are here!

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part four: neku

.

.

.

I can’t hear a thing.

I hate it. I hate it. Where did everyone go? Where did everything…

It’s so quiet. Help me. Please, help me.

…

It’s too quiet.

.

.

.

Neku stares at the message for a long time.

He doesn’t move, but his fingers tighten, stiff around the phone. Kill the Composer of Shibuya. No mistaking that one. No mistaking the signature, either, or the time limit counting down on his hands. Yeah, okay. Okay.

There’s so much about the situation that infuriates him, but somehow, it’s this that makes Neku want to break something. Kill the Composer—be more original, he thinks, and grits his teeth. Always, always, kill the Composer. Well, poor fucking luck for her, then. Even if Neku wasn’t inclined to disregard every word Coco says by virtue of the whole being-murdered-again thing, this would cinch it. Why do people always pick Neku for this? Does he just have “potential assassin” written on his face or something?

Neku isn’t going to kill Joshua. He got his chance, months ago, and it was a way better set up then this farce: his friends taken, Shibuya on the line, Joshua a liar and a killer and still smiling, mild, like Neku’s anger was something vaguely amusing. A gun in his hands and a countdown to boot.

Neku hadn’t taken the shot, even then. He’s made his choice; he’s sticking with it. Joshua is an asshole—a liar—someone Neku is probably never going to be able to fully forgive. But he was Neku’s partner, too. And even this Neku can’t deny: the Game was horrible, but it changed him. He has friends now. He can see the world now. Sometimes, when he lifts his hands and closes his eyes, he can hear Shibuya’s music.

And yeah—it matters, too, that Neku’s still here. Because he lost, he’s pretty sure. He lost the Game. But Neku is alive and breathing and so are his friends, and they all have their memories, and even Rhyme...! And Shibuya is the same, except not somehow, Shibuya is brighter than ever and its almost blinding.

It’s not enough for Neku to forgive Joshua. It doesn’t take away what was done. But... it says something. About everything. That maybe Neku isn’t the only one who was changed by those three weeks.

Kill the Composer. Punch the Composer in the face, sure, but Neku clicks off the phone with a scowl. Sucks for Coco. Neku’s not playing this Game, thanks.

...Which is easier said than done. Sho Minamimoto, for example. And, you know, the time limit. Neku already knows what he’s not going to do, but that does leave the question of how the hell am I going to get out of this one.

Pi-Face must have been looking at the mission mail too, because now he’s laughing, a manic sort of snickering that makes Neku go still on pure instinct. Minamimoto, he’s found, only laughs like that when he’s about to, say, murder people, sick Taboo noise on them, or recite ten lines of pi and summon imaginary number explosions or some shit. Bad news either way.

“TANGENT,” Minamimoto shouts, and Neku blinks. “Fucking finally! This Game’s already getting zetta old, but this isn’t a bad solution at all.” His smile is full of teeth. “This is an equation I can get behind.”

Because facing Joshua worked out so well for you last time, Neku thinks, but keeps his mouth shut. He’d definitely noticed, with the ease of hindsight, how Joshua had killed Minamimoto—not with those burning beams of light that left scorch marks in the streets, but with the cars, the vending machines. And the casual way Joshua had dismissed him, that day in the throne room—I liked keeping him around—well.

Neku knows he couldn’t beat Joshua, even if he wanted to, which, no. And Neku beat Minamimoto once before. It... well, yeah, it doesn’t speak well of this guy’s chances, probably.

But again. Never, ever saying that aloud, holy shit.

“Whatever,” Neku decides, because as annoying as Pi-Face is, they’re partners whether Neku likes it or not, and he knows how these things work. Minamimoto, still grinning, closes the phone, shoves it in his pocket, and starts walking away. Neku stares after him. “What?”

And... no, yeah, he’s actually leaving. Oh, god.

“Hey,” Neku snaps, and races after him. “Where are you going? We have to stick together.”

Minamimoto squints at him and then turns away. “What, you’re still here?”

“Yes, I’m still—” Neku bites off the rest of it. Must get along with partner. Must get along... nah, screw it. “We’re in a pact. We can’t fight the Noise alone. We have to stick together—”

“Nah,” Minamimoto decides, and keeps on walking.

Neku stares after him, struck with a sudden and dizzying appreciation for Shiki. Had Neku ever been this bad? Had Neku been worse? How the hell had she not strangled him two minutes in?

He takes a deep breath. “Look,” he snaps. “I don’t like this much either, but if something happens to one of us, the other is screwed. I don’t like this any more than you do, but if we’re going to survive and figure a way out of this we have to work together.”

Still nothing. Neku narrows his eyes. Shit, okay. Math analogies, math analogies... “Unless you think you can make a working equation with just you.” Does that make sense? Well, whatever.

It works, at any rate—Minamimoto pauses, and after a moment he looks back, considering. Neku crosses his arms and scowls, trying to ignore the sinking sense in his gut. This might even be worse than his week with Joshua. For all of Joshua’s many, many irritating moments, he’d at least recognized and understood the basic principle of stick together. Death by no-one completing the mission had been a problem on day two, but Neku at least never had to worry about death by negligent partner who won’t recognize we’re in a pact.

After a moment, though, Minamimoto snorts and turns back around. “Zetta annoying,” he decides. “You better not slow me down, you useless radian. I don’t have time to proof. Though I guess you’ll be some help when I get around to crunching the Composer.” He grins, at that, cracking his knuckles.

Neku’s not really surprised by that response, but still. “What, you’re actually going to do it?” Try to do it. Same thing.

“What,” Minamimoto mimics, “you aren’t?” The smile returns, all teeth. “Either we crunch the numbers, or the numbers are going to crunch us. Constants don’t get a say in how they’re used.”

Math-speak for you’ll help me kill the Composer or I’ll make you, probably. Neku crosses his arms, unimpressed. “Sure,” he says, doubtful. “Either way, we have a problem.” He gestures around them the destroyed buildings and ruined streets. “I know Shibuya. This isn’t Shibuya. How the hell are you going to find the Composer? We’re not even in the right city!”

Minamimoto shrugs. “A possible miscalculation,” he allows. “I’ll figure a solution.”

You inspire so much confidence, Neku thinks, irritated. “Like what, exactly?”

Minamimoto snorts. “None of your concern,” he says dismissively, and starts walking away again.

Oh, yeah. Just as bad as Joshua. Maybe worse, because at least Joshua didn’t make Neku do math. Ugh.

Neku scowls at Minamimoto’s back and follows, resisting the urge to drag his feet. For all of Pi-Face’s easy dismissal of the worry, Neku’s still stuck on it. This place... it’s familiar, sure, but not in a good way. It’s ruined, ash and dust and smog choking the air, Noise filtering about the edges... but he can still recognize it, if only sideways. Those strange visions that had been blacking out his sight all day... yeah, Neku knows this place. This was the city that got destroyed in the dreams.

Why am I here?

He’s almost certain, now, that this is where Coco was trying to lead him and Beat; she’s succeeded in dragging Neku here, at least, but he still doesn’t know why. Why kill Joshua? No, wait, wrong question. Why try and kill Joshua like this? A Reaper’s Game twisted beyond recognition, and a mission to kill Shibuya’s Composer in a place that clearly isn’t Shibuya. Can they even leave this place? Is this just a trap to get them erased by an impossible mission with a definite time limit? But then—why seven days to complete it? She could have set it to five minutes and dusted them that way.

It doesn’t make any sense, Neku thinks, and tugs once at his hair in frustration before letting go. He’s sick of this. Plots and plans and Neku stuck in the strings, and damn, he did not fucking miss this.

For a moment his hands shake. He squeezes his eyes shut, and exhales very slowly. His eyes are burning. And that’s—that’s fine. This is fair, isn’t it? He’d thought he was done with Games, but now he’s back here again, so it makes sense, it’s fine, he just needs…

He just needs a moment.

The air is so stiff here. Silent and empty. Every inhale is tinged with dust, and the city itself is a dead place—no wind, dead air, stale and settling and starting to rot. It’s hollow in a way that echoes. It aches. He misses Shibuya so suddenly it dizzies him. The crowds—the music—the world.

I didn’t ask for this.

But it doesn’t matter. Not really. Neku’s made his decision, and he’s going to stick to it—his only concern is getting out of this. And hey, track record, right? He’s done the impossible before. He can… he can figure this out.

He opens his eyes, and exhales again. He grits his teeth and pulls himself together. Okay. He can do this. He will do this. He’s going to figure out this new Game and he’s going to come back to Shiki and Beat alive and well. If Coco thinks she’s got him beaten, then she’s got another thing coming.

But still. As he picks his way across the ruined landscape, Neku can’t help but feel, with a sinking sense of dread, that there’s still so much worse to come.

.

They explore the city for a while, in silence—Minamimoto leading, like he’s forgotten Neku is there, and Neku trailing behind, keeping one eye on his irritating partner and one eye on their surroundings, wary of an ambush.

The city is... awful, Neku thinks, and the longer he stays here the more it makes his skin crawl. The streets are totally empty; the Noise are either everywhere or nowhere at all. No more strange, distorted symbols in the air; no more chance of avoiding them. They always watch them pass with blank, gleaming eyes—and that’s another thing, too. The Noise aren’t right. The Noise are dead silent.

Everything, Neku is finding, is dead silent.

The Noise don’t make—well, noise. There’s no wind—no birds—nothing. Even their footsteps feel muffled and dim, as if Neku’s walking on cotton, unable to make any noise louder than a whisper. When he speaks, it feels like he has to shout to be heard—like the total silence of the city is swallowing his voice whole, taking it all in, giving nothing back.

The worst part, though, is that there’s no Music.

When Neku left the Reaper’s Game for good, and first awoke alive and well on the Scramble Crossing... memories, and friends, and nightmares hadn’t been the only things he’d taken away from the Game. Sometimes, when Neku closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears and just let the murmur of the city wash over him, he could hear it—a song, or the Song, Shibuya in entirety, a music he could never really describe and could hardly imagine living without. It was chaotic and chiming and... Shibuya. Just Shibuya.

It was a comfort. And now it’s gone.

And he knows—Neku knows, logically, that even if there was Music here it wouldn’t be the same—this isn’t Shibuya, isn’t home. But even so, he’d rather hear an unfamiliar song than this... nothingness. This absence. This void in the air where music used to sing and people used to laugh, and just—there’s nothing, now. There’s a lack. There’s a hole.

I can’t hear a thing, he thinks, and it feels like his thought and yet it feels nothing like him at all, and for a moment the silence presses down on him. Panic coats his tongue. Despair squeezes at his chest. It’s less pain and more an echo if it; someone else’s words, ringing through him. For a moment his vision washes out into white.

I hate it. Where did it go? It’s too quiet. Come back. Come back!

Neku stumbles forward. Again. It’s happening again. He can hardly breathe. He presses a hand to his temple. “Who are you?” he whispers. He’s almost certain, now. This isn’t him. This is someone else. But who? “You keep—calling to me, who—”

Please help me. Static fuzzes in his ears. His eyes burn. Help me. Oh, god. Oh, god, please, someone help me—!

“Useless radian,” a new voice snaps, and the echoing words cut off with a snap, so quick it leaves Neku almost breathless. “Get up.”

He’s on his knees, Neku realizes. When had he fallen? He presses his hand against the concrete, gray and ashy beneath his palm, and lifts his head to glare.

Minamimoto looks unimpressed. “I don’t bother with inherently flawed calculations,” he warns, and then grins. “Match the parameters or get deleted, yoctogram.”

How nice, Neku thinks, dryly. Now he’s not sure if the headache pounding behind his eyes is from the echo, or just from listening to Minamimoto talk. Or both. Asshole.

“I’m fine,” Neku says, finally. His hands are shaking. He curls them against the concrete, and tries to remember how to breathe. “I… I’m fine.”

Minamimoto snorts. “Who gives a digit? Just get up. There’s a problem.”

“Huh?” Neku pushes to his feet, wavering a little. His legs feel shaky. He’s not in pain anymore, but the memory of that hollow ache is enough to make him shiver. That voice. That fear. Those visions, again. Just what is going on?

Minamimoto runs a hand back through his hair and grins, unsettling. “We have a new addition.”

“What?”

Minamimoto lifts his chin towards the far end of the street, seemingly unconcerned. Neku follows his gaze. They’ve stuck to the main roads, thus far; this one is three lanes wide and shadowed by empty skyscrapers turned hollow and half-eaten, like they’ve been decayed from the top-down. The fog of white dust makes it hard to see, but if Neku squints…

A blurry shadow of a figure lingers at the end of the road.

Neku blinks. Not just a figure. A humanoid figure. Moving. Holy shit. Is that… is there really someone else here?

His blood runs cold. Coco? Or… could it be—the girl from his visions?

But there’s something off about the figure, and Neku finds himself reaching for his pins before he can think better of it. He doesn’t trust this. Too much about this Game isn’t right—not just the missions, but even the rules of the world turned on its head. All of his pins work even when he’s not fighting the Noise. He doesn’t have a Player Pin, but he’s definitely in the UG. The Noise no longer pull them into an alternate dimension; they’re fully formed and waiting and watching, with eyes blank and white like a dead pin. And the silence, too...

No. This isn’t right. And as the figure shuffles towards them, Neku steps back and pulls a Lightning Rook to his hand, because he’s not so sure that’s a person, either.

Minamimoto is grinning, though something has turned sharp at the edges of his smile. “Ugh.”

“What is it?”

“I miscalculated.” He studies the figure and slides back into a stance. For a moment, he seems to blur at the edges. “Should have carried the evidence to its conclusion. Tch, embarrassing. This was simple math.”

Neku squints at the figure. They’re shuffling forward, coming into view, and when he sees them in full, he blanches. “Is that—”

“Yep.” Minamimoto makes a harsh noise in his throat, looking disgusted. “Inversion. The system’s all screwed up. Noise in the RG, UG in fractions... and sometimes you get equations that just don’t work out.”

Inversion? The hell? But there’s no time to ask. The figure is close enough now to see in entirety and— oh.

Neku can’t breathe.

They look—they must be—that’s a person, isn’t it? A businessman, he thinks, with slicked back black hair and a pale gray suit, jolting faintly with every step. They must be a person. Except they have a Noise’s colorful scrawls winding all the way down their arms and face and there’s wings peeling out bloody and painful from their back and sharp teeth jutting from their gums and oh, fuck, Neku never wanted to know what a human-Noise combo would look like and he’s really not happy to have found out now.

The Noise humanoid opens up their mouth and screams. There is no sound, but the air grates. Neku slams his hands over his ears, and in the distance, Sho Minamimoto is laughing.

“Caught between the frequencies, are you?” he says, looking delighted. “So zetta cool. Zetta sucks, too. Don’t worry. You’re about to get deleted.” He draws back his hand. To Neku: “You better not slow me down!”

Neku falters. “Wait,” he says. “Wait wait wait, that’s a person, what happens to them if we��”

“Ugh, do the math!” Zetta shut up, Neku thinks back. “What do you think happens to Noise-possessed people when it all gets Inversed?”

Neku stills. Noise-possessed people. Which means...

He draws back his hand. Okay. Okay. He doesn’t understand most of that, but... if they defeat this person, will that help? Will the Noise leave them? Will they go back to normal?

He doesn’t know. What he does know is that looks painful. Either way, Neku isn’t going to be able to back away from this.

Minamimoto laughs and throws himself into the fight with a sharp, vicious war cry of “Infinity!” It is familiar in a way that makes something in Neku ache; he stills, and refuses to look beside him. Joshua isn’t there. Joshua isn’t with him. In fact, he hasn’t really seen Joshua in almost a month, not since the Game ended.

And yet. For a moment, he can almost hear the laughter.

Neku shakes his head. He’s not fighting Minamimoto, he’s fighting with him, and he needs to start acting like it. Neku reaches for his pins.

“You better be right about this,” Neku snaps, and attacks.

Lightning Rook in one hand, Electric Warning, Velocity Attack, Raven, and two healing pins. Neku flips them through his fingers, watching Minamimoto dart across the area, and sets his feet. He still has the Fusion pin—he’d made sure to check, and thank goodness for that—which means so long as he times this right, they should sync up and hopefully be able to…

He preps the lightning in his hand, and then Minamimoto appears right in front of him.

“Shit!” Neku jerks his hand away—the lightning flashes and bangs, gone wild, darting up and out of range, crackling harmless in the air. What? What!? “Watch where you’re going, asshole!”

Minamimoto just cackles. “Useless components should just stay put!”

“Hey, wait!” In the distance, the Noise opens its mouth in a silent scream, and the world warps like putty. Pi-Face grins like a shark and vanishes from view. Neku curses at him, and throws himself down.

The air explodes above his head; Neku ducks out of range and then rolls back on his feet, angry now. “Are you kidding me?” he demands, to no-one, and reaches for his pins again.

The lightning jumps for his fingers eagerly. The power is a head rush. Neku grits his teeth and blasts at the Noise again. Despite all of his annoyance, the weight of the pins in his hands is a comfort. It’s almost soothing. He hates this, he hates fighting, but—

But Neku has missed this, too. That breath of power, that static on his tongue… he’d missed it. Why? He doesn’t want to. But he finally feels settled, feet flat on the ground. Minamimoto is an annoyance, this new Game a mystery, Coco a threat—but here in this fight, Neku is steady. I can do this.

Minamimoto cuts him off again; Neku switches pins with a mutter and throws himself out of range of the Noise’s shockwave. The silent screaming thing is seriously starting to vex him. He takes up the pin again, aiming—

Pi-Face, sneering, flickers into view and kicks the Noise back. “So zetta slow!”

Neku grits his teeth. “Would you just—hey! We need to sync up! Stop getting in the way!”

Minamimoto scoffs. Neku clenches his fists. “You—”

And then Minamimoto is gone again—and then he is right in front of him—and then he is kicking Neku right in the side, hard enough to send him flying back. Neku just barely gets his arm up in time to block most of the blow; his whole forearm sears with pain. Minamimoto is grinning again, sharp and wild.

Neku stumbles, catches his feet, and stills, his pins burning in his palm. Attack your partner is never the mission. It’s never the mission. It’s never—

“What the hell are you doing?” Neku says, quietly. “Do you have any idea—”

“Cooperation is trash,” Minamimoto says, far too gleefully. “We’re looped in the same equation, sure, but I crunch the numbers. Get in my way, you get factored out.” He steps away, turning his back, piece said. Neku sees red.

Raven has always been a favored pin. Neku tosses a streetlamp at him.

Minamimoto dodges, of course—and when he turns back around, his expression is frightening. “You are so—”

“Partners!” Neku snarls, talking over him. “We’re in a pact, you… we have to work together!”

“Crunch! That opinion was garbage. I’ll throw it on the pile.”

Must. Not. Murder. Partner. “You’re not a Reaper anymore. You don’t have the wings, we’re in a pact, you have the same fucking timer I do—either we fight together, or we’re going to lose.” He takes a quick, tight breath. Sota. Nao. All those Players, even the Reapers… but Neku can’t afford to die here. “Work with me here. You don’t want to die again, right? Well neither do I! So help me! And let me help you.”

Asshole, he adds, internally.

Minamimoto looks like he’s considering it, which of course— of course! —is when the humanoid Noise attacks again. Go figure. Fucking fantastic. Neku wants to bang his head against a wall.

But when he rises from his dodge, Minamimoto flickers into view beside him again. He looks annoyed. Grudging. And his face twists up, but he says: “Fine. Whatever,” and it is not the glowing confirmation Neku was hoping for but god, damn, he’ll take it.

“Finally,” Neku mutters, and flips a pin. “Then let’s do this. If you take it from behind, I’ll blast it from the front.”

Minamimoto scoffs again. He vanishes without a word.  Neku rolls his eyes, and sets his feet.

Lightning in the air, Minamimoto’s taunting insults, the Noise’s silent screaming and the warping air—but while they are not entirely in sync, this time it’s enough. The Noise is slowing, wing tattered and limp, face fuzzing from view—and the Fusion pin warms against Neku’s wrist.

He activates it. “Get ready!”

“Fucking finally! So zetta slow!”

“Argh, you—!”

It’s like stepping into a web. Lines and angles and numbers and—and Neku grits his teeth against the overload, the power slipping through his fingers, and reaches back. Equalities, balances, equals to. He clicks the numbers into place, and feels power burning through his hands.

(And for a moment: something is off. Something is wrong. A power that is neither his nor Minamimoto’s. Something else. Someone else? Not quite a pact, but… like moving in sync. A mirroring.

A connection.)

Something shatters.

It’s like white noise in his ears—the empty static—the imaginary plane. For a moment there is a hole in the world, in the sound, in the noise—there is music, sharp and rhythmic and singing through the air—and then they are back, and his ears are ringing, and there is a person, Noise-less, lying slumped on the street.

Neku blinks fast. The bitter taste of ozone lingers on his tongue. He breathes past it, and rushes for the body. “Hey! Are you okay?”

No answer. Oh, shit. Neku kneels by the man, reaching out, and freezes when his hand passes right through. “Wait—wait, no—”

The man fades away, as fragile as a dream. Neku doesn’t move.

Behind him, Minamimoto makes an interested sound. “So, the Inversion takes it all. Noise or nothing. A full circle.”

Neku curls his fingers. He still doesn’t know what the hell this Inversion thing is, but he’s starting to get the gist. “You mean…” So there was no saving the guy? Either existing as a fusion with Noise, or not existing at all? Is this what’s become of all the people in this place?

Neku grits his teeth. He bows his head.

Minamimoto makes a scornful noise and turns away. “Let’s go,” he says, dismissively. “We’re subtracting time.”

Neku clenches his jaw and rises to his feet. Right, he thinks. Right. It’s not over yet. Whatever happened here, whatever this is… he still has time to figure this out. Maybe… maybe he can find out what happened to this place, too. To these people.

He’s not playing to win, after all. He’s playing to finish this. He can add one more mystery to the list.

But for all his determination, his mood has soured. Minamimoto is walking down the street, casual as he pleases, but Neku lingers on the road, subdued, bitter despite himself. He looks up at the sky, and thinks of the mission mail, of that almost-presence during the fusion, the almost-whisper in his ears.

High above him, the sky flickers cold and red. The clouds churn like boiling water. When he blinks, he can see the afterimage of it on his eyes, like an imprint of the Reaper’s skull, glaring down at him. Burning.

“Hey,” he says. “Are you there?”

He waits. But no one answers.

Neku blinks the red from his eyes until the sky is gray and cold once more, then turns and walks away.

[impartofthesolution]

Road to London

           Alone.  It’s not a good word.  It’s not typically a fun or appealing word.  But, it’s a safe word.  Because if I’m alone, that means there’s nothing nearby to hurt me.  That’s the closest thing to a promise I have anymore. Sure, I miss my crew, but they only slowed me down, or at least, that’s what I keep telling myself.  What I have to tell myself.            It’s been two weeks, but I’ve really only been alone ten days.  Those first four were awful.  I was always moving, got almost no sleep, killed more zombies than I could count, and had to leave the bodies of the people I grew to love, unburied.  Then, I got in the clear, and there has been no zombie activity at all as I continue to make my way north.  Alone.  Safe. For now.            As I simultaneously watch my step on the potholed road and scan the horizon for signs I’m no longer alone, I reflect on my state.  I suppose I’ve always been the loner type, more alive in my head than I was around people. It served me well, when the outbreak came.  It spread far too fast, too many people unwilling to believe their friends and family could be infected.  It tore through households; friends went for a drive somewhere and never came back.  I stockpiled what I needed in my small house. I could stretch any ration as long as I had to to see this through.            The only problem is, I’m still not through.  The outbreak created hordes of ravenous monsters, and it became unsafe to say.  The radios talked about a party, thousands strong, making their way to the city, devouring everything.  So I left. I took what I could, “borrowed” what I needed, and left.  I didn’t even have a gun back then, but I’m not sure if that would have made my life easier or harder.  I certainly hadn’t learned to use it yet.  We learned early on that cars attract the zombies, and the zombies ate all the horses.  That left walking.            Rumor has it that there were some cities in Canada that had missed the earliest wave of outbreaks and had quickly contained the threat from within.  It made it so much easier to keep the zombies and threats out.  They’re fearless devils, but they lost their humanity and all that makes humans special, namely, our minds.  They’re no threat to an organized defense.  If only we had more of those.            Buffalo is 60 miles away, I note the highway sign. It’s Buffalo, cross a bridge, and then I’m in Canada.  Which, to be fair, is little different from the fields and roads and small towns I’m seeing.  Until I get to London and an old fort there.  Thankfully, I don’t have to go anywhere near Toronto; that place is a writhing nightmare of destruction.  In addition to the zombies, violent street games have divvied the city.  Nope, no place for a woman, or anyone in her sane mind. I’ll take my chances with asylum in London.  They couldn’t possibly turn me down, a single woman out in the world who can prove she can’t be infected.            Oh yes, my forearm aches as I remember the decaying jaws biting down on my arm in the early days of my escape from Harrisburg. I kicked and thrashed and did everything I could.  That was my first kill.  But then, I just locked myself up and waited for the madness to take me, unable to take my own life.  A few days passed, my arm was swollen and slightly infected, but not with the zombie contagion.  A group of survivors escaping to Canada had found me.  Ryan assured me if I could have turned, I would have.  He was the one who gave me my first gun and taught me how to use it.  I had no idea handguns could hold 15 or more rounds in a magazine.  I was just used to seeing revolvers on TV.            I make it another six miles before finding a small town as dusk was settling.  It is quiet, which is a good sign.  Towns like these usually were safe.  The zombies ransacked them for every ounce of meat and then disappeared when it was all gone. Lucky for me, they wouldn’t touch water or canned foods.  I didn’t bother to carry much with me; it was too heavy.  Finding somewhere with basic supplies like food, clothes, and bedding was pretty reliable.  I tried to stay light with my guns, ammo, maps, and a rather large first aid kit.            I find a store, grab a shopping cart, and look to see if there was anything the scavengers left behind.  The virus came so quick, there weren’t many of us left with our humanity.  The odds were good that there were few enough survivors to have come before me that there would still be supplies left.  I take what I found and go to search for a defensible looking home that hopefully had clothes that fit me for after my bottled water shower.            Buffalo is my only real threat.  I managed to skirt around the edge of the city until I walked along northern tip of Lake Erie.  Now, I could see the zombies milling around the US side of the border. From what I can see with my binoculars, the bridges look clear.  I suppose there isn’t really anything interesting to a zombie on a long bridge. But the city of Buffalo, that could keep a large pack of zombies occupied for a while, longer than I had to wait them out.  I have to make my move, and make it now, while it’s still light out.  Sure, I could hide a little better in the dark, but it would also be far harder to see the zombies.  I’m a better shot during the day, too.            There are more ways to cross a bridge than to walk the dotted line.  My target is the structure underneath, moving from beam to beam.  Most zombies couldn’t follow me or even see me down there.  All I had to do was get there.  I screw the silencers into my Berettas and hoist my backpack up on my shoulders.  I am ready for anything.            Making my way carefully along the side of the street, my primarily goal is to not attract the zombie’s attention.  I either need to strike first, or not engage at all. Otherwise, I’d be swarmed, and I have no backup this time.  On the plus side, I don’t have Robin to accidentally kick a can and alert an entire nest to our presence, either.  One small mistake, so many deaths.            I turn a corner and a twisted form hunches in front of me, back to me.  It must be eating a rat or a possum or… I don’t care.  I look and check to make sure there are no others and I shoot. Perfect, effective, trained.  A bullet through the head and the zombie collapses with barely a sound.  Alone, again. It’s an illusion.            I continue on, effectively staying undetected by the mindless fiends.  The bridge is back in my view.  It’s a couple of hundred yards out, and I’m in the last bit of cover I’ll have until I crawl under the bridge.  I survey my surrounds, looking for the best path forward.  Guns blazing is a dangerous option.  I have roughly 30 bullets without reloading, and I see at least 10 zombies.  That means another 10 zombies are out of sight.  There’s no way I can try to engage them one at a time.  I finish my plan: I need to make it as far unseen as possible, engage and kill the first attack wave, and then I just have to make it under the bridge.  Hopefully, that’s only a 100 yard sprint by that point.            Just then, I hear a noise above me.  I look up, and on top of the building above me, a zombie looks down straight at me with its one eye and crooked jaw.  I’m faster, whipping up my gun and shooting it in its only eye.  My gun may be quiet, but it’s not silent.  A quick look around me tells me I attracted some attention from the zombies on the road to the bridge, but there’s nothing coming up front behind me. Stealth gone, I start jogging towards the bridge and the two zombies eager for a fresh meal.            Shhht, shhht goes the report of my Beretta.  One zombie falls motionless, and I don’t even break a stride.  The other zombie is 20 feet away.  He must have been someone import, for he was wearing a suit, still distinguishable though it is in tatters.  I stop, aim, and fire.  Four, I keep track of how many bullets I’ve spent.  By now, I’ve attracted the attention of all the remaining zombies. There were the 8 I had seen plus another 5 had appeared.  Thirteen is too many to take on.  All I have to do is take out the ones in front of me and outrun the ones closing in from the sides.  I take a shot at the lead zombie and miss.  I mutter an unladylike curse under my breath, still careful not take make unnecessary noise.  I have to run if I want to not get mobbed by the zombies coming from my right.            As I’m running, I fire off five rounds, dropping two zombies quickly.  I’m breathing heavy.  The bridge is still 150 yards off, and there are still 5 zombies in front of me.  My chances are slim, but I have no hope.  I keep charging.  I try to steady by aim, but the running and adrenaline shake my hands. My final six shots in my right hand pistol only fell two more zombies.  Without even looking, I extend my left arm to the left and fire, hearing a zombie drop a second later.  I switch my loaded gun to my right hand.  Three zombies, 50 feet away.  I put three shots in the lead zombie, and it topples in a pile of gore.  I jump it and take out the second zombie while in the air. Ten shots left, I remember.  The final zombie is closing fast.  It lunges at me with wicked claws and two obsidian marble eyes.  I duck and slide on my leg, tearing the “borrowed” jeans.  The zombie passes overhead, and I shoot up at it, flinging it over and behind me.  As I try to stand up and continue running, the zombie’s foot connects with my head knocking me sideways.  There are four zombies closing in from my right, but my concern is the last zombie my left.  I was knocked dangerously close to her.  She reaches out with her only arm, and all I could do is bash it away with my left arm. Her decaying limb goes flying.  I sweep her legs as I spin back to full standing. The bridge is so close.  I take off in a full sprint.  I reach the edge of the bridge and jump, arms extending. Ooof, the breath is knocked out of me as I catch a horizontal bar under my arms.  I barely stay on, dizzy and winded and gasping for air.  I turn behind me.  The two closes zombies had fallen off the edge.  The others had run along the bridge above me, looking for a way to get to me, but they can’t.  I’m safe. Not alone, but safe.  For now. Back to Table of Contents (x)

[toutorii]

Various Honoka HCS

Cause Im self indulgent 😌

⁃ So when Noka was a baby, neither her dad, Shirou or Daiki knew what the hell to do with her wings.

⁃ Her first word was "Daiai" which was exposed to be "Daiki"

⁃ Daiki would call Noka "baby bird" and mo one will tell me otherwise

⁃ He also called Shirou "buddy"

⁃ She would fly around and their dad would make Shirou chase her down. Cause by this point, Daiki had already “joined” AfO.

⁃ When Shirou and Noka were taken in by their uncle, he just slept and let her do whatever.

⁃ Their uncle, also known as Eraserhead, was a very kind guardian

⁃ He went to each of Shirou's ballet concerts, and did Noka's hair for picture day

⁃ If you looked through his search history it would be filled with "how to do a braid for beginners"

⁃ Aizawa bought Noka various art supplies and bought Shirou new shoes whenever they needed them

⁃ He also worried for his nephew, who went missing right before Noka and Shirou ended up in his custody

⁃ Didnt want Noka or Shirou to become heroes

⁃ Cause he didnt want to see the two children he practically raised to be hurt

⁃ But because of their ties to All for One, the government forced both of them to become heros to "prove" that they had severed their bonds with All for One

⁃ Shirou's dream was to become a professional dancer and Noka's was to become a professional artist

⁃ And Aizawa was not happy that the two lights in his life were torn from their dreams

⁃ And so Shirou got accepted into the hero program, in class 1-A

⁃ He chose the hero name Shifter

⁃ Cause he could shift into any organic form

⁃ When he got 3rd place at the sports festival, Noka ran around her uncle's apartment screaming with joy

⁃ Noka is literally his biggest fan

⁃ Noka's first friend was a small purple haired boy name Hitoshi Shinsou

⁃ So naturally, she called him Toshi

⁃ And she refused to call him anything else all throughout middle and high school

⁃ Shinsou and Noka have sleepovers all the time and you can't tell me otherwise

⁃ When people would tell Shinsou that his quirk was villainous, Noka would always speak up cause she knew Shinsou wouldnt contradict them

⁃ Noka is always like that

⁃ Speaking up for others and herself. And her smart mouth tends to get her in trouble

⁃ Shinsou would fuss over Noka's wings. Like if they were dirty or a few feathers were out of place, Shinsou would sit her down and fix her wings.

⁃ "Toshi, your inner mom is showing"

⁃ "Its not my fault you cant take proper care of your wings"

⁃ When she told Shinsou about her acceptance into U.A's med course, he couldn't have been prouder

⁃ Noka is actually the one who encouraged Shinsou to train with her uncle.

⁃ But before that lets talk about Noka's time at U.A. so far

⁃ She was first introduced to class 1-A during the first combat training

⁃ Healed everyone who got very minor injuries

⁃ At the USJ attack, Shigiraki deteriorated part of Noka's hip. But her extremely enhanced natural healing abilities stopped the deterioration

⁃ So she has this big ass scar on the back side of her left hip

⁃ She wanted to absolutely murder Shigiraki for letting the Nomu loose on her uncle

⁃ But she doesnt have any damaging fire power

⁃ So she just tried to heal her uncle's wounds the best she could

⁃ Nearly gets herself killed many times with her smart assery

⁃ And gives everyone around her a heart attack in the process

⁃ During the sports festival, she helped RG heal all the students

⁃ Reprimanded Deku for overusing OfA

⁃ Oh yeah, she learned about AfO and OfA from her time with All for One (A/N: please dont kill me im trying to not make her too op 😭😭)

⁃ Is kind of like to Deku like Recovery Girl is to All Might

⁃ So fast foward to the internships

⁃ She interns with another oc of mine, Snow

⁃ Who is a healer but with incredible attack powers

⁃ Coincidentally, Noka was patrolling Hosu when the nomus hit

⁃ She recieved Deku's distress signal and ran to the scene

⁃ She didnt attack the hero killer, but ran to help Native and made sure he didnt bleed out

⁃ The hero killer didnt bat a single eye at her, deeming her not a threat

⁃ In the end, she didnt harm Stain so her hero guardian? didnt have to take any blame for her actions

⁃ Noka however did get nearly ripped in half by a nomu, so she had to stay in the hospital with Todo and Deku

⁃ So— Summer training arc

⁃ She just looked at her class and said "fuck this" and flew over the whole forest

⁃ She actually beat the wild wild pussycats back to the camp

⁃ She got to know Kota, telling him how she never wanted to become a hero

⁃ Kota may or may not have developed a kiddie crush on her 😳

⁃ But anyways, when everyone else saw her all nice and refreshed, needless to say they were upset

⁃ Some more than others

⁃ *remembers Bakugou nearly blowing off Noka's face because she cheated*

⁃ Aizawa just smirking at his niece cause shes so much like her mother

⁃ "DAMMIT TAKAHASHI. YOU BETTER GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE YOU CHEATER"

⁃ "They said to use our quirks. Its not my fault your quirk is too grounded"

⁃ "WHAT— YOU WANNA FIGHT—"

⁃ "No I wanna eat, goodbye—"

⁃ Focuses on her attack and the healing capabilities of her quirk

⁃ Let me set the scene

⁃ At the beginning of UA, our Noka could barely heal up a small cut

⁃ But now, she can close up major wound with little to no effort

⁃ P r o g r e s s people

⁃ N e ways

⁃ So when they do the haunted quirk thingy

⁃ Hairi and Noka are paired up, to their delight

⁃ But they aren't able to go into the forest before the attack happens

⁃ Apparently, the league came for Bakugou and Noka

⁃ Cause the "master" wanted his first nomu to return to him

⁃ But all Deku knew was "they are after Kacchan and the master's first Nomu"

⁃ Nobody knew who the first nomu was except for Noka

⁃ See, AfO took and gave Noka various quirks, eventually ending up with her current quirk(s)

⁃ He did this to Shirou and Daiki as well

⁃ But Shirou's body wasnt able to handle as many quirks, so AfO discarded him

⁃ Daiki was not aware that Noka was a target, Shigiraki knew he would object and purposely left him out of the loop

⁃ Eventually, Noka is cornered by Dabi

⁃ His fire power vastly out matches hers

⁃ But she puts up one hell of a fight

⁃ And Kurogiri took her before she woke up and fought back even more

⁃ So everyone was panicking when they couldnt find Noka

⁃ Aizawa was panicking them most

⁃ His precious niece was missing, no, taken by the league

⁃ The students had never seen their teacher so frazzled

⁃ The thing that broke Aizawa more was the look on Shirou's face when he told him that his baby sister was missing

⁃ His precious baby sister

⁃ His whole world

⁃ Shirou didnt go out of his room for days

⁃ He was there when they were to save Bakugou and Noka

⁃ All Might fought AfO, and won

⁃ But there was no sign of Noka

⁃ Shirou nearly tackled Bakugou, demanding, no, more like pleading for him to tell him where she was

⁃ Bakugou merely said "She's gone, and I dont know where she went"

⁃ The whole class was in a panic

⁃ Where was Noka? Was she hurt? Was she scared? Was she in danger?

⁃ And the question that hung on everyone's mind the most was

⁃ Is she alive?

⁃ The emptiness of Noka's desk was deafening

⁃ Their smart ass classmate was nowhere to be found

⁃ And they all felt guilty

⁃ But none more than Bakugou

⁃ For he was the last to see her alive so to speak

⁃ And her last words to him were "Forget about me ya big oaf, you hear me? I don't want you sulking, or I'll personally beat your ass."

⁃ Forget about her? How could he do that?

⁃ Noka was the only person who didn't put up with his bullshit

⁃ From day one she put him in his place

⁃ And honestly shes the closest thing to a sister he has

⁃ During the hero license exam, all of class 1-A decided that Noka would be really upset if they all sulked and failed their exams

⁃ But the fact that only Todoroki and Bakugou failed would make her fall into hysterics

⁃ When class 1-A met the big three, Mirio told them that Noka was strong and stubborn to a fault, so they shouldnt worry about things that arent in their control

⁃ To which they asked how he knew her

⁃ Apparently Shirou, Amajiki, and Mirio have all been friends since elementary school

⁃ So Amajiki and Mirio had been there a lot for many crucial parts of Noka's childhood

⁃ When the work studies started, Deku went on patrol with Mirio and Shirou, AKA Lemillion and Shifter

⁃ Shirou couldnt help but feel so much guilt crushing him when Eri jumped out of Deku's arms

⁃ Cause Eri reminded him of his little sister

⁃ Speaking of little sister

⁃ She refused to return to the league, so Shigiraki sold her to giran, who then took her to Overhaul

⁃ For the last 2 months, Noka had been experimented on by Kai Chisaki

⁃ In the mean time trying to protect Eri and building a loving friendship with the young girl

⁃ Ill talk about this another time

⁃ So skipping to when they save her

⁃ It was a total shock for them

⁃ To see this wingless, pale, frail, bandage wrapped girl

⁃ And even more so when she spoke

⁃ Not having that bite that their Noka had

⁃ But a softer, more broken voice replaced her normally boisterous and confident voice

⁃ In the big battle agains Chisaki, Noka got slammed against a wall

⁃ Which in normal circumstances would be fine, but with her body in such a week state it immediately cracked her ribs and spine

⁃ Ochako helped get her friend to the ambulance as quick as she could

⁃ Shirou saw a fluff of pale pink hair out of the corner of his eye

⁃ He immediately turned to run towards the medical stretcher, but was stopped

⁃ He kicked and screamed something along the lines of "THATS MY BABY SISTER. PLEASE LET ME SEE HER"

⁃ In the most broken voice you would ever hear

⁃ In the hospital, after Sir. Nighteye had passed, Deku, Kirishima, Amajiki, Shirou, Ochako, Tsu and Aizawa were all waiting anxiously for Noka's surgery

⁃ When all of a sudden the door explodes open and the nurses and doctors are shoved out by an invisible force of heat

⁃ Noka was using her ability to set herself aflame and be healed in the ashes

⁃ But no one knew wtf was going on cause she learned the trick at the Hassaiki hideout

⁃ So p a n i k

⁃ But after the doctors confirmed her stablility, they all went back to school

⁃ The whole class bursted into tears when they told them about Noka

⁃ Jirou, Kaminari, Momo and Mina all being the most emotionally impacted

⁃ Bakugou was almost crying witb relief but he disnt show jt

⁃ They weren't allowed to see Noka for a whole month

⁃ Only family were allowed

⁃ She was hard at work recovering and going through therapy and they didnt want to disturb her

⁃ But when they (Kirishima, Deku, Ochako, and Tsu) did visit, they were shocked

⁃ There was this soft spoken, trembling, woman, and this was after a month of intense therapy

⁃ They hadnt event started physcial therapy yet, they wanted to get her tk the point she could be around others without going into a panic mode

⁃ But what really shocked them was how her wings hadnt grown back.

⁃ They were then told that they would never grow back, since the bone in them were completely ripped out.

⁃ Thus she needs a wheelchair while she recovers

⁃ Daiki sometimes visits her during the night

⁃ He apologizes to her over and over again for not being there when she was taken

⁃ But also to apologize for abandoning her and Shirou

⁃ She just cupped his wet cheek and said

⁃ "Daiki, I know you had a damn good reason to do what you did. Also you're my big brother. I dont care if you work for All for One, youre still my brother. And you'll always have a home with us. Shouta Shirou and I will welcome you back with open arms."

⁃ Needless to say Daiki just bursted into more tears

⁃ Anyways—

⁃ By the time the school festival comes around, Noka still needs a wheelchair, and isnt the strongest mentally, but she has made tremendous progress.

⁃ After the 1-A concert, Eri sat on Noka's lap the whole time. Except during the beauty pageant, in which Deku held Eri, and Mirio held Noka (cause shes a smol baby)

⁃ Noka was in charge of tesching Eri the basics while she recovered, since the young girl felt most comfortable with her

⁃ When the dual training session came around, Noka still couldnt do much moving around without draining her energy quickly. So she stuck with enhancing her quirk while she built up her physical strength.

⁃ Meaning she healed any and all injuries after the matches were concluded

⁃ Monoma made the mistake of saying something about her not making any progress, and Bakugou was t h i s close to murdering him 😌

⁃ Ever since Noka got back from the hospital, Bakugou has been v e r y protective of his honourary sister—

⁃ But Kendou smacked the blonde before Bakugou could do anything

⁃ Shinsou would totally go like "Noka are you okay? Are you sure you should be out here? How are you feeling? Do you feel sick?"

⁃ Cause Shinsou is a mom

Anyways I have a bunch more hcs but i dont wanna completely bore you. But I was thinking of doing this for Daiki Shirou and Noka as children. Or maybe for Phoebe 😳😳😳　

Comment or send an ask if i should

[stillthewordgirl]

Fic: Interrupted

Finally! For the Snart Lives!/F*** Destiny project.

Leonard has been saved from the time stream, about a year after the Oculus explosion. But will he and Sara ever get a bit of time alone together? A story in five short parts (all posted)

So many thanks to all the wonderful people who’ve taken part in this! Snart lives!

Many, many thanks to @larielromeniel, the most awesome beta reader, who cleaned up a story that had been written and “edited” far too quickly. :)

Steamy but not quite smutty, I’d say. Can also be read here at AO3 and here at FF.net.

The first time they're interrupted, it's only been a day or two since they plucked Leonard from the time stream, where he'd been swept in the wake of the Oculus explosion and held in a sort of suspended animation. Gideon, with a tone of surprise, has pronounced him fit and well, and although Amaya and Nate are still looking at him out of the corners of their eyes, most everyone agrees that he's back on the team.

Sara's escorted him to his new room and, trying to remain captain-like and purposeful, is telling him about the new system of kitchen duty on the ship—a practical detail that keeps getting derailed by the look in Leonard's eyes. Her businesslike lecture eventually grows slower and slower, his responses vaguer and vaguer, until they're both just standing there staring at each other.

He moves slowly enough, eyes on hers, that there's no doubt what his plan is, plenty of time for her to respond with another retort and depart, leaving no doubt about her feelings.

She doesn't. She meets direct blue eyes, and licks her lips, and then she's being pulled into his arms and kissed. By her crook. Who's one hell of a thief, after all.

It's not much more than a warm touch of lips, the slightly awkward bump of noses, the taste of mint and the briefest promise of something deeper and more satisfying, when Gideon breaks in with an apologetic reminder that she needs Sara's input to set the coordinates to their next destination. They break apart with regret, but smiles on both their faces, and both of them know that they'll pick this up again later.

Whenever "later" comes.

The second time they're interrupted, it's nearly two weeks later.

Life being what it is for the Legends, the team's been busy. Sara's captain now, and she has a whole new set of duties and possible distractions. She's tracking aberrations and planning operations, and there are nights she can't manage much more than to make it back to her room and collapse on the bed. (And it doesn't help that the rest of the team doesn't seem to think that captains need privacy.)

Leonard's been submitting with ill grace to a set of tests by Stein and Ray, who are fascinated at the notion that someone could survive in the time stream. And he's dealing with Mick, who's not at all interested at this point in going back to their earlier dynamic (fine, because neither is Leonard) but is oddly determined to make sure his friend and former "boss" fits back in with the team. That leads to a number of awkward dinners with Amaya Jiwe, and belatedly to Leonard finding out about his past self and the Legion.

He... has some trouble with that, not the least of which is that he doesn't remember a goddamned thing about it. And he really doesn't like that Amaya, who seems to mean something to Mick, keeps looking at him like he's going to attack her at any given moment.

Like he's his father.

It's not Leonard's way to pussyfoot around... well, anyone, really... but for Mick, he tries. He's really rather sincerely interested in Amaya's background with the Justice Society and her general badass-ery, and that makes it easier to turn on the charm. But she keeps giving him that look, and in frustration the snark edges back into his voice, and the whole thing goes downhill from there.

Annoyed, disgusted with himself... especially his past self... he stalks back to his room, fuming and wondering if he's ever going to truly make this work.

And there, he finds Sara, waiting for him.

He stares at her a long moment; she holds up a bottle of Scotch and a pair of glasses with a grin. But the smile slowly slips away, turns into something a bit more intense, as he takes one step toward her, then another, and she set the glasses and booze down a few seconds before he finally reaches her and they crash together in their third kiss since that fateful day at the Oculus.

It's messy and passionate, utterly unlike the goodbye of their first kiss and the promise of their second. Len's hands are tangled deep in Sara's hair; her nails are digging into his scalp, fingers flexing as they mutually deepen the kiss. After a minute or an hour, she breaks away with a noise of frustration at the height difference; he responds by boosting her up against the edge of the bed and going in for another kiss. She gives in to a very long-standing impulse and shoves her hands into the back pockets of those damned skinny jeans, pulling him closer even as she tucks her knees around his hips, appreciating the almost-growl he makes as the last iota of space between them vanishes.

In reality, they get maybe a few minutes. Then the spell is shattered as Mick—damn him—pounds on the door, bellowing for Snart and demanding to know what he'd done to upset Amaya. And Mick, they both know, will not accept silence or excuses as answer.

They break apart with regret, again; lips swollen, Sara's hair mussed and both of them breathing heavily. Len shouts for a moment's grace, thinks regretfully about a cold shower; Sara twists her hair back in a knot and smirks at him, just a little. She whispers in his ear before he opens the door; he nods seconds before she slips out, stepping around their teammate with a nod. Mick blinks at them, surprised but patently unfooled, even as he chooses to not pursue it at the moment.

Sara makes her escape; Len turns to face his friend. And while it might not have been the evening he'd hoped for a few moments ago, at least they manage to hash some things out before they go their separate ways that night.

Sara and Leonard don't get interrupted again for another few weeks. They don't have an opportunity to be.

Oh, the attempt is there; the whispered plot to meet the next night in Leonard's room, to continue the activities Mick had so rudely interrupted. Life, and the next mission, have other plans.

Leonard doesn't mean to play the hero again; frankly, it's the furthest thing from his thoughts. But the next mission takes them all to Los Angeles in the early '90s, and there's a kid to be protected for reasons Gideon won't fully tell them; a scrawny, snarky, troublesome boy that reminds one Leonard Snart uncomfortably of himself.

And when the assassin sent to kill the kid ambushes them, he reacts without thinking, really. He dives in front of the boy, firing as he goes, cold gun set to its maximum level and right on target even as the man raises his gun.

The bullet catches him in the hip; he hits the ground hard, pain exploding not only from the wound but from his head too, as his skull slams into the concrete. Unconsciousness comes, however, only after he sees the satisfying sight of the iced-over figure shattering in front of him.

And then he wakes up hours later in the Waverider's medbay, with Sara glaring at him, arms folded. She's far scarier than the other assassin, and hopped up on Gideon's good painkillers, he happily tells her so.

Which might not have been a good idea.

He's fortunate. Gideon, with many pithy comments and remarkable sarcasm for an AI, is able to repair his shattered hip and help the concussion on the way to healing. Still, he's under strict bed rest until she's sure everything has fully knitted—and that means no physical activity.

At first, the prospect of a Leonard Snart stuck in bed and unable to move has Sara smirking meaningfully at him, until Gideon repeats the no physical activity part with arch emphasis.

The next 10 days pass... slowly. Very slowly. Len's off bed rest after five, but Gideon doesn't lift the full restrictions for another handful of days, when her scans show everything is back to normal, such as it is.

Sara's there with him when that happens, but they very carefully don't look at each other as they leave the medbay and head toward his room. Len keeps his saunter unhurried; Sara strolls along next to him as if she hasn't a care in the world. They make it to the room without a crisis interrupting them, and she follows him inside without a word spoken.

This time, some of their clothing actually makes it to the floor. Sara's eyes don't leave Len's as she slowly runs her hands up under his shirt, starts to peel it off, biting her lip as she feels the scars she's always known were there. He just watches her with that intent expression, finally ducking his head to help as she eases the black fabric armor over his shoulders and flings it behind her, moving her fingers to trail slowly down his chest.

He takes a deep breath as he moves his hands to her waist, then up under her own shirt, calloused fingertips gentle on soft skin. Sara hums as she closes her eyes, then opens them to grin at him as her shirt joins his on the floor and they both move forward to find out, finally, how his skin feels against hers.

They make it to the bed, eventually, and she's straddling him, moving against him just a little despite the clothing that's still in place, gasping as his mouth traces her collarbone, and those sensitive fingertips move to her back, tracing a line just under the bra she's somehow retained, both of them so thoroughly distracted and distracted that they don't even hear the chaos outside the room until...

...they both jump as Nate's voice blares over the ship's comms, freaking out because the cargo bay's on fire and Mick what did you do, and Mick is responding that it's not his fault, damnit, and Stein and Jax are apologetically saying that just maybe transmutation practice got out of hand and the fire extinguishers aren't working on the blaze and...

They're both clothed by the time they leave the room, Len with cold gun in hand for extinguishing purposes, and utterly businesslike by the time they encounter the others. And by the time the chaos has subsided, Gideon announces that they're ready to emerge from the time stream at their next destination.

And any further exploration will have to wait, again.

They're separated on the next mission. And that's fine; it's not like they're joined at the hip, not like they're anything official, really. The team doesn't even know about what's been smoldering there, although Mick certainly has an idea.

And it's not like they've had much of a chance to talk about it. Or taken the time to talk when they do.

There's a heist to be planned in the city, so that's Len's focus this time. Sara, in the meantime, is the obvious leader for a portion of the mission that involves rescuing a young woman from a band of rebels who've taken her into the hills. They don't get to do more than exchange a heated glance, a murmured rejoinder to take care, before they part.

They don't see each other again for weeks.

When the two groups meet again. Sara's battered and weary and has a new scar on her cheek (from the young woman, an incipient badass who really didn't want to be rescued). And Leonard's nerves are still jangling from the very tough but ultimately satisfying heist of an artifact out of time.

They stand there and grin at each other as the rest of the team greets each other around them, finally remembering to act like nothing more than crook and captain and exchanging nods as they all head back to the ship.

Once they're safely in the time stream with nowhere in particular to go, Sara heads toward her room with the rejoinder that she needs to sleep for a month and strict orders for Gideon not to bother her except in the case of an emergency. No one seems to notice when an equally weary Leonard follows her there—or sees when Sara meets him at the door, grabbing the front of his jacket and dragging him inside.

It's been the longest time they've been apart since his rescue from the Oculus; neither of them wants to waste more time. Things progress quite satisfyingly, really, and clothing soon litters the floor, and the desk, and in the case of Sara's underwear, the weapons rack.

Sara's lying back against the pillows, panting, eyes closed and hair tangled around her head. She's been muffling her own cries against her wrist; both of them know, from the Kendra-and-Ray days, that the soundproofing on the Waverider is not the greatest. Leonard doesn't bother to wipe the smug smirk from his face as he presses a kiss to the inside of her thigh before dragging himself back up to lie beside her. He's been waiting a long time to steal a lot more than a kiss, after all, and he's not about to apologize for eliciting that reaction.

Sara, opening her eyes, rolls them at his expression, then reaches out to trace the largest scar on his shoulder again, her own expression growing serious. Leonard's smirk fades, too, at the look in her eyes, and the way her fingers slowly move over to his side and down around to his back. After a moment, he moves even closer, propping himself up on an elbow over her, other hand rising to trace her cheekbone. Sara moves her hands to trail down his bare spine, licking her lips as she pulls him closer, shifting her hips as their eyes meet in agreement...

And the ship jolts alarmingly as something jars against it, then again even harder. And all the alarms start blaring and Gideon announces that they're under attack and Mick comes on the comms to yell, amidst a remarkable flurry of profanity, that they've been found by time pirates.

Len's barely managed to keep himself from falling off the bed, but the whole situation's a little bit of a … well, "buzzkill" doesn't even begin to cover it. He's impressed, though, as Sara proves that her command of profanity is even more impressive than Mick's, at least in the breadth of languages at her disposal. They struggle up together to get at least vaguely presentable (and make what they'd been doing... or at least trying to do... a little obvious) before running out the door toward the bridge.

Between the Waverider's weaponry and Sara's fancy flying, they convince the time pirates that they'd be better off seeking easier prey. It's at least partly bluff, though, and as soon as they're gone, Sara's forced to take them out of the temporal zone and down in 2000, in what Rip would have euphemistically called a "controlled landing" but she bluntly calls "a crash."

Fortunately, the only injuries are bumps and bruises. Fortunately, they have the supplies they need to make repairs.

Unfortunately, no one on the ship is likely to get any rest or relaxation... or anything else, Leonard thinks with a sigh... in the near future.

It takes a few weeks to get the Waverider fully repaired—and, although Sara'd tried toaim for the middle of nowhere, to deal with the aberration they'd unintentionally caused when a young astronomer saw the ship plummeting from the sky with her telescope.

They all meet on the bridge when it's time to depart, but Sara's not there. After a few minutes, Mick, frowning, starts to ask Gideon where she is... when the captain herself emerges from the corridor to the crew quarters, bag slung over her shoulder and a determined look on her face.

She informs Mick that he's in charge for the next few days (Stein protests faintly in the background) but that he should listen to Amaya, and then turns to regard the crook who's just then straightened from his customary lean against a jump chair. In two steps, she's taken a grip on the lapels of his coat, and starts pulling him toward the jump ship without a background glance at the crew.

Len, though, can't resist taking that glance. Mick looks smug. Amaya looks pleased. Jax, though smiling, looks a touch... disappointed? Ray and Nate seems to be a mix of surprised and baffled; Stein... well, much to Len's surprise, Stein looks sort of smug, too.

He'll find out later about the crew's betting pool on when Sara would snap and drag him off. The old man had just cleaned up.

***

Sara keeps them in 2000, but takes them to Cataract City, once known as one of the honeymoon capitals of the world.

She's prepared: Gideon-produced cash gets them a penthouse suite at the nicest of the local hotels. Len just keeps his mouth shut, smirking, as the manager tries to recommend seeing the sights and gets thoroughly shut down by a patented Sara Lance glare. Finally, the man just hands off the room service menu and scuttles off.

The elevator is empty except for the two of them, and there's a special key for the penthouse. Sara jams it in the mechanism, drops her bag, and turns to shove him back against the wall with what could, to his amusement, almost be called a growl.

They're in thorough disarray by the time they reach the top floor, and as the door opens, Len stops trying his best to leave a new mark on Sara's throat and wraps his arms around her so she can hook her legs around his waist. He pauses only to push the bag out of the elevator with a foot, then carries her out into the suite, past the amazing view and the classy décor, toward the room with the king-sized bed.

And no one, and nothing, not well-meaning teammates nor time pirates nor helpful AIs- interrupts them this time.

Afterward, drenched in sweat but satisfied, lying still skin-to-skin and tangled amidst the sheets, Sara lifts her head and meets his eyes. Len brushes a tendril of hair off her forehead and traces a fingertip down her jaw.

And together, they both breathe the word that's on both their minds.

"Finally."